What We Do In The Shadows: "Jen..."
Summary: There are unexpected consequences when Laszlo seeks a new human familiar…
Part XIV…
The enormous living room of the Fielderson estate…Night…
"Look at that…" Laszlo, fascinated as Jen turns the large floor to ceiling windows to opaque and then to opaque outside only then transparent…
"Amazing…" Nandor stares. "And you say the middle setting lets light in but denies the meddlesome any view from outside?"
"That's right…" Jen nods. "Though we might want to put in a new control that only goes to full opaque and locks, to prevent any accidents…."
"Yes…I know Laszlo could easily fry himself fooling about the controls…" Nadja notes, to his frown… "Come, you know you love to fool with control things and you always ruin the good settings, look at our television back home."
"I fixed that, it's much better now…" Laszlo protests.
"This could have been very useful in my day as a general…For concealment of forces and supplies." Nandor reflects.
"Is Mr. Robinson all right in the pool like that?" Guillermo stares out the again transparent window.
"He's fine, he can do that float for hours…He doesn't really need to breathe." Laszlo notes.
"And we don't need to see him…Jennifer, if you would…?" Nandor indicates the windows, she turning them back to opaque.
"Oh, you should be going Jen. Doesn't your husband have dinner waiting?" Laszlo, solicitously.
"Yes, and your daughter should not go to bed without Mama present…" Nadja agrees.
"Well…If you're sure you can see all you want around the place…?" Jen, hesitantly.
"Absolutely…And we'll leave the keys with the guard on the way out." Laszlo nods, shaking keys in his hand. "We can handle it."
"Yes, my dear…Go…And have a very nice evening with your family." Nandor, benevolently. "This place is wonderful. You have served your master and all of us well." Nod. She beaming.
"Thanks…I live to serve…And I love all of you." She bows. "I'll get Ginny over tomorrow night and we'll get moving on this…So long as you're sure you're happy with the place. Remember, if there's anything you don't like or feel is quite right, I can take care of it. And of course, we'll do a full inspection with an expert when things get rolling."
"We'll do a very careful check and let you know any concerns…Have a wonderful evening, my dear." Laszlo beams.
"Gui? You get some rest too." Jen pats him as she heads for the door.
"Thanks. I will." He beams.
"And tell Mr. Robinson it was so nice to finally meet him and I'm glad he likes the pool…" Jen calls from the door and then heads out, closing.
"Will do that." Laszlo, waving grandly.
"Kiss the little one for me, child…" Nadja calls.
"I will!" Jen's voice through door.
"The palace may be acceptable…" the Baron's familiar suddenly appeared in the living room doorway, addressing Nandor who jumped a bit. "What rooms will be reserved for the Baron?"
….
"I'm so relieved they all seem to like the place…" Jen, in her car, adjusting rear-view mirror. "I know being from Europe and so experienced, they've seen a lot of places and this could have seemed like…'Eh'…But they liked it!" she beams.
"Of course, it will be tricky to arrange the sale and the transactions but given the Master's and the others' powers I doubt it'll be too difficult. Then comes selling their place, which really should not be a problem, I think I have at least two people who'd snap it up." She ponders. "You know, come to think of it, I think one of them, Miss Reynolds, might be a vampire herself. I've never seen her except after dark…No, there was that one time we had coffee in the morning when I showed her the Weissner place. Nope, not a vampire unless she's one like Mr. Robinson. Well…" shrug.
"I really think Mrs. Cravensworth, Mistress Nadja, is warming up to me. At the Master's suggestion, I'm trying not to force it, just be nice and friendly and leave her her space. But she did seem to be happy with the place and it was sweet when she stood up for me with that strange lady, the one they say is familiar to their guest the Baron." Thoughtful pause.
"I wonder when I'll meet him. He sounds really important and powerful, though a little dangerous to be around if you're human. Well, I'll be careful…I'm commanded to be." Nod. Sound from her dashboard, light and image indicating phone call coming through. "Oh, there's Davey. He's getting antsy, so sweet." Fond smile, pressing button. "HI! I'm on the way!"
"Ok, I just wanted to check." David's voice from the dashboard speakers. "Everything go ok?"
"Honey, I think I just moved the Fielderson estate." Jen notes, a gleeful tone. "Ginny's gonna be so excited."
"That's great…But, it's hers right? Will you split the commission?"
"Well, we'll see…Ginny'll do ok by me, I'm sure. Oh and I should be doing well on the Cravensworth place. They want to go ahead now they've seen the Fielderson."
"Great…But I hope you won't have to work too hard, Jen. You seemed pretty tired today."
"I'm fine…It'll be a lot of work but you know me, I can handle it. Tell Suzie I'll be home soon."
"Ok, I've got dinner ready. Hurry up but drive carefully."
"Yes, sir!" mock salute. "Love you!" she pressed phone off.
"He worries about me…It's so sweet. I really believe he'd try to kill the Master and the others if he knew I was in their grip. But that would be…Just awful…" slight grimace. "I'd have to kill him and I'd really feel so bad, I think. Though Master Laszlo would probably have me forget all about it…" wan look, then brightening. "But I'll be careful and he won't find out. And if he does, Master Laszlo could make him forget…Or enthrall him too. So it should be fine, right?" wan smile.
"Well, I worry too much sometimes. It was a great day and I should just do as the Master commanded and go home and have a wonderful evening."
…..
"Now this is a dining hall…" Laszlo looks about the huge dining room…With multilayered marble and glass fireplace in center of one side. Polished marble floor.
"We would never entertain this many…" Nadja stares, looking about.
"I don't see why not…When we establish dominion, we'll need to entertain more." Laszlo shrugged. "And it's nice in any case for when we have more vampires over. Hell, maybe we could even invite the local Werewolf Support Group in the interests of the truce. Let them have the run of the back acres as a gesture of goodwill?"
"No way, they'd piss up the place…" Nadja frowns.
"Perhaps for a formal dinner extending the truce when the time comes." Nandor, clearly relishing the thought of being at head of said dinner's table. "As Laszlo says, a gesture of good will."
…..
Guillermo staring about basement rooms in wonder…
"Master Nandor says these would be my suite and the rooms for lodging victims overnight or other visiting vampire familiars. I've never had a room like this. They're so big…And the floors are nice…Marble here in the big area, this could be a nice place for victims to dine before…You know?...And the carpet in the bedrooms is amazing. It's like cashmere for your feet. And there is a big extra kitchen down here for preparing banquets or something like that and four bathrooms with those big bathtubs?…I could wash every corpse off in no time flat."
Colin, wiping off with towel, striding by. "This is a nice place, isn't it? Come and see the room I want."
Guillermo, eyeing us, shrugs and follows Colin to a storage room of medium size.
"This is perfect. Absolutely dreary and it's already wired for internet broadband." Colin notes happily. "And the big marble-floored room is great for victims to come and have their last meals. The feeding I could do from here…"
"Glad you like the place…" Guillermo glumly gazing round from as far from Colin as politely possible…
"I had my doubts…But sometimes, change, bad as it always is, has some good sides to it." Nod. "You better be going. I'm a little hungry and I promised Nandor not to drain you."
"Yeah. Thanks." Guillermo heads off.
"Wow. Mr. Robinson really loves this place." He notes to us. "I've never heard him talk about the old place so much." Shaking head in wonder.
"I guess this is one of those things that makes being a vampire worthwhile. I mean if you're not incredibly rich. But even then you don't get to enjoy a place like this very long before you get old and sick and die. A plus for vampires, they get to take places like this and stay in them for a long time." Pulls phone.
"I borrowed Mistress Nadja's phone while she's busy looking around. Just gonna call Jen and see she got home ok. Hi…Yes, it's Guillermo…Gui. Did you…? Oh, good." He looks over to camera. "Almost home, just picking up dessert." He returns to phone… "I won't keep you. Everyone loves the place so far. Yes…Sure, if you can…Two o'clock is fine, but don't let it get in the way of your regular work, yet. Uh-huh, yeah…I can order a few things, what does Ginny like? Ok, sure. I should get some bottled water too…New victims who get enthralled are always really thirsty. Yeah, I remember you drank right from the tap after you finished off the juice I had." Smile. "Ok, see you at 2." He shuts off phone.
"She seems so happy. I hope they don't find anything wrong with the place, like maybe werewolves have a den in the woods back there or something?"
…..
…
…
