#* vinduri .

he had cleaned up nicely ; he always did . even after a killing , giulio aquilano always managed to look pristine and EARTHLY ━━ nothing about his appearance screamed cursed or hellish . even lestat could not help but admire the immortal's features : every time they met , he ached to touch the other vampire's throat and wrists if only to make sure there was no pulse to him .

yet , as giulio turned his head to peek over his shoulder , a thin red line was revealed ; blood trailed from below the vampire's ear all the way down to the corner of his mouth ( a pretty mouth capable of savageries not even lestat had dared to indulge himself in yet ) . the blonde chuckled and approached his host with a nonchalance that should only be reserved for close friends . IF THEY WEREN'T FRIENDLY THEY'D BE SOON ENOUGH ; how many had witnessed to monsieur aquilano's cruelty and still embraced him fully ? had many looked away , lestat wondered ? had he been mistaken for lucifer ? and had the name hurt him or made him proud ?

❛ you've got a lil' something right ... here . ❜ touch came so easily to him . lestat did not once hesitate reaching out to hold the immortal's jaw , guiding him to tilt his head to the side so that his thumb may rub over the trail of blood staining giulio's visage . he's gentle of course , WHAT SORT OF FRIEND would he be if he weren't ? but lestat is bold ... too bold . the blood was still fresh , it came off rather easy , but he still allowed the pad of his finger to linger against the corner of aquilano's mouth , analysing his features with a smile of his own .

it was always a pleasure to listen to what giulio aquilano's first words after a kill were ; lestat recalled having watched him tear a young man apart sixty years ago only then to hear him whisper something to himself in a language the frenchman did not think to be real . the blood awoke something ancient in giulio and monsieur lioncourt wished he could contain them ; all of those moments in which both speech and instinct met inside the ancient vampire's body . he spoke of the devil this time , an odd deviation from the norm , for giulio's feelings regarding christianity were of no secret ... but his dark stare was hooked on lestat's when he spoke of the father of all evil and , in that moment , HE FELT POWERFUL .

❝ the devil is an excuse , caro giulio . every time anyone feels an ounce of pleasure , of jealousy , every time there is glee in the misfortune of others , ❞ lestat clasped both of his hands together in desperate prayer , mockingly looking up at the heavens with wide , pleading eyes . ❝ ━━ è colpa del diavolo ! ❞ he said , following his exclamation with a scoff . there was still blood on his chin and hair , dried up and black under the moonlight . giulio was stained with it too ; the very same sin lestat had been branded with . that of thirst ... that of wanting . he much preferred the older vampire like that , blood drunk and sharp .

❝ but you and i ... we are freed of such superstitions . ❞ lestat stepped closer to the other man with a nonchalance to his walk that would most certainly not suggest a fresh kill . he immediately reached out to giulio's shirt , adjusting his bloodied collar with artful hands which were not bashful in the manner with which they dragged their sharp nails against giulio's throat . ❝ everything i do, i do because i want to . ❞

louis does little more than exhale in defeat when sensing the presence of the other man lingering somewhere behind him. it had been foolish of him to think he could ( should ) rummage through his host’s affairs without getting caught. giulio calls him out and it feels like a blade is being pressed against the base of his skull ( could he die like that , louis wondered     ──    no , his curse was meant to be never-ending ) . slim fingers shut the notebook riddled with sentences written in a language louis was not familiar with. his eyes had adjusted to the darkness but, in that pitch black room, the only gleam of light he could find was where he thought giulio’s eyes to be.

it smelled of carnage, that cell. blood had been spilt within that room and never properly cleaned ( blood stains always were the hardest to erase ). perhaps it didn’t bother giulio, the remains of past violence. perhaps he was to blame for it. the thought didn’t shock louis; but it didn’t please him either. he turns to place the book back on the surface he had found it but falters when told to be gentle. vampirism, louis had found, came with an insatiable thirst for blood and obnoxious control it seemed.

it was no loving act, the manner with which giulio reached out and touched jonathan. fingers dragged heavily against his cheek, causing the skin to stretch there, the pull causing his brow to furrow and his mouth to contort into a grimace; he could feel the coldness of a ring threatening to bruise the flesh on the hill of his cheekbone. but as he gazed down at the man ( not a man , he reminded himself , not a god either , he lied ) the blackness of that stare pulled him in like it had once before ; two pits so dark one could not tell how deep they went ... and yet mr. harker could not help but to look. there was a pull to it , one he was familiar with but not immune to. 

the more jonathan harker looked, the more the world around him blurred; the sounds of other museum visitors became distant and incomprehensible, any life that could not be found between the two of them was rendered meaningless, grains of sand on a vast beach. jon tried to breathe deeply but found that he could not. giulio aquilano’s hand mercilessly continued to test the thickness of his skin, a gesture meant as a caress turned to mockery   ──   jon tried to hold on to that thought willing his hand to hook around giulio’s forearm, but he could never be so cruel, not even then. his touch was far gentler than the creature before him. and when he spoke, he did not seem sure of the meaning of his words.    “   ──    let go. ” 

his stare was so similar to his   ──   to his first haunting, his first true terror ; as much as jon tried, he could not peel his eyes away from that part of his life. HIS PAST CAST A VERY LARGE SHADOW and as much as he despised it, from time to time, john wished to be engulfed by it once again.   “ let go of me ! ” harker said, finally finding the determination within himself to pull away from aquilano’s reach.

 “ i am no dog, mr. aquilano. you may be incapable of being civil in my presence, but you will grant me some respect! ”

“ who? ”  memphis blew smoke out of the corner of his crooked mouth. the creature seemed to have forgotten that the cigarette in his hand remained unlit. it didn’t matter — he didn’t need to put on airs for anyone, certainly not for castiel. his brow, however, furrowed at the question; why had he killed the two bags of flesh laying out there in the parking lot ? his lips pursed as he pretended to be in deep thought. memphis would occasionally glance at the angel from the corner of his eye, half-hoping that he’d grow bored of waiting and flap up and away from that waffle house. but castiel, of course, chose to practice patience.

     “ well they committed the greatest sin of all, cassie! ” the demon exclaimed, widening his eyes at god’s shield, as if the answer ought to be obvious. it wasn’t. but memphis would lean over close and he would whisper through his teeth as if the reasoning behind his merciless killings was too grave and too horrifying to be spoken aloud.

“ double parking. ” he squinted.

smoke came spilling out of his nostrils all at once while his dead cigarette continued to dangle between his fingers. memphis nudged the angel with his pointy elbow. “ hey, ” he winked. “ you’re welcome. ”

ferris moved to stand closer to the foreigner; he wasn’t from around those parts. he could tell; the scent of london’s smog didn’t cling to him. instead he could detect something earthy on his hands — clay, perhaps. organic matter well hidden beneath the stench of blood and gore.   “ hm. ”   o’phelan grunted while suckling on his thick fingers. the filth of the kill gathered beneath his nails. his dark visitor, however, appeared to be pristine. an unlikely feat, ferris thought, for no man who spoke in such manner could ever be clean. not really.  “ ’tis honouring you’re after then. ”  he drawled.

that which laid before them could hardly be considered a body; parts of it were missing, reduced to a tangled mess of bone and flesh. it looked as if a pack of animals had had a go at it — a half-truth he suspected the shorter man to acknowledge. condensation filled the cold air; the kill was fresh but ferris o’phelan belly felt profoundly warm.

“ sure looks like plain ol’ butcherin’ to me. ”

long lashes fluttered at the sudden darkness which spilt from the pirate before him.   “ my, my, that sounds rather ominous, doesn’t it? ”   james hook remarked while sitting back against his velvety chair, cup of wine in hand, thick and red. the tales which his crew shared up on deck about the infamous captain jack sparrow spoke of a creature birthed from the waves, as endless and untameable as the sea itself. but hook was a skeptic, and the longer he eyed the man before him, the more blurred the tellings of his power seemed to become. 

                 after a sip of his drink, the pirate set the chalice upon his wooden desk and offered a smile to his guest. it was too short-lived to ever reach his eyes. “ well, whatever it is you brought, i hope you intend on sharing. ” there was a threat lingering somewhere beneath his words. it made itself clearer when james used his sharp hook to pull the half-empty bottle between them, letting the crooked metal shimmer under the candle light.  “ wine? ”

      “ well , you’ve inflicted plenty of fear upon my staff . i do not believe dr. young will be returning to her duties any time soon . ”    dr. arkham casually pointed out while cleaning the lenses of his glasses on his shirt . when he put them back on to look at the man known only to the people of gotham as THE JOKER , jeremiah looked disappointed . perhaps not the most adequate sentiment to demonstrate towards an inmate who had just recently attacked and injured another psychiatrist . BUT NOTHING ABOUT JEREMIAH WAS ADEQUATE .

                              there was a reason why he had chosen to visit this particular patient in his cell rather than in the interrogation room ; because , despite all the suspicious activity going on inside the asylum , there was an active security system installed throughout every single corner of arkham . everywhere they went , there was a camera , watching . everywhere , except within inmates’ cells . of course , security staff lingered outside the door , hoping to be given any reason to apply violent tactics upon the scrubbed off clown . but they wouldn’t be given any , at least , NOT YET .

    “ i am familiar with your brand of violence . all of gotham is , i suppose ... ”    blue eyes stared at the troublesome patient but jeremiah wasn’t looking at him .    “ that violence  ---  it needs refocusing . ”    the doctor declared , his voice low and careful as if he were trying not to disturb a wild animal . when he spoke next , he tilted his head and the cell lights reflected against the lenses of arkham’s glasses .