Chapter 26
Anticipation
(Frankenstein is late and Raizel is not happy about it.)
The flesh colored spider slowly made its way along the top of the window frame. To call it ugly would be a bit unfair. It couldn't help the way it had come into the world, but it had no defining spots or lines and looked more like a crab.
Raizel sighed and turned his gaze back out the window. It was a futile gesture. All the browns and greens only reminded him of the tea he'd missed today. Tea and sweets. And more importantly, Frankenstein's company.
Oh, he'd had visitors, but it wasn't the same. Urokai had been as loud as ever, especially concerning Frankenstein's residence within his home. The clan leader visited often now and his continued focus on the human butler was worrying.
Fortunately for Frankenstein, he had been with Ragar, otherwise, Raizel wouldn't have bothered telling Urokai anything about the whereabouts of his favorite person. Ragar's pure heart wouldn't allow Urokai, Zarga or Roctis to harm Frankenstein. That belief had been confirmed when Ragar's aura had led Frankenstein's to the Lord's palace. Not that there was any true reason to worry. Had Frankenstein arrived at the palace injured or dead, the Lord would have been quite upset. Probably more so because Raizel would have been duty bound to execute those three, which would have made him sad. The Lord could be ridiculously protective.
'Why does he always ask me to live with him at the palace? Maybe he thinks he can find me a bride? Does he really think I would allow something like that when I've had to execute my own brother? Can he possibly imagine what it would do to me should I be required to execute my own wife?'
Raizel checked on the spider's progress. It must have thought its slow movements made it invisible. The clan leaders needed to take a lesson from the spider. The sudden increase in visits and inquiries about Frankenstein were not so subtle. They didn't trust him anymore.
'I can handle Frankenstein and the man's heart is in the right place, even though Dark Spear does affect his sanity.'
Urokai was simply jealous. The other two had deeper plans and Raizel didn't want to know. They were older, better at hiding their thoughts. It would take an effort of will to find out what they could be planning. Without just cause for that invasion, Raizel didn't feel he had a right to dig into their thoughts. Besides, he didn't like killing his friends, even if they turned against him. He would always do his duty, even when it broke his heart, but he would never go looking for someone to kill. If those two clan leaders were spinning webs and setting traps, he didn't want to know and he definitely didn't want to know why.
Dark thoughts seemed to creep in more often these days. That was the trouble with having visitors. They distracted him from the peace of simply watching the world spin, the stars blinking in and out of existence, wildlife cycling through nature. Frankenstein didn't distract him, didn't make him question anything. He was just there in the background.
Most of the time.
Frankenstein had no compunction about challenging anyone to a duel. Likely, he had challenged the Lord during today's visit. To be fair, most found it amusing and there hadn't been too many complaints. Not yet anyway.
Frankenstein's aura finally exited the palace and headed toward home.
'Ah, tea and sweets! Or dinner! Maybe both?'
And then...his three earlier visitors changed course and zeroed in on Frankenstein. Raizel wanted to go out there and drag his butler home!
'No tea and now dinner is going to be late! What could they possibly want now? Except maybe to harass Frankenstein!? I'm getting really tired of these interruptions.' Frankenstein's aura flared into incandescence. 'Oh, and now Frankenstein is in a bad mood. I'll have to order him to be quiet in the kitchen. He tends to abuse his tools when he's angry.'
Raizel glared up at the spider and the corner of his lips tilted down, but the spider couldn't be blamed for this disappointing day. The thing was almost directly above his head now. Frankenstein would notice the little intruder and knew better than to kill or discard it in Raizel's presence.
The Noblesse smiled. Maybe he could have a little fun at Frankenstein's expense and it would provide his butler with a bit of distraction from that bad mood. Raizel could hardly wait.
Notes
Thank you to the lovely Neisha for looking over the chapter for corrections and for reviewing. She was surprised at how few corrections needed to be made. I'm doing better after getting out of the apartment that had made me so sick and I'm now taking medicine that is actually helping my thoughts get organized. Starting to feel halfway normal for a change! It gives me hope that updates will come sooner than they have been.
Thank you so much for sticking with me, everyone!