All the grace and Finesse of a charging Rhinoceros

"Indeed they did! That was a grand thing!" I whisper back, breathing deeply. It worked. It really worked, and far better than I had expected. Between Djhuety's changing of the world and my addition of all the requisite emotions and thoughts to keep the story alive and real in their heads, they are still befuddled. And Devor's mind is full of one emotion: avarice. Desperate greed. He's as caught in our net as an eel between the teeth.
But we'd best not get cocky yet. Even a dying eel can still bite.
"And there is more." I say. "Will you allow us to show you?"
Whetting his thin lips, Devor nods.
I change the song, catching Djhuety's eye, and he nods. I watch his eyes wander the room, and fall on a tiny ship in a bottle full of flashing lightning. His words weave under and around my song, the fiddle to my whistle, and the room fades. Strewn across the floor are thousands of gold Spanish and English and French coins, great bars of silver jumbled with human bones and shining shells, jewels bright as blood and fire, fine and jeweled swords, rapiers and Oriental jade statues pouring from rotting burlap wrappings. Pearls like shimmering bubbles lay scattered over every flat surface. A diamond the size of a quail egg peeks from the jaws of a human skull, and treasure covers the whitening bones.Where the fireplace had been, a great mountain of treasure sits, a great chest at its peak with the legend
Wydah, London 1700 emblazoned in its wood. In the light of torches around the walls, the treasure gleams.
"The treasure of the Wydah." Djhuety proclaims, "The greatest pirate haul of all history." And because he has said it, it is, here as every man who has dreamed of the sea and the buccaneers has ever imagined it. In my song is awe and mystery, adventure and the freedom of having enough resources to never worry again, the giddy freedom of power.Tossing the tale between us like this, balancing it, is intoxicating.
Slowly, tantalizingly, we let the bright and shining images fade away, until all the dreams of the sea's riches are again bottled with the little ship under a thundering sky. Devor leans forward. I swear he'll start panting soon.

This time when our eyes meet, we don't even need words.
*One more time, and we've got him.*
Djhuety nods. And this time, his eyes fall on a ring on Devor's finger. I can feel the shift in his emotions, and I match them.
This time, the room changes into the spotless metal decks of a ship of the future, but only a great warehouse shows beyond its windows. And on its deck.... A ring. Glowing. I raise my voice in triumph and fierce joy, Djhuety's voice weaving the truth of a weapon that can bring anyone and anything to its knees. Around it I weave the longing for the candy that you knew was bad for you as a child and wanted anyway, like the dangerous joy of taking something that's not yours and running, the fierce joy of winning a fight and standing over your opponent. "And it's there for the taking." Djhuety says, before letting the image fade.
Devor is on his feet now, staring at us with shining eyes. “This is all in one place?”
I nod. “It is indeed. A great horde, gathered by an ancient man of the Nightside, the Griffin, and hidden away to be spent over his endless life.” I improvise, remembering what I’ve been hearing. “But since his endless life is now ended…” I shrug. “The treasure is waiting. Waiting for the rightful owner" I say. "We come here to sell you the location." Into the words, just in case, I weave excitement, longing, need, along with just a hint of fear, to add a sense of urgency. Devor swallows again, like a man looking at a beautiful woman that he longs to touch.
"What's your price?"
I allow myself a small smile.

At his question, Lily cackles madly, sliding in next to DeVore and staring fixedly at him through the thin, greasy locks of graying hair. "Honey, you think money would cover that trove?" She cackles again, before caressing his thin jaw. "Takes more then money to buy money, Love."

Devor slaps her hand away, repulsion worming through his mind. "Keep your hag on a leash. And tell me the price."

"I hate to say it, Sir, but we keep her for a reason; she's usually right." I nod and Lily scampers back to my side. "We aren't talking pound notes."

"Then what?" Devor demands, placing his hands flat on his desk, "Real estate? I got more land in the Nightside than anybody could ever use. Protection? No trouble. Name your price. But don't cock me around much longer, boyo. I'm running out of patience."

"All we require is information," I smile, showing as many teeth as I dare while Lily huddles into me. "We require unrestricted access to your records and files, your libraries and historical document. Every piece of paper, stone and clay in your opulent abode." I pause, praying that Lilly had enough contact to lock away all his other emotions, save for greed.

Devor's dark little eyes dart from one of us to the other. I hold my breath. If this doesn't work....
"Fine." He says finally, "But on condition. No recording, no copying. You get free reign for....eight hours. And then you get your asses out of my house. Got it?"

"And as we depart, we will give you the location."

Devor stares at us for a long moment, looking as if he's tasted something sour. "Deal." He says harshly. "But don't try anything cute." I snort, catching Kaija's eye. *can you be any more trite?* She grins, and I see smiles as others receive the thought.

I smile viciously; "You already know where it is; you just won't remember till we leave your house with what we seek."

"Now that was worthy of your Kindred blood." I whisper as we are led, first, to a library, filled with books and filing cabinets. Two men stand guard at the doors, watching us with dull eyes. I turn away. We have work to do.

I nod to the guards as we pass a short motion acknowledging that they are watching us while Kaija Ignacy and I watch them. " well shall we get started, there is likely a lot to sift through"

"I'll start with the filing cabinets over there," I say, pointing. "Liam, give me a hand?"

I look at Ignacy and murmur, "No fires will be started in this room," before taking Lily by the shoulders and guiding her to a bookcase. "You start here; look for anything that locks or might hide something more. Ignacy, I may need your help reaching the higher shelves over here... I want to look at some of those vases." I turn a circle, trying to think like a small minded rat. "I WILL find you, you bastards."

i frown and say "you wont let me kill marty the hutt or call him marty the hutt and you wont let me start fires" i throw my hands in the air in rage "oh! the inequity!"

"You permit me to dispose of Marten or reference him as a grotesque, sentient space slug and you disallow me to play to my pyrotechnic strengths. Oh, the inequity!"

I smile as I continue to circle, "Ignacy, we need to dig up information... remember, pillage, then burn"

" All in good time." I say to ignacy "Wordsmith let go of your anger. It only hinders you right now." I then take a book off one of the shelves and begin pretending to read it mostly looking at the charcoal rubbings in it. My frustration growing as I try to make sense of the gibberish in front of me

I glance at Liam, surprised by the frustration and anger running through his head. "Hey, take some of your own advice. Calm down; the first book you picked up wasn't going to have the answers."

" not that it is just giving me a headache that's all." I rub my eyes it wasn't a lie persay just an omition of why "don't worry about it. Besides I rule my anger not the other way around"

I shrug, handing him a file. "See what's in there."
After a few minutes, I glance back; Liam hasn't so much as turned a page, and his brow is furrowed. I glance at the page; it's only a short list of names.
"Liam, are you having trouble? I've got something with me for headaches."

"It's fine. Why don't you help kaija out she has a better head for this stuff but there is a lot I am sure she is unfamiliar with" my lip curls wryly "if it gets too bad I will simply talk to the guards they hear more then people realize"

I stare at him for a long moment. "You can't read English very well. Can you?"

Startled, I look up from a large photo album I've pulled from the bookcase just before Ignacy scaters into kindling with his vorple blade. "You can't read?"

I shake my head slowly "runes yes. English not so much. Look at it from the point of view of the people I worked for, it ment it was harder for me to betray their secrets to their enimies" I shrug " always assumed it was one of the things I had forgotten"