Not even bothering to knock, Caesar opened Marianna’s door and walked in. His movement is like a ghost.
Marianna lay curled up on the bed, a Victorian novel in her hand. She looked up. There was a horrifying stillness about the way Caesar had come in. Marianna went cold. The book fell from her hand.
Caesar came in further into the room and shut the door. He stood a few feet from the bed. He held his two hands behind him. That way she didn’t see the knife he was holding.
“You’ve been busy, Marianna,” he said in a low voice.
Thinking Caesar again was in her room to taunt her, she said curtly;
“Get out, Caesar . I don’t have time for your tantrums this evening,”
Slowly, Caesar moved closer to bed. His deliberate, quiet movements were sending some kind of alarm signal to her brain. But yet, she had no inclination of what was about to happen.
“How could you, Marianna? How could you?”
“How could I?” Marianna said, confused. She sat up on the bed. “What’s the problem, Caesar ? What is it this time?”
“You are like a thorn in my flesh. Let’s say I’ve been a bad brother to you. I’ve been mean and terrible to you. Does that mean you should always find a way to bring me down?”
Seeing the deadpan expression on his face, Marianna decided this was not one of those usual emotional tantrum moments with Caesar . This is for real. She became frightened.
“Caesar , could you just tell me what I did wrong? I need to know,”.
“Why did you tell the Blood River pack where I kept Victor ?” He suddenly snapped. “Why did you rat on me?”
“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about?” Marianna screamed. She jumped to her feet. “What’s all these, Caesar ? I don’t understand,”
“You told them where I kept Victor!” He returned angrily. “You told them! You sold me out, Marianna”
“What?” She gasped incredulously. “Caesar ……how can you accuse me of something I know nothing about,” She blabbered.
“You told them, Anna! You told them! There’s no way in hell they could have known where I kept him, Marianna. So you told them. You were there alone in the dark, watching. You saw everything that happened that night. You followed me to the torture house. You must have seen how I lured him to that place. You saw how he ended up being captured. You still cared about Victor . You still loved him. So when you saw him being captured, somehow you found a way to call the Blood River pack and tell them where they could find him. And thanks to you, he’s no longer there. Dvorak, who I left in care of Victor , was murdered. He’s dead, Anna because of your treachery,” He shouted at her, still keeping his two hands behind him.
“This is a lot of accusations, Caesar ! How can you say all this to me? You don’t even have any evidence of any of these things you are saying. I don’t even know that you captured Victor . I didn't know he had escaped. I know absolutely nothing. And that’s because you don’t tell me things. You keep everything to yourself and tonight I believed you were just looking for who to blame for everything that happened. That’s what I feel this is all about,” she said fiercely, an expression of utter disbelief and wonderment on her face.
“I’ve known enough, sister. I’ve known enough to know what kind of terrible sister that you are. You are a snake, sister! A fucking snake!”
“Don’t call me a snake! Don’t” Marianna yelled, her indignation overcoming her fear, “You are the snake brother! A two time scheming bastard, that’s what you are. But I’ve accepted you for what you are. What you will always be”
Caesar gave a hard barking laugh.
“Fine! Agreed! I’m a snake. But you will admit that you called the blood river pack and told them I was keeping Victor at the torture house,” just as she began to protest, he quickly cuts her off, “hold it! Just the way you will also admit you still got Victor’s number on your cell phone right?”
She opened her mouth to speak, then shut it. The guilt was on her face.
“You see? You can’t even deny it. You still have that fucking bastard number on your phone, right? Right?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” She yelled back at him. “Of course, I still have his number. But I have no intention of calling him again. Ever! And I didn’t even call any fucking wolf pack or something. I don’t know who the fuck they are and I don’t wanna know. In Fact, I no nothing about nothing,”
Caesar stared hard at her, his lips drawn off his teeth in a snarl.
“Alright, then why did you tell Safiya about us?”
Marianna caught her breath sharply. Her face lost its color.
“I……..I……I’m sorry” she said, her voice trembling now. “I didn’t really mean it.”
“But you told her all the same?” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, I did. I don’t deny that. You see, that day with all the fighting going on around, I was kind of scared. When Safiya came in here, I was scared of her too, especially when I discovered she was a werewolf. Then she told me she means no harm and there was nothing for me to be afraid of about her. She told me she just wanted to talk, that's all. We had some girl - girl conversation. She told me all about you. How you guys have been together. She told me how you mistreated her. The way you shout at her. Sometimes you hit her too. She told me she left the Blood River pack just to be with you but she regretted taking that step.”She paused for breath and went on, “You know I’ve always been lonely here and I don’t have anyone to talk to. So when she started saying all these things, well I kind of opened up to her too……..about….about” she was having difficulty completing the words.
“You stupidly opened up to her about us.” Caesar finished for her. “About what we did together”
“Yes, yes. I know it was stupid, I admit it. But honest to God, I meant no harm, Caesar. I just wanted to talk, that's all. Safiya made me swear that I was never going to tell you anything about all she said about you and I also made her swear she would never tell you anything about what I told her. I guess she played me for a fool” She was on the verge of fearful tears.
Caesar stared at her, shaking his head. He didn't believe any word from her mouth. The thoughts of everything Safiya had told him came into his head. Safiya’s story made a lot of sense. Marianna’s story was trash. She cannot be trusted. Well, he couldn’t even trust her again. Not after everything.
“You talked about us, Anna. You met a girl for the first time and you opened your stupid mouth and talked about the secret we kept between us. But I forgive you for that. What I can’t forgive you for is your betrayal. You shouldn’t have made that call to the Blood River pack,” there was a cool murderous look in his eyes now.
“Caesar, I never made any calls. I swear on my life brother,” She was pale white and her breasts were rising and falling under the thin stuff of her nightgown as if she were suffocating.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you,” and he reached for Marianna's wrist, drawing her into an embrace that put his lips to her ear.
“You’ve betrayed me twice,” He could feel her heart thudding frantically against his chest, “I won’t give you another chance.” and he plunged the knife he had hidden so well into her. Swiftly and firmly. She opened her mouth to scream, but he quickly pressed her face deeper into his shirt, muffling her. Then he dragged her head back by her hair so that he could look into her face. His deadly unfeeling eyes gazed into hers. Her green eyes stared back; wide and bright with disbelief and painful shock.
“I’m sorry, Anna, but this is the end,” He tightened his hand on the knife’s hilt and pressed the knife deeper into her. She opened her mouth to speak and blood spurted out.
He continued to hold her, feeling the way blood was seeping out from her and soaking his pants, feeling the way the beating of her heart was gradually growing fainter and fainter and fainter. He savagely pushed her away from him.
She fell on the floor, curled up like a question mark. She raised her head, her eyes filled with tears of anguish and pain. The knife was still in her.
“I never……called…….” She whimpered.
“Shut up and die!”
“You……can…….still save me……Get me help,”
Caesar snarled at her, “I’m not getting you any help, You are through, Marianna! This is the end of the road for you,”
She reached out her hand and tried to touch him. He drew back away from her blood-stained fingers. She dropped back to the floor weakened from the pain and the blood oozing furiously from her side. Her body jerked and she coughed out blood again, her fingers opening and closing convulsively, her muscles twitching. Then her eyes rolled back and her body relaxed limply.
Caesar stood over her. His breath was coming in great labored gasps, and sweat ran into his eyes. He used the back of his hand to wipe off the sweats. He continued to stand there, gulping in air, staring hard at her face. What a waste, he thought. Even in death, she was beautiful. She was so goddamn beautiful. Ah yes! He had to give her that. And stupid! She was so goddamn stupid too.
He looked her over in distaste then making an effort and trying not to look at the spreading circle of blood that soaked her nightgown, he reached down and pulled the knife out of her. He deftly wiped the blood stains on the knife on her nightgown. He straightened and walked stiffly to the door.
Safiya, who had been crouching behind Marianna’s door all this while and listening raptly, heard the sound of footfall. Caesar was coming! Quickly, she got to her feet and ran through the little passage and into Caesar’s bedroom. She padded to the room window, jerked it open and pounced on the sill like a jungle cat. She looked over her shoulders. Her eyes gleamed at the note on the bed that she had left for Caesar. Her lips curled up into an evil snarl. Then she straightened and without hesitation, she jumped out.