THE VROL TRILOGY (106 page)

"Come at me, young whelps! Who dares
challenge Krynos, king of the battledance?" he roared, while he
flicked patrons off his back like flies from a pile of ripe
fruit.

Again and again he stomped and slammed his
arms out, as his play attackers rebounded off invisible walls as if
they were in an inflatable bouncy room.

"Wow, that kingy fella sure likes slam
dancing, wouldn't you think Jess?" Pandy asked rhetorically.

"He is usually much more calm. I think he's
just letting off some steam," said Jessica.

"It appears the song is ending. Not too soon,
either," said Gabriel, releasing his protective wall around the
dance floor. Everyone cleared the stage area, with Krynos returning
to Dons' partitioned section. Gabriel quietly repaired the
shattered chairs and cocktail tables that Krynos had so easily
destroyed, and the lycan king carefully took a seat on a large
bench that could support his substantial mass.

"Ah, the battledance brings back memories of
a great battle of near an entire seasonal cycle ago," exclaimed
Krynos, in an attempt to yet again slide in an exaggerated account
of the Battle of the Blood.

"Oh yeah, I think Maxie told us a bit about
it, but not much," responded Dons', mistakenly paving a path for
Krynos to begin his long-winded, and completely amplified rendition
of the fight.

Forty-five minutes later, as Jessica and
Pandy yawned, the younger of the two resting her head on her older
friend's shoulder, and Gabriel sitting practically cross-eyed, the
only one listening with rapt attention was Dons. The diminutive
clan leader seemed utterly enthralled with Krynos'
more-accurate-than-usual recounting of the fight in his castle.

"And that, my good and very small friend, was
how the brain stain on the mezzanine floor was created, cordoned
off forever, and left as a reminder to any who would attempt
unauthorized entrance into my castle," Krynos finished.

"So, King Krynos, do you think Max will come
back here and visit anytime soon?" Dons asked with a hopeful
intonation to his voice.

"I am unaware of the Commander's plans, but I
shall certainly send back a recommendation, and let him know that
his good friends in the Hollow Wood Street miss him a great
deal."

"Oh that'd be great. And, it's Hollywood, not
HollowWood."

"That is what I said," responded the king,
displaying a bit of a glare.

"Oh yeah, my mistake, mate, my mistake."

The rest of the afternoon was eventful, as
Dons took Krynos out for a leisurely demon hunt, the latter having
extracted enough teeth to feed an entire family for a year. The
king, having no need for the local monetary units, nor any desire
to keep anything as a souvenir, gave much of the teeth away to a
family of normals, not liking the local lycans and most definitely
not liking the nekos. In fact, Krynos took an odd liking to Lennie,
much as Max had done, as the vampire drummer had a very
recognizable and easily detectable goodness to him.

"Lennie, my good man. May I have a moment of
your time?" asked Krynos as he approached the small stage in Dons'
club.

"Oh, hello King. Sure. How can I help
you?"

"I understand that your mate is with child.
This is true, yes?"

"Correct, sir. She is expecting. Why do you
ask?"

Krynos held out his hand, holding a bag of
teeth. Lennie's eyes grew big as he tried to comprehend what was
happening.

"I have no need for currency on this world,
but I wish for you to take this as a gift for your offspring."

"Wow. Thanks King. I never thought anyone
would… you know… wow. Thanks," Lennie stammered.

"It is my pleasure, son. Might you tell me if
you desire a boy or a girl?"

"Oh, it's a boy, sir. We already know. I
don't know if Max told you, but we're naming him Maximilianus. It's
a bit of a tongue twister, but we'll call him Max."

"Ah, a fitting tribute to the fine, young Max
Gunnarsson. Did you have a name selected for him previous to having
decided to name him after the commander?"

"Oh yeah, we were gonna name him Ryder - it
was Jelly's idea, but Max sounded better."

Krynos gained a quizzical look on his face
and appeared pensive for a moment, and with Krynos that wasn't
usually a good thing.

"Lennie, do you have a surname. A name from
your father?"

"Oh yeah, mate. It's Johnson. Why do you ask?
Hey! Max asked the same thing."

"Ah, and for good reason. You were going to
give your son the same exact name as the evil vampire whom Jennie
Gunnarsson so efficiently dispatched to the gates of Hell during
the battle of the Blood."

"Um, same exact name?" Lennie stammered.

"Yes! Ryder Johnson, from what I recall, had
murdered dozens of flying personnel aboard his starcraft, and then
followed Max and Jennie back to my kingdom, where he allied himself
with Vladros," the king flatly stated.

"And the gates of Hell? What did you mean by
that?"

"Oh yes, Jennie pounded his skull into a
puddle of mush whilst wearing a most impressive gauntlet of metal.
We saved the stain it made on the mezzanine floor."

Lennie stared at Krynos, jaw dropped open in
disbelief. It was at that moment the lycan leader realized his
error in judgment.

"Oh, perhaps I should not have recounted that
tale to you, my good friend. I do apologize, as I am sure that
there is no connection whatsoever between your son and the most
evil and very dead Ryder Johnson."

"Oy, King, let's not
recount
this tale to Jelly, eh? I'd
appreciate it a great deal," said Lennie with a bit of worry to his
voice.

He then graciously accepted the bag of teeth
from Krynos and went back to going over his band's set list. But he
knew something was wrong - he lived in an alternate universe, and
he was no idiot. If Max had hidden some information from him then
there was probably a lot more to the story. However, he pushed it
all to the back of his mind and went about his duties.

Walking back to Dons' cordoned-off area.
Krynos again took a seat on his sturdy bench, while giving Gabriel
a solemn look.

"What seems to be your trouble, Krynos?"
asked the archangel.

"I believe I have again spoken too much. I
tend to do that when I am in good company," responded Krynos,
carrying an obvious tone of remorse in his voice.

"Hmm, and of what do you speak, sir?"

"I believe I said a bit too much to Lennie
the kindly vampire. I revealed to him the name of the enemy that
Jennie so efficiently dispatched nearly a year past. His name was
the same as that which the good vampire couple were originally to
have named their son-to-be."

"Oh no, you told Lennie about Max and
Jennie's enemy? Oh, man," exclaimed Jessica.

"And this is a bad thing?" asked Gabriel.

"Absolutely. Max surmised that Lennie the
drummer is the doppelganger of some evil man on Azul, and that
Lennie was going to name his son the same as the guy who Jennie
killed, the killed guy being the son of the doppelganger," she
responded, then immediately got a confused look on her face as if
she didn't even understand what she had just said.

"Well, it is common knowledge that there are
some mirrors in the universe, and that this very well could be one
of those," said Gabriel, assuring his friend that she had indeed
conveyed her thoughts in an understandable manner.

"Gabe, this could really mess Lennie up. He's
such a good guy. What are we gonna do?" asked the lycan female.

Gabriel thought for a moment, and then stood
up.

"I shall return momentarily. Please wait
here."

Walking over to the stage, Gabriel watched
the drummer as he nervously fidgeted with his equipment. He was
obviously perturbed by something, and Gabriel was certain it was
due to Krynos' ramblings.

"Hello Lennie. Are you preparing for another
excellent musical performance?"

"Oh, hullo Gabriel. Yup. Same as any other
day. Why do you ask?"

"It has immediately come to my attention that
Krynos may have revealed a bit too much to you. Might I put your
mind at ease, as I have intimate knowledge of the universe and what
we call mirror dimensions?"

"Oh yeah, sure. It's disturbing, for sure. I
mean, what if the father of that Ryder guy Jennie killed was named
Lennie. I mean, it would be too much of a coincidence, right?"

Gabriel gave Lennie a forlorn look and nodded
his head.

"The deceased's father's name is indeed
Leonard Johnson. But he is not you, nor are you he. You are Lennie,
a kindly resident of this land and a fine musician. Your son shall
also be a fine person, no matter what name you give him. I believe
Krynos was careless with his conversation due to the fact that he
indeed has taken a liking to you. And I must tell you that is quite
unusual, being as he comes from a land where those of the vampire
sub-species are his mortal enemies. It is different here. Please
know that."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it, ya know? But
still, I don't understand why Max would have kept that information
from me in the first place. I remember when I told him I was naming
my kid after him he asked some questions, and I detected a bit of
stress when I told him our original name."

"Yes, well, I can understand Max's quandary.
In any case, please do not worry further. It is now gone from your
mind."

Gabriel merely waved his hand, and then
waited for Lennie to exit his momentary state of blankness.

"Oh hi mate! How ya doin', Gabriel? Ready to
watch King Krynos destroy the stage again?" Lennie said merrily,
having had his conversations with Krynos and Gabriel completely
wiped from his memory.

"Yes, good Lennie. I am indeed looking
forward to your show, although I believe that Krynos will not be
destroying any more furniture," the archangel said with a smile. In
his mind he was already formulating a timeline for leaving during
Lennie's show, but he needed to discuss the particulars with
Jessica and Pandy. He was not so sure that the couple needed to be
separated.

The two lycan girls relaxed on their favorite
couch as Dons surveyed the comings and goings in the club. Once he
got up and walked to check out the club entrance, Jessica looked at
Pandy and asked, "Sis, are you sure you want to come with us? I
mean I don't see any issues between you and Dons. What if we asked
him to come with us?"

"He won't. He fought so hard to build this
place, and without either of us he will be exposed. Not helpless,
but definitely exposed. I mean, what if Adam and Marko were smart
enough to join forces against him?"

"That is assuming they have intelligence,"
laughed the older of the two.

"Maybe you, or we, could ask Max to amp up
Dons' sword even more? I mean, I do care for him, but I need to see
more. And you never know - maybe he'll change his mind later
on?"

Gabriel went to the girls and set down at
their side, uncharacteristically putting his hand on Jessica's
knee, but looking at Pandy.

"So, have you decided what you would like to
do? We must leave soon, and there is much to accomplish."

"I'm going. I just don't know if I should say
anything to Dons, leave him a note or just leave," Pandy responded
sadly.

"You should talk to him, sweetie. Just do it.
It would be unfair otherwise," advised Jessica.

"Ok, I'll be right back," Pandy said.

Popping up and walking towards the door with
purpose, Pandy steeled herself and approached her lover, noting he
was quietly observing the comings and goings of the locals. He had
Adam and Marko across the street, manning the hotel bar and renting
rooms out. One of the good ideas that Adam actually brought up was
to rent rooms out by the hour, which helped Dons' nekos out
immensely.

"Heya hun. All good?" Pandy asked meekly.

"Yeah, I reckon. So, when are ya
leaving?"

Pandy got a surprised look on her face and
gasped lightly.

"You… knew? How? I mean, I hadn't said
anything yet."

"Oh love, it's obvious. And I know you miss
Jess. You girls are like two peas in a pod. I canna really tell you
to stay, although I wish you would. And that's mostly for selfish
reasons - I depend on you and Jess both for backup in fights, but
maybe it's time I build another team."

"You could… come with us, you know. Jessica
says it is amazing over there. And we wouldn't have to scrounge for
supplies, or worry about demon attacks or asshole lycans tearing up
the club," she said with total sincerity.

"But Pandy, if I went with you I wouldn't
have the club, or anything. You see, this is mine, and if I leave
it I'll lose it. You know how it works here. Tell ya what, I'll
keep it in mind, ok?"

"So you won't be mad if I go, but just for a
while?"

"Not at all. Just promise you'll come back
safe, ok?"

The two sat walked in through the club and
went up to the roof, where they could get a nice view of the sunset
over the Santa Monica Mountains a few kilometers behind the
building.

After the sun had finally signed off for the
day they went back downstairs. Lennie's band had been playing
requests, mostly coming from Krynos, who had acquired a song list
from Max before leaving the Rhönen Dominion. Then, walking over to
the couch where Gabriel and Jessica were seated, Pandy turned
around and kissed Dons on the cheek, and then faced her
friends.

"Ok, let's go. I just promised to come back
safe. Oh, and can we ask Max for that favor right away too,
Jess?"

"Sure hun, no worries. We'll go see him first
thing," said Jessica. Then looking at Dons she asked, "Are you
really ok with this, boss? I mean, it's just that this is such a
great opportunity for learning and growing."