What We Do In The Shadows: "Jen..."
Summary: There are unexpected consequences when Laszlo seeks a new human familiar...
Part LVII...
"Wait..." Devious gasps to Lesley, now in battle mode, standing before Ginny's desk. Ginny, crucifix out from blouse, likewise ready.
"She's hurt you, Master...!"
"No...Just, stay, girl...I know who's attacking me. Ginny! Put that thing away or I will let Lesley fight you and I'll take you, I'm still strong enough..." trying to stand.
Perhaps not but...
"All right...But I didn't ask Colin to do it." Ginny pushes crucifix back under blouse.
"Then tell him to stop...Right now..."
She presses phone console. "Anne? Could you put Colin on, now?"
"Colin, back off..." she tells phone. "And I appreciate it but we're in negotiations...Just hold the fort there. And don't let the girls get nervous..."
Ok? She eyes Devious as he sits a bit more erect, Lesley and Victor eyeing her narrowly...
"Better. There...See how reasonable I can be?" he notes, smiling.
"All right. You wanted to negotiate. You say we have a common enemy. What is it you want?" Ginny eyes him.
"I want to know why Van Helsing is back...And why he has such an interest in my old chums from the Junior Island..."
"How do you know he's got any interest in them. His people attacked vampires your Council held, right?"
"Ginny. We both know his focus is on my old friends. And if you want them to survive, you'd best have allies. I am here, ready to sign a treaty of alliance...And to make a deal on their old house..."
"What else do you know about him? And his people?" she asks. "Simon if you want an alliance, my Mistress and Masters have to know you have something to offer. Do you know where they are? Where the Slayer is?"
"The who?" Simon stares...Victor likewise...
"Don't tell me you're a fanatical Buffy fan? Or believe in silly legends?" he notes.
"Well, I mean, apart from vampires, ghosts, werewolves, vampire hunters, of course."
...
"I should just go in...I'm expected to come by..." Erika insists to Eloise as they watch their office building.
As yet no signs of additional forces...Including thralled humans...Though there could be hypnotized spies about...Eloise had admitted to Erika's insistent questioning.
"Your thrall stands out like a sore thumb..." Eloise sighs. "He'll know you for a minion right away."
"I'll have Ginny tell him I'm coming and it's just business...At least she'd have backup."
"I'd be better for any fighting to be done and I'm not thralled. Though he might bridle at a werewolf showing up..."
"Just a mo..." Erika put phone to ear. "Martha? Yes, how soon? We're across the street. No one else that we can tell so far. No, Ginny was ok when we called a few minutes ago. You best pull into the garage lot here so we can discuss in sheltered space...Did mein Master Laszlo stay? No...He should have stayed!" Anxious tone... "Hello, Master." she calms a bit. "No, alls quite well and quiet. No, we're still outside, but I'll go right in on your... Yes, Master. I hear and obey." slight sigh... "Eloise?" she hands phone over.
"Hey, fella...Nah, she's behaving herself but she's pretty antsy for your sake. Yeah, things seem quiet so far over there. No worries, I'll keep her here."
...
"I can't tell you more than that, Simon. All I know of the Slayer is that our owners believe she exists and fear her and that Dr. Van Helsing seems to have her as an ally, along with his living Hunters. You really don't believe she exists?" Ginny eyes him.
Shrug... "Everyone's heard the legends, the TV show's been very popular...Even a few vampiral heroes tossed in, after all. But I've never encountered anyone who really met her...Anyway, the last stories claimed she left this earthly plane with her boyfriend...Husband...Whatever, for bliss in Heaven or some such twaddle, decades ago."
"But she's always come back..." Ginny notes. "When needed...At least that's what our folks say. And Van Helsing seems to bear that out."
"Well...Why now?" Simon frowns. "What's the big threat. We vampires aren't massing to rule the world...Unless your folks...?" eyes her.
"Not that I'm aware of...My owners just want to live in peace..."
"Yes...But...Where? You were lying about Europe, I'm sure. Where did they plan to move too, Ginny? Just a rough idea, in the interests of open negotiations and trust..."
"They'll be in America...That's all I can tell you." she shakes head. "You know I'd die to protect them."
"Fair enough...But very rough..." he ponders. "My, my, my...The Slayer, real?...After all. You know? I once considered taking that girl, Ms. Gellar? Have my own Buffy dancing in my clubs...But she got married and there are all sorts of problems in taking anyone so famous. Then she had kids and I hate to take humans with little children. Seems cruel and the kids whine and end up being eaten or starving, fouling up your lair...Also the Council has a rule against it..." shrug...
"Tell me...Is Van Helsing impressive? Even just as a ghost...?" he asks, suddenly.
"I haven't seen him manifest...Myself." Ginny shrugs.
"But you have been possessed, by him?" smile. "What was that like? I imagine you must be rather angry at him...So creepy." grin... "To have him crawling around inside your skin...Kinky though, too. Did you enjoy it?" malicious grin...
"I don't remember...I was, but I only know what Jen told me. He was polite, he didn't harm me."
"And he told 'Jen' what, exactly?"
"Where did you get your information about his interaction with us?" Ginny returns, calmly.
"From a good source, rather intimately connected..." he smiles. "Oh, posh...Why not? Lesley!"
Lesley, alert, hastens over...
"Meet actress, singer-dancer, ingenue...Vampire Hunter and distant relation of Abraham Van Helsing, Lesley Ciara Helsing. Take a bow, Lesley..." Simon urges. Lesley bowing...
....
The transport van...Parked in a lot under an awning about three blocks from the parking garage where Eloise and Erika now awaited them as they watched over the office building...
"So...We've stopped here at Jen's suggestion..." smile to Jen up front in driver's seat who beams back...Laszlo in his great coat next to a nervous Nadja in hers...Both and Nandor under the large rug pulled by Jen and Martha from the Cravensworths' crypt. "Given if we move in closer, Simon is likely to sense us and call for reinforcements who may be near at hand, if only in human form as none of us have sensed vampires in the near area to almost the building..."
"Fine, great...But we can't just sit here..." Nadja fumes. "My poor Ginny could be dying for us right now..."
"We're all ready to die for you..." Martha calls back from her seat.
"No need as yet, Martha..." Nandor, next to Laszlo under rug.
"Yes, die later..." Nadja frowns... "Help us come up with a plan now..."
"Suppose we send Erika in..." Laszlo ponders. "She's a member of the office team and due in...She can admit up front she's mine and convince Simon she's just there for business. Colin could drain Simon and his minions dry and she and Ginny dispose of them. Or take them prisoner, whichever..."
"Eloise is better fighter...And unthralled." Nadja notes.
"Simon isn't too keen on werewolves..." Laszlo shakes head. "He could kill her and claim he thought she wasn't one of ours before Ginny told him. Or merely see it as our attack and kill them all."
"You can send me..." Jen calls back. "He wants to destroy me, he'll talk to me."
Laszlo, cautiously peering from under rug. She regarding him with arch smile... "Herr Cravensworth..." nod.
"Doctor, you might give a warning when you're going to take our ladies..." he frowns.
...