A shley stood on the corner across from
Hamburger Mary's diner and played his guitar.
He didn't need to be a busker, but it was a great way
to let his musical instrument find Liam. If the red head
was anywhere in the vicinity, the music would find
him.
The atmosphere was especially good for sound to
travel and it did with the help of the magical spell the
Chambers family had placed. Music drifted up and
around, overcoming traffic and other city noises. It
travelled a block, even two, until it was able to work
its way into the open window of the top apartment in
the Bradley Building. Eventually finding Liam's ears
as he knelt on the floor, Aiden's cock in his mouth.
Aiden knew immediately that something was
wrong. He didn't hear guitar music. But rather, he felt
an evil miasma fill the room. Liam stopped what he
was doing and stood up, his eyes glassy. He could
hear the siren call of the guitar. "I've got to go." He
378 Magical Moonlight
mumbled, turning away from Aiden. "I, I need to go
to the diner."
"Liam, stop." Aiden put his hand on the red
head's shoulder. He knew Liam was under a spell,
though he couldn't figure out how in hell anything had
reached him, now and in the penthouse apartment.
And then he noticed the open window and Ty and
Killer, both staring at it and growling deep in their
throats. Leaving Liam, he ran over and slammed it
shut. "Liam." His voice soft, but strong.
"Aiden?" Liam said looking confused, as he stood
in the bedroom, naked, the taste of Aiden's cock in his
mouth. "Why are you over there?"
"We need to talk." Aiden said. He looked over at
Killer, who was pacing back and forth in front of the
window, unsure of how to guard his owner against the
evil he could smell and taste. Ty glared from his perch
on the window ledge, on guard as always, but unable
to act against an invisible foe.
Ashley growled a primeval sound when he felt
the string of persuasion snap and his music reeled
back toward him. He stopped playing in a cacophony
of wild sound, earning him glares from nearby
walkers. Not daring to linger, in case he'd been
discovered seeking Liam out, Ashley quickly gathered
his things and prepared to leave.
"Oh Ashley, did we miss you playing?" It was
Vanessa and Rosalie, pushing Shay in a stroller.
Shay glared up at the guitarist. "Bad man, hurt my
Liam." He said clearly, though as usual, everyone
ignored him except his Wah cat. Doug bristled,
ER Bryant 379
prepared to defend his young charge against this evil
human. No one noticed that the stuffed toy Shay had
been carrying was now alive and on guard.
"I like to practice with an audience." Ashley said.
"This works for me. I can practice and earn a couple
of dollars at the same time. I never did thank you
Vanessa, for coming to my recital the other day.
"We were going to come anyway, but it was
Liam's birthday, the red head we were with, do you
remember him?"
"Of course. Liam attends UBC with me. Well not
really with me, since I'm a music scholar and he's an
artist."
"You're both artists in your own way." Vanessa
smiled.
"What a cute kid." Ashley said, leaning forward
to touch Shay.
Doug reached out, slashing the man's hand with
all of his strength, claws extended. What happened
next was almost too fast for anyone who was
observing.
Ashley reached out to grab Doug, his hand
dripping blood, his voice filled with venom. He
accidentally knocked Shay to one side, while Daniel,
who'd come out of the diner, began to talk to Vanessa
and Rosalie, distracting them from the melee. There
was an audible pop and all was silent. Doug stuck her
pink tongue out and licked Shay's finger, shaking her
head no. Ashley and his guitar were gone. Doug went
back to being a toy and Shay began to cry. He'd been
bad and he knew it. His daddy was going to be angry.
380 Magical Moonlight
"Oh baby, what's wrong?" Rosalie asked, picking
her son up to comfort him. She looked around,
"Ashley must have had to leave." She said, though
Vanessa wasn't really listening; she was too busy
checking Shay over.
"He's very fast, I didn't see him go." Vanessa
looked at Daniel. "Daniel, did you see Ashley leave?"
"I think Shay sent him away." Daniel looked at
the child. "I bet he's in some birdcage. It's been
happening a lot lately."
"Very funny, Daniel." Rosalie glared. "We don't
need your sarcasm." She looked at Vanessa. "I told
you he wouldn't work."
"Wouldn't work for what?" Daniel asked, looking
from on to the other. "Hey, what's wrong with the
kid? Why's he screaming like that?"
"He's crying not screaming. He's upset about
something."
"Ma would give him a smack." Daniel said. "She
always did for me. Daniel, if you're going to cry you
might as well have something to cry about." He
laughed.
"Reason number two why it won't happen."
Rosalie said. "Don't you have to be somewhere
Daniel, hassling Aiden or something?"
Putting a now hiccupping Shay back in the
stroller with his stuffed cat, the two women headed for
the diner, leaving Daniel standing on the sidewalk
beside a rather shabby looking empty guitar case.
Ashley slammed onto his back, doing his best to
protect the guitar he held now in both hands. For a
ER Bryant 381
moment he was dazed, then he looked around. "Where
am I?" he asked.
"For fuck sake, this is getting old." Frances
muttered. "Is this the only thing you guys know how
to do?" He screamed in the direction of the ceiling of
the cage.
"Where am I?" Ashley repeated. Wherever it was,
it was strange. He could hear a car motor and the room
felt like it was moving. It was round and there looked
to be bars closely spaced around the circumference.
"Where do you think?" Frances giggled, slightly
hysterical. "You're in a fucking birdcage where all the
boys who piss off Mac Ruaidhri and his gang go."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ashley
stood up, though the floor he was on was tilted
slightly. "Who are you? How did I get here? I have
some pretty powerful friends. You better not be
fucking with me. When my friends, the Chambers find
out I've been kidnapped, you all are going to be
sorry."
"Oh, you know Brad Chambers and his father
Zane?" Frances almost laughed. "It fucking figures."
"Frances dear, if you're trying to talk to me, I
really can't hear you over the motor. You'll have to
wait until I stop the car." The words were loud in the
small cage.
"Who is that?" Ashley whispered, looking
around.
"That would be Liam's mother." Frances
snickered. "My auntie Morgan. She's taking me back
to Victoria. Hey, can you play that thing?" he pointed
382 Magical Moonlight
to the guitar. "Play me a tune. It's fucking boring in
this cage."
"I'm not some freak who plays on demand for
just anyone." Ashley glared, his bravado in full force.
"I don't believe you that we're in a bird cage. For one
thing I'm five foot ten, I wouldn't fit."
"Five foot ten, in your dreams banjo boy. Five
seven maybe, in heels." Frances snorted. "So ever
seen Victoria?"
"Of course I have."
"But have you ever seen Victoria from a bird
cage?" he snickered. "The facilities are meager I have
to admit. And other than swinging on that swing up
there, there isn't much to do unless you can talk
someone into loading movies into the IPod. I've seen
the one in there at least a dozen times. I don't
recommend it."
"There's no bathroom." Ashley looked around.
"There has to be a bathroom, every apartment has
one."
"What part of bird cage didn't you understand?"
"I refuse to fall in with your delusions." Ashley
turned up his nose and stood, looking away from his
fellow captive.
Morgan, suspecting something, pulled over at the
next rest stop. She was almost afraid to look. This
undertaking wasn't supposed to be fun. But she
shouldn't have to be faced with humans being popped
in and out of the damn birdcage. When she got back,
Liam and Aiden were going to feel the wrath of her
tongue. She didn't want to look under the cover so
ER Bryant 383
instead she listened. Sure enough, there was definitely
someone in there with Frances.
Her lips set firmly closed in displeasure. She once
again got out of the car and called Aiden. "Aiden Mac
Ruaidhri, why is there someone else in the damn
birdcage with Frances. This is not funny."
"Morgan, I have no idea what you're talking
about." Aiden still had his hands full with a confused
Liam. He'd been trying to explain to the red head that
someone was still out to get him.
"Then I need to find Liam. Obviously he wasn't
satisfied with just making his cousin's life miserable."
"Morgan, he's right here with me. Neither one of
us has gone anywhere. Even Ty and Killer are here
watching us as usual."
"I don't understand Aiden. There truly is another
person in with Frances. I don't know what to do. I
think he's human too. I get no feeling of Wahjee from
him."
"What does he look like?" Aiden asked, his
curiosity aroused. He hoped Daniel hadn't somehow
managed to get popped back with some kind of weird
human ricochet effect he didn't know about.
"I'm afraid to look." Morgan admitted. "This is
becoming too much for me. Perhaps I should just
bring them back and let the two of you deal with what
ever or who ever is under the cage cover."
"Morgan, please look, but be careful. It could be a
trap that Frances has somehow set."
Morgan sighed heavily to show her displeasure.
Aiden grinned to himself. No doubt Liam had
384 Magical Moonlight
received his drama queen tendencies from his mother.
"Hold on, I'll look."
It wasn't going to be easy, so Morgan thought to
herself fuck it and ripped off the cover, to find herself
looking down at a screaming hysterical young man
with a guitar, lying on his back and an amused
nephew.
"Good one Auntie." Frances giggled. "Now I'm
stuck with an even more annoying asshole than
before. You might want to mention to Liam that he's
going to get into trouble if he keeps doing this."
"Bite me Frances." She said, covering up the cage
again.
"Aiden, there's a scruffy looking young man
inside with some kind of fuzz on his chin. He's
holding a guitar and he's not taking it well that he's in
the birdcage. I did mention he was human, didn't I?"
"Fuck that's Ashley Gold, he goes to UBC with
Liam." Aiden looked down at Liam who was wrapped
around him listening to the phone conversation. "Did
you put him in the cage?"
"When would I have done that and better yet, why
would I?" Liam was confused.
"Morgan, we'll have to get back to you on this. I
hope your nephew's wife doesn't mind two birds. At
least this one can make some kind of music." He
snickered. "If you don't mind cat squalls."
After he hung up., Aiden said to Liam. "As much
as I'd like to fuck you, I think we'd better go find out
why the fiddler is in with Frances. It doesn't make any
sense at all."
ER Bryant 385
"I know it doesn't, but let's face it Aiden. If we
spend half an hour fucking, what difference will it
make to Ashley and we'll both be in a better frame of
mind to be detectives." Liam looked at him and batted
his eyelashes while wiggling suggestively against
Aiden's towel wrapped body.
"Good point witch boy." Aiden swept him up in
his arms to Liam's delight and carried him to the bed
where he dropped him.
"Hey, you could break me dropping me like that."
Liam protested.
"I never break my toys." Aiden's grin was
mischievous. He pounced on Liam like he was Ty.
"They're doing it again." Killer said to Ty,
looking up for the cat that seemed to haunt the rafters.
"Hey where are you?"
"Right here." Ty jumped down from the back of
the sofa. "For a dog, you aren't very observant." He
looked toward the bedroom that was filled with deep
moans and heavy breathing. "Want to have some
fun?" he asked Killer.
"Okay." Killer was always ready for something to
break the boredom of living in the loft.
"Shay is coming to visit."
"Oh I like Shay, we play horsy." Killer's ears
perked up and he ran to the loft door and back again.
"Calm down, you stupid dog. He's not here yet.
Doug says he was the one who put the bad guy in with
Frances."
386 Magical Moonlight
"You talked to Doug, where is he?" Killer began
to search, nose to the ground. Ty rolled his eyes before
finding a patch of sunlight to lie down in.
Killer, finally convinced there wasn't another cat
in the loft, lay down beside the now stretched out cat.
"If you're done making an idiot of yourself, I'll
continue what I was saying." Ty said with a sigh, his
eyes closed, he loved the warmth the sun brought in.
"Shay and his mothers are on their way. They'll
be here any minute. I thought we should unlock the
door and let them watch those two." He moved his
head toward the bedroom. "It should be fun."
"I can't unlock the door." Killer said, his black
fur absorbed the heat quickly, he spread himself as
long as he could on his belly, rear feet behind him,
front ones extended. In his favorite frog pose. "I don't
know how." He sighed. "I don't think it's fun
watching them breed. They do it all wrong most of the
time and the little one never gets to be the top dog.
Ty climbed on top of the now hot dog fur and
stretched full length on him. He was useful as a heat
source and Ty rather enjoyed it when Killer
cooperated as a mattress.
"I can unlock the door. Shut up and watch and
listen. And don't move. It's only Shay and his
mommies coming through the door. Top dog" he
muttered under his breath. "Dumb dog is more like it."
"Why aren't they answering?" Rosalie asked. "I
can hear them in there."
ER Bryant 387
"Maybe they're busy." Vanessa leaned over and
tried the door. "Oh, the door's unlocked, we might as
well go in."
Shay put his hands over his eyes. Didn't they
know his daddy was having private time with his
Liam.
He was wheeled over the threshold and he looked
up for the familiar birdcage to see if both his little men
would be there, fingers spread but still over his eyes,
but the cage was gone. Eyes wide, he knew he was in
big trouble, worse than before.
Vanessa, being especially dense about the noises
coming from the bedroom, walked up the stairs. "OH
MY GAWD" she squealed, running back down, but
when she did, she turned toward the window, stepped
on Killer's tail and fell against the large cat covered
dog.
Rosalie stood there stunned as she watched Aiden
and Liam, both naked, sweaty and panting, run down
to see why Killer was ki yiking, Vanessa was
screaming, and Shay was bawling.
Aiden removed all of Ty's claws from Vanessa,
patted Killer on the head, patted Vanessa on the
shoulder and walked back to the bedroom to find
some pants.
Liam picked up Shay, realized he was naked,
thrust the baby at Rosalie and bolted for the bedroom
to find pants. Both Aiden and Liam stared at one
another as Aiden fumbled to remove a filled condom
from his now half-mast cock. They stared back at
Shay who was crying loudly and pointing to the empty
388 Magical Moonlight
hook that had held the birdcage and Frances. He used
to like to play with his little man toy.
"SHAY." They shouted as the realization hit that
it was Shay who had somehow managed to put Ashley
in with Frances.
Dressed, they strolled down to the still crying
baby and slightly hysterical Vanessa, Ty and Killer
who stood glaring at each other. Rosalie had an open
beer in her hand, already half gone.
Aiden picked up his Wah cat. Liam picked up
Shay.
"So Ladies, what's new?" Aiden drawled as he
placed Ty up on top of the bookcase.
Shay leaned into Liam's neck. "Bad man hurt my
Liam, me put him in bad man cage." He whispered.
"Me sorry."
"That's okay little guy." Liam smiled, pleased
with the strength of force his protégé had and his
instinctive good. Rather than make Ashley a grease
spot on the pavement, his little Wahjee had chosen to
do something less harmful. Liam kissed baby's
forehead. "Liam and Daddy will fix things."
"We want Liam's sperm." Rosalie managed to
say between swallows.
"Oh." Aiden looked at Liam who looked back at
Aiden. "Oh." Both were speechless.
