Raphael (The Immortal Youth Book 1) (18 page)

A few minutes later, Raphael was on his Monster speeding through the congested streets of Rome, devouring the melting asphalt to reach the rehab center. High on joy and very much delirious for the lack of food and liquids, he only saw the imaginary arrow leading him to Luisa.

An hour and an half ride was accomplished in less than fifty minutes. Only when Raphael entered the country road leading to the large clearing before Wolf’s Haven main building, he slowed his bike and realized he couldn’t pry his hands from the handle bars. He brought the Monster to a halt, but didn’t have time to think of what he would do next, because Luisa came out of the rehab center
casolare
and ran toward him.

Before he could remove his helmet, she was at his side and started pummeling at his chest, making the satchel she was wearing over one shoulder fly around. “What did you do? Why did Rico send you? I told you I didn’t want to see you anymore. You shouldn’t have come. Go back to Rome—”

He made a quick job of the helmet, hung it to the handle bar, then took both her hands in his and pressed her to him.

She tried to push him away, but he didn’t let her. “What are you doin—”

His mouth descended on her, then he freed her hands and hugged her tight. She stopped struggling against him right away. As he kissed her, his hands roamed all over her back, making her squirm in his arms.

“Never send me away again,” he whispered, nibbling at the lobe of her ear.

She sighed, “Raphael, please…”

“Never say you don’t want to see me ever again.” He lapped at her throat.

“I missed you.” She arched her neck, giving him better access.

“I’ll never give up on us.” With his teeth he gently scratched the skin on her throat, the urge to mark her so strong it scared him. “I’d do anything to be with you.”

“Please, don’t say that—”

He pressed his teeth where her throat met her shoulder for a playful bite, but heat and need engulfed him as if lightening had run through him at once. “I. Need. You.” His wolf nature calling to him, he alternated each word with a nip. At the last one, he came close to puncture her skin with his canines and her gasp awakened him from the haze.

“I love you.” He bumped his forehead with hers and sighed.

They remained silent for a few seconds, their chests rising and falling as if they had run a marathon. Then in the distance bell tolls announced the hour, and Raphael was reminded he didn’t have much time. “I guess that Rico called you and that you have something for me.”

Her eyes went to the satchel and she nodded. “What did you do?”

In a few words, he told her how he had struck a deal with his big brother, then it was time for him to ask questions. “How did you end up at the rehab center?”

“Rico forces me to drink V whenever he visits me. I’ve tried to hide it from my roommate, but I haven’t been careful enough and she’s found out anyway. Laura is a good friend and I was worried Rico would do something to her and so I pushed her away and it kind of backfired. Trying to help me, Laura told one of the counselors and I was sent here.”

Holding her face in his hands, Raphael looked into her eyes. “And how are you now?”

“I haven’t seen Rico in a week—”

She let the rest of the sentence trail, but he could see all the little signs that made her a recovering addict. Paler than she used to be even though she was now free to be outside, and even slimmer. With a swipe of his thumb over her small wrist, he found the ridges of her last cuts.

“I’ll kill him one day.” He brought her hands to his lips and planted a soft kiss on each of her wrists.

“Don’t waste your thoughts on him.” She freed one hand to reach for the back of his head and lowered his face so that she could whisper to his mouth, “You’re my everything. I wouldn’t survive if anything happened to you.” Her lips gently brushed his. “Now go, please.” She leaned away, then shrugged down the satchel from her shoulder and passed it to him. “Everything’s inside.”

Automatically grabbing the bag he let it slide on his shoulder and pushed it to his back, all the while keeping his eyes on hers. “Do you still have the cell phone?”

“Always on me.” She patted her jeans pocket where a small bulge tented the fabric. “I know all your texts by heart—”

“Never shut me out like that again. It drove me crazy.” His arms circled her and he pressed her to him, resting his chin on her head.

She snuggled closer. “Rico promised to hurt you and I had to keep you away to protect you from doing something—”

“I know, but not talking to you is worse than a beating.” He shifted to brush her forehead. “Not seeing you is worse than getting ink.” His lips lowered to her nose, then he reached for her mouth for a long, thorough kiss that had both of them panting when he finally let her go. “Not touching you is worse than dying.”

The buzz from a cell phone text startled them in the middle of another kiss.

“It’s him.” Luisa’s eyes widened in fear as she reached for a different pocket and retrieved a second phone. “He gave me this cell.” She showed him the text.

Rico: Did you give my stuff to the pup?

“He won’t be able to hurt you again. I promise.” With a final peck on her lips, Raphael grabbed the helmet, wore it, and mounted the Monster.

As he turned on the engine, she threw her arms around his neck. “Be safe.”

With a nod, he revved the engine. “I’ll text you later.”

August passed in a haze for Raphael, and so did the following months.

Taking advantage of his truce with Rico—who was more and more addled by his addiction to V—Raphael was able to take three-hour launch breaks at least once a week. Enough time only to reach the rehab center and drive back to Rome in the nick of time before the next delivery, but he would have done it twice a day just to have a glimpse of Luisa. During those escapades, he became intimately acquainted with the Wolf’s Haven geography and all the nooks and crannies he and Luisa could disappear into for a few minutes of stolen bliss.

Raphael barely realized fall was gone when winter arrived, and by that time he had had enough of those fleeting meetings with Luisa and started planning their escape from Rico, from the Reds, and from Rome.

Two weeks after his eighteenth birthday, one frigid night in February in the middle of the carnival revelries, Tancredi threw a
Carnevale
party to raise the gang’s battered spirit after one botched deal with a rival gang. At the same time, the alpha announced he would introduce a few new acquisitions to the harem.

Not interested in the celebration, Raphael had hoped to call it a night and disappear in his bedroom after dinner. On his way out of the dining room, he was about to text Luisa when Rico’s big paw slapped him on his back.

“Here he is, my bright little brother.” Rico’s voice was loud and already slurred. He was one of the Reds who came back from the deal with his tail between his legs and in a foul mood, fouler than usual.

Several people turned, sensing a brawl in the making. Lately, Rico had provided more nocturnal entertainment than the cable. A few nights earlier that week, he had disrupted a fight tournament by entering the cage to kick and punch both opponents. It had taken five men to forcefully remove him from the ring, and he had kept screaming to the top of his lungs, “I can take you all.” Tancredi wasn’t present and no one officially complained to the alpha, so Rico got away with a hangover and several bruises.

“What’s up, big brother?” Feigning he wasn’t disgusted by the stench of alcohol emanating from Rico was hard—it reminded him too much of his father—but Raphael kept his gag reflex under control.

“Let’s go have some fun together.” With his arm firmly placed over Raphael’s shoulder, Rico steered him toward the stairs.

“It’s okay. You go.” Lowering his shoulder, Raphael tried to pry himself away from the werewolf.

“Still pining after that little bitch are you?” Rico said out loud, effectively gaining the interest of the few who hadn’t been listening in on them yet.

The whole room was now waiting to hear Raphael’s answer, and he saw the calculating light in Rico’s eyes. The man wasn’t as drunk as he wanted the others to believe and more dangerous for it.

With a grin, Raphael fell back in position and patted Rico’s hand dangling from his shoulder. “You know what, why not? Let’s have fun.”

Something dark flashed before Rico’s eyes, but he soon recovered and scampered ahead. “If you play your cards right, I might even let you have a drop or two from my stash.”

“Can’t wait.”

Once in the ceremonial hall on the fourth floor, Rico made a beeline for the bar where he got two shots of vodkas and offered one to Raphael who declined at first.

“You must drink.” Rico pushed the glass into Raphael’s hand, and Raphael gulped it down to silence the man before he could say something else. A moment later, Rico reached for the internal pocket in his jacket and furtively brought a small vial to his lips after removing the lid. “Shhh—” He put two fingers on his mouth before hiding back the drug. “You didn’t see anything, pup.”

“See what?” He counted on Rico getting high on V. The werewolf would hide his sorry self somewhere else to ride his high, and Raphael would be finally free to text Luisa for the rest of the night.

Rico guffawed and slammed his hand over Raphael’s stomach. “You’re something else, aren’t you?”

“If you say so.” Swallowing the bile Rico’s mere existence caused, Raphael forced a smile for the rapt audience that had followed them upstairs.

The hall soon filled to the brim. The whole gang, little and big brothers, was present and ready to unwind with booze and an eyeful of the new girls. Among cheers and whistles, Tancredi finally summoned the harem. To Raphael’s relief, Rico’s focus was diverted toward the new acquisitions coming in. One of them attracted his attention, and he left Raphael behind to reach her at the other side of the room. The new girl, a curvaceous brunette maybe slightly older than Raphael, looked up at Rico and her eyes widened as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him for a forceful kiss.

The vodka shot fueled Raphael’s ever-present disgust for Rico and transformed it in something dangerous, a call to action that propelled his feet forward.

“Don’t touch me.” The girl jerked her arm free from Rico, enraging him.

Raphael was a few meters away when Rico slapped the brunette hard and sent her to the floor.

“How dare you talk back to me, you bitch—” Rico removed the belt from his pants and doubled it. “I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget.” Metal studs shaped like wolf skulls with fangs decorated the wide strip of leather.

At the sight of the belt raised to strike the girl, Raphael forgot all about caution and put himself between her and Rico.

“Move out of the way.” Eyes red and labored breath, Rico stepped forward and slammed his chest against Raphael’s.

“Leave her alone.” As the crowd closed around them, Raphael realized his mistake but it was too late to back off and he wouldn’t have let Rico beat a defenseless girl in any case.

Rock arrived a moment later and made sign for Raphael to step away, but Raphael ignored him.

Rico’s eyes darted sideways, taking in the audience and Rock standing by the edge. “Move. Out. Of. The. Way.”

His night ruined, Raphael sighed and pressed forward. “I can’t.”

“What did I tell the two of you?” Tancredi emerged through the parting crowd, one flute in his hand and one girl at his elbow.

Rico turned and slightly bowed to the alpha, once again showing more judgement than any impaired person should have shown. “The new girl disrespected me and it’s within my rights to punish her, but the pup got in the middle.”

“Is that so?” Tancredi asked Raphael, but the consensus from the crowd silenced whatever excuse Raphael was about to concoct.

“Everyone saw what happened.” Rico’s satisfied tone was hard to ignore even with the ruckus made by the audience.

Tancredi’s displeasure at the situation was conveyed by a raised eyebrow and a low intake of breath. With his eyes on Raphael the whole time, he gave the flute to the girl at his side, strolled to Rico, seized the belt from him with an audible snap, then addressed Raphael, “Take the belt and give the girl five lashes for her impudence.”

The room plummeted to silence, and Raphael’s stomach folded into itself. He knew what was coming and yet couldn’t help but shake his head. “I can’t hit a girl.”

“What did you say, pup?” Tancredi stepped closer and pushed the belt at him.

“I can’t hit a girl,” Raphael repeated louder, refusing the leather.

Tancredi’s eyes darkened and a vein throbbed on his temple, rage reverberating in his words as he said, “Then you’ll get her lashes plus fifteen for disobeying my order.” He dropped the belt into Rico’s hands and left.

“You heard the alpha.” Rico walked around Raphael, his chest inflating at every turn. “Remove your jacket and let’s get it over with, so I can enjoy my night with that bitch.”

“I’m sorry,” Raphael mouthed to the girl as he removed his jacket and his shirt.

Two brothers came to walk him to the podium opposite the alpha throne at the other end of the hall, which usually was kept in the dark and unused. There, his hands were shackled over his head to a hook dangling from the ceiling. Detached from reality already, he realized one of the braziers overhead had been removed for the occasion. Tancredi watched him from far away.

“We don’t want to ruin you wings now, do we?” Rico positioned himself before Raphael. “I think I’ll split your punishment so that you’ll get the majority of the lashes on your front. What do you think?”

Hanging like dead meat, Raphael shrugged. “Whatever.”

Readying his hand, Rico gave him a smile. “Even if you don’t deserve it, I’m feeling magnanimous and I’ll spare your face.”

True to his word, the werewolf hit Raphael twenty times without once reaching farther than his shoulders. Rico powered through the motion, and as the studded belt whistled in the air every blow landed heavier on Raphael. The sickening sound of flesh being tore apart echoed in the room. Toward the end, Rico’s grunts mixed with the screams Raphael couldn’t keep inside any longer. The crowd kept count, and by the last lash blood was smeared all over Raphael’s back and chest, and it had also sprayed over Rico and the podium. The moment Rock freed him from the hook keeping him upright, he collapsed on his knees, only to be supported by the wolf’s capable arms.

“Now you can go to your room to lick your wounds.” Raphael heard Rico say.

The crowd opened for Raphael, and Rock helped him to walk away from the hall.

When they were on the landing, Rock turned sideways and locked eyes with Raphael. “It isn’t safe for you to stay here tonight. Do you have anywhere else I can drive you?”

Keeping his focus on Rock was hard, but Raphael first nodded then asked, “Why?”

“I just saw Rico signaling one of his friends and I don’t know what he’s up to, but it wouldn’t be the first time he strikes an opponent when he’s down. Remember the brother you mentioned when you first arrived here? The one you bested?”

A thick fog was descending upon Raphael and he had a hard time following Rock. “No, I don’t—” Although, a faint memory of a bicycle chase and the image of a burly man with a tear tattoo floated in his mind.

“No one among the littles does, because Rico made him disappear overnight. It was just before you arrived. They were seen arguing over something, and the next morning Marzio had left and was never found.” Rock exhaled and brought one hand to his hair. “There were rumors he had crossed Rico—”

“Okay, I hear you.” His eyes heavy, Raphael turned and caught the hard glare from Rico several meters away in the hall. Rock was right. His big brother wasn’t done with him. “Milvio Bridge.”

“What?”

“Take me down to Milvio Bridge underpass.”

“What’s there?”

“An abandoned barge. I used to live there.”

Rock drove him in one of the gang’s SUVs and Raphael lost consciousness a few times during the ride.

“Will you be okay?” Rock had parked in one of the narrow streets by the bridge and was looking down at the rundown barge.

Leaning over the parapet, Raphael nodded. “I only need to rest.”

“I can’t stay with you.”

“I know. It’s okay.” Raphael walked to the staircase landing, grabbed the railing with both hands, and awkwardly descended the first step toward the riverbank. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.”

In two steps, Rock was at his side. “Don’t disappear from Rome. I’ll cover for you for tonight and tomorrow because I know Rico has planned something, but Tancredi will send all his guards after you if you run away. Give me time to work out something with Rico. I might convince the alpha to remove you from under him and put you in my care.”

Talking with Tancredi was futile. Refusing to obey an order of his in public had been Raphael’s downfall, and both Raphael and Rock knew it. Nevertheless, Raphael appreciated the sentiment behind Rock’s actions and words. “See you tomorrow.” He even gave the werewolf the thumbs up before leaving.

Dragging his legs down the stairs, Raphael reached the riverbank, and waved his hand up at Rock who was standing watch on the bridge. Next, he walked toward the barge, climbed the jetty, and entered the boat, only to exit the musty place as soon as Rock moved out of sight. Raphael still waited a moment to see if the wolf was lingering nearby, then, with great effort, reached for one of the Promenade entries hidden under the bridge.

From there, he moved in a trance as if trawling underwater, putting one foot before the other, only thinking of slowing down his breathing to save energy. Worried to reach his destination before fainting, he followed the River Styx bends unconcerned of the looks people sent his way. The slow flow of the dark waters of the river had always soothed him, but not now.

At the first opportunity, he left the main trail and entered the system of tunnels that stretched under Rome for kilometers. Wary of entering Magik Nation by mistake, he kept to the side of the underworld that had once belonged to the catacombs, lengthening the walk by several minutes. The wall of rock hiding the Den of Rejects loomed ahead of him when his legs finally gave away and he collapsed to the ground.

Warm hands and worried voices touched Raphael, and he opened his eyes to see Angel’s face hovering over his. In a moment of sudden lucidity and acting in automatic, he hastily removed his jacket, reversed it inside out, then folded it in two.

“What happened to you?” Angel oscillated in and out of focus.

“Rough night.” Raphael’s eyes wouldn’t stay open, and he kept blinking as he tried to stand.

“Stay put, Paride and I will take care of you.”

Another set of strong arms circled Raphael, who tilted his head to look at Paride staring back at him with a worried expression on his face. “It looks worse than it is. I just need to rest for a few hours,” he thought he said, but even to his ears the words had sounded garbled. He was exhausted and couldn’t remain awake any longer, but was still fighting it.

“We’ll take you to our place.” Angel’s soft voice finally lulled Raphael to sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, Raphael was lying on a bed. Twinges of sharp pain leapt all around his torso when he tried to sit.

“You’re back,” Paride said, leaning forward on a chair by the window.

Angel sat on a stool by the bed and smiled at Raphael. “I thought you’d never wake.”

“How long…” His mouth tasted like something had died in it, and his head hurt at every slight movement. Even turning his eyes was painful, and he gave up on attempting to change position.