I moved my head down to Esteban’s chest. Neither of us spoke, but both of us breathed heavily. For all the sadness, I was home, and I knew it. I licked his left nipple, and then his right. I bit on the right one and he moaned.

He moved his hand into my hair, and ran it from front to back, and then moved my head up his body. I lifted my head and then I tenderly kissed his chest.

“I’m glad you're home,” he said, and then kissed the crown of my head.

I mumbled agreement, and nodded into his chest. I heard his heart beat, steady and strong, like him.

“I was terrified without you,” he said.

I leaned up so that I was looking at his face, my own face a question. Esteban had lived a hard life before coming to live with my family, and I had rarely seen him show weakness. I realized suddenly that it was something he had saved for my parents, and now me.

“I lost my own parents, Peter,” he said. “Losing yours has brought that all back. The entire time I knew you were on the plane, I worried about you. I would fall apart if something happened to you.”

“We’re going to make it,” I said to Esteban, leaning up and kissing the front of his forehead now.

A loud noise, not unlike the company helicopter starting up, turned our attention to the bedroom windows. I looked at Esteban, and he looked at me. What was it? What was the sound?

I ran to a window, Esteban following behind me. The noise was loud and strong. A dark shadow passed the window, and then got closer. A loud thump told us that it made contact with the window. The dark shape hovered off.

I began to open the window, and Esteban pulled me back.

“God only knows what it is, Peter. If you open the window, you might let it in.”

I nodded to him. The two bedroom windows were each about five feet tall and designed long before screens were a norm.

I moved close to the window again, and the dark shadow blocked out the exterior lights. Another thump on the window made Esteban and I both jump.

I ran to one of the bed stands and pulled out a small pistol. Esteban looked at me and then walked to the other bed stand and pulled out an identical gun.

I raced down the stairs, Esteban following me. As I approached the door, he shouted.

“Peter, wait!”

“Esteban, it’s one thing to not let it in. It’s another to ignore it. This is a time when we need to know our enemies,” I said, opening the front door.

“And our friends,” he said, walking behind me.

As I walked out of the protection of the house and into the night, the noise became louder and louder. I looked up at a dark object moving fast in the air over the grounds. It moved past a light and I suddenly glimpsed what had caused the sound. I turned back to Esteban.

“Esteban, is it ...?”

He nodded at me.

“I think it is, Peter.”

It moved through the air right above us, and I felt a rush of air pass over my naked body. I followed it with my eyes as it crossed back and forth what I imagined was a forty-foot area in front of the manor.

Suddenly, as it flew across the lawn, it stopped and landed about ten feet in front of me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Standing before me, at what I guessed to be over seven feet tall, stood a muscular greyish figure with giant round red eyes. With its wings spread open it seemed to cover an area of probably twenty feet, but I knew that couldn’t be accurate. It stood across from me, huge and overwhelming, and it seemed to be looking right at me.

Esteban ran next to me, and then in front of me.

“Get behind me, Peter,” he said.

I loved his protective nature, but I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and right now, I wasn’t sure either of us needed protecting. I pushed my arm in front of Esteban and moved him from in front of me to my side.

“Look at it, Esteban,” I said. “Look at him.”

Esteban stood next to me, and for a moment we stood silent, transfixed. The red-eyed creature stared at us, but in that stare was a message.

Be warned, it seemed to say. Be warned.