( I USED TO BE A PERSON )

There was a million things to be worried about still: Hektor was living in Diodoros’ childhood home, the cause of the mysterious illness that had nearly killed him and all of his siblings was still unknown, and given the city’s history there could, at any moment, be some dramatic and cataclysmic event that brought the city to its knees. It seemed that just as miserable as the city might trying to make him, there was just as many if not more things to celebrate. His family had survived another tragedy, Orion was with him, and Halloween decorations were one of the few things they didn’t argue about. Spooky season was here, and they were in love. It was obvious that Rion was trying to keep the healer’s mind off of things, focused on the present, on soft kisses pressed to chilly cheeks. On apple pie. And the best thing was, it was working. 

“Is the vest not enough?” It was unseasonably cold, but on principle the fire witch had refused to dawn the mits and the scarf and the hat. Still sensible, he’d managed a neutral toned hoodie with a forest green quilted vest over top. “Can we not just buy the apples from the market?” Dio suggested instead, “I will take the pie though.” He added, a light nudge as he did. “It’s like a treat.”

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“I like the vest,” Orion said distractedly, reaching out to straighten the collar of it. “You look good in green, very festive.” He reached for Dio’s hand, threading his fingers through that familiar grip before he began to lead the two of them towards the rows of fruit trees. The air smelled sweet, of the rotting fruit that peppered the ground and it was filled with the buzzing of wasps that swarmed around the bases of the trees: it felt nostalgic to him, of a place that he had once called home. “We could buy the apples from the market, but it’s not the same. You’ve got to go through all the motions of picking them yourself, it makes them taste better.”

“Many hands make light work, but alas, I do not dream of labor, dear sweet Orion.” He will not be swayed in the matter. In fact, Beau takes a couple steps back and leans against a tall headstone, his arms still crossed over his chest. He watches the other reaper with light interest, Orion’s suffering is his only solace. “Less talking, more digging.” There’s an air of annoyance to the words, but he is perhaps just a little amused by this whole thing. He’s never been one to turn down a bit of shenanigans and while this wasn’t what he wanted to do with his day, and the situation wasn’t ideal, he did actually enjoy any time with his housemates. When Orion stops he sighs and gives a roll of his eyes, but the quirk upwards of the corners of his lips give his amusement away. “You can toss it on the coffin if you’re that worried. If you make it quick, I’ll take you for drinks. I refuse to waste this outfit.”

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“Speaking of,” Orion said, leaning against the shovel, “I think I’m about to get fired. Apparently being a reaper is not a side gig and it does in fact interrupt a regular day’s work. Rafael always seems to show up when I’m sending someone’s grandpa underground, but never when I’m actually serving fries.” He gestured, tossing some dirt up. “Anyways, do you know anyone who’s hiring?” While he didn’t particularly have any need for money, not with Diodoros’ inherited wealth, he wanted to have something of his own, he couldn’t borrow from the witches’ wallet all the time. “Make it quick,” he repeated, flashing from where they had deposited the body back to the grave as he slumped the figure on top of the coffin. “You’re not going to say a few words? Make this a full blown ceremony? That’s cold, even for you, Zale.”

Julian, not taking any chances, actually sprayed the cleaning solution right where the man had once been standing on reflex. It doesn’t hit anything, the liquid hits the floor and he’s alone again. For all of two seconds and then he’s whipping around and spraying the solution onto the ‘ghost’s torse, nearly slipping in the liquid on the floor. Steadying himself against one of the cabinets, he glares at the man. “The hell you are. Are you some kind of malevolent spirit? Because let me tell you, I am done dealing with dead things after they come through here, that is not in the job description.” And the funeral parlor just got weirder and weirder by the day. Maybe he should ask Saint for a raise if he was going to deal with spirits now.

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Orion sighed, looking down at the wet spot on his clothing. It was very likely that it would stain, leeching colour and leaving an orange mark on the dark fabric— another item that he’d have to toss away. “Malevolent?” He echoed the word, before grinning Cheshire-like. “No, I’m just bored. Though,” he gestured with his hands, “That does lend itself to malice, in the right circumstances.” Rion leaned against the opposite wall, pointing to his chest. “I’m a chaperone of the dead, I take spirits from this realm onto the next. Really, you’re attacking a man at work which probably is grounds for some kind of claim on my behalf.”

     “Shut up,” Adam grumbled, standing up so he could start pacing. Sitting still seemed like the wrong thing to do, and he was already starting to regret bringing this topic up to Orion. “I don’t know. You know these things never end well for me.” In fact, both of his relationships had ended with him almost dying, even if it had been for different reasons. “But he makes me feel like… I want to try, you know? Just give it one more shot. Like maybe he’s the right one.”

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The reaper nodded, tapping his finger against his chin. “You know, you could also try taking it slow instead of bolting right into things. No need to skip right into getting married with kids or anything, just,” he gestured, “Get to know each other, figure out if it’s a good fit.” Orion looked at Adam, “Most of this is just, trying and hoping. The fish in the sea thing isn’t all wrong, you know. We keep reeling and throwing back, hoping to find just what we’re looking for.”

     Emily was pretty certain that if a cubi fed on souls through sex, she would be safe. She did not plan to sleep with anyone anytime soon, nor did she think it would happen. But for Kasey’s sake, she had to know more. “Do you know if there’s a way we can recognize them?” With some species it was easier than others, and she did not intend to let this happen again — so she had to find a way. “Oh, yeah, no, that’s fine. You don’t have to. What’s wrong with him?”

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“I don’t think that there is,” he admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. In fact, Orion was certain that cubi were so dangerous for the fact that they were not so easily picked out from the sea of supernaturals that flooded the bay; from all appearances, they simply appeared mortal. “You would have to check the library, or someone who knows more than me.” The reaper sighed, “Most of this is new to me too.” He shook his head, “I don’t know, we can’t figure it out. It seems like there is no cure or no real ailment, he’s just unwell.”

“All that’s missing is a circle scarf and one of those beanies with a pom pom on the top,” Orion said with satisfaction, practically pulling Diodoros out of the car as he came around to the passenger’s side seat. He’d dressed for the occasion, pulling out his very best flannel and dusting off his boots for the first time in the season— and he had insisted that the witch do as well. The rift, as insufferable as his company had been in the whole hour that he had talked only about himself had managed to cure whatever ailment his boyfriend was afflicted by and as a result, his fiery nature had returned in full swing. This outing however, was a desperate attempt at getting him to forget things at home, especially with the insistence that it was very unwise for him to return there, lest he grow sick again. “You look very handsome,” he noted, pressing a kiss to Dio’s cheek as he gestured towards the apple trees. “Come on, if we fill a basket I’ll make you a pie later.”

The pair of them landed in their home and shortly after Diodoros felt as if the room was spinning, tiny spirals of light filled his vision as the healer wavered on the spot. He turned to look at Rion but everything went dark. When the healer opened his eyes he was on the floor, he fainted. “Sorry I-” he should call Roman. “I think I need to lay down,” a beat passed before he looked from the floor to Orion’s eyes. There was a truth he needed to face, and one that he needed to share with Orion at last. Soon they’d have to say goodbye again and while there was no part of Diodoros that was ready time was against them now. “you should call Roman, ask him if he can come over. He’ll be able to help.”

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Orion gripped at Diodoros’ shoulders, clutching him close and guiding him towards the couch— all but carrying him after to their bed. Worry ebbed through him where spirit did, and that was to say that it was consuming: the reaper lingered by the witches’ side, swallowing down words that he was frightened to speak aloud. Something was wrong, and it was wrong enough that he was filled with fear. “You rest,” he finally said, leaning down to press a kiss to his boyfriend’s mouth, touching at his cheek. “I’ll get him.”

“Shovel, singular, I am not digging, I refuse. This is your mess.” And he lets Orion know that by crossing his arms over his chest and looking at him like he’s a disgruntled parent. Because he basically is. It’s more than just the fact his day has been derailed, this is sort of something Orion probably has to get used to. Weird shit happened every day, weirder shit happened to reapers, this wouldn’t be his first accident, he was still young. Beau looks towards the shed in Orion’s line of sight and then to his fellow reaper and then to the grave and he nods, toe tapping lightly at the ground. “You got yourself into this and now I am lovingly watching from afar as you defile this grave and bury your mistake, sir.”

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Orion made a face, blipping to the maintenance shed where he fetched a shovel to bring back to the grave. “You know, many hands make light work,” the reaper noted, digging into the soil to begin displacing it. Surely, this was a crime, but as the police officers in Corinth had found themselves realizing, it was very hard to pin anything down on a body already technically dead— and that had a tendency to simply disappear when it came to actually narrowing down a charge. He worked quickly, as a werewolf he hadn’t shed away from hard work and as a result he wasn’t unaccustomed to it now, setting the earth in piles high on either side of the headstone. “I think that we probably could have just dumped him in the sea,” Orion pointed out as the tip of his shovel hit the top of a wooden casket. “Because there’s no way I’m opening this. The smell’ll bring me back to life or kill me completely, no inbetween.”

    “What?” While Emily had tried to learn a lot about the supernatural world after her death, because before it had been nothing but magic and witches in her life, this was new to her. Information she tucked away into her brain and tried to process. “Do you know how they feed on it?” Like vampires? Or in a way Kasey wouldn’t have noticed. Her dead heart felt heavy, and with a sigh she shook her head. “I don’t know. She’s in a very bad place. I’m not sure if it is a good idea but… maybe I will ask her. If there is no other way.”

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He shook his head. “I don’t know much about them at all,” he admitted. “I know that they can be dangerous to a reaper.” Hazel eyes looked at Emily with an austere seriousness. “We are made up entirely of soul, and they feed upon it by,” Orion gestured, “Sexual acts, intimacy. I’m pretty sure one night in a cubi’s bed and you and I would be toast. Be careful.” He nodded, pressing his lips together. “I can ask Dio, maybe look in the Vidalis library for you, but he hasn’t been feeling super well lately so I don’t want to push him, y’know?”

    Adam wasn’t sure how much he trusted Orion to not make fun of him, but he decided not to worry too much about it — there was a reason why he had come to Rion with this after all. “I like… his hair, and his smile.” The way he looks underneath me, but that would definitely cause Rion to make fun of him. “That he’s brutally honest with me. That he knows what it feels like to be unloved, that he knows what it feels like to be hurting. How he makes me feel.”

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Orion’s grin hitched, teasing slightly. “His hair, that’s a good start.” Adam spoke tentatively, hand feeding little bits of information that the reaper sifted away eagerly, listening intently as his friend divulged more. “So you understand each other,” he said lightly, canting his head. “That’s important. It means that there’s something more than just,” he gestured, trying to be more tasteful. “Something physical.”

Slipping into the darkness was the healer’s alternative to responding to Rion’s insidious statement about decor. Uncharacteristically too tired to fight, Diodoros steadied his breathing in the dark as he kept his eyes fixed on the reaper’s lingering frame in the doorway. Something stirred in him, affection, adoration, Dio was scared but the two of them had been through so much already - this wouldn’t be the end. And if it was… Diodoros jumped out and yelled Boo! as he wiggled his fingers into the base of Rion’s ribs, laughing menacingly before he wrapped arms around the reaper’s shoulders and hung off of him. Dark eyes met the Rion’s in the dark as Dio smirked, “Scaredy cat.” The healer said simply, laughter still in his voice before he pressed his lips to the reapers, “Take me home,” he was tired, too tired to do much of anything. “please?”

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Orion tucked in a breath before it completely left him— his shriek echoed through the warehouse and in the dark before he flickered invisible, gripping at Diodoros’ waist as if it would centre him to one realm in particular. “Asshole, I hate the dark.” He stepped them both into the light, noting how the sparkle in the witches’ eyes shone and then dimmed just as quickly, as though such things required far more energy than he had in him to expend. The reaper nodded, and with his forehead against Dio’s and arms still holding onto him, he teleported them back to the house that lay waiting for them.

     “Too much information, but thanks.” It really wasn‘t, considering what Rion, Remzi and Adam sometimes talked about — but when he was sort of trying to put his heart out it felt wrong to talk about dicks and lashes. “It wasn‘t really a big deal until now. And I didn‘t want you to make fun of me.” That much was true, and Adam was now nervously fidgeting around as he tried to look cool and collected instead of flustered. “His name‘s Jakob and… I don‘t know. We go out.”

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“Just trying to give you a great picture of what I’m working with,” Orion grinned broadly, despite how Adam grimaced at his brashness. He held little shame, but as his friend began to pick through something that seemed genuine, the reaper fixed a more serious expression upon his face. “I won’t make fun of you, not if it matters.” A pointed elbow found Adam’s side, and he gestured for him to continue. “Well, what do you like about Jakob?”

Bastien cleared his throat as he clicked on his flashlight and went to step forward. It flickered a few times which made the witch hesitate, but despite being several shades whiter he tried not to let his fear show. The house was cold, unnaturally so, and Bas just wanted whatever practical joke this was about to be over with. The floorboards creaked under foot and echoed quietly through the house creating the illusion that they weren’t alone in the old, run down building. “Alright. Where’s this wall you were talking about?” 

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Orion lingered behind the witch, and hazel eyes swept across the room, trying to make out any forms he had missed in the low light. He reached for the lightswitch, flicking it up and down a few times to produce only a flicker in a stray bulb, but no amount of useable light. “The energy here is fucked up,” he noted plainly, and despite the fact that he was formed only of spirit, tethered to the earth by the magic of the veil, there was something deeply wrong about this house that he had not noticed in the day time. “We’re gonna have to go into the basement,” he said weakly, pointing further into the house. “Door’s by the stairs.”

He didn’t really think about how the people who came in died, he figured it was best not to. That was a whole lot of paranoia that he didn’t need to deal with. Though the strange man’s words do make him wonder just a little bit…Julian glances to the body around said strange man for just a second. No, that’s ridiculous, he’s run through the woods so many times, he’s come upon a wolf or two. Granted he’s been quick to skitter away from them because while foxes and wolves are both canines, he’s still tiny in comparison to them. “And who the hell are you?” Spray bottle raised just a little, his eyes narrow. He was wearing dark colors, a little bleach was at least a bit of a threat.

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Orion looked at the bottle pointed at him like a weapon and he snickered, tilting his head as he studied the shifter that held it. A determined expression set hard upon his face, clearly this was someone who did not like to be messed around with, but the reaper was as mischievous as he was loyal, and a hazel eye dropped in a wink before he blinked into invisibility. Quiet, hovering steps made their way around to the pink-haired man’s shoulder before he tapped it twice, flicking back into sight. “Lots of answers to that question, but the easiest one? I’m a ghost. Boo.”

Despite knowing what ill-fate awaited his stomach Diodoros smiled, “I’d like that.” He said simply, uncharacteristically failing to uphold an argument but the truth was the witch just didn’t have the energy to fight. He just wanted to enjoy the time that they had together, date night, nothing too fancy, just good old fashioned quality time together. This whole warehouse from a serial killer movie sucked though. “I already have something picked out, slate gray and carbon fibre. Very modern.” Also insanely expensive but Rion and his spongebob cheque book didn’t need to hear that. “She said Corinth is a beacon for them, it’s here where all the baddies come-” he stopped in his tracks in front of an open door. The other side was pitch black and emanated with cold, the witch’s eyes went wide before without a word Diodoros slipped away and disappeared into the dark. 

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There had to be something wrong, with how easily Diodoros conceded— and Orion followed the other’s tired dark eyes with his own, trying to disguise the worry that flooded his gaze. He had made a promise once, to take care of the witch: death had not been the end of such a vow, but it made him feel as though he was severed from the ability to do more than just flit around on the sidelines, offering advice that Dio would not take. “They sound like they don’t have an ounce of personality, zero karmic bonus points, all that. I bet they’ll totally fuck with the feng shui of the kitchen too…” The reaper trailed off, watching in horror as Dio found the door, turning the handle. “Don’t do that—“ But it was too late, and the witch had sunken into the shadows, out of view. Orion took a breath, holding onto the doorframe as he leaned in, calling into the dark. “Dio, don’t play like this. We can go home.” He took a tentative step in, cursing under his breath. “We can get those stupid doorknobs,” he said, blinking as if it would get him used to the lack of light. “Just come back to the door.”