Chapter 246: A nervous realtor joins the chat
Lucian’s nostrils flared and he exhaled slowly.
"There is someone at the door." He muttered quietly, stepping back away from Cass and turning towards the office door. "Get your evil mask on, Cassian. I’m sure it’s your realtor." Lucian turned, giving him a wink as Cass watched him.
Cass jumped into action, moving to sit behind the desk, his heart pounding in his chest at the casual way that Lucian was behaving.
Shit, fuck shit. How was the man so easily slipping past his defenses again? Even his groveling was just...Cass frowned, hitting the spot over his heart like he was trying to stamp it down. He wasn’t getting all worked up over Lucian. Especially not so soon.
Honestly. He was owed this kind of treatment after everything that he had gone through. He shouldn’t get feelings involved in this.
Cass could hear Lucian opening the front door and the soft chatter between him and the person on the other side. He couldn’t pick out exactly what was being said, but since there wasn’t any screaming or yelling, he assumed that whoever was at the door passed his test.
There was a soft knock on the office door before it opened and in stepped a bespeckled man who was looking rather nervous. He was wearing a nice suit, casual, normal, and his brown hair was slicked back with a gel of some kind, but Cass didn’t know what. His brown eyes glanced at Cass, before darting down and he gripped onto the handle of the brief case he was carrying rather nervously.
"Hello, Lord Blackburn. I was informed by Lord Vespertine that you wished to speak to me?" The man asked, looking even more nervous as Cass didn’t get to his feet, and Lucian stepped into the small room as well.
He looked like he was going to faint, and honestly Cass couldn’t blame the guy.
This was probably a rather stressful situation for any normal person.
"Ah yes. You’ll have to forgive me, I don’t remember your name." Cass told him and the man’s eyes widened.
"W-What? You don’t-did something happen?" He asked, looking even more worried. Cass felt his lips curl up slightly.
"I had an injury to my head that affected some of my memory. I’m okay now, but some things are still a bit foggy. I am aware I probably set up a method of recovery, correct?" Cass confirmed and the man turned pale, nodding.
"I-I-we did, my Lord. But I don’t know what to do in this situation if you don’t-oh, my name is Evan Collins, my Lord." The man was a wreck, and Cass shifted in his seat, watching him.
"That’s okay, Mr. Collins. I have my memory of the key, but not what I hold the keys to, does that make sense?" Cass said and Mr. Collins swallowed, looking quite pale still, but nodded.
"It does, Sir. Uh, is Mr. Draken going to remain with us as we chat?" He asked, nervously glancing at Lucian. Lucian, who had been trying to play off being in the room glanced at Cass. Cass gave him a look.
Lucian let out a heavy, put upon sigh, grabbed a few books that he’d probably scoped out, and left the room. Before he closed the door he glanced between them and then levelled Cass with a look.
"If you need anything, holler." He said pointedly before the door closed. Shortly after he was gone, and he was sure that he wasn’t coming back, Mr. Collins let out a shaky sigh.
"Forgive me my Lord, I just get so nervous with him at my back. All the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I just want to flee." That was probably a normal response, Cass thought. It was honestly pretty interesting that none of the people in the party with Lucian, an ancient being, had the same reaction.
He wondered if the gods had meddled with that, and then pushed that thought to the back of his mind.
"It’s alright. He’s only scary to those who are a threat to those of the hero party." Cass told him without much thought. Mr. Collins looked even more ill.
"What?" Mr. Collins said. "Who does he consider a threat?" He asked and Cass gave him a look. The man looked simply terrified and Cass felt his lips turn up completely in a smile.
"Mr. Collins, unless you want to be under suspicion, I suggest you calm yourself. I doubt a realtor would make the list unless you let my grandfather access my properties." Mr. Collins’ expression hardened.
"I would never let such a man come anywhere near your things." It was a strange thing to witness. He had been so anxious and worried that he’d been shaking in his boots. Until Cass had mentioned his grandfather.
It was a casual remark, not something that Cass put much thought into, but then again...Lord Blackburn was villain coded. And what did villains do?
Hire the people that others didn’t want to. What was illegal in this country? Being a demon, being the odd one out, and being attracted to the same sex. Cass could understand what category Mr. Collins fell into from that reaction alone.
Cass smirked.
"I’m glad to hear it." Cass told him and Mr. Collins let out an exhale.
"I will admit that it has been a task. You were smart to give me a passcode and put it in legal writing. They have been trying to probe over the last few months. I would recommend checking in with any others that you have keeping an eye on your properties and other assets as well, my Lord. He’s sneaky. That’s how he has gotten away with so much." He sounded angry, bitter, furious.
Damn, that Lord Blackburn was smart to get people like him on his side. Who would think that the nervous man just a few minutes ago would have this deep of a grudge? And he wasn’t even using him for that much evil.
Nice, Lord Blackburn. He owed the man a high five at their next round table meeting. After...his next week from hell.
"So they have been probing. I am glad that I put it into place as well. Have they gotten their hands on anything outside of your control?" Cass asked, knowing that Lord Blackburn would have asked him to keep an eye out and report back to him. He shook his head.
"No. Not anything I’m aware of. Well, if you don’t remember exactly what you own, shall we go over it? Of course, after you give me the passcode." Mr. Collins said, a little excited and a little nervous. "I feel like a spy saying that to you, my Lord." He said and Cass chuckled.
"Come closer so I can tell you. Someone in this house has big ears, and I’d rather be safe than sorry." Cass ordered and Mr. Collins did so, Cass whispering the code word to him, and Mr. Collins lit up.
"That’s correct! I’m glad you remembered, otherwise I would be devastated to turn around." He said and Cass nodded.
"I checked in with one of my banks when I first woke up forgetting I had put in a password system. They did not look pleased to tell me no." Cass said, then laughed. "He looked quite ill, actually. Like he thought I was going to have his neck wrung. Poor guy." Cass said with a sigh. "While I would like you to go through everything, I am particularly looking for something vacant that I can make into a temporary home while I am here. I plan to not stay at the manor in town, and make my home something else I own. Is there anything like that?" Cass asked and Mr. Collins grew thoughtful.
"I brought all of your listings that you’ve purchased and placed into my hands for management, so give me a moment. May I use the desk?" He asked and Cass nodded, gesturing grandly.
"Do go ahead." Cass told him and Mr. Collins fussed.
He was quite cute and reminded him of Sam quite a bit. He was a nervous man, but a quick worker, and his eyes darted around a lot. Like he was trying to observe everything and anyone. Cass had a feeling that if he hadn’t been brought to the dark side by Cass he probably would have been a bright and sunny man.
Someone else had stamped down his confidence and made him a nervous wreck. Cass was pretty sure his grandfather had something to do with that.
Cass shook the thought away, turning back to what Mr. Collins was doing and noticed the huge stack that he had pulled out. The man then began to sort them into piles. Cass didn’t know what those piles were until he was able to pick up on the reading.
Two piles for larger homes, one pile for commercial, and another two piles for smaller homes. There was another pile for just land, and Cass was beginning to understand that when Lord Blackburn had told Fiona that his family bankrolled the kingdom, he hadn’t been joking.
This was a ridiculous amount of money. More money than any person had a right to have.
And the piles? They were thick. Dense.
Cass really hoped that wasn’t all for this city and this town, because even if it was the main city, this was fucking ridiculous. He was really putting the meaning into a land Lord.
"Alright, this is the pile of upscale homes that you own but are rented, this pile is of upscale homes that are vacant, your commercial properties, your empty land deeds, and then your smaller homes that are rented and then are vacated. You can see that this pile is much smaller as an uptick of people looking for affordable homes has risen." He said, his eyes sparkling. "Tragically it’s because they are being chased from their previous homes, but they are grateful to know that we are offering homes where the owner doesn’t ask questions. Of course they find it suspicious, but they rarely ask questions after a few months." Mr. Collins told him, and Cass was happy to hear that.
Lord Blackburn was a good land Lord. Nice.