Crossblood - Completed

Chapter 16

~Julius's POV~


"Ready?" I ask, assisting with the luggage and tossing it in the trunk.

"The faster we leave the better I will feel." Moon has an antsy-ness to him I can't help but notice, as he rocks back and forth on his heels near the car in the grass.

"It's hard to haul a forever's worth of luggage in a car, I'm hurrying the best I can." He stays on the grass, kicking away an occasional rock or two off the drive.

"Aren't you cold?" I ask when I finally notice he doesn't have a coat. It's November, the grass is dead and the trees resemble Snow White's wicked forest. Yet he chooses today to wear a tight fitting, show-offish short sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants.

"Shifter heat."

I pretend to understand the meaning of the statement, opening the passenger side door for him to enter. The house is abandoned, Lucy and the other workers away at my brother's for the remaining time I'm away. Moon gives a small wave to the house's empty carcass as I pull out the narrow driveway and into the street.

With the radio softly playing Moon has drifted to sleep, the three-in-the-morning glow casting the perfect light on the road. I change the station from rap to coffee house, placing a hand gently on his knee and rubbing.

"Julius, do you want me to drive?"

"It's only been fifteen minutes..."

Half asleep, the brunette turns against the restraints of the belt, dosing off once again.

"Are you thirsty?"

"Not really. I have water."

He rolls against the seatbelt a second time, the friction causing his nipples to poke out pleasantly. "I mean blood."

Yawning at the five-in-the-morning dawn I answer drowsily with: "Too much of a hassle to pull over.

"Any empty bottles?" He slides from side to side, the belt hitting the bumps in his shirt and sliding over them with a satisfactory fabric on fabric noise.

"Please stop squirming. I can't do eleven plus hours of this."

The boy calmly returns with his butt in the seat, angrily glaring at my hand that had slid back to his knee.

"Get off of me please."

"Moon...thinking of getting off of you...what happened that day?"

"What day?" I shut the radio completely off, only awkward background noise at this point. "What day? The day you tried to Breed?"

I stiffly nod, drumming my fingers against the wheel.

"I just...Julius you...I..." He struggles with his words, starting and stopping his sentences before finally giving up. "It just...I kept saying to stop and you w-wouldn't." His watering eyes lock on to the ceiling, avoiding meeting mine and allowing the tears to freely escape. "It was like you were r-. Like you were ra...like you were hurting me even though you promised you wouldn't."

He keeps his head tilted upward in a poor attempt of forcing the tears back in his eyes. "Do you normally flashback like that?" Moon replies with a poor nod and grimace.

"It's like he's doing it all over again."

"How do you have sex then? Especially at work."

"It doesn't happen much when I top, just when I bottom." Satisfied with the halted tears, Moon faces me once again with reddened eyes and puffy cheeks. "I felt you there. When I flashed back I knew you were there in my mind watching. I could sense you trying to help me...and I appreciate that."

"Was the other boy Kai?"

"Dad hit him."

It's my turn to face him when we reach a light, my hands drifting towards Moon's to comfort him. "Why do you call him dad?"

I'm met with a lengthy inhale and furrowed brows, his hands rubbing against his sweatpants viciously. "I'd get in trouble if I didn't."

"Niko-" A strangled cry escapes from the cowering child beside me, legs drawn to the chest protectively with the blanket wedged between us. "Is Nik-he the only person who has raped you?"

Moon's trembling legs stop for a moment as he releases a high pitched squeal.

"Yes or no?"

"Julius."

"Yes?"

"Jules." Choking on his sobs and whining he lets out a coughing fit, slamming against the seat's back with his shoulder in the process.

"Yes?"

"Y-yes! Yes, okay?!" The tantrum's volume lowers but the shoulder shaking sobs carry on.

"What happened?"

"No, Julius!" I pull to the shoulder of the road, semi trucks blaring by as Moon crumbles to pieces before me. "Please don't make me." He dryly swallows, ramming his forehead against the seat.

"M-" He scrambles across the seat before I finish, slipping on the armrest but satisfactorily pressing against my chest eventually. I hold him there, not sure if what I just released was beneficial to his health or a hazardous mistake.

"I was homeless and living in this little hole in the ground in an alley. I used magic to enlarge it of course to fit both Kai and I but anyway that isn't important."

I pet his head, smoothing back the unruly coal mess that was to stubborn to lie down. "I had told Kai to stay there while I went up to go get some more f-food. I-I Julius I-" The hyperventilating begins as he ends mid-sentence trying his hardest not to flash back.

"Go on."

"I felt I was being followed but didn't think much of it. I mean, this was the first time since Dad that I had been hurt. He just came up from behind me and pushed me down. It wasn't until he physically flipped me over that I realized something wasn't right." He takes a deep breath before continuing, burying his face further into my shirt and rubbing the cotton against his cheek.

"I only caught a glimpse of his face before he pulled my shirt up over my eyes. It was too dark outside to really see through it and by that point he had tied my hands together. H- God," Moon pauses. "you don't know how hard this is."

"I can imagine."

"Anyway...he started to take off my pants and pure fear came into play. At first I tried to kick him away from me but...he took, I don't even know, probably a loose brick, and shattered both my legs."

I tilt his face up to mine. "Did nobody hear your screams?"

"It was the first time since dad. Everything I had picked up just came back...I didn't want Kai to hear. I just held it all in and didn't say anything. He entered me and that was it. I stopped thinking about how to get away, the pain in my legs, how stuffy the air ventilation in my shirt was. It was mind numbing."

"Moo-"

"It seemed like a fucking decade before he came in me and even then it wasn't over. He grabbed this metal pole and ripped me with it. The pain was excruciating, Julius. Imagine someone taking a knife and cutting you open from the inside out. It still wasn't over with though. He shoved it as far up me as it could go. He fucking paralyzed me it did so much damage to my spine. I still have the scar and am still on heavy-duty medication for back problems."

"How did you-"

"A couple found me and carried me to their car. I screamed for Kai until the man went out to go look for him. Then we all rode to the hospital and I had to go through nine surgeries to get the metal pole removed from me. The. Fucking. End." He growls bitterly through gritted teeth.

"Will the car ride make your back hurt?" I ask, wiping away his tears and getting back on the road.

"I brought my medicine." His voice is cold and emotionless and his eyes dully glazed over. Not sure how to fix the problem I turn the radio up higher and to a rap station he'll enjoy, going back to focusing on the road.



"Bathroom break." Moon shakes me awake from his position in the driver's seat, my eyes having trouble adjusting to the eight-in-the-morning sun. He's switched his sweatpants for basketball shorts as we arrive closer to the sunny and hot California.

"I don't need to go."

"At least come with me please?" He begs, a new energy to him as he bounces around the car. "I need my meds out the trunk too."

"What do they look like?" I yawn, stretching my back out and slamming the car door.

"White dinosaur shapes but get them when we come back."

"Or kill two birds with one stone and you go pee while I get your medicine."

"What if someone..."

"I'll come." I jump in. No need for him to feel fearful.



"Moon do you always take this long to pee?" I quiz, tapping my foot against the gas station linoleum. I swear it has been at least five minutes.

"I had a bunch to drink!"

"We won't get there if we keep stopping like this!"

"This has been our first stop!"

We bicker out the bathroom, through the aisles of candy and Starbucks, still going strong as we reenter the car twenty minutes later with a few Naked Juices and Sour Patch Kids. How nutritious.

"I'll drive." I state in a calmer tone, rounding around the car to the driver's side. Moon starts as if to protest but climbs into the passenger's side and slips a pair of sweats over his basketball shorts. "Cold?" I smile when he bundles up and takes out his phone.

"Burr." He pretends to groan, cracking a smile as he snaps a photo of me. "I'm tweeting the journey."

"Journey. You make it sound like a pilgrimage."

I began to lose track of time as the silence drawls on, Moon's fingers tapping away silently and the radio turned so low a dog wouldn't even be able to hear it.

"Are you excited?" Moon's voice startles me for a moment, my fingers clenching the wheel until the knuckles fade to white.

"Sure I guess, I've been wanting to talk to your dad about some stuff."

"What stuff?" He probes.

Ignoring him I continue on with what I was originally saying. "As well as Kai, he seems like an interesting character."

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" He responds to my yawn.

I look over at his tussled hair and grungy appearance. He had practically slept the whole way here and it would be safer...

"Just a nap. Then wake me up and I'll finish the rest of the way!" I say, pulling to the shoulder of the road and climbing into the passenger side. I take a moment to adjust the heat and recline the leathery seat, Moon pulling the blanket up around me as he drives into traffic.

Just for clarity I repeat myself once more and doze off to lightly playing rap music and mango juice.