Chapter 27

Merica and I had a rather extensive list of potential places by the time Barry and the others returned. It wasn't as long as the list I had made before, but it was still pretty long. Just as we had suspected, the Memitim had moved Thanatos to a new location.

The next morning I got together a group of about twenty or so Reapers, myself, and Merica included. We split up into teams of two to search the locations that Merica and I had made. Each pair was given a list of about five sites to search. I was teamed up with Merica. Barry was staying behind to continue hacking the Memitim's system. I took Kerberos along with Merica and me to help us get through our list quicker so that we could help the others.

I told Hell she was in charge of the office while we were gone before setting out to look for Thanatos.

By early evening we were about halfway done with our list and no closer to finding Thanatos.

Bringing Kerberos along had done little to speed up the search.

We were just about to call it a night when I received a call from Frank. He and Meng Po were at an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town with Thanatos. Veles and Mot were nowhere to be seen as far as the two men could tell. I told them to take Thanatos back to the office and that we would meet them. Once off the phone with Frank, I called all of the others and called off the search, letting them know that Thanatos was found. Merica and I then headed back to the office.

I rushed into Thanatos' office when we got there and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back, strong arms embracing me and holding me close. I blushed slightly as I felt him kiss the top of my head and murmur words of reassurance to me.

"I thought we'd lost you," I murmured, burying my face against his chest.

"I'm right here."

I don't know when everyone else left the office, but I was thankful to be left alone with the man. Tilting my face towards his, he kissed me chastely on the lips.

"I was scared sick."

"I was too. They kept telling me that they had you and would kill you if I didn't join them."

"Azrael said the same to me."

"I'm back now. And you're safe. That's all that matters."

"Yeah." I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him deeply. After nearly losing him, there was no way I was going to keep my feelings hidden from either of us any longer.

Thanatos returned the kiss in kind, hands moving to my hips and pulling me flush against his body.