Page 15 of Brad

“They look a great deal alike. Identical twins as a matter of fact.” He thought about what Mitsy had said about them being so different that if they married their husbands wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. He told Becka that. “I think that I could tell them apart if I had to. But it would be hard. Especially if they didn’t speak. They’re hard. Not just on men, like you said, but about themselves too. Also, and this is going to sound strange, but I think they’re harder on themselves more than they are their father and four uncles. Who I’ve met, by the way.”

“So have I. Just before the helicopter went overhead and to the field, the men were in the grocery store where I was picking up a couple of things. To be honest with you, I didn’t even hear it go over it was so loud in the store. They were arguing with Mr. Kinkade about how much milk had gone up in the last fifteen years. Fifteen years. Like everything hasn’t gone up over that period of time. Moron. Then they all four stiffened up and ran out of the place like it was on fire.” He asked what she thought of it. “It said Army on the bottom of the helicopter so I just assumed that it was out on drills around here. I didn’t know that it was going to land as soon as it was out of town.”

“Did the Brandon men cause any trouble before they went to the house? I’m hoping that they’ll behave themselves over the next week. Ms. Brandon has open heart surgery the day after tomorrow, and I’d hate for them to upset her before she goes in.” Becka pulled a carrot out of the bag he’d just picked up from the store. Before she ate it, he pulled it out of her hand and peeled it for her then handed it back. “Thanks. I’ve never had a lot to do with them, the Brandon men, I mean. From what I’ve heard, they can be about as evil as the devil himself. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. They’re afraid of the girls, that’s for sure. And when Mitzy pulled out her gun and aimed it at the ceiling, firing two rounds in the upper floors, they scrambled out of the house like they were on fire.” The two of them laughed about that. He was glad to see that Becka was in a better mood than she’d been before. When Toby came in from work, he’d gotten himself a part-time job just a few days ago. Becka told him what had gone on. The boy looked like he’d shot up about a foot since he’d been living here.

Brad loved both Toby and his aunt Becka. Of course, Toby called his aunt his mom, and only a few people knew that he was her nephew rather than her son. But he didn’t care so much as he loved him like he was his biological son and couldn’t wait to hear someone call him dad. He’d talked it over with Becka a couple of times, but he’d not called him anything but Brad since they’d been married.

He’d been working in the yard for most of the afternoon. They had been living in the magical world for the last week and were having a good time scouting around for the things that Sarah had them looking for. For the most part, they’ve found very little trouble with the land or the house. Everything in their future it seemed hinged on Allison okaying them to live full-time in the realm the two of them did.

“I heard from Allison today.” He sat back down, thinking that he’d go back to work to keep his mind off of what was going on. “She has put her mark on us living here. She has a list of things that she wants us to do for the realm. Most of it was what Sarah had said we’d be doing. But keeping the faeries and the brownies busy all the time will certainly help keep them out of trouble. What do you think of being a babysitter for thousands and thousands of little people? I’m nervous about it, to be honest, but it’s a job that I believe we’d be good at. Being able to have Toby come and go as we wish will make it easier on me.”

“Me too. I couldn’t do this and not see him when I can. He’s a great kid, and I’d miss having a conversation with him. Not to mention watching the sports channels with him on the weekends.” She agreed with him, and he pulled her into his arms. “Tell me what else she said. She really doesn’t want us to do this, does she?”

“It’s not that at all. No. She did give me a better understanding of the magic that we’d need to have. I’ve never thought of some of the other creatures wanting us to help them, too. But we’re not to do that. She said that they have their own crews that can keep their people busy. It’s hard enough for them to find something for the faeries to do in the middle of summer.” She grinned up at him before continuing. “We’re to have them start on getting the flowers and buds for the teas and drinks that they sponsor in the other world. I didn’t know that the brew, as Sarah calls it, is an invention of one of the brownies.”

He said that he thought that he’d had some once a while back. “It made me all hyped up so that I couldn’t do anything but buzz around for a week after I drank it. I don’t even remember the next two days after drinking it. But I have refused to have any since.” Becka laughed, just as he’d hoped she would.

“Because you’re not a faerie. This brownie, his name is Hoot, he liked to have a nice hot drink with his meal, and it had to be strong enough to make him sleepy at the end of his meal. Caffeine has the opposite effect on the faeries than it does on humans. Also, there are a few weeds that they’ll collect for Allision, which she uses for a wrap when one of them is hurt. I guess it smells really bad. However, it doesn’t do anything more than make them lie still while she puts it on their wounds. After they were lying still, she told me that she could have a good look at the wound and know just how to fix them up. It also works for small children who have a cough. The wrap has a horrid smell and taste, so having them lying down makes it so that they aren’t required to eat it. Works all the time, she told me.”

There were plenty of stories like that one. He’d heard a great many of them over the last several weeks while working around here. Mostly, it was falsehoods that were told to the faeries to have them rest. They would quite literally work themselves to death if they had a project given to them. That was a reason, too, that they needed a guiding hand, he and Becka, to keep them in line. He’d seen it happen on more than one occasion. The faeries were there to help and to please. Without someone telling them that they needn’t work forever until it was finished, they would work round the clock to have someone happy about their project.

They had made a chart that would cover the four seasons. Actually, in this realm, there would be four seasons all the time. The beauty of the place made it so the faeries working with the fruit trees could give them a bit of downtime. The trees and the faeries. Also, and he thought this was a wonderful idea, there was also a time for vacations as well.

Each time that an area went dormant for the ‘winter season,’ it would be the time for the faeries and all the other creatures to have their downtime, too. It didn’t happen, but twice a year for a week at a time per season. However, it was looked forward to and enjoyed by all, including the queens of the realm, who made sure that the weather was perfect for all to enjoy. They’d pack up their things, take a trip to one of the other seasons, and have a cookout or enjoy skiing—whatever their hearts desired, it was there for them to have fun with. Whatever sport or kind of vacation they wanted, they’d travel to that area and enjoy the freedom that they so craved.

That was another thing that they were going to be in charge of. Making sure that everyone took their allotted time off and rested up before going back to work.

There were doctors now who would care for any of the small creatures that were a part of the whole realm. It wasn’t discussed much, but there was a great deal of depression that was rampant and more and more trouble between the areas. Sarah thought it was just boredom, but Becka said it was because there was too much competition between the groups, and that needed to be dealt with. Whatever it was, it was something that had to be taken care of soon, or it would get out of hand quickly.

They were just waiting on word to take over the job, and he knew that they’d work very hard for the queen and her sister. But not, as they were told, at the risk of their own health. He figured that they’d be watched over, too, by the two royal ladies of the realm.

Chapter 7

Marshall watched the meetings that were going on in the pack house. He didn’t much care for the way that things were going, but he figured that he only had to come here once a month to pay his dues, and then that was it for another thirty days. When his name was called, he stood up and stretched. He hadn’t realized that he had gotten stiff just sitting there.

“Are you trying to impress me?” He looked around to see who the man was talking to. “You, you fool. Making yourself look bigger because you had to wait your turn isn’t going to get you anywhere with me.”

“What’s your beef? I’ve been sitting there—” He looked at the clock over the man’s head and realized that it wasn’t working. Figured. No one else was working either, so it was a perfect way to get out of work early. It was set at five when the hours of the pack house closed up. “I’m here to pay my dues. Then I’m going back to my home.”

“You’ll leave when I tell you to.” Marshall didn’t understand how Hamish and the others would talk about this place like it was a perfectly run machine. Every time he had to show up here, he was met with hostility and anger. “You’re going to pay more for being a shit to me. I’m fining you a thousand dollars. To be paid in cash now before I’ll allow you to leave.”

Stretching his neck, hearing it pop a few times made him feel better. Right up until he was hit from behind. Turning on the person who dared to hit him, Marshall saw the gun before he did the man. It was then that he reached out to anyone that was nearby.

“I’m in a bit of trouble here. I can get myself out of it, but there is going to be—how on earth did you think that this place was a good pack? There has been nothing but arguments, backstabbing—about you, Hamish, and how this place would be better if all of you were dead. That wasn’t told to me, but I’ve been in the dickweeds head here”. Hamish said that he was right outside the building and could come in right now. “No. I mean, just stand out there and listen. As I said, I have a handle on what’s going on in here. Just…just listen to how he talks about you.”

It was a shitty thing to do, but he really thought that the pack leader, Amish Shores, was playing everyone. When he handed over the dues, minus the fine that he wasn’t going to pay, the man stood up. He understood at that moment that the man was a good deal shorter and rounder than he’d first thought.

“You listen here, you cheap piece of shit. I’m in charge here. And if you run to that pussy Hamish about what I’m saying and doing, who do you think he’s going to believe? Me, that’s who. I’ve been buttering up that moron for weeks now, and I’m going to own his ass as soon as I get that wife of his out of the way. Women shouldn’t be able to go out and about like that one is.” He laughed. “She just might find herself dead if she doesn’t play well with me. Do you suppose she’s a good lay? Don’t answer that. She can’t be. Christ, why are women acting like they’re all that when men like me can cut them down in no time.”

When the door behind him slammed against the wall next to it, Marshall didn’t even turn to look. He knew who it was and wasn’t the least bit surprised when Amish put his hand over his now missing throat. One thing you never did was talk about a mate to a vampire. Much less one that is the king of all their kind.

Hamish had ripped the man’s throat out. Blood sprayed all over the room as his head, slipping down his chest, landed on the desk the man had been sitting behind. It looked like a trophy with his eyes wide open and an expression of disbelief written all over his face. Christ, this should have been done decades ago.

“Are you all right?” Nodding, he sat down when someone shoved a chair into his legs. He’d not realized how weak he was until then. Marshall didn’t know if he could ever enter this building again without seeing all the blood. “Marshall? Look at me. Are you all right?”

“I don’t know. Christ, I knew that he was a shit, but when he started going on about…did Launder hear this shit?” She kissed him on the cheek when she moved around to stand in front of him. “I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t know that he was going…how stupid do you have to be to say something like that to a good friend? Especially about his mate.”