Bloodbath of the Fallen Crown

16

I burst open through the doors of Nicolas' room, nearly knocking over a table on the way to the bed. He had been sleeping, and immediately woke up when he heard me push a chair against the wall.

"What happened?" He looked worried and scared at the same time.

I couldn't even properly gather my thoughts. I took the clothes I brought from the room and threw them at him. "Change," I ordered. Then, I continued to gather any things that were his left over from the room. 

He struggled to get out of the bed, groaning in pain. That finally made me slow down. I took in a breath and walked over to him, helping him out of the bed. He gave me a look of embarrassment.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked down and blew out a breath. "It hurts too much. I can't change like this. I... I need help."

Shocked, I let go of him and took a step back. He wouldn't look at me and I felt my face get hot. What a great time to feel little flips in my stomach, huh.

I shook any thoughts out of my head and stepped in front of him, grabbing the shirt from the bed. We have more pressing matters at the moment. "Okay. That's okay." I helped him take off the robe which, luckily, he was allowed to wear underwear with. "Can you lift your arms?"

He nodded, but gritted his teeth all while raising them. Instead of the shirt, I grabbed the hoodie and helped him with it. Once that was done, I took the sweatpants and bent down, helping him insert each leg in the pant holes. "Sit," I said. He did as I told him to without uttering a single word. I looked up for a second, but looked down right away. I felt a laugh coming when I saw his face flaming red.

I helped him with his socks and shoes and grabbed all our stuff so that we could leave, but, as if cursed with a bad omen, the freaking doctor came in. "What are you doing?" He stopped two feet apart.

"I told you we were leaving. Are there any papers we need to sign?"

"You're leaving against medical advice, you know that right?"

I sighed, "yes, I do."

He looked to Nicolas. "Are you?"

"Yes," Nicolas exclaimed. "Where are the papers?"

Once the papers were signed, I helped Nicolas out of the hospital and we took a cab back to the room. He didn't bother to mask the staring during the ride. "What?" I finally snapped.

"Quello che è successo? Perché la fretta?"

I laid my head back on the seat and sighed, "Manca Gabriel."

"What? When? How do you know?" The worry in his voice was abundant. The emotion in his words felt harsher in Italian.

"Mateo called me a few hours ago. He told me that Gabriel didn't report back to him. He said he had taken a guard and... and..." Fuck. This can't be happening.

"And who?" Nicolas sounded even more worried.

"And fucking Ash. He took Ash. Mateo told me that Ash went with him because he volunteered, since no one other than us knows about him. Now they're all missing."

Ash was never supposed to involve himself in any of this.

"Ash was working with you guys?"

I shook my head. "No. He wasn't. I made sure he was kept away. He earned his manager position at one of the bars that weren't dealing with any dirty business. He was saving up for his bookstore. I don't know why he went. Fuck!"