“It’s mostly near-death experiences. It’ll catch up with you, sooner or later. You know that. What’s that phrase? You shall keep the company of martyrs? Real selling point, SanGreal. I’m not that desperate.”
“Could have fooled me. You planning on licking that plate clean?” There was hardly a grain left. “Seconds?”
He slid the plate over to her. “Fighting the Unholy gives you an appetite.”
She took the plate and started piling it up. “What do you think it was? The ghost of Simon FitzRoy? Something else? I felt I was fighting more than a mere spirit. There is no way he should have broken those fetters. And he should have disintegrated with that holy water.”
“What do you know about Simon? From when he was, y’know, alive? I looked at the folder. Said he was reported as having suffered PTSD after the war. There was something deeply odd going on, that’s for sure.”
“Like this Ouroboros Society? You want to tell me about it?”
“Only rumours. But the ouroboros is an ancient occult symbol. Originates from the time of the pharaohs, even before that. They snake was thought to be immortal. Shedding its skin to be reborn over and over again. They were even called ‘serpent souls’, having transformed their nature into something more akin to the snake they worshipped in their quest for immortality.”
“Like creating the Philosopher’s Stone? The old alchemists believed that granted ever-lasting life.”
He nodded. “The stone was said to be one path towards ever-lasting life, but there were many more. As time went on these scholars investigated all types of theories. Some thought the secret lay in alchemy, others in rituals, others in deals with otherworldly entities.”
“Immortality, eh? I guess that’s the trade the Devil gets offered more than anything else.”
“Exactly.” Faustus shovelled a few more spoonfuls in and talked as he chewed. “Seems like your boy Simon FitzRoy got himself involved with the Ouroboros Society. From the sound of it on the wrong side. That make sense to you?”
“More than you think.” Too many coincidences. Lawrence had worn an ouroboros ring on his finger and he was an immortal. He had to belong to the society. And what about that necklace she’d seen Simon’s daughter wearing? “I think someone is after his kid, Erin.”
“Or something,” said Faustus. “The ghost said she had to stop him from finding ‘it’.”
“So we’ve got two mysteries. What ‘it’ is exactly and who ‘he’ is. I’m guessing the ‘he’ could be Lawrence? He might have discovered that Simon had found, and kept, something he wanted. Immortality hasn’t worked out well for him, he may still be looking for a better option.” After all, Lawrence looked like a living skeleton already, what would he be in another hundred years? A living sack of bones?
“Uh oh. I know that look.” Faustus shook his head as he chewed on a roti. “You’re not going to let this one go, are you?”
“I could do with your help.”
He smirked. That smirk was new. It suited him, annoyingly. “I bet you could.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. You remember my boyfriend, Ivan? Tsarevich Ivan Romanov? You know, a prince, insanely rich, ridiculously good-looking and... and that’s pretty much more than enough, don’t you think?”
“You forgot to mention you being in love with him.” Faustus cast his gaze back to the now empty plate. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve done my job, I’ve had my meal and we’re quits.”
***
“How are you getting home?” Billi asked as they went downstairs to the front door. It was well into the night by the time they’d cleaned up.
“It’s sweet how you worry about me,” said Faustus. “Though if you were really worried, you’d let me stay the night.”
This new Faustus was a cocky bastard, that was for sure. The old one had been so timid and a ‘stand at the back’ kinda guy. Despite herself she was warming to this version. Up to a point. “I’m not sure I could handle the scandal.”
“You worried about your virtue, Billi?”
“No, Faustus, I’m worried about yours.” She stopped by the door and punched the release. “You find your new approach works with girls?”
Here, under the single ceiling light, his face softened by half-shadow, Faustus strayed dangerously close toward ‘foolish mistake’. She could easily imagine what those lips would taste like, under the heat of the moment. Faustus’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “There’s always a first time.”
“Goodbye, Joe,” said Billi as she pushed the door open. “Sweet dreams and — ”
“Billi?”
Just great.
Ivan stood at the door, looking bemused. Then he saw Faustus and the bemusement surrendered to anger. “What’s he doing here?”
He had vanished off without a word and now he was back he expected her to explain herself? Nope, she wasn’t playing along. “Last I looked my dad still owned the lease on our apartment. Who comes and goes is entirely not your business.”
But Ivan wasn’t interested. He was glaring past her and what’s worse was Faustus just stood there, arms folded, smirking. He couldn’t have looked more at home if he’d been in a dressing gown. “Billi and I were enjoying a late feast.”
“It’s two in the morning,” snapped Ivan.
“Is it?” Faustus looked surprised. “Time just flies by when you’re having fun.”
Yeah, this was not helping. They were moments away from beating their chests at each other. “Though I’m flattered at all this alpha male posturing and look, if you two want I’ll go get the pistols and you can settle your differences on the lawn like gentlemen, it is, as you said, two in the morning and I’ve had enough drama tonight. So…” she snapped her fingers, “… Faustus, go home.”
He didn’t move, not quite immediately anyway. Just long enough to make Ivan glare and Billi regret having not kicked him out with a takeaway rather than meal at hers, but then he nodded and stepped out, pausing briefly to wink at Ivan. “Nice seeing you, tsarevich.”
Ivan clenched his fists, but
