Here is another fun filled romp in London and Arkham. I hope you enjoy. As always feel free to vote and comment on the story.
London:
Wind Sword Manor:
When you hear those words what comes to mind? A bleak desolate place where gusts of ice cold wind cut like knives then you wouldn't be far off. It was that and so much more. The massive wrought iron gates were set into walls of polished Scottish granite twenty feet high and a full two feet thick. Each block perfectly cut and set to fit the one below it. From what I could tell not a single bit of mortar was used in the entire construction.
The gates swung silently inward and we drove up the winding path to the manor house. While the trees, flowers and lawn were as meticulously cared for as those of Cyan Michaels there was a sense of wrongness to the geometry of the place. I felt that if I looked away the very layout of the grounds would change in some subtle and disturbing way.
We came around the long elegant arc to the front of the house and I saw it for the first time. Like the wall surrounding it Wind Sword Manor was built of granite and fit together like come great monolithic structure from the long dead past. Its three stories loomed in the darkness and I could see a crescent moon hang over the thing like a great sickle. Bleak and dark and yet this was home. Here we would stay for the next two months until we left for Berlin. I did not know what to expect or fear from this place but I was here.
The driver turned around as I opened the door to step out.
"I will go back and get your things sir," he said with a look that said it's not too late.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. Take care of yourself."
"You too sir," he said and meant it. "...you too."
The door to the manor house opened and there was one friendly face to greet me.
"Welcome home Master," Mary said warmly her feline eyes gleaming in the light.
"Hello Mary," I replied.
Just then as if on cue Storm dropped out of the night sky and landed lightly on my shoulder. His draconic form almost invisible in the play of shadows and I felt his tail wrap comforting around my neck and shoulders. Mary blinked a few times and I can't say as I blamed her. Who wouldn't when your boss shows up and a small dragon lands on his shoulders as if summoned from the darkness?
"I am starved," I told Mary. "And I could use a pint or two after the day I have had."
"Dinner is waiting and I will pour your beer myself Sir."
"What about my mother and Melody?"
"Your mother is on her way and Melody has decided to stay on at Lady Michaels."
I wanted to say 'I don't blame her' but I didn't.
"I assume rooms are prepared for my mother and me?"
"Oh yes sir, the Master bedroom is ready for you and for her a suit not far from yours."
"Great work Mary, where is the dining area?"
"This way Sir," she said leading the way.
I silently sent to Storm and he took wing and disappeared. The place was massive on an epic scale. It wasn't Buckingham Palace but it wasn't far off either. The dining room was huge and could have seated dozens. It would do for my first meal but changes were in order. I may have to live here but it would be on my terms.
My food was served immediately and the beer followed shortly afterwards. I ate in silence with Mary and a young Latin woman standing and waiting in case I needed anything. It was the Latin girl who fetched the two refills on the delicious dark Irish beer I was drinking. I felt that since I had healed Mary she had been elevated somehow within the ranks of 'those who serve'. Her reverent desire to serve was now fueled by a status as my favorite and that disturbed me somehow. I believed Faye when she said Mary was a good kid and she had been through so much pain and suffering. But I think me snatching her from the brink has altered her on some fundamental level. Maybe not for the good I worried. Was I over thinking this thing? Then I looked at her and saw the almost fevered gaze in Mary's feline eyes and knew I was dead on. God help me maybe I should have let her die.
My meal finished I retired to the library waiting for my mom to arrive. Mary had moved onto her other duties leaving the Latin girl to keep an eye on me.
"What's your name," I said as I sipped my beer.
"Louisa Master is there anything you require?"
She had a lovely voice and there was of course the slight Spanish accent that was not unattractive. She had that dusky skin and dark eyes and long black hair that fell nearly to her ass. Louisa was curvaceous in all the right places and very pleasing on the eye.
"No, tell me Louisa where do you come from?"
"I am from New York Master."
"New York City," I asked.
"Yes Master."
"Your family is still there?"
"Yes Master."
I real conversationalist this one I thought.
"Are you afraid of me Louisa?"
"Master, I don't understand?"
"Well every time I ask you a question you spit out as few words as humanly possible. So are you afraid of me?"
"Yes Sir I am," she admitted.
"I appreciate your honesty," I told her. "You don't need to be I don't bite, unless you like that sort of thing."
She blushed furiously and I thought I could almost hear her heart pounding in her chest. I finished my beer and handed her the empty glass.
