8. Sharing with Shandy
“And then there were flashing blue lights and…”
“That was the Police!”
“The what?”
“They stop you if you drive too badly. I hate to think what you did to distract her!”
It was the morning after the night before. Fred had skipped the most salacious parts of his story. If things had gone better, he might have told them a bit more, but considering how things had ended, he wasn’t sure Cara would thank him for sharing.
“Well, luckily, I think you might be able to help her there,” said Bob, stroking his chin. “You could offer to be Cara’s driver until she’s allowed on the road again.”
“What? How?”
“Over the years, a number of magical immigrants have ended up in your situation, so some enterprising elf developed a Driving Draught. Drink a bottle of it, and you’ll know everything you need to about how to drive!
The effects only last a few months, but by that time, you should have got the hang of it anyway. ”
“Pity it doesn’t work on humans,” grimaced Shandy. “I’d love to just drink a beer rather than spend hours practicing!”
“I find it’s best taken with other beers, though,” Bob explained.
“A shot of knowledge like that on a clear mind can have nasty side effects, like weird dreams and sleep walking. I’d rather not find you trying to drive the bar at 3 in the morning!
Shandy, I’m putting you in charge of getting Fred drunk this afternoon.
You’ll probably be able to put him to bed by tea time, and we’ll have him driving by the morning!
You just need to make sure he paces himself.
You don’t want him throwing up the driving draught! ”
“I’ve swallowed knowledge before,” Fred reassured him. “We do it back home too. I’d rather not, but if I have to, I will. Oh, and I forgot to tell you! I also stopped someone from stealing Cara’s bag.”
Bob grabbed his arm.
“You didn’t use magic did you?”
“Well, yes… but just a bit…”
“This is not good! Not good at all! Did your victim seem okay? I mean, did they get up and run off?”
“Not while I was watching, but yeah, they must have eventually.”
“You can’t just go firing elvish magic at humans! You could have killed him!”
What if I had? Fred thought. He would have been killed for less that that back home!
“So what was I meant to do?” Fred snarled. “Just let him take her bag?”
“No, not at all, but I can’t have you roaming London with untested powers! Not everything works the same here. You might have turned his legs to mush rather than merely tripping him up.”
“Are you saying I can’t use my powers here?” Fred fumed. “You let me use them in the Casino.”
“It’s not that you can’t, it would just be better if we knew what kinds of effects there might be. You need some combat training. You’re an even more lethal weapon than that car you nearly made Cara crash.”
Tension built in Fred’s shoulders, resentment gathered in his chest. This was starting to feel less and less like freedom the longer he stayed in this world.
He breathed out slowly. He would be leaving The Rock Tavern soon anyway, and Bob’s ever-watchful eye. Maybe then he would feel more free. He had felt free up in the penthouse, with Cara on her knees, on the counter and on his bed. That was something he could get used to.
“I can get you a personal trainer, someone who can help you build your physical strength and make sure your magic is under control,” Bob explained. “I’ll make you an appointment.”
I know how to control my magic! Fred thought, a fierce pride making the magic in his veins surge. I’m not some novice spell caster!
Fred breathed a sigh of relief once he was settled down in a corner of the room with just Shandy and a line of beer bottles.
On one level, he could understand that Bob was probably right, and trying his best to help him, but on another level, he was beginning to feel claustrophobic, like his new life on Earth was still on hold.
True, it looked like he would have centuries to settle in, but he had a long lifetime of restrictions and self-restraint that he hoped he had left in his own world.
Every time Bob tried to tell him what to do, he wondered if the travel pill had actually worked properly or not.
Now though, it was time to learn to drive.
On Shandy’s advice, he chugged the first beer, but the resultant belch made Shandy rush to the bar for a selection of bar snacks to help keep that beer down. His second beer he took a bit more slowly.
“So… how well do you know Cara?” Fred asked, desperately hoping he wasn’t blushing, but fairly sure that he was.
“Pretty well. She’s not all that much older than me, so when I turned 18 she used to take me out partying with her. We had a lot of fun. Would you be able to do a mind merge to see, like I could see into your mind?”
“We could try…”
They placed their heads together again. Fred breathed in Shandy’s perfume once again, and tried to step into the memories Shandy was bringing forth.
It wasn’t at all like stepping into an elven mind.
He saw shapes and colours, cleavage, butt, long legs, short dresses, smiles.
There was no shape to the memories, no story, but what he quickly gathered was that Shandy had looked and lusted after Cara many times over the years.
It didn’t look so much like a friendship, more an unrequited crush.
As their minds pulled apart, it was Shandy’s turn to blush.
“How much could you see?” she asked, twiddling her hair. “I mean, I don’t think it was anything like what you showed me.”
“I think I mainly saw body parts,” Fred laughed, his own mind flicking back to all of the parts of Cara he’d seen and felt that very morning.
Fred filled the subsequent silence by drinking his way to the bottom of his current bottle of beer. The next bottle was the Driving Draught.
It tasted good. Bob had explained that it was better taken slowly but without any real breaks, or some of the knowledge might slip away. Any spills, and he might have to start again.
Shandy watched intently as he drank, holding her hand under his chin to catch any drops.
When the bottle did slip, the tiny drops that escaped trickled down his beard, and half clung there, while the others landed on her palm.
When he’d reached the bottom of the bottle and downed the dregs, Shandy hurriedly proffered her hand for him to lick those missed drops, and then knocked the drops hanging from his beard into her hand too.
“Don’t miss any! That could be a hill start!” she giggled, as his tongue twirled around her palm.
Within minutes, the knowledge bombing began.
Fred’s consciousness was pulled back and forth from the bar to the inside of a diagrammatic car.
He felt his hands moving on a wheel, and his feet pushing pedals, but he also felt Shandy’s arm on his, and a bottle pressed against his lips.
He felt liquid passing his lips, some trickling down his beard, and he concentrated on swallowing what he could.
As the added alcohol sent the knowledge skittering into his subconscious, his conscious mind came back to the bar.
“Was that fun?” Shandy asked.
“Ugh! No! I don’t want to have to…”
As he said that another, clear, uncomfortable image seeped in of reversing, lining up mirrors, moving his hand…
“Help!” he burbled, and Shandy came back to the rescue, tipping another bottle of beer between his desperate lips.
Fred’s beard was lengthening by the bottle, but his fear of the next burst of knowledge was growing at a similar pace. He began to down the bottles as fast as he could.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? If you throw up you’ll have to take the Draught again!” Shandy gasped, grabbing a handful of his beard. “And you can’t say it’s not affecting you when it does this to you!”
“I have never thrown up from drinking in my life!” Fred slurred, getting up shakily and pulling his beard from Shandy’s grasp. “I must go drain the weasel!”
The walls seemed to change angle all by themselves as Fred stumbled his way to the urinals. As he took his cock in one hand, and pulled his beard out of the way with the other, a flash of drunk genius passed through him.
Maybe if we mind merge it won’t feel quite as awful. A problem shared is a problem halved, as they say.
He came back to the table grinning and ready to share his pain.
“Mind merge with me, Shandy!” he said, rubbing his hands with glee. “Maybe it will be easier to push down that horrid learning if I’m focusing on showing you something else!”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Is it safe for me to have a second hand Driving Draught?” Shandy looked warily at him.
“No idea? Let’s try!”
Shandy shrugged and they drew into the now-familiar position, their foreheads resting together.
“What did you want to show me?” Shandy asked. “How about that apartment? That must have been pretty impressive.”
I could show her me being a hero! Fred thought, a warmth spreading through him. Maybe she’ll be as impressed as Cara was!
He brought his mind back to that car park, to the moment his magical reflexes took down the thief. It made Shandy gasp and he felt her hand grip his knee. Even in his inebriated state, he felt a twitch in his pants.
That twitch pulled his mind into the elevator, looking down at his cock sliding in and out of Cara’s mouth. Shandy gasped again, but this time there was no accompanying squeeze of his knee. He felt her breath quickening on his face and she fell unusually quiet.
She’s into this! Of course! She’s into Cara…
Fred let his mind switch to the kitchen, to Cara’s wide open pussy, his fingers sliding in, his expert touch bringing her to ecstasy. Shandy sighed deep into his face as Cara came in his memory, and Fred felt a fierce pride building inside him.
I am a sex GOD! No wonder Shandy’s impressed.
So, he pulled the scene into the bedroom, Cara’s beautiful breasts bouncing, her cries of “more” muffled by the skirt over her face…
The spooky outlines of a jack, lifting the vague form of a car, his own hands pushing a spare tyre into place…
“Aaagggghhhhh! Stop it!” Shandy shrieked, pulling away and leaving the mind merge. “Drink! Drink more beer!”
He felt the bottle on his lips again. The beer washed away the study space, and he was back in The Rock Tavern again, a flushed Shandy by his side.
“Wow!” she said. “No wonder you needed that beer! I used to wonder why elves didn’t learn everything that way, and now I know!”
“Yeah. Not my favourite thing. I’d much rather read a book, given the option. Sometimes we aren’t given the option though…”
Fred’s memory went back to the Draught he took to train him in the worst of the weaponry his father’s army had to offer. That was not something he would ever be showing Shandy, however drunk he got.
“So… you and Cara?” Shandy asked, looking up at Fred, then turning quickly away.
“Yeah, but after I made her crash her car, I’m not sure she’s still interested,” Fred answered, ruefully.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Shandy tittered.
“That was so fucking hot! She definitely seems to be into you… and you were deep into her!” Shandy grabbed his arm.
“And by the morning you’ll be ready to be her hero again!
Cara loves her job, and she’d lose her mind if she had to quit over losing her license. And she’s so hot… So, so, so hot…”
Shandy’s eyes glowed with excitement as she looked up at Fred, and joy flickered through him. She was right. He would see Cara in the morning and he would be her hero once again. Maybe not the kind of hero he wanted to be, but the kind of hero she needed.