(18) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

Linden headed out the side entrance of the manor house, on his way to the outdoor swimming pool, his towel tossed over one shoulder. He jumped, letting out a squeak of surprise when a strong hand gripped the back of his neck.

"You look mighty cute," a voice growled next to his ear.

"And almost dead from a heart attack," Linden growled back.

"I'm very good at mouth to mouth." Helmut turned him around, winking at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be off guarding something?"

"I am. I'm making sure no one sneaks in and bothers that sexy ass of yours."

"That was—one of the lamest excuses I've ever heard."

Helmut laughed. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it? But it's still sort of the truth. Every once in a while tourists try to get onto the grounds to see how the other half lives."

Linden's eyebrows went up in amused disbelief. "And some were spotted today I suppose." He turned and continued on his way to the pool.

"If I said 'yes' would you believe me?" Helmut followed him, dropping down to sit cross-legged by the side of the pool, waiting for an answer.

Ignoring him, hard as that was to do, Linden tossed his towel on one of the deck chairs and dove into the cool water. Swimming the length and back again twice, he finally came to a stop, resting his arms on the edge of the pool to look up at Helmut. "Nope, don't believe a word you say. I've been told to steer clear of you because you're—" he tried to remember Mrs. Pope's words. "Basically you can't be trusted," he extemporized when he couldn't.

Helmut chuckled. "And let me guess who told you that. Mrs. Pope?"

"Well, yeah. Why?"

"She and I get along, but—she's always after me to settle down and that's not my thing, which she knows."

"Ah ha, I see. So if you and I were to, umm, make a connection, it would only be until you got tired of me."

"Or you got tired of me," Helmut replied.

"Well, it's something to consider then," Linden smiled at him, "for when I'm terminally bored and need something to keep me out of trouble."

Helmut laughed. Standing, he looked down at him. "Shot down by a mere boy."

"Obviously you haven't done your homework. If I weren't Piers' ghoul I'd be fifty plus and counting. I'm not as naïve as you think, or," he grinned, "as I act."

"Boy, you are far from naïve in your actions." Leaning over, Helmut cupped Linden's up-turned face in his hands, kissed him fast but hard, and then turned and strolled away.

"Holy hell, I think I'm in trouble," Linden murmured, touching his lips. "Real trouble."

(17) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Rod!" Piers raced to greet his Sire only to find himself stopped by a hand to his chest and a glare that could have frozen ice.

"Just where were you?" Roderick hissed angrily.

"We went hiking. I wanted to show Linden the gardens." Piers looked at him guilelessly.

"The gardens are that way." Roderick pointed. "You just came from the opposite direction and, from the look of both of you you've been doing more than just hiking."

"All right, yes and no," Piers replied, thinking fast. "We did go to the gardens but then, well, we sort of got sidetracked when we saw a deer and followed it and, well clumsy here," he shot a pointed, 'back me up' look at Linden, "managed to fall on his ass and almost landed in the lake."

"It was a close call," Linden said with a self-depreciating smile. "I should have been using the flashlight but I didn't want to scare the deer and—" He shrugged.

Roderick tapped a thumbnail against his lip, trying to assess the truth of what they were telling him. He could easily have just pried into their thoughts but that was something he rarely did unless one of them seemed truly distressed and unwilling to talk about what was bothering them. When either of them telegraphed an emotion, he had not trouble picking it up. However at this point both Piers and Linden seemed only to be feeling stupid, nothing more.

"I'll accept that," Roderick finally said. "Sorry for being pissed but I come home and it's almost sunrise and you're not here, Piers, and I got worried."

"I know." Now Piers did hug him, albeit quickly. "I'll be more careful from now on."

Roderick pulled him back, wrapping an arm around his waist as he walked him into the house. "Please do," he said softly. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." He kissed Piers' temple and then gave him a swift swat on the ass. "Now get to bed."

"Yes, Master," Piers replied with a cocky grin. "Your wish is my command."

"Would that that were so." Roderick smiled in yearning as he watched Piers raced up the stairs. "But it's not to be," he growled angrily as he turned on his heel and strode down the hall to his study where 'dinner' awaited him.

Guardian Angels – Ambivalent - 9

"Could this dealer be after you now for some reason?" Paddy asked.

"Doubtful. Last I heard, which was just before I started working at the shelter, he got busted. Before you ask, I had nothing to do with that. He's serving five-to-seven so it will be a while before he's back on the streets."

"Then who the hell…?"

"You're asking me? I don't know!" Mike chewed his lip as he stared at Paddy. "Okay, this is probably off the wall, but still… It seems like maybe fate stepped in so we'd meet. I'm hardly rich, considering what I do, but if you're willing and it's not too expensive, or I guess if your boss is willing, could I hire you to find out what's going on?"

Fate my ass. It was all me. Paddy refrained from cheering. Instead, remaining serious, he said, "Let me talk to him. I'm sure we can come up with an affordable arrangement."

"Thank you." Mike sighed in relief. "I just hope Mr. Keefe doesn't come back because if he does I might not be so lucky."

"Meaning he might recognize you."

"Yeah." Mike smiled wryly. "I may, well I do want to find out why he's looking for me and who hired him, but I'd rather not have him tell me in person. He probably isn't searching for me to give me the keys to the city."  

"Understandable. All right, I'll talk to Vic in the morning and let you know what he says."

* * * *

Mike and Paddy split up after finishing their supper. Before they did, Paddy took down Mike's number, telling him he'd call as soon as he got an answer from Vic.

The rain had let up, much to Mike's relief as he had a bit of a walk to his apartment. When he got there the first thing he did was strip out of his clothes, which were still vaguely damp, and take a long, hot shower.

Then, dressed in a pair of sweats, he sat on the sofa, pondering his situation.

Why did someone hire Mr. Keefe? And more to the point, why did he lie and say it was Father? He had no way of knowing I didn't know he was dead. So what if I hadn't been in contact since I left home. He couldn't know that. Could he?

"But what if he did?" That lead to the possibility that it was someone in his family that wanted him found. "Only a family member could tell him that I'd hadn't seen or spoken to Father since I left."

Okay, leap in logic there I suppose. Anyone who knew Father probably was aware of that fact. Unless of course Mr. Keefe was telling at least part of the truth and Father really did do his best to hide the fact he'd ever had a son. If so then he definitely wouldn't have talked about me to anyone he met after he moved away from here. 

"Still, either way, it's for damned sure he didn't hire Mr. Keefe."

Mike sighed. "This is getting me no where. So back to what Paddy said. Is there someone I met while I was on the streets who thinks I could be dangerous to them?" He rapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa. "Why am I presuming they're looking for me because I might cause them trouble?" Chuckling, he muttered, "Maybe Paddy's right, even though he was joking. Maybe someone wants to give me a ton of money for some reason. As if."

He shook his head when something occurred to him. It has to be family. How else would Mr. Keefe have gotten those pictures?

(16) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"If I'm correct, this should be the place," Piers said. They were standing on top of the fallen stones at the far corner of the castle from the gatehouse arch. He studied the map as Linden shown the light on it, and then checked it against what was left of the exterior walls. "Which means the stairs ought to be right about here?"

Linden nodded. "I'd say so." He took a pair of heavy gloves from his backpack, pulling them on. After Piers had dug his out and donned them, they started moving the smaller stones.

Once they had the majority of them piled on top of the rubble close to the outer wall, they began work on the larger ones, using the pry bars to loosen them and then hefting or pushing them out of the way.

"We do this enough times I'm going to end up as buff as Helmut," Linden said with a laugh.

"He's definitely no slouch in that department," Piers agreed.

"So you noticed?" Linden wasn't certain if he was amused or jealous.

"Lin, he was standing there in all his glory, how could I not?"

"True." Going back to the large stone he was working on, he said, "A little help here?"

Between them, they shifted it and then let out whoops of excitement.

"We found it!" Piers crowed with a grin.

"Well, we found the start," Linden pointed out, aiming the flashlight down into the hole.

There were stairs, true, but covered with rubble and some close to the top were totally missing.

"This is when I wish that I was old enough to have telekinetic abilities," Piers said as he knelt above the hole.

"We'll just have to do it one piece at a time is all." Linden propped the flashlight between two stones so that it lit the stairs without falling in, and then lay down on his stomach to start lifting out the first of the broken pieces of stone.

Between them, at the end with Piers using his superior strength to hold Linden by his ankles so that he could reach the next bits, they managed to clear the stairs for about six feet down before Piers pointed out that it was time to return home.

"Let's put that one stone back over the hole, just in case," Linden suggested.

"Good idea. If anyone comes out here they'll still know someone was messing around, but hopefully they'll figure it was humans who either quit because they couldn't move it, or decided there was nothing here to start with once they got down to the dirt."

They moved the stone back into place, piling a few smaller ones around it, before starting back to the gatehouse exit. As they reached it they paused, then as one moved deep into the shadows.

"You feel it too," Linden barely whispered.

"Yes. Someone's here but, damn it, I don't see them and I can't sense who or what. Just—I know we're being watched now."

"But not before."

"No. It just started. Let's get out of here. We can, maybe, do something tomorrow to draw them out."

Linden nodded as he slid through the shadows from the gatehouse arch into the trees. "Whoever or whatever they are."

(15) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Flashlight, check; map, check; pry bars, check; anything else I need?" Linden asked.

"Me, check," Piers replied with a laugh. "No, that should do it. We're both strong enough to move the stones I think, once we find the kitchen corner."

"Then let's do it."

At Piers' nod, they slipped out of the back door of the manor house. "All clear," he said once he'd scanned the area. "No humans and I'm not sensing anything else."

Quickly crossing the back lawn to the trees, they moved quietly for a few minutes before figuring they were far enough away to walk normally.

"I feel like a spy on a mission," Linden commented with a laugh.

"'And your mission, should you decide to accept it—'." Piers intoned.

"Find the dungeon, free the prisoners, escape undetected."

Piers grinned. "Be weird if that was really the truth."

"We should be so lucky. You know if we really do find it, it'll be filled with rats and spiders and other yucky things like that." Linden gave a mock shudder. "Renfield I ain't."

"You'd make a cute, sexy Renfield," Piers told him with a smile.

"Thanks, I think." A wistful look crossed Linden's face, there and gone in a flash.

"Buck up, old chap," Piers said in his best bad British accent. "You'll find someone."

"I just wish—" Linden shook his head. "Not going there," he declared, more for himself than for Piers. "Enough of that. We'd better hurry, the night's a wasting."

"It is, and we have lots to do. Race you there."

"Umm, sure. Point me in the right direction. I'm just following you, as always."

"Straight ahead. Just don't—"

"Fall into the lake. Right, got it."

(14) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

Linden stretched, the early-afternoon sun bathing him with it's warmth as it spread across his bed. After savoring it for a few minutes, he forced himself to get up and moving. Half an hour later, showered, shaved and dressed in jeans and a tight T-shirt, he wandered downstairs to the kitchen.

Mrs. Pope looked up from what she was doing to ask, "Are you hungry?"

"Starving. I could eat a horse."

"I think Mr. Pope might object if you did," Helmut said, coming in from the pantry carrying a several jars that he set on the counter beside Mrs. Pope.

Linden sucked in a deep breath, his libido kicking into over-drive as he eyed the shifter. "Aren't you—I thought you—" he stuttered out.

Helmut grinned. "Yes I'm supposed to be patrolling the grounds with the others but Mrs. Pope needed a hand with these and I happened to be here, unlike a certain young man who looks as if he just woke up."

"I keep—strange hours I guess you could say."

"Half day, half night, it must be confusing."

"Nope, I'm used to it after all these years," Linden told him, regaining his self-confidence.

"So you and Piers—?" Helmut cocked an eyebrow.

"We're friends and more, but not the way you're thinking. I'm sorry that we gave you that impression when we first met but, well, you did come on a bit strong."

Helmut chuckled. "You flirted, I flirted back. Name of the game, kid."

"Linden." Mrs. Pope tapped his shoulder. "Do you want a sandwich or something more substantial?"

"Oh, a sandwich would be great. Thank you," he replied, still looking at Helmut.

With a wink at Linden, Helmut said, "You eat now before she thinks you don't like her food. I have to get back to my duties." Seconds later he was gone. Linden hurried to the door in time to see a handsome wolf disappearing into the trees at the far end of the back lawn.

"Be wary of that one," Mrs. Pope cautioned moments later as she set a plate holding two large sandwiches on the table along with a glass of milk. "He's not one to be faithful."

"I wasn't—"

"Oh yes you were," she said, patting Linden's shoulder. "Now eat."

Guardian Angels – Ambivalent - 8

With Mike leading the way, they stayed close to the buildings where it was minimally dryer, and arrived at the restaurant without getting too wet. After finding a table, they ordered coffee and sandwiches.

When the waitress left, Paddy rested his elbows on the table. "So, what is it about this Keefe guy that's got you worried?"

Mike took a moment to reply, apparently marshalling his thoughts. "All right. He showed up at the shelter earlier today looking for me. But he didn't know I was the one he was looking for."

"Why not?"

"He had two photos of me, taken when I was seventeen. I've changed a lot since then. I'm also using a different last name."

"Okay. I presume these pictures were taken before you ran away?"

"Yeah. I was, shall we say, plump, and I wore glasses. My hair was long since I was in my rebellious period." Mike smiled slightly. "Even I wouldn't recognize me now."

"So you lucked out on that score. Why is he looking for you?"

"He said my father hired him."

"You don't sound as if you believe that."

"I did at first, even though I found it strange that after four years my father would have decided he wanted"—he spread his hands—"a reconciliation I guess. We didn't part on the best of terms to put it mildly." 

"I'd say that's a given since you ran away. Why don't you believe that's why Keefe is searching for you?"

"I found out my father died a month ago, so how could he have hired Mr. Keefe?"

"Did you live here in the city when you ran?"

"Yeah, so it would be the obvious place for Mr. Keefe to start looking. Right?"

"Definitely."

"That's what I thought." Mike drummed the table with his fingertips. "Mr. Keefe implied he started his search here, and I got the feeling from the way he talked that he hadn't been here more than maybe a week at best. So, how the hell did my father, who's been dead a month, hire him?"

Paddy nodded. "A very good question. I can see why you're worried." They paused when the waitress returned with their food.  Then Paddy asked, "Can you think of anyone who might want to locate you?"

"Not really. Okay, maybe Amanda, she's my sister. But if that was the case why didn't Mr. Keefe just say so? Why claim it was my father who hired him?"

"A very good question." Paddy took a bite of his sandwich, deeming it not too bad. "What about other relatives?"

"My mother's dead. I have a couple of aunts and an uncle, and cousins, but again if they were looking for me, why the subterfuge? And if you say 'that's a good question' again…"

Paddy chuckled. "Well it is." Then he grinned, snapping his fingers. "Got it. You stand to inherit a million dollars in your father's will and they want to dispose of you, which would be hard since they don't know where you are."

Mike snorted. "My father was a blue-collar worker. The only way he'd have a million would be if he'd won the lottery. I think the obituary I read would have mentioned that. It was pretty detailed. Probably Amanda's doing. She had a thing for being honest to a fault with everything."

Sobering, Paddy said, "Then whoever is looking for you probably isn't part of your family. After you ran away did you, to be blunt, sell yourself to someone who might regret the encounter now and be afraid you could be a danger to him?"

For a moment it looked as if Mike was going to blow up. Then he sighed, shaking his head. "That's a legitimate question and no, I never went that route. I wasn't exactly a saint. I had a brief stint where I sold drugs for some guy I met. I didn't use them though," he hastily added. "I shoplifted sometimes, and spanged of course."

'Mage of Silence' has been reissued

Mage of Silence

https://www.jms-books.com/erotic-romance-c-29_94/mage-of-silence-p-2451.html

 

GENRE: Gay Fantasy Erotic Romance
LENGTH: 44,050 words

 

Castien, an elf mage who cannot speak except with the aid of a magical dagger, has been captured while on a mission. He is freed by his companion, the warrior elf Daeron, and returns with him to Daeron’s homeland. There they will join forces to rid the land of a Lord bent on the destruction of the elves.

Theirn, a young half-elf thief, attempts to rob Castien during his stay at an inn and is caught by the mage. Much against Theirn’s will, he is enlisted into the group of rebel elves. But as Theirn's infatuation with Castien grows, he becomes more than eager to risk treachery, betrayal, and even death on dangerous missions just to be close to the man he is growing to love.

EXCERPT:
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

Daeron and Castien stood at the top of the watchtower as they looked out over the scene below. Castien still found it unbelievable that in the middle of a forest there could be such a building and no one could see it. "You have a very powerful sorcerer at your command," he signed.

Daeron chuckled. "Well, as he is my father, I sincerely doubt he is at my 'command', but yes, we are lucky he has the powers to do this."

Castien seated himself in one of the merlons then looked up at Daeron. "What now?" he mouthed.

"Now we deal with the Lord who knows I have returned, which means you get to infiltrate his castle and see what you can learn we can use against him."

Castien nodded, one eyebrow arched in question.

"We need to know who is in league with him, how large his army has grown since I left, how strong his mages are, the usual."

"Understood," Castien signed, "Anything else?"

"No, just get in and out without getting caught please, and feel free to take any of my men you think you may need."

"You have a mage other than your father?"

Daeron shook his head. "I wish we did. We could use a good battle mage but so far, no luck."

Castien tapped his chest with a smile, and Daeron looked at him in surprise.

"You?"

Castien bowed his head modestly.

"I know you have powers but didn't realize ..." Daeron frowned. "But how long can you battle? You would have to use Ange, yes?"

With a nod Castien held up one finger and then a second, folded it and raised it again.

"One to two hours I hope, not minutes." When Castien agreed, Daeron grinned. "Well, I'll be damned." He walked to the trap door which opened onto stairs back down into the Keep and beckoned for Castien to follow. "Come, I'll show you the plans for his castle, what we have of them, which is not much, I'm afraid."

As they entered what Daeron called the War Room on the third level of the Keep, they were greeted by arguing voices. Theirn stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips, as he glared at one of the guards.

"No one told me I was not allowed in here, you cretin. Your master said I was free to explore and I am. If this place is so sacred, it should be locked up."

The guard turned to Daeron as he came into view. "This ... this boy broke in here. It was locked, you know it always is."

Castien leaned against the doorframe with a grin on his face. Theirn had said he was a fair thief; Castien had the feeling that was an understatement if he was in the War Room. Castien motioned to him to come over. "You were able to open the locks?" he signed.

Theirn's eyes twinkled. "I was. Any competent thief could. Look at them."

Castien did, and was impressed Theirn had gotten in; it would take more than a 'competent' thief to get through them. Castien walked over to Daeron to let him know Theirn was the one he wanted to come with him.

"You are not serious." When Castien indicated he was, Daeron said, "All right, he is better than he admitted but think, Castien, he's just a lad and I am certain he knows nothing about fighting or defending himself if trouble arises."

"Then teach me," Theirn said after he strode over to join them. "I am a fast learner, show me the basics and I should be fine."

Daeron and Castien looked at each other over his head, an easy feat as he was smaller than Castien by at least three inches and, as males go, Castien was on the short side for an elf. He nodded and, after a moment's thought, Daeron nodded back.

"All right, I'll give you some training and we will decide whether you go with him after I see how quickly you pick up the fundamentals," Daeron said.

"I'd rather he do it," Theirn said with a nod toward Castien. "I trust him."

 

(13) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"You've read all of these. Right?" Linden looked at Piers as if expecting him to say he had.

Instead, Piers stared at him in disbelief. "You are so kidding. Me, read?"

"Don't pull the dumb act; I know you read, I've seen you at it. So, anyway, where the hell do we start?" Linden looked around the huge library, every wall filled floor to ceiling with books from modern to what appeared to be ancient ones.

"Actually there's some order to them, believe it or not, and Rod has a file as to what sort are where." Piers opened one of the drawers in the antique mahogany partner's desk that sat at one end of the center of the room. The file was in a plastic loose-leaf binder, a bit incongruous with everything else.

Piers opened it, thumbing through the pages until he found the one he wanted. "With any sort of luck at all we might find what we're looking for up there," he said, pointing to one of the top shelves across the room from where he stood.

With a nod, Linden rolled one of the library ladders over and climbed up. Sitting on the top step, he studied the spines of the books. "Nothing here that I can see," he commented a few minutes later after checking a few of them that had looked like possibilities.

"Okay," Piers replied somewhat distractedly. He was pulling out drawers in a library table that matched the desk in both size and style. The drawers held maps and other antique papers in thickly covered folders labeled with their contents. When he got to the third drawer he crowed, "Bingo."

"Find something?" Linden asked, jumping down from the ladder.

"Yep. Sketches of the interior of the castle from the time period." Piers spread them carefully out on the table and they both studied them.

"It looks—" Linden tapped one of the sketches, "—as if there was a central courtyard, though you could have fooled me from what we saw tonight."

"I agree. All the walls must have fallen in on it. So I guess we can rule out the central area as a place to look."

Linden began gathering up the sketches they deemed useless to what they were looking for, flipping each on over onto the 'discard' pile. He stopped, leaning closer to peer at the back of one of them.

"Piers, look here. There's a rough floor plan that someone sketched out on the back of this one."

"Just what we need, if we can figure out what's what, and which floor it's for."

Linden went to the desk to dig through the drawers. A moment later he was back with a magnifying glass. Holding the sketch up to the light, he moved it slowly. "Though so," he muttered as he got the right angle, looking at something through the magnifying glass. "See, here. It's faint but I think it says 'kitchen'."

"It does," Piers agreed. "And there's stairs indicated, going down I think from the arrow."

Linden nodded. "Might make sense, if they needed to store—I guess vegetables and grains and such for the winter. So that proves there was a cellar and maybe—"

"We can get to the dungeon from there if we can find the entrance."

"It's a place to start anyway."

(12) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"This is like way cool."

"You think?" Piers smiled at Linden's excitement while trying to retain his own calm demeanor. "Just be careful. Who knows what lurks in there."

Linden chuckled. "I think we're probably the only 'beasties' here. I mean where would they hide?"

Piers might have agreed except for one thing, the ruins were open to the sky, all the upper levels of what had once been a small castle now weatherworn rubble on the ground.

"Rod did say there was a dungeon under here. Who knows what could be lurking there?"

"One way to find out," Linden replied as he marched up to the massive gatehouse arch. "Shouldn't there be a moat and a drawbridge?"

"Maybe there was, way back when." Piers followed his intrepid ghoul, wanting him to have the pleasure of discovery. Personally, he was quite certain that what they saw was all that there was anymore.

"This place could have housed a small army," was Linden's first comment once they were inside the destroyed walls. He stared up at the remains of the mullioned windows at one corner of the front wall. "Three levels."

"Four in the guard towers, if that's what they're called."

"Got me, I'm not exactly a history student." Linden started clambering over the fallen stones towards the center of the once noble castle. "It must have been awesome before it burned down."

"Well no one took any photos that I know about, so it's hard to tell." Piers told him straight-faced.

"They should have," Linden said before he realized Piers was teasing. "Brat," he grumbled.

"Always." Piers grinned at him. Then he turned his gaze to the piles of rubble. "If Rod was telling the truth about the dungeon I wonder where the entrance was."

"Are there any old plans for this place somewhere?"

"Now that's a good question. Maybe the first thing to do is go through the estate's library and see." Piers walked carefully to one side of the remaining structure, using the piled stones to climb up onto one of the lowest parts of the damaged wall. "Come here, take a look," he said moments later.

Linden joined him, asking why.

"Look at the stones. You can almost tell where the interior walls were by how high some of the piles are, if that makes sense."

Linden nodded slowly. "I see what you mean. That could help if we can't find floor plans from back then. We could at least sketch this out next time we come here."

"Which will be tomorrow night, but for now we'd better head back. The moon's going to be under the clouds soon, which will make it hard for you to see where you're going."

"Remind me to bring a flashlight or two tomorrow." Linden clambered down to the ground with Piers right behind him.

When they got to the great arched area between the towers, Linden stopped to take one more look. The moon chose that moment to hide behind the first of the fast-moving clouds. As it did, Linden hissed in a breath. "Something's there," he whispered.

Piers whirled around, trying to see what Linden was talking about. Even with his enhanced eyesight the area looked empty to him. "Are you sure it wasn't just the shadows moving because of the clouds," he asked quietly.

"I wouldn't take a blood oath, but I swear what I saw looked—human?"

"Ghosties and goblins and things that go bump in the night," Piers teased. However, he still shivered, whether from the cool breeze that had sprung up or the belief that just maybe Linden had seen something, he wasn't certain.

(11) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Careful," Piers cautioned. "There's a small lake just ahead. I don't want you falling in."

"Is it invisible?" Linden asked in amusement.

"No, you nut, but the trees go almost to the edge of it from this direction. Once we get around it, it's only another mile or so to where we're going."

"Which is where? You still haven't told me."

"I know," Piers replied with a grin. "I want it to be a surprise." With the moon almost full, and the sky clear, Linden's first view of the ruins would be perfect.

"I should have left a trail of breadcrumbs," Linden said, only half kidding. "I am totally lost. This place is beyond huge."

"Great isn't it. If we wanted to escape to town there's no way they'd know for ages. They'd just think we were out exploring again."

"I have the feeling the vampires guarding the perimeter would know immediately and stop us."

"Yeah," Piers sighed. "They would, but we can dream."

They were around the lake now and back into the trees. Thanks to the fact that Linden was a ghoul, he had enhanced speed and strength. Nothing compared to a vampire's but much more than the average human had. So keeping up with Piers, who was moving quickly without really realizing it, was no problem.

Suddenly Piers stopped. "It's just over that mound. Are you ready?"

"Unless there's a man-eating tiger there, yeah."

"No. Something much more impressive." Piers watched Linden as they reached the top.

"Holy shit," Linden murmured, awestruck.

The ruins stood in stark relief in the moonlight. The ancient stones seemed to glow with an unearthly luster, the twin crenellated towers standing tall in the center, on either side of the huge, arched gatehouse. The surrounding walls between them and smaller towers on either end were in disrepair to such an extent that there were places where a man could easily climb over them.

"It must have been magnificent when it was whole."

"So Roderick says. War, and a resulting fire, brought it down to the state it's in now."

"Have you ever explored it?"

Piers nodded. "Once, just a bit. Then Roderick caught me at it and there was hell to pay." He grinned. "But he's not here now, and we are."