He watched as his old friend Sergeant Grey took a knee next to him, leaning in to speak softly, “Why? Why did you do it?”
Seamus turned his head to look at his old sergeant before he replied, his eyes lifeless, “Kaylee.” He turned his face forward again and cleared his throat, “Can I be read my rights please, and get booked in?”
The officers blinked at him in shock at his calm, even tone. He was hauled roughly to his feet and one of the officers tightened the cuffs even more. The sergeant of investigations read him his rights and Seamus was led away to the jail.
Suddenly he was back in the room with Victoria, who was watching him intently. “Would you care to comment on that memory, Seamus?”
Seamus looked over at Victoria with flat, lifeless eyes, “He deserved it.”
Victoria frowned slightly for a second, “Did you notice anything unusual?”
Seamus shook his head, “Nothing, it is as I remember it.”
Her frown deepening, Victoria shook her head, “I’ll leave it there for now Seamus, but there is something wrong with what just transpired there and I am not talking about you killing the inmate. I hope you will be able to see it one day.”
Brow furrowing, Seamus wondered what she was getting at but before he could say anything else Victoria stood up. “Well, that concludes our time for now. I look forward to our next visit. If you ever wish to ask me a question while in game, I have gotten approval to let you send in-game messages to me. Just send it to Victoria AI, it has been added to your Mindstone. I will reply as I can once I’ve made sure it is something you are allowed to know.”
Seamus stood up, his eyes still flat, “I want to say thank you Vicky, but right now I can’t. Until the next time.”
The room vanished, leaving him in darkness with a blinking clock flashing away before him, telling him he had fourteen hours before the server was back up. Closing his eyes, Seamus wished he could just skip the next fourteen hours.
Seamus woke to see the clock ticking down the last thirty seconds, which brought a smile to his face. He closed his eyes to wait them out, eager to be back in Alpha World. A brief moment of uncertainty swept through him as he thought about Stacia. Would she be mad at him or understanding of his not being able to get back? On top of that he briefly wondered how Alistern would take his sudden disappearance for a two-week period. Taking a deep breath, he tried to center himself as he heard the clock ticking away the last few seconds until the server was live again.
Chapter Three
Blinking, Alburet looked around to find himself at the Homestone location in the graveyard just outside the Dead Man Inn. He glanced around, seeing a few others who were as eager as he was to be back in the game appearing as well. Some of them seemed upset that they had been moved to their Homestone locations during the server downtime. Alburet heard quite a few disgruntled mutters.
Alburet ignored the bitching from the other players and headed for the inn. As he entered the inn, he dismissed the notification of the chance to reset his abilities. When he cleared the notification, he found Alistern waiting for him with a grim look. Alburet came to a stop and gave a polite nod, “Alistern.”
“We need to talk. Follow me,” Alistern turned to go down the hall beside the stairs.
“I will be glad to speak with you in ten minutes. First, I must do my best to fulfill a promise now that I have been able to get back to this world. Stacia has been waiting for me ever since the bridge between our worlds was closed. So, I ask that you give me ten minutes to reassure her that I’m back first.” He spoke politely but firmly, so Alistern would know he was serious.
Alistern’s eyes flared as he turned to face Alburet, his voice rising into a yell. “First ya abandon me daughter for weeks and now ya refuse a simple request?!”
Alburet didn’t flinch away from the enraged father, instead standing his ground while meeting the angry eyes of Alistern. “I will speak with you once my duty to Stacia is discharged and not before. Your daughter has been waiting for me and her welfare is of much greater concern to me than yours.” He finished speaking and started to walk towards the stairs.
Alistern’s face twisted as he took a single step to block the stairs, when Lilith appeared behind Alistern. She touched his shoulder, stopping him. “Dear, stop this please. He will speak with us shortly, give our daughter the chance to see her master first.” Lilith spoke the words softly so only Alistern and Alburet, who was just outside of Alistern’s reach, could hear them.
Alburet nodded his thanks to Lilith a fraction of a second before bounding up the stairs two at a time. He rushed to the room he had rented, flinging open the door to see Stacia standing in the middle of the room looking anxious as she twisted the skirt of her maid outfit. When his eyes met hers they both felt a tug of emotion and they rushed together into an embrace. Kisses and words of love were exchanged as they clung to each other. Alburet was a little overcome with just how much his heart had yearned for her in the single day apart.
“I’m sorry, Kitten. They closed the bridge between our worlds and I couldn’t get back any sooner than now.”
Stacia met his wet eyes with hers, which were equally wet, “I know, master. I got ya note from the bird messenger two weeks ago, just a bare hour after ya left. I thank ya for getting me that message, without it I might have despaired. Even with it I grew anxious and the seeds of doubt began to grow in me heart.” She tightened her grip on him as she buried her face in his chest, taking a deep breath to pull in his scent. “I missed ya so much that every day me heart ached at ya absence.”
Kissing the top of her head, Alburet tightened his hold on her. “No more worries for a time now, Kitten. Other than the fact that I have to go speak with your father in a minute. I think he’s a bit upset with me.”
Nodding, Stacia filled him in on the last two weeks, “The mornin’ ya left both Da’ and Ma’ came to talk to us. I told them ya had been recalled to ya other world. Da’ has been in a mood ever since, doubtin’ ya was comin’ back. Ma' and me tried to tell him different but he did nay want to listen. For the last week, Stewart and he have been switching off watching the bar, waitin’ for ya to come back. I will go with ya to speak with him.” Her eyes were bright, her happiness that Alburet was back with her evident on her face.
Tilting her face up a touch more he kissed her with love, not turning the kiss into a passionate one but a lingering one instead. When he finally broke the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers, “I will always want you by my side Stacia, my wonderful fiery kitten. Let’s go speak with your father, maybe we can show him how together we are whole. But first change into another outfit. You’re more than just my maid now, you are so much more now.”
Stacia nodded, reluctantly leaving the embrace to change her clothing. She ran into a problem almost immediately, as her only other outfit was her set of adventuring leather. She explained the problem to Alburet to get his advice.
“Put on you adventuring clothes for now. We shall fix that, right after we finish speaking with your father.” Once she was changed Alburet held out his arm to her, “Come, Kitten.”
Taking his arm with a broad smile Stacia snuggled up to him, “As master wishes.”
He made a note to speak with her about the different connotations that word had to him, later. He just smiled back at her as they went downstairs to find Alistern. It didn’t take long, as he was still at the bottom of the stairs along with Stewart, Grimgar, Almira and Lilith. Alburet looked over the group and gave a polite half bow, “As I said I would, I have come back, sir.”
Alistern growled, “Follow me. Stewart, make sure he doesn’t try to run off.”