Perilous Flames [clifford a.u]

chapter twenty nine - extinguish

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE - EXTINGUISH

At one in the morning, we were all gathered in Ashton's cold study.

After the incident of the fire and the fire alarm going off, Ashton immediately ordered us into his office, already in a bad mood with what happened to his curtains. He didn't look any better than he did when we left the club, but at least he was able to speak to all us in a civilized tone. Not in a lashing out manner as I expected.

"I don't want to know what happened," Ashton began with a sigh as he sat on the chair behind his desk. Michael and I sat on the two chairs placed in front of the large mahogany desks and Calum was leaning against the wall on the side, unable to keep away the smug smile on his sleepy face. Michael's face, however, was passive, a blank slate that left me worried. He wasn't the same. He had grown back cold, and was avoiding me like the black plague.

He stared at Ashton, eyes detached. He hadn't spoken a word since we sat down. I wasn't even sure if he was listening at all.

"I just wanted to let you both know," Ashton continued, thumbs pressed together. "If you ever feel like making monkey love with each other, do it somewhere where things aren't going to catch on fire." Calum immediately snorted, but at my glare, his hand flew up to cover his mouth.

My face turned red. Like a tomato. Michael as I expected though, looked unfazed. He didn't smile or turn red like I did. He simply shrugged. "Not going to happen again," he finally murmured, his voice still rough.

"Is that why you called us in here?" I asked, hoping that my tone was as angry as I felt. "To comment on things that aren't your business?"

"My curtains are my business, sweetheart," Ashton snapped. Michael's eyes immediately narrowed at him and when Ashton took notice, he let out an exasperated sigh. "And no, that is not why I called you guys in here. It's about much earlier. About what happened at the club."

The room fell silent. So silent that you could hear a pin drop. All three of us sat forward, eager to hear the awaiting news about Crystallos. The news that we all were secretly dreading because we knew it wasn't good.

"As you may have noticed," Ashton began, running a hand through his messy hair. "We left the club empty handed. We didn't fulfill our intended plan. And that's because it wasn't there. I was wrong," he huffed.

"Okay," Calum spoke up, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants. "Then where is it?"

"The bastard," Ashton grumbled, rubbing his face down with the palm of his hand. It was only then did I realize the harsh circles under his eyes and how stressed and frustrated he looked. "didn't have the stupid thing. He said he kept only human antique swords, none that are of our kind. Then he proceeded on trying to kick me out."

"So we're back to square one?" The question was a defeated whisper coming from my mouth.

Ashton shook his head. "Not exactly." Ashton pushed his chair back, opening up one of the desk's drawers. He fumbled with the stash of manila folders inside before finally reaching for one and flinging it onto the desk's top. "It took some time, but I managed to convince him to tell me anything he knew about the sword at least. And luckily, location was one of them."

Ashton scooted up to the desk and flipped the folder open to take out two papers--maps. Both were set in New York, but in two completely different areas. One was in Syracuse while the other was in Albany. The layout of the land in each contrasted from crowded streets to open acres of land but what really drew our interests to it was what was circled in red. Each map had only one word circled inside and that was cemetery.