Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

At What Cost?

The basement cells were eerily quiet as the three ghouls made their way down the stairs and through the maze of corridors that led to the block where Santos and the witch were being held.

The entrance was being guarded all throughout the day and the night. Secondo had drafted in all of the Clergy's ghouls to do shifts. Tonight, Papa's ghouls Aether and Dew were on duty. They'd been sitting on the floor either side of the entrance, chatting shit, but they jumped up when they realised Secondo's ghouls were approaching.

Aether nodded to them and Dew regarded them warily.

"Oh, hi. Didn't realise you guys were scheduled for playtime in the Terminally Fun Cells tonight," he said. He noticed Itzal behind Quinn and Air and he cursed. "Fuck's sake, don't tell me Secondo agreed to this?"

Air shrugged and grinned at him.

"Okay, so I won't tell you that then," he said.

Aether looked between them and frowned.

"We can't, Secondo will have our arses if we let him in there."

Technically Quinn and Air held the authority here. Secondo and his ghouls were in charge of all of the prisoners so they could overrule the younger ghouls, but Quinn figured that it would be better to let them decide for themselves rather than force them into anything. If they were going to risk getting into trouble then they should know the reason why.

"He's just going to have a quick look. In and out. We won't open the cell, he can't get to him," Air replied.

Dew narrowed his eyes but they burned with amber flames. He seemed to be weighing up the pros and cons. Itzal was as much a part of their pack as Sunshine was - they were mated now, after all.

Aether was frowning and Itzal, perceptive as he was, must have realised that he was the one who he needed to work to convince because he addressed him when he spoke up.

"Sunshine had a bad dream and it woke me up. It was memories from her time with Santos and the witches. I saw some of it through our bond. I need to see for myself that he's suffering. I know I can't touch him yet, I can be patient. But I just need to know that he's hurting for what he did to her. And to me."

Aether glanced at Quinn for a moment and he raised his brow expectantly. The big quint cursed and his shoulders sagged.

"You owe us for this, majorly. Don't think I won't break your skull again if you try anything," he said with a smirk. "Secondo can never find out about this, and it will never happen again. Got it?"

Itzal nodded and Quinn hid his own smirk. Aether was a sucker for a sob story.

He opened up the way and the ghouls filed in, Itzal trailing behind them. He was nervous, Quinn could feel it, but they were all on edge. So much could go wrong with this, but he supposed that life would be boring if they followed every rule. He had no doubt that Secondo would find out about it eventually, but as long as nothing went wrong, he would be fine with it. He hoped.

They reached the end of the corridor and stopped. Santos' cell was the very furthest away and was contained by floor to ceiling bars that were warded by magic.

Quinn sensed that Santos was awake now, he could feel his suffering and he deemed that he had healed Santos just enough after their earlier session. He gave himself a pat on the back because Santos was miserable and uncomfortable and hurting. He hung limply from his chained wrists and his breathing was wheezy and laboured.

The ghouls all tensed up as Itzal moved through them to stand front and centre before the cell. Quinn was well aware that the shadow ghoul could try to ghost between the bars to get to him. He would be able to end Santos before any of the others could get to him, but Quinn was pretty confident that he wouldn't.