Chapter 61 Mind Raking
“Ha.” Killian chuckled when he found what Ender wanted him to. Yesterday’s hint hadn’t been detailed, but it had been enough. He was actually disappointed in himself that it had taken him so long.
Killian’s typing sped up as he re-examined each name he’d been given.
Now that he knew what he was looking for, he found exactly what he knew he would.
Every name on the list was fake. The current lives of these people, while real enough, their past, childhoods, and likely even what they were, was all made up.
They were fifty well written stories; complete, yet fake as can be.
In each of the aliases created, there was a single point where the person currently living under those names began.
Everything after that was heavy with proof of existence.
While the before had enough detail to not be questioned by the majority of people who happened to look into them, professional or not.
But Killian shouldn’t have been part of the majority. He was skilled enough to know better.
Unfortunately, the problem with constantly being given tasks with practically a whole gift basket full of hints on what he should be looking to find, was that it tended to dull one’s skills when digging into information without guidance.
It had been so long since he hadn’t had any sort of guidelines to follow, and that paired with his bias of thinking they were unimportant after the first few names, meant he’d missed the hidden and unintended clues left behind by the person who had set up these people’s lives.
Killian quickly closed out and logged off.
Hurrying through the center, he headed to the nearest lift.
He rode it up, and then powerwalked to Ender’s house underground, because Killian did not run.
Not if he didn’t have to. Being forced to walk on two legs most of the time meant running was his least favorite thing to do.
As he reached their bedroom door, a smile spread across his face when he opened it and found his men—well, his man and crazy baby daddy—cuddled on the bed. Ender was sitting relaxed in Cyrus’ lap, while the Fate looked amused as he rubbed the Gorgon’s rounded belly and fed him grapes.
Ender was looking grumpy, his mouth pouting even as he ate. But then, the Gorgon had seemed irritated all day. If he were to guess, based on his mood and the bags under his eyes, the Cryptid hadn’t slept well last night.
The question was, did the snake have an upset stomach or had he just used that as an excuse to get his tummy rubbed. Probably the latter, based on the fact the man was eating.
They’d discovered the other day that the snake liked it when they rubbed his stomach.
It was just that the Gorgon seemed to think he needed to make up an excuse as to why they needed to do it, without just outright saying he wanted to be touched.
It was…cute, and Killian felt oddly warm and fuzzy about seeing the two of them together like this.
“Stomach upset?” he asked, his brow raising slightly in question, as he walked in and closed the door behind him.
“Yes,” the snake grumbled with a pout, before opening his mouth and waiting.
Killian held back his laugh as Cyrus popped a grape in without prompting. But then, he’d trained the man well enough. So the Fate was definitely good at pampering.
“Done for the day?” Cyrus asked.
Instead of answering the Fate, he said, “I found it, what you wanted me to find, Ender.”
“Did you now?” the Gorgon drawled, a small smirk now on his face.
He slipped onto the bed, sliding beside the two, before slowly running his hand over Ender’s stomach. “Mm, every single one of them is someone you, or more likely Cryptid Means, have saved. And if I’m not wrong, they are people you have personally hidden from the world, and its many governments.”
Ender chuckled. “You would be correct on both accounts, my pretty Siren. Did you find out who they really are?”
Killian wanted to ask if he really was his, but knew the man was just being flippant. “I didn’t. As well as I can cover my tracks, I worried that digging into that would risk exposing them.”
The Gorgon nodded, his smile spreading wider. “That it could, and paranoia is our friend here, so you have passed my first test!”
Well, that just told him that when it came to working with Ender, he should always pick the cautious, and probably the more unhinged, paranoid option, if there was one.
Cyrus snorted. “I feel you should be a little less friendly with your paranoia.”
“Bless your heart, you think I’m just friends with it. No, no, we are fully married at this point, joined for life! Inseparable,” Ender chimed.
His phone going off ended the conversation. Tugging it from around his neck, he quickly opened it and set it to speaker as he answered.
“What’s up, Severo?”
The Shadow Dweller took a deep breath before speaking. “Shit is bad here.”
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Your dear cousin has been Mind Raking.”
“What?!” he barked, his gaze flicking down when Ender’s whole body went stiff against him, his ears picking up the Gorgon’s heartbeat as it started to race. “Has he gone near you?”
“He stayed away after the first warning I gave him, but other people…”
Mind Raking…but why…
Ender couldn’t stop himself from freezing up as the words were spoken aloud. The warmth inside him seemed to be zapped away by them.
Mind Raking…the name was too innocent for what it really was.
A more accurate name for it was Mind Raping.
It was when a Fate would forcefully enter your mind and take whatever knowledge they wanted, but more than that, they took control…
It was all about control. For an act they claimed was forbidden, they sure were always ready to use it when it served them.
But this… This wasn’t about him. Calm…he had to stay calm.
“It’s not that bad.”
Ender flinched as the words slid through his mind, clawing their way forward easily due to the dream he had last night.
“It’s bad at first, but you’ll get used to it, Ender.”
NO, no, no, he desperately screamed in his head as more came. Not now. Calm, I have to stay calm! He shuddered, swallowing hard as the fear started to trickle over his skin, and goosebumps formed.
“You should really stop fighting me. It’s no use. And the sooner you accept you are where you’re meant to be, the better your life will become.”
Ender couldn’t respond, he couldn’t move at all. His body was moving though, and Halus could hear his responses regardless… He was like a puppet on strings, being manipulated to do whatever the person with the stick wanted him to.
He felt him… Ender felt him in his head and he wanted him out… It hurt… Probably the only thing he could do now was feel and experience… But he didn’t want to feel!
As his arms, without his consent, wrapped around Halus, he screamed inside his head. Just begging for his body to listen, feeling helpless as the man pulled him against his chest.
No…no, I don’t want this!
Suddenly, Ender could move, so he did all he could do…
he struggled. His body changed instantly into his Gorgon form, and he struggled to get free of the arms wrapped around him.
He didn’t know why he could move, but this…
This was his chance! Halus had lost control, for some reason, and it could be his only chance to escape!
Hissing, he desperately tried to twist in Halus’ hold, to just be within biting range of any part of the man. Trying to lunge, his jaw snapping, Ender attempted to plunge his fangs into the Fate’s bicep, letting out a frustrated scream when he was short of reaching it.
“Fuck! WATCH HIS TEETH!” yelled a voice that was so melodical it almost hurt to hear.
He frowned…whose voice was that?
“ENDER, stop! We aren’t going to hurt you!” a man begged, the voice much deeper than whoever had first spoken.
Oddly, it sounded as if it had come from the Fate holding him, as he had felt the words vibrate in Halus’ chest. But they couldn’t have… Halus didn’t sound like that…
No…no, it was, it had to be a trick! Hissing violently, he tried once again to bite into the man, angling for his arm, but not being able to reach, only to frown as he really looked at what he was trying to bite. The skin was way darker than Halus’ had ever been, and was clearly not someone white.
“Cyrus, his teeth, his teeth!” the first voice snapped.
“I AM AWARE! Ender, you are going to hurt yourself. YOU HAVE TO STOP!”
Ender stilled when, once again, the voice came from where it shouldn’t, his eyes still on the arms and the tawny bronze skin.
Wait…Cyrus…? Why do I know that name…
He gasped, the fog in his mind clearing as his eyes widened and reality came rushing back. With his heart still racing like crazy, Ender’s body shook as he slowly shifted back to his fully humanoid form.
He felt chilled to the bone while he swallowed down whatever poison had leaked out. The bitter taste remained as he retracted his fangs, and he tried not to tailspin into even more panic at what could have happened.
Tears flooding his eyes, Ender whimpered, “Cold…”
As Cyrus’ hold loosened, the Fate ran a hand over his hair and pressed his face to the back of Ender’s neck. “Shh, I got you, I got you. It’s okay.”
Sagging in his hold, his chest heaved as a sob slipped out. Flinching at the soft touch of Killian’s hand to his cheek, the man knelt there as he continued to whimper, while gently brushing the tears away.
“Are you okay?” the Siren asked.
He just shook his head and hiccupped. “Cold…”
Killian pressed a kiss to his forehead before hugging him. Cocooned between the two men, he didn’t bother trying to stop crying.
Cyrus carefully laid down with Ender in his arms, while Killian cuddled against them, tears pricked at the corner of his own eyes as the Gorgon continued to cry.
He knew his mind should have been questioning what had set the Cryptid off, but…why bother when he already knew? Guilt was easier.