Chapter 7
1323 Words
When Eve saw the blood, she froze.
No thoughts. No words. Just that dark, dried mess on Luca’s hands and her heart lurching straight into her throat.
“Honey! Is that Luca?!” Naomi’s voice called from the kitchen.
Eve snapped into action.
She grabbed Luca’s wrists, yanked both hands up under the front of her hoodie, and pressed them against her stomach, hiding them completely beneath the fabric.
Without thinking, she stood on her toes and planted a quick, stiff kiss on his mouth.
Luca went rigid. His hands stayed tucked under her hoodie. His face didn’t move.
Neither did hers.
It wasn’t romantic. It wasn’t anything but sheer survival instinct.
From the corner of her eye, Eve caught a glimpse of Naomi’s head peeking around the kitchen door.
Just as quickly, it vanished.
Eve stepped back, wide eyed, lips pressed tight.
“Sorry,” she muttered, grabbing Luca by the elbow. “Upstairs. Now.”
He didn’t argue, probably couldn’t.
She dragged him down the hall, up the stairs, and into her room before either of them could process what had just happened.
She shut the door and locked it without thinking, her back still against it as she turned to face him.
“What the actual hell, Luca?”
He didn’t answer at first. Just stood there, stunned, glancing down at his hands like he was only now noticing the blood again.
“I know,” he said finally. “It looks… really bad.”
Eve let out a short, dry laugh borderline hysterical.
“You think?”
She ran a hand through her hair and paced once across the room.
“You showed up at my house with blood on your hands. Literal blood. On. Your. Hands. And then I kissed you in front of my mum to hide it like I’m in some kind of low-budget thriller.”
Luca winced. “Yeah, that was… unexpected.”
“You’re telling me.”
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“You need to wash that off. Like, now. Before it ends up on my bedsheets or something and suddenly I’m an accomplice.”
He nodded and headed toward the bathroom.
She called after him, “Use the lavender soap. The one in the pump. Not the bar one, it’s decorative and if you mess it up, my mum will absolutely notice.”
“I got it!” he called back.
The sink started running.
Eve stood frozen where he’d been moments before, heart still hammering.
It wasn’t just the blood.
It was him.
Something about the way he looked, pale, shaken, like he wasn’t fully himself... scared her more than any stain.
He wasn’t like this. Not Luca.
Something was wrong.
And she needed to know what.
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It took Luca less than ten minutes to clean up, but it felt like an hour.
When he stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hands on one of Eve’s ridiculous embroidered towels. Live, Laugh, Lather... he expected her to be pacing or waiting by the door. She wasn’t.
The room was empty.
“Eve?” he called quietly.
Before he could move further, the door to her walk-in closet creaked open and she stepped out, tugging the sleeves of a clean hoodie over her wrists.
He blinked. “You changed.”
“I had to,” she said, holding up the hoodie she’d been wearing earlier. “Your murder mess got all over me.”
Luca’s face immediately went guilty. “Sorry.”
Eve shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal—though it kind of was. “It’s fine. Just hope we got it out before my mum starts sniffing around laundry baskets.”
She tossed the stained hoodie onto her desk chair, then held something else out, a slightly crumpled black hoodie with a faded graphic on the back.
He squinted at it. “Is that mine?”
“Yeah. You left it here like three visits ago. Probably when you claimed the last bag of popcorn and bailed before movie night even started.”
He cracked a tiny smile. “Classic me.”
“Exactly. Now shut up and change before someone sees your shirt.”
He took it, voice softer now. “Thanks.”
Eve nodded and moved to the window to keep watch.
Not that anyone was out there, but it gave her something to do while he changed.
Her hands still trembled slightly.
None of this was normal.
But now wasn’t the time for panic.
It was time for answers.
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Luca finished pulling the hoodie over his head just as Eve turned around.
“You good?” she asked, nodding toward him.
He gave a shaky half smile. “As good as someone can be after—” He stopped and glanced down at his now clean hands like they still carried the weight of everything. “I honestly don’t know what just happened.”
Eve crossed her arms and leaned against her desk. “Okay. Now might be a good time to explain what you do know.”
Luca looked toward the closed door like someone might burst in any second.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he said quietly.
“Try the part where you show up at my house with blood on your hands right after the news says someone’s been murdered two streets away,” Eve said, trying to keep calm but her voice cracking with tension. “That’d be a good place.”
Luca took a deep breath.
“I was walking home through the alley behind the old bookshop, the one with the metal stairs.”
Eve frowned. “What were you doing walking home at this hour? Weren’t you supposed to be home? And where were you yesterday? You missed school and nobody saw you. You’ve been pulling these disappearing acts for weeks now. We’re worried, Luca.”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking more tired than usual.
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just... I needed some air. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Eve softened slightly but kept her guard.
“Alright, but you have to be honest with me now. What happened last night? Why are you like this?”
Luca hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t really remember everything. Just bits and pieces. But those two men... they were talking about a ‘destined couple’ and an ‘angel.’ It didn’t make sense. They said we have to find her before dawn.”
Eve’s stomach tightened. “Find who? And why?”
He looked away. “I wish I knew.”
“I thought I was imagining it, or just overhearing something weird. Then I saw her... the girl. She was lying there on the ground. I don’t even know why, but I ran to help her. I tried to check if she was breathing, felt for a pulse, tried to wake her up.”
His voice faltered.
Eve’s stomach clenched tighter. “And the men?”
“They saw me. They didn’t say anything but took off quickly. I panicked. I didn’t call anyone. I just ran.”
“And came straight here,” Eve whispered.
He nodded.
A heavy silence fell between them.
Then Eve’s phone buzzed. She picked it up, expecting another text or something trivial—but the screen lit up with a breaking news alert.
Victim in local assault pronounced alive. Conflicting reports on time of death. Police investigating.
She stared at the screen, heart pounding.
“She was dead,” Luca said softly, watching her closely. “I swear. No pulse. Cold. I thought she was gone.”
Eve’s eyes met his, wide and full of disbelief.
“…Then how is she alive now?”
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