Spaken ze GrimoireA Chapter by icelandicblue Chapter 2
Six months before Carson Avril sat staring out the window of his
midtown New York Office. Things were happening faster than he could have
imagined and the time to act would be soon. Carson Avril was an
imposing figure despite his lack of height. He stood 5'9," but as anyone
who ever had any dealings with him would tell you he felt much taller.
It was perhaps the strength of his personality that filled a room rather
than solely a physical presence. He was of French descent but his
relationship with Mr. Hoffman, irreverently referred to as the German,
that had many questioning this odd pairing. Where Mr. Avril was imposing
Hoffman seemed to blend in to the background. He was a man you noticed
from the corner of your eye but when you looked again he would be
somewhere else in the room. He didn't say much but his presence made
most uncomfortable. If you were unfortunate enough to catch a better
glimpse you would be most assuredly rewarded with a shiver up your
spine. His cologne was more like l'eau de mort. A social
discomfort that Mr. Avril seemed to secretly enjoy.
Theirs was a storied past. Both their fathers had fought in World War II. Hoffman's father held a position high in the Gestapo and to Mr. Avril's great shame his father had held a high position, for ever so briefly, in the Vichy government put in place when Germany rolled over the Marginaux line and straight into Paris. The Avril's had a habit of picking the losing side politically but despite a few obstacles along the way they seemed to have the Midas touch when it came to making money. Both men were brought up in Argentina when their fathers fled after the Allied occupation. Avril changed his name from Pétain and the Hoffmans, being who they were felt no such shame, and kept their family name. Both boys grew up together, yet not really as friends, they shared a similar background, were Europeans hiding from justice and spoke a number of languages. However, once they had grown, forged their papers and immigrated to the United States they found they had much more in common than even their fathers had had. Today, however, was quite a momentous day. It seemed the German true to his word had actually located the book that every occultist since the 1940's had been searching for. Of course Avril had many questions and peppered the German mercilessly. "Helmut, are you sure this time you have found the correct book? After that fiasco in Cairo I'm not sure I believe you,"Mr. Avril said with a mixture of amusement and disdain. "Not only is it the right book but the box was also recovered. The old man in Warsaw knew exactly what he had, but he realized he could not keep it safe forever, and he refused to tell his sons what he had to protect them as well, from people like us. So over a very civilized cup of tea the old man died of what appeared to be a very natural death, as long as you can't smell almonds, and I helped myself to his treasures. I made sure that it looked like he had been alone when I left him." said the German with a sardonic grin. "So now what? Do we have someone who can decipher the spells without actually knowing what we are asking them to do? We don't want someone using this book against us and now that we have the box we are even more vulnerable to others with even more nefarious plans than our own. Caution is paramount and of course we can never let Sydney know that we are dabbling in such things. She has been raised in a fairy tale and she is the princess of her story. She must not be involved in this at all. She may dislike you Helmut, she's a good judge of character, but she can never know what we are doing or as a matter of fact, she must never know where we came from," Avril out of breath suddenly stopped speaking and looked pointedly at Hoffman. Hoffman raised his eyebrow, a quirk that Avril was finding more and more insufferable. He looked pointedly at Avril and shrugged his shoulders. Beneath his breath, totally inaudible to anyone but himself he whispered, "Well my friend, that is a promise I probably cannot keep. You should have read those Grimm tales a bit more closely. Happy endings were something added by naive Europeans too frightened to accept that there are some things that walk this earth scarier than even us." Avril turned and looked at Hoffman, "What the hell are you mumbling about now?' "I simply stated that I agreed, under no circumstances should Sydney be brought into this," he said as he placed the book and the box on the shelf directly behind Avril's head. " "Put these away before your princess accidentally finds them. I will be in touch soon," and with that Hoffman turned on his heal and disappeared out the door. © 2014 icelandicblueReviews
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icelandicblueBostonAboutI do not accept any new friend requests unless we have read and commented on each others poetry. No exceptions. I have enough homework as it is. I expect reciprocity in our exchanges. Read my work and.. more..Writing
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