"You can't cook to save your own life, let alone anyone else's, Gav," Artaxias said, setting the warmed garlic toast on the table. "The last time he did scrambled eggs … simple, right? Not so much for our friend. Last time he did the eggs, he ended up in the hospital getting his stomach pumped."
"That was embarrassing," Gavriel agreed with a sigh. "The fucking nurses wouldn't stop laughing after I explained how I came to have this food poisoning."
Lilly began to giggle and had to ask, "Why? How? I don't even mess up scrambled eggs." To Artaxias, she said, "So just simple here-and-there kinda stuff huh? Follow a plan and put the ingredients together. Do you have a recipe for your chili that you follow? Even if it's in your mind? If so, will you teach me how to make it?"
"No recipe," he said with a shrug as he sat down. He wasn't eating, but he sat with them. "I just throw whatever into the pot. Barely even think about it, actually. I change it up from time to time, depending what's in the house. But since Gav can't even boil water and I usually don't bother to eat food, it's rare. I can teach you the basic recipe, I guess. It's always the same. After that, it depends on your taste buds what you want to add."
"Interesting. And what about you?" she asked and shifted slightly closer to Artaxias. "When do you eat? What do you eat? If he can't cook, why do you, if you don't eat? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you can cook, but why?"
"It gives me something to do on occasion," he said with a shrug. "I can eat. I just don't bother most of the time. The blood gives me all I actually need. Food just gives me something less boring to consume. Besides, it's relaxing, and given the fact his mother is still calling me, it took my mind off snapping his neck and delivering the body to her." His voice was seriously, scarily calm as he spoke, like he was discussing the weather. "I eat when I feel the need or interest. The rest of the time, I don't."
"And you do realize that he's not to blame for his mother's actions, right? Heavens, from what I understand she's not even to blame for her own actions. Poor woman." She felt intense sympathy for the woman, very much so. "I just really hope that maybe one day you will be able to find a way to help her. Somehow and some way." She was sure that these men were trying to find a way, would be surprised if they weren't.
"I know he's not responsible, and I also know she's not of her right mind at times like this. But I am the one that has a nearly constant ringing in my skull and rattling my teeth," he said quietly. He opened his mouth to continue but flinched, slapping his hand to where the implant behind his ear was. "Gav, call her caretaker for the love of the Gods and get her chip deactivated, damn it."
"Why hasn't it been deactivated before now?" Lilly asked with a frown. "If she's not truly of sound mind, then why hasn't her chip been removed? Do you think that perhaps the chipset is giving her trouble? I know for some of the earlier chips there was an interference of sorts where the waves of the tech damaged the natural brain patterns. Do you think perhaps this happened to her?"
Gavriel turned back around and tapped his chip again before shaking his head. "My mother's magic isn't geared toward anything other than a knowledge of science. She was one of the scientists involved in upgrading the chips. She has the latest model like we all do. Unfortunately, even when they deactivate the chip, she knows how to reactivate it when she's of sound mind again. They're supposed to deactivate it as soon as her mind slips. But the nurse who's her companion had a family emergency, so the stand-in didn't know. That's why mother's been calling. Apparently there is a stranger in her house." He rolled his eyes and pushed his bowl aside. "I'm going to head back and see if I can get her calmed down."
"Can the chip be fully removed?" Lilly asked Artaxias when Gavriel stood and walked out of the room. "Would it be possible to fully remove her chip so that she can't reactivate it herself?" She wasn't sure how the chips worked. She was good, but the tech was far out of her realm of expertise.
"Maybe," he said quietly as he looked past her for a long time. His gaze snapped to her in the next moment. "Some of the issue with the chips is that, depending on the surgeon who implanted them, they can become embedded in the skull bone. It would involve breaking that bone here"-he pointed behind his ear-"to dig it out. Painful, to say the least. I don't know who put hers in, so I can't say, but it's something we've been trying to get accomplished. Unfortunately, when she's lucid we can't do a damned thing, because she's fully cognizant. Gav would have to have her declared mentally incompetent to have it done against her will."
"And to do that would bring her before the ruling council and possibly bring to question her line. Neither of those things are things that we would want to do. We would want to ensure that she's protected, as is Gav," she murmured with a frown. "I don't know. It was just a thought. As I said, I'm nowhere near an expert on the tech that we have inside of our heads, but it was a thought."
"Hey." Artaxias reached out for her hand and gave it a squeeze. "It's a good thought, one we've been working on for a while now. We will find a solution to this, Lilly. I don't know how or when, but we will." He smiled slightly before flinching and pressing his hand to the base of his skull. "Gods, I hope he gets there soon, she's killing me."
Lilly moved closer to Artaxias and placed her hand on his cheek. "Will you let me rub your temples? Maybe that will help a bit? We can dim the lights and you can lay your head in my lap. I will rub your temples and your shoulder until the pain has eased somewhat."
"You need to finish eating, love," he said, dropping his hand after a moment. "But I think I am going to go and lay down. Just in the living room for now, if you want to join me. But eat, Lilly, I don't want you getting sick because you're not taking care of yourself."
"Don't worry, I will eat," she assured him. "Go, do what you need to do for your headache so that you can hopefully begin to feel better soon, okay? I will come and join you shortly. Promise." She would clean up and then go join him.
Nodding, he leaned in and kissed her gently, "Thank you, Lilly. But you do not need to clean up. Just unplug the pot and leave the dishes in the sink. We can deal with them later. Eat and then come and sit with me, please."
"I will be in there shortly, promise. Go and lay down, but scootch it over, because I want to come and cuddle up next to you as well. Go. I will be there shortly, I promise." Lilly picked up her spoon and once more began to eat, her eyes following Artaxias as she ate.
Nodding, he leaned in to kiss her gently. Straightening, he went to the fridge first. A moment later he moved toward the door with a bottle of water. "Don't be long, but don't wolf it down. That stuff can have a nasty bite if you gorge too quickly."
"Go. Get relaxed and all that fun stuff so that I can come and join you, okay? I won't wolf it down. I will take my time, but I won't take so long that you will forget me." Her tone teased as she spoke.
A snort was her only answer before silence ensued.
Chapter Six
"Did you have enough to eat?" Artaxias's voice came from the darkness of the room. The drapes were pulled and all the lights were off in the room and surrounding it. The sound of material shifting reached her ears and then his hand was on hers. "Come here, Lilly," he said softly.
Moving to the couch, Lilly dropped so that she could curl up at Artaxias's side. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she curled up close to him and breathed out with a yawn. "I did. How are you feeling?" she asked softly and held onto him.
"Better," his words were soft against her cheek. "Gavriel must have made good time getting there. Either that or had her helper keep her occupied. I only got one more call before they stopped. It's actually been very peaceful for the last ten minutes."
"Good. I'm very happy. I've cleaned up the kitchen." Her words were soft in the darkness, her body moving in closer to his. "You are so nice and warm. I could become accustomed to this, Artaxias. Being held by you like this."
"Despite your mythology, we run at normal body temperatures. But then again, we're not dead and never have been." He shifted away from her slightly and then there was a warm weight on her. It was a blanket, which he tucked around her a moment later. "Try and get some rest, Lilly. You look tired, little mate."