Her Perilous Wolf, Julie Steimle [howl and other poems TXT] 📗

“I don’t think I’ve heard of this Seven.”

“Thanks for your help. I’ll talk to you later,” Vincent said to Randon and Silvia, working to ignore their loud conversation. Michael approached both Vicky and Jandra to explain what the Seven was. Vincent had a worrying feeling that Vicky was also going to get sucked right into the supernatural.

<< Call us if you find her first, >> Randon said, making a yawn. << So we don’t worry. >>

“OK.” And Vincent hung up. He looked to the others. “Alright. I’m going to call my aunt and see if Doug has called in yet. Do you want to find a hotel for the night?”

“You can stay here if you don’t mind sleeping in an apartment occupied by a vampire,” Troy said, smirking while rocking on his heels. “The long couch pulls out and can hold two, and the other is comfy.”

“I’m out.” Selena trotted on her high heels back to the door. “Vicky, are you coming? Or do you want to hang with your brother longer?”

Vicky peeked to Michael though, looking a little star struck. His story had blown her mind. “No. I’m coming with you. We can call Jessica from your place, and I can go call my aunt from there.”

“Wait!” Vincent jogged after them. But he pulled Selena aside, whispering. “Please don’t drag my sister in too deep. It is bad enough that I have protect Audry now from this freakiness.”

“You?” Selena chuckled musically and patted him on the cheek. “Protect Audry? She’s been protecting you this whole time. As for Vicky, she’s stronger than you think.”

He watched Selena and his sister go, Vicky waving—though he was not sure if it was for him or Michael. Both of them were a little pink in the cheeks.  

“We’re staying,” Tommy announced, mostly for Vincent’s benefit. “Unless you live in the area and want to go home.”

Sighing, Vincent shook his head. His apartment was about an hour away. He could go home, but he really needed this to work out. “This is fine.”

Bobo and Jandra went the rest of the way into the apartment to the kitchen, returning to whatever they had planned for that evening—at least part of what they had planned. Vincent overheard her and Bobo talking about getting an über to take her home. But they did start to make dinner.

“So, tell me about your research,” Michael said once he sat down on the couch, kicking off his shoes. He looked to Troy. “Howie Deacon is funding it, right?”

“Howie…” Troy shook his head. “Uh, Rick is funding it, yes. And… well, to be transparent, Doug Bruchenhaus has given us a huge boost toward a treatment plan. He really understands blood. We’ve also got a volunteer with multiple bite wounds of varying severity, and he had eagerly been letting us try cures on him.”

“And?” Michael grew intensely intrigued.

So did Tommy, who had also sat down to, listen, a fist pressed to his mouth.

Troy’s eyes were shining as he took in his eagerly listening audience. “And I think we’ve hit a breakthrough. We won’t be able to cure vampirism, but we will be able to treat shallow wounds. Right now Dr. McAllister had been able to arrange for more in-depth tissue work. But we are hopeful.”

“Dr. William McAllister?” Michael asked, head perked. Of course he knew already, but he was confirming.

Troy nodded. “The same.”

Michael grinned. “And this is your passion?”

“Yeah.” Troy nodded firmly.

Thinking aloud, Michael asked, “And let’s say you succeed in finding a cure for bite victims. Would you make this knowledge free to the public?”

“To the believing public, yeah,” Troy walked around the couches to the ottoman, opening up the lid to take out what was inside. It was blankets and a pillow. He gazed at Michael with open puzzlement though. “I think most doctors still mock Dr. McAllister as the freaky bite doctor, so I doubt we will attempt to mainstream it. Presenting it to the medical world, we might have the FDA or whatever breathing down our necks. They wouldn’t understand. But I’m sure even the SRA would appreciate knowing there was a cure for the victims of vampires. Just like there is a cure for werewolf bite.”

Michael grinned at him. He extended his hand to Troy. “Pleased to meet you.”

With a shrug, Troy took Michael’s grip. Between them seemed to be less of a business shake and more of a ‘truly glad to know you’ shake. Vincent was not sure what exactly had just happened there. But then Michael Toms was not the usual Joe, and Troy wasn’t either.

 After a sumptuous Creole dish which Bobo had whipped together, Jandra went back to her home, waving with a degree of dismay that the date had to end. They opened up the couch for the night. Michael sat down with Vincent with a few questions once he tossed on the blankets. The first question was about how Vicky got to know Selena. Vincent gave him his best guess about the New York party he had ditched—which satisfied Michael’s sense of things. The second was about the Bruchenhaus family in general—specifically their two branches—that of Zachary Bruchenhaus and Helena Bruchenhaus-Williams—which Vincent corrected to just Helena Williams, as Helena Bruchenhaus was their nasty great aunt from Pennsylvania and they never mixed the two up if they could help it.  

“Did your grandfather reject them, or did they reject the Bruchenhaus legacy?”

Vincent shrugged. “Well, my mom married her sweetheart right out of high school against her parents’ wishes—which would be strike one. My dad and mom then went to night school together, and they both worked their butts off rather than asking for any family help or for jobs in the company. My dad is currently working as a supervisor in an office for a company he likes—one not at all connected to Grandpa Bruchenhaus. But my mom, well, she went the happy homemaker route—which would not have bothered my grandparents so much if she had married a wealthier man. I know, not very politically correct, but they are happy. My mom is mocked by the rest of Bruchenhauses (except for Uncle Zach) as the bleeding heart of the family.

“As for Uncle Zachary, well… he’s the second son.” Vincent shook his head. “And nothing he ever did was good enough for Grandpa. He married a girl from a hippie family—”

Michael laughed, hearing that.

“That’s right. Seriously left wing, though a chunk of them are libertarian and anarchists. Hyphenated last names. The Busche-Waites. One from a commune and all that flower power stuff. But their grandparents are from old money—the Busches, which Grandpa respects. And the Waites who were so conservative their kids rebelled and got into some weird stuff—including paganism.” Vincent shook his head. “But Aunt Clover is level headed most of the time. She’s a midwife, and she teaches courses in childcare. Uncle Zach is a chiropractor, but he is also into homeopathic healing, herbology, and other alternative medicine. Both are into permaculture, environmentally safe cleaning and they have an online blog, vlog, and a website for holistic living. They are well off, recycle, and practice what they preach. Audry’s family is more liberal than conservative. They are strong environmentalists who are borderline vegan. They will occasionally eat eggs, milk, and fish, but mostly they live on tofu, nuts and greens for their protein.”

He could see a smirk spreading more on Michael’s face, mostly amused. Vincent wondered what amused him the most. Their extreme lifestyle or something else?

“So basically, in the Bruchenhaus world, Uncle Zach is the black sheep,” Vincent concluded.

Chuckling, Michael sighed. “I see. And their two kids have followed their footsteps.”

Vincent nodded. “Yeah. They’re a family of healers. They like nature and they don’t care for wealth or prestige. Doug and Audry are the black sheep of the grandkids. Our grandparents have absolutely zero hold over them.

“That’s a good thing,” Michael murmured. But he eyed Vincent. “But do they have a hold over you?”

With a shrug, Vincent said, “Well, Grandpa did pay for my education.”

“Did he pay for Vicky’s?” Michael asked, more than curious.

Vincent shook his head. “No. Vicky is a brilliant math scholar. She went to school on scholarship. I only work for Grandpa because I don’t really know what I want to do with my life.”

Michael stared at him, a little taken aback.

With a shrug, Vincent added, “I don’t have anything I am passionate about, not like Audry. Not even like Vicky who intends to become some kind of accountant. She’s job hunting right now, and I know she has zero desire for work for Grandpa’s company. However, I am worried about her hanging out with Selena. What if supernatural things start coming after her because of her close proximity to—”

“I won’t let that happen,” Michael said. He met Vincent’s gaze firmly.

“You don’t have to worry anyway,” Tommy interjected, having also overheard. “Selena Davenport is one of the most powerful ghoulies out there. You know the power of her voice. You know what she can do with it. But did you also know she can manipulate water?”

Vincent shook his head, puzzled.

“She could drown you with your own spit,” Tommy said, admiring the gift.

Staring, Michael cringed. “You’re kidding me.”

Tommy shook his head, meeting his friend’s gaze meaningfully. “She won’t, though. She’s not a killer. But I have seen her humiliate people. She’s made people look like they wet their pants while they are in a public place. I also heard a rumor that she is harassing some guy who would not leave her alone, making it so that water always spills on him everywhere he goes.”

“That would be Tom Brown, her boyfriend,” Michael interjected with a chuckle. Clearly he too knew Tom very well.

“Ex-boyfriend,” Vincent said, murmuring it. “Tom is dating some girl named Piranha.”

“That’s right.” Troy came down the upper stairs, shirtless, grinning at him. “Did Tom or Audry tell you that?”

“Audry,” Vincent said, looking at him. Troy appeared even more like a vampire with his shirt off for some reason. Maybe it was the exposed bite scars in his neck against his white skin. “She met her.”

“Your cousin really gets around,” Troy murmured, heading to the kitchen. They watched him take out a pot, then some milk and a canister with a powdered something inside. He got a few other things as well.

“So you’ve met her?” Michael asked, curious.

Troy nodded. “Yep. Three times now, I think. First time was at a ski lodge, the morning after she had dug a bullet out of Rick’s leg.”

Vincent’s eyes widened. He rose. “You were there?”

Troy nodded. “Yeah. The whole Gulinger bunch came to go holiday skiing on Rick’s buck. She was leaving that very day. And man, she was mad at him. She thought Rick’s family was selling dangerous weapons. She had thought the name written on the bullet was a brand name. She didn’t figure out it was a silver bullet for a werewolf until after Rick dropped it.”

“Rick dropped it?”

With a wink Troy said, “It was silver. She had shoved it into his hand. It burned him.”

“That sounds like Audry,” Vincent murmured. Audry would shove back a vile product into the face of the producer if she could.

Michael laughed.

“The second time I met her was at an environmental conference. She was selling tee-shirts with the wolf on it.” Troy laughed, shaking his head. “Everyone was buying one just to annoy Rick.”

Vincent laughed. “That’s right… I have one. Audry was in love with that wolf.”

The room hushed. Vincent shrugged, wondering now if her feelings had changed now that she knew the wolf was the man.

“So Tom Brown is no longer dating Selena Davenport?” Tommy murmured.

They all turned, seeing Tommy staring into space. He had not moved in the conversation since his last two cents apparently.

“Dude,” Michael stared at Tommy. “We’ve gone long past that.”

Blinking, Tommy looked to him. “Oh, I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

Troy grinned with a laugh. He poured his warmed milk into a mug. “Ah ha! You’ve had thing for Selena too?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. His cheeks