Page 10 of Seth
“Seth?”
Seth straightened and faced the man. Meeting a questioning expression, he cocked his head, forcing his facial muscles to relax.
“You are a worse daydreamer than I am.” The man chuckled, not offended at all. “I asked if there is anything I can do for you?”
Annoying…Seth shook his head.
“Okay then, I’ll let you be. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to find me, and don’t miss the event. This Friday, don’t forget!” The intrusive palm slapped his shoulder twice, and Seth ground his teeth to suppress the anger and the wish to break the old, wrinkled hand. “And… next time, wear a helmet.”
People had always talked too much. They just rumbled about small nothings as if a single thought of quietness disturbed and frightened them. But more than small talks, Seth hated casual, fleeting touches. Every time someone patted his shoulder or extended their hand, he cringed inwardly, and now, he had to attend another stupid social gathering.
When the footfalls fell silent, he sucked in a deep breath and entered the circle of daylight beating down the concrete floor. His head fell backward as he squinted, watching iridescent sparks dance at the edges of his lashes. Only two months and the building would be finished. Soon, a transparent shaft with a round glass-wall elevator would stretch from this spot to the peak of SkyBlade, capable of accommodating more than eighty people at once. Heknewhe would see it.
Whatever game the man had in mind when he’d taken Justin, it certainly wasn’t to give Seth up to the police. And anything else Seth could handle.
* * *
Long and boring,the day stretched into eventless eternity. Monthly reports piled on his desk, but Gustavo kept delaying the inevitable, hoping deep down that the papers would somehow disappear without him needing to go through all those numbers.
A buzz of a fly and heated air coming from the opened window coated him in drowsiness, turning his bones to jelly. He would probably sit like this all day, slumped in the comfortable leather chair, but his phone rang.
A little excited by the promise Diego’s name on the screen provided, he picked up. “Speak…”
“I think we got him.”
A small flip in Gustavo’s stomach brought him to his feet. His chest tightened as he looked around for his car keys. “How?”
“A man, fitting the description you provided, searched the crime scene. I’ll drop you the footage in a few.”
“Don’t interact. Follow him; learn everything about him.”
“No need. It’s Seth Mayr—the architect.”
* * *
Gustavo replayedthe footage three times, watching the smooth, fluid movements of the beast. In casual clothes, he looked different. Even a simple shirt draped around his long arms concealed his muscles, making Loco look almost svelte.
What Gustavo had taken as animalistic rapacity in daylight turned out to be sensual aristocratism.
“Seth Mayr…” Gustavo tasted the name on his tongue as he scrolled through the browser, waiting for his intelligence to provide a whole dossier. “Twenty-eight-years-old architect, graduated from the Vienna University of Technology. The only son of Ludwig Mayr, a glass industry magnate who died five years ago.”
He clicked his tongue, absorbing the information.
Seth’s career had picked up seven years ago when he won the annual Skyscraper Competition. A few months later, he’d patented an improved formula for neodymium glass5, creating a special high-durable glass that changed color from metallic in daylight to bleeding red in twilights. Within a few years, the predatory feel of his buildings and the architect solutions won him several prestigious awards, rapidly increasing his popularity. Aside from the business center SkyBlade, Seth was currently working on one more project, but the design hadn’t been revealed to the public yet.
He leaned back, shifting thoughts around.The glass industry, the silica sand, the blood.
“What are you creating, Loco?” The urge to see the man squeezed his heart, but instead of going out to look for the beast, he picked up his phone and dialed his lover. There was no point in kicking his heels around Loco’s door. There would be better chances for them to introduce themselves.
Red sand shiftedbeneath his cloven hooves as Set1stalked through the wilderness. The wind flirting with him licked his ulcerated, obsidian skin with a searing tongue. Wrapping around his thighs, it grabbed at his shendyt kilt2, trying to tear it from under the wide black sash embroidered with lazurite and turquoise. In his left hand, he held a Was-staff3, the head of a sha animal4crowning it. With a down-turned pointed muzzle, tall square-tipped ears, and slanted red eyes, his totem animal head was a small copy of his own, except he only had one eye now. Forged of tungsten and gold, the staff was so intricate it almost looked alive. The same metals adorned his garments, heavy bracelets, armbands, and anklets.
On the top of a red dune, he halted. The air trembled in front of his eye as the sun burned the last vapors out of the ground. Above the sizzling earth, the horizon melted.
A yellow deathstalker5rushed through the sand, raising its translucent legs high with every step as if trying to cool them in the boiling air. It curled by Set’s feet, seeking relief in the shadow he cast. Spread out on the sand, it lowered its tail in front of its master in a sign of submission.
Set raised his gaze to the heavens.
Ra6raged today. It seemed like he intended to eliminate every living being from this forsaken ground, but in this barren soil, Set was home. The heat licking his body didn’t bother him, for he was the master of this land, the Lord of the Desert.
