BIOOO reu love
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Vidar swore under his breath as he got to the warehouse and saw the aftermath from the night’s events. The steel doors to the warehouse had been forced opened and looked twisted. Infront of the building he saw a group of his men. Some were helping the wounded, others kept watch. Vidar parked the car and got out. Bingham, one of the shifters who worked for him, approached him.
“Damage?” Vidar asked, not bothering with niceties.
“Three dead, five wounded, half of the stock gone,” Bingham said as they walked towards the group of men. The merchandise, illegal guns, would be an irritation to replace before they needed to ship to the buyer. Fortunately, guns were easy to come by. The thing that pissed.
Vidar off was the deaths and injuries to his men. His men were loyal, both he and Caine took pride in training them, making sure to infuse them with the same feeling of a brother and sisterhood which had been practices for centuries.
“Only humans?” he asked as Caine soundlessly joined them from out of the shadows.
“No, sir. One of the dead was Jones,” Bingham told him. Both Vidar and Caine swore. The man that usually sat at the desk in Vidar’s building was a gargoyle, they were almost as hard to kill as a vampire.
“Does his brothers know?” Vidar asked.
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“No, sir. No families have been informed.” Vidar nodded.
“Send men to the two humans‘ families. I will inform Jones‘ brothers myself,” Vidar told his
man.
“Yes, sir.” Bingham walked away, leaving him with Caine.
“Millard?” Caine’s question echoed Vidar’s thoughts. He nodded. “I put four more men on watch,” Caine said. Vidar relaxed a little. He understood Caine was reassuring him they were keeping Charlie safe.
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“Thank you. Are you any closer?” They talked in something like short hand. They had known each other long enough for them to understand each other without the details.
“The fucker has been planning this for a long time. I would be surprised if this is the final stop on his rebellion.” Vidar nodded again.
“And now he has armed himself and whatever men he is using to the teeth. f**k! I’ll give the others a heads up. Find out how he killed Jones. I’m heading over to his brothers.”
“I’ll let you know what I find.”
“I’ll be at the apartment.”
“I know.” Vidar turned around and left the scene for Caine to handle. He got back in his car and headed out of the city. He reached the old villa just before dawn. It looked like a haunted house. The gravel leading up to the stone house crackled under Vidar’s feet as he walked UD to the front door and knocked. It took a while before Smith opened the door. He looked confused.
“Mr Grim?”
“Smith, may I come in?” Vidar asked.
“Of course. Do I need to wake my brothers?”
“I think that is for the best.” The huge man nodded and showed Vidar into the comfortable looking living room and disappeared. It took a few moments for the room to start filling with men the size of small mountains, four in total, and two women. One was a human and one was a demon. Interesting, Vidar thought. By the way two of the brothers protectively had their arms around a female each, he assumed they were mates. Thank you for seeing me at this hour. I’m afraid I come bearing bad news.”
“Jones?” It was Bishop, the oldest brother that asked. The human woman safely tucked into his side.
“Yes. I’m sorry to say there was a robbery against the warehouse he was guarding with nineteen other of my men. He lost his life in the attempt to protect what was inside I‘
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sorry for your loss. It can’t bring your brother back, but I will pay
you for his loyal service.” The women gasped and hugged their mates. Vidar saw the in the eyes of the brothers.
“We appreciate the gesture, Mr Grim,” Bishop said.
“Jones was one of my best men. All of you are. I will feel his loss,” Vidar offered. All four brothers nodded.
“He appreciated you honouring him with guarding your dwelling. Even more so the last couple of weeks since Miss Maynard came to live with you. He took pride in keeping the building safe.” It was Smith that had spoken.
“Both Charlie and I will miss seeing him at the desk. I understand if you feel this will end our cooperation,” Vidar told them.
“No. We do not blame this on you, sir. You have never been anything but good to our family for generations. But we will want to get involved in the hunt of the ones who killed our brother,” Bishop said.
“I thank you for your loyalty. I will make sure you will get a part of the action.”
“Thank you.
Smith said.
I will be coming around and take over Jones‘ watch at the apartment house, sir,”
“Thank you, you do me a great honour,” Vidar replied.
“No, the honour is mine. It’s infused in our blood to watch over the dwellings of our masters,” Smith told him. Vidar nodded.
“I will leave you to mourn your brother in peace. I will be in touch. There is no need to see me out, I will find my way,” Vidar said. The brothers nodded. As Vidar was driving back to the city, he had a overwhelming need to go back to Charlie. He wanted to hold her in his arms to feel her warmth. He rarely felt cold or hot. But right now, he felt freezing. He parked the car in the garage and sent a message to Malcom to pick it up. He entered the apartment with a plan to crawl into bed and pull Charlie close. But the soft noise coming from her office made him change direction. The sun was just up. It was too early for her to be awake. But as he
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stood in the doorway to his office, he saw her sitting with a concentrated look on her face, playing one of her games. He smiled at the sight. Charlie sensed him and looked up. She smiled at him and Vidar noticed the tired look in her eyes and the beginning of dark circles under neath them and his smile turned into a frown. He walked over to her and removed her
headphones.
“How long have you been awake?” he asked.
“Um, a couple of hours, I think. What time is it?”
“It’s just after six in the morning,” he told her.
“Oh, so like three hours,” she said.
“Charlie, I have only been gone for three hours.” Vidar sighed and let his hand run through
her hair.
“I couldn’t get back to sleep after you left. The bed was empty without you and my mind wouldn’t stop spinning,” she explained. “You look tired,” she added.
‘So do you,
lilla lo.”
“How bad was it?” she asked.
“Bad. I don’t care about the guns they took, even if that can come back and bite us in the ass. But the lost men, and the ones injured.” He didn’t know how to explain it, so he stopped talking. Charlie sighed and stood up and dragged him into a tight hug. Vidar closed his arms. around her and held her close as he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled her scent. They stood like that for a long time and Vidar felt like he was a battery getting recharged. How had he managed nights like this before Charlie? In the end, Vidar lifted Charlie into his arms. “Time for bed. We can still get a couple of more hours in.”
“You need to get back out there.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. This won’t be the end of it and I need to end it and give the men we lost justice,” he said. She nodded as he put her into their bed and joined her under the comforter. She curled
to him and rubbed her face on his chest. Vidar had to chuckle. She looked like a satisfied
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cat, his little lynx. He put his arms around her, making sure she was secure in his embrace.
“Did I know any of the men we lost?” she asked. He felt pride when she used the word ‘we‘. Then he dreaded what he had to tell her.
“Yes. Jones,” he said.
“Jones? The man that sits at the desk downstairs?”
“Yes, he asked for some extra guard shifts,” Vidar told her.
“Oh. He was always so sweet.” Vidar could hear the slight tremble in her voice. Sometimes he forgot she was so young. Loss still affected her hard. She hadn’t steeled her heart and become
jaded.
“He was a good man. I trusted him,” he agreed.
“Did he have a family?”
“Four brothers. I went to see them and told them what had happened. They all work for me, their family has for generations. The second oldest brother will take Jones‘ place at the front.
desk.”
“That’s an honourable thing to do. They must respect you.”
“It’s what gargoyles do. They watch houses,” Vidar told her as he ran his hand up and down. her spine, trying to comfort her.
“Gargoyles?” she asked.
“Yes. Did you think he and his brother guarding the door were human?” She seemed to think
about it for a while.
“I guess they were a little big to be humans. Okay, they were very big. I guess I should have figured they were some kind of magic creature. But gargoyles?”
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“They are rare, but if you earn their respect and trust, they are loyal and protective.”
“You are an interesting man to be around,” Charlie told him.
“You don’t regret being close to me when things like this happen?” he asked.
“No. This is part of who you are and I love all of you. I’m not saying I’m not worried when you leave to go someplace dangerous. But it’s part of the deal.”
“Me coming home to you. It makes it all better,” he told her and hugged her closer. She placed a k*ss on his ch*st and they both drifted off to sleep.