Chapter 21 #2
“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. Uh...this is my mate, James Patterson. James, this is Toby Harris. He's the Prince's cousin and looks after the family estate here.”
Toby smiled at James.
Prince's cousin? That makes him some kind of royalty, doesn't it? At least he looks friendly enough, even with the teeth. James couldn't help himself. His gaze remained locked on Toby's fangs even as he cautiously extended a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Toby laughed. “Do these bother you?” His tongue flicked over his teeth.
Ummm...yes? “I, ah, don't think I've ever met a vampire before. It's a bit disconcerting.”
“After everything else that's happened?” Toby laughed again, but this time, his fangs had disappeared.
Interesting.
“I hope this is better,” Toby said. “Okay, look, I'll get in touch with Laurie and have him talk to your prince and Alan, okay? They are looking for you, and not to skin you.” Toby's tone sounded jovial enough, but James couldn't help buy notice that Silas gave a small shiver.
“You two look like you could use a bath and something to eat, so if you come inside, LeAnne will find you a bite.” Toby laughed again.
“No pun intended, man. And Silas? You need to take the time to explain our world to James here, and about what being mates means.”
Silas had the grace to look abashed.
“Yeah,” James said, leveling a stare at Silas. “Some explanations are definitely in order.”
Silas blanched. “Yeah, okay. You deserve to know what's going on. I've just been kinda dragging you along, huh?”
“Yes,” James said, following Toby as he opened the front door to what looked like a Tudor mansion and went in. he glanced over his shoulder back at Silas. “That would be nice.”
Silas winced and followed them both inside.
James looked around as they walked through the entrance.
It was a beautiful home. The entrance was a long hallway that revealed a very traditional H shaped floor plan.
Dominating the space, two matching staircases rose majestically, leading to two unconnected spaces.
Craning his neck to try to get a better view, he spied what he thought must be a hall.
Bedrooms? The other staircase led to a gallery that peered down over the entrance and part of what he assumed must be an area used for entertaining, given that it was open plan to the entrance area and possessed couches, armchairs, a few scattered side tables, and a fireplace.
“I'll be happy to give you a tour later.” Toby's voice pulled James back into the present.
“Thanks. I'd love that.”
Toby swept an arm towards a door off to their right. “If you'll just come this way, then.”
'This way' turned out to be an enormous dining room with another set of doors at the rear. The room beyond the doors turned out to be their destination. James was astonished to see a large, well equipped kitchen. A very modern well equipped kitchen.
“Wow.”
“You didn't expect this?” Toby asked. “We are not some medieval society. We have electricity if we want it.”
James felt his face flush.Crap.I made a rude assumption about their level of technology. Next up, more advanced stereotyping.
“I didn't see any poles or anything, so assumed.”
“Toby, why are you messing this poor man about?” A woman came bustling into the kitchen from a door to the outside. She held a garden trug in one hand, filled with carrots that still had their tops on, as well as dirt.
“Now, LeAnne, I wasn't messing him about. I was about to explain how we got we our electricity,” Toby protested.
“Mmm hmmm. Sure you were.” LeAnne gave Silas and James a friendly smile. “I'm LeAnne, Toby's long suffering wife. And you are?”
“James Patterson, confused human, FBI agent and apparent mate to Silas here.”
“Silas,” she acknowledged. “Heard you'd found your mate and gotten yourself into a spot of bother. Toby helping you with that?” she tilted her head inquiringly at Toby.
“I told him I'd try to help him out with his prince and the wolves. Speak to Laurie and all that.”
“Good idea. Laurie can speak to his prince though, royal to royal. And to the Alpha.”
Toby nodded.
“Well, go get to it!”
“I will! I was just bringing them in for some food. They've not eaten anything but what they could forge for a couple of days now.”
She nodded. “Take them for a bath and some clean clothes first. I'll put the dinner on while they bathe and you can call Laurie. Now shoo.I have work to do. Food won't cook itself.”
Toby looked abashed. “Okay, honey. I'll leave you to it.” He turned around to lead them back the way they came. “This way, gentlemen.”
“Wow. That's some woodwork,” James said as they got close enough to the staircases for him to make out the elaborate carvings on the treads, baluster and newel posts.
“I bet that took forever. The figures, here on the side- what re those? Fairies and bats, flowers, and dogs? No, wolves, huh? Representing you and your neighbors?”
“We think so, but actually, it took no time at all that we're aware of.”
James looked surprised. Seeing his perplexed expression, Toby elaborated.
“When our world was made, each of our species was given its own lands, and as needed, our lands, including our buildings, grow. They never get smaller though. Everything but the furniture appears, for whatever reason. Anyways, the staircases are part of the building, so they simply were. No one came into make them, they just came into being with the rest of the building.”
“And the dragons on the steps?” James gestured to the carvings on the stair risers.
It was Silas who answered him this time.
“Our kind are always set in groups of three- vampire, a variety of shifter, and a Fae House.
Three to each land. Around our compounds is the wild, where the Hunt runs and we travel to get to and from each other's lands, with a few small towns along the roads. To the east is the sea, which has to be crossed to get to the other lands, each populated by their own group of three. Now, the sea is populated with merfolk, fish, and other creatures of the deep, including dragons.”
“Water dragons?”
“Yes. Now, to the north, we have an area of mountains, and a dragon flight of tatsu live there. Some lands have ice dragons if they have areas cold enough.”
“Ice dragons? You mean they don't need to be warm? And wouldn't their fire, I dunno, kinda melt stuff around them?”
“Ah, ice dragons are different from regular dragons,” Toby interjected. “You know how you can get so cold, the very air almost burns?”
James frowned. “Yeah, I've been in cold like that when the Polar Vortex has shared it's shitty weather with us.”
“Well, that's what the fire of an ice dragon is like. Not fire as we usually think of it, but a cold flame so frigid that the cold itself burns with a consuming disregard for anything in its path.”
“Jesus. I'll pass, thanks,” James said.
Silas was quick to reassure him. “You have nothing to fear. They have a pact with the three lands, having been here before it all was. They were in the Veil, and some say that it was their piercing it that created this world and whose magic was blessed so that our kind came into being.”
They reached the top of the stairs. “Wow, that's incredible. So, they are sentient.”
“Very,” Toby nodded. “And even longer lived than we. But even they do not recall the truth of how we all came to be here in this world, it was so long ago.”
“No, but I've heard they might know more about how we came to be here in our lands. This land is much newer than many of the others.”
James listened to the two men in fascination.
Incredible. So the carvings on the side of the...
what are they..balusters? Yeah, balusters.
Kind of tells about the races living here, the bats on the newel posts is obviously because this house belongs to the vampires, and the treads...
they must refer to the importance of the dragons in the creating of the entire world.
Annnnnnnd that sounds completely bonkers if I stop to think too much about it, so I won't.
Toby stepped in front of the first door they came to. It was a shorter doorway than what James would have normally expected, and the walls on either side bulged out towards the bottom.
Huh. I'd heard people were shorter way back when...
“If you gentlemen go through here, you'll find an ensuite bathroom.
It'll have everything you should require.
As for clothes, I'll see what I can find.” leaving the other two men standing in the midst of an ornate bedroom dominated by a heavily carved and draped four poster bed, Toby took his leave.
Silence stretched awkwardly between the two men.
Silas chewed his lip and began looking about the room nervously until he ran out of things to casually gaze at without having to move from where he stood.
“So, uh, I reckon it's through there,” he jerked his thumb towards the only other door in the room.
“How about's I go run a bath and you can find the towels and stuff.”
“Hopefully, those are also in there,” James said dryly.
Silas ran a nervous hand over his head. “Uh, yeah. Good point. I'll uh, run it and you can relax until it's ready, then” Silas fled the room, in an obvious hurry to distance himself from the awkwardness he felt while alone in the room with James
A bath, some clean clothes, and food sounds good.
I just hope there isn't much more delay in my getting home.
Now to figure out what I'm gonna tell the Bureau and hopefully find out what this mate business is about, though I have a feeling I already know.
James sighed. He's hot, but rather squirelly.
Still, there's just something about him, and I don't mean anything about his being a fairy.
James smirked. Though that is rather awesome.