Time to Talk

“I had been standing in the pouring rain for nearly a half hour, waiting for a cab to happen to cross by, umbrellaless and soaked to the bone. I couldn’t wait to get back and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee upon my return home, well, my new home here,” Tibias paused in his babble to pour water into the three identical tea cups before him and turned his head to regard the two rather unfortunate people sitting at the large wooden table. They stared at him blankly, and he was very much aware that he was, in essence, speaking without actually saying anything. He had been for the half hour he had been home, returning from his trip to the grocer with Kole in tow, an unexpected guest. He couldn’t stop himself from speaking, “And when I finally did get here, I set about making the cup for myself. I could not find the coffee maker I had brought with me from my old home, turns out that Smyth-Kenton did not allow ‘that infernal beverage in this house’” he set the cups down in front of his guests while slipping into a Scottish lilt, which did cause Carahya to smile.
He flashed one back to her quickly and began to explain, still using his late mentor’s accent for punctuation, “When I was a lad, much younger than you boy, I had to grind the hellish coffee beans for my father and I was not allowed one drop for myself until I had reached the age of sixteen! And the fateful day came, the day when my father set me down and told me that I was going to be a fine coffee man, like him and handed me a mug of the dark liquid. The scalding hot brown fire scorched my pallet and I could barely choke down the first sip as the bitterness made my stomach turn. My father smiled at me and watched as I drained the cup,” Carahya began to giggle as Tibias continued in his false accent and hunched over in mimicry of Patrick Smyth-Kenton. “Then what did the bastard do?” Tibias drew himself to full height and pointed at Carahya, not seeing Keera and Royal walk into the kitchen behind his turned back, “The smug bastard poured me another cup, and left a mug for me on the counter every morning I lived with him after that,”
He heard clapping behind him and turned with lightning quickness to spot the angel and terrow smiling broadly, standing in the doorway.
“Good enough to be in the Royal Shakespeare Company, I think,” Royal said striding into the kitchen and taking a look around the homey room. He had never laid his eyes on Tibias’s house, never had expected the lone man to live in such a large abode. But it was decorated much like he imagined; dark warm colors and comfy furniture.
“Well,” Tibias said, removing his bow-tie and unbuttoning the first button on his shirt below his waistcoat, “I have not had a cup of coffee since then, because I later learned that the coffee maker had made it to the precarious position atop a rather large pine tree,” he said, with all seriousness, resuming his natural accent.
“Now that you are here,” Kole said, standing as a red faced Tibias prepared two more tea cups for the new visitors, “We can discuss important matters,” Royal was surprised that Kole wasn’t twitching, he assumed the conversation had been going on for quite sometime.
“Important?” Carahya asked, she did not ask questions when Kole had shown up with Tibias, it seemed natural, she thought he was there to help keep her under control and within the house. The team turned their gazed towards the young shape shifter.
“Yes,” Kole said, taking a sip of his tea, “Important matters, and since you aren’t officially a trained subordinate I suggest you head to bed,”
Carahya opened her mouth to argue, but caught sight of Tibias nodding and motioning her to go to her room behind Kole with an apologetic look on his face. It was true that she could not be trusted yet, and as much as she wanted to know what was going on, she was tired and it was late. She scowled at Kole, who returned her expression with the blank look she was fast growing tired of, before she turned on her heel and walked upstairs silently.
“Did you really have to do that?” Keera asked, taking Carahya’s vacated seat at the table.
“Yes, Keera, she can’t be trusted,” he told her, leaning his lithe body against the counter, facing the table, “Yet,” he added.
“You’re not going to...” Keera trailed off in horror, reading into the hint that Kole was dropping. She looked to Tibias, who simply handed her a hot cup and offered a shrug.
“We do not know yet, but I suspect Ms. Faroth will not need to be restrained and bound to the codex,” he said gently, knowing that her forced servitude was a painful subject for Keera. Royal took his cup from the counter where it had been sitting beside Kole. He grimaced when he sipped it.
“Damn it man, do you really have to be so icy all the time?” he asked, pouring the cold tea into the sink.
“Mammon is still in the area,” Kole said, getting straight to the point of the meeting, “I placed a tracker on him, but all I can sense is where he is and not what he is doing or who he is consorting with,”
“So you brought us here for?” Keera questioned, failing to see the point of meeting at Tibias’s house.
“It was Tibias’s idea,” Kole paused, and looked at the man who was standing at the open refrigerator, not paying attention to the conversation at hand.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, indeed,” he muttered, walking over to the group and pushing a beer into Royal’s grateful hand, “Matao’s unfortunate death was caused when he was alone, when he had no backup. I think it would be more safe for all of us if we were to stay in the same place for the time being, and this place is large enough for all of us.” he calmly sipped his tea, feeling his mind begin to slip into the chaos from earlier, but was unable to prevent himself from continuing, “Kole and I lived here when we were younger, of course Maddie and-”
“So you will be going to your apartments tomorrow and picking up what you will need while we are searching for this demon,” Kole cut him off pointedly, “There was one more thing I needed to mention before you can clock out,” he turned to Tibias, “What is wrong with you?” he asked almost accusatory, “You have barely shut your mouth since we got back from the meeting, and when you do, you’re totally out of it,”
Tibias raised his eyebrows, then scrunched them back together. “You have noticed it as well?”
Keera looked back and forth between the two men who had known each other for more than half their lives, of course one would notice when something was wrong with the other.
“It’s beginning to irritate me,” he said to the shorter man.
“I don’t sense anything wrong,” Royal announced, his hands glowing faintly with green light, “If it’s magical, I think I’d pick it up,”
“It could be an after affect of the demon blood, it’s been used as a truth serum before,” the other three looked at Keera with confusion.
“How do you know that Ms. Trean?” Tibias asked first, “I mean, I did not know that, and trust me when I say I spend a great deal more of my time reading about demons and supernaturals than you do. What else do I have to do when you are all out after the beasts?”
“I know some things about demons innately,” Keera lied, feeling a knot in her stomach. She did not want to inform the dark haired man about her younger self cavorting with shady individuals.
“That would make sense Keera,” Tibias said and the others jumped, even Kole looked mildly surprised, Tibias failed to notice as he continued to speak, “After all, can you not read infernal now? I never would have guess language to be transferred by blood until I met you. An angel who can not read celestial script, imagine that,” he noticed the wide eyes directed at him, “What? Do I have something on me?” he looked down at his chest, half expecting to spot a big spider or something equally nasty on his lapel. He looked back up when he failed to see anything. They couldn’t be surprised by his rapid speech, they obviously knew about it.
“Umm, Tibs, are you feeling okay?” Royal was staring at him intently.
“Yes, I am fine, why do you ask?” Tibias as starting to get worried, what could possibly have his team react that way?
“Because you just called me Keera,”
“Did I? How interesting,”