by Joe Fowler
“I’m still trying to imagine a walrus falling on those men. Was the walrus big? Walt turned back human before I saw him.” Seth asked.
“Huge. Those men didn’t stand a chance. That will always be one of the strangest things I’ll ever see.”
We finished our beer and called for more. Anna brought them to us. She didn’t seem to mind. That’s when something else hit home. Anna and Alicia were best friends for over fifty years. They were reunited here and couldn’t be separated. I hoped they would be able to stay closer now than we had in the past few years.
As for Seth and I, we loved our spot on the porch. We’d been through hell together and the fight between us was worse than hell. Truthfully, I didn’t want the packs to separate either. I didn’t mind taking a backseat to Seth. He was the greatest person, who wasn’t an angel, that I ever met.
We sat quietly watching the day go by. We might have stayed there without moving if my lawyer hadn’t called.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Josh. The jury is ready to give their verdict.” My lawyer sounded happy.
“No way! That was fast.” I sat up smiling.
“If they are finished deliberating this quickly, it almost has to be a not guilty verdict. This is great news. You guys need to be back at the courthouse by ten in the morning. I’ll see you then.” He said.
“Thank you, John.” I said and hung up.
“Wow. Anna, Alicia, y’all might want to come here for a second.” Seth said just loud enough for them to hear.
“What? You itching and too lazy to scratch?” Anna said teasingly.
“The jury is through deliberating. We need to be there by ten in the morning. The lawyer says this is a really good thing.” I said and was rewarded by a huge smile and a bigger kiss from Alicia.
“Yes!” Anna exclaimed. “It looks like the humans got it right then.”
“We hope so.” Seth added. “Josh, tell the others. It’s better for them to know and not stay out too late.”
“You got it” I said out loud. Then, “Everyone, don’t stay out too late tonight. We have court tomorrow. My lawyer just called and said the jury was ready to give a verdict. He says it is really good that they were so fast. We may get to go home soon.”
“That’s great!” Was echoed into my brain from over a dozen of the wolves. I looked over at Seth and nodded.
We resumed our constant battle. It was our job to make sure the porch didn’t float away. We also added the huge task of making sure the beer didn’t go flat. If you know me and Seth, you know we always get the job done.
Chapter 23
The judge had just told us to be seated. I was excited.
“…have you reached a verdict?” The judge was asking the jury foreman.
“Yes, your Honor. We find the defendant, not guilty.” The packs cheered and I couldn’t hold back my smile of relief.
“Told you.” My lawyer whispered as the judge went through with the last few details. I turned to Alicia and saw her smile. Our lives could get back to normal now. If you consider a pregnant werewolf married to a half demon alpha werewolf normal.
“Thank you, Mr. Smith. You are one hell of a lawyer.” I shook hands with my lawyer just before we were finally able to walk out the door.
The sun was shining a little brighter today. We headed for our vehicles deciding what we would eat for our celebration on the last night of the rented house. Some wanted pizza, some wanted to have a cookout, some wanted spaghetti and garlic bread, etc. The idea of a cookout was the winner. The packs divided up deciding who would go where to buy what. Seth and I offered to go to the liquor store and stock up.
“You know how long the drive will be to Mobile. Y’all could stay over at my place for a while. We know there’s room since we were all there during the vampire war.” I suggested to Seth. I now agreed completely with his assessment, it was better to have both packs together. We were more like extended wolf packs now, anyway. It wasn’t so much Seth’s pack and then my pack any longer. We were one big family.
“I think we’ll take you up on that. Those woods around your house are excellent too.” Seth said with a smile.
It was only Seth and me in my car. Alicia and Anna went to supervise the food buying. I wanted to tell Seth how much this reminded me of when Keith and I used to ride. I didn’t want to sound overly sappy though. I tried to remember I was supposed to be a big bad ass alpha werewolf demon hybrid.
The goodness the two of them had was undeniably similar though. When either of them sat next to you, you felt safer with a deeper sense of calm. Maybe I had closed the gap on Seth but he would always be the true alpha as far as I am concerned.
“I was thinking of something and wanted to run it by you.” Seth said. I turned since he was using a more serious tone than I was expecting. “Since everyone in my pack needed to leave their jobs and will have to find new ones, we could start looking for jobs in Tennessee just as easily as we could in Mobile. I looked and found a lot of land not too far from Chattanooga. We would be far enough to be considered separate by the old standards while being a close enough drive to be neighbors.”
“That sounds perfect, Seth. I wanted to suggest the same thing but wasn’t sure you would go for it. I was going to suggest we move to the Mobile area but it is harder to find large enough unbroken areas of woods.” I told him.
“That was why I started looking in Tennessee. Mobile would have been better for you and the girls since that was where y’all grew up. Baldwin County and across the Mississippi line were options but no one wants to live in Mississippi if they don’t have to.” Seth said smiling. I smiled too.
“Have you talked to Anna about it?”
“No, but she is the biggest reason for my finally making the decision. I wanted to look into it but last night she was in tears. She doesn’t want to be separated from Alicia again. The pregnancy thing makes it even worse. Anna and I have wanted a child for so long but you know how difficult it is for us. You and Alicia got really lucky.”
“I know. I found out the day Gabriel gathered us at my house. I wanted to fall to my knees and thank God. Alicia wanted a child really badly. I was trying not to think about it since I knew it might never happen.”
We pulled into the liquor store. We got plenty of the main titles. Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Jose Cuervo, Captain Morgan, and Johnny Walker. We even bought a few to try out. Oh yeah, we bought some beer too.
The grills were going and loaded down. The beer was in coolers getting icy cold. Seth and I were sitting in our usual spots on the porch.
“So are you two going to always be this lazy or is it a summer thing?” Sarah asked. Her comment brought scattered laughter from everyone.
“Hey, being an alpha has got to have some perks. We have to put up with all you smartasses all the time.” Seth said in response.
Anna and Alicia were in the kitchen making the potato salad, baked beans, and other things to go with the barbeque. I was hoping they would hurry since the food smelled way too good to wait.
Seth and I decided to wait until we were eating to share the news of their move to Tennessee. Everyone would be gathered in one place and with their mouths full of food, they wouldn’t interrupt. Our plans were changed by someone else.
I was sitting down from getting more beer for us when Gabriel came walking up with a huge smile. He stopped in front of the porch and took a big sniff.
“There is nothing like the smell of a good barbeque.” He walked up on the porch and snapped his fingers for another copy of one of my living room chairs.
“So when we want to see you, all we need to do is offer some really good food?” I teased him. He had always been a big eater.
“How did he do that?” Jimmy asked. He along with about a dozen others saw Gabriel make the chair appear. They were staring with their mouths gaping.
“Everyone, this is Gabriel. Since I’m pretty sure none of you will remember tomorrow, I will tell you he is THAT Gabriel. The archangel
. Those of you from my pack met him already. He was Keith, Josh’s friend back when we were fighting Josh’s father.” Seth’s announcement caused a real uproar.
“So that’s why everyone did whatever he said!” Jimmy’s exclamation wasn’t the only one but it was the loudest.
It took a few minutes but they calmed down after their initial shock wore off. I waited until their attention was back on the food and they resumed talking amongst themselves to turn to Gabriel.
“So are things the way they need to be now? Hopefully you aren’t here to warn us about something else.” I said to him with a teasing smile. Gabriel would know what I meant. I liked the idea of him visiting to be visiting. Not a visit as a harbinger of doom.
“Everything is fine now. I am here to wrap things up. We already told your pack back at your house about me and now Seth’s pack knows. You two know the drill. I am going to let Rosalyn keep her memories as well this time. It would raise too many questions about how she was seeing and talking to Austin if she didn’t know about me.” Gabriel said with mixed feelings. I wasn’t sure but something seemed wrong.
“What is it that you aren’t telling us?” I asked him.
“You know me too well.” Gabriel gave a sad smile. He took a moment before he answered. “I may not be back after today.”
“What? No way! You’ll have to come see the baby at least.” The thought of losing my best friend was too hard to think about.
“I hope I get to and at the same time it may be better if I don’t. My last visit here was against regulations. The other angels already gave me a hard time for developing such a friendship with a human. A half demon one at that. When I start making unauthorized visits, they get a little uptight. Basically, I have today to spend with you guys since I needed to wipe some memories. If you see me again after today, it will mean I have bad news.”
“That isn’t fair. It doesn’t seem right.” I whined. I knew I was being selfish but this was the best friend I ever had. He is the whole reason I became good instead of following the pull of my demon blood.
“I tried to explain but most angels deem humans to be too far beneath us. They won’t condone a friendship with a being so far below our status. I hate to admit it but most angels are snobs.” Gabriel seemed as sad as I was.
“Well, let’s make sure you enjoy today then.” Seth said. It was the best alternative we had. It wouldn’t help to sit and complain.
“By the smell of the food, I can guarantee my enjoyment. I didn’t enjoy watching the two of you fight. That was one for the ages. The rest of the world went unsupervised for a while. All the angels were watching you. That was one hell of a fight.”
“I figured you would appreciate Walt’s contribution.” I didn’t have the words completely out of my mouth when Gabriel cracked up with laughter.
“That was priceless. We were teasing each other for days. ‘Watch out for that falling walrus’ I was so sick with worry up until then that Walt’s heroics were the perfect antidote.” Gabriel’s smile was now the carefree smile I remembered seeing on Keith’s face for so long when we were kids.
“He is still trying to decide which animal to become. Jimmy has been making jokes constantly about it.” I said.
“Well, he does have a lot to choose from. He is having trouble because he finally has the chance to fit in if he chooses the wolf. He will be giving up a huge amount of strength if you compare it to the bear, lion, or tiger. The lion and tiger offers him more speed than the wolf as well. That has been his biggest dilemma. Whether or not to fit in or go for the extra strength and speed.” Gabriel explained.
“Once I bit him, everyone has been very good to him. I would hope he could understand we would support any animal he chose to become.” After I spoke, Gabriel began nodding his head like he remembered.
“The main reason I showed up here last time was to ease Walt’s pain. He knew the teasing was in good nature and your packs liked him. It was still hard for him to not be able to keep up on the runs. He has never fit in anywhere. Once you two knuckleheads finally mentioned turning him, I thought I would drop by and let you know it was okay.”
“I must admit, I couldn’t figure out the reason for the visit but I was happy about it. I was beginning to believe it was just for the food.” I said smiling.
“That would have been a good enough reason for me.” Gabriel smiled briefly before turning to Seth. “You have been worrying about the demon attack at court. That wasn’t a precursor to anything. We sent that demon.”
“You sent him? Why?” I asked. I was shocked.
“Some members of the jury thought it was wrong to kill anyone no matter how bad that person was. The demon attack made it plain in their minds that some beings can’t be reasoned with or rehabilitated.”
“So the jury was going to vote Josh guilty? That blows my mind.” Seth said while shaking his head.
“The other angels don’t feel the way I do about Josh but they know he was not only justified but what he did was necessary.”
“Thank you!” I exclaimed.
“We all got a kick out of your comment about them charging you for killing the demon. That was a good laugh.” Gabriel chuckled.
“It was effective. They got a dose of the fear they needed. If they knew, well it might be better that they don’t find out too much.” Seth said.
“Speaking of knowing, I expected you guys to tell everyone the origin of the species stories. You two have been guarding them like they were a secret.”
“I thought of it but I wasn’t sure of this being the situation to share. I also wasn’t entirely sure you wanted those stories known.” Seth admitted.
“It seemed about time that all of you knew how this got started. The werewolves and vampires have been around for so long without knowing how they began.” Gabriel took another big sniff and smiled.
“Yeah, me too.” I looked at the food and my mouth started to water. “That food is taking too long.”
“You didn’t explain shifters. Is there story much like ours?” Seth asked. I saw where he was going.
“It would be nice if we could tell Walt.” I added.
“Shifters are one of those sweet stories. It was simply a child’s wish. This boy loved animals deeply. He was so amazed by them. He prayed to be like them and to understand how they moved and why they acted the way they did. So Dad smiled and granted his wish. The boy began turning into animal after animal. He loved it. He wasn’t limited to just mammals. His children and their children were. The thing they have most in common with you guys is the difficulty in reproducing.”
“A child’s wish.” I repeated.
“Yep. Sometimes it isn’t complicated.”
The three of us sat and watched the packs as they prepared the food. We were hesitant to speak too much, or at least I was. I wanted to draw out my time with Gabriel. I was still hurting from the news that I might not see him again.
Finally! The food was ready. It was worth the wait.
“It would be worth coming down here just for the food. We don’t have wants or needs but good food is hard to beat. I don’t know if y’all could understand completely having not been to heaven yourselves.”
“No offense but I hope it is a while before I come to visit you.” I said between bites. He and Seth both laughed.
“It better be a really long time.” Alicia said. She and Anna joined us after they were done cooking.
“I feel pretty safe in saying it will be quite a few years before that happens. Josh has you guys around to keep him out of trouble. There isn’t much that could be considered a threat to him anymore.” Gabriel assured her.
“What was your take on the fight? We have slightly different opinions on how the fight went. Of course only a few of us actually remember it. The rest were being controlled by the witch. Who do you think won?” Alicia asked.
“Seth is still a little tougher. What Josh said about stamina is the truth. Even while fighting for control of his head, Seth st
ill had Josh beat until the end. I give it maybe two more years and Josh will be stronger. Maybe.” Gabriel paused in his eating long enough to look at me when he said, “You will peak somewhat. You will still gradually grow stronger and faster like Seth has done. It just won’t be at the rate you increased up to then. I don’t know when that peak will arrive.”
“I wouldn’t mind if it had already. This is strong enough for now. Growing at a normal pace would be fine with me.” I meant every word.
We continued to eat. Then we ate some more. If wolves could look like pigs, we would have all had snouts and curly tails when we finished eating.
“I think you all will have some peaceful years now. Well, once the baby grows out of his crying stages. I haven’t congratulated you two yet. I wanted to say something that first day but knew I should wait until everyone had been told.” Gabriel smiled and shook his head. “It’s still hard to see you as a dad. I still remember the mean little kid I met. You’re not much like him anymore.”
“Thanks to you. I wonder if I would have lived to graduate.” I laughed at the memory of my early childhood. I was a mean little bastard.
“You weren’t that bad.” My mom said.
I wasn’t expecting her. She was walking up with Austin. Two ghosts passing the time with each other.
“Hi, Ms. Thorne. How is ghost life?” Gabriel asked.
“Very boring.” My mom tried to look closer look at Gabriel but her eyes kept having to squint. She seemed puzzled. “Do I know you? You have that inner light like Keith had but you don’t look like him.”
“Very good! I was Keith, sort of. Demons aren’t the only ones who can possess people. Angels can too. I was the light you saw in him. I’m Gabriel, the archangel.”
“Wow. All that time you were right there. You knew what we were planning. I am so ashamed now. I have been since the night I died. I am not sure I could have stopped anything but I should have tried.” Mom sounded sincere.