10- Something in the Details.

Together, Tau and Quayleigh closed up the condo and with everything they had gathered in hand, they left. She was sure to lock the deadbolt while Tau called for the elevator. Once it arrived, they got in and Tau pressed the button for the garage level. Within a minute the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Stepping out, they found themselves in the underground parking for the building residence.

Each slip was numbered on the garage floor, as well as on the wall or pillars when it was possible. Each space was also lined by an additional box of space to ensure extra room surrounded each vehicle comfortably, given the excessively expensive nature of the cars and trucks parked within. Pressing on the lock button of the smooth round key-fab, they followed the distinct sound his car made, finding it parked at the far end of the garage in the corner slip.

It was a sleek, glossy black, luxury, high-end sedan with a vibrant red interior, tinted glass, and chrome details.

"Why am I not surprised that he would drive a car like this." She sighed knowing full well that in her lifetime she could never earn enough to afford buying one herself, despite it being a few years older than most of the other vehicles in the lot.

Unlocking the doors, they put their belongings on the back seat, and then climbed in. Quayleigh didn't know much of anything when it came to cars. She could barely tell one brand from another and only knew trucks and cars apart simply because of their appearance. However, she did know how to drive as Garren had insisted that she learn, although she only had experiences driving his old clunker that was the size of a boat, had the get-up-and-go of a turtle, and the turning radius of a cruise ship. This car, however, was a different beast. The inside was pristine, and still had the new car smell, proof that either Dylan didn't drive it much or he had taken extremely good care of it. This perhaps should have made her nervous, but in truth, she found it exciting. She had never imagined that in her life she would have ever gotten the opportunity to sit in a car like this, let alone drive it.

After adjusting the seat and mirrors, she showed Tau how to buckle his seatbelt before fastening her own and then she started the car. It ran so quietly that if not for the tachometer, she wouldn't have even known it was on. Putting it in reverse, she carefully backed out of the spot, and then followed the signs to the exit where she was stopped at a gate as a security guard stepped out of the small booth.

Rolling down the window, the guard leaned down and peered inside. "Oh, Mr. Kirkwood, I'm sorry, I didn't see you over there. You're a lucky one Miss. I've never seen him let anyone else drive his car before."

"Indeed, I am a lucky one." She smiled in reply as the guard went back in his booth and lifted the gate.

Rolling up the window. Quayleigh drove forward and once the way was clear, pulled out onto the road. Due to her impaired vision, she had to be extra careful, and always looked more than once to the left, when necessary. Despite the heavy afternoon traffic, they made it back to her apartment building without incident.

Quayleigh had a parking spot around the back of the building that came with renting the apartment, although since she didn't have a car, it was where Garren and Shane would park when they came to visit. So she opted to park the car in a visitors spot, since she knew that it was unlikely that she would be able to get a hold of Shane to let him know her spot was going to be in use, and explaining the sudden appearance of a car worth almost as much as the entire building it was parked next to in her spot was more than she wanted to get into over the phone, or ever if it could be avoided.

Unloading the car, she locked it up and they headed inside and up to her apartment.

"It's probably not safe to leave your car here over night. An expensive beauty like that is bound to draw the wrong kind of attention. I'll take it back later and catch a cab back before it gets dark," she said as she set her bag down in the kitchen.

"Where should I put this?" Tau asked as he held up his bag.

"Beside the couch should be fine. It's shocking how small this place feels now."

"But it's yours," Tau replied as he set down his bag and approached her. Reaching up, he placed his hand against her cheek and smiled, "This is the place you have made your home, and it's the place you welcomed me into."

Setting her hand over his, she leaned into his palm, "And you will always be welcome here. This is your home to. But… you have to admit, your place is WAY nicer than this."

Tau leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers whispering, "It's only nicer when you're there. Thank you for taking me back."

"Hey, it was my pleasure," she replied as she leaned back and looked up at him. "Thank you, for letting me drive your car." Taking a step back, his hand slipped from her cheek as she moved into the kitchen. "Do you want a cup of tea or a bottle of water?"

"Water would be nice."

Retrieving the bottles from the fridge, she handed one to him before grabbing her bag and moving over to the couch. "Shane should be here soon, but I'd like to get started looking over these papers. Interested in helping me?"

Tau smiled bright and was quick to joined her on the couch as she pried off her shoes. Following suit, as she removed the papers from the bag, he then pulled off his shirt and socks, setting them on top of his luggage.

"Still itchy?" she asked.

"Yes, but it's not as bad as before."

"Good. But keep your pants on until after Shane leaves. I don't want him to get the wrong idea." She giggled as she began to spread some of the notes out on the coffee table.

"What do you mean?"

"Shane's just the type of friend who would see you in your boxers, take it out of context and run with it. Knowing him, I would never hear the end of it. He's probably going to bug me about you being shirtless as it is, but since I need to see your tattoo again anyways, it's just easier this way. Do you have your cellphone and that notebook handy?"

Reaching over the side of the couch he pulled both out of the pocket on the side of his bag and handed them to her. Finding the passcode, she unlocked the phone and had him turn his back to her.

"Hold still for one moment," she said as she snapped several pictures of his tattoo, focusing on the parts that varied from the Rowda'meth sigil from her book. "There all done. Go back to being comfortable. You can open the patio door too if it's too warm in here for you."

"You don't mind?"

"No, go ahead. A breeze would be kind of nice," she said as he stood up and made his way towards the door.

Flipping through the pictures to make sure they came out okay, she then began to explore the contacts on his phone, ignoring the plethora of unread texts and emails that had piled up over the weeks since Tau had been trapped in his body.

Sliding open the patio door, Tau turned to see Quayleigh staring up at him, a worried expression on her face as she slowly held up the phone to show him a picture of a woman, the word 'MOM' in black text beneath it.

"Fucking hell Tau. Your mother, is Anquiliria Laurentian!"

"Who is that?"

"Only a famous practitioner, known for her contributions in the field of elemental magic. The Laurentian is a branch family of the Tarshen. And the Tarshen family is one of the five families blessed with the ability to perform magic at a reduced penalty. That little gift, extending all the way down through the line to Dylan is doubtful, but it explains why he turned to magic to try and bring his dead girlfriend back." Putting down the phone, Quays sighed, "There's no way you can stay away from Dylan's family forever Tau. Eventually they are bound to come looking for you. When they do…," she paused, choking down her emotions, "I don't even want to think about what they would do to you."

Tau returned to the couch and immediately embraced her, pulling her close to his chest. "They won't do anything to me Quayleigh. I, will not let them."

"I'm still afraid for you. If they discover what you are…," she grappled herself to him.

"They won't. You don't need to worry about this. Let's focus on figuring out what Dylan did. Then, maybe you can find a way to fix it," he said as he rubbed at her back turning his head and resting his temple against hers. "You can trust me. I'll keep us both safe."

"I almost believe that," she whispered as they separated, turning towards the pages on the table.

"His letter warned against removing the tattoo. Could releasing me from this body really be so easy?"

"No, sadly it can't be that easy. That sigil's already done its job. That's why I don't understand why he made it permanent to begin with. We could try preforming the ritual again, but there are huge holes in his notes, to the point where this doesn't even make any sense," she remarked as she compared the images of the Rowda'meth sigil from her book and the pictures of the one on his back to the drawings Dylan had made on his notes, matching up the areas that had been altered or changed. "This sigil is a communication sigil. Its sole purpose was to speak to the dead, but we both know that isn't really possible. And ghosts and phantasms, while the sigil will work to communicate with them, they aren't really people. So, anything they might communicate is pointless. So why use this as a base? Even with these changes, at most, he should have been able to summon a Shepherd to talk to, if they can even do that."

"They can, well some can. But are you certain this is the sigil he used? The center looks different to me."

Picking up the phone she took a closer look at the way the lines intersected, and the subtle differences in the angles and line thickness. "I thought this was just an alteration, but I think you're right. I don't see any notes about this anywhere. It's possible that the tattoo artist just screwed it up, but with the kind of wealth Dylan has at his disposal, why would he go to less than the best artist in the city?"

Sitting down the phone she began to look through the other papers they had gathered hoping to find information on the artist he had seen when her phone began to ring.

"Hello," she said as she answered her phone, and after a brief pause continued, "I'll buzz you in." Pressing a couple of buttons on the phone, she hung it back up and headed to the door, unlocking it and leaving it slightly ajar. Returning to the couch, she began to gather up the papers, "Shane's here," she told Tau who had picked up the book and had begun reading over the sigil's page.

"Do you have other books like this one?"

"A couple, but it will have to wait. I don't want Shane to get involved in this and if he sees these out, he is definitely going to ask," she remarked as she stacked up the papers and stuffed them into the bag, which she then carried over to her closet putting it inside. "The book, Tau."

Closing up the book he handed it to Quayleigh, who took it over to her bookshelf and put back in its place when Shane knocked on the door and pushed it opened.

"Sorry, I know I'm a bit late, but you would not believe the traffic out there today!" he said as Quayleigh ran to help him at the door.

"Was the plaza busy?"

"Must be this autumn chill in the air. People are out stocking up before the snow hits," he replied as they carried the bags into the kitchen. "Well, hello again, quiet and this time topless one. What was your name again?"

Standing from the couch, Tau turned and faced Shane, his brow once again furrowed, giving him that angry-all-the-time appearance that seemed to come naturally to him, as he said, "My name is Tauluthet."