Hunter's Moon

Chapter 9

            Robert's house was a two story farmhouse a ways out of town. It was sitting in the middle of four acres of land that aside from the gravel driveway leading to the center of the property, looked more like an unkempt patch of wilderness. Very easy to miss the driveway unless you knew to look for it. Trees and shrubs were sitting cold and barren. During the spring the drive from the road to the house would look spectacular with all the budding blossoms.

            The house itself was in good shape, aside from the blue paint looking a bit weathered. It had a wrap-around porch and detached garage just behind the property.

            Robert had decided that he really did have two new hunters in training, or at least one, and so there was no drawback to taking the curtain they had popped their heads through and pulling it completely away. Either they'd be all in and he could use their assistance, or they'd back away, and they'd stay out of his hair.

            Taylor parked the Bug behind Robert's Harley on the gravel driveway. They got out and followed Robert up to the door to the house. They heard a dog bark and out of nowhere a shadow came bounding around the house and launched itself at Robert.

            Robert laughed and smiled as he greeted his dog. Kneeling so he could get a good angle on rubbing the dog behind its ear, he exclaimed, “Oh, who's a good girl, who's a good girl?” The dog leaned into the ear rub. The collie looked like it was slightly big for its breed, and had sable coloring with an unbroken white collar, while her ears were dark black.

            “What's her name?” Taylor asked, liking the new side of Robert she saw with his dog.

            “Cal. Calleigh that is. And yeah, I realize it's 'cal-lee' the 'col-lee'. My wife decided on the name before we knew the breed o' dog we were getting.” Robert said, standing up, he took the hand he'd been rubbing Cal's ear with and let the dog sniff at it, as if it were some ritual the two of them were accustomed to.

            Matthew glanced at the house, no lights on, no signs of movement, “You're married?”

            “Was married. Gwen was taken out by some Unseelies several years ago.” Robert responded as he opened the door to his home. “Mi casa es su casa.” he added with a slight bow.

            They walked in and saw the front room was filled with piles of books and papers. Walls were decorated with animal heads, animal skins, and pictures akin to those people would have commemorating their hunting trips. The catch was, none of the items were of regular animals. They were of an assortment of fantastical or otherwise unreal beasts. There was a fireplace in the far wall from the door, the middle of the house very nearly. Over the mantle was a picture that stood out from the rest. It was still the same size, but it was framed differently, and the picture inside had nothing to do with hunting. It showed a much younger Robert, wearing a tuxedo kneeling next to a woman in a wedding dress. He appeared to be singing to her, microphone in hand.

            Robert motioned for them to sit down on couch. While he sat down in a high back chair and leaned forward, he said, “All right. Here's the deal. There's a whole big nasty world out there that sits just underneath the noses of nearly everyone. Those who bump into it turn away and invent stories in order to make sense of what they saw or experienced. You two seem to have no problem understanding what's really going on. Yeah, there're vampires. And a whole lot more. Any myth, fable, or fairy tale you've heard is based on at least a kernel a' truth. How much truth varies per source. Some creatures are very cautious about what information about them is released, even as myth."

            “There're bad things out there. Then there are people, like me, who deal with the bad things; we help to make sure they don't go from bad to worse. Now, don't get me wrong, there are good things out there too . . . but . . . they don't tend to be dangerous enough to need protection from."