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Elorah Winters Chronicles - World of Twilight (UD 07-01-04)
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<blockquote data-quote="Captain Claymore" data-source="post: 1616418" data-attributes="member: 12634"><p><strong>Chapter Two</strong></p><p></p><p><em> In the town where I was born </em></p><p> <em>Lived a man who sailed to sea </em></p><p> <em>And he told us of his life </em></p><p> <em>In the land of submarines </em></p><p> <em>So we sailed up to the sun </em></p><p> <em>Till we found a sea of green </em></p><p> <em>And we lived beneath the waves </em></p><p> <em>in our yellow submarine</em> </p><p> The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine"</p><p></p><p></p><p>CHAPTER TWO</p><p></p><p> It took me a bit longer to find a place to park so Mr. Kane, Damyu and Mordakai were inside the restaurant waiting for a table when Jones, Kevin and I came in the door. Pier Nine was semi-fancy, in a way that let tourists say 'hey were livin it up' while still being affordable for said tourists. The decor was what I'd call tasteful oceanfront. There were large paintings of turn-of-the-century fishing vessels plying the waters of San Francisco Bay and the odd bit of refurbished dock paraphernalia like the heavy iron anchor-turned art sculpture just inside the entrance.</p><p></p><p> I had no more than stepped in the door when I was forced to move aside by a burly guy in an expensive suit who hardly glanced in my direction. Right behind him was a stunningly beautiful redhead in an equally impressive white dress. It was obvious from the stance and posture that the suited gorilla was her escort, bodyguard, whatever. Brother Jones muttered something very unpreacherlike under his breath. Every one in our party looked a bit surprised when she stopped in front of Mr. Kane.</p><p></p><p> "Well well, what a surprise to see you here Anthony," her voice was deeper than I expected but still very womanly, yeah you might call it sultry. It was clear from that one sentence that her and Mr. Kane - or should I say Anthony? - were or had been very close. By his version of the 'hey there, not interested' smile I was guessing 'had been' instead of 'were.'</p><p></p><p> "Yvette... a pleasure as always." His tone didn't quite match the words but she seemed either not to notice or not to care.</p><p></p><p> She gave us the once over, brief eye contact showed striking emerald eyes, then turned back to Mr. Kane, "Pleasure seeing you love but must be hurrying along. A woman's work is never done you know." She laid her hand a moment on his arm before turning and walking away. The suit gave Mr. Kane the once over before following like a good little puppy, big dog, whatever.</p><p></p><p> Mr. Kane turned to us with a smile after she'd gotten a good distance, "Sorry bout that. Don't worry it's not you. She's that rude to almost everyone."</p><p></p><p> Just then the hostess arrived with menus and we all made our way to a table.</p><p></p><p> I cracked the menu after sitting down and laid it flat so I could have a good look at all my new business partners, "Well I guess its safe to say we can all afford whatever's on the menu tonight."</p><p></p><p> This brought low chuckles and Brother Jones chimed in. "Man, I consider the dough a side issue in this endeavor as I am sure you all do as well. But I must confess that Edward's generosity is most welcome." He lowered his voice in a mock whisper, "Despite what some televangelists may have you believe, truly saving souls does not often make one rich."</p><p></p><p> The waitress came and we all ordered drinks. I didn't bother trying for alcohol. It'd be just my luck to get carded and look like a fool in front of all my new friends. I stuck with a fourth Dr. Pepper for the day. Mordakai and Jones ordered scotch and Anthony ordered a whisky. I gave them all the benefit of the doubt and chalked up their beverage choices to a celebratory mood. Damyu ordered iced tea. Me and Damyu... the tea totellers, party down.</p><p></p><p> "I'm already somewhat familiar with Brother Jones and Damyu, but I don't know the rest of you at all. Which probably means you don't know anything about me either. Shall we fill in some blanks? I'll be happy to start." While no one seemed overly eager there were no negative head shakes so I jumped in. "As I briefly stated before I've known the Professor since I was a little girl. He was a colleague of my father's and originally one of my tutors. He kinda became a surrogate parent during my formative years. In a lot of ways he's more a parent to me than my real parents were." I took a sip of Dr. Pepper before continuing, "In the last three or four years I've become his sometime assistant. I do research on artifacts and study up on regional history to compliment his field work. It worked out pretty well seeing as how I often used the papers I did for him as college assignments."</p><p></p><p> The waitress arrived to take our orders and we each picked something suitably expensive. When she left with the menus I continued. "I 'd like to get one thing straight from the very start. Jones is right, I'm not in this for the money. I'm happy to help run the Professors business but the real reason I'm here and doing this is to help find Edward. I'm hoping some of you might be of a similar mind." I looked at the others each in turn and all seemed to agree. Mr. Kane had a semi-smirk as if something were amusing. "What's funny Mr. Kane?" Direct, who me?</p><p></p><p> "First off, please everybody call me Anthony. Second, I'm sorry I seem amused. It's just that I've already been attempting to track Eddie down for the last eight months. If you really must know, I was just thinking to myself that there was nothing left to try." He chuckled then, "Of course the minute I thought it, I remembered something Eddie always says, 'Many hands make light work' and I realized that together we might get something accomplished that I couldn't do alone. So ya see, I was laughing at myself." He looked at me as he finished speaking and I nodded.</p><p></p><p> Mordakai raised his scotch towards his mouth, "How exactly are you related to the Professor... Anthony?" He took a slow sip.</p><p></p><p> "If Ms. Winters was Eddie's research assistant, I guess you could call me his field assistant. I help him track down and follow up on leads... among other things." He took a quick swig of his whiskey. "I've known Eddie a long, long time. He's one of the best friends I have and obviously I'm all for finding him."</p><p></p><p> I was still puzzling over the whole 'among other things' part in Anthony's sentence. There was that certain inflection that made me think 'other things' meant 'things I'm not sure I should tell any of you' but I decided to wait a bit more before asking. See, the soul of discretion, that's me. Mordakai seemed satisfied with Anthony's answer. He put his arm up on the back of the booth and told us his story.</p><p></p><p> "I was a cop when I met the Professor. He helped me out of a jam and I returned the favor. You might say it started a trend and we became pretty tight over the years. I do a lot of private work now and have some expertise in international customs laws. If the Professor had problems in that area or with the law in general I could sometimes fix them." He looked at each of us after that with a 'don't ask' look in his eyes. Again with the mystery crap. Hmmmm, problems with the law... go to Mordakai. Since he didn't really seem the lawyer type to me, I was betting his 'fixes' were less than legal. I briefly wondered what caused the 'ex' in front of cop. Ok, Ok, maybe I just didn't like Mr. Shabrar very much. I decided to try harder to give him a chance. After all, the Professor liked him, right?</p><p></p><p> "I steal things for the Professor." Damyu was twirling the straw in his iced tea as he made this profound statement. There was silence at the table.</p><p></p><p> Jones looked sideways at Damyu. "You sound entirely unrepentant for your sinful ways my brother."</p><p></p><p> Mordakai and Anthony were both smiling. I think I was the only one at the table with serious 'oh' mouth.</p><p></p><p> Damyu smiled and looked at Jones. "Almost everything I steal was stolen first, either legally or illegally. I steal from bad people. My soul feels fine. Besides, it usually pays pretty well." He took a long sip of his tea through the straw.</p><p></p><p> Had I been asked before this little get together, I would have said I knew Damyu pretty well. Yeah right, all except that whole criminal aspect of his life. He was the only one at the table that looked younger than me, though I think he's actually a bit older. Somehow it seemed unfair that he was a felon. I closed my mouth and looked at Brother Jones. Surely there were no dark secrets he was hiding, right? Man of God by day, bloodthirsty assassin by night. Bocefus the Hitman... no it just didn't work for me. Everyone else looked at him too, the silent question in all eyes, 'what's in your closet Mr. Jones?'</p><p></p><p> He shook his head from side to side. "Just cause the rest a you sinners got sordid pasts don't mean I have books under my mattress. Bocefus L. Jones is a man of God and walks the straight line of Jesus our Savior! Amen and Hallelujah!" He slugged his scotch and smacked the empty glass on the table as the waitress showed up with our food. "I'll have another scotch when you are able my Sister. I find myself in need of spirituous fortification. For I am surrounded by sin." After placing the last plate she took his glass and made her way towards the bar after making sure we were provided for.</p><p></p><p> Brother Jones bowed his head in a brief prayer before taking a large bite of his swordfish and dabbing his mouth with the napkin from his lap. "I was the Professor's go-to man on all things religious in nature. Being no slouch in that field himself I often thought that Edward merely looked for corroboration of his theories. Though I hope its not sinful pride to say that I sometimes surprised the ol' fellow with a bit a new learnin'." He smiled, "Perhaps my story lacks the mystery and excitement of some of yours, but it does have the advantage of NOT endangering my immortal soul. If I did not know the Professor the way I do, and know that he is an excellent judge of character..." He looked at each of us. When he came to me his stern look softened slightly. "Elorah I of course do not mean to include you." He looked at Kevin, who had been doing a fair job at invisibility. "And we have not yet heard this gentleman's story."</p><p></p><p> The collective gaze swung to Kevin now, who seemed to be having some difficulty getting pepper out of the shaker and onto his vegetables. He lifted his head and set the shaker aside. "I'm just a good friend of Eddie's. I felt that he might be in trouble and so here I am. I got to Eddie's place and Ethan redirected me to the Law Firm for the reading. I was heading west anyway... and you can't get much more west than this, so... here I am." All this in that slow, slightly stoned voice that I was already classifying as kevin-speak. Apparently Kevin believed that was a good explanation. When none of us stopped staring he continued. "Ummm, that's really all there is to the story. I met Eddie in Pennsylvania. And Indiana. South Dakota . . . Colorado. I helped him find a couple things. He's a friend." With that he looked down at his plate and started to eat, pepper be damned I guess. The rest of us looked at one another and did a communal shrug. I guess that was that.</p><p></p><p> The rest of dinner went pretty quick. Damyu entertained us with a funny story about one of his 'procurement missions' for the Professor. Jones looked on with disapproval and Anthony had to remind him to keep it down after he got excited and shouted, "I could of stole HALF THE COLLECTION the guard was so NOT paying attention!" We all scanned the room but thankfully no one seemed to paying much attention. Kevin, Mordakai and Anthony didn't say much. The former I think out of shyness and the two ladder out of some sort of 'I'm too cool' contest.</p><p></p><p> Anthony insisted on picking up the tab. Everybody but Kevin argued the point but Anthony pointed out that we would all have ample opportunities to do likewise in the coming year. We gathered our hats and coats and headed out the door. It was just getting dark and we all agreed to drive out to the Professor's estate and take the official tour. I'd already seen the place but it seemed like the friendly thing to tag along. Anthony insisted that Ethan wouldn't mind the unannounced visit so off we went, my partners and I. I'm thinking this is probably gonna be an interesting year.</p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p> The drive to the Professor's estate took about an hour. We convoyed there with Anthony's shiny black truck in the lead, followed by me, Kevin and Damyu in the Gia and Mordakai on his shiny black motorcycle bringing up the rear. I guess shiny black must mean cool in the handbook. Jones was in the truck with Anthony. I had to stop to get gas in San Carlos and we put up the top. Mordakai filled up his bike too.</p><p></p><p> He walked up as we were snapping the top in place and leaned on the hood. "So have any of you ever met Anthony before today?"</p><p></p><p> I looked at Damyu and Kevin and shrugged, "I haven't."</p><p></p><p> They both affirmed that this was their first meeting with him as well.</p><p></p><p> "Doesn't anybody else think that's strange?"</p><p></p><p> I thought about it for a moment. "Not necessarily. The Professor travels a lot and I'd often visit him when he had guests - friends he said - that I'd never met." I pointed at Mordakai, "I've never met you before either for that matter." I smiled to take the accusation out of my words. "Have either of you ever met Mr. Shabrar?" Again Kevin and Damyu shook their heads simultaneously in the negative. I said, "I had never met Kevin before either." Mordakai stepped out of my way as I came around the front of the car and opened my door. "I suppose that's what comes of being a globe hopper. You make lots of friends that don't know each other."</p><p></p><p> Mordakai didn't look very convinced of my reasoning but he shrugged and walked back towards his bike. I got in, started the engine and flipped on the radio. We eased back out onto the highway and Mordakai gunned by us. Damyu said, "I guess he knows the way."</p><p></p><p> "I guess he does."</p><p></p><p> It was about eight thirty when we drove up the winding estate driveway. I could see the lights in the tower room windows over the trees and stone wall that surrounded the buildings. Although a great deal of the grounds weren't visible at the moment I spent the good part of a summer here when I was thirteen and had often visited the Professor in the intervening years. I knew that the structures and landscape were very 'medieval Italian villa' in style and shape.</p><p></p><p> We pulled up to the gates and the security guard waved us through. A short drive through manicured lawns brought us to a circular drive and the lighted front entrance to the main house. Anthony's truck and Mordakai's bike were parked in front of the garage/coach house and Jones, Anthony and Mr. Shabrar were all leaning against the truck in apparent conversation. I pulled my little car in next to Anthony's big truck and turned off the engine.</p><p></p><p> They stopped talking as Damyu and I stepped out to join them. Damyu pulled his seat forward so Kevin could extricate himself from my cramped back seat.</p><p></p><p> Mordakai smiled and said, "What took you so long?"</p><p></p><p> "Not all of us here are in to breaking the law." I tapped Damyu on the arm as I said this and gave Mordakai a look.</p><p></p><p> Damyu smiled. "Yeah Yeah Elorah, save it for someone who hasn't seen you at a rave." He trailed his hand back and forth in front of his face and mimicked someone tripping on patterns.</p><p></p><p> What can I say? He had me there. I glared and tried to hit him again but he nimbly sidestepped my half hearted attempt and we all started walking towards the front door together.</p><p></p><p> Anthony was about to grab the door knob when one of the large, oak doors swung inwards and Ethan appeared. "Hello Anthony. Welcome everyone. Won't you come in?"</p><p></p><p> Ethan was in his sixties and stood straight backed at about five foot ten inches. He had well groomed, gray hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. His eyes were blue and he wore a nicely tailored, grey business suit. He had a strictly upper crust accent, though it was purely american. His lack of a british speaking voice is probably the only thing that kept him from completely fulfilling the Rich butler stereotype. Well, that and the fact that I knew Ethan was a good deal less snobbish than any snooty old englishman.</p><p></p><p> It had been months since I'd seen him in person and I stepped up and gave him a warm hug. "It's good to see you Ethan."</p><p></p><p> He returned the hug and ushered everyone into the entry hall. "I'm glad to see you too Elorah. May I take your hat?"</p><p></p><p> One by one he greeted everyone individually while I got re-aquainted with the feel of the place. Being here always made me thirteen again. The stucco and stone walls complete with torch sconces always made me feel like a princess in a european castle. Of course there were modern lamps inside the sconces, but the feel was definitely still Harry Potter-ish. Giovanni Bellini's 'The Feast of the Gods' hung just across from the front doors. As a girl I always giggled whenever I saw the Satyr's naked butt next to Bacchus. It still made me smile. I had the sudden urge to kick off my boots and run barefoot over the tile floor into the Professor's study. No matter what he was working on he would always take time to answer my questions. Of course now he couldn't answer any of my questions. The quick tightening in my chest brought me back to the present.</p><p></p><p> It was apparent from the greetings that Ethan was at least somewhat familiar with Jones, Damyu and Mordakai and perhaps not so familiar with Kevin. He seemed on quite familiar terms with Anthony and I got the impression that Mr. Kane had been a regular at the house for some time. We migrated from the hallway into the kitchen where Ethan offered us all drinks before leading us into the den.</p><p></p><p> One of the houses several huge fireplaces was surrounded by two small couches and four cozy chairs. An iron chandelier hung from the arched ceiling and the combination of it's light and the warm red glow from the fire lent a cheery feel to the room. Bookshelves lined one wall, filled to bursting with historical novels (this was the Professor's relaxation room) and a few academic works. The outer wall was broken up by a huge bay window that by memory I knew looked out on the south lawn, with its short stone walls and many low fruit trees. All you could see now was a starry sky and the the silhouettes of the taller trees in the distance.</p><p></p><p> I sat in one of the chairs and sipped my hot tea as the others likewise found seats for themselves. Ethan asked if anyone needed a snack and we all said no thank you. He turned to stoke up the fire and then sat down next to Kevin on the couch. "I cannot tell you all how happy I am that you will be staying here. It gets terribly tedious running an empty household."</p><p></p><p> Jones trailed his hand in an arc to encompass the room and house, "Well, it's somewhat smaller than I'm use to you understand, but I think I'll be able to ghetto down for a while if you know what I'm sayin."</p><p></p><p> Mordakai put his feet up on a padded stool made for the purpose. "I'll say this for Edward. He's done all right for himself. I just hope he's back soon to enjoy it some more." That was a sentiment on which we all agreed.</p><p></p><p> After a small course of small talk I brought up what I was sure was on everyones mind. "Well... I can't wait any longer. If you don't mind Anthony, can you tell us what ground you've already gone over in the search for the Professor?"</p><p></p><p> "I suppose you're right. If everyone's ready to hear it, I'm ready to tell it."</p><p></p><p> I definitely brought the joviality down a notch but it looked like everyone was ready. As soon as it was apparent that he had all our attention, Anthony began.</p><p></p><p> "I had just come back from India with an artifact the Professor and I had been tracking for some time, The Blade of Kali, a ritual Kukri used in Hindu death rites. It had come into the possession of a Thugee cult around two hundred years ago. I liberated it with some difficulty."</p><p></p><p> Mordakai cut in here, "You mean you stole it from the bad guys." He looked at Damyu. "I thought that was Damyu's job?"</p><p></p><p> Anthony looked at Mordakai, "He wasn't around at the time." He went on, "So when I got back with the knife, Ethan was mildly concerned..." Ethan nodded. "... it seems that Eddie just disappeared."</p><p></p><p> Jones said, "Wait, you mean like 'didn't come down for dinner' disappeared, or 'Presto Chango' disappeared?"</p><p></p><p> Ethan shook his head, "No, no, there were no spells that I know of. Edward simply 'never came down for dinner' as you put it Mr. Jones."</p><p></p><p> No spells that he knew of? That was strange wording. Anthony's next words drew me away from my musings before I had time to ask Ethan what he'd meant.</p><p></p><p> "As near as we can tell Eddie was here at the house one minute and gone from it the next. None of the security cameras showed any trace of him leaving. When I returned it had been almost two weeks since the disappearance."</p><p></p><p> Ethan said, "Yes, by that point I was getting a little bit alarmed. You see Edward would sometimes have to leave unexpectedly, but when he did, he would always call soon after to let me know how long he expected to be gone. Two weeks without any word was highly unusual... even for Edward. When Mr. Kane showed up I half expected Edward to be with him."</p><p></p><p> "Which of course he wasn't." Anthony said. "The last call I had from Eddie was in Bangolore three months prior. I reported my progress and he said he'd see me when I got back."</p><p></p><p> "Do you think his disappearance had anything to do with the Kukri?" I asked.</p><p></p><p> "It's possible I suppose. The Thugee certainly wouldn't be passed kidnapping. But it's been almost a year and I've been keeping a pretty close watch on their activities. There's been no ransom demands, no attempts to get the knife back and as far as I know, the cult didn't even know that Eddie was involved."</p><p></p><p> I churned the facts in my mind. Anthony seemed to be telling the truth about all this, though I still had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right about him. I looked at the others, they seemed to be doing some heavy thinking too.</p><p></p><p> Mordakai said, "You mean the cult hasn't even tried to find their missing knife?"</p><p></p><p> "Well, I guess I should have said as far as I can tell they haven't had any luck. They're not all that well organized."</p><p></p><p> I looked at the others as I spoke, "This is what I'm thinking, please tell me if you have any suggestions." I ticked off the points on my fingers. "First I'd like to call a friend of mine... a psychic friend..." I looked around to see how that went over, ok I guess since no one interrupted. "...I know it's been a year but he still might be able to get something, it's at least worth a shot. Then I'd like to see this Kukri and any notes the Professor kept on it. Next would be a list of his current and recent projects."</p><p></p><p> Mordakai jumped in with, "Do we know of any enemies or competitors Edward might have?"</p><p></p><p> "Good thought." Jones said.</p><p></p><p> Anthony looked thoughtful, "You've actually met one tonight." He went on hurriedly as we all looked at him. "Yvette Mason, the redhead at the restaurant. She's been a rival of Eddie's for several artifacts, including the Kukri. She had her people looking for the knife. I had a little run in with them in India."</p><p></p><p> This was an interesting development. Anthony's one-time sweetie (if I wasn't wrong about that) was a possible suspect.</p><p></p><p> "Right then, we add Ms. Mason to our research list." I looked at Anthony, "Where does the Professor keep his finds anyway?"</p><p></p><p> "In the vault downstairs."</p><p></p><p> "There's a vault?... I remember a wine cellar, but not a vault."</p><p></p><p> Ethan said, "Yes Elorah, there's a vault and since you are all now partners in the Professor's business interests it's time you saw what you're protecting." He stood up and motioned towards the hall and the door to the wine cellar. We followed.</p><p></p><p> The wine cellar door led down a set of steep steps and into a wide room with a large oak table at it's center. It was all just as I had remembered it, three walls filled to the brim with bottles of expensive wine in rod iron racks. The same type of modern torch sconces gave light to the room when Ethan hit the switch by the entrance. There was a great mural of Dionysus cavorting with several scantily clad women on the ceiling. Another giggler for that thirteen year old I used to be. But I saw no sign of an antiquities collection.</p><p></p><p> Ethan waited until we had all made it down the steps and were looking around the room before addressing us. "It's incredibly cinematic I know but as we all know, Edward had a dramatic flare." He walked up to the wine racks and pointed each rack out in order. "There are twelve racks from left to right and top to bottom. Each rack contains forty bottles of wine, also left to right and starting from the top." He searched out the fourth rack and fingered his way through the bottles. "Racks are months, bottles are days." He stopped on the twenty second bottle and pulled it out slightly. "Ah yes, Dom. de la Romanee Conti 1997, an excellent choice." He smiled and pushed it back in, and then even further back. "Push the bottle back until you feel a click..." he then pulled it back to it's original position. "... and then return the bottle to it's place in the rack."</p><p></p><p> He stood straight as a soft hum filled the room. The Oak table and the floor it rested on ascended on a slowly rising column of stone. As it reached ceiling height we could all see an archway cut into the column and another set of stone stairs leading further down. This time I wasn't the only one with 'oh' mouth. There were more sconces along these stairs, but this time tinted bulbs gave the passage a blue sort of underwater quality. I could just make out a set of metallic, double doors at the base of the stairs.</p><p></p><p> Ethan lead us down the steps and into the blue light. "As it stands now, only Edward, Anthony and I have codes for the doors. You will each have your own code assigned to you tomorrow." He reached the solid looking doors and punched a quick succession of numbers into the little key panel to the right. "Be sure you only use your own code since the system has a way of knowing if you don't."</p><p></p><p> "That sounds ominous."</p><p></p><p> Ethan gave me a stern look, "It was meant to Elorah. The treasures kept within require strict measures of security. Anyone using the wrong code would find themselves in a most uncomfortable situation."</p><p></p><p> We all shared a look at that. A look that I think meant we all got it. The doors slid open and we walked into Disneyland. OK, maybe there weren't any roller coasters or big eared rats but it was better than Disneyland for geeks like me and Damyu. Not only was there 'oh' mouth but I think Damyu was drooling. I can't be sure because I couldn't take my eyes off the artifacts.</p><p></p><p> The room was about forty feet across and a hundred feet long. Low wattage, fluorescent lights illuminated hundreds of display cases on each side of a wide isle down the center of the room. Shields, Urns, swords, helmets, and jewelry were just a few of the things my eyes took in. There was a pristine suit of lacquered, fifteenth century samurai armor, and over there a silver chalice, exquisitely engraved with intricate celtic knotwork. On the walls were tapestries and paintings under glass. A seven foot stone carving of a Mandarin warrior stood with spear ready alongside a wonderfully eccentric ceremonial robe (perhaps of Egyptian origin though I couldn't say for sure.) Interspersed amongst these treasures were empty display cases awaiting future finds. One looked as if it would hold a sword. A small card in the display read 'Excalibur' and I suppressed a shiver. If I weren't surrounded by all this, I would have laughed at the Professor's arrogance. In my current place, it just made me want to know what treasures these were that he HAD already.</p><p></p><p> "Hmm mmm" That was Ethan trying to get my attention. He was having about as much luck with me as with Damyu. "I'll remind you both that you will have plenty of time to google over the other items in the coming year. In fact, there's a complete database on Edward's computer." He still wasn't having much luck. Damyu squeaked (I'm not kidding about that) and hurried over to a new case further down the row.</p><p></p><p> Ethan smiled. "You know having this many people in the vault with the door open effects the moisture and temperature adversely. Climate control can only do so much and we wouldn't want to damage the goods... would we?" That did it. Both Damyu and I healed like good little puppies and gathered around the glass case everyone else was at.</p><p></p><p> "Now that's a wicked jabber." I said as I got a good look at the Kukri. It was about thirty inches long with an ivory, leather wrapped handle and black, obsidian blade. The guard was carved with various Hindu, religious scenes and it seemed to have been dipped in some sort of red lacquer. The blade itself looked very sharp and was curved in typical Kukri fashion. The fact that it was obsidian should have meant an uneven edge, yet all the lines were straight and smooth. The overhead lights reflected strangely from the blade. As I bent to get a closer look I could see myriad red veins running through the obsidian. The red was very close to the color of blood and I had to stand up as a shiver ran through me.</p><p></p><p> I looked at the others. "Is it colder in here or is it just me?" Everyone seemed mildly creeped by the knife. Everyone except Kevin, who had gone way beyond mildly creeped and was slowly backing away from the case with a look of revulsion on his face.</p><p></p><p> Jones saw it too and warned him before he bumped into the statue behind him. "What's up Kevin? You feelin alright?"</p><p></p><p> Kevin pointed at the knife, "That thing is evil."</p><p></p><p> We all turned to look at the kukri again. It didn't jump out of the case and attack us, it just sat there.</p><p></p><p> I shrugged, "I admit it ain't cozy... but it's just a knife."</p><p></p><p> I looked at Ethan for a verbal ok as I opened the case and reached for it. I grabbed hold of the handle. It felt odd, cool and smooth and yet slightly greasy too, almost like it was damp, but with something more viscous than water. I pulled it out of the case and raised it so the others could see it well. It was heavy for it's size. Outside of the case the red veins in the blade seemed to catch more light and it appeared for a moment as if the the red was actually liquid running in rivulets from the point. If I wasn't experiencing another shiver, I would have said it was a cool effect.</p><p></p><p> Damyu said, "I've never seen veined obsidian before."</p><p></p><p> "Definitely a new one for me too" I agreed. To Ethan I said, "Does the professor still have his lab equipment?"</p><p></p><p> "Yes. I believe he may have even added one or two things since last you visited."</p><p></p><p> "Excellent. If no one minds I think Damyu and I should run some tests on this. As well as look at the Professor's notes." I looked at Anthony and Ethan and they shrugged as if to say that would be alright. Kevin's look hadn't changed when I turned towards the door. Now it just seemed to encompass me too. I may have been reading too much into it, but he seemed to be accusing me of something for having touched the knife. I wiggled it in his direction just a little when I walked by him and watched him squirm away. Childish? Maybe. Fun? Definitely.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Captain Claymore, post: 1616418, member: 12634"] [b]Chapter Two[/b] [I] In the town where I was born Lived a man who sailed to sea And he told us of his life In the land of submarines So we sailed up to the sun Till we found a sea of green And we lived beneath the waves in our yellow submarine[/I] The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine" CHAPTER TWO It took me a bit longer to find a place to park so Mr. Kane, Damyu and Mordakai were inside the restaurant waiting for a table when Jones, Kevin and I came in the door. Pier Nine was semi-fancy, in a way that let tourists say 'hey were livin it up' while still being affordable for said tourists. The decor was what I'd call tasteful oceanfront. There were large paintings of turn-of-the-century fishing vessels plying the waters of San Francisco Bay and the odd bit of refurbished dock paraphernalia like the heavy iron anchor-turned art sculpture just inside the entrance. I had no more than stepped in the door when I was forced to move aside by a burly guy in an expensive suit who hardly glanced in my direction. Right behind him was a stunningly beautiful redhead in an equally impressive white dress. It was obvious from the stance and posture that the suited gorilla was her escort, bodyguard, whatever. Brother Jones muttered something very unpreacherlike under his breath. Every one in our party looked a bit surprised when she stopped in front of Mr. Kane. "Well well, what a surprise to see you here Anthony," her voice was deeper than I expected but still very womanly, yeah you might call it sultry. It was clear from that one sentence that her and Mr. Kane - or should I say Anthony? - were or had been very close. By his version of the 'hey there, not interested' smile I was guessing 'had been' instead of 'were.' "Yvette... a pleasure as always." His tone didn't quite match the words but she seemed either not to notice or not to care. She gave us the once over, brief eye contact showed striking emerald eyes, then turned back to Mr. Kane, "Pleasure seeing you love but must be hurrying along. A woman's work is never done you know." She laid her hand a moment on his arm before turning and walking away. The suit gave Mr. Kane the once over before following like a good little puppy, big dog, whatever. Mr. Kane turned to us with a smile after she'd gotten a good distance, "Sorry bout that. Don't worry it's not you. She's that rude to almost everyone." Just then the hostess arrived with menus and we all made our way to a table. I cracked the menu after sitting down and laid it flat so I could have a good look at all my new business partners, "Well I guess its safe to say we can all afford whatever's on the menu tonight." This brought low chuckles and Brother Jones chimed in. "Man, I consider the dough a side issue in this endeavor as I am sure you all do as well. But I must confess that Edward's generosity is most welcome." He lowered his voice in a mock whisper, "Despite what some televangelists may have you believe, truly saving souls does not often make one rich." The waitress came and we all ordered drinks. I didn't bother trying for alcohol. It'd be just my luck to get carded and look like a fool in front of all my new friends. I stuck with a fourth Dr. Pepper for the day. Mordakai and Jones ordered scotch and Anthony ordered a whisky. I gave them all the benefit of the doubt and chalked up their beverage choices to a celebratory mood. Damyu ordered iced tea. Me and Damyu... the tea totellers, party down. "I'm already somewhat familiar with Brother Jones and Damyu, but I don't know the rest of you at all. Which probably means you don't know anything about me either. Shall we fill in some blanks? I'll be happy to start." While no one seemed overly eager there were no negative head shakes so I jumped in. "As I briefly stated before I've known the Professor since I was a little girl. He was a colleague of my father's and originally one of my tutors. He kinda became a surrogate parent during my formative years. In a lot of ways he's more a parent to me than my real parents were." I took a sip of Dr. Pepper before continuing, "In the last three or four years I've become his sometime assistant. I do research on artifacts and study up on regional history to compliment his field work. It worked out pretty well seeing as how I often used the papers I did for him as college assignments." The waitress arrived to take our orders and we each picked something suitably expensive. When she left with the menus I continued. "I 'd like to get one thing straight from the very start. Jones is right, I'm not in this for the money. I'm happy to help run the Professors business but the real reason I'm here and doing this is to help find Edward. I'm hoping some of you might be of a similar mind." I looked at the others each in turn and all seemed to agree. Mr. Kane had a semi-smirk as if something were amusing. "What's funny Mr. Kane?" Direct, who me? "First off, please everybody call me Anthony. Second, I'm sorry I seem amused. It's just that I've already been attempting to track Eddie down for the last eight months. If you really must know, I was just thinking to myself that there was nothing left to try." He chuckled then, "Of course the minute I thought it, I remembered something Eddie always says, 'Many hands make light work' and I realized that together we might get something accomplished that I couldn't do alone. So ya see, I was laughing at myself." He looked at me as he finished speaking and I nodded. Mordakai raised his scotch towards his mouth, "How exactly are you related to the Professor... Anthony?" He took a slow sip. "If Ms. Winters was Eddie's research assistant, I guess you could call me his field assistant. I help him track down and follow up on leads... among other things." He took a quick swig of his whiskey. "I've known Eddie a long, long time. He's one of the best friends I have and obviously I'm all for finding him." I was still puzzling over the whole 'among other things' part in Anthony's sentence. There was that certain inflection that made me think 'other things' meant 'things I'm not sure I should tell any of you' but I decided to wait a bit more before asking. See, the soul of discretion, that's me. Mordakai seemed satisfied with Anthony's answer. He put his arm up on the back of the booth and told us his story. "I was a cop when I met the Professor. He helped me out of a jam and I returned the favor. You might say it started a trend and we became pretty tight over the years. I do a lot of private work now and have some expertise in international customs laws. If the Professor had problems in that area or with the law in general I could sometimes fix them." He looked at each of us after that with a 'don't ask' look in his eyes. Again with the mystery crap. Hmmmm, problems with the law... go to Mordakai. Since he didn't really seem the lawyer type to me, I was betting his 'fixes' were less than legal. I briefly wondered what caused the 'ex' in front of cop. Ok, Ok, maybe I just didn't like Mr. Shabrar very much. I decided to try harder to give him a chance. After all, the Professor liked him, right? "I steal things for the Professor." Damyu was twirling the straw in his iced tea as he made this profound statement. There was silence at the table. Jones looked sideways at Damyu. "You sound entirely unrepentant for your sinful ways my brother." Mordakai and Anthony were both smiling. I think I was the only one at the table with serious 'oh' mouth. Damyu smiled and looked at Jones. "Almost everything I steal was stolen first, either legally or illegally. I steal from bad people. My soul feels fine. Besides, it usually pays pretty well." He took a long sip of his tea through the straw. Had I been asked before this little get together, I would have said I knew Damyu pretty well. Yeah right, all except that whole criminal aspect of his life. He was the only one at the table that looked younger than me, though I think he's actually a bit older. Somehow it seemed unfair that he was a felon. I closed my mouth and looked at Brother Jones. Surely there were no dark secrets he was hiding, right? Man of God by day, bloodthirsty assassin by night. Bocefus the Hitman... no it just didn't work for me. Everyone else looked at him too, the silent question in all eyes, 'what's in your closet Mr. Jones?' He shook his head from side to side. "Just cause the rest a you sinners got sordid pasts don't mean I have books under my mattress. Bocefus L. Jones is a man of God and walks the straight line of Jesus our Savior! Amen and Hallelujah!" He slugged his scotch and smacked the empty glass on the table as the waitress showed up with our food. "I'll have another scotch when you are able my Sister. I find myself in need of spirituous fortification. For I am surrounded by sin." After placing the last plate she took his glass and made her way towards the bar after making sure we were provided for. Brother Jones bowed his head in a brief prayer before taking a large bite of his swordfish and dabbing his mouth with the napkin from his lap. "I was the Professor's go-to man on all things religious in nature. Being no slouch in that field himself I often thought that Edward merely looked for corroboration of his theories. Though I hope its not sinful pride to say that I sometimes surprised the ol' fellow with a bit a new learnin'." He smiled, "Perhaps my story lacks the mystery and excitement of some of yours, but it does have the advantage of NOT endangering my immortal soul. If I did not know the Professor the way I do, and know that he is an excellent judge of character..." He looked at each of us. When he came to me his stern look softened slightly. "Elorah I of course do not mean to include you." He looked at Kevin, who had been doing a fair job at invisibility. "And we have not yet heard this gentleman's story." The collective gaze swung to Kevin now, who seemed to be having some difficulty getting pepper out of the shaker and onto his vegetables. He lifted his head and set the shaker aside. "I'm just a good friend of Eddie's. I felt that he might be in trouble and so here I am. I got to Eddie's place and Ethan redirected me to the Law Firm for the reading. I was heading west anyway... and you can't get much more west than this, so... here I am." All this in that slow, slightly stoned voice that I was already classifying as kevin-speak. Apparently Kevin believed that was a good explanation. When none of us stopped staring he continued. "Ummm, that's really all there is to the story. I met Eddie in Pennsylvania. And Indiana. South Dakota . . . Colorado. I helped him find a couple things. He's a friend." With that he looked down at his plate and started to eat, pepper be damned I guess. The rest of us looked at one another and did a communal shrug. I guess that was that. The rest of dinner went pretty quick. Damyu entertained us with a funny story about one of his 'procurement missions' for the Professor. Jones looked on with disapproval and Anthony had to remind him to keep it down after he got excited and shouted, "I could of stole HALF THE COLLECTION the guard was so NOT paying attention!" We all scanned the room but thankfully no one seemed to paying much attention. Kevin, Mordakai and Anthony didn't say much. The former I think out of shyness and the two ladder out of some sort of 'I'm too cool' contest. Anthony insisted on picking up the tab. Everybody but Kevin argued the point but Anthony pointed out that we would all have ample opportunities to do likewise in the coming year. We gathered our hats and coats and headed out the door. It was just getting dark and we all agreed to drive out to the Professor's estate and take the official tour. I'd already seen the place but it seemed like the friendly thing to tag along. Anthony insisted that Ethan wouldn't mind the unannounced visit so off we went, my partners and I. I'm thinking this is probably gonna be an interesting year. ---------------------------------------------------- The drive to the Professor's estate took about an hour. We convoyed there with Anthony's shiny black truck in the lead, followed by me, Kevin and Damyu in the Gia and Mordakai on his shiny black motorcycle bringing up the rear. I guess shiny black must mean cool in the handbook. Jones was in the truck with Anthony. I had to stop to get gas in San Carlos and we put up the top. Mordakai filled up his bike too. He walked up as we were snapping the top in place and leaned on the hood. "So have any of you ever met Anthony before today?" I looked at Damyu and Kevin and shrugged, "I haven't." They both affirmed that this was their first meeting with him as well. "Doesn't anybody else think that's strange?" I thought about it for a moment. "Not necessarily. The Professor travels a lot and I'd often visit him when he had guests - friends he said - that I'd never met." I pointed at Mordakai, "I've never met you before either for that matter." I smiled to take the accusation out of my words. "Have either of you ever met Mr. Shabrar?" Again Kevin and Damyu shook their heads simultaneously in the negative. I said, "I had never met Kevin before either." Mordakai stepped out of my way as I came around the front of the car and opened my door. "I suppose that's what comes of being a globe hopper. You make lots of friends that don't know each other." Mordakai didn't look very convinced of my reasoning but he shrugged and walked back towards his bike. I got in, started the engine and flipped on the radio. We eased back out onto the highway and Mordakai gunned by us. Damyu said, "I guess he knows the way." "I guess he does." It was about eight thirty when we drove up the winding estate driveway. I could see the lights in the tower room windows over the trees and stone wall that surrounded the buildings. Although a great deal of the grounds weren't visible at the moment I spent the good part of a summer here when I was thirteen and had often visited the Professor in the intervening years. I knew that the structures and landscape were very 'medieval Italian villa' in style and shape. We pulled up to the gates and the security guard waved us through. A short drive through manicured lawns brought us to a circular drive and the lighted front entrance to the main house. Anthony's truck and Mordakai's bike were parked in front of the garage/coach house and Jones, Anthony and Mr. Shabrar were all leaning against the truck in apparent conversation. I pulled my little car in next to Anthony's big truck and turned off the engine. They stopped talking as Damyu and I stepped out to join them. Damyu pulled his seat forward so Kevin could extricate himself from my cramped back seat. Mordakai smiled and said, "What took you so long?" "Not all of us here are in to breaking the law." I tapped Damyu on the arm as I said this and gave Mordakai a look. Damyu smiled. "Yeah Yeah Elorah, save it for someone who hasn't seen you at a rave." He trailed his hand back and forth in front of his face and mimicked someone tripping on patterns. What can I say? He had me there. I glared and tried to hit him again but he nimbly sidestepped my half hearted attempt and we all started walking towards the front door together. Anthony was about to grab the door knob when one of the large, oak doors swung inwards and Ethan appeared. "Hello Anthony. Welcome everyone. Won't you come in?" Ethan was in his sixties and stood straight backed at about five foot ten inches. He had well groomed, gray hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. His eyes were blue and he wore a nicely tailored, grey business suit. He had a strictly upper crust accent, though it was purely american. His lack of a british speaking voice is probably the only thing that kept him from completely fulfilling the Rich butler stereotype. Well, that and the fact that I knew Ethan was a good deal less snobbish than any snooty old englishman. It had been months since I'd seen him in person and I stepped up and gave him a warm hug. "It's good to see you Ethan." He returned the hug and ushered everyone into the entry hall. "I'm glad to see you too Elorah. May I take your hat?" One by one he greeted everyone individually while I got re-aquainted with the feel of the place. Being here always made me thirteen again. The stucco and stone walls complete with torch sconces always made me feel like a princess in a european castle. Of course there were modern lamps inside the sconces, but the feel was definitely still Harry Potter-ish. Giovanni Bellini's 'The Feast of the Gods' hung just across from the front doors. As a girl I always giggled whenever I saw the Satyr's naked butt next to Bacchus. It still made me smile. I had the sudden urge to kick off my boots and run barefoot over the tile floor into the Professor's study. No matter what he was working on he would always take time to answer my questions. Of course now he couldn't answer any of my questions. The quick tightening in my chest brought me back to the present. It was apparent from the greetings that Ethan was at least somewhat familiar with Jones, Damyu and Mordakai and perhaps not so familiar with Kevin. He seemed on quite familiar terms with Anthony and I got the impression that Mr. Kane had been a regular at the house for some time. We migrated from the hallway into the kitchen where Ethan offered us all drinks before leading us into the den. One of the houses several huge fireplaces was surrounded by two small couches and four cozy chairs. An iron chandelier hung from the arched ceiling and the combination of it's light and the warm red glow from the fire lent a cheery feel to the room. Bookshelves lined one wall, filled to bursting with historical novels (this was the Professor's relaxation room) and a few academic works. The outer wall was broken up by a huge bay window that by memory I knew looked out on the south lawn, with its short stone walls and many low fruit trees. All you could see now was a starry sky and the the silhouettes of the taller trees in the distance. I sat in one of the chairs and sipped my hot tea as the others likewise found seats for themselves. Ethan asked if anyone needed a snack and we all said no thank you. He turned to stoke up the fire and then sat down next to Kevin on the couch. "I cannot tell you all how happy I am that you will be staying here. It gets terribly tedious running an empty household." Jones trailed his hand in an arc to encompass the room and house, "Well, it's somewhat smaller than I'm use to you understand, but I think I'll be able to ghetto down for a while if you know what I'm sayin." Mordakai put his feet up on a padded stool made for the purpose. "I'll say this for Edward. He's done all right for himself. I just hope he's back soon to enjoy it some more." That was a sentiment on which we all agreed. After a small course of small talk I brought up what I was sure was on everyones mind. "Well... I can't wait any longer. If you don't mind Anthony, can you tell us what ground you've already gone over in the search for the Professor?" "I suppose you're right. If everyone's ready to hear it, I'm ready to tell it." I definitely brought the joviality down a notch but it looked like everyone was ready. As soon as it was apparent that he had all our attention, Anthony began. "I had just come back from India with an artifact the Professor and I had been tracking for some time, The Blade of Kali, a ritual Kukri used in Hindu death rites. It had come into the possession of a Thugee cult around two hundred years ago. I liberated it with some difficulty." Mordakai cut in here, "You mean you stole it from the bad guys." He looked at Damyu. "I thought that was Damyu's job?" Anthony looked at Mordakai, "He wasn't around at the time." He went on, "So when I got back with the knife, Ethan was mildly concerned..." Ethan nodded. "... it seems that Eddie just disappeared." Jones said, "Wait, you mean like 'didn't come down for dinner' disappeared, or 'Presto Chango' disappeared?" Ethan shook his head, "No, no, there were no spells that I know of. Edward simply 'never came down for dinner' as you put it Mr. Jones." No spells that he knew of? That was strange wording. Anthony's next words drew me away from my musings before I had time to ask Ethan what he'd meant. "As near as we can tell Eddie was here at the house one minute and gone from it the next. None of the security cameras showed any trace of him leaving. When I returned it had been almost two weeks since the disappearance." Ethan said, "Yes, by that point I was getting a little bit alarmed. You see Edward would sometimes have to leave unexpectedly, but when he did, he would always call soon after to let me know how long he expected to be gone. Two weeks without any word was highly unusual... even for Edward. When Mr. Kane showed up I half expected Edward to be with him." "Which of course he wasn't." Anthony said. "The last call I had from Eddie was in Bangolore three months prior. I reported my progress and he said he'd see me when I got back." "Do you think his disappearance had anything to do with the Kukri?" I asked. "It's possible I suppose. The Thugee certainly wouldn't be passed kidnapping. But it's been almost a year and I've been keeping a pretty close watch on their activities. There's been no ransom demands, no attempts to get the knife back and as far as I know, the cult didn't even know that Eddie was involved." I churned the facts in my mind. Anthony seemed to be telling the truth about all this, though I still had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right about him. I looked at the others, they seemed to be doing some heavy thinking too. Mordakai said, "You mean the cult hasn't even tried to find their missing knife?" "Well, I guess I should have said as far as I can tell they haven't had any luck. They're not all that well organized." I looked at the others as I spoke, "This is what I'm thinking, please tell me if you have any suggestions." I ticked off the points on my fingers. "First I'd like to call a friend of mine... a psychic friend..." I looked around to see how that went over, ok I guess since no one interrupted. "...I know it's been a year but he still might be able to get something, it's at least worth a shot. Then I'd like to see this Kukri and any notes the Professor kept on it. Next would be a list of his current and recent projects." Mordakai jumped in with, "Do we know of any enemies or competitors Edward might have?" "Good thought." Jones said. Anthony looked thoughtful, "You've actually met one tonight." He went on hurriedly as we all looked at him. "Yvette Mason, the redhead at the restaurant. She's been a rival of Eddie's for several artifacts, including the Kukri. She had her people looking for the knife. I had a little run in with them in India." This was an interesting development. Anthony's one-time sweetie (if I wasn't wrong about that) was a possible suspect. "Right then, we add Ms. Mason to our research list." I looked at Anthony, "Where does the Professor keep his finds anyway?" "In the vault downstairs." "There's a vault?... I remember a wine cellar, but not a vault." Ethan said, "Yes Elorah, there's a vault and since you are all now partners in the Professor's business interests it's time you saw what you're protecting." He stood up and motioned towards the hall and the door to the wine cellar. We followed. The wine cellar door led down a set of steep steps and into a wide room with a large oak table at it's center. It was all just as I had remembered it, three walls filled to the brim with bottles of expensive wine in rod iron racks. The same type of modern torch sconces gave light to the room when Ethan hit the switch by the entrance. There was a great mural of Dionysus cavorting with several scantily clad women on the ceiling. Another giggler for that thirteen year old I used to be. But I saw no sign of an antiquities collection. Ethan waited until we had all made it down the steps and were looking around the room before addressing us. "It's incredibly cinematic I know but as we all know, Edward had a dramatic flare." He walked up to the wine racks and pointed each rack out in order. "There are twelve racks from left to right and top to bottom. Each rack contains forty bottles of wine, also left to right and starting from the top." He searched out the fourth rack and fingered his way through the bottles. "Racks are months, bottles are days." He stopped on the twenty second bottle and pulled it out slightly. "Ah yes, Dom. de la Romanee Conti 1997, an excellent choice." He smiled and pushed it back in, and then even further back. "Push the bottle back until you feel a click..." he then pulled it back to it's original position. "... and then return the bottle to it's place in the rack." He stood straight as a soft hum filled the room. The Oak table and the floor it rested on ascended on a slowly rising column of stone. As it reached ceiling height we could all see an archway cut into the column and another set of stone stairs leading further down. This time I wasn't the only one with 'oh' mouth. There were more sconces along these stairs, but this time tinted bulbs gave the passage a blue sort of underwater quality. I could just make out a set of metallic, double doors at the base of the stairs. Ethan lead us down the steps and into the blue light. "As it stands now, only Edward, Anthony and I have codes for the doors. You will each have your own code assigned to you tomorrow." He reached the solid looking doors and punched a quick succession of numbers into the little key panel to the right. "Be sure you only use your own code since the system has a way of knowing if you don't." "That sounds ominous." Ethan gave me a stern look, "It was meant to Elorah. The treasures kept within require strict measures of security. Anyone using the wrong code would find themselves in a most uncomfortable situation." We all shared a look at that. A look that I think meant we all got it. The doors slid open and we walked into Disneyland. OK, maybe there weren't any roller coasters or big eared rats but it was better than Disneyland for geeks like me and Damyu. Not only was there 'oh' mouth but I think Damyu was drooling. I can't be sure because I couldn't take my eyes off the artifacts. The room was about forty feet across and a hundred feet long. Low wattage, fluorescent lights illuminated hundreds of display cases on each side of a wide isle down the center of the room. Shields, Urns, swords, helmets, and jewelry were just a few of the things my eyes took in. There was a pristine suit of lacquered, fifteenth century samurai armor, and over there a silver chalice, exquisitely engraved with intricate celtic knotwork. On the walls were tapestries and paintings under glass. A seven foot stone carving of a Mandarin warrior stood with spear ready alongside a wonderfully eccentric ceremonial robe (perhaps of Egyptian origin though I couldn't say for sure.) Interspersed amongst these treasures were empty display cases awaiting future finds. One looked as if it would hold a sword. A small card in the display read 'Excalibur' and I suppressed a shiver. If I weren't surrounded by all this, I would have laughed at the Professor's arrogance. In my current place, it just made me want to know what treasures these were that he HAD already. "Hmm mmm" That was Ethan trying to get my attention. He was having about as much luck with me as with Damyu. "I'll remind you both that you will have plenty of time to google over the other items in the coming year. In fact, there's a complete database on Edward's computer." He still wasn't having much luck. Damyu squeaked (I'm not kidding about that) and hurried over to a new case further down the row. Ethan smiled. "You know having this many people in the vault with the door open effects the moisture and temperature adversely. Climate control can only do so much and we wouldn't want to damage the goods... would we?" That did it. Both Damyu and I healed like good little puppies and gathered around the glass case everyone else was at. "Now that's a wicked jabber." I said as I got a good look at the Kukri. It was about thirty inches long with an ivory, leather wrapped handle and black, obsidian blade. The guard was carved with various Hindu, religious scenes and it seemed to have been dipped in some sort of red lacquer. The blade itself looked very sharp and was curved in typical Kukri fashion. The fact that it was obsidian should have meant an uneven edge, yet all the lines were straight and smooth. The overhead lights reflected strangely from the blade. As I bent to get a closer look I could see myriad red veins running through the obsidian. The red was very close to the color of blood and I had to stand up as a shiver ran through me. I looked at the others. "Is it colder in here or is it just me?" Everyone seemed mildly creeped by the knife. Everyone except Kevin, who had gone way beyond mildly creeped and was slowly backing away from the case with a look of revulsion on his face. Jones saw it too and warned him before he bumped into the statue behind him. "What's up Kevin? You feelin alright?" Kevin pointed at the knife, "That thing is evil." We all turned to look at the kukri again. It didn't jump out of the case and attack us, it just sat there. I shrugged, "I admit it ain't cozy... but it's just a knife." I looked at Ethan for a verbal ok as I opened the case and reached for it. I grabbed hold of the handle. It felt odd, cool and smooth and yet slightly greasy too, almost like it was damp, but with something more viscous than water. I pulled it out of the case and raised it so the others could see it well. It was heavy for it's size. Outside of the case the red veins in the blade seemed to catch more light and it appeared for a moment as if the the red was actually liquid running in rivulets from the point. If I wasn't experiencing another shiver, I would have said it was a cool effect. Damyu said, "I've never seen veined obsidian before." "Definitely a new one for me too" I agreed. To Ethan I said, "Does the professor still have his lab equipment?" "Yes. I believe he may have even added one or two things since last you visited." "Excellent. If no one minds I think Damyu and I should run some tests on this. As well as look at the Professor's notes." I looked at Anthony and Ethan and they shrugged as if to say that would be alright. Kevin's look hadn't changed when I turned towards the door. Now it just seemed to encompass me too. I may have been reading too much into it, but he seemed to be accusing me of something for having touched the knife. I wiggled it in his direction just a little when I walked by him and watched him squirm away. Childish? Maybe. Fun? Definitely. [/QUOTE]
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Elorah Winters Chronicles - World of Twilight (UD 07-01-04)
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