Chapter 11 #2
When he tried to stand, Ares shoved him back down, pinning Eden to the table with a hand at his nape, weapon still trained on the intruder.
Noon flung his hands up, eyes wide. He glanced wildly between them and then pointedly stared at the ceiling when Ares growled. “I’m sorry! I texted you, but you didn’t respond!”
“Yeah, because I’m busy,” Eden stated, trying to rise again. He glared at Ares over his shoulder as best he could while stuck in that position when he was held firmly in place. Then he seemed to notice the gun. “Good Light! Put that thing away!”
“He’s lucky I’m not Zar,” Ares quipped. “Or Ryker. They would have shot him on principle alone.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Noon said hurriedly. “And I didn’t see anything, I swear!”
Ares could shoot him…but that would be messy, both as far as cleanup and explanations went. Noon was still needed for Vanity and seemed to be close with Eden. Killing his friend most likely wasn’t the way to get on his good side…
Maybe just a shot in the thigh?
Ares lowered the weapon slightly.
“Shit! I’m sorry!” Noon backed up until he hit the door and had nowhere left to go.
“Damn it, Lucifer,” Eden struggled, but he was no match in strength, “let me up and put that down! He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“He just entered your home in the middle of the night,” Ares pointed out. “Explain.”
“We’re best friends!” Noon answered for him. “That’s all!”
Ares ignored him, draping himself over Eden’s back so he could deliver his next words directly against the curve of his ear. “Is this what you meant when you said you could have someone out on your front porch with just a phone call?”
“No,” he shook his head. “It’s not like that. Seriously.”
Ares opened his mouth, but happened to pull back enough to make out Eden’s expression. What he saw there gave him pause. “Are you…fighting back a smile right now?”
Caught, Eden stopped trying to hide it, flashing him a full-on grin. “What was all that teasing about jealousy earlier? Not so funny when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?”
His eyes narrowed, and then with one hard shove that pressed Eden into the table, he pushed off him. Ares clicked the button on the side of his blaster that converted the weapon back into a chunky metal bracelet, pretending not to notice the way Noon’s mouth gaped open.
“What is that?” he asked but smartly shut back up when Ares gave him another warning look.
Released, Eden stood, clutching at the towel to keep himself covered. He cinched it tightly around his waist and took a deliberate step away from Ares, putting space between them.
It shouldn’t have pissed him off. Rationally, Ares couldn’t figure out why it did. It wasn’t even a full foot of distance, and yet he felt the overwhelming desire to pin Eden back down, toss the towel aside, and fuck him in front of his so-called friend just to make it clear who owned who here.
That would only result in one thing, though.
Ares would hurt him, and Eden would resent him.
That would lead to frayed reality.
All his planning would be for nothing.
He’d end up with nothing.
No control.
And the game would be ruined for him, too. That’d been a risk he’d willingly taken before, but now things were different. If he lost Eden, there was no way he’d be able to look at Ransom without thinking about him. Thinking about his empty reality.
His vision began to cloud around the edges, his teeth capturing his bottom lip and chewing madly, both signs he was slipping away.
Signs that shouldn’t be ignored. How long since his last episode?
It’d been before coming here, that was for certain.
Before meeting Eden. His tiny piece of paradise had managed to keep the darkness at bay, but now the illusion was calling, coaxing him to step back into the shadows.
Time was false.
The world was fake.
There was no life or death.
Only despair and destruction.
Only a cosmic joke.
Headshot.
Had to be a headshot.
Only a headshot would do it.
“What's…wrong with him?” he heard Noon ask, the fear and uncertainty clear in his tone.
That wasn’t good. In this reality nothing was wrong with Ares. Nothing could be wrong with him. It was very important. His image had to be maintained to protect himself.
There could only be one mentally unstable Black Hart in their group, and Balthazar had claimed that spot already.
Zar.
He hit the speed dial on his multi-slate before he could stop himself, falling back on old coping mechanisms. The device rang out loud, the speaker crackling slightly since he hadn’t bothered taking the three seconds to put in the earbud attachment.
“Creation,” Zar’s deep voice trickled into the room a moment later, and some of the chaos Ares had been feeling instantly vanished. “There’s a fish in your pond I’d like to fry and consume. Opinion?”
“Cull the unnecessary.” Ares stared Noon down, hating that the voice actor was important enough to keep breathing.
“Even if Nyoka might be displeased?”
“He’ll form a new reality and get over it.”
“You know who I’m referring to.”
“You weren’t subtle, brother.”
“Don’t be sad if I go through with it.”
“You’re all I need.”
“Are you sure?” The sound of springs as Zar got out of his office chair came through the line. “Does that mean I can shoot the starling from your sky and pluck his feathers as well? We could have a feast. Fish and fowl.”
“What—” Eden snapped his mouth shut when Ares grabbed his hand and held.
“No,” Ares told Zar. “He’s as real as I am. He stays.”
“I predicted as much. Why are you calling, Creation? Is your divine companion giving you trouble? An eon apart will cause anyone to forget their roots. Look at you. You can’t blame him.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Yours,” Zar reassured. “Always yours. Why did you call me?”
“A convenient interruption in the middle of the night seems too obvious,” Ares said it, but the words were clearly meant for both of them.
He didn’t really understand why he was slipping away either, and grasped at straws, hoping his friend could help him find the source and snuff it out before he turned catatonic, and everything was lost. “Things have been going well. Too well?”
“Games have setbacks all the time,” Zar said. “Isn’t an interruption one? You’re contradicting yourself.”
“Seems to be a running theme,” Eden grumbled, stiffening when Ares rested his gaze on him. He frowned, concern flashing through his icy blue eyes. “Hey.” The hand in his turned so he could clutch him back. “What’s wrong?”
“Is that the Starling?” Zar asked.
“I’m Eden.”
“Eden,” he tested the name out.
“Don’t.” Ares didn’t like it.
This was irrational. He probably appeared insane. One second, he’d been about to finger Eden, then he’d held a gun to his friend's head, and now he was on the phone. That series of events did not make sense. It wasn’t something a rational person would do.
He didn’t even know why he was doing it.
“Why am I talking to you?” he asked, and Zar snorted.
“You called me. Get your head on straight.”
“Bring me back.”
“That’s what I’m doing, Creation.” He sighed. “Run through your steps. Give me five things you see.”
“Eden,” Ares turned back to Noon, “and his stupid fucking friend.”
“That’s only two.”
“A towel.” His eyes skimmed up Eden’s bare chest, and another flicker of irritation lit in him.
He tore his shirt open, buttons flying everywhere, ignoring the way the other two gasped.
Draping it over Eden’s shoulders, he tugged the sides closed and then went a step further, pulling him in until he was safely tucked against his side. “Better.”
“That’s three.” Zar didn’t ask what Ares meant by that last part. He most likely didn’t care.
“The table.” Ares’ gaze shifted to the corner of the room. “Mother.”
The shadowy figure of a woman seemed to peer back at him where it stood pressed between the refrigerator and the counter. She was encased in black smoke, embers breaking off and drifting into the air.
Zar cursed. “Hey, Starling.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Eden must have really noticed there was a problem, because he didn’t even bother correcting Zar about his name. “What do I need to do?”
“Turn on Vanity,” Zare instructed.
“Huh?”
“It’s his touchstone.”
“I have it!” Noon quickly clicked on his multi-slate, and a second later, the theme song began to play.
Ares loosened a breath, but the pinched sensation in his lungs didn’t dissipate entirely, and the figure threatening to undo his reality didn’t waver. “She doesn’t like it when I linger too long.”
“What was that?” Eden leaned in, unable to catch his whispered words. “What is he saying?”
“Nonsense,” Zar stated. “Don’t listen to him. What the hell happened before he called me?”
“We, uh,” he cleared his throat, “we were about to have sex when my friend walked in on us.”
“First time?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if you’ve been fucked by Creation before, or if this was going to be the first time?”
“Oh. Yeah, that. First time. Not for a lack of trying on my part.”
“He was too hyperfixated,” Zar concluded. “The sudden interruption fractured his stability.”
“I don’t understand anything you just said.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine! I don’t know what to do! He just keeps staring at my fridge like there’s a ghost or something!”
“There is. Sort of.” A beat started playing through the speaker from Zar’s end. “Creation. Four things you can touch. I promise you Mother isn’t one of them.”
“She’s angry, Bal,” Ares said. “She’s really, really angry.”
He took a step toward the shadow.
Maybe he could placate her. If he didn’t, she’d put him in the pit again, and then he wouldn’t be there for Bal when he was revived.
He had to be there.
Balthazar was counting on him.