Erebi Seeking - 9. Chapter 9

Friday


Jiovanni

They allowed him a shower and a meal the Juvenile Hall cafeteria with a group of other boys, many much younger than he was, but they guarded him the whole time, giving him a strict warning not to speak to anyone. Jove took the warning seriously and kept his eyes on his tray. He did not care for anyone to see his shame anyway. Once he ate, the guard led him out again to a small room with a table and two chairs.

He had only been waiting for a few minutes when a young male with a large briefcase entered the room, a guard on his heels. "Jiovanni Demetrius Ward?" he asked a bit too cheerfully for Jove's taste.

"Yes sir."

"I'm George Peterson, from the Public Defenders office. I'm here to conduct a preliminary interview to help set up your defense." The man turned to the guard, "I'll let you know when you are needed again, thank you." The guard nodded and left the room, closing the door as he left. He laid his briefcase on the table, and began flipping through it. "I understand you were turned in this morning for um…" he picked up a page, "…breaking the virtue and morality code for minors."

"That's what they said." Jove said quietly.

"You don't agree."

"No sir."

"Have you reached the age of consent?"

"I am not sixteen, no sir."

"Are you under Hestia’s Protection?"

"No sir."

"Then you have broken the code. Quite simple." The man nodded.

Jove hung his head. "No sir, it's not, nothing is never simple. My papa raised me to be true to myself, and I could not do that and keep to the code. It was impossible to wait any longer."

"According to your paperwork you only had a few months left to wait."

Jove did not look up; he could not look up. If he did, the man might know how long things had been going on between himself and Micah. He would not, could not, let that information go.

"I understand you were in a relationship."

"It's possible you could call what I was in a relationship."

"Someone ringed you."

"Yes sir."

"Who?"

"A man."

"Does this man have a name, Jiovanni?"

"I'm sure he does, but I didn't ask it."

"You're not being very co-operative."

"Yes, sir. I'm trying to be co-operative."

"Where did this man ring you?"

"Don't you have the pictures in that file of yours? They took enough of them." Jove asked a bit shocked he would ask such a personal question.

George blushed. "I mean, where were you when you were ringed."

"Oh, in a club over on Northside."

"Which one?"

"Don't recall."

"So you were in more than one?"

"It's possible."

"So you had sexual relations more than one time."

"I was charged with and unsanctioned Hestial Cleansing. I can only have one of those." Jove told him sharply.

"How many men did you have sexual relations with?"

"One." Jove said a bit quicker than he intended.

"And if I think you are lying?" George asked him bluntly.

"Prove it." Jove snapped.

"Well they have a case, the photographs are enough to prove you had some type of sexual relations with someone. The ring is enough to put you in jail until you are eighteen. I would suggest you plea guilty or nolo contedere and being done with it, Jiovanni. I can't see any way you can win this case."

Jove sat silently for a long time then said quietly. "You've not asked me what happened."

"Huh?" George looked at him again.

"You just came in here with a stack of papers and a report from who knows where that you read, but you've not asked me what happened, why I did it. Nor do you know why I want to plead not guilty." His voice was even. "I may have a reason worth listening too."

"All right, I'm listening." George pulled out a legal pad and a pen to take notes. "Tell me why you think you are not guilty."

"My father was killed four years ago. I have two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. My eldest brother was in an accident that broke his femur; he has been in a cast for months now. My mother is dying. We live in a small flat over in Southside, the rent was due, and there was no food…" Jove looked at the defender, "with mom… gone… my brother is going to have a hard time keeping everyone else fed and housed. My sister works, but it is not much. She is in school, and Hunter would die himself before he let her drop out. I needed to help my family, so I took Hunter's guild card, and I went to Northside and got myself picked up. He did… things… to me. Things I enjoyed. Things I did not exactly understand and that I have not been able to ask anyone about because of the law." Jove paused.

"What kind of things Jove, I'm here to help you."

"Well, like what a Mulciber is; he wanted to know who mine was or had been."

George looked up sharply at the word. "He asked you that?"

"Yes sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him it was none of his business." Jove chewed on his bottom lip as he often did when he was unsure if he did something correctly or not.

"And what did he say?"

"He wanted me to wear his ring. I could not tell him no. I didn't know what it meant to say yes."

"Do you regret accepting his ring?"

"No. I'd do it again."

"Why?"

"He… he loved me well."

"Most men do not offer their ring on their first liaison with a prostitute no matter how good they are Jiovanni."

"He is not most men."

"Will you give me his name?"

"No."

"We can track it from your brother's guild card."

"That is an invasion of my brother's privacy, and against guild rules. He did not break the rules, I did. You can ask him if you can access his records but he does not have to co-operate if he does not want to."

"You know the guild rules." George said quite astonished.

"My father did what you do but for the guild. I grew up listening to the rules." Jove smiled for the first time.

"He was a guild lawyer?"

"Something like that."

"And you still plan to plead innocent?"

"Yes sir. I do not believe I broke the law."

George nodded. "I believe you may have a case, Jiovanni. Of all the boys I've seen this year, I believe you may have a case." He began to gather up his things. "You will be seeing the judge first thing in the morning, the guards will bring you appropriate clothing after breakfast. How are they treating you?"

"About as well as I expected, it could be better, but it could be much worse."

George nodded. "I'll let them know I expect better, and see if that helps. Have they allowed you a phone call?"

"No sir."

"Does your family know where you are?"

"No sir."

"Is there someone you would like for me to contact?"

"Yes sir. Please contact Guild Master Franko over on Southside. Tell him I'm here, and ask him to contact my family. He will know what to do. Papa always told us if we got in trouble with the law to contact Franko."

George nodded. "I can do that, but in return can you give me the name of your lover?"

"I never asked him for his name. I knew I might be caught and I did not want to have to stand here and lie."

"Then what did you call him?"

"Sir, just as I have been calling you."

George nodded again and walked over to the door to knock on it to let the guard know he was ready to go. "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you, Sir." Jove smiled at him as he left. Micah would have been proud of him he believed.

William

William arrived at the jail later than he had intended. Franko had asked him to explain some of the finer points of guild law to the principal. Obviously, this had been a problem in the past and since it was Jiovanni who was the focal point, and he was William’s ward, then William was within his rights to handle it. Besides, Franko knew there was nothing scarier than a Mulciber in a rage. Prometheus’ House lawyer had arrived before him, and so had the guild lawyer. The two gentlemen were going over the finer points of the case as they knew it when he interrupted them.

“What do we have to do to get him out?” William asked.

“It seems they have charged him with breaking the morals and ethics code for minors. He will not name the person who assisted in his unsanctioned Cleansing, and they intend to hold him until he does.” Milton, the house lawyer, said.

“He’s a minor.”

“They are treating him as if he’s an adult. He’s no longer under Hestia’s Protection and it’s perfectly legal.” Hawthorne, the guild lawyer, said.

“He’s allowed to see his lawyers… go see him.”

“Public defender is in there with him. They wouldn’t let us in there until you got here and proved your guardianship.” Milton said.

“You have the papers.” William could not believe what he was hearing.

“We think,” Hawthorn looked at Milton, who nodded, “that they are trying to get the information out of him through the defender.”

“What can they do to me if I say I’m the one who handled his Cleansing?”

“Depends on his reaction.”

“And if someone else turns up.”

“By contract, his First Passage is yours. The only problem would be the age detail in the contract, but if he’s burning and went seeking…” Hawthorne flipped the pages; “any one who knew of this contract would have been obligated to give the boy to you, regardless of age.”

“He’s old enough to go seeking on his own.” Milton added.

“So,” William said, “it all depends on Jiovanni, and what he has told them so far.”

“Seems so.” Hawthorne and Milton said together.

“Well, gents, let us go exercise my rights as his guardian.” William told them as he strode over to the duty officer’s desk. “Pardon me, my charge has been incarcerated. How do I go about seeing to his well being?”

“What’s his name?”

“Jiovanni Ward.”

The duty officer clicked a few keys on the keyboard and the information came up on the screen. “Jiovanni Ward is charged with an unsanctioned Cleansing.”

“I can assure you, his Cleansing was not unsanctioned, a little early perhaps, but well within the law.” William smiled.

“How do you intend to prove this?”

“Jiovanni Ward is under contract to my guild house. You see; Jiovanni Ward is an Erebi. He has not yet been issued his guild card because he has not finished his First Passage and it is guild tradition to withhold the official welcoming of Erebi into the guild until the completion of their First Passage.” The officer went pale.

“Are you certain.”

“Absolutely. I have his contract to my guild house here.” he motioned Hawthorne to give the officer a copy of the contract. “As you can see, it’s signed and dated several years ago to go into effect when the boy goes seeking.”

“That still doesn’t explain his reluctance to name anyone.”

Milton stepped forward, “Ah, but it does, the boy is just learning guild procedures. He has only learned that what happens in the guild stays in the guild and the guild takes care of it’s own. He is probably wondering why he is still here, why Master Reed has not come for him earlier. Was he given his phone call?”

The officer looked down the list of things on the computer screen, and frowned. “Actually I don’t see where he was.”

“Well that would explain why we weren’t notified through official channels.” Milton told Hawthorne. Hawthorne nodded in agreement.

“And why we weren’t here when he arrived. Could have saved a whole mess of trouble if a simple phone call had been made.” He tut-tutted.

William looked at the officer. “I want to see Jiovanni now.”

“You’ll have to come through the passage way there, no weapons allowed.”

“I’m not wearing any weapons.” William assured him as he walked through the passageway. At one point, a voice asked him to stop and turn which he did, then it told him to hold his hands above his head, again he complied. Finally, a door opened for him to exit. Hawthorne and Milton followed shortly, and an officer met them to guide them to where they were holding Jiovanni.

It was an interview room with an officer outside the door. One-way glass along the wall, and an intercom that could be turned on to listen in to the conversation. It was off. He could see his charge inside the room sitting slumped down in a chair talking to a man he did not know. “Do either of you know him?”

“George Peterson.” Hawthorne said. “He’s young, but he’s not half bad. Tends to instruct his pro bono’s to plead guilty though.”

As they watched, Peterson began to gather his things and then came over to the door. William looked at his lawyers. “I’m going in there, one of you find a place to talk to Mr. Peterson quiet like and inform him of the lawyer change. Bring him on board; find out what he knows. The other one can stand out here and make sure our privacy is protected.” William looked at the officer. “I’m the boy’s legal guardian, I don’t want to find out you were listening in.”

The officer nodded and opened the door for Mr. Peterson when he knocked. William then entered the room.

Jiovanni

Jove looked up at this new visitor. He was tired, too tired to deal with any more questioning. He just wanted to go home now, or go to bed. He could feel he heat rising. What those bastards had done to him earlier had only intensified his need and there was no way for him to find release here.

“Who are you?” he asked quietly after the door closed.

“A friend of your fathers. My name is William Reed. Word got to me that you were in here and might need a friend.”

“I do.”

“Want to tell me about it?”

“First you have to prove to me you knew my father and you’re not a cop.” Jove said.

William nodded.

“Your father, Vincent, was a spotter for the guild and a couple years ago he made a discovery of a couple young men who would make fine additions to my staff. He was rather excited over this discovery, but another of my staff was not so happy… need I go on?”

“You are the one I’m contracted to.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a copy of the contract?” Jove asked.

William slid the pages across the table.

Jove picked them up and read them. “This says I don’t have to report to you until I’m within a month of my sixteenth birthday.” He put the papers down.

“Do you want out of jail or not?”

“I don’t want to report to you.”

“If you read a little further down it says the contract goes into immediate effect upon the death of both of your parents.”

“Mama is ill, but she’s hanging on.”

“Geraldine died this morning as you were being processed.”

Jove broke down then and wept. William went around the table and held the boy as he cried.

William

William held Jiovanni as mourned. This was why he had wanted to leave the boy to his family for the night. He needed to be with them now, but circumstances would not allow it, so William would have to do. He sighed and just held him close allowing the boy to cling to him and weep.

Jiovanni looked as if he had suffered at the hands of someone recently – a fight perhaps. Did he resist his arrest? The officers had not said anything about charges to that effect. There were bruises on his face and on his neck – one, a savage bite with teeth marks, had bled recently. However the bruises from where he had worn the cuffs where at least several hours old, twelve to eighteen he would wager. It was not quite adding up in William’s mind.

William ran his hand along Jiovanni’s back pulling the robe-like garment up to expose the boy’s legs and buttocks. He saw fresh bruises along his thighs, especially his inner thighs and on his hips where it looked like someone had held on or held him down. William traced his fingers over the bruises and Jiovanni flinched, but he did not pull away. The boy was burning now, even if he was unaware of it. William steeled himself against the onslaught of the untrained Seeking. Vincent had been right about his son. Properly trained this boy would be worth his time and effort for the power he would be able to wield. William gently stroked Jiovanni’s back and murmured soft words that really meant nothing in times like this, but sounded nice anyway. Eventually the racking sobs slowed to a quiet cry that eventually subsided to sniffles.

William leaned down and kissed his forehead. Jiovanni flinched back, but he did not ask William to stop. William tilted his head back with one hand and kissed his bruised lips while still cradling him, giving him comfort. Jiovanni shook violently in his arms, his eyes squeezed tight, but he did not say no. The heat rose off the boy and any undisciplined person would take what he was offering regardless of the obvious signals that he did not want it.

“Who hurt you Jiovanni?” William whispered near his ear. The boy only shook more and began to cry again. William was perplexed. “Did you know him?”

Jiovanni shook his head.

“Is he the reason you are here?” William asked, anger tingeing his question.

“No.”

The answer was too quick for William’s tastes. He was not sure what the boy was hiding, but there was something. Maybe the person who was responsible for him being here did hurt him, but not this hurt… William wiped away Jiovanni’s tears. “Who put the bruises on your face, Jiovanni?”

“Some boys.”

“Where?”

“In lock up.”

“What else did they do?” William asked as calmly as he possibly could, but the boy froze up again. He hung his head and began to shake and cry. William understood. “Jiovanni, you are Seeking, do you know what that means?”

“My blood burns.”

William was surprised at the answer. “And when your blood burns what do you do?”

“I go to him.”

“Him?”

Jiovanni nodded.

“Does he have a name?”

“I’m sure he does.”

“Do you not know it?”

“When I went to him Seeking he instructed me to call him Sir.”

“And did you give him a name?”

Jiovanni nodded, “Hunter.”

William sat quietly for a while holding the young Erebi. Micah had been training his prized possession right under his nose for months with his help and he never knew it. He had given Micah his blessing to train the boy; it was no one’s fault but his own. He should have gone and talked to him personally before the training began, then none of this would have happened. What a mess.

It was a while later when Milton entered the room. “His hearing was supposed to be in the morning. They’ve agreed to let him go home with you tonight provided you agree to bring him back for the hearing which they will now hold on Monday so they don’t have to bring in a judge on the weekend.” Milton placed the papers in front of William. “Just sign here and he will be free to go as soon as the paperwork can be processed.”

William signed the paper and the lawyer left again.

“I’m not going with you.” Jiovanni said softly.

“You haven’t a choice.” William told him. “I am your guardian and you will learn that one way or another.”

“I won’t be forced.”

“You will learn.” William said bluntly not liking the hard edge to the boy’s voice.

“I do not want you. I want him.”

“You were never meant for him. Your father sold you to me, Jiovanni. Sold. When you were eleven years old, he contacted every Master Mulciber in the Guild and put you up for auction. He had pictures of your tests and the results of your scores. He only allowed Masters to bid and I bought you on your father’s terms. Those terms are spelled out in that contract. Maybe you should sit down and read the whole thing.”

“Could he buy me?” Jiovanni asked softly.

“You are not for sale.” William told him. “Unlike Vincent, I don’t sell erebi to the highest bidder.”

Jiovanni shuddered and laid his head on the table. “I swore to him.” He whispered.

“I know.” William said. “He was very excited to report to me his erebi had sworn and so publicly at that. He was so pleased with him he said, that he had him ringed.”

Jiovanni blushed.

“It’s an honor among the Erebi, Jiovanni, to wear their Mulciber’s ring. I won’t make you remove it, it was rightfully earned.”

“You know him then?”

“I do. He is a young man I have been training for four years, since the night Vincent Ward brought him to me.”

“My papa?”

William nodded. “He was one of the young men your father was killed over.”

Jiovanni blanched.

“What is it, Jiovanni?”

“Papa was killed by a jealous erebi, everyone said so. Papa said so, and his Mulciber punished him.”

“Yes, I punished him, but he wasn’t jealous, he had been paid to do it.”

Jiovanni looked up at that information. “Someone paid to have my papa killed?”

“Yes so that the contracts he was negotiating could not be completed.”

“It was a lot of money?”

“It was.”

“I know who had my papa killed.” Jiovanni whispered.

“What are you saying, Jiovanni?”

Jiovanni

Jove looked up at William. The man his papa had warned him about before his death. He said he was a very dangerous man and that he would do well to avoid for as long as possible; but when it was no longer possible that he could be trusted with his life. Jove had to trust him; he trusted his papa who had been right about his blood burning and about how to go about making it stop aching so badly.

“I can’t talk about it here,” he said quietly. “They might be listening.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust the police?”

Jove shook his head.

“Why?”

“They…” Jove took a deep breath. “They allowed me to be hurt.”

“Jiovanni, you have to talk to me, tell me what happened.”

Jove shook his head; he could not, not yet. The wounds were still too fresh, too new.

“Will you talk to me at home?”

Jove looked at him uncertain. “You will take me home?”

“Yes.”

“All right,” he managed just before the tears began to flow again. He had been afraid of what might happen if he had to stay here now that he knew the guards would not protect him. He did not have Hestia’s Protection either like most of the other boys his age, and they were going to have to put him in the adult facility because of it. That alone terrified him.

“Come on, Jiovanni, they should have you ready to be processed out by now.” William stood. Jove stood with him. William was several inches taller than he was; Jove smiled a little. William knocked on the door and the officer let them out.

“The papers just arrived. He is free to go. If you come with me I’ll take you to get his personal belongings.”

---

Standing outside the jail, William looked at Jiovanni in his school uniform. He had looked over the file Mr. Peterson left with Hawthorne while he and Jiovanni were talking. It seemed the young man thought they had a case even before William showed up, and now he was sure Jiovanni Ward had not really broken the law. Any sane judge would see that, but they had not drawn any sane judge it seemed. They had drawn Judge John Paul O’Malley.

Milton was going to be drawing up a formal complaint against the police department concerning the bruising they found on Jiovanni and how it did not match with the intake images taken only hours before. He even made them take general full body images as they processed him out for proof. Milton was currently waiting for the copies. Hawthorne promised to meet with them on Sunday afternoon at William’s place to go over the details and to bring in the Guild’s perspective, but it seemed to him as if the case were pretty straight forward. William agreed and sent him on the way. Now it was just he and Jiovanni.

“Ever ride a motorcycle before?” he asked the young man.

“No, Sir.”

“Well, I didn’t bring the car.” William said as he stopped by his bike. Luckily, he kept a second helmet strapped to the back. He unlocked it and put it on Jiovanni’s head, fitting it on him. “All you have to do is hold on to me, think you can manage?”

“Yes, Sir.”

William grinned and straddled the machine, twisting to pat the space behind him. “Sit here.”

---

Jiovanni was surprised at the voice sounding by his ear, but he thought he should not be, a man like William Reed would have a few high-tech toys at his disposal. He sat where he was told, then as the bike roared to life, he wrapped his arms around the man his papa sold him to and held on tightly.

On the ride, he had time to think. His papa would not have contracted him no matter the money had he not found the man suitable, but he was not the man he wanted. Hunter got the man he wanted, had he not? At least Hunter always seemed happy with Cliff, but then he had always known about him too. Cliff had always seemed like part of their family. Why had William stayed away? And if both Hunter and he were contracted, what about Cody? Did papa contract him too? If so to whom? When would he find out? Jove sighed and leaned into William’s back.

“You will want many things as an erebi under my care, Jiovanni, I will see that you have those that you need.”

“He knows how to make my blood stop burning.”

“So do I.”

Jove did not believe him. Then again, he was of limited experience, having only ever experienced Micah.

William

By the time they pulled into the garage at Prometheus’ Chains, from what William could tell Jiovanni was in a full blown burn and if he wasn’t then William didn’t want to know what one of his full blown burns felt like. William was having a very difficult time concentrating on driving the last couple of miles and had been tempted more than once to pull over and toss the boy over the bike and fuck him in an alleyway. He parked the bike, yanked off the helmet, and nudged the boy behind him. Jiovanni climbed off first.

“Where are we?” he asked as he pulled off the helmet.

“Home.” William told him. “Your new home.”

“I wanted to go to my home.”

“This is your home now.”

“No, you don’t understand. Mama is gone, my family… they need me.”

“You can go to them tomorrow. Tonight we need to get some things straight.”

“Promise?” Jiovanni asked stepping closer and looking at William with soul filled eyes.

“Yes, Jiovanni, I promise.” William said before he bent down and kissed the erebi in front of him. This time Jiovanni did not resist the kiss, his lips parted and he accepted the foreign tongue in his mouth. William groaned and pulled him close. Finally, they parted, and William whispered, “Come with me.”

Jiovanni left the bike helmet behind and followed nearly docilely behind William. As they entered the main room, a young man in leather pants and not much else looked up.

“Mulciber Reed, welcome back.”

“Glad to be back, Percy. How go things?”

“Well, Sir.”

“Excellent. Issue an all call in the main hall for all non-engaged. Then ring Mulciber Mackenzie and request his presence in my chambers by his blood.”

“Yes Sir.” Percy punched some buttons on the board to his right and then pressed a red button. Somewhere deep in the building a buzzing could be heard, then running feet.

“Come along, Jiovanni, it’s time you met your housemates.”

Jiovanni stepped up beside William and slid his hand in the Mulciber’s hand. “Of course, housemates, I should have known.”

William removed Jiovanni’s hand from his own. “You will not touch me unless invited. Do you understand?”

Jiovanni blinked at him owlishly. “Of course I understand, as long as you understand I may be erebi but I am not your property.”

William turned and slammed Jiovanni against the wall. “I bought you.”

“You bought my contract, not my co-operation.” Jiovanni gritted out as he pushed William away.

“I have ways of making you co-operate.” William said as he pressed his mouth against Jiovanni’s closed lips. Suddenly the heat was there, stronger than before and William was pulling at Jiovanni’s clothing and his own.

Once his lips began to trail down the boy’s neck he could hear the whispered words in his ear, “Do you intend to rape me too?”

William froze. He turned away from the erebi who was now mostly naked against the wall and saw they had an audience. He would have done it too. He cursed, loud and long, and then he grabbed the nearest boy, a seventeen year old and kissed him. Of course the boy was willing, they were all willing. Jiovanni was burning and the other erebi could sense it. As he got his own desire under control, he was able to better focus his energy on Jiovanni. He took the few steps back over to the boy.

“Do I need to hit you?”

“It would help.” Jiovanni replied honestly. “Micah would know what to do best, though.”

He never saw the slap coming. William left him crumpled against the wall as the others finished assembling.