A Stranger to Our Legacy- Book One: Human Nature

Chapter Eight: The Cat

He was, in fact, enjoying a robust glass of red wine on Maru's couch, the young man sitting next to Rince and foot tapping absentmindedly against the carpet. The news rambled on about a rising business group, and then followed up with a dead body found in a ditch not too far from the outskirts of Haven.

It would be an understatement to say that Rince had made himself at home, having already taking over the spare room and gone as far as to start doing chores around the house, which, were appreciated, but his actions were starting to piss Vincent off- more so than usual. And unsurprisingly, it was all the more incentive for Rince to continue in his actions.

After the first week, Rince had actually taken the emergency bag from his car and brought it in, unpacking what seemed like an entire closet of clothes, and a frightening amount of blank journals with several bottles of ink. These were housed in the bookcase of the spare room, filling it wall to wall with barely enough room for the books Maru had come home with a few hours ago. Shakespeare plays actually, which Rince told him were much more exciting and moving when experiencing them fresh out of the playwrights hands.

The younger simply chuckled and shook his head, placing them on the coffee table before speaking. "You know, Rince, not everyone has the ability to live as long as you have. I'm sure you've experienced many things that we normal people could only dream of doing."

The immortal chuckled, wrapping an arm around him and pulling Maru into a hug. "That is true, dear. Oftentimes I wish I had someone like you along for the ride. Though, keep in mind that you're not exactly normal yourself." He tapped him lightly on the nose, eliciting a laugh and playful shove from Maru.

"I'm much more normal than you of all people." He replied, reaching over and messing up Rince's hair.

The older sighed, shaking his head and pulling back. "Really? Come on now, that hurts." he pouted, though couldn't hold it for very long before he took another sip of wine. "Where did you get this by the way? I've never had such a complex drink from this time period before."

Maru shrugged, turning their attention back to the tv. "I think Vincent brought it home a few days ago from work. It was probably a gift from his boss. I haven't met her, but apparently she's very... non-traditional when it comes to her employees."

The other tilted his head, frowning. "What do you mean by that?"

He pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. "Well she's been giving Vincent a lot of gifts lately. None of his previous employers have done that before. And, from what I've heard, she's just very different- like for example, she's very secretive and much more of a mystery than other heads of major corporations- and that's saying a lot. All of what she does is behind closed doors- classified actually, and even when I tried looking them up, there wasn't a website or anything. Not even an address." Maru frowned suddenly, blinking in realization before turning to Rince. "You don't think.... Vincent couldn't be lying- or even worse... could he?"

Rince watched him carefully, trying to think of what to say. It wasn't his place to go around and make wild accusations about a person simply because he didn't like them. "I don't know, Maru. You've known him longer than I have. But, from what I know-" He paused, forcing down and swallowing back hatred for Maru's current lover. "I don't think that he would lie to you."

The younger male smiled in relief, leaning over and resting his head on Rince's shoulder. "Thank you, Rince."

"You know I'm always here for you, dear."

"Mhm." Maru pulled the remote from Rince's lap, flipping through the guide for something a little less dark. Something light, something fun and with a good amount of spirit- like the cooking network.