Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

Time is of the Essence

“You’re sure?” Quinn heard Secondo say over the phone.

Fire had called him to let him know what was going on as Earth tried to asses the situation.

They were still in the ballroom where the party had been held the night before. Piles of sleeping bodies were strewn everywhere, in every corner and even laid out on the dance floor. Ghouls and Siblings had passed out, seemingly overcome by whatever drugs had been added to the punch.

“Yes. Quinn saw it,” Fire replied to Secondo.

That was all he needed to say. Secondo would know that he needed to take him seriously and that Santos had, in fact, somehow managed to take Sunshine. Quinn heard Secondo curse before he told them to bring Itzal to Papa’s office.

Those who had been still sleeping were beginning to wake up but it was slow progress. Sleepy moans and groans could be heard and Quinn tried his best to shake the last remnants of fog from his brain so that he could concentrate properly. He was still trying to recover from the mental whiplash of the night before, the disturbingly realistic nightmare and then waking up to this. In that moment, he was grateful that Earth thrived in situations like this one.

“Alpha!” Earth barked as he, Quinn and Air approached the three bickering ghouls. “Shut the hell up.”

They all jumped at the big ghoul’s tone, stopping Alpha mid rant. He was blaming Itzal for this and was barely managing to contain his temper.

Quinn could see that Omega was sending calming energy to Itzal already. The realisation had just dawned on him that Sunshine was actually gone and Santos must have been behind it. His emotions were swirling, a mass of pain and fear and panic overwhelming him. Quinn could feel it both through his quintessential self and through the pack bond that they now shared. He found himself wanting to go to him but managed to stop himself.

Omega glanced at Quinn pleadingly. The usual thing for a quintessence ghoul to do in this situation would be to take hold of him, pull him close and bombard him with soothing quintessential magic. Everyone was mindful not to do that with Itzal though; it was likely to make his panic worse.

Earth, being Earth, didn’t care about any of that. He took the decision out of both of their hands, grabbing Itzal around the shoulders firmly and guiding him towards the door. The shadow ghoul didn’t even seem to notice and all the while, Earth was barking orders at the others.

He sent Alpha, Ifrit and Mist out to search the grounds and told the rest of Secondo’s pack to keep the siblings and ghouls contained in the ballroom until they had managed to figure out what had happened.

“Quinn? Omega? With me," Earth said as he was leaving. “I’m pretty sure you two are going to be very busy for the foreseeable.”

Quinn nodded briskly and turned to Air. He pulled him into a hug and Air looked up at him, confused.

“You okay?” he said quietly enough so that the others wouldn’t hear. “You felt off back there.”

Quinn smiled sadly at him.

“I am now that I know you’re okay.”

Air frowned but didn’t question him further.

“Go and make sure our Itzal is alright. He’s going to need you more than ever today,” Air said, voice full of emotion.

Quinn kissed the top of his head and stepped back.

“I will do my best,” he said, following the stream of ghouls out of the door.

“Quinn!” It was Secondo. He stopped and turned to him. “Let Omega handle him for now. I need you here. Tell me exactly what you saw.”

Quinn sighed and sent the vision to Secondo’s mind. It took him a moment to process it but he cursed in Italian when he had.