Chapter 10

January 19^th, 2007, Thursday

Andrew

“What?”

“If security had felt you were at risk, they would have moved you and Teuila to the guest lodge’s safe room,” Margo replied.

“And you’re just telling me this now...” Andrew said, resisting the urge to pace.

“Yes, Master Kiraly,” Kelly said. “We thought we’d have you two over for dinner again, and let you know what had happened. We were ... occupied ... immediately afterward.”

“Do I want to know with what?”

“That’s a very good question, Andrew,” Margo said. “If you’re sure you want to know, ask again. If you’re not sure you want to know ... probably safer to drop the subject, and enjoy your cocktail.”

“In for a penny...” Andrew muttered. “All right, I’ll pass on what you were occupied with in the aftermath. Where’s the body? What are you going to do with it?”

“While I’m severely tempted to ask ‘what body?’,” Margo replied, “that would just be me being snarky. The body is on its way out to sea to be dumped. The head, on the other hand...”

“The head?” Andrew said, shaking his own.

“Is on its way to Waterloo, to be delivered to House Fruehauf.”

Andrew closed his eyes, and tilted his head up as if looking to Heaven.

“I trust forensic countermeasures were employed,” he asked, diligently keeping the question mark out of his voice.

“Yes,” Alice replied. “It would take magic, not science, to trace it back to this House.”

“And we have the only hoodoo woman,” Margo added.

“Good, good...” he gulped down his cocktail, eyes still closed, and motioned for another.

“So, Margo,” Andrew said as the main courses were served, “is Milady Carol all right? It must have been harrowing...”

“She will be. Harry’s comforting her, holding her, and Kelly and I will join them later tonight,” Margo said. “When I last saw her, I thought she was holding it together quite well, but she assured me that was an illusion.”

“So ... you alluded to her having killed someone in self-defense before...”

“I don’t know the details,” Margo replied. “Don’t even think Harry does. Carol will share that information if and when she feels like it ... and I’m good with that.”

“It’s just ... it’s hard for me to imagine it,” Andrew said. “You look at Carol and ... she’s a little happy Earth-Mother hoodoo woman...”

“Yes, Master Kiraly,” Kelly replied. “Carol told me her plan involved using that appearance. No one expects violence from her, which can give her the element of surprise.”

“Well, no one who didn’t see her after Harry was attacked in the park,” Margo said. “If I hadn’t been preoccupied ... well, in retrospect, I would have been terrified – pissing-myself, shitting-my-pants terrified.”

Once dinner was finished, and he was full of great food, Andrew was sipping his coffee, and feeling more calm

“So, I gather my schedule, as far as House business is concerned, is to stay here, interview the kids, and then...”
“Well,” Margo replied, “I wouldn’t count on getting out of here before Eddie and Tamara head off on their honeymoon.”

“I suppose you could schedule Vanson and Saenz’s interview for then,” Kelly mused.

“Oh, about that,” Andrew said, chuckling. “I got an email, informing me they expected editorial oversight on the questions, and the program.”

“Of course they do...” Margo said, shaking her head. “And your response?”

“Told them while there was the possibility of avoiding sensitive topics – if I believed there was a good reason to do so, but there was no way they were going to get any sort of editorial oversight.

“I’m waiting to hear back...”

“Oh, that ought to tie their panties in knots,” Margo said. “Taking bets on whether they cancel the interview, or come back with a very reasonable – in their eyes – counter-proposal.”

Andrew watched as Radhika took down everyone’s wagers, and put down a hundred on them canceling, but rescheduling later, once other city heads had been on the show.

“So it seems to me,” Margo said, smiling, “you’ve got nothing to do but enjoy life until the kids get here, and after that...”

“Well, whether Vain and Stupid cancel, argue, put on chicken suits, or whatever,” Andrew said, “Sebastien has let it be known he’s dropping Bethany off the ticket, so to speak, and is meeting with other Mistresses in the area in search of a new ... well, running-mate.”

“I’m not surprised,” Margo said. “The girl’s still young, she has a lot of learning ahead of her. And I’m afraid no matter who Bastard finds to run with him, Bethany’s behavior in San Antonio will cost him the election.”

“So Texas Society remains fractured for another year,” Andrew said. “Even without Dallas, we’re far more unified, and in a much better state – no pun intended – than we have been for a long time.”

“Too much politics disrupts the digestion,” Margo said. “I suggest we enjoy more coffee ... and other substances ... on the balcony.”

“So, Madam, not arguing, just curious, do you justify taking the law into your own hands, and if so, how?”

“You mean the whole ‘Kenneth Burns’ thing?”

“Yeah.”

“I do. I recognize in some circumstances, even when we’re in the right, to play by the rule of law would be ... inconvenient, and dangerous to the way we’ve chosen to live.”

“Inconvenience ... slim justification...”

“Oh, don’t I know it. If it was just the inconvenience without the ‘dangerous’, I might act differently. And yeah, I’m not happy about that justification, us taking that attitude. But in this, we’re responsible for many more than just ourselves.

“Then there are situations, such as our conflict with the Nelson family, where the uneven and unfair application of the law is decidedly not in our favor, and to play by the rules would almost certainly necessitate a tragedy before legal steps could be taken.”

Andrew saw a wave of sadness wash over Margo’s features.

“How are we to rely on the law,” she continued, “when so many tragedies have already occurred, with no official notice being taken, simply because money and power can game the system?”

“Never thought I’d end up this involved with a ... a bunch of outlaws,” Andrew chuckled, praying it would lighten the mood.

“Neither did I,” Margo said, smiling. “Much less leading them...

“When I first got re-involved with Harry, after meeting Carol ... I’d never been all that comfortable with Harry and Eddie’s attitudes about vigilante justice. But I had to come to terms with what her Master had been doing to her, how he’d been treating her, and the likelihood she could live and die and no one would ever know.

“And I slowly came to realize the phrase “in defense of others”, if honestly used, was enough justification to cover a lot of illegal acts.”

“Well,” Andrew said, “I’m used to dancing on the line of legal and illegal – grey-hat hacking is funny that way. I guess to me it’s the difference between ... working in the shadows, and openly standing with a...”

“Kinky biker gang with impeccable fashion sense?” Margo said, laughing.

“Yeah, something like that,” Andrew replied, laughing as well.

Jason

It seemed a minor miracle at first, waking up with no one impeding his movement, and while he stumbled to the toilet, more stiff than sore, it dawned on him they were worried about further hurting him in their sleep.

God, I’m still soo stoned...

He finished his piss, washed up, and threw on a robe.

As he neared the door, Tod opened it for him, and followed him to the salon.

“Let me make you some coffee or something,” Tod said.

“Yeah ... uh, hot tea ... herbal tea ... I wonder if there’s anyone in the kitchen?”

Tod chuckled.

“If there isn’t now, there will be very soon. One of the crew saw us in the corridor. Got the munchies?”

“Yeah ... really surprised I don’t hurt as bad as I did...”

“The pain-killing properties of pot. There, we should have hot water for tea shortly.”

Tod sat down across the table from Jason.

“Don’t give up on your exercise and training,” Tod said.

“Wasn’t planning on it ... I am however going to give up on trying to catch myself.”

“It’s a natural reaction,” Tod replied. “However, a couple of days from now, I’ll start teaching you how to fall.”

“Teach me to fall?”

Their conversation was interrupted by Darla, one of the crew.

“Master, what may I get you?”
“Munchies, Darla ... really got the munchies.”

“Estrellita left some things mostly prepared. Ten minutes. May I bring you anything in the meantime, Master?”

“No,” Jason chuckled. “I’m good for another half hour if need be.”

“Water’s ready for tea,” Tod said, chuckling as well. “Tea preference?”

“Some hibiscus peach would be good, thanks. I’ll finish it up after it’s done steeping.”

“Fair enough.”

“So, this ‘falling’ thing...”

Margo

She was worried about Carol ... she was worried about all of them, but mostly Carol at the moment.

Once Andrew and Teuila were on their way back to the guest lodge – and didn’t they make a stunning couple – Margo quietly hugged all of the staff, and went to join her spouses in the master suite.

Kelly had bowed out when people headed for the balcony, so Margo was surprised to see her sitting on the couch, waiting for Margo.

“They were asleep when I came in, Madam-wife,” Kelly whispered, pointing to the bed.

Margo saw Harry, leg brace still on, curled protectively around Carol, who was in a fetal position, both of them still clothed.

“They seem to be sleeping peacefully, at least as far as I can tell,” Kelly continued, as Margo sat on the couch next to her. “Maybe Carol has made noise, a little, but if so it was so faint I couldn’t be sure.”

Margo put her arm around Kelly’s shoulders, and hugged her close.

“I really need Karen and Trish’s, and Eddie and Tamara’s, honeymoons to be flawlessly perfect, full of nothing but joy, or I’m going to develop a ‘honeymoon complex’...”

“I know the feeling, Madam-wife,” Kelly said. “After recent events, it feels like we’re cursed ... not quite as cursed as Jason and Donna, but still...”

Margo sighed ... and carefully controlled her gut reaction to mention of her step-son.

“So,” she said, “what have you been doing, just sitting here in the dark?”

“Yes, Madam-wife,” Kelly replied. “Just ... communing with the infinite Carol would say. In spite of everything she said, how hard she worked to convince us ... I was afraid we wouldn’t see her again ... not alive, anyway.”

“Yes, had some of those thoughts myself,” Margo admitted. “I don’t understand her ... gifts ... and the ‘doctor’ side of my brain finds it very hard to trust them, even with all the evidence we have of her ... well, I hesitate to call it ‘infallibility’, but when have we known her to be wrong?”

“Never, to my knowledge ... well, she mentioned getting bad vibes off Eddie, that first night they met, but hell, when Eddie’s head is in a dark space, he can scare the hell out of anyone.”
“Yeah ... so, shall we sit here and talk, sit here and pray, or go to bed?”

“Bed, Madam-wife,” Kelly said.

Jason

“Oh God, these are so good,” he murmured around a mouthful of tempura-zucchini.

“They are that,” Tod agreed, popping another tempura-green-bean in his mouth.

“Trust Estrellita to make veggie munchies,” Jason said, sipping his tea. “Now, how to repay her brilliance...”

“Pretty sure doing the same as last time will do the trick,” Tod chuckled. “Nothing says ‘thank you’ like proficient and bounteous oral sex.”

“Yeah, Donna and Abby have expressed that opinion as well.”

“Wise women, both of them,” Tod replied. “And fierce ... which is why, once we’re through with this basket, perhaps you should consider heading back to bed?”

“Yeah ... smoke a hit or two, then get more sleep. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Coming out with me, sitting with me...”

“Jason, it’s no trouble, really. Besides, after all that’s happened, you’re not going anywhere unescorted, not even if it’s just here on the Li Mei. You know that.”

“Tod, there’s a world of difference between standing in the corner, looking like Imminent Death, and sitting down and being sociable.”

“True ... I got the feeling you could use some company.”

“So, as I said, thank you.”

January 20, 2007, Friday

Eddie

“So, have ‘em drive you into town, meet me at the airport. We fly in – Sebastien’s people will pick us up, we settle into his fancy-ass hotel, and meet up with Emilio Vicente at the Fleur-de-Lis around 9. Hopefully we can get all this happy horseshit dealt with tonight, and come back tomorrow, early afternoon.”

“So, we’re borrowing Nancy’s jet?” Dommi asked.

“Yes, Mother’s placed it at Chorale’s disposal, except where family business interferes,” Magda said. “It’s already waiting for you at Waterloo Business Airport.”

“And security’s already set up for the whole weekend – above and beyond whatever Sebastien might have arranged...” Kendry said.

“Gawddamn, do we really -”

“Sir! Do not start with me – again – with this bullshit! You will allow me to arrange security to my satisfaction or Tammy will hold you down while I kick your nuts up around your ears!”

“True, Edward,” Tamara said. “I will.”

“Gawddamn, I am so pussy-”

“And if you don’t want ballsack earrings, you’ll stop that sentence right there,” Kendry said.

Shaking his head, Eddie left, rolling his eyes as he crawled in the car that would carry him to work.

Galena

She’d woken up encased in flesh, and once again she’d marveled at the changes her life had gone through.

And the miracle of her mother’s acceptance of what parts of her life Anna knew, or could guess.
Andrea was to her left, pretty much as always, but the motherly ... okay, almost grandmotherly, Martha was to her left. Reggie had spent the night with some other subs, and would undoubtedly stagger in at some point after Galena left for work ... indecently pleased with herself and very well-fucked, if past mornings were anything to judge by.

The rest of her people were still sacked out all over the room.

“All right you lazy subbie sluts,” she murmured, “up and at them. Mama’s got to go make the fuckin’ donuts.”

“You are ill-tempered in the morning,” Andrea murmured.

“I offered to fuck her brains out last night,” Javier groaned. “She refused.”

“Girl needs to chill out,” Patrick said. “We can all grab another half hour or so...”

“Not a single goddamn ‘Mistress’ in any of that!” Galena said, sitting up in bed. “Javier, go find Dominique, tell her I have some lazy, disrespectful subbie sluts in need of discipline! Now!“