Gertie hated the way the Guardian spoke to her, with his wide body and
dark hair greying at the temples and his piercing grey eyes. Wait…why was she
looking at his eyes? She shook off the thought and resumed her hatred of how
beneath him he made her feel. She did her job and did it very well over the
centuries as far as she was concerned. She took care of the vessel her Mistress
was in every time it magically showed up at her door and always made sure it
found its way back to where it belonged, alive and in living colour.
She felt a strong surge of
courage and her back straightened in her chair as she opened her mouth to
speak. “Guardian…I have long taken care of that which is my assigned duty. I
feel her when she is released and in this case I only felt but a shadow of her.
Something was wrong with the transition and I only came to help her cross back
over into this world.” Her eyes travelled around the table and fell once again
on Cyrus who quickly averted his eyes from her direction to stare anywhere else,
the cupboards, the sink, and those stupid potholders over the stove. Anywhere that
was away from her eyes.
Snapping fingers appeared in
Gerties view which made her less than happy but she continued. “I followed my
Mistresses’ trace of an aura to this house and I must say it was quite the
journey.” As she recalled the events in her head that led her here she
remembered that she had been trying to go upstairs but was interrupted by the
boy. She held on to the thought that as soon as this was over she was going to
find the Beast residing above her at this very moment no matter what any of
them wanted her to do and with that mission in mind she sat back in her chair
and shut her mouth.
As Dominic spoke she tuned
everything he was saying out of her head because frankly she didn’t want to
hear any of it anyway. She never understood why they felt like they the
Guardians were more necessary in the grand scheme of things, especially since
the activities they were a part of in order to keep the money flowing was very
far from her natural and quiet way of life. The only other difference between
them was that they were stronger and more powerful, tasked with doing everything
within their means to not control the spirit within but merely keep tabs on her
and attempt to circumvent her destructive ways, as in doing some damage
control. As far as Gertie was concerned
her Mistress could destroy everything in her path and it was acceptable. Her
time was almost up and she had lived for centuries in a lonely void with just
her and Jack…well Jack the15th, maybe 16th? She couldn’t remember
anymore as the years rolled by.
Her eyes and ears suddenly came back to what was going on in the room.
The Guardian was just looking at her, waiting for more of an explanation. Apparently
he had asked her a question. She thought he might have, for a moment she
wondered why they were just staring at her until Dom so clearly agitated opened
his mouth and asked the question she never would have thought to hear from his
mouth let anyone else’s.
“Caretaker, we have an unusual situation here.” He took a deep breath
and settled himself back into his chair aware that the old woman was now paying
attention. “We are trying to tell Skye here exactly what we are to her. As you
can see the situation is somewhat different from what we are all used to and
yes that includes you.” Immediately she turned to Cyrus. “Yes,” she crooned and
Cyrus winced at the intense attention. Dom rolled his eyes and snapped his
fingers in front of her again. “Look Caretaker, there are children involved
here…Skye’s children with…Deacon.” Gertie recoiled and stared at Skye with hard
eyes.
At the mention of Deacon’s
name Skye focused hard on Gertie. Had she known him? How well? The Caretaker
stood up suddenly and Chase stepped forward but didn’t try to touch her. Gertie
paced back and forth in front of the sliding glass door mumbling to under her
breath, hands moving constantly like she was calculating something. Maury
started to fidget himself getting antsy he moved closer to Chase who looked at
his friend and partner and then shot his eyes to the ceiling. Maury stilled with
his head tilted towards the ceiling, listening and gave him short nod back.
Skye caught the exchange as she looked over her shoulder and had the impression
something else was going on as Maury slipped out of the kitchen but was too
tired and still hungover to care at the moment. As he passed the cage in the
hall, the bird squawked again.
As Skye watched him head for
the front of the house to the stairs where Maury was going Chase stepped into
her view and blocked her line of sight with his crotch in her face. When she
looked up at him annoyed he just looked at her with eyes so blue and powerful
that she turned back into her seat and with more and more frustration boiling
inside her. With every step Gertie took, she felt herself shaking…unraveling.
The sudden shift in her mood made two of the three men left in the room
cautious.
Dom cleared his throat and
caught Gerties attention wanting to move this along. “How do children change
the game Caretaker? What happens to them on the reset?” His words slapped Skye
in the face and Dom cringed at the choice of words he had used but they were
flying blind and as much as he loves Skye this was too important to pussy foot
around.
Just then a thought struck
him. “Skye…did you find the Journal? The leather bound book that Deacon had?”
The anger was boiling up around like a rough sea calmed for a moment as her
confusion deepened and the lack of answers she was getting was driving her mad
he had given her a focus. Her voice steady she replied “No…I’ve been a little
busy this morning Dom.”
“I know Skye it’s just very—“ The calm sea turned stormy.
“I know Dom! It’s very important!” she screamed as she stood suddenly kicking the
chair out from behind her into Chases shins and lost it. Waving frantically at
the people in the room she continued to freak out. “Everything to you people
seems to be but not as fucking important as telling me what I am and apparently
how long I’m going to be me!”
Cyrus paled and took a ragged breath as he stepped away from her until
Chase stopped him from moving any further and parked his butt in a chair. As
she realized what she had said, she reached for her son to hold him…and passed
out.
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