The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 37: For family

Blessed be the Archons for Lucius' ability to pick locks.

Much like he'd expected, knocking had made no difference to the door at all, so he worked in silence, using his old Reapers pin to force the door open anyway.

The inside was seemingly void of life, with the only thing occurring to Lucius as he squinted through the darkness being a rush of nostalgia. There had been some redecorating of course and they had thrown out some of the older furniture, but the stuffy air and smell of damp wood had remained.

It turned out to be a lacklustre return though, didn't it? Having to pick a lock to enter a dark, lifeless room, with no one around to even greet him.

Within the next few seconds, however, Lucius was yanked backwards and found himself in a headlock with a knife grazing his throat.

He released a soft laugh, fighting through the pain in his shoulders.

"I've missed this." His laugh turned into a cough. "Though, I'm in a little bit of pain at the moment, so could you not do this right now?"

"Shouldn't have come here if you can't even defend yourself," Telmo said, releasing his throat to let him turn around. "Not that you haven't made some real poor choices before."

"I know," Lucius admitted through gritted teeth, begrudgingly, but excuses wouldn't work with Telmo. "I messed up, and let my emotions get the best of me."

"And yet you're uppity enough to return?"

"I could use your help with something." Lucius noticed the eclipse of Telmo's already dark eyes in time to take a step back.

"You want my help?" Telmo stepped forward to deny Lucius the space between them. "After everything that happened?"

"I actually need all of you." Lucius' voice lowered into a strained whisper. "But it's more of an offer than a favour."

Telmo scoffed, eyeing Lucius up and down.

"You don't look like you're in a position to bargain."

"Do you really think I'd come here if I didn't have some kind of assurance?" Lucius tilted his head to the side, and Telmo's eyes narrowed as she glanced over her shoulder at something by the door.

She sighed.

"How you manage to find people like this is beyond me."

"I cannot say I'm thrilled either," Ivan said, aiming a rifle at Telmo's head. "But he's a last chance for me, so I will make sure nothing gets in his way before he can do his part."

"He's a family oriented man." Lucius shrugged, as if that explained the rifle and shady dealings. "Quite impressive actually, so I decided to help him in exchange for some assistance."

He actually had no idea if his plan to bully Tom into tracking down those Larkspur bastards would work, but what harm could it do to at least try? If that was all Ivan required of him, Lucius was not above guilt-tripping a monster fanatic.

"I don't care about your chummy family talk." Telmo wrinkled her nose. "And I doubt the others would either."

While Lucius would object loudly to that, as he knew Lorenzo had his soft spots, he chose not to argue with Telmo further. Instead, he'd go straight for the killing blow.

"If I don't remember wrong, you're not so estranged from your family either, Yanagi." He dared a smirk as Telmo flinched. "To the point where you hide your family name to keep them out of trouble."

Telmo's glare was flooded with contempt.

"... What are you implying?"

"I actually ran into your mother the other day." Lucius wouldn't be interrupted. "She works at the BBT, as their cook. Unfortunately that is not going to be a safe place to be in a couple of days, so—"