They'd left then, going back to town to their hotel to rest, Lewis had gone into his anchor for a while to speed his recovery. (Something that always unnerved Arthur abit.) And Vivi, Mystery, and Arthur had eaten dinner, and gone to bed.
The next morning everything seemed like it was back to normal. Lewis was hovering near the dresser, cuddling with his Deadbeats. He was in his human form, hair covering his eyes. Arthur had hurried over, startling them, but Lewis had recovered quickly, and drew him into a hug.
Vivi had fell out of bed an hour later, moaning like she was about to die, and demanded coffee.
Arthur had reluctantly crawled down out of Lewis's lap, and gone to call for take out, which he'd then gone to pick up, Lewis wanting to stay with Vivi.
It was fair. He'd spent an hour cuddling with Arthur, it was only right that Vivi got her cuddle time as well. (And frankly before she'd had at least two cups of coffee, cuddling was about the only thing she was capable of.)
After Arthur returned, and Vivi had inhaled her breakfast, and liquid energy supplement. Arthur had drug Mystery out of bed with the promise of bacon, and sausages. The dog had dove face first into his meal.
Arthur for his part nibbled at a piece of toast, claiming that he still felt full from dinner. Nobody believed him, but they resolved to pin him down at lunch.
The return to the mansion was dull, other than the smudge marks on the wall and broken windows, the only exciting thing to happen was Arthur tripping and tumbling down the stairs. Lewis had darted down after him, catching him midway.
Lewis had taken Arthur back to the van and patched him up while Vivi called the client to give them the all clear. They'd arrived shortly after and paid them, and the gang was finally able to leave for Tempo.
Two weeks had passed since then. And Arthur was currently seated in the back of the church, waiting for the afternoon sermon to end.
Religion was a sore topic for him. Not because he didn't believe, ( he literally lived with a Wraith and a fox demon after all. Spirits were definitely real. No doubt. There were probably gods too. (It would be just his luck)
No the sore spot was that the religious people he had the most contact with, where crazy cultists.
Cultists who wanted to make him a blood sacrifice, or use him as a vessel to resurrect their god.
Like those crazies Vivi had stolen the book from...
Arthur shuddered, and pulled himself from his dark thoughts. He forced all the terrifying memories down and focused completely on what Father Chorale was saying...
The service finally ended, and the parishioners filed out, several greeting Arthur warmly.
Lance Kingsmen might have been a grumpy old dwarf, but he was well respected in Tempo. And everyone had been very supportive when he'd taken Arthur in. The fact that Arthur was over all, a good, helpful, well mannered, young man, had gone a long way to endear the boy in the townsfolk’s eyes as well.
He waved goodbye, smiling, and then got up and wandered down the aisle to where Father Chorale was seeing out the last of his congregation. He waited patiently for the elderly man to finish, smiling as the clergyman made a joke, and then closed the doors.
“Well now, young mister Kingsmen, what a pleasant surprise to see you here today!” he smiled, his dark eyes shining merrily. “You’re the only one who actually comes in and listens. Usually Lewis and Vivi wait outside."
Arthur shrugged, “it's hot outside. Besides, the stories are kinda fun to listen to, even if I don't always understand em.”
Chorale chuckled, “Well if you ever have questions, you know where to find me… Now, I suppose you're here to ask if I've heard about any supernatural problems, hmm?”
Arthur’s smile became strained, “Yup. Vivi's starting to get restless. And it's never good for anybody when she's bored…”
“That bad huhn?” Chorale asked sympathetically.
“She told us that she's always wanted to go skydiving. So Lewis has been working all morning to convince her nor to jump off the apartment roof with a bedsheet.” Arthur deadpanned.
“ Good heavens!!” the old priest exclaimed in shock. He hurriedly took out a memo pad, and started going over recent complaints from the parishioners with Arthur.
Arthur started down silently at the address Father Chorale had given him. He'd just finished writing a text to Vivi about it. It was for a vacant building up state which was purportedly haunted by violent ghosts, who driven the last owners out.
Arthur shivered. Violent ghosts where his least favorite thing next to-
A van came screeching around the corner and squealed to a halt beside him, the door flew open, and two robed figures lunged out, grabbing ahold of the young man roughly and dragging him back inside kicking and screaming.
-next to crazy cultists!!
Arthur whimpered as he was gagged, and forced down onto his stomach on the floor, the larger heavier men holding him down.
And patted him down roughly for weapons.
The leader calmly typed out a ransom letter, and sent it along. Then turned to look down at their captive.
“Well now, my tender little lamb. Your friend’s transgression aside. I do believe we had unfinished business hm?”
Arthur whimpered again, squirming desperately. Amber eyes wide, he glanced around, but saw no way to get out.
Mystery sighed and flopped over sideways, honestly, he loved Vivian, but that girl was such a handful sometimes! Thank goodness Lewis had managed to distract her with making sweets.
Suddenly Jasmine Thompson’s cover of “You Are My Sunshine” started playing from the direction of the couch, where Vivi's cellphone lay.
Mystery's ears perked up at the familiar ringtone. Arthur must have found something out at the church. Thank goodness!
