The Seasons

Chapter 13

Wing had been living with Cairo for a week; the weather had warmed considerably as the seasons shifted from late spring to early summer. He was slowly beginning to get the hang of things. Did Cairo still terrify him? Yes, of course. But he had not done anything to scare him yet, so he counted that as a win.

Wing was sitting on the grey couch in the living space, staring at his notebook. He had gotten the approval to stay in uni, Cairo had gone with him as guardian, and after a lengthy conversation, the attendance committee had agreed. His classes started in September, and he would have to redo the second year, having missed the majority of it due to circumstances, but he was terrified as he couldn’t remember much of his first year,

“Wing, you want blood?”

In an anxious daze, Wing looked up to see Cairo shirtless and holding a red thermos in his hand. He nodded, taking the bottle from him, uncapping it and taking a sip. When he and Cairo had gone shopping a couple of days ago, the older vampire mentioned that he would need a thermos to drink the blood in public. At the time, Wing had thought the red one would be pretty funny. Neo had not been impressed, but Jem had found it amusing.

Cairo sat beside him and sighed as he spread his legs and grabbed the remote to turn the TV on. “You any closer on your list?”

Wing swallowed the blood but nodded. “Yeah. I got my spot back. You got me the phone. I’m going through everything I missed on your laptop, but there’s so much I’ve missed. I went back to the ditch I was found in and,” he trailed off, staring at the wooden table in front of him. Nothing had been there. Yesterday's rainfall and the number of days passed had erased all evidence.

“Have you gone back to your apartment? I don’t mind you using my laptop here, but when you go to class, you can’t use it there. I’ll be doing my work while we’re there.”

Wing errored. He snapped his neck to stare at Cairo. “What do you mean? We still have months before classes start up again. How long do you plan to stay?”

Cairo frowned. “I can’t leave you by yourself, Wing. Were you not listening in the meeting? I will be in your classes, right next to you. I can’t have you freaking out in the middle of class and drinking someone’s blood.”

“And the uni allowed this?”

The vampire shrugged. “I gave Valerie a letter from Rex.”

“Valerie is a vampire?!”

Cairo sighed as he stared at the younger man. “Yes. Did you not smell her?”

“No?”

“Oh. Well, you should start doing that. You can tell what species someone is by the scent they give off. Humans smell like flesh and blood. Wolves have three distinct smells, betas can often be confused with humans, but they tend to have a faint smell of their pheromones. Omegas always smell nice. And alphas smell like intimidation and threat.”

“Those are not scents.”

Cairo snorted. “The next time you’re around an alpha, smell them.”

Wing nodded as he eyed Cairo warily. “And when you say, smell them?”

“Don’t go up to them and smell them. Just focus on that particular person and inhale through your nose.”

“Vampires can inhale?”

Cairo stared blankly at him. “Moving on, do you not want to visit your old apartment? You know, pick up your things and stuff. Because you can’t keep wearing my clothes.”

Wing stared down at his notebook and his new list:

X get back into uni

/ revise quantum physics

/ read through mathematics for physics

/ get new clothes

X buy a thermos

X have a meltdown

/ prepare for next year

/ read through big bang cosmology + take notes

/ pick up the laptop, ipad, books and other things

/ find a job - pay back slaine and Cairo

/ revise all of first year

He could cross two things from his list if he went to his old apartment. It would also reduce the money he would need to spend on clothes. He also needed to find a job. If he spoke to Neo, he would let him work part-time at The Seasons.

Wing snapped his notebook shut and sighed as he stood up. “Yes, let’s go to the studio.” In honesty, he had been avoiding the place. He had been taken from his apartment, though he hadn’t told the rest yet. The one place he had felt safe no longer did.

Cairo disappeared into his room to get dressed and fiddled with the phone the man had given him. Wing had made multiple promises to pay the man back, but he had shrugged and said he wasn’t bothered if he did. After all, he had used government funding.

Still, Wing wanted to pay the man back. When Cairo came down the hallway wearing a t-shirt and jeans, he grinned as he fiddled with his ring and stared at the man. “You’re not leaving the house like that, right?”

Wing looked down at himself. He was in one of Cairo’s shirts, which were ridiculously large on him. Sure, he was on the smaller side, but these shirts were still so long that they looked like a dress. He looked up at Cairo and shrugged. He didn’t feel like changing; it was warm outside, so he slipped into his shoes.

“I am going out like this.” Cairo raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

The duo walked out, and Wing couldn’t help but eye his best friend’s door. Thorne had been hauled up in his room, writing a research paper, and hadn’t left his room in almost three days. He debated whether he should have dragged him out to get fresh air. But before he could decide, Cairo dragged him into the elevator.

The two stood in silence as two women stepped onto the fourth floor, both not so discreetly eyed Cairo before pulling out their phones. It was clear that they were texting one another. The doors opened on the first floor, and Cairo left without looking back. Wing sighed as he jogged a little to catch up to the man.

“Those women were checking you out.”

“I know,” he said. Wing shrugged but said nothing.

His old studio apartment was a 15-minute drive away, so they went into the complex parking lot, and apparently, Cairo owned a fancy car. Wing’s eyes widened when they stopped in front of the black BMW. He grinned as he peered inside the tinted window, wondering if his eyesight could see anything. It could not.

Cairo opened the doors, and Wing slid in excitedly as he spun in his seat. He could only dream about owning a fancy car like this one day. When the car turned on, so did the LED lights, and he gasped.

“How do you owe something like this? Doesn’t this car go for 2 million?”

“Rex Superno isn’t cheap; he pays everyone well.”

Wing nodded as he found the controls to the lights and began flicking through all the colours. He stopped on red and snickered. He was 1000% keeping it on red. Throughout the drive, Wing anxiously gave Cairo instructions, and soon, they were on the run-down side of town. He saw Cairo eyeing the place in distaste, but he shrugged it off.

He was a broke uni student. He was simply glad he had had a roof over his head. “This is where you were living? Talk about an upgrade.”

Wing didn’t reply as he got out of the car and eyed it. It looked so out of place, but he simply shrugged. He knew he had to talk to the landlord on the first-floor door three to get the keys to his apartment, but he was terrified to see the man. He would be fuming when he realised Wing was back and had missed six months' rent. And honestly, Wing just did not want to see him. At all.

~*~