“Then move your sexy ass to the bed, and I’ll get the wine.” Lucien stood and helped Nathan off the table. He then removed the table cloth to find all four legs of the table had collapsed in the same direction. “I’ll look for another table tomorrow.”
“Until then...” Nathan hooked their arms and pulled him toward the kitchen, where they collected their glasses and another bottle of wine that they brought to the bed. Lucien poured them a glass while Nathan turned down the bed for them to climb in.
He had a goofy smile on his face, and Lucien felt certain that playing hooky and destroying the dining table was the best thing that had happened to them in weeks.
Chapter Twenty-five
Meino stood on the roof of the castle, seeing the first rays of the sun reaching and coloring the horizon. That meant Burkhart would turn to stone soon. Burkhart was stretching his wings, flying around in the sky, but he wasn’t far away, from the sound of it, because Meino could still hear the heavy thuds.
Burkhart came into view and landed next to Meino, but his attention wasn’t on Meino, it was behind him. “They are finally old enough.”
“Who are?”
“Them.” Burkhart pointed, and Meino turned to see something in the snow on the roof, but it was still too dark to make out exactly what it was. Then a dark patch moved, and it squeaked. Another squeak and Meino recognized the sound of a kitten.
“There are kittens on the roof?”
“According to the other Gargoyles, it is her third litter up here. Her nest is under the crouching lion over here.” Burkhart walked toward a big Gargoyle, but Meino was afraid he’d step on one of the kittens, since he couldn’t see them. He tried to follow in Burkhart’s footsteps, stepping lightly. Burkhart reached down and picked up a kitten as he went and handed it to Meino. He picked up two more on the way and crouched behind the lion Gargoyle. “He is very proud that a feline with babies will choose him to guard and shelter them.” Burkhart put the two kittens under the Gargoyle, and there really was a good hollow in there. Burkhart reached for the kitten cradled in Meino’s mittens and petted it while Meino put his hands on the lion Gargoyle.
Meino focused on seeing if he could feel something from other Gargoyles, him being a wizard and all. A deep purr rolled in his ears, but it was in his head, like with Burkhart. “I can hear him purr.”
“Yes, you have a gift to sense life in us. The nexus is making you stronger. It is evolving the strength of the spell you cast on me, too. First, I did not have much feeling on my skin. Now I can even feel the difference between the mother fur and the baby fur.”
A mature meow sounded, and a cat pressed against Burkhart’s leg as it made its way under his wing and to the opening under the lion Gargoyle.
“Do you feel the snow you’re kneeling in?” Meino asked, fascinated to learn that the place was making Burkhart more human.
“I do. I feel the cold, but I am not cold. I have no blood.”
Don’t remind me. Meino was still confused about his feelings. Coming to know that he was a wizard who could love dead things didn’t put his mind at ease regarding falling in love with Burkhart.
“The sun is rising.” Burkhart stood. “We should leave now.”
The kittens left their shelter again and played in the snow as Meino and Burkhart left. They were cute. Meino had had kittens in the shed behind the garage once, but he had managed to resist the urge to feed them. He wondered whether Ms. Theresa fed the mother cat.
They made it to their room, and Burkhart walked toward the end of the bed. As he went, his body became stiffer, but he made it to stand so he was watching the bed.
Good night, little one.
“Good night, Burk. I just gotta brush my teeth, though.”
Ah, yes, another human thing I keep forgetting.
Meino smiled and went to the bathroom. He still had his entire winter suit on because they were running out of night, so he shrugged out of it, thinking other human things were sometimes overlooked, too. Like needing to use the bathroom. Or the need to masturbate.
Meino smothered a chuckle at that because he’d resisted the urge ever since Burkhart flew into his life and announced he could look through walls. It was getting pressing at times, though. The first many times sitting on the toilet had been kind of weird, too, and it still was. At least Burkhart had learned not to chat with Meino while he was sitting in there.
After having hung the winter clothes on the tub, brushed his teeth, and used the toilet, Meino made his way to the bed, putting his clothes on the chest at the end of the bed where Burkhart stood. He looked so watchful, and Meino’s heart beat a bit faster at having Burkhart stand there. Usually he crouched in front of the fire, where Meino also had a tendency to fall asleep. It said something about the sofa-bed he’d usually slept on if he could be comfortable on a pelt on the floor.
“Good night.” Meino stretched to kiss Burkhart on the cheek, wondering if he was overstepping or something. He had no idea if Burkhart would like it or not.
Good night, little one. Thank you.
Meino smiled and tucked himself in. He was so tired, and once the covers heated up, he fell fast asleep.
The bed dipped, and Meino stirred to find Burkhart climbing up to lie next to him. He leaned in to kiss Meino on the lips, and Meino gasped, feeling heat run through his body to pool in his groin.
Burkhart’s strong hand caressed the length of Meino’s torso, caressed an erect nipple, and found its way to close around Meino’s hard cock.
Meino groaned loudly and arched against the warm and soft stone. The feel of Burkhart’s weight against himself ignited Meino’s lust, and when Burkhart dove in to kiss and suck at the tender skin on Meino’s neck, Meino bucked and cried out when the orgasm rolled over him.
Meino... Meino...
Wake up, Meino.
Meino jumped awake on the bed, feeling chilled by sweat and the cooling cum in his underwear. Meino looked up, finding the frozen form of Burkhart standing at the end of the bed.
You had a dream.
“Yeah. Oh, shit.” Well, Meino was back to being a teenager because he hadn’t taken care of business in so long.
It... didn’t seem like a nightmare. You felt good in the dream.
“Yup.” Meino got out of bed, his ears burning with embarrassment as he raced toward the bathroom to clean up. The feel of Burkhart in the dream lingered, and Meino’s brain couldn’t let go of how real it had felt. He’d dreamed about him before. Dreamed about the Buick guy becoming Burkhart, but it had never been that erotic. Or felt as real. Was it the nexus?
Meino, what’s wrong? I don’t know the feeling, Burkhart’s voice sounded in Meino’s head as he left the bathroom again.
“Do you know what... sex is,” Meino asked, going to perch on the edge of the bed. He couldn’t look at the grand being at the end of the bed.
Making children.
It sounded so matter of fact.
“Yeah, I suppose. But sex is more than that, Burk.” Meino turned to look at him, but it made him feel a bit shy. “Sex isn’t just about procreation. It’s... something intimate. Private, even.”
I have witnessed the sex many times, especially since I came to watch over you from your terrace. Your neighbors had it a lot, and their TV mentioned it a lot.
“I’m not sure I can explain sex,” Meino said, wondering what had urged Burkhart to wake Meino from the dream. “Burkhart, what did you feel from me during the dream?”
You felt a complete lack of control. Like... being overpowered, but without fear.
“Did you feel anything?”
It felt strange. Good and terrifying and... my being shook.
“Sex is all of that, and I dreamed I had sex.”
Oh. Then I’m sorry I interrupted you. If you wanted it. I have noticed that you don’t do what other men do.
Meino chuckled humorously. “Yeah, I guess you have.” The Gargoyle’s lack of understanding
gave Meino some sense of peace, and he snuggled under the covers again. “I hope I can one day explain it to you, but I guess the nexus has more to work with on the spell before you can understand it.”
Like the toilet. I never understood why you groan when you use it.
Maino laughed. “Yes, Burk. Like the toilet.”
Sleep, little one. I will watch over you. I sense you are still tired.
Meino was, but the lack of understanding of human bodily functions and needs still baffled him, since Burkhart understood so many others.
A soft knock on the door made it through to Meino’s conscience, but he was far too comfortable to want to register it.
Meino. Ms. Theresa is knocking because Mr. Talbot and his protégé Vibeke are approaching the castle. I see them five kilometers out.
Meino grunted and shuffled around to look at Burkhart. Another knock sounded. “Yes!” Meino called out.
Ms. Theresa came in. “Good morning, Meino. I hope you have had a chance to sleep some. Mr. Talbot is arriving soon, and I thought you might want some breakfast... before dinner.”
Meino chuckled, because it really wasn’t easy to switch day and night and make it work with an eating schedule that fit other people. He then realized he had no idea what time it was.
“Burk, when will the sun set?”
In a little over three hours.
“Thank you, Ms. Theresa. I’ll get ready and come down.”
Ms. Theresa smiled and left the room.
Jenny is up, and it looks like she will be joining you for breakfast.
Meino shuffled out of bed and groaned as he stretched. “Better get to it, then.” He went to the bathroom and finished up. Then he got dressed and stopped by Burkhart’s immovable form. Meino reached out and caressed his cheek.
“See you in about three hours.”
Burkhart chuckled. And I will see you in the meantime.
Meino dashed from his room, down the corridors, and across the library, not caring about the ghost. Two and a half weeks at the castle, and the ghost was barely in his mind. He’d even met the one screaming and slamming doors, and he definitely didn’t care for her, but the silent one in the library was not a problem anymore.
Upon reaching the moderate dining room, as Ms. Theresa called it, Meino didn’t find her or Jenny there. “Burk, where are they?”
Jenny is in the kitchen. Ms. Theresa is fixing up a room for Mr. Talbot and Vibeke on the same hall as us.
“Thank you.” Meino made for the kitchen, not exactly sure where it was, just in the general direction.
Stop, back up three steps. That’s the door to the kitchen.
Meino grinned. “What would I do without you, Burk?”
Get lost.
“Absolutely.” Meino opened the door and found Jenny and Coira talking while Jenny sat on the kitchen counter, eating a bread roll.
“Morning, Mr. Wizard. I actually have a question for you.” Jenny took a huge bite from her bread roll.
“Good morning, Ms. Spook, what’s your question?”
Jenny rolled her eyes but grinned around her mouthful while Coira shook her head and went to fetch a cup of coffee for Meino. Meino had liked the idea of having breakfast in the kitchen because it was more down-to-earth, but he was still being waited upon.
He took the cup, waiting for Jenny to finish her mouthful, and ask the question.
“So, if you were to go to Hogwarts, where would the sorting hat place you, you think?”
Meino chuckled. “I have no idea. Definitely not Slytherin, and I’m not smart enough to be a Huffle. I like to think I’m the honest type.”
A scream tore through the room, and Meino jumped, dropping his cup.
“Well, not the brave kind. What the hell was that?” Jenny asked, hopping down from the counter. She looked concerned as she closed in on Meino. Another pained scream made Meino cover his ears.
“Someone’s screaming,” Meino said while a chill raced through his body.
“No one is screaming,” Jenny said.
“I don’t hear anyone, either,” Coira said.
Nor do I. It may be the ghost.
“But everybody here can hear and see the ghosts but you, Burkhart.”
“Wizard,” Jenny said, pointing at Meino, who finally removed his hands from his ears. Another bone-chilling scream sounded, and Meino turned his head to look at a door with no handle.
“It’s coming from in there.”
“That’s where she gave birth. And died,” Coira said.
“Why did you close it off?” Meino raised his voice to be heard above the next scream, but then he remembered he was apparently the only one hearing it.
“Because we can’t wash the stains out of the floor and walls,” Coira said. She then turned and grabbed a tray, putting food and thermos on it. Meino covered his ears to not hear any more screams, and Jenny grabbed his shoulders and steered him from the room at a fast pace. They made it to the salon, and Jenny pushed Meino to sit while he tried to let himself be calmed down by Burkhart’s cooed promises that he was not in any danger.
“I know I’m not,” Meino said. “But she sounded like she was in so much pain. So scared. It... I could feel it.”
Ms. Theresa came in and hurried to sit on Meino’s other side. “Burkhart said your name. Anxiously, I might add. What is the matter, dear boy?”
“Her fear,” Meino whispered.
“The girl in the kitchen,” Coira explained. “He can hear her.”
“Oh, dear God.” Ms. Theresa grabbed both of Meino’s hands, and Meino focused on them and the warm steadiness they provided. “Mr. Talbot will be here very shortly. I am certain he holds answers to questions I don’t.”
“Is it too early for a straight shot of whiskey?” Jenny asked.
“Does that help?” Meino asked.
“Certainly shocks the system.” Jenny got up and went to the bar, where she poured something Meino wasn’t sure he wanted before breakfast. But he didn’t want the lingering memory of the pain and screams, either, so he accepted the glass and gulped down a big mouthful. He almost poured it down the wrong way and coughed. As promised, his system was shocked, and after a few minutes, he felt better.
“You heard her scream,” Ms. Theresa said more to herself than asking.
“Why? Is that important?”
“I will let Mr. Talbot explain. It is important that you tell him so that he may guide you. In the meantime, please, eat your breakfast.”
Mr. Talbot is here.
Meino was about to repeat that when Ms. Theresa stood.
“I shall go receive our guests now.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Meino took another gulp of the strong whatever drink Jenny had found before he felt up to buttering a bread roll and putting some cheese on it.
“Did it... or don’t you want to talk about it?” Jenny asked.
“I’d like to eat first, if you don’t mind. Plus, I have to tell Mr. Talbot, too. You’re gonna stay, right?”
“If you want me to.” Jenny smiled, and he felt happy for her strength and friendship.
Are you okay now, Meino?
“Yeah, Burk, whiskey helps.”
“Brandy,” Jenny offered, grinning.
Voices carried down the corridor and made it to the salon. Meino turned in time to see two big black birds fly through the door to take a seat in the chandelier.
“What the...” Jenny looked as confused as Meino felt.
“Oh, we’re interrupting a meal,” a man said, and Meino turned to see a handsome man in his fifties, dressed in casual yet classy clothes. His eyes sparkled with humor and mischief as he came closer, extending his hand. “You must be Meino.”
Meino dropped his bread roll, wiped his hand on his pants, and stood to shake the man’s hand. “And you must be Mr. Talbot.”
“I am. Those two are Huginn and Muninn.”
“Odin’s ra
vens?”
“Yes, figured that to be a good choice. They’re my familiars.” He winked at Meino before turning his attention on Jenny. “How do you do. I’m not sure I’ve been told your name in advance.”
“Jenny. Operative.”
“Mr. Talbot, wizard, spell master, and goofball.”
Meino snickered and pointed at Jenny. “Spook.”
Jenny gave a thin-lipped smile and pointed at Meino. “Wingnut.”
Mr. Talbot stepped to a side, grinning at the two, and held out his arm toward a woman around her mid-forties. “Vibeke, next spell master, bookaholic, and mother to our sixteen-year-old wizard son who right now chases girls instead of magic.” Mr. Talbot rolled his eyes. “Please, finish your meal.” Mr. Talbot walked around the sofa while looking up at the birds in the chandelier. “Please sit somewhere not above a table with food on it.”
The two birds squawked and took off, finding a place on a curtain rod instead. Meino sat and finished his bread roll, humored by the fact that Mr. Talbot would call the birds his familiars.
“You can talk to them?” Jenny asked.
“I can, but not in the way humans communicate. I can sense movement and somewhat interact with the energy left from movement. That means I can put movement into motion as well. When I communicate with animals, or humans for that matter, I put energy into movement, and those open to sense these energies may choose to follow my gentle nudge.”
That sounded cool, and Meino wondered whether it was how Burkhart’s movement had been tracked. He finished his mouthful to ask a question, but by then, Ms. Theresa and Mr. Talbot had begun a conversation about their trip. Vibeke took a seat at the table and was served a cup of tea.
“What can you do?” Meino asked.
“I sense magic in math. It can be the pure magic of nature, or it can be man-infused magic in sigils.”
Meino nodded, hoping that would be explained at length sometime, because he had no idea what any of that meant.
“And you?” Vibeke asked.
Meino wasn’t sure how his worked. “I can... sense life in Gargoyles.”
Gargoyle Rising Page 22
