What We Do In The Shadows: "Jen..."
Summary: There are unexpected consequences when Laszlo seeks a new human familiar…
Part LXIX…
Night…The transport van…
A perturbed and anxious Jen driving…Ginny beside her.
Laszlo in back, seated, in his modern suit, with Nandor likewise in new suit, beside him, to camera…A worried Erika seated behind them…
"Well, here we are…The new owners of the nicest and largest private property on the Staten Island."
"We are the Lords of Staten…" Nandor, beaming.
"All went very well, the family lawyers and the two family members were charming and actually quite eager to see this deal go through." Laszlo notes. "The place being as Mr. Fielderson noted, 'a white elephant'…"
"That seems strange to me, that anyone should wish to part with something so rare as an elephant who was colored white. Sultan Ibrahim had one, it was beautiful and could do all sorts of tricks." Nandor shakes head. "She could bow, and clap her forelegs, and fetch water, and kneel as if in prayer. Lovely beast. She lived to be fifty-four, I believe. Ibrahim actually married her and added her to his harem. That is how we generals and Princes knew he'd really gone totally mad. She died a virgin, having stomped Ibrahim to death on their wedding night. An apt lesson, avoid bestiality, ladies." Cautious forefinger raised.
"Yes, Master Nandor…" the three chime.
"Hmmn…Well, as I understand it from Jennifer it has to do with something so unusual or so large you can't get rid of it…" Laszlo explains. "Isn't that right, Jennifer?" calls.
"Yes, Master." She calls back.
"And so, that bit of territorial expansion accomplished, we turn our attention to…Dracula. Or rather, his daughter, he being off in Mexico just now." Laszlo, leaving off solemn intonation at the 'Dracula'.
"Yes…I am so eager to meet her. She sounds like such a nice girl." Nandor notes.
"Master Nandor?" Ginny sighs. "Do you have to do this? It seems so dangerous. Dracula is sure to take it as an attack, even if she's not really his daughter."
"Oh, now, Ginny." Laszlo cuts in. "It's my understanding that children of adoption can be just as treasured as those of blood."
"We're just worried, Master." Jen anxiously. "Dracula may not be home but there's sure to be defenses. Van Helsing's people, others. That housekeeper or governess/familiar I met….?"
"We could stay on in town, stalk, befriend, then either loosen her tongue with alcohol or drug her, Master." Erika suggests. "Jen? Did she seem to have any lesbian interest in you? Perhaps you or I or Ginny or the three of us could seduce her?" Hopeful tone…
"Oh…I think Dr. Acura…I love that play on his name…" Laszlo beams. "Would take serious objection to finding you ladies had led his Althea down an unfortunate path… As a former Dark Lord of the Night and a first-class hypnotic thraller himself, I'm sure he'd understand we were trying to avoid put the girl at any risk."
"I don't think she was interested in me that way, in any case." Jen shrugs. "And he might be very angry with us and the Overlords if he learned we'd drugged or boozed up his daughter, Erika."
"I suppose…" Erika sighs.
"Now…Please, ladies. There's nothing to fear." Laszlo shakes head. "We're merely going to summon the young lady and drain her of her will so that she'll tell us anything she knows."
"And we will be very careful with her. Only one of us will hypnotize her, to minimize the chance of brain scrambling as with our neighbor the other night at the SuperbOwl party." Nandor, cautious nod.
SuperbOwl? Ginny eyes Jen… Explain later, she hisses.
"Something of an improvement in his case, though, eh?" Laszlo beams.
"But if she has the lady defending her…" Ginny notes. "And as Jen says, Van Helsing's guys could be watching…That governess could be one…There could be defenses we don't know about…"
"All will be well…" Laszlo shakes head. "Just trust in us."
"Of course, Master." Jen, Ginny dutifully. "Yes, mein Lord." Erika, nodding.
"And should Dracula, my old friend and enemy…Friendemy, I like that word, thank you for it, Erika…" Nandor beams, to Erika's pleased smile. "…learn of our visit and encounter…We shall soon be well situated for battle in our new fortress."
"We're not there yet…Pardon me, Master Nandor…" Jen sighs. "I'd never question your abilities but I can't help worrying. This is Dracula, after all. He has quite a rep."
"Eh…He's no longer the Impaler, he's a doctor. Pulls things out now, not shoves them in." Nandor shrugs. "But we intend no harm to his daughter, merely to suck all knowledge we can from her."
"Best not to use words like 'suck' tonight, old fellow." Laszlo notes. "Might get us overexcited and sometimes in the heat of battle, men forget where their best interests lie."
"Master Laszlo…" Jen, reprovingly, but with sly smile in rear-view mirror to his impish grin.
"What?" Nandor stares.
"All right, I borrowed the phrase from the mystery novel Jen read to us last week…And the film the Hollywood people made from it. 'The Maltese Falcon', brilliant work."
"Falcon?" Nandor, immediately interested.
"Well, a statue of a falcon, meant as a gift for that Emperor Charles V, you remember, that nice Belgian kid who gave me safe passage through his territories as a reward for destroying a heretic fortress in Germany in the 16th century?"
"Oh, yes." Nandor, nodding. "I remember he was one of the nicer rulers of most of Europe apart from having his priests burning a lot of people for wanting to read the Bible. A gift?"
"Well, the story claimed the Knights of Malta made it for him, to thank him for giving them Malta. He was indeed a very generous boy, that fellow. The statue was stolen enroute to him and vanished and humans were searching for it in more modern times. Very fine story. 'The uh, stuff dreams are made of…'" he quotes.
"The artificial statue is made of dream stuff?" Nandor asks.
"No, no…That's just a bit of imagery." Laszlo explains. "We can watch the film again later together if you like. I rather liked that Mr. Gutman, the collector of antiquities, an admirable never say die even when your dream is proven just that quality. But anyway, to get back on track… I just mean we shouldn't get ourselves excited in the presence of a young and full-blooded girl…Completely under our control, temporarily. Ohhh…Nice." He intones, wiggling fingers, looking rather… "Ooof!" As Ginny sprays him from a bottle of cold water from her seat.
"Sorry, Master Laszlo. You and my Lady said to if I thought you were getting too excited." She apologies. "And my Lady made it an order just before we left."
"Yes, yes…Quite. And I can imagine Nadja thought that amusing…But quite enough, Ginny." Laszlo, wiping himself with handkerchief. "Very good, Miss Virginia." Nandor, chuckling a bit.
"Please just promise you'll be careful, Master." Jen, anxiously. "I wish I could hypnotize her."
"You must be able to tap into our source of Dark Power…" Laszlo intones, beaming. "Sadly, you're still only human. But, don't fret, all will be well. We'll have a pleasant chat with the young lady and send her off to bed with instructions to forget all that's happened and what she's told us."
"It will be fine, ladies." Nandor agrees. "But thank you so much for giving up your evening to take us out to Poughkeepsie."
"Our pleasure, Master Nandor." Ginny beams at him from her seat. "We'd just worry like crazy if we weren't here."
"Yes, poor Martha was quite worked up…" Nandor sighs. "How many of those little pills did you have to give her?"
"Ten, Master Nandor." Jen notes. "A bit more than I'd've liked to give her but the adrenalin rush had made her pretty antsy…"
"I should call her…" Nandor reflects. "I hate to see her worried needlessly, poor thing."
…
Nadja, at the Residence…Souled Doll beside her on living room couch…
"So Laszlo and Nandor have gone off to face 'Dracula'…oooh…" she makes face.
"No, I am not that worried, the fellow is in Mexico with Guillermo and he has clearly lost a great deal of his abilities…I think Jennifer and Ginny and Erika can keep our idiot boys safe in dealing with a young girl and her governess." Eyes doll who eyes her.
"I suppose you are calling Van Helsing and Dracula right now…" she frowns at doll.
"I have no telephone device." The Doll shrugs. "Those things are wonderful by the way. You are very lucky to be Immortal at this time."
"You are so devious…" Nadja glares to the Doll's grin. "You should go to live with Simon."
"He'd tear my head off and burn the remains. Not that it could hurt me but…Not a good feeling having a head torn off." The Doll notes. "So, now we are alone except for these nice people and your maid, Miss Jacqueline…Shall we have the confrontation thing?"
"Not much of confrontation, I rip your head off and send you to the furnace as you suggested, thanks." Nadja, darkly.
"If you like…" the Doll smiles. "But you then would never know if I had anything useful to tell."
"You probably don't. And you have been hitting on my husband…Waiting for your chance…"
"To fuck him in this…?" the Doll indicates herself.
"I think you can possess people if conditions are right, like Dr. Van Helsing." Nadja eyes her. "You are waiting to seize one of our girls and use her to seduce my husband."
"That would be very pleasant…For us both. Him, me, I mean. But I couldn't, it would be a bad thing to abuse your poor girls like that. Even if some of them think they love him."
"It can be the same thing…" nervous tone. "Love starts in odd ways, everyone knows that…"
"Ah…" the Doll smiles. "You have the guilties over taking Laszlo. You should." Cool stare.
"Shut up. Stupid doll."
"We both know it was wrong…" singsong voice. "And you fear the consequences…"
Nadja grabs the Doll, fangs out…
"What are you gonna do, bite me?" chuckle.
Arrgh…Throws the Doll down on floor.
"I hope that hurt!" Nadja, glaring…
"Not really!" gaily…
"Ladies…" Colin Robinson had entered.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing what with your husband of yours off to face death at Dracula's modern lair in Poughkeepsievania." Grin.
"Dork." The Doll glares.
"Please, the dork is our friend." Nadja notes, offhandedly. "But you are an asshole, Colin Robinson, to say such a thing. Please go."
"Just trying to raise your spirits so I can drain 'em down." He smiles thinly, turning.
And find out if the Soul Girl might have a clue as to my role here. I doubted it, figuring Van Helsing would've told them to get rid of me if he knew. He closes door and strolls on down hall.
"I dislike beige man." The Doll frowns to Nadja.
"So do I but what the Hell…" Nadja notes. "Everyone does…Except maybe Gwen, at my Ginny's office. But she is in hospital now, severely runsdown so she does not count."
…
Poughkeepsie…
"It's ten o'clock…I wanted to do this not too late so Jen can get home to little Suzette and Miss Althea wouldn't be up too late." Laszlo explains to camera as he and Nandor stand on the sidewalk, intently staring at a pleasant, modest home, across the street, two houses down. "I see lights on on the ground floor and upstairs."
"Naturally…It is the Lair of Dracula…" Nandor intones. "Bit of a bore…But the girls say the big estate down the road is the FD Roosevelt mansion. But good camouflage, I suppose. Who would suspect the great Impaler, Count Dracula himself, would lair in such a place."
"Nice lawn…Pleasant garden. I like the stone work." Laszlo notes.
"Should we intercept his postal communications?" Nandor suggests, pointing to the mailbox.
"Let me do it, Master." Jen, besides Laszlo, in her business suit. Erika and Ginny ordered to observe from the parked van, with Jen to provide running commentary on the situation, just in case their help was required…
"No, we'd best leave it be for now. I doubt he gets letters from Van Helsing's minions…" Laszlo, peering. "Althea must be up…"
"Studying perhaps? You said her school was prestigious and somewhat challenging, Miss Jennifer." Nandor asks.
"Yeah, it is. Could be…"
"I shall go up and have a quick look at her window…" Nandor, rising.
"Oh, be careful there, don't terrify the child. You remember…" Laszlo began.
"Oh, sorry, ole fellow." He sighs at the suddenly downcast Nandor, hovering a foot in mid-air.
"Nice trick, isn't it?" Jen, politely to a passing woman with dog on leash. "Nandor the Magnificent, just trying his latest magic act."
"Nice." The woman nods.
Nandor setting back down… "Yes? Thanks, kind lady." As the woman beams, claps, and moves on.
"Nandor the…Magnificent. Miss Jennifer, you are so kind." Nandor beams.
"You are magnificent, Master Nandor." Jen, sincere devotion. "As are you, Master." Turning to Laszlo.
"Now, now…" Laszlo, beaming. "Well, I think you can try and have a peek now, Nandor. Just be careful. Jen? Lets pull back into the shadows here…Don't trip on the little stone fence there, dear…And I'll hypnotize anyone else passing by. All right, Nandor…"
Nandor rising up to the bedroom window, just to the side, holding a mirror and aiming so as to see inside.
"Oh, what a lovely girl." As he spies a tall, indeed lovely, young black girl in nightgown at desk, clearly studying from a textbook, writing notes, glasses perched.
"You've a wonderful daughter. Vlad, you are one fortunate son-of-a-donkey's-whore-bitch." He sighs. Laszlo and Jen, now standing by tall hedges in the front of the house next to the Acuras', looking up to him.
"Althea…Acura…" he intones, keeping mirror fixed on her. "Hear me across the Ether…Come outside, Althea…Come outside…"
The girl at desk, shaking head a moment…
"Althea…Althea…"
She rises, coming to window…Opening…
"Whoa, wait…We don't want a jumper." Laszlo, anxiously watching.
"Who the Hell are you?" Althea, eyeing Nandor, as he floats, sternly, arms folded. "You had better be one of Dad's friends or get lost right now."
Ummn…Nandor, blinking…
"Well?"
Sound of the front door opening below…
"Who's up there, Althea?!" cry.
"Uh-oh…Come, Jen!" Laszlo taking Jen by the arm, pulling her back with him to the sidewalk…
"But we can't leave Master Nandor?!" she cries.
"We've got to avoid detection, he'll be alright, we'll see to him as soon as we can. Now, come!" he commands, she reluctantly obeying…They slipping down the street to the side street where the van was parked.
"You come down, get out, or be staked!" cry to Nandor.
"Pardon me…My best to your father. Have a very good evening." Nandor to a glaring Althea…Flying off immediately.
…
