-------- --------------------
A few days later . . .
-------- --------------------
"Are we sure that this is the right place?" Camila asked, her echolocation showing her every nook and cranny of the enormous house in front of them. Somehow, she had gotten talked into going on a house-viewing expedition with some of the gang, headed up by Luis. Lauren had to bow out at the last second after getting called up on the shifter emergency phone to go investigate a suspicious looking individual, but she had promised to catch up quickly. She had insisted that Camila go along, and Camila suspected it was so that she could develop ties with people that were not always through Lauren.
"This is the right address. My uncle's secretary said that it used to be a residence, got turned into a set of law offices, then got foreclosed on when the owners were indicted for something or another. He said he'd be willing to buy it and rent it out to us for really cheap if we'd be willing to do some upkeep so that he could resell it down the road."
"It's fucking huge," she replied.
"It's sweet!" Ally said.
"It's the Munster House."
"Camila," Troy said, "you're being a real downer."
Camila did not want to admit the truth . . . that the house was incredible and that she would give her right arm to live there with a bunch of other people who understood who and what she was and did not care. She would not mind living with Lauren at all, though that thought gave her some willies as well. What if things between them did not work out? Would Camila get kicked out? It would be better never to feel that sense of community than have it and then let it be yanked away.
"Let's at least go inside," Luis said. "Look around. Seriously Camila, I think you could afford a stake in this."
The house was actually two full stories consisted of about ten offices or meeting rooms which could be used as bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, a parking lot big enough to handle everyone's cars, plus a large attic and finished basement. Luis had been given a key and code to get into the building, so they wandered inside.
"Dude, this could SO be the entertainment room," Troy said of the main conference area.
"Fliers could go second floor and up, non-fliers could take the bottom floor and down," Luis muttered, thinking over the logistics.
"Hey, there's only three fliers! You, Lauren, and Camila," Troy shot back.
"Guys, I haven't agreed to --" Camila started to say, but Ally pulled her back.
"Let 'em argue. Girls always get final say on living arrangements anyway."
Camila grinned in spite of herself. "And you want this?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm a herd animal by nature remember? Besides, there are certain advantages..." the horse-shifter added, her voice trailing off.
Camila switched on the sonar and saw that Ally was scoping out the well constructed ass of one Troy Valentine.
"You dog!" she hissed.
"Horse," Ally muttered back. "I'm a horse, and I need to get taken for a ride every now and then or I get cranky."
Camila blushed, though she doubted Ally felt any need to. "I'm sure any of the guys here wouldn't mind taking you to the rodeo."
Ally snorted. "If they can't hold on for more than eight seconds, then they're not worth my time."
Troy and Luis looked over at the girls, who had just burst out in a giggling fit. "What's with them?"
"I dunno. They're chicks," Troy said. "There's no figuring 'em."
"Did you say, 'chicks'? And you wonder why you're single?" Luis asked.
"No, I really don't."
"Okay everyone, let's explore." Luis stated as he started down the hall.
Ally was a big fan of baking, so she checked out the kitchen while Troy scoured the bottom floor for the ultimate bachelor pad. Luis went to the second floor, but Camila decided to check out the basement. It was cool and solid and quite cave-like, and a quick scan of the walls showed that they probably could hold in sound pretty well.
"Oh who are you kidding?" Camila asked herself. "They'd never let you have the whole room to yourself."
"Why not?" Luis asked from the bottom of the stairs.
Camila jumped three feet up in the air and came down in her kick-boxing defensive position. She hated not being able to see and talk at the same time. "Don't sneak up on me!"
"Stop being blind," Luis said jokingly. "Well, mostly blind."
"Jerk." Camila looked around, her eyes glowing in more ways than one. "I mean, this room is huge and I wouldn't be able to pay as much and . . . and--"
"And you really want it, don't you?"
"That's not what I . . . I didn't mean that I would . . . yeah?"
"Camila, if we do this, we will try to come up with a solution that works for everyone. It's okay."
"Would your uncle really want ME living here?" Camila asked bitterly. "We've already seen what the Reptile King thinks of me, so why would the Bird King be any different?"
"He's not like that," Luis snapped, then visibly calmed down. "Sorry. Didn't mean to bite your head off. It's just that Uncle Jason never seemed like the type to me."
"I wish I had family like you," Camila said earnestly. "No one ever sticks up for me like that."
"Lauren does," Luis said, his smile returning. "She's doing what I should've been willing to do."
"You didn't know me from Eve," Camila said, trying to wave off the whole subject.
"No, but everyone should be treated with more respect. We shouldn't have been waiting for someone like Lauren to point it out. Austin should never have been allowed to get away with what he did."
Camila nodded. "What's weird was that it wasn't so bad when we both got here. Yeah he was rude, but then after that first Christmas break, he just started to get nasty."
"Not everyone has the Christmas spirit I guess."
"He's the Grinch who fucked Christmas up the --" Camila was interrupted by a voice.
"Hello?" came a new voice from upstairs.
"Lauren!" Camila shouted. "We're downstairs!"
The eagle-shifter came traipsing down the stairs in her volleyball uniform, making both Luis and Camila drool just a little bit. When Dinah joined them a moment later, the feeling was repeated.
"Hey guys," Lauren said. "Gotta be at practice in a while, but I wanted to come by and see the place. Fuck, this is huge!" She looked around. "Oh Camz, this is SO your room!" She walked over to a spot on the wall. "Your bed here with your Fats Domino album hanging right over it."
Dinah nodded. "Maybe put her --"
"Hey, I'm still here. Blind not deaf. And I can put my damn stuff anywhere I damn want."
"So you're moving in?"
"I didn't say that! If I WERE to move in which I didn't say I would do, then hypothetically --"
"But you didn't say you WOULDN'T move in either," Lauren said, giving her a kiss and a pat on the ass. She looked at Luis. "So let's talk economics. After I've seen that attic you were talking about."
The attic was a marvel, with two westward facing windows and a skylight. It was not very tall, but spanned the top of the whole house. From the windows, Lauren looked out over the local shrublands and up at the mountains.
"Oh, that's beautiful," she whispered. She did not see Camila slink back down the stairs. Her echolocation, however powerful, would never reach the mountains, so she would never see what Lauren saw . . . would never appreciate the world on that scale. She lived in her own little bubble and always would.
Lauren caught up with her lover in the kitchen, where Ally was drooling over the stainless steel appliances. "Can we have it mommy?" she asked, looking at Lauren. "Can we can we can we --"
"That's up to everyone," Lauren grinned. "I ain't supporting you clowns. I need to find a job for spending cash as it is. My folks will only put up with so much." She put an arm around Camila and kissed her cheek. "So, interested?" Then she looked at Luis, who walked back in with a cell phone to his ear. "What's the damage?"
"His Majesty would only charge us fifteen hundred a month for the house, but we'd pay all our own utilities. Still, that's . . . let's see, me, you, Kevin, Troy, Dinah, Ally, Camila, Normani, and Aaron. That's nine."
"One hundred and sixty-seven apiece?" Camila said, her eyes opening wide.
"Sounds like something you could do," Lauren whispered into the girl's ear. She and Luis made eye contact. "As extra incentive, you could have the whole basement as yours."
"Ooh man," Troy said as he walked in. "If we could wire the whole house for sound, we could set Camila up as the house DJ! The house would be rockin' twenty-four/seven!"
Camila tried to appear stoic when she asked, "So how do we get out of our housing contracts?"
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The next day . . .
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Lauren paced the hallway outside of Reichert's office several times before knocking. She hated doing this. Absolutely hated it. The door opened just as her fist touched it.
"Come in Miss Jauregui," the Reptile King said. "Your pacing is giving me a headache."
She walked in and sat in the offered guest chair while he sat behind his desk, giving her an even glare.
"Thank you for seeing me," Lauren said between clenched teeth. "Some of us were looking to rent a house together just off campus . . . you know, the whole safety in numbers thing. It's close enough that I could still perform my neighborhood watch duties, or maybe even assume a new area for shifters who live off campus."
"Sounds reasonable," Reichert said flatly. "Why are you talking to me?"
"Because we would need to get out of our housing contracts. You have enough sway to make that happen without us having to pay a lot of penalties." Lauren actually began to grow uncomfortable under his stare. "What?"
"Very well," Reichert said finally. "It is a reasonable request considering the circumstances. Am I to assume that Miss Cabello will be joining this venture?"
Lauren was suspicious. This was going a little too easily. "Ideally yes, once we find out the cost of utilities. King Jason Burchill is helping his nephew out a lot, so that's making this financially feasible for all of us."
"Burchill is a good man," Reichert replied, almost absently. "This is a good situation."
Lauren did not get it. This man was so hot and cold that it made her wonder. "Thank you," she said, standing up to leave.
"Please, stay for a moment," Reichert replied. "Miss Jauregui, I am going to need your help in the coming months while this madman is located, and I would like for us to be on the same side for you entire time here at FCU."
Lauren closed her eyes and tried to remain calm when she said, "Then why aren't you doing anything to help Camila? Please, I want to respect you and your crown, but how --"
"This situation is much more complicated than you think," Reichert said. "If Austin Mahone is kicked out of this institution, it will not only threaten a significant source of income for this university, but do you think that will help your friend? Do you really think that the Mahone clan is incapable of making Camila's life miserable from afar?"
"That's no excuse for letting him hunt her the way he is!"
"No, it is not. Teasing or insulting is one thing, but damaging her is another. Please see this from my position. I do not personally doubt that he assaulted her the other day, but the fact remains that he has witnesses that say otherwise and she has no one to corroborate her story. You can confirm that she was injured in the woods several weeks ago, but not that it was him. The circumstantial evidence is strong, but that's all it is . . . circumstantial."
He sighed, then looked away. "I am not . . . easily moved . . . by shifters such as Miss Cabello with genetic abnormalities. I know that you may hate me for that, but it is true. It is not true, however, that I will allow your friend to come to harm because of my biases. I have spoken with young Mister Mahone and assured him that if the harassment of Miss Cabello continues that I shall be forced to initiate a very thorough investigation that might yield irrefutable evidence that would render any defense, no matter how well funded, to be sadly insufficient."
Lauren's mind was reeling. Her mother had always warned her that shifter politics was insanely tricky, and now she was beginning to understand. "Are the Mahone's really that dangerous?"
"Yes, they can be. I always found Austin's father to be quite amiable personally, though his wife is . . . difficult. And Austin Mahone is, well, a momma's boy."
Lauren actually snickered. She could totally see that. "Have you ever told Camila any of this?"
"Camila has never shown much interest in anything I have to say. Ever since she was in my class --"
"Yeah, she told me about the whole grade thing. Deduction for penmanship."
"And grammar," he replied. "She was given an opportunity to use the editors at the English Department's writing center and she didn't. She said that she could do it on her own. So I graded her on what she turned in. She didn't like it so she took it to the department head who was so afraid of appearing to be biased against the handicapped that he gave her what she wanted."
Lauren felt a little awkward. She completely understood why Camila had reacted the way she did, but what if she had been wrong, or at least a little bit premature in jumping down Reichert's throat. But Reichert, if he was telling the truth, had not done anything wrong either.
Reichert looked her hard in the eyes. "I am not trying to drive a wedge between the two of you. I am not so insensitive as to think her life has not been exceedingly difficult or that she has not had to work twice as hard or more than others just to get by, but part of her isolation from the shifter community is her own doing."
"That's changing," Lauren said defensively.
"I know. But sometimes being normal also means being accountable."
Lauren got up, shook Reichert's hand, and then headed outside. Dinah was waiting in the lobby so that they could walk back together, keeping with the "always go in twos" mentality.
"So how'd it go?" Dinah asked.
"Good. Looks like we'll be able to get out of our housing contracts, but we should do it soon."
"Luis is SO on top of it," Dinah said. "Still, you look kinda glum for someone who had to deal with her arch enemy."
"He's not . . . he's not my enemy, arch or otherwise. And I'm sorry for dissing your king."
"Lauren?" Dinah said, prying one of the eagle-shifter's eyes wide open. "Are you in there?! Hold on and we'll send help!"
Lauren batted her friend's hand away with a fake snarl. "I can completely kick your ass, you know that."
"Puh-lease. Like you thought you could out hunt me?"
"I had to go and save Camila's cute little butt, otherwise I would've won that!"
"Oh suuuuuuuuuure you would have."
"Hey, I'll throw down right now."
Dinah grinned, but was trying to figure any graceful way she could out of this little challenge, since she was pretty sure Lauren would indeed kick her behind eight ways from Sunday in a straight up fight. "Hey, you know that kicking my ass is the last thing you want to do to it."
"Hmm, your problem is that you waited too long. Camila's ass is pretty dynamite, so yours is now expendable."
Dinah kept finding ways to back out of another contest all the way back to the dorm room, only to have Lauren counter each one.
"So you see, I think that a good old fashion wrestling match is a perfectly reasonable way for you to backup your tough talk," Lauren said with a grin as they rounded the last corner.
All their friends were hanging out on the benches in front of the dorms, except for Camila and Aaron who were probably on their way to the station. And there was a newcomer in the group that made Dinah's mouth drop open.
"Helloooooooooooo hunkalicious!" she purred as the new guy stood up. He was six feet four inches tall and built like a competitive swimmer, with shoulder-length hair that was so black that the light reflected blue off of it. He had full lips, warm green eyes and the most perfect skin she had ever seen. He looked a bit older than most of the rest of the crowd, but was still obviously in his physical prime.
Lauren scrunched up her eyes as if annoyed, though her mouth was quirked in amusement . . . or maybe it was glee. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Wait, you know this stud muffin?" Dinah pouted. "And you didn't tell me about him?"
"Yeah, we just found this cat hanging out saying he needed to talk to our girl Lauren," Troy said, "and you KNOW that we weren't gonna let him near her if he wasn't legit."
"When did you become a gangsta?" Luis asked his friend.
Troy shrugged. "Don't be hatin'."
"Lauser," Dinah almost whimpered, "introduce your friend!"
"Friend?" Lauren shook her head. "He ain't no friend of mine. So Ed, you going to tell me what you're doing here?"
"What? Can't a caring, loving brother check in on his semi-helpless little sister?"
"Helpless my ass," she replied, smiling openly and giving Ed a big hug.
"That's your brother?!" Dinah squealed. "You told me you had brothers, but not that they were hot!"
"I really like her," Ed said with a lopsided grin. "Could help a man's ego being around a woman like her."
"Name's Dinah, and I'm your sister's bestest friend and confidante," she said, sliding up to him. "Hmm, bird shifter. Man, bird-shifting and hotness both run all the way in your family?"
Troy grinned. "I've seen pictures of their mom, and she's a total M-I-L--" His voice trailed off as Lauren and Ed fixed glares on him. "I'm sure she's a lovely woman with impeccable character."
"Good save," Lauren replied. Then her face got that suspicious look. "Mom wouldn't have anything to do with why you're here, does she?"
Ed shrugged. "She MAY have dropped my name to the Council as someone to call to help with your disappearances here on campus, and PERHAPS suggested that I check in with you to make sure you haven't gotten into any more trouble --"
"Ooh, I am going to give that woman a piece of my mind!" Lauren growled, reaching for her cell phone. "Sending my brother to spy on me?!" She started to dial while Dinah moved in for the kill.
"So, is there a Missus Ed Jauregui?"
"I suspect so, though she and I haven't met yet," he replied, grinning and trying really hard to concentrate on her eyes.
"Hey, my boobs are down here," she said, pushing up on them to display cleavage.
"Conversations with you aren't normal, are they?"
"Hi Mom!" Lauren said loudly, glaring at her brother. "Oh nothing much. Just thought you might want to know that me and some of my new friends are moving off campus. Yeah, the Bird King is buying a house and renting it to his nephew for cheap. There will be nine of us, so it will be really safe and secure and WHY THE HELL DID YOU SEND EDGAR TO SPY ON ME?" she ended with a shout.
"Here we go," Edgar said, sitting on the bench and staring at his sister. He glanced over at Dinah and continued, "Lauren's conversations with Mom are like spectator sports. Honestly, I --"
"I am NOT overreacting," Lauren growled at her phone. "I can take care of myself and . . . Yes, I know that he's a private investigator, but I'm sure the university is quite capable . . . Mother, I will not let you . . . don't you dare put Dad on the phone! I do not want to . . . Hi Dad. Yeah, could you put her back on? Seriously. Dad, don't . . . do NOT put the phone down to go look for her. Dad? Dad!"
Edgar grinned, then whispered to anyone listening, "Our father is a master of not letting fights between Lauren and Mom escalate. This is his 'let me put the phone down and then I'll go talk to her' ploy. He's probably going to go read in his recliner for a while hoping that Lauren will give up. But it won't work. See? She's going to her back up plan." Lauren had disconnected the phone and was calling Dad's office phone. "He'll always answer that and never thinks about it until it's too late. Oops, here we go."
"Dad, don't you dare put this phone down! I know it's your work phone, but . . . oh no, I know that trick. Don't even think about it. I know that trick. Hell, I taught you that trick. Put her on now or I'll do it. You know I will."
"And cue the waterworks," Edgar said, acting entranced.
"Daddy," Lauren sniffed, her voice suddenly tearful and broken up, "I really need to talk to Mom. She's crossed a line --"
"SHE should be a thespian," Dinah muttered admiringly. "I've seen seniors who can't do that kind of drama."
"Thank you," Lauren said, her voice almost a whimper. Then just as suddenly, "Do NOT pawn me off on Dad again! Yes, I know I do it, but that's a daughter's prerogative. I don't care. No, having sex with him does not give you the same rights, and ewh! No talking about that in front of your children. What kind of mother are you?"
"You wanna go inside?" Ed asked, "and you guys can give me the scoop on what's been going on around here. I got a dossier from the University and another from King Reichert. Besides, this looks like it's going to take a while."
"So you're a PI, huh?" Troy asked. "Sounds sweet."
"Yeah, there's not a lot of paranormal private investigators, or at least not many credible ones." He followed the crew inside and then started asking about what everyone knew and what they had heard and what was being done. He showed great compassion and tact when talking with Ally about her experience. Dinah knew he must be good at his job. She wondered what else he might be good at.
"You should talk to Camila too," Ally said at last, having relived her ordeal for what felt like the hundredth time. "She's the one who found me."
"Camila Cabello?" Ed checked his notes. "But she's blind." When his eyes came up, he noticed that everyone was looking shifty-eyed at each other. "What? Says here that she's legally blind. Is that not correct?"
"No, she's legally blind all right," Dinah said. "Yessiree."
He raised one eyebrow. 'Something is really odd here.' "She can't see then?" The redhead raised his hand. "Yes . . . Kevin, is it?"
"Yeah. Uhm, what do you mean by 'see'?" Kevin's utterance was met by a punch in the arm by Luis. "What?!"
Ed was really confused. "Can she or can she not make use of her eyes to intake light and so on and so forth to . . . well, see?"
"Nope!" the whole crowd said at once.
"Okay, what the fuck is going on?"
"Nothing," came the synchronized response.
Edgar rubbed his temples, trying to gather his wits. Normally, he was the problem child in the family, but he seemed woefully outmatched here.
"Here, let me do that for you," Dinah said soothingly.
"Really, that's not . . . okay," he said as she put her hands on his temples and her tee-shirt clad breasts on the back of his neck.
The door opened and Lauren came in, growling in a most unladylike manner. "The nerve --"
"What happened?"
"My battery died," she said, plugging her cell into the charger. "And they were going to head out to a party before I could get inside and use the land-line."
"So all of that and no resolution?" Luis asked.
"Technically, that conversation has been going on for three years," Ed informed him. "It'll pick up where they left off next time. Mark my words."
Lauren rolled her eyes, then managed to look cheerful for a moment. "Hey, Reichert's gonna help us get out of our housing contracts, so operation big-house-full-of-shifters is all go. Seriously," she added, looking at her brother, "you have GOT to see this place. Luis's uncle is amazingly cool for doing this for us."
"Well, I'll probably have plenty of chances, since I'm here until this case is solved. North American Shifter Council is footing the bill. You guys getting a house together? That's cool. I missed that part of the college experience."
"You missed the 'college' part of the college experience, you dumbass."
"That too. Hey, these guys won't give me a straight answer, so what is the deal with Camila Cabello?"
Lauren countered his eyebrow raise with one of her own. "What about her?"
"She's listed as a material witness, but she's also listed as blind."
"That's true."
"So she really can't tell me anything."
"That's false."
"She what, smelled the cage? Heard it?"
"She could tell you exactly what it looks like and probably give you a good guess as to what it was made of. But you've probably got all that in your report."
"But she's blind."
"Right."
"How can she --" Ed stopped and gripped the edge of the chair so hard he heard plastic snap.
Lauren grimaced. "I guess you'll have to meet her for yourself. C'mon, she's usually got some time between sets. I'll take you over there."
"I'm going with you," Dinah said. "You know . . . strength in numbers and whatnot."
"But my brother --"
"I . . . am coming . . . with you," Dinah said with a knowing look, then glanced at the back of Ed's head.
Lauren grinned. Dinah was pretty much an unstoppable hussy.
"Okay, what do you mean by sets? Is she a stripper or something?"
Everyone got a snicker out of that, but Lauren shushed them. "Hey, she could! She's got the bod for it."
"And you would know," Kevin shot back with a grin.
Ed looked at his sister. "Let's go. You can explain all of this on the way."
The three of them got up and left their companions to start the mass migration to the new house. Lauren refused to talk about Camila's "sight," deciding to leave it up to her. But her brother was tenacious on another front.
"So you've seen this girl naked?" he asked.
"Uhm . . .yeah. Couple of times now."
"A couple of times? So are you dating the girl?"
Lauren's head bobbed around for a moment, then she admitted that she was. Sort of. "It's early in the relationship."
"You? In a relationship? After leaving a trail of broken hearts and warm beds across half of Europe?"
"Oh don't get all high and mighty on me," Lauren grumbled. "It's not like you're a saint."
He smiled. "Never said I was. But a blind shifter?"
Lauren stopped and got in Ed's face. "You had better be on your best manners," she said.
"Hmm, sounds serious. Don't worry, I don't go in for that 'DM' bullshit. You know that."
She sighed, then hugged him. "I know."
Dinah clapped her friend on the shoulder. "She's just our protective mother hen."
"Hen?" Lauren said. "Listen here lizard lips --"
"Lizard? Oh, you are in so much shit for that!"
Ed sighed. His sister had not changed at all.
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in the radio station office, waiting for Camila to wrap up her between-song monologue.
"She's got a sexy voice," Ed whispered.
"You don't know the half of it," Lauren replied.
Aaron waved at her. "You can go in now. You've got about ten minutes 'til she's back on the air."
"Cool beans. C'mon," Lauren said, pulling her brother by the arm. "Hey babe," she said when she was clear of the door.
"Hey!" Camila said, turning around and her eyes glowing . . . "Crap!" she shouted, noticing the strange man standing in the doorway. She turned off her Gift and reached for her glasses. "Sorry, but the light . . . in my eyes and --"
Lauren pulled her lover's hand away and kissed her. Camila was trying to object despite the lip-lock for several seconds before she just gave up and melted. Lauren reluctantly let go of that bottom lip and then said, "It's okay. Camz, this is my brother Edgar. Edgar, this is the infamous Camila Cabello. Camila, Edgar is actually a paranormal private investigator that the university has called in to help with the kidnapping."
Camila extended her hand in a random direction, causing Lauren to sigh.
"He won't tell anyone, and he already knows something is up."
"But what still escapes me," Ed interjected dryly. "Okay, you're Gifted. Got that part."
Camila thwacked Lauren on the arm. "Don't ever just walk in with a stranger without warning me!"
"He's not a stranger! Strange, but not a stranger."
"Is one of the two of you going to explain her whole sight thing? Please?" Edgar begged.
Camila shrugged. "I'm legally blind."
Ed slapped his face.
"Camz --" Lauren whined pitifully.
"Okay, okay. I can use echolocation in human form. Bat sonar. So there."
"Was that so hard?!" Ed said throwing his hands up. "Nice to meet you by the way. When would be a good time to talk to you? In a straight-forward way where you just answer my questions rather than confuse me?"
"I'm free for lunch tomorrow," Camila said a bit shyly. "Lauren, did you want to join us?"
"I've got classes from ten-thirty until two, then I've got practice. Don't worry, Ed will be a gentleman. Because if he isn't, he knows I can kick his ass." She kissed Camila while glaring at Ed. "We're gonna split, but I'll talk to you tomorrow after practice. Okay?" Another kiss.
"Sure. Hey, how did the meeting the Fuhrer go?"
Lauren stopped in her tracks. "Uh, it went well. We can get out of our housing contracts, so Luis's going to call his uncle in the morning. We'll keep a room open for you."
"So he wasn't a total ass?"
"No, he was --" She paused, wondering how Camila would take the idea of Lauren consorting with the enemy. "He was professional," she said, and left it at that.
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The next afternoon . . .
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"Seriously, it was that bad?" Camila added, trying not to break down into another laughing fit.
"And don't even get me started on the scrabble competitions. Lauren is a NUT for words. When most girls were getting their first Barbie Dream House, my father actually had to build a Barbie Library for her."
Camila laughed so hard she almost cried. "I'm not sure what's scarier. That she would want the library or that she played with Barbies!"
"Oh, she won't want to admit it, but she was a girly girl, in an alternative kind of way. She has, and I kid you not, read the dictionary."
"No fucking way!" Camila exclaimed.
"Yep. It was a junior dictionary, but it was still fuckin' huge. My mom bet her she couldn't do it as a way of shutting her up. It did for an entire summer. Then my sister walks into the kitchen one day, and keep in mind she was thirteen, and slammed the dictionary on the table. Mom says, 'You know if had just raked the leaves like I'd asked, you could have earned this in an a few hours.' Puts twenty bucks on the table and just looks so smug. Lauren goes, 'Yeah, but then I wouldn't have had an excuse not to do chores all summer.' Mom just about shit herself." He reached out to keep Camila from falling out of her chair.
"I knew she was smart, but --"
"Oh, she's horrible at the sciences, I promise you that. Words and athletics make her happy. That and being one-up on Mom in their never-ending verbal maneuvering."
"And you've got two other brothers, right?"
He nodded. "The twins, Chris and Charlie. Charlie's in grad school and is gonna be a lawyer, and Chris is a firefighter up in Denver."
"Are you all full shifters? I can't tell that, even with the sonar," she said dejectedly.
"Actually, it's just Lauren, Mom, and me. Lauren got the Progenitor Strain, obviously, but for me the Noah Strain was dominant. Probably Dad's genes. Chris and Charlie also have the Noah Strain, but their totem animals haven't manifested. Dad's never did."
Camila nodded. There were two ways in the shifter world to gain lycanthropy, which was to contract either the Progenitor Strain or the Noah Strain of the disease. Both Strains existed in the same DNA sequence, but whichever activated first, it killed the other. Those with the Progenitor Strain inherited the totem animal of a parent with active lycanthrope, and those with this Strain always developed the ability to shift. This Strain was only transmitted in the mother's womb. The Noah Strain was a little different in that those who had it dominant might never shift. On the other hand, they might also develop the ability to shift into a totem animal of any species.
No one was sure why certain species were "chosen" and others were not, but it seemed to help keep some great planet-wide balance. Whenever one species began to die out for any reason, the Noah Strain seemed to start favoring that species. Philosophers and scientists in the shifter world were still debating the "whys" and "wherefores," but most people just accepted it and moved on. The Noah Strain could be transferred in the womb or by a savage transfusion of blood, such as in an attack. Such attacks were more often than not fatal and had been disallowed by the World Shifter Council. And the older one got, the less likely it would be that the Noah Strain would manifest, with Neil Reichert's late-bloomer status a rare exception.
"So what kind of bird are you?" she asked.
"Raven."
Camila let out a little gasp and leaned back. Ravens were the mystics of the bird world. Magic rarely if ever worked on them, and they could trace magic back to the source. But there was another "gift" that sometimes happened that was less welcome. "Have you ever had the visions?" she asked.
He shook his head. It was a common question, though it always made him a tad uneasy, as if answering the question would jinx his luck. Raven-shifters sometimes developed the ability to prophecise or see into the future, but it often came with a price in that the seer went mad. "Nope, and here's to hoping I never do." He raised a soda can and clinked it against Camila's, who reacted with a "Here here."
"Well well well," came an all too familiar voice that made Camila develop an unflattering snarl.
"Seems like the Fuck-a-loser club got a new member. Listen buddy," Austin said as he stepped up to the table, "you look like the kind of guy who can do better than to pity fuck a DM, so why don't you scram so the bitch and I can talk."
"Ed, this is Austin Mahone. He's already made the DM joke and called me a bitch, so his use as a conversational partner is pretty well spent. Of course, that tirade went on longer than his dates usually do --"
"You fucking --" Austin got caught off as Ed started to get up.
Ed slowly stood up and turned to face Austin Mahone and his three goons. Two of them just HAD to be from the football team, and the girl just seemed to have "For a good time call" tattooed onto her psyche. "Austin Mahone? Any relation to William Mahone?"
"He's my father," Austin said.
"Your father is a great man," Ed said. "I did some work with him hunting down an embezzler a while back. I liked him. So are you really his son, or did the local mailman get a little forward with the missus because YOU are nothing like him."
"Fuck you," Austin said, hauling his hand back.
Before his opponent could punch, Ed had produced a shiny badge, which got Austin's attention. "I'm a Paranormal Private Investigator here on official business of the FCU Council of Shifters and the North American Shifter Council."
"So what? So you're a private dick."
"But at least I'm not a public dick," Ed replied calmly. "But I can recommend to both Councils that someone be held for questioning, and displaying random bouts of sociopathic behavior certainly moves you up the suspect list."
Austin looked perplexed. "Huh?"
"It means, guano for brains, that he can arrest you and parade you around like a suspect if he wants," she said acidly. "So get lost. My complaint against you isn't going away, though I wish to the Goddess that you would."
"I don't know who the hell you think you are," Austin said, "but you obviously don't know who you're messing with."
"Actually, I do. I even identified you by lineage." Ed put his arm around Camila's shoulders. "Am I daft, or does he really have a problem with short-term memory?" He sighed. "And my name is Edgar Jauregui."
"As in Lauren's brother," Camila chipped in.
Ed rolled his eyes. "Usually it's, 'Oh look, it's Clara's boy.' Now, it's 'Lauren's brother'? Why can't I just be known for me?"
Austin was furious about being ignored when he was attempting to be threatening. "You wouldn't be so tough without your badge."
"Actually," Edgar replied, his voice so cold that it was almost brittle, "my badge is the only thing keeping me from beating you into mulch where you stand."
"C'mon Austin, the bitch ain't worth this," Bill Baker said, trying to drag his illustrious leader away. Austin put up a good show of pretending he still wanted to stay and fight, but something about Edgar's gaze and tone put his nerves on edge.
"Punk ass bitch," Ed muttered under his breath, then he turned a curious eye to Camila. "Okay, want to explain THAT?"
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That evening . . .
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'No one is listening,' the Cold thought, moving through its own lair like a harsh Arctic wind. 'Why would they? Fools! They did not listen the last time, but by all that is unholy I will make them understand.' He looked towards the Spanish Mantle and the One inside. The One's tongue had been ruined and it smelled of feces and urine and stank of a fear so tangible it could almost be touched. The Cold approached the One. "You will go now, and you will let them know. You will speak volumes without saying a word. You will continue the Message." It grabbed another special tool off of a nearby tray. "Prepare."
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Some time later . . .
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Lauren stepped out of the gymnasium after the practice from hell. She was convinced that her coach was the devil herself come up from hell to make Lauren run shuttle sprints until she sold her soul in order to escape. It was the only thing that made any sense. Her brother was perched on the short wall that was in front of the gym.
"Hey, how'd the talk with Camila go?"
"I've gotta tell ya, I like this one Lauren. She's got a good head and a sharp tongue, as I discovered when one Austin Mahone showed up. You could've warned me about the 90210 drama ya know."
"It just didn't occur to me. I take it you scared him off?"
"Yeah. Camila got a kick out of it. She told me she hasn't had a lot of 'backup' until you showed up."
"It bugs me that people make such a deal about the blindness, which a lot of them probably wouldn't do if she'd just come out about her Gift."
"People who have been wounded are cautious," Ed reminded her. "Be patient. So tomorrow --" He stopped talking when Lauren's cell phone went off.
"That's not my ring tone," she muttered, then remembered her other phone and her heart skipped a beat. "It's the Neighborhood Watch phone," she said, quickly shifting through her bag to find it. She pulled it out, placed it to her ear, and immediately turned pale. "Yeah. Understood. Actually he's with me. Got it." She hung up. "They found the second victim."