Chapter 9 #2
It felt…a lot like the rush he got whenever he leveled up in a game or pulled the Memory card he’d been desperate for from a banner.
Like a burst of light sparking in the dark cavern where his heart should be.
Typically, that brightness only lasted so long, momentary gratification that left an emptiness needing to be filled all over again far too soon.
How long would the feelings Eden elicit within him last?
Was he just another spark, or was he the inferno Ares had been searching for? The fire that could finally light him ablaze and put a stop to this never-ending numbness?
“Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?” Eden’s voice dropped low, the first hint of fear there.
But it wasn’t the only thing. There was something else mixed in with it. Something that sounded an awful lot like anticipation.
“You’re hornier than I imagined you’d be,” Ares confessed. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Fuck off.” The distance came then, though he’d been expecting it. Eden swatted his hand away and then twisted around and climbed into the car with a pinched expression on his face.
“Are you sulking?” Why was that so adorable?
Ares laughed and closed the door before Eden could retaliate with what was no doubt going to be a snarky remark, and rounded the car to the driver's side. The cleanup crew would be here any minute, and he didn’t want to waste energy talking with them. “Seat belt.”
“Sure thing, Dad.” He yanked the belt harder than he needed to in a display of absolute brattiness that had Ares thinking of all the ways he could reprimand him.
Later.
“Not my kink,” Ares said, switching the car on and slamming on the gas so the vehicle whipped out onto the street. He didn’t bother slowing, speeding up instead, zipping down the quiet side streets until he’d made it to the highway.
“What about my bike?” Eden asked.
“Ditch it. I’ll get you a new one.”
“No way.”
“It’s stupid to lug that thing across the planet.” He was thinking logically. If Illya were here, if this were his reality instead, he’d probably use emotion. Ares cleared his throat and tried again. “Does it hold some sort of sentimental value to you?”
Eden considered that and eventually gave a curt shake of his head, but he didn’t seem nearly as irritated as he’d been a moment prior, so the new approach must have been a good one.
What next?
In Nyoka’s reality, he’d already be blasting music. Something loud and with a beat. Lyrics he could belt out. Suggestive ones, most likely. Eden was too musically inclined for Ares to take a risk like that, however.
Ryker would fill the silence by scolding Eden for coming out in such a thin coat, and on a piece of junk that left the rider in open air.
Ares didn’t want to rile him up again, so that was also a no go.
Zar…would crash the car just to see if either of them could survive.
Big nope.
Ellery—
“Where are we going?” Eden asked, putting an end to Ares’ internal flip through of possible realities.
“Your place.”
“So that you can finally fuck me?”
Ares hit the gas before catching himself, causing them to jerk in their seats.
“Careful,” Eden growled. “Are you trying to kill us? What are you so surprised about anyway? You’re the one who brought it up.”
Had he?
Did he mean that comment about being horny?
“You’re too direct,” Ares explained. “Ransom is flirtatious and suggestive.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not him. If that disappoints you—”
“It doesn’t.” It really didn’t. “The whole reason I started playing Vanity was because of its use of Usurn mythology. You’re a lot more like what Starling was described as in the few stories we still have of him.”
“Look,” Eden turned in his seat so he could face Ares, “let’s get something straight before we continue whatever this thing between us is.
I keep saying it, but you’re not hearing me, so let this be the last time I lay it all out there, yeah?
I’m not Ransom, and I’m not Starling. I’m just me.
I’m Eden. If that’s not going to be enough for you, or if I’m not what you’re looking for, just tell me now. We can still end it here.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“Relax, I’ll put out tonight, a deal is a deal, but we can forget about the rest. You got me my first lead in years, and despite how you went about it or the way you’ve swept like a tsunami into my life, I’m grateful for that.
I’m sure I can take this information to someone and—What? ” He glared when Ares chuckled.
“It’s interesting you haven’t figured it out already,” Ares replied.
“Figured what out?”
“With your daddy kink, you really should have realized just what kind of force you’re up against here.”
“Okay, I don’t have a daddy kink, asshole. Explain.”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “Zonnie Dephik is the sole heir of InDepth United. His father owns half this city and even has several businesses in Aeternus. A single investigator in his pocket going missing is one thing, but that’s his son’s corpse currently rotting in the boathouse.
You made a choice, Eden, and choices have consequences. ”
Eden was quiet for a moment and then said, “You think Daven Dephik will come after me.”
“If he can figure out you’re partially responsible for Zonnie’s death? Absolutely.”
“And how would he do that?” The suspicion in his tone was impossible to miss, and Ares didn’t bother pretending to.
He smirked.
“You’re threatening me right now,” Eden stated incredulously.
“Those types of people aren’t above using violence to get what they want.
Zonnie was an idiot kid who didn’t know what he was doing, but I assure you, his father has more finesse.
If he wanted to erase you, he could, possibly to an extent that would make it hard for even me to find out what happened.
” Good thing Ares planned on killing them first.
Too bad Eden wanted it slow and painful. Ares would prefer to just get it done and over with, but he could acknowledge that he couldn’t relate to what Eden was going through.
Hell, when Ares’ family had been murdered, he’d felt nothing short of relief.
“This was your plan all along,” Eden accused. “Turn me into your accomplice to force my hand.”
“There’s no reason to be angry. My way, everyone gets what they want.
Well, except for the Dephiks, of course.
You could leave me if you want to,” Ares said.
“Don’t act like you haven’t been considering it since I started hitting Zonnie.
Reality doesn’t always align with our imagination.
Sometimes it can be too overwhelming. We have some control over things in our head, but—”
Eden scoffed. “Can you control the things in your head? Really?”
“Is that your nice way of calling me crazy, babe?”
Eden didn’t answer, undoing his belt when Ares brought the car to a stop in his driveway. “I’m curious about something, but I’m unsure if I should ask it.”
“You’ve got nothing to fear from me.” He’d just threatened to leak his involvement, but aside from that…
“Yeah, it’s that.” He stabbed a finger into the center of Ares’ chest, almost as though to test him. “That right there. I heard Black Harts are all spoiled rich bastards who take what they want without asking.”
“Am I not doing that?” He quirked a brow. “I bought out your company and initiated a relocation process that your CEO isn’t fond of. I called you in the middle of the night and ordered you to meet me in an obscure location.”
“Both of those things required my compliance. If I hadn’t signed the contract, you wouldn’t be able to do shit. Same thing if I’d refused to come tonight.”
He snickered and leaned back in his seat. His Starling really was adorable—not at all what he’d imagined, but adorable nonetheless. “Your definition of ‘take’ is interesting. Would you like to hear mine?”
Eden hesitated and then nodded.
“I am taking what I want. To truly own something, you have to have full control over it. People aren’t like objects.
They have their own goals, wants, and desires.
I could take your body, but that’s just a shell.
I don’t want a shell, Eden. What would I do with that?
If your head isn’t in it, eventually your body will give out, and I’ll be left with nothing.
But if I use control…” Ares shifted closer, noting the way the voice actor’s breath caught in his throat.
“If I manipulate you into feeling like you’re the one with all the power, you’ll eventually decide to come to me all on your own. ”
Eden’s eyes widened slightly. “You make it sound like I never really had a choice at all.”
“Did you?” He clicked his tongue. “You’re easy, babe. Easier than I thought you would be, but that’s all right. I kind of like it. I like how you’re walking right into my traps, how you keep offering me your body. How badly you want me to be buried deep inside it.”
Eden blindly reached behind himself for the door handle. The second he found it, he pulled, practically falling backwards and tumbling out of the vehicle.
Ares grinned and slowly followed, not nearly in as much of a rush. He’d give his Starling a moment to collect himself. It was the least he could do, and he could afford to do it.
This was a long game, after all.
Sure enough, Eden was keeping his distance, remaining on the other side of the car, eyes tracking every one of Ares’ movements when he stood and stretched to his full height.
“Can you control the thoughts in your head?” Ares countered, tapping his fingers against the metal roof. “I’m in there, aren’t I?”
“You wanted me to think about you.”
“Wouldn’t have done something as dramatic as break into your place in the middle of the night if I didn’t.” He figured that was pretty self-explanatory, but it was clear Eden hadn’t grown up on guard the same way Ares and his friends had. He was going to have to learn.
Ares didn’t want anyone else on his Starling’s mind but him.
“The masked assailant angle is an interesting kink,” he continued, “but I think my getup was better than the shitty piece of All Hallows’ Eve throwaway your usual hookup wears. Sad that I got blood all over it and had to leave it at the warehouse. Since you’re fond of it, though, I’ll buy another.”
“Who said I was fond of it?”
“You did.” Ares took a step around the front of the car.
“I can read between the lines. It was hidden in the way you fucked yourself on that toy and came screaming my name—Well, the name Lucifer, but since that’s me…
” He was embellishing a little. Eden had called out for him before orgasming, but the point was there, and his version of events was more effective at driving that point home.
Anger and fear swirled in Eden’s blue eyes, and he shifted back a step when Ares made it to his side of the car.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He glanced quickly at his house behind Ares and then back, obviously not trusting him out of his sight for longer than a split second. “Have you been spying on me?”
“You already knew I was.”
“That’s…No.” He shook his head. “What you’re insinuating is—”
Ares moved in a flash, capturing the few steps that separated them, hand coming around Eden’s throat as he turned them and pressed the voice actor against the car in a mirror of the stance they’d taken outside the boathouse.
He planted a leg at either side of Eden, effectively trapping him, and tipped his head back so their eyes could meet once more.
“You can still change your mind about the rest of it, but tonight?” Ares grinned. “Tonight you’re mine. We played, and I won.”
Eden wanted Ares to take like a Black Hart?
Okay. He was more than happy to oblige.