The flight took three and a half hours from Chicago O'hare airport. The plane took off at around ten fifteen and landed in New Mexico at One thirty their time, remember that you have to turn your clock back an hour as you cross a time zone. Valmont's car was waiting in a long term parting lot under the airport. The car ride from Albuquerque to Albern New Mexico took about two hours passing though the city of Santa Fe on the way. They reached the Sharp Monster Manor at Four PM.
Stopping in front of the gate Alfred gets out of the car and presses a six code combination which opens the gate, he then gets back in the car and they drives up to the garage. The garage is filled with classic cars many which belong to Valmont as well as a few more cars belonging to employes. Valmont parks the car and the four get out, Alfred turns to Valmont, “I got double time for that in addition to my vacation pay right? My wife is mad at me for missing out on this whole week and she would have killed me if I missed thanksgiving.”
Valmont Smiles and then shakes Alfred's hand, “Thanks for coming along my friend, I know Sharon appreciated it where ever she is. Have a good Holiday.” He lets go and Alfred starts walking away then turns and looks at his friend.
“You too Val, and please don't set up a show for Christmas, I would like to live though the new year.” Alfred says as he starts heading to his car.
“I can't control the powers that be but I'll give them the message. Anyone would be wise to fear your Roxanne.” Valmont calls back to his best friend.
Cole gives Chris a high five, “See you Friday dude we can catch up then. I'm sure you have stories to tell.”
“Nothing like yours Cole.” Chris says, “The normal life is boring, even if it was just two years I'm sure you have many more stories. I mean the shows are bigger and better then ever, man.”
“Gotcha still sometimes it would have been nice to go to a regular high school, to not be groomed to be like your father. Who am I kidding this is great.” After bumping fists with Chris Cole walks over to Valmont, He then talks to Valmont softly, “I will wait to hear from you before I tell Chris anything, I think you should start.” Cole had been let in by his father that Valmont planned to let Chris in on the family secret.
“Friday is the plan, I feel a normal holiday would be best for Chris. Nothing will be normal after that.”
“Not that his life has been normal lately. Should you keep this lie going longer?” Cole does not wait for an answer because his father honked the horn of the car telling him that it was time to go.
Valmont walks over to Chris who has his bags in hand and is looking at his father suspiciously, “What was that about?”
“Nothing nothing, we should go Francois and Charlotte are waiting for us in the main house.”
“Francois and Charlotte?” Chris wonders if Francois is by chance Francois Luminare but really what is the chance of that? Quite likely all things considered.
“I think you already know.” Valmont says as if he could read his son's mind. Then then leave the garage though a side door and out into the walkway to the manor. Sharp Manor is a hundred acre property consisting of a main house for the Sharp Family, a guest house which is now the Luminare place, the museum and the gate house where the security is stationed. Chris is surprised by the warm weather of late November, he is not not really use to the desert wather and takes off his coat on the walk to the house.
As they each the front door a man opens it, Mr. Fogal who has been Valmont's Butler for nearly five years now opened the door, “welcome home Master Sharp, Mr. Luminare is waiting in the study with his daughter.” Fogal looks at Chris, “Welcome back young master Sharp.”
“You can just call me Chris, I hate 'young master Sharp.'” However Chris knows that by now the Butler is set in his ways and will call him that again by tomorrow.
“Some things never change huh Master Chris. I will see what I can do. It's good to have you back.” Fogal closes the door and then returns to his other duties in the house.
Chris follows his father, “So why is Francois Luminare here? He is one of your biggest critics right?He thinks you make a mockery of your profession.”
“Most of that is still true but times change son. I will explain everything, just not right now.” Valmont opens the door to the study and walks in. The study is a large room with a large table in the middle with nine chairs around it. There are a few more tables all around the room. There are shelves filled with books covering all the walls of this two story room, with the books covering different sections of every field of science, biology and every work of non fiction. There is also a huge selection of fiction of varies categories. Most impressive is that the Sharp study room houses the largest known collection of supernatural based written material in the united states.
This room while mainly for use by the Sharp family, employees and members of team but Valmont does have times when it is open to the public. Also the Albern Public Library is allowed to borrow any books from the massive Sharp collection as long as everything is returned.
Sitting at the table is a tall blond man in a white and blue suit, the man has his hands crossed and his eyes closed. He is a very hansom man who looks to have aged poorly in recent years. Sitting next to him is a young girl around fifteen years old, she has curly blond hair like the older man only it is longer. Her face hidden in a book but she looks up when the door opens and she has sky blue eyes peering out of the glasses that cover her face. She is wearing a blue and white shirt and matching skirt that looks very similar to the mans, “Father they are here.”
“Shhish...” The man puts a finger up to his mouth, “I know.” The man slowly opens his eyes, they are slightly darker then his daughters he looks at Valmont and then Chris, “You have returned, both of you, good.” He then closes his eyes and there is a snoring sound.
“Dad?” The girl shakes her father with no luck, “Sorry uncle Valmont you know how my father is. He is very weak. I tried to keep him up as long as I could”
“You did your best Charlotte I'm sure you did.” Valmont takes his son over to the girl, “Chris this is Charlotte Luminare.”
Chris takes Charlotte's hand and shakes it, she has a slight french accent which was not as bad as her fathers which was hard for Chris to understand, “Christian Sharp.”
“Yes your father told me all about you. The pleasure is mine.” She bows like a proper lady.
Chris blushes slightly and looks away, “What's wrong with him?” Chris says looking at Francois, now that he has gotten closer he notices that the professional monster hunter looks quite pale and under the weather. “Is he sick?”
“Yes. My father has been deathly ill for the last three years.” Charlotte looks very saddened for a second, stricken with guilt as if for some reason she believes it is her fault. “Deathly is the wrong word actually. The illness will not kill him, at least not directly, but it makes it impossible for my father to do his job correctly.”
“Yes Chris this is why he had to turn to me for help. I am sure you have suspected some thing was up. That there was some dark secret behind my show.” Valmont slyly smiles and winks putting on a show. “As you can see it's pretty mundane really. Simply a rival is sick and weak, and turned to me for help however my help has to be desecrate. Is that a bad thing?”
The answer was too simple, too easy and really it does not answer all of Chris's questions, just the one about Luminare and he never even told his father about that one. “I guess not.” Chris really can't think of anything to say, can't think of what to ask. He remembers the note and how it said not to trust anyone in sharp manor, to trust no one working for his father, does that include the Luminares? Did whoever left the note know about them.
Valmont looks Chris and then at Charlotte, “Hey Charlotte why don't you take Chris to the museum, show him some of the additions from the last few years. I have to talk to your father.”
Charlotte gives Valmont a faint smile and stands, “Sure. Chris will you come with me?”
“I kn
ow my way there.” Chris says and leaves the room ahead of her. When he reaches outside he says how he feels loud enough so that he knows his father can hear him, “Damn it dad I know your hiding something just spill it already. What are you afraid I will blame you for my mom's death?” Chris does not even give his father a chance to respond, he's already gone.
“Harsh.” Charlotte says softly. Charlotte believes her father is as much to blame as Valmont is. “I hope you can actually get though to my father. You know how he can be most of the day.”
“I always do.” Valmont nods, “Anyway sorry for handing my son over to you. I really want to tell him the truth and I plan to on Friday it's just for now please keep him occupied. I want to give him a sense of normalcy tomorrow. Man I'm sounding like a broken record.”
“Alright uncle Valmont I will do my best.” Charlotte bows slightly and then walks out of the room. She sees the hall is empty and figures Chris must have moved on ahead of her to the museum which is the next building over. She closes the door softly and then heads in that direction.
Chris ran over to the museum building after his slight outburst. He had promised his friends he would not become emo after his mother's death and yet now he fears it is actually happening. What is it called you fear something will happen it will? A self fulfilled prophecy? He stops running in front of the museum building. He has always liked the architecture of this building, the Gothic look with the stone gargoyles looking down from the sides of the roof. This building is what gives a reason to why these buildings are called the 'Sharp Monster Manor.' Like the study room's library the Monster Museum is mainly for Sharp and Sharp employee use there are times when the museum is open to the public.
Just looking at the museum building eases his mind and brings back some fond memories. Chris use to spend hours wondering the monster museum messing with his fathers older trophies and even trying to get some of them to work. Chris has always wanted to see some of the props for his father's newer shows and he did promise Ric he would take close up pictures of a Chuix tentacle which he figures has to be part of the museum. Chuix was one of his father's best monsters after all. Of course he will be in there. “Here goes nothing.” And Chris opens the door.
Chris walks over to the power switch to the museum, even though it has been over two years since he has last been here he remembers this place by heart and would never forget that. The lights turn on and the cases light up one by one starting from the ones closest to the front door and moving toward the other end. The lighting had not been up graded since he last was here. Chris quickly moves past the older pieces, remembering the automation merman suit, the ghosts of Naliro, the treasure of Black Beard the ruthless and so on. All of his father's great shows that he was there for and important objects from them.
Then he reached his fathers newest shows starting with book of Thoth from the Cult of Thoth, it was not right. “That is not the book.” It was clearly fake, missing details that the book had, the effects looked wrong, not right. He looked at the images of the event and then the book, same with the cult member cloaks. The cloaks were correct, they are the real deal but the book was a fake. Most people would not tell the difference but he can. “No no.”
He continues on, The Vampires of Vesiun, the The Living House, The Werewolf of Glacier Pass, The Vanishing Horror of Chuix, it was all the same, the pictures were there and impressive, minor objects from the show were there in their glory but major objects, the show pieces those were clearly not the one's used in the shows. “This is not right.” Chris picks up his phone and is about to call Ric.
“What is not right?” A sweet soft voice asks from behind him.
Chris puts down his phone and turns around. He sees Charlotte looking right at him with a puzzled impression on her face. “The pieces in this museum. They are not the same set pieces that were used in my fathers shows. The smaller items are real but the important objects, those are fake. They are not the ones that were used in the show.”
Charlotte nods but does not fully understand, she looks at the pictures and then at the object in question, in this case some wolf hair from Glacier Pass. Charolette can't tell the difference. “How can you tell? They look the same to me.”
Chris shakes his head, “I know my father's work. I know it probably better then anyone. These are reproductions, good accurate ones but not the actual objects from the shows. Why? I don't know why.” Chris had came to the museum hoping that the place would calm him down, it has always been the case in the past yet now, now things are worse.
Charlotte lowers her glasses just a bit as she walks over to Chris, “Calm, calm down please. If something is not right then you should ask your father. I'm sure he has a good reason.” Charlotte’s voice is calming and soothing, and seems pure and honest with no deceit or lie that Chris could tell.
“I'm sure he does.” Chris tells her rudely. “I'm sure it will make sense if I think about it and I'm sure I can't argue with it. However what ever he tells me will be a lie. My father is lying to me, everyone here is lying to me.” He wanted to finish by pointing at her and yelling 'and you are lying to me,' but he didn't.
Charlotte is a naturally sensitive person and one who is wise beyond her years, while she does not understand what Chris is going though she has suffered herself. “I understand Chris. If you would like to be left alone that is fine.”
Chris looks at her and sees she is crying, he starts to wonder if she is empathic or something but does not ask at this point nothing would surprise him. Does he want to be left alone? He's not sure really. “No that's okay, I'm sorry about how I'm acting. I'm normally not like this.”
“It's understandable.” Charlotte smiles a sweet smile that is contagious and Chris forces himself his own smile. “How about I give you a tour of the museum, it is one my duties here.” Chris nods. “Okay then since we are at the newest end of the exhibit how about we start with the latest even and move backwards in time. Our first stop is 'the Shrek of the Banshee.' which is still under construction but I can at least talk about some of it...”
While Chris and Charlotte are interacting at the museum Valmont is in the study with Francois Luminare attempting to discuss what they are going to do about Chris Sharp as well as the dark forces falling down on him. “I don't like this Frank, I don't like this at all?”
Francois yawns and raises his head slightly, “There is an increasingly high number of things you don't like Valmont.”
“And whose fault is that?” Valmont once had nerves of steel but a few years working as Francois Luminares cover has all but shoot holes though and rusted that steel.
“Mine like always. Sorry but someone needs to keep up the good fight and...” Francois starts drifting off and lost his train of thought, it happens a lot
“...I'm as good as anyone. Yeah yeah I know.” This conversation is standard between Valmont and Francois and it generally leads nowhere. “I thought my family would be safe. I mean these supernatural forces, these monsters and demons tend to leave the family of monster hunters alone. Why make an exception with me?”
“My mistake, OUR mistake...” When Francois said our mistake he meant all monster hunters. “We hate you for being a charlatan. You make mockery of our profession and yet we never realize how you helped us. Yes people did not take us seriously and it effected our business but...” Francois closes his eyes and stops talking, his head then falls to the table. After hitting the table he looks up, “Damn it.”
This is a conversation Valmont knows all too well. He knows of the importance he served to super natural creatures and to a lesser extent the hunters themselves, “I kept a balance. My fake shows allowed you to keep Monsters and demon's in check without having to kill too many.”
“Right and now that your shows are real you're hurting monster hunters AND the demons themselves. You who was their tool is now a weapon aimed at their heads. That makes you far more dangerous then a dozen legitimate hunters.”
Francois Luminare start
s to stand moving the chair back and getting up, “I, I really should go and rest. I seem to be drifting off again.”
“You always drift off old man.” Francois is no old man, he's in his late thirties, thirty nine actually and he only seems thirty years older because of a curse placed on him Four years ago. Valmont walks over to him and lets Francois hold on to him for support, “Okay let's get you to your room. Last thing I need is for you to fall in the middle of the study. We don't need the maids cleaning you up again.
Chapter Thirteen
Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter Page 13
