by Susan Stec
Wolf-man looked at Mom with an amused smile. She walked up and ran her hand across the curls trailing down his chest as she gazed into his eyes. "Why don't you and I take a walk up to my bedroom before the doggy comes back."
"Mom, let go of the man's penis," JoAnn ordered.
Jeni pulled Mom away. "Nanna, sweetie, although he has all the right equipment, let's not forget he's a lycanthrope."
Damn, the girl's been reading.
He smiled at Jeni, looked at the dead animals on the walls and walked over to a wolf mounted over the fireplace. "You girls kill these animals?" He played his fingers across the wolfs teeth.
"I did… before… um..." For some reason I felt the need to explain myself. "…but we ate the meat."
"I've never eaten wolf meat," Zaire growled. "Yet."
"I'm willing to try wolf meat," Mom announced. "Just give me a few minutes alone with him. Maybe an hour? That's a lot of wolf to get down."
"Mother!" JoAnn yanked Mom closer.
Jeni snickered, "I prefer a good steak, well done. The rest of you seem to like it still kickin'."
Wolf-boy turned to Jeni, his eyes twinkling. "Ahhh, an honest one in the bunch, and with a sense of humor. You must be the one who ordered the caskets."
"No, I can't take the credit for that one, and you're sporting a pretty good… umm… sense of humor yourself." Jeni eyed the center of his masculinity.
He held out a hand to Jeni. "And you are?"
Jeni offered her hand readily. "Wondering what you're doing here. And you?"
His eyes locked on Jeni. "Holding the hand of a very lovely-"
"What the hell are you doing in my living room?" I finally spat.
He slowly kissed Jeni's knuckles, his eyes riveted to hers, let her hand go and his head pivoted in my direction. "I was sent by the… Otherworld council, because you are not responding to their requests to contact them. You will receive another welcome package in a couple of days. It will contain a book of rules, a DVD and a business card. I strongly suggest you call the number on the card, order containers of blood and make an appointment to meet the council. It seems you've committed several infractions."
"What Council? What infractions?" Zaire spat. "And where are your friggin' clothes?"
"Sorry if my nudity bothers you. I have no shame about the natural state of my body."
When no one said anything, he continued. "I presume you received the first welcome package and discarded it. That was a mistake."
"We never received a package." I was finding it hard to concentrate with Mr. Wolf's wanger dancing in such a lascivious way. I closed my mouth and swallowed the drool about to drip down my chin.
He looked straight at Mom. "You're drawing a lot of attention to yourselves and they can't have that."
"Like you're not?" Zaire just wouldn't let up.
"Hey, I didn't know we wouldn't need the caskets," Mom rebutted.
"What the hell did we do?" Resi glared at him. "Besides the casket thing?" She rolled her eyes at my mother.
"It seems you're making your own rules as you go along. That's not acceptable."
Jeni started giggling, picked up Dead Until Dark off the coffee table and sat in the recliner, flipping through the pages. I hissed at her.
"Look you piece of… of… wolf-bane… I don't know what the rules are," JoAnn said, with her extremely uneducated mind. "I haven't had time to finish reading all those books." She pointed at Jeni. Jeni covered her mouth and started turning pink.
He pulled two shiny black adorable brows together, gave the books on the coffee table a glance, then burst into laughter. "If you would have responded…" He ran a hand over his mouth, hiding a grin. "…to the phone calls, or the… the mail they sent-"
"Don't you fucking laugh at us, Alpo breath," Zaire said with curled back lips. "We never got shit from anyone. Not by mail. Not by phone. So, just take your flea ridden carcass back to whoever sent it here and tell them that."
He turned on Zaire with a loud menacing growl. "Well you're getting one now! And you'd better respond, make an appointment to meet with them and order containers of blood so you don't have to suck on anything you're not supposed to be sucking on."
I watched Zaire's facial expression go all, 'I'm going to rip your throat out', in seconds. "Who the fuck do you think-"
"I know who I am. Evidently you don't, and if you refuse to immediately respond this time, it won't be me on your doorstep with a cordial invitation."
"What did you say your name was?" JoAnn asked sweetly. I almost leapt at her.
"I didn't. It's Paul, Paul Forrest. There are a lot of questions about how you were brought into the immortal world, and your actions can be grounds for destruction."
"Screw that!" Resi said, moving closer to Zaire. "We were left to fend for ourselves when Mom got bit in that restroom."
His head jerked in my direction. "Who bit you?"
I snapped, "Some brat, and he killed a woman. I was just trying to help her."
"No you weren't. You were-"
"JoAnn, shut the hell up! The kid bit me and the next thing I knew, I was seeing this Dorius guy behind my eyelids!"
"Susan, you know you're lying through your teeth," JoAnn said. "You were-"
"You ran out of there like a bat out of hell!" I shot back.
Paul hooded his eyes.
"Screw the kid. What if we don't want to be part of some damn council?" Zaire snapped.
Paul didn't pull his eyes off me. "Unfortunately, you don't have the same liberty to stand alone as some of us do. Each species is ruled by a set of laws depending on the powers each individual group has, but we are all held accountable." He forced a smile, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.
"You're at the top of the food chain, so to speak," he continued. "Vampires are… extreme. You could run cities, ruin lives, mold mortal behaviors, and no one can be allowed that much power to do with as they see fit. I hope I've made your situation crystal clear."
"You didn't make shit clear!" Zaire yelled.
"Yeah, what exactly did we do?" Mom snapped.
He turned, bare butt swaying as he walked away from us. "Make the call." He strolled through the door, never looking back.
"How ya doin', ladies?" Jeni said with a smirk.
I turned on my mother. "What the hell did you order coffins for? And the damn werewolf saw them delivered. Christ, Mom, you're the one that's gonna get us killed!"
"Oh, lighten up. How was I to know we wouldn't need them?"
"You ordered five," I choked out.
Mom waived me off. "I knew we'd all be vampires before they arrived. Well, except Jeni."
"Hey, maybe I can dig up Tootles and put her in one." JoAnn tried to help.
"They're going back! They probably cost five grand a piece!" I snapped.
"No, I ordered them on the internet from Best Price Caskets," Mom informed me. "They were having a eighty and ninety-percent off sale. I got'em all for under seven thousand bucks, shipping included."
"Shit!"
"Hey, I could've jumped out of the box and ordered you an urn for much cheaper, but then I would have had to fry your ass," Mom said, eyebrow arching. She turned to JoAnn. "And you can do whatever you want with yours."
"I'm going to go pick one out for Tootles." JoAnn headed for the garage. "I hope there's a pink one."
"I got two pink ones, a red one for me, a black one for Susan and a silver one for Zaire. Have at it."
"I'm making a planter out of mine," Zaire said.
"I'm sleeping in mine," Mom said, following JoAnn. But Jeni held out a hand, stopping them dead in their tracks.
"If I were you guys, I'd be trying to figure out what infractions Paul was talking about and figuring out how to defend yourselves."
"Mom and her boy-toys are the reason they're after us." I tried to whip her into shape. Did it work? Hell no.
"What about the 'don't make other vampires' rule?" Mom whipped it right back at me. "Tha
t's a no-no in every book. You started all of this, Susan."
"Oh yes, the dime store literature," Jeni said with amusement, "Your immortal bibles."
"Dry it up, Jeni," I shouted, then turned on my mother. "I only turned Resi!"
"Well, I only did Nanna," Zaire said.
"And I just did Zaire, but she's my mate," Resi added.
"I didn't make anyone," JoAnn said.
Mom stared at JoAnn through lowered eyelids. "Ohhh - nooo, you didn't make anyone. Let's not count the raccoon that partied-down and turned a whole army of fanged horrors loose on everyone."
"I didn't do it on purpose." JoAnn looked kind of tense.
"Suck it up, baby. You screwed up with the rest of us," Zaire added.
"We're all dead meat." Resi informed us, studying her reflection in the glass on the coffee table.
"All for vanity; the bane of your existence," Jeni said with an insolent smile.
~~~~
Chapter Sixteen
~~~~
Paul reached into his Corvette, pulling the cell phone off the dashboard. Gibbie watched as he punched in a number, waited, and then said, "Tell Dorius the women have been warned. He can leave for Miami in two days." He hung up
"I don't think Susan bit that woman in the restroom, do you?" Gibbie asked, hovering by the car door.
"I don't know. But I'm sure we'll find out. I set a camera in the mouth of a wolf, mounted on the fireplace."
"But you heard Susan. She said Christopher killed the woman and turned her."
"And I'm sure you heard JoAnn disagree."
"She did not. She said-"
"I heard what she said." Paul climbed in his car. "And you know perfectly well, Susan didn't give her a chance to take it further. I'm going to my place to monitor the camera. You coming?"
Gibbie buzzed through the open window, landing on the rearview mirror with a frown on his face. "They ordered caskets, come on!"
~~~~
Dorius entered the BAMVC jet, Marcus a few steps behind him.
Christopher sat in one of the leather recliners, a lit cigar hanging from his mouth. Buster panted at his feet.
"That dog is not joining us, Christopher." Dorius snarled.
Christopher took a long puff off the cigar, blowing circles in front of him. "I told you, Dorius, Buster goes where I go from now on."
"Take the mutt off the plane." Dorius slid off his leather jacket, folded it inside-out and laid it over a computer chair.
"He ain't going nowhere. He's police issue and trained to anticipate my needs." Christopher tapped the edge of the cigar on a shiny copper ashtray in his lap. He lifted a crystal glass to his lips. Ice cubes clinked in the amber liquid as he took a sip.
"Dorius, leave the boy alone. If he feels the need for a bodyguard, I see no reason to discourage it." Marcus took the seat next to Christopher.
Christopher grinned.
Dorius sat at one of the computer tables, flipped on the PC and shoved a bowlful of mixed colored dog nuggets out of his way with his foot. Typing in a password, he brought up the BAMVC web site.
"Dorius, Dorius, Dorius… all I have to do to find you is follow the trail of insults." Christopher took another long drag off the cigar and blew the smoke in Dorius' direction. Buster's muzzle appeared over the arm of the chair and Christopher reached into his pocket for a doggy treat.
"Put out that damn cigar, "Dorius hissed. "It smells like the back room at a cock fight in here, already."
"Make me," Christopher hissed back.
Dorius jumped up, tripped over the dog's dish, and landed face down on the plush red carpet in a pile of Kibbles-n-Bits. "The Gods be damned!" Dorius sent the dish flying against the wall of the cabin. "He and that damn dog will be in body bags before we get to Miami."
Christopher started laughing.
Marcus hid a grin with his hand. "Christopher, Dorius does have a point. The cigar is offensive. Please put it out." Marcus pulled at the lace cuffs of his white linen shirt, stretching his arms under his suede jacket. A diamond ring sparkled on his pinky as he pushed black hair, braided in a thick strand, over his shoulder.
"Look, this is an expensive Cuban cigar. I paid good money for it and I'm damn well going to enjoy it."
Dorius pulled himself off the floor and fell into his computer chair.
Buster growled.
"Buster! Down!" The dog obediently dropped to the floor. Christopher gave Dorius a smug smile.
Marcus, his full lips in a half grin on his chiseled face, addressed Christopher. "You know that pup can't hurt us, don't you?"
"No, but he can take a huge hunk out of Dorius' ass." Christopher warned, glaring at Dorius.
"What is this newfound need for protection, Christopher?" Dorius eyed Buster. "If I find out you are part of this, I will personally preside at your funeral, your head in one casket, your body in another."
Christopher grinned calmly, his eyes dancing in amusement as he rearranged his neat black suit, pumping his little feet encased in red, Mickey Mouse cowboy boots that matched his dress shirt. "Why are you so interested in these immortal women, Dorius?"
"I'm interested in all rogue behavior. That's something you should not take lightly," Dorius warned, dusting bits of dog food off his black leather pants.
Christopher jerked Buster's leash. "Buster! Speak!" The dog jumped to attention and barked loudly, its angry eyes on Dorius. "Don't push me Dorius."
"Enough!" Marcus pulled a pale blue silk handkerchief out of his jacket pocket, blotting his forehead. "Christopher, you go too far sometimes. Don't instigate an argument. And put out that cigar. My eyes are watering."
"Shit, I am so fucking tired of this body. If I were your size, I'd wipe the floor with you, Dorius." Christopher took another long, defiant drag, puffing a trail of noxious smoke around the cabin.
"Tell us more about these women," Marcus said, his eyes buried in the handkerchief as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "They seem harmless, Christopher."
"I'm not going over this shit again. I told you what I know. Let's all just sit back and enjoy the ride home." Christopher stubbed out the cigar. Tipping his glass up, he finished his drink. "Where's Dennis?"
Dennis glided across the cabin in a flourish of silk. He fanned out his arms and a colorful cape flapped around him like a puffy cloud. Soft green eyeliner adorned his lower lids, making his eyes glitter blue-green. "You should buckle up, we're about to take off."
"I'd like another drink, Dennis. And make it quick. Dorius is aggravating me. I need to inebriate myself." Christopher shook the glass, ice clinking.
Buster whimpered.
Dennis took the glass and turned to Marcus with a playful smile. "It seems inebriation may be a desired state for all of you." He toed the Kibbles-N-Bits littering the floor. "Dorius, are you finished playing with the dog food?"
Dorius sounded like a stormy night, but didn't turn from the computer.
"Good. I'll get the broom, then." Dennis smiled at Marcus, tilted his head, eyes opened wide in question.
"Thank you, Dennis. I'll have a bag of blood and a wine glass," Marcus ordered, leaning back in the leather recliner and buckling his seatbelt as the plane moved down the runway. He picked up a Rolling Stone magazine from the table next to him and opened it.
Dorius sneered, his eyes on the computer screen. "The women received the package at seven o'clock. So far, they have not made contact. That gives them…" He glanced at his watch. "…twenty-two hours to contact the Miami branch."
"They'll call," Marcus mumbled from behind his magazine.
"Dorius?" Dennis asked, an empty glass in one hand and Christopher's ashtray in the other. Dorius waved him away.
"You got any cashews back there?" Christopher asked.
Dennis followed Christopher's eyes to the computer screen. He smiled and walked off, his long silk cape whispered softly over a tight, lavender pair of briefs.
~~~~
Chapter Seventeen
~~~~
"The welcome package came." Zaire pointed at the BAMVC logo in the corner.
"Did you open it?" I asked.
"Nope," Zaire said as she took a seat on the couch next to Resi.
Mom grabbed it, tore it open and dumped the contents on the coffee table. She plucked out the DVD and popped it into the player on top of the television as the rest of us got comfy on the living room furniture.
JoAnn picked up the remote and started pushing buttons.
Jeni smiled at Mom.
Mom shook her head. "You want me to get it, Jo?"
JoAnn ignored her. The picture on the screen fast forwarded, rewound, fast forwarded, rewound…JoAnn shook the remote at the television.
"I can do it if you want," Mom offered.
JoAnn hammered the remote buttons.
The speakers vibrated. "Hello ladies, I am Marcus Morizzio, the head of BAMVC…"
JoAnn frantically pushed at the buttons. I looked at Resi and Zaire cuddling on the sofa. They smiled. The girls were notorious for cranking up the volume when no one was around.
"I am speaking from our-" the beautiful man on the fifty-four inch television screen announced in a deafening, head banging volume.
I grinned at JoAnn's bouncing backside as she kept throwing her arm with the remote at the television.
"I'm sick of being scared to death every time I turn this thing on," JoAnn shouted, hammering at the remote.
"It's the white one, JoAnn," I yelled.
She turned to me with her eyebrows slammed together. "What? I can't hear you!" She glared at the girls.
"The white remote on the top of the television," Mom yelled. "It controls the sound on the DVD player, you idiot!"
"Enough arguing, you guys," Jeni spoke loudly from the recliner.
The booming word VAMPIRE came from the set drawing all of our attention in its direction.