as long as I deem necessary.”
She was going to tell Gabriel that her protection would not be as effective on this group of more advanced beings, but decided better of it. Gabriel ruled with an iron fist and had a vendetta that was now a few acres long. He had been waiting for an opportunity to strike but was not presented with a clear window in recent months. Fighting between the hunters, vampires and protectors had transitioned into a full-out attack by Lowery and his gang, followed by more revenge by Lowery by way of his daughter Claire Vinson.
“I was sure that Lowery would have put an end to Hartwell and group in a much more gruesome fashion than I could have ever done. He hesitated and couldn’t complete a job that I should have finished years ago.”
They exchanged a few more words and then Gabriel said, “What’s your back, Brenda” in a threatening style.
She wouldn’t give in to the temptation of engaging in a street fight, “Always, Gabriel. Always,” as he walked away.
Brenda Vinson had obviously been around the block a few times and new her way through any paranormal neighborhood. She had assisted Gabriel Billingsley since the early 20th century when he truly became a beast to be reckoned with. But she was not so much a willing accomplice as a forced and coerced aid.
“Billingsley and his originals are back again,” she said to her daughter Linda earlier that day.
“How can you tell?” the less-experienced witch asked.
Brenda smiled and then her face quickly turned to stone, “There is a very identifiable pattern that accompanies such rage and anger. He arrived the same day that we arrived, at night when everything was calm and Claire turned back to normal. It was as if he was waiting to see what would happen to Hartwell and the group as a result of Lowery’s revenge.”
“That is intense. But what is the point of all of this?” Linda asked.
Brenda pondered the question that had here stumped for decades.
“Billingsley always involves me in his plots but he never clues me in on what he is trying to do. Like any of these sieges, he’s probably trying to right a wrong he feels was committed.”
Back at the restaurant, Brenda played it all slick as she collected her brown bag of egg rolls and chicken dishes from the woman behind the counter. She then turned and nearly walked straight into Hartwell and his posse, even though she felt their presence at least two blocks from their destination.
“Oh!” she exhaled as Thaddeus was all-to-happy to steady Brenda in his arms.
She held the bag in her right hand and grabbed his bicep with her left hand, “You’ve been working out again, haven’t you Thad?”
All of the men, except Cal, fawned over Brenda like they were under some type of love spell.
She then turned toward Cal and offered her left hand, “I don’t think I have officially had the pleasure?”
Cal turned all formal, “The name is Brewster, Calvin Brewster, ma’am.”
He then stepped back and wondered why he had just said that, but when he was just about to voice his concern all of his tension melted away. It was as if the touch of her hand produced an effect that guided the brain to think that Brenda Vinson was the most interesting woman in the entire world.
She turned away from Cal toward Hartwell, Thad and Gary, “Remember that time we were in China and we ate at that restaurant…” she asked and then recounted the details of the evening. Of course, there was never any dinner that included Hartwell and Gary with their hunter Thaddeus, because that would have most likely ended in bloodshed in the old days.
Cal was feeling a little jealous and left out by the reference to the dinner, but he thought he would hold his comments for a more quiet moment when Brenda was no longer in their company.
“Well, I’ll see you guys around,” Brenda said and then smiled real big and walked out of Beach Haven Chinese Restaurant.
Hartwell handed Gary a couple of crisp $100 bills and he and Thad walked up to the front counter to inquire about their order. The master vampire noticed the look of concern on Cal’s face and wanted to pick his brain about what had just transpired.
“There’s a lot more to that woman than meets the eye,” Hartwell said as the two men went outside and starting walking down the block while looking straight ahead.
“Like the fact that you guys never ate dinner together in China?” Cal inquired.
“Exactly,” Hartwell replied. “She has quite a grip, that witch.”
Cal stopped walking and Hartwell turned to face him.
“I knew there was something weird about her! How is that Thad and Gary are affected by her spells but you and I aren’t?”
“Are you saying that you didn’t feel something back there?” Hartwell asked.
Cal grinned, “Maybe a little something. But then not so much. So, how did you do it?”
Hartwell leaned in and whispered, “I have a little trick up my own sleeve. She is working for someone, but I have been unable to figure it out for the past 100 years.”
“Do you think it has something to do with our friend following us on the golf course today?”
Hartwell smiled, “I think it has everything to do with whatever was following us around today, but obviously it had no bearing on me beating you on that last hole.”
“Do I have to say the word ‘rematch’?” Cal asked.
Hartwell shook his head from side to side and replied, “Never.”
FIVE
The full extent of Samuel’s powers had yet to be determined because he was in a Claire Vinson daze for much of his rapid acceleration to adulthood. The combination’s were endless as his father Maxwell had emerged from the union of Daniel and Nicole – vampire and protector – with a full cycle of facades, including wolf, hippopotamus, Orca killer whale and Bottlenose dolphin. But he also had the capability of copying anything he could see and he was a master of battle strategy.
Samuel is the offspring of Maxwell and his wife Kayla, a devoted peacenik and capable guardian of her parents, hunters Andrew and Carla Brewster. His coupling with Ariel Justice had everyone in the family intrigued as it combined all of the gene pools, including that of the hybrid creatures of the Winters’ family, into a generation where anything would surely be possible.
Maxwell stood in front of his son, the two men with less time on the planet than a toddler still in diapers, and changed into his son.
Samuel yelled, “Whoa!” and then “Cool!” as Max morphed back into his own form and asked, “See if you can change into me now, Samuel?”
Somebody must have left the front door open because a beautiful monarch butterfly came between them and momentarily distracted Samuel. He changed into the butterfly and then flew with the original butterfly and toward the open front door.
Maxwell was still not mature enough to resist the temptation of changing into something so beautiful, so he followed his son and the unintended target as a trio of orange and black monarch butterflies floated out of the front door.
The real butterfly floated over the ocean and Max thought it was time for the duo to progress through a series of water-based creatures. He saw a dolphin and then changed into it in mid-air, creating a huge splash of water that butterfly Samuel narrowly avoided by also making the change. They went through change after change until they were miles away from home and sitting on a beach on the Jersey Shore.
“That was fun!” Samuel exclaimed as he jumped up and down from excitement.
“I’m glad you had a good time,” Maxwell said as the two men stood up without the use of any muscles.
“But this is the form that I love the most,” a shy Samuel said as he turned into his girlfriend Ariel as a mermaid.
Max started laughing at first because he was proud that his boy had inherited his lofty skills, but when his son split the image off into two – Samuel standing on the sand and Ariel in the same spot as a mermaid, he was confused.
“Samuel?” Ar
iel questioned as she was sitting in the kitchen one moment peeling the husks off corn and the next moment she was sitting on a beach looking up at Samuel and his father in her mermaid form.
“What am I doing here?” she asked.
Samuel turned his palms up in a “I don’t know” stance and then simply replied, “I was just thinking about you and then you appeared.”
Maxwell watched it all unfold and he grunted, “Whoa.”
Getting back to the house took a little bit longer than Samuel turning into the house and the three people arriving home. But he was ultra-fast, even faster than the vampires that came before him, and they were back home within the time it usually took to start a car and pull out of the driveway.
Before they were even through the front door, Maxwell was communicating with his father and grandfather.
“Meet me in the main room of the house. Samuel is truly special,” he conveyed to Daniel and Hartwell.
Hartwell was already in main room about to do take all of the Chinese food out of the bags, while Daniel and Drew were just walking through the door after their afternoon at the Beach Haven Arcade.
Samuel, Ariel and Maxwell came whizzing past them and Drew said to Daniel, “I could have used some of that speed to beat you when we were racing cars.”
“But I still can’t beat you at air hockey!” Daniel replied.
While Max was initially targeting an audience of two, what he actually got was a room-full of literally everybody and their grandmother.
Max pressed