Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

Worlds Collide

Quinn was due to start his shift at eight. He’d been woken by his phone alarm at around six thirty but was still enjoying the warmth of being surrounded by his pack mates at seven. The door to the den opened and Calista popped her head inside. She smiled when she saw the ghouls all together and slipped into the room.

“Hey,” Quinn whispered.

The others were mostly still asleep. Air was stirring though and he sat up.

“Morning. I brought you some breakfast,” she whispered, nodding towards the general direction of the kitchen.

Air grinned and stood up, pulling Quinn to his feet also. They carefully stepped over Earth and Fire and followed the water ghuleh out of the den.

“What a wake up call,” Air said, grabbing her around the waist and kissing her forehead.

She laughed and hugged him.

“I figured you deserved a treat, and we haven’t had breakfast together for a while.”

She must have been busy because the whole dining table was full of fruit and pastries, bacon and pancakes, juice and coffee. Air’s eyes lit up at the sight of it.

“And this right here is one of the many reasons why you’re my favourite ghuleh,” he said, sitting her down and pouring her a glass of juice.

She beamed at him and they tucked in. Fire and Earth joined them and Quinn found himself enjoying a moment of peace before his shit show of a day began.

He arrived at Secondo’s apartment a few minutes early to handover with Water. The other ghoul looked tired and Quinn felt bad that he hadn’t been able to join the rest of their pack. He was sure that Fire would make sure he was well looked after today though and Quinn pulled him into a hug before he left to go and get some rest back at the lair.

Secondo’s coffee table was covered in scrolls from his personal library and it looked like he had been up for quite some time. Quinn kicked himself that he could have come and helped with the research it looked like he’d been doing. Secondo smirked at him.

“It’s fine, Quinn. You needed the rest. You can help me later once we’ve uncovered some more facts about this ghoul. I’m sure you know how serious this matter is, and I wasn’t prying but I know that you have met ghouls like this before.”

He must have picked up on Quinn’s thoughts about them the previous day.

“Unfortunately I have. I do not have the best of histories with them, as I imagine is the case for anyone who has encountered them.” Secondo nodded sadly and gave a tired sigh. “More coffee?” Quinn asked him, gesturing to the empty mug that sat holding down the corner of a scroll.

“Si. That would be nice. Thank you,” Secondo answered.

Quinn busied himself making it how he knew Secondo liked it. He sensed that Secondo wanted to ask him about it but didn’t want to upset him.

“Ask, it is okay,” he said as he handed the mug to Secondo.

Secondo nodded his thanks and frowned.

“The Council outlawed these collars after an incident many centuries ago. I’m sure that you know they often used them as a punishment for out of control ghouls.” Quinn nodded. In days gone by the ghoul Council was not the civilised entity it was today. They could be brutal and many of their methods of punishment were barbaric. The slave collars were created for this very reason. “They gathered up all of the ones that they had in their possession and they destroyed them, banning their use with immediate effect. It was simply too dangerous to have them and for them to fall into the wrong hands. It was fine for them to use them, but as soon as human sorcerers got in on the act they decided it was wrong.” Quinn snorted and shook his head, how right he was. He knew what Secondo was going to ask him. “Shay told me about the incident that was the final straw. It was a plot that had been uncovered and brought to their attention some weeks afterwards. A ghoul had betrayed his villagers and dealt with a human witch in exchange for harvesting ghouls and enslaving them.”