Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 078

It was part of the reason that he had Death with him. The Grim Reaper not only interjected at odd moments and provided a distraction, but Mike knew if the Order were to ever assemble a dossier on him, it would likely include the fact that the physical manifestation of Death itself was one of his best friends.

Anyone who chose to fuck with him or his family while knowing that information deserved whatever fate they got, which brought him back to Leeds. The bastard was still locked down in Oregon, but the opportunity to escape would come eventually. That was a problem that required a unique solution.

"Mike Radley." Death loomed over him now, his eyes shining brightly despite it being midday. "Your tea has gone cold."

"You're right. It has." He held up his cup. "Top me off, would you? I promise I'll finish it this time."

"You seem distracted. Maybe it's something I could help with?" Cyrus leaned forward, his eyes wide with excitement. "I bet I can help. Please let me help."

Mike chuckled, then held his freshly filled cup to his lips.

"I could tell you the details, but then I'd have to kill you." He winked, causing Cyrus to groan. The man knew all about the incident with the horsemen, but it would be a cold day in Hell before Mike shared anything about Oregon.

That, after all, was strictly a family matter. By the time he bid Cyrus farewell, it was early evening and his stomach rumbled with hunger. Anticipating a large meal, he walked into the house and noticed immediately that the air lacked the familiar scent of dinner. Puzzled, he walked into the dining hall to find Beth and Reggie eating plain sandwiches and chips while going over some documents.

"Where's Sofia?" he asked.

Beth shrugged, then held up her sandwich. "No idea. Looks like we're fending for ourselves tonight."

Without fail, the cyclops had prepared meals like clockwork for the entire time he had known her. Worried that something had happened to her, he grabbed a handful of chips from the bag on the table and then ran to his office to move the red book to its proper location. The world blurred around him as he was transported to the Library.

What had once been a lonely space was now bustling with activity. Hundreds of rats scurried about in organized chaos, several of them pulling carts full of books across the lobby. A few stopped when they saw Mike, and a couple even waved.

"What the hell is going on here?" He walked up to the front desk and saw that a golden bell had been placed on the counter. Curious, he hit the plunger. A ringing sound echoed along the colossal stacks for several seconds before disappearing.

A platform loomed overhead, then sank down to the floor. Standing on it was Sofia, looking regal in her Head Librarian's gown.

"I must have lost track of time," she muttered, then stepped off the platform.

"Is everything okay?" he asked. "You never showed up for dinner."

"You know, it was never my job to cook meals for you." She narrowed her eye at him and frowned.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I don't care that you didn't cook for us, but when someone breaks from their routine, I go check on them." He took a step forward and slipped his hands around her waist. "So what are you up to? Anything I can help with?"

Sofia kept a stern look about her, but her cheeks reddened. "As a matter of fact, there is plenty of work to do around here. After the incident with the horsemen, it was discovered that we did in fact have some texts that pertained to our situation. The Library, first and foremost, is a repository of knowledge. It is time that I work to restore its function, which includes better cataloging and access to materials."

"That's great," he said. "But it doesn't have to be something you do alone."

"And it isn't." Sofia sauntered away, her large ass swaying as she did so. She stood on the platform and tapped her staff. "I have something to show you. Are you coming?"

Not yet, he thought with a grin. He stood next to her and grabbed onto the railing. "Let's see what you've got going on."

Sofia stood stoic as the platform rose, her hair rustling around her as they lifted into the air. From up above, Mike could see the rats were surprisingly coordinated in their efforts. It seemed that they were gathering up books from distant stacks and moving them to an empty section of the Library.

"There's quite a backlog of incoming books," Sofia explained. "The rats haven't learned to read yet, but the Library has a translation feature. While they don't completely understand the wording, they have been taught the difference between genres."

"That's great, but does Reggie know about this?"

"It was his idea. Ever since the last incursion, he decided that his people would be safer in a more neutral territory. To that end, we put them to work for room and board." The platform was moving fast enough now that the breeze was pushing Mike's hair back. "So what do you need from me?"

Sofia looked over his shoulder with a grin. "You'll see."

They traveled for a few more minutes before landing on a giant stack that had been hollowed out. Most of the books had been removed, leaving behind what looked like a bundle of networking cables that looped around the structure.

"Is that..." he stepped off the platform in disbelief. "Did you guys build a giant server room?"

"The biggest on Earth." Eulalie descended from above, her hands and front legs clinging to a braided web. She dropped the last ten feet and tumbled, landing in a crouch, the dog tags jingling around her neck. "Well, not Earth, technically. These cables are connected to secret locations across the planet. Do you know what's better than using a VPN? Actually using routers on different parts of the planet." The Arachne was smug as she dropped a bundle of cables from her arms. "The rats can nibble these really tiny holes, just big enough for a cable. Even if the router is discovered, all they will ever find is a mysterious hole in the wall. Any attempt to widen it will disrupt the portal, and then poof!" She clapped her hands together. "All evidence is erased."

Mike nodded appreciatively. "I admit, that's pretty cool. But what is it for?"

"This place is a sanctuary for information. We are pulling information from some of the most protected areas of the Earth." She patted the floor beneath her. "We're not just connected to routers, you know. If you ever want to use a supercomputer or experimental AI for anything, you just let me know."

"To what end, though?"

Eulalie smiled. "You let me worry about that."

"I have to admit, this is really cool. How are you powering it?"

"We got Zel to agree to some solar panels in the Greenhouse. She and I actually had a very enlightening discussion about many things. I think we may actually be friends now. Also may have tapped into the electrical grid in places." Eulalie wiggled her eyebrows, which made it look like her lower spider eyes were blinking. "If you hear about rolling brownouts, it might be us."

"So this is what you need help with?" Mike gestured at the array of cables. "I mean, I can help with some stuff, but I kind of feel like it would take you longer to explain to me than to just do it yourself."

"Never have you spoken truer words. You're here to pick me up, that's all." Eulalie walked onto the platform, followed by Sofia and then Mike. It sank down through the Library, then veered down a narrow corridor full of stacks of books.

It was another ten minutes before they got to their destination. They arrived at a large stone column with a solitary arch nearly a hundred feet off the ground. A trio of rats stood guard, standing at attention the moment Eulalie stepped off the platform.

"Good job, guys." She made sure to pat each one on the head, then walked inside.

"So what is this place?" he asked.

"It was used to store dangerous texts," Sofia replied. "But for now, it's Eulalie's home."

"Home?" He hadn't spoken to Eulalie about living arrangements, but had figured she would move into the house.

"I'm going to live here," Eulalie said, moving into a cavernous space. A small bank of monitors was still being assembled along the walls, and small pockets of webbing had been scattered around the ceiling. A hammock dangled in one corner with a pillow inside it. "Since I am going to be the assistant librarian, it only makes sense."

"Assistant?" He looked at Sofia. "You've got help now?"

"Yes. We are planning to get this place back up and running." Sofia smiled. "It'll take some time, but we'll get there eventually."

"Which brings me to why you're here." Eulalie moved to the back wall of the room and stuck her hands through a thick band of webs. She removed something and walked back over to him, the object concealed by her arms. "I think you should see this."

"What is it?" Mike held out his hands as Eulalie handed him the object.

There was a faint pop as the object shocked him. The odor of the woods filled his nostrils, followed by the smell of hot springs. Jumbled thoughts were tossed through his mind, most of them just sounds. Eventually a single image burned bright in his mind. It was Velvet, standing on a cliff with the wind in her hair. She turned around to smile at him as the memory faded.

The object warmed in his hands, sending a pleasurable buzz throughout his body. It was a thick ovoid with red and blue swirls across its surface. It looked like a gemstone, but radiated a lifeforce that he immediately recognized.

"Velvet?" He ran his fingers across the pebbled surface of the egg, then clutched it to his chest. It hummed in time with the beating of his own heart. The ramifications of what he held raced through him, and he chose to immerse himself in the moment. A small part of her still existed, and he didn't care how or why. During the fight with Mehkhkahrel, he had felt her presence, but he couldn't be sure if it had been her or just his magic trying to meet his desires. It was almost like she had been holding him up as he unleashed every ounce of energy.

Later, he would ask Cecilia if it could have been her. The banshee had shrugged and explained that the Underworld could be a strange place in terms of spirits and what they could accomplish.

"My dad had a saying." Eulalie placed her hand on his shoulder. "Nobody is ever truly gone. When she died, I wasn't sure what to do when I found out she had laid an egg. I don't have her instincts, and I'm not cut out to be a mother. I debated having it smashed and just ending the Arachne once and for all, but the moment I touched it..." She shrugged. "It was almost like seeing her one last time. If she spared it, she had good reasons to do so."

"We're going to raise it here," Sofia announced. "The house is no place for a child. This place is safe from outside threats. It's possible her upbringing could be difficult, but we are up to the task. And someday, when she is old enough to leave the nest..."

"Then we will let her decide what comes next." Eulalie squeezed his shoulder. "The egg will have to leave the Library on occasion, because time doesn't pass in here. That will be one of your jobs, to help us grow and hatch it by taking it for walks outside these halls. Bring her with you when you aren't busy hunting demons or arguing with magical royalty."

"And once she's here, I'll help raise her. Or try to, anyway." Mike ran his fingers over the surface of the egg in awe. So many feelings begged for his attention, and he couldn't focus on any of them. This wasn't just about Velvet's legacy, but his own.

He was about to become a father, but he was also reminded that Velvet was gone. These thoughts and ideas would take some time to absorb, and he promised to focus on the positives. The others would help, because that's what family does.

At the very least, he would be a better parent than his own mother had been. "Does she have a name?" he asked.

Eulalie and Sofia smiled at each other.

"That depends on you," Eulalie replied. "What do you want to call her?"

Cyrus turned onto the unmarked road off of Highway 104, the tires on his rental kicking up giant clouds of dust behind him. It had been almost an hour since he had seen another car, which included the fact that he had been forced to turn around after missing his exit.

Though he had not seen anyone, he had no doubt that he was being watched. For almost half an hour, he slalomed along the road through the sagebrush covered plains, making sure to keep his windows rolled up to keep out the heat and dust. The air conditioning was doing its best, but the car was emitting a high-pitched whine that threatened to test the limits of the engine.

Anyone following would have been surprised to see him gun the engine and drive straight into a large boulder. It was a security precaution, a spell that would only allow someone to pass if they were going faster than twenty-five mph. White light sizzled along the exterior of his black Nissan, and then a dull building the size of a garage popped into existence on the other side of the boulder. The sky was cast in grey, as if filtering out any color from the outside world.

By the time he came to a stop, there was a small group of men and women assembled outside the entrance of the building.

Upon exiting the car, he sensed the barrage of spells meant to verify his identity. He leaned against the car and stretched while they scanned him. It had been a long drive and his legs were stiff.

"Master Cyrus." A woman broke away from the pack and handed him a visitor's badge. "If you would wear this please."

"A badge? Really?" He put it over his head. "Seems kind of redundant now that you know who I am." Though he had never visited this facility, protocols were fairly standard across the world. The badge felt oddly heavy, but he assumed it was spell related.

"Let's just say the badge is a necessary precaution." The woman handed him a small stone. It had a groove in it, and he recognized it as a worry stone. "Also, keep this in your pocket while inside the building. Don't lose it or you may be subjected to termination with prejudice."

He frowned at the rock, then looked at the woman. "What the hell is going on with the Order?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not permitted to give you that information, sorry."

He waved his hand dismissively. "I understand. I suppose I have people I could ask."

Relief crossed her face and she nodded. "Shall we?" She gestured behind them and the others opened the door to the building. He noticed that they all watched the surrounding land as he walked inside, then backed into the space one at a time. Whatever was going on had them spooked bad.

The garage-like building housed a single elevator. Once everyone was inside, two of the men grabbed onto a pair of silver rods along opposite walls. Their magic flowed into the motor, allowing the elevator to descend. The trip was long, but Cyrus was simply grateful not to be sitting anymore.

At the bottom of the shaft, the group disembarked, then took their positions in a room overlooking the opening to the elevator. There was a good chance it was the only entrance to this place.

"Right this way." The woman turned away from him, and he realized that he didn't know her name. Typically, members of the Order would identify themselves upon meeting to avoid confusion. Whether this was an oversight on her part due to the new security precautions or something else entirely, he had no way of knowing.

Still, the woman's identity didn't matter. He had come to see someone else.

At the end of a long corridor, they came to a circular door embedded into the stone. She placed her hand on a scanner and the door slid open.

"He's been expecting you," she said, stepping aside. "For a couple of months now. Demanded we keep his calendar clear for today."

Cyrus nodded. It wasn't a surprise that he had been expected. After all, the Oracle often saw things long before they happened.

When he walked into the room, a red light turned on above the door once it shut behind him. It was like being inside of an extra large dark room for developing photographs, only the center of the room was occupied by a giant glass cylinder filled with mist. The cylinder itself was nearly a hundred feet across and five stories high.

"Master Cyrus." The voice spoke to him from a mechanical grill at the bottom of the tube. Somewhere inside the glass, the Oracle was speaking into a microphone.

"I like the new housing unit." He had been with the Order when they had first captured the Oracle. Originally, the creature had been contained in a metal box not much larger than a coffin with a vent at the bottom. Good behavior over the years had allowed it substantially more freedom. Attracted to tragedy like a moth to a flame, the creature had a flair for prophecy that had resulted in its imprisonment rather than destruction. There was still significant doubt that the Oracle hadn't caused the Silver bridge collapse of '67, and so it remained somewhere it could be safely studied.

"Prison," the Oracle corrected as if reading Cyrus' mind. "You may use fancy words for it, but it is still a prison." A dark shape moved behind the mist as the Oracle came near the glass. "It has been many years since we last spoke in person."

"It has." Cyrus licked his lips, which had suddenly gone dry. "I have a question of a delicate nature."

"Indeed." The Oracle shifted in his enclosure, his glowing eyes visible through the mist. "Just think of the journey it has been to bring you to this point."

"So you know the question I want to ask?"

The Oracle chuckled. "Perhaps. But I am not ready to answer it yet. Indulge me. I would hear about your reasons for asking it."

Cyrus frowned. "You can't see what brings me here?"

"There are many places on this planet that obscure my vision." The swirling mists parted, briefly revealing a pair of damaged wings. "You have recently steeped yourself in such a place, like a fine tea. I would hear of it that I may taste such a place for myself."

"I have taken an oath not to share the details," Cyrus replied.

"Ah, still a man of your word." The Oracle made a clicking sound, then disappeared into the mists. "Instead of details, maybe you can summarize? It'll be like old times."

Cyrus nodded, understanding at once what the Oracle meant by old times. The Oracle and anyone who spoke with him used to be under heavy surveillance shortly after his capture. This extra attention had waned over the years once the Order was confident that the Oracle wasn't going to possess someone's body or manipulate them. Cyrus had developed these gestures to gain the Oracle's trust, and had never once abused it.

However, things had obviously changed for the Order. They were being listened to, and what he had to say was for the Oracle alone. To anyone listening, it sounded like he was rambling, talking about a man who had discovered a treasure trove of magic. However, the Oracle watched him closely as he made innocuous hand gestures that conveyed additional meaning. Certain signals meant that he was lying, others implied that he was selling it short.

For example, when the Oracle interrupted to ask about how powerful the inherited magic was, Cyrus had shrugged while scratching his chin. "No more than anyone else who comes into magic," he said, but his actions told the Oracle the opposite. There were no monitors in the Oracle's chamber--any cameras that watched him only captured static.

The Oracle listened quietly, occasionally moving back into the mysterious mists of its prison. Some of the top minds of the Order had tried to study the mist's composition, but anytime they managed to capture a sample, it would somehow disappear. When questioned on it, the Oracle tended to dodge the question. It liked to talk, but refused to elaborate on what it was or where it had come from. The mist didn't come from the Oracle, but somehow manifested whenever the creature was confined.