Fear the Reaper [malexmale]

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"You didn't find them anywhere?"

I sat at the table in the kitchen as Rowan sat across from me with a mug of coffee and this morning's news paper pulled up on his tablet. Meanwhile, Simon was at the stove once again, making some gross heart healthy breakfast Rowan told me to eat or I'd have it funneled down my throat. Deciding not to piss him off anymore than I had yesterday with my creepy sex drive, I went with the heart healthy breakfast, even though it looked like goopy vomit in a bowl with fruity turds dropped on top of it. And let's not forget that whole grain toast that tasted more like tree bark, and some weird marmalade that tasted like the current black sludge in my veins.

"And I repeat to you, no," Rowan answered me without looking up from his tablet, "The books were nowhere to be found."

"How much you wanna bet they're at Xiphrus's place?" Simon asked with a smirk as he smeared cannabutter on my toast. Oh, and along with my new diet of heart healthy bullshit, I had to have a daily dose of marijuana to keep my mood swings in check and my panic attacks at bay. For once in my life, I wasn't waking up with sleep paralysis and screaming in the middle of the night. So I guess one good thing was happening.

"I fucking hope not," I muttered, taking a swallow of the weird ass tea Rowan was forcing me to drink because caffeine apparently only made my mood swings worse as well as the panic attacks. It tasted like flowers and honey. So basically, like everything fluffy and cute and offended my very masculinity.

And then there was the fact that Rowan hadn't found the books in Zeus's palace, so my trip to Joxeia was all for naught. Kind of anyway. I was still pissed at him, mocking me to try and piss me off so he could get me talking honestly. But then, he did say he was different from other therapists. It was nice to finally snap, though, and get that shit out in the open. I had been pretty passive-aggressive with Joxeia. When I found out he was Lucifer's little pet, I'd pretended not to recognize him. When he appeared before me, I just did an "oh, nice to see you again, how's it going, oh that's nice, gotta go, dead people to take care of" kind of thing. And from there, I avoided him and when we ran into each other, I basically ignored him or focused on the task at hand.

Now Joxeia finally knew I hated his guts and probably always would. So that was some progress for ya.

Too bad Joxeia now also knew I was infected and was probably gonna run around telling everyone so they could keep an eye on me or consider me an enemy. Which was going to make my job so much harder than it already was. As if being called out for catastrophes wasn't enough, now I was gonna have people gunning for me. And not just for gambling debts either.

Oh joy.

This probably meant Joxeia had told Xiphrus I was infected, which would make getting to him and snatching those books all the more impossible. And it was at that point I asked myself... why the fuck did I care? I wanted to know what Viviana was planning, sure. I was curious now. I had to know. At the same time, did I need to know? Not really. Life or death? Well, not for me apparently.

Now getting a hold of the books was more of a personal thing to satisfy the curiosity eating away at me. And I needed something to do now that I was single, bored, and living in a house with two other dudes who were batting for the other team.

Romantically in Rowan's case. Last night I'd confirmed that Rowan kind of had a thing for me, but typical Rowan. Brushed it off like it was none of his business, told me I needed to go back to Alaric, and to take care of my heart. For a guy who was supposed to be on the enemy's side, he was awfully nice and caring. Even Simon drew a line between us.

"I love you like a brother," Simon had told me earlier, "But if you start waltzing up in here in your underwear, I'm gonna love you like a sister, you feel me, man?" Oh yeah. I got the message alright. Deciding I enjoyed my genitalia where it belonged and not in the frying pan with Rowan's eggs, I kept my pants on for my own safety.