The Supernatural World of Vladimir and Viktor, Chapter 37
'Whoa,' thought Claire Novak as she and her three passengers arrived at the location of the Vam San. 'Things have changed.'
She drove around the shell of a restaurant being built to get back to the residence. She noticed the second story coming into form on the Vam San's left wing. Everywhere builders were busy. The girls in the back seat observed the commotion with great excitement. They had expected something much more dreary, a dwelling much more dilapidated.
Claire left the girls in the lounge and crossed the hall into the kitchen to find something for them to eat. While she rummaged, Joseph came in the back door from working on the addition. He spied Claire right off.
"Hey, Claire! Where's Hank?"
"Haven't seen him," Claire replied. "I was hoping you could tell me. Help me wrangle up something for the girls to eat."
"Girls?" Joseph looked back into the lounge and that ended their conversation.
"Well, hi!" Joseph told the threesome in the lounge. "So Claire brought you here? Where are you from?"
The girls remained silent, looking towards the kitchen in hopes that Claire would return and end the awkwardness.
"What's your names?" Joseph persisted.
They could muster up that much: "Angie," "Liz," "Carla."
"You look a lot alike. Are you sisters?"
The girls nodded.
"Yeah. You're all a lot younger than most vampires. Oh, yeah, would you like something to drink? Pop? Coffee? Beer? I'm getting ice water myself."
Joseph slipped past Claire to pull cold drinks out of the cooler and a tray of ice cubes out of the freezer. He tossed a package of hot dogs to Claire and pushed a bag of potato chips across the counter.
Claire heard him passing out drinks and explaining the menu to the girls, carefully referring each one by her name. In the past she had only seen Joseph taunting his brother mercilessly. This friendly social side of him was new to her.
Joseph stuck his head back into the kitchen to say, "ketchup, mustard and pickle relish." Then called into the lounge on his way outside, "Gotta get back to work. Nice meeting you."
All three girls leaned forward to watch Joseph leave and then giggled among themselves.
Joseph the ice breaker. Claire called out to the girls to join her in the dining room and they ate hot dogs and chips while chatting about the Vam San.
That is where Monica found them not long later.
"More converts, Claire?" Monica asked.
"Yeah. Have you seen Hank?"
"No. Did he come with you?"
Claire shook her head. "No. He was supposed to come straight back here when he stopped at my place a couple of days ago. He didn't. These girls each had drunk a vial of the blue solution that he gave them before I found them. I didn't find him there. I told him he couldn't go hunting with me and somehow he's found out where I'm going. I'm pissed at him. I had told him to go home."
Monica did some mental calculations. "Hmmm. We sent him out with four vials. He would have used one last night and he gave away three. He had better be back here by tonight or the effects of the blue solution will start wearing off."
"Are we talking about Hank?" Anica entered the kitchen. "And who are these girls? New recruits?"
Claire nodded.
"Good, they've been fed." Anica addressed the girls. "Let's find you a room. Eventually you'll each have your own if you agree to stay."
Anica looked back. "Stay the night, Claire, dear. We'll talk. At least hang around to make sure Hank gets back tonight. If he doesn't we may have a problem."
Then she motioned for the three sisters to follow her. "Come along, sweethearts, and we'll discuss living arrangements. What are your names?"
Claire sat back. She would rather be back on the road instead of staying here with nothing to do, even if the people here were very nice to her.
But Joseph popped his head into the dining room. "So, you are staying the night. Good! How are you with a hammer and electric drill?"
Okay, Claire would not be bored. She should have known that among Joseph, Monica and Anica she would be given something to do.
Leaving the Overholt house in Idaho Falls, Zeke had an idea of something to entertain his friends from the East. "Hey! Wanna track a bigfoot?"
"Bigfoot? We know where they come fro..," Vladimir started to say, until Dean gave him a sharp jab in the back. "Unggg! Uh, yeah, let's track a bigfoot!"
Viktor covered his mouth to hide his amusement. His buddy had made a mistake for once, instead of him.
Zeke led his friends around the trailer and down the hill to a field. They walked sneakily as to get away without Castiel or his parents noticing. Sure enough, there were very large footprints along the field's edge. "See?"
Dean leaned down and studied the tracks. He hadn't seen them before. But Vladimir and Viktor had, and affirmed that Zeke had, indeed, showed them valid bigfoot footprints.
One could almost see the Keystone Cops racing maniacally through all four heads. They all glanced up the hill to see that no adults were watching, and then gleefully trotted off in the direction the foot prints pointed.
A hunt! Castiel didn't need to know. If he did, he could just follow their tracks. Besides, Dean and Vladimir both had their smart phones.
The tracks lead along the snow-covered field, across a road in serious need of being plowed, across a field and into a woods. The tracks ran fairly straight among the trees, which Dean told the others meant the creature knew its way and had a specific destination in mind.
It did have a destination in mind: an isolated weather-worn log house on the other side of the woods that the foot prints led right to its front door. The foursome did not pause long before they trudged across the open yard and right up to the same door.
The name on the door read 'S. Sasquatch.' The boys eyed each other suspiciously. A bigfoot that advertises its presence? Dean tapped in the name in an phone listing app on his phone.
"I guess it's true," he said. "One with that last name in Missouri and one here in Idaho Falls."
So, Dean boldly knocked on the door.
A burly, bearded man opened the door and looked past them down the lane, then in the direction of their tracks from the woods. He smiled when he saw Viktor nudge Vladimir and point at his feet. They were not in any way large feet.
"Come on in," the man said. "My name is Simon. I'm afraid I'm not the Sasquatch you boys were looking for." He walked over to the fireplace and tipped over the boots drying beside it. The soles were formed into the shape of two huge bare feet.
The great adventurers were crestfallen.
"Sorry, boys, I'm not the real thing. I wear this as a joke. But, don't be too embarrassed. You aren't the first to follow the tracks to my door. I usually offer drinks to them. Have a seat.
"They can't stay long," said Castiel in the doorway.
Dean looked down at his phone and back at Castiel with a confused expression.
Castiel leaned down to him and whispered, "Your phone was busy when I called it and I honed in on the signal."
The door behind the host opened and a thin tall young woman peered around it at the guests. Her hair was wiry and her face and attire were of a gothic style. Her gaunt frame made it all look more surreal.
"I thought I heard people. I'll heat up cocoa and coffee. That should be good for this cold weather."
Dean noticed the odd look on Castiel's face, so he followed when the angel excused himself and stepped outside. But Castiel wasn't there when Dean himself was outside.
A moment later he was standing beside Castiel in the basement of the house. Castiel pointed at the barred steel door at the bottom of the steps the woman had come up. The single room was sparse of furniture, definitely nothing fragile, and the two small windows were sealed shut. The single light was inset into the ceiling.
"I saw the bars and part of the room behind her when she opened the door," Castiel explained to Dean. "You would think a cellar would have something stored in it. It looks like a dungeon. What could she have been doing down here?"
"Well, we don't need Sam here to know there is something suspicious about that woman," said Dean. "Lets make it a short visit."
Castiel and Dean returned to the front door and Castiel explained to Simon Sasquatch that they really couldn't stay long.
"I understand," said the woman. "It's a full moon tonight. Be sure to stay indoors. Wouldn't want a werewolf to get one of the kids."
Dean suddenly felt the hair stand on the back of his neck.