Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

Fortunate

As it turned out, by the time Quinn, Air, Fire and Earth made it back to the infirmary, the shadow ghoul had been taken to the upper level holding cells in the basement. Secondo and Terzo were back in Secondo’s study, deep in conversation. Water let the four ghouls in and Secondo beckoned them over.

“Welcome. I’m guessing that Earth has filled you in?” They nodded and came to rest dotted around the room. “Papa is bringing Sunshine to us. She seems to know this ghoul so maybe she can shed some light on this.”

“Where has he come from?” Quinn asked, uneasy about this whole thing and what the implications would be for them.

“We have not established this yet. His thoughts were too panicked for me to get a handle on anything concrete so I think that a night in the cells might give him a chance to decompress a little. Tomorrow we shall question him.”

Quinn closed his eyes and shook his head sadly, remembering the emotions he had felt from the collared ghouls the first time he’d encountered two of them. One had been numb from the years of severe trauma he'd endured and the other was a panicked, neurotic mess; on the inside, of course. To those who could not sense emotions, they would have seemed cold, calculating and deadly.

A knock sounded at the door and Papa came in along with Aether and Sunshine, his multi ghuleh. Earth and Quinn took their usual places, standing behind Secondo on either side. Papa and Sunshine sat down on the chairs in front of his desk.

The little ghuleh was rattled but Quinn didn’t sense any kind of guilt coming from her. She glanced at Quinn warily every now and then and he tried his best not to look too intimidating. It was difficult when that was his job though.

“Thank you for coming to speak with us, Sunshine,” Secondo said, smiling warmly at her. “I’m sure you’ve realised what this is about already. I would like you to know that whatever you tell us, you will not be in trouble, si?”

Quinn frowned. Secondo must have picked up her thoughts because he wouldn’t usually make a promise like that to someone if he wasn’t certain that they hadn’t betrayed the Clergy.

She glanced nervously from Secondo to Quinn again and shifted in her seat.

“It is okay Sunshine, you can tell us everything. Why was the shadow ghoul asking for you?” Papa asked her gently.

She sighed and looked down into her lap.

“His name is Itzal,” she said, almost defensively. Quinn detected a slight hint of irritation in her voice. “I offered him my help. I met him after the show the other week. He was there watching us. When I went after him...”

“You went after him?” Papa said, interrupting her. “Were the others there?”

She glanced at Papa and furrowed her brow.

“Well, no. I went alone.”

Aether cursed under his breath and Papa raised his brows. He took her hand.

“You went after an unknown ghoul alone?”

“Well, yes. His aura was beautiful but there was something wrong with it. I went to go and see if I could find him to get a closer look before he disappeared.”

“And you spoke with him?” Secondo asked her.

She nodded, glancing at him nervously.

“I did. I sensed that he was in trouble. He felt off and I knew that he needed help. He was very nervous. I think he was too scared to talk to me so I gave him the Abbey's number and said to call me if he needed a friend.”