The drive home was dead quiet and somehow deafening at the same time. Thick black clouds rolled in heavy arches across the sky, blotting everything out just as the rain started hammering down.
Even inside the cabin of the phantom Bella stayed silent. Marcy too. Nobody said a word the whole way after the incident back the association, not even when Nier pulled into the gate of his yard, and saw two people with umbrella over there head as if they where waiting
By then Kaly had already reached out telepathically to Tanya to inform her on what happened at the association, it goes without much saying that she was pissed.
“Why is Mom here? And why does she look pissed?”
“Because I told her what happened.”
Nier bluntly admitted.
“YOU WHAT?!”
Marcy’s yell cracked through the car. Nier just let out a long, tired sigh.
“Brat… That piece of shit tried to put his hands on you. Look, I genuinely don’t give a damn what you do with your life. But your mother actually loves you. Not everyone gets a decent mom. If I kept my mouth shut I would be shitting on everything she has tried to do for you.”
Marcy made this grossed-out strangled noise.
“…Ughhh… that’s… none of your fucking business.”
“Watch your mouth, Goth Bitch.”
Bella’s voice cut in sharp.
Her eyes flared with a warning glow, as her eyes lit up with fury, bright enough that Marcy caught the reflection in the rearview mirror. The sheer presence behind it hit her like a slap; she froze, then started shaking hard.
Overwhelmed, Marcy dropped her gaze to her lap, refusing to look at either of them. A second later the doors unlocked with a soft click, and she bolted out without another word.
The car wasn’t quiet on Bella’s side, though.
“I swear that gothic bitch has zero thanks to give anyone. She didn’t even thank you for saving her ass when you did.”
“This is why I hate kids…”
Nier said while sighing even more.
“Haaa, really you hate kids, strange you seem like the type that would be a good father though.”
“Me a good father, no, if anything I am just a clone of my mother… I am not fit to be a parent, nor do I have the desire if I am being honest.”
‘Mother stuff again, is it me or does Nier have serious mommy issues, I have never even heard him talk about his father in any sense at all since I went to live with him.’
Bella thought to herself, however she convinced herself she would find out about it later.
“Well good or bad father aside though, big guy…you’re pretty damn strong. I still can’t believe you’re already starting off as an A-Rank hero. And to make it worse, you got thrown into those special admission exams on top of everything, and came out on top. Hehehe, after reading the paper you gave me earlier, it make me happy to know that you will do just fine in the trials to come tonight.”
Bella said it almost like she was admitting defeat. Nier sighed, peeled his hands off the steering wheel, and fished a box of cigarettes out of his hoodie pocket.
He then glanced over at her, and began to speak, since they where alone it was about time they had the conversation.
“You don’t mind, right?”
“Hmm… go ahead. It’s your car. And just because I come from an extremely rich family doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the same dirty little pleasures as any regular guy, you know.”
She reached over and plucked one from the box in his hand. Then she actually looked at it and her eyes widened.
“These are the same brand my older sister smokes. Goldheart. Ha. Quite the expensive taste.”
Nier just lit his own.
Smoke started curling through the car, mixing with the cold blast from the AC until the air felt warmer.
He took a drag, then spoke.
“It’s my favorite. Cheap shit tastes like ass. But bad habits aside… you finally decided to come clean, huh? Thought you were gonna keep playing dumb about this whole thing.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Bella shot back, then kept going.
“Honestly, I thought you would bring it up way earlier.”
“…To be honest, I didn’t see the point. You’re the one who wants to marry me. Not the other way around.”
“What an asshole thing to say.”
She smirked.
“Hmm. I kinda like it, if I am being completely honest.”
“Your taste in men is truly horrible, Bella.”
Nier deadpanned it. She just shrugged.
“Wouldn’t the same comment apply to Tanya and Imani too?”
“Dog-shit taste all around.”
“Wow. You’re extremely blunt, aren’t you? You’re not so bad of a man, though. You’ve got the three sixes every delusional woman dreams about. Six figures a year, six feet tall… and I’m pretty sure you’re not working with six inches. I saw that monster in full glory this morning, that thing belongs in the stereotypical black-man category.”
“Yeah, keep glazing me.”
Nier said jokingly, and Bella replied with just as much humor.
“You’re handsome, ruthless, rich, mysterious, strong, kinda crazy in the best way. Beautiful eyes. Your skin is so smooth it is almost unfair, pale as porcelain, and your muscles look like the gods themselves sculpted them. You have long silky maroon colored hair… honestly it turns me on. You also have a manly voice. You’re such a natural charmer it actually hurts knowing you can pull just by breathing in the same room as a woman, yo…”
“ALRIGHT I GET IT, JESUS WOMAN.”
Nier cut her off, laughing, exasperated to himself.
“No need to dick-ride.”
“But you literally said ‘keep glazing me though’ am I wrong!?”
Bella grinned, all cheeky. Nier sighed again and took another drag.
She watched him for a second, then held up her unlit cigarette.
“Light me up, please.”
Nier leaned over without a word. His lit tip touched hers. She pulled in a quick breath, the cherry caught in her lungs as she eased back into his seat like nothing happened, staring out at the rain again.
Bella’s face went bright red, as she said.
“I’ve never met a man who can charm people just by existing. That was smooth, Nier. Very fucking smooth.”
“The fuck are you talking about?”
“The way you lit my cigarette, idiot… You got my heart racing over here.”
Bella said with a smile.
Causing Nier to inwardly sigh however he just stayed quiet till eventually he asked.
“So when did it start.”
“Hmm, when did what start?”
Bella asked a little puzzle by his choice of words, and Nier decided to make it more obvious with his next question.
“When did you start having feelings for me?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was love at first sight?”
‘Given my circumstances, yes, I would.’
Nier said to himself but his reply was different.
“Honestly, I think you want to use me, but now that I think about it, what in the bloody fucking hell could I, a retired BPO worker, possibly have that the famous, rich, basically perfect Bella Zane could possibly want hahaha, in moments like these, life is truly humbling.”
He wasn’t about to admit the truth out loud, he already knew she would fall for him no matter what either of them actually wanted.
What he and many Augustus men learn from early on was that their family curse didn’t care about mutual feelings or free will, it just forced the obsessive love on to females, full stop.
On paper it was sick.
Twisted even.
But after Kaly had hollowed out most of what used to make him human, the disgust had dulled into what many would register as a liter background noise meaning he cared little for the morality of enjoying the curse and the reason why this curse has not claimed him like it did other Augustus males.
He didn’t feel much guilt anymore, if anything at all, in simpler terms he felt like his morality had become twisted, how twisted? well hard to say, he could watch a baby being eaten by a monster and it wouldn’t hurt him.
He could watch his father killing his sister if he had any, and it that wouldn’t move him.
However, if his sister was his property, that was the only sign of when he thinks he could feel human emotions or ironically it was akin to collector or a dragon losing their gold to something irrelevant and below him.
‘Aww, just how fucked am I now?’
Still…Bella was hot.
There was also the fact that she would be a hell of an asset to the cult, irreplaceable, really, and that cold math alone made him want her in the fold, after seeing what she was capable of.
But beyond strategy, there was simpler instinct, any gorgeous woman who got caught in his curse’s web automatically became worth wanting… as long as he could stand their personality.
And Bella? Like Tanya and Imani, she was one of the rare ones. An extremely tolerable yandere.
Bella spoke first, her voice quieter now.
“I love you a lot, you know. It still hurts that you sleep around so much though.”
Nier gave a short, humorless huff.
“No offense, but I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Sorry, but I can’t tell you. Given that I don’t trust you enough yet.”
He shrugged one shoulder.
“Put it this way, sex for me is like food and oxygen for regular people. If I don’t get it, I die. Simple as that.”
What he didn’t say, was the fact that if Kaly failed to climb to the Mind of God, they would both be finished by the other sisters for being easy pickings especially with Lust as there common enemy.
And to make Dark Fertility triumph above the other Dark aspects, he needs to bed every new girl and breed them, as every round of sex feeds power back into her weakened state. Right now, fucking and breeding wasn’t a vice but a way of life and power.
Bella naturally didn’t catch the full picture.
What she heard was that this wasn’t some playboy lifestyle choice.
Her head tilted, eyes narrowing like she was piecing something together.
“Um… Nier? Can I ask you something?”
“Go for it. If I can answer, I will. If I can’t… you already know what that means.”
“By any chance… are you maybe a half-breed?”
Nier blinked.
“A what now?”
“Like… half-demon. Or more specifically…an incubus?”
“Ha!?”
