Andras

                                    

                                          
Quinn dragged air into his lungs and sat up way too quickly, if the ringing in his head was anything to go by. A hand in the middle of his chest gently pushed him back down again. His eyes scanned his surroundings and he realised he lay on the bed in his room. The hand that had made him lie down again was Zephyr’s.
“Stay still, Quinn, I don’t want you to pass out again,” he said.
It all came back to him then.
“Where is Papa? Is he okay?”
His throat was killing him, but he could feel the residual magics where Zephyr must have healed some of the bruising while he was unconscious.
Zephyr sighed.
“He is distraught, both about Elizabeth and about what he did to you.”
Quinn rubbed his throat. It was still tender. He would have to remember not to get on Papa’s bad side again in the future.
“Zephyr, he needs us.”
The old ghoul smiled a sad smile at him.
“He is sleeping, Quinn. He drank himself unconscious, so Earth and Air are staying with him to make sure he’s okay. You need to be resting too. It took Earth a while to snap him out of it. A few moments longer and he would have killed you.” Quinn felt surprised at that. “It seems the Council skipped the blood oath in their rush to get rid of you.” 
“Blood oath?” Quinn asked, confused.
“Yes, of course, you won’t know about that. You weren’t summoned in the usual way, were you? When the Clergy summons a new ghoul, the Council makes them swear a blood oath so they cannot intentionally cause any harm to them. That clearly didn’t happen with you.”
Why did that not surprise him? Maybe the Council hoped that Secondo would eventually finish the job that they couldn’t bring themselves to do. He draped an arm over his eyes and huffed out a breath. His head was throbbing, so maybe Zephyr was right about needing to rest.
He suddenly realised that this was the first time since he’d been at the Abbey that anyone else, except for Sister Imperator, had been in his room. It made him feel uneasy, even though it was Zephyr. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, the ghoul was glancing over at the skulls on the shelf by his door with a concerned look on his face. Of all the things that he’d told the other quintessence ghoul about, he’d left out the part about the skulls. Ghouls had a different reason for keeping skulls and the ghouls here would not understand it.
Zephyr turned back to him, and Quinn felt his embarrassment when he was caught staring at them.
“Andras went back and got them for me. He thought it would be a fitting tribute that they stay with me. Believe it or not, it’s an old angel custom.” Zephyr raised a brow. That must have been news to him. “Ghouls collect the skulls of their enemies, angels keep the skulls of their loved ones.”
“Andras is a fallen angel?” Zephyr said, surprised.
“Yes. Although he doesn’t make it known. In fact, he would go to great lengths to keep that little nugget of information secret.” He shuddered at the memory. “He was one of the first. That’s why he differs from the others of his kind. He basically became a true demon long before I ever met him.”
“Interesting,” Zephyr said. “He has kept his secret well.”
He touched a hand to Quinn’s forehead and he felt him sending healing energy to soothe his aching head. It didn't take long to realise that he was also trying to put Quinn to sleep. He fought it for a few seconds but then gave in to exhaustion. Ghouls more often than not dreamed in memories and he slipped into one of the distant past as Zephyr continued to send him deeper into sleep.