Disclaimer: You know the drill everybody and everything belongs to someone else, except me of course. I don't even think I own me anymore. No money is being made of the story. It's just for your enjoyment only.
Warning: Bad language, violence, and sexual content.
Chapter 14
We had just stepped onto the porch when the pard caught up to us. Anita opened the front door and we followed her in. I stopped to look around her pad, while the rest of the gang filtered around me to follow her. They went into another room through a swinging door. I took the time to study her living room, which had the modern look. Most everything was white, except for a Persian rug that sat underneath a glass coffee table. The pillows that were thrown over the couch were in various shades of color. There were only three other pieces of furniture in Anita's living quarters. They were an oak entertainment center and two lamp tables that matched the glass coffee table. The only thing missing, were the lamps themselves. She didn't have very many wall decorations or pictures siting on the stands. In fact you could say they were pretty much bare. I didn't have a chance to take in more details before someone grabbed me by the arm, through the swinging door which led into a kitchen very similar to the living room. The walls in here were also white. The floor was done in white Linolium. There were light brown cabinets running everywhere. The counter tops were done in white with very few appliances on them. She even had an islander in the middle of the scullery, with bar stools on one side facing the table and chairs. The kitchenette set was placed in front of sliding glass doors that went onto a deck out back.
The pard gathered around the table, while Anita went through the kitchen drawers. One of the pard members got up and went over to stand beside her. She looked up at him, smiled then went back to going through the cabinets. The male looked to be in his early twenties, with long auburn hair to his ankles. He was slightly muscled, but still quite skinny with a very nice tan. He was the same height as me, maybe an inch taller. He looked over at me with beautiful violet eyes and I smiled at him. He smiled back and then turned toward Anita and asked, "Do you need help finding something Anita?"
She looked back up and answered, "Yes I do. You wouldn't happen to know where I put that map do you?"
"Yes. It's in your bedroom in the night stand. I'll go get it," he replied.
Before she could stop him, he was out the kitchen door. Anita glanced over at me and asked, "May I offer you something to drink?"
"That would be fine. Do you have any soda?" I replied.
"Yes I do, hope you like Coke," she replied.
"That's fine. I like Coke," I stated.
She went to the fridge and took out a couple cans of coke. She handed me one and went to sit at the islander. I followed suit with all eyes on us. The cats were watching us very closely, they would look from Anita to me then back again. They were being very attentive, like they were watching some kind of play or t.v. show. It wasn't long before the baby came back into the room with the map. I knew it from looking at the others, that he had to be the youngest of them. He handed Anita the map and said, "Here you go Anita."
"Thank you Nathaniel," she replied.
"You welcome," he answered going to his knees. He started rubbing up against her, while she reached down to scratch him behind the ears. He brushed the side of his cheek against the palm of her hand. She in returned gave him a scratch under the chin causing him to purr. He licked her hand across the knuckles, turned his head and started towards me. He moved against my leg as if Anita's attention wasn't enough, he wanted more. I ran my hand over the right side of his face, then through his hair to stroke behind his ear. I never heard a cat rumble a purr quit like Nathaniel.
Anita just sat there and watched for a few seconds before she opened the map. She laid it across the top of the bar, so we both could see it. I scooted my stool over a little, just to make sure I could see the whole map. Nathaniel stayed at our feet. Rubbing up against one or the others legs. We pinpointed the areas where the victims where found and circled them. Once we were finished, we sat back to look at the map.
"You were right. They are somewhere near the lupanar," Anita said.
I had to be smart and say, "See I told you so."
She glared at me over her soda can and said, "Has anyone told you, that your such a smart ass."
"My family does all the time. I'm surprised you just figured that out," I replied.
Before she could make a come back, someone cleared their throats. We looked up to see Micah standing there, with an elderly guy and a man who looked to be in his early mid thirties staring over his shoulder.
"What's wrong Micah?" Anita asked, while glaring at him. Apparently she was still mad at him for damaging her jeep. I'm surprised she was still talking to him.
"How are you going to be able to find these people if their near the lupanar?" he answered.
Anita glanced over at me as to say, "You want to answer that one."
"The only thing we can do is go hiking around that area, to see if we can find any caves they might be hiding in or an abandon house somewhere," I told him.
"Hiking," Anita nearly screeched.
I looked over at her, wondering what her problem with hiking was and said, "Yes, hiking."
"Richard is not going to be happy that were tracking all over his territory," Micah stated.
"He doesn't have to like it. It's got to be done unless he wants to stay in jail," I replied.
"Even if he doesn't like it, there's still too much ground to cover," he retorted.
Anita glanced over at Micah with her mouth hanging open. I got the impression he'd done something to shock the shit out of her. Anita finally got over her shock and turned back toward me. "So what are we going to do?" She asked.
"Simple. We talk to Dolph tomorrow, get Richard out of jail. Then we go hiking for bad guys," I replied.
"Sounds like a plan to me," she said.
We went over a few more details before we had enough info to hand over to Dolph in the morning. We put work aside for a while to discuss something else, why Micah and Caleb were fighting. I already knew which one was Micah, Caleb, and Nathaniel, now I was being introduced to the rest of the pard. The elderly man was Merle. He was at least 6 ft with silvery white hair. He was well muscled almost like a body builder, but more of a mercenary type built. He had a mustache and a small beard. He was dressed in blue jeans and boots with no shirt. The one thing that separated him off from Micah was he didn't have a tan. The other man was Noah and all he was wearing were gym shorts. He was tall, but not as tall as Merle. He had short close cut hair and was dark complected. Like Merle, he also had big muscles. There were five women and two other men sitting at the table. Anita introduced me to them all one at a time. She started with the woman and man on the right of the table. Their names were Cherry and Zane. Cherry was slender with blonde hair and a very long waist. She was wearing a blue spaghetti strap shirt with no bra underneath and a pair of blue shorts to match. Zane was six feet and pale. He was overly thin, but he had muscles in all the right places. His hair was cut short and spiked, which was dyed an orange color. He had nothing on but a pair of boxers with lips on them. Gregory was next. He had long curly blonde hair that fell down to his shoulders. He was slightly tall and slender but had enough muscles to make him look bigger than he actually was. There were four people left and they were all females. There was Vivian, she was an African-American with a skin tone of pale cocoa. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of jean shorts. Beside her sat Gina. She was a little over six feet, with black, straight, thick hair. She had long legs and was well built. Violet sat beside her with long red hair going past her shoulders to her waist. She was well built, kind of like me, but smaller. She was also the same height as me, five feet six inches. She was wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt.
The last female was standing up against the wall. Her name was Elizabeth. She was a brunette, but hair looked almost black. She was very tall and had on a very tight shirt that showed she wasn't wearing a bra. She was well proportioned in that area as well.
After the pard and I was introduced, Anita turned toward Micah and said, "So are you going to tell me why you and Caleb trashed my jeep."
Micah turned and stalked toward Caleb who shrank back against the wall.
"This moron decided he wanted to challenge me for leadership over the group," Micah said nearly spitting in Caleb's face.
"He what?" Both Anita and I asked together.
"You heard me. And it's all because of her," He replied pointing a finger at Elizabeth.
Anita glared at Elizabeth and said, "Is this true Elizabeth did you convince Caleb to challenge Micah over leadership of the pard?"
Elizabeth stood her ground and pushed herself from the wall. She came over to were Anita and I were sitting and got into her face. I had to back away from this little fight. I was so not getting into the middle of it.
"Yes I did. So what of it?" She asked.
"Why would you be so stupid and do something like that, knowing the consequences?" Anita answered.
"Because I'm sick and tired of you being our Nimir-Ra. You don't' belong in our midst," She spat in Anita's face. Oh boy the fur was going to fly now.
"Well apparently your not going to get your way Elizabeth, cause it seems that Micah was too much for Caleb to handle," Anita stated. There were coughing coming from the other pard members. They were trying to keep from laughing at what Anita told Elizabeth.
"If your trying to get rid of me, then fight me yourself and leave Micah out of this," Anita replied getting up and going around to where Elizabeth stood.
"I'm not going to fight you Anita, cause you can't win without your weapons," She smirked.
"Are you saying I can't beat you without my guns?" Anita said coldly.
"Yes that's what I'm saying," Elizabeth said getting in Anita's face. Anita was shorter than Elizabeth so she had to look up at the other woman.
"All right fine. We'll settle this once and for all," Anita commented.
"Fine by me," said Elizabeth.
"Good we'll do this outside," Anita's replied.
Elizabeth went out the sliding glass door to the back yard. Anita was stripping off her guns and knives. The rest of the pard went out back as well, leaving me alone with Anita.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her.
"Yes I do. It's time she learns her place and that I rule over her," She answered.
"But your not a shapeshifter Anita. If she turns, it might kill you regardless if they are your animal to call. You are still human just like I am, the rules don't change for us. You're taking a big chance here," I tried to reason with her.
"Save me the lecture Alexandra. I know what I'm doing. Besides I have a great witch to help me if I need assistance," She replied with a smile.
"Oh that's just great. I'm happy for you," I said before I realized she was talking about me.
"Oh no. You're not getting me mixed up with this. I've had all I can take of vampire slash lycanthrope political BS for one night. I'm not going to get involved in this matter, this is between you and Elizabeth," I complained.
"Until Richard picks a new lupa, I'm it. So you are going to do as I say understood," She said being all bossy.
I looked at her and said, "Fine, but how are you going to pull this off without someone else figuring out that your using me to help you?"
"I don't know. You're the great witch... You figure it out," she replied stomping out the door with me hot on her trail.
Oh man another fine mess I've found myself in tonight. Why must trouble always have to find me? Why can't it leave me alone? It might be just me, but I get the feeling Anita doesn't care for me much. Paranoid, who me? You bet cha. I now have to worry about getting staked in the heart by a very pissed off Executioner. The worst problem I have with this whole picture is I didn't do anything to anyone. Not yet anyway. I finally made it to the back yard and into the circle of leopards. �It's time for me to figure out how to get Anita's foot out of her mouth without anyone realizing what I'm doing.' I thought all the while, �Anyone up for a game of Catfight?'