Sotus Black

CH 39 - Fleeting

"You better not want Kong's office?"

"Not a chance." Forth dismissed the idea immediately. "I'll leave dealing with humans to Kong."

"Afraid you might drink one dry?"

"No." He sounded disgusted. "But I might..."

"Jaturapoom Jamornhum!"

We stop in our tracks; we all knew who that was. The few people in the underground parking of the hotel where the meeting was taking place, hurried to their cars.

"I said win the lottery, not become a gigolo!"

"I tried to stop him Forth." Lam is right behind Beam. "He threatened me with a needle..."

"Lam saw you in a suit, he sent a picture to Bee, who sent it to the weird Angel group, who video called me!"

We all look at Lam, who hides behind Beam.

"Beam..." Forth steps forward. "This isn't what you..."

"If you let some old rich lady touch you." Beam glares. "I will scrub you with disinfectant for a week!"

"I didn't." Forth sighed. "I went to the Harrow Board meeting, to make sure Kong stayed manager."

"Why would you?" Beams confused. "You're only a worker, no one's going to listen to you."

"Forth, is the owner of Harrow Construction."

Beam looks at me, bursting in hysterical laughter. It takes a few minutes for him to calm down, he wipes a tear from his eye. Lam was grinning, he's stopped now too, looking around.

"Nice try." Beam grins. "That company is one of the top 10 business in the country. It's probably worth like half a mil."

"Top 3." Forth corrected. "And worth, millions."

Beam and Lam look expectantly at the group, waiting for me, Tew, Wad or Oak to say something, tell him it was a lie. Lam looked funny with his mouth hanging open, it took a few minutes for Beam to finally get it.

"You...You...You're rich?"

"Well...kind of..."

"Yo, bought you the apartment."

"I bought it."

"You have a motorcycle in your living room, in pieces." Beam points. "You can't afford a made one."

"That's a project, and we went on a date on the made one." Forth sighs. "Even in pieces it's worth over a million."

"You work as a noob at the construction company." Beam shouts. "Even Lam has a higher position then you."

"I like working with my hands." Forth explains. "Things were going wrong, I wanted to see who was responsible."

"Are you really...?" He looks at me. "Is he really rich?"

"Super-rich." I inform him.

We watch the scene; Beam watches Forth for a while. He frowns, crosses his arms and moves forward.

"I want a boat."

"No."

"Buy me a boat! You cheap bastard!"

"You get seas sick on one." Forth tells him. "The only way I am getting you a boat, is if we are hosting our reception on one."

It takes less than a minute.

"I'm getting a boat." Beam grinned, fist-pumping. "Take that, Nami."

"Do you think he realises Forth just proposed?"

"Not a clue." Oak answers recording.

"Do you think he realises he accepted?" Tew asks.

"Not a clue." Wad shakes his head.

I ignore Oak who is getting a close up of Lam, still frozen. Seeing Beam with Forth made me miss P'Arthit. I wish I knew how to use vampire tricks; I could rush to him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gypsy Queen

Wood crackled, burning in the earth carved hearth of the small fire. Smoke, scents and magic, twisted and coiled through the air, a figure sat cross legged before the fire, her old eyes watching the signs.

Closing her eyes when she heard it, a soft hum of long forgotten music drifted to her ears. A melody carved with magic and written with love. Her eyes flew open when it changed, taken over by loud noise and the sound of wind chimes. That never happened before, where did the wind chimes come from?

She dipped her hand into the small bag beside her, taking a handful of dust and throwing it onto the flames, making them hiss and sputter. Whispers of words reached her ears, reminders of old promises and new vows.

"You called for me grandmother?"

The fabric parted, allowing light in for a moment, a young man stepping inside.

"Pack your things, we are leaving." She told him. "He has returned, so must we."

~~~~~~~~~~

Arthit POV

"How is Rome?" Prem asked.

"Disoriented and tired." Bright looks angry. "So many precautions, how did it get past us?"

"Dreams are not a realm we thought to guard." I answer.

"You forget, the demon has been around for a while." Nami told us. "It is not done."

We sat in the garden of Wayo's mansion, my council and Nami sat around the chairs. Father and grandfather had gone to see to the Dreamweaver, it appeared there was more than one.

"An object of magic that can only be given." Knott asked. "How did the demon get it?"

"Rome gave him permission in his dream." Nami answered. "He used a trigger."

Someone Rome couldn't bear to see in pain.

"Who?"

"You." Nami told Bright. "They weaved a fake dream, and Rome couldn't bear to see you hurt."

That made Bright take a seat.

"Why not family?" Tutah asked.

"They are..." Nami's eyes shimmered. "There is something, watching them...The only way to get to Rome, was a dream."

Movement made me stand, I catch Kong in my arms before he could fall. It takes a moment for dazed crimson eyes to become the beautiful shade of brown and the smile to form on his lips. He tapped into my power again. As I help him sit, loud footsteps hurry through the house and head for us.

Godt came to a sudden halt, wheezing as he tried to breathe and talk at the same time, managing neither. He came looking for Nami, seeing me he grabbed my arm and handed me a formal letter. Confession, written on the outside.

"I went to your house." He finally manages. "And its...and there's...and it was...and I had to..."

"Calm down, Godt." Kong told the boy. "Why did you go there?"

"I went to confess." He tells Kong. "To P'Arthit, he's the head of the vampire council and I didn't want him to turn Granny into a toad."

"You're head of the vampire council?" Kong asks lifting an eyebrow.

I didn't get around to telling him that yet.

"I went to tell P'Arthit what happened." Godt points in all directions as he talks. "No one was home so Bas and I went to the back and he saw the fruit bowl on the counter and wanted the pear and I liked the apple but I couldn't open the door. Then it started to glow and there was music and sparkly stuff, and then an alien beamed into your kitchen."