Chapter 4 - Of Things Unspoken

Triggers: Gross vampire being a gross pervy old vampire. Yeah. Still more crappy attempts at a Bayou accent, really stilted dialogue and shitty attempts at matchmaking. A lot of dialogue. I'm sorry.

Clark and Penny approached the large wooden front door of the crumbling mansion in the bayou and rang the bell.

A woman in a maid's uniform opened the door and stared at the two for a moment.

"Boss Racket sent us." Clark said at the woman's raised eyebrow.

"Ah, yes. The Master will see you in the drawing room. Come." the woman said as she bid the couple enter.

The manse smelled of old books, damp earth and a coppery tang that was nigh impossible to pin down. Sitting in front of the crackling fire was a white haired man in a smoking jacket, a glass of red liquid in his hand.

"Master," the maid said "Mr. Racket's guests are here."

Clark and Penny stood silent, slightly terrified by the man that seemed to not be fully... human.

"Bill told me to expect you, Clark, but he did not say you'd be bringing a woman. This is man's business." the man said, his voice silky smooth, with an undefinable accent.

The man's voice and tone unsettled Clark further, and he could barely get out his response.

"B-boss said Penny would be a help to you, mistah.... mistah...." Clark stammered.

" - Dagon. As I doubt you could pronounce my first name properly in that backwater patois of yours, you shall refer to me as Master Dagon." the man said.

Clark gulped at the man's words... "Mastah Dagon. Penny's real smart. She knows a lotta people here, an' they trust her."

The man sniffed at the air, the humans' fear scenting it deliciously.  "Interesting; and here I thought she was an offering from Bill. He still owes me for that last disposal. Two of his goons are not enough for what I had to do."

The man rose and approached the couple, his pale skin and glowing eyes further scaring Clark and Penny. This man was not wholly a man.....

"M-Mastah Dagon - " Clark stuttered.

Dagon flicked his hand in Clark's direction, in a seemingly harmless gesture. "Shut up."

Clark suddenly found himself feeling as if he was under water; his hearing and response time muffled.

Dagon turned to Penny, who was still trembling with fear. In a sibilant tone designed to both soothe and seduce her, Dagon asked "So, Penny. You say you know everyone here in town?"

Penny felt compelled to answer, Dagon's power of persuasion working well on her.

"Y-yes, sah. I was born here. Our family is one of the oldest in Twinbrook."

Dagon pondered her answer, reading her blood signature as he did so.

"Mmm... yes, yes. I do seem to remember.... that... particular.... aura."  Dagon replied, the salivary glands in the back of his jaw responding to the memory with a sharp, but delicious pain.

"Sah?" Penny replied, confused - Dagon's momentary distraction allowed the fog of his compulsive powers to wane.

"Nevermind, fleshling." Dagon dismissed, re-concentrating his powers.  "Have there been any new arrivals to this town in say, a year?"

Dagon already knew the answer, having lived in this town for centuries, since before Penny's family settled, but he wanted to know if the energy he felt was able to conceal itself from humans or not.

"Just this Ms. Ducharme. She done wrote a few books,  an' sometimes reads the cards for folk at parties and such." Penny offered, eager to please this strange man.

"Do tell." Dagon purred, fixing Penny with a cobra's gaze. "Is she any good?"


"Oh yes, sah. She also works with the roots and herbs, too. The ol' folks say she's a treasure, 'cause we ain't had a proper root doctor in this town in centuries."

"Oh? Hmm." Dagon pondered this new information. While he did know of Ms. Ducharme's psychic powers, he did not know of her rootwork knowledge.

"You two may be of use to me after all. Penny, I want you to gather all you can on this Ms. Ducharme. As for you, Clark - " Dagon said as he noticed the man rising to his feet again.

Dagon gestured for the couple to approach the small dining table, which had a large sack of cash on it.

"You will deliver this bag of unmarked bills to Boss Racket and tell him that I require further compensation for this... odious duty."

Clark was confused. "Mastah Dagon?"

Dagon fixed Clark with an unreadable expression. "I want her young, fresh, and clean, got it? No more worn out bar floozies high on meth. About 18 should suffice. Any younger and it tends to get noticed by the authorities. "

Clark and Penny looked at each other. What was Dagon referring to?

"Now go. I have... other things to attend to."

Dagon rang for his maid and dismissed the couple, returning to his fire and pouring himself another glass of refined blood. He'd need to get fresh soon, he thought. This was doing nothing to help his waning powers.

If Penny could do as he compelled her to, perhaps this Ms. Ducharme would be a fitting meal to rekindle both him and his own Master. Supernaturals were a rare treat nowadays; while the locals had been a good source of food; they did nothing to help Dagon regain the powers he once had prior to leaving the Old Country. At least he had managed to escape the Romani trap set for him and travel to France, where he remained undetected for a good century or so, before he hitched a ride to the New World, feasting on Native and European alike in the many wars.

But the long periods of gluttony led to hibernation without rejuvenation due to the growing beliefs in science and the shunning of the old ways. Only here in the bayou could he hope to find the half-breeds and full-blood supernaturals that he desired to consume, and they were fast becoming rare here, as well.

He sent out a thoughtform to check the condition of the gris-gris bags that worked the old Magic; their barrier should have prevented any new arrivals. This Ducharme woman must indeed be a powerful witch, if she could negate his barrier.  He needed to know more.

Clark and Penny paused at the edge of the stone arch, the maid standing behind them, her expression blank.

"We gotta go see Boss Racket, Clark. He will want that money." Penny said.

"I know. I wonder if I can skim a little off the top for our... work here." Clark mused.

"I wouldn't. You're already in hot water with the boss, otherwise you'd be sitting in the office cooking books and not visiting scary old houses in the bayou!" Penny hissed.

The couple returned to the row boat and made their way to their car parked at the edge of the old wooden bridge that ran beneath the old dam.

---

After Death apparated out to the Middle East, Gabriel returned with the car to the house and joined Walter in the garden. The two men worked in the warm sun for a couple of hours, Walter slowly turning redder and redder.



Walter sighed and stood up, a worried expression on his face.

"Gabriel, can I ask you a question?"

Gabriel paused in his pruning of the ginseng and turned to face Walter.

"Shoot." he said, dusting off his hands on his pants.

"Um, I've been having... nightmares... no.... I mean...flashbacks... of my previous life." Walter began.

Gabriel nodded "As is expected."



Walter's voice dropped to a near-whisper; he had seen Karena go with Pepin into the barn, and he wasn't sure how good her hearing was.

"The... the thing is... I feel that I should talk.... should talk to Ms. Ducharme.... and....." he murmured hesitantly.

"Karena, her name is Karena." Gabriel said softly.

"I... I know. I'm.... not comfortable with calling her that yet." Walter whispered.

 Walter continued in the same tone of voice, almost pleading "I mean, I feel that I should talk to her more about the biography, about the appendix, but I can't seem to..:

"Get the balls to do it?" Gabriel finished for Vogel, his tone sarcastic.

Walter stopped dead in his explanation, a moue of irritation crossing his face.

"No, not exactly. We talked a little, but Karena seemed.... upset about something." he explained.

"Naturally, as you would say." Gabriel said, smugly.

Walter's forehead wrinkled in consternation. "What do you mean?"

Gabriel sighed. Humans, reincarnated or not, could be so obtuse at times. In a fatherly tone, he explained the best way he could.

"I mean, it's natural for her to be angry. She's been hurt, quite a few times, quite a few lifetimes, and it has not healed."

Walter felt a bubble of anger rise in him at the mention of Karena being hurt, and the emotion surprised him. "Who? Who hurt her? Who would do such a thing?" he hissed.

Gabriel looked hard at the young man in front of him, pleased at the visceral response the man was evoking. Maybe Balthasar was right in his assumption that this man had to be first. Even if...

Walter asked again, his voice rising in pitch and anger. Before he could ask again at a volume that could be overheard, Gabriel responded.

"Look. You two need to talk. I promised  Balthasar that I would not interfere.."

"In what?" Walter asked.

"In this. What ever is going on between you and Karena needs to happen. No matter how hard it seems. Now, I suggest you go find her and talk to her." Gabriel replied, sighing with exasperation. Keeping what he knew secret was a royal pain in the ass.

Walter's face fell. "I'll try. She... doesn't seem to like me much. She's in the barn, avoiding me."

Gabriel sighed again. This boy was going to be the end of him, he thought.

"It's not you. It's what she's been through. She would rather things continue as they are than change. She, like you, is afraid of change. Look; even if you don't talk about the hard things,  why don't you two just.. talk - and get to know each other better?"

It was Walter's turn to roll his eyes. "It's not like we don't know each other, Gabriel. We talked all the time via the talking board until about a year ago, when she just... stopped."

"Then talk about THOSE subjects you talked about. Ask her to show you her world; I know you're curious." Gabriel said, clapping Walter on his shoulder.



Walter's face turned a brighter shade of pink and he cleared his throat. "Some of those subjects were...."

Gabriel tried not to chuckle at Walter's expression. Oh, those would definitely be discussed in time, he thought, if what he could read in Walter's aura was any indication of future actions.

"Oh, I know all about THOSE, Walter. You two may, in time, 'discuss' ' - here Gabriel made a risque gesture - " in time."

Walter's blush deepened, and he was rendered speechless. He turned away from the archangel and returned to his gardening with vigor, trying not to think of those very same subjects.

Gabriel left Walter to his gardening and walked towards the barn, inwardly chuckling at the young man's discomfort.

Meanwhile in the barn, Karena was checking Pepin's hooves - one had had a crack that she was monitoring. She checked all four before checking the hoof she could have sworn had had a crack in it the other day....confused, she let Pepin's leg go and began to groom him.

Gabriel entered the barn,  still chuckling.

"Hey, you. How's the big red guy doing?" he asked.

"Funny you asked, Gabe. I could have sworn he had a hoof crack the other day, but I can't seem to find it. It's gone. Literally, gone." Karena said.

Pepin snorted at the archangel, almost begging him not to tell his human-dam what he had done.

Gabriel shook his head at the horse as if to say too bad, bucko. She needs to know.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this morning - we noticed some of the flowers of the portal had been munched on. They may have had a healing effect on him."

Karena facepalmed. "Damn red goat.  It's not going to hurt him, is it?"

Pepin narrowed his eyes at Gabriel and snorted. Thanks a lot, asshole, he seemed to say.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes back at Pepin. That's what you get, goat-boy.

The big red gelding snorted again in disgust, tossing his head. Sauntering around Karena and the archangel, he headed for the open barn door, swishing his tail just so the tips of the hairs snapped across the archangel's bare arm.

Gabriel glared at Pepin's retreating backside before turning to Karena.

"No, Death said they shouldn't. They might even have prolonged his life."

"Oh. Maybe we should fence it off, just in case..." Karena offered.

Gabriel nodded. "I'll get Walter to do that. He needs something to do. He's.... edgy."

Karena sighed. "About that. I haven't told him, directly. I know that you know, archangel and all that..." Karena explained.

Gabriel crossed his arms and looked down at the human in front of him. Yep, aggravating, he thought.

"Mmhm. And you should, you know. You mean to tell me you talked to him for years via that board, and not ONCE did that particular subject come up?" Gabriel said sternly.

Karena bit her nails, her stomach in knots. "I... I only found out last year. I mean, I had had.... inklings of it... but when I was close to finishing the biography, the man I was having write the forward gave me the letters, the pictures... and suddenly, I had more writing to do. I was so angry with Walter at the time, I gave him the silent treatment."

Gabriel looked steadily at Karena; there was more she wanted to tell him, that he could sense.

"I understand that, but why not tell him anyway? He had a right to know." he said.

"I... I couldn't. Sean was always jealous of my infatuation with Walter, and when he found the board I used to talk to all of the dead, he took it and all the pictures I had, and burned them. He wanted to hurt me, and he did. Even if I did want to talk to Walter, I couldn't anymore. I tried to use the mirror, but without the pictures of him, I couldn't get a lock." Karena said, a touch of bitterness in her voice.

Gabriel felt his anger rise, but pushed it back down. He could see that Karena had lost a lot of faith in her abilities because of  the horrific abuse she had suffered. He knew he'd have to help her regain her confidence if what Death said was true.

He was beginning to understand now why Balthasar had sent Walter first. It was going to be painful, for both of them, but the amount of healing afterward would be good for both of them, and perhaps even help Karena gain more self-confidence, and be able to tackle the tasks ahead of her.

Right now, he needed to say something that would help her self-esteem.

"You never needed those things, you know." Gabriel said soothingly.

"I did. I .... without them, I wasn't able to... I can't...Sean said..." Karena stammered.

"Stop. What did that ant do to you?" Gabriel asked rhetorically, his anger coming to the surface. Oh, to be able to smite that bastard, he thought.

"Made me doubt myself, my abilities. To be honest, it wasn't only him. Throughout my life, I've been ridiculed for what I could do, my creativity stifled and mocked... it has not been easy for me." Karena sighed.

"Humans are the absolute worst to each other. Sometimes, I wonder what my father saw in them...." Gabriel said angrily.

"If it wasn't for you and Death showing up, and bringing Grayson back...I'd have..." Karena said, her voice thick with tears.

"Yes, yes, I know. I so want to smite the bastard myself, but I seemed to have misplaced my sword..."

"I thought you didn't need tools to do that. Besides, you didn't lose it, you misplaced it- gave it up." Karena chided.

"Traded it." Gabriel corrected her.


"For hookers and blow, I bet."  Karena giggled, softly.

"Hey now - it was floozies and fairy floss, just so you know." Gabriel said, his eyes sparking with mirth. He was happy he was able to distract Karena from her negative self-talk by joking about his misplaced archangel blade.

"See, this is why you're my favorite archangel, you rebel." Karena laughed even harder.

Gabriel pulled her close in a friendly embrace. "You flatter me. And you're an expert distractor, young lady. You need to talk to Walter about this. You both need to talk about this. He's confused and hurt. He thinks you don't like him."



"Confused isn't the half of it. You heard it the first night we met, Gabriel. He thought I was his wife." Karena said.

Gabriel shrugged. "Close enough. Look, I suggested to him that you two should go out on the town, show him around..."

Karena stopped laughing and looked at Gabriel seriously. "Y--you mean, a date?"

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Gabriel exclaimed.  "Come on, let's go find him and you can ask him."

Karena  shook her head at  the archangel "I dunno..."



"Try it, I mean it. Take him out to eat. Has he ever had Chinese?" Gabriel asked.

"Hunh, no. I wonder if he'd even like it? He seems pretty picky." Karena replied.

"It's got cabbage, right? And that whole sweet and sour thing, you know that'd appeal to him." Gabriel explained.

"Ha, yeah. Okay, okay, you win. I'll go find him and ask." Karena laughed.

"Atta girl. I'll hold down the fort here." Gabriel said, rubbing his hands together.

Karena raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-hunh. Which means all the baked goods, sugar, coffee, and anything sweet will be gone when we return. I'll have to start hosting reading parties again if I'm going to be able to afford your eating habits, Gabriel." Karena said sarcastically.

"Oh come on. I can control it." Gabriel replied.



Anyway, Death said I was supposed to be helping you with your readings. So, yeah, start booking them again, and let me know. Meanwhile, you need to go ask him, Karena. What's the worst he can say, no?" Gabriel pleaded.

Karena rolled her eyes as the two headed for the house. "Fine. You owe me." she muttered.

"Naturally." Gabriel laughed, opening the back door.