Constantine the Laughing Magician Presents – Life in the Real World –

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Chapter 24: Knights and Bleedin' Cutthroats in the Belfry! What the Fae Once Were Among Gods

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"Fae, eh…"

I can't puff my first light for tonight, and grimace as I must. Zee is locked in that tower looking for answers and Dragul holds the secret to breaking free from the curse of a not – yet – dead pair of magi. Could it be any easier to find, mates? I would think it had to have been; he was too busy grappling at the fact that a 'human pig' knew what his ancestors had done. I groan entirely at his plight, but surely?

Where is Zee when you need someone to belly ache to in public, or in the sanctity of a, ehem…. some acrimonious consolidating? I owe her ten times the weight of gold that those dragons hoard. With a stick up to the good gods of old, I'm off to take back the answers that I want. To watch Drac pay up and let us go back to the real world.

Not to some Bram Stoker hybrid – realm with Tolkien themes. What a waste of a good story…. bollocks.

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Existential is what I do, I live for answers that aren't tangible. Whoever told you that magic is, is my far living inside of a fairy tale for themselves. Demons eat souls? Well, they eat flesh too, and bone and…. well, go into that…. maybe not today. I'm off, off to discover what Dragul won't say as Zee makes sure to uncover the 'farm' of fae that Dragul has locked up. The dragons…the dragon….

On second thought?

"Can you, lov?"

She wants to slap me, I'm sure I hit a sore spot by swapping out our roles. "I'm not staying with him, so why not." The best news I've heard as she shakes her head with a grin. "You are stuck here, anyway. I saw how Drac looks into your eyes." She batted her green ones teasingly as Liza snickered from the thankfully, shut doorway. "I didn't know he had a taste for deadbeats." She joked. "He's saving the world, Liz." The two joked around me, but thankfully, I didn't mind the jostle of this ego. I had plenty to spare and share. "Yeah, well if a dragon is as might as my monster, then be it we might be evenly matched."

"Your monster is not as wide, nor as willing to breathe fire." Liz was surely suggesting something as I…. wait a tick….

"Liz! That's not appropriate!"

"Bloody hell, what is with her humor??" I cough at how dirty that language might have been.

"Sorry…. Deadman and I tend to, take it slow…in the bed –

"IN your own mind, woman!!"

"Well, you started it, John!"

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As a matter of fact, did I?

Questions, but what the hell. What was it worth to dissect a dirty joke these days? I sneaked by Zee's enchantment, her extra effect to remain cloaked, all the way past the stables and into the woods. Right on the base of the forest, I see a whole grouping of homes as small as sheds and it hits me.

Labor, and cattle farming. Here is the answer…. now?

Should we go and take a peek on in?

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The guttural groaning of dragons would be a comfort to us, but damned be it all….Zee is lucky.

I'm stuck, with ewes. Lambs and crying children. It breaks my heart…

This was, a factory if ever I've known it, none of them dead. All blood loss. Replaced by each other through long tubes from another age, infected. A lot of them….as I scan the walls, I see more of the secrets that need not have a name.

The fae are not all immortal, yet vampir. They are, impossible to die.

Hybrid children, I gawk. "Dear…. gods…. what is happening to you lot?" I rush to the cages, a boy I recognize – yes! The lad from the other night! "Lad, please…did Dragul do this??" I beg. "Please! I'm going to stop this slaughter. He's no king. He's –

"He…" The boy rubs his reddened eyes and moved on broken knee caps to touch the iron bars of his cage. "He knows what we are, he is….us…. we are…."

"No, bollocks. You're still alive. D –

"Ah, you against defy my brood? Constantine…"

A blade hits my neck as I rip back around to face him. "You're a bloody king of violence and murder…just like the stories about the count I know…" Growling at me, the ones vying for my aid, bite. The boy gnaws as I drag my arm out, kicking as the blood attracts more of these scavengers. The count laughs and drapes his arm over my shaken shoulders. "You…. are bleedin' mad! The dragons are killing, but you….you are milking the true reason for the war, why??"

"Because, John. I know what blood they possess. Our kind has no ability to reproduce without casualty. Not without another, host…they are doing this to make the Vampir stronger. To never let our flame flicker. The fae have reason to bare us, for we…. are their descendants."

"You just said –

"Why would I trust an outsider that has come to kill our walls?? Why would I trust a magi…a man?" Hissed the vamp. "I warned you…..I told you to stay out of my affairs. I told you to stall my enemy and all would be forgiven…you broke another law of my keep." The children were monsters controlled by one as the cages opened wide. John ran, the count not stopping him. "My children of the night….they shall feast on your last plea, Constantine!! Run!! Run and never return!! Haha !!!"

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Up a sloping hill of rock, of all the trails to trudge! Zee is more so on her own. Liz has to stay near the exit to this realm, while her next stop is the camp of a second lord of dragons. The dragon of Earth.

The General, for some reason. "Dragons have scales for armor, right?" Zee scratched her head. Oh, well…as long as she could sooth the savage beast, then what was the trouble there.

"Should I –

The dragon guide turned its palm to have her wait a moment. It moved towards the front of the tent as wo dragons on two legs in battle armor had Zee rethink her earlier thought.

~ Next, they'll have their kids, wearing overalls and knicker bockers. ~ She giggled inwardly to herself.

"You may proceed, my child." The dragon elder came back out and Zee bundled up her courage, to speak to a fire breathing lizard with a monocle.

Maybe, if she were lucky to put that in her mental scrapbook.

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So, stopping there! I need to put in a few thoughts to the rest even though it plays itself. John has to escape the bitten fae – slaves of the count, and Zee is negotiating with dragons not to attack more vampir and to give up the war for better ideals…. but….

What about their last companion Liz, in the castle?? Find out!