As Thanatos, Stefan, and I lay back under a tree in the Elysian Fields, Stefan scowled. “There’s a chick! Reminds me of what I was. Even did the train thing, but was a bit more successful than I.”
Thanatos shivered. “Ewwwww! End result looks like something that had gone through a food processor. She doesn’t remind me of what you were. Alarica Wehr is a lot meaner, and more hostile. Also more dangerous, being quite an accomplished street fighter! And she’s got a few centimetres on what you had when you were mere mortal flotsam, as you like to call ‘em these days, and though you may have had a better strength-weight ratio, this ‘chick’ could easily have clobbered you. Something like that with a ‘nothing-left-to-lose’ attitude is not something you want within ten kilometres of you.
“She’s got a Hell of a neat name for a Kraut,” said Stefan. “Love the feminised version of my almost Visigoth hero, and she’s also hot.”
I laughed. “As if you’d do anything with her.”
“Not these days, but...she doesn’t have anybody.”
“She’s more anti-social than even you, Stef,” I said.
“She got hurt more than me, too,” said Stefan.
Thanatos cocked his head. “This is true, but for you to meet her would be not good. Not for you, not for her. You’re projecting things on her that just aren’t. You two do have a few things in common, but Alarica is so extreme. You see that. She’d try to bash your head in the first chance she got. Or your beloved nose, even! After all, it does make an excellent target that’s harder to miss than the broad side of a barn.
“Ohhhhhh, all these compliments! Does this mean you’ll take her?”
Thanatos laughed. “You know, I don’t dare do it alone. Not even I’m a match for that bitch. Not unless I was willing to injure her in illusion, which I’m not.”
Stefan asked dejectedly, “So you’re dropping her?”
Thanatos smiled. “No. Donn, are you crazy enough to help me?”
“Do I want to?”
“She likes animals.”
I chuckled. “Well, Hesper is how I won Stef over in his...uh...her Zanna days. Was that a hint?”
“Indeed it was, and I’ll take that as a yes,” said Thanatos. “Let’s go. I know just what to do, and I know just the setting to do it in. She’s in a little suburban town that’s bordering a more rural ‘hood, and there’s a huge plot of land with a mansion, pool with pool house, vast garden, and the ruins of the no longer in use stables in back on the border. That’s where we live; only we’ll have the stables fixed up in the illusion. We can ask Macha, Sylvia and Warren to pretend they’re our servants.”
“Not me?” asked Stefan.
“Don’t want you anywhere near her. You just watch,” said Thanatos. He looked at me. “Donn?”
“How shall I dress?”
Thanatos cocked his head. “Rich Goth biker. Let’s have some fun!”
I raised my eyebrows. “Fun?”
“Oh, aye! We’re supposed tae (to) fix thes (this) haggersnash’s ‘tude, tay (too). Ya ken?”
Those raised eyebrows turned into a scowl. “Hopefully not in Scottish.”
“Naaaaah. Jist messin’ wi’ ya, Vergil.”
I smiled. “Aw (all) richt (right)! Let’s gae (go) then, Keith.”
After we recruited Macha, Sylvia and Warren.
*****
Time trip back to minutes before her ‘death’! Alarica was out on bail on borrowed money, and due for a court date. Her victim would recover fully with Alarica having done serious, though not permanent damage, but it didn’t look good for her. She was laying on the railroad tracks on an overpass in a foetal position, covered by plastic garbage bags in the wee hours of the morn’. In a parallel illusion of Alarica’s state in her ‘kidnapped’ mind, ‘Keith’ and I appeared on opposite sides of the track from out of ‘nowhere’, not having wanted to make any noise, and we dropped a tight knit soft nylon net over her, tied her up in it, and actually hooked it to a pole which we picked up, to leave her dangling. “Got ‘er?” asked Thanatos.
“Totally,” I replied.
Oh, Alarica screamed bloody murder. She came up with worse epithets than Stefan had for the reviled ‘incubator thing’ Stefan had used to get to Earth to live ‘it’s’ (HER!!!) last life, which Stefan was now more joking about than actually feeling as far as the sheer hatred went, but... “You fuckin’ cowards! Let me outta here and face me like men in a fair fight, you mother fuckin’ cunts...” and stuff like that came out of her mouth, which was as expected.
After we got to the road, and to the car, I asked, “What do we do with her?”
“Throw ‘er in the trunk.” He telepathically sent to me, ‘If there’s anybody who more deserves to be threatened with being put on the menu as a main course...’
‘That’s Stefan’s forte. I’d rather not go there. Gods, I can’t hear myself think over her hollering.’
‘Neither can I.’
We put her on the ground, unhooked the pole, Thanatos...uh…I mean Keith unlocked the trunk, hoisted her in, and slammed it shut. He de-manifested the pole, we got in, and drove to the illusory version of the Earthly mansion. The ride took about fifteen minutes, and our cargo didn’t shut up for more than five seconds at a stretch. I kind of wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have taken this job, but this wasn’t the first time that thought occurred to me during an assignment, and it wouldn’t be the last. I haven’t had any regrets yet, and hopefully it would stay like that.
We parked the car in front of the stables, Keith re-manifested the pole, opened the trunk, he hooked the net up on it again, and we hoisted her out of the car. She had worked the plastic bags off of herself, and we could now see each other. She was a tall, well-built blonde, whom you did not want to mess with. Her build was kind of on the stocky side, and there was no mistaking a bit of that was muscle. Later, I would find she was a wee taller than I, by about a centimetre.
When she saw us, she did a double take, and may actually have shut up for about ten seconds. It was a record for period of silence, for now. Keith’s glowing red eyes caught her attention, but she didn’t say anything about that. “LET ME OUTTA HERE, AND LET ME AT YOU ASSHOLES,” she screamed.
“Have you ever met such a genteel lady?” Keith asked me.
“I’LL GIVE YOU GENTEEL LADY YOU PUSSY-ASSED PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!”
‘Pussy-assed’. I’d have to remember that one. It was such a...um...how shall I say it? ‘Appropriate’ term for some occasions?
“No!” I said looking at Keith, as we carried her to the stables, with her screaming all the way.
We hung her up, and started to walk out.
“I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Keith looked at her. “Fine. Go! We’ll hose down the floor...and YOU, at daybreak after we get up...and maybe even before breakfast.”
“WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE?!!!!!! WHY THE FUCKIN' HELL AM I HERE?!!!!! WHY DIDN’T YOU FUCKIN’ LEAVE ME ON THE TRACKS?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Couldn’t let you kill yourself. The train was coming. In another few minutes you would have been a goner,” I said in my best gay accent.
“THAT WAS THE IDEA, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF GARBAGE!!!!!! LET ME DOWN AND LET ME GO, AND I MAY EVEN LET YOU LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I looked at Keith, then at her. I pointed at her. “Can you believe she just said that?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure I have a choice, though it is rather difficult.” He looked at her, and scanned her mind. He found her favourite food. “Let’s go in and finish that dinner. Macha said she was making some creamed salmon tonight.” Heh-heh-heh. Not that we’d eat fish, but it was something to antagonise her with. She’d only had it twice in her life, and she’d remembered it well.
She didn’t say anything. “GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
At this point, Keith and I walked out the door.
*****
“How long before we go back?” I asked.
“Twenty minutes, at most. I gave Gil a signal to go to her.”
I closed my eyes, smiled, and nodded.
*****
Gilgamesh walked over to Alarica, and nosed her. She immediately calmed down, as the stallion whickered. She saw his glowing red eyes. Same as one of the bastards who hung her up, here! Hung out to dry in a net, in a barn! Wonderful. How absolutely humiliating! Someone was gonna pay for this! One way or another, someone was gonna die!!!!!!!!! But it wasn’t this horse. This beautiful white horse that seemed so interested in her.
“Wish you could get me down from here,” said Alarica.
Gilgamesh snorted, in response.
“Can you?”
He backed away from her, and actually sat down like a dog or cat, and turned his head to look as inquisitive as possible.
Alarica laughed. “You’re funny, horsey. You’re also beautiful.”
Hesper then came out of the shadows, also walked to Alarica, nosed her, and then walked over to Gil. He whinnied softly, and Gilgamesh answered. They made various noises at each other, and it seemed they were having an actual conversation, not that this was possible, but hey! People can be led to believe anything.
It was more like ten minutes, when we walked back to the stable. Keith walked up to Alarica and asked, “OK, can we get you down now and introduce ourselves in a more civilised setting like the dining room of the house without you attacking us with every implement available, or are we going to have to leave you hanging up here until you come to your senses?”
“I have a choice?” Damn, these guys were cute! Alarica liked the way we dressed, too. The leather pants, jackets, and biker boots? Oh, and what accents! Scottish, or Irish? Whatever.
“You do,” said Keith.
“Nice horses. They yours?”
“More like we’re theirs,” I said. “So can we get you down so you can explain why you were waiting to get run over by Amtrak?”
“Beats going to jail for a long time,” she said.
Keith walked up to her, unhooked the net, and gently lowered her to the ground. He unfastened it, and let her out. She weighed close to 73 kilogrammes, so she was no lightweight, but Keith did it easily, showing off that he wasn’t to be messed with, either. “Shall I ask?”
She stood up. “I beat the crap out of some guy who deserved it. He threatened me. I punched him in the face, and went at ‘im before he could recover. That’s how you win a fight. Don’t let up until they’re down and out. Then give ‘em a few kicks for good measure. Man, and I didn’t even break anything. I should have busted ‘is kneecaps, at least.”
“Well, we are not threatening you, but if you attack us we will respond in kind, and you are outnumbered, and outgunned,” said Keith. He stepped back, did a roundhouse kick in the air, and said, “I’m combat trained in hand to hand, and various weapons, so don’t even think about it, OK?”
“OK,” she said, trying not to sound impressed. We started walking to the house. “What’s with your eyes, and the eyes of the white horse?”
“Personal vanity,” said Keith. “It didn’t hurt me, I can see in the dark this way, and I had the same done for Gilgamesh. My equine friend! What if we can keep you out of jail?”
“Can’t be done this time. I’ve got a record, and I really let Joey have it. My temper is pretty bad, and I don’t take kindly when people fuck with me. I’ve been in jail before, and I don’t like it. Only for a month or two at a time, but this time I’m lookin’ at years, and that just don’t do me.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Keith.
“Unless you know of one Hell of a good lawyer which I can’t afford, I don’t think so.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” said Keith as we went up the walkway to the back door.
“Dinner should be on the table when we get in,” I said.
“I really do have to use the bathroom, though.”
Keith opened the unlocked door. “Down the hall, second door to the right. It will be open.”
“OK.” Alarica was astounded by what she saw. She had never been in a house remotely this wealthy. She herself was of a lower middleclass background, and associated with those of the lower economic strata, still.
We waited for her where we left her, and led her to the dining room after she got back to us. “Wow!” she exclaimed.
“Creamed salmon, spinach soufflé, and mashed potatoes for you, and instead of the salmon, we have bean curd and forest mushrooms for us because we’re vegetarian,” I said. “The orange drink in the pitcher is a passion fruit smoothie.”
“I never had that, but it sounds good,” said Alarica. “By the way, I’m Alarica Wehr.”
“I’m Keith Munster, that’s Vergil Xanon, and as for our household help; the redhead is Macha, the blonde is Sylvia, and the dude is Warren. You’ll meet them later, no doubt.”
“You have servants?” asked Alarica.
“I don’t know if we’d call them that, but sort of,” I said. “We all do stuff to keep the place up. It’s just too big for the two of us.”
“Are you two related? You look alike,” said Alarica
“No. Vergil was born like that. I wasn’t,” said Keith.
“I see. Are you two boy friends?”
“At least,” I said. “My love of eternity.”
“Must be nice to have someone like that.”
“It is,” I said. “Do you have anyone?”
“No. Never. Sometimes I thought I might for a little while, but it never worked. I’m not sure I even want to go there anymore. Seems like a waste of time.”
I looked at Keith. “Remind you of anyone?”
He laughed. “Indeed.”
“Huh?” asked Alarica.
“A friend of ours. You have a couple of things in common,” said Keith.
“Is it a girl?” she asked.
Keith looked at me, and scowled. “How in the Hell do I answer that?”
Alarica laughed. “What?”
Keith shrugged. “Some of us don’t really fit into a gender-type category. How’s about you read Vergil’s biography in a bit, when we think you can handle it. It explains everything.”
I just put my fork down, and crossed my arms. “Stephanie was a girl.”
“Was! OK. I think I understand.” She bit into the mashed potatoes. “These are soooo good. Soooo creamy.”
“Ton’s of cream, tons of butter, tons of garlic, and a good whipping. That’s the way we like it,” I said.
“You guys are cool, but you know the minute I get our of here I’m still going to kill myself.”
I picked up my fork. “What if we can make that unnecessary?”
“How? Can you get me a really good lawyer?”
I raised my glass of passion fruit smoothie to her. “We can do better than that, but let’s wait until another day. After we finish this dinner, let’s go to bed, and tomorrow we can go for a ride in the back on the equines.”
“I’ve never been on a horse. That sounds great.”
“You’ll be riding a pony the size of the palomino you saw,” I said. “You’re gonna be as sore a Hell after you get off, but you’ll get used to it.”
“I’ll get used to it? How long am I staying here?”
“As long as you need to, and as long as you want,” said Keith.
“But why? Why did you bring me here? How did you even find me on the tracks?”
“Some times things just work out one way or another.”
“And what do you guys want? Nobody does anything for nothing.”
“Just a promise that you won’t kill yourself while you’re with us,” said Keith. “Your room will be second floor, all the way to the end, and to the right. It has it’s own bathroom.”
“How rich are you guys?”
I shrugged. “We don’t know, and we don’t care. We don’t have to care.”
“What do you guys do?”
“Artists in several fields. For a living, we’re both counsellors,” I said. It wasn’t a lie.
“You two look so young.”
“Amazing how well you can retain your looks when you take care of yourself,” I said.
“I guess so.” She had some of her smoothie. “This is excellent.”
“Glad you like it,” I said. “You’re just a little bigger than me, and I think I have some clothes you can borrow for the time you’re here if you don’t mind men’s underwear. They’ll be outside your door in the morning.”
She chuckled. “I guess I can live with it for a little while.”
*****
After Alarica went to bed, Keith and I went to the side balcony. “Luxury never fails to win anyone over, it seems. We do this again, and again,” I said.
“You always took it for granted when it was there, but it’s true you didn’t care if you were at one of your father’s cottages or at Bri Leith. It didn’t matter if you were in a bed or on a pallet, as long as it was warm. Hey! You slept with Hesper in the barn or stables on more than one occasion.”
I snorted. “I beat listening to my parents fight. I’m just glad he was willing to lay down when I requested it.”
“You know equines are affection mongers. They love attention as much as cats, canines, and all the rest.”
“How can I not have noticed? Gods, I adore that pony as much as ever. How long do you think we should wait until we tell Alarica that she’s dead to the world?”
“I don’t think it’ll be that long. Let’s see how she reacts tomorrow to all that’s happened to her. Being dragged here in the trunk of the car after being netted, and hung from the rafters for about ten minutes? She’s a proud one, but let’s be sure our later treatment of her made up for what we put her through.”
I embraced him. “You could help things along with a little dream manipulation, lover. She really digs you.”
“So I could, not that she’s getting in bed with me. I wonder if I should give her a replay of some of the sparring matches I had with Macha?”
“You could do that. She’d probably think that was very cool.”
“No doubt.”
*****
Oh why couldn’t she have met these guys years ago, thought Alarica. They were so much nicer than anyone she’d ever met before, despite what they did to get her here. Then again, there was no way she would have come voluntarily. She would have fought, though from the looks of Keith, she would have lost big time. She didn’t know how that would have ended, but she was glad it didn’t happen.
Still, what in the Hell was their motive for bringing her here? In Alarica’s past, there was no altruism for the sake of altruism. Everything had strings attached. It was the only thing she knew. What was it they could possibly want of her?
She knew she was pretty, but there was no sexual tension of any kind. Then again, she wondered if they weren’t prettier than she was. It was so strange how much alike they looked, except for Keith being a lot taller, and as white a snow. ‘Kayth’. She liked how he pronounced it. His eyes were awesome, and so was his horse. And the graceful way he moved! Ooh-la-la!
She couldn’t wait to go riding tomorrow. Horses were such pretty animals, but all Alarica had ever been able to do was pet someone else’s horse or pony on those rare occasions when she was on a rural road, and someone had animals on the other side of the fence. She used to like westerns, and she used to daydream about what it would be like to ride, but her parents said it cost too much, so no go. She’d never even been on a merry-go-round horse. In fact, she’d never even been to a fair. It sucked being poor.
Alarica sure didn’t feel deprived tonight. Luxurious bathroom, canopy bed, of course the standard satin sheets. Electric blanket! What a concept! Stay as long as she wanted to? Could she skip bail? After all, who knew she was here?
She couldn’t go out anymore, unless she wanted to risk being spotted and arrested on the spot. This was a gilded cage she didn’t mind, though. And her first meal here was something she’d only been dreaming she would ever have again for the longest time.
And speaking of dreams! She dreamt of the lovely Keith. He was fighting a red haired woman who was as tall as he was, and she was whipping his butt. Neither of them was in street clothes, and they fought with swords. The lady was in a shredded leather jerkin and boots, and Keith was in a loincloth and boots. The lady was a maniac, and Keith was calm and controlled. It was a very long dream, and she wouldn’t forget it.
*****
In the morning when Alarica woke up, she found a set of clothes hanging from the knob outside of her door, like I’d said. They would have been a little loose on me, but they fit her well. How nice.
When she came down to breakfast, she’d find five people at the table. There was Keith, me, a beautiful blonde woman, a really cute young brown haired man, and…the woman she dreamt was fighting Keith. Alarica did another double take. Her lower jaw dropped, in surprise. Keith said, “Good morning to you. You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Alarica scowled. “I dreamed of both of you,” she said, pointing to Keith, then Macha. She looked at Macha. “I never met you.”
Macha smiled. “I’m Macha. The other two are Sylvia and Warren. I’m pleased to meet you, Alarica. Help yourself to anything on the table. We thought you’d never come down.”
Alarica smiled. “I’m pleased to meet all of you, too.” She looked over the table. There was a bowl with a mixed vegetable and mushroom omelette, various fruit scones which she’d never heard of, raspberry and cream crepes which were alien to her, and one plate with two sausages.
“I heard you’re not vegetarian, so I made you two sausages,” said Warren.
Alarica said, “I’m not, and thank you.” She took them both, and filled her plate with a little of everything else.
I was sitting next to her, and I poured her some tea. “Darjeeling with cream, no sugar. That, you can add yourself if you want any.”
She had a sip. “I don’t think so. This is good like it is. It’s way better than the stuff we drink at home. Lipton pekoe.”
“Swill water, as far as I’m concerned,” said Sylvia.
“You’re accents. Irish or Scottish?” asked Alarica.
“Irish,” said Keith. “We’ve been living together so long, everybody kind of ended up with it. Warren’s English, Sylvia is American.”
Alarica nodded, and smiled. “Nice.”
I poured her some orange juice. “This is fresh. We prefer unpasturised.”
“Thank you.” Damn, these people were wonderful. It was also the best orange juice she could remember having ever tasted. “I really appreciate your hospitality.”
I raised my glass to her. “And we appreciate your company.” It seemed the thing to say.
*****
Only Keith and I would ride with Alarica this time. Keith saddled Shiva up for her. “Never kick this pony, and only touch the reigns to his neck to turn him. If you handle him rough, you will end up on the ground. He’s very sensitive, and is only used to the gentlest handling. If you want him to go faster, click your tongue to the roof of your mouth.”
“OK. No bit, huh?”
“It’s not necessary. A good horse that is your friend will want to do things for you. We spoil them, and make sure we provide as little discomfort as possible. Note how small and light the saddles are. We had them custom made,” said Keith.
“She can just let Shiva have a loose reign. He’ll follow us,” I said.
“Sure,” said Keith. “You do that, Alarica. Just hold onto the front of the saddle.”
“Can we run them?”
“When we’re on level ground, I don’t see why not,” said Keith.
Alarica was thrilled to hear that. “Thank you for this, but I still have no idea why I’m here.”
“You needed help, and why not provide it?” I asked.
“You always carry a net and a pole in the back of your car?” asked Alarica. Good question, ‘dude’! Thank the gods for Keith.
“We had to deal with a wild pig a couple of weeks ago, and we took him further back into the hills. I guess his daddy just kicked him out of the herd for starting to be interested in the ladies.” Keith smiled. “Not that we took him back in the trunk. We used a cage, and the truck.”
The explanation satisfied Alarica. “How convenient, huh?”
“Almost beyond coincidence,” I said. I struggled not to laugh at the ‘private joke’.
“Almost,” said Keith with a sardonic smile.
*****
Alarica forgot about everything on the ride, except for how much fun she was having. She forgot her less than pleasant childhood, her crappy embattled life, and the fact she was now a wanted woman on the run who would have every intention of jumping bail. It was so nice out here. The property seemed to go on forever, and most of the ride was under a pretty, tree-covered trail. “Is this land all yours?”
“Everything we’ve been on, yes,” I said.
“I didn’t know this went back this far. I thought there was a road closer to East Avenue.”
“We didn’t ride in a straight line,” I said. “We have a lot of land back here.”
“Property taxes must be a bitch,” said Alarica.
“They’re no problem for us,” said Keith.
Reality then hit her. “What’s going to happen after I leave here?”
“That’s your decision. When you leave is your decision, too. You know, we could use help with the landscaping,” I said.
“Never done it. Only thing I ever did was work at McDonald’s for about two months. I couldn’t stand it. The customers were stupid, and I got myself fired when a guy made a pass at me.”
“Stef is gonna love you,” I said with a chuckle.
“Is he cute? Assuming he is now a he?”
“Yes to both, but he’s not available,” I said, seeing right through her question.
Alarica shrugged. “No biggie. I don’t get along with anyone, anyway.”
“You get along fine with us,” said Keith.
“And we didn’t even get off to a good start,” I said.
Alarica laughed. “Oh man! No, netting me and hanging me up in the barn for a while was not a good start, I wanted to kill you both, but I guess it seemed to work.”
I smiled. “We’ve never done anything like that before, I must admit.”
“But you’d hire me and train me?”
“I don’t see why not. It is better than working at a burger joint,” said Keith. “You go at your own pace, it’s peaceful, quiet, you get free room and board, and a salary. It takes less than twenty hours a week, and don’t work on rainy days. We’d pay you cash, too. No taxes,” I said.
“But what about the cops?” she asked.
“No need to worry about them,” said Keith. He looked at me. “Vergil, lets go back home, and end this. There’s no need to draw this out. We might as well put Alarica’s head at ease.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
Keith rode to her side, and ruffled her hair. “Everything is all right. Right as rain, they used to say. The cops can’t touch you, with us. Trust me. Do you like to read?”
“Not really. I’m kind of slow. I didn’t do too good in school. I hated it, and thought it was a waste of time.”
We already knew that, but it was a good idea to ask. “Fine. I can read it.” Said Keith.
“It’s been a while since I reviewed it. I’d like to listen in on it, too,” I said.
“I’ll ask the other three if they want in on this, and we can have a reading party in the living room,” said Keith. “Tea and cookies too?”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Alarica said, “That does sound like fun. Did you guys ever do what you did for me, for anybody else?”
“Sort of. Not exactly like you, but we have taken people out of unpleasant circumstances, or pending unpleasant circumstances. Warren is still with us from a long time ago,” said Keith.
“What happened to him?”
Keith turned Gilgamesh, and said, “You’ll find out in a couple of days. Let’s go back now.”
“OK.”
*****
“First off, don’t freak. Everything is as it’s supposed to be, and you will not be hurt in any way. We are what we are, and that’s just simply it. Yes, this story is true, regardless of how outlandish it sounds,” said Keith. He held the series in three velvet covered, silver gilt volumes. The middle volume was real thin, and the last one was real thick. They each contained five sections of the story set.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but those are pretty. Can I see one?” asked Alarica.
Keith handed her the first one. “Here.”
“Xanon Chronicles, huh?” She looked at me. “This is nice. Biography?”
“Auto-biography,” I said.
“You’ll find out about Stefan, too,” said Keith. He then pointed at the fireplace, and it lit spontaneously. A plate of cookies, five empty cups, and a steaming kettle suddenly appeared on the coffee table.
Alarica jumped. “How did you do that?”
“It’s no big deal. You can do it too, after we teach you how. I’m just proving that this isn’t a fictional story,” said Keith.
The stunned Alarica sat back. “OK.”
Keith gently took the book back. He smiled at her. “Just remember that we have everything we could possibly need, want, have no vested interest in you in any way except to help you get to where you’re going, and if we’d wanted to hurt you; which we don’t, you would have already been a goner.”
Alarica closed her eyes, and nodded. “I see.”
*****
Keith had the rapt attention of all five of us as he read all fifteen volumes straight through. Not needing any sleep, and being we still found the story rather interesting, it was no problem.
Alarica ended up really admiring Macha, before Keith was done with the first story, and she fell in love with the whole lot of us. After it was over, she asked, “Does this mean that I did get myself run over by the train, and you just didn’t let me know about it?”
“Indeed it does,” said Keith.
“And I can actually work with you if I want to, as Gate Keepers?”
Keith chuckled. “Your attitude has to change a bit, first. Can’t have you as you are, but it is a possibility if it’s something you really take to. I’m not sure you’re cut out for it, though. Not that this means you can’t stay with us. You’d just do other things more suited to you. Stuff you take to, naturally.”
“That sounds great,” she said. “So when can I meet everyone else? I can’t wait to see Deliah.”
A large, sabre fanged black cat then walked into the room. He jumped up to where Alarica was sitting, carefully placing his paws at her sides, and being sure not to put any of his weight on her. He sent her, ‘You want to meet Deliah before MEEEEEEEEEEEE????? What in the fuck is wrong with you, DUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!’
Alarica laughed, and hugged the cat. “I’m sorry, Percy. I was just so focused on my own species, I forgot about the most precious household member of all.”
Percy rubbed his cheek gently against hers. ‘It’s OK. You know how I am. Welcome on board, kiddo.’
Alarica looked at Keith. “Thank you, and the rest of you taking me on. I never could have dreamed anything this good could have happened to me.”
Keith, or shall I say Thanatos...raised his teacup to her. “Existence is never what you expect in the world, is it?”
Alaric raised her cup back. “Apparently not.”
*****
Man, and not one joke about Alerica havin’ been on the right or wrong track! Tsk, tsk! What hath become of me? Maybe I should have brought Stefan along.
Or maybe not!
No comments:
Post a Comment