Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

As with previous chappies, my borrowed laptop and my dialup won’t let me get to the reviews. Yah, it just sucks to be me. I’ll do the kudos when I can get to a better connection. Soooo, I hope you like this chappie. I have the ending….oooohhhh and it’s a good one. Bwah hahahaha. So this means, anywhere between 5 – 10 chappies left.
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MiniCooper: I got to test drive a yellow one. Oooh, I liked. Vrrroom vrrrooom baby. Too bad my wallet was thin. (big sigh)

Meadows_peak
O: I was a little shocked at the picnic, everyone seemed so animated especially Sex and Claudius were never so open…
A:This level of comfort between the S&C is a result of the ‘sharing’ that they did. This intimate act has cleared out the hurt and emotional baggage that was tearing them apart. The farm and the forest brought back to them simpler happy times. (And it let’s me kick you in the gut later on)

Steph 291
Q: Are the hunters really as worthless as they seem to be?
A: No. As a draw back to first person narrative, you only get one person’s point of view. The brothers concerns are not with the Regency Hunters because they haven’t come into direct conflict with them. Orel Wessel are an extremist group. The Hunters are Interpol.

Milkxness: read on, read on.

Kisses and Halloween candycorn to the Loyal and true: Marin Liliz (x2); lone_child; Duelriel (drive by); Rosemary; Spirit; ayachan; Laur; meadows_peak; steph291; shiden; violetstorm713 (welcome); milkxness; Dark Avenger; and Rosei.

Spoiler Alert!!
This is Sex. Not anyone else. Pure unadulterated Sex.
If you notice at the end of the chappie, everyone is introduced by their code name within the House of Assassins. Which now, I find kind of strange that Hades doesn’t have one….hhhmmmm Hey LOYAL! What kind of code name could Hades have?


Chapter 174: On the Roof

Fighting with Shayne was just as enjoyable now as it was when we were growing up. Right now we were staring at each other not willing to back down an inch. Daniel stepped between us and made a suggestion.

“I can do it.”

“No!” We both shouted at each other.

“You can’t go.” Shayne snapped at him

“Hunters can’t get involved.” I shook my head.

“I’m not getting involved as a Hunter. You’re my brother.”

“Even more so…Orel Wessel is coming for me and my blue blood line. They know nothing about the blue line carriers otherwise they would have come in and wiped this farm off the earth. I was lucky to find this recon before he got into position. I’m not placing you in harms way.”

“Eddie, you can’t walk in alone. Look what happened the last time.”

“Sex is not alone.” I turned to Sasha and my words just dried up in my throat. He had his dagger in one hand.. He had his long tail of black hair in the other. “They would be on the look out for someone with long black hair. That problem is now mute.”

“Oh my god, Sasha.” He chopped his hair off right at the base of his neck.

“More hair for sick kids.”

I turned to him reaching up and brushing the ragged chop job. “You would do this for me?”

“I am your Sasha. I belong by your side. If that means laying on a roof, then I will do it. Actions, my Love, not words. I will prove to you my intentions.”

Sasha looked…well smokin’ hot. I knew his ears were cute but…nibbleworthy was an understatement. “We will have to get that fixed up a bit. It might only be Orel Wessel but jees, I mean, I got my standards.” I said this with a smile.

Sasha put his blade back in it’s holster then wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I agree with Sex on this point. Right now Orel Wessel is fixated on the Vampire Nation. You do not need it’s eye on the Regency, nor the Xaviers.”

“Besides, just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they are not there. I might be reckless, sis. I’m not stupid. ”

Shayne opened her mouth but Mom’s voice just cut through everything. “This is not a Hunter matter, Shayne. Right now it is nothing but an internal problem with the Vampire Nation. That is the official version.” She came up and touched my face and reached up and caught Sasha the same way. “I can see how much you care for my babyboy, Claudius. You were just a shadow of yourself when he was gone. All his loves were. I don’t know how else to say it but you have bloomed. The grandkids stay here. The puppies can stay here. I offer Claudia a place, but she would just refuse. Take care of business, Edward. Claudius, make them pay for what they did to our boy. Once this mess is cleaned up, I want to have a sit down with Skell. I would like to know my latest son.”

“Mom.” I reached out and hugged her. “Thank you for accepting Skell.”

“He’s not a dink is he?”

“No. He’s just a little lost. He was on his own for so long. All of this is a little overwhelming.” I kissed her cheek and gave her one last hug. I turned toward Shayne. Her face was dark with thwartedness. I walked up and hugged her. She stood still in my arms for all of two seconds then proceeded to crush me with her strength as she hugged me back.

“Damn it, Eddie. You just got back. What am I going to tell the girls?”

“Tell them if they lose their license. They lose the cars.”

“Oh, that will go over well.”

“Keep my babies safe for me, Sis. Keep them safe so I can keep others safe.”

“I kind of like this new you, little brother. You’re not so frantic.” She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I guess a Claudius injection does wonders for you.”

“Your mage needs a sense of humor.”

“He has, he’s just nervous around so many bloods. We’ll have a talk. Go kill something.”

“Will do.”

Shayne let me go but when I turned around, she snatched me back to her chest. “Hey you.”

A black eyebrow arched. “What you did before, earned you a beating. If you ever make my little brother cry again, I will give it you.”

“A warning from the Regency?”

“A protective big sister.”

“If I do, I will lay myself on the Stone of Punishment. Even that would not be enough correction for harming such blingbling.”

Shayne stilled for a moment then busted out laughing. I got shoved back toward my now hairless man in black. “You’re funny. Come on Mom, Dad, let’s round up the munchkins.”

Claudius caught me and pulled me close to him. “I was not trying to be humorous.”

“I’m your blingbling?”

“You light up my life.”

Ohmygod. I broke out laughing harder.

“Apparently I am more of a comedian than I thought.” He sounded like a petulant boy toy told to come and rub the bunions.

I wiped at my eyes. “You’re cute. Sit down. I’m going to get a razor so we can straighten up your hair.”

Back in the day when I was blind and big, I ran an electric hair razor over my scalp. I had a brush cut because it was easy to maintain and if my hair had got too long, it stuck out like a red spiky hedgehog. I had never had it longer than a couple of inches. Now, it was almost dragging in the dirt. I can’t believe he chopped off his hair for me. I was stunned. And touched. He warmed the cockles of my heart.

I came back and set a number 4 comb on the razor and climbed on the picnic table top behind him, spreading my legs so he rested against my other warming cockles. I couldn’t resist. I leaned over and ran my lips against his bared neck. “I never thought a bare neck could be so sexy.”

“Any bared neck?”

“Of course not.” I placed sucking kisses there…and there…and…oh can’t forget this part. “Only Russian blue line bare necks.”

“I have an erection for you.” Oops. I leaned forward and looked down at the front of his pants.

“Sorry.”

“I am not. I have missed you, Sex. You did not have to question me about wandering while you were gone, because nothing worked below the waistline. I will gladly walk around with an erection for you.”

I teared up. “You say the sweetest things, Sasha Wingkitty.”

“I got a hard on for you is sweet?” I turned and saw Liam and Hades saunter up, all still leafed up.

I smiled politely back at them, “Find your underwear?”

“My shepherd boy is going commando.”

“Will you shut up, Liam!” Hades turned and took in our vignette. “You cut off your hair. Like Father, like Son.”

“You should let Haley sniff you. He could find your lost underwear.”

“That entails a nose were I don’t want it to be.”

“Well not really you….ooowwww.” Liam held his chest were Hades punched him “How come you’re all sweet and kisses with William and I get punched around.”

“William respects me.”

“Apparently you haven’t been reading William’s mind…if I did have the stuff this guy thinks up, we both would be in traction….which is another thing he wants to try….icky.”

I ignored the prats on stage left. I ran my hand through Sasha’s thick black hair then followed it with the razor. I took a lot off the back but left the front long and kind of emo. Damn, he looked good. And this was one of the most erotic things I have ever done-- well with my clothes on. Black hair fell to the ground. He looked young. I keep forgetting he stopped aging at 22. I let out a sigh. Here was I was a 30 year old lusting after man eight years my junior – physical appearance wise.

“You do not look at day over twenty, Fallen.” Sasha spoke quietly.

“Are you reading my mind?”

“I’m reading you. There are few times you are quiet, Sex. One is after I have loved you beyond your endurance, the other if when you are thinking that you are not good enough for me.” Sasha reached back, caught my wrist and tipped me over his shoulder I ended up ass over kettle on his lap with the razor still in my hand. I stared up into his arctic blue eyes. One jet lock of hair fell forward over his eye. Damn, he was so sexy. “My hummingbird.”

Oh my cockles just flambed.

Hades sat beside us on the picnic table, “Sorry to interrupt, but Claudius cannot go with you.”

Uh? “What?”

“Just because that little recon wessel didn’t catch the broadcast, doesn’t meant someone else missed it.”

“That is why Sasha cut his hair.”

“A tall black haired man will still set off flags.”

“You did not shun from the media either, Hades.” Sasha returned tightening his hold slightly on my waist. I shut the razor off before someone got hurt with it.

“Yes, but I was never photographed with our Little Emperor.”

I was beginning to feel like a chew toy.

“Yes you were.”

“He had red hair at the time.”

“His face has not changed.”

What the hell was going on here? I caught Liam’s eye and he was less than impressed as well. I pushed my way off of my lover. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got to put these back.”

Sasha and Hades went back to arguing over who was going to be walking into the lion’s den with me. I gestured for Liam to follow. He narrowed his eyes at Hades for a moment but he was already an afterthought. He turned on his heel and stormed after me. “What the hell is the matter with him?”

“What are you asking me for? Apparently I’m just a punching bag and William is just a fuck toy.” Bitterness wasn’t something I would usually associate with the progenitor. I looked over my shoulder and he was rubbing at his eyelids with one hand.

“I take it all is not well in the land of the Ancients.”

“Well if I was an Ancient, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. William is not even two hundred. There is only so much I can bring to this body. The leaf pile is the first good loving we’ve had in a while…and that was interrupted.”

“Well it was me and Sasha or the kids.”

“I’d take you two deviants any day over having the Detki discovering us.”

I cleaned the razor then put it back in the drawer I found it in. I turned and found Liam perched on the chair backwards, his arms folded across the top rail. “I don’t know if I said it, but welcome home Sex, First Brother of the Hood.”

“Ha.”

“You’re stepping into a dangerous arena.”

“It’s is more like I’ve been dragged there.”

“Own the circumstance. It give you power. Maybe Orel Wessel isn’t into popular culture – Vampires are something humans want to be, until they find out everything else it entails, by that time it’s too late. But there will be someone who did see that act you and Claudius did at the deviants ball. True, he kept his mask on, but Claudius is known in the human world. He is a unique individual and I am saying this as just a man and not his father. He has a presence that cannot be ignored or dismissed. He didn’t covet the media like my little Honeybee but when a do-gooder like your wife is out raising money for great causes, Claudius was caught in the camera flash. Someone will remember him, even with short hair. You could have a career as a hairdresser.”

“Then I’d be an even bigger cliché than I am now.”

Liam let out a laugh, “I can tell you right now Sex, there has never been anyone like you – ever.”

His face got serious, “This Krugar…he is a doctor?”

“Sort of the head psycho. He did tell everyone what to do and they did hop to it.”

“He might be more than just a lab coat. He knows Skell. He has had the most contact with your youngest brother. He would know something was different.”

I leaned against the wall and looked around the place that was so familiar and yet it wasn’t. I was born and raised here, but I really didn’t live here. While the physical form sitting in that chair was the body of William, the spark within was the reason why I didn’t live here. Why I couldn’t live here. I realized something out on that five years beach stretch. This was destined.—preordained if you will. I was born into a prestigious heritage - Regency Hunters. The blue blood line of the Royal House of Von Drachenfeld ran through my family’s veins. I was the first male born in four hundred years. Maybe Mr. L’s touch in mom’s womb affected my young life by activating the blue line gene and called all those monsters to me. It was no wonder I was so fucked in the head as a kid. Those bloods came to serve the Lord Emperor. It just pushed me beyond my limits. And really, what kind of limits did you have as a kid? Xavier came as my savior. I never did thank him for that. I retreated and hung in the Darkness because it was safe and yes…I turned feral—childish, or childlike in my wanting. By the time I was strong enough, X was in control and he wasn’t giving it up. I didn’t want full time, but I wanted to stand in the sun again. To be warm.

When X finally needed me, we were blind, fat and in an extreme relationship. If Armor hadn’t of come along when he did, X and I would have been dead by now. Marcus and Armor. Claudius was a direct descendant from the Emperor. He passed his bite onto Marcus and for some reason, the big buy got the Mindfucking talent. This was why no living vampire had it. It was a Royal Gift. I can’t believe no one clued in…but then, dear ole bitch of a grandmother, kept the Blue Blood vampires a secret.

After everything that happened; all that we endured – it came down to this.

Number One was up to bat.

“Sex?”

I opened my eyes and stared over at Billiam. “You are a fucking asshole.”

He blinked and sat upright.

“You don’t know why Hades is pissed at you? You had a son and you didn’t tell him. Don’t you think he would have liked to have something of you with him while he waited? He would have raised Claudius as an Emperor. Maybe Claudius wouldn’t have been so emotionally stunted if he had acceptance in his life from the beginning. Then you cursed a touchy feely person with hemlock., the touch of death. Hades is rightfully angry. He’s also guilty. He found someone he could touch without them falling over dead and he hung onto them with both hands in desperation. Finding out now that he’s basically raped his lover’s son for two hundred years is not going well. Finding out that he raped his grandson only added to the mix. I think Hades is entitled to a little bitch slap fest with you.”

“That’s all he’s doing!”

“You fucked him over for four hundred years. You’re whining about seven?”

“What am I doing to you, William?” Hades stood at the door with my Sasha towering behind him. Liam just turned away.

“Who is coming with me?”

I cocked an eyebrow at my shorn lock lover. He sighed. “They have called you a slut. So you are bringing two companions.”

/…and a Hellcat./ Nightshade sauntered in as a panther then ran at me. Holy! She jumped at me. I cringed and brought my hands up defensively as a black kitten popped in me the chest. I instinctively grabbed her and tucked the little warm body against my arm. /I have promised Morose to look after you until he is weaned. That is were Snowflake is now. He will protect your Hellcat until he can protect himself./

Hmmm. I looked at the assembled group. So, I was wrong. Orel Wessel was going to meet three Heads of the House of Assassins. I smiled and pet kitty Shade on the head. Damn, this was going to work.


“The night was clear and the moon was yellow and the leaves came tumbling down…I was sitting on my backside when I heard my kitty growl…she was growling at Orel Wessel who was sneaking up the aisle…|”

“Don’t quit your day job, Sex.” Hades was leaning up against my shoulder, half draped over my chest as if that is the way I dropped him.

“Shut up, Hades, you’re unconscious.”

“I have to agree, Fallen.” Sasha was laying face up on my lap. The rest of his luscious body was laying at a ninety degree angle from me.

“I haven’t heard you warble, Simon.”

/Please stop, my ears are bleeding./

“Okay, Paula.” I got claws in my upper thigh. “Ow.”

Shade was perched on my thigh almost blending in with the remnants of Sasha’s hair.
You could only tell she was there when her tail flicked or when she opened her yellow eyes or drew blood. “Retract please.”

/Of course, my Blood Emperor./ Great, I got a snarky hellcat.

I gave a pack call. /Vladimir?/

/Nothing sighted in zone 1/

I heard Vladimir call out to the rest of the pack. /Zone two, clear./

/Zone three, clear./

/We got movement ….wait, wait…no, it was just a cube van. Zone four clear./

/Zone five, clear./

I glanced down at my watch. Well it was 45 minutes to the pick up point. Everyone was in position. I was packing dart antidote. Actually everyone was packing it. The only ones we knew it would work on was Sasha and me. It was designed for blue line after all. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the low concrete wall. This was the same place Skell shot Kevin. Kevin had been just a kid. A nineteen year old punk who had a hell of a homelife that he had to run to survive…only he didn’t. Shade walked up my chest and rubbed her head on my chin.

/Skell sent him to a better place./

“Is there a better place?”

/Of course there is. That is were all your Hellcat volunteers want to go./ Nightshade returned my question with a degree of confidence that was missing in my life. /Reggie is there too./

“Sex…” Hades was slumped against me and was leaning a little more than I would have liked but his hands were no where near the merchandise. “What were you and William talking about?”

“You probably should ask him.”

“He just gives me that puissant smirk of his.”

“Yeah, that can be annoying.” I looked up at the big bright moon. Somewhere a werewolf teacher was running in the woods on the farm. “Have you guys shared? That clears up a hell of a lot of problems.”

“We aren’t up to the point of sharing.”

“Maybe you should get to that point together.”

“For an unconscious human, you are very talkative, Hades.” Sasha muttered clearly annoyed with the tone of the conversation.

“Sex isn’t running away from me. This is about the only time I will have the opportunity talk.”

I gritted my teeth together. “He said he’s tired of being your punching bag and William is getting tired of being your latest fuck toy. Apparently you didn’t learn anything from Sasha and me.”

/We have movement, Zone three./

Hades had tensed up but now went boneless again. The ear piece crackled to life. “Thanatos Prime. Thanatos Prime, do you copy?”

/Showtime./

I keyed the mic. “Thanatos Prime, I read you loud and clear.”

“Id number.”

“Purple monkey bubble butt 24601.”

“Confirmed, PMBB24601.”

“Dr. Krugar here. Why are there two large heat signatures at your location with you? There’s a small one too.”

“You said I could have a companion. I couldn’t choose so I brought them both.”

“I didn’t mean now. We are not equipped to bring civilians. What is that small signature?”

“I found a kitty. I called him Coven. I’m keeping him. Besides, they’re not civilians. You said you could make them into vampires.”

“Not here. Not over an open channel. Stay where you are. I’m sending a team to retrieve you. No companions…no pets.”

“But…”

“Edward. We need to take care of you first. You must be starving. And your head?”

I let my voice crack. “It hurts. It’s fuzzy to think. That’s why I had to bring both of them. I couldn’t choose. I think I like this one best.” Since they had us under some sort of surveillance, I stroked Sasha’s hair and face with exaggerated movements. I leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Yes, I like this one best.”

“We’ll have to secure him in the back of the van.”

/I have them./ Haley’s call was crisp and clear, and a little loud. /Three black vans and one black cube van. Wessel exiting the vans. Moving in teams of four. Fifth one is the driver. Coming to the garage…entering, now./

“I’m hungry.”

“I know Edward. The team leaders have your epi-pen. Just this once, you’ll be allowed to eat your fill on that other companion. You can only have one.”

“I can eat a human? I thought you said I couldn’t process it. Can I eat him now?”

“No! You have to wait until you have your shot. After you have it, then you can eat.”

/Two posted on the ground level in the stairwell. Leaving two guards per level./

That means there would only be four when they came out of the stairwell. What kind of strategy was that? If I was lying, which I was, they were all just sitting ducks. Well, quack, quack.

/Keep your eyes and noses open./

I watched holding Shade, gently petting her back as the four Orel Wessel exited the stairwell. They did a real quick lazy sweep then zeroed in on me and my pile of companions. “Target is acquired.”

Hmmm, jumped the gun prematurely there bud. Three Wessel fanned out; their M16s pointed everywhere but me and mine. The final one, the team leader came forward reaching into his pants pocket for the “shot”. Shade growled all kitten like.

“Expose the area.”

I watched him for a second then flicked my eyes past him. One, little; two little; three little assassins took out his team. I reached up, letting Shade tumble to the concrete, and flipped my hair back over my shoulder turning my head like the good little vampire I supposedly was.

“Have you administered the shot yet?”

“Approaching target now.”

Team Leader leaned over and pressed the mouth of the pen against the flesh of my neck. Hades reached up and snapped his wrist. I knocked the pen away and reached up touching Team Leader’s forehead. Gaw, I hate touching these guys. Creepy. No, I wasn’t seen on tv, but then again this guy was a zealot. He spent a lot of time on his knees with candles and the Orel Wessel dogma.

/Marcus, he’s all yours./

Gary aka team leader fought Marcus’ invasion. It didn’t take long for Marcus to have a remote controlled Wessel walking around. I called on Skell and his metal wing shield. I disappeared off of the radar. Sasha could still do that too without his bone shield. I think his was more by sheer force of will. Hades now was the only one left with Gary as a presence and heat signature, so he started off down the stairs as decoy extraordinaire.

“Edward?”

I listened carefully as the Loyal removed the sentries on each level.

“Edward?”

“Yes, Krugar.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“I’m not quite myself yet.”

Sasha and I leaned over the rail and watched as the three remaining Wessel soldiers were taken out with a quick silencer to the temple in the three vans. The driver in the front of the cube van met a simultaneous fate. Hades and Gary marched there way down the street toward the black mobile unit. I leaned my elbows on the railing and watched as Team Leader got to the locked door of the mobile fortress.

“Krugar?”

“Yes, Edward.”

“I had a dream.”

“You did? Tell me.”

“The world was on fire.”

“You have had this dream before, Edward.”

Sasha stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. His right hand dropped two fingers against my skin and pressed into my waistband. I leaned back against him but kept my eyes on the scene below us. “Not this one. The world was on fire. I laughed while you burned and my family held me in their arms and wept for my return.”

/I need Krugar alive./

I watched as Hades got his groove on. He was a vicious little killer. His movements were almost balletic. I could appreciate it now that it wasn’t me he was pounding into the pavement.

“That is nothing. You should have seen him in armor on a horse during a battle. He was mesmerizing in his dealing out death.” Sasha whispered in my hair.

“Admiration?”

“I did admire Hades until I got to be his First then I hated him.”

“You’ve discovered forgiveness?”

“Have you forgiven Armor?” Sasha returned easily.

I watched as my Loyal and my Pack swarmed the street below. Had I? Had I forgiven that big brown Vampire for waking me from my slumber, for dragging me into the light? If he hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have this. We wouldn’t have this. I let my hands drop and reach behind me. I ran my palms over the backs of his strong thighs and up to that magnificent rump. “I guess I have.”

“There is no artifice with you, my Fallen Angel. One knows exactly where they stand with you. I am not so…uncomplicated.”

“I thought you were going to call me simple.”

“You may make your feelings plain, but there is nothing simple about you. You are a puzzle I hope never to solve.”

My eyes teared up. “You…You know I love you, Sasha.”

“I know, Fallen. What I can give to you is just a shadow of what you send out, but I am all yours.”

/Area is secure./

“We got the go ahead. Let me introduce you to my zookeeper, Kitty.” Sasha stepped back and I heard the rustle of dried leaves as his great black wings came out into the night. I willed my own white set out. I tinkled merrily

“You go first, Fallen. We shall see if these wings need hair.” Oh yeah. I turned and looked at my man in black. The trailing edge of his wings actually dragged a bit on the concrete. It was a delicious shock to see him with short, funky hair. The fact that he did it for me…my chest warmed again. I blew him a kiss then tossed myself over the side of the parking garage. The cool midnight air was refreshing. I soared down to the van. I made sure my weight was really light when I came to a standing land. I heard Sasha behind me. I felt the wind from his back flaps buffet me and it made my wings jingle all the way.

Hades had Krugar on his knees on the pavement. The Loyal were hauling the dead out of the vans. My pack came up behind the good Doctor. His eyes were wide as he stared at my Sasha. “There’s two of you? Two blue line?”

I lifted my hand up and Sasha walked up and set his face in my palm. “Allow me to introduce, Carnage – my son.”

Haley came running up from the dark, his multi tone coat made him gleam almost like a ghost. He sat at my feet. “This is my Zsigmond. Behind you is my Alpha Pack. You’ve met my great grandfather.”

“Who…who are you? You’re not Edward.”

Marcus came walking up with a group of Loyal flanking him. “He is Azrael, the Angel of Death, Head of the House of Assassins.”

“Thank you, brother dearest. I need information. Cipher…we need everything you can pull regarding security. Don’t kill him yet.”

“WHO ARE YOU!”

I crouched, spreading my wings up wide to prevent them from getting all bent up on the ground. “I am what Orel Wessel intended. I am the White Demon of Death. Only, I am no one’s weapon. Don’t worry Krugar. This isn’t personal.” I let my blue flame flare in my eyes. “You’ll know when I get personal.”

I didn’t bother with a binding. The streets were deserted and Krugar’s screams were a balm to my still wounded soul. Haley leaned against my legs and Sasha wrapped both of us in his great black wings. This was for Darius. This was for Kevin and the countless others who ended up dead while enduring the tender mercies of Orel Wessel. They would know when I got personal.

* * *