A Grain in the Sands of Time - 10. Calm Before the Storm

Andrew sighed with contentment as his head rested against the rhythmic rise and fall of Matt’s chest. “That was pretty incredible,” he said dreamily.

Matt chuckled softly, “It certainly was. I don’t think I have had ever had more sex than in the last week. And I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed sex as much!” He suddenly looked crestfallen, “Do we really have to go back to Las Vegas Andrew? Can’t I just take you away from all of this? We could run away forever.”

Andrew looked up at the ruffled hair of his lover and smiled. “For the past three days since your family has left, we have been holed up on this mountain top fucking like rabbits.” Matt smiled wide. “And as much as I would love to continue this, I have a shift tomorrow night, and I can’t ask Amy to cover for me again, she has a special night planned with all of her girlfriends. They’re going on a pub-crawl. Besides, you know what Amy is like, keeping her away from alcohol for too long is not good for her.”

Matt laughed, “That’s true. Ok, I’ll call Michael to come and pick us up. How long do you need to get ready?”

“Not long babe.” Andrew looked at a goofy smiling Matt. “Why do you have that silly grin on your face?”

Matt frowned instead, “Well I was just thinking about how much I love hearing you call me babe, but if you don’t want to me to melt every time you look at me, then just say the word and I’ll stop falling in love with you.”

That earned Matt a hard poke in the ribs.

“Ow!”

“That’s what you get for being a drama queen. And don’t you ever think of stopping yourself from falling for me,” Andrew said sternly.

Matt smiled as he picked up his cell and texted Michael as he walked toward a large plate of cut fruit that the kitchen staff had brought to them when they didn’t come down for breakfast at their usual time. He picked through the fruit grabbing a beautiful strawberry and threw it hard at Andrew who was watching Matt with a small smile playing on his lips. Without flinching Andrew raised his hand and caught the strawberry before it hit him on the chest. He calmly looked at it and popped it into his mouth savoring the taste.

“Thank you,” he said, satisfied that he outplayed his opponent, and a smug smile looking back at Matt.

“Oh my God, will I ever be able to get one over on you?” Matt complained.

“Oh baby,” Andrew responded with a sarcastic pout directed toward his nemesis. “You can get one all over me tonight when we get back to Vegas.”

Matt laughed and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. He was out maneuvered on this round, and he shook his head in wonder at his lover who consistently surprised him with his keen wit and sharp tongue. He was about to say something, when his phone chimed form a return text from Michael.

“Thirty minutes and we are in the air babe. I’m gonna finish getting ready, can you call downstairs and ask them to have the car pulled around?” He was headed toward the bathroom without waiting for Andrew to answer.

Andrew smiled at his departure, knowing that he would spend the next 20 minutes in front of the mirror. He picked up one of the many phones in Matt’s home and pushed 0, which put him directly in touch with security on the main floor. He did as Matt instructed and then turned and looked out of the large window that overlooked the sweeping distant gardens.

“Did you get to see them?”

Startled Andrew turned in his seat and stared up at one of the woman he met days ago at the family dinner. Her hair was almost as long as she was tall, floating only a few inches from the ground. She had it braided in one long strand and draped it over her shoulder so that it bounced forward when she walked toward him silently. He moved to get up and greet her, but she held up a hand and stopped him, so he settled back down as she took the chair opposite of him and curled her tattooed legs and feet under her body. She was enjoying a slice of melon from the fruit tray, and she looked at him intently. The tattoos that covered her body, including her face now, seemed to move with her, it was like they were alive. Andrew nearly swooned from the effect.

“I’m sorry did I get to see whom?” Andrew felt like he was in a dream.

“The horses dear, did you get to see them during your stay? Fragile, yet in possession of a great strength wouldn’t you say?”

Andrew was confused, he wasn’t sure that she was talking about the horses anymore. Overwhelmed by the power that radiated form the being in front of him. He wanted to get up again, or to call for Matt. He felt too exposed in front of her, despite her casual attitude toward him. She watched him closely with a small smile on her lips.

“I’m sorry I can’t remember your name right now,” he felt on the verge of passing out, when suddenly his vision and mind cleared and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Moon.” Matt’s voice was reassuring and Andrew reached up to hold the hand still pressed against his shoulder. She took noticed of this, but if it pleased her or offended, you could not tell from her expression. Andrew wasn’t sure if Matt said her name in answer to his confusion, or as a question of her motives. He was not pleased, and this was clear in the inflection of his voice.

“Fool, my brother,” she stood and formally bowed to Matt

“To what do we own the pleasure?” Matt pressed her.

She took notice of Matt not returning her greeting in kind, an indication of his displeasure and suspicion of her motives. “I simply wanted to let Andrew know how pleased I was that I was able to meet him the other day at dinner, and to thank him for offering my older brother something that no other could ever offer, his love.” Although Andrew’s vision had now cleared and it no longer felt as if he were walking through a dream, he still wasn’t clear of her purpose. Her words did little to reassure him that something wasn’t going on here that wasn’t on the table in front of him.

It didn’t take Andrew long to find his own voice, “It seems as if you have something else to say Moon. What’s on your mind?”

The directness of Andrew’s question of the powerful woman took both her and her brother off guard. Matt glanced down and gave Andrew’s shoulder a small squeeze telling him of his presence and support.

Again Moon took her time and noticed the body language between the two men. This time, however, she showed her teeth in a smile and nodded slightly toward the younger, in acknowledgement. He had a strength that was previously hinted at, but not seen so directly. She could respect that.

She addressed him directly. “Tis true young man that my attempt at meaningless conversation was thinly veiled. I am here to offer a warning.”

Andrew felt Matt’s grip tighten even more, and the strain in his voice alone would have warned off a spitting cobra. “Do not threaten those I love Moon, the consequences would be dire.”

“Fear not Fool,” she said gently while maintaining eye contact with Andrew, “I am no threat to your love.” She shifted her gaze and a powerful edge entered her voice as she addressed her brother. “I am here simply to remind you that the world spins whether you take notice or not.” She stood and extended her hand to Andrew who stood and accepted her hand.

Andrew jumped a little as she winked out of existence and he felt himself release the breath he was holding in his lungs.

“What the hell was that about?” Andrew turned and looked with trepidation at Matt.

Matt didn’t answer immediately. He searched his mind for the meaning to her words. Slowly he looked at Andrew. “We should go, Michael will be ready to go soon.

He turned to leave, but Andrew grabbed his hand and forced Matt to face him. “What did that mean Matt? What was she trying to tell you? This seems like it is about me, given her choice to speak with me when you were not in the room. And what did she do to me, I felt like I was dreaming or seeing the world through a fog.”

“I am not sure what she meant, although I suspect she was telling me… no, she was telling us,” Matt made eye contact with Andrew to tell him they were in this together. “that things do not stop happening if I do not notice. She was telling me that things continue, and I think she was telling me that the Arcana continue to scheme, even if I am not watching.” He looked off as he continued to pull together pieces of information from the past few days, “First the uncalled for meeting, or was it uncalled for? Was there something they needed to discuss, but did not tell me? If that were the case then why did they call the meeting here? Because they wanted to meet you.” He again made eye contact with Andrew. “No, because they needed to see who you were… to judge who you were.” Matt continued with more confidence in what he was saying. “This was orchestrated because they have plans that have not been shared with me.”

“How can that be, I thought you were the oldest, and the strongest? How could you not know what was happening?”

“It’s a good question, but I think it is less about them not telling me, and more about me not paying attention. The clues were there, I just failed to see them.”

“Because of me…” Andrew looked at him with dread. “What have I done? Have I put you in danger?” He was genuinely concerned now, and his words were full of fear for the person he loved.

Matt smile to help reassure him, “No Andrew, I can handle myself please don’t worry. But I do need to get to the bottom of this, and I want to make sure that you are safe while I am doing that.” He looked at Andrew apologetically.

“Oh God, I don’t like the look on your face Matt, what do I have to do?”

“You have to break your commitment to Amy and not work for the next few days.”

“What? Matt she’ll kill me, she has already covered for me more than once. I can’t do that to her, especially tonight.”

Matt considered the situation. “One shift, so she can go and hang with her drunk friends for the evening, but after that we are taking you somewhere safe until I figure out what is going on. Agreed?”

Andrew looked at him in a defiant way, but then looked down and nodded slowly.

“Ok, pack your stuff up, Michael is here.” He glanced toward the window and Andrew followed his lead to see the chopper beginning its decent to pick them up.

Andrew’s mind never stopped calculating his circumstances. He was in danger, there was no doubt about it from Matt’s reaction, and Andrew wasn’t the type of person to allow himself to be vulnerable and lie down and wait for something to happen. He was no stranger to the undercurrents of politics, given his father’s lifelong job as an ambassador in the UN, and he had seen enough in his young years to know that a game was happening on a larger scale, and he may simply be a pawn in process. The question was what piece was Matt, and how much of the board did he see? He was in danger too, and if Andrew was to be of help to his currently omnipotent lover, he needed to know more about what and who he was up against. He looked to his right and watched Matt lost in his own thoughts as they headed out to meet the chopper, which was whirring patiently as they approached.

Jacks stood ten paces outside of the radius of the blades, seemingly unbothered by their wash as her hair blew frantically around her face. She had a beaming smile, but Andrew suspected it was for his benefit. There was something he needed to ask her.

“Thank you Jacks, for making Andrew feel so at home over the past week.” Matt said to her. “I need you to stay here for the next few days if that is alright. I have some research that I would like you to do for me. I’ll be in touch within a couple hours of getting to Las Vegas.”

“No worries boss,” she said. He kissed both of her cheeks.

“Can you give me a minute to say goodbye Matt?” Andrew asked. Matt looked at Andrew curiously, but to his credit he said nothing, gave a brief glance to Jacks, nodded to them both in acknowledgement, and went to pack their bags in the back of the chopper with Michael.

Andrew turned to Jacks and smiled, “Thank you.”

“Just doing my job, Andrew,” Jacks dismissed his thanks in a modest way.

“I suspect not,” Andrew stated firmly, catching Jacks off guard.

“I’m sorry,” she asked confused as to where he was going.

“I suspect that it was not just your job to look after me while I was here Jacks. I suspect that you did all that you did for me, because of how much you care for Matt, and by extension this shows me how far you came to accepting me. You’re like a mother to him,” he saw her blush slightly as if being caught, “and you welcomed me here, the one place he cares about the most.”

She bowed her head slightly, in a very dignified way, acknowledging his compliment, and confirming a suspicion.

“I wonder if you could grant me the answer to a question,” he chose his words carefully.

She paused and considered his request, looking at him intently. Andrew knew full well that she knew exactly what he was asking of her. He wasn’t asking for the answer to a question, he was asking if she was prepared to tell him the truth to whatever he would ask.

“Yes,” she said maintaining his eye contact. This surprised Andrew somewhat as he thought she would be more hesitant, but she was smart and he suspected that she knew he would not hurt Matt in any way.

“How old are you?” Her slight hesitation told him his intuition was correct.

She recovered from the shock of his question quickly. “While I am not accustomed to being asked for my age Andrew, I will acknowledge that I have lived over four hundred years, and during this time I have served as your lovers assistant.” The formality of her speech confirmed the truth to her answer. “When did you realize this?”

“The day we met.” Again her surprise was well hidden, but Andrew could see that she was slightly taken aback by his revelation.

Jacks reached into the pocket of her exquisitely tailored suit and produced a single white card with a phone number on it. “Just in case you ever need me,” she said solemnly in silent acknowledgement of the danger that he was in.

“I thank you,” he said formally, and bowed at the waist. It felt an odd way to pay tribute to her offer, but the mist in her eyes at his gesture told him it was the right way to acknowledge her. Whoever she was, he suspected she was at one time used to those around her bowing in her presence.

He took his leave of her and climbed into the seat of the chopper beside Matt. The blades instantly gained speed as Michael went into business mode and began communicating into his headset. As Michael’s voice did not come through the headset Andrew had donned when he settled himself beside Matt, he knew they had a private channel to communicate.

“What is she?” he asked Matt seriously.

Matt looked at him and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I do know that you can trust her with your life.”

Andrew recognized this for what it was. Matt had just told him that if anything happened to him, that he could trust her.

“I know,” he answered.

“Yes you do.” It was a statement of fact, not a hint of patronizing his lover, rather it was telling Andrew that Matt recognized that he was aware of more that was happening here than he had given Andrew credit for.

It was what Andrew needed from Matt. If he was going to be of help, he needed Matt to recognize him as an equal, not an easy thing, given whom he was. His lover had lived over twelve centuries, and Andrew could not imagine what that would be like, but he also couldn’t imagine being in a relationship with someone that didn’t trust him on every level. Not only had he solidified an ally in Jacks, but he also established himself with Matt. Now it was time to get some answers.