A Birth day

"Ah, that," Marcus said quietly, watching Evelyn trying to put her moves on Angus who was only doing minimally what he needed to do to keep her distracted. Angus, for his part was pretending to read her palm, and Evelyn was eating up all the attention like he was the only man in the room

"Did you miss that she called a bald man Tall Dark and Hairy?" Marcus asked Jack very quietly, and not wanting to say out loud that Evelyn had some very weirdish seer's abilities. That was not safe to say here in a muggle jail. "I didn't. She's got some of the same abilities as the women in the big house at home. Hers, though, are very oddish abilities that I could never quite peg what they are. It doesn't happen often, but when she sees something, she's generally on the money. She sized you up, Mate. She knows you've got some cash, and she also saw the other side of you. She knows I have cash--significant cash, but she's after huge amounts of cash. Someone rolling in it. And, she saw straight into Angus's family lineage the instant she looked at him. Angus might not be quite as wealthy as she would like but with the rest of the money that he's the heir to, that makes him very attractive to a woman like her. As far as she's concerned, Angus smells like a lot of nice, fresh, easy money. She has him pegged as the playboy heir to lots of cash, and that always interests her. You are far more the physical type she's drawn to. That's just pure fact. But you are also attached to someone with some strong abilities of her own that connect you to her all the time. Evelyn might have picked up on some of that. But, there's also a third theory that I have had to attribute to her far more often than not. Sometimes there's just no accounting for crazy."

"Pretty much," Marcus said. "I have to say, though, as long as Angus is keeping her distracted, she'll behave, and, for her, this is just her definition of harmless flirting."

The attorney returned and opened up his briefcase to get out some paperwork to complete regarding the posting of bail, and when Jack walked over and made a deliberate attempt to intimidate him, the lawyer put the papers back in the briefcase, snapped the briefcase shut and stood to immediately leave, intending to leave Angus, Marcus and Jack on their own to figure out how to get Evelyn out of the nick.

"Wait--please," Angus said to Blackstone quickly. "Wait a second." He looked up and glared angrily at Jack. "Stop it and stand down. If you can't pull yourself together right this instant, then you go stand in the hall. We need him."

Angus was angry with Jack. The attorney was a highly sought after, well paid man who didn't need Jack's bullcrap and wasn't going to do it, not even for a moment. Attorneys who were at the top of their game, like Blackstone, weren't intimidated by anything. Intimidation was one of the top tools of any good attorney's trade, so Blackstone would surely not be moved. Blackstone could pick whoever he did or didn't want to work with, and if Jack, started playing these games, Blackstone could simply pick up and go home, which was clearly what he was intending to do. And, right now, Blackstone was the key to getting Evelyn out of here. Angus needed Jack to reel himself in immediately and behave.

Angus didn't like having to pretend he was flirting with Evelyn too, but they desperately needed her to not get out of control here because if the police saw her become violent, they weren't going to release her. Like an actor in a play, Angus was pretending to be interested enough in Evelyn to allow her to throw herself at him to keep her from having some rage episode long enough to get her out of here and to St. Mungo's, and Angus also trusted that even if Ruby were here, she would understand that Angus had no interest in Evelyn. Ruby, of all people, knew what reality was and where she stood with him, and that he certainly would have no interest in Marcus's wife. He did not need or want Jack or anyone else involved in his relationship with Ruby.

"Please," Angus asked Blackstone quietly again.

"My fee for this matter just doubled," Blackstone said in an icy tone.

"Fine" Angus said, not having any choice but to pay it. Angus had already expected this to be expensive as hell, but now it was going to cost him twice as much. And Angus had to look as cool as a cucumber about it because he could not risk Blackstone leaving or Evelyn exploding. Blackstone looked at Angus who nodded as a solid agreement to pay the attorney's doubled fee because of Jacks' misbehaviors. Blackstone sat back down, opened the briefcase and began completing the release paperwork again.

"It does take a minute to get the Paris police to release a British citizen, Jack," Marcus said, trying to remind Jack that they were in a muggle police station, and muggles didn't have the ability to move as quickly as wizards did. This was just going to take more time than what they were used to. "There's the matter of getting the police to agree, finding a magistrate after hours to get permission to release her, getting bail set, getting the judgment entry from the magistrate, filling out release paperwork, paying the bail, and a few other things. You really do need to either chill in here or go get a breath of fresh air while we wait."

"Some children are easily amused by shiny new toys," Marcus cast Ruby a smile of amusement, making a small joke of Evelyn's temporary fascination with Angus.

Angus was a little surprised to see Ruby show up, especially when she wasn't supposed to be home til tomorrow, but however it had happened, she was here, and she wasn't as livid about Evelyn as Jack had seemed to think she would be. Angus had known that Ruby would never be threatened by a woman like Evelyn Belby.

Blackstone clearly had never seen Ruby before, but when she brought the papers, he thanked Ruby, opened the file, read the documents and saw a message from Edward and one from Robert. He took those messages out and put them in his briefcase. He finished filling out the paperwork that he needed to do, filled out one of the forms that was included in the file that Ruby had just brought, and asked Marcus to sign them. Marcus read the forms and signed them without any show of emotion. He showed both the forms very briefly to Angus, who somehow managed to keep Evelyn from seeing either of them. Angus just nodded, understanding.

"About your remand, Mr. Blackstone," Angus began.

"Where I'm from, Son, your grandfather's word is as good as cash," Blackstone told him, "I don't doubt your ability to pay. Once i return the gown and settle the cash settlement that the designer is asking for, my office will send the final bill to your grandfather's office."

"No, send it to me," Angus said.

"Your address, then," Blackstone requested, handing Angus a pad of paper and a pen. Angus wrote down the address and handed it back to Blackstone. Evelyn got quite testy when Angus let go of her to write down his address.

"Calm," Angus told her, deliberately using such a quiet tone that she had to become quiet herself in order to hear him. "I have to pay the tab, my dear, don't I? You'd like to leave, wouldn't you? I thought you wanted me to take you to that private room with the attendants and the gourmet cuisine..." She calmed and giggled and nodded, not realizing that he was talking about the fourth floor at St. Mungo's. Blackstone finally secured the release, and they were told by one of the officers that they were free to go. When Angus stood up, Evelyn wrapped around him like a clinging vine, flirting in his ear. He was bored with it, and with her. He cast a look at Ruby for the very briefest moment to send her a silent message that he felt far more trapped in this than he was allowed to let on, and he was going to be very glad to get this woman pried off of him as soon as he could make it happen.

Marcus made just one tiny small to offer to help Angus with Evelyn and with the porting spell, but Evelyn slapped Marcus's hand.

"You don't touch me," she snarled at Marcus. She looked at Angus. "Don't you let him touch me.."

"Calm yourself," Angus said, still using a steady, quiet tone. "Come with me. Let's just go, shall we? Why don't you both follow right behind us?" he looked at Ruby and Marcus. Angus thanked Blackstone, and he led Evelyn out of the station, continuing to talk softly to her to keep her distracted and steady.

"Shall we?" Marcus smiled at Ruby, holding the visitation room door open for her. When they walked outside, he watched Angus turn left to go back down the street to the speakeasy they'd come out of. "Thanks for the help. I apologize for all this," he told Ruby quietly as they hit the street. He wasn't sure whether these muggle cameras outside could record voices, so he wasn't taking chances. "She's hard as hell to control when she gets like this. He's done really very well with her for his first time meeting her, but as soon as she figures out where he's taking her, I expect all hell to break loose. I hope he sees that coming."

"It's time we got back," Marcus said to Jack as they got to him. "I think we're taking Evelyn to some new accommodations."

"Well, you're right, I know," Marcus replied to Ruby. "She hasn't been this bad in a long time. She's clearly been off her potions for awhile. When she's taking her potions, she's pretty docile and is only slightly promiscuous. This is what happens when she's off her potions altogether. And it's happened more often as she's gotten older. It's getting harder and harder for me to just dash off to her rescue. Once we get her contained, I suppose I'll have to have a serious talk with Robert. For tonight, I'm hoping to just keep everyone safe if she goes off.  She can become exceptionally dangerous if she gets violent. If she goes ballistic, step back out of arm's reach of her. She'll be focused on anyone within her reach. You'll have a better chance of defending yourself or anyone else if you work from a distance. If you're within reach, you'll just be caught up in a wild brawl. And she can get completely savage."

They walked down the alley steps to the unsavory speakeasy and walked through the joint into the back, into the private room they'd started from. Evelyn immediately got all excited, thinking this was where Angus was taking her, and she wanted Marcus and Ruby and Jack to just leave them alone.

"Now, why would I take you here?" Angus asked her, having to give her extra phony attentions. "You're a lady, aren't you? You surely have a lot more class than this place. I have something far better in mind, my dear." He soothed her, and she curled into him, telling him how sweet he was to her and how she had needed a man like him all her life. The words hit him as being really sad. She had had that sort of man in Marcus, and she'd blown it years ago. All Angus could do was give her a performance, without one ounce of it based in reality. When they gathered together, Marcus used his St. Mungo's portkey and ported them straight into the A&E department at St. Mungos.

The instant they arrived and Evelyn knew where they were, she flung herself at Angus and Marcus, and Marcus saw the glint of a blade come from somewhere in her clothing.

"Blade!" Marcus shouted. Angus had seen it too, but he saw what Marcus hadn't. She had a huge stiletto blade in each hand. She was going at Angus with one hand and Marcus with the other. Marcus was focused on trying to protect Angus, and it gave Evelyn a slim edge. She caught him with one of the blades right below his left ear, under his jawbone and she'd dragged it forward, cutting him along the bottom of  his jaw clear up to his chin.

"Get out!" Angus shouted to Marcus, seeing the blood pour from Marcus's face. A couple of young, inexperienced healers came rushing forward, and she stabbed them both in the midsection, and they dropped to the floor. Angus grabbed her arm, and she spun back on him and slashed at his face, hoping to kill him for his betrayal, but Angus moved, and all her blade caught was his face from his temple to just right at his jaw joint. He had had enough. He used wandless magic and accio'd a steel planter that was close to Ruby, sending it to Ruby to use as a weapon.

"Clock her a good one, Ru!" Angus shouted at her, wanting Ruby to hit her in the head and knock her out. "Get her!"

"Glad you were here," Angus grinned at Ruby. "Nicely done."

Marcus disarmed Evelyn, took the switchblades from her and snapped them shut, tucking them in his pocket.

"You should do a thorough search, Jess," Marcus told her. "Since she had two switchblades, I wouldn't put it past her to have more. I'm sorry. She doesn't usually have a weapon unless she's gotten really, really bad." He let her heal his wound. "Thank you. At least since its under my jaw, nobody's going to notice if it scars.

Brian arrived downstairs, hearing a rumor upstairs about a woman who had stabbed two healers. He arrived to see them carting Evelyn into a room, and he saw the chaos of the two stabbed healers, and Jess tending to Marcus. Then he saw Angus's bloodied face. Healers were bringing gurneys for the stabbed healers, and Brian stopped long enough to check their vital signs. He paged Robert, knowing those two needed immediate surgery or they would surely die. they were best left in Robert's hands. Robert arrived almost in seconds, and he stood for the very briefest of moments, staring at the blood soaked A&E. Brian pointed to the two healers, and Robert went there, pointed Angus to Brian.

Brian went over to him and took a look.

"Looks like she was irked with you. What'd you do to her?" Brian asked.

"Brought her here on the promise of a private room, gourmet cuisine and attendants," Angus said, as an orderly brought him some supplies on a cart, including a basin of water.

"Well, that wasn't a lie, you just didn't tell her that her attendants would be orderlies and nurses, did you?"

"Of course not," Angus laughed. "Now, look. I have no intention of Ruby sharing her bed with Frankenstein, so if you cannot mend my face without a big, long ugly scar, then don't muck with it." Brian laughed out loud.

"Can we stop the bleeding first?" Brian asked. "Believe me, even if it scars, Robert can eliminate the scars. So let's make sure you don't bleed out. Jess, our two healers are in critical shape. When you finish, you might want to give Robert a hand in the O.R. so we don't lose them. I'll help when I can."  He cleaned the wound and used an enchanted antiseptic potion on it, and when he did, he saw the edges of the wound turn green. "Hold on. Jess, don't let Marcus go yet. Angus's wound was made with a tainted blade. It's got a hex on it of some sort. Gonna need to find out what the hex is. Sit tight, Angus, I need to grab Robert before he goes up to the operating room. Where are the blades?"

"I have them," Marcus said, getting them out of his pocket and handing them to Brian.

"Give me one minute to have the blades checked," Brian said, running to try to get to Robert before he went upstairs.