Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

Cursed

Calista climbed off Quinn’s lap when Air brought some soup for her to eat. She sat next to him on the sofa and Air made himself comfortable on her other side. She ate it slowly but seemed to enjoy it.

Helena was setting up various candles and potions and herbs and rocks for the ritual. Calista watched her as she ate and Helena offered her a smile every now and then as she worked. Quinn could feel Calista becoming more relaxed around them the longer she spent with them and he was happy that she was experiencing a little window of calm in her otherwise turbulent life.

The door to the apartment opened and Earth came in followed by a flash of black. Quinn growled as the cat jumped up onto his lap and made Calista flinch.

“Oh, this is just Imp,” Air said to her. “Isn’t she adorable?”

She settled down on Quinn’s lap and began to purr. He didn’t even realise he was petting her until he looked down and saw his fingers running along the shiny black fur of her back. He quickly pulled his hand away. Helena looked up briefly and did a double take, narrowing her eyes when she saw the cat.

“How the fuck did you get here?” Quinn snarled and Helena laughed.

“Oh that one is pure mischief,” she said.

Air got up and went over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking around inside.

“She’ll be hungry, I bet nobody at the lair fed her,” he said.

He came back with some chicken for her.

“Was there no salmon?” Quinn asked. He could feel everyone staring at him all of a sudden. “What? She likes salmon. It’s her favourite.”

Earth snorted a laugh.

“I thought you hated that cat?”

Quinn looked around at the others and shrugged.

“I don’t hate her, she just annoys me.”

Air gave Calista a knowing smile as she looked on, amused. She reached out carefully to stroke the cat’s head and thankfully didn’t get hissed at or scratched.

Fucking cat.

Despite Quinn’s initial ultimatum that she had to live in Air’s room or leave, she had basically moved herself in with him. For the last couple of years since she’d mysteriously shown up and refused to leave she had slept at the foot of whichever bed Quinn was sleeping in. He tolerated her, not knowing why.

He made sure that she had the best food; not that he’d researched cat diet on the internet and spent an hour or so every week making up homemade meals for her because who knew what kinds of chemicals and other types of junk there were in store bought cat food? She had a nest of blankets under his bed to sleep in during the day; he definitely hadn’t noticed which ones made her the most comfortable and certainly hadn’t stolen them for her. He left the window in the bathroom open so that she had access to outside; he definitely didn’t do that because he respected her as a predator and knew how much she loved to hunt. Nope. Not Quinn.

He scowled and stood up, forcing the cat to drop from his lap. She immediately jumped back onto the sofa and snuggled into Calista.

“Okay, I think we’re ready,” Helena said.

Secondo looked at Calista and smiled.

“Tell us now if you don’t want to do this, si?”

They’d tried to establish a conversation with Secondo. He should have been able to read her thoughts, but whatever magic had been used had frustratingly prevented it.