Page 1 of Klaus

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Klaus

There were four words which, when strung together in the correct order, could stir even the strongest man to something near fear or at least consternation.

“We need to talk.”

The way Mary spoke those words helped nothing—the strident tone, the no-nonsense manner in which she ordered rather than requested my time. And I’d known her long enough to know there was no question of whether I’d honor her wishes.

I’d witnessed what happened to those like me who chose to ignore her. It wasn’t pretty.

Since she’d already long since passed me by, continuing on her way without waiting to see whether I would follow, I had no choice but to pick up my pace in order to match her.

We walked through the lobby of the resort, which was being boarded up in preparation for being abandoned. The sound of hammers banging nails into place rang through the high-ceilinged space and echoed on and on.

She was waiting for me when I stepped through the door. I wasn’t accustomed to the room being so empty—the wall behind her desk, normally papered with maps into which she’d stuck multiple pushpins, was barren. Her books and papers had been packed into boxes, as had much of the electronic equipment on which she relied.

The high-backed leather chair I associated with her nearly as closely as I did her salt and pepper hair and glasses still sat behind the desk, and she settled into it with a heavy sigh. “It’s been a long few days for us all.”

As though I needed her to remind me. “Long and active,” I agreed. Why didn’t she come straight to the point? She normally did.

“Have you packed your things?”

“What things I own, yes.”

She smiled. “I forget sometimes how monastic you are.”

“I have what I need. I don’t believe in owning more than I can use. One never knows when they’ll be called upon to pick up and go, so where are you sending me?”

When her eyes widened a hair at the way I finished the question, I had to laugh.

“Come on, now. If it weren’t something you felt uncomfortable asking me to do, something you wished you didn’t need to ask, you would already have gotten to the point. It only makes sense that I’d not be coming with you, considering how you checked in with the status of my packing.”

“You’re quite the sleuth. Sometimes, I forget how quickly your mind works.”

I leaned against the wall, beside a bookcase which up until mere days earlier had been stuffed to the point of overflowing. “So? Where are you sending me?”

“Have you ever wanted to visit Scotland?”

I should’ve known. It was the only option which made sense.

The dragons from the Appalachian arm of the clan had already left for home, leaving only their Scottish kin behind for another few days. If I wasn’t going to Montana, where Mary’s home base was located, Scotland was the only other choice.

“Why Scotland? Why with them? Have I fallen short in some way?”

“You know you haven’t, Klaus.”

“Because if it weren’t for your daughter knocking me unconscious…”

She chuckled through the brief flash of pain in her eyes at the mention of Martina. Mary’s somewhat estranged daughter had chosen life as the mate of a dragon and had flown to the Appalachians. It seemed unfair for the two of them to only just find each other, so to speak, before Martina left.

“I don’t hold you responsible for that, and I never have,” she reminded me. “I know how… persuasive Martina can be when she puts her mind to it. If anything, it’s because I trust you more than any other that I feel you’re the right man for the job.”

“What job would that be?”

“Ensuring a feeling of safety once the clan returns home. Perhaps keeping an eye on what happens over there. While we were successful in wiping out the threat here on the islands, there’s no telling who else knows of the group who invaded the caves. There might be more like them over there. And they could’ve gotten word of the destruction of the lab.”

“You’re sending me on my own?”

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