Eli stayed outside for several minutes after Benjamin drove away, enjoying the quiet, pretending that tonight just hadn’t happened. It was a nice fantasy. One where his body didn’t ache from being tossed around by two angry weirs, where his brain wasn’t trying to bust through his skull. Like all fantasies however, it had to end sooner rather than later. He needed to head inside, get some ice for his head, some booze, and tell Amon what had happened. He had no idea how his roommate and best friend was going to react to tonight’s events, but he wasn’t eager to find out.
Sighing, Eli turned around and headed up the driveway to his house. It was a small home, nestled in an unassuming neighborhood, and there was nothing to set it apart from any other house. His neighbors were the nice kind, in that they generally left Eli alone. He had no idea how to make small talk with normal folks. He assumed it involved a lot of discussion about the weather, boring work, and even more boring stories about their kids.
“I’m home.” Eli called out as he closed his front door behind him, double checking that all the locks were in place.
“Cool”, a voice called from down the hallway, “I can’t wait to hear all about how your plan went completely to shit.”
Eli stifled a laugh; Amon had no idea. He went into the kitchen and poured two generous glasses of whiskey. It would help numb the pain and he felt that he deserved it after the events of tonight. Heading back to the living room he flopped down on the plush couch. Eli took a sip, savoring the warmth that spread down his throat and settled in his gut. He glanced around the room, noting that Amon had once again picked up the coffee cups that Eli left scattered around the room. He was grateful for his friend, for far more than just picking up after his messiness. He set the other glass on the side table next to the chair across from where he sat and waited.
“Alright, story tim- holy shit you look horrible”
Amon’s eyebrows rose sharply as he stepped into the living room and took in Eli’s bloody appearance. He strode over to the chair and took a seat, picking up the whiskey and taking a deep drink.
Amon had the gorgeous looks that made him seem like he had just stepped out of a photo shoot. Long dark hair framing a face that had men and women turning around for a better look. The most striking feature though, the one that marked Amon as something other than human, were his eyes. Pitch black except for pinpoints of white at the center.
They were the eyes of a Voidling, the nightmares of the world, beings used to scare adults and children alike. Voidlings were also supposed to no longer walk the Earth, trapped in the Void thousands of years ago, putting an end to the Beginning War. As far as Eli and Amon knew, he was the only Voidling to have escaped. Anyone else seeing Amon’s eyes would know what he was and run screaming. Vampires, Weirs, sorcerers, humans, the Fae. It didn’t matter; they all hated and feared Voidlings to a zealous degree. It was why Amon wore a concealment charm whenever he went out that made his eyes look normal, a construct that had cost Eli a small fortune. Sorcerers skilled in illusions were rare enough that they could charge an arm and a leg for their work. Arrogant bastards.
It was also why Eli went to such lengths to keep his powers hidden. He wasn’t a Voidling, but being able to wield the same power would make him the same thing for most people.
“So, I take it tonight did not go as you had planned.” Amon said, a gentle smile on his face. His initial shock at seeing Eli’s beaten state had worn off, he knew better than anyone how tough Eli was.
“Tonight went to shit so fast I’m still not quite sure what happened. I am fairly certain that I was set up though, which pisses me off.” Eli took another gulp of his drink before launching into the events from the last hour.
Benjamin had told him not to tell anyone anything about this weird job, and been very adamant about that, but Amon didn’t count. He told Amon everything. They were best friends. He had saved Eli’s life on that night, seemingly so long ago, and he had been his moral compass ever since. Eli unconsciously scratched at his left side as he thought about that night, feeling the rough scar tissue underneath his shirt.
Amon hadn’t liked Eli’s deal with Benjamin, hadn’t liked what it was turning him into. It was thanks to Amon constantly badgering him that Eli hadn’t kept going down that path. He owed literally everything to his friend, so Benjamin could go fuck himself if he thought he wouldn’t bring Amon into this.
“Wow. Just let me be sure I’m not missing anything. You beat up Jacob and Alex, almost killing Jacob, barely stopped yourself from being torched by the very person you were there to protect, and agreed to pretend to be an assistant teacher at an academy, a place you have always sworn never to step foot in. All so you can leave Benjamin’s employ without getting killed by any of the powerful people you have pissed off over the last five years. Did I miss anything?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Nope, that about sums it up.” Eli leaned back into the couch, letting his head flop against the back as he stared up at the ceiling.
Amon laughed. “Well, things certainly could have gone worse. Somehow. At least you finally have a way out. Even if it’s not exactly how you had planned, it does sound like a fairly reasonable deal.”
“I guess. I just hoped that it would be different. Hoped I wouldn’t have to hurt anyone.” Eli sighed. “I lost control again, Amon. If Delilah hadn’t interfered I would have killed Jacob. I went into this with good intentions and still almost killed someone. What does that say about me?”
Amon was silent for a moment, eyes contemplative as he took a small sip from his glass.
“It makes you human. Despite your connection to the Void and all that you know and can do, you are very much human Eli. That means you are going to make mistakes. Big ones. But you’re trying to change, to be better. You fucked up tonight. Learn from it, and be better next time.”
“You're getting really good at those speeches. You almost have it down to a science.”
“You keep giving me opportunities to practice. I'll stop giving speeches when you stop being such a stubborn ass.”
They both laughed at that before settling into a comfortable silence. Eli’s worry and guilt were still there, weighing on him, but Amon had lifted some of the weight. That had always been part of their dynamic. Eli knew that he was impulsive and had discovered a deep anger in him that he had only fed over the last several years. By contrast Amon was calm, understanding, and wise enough that sometimes Eli just wanted to punch him in the mouth. If he was raging rapids, Amon was a placid lake.
“For real though, what am I going to do?” Eli finished off his glass but didn’t get up to get another. He was going to have an early day tomorrow and he couldn’t imagine showing up hungover would be a good first impression.
Amon shrugged. “Do the job. I think Benjamin’s right, there probably won’t be any Sentinels there, and the likelihood of you running into someone you knew from your past life is almost zero. No offense but no one from your old crowd would be caught dead in a third-rate Academy.”
“There are so many things that don’t make sense though. Why does Benjamin care about this so much? If these kids really are disappearing, something I don’t fully buy, who's doing it? And why the fuck did he agree so quickly to let me leave his organization?”
“I don’t know the answer to those first two, I’m sorry, but that last one’s easy. Benjamin was right, man I really hate saying that,” Amon stuck out his tongue like he’d tasted something rotten. “You haven’t been useful to him for the last few months. Ever since your conscience woke back up, and you stopped hurting others, what good are you to him?”
“I think I showed tonight that I am still quite good at hurting others.” Eli muttered.
“Stop being so self-pitying, it isn’t a good look. If you aren’t going to listen to my brilliant advice then I'm going to hide all your booze while you're out. You were trying to save someone, and you went out of your way to avoid violence. You know that a few months ago you just would have ambushed them without warning.”
“Do you think he was serious about letting me go?” Eli asked, changing the subject.
“I’ve never met Benjamin, I only know of him through what you tell me, but he does seem to honor a deal once it’s made. If he agreed to let you leave and put out word that you're still on good terms, I think that means he will probably follow through.”
“If’s and maybes. This is why I hate dealing with Benjamin, he’s too clever.” Eli ran a hand through his hair, his body protesting even that small movement.
“If something is stealing those children then you have to look into it and protect this girl, protect all the students if you can. Use your powers to help others instead of hurting them.” Amon smiled gently, his words warm and encouraging.
He was always trying to get Eli to become some sort of hero, the kind you read about in shitty cliched books. Pure, good hearted, help old ladies across the street, and never swear kind of hero. Pure bullshit. Eli knew what he was, and so did Amon for how much he pushed him, and it was not someone good. He had done too much, hurt too many people, had too much darkness in him to ever be considered anything resembling a hero. He hadn’t even been a good person before he’d been kicked out by his father and turned to organized crime.
Amon knew all this, but he never stopped trying to get Eli to be better. Eli loved him for this, despite how annoying it could be at times. It was in no small part due to his constant pushing that Eli had begun to realize just how far he had fallen.
“You’re right, just focus on the job and get it done. Protect a little girl from some unknown threat for a few weeks until Benjamin sees that there’s nothing terrorizing the Academy. Even if it is a rundown piece of shit, it would take someone truly mad to attack it.”
“It does seem unlikely,” Amon agreed, “but then again so does a Voidling and a human becoming friends and roommates.”
Eli laughed. “Fair. I hate this, everything about it, but I don’t see any other option. Fingers crossed this is just a boring couple of weeks and then my freedom.”
“Yeah, no way you just jinxed yourself there.”
“Fuck off.”
Amon flipped him off, his wide smile mirroring the one on Eli’s face. They moved on to other topics, the events of tonight still fresh on both their minds but knowing that continuing to discuss it wouldn’t solve anything. Sometimes when life takes a bad turn the only thing you can do in the moment is forget about it for a while and just enjoy the company of your friends.