He would optimize. The building was way too big for their needs, and they only ever used parts of it. They could demolish those neglected parts and sell the rubble. Use the cash for renovations. Improve the essential parts of their home.
He could take Laurent on a long vacation, maybe they could even visit France, so Laurent could see how his homeland had changed in the past two hundred years. Sure, Beast would have to still mind the business of the Kings, but if their arrangement with Magpie was to stay in place, then cash flow would remain steady. He could dedicate more time to building a future, rather than fighting tooth and nail to keep the status quo.
Maybe once he took a breather from the endless parties, he wouldn’t mind them as much. It wasn’t like he hated orgies or concerts. It was the relentless pace and the explosive violence that tired him out.
Club life was all Beast knew, and he wouldn’t mind developing the concert venue side of things. The building attracted people with its infamy. If they improved the security of the clubhouse itself, gigs and parties could remain their go-to method of laundering cash.
Beast even had ordinary business ideas, which had always been blocked by King, like selling club merch, or doing two or three large-scale events per year instead of the constant parties that drained their coffers and burned out some of the members. They could still have their fun, but smaller gatherings could be all about their needs as a club, not about the threat of the entity that lived on the other side of a mirror.
But renovations needed to be prioritized if they didn’t want someone falling through a rotting floor and impaling themselves on a broken window. With how vast the building was, that poor sucker would have been half-eaten by rats by the time someone found them.
Sweat glinted on the naked body of the handsome metalhead, whose eyes briefly met Beast’s. There was nice definition to his muscles and perhaps, in another life, Beast would have gravitated the man’s way, tempted by the matted long hair and the flush on his body. But before the guy could have made a more blatant gesture of invitation, Joker appeared behind him, twisting his hand in the brown mane and leading him away like a man taking his dog home.
Beast exhaled, wondering whether the pretty boy knew what he was in for, because Joker could be one rough fuck. Then again, the people who pined for bikers usually weren’t the fragile flower variety.
Elliot passed in front of him, still dressed like when he’d arrived a few hours back, in a dark blue frock coat based on historical designs. Laurent and Elliot had disappeared somewhere following the strange reunion between ghosts—Beast couldn’t believe he was even thinking of it as a fact—but perhaps Elliot’s return meant Beast’s husband was done asking the entities unnecessary questions about Baal. He’d already been rude enough to Magpie, but Beast didn’t want to school him. They were married, and he didn’t want to stifle the personality he’d fallen in love with. No harm done. Surely Magpie had already forgotten about the quiet insults, thanks to the handsome man he’d earlier taken to one of the private rooms downstairs.
It was all about hospitality.
Beast found himself in an empty corridor to take a breather, but solitude came at the price of having to deal with wind howling through broken windows. Old leaves and dirt littered the floor, and a glass bottle startled him when the wind pushed it along. So much work still to be done.
He looked out of the window, at the building that housed their gym, and Gray’s apartment. Beast could only imagine the storm of emotion going on in his friend’s head. The ruby they’d found with the ghost had turned out to be miniscule, and their efforts would need to double if they wanted to keep Shadow alive after the next new moon. While Beast was feeling tired and melancholic, Gray was surely focused on other ways to grant Shadow a future.
The whole club would rally around them and help, but there was only so much they could do. No matter how helpful Shadow had proved to be, how much Gray cared for him, the future of the entire world was more important. Tomorrow, they would assess Shadow’s options and come up with new ideas. Beast would never turn his back on a brother in need, and neither would the others.
His phone rang, and he took a deep breath when he saw Laurent’s name on the screen. No matter how much he loved his husband, he wasn’t in the mood for ghost drama.
He still smiled at the sound of Laurent’s voice when he picked up the call. He had this strange phone manner where he would just start talking without a greeting.