Julia Lelieveld and the battle with the underworld
~15~

“Julia? Where are you? I feel you are here and I smell blood. Come on, I won’t hurt you.” It was Lucas, I was shocked. Could I trust him? What choice did I have? If I didn’t do anything I’d be unconscious and probably worse.

“Lucas?”

I heard the footsteps speeding up and before I knew it he was standing in front of me. His face worried. I had not seen this before.

“Jesus, what happened?”

“I was attacked. There are two in the alley around here.”

He looked the other way and ran to the alley, less than five seconds later he was back.

“Come on, you have to get out of here. Can you stand?”

I tried to get up, but I lost feeling in my leg and I felt light-headed. Like I could pass out at any moment. The pain shot through my body, but I couldn’t give up now.

Before I knew it Lucas was standing in front of me and lifting me. He carried me to his bike and carefully set me on the back. “Can you hold yourself to me? Is that going to work?” I nodded. He got up quickly and we left the deserted stretch of old town at high speed. I recognized the center where we were driving. I felt really bad now, I felt my grip loosening. I couldn’t take it any longer and with those thoughts I felt myself slip off the bike.

Just before I hit the street I felt a strong hand pull me up again. I heard Lucas swear under his breath. He stopped his engine.

“There’s no other way, come on.”

What did he mean? He picked me up again and walked to the deserted shopping street. He stopped in front of a narrow gray door between the shops. Renzo!

He pressed the bell impatiently. I heard the intercom creak and a tired voice came out. “Who is there?”

“Lorenzo, it’s me. Lucas. And listen to me before you hang up.”

He waited a moment, but the creaking continued.

“It’s Julia, she’s hurt, I’ve got her here with me. She couldn’t make it to the hospital anymore.”

I leaned my head against Lucas’ chest, I felt myself go completely limp. “Come on, Julia. Hang in there, stay awake.” I heard Lucas say in a concerned but urgent tone. Before I knew it I felt Lucas walk up the stairs to Renzo’s apartment and I felt him lay me on the bed. I twisted my face and heard a moan escape from my mouth. “What happened?” Renzo asked Lucas. A little accusatory.

“I found her like this. She’s been attacked. She’s in bad shape.”

I heard a lot of stumbling and felt someone come and sit next to me on the bed. I felt someone carefully lift my shirt, I heard Renzo curse. “Hand me that first aid kit.” I heard him say to Lucas.

“Julia, this won’t feel good.” And as he said that I felt a hard pressure on my wound in my side, the pain stabbed through my whole body. I felt myself gasping for breath and the tears ran down my cheeks. The blood rushed through my ears, so I couldn’t hear Lucas and Renzo talking clearly anymore. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, I felt the same pain in my leg. This became too much for me and as if the light went out I sank into the darkness.

It was light outside, the sun shone brightly through the window. I saw the dust flying through the air. I was at home and smelled a familiar smell coming from the kitchen, Mama’s apple pie. I turned carefully and walked to the kitchen. There she stood, removing the apple pie from the oven. She turned and looked at me with her sweet smile. “Hi sweetie, there you are. I baked pie. Shall we grab a slice?” she asked with a wink. I smiled and nodded. I just didn’t know what to say? How could this be, what had happened? I didn’t want to ruin this moment so I just pretended it was okay, like it was a year ago.

“I’m not saying no to that.” I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek and a big hug, I inhaled her scent and I closed my eyes for a moment. Enjoying the moment. She laughed. “What do I owe that for?” she asked me. I shrugged my shoulders. “Just because I love you.” She looked at me with her loving eyes and grabbed me and gave me a big hug. A lump appeared in my throat. “I love you too, honey.” And she kissed me on the head.

I sat down at the kitchen table and she came over with a large tray with two mugs of tea and two large pieces of apple pie. Her eyes twinkled. But as if it suddenly stormed, the house became dark, I couldn’t see anything outside. Everything was black. The panic grew in my chest, what happened? I looked at my mother and as if she felt it too I could see the panic in her eyes. And another thing, fear. As if in slow motion, she dropped the tray and brought her hands to her face. I followed her hands and my eyes widened and filled with tears. No, this was not possible! The wounds from the day she died appeared on her face one by one. A small trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. I jumped up and wanted to run to her, but I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t move. I screamed and tried with all my might to move myself, but I couldn’t. My mother tried to say something but no sound came out of her mouth. She was crying now too. And with a loud bang, as if a real gun had gone off, she fell to the ground. Her head all covered in blood and her eyes staring lifeless into the distance. “No!” I got out of my seat again and fell down beside her, shaking her back and forth, but to no effect. She didn’t move, her eyes filled with blood dripping from her head. With difficulty I closed her eyes. I collapsed and held her, so tight that I would never let her go. I closed my eyes and I felt like I was breaking into a thousand pieces.

“Doesn’t she really need to go to the hospital?”

“She heals quickly, Lucas, even faster than us. She’ll be fine,” Renzo said as if he had yet to convince himself.

I tried to remember what had happened. I lay on Renzo’s bed, I recognized the smell of his detergent. And with that smell, my other senses also came alive. I felt the pain all over my body, but the worst in my side and leg, and with that feeling everything cleared up in my head. I had been attacked and I just managed to escape on my own strength. And then Lucas found me and took me to Renzo. I remembered that I no longer had the strength to hold him on his bike, that I was sliding off on my own. So weak was I, my clothes warm and wet with my blood. I remember being carried up the stairs and Renzo going to tend my wounds and everything was dark from then on. At least dark? As if my mother had died again, leaving my heart in a big gaping painful hole. Which was broken into thousands of pieces. It would be a while before it would be a bit whole again. I opened my eyes and looked into Renzo’s simple bedroom. His door was open and I heard voices coming from the other room. I got up carefully, trying to ignore the pain. But that didn’t go so well. I heard a moan come out of my mouth. Immediately I heard chairs slide back and two pairs of legs running towards me. The brothers stood in the doorway, wide-eyed, looking at me. Renzo came to me first and sat down next to me on the bed.

“Calm down Julia, you’re badly injured.” I looked at him questioningly.

He pointed to my side and leg. “I had to stitch you up, they were deep wounds.”

“Stitches? But how?”

He raised his shoulders. “Learned in prison.” As if that made everything clear.

I shook off the thoughts of why he had learned to stitch in prison, because you didn’t just learn that, I guessed.

“Did I sleep long?”

“No, not that long, I think two hours.”

I nodded. Still upset by my dream. I looked from Renzo to Lucas, Lucas standing at the foot of the bed, his face already concerned. He looked at me intensely with his dark eyes. Something had changed between us. That he saved me tonight. “Thank you,” I said with all sincerity from my heart.

All he did was nod.

Renzo cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I have to check your wounds.”

I nodded and laid my head back on the pillow. Without another word, he took the blanket off me and pushed my shirt up a little. I could feel it clinging to the bandage. As soon as the bandage shifted even a little, I felt the pain flare up again. I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. I turned my head to the other side. This was going to hurt a lot.

I felt Renzo gently loosen the bandage and I gasped. “Sorry, I don’t have strong painkillers, this really needs a change.” In response, I just nodded, afraid I’d throw up if I opened my mouth. Why didn’t I feel my instinct? What was wrong? It didn’t feel right. As if I wasn’t complete. Would I be too exhausted? Could it be because Evil had inflicted these wounds?

The pain got worse. The bandage was off and Renzo cleaned the wound with a cold liquid that pierced deep into the wound. I wanted to turn away, but knew it wouldn’t be right if I did. I felt myself breathing in and out more deeply.

“Try to take a deep breath, you’ll be hyperventilating later.”

I heard footsteps coming my way, it could only be one person. And with that thought, I felt Lucas grab my hands and squeeze them. With the message that I could squeeze his hands. And I did, very hard. Afraid of hurting him I opened my eyes and looked straight into his eyes. And for the first time I saw real compassion in his eyes. Feelings. He had a small smile around his mouth that it was a good thing I was squeezing him like that. I exhaled deeply, not realizing that I was holding my breath, and closed my eyes again. I turned on my side and brought our hands to my forehead and so I underwent the care of my wounds. After probably ten minutes, what seemed like an hour to me, Renzo was done. Slowly I opened my eyes and Lucas hadn’t moved an inch, he was still sitting next to my head and I was still squeezing his hands. Realizing that the pain had subsided, I slowly let go of his hands. I gave a small squeeze as a thank you. He gave a small squeeze back.

He looked a little uncomfortably at Renzo. “I’ll get some painkillers and sleeping pills at home. There’s plenty in the medicine cabinet.”

Renzo nodded. “Okay, thanks.” Lucas got up and walked to the door. “Lucas, wait a minute, take a key with you, it’s a shame if you call later and she may have already fallen asleep.” Lucas nodded, took the key and disappeared from my field of view.

Renzo turned to me and came towards me. For the first time he really looked at me. Without a wall around him, which he built up so quickly as soon as there was someone where he couldn’t be himself.

His dark blue eyes looked at me intensely, he shook his head. “How could they have done this? I hate myself for not being there for you.”

I took his hand. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have lost even more blood, and who knows what would have happened. I couldn’t take it anymore until the hospital. You saved me.” I looked at him gratefully.

I saw him tighten his jaws. “As mad as I am at Lucas, he’s the one who saved you and I’ll never forget that.”

“You saved me together,” I said affirmatively.

He shook his head again. “If Lucas hadn’t found you in that alley, you’d still be lying there. You wouldn’t have made it without him.”

“Renzo, don’t make it so hard on yourself. It’s no contest. It happened, and without you I would have been a lot worse off.” He turned his head away.

I grabbed his face and turned it towards me. “You understand, don’t torture yourself like that, okay?”

He got a small smile on his face and nodded. “Good,” I said to him. “And please kiss me now.” He didn’t doubt that for a moment. He leaned over and kissed me gently. The blissful feeling that took over my body was exactly what I needed. I really needed to feel something other than pain. The caution was soon over, we lost ourselves in an intense kiss. He lay down next to me and held my face. I tried not to move besides my lips, so as not to interrupt this moment with pain. Slowly he came closer to me. Completely as who he was. His beautiful self, which he hid from everyone but me.

And with the feelings I got from the kiss, it seemed like my instincts were revived. I felt the presence of the elements in my body again. And how good that felt. Could it be the evil or my injuries that made it look like it was gone? Or was I just too weakened that my powers couldn’t manifest?

With the elements coming back to life, the feelings I got from the kiss were only more intense. My hands automatically went to his body and with that movement the pain shot through my body again. He cut off the kiss abruptly and looked at me with concern. His eyes were so full of emotion it almost hurts. How difficult he was making it for himself.

I carefully turned back onto my back and sighed deeply.

“You are healing quickly, I already saw improvement in your wounds,” he said, a little hoarsely.

I turned my head to him and looked at him gratefully.

Suddenly I thought of Dad, it was already dark and I hadn’t heard from me. shit!

“Can I have my phone?” I asked with panic in my voice. Renzo got up and walked to the room and came back with my cell phone in his hand. Gratefully I took it and looked at the screen. No missed calls. I looked at the time. It was already 10 o’clock in the evening. Wouldn’t he be home by now?

I quickly texted Sara if she wanted to cover for me and I would stay with her. Luckily she quickly sent a thumbs up and no further questions. I quickly texted Dad that it was late girls night and I was staying with Sara. Hoping to have covered myself well enough to be able to stay here and recover.

“Have you covered yourself?” Renzo asked with a small smile. That smile gave me a warm feeling. I nodded. “I can stay here.”

He nodded in agreement and carefully came back to lie next to me. We lay like that for a while looking at each other. Completely in silence, enjoying the moment together. Without even touching each other. This was good enough for now.

I felt my eyelids grow heavier. “Surrender yourself to it. Then you heal the fastest.” I nodded at him and turned my head and closed my eyes. I felt myself sink deeper and deeper into sleep, but heard a key turning in the lock in the background. Soft footsteps came toward the bedroom. “She’s asleep,” I heard Lucas say in a whisper. I felt the bed move and the warmth of Renzo’s body dissipated. I automatically looked up.

“You’re not sleeping,” Lucas said with a small smile around his mouth.

I shook my head. “Almost.”

“Did I wake you up?”

“No.”

“I brought you something, good painkillers and sleeping pills, then you can at least have a good night, often you will heal faster.”

I nodded, not quite comfortable taking those pills. What if it affected my mind and I lost the elements again?

I looked at Renzo and he saw what I was thinking.

“Take them, they’ll really make you feel better.”

I nodded again. “Okay, bring it on.”

“I’ll prepare some food for you first, you shouldn’t take these pills on an empty stomach.” And he disappeared into the other room.

Lucas walked into the bedroom and stopped next to the bed.

“How are you?”

“A bit the same.”

He nodded.

“Renzo said my wounds looked better with the dressing change.”

He nodded again. “Good thing, too.”

Now I nodded and smiled at him. He smiled back.

Who would have thought a week ago that we would be sitting here together like this. Especially in such a situation we were in now.

Renzo came back into the room with a sandwich in his hands. I gratefully accepted this. The brothers stood side by side without any tension. They didn’t pay any attention to each other now. Fortunately, because two weeks ago they would have destroyed each other.

Especially after what Lucas did to me. I still couldn’t believe he had turned over like that. Could this be because of Evil? That Lucas has been ordered not to do anything to me. And that he should keep an eye on me and report back? That’s why he was always near me. I tried to get my mind off it. Meanwhile, I had finished my sandwich. I took the medicine with a large glass of water. The boys looked pleased. For a moment they looked at each other uncomfortably. Lucas took the hint and left for the other room.

Renzo waited until he was out of sight and walked over to me. He carefully sat down next to me and looked at me. I couldn’t read his expression very well. His wall had been built around him again. He brought his face to mine and kissed me again, the good feeling revived. But he cut it off far too soon for my liking. I looked at him uncomprehendingly. He got a small smile around his mouth. “You should go to sleep, that will make you feel better.”

I nodded, he was right. “I’ll stay in the other room, if there’s anything you just have to yell, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Sleep well.” And he gave me another kiss and went to the other room.

I could already feel my head getting heavier. I was not used to taking pills. I probably had only taken such similar drugs when I was in the hospital, right after Mom died. And before I knew it I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.