Genie had slept on the train ride down to Willow Creek.
She'd been there only once before, in the summer before university, on a party trip with friends. So, her memories of Willow Creek mostly involved warm, sultry nights spent dancing to jazz music, eating Cajun food and drinking way too much.
Still, she always thought of it as a place of lush greenery, warm hospitality and a kind of understated grandeur and mystery that stood in stark contrast to Windenburg's stuffy antique nobility and San My's bright, noisy modernity.
That quiet grandeur and mystery, especially the mystery, had always been reflected by the Goth family and their ancestral home - Ophilia Villa. Looking at the old mansion, Genie could well imagine Miranda's mom, the famous Cassie Goth, growing up here.
The woman who answered the black door of that dark house couldn't have fit the image less. From her flame-red hair and easy smile to her rumpled, casual clothes, Morgan Goth, née Fyres, certainly didn't look grand or mysterious. She had the warm hospitality down, though.
"Ms. Elderberry?" she asked.
"Yes," Genie nodded. "Thank you for agreeing to speak with me."
"Of course," Morgan smiled. "Please come in."
"Can I get you anything?' Morgan continued. "Coffee? Tea? We have some fresh beignet... a personal weakness. My diet would be thrilled if you helped eat some."
"I'm fine, thanks. I had breakfast at the station," Genie said, though the idea of fresh pastry that didn't taste like the plastic bag it came in was making her regret that. Still, nerves had her stomach unsettled enough she didn't think she could eat.
"Oh, of course," Morgan smiled. "How was your trip down? I heard on the news this morning about this fog in the mountains."
"We had some delays, I guess," Genie nodded, remembering the thick fog that had slowed the train as they moved through the Granite Mountains last night. She hadn't been able to see anything out of the window. Someone had said the fog extended from Henford all the way up to Evergreen Harbor.
"I'm sorry. I'm rambling," Morgan said with a little laugh. "I do that when I get nervous. You said on the phone you wanted to talk about Max V... This is for an article for the Herald?"
"Partially," Genie said. "It's also a bit personal. You see... he's my uncle."
"Elderberry! Of course, you're Luna's daughter," Morgan gasped. "I'm sorry. I should have remembered. Really please do come in. We'll sit down and talk. I'll try to tell you everything I can."
"Xander, this is Ms. Elderberry," Morgan said to the pale, serious looking man, as they took a seat with him on the long couch.
"Genie, please," Genie put in.
"Genie, this is my husband, Xander Goth," Morgan said, adding, "I told you she'd be coming this morning."
So, this was the reclusive Alexander Goth, Genie thought, famous tech developer and younger brother of superstar Cassie Goth. He didn't look like the typical head of one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the Republic, but the Goths were anything but typical.
"Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Goth," Genie said. "I know your niece, Miranda."
"You're a reporter from the City Herald," Xander said, making it clear it wasn't a question. "You want to interview Morgan about Max V."
"My disreputable youth," Morgan smiled.
"I won't tolerate you dragging my wife's good name though the gutter," Xander said fiercely.
"Xander," Morgan said, soothingly.
"That isn't my intention at all, Mr. Goth," Genie put in, firmly. "If anything, it's my family's name that I want dragged through the gutter. My uncle Max is a criminal and he's threatening my friends, including your niece. I intend to I do whatever I can to put a stop to him... but to do that I need to understand him."
"Any plan that involves taking down Max V is a good plan," Morgan said earnestly.
"Can't disagree with that," Xander said, unconsciously rubbing his hand across his chest, just below his heart, as if to soothe an old ache.
"So, let's get started," Morgan said. "Genie, how do you want to do this?"
"If you don't mind, just begin at the beginning," Genie said. "How did you get involved with Max?"
"Oh, that goes way back," Morgan began. "We started out a bunch of dumb punk teens in Windenburg. Me, Ulrike, Wolfgang, and Max. We thought we were so cool, with our little gang of renegades, bosses of the Bathe de Rill. That's how it started out... just a bunch of kids making trouble. Max was the youngest, but he was always the brains.
"As time went on, and no one stopped us, things started to escalate. Pranks and bullying turned into something more. Max had Ulrike and me stealing stuff out of lockers and Wolfgang beating people up if they didn't pay. After he pounded on a few, most people paid up. Wolfgang was always Max's muscle. Max's loyal henchman.
"Because Max was our leader. He told us what to do and handled the money, selling the stuff we stole and passing out our shares of the take and the 'protection money' Wolfgang collected.
"I was totally in his thrall, in those days. He has this... charm... when he wants to use it. He could convince me to do anything... and he did.
"We'd been sneaking in beers since the start. Somewhere along the lines that turned into selling them. That turned into then selling pot and having little parties in the locker rooms. I don't really know when Max started charging guys for hooking up with me and Ulrike. When I realized it, I got mad, but he just handed us our share of the take and smiled. Stupid kid that I was, I would do anything for that smile. Even that.
"So that was pretty much how I spent my teen years... stealing, dealing and hooking for Max V."
"Was he working for the Altos then?" Genie asked.
"Back then, Max didn't work for anyone but Max," Morgan said. "When we started out, we were pretty small time, and he was able to use the Villareal name and his father's reputation to keep his independence from the local crews.
"Eventually, we expanded beyond Bathe de Rill. Max was working his way up in our little corner of Windenburg. He started arranging "dates" for me, or Ulrike, with prominent local figures and then threatened them with the pictures after. He was collecting protection from businesses, clubs and restaurants around Lykke Centre, and forming his own little smuggling ring moving stolen goods through the harbor.
"That was when he started attracting attention from the Families, but Max was Max. He was never anything but absolutely sure of himself. For a while at least, he managed it... staying independent and doing deals with representatives of both the Altos and the Landgraabs, playing the big Families against each other."
"Do you remember any of the people he dealt with?" Genie asked. "Anyone from the Families he might have had close ties to?"
"I do. I wish I didn't," Morgan grimaced. "There was Marco Tennari. He was an underboss for the Altos back then. Then there was a drug dealer, George Tobar. A real slimeball."
"You said Max stayed independent 'for a while,'" Genie prompted, clearly seeing that Morgan wasn't comfortable saying any more about either of those men.
"Yeah, he couldn't keep it up forever," Morgan smiled ruefully. "Looking back, I think he knew it too, but he wasn't willing to give in. His father, Jacques Villareal, had managed to keep himself independent of the Families and Max wasn't about to fail where his father succeeded.
"So, he did something unexpected. He offered his services to someone else entirely. I still remember that meeting, at a crumbling old estate in Windslar... Max dressed in his best and looking confident, with Wolfgang at his side looking tough, and Ulrike and me, dressed in white, like some kind of virgin sacrifices. I remember thinking that was kind of funny at the time."
"Who? Who did he do a deal with?" Genie asked eagerly.
For a moment, she thought Morgan wouldn't answer. Then, with a deep breather she said softly, "Count Vladislaus Straud and the Dark Court."
"Oh," Genie said. "Who?"
Xander laughed, the first time Genie had seen him not scowling since she'd arrived. It was nice but a bit embarrassing, which must have been obvious to him.
"Sorry," he said. "We shouldn't be surprised you haven't heard of them. They don't exactly advertise."
"I've heard of Count Straud," Genie said. "Miranda mentioned him once when... Well, anyway wasn't he implicated when the Landgraab Syndicate was taken down a few years ago."
"He was," Xander nodded. "But Count Straud didn't work for the Landgraabs. If anything, it was the other way around."
"So, who is he and what's the Dark Court?" Genie asked.
"That really depends on who you ask," Xander said wryly.
"And how much you're prepared to believe," Morgan added cautiously.
"The simplest answer is that the Dark Court is a group of decadent old aristocrats and their retainers," Xander explained. "They trace their origins back to the fall of the First Empire. Their leaders claim to be members of the oldest noble families in the realm, going back in the Dark Ages.
"These days, they're mostly concerned with their own pleasure, wealth and security," he continued, "and they're involved with the Families. In fact, since the Families claim to be descendants of the knightly classes of the Empire, they have historical ties to the Dark Court."
"We might be getting off topic," Morgan suggested. "What important is that the Dark Court are a secretive, influential and dangerous group... powerful enough to deal with the Families as equals and wicked enough to want to. They consider themselves above the law and, for all practical purposes, they're not wrong."
"So, Max works for the Dark Court and Count Straud?" Genie asked.
"He did," Morgan said. "I don't know if he still does. I haven't spoken to Max in years."
"How did you get away from him? How did you get out?" Genie wondered.
"I got arrested," Morgan said brightly. "Served two years for blackmail. After I got out, I managed to stay straight, keep out of it all, and eventually met this guy."
"That wasn't exactly a storybook ending," Xander said ruefully.
"What part of my life sounds like a storybook?" Morgan smiled. "I take my happy endings where I find them.
"Anyway, I'm not sure if any of that helps you, Genie," Morgan added. "Like I said, I really don't know what Max has been doing for the past few years. The fall of the Landgraab Syndicate, and the arrest of Nick Alto, will have shaken up that world a lot. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if he's still working for the Dark Court. They've survived centuries of upheavals."
"It helps," Genie said. "I'm not sure how yet, but the more I know, the more it helps."
"Word of advice, Ms. Elderberry," Xander said. "If you're going to keep looking into these men, and especially into the Dark Court, watch yourself. They're very powerful and very, very dangerous."
"I'll be careful," Genie said, already considering her next steps to learn more about Marco Tennari, George Tobar, Count Straud and the mysterious Dark Court.
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Author's Note: Because I have too many friends in the Society for Creative Anachronism, I feel the need to say this... The Sims 4 doesn't exactly have a lot of historically accurate Dark Ages attire (there is some fan made custom content, but I've had bad luck with it not playing well with my graphics card). I do the best I can with what I have. Besides since Xander, Morgan and Genie were not there during the Dark Ages, and certainly no one there had a camera, if you prefer you can consider the image of the Court "an imaginative representation" of the scene. :)
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