"How about this one?" Barnaby asked pushing an open pamphlet to Crowley.
"Nah, that can't be it," the demon said looking over the page.
Swiping it back, the boy gave the building in question a closer look, "Yeah, you're right," Taking a swig of his orange juice he flipped to the next page. Sitting in a little diner across from the motel, the two scoured over pamphlets and maps searing for anything that could possibly be some sort of headquarters. Anathema's map may have lead them to Manchester but that only got them so far. The rest was up to them.
"Are you ready to order?" asks an older waitress. She waits patiently as Crowley digs his menu out from his mess of papers and smiles at Barnaby as he copies him. The demon orders something more out of politeness than anything. He really was never big on the whole food thing, but of course he didn't mind a nice cup up of coffee every now and again.
Except for Barnaby it was a little bit harder. Even with a kid's menu, a good portion of it was written down in as the boy like to describe it, a line of partly curvy partly sharp symbols. He knew adults somehow could translate them into speech but the boy just couldn't figure out how. It didn't help much that no one had ever bothered to tell him that unlike English and Spanish, the brain just wasn't hardwired to pick up reading by itself. The boy just assumed it was something that everyone knew how to do, and was quite embarrassed that just couldn't seem to figure it out. Barnaby considered asked Crowley to read it for him, but he was too ashamed.
"How about that?" Barnaby pointed to a picture feeling sheepish. One good thing about a kid's menu was the sheer amount of photos, he would have eaten practically anything. Crowley glanced up at him with a raised eye brown, then looked back down to his pamphlets with a shrug. On the other had the waitress just smiled and wrote something down.
The two sat in silence for a while, each looking over their own stack of papers, occasionally taking a bite of food. But as the silence wore on it started to get on Crowley's nerves.
"So, have you picked a name out for your aardvark yet?" he asked unable to think of anything else.
"A name? I didn't know it needed one," Barnaby glanced at the soft animal next to him and pulled it into his lap.
"That's the rule,"
"Naming is usually customary,"
Barnaby frowned at that. He never named anything before. And he really didn't know that many names in the first place, the ones he did know were already taken. It wouldn't be fair to steal someone else's name. He really wasn't prepared for this kind of responsibility.
"Can you do it?"
"No can do. This is all up to you, little man," chuckled Crowley. Of course he had had some experience with naming things such as plants, stars, and other various things. But a little decision making would be good for Bart, and besides it wasn't really his decision.
With a sigh Barnaby picked up his aardvark to examine it. Hell, he couldn't even tell what gender it was supposed to be. How could he name it without knowing it's gender? Because apparently certain names were for certain genders or something. But what if he guessed the wrong and gave it a boy's name only to find out it was a girl all along? He'd have to figure some way around that.
Deep in thought the boy stroked it's long ears. They didn't seem to match the rest of the animal(if any part of it really fit anyway).More like the pointy ears of a bunny that whatever an aardvark was.
"Rabbit," thought the boy aloud.
"Huh?"
"Rabbit, it's its name," he decided. The lanky man across the table just tilted his head in confusion. "This way I don't have to steal anyone's name, or try to guess its gender,"
"But it's an aardvark,"
"I know, but I can't just go around calling it 's more of a description than a name. Besides it has rabbit ears," for emphasis the child waved the big ears with his hands, knocking a few stray papers off the table.
Chuckling with a shake of his head Crowley admitted, "I guess when you explain it like that..." If you could name a dog Bear, who's to say you can't name a aardvark Rabbit?
Smiling at the small praise, Barnaby bent down to pick up the strewed papers. But as his thin hand reached down it froze in place. One of the pamphlets that had been lower in the stack laid wide open in the isle. It was like most of the others, just a picture of a tall building with some text next to it, but what set it apart was in the top-left corner was printed with the symbol.
"Looklooklook!" moving quickly Barnaby snatched it up and pressed it into the surprised demon's hands. It took him a few moments to comprehend the significance of what he held between his fingers.
"It's them, this is it," Crowley breathed. He could feel his stomach churn somehow both with relief and anxiousness. Behind shades yellow eyes locked onto the description.
"Avis Labs is a international research and development company, but it is ran out of the United Kingdom with its headquarters in downtown Manchester. Specializes in product testing, computer hardware, biochemistry...free weekend tours at 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00," he read aloud skimming over a few unnecessary parts. A lab, Crowley had heard they were becoming more common with the turn of the century but abducting bookshop keepers and changing human DNA had to be illegal even by the demon's loose standards. To cover this much up, it had to be either an extremely small very well-funded group of individuals, or a massive spidering organization of somewhat well-funded ones. It made sense though, Barnaby's description of a nightmarish childhood, hell the reason for the boy's existence at all. Made not born, he shuddered at the thought.
"Mr. Crowley?" a small voice asked sounding concerned. Big brown eyes looked up at the demon, reminding him of the task at hand.
Standing up and nodding at the door he said,"C'mon, I have an idea,"
Coming back a few minutes later, the waitress was quite confused to find the table empty except for an overflow of brochures, pamphlets, and other pieces of travel information. But what really caught her attention was the large bill sitting on top, far larger than needed. Quickly she pocketed it, and began to shuffle the papers together. Who cared if they left a mess, when you get a tip like that. And as she dumped the superfluous papers, she was busy considering what color she wanted her new heels to be.
Less than twenty minutes later, a certain demon was double parked across the street from the Avis Labs headquarters. It was a tall building but only about 30 or so stories all, barely a skyscraper. Crowley could feel a hot rage swelling in him as he eyed the big light up logo, but he forced it down along with his gaze scanning down to the lobby. From the other-side of pristine glass doors he could see a large help desk in the back-middle of the room and small crowd mulling around off to the side. Mostly tourists and a couple of families with primary school aged children waiting for the two o'clock tour. Occasionally a man or woman in a suit would rush by to the elevator.
He knew that he should be over there waiting with them but something held the demon back. Casting a sidelong glance Crowley turned his attention to Barnaby. He was looking through the window complete focused as if trying to memorize everything in front of him, barely even noticing his protector's gaze. Taking Bart inside was risky, thought the demon. These were the people looking for him after all, and they seemed pretty determined to take the boy back. But leaving him in the Bentley wasn't an option either, even if he was a perfectly normal kid not on the run. Crowley could always drive the boy back to the motel and take the four o'clock tour, but that didn't suit the demon either. Even though he never said it aloud, he had a promise to keep. And the best way to safeguard it was keeping Bart close.
"Come on," Crowley decided, not really having much of a choice. He opened the passenger side door and took the boy's hand more for his own sake than Barnaby's. Who followed along lightly holding Rabbit to his chest with his free hand. Even if this wasn't where he remembered being before, it still made him nervous. And the second they got inside it got much worse.
He had barely walked a few feet from the door when Crowley felt a tug at his arm. He could feel waves of fear rolling off the small form next to him in waves. Looking down Crowley saw Barnaby practically hiding behind his legs, using the older man to shield his face. His fear was more than shyness,more intense, raw. Bart has always been a little guarded but this was something else. For a slit second the boy lifted his eyes to cast a terrified glance across the room before ducking down again. Protective instincts flaring, Crowley followed Barnaby's gaze, but was careful not to turn his head. It was a small group of chairs sitting outside an office labeled Security, angled just right that he couldn't see earlier from the Bentley. A single well-build man sat in the chair closest to the door looking bored out of this mind. He had flaming red hair and a jaw so square it could cut. His face wasn't exactly ugly but defiantly far from handsome, it seemed worn out, lined with angry wrinkles somehow worn into young face like a permanent grimace, and a crooked nose from too many breaks over the years. Nothing about his clothes were close to a uniform or even formal enough for a job interview, but Crowley knew a military man when he saw one.
Moving quickly and mind racing the demon let go of Barnaby's hand and grabbed him under the arms. He lifted the boy onto his hip opposite the of the man, gently pressing the small face into his shoulder. For a second the boy twisted in his grip, but quickly settled realizing Crowley's intent. He pressed his face down further into the demon's black coat, pulling down his beanie to obscure the rest of his face.
"Cain," whispered Barnaby inches away from Crowley's ear. It was quiet, barely audible, but it made the demon's blood run colder. In another time and place he would have torn apart that man on the spot. Ripping into him until he told what that monster had done to his angel, then rip into him some more. But there was just too much at risk and it was too public a place. So no matter how much he hated it, Crowley simply quickened his pace. There was just too much to lose, laying low was the only option he had.
Cain glanced up for a moment at the man holding a sleepy child then pulled out his phone. Just another tourist, he shrugged skimming through his e-mail. Avis Labs was still looking for a little boy wandering alone on the streets on London. Not one right under their noses right here in Manchester with his "father". So Cain barely gave the two a second thought as he waited to report in.
I swear I'm not dead! I have been at summer camp all week, I planed to post a chapter before this giving a heads up but life got in the way. But don't worry you wont have to wait that long for the next one, I wrote this and most of the next chapter at camp. Anyway thank you all so much for reading and waiting. Have a great day! :)