Immortals - Absolution (male/male)

Chapter 3

Next morning as Jonah woke up he found the space beside him empty. Apparetly Luca was already up it seemed. Usually Jonah wasn't a person to sleep in either but the last weeks of constantly seeking shelter from demons without a safe hideout had taken their toll. He slowly slipped out from underneath the blanket and ran his fingers through his black hair. Since he still wore his sweatpants and t-shirt he figured dressing wasn't really necessary until they left Caelan's house. After a quick teeth-brushing and some cold water splashed in his face, he headed for the kitchen to try and see if he would be able to find some coffee.

"Morning sunshine!" Luca greeted him cheerfully as he walked in.

"Morning..." Jonah grumbled, too coffee-deprived to even react to the sunshine comment.

"Good morning." another kinda hoarse voice greeted him and Jonah spotted Leon by the sink. The young man was preparing breakfast right now and obviously Luca was keeping him company.

"Morning." Jonah replied. "Should you be up?"

Leon smiled faintly. "Caelan would have prefered me to stay in bed too, but I can't get my mind off the worries if I'm not doing something useful. So here I am, preparing breakfast while he's out to get the buns."

"I see." Jonah stated. He walked up too Luca, who immediately handed his cup of coffee over to him as if offering a bribery of some sorts.

"Help yourself." the blonde grinned. "I've already had one."

Jonah merely nodded and took a sip of the steaming hot drink. Just like Luca, he prefered his coffee black and as he enjoyed the first gulp, he closed his eyes in content.

"If he were a cat, he'd purr now." Luca's grin widened even more and he winked at Leon.

"And you'd be the kid teasing him with a stick." Leon laughed softly. "Don't you fear getting scratched?"

"Maybe I'm into a little bit of pain?" Luca shrugged, a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Luca!" Jonah hissed and gave his partner a firm punch against the left shoulder with his free hand.

But before the blonde could make a cheeky remark, Caelan walked in with a huge bag of buns from the bakery below. "Morning!" he greeted Jonah, who had still been asleep when he left the house.

"Morning." his twin muttered, still glaring at Luca.

Caelan reached out and squeezed Jonah's shoulder softly, urging him to follow him to the living room. When they were alone, he smirked at his brother. "Luca teasing you again?" he asked.

"Duh..." Jonah huffed. "He's just so goddamn annoying..."

"Just as always then." Caelan stated. "Well but that's not what I wanted to say... I'll go gather some information after breakfast. You in?"

"How?" Jonah narrowed his eyes. "The black market has shut down after the demons vanished. Or did you dig up a new source?"

"The information broker." Caelan simply said.

"You're kidding!" Jonah shot back. "You seriously wanna drag your kid into that?"

Now it was Caelan, who frowned. "Don't call Leon a kid." he stated. "He might be only 18 physically but there's another kind of age and you know it. You can see it in his eyes. Despite that, I talked to you in private, didn't I? I've got no plans to take him to the broker."

"Hmh." Jonah still seemed sceptical. "Plan to leave Luca behind too?"

"No, though I suspect you might have loved that." Caelan grinned. "If I had taken the two of you to talk in private and left Leon behind, he would've been angry."

Now, Jonah raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "You don't plan on telling him??"

"Not if I can help it." Caelan confirmed. "The broker is a dangerous person and I want to protect the little safety and peace he has left."

"Isn't that like keeping him in an illusion?" Jonah asked sceptically. "But whatever... your choice. So we're leaving for the broker after breakfast?"

"Yes." Caelan confirmed. "I'm gonna have Leon stay with Willow at the headquarter. He has to recover anyway. An undercover trip isn't possible for him in his condition and Willow will make him take things slow."

Jonah didn't seem so convinced it was the best choice, but he didn't comment any further on the matter. To him it was Caelan's business and that meant not butting in. Not unless it would cause his twin immediate harm not to do so. Keeping his brother's relationship all pink and fluffy wasn't on his agenda however and so he merely shrugged and returned to the kitchen where Luca was currently obediently setting the breakfast table while Leon cut some tomatoes into pieces.

The rest of the morning passed rather uneventful and Jonah let Luca in on their plans to see the information broker while they were getting dressed in the guest room to go out. Just like Jonah, Luca wasn't quite convinced that keeping things from Leon was the best approach but... what should he have said? The twins had longsince grown out of listening to his advice.

A little bit over an hour later they were driving into the headquarter and Reaver closed the shutters behind them. Technically there shouldn't be any demons around before nightfall but with the recent developments they didn't want to take any chances. If the demons managed to return to the human realm despite Leon having purged them merely a year ago, they could as well have found a way to withstand the curse that banned them from roaming freely during the day.

"Morning sweetie!" Willow called out and bestowed a soft kiss upon Leon's cheek as soon as the boy climbed off Caelan's motorbike. As her eyes recognized his tired features however, she frowned. "Hun, you need to sleep more!" she scolded him softly. "Being young and horny is all good and dandy but you can't forget to throw in some breaks and catch some sleep."

Leon, who usually would have blushed flaming red in an instant, merely smiled and shook his head in disbelief. "I swear your imagination is more vivid than mine." he sighed halfheartedly.

"Huh... you're too studious for your age..." she frowned and pulled back. Then however, since obviously Leon didn't want to talk, she smiled and ruffled his head. He'd grown during the past year, she realized wistfully. And while he still had the slender frame of an adolescent boy and probably would keep it in the future as well, he'd grown nearly a head taller than her these days. "Aw, c'mon I'm gonna show you what I'm working on these days. I kinda want your medical view on it." Saying that she led Leon to the back where her workbenches were located.

Meanwhile the other guys had parked their motorbikes and were now gathering with Reaver. "So... I want to make a trip to the information broker today." Caelan informed him.

The tall and bulky male immediately frowned, as anticipated. "There should be safer solutions..." he objected sceptically. "You know how our last visit went. Or rather... our departure. And while it's been nearly 50 years since then I doubt the broker has forgotten about it."

Now it was Luca's turn to frown. "And exactly 'how' did your last departure go?" he asked with raised eyebrow.

Caelan showed a crooked smile which totally didn't reach his eyes, then he let out a deep sigh. "Let's just say, we didn't exactly... part on friendly terms."

If possible Luca's eyebrows shot upwards even higher. "The broker isn't an easy fellow at the best times. To consider paying him a visit on these terms..."

"...is desperate, I know." Caelan finished his sentence. "But it's the only solution I can think of. We need informations and we need them now. We can't walk blindly and miss something we're supposed to see. It could cost our lives."

"Do I want to know what you did to piss the broker off?" Jonah asked dryly.

"You don't." Caelan deadpanned.

Jonah gave him a droll stare, but left it at that. Maybe it was better not to know too much about his brother's issues. He and Luca could at least claim innocence that way and try to get something out of the broker, even if Caelan and Reaver were tossed out right the moment they set foot on the broker's territory. It was a faint hope... but it was something at least.