by Sharon Green
Oldon smiled and nodded his agreement, so the others and I continued on to the kitchen. Shell came along with us, but our host put himself at the end of the line. We took turns refilling our mugs, and then we went back into the dining room. Once we were back Eric and Oldon took their turn, and when Oldon came back I asked the question that had come to me.
"Oldon, is it possible for a vampire to get fat if he drinks too much blood?" I put, really curious about the point. "I don't remember ever seeing a fat vampire, but still…"
Oldon threw his head back and laughed the way he had in Mexico, and it took a couple of minutes before he ran down.
"No, Taz, there isn't enough fat in the blood of most people to make vampires fat," our newest teammate said around the chuckling he was still doing. "Or at least I think that's the reason we don't get fat. If I meet someone who knows more about the matter I'll be sure to ask them."
The rest of the team looked like they couldn't decide between being amused and being confused, but all I did was shrug.
"It was just a passing thought," I answered as I fixed my coffee. "I guess it came about because I don't usually use sugar in my coffee, and for an instant I wondered if I would get fat. Then I remembered what my metabolism is like these days and dropped the idea."
Freemont started a discussion about different metabolisms which most of the others joined in, but all I did was sit and listen while sipping coffee. I enjoy quiet times, but lately we hadn't had very many of them. For that reason I enjoyed the moment we had, but when a knock came at the front door I held up a hand toward Shell.
"This time I'll go," I said as I got to my feet. "I want to make sure our visitors are the ones we're expecting."
Shell nodded and sat back in his chair, so I walked the few steps to the front door and opened it. I recognized the scent of the men before I actually got to see them, but I still held up a hand again.
"What's the secret password?" I put to the two surprised men we'd watched work over the "crime scene."
"There's a secret password?" the one in front asked, looking completely lost. "Allison didn't mention that."
"But you still got the password right," I said as I stepped back, keeping my grin on the inside. "Come on in and you can collect your prize."
"Have you folks been doing some drinking?" the second man asked as he and the first stepped inside so that I could close the door. "If you have, I can't say that I blame you."
"Most of us have been drinking coffee," I answered as I led them toward the dining room. "It's just that it's been something of a long day, and the day isn't even over. I don't know about the rest of my team, but I tend to get silly when I'm tired."
"There are worse things to be," the first man commented as he stopped near the rogue to study him. "I had no idea this fool wasn't really dead, but pretending didn't do him any good, did it?"
"It did us good," Oldon said from where he sat at the table. "You, rogue, remember your orders. Right now you'll go with these men and obey whatever orders they give you."
The intruder bowed and then turned to the newcomers, and they wasted no time in ordering the man to come with them. I followed all three to the door, and once they were outside and the door was locked I went back to the dining room.
"Shell, I locked the front door," I told our host as I sat down near my coffee again. "I really think you ought to keep it locked. Tomorrow might be a different story, but for right now…"
"Yes, right now we'll keep the door locked," Shell agreed with a thoughtful nod. "I won't be accepting any more new roomers until this matter of The Society is taken care of, so the door doesn't need to be an open invitation. To the wrong people especially."
We all agreed with that, and then went back to our coffee. We still had to move our possessions into our rooms, but for right now we could enjoy the peace and quiet…
Chapter Ten
We all enjoyed our second cups of coffee in peace, and when our refreshment break was over we went into the kitchen to put our mugs in the sink. Shell just put his mug down on a counter, then went to a drawer and pulled out a bunch of what looked like keys.
"Now you'll all want to see your apartments, and once you choose which apartment will be yours I'll give you the proper key," our host said as he smiled at us. "If you like, I'll lead the way upstairs."
"Sounds good to me," I said, giving the man a smile to match his. "You lead the way and we'll follow."
Shell's smile widened as he nodded agreement, and then he turned and led the way to the stairs. We all trooped upstairs, by which time I'd decided what I wanted to say.
"Okay, people, I'm going to be high-handed," I announced to everyone. "I'm taking that middle room right there, and if any of you feel like arguing that's just too bad. Let's get settled in and then we can go out to eat."
The rest of the team exchanged glances, some of those glances amused, but no one challenged my decision. Shell waited a moment to be sure of that, and then he handed me a small group of keys.
"The key to apartment 5 for Taz, along with keys to the front door and the garage door," Shell said with a smile. "The front door key will also open the door in the garage, a door that leads into the kitchen. The front door key is silver, the garage door key gold, and the apartment key has a black top. Easy to tell apart even in dim lighting."
I looked at my new keys as they were being described, and the man was right. There was no trouble telling one from the other, so I gave my teammates – and Shell – a smile, picked up my luggage, then went into my room.
Or, I should say, into my apartment. Stepping inside and closing the door let me look around after putting down the bags, to see a lot more space than I'd been expecting. All the way to the left was a full bedroom, queen-sized bed, night stands with lamps, dresser with mirror above, and chest of drawers. The dresser was on the same wall as the door, and just beyond it, closer to the door, was a stand-alone wardrobe in place of a closet.
Opposite the door and a little to the left were two wide windows, both curtained with drapes hanging to either side ready to be closed. To the right of the windows was a small sitting area, with two comfortable-looking chairs near a flat-screen television set. Also to the right, next to the door, was a small table, possibly for putting keys on. Just beyond the small table was a small fridge, with a microwave standing on top of it. Looking in that direction also showed me a light switch, so I turned on the light to chase away the early evening dimness, put my new keys on the table, then went to look at the rest of my new quarters.
The bathroom, all the way to the right, had a door that opened out rather than in. The reason for that became clear when I looked in to find a sink to the left, the commode to the right, and a full-sized tub right behind those two items. There wasn't much extra room in the area, but the tub was glass-enclosed by three moveable doors, which meant bathing would be as easy as showering.
"Not bad," I murmured, leaving the bathroom area to look around again. With the light on it was easier to see that the walls had been painted a cream color, with a band of sedately colorful shapes at the top of the walls near the ceiling. The woodwork around the bottom of the walls was a dark red, one of the colors to be found in the band above. The carpeting was a dark cream that went well with everything else, and all in all wasn't going to be hard to live with.
I thought about unpacking everything, then decided to simply move my luggage out of the way. I'd gotten out of the habit of unpacking, most often living out of my suitcases, and it would take a short while to adjust to doing something else. Besides, if we got called in on a hunt tonight or tomorrow, we'd be traveling instead of settling down.
After putting my bags in front of the wardrobe, I went to one of the chairs and sat down to think about the odd feeling I'd just had. I couldn't quite decide if I liked the idea of settling down better than the idea of traveling, which was kind of unexpected. After all, we'd decided to make Atlanta our home base, which in a way meant we'd opted for settling down. T
raveling among strangers ought to take second place to that, so why –
My thoughts broke off when I tripped over a sudden revelation. It looked like what I'd gone through with my family had coated the word "home" with the concept of betrayal, at least when I wasn't consciously paying attention. Home was the place where people rejected you, people who were supposed to love and want you no matter what. I wasn't surprised that I'd unconsciously started to think that way, but acting on the idea wouldn't be terribly smart. First see how things went, and then see what came…
I enjoyed the chair for no more than a few minutes before a knock came at my door. When I invited the knocker to come in, the door opened to show Freemont.
"Taz, the rest of us are ready to go out to eat," my partner informed me as he quickly glanced around. "I like your color scheme, by the way. Mine is more light green, which I also like."
"I'm just as ready as you guys are," I answered as I got to my feet to retrieve my shoulder bag and keys. "I considered leaving my gun here, but instead I think I'll leave it in the car."
"Handy in case it's needed, out of the way if it isn't," Freemont agreed with a smile, backing up to give me room to leave. "I think Eric made the same decision."
"Eric definitely made the same decision," Eric said as I stepped out and closed the door behind me. "And Eric didn't forget to bring the GPS for our ride."
He gestured with the instrument he'd mentioned, showing that he certainly did have it, which made everyone smile. The everyone included Amiol and Oldon, of course, who were also waiting, so we all headed to the stairs. Oldon had taken off his day coat, which had to mean it was already dark outside.
"I'm going to borrow a phone book from Shell before we leave," Freemont commented as we moved down the stairs. "I still have that list of eating places Art gave us, but I have the definite feeling I need to do my own choosing tonight. I don't know why, but maybe we'll find out later."
No one made any attempt to argue Freemont's decision, most especially not me. If the day ever came that I doubted a feeling Freemont had, I'd know I'd gone suicidal or senile. It was perfectly clear that the rest of the team felt the same way, but when Freemont went into the kitchen Amiol stirred just a little.
"I think I need to establish a spell around this place before we leave," my dark elf teammate said, speaking mostly to me. "When we get back I'll probably want to go to bed, not find that we have to fight off another attack or three."
"Good thinking," I agreed, finally noticing that George seemed to have gone somewhere else. "What are you going to put into the spell?"
"I think it would be best if I excluded anyone who didn't belong here, as well as anyone intent on doing those of us in the house harm." Amiol seemed to be thinking out loud, testing his idea before doing it. "Can anyone find a reason for me to change those parameters?"
"New guests would find it impossible to come in, but aside from that your parameters sound fine," Oldon commented. "But I think Shell decided against taking any other roomers right now, so he shouldn't mind either."
"And you can take care of any necessary changes tomorrow, when we aren't half asleep," Eric put in with a nod of agreement. "Until then we can use all the peace and quiet we can get."
When Amiol saw my own nod of agreement, he straightened and spoke in that odd language he used for doing magic. There was a brief hint of tingling in the air, and then the hint was gone but not a feeling of … close comfort.
"Okay, we're ready now," Freemont broke the general silence when he came out of the kitchen followed by Shell. "And our host would like to know if he needs to do anything special while we're gone."
"All you have to do is relax, Shell," I told our faintly nervous-looking host. "Amiol has put a spell around the house, so you won't have to cope with any nasty visitors before we get back. Or after, we're hoping."
"That sounds great," Shell responded, the worry just about dropping away from the man. "If trouble comes again I'll be a lot more ready than I was, but not having the trouble to begin with is better than being ready. I hope you folks enjoy your meal."
We nodded to show we meant to do exactly that, and then we headed for the front door. Shell followed us and locked the door behind us, which was a good idea even if it wasn't really necessary. Or, at least, I hoped it wasn't necessary. If a stronger magic user came by… But again, it isn't smart to borrow trouble, not when you find enough of the stuff of your own.
We all got into the Explorer after I gave Eric the keys. Our teammate really enjoyed driving, especially when using the GPS, so there was no sense in denying him. He adjusted the unit, turned it on, then got the address of the restaurant from Freemont. Once the address was entered we were on our way, and it didn't take long to reach our destination.
But that doesn't mean it was just as easy to find a place to park. The restaurant we wanted was in a large mall among lots of stores, and from the number of parked cars it looked like half the city had come to shop. Eric finally found a parking space about three aisles away from the restaurant, and once we were parked and Eric and I had taken off our guns, we all got out of the Explorer and headed for the food.
The Chinese restaurant was buffet style, the way we liked it, but it turned out to be even more than we'd expected. Once we were given a table and had put in our hot tea drink orders, we discovered there was a separate buffet section for vampires. The separate section was small, but it still seemed more than just adequate.
"I don't believe this," Oldon muttered as he stared at the various choices of Whippe in their holders. "Rice flavored Whippe and pork flavored, and shrimp flavored, but what's that at the end? No! They've actually got that new stuff I wanted to taste, the Boast!"
Oldon grabbed a plate with a big grin and hurried over to choose his meal, and the rest of us chuckled as we watched him.
"I think that answers your question," Amiol murmured to Freemont as we watched. "The reason you had to check the phone book rather than Art's list, I mean."
"Yes, I definitely agree," Freemont said with heavy satisfaction in his voice and smile. "There aren't many places that have that new stuff yet, not to mention having a special section for vampires. We'll certainly have to remember this place."
"Let's make that decision after we taste what's there for us," I countered, glad that Oldon was happy but not glad enough to forget about me and the rest of the team. "If this place has food that tastes as good as it smells, I won't argue about coming here again."
The others chuckled, but it turned out that we weren't any more disappointed than Oldon. We all filled heaping plates of food, and once we emptied the plates we went back for seconds. Oldon just sat at the table eating with that big smile on his face, an expression he didn't lose even when his plate was empty.
"I'd go back for more of the Boast, but if I do I'll definitely explode," Oldon told us with a chuckle in his voice while we were working on our seconds. "The two portions I took will have to do me for a while, but I'm not sorry I ate them. It really was like eating toasted bread a little, not exactly the same but close enough to be really satisfying. And the Whippe brought back some very old but pleasant memories. Thank you, Freemont."
My partner just smiled in acknowledgment, but we all appreciated Oldon's obviously sincere comment. Oldon kind of scraped at what was left of the various Whippes while the rest of us finished our food, then he simply sat and smiled while we got small portions of that ice cream type of dessert and finished them quickly. Once we'd swallowed down the last of our tea we were ready to leave, and that was when Oldon surprised us.
"This meal is on me," he stated after taking the check before anyone else could. "You've all gone out of your way to make me feel welcome as a teammate, and Freemont went a long step beyond that. Paying for a meal is the easy way to say thank you, so please don't anyone try to argue."
At that point he glared around at us in what was probably supposed to be a ferocious way, but all the expression did was make us smile and agree. If so
meone feels they need to say thank you about something, it doesn't make sense to deny them the pleasure.
Once the bill had been paid we left the restaurant and headed for our car. I felt happily full and ready to sit down somewhere to relax for a while, but first we had to get back to the house. We were only a short distance from the car when there was a shout from behind us.
"Hey, Rogues people, wait up!" a female voice called, stopping us and making us turn to look. A girl in her early twenties was hurrying toward us wearing a backpack, with a computer case slung over her left shoulder. She was a redhead with green eyes and a trim figure, her height only an inch or two below mine.
"Thanks for waiting," she told us with a smile as she stopped a couple of feet away. "I'm Bari Lancaster, and I'd like to hire your team. Will you mind being hired?"
By now the girl was more nervous-looking than smiling as she glanced around at us, a reaction Freemont responded to immediately.
"No, Bari, we never mind being hired," my partner told her with a smile of his own. "It's just that we don't find many individuals with a rogue problem. You do understand that we're rogue hunters, right?"
"Sure," she said, her smile having returned. "But rogues come in all flavors, some of them human. There have already been two attempts to kidnap me, but since there weren't any witnesses and the ones doing the attempting disappeared before the police got there, there's nothing anyone official can do. I'm hoping it won't be the same for you folks."
We were standing in the aisle between two rows of cars as we talked, which wasn't the best of places to hold that discussion. I was about to suggest we all go somewhere else to talk, but an approaching van didn't try to go past our partial and unintentional roadblock. The van stopped right next to us on the left, and then three men in ski masks were jumping out in attack.
"Heads up!" I snapped, but the words were actually unnecessary. Freemont was stepping back with Amiol while Eric and I stepped forward, and our new acquaintance was just as prepared. The man who approached her was reaching out to grab her, but he never got the chance. Bari kicked at him twice, once in the middle to bend him over, the second time in the face to knock him down unconscious.