Never wake a Dragon (on hold)

4. part I - mist

Two weeks. Not a word apart from whispers of what measures the new Guardian had taken to clean the desk after Kellerman. Kyung hadn't sent for him, and he'd seen no reason to pay a visit. It was almost possible to believe that nothing had changed, that nothing had happened, but the whispers ruined the illusion—shattered it in fact.

Nev eyed him suspiciously. "Why do you want to come? You've never asked before."

They were standing at Strömkajen, ready to board one of the ferries that trafficked the archipelago. The wind rested, but a thick mist rose from the water, making the surroundings impossibly dark.

He tried a careless pose. "I'm curious, that's all. You're spending more time with the Nighters than with me, so I thought I could go with you for once. Make sure they're not all idiots."

"You've already decided that they're all idiots. I doubt a meeting will change your mind since you're the stubborn type." Nev crossed his arms and stared out across the water, or rather, the wall of indiscernible darkness. There was no telling where the water met the dense air.

Nev had a point. He was unlikely to change his mind about the Nighters, but poking around was a rather benign start of a job that might eventually prove that he was less sane than he thought. It also was an easy way to buy some time. If Kyung decided that he wanted a report, Adeem would have something to give the bastard—something that wouldn't cost him more than a few strange looks from Nev.

The vampire scraped his boots on the gritted walkway, rolling small pieces of gravel beneath his foot. "I wouldn't take you if they hadn't asked for you. Just so you know."

"Wait. They've asked for me?"

"Yeah, a couple of times. They think you might be an asset or something, but I keep telling them you're just full of shit."

If it hadn't been for the grin stretching across Nev's lips, hinting at the vampire's fangs, he would have seriously reconsidered their friendship.

Standing back, he waited a second before responding, aware that it would make Nev nervous. "And they still want to see me? I think you're lying. Don't think you would dare to talk about me that way, even when I'm not around." He watched as Nev's eyes widened just a fraction.

"I'm not afraid of you." Nev's tone held something brittle, a quiver of uncertainty. The lie was easy to spot, and the words stung worse than any insult could have done.

"You shouldn't be afraid," he said, meaning every bit of it. He'd never hurt Nev, not intentionally. He would rather hurt himself than the only true friend he'd ever had.

Bright lights flashed alive out on the water. The ferry moved in like a monstrous machine toward the dock, barely visible apart from the spots that threatened to blind them. Two men swiftly prepared the landing bridge, rolling out the metal walkway from the bow onto land.

Nev took the lead and boarded, huddling in the damp cold.

"Where to?" one of the men asked when the metal had stopped whining beneath them.

"Själbottna," Nev replied and hurried onward to the ticket desk.

He followed the vampire without a word, tasting the word on his tongue. He'd never heard the name of the island before, and he wondered if the Nighters had chosen the location for the name alone. The bottom of the soul. It was a good fit for the Nighters' headquarters.

Others passed by behind them while Nev struggled to get the ticket to work for both. If he hadn't known the vampire was prone to a bit of skittishness, he would have worried about the way Nev fumbled and looked over his shoulder every ten seconds. As it was, he leaned against the ticket desk and waited for his friend to finish.