I awoke to the smell of french toast and heard conversation drifting upstairs. For a moment, I thought I was at my parents’ house. My sister’s voice carried up the stairs mixed with the sound of a babbling baby and my brother-in-law’s low drawl, teasing her. Then, I heard Lauren, and my eyes shot open.

“So, what do you do for work?” Bill asked from downstairs.

“I’m in school, though I took this semester off, but I’ll be going back in the spring,” Lauren responded.

“Oh, what are you studying?” My sister asked.

“Nutrition, but I’m only a semester in.”

I shot out of bed. I unclipped the cable at the base of my bed and pulled the cable out of the links and eye hooks with a couple yanks. I hit the button, but found the net was taking too long to rise, so I crawled underneath. They continued talking as I hurried and put on jeans and a clean, crumpled white t-shirt that I had not bothered putting away. I was about to go downstairs when I stopped—my 1911. I hated not having it on me, but it was covered in blood. I decided to grab it, anyway, sticking it in my shoulder holster; I didn’t put it on, but held it in the crook of my arm. I took a deep breath, opened my door, and went out.

I walked across the upstairs balcony. I couldn’t see anyone but could hear them in the kitchen below me. As I descended the stairs, my sister saw me. She was making french toast at the stove. Bill was sitting across from Lauren and bouncing a baby in his lap. “Good morning, Aaron, did you sleep well?” my sister said, smiling a little too sweetly. I faked a big smile back.

“Sis, you know I can’t help but get good sleep.”

“We were talking about how soundly you sleep. Lauren was telling us it’s impossible to get you up once you’re out.” I forced another smile, looking at Lauren. She smiled back unapologetically. What did they think my relation to Lauren was? I was afraid for more than one reason. I settled in a chair next to Lauren, hanging my shoulder holster and gun on it first.

“I’m sorry; I would rather have introduced you,” I lied.

“I hope it’s alright we barged in on you,” Bill said. I like Bill, though not so much at this moment.

“It’s fine. I’m glad you caught me. I am hardly ever home nowadays,” I replied.

“Well, we saw smoke rising from your chimney and figured you were home,” Bill could see the confusion on my face. “Oh, you’re going to love this; we finally got that private helicopter.” On any normal occasion, this would be great, but my heart would not stop pounding. What if they recognized her? Hobbs had said she had gone missing a year ago, so there had to be missing persons posters out there. What had she said and what was she going to say?

“Where did you land it? I’m surrounded by woods,” I asked.

“That grass patch next to your pond,” Bill replied.

“Oh. How was it?”

“Not bad, a little tight, but nothing compared to where I land at work,” Bill smiled.

“Well, when you are ready to leave, we can walk down with you and identify a few trees to take down to make it easier,” I told him. I hoped this was enough to get them to leave sooner. This really wasn’t the best time. If only Grace had called me back, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

My sister walked around the counter, setting a plate full of french toast on the table. Our places had already been set. “Let’s bless it; shall we?” My sister said. “I will, if you don’t mind, Aaron.” I nodded, glancing at Lauren. “Lord, we are grateful to be here together. We ask that You bless this food and that it will nourish our bodies. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.” I mumbled an amen along with Bill. “Well, how did you meet?”

I looked at Lauren. She looked at me as if to say, ‘this is your problem.’ “My work actually.” My mind went blank, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I was not going to tell the truth. I paused for a long moment. Then, surprisingly, Lauren spoke up. I looked at her as the blood drained from my face.

“He stopped into the restaurant I work at, and I haven’t been able to lose him ever since,” Lauren said.

“And what does that have to do with your work?” Bill asked me.

“I was in town looking into something for work and stumbled... needed food,” I replied clumsily.

“You’re very romantic, Aaron,” My sister said dryly.

“He can be,” Lauren mused. “He brought me flowers on our first date. It was a little soon, but sweet.” The way she looked at me when she said it almost made me think it happened.

“What can I say? The moment I saw you; I was smitten,” I said and forced a smile.

“You really are bad at this,” my sister said, shaking her head but smiling. “Continue, Lauren.”

“There’s not much more, honestly. We met rather recently,” she replied. My sister raised an eyebrow. I was going to get a talking to. “We both had a few days off work, so An-Aaron picked me up and has been showing me places all around Tennessee.” I got another look from my sister. Yep, definitely going to get an earful.

“How about the two of you? What have you been up to?” I asked.

“We got the new bird and are on our way to see Bill’s parents. We will spend a few weeks with them, then it’s back home where Bill will be taking people sightseeing over Yellowstone,” my sister replied.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Will you still be doing EMS work?” I asked.

“Part-time; one week out of the month I’ll go in or if they really need me for a tricky situation, but for the most part, I will be taking people out sightseeing,” Bill explained.

We munched on french toast and Bill told some crazy landing story about pulling some lost hikers out of a river. I began clearing dishes, and Lauren excused herself to the restroom. Bill took the baby out to see the dog, who was apparently chained up outside somewhere. My sister stood next to me rinsing as I washed dishes. “She seems nice, a little quiet. Do you think perhaps you are taking things a little fast?” What she meant was: you shouldn’t have taken her home. Which I didn’t. Well, not the way my sister was thinking. That simply wasn’t my or my family’s style. If my sister really knew what was going on, I’m sure that wouldn’t be an improvement.

“She stayed in the guest room, if you’re so interested.”

“Uh huh.”

“Look, you don’t have to believe me but that is the truth.” I looked down at her, and we locked eyes; she squinted up at me.

“Then why play with fire, Aaron?”

If she only knew. “Generally, I would agree with you, Bree, but Lauren, she’s different...” There was no fixing this.

“She is? They all are, Aaron,” she argued.

“I’m glad you came,” I said truthfully, trying to change the subject. “Work has been rough lately, and you stopping by, while unexpected, is nice.”

“I should have called, but we wanted to surprise you with the bird. Bill is so proud of it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have woken up if you had called,” I grumbled.

“Is your sleep any better? I worry about you.”

“No, it’s the same as it has always been.”

“Since the trip, you mean. Dad still won’t tell me what really happened. I know it’s more than a rockslide.”

I let out a long sigh. “Sis, he can’t tell you and neither can I.” If I did, the chance of her running into an anomaly would increase, and she lived way too close to that thing. I knew from experience that the more you knew about these things, the more you saw them.

“But why? It hangs over you; I can see it. I want to help.”

“I have a therapist; they have helped,” I replied.

“I know, so does Dad, but there’s a piece of you that’s missing, and it’s not just the loss of our cousin. It happed again a year ago when Victor went missing.”

I shrugged. “Once we are old and you have dementia, maybe I’ll tell you.”

“Really?” She sounded perturbed. “Dementia doesn’t run in our family.”

“Well, you can hope,” I joked. She glared at me and splashed me with water but was unable to keep a smile from her lips. I smiled for real this time, and we wrapped up dishes. Lauren came down the stairs, and we all went outside. Bill was petting the hound, and the baby was patting it on the head. He seemed excited to see it but was not sure what it was. Rudy was tied to a rope that was no longer hanging in my shed. Lauren untied him and clipped him on a leash. We walked down to the bird so Bill could show her off to me.

“I could give you two a quick spin, if you would like,” he suggested.

“We would love to, but I have reserved a spot at the Tipped Teacup Café. Another time?” I replied.

“Fine, but you’re not getting out of it. Will you be here in four to five weeks?”

“Probably. You will know we’re here if there’s a fire going,” I said.

“Well, I will take you then.” Bill smiled.

Lauren and I watched as they strapped in, and we waved as they took off. Bill was a good pilot. I was surprised he had fit the little copter down there. I made a mental note of a couple trees to drop to make it less hazardous.

“They were nice,” Lauren said and pulled Rudy back toward the house. His nose was taking him to who knows where. “Though your sister didn’t seem very approving of me staying the night,” she smiled slyly.

“We are a traditional family; I am a traditional individual,” I replied.

“Is that what you want? Are you going to settle down, then? Find a little wife and have a house full of babies?” She replied sassily.

“Perhaps when I am older.”

“Why older?”

“I’m not ready.”

Lauren let out a laugh. “I’m sure,” she said dismissively.

“My work sometimes follows me home.”

“A female vampire isn’t something you want to bring home to your wife?”

“Oh, not just that, I had a wraith follow me all the way here from Washington DC. Found it outside my window one night as I was going to bed.”

“What did you do to it?” She asked.

“Apparently, it was attached to some old sterling silver jewelry that I had bought at auction. I tossed the jewelry in the pond, and it lives there now.”

“You’re joking.”

“If you would like to see it, we can go down some night and watch it drift across the lake and though the surrounding trees.”

She shook a little dramatically. “I think I’m good, that’s a bit spooky for my taste.”

“Coming from you that is hilarious.”

“I was very content not being a vampire, actually.”

I nodded. “How did it happen?” We walked a few yards in silence.

“I was abducted at college. I worked nights and was walking home at 2 am on my regular route. I think I had been watched for some time. For about a week, another woman had a similar route home, so we started walking together. She lured me into her supposed workplace, an old print shop, when we were being followed by a lone man. Three more men were waiting inside, and I was quickly tied up before I could register what happened. I was kept at the farmhouse you found. They locked me in a room, and a man came in and bit me on the back of my neck,” she rubbed it subconsciously. “I changed over what felt like a week. My skin turned paper white, and I could smell everyone that had ever been down there.” She looked out towards the woods as another quiver took her.

“How did they feed you?”

“They threw another young woman in with me. She hadn’t taken to the bite. I couldn’t bite her. She was so scared, and I was too. We sat there for a long time, then the man that bit me cut her arm and filled a glass. He gave it to me, and I threw up. After that, I was moved to a rebar cage, and they started bringing me pigs’ blood. They tried to get me to bite different people, but I couldn’t. Not to mention, anyone who’d bite was thrown in the furnace.”

“Would you recognize the man that bit you or any of them?” I asked, hoping she could help identify members of the Carnies.

“Just the woman they held me with. Everyone else had their face covered, though I could tell you who they were by smell.” We were back at the cabin. Lauren walked to the back porch and sat on the porch swing. She pushed herself aimlessly back and forth. “I was there for a long time before they took me and had my fangs filed back down to normal, though they are starting to come back,” she rubbed one of her canines with her thumb. “I was sold or given to the man you killed not long after that. Then, those big dog things started showing up around his house. I was locked away in my ‘display case’ to protect me from them. Not long after that, I was moved to the bunker where you found me.”

“Do you have any idea why the creatures were after you?”

“No, but I was one of a five-piece collection. A liger was the most normal creature he had. I was on display next to some horrifying looking creatures. I don’t know where he got them.”

Well, that was troubling. “Where was this house?”

“I don’t know. They would only move me if I put on a blacked-out biker’s helmet that would lock around my neck.”

“Hm, that’s not a bad idea.” Lauren frowned and looked away. “Not for you.” I clarified.

She got up from the swing. “I’m going to lay down if you don’t need me for anything, Aaron,” she stated, emphasizing my name.

I chuckled bitterly, “No, and that’s our little secret.” She left, taking Rudy with her. With nothing else to do, I headed for the shop. I needed more silver tipped bullets.