Nixxon walked into the living room, instantly feeling the aura; the cold, dark aura was back in the house.
As he walked further, he felt Vernon's presence before he even saw him, the familiar irritation in his lungs: Vernon's smoke.
This time, he would try his best to keep his reaction to the smoke to a minimum.
He wished Vernon would choke on it one day and die; he had asked Armani about it, and he was told that smoking was very bad and injurious; it left him wondering why Vernon chose to take it into his body while knowing that it could kill him.
Maybe that's because he was a psycho.
Bodyguards dressed in all black filled the sofas; some looked more dangerous than the others, tattoos peeking out of their sleeves and collars.
But none of them looked as dangerous as the man sitting calmly at the center of the living room with his burning cigarette between his fingers.
Armani placed a gentle hand on Nixxon's elbow as he gently led him to stand in front of Vernon.
Nixxon gulped, holding his book tightly in his hand.
'The bad human is back.'
He refused to look at Vernon; it was better not to see his monstrous face. He tried to control his breathing so that Vernon's smoke wouldn't enter his nostrils as freely as before.
"Boss, welcome home," Armani bowed his head to Vernon and secretly tapped Nixxon's arm.
Nixxon hesitated for a while before he bowed his head, too. "Welcome, Boss," He repeated what Armani had said.
After all, Armani had asked him to refer to Vernon as 'boss.'
Vernon narrowed his eyes at Nixxon the moment he heard him speak, he sensed that something was different.
He had been surprised to see Nixxon walk through the door himself; he had thought he would see some useless human being pushed in on the wheelchair. He discovered that Nixxon was quite taller than he imagined, and, for a spy, he carried himself with a hint of royalty; Vernon hated it, only he had the power to be royalty.
He also discovered that Nixxon's voice sounded more...polished.
Vernon stood, approaching Nixxon with slow strides.
He paused right in front of him and ordered, "Face up."
Nixxon slowly raised his face; he wasn't about to be stubborn and get himself thrown in that dark building again; he wasn't sure he would survive it if it ever happened to him again.
His eyes were met with Vernon's dark ones; the moment he raised his face, he was momentarily captivated by how handsome Vernon was.
Yes, Vernon was a devil, but he was a perfectly handsome one... unfortunately.
He was still lost in capturing Vernon's facial features when Vernon suddenly blew smoke on his face. He wanted to step back, but Vernon grabbed his arm, causing his book to fall from his hands.
"Leave it," Vernon said to Armani, who was about to pick the book up.
Nixxon gulped; Vernon's hand on his arm wasn't that tight, but for some reason, he felt his chest tightening.
"I hope this time will be better than the last, Mr. Amnesia," Vernon asked in a low voice.
Nixxon cleared his irritated throat and nodded, "Yes, Boss," He replied.
Vernon smirked and nodded at one of the bodyguards sitting in the corner.
From Nixxon's peripheral vision, he could see a guy with a tattoo peeking out of his collar approaching them.
"Boss." The guy bowed to Vernon.
Vernon slowly released Nixxon's arm and stepped away from him, but his eyes never left him; this time, it wasn't because he wanted to make Nixxon cower but because he felt something odd from him. He almost felt delusional to this that Nixxon was some kind of magical creature, the slight swirl in the color of his eyes was something he had never seen before.
"Tell me once again, Hue, do you recognize this guy?" Vernon asked, pointing to Nixxon.
Hue moved forward and stared at Nixxon.
The moment Nixxon's eyes found Hue's, his locket vibrated very slightly, something it hadn't done after hearing Neireda's voice. The vibration faded in a second, but he was left with a feeling of premonition. Hue was bad news; he could not point out what was wrong with him yet, but he wasn't as loyal to Vernon as Dane, Damon, and Armani.
"I do know him, Boss. He's the spy Raja sent to you. I do not know where or why he was sent to you, but I do recognize his face as one of Raja's spies," Hue exposed.
Nixxon stared at Hue in disbelief. 'This man must be delusional; this is the first time we're seeing each other,' He fumed within himself.
He slowly looked up at Vernon, shaking his head. "I do not know him; he's lying," Nixxon said firmly.
Vernon looked deadly, his eyes were darkening with every step he took toward Nixxon. He reached in front of him and grabbed his chin forcefully, his eyes boring into his.
Nixxon coughed. Vernon had his cigarette between his lips as he leaned his face closer to Nixxon's, the smoke directly entering his nose.
"Tell me, Mr. Amnesia, do you still insist that you do not know Raja?" His eyes dared Nixxon to lie to him.
Nixxon nodded, his throat burning from the smoke, "P-please, can you..." He paused and coughed, trying to move his face away from Vernon, but he held on tightly.
"Step back!" Nixxon suddenly pushed Vernon away and crouched over, coughing and wheezing.
All the bodyguards stood the moment they saw Nixxon push Vernon away, causing him to almost fall to the floor.
They closed in on Nixxon, drawing out their guns.
Armani dared not move to protect Nixxon, for he knew that what Nixxon did was a threat to their boss's life; protecting him would betray them.
Nixxon was still in his coughing fit when he heard the footsteps surrounding him. he snapped his head up and saw the bodyguards closing in on him.
At that moment, he realized what he had done; he had pushed Vernon, their boss, and Armani always told him that the boss was never to be disrespected; to them, he was like a king, and Nixxon knew what happened when someone dared to disrespect the king.
"You dared to lay your filthy hands on our boss?" Hue asked, pointing his gun at Nixxon's face.
Nixxon closed his eyes, he knew there was no saving grace for him this time. He had outrightly disrespected the boss.
He felt the gun on his forehead, memories of that underground dark house forming in his mind; he had killed a man with a gun, and maybe it was only right he died with a gun.
Vernon was quiet, watching Nixxon squirm under the gun as he tried to force himself to stop coughing. A huge frown marked his face as he noticed how scared Nixxon was; once again, he questioned Raja's choice of making Nixxon his spy. The guy was useless, brainless.
"Shall I shoot, boss?" Hue cocked his gun, pressing harder into Nixxon's head.
"Shoot." Vernon's patience had run out with Nixxon; since he was proving to be useless to his course, he might as well eliminate him for good and focus on more important things.
"Brother!" A loud female voice rang from the entrance, causing everyone to hide their guns, including Vernon.
Nixxon turned to see his savior; if not for her, he would have been bleeding from between his eyes like the man he had shot down at the dark house.
"What's going on? Trying to murder someone, as always?" The young lady asked as she walked toward Vernon; the bodyguards made way for her to reach Vernon.
Vernon sighed and waved his hand, sending all his bodyguards away.
"Hi, Brother. You didn't come to pick me up from the airport." The young lady hugged Vernon.
For the first time, Nixxon saw a glimpse of a smile on Vernon's face; she must be special to him. She was beautiful, tall, and fair, unlike Vernon's tanned skin.
He quickly snapped his head to the side and internally panicked when he saw that Armani had also left his side. He was left alone with the devil and his sister.
He was thinking of how to leave the scene when the lady turned to face him with a bright smile. Her eyes were a warm brown color, warming the chilly atmosphere that Vernon had created.
"Hi, I'm Bianca Grey, Vernon's younger sister. nice to meet you." She held out her hand to Nixxon for a handshake.
Nixxon's eyes immediately sought Vernon's; he wouldn't dare touch the devil's sister; he didn't have a death wish.
Vernon held his gaze, not saying anything to encourage or dissuade him, which made Nixxon very uncomfortable.
"Oh, come on, I don't bite, give me a hand -"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Bianca, but I cannot indulge you; your brother doesn't like me; touching you might cause my death," Nixxon quietly stated while shifting away from Bianca, who tried to take his hand by herself.
Bianca paused and stared at Vernon. "Really? You've made your bodyguard so scared that he fears you might kill him if he touched me? That's not very nice, Vernon," She frowned.
Nixxon frowned. He was nobody's bodyguard. "You must have misunderstood, Ms. Bianca. I am not his -"
"You did misunderstand, Bianca; he's my new bodyguard. Unfortunately, he was hit with Amnesia and always thinks I want to kill him," Vernon calmly stated, placing a hand around Bianca's waist, sending Nixxon a death glare.
"Oh, really?" She asked Nixxon.
Nixxon saw the look in Vernon's eyes, he didn't dare say otherwise, "Yes, Ms. Bianca. The boss is correct," He admitted.
"Now, settle yourself in, Bianca. I need to have a few words with my new bodyguard." Vernon gave Bianca a small smile and grabbed Nixxon's wrists.
His grip was firm, but he didn't drag Nixxon forcefully; he gently led him away from Bianca's curious eyes toward his stairs.
Nixxon was conflicted but was surprised by the thought that developed in his mind.
'This was the longest he'd held me.'
Nixxon was confused by that thought. Why would he even care about such stupid observations?!