For a long moment, neither of them moved. Then Heero began to growl.
“Are you all right?” he rumbled, eyes distant, following the long-gone chase. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like one of Wufei’s Chinese curses.
Duo blinked and drew a shaky breath. “Holy shit.... He hit us.... Damn! He hit the car!” He pried his fingers off the wheel and fumbled with his seat belt. Heero stopped him.
“Duo, can you drive?”
“Huh?” He looked at the Wyvern and almost flinched at the expression he found there. “Um… Yeah… I think so. But shouldn’t we –“
“No. Follow them,” commanded Heero.
“Okay,” said Duo obediently. Heero’s expression was the one he usually wore when someone was going to get hurt. Not gonna argue with that. He started the engine and eased across the dirt to the pavement, checking the road before pulling out. Several cars were sitting in various hastily-stopped positions behind them. Some people had clustered around one car; it looked like Heero’s car wasn’t the only one clipped by the asshole in the pickup. Heero saw it, too, and snarled.
“Go! Catch that idiot.”
“Yes sir!”
Once all four wheels were on the pavement, he hit the gas, accelerating through the gears as the speedometer climbed alarmingly. Duo had no idea why Heero wanted to chase the fuckwit in the truck, but he wouldn’t mind a couple of private minutes with the guy himself. He might not be all buffed out, like some of the Humans, but he was no lightweight when it came to fighting. And right now, he really wanted a chance to punch the guy square in the face.
Traffic had slowed in the wake of the chase, so they flew past dozens of cars, including more damaged vehicles. Duo thought the local sheriff’s department had a helicopter, but there was no sign yet of air support.
They topped a rise, almost flying – Duo was almost sure the wheels had lost contact with the asphalt for an instant – and spotted the chase about half a mile ahead.
Heero rumbled deep in his chest and Duo’s glance caught the smirk on his face.
“Heero…?”
“Hold it steady, and follow me,” Heero instructed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up.
“Heero!”
The Wyvern morphed, lifting his wings to catch the rushing air and leaped upward, somersaulting once, and then arrowed straight for the blue pickup.
Duo let out a shriek and almost forgot he was driving in excess of 100mph.
“*HEERO!*”
Dammit! He was going to set fire to the damn Wyvern’s tail! He pressed harder on the accelerator.
Less than a minute later, Heero suddenly shot upwards, arcing up and over the speeding truck to loop back and come at it head-on. Duo thought he might actually scream; why had no one warned him that Dragons were fucking *crazy*?!
Heero dropped sharply, vectoring straight down and swapping ends to land feet first on the hood of the truck. The front end slammed down into the pavement; the undercarriage screeched and spit sparks before bouncing up again, and continuing to roll forward, albeit at a much slower speed. The truck swerved and fishtailed as Heero clung to the doorpost, his talons easily piercing the metal. A flash of light erupted from the interior. Heero had folded his wings as soon as he landed; now he punched through the windshield, ripped out the ignition and hauled the driver, screaming, out through the shattered window. With the shrieking driver in one hand, the other clutching the window-frame, Heero dropped one taloned foot to the ground, dug into the asphalt and pivoted the truck to a shuddering stop.
He calmly stepped down from the hood, dragging the man with him, and hauled him across the pavement to drop him in a heap just as the cop cars came to a stop surrounding them. Sheriff’s deputies, highway patrol officers and even local police from the city forty miles away piled out of their cars, guns drawn, all of them yelling at once.
Into the midst of that, Duo roared up and slid to a stop. He leaped over the door and ran toward Heero.
“Change back!” he bellowed. “Heero! Change *back*!” The various cops were already on adrenaline overload; another few seconds and they’d be opening fire on the Wyvern. Everyone kept saying Heero couldn’t be hurt by Humans, but damned if Duo wanted to push that notion right now.
The cops were yelling at Duo now; ordering him to get back, get down, get out of the way.
“Heero! Damn it! Change!”
Heero cocked his head as if the thought had never occurred to him, and then morphed back into his relatively benign form just as Duo flung himself into his arms, wrapping himself around the startled Wyvern.
“Dammit, you lunatic!” Duo yelled and punched Heero in the shoulder. “They thought you were some kind of monster! They could shoot first and ask questions later; don’t you know that?!” He looked down suddenly, at the quivering lump of sobbing miscreant. “And *you*! You stinking fuckwit! You could have killed people!” And he kicked the man firmly in the ass.
Then they were surrounded by police and sheriff’s deputies. To Duo’s relief, one of the deputies remembered them from the mall incident and began an excited explanation to the other officers while Duo and Heero were escorted warily back to their car.
“Will this take long?” Heero demanded. “We have lunch reservations.” The officer blinked at him; Duo face-palmed.
“Um… Heero, I don’t think we’re going to make lunch today.” He glanced at the astonished cop. “We’re going to have to make statements, right?”
“Yeah,” said the cop in a tone that wanted to say “duh!”
Heero grumbled and pulled out his phone to call the restaurant.
“Don’t growl at *me*, lizard-boy; you’re the one who went all cowboy,” Duo huffed back at him. Heero glared at him, but Duo raised his eyebrows.
“Hn. See if I ever get involved again.”
Duo just rolled his eyes.
_______________________________
Duo stalked into the office the next morning, with Heero trailing after him in high sulk.
“- still do not see the problem,” Heero muttered.
Duo rolled his eyes, not for the first time. “Dammit, what part of ‘hysterical Humans’ don’t you get, Yuy?!”
“I didn’t see anyone being hysterical,” Heero protested crossly. “Except for that fuckwit driver and he should have been hysterical.”
“They would have *shot* you! How many times do I have to say it?! You cannot go around being wildly different from what they expect, especially when they’re already excited and angry! Human cops take a lot of shit from bad Humans; they don’t always have time to wonder if the scary Dragon-monster is really a threat. Bad guys *shoot* at them! Frequently!” He spun on his heel and Heero almost ran into him. “I don’t want to lose you because some cop – or anyone else, dammit – thinks you’re the devil incarnate!” He glared at the Wyvern, hands on his hips, waiting for Heero’s next excuse.
Heero glared back and opened his mouth, then closed it again. All he had to do was apologize for scaring Duo half to death. Such a little thing, really, to make the Banshee stop huffing and puffing like an angry bull. He already knew better than to mention that bullets couldn’t hurt him in his Wyvern form; that had gotten him a twenty-minute rant that began with a shriek and ended with a door slammed in his face. It all came down to the fact that Duo had been afraid for him. His Chosen had been worried. Concerned. Frightened, even. That was really rather… warming. The Banshee cared, therefore the Banshee loved him. Right?
He cocked his head to the side and laid a hand on Duo’s arm. When he didn’t immediately shrug it off, Heero let his hand drift slowly down to clasp Duo’s. Duo stuck his nose in the air and raised one eyebrow. My, those were some fine eyebrows… Quite elegant and refined for one of the fey, who were usually earthier… After a momentary debate, eyelids slid to half mast and Heero dared slip his free arm around Duo’s waist.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured in the Banshee’s ear. “I couldn’t let him continue. He scared you; he injured so many other people. He might have killed someone when they cornered him.”
Duo leaned into him with a sigh. “You couldn’t have admitted that last night?” he grumbled.
“Um… Apparently not. I’m sorry for that, too.”
“Mother Sap Goddess, you’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days,” Duo muttered. He smacked Heero’s shoulder lightly. “Warn me, dammit! You’re supposed to let me know what to expect, so I don’t come unglued. Damn Dragon.” He lifted his chin slightly. “Okay; you’re forgiven for almost getting yourself ventilated. Kiss me and let’s get to work.” Heero did so, with enthusiasm.
Normally, a kiss would be the first step toward bed, but since they had both wasted that opportunity with their mutual stubbornness, this would have to do until tonight. Heero determined to put every bit of apology, love and ‘want’ into it so that his Banshee wouldn’t forget. He wrapped Duo as close as he could and the Banshee returned the favor by wrapping one leg around Heero’s, giving the Wyvern an excellent reason to fondle that delightfully firm butt while he did his best to scour Duo’s tonsils, uvula and possibly the backs of those purple eyeballs.
When they finally parted, after a good three minutes, both of them panting and grinning, applause broke out around them.
Heero growled; Duo’s jaw dropped.
“Congratulations!” cried Q, stepping forward. “That was an award-worthy performance!” Murmurs of agreement from the rest of the office.
Duo dropped his face to Heero’s shoulder. “Oh, crap…”
“Shouldn’t you people have – I don’t know – said something?!” snarled Heero.
“And miss that show?” demanded Tiffany. “Not likely!”
“You two are just so cute!” exclaimed Raia.
“And hot!” added Moira with a giggle.
The other males knew better than to add to that and confined themselves to broad grins. Even Wufei was grinning, Duo noticed.
Heero glared at his cohorts. “Why are you all here, anyway? Don’t some of you have things to do?” He narrowed his eyes at Q.
“We’re having a meeting, but you obviously haven’t been watching the television.”
“Television? Of course not! We have better things to do,” Heero snorted.
“Yeah, like fight all night,” muttered Duo and Heero gave him a warning squeeze.
“Then you missed your television debut,” laughed the Wizard. The two Creatures just blinked at him. “Come here; sit,” Q commanded, conjuring two chairs from his other space. He flicked a large monitor into existence and everyone crowded close. “From last evening’s news.”
The bubble-headed bleach-blonde “anchor” of the local news appeared, false smile firmly affixed, to introduce a video as “shocking, amazing and just plain thrilling”. Tape rolled and they were looking down on the freeway chase, as the blue pickup roared along, scattering other vehicles like dead leaves. Suddenly, a streak of dark metallic blue flashed across the screen and the camera shifted to follow it. A moment later the blur resolved itself into Heero as he climbed, rolled and began his downward dive, straight at the oncoming truck.
Holy frigging shit, thought Duo as he watched, open-mouthed. Damn! Heero looked like some kind of dark avenging…gargoyle as he landed on the truck, removed the driver and brought the whole chase to a shuddering stop.
MY gargoyle. *MY* Dragon. My Heero…
He giggled nervously. Careful now, he warned himself.
Then video-Heero was morphing into his more acceptable form, video-Duo went flying into his arms and they were being surrounded by cops as the tape ended.
A rather stunned silence ensued. Then Q cleared his throat and smirked at them. “It’s the number one video on YouTube; over a million hits. Congratulations, Heero; you’ve put Wyverns on the map.”
Heero paled alarmingly and dropped his face into his hands. “Sonuvabitch,” he muttered. “The IchiBan is going to kill me.”
Duo reached for his hand. “No, she won’t,” he murmured. “I wouldn’t let her.”
Q’s smirk grew even smirkier, if possible, as the rest of the office grinned and giggled. “Oh, I doubt that; I spoke with her last night. She seemed to find the whole thing rather amusing. You still need to call her, but I believe she said she’d already downloaded it.”
“Fuck,” said Duo and Heero in unison.
“So…Heero,” drawled Tiffany. “Can I have your autograph?”
_______________________________________________
Duo moved toward the French doors, shivering in his sweater. “Damn, Heero; it’s freaking *pouring* out there! You can’t fly in that, can you?”
Heero joined him, wrapping his arms around his Chosen’s waist as they watched the deluge. Good thing the balcony was of the open-work variety; they’d be standing in rising water if it wasn’t. Might be good to leave a reminder to Maintenance to inspect the roofs. “I could… in a dire, life-threatening emergency, but it would be neither pretty nor graceful and I would not be a happy Dragon on the other end,” he smiled. “We’re not designed for wet weather flying. Our wings can shed an enormous amount of water, but they do absorb some and that leads to stalling. We’ll catch a port home tonight.” He turned the Banshee around to kiss the end of his nose. “Besides, if we flew, you’d be soaked and then some.”
Duo grinned and wrinkled his nose. “There is that. I’d be all night getting my hair dry.”
Heero’s phone rang and he let go of Duo to rumble a “moshi-moshi”.
Duo drifted back to his own desk to finish clearing it off for the weekend, not intending to eavesdrop on Heero’s call. That intention blew up when he heard Heero say sharply, “Raia, why are you whispering? I cannot understand you.”
“Problem?” he mouthed, rejoining the Wyvern. Heero shrugged, intent on the phone.
“Raia, just speak up,” he growled.
“I *can’t*!” Duo heard her say faintly. “He’s sitting right here!”
“Who is?”
“The vampire!”
Heero held the phone away from his ear, glaring at it, then glanced at the French doors where, in spite of the torrential rain, it was clearly still daylight.
“There is a vampire in Q’s anteroom, during daylight hours?”
“Yes!” she hissed.
Heero gave a great sigh. “Well, fuck,” he muttered. “All right; I’ll come down.”
“Hurry up,” Raia demanded. “I don’t like the way he’s staring at my neck.”
Heero closed his phone. “I’m afraid we’re going to be a bit later; do you mind?”
“Are you kidding?! A vampire in Q’s office?! This I have to see!” He grabbed his jacket, bouncing to the doorway in anticipation.
“If it’s who I think it is, he’s not that impressive…” Heero warned sourly.
“Don’t care. I’ve never met a vampire before,” Duo grinned. “Hey, is he going to tell me he ‘vants to suck my bluud’?”
“Not if he knows what’s good for him,” Heero grumbled. “I’ll prune his fangs if he even looks like he wants a taste of you.”
~*~
In Q’s outer office, Raia sat behind her desk, staring at a man sitting
primly, eyes downcast, on the brocade sofa. He didn’t look very impressive
or even dangerous, but with vampires, who knew? Her wand lay neatly on the desk,
only a hairsbreadth from her fingers.
And who knew that a spiritual descendant of Count Dracula would show up wearing scuffed work boots, old jeans, a plaid shirt and a leather jacket that looked fresh off the cow. Dark hair, non-piercing hazel eyes and a somewhat perplexed expression completed the unprepossessing picture. She still wasn’t taking her eyes from the vampire; they weren’t known to be trustworthy.
Heero paused in the doorway to sigh. “Damn it, Ctik; I thought you had things under control.”
The vampire shot to his feet looking so relieved it was almost comical.
“Heero! My friend! Thank you so much for agreeing to see me!” he babbled. He grabbed the Wyvern’s hand, pumping it furiously.
“Yes, yes; not a problem. Raia, why don’t you go ahead and take off? Duo and I will handle this.”
“Sure thing, Heero! Y’all have a wonderful weekend! Um… Nice to have met you, Mr…Ctik.” And she was gone; teleporting out of there as if chased by hounds.
Heero peeled the vampire’s fingers off his hand. “Ctik, I don’t shake hands, remember?”
The vampire looked distressed and immediately babbled out an apology. “So sorry, Heero! I am so upset and confused – it’s a wonder I even remembered to dress myself!”
Heero rolled his eyes. “Never mind. Sit and you can tell me what earth-shattering mess you’ve managed this time.”
He flung himself back onto the sofa, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “I should never have listened to that descendant of mine! The boy is an unprincipled scoundrel!”
“True enough,” agreed Heero, remembering his lone meeting with the multi-great grand-something of the creature before him. Not particularly comfortable for either of them, given the circumstances, but that was years ago. “What’s he done?”
“Oh, my fangs! What hasn’t he done?! He *sold* the property! Sold it! To a *developer*!” He covered his eyes. “He’s going to build a *theme park*.”
Heero blinked. He looked at Duo, who had stayed in the background, being oddly disappointed with his first view of a vampire. (He had really expected something more dramatic, more theatrical, more…Dracula-ish; not this musty-looking laborer.)
“A theme park? Around a gothic mansion?”
“Yes… I told him I wouldn’t stand for it, and he… laughed at me.” He looked up at the Wyvern. “And before you ask, yes, I consulted a solicitor. I am, apparently, screwed. I never should have pretended to die in the 19th century; he said it left me with no legal standing whatsoever.”
“I believe that’s true,” Heero said slowly. “At least with Human laws.” He shook his head. “So, what do you want me to do? A chikan Miles may be, but he is the legal owner of the property. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about the theme park.” He frowned to himself again. A *theme park*?! Great Dragons; the man was an idiot.
Ctik sighed heavily, and waved one hand vaguely. “I wish there had been a guidebook when I was young, with warnings about this sort of thing; perhaps I would not be in this pickle.” He sat up a bit straighter, looking more determined. “Never mind; perhaps I should write one for those who come after.” He glanced past Heero then, spying Duo.
“Oh! I am so sorry! I didn’t even notice you! Heero, why did you let me babble on without introducing your companion?” He scrambled to his feet and bowed deeply in the European fashion. “Ctik Vrostek, at your service.”
Heero made a face, but stood and drew Duo to his feet also.
“Ctik, this is my Chosen, Duo of the Clan Blue Forest. You will not even *think* about the taste of him or I will remove *all* your troubles.”
The vampire looked affronted. “Heero! You know I gave up all that! All those cameras and nosy investigations! No, thank you; I actually prefer the packaged stuff.” He smiled brightly, returning his attention to Duo. “You must be very special to have caught Heero’s eye; he has a reputation as being impossible to please.”
Duo blinked. “Um… Thank you… I’ve never thought of him as… impossible.” A vampire who didn’t drink blood? How the hell did that work?
Heero snorted. “And you are a flatterer. Let’s get back to what you want and why you’re here.” He glanced out the window. “In daylight. How did you manage that?”
The vampire sat down again and reached into his shirt, pulling out a small clay disc on a thong. “Protective charm. It’s like an umbrella against the sun.”
Heero raised one eyebrow. “An anti-sunlight charm? Where did you get that?”
Ctik pinkened slightly. “Um… There was a Wizard… a long time ago… he was very fond of me…” He rubbed the clay talisman between his fingers affectionately. “He made a bunch of them, for emergencies. This seemed like a sensible time to use them.”
Duo couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. “Don’t you have to sleep during the day?”
“Normally,” Ctik sighed, drooping a bit. “I would only use the charms when traveling or in an emergency, but I am at my wits’ end. I have nowhere to sleep; not safely, anyway.”
“You had a whole box of your earth; what happened?”
“You know how I feel about family… I don’t want to believe it of my own blood…”
“Ctik…”
“I think Miles moved it. Or maybe destroyed it. I just know it’s gone.” He pulled a small pouch from his pocket. “This is all I have left.”
Heero sighed, a hand to his eyes. “I knew I should have made sushi out of that fuckwit,” he muttered under his breath.
Duo stared, appalled. “Your…grandson destroyed your earth?! Fuck! How could he?!”
Heero cast the Banshee a sidelong look. Great; there was that irrational sympathy again. He sighed again, mentally throwing up his hands in surrender. The Banshee was a sweet little thing – never mind that he would be furious if Heero dared to call him ‘sweet’ (or ‘little’) to his face – and he supposed it was all part of the charm. They would just have to solve Ctik’s problem and get him out of here before he became Duo’s new best friend.
“I always thought we were on good terms,” said the vampire rather thoughtfully. “His father was the problem, I thought. Clearly, the apple did not fall as far from the tree as I had hoped. Theodore was a… well, a prick, but he wasn’t blood, so I didn’t really expect anything else. But Miles *is* blood!”
Duo blinked and sat down on the sofa next to Ctik. “What happened with him? Theodore, I mean?”
True to his nature, Ctik couldn’t resist a chance to pour out his life story, or a part of it, at least.
He began with a brief account of his change and skimmed the high points of his un-life after that up until having the ancestral house moved, stone by stone, to the new world in the mid 18th century. It was some time after that point that problems began to appear.
“I left my affairs in the charge of my descendants from about 1870; it just seemed easier than doing the whole ‘going away and dying and returning as my own heir’ that I had been doing. Less paperwork, I thought. And clearly, the Human world was moving toward more paperwork. I hate all that,” he sighed. “In any case, it worked well enough. My descendants have been fairly astute in business and finance; between us we managed to amass a comfortable fortune.” He looked at Heero. “You know, I do not understand these silly Humans who claim money cannot buy happiness! It will buy comfort and health and freedom from worry; happiness can follow naturally.”
Heero smiled thinly. “I believe some express it as ‘anyone who says money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop’.”
Ctik blinked as Duo snickered. “Oh, that’s perfect!” crowed the vampire. “How perfectly true!” Heero made a ‘continue’ gesture and Ctik did so. “Ah, yes. Well, Vivian, Miles’ mother, was a lovely girl; quite bright, really, but her choice of husband left a great deal to be desired. It wouldn’t have mattered much, but her brother, Jeremy, was killed in the war. Not far, in fact, from where I grew up… I didn’t want him to go, you know, but he was adamant… She married Theodore and in the way of those madly in love, she allowed him to handle the finances after Richard and Pamela passed over.”
Duo glanced at Heero questioningly; Heero nodded with a roll of his eyes.
“Not a good thing, then…?” he suggested hesitantly.
Ctik hung his head. “Not at all. I’d gotten… complacent, I suppose. Secure in my little world of letting others support me. Very bad behavior for a vampire, you see.”
“For anyone,” Heero murmured.
“Yes… As it turned out, Theodore was a speculator. By the time the accountants were called, we were nearly penniless. There was barely enough money to support the household. Theodore refused to relinquish control of the finances and that is when I called the Bureau of Sorcery. I wasn’t terribly hopeful that they would agree to assist me – being a vampire and all – but the Lord Wizard Q was kind enough to send Heero to assess my complaint.”
“Really?! So that’s how you met?”
“Yes, indeed. He was very clear what the consequences would be if Theodore did not relinquish his hold on my family’s finances.” He grinned broadly and Duo caught a glimpse of fangs. “And then he… he… changed! I’m sure we were all dumbfounded. Miles fainted. And I believe Theodore…” He looked at Heero for confirmation.
Heero snorted. “Theodore pissed himself; right in the lawyers’ office.”
Ctik sighed. “It was… delightful.”
Duo burst out laughing. “Damn! I’ll bet it was!”
Heero looked rather pleased with the memory. “He couldn’t sign the papers fast enough. I think he almost fell down the stairs getting out of there.”
“Vivian renewed my faith in her intelligence by divorcing that horrible man and I thought everything would be fine after that. Miles was just a teenager then, and continued to live with his mother. I had assumed…” He frowned. “Unfortunately, Miles seems to have taken after his father.”
“Did you not have your earth secured?” Heero asked.
“I thought it was, but times change, and people grow smarter and more cunning. And it never occurred to me to defend against blood. Miles grew up there; he still lives in the house with his family. I’m sure he knows all the secrets of the place; it is, after all, a very old house, from a time when builders were expected to allow for servant passages and bolt holes. The children always had free run of the place, except for my tomb. It never occurred to me to make those things a secret. I always thought we were… well, friendly.”
“I don’t think ‘friendly’ matters when money is involved,” said Heero dryly.
“Foolish complacency,” Ctik agreed sadly.
“Heero, what can we do to help him?” Duo asked. Heero stifled a sigh.
“A safe place to sleep first. Can you rest with that amount of earth?” he asked the vampire.
“In a secure place, yes; I think so.”
Heero nodded and opened his phone. “Kai Lin, this is Heero Yuy. I need access to the sub-dungeon tonight; one of the storage rooms. Ah, thank you; that will be excellent. I am in Q’s office at the moment. Thank you; good night.” He closed the phone just as a tinkling chime sounded and small cylinder with a metal tag attached appeared in the center of Raia’s desk.
Ctik blinked. “Amazing. Your people are very good.”
“The Castle prides itself on the quality of service. We beat out Euro three years in a row.” He pocketed the cylindrical key. “Do you need to feed or stay up tonight?”
Ctik looked relieved. “I’ve fed, thank you. It is either way too late or much too early, but I really think I would like to sleep. I’ve been moving almost nonstop for three days.”
“All right; we’ll go down then and you can get settled.”
--------------------------
They had to cross the commons in the rain, but a door Gnome caught them at the portico and offered umbrellas, for which they were all grateful. Duo made a mental note to stick an umbrella into his other space.
At the entrance to the dungeons, they were met by another Gnome who escorted them through the maze of passages and stairways to the deep storage level.
The Gnome (males and females looked identical and most people weren’t rude enough – or foolish enough – to ask) unlocked the door for Heero and returned the cylinder with a flourish.
“Will the Lord Dragon require an escort for the return?” it asked politely.
“No, thank you; I have it memorized,” Heero replied.
“Excellent! Good evening to you then, gentlemen.” The Gnome bowed and scurried away, back to its post.
The room was not large, being only about 2x3 meters, but Ctik gave a relieved sigh. “Perfect, Heero! You have the key?”
“Yes. There is only one, so you will not be unduly disturbed. I will be back at sunset tomorrow, hopefully with some good news.”
“Thank you, Heero; thank you from the bottom of my withered heart!” He threw his arms around Heero in a brief bear hug, before offering the same to Duo. “Thank you also, Duo of Blue Forest!”
Heero was glaring, so Duo stepped up to reply. “You’re welcome, Ctik. I’ve never met a vampire before, so this is really interesting for me.”
Ctik drew back with a slight smirk. “And you’ve been wondering all this time if I ‘vould like to drink your bluuuuud’.”
Duo burst out laughing as Heero growled. “Oh Sap! I was!”
Ctik grinned at him. “Well, of course I would *like* to, but I don’t do that anymore. Thank you both and I am truly sorry to be such a bother. It really is my own fault.”
“That it is,” grumbled Heero, “but we can’t have you withering away, regardless of the circumstances. Sleep well.” He caught Duo’s hand and pulled him back to close the iron door and lock it.
Mindful of the supposed enhanced senses of vampires, Duo held his questions until they had reached the portico.
“He’s funny,” he began. “I like him.”
Heero snorted. “You like everyone, Banshee. You even like Zephyrus.”
“Well… He’s on my shit list right now, but yeah, I suppose I do like him at least a little. But Ctik is different. He’s not being crappy to anyone, he’s a victim here. I’d like to get my hands on that grandson of his,” he frowned.
“Grand-nephew. Or possibly cousin. Ctik has no direct descendants; he was fairly young when he turned. No wife or children.”
“But his relatives knew about him?”
“He had a younger brother and sister, I believe. He raised them after the parents died and they were properly grateful to him.”
“He didn’t mention them…”
“I believe that part of his life is very personal to him.”
“And yet, you know about them…”
“Well…”
“You like him too, don’t you?” Duo nudged him playfully.
“Hn. I suppose I do… somewhat. He’s mostly harmless, if a bit… well… clueless. And certainly more trusting of family than any vampire ought to be,” he said sourly.
“Just shows that he’s really a nice guy.”
“I suppose so… We’re going to get wet,” he grumbled, glaring at the rain. “It’s too late to call for a routine port and this does not constitute an emergency.”
“We have umbrellas.”
“Duo. It’s raining sideways.”
“Ah. So it is. You’ll just have to help me with my hair then, won’t you?” purred the Banshee.
“This is true. Shall we then?”
----------------------------------------------------
As expected, they were drenched by the time they reached the residence tower. They separated to their own rooms first, to get out of their soaked clothing, and Duo was trying to unbraid his sodden hair when Heero called him into the bathroom.
“Here; I said I would help you,” he growled, taking the recalcitrant hair from the Banshee. “Start the water?”
Duo leaned into the shower and twisted the water on. “Mmmm… Hot shower,” he purred. “Heero, you get your hair cut regularly, don’t you?”
“Yes. A Wizard in town has a small shop. Why?”
“I think I need a trim…”
Heero paused with the mass of wet hair tangled in his hands. “Trim…? How much of a trim?”
Duo shrugged, not looking at him. “Above my knees…”
“Oh. How far above your knees?” he asked in trepidation.
“About to here.” Duo indicated a spot just below the small of his back.
Just about at that deliciously furry spot just above his tailbone… That was… very short, for the Banshee. Heero blinked. Almost half the length… He swallowed. It *was* quite impractical as long as it was…
“You…” He cleared his throat and finished untangling the hair. “You are tired of the length…?”
“I just thought it might be easier this summer. It gets kind of hot… I’d probably let it grow again in the fall.” He turned to slide his arms around Heero’s waist and kiss his mouth lightly. “And it wouldn’t take all night and half the next day to dry anymore. I wouldn’t ever cut it really short; I know how much you like it.”
The relief was ridiculous. “It’s your hair; if you are tired of it…”
“Nah… I just never knew before that I *could* cut it, so I practically melted during the summers.”
“Ah. In that case, we can stop at Stanislaw’s this weekend.” He maneuvered Duo into the shower and commenced the task of shampooing the Banshee’s mane. And he would make damn sure he collected the trimmings.
“Are we going to be able to help Ctik this weekend?”
Oh. Right. The vampire. Damn it.
“I don’t know yet. I think it’s fairly certain that he cannot go back to the house. I doubt if I can do anything about the sale. Legally, it’s Miles’ property to do with as he likes. That doesn’t mean he’s going to walk away gloating over the income. We can see to it that Ctik gets a good part of the money.” He grinned, showing his teeth. “I think Miles has forgotten about me.”
Duo snickered. “Well, we’ll just have to remind him. That fuckwit.” He ducked his head under the spray at Heero’s command. “How do we find a place for Ctik, though? Can he stay here?”
“No. Vampires are a problematic group; Ctik may be mostly harmless, but he could attract others who aren’t.”
“Oh.” The disappointment was obvious in his voice.
“Did you want a vampire in residence? I’m sure Raia would not agree and the School would probably be inundated with parental complaints. We really do have to think of something else. Or Ctik should.” He rumbled softly. “This is really his problem; he should have made bolt-holes for just such an occurrence.”
Duo slicked his hair back for the conditioner, working on the top of his hair while Heero worked on the long, soon-to-be-but-a-memory bottom.
“C’mon, Heero; can you really imagine Ctik expecting something like this? Turning his home into a theme park?”
“Not this, specifically, but it is supposed to be a survival instinct for vampires to not put all their earth in one box. I know,” he sighed as Duo opened his mouth to argue. “It isn’t fair. Nothing in this world is expected to be, my angel.”
Duo leaned in to rest his forehead against Heero’s shoulder. “I know… And I’m an idiot for wishing it was… It’s only… maybe life isn’t fair, but people should be. And it just… ticks me off when they aren’t.” Heero turned them to begin rinsing Duo’s hair.
“And that’s why you want to be so fair to everyone?”
“I dunno… maybe. Just seems like somebody should.”
Heero combed his fingers through the long strands thoughtfully. The Banshee had a point. He could argue, but it wouldn’t do anything to sway his Banshee’s opinion and it would most likely get him relegated to his own bed, alone, for the night. Fairness was not such a grand thing, in the long run, but maybe it wasn’t entirely useless. A lot of Humans never even noticed the fairness of others, but for the ones who did and were grateful and responded in kind… It was probably a net good.
“You know that I sometimes disagree with you over these social concepts…” he said slowly.
“Only because you have not yet been assimilated,” Duo grinned. “Are you arguing now?”
“Not at all,” Heero reassured him, squeezing the excess water out of his hair and coiling it carefully in a towel. “I would not dream of arguing with you when such a suave and urbane vampire is sleeping not that far away. I wouldn’t want to look uncouth in comparison.”
Duo snickered and poked his sternum lightly. “*You* just don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”
“That too. Seriously, fairness is not necessarily a dragonish concept, but I do understand your point. Tomorrow, you will have a haircut – I do get to collect the hair that is cut off, yes? – and we will try to find some fairness for Ctik the Clueless.”
“You can claim to be so terrible all you like, Heero Yuy, but I know all about that gooey cream center.” He hooked an arm around the Wyvern’s neck and kissed him deeply. “Meet you in bed when you’re done, okay?”
“Yours or mine?”
“Yours. I feel like being pampered.” He slipped out of the shower to dry off and begin taming his unruly hair.
Heero smirked to himself and reached for the shampoo. It seemed he was finally
getting the hang of this whole Banshee thing. About damn time.
______________________
“So,” began Duo when the last of his bacon had been run to earth and consumed. “Where is the theme-park-to-be?”
Heero rested his chin on his hand watching the Banshee make short work of the buffet breakfast. Utterly amazing how much the lean creature could eat and still maintain that svelte form. Most Magical Creatures had self-regulating systems and were unlikely to ever get “fat” as some Humans did, but it was still… remarkable. And it reminded him of their first meeting, not that long ago. Great Dragons… He had to be the luckiest Wyvern in history, to have found such a mate. Well… *potential* mate, he reminded himself with a mental poke. Duo hadn’t said “yes” yet; not freely. And he wasn’t going to chance screwing up something this important just because he *wanted* so much.
Duo’s question shook him out of his dreamy reverie. Ctik. Right. Rescue the idiot vampire.
“The house is in upstate New York.” He produced a map from his other space and laid it out on the table to show the Banshee. “It’s located in this area,” he said pointing to a spot just west of the Vermont line and barely south of Canada. Duo shivered.
“Wow. Cold country.”
“Not at the moment,” Heero muttered. “I hate mosquitoes.” He pulled out his cellphone to call the port room while Duo expanded the relevant portion of the map.
“This looks really… rural. Lots of woods… fields… Wonder what they grow way up there?”
Heero finished his phone call first, then shrugged. “I am not sure. I know the property was originally very large. The family farmed in the early days, but that was almost 300 years ago. I believe there may have been orchards until recently. Miles is some sort of consultant, I think. He works down in the city.” He cocked his head questioningly at Duo’s grin. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. Just… you seem to know an awful lot about someone you profess to not be crazy about.”
Heero raised one eyebrow. “’Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’”
“Riiiight,” snickered the Banshee. “When do we leave?”
“Ten minutes. Our port will meet us outside.” He stood up and tucked the map away. “Shall we?”
--------------------------------
It was still officially ‘morning’ when they appeared on the front terrace of the sprawling stone mansion. Duo blinked up at the forbidding façade and let out a low whistle.
“You weren’t kidding when you called it ‘gothic’. Damn. Where are the gargoyles?”
Heero turned from dismissing the porter and snorted. “Right here, Banshee; remember?”
It took a few seconds, then Duo blushed lightly. “Ah. Right. I forgot. Ooops…?”
Heero mock-glared at him. “Actually, there were gargoyles on the original building in Europe. Ctik chose not to have them installed when the place was reconstructed. He wasn’t sure how the local Protestants would take them. The carvings are stored in the cellar. Or they were.” He frowned. “Assuming Miles or Theodore didn’t sell them off under Ctik’s nose.”
Duo reached past Heero and thumped the enormous brass doorknocker. “Well, if they did, *I’m* going to do some ass-kicking,” he growled.
The door was opened a few minutes later by a middle-aged woman in jeans and a smock, with her hair tucked under a bandana and a wire running from her ear to a pocket.
“Good morning,” she said rather loudly. “What can I do for you?”
Heero produced a business card. “We are here to see Miles Grinsted.”
The woman gave a faint snort. “You and everybody else,” she muttered. “Come on in and have a seat. I’ll let Mr Grinsted know you’re here.” She escorted them to a tastefully-decorated parlor, not bothering to close the double doors when she went out.
They both listened intently. Footsteps, some murmured words, an exclamation. A female voice slightly louder, sounding both derisive and indignant. The slam of a door. Murmurs. Water running somewhere. Another door; opened, not closed. A male voice. A female voice. A second female voice. An indeterminate voice.
“Hn. Miles, two women and possibly a child, in addition to the woman who answered the door. She is probably the cleaner. Too matronly to be Miles’ spouse.”
“He runs to trophy wives, does he?” Duo said softly.
“He runs to anything out of his reach, if he is anything like Theodore.”
More voices; it sounded like an argument. A female voice overwhelmed the others.
“They asked for you! Now, get in there and act like a man!”
Heero smiled, showing his teeth. “That would be the trophy wife, I expect.”
Heavy footsteps rang on the hardwood floor and they rose to meet their reluctant host.
The man who edged nervously into the room looked nothing like Ctik. This descendant was taller and heavier without being fat; dressed rather fussily for a Saturday morning in creased khaki trousers, a white button-down shirt and a navy sweater vest. Dark hair and eyes behind expensive frames; regular features and a strong chin. Duo supposed him to be a fairly attractive specimen of middle-aged male humanity. In other circumstances, Duo could imagine him being described as dynamic or even commanding, but facing the deceptively smaller Wyvern, Miles just looked scared.
“Miles,” growled Heero. “We have spoken with Ctik.” No pleasantries for the earth-mover and house-seller.
“Uh… Oh. Um…”
“What was the price for your heritage?”
“Huh?”
“How much money did you get for this house?” Heero snarled. Miles leaned back slightly, as if he wanted to run.
“My-my name is on the papers, not his,” he managed.
Heero drew himself up, flexing his hands dangerously. Miles stared at his hands. “*How MUCH*?”
“Miles,” said Duo conversationally from slightly behind Heero. He could play good cop/bad cop. “You know you’d really better answer him, because you don’t want to see him get angry.”
Miles glanced at him and Duo could see the ring of white around his irises. Apparently, Miles did remember his last meeting with Heero; good. He decided to insert himself a bit further into the proceedings, before Heero totally lost his temper. Not that Duo wasn’t just as pissed off, but he could think of more subtle punishments than a quick death.
“So what’d you make on the deal for Ctik’s home, Miles? Ten million? Twenty?”
Heero snorted. “This whole county isn’t worth twenty million dollars.”
“Nine…”
“What was that, Miles?” said Duo, stepping closer.
“Nine million,” he muttered.
“Just for the house? Wow!”
“The land too…”
“Ah. You sold Ctik’s house… and his land… for… nine million dollars?”
“It’s my property…” Miles whined. “I’m the one who takes care of it.”
“Not anymore, though, right? Damn, Heero, maybe Ctik won’t mind so much for nine million. That’ll buy a lot of nice boxes.”
“It’s my money!” Miles snapped. “I worked for it! I made the deal! I got them up to nine million!”
There was a crash out in the hallway and a moment later a red-faced and furious
woman stalked in.
“You sonuvabitch! You said they only offered four million! And you said Ctik knew about it and approved!” she yelled. She swung a wild roundhouse at Miles, spinning as he ducked the blow. Duo caught her before she could fall.
“Mrs Grinsted, I presume?”
“Not for much longer!” she snarled.
Heero snickered; it sounded… well, scary. “I see which side of the family you take after, Miles. Now, I want a cashier’s check for 90% of the proceeds, made out to Ctik.”
“What?! I’m not-“
Heero changed, wings lifting threateningly. “Or I will rip off your head and shove it up your ass,” he snarled, glaring down at the stunned man.
“Oh my god!” shrieked his wife. “Miles, you asshole! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
The next few minutes were confused. Or chaotic. Duo leaned toward chaotic confusion. Mrs Grinsted screamed angrily; Miles bellowed defensively and then the two other voices – belonging to Miles’ children – joined the melee.
Both he and Heero stepped back a pace as the family members yelled and screamed at each other until Miles suddenly began flailing his arms wildly.
“I had to! I had to replace the college funds!”
Dead silence. *Stunned* dead silence.
Heero lowered his head slowly to look Miles in the eyes.
“I’m sorry, Miles; would you repeat that last statement?” Heero rumbled calmly.
“I-I-I…” Miles stammered.
Heero laid one taloned hand on the man’s shoulder. “Miles…” He smiled, showing most of his razor-sharp teeth. His frills were rising and his tail had begun to twitch ominously. “I heard ‘college funds’, did I not.”
“I was going to put it back…” Miles whispered.
“Dad! What did you do?!” That was the female child; she looked about sixteen.
Neither of the children, Duo noted, seemed the slightest bit startled at having a scaly blue Wyvern Dragon standing in the parlor. Must be a side-effect of having a vampire in the family.
“You raided the kids’ college accounts?!” gasped his wife. “Miles! What’s wrong with you?!”
“I *had* to! Gisela, I lost almost two million in the stock market! We’re worse than broke!”
“Ah,” said Heero softly. “So that’s why you removed Ctik’s earth. Remove the earth, remove the vampire. Remove the pointing finger… In that case, the amount of the check will be 99% of the proceeds. You may keep the rest as a finder’s fee.”
“What?! I *will* not!”
Heero’s talons tightened on Miles’ shoulder; the man winced. “Yes, you will, Miles.” He shifted his hand to the back of Miles’ neck and took hold of his shirt and sweater. “What bank?” he asked Gisela.
She swallowed. “Farmer’s Trust; in the city.”
“Do they know Ctik?”
“Yes. Allan Horstang is the account manager. Are you going to… to… bring Miles back?” she asked hesitantly.
Heero cocked his head at her. “Do you want him back?”
She opened her mouth, and then closed it thoughtfully. “I guess so… I still need to know what the hell he did with the college money.” She glared at her petrified husband. “What’s Matthew supposed to do in August, you fuckwit?! Come home and work at McDonald’s?” She collapsed into a chair, head in her hands. “You are so stupid…”
The two children aligned themselves with their mother and glared at their father. Clearly, he would not be inspiring any “Why I Love My Dad” essays for Father’s day.
“As you wish, Mrs Grinsted,” Heero murmured. “Duo, would you take the information while Miles and I deal with the business side? Thank you.”
He stalked out of the room, hauling Miles with him. Miles appeared to be praying; at least, his lips were moving quite rapidly and his eyes were screwed tightly shut. Good; after what he’d done to Ctik, Duo didn’t have any sympathy for the idiot.
Once the front door closed and he heard the faint sounds of Heero’s launch, coupled with the not-so-faint sounds of Miles’ shrieking, Duo smiled disarmingly at the remaining Grinsteds and seated himself on the delicate loveseat across from Mrs Grinsted. He produced a notebook and a pen and murmured the spell that would enable the auto writing. Usually, he took his own notes, but he had a feeling that with three voices likely to be coming at him, the auto writer would be more efficient.
“Don’t worry, Mrs Grinsted; Heero acts much fiercer than he actually is. Although… if you had said you didn’t want Miles back, I have no doubt Heero would have seen to that.” He grinned and the woman brightened somewhat.
She pressed her hand to her forehead and sighed. “God, what a jerk…” she muttered. Then she straightened suddenly. “Oh, crap! Where’s Ctik?!” she cried. “Did Miles do something to–“
“No, no!” Duo assured her. “Ctik is fine! Or he will be after he gets some sleep and a refill of his earth. Heero arranged temporary lodgings at the Castle.”
“Thank you… He’s such a nice man; not at all what you’d expect a vampire to be like,” she explained.
“Mom?” It was the daughter. “What does this mean; the college fund is gone? How could Dad…? I thought Gramma Vee had it all tied up somehow…”
“Maybe Dad hired a ninja hacker to suck the money out by computer…” From the son.
Daughter rolled her eyes. Duo was going to have to get names in a minute; the auto write spell liked names. “You are such a loser! You don’t hire hackers!”
“Breeze; Michael, stop it,” said Mrs Grinsted wearily. “This is serious.”
“Indeed it is,” interjected Duo in an effort to get back to business. “Even though legally, in the Human world at least, Ctik has no control of his assets, the Magical World requires that Human surrogates behave in an honest and honorable way. Miles is way past that now.” The kids settled on either side of their mother, looking suitably grim.
“May I have your names for my report?” he asked, gesturing to the pen and paper on the table next to him.
“Gisela Grinsted. This is my daughter Breeze and my younger son Michael. My older son, Matthew, is away at college.”
“When did you first hear about this deal that Miles cooked up?”
“Maybe… three months ago,” she said slowly. “He said Ctik was concerned about the expense of keeping the house and grounds up these days. Ctik has always been a sweetie to me and the kids, so it never occurred to me that Miles was going behind his back. I don’t see Ctik that often; I work a second shift. It’s not unusual for us to miss each other for a month or more.” She sighed painfully. “I should have made more of an effort, but… He’s a vampire; what could happen?”
This time Michael rolled his eyes. “Mom! Sunlight, stakes, fire, crosses, holy water…”
“Actually, according to Heero the only thing that will really destroy a vampire is sunlight or being thoroughly disemboweled. The religious junk is just fiction.”
“Really?” Michael looked put-out. “I wonder why he never told us that.”
“Maybe because it’s none of our business?” jeered Breeze. “And I already knew that crosses don’t do anything. Remember Mom; Greta brought me that rosary thing from her trip to Italy. She said it was blessed or whatever, and Ctik handled it and just said that it was very pretty. He sure didn’t shrivel up.”
Gisela shrugged. “I’m sorry, Mr…?”
“Ah; my fault.” Duo produced a trio of cards and handed one to each of them. “Duo of Blue Forest; MIO Investigator.”
“I’m sorry, Duo; as you can see, the *children* like to pretend they were raised by wolves.” She glared at her offspring, who quickly subsided.
“Not a problem at all, Gisela,” he grinned. “If they annoy me, I’ll just turn them into hedgehogs until we’re finished.” Transmutation spells were out of his league, but the Humans didn’t need to know that. It served to make both kids shrink back in their seats, wide-eyed.
“Now, how about you tell me everything you can remember since you first heard about the deal?”
Gisela was very thorough; she had a good memory for detail. Duo couldn’t help wondering if that was natural for her or if she had had to develop the skill in order to deal with Miles. Ctik’s descendant seemed to have sailed pretty close to the edge for most of his adult life.
“So, I didn’t think anything of it when I didn’t run into Ctik for a few weeks,” she concluded with a sigh. “There is an entrance to his personal… crypt, I guess he calls it, but I don’t know where it is.” She looked to her children. “Either of you ever come across it?”
Breeze shook her head. “I never looked. I mean, why would anyone want to? Except to try to hurt him or just be nosy.” She glared at her brother.
Michael slouched in his seat, looking as guilty as possible. “I… might know where it is,” he muttered. “Not everyone spends all their time on the phone drooling over *Robert* and *Justin*,” he sneered.
Breeze reached behind her mother to smack him in the back of the head. “You are so juvenile!”
Gisela covered her eyes and sighed. Obviously an oft-repeated exchange between the siblings.
Duo fixed Michael with a stare. “You *might* know? Show me, then,” he ordered.
Michael blinked in surprise. “You want to see…?” He brightened considerably.
“I do. Now.”
“All right!” He bounced to his feet and headed for the door. “C’mon!”
Duo excused himself to the females and followed closely.
“This is so fuckin’ cool!” Michael exclaimed as they went out the front doors and across the terrace. “Nobody ever wants to hear anything I have to say. It’s always ‘now Michael’ or ‘later Michael’ or ‘we don’t discuss those things at the table Michael’. That is soooo fucked!”
“How old are you?” Duo asked curiously, making a note to himself that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to leave this kid to his own devices. That could be how Miles came to be such a shit.
“Thirteen last month, but they all act like I’m five.” He slowed slightly, allowing Duo to come abreast of him. “Well, except for Ctik. He’s really cool, but I don’t see him very often. Like Mom said, he mostly comes and goes without us knowing.”
“You like Ctik?”
The kid glanced at him, startled. “Oh yeah. We used to do Legos when I was little. We’d build castles and he’d show me how to make stairs and secret passages and he told me a lot of family history from back in the beginning.” He shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “Dad really sold the house out from under him?”
“Apparently so…”
“Fuck. That sucks. Well, so does the college fund thing, too, I guess, but the house… That’s just… you know, mean.”
“Yes.”
“What did the Dragon guy mean about Ctik’s earth?”
“His name is Heero. It looks like Miles disposed of Ctik’s cache of native earth; whether to simply drive him away or to destroy him, I wouldn’t know.”
“`Destroy’ like in ‘kill’?”
“Yep.”
He shook his head in disgust. “Fuckin’ Christ on a damn cracker…” he muttered.
Duo found it interesting that the kid made no effort to defend his father or to disabuse him of the notion that Miles was capable of such perfidy. Very interesting.
They crossed a large swath of grass and angled around the side of the building toward a small outcropping of stone.
“You don’t seem surprised that your father would do something like this.”
Michael slowed, then stopped and turned to look at Duo. “First off, I know I’m ‘just a kid’ to adults, but I’m not an idiot. I can read, I can hear just fine, I can figure things out and Dad isn’t the best at putting stuff away. And… you know… if it’s lying around in plain sight, I’m gonna take a look. So, I know he’s a lot like Grampa Ted. Especially with money. When I was little, we had a full-time housekeeper; now we have Ms Dotson in twice a week. And I know Mom makes more money now than when I was little. But Dad’s kind of… careless… you know… And sometimes he does stuff that sounds crazy even to Breeze, and she’s not what you’d call financially savvy.”
“And you are?” Duo wondered with a smile.
“Yep.” He made a head toss-shoulder shrug gesture that suggested it was self-evident but also no big deal. “Dad got into day trading.” He rolled his eyes and sighed. “That’s so last century, but that’s Dad; always the last one to the party,” he smirked.
“Does your mother know how much you know?”
Michael shrugged again. “Probably not. Her job is pretty high-pressure and anyway, I think maybe she already knows that Dad isn’t really…”
“Honest?”
Another sigh, delivered this time while staring at his shoes. “Yeah.” He looked up at Duo. “Not anything criminal; I checked up on that, but not so ethical, either.”
“Does your dad know that you know this about him?”
He snorted. “Are you crazy?! He’d tan my hide! But he’s not a computer guy and I am, so I can kind of… well, snoop… and he doesn’t know.”
Duo shook his head, grinning. “You’d make a good investigator.”
Michael brightened. “You think? I was kind of thinking about forensics. I like to know stuff. Hey, are you a Wizard? Ctik mentioned once that he called the Wizards for help…”
“I am not a Wizard; no. I am a Magical Creature; specifically a Banshee. Heero is a Magical Creature; a Wyvern, but he is also a Wizard.”
“Cool!” He turned toward the stone outcrop. “The entrance is down here.” He pulled back some plantings and pointed to a large stone. “You only have to push on the stone and it drops down and away and then you can kind of slither into a passage.” He demonstrated and the stone did indeed open for him.
...tbc...
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