Chapter 12
Branwen stood close by me, her posture that of a woman shielding her man from another competitor.
Her stance saying, "He, is mine!"
Anna blurted out, "Mom? When did you get back?"
The mature Hellhound smiled toothily at her daughter and replied coyly,"I was visitin' your father...He may be gettin' on in years but he still knows how ta make a girl feel special."
She patted her tummy and said softly, "I'll be havin' me next baby shortly after you do."
She turned her attention to Branwen and I and said,"So, I see we are not th' only ones of our kind. Whence came you girl?"
"I come from Brecknockshire, Wales, my husband is from America but is of Cymric ancestry."Replied Branwen
Nodding her approval, the woman turned her attention to Peter Marshall and company. "It's not often we get visitors in a social, not hostile sense...What is your interest in us?" She asked.
Evelyn looked at her almost reverently and replied, "We came from the Museum of Cryptozoology, the Albion branch. We study the legends from our past and try to find the sources of the stories from olden times. I study the Hellhound legends of the British Isles and until very recently, despaired of ever actually seeing a Hellhound. Now I find myself in the presence of three of them and what is even more exciting to me, is that you are all expecting!"
Evelyn was clearly having a major fangirl moment while standing in the presence of three of her favorite legendary creatures.
The matronly Hellhound smiled at me and said in her wonderful voice,"I remember you quite well, you shared food with me and waved at me, even if you didn't venture close enough for me ta show you my appreciation in my own, special, way!"
Her eyes fairly smouldered as she said this.
It was a very good thing Branwen was there beside me.
I grinned at her and replied clearly, "My intentions were to let you know that I'm a good guy, not to flirt or even seduce. Branwen here has my heart, body and soul firmly in her grasp and she is better than I deserve."
Her eyes flared in her amusement and she purred, "A man that loves a Hellhound will never love another woman, for he will have known true passion!"
She smiled at Branwen and asked,"How did you come into being? Me mother was raped by a priest, an' durin' her ordeal, she cursed God himself for allowin' th' rape ta occur. Is yours a similar story?"
Branwen nodded and replied, "There are similarities, yes. My mother was of the fae and she was raped by the heir to a Welsh squire who later died of heart failure when he saw me, his monstrous grandchild. We hid in the shadows much as you are doing now. My husband here is the sole remaining male descendant of that squire and he had inherited the house. My curse was to be my mother's avenger and to kill him.
"Only he didn't uphold his end of the curse by being kind to my mother and giving her the right to live in her cottage as long as she wished. In short, I was very confused and we became lovers, we got married and my mother returned to her homeland and we are now expecting our first child."
The woman chuckled and remarked, "I'm guessin' you are about my age then, only you waited a long time ta mate an' bear children. I was sixteen when I first took a man's seed or perhaps I should be sayin', found a man who could perform under stress. Most of them remained impotent in spite of me desires. But th' ones who rose ta th' occasion, fathered me children. Many of them became Church grims, or black dogs or Hellhounds."
She grinned, "One of me children inspired a famous story about a Hellhound cursed family in Dartmoor."
Evelyn's eyes were literally shimmering as she cried, "I knew there was some truth to that story!"
She glomped onto her ever so patient husband and said happily, "She's the source, or rather, the mother of the source...This is sooo fantastic!"
Tall, slender Andrew smiled at his short, stocky fireplug of a wife and asked, "Does this mean you've found her at last?"
Evelyn pouted briefly and said glumly, "No, but this is her mom, don't you see how important this is? Her mom can tell me how to find her!"
The mature Hellhound's eyes dimmed to mere embers and she said sadly,"Unfortunately, most of me children were little better than th' beasts of th' fields an' forests, an' did not live long."
Her eyes brightened again and she smiled at her daughter and said happily, "You, me precious child were conceived in love. Your father saw beyond me fearsome aspect and loved me for me, he responded to me and you were conceived. When a boy gives his girl a flower, how can she resist?"
Evelyn gasped and muttered, "Crap! What kind of a researcher am I, if I'm not taking notes!"
She fumbled around in her shoulder bag and pulled out a dog eared notebook and pencil.
Flipping through its pages, she stopped and began scribbling furiously while muttering her thoughts out loud.
"Nature of offspring possibly affected by emotional state of male during copulation/conception. I.E. Conceived in fear = More beastly child VS Conceived in love = More humanlike...Question? Will child conceived in love and later impregnated in love produce even more humanlike offspring?"
Andrew merely shrugged and mouthed, "She gets like this when she is on the hunt."
The woman smiled at all of us and asked, "So what now? In th' past I had ta move when things got a little too hot for me. Believe me, movin' while pregnant or while dealin' with a child is not something I care ta repeat."
Peter cleared his throat and remarked," We are looking into finding a new home for your daughter and her boyfriend. Blank here will speak to someone he knows about finding work for Tommy in Wales. Of course this was before you joined in."
He smiled at her and said,"You say you're pregnant again, clearly we'll have to relocate you. What about the father of this child, can he take you in?"
Her eyes flared briefly and she all but purred, her silken voice saying,"He lives with his adult daughter, I don't think she would be quite up ta me showing up, great with his child and unannounced. She is quite religious, or so he tells me."
Peter smiled tightly and said tersely, "Yes, I can imagine her take on seeing you...Mores the pity."
Branwen suddenly blurted out,"We have this great, huge house in Wales with several large outbuildings and barns. Perhaps you could live in one of them? Blank here can fix one up into a right cozy place. He's done wonders at our place and is building an apartment inside our big barn, for a woman who will be living with us."
Tommy brightened and said cheerfully, "If your friend can use me, I can 'elp build one or two apartments and we can 'ave a regular little colony of Hellhounds in Wales."
"Won't the neighbors be thrilled!" I said sarcastically to which Branwen retorted, "What bloody neighbours? We're surrounded by a golf course!"
The woman was about to speak again when I said apologetically,"I'm sorry, I never did get your name. We've all been chatting and here I have no idea of what your name is. Clearly I can't address you as 'Hey You!"
She chuckled, smiled and replied,"Only one other man has ever asked for me name, most of them begged for their lives while I ravished them. The ones that could perform that is."
At my look of expectancy she said, "Angella is my name, you can call me Angel if you wish."
Her eyes flared brightly,"My lover calls me his Angel of desire."
She sort of hugged herself and said wistfully, "He is the only man I have ever submitted ta, who makes me feel all soft inside, who loves me."
Angella looked at Anna, "He is your father and you were conceived in love."
She caressed her lower abdomen, "This baby was also conceived in love an' so will my next baby for as long as he is able...No more beasts of the fields an' forests, I must leave a legacy of children born of love, not fear."
She grinned at us and her wonderful eyes flared brightly, "No more assaultin' unwillin' men...I want grand children who will call me 'grandma', not growl at me with hackles raised an' beastly eyes glarin'."
She reached out her great, clawed hand and gently patted her daughter's belly, "I am so lookin' forward ta seein' your baby...You were born out of our love for each other an' you are so beautiful ta me. Now you are also bearin' a child conceived in love an' she too, will be beautiful like her mother."
The two embraced fondly and were soon joined by Tommy Adkins, who wrapped his arms around both of them.
I felt Branwen's strong arms encircling me and saw Andrew and Evelyn hugging each other.
We enjoyed the moment until Peter Marshall cleared his throat and remarked,"I hate to be the wet blanket at this love fest, but the hour is getting late and we do need to get moving."
After separating, we engaged in a round of handshakes and we all experienced the sensation of getting hugged by a matronly Hellhound, who, after hugging me grinned toothily at Branwen and said merrily ,"You've got yourself a strong, healthy man there. I'm sure he rises ta the occasion quite frequently, you lucky girl!"
Branwen burst out laughing as I turned nearly crimson over my discomfiture at her candid remarks.
Her reply to Angella's comment did not help my situation. "Oh yes, he gets quite frisky at times."
And my embarrassment was complete.
Tommy walked us out to the van where I gave him my contact information and retrieved my motion sensitive camera.
As we drove away, we saw Tommy heading back to the ruins of Fowlscombe manor and his lady love.
Evelyn was quickly scribbling away in her bulging notebook and occasionally consulting the photos she took with her phone for reference.
I sat looking out at the English countryside while my lovely bride snuggled against me.
Meanwhile, Peter was consulting his phone.
None of us really tried to speak during the drive, all of us were lost in our thoughts.
We had gone to check on my camera and ended up meeting not only the persons seen in the videos, we met an unexpected extra, the mother of the Hellhound seen in the videos.
It wasn't until we were entering the long driveway to the house that Peter spoke, "You say you have room in some of the outer buildings? How much room is there and how many people could live here?"
Having given it some thought already, I replied,"If it's just a few families, maybe eight people in addition to Branwen, myself and our child. Tommy and Anna are expecting...That's three. Angella's expecting, that brings it up to five. We can't assume that the Adkins' will have only the one child or us for that matter. We could easily have more children in the future, the same goes for Angella. She alluded to wanting more kids even though she's fairly mature, she's still fertile and has a willing partner."
The van had stopped as Peter mulled over my comments and said, "Can we assume that Angella would even want, to move here? I had the impression her partner lived fairly close by and they saw each other frequently. Coming here would end that arrangement and I cannot see her willingly agreeing to their separation."
"Would you wish to be separated from your loved one? We may be considered demonic in nature but the feelings we have are very real, and we will defend our families."
Remarked Branwen as she folded back the hood that had concealed her velvety soft ears.
We all exited the van and engaged in a round of handshakes and brief hugs and fare-thee-wells, before Peter Marshall and the Granger's climbed back into the van and motored off.
After a light supper and the dishes were all soaking in the sink, I laid out a sheet on the living room carpet.
We lay down together and we got naked, or rather I got naked while Branwen was already there.
Her body had several well furred areas and she typically wore what was essentially, a two piece swimsuit, more for modesty's sake than protection from the elements.
Angella and her daughter wore no clothing to speak of and seemed perfectly comfortable in the wintry air at their home.
Branwen lay down and I proceeded to give her a very thorough massage from top to bottom.
She lay with her marvelous eyes closed and a little smile on her face, with an occasional involuntary twitch of her luxurious tail while I was working some kinks out of her muscular body.
Succumbing to temptation, I began gently fondling and suckling her wonderful breasts as she murmured, "I was wondering when you were going to get to the fun parts."
Reluctantly lifting my mouth from the luscious nipple I was suckling, I murmured, "I could have taken longer my love,"
After taking another pull from her protruding nipple, I whispered, "Would you like me to work on your shoulders some more?"
Branwen groaned and muttered huskily, "If you don't start fucking me very soon...I am going to take charge and wear you out completely!"
I took one last pull from her sweet nipple and mounted her.
She sighed deeply as I sank into her warmth and slowly began thrusting powerfully against her swelling belly.
Branwen snuggled her powerful arms around me as I thrashed my hips between her muscular thighs and she groaned, "Fuck me harder! The baby is fine, fuck me all you want, fuck me like you mean it!"
She groaned and moaned happily as I manfully carried out my husbandly duty and tried to keep up with her sexual demands.
In the end, we reverted to her being in the dominant role, with her holding me down and ravishing me repeatedly.
Admittedly, my willy seemed to prefer it that way as I was taken for a long, hard gallop on our own living room carpet.
Thankfully, the 200 thread cotton sheet I had laid down minimized the rug burns I did get from being ridden so hard and put away so wet, and so exhausted.
Sunday afternoon, we went for a ride on my Norton.
Branwen snuggled against me as I maneuvered the motorcycle over the twistier roads threading their way over the Brecon Beacons and stopped to look down at our house.
We stopped at a small roadside cafe where we could sit outside with our drinks and nibblies and not disturb the other patrons.
The grim reality was that Branwen's appearance could shock the uninformed and it was too nice a day for any hysteria of that sort.
We resumed our ride and made our way back over the mountains, returning home just after dark.
Monday saw Tom and I installing the set of kitchen cabinets and drawers his friend, a cabinet maker had knocked together for us.
He had made them to order and all we had to do was hang them and hook up the plumbing after installing the sink. Easy peasy.
Two days later the apartment was officially finished and signed off by Harry Jones, the same fellow who'd been assigned to my own project.
Harry Jones grinned and said, " All you need now is a tenant. As far as I'm concerned this project is finished, and so am I!"
We shook hands and he hopped into his tool laden Subaru Forester with a shocking amount of miles on it and drove off.
Tom and I grinned at each other and he remarked,"Janice can start moving in now, we're all finished."
"Now we've got to start thinking about adding a couple of more small units or maybe one larger unit." I said.
Tom raised on eyebrow and said, "Is this about that young couple you've found? You say the boy is a stone mason? I can find him work...If he's good."
"He said he was good, we could give him a small job to see how he makes out." I replied,"I've got his cell and email if you're interested."
Tom smiled and I gave him the boy's contact info.
That night, Janice showed up with her car loaded down with her things, which Branwen and I helped her carry into her new home.
Janice grinned as she looked over the new apartment and commented, "This is sooo much more modern than I'm used to."
She grinned and said, "On my salary about all I could afford was a converted chicken coop and access to the bathroom. Cooking on a hot plate didn't allow much for creativity in my diet."
She laughed and said cheerfully, "I won't know how to behave!"
"You'll adapt...I certainly did." Remarked Branwen.
Janice Llewellyn smiled at me and remarked, "Haven't we all?" as she caressed her swelling baby bump.
Branwen caressed her own swelling tummy, "Yes, we have and now it appears we will be having to adapt even more."
At Janice's mystified look I replied,"We may be getting another couple here. We met a young couple at Fowlscombe and they'll be needing a place to live."
Janice asked quietly, "Would they be another human-Hellhound couple? I thought you were the only one."
Branwen grinned toothily and said, "So did I. Oh, I heard the legends but I figured they were just old folk tales designed to scare children. It was quite strange, meeting more of my own kind."
"You said 'more', just how many did you meet?"
"Two actually and they were both pregnant. One is the mother of the other and she will likely remain near Fowlscombe as she has a lover near there. He is the father of the young mother and soon to become a grandfather as well."
Janice shook her head at my comments and after a moment said, "What else will be emerging from the shadows? We have lamias being found in North Africa, arachnes living in the Arizona desert and with the emergence of the Jotuns up in Canada. We suddenly find the builders of the ancient megalithic structures across much of Northern Europe are still among us. They and their gigantic wolves!"
"One Jotun girl is living in Portland, Oregon with her human chaperone. I think she's still in high school and will be going to college in Portland."
Janice chuckled and said, "I saw her get interviewed on the telly a while back. It was quite interesting listening to her accent, she sounded almost like a Scotsman from a century ago. I'm guessing they learned English from Scottish fur trappers they'd met in the woods."
Janice finished moving in that night.
Most of her things seemed to be research materials, books, documents, old maps and a few artifacts.
She had a slim wardrobe, a few personal effects and little else in her ascetic lifestyle.
I occupied myself over the next few days by taking a lot of measurements inside the big barn, converting them into working sketches and playing with the idea of fitting additional living spaces inside the barn, without breaking any rules pertaining to a listed building.
In the meantime, Janice and Branwen teamed up and unpacked most of her things.
Her books were left in their boxes until I could knock together a couple of book cases for them.
Two weeks had passed when next I saw Tommy Adkins, Tom Jones had called me about a job involving stone masonry work.
He told me he had spoken to Tommy and he was coming to Brecon with his truck and tools of his trade.
Spring was in the air as we met in my driveway.
Tom in his big van, Tommy with his battered Toyota minivan towing a cement mixer and Harry Jones, building inspector and sometime contractor.
I grinned at them and said cheerfully, "Aren't we the suspicious looking bunch! Would any of you gents like some coffee? It's an American thing, I gotta have a cup of joe before I can function."
Tommy grinned and replied, "I 'ave me tea, it's an English thing, you yanks wouldn't understand."
Tom Jones chuckled and said, "I'll have a cup of that coffee Branwen makes, that stuff'll wake the dead."
Harry Jones merely smiled and said, "I have two quarts of my wife's coffee in me thermos, I'm all set for the day."
I fetched two steaming mugs of "Branwen style" coffee as Tom had put it, and after handing him his mug, I said, "You mentioned a good sized job, what are we up against?"
Tom smiled and said, "We have a restoration job ahead of us. A fair amount of it is stone work, there are a few stone walls to be repaired and in one case, replaced entirely. A part of the house has been allowed to fall into ruin and we are going to restore it to liveable condition."
Harry grinned and commented, "So they finally got their grant money!"
He looked at us and said cheerfully,"I've been eyeing that place for years, the house is one of the few that still belongs to its original family. We've got our work cut out for us."
Tom showed us some photos he'd taken of the place.
Tommy peered closely at the stone walls and commented, "Me granddad coulda worked on these, he used'ta make me build walls like this when I was little, told me I'd thank him one day."
I was more interested in the heavy timber aspect of the project and asked, "Is there a source for timbers like these?"
Both Tom and Harry grinned and Harry replied, "There's no shortage of living history buffs who would cheerfully make them up for us, maybe we could even make videos of the project for a documentary."
"A documentary would be a way of pulling in some extra money as well."
Tom nodded and remarked,"It could be doable if the family agrees to it...They are a bit eccentric and may not enjoy the attention."
"It couldn't hurt to ask, what's the worst they could do, say no?"
Harry said quietly,"They could order us off the property...That family's been living there since before the twelfth century, they've gotten a little ...Odd, in all that time. Probably best not to mention any documentary."
Tommy and I exchanged glances, our own family situations could easily be described as odd.
Tom merely smiled and remarked, "I think it's safe to say family oddities are surprisingly common here in Wales. Let's go see what this job will entail at least."
With that we piled into our respective vehicles and followed Tom's bulky van over the narrow track ways to the job site.
The property was an expanse of hilly ground divided into smaller plots by numerous stone walls, all laid dry.
Tommy would be quite busy here.
The main house itself was younger than my own house which was built around 1580.
The other houses and outbuildings showed their age by appearing to sag under the weight of centuries and minimal upkeep.
From where I parked, I could clearly see grass shoots and tree saplings poking up from the tops of the exposed beams where a portion of the roof had collapsed.
My work was cut out for me and would tax my skills to the utmost.
I looked forward to the challenge.
The main house itself differed from the traditional Welsh long house in that it had two stories and had three large chimneys, one at each end and a third one right in the middle.
It was clearly the newest structure on the property, being only a couple of centuries old, and in much better shape.
Close by was an older structure, nearly as big and considerably older.
It seemed to be held together by the thick covering of ivy that covered much of it.
It was the smaller buildings and the long barn that had suffered the most from benign neglect.
It seemed the family simply could not keep up with the property and it was likely the main reason we were there.
The late model Toyota SUV parked next to the aging Bedford QL truck seemed glaringly out of place and as we exited our vehicles, the reason why the Toyota was there became quite apparent.
The door to the house opened and out came a mature couple accompanied by a younger, more fashion conscious man.
Behind them were two others, a man carrying a rather nice video camera and a young woman carrying a reflector.
Evidently, the idea of making a documentary had already been agreed upon before we arrived.
The mature woman dressed all in homespun linens and woolens, smiled at us and said a cheery, "Good morning gentlemen, I am Morgan Pendragon and this is my husband Arthur, is this all of you?"
Harry smiled at her and replied,"No ma'am we're the main contractors, we'll be hiring extra help and equipment as we need them."
He gestured at Tommy and myself and said, "This is Tommy Adkins, our stone mason. He'll be overseeing the masonry work on the walls and buildings."
Morgan squinted at him and remarked cooly, "He seems a bit young for the title 'stone mason'."
Tommy quickly spoke up, saying, "Beggin' your pardon ma'am, I am a fourth generation stone mason. I learned th' trade at me grandfather's knee."
She smiled and nodded, "It's not often young men follow in their father's footsteps these days. I'll be looking forward to seeing your work."
Tommy grinned and replied, "An' I'll be glad ta be doing th' work! Ever'body uses concrete cinder block these days, working in actual stone will be a treat."
Harry said, "And this is a neighbor of yours, he is our general repairman and he'll be overseeing the heavy timber and rough carpentry end of things. I'm told he is also handy with plumbing and electrical."
I nodded and said, "Good morning ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Morgan squinted once more and remarked to Arthur, "Now I know why he seemed so familiar, he's that American fellow who inherited Newton farm and let Old Mary stay in her cottage."
Arthur smiled at me and extended his work hardened hand.
As we shook hands he remarked,"It was very nice of you to let her stay like you did. We heard that Posh from London wanted to give her the boot and you let her stay."
He grinned and said, "I like you already!"
I could only shrug and reply, "I couldn't see any sense in kicking her out, she was nice to me and helped me to adjust to living here. Besides, that attorney was being a dick, and my ancestry is partly Welsh."
He chuckled and said quietly, "The main thing is, you're here and the Cymru bloodline can be strengthened."
The videographer was recording an animated conversation between Tom, Harry and Morgan.
Arthur leaned closer and in a near whisper said, "We were glad when you married Old Mary's daughter Branwen. Especially after Old Mary passed away."
"So you knew about her all along?"
He smiled and replied, "Our families came here when the fae still ruled the land long before the Angles and the Saxons invaded Albion and they went under the hills."
He gestured at a very decrepit shell of a house with a healthy tree growing in its midst.
"That is the remains of the oldest farm house built long before 1050. Our dream is to see it whole again, with a family living in it."
"What sort of a family are you thinking about?"
He smiled, "Do you have a family in mind?"
I gestured at Tommy Adkins who was examining a nearby wall and scribbling away in his note book.
"Tommy will be needing a place where he and his lady can live and raise their child...You see, Tommy's girl is rather special and a somewhat remote farm like this would be ideal."
"How special are we talking about?" He asked.
"The girl is like Branwen, she is a Hellhound, Tommy is her man and they are expecting."
Arthur grinned and remarked, "Well! All the more reason to fix this old place up!"
Silently, we shook hands in a gentleman's agreement.
We would complete this project.
I stepped through the doorway of the crumbling ruin and surveyed the interior.
Having been open to the sky for centuries, the floor was buried deeply beneath a layer of mouldering leaves and weeds with a rather healthy young tree rising up through the open roof.
Thankfully, the remaining walls and fireplaces seemed fairly sound, considering their age.
Tommy joined me and after a few moments, remarked,"It's in better shape than I expected, we'll know more once this tree an' th' rest have been removed an' I've had a good look at these walls."
I remarked, "I was told this is the oldest house and he wants a family living in it again."
Tommy glanced at me with a raised eyebrow and I told him, "Arthur knows about your family...I told him."
He opened his mouth and I cut his remark off with an upraised hand, "He knows about Branwen and is amenable to you two raising your child here. This remote farm'd be perfect, we just gotta fix it up a bit first."
He exhaled noisily and said, "Wot about th' film crew stickin' their bloody cameras in ever'body's faces?"
"What makes you think we'll tell them?" I asked.
I jerked a thumb at Tom Jones and said, "He's on our side. Harry I don't know about yet, but Tom and his wife are a part of the Gwyddonod...Think witches coven, only Welsh."
Tommy thought a moment, then said, "I want ta bring Anna here ta Wales, where I can be nearby in case she needs me."
"We'll see what we can do while we're working on this place. You'll have to stay with us or the Jones' for the duration."
Tommy smiled and mused, "I saw enough work around here ta keep me busy for th' rest of me born days."
He grinned, "Just this farm alone could keep me in work for a few years."
"There's no shortage of work here for someone with the right skills. The skills they don't teach in schools anymore. It's just a matter of looking."
We exited the shell of that house and rejoined the rest of the crew.