Feathers and Blood (boyxboy)

Chapter Two

If I had to list the top five most annoying people I'd ever met, Morpheus would be three of them.

He was slim and tall, with beautiful chocolate skin and silver eyes. His hair was startling white, and he appeared to be in his early twenties, although I knew he must be eons old.

"Hello, little brother!" he greeted as we slid into a booth with him. His voice was surprisingly high pitched. He was dressed in sweatpants and a gray T-shirt that read: I'm not a morning person.

Phobos ignored him and pretended to read the menu. I tried not to stare. The two looked nothing alike, hell, they weren't even the same race, but I figured demons worked differently.

Morpheus' eyes focused on me for about half a second before he grinned. "This your new boy toy, little brother? I do hope you manage to hang on to this one. The last one didn't end up so good did he?"

I blushed. "I'm not -"

"Shut up, Matthew," Phobos interrupted smoothly. "This is Jesse. He's dead."

"Nice to meet you, Jesse," Morpheus murmured. "My name is Morpheus, King of Sloth, but you can call me Matthew up here." Another biblical name. He turned to Phobos, who was looking at him expectantly. "He'll do fine."

I twisted to glare at Phobos. "What is he talking about?" I demanded.

Phobos sighed. "You're insurance, in case I try to harm Matthew. Go sit next to him."

I didn't move. "What do mean?" I growled.

"It's okay," Morpheus said smoothly. "If Luke tries anything sneaky, I'll take you with me. But he won't."

"Think of it as a compliment," Phobos urged. "You're relatively important."

I was livid. Trembling with fury, I got up and sat on Morpheus' side of the booth, never taking my eyes off of Phobos. "I hate you," I snarled. He kicked me under the table, smiling.

"Well, I don't hate you," he replied. "Which is why you're good insurance."

Morpheus placed a hand on my upper thigh, making me jump. "Let's just hope Luke doesn't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Don't touch me," I muttered.

Phobos frowned. "Yeah, hands off."

Morpheus removed his hand, snickering to himself. "Aw, is this one off-limits too? You should really be careful, brother. You don't want Hamilton to notice your new... weakness, do you?"

"Shut up!" Phobos snapped, crumpling the menu up in his hand. I would have said something too, but... was I really that important?

I told myself I shouldn't feel flattered. I was useful to Phobos, that was it. I knew better than to assume a demon could have positive feelings for someone, especially someone as insignificant as a mere human.

"Let's get to business," Phobos sighed, relaxing his grip on the menu.

"Let's order first," Morpheus insisted, reaching out to hold his brother's hand. "You don't eat very much."

Phobos pulled away. "We're demons, you idiot. We don't eat."

"Yeah, but still."

We ended up ordering, where I discovered my appetite had mysteriously disappeared. The three of us just picked at our food gloomily for a few minutes, until Phobos cleared his throat.

"So, do we have an agreement?"

"An agreement for what?" I asked impulsively, but immediately regretted it upon seeing the look on Phobos' face.

Luckily, Morpheus answered my question. "You see, my dear little human, my siblings and I... Well, we don't exactly get along very well." He grinned at Phobos, who aimed at kick at him and missed, hitting me. "Hamilton and Luke especially seem to loathe each other."

"Who's Hamilton?" I blurted, and Phobos sighed.

"He's the King of Pride," he told me. "We were sort of meant to hate each other. Fear makes people into cowards, Pride does the opposite... you know?"

"Well, you two didn't always hate each other," Morpheus mused. He turned to look at me. "They were actually really close -"

"Anyway!" Phobos interrupted, glaring at his brother. "Lyssios, King of Wrath, recently set influences in Iran, a part of the world that is my domain."

My eyes widened. I had still been able to retain some general knowledge on the state of the Earth, and I knew the Middle East was currently a disaster.

"You mean it's your fault everything has been chaotic over there?" I demanded.

The familiar, irritating smirk came back. "I'm a demon, love," he murmured. "Never forget."

A shiver traveled down my spine and I looked away. I had almost made the mistake of assuming Phobos was good. No matter how nice he was, I couldn't forget that his actual self was... smoke. Black smoke.

Morpheus forced a smile and continued. "Phobos sent some demons to tell Lissie to back off, but our short tempered brother returned the messengers in pieces."

"Wrath and Fear are officially at war," Phobos concluded. "And while I am more powerful, Lyssios would have gone to Hamilton for back up by now, and Ham has hated me for millennia. I need allies."

Morpheus' lip twitched irritably. "Next to you, Hamilton is the most powerful demon," he pointed out. "And Lissie's always a potential threat. I'm not liking my chances, little brother."

"Maybe if we talked to Beetle, or Johanna, they'd agree to help," Phobos soothed.

I snapped. "Can someone just tell me who all the siblings are?" I begged. "I have next to no fucking clue what the hell you guys are talking about."

"Careful Jesse," Phobos murmured. I shivered again.

Morpheus put an arm around my shoulders and pouted. "Oh, come on, Luke. He'll find out any way."

Fear glared at us for a moment, then relented. "Beetle is the Lord of Gluttony, and Johanna is the Lady of Envy. Plutus is the King of Greed, and Katrina is the Queen of Lust. You already know about Lyssios, Ham, Matt, and I. Good enough?" he snapped.

I nodded meekly. "Thanks," I muttered, looking away.

"None of this matters, anyway," Morpheus declared. "You're dead already, Luke. Beetle hates me, so he'll choose the opposite side of what I choose. Katrina won't join a side unless she gets payment, and Plutus will just follow where she goes. Johanna and Ham are dating, so she's gone. Face it, all of our siblings hate you."

I frowned. "Wait, Johanna and Hamilton... but aren't they siblings?"

Phobos laughed humorlessly. "We're demons," he pointed out. It seemed to be a favorite phrase of his.

Morpheus shook his head. "I'll fight on your side, but only if you can do one thing."

"And what's that?" Phobos asked. For the first time, he looked nervous.

"Get Hamilton on our side," Morpheus replied. "Maybe then we'll stand a chance."

He stood up before either of us could respond, and left the table, patting my head as he squeezed past me. Phobos and I were left alone, with plates of untouched food in between us.

He sighed dejectedly, and intertwined his legs with mine under the table. "What should I do, Jess?" he murmured. "If I show up in Hamilton's palace, he'll flay me alive."

I shifted in my seat. "Well, whatever you do, don't bring me into it. I'm just your human servant, not someone's insurance."

Phobos smiled sadly. "It's a bit too late for that," he replied. "Why do you think I dragged you out of Daddy's torture den? I need to be able to pay up without losing anything important."

Damn, that hurt. I swallowed, but did my best to keep the pain inside. "I hate you," I muttered.

"I know."

AN: The picture is the true form of a certain demon.