First of all, I want to thank my lovely beta treewitch703 for all her wonderful suggestions. This was a very hard chapter for me to write. Not enough lemons could fall from a lemon tree to make this easy. I dedicate this chapter to all those who have lost special people in their lives. May they be remembered and loved for always. Love VikingGirl
Auggie threw caution to the wind as she sped through the streets. "Fuck the speed limit," she mumbled as she kept the pedal to the metal. Who knew a small compact car could move so fast. I was shaking the whole time and it wasn't Auggie's driving that was causing it. I was worried about Daddy Joe.
She pulled up the dirt road and my heart pounded faster when the old farm house came into view. An old black Gran Torino was already parked out front. The car was a beauty if I had time to admire it but I didn't care about that at the moment. Then I saw a familiar face climb out of the car. The shaggy dirty blond hair and that cocky smile but something wiped that smile away when he looked at me.
"What's wrong, cher?" Remy the hunter asked me.
"It's a trap," I said as I held the gun in my shaky hand.
"It doesn't feel like a trap to me, cher," Remy said as he puts his hands on my shoulders. Hunters were a rare group of humans. They had longer than average lives, stronger reflexes and strength but they also had a little extra something that most of mankind doesn't have, except maybe for a little autistic girl I know real well. Hunters are an elite group that can only be born and not just trained. Remy and Daddy Joe were those types of humans and little did I know, Daryl the cook at the Crawl Daddy Shack was also in this elite group too.
"I'll check out the area," Auggie said as light sparked from her fingertips.
"Cher and I will check the house and see if the old man is alright," Remy said as he removed his strong hands off of me. Remy was a handsome man in a sort of rugged way. He was no Mag that's for sure, but then again, there is no man on the face of the earth like Mag. Mag had a childlike quality that Remy lacked from living a hard life. Just like myself, Remy had the lines and scares to prove that he hasn't had an easy life either.
"I need you to keep a cool head, little red. You stay with me and we'll be alright, okay?" Remy said as he looked down at me with that steely blue gaze of his. "If there's a Were in that house, I'll know."
I just nodded and wiped some stray tears away. Auggie disappeared and reappeared around us with her magic at the ready. One minute she was in front of us, then she was in a tree and then on the roof of Remy's car sitting Indian style.
"It seems pretty clear around here but I'll keep checking," Auggie said and vanished into thin air again.
Remy and I went up to the front porch. Daddy Joe's hound Abraham barked from his doghouse in his pen. I sighed. T-Bone would have definitely slaughtered the dog for alerting Daddy Joe. Remy sniffed the air like a tracker.
"I don't smell wolf, cher. The wolf I do sense is your son and it's an old scent," Remy whispered. "In fact, I don't really smell anything foul."
"Some nose you have there. My what big eyes you have," I joked trying to calm my nerves a bit, it didn't work. Remy just gave me that cocky smile.
"'Da better to see you with," Remy joked back. I had a strong feeling Remy was only joking for the same reason I was, he was worried too. "We better get on in there, little red," he then said in a more serious tone as he grabbed my hand.
Remy knew his way around Daddy Joe's old farm house real well, almost too well. We went to the kitchen, the living room, the upstairs bedrooms and even the bathroom. No sign of a struggle or thieves, everything was as it ought to be. Lastly, we decided to finally check the downstairs bedroom, the same bedroom that Daddy Joe has slept in for years.
Remy slowly and carefully opened the door, looking around for any signs of werewolves or thieves. He motioned for me to put my gun away when he felt it was safe. I slid it back into the holster.
Through the old lace curtains, the sunlight came streaming in. Daddy Joe never redecorated his house after Marie passed on. The antique furniture still filled the room. Furniture that Daddy Joe bought brand new from a furniture store long since closed. Daddy Joe's frail form lies peacefully under the old quilt that Marie had lovingly made so many decades ago. His old straw cowboy hat sat on the nightstand where he had deposited it the night before. The gnarly old cane leaned near the bed so that he could get himself up every morning. Everything appeared as it should except Daddy Joe wasn't snoring.
Remy quietly walks up to the bed with a frown. He leans down and gently moves Daddy Joe. Remy didn't have to say a word, I knew. Jesus Christ I knew! Tears fell down my cheeks and I collapsed to the floor. The next thing I know, I felt a strong arm snaking around my shoulders and pulling me in. I looked over and there was Remy with tears filling his eyes. We sat there for a moment with the silence of our sorrow and loss.
"Cher, he lived a long life," Remy finally said. "Hunters usually don't live as long as he has."
"I know, but it's just that…"
"He was your rock, Belinda. I know," Remy sobbed.
"Why Remy, why now?"
"God Lord decided it was his time. Jesus, I'm going miss that old bastard," Remy cried. I don't understand why someone as strong and cocky as Remy would break all the sudden. Surely the hunter had his fill of seeing and touching dead bodies, why was he taking this so hard?
Auggie must've heard our cries because she all the sudden appeared out of thin air. She looked over at Daddy Joe lying peacefully on his bed. Auggie took two old gold coins out of her pocket and puts them over his eyes. "For the ferry man," she whispered and kissed his cheek. Auggie looked solemnly at Remy and I. She comes over and helps me off the ground and into her embrace.
"Oh Belinda, I never know what to say," Auggie whispered and I cried.
Remy stood up and went back over to Daddy Joe's bedside. He held the dead man's hand and cried. "Daddy Joe never told you, did he?" Remy said as he wept.
"Told me what?" was all I could say.
"Hunters can only sire other hunters. Most just have one night stands with whatever woman will have them. The lady hunters try to find strong stock to plant the seed. Sometimes the kid figures it out, sometimes they don't. Hunters aren't supposed to fall in love. They aren't cut to be family men and women. Back in the early sixties Daddy Joe found such a woman to help him plant his seed. He loved Marie but they both knew that the seed needed to be planted if hunters were to survive. Marie could never have kids of her own. Most women who aren't hunters themselves can't handle giving birth to a strong baby, they almost never make it. That was the case with my mother. There was no other family," Remy wept and my jaw dropped.
"When I called him Daddy Joe, I meant it," Remy confessed.
"He's your….," I said and Remy nodded. "Daddy Joe never told me he had any kids."
"Just one and you're looking at him. Daddy Joe and the others saved me before the good old State of Louisiana could put me in an orphanage or foster care. Marie helped raise me as if I was her own. She was more like a grandmother to me though," Remy said as he held onto his father's hand. Remy cried and I went over to hold him. I never realized how uncanny the resemblance was. Here I thought Remy was some hot headed hunter Daddy Joe called to help with my werewolf problem. I wasn't expecting this.
As soon as the tears subsided, Remy and I sat at the kitchen table while Auggie brewed a pot of coffee. A knock came from the door. Auggie stopped me from going to answer it but instead she pulled up the hood on her sweatshirt and went to answer it herself.
"Jesus Christ, I can't believe he's gone," I heard the voice of Wanda. "You're a good friend to be here with Belinda. She was very close to Daddy Joe."
"I shut down the shack early so we can be here," I heard Daryl's deep voice.
"She's in the kitchen," I then heard Auggie say.
I wasn't sure if Remy was up for visitors, I sure the hell wasn't. I took Remy's hand and held it in my own. I gave it an assuring squeeze. Remy just gave me a sad look. Now that I got a closer look at Remy, I noticed a lot of Daddy Joe's features, only on a much younger face. Aside from the scar under his right eye, everything else about him was Daddy Joe. Remy also smelled of the outdoors much like Daddy Joe used to.
"Oh baby, we had to come as soon as we closed the place," Wanda said, attacking me with a hug.
"I'm sorry brother," Daryl tells Remy. Son of a bitch! Daryl knew this whole time.
"Who's he, Daryl?" Wanda asked as she eyed Remy.
"Daddy Joe's grandson, Remy," Daryl lied. Remy looked way too young to be the old man's son, so Daryl put his own embellishment on the situation. Score one for Daryl! That and Daryl didn't want his older sister to know what he did on own his free time. Wanda and Daryl's mother passed away shortly after giving birth to Daryl. Daryl's father married Wanda's mother after Wanda's no good father ran off. Daryl's father supposedly worked nights at the local mill but little did the siblings know that their father was a supernatural bounty hunter.
"Well aren't you a sight. I didn't know Daddy Joe had any kids?" Wanda said.
"Yep, I come from New Orleans. My father was a banker there. He was Daddy Joe's son," Remy went on with the lie. That was another thing about the hunters; everything was secret and had to be for their own safety and the safety of those around them.
"What was his name?" Wanda asked being her usual nosy self.
"Jesus Wanda! The boy just lost his granddaddy and all you want to do is ask questions about his family. Can't you see he's grieving," Daryl went in for the save. He gave us a wink when Wanda wasn't looking.
"I'm sorry. Let me know when the funeral is. I got to be going," Wanda finally said, giving me one more hug. I hated to tell her, but there probably won't be a funeral that she can attend. All three of us waited until Wanda was in her car and driving away.
"So what are we going to do about this, Remy?" Daryl asked the much older hunter.
"Take his body down on into the bayou. We must let the others know that we lost our elder. We got to find a way to erase this from your sister's mind as well as all the workers at the shack. I don't plan on taking care of this the old fashion way," Remy said trying to keep his head on straight. I really didn't want to know about 'the old fashion way.' It sounded like a death wish to me.
"But just dumping his body in the bayou… I think Daddy Joe deserves a little more respect than that," I sobbed. I knew for a fact that Daddy Joe's public records had been altered in some way or another. For all I know, Daddy Joe didn't even exist according to the State of Louisiana and the good 'ole U S of A.
"She's right Remy, we all loved your Daddy," Daryl said. I knew it! Daryl knew all about Remy being Daddy Joe's son.
"I can't just leave him here for the flies to swarm around. Burning the house down is out of the question. Too many valuable memories in this place," Remy said sounding exasperated. Tears still clung to his cheeks and his usually cool steely gaze didn't seem so steely anymore.
Auggie came back into the kitchen after spending some time out on the front porch talking to Wanda. "I got your sister taken care of. She slipped out of her waitress dress and into something appropriate for a funeral while she used the bathroom real quick. She thinks she is on her way home from a funeral. Not to worry, Larry will be thinking the same thing," Auggie said as she met Daryl's brown eyes.
"What the hell did you do to her and her husband?" Daryl asked. He knew Auggie wasn't human just as Remy knew.
"Just a little spell I picked up centuries ago. To think that vampires are the only ones that think they can glamour," Auggie said with an eye roll. "I don't even have to be in the same room with a human to do that," Auggie then added. Daryl eyed her with suspicion. Being a young hunter, Daryl only had limited exposure to the supernatural. I'm pretty sure he hasn't run into anything like Auggie before. "Don't worry, they'll be alright. She'll even go through a grieving period and everything that a human usually does when someone they love dies," Auggie then said.
"I trust Auggie," I blurted out. I had to defend my friend. She wouldn't intentionally hurt Wanda. Auggie hand trusted me with her secrets so it was only right that I trust her in return.
"What are you?" Daryl asked the small woman. Auggie removed her hood to reveal her ears sticking out through her baby fine white hair.
"I was too busy paying attention to Belinda to notice that day," Remy mumbled. "That there is fae."
"You mean to tell me that Tinkerbell is real?" Daryl said with wide eyes. Then Auggie showed them that winning smile of her, a mouthful of razor sharp pointed teeth. If they really think she's something, they should meet her half-sister and nephew. "Cheese and rice," Daryl then muttered.
"I'm a half breed. Half elf and half fairy if you want to be more specific," Auggie then said without missing a beat.
"Fuck me," Remy mumbled.
"I have an idea of what to do about the body. Luckily the old man just died of old age but he was a warrior. Might I suggest a Viking funeral?" Auggie said. "I know of a Viking who can help," Auggie then said. Yeah, a seven and half foot Viking demigod no less.
"You mean shoot flaming arrows at a boat sort of thing?" Daryl said, still puzzled by the mystery that is Augustine Spark.
"That's one way to do it. The gators might not like it much," Auggie said in a matter of fact way. "But it will be one heck of a way to honor a great warrior and give Daddy Joe's earthly shell the respect it deserves."
"A Viking funeral in the bayou? We now I've heard it all. I say let's do it. I'll get Daddy Joe's favorite weapons," Remy said, still morning the loss of his father but at the same time ready to move on.
"Belinda and I will go talk to the Viking that can help. We will even go round up the boat," Auggie said.
"This sounds crazy but count me in," Daryl said. "I'll make a run to the florist."
"Wait a sec, isn't your Viking a vampire?" Remy asked as he looked at me. "It's still daylight out there."
"Yes, I do work for a Viking but this is Auggie's nephew we're going to talk to. He's a Viking too," was all I managed to say before Auggie literally pushed me out the door. Guess Daryl and Remy will have to meet Mag to figure out that he's more than just a mere Viking.