Brother Blood

Chapter 2: farmer's market

I woke again as Katie pounced on my bed. Grant grumbled when Brian soon followed.

"Conor, is it weird that Grant is just sitting next to you while you sleep?" Brian inquired, whipping his head around to get his brown hair out of his face. "Does he read to you?"

"No," Grant muttered. "Get off me, you oaf."

Brian instead wrapped Grant in a hug, pulling the both of them off the bed. Katie poked me in the chest. I yawned once and wormed out of her grasp. Grant punched Brian, but of course that only escalated when Brian punched him back.

"Don't, Mel will yell at you if you break something again," Katie told them, pulling herself off the bed. "Conor, you're going to be late. Go on."

She threw a shirt at me and I buttoned it up, grabbing my shoes at the door.

"Don't destroy my room," I called as I headed up the stairs. Mel handed me a thermos and a foil wrapped taco, and I nodded my thanks. Ralph clapped me on the shoulder as we left the house. Casey and Keith were waiting in the truck, sleepily leaning against each other. They looked like they had been living with us for years, not months. Keith's unruly hair had been combed back and their clothes weren't spattered with blood or tears.

"It's cold," Casey complained.

"It'll warm up in a minute," Keith pointed out, rubbing her arms. "Move over so Conor can get in."

I shuffled into the truck and Ralph started it up, pulling out of the drive. They had regraveled the road in the time that I have been gone, yet another thing that had changed in my absence. Keith pulled a device from his bag, brushing the screen to make it move.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Ralph got a tablet to run purchases from," Keith said. "We can track what we have left and what we've made. And Mel can send us the grocery list if we forgot something."

"Which we always do," Casey laughed. "I think it's because Brian eats everything when Mel isn't looking. Katie won't turn him in."

"Do only you three come out to the farmers' market?" I asked. "I thought we'd rotate or something."

"No, it's just us," Ralph said. "Keith and Casey have the most complete set of identification; we're working on Brian and Daria next, but Katie hasn't had any paperwork since she was a teenager. We have to be sure someone isn't going to think she's been abducted and come beating down our door."

"Aidan has his, he just doesn't want to wake up early enough to use it," Casey laughed.

"I don't have any paperwork," I pointed out. "I don't want to get us into trouble."

"Well, that was simpler than expected," Ralph said. "Keith had a contact to get some documents made, you have a license and papers now. Starting from scratch is easier than tracking down whatever Daria's original surname was."

"We are going to be the most legal werewolves I have ever encountered," Casey laughed. "Seriously. I watched Ralph do taxes in April. He says we have to file taxes next year."

"You do," Ralph agreed. "We need all the proof we can that we are real, legitimate people. For now. Someone's going to eventually notice that we live longer than we should, but by then I imagine we'll be more off the grid. I'm hoping we can purchase those solar panels Aidan's been coveting."

They continued to explain how they had made a company and were using the company to store funds for later, especially since we could live forever. Ralph wanted to use the time while Susie Lynn was still in school to set up contingencies in case something did happen, and we had leave.