His breathing was labored, the ailment left him looking tired and pale. Pearls of sweat could be seen on his chest raising unevenly making her worried.
Reapers couldn't die from a cold right? Not even this sort of cold should be able to kill a reaper, but the way he looked made her worry. Glad she had checked up on him before her bath she sat down on the edge of the bed. Willow brought him out of his stupor as she began wiping his chest with a damp cloth, noting the strong heat emanating from his skin. She felt the chuckle under her fingers more than hearing it from his hoarse throat.
"Didn't think of you as one to take advantage of a sick man. If you wanted to touch all you had to do is ask."
She ignored his comment that quickly was followed by a dry cough. Willow had been the one who stayed home when her brother was sick, so taking care of someone wasn't unfamiliar. Though she had to admit her brother whined more than Jack.
"Let me get you some water," Willow mumbled as he continued coughing. Hurrying down the ladder she wondered if there would be any tea or honey in the kitchen as that would be better for his dry throat.
"I rather have some sour worms." she heard him mumble from the bed.
"Quit it with the sour worms, you can have all the sour worms you want when you're not sounding like Darth Vader." She grunted, rolling her eyes.
Unfortunately, she didn't find any honey or tea and returned with a water bottle and a fresh cloth. Crawling up the ladder, she wondered when Ian would return. She could really use some help cooling Jack down. Even just trying to move him to the bathroom seemed like an impossible task, given how challenging it was to get him up the ladder in the first place.
Sitting down on the bed, Willow gently pulled him up, allowing him to lean against her as she dried his back.
"Why are you helping me?" He mumbled against her shoulder.
"You're sick"
"Still, I thought/hoped you hated me." His voice was low, unsure.
She looked at him surprised, but his words prompted her to sigh loudly and pull him away from her shoulder so she could look into his eyes. "Why do you think I hate you? I know you probably want me to with how you treat me most of the time. But I don't hate you, Jack." She wiped his shoulder with a mumble. "I don't know you well enough to hate you, even if I wanted to. But even if I did are you still sick and need help."
His eyes were glossy but still focusing on her. "By Death, I love you."
"Stop with the fever talk," she sighed, softly pushing him back on the bed. "Try and get some sleep." She slipped down to the floor, giving him more space, and rested against the bed. Shifting to his side so he could see her, Jack closed his eyes.
It wasn't long before his breath became deeper, and his tense shoulders eased up. Without thinking she gently swept his hair away from his eyes before getting up.
She quickly moved toward the bathroom, thinking she could take a quick bath before Jack woke up.
The bathroom itself was simple yet stylish. In the center, stood a large copper bathtub, with a floor mirror tucked away in one corner. The sink was incorporated into a rustic wooden table protruding from the wall.
Turning on the faucet to the bathtub she started to undress. Her fingertips traced the raised skin on her neck left from his teeth, remembering the feeling of his lips against her neck sent shivers down her spine while goosebumps formed on her arms. Touching the crystal, she pondered about what would happen the day one of them couldn't control it anymore. Would she really be okay with it afterwards? Just following that burning desire to let him dominate her and take her? Would Jack?
Shaking her head, she pulled herself out of the thoughts, ignoring the color on her cheek as she climbed into the bathtub, immersing herself in the warm water.
I wish I could talk to my mom she thought. She knew the chances of her ever talking to her mother was slim, basically nonexistent, with it probably not being Jack who would reap her. But if reapers usually picked up from the same bloodline, why did the reaper that took her dad not reap her little brother? Why did Jack? Were they also the one who reaped her grandpa? Her grandpa had died when she was 15 due to leukemia at home, having not wanted to spend his last time in the hospital. Her grandmother had died few weeks after from what doctors said was a broken heart, making Willow already shrinking family smaller. Now it only really consisted of her brother and mom, as her mother's family didn't want anything to do with her after she married Malte and moved to Germany from England.
And was they the same reaper who somehow let her live after she was born by c-section? Why hadn't Jack told her who it was? Was it one of the others from the island?
Before Willow could even ponder who it might be, a loud crash resonated from the other side of the door, snapping her out of her thoughts. Concerned that Jack might have been hurt, she swiftly wrapped a towel around herself and pushed the door aside. As she stepped out, her gaze fell upon Ian, who stood there with a bag filled with what appeared to be groceries. Meanwhile, Jack lay sprawled at the base of the ladder, clearly fallen from the loft.
"I have been gone for less than a hour and you guys are already causing trouble." He sighed putting the groceries away as Willow stepped out of the bathroom not really thinking about her appearance as much as forgetting that Jack is immortal.
"Are you okay?" she asked, getting stopped by Ian outstretched arm as she headed towards Jack.
"Perhaps get some clothes on Willow and I will help Jack." He said softly, turning her around by the shoulders and gently giving her a push towards the bathroom, making Willow realize she was basically naked, and her cheeks turned red.
"Don't look at her," Jack grunted, attempting to rise, his eyes glassy, and his breathing labored.
"I am not looking, relax and let me help you," Ian sighed as Willow fought the urge of helping Jack and instead closed the door. She was relieved to have left her bag in there earlier, which contained a pair of green sweatpants and a white tee. After drying her hair, she emerged from the bathroom, where she found Jack now on the couch, wrapped in blankets and holding a cup of tea.
"Have you brought honey? That can soothe his throat," She asked hopefully, walking towards the kitchen where Ian was making what appeared to be omelets.
"yeah, I also brought some sour worms as he kept whimpering in my head to bring some." Ian muttered, gesturing to the bag filled with groceries on the counter.
"I'm sick, I deserve sour worms." Willow heard Jack mumble from the couch. Willow couldn't help but roll her eyes as she began sorting through the bag and putting away the groceries.
"Why have you brought so much?" she frowned, taking the second gallon milk out of the bag.
"Because when he's sick he's gonna need food too, and this being a cold from Enzaya means it can take a while," Ian sighed, frying some bacon while Willow threw the sour worm over to Jack. "If it had been you, it could have taken more than a week to get over, but with Jack being a reaper he will get over it quicker. But you will need to stay here until he gets better. Plus, as you probably realized Willow, you eat more when you're eating for two." Ian gently raised her chin, his cold fingers brushing over the fresher wound on her neck. Willow was aware from the reaper book that something in their saliva made wounds heal slightly faster than usual, but it didn't change the fact that he left a wound each time. "At least it's healing nicely and quick. I brought bandages just in case and Fahima have showed you how to keep it clean right?"
Willow nodded, noting that Ian's eyes were darker than usual. She wondered if that had been the reason his gaze had lingered on her neck until Jack's coughing had snapped his attention back to the stove.
"Is there anything other than what I brought you think you will need?"
"Not what I can think of no," she watched him put the food on two plates when the thought hit her. "Cinnamon tea! mom said that dad used to make cinnamon tea when I had a fever as a kid."
"Now that you say it, that can actually work, can't believe I forgot about Henriette's recipe," Ian said, turning to her with a soft smile as he handed her a plate. He then walked around the kitchen island towards Jack.
"If I remember correctly, it was the remedy his old babysitter used when he was a kid, though Henriette was a witch so probably put some other stuff in it. But worth a try, I can probably even track a witch down willing to strike a deal from some CrÃdose crystals."
Willow nodded eagerly until she realized what he had said.
"Wait, how do you know about my Godmother?" Willow narrowed her eyes, had Henriette died and she hadn't been told?
"She was in your dad's memories," Ian replied with a shrug as he handed Jack his plate. But he froze in place, as if just realizing what he had revealed.
He turned to look at her.
"Are-are you the reaper who usually reap my family?" Her eyes widened.
"No no no, the Weber's wasn't a bloodline I usually deal with. I did deal with your birth though, as the usual reaper was needed by Death that day," he mumbled turning around while sliding his fingers through his hair. With a lopsided grimace he said. "You probably know that your umbilical cord was wrapped around your throat, and you were declared death for a few minutes? I was sent to reap you that day but decided to let you live."
"Decided to let me live?" the words sounded wrong in her mouth, and the look Jack and Ian send one another didn't make it better. But she had heard about it, and the her mind went to the car crash she somehow also had survived.
"It's a thing we reaper can do, but it's highly frowned upon and we need to be capable of justifying it or we will be sent back to reap the person. Luckily for me, Death accepted my reasoning's of you being a baby and deserved a chance of life." he chuckled nervously, his eyes shifting around the room while Willow tried to process it. She knew a reaper most likely had been involved with her birth but had never imagined it was Ian and not her family's reaper.
"How many reapers have been involved with my life?" She groaned, pressing the bridge of her nose to fight back the upcoming migraine. "No wonder Death was interested in me, I should have been death from the get-go and keep somehow being saved!" the last word came out in a hiss. Why her? She hadn't done anything remotely special enough to get treated different from anyone else. But still reapers seemed too safe her ass, while others faced the consequences like her dad. Was that why Jack reaped her brother? The usual reaper was also busy that day? She turned her focus towards Jack who averted his eyes. "Did you know? that it was Ian?"
"Of course, I did, every reaper knows," he shrugged, pulling the blankets more around him as if he wished to vanish inside of them. "But, even if you are now a companion and can learn about our world and things only reapers know does it not mean you should. Especially when it comes to your family." He mumbled eyeing Ian who gave him a glare.
She wanted to yell and scream at them to tell her everything, but she did also understand the reasons why they wouldn't tell her no matter how much it infuriated her. Some of the things she already knew gave her nightmares, knowing everything would probably mean going crazy, but this was her family.
"What is the name of my families reaper, have I meet them? Can I meet them?" Both shock their head, squirming under her gaze. "After everything I at least deserve to know their name." her bottom lip quivered as much as her hands making her put the plate on the counter before she dropped it.
"Dorothy, her name was Dorothy." Jack finally said, earning a shove from Ian with a glare.
"Was?" Willow croaked, putting her arms around herself, trying not to run over and shake the info out of him. "Was, as in she is dead?"
"Yes, Dorothy has faced her final death a few years back," Ian sighed, tearing his fingers through his hair, while Willow wondered who could be powerful enough to kill a reaper until she realized it probably was Death. But why was she killed? "Why Jack retrieved your brother's soul." He slowly walked towards her as she stood there frozen trying to understand it. She knew that some reaper had dealt with the deaths in her family and accepted that, but she had never expected Ian and Jack was involved too.
"Will-will Jack take care of the Weber bloodline until a new is found?" She looked up, realizing Ian stood right in front of her. He shook his head gently, putting a hand on her shoulder to lead her over to a chair.
"No, when a reaper gets a companion they will no longer have anything to do with their companions bloodline if not necessary to make sure they are fair in their reaping," Ian softly said, crouching down in front of Willow, waiting for her to look into his eyes. "I know Willow that everything seem to punch you in the stomach since you become a companion, I was there when my daughter was reaped." his voice croaked by the mention of his daughter. "But, whatever we decide to keep a secret or do, is to protect you. Even though you are not my companion Willow, I still care about you and not only because of Jack. I choose to let you live because I knew you would become important for this world. And you did." He looked over at Jack before turning his gaze towards her, holding her hands in his. "Do not be mad at Jack, I was the one who told him not to tell you about what I had done."
"But why?" she clutched his hands in hers, feeling like if she didn't hold on the spinning room would continue.
"Because there is things even a companion does not need to know. You're still human and with everything you do not need more on your mind than what is necessary at that time."
His eyes were dark, but she saw the empathy beneath the hunger. Ian had been a companion himself, he knew what she was going through. Her body stopped shivering and she took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Her father was gone, she could not change that. Nor could she change the choice she had taken, so she had to accept that death would be a companion for the rest of her life. Ian finally let go of her hands when she stopped shivering, standing up and taking a few steps back while licking his lips as his eyes was focused on her.
"I am truly sorry, to just leave when you probably have tons of questions, but I believe it is time to do so." He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, they were red. "I have not eaten for a while due to the importance of getting Lucifer to still uphold his end of the deal after the whole... thing. So, it is unwise I am near a companion." he gestured towards her by the word companion, his shoulders tense as he turned to Jack. "Behave, and if anything changes with your healt-"
"I will let you know, I always do," Jack interrupted, his brows knitted as Ian put his hand on his forehead. "Now please go, I know the temptation of companion blood when hungry and I am not capable to stop you in this state." He gave him a weak smile before coughing.
Ian nodded and vanished, leaving Willow with her millions of questions that probably would forever be unanswered.