Life With A Werewolf

The Nobility Part 6 - Meet The Rodriguez Family

          Sean called in from work. They understood with his boyfriend / almost husband missing, that took priority over printing a few T-shirts. So, he hung back and waited with me as we both sat and stared at the television for the next three and a half hours. It was some Netflix documentary on spam or something. I’m not entirely sure. I know the director was trying to make some point about food, but all I remember of it was spam.

          When the headlights washed over the windows, me and Sean were already outside greeting the two vehicles that arrived: A smart looking late model cross-over SUV, and a Wrangler. I’m told by the individual who owns it that I’m not allowed to call the cross-over a station wagon in his presence. But since this is my blog, IT’S JUST A STATION WAGON! Both vehicles looked reasonably decked out for war, with the Cross-over having some crack running across its windshield. There’s a story there if I’ve ever heard one, but I didn’t ask. Sometimes it’s best to just not dive into these sorts of things.

          After a brief bit of pleasantries, we invited everyone inside with the usual exchange of niceties. The ‘hello, how are you’s’, so to speak. Introductions were saved for the front door. Cause though the werewolves could see just fine outside in the dim light, me and Sean were at a loss, so it waited until we could get a good look at them. The flood light outside had given the new party a sort of gloomy quality, one that didn’t quite relate to their mannerisms and cheerfulness when they pulled up.

          The two individuals in the modern glorified station wagon both had a Mediterranean complexion. Dark hair, smoldering eyes, the typical werewolf height and build on the guy. Both appeared to have that movie star, ‘I could be thirty or I could be sixty’ quality to them. The guy had a goatee with a bit of grey peppered through it, and silver streaks through his hair. The woman had a soft, strong muscular nature as well, that appeared as if she hit the weight bench more than the yoga class at the gym. But if I had to guess, I was willing to bet that she barely had to work out to keep that figure.

          “Hello,” she said, with a faint touch of Spanish in her voice. “I’m Tanika. This is my husband, Romero.”

          He smiled, and pulled a fedora off of his head. “Call me Roam,” he said. There was a touch of Spain in his voice as well. But not enough to say he came directly from the country. It was more of a ‘I used to live there before the Midwest claimed me’ sort of accent.

          “Just not Indy, huh,” I grinned.

          He grinned right back. “Well, I have his hat, but not his whip. So no, I’m not Indy today.”

          Tanika smiled, right back, patting her husband on the shoulder with tenderness, “perhaps I should get you that whip.”

          “Eww,” another woman said as she stepped through the door. “Could we not hear that, please?” She resembled Tanika in almost every way, though getting her father’s stronger chin. “We already hear too much from you on the other side of the property.”

          “Why, Cecily,” Roam said, “How can you say such a thing? Me and your mother, we close the doors, play the music.”

          A younger guy stepped through the door after Cecily, looking more like his father, with the goatee, only younger. “Yes dad,” he said, “that works for the strays but we’re werewolves too, remember? Turn the music up as loud as you want. We can still hear everything.”

          “Very funny, Killian,” Tanika said, rolling her eyes. Sean waved everyone through, pulling them into the living room.

          A taller black man followed behind, who appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties, and a shorter Scottish woman with fiery red hair. The black guy introduced himself as Donte’, and the woman as Eleanor. “We’re the strays,” he said with a grin. “Nice place! I like it, it’s got a sort of Addams Family vibe going on.”

          “Why thank you, Lurch,” I said, grinning back.

          Eleanor rolled her eyes, “forgive him,” she said, “he’s been dying to use that line ever since he saw photos of the place online.”

          “It’s alright,” I replied. “I know what that’s like.” I waved them through to the living room. “Donte’ we’ll have to have a conversation one day about my theory on where colored Easter eggs come from.”

          Sean’s eyes went wide. “No! Don’t!” He waved his arms frantically, shaking his head. “Seriously, dude. Don’t. My stomach can’t handle that again.”

          “All I’m saying! If you think about it,” I began.

          “Dude,” he said, “I still can’t eat Skittles because of that.”

          Donte’ smiled, “It’s all good. I don’t even like Skittles that much, anyway.”

          Sean shook his head. “Trust me.”

          “Anyway,” Eleanor said, rolling her eyes. “I think it’s time we got down to business.”

          “Right,” Roam said, jumping in. Everyone was seated in the living room at this point, with me and Sean standing near our respective corners. “You two, stay out of the way. Killian, you and Cecily go scouting. You know what to look for.” Roam pointed a finger at the two of us. “Do you two have anywhere you can go for the time being? Neighbors, friends?”

          “It’s his boyfriend who was stolen,” I replied, pointing at Sean. “And I’m not really one to back down from a fight.”

          “This isn’t some drunk guy in a bar, my friend,” Roam said. “This is a bit worse than that.”

          “I know,” I replied. “This is a group of werewolves who want to kill us. We’ve already had a bit of an encounter with them.”

          Roam gave me a sad little smile. “You got lucky,” he replied. “Normally, they would have shredded all of you for that little stunt. This, no. You will not survive this.”

          I shrugged. “I’ve gone through four tours overseas, blown up once. Had two fights with a lawn gnome, two different encounters with Hulderfolk. Helped catch and kill a meth-headed vampire. And went bobbing for apples with zombies, which I never want to do again. I think I’ll be okay.”

          Roam sighed. “Look,” he said, “I know you think that you can help. But you really will just get yourself killed. Eleanor, could you explain to our new friend hear why he’s being an idiot.”

          “For the record,” Sean said, “being an idiot? It’s kind of his thing.”

          I gave Sean a look. “What?” He said, “You’re the one who keeps getting involved in these things, not me.” Well, he does have a point about that.

          After a quick trip to the Wrangler that she and Donte’ arrived in, Eleanor came back inside with a backpack. “Here,” she said, pulling a tablet out. “This is who you’re dealing with.”

          The first image was of some underwear model or something. He had blonde hair, a perfectly chiseled chin, and was wearing a slim cut suit that looked to be both Italian, and expensive. “This is Verner Behring. He’s the head of the American arm of The Werewolf Confederation.”

          “Who,” I asked.

          “You know them as ‘The Nobility’,” she said. “It’s a derogatory term we started using here sometime after the war. I think you can guess why.”

          “Yeah, high and mighty, my ‘shit smells like roses’ types of individuals. The type of person who never feels like they should ever have to work hard in their entire life because they exist. That they were blessed by their deity with divine wisdom and it’s their goal in life to bear this divinity on us peasants. Yeah, I know the type.”

          Donte’ looked at me for a moment and chuckled, “damn you’re wordy.”

          “You know I’m right,” I replied.

          I didn’t get any audible comments, but I did get a few slight head nods.

          “He’s assisted by two generals,” Eleanor continued, pulling up another photo. This one was a smiling selfie of two individuals. “They’re husband and wife. The Dylan’s. The guy in the photo is Christopher. The woman is Helena.” The guy had dark hair, strong chin and an easy smile. He looked like the type of person who could be a good presidential candidate, but never president because they keep getting caught sleeping with all the secretaries. The woman had a practiced smile, brown hair and a smart haircut. She looked like the type who planned spontaneous vacations right down to how long you have to get in a pee break.

          “They look like the mob,” I said.

          “Kind of like that,” Donte’ replied. “They operate the same way. They don’t destroy the countryside or nothing. But they take ‘tribute’ from other werewolves and things. Will also kill and replace politicians and judges with their own if need be, to get something done.”

          “So,” I said, “they play 4-D chess.”

          “They think they do,” Donte said. “But they’re dangerous if you don’t know how to play them.”

          I began to pace the room. “Well,” I said, “It sounds like they’re the type of people who look down on guys like me. They hate me cause I won’t stay still, cause I won’t stick to my ‘own lane’ or my ‘own kind’.”

          “Baby, can you talk some sense into these guys, I’m going to bring in the stuff then help out the kids,” he kissed Tanika with practiced ease then stepped back outside.

          “Actually, you’re just annoying to them. It’s Crash they can’t stand,” she said. “Your blog just reminded them that him and his family are alive.”

          “Wait,” I said, turning to her. “Why are they pissed at Crash?”

          Tanika turned her head down, and crossed herself for a moment. “You’ll have to ask him,” she said “That tale of woe is not mine to tell. But they’d prefer if he was dead.”

          Sean clenched his fist hard when he heard that. “Will they, you know, hurt or,”

          “If Crash surrenders, your loved ones should be okay. But if he doesn’t, they’re not above harming them to get at Crash.”

          “Do you like, know where they are or anything,” Sean asked.

          “Not yet,” she said. “We’ll have to start searching the county. Even for a werewolf, that will take time.”

          “See there dude,” Sean said, looking at me.. “I call them, they get ahold of me, you can like, follow them or whatever and,”

          “Stop it, Sean,” I said. “Even I know that idea is dumb. Besides, you’re a nice guy. I know you can fight if you need to, but I don’t think you’d be able to handle them.”

          “If they harm one hair on Kris’ head, I swear I’ll,” he began.

          “No, you won’t.” Tanika said, stepping in. “Going off half cocked will only get yourself killed, your boyfriend probably killed and won’t save Crash. Besides, we already have a plan to get your boyfriend your roommate and Crash back all safe and sound.”

          “Okay, I’m all in dude, what do you need me to do,” Sean asked.

          “Actually,” Tanika said, looking at me, “no offense, but we’ll need Jason for this one.”