by Sharon Green
"You know, we may have to end up killing Jack," I said in passing to the team. "If we keep eating like this we'll be ruined as rogue hunters, so murdering him could be considered a public service."
"But we're part of the public, and doing anything at all to Jack would be no service to us," Eric pointed out as everyone else either smiled or snickered. "For that reason I'm afraid I'd have to defend Jack, even against you, Taz."
"You'd probably have very little to do in the way of defending," I admitted to Eric with a sigh. "I can't see myself doing something to end the bliss of mealtime, even if we are ruined as rogue hunters."
"But we won't be ruined," Oldon put in with his own amusement. "All we have to do is tell ourselves that the rogue will harm Jack if we don't stop him or her, and then the job will be done so fast you'll need stop-action to see it."
Everyone immediately agreed with that while Bari just grinned out her own amusement. It had been perfectly clear that Bari would have stood with Eric when he defended Jack, but she hadn't bothered to say so out loud. She obviously knew better than to lose the edge of surprise…
"Okay, people, it's almost time to watch George doing his thing," Freemont announced after glancing at his watch. "Let's get comfortable in the gathering room, and then we'll activate the tablets."
The rest of us immediately agreed with that idea, and even though moving was definitely a chore we walked into the gathering room and chose two of the couches. I sat to Freemont's right with Eric to his left, and Amiol sat with Bari to his right and Oldon to his left. Our two tech people turned on their tablets before holding them sideways, and in a matter of moments we all had a picture to watch.
But at first there wasn't all that much to see. Two people were in a car, a woman behind the wheel. The second person wore the camera we looked through somewhere at chest height, probably disguised as a pin or brooch.
"I told you the trip wouldn't take long," the woman at the wheel said with an odd smile. She seemed to be somewhere between her late thirties and early forties, looked slightly overweight, and had light hair and light eyes. "See, that's the house over there."
"You mean the plain tan one?" a second voice, also belonging to a woman, asked. "With the yellow shutters?"
"Yes, that's the one," the first woman agreed. "I'll park in the driveway and then we can walk to the front door. Since we're expected, it won't be long before we're inside and getting started."
The woman's even tone of voice had changed. Now she sounded like a junkie looking forward to her fix, and I hated to think how close to the mark that might be.
"Helen, how many times have you been here?" the second woman asked, her own tone showing faint disturbance.
"Oh, just a few times," the woman Helen answered, now clearly trying to pretend she wasn't jonesing for that fix. "I really enjoyed each of the times, and I'm sure you'll do the same. Now we're here, so let's get out of the car and get started."
Helen put the car in park then turned it off, and the two women got out and headed for the front door of the fairly large house. It wasn't possible to see George, but I had the distinct impression that he was right behind them…
Chapter Eighteen
The woman who had been driving rang the bell next to the door of the tan house, but it didn't take long before the ring was answered. Only seconds passed before the door was opened by a man, a smiling, handsome man who wore a dress shirt in light blue with a darker blue ascot. He wore dark pants that looked expensive, and the leather loafers on his feet were carefully polished.
"Welcome back, Helen," he said, aiming his smile at the woman who'd been driving before turning to the second woman and giving her the same smile-treatment. "And welcome to our home, Louise. My grandmother and I are glad to meet you. Or at least my grandmother will be glad to meet you. Come on in."
The man stepped back as he opened the door wider, and Helen lost no time in walking inside. The woman Louise, who wore the camera, followed a bit more slowly, probably looking around at the entrance area. The place was decorated like a comfortable living room, but the two women weren't offered seats. Their host closed the door behind them and then led the way to the right into another room.
The entrance area was on the dim side, but the next room was even dimmer – and decorated oddly. Toward the center of the otherwise empty room was one of those fancy chairs with wide, rounded backs that would have looked perfect on someone's plantation. A small, older woman sat in the chair, with a fancy coffee table between her and two comfortable-looking chairs facing her chair. The two guest chairs weren't very close to the coffee table, which put the two visitors about ten feet away from the woman in the fancy chair.
"I'm back, Felice, and I've brought a friend the way you suggested I do," Helen said as she moved to the chair on the left and hurriedly sat down. "This is Louise, and Louise, this is Felice and her grandson John."
"It's lovely to meet you, Louise," the woman Felice said in a soft, old voice. "Helen told me that you've recently lost your aunt, someone you were very close to. I can help you get back in touch with your aunt, just as I've helped Helen and her brother."
"And I need that help again right now," Helen put in before Louise could comment. "Please, Felice, let me speak to my brother again!"
Helen was wound so tight that it was a miracle she wasn't raving or crying, something the old woman in the chair seemed to understand.
"Be calm, Helen," the old woman soothed, then gestured with one hand. "Your brother is already here and waiting to speak with you."
And then there was a flickering to the woman's right, on the left from where the two visitors sat. The man John stood to his grandmother's left about three or four feet away from her chair, his hands behind him as if he stood at parade rest. The flickering resolved itself into what looked like a ghostly figure, that of a man who would have appeared weak if he'd been there in the flesh. Helen gasped with joy and folded her hands against her breast, what seemed to be tears leaking from the corner of the eye closest to Louise.
"Ronald, love, I'm back again to see you," Helen all but whispered to the figure. "Are you happier now? Are you really all right?"
"I'm always better when you visit here, sister," the ghostly figure answered in even more of a whisper. "Please don't ever leave me alone without your company, I won't be able to bear it."
"You know I'll never desert you, love," Helen responded, and now she was crying outright. "I'm starting to run out of money, but don't you worry. I'll find some way to keep coming back."
"Would you like to see your aunt, now, Louise?" the old woman said with an odd smile. "I can bring her here for a moment or two, but if you'd like a longer visit I'm afraid you'll have to … donate to our favorite charity. We'll take the donation and then pass it on to the charity."
There was something of a flickering at the old woman's left, between her and John, but before anything could develop in the flickering there was an interruption.
"Donation my ass," a much louder male voice said, again before Louise could speak. "No matter what you call it it's fleecing the mark, and this setup makes me sick."
Suddenly George was there all the way to the left just beyond the visitor chairs, which made John and his "grandmother" jump and shriek – just the way Helen did. And for an old woman, Felice really moved herself out of the chair and away from George.
"This isn't a ghost, it's a computer generated image," George said, gesturing to the figure that was supposed to be Helen's brother. "The image is being projected from that supposed coffee table onto a strip of clear cellophane hanging from the ceiling and attached to the floor, with another strip on the other side of her chair. That voice is part of the projection and it's all being handled by the remote John has been holding behind his back. You're an idiot, Helen, and you deserve to be bled penniless by these thieves."
"No, that can't be true!" Helen screamed from where she now stood, her hands to her face. Louise was also on her feet, but still hadn't had
the chance to say anything. "They brought my brother back as a ghost and I don't want to lose him!"
"Your brother isn't a ghost, he's just dead," George stated flatly. "I'm a ghost, so I ought to know who's what. And those two are nothing but scam artists, bleeding the stupid of every penny they have. But at least they won't be doing it much longer. That's the law I hear coming in right now. Are you all right, Louise?"
"I'm fine, George," Louise answered with something that sounded like a small laugh. "Thank you for asking."
At that point the room was invaded by a small army, and one member of the army found a light switch. When full light came on it became clear that Felice was wearing a lot of makeup to make her look old, but she was no such thing. She had to be in her early thirties at the most, and she and her partner were furious.
"You can't arrest us!" Felice announced in a much younger voice as men came to put cuffs on her and John. "We never charged for this show, so we can't be arrested for fraud!"
"Taking money under false pretenses is against the law no matter what you call it," one of the men told her, speaking flatly. "Get them Mirandized and then get them out of here."
Felice started to shout and so did John while Helen just fell back into her chair and began to sob, making the scene louder than I'd expected it to become. Louise turned and left the room kind of briskly, something it wasn't possible to fault her for. Staying around to be deafened didn't make much sense, and once she was out of the room someone came over and took the camera from her. Once that was done the picture disappeared, showing that the someone had turned off the camera.
"Well, that was different," a voice said from behind me, and I turned my head to see Shell standing behind the couch while watching the tablet. A glance showed Jack standing behind the other couch, which made the audience complete.
"But not different in a good way," Freemont said, my partner's voice filled with compassion. "That woman Helen was devastated, and I can't help wondering if they couldn't have found a better way to expose those cheats."
"If Helen hadn't had the scam exposed right in front of her she never would have believed it," Eric put in from the other side of Freemont, his own voice sounding almost as compassionate. "People believe certain absurdities because they need to believe them, not because of some rational decision. An aunt of mine was taken by some scam artists, and when the scammers were caught defrauding someone else my aunt refused to believe they were crooks."
"Chances are Helen will talk herself into believing the arrest was a mistake," Bari said from the other couch. "She'll go looking for some other scam artist to lie to her again, and she won't be happy until she thinks she's in touch with her brother again."
"She needs professional help, but chances are she won't get it," Jack said from where he stood behind the other couch. "No one gets help to those who need it until those people hurt themselves or others. I wonder if any of us will live long enough to see that change."
"There should be a change this time," another voice put in, and then George was with us again. "Louise made the officials promise to get Helen into therapy, and they're not backing out of the deal. Whether or not the therapy works will be up to Helen, but she'll still have the chance to heal herself."
"George, you were wonderful!" Freemont exclaimed with a broad smile. "And I noticed that you didn't mind when you scared those two scammers."
"I had the impression those two thought ghosts were nothing but a fairy tale, so I made the effort to show them they were wrong." George's grin was wide and very obvious. "Now, when they get out of jail again, they'll find something else to scam people about. If they go back to the phony ghost bit, they'll be afraid I'll show up again."
"They're right to be afraid," Bari said with her own grin. "If they were pretending to be locators I know I'd go after them as often as necessary, so why should you be any different just because you're dead?"
George – and the rest of us – laughed at that comment, and then George straightened up.
"I'm going now to brag to my family, so you people take care," he said. "I'll certainly see you all tomorrow."
And with that George was gone. As though his leaving put a ripple in the world, my phone immediately rang. I looked at the caller ID, then answered with a smile.
"That was fun, Allison," I said. "If you ever need to borrow George again, I think he'll be more than willing to accommodate you."
"Yes, that went really well, didn't it?" Allison agreed, and I could hear the grin in her voice. "But you missed the part where Louise came back without the camera and tore into Helen. The two were supposed to be friends, but Louise's 'friend' didn't hesitate to throw Louise to the wolves. Bottom line was that if Helen doesn't work to get her head straight again, Louise promised to tell everyone what Helen tried to do. That would leave Helen with not a single friend in her life, and the yelling seemed to get through to the woman where gentle compassion didn't. Helen just might end up helping herself be healed."
"I hope she does," I said, sorry I'd missed the confrontation. "I don't have much sympathy for people as weak as Helen, but that's one of my flaws. And it's too bad all our problems can't be solved as easily as this one."
"One of our other problems just might be close," Allison said in a murmur, her amusement gone. "I can't go into details right now, but Ritchie has apparently gotten somewhere. Or a lot of somewheres, to be more precise. I'll call you tomorrow as soon as we get it all nailed down."
"Sounds good," I said. "We'll be ready and waiting."
She and I exchanged goodbyes before disconnecting, which let me turn to the rest of the team.
"We may be seeing some action tomorrow," I said, looking around at my teammates. "With that in mind, I suggest we don't stay up very late tonight."
"That has to include me," Oldon said with something of a sigh, obviously having heard Allison's part of the conversation. "I'm not about to let myself be left out of the action, so I'll have to do my sleeping tonight. Which I actually may be starting to get used to."
"Isn't it great the way we humans are able to get used to the weird things in our lives?" Freemont said as he got up from the couch. "Personally, I'm going to get used to a cup or two more of coffee, and then I'll be able to think about going to bed. Anyone care to join me?"
Everyone thought that was a great idea, and the everyone included Shell and Jack – and Oldon. The vampire's smile was on the strange side, but I thought I knew why that was. Freemont had called him a human, something he probably hadn't had happen in a very long time.
We all went back into the kitchen for our coffee and then to the dining room, where we all sat around talking and drinking. Oldon had a cup of blood instead of coffee, but that didn't really matter. Jack and Shell had their own share of the black stuff, and we all enjoyed their additions to the conversation.
The one thing I did have to do was threaten Jack's life to his face. He mused out loud about bringing out a new dessert, and I was forced to tell him I'd commit murder if he did. Since we had work to do tomorrow, sitting around in a food-derived satisfied stupor was something we couldn't afford to have happen. Everyone made sounds of disappointment while Jack and Shell laughed quietly, but nothing in the way of food was added to our coffee break.
After we'd finished the first cup of coffee, the team and I got refills that we took back to our apartments with us. Oldon got a refill of his own, and he didn't hang back when it was time to go upstairs.
I sat in my comfortable chair sipping coffee for a few minutes, then went to take a shower before going to bed. It was somewhat early so I expected to have trouble falling asleep, but almost as soon as my head hit the pillow…
* * *
I was just coming out of the barn when Tom hurried up, obviously having been looking for me. A lot of us took turns playing with the foals and calves and piglets while we stuffed them with food, something that made our new, four-footed villagers happy to see us rather than afraid. And we didn't even have to hold back
on getting close to the animals. They were to be our breeding stock, not some future meals.
"Mykel, Elder Bors wants us right away," Tom said, a kind of excitement behind his voice. "There's going to be some trouble, and we're going to help put a stop to it."
"Wow," I exclaimed, suddenly just as excited as well as a little nervous. "Is it going to be just us and him?"
"No, it's going to be a lot more involved," Tom answered as he began to lead the way back in the direction he'd come from. "Elders Raf and Joe and Will are also there, and a couple of older guys still in training along with some of the grown men. Elder Bors didn't say what they'll need us for, but we're definitely going to be involved."
Tom didn't add anything else as we hurried along, but it wasn't hard to see that my friend couldn't quite decide on how to feel. If he was anything like me he was probably wavering between excitement and a bad case of nerves, which was how I felt. And the fact that it was growing dark in spite of only being mid afternoon added to the rest. There was a storm on the way, one that wouldn't be much longer in reaching us.
It didn't take long before we found the group of men waiting for us, and when we joined them Elder Bors held up one hand.
"We're all here now, so I'm going to tell all of you just what's going on," the elder said. "Word has been sent to us by Mr. Calder that some of those murdering drifters are moving toward our part of the country. They're camped only a few miles away, getting ready to attack one of the bigger ranches, but we're going to make sure that doesn't happen. Is there anyone here who doesn't want to be part of the effort?"
Elder Bors looked around at those of us standing near him, but no one even looked unsure, not to mention unwilling. Now that I knew what was going on most of my nervousness was gone, but there was something that needed to be said.
"Elder, we need to add someone to our group," I said before anyone else could speak. "You know how well Regina has been doing with sword training, and if we don't include her she'll be devastated. If those drifters are some of those who destroyed her old life, she needs to be given the chance to face them."
