AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The woman in the sports utility vehicle, colored in a black matte finish with gleaming chrome rims, was finding inspiration in the three naked men right out of the pages of a Harlequin romance novel. She opened the trunk and she had an emergency kit with blankets, even though I could see in her eyes that she was not exactly thrilled by the idea of covering up their nudity.
Chapter Seventeen
It had been a few days and the word had gotten around about our demise. Finding disguises was necessary and came in the form of secondhand stores, where everything old was new again. Styles from the seventies came back in force with bell bottoms and platform shoes. We walked out of there looking like a hippie commune, with the prerequisite John Lennon tinted sunglasses. We actually blended in quite nicely in an up and coming neighborhood where artists were struggling to make ends meet.
I went out to do all the shopping at the local market to keep our strength up. It was easy to hide in plain sight with others of like mind. It was a little community where everybody looked after one another. Sunglasses became my weapon of choice, to watch for anything out of the ordinary to stand out from the crowd.
This day was exceptionally hot and I made my rounds making idle chitchat with the vendors. Making friends and cultivating resources of information was my superpower. I had them eating out of the palm of my hand and I was eating up all the information they could provide about the neighborhood. There was an underground neighborhood watch, including old ladies staring out their windows beyond their blinds. It didn’t take very long to encourage a loyalty out of the bunch.
“You have this Hollywood quality from the old days. It’s a compliment and they really don’t make movies as they did back in the day. We have a screening in the park of some old films starting this weekend. It’s open to the public. This is a throwback to the sixties when we made love and not war. Legalizing cannabis has opened the eyes of many around the neighborhood.” Holly was a woman with platinum blond hair. She wore a colorful flower in her hair depending on her mood.
She might’ve been in her sixties and she wore her age lines like a badge of honor. There was nothing cold about her and she was welcoming with open arms. There was a contingent of wolves patrolling the area at night, evident by their growls of communication through the open window. It was actually something to avoid and shielding my new family from scrutiny wasn’t easy when they were becoming homesick.
“Don’t be surprised if you see me show up unexpectedly with a few friends,” I told her. Darkness was where we lived and breathed, with my three lovers keeping to the shadows, talking to those who came out when the light was extinguished for the day.
It was entirely different, like a whole different world o
pened their eyes when the moon was at its fullest. Women of questionable values and morality became a good source of information, for a price.
I became very good at the art of pickpocketing. Taking from those influential socialites was easy when they were blinded by baubles of fascination. Shiny things were a distraction, making it easy to sneak up on them with my hand in the cookie jar, figuratively speaking.
“The more the merrier and I want to tell you how people have been talking about a woman with characteristics similar to your own. Zenith is the bartender of a local dive in the next town over. She has become indispensable in letting us know about unusual activity in the area. Somebody has been bragging about killing four people in a fire, under the influence of alcohol. This person shows up like clockwork at precisely midnight every night.” She scribbled the address of the bar on a piece of paper and tucked it, with a guilty glee of pleasure on her face, between my breasts.
She was a tried and true hippie not relegating herself to fifty percent of the population for pleasure. Her interest in me was clarified when she kissed me out of the blue. It was actually nice and I didn’t mind the added bonus of her fingers squeezing my backside. I didn’t shy away from her affection, pretending to be into it. Placating her had become a daily effort but she had become a friend and it seemed my time wasn’t wasted.
“You taste like fresh strawberries on a summer morning. I wish guys had the good sense to put some effort into their hygiene. I don’t swing that way but I doubt that it would take very much convincing to twist my arm,” I teased and she gave me an embrace, living in the moment, which made it my mission to keep her on the hook.
“The future is uncertain and you never know what might happen with the proper motivation. Having your hands full with three men makes me a little jealous. I would probably be greedy in your shoes and they don’t have a disparaging word to say about you.” I'd had no idea they were talking about me at all but it appeared she had become their confidant.
“I saw them first.” I motioned with my two fingers pointing to my eyes and then doing the same thing to her in a playful manner.
“I know how to keep my hands to myself for the most part. I do want to direct your attention to the two young men behind me. I haven’t seen them before but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” She had the eyes of an eagle, even though she was flying high like one.
The edible goodies on her table were specially made for after hour usage. There were a few of her baked goods in the fridge to keep my friends from becoming restless. They didn’t need to know why they were mellow most of the time and it was basically harmless in small doses.
I mingled with the crowd and was able to blend into my surroundings with relative ease. I chose my spot rifling through some jewelry on the table next to the two men who were talking animatedly. I tried in vain to bring the signal of their voices into focus. It meant I had to get closer at the risk of being discovered but I had a contingent of loyal vendors looking out for me.
“I hope this doesn’t take very long. I have other plans which demand my undivided attention. Why does Donovan believe they survived the fire? There was nothing left and the place literally burned down to the ground. I feel conspicuous with this crowd,” The man with the closely cropped blond hair sticking up with product wanted to call it a day.
“You know how he can be difficult to work with. He got word from a reliable source that there was a possible sighting of them in this neighborhood. I don’t believe it and the rest of his clan is starting to think that he is losing it. His succession is scheduled to take place with his brothers in three days. He’s understandably paranoid but there are times I think that he might have a screw loose.” This young man was sporting a military crew cut and wearing an expensive tailored jacket.
It was no wonder the vendors were looking at them strangely. They had being a part of a secret organization written all over their foreheads. There was no way for them to know the true extent of what danger they were in but these two made no untoward movement or threatening gesture.
“This place makes me feel like a cat in a cage. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear everybody is looking at us. I can’t put my finger on it but the silence is almost deafening. We should split up and keep in constant contact with one another. The others will be here shortly to conduct a door to door search. Canvassing the area will, hopefully, convince Donovan there’s nothing to worry about.” The blond one insisted but I heard no names mentioned during their conversation.
I had a funny feeling they were refraining from saying anything personal.
“The others you are referring to won’t give up until they find something useful to report. They are like a dog with a bone and were taught to be seasoned soldiers ready for just about anything. Only a select few are chosen and bred from an early age. It’s said their emotions are nothing more than a memory. It’s probably an urban legend meant to scare little boys into eating their vegetables. Those stories are told and embellished.” They separated and I was worried about the tenants of this community getting in way over their heads.
I had a lead but we were going to have to leave the community and drive over to the bar where somebody was bragging. Good help was hard to find. You really did get what you paid for. Somebody had made a mistake and we were going to capitalize on it.
Getting to the truth eclipsed everything else but I wasn’t sure how much I believed that. These people had become like family and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them because of us. The tactics of the military were extreme and I had no doubt those employed by Donovan had mimicked certain aspects of coercion.
I picked the same route to go back to the artist’s loft. We hadn’t been intimate since the fire. We were completely frazzled and unable to show the same kind of affection as we did in the church. However, they did sleep with me and the king size bed was barely big enough to fit the four of us. It was intimate and we were on friendly terms but they could obviously feel that the walls were closing in on them. Hopefully, this new information would give them a reason to think there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
I walked briskly down the street with my head low. The bags in my hands had fresh fruit ready to be consumed. There was no denying there was a shift in the air, with a feeling of danger about to swoop down onto the community. Vultures with no semblance of right and wrong were going to converge. They would keep their mouths shut but the soldiers would be trained to spot a liar. I pitied the recipient of their wrath and prayed that it didn’t come to that.
We were practically invisible, sequestered inside unless we had to go out for supplies. The only other time we ventured out was to talk to the locals but we tried to remain incognito.
