Chapter 30

When the others returned from the hospital, we learned that Barry's information had been false. I still wasn't sure if we could trust Barry. This only succeeded in making me doubt him even more. Though part of me wondered if it was intentional on his part or on the part of those traitorous bastards. They had to have known we were going to find out about them. Neither of them had shown up for work since Thanatos went missing. At first, I thought nothing of it. No one did. But once the truth was known, we all knew why they were absent. We also figured that one of them had to have been the one to kill Charon.

There was no sign of forced entry at her apartment, which meant she had to have opened the door for her killer. And given how far into her apartment, her body was, she had to have let them inside.

"Penny for your thoughts."

I looked up from the blank screen in front of me and smiled. It had been three weeks since Thanatos was rescued. Three weeks since I confessed my feelings to him. And three weeks since we last slept together. He probably thought I was trying to avoid him, but I wasn't. Reaping that child's soul took its toll on me.

"Kifo?"

"Sorry. Just thinking about everything that's been going on."

Thanatos nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me for lunch. But I don't want to interfere if you're busy."

"No. You aren't interfering. I'd love to join you for lunch." I got up out of my seat and locked my computer before following him back to his office.

Once inside Thanatos' office, I let out a surprised gasp. He had had a table brought in and set the two chairs from in front of his desk at it. The table was covered with a table cloth, and there was a single white candle in the middle. Lunch was already set and waiting for us.

"Thanatos?" I looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"I figured since I'm not reaping today, I could take you on a date. Then I figured we could just do the date here since I know you don't like leaving the office when you're on the clock," he said with a chuckle.

I smiled and blushed. "That's very romantic of you."

We both sat down at the table and began eating. Our conversation was kept light, and the topic of work was kept as far away as possible. It was my first date, and I had to admit it was a wonderful one.

When we were done eating, we sat down on the sofa and talked some more. Thanatos was a complete gentleman, and I was thoroughly smitten with him. Everything was going well until Frank barged in, looking paler than usual.

"They killed her," he said, breathlessly.

"Who?" Thanatos shot up from the couch and walked over to Frank.

"The girl. Merica. The Memitim killed her and dropped her body in front of the building.

"Jesus."

I gasped and covered my mouth. I felt a mixture of sorrow and rage build up within my body. Without even thinking, I got up and activated my scythe, and opened a portal.

"Kifo?" I heard Thanatos' voice call out to me before I walked through the portal.