The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 10 The Trip

Andre and Caleb inspected the repairs to their offices. The door that had been hanging on with latches and padlocks was now a solid core oak door with frosted security glass and a blessed hardened silver handle. The frame was reinforced beams with metal bracings. The wooden stairs had been replaced with poured concrete and trimmed with cold iron railings. The overhang had been completely replaced and added a pair of lights for better visibility. Inside the beam in front of the door had been replaced and reinforced with metal bracings along with fresh plaster and paint. The construction manager said that the doorway could now handle a small army trying to break in.

In truth, Andre and Caleb were less worried about a small army and more worried about a large demon, which is what had caused the damage in the first place. They were currently involved in a not-so-cold war with an Infernal House, a demonic law firm, and a very unhappy infernal thrall lawyer.

The property manager was going over the repairs with a fine tooth comb looking for any little thing that he could use to either disqualify them from a lease renewal or allow for a rent increase. But as both men were standing there with print copies of their lease, the odds that he was going to find anything were slim to none. After over an hour of inspecting, poking, prodding, and attempting to shake every little thing to find a loose screw or fitting to complain about, he was satisfied, "Your contractor did a good job. Everything falls within lease parameters. Make sure it stays that way this time!" and he stomped away and got into his car and drove away.

"Jerk." Said Andre, "took him long enough. But it's finally done, 2 days behind schedule but it's as solid as humanly possible. Once we get the wards back up when we get back it'll be even more so."

"Yeah," said Caleb, "let's get back to the hotel and get this show on the road. We're 9 days behind schedule. Not that we were on a particularly tight schedule, but I don't want to tempt fate that another demonic attack will come our way before we go. My burns are still tender from the last one." He said rubbing his face. 5 days previously they had fought off a surprise attack by infernal thralls and a demon, they survived but had been injured in the process.

The 2 men got into Andre's van and headed back to the hotel where the rest of their group was. Frankie, Tilly, and Kyle were waiting. The group had been through a lot in the past year and it had brought them together as a family unit, so much so that when the decision to move hundreds of miles away for their safety came up no one had any major objections. Kyle would be leaving his wife and daughter behind, but that was safest for them.

Andre and Caleb arrived back and pulled into the underground garage, which had had a good deal of security upgrades in the past 5 days, including the addition of an armed guard by the elevator.

When they reached their rooms, they walked in and the others looked up, "So how did it go?" asked Frankie.

"Good, he tried to shake the foundations loose but in the end, he couldn't find anything wrong that was covered by the lease. He didn't like the paint color though, which just broke my heart." Andre said with a fake sob. "Any changes here?"

"Nope," said Tilly, "Just cabin fever and wanting to get on the road. We did have one question. What are we doing with the golems?" she asked pointing at the pair of 7-foot-tall statues dressed roughly like 1920's mobsters.

"That's a good question. Since it was Festus who got them here, let's ask him how to return the things." Andre replied.

He walked over to the desk and drew a small summoning circle on the desk with chalk, "Festus of the 6th House of Pyres I call out to you, if you are willing, please join us for words." He intoned in an ancient language.