“Come quick. Come now,” the voice on the phone whispered.
“Why?” I asked.
“You need to come now,” he said and hung up.
I told my son Garret, who is visiting, to get dressed. We “had” to go.
“Where’s Dad?”
“At an appraisal. He’ll meet us there,” I said.
As we drove down the river road my son looked out over the river and surrounding farms and orchards.
“I’m surprised the levees haven’t all failed by now,” he said.
“We all are,” I said.
When we arrived at the Queen Ann style Victorian, surrounded by pear orchards, Tellias was waiting out on the veranda. He word navy blue mechanics coveralls, and red plaid scarf. His white blonde hair was tied back with an orange shoelace.
Tellias looks like he is only 19 or 20 years old, but in reality he is over 2,000. He was born in parts unknown, raised in ancient Rome, and then ended up in California during the 1849 Gold Rush.
Before Tellias could say hello, Eleora ran out of the house with outstretched arms and took us both into a big hug. Eleora who is also ancient, even more than Tellias (so we think) looks like a college girl. Today she word a green plaid skirt, a blue sweater and what looked to be an old monkey fur coat.
“We have news,” she said.
“What new?” Garret asked.
“Big news,” she said as she led us up to the house.
“Big news but not good news,” said Tellias.
“Not good at all,” said Eleora.
“Not good at all,” said Tellias.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Werewolves,” said Tellias.
“When? The last full moon was around February 5th. The next one is March 7th.”
“There were here. Filthy creatures,” said Tellias.
“Horrible nasty filthy creatures” said Eleora.
Garret took Eleora’s hand. “Where? They didn’t come in the house did they?”
“No,” said Tellias. “Not in the house.”
“Not in the house,” said Eleora.
“Come,” said Tellias. “We’ll show you.”
Eleora poured water out of a pair of black rain boots that were at the bottom of the steps, then she put the on and out we went into the orchard. Some of the trees had just started to bloom. A few song birds and humming birds were out and about. I saw that Tellias had the bee keepers come with hives, all lined up in white boxes.
I started to head out to the barn, but Tellias grabbed my hand. “Not this way Juliette. They were out here. The rain didn’t wash the traces away. There were a lot of them.”
“So many many many,” said Eleora.
“There must have been at least a dozen if not more,” said Tellias.
“A lot more,” said Eleora.
We walked for a bit, then Tellias stopped.
“Look,” he said as he pointed to the ground.
There were piles of fur, 3 – 5 feet apart. I counted 20.
“This is nuts,” said Garrett. “How do you know this is from Werewolves?”
“When Werewolves turn back into their human form,” I said, “they leave piles of fur. It has to go somewhere.”
“That is one of the best kept Werewolf secrets,” said Tellias. “Remember that Garrett. Always remember that. They have many secrets, but leaving their fur is one they tell no one about.”
“They never tell,” said Eleora. “They are such nasty disgusting creatures.”
We went back to the house and over a cup of tea and spiced blood we talked about who the werewolves might be. Eleora and Tellias had no idea. Nobody was staying in the guest house/cottage at the time so nobody was out where they could see any trespassers, be they two or four legged. Nobody heard a thing.
Just then, my husband Teddy showed up. He was both surprised and sort of amused the Werewolves had been by.
“I bet they went wine tasting and lost track of time. They saw the barn, left their clothes in it, and stayed there during the storm.”
“We didn’t hear any cars,” said Tellias.
“I saw some wine bottles out by the edge of the driveway. It was expensive and local,” said Teddy.
“Damn,” said Garrett.
Then Eleora started to giggle.
We spent another hour there so Garrett could tell Eleora and Tellias about his recent art show, and what he and his friend Randy are doing with their band. The band doesn’t bring in any money and is just for fun, but the art could turn into something much more.
I let Garret drive home. I thought of all of those naked humans out in a cold pear orchard right before dusk, shedding their wolf fur. How odd they live like that and don’t go absolutely crazy. I guess some of them do go crazy, but I try not to think about it.
I imagine even some Vampires go crazy. I know a few who are crazy but it isn’t because they’re Vampires. They’d be like that no matter what they were.
I’m just thankful that we’re a normal Vampire family. Well, almost normal, whatever that is. That is all anyone could ever ask for.
~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman
Vampire Maman 