Welcome to Zell
Page 14
Gideon drove Gertrude’s car home, Liesel’s driving earlier having been enough for him and Liesel not putting up a fight. Liesel waited in the passenger seat while he shut off the car, got out and jogged around the front of the SUV to open the front passenger side door for her as was his usual want. Then he let her lead the way inside, as he usually did. Inside she moved to head toward the stairwell and Gideon turned as if to walk to the living room. Liesel took Gideon’s hand, smiled up at him, and lead him up the stairs to her room. They both undressed in the dark room by the light of the moon shining in through the lone window, then got in the bed under the covers and lied down. Gideon pulled Liesel gently into his arms and cradled her against his chest. Liesel released a soft sigh and allowed her body to go slack and rest in the security of his presence and warmth. Gideon stroked her hair as she fell asleep and he followed soon after her.
Abner Knapp was in his stuffy New England home when an informant called him to disclose the news that the Texas Bureau of Preternatural Affairs site had been destroyed and all research and evidence along with it. The bureau suspected the nearby non-human residents of Zell but could not pin it on any of them in particular in the human world and did not understand how they could pull off such a feat without leadership. There were no immediate plans to retaliate but plans were being made to further investigate the super natural beings of the Southwestern America and evaluate if they were more dangerous than most or if the entire incident had been a fluke.
He sipped port from cut-crystal glass held delicately in his perfectly soft and manicured hands and examined his reaction to the news. He was disappointed the knowledge he had revealed about the Stewards existence was not already worming its way through the United States government but was pleased it had indeed been acted on and that gave him every reason to believe it would be acted on again when he found the right person and the right scenario. He was also quite impressed with whomever had filled in after Gertrude Bohm’s kidnapping. It should be her daughter but he had heard Ingrid Bohm had summarily rejected the Council of Stewards, the responsibilities of the position and all ties to that life. This would leave Gertrude Bohm’s only granddaughter Liesel Bohm who was a tender twenty five years of age. It was a shame that she would likely be too young to survive his further attentions unscathed. One human lab hidden out in the desert was easy. Facing an all out war with the government without revealing your true nature was quite another. It was not technically her fault that she was a Steward, that she was born into the position but she did not abdicate it like her mother did and she seemed to have jumped into it with a gusto he was sure the uptight Trustees of the Council did not like at all. She was probably receiving all manner of dire warnings about the future and threats for not having left well enough alone. Change was coming and soon the truth about the Stewards would be revealed to many, at least all those who knew of the non-humans, and they would wilt beneath the scrutiny.