Chasing Reality

Weakness

My aristocrats slam through the double doors to Goultrys laboratory immediately taking down his guards as I enter with Elijah, Mason, and Zero. Goultry freezes for a moment when he sees us but that doesn't stop him.

"Goultry!" Elijah yells in anger.

"Pull the lever!" He yells at one of his guards who does so as I see Juno is unconscious in a tank full of vervain filled water. Zero appears infront of the guard slamming him to the ground and pulling up the lever.

"Get Juno out of there." I demand two of my guards as I face Goultry my eyes flickering to their murderous red. "You thought you could get away with it again. Didn't you?" I ask as two of Elijah's guards hold him still.

"Akito let me-" Elijah stops himself as I appear infront of Goultry, choking him. "Akito!"

"You want to know what it feels like? When you're unable to breath?" I hold him tighter as he gasps for air. "Not a single drop of oxygen fills your lungs and your gasping for a tick of air-"

"Akito don't kill him!" Mason says coming toward me.

"Lord Akito he's not breathing!" I loosen my grip glancing at my guards who have Juno laid on the ground on his back. I let go of Goultry and in super speed appear next to them, kneeling down checking Junos pulse.

"He has water clogged-" I begin to administer cpr. "Damn it Juno."

"Hurry get Maxis!" Rinka says to one of the guards.

"Juno come on!" I yell, continuing to apply cpr. "Come on wake up!" Water comes up from his mouth and he immediately wakes up, turning to the side to puke out water and gasps as air begins to fill his lungs. He holds onto my arm as he does so and all I can do is sigh in relief. Maxis appears next to us.
"Damnit." I whisper catching my own breath as Elijah's guards escort Goultry out of the room and his own guards.

"You're shaking." Maxis says to Juno as he glances up at us. "That water was filled with Vervain?" He asks me and I nod. "Elijah I need to use your infirmary."

"By all means do as you must. I'm truly sorry this happened I had no idea-" I glare at him, my eyes flickering for just a moment.

"It's..cold." Juno whispers clenching to my sleeve tighter, catching my attention.

"I know, youll get a change of clothes at the infirmary. Come on." Maxis and I help him stand, taking him to the infirmary with my aristocrats and guards behind us.

A few hours go by and we're finally back at my estate. We've been here for about two hours now and I've been in my throne room, at my desk while Juno lays on the couch asleep. He refused to stay in the infirmary and he didn't want to be in his room so I told him to sleep here so I could keep an eye on him. With the amount of vervain in his system he'll be in a weakened state for a good 5-7 days. With him being half human it most likely will be less but we can't be sure. On top of that he was practically dead for two minutes before he puked up all that water and I could tell by the fact that he refused to sleep anywhere else but in the same room as me his trust is at a zero with everyone.

"How is he?" Maxis asks entering the room with a vile of blood and some medicine in his hands.

"Asleep now." I say softly moving my chair to look at him as he approaches me. "Is that for him?"

"It is." He glances at Juno. "How long has he been asleep?"

"I'd say about 2 hours.. Don't wake him. He needs it." He nods placing the vile and medication on my table. "When he's awake I'll give it to him."

"Alright." He replies looking down at his phone. "I advise when he does wake up that you don't give him his phone." He hands me his where there's an article of the news talking about Juno and Kai's case. Rumors speculating that he killed him rather than an animal. I sigh handing it back to him.

     "The press won't stop." I mumble facing my desk again, continuing to look at the papers sent to me from my parents business. "He doesn't need this right now."

      "Agreed.. Also Akito, there are rumors going around the estate. The people seem to believe you've grown.. weaker." I stop and keep still as he speaks. "I don't know who's started these but it's circulating stating that you've grown weaker because of Juno."
I remain silent, continuing to write down my signature on one of the envelopes. "I'm not going to say I've sided with these rumors but I advise you be careful. Especially if you want to keep your reputation as is." I ignore him and he walks out and once he's gone I place a hand on my forehead in annoyance.
I don't need this right now.. I'm too busy to be dealing with gossip.

    "Show them you're not weak."

I bite my lip.

      "Kill. That's what your purpose is. Kill. Kill. Ki-" I glance at Juno who sits up slowly. He doesn't seem to notice me but from the looks of it he's still out of it. He goes to stand but I appear infront of him, catching him as he looses his balance and he jumps a bit as I do so.

       "Akito." He whispers sitting back down.

      "You shouldn't be up." He sits back brushing a hand through his messy hair.

      "I heard people talking." He says looking around the room. "Was someone here?"

      "Maxis. He delivered some medicine for you." I get up walking over to my desk to grab it and turn around walking back over with the vile.

     "You told me to look for a spot but I ended up running into his lab." Juno whispers holding the vile in his hands. "Just my luck.." He pops one of his pills into his mouth and sips it down with the blood. His eyes flicker as he wipes his mouth handing me the empty vile. I toss it into the trash can.

      "Juno." I pause in thought. What am I going to say? There isn't anything for me to say..

      "Kill."

     "What is it?" He asks with a yawn. I look down at him.

       "You should rest.. I've got some errands to run." I get up walking back to my desk grabbing the letters and exiting the room while I can.

     "Kill!"

     I take a deep breath as I walk toward the front of my estate to hand my courier the letters and once he has them I feel a presence behind me.

     "Lord Akito is it true?" I stop looking back as my courier heads out the front door. "Have you really gotten weaker?" A 30 year old man stands before me. By his outfit I assume he's one of the families I've taken in from the street to live here. "I wanna test-" I grab him by the neck as I notice I have people watching.

     "Do I look weak to you?" I ask, my eyes turning red as the lights begin to flicker. I tighten my grip until the man is no longer breathing and his body collapses to the floor, dead. I glance at one of the guards. "Clean this up." The lights stop flickering and I walk past the people nearby me as my eyes turn back to normal.

       I'm not weak.