Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires)

by Donald Wigboldy

  “Did the one you chase sneeze that you could tell?”

  “Not from that distance.”

  Nick heard the bedroom door open and Charlotte returned to the kitchen via the living room. Dressed in tight, shorts and a red, half top with spaghetti straps over her shoulders; the woman looked like she was ready to either go to the beach or out on the prowl to catch a man’s eyes. Her makeup was minimal but added to her beauty. Still barefoot and with her smooth legs and arms appearing like anything but a wolf, Charlotte took a large mug before pouring her coffee. A glass of cereal with milk added filled her meal needs and the dark haired woman returned to the couch to sit beside Nick. Her elbows nearly bumped him as she sat and her left knee rested on his leg as she once more pulled her feet under her crossing her legs. The smell of lightly applied perfume wafted to his nostrils and he knew that her brother could smell it with his superior senses where he sat as well.

  “So I am a coffee addicted, woman, werewolf?” she leveled the question at her brother narrowing her eyes. “You’re lucky I didn’t slap you across the head for that,” the girl stated after summarizing her brother’s words while she was gone and giving them a negative spin.

  Chuckling in response, Logan shrugged pressing his luck as he retorted, “But can you deny any of it?”

  Simply rolling her eyes, Charlotte turned to Nick instead, “So where does this take you now?”

  “Marek knows and his people know to keep an eye out for trouble, as if they’re ever not with all the strays and rogues. If they smell strange cats that make them sneeze, we may be able to turn a possible disadvantage into an advantage at least.”

  “An early warning sneeze,” Charlotte said looking dubious. “I suppose just knowing that there might be an enemy keeps them safer than not knowing.”

  A key fumbled in the door and Nick sensed Geni with a second familiar presence. “It’s open,” he called out aiming his voice to the left and towards the door.

  Through the doorway a pair of college girls entered the room, both appearing full of energy despite the early hour.

  “Hi, Nicky!” the first girl entering called to her employer enthusiastically. She was one of two who seemed to love calling him by that nickname. Nicola was the other one, even before they had started dating.

  “Morning, Geni, Lena,” Nick greeted with a wave over the back of the couch. Charlotte turned to smile as well knowing the girls pretty well after the last couple months staying in his apartment.

  Closing the door behind them, Lena waved before she came around to sit next to Charlotte exchanging one armed hugs between them. The two had become as close as sisters after the unfortunate circumstances that brought them all together. When Geni had told him of Lena’s disappearance which was in fact a kidnapping by one of the werewolves in their pack, their paths had all become destined to intertwine.

  Nick had used his detective skills and reporter contacts to find where she had been held. While held in a cell in the basement of the pack’s house, they had tried to turn her into a werewolf and even let a vampire bite her in a strange turn of events. Little did they know that Lena was a budding voran as well. Resistant to vampire and werewolf bites, the girl was tormented until after her new powers destroyed the vampire. Then it was up to Charlotte and some of the other female wolves to try and convince Lena that they were just keeping her locked up to prevent her turning into a werewolf and killing anyone close to her.

  When it was discovered that Lena wouldn’t turn even under a full moon; Charlotte, with her brother’s support, had protected the girl from harm until Nick could safely take her away from the wolves. He had come back giving them asylum after their pack leader turned them away, which was where they were now and the only one in the room that didn’t know any of it was Geni.

  “Morning, Logan,” Geni greeted flirting slightly as Nick had noticed that she had a bit of a crush on his guest. Receiving a mere flick of his hand as a wave to say hello, the big man appeared slightly shy with the girl. It was barely noticed as the girl turned to Charlotte and added with a little gasp, “Oh my god, I love that top, Charlotte.”

  The werewolf was a couple years older than the two college girls, but knew how to dress and had the figure to wear anything she wanted. “Thanks. My brother didn’t want me just walking around in a t-shirt, so I thought that I would dress for the day.”

  Lena nodded and agreed, “It’s beautiful already.”

  Both of the girls were wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts, an unusual sight as mere days before it had been cold and a week or so earlier there had even been snow on the ground. As the conversation turned towards fashion, Logan stood up taking his dishes to the kitchen. The movement was noticed, but the girls ignored the quiet man as they continued to talk like the school girls most of them were.

  “Is it alright if I borrow the Escape, Nick?” asked the man as he brushed back his blond hair with his hand a bit nervously.

  Nodding, Nick said aloud, “Sure, the keys are in the dish.”

  The voran wanted to ask him where he was going, but he didn’t want the others to always know his business; so he didn’t feel right about intruding on the others’ personal lives either. Charlotte, as his sister, didn’t have that problem and questioned, “Where do you have to go? You haven’t taken Nick up on the offer of trying to get you back into a hospital have you?”

  The talk of the big man being a doctor seemed to arouse Geni’s interest even more, but his words were a bit evasive, “No, I just have someone I need to meet this morning.”

  At least once a week Logan had asked for the same privilege. He asked for little else aside from needing the place to stay. If he could avoid the questions and attention of police, Nick didn’t doubt that the man would return to some form of medical profession. The voran had already checked into possibly finding some way of letting Logan rejoin the profession he had been following before the incident turned him into a werewolf, but there were still questions surrounding his parents’ deaths. Even with Charlotte obscuring the truth with her attesting that a rabid dog or wolf had snuck into their home through an open door to kill them and attack her; police seemed unable to believe such a thing would have happened despite their former home in Kentucky being close enough to the woods for animals to be nearby.

  Whether it would stop him from being able to get work in a hospital or not, the last reason the man wouldn’t take the job if offered was his fears that he would lose control with the high stress work of being a doctor. Turning into a wolf, even partially, during such work; would put the rest of society, both that of the night and humanity, into complete disarray. He wouldn’t risk exposing the werewolves including his sister.

  The fairly regular escapes from the apartment had them all wondering what he had been up to lately, but no one would confront him about his personal life. Even Charlotte would sigh and give him his space.

  Taking the keys, the blonde haired man thanked Nick again before heading out the door. Geni noted, “He forgot to brush his teeth.”

  “He brushed them before breakfast. I think he likes the fresh mint before he starts eating,” Nick said absently looking in the direction of the closed door the wolf had used.

  Lena stood up a moment switching sides to sit on the other side of Nick giving him askance with her big brown eyes.

  “Ok, what?” he asked drawing out the two words with a sigh.

  “Can we go to the gym today, Nick?” she asked with a hopeful smile. “You promised that you’d give me pointers, you know.”

  Nodding even as he looked at Geni listening as she began pushing around some of the dishes quietly enough to hear most of their conversation. The voran knew that he was stuck when it came to helping the girl. As the one who found her, it was his responsibility to be her mentor to make sure that she wouldn’t end up getting killed by some vampire or werewolf. Just as his mentor, Vivian, had taken him in and taught him some of what he was; Nick took the responsibility to take care of Lena similarly.
The only problem was that the world had changed a lot in a hundred plus years.

  Lena was enrolled in college and was only a little over halfway through it. While her experiences a couple months ago may have changed the way she saw the world, as her mentor he had forbade her giving up college just to study to become a voran. Besides, what did becoming a voran mean? He hadn’t killed his first his vampire until he was around fifty. His martial arts training had started a bit earlier as he and Vivian had travelled around the world for a few years to avoid being noticed for their unchanging looks. He still looked nearly as young as he did when his powers first triggered. Vivian was a couple centuries older than he was at the very least, since she would never tell him just how old she was and still looked young. As a gentleman, he had only asked once out of curiosity and never again after her indignant refusal to be specific.

  Still with extended lives and youth, he believed that Lena needed to try and live the first part of her life as normally as she could. When her family continued to age and she did not, the world would change for the girl irrevocably and he hated to think of how that would affect her; but that was the future and he hoped to help her avoid that dark future for awhile at least.

  “Have you been going to Vince’s gym?” Nick asked as he closed up his laptop and prepared to get his gym bag.

  The dark haired girl looked away looking a bit guiltily a moment before returning to meet his gaze. Her brown eyes appeared apologetic as she said, “A few times, I even tried taking Geni with me, but she didn’t like the gym or the neighborhood, so I couldn’t convince her to come back to that one again. I also have classes for a few more weeks, so that gets in the way.”

  He knew the excuses, but Nick let her slide. This wasn’t his requirement for her as his student. In fact, she could put off training in martial arts for as long as she wanted in his opinion. Having Lena become a monster hunter wasn’t something he would ever push her into, even as he had grown into it without having Vivian push him.

  Shrugging, the brown haired man looked at the girl and reminded her, “Once classes are over, there will be whatever work you find for the summer and then back to school again. Life gets in the way. If you truly want to learn how to fight, then you’ll need to find the time or just decide to put it off. Once a week, or every couple weeks, won’t teach you much.”

  He stood up and asked, “Did you bring a change of clothes?”

  The girl looked a little sad at his words, but at his question she nodded her head looking slightly happier with herself. “I was hoping to get you to come with me, so I have a bag in Geni’s car.”

  Glancing to Charlotte, he asked doubting her answer, “Would you like to come, Charlotte? You haven’t been out of the house much lately. You must be getting a little stir crazy by now.”

  To his surprise, the werewolf nodded her head and said yes. “I’ll get some clothes. I don’t think this top will do very well if you’re planning on training to fight.”

  Taking Nick’s hand to be pulled to her feet since he was standing nearby, Charlotte hurried to their shared room followed by the voran. It was his room also, though he only slept once a week so the woman was using the bed each night while he was usually out running patrols. Luckily, he rarely needed sleep, so even with just two bed rooms and beds; no one was stuck sleeping on the couch.

  “What type of gym is this?” Charlotte asked him as she took a gym bag from him. Her nose wrinkled at the smell, even though it was his less used bag. While Lena was having trouble getting to the gym, the voran tried to go to one gym or another at least twice a week. His nocturnal patrols often involved running and jumping from building to building where it was possible, so even without those trips he would remain in good health; but still it was good to use the stability of a gym workout each week to balance him out.

  “We’ll be training martial arts there, though there is regular equipment to workout with as well if you get bored.”

  The woman smiled replying, “Rolling around on a mat or in a ring doesn’t sound too bad.”

  Charlotte turned away leaving Nick to wonder at the woman’s flirty ways. The behavior was new. Until now, she had been more reserved, but maybe she was just getting more comfortable with him. Though if the girl forgot herself in front of Nicola, there might be trouble.

  Taking a deep breath as he picked up his bag, the voran looked to the female werewolf sitting on the side of the bed pulling on her tennis shoes and decided that he would just have to monitor things to make sure nothing got out of hand.

  Chapter 3- Gymmin’ It

  Walking up to the brick faced building with the simple name, Vince’s Gym; the girls looked less than impressed just from the facade. Nick had been coming to the start up gym for almost a decade and had known the owner from before that. Vince’s may not have looked flashy, but for someone who needed to be well rounded for the combat he did during the night, it worked well for him.

  “This place?” Charlotte questioned dubiously.

  The woman had jokingly been known as the show dog of her pack. Pretty and well groomed, unlike many of the rougher wolves in the house, Charlotte hadn’t taken on the feral qualities of the wolf within her. She didn’t necessarily need to be pampered, but she did like feeling feminine and the plain look of the gym was certainly off putting for the woman.

  “We’re not here for the sights,” Nick said with a smile and placed his arm on her shoulder trying to be comforting. Again he noted the smell of her perfume and it seemed to have gotten stronger though the man hadn’t seen her use any while they were grabbing their bags.

  Her arm reciprocated as her hand found its way to his waist and she replied, “I guess as long as the mats and equipment are kept clean the building doesn’t have to be pretty.”

  “It’s not too bad inside,” Lena agreed with Nick, though the girl still looked like she wished he would take them to an upscale gym. Upscale gyms taught exercise and spin classes, but they rarely taught the true mixed martial arts that Nick knew they could find here.

  “And with such a ringing endorsement from Lena, let’s go inside, ladies,” the man chuckled as he held the door for the young women.

  “Another one!” a raspy voice cried out as a middle aged man came forward eagerly to greet them.

  “Another one what?” Charlotte questioned apprehensively.

  The man was slightly taller than the dark haired woman with his light brown, thinning hair. He looked to be nearly twice her age but was firm and cut with muscle even hidden by sweatpants and a t-shirt with the gym’s name on it. His blue eyes smiled as much as his lips as he looked at the two young women and clarified, “Nick has suddenly been bringing beautiful young women into this gym out of nowhere. If he keeps it up, I might have to start beautifying the place to try and keep up.”

  Waving to Lena, Vince continued, “Good morning, Lena, so who is your beautiful friend here?”

  Though she was hardly as familiar with the gym owner as Nick was, the girl obliged and introduced the taller woman, “This is Charlotte.”

  “Hmm, a classically beautiful name, but you don’t hear it around here as much. Are you from the south?” the man asked as the four continued to move deeper into the gym.

  Charlotte was glancing around noting more than a dozen men at work out stations or in the ring. Most had stopped at Vince’s shout and were still looking at the two good looking women walking with the owner. Many had smiles on their lips making her feel like a piece of fresh meat. She didn’t know whether to smile or frown. Instead she answered the question posed to her politely, “Kentucky.”

  “And just the barest southern accent in there,” the man chuckled as he led them forward. Changing gears, he asked Nick, “So what kind of workout today? Neither one of these girls look like they’re planning on becoming MMA stars, though I could be wrong, it’s happened before.”

  Shaking his head in response, Nick replied, “Just working on a bit of self defense today. You know living in Chicago can be
a little dangerous, especially for a pretty girl.”

  “Some know that more than others,” Vince nodded glancing to Lena. Whether he had seen any coverage of the girl’s kidnapping and subsequent rescue, the man had never said over the last couple months. The girl also hadn’t come as often as she had once planned on either thanks to all the class work she had been trying to catch up on this semester. “So you need a ring or just the mats?”

  “Mats will be fine,” he nodded before saying, “We’ll go get changed then.”

  The girls found the ladies changing area easily enough and when they returned one of the men closest to the door let out a low whistle as he lost his rhythm with the punching bag. Grabbing hold of it, he couldn’t help ogling both girls in their shorts. Lena wore a t-shirt over her sports top, but Charlotte once again was showing off with a tight top looking more like an athletic swimsuit.

  Even Nick was surprised at the show. Lena was a good looking girl, but her outfit was fairly common and even tame for some gyms. She had great, lightly tanned legs thanks to her skin tone that most of the men looking were drawn to with her revealing shorts. The college girl was feminine and lean, but looked ready for her lesson in martial arts. Charlotte actually worried the voran a bit. Wearing tight, very short, terry cloth shorts of pink with pale green striping, and her pink sports bra style top; she didn’t seem like a girl ready to learn martial arts so much as one looking to draw every man’s eye to her trim body.

  Trying to ignore the sexy seductress, Nick began their lesson by going over some basic throws with Lena. It was mostly a rehashing of the very first time they had come to Vince’s gym. Her unappreciative look at being thrown onto the mat was even close to the original he had received the first day.

  “My turn?” Charlotte asked as Lena stood up moving to pick up her water bottle. The girl was just starting to perspire on her forehead, though the gym wasn’t very warm at all.

  Moving to within a couple feet, the woman nodded taking a familiar entry pose often used greeting a sensei. A small smile played at the edges of her mouth and she entered a loose judo style stance. Realizing that the werewolf must have had at least rudimentary training to know the difference between karate and judo; Nick moved closer with a nod. Again he noticed her fragrance and wondered if the woman had dosed herself with another spray of her perfume in the locker room.