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“God fucking damn it! WHAT?!” Blitz roars into his phone. It’s midnight and he’d finally fallen asleep after a long day of paperwork and killing people.
“Ummm… Blitz?” a timid female voice says from the other end.
Blitz blinks and looks at his phone to see the caller's name. He feels his stomach drop.
“Octavia! What’s wrong?” he asks, sitting up.
“It’s dad,” she says with a tired sigh.
“Did something happen?” Blitz asks, hopping out of bed and pulling on clothes. Whatever was closest, it didn’t matter at this time of night.
“He’s-”
“My baby!! I love you so much!! You're so perfect!! Give daddy a hug!” Stolas’s drunk voice cuts her off through the phone.
“Ya..” Octavia sighs.
“Alright, I’ll be there in 10.” Blitz says hanging up. It had been nearly a month since the morning they had made pancakes, and truth be told he’s forgotten he had given her his number.
“Loonie! Loonie sweetie, wake up!” Blitz yells banging on her door before opening it.
“What the fuck Blitz?!” she snaps sitting up in bed. Her hair is a wild mess around her face.
“I need you to portal me to the palace,” he says, handing her the book. His boot hits an empty beer bottle, sending it spinning under the bed. He hears it clink against more bottles underneath. Everyone around him has issues it seems.
“Why?” she asks, taking the book and opening it. She yawned, showing all her teeth.
“Stolas is drunk off his ass.” Blitz says, pulling his coat on.
“So?”
“Octavia needs a hand dealing with him. Can you come get me with the van in the morning?” he asks.
“Fine,” she says, opening up a portal to the kitchen of the palace. Blitz steps through and gets a nod from one of the servant imps in the direction of Stolas’s study. Blitz gives a tired thanks.
“Blitzy!! I’m so happy to see yoU!” Stolas cheers literally throwing himself at Blitz. Laying himself over the imps shoulder. His long body lying on the floor behind him.
“Ya, ya. I got this Octavia, you can go to bed now.” Blitz says.
“Thanks Blitz,” she says with a sigh and leaves. She looks even more exhausted than last time he saw her. How many times had this happened before she finally broke and called him for help?
“Via!! Where are you going?” Stolas asks sadly, watching his daughter leave with a wave.
“She’s going to bed. Which is where you need to go.” Blitz explains.
“Good night sweety! Love you! SLeep well!!” Stolas slurs after her.
“Okay, come on you.” Blitz says, picking the prince of hell up princess style. It seems that light weight was a bird trait. Blitz has never had a problem carrying him around. Which was also good because it seemed to be one of Stolas favorite things.
“OH Blitzy! You're so shilverious!!” Stolas coos tracing circles on Blitz chest with his finger.
“I’m fucking fantastic,” he grumbles as he walks down the hall. One of the servant imps gets the bedroom door for Blitz.
“There you go,” Blitz says, tossing the owl on the bed.
“You're so fucking HOT when you're bossy!” Stolas purrs.
“Un hun,” Blitz says, taking off his boots and jacket. He tosses them in a chair in the corner.
“Are we gonna fuck?! Yay!!” Stolas giggles and struggles to take off his shirt, getting tangled in it.
“I’m not fucking your drunk ass. Just lay there and go to sleep.” Blitz says crawling into bed next to him.
“But I wanna fuck!” he whines, arms twisted in the simple piece of fabric.
“No.”
“Can I suck you off?”
“Holy shit! No! Just lay there and go to sleep!” Blitz growls pushing the handsy prince down. He struggles against the bird trying to get the strangely tangled shirt back on him properly. It ends up backwards. Close enough! He rolls off and lays next to him.
“You're boring!” he whines.
“You're drunk!” Blitz says.
“I am not drunk!!” he corrects, offended.
“You're shitfaced!”
“Nope!!” Stolas says waving a finger in the air.
“Oh really?”
“Yep!! I’ve been goooooooood!! So very goooooood!” Stolas giggles, turning his head and looking at Blitz. His red eyes hold a shimmer of gold on the edges Blitz has never noticed before.
“Un hun..”
“Yep!! I only had one glass!! Hehehehehe!!” Stolas informs him.
“Wait, what do you mean by only one glass?” Blitz asks, confused.
“Don’t want to make my starfire sad, so only one drink! Yep! Just one! No more! Hehehehe.” Stolas breaks out into another set of manic giggles.
“So you're this plastered on one glass of wine?” Blitz tries to clarify.
“I am not drinky! I am a Goetia! We can not get drunk soooooo easily! Nope!”
“Well you are.” Blitz grins informing him.
“I need at least ….. 3?… 3! Bottles of wine before I feel annnnnnything!!!... Your horns are pretty.” he says, running a hand down the black and white stripes.
“You must be getting old then.” Blitz teases.
“Not that old! I am still in the springtime of YOUTH!!” he cheers, throwing his hands in the air. He lets them fall to the bed over his head and is quiet for a minute.
“Do you like me Blitzy?”
“I’m fucking you aren’t I?” Blitz says suddenly uncomfortable with the topic change.
“No, you're just lying there.” he pouts.
“I mean, fuck! You know what I mean!” Blitz says frustrated.
“You just need the book. You don’t need me.”
“God fucking damn it.” Blitz murmurs, rubbing his face with his hands. He should have stayed home.
“You know what I like to do, Blitzy?” Stolas asks.
“What?” he sighs.
“I like to pretend.”
“And what do you like to pretend?” Blitz humors him.
“I like to pretend I’m an im’P’ like you!” Stolas says cutely tapping Blitz on the nose.
“Why is that?”
“So I can be the same height as you! So when we hold hands and walk down the street you don’t have to reach up all the time.” Stolas says, taking Blitz's hand and threading their fingers together.
“We have never held hands while walking down the street.” Blitz informs him.
“Could we?” Stolas asks, starry eyed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Why?”
“Because that's why!” Blitz snaps.
“I’m sorry.” Stolas apologizes. The guilt makes Blitz want to barf.
“Don’t… it's fine.” he says.
“You're mad at me.” Stolas says quietly.
“I'm not mad at you.” Blitz says.
“You're disappointed in me. Sorry.”
“I’m not.”
“I disappoint everyone,” Stolas says.
“That’s not-”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that!” Blitz snaps again.
“I'm sorry. SORRY! I mean.. Sorry…” Stolas apologizes.
“Just get over here.” Blitz says, opening up his arms for the owl to crawl into.
“Blitz?”
“What?” he asks, threading his claws through the soft feathers on Stolas’s head. Trying to get him to fall asleep. Blitz rests his head on top of Stolas’s.
“I’m scared,” he admits.
“Scared of what?”
“Dying alone…”
And Blitz nearly chokes on air at the sudden emotional gut punch he just received.
“I don’t have anyone… Just Via…” Stolas says into his shirt.
“Blitzy?”
“What?”
“Will you stay with me?” Stolas asks quietly.
“....Okay….”
Stolas smiles snuggling into him. He finally falls asleep a few minutes later. Blitz lays there fighting the urge to run screaming into the night. Stolas will be sober in the morning and hopefully not remember a damn thing. Like he did last month.
Blitz lays there threading his fingers through feathers, willing himself to fall asleep, but he can’t. Something is there. Itching at the back of his mind. Unable to let the thought go, he picks up his phone and texts Octavia.
Blitz: you awake?
Via: yes? What's wrong?
Blitz: How much wine did your dad have tonight?
Via: I don’t know. He was in the study and I was in my room.
Blitz: Do you know where the bottle is he was drinking from?
Via: I think it's still in the study.
Blitz: Can you get it and bring it to me? I wanna check something. Don’t let anyone see you.
There is a pause before she sends a thumbs up.
A few minutes later Octavia steps into the room quietly.
“Did anyone see you?” Blitz asks.
“I don’t think so.” she says bringing the bottle to Blitz as he wiggles his way out from under Stolas.
Blitz sniffs the open bottle. Swirling the liquid inside, he holds it up to the light to see. It looks normal. It looks fine. It looks like wine, but Blitz knows something is off. He’s not a hired hit for nothing.
“How often does he drink?” he asks her.
“About every night.” Octavia says curling up on the lounge chair still looking exhausted.
“Does he remember it the next day?” Blitz asks.
“Sometimes?... I don’t think so… he’s asked me how he gets to bed a few times. Why?”
“Lock the door,” he says, and she does.
Blitz puts the bottle down and hurries over to the balcony doors, closing and locking them. He wedges a chair under the handle before doing the same to the main bedroom door.
Octavia is silent watching him. Feeling her feathers start to stand on end.
He puts a finger to his lips and she doesn’t have to be told twice. He grabs his phone and calls Loona. It rings and rings and Blitz is about ready to scream when she finally picks up.
“I need you to grab the M&M’s and come to me in the palace. Bring the bag,” he hisses into the phone. Loona hangs up without another word.
“Blitz?” Octavia asks quietly.
He looks at her and gives a sad nod.
They both sit in silence till about 5 min later when a rip opens up and the three step through armed to the teeth.
“Blitz what-” Moxie starts.
“Shhh!” he hisses, cutting them off. He doesn’t want anyone in the palace knowing they are there.
“What do you smell?” he asks, handing Loona the bottle.
Loona takes it and takes a sniff. Then another, then a deeper one.
She looks at Blitz.
“Hemlock.”
“That's what I thought.” Blitz says and the others look worried.
“Does that mean...?” Octavia asks worriedly. He can see in her eyes she already knows the answer.
“Ya.”
“So what now?” Millie asks.
“I wanna see if it's all the wine or just this one. From there we can figure out the who.” Blitz explains.
“Should we get him to a doctor?” Moxxie asks, looking over the sleeping prince. Stolas hoots softly in his sleep. Dark circles under his eyes.
“I don’t know who we can trust here just yet. He slept it off last time. This isn’t something that can kill him.” Blitz says checking the ammo in his guns.
“There’s only one other sent on the bottle besides these two.” Loona tells him.
“Can you track them?” Blitz asks.
“Easy.”
“You two stay here with these guys. We’ll be back.” Blitz says as he and Loona leave.
It doesn’t take them long to track down the imp in question. Loona picks him up with one hand as Blitz smiles at him sweetly.
“Hi there friend!”
“Hi?” the timid little imp says. His little black and white horns hardly over his hair.
“I'm Blitz and you are?” Blitz asks sweetly.
“T-- tank.” he stutters.
“Well Tank, me and my daughter have a couple of questions for you. Let's find a nice quiet place shall we? Which way to the wine cellar?”
Tank promptly wets himself.
…..
“Dad?”
“Via?” Stolas groans. His head is pounding, and his stomach is killing him. How did he get in bed? He was just in the study. Why does it look like the sun is about to come up?
“Right here.” she says squatting down next to the bed to be eye level with him.
“I got drunk again… I’m sorry,” he apologizes to her. How? He told himself one glass! He hated the fact that he was so weak. He promised her and he let her down again.
“That’s not really the truth, sir” a voice says to his side. An imp comes into focus. There is a rifle strapped to his back. It takes Stolas a minute to remember he’s one of the ones who work for Blitz. There are two of them. A married pair.
“You’re?... Max?” Stolas struggles to remember his name. It starts with an ‘m’! He knows that at least. He should know more, he does know more but it's so hard to recall. His head feels like it's full of cotton balls.
“Moxxie sir.” Moxxie corrects gently. “You didn’t get drunk. Well you did, but it wasn’t your fault. You were drugged.”
“I was… Drugged?!” Stolas pushes himself up swiftly, and instantly regrets it as the room spins and he throws up. Octavia leaps out of the way leaving poor Moxxie as the standing target for Stolas’s stomach’s rage.
“I’m sorry!” Stolas apologizes, collapsing back to the bed.
“It’s fine, I’m fine!” Moxie says standing there horrified.
“You need to… get that off.. It will burn you.” Stolas burps, pointing at the bathroom. Moxxie doesn’t have to be told twice as indeed it starts to burn and melt his clothes.
“I’ll get the servants to bring you some new clothes.” Stolas says as Moxxie hisses in the bathroom ripping off his clothes and stuffing them in the trash.
“We might need to wait on that a bit, your highness.” Millie tells him.
“Blitz and Loona are looking for the one who drugged your wine. We don’t know who we can trust in the palace right now.” Octavia says and Stolas realizes his daughter is in danger in this situation. Was it just him drugged or did they get his daughter as well?
“Then we get someone new.” Moxxie says exiting the bathroom with a towel wrapped securely around his chest.
“Imp City hospital has a poison section. None of them have any ties to the Goetia family.” Millie says after thinking for a minute.
“Meaning they wouldn’t have any stakes on him living or dieing.” Moxxie says.
“Or rather it would be bad if he died in their care.” Millie grins.
Forty minutes and a portal later, three demon doctors are poking and prodding Stolas. Taking blood samples, measurements, and asking lots of questions.
“I think you're right with the Hemlock poisoning. It would explain his memory gaps. I do think there’s something else going on. I’ll have the lab run his blood and let you know.” The ram demon says checking over the IV the other two demons hooked up. The fluid bag hangs securely from the bedpost. They had given the imps directions on removal of the IV when the bag was done.
“Thank you very much for the assistance. Once again my apologies for the fright.” Stolas says already feeling much better than he did an hour ago. Apparently opening a portal into a packed waiting room and having Moxxie’s naked ass show up with a gun was NOT conducive to the quiet calm atmosphere the hospital was going for. They nod and leave through the portal.
“That’s one issue down. Now where the hell is Blitz?” Moxxie asks, standing there in an open back hospital robe. The light breeze brushing his bare buttox.
There is a knock at the door and everyone jumps.
“Open up guys! It’s us!” Blitz says from the other side.
Blitz and Loona step into the room. Loona holding a crying imp by the scruff of his neck.
“Well, you're not gonna like this.” Blitz says flopping down on the lounger by Octavia.
“Moxxie, why are you wearing a paper dress? You know what, I don’t care. You do you boo. Tank, talk!” Blitz orders. The imp is silent til Loona gives him a harsh shake.
“S.. Stella told me to put something in your wine.” he squeaks.
“What?” Stolas asks quietly.
“I don’t know.” Tank says.
“She knows there is nothing that can kill me.” Stolas informs him.
“No.. no.. but she wanted you to look like a bad parent… so she could get full custody of Octavia.” Tank explains.
“What?!” Via is on her feet. Head reeling from the information. Her mother hired someone to poison her father over her?! How could she?! Did she care for her daughter's feelings at all?
“How long have you been poisoning me?” Stolas asks. His voice is dangerously calm and even. He’s feeling much better with the fluid drip, which is bad for anyone the target of his building rage.
“About three months. You weren’t reacting at first. So I was told to up the dosage till you did,” he says. “I’m sorry! She said she would kill me if I didn’t!” he sobs.
“Did you poison my daughter?” The venom in his voice makes the edges of the room go black. The darkness is biting cold. A sharp contrast to the constant heat of hell around them. It creeps across the floor, and under clothing. Up pant legs and sleeves, wrapping itself around bare skin, burning and biting.
“No!! No, no!! I was very careful! Only the wine that I brought you!!” he cries, feeling darkness close in around him. It's suffocating. Heavy and thick, burning with an icy rage that promises things worse than death.
“What was the poison?” Millie asks him again.
“I don’t know!! I promise I don’t know!!” he sobs, terrified. Loona holds him at arm’s length in case he pisses himself again.
“Is there anyone else in the palace she’s hired to harm me?” Stolas asks.
“I don’t know! I’m sorry! I don’t know!!” Tanks sobs.
“We got everything he said recorded, Stolas.” Blitz says sending him the video files on his phone. He also sends a copy to his work email and another to his private backup server at home. Always a good idea to leave a paper trail.
“Thank you Blitz. It seems I have to do some staff management today.” Stolas says as his phone rings. He picks it up and answers it, putting it on speaker phone so everyone can hear.
“Yes doctor?” Stolas says.
“We got your blood results back. It was hemlock poisoning, that’s what caused your memory gaps. It was in a high enough dose that after one glass you would never remember you had one at all. There was also something else. There was an excessive amount of Copper in your blood as well. Too much can have severe effects on the mind. That’s why your eyes are going gold around the edges. There’s too much copper in your blood. Your body will naturally filter it out, but it might take a week or two for your levels to go back to normal.” the goat on the other end of the phone explains.
“It all affects you differently than it would regular demons. That’s why you had some side effects and not others.”
“Thank you doctor. It’s very much appreciated.” Stolas says.
“I’ll have the courier send over some medicine. If anything changes let me know.” he says hanging up.
“Millie, Moxxie, Loona, you want to go round up the staff for questions.” Blitz says getting to his feet. “Corral them in the dining room and we’ll do individual interviews in the kitchen.”
“Octavia, is there any place you can stay for a day or so?” he asks, turning to her. It would be best to get her out of the palace till the security issue is sorted. If the witch is willing to poison her ex, there might not be a limit to her victims to get what she wants.
“Not really no… I don’t want to go back to mom’s. I could go stay with uncle Ozzie.” she says after thinking a minute.
“You can’t go to Uncle Asmodeus! He’s in the Lust ring! And I can’t take you out of the Pride ring without your mother’s permission anyway.” Stolas says rubbing his temples. He wasn’t even sure what family he could trust at the moment. No one from his wife’s side that’s for sure. His own didn’t speak to him.
“She can stay with Loona and me.” Blitz offers. “If you don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”
“Fine,” she says, going to pack a bag.
“Thank you Blitz.” Stolas says.
“Don’t worry about it.” he says with a wave of his hand.
“I mean thank you for taking care of my daughter. If anything had happened to her-”
“Nothing happened so don’t worry about it.” Blitz cuts him off as he walks over.
“How did you know something was wrong with me?” Stolas asks sliding to the side so Blitz has room to sit on the edge of the bed next to him.
“In all your yapping last night you kept insisting that you only had one drink. And I’ve seen you drink, so I know you wouldn’t be loaded on one glass…. And your eyes were strange.” Blitz says, pulling Stolas’s face closer to get a better look at the gold/copper edging in his eyes and making a mental note for future assassination jobs.
“Did I say anything embarrassing last night?” Stolas asks quietly, blushing as Blitz holds his face so close to his. The warmth from his hands seeps into his skin. The faint memory of those fingers running through his feathers slides back to him. Claws scraping softly at his scalp. Stolas sets a hand on Blitz's thigh to stabilize himself.
“Oh ya,” Blitz grins, pulling down Stolas’ bottom eyelid with his thumb to get a better look.
“Oh…” Stolas says feeling his cheeks burn hot with embarrassment and excitement.
It’s then Blitz realizes how close he is to Stolas. Letting his lid go and just sitting there holding the other’s face. So close. So close to his own mouth. He can feel Stolas’s breath mix with his as his heart starts to hammer in his chest. He could kiss him right now. Should kiss him right now. If he’s not going to kiss him, he should let him go, but he doesn’t. Blitz just stays there holding the other's face in his hands. His eyes wandering over the delicate feathers, the beak, those brilliant red eyes with a hint of gold in them. The edge of that mouth. He knows what it's capable of. What it tastes like…
He’s leaning forward…
His eyes closing…
“Ah hem!”
“Ahhh!” Blitz yells falling back off the bed, landing hard on the floor.
“Sorry sir!” Moxxie says embarrassed, interrupting a seemingly private moment with his boss and boss’s sugar daddy.