The Shadower

by Punk19

With their just being returned to Moas, Angel and her sons are trying to settle into their new environment; it's not long before they become stressed by some force that continues to shadow and torment them and it's not long before their family adds more stress to what they're feeling. Who is shadowing them and will he stop to allow them to return to their former, new way of living?

24. Part 3

The dark red Buick Lucerne, a vehicle that she had found one day while on the way home from work, and a vehicle that had been in very piss-poor shape until she decided to right it to sitting on its tires and then fix up to call her own, drove very smoothly down the road; despite the smooth ride, and the even smoother trip from Tazir's place to Gamma Vile, she glanced at the passenger seat nervously.

The cream-colored leather, that was on the seat, had been put there by her; after getting the car fixed up on the outside—getting all the dents and scratches removed from the car's body, and getting the rust removed and then painted over, and replacing the windows—she had taken a trip to a shop that specialized in car parts and accessories. The back passenger seats, the leather covering that was on the seats, the tires and engine, and the cream-colored upholstery had all been purchased from the shop and then applied to her car. The seat that she glanced at had a light tan suede bag, that had tassels hanging from its middle, and a short shoulder strap, on it; all of what she'd need for any trip was in it.

The Art Nouveau leather and silver plated coin purse, that had a burnished cicada bug clasp on it, had two rolls of coins, that were M-51 Galaxy approved, in it; the tan leather wallet had fifty dollars in it; and the brown leather case, that Hazaar had found for her one day while sifting through the many junk-piles that were in the dump that was in Green River, Wyoming, had a few Moas-issued credit cards in it. While the Art Nouveau coin purse had been found by Bile—another dump-find, but a good one that was being put to good use—, she had been the one to purchase the tan leather wallet—she had needed a wallet and she had made the decision to "treat" herself by spending the $28.06 on the one that was currently in her bag. Along with a few Moas-issued credit cards, the brown leather case also had the invite for Trobrencus and his family in it—seeing Trobrencus was the only reason to why she was on Gamma Vile in the first place.

Along with them things, her bag also had a small pocketknife and canister of pepper spray in it—these were only to be used in an emergency; she neither wanted to be jumped and then either robbed or raped and she also didn't want to run the risk of someone trying to get the upper hand on her by thinking that they can abduct and then hold her for ransom either.

Even though her eyes had wandered to the bag that was on the passenger seat she had really been training her attention on the dog that was on the floorboard of that side of her car; after teleporting to Gamma Vile, then starting the process of going down the road that she had appeared on, she had seen a dog limping in the middle of the road. Instead of going past, and ignoring the animal, she had stopped. She had no more stopped her car before the dog turned and then started towards her—Mr. Pooch, after reaching her, had bathed her with his tongue; while trying to keep the dog back, she had checked the tags that were on the small-link, chain collar that was around his neck.

The first tag had said that the dog had had all of his shots while the second had specific information, like what the dog's name was, and what he was allergic to, and what kind of medicine he needed to take on a daily basis, on it; the third tag was the reason to why the dog was in her car. The name of TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit had been listed as the dog's owner on that tag; knowing that Trobrencus was missing a dog, and knowing that he would probably want his dog to be returned to him, she had put the dog in her car and then started off towards the house that both he and she needed to go to.

The dog was either very well trained or very well-behaved; after entering her car, he had just sat down and then started panting. She was quite sure that he was of the Cursinu breed—the coat was black and tan in color, and had a brindle pattern on it; there was a white marking in the center of his chest, and his front feet were white; and he looked to be lacking dewlaps, which the Cursinu breed was known to lack. Before putting him in her car, she had noticed that there was something wrong his left foreleg—there was a bleeding cut on it and, if she was seeing things correctly, it looked like it was broken.

At the time of her stopping to see what was up with the dog, she had been around fifty miles from Trobrencus's place; right now, she was around twenty or so miles from the castle that the man, and his family, lived in.

"No need to turn the radio on—I'm close to Trob's place, and there's something going on with it that's preventing it from playing." she thought after going by a large quantity of land that had a For Sale sign on it.

The last three days had been hell for her and her sons; the fight between her and Shaam had been bad enough to cause them to not speak to one another, and her kids had been bullied almost relentlessly both yesterday and the day before yesterday, and she hadn't been able to speak with her grandparents or great-grandparents without hearing a sort of lecture from them on what she was doing "wrong" with her children. For the most part, she had just spoken and associated herself with her children, her husband, and with the Ubalki's over the last couple of days.

The fight that occurred four days ago hadn't been plain verbal; some of them had gotten physical towards one another. Shaam had swung at her twice, Duru had swung at Cheshire the same amount of times, and Kuruk had tried to swing at her husband and then at her; while she had managed to evade her grandfather's swing, she hadn't been able to do so with Shaam's—the side of her face, and her right elbow, had sung before going numb... Tazir and Cheshire had been livid after seeing her as being struck at; they had gone to her defense almost at once, which was why they had been swung at.

The kids that Ashaklar hadn't been able to remove from the room—Duru and Cyla's, and Kuruk and Irka's—had seen, and heard, everything that happened. While she wished that they hadn't been in the room to witness what they had she had a feeling that they had "enjoyed" what they had seen—Baruk had sure had a devilishly pleased look on his face, and so had Gaajah and Selik, for that matter.

She was glad that her children, Eshal included in the mix, had obeyed Ashaklar in following her from the room; fights between adults, she thought, shouldn't have an audience of children. The boys, and Eshal, had been found in the house's bigger kitchen about twenty minutes after the fight started. They had been eating some of what she had made for dessert that night—after what happened in the dining room, she had been all for their eating what they had; it was better than their going to bed hungry, she thought.

After she, and her children, dined in the smaller kitchen the following morning, she had written Trobrencus and then gotten her husband to send it to him via express. She had yet to hear word from him, which was why she was taking the drive to his place—with the letter being sent via express, she should of heard from him either that same day or the one that followed. That morning, after she and her children ate breakfast in, again, the smaller kitchen, she had gotten herself ready to make the trip; along with asking Tazir, and the Ubalki's, to keep an eye on her children, and telling Bile that he couldn't come with her, she and Tazir had had a quick conversation just before she left the house to retrieve her car.

"Tazzy, I know nothing of the guy when it comes to paying him a visit—you've been to Trob's place, can you give me some pointers on what to do after arriving to his castle?"

Tazir, as far as she knew, had only paid Trobrencus a visit twice; since Shaam wasn't talking to her, and since she wasn't in the mood to get another lecture after asking Kuruk or Duru on what to do after appearing before the man's residence, she had gone to Tazir to see if he'd help her in trying to make her visit go a little more smoother.

She didn't want to just show up to the place, then lay hand on the horn, making all sorts of noise that'd disrupt the area that the castle was in—she wanted to be respectful and she also wanted to make the visit be a correctly handled one. With all that had been going on these last couple of days, she had forgotten the man's number; if not for Tazzy, she wouldn't of been able to put the correct mailing address on the envelope—her husband had been a big help to her and she both thanked and owed him for that.

While visiting a guy that she hardly knew caused her to be a little nervous, and caused the chills to run all up and down her back, she knew that she had to go see him; she felt an obligation to explaining why the events that happened on the 25th of October occurred and she also had no desire in losing him as a family member.

What she knew of the man was quite basic: he could be rather mean, cruel, and nasty with his staff, and with the staff that was employed by other people, and he seemed to be a big family man. How he handled his temper, and his emotions, she didn't know—it was really this that made her nervous. Would the guy bark all down her back after seeing her as driving up to his place? Would a fight happen, where either she or he'd be hurt, or would he just be calm in listening to her speak to him before answering in a normal, non-tempered, way?

"Teleport to a road called Rohyan; after appearing on it, you drive down it a ways before turning onto Xroylo. Once the turn's made, you stay on that road—it takes you right to Trob's place." TazirVile had said after she had asked him for directions on how to get to Trobrencus's place. "After seeing the place, you drive up to the front gate—Trob has a strip under the soil that's before the gate; it'll beep a device that, as far as I know, he always has on his person. After driving up to the gate, you sit and wait for it to open—have the window down so he can see you. If the gate doesn't open in, say, five minutes, you back up and then come home."

A few second pause was made; he had either needed to remember a detail or two or he had been listening to see if he had been called or not. After that few second pause was done, he continued in telling her what she needed to know.

"If he wishes to see and speak with you, he'll press the button on that device to let you in. After the gate's open, you drive through it; follow the driveway to a circular patch of yellow rocks, then park the car, then go to the door. A servant will answer after you knock on the door—Trobrencus's place is big, so you follow that servant like a shadow after he or she lets you in."

Tazir had gotten some work done on her car a couple of weeks ago; the gas tank had been replaced for one that ran on energy and the old tires had been removed and then replaced. Her car, though always being a smooth ride, seemed to have an even smoother ride to it now—while the car wasn't one that Tazir'd drive, she was glad to still have it and still have the right and opportunity to use it.

"I'd say ten more minutes and you'll be home." Angel said to the dog, who thumped his tail after hearing her speaking to him.

After speaking to the dog, she rode on in silence; due to her going thirty miles an hour, the landscape passed by slowly. Gamma Vile was a vastly different planet than Earth in standards of both plant and animal life and in regards to how much radiation it got on a daily basis from the stars that it orbited. The hills, that were to her right, were made of pebbles; the fields that were on either side of her consisted of radiation-poisoned purple grass or normal-colored grass; and the high, smooth, and glass-like mountains, that were in front of her, were quite bright and showy. Like with some who called Moas home, the people who lived on Gamma Vile sometimes took up the poisonous purple grass that surrounded their homes and then replaced it with a terrain of artificial grass—but, unlike the people of Moas, who mostly used a blue-colored grass to cover the ground of their property, they almost always used an artificial terrain that was green.

The minutes passed by slowly before a fence started rolling by; it was black, and wrought iron, and each section had a Fluer-De-Lis topper that had a sharp, middle point on it. The grass beyond the wrought iron fence was both artificial and green in color—to her, it was so lush that it looked odd. Beyond the fence, she saw yet another fence that was white. This white-colored fence disappeared from view; if she had to make any guesses, it surrounded a pasture that either horses or cows lived or moved around in.

While continuing on her way down the road, she saw that the property had a red barn, that had a Gothic-style roof on it, on it. The doors to this barn were open; she was able to see people moving about in its interior, and she thought she saw the silhouette of a horse too. The silo that was beside the barn was normal in all attributes.

The long, flat lake, that she was now driving past, had a lot of lily pads on it; while driving by, she saw a flock of around five ducks, that looked to have a dark green shine to their dark plumage, on it. After taking in the lake, and the ducks that were on it, she turned to tend the dog, who had suddenly started to get a bit excited—the property must be Trobrencus's, she thought; she could think of no other reason for Mr. Pooch to get as excited as he was.

After calming the dog, then turning to look at both the road and the property that was beside her, her mouth dropped in shock; while she had seen castles before, she had never seen one of the caliber that was now able to be seen.

"Trob lives in that!"

The structure was a lot bigger than she had thought it'd be; the color was black and it had a single tower on it. Of the three spires that were on the tower, only two had something on them—the one in the middle was bare of anything while the one to its right had a straight pole on it; the spire that was to the left of the middle one looked to have a windcatcher on it.

After drawing closer to the structure, she saw that it had around seven or eight spires on it; she was able to see four chimney stacks and, on a guess, over fifty windows. If she had to make any estimates on how many windows the place had on it, she'd say either a hundred or a little over a hundred. The castle's base was covered in vines and moss—either this was left as a decorative source or Trob's staff had yet to get around to removing it.

After drawing even closer to the structure, she came close to both stopping and then turning the car around—there were people on the property's front lawn! A quick count told her that it was either fourteen or fifteen people that were out and about; some were running around, playing and having a good ol' time, while others were sitting on the grass. From what she was able to see, it looked like there were more girls on the lawn than boys.

Trob was mad at her for what happened on the 25th of October; he might not want her to be anywhere near his family... after seeing her by the property's front gate, then realizing that his family was on the front lawn, he might rush out with the intent of either causing her harm or chasing her away.

She had a time with the dog while driving by the people that were on the property's front lawn; he barked, and then howled, before getting on the passenger seat. He was just starting to get onto her lap when she slowed her progress in going down the road. While it took a bit of effort, she did manage to push the dog back; she told him to sit, and to be quiet, and to calm down, before returning to driving.

There was no way that the dog could get past the property's fence; if he jumped from her lap, and then from her moving vehicle, he might well get more than a broken leg on himself and, if he was unscathed after jumping, he might injure himself on the fence by trying to squeeze through the posts too. Along with her not wanting the dog to cause further injury to himself she also didn't want Trobrencus to target her for the injuries that his dog caused on himself after trying, and then succeeding, in jumping from her car.

The dog was very obedient in staying where he was after she told him to sit and to be quiet and calm down; he whimpered, and he thumped his tail, but he didn't get up or try to get onto her lap or jump from the open window of her vehicle. After going ten miles an hour down the road for around fifty or so yards, she applied a bit of pressure to the gas pedal; it took all of five minutes for her to locate and then drive up to the front gate.

"Just like Taz's," she thought after seeing and then driving up to the wrought iron gate. "He has his initials on it."

The gate was long, and matched with the fence wonderfully; it had a T, a B, and an S designed on it on both sides. The spread-out tree design, that was on it, had vines and moss growing on it. After pulling her car to within a foot of the gate, she put the gear shift into Park mode then waited; while waiting for the gate to open, and for her to be granted "permission" to enter the property that she had driven to, she looked at what else there was to the property.

To the east, she saw another lake; it looked like the same species of ducks, that had the dark green shine to their feathers, were either on it or flying above it. Beyond the lake sat a mini forest. A red and gray brick building was between the mini forest and the castle's eastern wall—if she had to make any guesses, it housed Trob's hunting canines or some goats or sheep.

After taking in the rest of what was in the property's front yard, she thought about the horses that Trobrencus was known to own, breed, and, sometimes, sell. The man bred all sorts of color in his horses but he was more favoring towards the ones that were silver dapple, gray, palomino, and liver chestnut—he preferred for his horses to have lots of leg on them, and trim hindquarters, and a short back. He was one for speed, and he did have an interest in jumping his horses—he also liked to use his horses whenever he was out on a hunt. He kept the manes of his horses long; their tails, while being allowed to grow long, were trimmed so that they didn't go past their hooves. If she recalled correctly, he was very favoring towards the graceful, elegant step that a horse had and he tried to breed that in the horses that he owned.

About fifty years before "taking off" with her sons, she had sent him a letter that had a small paragraph in it that revolved around the Akhal-Teke breed that seemed to only come from Earth; she had also included a photograph of the breed in the letter—a phone call from him had followed that letter being opened and read, and that photograph being looked at. The man had liked how the breed looked, and he had especially liked how the coat had a golden shine to it; after telling him more on the breed, she had found herself as being told to give the phone to Tazir.

As far as she knew, he had asked Tazir to send some of his Goblins to Earth to retrieve four mares and two stallions of that breed for him; sadly, she wasn't able to remember if Tazzy had done so or not.

Trob's father had taught him well on how to ride a horse; she remembered seeing the man astride one of his stallions while out on a hunt with her grandfather and Tazir. Trob had a very well-balanced, graceful, and intelligent movement to him when he rode a horse; he didn't move but so much and he kept his head on his shoulders—no hint of play was expressed in him whenever he was on a horse. She was glad that he kept his head on his shoulder while astride a horse because, if he didn't do that, he could very well be hurt.

"Come on, Trob." Angel sighed; it was now four and a half minutes since she had taken to park before the property's front gate.

After turning to look in an easterly direction again, she saw that there seemed to be a creek leading from the lake that the ducks were either swimming in or flying above; the creek ran a rather winding course all the way to the driveway, which it ended at. After following the creek's winding path, she saw that there was another creek running from the driveway's other side; it ran right over to the front lawn's other lake—going by this alone, she figured that the two creeks were connected to one another and that they went under the driveway.

When she turned to take in the people that were on the lawn, she saw that the area that they were in had a lot of foliage in it. The Italian Cypress, Weeping Willow, pink-flowering Crepe Myrtle trees, and white and pink flowering Dogwood trees almost made the area look too dominated by foliage—in-between all of this was a croquet game; two cast iron tables, that had two chairs pushed underneath them; and a blanket. Two of the people in the area were playing the croquet game while another—a male, by the looks of him—was lying on the hammock, that was stretched between two of the Italian Cypress trees. She was about to take her eyes from the people in the clearing when she saw Bahne walking towards the clearing with a tray that had numerous glasses on it.

TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit, she knew, did just about everything to keep his family happy, well-maintained, and healthy; it was no surprise to her that everyone in the clearing was happy and content.

After six minutes passed, Angel figured that she best just let the dog out of her car then head home—Trob would of let her in by now if he wanted to see and speak with her.

"Alright," Angel said after getting out of her car then walking over to front passenger door. After opening the door, she gestured to the dog. "There's a little opening in the fence that I suppose you can—"

The dog thumped his tail just before getting out of her car; once out of her car, he went for the opening that she gestured at—at first, she thought that the opening was too small for him to get through. It was just twenty inches wide, and it was right dead in the center of the gate. The dog, who was obviously very smart, and who obviously also wanted to go home, limped to the opening then proved her wrong by squeezing through; he went, bounding and barking all the way, towards the people that were in the clearing after getting past the gate.

Bahne, who had since placed the tray that had the drinks on it on one of the cast iron tables, turned to look at the dog after hearing him; Angel, who figured that she shouldn't stick around, didn't see what happened next. She got into her car, then started it up, then moved the gear shift from park to reverse, then started the process of backing away from the gate.

She had no more started backing away from the gate when her foot slammed on the brake; what she saw coming down the road just about made her mind spin circles!

"No! Don't you dare—it's not only nearing nine-thirty in the morning but your imagination is running and you need to catch it and fast!" she thought after seeing the car that was coming down the road towards her.

The movie based from Stephen King's novel, Christine, had been seen by her more than once after it hit theaters in 1983; just about everyone had seen the sentient, and violent, vehicle named Christine mow down person after person that crossed its, or its driver's, path... over the years, she had seen around twenty of the fifty remakes that had been done on the original 1983 version—she personally still thought that the original was better than all of the remakes.

The scene from the original film where the vehicle was driving while being engulfed in flames had stuck with her over the years; it was as much of a classic scene as it was a scary one. Except for a few differences, the vehicle that was driving down the road looked very much like the one that had been driven in that scene.

It looked like a Lincoln Zephyr Convertible Sudan; due to the flames, that were whip-lashing all around the car, she wasn't able to see what color it was or see much of what its body looked like. The nameplate that was on the front bumper said TROSUR7; the windows were very darkly tinted—so much so that she couldn't see through them—; and there was no hint of smoke coming from the vehicle.

Angel was wondering about the flames; they were all over the frame of the car and, curiously, they were even on the tires. How could the driver drive when the car was so engulfed in flames—surely, with their blowing to and fro like they were, it was difficult to concentrate on the task of driving—and how could the driver stay cool and keep the vehicle from overheating with them flames being on it? She was just starting to wonder who it was that was driving the car when, to her surprise, the car pulled up beside her.

Her hand, while being on the gear shift, hadn't moved any since the car was seen. She was much too mesmerized to move much less get on with the task of backing away from Trobrencus's front gate and then going home.

"Probably Trivit—Trob and Bahne's adult son. Trobrencus usually drives a hearsh-like car... he doesn't—"

The control that she had found herself as lacking in moving her body was regained after the window on the flaming car's passenger side lowered; just one look at who it was that was driving the car was enough to get her heart racing, and was enough to tell her to get her ass in gear in leaving the area.

The upholstery that was in the car was red; the seats had black and red leather on them; and it looked like there was a real monkey arm and hand hanging from the rear view mirror. The man behind the wheel didn't look a bit happy to see her—with the way he was staring at her, she could tell that he was more than a little angry. He looked to be plain raging; his eyes were non-blinking, and were like stone in his still face, and his lips looked about ready to spew out a torrent of words that'd make her inner ears either scream in shock or decide to pack up and then leave town.

She had thought that it was TrivitVile Afck Surfeit, the younger of the two twins born to Trobrencus and Bahne during the early part of Shlock's Plague, who was also the only one of them two twins to be born alive, that was driving the car. After the window was dropped, and after seeing who it was that was behind the wheel, she knew that it wasn't Trivit.

The one that was behind the wheel was none other than TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit.

"Move away from the gate! Oh shit, move away from the gate so he can get in then speed away!" she thought frantically.

She moved the gear shift from park to reverse then did as her frantic mind was telling her to do in backing away from the gate; there was a small circle before the gate, she went its entire length before stopping and then starting the process of turning her wheel. She had only just started the process of moving onto the road when something caught her eye—upon looking to the side, she saw that Trobrencus had imitated her by backing his car up. His car was still beside hers.

Angel's heart near skipped a beat; just looking at that mean, angry face of his was enough to put the fear of death in her!

TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit, who sometimes went by Trob by both his family and by the ones that knew him, had a small resemblance to a Surfeit. His bi-color head—the left side being light blue while its other side was a creamy color—was really the only physical thing that said that he was related to the Surfeit family; the rest of him had been genetically inherited from his mother, Birava Yamubabba.

His ears were like those of Tazir's, Lhaklar's, Hazaar's, and Lazeer's—instead of being located outside of his head, or being elongated, like the rest of the Surfeits' ears were, they were located inside his head. The irises of his eyes were red while the sclera and pupils were white; the red, trail-like markings, that were under his eyes, looked very much like blood, but she knew they weren't. The red, flaky patches of flesh, that were on his face, were drooping. His lower lip drooped, and had a shredded appearance to it; the nose that was above his lips was thin and pointy.

The dark purple hair, that was on his head, was all nice and trim on the front and sides while, on the top, it was scruffy; the long strand of hair, that was on the back of his head, was braided—from what she was able to see, it had a dark green bow on its end.

"Go! Move your ass!" her screaming mind told her after she noted the burning fury that was in Trobrencus's eyes.

While turning to look where she was going, she drew her foot from the brake; the car moved down the main road, then about twenty yards from the circle that was before Trobrencus's front gate, before being stopped. She was about to move the gear shift from reverse to drive when she saw that Trobrencus's car was still beside hers. His eyes met hers for only a second before she looked down the road; the idea of his staying beside her as a way to escort her from his property came to her, as did his staying beside her as a way to put the fear of God in her. She imagined him as being the mother bear and her as being the creature that said mother bear either wanted away from her cubs or was keeping a wary eye on—after imagining this, she removed her hand from the gear shift then turned to see where she was going. She, while keeping her vehicle at twenty-five miles an hour, went down the road. After going thirty yards, she stopped then turned to look forward again.

She got a surprise after turning to face the road again—Trobrencus wasn't only still beside her but it looked like he had moved his car so that it was closer to hers. Before making the move to back down the road, there had been around sixteen inches between her car and his; there looked to be around eight inches between them now.

Angel, after seeing that Trobrencus was still beside her, and after making an estimate on how close his car was to hers, decided to go down the road fifty more yards. Instead of turning to look where she was going, she looked in her rear view mirror; it seemed slow work, making her car go back instead of forward, but she viewed that this was the best way to go by getting away from Trobrencus's front gate—there was no way in hell that she was about to speed down the road, and possibly have Trobrencus speeding behind her!

After going fifty yards, she stopped; she had only just put her hand on the gear shift, to move it from reverse to, once again, drive, when she heard something that about caused her skin to crawl.

"Kkkkllllllllpppp..."

After hearing the sound, she turned to look at Trobrencus; not only was he still beside her but his side view mirror had clipped hers. He had, once again, moved his car closer to hers—there was nothing more than four inches between his car and hers now—and he was still giving her that stony, angry, chilly, and downright scary stare.

With his car being closer to hers noted, she left the gear shift where it was; she backed down the road again—surprisingly, Trobrencus went with her.

Inch for inch, foot for foot they backed down the road together; seventy yards... seventy-five... eighty-five... ninety... Her heart, after the final yardage was gained, started beating in her chest at a furious pace. Trobrencus, she had noticed all while backing down the road, wasn't watching what was going on in front of him. He was keeping himself focused on her instead of what may or may not be coming at him.

After the ninetieth yard was gained, she turned to look at the property that the man owned; the mini forest was around a hundred and fifty yards from her... while she was a distance from the front gate, and from Trobrencus's peacefully acting family, she had yet to leave the periphery of his property. After seeing this, she figured that he was only following her until she reached the outside edge of the fence that wound around the forest—after thinking this, she lifted her foot from the brake then "sped" down the road.

She lost track of the time and, in a way, her surroundings as she sped, going nearly fifty miles an hour, down the road. After seeing the fence that wound around the mini forest flash by her, she heaved a sigh of relief; she had only placed the full of her foot back on the brake pedal when a vibration was felt. After turning to look out the driver's side window, she saw that not only had Trobrencus followed her but that he had drawn still closer to her vehicle—he was so close that, this time, her side view mirror didn't clip his. It, along with Trobrencus's own, snapped free of the body of her car—this did not hit well with her!

"I brought your dog back you fool! He's injured, go home to tend him!" Angel's mind screamed.

After her side view mirror broke, she heard an ominous ringing sound that chilled her to the very bone—her cellular wasn't on her; after moving back to Moas, the service had gone out, so she hadn't had a reason to put it in her bag or bring it with her. She figured that Trobrencus's cellular was on him, and that it was that that was making the sound that she was hearing. She figured that someone—his wife, perhaps, or one of his grown children—was calling him about the dog, or about something that was going on with his finances or with one of his conquered realms.

Trobrencus acted like he didn't hear the ringing sound. His car idled beside hers, and he continued to stare at her. Due to how close their cars were to each other, Angel could feel the flames' heat—her throat was dry and itchy; her eyes seemed a bit too dry to her; she was sweating; and the flesh on her left arm was being burned. After feeling the flesh on her arm being burned, she moved her car back another twenty-five yards—Trobrencus didn't only stay with her but he also drew his car up against hers. She winced at the sound of his car scraping the paint from her own before drawing her hand up to pat the flames that suddenly caught on her hair.

"I'm away from your family!" her mind screamed at him. "Go back to them! Go back to your dog! Let me go home! I get your point—go away, stay away, and don't ever come back."

Due to his vehicle being so damn close to hers now she hesitated in moving back; after reaching up to pat the flames that decided to, once again, alight on her hair, she decided to make an attempt in moving her car away from his and then speed it down the road. After turning the wheel to the side, she moved her car as much as she could to the road's shoulder—Trobrencus, non-surprisingly, followed her, so her attempt in moving away from him was for nothing. After finding that attempt as not working, she decided to move down the road. While moving down the road, going at nearly thirty miles an hour, she was forced to remove her hands from the wheel twice—while patting the flames from her hair on the second removal, she saw that a semi-truck was coming towards her and Trobrencus.

Angel pointed at the truck after seeing it; she hoped that Trobrencus would turn to look at it, and then make the move to get out of its way—to her deep surprise, he did neither. The driver of the truck blared his horn at them loudly; he did this twice before the sound of tires squealing was heard. Rocks, dust, and pebbles flew all over the place; she heard the truck's driver yell back at them. He asked if they were crazy before going on down the road to wherever he was suppose to go. After experiencing this event, Angel decided that she had had enough; after removing the whole of her foot from the brake pedal, she gritted her teeth. The sound of her car scraping against Trobrencus's was horrible—she wanted it to stop being heard and, above all, she wanted this nightmare to be over with!

After finding herself as being halfway past his car, she thought that he was finally done with scaring her; she thought about going to a room after getting home, then sitting down to both calm down and think things over. She thought about taking a shower, then slapping some lotion on her burned arm. She thought about getting herself something to eat or, better yet, asking for Homsi or Eldass to bring her a bottle of wine. She was more than glad that Bile had been told to stay at home—having him along, experiencing what she was, and possibly being scared out of his wits end, need not happen! She would of been even more of a nervous wreck if he had been allowed to come along.

Angel almost made it to the bumper of Trobrencus's vehicle when, with a screaming pop, the windshield exploded in her face. She screamed while diving to the passenger side of her car; the shoulder strap of her bag was grabbed, then her face was driven into the cool suede of her bag, then she started counting the seconds that happened next.

"With Trob's car being slow close to mine, and with his car being engulfed in flames, the windshield exploding like that was bound to hap—" she was thinking when the door on the driver's side of her car was suddenly yanked to being open. She felt hands grabbing the back of her shirt, then she felt them hands yank her from the car, then she felt the hands twist her around to look at the one that possessed them.

"And where do you think you're going, Ragamuffin?" TrobrencusVile snarled in her face after removing her from her car. The voice that he used was his usual—it was low, and weasel-like; the flesh on her arms became pocked after the growl-tone, that was always present in his voice, was heard.

"Trob—" she gasped after seeing that it was he who had taken her from her car.

"Yeah, that's my name now you... get in there!"

Trobrencus dragged her along for a short distance before stopping and then reaching for the handle of the front passenger door of his vehicle, which had since been parked and then doused of its flames. The man didn't waste a second in opening the door, or in throwing her into the vehicle, or in slamming the door after she was in; once she was in the car, she popped her head up then watched as the man walked around to the driver's side door—after seeing this, she chanced a glance through the vehicle's back window.

Trobrencus, she now knew, was the cause to what just happened with the windshield of her car. He had waited until she was at his rear bumper before slamming on the brake and then doing a swerve—her fender was smashed, her windshield was shattered, the hood was buckled up in more than two places, and both of her headlights were broken. She was shocked to learn that that was the only damage done to her car—the rest of the body of her car was unscathed.

The man responsible for causing her car to be damaged was wearing a dark green, Satin-trimmed, velvet tuxedo; the shoes, that were on his feet, and the vest, that was over a nice and crisp, white shirt that had long sleeves and a button down front on it, matched the tuxedo well. The gold chain, that ran from one of the vest's pockets to the other, was gold; she was fast in thinking that he had a pocket watch, or some other item that could fit in the small pockets that were known to be on vests, on one of its ends. The striped, dark green cravat tie, that was around his neck, had a gold button in its center.

When Trobrencus grabbed the inside of the driver's side door, to close it after getting into his car, Angel saw that his fingernails were medium-long and were a dark cream color; like with most of the male members of her family, his nails had been filed to a finely sharp point.

She still had her bag with her; somehow, after grabbing and then ripping her from her car, it had come with her. After the man got into his car, then closed the door, then turned the key, the flames returned. She watched the flames as they danced along the hood of the car for a few seconds before turning to take in what the man was reaching for—the flip-top cellular phone, that was a bright silver color, and that was on the dash of the car, was lifted, then opened, then placed by the side of his head.

"Yeah, Bahne, I'm here." he said into his cellular after answering it. She decided to make an attempt in taking advantage of his attention being absorbed in something else; after moving closer to the passenger door, she grabbed the handle. The man, who must of anticipated this move, reacted quickly by reaching over and then slapping her with the hand that had the cellular in it.

"Trob, you need to come home—Cocbok came back! He ran up to us about five minutes ago." Bahne's voice, which was very whisper-like, came though the cellular clearly; it was quite clear that Trobrencus, before reaching over to stop her from escaping him, had put his phone on speaker. "His leg is hurt—think it's broke."

"I'm on my way now." TrobrencusVile said. "I've got company with me so I'll be a bit busy."

"We did see a car by the main gate," Bahne said. "Since you're the only one who can open the gate we couldn't let whoever it was in. Think he drove off."

"She did but I caught up with her. She's in the car with me now, we'll reach the garage in five minutes." TrobrencusVile said before shutting his phone off. After his phone was off, and then closed, he tossed it towards her; after it bounced off her leg, he said, "Put that in your bag—you'll be with me and my family for a while so you best get comfortable, and you best behave your rear end."

The ride to the gate, and then threw it, wasn't as hot as she thought it'd be; the flames that were dancing along the car's frame, and tires, had generated a lot of heat on both her and her car but, on the inside of Trob's car, it was very cool and comfortable. Trobrencus, she saw, had a very fine stereo in his car—judging by the speakers, she guessed that he liked hearing his tunes loud. There were cup holders built into the sides of all of the vehicle's doors; the food compartment, that was also built into the doors, looked big enough to hold more than a plain snack. The dash-board was a nice and shiny black color; the air conditioning vents, and the siding that went around the AC and heating controls, and the radio, was chrome. The vehicle's top, she saw, had hinges on it—so the vehicle was as she had thought it was. A convertible.

As she was taking all of this in, Trobrencus drove down the road and then up to the front gate; a small device, that had a blue botton on it, was removed from his pocket and then used right after they reached the gate.

The gate had no more been opened, and they had no more started driving through it, when her eyes landed on the items that were on the car's dash-board.

Trobrencus, she remembered, was one who used a cane whenever he walked; it didn't matter if he was inside or not, he always had a cane on his person and he always used it. The man had no physical ailments with his legs, or with any other part of his body, so the cane wasn't used as a way to help him in getting from place to place—he used it as both a fashion statement and as something to give his image a more important look.

Lying across the dash of the car was a brown stick that had a sterling silver cobra handle on it; the cobra-handle of the cane was turned down. The mouth was open, so it looked like it was either about to bite or snap at the one who dared to grab it. The eyes on the handle were ruby while the fangs were gold. Trobrencus had around fifty canes in his possession, and all of them had an animal of some sort as their handles. While the cane was something that gained her attention her attention wasn't on it completely—the small, silver gun, that was beside the cane's handle, was what got a good chunk of her attention. The gun was about six inches long, and it looked powerful enough to inflict enough damage to send one to the hospital.

Seeing the gun brought back the memory of how her first ride in one of Tazir's vehicles had gone; Tazir had just caught her, and had done as Trobrencus had in throwing her into his vehicle. Unlike Trob, who had just thrown her into his car and then gone around to get into the driver's seat, Tazir had thrown her into his car and then gotten in behind her—he had held her while his neighbor and good friend, Gloar, drove them to about halfway home. After reaching Gloar's place, Tazir had given his friend the signal to stop; after Gloar was on his way home, Tazir had dragged her up and then over the front seats and then plopped her in the passenger seat—after taking the driver's seat, then starting the process of driving his car, he had taken and then held a small gun at her. She, who had tried to vacate the car almost immediately after being placed in the passenger seat, had been forced to stay in the car—that gun had been pointed at her the entire time that her husband was taking her back to his place. Seeing Trobrencus's gun made her think that he was paranoid—his residence was no where near any type of civilization, so he had no real use for something like that.

Why the gun was on his person was beyond her; after seeing the gun, she was steadfast in staying where she was and in doing exactly as he told her to do.

It took Trobrencus about five minutes before his car reached the yellow rock containing circle that Tazir had told her about earlier; yellow and black flowers bobbed all around the circle's outside edges while the grass that was beyond the flowers was just as calm and still as ever. Angel saw that the clearing, that was between all the trees, was empty; she figured that everyone who had been in the clearing had gone inside after the dog was seen and then collected.

TrobrencusVile drove the car around the circle once before stopping; once the car was stopped, he turned to look at her.

"Out." he demanded.

Yessir! Whatever you say!

After grabbing the handle on the door, then pulling it up, she found herself as being spilled out on the circle's collection of rocks; after standing, then brushing the rocks, and invisible dirt and dust, from herself, she saw that Trobrencus was slowly getting out of his car. Once he was out of his car, he went towards his castle. For a fleeting second, she found herself wondering where the garage was—there were no buildings around that looked up to the part of storing vehicles, and the car hadn't been driven into anything that looked like a garage... After a second to two seconds passed, she looked down after feeling the ground under her vibrating—while supressing a gasp, she jumped out of the circle that was slowly dropping. It took her all but a second to realize that the garage wasn't above-ground—Trobrencus had either gotten an underground garage built onto his property or it had been there before he had gained the property in his name!

After jumping out of the circle, then taking two to three steps back, she looked up—Trobrencus, she saw, was coming straight for her; the man had obviously seen her as not being with him and he had obviously made the decision to make the trek out to reclaim her. She ducked to avoid the man's hand then she moved past him—the man, who had a good six foot, four inch height to him, and who, while not being as heavily muscled as his nephew, was very well-muscled, made not a sound after she went towards the front door of his residence.

The door that she reached was big, and was made out of a very strong, brown wood; the knob that was on it was Septarian and nodule-like in appearance. Trobrencus, who had a very quick, grease-lightning like movement to him, reached the door right after she did; after rummaging in his pocket for a bit, he withdrew a silver key, that had a skull on it. After pushing the key into the door's keyhole, then twisting it, then opening the door, he turned to, once again, look at her.

"In!" he barked.

"Yessir!" Angel responded. She was obedient in going in; TrobrencusVile not only followed her into the residence but he also closed and then locked the door behind him.

The foyer, she saw, was octagonally shaped; the vases, that were hanging from the domed ceiling, had red and white striped roses in them while the walls were decorated with all sorts of photographs of Trobrencus and his family. After taking in the light brown ceiling, and then the dark purple walls, she found herself as being pushed forward. While walking down the black and gray marble flooring, she took in the many arches that opened up on the hallway that she and Trobrencus were walking down—Tazir had said that the place was big... with as many arches as the building had in it, she guessed that it was that and more. The arches, she noticed, either had a hallway or a staircase in them.

There were no photographs on the hallway walls; instead, the walls had plenty of swords, knives, and coats of arms on them. She was just walking by a water spout that had a lion's head on it when she got a surprise—as if seeing the flaming car wasn't surprise enough, she gasped, and then jumped back, after the water spout spat fire. Trobrencus made a sound after she jumped back; he made no effort to calm or reassure her of what she was seeing. Instead, he just pushed her forward.

She was forced to walk by many flame-shooting, animal-headed water spouts; Trobrencus acted like it was normal for the spouts to do as they were—after going by four of the spouts, she calmed down then walked on quietly and half-so confidently.

While she didn't stop to take in the decor that was in the hallway she did stop to take in the fountain that was beside the hallway's main staircase. The fountain had a resemblance to a three-headed dragon, and it had a small pool of water around it; water "spewed" from the three maws of the fountain before trickling down the three necks to the pool. She had just given her head a nod after taking in this piece of, what she viewed, art when Trobrencus grabbed her by her shoulders.

The man ripped her from the fountain, and its pool, then placed a black canvas bag, that had a heavy aroma of smoke on it, over her head. Before taking his hands from her, he took her bag.

"Main office, third level, on the double!" she heard him say; she guessed that he was talking to one of his servants.

"Yessir, Master Trobrencus." a feminine-sounding voice responded.

"Lah-ha-ck her in afterwards!" the word 'lock' was drawn out in a mocking sort of fashion that made her shiver.

"Yessir, Master Trobrencus." the servant said before wrapping her hand around Angel's wrist then starting the process of leading her to where she needed to take her. Judging by the servant's voice and touch, Angel thought that she was young, a little concerned, and sympathetic towards her.

"Name's J'taveta, you a new employee?" the servant asked her after they had gone a ways from Trobrencus.

"No. A relative, actually." Angel replied.

"A relative?"

"Distant—his nephew's my great-great grandfather." Angel replied.

"With his throwing that black bag over your head, I thought you was a new servant." J'taveta said. "He usually does that to instill fear in his new employees—both male and female."

"He seems rather... mean to the ones that he hires." Angel said. After feeling the rise of a step, she stopped; with her foot, she felt how tall the step was before ascending it. Due to her head being covered, she used her sense of feeling to go up the staircase that she thought she was ascending.

"He's cruel, to say the least." J'taveta sighed. "Cruel and nasty.

"Just so I know, how many more steps do I need to go up?" Angel asked.

"Forty, you've gone up only ten." J'taveta replied. "Take it slow—when you're on the second floor, I'll remove the bag from your head."

"Thank you."

It was no surprise to her that Trobrencus threw a smoke-smelling bag around the heads of his new employees; he seemed to get a high from scaring people—both staff and not staff. She knew that he wasn't the best of employer's in the Universe—his cane, as far as she knew, was the main weapon that he used on the people that were both in his staff and that worked for someone else; while she had heard stories of his using his hands on the hired help, the stories on his using his cane as a way to show his authority over others far suppressed them. Other than Tazir's staff, she had heard and seen the man use his cane on both her grandfather's and great-great grandfather's staff—surprisingly, the two men let him do as he merry well wanted to with the ones that worked for them.

Angel stopped talking; she started counting after hearing how many steps she had to ascend. J'taveta stayed at her side; her hand remained on her wrist as a guiding source—the woman, though very willing to help her in getting up the stairs, found herself as not needing to guide her anywhere. She was doing well in taking the stairs.

It took about five minutes before Angel finished the chore of ascending the staircase; after reaching the second level, then being pulled to a stop, she waited until the maid had the bag removed from her head. J'taveta, after the bag was removed from her, stepped back.

"Huh, I was expecting for you to have a more Surfeit look to you since you claim to have such a man as Shaam as your direct descendant." J'taveta said after the bag was removed from around Angel's head. "You sure you're not a new employee that's trying to pull the old throw-the-new-employer-off act? Master Surfeit is right prone to being pushy, and especially so with his female staff who are either pretty or beautiful. The night hours is when he tends to add in a special dose of being extra pushy towards us."

"My line goes from Shaam to Duru to Kuruk and then to Kuruk's firstborn son, Vile Vile." Angel replied. "I have four kids—one by my father; the other three are by his uncle, Tazir."

"That sounds consistent with Angel Irene." J'taveta said before emitting a sort of gasp. "You're not—"

"Uh-huh. I'm her."

"Well then, you are related to my employer then." J'taveta sighed in relief. "Come—the stairs that run up to the third level are this way."

J'taveta was a very pretty woman; along with having a height of four feet, two inches, she had long, black hair and silver eyes that looked almost like coins. She had a very exotic look to her—her head, hands, and feet were starfish-like in shape and her neck had a light yellow frill around it. She was wearing a gray dress and shoes; the apron that was around her waist was white. As she had figured earlier, the maid was a young creature—if she had to make any guesses, she was in her young adult years.

As J'taveta led her to the stairs that connected the second level to the third, then went up them, then started leading her down the third level's hallway, she answered the questions that she asked of her employer. She learned that Trobrencus didn't just use his cane on his staff—he yelled, kicked, punched and slapped, and he sometimes also threw people who he thought were "slouching" on the job. After speaking of how Trobrencus was with the people that worked for him, J'taveta spoke of the residence that she, and her co-workers, worked in.

"Not counting the servant's quarters, there's a total of seven hundred and twenty rooms here. We're required to check and clean all of them daily." she said. "Sometimes, he gives us the order to clean a specific room more than once—he does this just see us work our rears off for no reason. He's gotten me to wash, and then wax, the floors in the two bigger kitchen's more than five times—he could care less about the kitchen that me and my co-workers use. The kitchen that's across from the bigger one is what his kids use when they're either learning how to cook or are doing experimental cooking—his wife, when she decides to make the family meal, uses that kitchen."

"He made you wash and then wax the kitchen floors five times?" Angel asked incredulously. She shook her head; to her, that was wrong on so many fronts.

"The staff's quarters are all located under the house—there's a hundred and eighty-eight of them; a little under half have bathrooms in them. He can care less about the quarters, but he makes sure that we look after the rooms that're in his castle. We typically clean each room that we're given to do quickly—he's prone to paying us "visits" during the cleaning process, and he's very famous for seeing "ghost dust"." J'taveta went on. "Unless I, or one of my female co-workers, was ordered to clean his and Mrs. Surfeit's bedroom chamber, or Trivit's bedroom chamber, we let our male co-workers do them. Mr. Surfeit is fond of playing grab with the woman of his staff that are pretty or beautiful—his wife's okay with it as long as there's a sign put over the door knob of the room that he and the woman that he's grabbed are in. My employer's had me under him a total of six times."

"That's horrible!" Angel gasped. "You shouldn't let him do—"

"Fight more and the more he comes onto you. I've worked for him for less than thirty years." J'taveta said. "Trivit's a rather pleasant lover, but he mostly lets his father have at us."

"Afraid of his father?" Angel speculated.

"No—he's got a girlfriend. Been dating her for a thousand years. On and off, but sometimes he does need a little releasing. I'm told that he and Alaah get along well—they just have problems with Mr. Surfeit, is all." J'taveta replied. "Mr. Surfeit doesn't like Trivit's girlfriend—he wants them to separate."

"Trivit's a grown man, he should—"

"He loves his father too much to stand up to him, or to tell him to leave him and Alaah be." J'taveta said.

Angel had always seen Trivit as somewhat of a wimp, but hearing that he had a girlfriend was something very new to her—at the time of her leaving Moas with the boys, he had been very single. Hearing that both Trobrencus and his son had their way with the female help was, in a way, not surprising—it seemed something that Trobrencus would allow his son to become involved in and it also seemed something that Trivit would do, seeing as he was "so close" to his father, and wanted to "be like him".

"Here it is, Miss. Irene." J'taveta said. They were standing before a pair of rustic, brown stained doors that had steel bars crossing them. After stopping before the doors, J'taveta slid them back. "I'm suppose to lock these after you've entered—all I can do is offer my apologies for having to do so, and wish you luck."

"Thank you, same to you on the luck thing." Angel said before entering the room that the doors went to. The sound of the doors being slid back was loud while the sound of the lock being twisted was even louder.

A bright desk, that had a burnished copper finish to it, was sitting rather tastefully before two stained glass windows; two, brown leather office chairs were sitting before it while, to the left of them, was a matching fainting couch. The white stone fireplace, that was to the left of the room, and around five or so steps away from the office doors, had two lion statues guarding it—this fireplace was a beauty in her eyes, and it stretched from floor to ceiling to boot! Sitting before the fireplace was a bear rug—the head that was attached to one of the rug's ends was very lifelike, so she was under the impression that the rug was actually a sort of trophy from one of Trobrencus's hunts.

The room had a hardwood floor in it that had a very brass-like shine to it—it was almost like it was stained that color, but, oddly enough, she got the feeling that something else was at work in making it have that shine. A red and black rug, that had gold detailing on it, was under the desk and chairs. The dark red cabinet, that was to the right of the fireplace, had all sorts of books on it—like with the fireplace, it stretched from floor to ceiling; the bookcase that matched the cabinet had more books on it, and some vases, plaques, and trophies too.

The spear-like chandelier, that hung from the ceiling's center, had white bulbs in it; she was fast in thinking that the chandelier didn't match the room that it was in.

After taking in the room, she went to one of the brown leather chairs; after sitting down, she started to wonder why Trobrencus had taken her bag from her.

"Got nothing more than coins in a coin purse, a fifty dollars in a wallet, some Moas credit cards and an invitation in a case, a canister of pepper spray, and a small pocketknife in it," she thought. "He told me to put his cellular in the bag, which I did without question—instead of grabbing and then disappearing with my bag, he could of just asked for me to retrieve and then give it to him."

He really had no point in snooping around in her purse; poking and prodding, or dragging every little thing that was in it out. All he'd have to do was reach his hand into the bag, then grab his phone, then either remove his hand and then discard the bag or withdraw his hand and then return the bag to her. If he did the search thing with her bag, he might get mad over seeing and then finding the pepper spray and pocketknife that was in it—but she'd be able to explain the reason to why she had them, so he wouldn't be mad at her possession of them two items for long; the rest of what was in the bag he'd probably be bored with.

She had no, true explanation as to why he had followed her, and then struck her car with his—if he had been trying to escort her from his property, and from his family, he wouldn't of taken her from her car or driven her to his place; he would of just followed her to a safe distance before nodding his head and then driving home.

After taking a seat in the chair, then thinking things over, she looked at the seemingly ancient, black marble mantle clock, that was on the desk's surface; she was quite shocked over learning that she was ten minutes arrived to the office. With the time that she had spent in the office noted, she leaned back; she had no more done so before the fireplace behind her became a-light—Trobrencus, the man who had given her such a scare earlier, walked through the flames right after they appeared in it.

"I do apologize for the wait but I do have a family to check up on and speak with," TrobrencusVile said after entering the room. He, after speaking, went directly to his desk; the dark brown leather chair, that was behind the desk, was pulled out and then sat in after he finished rounding his desk.

"They doing well?" Angel asked after he sat down.

"Indeed, they are." TrobrencusVile replied. After speaking, he removed a white envelope from his tuxedo then held it up; the bag that he had taken earlier was also removed from within his tuxedo. Instead of holding it up, he just placed it on his desk. "I do believe that this is from you."

"Wrote and sent that out three days ago," Angel said. The envelope looked as if it hadn't been opened. "Sent it out express."

"I've had it for two of them three days," TrobrencusVile said. The sword-shaped letter holder, that was to the left of his desk's surface, was picked up and then used. "Let's see what type of excuses you've put on the paper that's in this envelope."

Finding her sitting before the front gate of his property had been like his finding one of Bahne's very delectable Flourless chocolate cakes sitting on his desk—it was delicious; it was like letting air fill one's lungs; and he had been able to taste its flavor before grabbing and then diving in. Like he had said, he had gotten her letter two days ago—as a way to draw her from the safety of Tazir's place, he had neither opened it or read its contents. He had scared her white during their ordeal both before his gate and then down the road that ran before his residence; if what was in the envelope was what he thought it was, he had plans to keep that fear going.

Before making the trip to his office, he had stopped long enough to rummage through her bag—his cellular; a coin purse, that a few rolled up coins were in; a wallet that some paper money was in; a sort of case that contained some Moas-issued credit cards; and an invite for he and his to come over to Tazir's place had been what he had found in it. He had come close to laughing after both extracting his phone and then seeing what else the bag had in it—with the Ragamuffin, as he called her, waiting in his office, and with his needing to square matters off with her, he had sustained that desire. The case that had the credit cards in it was a hoot—why, Bahne, and his adult daughters, had two to three times the credit cards that she did... he didn't know if that was a sign of her being shy in spending her husband's money or if she was shallow in wanting paper-money instead of money that was used via a plastic card.

After seeing the invite, he had come under the belief that she had only come to see him as a way to do a personal invite to her husband's place—with this being her first-ever visit to his place, he was going to make sure that she did more than remember it. After rummaging through the bag, then extracting what he needed from it, then looking at its contents, he had crossed the hallway to use the phone—a quick call to Tazir had been made; after disclosing that she was at his place, and that she was "safe", he had hung up. The man hadn't had a chance to beg him to be "gentle" with her due to his action of placing the phone on its handle after that was all said.

"If it comes down to it, I'll do whatever I wish with her." he had thought after putting the phone on its station.

As he saw it, she deserved to be given a little scare, and maybe slapped and/or thrown around for what she had allowed to happen between her sons and he, his wife, and their son. All of their injuries, plus their emotional and mental traumas, were being paid back in threes. Oh yes, as his father had so often said, when it comes around it also goes around—boy howdy was he ever going to be sling-shoting that going around bit her way.

He remember all too well their first meeting—she had been scared rotten of him; after getting use to him, that feeling had been all but forgotten. He aimed to have some of that fear return to her—fear of one's family wasn't in his game, no, but he did view that she deserved to return to being scared of him... and he also thought that she deserved to be confronted on what she did to him and his too.

He had a feeling that old Cocbok's return was partly on her—her being at his front gate, and his dog's return home, was too coincidental to miss. He did thank her for the dog's return; the only reason to why he had been out in the first place was to find where that dog was and then bring him home. Cocbok's leg was, without a shadow of a doubt, broken; after seeing the dog, then checking him over, he had asked Bahne to put in a call for the local, on-call vet—after asking her to do that, he had told her that Angel was in his office and was waiting for him.

Cocbok and he went back a long ways; as a child, he had fed, watered, played, and sometimes slept with the dog. As a young teenager, his father had let him take on the responsibility of his vet care. His father, after passing away, had willed the dog to him—Raal, his younger half-brother, and Shaam's father, had been a little scared of the dog, and hadn't done much either for or with him; Rosol, his older brother, who also happened to be the only brother of his that was from the same woman as he, had acted like the dog wasn't there. Instead of playing with the dog, or giving him any sort of attention, he had treated him like he was a statue that was doing nothing more than collecting dust.

"Throw her out, Trob." Bahne had said after learning that the Ragamuffin was in the castle.

Nah; he had better plans for the woman than that. If a bunch of excuses had been put in her letter, he had plans to make her become something like one of the maids in his service—imagine the beautiful woman, in a maid's outfit, cleaning his home and having to watch her back while doing so. Imagine the woman having to keep him in her sights, or having to worry about his coming onto her.

In his mind, the woman had no blood of his running through her veins; she had his father's—IackVile Uovo Surfeit's—in her veins but she had none of TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit in her. He was purely her great-great-great-great uncle because of his father's blood being in her—since his blood ran none in her, he could have at her if he wanted to. She may of been given to Tazir as a wife but she hadn't made official the marriage by having a priest bless it—the scroll was the only thing that said that she was the man's wife; while the scroll was good enough in saying that she belonged to the man, she really should of had the marriage officiated by getting a priest to both bless it and then make out a license for it. If the marriage had been authenticated, he wouldn't be considering coming onto her—he'd just read the excuses, if there were any, that were in the letter before saying well now, that's nice, now get the fuck out and don't waste your time in visiting or coming by again.

After opening the envelope, then removing the letter that was in it, he leaned back then started reading; Angel was both quiet and sitting with her legs crossed—he appreciated this more than anything because, unless it was very important, he didn't like one bothering him when he was reading what had been sent in the mail.

Dear Trobrencus,

I apologize for not writing to you sooner; things at home have been crazy, so I've been prevented from doing an immediate response to what you sent your nephew. You requested an apology from me about what happened on the 25th of October—before I do that, let me explain what happened (it's up to you to read the following and to accept what I've written and the apology that I've also given to you).

On the day that you and yours got into the shield, then came to claim me from my workplace, something happened to prevent telephone conversation from occurring—my sons and I were talking when both the old apartment's phone line, and my cellular signal, went out; my sons, after waiting a while to see if I'd call them back, became worried about me then made the decision to drive out to my workplace to check on me. I can't explain why the phone lines and cellular reception went down; while it was storming, and rather badly too, I don't think it was that that caused both to go down.

After arriving at my workplace, Hazaar started complaining about his not being able to see anything—Lhaklar, in response, used one of his powers to clear the visibility, which caused him and them to see that I was surrounded by folk that they didn't remember and that one of the people that were surrounding me was handling me. It was bad judgement on their behalves and I do apologize for that—but, like any other parent who has kids that are right protective of them, I understand why they reacted in the way that they did and I do stand by them for their doing what they did.

Lhaklar claims that he told Bahne to back off before swinging his finger knives at her—in his words, she was acting like she was about to become involved in what was going on; she refused to do as he had told her in standing back. Bahne attacked my son, then jumped onto his back; he was acting in defense of himself. Lazeer admits to shooting the icicle at your backside—with his not ever seeing you, or knowing who you were, he, again, acted on impulse after seeing that you were one of the people that were surrounding me and that you had your hand on me. I wasn't able to call everyone back, or off, because I was dealing with my own problems—shock over you and your family being in the shield; concern over you and your family's attempt in removing me from my children; and, of course, the group of Goblins that came out of nowhere. Due to the Goblins surrounding me, then causing me to fight them, I had to concentrate my energies on them and them alone—with the exception of the men and women who work for Tazzy, the ones that are in his army don't and won't listen to or obey me, so doing either wouldn't of worked to get them to back off. After you and Bahne were forced from the shield, my sons, sans Lazeer, who was dealing with your son, went to help me with the Goblins; after Tazir arrived in the area, it took him several yells for the men in his service to drop what they were doing and then exit the shield. Bile, and his brothers, spent some time in the hospital after what happened between them and you and yours and the Goblins.

It's up to you if you wish to accept my apology, and if you wish to see my standing by my sons as a way of nullifying my apology, but, like I said above, what parent wouldn't stand by their offspring in a situation like what happened between me and mine and you and yours? Bile and Lhaklar have only seen you and your family a handful of times while Hazaar and Lazeer have never seen you—with all that went down that day, how were the latter ones to know that you and your family weren't a danger to theirs? No, I don't wish to lose you or yours as family to me and no, I don't want bad blood or spit spilled between us, or have any close relationships that you've had or gotten since my disappearance to be severed either.

Much regards and apologies to you and yours, Angel I.

P.S.: Bile apologizes for what he did in photographing, and then capturing on film, your wife and daughters when they were in the river that flows by Expedition Island; he was grounded for taking what he did, so he didn't get off easy on doing that.

What parent wouldn't stand by their offspring in a situation like what happened between me and mine and you and yours; good question, and one that he could answer quickly—if he had been in their situation, he would of been fast in letting what happened happen.

After reading the letter, then lowering it, he looked at the girl that was sitting before his desk; though the reason wasn't purely focused on his looking at her, there was no mistaking the hardness that was going on before his legs—his penis had become rock-hard after he had seen her as being parked before his front gate... even though nearly thirty minutes had passed since the event of his and her little dance occurred, it was still hard now.

What she had put in the letter wasn't what he had wanted to read; he viewed it as both a confession on what had happened—her admitting that she had let it happen—and an excuse but... that one line where she had said that she wasn't going to force him into accepting her apology or explanation on what happened had him. Bahne wasn't able to force him into accepting any old apology, and neither could any of his children—after a classmate pushed Trivit against one of the buildings that were on the grounds of Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, he hadn't listened to Bahne's attempts in trying to soothe him; after seeing this event in the little mirror that his son had been given on the day before his going off to be a student at the school, he had made the trip to the school and then tracked down the dean for a talk. Trivit should never of been pushed into that building; there had been plenty of space for him and his classmates to walk, so that event had been uncalled for.

In the letter, she claimed that the phone lines, and her cellular signal, went out—he was the cause for this; after being given the go on his being involved in finding and then extracting her from her workplace, he had gone to the part of his ship where his Disruptor Ray was. After punching in the planet's coordinates, then finding the satellites that were compatible with the planet's radio, television, and phone signals, he had pressed the initiate button and then gone to get ready for the task that he had self-appointed himself to do. He figured that her excuse of the boys going in to check on her after her signal went down was excuse enough—he'd of thrown a fuss if his signal, or line, went down while he was talking to one, or more, of his kids; that went double for his making the trip to see if the one, or ones, that he had been cut-off from speaking with were okay too.

Come to think of it, his kids would of reacted in the same fashion that her kids had if they had seen either he or Bahne being surrounded by people that they didn't know—he knew he'd freak if he had seen Bahne's arm being grabbed by an unknown person and he also knew that his kids would do so too. Despite being a rather strong bunch, Bile, Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer were still in that stage where they still depended on their mother; while they might be more on the adventuring side in wanting to check out their surrounding environment, they always returned to their mother—he had helped in raising ten children, and had put in some of the care involved in the raising of his two grandchildren, to know this well.

Why hadn't she written sooner, he wondered, and what all was going on at her place to prevent her from writing to people that she was related to? The last he had spoken with his nephew was a week and two days ago—where was he and what was going on with him. He hadn't heard a thing from Duru and his family for a while, and that went double for his hearing none of Kuruk and his family—while not being as close to them as he was to Shaam, he did wonder what was going on with them. On any given day, he found himself as getting two to three bags of mail—in the last thirteen days, he had seen no envelope with their address being on it being found in them bags, and he had heard nor seen a thing of them on the tele too.

After placing the letter down on his desk, he stood up; he rounded his desk then went right over to the one that looked to be patiently waiting for some sort of reaction or response from him.

"Stand up," he said after reaching her.

She was very obedient in doing as he had asked of her to do, which he did appreciate; he remembered well this girl's pedigree. She was the third child born to the man who had dared to not adhere to the contract, drawn up by LynkVile Brawsck Surfeit himself, in leaving his birth galaxy be—she was the second daughter of Vile Vile, and, though born through her "twin", she had been bore by a woman by the name of Helen of Earth. She happened to be his favorite of Vile Vile's children—Rita, the oldest child, and daughter, of the man spoke in a screeching voice that was annoying, and she whined too much and seemed to be all about her looks; Rito, the oldest of the man's sons, though strong in body, and though looking rather powerful, was quite dumb, which he did look down on.

Angel was a tall woman, and a beautiful one at that, but, as far as he could tell, she wasn't all about her looks. She had a normal voice to her, she was smart, and powerful, and, from what he had been told, fast—all good qualities for one in the Surfeit family to have, he thought.

The black, lace-like blouse, that had three-quarter sleeves on it, was nice—seeing as the fabric on the piece was so delicate, he was surprised that he hadn't ripped it from her body during the process of taking her from her car. The pants were green, and were slightly loose in the leg areas, while the shoes were a dull black color. With the exception of the ring that Tazir had given her as a wedding ring, she wore no jewelry—with such a woman as this standing before him, he was surprised at this. Being as old as he was, he knew just from looking at her that she was wearing a sort of powder on her left cheek—after noting the presence of this powder, he reached into the inside pocket of his tuxedo for the black silk kerchief that was stored inside.

One step, one wipe, then the veins, that were on his penis, tightened—poor creature; the entirety of her left cheek was a bruised, purple-red color. After seeing this bruise, he reached forward to touch it—just to see if it was real, and not something put on her to gain a sort of sympathy from him.

When Angel grimaced, then stepped back, he got his answer on the bruise being real instead of fake.

"He gets you back then strikes at you—that is not good." TrobrencusVile said after giving his head a sad shake. "Why do you let Tazir do that to you? What was—"

"Wasn't Tazzy... he'd not hit me for the world." Angel was fast in interrupting him.

"Who, then, had the nerve to strike you?"

"I'd rather keep my tongue twisted." Angel replied.

"I've seen the marks on your back—the ugly scars that you carry, and that you refuse to have treated away." TrobrencusVile said while walking by Angel. He went to the fireplace, then he started tampering with the wall that was to its right side. "You won't tell me who put them on you and you've refused to tell me who it was that took two of your offspring from you. It's not wise to keep secrets such as yours." after the wall revolved to expose a beverage cabinet, complete with wine and champagne bottles and glasses, he grabbed a bottle of champagne, then two glasses, then turned to go back to where she was. "You keep too many bad secrets."

"Not really secrets—I don't want your opinions, or relationships, with the ones in the family to change so I've just not told you much about me." Angel replied.

"And I do appreciate that." TrobrencusVile said. He sat on the fainting couch, then gestured for her to do the same. After she was seated, he asked, "Has Tazir ever hurt you?"

"Uh-uh," Angel shook her head. "He's actually been very nice and polite with me."

"Who put them marks on your back?" TrobrencusVile asked while pouring the champagne in the two glasses. After pouring the first glass of champagne, he held it out to Angel, who took it from him slowly. "Whatever you tell me won't get out—I'm not one of them people who have an overly flappy mouth in exposing what all they're told."

"Too kind,"

She sighed before going on in telling him what he wanted to know. Before meeting Tazir, and then becoming his wife, she had conceived a number of times; all of the pregnancies that she had gained had ended in either miscarriage or stillbirth, and the cause to this was purely on the fact that she was unable to carry to-term a baby sired by a human. Her father, after finding that she was a child of his, had gone to Earth with the intent of finding her, then taking her away, then trying to mold her into what he wanted her to be—after seeing that this wasn't to happen, he had started abusing her with both his hands, his belts, and his whips.

Trobrencus listened as she spoke; he moved not an inch from where he sat until after she started in on telling him about how her father, and grandfather, tortured her with bull whips, cat-o-nine tails, special-made candles, and hot pokers. When she spoke of how her grandfather had cut her hair, and then gotten his wife to braid what he had cut and then distribute what she braided to the ones in their family, he shook his head. The man did more than blink his eyes after she started telling the tale on how her father had kidnapped her friends as a way to get her out and in the open, and of how she had injured Dara Dara, and then Triskull, after they became involved in trying to claim her for their brother.

She spoke of how her father and grandfather had made her drop one of the babies that she didn't know she was carrying and she also spoke of how Tazir had assisted in the removal of another of her unborn babies. When she got to the part about Duru using a spiked belt on her before putting an ice block on her naked back, Trobrencus was breathing a little on the heavy side.

"Tazir helped them in getting rid of one of your unborn babies?" TrobrencusVile asked after she finished talking to him. In his mind, offspring were sacred. They were a sacred treasure that one should value the hell out of; to hear that Tazir had helped in removing one of Angel's unborn babies was as shocking as it was infuriating.

"Yeah, but, regardless of his helping them in doing so, I would of lost it—you see, before I had my four sons, I wasn't able to have children. I'm unable to have children by a human—the two babies that were taken from me had been sired by a human." Angel replied.

"Oh," he felt a sort of relief flow over him after hearing that what had been taken from her had been sired by a being that she wasn't able to birth children by. After hearing this, then calming down a bit, he asked, "Who hit you?"

"Your nephew." Angel answered.

"Shaam?" TrobrencusVile gave his eyes a single blink.

"After receiving your letter, I wanted to write to you—due to what's going on at home, I wasn't able to do so until three days ago."

"What's going on at your place?"

"Baruk and Sudir—my grandfather's sons—, and Gaajah and Selik—my great-grandfather's sons—, have been creating a lot of trouble for my sons. They're being rather relentless in bullying them. I'm also experiencing my share of the bullying from the adults—everyone except for Tazir and Qeeta, and the Ubalki's, have been getting on me for how I'm raising my sons and—"

"Sounds like you're being put under a lot of stress." TrobrencusVile said before downing his glass of champagne.

"The main area that they've been getting on me about is the fact that I'm still producing milk and am still giving it to my sons." Angel said.

Hearing that just about made his brain and heart explode—the healthiness of the girl's breasts hit him so hard that he became dizzy. Bahne was producing milk, and was still letting their two, younger children, Impub and Varaxcan, have it—he had and would never speak a word against her doing so because he both knew better and viewed that he had no right in encroaching on her mothering skills or on her giving their children what they needed to have to continue being healthy. A woman picked the right time to wean her kids; a man had no right to step in or say when she was to stop in doing this or that with the offspring that she had carried and then given birth to. To hear that everyone except for Tazir and Qeeta, and the Ubalki's, whoever the hell they were, were doing this to the girl that was seated beside him made him mad. He had a lot of experience with child raising, so he knew what to do and what not to do and he also acted on instinct—he had figured that Kuruk and Irka, and Duru and Cyla, and Shaam knew this too; from what he had just heard, it looked like his figuring was very wrong.

After upending his drink, then setting his glass down, he looked at Angel's breasts again; his cock felt about ready to pop from the underpants and pants that contained it, but he managed to ignore it and the pressure that he was feeling down there. Without saying a word, he reached forward; after Angel recoiled from his touch, which had only just been applied to her right breast, he got his answer on why her breasts were so big—she had yet to relieve them of the milk that they were carrying.

"Let what they say go through one ear and then out the other." TrobrencusVile said. "They're bullies... adult bullies."

"I do that and they—"

"So, my nephew hit you after you expressed the stress that you've been put under these past... two weeks? Three?"

"Thirteen days." Angel replied.

"What brought on the fight?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"Your nephew asking if I had written you yet." Angel replied. "I said that I couldn't because of all that's going on at home, which he called bull on." after saying this, she sighed then said, "Sudir and Selik—your nephew's son's son and grandson—ganged up on Hazaar on the twenty-fifth. They cut his hair clean off his head with a pair of scissors. Before that happened, my grandfather was caught stealing some of my sons' stuff. My grandparents, after coming upon me letting one of my sons nurse from me, have also tried to keep me from my children too."

"Shaam and I are pretty close—I'm surprised that he hit you because he seems to be rather close to you." TrobrencusVile said distantly. "Are you sure that—"

"Happened in the dining room four nights ago—my sons, Eshal, and the Ubalki children were escorted from the room right after we started fighting; the rest of the children remained in the room." Angel interrupted Trobrencus again. "The meal that I made that night was a bit late in getting to the table—Tazir, and my sons, were the only ones to help me in getting the food to the table. The fight started almost immediately after we started eating. It was like they were—"

"Spring-loaded. Ready to leap out at you at any second." it was now TrobrencusVile's turn in interrupting her. "I take it that they're also on you for your culinary talents?"

"Cyla, mostly. Her and her husband claim that I cook too much, and that my sons eat too much." Angel replied.

"How many are in the house?"

"Twenty-nine,"

"Does call for a lot of cooking... who arrived last?"

"Dara Dara and Triskull. My grandfather and his family arrived on the twenty-first, and your nephew arrived the day before they did. Your nephew's son and his family arrived on the sixteenth."

"Are you able to add more to your ticket?" TrobrencusVile asked. "Say, oh, fifteen more."

"Long as I have some help in getting things to the table—cooking is exhaustive work." Angel replied. She knew that Trobrencus was referring to him and his family as the "fifteen more".

"Bahne and my daughters can concur with that." TrobrencusVile said. He was quiet for a few minutes before standing up; after standing, he went to his desk then sat down. "Apology accepted."

That was the hardest conversation that she had ever had with anyone that was related to her—the act of her letting it all out was exhausting, so she automatically knew that she would be taking a nap here and soon after leaving Trobrencus's place.

She had acted in a natural way after Trobrencus's hand was noticed as both reaching towards her and then touching one of her delicate areas—fear of his trying something with her had mixed in well with the pain and anger that she had felt; there was no mistaking the bulge that he had between his legs. If she had to make any guesses, the man had something that was over six inches between his legs—the act of his having her sit beside him, and then touching her breast, had caused her to think that he was about to try a fast one in raping her. The regular scare was over, now it's time to add some humiliation to it, she had thought after he did them two things. Luckily, for him and her, he hadn't tried anything that'd warrant her fighting, and then injuring, him or his victimizing her.

Trobrencus, about a minute to two minutes after sitting behind his desk, opened one of his desk's drawers then reached into it. The can that he removed from the drawer was small, round, and silver in color; after removing the cap that was on this can, he stuck his pinky finger into it then, in prompt order, stuck it up his nose—she, out of both repulsion and respect, looked down. If she had to make any guesses, the can had a sort of cocaine or sniffing powder in it—with Trobrencus being one in a prominent family, she'd be right surprised if he didn't do a spot or two of drugs from time to time.

After giving the man his privacy, Angel detected him breathing whatever he had put up his nose into his sinus cavities. He repeated the process of putting the unknown substance up his other nostril before closing the can and then returning it to its drawer.

"You do know what—" TrorbencusVile stopped for a second to sneeze; after sneezing, he blew his nose then reached down for the drawer that the can had been returned to. The can, and a squeeze bottle, that Angel figured had a sort of nose-sniffing drug, or eye drops, in it, was placed on the desk's surface before he went on in talking to her. "Zomos, you do know what the species is, right?"

"The half of you," Angel was fast to say. Zomos were a fully zombified species; as far as she knew, they were strong, intelligent, and were known to not venture far from the Mio Galaxy, which was where a mass majority of the species was born in. "Your mother was a pureblood."

"Correct," TrobrencusVile nodded his head. "The species is prone to getting colds, and to being suseptible to allergens. While missing out on getting the gene for being cold sensitive I got a good dose of being sensitive to allergens—I've been tortured since my homecoming, but I'm managing. Fifty thousand years ago, I nearly succumbed to my little problem—came close to giving the order for every tree and flower, blooming or not, to be removed from my property. My physician was fast in getting on me, and my problem, and in prescribing me these." he gestured at the can and squeeze bottle. "What're them two things in your bag? When I was looking through it earlier, I found a small bag that had two, white pills in it and a packet of something called Benadryl on its bottom."

She gave him a stern, but comical, look after hearing that he had done as she had figured he'd do in looking through her bag's contents—to hear that he had found what he had in her bag was a surprise. During the early months of 4095, 4097, and 4098, she had been plagued by allergies—a doctor had given her a prescription for Zyrtec about nine months ago; before being prescribed this, she had purchased the over-the-counter medicine called Benadryl for her problem, which had done the trick up to that year's spring season. With it being the latter part of December, them two drugs shouldn't be in her bag or in her possession—yet, according to Trobrencus, they were.

Angel figured that Trobrencus was telling her about his allergy problem to give her a heads up on it; he probably didn't want her to be jumping all down his back about what all he used for his sinus issues.

She spoke of what the two items were, and of what they were for, before voicing her "displeasure" on his looking through her bag.

"When I get home, I'll be sure to let every female know about your fetish in sifting through purses."

"I felt an urge and went for it—your bag is right nice." TrobrencusVile replied. "The pocketknife is nice, but much too small for any good use, and the pepper spray is a hoot, my dear Ragamuffin."

"Protection uses only, not for play."

"Should get Tazzy to get you something more useful—those two things are pitiful." TrobrencusVile said. After saying this, he changed the subject to something that she wasn't able to keep up with. "How's Tazir with dogs?"

"With what?"

"A Canis lupus familiaris—how is he with dogs? He like them or—"

"I have no idea." Angel answered.

"Does he have any pets at his place?"

"He's got bats, fish, and Platypuses." Angel replied. "And I have three Sekhems."

"He doesn't have any hunting dogs?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"A pack of MoHunds, yes—they're very well cared for, and kept in heavy-duty cages." Angel replied.

"Grab your bag and come with me, please." TrobrencusVile said after pushing her bag forward. He stood up, then rounded his desk, then went towards the room's doors.

She did as she was told then followed him; while walking beside him, she noticed the smell that was coming from him—her nose came very close to curling in on itself, and her eyes came close to watering, because of it. The man, she knew, was a particularly clean one; he showered twice a day and he used a sort of shampoo and soap that had a vanilla scent to it—regardless of them two items' use, the smell of rotting flesh, and death and decay, was still very prominent! How Bahne was able to withstand that smell was beyond her; she might well of gotten use to it or, quite possibly, she loved the man enough to not notice or speak of it, or, maybe, there was something else going on that caused her to not be effected by it. During the ride in his car, she hadn't been able to detect the smell—she had been too terrified to do so. Now that she was calm, and now that things were a little more relaxed between her and Trobrencus, she could now detect it.

TrobrencusVile led her almost all the way down the third level's hallway before stopping and then making a left turn; when he reached a set of stairs, he went down them effortlessly. She followed behind him by, at least, two steps—he didn't say for her to keep up or even look back to see if she was following him or not.

Angel took in none of the decor—that, she viewed, was disrespectful; she neither wanted to attract any negative attention to herself or be in any way, shape, or form disrespectful towards the man who still had that very noticable bulge in the seat of his pants. If he was leading her to somewhere where they'd be allowed to have a "private" movement, he'd have a problem on his hands—while being shorter and smaller than he, she could fight very hard and that went double for her being able to bite too.

TrobrencusVile led her to a green glass door that had leaf and vine designs on it; he opened it with a green key, then ushered her from his castle, then, after closing, and then locking the door, followed her.

There was a white concrete path running from a side concrete slab that had a cast iron table and two chairs on it; the path went directly to the red and gray brick building that was beside the mini forest. Trobrencus, after following her a short distance, edged past her—along with "striking" her with his pelvis, he rubbed his bulge on her, which did more than freak her out. As she walked in his shadow, she pulled the shoulder strap of her bag over her; her bag flopped at her side as she followed the man.

She heard the calls that the area's local avian life was making; she heard the leaves of the tress that were in the mini forest blowing in the wind; and she heard the ducks in the one pond calling to one another. While taking in these sounds, she hurried herself along—Trobrencus, who had a good length of leg on him, and who was really putting some speed in on his walk, was nearly five steps ahead of her. He seemed to be in a hurry, which gave her a small cause to be alarmed—the idea of his throwing her into the red and gray brick building, then slamming the door behind him before rushing at her to relieve the pressure that was present between his legs crossed her mind again. She slowed down when she got to within a step and a half of him; when Trobrencus reached the building, he wasted no time in grabbing the handle of the door. With a groan, he heaved the steel door open; after opening it to about halfway, he ushered her in. When the door was shut, she and he were plunged into a darkness that was sort of spooky.

"Dogs are well-known to be good relievers of stress." TrobrencusVile said absently after entering the building. There was a rustling sound, then the lights in the building came on; she and he blinked their eyes for a few seconds before moving down the aisle that was before them.

The building's inhabitants started to bark once the lights were on; the fierce-looking beasts that were in the building's cages were quite frightening. They had large, white teeth in their mouths; their eyes were beady, and were either red or yellow in color; and their long bodies were covered in huge, bulging muscles. The animals, she was sure, were Trobrencus's hunting canines; they howled, yipped, and snarled at her while she was passing them but they went silent after seeing the one that mastered them.

The concrete floor was smooth, but not slick; the interior walls were like the exterior ones; and the ceiling was made of yellow concrete. The belled light fixtures, that were hanging from the ceiling, were lighting everything up well. They went by several kennels—that had a heavy resemblance to those that Tazir had his hunting canines in—before stopping; Trobrencus, after stopping, turned towards the kennel that he was standing beside then reached into the left-side pocket of his pants.

The kennel that he was standing before had seven dogs in it; one of the animals was mature in appearance while the others were juveniles. Trobrencus, after removing a key-ring from his pocket, then finding the kennel's key, stepped forward; he inserted the key into the kennel's lock, then twisted it, then opened the door and went in.

The adult dog, who stood about twenty-four inches at the shoulder, and who had a long, broad nose and muzzle, barked after Trobrencus entered the kennel. The fur that the animal had on her was smooth, and silky, but thick in certain areas; it was a speckled gray color that had some black patches on it. The hair running along the top of her tail was wavy; she had feathering on her ears, legs, and on the underside of her tail. Trobrencus gave the dog a pat, then told her to sit—which she was very obedient in doing—, then he snatched up one of the pups that were begging him for some attention. After the puppy was in his arms, he turned then left the kennel.

"Here you are," TrobrencusVile said while plopping the puppy in her arms. "Take good care of her now—she comes from good stock."

"Trob, this is really, very nice of you but—"

"You'll find that your vehicle's been fixed up for you—it's back by the front gate." TrobrencusVile cut her off. "Be looking out for me and mine in four days—we should be able to take some of the pressure from you; the puppy, and your sons, will take care of the rest."

Before she could say his name again, he went down the building's aisle then, in like fashion, left the building; she, who had felt the bulge in his pants rub up against her again, stood where she was for a matter of minutes, thinking things over, and trying to get a better understanding towards what just happened, before looking down to take in what had been given to her.

The puppy, who looked to be no more than two to two and a half months old, was small but she did look to be finely bred. She found herself as liking the color of the coat quickly—the gray intermingled with the brown in the coat well, and there were two, small patches on her sides that were either a dark brown or dark gray color. Like the adult dog, the puppy had feathering on her.

After taking in the puppy, Angel sighed—come here to see if Trobrencus had gotten her letter; get scared out of her skin by him; then expose a few things to him; then get uncomfortable with him after he started rubbing himself on her; then find herself being given a puppy. This was a lot to digest, and it wasn't even noon yet!

Angel left the building that the kennels were in then walked over to where the front gate was—it was open and, as Trobrencus had said, her car was by it. After going past the gate, she went to her car then got in. The puppy practically jumped into the front passenger seat after she was in the car. The car, when she started it, purred like always—another thing that Trobrencus had said to her had been validated: the car had, indeed, been fixed of the damages that had been made to it. After starting the car, then pulling the gear shift back, she backed away from the gate; she had only just turned her car to facing the road when something caught in her peripheral vision.

The black figure, that looked to be wearing jeans, and the remnants of a blue hoodie, formed very quickly, then charged at her. This figure, who had glowing yellow eyes, that were shaped like scalene triangles, struck the back of her car just as her foot was stomped to the gas pedal—the vibration from the figure striking her car was very real, as was the fear that she was feeling. The puppy, in like fashion, jumped from the passenger seat then hid under the seat—a whine was heard from her before she cried.

"You said that you didn-k-t abandon me yet you run from me? Wha-k-t's up with that, mum!" the hair, that was on the back of her neck, stood on end; her flesh became pocked; and she came close to crying—she had heard that from inside her car!

After hearing the low, nasally-sounding voice, that seemed to have a very teenage-like quality to it, she wasted no time in teleporting; with all that she had gone through that morning, she most wanted to be home. She'd worry about how Tazir was going to react to the puppy later—right now, she wanted to go home and then lock herself in the relative safety that was a room.