Post by Kalidah on Jul 25, 2024 4:17:13 GMT
"I'm telling you, Charlie, you need to get ahead of all this. Let me talk about it on my podcast, please. I'll roast that Vezina asshole on the air, and call all my listeners done on him."
Charlotte Buchanan tried not to roll her eyes. She knew her friend, Laura Heeley, host of the award winning podcast, "The Laura Heeley Report", meant well, but sometimes she felt the woman was a bit too intense for her own sake. The journalist had been like this since the day she met her. One of these days it was going to get her in trouble and Charlotte just hoped she was there to help her out when it did.
Charlotte picked up her cup of coffee and took a long sip. It gave her a chance to bite her tongue and think carefully about what to say next before answering her friend. She would have rather had this conversation in person, but Laura was in New York for meetings with some producers, so Charlie was talking with her on Skype.
"Laura, you really don't know the wrestling industry like I do. Roy Vezina wants publicity over what he did. Men like that crave attention. You post something about him and he'll just use it as fuel for another one of his stupid videos he's been posting on Iron Road's YouTube page as of late."
"It's Pollo Road again," another voice chimed in. Tabitha turned her attention to another face on her computer screen, belonging to her friend, and frequent photographer, Tabitha Tims.
"Really?"
"Yep, really," Tabitha said, "There was a press conference yesterday, and everything. Teddy Davis apparently involved with the board of directors, or something like that. I'd have to go back and check."
"That's right, I remember seeing that now," Laura added, needing to get her two cents in, "Apparently Pollo Bucket is back sponsoring the company again. Did you know that Teddy Davis was Super Pollo?"
A shiver went up Charlotte's spine at the mention of the name. Flashbacks to 2015 flooded through her mind. She quickly took another sip of her coffee, inhaling the aroma, allowing it to calm her nerves.
"Charlie. Did you hear me, Charlie?"
"Yes, Laura, I heard you," Charlie replied, as she placed her mug down, "To answer your question, I had no idea Teddy was Super Pollo, and before you ask, I'm almost certain neither did Eli. That's very interesting, but completely beside point at the moment. I don't care what the company is calling itself, they're still giving Vezina a platform to spout his bullshit, whether he's suspended, or not."
"But you need to, Charlie," Laura protested, "The guy took shots at both of you."
"Yes, I know," Charlotte was beginning to lose her patients with her friend, and no amount of coffee was going to help. "Do you know who saw that last video he posted after I vented on social media? Our kids, Laura! All five of them! You have no idea how angry I am about that. I realize what Eli and I do comes with consequences, but they shouldn't affect our children! It's bad enough Eli was blinded, but for that PIECE OF SHIT to mock him where their little eyes can see it."
Charlotte was so enraged that she didn't even notice that she had picked her coffee mug back up. With a scream she brought her hand down on the table beside her. The mug shattered, sending pieces of glazed ceramic everywhere, drenching the table, and Charlotte's arm with coffee in the process.
"Fuck!"
"Charlie, are you okay," Tabitha asked. "What happened."
Charlotte pulled her arm back from the wreckage and stared at her hand. No cuts, or bruises, thankfully.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she told them both, wiping her arm on the hem of her shirt, "I just broke a coffee mug, that's all. I..."
From beneath her, Charlotte heard a loud rumble. She stopped talking and looked down.
"What was that, Charlie," Laura asked, "Are you wrecking the joint?"
"No, sounds like something's going on in the basement."
"Could it be those Herkmen guys you keep around," Tabitha asked. "Those two always seem to be getting into trouble every time I'm talking to you."
"No," Charlotte replied, shaking her head, "I lent Azalo and Nizbel to my coven for the day, and the others are still lost in the hedge maze chasing zombies. And the children are out taking Eli for a walk through the grave yard, visiting some old friends."
Charlotte notices the looks of concern from her friends but pretends to be oblivious to it. She knows what they're thinking, because it's the same thing she's thinking as well.
"Charlie..." Laura begins.
"No, Eli will get his eye sight back. He's died eight times, been drowned, torn apart by a evil spirits, suffered supposed career ending injuries and was lost at sea for forty days. Eli's vision will return, and when it does, there will be hell to pay."
Both her friends nodded, silently. They knew better than to argue with Charlotte at the best of times, but even more when she was spitting fire like now. She notices their discomfort and lets out a sigh.
"I'm sorry, you two. I'm just so stressed out at the moment."
"Hey, we understand," Tabitha quickly replies, "You know Claire and I are here for you. Say the word and we'll get Alleyne loaded up in the Mustang and we'll be there in a minute."
"And I'm flying back to L.A. as soon as these meetings are done," Laura added, "I'm not impressed with what they're offering me anyway. My home is in L.A. with all of you."
Charlotte started to smile. Happy tears began running down her cheeks, which she quickly wiped away.
"Thanks, both of you. You don't know how much you both mean to me. I'm sorry, I really should go check on whatever that was. I'm shocked none of the hotel staff has come to notify me about it yet."
"Probably because that was so loud, people in the next county probably heard it."
All three women laughed at Laura's joke. Charlotte wished both her friends good night. The moment the two women's faces disappeared, her smile disappeared. She shut her lap top down and put it away before getting up and leaving her office. Almost immediately, Captain, the chief concierge at Hotel California, was at her elbow.
"Madam."
"Captain, what was that I heard a few minutes ago. It sounded like it came from the basement."
"Yes, Madam," Captain conceded, "the staff have attempted to go down to investigate, but the Darkness won't let them in."
"Oh for fuck's sake," Charlotte growled.
The two of them made their way to the stairwell which led to the basement. Sure enough, the staff were huddling around the doorway, but none dared to step through it, and with good cause. The Darkness, which was filled the basement wasn’t merely an absence of light, it was a loving entity that guarded its territory jealously. Nothing came in, or out of the basement without its permission. It feared few things, including light, which it would snuff at whenever it could. Only one man was known to walk in and out of the basement without fear of harm, and he was currently convalescing from being blinded during a wrestling match. Will, Charlotte thought, it might not want to allow a man to enter, but is sure as hell was going to let a woman do so.
Charlotte marched up to the doorway, pushing staff members aside. She tried to enter, but felt the Darkness push her back,
“Really, you,” she hissed, “what’s the meaning of this. Let me in this instant.”
The Darkness wouldn’t back down. in fact, it seemed to reach out and dragged to hopeless members of staff through the door, both disappeared before they even had them chance to scream in an instant or both completely gone. Charlotte glared at the door and let out the long sigh.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that is it? Do you know who I am?”
The Darkness did, but that didn’t stop it from trying to grab her too. To the shock of the remaining staff, who hadn’t ran off when their comrades were taken, they saw her grab its dark tendril and give it a hard twist.
“I don’t have time for this right now,” Charlotte said, almost bored now. “I want to enter and see what has happened in the basement. Do not make me ask again, or I’ll get tough.”
She gave the tendril another twist and yanked on it.
“And then, I’ll get the children.”
This apparently was too much for the Darkness. It went limp in Charlotte’s hand, and when she released its tendril, and pulled back and fled into the basement.
Charlotte wasted no time. She turned to Captain and beckoned him to follow.
“Come, we don’t have much time.”
The two entered the basement, followed by a few other curious members of staff, carrying lit candles. Not that they were required. In the Darkness’s absence, the lights in the basement began to work for the first time in months. The Hotel was coming to its mistress’s aid, seeking to reclaim its lower level, long lost to it.
Charlotte paid little attention to any of this. Her mind was focused and she immediately made her way to the far side of the basement, in the back room.
“The noise had to come from in there,” she told Captian, “It was right beneath my office.”
“Yes, Madam.” Captain didn’t question her logic, he knew better than to do so. He stayed close to her side, to offer aid, but made no observations of his own.
When they finally made it through the maze of boxes and arrived at the back room, Charlotte pushed Captain back and entered the room alone. She took a look around, the lights were dim in here, the Darkness was hiding I here, tucked away in a corner. Charlotte paid it little attention as she spotted what she was looking for.
“Well, that’s interesting.”
Charlotte quickly turned and walked back out of the room. She snapped her fingers at two of the servants.
“You two, go find my husband. Now!”
The two ran off to obey, not wanting to face their mistress’s wrath. Meanwhile, Charlotte turned her attention to Captain and the others.
“Captain, I believe you should get the hotel ready. We’re about to be graced by three special guests, and I suspect they’re going to need clean clothes and good food. Do you understand.”
“Yes. Madam. It shall be done.”
“Excellent,” Charlotte said, looking back at the three empty coffins in the room, their lids lying again the far wall, broken in pieces. “Your master will be quite pleased by this news, if he survives.”
Charlotte Buchanan tried not to roll her eyes. She knew her friend, Laura Heeley, host of the award winning podcast, "The Laura Heeley Report", meant well, but sometimes she felt the woman was a bit too intense for her own sake. The journalist had been like this since the day she met her. One of these days it was going to get her in trouble and Charlotte just hoped she was there to help her out when it did.
Charlotte picked up her cup of coffee and took a long sip. It gave her a chance to bite her tongue and think carefully about what to say next before answering her friend. She would have rather had this conversation in person, but Laura was in New York for meetings with some producers, so Charlie was talking with her on Skype.
"Laura, you really don't know the wrestling industry like I do. Roy Vezina wants publicity over what he did. Men like that crave attention. You post something about him and he'll just use it as fuel for another one of his stupid videos he's been posting on Iron Road's YouTube page as of late."
"It's Pollo Road again," another voice chimed in. Tabitha turned her attention to another face on her computer screen, belonging to her friend, and frequent photographer, Tabitha Tims.
"Really?"
"Yep, really," Tabitha said, "There was a press conference yesterday, and everything. Teddy Davis apparently involved with the board of directors, or something like that. I'd have to go back and check."
"That's right, I remember seeing that now," Laura added, needing to get her two cents in, "Apparently Pollo Bucket is back sponsoring the company again. Did you know that Teddy Davis was Super Pollo?"
A shiver went up Charlotte's spine at the mention of the name. Flashbacks to 2015 flooded through her mind. She quickly took another sip of her coffee, inhaling the aroma, allowing it to calm her nerves.
"Charlie. Did you hear me, Charlie?"
"Yes, Laura, I heard you," Charlie replied, as she placed her mug down, "To answer your question, I had no idea Teddy was Super Pollo, and before you ask, I'm almost certain neither did Eli. That's very interesting, but completely beside point at the moment. I don't care what the company is calling itself, they're still giving Vezina a platform to spout his bullshit, whether he's suspended, or not."
"But you need to, Charlie," Laura protested, "The guy took shots at both of you."
"Yes, I know," Charlotte was beginning to lose her patients with her friend, and no amount of coffee was going to help. "Do you know who saw that last video he posted after I vented on social media? Our kids, Laura! All five of them! You have no idea how angry I am about that. I realize what Eli and I do comes with consequences, but they shouldn't affect our children! It's bad enough Eli was blinded, but for that PIECE OF SHIT to mock him where their little eyes can see it."
Charlotte was so enraged that she didn't even notice that she had picked her coffee mug back up. With a scream she brought her hand down on the table beside her. The mug shattered, sending pieces of glazed ceramic everywhere, drenching the table, and Charlotte's arm with coffee in the process.
"Fuck!"
"Charlie, are you okay," Tabitha asked. "What happened."
Charlotte pulled her arm back from the wreckage and stared at her hand. No cuts, or bruises, thankfully.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she told them both, wiping her arm on the hem of her shirt, "I just broke a coffee mug, that's all. I..."
From beneath her, Charlotte heard a loud rumble. She stopped talking and looked down.
"What was that, Charlie," Laura asked, "Are you wrecking the joint?"
"No, sounds like something's going on in the basement."
"Could it be those Herkmen guys you keep around," Tabitha asked. "Those two always seem to be getting into trouble every time I'm talking to you."
"No," Charlotte replied, shaking her head, "I lent Azalo and Nizbel to my coven for the day, and the others are still lost in the hedge maze chasing zombies. And the children are out taking Eli for a walk through the grave yard, visiting some old friends."
Charlotte notices the looks of concern from her friends but pretends to be oblivious to it. She knows what they're thinking, because it's the same thing she's thinking as well.
"Charlie..." Laura begins.
"No, Eli will get his eye sight back. He's died eight times, been drowned, torn apart by a evil spirits, suffered supposed career ending injuries and was lost at sea for forty days. Eli's vision will return, and when it does, there will be hell to pay."
Both her friends nodded, silently. They knew better than to argue with Charlotte at the best of times, but even more when she was spitting fire like now. She notices their discomfort and lets out a sigh.
"I'm sorry, you two. I'm just so stressed out at the moment."
"Hey, we understand," Tabitha quickly replies, "You know Claire and I are here for you. Say the word and we'll get Alleyne loaded up in the Mustang and we'll be there in a minute."
"And I'm flying back to L.A. as soon as these meetings are done," Laura added, "I'm not impressed with what they're offering me anyway. My home is in L.A. with all of you."
Charlotte started to smile. Happy tears began running down her cheeks, which she quickly wiped away.
"Thanks, both of you. You don't know how much you both mean to me. I'm sorry, I really should go check on whatever that was. I'm shocked none of the hotel staff has come to notify me about it yet."
"Probably because that was so loud, people in the next county probably heard it."
All three women laughed at Laura's joke. Charlotte wished both her friends good night. The moment the two women's faces disappeared, her smile disappeared. She shut her lap top down and put it away before getting up and leaving her office. Almost immediately, Captain, the chief concierge at Hotel California, was at her elbow.
"Madam."
"Captain, what was that I heard a few minutes ago. It sounded like it came from the basement."
"Yes, Madam," Captain conceded, "the staff have attempted to go down to investigate, but the Darkness won't let them in."
"Oh for fuck's sake," Charlotte growled.
The two of them made their way to the stairwell which led to the basement. Sure enough, the staff were huddling around the doorway, but none dared to step through it, and with good cause. The Darkness, which was filled the basement wasn’t merely an absence of light, it was a loving entity that guarded its territory jealously. Nothing came in, or out of the basement without its permission. It feared few things, including light, which it would snuff at whenever it could. Only one man was known to walk in and out of the basement without fear of harm, and he was currently convalescing from being blinded during a wrestling match. Will, Charlotte thought, it might not want to allow a man to enter, but is sure as hell was going to let a woman do so.
Charlotte marched up to the doorway, pushing staff members aside. She tried to enter, but felt the Darkness push her back,
“Really, you,” she hissed, “what’s the meaning of this. Let me in this instant.”
The Darkness wouldn’t back down. in fact, it seemed to reach out and dragged to hopeless members of staff through the door, both disappeared before they even had them chance to scream in an instant or both completely gone. Charlotte glared at the door and let out the long sigh.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that is it? Do you know who I am?”
The Darkness did, but that didn’t stop it from trying to grab her too. To the shock of the remaining staff, who hadn’t ran off when their comrades were taken, they saw her grab its dark tendril and give it a hard twist.
“I don’t have time for this right now,” Charlotte said, almost bored now. “I want to enter and see what has happened in the basement. Do not make me ask again, or I’ll get tough.”
She gave the tendril another twist and yanked on it.
“And then, I’ll get the children.”
This apparently was too much for the Darkness. It went limp in Charlotte’s hand, and when she released its tendril, and pulled back and fled into the basement.
Charlotte wasted no time. She turned to Captain and beckoned him to follow.
“Come, we don’t have much time.”
The two entered the basement, followed by a few other curious members of staff, carrying lit candles. Not that they were required. In the Darkness’s absence, the lights in the basement began to work for the first time in months. The Hotel was coming to its mistress’s aid, seeking to reclaim its lower level, long lost to it.
Charlotte paid little attention to any of this. Her mind was focused and she immediately made her way to the far side of the basement, in the back room.
“The noise had to come from in there,” she told Captian, “It was right beneath my office.”
“Yes, Madam.” Captain didn’t question her logic, he knew better than to do so. He stayed close to her side, to offer aid, but made no observations of his own.
When they finally made it through the maze of boxes and arrived at the back room, Charlotte pushed Captain back and entered the room alone. She took a look around, the lights were dim in here, the Darkness was hiding I here, tucked away in a corner. Charlotte paid it little attention as she spotted what she was looking for.
“Well, that’s interesting.”
Charlotte quickly turned and walked back out of the room. She snapped her fingers at two of the servants.
“You two, go find my husband. Now!”
The two ran off to obey, not wanting to face their mistress’s wrath. Meanwhile, Charlotte turned her attention to Captain and the others.
“Captain, I believe you should get the hotel ready. We’re about to be graced by three special guests, and I suspect they’re going to need clean clothes and good food. Do you understand.”
“Yes. Madam. It shall be done.”
“Excellent,” Charlotte said, looking back at the three empty coffins in the room, their lids lying again the far wall, broken in pieces. “Your master will be quite pleased by this news, if he survives.”