Summary: There are unexpected consequences when Laszlo seeks a new human familiar...
Part XXVIII...
"So I guess things are going well. They're meeting the history guys tomorrow at Ms. Zeller's office and that will probably be the last thing to settle, really, before they close the deal..." sigh. "I'm sorry if I'm not quite myself..." Guillermo sighs to us. "There's something weighing on me as you know, from the other day. Not that I really have any reason to be down, I know, I mean less than a month ago I was the only familiar... And while I wouldn't say I was unhappy, it was lonely sometimes and there was a lot for me to do alone...And I had several cracked ribs and bones and such. Now here I am, chief familiar with a staff, most of them very nice...No , now that Phyllis seems to respect me more, I would say they're all very nice... I should be pretty happy... And Susan has even told me she likes me and would like me to ask her out... Wow. Of course she's enthralled to Master Nandor and so kinda sees me as his deputy sort of, but she did tell me that she honestly does find me sweet and has always liked shy, slightly geeky guys. She was even a LARPer for a bit till she got too busy at work." Wan smile. "Maybe that's true...Though as I told her, she can't really judge all that clearly now, given her enthrallment. Still, she's very nice, and Jen says she really always was nice to all kinds of guys, and that's all fine."
"But it's the other thing weighing me down a little..." sigh.
.....
Susan in residence, dusting library shelves in old blouse and slacks...Hair tied up...
"So is Guillermo ok? He seems a little down and you guys know him better than I do. I hope he wasn't put off by my asking him to ask me out? I know some guys feel embarrassed when the woman makes the first move but he seemed to need a push and Jen agrees with me on that. You don't think he thinks it's just the enthrallment talking?" anxious look over her pretty features. "I mean, sure, he is Master Nandor's representative and chief familiar but I really do like him, you know? It's true, in the past I would have considered his financial status a bit of a negative, though I know Master Nandor would take care of him that way...But it never stopped me from finding guys like him...A little shy, a little geeky, maybe, but really sweet and smart too...Very appealing." Warm smile.
"Believe you me, I've no use for guys who spend the day in the gym except where they're in the office till eight or nine making deals but mostly chasing skirts when not admiring themselves in the mirror. I dated a few once or twice and got out of that as fast as I could. God..." sigh.
"I mean, I know I look good and I like that and try to keep myself up...You may have noticed Ginny selected a few of us on our looks as well as our skills, though she didn't take anyone who couldn't toe the mark, businesswise...But I have always tried to look beyond the surface. I mean, we have to see how we get on but, we're both free and clear...I unloaded a true dickhead, a couple of weeks ago, so...We work together and I see he's a hard worker which I like ...I'm actually also into sci-fi and fantasy stuff, though until I was enthralled I was more of a 'Buffy' person...We like poetry and reading and music...We adore Master Nandor...We like working outdoors and remodeling and fixing up indoors, and he is cute, really, so why not? And if we're taken as vampires, we're a good match for a vampiral couple like Master Laszlo and Mistress Nadja. He was taken, after all, and look at them now..." fond smile.
"Anyway, if you do hear anything from him, try to let him know this isn't all enthrallment talking..." she notes. "Though if it is anything else, I'd like to help him with it, if I can, so..." shrug.
....
Jen, in attic, checking round a bit and jotting notes for the packing of certain items Laszlo had asked her to secure...
"Well...Susan asked Gui out, so to speak..." smile. "I gather he was a bit startled...But pleased. Though Sue told me he seemed down and I noticed that when I was speaking to him." Worried look. "I hope I didn't push her too hard his way. I would never want him to think she was doing it just out of enthrallment. She really does like him...And Sue, like me, can appreciate guys who aren't the most studly, you know? Yes, we do consider money and all that but it's never first with us and you do hafta consider finances in any relationship. The best thing regards the enthrallment is that it becomes clear to you that those things can be taken care of and while nice to have set, aren't all that big in the scheme of things." Smile.
"Well, I'll give her a chance to sort it out with Gui, then put my two cents in and see if there's anything else bothering him. I just know they'd make a great couple if they can get started. Sue may have more experience but she's very sweet and really the most innocent girl in the world." Nod.
"Well, as you can see..." she indicates her clipboard and boxes about the room... "Things are moving along...We're starting to get crackin' packin'..." grin. "Tomorrow the Historical Preservation Society sends its rep in...You know, Ginny's boyfriend, among others..." wicked grin. "I really think it'll go well. Master Laszlo is very eager to keep the place up to their standards as he has a real love for History. It's really nice to see the Masters and Mistress so excited for the move...I and everyone at the office, enslaved and enthralled or no, are truly and completely determined to see it goes off perfectly as we can make it."
"Jen!" Phyllis' voice from the stairway... "It's 4:45. I'm going to head out in ten!"
She sets down clipboard, goes over to stairway... "Ok, Phyl! We're about ready to go too, it's getting on Suzette's dinner time and I want to review things for tomorrow at home. Tell Sue she should pack up now!" She looks to camera... "And I wanna make David's evening magical...Before I have something to do back here, later, about eleven...If you'll pardon me, that's a little surprise for my dear Master." Grin. "Gotta go! See ya, tomorrow if you're not around later!"
....
Phyllis' car...Just after she'd entered from the residence, to head home...Phyllis adjusting her hair as she eyes herself in mirror...
"I'm determined to start over properly with Master Guillermo, our chief familiar, and representative of the Mistress." Phyllis, a bit stridently to camera, then relaxing a little. "But, I know I should try to be more relaxed and natural, please don't tell him or the Mistress I was a bit tense about this. I will not be a liability to them. In fact I know I can help Master Guillermo to better serve the Mistress and our overlords. The others mean well but they don't have the devotion I have. Besides, the little fellow, no offense..." anxious look. "...Is kinda cute in his way. And I think he needs a slightly older woman, like me...Not some young pretty but flighty thing like Sue or even Jen, who has a husband and little kid, after all...To help him. He's just a late bloomer and I agree with Jen, definitely not gay. I won't sell myself short...I'm not as young as them but I'm still pretty good-looking, with all due modesty." Nodding at her quite attractive when relaxed face in mirror...Smile... "Yeah, I think I'm just what he needs. And together we can really give the Mistress and her friends the right kind of service."
Slightly nervous look... "Not that I'd do this just to get ahead...I get that the Mistress would be annoyed if I played up falsely to the guy. I really do like him now I've got to know him a little...He's very much the cuddly type." Beam. "And really, fellas? After the guys I've had crap on me...I need the cuddly type. Honestly, I'll be very good for him and to him. And my kid, Greg, needs a good father. He's at the age he really needs that kind of guidance...You know, a good guy who respects women and isn't overbearing but a solid worker with values?" Sigh, with frown at end, watching Susan emerge from front entrance of the residence, with Jen, both now in their business suits and well-groomed, not wishing anyone to question their begriming and wearing cleaning clothes .
"She's not the one for him. It's like I was saying to Colin, the daylight guy/accountant? She comes out of thrall one day and then what? Sure, maybe she's zapped and doesn't remember the thralling per se, doesn't call the police and all, but first decent hunk she meets? Gone with the wind... Poof! Me? I'm the type who goes in for the long haul. I won't abandon him." Firm nod. "Yeah, I'm the one for him. Well, boys..." shrewd smile. "Tomorrow is another day." Turns key.
Cut to Colin, watching the action from the front door after greeting and following Jen and Susan out...
"It's interesting to follow Phyllis' logic here, the kind of twisted, mad, but definitely logical fanaticism Hitler had...I mean if you had read the memo or really crazed, threatening rant he sent back to us, me really, as it was my memorandum to him, at Abwehr, on why Russia must be destroyed and can't fight us...Nazis, I mean, then...Germany must have 'living space', Russia has the only real 'space' in Europe...All Jews are insidious destroyers who created the Bolsheviks to destroy, Russia is ruled by the Bolsheviks, so Russia is destroying herself...Stalin is building up, he will strike out of fear of us, we must strike now...All that sort of thing. Now with Phyllis, talking with her, while feeding, of course..." smile. "...She's shifted from initially resenting Guillermo to realizing internally she's not got much chance with Nadja or the guys so the chief familiar is sort of the stand-in for them now. 'The Chief Familiar's the best shot she can get. He needs someone to keep him at top efficiency to please Nadja and Nandor. Who rules the Chief Familiar rules the roost, now, really... Guillermo seems easily dominated.' See the crazy but clear logic developing?" shrug.
"And Guillermo is...Pretty attainable..." Colin notes. "So I sense...Catfight...Or at least a power struggle...Which means I feed well." Smile.
....
Cut to Guillermo's cell...
"I can't be a vampire hunter...Even if I am of Van Helsing stock. I love them." He paces. "Why did I have to take that stupid ancestry test..." pausing, sighs.
"I wrote my auntie, in Mexico, for more information on our connection to the Van Helsings. I've heard ancestry studies of DNA can be crappy. She wrote me back..." Holds up letter.
"'Dear Guillermo, please come to see me. I am ill and there is much I have to tell you before I die. Auntie.'"
"That can't be good, can it? I mean, apart from Auntie dying, of course. Master Nandor gave me ten days leave, he's still very sad about his granddaughter, X 30, dying from shock at seeing him in her window. He's given me the teddy bear he wanted to give his granddaughter, X 30." Holds up teddy bear.
....
Eleven thirty, the crypt of Laszlo and Nadja Cravensworth...
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Jen, glasses for astigmatism perched, seated in rocker in casual outfit, darning Laszlo's most worn socks while reading from "A Tale of Two Cities", to the two sealed coffins...
"This is very nice but not too late, dear girl!" Nadja calls from her coffin.
"Ditto, there...But please, continue!" Laszlo calls...
"Just till 12:30, ma'am, Master !" Jen returns.