Chapter Eduard
Eduard
Most people, whether human or supernatural, managed their wealth in one of two ways. They either played the long game, slow and steady wins the race. It was a lower risk game with good returns when investing for the course of a lifetime.
Or there were the quick and nimble market players, buy low and sell high. Move fast and strike while it’s hot. It was a more dangerous way with high risk, but the rewards could be impressive.
Eduard had done both dances over the course of his career.
His father had trained him from his earliest days to watch the markets, read the news, pay attention to details that others missed.
The moment he’d been called as a guardian, the responsibility of the tithes paid over centuries to the Chosen One became his.
Sawyer had no idea how much money he’d come into with one simple twist of fate. Eduard knew that the zeros on the end of his account statements were impressive when he’d begun managing the funds, and he’d managed to add another couple of zeros to the end with a few shrewd investments.
Cecil knocked quietly on Eduard’s office door before carrying in a tray. It had his favorite coffee and fresh scones. Cecil poured him a cup, placing it at his elbow, before giving him a significant look, chastising him for not being in bed with the others, then leaving the office.
He’d been working since before dawn. He should still be passed out with the others.
Their declarations of loyalty had turned Sawyer on big time, and he’d taken them all to bed for hours of touching and teasing and coming.
It should have been enough to slow down his brain, but not even Sawyer’s touch had been enough to keep the fear at bay.
He’d not hidden his initial reaction from Sawyer as well as he’d hoped, but then again, pure abject terror was a hard emotion to hide.
He didn’t have Andvari’s ability to shut down, but if the vampire thought Eduard didn’t know exactly what had gone through his mind when they realized the Chosen One was a young human with exactly zero magical power, well, he was wrong.
The world had shifted on its axis for all of them, whether Sawyer understood it or not.
Draco was prepared to fight any naysayers with tooth, claw, and well-placed fire breathing. Andvari and Eduard knew that the bigger threats were ones they couldn’t fight the old-fashioned way.
They were about to enter a deadly game of politics, and they didn’t even know who the other guardians were.
Eduard was torn. Wait or move? If the others arrived soon, they could begin making their rounds with a fully loaded set of guardians.
Then again, if the other guardians didn’t react well to their new human leader, things were bound to get ugly with Sawyer at the center of the struggle.
And that didn’t take into account the leaders of the clans.
Eduard was pretty sure he could bring his father around, play to his fears of having some powerful overlord from another clan.
Sawyer wouldn’t be that. The griffins wouldn’t have to bow to the dragons, or anyone else. His father would appreciate that.
Andvari walked into the office with a stack of papers in his hand. “Shopping list,” he barked, slapping the pages onto Eduard’s desk.
“One, watch your tone. Two, what are we shopping for?”
“Security. We’re sitting ducks. The moment word gets out… well, we need better security.”
Sadly, he wasn’t wrong. “I’ll make it happen.”
Sawyer shuffled in next, sleepily leaning against Andvari’s side. “You got up too early,” he complained. “Come back to bed.”
“You take care of the list while I take care of him,” Andvari said.
Sawyer straightened with a scowl. “What list?”
Andvari grinned and pulled Sawyer against him. “I told Eduard he needed to get supplies to make up a fifty-gallon drum of that special oil of his. The salve, too. We’re gonna need that stuff in bulk.”
Sawyer arched a brow, then pushed Andvari away. “I’m not an idiot.”
“I never said you were.”
“Then tell me what’s on the list.”
Eduard cleared his throat and Sawyer spun to face him. “It’s what we need to increase security around the property. I need to get the supplies ordered immediately.”
Sawyer sighed. “Can’t we just have one day?
No one knows yet, and until then, we’re fine here.
Is it wrong that I just want one day to bask in this with you guys?
To not worry about all the stuff I don’t know?
To not have to question why the two of you completely freaked out last night when I told you?
One day to wallow in bed and fuck and have fun? ”
“It’s not too much to ask, Sawyer, but it can’t happen.”
“Why not?”
Eduard glanced at Andvari, who scowled and led Sawyer to the leather chairs across the room.
Eduard pushed away from his desk and sat down in a chair next to them.
“You clearly read from our reaction that you’re in danger, Sawyer.
But you knew that already, because you’ve already been attacked once. ”
“And to be honest with you,” Andvari added, “I don’t think whoever attacked you at school knew you were the Chosen One. I think they were trying to mess with Henry, scare him into not interpreting his visions correctly. They were playing a mind game with him.”
“Well, it worked,” Sawyer said. “The only way they knew I knew Henry was if they saw us here at the house or when Henry was down at mine. So they were close.”
Andvari reached out and grabbed his hand. “I wondered if you’d realized that.”
“Again, I’m not an idiot.”
“And again, I know that. But you are new to this world and its possibilities.”
Sawyer’s glare softened, ever so slightly. “I’ll concede that point.”
Eduard reached for his hand. “Then know that we take our pledge seriously. We will keep you safe.”
“Okay, I get that this world is full of dangerous creatures but… I guess I don’t understand why I’m in so much danger.
Haven’t you guys been waiting for the Chosen One for centuries?
I mean, you said the prophecy in ancient Greek.
And didn’t Henry tell me that the prophecy was several hundred years ago?
That’s a long time, you know? And how come no one but me ever thought to question the language?
Why didn’t the original people involved realize that nothing could have different meanings? ”
Eduard sighed. This was the part he’d been wanting to avoid. “Sawyer, there are certain expectations for the Chosen One. Expectations that have been building for an extremely long time, as you’ve pointed out. Hundreds of years of waiting.”
“Do you know who the sisters in the prophecy refer to?” Andvari asked.
Sawyer shook his head.
“They’re the daughters of the Mother Goddess you met. They’re the ones running the show. So if you met the Mother, and she’s intervening on your behalf, that means her goddess daughters are being overruled.”
Sawyer’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. “But…but…”
“The Chosen One was expected to have powers impressive enough to combat several angry goddesses, Sawyer.”
“And instead you got me. A big pile of nothing.”
Andvari moved from his chair and knelt at Sawyer’s feet.
“And yet, as frightened as I am for you, I trust in the Mother. Don’t you?
She must have given you something, Sawyer, some clue that gave you the confidence to tell us.
And when you came in that room last night, I jumped at your command.
Draco didn’t take a breath before he did as you asked.
You were born for this. Please believe it. ”
“He’s right,” Eduard added. “My entire way of thinking of myself as a guardian changed last night. I grew up thinking that my powers of money management would be the only use for the Chosen One, that his or her powers would make my own seem negligible. I provided the cash, as griffins do, and that would be my contribution. But you’re going to need my physical strength as well, and my griffin is eager to step up to the challenge. ”
Andvari grinned. “And I think that my vampire side is as eager for the upcoming battle as I am to taste the blood pumping through your veins. Can you guess how eager that makes me?” As he spoke, Andvari had pulled Sawyer forward and out of the chair.
He ended with him straddled across Andvari’s lap, proof of his desire separating them only by thin layers of fabric.
Sawyer’s pupils widened as desire filled him.
His breath quickened, that sweet gasp that Eduard was beginning to cherish.
This hadn’t been in his plan either. Insatiable desire to just touch Sawyer, be inside him.
The prophecy definitely hadn’t mentioned how hungry he would be for the Chosen One’s touch.
He wondered what else the words he’d been living by for so many years had neglected to mention.
“That’s a whole lot of eager there, Andi,” Sawyer teased.
He got a flash of fang in reply but it just made Sawyer groan and tilt his head back to expose his throat. The young man toed the line of danger and seemed to come away unscathed. Each of their beasts wanted to devour him, but only in the most pleasurable ways.
“My name is—”
“Andi,” Sawyer said again. “So speaketh the Chosen One. From here to forever more, Andvari the vicious vampire will be known as Andi.”
“And Andi will bite you if you tell anyone else to call me anything but my name.”
Sawyer grinned and licked and Andvari’s lips. “Do you really hate it?”
Andvari hummed as Sawyer’s tongue teased oh so carefully over one of his fangs.
“Mostly,” Andvari groaned.
Sawyer moved to the other side, his tongue continuing its dance with danger. “So you’ll let me call you Andi?”
He groaned and pulled Sawyer more tightly against him, his fingers gripping Sawyer’s hips as he began to rotate his own hips beneath him.