Last Violent Call

by Chloe Gong

“Also…” Just as Juliette was about to pull away, returning her arms to her sides, Roma grabbed her jaw, stopping her from further movement. Though the move was made with the pretense of being daunting, Roma and Juliette had actually tried to kill each other a few times in those off phases—some of the instances coming quite close—so the feigned rough handling only made Juliette grin.

Science could tell him that the ground was below his feet and the sky was above his head and the early light of day was upon his back. Roma wouldn’t listen. To him, Juliette was the sun.

“The poor fish?” Juliette echoed. “We’re feeding the fish so many good nutrients. This is going to be the best meal they’ve had in years. Delicious human meat.” If he didn’t love Juliette so much, he would really spend every waking moment in fear of what went on in that mind of hers. But because he loved her, and he was clearly out of his mind too, he only turned and steered her back into the house.

These days, though he didn’t need to resort to being a menace anymore, he still liked rolling onto her side of the bed when she was ignoring him for a book and receiving the honor of being smacked away with her pillow.

In that moment, as Roma pushed off the wall and followed her obediently, he fell in love all over again.

Roma looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Are you trying to kill me?” Juliette demanded. “Again?” “At least this time I’m sending wily assassins after you,” Roma replied. “Yulun, that was a good try.”

We can climb through easily. Then you can pin me down and—” “Juliette,” Roma interrupted, scandalized. “—I can check whether there is light under the door,” Juliette finished. She paused for effect. “What did you think I was going to say?” “You—” Roma spluttered. “One does not need to be pinned down to check for light.” “I disagree. It helps my focus when there’s physical pressure upon me. Don’t you want to ensure that the rest of the building is empty?”

“My knees have been creaking since I was fifteen.” “It’s all that lying you did. Aged you prematurely.” “All right, Saint Juliette. Enough about my past crimes before I start airing yours, too.”

Delicately, as if he were removing a feral cat with her hackles raised, he plucked Juliette’s hands off the desk, walking her back a step before she lunged anyway.

Roma released his grip on Juliette’s hair, shooting her a look that said, Aren’t you glad I kept you back? In response, Juliette turned and gave him a sly wink that wasn’t fit for interpretation around company.

They had tied them up. Roma had watched with some light concern as Juliette got overly enthusiastic with the task, going as far as to wrap rope around one of the men until he looked near mummified.

“I know, dorogaya,” he said lowly. “We will walk this balancing act for the rest of time. The life we chose is a perpetual tightrope.”

Marshall had craned his whole body sideways so that he could look up at Benedikt, nearly resembling a corkscrew despite the anatomical limitations of the human spine.

“We kidnap him,” Benedikt replied easily. “Are you going to pistol-whip him into shape?” Benedikt shot over a brief glance. He put his gun on the shelf. “Would you like me to?” “Now who’s the one flirting?”

When he kissed him, it was like breathing a deep gulp of summer air, like the first fall of snow landing crisp and cold on his skin. Marshall Seo was fundamentally a temperamental person: a fast driver, a reckless fighter, prone to taking leaps off of three-story buildings instead of finding the stairs. But Benedikt grounded him. Benedikt Montagov moved through the world with such intricate care—his steps calculated, his thought process tunneling miles deep—that Marshall would stick around for ten lifetimes trying to figure him out.

that.” “By God”—Benedikt rolled up his sleeves—“I’m going to kill you.” “Nooooo, we’re trying to catch a murderer, not become one!” “Too late!”

“I don’t suppose drawing has given you a big revelation?” Marshall asked, cutting into the quiet. “It has, actually,” Benedikt replied in an instant. He shaded the grassy scene on his paper, then paused before adding a tiny cow to his field. “I have realized I need to draw more cows. They are very nice.”

A harmless bonk on the head may as well be a full-mouth kiss in Benedikt’s mind.