BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 142

Xavier Hastings has been circling the floor since breakfast. He believes he coded Jose at a party at Sir William's house. He knew the man must have captured the double meaning of his disguised speech in the form of ridicule.

He should have known, Xavier thought agitatedly. Or is he not as smart as people say? Gossip often exaggerates.

Or am I not clearly delivering a message? But more clearly than that then I can get Spencer!

He thought, once he got the code from him that he knew where Marco was, Jose would contact him in some way. He thought the beating of Sir William was just an excuse to create that opportunity. Xavier is wrong. Jose immediately left the party with his friends and did not contact him at all.

It's still morning, Xavier's trying to calm himself down. He rubbed his already messy brown hair with his left hand while his right hand grabbed his whisky glass. The party was just last night.

"I have to remind Tuan—“

"Shut up!" hardik Xavier was quick before Wales, his personal servant, forbade him to drink. He should drink. Otherwise, how could he forget those corpses as well as the rattling of monsters they created? Even today, as the morning sun spills its light into the room through giant windows, Xavier feels as if he is still in the woods, still smelling the smell of rotten fat.

He had just poured another glass for her when Charles walked in and walked up to her in a hurry. His cousin grabbed the glass in Xavier's hand and put it away.

"In the meantime, the eclipse we're waiting for, you should be fasting."

Xavier took a breath. His eyes were agitated. Maybe we shouldn't go along, that sentence he can't say. Xavier just nodded gagu.

Charles grimaced, patting his shoulders briefly. "By the way, you remember we hid Marco in prison behind the tower, right? What an interesting prison. Others will put the prison underground, but Duke Ashington made it in the middle of the castle!" He was grinning, his thin face growing pale by the day, making Charles look like a corpse.

"Good prison," Xavier agreed, starting to hiccup. He went around the bar table, looking for water. He poured water into the glass, but his hands trembled until it was hard to focus. The bar table is wet and the floor is muddy. Wales was not there, so Xavier let it go. He lifted the glass full of water, then gulped down its contents without feeling anything. Water soaked his esophagus, spilled onto his chin, dripped down his neck and soaked his shirt collar.

Charles pursed his nose in horror at the way his cousin drank. "I told you, you should stop drinking."

Xavier slammed his glass into the table, then blew a loud breath, grateful Charles thought it was shaking with alcohol. "Jail," he muttered, moving between looking at Charles and casting his shadow on the bar table. "Why prison?"

Charles patted his forehead dramatically. "Ah, there it is. Marco Argent and his servant went missing last night! Robert last saw last night, said he saw they were still in place, so he went straight home at ten. But when I saw him again after that? Hum, you can't imagine how angry I am. He's not there."

"Nothing?" repeat Xavier nervous. He could hardly hear his own voice because it was covered with the thumping sound of his heart that reached the eardrum. "meaning?"

"Well, he's missing. The rope came off, the trellis too. What can you do, old prison anyway. We were in a hurry then. And not only did he disappear, even his servant was not there. I've been reporting and said some people have been sent to search for them."

Xavier almost laughed crisply, but he lowered his head and pretended to cough. He used his brown hair that fell down his cheeks as well as his shoulders to cover the wide grin that appeared.

"But, well this is interesting." Charles smiled, making his cheekbones appear more and more vivid. He got up from his chair and chose to sit in a round bar stool directly across from Xavier. "Because of the annoyance that he really escaped, last night I tried to make that golem again. Alone near the chapel castle."

Xavier raised his face, looking at Charles in disbelief. "You're kidding me, right? You know it's dangerous, right?"

His cousin waved and laughed. "Quiet, I know how. I've seen it a few times, and we've tried it ourselves."

Xavier's jaw was shaking slowly. "Who are you using?" whispered.

"The grave is nameless, take it easy" Charles said lightly, as if they were talking about cake setoples. "I can do it, Xav! Maybe I'm a genius. I should have been born hundreds of years ago, when these kinds of things were common, I must have been adored! You have to believe, just like we did in the woods with Robert, last night I made it too. I don't know how long the creature lasted, but here's the good news ..."

Xavier grimacing. Good news for Charles never sounded good in his ears.

"I wrote a sigil on my golem to get him to look for Argent. And this morning he was found!"

"Marco Argent!"

"He ... dead?"

Charles shakes. "He hid in the tower like a rat. My golem found it, but there seemed to be a small mistake in my manufacturing process," he giggled small, still looking proud. "Robert said that my golem also killed two Southern children who were asked to find Argent, as well as Argent's servant. Their bodies are no longer dead, he said. My creation turned out to be very savage. I guess I'm pretty good at this, even without the talisman. And you want to hear the more interesting part?"

Xavier didn't want to hear it. He pulled the scotch glass that his cousin had removed and began chugging.

"Argent's eyes went a little crazy" Charles laughed happily, his voice sounding faintly in Xavier's head. "Robert wrestled with him, until he was shot. Xav, if I were there to see it. I really want to see what it looks like without her arrogance. Basic infidel!"

Charles continued to talk, but Xavier only listened half-heartedly. Since when, he thought. Since when did everything go so wrong?

At first they were just idly learning about runes and witchcraft, while in Romania. Then the necklace changed everything. That damned necklace. He is determined to find and destroy it. If the necklace is destroyed, Charles may return to what he used to be.

"I miss the old us" said Xavier unconsciously in between the flow of drinking.

Charles pulled the glass from his cousin's grasp. "I'm not, anyway" he said casually, all ordinary. He frowned at the shadow of his face in the glass. "We were so poor. Wherever I go, they don't believe me when I say I'm Baron Hastings. Remember the many who harassed me by imitating the way I spoke? Everything is better now, better. You can also do whatever you want without worrying about the cost."

Xavier dropped his forehead on the bar table, sobbing. If he destroyed his necklace, would their wealth be lost as well? If their wealth is lost, will he return to be a burden to his cousin? Will they be able to walk with their chins held high like now?

***

Jose wants to explain what really happened, but Rolan refuses to hear from him. Instead, he asked Gerald and Hans to tell him what had happened.

The three of them spoke in a separate room because Rolan did not want Jose's whereabouts to make the workers so distasteful. But the two men did not hesitate at all to talk about their master. Both are exactly like a virgin girl talking about her heart or children talking about favorite story characters.

Gerald and Hans consecutively narrate with pride how Jose stripped Robert of power in front of his subordinates. Rolan gaped wide to hear it, and without waiting for the story to finish—they were only until when Jose threatened one by one Robert—Rolan's men immediately went into the next room, nolan and Jose sat next to each other on a long sofa. The papers were scattered around them and Nolan diligently scrawled charcoal onto the paper. Margie was still there as well, giving a warm look as if she was watching her children play along.

Rolan took a deep breath, preventing himself from going berserk. Jose must have had a reason, he thought, I'll try to believe him first. He couldn't have really been casually drawing.

"What are you guys doing?" rolan asked from between his teeth, failing to smile.

Jose raised his face. He received another drawing paper that Nolan handed to him when he replied, "Drawing? Nolan drew, I just saw it."

Rolan looked at Margie, telling her to come out with one eye. The old woman understood and immediately said goodbye after reminding Nolan to drink her warm honey milk.

"Tell me one reason why I don't have to strangle you right now, Jose!" Rolan folded his hands in front of his chest. He turned his head when he sensed the presence of others, finding Gerald and Hans staring at him sharply from the open doorway. "Sstrangling ... metaphorically speaking," he immediately responded.

Jose laughed amusedly. "Come to Uncle" he said. "Nolan told me what he was going through in the picture. He can't talk, nor does he write well. So we used the picture."

Rolan exhaled a sigh of relief hearing that. Gerald and Hans turned back to face the wall, standing guard outside the threshold of the room. Jose deliberately left the door open so Nolan didn't feel trapped.

Jose doesn't know exactly what the girl is going through, but decides to be careful not to stress or trauma Nolan. The girl is their direct source who can answer where Marco is.

***