74- Falling Thorns

Even as Mazurka had told Tau that Quayleigh wasn't in danger, it didn't make the situation any easier for him handle. He didn't entirely understand the nature of the situation Mazurka had presented, but the very idea of someone else having pictures of her, made him angry. Yet, it was Cole's reaction that made him understand how much this was going to hurt her. This was going to cause her pain, and that made him tremble. Cole's kindness, the brotherly hug, it made Tau think more clearly, but all he wanted to do was run. He wanted to be at her side, to protect her from what was about to happen, but found himself delayed by one of the very people who had come to deliver the news.

"I'll wait here for the paramedics. Your brother needs to go to a hospital."

"My brother is none of your concern," Tau raised his voice, his waning patience making it difficult to maintain his normal calm demeanor.

"This be Quayleigh's home and you no more reason to be here," Cole stated as he turned his glare to Kavak.

"I have probable cause."

"This not be police business. Quayleigh and her situation, that be your business, and that business, it be elsewhere," Cole continued as he looked down at Kavak.

"My apologies," Mazurka said as he cleared his throat causing Cole to look in his direction. "We haven't met. I'm Yechiel Mazurka and this is Hakan Kavak. We're detectives from the Freetier 6th…"

"Then you be outside your jurisdiction, ennuis," Cole interrupted. "Waste no more time concerning yourself with this. Go, take care of Quayleigh. Get what you came all this way for."

"She isn't in any immediate danger, but this man appears to be, and that takes precedence," Kavak said as he stood up, Cole returning his attention to him.

"As I said, he be in no danger. He's fine, or didn't you hear him, Tuhané?"

Kavak's jaw tightened as he stared down Cole. "How very preceptive of you."

"No perception needed. Kavak be a Tuhané name, and the La'jhirawah Mau; we'd never forget one of yours."

The color appeared to drain from Kavak's face, something that Cole had said struck a nerve and not a pleasant one from what Tau could see, but the tension in the room had reached a near breaking point. He wanted to go but couldn't leave Kavak behind. Cole seemed ready to kill him, but that wasn't his job, and he was certain Quayleigh wouldn't be pleased over it. Kyffin was completely unaware having drifted back to sleep, and Mazurka seemed oblivious to it all. How he was a detective with so little situational awareness, baffled him completely.

"I know it's been a few years," Mazurka remarked as he moved around behind the couch, "But this isn't Caoimhín."

"We never said it was," Cole replied as he shifted his gaze momentarily.

The break in eye contact with Kavak, seemed to ease the tension and Kavak retreated, until the back of his legs came in contact with Quayleigh's bed.

"He is my brother, Kyffin, and he needs to rest. He will be well cared for. Now we should leave. I wish to be with Quayleigh."

"I'm sorry, but we can't actually leave until we're certain that he isn't in any danger," Mazurka informed him with a heavy sigh.

"Again, he is in no danger. As I've told you, several times, he is unwell and needs rest."

"Cole, was it? Who are you exactly?" Mazurka asked as Kavak pulled out his phone.

"That be Magus to you," Cole stated boldly, as he straightened himself up. "Kyffin is a MET registered Practitioner under my care. This is mage business, not yours. You came here looking for Dylan, saying you want his help, so don't be causing unnecessary problems."

"I'm sorry, Magus, we aren't here to cause any problems with the MET," Mazurka replied as he stepped away from Kyffin, his hands raised in a submissive posture.

"Fine, if that's how you want to play this," Kavak muttered as he leaned down and opened the lid of Quayleigh's wooden chest, that was sitting at the end of the couch. "Let's try this a different way. Tell me what a MET Practitioner and a Magus are doing here with obvious signs of magic casting, or I will call for magic enforcement agents."

"Are you threatening a MET registered mage and a Magus, Detective?" Cole questioned as he narrowed and lowered his eyes.

"Depends, is there something worth threating you about?" Mazurka replied as Kyffin groaned and sat up grabbing the sides of his head.

"Why is everything so loud?" Kyffin whispered, as he shifted his legs to the floor and pulled the blanket down, exposing his towel wrapped lower arm, and the large hastily painted sigil on his chest as he sat up.

"Oh, for fucks sake." Cole sigh as he set his hand to his face and shook his head. "Alright then, sit the hell down. Clearly you two, ennuis, aren't going nowhere, now."

Cole turned and looked at Tau shaking his head. "Sit down next to Kyffin. And keep him upright while I get him something for his headache."

"You care to explain what happened to your arm?" Kavak questioned as Tau sat down and handed Kyffin his glasses.

"Backlash, and probably something I ate," Kyffin replied as he rubbed at his head. "My injury needs to be tended to, whether you are here are not. And none of us owe either of you, any explanation."

"I beg to differ. Explain, and quickly, or as I said, I will call for magic enforcement agents," Kavak threated as he pulled out his phone.

"And there you go making them foolish threats again," Cole said as he handed Kyffin a glass of water and some small white tablets. "These be for your headache."

"Thanks," Kyffin managed to reply before taking the pills.

"Calling in them agents only going to be a waste of everyone's time, and you know it. The only one you possibly be putting in danger from that is Quayleigh, as this is her apartment. Or have you forgotten that she supposed to be working with you?"

"And yet, if what you were doing was legal, you wouldn't have been doing it here," Kavak replied, causing Mazurka to step around the couch and in front of him.

"Kavak," Mazurka said when Tau slammed the glass of water, he had taken from Kyffin, onto the table grabbing everyone's attention, his patience having run out.

"That is enough. You want to know what happened, then you should have asked me. My brother and my friend, were helping me with a problem," he said much to Cole's disapproving look. "They were trying to help me determine if it was possible to return my memories to me. Given the delicate nature of my circumstances, and my relationship with Quayleigh, we couldn't risk me being seen at the MET."

"I don't believe you," Kavak remarked as he crossed his arms.

"You don't have to. You aren't here for this. When you arrived, I told you this was a bad time, and you didn't listen. You didn't have cause to come in, and I didn't invite you. I only opened the door. That doesn't give you a right to enter. Even if you are my friend Yechiel, this apartment, isn't mine, and you know that. Now you are questioning us, and threatening my family? Quayleigh is in no danger. You can leave and return tomorrow. I don't want you upsetting anyone else tonight, especially not her when this can wait until she isn't at the store. You can speak with Garren instead and leave her out of it entirely."

"Kavak, that's enough," Mazurka said as he directed him to sit down before turning around and facing Tau. "You're right. I took advantage of our friendship and came in without being asked. That's on me. But I would still like to get this situation with Quayleigh sorted out tonight, so she isn't blindsided with it tomorrow at the station before she heads to the MET with Folsten."

"As much as I detest these ennuis, I happen to agree with this one. Keeping her in the dark about this won't do anyone any good. I know you don't want her to be upset, but she's going to find out about this one way or another, and it best if you at her side when she does. It for the best, if this doesn't linger," Cole remarked as he set his hand onto Tau's shoulder. "This will give Quayleigh time to process the information before tomorrow. Let her sleep through the upset, over having to bottle it all up and put her head down for the day, pretending everything be alright because you aren't there for comfort."

"I understand. Thank you, Cole," Tau said before looking up at Mazurka. "Very well, then. Let's go to Quayleigh."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cole was relieved once Mazurka and Kavak left with Tau. Sitting down next to Kyffin he took a slow deep breath.

"Well, that was interesting," Kyffin said as he set his glasses back onto the table. "Not sure why he handed those to me, I can hardly even open my eyes as it is."

"For a reaper, he not be too bad though. At least he was trying to help. More than I can say for the other two."

"What was it you were calling them?"

"Ennuis," Cole replied with a chuckle.

"Ah, right," Kyffin hmphed. "While being called annoyances is hardly anything to get worked up over, you really managed to ramp up the tension with the name dropping, Magus."

"Yeah, let's just hope he doesn't go about checking up on that. Thought you was asleep at the time."

"In and out really. Hard to sleep when you feel like someone's about to be killed right beside you. Although, I'm not quite certain who was giving off the more intense vibe," Kyffin remarked as he went to untie the fabric strip from his arm.

"Here, let me," Cole said as he reached under the couch and pulled out the scissors, cutting the strip away. "It's going to be more comfortable if you lay back down."

"I agree. My head throbbed less when I wasn't sitting up."

Cole carefully helped guide Kyffin into a far more comfortable, reclined position, before putting the coffee table back, next to the couch.

Kyffin let out a sharp grunt, clenching his jaw, his face scrunching in pain as Cole lowered his arm to the top of the table.

"The pain's getting worse. I think I might be having a bad reaction to the thorns."

"It's possible," Cole replied as he carefully peeled the towel away, revealing the mess of thorns and flesh; small amounts of foamy looking blood seeping out from where they were protruding. "I'll get these out as quick as I can. Just do your best to drift back off to sleep," Cole said, worried by the way Kyffin's skin was turning red and warm to the touch, along with the increased darkening of the welts that were left behind where thorns had already been removed.

"I'd rather you tell me about why Quayleigh is going to be going to the MET tomorrow, and for the police by the sounds of it."

"I was going to keep my mouth shut," Cole replied as he retrieved the bowl, tweezers, paper towels, and plate of discarded thorns from beneath the couch. "But I let my anger get the better of me and then that chatty ennui cop, gone let the cat out of the bag entirely."

"Yeah, for a detective, he didn't seem to know how to read a room," Kyffin remarked as he rested his arm over his eyes. "We both know Tau's a reaper, which means, we both know he's responsible for the murders that have been in the news over the past few months."

The sound of the toothpick sized thorns dropping onto the ceramic plate echoed throughout the apartment as they spoke.

"Aye, but what be your point?"

"Is Quayleigh choosing to ignore it? I mean she's had to have figured it out, right?"

"She knows. She's choosing to believe that Tau is still working on behalf of Death. That this be his job and it not be our place to question or make him stop," Cole replied as he tore off a sheet of paper towel and folded it up. Wetting the edge, he wiped down the area where he had pulled the thorns from and took note of the way Kyffin winced, and the thick, clear liquid, that oozed from the wounds, holding pressure on the area until clean blood began to flow, and the holes closed up on their own. "Has he introduced you to Uroxuz yet?"

Kyffin's silence and subtle quake answered the question for him, causing Cole to half smile as he went back to pulling the thorns, the rhythmic sound of them falling to the plate resuming.

"That was my reaction too. He be far more dangerous than the reaper, and Quayleigh, she thinks he's fucking adorable."

"She's in love with him; Tau, I mean. Not Dylan."

"Yeah, she been in love with him for as long as I've known her. She helping the cops to try and give them answers that don't lead back to him, and she stepping inside the MET to do it, despite the risk she putting herself in."

"You know, I'll do what I can to keep an eye on her in there, but I'll need to know the name of her contacts," Kyffin replied as he reached down and grabbed the blanket, pulling it up over his chest before resting his arm over his eyes again.

"You'll have to ask her for that information, but don't think for a moment that I'd let her walk in that place completely unprotected."

"I'm glad if that's the case. She doesn't need to be a victim of them too."

"Is that why you care? It not be like you known her for long. Isn't today the first time you even met?"

"It is, but she's his girlfriend, and a part of me, it still wants to believe that he's really Dylan with a memory problem," Kyffin replied, the corner of his lip momentarily pulling back before he continued. "This is the most time I've willingly spent with him since I was about ten. Figures that he's not even himself though. But she's nice, and from the looks of her, she deserves someone far better than Dylan was ever capable of being. Call it misplaced brotherly instinct, but I don't want to see him become Dylan and watch her get hurt in the process. I should have warned Francesca, but I stayed out of that mess. I should have listened to Kim on that one."

"Oh, and who's Kim?"

"Kimehiko Dasuihie. My paper wife."

"Wife?" Cole asked, stopping his work long enough to glance at Kyffin, who gave no reaction to his surprise. "Isn't she going to be worried about where you at?"

"No. She's half a world away in Javötpur with her family. As long as I don't miss the weekly call with our sons, she could careless about what I get up too," Kyffin said as yet another thorn was dropped onto the plate with a gentle clatter.

"How many sons?"

"Two. Satoshi's my eldest. He's nine. And Hikaru turned eight a few weeks ago. The MET wouldn't even give me leave to travel out of the country for the weekend so I could be there to celebrate with him in person, and Kim…" he wet his lips and swallowed, "yeah, let's just leave it at that."

Cole decided to ask no more questions and focused on his work. The steady sound of falling thorns the only sound to be found in the small apartment.