A-Cup Angst Ch. 11

If he could cast a spell and send a message back in time to himself before he had discovered Helena taking advantage of him, his old self would never believe future Jamie capable of doing something like destroying the contents of that vault.

Jamie hung his head and walked back to the restored SUV. He couldn't afford to let his guilt weigh him down. "What's done is done," he thought to himself, grimly. He needed to learn his lesson from the past and not repeat it. The first part of that, he decided, was to set aside his horrible guilt and not let it govern his future actions.

He nodded to himself with resolve. He decided to treat his despicable actions as if they had been done by someone else. In a sense, he knew that to be true as his magic had been subtly blinding him to all options that weren't leading to violence. But he needed to always remember that it had been him that did those things. A lesser, worse version of him, but him, none the less. The darkness and stupidity had come from within him.

Jamie shook his head and snorted down the mucus that had been collecting in his nose. "What I need to do right now," he thought, "is to stop being an introspective pussy that's standing in a ditch in the middle of nowhere and get to work saving my family."

He walked over to the driver's door of the Cayenne and opened it. The robots were useless without the artificial intelligence running them. Jamie tried to remove Raylene's hands from the steering wheel, but found it impossible. He glanced at the sullen vampire in the back seat and said, "Get out of the car and come over here!"

Jessica Stansfield exited the car and, on Jamie's orders, peeled the skin off Raylene's fingers. She then used magic to sever the fingers and remove them from the wheel. Jamie ordered her to remove Raylene from the car and peel off her magicproof skin. Once the skin was broken, the robot was no longer magicproof and of limited potential use to him. There was no way he was going to make another cursed skin. He had the vampire finish stripping the skin from the robot with her quickly healing hands and then had her all but atomize the endoskeleton. He gathered some firewood, mostly using telekinesis, and set up a small bonfire on which he set the cursed skin.

Jamie had Jessica lie Felix down on the back seat and cover it with a blanket to make it look like a guy that was sleeping. He ordered Jessica to take the front passenger seat and sat behind the wheel. He turned the key and the engine purred. He put his hand on the stick and put it in reverse. He turned around to drive the car out of the ditch and his gaze fell on the little bonfire. That skin had cost a murderer's life to make and curse to be magicproof. He looked down at Felix on the back seat. The robot was completely useless without an A.I. and its skin was also made at the cost of a murderous mercenary's life. Did he really want to haul it around on the off chance he'd be able to build another A.I.? He had only made the first one work through magic. Jamie sighed and turned the engine off. He needed a clean slate. He had Jessica destroy the android as well.

While the vampire was doing that, Jamie took out his smartphone and went online. The Worths were going to land in his home town in a matter of hours and they were after his family. He snorted as he thought of what his old self would do in this situation. He would have found an airfield and stolen/chartered a plane and flown home to kill the Worths with his bare hands. Or enchanted bullets.

Instead, Jamie opened a new email account and sent a copy of Nova's wiretap to Section. They were law enforcement and it was their job to catch all criminals, regardless of who gave them the tip-off. If Section's previous actions were any judge, they'd catch the girls and throw them in lockup for a long time. Jamie frowned. He wondered what Alice was doing out in the first place. He shrugged. It didn't matter. When Jessica finished with Felix, Jamie bade her get in the car and he drove them towards his home town.

Instead of driving into town, Jamie took a circuitous route that led them to the cabin where his family was being held by the remaining ex-Syndicate mercenaries he had working for him. Jamie had a lot of time to talk with Stansfield, on the drive over, about his predicament and options. He was careful to not reveal any of his intentions to her, content to simply order her to give him more and more options. He had no intention of dragging her with him. She was a liability and he was debating internally whom he was going to give her to, once he left the States. He was leaning towards the French.

The thing that Jamie was most concerned with was showing up at the cabin thirty years older than the last time they had seen him. Jessica said, "I could age you back those thirty years."

"Yeah," Jamie said, "but I don't want to die of that horrible disease that people get when they have their lifespan extended by draining someone else. I don't suppose you can rejuvenate me without that?"

Jamie snorted and was about to say he didn't think so, when Jessica said, "Yes, I can."

Jamie nearly swerved the car. "What?!"

"I can remove a person's life force in its purest form and bestow it on another," she said, "without the deadly taint that comes when ordinary magicians do that."

Jamie struggled to keep his eyes on the road. "What do you mean?! How?!"

"All vampires can do that," she said. "I thought you knew."

"Holy fuck," Jamie said.

By the time he drove up to the cabin, he decided that he'd have her drain the remaining mercenaries of the life force needed to make him nineteen again. Each of them would only be aged for a few years. He called one of the mercs and relayed his orders. The mercenaries exited the cabin, one by one, and Jessica transferred the life force between them and Jamie. As soon as they were done, the mercs would go back into the cabin. Apparently, Jamie's parents had been fighting and it was taking all of their combined knowledge and abilities, but mostly their ubiquity, to keep the two of them apart, without injuring anyone.

Jamie was high as a kite as he was growing younger with each passing mercenary. Finally, he exited the car a nineteen year old boy, but feeling better and fitter than he had ever felt before in his whole life. He recognized it as a side-effect of his rejuvenation, but that didn't dampen his feelings of euphoria. He entered the cabin with a big smile on his face.

The cabin itself was a large, two storied structure that had been abandoned and dilapidated. Now it had all the amenities since the mercs had surreptitiously equipped and maintained it in preparation of an eventuality such as this. It had originally been intended to house all of their family members in case Section decided to go after them, but now it comfortably housed his family with most of the ex-Syndicate mercenaries sleeping in the common room in sleeping bags. At least two were always on guard.

Jamie's smile didn't go away even after he had been exposed to the ugliness that keeping his parents confined in a woodland cabin had exposed. Apparently, his father had cheated on his mom, repeatedly, with several women, for the better part of this past decade. She only found out when one of those women, a former colleague of his mother, got stood up by his father and then revealed the affair to her, in an effort to hurt them both.

The revelation came just days before Jamie had them confined to the cabin. His mom came down with a case of cabin fever and confronted his dad about his infidelity the other day. During the many bitter arguments that ensued, Jamie's dad revealed, bit by inadvertent bit, the true scope of his infidelity. The mercenaries had to keep them from killing each other 24/7.

By the time Jamie had waded through the angrish that was spewed at him by both his parents and figured out the gist of the story, his euphoria had gone away. He spared a concerned glance at his sister Suzie, who had spent her time just playing violent video games and ignoring her parents. She sat on the floor in front of the console in the corner and hadn't even acknowledged his arrival yet.

Jamie sighed heavily. He tried to draw his parents' attention to what he was saying and tell them their lives were in danger, but they wouldn't listen. The recriminations and wild accusations just kept flying to and fro. Hearing some of the ridiculous ways his father was blaming his mother for the years of his own philandering, made Jamie sympathize with his mom.

He tried to get the two of them to calm down and listen to him, but they paid him no mind. Finally, he ordered the mercenaries to tie his parents to a pair of chairs and gag them. His parents furiously protested and his dad even tried to fight the mercs off. They subdued him easily. Suzie paused her game and turned around to mutely watch what was going on.

Jamie took a moment to compose himself. He had a lot of time, during the drive down, to think about what he was going to tell his parents and how. Telling them the truth about magic was out of the question as he suspected them to be utterly unable to handle such a revelation. Even if they somehow could, his mom was a gossip and his dad a braggart. The two of them would talk about it. Then, they'd get talked about for saying such "crazy" things and pretty soon, the wrong people would hear of them talking about magic and pay the wrong kind of attention to them.

No, Jamie had firmly decided he wouldn't tell them anything about magic. He told them his carefully concocted story about how he had gotten involved with drug smugglers and laundered money for them but then got greedy and stole some. His mother was horrified. His father sounded like he was laughing under his gag. He then told them that the drug runners were coming after them all and that they weren't safe in the US, or France, cause they had connections in law enforcement of those two countries. He repeatedly told them there was no chance of returning the money and making amends. They were dangerous criminals that were going to kill them all, painfully, to scare off anyone who would even think of doing something like that in the future.

His mother was completely horrified, while his father just looked amused. Jamie rolled his eyes in annoyance and ripped the gag out of his father's mouth. "What?!"

His dad chuckled and said, "Do you honestly expect me to buy that shit? You? Having the guts, or the know-how to launder money? To even talk to drug runners without wetting yourself? Gimme a break, son! You're just a pipsqueak. You couldn't have gotten yourself into that kind of trouble. Certainly not in the way you describe it! What's next? You're gonna claim you've been with a girl?" His dad snorted in disbelief. "Honestly. Drug runners! Bah!"

Jamie blinked at his father. The man had never shown even the tiniest modicum of respect or appreciation towards him, but this was truly unbelievable. "You don't believe I'm involved with the mob," Jamie asked, his own tone of voice utterly incredulous.

"Of course not," his father said. "You don't have the guts for it. If a bunch of boys just said they were going to smoke pot and pulled out a cigarette, you'd go running off in the other direction, all scared of going to jail."

Jamie shook his head and raised his arms in stunned disbelief. "You are being guarded by men with automatic rifles that obey my every command," Jamie yelled, "and you don't believe I'm involved with drugs?! Have you gone completely stupid, old man?! Did all that extramarital pussy give you a brain aneurysm?"

"Hey," his dad yelled, "watch your tone, young man!"

"What?!"

"I'm your father! You don't get to yell at me! You had better pray I don't get out of these restraints or I'm going to kick your ass!"

Jamie then saw in his father's eyes a bit of the monster that he had been. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. His frustration at his current situation got the best of him and he decided it was time to give his father a beating. Just like he had done to him when he was a boy, many times over. "Get him out of those restraints," he calmly ordered. The two nearest mercs obeyed and let his father loose. Jamie's dad rubbed his pristine wrists like he had been in handcuffs for a year and seemed to be suddenly unsure of himself. "Well, come on, old man, kick my ass."

His father looked incensed at the dare but then calmed down and said, "Yeah, and then your friends join in and beat the living shit out of me. I'm not that stupid."

"They can beat the living shit out of you at any moment, old man," Jamie said, emphasizing the words "old man", "all it takes is a nod from me." Jamie addressed the mercs as he said. "You are not to interfere in our fight in any way. Understood?"

A chorus of, "Yes, sir," echoed in the cabin's main room.

Jamie's dad looked at the mercs uncertainly and said, "I'm not falling for that."

"One of us two needs to have the stupid beaten out of him," Jamie said. Deep down he knew he was trying to beat his old, murderous self, but that didn't deter him from fixing to beat up his dad, instead. "Come on, old timer, make your move!" Jamie stood there with arms spread wide. "I'll even let you throw the first punch."

His father glared at him but made no move. "In my day, children used to respect their parents," he spat.

"And in your day," Jamie calmly said, "parents were worthy of respect. Unlike nowadays." Jamie turned around. "Perhaps you lack the guts to attack a man from the front? Does this help?"

Jamie sensed his father's move right before he made it and stepped aside to avoid the old man's foot to his lower back. His father's foot caught nothing but air and then fell down on the floor, leaving him unbalanced. Jamie elbowed his father in the throat and seized one of his arms. He twisted the arm behind his dad's back in one fluid movement, bringing him down to his knees. His father gasped and coughed. His face was red from both humiliation and the elbow to the throat.

Jamie bent down and hissed into his father's ear, "The way it is, is the way it is. I've gotten mixed up with the mob. All our lives are in danger. Now, you can deny this, despite the abundance of evidence before your eyes and walk blindly until you are tortured to death, or you can accept it's the truth and take my help. You choose." Jamie let go of his dad and stood back up.

The cabin was quiet after that. His mother was released from her chair and Suzie turned off the console. The mercs served lunch and Jamie and his family sat down to eat in silence.

"You two need to decide where you're going," Jamie said to his parents. "I can't tell you how sorry I am for bringing this trouble down on your heads. There are no words. You need to pick a country and a city and I'll move you there, to safety. I'll give you more than enough money to start a new life with. A good life. Anywhere in the world, except for America or France."

"I'm not going anywhere with him," Jamie's mother said.

His father looked to be fueled by righteous indignation as he said, "I wouldn't touch you with another man's dick, you bitch!"

Jamie slammed his fist down on the table, scaring all. "If you want to go your own ways, that's perfectly fine with me. Split up and make your decisions. I think Suzie should go with mom."

"And what about you," his mother asked.

"I'm my own man, Mom," Jamie said. "I'll make my own way in the world."

His mom teared up at hearing this. His father gave a derisive snort and mumbled something into his chin. Jamie couldn't quite make out what it was, but he could sense his father's hatred of all seated at the table. He didn't doubt it was yet another jab at Jamie's masculinity and independence. He called a merc over and whispered some instructions into his ear. The merc nodded and left the cabin with two others.

Jamie sat back and glared at his father. "You're a piece of shit excuse for a father," he calmly said. "You always have been. I didn't know that when I was little, thanks to Mom always making excuses for your behavior, but I know that now. I learned it on my own. I learned it by watching my friends with their fathers. Fathers that treated their sons as fellow human beings that they were glad to be with. Not the way you treated me. Like I was vermin that snuck into your house to annoy you."

His father glared at Jamie. "You're a piece of shit failure as a father," Jamie said, "a husband and a human being. I'm done with you." A merc brought a box and set it down on the table. He also set down the keys to the four cars that were parked outside. "This is a box of money. It's all you'll ever get from me. Ever again. Take it. Take one of these cars," Jamie said, gesturing at the keys on the table, "and get gone. No one here is going to be sad to see you leave."

His father looked beyond incensed at Jamie's words. He glared at him, then at his daughter and wife and finally glared at the mercenaries in the room. He opened the box and his jaw fell when he saw the notes were of large denomination. He realized the box must have close to half a million dollars in it. In cash. A grin crept up on his lips. When he looked up at Jamie, his grin vanished. He glared at his son and opened his mouth to say something.

Jamie's father seemed to change his mind and merely glared at him with a murderous expression. Jamie found himself wanting for his father to lash out and give him an excuse to deliver a proper beating to the fucking shit. His dad reached out and took the keys to the Cayenne. He stood up and walked to the door. At the door, he paused, looked back and said, "I never wanted any of you, anyway." Jamie grit his teeth and fought down the urge to give the mercs the order to beat the crap out of his father. Suzie hung her head and sniffled. Jamie's mom looked away. The door shut and Jamie knew he had seen the last of his father. He had sensed the man's genuine contempt towards his own family. He heaved a big breath. He wasn't sorry to see the man go. Not in the least.

He reached out and put a hand on Suzie's shoulder. She shrugged it off and ran upstairs. He followed her with his eyes and then looked to his mother. She was looking at him with teary eyes and an expression of contempt. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd disappoint me," she said.

Her calm comment stabbed Jamie in the heart and he stood up and faced away from her. He listened to the Cayenne drive away and forced himself to keep his cool. It was an almost impossible mission for him. He cleared his throat and said, "Pack up. Your daughter, too. We need to leave this place, as soon as possible."

"And where will you take us?"

"Anywhere you want to go, so long as it's not America or France," Jamie said. "Choose later. We're leaving in fifteen minutes." His mother heaved a sigh and went upstairs to get Suzie. They were already packed to go. The mercs had prevented them from unpacking in the first place.

Jamie left the main room and walked around to the side of the cabin. Jessica sat on a stump, guarded by two armed mercenaries. The french agents lay sleeping on the grass all around her. Jamie gestured to the enchanted supplies and his luggage that Nova had sent down with the cars lying all around and said, "Load all of this into the X5 and the Subaru." The mercs and vampire went to do that but Jamie said, "Not you," to Jessica. "You are to charm every mercenary here, except for one, to go to the police after we leave and surrender and make a full confession of all of their previous crimes. Charm them also to not say anything about what they were doing since they first got on the boat where I took them." Jessica nodded and went to her task.

Jamie picked out one mercenary and had her then charm that man to do the same, but only after he had driven the other car to the airport for Jamie. Then Jamie led Jessica back to the sleeping French and said, "You are going to stay here and guard these people for the next twenty four hours. After that, you are to restore all of their magical power to them, as they originally had it, and help them to wake up. You are to do them no harm nor allow them to come to any harm while you are guarding them. Understood?"