Flight of the Falcon (Byrdes of York #1)

20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Hugh

H ugh relaxed back into the driver’s seat, following Falcon’s directions to Francis’s house in Knapton, a small village just off the York ring road. They were heading over there for the family meal and meeting that Francis had called. Saturday afternoon in the last week of May was proving to be quite hot as they negotiated the ring road and pulled off on to the main road through Knapton.

“You have to go through the village and almost out the other side,” Falcon said, smiling as the air through the open windows blew his hair about. “It’s the last house on the right.”

Hugh followed the directions and indicated to pull into a fairly large driveway with enough room for several cars. Which was good, given how many were already parked there.

“Good,” Falcon said. “Jenny is here with her brood. I’ve not seen Foster for some time now.”

“That’s her husband, right?”

“Yep. They’ve been married almost 20 years. You’ve met two of the triplets, Ella and Abbie. You’ll get to meet Cory, their brother, today.”

They got out of the car, just as another pulled into the driveway. Hugh saw that Raven was driving and Robin was in the passenger seat. At least he knew these two brothers. He and Falcon stepped to one side.

“Bro.” Robin greeted Hugh with a hug, then with a grin, held out a hand to Hugh, who shook it. Raven did the same.

“Looks like everyone else is here,” Falcon said as Hugh felt his warm hand rest on his back and direct him towards the rear of the house. “They’ll be round the back on the patio.”

Hugh nodded and allowed Falcon to steer him, with the brothers following on behind. When they rounded the house, they were greeted with a flurry of kisses and handshakes, and Hugh was introduced to the rest of the brothers. Piper, or Pip as he preferred to be called, was a short muscular man. His skin had overtones of mahogany, and he pulled Falcon into a hug. Nix, short for Phoenix, towered over both Hugh and Falcon, his long, wavy, brown hair cascading around his shoulders. Oleander, or Ollie, was next to greet them. He was as short as Pip, but wiry with it. His hair was red, and his green eyes seemed to bore into Hugh’s soul.

“Okay, okay, everyone, that’s enough. Let the guy have a seat and a drink,” Francis yelled over the hubbub. Everyone laughed and Hugh found himself being led to a comfortable seating area next to Abbie and her siblings.

“Hugh!” Abbie all but squealed as she got up to greet him with a quick embrace and a kiss on his cheek. She turned to who Hugh assumed were her parents and introduced him.

“I’m so pleased to meet you,” Jenny said, holding her hand out. Hugh shook hers, then her husband’s and greeted Ella. He was then introduced to Cory who told him he worked with Nix at his antiques shop.

“Here.” Falcon joined him on the sectional and handed him a cold beer. He quickly gulped down about half of it before putting it on the table in front of him. No, of course he hadn’t been nervous about meeting the rest of the family.

“Dinner’s ready, come and get it!” Francis called. There was a wave of movement towards Francis and Ollie at the bar-be-que. The food was laid out on the table next to them: salads, bread, burgers, chicken legs and sausages. They all loaded up and returned to the seating area.

Conversation was casual as they ate. Several of the brothers asked Hugh how Imogen was doing, and he was able to report that he’d spoken to her that morning and that she was fine. She and Lucinda would be making their way to Villefranche-sur-Mer the next day to spend several days in Hugh’s villa there.

After dessert, Jenny, London and the triplets said they had to be making their way back. Everyone waved them off from the driveway and Hugh realised their car had been parked so they could get out first.

“A long time ago, Jenny decided she didn’t want to get involved in the paranormal investigative side of things. It’s why we don’t discuss it at meals and wait until she and her family has left before we begin talking about it,” explained Falcon.

Hugh nodded. He could understand that. He leant back against his lover, letting him take his weight as he watched the small family leave, waving with the others. They then all made their way back to the patio and helped to clear up.

Afterwards, coffees in hands, they all settled in the great room in Francis’s house. It was large and airy, with French doors opening out on to the garden. Francis had placed the print-outs from the pictures Falcon had forwarded to him from Walker in front of him.

“Have you had time to study them?” Falcon asked his father. Francis nodded as he passed a copy around for everyone to see.

“I have. I must admit I am once again impressed by Walker’s research ability. Did you say he found this in a new collection?”

“He didn’t go into too much detail, but I got the impression it had been in the hands of the Witch Megginson before her death.”

Francis nodded and Hugh raised an eyebrow at Falcon in question. He whispered he would explain more later.

“It’s kind of worrying that something like this exists,” Nix spoke up for the first time.

Francis nodded. “You’re right, son. Still, at least the person who wrote this spell also gave the counter spell.”

“He did?” Hugh sat up. “That’s great news. Does that mean we can help the vampire stuck in the sarcophagus?”

“Certainly,” Francis replied. “Though it will take careful manoeuvring. When this vampire wakes up, he’ll be hungry, and his thirst will be high. We’ll have to make sure there’s a good source of blood for them to ingest. Otherwise, it could become very nasty if they attacked whoever was there in a blood lust.”

The others agreed, and Hugh was particularly worried, he appeared to be the only one nervous about waking the sleeping vampire. They spent the next hour or so discussing what they could do to mitigate any attack on them when they woke them.

“Is there a chance you might know who it is, Dad?” Ollie asked his father.

“A good chance. It’s why I’ve waited for Falcon and Hugh to get back to York, so they can take me into the room again and I can see if I recognise them.”

“We’ve been keeping an eye on the various entrances to the tunnels,” Robin spoke up then. “We scared someone away from one entrance the other night. Not sure if he was connected to Ian Swales but we weren’t taking any chances.”

“Whose watching them now?” Hugh asked.

“Some friends of ours. We didn’t explain about them, just that they needed to watch the areas and call one of us if anyone got too close to them.”

Hugh nodded. “I wish we had a better map of the whole area. I know there’s the one Father John left us, but it’s incomplete.”

“It is,” Francis agreed. “Robin, did you get hold of what I requested?”

The younger man grinned and said he’d be right back. Francis refused to answer any questions until he returned, and instead offered everyone a refill on their coffee.

Robin came back in carrying a strange-looking wheel contraption. He was still grinning, now from ear to ear, as he put it on the floor and wheeled it towards them.

“It measures distance,” he announced, showing them the black box on the side where they could see the readout panel.

“It’s an odometer,” Pip spoke up. “I remember seeing the surveyor using one at the Walk. He was measuring out where everything was going to fit when he took over the shops.”

“Got it in one!” Robin exclaimed, wheeling it around the room and putting it through its paces. “Isn’t it wonderful!”

Hugh grinned too, catching some of the younger man’s enthusiasm. He could see him as the mischievous little boy that Falcon had described to him.

“It is great,” he said. “You’re right there. So, do I take it we’re going to use it to measure and map the tunnels?”

“Exactly,” Francis replied to Hugh. “I thought you, Falcon and Robin could do that while the rest of us put a plan into action to rescue the sleeping vampire.”

They continued to discuss things for another hour or so, but nothing new was being said, so they all agreed to call it a night. Yawning, Hugh looked at his phone to see that it was nearly midnight. Where had the time gone!

Making a plan to meet up with Robin the next day, they took their leave. Falcon grabbed the keys from Hugh and said he’d drive. Hugh grinned. He hadn’t drunk that much, but if Fal felt better driving, then he’d let him.

Falcon

Falcon soared above the moors entwined with Raven, in his mind, as his brother flew high. They were taking the opportunity of a bit of freedom from the facility and enjoying the flight. Falcon ignored his body which was strapped to a medical chair in the laboratory.

For the moment they were free.

“Over there!” Falcon whispered to Raven, who changed direction and swooped over towards the coast.

They played on the wind for a while, their troubles forgotten for the moment. Suddenly Falcon felt Raven falling out of the air. His brother cawed in surprise, then screamed in agony. Falcon was ripped from him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he screamed. He was back in the facility, strapped to the bed, and was freaking out.

“Raven! Raven!” he cried out, thrashing against his restraints, trying to get free. “Stop it, boy!” The disembodied voice came over the speaker.

“Nooooooo!” he screamed. “Falling. Falling!”

“Somebody shut him up!” The voice was full of impatience.

Falcon struggled harder as one of the orderlies came into the room. He pinched Falcon’s cheeks hard.

“Behave,” he growled.

Falcon shook his head again, writhing backwards and forwards, fighting against his restraints. The orderly slapped him and told him again to be quiet. But he couldn’t. He was lost in the feeling of Raven falling out of the sky. He couldn’t reach him, couldn’t connect.

“Here.” The orderly shoved a gag into Falcon’s mouth. “That’ll shut you up.”

Falcon tried to pull in another deep breath through his mouth, but he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. He began choking and gasping for air…

“Falcon! Falcon!” Hugh’s concerned voice pulled Falcon from his nightmare. He sat up quickly, pulling much needed air into his lungs. He was still screaming.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Hugh whispered in his ear. He’d pushed up onto his knees and was holding Falcon in his arms.

Tears streaming down his face, Falcon allowed Hugh to comfort him. One of his brothers or Francis had always been there to comfort him after they’d been rescued from the facility, but it felt nice to be ensconced in Hugh’s arms now.

“Ssshhh, I’ve got you. It’ll be okay.”

He listened to Hugh’s comforting words for a while, before taking another shuddering breath and laying back down. Hugh continued to hold him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Falcon took in another gulping breath before turning onto his side. Hugh moved to lie opposite him, his hand splayed out on his thigh. Falcon looked deep into the other man’s eyes and knew he’d really lucked out here.

“I…” He hesitated. “It was during the years we spent at the facility. They were experimenting with various things to enhance the connection between myself and Raven. He was flying over the moors when he suddenly fell out of the air. I was along for the ride and felt him in pain, then falling…”

Hugh stroked his hair, giving him comfort and time to gather his thoughts. “When I came back to myself at the facility I was screaming and trying to breathe.

To stop me from making too much noise, one of the orderlies eventually put a gag on me and I started choking. No-one would let me know about Raven.”

He shuffled closer to Hugh, hiding his face in his neck. Even now he could feel the fear that something bad had happened to his brother.

“He was okay?” Hugh asked.

Falcon nodded. “Yes, he’d fallen out of the sky, but had managed somehow to control it. One of his wings was broken. They went out in the van and collected him. When he shifted back to human, his right arm was broken.” He gulped. “It was a bad break. He couldn’t shift for months.”

“How old were you?”

“I was 16, Raven was 13. Fortunately, a few months later, Francis arrived to rescue us and take us home with him.”

They lay there for a while taking comfort from each other. Shortly afterwards, he felt himself drifting off again.

The next morning, Falcon was suffering from a headache, so he quite readily agreed to let Hugh go and meet Robin on his own. He would join them later when his head was clearer. He slept for another few hours and woke up feeling a lot better. Stumbling into the kitchen, he found that Falcon had left coffee for him and some bagels were waiting by the toaster for his breakfast. He smiled at his boyfriend’s thoughtfulness before he pulled Raven’s number up on his phone and pressed call.

“Hey, bro!” Raven’s voice came over the speaker. “How are you feeling this morning.”

“You’ve seen Hugh?”

Raven laughed. “No, spoke to Robin a couple of hours ago. He said you were having a lie in as you had a bad headache.”

“Oh.”

“Really…” Raven’s voice lowered in concern. “Are you okay?”

“I am now,” Falcon replied, taking his coffee and bagel to the kitchen nook. “I had the dream again last night. The one where you were falling.”

“Damn! It’s been a while.”

“I know. I think it’s because there’s been such a lot going on. The stress must have got to me.”

There was a knock on his door then and to Falcon’s surprise, Raven walked in.

Falcon ended the call on his phone.

“Hey, bro,” he greeted him, opening his arms wide for a hug. “I’m okay,” Raven assured him. “You know I am.”

“I know. But even after twenty years, it still scares me.”

Raven didn’t say anything, just gave him an extra hard hug before pulling away to go and pour himself some coffee.

“He’s good for you, then?” “Hugh?” asked Falcon.

“Yes. Seems a good type of bloke.”

“He is. He was really there for me last night. I think he might be the one, Venn.” Raven grinned back at him. “I hope so. You’ve had a long dry spell.”

Falcon laughed. “You could say that. Trina was my last long-term relationship and that was 5 years ago. And we know what happened then.”

“Did I tell you I saw her a couple of months ago?” Raven joined his brother in the kitchen nook.

“No. Do tell.”

“She was in Coney Street and stopped to say hello. She asked after you. I got the feeling she regretted what had happened.”

“Too late for that,” Falcon muttered, remembering the bubbly woman who had captivated him for months. Before cheating on him with the brother of a mutual friend.

“Are she and Adam still together?” “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

Falcon dismissed thoughts of his ex. He wasn’t interested anymore. Hugh held all his attention now. He just fitted with him, with him and his family.

“I’d best be getting back.” Raven finished his coffee and stood up. “We’re expecting a delivery, and I’ve left Aidan in charge.”

Falcon liked Raven’s assistant Adian. The older man had been somewhat of a mentor for Raven when he was learning the business.

Falcon embraced his brother one more time and saw him out of the flat, before turning and heading to the bathroom for his shower. Time to get the day under way.