Page 18 of Daddy Cupid
“Best of luck, Gloom.”
“Are you coming to the Love in the Veil party?” I ask her, and she nods frantically.
“Of course I will.”
“See you there,” she says with a pop, portalling out of the boss’s house and back to wherever it is she lives.
I expect a ‘honey we’re home’ with smiling faces and excitement to see me. But all I see is Cupio’s downtrodden face and Ladybird’s pissed off one to match. Once they see the work I’ve done, they both soften a little.
“Thank you, Gloom, this was thoughtful,” Cupio says before taking a seat at the head table.
Ladybird gives me a look that I don’t know her well enough to discern, so I just take a seat at the table.
“Candy helped me,” I say and Ladybird seems irritated by hearing the nice cupid who helped me cook’s name. “Is there something I’m missing?” I ask and Cupio pours everyone a glass of wine.
“Are you familiar with my son, Eros?”
I grimace and nod my head, trying not to be rude.
“He asked me if I could turn him into a ghost today.”
My brows furrow. “You can’t just change what type of being you are.” Ladybird chokes on her wine a little and I glance between the two of them. “Right?”
“I’m the first cupid, just like Mortem is the first reaper. Along with being the first comes not only great responsibility but also great power. If we find that a being in our realm isn’t up to par, it is possible to banish them into a life of being a ghost.”
“Why would anyone want to be a ghost?” I ask. As a reaper, I’ve seen my fair share of souls who decide not to pass on and wander their planet listlessly and alone. The afterlife is hard. Not everyone stays in the veil, some go to the good place, others the bad place, and if you’re lucky like me, you get a position in the veil and get to experience many realms.
“He says he’s in love with another ghost.” Cupio takes a deep sip of his wine.
“They’ll never be able to touch.”
“I told him this,” Cupio says, finishing his wine glass and pouring another. A splash of red wine hits his light pink beard, and he wipes it away, inhaling the alcohol.
“What did you do?”
“I told him I couldn’t do it,” Cupio replies, downing the next glass. When he goes to pour again, Ladybird puts a hand on top of his glass and shakes her head.
“No. I’m not going to let you do this. He can’t just keep showing up in Cupidale and causing you pain like this. What he was asking of you was beyond inappropriate. I know he’s your son, I know that you love him no matter all the poor decisions he’s made, but you deserve to be happy too,” she tells him softly and we both look at her with awe-filled expressions. “Let’s eat this delicious meal Gloom made and then do something fun.”
“Something fun?” Cupio asks.
“Something you haven’t done for ages,” she replies with a grin.
I look at her, trying to get some sort of idea of what she has planned, but she doesn’t give me a hint. Instead, she moans as she eats my pasta.
“This is delicious, thank you, pet.”
I shiver at the name and I know there’s no hiding my pink cheeks or my hardening erection under the table.
I somehow calm myself down as we finish our meal. Cupio looks less than pleased to not be rotting inside of his house and moping, but Ladybird seems to know what she’s doing.
She grabs both of our hands as she portals us to Earth.
Why the fuck would she bring us here?
“Birdie, what are we doing in New Orleans?”
“We’re going to make some love matches,” she replies and I furrow my brows at her.
