This story contains some of the same characters from the story Pancakes. It could be said to be a "The Continuing Adventures of...."
Carl: A many centuries old Paladin. Like all Paladins he has only limited magical ability. His main powers are derived from his ability with weapons, both magical and conventional, ability to heal quickly, his ability as a tactician and his years of experience.
Aradia: A relatively young witch who is near the end her apprentice ship under a powerful witch named Miranda.
Father Marcus: Father Marcus Van Helsing is a Vampire Hunter as well as a Priest. He is a descendent of the Van Helsing family of vampire hunters and he also has a passion for Dallas Cowboys Football.
Satan: The Devil. For the purposes of our story the evil one has no power to act directly on earth but commits his evil acts through his followers.
Vlad: Count Dracula. Lord of the vampires and challenger to Satan's throne.
Anton: Young wizard and Aradia's ex-boyfriend.
Countess Báthory: Evil Sorceress
There is no sex in this story.
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Carl had taken advantage of a naturally occurring storm to go out to a remote area to practice his lightning skills without attracting too much attention. In the old days he could have just gone out regardless of the weather and practiced but now with modern technology's ability to detect lightning strikes a lot of lightning occurring during a clear day would attract too much notice. He figured since he got a handle on the accuracy thing he needed to work on intensity and generating lightning indoors without blowing a hole in the roof or killing himself in the process.
The storm had blown through providing some much needed rain. The downside was it meant that Carl was going to have to mow the grass by the end of the week or the HOA would be having a fit. Through the centuries he had come up against evil in many forms but he felt a Home Owners Association was one of its worse incarnations. There was something about an HOA that seemed un-American. It was not that he was afraid of the HOA but as he needed to be fairly inconspicuous so he did not want to rattle their cage by appearing to be a troublemaker.
He was giving some thought to hiring a lawn and garden service since many of his trips were taking more time and he was not around to take care of the lawn but he was uncomfortable with having strangers poking around the place. The idea of the average human spending so much time in a relatively short life pulling weeds and cutting grass seemed to him to be a modern plague. Perhaps it was more like Sisyphus of Greek mythology. Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to push a large rock up a hill. Once he got it almost to the top it would roll back down and he had to start all over again. There were those in his neighborhood who spent every weekend pulling weeds and cutting grass only to repeat the process all over again the next weekend. He had considered moving to an apartment or condo but that would not provide the privacy he desired.
The sun was out for the drive back to his place but the streets were still wet and the humidity was making the air feel sticky so he had the AC going on full in the truck. Turning down his street he returned the waves of a couple of neighbors. When he got to his house there was jeep parked out front that he recognized as belonging to Aradia. As he got closer he saw her sitting on the hood waiting for him.
Aradia stood all of 5' 6" had a thin athletic build. Her hair color this time looked to be a reddish blonde. She changed it often so he did not know what her real hair color was and never really bothered to keep track. She was dressed in cargo shorts, t-shirt and running shoes and shoulder bag was beside her on the hood of the jeep. Instead of her normal wire rim glasses she had some stylish non Rx sunglasses, must be wearing her contacts he thought.
He pulled into his driveway wondering what this was about. He rarely had visitors except Father Marcus for an occasional Monday night Football game or a planning session if they were going on a mission together.
Carl was getting out of his truck as Aradia hopped off the hood of her Jeep and greeted him with bright smiley "Hey Sir Galahad".. He returned her smile and responded with a polite "Hello" an asked more cautiously "To what do I owe the honor of this visit."
"I understand you are taking a trip soon."
"I might be but perhaps we should discuss this inside" Carl said as he looked around to see if anyone was listening.
He lead the way to the front door checking to make sure none of his security measure had been tripped. His home was well protected by both "magic" charms, symbols and talismans a well as the latest in technology. The home itself sat on a large hexagram that extended out to his property line. In was blended in with landscaping so as not to be easily seen from the street or above. Each door had a powerful Mezuzah while each window had a amulet and crucifix above it to provide protection. He then held the door open for Aradia and followed her inside.
The house was cold, Carl liked his AC, electric bills be damned. Aradia looked around Carl's House as he escorted her toward the kitchen. It was a typical bachelor's pad except cleaner. The living room was dominated by a TV around which the furniture was arranged. There were no plants or sign of pets. There were no pictures on the walls but lots of old maps in frames and a couple of paintings. It turned out Carl's hobby was collecting maps and he favored old maps. Many for those he had were originals as old as he was. He was a fan of that art of cartography. He felt that a well made map was as good as well written book or a good painting. Technology was rending that talent obsolete, a fact that saddened Carl but he was no Luddite and accepted it.
She saw two paintings on his walls of some old battles she was unfamiliar with. If she was more up on her history and art she would have recognized one as a copy of Henry McArdle's "Dawn at the Alamo" the other a copy of Gibb's The Thin Red line.
The kitchen was relatively Spartan with appliances either basic white or stainless steel in color. The floor was a white and gold tile. There was no art work to speak of. There was a small table with 4 chairs around it. In the center of the table were a prepackaged salt and pepper shaker and bottle of Tabasco sauce.
"Have a seat "Carl gestured toward the table as he walked toward the refrigerator. "Would you like something to drink?"
"What do you have?" she replied taking a seat. As he opened the refrigerator she saw a Hooters calendar and a magnetic sticker with the number of a local pizza place on the door. He is a typical guy after all she thought; a 600 or 700 year old Paladin but a guy none the less.
"Beer, coke, water and V-8"
"Diet coke?"
He just stared at her
"Lite Beer?"
He continued to stare then said "You'll have a beer" and he took out two Ziegenbachs.
He took a seat across from her. "Let us see if I figured this out. Marcus told you I was going on a mission and you want to go along, correct?"
