This Wicked Sin

Chapter 9: Gabriel

“Oh, hey Nix!” Aren called over my shoulder.

He was a shocking sight to see out and about in the sun. Aren and I had asked at some point if he was actually a vampire in disguise but the look on his face had made us give up on that line of questioning really quickly.

He had his older brother’s white blond hair, a staple of the Cross family, but where Vox sported brown and hazel eyes, Nix had clear green ones. He was taller than his brother; him being a beta to Vox’s omega made that fact not so shocking.

“Sup guys,” he said. He carried his usual bag over his shoulder and wore an oversized hoodie that completely swallowed him and hid most of his features from view.

“You actually came out of your bat cave and came to see us?” Aren asked. I could barely make out his face but I knew for a fact he was rolling his eyes.

“Always lovely to hear your brand of humour, Aren,” he said in his dry voice. Before she could reply, he turned to me, “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

That was Nix speak for ‘I missed you’.

“I missed you too, Nix,” I replied, “Though you know you could have seen me any time you wanted, right?”

“Your idea of entertainment is too far out of my comfort zone. I wouldn’t be caught dead at a rave,” he said with disgust. “The thought of being forced up against all those people literally makes me want to die.”

“You need to get out of your lair more, Nix. See your friends, date some people, see the sun once in a while,” Aren said.

The look on his face was priceless. “The sun is my worst enemy. This is the most sun I’ve seen in months and I already regret it,” he sniffed. I laughed at his antics even though I knew he wasn’t really joking. He rarely ever came out of his room, let alone his actual apartment. The blinds in his apartment were always shut. His skin was as pale as snow as a result and blistered horribly in the sun. Hence, the vampire theory.

“I don’t understand your lifestyle, but I totally respect it,” Aren told him.

“Same to you, Winters.”

“This is how the world should be, you know. Everyone being respectful of everyone else’s choices even if they are choices you’d never personally make yourself,” I sighed to the wind.

“Are you high?” Nix asked.

“What the f**k? Of course not. I can say philosophical s**t without the aid of drugs, you know.”

“I know you can. It doesn’t mean that you actually do. Is there something I’m missing? You’re usually not this chipper. Especially on a Monday.”

“Exactly!” Aren exclaimed. “I said the exact same thing!”

They both looked at me expectantly.

“There’s nothing going on guys. I’m allowed to have chipper days. It’s not a crime. What’s actually a crime is that god-awful food from the cafeteria,” I hedged.

Aren put a shocked hand to her chest, successfully distracted.

“How dare you say that to my face? Just because most of us weren’t born sucking caviar straight out of our mothers’ t**s doesn’t mean you can just say whatever you want about perfectly good food.”

“That doesn’t even make any f*****g sense. And I’ve never even had caviar.”

“Listen here you light-skin rich boy,” Aren began her rant. But before she could finish, she was thankfully interrupted by some people from class.

“Corvin! Glad to see you’re back,” one of them said. His name was Phillip. He was a classmate and was a regular at the clubs and parties just like I was. Or used to be as of now.

He was with a few other familiar faces. I turned to them with my winning smile and gave my greetings. I felt Nix stiffen as soon as the group walked towards us for further conversation. Nix wasn’t the best fan of social situations, especially with people he barely knew. Not that he bothered to know most people.

“What’s up, guys?” I said.

“You’ve been awol for a while, my man,” someone else said.

“I was just taking a break from all this,” I gestured to the school. “It's very stressful.”

“Wish I could take a break from school when I wanted. I swear these motherfuckers want to kill us,” Rosa, Phillip’s girlfriend, said wistfully.

“So glad we caught you just now. There’s this new place that’s opening this Friday. It’s expected to be the hottest place in town. A bunch of us are gonna hit it up, you game?” Phillip asked.

I gave it a thought. I could hear Nix give out a resigned sigh beside me. He was used to this dance. I had always given in, ready for a new place to forget my woes. Rowan’s words ran inside my head.

“I don’t know, guys,” I said in an effort to avoid refusing outright. I felt Aren wrap an arm around me.

“Come on, Gabe. You know you want to,” she said, a literal devil on my shoulder. “You and I haven’t hung out properly in a while.”

“Well, you’ll let us know when you decide. The place is owned by someone I know. Let me know if you're coming so I can have your names on the list,” Phillip said.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be there. I’ll get him there even if he’s kicking and screaming,” she said with a laugh while I rolled my eyes. The group moved on with some goodbyes.

“Why are you so reluctant to go? You’d usually be on this in a heartbeat.”

“I’m trying to cut back on the whole scene,” I confessed.

Though we were close, I hadn't told Aren the true nature of my family. Most people suspected my family was into shady s**t but not the true extent of it. Aren made jokes about my family coming for people, but I wondered if she'd ever suspect how close to the truth she was.

I’d grown up around Syndicate members my entire life. When people saw me, they only saw me as the son of one of the most ruthless clan leaders around and thus treated me as such. I hadn't meant to keep it from her but from the very beginning, she'd never treated me like I was anything different. I treasured that feeling immensely. I did feel guilty about leaving her in the dark but I told myself it was for her own protection.

When I'd first met her, Nix had warned me against pursuing a friendship with a civilian; but I'd liked her too much. At this point, so did he, even if he’d deny it until his dying breath.

“So is it a yes or no?”

I groaned, “No. Sorry, I’m not going.”

Aren wailed in dismay before turning to Nix who had been silent throughout the entire thing. “And you, our resident prince of darkness? want to join in? Please come. I want to go with someone I know.”

“I’d rather-”

“Die, yes. We know. It still doesn’t hurt to try my luck. Maybe one of these days I’ll wear you down and get you to join us on a drunken escapade.”

“Highly unlikely. I’ll leave you guys here. I have a guild raid starting in approximately thirty minutes. I’d love to stay here and chat with you about your…activities but I have a guild waiting on me,” Nix said.

With Nix, the guild could mean anything from hacking a government server for the Clan to an actual guild meeting.

“You know you hang out with your shitty guild pals more than you actually do with us, you know, your in-real-life friends who care about you,” Aren said as he walked away. He raised a middle finger to her and continued walking away.

“f**k you too, Nix!”