Fear the Reaper [malexmale]

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"Well, this is fucking awkward."

Leave it to Simon to cut through a silence so awkward, you'd need a chainsaw to get through it. He was right, of course. Because we were all standing in the living room of my house. By all, I mean it was me, Alaric, Simon, and Rowan. Alaric was totally hairy eyeballing Rowan and Simon, but he wasn't jumping on the wagon to hurt them either, which I appreciated. Same went for Rowan and Simon. Simon was clearly uncomfortable, but Rowan was doing his best to remain civil. As usual.

"Well, then let's get down to business," I said, leaning on the wall by the archway to the living room, "First of all, we're clearly not just dealing with Viviana, like we originally thought. We're dealing with someone who might be in cahoots with her." Rowan frowned at that folding his arms over his chest, standing near the television and dwarfing the fifty inch plasma.

"I don't know of anyone like that, though. Someone who's so good at shapeshifting that no one picked up on it? And wait, didn't Viviana recognize the meeting she had with Xiphrus? It doesn't make any sense. Nothing is adding up," he explained, looking at me. I nodded in agreement. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted Alaric staring at Rowan intently. Like, he was trying to figure something out.

And I started to sweat a little.

Fuck. He was gonna find out Rowan and I did a lip lock. And it wasn't even Rowan's fault. It was mine, because I was infected, something Alaric also didn't know and was going to find out when I cut myself or broke my nose or, hell, even a papercut. I wasn't sure why I hadn't even told him yet. It was necessary. It wasn't like an STI, so he wasn't gonna catch it from me, but shit. He had a right to know that I was flooded with black goo that smelled like butterscotch.

"What about Tatiana," I asked, making Rowan raise an eyebrow, "Is she a shapeshifter?"

"She's a succubus," Simon answered, and everyone looked at him, but he held up his hands, "I don't know that from experience. I know because she gets her daily feed in the castle."

"With who?" I asked. Wasn't he the one who told me shadows didn't feed that urge?

"Who do you think," Simon returned. I stared at him for a full minute before it hit me like a truck. I remembered all the times I was with Tatiana. Her focus was entirely on Viviana, Viviana who would sneak little touches here and there, a kiss once in awhile. I thought she treated all her kids that way, but I guess some were just a little more special than others.

"Oh," I stated.

"Yeah," Simon deadpanned. Like he was peeved that Tatiana got special treatment and he hadn't. Seemed Viviana was playing favorites.

"Anyway," Rowan drawled, "As far as I know, she has no shapeshifters near her, probably for that matter. And that still doesn't explain how she knew about meeting Xiphrus, even though she never did."

"Are you sure she herself can't shapeshift?" Alaric asked. Rowan nodded.

"She's color blind, tritanopia to be specific. There's no way she'd be able to shapeshift into someone else perfectly. And besides, there's some genetics that play into it. She doesn't have the one to shapeshift, putting it bluntly," he explained. Alaric pursed his lips tight, rubbing at the back of his neck, like he was struggling to come up with an explanation for everything, but he was as stumped as the rest of us.

"The books," Rowan said after a moment, making me look up, "Maybe the books will explain it. If only we knew where they were." Alaric looked at him curiously, then turned to me.

"You mean the books you brought back with you? Xiphrus has them," he said. Rowan looked at me and I stared back at him, grimacing.

"Of course he fucking does. Because my life isn't hard enough as it is," I grunted, reaching up to wipe a hand down my face. Alaric gave me a droll stare, but he didn't nag me this time, much to my relief. He just patted my arm. Rowan looked less than thrilled by the prospect of meeting Xiphrus.