The Lottery--Furry

by Karen Ranney

  “… questions?”

  Marcie placed her hand on my forearm and I dragged myself back to the present, embarrassed that I hadn’t been paying any attention.

  I swear, she read my mind at that moment, because she laughed, a gentle sound accompanied by twinkling eyes.

  “I was saying that we’re here to answer any of your preliminary questions,” she said, genuine amusement in her tone. “We’ll be meeting until you leave, just to make sure that all of your questions are answered.”

  “Will I be able to read minds like you do?”

  Dan burst out laughing beside me.

  I glanced at him.

  “It’s a pain in the ass, Torrance. I can’t hide a damn thing.”

  “So you can read my mind?” I asked.

  “You might be able to,” Marcie said, without coming out and admitting that she could. “Pranic abilities affect each individual differently.”

  Well, hell. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to read someone’s mind or remain in ignorance. I decided to tackle another subject.

  “The girl who showed me the dining room was an elf. Is there really such a thing as an elf?”

  Marcie and Dan looked at each other and smiled. I’ve never been jealous of other people. Not because I was an angel and envy never occurred to me. I was having a difficult enough time living my own life to look at anyone else’s. But I was suddenly wishing I had what they had. They were both attractive people, but that wasn’t it. They had something, a current between them, an electrical charge I could feel.

  A weird place to feel desperately lonely, but there it was.

  “There are a lot more paranormal beings than just vampires and Weres and elves, aren’t there?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Marcie said, turning to me.

  “Am I going to learn about them?”

  “If you wish to know,” Dan said.

  I glanced at him again. “What are you?”

  His smile was sudden and bright. “I’m a wizard. So are our children.”

  I looked out at the people who were now sitting there quietly attentive, studying me. I had the oddest sensation that I was a specimen in a jar.

  I felt as if I stood on the edge of an abyss. This place, this castle, was a totally different existence from the one I knew. Out there, beyond the drawbridge, past the gate, was the normal world I was familiar with, one in which there were rules — Were and human — dictating behavior.

  Yet inside these walls everything was new.

  “They’re not all human, are they?”

  Several of the people began to smile. Two laughed gently, as if trying not to hurt my feelings. I looked for Mark again, but couldn’t find him. Had he left the room?

  “No,” Marcie said. “They’re here, however, to help you with the transition.”

  “I’m not sure I want to be a Were anymore,” I said. “But I don’t want to be anything else. I don’t want to be a vampire or an elf.” I shot a glance toward Dan. “Or a wizard.”

  “There are things that can be done to keep you from changing, if that’s all you want,” Marcie said.

  “I already take Waxinine,” I said.

  “There’s a spell we can use. Something that you can do for yourself every month, every full moon.”

  “A spell?” A moment later I figured out what she was saying. “Some of those people are witches.”

  “I’m part witch.”

  To the best of my knowledge I’ve never been around a witch, but then I hadn’t known any vampires in my life, either. They were as exotic to me as a New Yorker. I didn’t know anyone who lived in Manhattan or who took the subway or the train to work. Same goes for Chicago. Ever since vet school in Pennsylvania, my circle of friends had narrowed mainly to Texans. I had friends in Austin and some in San Antonio. Most of them were human.

  “So you can help me not be a Were?” I asked.

  “No. That’s not why you were selected.”

  Surprised, I stared at her.

  “The lottery isn’t designed to take away your paranormal roots, Torrance. On the contrary, we need you to be a Were to protect yourself. By being a lottery winner you might have put yourself in danger.”

  Oh, goody.

  “You billed the lottery as a way to escape the bonds and the limitations of your species.”

  “Exactly,” Dan said. “You do escape the limitations, but you don’t erase who you are. You need to be who you are to help us.”

  I think I might have misunderstood everything. I sat back in my chair and looked first at Marcie then at Dan.

  “Okay, tell me.”

  The story I heard pushed me right off the edge and into the abyss.

  Once upon a time, there was an old, powerful vampire. A woman with witch blood became his lover. She had a child, which shouldn’t have happened, since vampires can’t sire children. Nor should the child have lived, because of the combination of witch and vampire blood. But the child, who was Marcie, survived and was watched with interest by those who knew of her parentage.

  In her early thirties, she succumbed to the attention of a handsome vampire. When she woke, she’d been turned into a vampire, but she was different, unusual, and special, especially to other vampires.

  She could walk in the sun. She could eat anything she wanted - blood make her physically sick. Most importantly, she could bear children.

  According to vampires, she was the bridge they’d always sought, the myth that had existed since they’d first become vampires. Her blood could give them what they wanted: immortal life without conditions.

  Marcie realized that the vampires would never leave her alone once they’d learned of her powers. Although she’d developed her witch skills, she was still vulnerable. Once her child was born, she and Dan developed a plan to protect her and their family.

  They would build themselves an army of supporters, people who were, in one way or another, closely related to Marcie by her blood.

  Each person they selected in the lottery would be affected differently by a transfusion. A vampire might acquire the same traits that Marcie had, the ability to walk into the sun, to eat something other than blood, to have a child. An elf might develop the capacity to hear thoughts or teleport. It all depended on the species and their natural, inherent traits as well as the strengths of each individual.

  “So I’ll become a super Were,” I said.

  My culture would never accept that. There was no such thing as a female alpha Were. When I said as much to Marcie, she nodded, her eyes sparkling.

  “But what if you could return to your clan with the ability to hear thoughts? Or to levitate objects? Or be as strong as a male?”

  I thought about that for a moment. As a female, I didn’t have many advantages. To suddenly possess a few abilities that no one knew about was an interesting thought.

  “What happens if I get the transfusion and nothing changes?”

  “That’s never happened,” Marcie said. “I suppose there’s always a first time, however. We won’t know after three days,” she said. “It sometimes takes awhile for your new traits to appear.”

  “So you really don’t know what is going to happen?”

  When she nodded, I realized that I could walk away right now and return to the life I’d known. It wasn’t a bad life. I couldn’t change the society into which I’d been born, so it was either accept their rules or live alone.

  I’d been willing to come out here and consider having my Furriness stripped from me. I’d anticipated returning to San Antonio a plain old human being, with no yearning to change at a full moon, no danger of taking a strong drug. Instead, I was offered the lure of something completely different.

  I confess that I was intrigued.

  “There’s a possibility we might go to war,” Dan said, startling me. “We’ve made Marcie’s blood available to those groups who wish to experiment. However, there are still factions in the vampire community who want to drain her dry, keep her as their own per
sonal cow.”

  He looked over at his wife. If I hadn’t been sitting between them, I knew he would’ve reached over and touched Marcie in some way, either given her a hug or maybe a kiss. I decidedly felt like a third wheel.

  “If that day comes, then we’re prepared to fight,” Dan added. “At that time, we’ll ask all the lottery winners to come and stay at the castle.”

  “You would be blood of my blood,” Marcie said. “You and I would, for all intents and purposes, be related. You would be part of my family. If I needed your help, you’d respond.”

  I glanced at Marcie. She was smiling at her husband, and the look in her eyes revealed just how much she loved Dan. I wondered if I would ever love anyone the same way. I doubt it would be a Were, especially someone who could take a concubine simply by showing his bank balance. Yet Weres didn’t take permanent mates outside their species. So I was doomed to remain alone for the rest of my life.

  I imagined what I would be like at a hundred years old, creaking along in a walker, turning into an arthritic crone of a Were every full moon, lecturing my great nieces and great nephews about what life was like when I’d been their age.

  Good God, no. I’d much rather be a super secret Were.

  I had an idea, one that made more sense the longer I thought about it.

  “That’s why you chose me,” I said. “It isn’t a lottery by chance, is it? You don’t care that I’m a Were. It’s because I’m a vet.”

  Both of them nodded. I looked out at the crowd of people, some of whom were smiling approvingly at me.

  “So who were the other lottery winners?” Before they spoke I held up my hand. “I don’t want to know their names, but what are their occupations?”

  “We have a doctor,” Dan said. “Plus a lawyer, an accountant, two nurses, four teachers, a mathematician, and an assortment of mechanical engineers, and various IT professionals.”

  I didn’t have a damn thing to say to that. Evidently, their plans were detailed and fully operational.

  “I don’t understand why you would offer blood to vampires if you’re so afraid of them,” I said.

  “We’re not afraid of every vampire,” Marcie replied. “Just one in particular, and his followers.” She glanced at Dan, then at me. “Have you ever heard of Niccolo Maddock?”

  I shook my head.

  “He owns several companies, all of them geared toward vampires, but we think he’d like to corner the market on Marcie’s blood and offer it to the highest bidder. That’s why vampires that have won the lottery never divulge that they’ve done so.”

  I sat there thinking for a minute or two.

  “Couldn’t he just milk one of them?”

  Dan smiled. “He could and he probably would, if he knew about their existence. We’re careful in those we choose. But Marcie is the river’s head, so to speak.”

  “Why get two percent when you can get cream?” I said.

  Marcie laughed. “Exactly. We’re not going to ask you to make your decision tonight,” she added. “But I have to warn you that if you don’t choose to accept the transfusion, we’ll wipe your memory clean. You won’t remember coming to the castle or even winning the lottery.”

  “I don’t like the idea of anybody messing with my mind,” I said.

  “It’s nothing invasive,” Marcie said. “It’s merely a spell, but it does work.”

  I nodded, understanding the need for secrecy if they were worried about going to war.

  I hoped that Joey’s promise was a good one and that he wouldn’t tell anyone where I was or why I was here. Thinking about Joey brought up another question.

  I realized I hadn’t acted on the OTHER information. I’d set it aside — or worse — abdicated any responsibility for finding out what was going on. I’d expected one of the males in my life to handle it. I’d behaved just like a submissive female Furry, damn it.

  “You said something about giving blood to various organizations so that they can study Marcie. Was one of them the OTHER?”

  I’d never actually seen anybody go from animated to frozen like Dan and Marcie.

  “What did I say?”

  “What do you know about the OTHER?” Dan asked.

  “I think they’re experimenting on werewolves,” I said. I was taking a leap of faith, but I decided to tell them about Joey. “I think they’re trying to make Weres into something else.”

  When I finished, both of them shook their heads.

  “They don’t do things like that,” Dan said. “Their mission is to make everyone the same.”

  “The same?”

  Dan nodded. “They want humans to have all the advantages any other paranormal does. Everyone would have exactly the same skills and abilities.”

  “How do they think that would work?”

  “I’ve come to believe it can’t,” Dan said. “Then their secondary motivation comes into play. If humans can’t have all the advantages of paranormal life, then they want to eradicate everything that isn’t purely human.”

  The room was eerily quiet.

  “So they don’t want to alter what a Were changes into,” I said. “They want to kill the Were.”

  Marcie nodded. “Exactly. Or the vampire. Or the elf. You name it, if they can’t master its powers, they’ll destroy it.”

  “I take it you’ve had some dealings with them in the past?”

  Marcie nodded. “If we’re ever besieged and it isn’t by vampires, it will be by the OTHER.”

  Well, hell.

  I ran through everything Joey had told me and the entire conversation he and Craig had, with me as witness. An idea occurred to me, one so implausible that I couldn’t accept it at first.

  “If you don’t mind, would it be all right if I went back to my room?”

  I reassured them that I was fine, just tired. I thanked them again for dinner and the conversation.

  “We’ll see you at breakfast,” Marcie said. “You can give us your answer then.”

  “I’ll do it,” I said. “I don’t need the night to think about it.”

  They both stood one on either side of me. I didn’t feel like they were blocking me as much as they were supporting me. If we’d known each other better, I don’t doubt they would’ve wrapped their arms around me.

  I know Marcie either heard my thoughts or felt what I was feeling because her eyes filled with compassion.

  I had to get out of there before I did something even more embarrassing than sneakers with my little black dress. Something like bursting into tears in front of a group of strangers.

  Chapter Twenty

  I was in deep doodoo

  The bed in the room I’d been given was heavenly, cushy and soft. I could smell roses everywhere, but that might have been because I took another bath, this one to relax myself, and I used more rose gel, rose bath salts, and rose powder.

  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right?

  Despite my comfy pajamas and the great bed I couldn’t sleep. I was on a teeter totter of emotions. Up for angry, down for depressed. Up, down, up, down.

  I couldn’t get that odd idea out of my head. I hoped I was wrong. I really did. It would mean that I had people at my practice willing to hurt me as well as Craig and Joey.

  If it hadn’t been too late I would have called my mother. She was a great believer in experiencing joy in small things, living with a song in her heart, and seeing only the good in people. I needed a super sized shot of positivity right now.

  At three o’clock my phone rang. Although the number wasn’t in my contacts I answered. Anything but hear the tenor of my own thoughts.

  “I know you’re troubled and can’t sleep,” Marcie said. “We have a courtyard in the middle of the castle. It’s very peaceful, especially at this time of the morning.”

  She gave me the directions but before she hung up, I asked her something.

  “Do you hear my thoughts or are you an empath?”

  “A little of both,” she said. “
Go and walk in the courtyard. It’ll clear your head and take your mind from your thoughts.”

  I got dressed in jeans and a stretchy top, finger combed my hair, but didn’t bother with makeup. Anyone up at three in the morning shouldn’t be concerned about what I looked like. I wasn’t.

  I found the elevator, just where Marcie said it would be, hidden behind an engraved panel. I pushed the button for the right level and once I found the door, entered the password.

  I’d thought the castle was large when I approached it and the courtyard was proof. I could barely see from one wing to another because of all the vegetation. Plus, there looked to be a gazebo in one area and a stage in another. I tilted my head back to see the pre-dawn sky, realizing that drones were patrolling above me.

  My mother was good at growing things. So was my sister. Me? I’d had a great vegetable garden in Austin, but hadn’t done anything once I returned home.

  Banana trees and what looked to be an entire grove of fruit trees, including avocados, apples, and pears occupied one quadrant of the courtyard. I strode up one path and down the next, realizing that in addition to being pretty, there was a practical reason for all these trees. The inhabitants of the castle were growing their own food. I wouldn’t be the least surprised to find a corral of cows and sheep and chickens somewhere.

  I stepped into another area, this one not practical as much as pretty. Everything from daffodils to daisies to roses were blossoming along the paths. I loved the varied fragrance, colors, and shape of the flowers.

  “Can’t sleep?”

  I’d only heard him speak once, and then only one word, but when I turned, I knew it was Mark. His voice was deep and rich, something that matched his appearance perfectly.

  “Did they wake you up to have you follow me?”

  He smiled lightly. “I’m afraid it’s a little bit of the chicken and the egg,” he said. “I haven’t been able to sleep very well lately.”