It was raining. Perseus wasn't sure what to do. He was waiting just inside the Sanctuary. He was certain Jasmin and Lionel were busy. They were in some stupid meeting of some kind. Charles was busy with some stupid case paperwork or something. In fact, that was what annoyed him. He couldn't even read the paperwork, so how could he fill it out?
He stepped out into the pouring rain, standing on the edge of the pavement. He stood there for a few minutes, eyes closed, wishing he had a cigarette on him.
"You're still here!" A voice called through the rain, sounding disapproving and worried. Perseus cracked an eye open.
"yes, Charles. You've finished work?"
"No, but I was worried you wouldn't have anywhere to go, and I wanted...I...I wanted to make sure you'd be okay."
He smiled. "That's sweet...you're getting soaked."
"So are you. That blazer doesn't look waterproof."
Perseus looked down at himself. He was wearing a grey suit and yellow shirt and he was soaked to the skin. Charles wasn't much better off in a white blazer-jacket and dark grey T-shirt and jeans. He was quickly becoming just as drenched as his dark-skinned lover. He stepped a little closer, drawing his jacket around him for warmth. "You should wait inside, Percy."
"Percy?"
He nodded sharply. "Percy."
Perseus shrugged. "I'll allow that. Don't call me it too often though."
Charles nodded and shifted closer still.
"So what happened with your wallet?"
"One of Mevolent's stole it."
"well..."
"Elder Montaneaux gave me money for a cab home. I have money back home. Want to come with?"
"To your house?"
"It's a place to stay. I have a spare room. You might like it."
"You know what I do for a living, right?"
Charles paused. "You mean kidnap children?"
"For their safety or the safety of those around them, yes." he sighed. "I actually miss having to care for children...they drove me crazy, but..."
Charles gave a light laugh. "I have young nieces. Babysit them once and a while." They both laughed airily and Perseus turned and found his nose inches from Charles'. They both jumped. Charles started laughing again. With a roll of his eyes, the Cuban Mage grabbed a handful of snow-white hair and pulled the French detective forward, locking their lips together.
-----
Back at the house, Mortis was hiding from Franz. He went to explore upstairs. Garnet's old bed was taken up by the new redhead. Ricky was in his own old bed. There was no sign of Hiro living in Mortis' old room. The wall between Mort's and Jay's had been knocked down during a fight shortly before the two of them had been forced to leave by the detective who had been at Icarus' house. Neither room looked occupied and the belongings of the two men seemed undisturbed. Frowning with curiosity, Mortis reached under his bed and pulled out something bronze. His face brightened. "Lance." He cooed, holding a tuba up. It had been a long while since he'd seen Lance the tuba last. He blew a little dust away and held the instrument to his mouth.
Ricky rolled his eyes to gaze at the ceiling as the sound of music floated down from above...in fact, it was that self same song. He sang along a little while he waited for Franz to return from the bathroom. "The hills are alive with the sound of music...the songs they have sung for a thousand years...the hills something some something sound of music, something some...once more..."
"Hate that song." Franz muttered as he entered, just as Ursa opened his mouth to correct the healer on the lyrics. The Australian closed his mouth again. "Tell me, Evan-,"
"Richard."
"What exactly is it you need me to do?"
"Several things. We'll pay you back in whatever amount you feel is fair. Firstly, the whereabouts of the Grotesquery. We need to find it and see if your...disposition...can destroy it..."
"That wasn't part of the plan." Ursa interrupted.
"Not originally, no. Then we'll discuss the next part of our plan. Mainly because Phillipa up there was an unexpected factor and we can't kill him...and Garnet's an unexpected factor as well...and we don't need you to break our friend out anymore..."
Franz listened with mock-interest.
-----
Charles opened the front door, grinning, and reached for the light switch. He flicked it a few times to find there had been a power cut. Looking out across the road, he found the neighbours' lights were out as well. With a sigh, he scaled the stairs. Perseus dumped his stuff by the front door and slammed it shut. There was some movement upstairs that he assumed was Charles until he heard the scuffle. When he looked, he could easily tell the difference between the lighter, smaller figure of Charles and the taller, slender, darker figure of the intruder. "Need a hand?" He called up, startling the intruder. Evidently he had been under the impression that the detective had been alone. Charles got him in a headlock.
"I'm doing fine, Percy. Just a little reluctant to release my Gist on the kid." The 'kid' collapsed.
The power was back on when the kid woke up again. He was shackled to a plastic kiddie chair. He had dark brown hair, smooth, silky and wavy to his chin and green-grey eyes. He had a few familiar traits to him. Charles couldn't place him, but he did look familiar, as though they'd met before. "Morning, kid."
"Let me go, pig."
The detective took a seat opposite the boy. Perseus stood beside the boy's chair. He was about 20 appearance wise. His biological age was a mystery. "My name is Detective Fiable. What's yours?"
The kid spat at him. Fiable, to his credit, didn't so much as flinch.
"The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner you may go."
He sighed. "Leandre Luxueux."
Charles hesitated. "That name sounds...a little familiar..."
Leandre shrugged.
"Okay, so you broke into my home..."
"I was looking for something."
"For what? Files? Belongings? Shelter?"
Leandre stayed quiet.
"Are you just some poor kid with no home or are you an anarchist or are you working for someone? If I get you in trouble, I'll make sure you're protected."
"Or imprisoned."
"Eh, if it means Mevolent doesn't kill you."
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't work for Mevolent."
"Leandre, you're going into a cell anyway, so why not tell me why you're here?" He examined the boy's face closely, difficult when he still lacked his glasses. He looked like someone he knew, but he wasn't. One of his dead friends' eldest children had taken the name Leandre. Jasmin's and Enrageant's eldest kids were girls. Hiver-Horloge had had a child, but Leandre looked nothing like him. That left Jalousie, and it sort of fit. Leandre could well have been Jalousie's Leandre. Leandre remained quiet, so Charles decided to ask. "Did I know your father?"
"I don't know. Did you?"
"You look like a Necromancer I knew. A scholar."
Leandre arched an eyebrow. "Maybe."
"He was married to another Necromancer."
"My parents weren't Necromancers."
"No?"
"No."
After a while, Charles sighed and sat back. "You're lying. I can see it in your eyes. They're her eyes. Amour's. But I can see a bit of Jalousie in them as well."
Leandre wet his lips nervously. "You were his friend, weren't you?"
Charles nodded solemnly. "Not a close one...in fact, he told me I was his least favourite of everyone in the group, but a friend nonetheless."
He suddenly looked terrified. "Let me go. Please let me go."
"You broke into my house and assaulted me."
"I'm sorry! Please let me go!"
Charles sat back, raising an eyebrow. "Are you scared of me, Leandre?"
He swallowed and said nothing.
"What's scary about me, Leandre? What's so frightening about meeting your father's old friends?"
He shook his head. "Please let me go..."
"Leandre Luxueux, you are under arrest for assault on a Sanctuary official."
"Please! No!"
"I'll take you to the Sanctuary and then you'll never see me again, okay?"
Leandre said nothing.
-----
The hotel seemed nice. The bed was comfy, the walls were a nice colour, everything was clean and it had a very pleasant smell. A baking smell. Memphis liked it. It was dark and he had just finished brushing his teeth and he already knew tonight would be a bad night. He was in Ireland and Lord Vile wanted him dead. He was pretty damn terrified. His mind was playing tricks on him. He kept seeing movements that never were in the shadows and almost having panic attacks. River was woken up multiple times by his tossing and turning.
It turns out his paranoia wasn't without justification. It wasn't Lord Vile lurking in the shadows though...
((...so apparently I'm actually intolerant to something ingestible...huh...interesting...oh, I'm now part of a magical thing called study leave, so now I have more time to revise, write, relax, eat things that might make me sick because so much stuff has gluten in it...I was interrupted when writing Ricky's speech, so I forgot what I was going to write, so I'm moving things along to my spoiler storage chapos...hoorah!))
No comments:
Post a Comment