He nodded.
“No vampire under there, sleeping away the day in undead form?”
He shook his head no.
“Do me a favor and stick close by me so you don’t get shot.”
FireWind showed me his teeth, but more like a “they can try” expression than a Big Bad Wolf eating Red Riding Hood–type snarl.
Before I faced my family, I reported in to HQ. Rick had shifted to human shape and was waiting at the front gate with T. Laine. I ended my report with the words, “FireWind in wolf form and I are going to talk to Daddy about sanctuary for the Lost Boys under the house. You want in on this family gathering?”
“Wolf form? Is he in danger from your family?” T. Laine asked.
I laughed and said, “I have no idea. I guess it depends on how cute he can look and how well he wags his tail.”
This time I got FireWind’s full fangy snarl, but I just laughed more. For some reason, the huge wolf and the man wearing the form no longer scared me. For a former churchwoman this was more than satisfying. It was something to celebrate.
With the wolf at my side, I walked around the house to the Nicholsons’ front door. There was something almost symbolic about walking in armed, wearing a badge, a paranormal creature at my side. I was a churchwoman no more.
I knocked. FireWind sat beside me, his head reaching my midchest.
The little’un who answered the door squealed and threw herself at the wolf, screaming, “DoggieDoggieDoggie!” She latched onto FireWind’s neck and squeezed. My boss froze, his yellow glowing eyes wide as a human’s. He seemed to forget to breathe. His amber eyes met mine in horror.
I grinned, wondering where I got the mean streak, patted his head, and said, “Nice doggie.”
Mama Grace was suddenly standing in the doorway, her eyes as wide as FireWind’s.
“Morning, Mama Grace,” I said. “I assume the toddler withher face buried in fur is one of the grands? This is FireWind, a wolf, but very playful, and very safe for the young’uns.”
Mama Grace was holding her chest as if her heart was about to pound out of it. She said, “Dear Lord Almighty. My gran’baby, Annah. Nell. Get her away from the wolf. Please.”
Not letting anyone but the wolf see my amusement, I peeled the little girl away from FireWind’s neck, lifted her by both arms, and placed her in her gramma’s arms, finally seeing her face. She was ecstatic at the big-dog hug. “She’s grown a foot for sure,” I said. “May we come in?”
“Both of you?” Mama Grace squeaked, her grip so tight on Annah the little girl cried out.
From deeper in the house, I heard Daddy’s limping footsteps and the faint thump of his cane.
Mama Grace was rattled, so I slid into church-speak again to provide comfort. “I promise the wolf won’t hurt no one. Did Sam tell you’un about the…the boys? FireWind’s helping me track ’em and we’uns need to talk to Daddy. Then y’all might want to call in the leaders of the Nicholson faction.”
“And him?” Her eyes traced quickly from the wolf to something behind him.
I glanced back and then to Daddy over Mama Grace’s shoulder. “That’s my other boss, Rick LaFleur. Yes. Him too.”
Daddy took Mama Grace’s shoulder and pulled gently, guiding her back into the house and toward the kitchen. He took her place in the doorway, blocking it, standing taller than I’d seen him stand in quite a while, back straight, no weight on the cane, and looked his guests over, evaluating. “Welcome to my home,” he said. “Hospitality and safety while you’re here. Guests are safe in my home so long as they don’t bite no one.” He stared at the wolf, clearly recognizing the wolf wasn’t a normal wolf. “If they bite, then they get shot. With silver.”
In the background we all heard multiple shotguns being readied for firing. Three young men appeared next to Daddy, my half brothers Zeke, Harry, and Rudolph, each prepared to protect the home. With silver, which would probably kill FireWind. And kill a devil dog, come to think of it. And it was my fault they were loaded with silver. I had told them to be on watch.
“Family council,” I said. “Impending crisis. Adults only. Kids upstairs, not outside to play.”
All sorts of emotions crossed Daddy’s face. In one I caught a hint of blame, directed at me, for bringing trouble to his door.
My heart went cold. New leaves sprouted in my hairline, rustling. FireWind turned his head and sniffed my side. He looked at Daddy, sniffed, and a low rumble started. I thought it was an earthquake, but it was the wolf. Growling. Protective.
I put my hand back on his head and said softly, so only Daddy and the three boys could hear me, “I am not responsible for the actions of generations of evil men who forced women to be their sex slaves, nor for evil men who ousted their sons, throwing them into the cold to live or die, when they reached their majority.Iam not responsible for the twisted and twined bloodlines that produced plant-people or devil dogs.The church is.So if you want to blame someone or shoot someone for the mess you find yourselves in, you blame the church’s way of life for however many hundreds or thousands of years they lived this way, and bred with other species of paranormals and created what we are today. You blamethem. You shootthem. Not me, not my friend who is trying to help, no matter what he looks like.”
Daddy opened his mouth to speak, but I wasn’t done.
“I’ve been hounded and threatened and manhandled and shot at all my life with little to no help or protection fromfamily.” I leaned in, my eyes locked to my father’s. “I’m here to help. But it will be the last time I’ll help if you cast blame my way. Mote, see spar,” I said, reminding him of a Bible verse.
