'...' thoughts
Chordney Manor Part 6
Gregory stood at the picture window, a glass of brandy in one hand as he stared out into the storm that still raged unabated on the other side of the windowpanes. This was the longest she had ever kept such a phenomenon going and he was beginning to wonder why she was going to so much trouble. First the murder in the dining room that had totally disrupted his plans but something he had actually expected, just not so soon. And then the storm. She was becoming desperate, he knew. They had been playing this little game for so many years now but so far, none of the reincarnations had shown such promise. There was a chance that this time, the game would truly end. And the one who possessed Duo Maxwell, would stand victorious.
"Master?" Edward's soft voice called from across the room.
"Yes?" he answered just as softly.
"It's getting late, sir. You should get some rest."
"I've rested for the past hundred years." Gregory reminded him but there was no heat in the words, only a strong sense of exhaustion.
"But Mast--"
"Is everything prepared for tomorrow?" the blue-eyed man asked, cutting off his servant's protest since it was one that he had grown quite accustomed to.
"Yes, Master." Edward answered with a bow. "I have done as you've directed."
"Good. It will not be easy to separate him from his companions." Gregory stated, his eyes narrowing in thought. "I can sense their worry for him, it will put them on the defensive."
"Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove them?"
"No." the man stated with a shake of his head. "To do so would only invite his ire and throw the game to Christina. They must remain unharmed until after he's completely under my control. Then they can be dealt with properly."
"As you wish, Master."
"Either which way, this will all be over in a few days." Gregory said before turning to look across the room at the old servant that stood watching and waiting for his next words. "Whether it be to our advantage or our detriment depends on what happens tomorrow."
"I will not fail you, Master." Edward declared, his voice taking on a fierceness that his advanced age should have deemed impossible.
"I know, Edward." Gregory said with a smile. "And while you are taking care of Duo, I will be playing the dutiful host. I have little doubt that they have already become suspicious of my absence; the power and phones are out, not to mention the fact that a man has been killed in my home. I must ease their fears and turn all blame from myself, thus keeping my actions unnoticed."
"They could not believe that you would kill the man in your own home surely?" Edward asked in awe.
"The one with the dark hair that has been acting so possessive of Duo...?"
"Heero Yuy?"
"Yes, him, he caught me touching Duo last night following the ambassador's attack, making me a suspect in his eyes at the very least." Gregory said, then snarled in frustration. "The idiot doesn't even know what he interrupted. The anger and embarrassment had left Duo so very vulnerable that, had Mr. Yuy not shown up when he did, I would have already imprinted myself on his mind, making the process so much easier. I do not relish the thought of breaking down all his defenses. I only managed to test them briefly during our first meeting at the ball and they are unbelievably strong for someone of his age."
"But it can be done?" the old servant had to ask.
"Yes," the man nodded. "but it will not be a pleasant experience, for either of us."
"Are you sure he's strong enough to survive it?"
With a deep sigh, Gregory turned back to the storm that, even now, continued to rage. "I can't be sure of anything, but I do know that I have no other choice but to try. Sometimes, lives must be sacrificed to achieve your goals and this time is no different."
********************
It was not until they actually walked through the door to Heero's bedroom with Duo's things that the longhaired man's nervousness returned. For some reason, just the thought of sleeping in the same room with his best friend was enough to cause his heart to beat wildly. And while it was true that, during the war they had shared rooms and sometimes even the same bed, that was before he had discovered his attraction for the taciturn pilot.
"Are you just going to stand there all night?" Heero's voice interrupted his bout of indecision and instantly brought a blush to his cheeks. Once Duo started moving again, Heero turned back to the dresser, pulling one of the drawers open and dumping Duo's things in it before opening the one above it and pulling out a long night shirt. He had seen the blush on the other young man's cheeks only a moment ago even in the dim light and could only shake his head, unsure of exactly why Duo had been embarrassed. Finally pushing the drawer shut again, he turned only to find Duo now standing in the middle of the room, the rest of his things they had brought cradled in his arms.
"Duo?"
"Huh?" Duo jumped and turned his wide eyes toward where Heero was standing.
"You can put your stuff in the second drawer." he answered, still trying to figure out exactly why the braided man was acting so strangely. "We'll figure out the rest of it in the morning."
"Um, yeah, ok." Duo replied before moving toward the dresser himself. Once there, he repeated Heero's actions to stow the rest of the things they had brought from his room before turning once again to see what Heero was doing. The minutes his eyes landing on his best friend, he wished he had kept his back turned.
As soon as he was sure that Duo was finally dealing with the stuff he was carrying, Heero set about removing the cumbersome clothing they had been provided for the month. First went the boots before he unbuttoned the shirt, pulling it from his trousers as he went. Finally shrugging the garment from his shoulders, he laid it across the bed and reached for the buttons on his trousers.
"Heero?" Duo squeaked from across the room and the dark-haired man immediately turned in his direction. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Heero countered in confusion. "I'm getting ready for bed, which you should too. It's been a long day and we both could use some rest."
With that Heero turned back to the bed, undoing the first of the buttons that held his trousers closed at the same time. Across the room, he heard Duo make a strangled noise before the dresser drawer opened and closed one more time. Then, before he could turn to see what the long-haired man was doing, he heard hurried footsteps crossing the room just before the bathroom door shut with an audible thump.
For a long moment, he stood stock still in the room just staring at the door, his pants already partway open. Then giving his head a shake at the other man's actions, he turned back to finish the task of dressing for bed.
Duo on the other hand was very close to a full blown panic attack. The fact that the situation, or well at least part of the situation; more specifically the romantic candle light, a huge bed, and a naked Heero; was a fantasy of his, was not helping him much either. But instead of following his first reaction, which was to tackle Heero to the bed, he had run for the bathroom, hoping that a few minutes in isolation would calm his raging libido.
He could not hide out forever though, at least not without raising Heero's suspicions so he only took a moment to breathe deeply a few times before proceeding to removing his own clothing. Then, after sliding the knee length, white nightshirt over his head, he turned back to the door and pulled it open. In the room he found Heero sporting his own nightshirt as the man placed his dirty clothing in one of the wing backed chairs. At hearing the bathroom door open again, he turned to see Duo cautiously crossing the threshold.
"Are you alright?" he asked, frowning deeply at the way the braided young man jumped in reaction to his question.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Duo shot back with a wide grin that only served to emphasize his unease. "Still just a little freaked out by everything I guess."
"Hn." Heero said before turned back toward the bed. "We should get some sleep while we can."
Once he was standing beside the bed, Heero reached up and pulled the coverlet back before doing the same for the blanket and sheet. Then, climbing in and sliding to the far side, he waited for Duo to join him.
"Uh, Heero?"
"Yes, Duo?" he answered with a bit of exasperation.
"You weren't... I mean, you didn't..."
"Duo."
"Um, you want us to sleep in the same bed?"
"We've done it before."
"Yeah, but that was, well, before."
"Duo." Heero said and this time, his voice held more than a hint of exasperation as well as a bit of anger. It had been a very long day as well as a very tiring day and he needed to rest since there was no guarantee that the next day would hold anything different. Of course, the fact that he would be able to sleep next to Duo only increased the appeal, even as it held its own risks; controlling his body even in his sleep to keep himself from wrapping the young man up tight in his arms would be very difficult. But the fact that Duo seemed determined to ruin his plans for even this small amount of closeness was more than enough to raise his anger. "It's either the bed or the floor since I doubt if even you could get comfortable in one of those chairs. And since it's rather cold, and I know how you feel about being cold, I don't think the floor would be a good choice."
For a long moment, Duo did not say or do anything and Heero almost thought he was actually going to curl up on the floor right where he was standing. Then, with a noticeable slump on his shoulders, the braided man walked over to the bed and climbing in, staying on the very, outer edge, before pulling the sheets and covers up over his slight form.
At first, he tried lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling and watching as the light from the only remaining lamp played against the textured surface. But then, only a moment later, Heero reached over and extinguished the lamp, plunging the room into utter darkness. Now only the dim flash of lightening on the other side of the curtained windows gave illumination to the room and the eerie light that it produced did nothing to help his troubled mind. So, after a few more minutes of trying in vain to sleep, he turned onto his right side, leaving him to look out into the dark room. It did not take long though for the sight to leave him feeling a little lost and lonely and in one finally bid for sleep, he turned to his left side. In the brief light brought by the nearly constant flashes, he could see that Heero was also turned on his side and those beautiful, blue eyes were watching him intently.
"Ro?"
"Hn."
"Why do you think all this is happening?"
"I don't know, Duo." Heero offered with the slightest of sighs. That had been the very question he had just been asking himself. While most of the things that had happened over the past day and a half could possibly be easily explained, it was the acts directed at Duo that worried him the most. There just did not seem to be a logical explanation for why he was being targeted. "Go to sleep."
"'K, night."
"Goodnight."
********************
Relena was not entirely sure what had awoken her. A quick look down verified that Hilde was still wrapped securely in her arms and while it was still quite dark, her eyes had adjusted enough to allow her to see that no disturbances existed in the room. She had just settled herself back down to sleep again though when the second knock came to the door. It was then that she realized what had woken her.
"Tell 'em ta go 'way." Hilde murmured in her sleep even as she pulled the blonde woman closer. Relena could not help but smile at her lover's actions; Hilde could act so much like a kitten at times like this. But even as she was enjoying the dark-haired woman's actions, the knock once again sounded through the room and this time, it had grown in level, indicating the growing impatience of the person waiting on the other side.
With great reluctance, the blonde woman extracted herself from Hilde's grasp before sliding from the bed. Then, she took a moment to light the lamp that had been left on the bedside table and slip on her robe before heading for the door and the now insistent knocking. Once there, she pulled the door open a bit more forcefully than necessary causing the man on the other side to step back hastily.
"Ambassador Chin." she exclaimed at seeing the man. He was fully dressed in trousers, dress shirt, vest, and long overcoat, meaning he had been up for quite sometime now. "Is something wrong?"
"I think I need to be asking you that." the ambassador returned. "The power has been out for several hours and I haven't been able to reach anyone on the phone since yesterday morning."
"I'm afraid that there have been some problems." Relena answered softly, stepping out into the hall so she could close the door and not continue to disturb Hilde.
"I would say so." the man said. "Do you have an idea when the services might be returned?"
"I believe that would be my question to answer." a voice said just before Gregory Chordney appeared around the corner to their right, an oil lamp held in his hand.
"Mr. Chordney." Relena exclaimed with a bright smile.
"Gregory, please." the man said with him own smile. "I do hope the storm and utility problems have not caused too much stress for your guests. And I apologize for being such a poor host. I and my staff have been working all night to get the generator running. Unfortunately, it seems to be acting just as temperamental as the weather."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" the blonde woman asked.
"No, I'm afraid that we'll just have to wait for the storm to pass."
"Couldn't we send someone out for help or something?" Ambassador Chin asked.
"That would be far too dangerous." Gregory said with a shake of his head. "A few of my staff and myself traversed into the storm to check the drive yesterday, at great risk to our lives. Unfortunately, there appears to be several trees down across the road making it impossible for a vehicle to pass."
"Would it be possible to walk out?" the ambassador continued.
"Like I said, it was a great risk for just my staff and I to check the road. It would not be advised for anyone to venture forth until the storm has passed."
"Is this a normal storm for this area?" Relena asked.
"A couple times a year." Gregory answered. "Being on the coast, while beautiful, does have its problems."
"Yes, that's very well and nice." Ambassador Chin said with a forced smile. "Now, what about Ambassador Bartell. I went by his room this morning to see if he was being treated in accordance with international laws and he was not there."
"Ambassador Bartell," Relena began, steeling herself for what she was about to tell the man. "was found murdered yesterday morning in the dining room."
"You mean that event yesterday was not part of the gathering? That there was a real murder?" the man said, his voice full of disbelief even as his face drained of all color.
"Yes, Ambassador." Relena said, her voice full of sadness. "We are still unsure of the exact events leading up to the ambassador's death but you can rest assured that the very best the Preventer's have are working on it."
"You mean you expect us to remaining here, in this house, with a murderer?" Ambassador Chin exclaimed.
"Please sir, do keep your voice down. The others may still be sleeping and I do not believe this is information that you want everyone to know; it would cause a panic." Gregory chided. "Besides, you can be assured that all my guests will be well protected by my staff."
"And, as I've said, we have six of the Preventer's finest already on the case." Relena added.
"Two of which could very well be the murderer themselves." the ambassador pointed out. He could all too well remember the scene from the first night with the braided man and his dark-haired escort. And while he did not agree with nor condone Ambassador Bartell's actions, he did not trust those agents to have not taken the law into their own hands.
At the implication of the man's words, Relena's normally pleasant smile immediately took a decidedly dark turn as she leveled a glare at the Chinese Ambassador. "I would have you know that neither Heero nor Duo would take such action."
"I'm sure you believe--" the ambassador began.
"I agree with the Vice Foreign Minister." Gregory cut in, taking a step forward. "As least as far as Mr. Maxwell is concerned; he was in his room the whole night."
"And how can you be so sure?"
"Because, as part of my rounds, I made sure to check in on him before I retired for the night." the tall, blonde man explained. "I had also asked one of my servants to keep an eye on his room. He had had a very bad shock, one that I just happened to witness, and since he is a guest in my house I wanted to make sure he was alright."
"You stationed a guard on his room?" Relena asked in shock. None of them had even thought to do something like that for the violet-eyed man.
"Yes." Gregory confirmed. "I only wish I had thought to do the same to his attacker. Perhaps this sad business could have been avoided."
"And what about yourself?" a voice came from behind them causing them to start. A moment later, Wufei and Zechs rounded the corner and headed in their direction.
"What do you mean?" Gregory asked.
"As you've said yourself, you were witness to Duo's attack." Zechs clarified. "And according to Heero, you seemed quite agitated about it, which is a bit strange since Duo is unknown to you."
"As I've said, he is a guest here."
"So, I guess you offer such 'services' to all your guests, or is Duo just special." Wufei shot back.
"I'm not sure I like what you're insinuating." Gregory said with a low growl.
"Gentlemen, please." Relena declared even as she placed herself between their host and the two Preventer agents. "Fighting like this will not solve the problem. Besides, I'm sure that our host has a perfectly reasonable explanation for his actions, not to mention his whereabouts last night."
"Of course." the blonde man said. "I retired at precisely one o'clock in the morning, after checking on Mr. Maxwell."
"And you have a witness to this?" Zechs asked. He had placed a restraining hand on his lover's shoulder the minute he had felt the other man tense following Chordney's admission that he had checked in on Duo. And even now he could feel the coiled fury boiling just below the surface. Wufei took his job as the braided man's partner very seriously and the fact that a stranger had gotten that close to him without them knowing, raised the Chinese agent's protective instincts considerably.
"My manservant, Edward." Gregory offered. "He sees to it that I am abed by a decent hour every night."
"And does he stay with you to make sure you stay in bed?" Wufei asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"If he did, it would be none of your business." Gregory snarled. "But I will have you know that his quarters are directly adjacent to mine. And as such, he is aware of every move I make within my room."
"You, of course, would not mind us questioning him concerning this, correct?" Zechs asked even as his hand tightened on Wufei's shoulder.
"Of course not. He will have nothing more to add than what I have already told you though."
"We'll just ask him that."
"What about the rest of us?" Ambassador Chin suddenly asked. During the confrontation between Chordney and the Preventers, he had remained quiet even though he had felt decidedly ignored. With the conversation ending though, he planned to get his answers, even if it meant placing himself in the middle of the argument. "You can't expect us to just sit around in the dark with a murderer on the loose."
"I'm afraid you have no choice." Gregory stated. "Until the storm clears and we have a better idea of the damage to the drive, there is simply no where else for anyone to go."
********************
Slowly and lethargically, Duo found himself returning to the land of wakefulness, like pulling himself through a field of scented cotton. First, he stretched, feeling the muscles that had rested all night once again come back to life and then he yawned. But even as his body told him it was time to be awake, his mind was concentrating on the warmth that seemed to transfuse his every pore and was trying desperately to convince him that a few more minutes would not hurt. So, giving into that thought, he curled himself around the amazing heat source beside him and burrowed his head into the soft pillow before once again allowing himself to sink back toward slumber.
Just as he was reaching the plateau that marked the fall into blessed oblivion though, the previously soft and sweet smelling pillow under his head moved. That was all it took to pull him back to sudden wakefulness as his eyes snapped open to a dark room and no recollection of exactly where he was, instinctively causing him to tense in a mixture of anticipation and fear. But before he could work up to a good panic at the unfamiliar surroundings not to mention the feel of the man's body beside him, a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around him, holding him close.
His first thought was to fight back against the person holding him. But even as it crossed his mind, the familiarity of the smell, a blending of gunpowder and vanilla, finally registered in his mind. With a mix of relief, contentment, and fear, he slowly raised his head. In the dark of the room, the other man's eyes were nothing like the deep blue that he knew them to be. Instead, they only glinted back at him darkly. "Heero?" he whispered.
TBC...
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