The Reaper, the angel and the Devil. - Writers Forum

Mystery · 06-06-2007, 11:56 PM

So, I'm gonna start writing something serious, that I believe is of a much higher quality than anything before. It's also more geared towards what I want to write as far as fantasy is concerned.

I like the title, but I'm thinking to change it, in any case it gives off the basic Idea of what I'm going to write.

All criticism is welcome, but I'd prefer if you stuck to story and delivery as opposed to spelling and grammar, that is always worked out once I run it through word.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prologue --

The voiced of many, they mixed and fought and all that was heard to his ear's was confusion. His back turned to them, he sat on the edge of his high perch, leg's held firmly against his chest, looking into what lay before and beneath him. Only his eyes could see beyond, could see through, could see further. And even as he sat there, staring, his look never changed from a dumbfounded, half grinning expression that could give away nothing.

"Hm, hm" He staggered out a muffled laugh from his closed lips, isolated in his own thought, a delicate bubble that kept him safe, happy for now.
"Hey Weiss, stop staring death in the eye and come over here with us for a drink, it'll do you some good" A voice said and chuckling came soon after. He couldn't help but let out a faint laugh himself.
"I'll be fine here" He said, not flinching from his position.
"Eh, your loss".

And yet, he had nothing to loose, he owned nothing to loose in this desolate land, this horrible place that stunk of the only emotions it's inhabitance possessed. The only seven voices, faces they had, the only seven types of people that existed here, their distinct aroma wafted around, unable to converge, so that with ever passing breeze, which itself staggered for breath, one would catch a whiff of a new, disgusting perfume. It was not that he had grown sick, or that he had grown tired, or disgruntled, or dissatisfied, he had chosen long ago. He had merely gotten curious.

Curious and bored...

Soon...
"Soon... I can see it burning out" He whispered to himself.

Slowly, he began to descend the gray steps that he had sat on just moments ago, he didn't need to look behind him even once, because he knew that they would not understand, even if they had seen him leave.

*****************************

"Alright Alright I'll do it already" He yelled at his boss, who even at him accepting the job seemed to have something to say about it in his casual yet overly loud and obnoxious voice.
"Then get goin', we don't got all day" the boss yelled back.

He walked outside lazily and go into the car that the boss had for when new deliveries needed to be collected, nothing fancy, but it worked and didn't make you feel like a tramp while driving it.

Often he had wondered where "pickup boy" had been listed in the job description. He didn't remember reading it, he didn't remember ever being payed extra for it either, but he still did it as mundane and annoying as it was, driving that car a few hours to the next city where the central store was located to pick up whatever new stock they had coming, CD's, sound systems, software, musical instruments, instructional booklets or DVD's, the works. He enjoyed working in the music store thought, that's why he could never remember complaining about it either.

Driving the car was also a peaceful relax from work, or peaceful to him anyway. It had a decent stereo system and it wasn't long after he had buckled in and started up the engine that he picked up one of the CDs the boss had left in the car to play it.

"Loureiro? That's new" He said as he threw the CD in the CD player of the car, and he noticed it had gotten an upgrade. The boss listened to all sorts of music, but most notably jazz and a lot of pure instrument music, like pianist collections or solo guitarist's efforts. Loureiro was apparently another solo guitarist he had found somewhere, probably online, but he was better than most, heck, he did use neighboring tones. That was his dream, so it was only natural that he got to break it down and criticize it as he listened.

He made sure his door was locked and then started to make his way to the next city, Avenion, he needed to be there before nightfall and it was twelve, so he'd need all the time he could get, driving alone at night to work was the least of the things he felt like doing.

He drove tirelessly, mid trance, good music flowing out of the car and even random pedestrians or cars driving next to him or passing him seemed to enjoy. Life was good, even thought not everything had worked out like he wanted it to, life was good.

The sun was setting by the time he had arrived to Avenion, and as he drove up to the central store he was greeted by a locked door.

"Aw for fucks sake, It's still early" He complained to himself.
"Oh sorry, you must've thought we closed" A familiar voice came from the around the corner, and Michelle soon appeared, "I just had to go on an errand so I locked up while I was out"
"You sure that's okay?" the boss would kill him if he did anything like that.
"If you don't tell no one will ever know" she winked at him and opened the door, "you know better than me where everything is, so do what you need to do".
"Alright, just don't forget to mark down that I took the stuff, or it'll be a whole lot of drama again and I'm gonna be at the center of it, and I don't enjoy that."
"Alright alright, I'll do it right now".

And sure enough, as he walked past the counter to start loading up boxes into the car, the were cd's and books this time, she walked behind the counter and scribbled down a few notes on paper that marked he had done his job.

"So you'll be going now then?" She asked as he loaded the last box.
"Yeah, want to get back before it's too late, and the suns already going down" he told her.
"Well be careful, the last thing you need is an accident" she said.
Michelle was a good woman, she always greeted him when he came and always worried about him when he left, even thought they only knew each other from his pick up visits.
"I'll try" he said and he started up the car, and put in a new but this time familiar CD.

He hated driving in the night, it was cold and the car had no heating, and since the day was hot he didn't have very warm clothing either. He shivered in his seat but the music kept him company. He managed to get back to the store at eight o'clock, just on time.

"Ah your back, just in time" the boss said to him as he stepped into the store carrying two boxes, the one stacked onto the other since they were too large to carry one in each hand.
"Where do I put these then?" He asked
"Just dump them anywhere, we can sort it out in the morning"
"Heh, and by we you do of course mean YOU will sort it out but I'm gonna get the pain in the ass for sorting it wrong?"
"You know it" The boss laughed. Despite all his flaws, even the boss was a good man deep down who could handle a joke.

"You best be getting home then" The boss told him as he locked the store, "You can take the car if you want you know, it's a long walk from here to your house and it's cold now".
"It's alright, I enjoy the walk" He said.
"Alright then, see ya tomorrow"
"Ciao"

He walked through the city streets alone, checking his watch every so often that he was under a street lamp, looking at the night sky that enthralled him nightly, shrugging off the cold air and looking at all the free entertainment that there was. Kid's arguing about car's they didn't yet have, haggling or stealing from store's and running from cab drivers because they don't want to pay the fair. There was also a fair deal of people driving in fancy car's or racing down streets, daring death. He didn't want a fancy car, and he couldn't remember himself stealing or cheating when he was younger, in fact all he had ever thought about was his dreams, his music. Work made things hard but luckily there was the weekend.

He was startled when a man ran past him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He turned his head to look at the man and yell at him but as he turned he saw he was running to a deep black van, parked by the back entrance of the hotel he was walking by, and they were carrying a man out who was thrashing wildly, almost like a fish gasping for air.

"Hey, hey what are you doing" He yelled at them and dashed to the man's aid, but the man who had ran passed him turned around and caught him off guard and his face met the end of a hard object. He shrugged off the blow and rubbed off the blood from his lip.
"Stay away kid, this is government business here" He said and flashed some ID.
"Is that supposed to impress me or scare me?" He taunted the man, it was a stupid stupid mistake. Something hit him from behind, only this time he felt something surge through his body and break every link in it, electricity. He fell down only to catch the other man looking at him as he was also stunned and put into the van, the last thing he felt, as the last bit of consciousness seeped out of him, was a tug on his shirt.

Waking up wasn't fun, a sharp pain seared in the back of his head and neck, his jawbones where aching and his face cold and he could smell muddy water and blood.

"The fuck..." He moaned as he sat up, legs crossed and rubbed his face, "what happened."

It didn't take him long to remember, but as he did he realized that there was no point doing anything but going home. The government... that's what they called themselves, but in this day and age they were just some powerhouse figure trying to gain more power than any man can handle or for that matter any man can stomach. This was just one of those cases of them stepping it up he'd heard people gossip about.

"How long have I been out" he asked himself, he could feel the sun's warmth and so slowly he raised his hand to his face, "no way...".
It was only a few minutes before work, at least he'd managed to stay clean despite the blood on his face and the mud on his cheek, he got up and started jogging towards the store. Most people would have called in sick, but then again, most people have never had to work for life, most people don't understand at all that this is life, you just have to shrug it off.

"What happened to you?" A voice caught him unprepared from behind as he dashed down the street to the store. He turned around to see his boss walking behind him, keys jingling in one hand.
"OH, I uhh... tripped while running here" He lied.
"Overslept?"
"Yeah, sorry"
"Hey, your still on time"
His boss caught up with him and they started walking together to the store.

"So, uh... boss, how come your not driving to the store today?" He asked timidly.
"Eh? Boss? I have a name kiddo" he mumbled out, "I also need to have a good walk every now and then, you know, good health and all that"
"Ah, sorry"
"It's okay, and stop being so sorry, where's that grumpy kiddo that works for me?"

He was tired, and he felt shitty, if anything the last thing he was in the mood for was arguing, that's why he was just cruising along with everything. As long as the river stayed calm, he'd be fine.

They go into the store and he washed up, re-organized the CDs after his boss had organized it wrong, and all in all had another boring day at work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mystery · 06-11-2007, 05:43 AM

He pushed open the door to his apartment with a sight of relief, took a few steps and collapsed on the sofa, falling face first into the mash-mellowy cushions. Never had he been so happy of his parents pampering than now. He usually detested the fact that they tried to stay in his life by pampering him and paying rent for a luxury apartment, but the huge bath was too tempting to resist now. He washed up and rejuvenated his lost energy in the water and then sat down on the sofa, face last.

"Getting pretty comfy there I see?" he heard someone say from behind him
"Huh? Who's there?" he said and turned around, a tall dark haired women stood behind him, an elegant dress covering but at the same time gripping her body, every large smooth curve of it, it almost looked like another part of her, and her milky white skin was more of a temptation to touch than the smooth silk she wore. She bend down till her face was just above his and at every movement of her large red lips his eyes focused even more on her sharp face, her green eyes we're piercing his mind and shattering his own independent will.
"Get dressed in something fancy, I know you have a few suits in that cupboard and meet me outside when your ready, but I'm not going to wait for too long, and no isn't an answer I like, and you don't want to upset me now do you?"
"N.. no" He coughed up.
Honestly, before she spoke he'd wanted to crack some sexy intruder joke and try to get it on with her, but with every word he was more in awe than the previous second, more dumbfounded. Every word she said was law laid down in stone for him.

He quickly got up and ran to his cupboard and picked the classic black tuxedo from it, quickly threw it on and some cologne, she was far too high class looking for him not too, and ran out while fixing his hair and strapping on his watch.

"Ah, there you are" She said while she flicked off hairs and dust from him.
"Uh... it's not that I'm complaining, but who are you" timidly he asked her, hoping not to upset her. A date with a mystery woman who looked like a million dollars would offend her seller? Yeah, the fatigue-born pain in his body had disappeared just at the mention of it.
"Oh I'll tell you when we get there, you might want to sort yourself out a bit more, but come on, the limousine is waiting".
Limousine...?
"My parent's didn't send you here to try and lull me into some high society ball I don't care about did they?"
"Deary, I don't know your parents, and I'm sure it would do a young aspiring musician like yourself who looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks some good to meet the high society, but none of that matters right now, just play along, okay?" Her smile was delicious, without even wanting to he was making a very faint "ooh" motion with his lips, and she seemed to blush a bit, but she quickly turned around, grabbed his hand and started leading him down.

IT looked awkward, even thought it wasn't a low class hotel, a large black limousine just looked out of place, and so did he, the black tuxedo and his black hair where the only things that matched in this scenario, but he wasn't going to complain about that either.
She stepped in and motioned for him to step in after her, and he followed obediently.

"To the estate please" She called out to the driver.
Estate...?
"Where are we..." He tried to say, but she quickly shoosh'ed him and winked at him. At first he was dumbstruck but she pulled out a mobile phone from her bag and wrote something on it, then handed it to him.

Listen, I can't tell you details right now because
the driver isn't safe. Let's get to where we are going
And then I'll tell you why your so lucky.
Isn't safe...?

"What have I gotten myself into" He thought to himself.

***********************************

"His out cold chief, we've been trying to get him to wake up but his been out cold since then"McKee spoke to his superior.
"Well there's nothing we can do about it, go upstairs and keep appearance's up.
"Yes sir!"
"Cut the formalities, and call me by my name, not sir"
"Okay... uh... Maverick"

In all of his many many years of service, this was a first for maverick. What was so special about this guy that suddenly the foundation would pull him out of the most important private meeting in all of the west for? Barging in like that through his back door and throwing this man in his basement. What where they thinking.

"You might wanna take that scowl off your face, it's giving you away" A young woman said to him in a way that can only be described as delicious as she grabbed a hold of his arm.
"Ah, Delaware, I was wondering where you'd gone off too" Maverick told her as he let his head lay on her soft hair.
"A lady needs to freshen up, now lets go back upstairs, the guests are getting impatient" She told him, and the both of them made they way up the stairs into the kitchen, and then out into the ballroom.

Everyone who was anything was there, purely rich people, military leaders, head of organizations, business prodigies, everything. Events like this were only held once a year by the foundation, to keep ties strong. Ties were just an illusion, like a piece of paper placed over a fire to stop it from burning. Eventually, it burns through. It's a childishly stupid notion to begin with, but it wasn't his part to doubt, just to play along and obey.

"Ah! Maverick, come here my friend there's someone here I'm sure you'd truly enjoy to listen to, his quite the young entrepreneur and I think some of the idea's his splurging out right now would be of great interest to you. You are one of our economic planning members are you not" An elderly man called him.
"Your the head of my sector Gregory, if you like the kid bring him on board, nothing I say is gonna change what you want to do anyway" Maverick humorously told him.
"Well yes you are right, very well then" the elderly Gregory said as he walked away.

He had a bad feeling in his gut, and an even worse feeling in his head. He wasn't an instinctive person. Just like his with his job, life was just numbers, math, theory. When the math didn't add up, he didn't feel wrong ,he knew he was wrong. And right now, nothing added up.

In any case, it wasn't long before he got lost in fancy chatter about the latest news while Delaware disappeared with a few lady friends, probably to go drink the strange exotic liquors that she usually indulged in.

************************************

"We're here" Came the voice of the Chauffeur.
"Good" The woman said and motioned for him to open the door, he did and quickly lifted himself out, brushing his suit and straightening it as he surveyed his surrounding's. He'd been here before on one of his parents meetings when he was younger, it was an exotic mansion amidst a small forest, secluded from the city, quiet and beautiful. The driveway stopped at the end of the pool and beautiful white marble fountain which had dolphin decorations all around the base and was shooting out water in beautiful patterns. The house was an exotic black and brown marble and has white layered around it at different points such as the veranda columns which had white bases and tops. It was indeed as cliche as high class gets, but it didn't fail to impress one bit.

"First time at a mansion?" She asked.
"Nope, It's still beautiful" He said
"It's Adeline" She half corrected him, stealing a compliment.
"What?"
"My name, it's Adeline" She repeated
"Oh, I'm Maver" He told her timidly, he didn't really know how to act around her, most high class women like her would be escorts so he would either know her or be in the position of authority, right now he didn't know where he was.
"We'll try to act nice while we're inside" She told him.
"Nice? you mean snobbish" He coughed up, mounting some courage.
"Hit the head on the nail" There was something captivating and cute about her smile, but at the same time eerie and forewarning, like the quiet before the storm.

This time he took the lead, held onto her arm and led her smoothly to the large wooden door, which had all sorts of intricate designs on it and two large pure gleaming gold handles. He used the door knocker and waited, and soon enough a man in a servants outfit opened the door and greeted them in.

"And you would be?" He asked them as he looked over a list.
"Mr. And Mrs. Devilin" She introduced them.
"Married? I'd have thought there'd be more than one date" he joked.
"What?" Said the servant
"Oh nothing, my husband has a cute humorous streak" she excused him.
"I see, well please come this way Mr. and Mr.s Devilin" the servant escorted them to the ballroom and to a seat, she sat down a the currently empty table with him.
"Don't do stuff like that here, be a bit serious about it, you were just kidnapped and worrying a few minutes ago" She said, but he could tell she found it funny.
"Kidnapped? By a gorgeous woman to a high class ballroom with great free food and beverages? If this is kidnapping then I'll enjoy it all I can Mrs. Devilin" He said, pouring some scotch from a discarded bottle and drinking it quickly.
"Hmm, why did you have to be the calm and collected 'go-with-the-flow' type?" She nagged
"Just am" he downed another glass of scotch. In reality, his mind was simply blank, he could have worried, he could have tried to analyze the situation or even fight it, heck he could easily get out of it, he wasn't stupid or inept at thinking, but since he really was with a gorgeous woman at a high class feast, he cleared his mind and kept the thought, I'll deal with it when it comes.
"Don't get drunk yet, we need to make appearances before you can do that." Just as the words left her mouth a couple that had been just out of hearing them stepped up to the table.

"Are these seats reserved?" They asked
"I'm afraid they are..." She was interrupted.
"Of course they aren't, have a seat my man" his voice blocked out hers.
"Ah, what a stroke of luck, could you pour me a glass of that scotch" the man spoke, he was a bit older than either of them, wearing a tuxedo and a bowler hat, he had a monocle and a walking can and a bear with hair that had lost its color, he couldn't fit the role more. The woman was not as old, in fact she didn't look much older than Maver, she wasn't as attractive as Adeline was, but she had her charms and graces.
"Sure thing, I'm Mr. Edwin Devilin, and this lovely lady is my wife, Mrs. Devilin" He introduced themselves, mocking at his own distaste for the high society.
"Ah, I am Lord Oscar Denzel, and this is my escort, Lady Rossaria" He said.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance" Maver said, in his more astute English gentleman accent.

For a while they engaged in all sorts of talk, first about the taste and origin of the scotch, then about the party and the mansion, eventually they left to greet some 'old acquaintances' and as they got up and walked away with a polite goodbye, Maver let out a few chuckles.
"What did you think? I bet I even impressed you there?" but Adeline looked anything but impressed.
"Who said your in charge or can make decisions?" She stared at him angrily and she spoke, get green eyes erupting with every accusation.
"Hey, Mrs. Devilin, you dragged me here, let me enjoy it a bit"
"You aren't here for your enjoyment" She spat out
"And for who's am I then? Yours?" He said with a mischievous look captivating his face. He caught her off guard with what he said and she seemed slightly embarrassed as she blushed a bit and calmed down.
"Just please don't draw too much attention" She said, her green eyes relaxing and turning into a pair of beautiful serene mirrors. He hadn't wasted his time, he had looked at all the other women there but she was, but no small amount, much prettier than any.

She suddenly stood up and made a greeting motion and he turned his face to the other side of the table where a man stood, standing with the discipline that only comes from many years of fancy dining, and next to him a woman who he hadn't noticed, and rivaled Adeline in beauty. They sat down and the man rubbed his hand on his head, ruffling his short brown hair a bit and lighting up a cigar, the years of smocking where obvious on his aging skin, but still he looked like a well spoken man. And his appearance did him justice.

"Dreadful, isn't it? They've been talking for hours on end about the most mundane of things all in order to impress each other, you don't mind if we take a seat and relax for a few moments do you?" he spoke out smoothly with an aristocratic prose.
"I'm sure Lord Oscar will not mind you stealing away his seat for a while" Adeline said with more nobility coursing through her veins and out her soft throat and lips than he had figured was possible.
"I'm Maverick Delaware, the proprietor or this estate and also the host of this ball, and this is my wife, Nancy Delaware" He introduce himself.
He could have looked like a tramp, but with the words he spoke and the way he spoke them no one would even have a second thought about a noble heritage.
"I'm Mrs. Adeline Devilin, and this is my slightly drunk husband, Edwin Devilin" She said.
"A pleasure"
"Indeed" Maver said, "I must say, even thought these things are not my cup of tea so to say to match the occasion, this establishment is quite awe inspiring, from the inside more so than from the outside, I really have to give my compliments to the decorator".
"That would be my wife" He said
"She has a unique taste, and this house is testament to it's quality" Maver complimented her, he was beginning to even throw off Adeline, she looked at him almost amazed and at the same time captivated.
"That's not all that is testament to it" Mrs. Delaware spoke up as she kissed her husband on the cheek."
"I have not met you before Mr. Devilin, where are you from?"
"Ah, like I said these occasion are not really my thing, I'm from the eastern parts of the city, I would love an estate like this but I do so enjoy living in the city that I'm happy in a suite with Mrs. Devilin, I'm originally from the Vericies so you will have to forgive me if I'm a bit hard to understand." He explained.
"I see, I have a few relatives from the Vericies so your accent is no trouble, you'll have to forgive my bad speech though, it's an error I can never rid myself off" he said smiling a bit as if to excuse himself.
"I wouldn't change it for anything" Mrs. Delaware spoke up again.
Adeline seemed to be feeling awkward with them being so close and her sitting in the corner being out staged by Maver.
"I can understand the feeling" Adeline spoke up as she pulled Maver by the elbow right next to her and leaned on his shoulder. He wasn't going to waste a perfect opportunity. He leaned in on her and kissed her once, briefly, because he knew he would scare away his guests if it was too long.
"It's good to find a devoted young couple, most here either have great age differences or are simple together for convenience, in this day an age you are more unique than this mansion" he told them, "you will have to excuse us however, we should be getting back to the party since we are the hosts".

He got up and bowed to them and Maver and Adeline returned the favor in kind. As they sat down Adeline tugged on his suit to get him to pay attention to her.

"The reason why we are here is because of that man, Maverick Delaware. He is one of the main members on the Financial board of an organization that you happened to witness kidnap someone yesterday" She said.
So this was all linked to that? Somehow it didn't surprise him.
"I see, but what does that have to do with anything, what are we trying ot steal or find out?"
"Where that man is" She said.
Now, he was surprised.
"Who did they kidnap" He asked suspiciously
"All in due time, just keep enjoying yourself but remember, I'm going to need you later so don't do anything stupid.
Nothing about the kiss.
"Oh and... about kissing me" She said and leaned over before he could react and kissed him once, briefly.
"Thank you, now we are even" She had a large smile on her face as she sat upright again.

What had he gotten himself into?
When it comes... I'll deal with it then He said as he poured himself another glass of scotch but this time sipped it slowly, after all, she did say she would need him to be aware later.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More in a while.

Mystery · 06-12-2007, 12:38 PM

Bump and Addition, gimme to critiques to work on, I know it's kinda long but bear with me

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things had gone as casual as possible since they had met the Delawares. The event went on deep into the night and 'the Devilins' had only needed to put on a show once or twice more for the occasional noble who tried to approach them for some boring intellectual conversation.

It was about the time where most of the guests where leaving that Adeline, who had been sitting quietly until then, got up and pulled Maver from the ballroom into the foyer.

"Hey hey no need to pull just tell me to follow" Maver told her as he pushed her grip away.
"Don't argue now, just follow me" she said as she led him into the kitchen of the house.
"Why are we..." He tried to say but she put her hand over his mouth and quickly started searching around.
"Why are we here? What are we looking for" he repeated in a much lower tone of voice.
"I'll know when I find it, it'll stick out, try looking for anything that's awkward in here" she said hastily.

He began shuffling through anything, he didn't know what he was looking for, or what he was doing, heck he didn't know what was going on, but he had set his resolve to not think or care about anything but what was happening in the immediate.

"Here" Her said as he pointed to a strange faint gold circle that was painted in the middle of the right kitchen wall.
"Not it" She said, and they both went back to searching.
"Got it!" Adeline said enthusiastically as he pulled down on something Maver couldn't discern and a trapdoor slowly opened in the far side of the kitchen.
"Real James Bondsey" He laughed as she ran down, motioning for him to follow, he quickly tallied behind her and pulled the trapdoor closed behind them. They were running down stairs for maybe ten minutes when finally he arrived to see her standing in an empty room.
"Uh... whats going on?" He said
"It should be here! I can feel him nearby!" she cried out in protest to herself
"What?" Maver reinforced his confusion

She didn't answer. For the next few minutes all she did was investigate every corner of the room while Maver leaned up against a wall. IT was strange, very suddenly he had gotten an awkward feeling only seconds after entering the room. He could make out a faint voice and a cold, almost wet sensation around his arms and face.

"Wait!" He suddenly shouted out, "here" He said as he pointed at one of the walls of the room.
"I've already looked there" She said
Maver touched the wall, and instead of meeting a hard surface he felt nothing but air, and the wall shuffled and oscillated as if it was water.
"A hologram?" She said as she pushed her way through the strange wall. Maver, uneager to be left alone, continued to follow her. He arrived behind her again, in an even smaller room, with steel walls all around except for one side, which was brick and had an opening which they had both crossed through, set up in the corner was a strange machine that made a faint humming sound and the room was divided in half by a wall that had a large glass window, and a small door next to it. Maver wasn't good at judging distances by eye but the room was as big as the stores basement, seven by four feet, long and narrow.

"Help me" She quickly demanded from him as she tugged on the door. He ran to her side and tried a few times but it was locked and sturdy.

De...law...are The same voice that had told him where the passage was now echoed through his mind, clearer, audible in his conscious.
"Delaware? What about him? Does he have the key?" he asked with no knowledge as to whom. He was slightly taken aback, but at the same time he was managing to remain calm.
"What are you saying?" Adeline asked him furiously, "stop babbling and help me!"

GET OUT the voice now surged through his body clearly. He grabbed Adeline and pulled her to the corner of the room behind the machine just as the entrance again, oscillated like water.

"I could swear I heard something down here" A rugged, yet elegant and charismatic voice said. Maver recognized this voice and confirmed his recognition with a quick glance of the back of Maverick Delaware, his wife still hanging from his shoulder.
"You're just being edgy dear, I'm sure it was nothing." Mrs. Delaware told him.

His mind quickly raced to put the puzzle pieces together.
Whoever got kidnapped must be a friend or associate of Adeline, whoever did the kidnapping is working for or with the Delawares. This event is some kind of cover for whatever their doing? Or a cover up to make the seem uninvolved? Why am I dragged into this thought? Maybe Adeline needs me to recognize the person to make sure it's her associate? his mind raced.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Devilin" A voice broke his thought, "How... unexpected".
He was standing next to them, cigar in his mouth and a morbid frown on his face.
"I'm afraid you cannot be here, but you probably already know that, please follow me" he said.
"No" Adeline cried out and tried to rush him. He was every bit as sturdy as he looked. He easy threw her off guard with one hand and subdued her.

[/i]Obey[/i] The voice whispered to him again.

He followed Maverick Delaware quietly while Adeline was knocked unconscious and carried on his shoulder, Mrs. Delaware walked behind him to make sure he wouldn't escape.

"Don't try to do anything smart kid, she's every bit as well trained as me" He said suggestively to Maver.
truth The voice reaffirmed. He still had no idea where it was coming from, but it was relaxing, reassuring, it's presence made him feel protected and safe, every time it spoke a warm sensation of strength flushed through him.

They were led up to the foyer, then back into the ballroom. On their way there Maver took notice for three things. The foyer had a large case of stairs to the second flour as it was accustomed for these types of mansions to have.
There were three windows in dining room, opposite the ballroom in the foyer.
There door was locked.

"We found these two down there trying to free him, apparently your men are slacking" Maverick addressed a bulky man in a white suit.
"Nonsense, you simply did not keep security tight enough" He answered.
"Stubborn sea dog"
"Headstrong child"
The two men shook hands and in their speech they where obviously old friends.

"So what should we do with them?" Maverick asked the man again, it was becoming evident that whoever the other man was, he was in charge.
"Lock her up with him, the kid put in a separate room." He said, and and Maver felt a painful stinging sensation at the base of the back of his skull.

sleep tight where the last words he heard from the voice as he fell onto the floor, unconscious.

************************************