Devil’s Royalty

Welcome to Hollownest

He heard the balcony door click quietly, and instinctively reached for her side of the bed. She was up for the for the day and whether he wanted to or not so was he. He watched her pace back and forth. Then unroll one of the rugs they kept outside and knew. It had to have been the war dream, because he had it too. It was one of the few dreams they shared. He touched his shoulder, underneather his hand, a delicate set of claw marks almost of shadow of what they once were. He heard a voice in his mind.

“Do you not fear that the woman will destroy you if given the chance?” it whispered, he smiled and spoke quietly echoing what rang in his head

“Why would I fear what I crave to have?" he stood and moved towards the balcony doors. She had settled down and all he wanted was to join her and watch the coming storm, but he had never been more torn. There was a reason they had that particular dream. Over the years he had learned to listen to it. So with much chagrine he walked over to the closet and got dressed. She would understand she always did, it is one of the reasons he loved her so much. He had just finished buttoning up his vest, as Kar had walked in with her morning drink. The minion stopped, "the museum called sir, " he smiled.. " ill let her handle it. I'm sure we will be going on a field trip later so im not worried. If the mrs asks im working on the dagger." He looked over at the balcony one more time as he fought the urge to join her again. " That woman is going to be the death of me. " he bite his bottom lip as he left.

When I returned to the room he was up and gone. Probably already down to the lab to go play with his new toy. I sat on the bed, his spot was still warm, we hadn't missed eachother by much. I laid back down on his side almost rolling in his scent. I was burried under our pillows when Kar had cleared his throat.

"Mrs, i hate to bother you but the others are gathering for the meeting, and the small matter of the museum." Sighing deeply I sat up, "I know Kar, I just wanted a few more moments." I got out of bed and moved to our closet. A sensible black mermaid skirt and simple blue blouse. A pair of high heels and my hair loosely braided finished my outfit for the day. I reached for my glasses, they were more of a habit then actual necessity. I perched them softly on the crown of my head. As i made my way to the side table picking up a pile of invoices heading towards my office. I looked down the hallway toward the elevator for the labs, but caught myself. After the meeting i can go find out if he had the dream again. I turned and headed down the long carpeted hallway. Every few feet there a massive window open with slightly rustling curtains, showcasing the grounds in the early dawn light. I stopped to take in the beauty of the rough lake in the distance. The storms had quieted to a soft purr of thunder and an occasional flash of lighting. The smell of outside was intoxicating, maybe after these meetings i would shift. No, i couldn't, I'd have to settle for a barefoot run, too much to do today. I shuffled the papers in my hands. I so loved going down to the lakeshore after a storm. My attention was pulled away from the open window by the gaggle of shadow demons at my office door. Some were in the shape of dachshunds and others their true form with little wings and whipping tails. "Kar it's so nice of all of you to join me this morning sorry for the delay".They bowed their heads and in unison spoke.

"Mrs, it is no problem for us. The others are the angry ones who don't want to be kept waiting. " As they filed in after me. I finally sat down at my desk as the five of them surrounded the front.

" Ah good morning, I wasn't expecting to start meeting this morning till much later. Is there a problem with our expedition in India. Or a problem elsewhere that needs my immediate attention in the Hollownest?" One of the dachshund shadows moved closer to me and morphed back into the little winged demon. It handed me sealed documents and slowly open its mouth tilting its head back. A gentle white mist swirled as a woman appeared. She looked to be about in her mid forties long shoulder length dark hair. She was clearly of Indian decent and unhappy.

"We have made some headway, but it is slow going. The local government is putting pressure on our dig site. Something about it being to close to a holy sight, and not enough proof that we need to be there." she said as she crossed her arms. I opened the sealed papers, they were permits and maps of the location.

"I will show these to Nikola, and we will see about how to proceed. For right now put a hold on digging any more, but watch the site. Maybe we will make the trip ourselves and talk to the officials." The woman seemed happy with the answer and nodded.

"And what about the Incan site?" I turned to questioned another shadow. It opened its mouth and a rather small man answered.

"We have found the Claws and are preparing them for shipping along with a few other artifacts." The man beamed happily, "I think you will be quite happy with the other finds Christina. We haven't found text this complete in a few centuries. Let alone a whole tribe. We have taken every precaution to slowly start hiding them from the world. " I had just taken his papers and started to answer.

" That's great news... " I was cut of by another demon opening its mouth.

" What of our treasure, your envoy has made mention of a burglary in the museum," I turned my attention to the woman. I placed my papers down and set my hands on them and looked at her. I smiled warmly and continued. "The Egyptian exhibit is fully intact all artifacts are there and accounted for. Thanks to the quick actions of myself and my husband, nothing was stolen, but we do have a problem. I wasn't going to bring this up until i had more information but since we are on the subject. The men were looking for a supernatural artifact. I dont know if it was coincidence or if they were really seeking supernatural things. So from now on when you do anything have extra security on everything." There was a uncomfortable murmur from the demons. The Egyptian contact continued.

"Well if you can not grantee my collections safety. I want it returned without question. " She stood defiantly as a white wisp of smoke on my desk. My eyes narrowed on her as I picked up one of the papers on my desk that i had brought with me.

"Pakhet, you were the one that offered your collection to the museum for our help. What of your mission, the Eye of the Nile, anything more then the last time we talked, because if you found it. I will be more then happy to return your collection for it. "The woman quieted down and fell back in line,

"No ma'am, we are still looking." I nooded and continued

" Alright then. The next order of business." I flipped through the reports, "This looks promising the golden pelt, in Siberia, " another demon mouth opened,

"Ah, my beautiful snow angel you look lovely as always." A large man appeared, even in this tiny mist form he was a breath taking mountain. I couldn't help but give him a smile. "Come now Damien, you know pet names rile Nikola up. An update on the pelt if you please. " he sighed

" My little swan i will say as i please and if your concubine doesnt like it he can force me to stop." a few of the others chuckled, this was one of the many reasons Nikola didn't attend the meetings.

"Damien the update please, "he rolled his eyes,

"You will have it in your collection by the end of the night. I have my best men on it my delicate ice sculpture. " He smiled because he knew deep down i loved his little pet names for me. I would never admit it. This was the one place he could get away with saying them and not get in trouble so he always took full advantage of it. I wrote him a little note while i continued to speak.

"And the London exhibition, did it draw out the people we thought it would?" The next demon opened up and a scrawny looking man spoke.

"Yes, they took the bait. The auction house has already been informed, that there might be a robbery, and the items have been fitted with tracking devices. The police have been informed as well. They are not to interfere with the robbery until we call them for back up." I nodded softly and handed my note back to Damien's demon and looked around.

"Good, good and last but not least our newest edition, how goes building a foot hole in Beijing? " The final demon opened its mouth,

"I am greatly honored, to have been welcomed into your fold, Mrs McConnell. I look forward to recovering many artifacts on this side of the world." A man bowed.

"Please call me Christina. Your first objective is to find a base of operations. Then once you have settled, my messengers will bring the information we have gathered so far. My husband and I will help you get settled with the network and the inner working of Hollownest. Any of the people you have met here today can and will help you. I am just glad you had decided to join our side after your long nap." The man bowed.

"It is an honor to help you on your quest Christina. I look forward to a long partnership." There was a gentle knock at the door, i looked up and saw Kar. "You must all excuse me, i have matters to attent to here." The mist forms nodded and one by one their respective demons disappeared. I grabbed Damien's demon shaking my head to not make a sound until the others had left. "Damien i need to to speak to you, in person how soon can you get here." he looked genuinely surprised.

"Christina what has happened, you made it quite unless it was a life of death situation. I was not to leave Siberia." I nodded,

" I know, what you are protecting there is incredibly important for our work, but i wouldn't ask if i didn't think I'd need back up." He smirked and smiled.

" Is your Nikola, not enough my pet." I looked at him, he nervously chuckled

"We had a leak, the sentinel has fallen. When." i looked at him.

"In all seriousness I can be there with the shipment by tonight or tomorrow at the latest." I let out a little sigh of relief,

"I'm sending some information with Kar to fill you in." He waved his hand

"Tell me, when i get there my Snow Queen." He bowed and his demon disappeared in a puff of smoke. I shook my head, for all his teasing, Damien was and is the only other man in the world i completely trusted. He and Nikola may not see eye to eye, but i just had a feeling i was going to need people I trusted around. Kar approached my desk with a fresh drink. I took it and let the warmth of the cup lure me into enjoying it. He spoke

"I normally don't bother you during the briefings Mistress, but you did tell me to remind you, that you are going to have humans here today." I about choked spitting hot chocolate across my desk.

" That was today, I completely forgot. Go down and tell Nikola, we will be having guests and to lock the more unwelcoming rooms. The demon bowed his head,

"Did you want me to inform the master that Mr. Wrean will be joining us?" I thought for a moment and shook my head.

"No let it be a surprise, so he can't brood over it for the rest of the day." he nodded and disappeared in a wisp of smoke. I turned my attention to the computer screens infront of me now covered in hot chocolate. I patted the screens dry and with a few key stokes I pulled up a bright cheerful looking woman. " Just what we need right now. A nosy, new, and curious president of the home owners association. Damn it Edna." I sighed soft and rubbed my forehead it was going to be a long day. I reached for a phone and dailed the museum. This was something i knew I could deal with right now.

He had taken the elevator regrettably leaving just as she had been standing up to return in. She would be off to the morning meeting. That was something he was glad to not be appart of. He had no problems sending those people off on missions but listening to them whine about how they ran things. Well that wasn't his cup of tea. He was more a let her deal with the logistics while he got to play around with the artifacts. He walked towards his lab. Each room he passed was storage for some sort of unknown trinket, ranging from pottery, to books, to cannons. He and she has spent a meticulous amount of time deciphering and categorizing each room. He smiled each thing in this part of the house had been retrieved by their hands, be it an artifact, or some part of history they had to hide from the rest of the world. He finally reached the containment room where Kar had placed the dagger. He picked it up, the egde was no bigger then his hand. He set to work trying to find anything curious on the item. He started to clean the hilt to see if anything was inscribed. "Damn no luck there" he flipped it a few times in his hand as he paced back and forth. He ran his fingers along hilt still finding nothing. He bit his bottom lip as he set it back down. He turned from his work space and moved over to his computer. He picked up a recorder

"It is the Countess's Needle, a short dagger with three blue stones encrusted on the hilt. They apprear to be small sapphires and there is no noticible markings on it other then the cravings for grip. I thought the pummel would have opened a secret compartment but as of right this second i do not know how to unlock the spark. It is said that whom ever holds the dagger holds the Countess's heart in their hands. After extensive searching i have found no heart what so ever, not even a sinue of muscle in the tang. What do these rumors mean could it be a metaphor for her numerous lovers being strung together with its blade or is it just legend. Once we find the Countess we should ask her the true meaning end recording." He started to pull up all the information that we had gathered about it. An open window here talking about the size, another window over here showing an drawn picture in some sort ancient text. He shook he head as he scanned thought hundreds of pictures and texts. It had been atleast a soild of hour of him pouring over information about it and had gotten no closer to finding how to reactive the spark. He stopped for a moment and sat back in his chair. He wasn't getting anywhere and by now her meeting should be over. It had rained this morning maybe she was planning a run, the dagger would be there when he got back. He thought for a moment, yes he wanted to see her. He reached to grab the piece to put it back in containment, when his finger nicked the blade. A drop of his blood had hit the hilt, looking down he smiled, the handle clicked and opened up.

"Eureka..Ahh, there you are my pretty.." he opened the compartment all the up. A drop of blood hit the hidden stone with in. It illuminated a soft plusing blue color. "This is just getting, curiouser and curiouser my little wonder." The compartment closed and the stones on the hilt turned from blue to red and it emulated light softly. "I wonder what you do" He eyes focused on the dagger. Kar appeared next to him.

" The Mistress says to remind you humans are coming, and to please lock the more dangerous rooms. You are expected up there when they arrive." The demon turned and disappeared as fast as he appeared.

"The Mistress, yes my dear Christina how could i have left you all alone this morning. " He shook his head clearing his mind. He picked up his recorder again. "I was thinking about Christina as i was trying to active the spark. After my blood hit the stones they shifted from blue to red and now that was a little weird even for me. After activation, i have a compusive need to find my wife, more so then normal. This could be interesting we are adding humans to the mix. End recording. " Nikola smiled ead to ear.

He slipped the dagger in his breast pocket and with a few more key stokes, the lights in the lab dimmed and the cases locked. "This is going to be so much fun." his eyes glowed a soft red color that was eerily similar to the dagger. He got up from his desk and left the lab making his way to the elevator.