“Why are you looking at me so odd? Do I have something on my neck? I don’t have anything in my hair do I? Oh I hope I don’t have anything in my hair. Did I drop some crumbs or something?” Stormie brushed at her neck and hair trying to get rid of whatever had so captured the other female’s attention. “Is it a bug? I mean, it is the middle of winter we shouldn’t have any bugs around but that doesn’t mean one didn’t find a way in here. We should get snowfall tomorrow according to the weatherman. Do you like snow? I love the snow. The air smells so crisp and clean when it snows. We haven’t had much snow this year, not as much as we normally get. Why are you looking at my neck?”
Dawn opened her mouth to answer but before she could Stormie was off on another tangent. Dawn gave up on trying to talk. She got up from the table and walked around to the robot and started lifting her hair and tugging on her ears. Often, from what she had read in some sci-fi books, the robots had ports on their necks or removable ears. The off button had to be somewhere easily accessible. The robot gave a short little scream before jumping up from the table and backing away. Still talking she backed out of the room. The last words Dawn heard her say was something about the pregnancy making her tired and a nap. Dawn shrugged, she guess the robot was programmed to flee if someone tried to shut it down. Probably a good safety precaution she thought.
The robot fleeing left Dawn with no one to ask any questions or talk to, not that the robot had allowed her to talk. Kind of reminded her of Alice in a way. Dawn finished her sandwich and wandered around the house looking for any clues she could find. She didn’t even know if she would recognize a clue, but she still looked. She felt a twinge of guilt about snooping, but only for a moment. If the robotics company had placed them in a house run by robots then surely robots did not have feelings to offend. She looked outside occasionally but only saw men who appeared to be guarding the house. Maybe coming here had not been the smartest idea Alice had ever had and Dawn was regretting getting mad at her earlier. Maybe if she was here she could come up with a plan to escape. Because it certainly appeared they had landed in another prison type situation.
After checking out the various rooms, including the bathroom, she had to admit these people either did an expert job at concealing what the robot couple really was, or someone else lived in the house. Dawn was a bit suspicious that the robot didn’t seem to know much about cooking earlier. The programming needed some serious work if they wanted to get these robots into people’s houses. After all, most people would kill to have a robot who could cook and clean. She took one last look around before approaching the door. As she squared her shoulders she gave herself a pep talk. If the guards outside made her come back inside she would know she needed to find Alice and make a new escape plan. If they didn’t, well she would have to play it by ear at that point.
Taking a deep breath, she so hoped she was wrong, she opened the door and gasped. The two wolves on each side of the door, lounging on the porch, lifted their heads and looked at her then laid their heads back on their paws. Dawn stood in the doorway ready to flee back in the house but other than the one look the wolves did not seem to care about her at all. Confused now she stepped outside. She warily watched the wolves but they didn’t move so she eased toward the steps. As soon as her foot touched the first step the wolves stood up and moved up beside her. The didn’t growl and did not try to crowd her back toward the house and she noticed the fur on their backs was laying flat and their ears were not laid back. The cream colored one on the right even wagged his tail. She smiled as she walked down the steps to the paving stones laid out in front of the house. The two wolves stayed, one on each side, beside her as she made her way around the house stepping lightly through the snow.
She looked around the yard in awe, so much snow. The robot had said something about not getting much snow but they must have had a blizzard. On the drive in she had been fascinated with all the snow on the sides of the roads and in the mountain passes but the roads had been clear. Alice had been most particular about the stops they had made and Dawn had not gotten a chance to play in the snow. She had seen people making snow angels on television shows before but living in the south, where snow was infrequent and never more than a few flakes had not prepared her for ankle deep snow. Her clothing was barely sufficient for the temperatures, but at least Alice had made sure they stocked up on winter clothing. She bent down to grab a handful so she could make a snowman but the snow would not stay in a ball. The people on shows had made it look easy. They made a ball of snow and just kept adding to it but that was not working. She didn’t realize when she started muttering about her inability to make a simple snowball. So caught up in her tasks she never realized anyone had approached until she heard a voice behind her. She tried to whirl around but her foot slipped and she found herself staring up at an unfamiliar face from her position on the ground. The cold seeped into her clothing as she tried to get to her feet.
After watching her make two unsuccessful attempts the man in front of her reached out his hand. “I don’t think you are going to have a lot of luck there. Under the snow is a small water-pond my daughter takes care of when the thaw comes. You are standing on ice underneath all the snow, take my hand and I will help you up. These two young idiots should have stopped you from stepping out on the ice.” The man glared at the two wolves who showed no remorse and, if Dawn was not mistaken a good bit of amusement. Emotion was hard to judge when the shifter was in wolf form as Dawn had realized growing up.
“There you go. Now, these two tell me you are trying to build a snowman. Oh, I do apologize young lady, I have been remiss in introducing myself. My name is Charles, Trey’s father, and I understand you have requested everyone call you Donna?”
“I, yes, Donna, nice to meet you and thank you for helping me. I am not used to snow and ice so, well, it has been surprising.”
“Donna, is there any particular reason you are not using your real name?”
Dawn shrugged, “I would ask you how you figured it out, but that dang shifter nose gave away the lie didn’t it?”
Charles nodded his head, “Pretty much.”
“Well Mr. Charles, it’s like this, I am not certain why we are not using our real names but Alice said it would be better, for now, if we did not and after the way she got us our of captivity let’s just say I am willing to follow her plan until I figure a few things out. Now, why can’t I make a snowball? What am I doing wrong?”
“You are starting to shiver, come on let’s get you inside and out of those wet clothes. I came over to see if David and Stormie wanted to bring their two guests to the house to eat with us tonight. My daughter can’t cook worth a sh…flip.” He gently took Dawns elbow and turned her toward the house before continuing, “the snow has to be wet to stick.”
“Wet? Mr. Charles, it’s frozen water, you can’t get any wetter than frozen water unless you melt it.”
“Snow can be wet, which lets it stick together, or more powdery, which is what you have with this snow. Powder snow does not stick well. The air is too cold to let the snow stick together. Does that make sense?” when Dawn shook her head Charles tried again, “Think of it like this, the air has to put a bit of melt to the snow for it to be wet enough to stick to other snow. Now does that make sense?”
“I guess? So you are saying the snow is too frozen to stick to other snow?”
Charles snorted, “Close enough. David tells me he has Alice at the plant and Stormie informs me you upset her somehow. Something about putting a bug on her neck or in her hair. Now knowing my daughter, and knowing this weather keeps bugs away, something tells me Stormie’s version of what happened is far from the truth. So how did you upset my daughter, before you say anything I should tell you I am not upset at you. Truthfully you can almost look at her and upset her and since she got pregnant she is so much worse. Put her in front of her desk and she is great, put her with other people and, well, let’s just say you aren’t going to upset anyone but David if you make St
ormie cry.” Charles stopped before opening the door and Dawn realized he was waiting on an answer.
“Well, to be honest, I was looking for an off switch.”
“An off switch?” at Dawn’s nod Charles started laughing. She heard odd sounds coming from behind her and recognized the sound of wolves laughing. Turning her head she saw the two wolves were rolling in the snow. Charles tried to catch his breath a time or two but he would look at the wolves and start laughing again. Finally he sat down on the top step doubled over in laughter clutching his stomach, tears streaming down his cheeks. Dawn reversed her direction and sat down beside him watching the two wolves and waiting on Charles to regain his composure.
“ I am glad I provided such amusement but I am getting cold here. If the three of you could stop laughing long enough to tell me what you find so funny so I can go change I would appreciate it more than I can say.”
Charles tried to talk, “I’m sorry, it’s just, it’s, off, I need, oh,” Charles looked back at the two wolves and dissolved into laughter again.
Dawn rolled her eyes and got up, “Fine, you let me ask questions so perhaps you will answer some more questions when I get back. Wait right here, laugh at me all you want, but I am going to change into some dry clothes. Don’t leave, please?” The last part came out more of a plea than Dawn intended but she got the desired result when Charles patted her hand and nodded while still laughing.
Chapter Thirteen
“You have got to be fucking kidding me. What the hell Trey? Seriously?”
“Look here Gammon, can you think of anyone better suited to helping us than these guys?”
“Almost anyone.”
“I resent that remark Gammon. Been a long time since we saw you. Didn’t realize you two knew each other. Trey, you could have warned us.” Talbort said before reaching out his hand to Gammon. “How have you been the last hundred years or so? Still living up there in Alaska or did you finally get smart and move somewhere sensible?”
“Wait, you know these guys, Trey knows these guys, I heard William and Jules both swear when they saw these guys so now why don’t I know them and what should I know about them? I am not looking to add any one to the mission outside my pack but I am even less inclined to let them help plan anything after the reaction I am seeing.” Marcus looked from Gammon to Trey to the three strangers.
Trey looked at the three men he had invited. They looked, at first glance, as human as the everyone else in the meeting hall. But looks could be deceiving and he was surprised Marcus had not noticed the slight difference in smell between the three men and humans. It was obvious the men were not shifters. No sooner had he thought that than he heard Marcus sniff and take a step back.
“Marcus, I would like you to meet Talbort, Rimier and Dracula. Gentlemen, or you know, whatever, this is Marcus, our host.”
“Hold up, did you say Dracula? As in Count Dracula? What is this, some kind of joke? Who names their kid Dracula?” Marcus glared at the men. He could not place the smell but they were not human and did not have the slight difference the witches carried. He knew for a fact they were not shifters.
“To tell you the truth, I believe it was my mother who chose the name.” Dracula smiled.
“Your mother named you after a fucking vampire? Who the hell does that?” Marcus snarled.
Dracula snorted while the two men with him laughed. One of them, Marcus thought it was the one Trey introduced as Talbort, said “I told you back then that story was going to haunt us for the rest of our time on this back-water planet and hundreds of years later, I am still right. But would you listen to us? No, you thought it the best answer to finding the she-demon. Did we find the she-demon, again, no.”
“Back up, say that one more time.”
“Which part?”
“The part where you said, the rest of our time on this back-water planet. I just want to make sure I heard you right.”
“Ah, Marcus, my new friend, nothing wrong with your hearing. We are not precisely from this planet. And genius here thought starting a story about a creature called a vampire and getting us in your folklore would somehow help him find his errant, murderous wife. Well, to be fair none of us thought that story would put us in your folklore, he thought it would make people wary of going out alone and possibly give the creature he mated a name others would recognize. Give the monster a name and anyone seeing the monster would be certain to spread the story. He hoped to be able to track her by the stories told. Didn’t really work like he wanted. People fantasized about the legendary creature instead of showing a healthy fear. Well, to be honest the tales have bounced between fantastic to start a lynch mob and run us out of town. Although, to be fair, most of the time those incidents happened because others of our kind would stop in and get a snack or two. And in this last century the tales have been so much worse. Role playing and games and books and movies and, well, vampires are no longer monsters to be feared but creatures to be embraced. Hard to find the she-demon when everyone wants to be a vampire.”
“At least you can’t blame me for the sunlight sparkles.” Dracula looked over at Talbort, “Absolve me of that nonsense at least. And we were, at one time, able to track her relatively well by following the rumors.”
“Why the hell would you mate to a creature, a she-demon? Don’t your people mate to your own kind?”
A second later, staring at the glowing red eyes and prominent fangs Marcus forced himself not to take a step backwards. “Ah, yes, I see, so that much of the story is true.” Marcus swallowed hard wondering how much else he had heard of vampires was truth and how much may have been rumor spread by the men? Aliens? In front of him. “Wait, snack? Did you say your people stop in for a snack from time to time? What the hell are we? Brunch?”
Marcus heard swearing behind him and although he was not facing his men he was certain some of them had shifted and were even now facing the men in front of him.
Gammon laughed, “Don’t worry Marcus, while they do drink blood, they do not drink only blood and they never drink shifter blood. Seems they don’t like the way we taste.”
“Don’t like the way you taste in a bold understatement. Fact is Marcus, your blood is a tab bit poisonous to my kind.” Dracula, fangs no longer displayed, eyes no longer glowing red held out his hand to Marcus who shook it before he realized he had even moved.
“So, how is it you look human if you aren’t?” Jaden asked.
Rimier gave a snort of laughter, “Pot calling the kettle black much?”
“Not the same. We are from here and half human. According to you the same can not be said.”
Rimier shook his head, “No, you are not part human. You just look human. You are genetically different from humans. That would be like taking an ape and saying because you are so similar it must be human.”
“Well you know, if you look at it scientifically,” Jaden started to say.
“Hold up, let me stop you right there. If you are going to start using some of your paltry feeble human science to back up some missing link I am gonna have to call bull-shit. Your three races were seeded to this planet thousands of years ago. The damn apes were already here.” Talbort held up his hand to stop Jaden’s attempt to talk. “Nope, you are going to have to trust me on this one. We have records going back further than you could possibly believe. All three so called human races were seeded here a few thousand years ago. If we had access to our ship I could probably pull up the records we have on this planet.”
“Three? What three races?” Marcus glared at Jaden when he asked yet another question.
“Really Jaden, who do you think he is talking about. What were we just meeting about?”
“Wait, you had a meeting about witches?” Dracula turned to Trey, “Now my friend, that is the meeting you should have requested we attend. How did you do it? For three hundred years your race has given no sign witches existed, as if not talking about them made them go away. Now suddenly you are having meetings about them? Curious.�
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Marcus heard the sounds increase behind him as he demanded through the pack bond for everyone to return to human form for the meeting. He wasn’t sure what was going on but Trey trusted the men, or whatever, in front of him, and Gammon seemed more annoyed that angry. He had noticed William and Jules both shaking the men’s hands, though Edward was the only one who smiled at the men when he shook their hands. Trevor did not seem to know the men either. His pack was demanding answers through the bond and he had none to give, which pissed him off to no end. He took a deep breath and motioned for everyone to take a seat while he called a start to the meeting.
He took a moment to curse whoever came up with the saying may you live in interesting times, he figured it must have been a witch the way life was going lately.
Chapter Fourteen
David stood up growling and stormed out of the office. Alice looked up from the graphs and charts she was studying before shrugging her shoulders and muttering about the unstableness of shifter males and returning her attention to the papers. She was in her element, studying and following trends to optimize investments and she had no time for emotional people. Papers were scattered around her on the couch where she sat cross-legged going over the latest figures David had given her. As small as she was she did not sit comfortably at the desk they had tried first. Within seconds she had forgotten David had ever been in the room.
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