۞ SEVENTEEN ۞

Catania, Sicily, Italy

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I DON'T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHEN, BUT I FELL asleep when I was five chapters from finishing the book, while Middle of the Night by Elley Duhé played, and Isaak drove silently. However, when I woke up again, there was a fluffy black blanket covering me, pony tail was undone, the car was parked somewhere, and Isaak wasn't inside. But the violin version of Black Swan (by BTS), by Joel Sunny was playing lowly.

But I could feel his presence around the car, so I sat up slowly, and looked around. All of my things were still here, and the car key was still inside, as well as his phone.

Putting my boots on again, I opened the car door from the right side that didn't face the road and got off. It was pitch black, except for the front lights of the car and the stars. And when I turned around the car, going to the empty road, I found Isaak sitting on the other side of the road, in a portable black chair, with his front facing the car, and with a book in his hands.

He was right. We do have one thing in common besides being partially immortal, and hating each other. We both love books.

"Can you even read it?"

His dragon-like red eyes glowed in the dark with a feline air to them when he faced me, "Do I look analphabetic to you?"

What? "Oh, that's not what I meant. And no, you don't. I mean that because it's too dark here, no?"

"I can see in the dark. You probably can too, can't you?" How does he knows that? "From all I know, it something all hybrid who are partially immortal share. Shifters also seem to be like that, but it's irrelevant."

He bend his right arm down and took another movable chair that was laying down wrapped up on the ground, and put up on his right for me, then I sat on it. "Whoa, it's surprisingly comfortable. So, which book is this?"

"Can't you read?" Smirking, he countered using my words against me, while he held the book up so I could see the cover better. "It's Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco, the third and last book of the trilogy I began back in the plane."

In the end, he told me. What an ass. "Oh, yes, you were reading Kingdom of the Wicked back there. Was that the first one or the second?"

"First," then he held up the book that was lying on his lap, and I hadn't seen it before. "Second one is The Kingdom of the Cursed," he said while showing the cover to me. "I began yesterday and finished while you were asleep."

"So, you also read fast."

A nod, "I would say I'm quite hyperactive, so I tend to be able to read very fast. It helps. And I love reading, it calms my mind down. Besides," sigh, "being able to read all the books in the world is the best thing being unable to die gives you. Life gets boring as time passes, but the creativity of writers only grows and expands more and more. It's pleasant to see. It's the only thing I genuinely like about humans, their ability to create good arts. Maybe the fact that they have a deadline and can easily die helps them create."

"Maybe." I stood back and looked up at the sky, at the stars. "Have you read the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses?"

"I've read all Sarah J. Mass's books, so yes. I did. That woman may have questionable beliefs, but she's exceptionally talented. You know that she isn't a human, right?"

A nod. "Yes. She's a golden witch. Witches and wizards are definitely the best at mixing themselves with humans."

"They are indeed," Isaak marked the page he stopped, already in the middle of the book, and closed it, putting together with the 2nd one. "Why the question? Is it your favorite book series?"

"Kind of. One of them. Crescent City, also by Sarah, is overall my favorite work from her, but I love Rhysand and Feyre more. 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is my favorite non-romance book, the author is a genius and I love most of his books, but this one gets the best of me. And the From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout is my last dark-romance-with-fantasy favorite. While I'm also a big fan of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and all the Riordanverse books by Rick Riordan, since dad used to read them with me when I was a kid."

"They are very special. All of the books you mentioned. I've also read them all, so I get your feeling. However, I'm unable to choose a favorite books, since I love too many."

"Hm. That's me with music."

"Now, songs I can tell. Currently my favorite song is Rewrite the Stars by Zac Efron and Zendaya. From the Greatest Showman, one of the best musical movies ever, in my opinion." He has a good taste.

"It's a beautiful song," I mumbled while admiring the stars up in the sky. When it first came out, I spent months addicted to this song, but if I tell him he'll come with that we-have-a-lot-in-common talk again. And I don't want to hear that bullshit. It makes my skin crawl.

"Yes… it's beautiful," he said and I could sense the intensity in his voice, the hint of emotion. He must really like the song. And I get why.

After some time, he broke the silence that had settled in between us again. "I parked the car around 1 am when we got here. So, since it's not good or polite to go to someone's house in the middle of the night, I parked here. It's some kilometers geographically into the city, but still far from society. Then I covered you with a blanket, since you seemed cold, and undid your pony tale because it's bad to sleep with your hair tied. I also left a soft song playing, so it could help you keep sleeping." Then he grinned, "You better give me a 5-star review on that damn app, got it?"

"Hm, I'll think about it." We stayed in silent, staring at the stars for a while. "What hour is it now?"

"Around three in the morning. Are you anxious to meet the Sassos?" Oh yes.

Hell I am. It's not about the Sasso Clan, or even the fact that I'll meet a bunch of reds, but because I'll finally meet my mom. "A little bit."

"Don't worry," he pointed to my wrists, "those bracelets you are using will prevent the reds from sensing or even smelling your immortal side. They will only sense that you are a red witch." Oh, he noticed them? "I'm only able to tell because I'm just that strong."

I bit my bottom lip, "You said you have siblings, right?" A nod. "Are they like you?"

"Surprisingly, no. They all are our mom's look alike, with the youngest having dad's eyes. All of them look like a group of twins, to be honest," he sound fond of them. "I'm the firstborn, and some centuries older than them. Again, none of them have eyes like mine, or look like dad, although their personalities are more similar to dad's than mom's."

"Opposite to you then," a nod. "Then I'm sure we would get along, if they aren't similar to you. It would be a nightmare if they were."

He chuckled, "And I am the asshole."

"I never said I wasn't."

"Then we have one more thing in common."

Oh, dear, how did I fell for that? "Don't fool yourself. The similarities end there. Two assholes, half-breeds, who love reading, have a sharp tongue, and share mutual hatred for each other. That's all!"

Isaak rolled his shoulders and began to hum Bloody Mary by Lady Gaga, "I'll dance, dance, dance. With my hands, hands, hands. Up my head, head, head…" and he didn't stop. Then to my dismay, he got up and began to move his huge body, really dancing. But it wasn't a normal dance.

"What the hell are you doing?" He ignored me and kept humming the song while dancing like a total idiot. "What's with the weird dance?" I stared at him in pure shock.

"Don't cut my vibe, you uncultured woman."

"Excuse me? How am I uncultured?"

"You don't even know where this dance is from," he said with his dragon-like red eyes staring at mine, judging me. "Don't you have Netflix? Aren't you supposed to be filthy rich or something?"

What? "I don't get your point. What does your creepy dance has to do with me being uncultured and having Netflix?"

He rolled his beautiful eyes, "Do you even know who the family Adams are? Wednesday? Morticia? Gomez? Thing?" What does that has to do with this?

"Of course, I do. It's a Tim Burton classic, isn't it?" Not to mention that my dad always loved it, so he watched countless times.

"And you haven't watched the new Wednesday show yet? The dance is from there. If you had watched you would know," I can't believe I'm hearing this.

I gasped, "Who could have thought a being centuries old would be dancing a weird choreography from tv show, made for weird teenagers. No. I haven't watched it yet. And is it Wendy that dances like that? Only a goth like her would dance weirdly that way." My father did watch it, though, but I haven't yet. "How many times have you watched it for you to learn the dance?"

"Don't offend me, I'm a prodigy with a photographic memory, alright? I watched once, liked it, tried it, and got a hang of it right away. It's a funny dance, don't call it weird. And yes, it's Wednesday that dances it. The actress who played her on the original movie also plays a side character in the show. It's pretty good and it gave Wednesday even more depth as a character," so, he likes weird movies like that, hm? "And well, I honestly like most of Tim Burton's works, for a human, he's pretty much a genius of creation."

A nod, "He surely is."

After a long silence, he turned to me, "You like alcohol? I mean, can you drink? In Brazil you are an adult at 18, right? Or your dad didn't let you drink it?"

"Dad not only didn't have a problem with me drinking, as he drank with me and taught me lots of cocktails. We can't get drunk like humans, but we can get slightly dizzy enough to lighten up, and that's a good sensation. Besides, as spent my first 20 years locked there with him, he thought it was okay to let me have this pleasure. So, yes, I do like alcohol. It's wise to say that I enjoy it more than I should."

When I met his eyes, they were already on me, and then he stared at my hands. At my nails. "Do you always use black nail polish like this? It has a strange sensation to it."

Oh? "I'm not using nail polish. My nails are black like this because of a process dad patiently made on them since I was a kid," as I looked at them, I blinked and made my claws appear. "Immortals, like some types of shifters, have claws. Isn't that cool?"

Isaak raised his eyebrows, "Did your dad helped you to make your nails become deadly weapons?" How does he know? "Because normally," he made his claws appear, "you can only kill humans with it, since it's not deadly to the other races, but are still a weapon that can cut their throats and kill them for a moment, although they will all come back, as longs as it's not a weapon made of one of the special stones."