Accession of the Stone Born: The Vigiles Urbani Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page A

and took a drink. “Thank you, but I’m not so sure good would describe me. I’ve made plenty of mistakes…that’s why I live alone.”
    The last bit was tinged with enough grief and remorse that it made my heart ache. “To the two of us together, then.”
    Andrew nodded. “To the two of us.”
    Taking another drink, I looked around the room and wondered how he maintained it. “How are you able to keep this place so clean? If I lived here it’d be dusty as hell and cluttered with shit from floor to ceiling.”
    Andrew actually hooted. “Says the man that can hold everything he owns in a single bag.” I winced but he kept on. “But I don’t keep up with it all. I have a nice lady, Heather, who works three days a week downstairs and cleans up here the other two.” Andrew took a sip of scotch and his good nature vanished. “Do you recall the house rules?”
    Indeed. It had been the one and only rule my father and Andrew had ever imposed on me. Everything past my uncle’s bedroom was off limits. I could’ve run through the precious books downstairs with a fucking flamethrower and they wouldn’t have cared, but if I took one step into the hall leading east they’d flip their shit. “I do. I’ve always wondered why.”
    Andrew only sipped his scotch. “Tell you what…if you stick around long enough I’ll give you a personal tour of the entire floor.”
    Now that was tempting. I was always curious about my uncle and his very strange home. Andrew’s bedroom was next to the living room, ensuring that no one could ever use trying to find him as an excuse to wander around unattended. What had struck me the most was the fact that given I had a propensity for ignoring rules all my life, I’d never once even dreamt of breaking this one.
    “You may regret making that deal,” I said.
    Andrew chuckled. “Why do you say that?”
    “I might be tempted to stay here indefinitely just to find out what’s down there.”
    Andrew smiled. “Finish your scotch, get some sleep, and we can discuss it more tomorrow.”
    I held my glass out to Andrew before downing the rest of it. Standing, I gave him a quick bow and smiled. “Thank you again for taking me in tonight.”
    Andrew nodded and finished his drink. “Sleep well. See you in the morning.”
    I padded off to my suite and collapsed on the bed without getting out of my clothes, and for the first time in twenty years I didn’t have the nightmare that had haunted me. Instead, I dreamt of my father talking to Uncle Andrew. It was the first time since his death that I’d ever dreamt of him.

 
    Chapter 2
     
    Thursday May 28th
     
    My rest was fraught with twist and turns, which made the bed creak and groan under my weight. I awoke, clammy, hair soaked, and barely rested. Laying in a soft cushy bed felt...uncomfortable, weird, and unsettling. The soft mattress made me ache in strange places, as the old springs supported me in unfamiliar pressure points.
    It was around midnight when I considered pulling the bedding off and sleeping on the laundry room floor. It was small, defensible, and smooth, but that was an impossibility since I was trying to “fit in.” When I got a place of my own that was secure, maybe then, but now…now I had to pretend, I had to fit in. So I forced myself to turn over and try to get a few more hours of fitful sleep.
    Rolling out of bed, I flipped on the lamp and headed for the shower. Again I couldn’t help but feel out of place in the civilian world. The power never flickered, hot water poured out of the showerhead and never got cool. The room was oddly quiet…no background sounds of fighter jets overhead, gunshots in the streets, or far off explosions that I’d become so accustomed to over the years. After spending so many years in one warzone or another, I had become accustomed to the sounds, smells, and sights. Here in the States it was so quiet, almost tranquil.
    I’d often been sequestered on base with at least two guards escorting