Chapter 8 Unearned Respect
Fidgeting on the couch, Cecil kept glancing at Roth. The man looked fine, and hadn’t said a word about him having a slight panic attack. And because he didn’t smell or see blood seeping through Roth’s long sleeve top, it meant his nails apparently hadn’t punctured skin, as he first thought.
Which was a good thing. Clinging to someone he barely knew, however, was not. It was embarrassing as hell. His face was on fire. Cecil was regretting having ever left his room, but hindsight was a bitch.
Having felt cooped up and way past tired of eating peanut butter sandwiches, he had ventured out and gotten lost just a few minutes later. After entering multiple bedrooms by accident—because he temporarily forgot about the doorknobs—he ran into Roth.
Damn, he didn’t like touching people, or people touching him. Cecil only bothered when the dumbasses he stole from needed a bit more coercion to follow him. During those simple points of contact, he felt like they had infected him. It made his skin crawl, and Cecil always needed to bathe afterward.
Oddly enough, Cecil hadn’t felt that way when it had been Sin. He was going to chalk that up to the man’s lack of sexual intentions toward him.
All that aside, why the hell were Sin’s people so big? Even the women were taller and had more muscles than him. Cecil could just imagine how much damage they could cause.
Besides being big, they were all so…different.
It was not the variety of horns, pointed ears, tails, and whatnot—those were common in the Second Realm—it was how they held themselves.
Some moved like predators, their movements very purposeful.
Then there were the ones who were full of energy, who never stopped moving, like Benji, and others who were as laid back as Roth—some even more so.
What seemed to be absent was the pure air of sophistication that Sin exuded. Not that there weren’t a few that were pretty well put together, they just lacked something that Sin had.
And the way they dressed…piercings, fancy clothes, leather pants, torn jeans, tight jeans, T-shirts, pressed shirts—it was like a damn mall had thrown up. Every style of clothing was represented.
When they had first entered, all Cecil had seen was chaos. There had been arguing, laughing, running, and even people wrestling on the ground. All mixed together, they seemed so different that they somehow fit.
Imagine his surprise when all the activities stopped and everyone turned to look at him. Cecil had never felt so uncomfortable in a crowd.
He had never thought of himself as a coward. Yes, he had run from his father, but he had never bowed to the man. He had never let his fear take over, or allowed his father to win. For him, running wasn’t cowardice, it was survival.
However, what he had done earlier was what a coward would do.
Hiding behind someone for protection was something he had never done.
No one had wanted to protect him, no one had wanted to stand by him.
Friends at school had always left. Cecil’s problems had always been too much for them to deal with.
They wanted nothing to do with him. Adults, hah…
At least, the kids had just wanted to save their own asses. The adults tried to blame Cecil—that his problems were somehow his fault. Like Cecil had asked to get the crap kicked out of him. For him, safety in numbers was just a big fat lie.
Moving through crowds, unnoticed until he needed someone to see him…well, Cecil had done it too many times to count. Being in focus shouldn’t have changed that. There had been a shit ton of them, but still…
Why the hell were they all here anyway? Shouldn’t they be working or something? How many people lived here? There was no fucking way that all the Zaytari in the area stayed here. But what if they did?
Cecil rolled his eyes—no, no, that would be ridiculous. He knew for a fact there was a smaller branch less than an hour away. Not to mention small outposts in between, and in each city and town.
At least, they were pretty much gone now, off to do ‘something’, or so they had mumbled vaguely as they each left one by one.
Sighing, Cecil stared blankly at the TV. Animated characters were dancing across the screen. Why they were watching a movie for kids, he didn’t know.
The door opened and Benji entered. The purple-haired man peered around the room, his face tightening when his gaze landed on Roth. But Benji seemed to brighten when he spotted Cecil.
Yay, he’d made a friend, Cecil thought wryly. Benji walked over and sat in the chair next to him.
“Hey, Cecil!”
Cecil thought about responding, but was distracted by Sin entering the room.
The man smiled at him before addressing Roth. “Roth, may I speak with you?”
Roth walked over and Cecil was only able to hear something about someone not showing up before a spell stole their words.
“He did nae show up?” Roth asked.
“Unfortunately. I would say he has either gone into hiding or the people he was about to expose got to him first.”
“I’d imagine if they got tae him, we’ll be findin’ a body.”
“Most likely body parts. Which means we are out of leads again, and immortals will continue to go missing. Those in all stations of life; the young and the old. The only pattern is that there is no pattern,” Sin groused in frustration.
“None of them are similar, but they all have disappeared without a trace. An immortal disappearing? It happens. As much as we try to help, to protect, it will continue to happen. But not like this. The amount we have lost over the past two months…”
“Nae, it is too many, too close, tae be normal,” Roth agreed.
He rubbed his brow. The weight of his failure loomed over him. He should have insisted on meeting sooner. He should have tracked the man down the minute they had spoken on the phone.
“It is possible this has been going on for years, Roth. That we have only now noticed because those of importance, those with families, have started to go missing. I keep wondering, how many have been lost simply because no one looked for them?”
“It is a sad fact of life, Sin. We do what we can, even if it seems to nae be enough. But this setback is nae yer fault. None of the other Zaytari bosses have found verra much either. We are gettin’ close, though, I am sure of it. We will make this right and protect Vadin from this threat.”
Sin winced. The information he had held to himself filled his mind. The dire meaning of what he knew, the greater threat of what was happening, was more than most were aware of. That had to change. There were too many lives at risk.
“It is worse than that, my friend. It is not only Vadin facing this threat. There have been disturbing reports from other kingdoms. Here, those on faraway continents, and even those under the vast ocean surrounding us. It is happening everywhere.”
Roth gasped. “Why did ye nae say anythin’?”
“King Adrian did not wish to create a panic. Too many people knowing risked it reaching the public’s ears. I do not question the king’s wisdom in doing so, but…”
“The people need tae know the severity of the situation. Panic or nae, it is better that people know and at least be prepared and ready tae protect themselves,” Roth said.
“I agree, which is why I plan to speak of it during my next meeting with the king.”
“Do ye think, perhaps, that Cecil’s mother’s disappearance is related tae the others? None of what we have learned about her points tae a woman who would abandon her bairn. There is more there, I am sure of it. There is somethin’ nae right with the father.”
“It is possible, and it has crossed my mind.”
“Does it crossing yer mind happen tae be why Ernest Baxter is nae in a jail cell at this very moment?”
Sin grinned. “Yes, well, alerting our prey that he is being hunted would not be beneficial to the investigation.”
Roth returned his grin with a toothy smile. “Nae, it wouldn't.”
“I see that he has finally left his room,” Sin mused before looking toward the two on the couch.
“Aye, found the lad wanderin’ the halls, lost.”
Sin’s brow wrinkled at how quiet it was. “Where is everyone?”
This time of day, the place was usually filled with laughter and more noise than many would find pleasant.
“Ah, they are in the dinin’ room settin’ up the decorations.
They made the unfortunate decision tae take them all down earlier…
only tae have Cecil show himself an hour later.
” Roth laughed. “They’ve been at it for a few hours now.
It’s a shame ye have tae go out. Ye’ll be missin’ out on all the fun. ”
“Yes, well, speaking of my date…” He pulled his sleeve back to peer at his watch. “It is getting late and I need to change. She will be here soon and I’d rather not keep her waiting.”
“What’s wrong with what ye have on now?” Roth asked, waving a hand at him.
“This suit is not fitting for where we are going. It is nice, but it would be rude to show up in anything except the best.”
“Pft, the gal does nae deserve even what ye’re wearing now,” Roth spat in disgust.
“Roth,” Sin sighed.
Snorting, Roth shooed him away. Sin gave Benji and Cecil a nod when he passed them and headed to his room.
An hour later, Sin was ready for his date. Considering most of his suits would fall along the grayscale in color, and the majority were only a slightly different shade of black, it took far longer than it should have for him to choose.
Looking at his reflection in the floor-length mirror, Sin let out a sigh. His brows were trimmed, his hair swept back, and nothing was out of place, but he felt off.
No, not off, irritated. As if the effort he was putting forth was not worth it.
Grudgingly, he would admit that Roth was correct. Clarissa was not right for him. There was a coolness underneath her smile. Any hint of kindness from her seemed forced.
For a while now, Sin had felt a pervading sense of discomfort around the woman. He did not feel home. And that is what he wanted in a partner.