Morningstar Manor

The big doors opened as the sound of Charlie's knock died away and Mary smiled gravely. "Mrs Temminck, Charlie," se greeted. "Mr Vision will see you now. If you would care to go through to the study? You know the way, don't you, Charlie?"

She looked a little dishevelled, probably because, behind another door, they could hear the lusty roars of a child.

Michael was obviously 'upset'.

"Of course," Charlie said. "After you, Mrs Temminck."

A dark shadow was stalking the halls of the Manor. From the corner of your eye it didn't look like anything human - was that at tail? Wings? But once you turned to look it clearly was human - if a rather frightening one.

Ruprecht was making his rounds. To most that meant he was checking things like lights, the elevators, air con, and various other odds and ends that maintenance was responsible for. To those that knew better it meant he was testing the waters. Were the tenants getting to comfortable, to happy? There were a few that were. He could think of one former employee of his in particular that really needed to be put in his place again.

But there were others that were simply interesting. More children about the Manor meant more young innocence to feast on. And that always pleased him. There were also tenants oblivious to the 'other' side of the Manor and those were always fun to mess with.

Yes there was quite a bit going on in the Manor these days.

As was his habit [and it was practical since he kept a supply of tealights in the Mousehole] Charlie had started at the bottom and worked his way up.
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"Thank you Mary," Jon said as his maid put the tray with coffee and brandy on his desk. "No, I can serve myself," he added and admired the sway of her neat behind as she left the room.

It was one of the many perks of being who he was that he always knew when he was going to receive visitors. He knew who and why as well and had already made certain arrangements, but it would amuse him to see how they brought their various concerns up.

When the doorbell rang he smiled, white teeth flashing, and a glance woke the fire to a glow.

Jon didn't often walk the floors, he found the bright chirpiness of the breathers wearying, but today he was making a special effort.

Last night, when the silly partying had died down and the last of the trick or treaters who had braved his door [some mothers would take their children ANYWHERE for free candy] had been sent away laden with sugar and E numbers, he had gone down a level to see to the souls in his care. It had been as much a relief to shrug off the soft human shell and spread his wings and arch his spiked spine as it had been to accept the grovelling adoration of his subjects.

It always amused him to see their cringing desire to be noticed. Did they but know it they were all equals - equally damned, that is - and it struck him that even the damned sometimes needed a day off. No dammit, he grinned, why stop at a day. Let them have a whole week! Ruprecht in particular deserved some time to be himself. He was well aware of the stress his old friend must suffer having to pretend all the time.

So he had opened the ways and now was going from floor to floor, cigar between his teeth, wondering who, or what, would be brave enough to approach him. If anyone - the little humans tended to steer well clear.

There were two sets of 'not quite human' tenants in the garden this morning. The first was Aaron Jones, dressed as always in grey slacks and a crisp business shirt and tie. This morning he sat on a bench in the shade of a few trees and puffed on his cigar. A short ways away from him, in the bright sunlight, lay two massive Irish Wolfhounds apparently sunning themselves.

***

Not far from Aaron was another being. Today Loki had opted for a different spot to perch - instead of in the arms of the Angel statue he was sitting cross-legged on the head/back of the demon statue. In one hand was a cup of coffee from the Mocha and resting on his knees was his old and battered volume of Edgar Allan Poe. Dressed in all black as he was - if it wasn't for the bright red hair burning in the sunlight he might go unnoticed.

***

Demitri sat in the Mocha, trying not to laugh as Joy watched him cautiously. But really he wasn't doing anything - just having coffee and a bagel and looking through the paper. And trying to keep his mind on his classes for the day and not wonder where Kevin was and if he was alright.

***

Across the Mocha - stretched out quite enticingly on a sofa - was Eris. She had on a bikini top and a pair of very short denim cut offs as she had her coffee and flipped through a magazine before heading up to the roof for a swim.

In a mirror by the back door to the ball room, there were two ghosts.

They were there often. It was their mirror. They roamed, but never strayed far.

They were haunting the mirror together now, curled up inside it as only ghosts can, and, to mortal human eyes, doing nothing at all -- not even visible on the outside. But happy as clams.

After Vision's letter had arrived Aaron and Loki had had a 'talk'. In other words Loki sat on the floor scratching behind the ears of the Wolfhounds while Aaron read him the riot act and told him the rules. Loki had nodded in what he figured were the appropriate parts and smirked as Aaron had finally thrown up his hands and said Loki was on his own. If he pissed off Vision Aaron was not going to bail him out. Vision would throw him to Ruprecht.

Well that was fine. Loki and Ruprecht went way back.

After that he'd been introduced to security, smiling pleasantly while that Abrams fellow studied him with those intense blue eyes, signed whatever little forms they'd wanted him to and Aaron had stalked off muttering about keeping his nose clean.

Yeah right.

He'd wandered about for a bit and then grinned and got in the lift. Honestly if it was that big a deal he really ought to go say hi. Only polite after all right? To say hello to your host?

Of course, in hindsight, simply appearing in the man's chair - legs over one arm and head dangling over the other - probably wasn't the best first impression. Next time he'd have to remember to knock.

Dear Mr Jones,

It has come to our attention that you are currently accommodating a house guest. While this is perfectly acceptable within the rules of our tenancy agreement, I would draw your attention to paragraph 3, section 4a, where it clearly states that all such guests should make themselves known to the security staff, registering details and predicted length of stay.

This is for both the guests good and for the protection of our other tenants. Once known to the security staff your guest will be free of the fear of being challenged and summarily ejected. Many of our tenants choose to live in the Manor primarily because our reputation for tight security and do not wish the general public to have access to the building.

Please ensure that your guest [insert name here] complies with our polite request.

Yours faithfully

J Vision
Chmn Tenants' Association

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