((I need to stop getting distracted. My sole problem with this is that while I know where I want to end up, I'm less than sure how I'll get there … I know who the hell heads that organisation; I know how the encounter with them will start, I'll let the writing run off when I get to it, though. I never plan battles. But the in-between … I know things that will happen, but how do I link them?

Another contributing factor is my current obsession with The Infernal Devices/The Mortal Instruments which I have only recently discovered. Oh boy.

Chapter heading is a line of the song Satellite by Deine Lakaien.))

Chapter 17

Time Out Of Mind

Sirendor sat with the small glinting object in his hand. The edges were round to make it harmless, and it was polished to shining. In the half light he might have been fooled into thinking it was actually gold. The letters SL were engraved on its back, marking it as his. 'You should be happy, you know.'

Sirendor scowled at the object. 'I am now officially a member of a murderous organisation that would massacre friends of mine if they got their filthy hands on them.' Finally, he looked up at her. 'And yes, I'm including you in that.'

With a sigh, the vampire sat next to him and plucked the metal plate out of his hand. It was no longer than her little finger and beautifully crafted. A dragon scale, in all detail. Not that Sirendor know what details a dragon scale had. 'Weird, isn't it? That they'd make it gold. There are no golden dragons.'

Sirendor gave her a searching glance. Nothing else came. 'What makes you say that? Of course there are. They came with us.' His face fell. 'Now don't tell me they're all dead.'

Varilia opened her mouth and closed it again. 'I heard myths, but I always thought that's all they are. Maybe they just hide. The golden dragons, I mean.' She licked her lips. 'Sirendor, are you prepared to end this charade?'

'More than.' His hand closed around the scale Varilia returned to him. 'With this, I can go to find my friends and infiltrate any part of the organisation there, if need be, no?'

'Yes. But I urge you to be careful. Sirendor, the real threat aren't monsters. Politics will kill you faster.' She took his shoulders and stared at him. 'Look after yourself. Having human friends is rarely a good idea for my kind. You die so easily.'

With a slow smile, Sirendor patted her cheek. She looked properly miffed at the gesture. His smile turned into a grin. 'I had a great teacher for fighting monsters and I've become a spy with her help. What else could I ask for.'

'Survival, Larn. Hirad's going to hunt me down if you get hurt.'

'Varilia, brave vampire, is scared of Hirad Coldheart. Whom she met for all of two seconds.'

'He's impressive.' She licked her lips.

Sirendor burst into laughter. 'I'm not sure if you want to eat him or sleep with him.'

'Why only one out of the two?'

Sirendor poked a finger into her shoulder. 'You're impossible.' He glanced at the scale again. 'Thanks, Varilia. For everything.'

'Be alert, Larn. I will come to you in a few days. It will be over soon.'

Ϡ

Regis's eyes were – again – roving over the papers Thaler, Will, and Sirendor had stolen from the crypt. 'I think it's not all that black,' he said when he noticed Shani's shadow from behind him. 'They had a mutant, but I doubt if they could produce a large amount of them. And I'm not even sure that one survived beyond that first stage of mutation.'

'Making them not that disgusting?'

'No.' Regis leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. 'They're disgusting all right. Or have you come for a fundamental debate about human life and its value?'

'I … no.' She smiled. 'I wondered why you'd lock yourself in for so many hours.'

'Lock myself in. Tsk.' Regis pushed the papers firmly away from himself. 'I wish I could communicate with Varilia somehow. Know what's going on down that end.'

'Something very different to here, you think?'

'Yes. I think those there are the brains. Here, we're dealing with the thugs. Which is maybe the lesser problem, but might be more dangerous.' He frowned. 'You should never have involved yourself in this. I'm worried about you.'

'I'm perfectly safe.' She bit her lower lip. 'I thought about what we talked about. I … Regis, how do I say this?'

He sighed. 'Straightforward is usually easiest.' He raised his arms. 'I understand, Shani. I really do.'

'You don't!' Her voice cracked like a whip. 'You're assuming, and you're wrong.'

Regis's mouth fell open. He took a step towards her. 'All right. At this point, this is torture. Tell me, Shani. Where do we go from here?'

Her lips formed the most beautiful smile Regis had ever seen. 'Well. I'm not sure where. But wherever it'll be in the end, I'd like us to go there together.' For what it was worth, Regis would have died happily in that moment.

Ϡ

To the best of Ilkar's knowledge, Hirad had never trained with anyone. Not that his current student needed a teacher. He needed someone he could test his strength and speed on. And even though both men's swords were dulled, Ilkar wondered what would happen if either one landed an actual hit.

Hirad had always been fast. But regarding coordination, he had nothing on Will. The little man moved with an agility that was admirable, and yet, he still claimed he could do better. And in the end, it was he that received a blow against his arm and dropped one of his two small swords.

'Sorry,' the barbarian said. 'Are you all right?'

The thief flexed his fingers. 'Nothing but my dignity got chopped off. You hit like a bull, you know that?'

Hirad grinned and picked up Will's weapon. 'You'll have to get faster, then.'

'No shit.'

'You started out all right, you just tired. But the kind of battle we're likely to get into isn't going to last that long.'

'No.' He scowled. 'Still. I've got a way to go.'

'You will.' Hirad smacked his shoulder so hard Will's knees nearly gave. He caught Ilkar's eye and laughed. 'What do you say, huh?'

'That if you break his limbs, he's not going to do much for us.'

'Nah. He's not that fragile. He can handle Thraun.'

Will wasn't provoked. 'Oh, yes. He's got a lot more to handle than you do.' With a wink at Ilkar, he darted out of Hirad's reach. 'I think I'll go and find Thraun. You know. Handle him.' The barbarian still grinned.

'He was trying to goad you,' the elf pointed out.

'You know where I stand.' He frowned. 'Hang on. You actually know where I stand.'

'I know you'll do anything that walks. It's not the same thing. This between them, this is deep.'

'That's exactly what I'm talking about.' Hirad made a face. 'We had that conversation. Or we didn't.'

'What?'

'You don't remember? That night right after you announced you'd stay on Balaia rather than return home.'

'I distinctly remember you being drunk and propositioning me. In rather crude words, no less.'

'I've got something to say. Something important.'

'Sometimes talking to you is a real test for my patience, what with your non-answers. The point of a dialogue is that you actually refer to what the other person is saying.' Ilkar folded his arms. 'Never mind. Just spit it out.' He gave his friend a look full of confidence he didn't feel. 'Go on.'

'I heard you talking to Regis. About someone you cared about.'

'Took you a while to process what we said, did it?'

Hirad took a moment to answer. 'Actually, yes. I didn't think you could mean me. But then I thought that … maybe you did. Did you?'

'Apart from the million reasons why this is a bad idea?'

'So it's not that I'll age.'

'Can we take this elsewhere?' He smiled. 'Somewhere with less potential to listen in, perhaps?'

Hirad made a wide gesture including the yard. 'We're quite alone.' He sighed. 'At this point, I just hope it's not Sirendor, even if I'm wrong and this wasn't about me. You're out of luck with him.'

Ilkar snorted. 'Gods, no.' He shrugged and walked up to the couple of stairs leading up to the entrance of the inn and sat on the edge of one of them. 'Hirad, your short lifespan aside, you're also … I don't know how to say that without hurting you. But I can't share. It's not part of my nature to do so. And my knowledge of you tells me you're meant to be shared.'

'You mean business when you get involved. Mage thing or elf thing?'

'Elf thing.' He looked at his hands. 'Look. I'm sorry you even heard that. I'd never have said a word. But I feel lying to you, giving you some made up reasons, is plain wrong, so I'll level with you. If I ever were to do this, I'd be completely dedicated to you until you die. What that would do to me, I have no idea, but … let's face it, I don't know what it would do to me now. I doubt it could even get worse.'

'I'm not planning to die, Ilks. You're the one with a bad record there.'

'True. But … Hirad, why are we even having this conversation?'

'Can't you guess? I just don't think I can convince you. I'm not a man of big words.'

Ilkar smiled at him. 'No. But you … you know what makes me wonder if Regis isn't right?' Hirad didn't answer, he just fixed his eyes on his with the kind of attention he usually reserved for battles. It was strangely touching. 'You heard me. When I was dead. Not even Rebraal did, and he was my brother. That someone that's not my blood, not even an elf, should sense me so accurately …' He swallowed. 'That's not something that happens, Hirad.'

'I gathered that.' Hirad tore his eyes away. 'Ilkar, I can't hold a candle to you. What do you want with me?'

Suddenly bold, Ilkar reached out and turned Hirad's face back to him. 'A friend. A partner. Someone I can rely on completely. I already have all those in you.' He lowered his voice and let his thumb brush over Hirad's chin. 'Are you prepared to give me your all, Hirad Coldheart? To give me your body like you give me your love already? Give yourself to me alone?'

A strong, calloused hand covered Ilkar's. 'All I am is yours.' The smile he offered Ilkar was warm, if a little melancholic.

Whatever he had planned to say was drowned by a sound from Will, who had come back out, looking mildly concerned. 'Sorry,' he said, 'but Thaler and Regis might be about to murder each other and I think someone with at least a shred of diplomacy should handle them.'

Ϡ

Regis's hands were clasped around the back of his chair so hard he wondered if he'd break it. At this point, he didn't care. It was either that or break Thaler's neck. 'And now you've done it,' the spy's voice penetrated his attempts to stay calm and think this through. 'Where is she, vampire? Did you just dump her body in a drain, or …'

He moved with so much speed the human didn't even have time to gasp. His right hand closed around Thaler's throat and he shoved him hard into the wall behind him, holding him there and watching his face going red. 'I asked you to be quiet before. I will not ask again.' He hardly recognised his voice. He also hardly recognised the wild anger in his chest that wasn't even directed at Thaler as much as himself.

'Let him go, before you do something you regret.'

Regis froze. The mere fact that someone had managed to enter the room without him noticing told a story of its own. Repulsed, again, as much by himself as by the other man's accusation, he released him.

Thaler shot him a look of utter disgust. No fear. Not even a shred. It was something Regis could respect. He decided to focus on that. 'He murdered her. But he'll never admit it. He'll play the innocent, the victim.'

'For all I know, you're somehow involved in whatever's going on here, spy,' Regis answered in a forced calm.

Thaler's eyes narrowed, but before he could shoot something back Ilkar raised his hands. He had entered with Hirad and Will in his wake, perhaps alerted by their fight. 'Stop it, both of you!' He looked from one to the other. 'Seriously? What's even going on?'

'Shani's gone,' Regis answered.

Ilkar frowned. 'Last I looked, she could come and go as she chose.'

Regis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'Through the window?'

Thaler pointed a shaking finger at Regis. 'A window to which a vampire could fly with ease.'

Regis snarled. 'Not me. Not right now.'

'So you say.'

'Shut up!' Hirad roared.

Ilkar's eyes screwed shut at the volume of his friend's voice. 'Ouch. Coldheart, you'll be the death of me.' He folded his arms. 'When did you last see her?'

'A couple of hours ago,' Regis said.

'Did she say that she planned to go somewhere?' The vampire merely shook his head. The ferocity from before had left him, leaving him drained and tired. A part of him wanted to apologise to Thaler, another part wanted to strangle him but couldn't muster the energy.

His eyes went to Will, framed in the door. He must have left at some point. Regis's attention was definitely wanting. The little man was pointing behind him at the stairs. 'No need to fly in order to get up or down from that window. All you need to do is climb. Or a rope, if you're clumsy.'

'Why would anyone take Shani?' Thaler ground out. His hands were closed into fists, loathing clearly readable on his face.

'That's not even a bad question,' Regis said. 'Although I think we all know the answer, don't we?' He shrugged. 'We're stepping on some toes with every question we ask, every little bit of information we have. The Unknown was right. You and Shani should never have been involved in any of this, although with you it could hardly be avoided.'

'Now listen, vampire …'

Before Thaler could finish the sentence, Hirad had rushed past Regis and grabbed the front of the Temerian's clothes. 'No. You listen. Regis didn't touch her. I know that. And you know it, too, if you think about it. Leave him alone.' He let go and raised his arms. 'What are we waiting for? We've got to search the room.' He rounded on Thaler. 'You drum up the rest of the Raven. We need a plan.'