We walked up the stairs to the front porch. The house was painted all in white, including the shutters. Mom knocked on the front door and we waited. Five minutes passed, before someone answered the door. The woman, who answered the door, was in her mid forties. She was shorter than I was by an inch. The woman's hair was a dirty blonde and her eyes were blue. She was average built, not too skinny and not too fat.
"Professor McGregor, what a pleasant surprise," she almost chirped.
"Good evening Abbey," mom returned with a kiss on the woman's cheek.
"Who's this?" The woman named Abbey asked looking at me.
"This is my stepdaughter Alexandra. Alexandra, this is Abbey, she owns the land," my mom said, introducing us. I knew she was a werewolf, so I greeted her in the proper way. She wasn't a dominated female, so I didn't have to lick or bite her lip. We just rubbed cheeks together, and put our noses behind each other�s ears, into the scalp through the hair.
After we finished greeting each other, she invited us into the house. We walked into the hallway, that went straight back to the kitchen. The house on the inside was also painted in all white. There were pictures along the right sidewall, in between two doors. They lead to the living room and the dinning room. On the left side, were the stairs that took you upstairs to the four bedrooms and a gigantic bathroom, and two more doors.. They led into the den and the study/library.
We followed her to the kitchen. When we got to the kitchen, there were five other people sitting around the table. You won't believe this, but the kitchen was done in cows. I mean, from the walls to the floors, there are nothing but cow print here folks.
"Everyone, Professor McGregor is here, "she replied in that chirping voice, that was getting on my nerves quick.
Everyone got out of their chairs and greeted my stepmother, like Abbey did at the door. There were four men and one woman in the room. Apparently the woman was more dominant than the others, since my stepmother greeted her first, offering her cheek to this other woman..
The woman was three inches shorter than I. She had medium dark skin, which made her either half Mexican or Indian. Her hair and eyes were pitch black. She was small framed, with delegate features. She was wearing black jeans, a blue polo shirt, and black Nikes. My stepmother moved to the next person. He was African-American, with cornrows to his waist. He was very muscular and well built. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a white tee shirt. His shoes were a pair of black cowboy boots. The next man was Chinese. His hair was black and shoulder length. He was wearing a three-piece Armani suit. I thought that was kind of odd. Oh well better him then me. A tall skinny man came after the Chinese man. His hair was brown with a touch of gray. He had a nice tan, making his blue eyes shine brighter than normal. He was wearing faded blue jeans, a work shirt and a pair of work boots.
Finally came a guy with short spiked blonde hair, who had been checking me out since we entered the kitchen. He greeted my stepmother in the process of licking his lips at me. He was wearing a fishnet shirt, a pair of tight leather pants, and a pair of black Harley boots. He had somewhat of a tan, but not much to cover the paleness of his skin. He had eyes, the color sky blue. When he was finished greeting my stepmother, he came over to me with a look of mischief in his eyes.
"Hi, my names Jason, what's yours?" he asked looking me up and down with a glint in his eyes.
Before I could answer, my stepmother answered, "Her name is Alexandra and she's my stepdaughter. And no one is allowed to harass her, but me."
"Gee thanks mom that makes me feel better," I replied with a disgusted look on my face.
"Your welcome dear," she returned with a smile on her face.
I had been glaring at my stepmother. I hadn't paid attention to Jason, until he wrapped his arm around me. I glared at him and moved to my stepmother's side. She introduced me to the rest. It seemed the black-haired woman was the famous Executioner Anita Blake.
The guy with the cornrows was Jamil, Richards Skoll, or lead enforcer. Mr. Armani was Shang-Da, Richard's Hati, or second enforcer. Finally the tall skinny man was Charles, Abbey's husband. I greeted everyone like I had greeted Abbey; however when it was time to greet Jason. I wasn't too happy. He walked over with a grin on his face and went to all fours. Since I was considered as dominant, he had to offer me his cheek first. We greeted and everything went fine, then he made a move on me. It caught me off guard and I wound up on the floor with him on top of me.
He just looked at me and said," Would you like to feel me?" To be honest I was feeling more of him then I wanted to, if you know what I mean.
"Could you please get off me?" I asked trying to be nice.
"But I want to play," he answered back in a voice that says, "You want me and you know it."
"She asked you nicely to get off of her," came, a reply from the doorway.
We all turned to see a woman, my height with short brown hair standing in the doorway. She was also wearing a suit. It was an olive green color with a double-breasted jacket.
"Hello Sylvie," everyone said.
"Hello, everyone," Sylvie replied.
"What are you doing here Sylvie?" replied Jamil.
" I heard what happened to Richard, and came to find out what's going on, "she told him with anger in her voice.
"Sylvie, it's not going to do Richard any good to get mad," my stepmother said trying to calm her.
"I know that, but Richard would never do something like this," she said trying not to yell.
I hadn't realized Jason was still on top of me, until I felt him stick his tongue in my ear.
"Do you mind, and get off me for the last time," I said while trying to push him off me.
Sylvie came over and lifted Jason off me. She gave me her hand, "Thanks," I said.
"Who are you, "she asked?
I looked over at my stepmother, to see if she was going to answer for me.
She did one of those head nods that said it was ok for me to answer the question myself.
"My name is Alexandra. I'm her stepdaughter," I told her, while pointing at my stepmother.
"So your Alexandra, you described her to the tee Professor McGregor," she said turning to greet my stepmother. She turned back and greeted me as well.
Abbey was cooking dinner on the stove and invited us all to stay for dinner. My stepmother said yes, and that she needed to talk to Anita about why Richard was being charged with murder. Anita agreed to explain the details, as long as my stepmother didn't tell anyone. We all had fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, cake, and ice cream for desert.
We ate in the den and tried to find another subject of interest besides Richard.
They found one all right, as soon as all dishes were back into the kitchen and the kitchen was cleaned. They all nailed me with questions, no thanks to my stepmother. I had to glare at her, and all she could do was smile at me. Earlier when, I thought things were going to get interesting. I didn't know how interesting they were going to get until now. Sylvie, being Richard's Freki, or his second in command, was the one to question me. She had that right while Richard wasn't here, and the others just sat back and watched. My stepmother left the room saying she'd be back for what was left of me. Oh how lovely, I get to spend some quality time with some of my new pack mates. I couldn't believe my stepmother dropped me off to the pack, and then just left me alone with them. I was so not going to enjoy my little chat with Sylvie. I think I was going to scream for help now. HEEEEEEEELP