All Is Bright - K. Sterling

Chapter 1

“This better be important,” Denver grumbled and scrubbed his face before pulling his hair into a ponytail. “You know how much I need my beauty sleep,” he said then offered Toly and Wilder a wave when they appeared on the screen. They were bleary-eyed on their sofa, across the street, and Denver was in an armchair by the fire in a t-shirt and flannel pajama pants.

“Not important enough to warrant a dress code,” Lavender scolded but Denver made a pffft! sound.

“You couldn’t pay me enough to put on something like that in the middle of the night for no fucking reason. Not that I’m getting paid. I don’t know why I’m even in on this call,” he replied. Lavender made a thoughtful sound as he checked his watch.

“Blink says someone tried to assassinate him while he was taking a bath tonight. He should be here any moment now...”

“That doesn’t explain why we’re here,” Wilder said and Toly nodded along but he was busy hunting and squinting through the lenses of his glasses.

“Couldn’t we just get a memo in the morning?” Paul asked as he trudged into the living room.

“Where’s Reginald?” Lavender asked and his neck stretched toward the hall and the guest room. Another window appeared on the screen and Cyril glared back at them from his study at Blackhurst.

“Thank you for joining us, Lord Marston,” Cyril said dryly when Reginald hurried in.

“Right here,” he said with a harassed wave. There was none of his usual effervescence or mirth as Reginald hugged one of his laptops against his chest and dropped onto the sofa. “Sorry, I’m a newlywed,” Reginald added.

“At least he didn’t order you to attend in-person,” Casper said from somewhere behind Cyril.

“We’ll get to that shortly,” Cyril said as he paced. “You’ve all been briefed on the earlier events. Have any of you found anything that might shed some light on who’s targeting us?” He growled at them. Lavender’s head cocked and he gave Cyril a stern look.

“We’ve shared the little we’ve learned. We agreed we’d share whatever we found,” he reminded him pointedly and there was a terrifying wildness to Cyril’s eyes as they swept across the screen.

“That was an impossible shot!” Cyril accused as he pointed at them. “I don’t know of many people who could have made it.”

“Is that why you assembled us? To make sure we were accounted for?” Denver asked and clearly shared Lavender’s amusement at Cyril’s horror. Cyril hated the idea that there was someone dangerous out there who wasn’t on his payroll.

“Excuse me,” Reginald said as he pointed at his camera. “Could you ask him to come in,” he said and Lavender noticed Professor Elliot. He was peeking into the study and Cyril was startled and furious as he spun.

“You weren’t to be disturbed,” he said tightly and Elliot nodded as he edged into the study and waved at the screen.

“I wasn’t until I tried to go to my room and change,” he replied sheepishly. “I mean, I was obviously disturbed when that bullet almost killed me but I was fine until your pet robots tried to keep me prisoner,”

“Hold on...” Lavender felt a tickle of a glee. Cyril was obviously smitten with his art expert, judging by the nonverbal battle happening in his study. How delicious... “Didn’t you say someone tried to kill you in your bathtub, Cyril?” Lavender asked and it was one of those moments of karmic ascension. He finally had proof that Cyril Blink was human and just as weak as the rest of them.

“Watch yourself,” Cyril growled and Lavender hummed happily as he studied Professor Elliot. He was delicious as well. He reminded Lavender of Sage, actually... He glanced at Sage and hoped Cyril wouldn’t keep them too much longer.

“What was that you said about my husband?” Lavender asked then looked to Reginald. He had been snooping about that evening at Blackhurst and had overheard their conversation. Reginald smirked like a shit from the sofa.

“I believe it was something about him being a pretty fucktoy, if I recall correctly,” he murmured.

“He did indeed call him a ‘pretty fucktoy,’” Toly confirmed as he searched for something through the lenses of his glasses. Elliot laughed sarcastically at them and Lavender’s brow cocked. Hot under the collar. Delicious, indeed.

“First of all, kiss my pretty ass. I do my best to make sure he has as little fun as possible,” he replied as he sat on the arm of the sofa. Cyril was livid and Lavender was ecstatic. Oh, well