Wolf, in League

Chapter 1: Mostly He Missed It-6

The house sat in a small clearing, nestled a few hundred feet from the road. The “For Sale” sign on the yard now carried a jaunty red strip of tape that reported the property as “Sold!” Trees loomed over both sides of the front yard, just starting to pick up hues of yellow and orange. In a couple of weeks, they would be magnificent with color.

“Not bad,” Gavin said and turned in the passenger seat to gaze at the house. “Considering the lawyer fellow had it, I was worried it was going to be ostentatious.”

He got out of the vehicle and shut the door before the ‘have you considered that judgmental might not be the way to go here?’ that Matthew was thinking could be voiced. As an afterthought, he mumbled it to the dash anyway. Better out than in, or so Shrek would have him believe.

As Gavin meandered up the property, his eyes on the darkening sky and his hands clasped behind his back, Matthew pulled the car into the driveway and parked it in front of the garage. The moving truck had been here the day before, unloading a variety of new furniture and their personal things. As the men who had reported back on completion of the task said, “There’s been no movement or interest from the target property across the street.”

The house had been purchased between the GDBCG’s lawyer and the real estate agent in charge of the sale. If Mr. Randy Connor, the previous owner, had taken the time to peruse the paperwork, he would have seen nothing more than Shyla and Jones Legal Services listed on the forms. The agent in charge of selling the property had been thrilled to sell it as quickly as she had, and while she had (also as reported, this time from the GDBCG’s lawyer) asked several questions regarding the new owners, the lawyer had advised her that he knew very little about them. They were from out of state, looking for a new start, very private people, blah, blah, and more blah. All answers that had been carefully scripted in advance under the direction of Volos.

“Keep it simple when you get there, Dietrich. Stay close to the truth: you are a doctor, your husband has a medical condition that keeps him indoors during daylight, but you are thrilled to have found such a rural location with like-minded neighbors. And I can’t stress this enough…this will be your in.”

Because, all the world knew, being gay meant a person would automatically become best of buds with any other gays in proximity. It was part of the handbook; one would lose their membership card, otherwise.

“Find out what they’re doing. Who they’re entertaining. But most importantly, find out why they’re hiding.”

Because, in the same manner of thinking, as they shared the same disastrous, unnatural plight of being gay, secrets would instantly be shared.

“Baboons,” Matthew whispered to himself, although he couldn’t help but to look down the road when he got out of the car. If what Volos was saying about their neighbors was true, and heaven knows, the files had looked genuine enough—blood tests, growth charts, pictures, DNA samplings—then Matthew wanted to see it firsthand. His interest was more than piqued; it was all but bursting through his seams. As for Gavin, he’d seen those results right up close and personal and he knew that within the coolers of food that had been brought in alongside ‘their’ belongings lay the bags of blood that Gavin would be sustaining himself with.

“Why a vampire?”

It hadn’t seemed like the obvious choice. Why not another shifter? Why not two normal, ‘unmodified’ men?

“If there’s someone else there with them, he’ll know his own kind, and that—”

Well, that’s what they were worried about. Not their obedient little wolf-men. Not if the O’Connell family was all right. Not what the O’Connells might be planning. But who—what—might be there with them. There had been some intel done in DC. Something to do with Vaughn O’Connell’s oldest son, Lyle. There had been…

“Vampiric involvement—”

…and what that meant, at least to Matthew, could be anything. Death. Mutation. Maybe even some kind of hybrid being developed. But the short of the long was that the big fear was that these new developments could mean ‘Vampires in Wolf!’ and that was, apparently, a big flipping deal.

The irony of that seemed not to reach Volos or Dyball, but it was crystal clear to Matthew. Their vampire was fine. Other vampires were parasites that had to be controlled, known of, disposed of even. It was as if it was the 1950s all over again and while the town had gotten used to their single black family in residence—they were still “colored” folks, but they’d proven themselves useful—they would surely pull out the pitchforks and the rope should another family of that ‘kind’ happen to come along. That wasn’t about to be tolerated, no, sir. Run ‘em out of town.

“Baboons,” he repeated.

“Coming?” Gavin asked. He’d opened the front door and the darkness boring out of the interior of the house was a striking difference to the soft, evening air of the front porch.

Matthew walked toward the house, feeling unsettled and vulnerable, and just before he followed Gavin into the hallway, he stopped. He turned. He looked down the driveway and told himself that no one was watching them. That no one could be watching them through the tree cover around the yard. Telling himself that did nothing to squelch the feeling, though. He could feel eyes on him as if a gaze could grow tentacles and wind itself over his body. Suddenly the dark house didn’t seem nearly as ominous as the yard. He hurried through the entrance and slammed the door shut behind him.