Let's Talk About Love

It was just a silly, throwaway joke. Yet the Keeper of the Archives giggled sheepishly and brushed some hair strands behind her ear. Had Alric not witnessed firsthand how fearsome she could look when she cast a spell out of her book, he would have dismissed her as some flirting college chick. Thankfully, it didn't look like he'd be on the receiving end of her spells - at least for now. Aodhan kept an interested eye at the pair from a distance, something that did not escape the angel's notice.

Once Ming-Ji had taken her to leave, Alric was back to munching the dumplings he had purchased yesterday. After an eventful night, he had not been able to eat them yet, and he was dearly, dearly looking forward to it.

"You seem to be quite the ladies' man," Aodhan surmised after walking up to him. The bite in Alric's mouth began to feel unpleasant. Hoping the Fae would leave him alone soon enough, he did not look up.

"What makes you think that?" He demonstratively poked around his food with his disposable fork.

"Well, this Gamma right there seems to have the hots for you," explained Aodhan. Clearly, Alric's plan failed. Sighing, he swallowed another bite before answering.

"That would make her one. Not sure how you extrapolated to me being a ladies' man."

"Come on now, you were a celebrity before you ended up here!"

Alric gave his friend an angry glare.

"Dude. I saw those news articles. You always had another bae wherever you went."

"You call those 'baes' escorts, Aodhan. You pay them good money for them to stand next to you. Just like you did last night."

Aodhan turned beet red. "Well, I bet they'd have hung around with you for free, unlike me, a Fae."

Alric chuckled, then shook his head. "Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how you look or what race you are."

Finally, Aodhan fell silent. Alric managed to finish his dumplings in peace before focusing on the task at hand. He was grateful that Ming-Ji had successfully convinced the IT department to develop software strikingly similar to what he had back at the company. Alric reminisced the time he was still CEO. If he was honest, he didn't miss it too much, albeit he had to admit that he missed the glamour that came along with it. Wasting money on fine dining and women seemed like a good idea back then. But what remained of it now? As he had just explained to Aodhan, none of those girls were meant to stay. So why did he suddenly feel a little sad about it?

"Oh right."

Alric grimaced. It seemed the Fae was particularly chatty today. At least he'd hopefully distract his mind.

"Somebody saw you hanging out with some hot chick last night. I thought you wanted to head home?"

Alric's hopes died. "What chick?" His heart began to race. Had he actually brought Fiera in danger? If one person had seen him with her, then maybe the one behind the succubus killings saw it too and followed them. Being so nervous, Alric had to delete and re-do some of his work.

"Come on, man, stop acting innocent!" Sensing some intriguing mystery, Aodhan's eyes lit up with excitement. "They saw you with some tall blond lady at the night market."

The angel gave a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed as if only he had seen through Fiera's shapeshifting ability.

"Oh... that... uhm... she recognized me and requested I accompany her home since she... felt she was being stalked."

"Well, did you get to see the inside of her apartment?"

"I... guess...?" Alric realized too late what Aodhan's intention was. He snorted and added, "but to disappoint you, my dumplings were more important, so I left before anything happened."

"Whaaaat?"

"You don't always need to score."

"How boring." Aodhan frowned and stared at the pack of books in his hands.

"I always thought you'd be the guy who'd jump into bed with anyone. I know I would if I could."

"You sound like a virgin."

Aodhan's ear tips grew deep red, causing Alric to laugh. "Jackpot! And also, I kind of feel insulted by your words. Do I look like some lover boy?"

"Yes. Very much so."

Now it was Alric's turn to be embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head. "Alright, then, to get this out of the way... contrary to what you expected, I don't mess around a lot. Sure, I've slept with more than one woman, but I don't invite anyone into my bed, you know? There's got to be some connection at least."

"You mean love?"

Alric paused to think. Was it love he had felt for those women he had been intimate with? The old him would have scornfully laughed at that idea. But there was some truth in there. They had been dear to him, and he always made sure to treat them well. "Perhaps some sort of love."

"Hm."

It was clear that Aodhan was not satisfied with the answer. However, it gave Alric some time to focus on his work again. The Fae shifted around some books, taking the stack his friend had already completed back to the shelves. For a while, the only noises in the archive came from his footsteps and Alric clacking on the mechanical keyboard. Yet Alric could feel there was something on Aodhan's lips. It was as if he was always about to ask something and then decided at the last moment not to. Eventually, this irked the angel.

"Aodhan, spit it out. It's making me antsy watching you inhale to speak without doing so."

Aodhan gasped, embarrassed to be caught. "Oh! Uh, I, uh..."

Alric looked up with a tired expression on his face. "What is it?"

"I, uh, I was wondering... if those girls never were your lovers, did you ever have one?"

"I did. Back in High School. Or even university."

"But did you think any of them were 'the one'? Like, in terms of marrying them?"

Alric raised an eyebrow. "Why are you suddenly so interested in my love life? Is there somebody you have a crush on?"

Aodhan looked away, finding the tiles beneath his feet suddenly more interesting.

"Seems I was right." Alric sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Okay, who is it? Maybe I can help."

Aodhan opened his mouth to say something but shook his head instead. "Never mind. It's not important." He continued his work as if nothing had happened, irking Alric even more. He hated nothing more when the Fae pretended everything was alright when things were not. The angel let his friend continue for a little while longer but decided he needed to talk to him again. If there was something he had painfully learned from the past, it was leaving things unsaid.

However, Aodhan had successfully disappeared for several hours before suddenly reappearing, huffing and puffing.

"He's... he's here!" He aggressively whispered.

"Who's here? And why are you whis-" Alric did not finish his sentence. Zan was approaching them at a fast pace. "Oh fuck." Remembering his run-in last night, the angel grimaced.

"Hm, seems you two are quite busy at work."

"Yes, Sir," Alric replied unenthusiastically. The Beta exchanged intimidating glances with him. Aodhan felt the hostility in the air and immediately backed off.

"Not being too tired after a long night?" Zan asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm an angel, I don't need much sleep."

Silence.

Then, all of a sudden, Zan grabbed Alric by the collar, dragging him over the desk and right into his face. "You better not be playing games, Mister Wingless Scum," he growled. Alric felt the hot, smelly breath on his face and looked away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Alric managed to say, trying to wrestle free. Zan's grip continued to tighten, suffocating him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Zan!" Hovering above them, Min-Ji called out to the Beta in a surprised tone. She landed safely, closing her spellbook and clutching onto it as usual.

Zan dropped Alric like a hot potato and turned to face her. The angel coughed as he gasped for air. Aodhan came to his rescue and gently patted him on the back.

"Ming-Ji."

"What brings you here?"

"I was just checking to see whether the 'Heavenly Duo' are not causing you any trouble."

"Oh, no, quite the opposite!" Ming-Ji beamed at her superior. "In fact, the Wingless One has helped develop a program to hasten the process."

"Oh?" Zan gave Alric a side-eye glance.

"Yes, I can show it to you on my tablet if you want?" Ming-Ji pointed to the opposite end of the Archive.

"Please do." After looking at Alric one last time, the Beta followed his subordinate away from the two.

"What was that all about?" Aodhan only dared to whisper.

Alric's eyes followed the two disappear from view. Only then did he dare to exhale properly. It seemed like any interaction between him and Fiera was considered a taboo, according to Zan. "This is going to be fun," he mumbled to himself.

"What is going to be fun?"

"Nothing."

"Great, being secretive, are we?" Slamming the next pile of books on Alric's desk, Aodhan walked away with a disgruntled look on his face.