TITLE: Icarus Manor, chapter 14

AUTHOR: lillywhite1, but you can call me Casey.

SUMMARY: In a mysterious mansion in a secluded part of North America, a man 
discovers that he is far from alone in the world. Here at Icarus Manor several species of 
non-human description live together to survive in a world that does not know they exist. 
LAST CHAPTER: William has business dealings in the night with vampires. 
Introduction of Ian McKellan, David Wenham, and Karl Urban. THIS CHAPTER: Sean 
returns to work after an uncertain lapse in time. Orlando visits Elijah in his new office. 

PAIRING: DM/BB, hints of EW/SA

RATING: R; still setting up the base for the affair.

FEEDBACK: is my neutella on a spoon that makes me go all gooey and melty and 
mmmmm...

A/N: Text in asterisks (*) represents italics or general emphasis. This is a book and a 
work in progress. Be gentle. Comments to cswann1@gmail.com.


Chapter 14

Bows of pine trees whipped past him as he ran, crashing through the forest of his native 
country. The trees threatened scratches and drew blood from his sensitive human skin. He 
could only change partly. His face had changed, senses heightened, but those stubborn 
limbs would not shift! He needed to run!

Then a lonely howl soared above the trees. Richard, his brother, was out to kill him.

Panting hard and struggling harder, the landscape tripped him. The very playground of 
his youth and he could not remember the layout well enough to get away. Always the 
dark brown of his brother’s fur in his peripheral vision. He couldn’t get away fast 
enough. The terrifying howls telling of Dominic’s death in the most humiliating way. He 
tried to howl, to say, “No! I’m here! Help!” but he could not get enough air.

Then suddenly he tripped, stumbled to the ground and swung around to feel hot wolf 
breath on his face.

“I’m coming for you, little brother.”

~

Dominic hovered on the edge of consciousness. His thoughts flittered past him like so 
many butterflies, but warped and with no regard for chronology or reality. He woke with 
a shock and a pain in his head.

“Ow.” He all but groaned.

“Evening.” William sat perched in a chair beside his…bed? Why was he in bed? Dominic 
cracked an eyelid to get a better look at William.

“My head hurts.”

“Well, it should. Ian had to meld you.” He offered Dominic two pills and some water.

“What?”

“Your memory has been changed. Nothing serious, but if you had heard anything 
standing at the door to the drawing room you won’t remember it now.” He rose and 
began to walk the floor. William was not his cheerful self. He seemed reserved, resigned.

“What’s the matter?”

William took a moment before he answered, still pacing, agitated.

“Dom, you really have no idea do you? You could have got yourself killed tonight! I 
asked you to stay away, and it was for your own personal good. You disobeyed me and as 
a result caused yourself personal harm and could have injured my business. Did you not 
understand when I told you to stay away that night?”

“Well it isn’t my fault I know shit about vampires or that staying away from your 
drawing room was a matter of life and death,” Dominic was on his feet and breaking into 
William’s pacing pattern, “I know *nothing* of this fucking place or what you do in it! I 
can’t be expected to read minds. You can, but I *can’t.*” Dominic sighed. It was useless 
to be angry. There was no one to blame.

“I’m sorry I nearly lost you your clients.”

William cupped Dominic’s chin. “I’m sorry I yelled. You just scared me. And I’m sorry I 
didn’t explain the situation to you. There’s a certain past between vampires and 
werewolves—”

“No shit?” They both laughed.

“No shit.”

“Gotcha. William?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to need you to teach me some basic stuff before I unknowingly off myself.”

“We’ll start tomorrow.”
~
Sean awoke slowly in his stuffy apartment. He stumbled from the twisted sheets of his 
bed and barely made it to the toilet before he vomited. This was the familiar pattern of the 
past night or so. After hoisting his stocky form off the floor, he turned on the tap and 
sucked in large, grateful mouthfuls of water. The liquid felt good tossing down his throat 
and healing the parched patches, but his chill had already returned. It didn’t matter, it was 
Monday, and he had to work today. He glanced at his calendar. The next full moon 
wasn’t far away now. Sean always looked forward to those. 

Sean stood in the mirror and took himself in. He looked like shit. There were large, 
purple bags under his eyes that marred his usually soft face. His brown hair stuck up with 
fever sweat and three-day old product. He stripped his pajamas off slowly as to not 
further aggravate his achy head and neck and dropped them in a pathetically short trail to 
the shower. He hesitated when he touched the amulet. He let his coarse fingers trail over 
the gold chain. The purple gem glowed prettily in the bathroom light. He didn’t 
remember the spark at the center of the royal purple stone being quite so big, but perhaps 
it was the angled lighting. 

He crawled under the hot spray of water and warmed his aching body. His hands traveled 
over his own well-explored flesh, large biceps, strong quadriceps; He even touched his 
cock but was too sick to think about having a quick jerk in the shower. Besides, if he took 
much more of his sweet time, he’d be late.

Sean snapped the tags off a new shirt before sliding it over his head. He threw out the last 
clothes he had worn to work. They smelled too strongly of the Jujuahs which was 
something like a goat that had been wrapped in a dead yak. After the first few days of 
work, he had given up trying to rescue his clothes and just wore new ones every day. He 
tucked the amulet under his new white shirt and headed to the kitchen. 

Sean cooked a dozen eggs and two steaks. He hadn’t known he was so hungry until he 
had smelled the meat on the skillet. The wolf wanted to gnaw the raw meat off the bone 
right then, but he knew it would be unwise, especially with how sick he had been the past 
couple of days.  If he could just shake this slight fever he would feel so much better. Two 
and a half doses of cold medicine were downed and Sean was out the door and walking to 
Icarus Manor.

“Buenos dias, Senior.”

“We were wondering what had become of you.”

Two hooded, yellow-scaled heads perked up immediately at his arrival. Their whipping-
boy was finally back at their mercy. Their beady little eyes pierced him to the core as 
their black tongues flickered through the air with interest.

“What became of me? I’m sorry you fellas missed me so over the weekend. I’m really 
touched, but you can skip the romantic comments because I’m not fucking either of you 
no matter how much you flatter. I hear you desert boys are not particularly well-
endowed.”
 
The Ophid Twins ignored his snide remark and approached.

“Seanie, it’s Wednesday.” Deimos cocked his head to one side tauntingly. Confusion 
quickly settled into Sean’s mind but was gone just as soon. 

“You were not at work Monday or Tuesday.” Phobos quirked a scaled eyebrow. If it was 
Wednesday, he’d slept through the better part of four days. That couldn’t be right, but 
then it had to be.

“We had yet to make a complaint to Mr. Boyd—”

“—But we’ll find the time.”

The Twins stood before him, dangling this little bit of information above his head; ready 
to take advantage of him. These devious, dangerous creatures were putting their best 
efforts into making Sean’s life a living hell. Sooner or later they were going tire of 
playing with him and eventually just let him make a mistake bad enough to eliminate him 
from their dungeon domain. They were waiting to strike out at him. Every second he 
spent with his back turned to them was another moment they could betray him to the vile 
creatures that they cared for so begrudgingly. There was probably more reason to put the 
Twins behind bars than the Jujuah or the Bagloch. Smiling before him with venomed 
fangs, they were just waiting it out. They would be the death of him.

Rather than become fearful for his life and careful with every step like Sean usually 
would have done, something new gave him the outright balls to do what he did next. He 
struck out faster than he knew he could and grasped each Twin around the throat and 
squeezed.

The Ophid Twins gagged in shock and struggled hard in Sean’s solid grip, but to no avail. 
Their lives were in his hands now. He had them begging.

“Please, Senior Sean—” one of them choked out.

“Shut your contemptible jaws.” 

They obeyed.

“You are not going to tell Mr. Boyd of my absence. You are going to carry on as if 
nothing is at all different except for one thing. No more tricks. No more remarks. I’m in 
charge now. You slot-faced worms don’t think you handle that, I’ll break your goddamn 
necks.” Sean’s face tingled with the transformation as he drew on the power he felt. His 
jaw slid forward and his teeth elongated to shiny, slippery points. His wolfish eyes could 
detect the degree of fear in the Ophid Twins as he spoke. His voice grew coarser and 
added considerable effect to his words.

“You will crawl on your bellies like your ancestors before me. You are not fit to call me 
by my first name and you will cower at my very presence. Your rein is over, and I am the 
new lord. Understand?”

The serpent twins stared dumbly up at him. He had them now.
~

Orlando swiftly ambled down the hall toward Elijah’s office. It was an awkward thought 
since it used to be Sean’s office, but now was Elijah’s even though it wasn’t a proper 
office in either case. This didn’t stop Orlando from swiftly ambling in the least. He was 
used to thinking in spirals. Sometimes he lost himself in thinking of the most ordinary 
things and managed to swiftly amble past wherever he was going, which was exactly 
what he did in this instance. Doubling back, he found himself at Elijah’s “office.”

“Hello my dear aqueous friend!” Orlando caught his reflection in a window for just a 
split second, but enough to adore what he saw: Dark purple suit of a very fashionable cut 
and striped tie. His black-brown curls a mass of perfection. Bounce was certainly a key 
word in this description. Perhaps the tie was a bit too much, but hey that was what ties are 
for. But enough about him, he was thinking in spirals again. He was here for ‘Lijah who 
desperately needed him right now.

“Hey, Orli.” Elijah didn’t even look up from his handful of papers he was shuffling. “I’m 
sorry. I can’t talk right now. I’m this close to finding that number I lost.” The poor dear 
was just screaming for someone to listen to him!

Orlando bent down to pick up a blue scrap of paper from under the desk as he 
approached. “Could this be it?”

Elijah’s bright blue eyes lit up and he snatched the scrap. He looked dazzling in a blue 
pinstripe suit that Orlando himself had picked out. The new liaison had to look like a new 
liaison! Elijah’s black hair lay smoothly yet stylishly atop his head; his porcelain face a 
boyish dream. He filed the scrap of blue with precision.

“There. Now I know where it is.”

“’Lij, do you think, just maybe, that if you wrote things out on larger pieces of paper that 
they would be easier to find? I’m trying not to criticize your system of organization,” 
Orlando gestured to the desktop littered with similar scraps of colored papers, “but it’s a 
wonder you ever find anything.” 

Elijah rolled his eyes, “Orli, you’re as messy as I am. I’ve seen your room.”

“Yes, but this is different. My room is chic and tastefully adorned. It can afford to be 
messy especially now when messy is fashionable.”

Elijah stopped straightening random bits of paper and looked at Orlando in that I’ve-got-
something-to-say-and-you-need-to-listen way.

“Orli, have you thought at all about why the dungeons exist?”

“I don’t know. Suppose every castle needs one. Why?” Orlando perched on the edge of 
the desk and gave Elijah his full attention.

“A couple of days ago I went down to the dungeons to talk to a few of the…inhabitants. I 
met a dragon and what’s scary is I really felt for him.”

“If he’s down there he’s no Puff the Magic Dragon is he?” Orlando defended, “He did 
something pretty bad to land himself that apartment.”

“Orlando, there’s no telling how long he’s been down there. I checked the records. He’s 
been there for at least two hundred years. What could he have done to end up serving the 
rest of his immortal life in a cell?”

“I don’t know, Lij,” Orlando threw up his hands, “but I don’t want him sitting next to me 
at the damn dinner table. Dragons are dangerous by nature.”

“I don’t think so.” 

“What makes you think that he’s not just working you to get released? Lij, as much as I 
love you, you are too forgiving. Everyone gets a second chance with you and if this 
dragon can see that, then you are just his key to freedom.” Orlando sighed.

“And what about his friend? I haven’t met him yet, but if he talks to the dragon, then he 
must be a person as well.”

“A person, Lijah? Being capable of manipulation does not make you a person or tame 
enough to be released into society.”

“Do you think we’re tame enough? We’ve got our powers, our animal sides.”

“Yes, but we didn’t declare war on the human species.”

“What do you think your species would have done if you were being slowly eradicated? I 
know you, you wouldn’t hide. You would be angry and so would I.” Elijah’s baby blues 
pleaded for validation.

Orlando got off the desk and put his arm around Elijah, “Hon, a person is not the sum of 
his heredity alone. There must be a choice somewhere along the way for them to shirk the 
stigma and not become a destructive psychopath. If this dragon followed the path of his 
species he may be released from blame, but not from custody unless he changes his ways 
truly, and who will be the judge of that honesty?” 

Elijah’s head fell against Orlando’s shoulder, “I’m so frustrated. I want to help him, but I 
don’t know if I’m being used. Still, I can’t shake off this feeling that he needs me.”

“Whether or not he’s manipulating you is not necessary relevant then. If you think he just 
needs someone to talk to, then go ahead and talk to him. Just don’t let yourself get carried 
away. It’s very sad that he’s down there, but it is not your responsibility to advocate for 
his release. Just keep your head. Don’t give him any diamond-tipped spoons or dynamite. 
Okay?”

Elijah giggled, “Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Orli, I’ve also been thinking about Sean.”

“How did I know this was coming?”

“I miss him. I went to see him the other day and he wasn’t at work. I don’t think I can 
remember a day that he ever missed work before he got reassigned.”

Orlando shrugged, “Neither can I. Sean’s an ol’ workaholic.”

“Doesn’t it seem odd that he’s not come to talk to us or anything either? I mean, we’re 
still friends, right?”

“I don’t know, Lij. What he did was criminal. I still can’t decide if I’d rather see him 
locked up in a dungeon cell.”

Elijah froze and then turned to look Orlando in the eye. “You mean that? How can you 
mean that?”

“Hon, he nearly killed Dominic. Don’t you think that’s bad?”

“Of course it’s bad, but he’s our friend and coworker. Would you throw me in jail?”

“Elijah, you’re making this a personal attack. Someone attempts murder in the human 
world they go to prison. That’s how it works. You break the agreement and violate 
someone’s right to safety, you are subject to punishment. Sean got off pretty easy.”

“But did he? I’m worried something had happened to him. And you should have talked to 
those snake twins that work with him. They sounded almost pleased that Sean was sick 
and suffering. They may have even liked to see him die. Don’t you think that’s cruel and 
strange punishment? You put someone in that type of situation, they aren’t going to 
correct and learn new morals. They are going to adapt to survive and in the process 
become more of a monster. I can’t bear to think of Sean turning into a soulless beast. You 
can’t tell me that you feel no compassion for him because you’ve known him as long as I 
have and you know that he is a person despite what he did.”

Orlando thought. Of course Sean didn’t deserve daily torture, but if his life were really in 
danger, wouldn’t he have done something about it?

“I do feel for him, Elijah, but because he still hasn’t reached out to us in any way, I can’t 
give you a good answer.”
~
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