Reconnaissance

Zani stretched and then stood up shaking a bit of snow from him and moved looming over Xerxes who was perched on a rather large rock. He was on his back, his eyes closed and the sun was beating down at the moment from the blue sky.

"You're blocking my sun," Xerxes said, cracking an eye and looking at the deep blue gaze staring at him. Zani was a fairly large size at the moment.

'Lazy is what you are.' Zani stated mentally just to see if he would get a raise out of Xerxes.

"I didn't hear you complaining at all laying there soaking up the sun a minute ago. Nor the fact that you have a full stomach." Xerxes commented stretching and sitting up putting an arm on his leg casually. He rubbed a hand through his hair making it stick out at odd angles.

'You are too calm and relaxed. It is unnerving to me, normally you have far too much restless energy than is good for either of us.' Besides obvious reasons, it was very strange for Zani. Xerxes was forever a bundle of energy.

"Comes with being a manifestation of spirit. Either way, what are you complaining about, I feel really good and your mood has improved as well." He said, there was a smile on his face looking at him and Zani bobbed his head a bit.

'You should try and control your thoughts a bit. You don't seem able to think clearly about certain things. Like some love-drunk youth,' Zani grumbled a bit. Xerxes gave a wider smile and he just pointed at Zani for a moment.

"You enjoyed the feeling far more than you admit. I most certainly did, far more than I thought." Xerxes wanted to roll his eyes at Zani a bit. He was forever being the cautious worrywart.

'As if I couldn't tell.' Zani said, but couldn't really fault him. He was in a better mood and felt far better physically than he had in a long time. Zani was affected by it as well and soaked it up like a sponge, the relief was amazing.

"Don't worry," Xerxes said picking up Zani's other thoughts. "I'll try and control the need for sex a bit more. Not let it run my thoughts since it bothers you so old timer." Zani just made a sound.

'Like you could ever control yourself.' Xerxes shrugged and looked toward the mountain.

"Shall we see what our human friends are up to?" He asked Zani, his green eyes still brighter than normal. Xerxes' good mood was contagious to him, and it was a much-needed change. Zani made a nod, yes they still had to deal with these humans collecting supernaturals. They weren't sure if they should take care of the group or go find their headquarters and see what to do there. Xerxes was now thinking about what they might be able to get from Kendra if she helped them. Though one thing at a time there.

'Yes let us see what it is that they are doing.' Zani said and Xerxes moved going up and onto his back. Zani took off causing tree branches to sway with the powerful down thrust of his wings and snow blew around in mini tornadoes. It was a fast flight low over the trees, mostly conifers this high up.

Xerxes drew out his wings and pushed off Zani jerking back slightly as the wind caught his wings and he was pulled up a bit. He steadied himself slowly and Zani became smaller, about the size of a medium dog. They spotted the area that the nosey humans were scouting on their mountain. They dropped from the sky a short distance away to not be noticed yet.

Xerxes pulled his wings in and plummeted downward toward the ground. He gave a sudden out thrust and slowed nearly stopping in midair. He pulled his wings in again and landed on the ground. His knees bent just a bit with the impact. He looked up at the sky between the trees. Zani glided down and changed size again and landed with expert skill onto Xerxes' shoulder.

'We make it look easy.' Zani said looking up at the narrow space between the trees.

'Yes, but let's not tell them how many times we failed learning hmm?' Xerxes mentally teased. Zani gave a kind of rumble in his chest that was laughter as they moved forward through the trees, they could smell the humans. Though it was very faint. As if they were hiding their scents.

'Broken wings are quite possibly the most painful thing I've ever experienced.' He said seriously, he might have hide that was hard as diamonds, but his bones could still break with bad impacts. He'd done it hard enough a couple of times to puncture bone through skin, which said a lot.

'Then perhaps you shouldn't have tried it from so high the first time.' Xerxes commented moving through the trees and spotting a bit of movement. He moved parallel to them, making sure that the demon didn't feel him. They were talking mind to mind as to make no sound as they spied on those trying to spy on them.

'I could say the same thing to you, who had the tree branches sticking out of their side?'

'Only because it couldn't puncture yours. Fucking down drafts.' Xerxes said irritably. They followed the group for a while and they were near the base of their mountain. It was less cover now, so they hung back and blurred their image with well-practiced spells and just watched. Looking to see what the humans planned. If they thought to climb they were going to kill them. However, Kendra was right, if they outright attacked then the suspicion of their cave would grow. They would send more humans. These war games were not fun but had to be played right.

From here it was easy to see that this side of the mountain was a straight upward face, no slope at all. Except about two thousand feet up, and that was snow and ice covered. Then it went back to a near vertical climb and there was a glacier moving around the valley between the mountain near it. They were already on the slope of the base but it only got worse from here.

"That's not going to be an easy climb and it's just not practical. They picked a very secure spot up there." One of them said and Xerxes leaned against a tree from a covered spot watching the group. The demon was staring up and seemed to be thinking.

"They have to have another entrance to it." He said, and out of the group, Xerxes knew that if the demon put his mind to it he could make the climb. Maybe not in a day, but he could make the climb. Didn't matter they were going to do away with him as soon as possible.

"Do they know that we are here?" Another asked.

"I haven't felt anything, but that doesn't mean no. My guess is that if they do figure it out, he can mask his presence if he wants to. He's not an armature having lived this long without notice." The demon stated.

'Why do they always give you the credit, like I can't think for myself?' Zani asked, his spikes raising slightly in agitation.

'Because to them you are an animal, and because of that they will underestimate you greatly and you will win.' He just made a small sound. Still pissed him off, he was not some animal. He was an incredibly intelligent creature. Not being human-like didn't make him stupid.

'Humans are stupid, blind creatures.' That wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know.

"So what do you want to do Riley?" A taller male asked. "We can't hike up there like this, and finding a second entrance will be near impossible. It could be anywhere." That it could, and the second entrance that Xerxes used was on the other side only six thousand feet up. The network of caves you could get lost in easily.

There was one more entrance, but he hadn't used that since he was a child. It was near the base about forty miles from here. He wouldn't use that one either, it wasn't as stable, and at certain times of the year part of the passage was filled with water. Mythical creature or not, mother nature was still damn powerful.

"We just need to map this for now is all." The dark-skinned male said. Xerxes logged his name away, Riley. He'd heard it before and knew that he was in charge here.

"You know Kendra is most likely right. We shouldn't mess with this, we are at an extreme disadvantage here. There is no defending yourself once that high up, and plus we would have to come down. It would take over a week just for the climb up. And that's from a drop-off point." This is from a woman.

"If we went up, we would get as far up by plane or helicopter first. Makes it easier and be picked up the same way. And it would be far shorter than a week."

'These humans are persistent.'

'That they are.' Xerxes said.

"Could you do it faster than that?" Riley asked the demon.

"I could, especially if dropped off farther up."

"We shall talk with Niki as well, see how fast he can do it."

'We need to speak with this vampire, he is older than us and has power. The demon is still young in this world and not as powerful.' Zani said. They were both getting the impression that Niki might not be with this group because he wanted to be. So they might have another avenue to get help.

'We will still watch out for him, and yes we should go speak to this vampire. See where he sits, and why he helps the humans. It is clear the demon benefits from this arrangement.' Xerxes said they were satisfied that for now, the humans were not going to attempt anything. The two turned to leave them. The sun was still up and if the humans were going to try something they needed to get ahead of them. So their first avenue was Kendra but the second might be this vampire. They had a small window to try and find the vampire before he woke. They had seen him take off into the tree area to find a place to rest. So perhaps Kendra wasn't the only one in this group they could reach. The best way to destroy an enemy was from within.