Johan Birch

The whole family was magic.

I couldn't tell why, until I had Jana look into his history. Kyle's father had been stationed at the same base my father had during the Vietnam War. According to the records, Kyle's mother had worked two jobs: One at the base AAFES, or Army-Air Force Exchange Service, and one as a groundskeeper at an estate on the southern tip of Okinawa, The Hanara Estate.

Petra paled when I gave her this information. The Hanara Estate was destroyed by two full clans of sorcerers. That meant for each clan of sorcerers there was one head leading six masters, six novices for each master, and six apprentices for each novice. That was a lot of sorcerers.

The Hanara Clan had called for help, The Birch Clan had not responded, even though dozens of other clans had. It was too late. The Hanara Clan had been wiped out at the hands of sorcerers, and the Birches, while in a position to hold off the sorcerers until help arrived, had hidden their collective heads in the sand.

I didn't provide this information to Samantha, I didn't even know if she was in the position to help the Hanara Clan or not. I went to Yvonne. While I didn't tell her the man that she and her sisters were chasing was a magician by their failure to act, I shamed her good.

At the time of the attack, The Hanara Clan had been one thousand masters strong. On the wicca scale, that meant every clan member the level of a master had been on that estate for a gathering. That wasn't even including the wicca apprentices who had been there with their teachers. There were probably survivors in hiding, but most of the clan and the family had been wiped out. Sorcerers loved fire, I had felt that firsthand. I knew that those people had been burned to death by fire.

In comparison, Grace and Aysun were co-leaders of The Stonebrook Coven. That meant there were one hundred nine masters, rated on level of power related to the wicca scale as a six or higher. With up to ten apprentices to each master, the coven numbered at almost a thousand in less than ten years.

Yvonne couldn't even try to justify her to me, at least not in the time I had given her before I walked out her office in London. Goddess, I hated not to be able to linear fold. But the ride by jet was just as nice, especially with Jana cuddling with me.

Two months later, when I wasn't paying attention to The Mars Project, I got another report on Kyle Andrews. Nora, having given birth to our third child, got a newly-minted Gold Star for her report. Kyle Andrews had left Los Angeles, but had come back a few weeks later. Hidden inside a dazzle protected by Natasha 'don't call me 'Tash' anymore' Yadanova, was a rather big apartment building. Kyle was living the life knocking up women attached to The Birch Clan.

I had asked for Kyle Andrews' medical records from when he had a stay at my hospital. His 'normal' physician had taken notes, protecting his record under The Laws of Man. Kyle had been initially treated by Gemma Margus, but the follow-up had been from an actual doctor. Gemma did tell me one thing, Kyle's system was loaded with lead, that's why a healer's magic wouldn't work on him. He wasn't showing any signs of heavy metal poisoning, even though her tests said the lead had been in his system for over thirty years.

One of my stringers had caught Kyle out shopping at a mall outside Beverly Hills. He was with Sunday Birch and three other wicca known as Serena, Sadie, and Sabrina. I did hear about his plans to go out and eat with Natalie Birch at the restaurant Galagant and had Nora make me and Petra a reservation. I hadn't expected to see him with another woman, a woman who wasn't Natalie.

Petra explained to me that the woman was Melissa Johnson. She was an actress who played on a television drama entitled 'Very Wicca.' That particular drama happened to be about three wicca on a quest.

If they only knew.

Joseph Bruckberg, of all people, snagged a seat at my table while Petra and Melissa were supposedly away in the restroom.

"What's on your mind, Johan?" He asked.

"Joe have you ever made anyone a star?" I countered.

"Sure. I mean, I have. It depends on whether or not they have something to work with," Joseph admitted. He looked over his shoulder, trying to follow my sight-line. "Melissa's already a star, although I'm thinking about axing her show."

"Joe, seriously?" I asked. "Very Wicca?"

"Johan, look. That show has done some pretty good stuff over the years, but it's dying. No offense, but there are so many plot lines that can be done with witchcraft, unless you'd like to contribute something. I can't blend other ideas like outer space into the show. I'm sorry."

"What about a man?" I asked. "No, I mean Kyle."

"How do you know his name?" Joseph waved his hand. "He's about the right height, weight. I could cast him if he's any good."

"Test him out, Joe. Please?"

"Okay. If you hadn't promised me a hundred-million dollar jet, I might tell you to suck Australian Coral. I'll give him a test, a fair one. You've asked for very little from me over the years, and I'll be glad to do something for you for a change."

"Thank you, Joe."

"You'll be welcome later. I'm putting your money on the production of the show, Mossy Rock Productions, for the four million dollars it will take for the one episode to test him. If the director doesn't like what he sees, I'm going to kill the show. Don't feel bad, it was going to get cancelled before I even sat down here. Dammit."

"Dammit what?' I asked,

"Johan, you're always right. Always." Joseph looked me in the eyes. "He's important, isn't he?"

"Joseph. If Kyle is important, he will show you. You know who I am, but who is he?"

"Sure. I still get the jet, right?"

"Yes, Joseph, the jet will be delivered as soon as possible. From my heart to yours."

"Johan, I'll give him a fair test," Joseph promised. He got up from my table and went to the one Kyle was occupying.

I watched Kyle and Joseph interact, Kyle trying to brush him off. Melissa, however, cowered in fear when she returned to the table and saw Joseph chatting to Kyle.

Joseph handed Kyle one of his cards and excused himself from the table. Petra chose that moment to return, saying that Kyle was going to get lucky tonight. I asked her if I was going to get lucky, and Petra said that she would think about it.

***

There was a certain amount of confusion when I showed up on the set of 'Very Wicca.' I had a yellow-card ID, which allowed me to walk onto pretty much any motion picture lot on the planet, but nobody could figure out why a very important person, me, was there.

Sunday Birch was on the set, she was actually a good friend of Melissa Johnson and a consultant on witchcraft for the series.

If the viewers only knew.

She accosted me for working the set into a tizzy, then realized that I wanted the same thing that her sisters did, I wanted Kyle Andrews to succeed. If he did well on this show, he could be a name on peoples' lips before he stepped into a greater light.

Sunday knew what I meant. She and her sisters could help the show along using their money, but not a lot of that. They didn't want to come close to breaking any rules, especially when they knew I was around.

Kyle got his screen test under fire. He had used Joseph's name to find his way to Melissa, and got co-opted into the show as a result. He did pretty good, didn't stumble on his lines any, finished the shot like he was supposed to. I didn't understand why they re-shot the scene until I saw the arrangement of Kyle and Melissa.

Joseph and the director were hopping with glee when the 'take' concluded. I was happy for them, because I knew what I had seen.

A 'split shot' is where they take two actors saying different lines from two different angles and cut them together. It was a holdover from the days when serials had been shot on tape, or even film, for broadcast. The 'combined shot' that Kyle and Melissa had just performed was the optimal performance. It had less 'seams' and would look more realistic to the audience.

That meant that not only was Kyle good on screen, he and Melissa were better together. I had high hopes for him.

What I didn't know when I arrived was what a 'first take' meant in the motion picture lexicon. Since Kyle had arrived on the set, over thirty of those 'first takes' had occurred. That meant that thirty scenes had been acted out to both the directors and producers' pleasure the first time. I hung out, watching from the wings, as it were, to get a gist of what the show was all about.

Joseph caught up to me outside of the soundstage. "Hello, Jo."

"Hello, Joe," I chuckled.

"Were you using magic in there?" He demanded.

"Joe, I can't use magic. I know that you know what I mean."

"In all of my days I have never seen a day like that. We aren't just done shooting for this specific episode, we are done with the next and halfway through a third!"

"Oh, that means money saved. So you'll owe me a refund?"

"Umm..."

"Listen, Joe. I mean, listen. Even if I were a true magician, I would not manipulate the World of Man to make money. Whatever good that happened in your building was not magic. Maybe it was just a good day."

"Johan...I've never seen a good day like that!"

"Maybe you should adjust your standards, Joe. Good luck."

"Spoilsport. Half the fun of being a producer is being able to cuss the actors and crew out after a bad day!"

I had to give him a good laugh. A belly laugh, from my soul. "Maybe you should find other means of entertainment, Joe. It is definitely not my magic, it may be yours."

He gave me a 'whathefuck?' look. Then I turned away and walked to my waiting car.

***

Natalie Birch was in my office on a Friday a month later. "You need to stay away from Kyle Andrews."

"Huh?"

"Sunday said that one of your vampires was in the mall they were shopping at on Wednesday. Julianne Marceau?"

"First of all, they are not 'my' Revengers. If Julianne was at a certain place at a certain time, she was aura-hunting. That's her job, remember?"

"Of course," Natalie sighed and plopped into a chair across from my desk. "We are trying so hard to do this by the book, a vampire showing up threw Sunday off."

"What book?" I asked.

"Yours."

"Again, huh?"

"You've shown that you and your family possess a great amount of power. We are trying not to seduce Kyle using magic but it is very hard."

"So Kyle's staying at that building and not getting lucky? If I were unhappy, it would be because he wasn't getting laid. I've seen the nurses at your private hospital, Natalie, they are lookers."

"He is getting lucky." Natalie smirked. "So why are you keeping tabs on him?"

"You've already seduced him, Natalie. He came back to LA, didn't he? I think that double near-death experience changed you both. He does know that you almost gave your life to find him, correct?"

"Yes."

"Why haven't you slept with him yet?"

"Because he..."

"With just a few sentences, Mordred made you think that Kyle holding his children by you or your sisters would make him sterile. Do you think that any god or goddess would be that cruel?"

"We can't take that chance."

"Then you don't deserve him," I said. "This is a man already with children! I have children of my own! You would deny him holding any child of his?"

"Why are you having Kyle followed?"

"You tried to answer a question with a question. That may have worked a thousand years ago, but it will not work with me!"

Natalie paled. That was enough. "We will not deny him his children."

"Good. The reason I am having Kyle followed is for his protection. Have you or have you not noticed that he is a wizard?"

"No. How?"

"How do I know? Gemma told me that he has the same metaphysical aura that Jaci Stone had. The only reason you can't see it is because of all the lead in his system. There is also the matter of how Kyle is able to survive, given said lead in his system."

"We haven't been able to sense any of this!"

"Because..." I prompted.

Natalie scooted up to the edge of her chair. "He's not immortal."

"Many years ago, the day The Hanara Clan was...dissolved."

She held up her hand. "Yvonne already told us..."

"What she didn't tell you was why I was so interested in that day, because I didn't tell her."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry."

"That day, the day my mother died, that fire and lightning bombardment from the sorcerers triggered a storm further down the coast. Sorcerer's lightning struck something under the water which converted that energy to wizard-making power. Jaci Stone was bathed in that energy, and you know the rest."

"Where does Kyle Andrews fit into this story?" Natalie asked.

"His house was further down the coast. His parents survived because their house wasn't blown apart."

"Goddess, Johan. I'm so sorry!"

"As much as I would like to, I can't blame my mother's death on your clan. Chances are, she would have died even if you had come to the aid of the Hanaras."

"No wonder you flew to London to rip Yvonne a new one," Natalie chuckled.

"Don't think yourselves so important. I was checking on one of the ammunition stamping plants that you gals signed over to me. I'm going to put some people back to work."

"Ammunition?" Natalie asked.

"Building materials mostly," I replied. "One of Erin's pet projects." Erin was going to use actual ammunition, but out in space. Something about oxidizers and inertia and she couldn't easily explain the science to me. I did make her swear that nothing would threaten Earth. She laughed and told me that her experiment wasn't even going to be in our neighborhood.

"Oh, that," Natalie chuckled. We stood together and shook hands.

***

The following Monday I paid another visit to the set. Sunday was having a chat with Melissa and Natasha was chatting with Kyle. Natasha excused herself and came over to me.

"We need to talk."

I found a vacant corner of the soundstage and Natasha put up a cone of silence. "What's on your mind, Natasha?"

"You can call me 'Tash,' I would prefer it, actually."

"We are not playing the mating game anymore," I warned.

"I know."

"So?"

"I see that you dropped your detail."

"When I heard that you were doing Kyle's close-in protection, I ordered it dropped," I nodded.

"We had to put a forgetfulness spell on him."

"That's not very sporting. Why?"

Natasha turned a shade of red that looked funny on her pale skin. "After Kyle...kissed me, he started to exhibit a new power. He pulls energy from my protection spells. That's why he doesn't live in the city anymore, he almost broke my dazzle one night during a..let's call it playtime. If he's aware of magic, he can see through it."

"That's neat. You can block that kind of power, just use a binding spell."

"Johan, we've never seen a power like that before. There is no spell to bind it!"

"Yes, there is, I've seen it. Wait, Jaci saw it. It was on the red level, she only researched it because she almost did the same thing to the dazzle protecting Scarlett Industries complex."

"If we could only use it," Natasha grumbled.

"Because I can't use magic and I can't tell you about the spell because you wouldn't understand it."

"You can use magic," Natasha said. "Gaia blessed your marriage to Petra in the ritual manner."

"Let me put it another way: I don't want to use magic. You know the reasons!"

"I understand," Natasha soothed.

"Ask Julie Simmons. She must have figured out how to block Jaci, she would have had to."

Natasha got a terrified look on her face. "Is there any way that you can ask her?"

"Why?"

"Somehow Peridot Scarlett found out that Yvonne tried to seize control of Birch America. She PNG'd all of the liaisons between Birch Industries and Scarlett Industries. There hasn't been any communication since."

Persona non grata.Serious, as that term usually applied on governmental levels.

"Okay. Hopefully you can get that spell resolved soon, it's borderline on the rule. I'd hate to have to send Joshua after you."

"Please don't even joke about that," Sunday said from behind me. "Diedre and Vera still haven't recovered from having you sic your pets on them."

I turned to face her, seeing the other three S's and Melissa standing far enough back that they were probably outside the cone of silence.

"The Revengers are not my pets, Sunday. And your sisters are only alive because I told Joshua and Athena that you were forever pardoned for fucking with me. Believe me when I say that they are just itching for you to break some other rule. Are we clear?"

"Yes," she even nodded for emphasis. "Nat, we need to go, there's a premiere that we need to get Kyle and Melissa ready for."

"Okay." Natasha walked past me, the cone of silence dropping as she did so. "Don't forget my request."

"I'll make the call."

***

Julie was less than happy that I was acting as a go-fer for Natasha. She did actually know the spell that Natasha needed, but it would have to be applied as a tattoo to Kyle.

Since nobody else knew the spell, Julie would have to apply the tattoo herself. I set up the meeting at my building, since it was relatively neutral territory.

Melissa unexpectedly followed me to my office, closing the door behind her. "I don't know you."

"Hi." I offered my hand to her. "I'm Johan Birch."

Melissa crossed her arms, and I put my hand down. It was going to be like that. "Who are you, really?"

"You're going to have to be more specific." I walked to the front of my desk and leaned back on it. That was a signature pose. My pose. Forever.

"Let's start with this: What in the hell is a Revenger?"

"Revengers are the creatures that your worst nightmares are afraid of," I answered.

"That's exactly what Sunday told me! In the eight years that I have known her, she has never shown fear except around you!"

"I don't apologize for that. If she hasn't told you why, then you don't need to know," I shrugged.

"And how did you convince Mister Bruckberg to give Kyle a screen test? Not even the studio heads can do that! My friend Tiara, one of his casting directors and one of the few people who can give Mister Bruckberg advice on who to test, was freaking amazed at that!"

Mister Bruckberg, twice.And even behind his back.I wonder what people call me behind mine?

"Melissa, it may be hard for you to accept, but Joe and I are good friends and have been for years. All I did was ask him, and I asked him nicely, to give Kyle a test. And you are welcome for your job, because I convinced him not to axe your show at this moment in time. Of course he will bill me for four million dollars per episode if he ends up killing it, but that's life."

"And why would you do that? Why save my show?"

"Because I can," I answered.

My intercom announce went off, merely a formality because Nora tended to eavesdrop so the circuit was already open. "Go ahead, Nora."

Nora was probably wanting to flog Melissa for being so rude to me. "Mister Birch, Miss Simmons says she needs your assistance in the conference room."

"Really? I guess further interrogation will be delayed, Miss Johnson."

I went to the conference room. Kyle was sitting in a chair, sleeve rolled up to his elbow, looking confused. "What gives?" I asked.

"Well, everything," Julie sighed. "Kyle, don't take offense but we're going to talk about you in the third person."

Kyle snickered. "Okay "

"The tattoo hex is off the table for now. I'm sorry."

"Why?" I asked.

"First off, Kyle just doesn't have a little lead in his system, he has a lot. It's embedded in his tissues, but not in his organs. Second, he was exposed to a large burst of non-ionizing radiation."

"Phased array radar," Kyle volunteered. "Patriot missile system, 2500 watt strength."