Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

The jog back to Viperia felt fast to Natalia, but she was feeling the pace and getting exhausted. It was very late. The streets were now deserted.

Uri pulled out his phone when they approached the gates of Viperia, which were closed.

“Uri plus five at the west gates,’ he said into his phone.

Five minutes passed before one gate opened enough to admit them. Char stood just inside. She closed and secured the gate as soon as they were all in

“No word on Gussy?' Char said.

“Nothing," Uri said. “Where is everyone holed up?’

“Sherri's old house. This way.

Natalia found herself smile. She knew the way to Sherri's quite well. They didn't need to be led there, but they both fell in behind Char. Uri took her hand and threw her a smile. She thought he seemed proud of her.

Char led them around to the back of the house. The house was dark. It didn't look like anyone was there. However, the moment the door opened, Victoria's cries streamed out.

'So glad you're here,’ Mag said, hastily handing over Victoria. “She refused the milk you left. We even called in a wet nurse, and she refused her as well."

“What is my fussy girl doing?’ Natalia said.

Victoria immediately hushed.

“There's room out in the living room,’ Mag said, leading the way.

Every Council member was there, except for Tia. The kitchen was very crowded. Mirren was there with Sophie. However, Natalia noted that Moralis, Grazie, and Mina weren't there.

She edged her way out of the kitchen.

“Where is everyone? she said, settling on a sofa to nurse Victoria.

Uri had stayed in the kitchen where there seemed to be a meeting going on.

Zena came over with tea and cookies for her.

“Thanks. I'm starved,’ Natalia said.

'I think Tia will be here soon. I don't know where everyone else is,” Mag said.

Natalia ate two cookies and chugged half her tea.

Uri came out to turn on the TV.

“Moralis is on the news. Early morning broadcast.’

"A community has come together, and they are putting their foot down,” a woman commentator said.

Cameras now showed Moralis standing on the stairs of City Hall. Behind him were a mass of people. Natalia could see they were all Viperian.

“It's a sad day that a community has to take action to protect their children,” Moralis said. “We've had to come together to put down the gang activity that has spilled into our neighborhoods and threatened our lives and homes.”

The scene changed, showing a car and truck pile up, including a dead body. Natalia recognized their own neighborhood.

“We've had enough,” someone yelled from behind Moralis.

“The city of A’ppollo can no longer turn a blind eye. They need to step up. They need to add to their police force. They need to stop these check points that are merely to harass those not in favor and focus more on keeping our streets safe.”

There was another scene change. It showed the house burning where they had gotten the gang leaders. Then it changed back to Morals.

"Yes, we need change.”

People behind him were jumping up and down cheering and voicing their agreement.

“In six months, we have an election. We need to oust out the fat and lazy from the city officials. We need a new mayor that isn't afraid to act. That isn't afraid of big business. That isn't afraid of the government officials who want to sit on their laurels and collect a fat paycheck. We need someone from the neighborhood who understands about family and what a family needs to be protected.” "Oh, my word,” Natalia said, catching on.

“Shhhh,” Uri said.

“In six months, I hope to be your new Mayor. I hope to clean up these streets with a stronger police force. I hope to encourage neighborhood watches, because we know we have to be active in our community in order to protect ourselves and our children.”

There was cheering behind him.

The commentator came back. The TV now showed rioters and vandals being controlled by a crowd as well as people tied to poles, which the commentator talked about and explained.

“He has good footage of people helping clean up after the vandals,’ Uri said. “He'll get that aired tomorrow.’

“When did he decide to run?"

Tonight. A'ppollo has gotten a little out of control,” Uri said.

“We have control of the Main Bank,’ Kareen said.

Natalia realized everyone was squeezed into the living room to watch the broadcast.

“Might as well get some feet in the door of government,’ Kareen continued. “Besides, he already has experience running Viperia.’

“I have to admit, he would be a good one,” Natalia said.

“'Francie’s gonna hate it, but oh, well," Uri said.

“He has that family now to give him some credentials on family,” Mirren said.

That's going to take some ramping up. A campaign,’ Natalia said.

She remembered what it took just in high school for a friend of hers who ran for school president. “He's well funded,’ Mirren said.

“We'll have posters, signs, and ads out by Monday,” Kareen said.

Natalia knew he would get all the Viperian votes.

Most everyone filtered back into the kitchen where she realized people were coming and going with updates. She covered herself now that Victoria was done nursing and sleeping soundly.

Natalia yawned.

“There's a bed upstairs,” Mag said. "You might as well have a nap. Dawn is coming soon, and I have the feeling it's going to be a busy day. Hand over Victoria. I'll check diaper.’

Natalia nodded in agreement. She went upstairs. Mag followed shortly and settled Victoria into a makeshift crib, placing her right by the bed.

“She's within arms reach should she wake.’

“Thanks, Mag.’

Natalia put her head on the pillow. It felt like a few moments later before someone slid in next to her. Then someone placed Victoria by her to nurse. When she opened her eyes, it was full daylight out. Victoria wasn't in the crib. She was alone, but she didn't panic when she swung her legs out of bed. Downstairs, she could hear people talking. There was the smell of bacon in the air.

She used the bathroom, spending a little extra time to finger comb her hair, before she trotted down the stairs. Uri was stretched out on the sofa with Victoria sprawled on his chest. He was watching something on his phone. Mag, Zena, Bonnie, and Char were playing cards.

'Food in the kitchen,’ he said without even looking away from his phone.

The bacon was calling to her, and she followed her nose.

“Morning,’ Pania said.

She used to be Sherri's maid, but now worked for Grazie and Tia.

“Morning, Pania.’

“How do you want your eggs?’

“Over easy is fine."

Pania was quick to fry up two eggs and pile on some bacon that was already cooked. She poured juice in a glass and handed it over.

“Thanks. It smells heavenly."

Pania smiled, looking pleased.

Natalia took her plate out to sit by Uri.

“What's going on?’

“City is cleaning up,” he said.

“No Gussy?”

“Nope.

"He's not back in Hell is he?"

“Nope. Mina is monitoring. Based on what happened last night, Hell was probably the safest place for anyone to be.’

“What are you watching?’

“News. Moralis is making sure there is lots of news coverage on this. We have people bombarding news agencies with the horror of what went on last night.’

“I can imagine, she said.

She focused on her meal, finding herself ravenous.

Victoria fidgeted, then put her hand in her mouth.

“She's sleeping hard,’ Uri said.

“She should be with all her hollering last night,’ Mag said.

Zena chuckled.

“Are we going home any time soon?’ Natalia said.

He shook his head.

“Not until things are cleaned up.’

“You mean the mess in front of the house?’

“No, the city and Gussy.’

“So we're leaving our house unattended and ripe for a disaster in the making?"

“No, our cameras are watching. No one has been around the house. There are extra patrols around Viperian households."

“Aren't we then stretching the police?’

“The patrols aren't police," he said

Mirren trotted down the stairs.

TV," he said.

Uri raised the remote and turned it on without displacing Victoria.

A mid-morning show was interrupted by a news report.

“Mayhem at the lake,” the commentator said.

There was a view of the lake. Natalia knew in an instant this was the area where the dock bridge had been built, but all that was left of the bridge were randomly floating dock sections.

A few seconds into the broadcast, Uri sat up abruptly, just barely holding onto Victoria.

“Moralis told me this was going to be on. Did you see?" Mirren said.

Natalia hadn't noticed.

"Yeah, I saw,’ Uri said.

“What?’ she said.

“Figure diving into the water,’ Uri said

“What does that mean?’

'Gussy's in the sewers.’

“Moralis said he’s on his way over,’ Mirren said. “He said it might take him awhile because he has a news crew following him and has to lose them.’

Uri nodded.

"You and Moralis know those sewers inside and out.’

Uri again nodded.

“I've already notified the city of Viperia and sent people to lock down the storm drain.’

“If the docks were removed, wouldn't that sink the drain back to the bottom of the lake?’ she said. "Yeah, but with a really good breath, he could reach it and swim up into it,” Uri said. “The lake catfish do it all the time. We catch a lot of them that way."

The catfish go up the pipe?’

“They think it's a great place to hide and spawn.’

“Been awhile since you got catfish roe,” Mirren said. “That stuff is great with eggs and salsa.’

Uri grinned and nodded.

“Now you know why we still have that pipe there.’

Natalia made a face.

Yuck.

“I have a feeling, now that Moralis is living by the lake, that we'll be seeing more of that,’ Uri said. “Catfish and roe.’

The TV screen changed to show a block of charred houses.

“Those were drug houses,” Mirren said, taking a chair by Uri.

He reached out and Uri handed him Victoria.

“We burned down a few drug manufacturing places, too. We found lots of Undents willing to talk, not to mention a few Viperians.’

“A few?’ Uri said, standing and stretching.

Mirren smiled and shrugged.

Uri left the room. Natalia knew he was heading to the bathroom off the kitchen.

'Viperians were very busy last night,” Natalia said, knowing she was stating the obvious.

“Still are,” Mirren said. “We have more targets for tonight. More things set up to embarrass the current city officials. A'ppollo city officials.”

“I hope you're informing the Viperian police officers, so they know what's real and what's not.”

'Of course.’

There was the sound of people coming in through the back door.

Mirren rose to go see, taking Victoria with him.

Zena also rose and went into the kitchen.

“Want to play a hand?’ Bonnie asked.

Natalia shook her head.

'I think I'd like a shower more."

“We can find you clean clothes,” Mag said, rising. “Give me a few minutes.’

Natalia settled on the sofa where Uri had been, watching the TV. The sound was on very low. The news broadcast was still showing damages to the city.

She felt someone sit beside her and take her hand.

“Morning, Mole, she said without looking.

“Actually, the name is Harold," he said.

She glanced over at him.

“That's much better than Mole,’ she said.

He smiled, then he hastily removed his hand.

A woman came through the kitchen door, looking around. She wasn't the typical looking Viperian She was lean but tall. Natalia had the vision that the woman was a runner and very athletic. The woman had a unique natural beauty.

“Are you behaving yourself? Where are the children?"

“Michael was getting the bags from the car,’ Harold said. “He's probably snooping around the yard.’ The woman's eyes turned their full focus onto Natalia.

“This is Nattie,” Harold said in a quiet voice. “Uri's wife. This is my wife, Nadine.’

“Nice to meet you,’ Natalia said.

“Pleasure,’ Nadine said.

Her eyes softened a little.

"You're missing a baby," Harold said.

“Mirren has her in the kitchen.’

“Ah, yes. Grandpa.’

He grinned wide, showing all his teeth.

“The blonde baby?’ Nadine said.

“Go check her out,’ Harold said.

Nadine disappeared into the kitchen

He smiled big. Natalia thought he was going to take her hand again.

“Behave yourself, she said.

He chuckled and kept his hand to himself.

A few moments later, two boys came in. They were typical Viperian looking children. They were also of normal height.

“Michael and Loden,’ Harold said.

He gestured and both boys found seats.

“They're twelve and seven,’ he said. “Where's Becky?"

“In with mom looking at the baby."

“Her name is Victoria. This is her mom, Nattie.’

Hi,’ both boys said.

“Can we go play in the yard?" Michael said.

“No,’ Harold said. “We already discussed why."

Michael nodded and seemed to resign himself to sitting there.

Natalia was impressed at how well behaved he was.

Nadine came back out. She was holding the hand of a tiny little girl. She was definitely going to be as small as her father when she grew up.

“This is Becky,’ Harold said.

Becky smiled shyly before she crawled into her father's lap.

“My baby,’ he said.

Victoria is beautiful,” Nadine said.

“Thank you,” Natalia said.

Uri stepped out.

"Harold. Nattie."

He gestured them into the kitchen.

Harold waved Becky to go over by Michael.

When they went into the kitchen, a number of people left to go into the living room or out the back door, clearing out the kitchen. The ones heading to the living room seemed to give Harold a wide berth.

“Moralis,’ Natalia said in greeting.

“Nattie. Harold. Good of you to come,” Moralis said with a nod to Harold.

“Not often that I'm invited to Viperia,’ he said. He glanced up at Natalia. “Most Viperians don't like what's different. You've seen my daughter. You understand.’

He did a head nod toward Mirren who still had Victoria.

“I understand,’ she said.

“With you and her around, I'm hoping for change,” he said.

“We'll work on that," Mirren said.

Thank you.’

“I can't see you going into the sewers looking like that, Moralis,” she said to him.

He was dressed in business casual, looking all the part of a man running for Mayor.

He smiled.

“I brought a change of clothes. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that video. He must have been watching us break up the bridge. Most everyone was gone when he took to the water.’

“Good thing you had a camera recording.’

“Actually, it was the house across the way. We had to confiscate the footage, so they didn't see the recording of us building the bridge.’

“Good thing they were only recording to a local device and not the cloud,’ Uri said

The footage didn't show a whole lot of dock sections. What happened to the rest? she said.

“We actually put them back where we got them. However, there were a few we couldn't figure out or remember,’ Moralis said. “We were in a bit of a hurry.’

“Can't imagine why."

“What's the plan?’ Uri said.

“We either catch him in the sewer or flush him out,’ Moralis said.

“We've already checked cameras around Viperia and know he didn’t come up the storm drain. Which is good because the ladders are still there,” Mirren said.

“He's either still down there, or he went over to the port. That exit is still viable.”

“Who's our team? Nattie needs to stay home,’ Uri said.

“She's a good tracker,’ Morals said, eyeing Uri.

“We're running out of the good will of babysitters,” he said.

Mirren grinned.

“We'll take care of her. If she wants to scream for ten hours. We'll let her scream. She's going to learn really fast that her mother isn't always at her beck and call.’

“I'd like that learned sooner than later,” Natalia said.

“Harold knows the sewers. That's why I asked him here,” Mirren said.

“We can guide Nattie,” Moralis said. “With the four of us, we have enough to handle all the side sewers. Plus, Gussy has a unique smell.’

He pulled out a plastic bag.

“Everyone take a whiff. It's the cologne he's been wearing. We verified through a number of his fans.’ The bag was passed around.

“Even after a drenching in the lake, he'll still have some of the oils on him," Moralis said. “Everyone here has a good nose.’

“When Char and I left the pile-up at the house and learned we had to get rid of the car, some guy that Char called a sniffer showed up. Shouldn't we have one of them?’

“A Viperian with an excellent sense of smell,” Moralis said. “We have our own sniffers.’

He gestured to Harold and to her.

“Low to the ground and fast,’ Harold said with a sly smile. “If I find his trail, I can track him.’

“And we have you, Nattie. We'll go through the storm drain and make our way to the pipe. We know he had to go through that way. We'll track him from there,” Morals said.

He picked a bag off the floor.

Ill go change.”

He headed to the bathroom off the kitchen

“Here I thought I was going to get a shower. I'm sure I smell quite strong.’

“No, not really,” Harold said. “Sanguine tea is good at keeping your scent down. Besides, Gussy's sense of smell won't be any better than a typical Undent's.’

“Can't be very good if he's now wearing cologne like that,” Uri said with a wrinkle of his nose.

“Let me go tell Mag that I won't need that change of clothes just yet.’

Natalia went into the living room. There seemed to be even more people. They were coming in through the front door. There were more Council members present. She slipped through and went upstairs. Mag and Zena were going through a closet.

'I don't need clothes just yet. Looks like I'm heading to the sewers,” she said.

Mag frowned.

“And yes, I'm leaving Victoria behind.’

“That wasn't for Victoria,” Mag said.

“Don’t worry. I'll have Uri, Moralis, and Harold with me.’

“The three best sewer rats,’ Mag said, but she didn't say it in a positive way. “That's one reason Harold's not often welcome around here. He was with Uri and Moralis in their bachelor house. They all know how to get into trouble. I think he’s even worse than Uri.’

“Then I'm in the best of company,’ Natalia said. “We need the best of the worst to go after Gussy."