by Rachel Red
“This is insane,” said Walter, when they were sitting together off to the side. “I feel like I’m just waiting for something to go wrong.”
“I know what you mean,” said Allison in a low voice. “I don’t know how Mike can sit there talking to Ruth Kane after everything that happened between them.”
Walter shifted in his chair and swirled his coffee around in his cup. “There’s something I’ve been thinking about since the last time the Hellclaws were in town, and I sort of pushed it down, but now that this is all happening again I think it’s time to really consider it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m considering selling the bar and moving to the city,” said Walter. He had an apologetic look on his face, as though he might be worried he was letting Allison down by telling her this.
“What makes you say that?” Allison tried to keep her tone neutral, not wanting to influence his decision in any way.
“It’s just all this bullshit. The only time we ever make good money is when the Hellclaws are around, but we never know when that’s going to be, and they always bring some kind of danger with them.” He smiled at his sister. “Besides, once you get a proper teaching job, it’s not like you’ll want to keep living here anyway.”
“You’re not doing this because of me, are you?”
Walter shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. I don’t like working until three o’clock every morning and dealing with drunks all the time. I think it’s time for me to move on, you know? You getting your degree really made me think about my life, and I think I could do better for myself.”
“Aw thanks, Walt.” Allison shuffled over and gave her brother a side hug. “I think you should do whatever makes you feel happy and fulfilled, and if that means selling the Oakwood, then I say go for it.”
“Thanks. I was hoping you’d understand.” Walter took a sip of his coffee and grimaced at how cold it had gotten. “There’s another reason I’m thinking of selling the place.”
“Yeah?”
“I uh, well, I don’t really know how to say it, but I think I might be in love with Miriam.”
“My Miriam?” asked Allison in complete shock. “But you guys hardly know each other.”
“Allison, she’s been coming around here for years now. I see her all the time, and I’ve talked to her several times when she came to find you and you weren’t here. I don’t know what it is, but I think about her all the time these days, and I feel like maybe I could do more with myself to be the kind of guy she’d like to be with.”
“Oh, Walter, I had no idea. You don’t need to change your job or anything for someone like Miriam though. She’s not really like that, even though I know she comes off that way sometimes.”
“Yeah, I just feel like I’m not exciting enough for her. I see the kind of guys she goes for, and I wish I didn’t have a thing for her, but I can’t run away from it anymore.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can find out about it, okay?” Allison laughed. “It’s like being in grade school again. You want me to pass her a note?”
Walter grinned and shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something but raised voices from the table of gang leaders made him turn and stare instead. Matthew Tolson stood up and banged his fist on the table, and Allison couldn’t help but notice that small nubs of horns had begun to form on the top of his head. She looked at the others and saw that he wasn’t the only one. Trevor Gates sat silently fuming, but his skin showed patches of dark green scales that looked suspiciously like alligator hide.
“Shit,” muttered Allison, standing to go see if she could calm them down.
She made it halfway across the room when Samantha jumped to her feet and shouted for all of them to be quiet and listen to her.
“Calm the fuck down!” she yelled. It had enough of an effect on the others that Tolson sat down and stopped yelling, but the slight horns didn’t recede back into his head.
“We’re here precisely because we have stuff to work out,” Samantha continued, now speaking in a calmer voice. “If we didn’t have grudges against each other, we wouldn’t be in this stupid situation in the first place. If we can’t recognize that, then we’re never going to get anywhere and we might as well all just go home and wait until someone else steps in while we’re isolated and alone.”
“Samantha’s right,” said Ruth, a wry look of irritation on her face. “The whole point of this meeting is to move past the whole who did what to whom thing, so we can start fighting our real enemies.”
“How do you expect me to work with him?” bellowed Matthew Tolson, clearly indicating his disdain for Gates.
“Look, we’ve been at this for a while now,” said Samantha, “and tempers are getting out of control. Look at your horns for fuck’s sake. Why don’t we take a break and reconvene in an hour?”
“I agree,” said Mike American, standing and pushing his chair back. “Let’s cool off and discuss this with our seconds, then come back to the table ready to hash this out so we can find a way to work together. Otherwise, we might as well just forget about the whole idea. Can everyone agree to that?”
There was a round of nodding and muttered agreement before the gang leaders all rose and left the bar by as many different exits as they could find. Only Samantha stayed behind.
Reluctant to spend any more time around Samantha than she had to, Allison looked at the dirty dishes left behind on the meeting table and forced herself to go clear them off. Samantha said nothing the entire time, barely even looking up to acknowledge Allison while she worked.
“Rough group,” said Allison, trying to find a way to be civil. Samantha didn’t seem like a bad person, and it wasn’t like she’d actually done anything deserve the cold shoulder Allison was presenting her.
“Tell me about it. It’s like trying to get a bunch of preschoolers to work together.”
“I can relate to that,” said Allison, smiling despite herself.
Samantha rose from her seat and followed Allison to the coffee urn where they each poured themselves a cup. “Oh yeah, I forgot that Craig said you were studying to be a teacher or something?”
“I’m done school now, actually.” Allison scooped a spoonful of sugar into her cup and stirred it around. “I was actually in the middle of an important job interview when Mike American interrupted it.”
“Yeah, Mike’s got a lot of good qualities, but patience really isn’t one of them.”
Allison stared at her coffee and continued stirring it for lack of anything else to say. She didn’t have any real interest in being friends with Samantha, and the truth of it was that she’d be happy if the woman wasn’t even there at all. It just made things that much more complicated with her and Craig’s already weird relationship.
“Listen, I know this is awkward for you,” said Samantha, breaking the silence. “Craig is a really great guy, but there’s nothing going on between us right now. I can tell he’s really into you, and I don’t want to be a problem between you two.”
It was hard for Allison to focus on anything beyond the ‘right now’ that Samantha had just said. She’d known that they’d had a relationship in the past, but something about how Samantha said the words made Allison wonder if it wasn’t that far in the past after all.
“It’s not like Craig and I have a regular thing going,” Allison heard herself say. She cringed inwardly and hated herself for not being able to be okay with all of this.
“Is that something you want with him?”
“I don’t know.” Allison could feel her resolve melting away bit by bit. She didn’t want to like Samantha, but there was something so sweet and trustworthy about her that Allison found herself wanting to tell the girl everything and to get her opinion about what she should do. If anyone knew Craig, it would be her, wouldn’t it?
“Whatever you decide you want between you and him, I don’t want to get in the way of that and I hope we can be friends.” Samantha smiled placed her hand on A
llison’s arm in a friendly manner. “The last thing I want is bad blood between us. Craig is important to me, and if you’re going to be part of his life, then you’re important to me too.”
“Thanks,” said Allison, not sure if she meant it or not. “I do appreciate that.”
“No problem. After all, us girls need to stick together, right?”
“Sure thing.” Allison sipped at her coffee and was glad when Samantha said that she needed to go find her girls to discuss what had happened at the meeting.
Left alone in the now completely empty barroom, Allison sank into a chair and thought about how nice it would be to go back to the relative peace and quiet of a kindergarten classroom job when all of this was finally over and done with, and all the shifters had gone back to whatever towns they’d come from.
CHAPTER FIVE
After a long afternoon of arguing and trying to come to an agreement they could all live with, the heads of the various shifter gangs had managed to work out a sort of truce that would allow them to band together to fight the greater threats facing their kind. Allison and Walter had stayed close at hand to provide more coffee and food as the day went on, and they were both already exhausted and drawn with nerves by the time the meeting was over and plans to celebrate were put into action.
Kegs and grills were set up outside and members of each of the gangs pitched in to help work instead of calling in outsiders. This was a night for all of them to join together in unity as shifters, and everyone agreed that it was best to keep it in the family as much as possible. All of this still meant a lot of work for Allison and Walter, and the bar had a constant swarm of people around it. Some wanted hard liquor, others couldn’t be bothered to go all the way outside to the kegs, and others clearly just wanted to flirt with Allison. Aside from the Does and a few girls in the other gangs, there weren’t half as many girls as guys in the Oakwood that night, and she was feeling the extra attention.
“Hey Allison, who had the chili do—”
Allison whipped around at the wrong moment and slammed right into Walter and the large chili dog he’d been carrying. Hot red chili was smashed right into her white shirt, burning her skin and causing her to hop back with a yelp of pain and surprise.”
“Oh shit,” shouted Walter, as he watched his sister hold her shirt away from her skin while swiping globs of chili onto the floor. “I’m so sorry Ally. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she grumbled. “I’m fine. I’m going to run up and change my shirt, though.”
Walter nodded and pulled out a dustpan, setting to work cleaning the floor behind the bar so no one would slip on it.
After squeezing out through the crowd, Allison slipped into the back hallway and made her way upstairs. There was a tender spot on her stomach where the chili had hit her, but it didn’t seem to be turning red or anything, and she figured it wasn’t going to cause her long term discomfort. She was distracted with checking on it and didn’t realize that someone was in the upper hallway until she was almost to the landing.
What she saw made her stop and set back down into the shadows. She recognized the back of Craig’s body and hair immediately, and it only took a fraction of a second to identify the girl with her arms around his waist and her lips locked solidly to his. Samantha’s eyes drifted to where Allison was hiding, and there was a flash of recognition before what Allison thought might be a smile in the middle of her kissing Craig.
“Fucking bitch,” Allison said under her breath.
Rather than having to walk past the two in order to get to her room, she tore her shirt off and dropped it in the stairwell before going back downstairs to work the bar in a bra and her jean shorts. What did she care anyway? It was basically like wearing a bathing suit top, only lacier and maybe a little more see-through around the nipples.
The guys crowded around the bar started hooting and hollering as soon as they saw her, and within minutes of going back to serving drinks, Allison realized she was taking in more tips than she’d ever seen in her life.
“That’s a nice look for you,” said Mike American with his trademark grin.
“Thanks, everyone seems to like it.” Allison’s eyes flicked awkwardly to Ruth Kane who sat next to Mike and sipped what looked like a Long Island iced tea.
“Don’t worry, Hon,” said Ruth. “I’m not going to bite you. Mike and I were just toasting to our hard work today, weren’t we?”
“Yep,” he said with a nod of his head. “Let’s hope this is the beginning of a productive friendship.”
“Hey Ally?” asked Walt from down the bar. He looked like he wanted to say something about her lack of shirt, but decided against it. “Can you run these cups out to the kegs? Someone said they ran out and people are just drinking straight from the hoses now.”
Allison grabbed two big bags of plastic cups and worked her way through the crowd, finding it much easier now that people were watching her and her somewhat exposed chest. Those who didn’t step back were hauled roughly out of the way by the others around her, and she had a nice easy walk out to the back area where she tore open the bags and set the cups out.
“What the hell?” she said to herself more than anyone else.
A makeshift stage had been set up by pushing several of the picnic tables together, and a bunch of the girls from the Does were taking part in an impromptu wet t-shirt contest. What surprised her more than anything else was that Miriam was up on the tables with them, the front of her shirt so wet that it was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“What are you doing here?” asked Allison when Miriam hopped off the table and came down to talk to her.
“Walt told me there was a party tonight, so I sort of invited myself.” She scanned Allison’s half-naked torso and winked. “Nice outfit, by the way.”
“Yeah, thanks. It’s a long, stupid story.”
The door opened behind them, nearly hitting Allison because she was standing too close after restocking the cups. She turned to apologize and found herself face to face with Samantha.
“I think I’ll go back for another round in the contest,” said Miriam, seeing the awkward look on her friend’s face. “Shout if you need me, okay?”
“Hey,” said Samantha when Miriam was out of earshot. “I’m sorry about what happened back there. For what it’s worth, I came on to Craig, not the other way around. You walked in right before he cut it off and walked away from me.”
Allison poured herself a beer and chugged half of it in one gulp. “Yeah, you know what? It’s really none of my business.”
“I really am sorry,” said Samantha. “I got carried away and pushed a boundary I shouldn’t have. I’m sort of used to getting what I want and I can be a real competitive bitch when it doesn’t go the way I want it to.”
“I’m not interested in playing games or competing with anyone,” said Allison. “If he’s that important to you, then I won’t stand in your way.”
“It’s more complicated than that.” Samantha sat down on an empty picnic table bench and patted the spot next to her. She waited for Allison to sit before continuing. “Has anyone told you how the Does make our money?”
“No. I assume it’s something like robbing drug dealers like the Hellclaws do.”
“It’s pretty obvious from our name that we turn into deer when we shift, but instead of standing around nibbling grass like real deer, we jump onto the road to scare drivers and cause collisions. Once the car has crashed, we loot the wreck and steal anything of value. I’d love to say that we only do it to bad people, but we’re not that picky. Our only rule is no kids in the car.”
“That’s awful.” Allison shook her head, trying to understand.
“Technically, deer kill more people than bears, alligators, bison, and wolves combined each year. Did you know that?”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Oh, Allison.” Samantha smiled and put her hand on Allison’s shoulder, squeezing lightly like a mother might do to her daughter. “I
just want you to understand what it’s like for us shifters. We live by a different moral code, and non-shifters don’t really understand what drives us. Craig is a great guy, like I said, and because he’s a shifter he will always be someone I’m a little bit in love with. It’s important that you understand where I’m coming from when I say that I’m going to do my best to be respectful of whatever casual arrangement you two have going, but that I can’t make any promises.”
“Whatever,” said Allison, standing up and walking away. She looked back to see Samantha staring after her with that creepy cute smile on her face, looking every bit the innocent girl she pretended to be.
“You okay?” asked Miriam, intercepting Allison. “You look like you’re ready to fight someone.”
“I’ll be fine. I just need a minute to clear my head.”
“Might want to hang on to that thought.” Miriam pointed up to the makeshift stage where Ruth Kane stood with the other gang leaders nearby.
“Everybody got a drink in their hands?” asked Ruth from her spot above the crowd.
The audience roared in response, holding up their bright red beer cups and an assortment of glasses and bottles.
“Then let’s drink to shifter unity!” she shouted. “After a lot of bitching and complaining about who did what, we finally came to an arrangement that I personally think is the best possible scenario for everyone involved.”
This prompted another round of cheering and drinking, and it took several minutes for Ruth to get everyone’s attention again.
“The only thing is,” she looked down towards Mike and Samantha, “and I really am sorry that you have to find out this way, Mike, but you might notice that there aren’t any Horns out in the crowd right now.”
Mike American’s eyes narrowed and he spun around just as the ground began to shake beneath everyone’s feet. There was a horrible rumbling like an earthquake right on the grounds of the Oakwood and then a horrendous sound of cracking wood as a stampeding herd of bison came tearing through the wall of the tavern and into the group of assembled shifters.