Chapter 61: Shared burden

"You are good right?" It was Mairu who had asked the question. Happiness should be the only emotion visible on the twins' expressions upon seeing their brother free from prison, but they weren't stupid.

Hiding at the secret apartment was one thing, but getting basically abducted to a church and having Shizuo and Izaya appear there with what appeared to be blood all over their bodies and a freshly healed gunshot to Izaya's arm served rather as an indicator of disaster than joy.

"We have a few problems now, but nothing I can't take care of." Izaya said, confident, but not descending. He knew better than to garner his sisters with lies. They would see through them immediately anyway.

"Help." Kururi said, and Izaya didn't need her to spell it out loud to know that she was offering it and not asking for some.

Izaya snorted, "Don't worry, I will exploit you soon enough," and his sisters grinned.

It was funny.

Shizuo didn't know what to expect of the Orihara siblings' relationship, but this kinda fit the bill.

"Maria," Izaya addressed the priest's daughter and she jerked softly in her stance.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you one question?" Izaya asked and for a brief second the smile on his face slipped for a side eye to his sisters. "Over here?"

Blinking shortly, Maria understood the assignment much faster than Shizuo did.

"You two, would you be so kind as to tell the children I will be there in a minute?" she suddenly asked, and held out a couple bedsheets she had been carrying around. "They are yours. I would appreciate it if you could carry them to the last room on the left." Nodding towards the corridor, the twins agreed quickly, eager to help for reasons that Izaya couldn't really understand. Was it Maria's beaming smile?

Her personality? Somehow they seemed to like her more than him on a superficial scale.

"Sure." Mairu quickly agreed and pulled the bedsheets from Maria's arms.

"Thank you, you are being a big help." The daughter smiled, and within two wild seconds the siblings had descended into the corridor beyond the door.

A knowing glance was cast towards Izaya and no time was wasted as Maria smiled gently.

"You want to know how we keep our energy levels, right?" Bulls eye. That was exactly what Izaya wanted to know. Considering they were talking about keeping children here and incubi all the same it was the only logical mystery left to be solved.

Leaning back against one of the seating banks in the hall Izaya sighed.

"That's a new way to describe fucking, but yeah."

A short hum followed accompanied by a glance into the direction the siblings left. "Aren't they old enough to know?"

"So far all they need are kisses. And I would like for that to remain as long as possible."

Right. Shizuo remembered. Izaya had said something about searching for someone apart from Hachiro to sustain his siblings as well.

Bitter memories of the time Kasuka started showing effects of his genes resurfaced from Shizuo's own mind as he frowned.

This fate-

These bullshit genes-

He had never really held as much hatred for them as Izaya probably had, but now after everything they went through together he couldn't help but despise them for his own reasons.

Expression growing soft and voice even softer Maria nodded.

"Then you might not need to tell them at all. We have someone in our rows capable of distributing energy."

Izaya blinked.

Distributing?

"You mean like a living battery?" he asked, and Maria snorted. "More like a charger. He can distribute the energy he gains to others."

Distribute.

Izaya had already been amazed by Maria's shapeshifting, not to mention Roy's healing abilities- but distributing the energy levels they needed? Had Izaya knows something like this existed-

He swallowed shortly before taking a deep breath.

Izaya couldn't really tell whether he should be glad he finally found someone who could sustain his siblings for extended periods of time with no downsides or whether he should curse himself and the past years that he had suffered without this knowledge.

Maira seemed to notice the conflicting feelings surfacing in Izaya. It was obvious he was going to need some time to stomach all of these new revelations and she was going to give it. A quick, but polite nod was given and she smiled, "Now if you would excuse me, I need to get the angels back to sleep and start preparing breakfast."

A short glance to a clock on the side of the hall told Shizuo the time.

4 am.

Right.

It had been midnight when they left Shinra's apartment.

And now after having killed Vincent, after having driven here and found Izaya's siblings the night was slowly coming to an end.

Looking towards the priest's daughter Izaya cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't you ever take a break?" The girl seemed surprised by the unexpected show of care.

Just briefly her expression slipped before a flattered chuckle escaped her lips.

"Not today, but I will make sure to do so tomorrow," she quickly said, and with that she moved. Agile, yet gracefully like a flower dropping from a tree.

She had a colorful personality.

Izaya couldn't even say why, but he really liked the priest's daughter.

This place in general- the priest too. Kindness seemed to define this family's members and an exorbitantly huge sense of responsibility.

"Since when do you care about someone else's break?" Namie suddenly snorted.

She had pulled a chair from the side of the hall and crossed both her legs and arms in a rather upset fashion.

She was clearly still not very amused about having gotten stunned and abducted without her consent.

"Says the one begging and getting a day off every second day at work," Izaya quickly shot back but the woman merely shrugged him off.

She was probably the only real human in here.

With no genes. No half, no full fledged incubus. Or succubus in her case? It was funny but Izaya had no idea about the actual terminology when it came to what they were.

"You were pretty quiet for your standards."

A soft sigh escaped Namie's lips and her posture relaxed a little bit.

"I know nothing about all of this. What am I supposed to say? I don't even know what to ask."

For a moment Izaya couldn't return anything but silence. Explanations of various kinds laid on the tip of his tongue, but did she even want any?

"Sorry for dragging you into this."

The apology came as unexpected as it was appreciated.

"I kinda figured you were a demon anyway," Namie shrugged and Izaya snorted.

"Because of my work ethics?"

"Because of that stunt with the salt in my coffee." The throwback in time came as much unexpected as well as appreciated. Izaya remembered of course. How he first noticed his new ability of stopping time. How he tested it on various occasions. His nose still hurt from the stunt in the subway.

Putting salt in Namie's coffee had been more of a minor prank than anything else. And it had been a long time ago. "Gave me the creeps honestly," Namie added as Izaya had fallen awfully silent and suddenly her voice grew quiet. "I heard you. By coincidence, really. You were talking to that guy and the contents were pretty good pointers."

That guy.

Hachiro.

Feeling his guts clenching all the wrong ways Izaya barely noticed the way Shizuo's entire body seemed to stiffen at the mere topic of that bastard.

If she had overheard a conversation giving away that he was an incubus- it could only have been one of those.

It was a breach into the privacy Izaya loved too much to share and he wasn't quite sure whether to give in to the anger this revelation brought or be glad he didn't need to go into detail.

"And still you are not going to ask questions?" he asked slowly, trying to hide the reluctance in his voice.

But Namie wasn't Namie for nothing.

She sighed and with an elegant heave she pushed herself up from the chair.

"You might not believe it but my interest in you is limited to work only," she announced matter of factly, as if no topic in the world were as certain as this.

And Izaya smiled.

She really knew him well.

She gave him the freedom to do as he pleased and keep what he wanted to keep for himself.

And yet the mood had dulled down.

Namie knew more than Izaya ever liked her to know.

Namie was aware of that. And depending on how much the priest had already told her, more than Izaya liked.

It was obvious by the way she had turned silent.

Namie never turned silent for no reason.

"And you didn't consider betraying me?" he whispered after a short while.

It was a serious question.

After all, incubi were shunned by humans. They were rumored to rape for fun and kill humans as they pleased. Namie should be more aware of the rumors than the truth.

Yet she simply shrugged as if she had no care in the world.

"Who would pay me if I did?"

Izaya snorted.

This woman-

"Right."

It was obviously a joke, but one that served their situation better than Izaya could have put it.

"You know, this place might not even be so bad," Izaya said and looked at the carvings on the ceiling. "At least they are safe here from people like him."

He was talking about Mairu and Kururi, of course.

As far as Namie had known she had probably considered everything there was when it came to Izaya, but the twins didn't seem to have been on her mind yet as he body unnaturally stiffened at the words.

She was obviously disturbed by the idea that someone could have forced themselves onto the two.

"Well, I need some sleep before sunrise or you will definitely not want to deal with me in the morning," she announced quickly, not willing to intrude any longer and to Izaya's great surprise she didn't head for the entrance of the monastery, but towards the corridor leading to the bedrooms.

"You are staying?" he asked, and Namie turned just briefly. "For the moment at least. Until you know what you will do. You could use some extra hands I believe." And with that she waved and left.

Izaya had always been a fan of Namie's pragmatic side. Of the way she handled things objectively, smoothly and with no questions asked. It was an aspect he appreciated more than anything else- help was not something he had ever expected her to offer.

And yet there she was.

It caused a funny feeling in his chest and he couldn't help but look towards Shizuo.

He wasn't alone.

Not anymore.

The topic of his genes somehow became a burden they all carried together and despite his rejection of such a thing he couldn't help but feel relieved.

It was when a gust of wind pushed the loosely shut door to the right of the hall open, that Izaya caught a glance of one of his newest allies.

Roy.

A small garden opening into the midst of the monastery was to be seen all the way over here and Roy was sitting on the ground, leaning against what appeared to be some kind of holy statue.

Expression bitter and legs propped up he tossed a couple cobbles into what appeared to be a small kitchen garden.

"Shizuo, can you ask where we are supposed to stay?" Izaya quickly whispered, catching Shizuo off guard.

"What?" he frowned, the idea of leaving his eyes off Izaya even for a second obviously sitting not too well with him.

"I just want to talk to him for a second. He tried to save me back in prison." Izaya explained, but Shizuo's expression only grew worse at that.

"He is a prisoner?" Izaya snorted. It was funny how Shizuo seemed to neglect the most obvious facts.

"So was I," he quickly threw in, and it seemed the dots finally connected. "I suspect he was held for the same reason. He probably had the guy distributing his energy visiting to fool the officers and convince them he is no incubus after all."

Guilt of a fairly innocent kind displayed on Shizuo's expression and he quickly nodded.

Izaya wasn't about to blindly trust neither the priest, not Maria or Roy, but facts remained facts and by telling Izaya to stay clear from any food or drinks received he had clearly only had his best interest in mind.

Steering towards the corridor Maria left into Shizuo did as told despite the reluctance in his eyes and Izaya moved.

Shizuo was probably going to come back within five minutes. But that was enough for him to thaw the ice.

It was awfully cold outside.

The rain that had fallen in the city had not stopped there. Droplets of cold water dangled from all leaves and plants present.

The garden was encircled by the monastery's walls serving a valid protection from any eyes outside. A tree stood next to the statue. It appeared to show some kind of angel carrying a baby. Gold and all kinds of illustre decorations had been used to enhance its beauty, but Roy seemed like he couldn't care less.

A bitter expression rested on his eyes as he tossed a stone back into the kitchen garden. It was only up close that Izaya realized he wasn't just tossing stones.

He was tossing one stone that repeatedly came back.

Flat and smooth it fit Roy's palm perfectly and he tossed it into the earth, only to have it fly back to him in the exact same manner.

So he had an ability as well.

Approaching without a word Izaya sat down next to Roy in a similar fashion. No glance was shared, no complaint given.

Izaya knew better than to talk first in this situation. Roy had left because he wanted his peace. But even Incubi were not resistant to social awkwardness and having Izaya sit this close to him was going to serve only a matter of time until he was going to speak up.

And that's what Izaya got after a couple awkward seconds as Roy finally sighed. "This place sucks, doesn`t it?"

to be continued~

Lore, lore and more lore xDDD Next chapter you will get to hear a bit more about Incubi and their origin haha C: Gotta lay the base for everything that is to come xD