Chapter 4

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Paul Johnson

Building manager, 5’-11’’ tall (1.80 meters), about 185 pounds (84 kg), 37 years old, blond hair and blue eyes

Olaf Erickson

Butler, 6’-0’’ tall (1.83 meters), 215 pounds (98 kg), about 40 years old, long blond hair and beard, blue eyes, a man easily as large as Yuryi

Helga

Older present cook, 5’-7’’ tall (1.70 meters), 155 pounds (70 kg), 48 years old, medium size breasts, dark blond hair, blue eyes

Ingrid

Younger present cook, 5’-7’’ tall (1.70 meters), 145 pounds (66 kg), 36 years old, large breasts, brown hair, gray eyes

Yuryi still has the Narrative

We had laid back on the bed while I related part of this to Yvonne. We, or at least I, must have drifted off to sleep while remembering how important the books had been to my future endeavors. When I awoke some time later, Yvonne was cuddled up against me, so soft and warm.

“She is so like Gretchen in many ways, yet different in her own way. Gretchen was a kind and helpful person, and she had a good, kind spirit. I still miss her so after all of these years. Could a kind spirit move from one person to another? Could Yvonne have received Gretchen’s spirit when it left her, as she was born at around that same time?” I wondered to myself.

I had been a Christian and a Catholic, if not a very observant Catholic, for a very long time. I had been Baptized when I joined the Varangian Guard, as it was a requirement. Of course, that had been in the Greek or Byzantine Church and not the Roman Church. I didn’t think there were that many differences between them that didn’t involve politics. When asked later, I could truthfully say that I had been Baptized.

The Christians, however, don’t believe in spirits. Those in the Caucasus and many of the Nomads and wild tribes that I had encountered did believe in them and in other things. I didn’t find it hard to believe that there could be spirits, both good and bad, that could move from one person to another when the first person died. Yvonne soon awoke interrupting my thoughts, and she had a question.

“What did you do after obtaining the books?” she asked, sitting up.

“Once I had learned what they taught, I continued to trade from Ireland, but after a time, I moved my operations to the Dutch. They had finally broken the grip that the Spanish had on them and were then an independent country. They were also mostly honest, or as honest as traders usually are. I purposely stayed away from the Spanish and their Inquisitions, however. Later, I moved my operations to Portugal and traveled with them on some of their explorations, especially in the Far East.

“After a time, I returned to Europe and was in business in a number of countries there over time; there were France, England, and even some of the German states and Switzerland. I acquired property and had money in several banks in those countries. At the time, property was usually a safer investment than banks were.

“Eventually, I moved to America, the United States, in around 1880, and wound up here in Minnesota. I’ve been here a long time now. The main draw had been the number of Scandinavians who settled here originally, as I still liked the people,” I told her and paused.

“So, now you know the broad outline of my life. What do you think of it?” I asked.

“My Daughters would never believe most of it, or that you were born in 802 AD. It would be best to not tell them about most of it,” she told me.

“What about you? Do you believe what I have told you?” I asked.

“After seeing you turn into a Dragon, I believe what you have told me,” she said, but I could hear that she had some reservations in her voice.

“Do you still want to remain with me, after learning all of this?” I asked, unsure of what she intended to do.

“Yes, I think so. I need to sleep on it for a time to work it all out in my mind,” she told me, but remained close to me.

“I’m 42 years old now. How long would we have together?” she asked after a minute or so

“With my Magic, I can cure a number of maladies, but I couldn’t keep Gretchen alive. Her body just wore out,” I told her in a sad voice remembering how hard I had tried to save her. It just hadn’t been meant to be.

“We should return to the food court. It’s time for the evening meal,” I told her after looking at the clock. We got up, but left the Murphy bed down, as we would be using it again tonight. Arriving at the food court, we were met by Yvonne’s twin Daughters, who were sitting at what had become our usual table.

“Have you finished playing house for a while?” Ilene asked her Mother in a supercilious voice. I could tell that Yvonne was ready to smack her Daughter for that remark and I solved the problem with the use of a little Magic.

In seconds, Ilene and her chair were suspended upside down in the air with her head about four feet from the floor. She was screaming in fright and surprise, while Julia just stared at her sister in horror. I left her there for about thirty seconds before canceling the spell, and she returned to sitting on the chair on the floor. She was still screaming, and the others around us were laughing at what I had done.

“QUIET!” I told her, and she stifled another scream in fright. “Do not speak to your mother in that tone of voice. We left because I had things that I needed to tell her in private and nothing else happened,” I told her calmly.

“Sorry,” she whispered, but didn’t appear to be a bit sorry.

Many of the others here had finished their meals by the time Yvonne and I were seated, and Charlie brought over our meals.

“Maybe three more day and everybody only have hot dog to eat,” he told me.

“If necessary, we will borrow some food from the other concessions. I’ll straighten things out with them later,” I assured him.

“Will that be a problem?” Yvonne asked after he had left.

“Not really. Most of the managers of the concessions are aware of how things are set up here, and I can just pay them for the missing food without any problems. They all know how bad the storm has been,” I told her.

Yvonne has the Narrative for a Time

Later, Yuryi and I went up to the office to sleep. The girls were still at the food court when we left and still on their phones. All that we did was sleep. There wasn’t any sex. Well, Yuryi went to sleep. I was having trouble doing that. I had too many things on my mind and sleep evaded me.

Could all of the things that he told me be true, I wondered. How long do Dragons live? I knew that there were still Dragons, but there weren’t many here in Minnesota, as they hadn’t called attention to themselves. At least, not like those down south in Georgia and a couple of the other southern states had. A number of years ago, I had read in the paper and seen on the news how they had invaded Washington, D.C. – twice actually a couple of years apart and caused quite a bit of trouble. The President had even needed to go down to Georgia, just like in the song ‘The Devil went down to Georgia’ but it wasn’t to steal any souls, it was to apologize to them after the second time.

There were other things that I was worried about also. How many women had he lived with in his long life? I didn’t imagine there was any way to know, and he probably wouldn’t remember most of them in any case. Then there was his most recent wife, Gretchen. He still loved her even after she had been gone for forty some years.

Would he compare me to her? Would I ever be able to take her place in his heart, or would I be just a poor substitute? Also, what about the girls? He didn’t seem to pay any real attention to them as I had noted previously. He appeared to only be interested in me but why? I was already 42. He had married Gretchen when she was 22, he had said. They had been together for sixty plus years. I would have to be over a hundred to come close to equaling that. Still, he had said that he could cure many maladies, which I took to mean physical ailments, so maybe a hundred years old was possible. People were living longer these days.

Still, at 42, I wasn’t very likely to be giving him any more children ... not at my age. But God, it felt so good when we had sex. How long could we, or he at 1200 years old or so, continue that, I wondered. There were too many questions and too few answers, and I tossed and turned for some time before finally dozing off.

I awoke some time later. It was still dark in the room, and I couldn’t see the clock from beside him. What had me awake though was a need for sex. I needed that big cock of his, and I needed it NOW. I reached over and shook his shoulder.

“Fuck me,” I told him when he was awake. I didn’t need to ask twice, as he rolled over on top of me. I already had my nightgown open, and he shoved that big cock of his into me, and I was in heaven. We enjoyed each other for a long, long time then.

“Lord! I would stay with him for as long as he could make me feel like this,” I decided when I recovered from the massive orgasm he had given me and could think again. I cuddled up against him then and went to sleep for the remainder of the night. It was a bit late when we got up.

Mid-morning of the fifth day here, more people started to arrive at the building. Yuryi only introduced me to the one he had been talking to.

“This is Paul Johnson. He is the building manager. He and his staff manage the daily building operation: opening, closing, the receipt of shipments, and their storage plus other things like security and janitorial services. Some of those who stay here are employed to perform a number of those jobs,” Yuryi told me as he introduced me to Paul and explained who my daughters and I were. Paul shook my hand and smiled. He was about 5’-11’’ tall, about 185 pounds, 37 years old with blond hair and blue eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” he said before turning to some of the others who had arrived and started them on the things that needed to be accomplished to have the building ready to open as soon as conditions allowed. I wondered how all of them had gotten here as the city was still having trouble plowing the streets because of all of the abandoned or broken-down vehicles on them. It had warmed up some that day, as it was about 10 degrees F (-12 C) that afternoon.

There wasn’t a lot to do that afternoon. My daughters were still on their phones and didn’t seem to care what went on around them. Yuryi brought me a book to read from his office. It was a history of Ireland and Magic. I started on it to have something to spend the afternoon on.

By the afternoon of the sixth day here, we were ready to leave. The “we” being Yuryi, my Daughters, and I. He had assured us it wouldn’t be a problem. Even though the storm had died out by the fourth day here, only some of the streets had been plowed, as there were still many abandoned cars blocking the plowing operation. There had still been warnings on the radio this morning and alerts on the cell phones about ice on the roads. The power had also been restored in most areas of the city. I was wondering how we would be able to leave, as the roads were still a mess and the parking lot hadn’t been plowed yet.