Chapter 28

"We should've waited until we got home," Thanatos said with a chuckle as he fixed his clothes.

"We should have," I agreed. "But where would have been the fun in that?" I fastened my jeans and pulled my shirt on over my head, skin still flush from our activities.

"Can I take this to mean you like me as well? Or was this just a heat of the moment kind of thing?" Thanatos turned to face me, uncertainty in his eyes. God, he was dense. I wanted to kiss him and slap him at the same time.

"It's both," I said, walking over to him and kissing him chastely. "I like you. A lot. But, this was a heat of the moment kind of thing. Y-you were my first."

"I really wish I'd waited until we got home now. Your first time should have been in a bed. Not on the office floor."

I chuckled and shook my head. "No. It's alright. I enjoyed it. Better than I ever would have imagined."

Thanatos smiled gently at me and caressed my cheek. "Next time will be even better. I promise."

I blushed bright red at his comment, causing the man before me to chuckle. "W-we should head home. Kerberos was worried about you, too, you know." I looked away from him, still blushing, a shy smile playing at the corners of my lips. How could this man have made me so flustered and so happy about it?

Once we were fully dressed, we made our way to the garage. I noticed that everyone that had been searching for Thanatos had long since left. A realization that prompted me to wonder how long we'd been going at it.

"Is it possible for someone to leave the Memitim and join the Ferrymen?" I asked when we got in the car and started driving home.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be. Though ultimately, the decision is up to Hades. Why?"

"One of the people that helped us look for you. Her name is Merica. She was kidnapped by the Memitim and forced to join. She wants to rejoin the Ferrymen."

"She was a Ferryman and was taken by the Memitim?"

"Yeah. That's what she said."

"I'll talk to Hades about it tomorrow."

"Okay."

We drove the rest of the way in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

When we reached the house and walked in, Kerberos immediately ran down the stairs. He pounced on Thanatos, attempting to kill him with kisses. Laughing hard, I tried to help free the dark-haired man from underneath the beast. Once free, Thanatos laughed heartily and hugged the dog. I watched them for a moment, master and dog happily reunited, before letting Thanatos know that I was going to take a shower and head to bed.

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he just nodded his head and told me he'd see me in the morning.

When we arrived at the office the next morning, Merica was there waiting for us. She smiled at Thanatos and me as if she had a secret. This unnerved me a bit. Would I regret allowing this woman to help us?

"May I help you?" Thanatos asked, tightening his grip on my hand protectively.

"No. I just wanted to introduce myself. You two were a little busy last night, so I didn't get a chance to then."

We both blushed at her comment, and her smile widened.

"This is the woman I was telling you about, Thanatos," I said, breaking the heavy silence.

"My name is Merica," she said, offering Thanatos her hand.

He politely shook the woman's hand. "Kifo told me about you. I plan on speaking with Hades today about possibly allowing you to join us again."

"Thank you. Even if he says no, it still means the world to me that you would take to him on my behalf. I should get going, though. Must keep up appearances with the assholes. I just wanted to say hi."

Thanatos nodded, and we both watched as Merica left the office. Turning his attention from the door, Thanatos smiled lovingly at me. "We should get to work."

"Yep," I nodded in agreement. "If you need me, I'll be down in Processing. I don't want us short a Processor."

Thanatos nodded and thanked me before kissing me and sending me on my way.

* * *

Down in Processing, things were running smoothly and normally. It was boring and mundane, but it was the job that I had initially wanted. Though it was boring, I got to meet new people every day.

I was in the middle of chatting with an elderly man while the system assigned him to his afterlife when Barry walked in and asked to speak with me. I apologized to the older man and asked one of the other Processors to help him for me before getting up and heading out to the hall with the other Reaper.

"This had better be important."

"I finished hacking into the Memitim's system."

"We have Thanatos. Why are you still hacking them?"

"There's going to be a massacre. They plan on going through a hospital and killing everyone in there."

"What?"

"I was able to tap into their phone lines since they use a VoIP. Veles and Mot were talking with Azrael about it. They plan on attacking General Hospital. They have enough Reapers with scythes to kill every man, woman, and child in that building and destroy their souls."

"We have to let Thanatos know. We have to get together Reapers to stop them. Do you know when they plan on doing it?"

"Tomorrow. They had it planned out for weeks. They were confirming details when I got the information."

I nodded and ran up to Thanatos' office, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. I was thankful processing was only three floors below his office. Otherwise, those stairs would've killed me, Reaper or not.

Thanatos looked up from his computer when I barged into my office, Barry right behind me. I hadn't even noticed that he followed me. "The Memitim are planning a mass murder. They plan on killing everyone in General Hospital tomorrow."

"What?" Thanatos frowned and stood up from his desk.

Barry explained what he had told me. This caused Thanatos' frown to deepen, and he began pacing his office.

"Do we know how many Memitim will be there?"

"No, sir."

"Alright. I want at least two dozen of our people there. That should be enough to stop them. Or at least protect the vast majority of those souls."

"I'm going," I said, voice stern.

"Andy… Kifo, this isn't something I could allow you to do. You might have to reap someone."

"I don't care. I'm going."

Thanatos hesitated a moment then nodded his head. "Alright. You, me, and 22 more Reapers. Barry, do you think we can spare any of the Reapers in tech?"

"Yeah. I can spare like sixteen. And I can talk to the night shift about sparing six more."

"Great. Get on that. We'll head to the hospital first thing tomorrow morning. Make sure everyone knows to have their scythes activated."

"Yes, sir." Barry left to round up the 22 other Ferrymen that we would need to take on the Memitim.