Leopold sat up in bed. “Let’s play a game, ja?” He slurred. I slapped Evie’s bottom and ejected her from my lap.
“A drink, gentlemen?” She asked. Evie grabbed the bottle of Brandy from the nightstand and took it to a credenza on which a tray with a bottle of Port and four glasses sat.
“Port, if you’d be so kind”, I said,
“Brandy, bring me more Brandy,” Leopold ordered. He staggered from the bed over to a round table. I pulled out a chair for him and he managed to sit in the chair, and not fall on his arse. I sat across from the boy. I removed the floral arrangement and lace doily that had adorned the table and laid them on the floor. Leo opened the packet of cards and began sluggishly shuffling them.
I glanced at Evie as she prepared the drinks and in that split second, I saw that Cavell dropped a little while pill into one of the drinks. I did not like this one bit. I had, after all, been on the receiving end of unknowingly consuming an illicit drug. But, what could I do? I knew that Cavell’s actions were for altruistic reasons and this time I did not believe that the drugged drink was for me! Now that I had witnessed the drugging of Leopold’s drink I was sure that Cavell’s plan was afoot and the German aristocrat would not be returning to Benjamin Cavendish’s townhouse tonight!
“Tell me, how did you become entangled with Blake and his lot?” I asked conversationally. I knew I had to broach this subject very gently as I did not want to arouse suspicions.
“My father permitted me to attend a lecture last year when the famous American Theosophist Lawrence Blake visited Thuringia. We rarely get such visitors to our Barony. I attended and was intrigued by his passion and knowledge of all things mysterious. I arranged that we would meet privately afterward. I have always believed in the occult, you see. Living in a castle full of history and death makes one aware of, as Blake would say… the tenuous thread between this life and the next.”
“Oh, yes, indeed.” I was disquieted by this subject and the boy’s willingness to accept the phantasmagoria of Lawrence Blake. I shot a querulous look in Sebastian’s direction. He was lingering by the credenza, allowing Leopold the time to unburden.
“The things you did… that erotic ritual. Did you want what they did to you?”
The inebriated boy’s face lit up. “Oh, Mein Gott! Ja!” He said enthusiastically. “I have waited for so long. It is my destiny. Do you not understand? It is written. I am the vessel. I am the key to immortality.”
“That is—“ I wanted to say, preposterous, but with a second’s hesitation I changed my exclamation to “Remarkable!” I was unsure if the Baron was merely highly suggestible, or not the full-shilling, but Leopold was so convinced by what these men, these devils had told him.
“When Lawrence explained the rituals to me, for the first time in my life, I knew, it all made sense!” The boy said in an intoxicated slur.
This was not, as Cavell and Herr Krause had imagined. Although I knew that manipulation, drugs, and coercion were involved in keeping Leo on the path the Brothers chose for him. Leopold was not a helpless victim, but a willing participant in whatever devilry Lawrence Blake and his Brothers of the Seed were planning. He was a grown man, and he had consented to join with the cabal.
Leopold pushed his chair to balance on its back legs and placed a foot on the table. The position displayed the shapely erection trapped beneath his green silk trousers. He leered at me, still confidently shuffling the cards, and licked his lips with clear interest.
“You are a very attractive man, Benedict. Do you know that? I’m sure you know that.” He flirted ineffectually. I did not know what to say, but then the boy added,
“I am so very glad you are soon to become part of me. Your knowledge of art and antiquities will be most useful.”
Was this boy an imbecile? Did he truly believe that my years of knowledge—of study and observation, would be passed on to him through my semen?
“You are a very confident young man. How did you become so?”
“How do you think? I suck and I swallow. Every. Single. Drop.” Both Leopold and Evie giggled and I sent my brows skyward. What was I even doing here with this child?
Leopold removed his leg from the table and sat straight as Evie placed three glasses on the tabletop. Leo, who was already well in his cups, tossed his measure of Brandy back immediately, and before she could take her seat Leopold thrust the glass at the French girl as if she were a maidservant.
“I’ll get the bottle,” Evie said resignedly.
“I wonder my dear Benedict; did you receive your red book?” Leopold said with a raised brow and a smirk in his voice.
“I did,” I admitted, “But I don’t understand it. The pages are all blank.”
At hearing my admission Leopold laughed so hard he nearly fell off his chair.
“It is brilliant is it not? Only the enlightened can see!” He guffawed. “I am sure a man as clever as you will work it out eventually, and when you do…oh, Mein Gott…You will be very satisfied indeed.”
I took affront at his laughter. I did not like to be the butt of a joke and so I coolly asked,
“What game
