7
(The Politics of Magic)
Early the following day, Bentley awakened Paul and his apprentice Ridley. Paul lay there for a second, and Ridley wanted to go back to sleep. It was almost as if they had just gone to sleep a short time ago. The apprentice had not traveled nearly as extensively as his Master, Paul. This was equalized by the fact that Ridley was a younger man. Every slow, they got up and stumbled into the bathroom for a shower and other morning necessities. As Paul prepared for the shower, Ridley momentarily stared at himself in the mirror.
He said to his Master, "Damn, Jet Lag? Do you feel as tired as I do?"
His Master got the water going, woke up, and massaged his apprentice's back. He answered, "Ridley, I am fifteen, almost sixteen years older than you. What do you think?"
Ridley's eyes started to glint slightly, and he became more awake. He said, "Master, as any good car mechanic will tell you, miles are not devastating to a well-engineered vehicle, so if one changes the oil regularly and does all the other maintenance, one of the guys I went through school with was an automotive enthusiast, so that makes it official."
After yawning, they showered, and Paul said, "Sounds to me like your friend was an idiot."
As they washed themselves well, Ridley countered, "They explain possibly one of the ugliest cars ever to be put on the road. The Volkswagen Beet e. That is some vintage 1949 engineering for you, at least in the St t s. They would go for 200,000 miles or more and almost bankrupt the manufacturer. People with a working car that is performing well, on average, don't rush to purchase a new one."
They exited the shower and began drying off. His Master said, "You have been on YouTube or reading useless trivia books."
They began brushing their teeth. Ridley said, "Ask Ken Jennings how useless trivia is."
Paul looked at him and grinned, "Smartass." Some say the actual test of a relationship is when you can sit in a room with someone and share a comfortable silence. The best test was to call someone a smartass jokingly, and they smiled. Neither was too frisky this morning, not even Ridley. Jet lag of this magnitude would destroy anyone's libido.
Soon, they were seated in a large dining room with Bentley serving a traditional English fry- p. Ridley looked at the plate which was placed in front of him and thought, 'Hit!’ Nothing quite got the day going like pork sausages, fried eggs, which in the States were called sunny-side-up, a kind of fried mushrooms, speaking of frying, add toast, all rounded out with baked beans.
He said quietly to his Master, "The beans are the only things they didn’t fry."
Paul nudged his leg under the table. He answered quietly, "We have little room to talk. Remember when we went to Dollywood, they had fried Snickers candy bars."
Seated at the table's head, Nathaniel said, "Beg your pardon?” He was busily demolishing his food and accepting seconds. His brother, Nat, came through with what appeared to be a giant shotgun. Ridley followed him with his eyes as he approached a set of double doors leading out to a porched balcony.
Nat said, "The only thing good about coming to this place is Dad's shotgun collection and shooting skeet."
Nathaniel said, "That's right, dear brother. All Americanized means you must blast something with your giant shotgun."
It was Paul's apprentice this time that tried to head this off. "Master Nathaniel, I had always thought guns were not thought of fondly here. Well, that is not as they are back home."
The twin at the end of the table, murdering the fry-up, paused long enough to dab his lips with a napkin gingerly. He said, "That is generally true in London or other metropolitan areas. But here in the English countryside, where do you suppose your fondness for firearms came from? No, I am afraid we are every bit as vicious as you."
Paul almost choked on warm tea as Nat looked at him meanly momentarily. Ridley saw Nat in one of his giddy-up outfits again, which Nathaniel had quipped about. Ridley was willing to wager that Nat dressed so stereotypically midwestern/cowboy as it annoyed his brother. As if to prove his point, he took a hand and tipped the front of his ten-gallon hat before Nat turned away from glaring at him. Ridley just picked at his food like a science experiment. It appeared that this was different from his style of food, and people here were not that concerned with good manners.
Nat opened the double doors and went out onto the balcony. He loaded some clay pigeons on a skeet thrower, and Bentley went out to launch them for him. Ridley watched in fascination as first thing in the morning. A man dressed in cowboy boots with a ten-gallon hat set the shotgun to begin blasting clay pigeons. Point A leads to point B, thus point C. The inevitable must follow if one is a logical thinker.
Nat shouted, "Pull!"
BLAM!
Bentley said, "Magnificent shot, sir."
Nat again, "Pull!"
BLAM!
Bentley, "Marvelous, sir."
Nathaniel had stopped eating, and his reflexes caused him to jerk as if he had some mental or physical condition. Each time, the "Big Shotgun" reported its sound. It was loud and intrusive, obviously all for the benefit of his brother. These two were worse than teenagers. This carried off for some time as Nathaniel looked increasingly agitated. Finally...
Nat, "Pull!"
BLAM!
Nathaniel cut Bentley off, "Give us a break, man!"
Nat looked around and removed his hearing protection device. He looked like a fountain of innocence. He asked, "Something wrong?"
BLAM!
That did not come from Nat's shotgun and sounded like it was in the direction of the front of the house. They all looked at one another and headed that way. Bentley opened the front door, and it looked like a bonfire about where they had parked the Rolls Royce that dropped off Paul and Ridley. They all just watched as, in a moment, a figure came stumbling out of the smoke. Some of the shingling on the house fell beside the door’s opening.
A very elegantly dressed woman with long black hair who looked like she had been in a car wreck came towards them. Everyone but Ridley relaxed. They knew who that was and were just caught in the moment. The apprentice had yet to meet her.
Nathaniel said to everyone, "Oh, it’s just Evelyn. Hello, Evelyn, dear. Top of the morning to you. Miscalculation?"
Bentley whisked by to offer support and had a blanket. Paul looked at Ridley and said, "That is Evelyn Brookhaven, Germany’s representative. She was trying to teleport in and bounced off the house's shielding. Simple miscalculation: she is typically a skilled mage. Happens to everyone, I suppose, eventually."
She approached with the blanket over her shoulder and Bentley's support. She said, "Guttentag. Then she said in English, "God Damn! Shciesse! I am sorry, and I seem to have missed the mark."
She could be well made out now that she was clear of the smoke. She was a striking woman whose central theme seemed to be the color black. Her long hair, eyes, fingernails, dress, and shoes would be difficult to make out at night.
Nathaniel said to her, "Welcome to Stonehaven, Evelyn. It is a pleasure as always."
Everyone said hi, and it took her a moment to recover. Once she did, she came directly over to Ridley. She was nearly a half-foot taller than him. She looked down at him, and he looked around uncomfortably. She took out one of those long black cigarette holders, a pack from her tattered purse. Bentley took them, placed one of the cigarettes, and offered her a light.
She blew more smoke out, adding to the smoke hovering from her crash. Her voice was deep, and she had a thick German accent. "I have never met you, but Mein Gott, what an aura!"
His Master came over and said, "Evelyn, this is my apprentice, Ridley Johnson. Ridley, as previously stated, Evelyn Brookhaven."
The apprentice felt self-conscious but looked up and said, "Nice to meet you, Fraulein Brookhaven."
She puffed on the cigarette again, looking at him, "Oh, the pleasure is all mine." offering her hand, and he took it and kissed it.
Ridley thought, 'Great, now there are two of them.'
His Master rolled his eyes but did not say anything. As they got her sorted, the Rolls Royce made another appearance. As they looked, Paul said, "Finally, someone without kinship hate and good taste." Bentley went out and opened the back door, and an older gentleman stepped out. His Master changed his mind about that.
The older man put on some sunglasses and stretched. This was ridiculous. Ridley considered the odds on this. He was not using magic to appear that way, or Ridley could not sense it. He resembled the actor Michael Caine when he was a bit younger. So, they had a legendary American country music star pair of twins—a meteor strike from Germany, and now a Michael Caine look alike. He had thought some elements of Pine Gap could be strange.
The older man who got out of the car approached them and bowed slightly. Nathaniel said, "Cheerio Cedric, good morning for a ride."
He also had a British Accent when he answered, "Quite good, thank you."
He came over, stood beside Evelyn, and offered a hand to Ridley. “Good morning, young man. I am Sir Cedric Drummond, representative to France."
Ridley took his hand and shook it firmly. “Hello, Master Drummond. I am Ridley Johnson. I am Paul's relatively new apprentice.” There would be a story here, for sure. Why did the representative of France have a British accent?
Thankfully, they were all that had arrived for now. They went back into the dining room, and everyone took a seat. At least Nat had stopped with the shotgun.
Cedric said, "I noticed as we drove up that it looked like someone had a bit of a snafu out in the drive?"
Evenly said, "That was me. I got distracted by this one’s aura, plus Regina projected here. I impacted the house shielding.”
Nathaniel said, "You bloody well crashed into it! I will have to call my insurance broker."
Nat pointed out, "Our insurance broker."
Ridley looked at Paul, and his expression said all he was feeling. Los Iluminados Once seemed like it needed to be more enlightened. He was ready to go home, and it was not so strange to have a vampire live in the basement now—unlike this bunch. He would learn to deal with them. If something ever occurred to Paul, he, goodness forbid, would be one of them. His heart temporarily sank as he was already.
A couple of hours later, over drinks as the 5:00 p.m. rule did not count for these individuals.
Cedric said, "That is how a Knighted member of His Majesty's lands became the representative of France."
Ridley was awe-struck. That was quite a surprise and a story. When they get back, he must discuss this with Char Le Maine.
Nathaniel was joking, "Oh, they are just mad over you as well, Cedric. Literally." He began belly laughing.
All the Europeans laughed, which was not such a joke to Master, Ridley, and Nat.
Cedric said, "The history books will tell you that the one hundred years war ended. You can’t bloody well prove it by me!"
Oh, now Ridley understood it. The animosity between France and England was almost as old as time. He and Paul had taken a walk after getting some of that food down, and his Master had explained some things. In America, it was like a fucking serial series on television. Things were much more tied together than they seemed. These people were from different Royal Houses, but they all shared blood somehow.
This was how. The representative of France shared blood with the Vampire, who slept in their basement. Hence, he was a Count but never reached ascent as he was vampirized. His way-off distant cousin, Remmy Char Le Maine, had held Cedric’s seat. He was of a nasty disposition and was dating Evelyn Brookhaven, a distant cousin, but that didn't matter in Europe. She was the meteor that crashed in the driveway.
Over a decade ago, Evalyn had become dissatisfied with Remmy's affections and harassment. The American representative from the West Coast had an affair with Evelyn. His name was Cecil Thornton. He had been over on vacation, and it had just happened. This Remmy had such a bad temper that he was unwise enough to attack both Evelyn and Cecil, who, in self-defense, had killed him.
Evelyn explained that it had not been their intention, but they wielded such power. Remmy would not stop, so they had no choice. The council wanted to avoid that split since an American representative had been involved. Plus, the fact, everyone knew Remmy was an unreasonable asshole. The matter had been closed at that.
In France, the closest blood relative was Cedric. Remmy ran all his apprentices off with his bad temper, and that line ended with him. Char Le Maine was the last undead remnant of that line. Vampires, as impressive in specific ways as they may be, cannot control magic as they did.
It did not end there, as this estate was once contested between two families with equal claims to the Royal families and natural mages. That would be the House of Drummond, where their Michael Caine look-alike sprang from. Nearly five decades ago, Nathaniel's and Nat's crazy father had killed the head of the House of Drummond to settle that matter. Cedric wanted to take this seat, but his grandfather had lost. So, it was a double insult to him as not only were they sitting in the Estate of Stonehaven, which could have been Drummond. Remmy's actions forced him to represent France.
Cedric explained that his mother’s side of the family had been reasonable people. That was where his relation to the Char Le Maines was from. He was like them and was a live-and-let-live guy. Plus, he was a cousin to Nathaniel and Nat and a friend. This is how these things broke down in Europe, so he just rolled with it and did his duty. Amongst the Royals, House and Family trumped County every time. There were no borders with blood. That is the way it worked. Countries rose and fell, and family was forever.
After hearing all that, Ridley drained a container of that 33,000 British Pound Cognac. No one minded because it was too much to take in. Plus, the Stonehaven's were filthy rich, old money. All of them emptied a glass before noon. It was cumbersome for them to tell this story over and over. This was the biggest kicker. Paul Rogers was Nathaniel and Nat Stonehaven's first cousin. Cedric was the second cousin. This might be Ridley's one day if he were to accept it. He would remain in Eastern America, and it would go to Cedric. His cousins could pass it down to him, so everything was stable.
Paul's ancestors had gotten the appointment, which Ridley was set to inherit. This was all because of blood ties when England ruled over the original thirteen colonies. That would eventually spawl into the preeminent world's Superpower, the United States.
Ridley was getting tipsy and said, "Ridley Johnson, British mage! It sounds like a movie or comic book. Or better, Ridley Johnson in the Temple of British Mages."
His Master said, "Stranger things have happened. Your place is with me in Pine Gap."
Ridley asked, "Why don't any of you have apprentices? Instead of relying on old royal bloodlines?"
They explained it to him this way. Evelyn had an apprentice who had projected her here. Practice, she seemed to need more. Nat had one who was killed in a skiing accident. The rest had never run across anyone who could make that dice roll. He was rare, especially when showing up on your doorstep. So, if the magic show was to go on, they had to fall back to family relationships. They were traceable and did have magical traits. If they found the right person, well then.......
Ridley stared and said, "So, you guys are not easy to come by, and you are killing each other off?"
Everyone said simultaneously that Remmy Char Le Maine had been a one-off. Historically, members of this council have not fought each other. That is where all their no-killing except in self-defense and, more significantly, greater good code came from.
Ridley said, "What about Paul's redneck cousin? Was he not informed? And just one of you answer, please."
Evelyn said, "Victor is not seated, and if he got the better of Paul, we would not accept him anyway. He's just extremely dense, plus Paul had him now. You will grow to be stronger than any of us."
He was like a little kid now, "How come that is the case?"
Nathaniel said, "Oh, down the generations, there have been so many offshoots of the family lines. Mages that got women pregnant teleported away the next day because they were in the area. Like any other relatives, we have long histories of genealogies. We know what line you came from."
He looked at them, "Don't tell me I am related to Paul."
Nat said, "Oh goodness, no, when magic was more the norm. There had been more than just the royal families of the council. Only one family had demonstrated the kind of power you will have. It was thought they were all gone. Then they came up with genetics tests you can mail in. Plus, Renault Char Le Main is a walking genetic test kit. He knows their taste because of their potency. He tasted your blood.”
Nathan added, "While Paul was on the other side, none of us would have been strong enough to bring him back. We had to look, surely. He must understand why. Destiny returned your family to us when you rang Paul Rogers' doorbell. Char Le Maine only notified us because of the importance. You can talk to him about that when you get back home."
Paul said, "Char Le Maine has not been hanging around for the scenery. Ridley he's over five hundred years old. He can explain much, unlike a history book; he was there and saw it all. How do I say this?"
Cedric said, "You don't. I will, as it will surprise him. Char Le Maine and his other kind are also tangled with you."
Ridley said, "How so?"
Cedric said, "One line of mages has only been powerful enough to be responsible for vampires. Yours."
Nathaniel said, "Be thankful it was he who discovered this."
Ridley had to know, "Why?"
His Master said, "Because, in over five hundred plus years of life, one thing had remained pretty constant about Count Renault Char Le Maine."
Ridley exhaled, "Is this a cliffhanger?"
Paul said, "You already know this because, for a vampire, he’s always been good. Nothing evil with him, or we would not be a friend.”
Nat said, "When he discovered you, he didn't tell his ruling council about you. He contacted us."
Ridley was getting exasperated, "Why is that important?"
Evelyn was up and looked like the one who would deliver news like this. "The spell that made them possible was not complete. You are now the only one who is known to be able to do this. Your line was so powerful, as they are both mages and necromancers. I know you have not said something like this every day. We are meeting to discuss a strategy for protecting you best. Destiny brought you to Paul; he is one of us, and so are you now."
Cedric added, “They are the only ones ever to exist. At least that we know of.”
Ridley Johnson's head was spinning from the alcohol and the travel. The last thing he remembered was his Master looking down at him with extreme concern.
He awoke and sat straight up in bed, and Paul put an arm around him. "Easy, Ridley, dumping all that on you caused you to hyperventilate. You passed out. Are you okay? We had a doctor here, and they said you are fine."
His Master leaned over and kissed him, "It helped to calm him down some."
Ridley recalled the conversation, "Why did Char Le Maine not just tell me?"
Paul kissed him longer and said, "Because he is a friend to me, this council, and you. I didn’t know until you pulled me back so easily. He was going to stay quiet, but then I knew. Please, don’t be angry at him. He would tear a train apart for you. There are so very many that seek power such as yours."
He sat and said, "Be still, and let me care for you."
He reached down and began sliding his hand into his apprentice's underwear and began to caress him. He continued to kiss him, and Ridley felt so much better.
His Master said in his ear softly, "One more thing I must tell you. Breathe normally so you don't have another sinking spell over our time together. You are the greatest apprentice ever. You are kind and good-natured. I have fallen in love with you, Ridley Johnson, from Johnson City."
Ridley was feeling good from his attention. "Take the necromancer, wordplay it, and say romancer. I feel the same way, Paul. It’s a first for me, and it is exciting. Though the flight attendant did give me his nuts."
Paul said, "That may be, but I am the one about to suck on yours. They are a lot fucking better than Planters."
He moved down the bed and, sure enough, pulled Ridley’s underwear down and slid his balls into his mouth. Ridley did not care what kind of magic he could produce. He only wanted this magic from Paul Rogers, his teacher and Master.
As good as that felt, the subsequent oral attention he got was even better. It didn't matter what he would be capable of. One thing that would remain constant is that he would always care for Paul Rogers, so much so that he had reached across the barrier between life and death to have him back.
He mumbled, "Oh, Paul."
He had once been so committed that he thought he would crack this world in half for him if needed. That was not truer than ever. Being in sheer ecstasy was good, but now it came to him. One of the books he had translated. It had spoken of the one outside the circle but part of the whole. It had made him think of that movie, "Meet the Fockers." Because of the Robert De Niro's circle of trust thing. He had been reading about himself. He would come; no one had ever made it feel that good.
Paul kept at it, and he finally did. He swore he could see colors. The thing was, if anyone had been there, they would see them, too. He was summoning power from the air—not much, just beautiful. He began to ejaculate, and his nervous system lit up. He was causing a powerful lightning strike outside. His Master was finished and eased up beside him.
Ridley went to return the favor, and his Master steadied him. “There will be time for that later as you need rest. He looked around at all the light show and heard the thunder from the lightning he had summoned.
Paul just looked at him, "We get done here and go back home. I am going to have to work much harder in dueling practice. Being told was key, so now I must figure out how to teach you to control all that power. Eventually, a day is coming when you will overmatch me.”
Ridley said, "I know you can do it, Master, as it brought me to you. I don’t want to see that day.”
Master said, "It is what I think, and it makes me the luckiest man ever. Things are coming, Ridley, and they will be perilous. If I have you prepared, nothing can stand against us. We are good and decent, but some are not.”
Ridley said, "I vote when we go back, we be assholes just once, and you teleport us back? Though I will miss the flight attendant with his large sacks of nuts."
Paul said, "Just once, it will be a good lesson. You need to know how to do that. Substantially better than Evelyn, one hopes. Or, her apprentice, who you have yet to meet.”
They both laughed and wanted this trip over with. So they could return to the mountains of Tennessee. Pine Gap was not so different now.
Ridley and the Vampire, Char Le Maine, would talk. He wanted all the details this time. More must be read regarding the one outside the circle but part of the whole.
They had to finish at Stonehaven first, though.......Then.
