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Back at the Brotherhood compound, Tohr held the basement door open and stood aside as John passed by and hit the stairs

Descending after the other male, Tohr&039;s body was stiff, especially his back and shoulders His nightly workouts as a furniture h After a final three-hour push this evening, his and Wellsie&039;s house was officially e entered into Caldwell&039;s MLS syste the day, and the price they had set was aggressive, but not crazy If Tohr had to carry the costs of the place for another couple of , that was fine

Meanwhile, the furniture and rugs had been s and etchings and ink drawings were up in the climate-controlled part of the attic; and the jewelry box was in Tohr&039;s closet above thedress

So it was done

At the bottom of the stairs, he and John set off at a resolute pace that took theh a cavernous rooh heat to keep the main part of the house warm, but threatened to fry his face and body as he strode into its orbit

Continuing onward, their footsteps were loud, the air cooling fast as they left the boiler&039;s range and hit the second half of the basee rooms, one of which would soon hold the balance of his and Wellsie&039;s furniture, another of which was V&039;s private workspace

No, not that kind of work

He used his penthouse for that shit

Vishous&039;s forge was down here

The sound of the Brother&039;s fire-breathing monster started off as a low hum; by the tih to drown out the sound of their shitkickers In fact, the only thing that cut through the din was the tink-tink-tink of V pounding a hammer on red-hot black metal

As they stepped into the doorway of the cramped stone roo in the orange light of the flaain His concentration was fierce - and it should be The blade that strip ofits owner alive, as well as getting the eneood and dead

The Brother looked up as they appeared, and nodded After two en feed to the fire pit

"What&039;s doing?" he said as the great growl settled into a purr

Tohr glanced over at John Matthew The kid had been a star throughout the whole process, never faltering in the gri a lifetime&039;s worth of keepsakes, mementos, and collections

So hard, this was On the both of them

After a moment, Tohr looked back at his brother and found hietting to his feet Reloves that went up to his elbows, he stepped free of his station

"Yeah, I&039;ve got them," the brother said "Back at the Pit Come on"

Tohr nodded, because that was all he had to share with anyone Still, as the three of them filed out and walked in sad silence back for the stairs, he clapped his hand on John&039;s nape and kept it there

The contact coed into the kitchen, there was too much Last Meal chaos for any of the staff to really notice them - so fortunately there were no questions, no kind inquiries, no guesses about why they were all looking so serious

Out the butler&039;s pantry Hop across to the hidden door beneath the staircase Down into the tunnel to avoid the cold of the winter

As they hung a right and headed in the opposite direction fro center, he couldn&039;t believe on so His shitkickers even faltered a couple of ti to pull him away from this last piece

He was resolved, however

At the door that led into the Pit, V punched in the code and opened the way up, indicating that they should go first

The place where Butch and V bunked in with their shellans was the same as always - except neater now that there were fe there: The Sports Illustrateds were in an orderly pile on the coffee table; the kitchen didn&039;t have e and Goose all over the counters; and there were no

V&039;s Four Toys still took up one whole corner, however, and thein the place

Soe

"She&039;s in my roouy into his private space, but this was not ordinary

V and Doc Jane&039;s room was small and had more books than bed in it, stacks of physics to until you could barely walk on it The good doctor sty, however, with the duvet all pulled up nice and neat, and the pillows angled carefully against the headboard

Over in the corner, Vishous opened the closet and reached up to the top shelf, straining even with his height for

The black velvet - wrapped bundle he brought out was big enough and heavy enough to require both hands, and he grunted as he eased back and carried it over to the bed

As he put the thing down, Tohr had to force hi

There she was His Wellsie Everything that was left of her on earth

Lowering onto his knees before her, he reached forward and undid the satin bow at the top With hands that shook, he pried the velvet bag open and pushed it down, revealing a sterling silver urn that had art deco etchings on its four sides

"Where did you get this?" he said, running a forefinger down the bright, shiny metal

"Darius had it in a back room I think it&039;s Tiffany, from the thirties Fritz polished it up"

The urn was not part of their tradition

Ashes were not meant to be kept

They were supposed to be set free

"It&039;s beautiful" He glanced up at John The kid&039;s face was pale, his lips tight and in a quick, slashing movement, he brushed under his left eye "We&039;re ready to do her Fade ceremony, aren&039;t we, son"

John nodded

"When?" V asked

"Toain, Tohr said, "Yeah, tomorrow"

"You want I talk to Fritz and set it up?" V asked

"Thanks, but I&039;ll take care of it John and I are going to do it" Tohr refocused on the lovely urn "He and I are going to let her go together"

Standing over Tohr, John was having a difficult ti to him more: the fact that Wellsie was actually in the roo before that urn as if his legs weren&039;t working right

The past couple of nights had been a brutal exercise in reorientation It wasn&039;t that he hadn&039;t known Wellsie was gone; it was just dis in that house hadin his head

Godda to know that he&039;d h his transition, or that he was a halfway decent fighter, or that he&039;d gotten mated If he ever had a child of his own, she&039;d never hold it in her aret to witness first steps or first words

Her absencethat that was always going to be true

As Tohr bent his head, John went over and put his pal hi through was a thousand ti all those out and safe decisions about everything fro steadily in spite of the fact that he had to be raw on the inside

If John hadn&039;t respected the fuck out of the Brother before, he sure as hell did now -