Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4: Papa IV Era & The Main Event - Fate Breaker (MxM)

Made of Trauma

Secondo allocated the ghouls their duties and sent them on their way. Water would be heading up Abbey security, Fire would be helping Secondo with Santos and Quinn and Earth would be with the witch.

Air was being sent with Primo and a couple of his ghouls to a function in the next city over and Quinn could tell that he was pissed about it. He wanted to be close by in case Quinn needed him, but Secondo had put his foot down and decided he would be more useful to Primo.

As he was leaving, Air put an arm around Quinn’s waist and nuzzled his neck.

“I’ll just be a phone call away if you need me, okay?” he murmured so that the others couldn’t hear.

Quinn pulled him closer and nodded. He met Secondo’s gaze over his shoulder and was offered a half smile.

The others left to go and get started but Secondo held Quinn back for a moment.

“Sit, Quinn, please,” he said, gesturing to the chair opposite his desk. Quinn sat and he met Secondo’s eyes again. He gave him a weary smile this time. “I know that you requested not to deal with Sylvie and I respect your reasons why. I also know how angry Air is with me for asking this of you.” Quinn smirked at that. He’d felt it lashing at him when Secondo had mentioned what their tasks would be. “The other day was a one off. Or so I thought.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and Quinn shifted in his seat, feeling how weary this whole thing was making Secondo. He’d known that Secondo would ask this of him, but it seemed as though there was more to it than him simply interrogating the witch the old fashioned way.

“What do you need from me?”

Secondo studied his face for a moment. Whatever he saw there must have helped him to make the decision that Quinn sensed he’d been warring over all night.

“I saw something fleeting in her memories yesterday. It was something about a deal with a ghoul in your home dimension. She didn’t seem to know anything about it, really. It was a snippet of conversation. I am wondering if maybe the ether would be able to help? Maybe you can steer it to throw some information or even just some intuition your way? I am going to try and find out what I can from Santos about it also.”

Quinn frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that.

“What kind of a deal would they be making with ghouls?”

But he already knew what the answer most likely would be.

“That’s what we need to find out because if my suspicion is correct, then maybe Santos planned to summon another ghoul to replace Itzal.” Quinn felt his eyes flash and a growl rumbled out from his throat. “And if that is the case, if there is a ghoul who is trying to sell other ghouls to humans, then Boreas needs to know about it.”

“I will gladly do it then,” Quinn snarled. “And I will drink down every moment of torment she experiences.”

Secondo smirked and nodded.

“We need to find out if this is the same ghoul that Santos has dealt with before. Itzal’s father did not just stumble across Santos and strike up a deal for his son. There was a broker involved, but the Council have not been able to find out who it was as of yet. Their investigation into what happened is still ongoing but they found out everything they could from Itzal’s father before he was executed. The ghoul he dealt with had used a pseudonym and the description could be any number of ghouls.”

“I will try to find out what I can,” Quinn said.

“I am sorry to ask this of you. If you would rather not then I understand, but I hoped that the ether could offer us some insight.” Quinn realised that was the real reason why Secondo had sent Air away. The ether was less predictable when he was around, seeming to skip over the smaller visions and to only push through the more significant ones in his presence. Secondo and Quinn were still working on theories about that, but so far they were just that - untested theories. “If possible I want to sentence her in the next forty eight hours. I think we have almost gathered everything that we need from Santos too and I am mindful of how heavily this is weighing on Itzal, having them still alive and still here under the same roof as he and Sunshine.”