Nefarious

C133 - Alex's secret enemy

Dane crossed his arms as his gaze moved in my direction as though he expected me to return the look. "I'm mystified by your ways, Dane. Honestly, I'm not sure it feels safe to trust you again," I clarified. "I fully understand that but I'm certain you know deep down that I would never lie about someone as close to you as Alex. I saw what happened, and I need to tell you the truth before someone goes spreading lies to your face. You see, when I locked eyes with Alex while he was hurt and down on the floor, I felt like I at least owed you such," he answered. "Dane has already told me what happened, and I promise you he's telling the truth," Nikkie joined in.

Since I trust Nikkie, I chose to hear Dane out on what had happened when I wasn't present. "I'm not gonna go into detail of how he was hurt or by whom, but I'll let you know that by the end of it he was entirely worn out. His eyes were flickering when he looked at me, and it wasn't hard to tell he wasn't going to get back up. However, he ended up on the floor only because Xylan was slacking in that fight. Because the others were so busy fighting, no one noticed Xylan ghosting Alex. Xylan is purely malevolent and did absolutely nothing to save Alex. You must understand that although Hayden is Alex's nemesis, there are still other enemies of Alex's. Xylan wants the leader position badly, and if he gets it permanently, you can't go back there." "So Alex went down because Xylan wanted him to?" I asked hesitatingly. "Yes, but luckily for you, Jace figured that out in time to get you away." "Why didn't Jace help Alex? He should've helped Alex," I blurted out quickly. "I'm not sure what happened next with Alex. The last time I saw him, he was unconscious on the floor as Xylan wanted," Dane sighed. "Shouldn't you be happy about that?" I scoffed as I shook my head in disappointment.

At first, I thought Dane had ignored me, but he was too busy looking over at Jace arriving in a car. "You're with Jace still? He's not good either, Valerie. You know he only saved you in hopes of saving Alex, right?" Dane stammered in confusion. I blurted out incoherent sentences, feeling baffled to hear him judge Jace after all he'd done. "Right when I thought you finally changed into a more open-minded person, you say this, wow. You don't know Jace at all, Dane," I scoffed sharply. "It's you who can't see the malevolence in his eyes. You're making a tremendous mistake," he scoffed back as he slowly retreated away from me.

As I watched Dane leaving with Nikkie, I heard footsteps approaching me at my right side. "The stares you received earlier will be nothing compared to the ones we'll receive now," Jace stated. I frowned intensely before looking at him, confused as to what he was talking about. When I turned my head, on the other hand, I immediately realised. My jaw dropped as an immediate reaction, leaving me speechless. "Yeah, it didn't go too well," he cleared his throat, scratching his neck. His face looked to have been tormented and was covered in several bruises, cuts, and grazes. His lower lip was bleeding, and I could see it was starting to swell up. "Jace, you look horrible," I stuttered. "Thanks for the confidence boost, Val, but for real, we need to get up to our room quickly," he answered. "You don't think anyone's gonna do something when they see you like this?" I stammered. "I'll wear the hood over my head, now come on."

I'm pretty sure some people took notice of Jace's injuries, but no one dared speak up. Some people stared while some pretended not to notice, which was what we were hoping for in this situation.

When Jace headed for the bathroom, I asked how the hell he managed to escape, which he answered to rather fast. "He couldn't risk getting caught so once Rain's group came outside he was distracted. I saw my chance and ran like crazy," he answered. "Right," I nodded to myself. I heard cabinets being opened and closed as well as drawers, making me think Jace wasn't finding what he was searching for. "Yeah, there's no paper here so we'll have to go find it ourselves," he said eventually.

I made a suggestion that I should look for some paper on my own, but Jace declined and called my plan boring, so that failed.

Struggling to pick the lock to a supply room, I suddenly heard Jace tittering behind me. "What's funny?" I frowned. He pointed to an open bathroom door which everyone could use for free. "Oh," I let out a weak chuckle.

Thankfully, there was a medication cabinet hanging on the wall, making it much easier for the both of us. It was rather dark in the room, but Jace seemed to manage just fine. He rinsed the wounds as though it was no big deal to him, which I know shouldn't surprise me by now. "I used to think vampires' wounds healed automatically actually," I told him, almost whispering. "And I used to think all humans were all stupid," he answered as he raised his eyebrows. "I'm not sure whether I should feel offended or not." The crook of his mouth moved upwards, forming the begging of a smirk. "Wounds don't heal automatically, but quickly, yes," he clarified. "How though?" I asked curiously. I waited for him to answer, but he chose not to for once.

Once we were supposed to head back to the room, a tall willowy female approached us. She had several necklaces made of both gold and copper around her neck, which swiftly caught my attention. However, it was her unlined and unique face that stood out the most. She had seemingly healthy blonde hair that was resting nicely against her shoulders, making her look rather fancy.

She was quick to take in Jace's features, admiring them as her gaze moved up and down. Before I could even acknowledge that Jace was doing the same, she sent him a flirty look. I could be Jace's girlfriend for all she knew, but she didn't seem the least bit bothered by that. "Well, hello," she smiled confidently. Jace bit the inside of his lip, looking as though he was in deep thoughts. "Hey," he answered rather quickly, a small smile appearing on his face. I nudged his arm in confusion to what he was doing, but he completely ignored me. "You up for some fun, or what?" she questioned. Quite obviously she was trying to get with him, but knowing Jace, he probably wasn't aiming for the same goal. Though I'm guessing she could be his diversion, I still doubt something so simple as an amatory encounter could replace his thoughts of Xavier. Jace suddenly shrugged his shoulders, saying: "Sure, why the hell not?"