Chapter Eleven: Eros

Holly must have fallen asleep, though she didn't even remember her eyes closing. There had been a loud bang, like glass shattering. Had that been part of her dream?

On the end of the couch, Quix was snoring, hugging his braid as if it was a stuffed toy. Was this truly one of the people she had been running away from in terror for so long?

She leaned forward as she watched him sleep. Was he faking it?

"Are you done pouting yet?" hissed a voice behind her.

Holly got to her knees and looked over the couch towards the entrance. There in the doorway stood her Eros.

His eyes were red, his cheeks dirty and he avoided staring at her. "Eros?" she slipped off the couch and glanced back to Quix. He still snored away.

She shrugged and followed her friend into the hallway. "You can't be alone with them like that, Holly. It's dangerous. What if something happened to you?" he continued to stare at anything but her.

"I just needed time alone."

"You weren't alone though, he was with you. The guy that won't give the female reaper any room to breathe, was with you."

Eros smacked his forehead with a closed fist. "It was too dangerous. You could have been hurt, or what if he tried to take you away?"

"Take me away where I couldn't defeat the sins for you?" she demanded with a sigh.

"Stop it. You're not Acacia, you're not any of those other women. Each of you was different. And maybe Tydeus doesn't get that, but I do. I don't expect you to just do what you're told. You're not the type to just obey anyway."

"But you wished I was," Holly pointed out. She missed her couch by that point.

Eros groaned.

"You're you, she was she. I admit before I did this track down the next holder of the soul thing, I didn't realize what that meant. But I do now. I'm not going to lie and tell you I'm in love with you, but I am your friend, I am your partner. And I would give up my life to save yours."

"Because of her soul," Holly pointed out as she rubbed her chest.

"Holly, I won't lie, there's something special about that soul of yours. It calls out to me every time I encounter it. I want to protect you, even if you choose not to do this, even if you reject it all, I'll still be at your side, okay?"

He patted her head before looking away again. "That's all I wanted to say. If you want me to leave again, I'll do it."

Holly's hand reached for his wrist and she captured it as she tugged on him. "Please stay. I'm sorry I reacted like that. I'm still upset that I'm not important enough as myself, but I shouldn't take it out on you."

"You are important," Eros whispered. "Even if this whole Fate thing and Sin thing didn't exist, you'd still be important."

"Every time I fall asleep, that Tydeus guy talks to me, and then that Dagon guy shows up and they argue until I wake up. Is there some way to stop that?"

Eros's wrist was still clutched close by Holly and he smiled a gentle smile at her.

"It'll stop when they show up. Tydeus will get here and you'll be truly safe again. It's hard for anyone to stand up to him. As for Dagon, I think he has family matters he'll have to handle when he gets here."

"Is Lachesis mad?" Holly asked. "I'm surprised she didn't bust the door down too to get here."

"Uh, she can't come the same way I did." Eros chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. It was only then that Holly noticed the gash on his arm, sticky with fresh blood.

"What's this?" she demanded.

"Cut myself, but it's okay, I'll heal. It wasn't anything serious, and you were worth it."

Holly glared at him. "What did you do?"

"I came through the glass, I broke it out and shifted into my cabbit form, just it was a tighter squeeze than I thought. I was worried about you being alone with that guy."

Eros pulled his arm free from her and crossed it with his injured over his chest.

"That was stupid," Holly scolded him. "Did you think that you could have ended up killing yourself doing something like that?"

Eros lowered his head and Holly was reminded of when she had screamed at him as a cabbit and his stance had been similar. "I don't want anything to happen to you, okay?"

"If anything happens to you because of these guys and Tydeus and Dagon found out it won't be pretty. I don't really like Tydeus for you, but he's been pretty determined to help you all these times. I'd rather you ended up with him than Dagon."

Holly sighed. "There you go again. Why do you have to try to plan my life for me? You might be scared of the reapers, but so far when I've been alone with them I haven't been hurt. Instead, I've made friends."

Holly didn't like putting Quix in that category, but she wanted to make a point to Eros.

"I know it's supposed to happen, and it always happens, but I really hate how guys just keep gathering around you every life."

Eros sighed in defeat. "I'll stop talking about the sins, about Tydeus and Dagon, all of it. All I want is my friend back. Can I have that at least?"

Holly didn't answer. Her brows were furrowed. "Supposed to happen? Always happens? What are you talking about this time?"

Eros looked away. A pale band of pink on the bridge of his nose. "Are you sure you want me to answer? It's more to do with your past lives after all. You just told me to stop bringing that up."

Holly's eyes narrowed into a piercing glare. "You can not tell me something like that, then clam up. Spit it out."

"Every life you have protectors. Guys that will be naturally drawn to you, in order to protect and help you. As the Sin wakes up, they start to get closer to you and their feelings into overdrive."

His lower lip jutted out in a pout again. "And it's already happening here."

"What do you mean?" Holly demanded. "What guy are you talking about?"

Eros pointed at the room that Holly had left.

"Quix, he might not know it yet, and you might not even. But him wanting to spend time alone with you? That's one of those first steps. I had hoped it was the case when I asked them to stay their hand before taking you away but I don't like that it's the real case."

Holly stared at the room where Quix was again. Was this true? Was that why he was so fascinated with her expressions? She scowled.

Yet again any agency of her own life was being stripped. It's not like she even liked Quix, but the fact that he was softening because of something like that instead of her, made her furious.

"I'm sorry," Eros shook his head. "I shouldn't have told you, now I've upset you."

"Are you one of them?" Holly demanded as she looked up at him. "Are you just going to do the same thing? Fall all over yourself to be with me? All because of some ancient curse."

"It's more like a blessing," Eros shook his head at her cold glare. "Sorry, and no. What I felt for Acacia never came from that. She saved me, and refused to try to kill me despite being what I am."

"Will it start working on you? Is that why you keep saying you don't love me because you know it'll make you?"

Holly stared at the ground. She didn't want to look into his eyes, she didn't want to look at anyone anymore. Couldn't destiny give her a break? Even just a tiny one would help.

"No, I'm not one of your destined ones. I just want to be here for you and help you. I hope I didn't wake you when I came here. I didn't think about anything but your safety so I ignored the glass."

"Ruby?" Quix was rubbing his eyes as he walked out of the room. He frowned as he noticed Eros and the heavy sleep in his eyes vanished in an instant. "What are you doing up here? You broke the door down, really?"

"Just the glass," Eros replied. "It doesn't matter, what were you thinking of chasing after her like that?"

Quix yawned and stretched. "That I liked her expressions." Quix motioned with his head back to the room. "Come on, let's go back to sleep. I'm too tired to get up yet."

"Why do you need her?" Eros demanded. "She's not a stuffed animal for you to slumber with."

Quix chuckled. "Nope, but I like hearing her breath beside me while I'm sleeping. I noticed it was gone and woke up."

He held his hand out to Holly and smiled. "If you go with me, I'll tell you a secret, and I promise it's a good one."

Holly didn't hesitate. "Eros, you can go back downstairs. As you can see, I'm fine, and I'm still tired. My sleep schedule is all messed up. I just want to rest some more."

Eros sighed and glared at the smirking Quix. "You better not try anything, you'll regret it if you do."

Quix only answered with a smirk and took Holly's hand leading her back to the room they had slept before. "I'm not going to try anything, you don't have to worry."

"I'll be making sure of that," Eros had turned back into the white cabbit and he jumped on the couch planting himself firmly between the two.

Holly hid a smile. She hadn't felt this safe in a long time. She stretched out before she curled up using the side of the couch as a pillow to get comfortable.

It didn't take long for Eros to curl up against her side and go to sleep himself.

Quix was on his end of the couch and gave Holly a gentle smile. There was no teasing smirk this time. "Sleep well, if you get cold, let me know. I make a great furnace."

Instead of answering with a blush this time, Holly rolled her eyes at him and settled down to try to sleep herself.

"I guess plan B will have to start sooner than I had planned," Quix mumbled before his soft snores filled the room.

Holly wanted to move, but she stayed as still as she could. The idea that there was a plan B made her skin crawl.

Just what was the reaper planning to do to her now?