Crimson Shadows - 13. Chapter 13

Setting up the cellar was rather easy since the middle of the room was only taken up by a table while the walls were covered in bottle racks. Everything was clean to the point of obsession but then again with the way the rest of the house, it hadn’t really surprised Kyender or Markus. A thermometer sat in the middle of the table, a power cord leading to it to keep it going; the camera sitting on a small table pointing out into the main area of the room, covering as much as it could with its placement.

Markus was under the table, fussing with the surge protector when Kyender suddenly cursed, having been taping the thermometer down so that it couldn’t move without a little oomph behind it. Looking up from where he was, the red head tossed a paper ball at the green head with a frown.

“What’s up? Why are you cussing up a storm over there?” he asked, getting a low powered glare from his friend.

“Sorry. Just a bit distracted,” Kyender finally sighed, rubbing his hand where a pink spot was. “I got some tape on my hand and it decided to cling to my skin.”

“You’ve been rather distracted,” Markus observed, crawling out from under the low table before standing up and brushing his knees off. “What is up with you and Marana huh? I know you two dated but I thought you guys were able to break it off without any real animosity,” he said, waving the end of the cameras power cord at the other man. Kyender moaned quietly and shook his head with a soft snort.

“Oh, only if. When I did break it off with her, I thought she was all good with it considering she did agree that we just didn’t work together,” the younger of the two replied, working on getting his own piece of tech up and running. “But now’a days she keeps wanting to hook up and get together, to become fuck buddies as she put it. And she very well knows that I’m not interested in something casual.”

“You want something like what me and Lien have right?” Markus asked, flipping on the camera before picking up his walkie talkie. “Is it coming in?” he asked after pressing the button.

A bit of static came over the line before Kyles voice said “You’re all good. Get your face out of my view though. We need to tweak and I don’t want to see your pores.”

“Bite me,” Markus huffed before standing up straight and standing near the camera again.

“Yeah, I do,” Kyender got in after the quick conversation between the two men. Smiling and sending a flipped up middle finger at the camera, they got a laugh from the two other men along with a ‘turn it to the left a touch’. Fixing the camera with a single finger, the two nodded and headed back up the stairs after killing the lights in the cellar, getting an ‘all good’ from Richard. “I actually keep wanting to ask Kyle out but he’s either tired, busy or doing something that takes up his thoughts. It’s kinda frustrating really,” the man sighed, shoving a hand through his hair.

Markus reached out and patted his shoulder in sympathy with a slight smile on his lips. “Catch him as he enjoys his coffee in the morning, before he starts cooking his breakfast. He’s usually up about six in the morning or so and doesn’t start cooking until after you guys leave. Knock on his bedroom door softly. If he doesn’t want to talk with anyone, he won’t let you in otherwise he’ll open the door. He really doesn’t talk very well in the morning,” he suggested, getting a smile and a nod from the younger of the two.

“How many people have you been with in your life time?” Kyender asked curiously as they opened a new case of cameras and wires, untangling them all easily and laying them out on the counter. “And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Beyond Lien, about 4 others. Two girls and two guys,” Markus replied, moving a few things around and covering others with cloth to keep the glare down. “So what about you? You’re what, 23 right?” he asked, fixing the cloth around the toaster, making sure it wouldn’t come off without someone taking it off on purpose.

“Yeah. I used to dabble back in high school, but I did date about 3 girls and 4 guys before I graduated. And then in the last two years, I dated Marana and then that psycho for about 2 months,” was the answer as Kyender worked on covering the refrigerator without hindering them from being opened easily, having finished off his work with the wires.

“I remember her. She stalked you to the house and then tried to break in. Kyle took a bat to her, or tried to,” Markus snorted, moving over to help the other man with the large appliance. Finally getting it covered, the two stood straight once more, rubbing their backs with huffs and smiles. “So Marana is going stalker on you huh? You do realize you’re gonna have to tell Kyle about this so he can file the proper paper work right?” he asked, getting a nod and a thinning of lips.

Sighing, Kyender ruffled his hair as he walked back over to the camera cases, pulling out a small camera and its stand moving to one corner near a plug. “Yeah, I know. I have the paper work and I’m just adding more and more each time she comes around. I’m waiting to actually end up filling the reason for the complaint part. This should put me over.” His voice was bitter as he set the camera up, Markus coming over with the surge protector and power lines.

“So this isn’t the second time she’s done this?” he asked, voice disgusted at the thought of their fellow hunter being so desperate to become a stalker.

“Yeah. She’s done it actually 7 times in the last three months. The first time was post hunt, after that one where I was shoved and held into a wall for nearly 5 minutes. She crawled into my bed, asking if I wanted to have a little fun. Since I was hurting, I shoved her out of my bed, told her to get lost and went back to my drug haze,” Kyender snorted, a smirk dancing over his lips as he set things up. Markus laughed loudly, holding onto the counter as he tried not to fall over at that.

“Was that the thump that I heard? Your room is like right over my study and I heard it but I figured you were removing those boots you call shoes or had just dropped one of your books,” he got out between huffs of laughter as the other man finished the set up.

“Hey, Richard, kitchen is set up. How’s the angle?” he asked over the walkie talkies. Releasing it, he frowned as Maranas voice followed right after.

“Bedroom one and two are done. Can you tell us how those angles are please, Kyle?” she asked, sounding rather pissed off, the sound of a cursing Orian in the background.

“Markus, stop laughing and twitch the camera to the right would you?” Richard asked, watching the screen as the other man did that before stepping back. Checking the look, he nodded his head and brought the walkie talkie to his mouth again. “You’re good. Marana, calm the fuck down. I can see you glaring at Orian there and you need to just calm down,” he snarled, looking at the monitor with the two of them.

Sighing softly and shaking his head, Kyle muttered about getting a new person to fill her spot after the job was done if he had to. He wasn’t going to put up with her picking fights with everyone and their mother. “Move the camera to the left and up a little, Orian.” Watching the camera move before the hand pulled away from the screen, he nodded and pressed the button again. “You’re all good you two. Go finish setting up the other cameras would you?”

Sighing and sitting back, Kyle shook his head with a frown and looked to his friend with a raised eyebrow. “She needs to be replaced after this job,” he stated, getting a nod from the other man.

“Yeah. Do you have applications of people with occult experience and knowledge?” he asked, getting a nod as the slimmer male stood up and went to grab his back pack. Sitting down, he pulled out two ‘pads and turned them on before putting a slim chip case down next to them. Pulling out two chips, he popped them both in and opened a window, showing Richard what was on them.

“Oh yes, about a few dozen applications, with resumes, information on their specialties and even a list of papers that they’ve written and published,” Kyle said, shaking his head with a smirk. “So yeah, I’d say that I have applications of people with occult experience and knowledge.”

“Damn, do I see,” Richard snorted, finding the applications separated into General and Specialist which were then separated down into various subgroups. “So, would you want someone who is specializing or would you want someone closer to Marana and what she knows?” he asked looking at Kyle, eyebrows shooting up when the man handed over another chip. “Do you have files of applications for everyone?” Kyle shook his head, closing the files on the ‘pads and tucked the data chips back into the case once more.

“No. Just for Marana. Kyender did tell me that he was creating a formal complaint against her and I had decided that now was a good time to weed out the applications for her position,” Kyle replied before picking up his walkie talkie again. “Marana, that position sucks. Move it to the corner window across from where you have it. I know there’s a wall socket that you can use.” Releasing the button on the side, he snickered as Maranas face came into view before the video cut off. It wasn’t long before it came back on, a view of cleavage before the lens, making the two men groan softly and shake their heads.

“I don’t want to see your boobs, Mara, they’re not my current girlfriends. Wear higher shirts,” Richard snarled into his own walkie talkie, the view of cleavage quickly moving out of the camera lens view. Shaking his head, the taller male rocked back and forth a few times on the legs of his chair as he thought. “So, how soon do we want to start the interviewing process?”

“After we finish collecting evidence here. You’ll talk with your twin right? I’m sure that Markus is going to talk with Kyender about ditching me when I needed him,” the man huffed.

“Yeah, I’m going to talk to him, no worries. And hasn’t Kyender been pulling double shifts at his work since one of his co-workers is a new mommy?” Richard asked, testing the camera commands for the ones that were already set up.

“Is he?” The surprise in Kyles voice made Richard pause and look over at him in surprise.

“You didn’t know?” Richard returned, getting a head shake from the blond man. “Well, I suppose I’m not surprised that you didn’t notice. You have been distracted lately with most of us disappearing on you at some of the most inopportune times.”

“Yeah. I still should have seen it or at least figured out that he was pulling doubles,” Kyle sighed as he watched the cameras and various recorders go up on the screens before them. “I suppose I should apologize to him later on when we’re off, yes?”

“Yes,” Richard agreed, nodding to the cameras. “For now, let’s work on the other things that are calling for our attention,” he teased, getting a soft snorting like laugh from his companion.

“Yes, yes. Uncle, move the camera to the left would you?” he asked, putting the little black box aside for the moment, continuing to set up the main base area.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eyes alight, he looked to the Blood and nearly bounced next to it, knowing that he had heard the conversations along with him, had felt the anger flowing from all of the idiots that had come around. The anger was as addicting as he remembered it to be; feeling the rush of it flowing over them and making him relive all of the times he had felt it before in his body, licking his lips in pleasure.

It looked as if they had found the foolish creatures weakness and once they were thrown off a bit of what they were sniffing around, they would enjoy being able to tear the group apart, making them hate and despise before they finally lost what they cherished the most. Their pain would be so sweet to taste, so lovely to feel sweeping over him once more. Soon, oh yes, very soon would he finally be able to take his revenge.

Though his master did often warn him not to let the hate he felt for them overpower his senses, over power his ability to think clearly. They couldn’t afford to let the creatures get free just because he couldn’t keep his thoughts straight when it came to them.

Biting his bottom lip, he lent against the Blood, the being allowing the touches, something that always surprised him but something that he would never question. The Blood could always deny him the ability to touch and be touched after all. That wasn’t a very good prospect either way.

Licking his lips again, he purred as they moved to listen in on the other two that were working on the odd contraptions. The one in heat was bitching and complaining under her breath about men that teased and promised but never went through, making him think she was probably a male in a females body. He had only ever heard a male complain like she was.

Biting his bottom lip around laughter as the little bastard told her off finally, throwing a ball of something at her head. He could enjoy them, work them over and get them off his trail until he wanted them to find out.

Tonight, the Blood would let his leash loosen a bit, let the ghosts try and scare the creatures away. Then tomorrow, they would work on destroying them over the next two days, getting his longed for revenge that would taste beyond oh so sweet.