Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

Natalia was in her robe reading her school books while sitting in her office. She heard Uri's phone ring. Mag came running up the stairs also on a phone.

"Yes, I see her. And I see Uri,” Mag said.

“I'm at home,” Uri said, stepping out of the bedroom

He was talking on his phone

"What happened?” Natalia said, but Mag trotted back down the stairs and Uri went back into the bedroom.

She looked at the clock on the wall, and it was about the time that Moralis said the factory was going to explode. Downstairs, she heard Bonnie verifying with Mag that she was also there with Kate and Zena.

A few minutes later, Uri came in and sat by her.

"What's happening?”

“Everyone is checking where everyone is. No one can believe that everyone is where they're supposed to be,” he said.

Mag came running up again

“Do you know what's going on?” she said, looking exasperated.

“I have no idea,” he said.

Natalia shrugged and Mag left back down the stairs.

“Anything going on tomorrow?” she said.

“No, you can do homework. What are you working on now?”

“English. I'm finding it rather basic. I think I would rather be learning Viperian.”

“I can get you a book,” he said, rising and leaving the room.

A few moments later, Natalia jumped when her own phone rang.

“Hello?”

"Hi, Nattie. It's just Mirren. Is Uri around?”

"Yes. Hold on a moment, I can get him.”

Natalia stepped into the hall.

“Uri?”

He came out of his office, holding a tablet.

She held up her phone, and he came jogging up.

"Yes?" he said into the phone. “Everyone's here. The house in A’ppollo, not in Viperia. And, yes, everyone is checking where everyone is. Okay. Bye.”

“What was that about?”

“Later,” he said, giving her phone back.

He picked up his tablet and swiped toward her tablet. He showed her where to look.

"We originally used a different alphabet, but we've changed to your alphabet. Many years ago someone took the phonetic sounds of our language and rewrote it. I don't think there's anyone alive anymore who remembers the old alphabet.”

Natalia remembered the word for open. She entered it into a search and the word, its translation, and definition came up.

Uri chuckled.

“I heard that tonight.”

“You are so awesome. Sometimes it's months before an Undent hears the words.”

He leaned in to brush her cheek with his.

"How do I say them?”

“Quietly,” he said. “Unfortunately, that's the best you'll be able to do. You don't have the vocal chords we have to create the vibration.”

"Oh."

She felt some disappointment.

"With practice, you'll be able to talk so low that an Undent will hardly be able to hear you.”

“I guess that's better than not knowing what's being said.”

“Exactly. No one will be able to talk in front of you. And...” he said, leaning in by her ear. “I'm not telling anyone.”

She smiled, enjoying their secrets.

“I might need some knife throwing practice,” she whispered.

He chuckled.

“I've seen what you can do,” he mouthed the words. “But, yes, we can do some tomorrow.”

“Is it bedtime yet?”

She yawned.

"Or are there going to be more phone calls?”

“I can wake you for the next call,” he mouthed. “It's not for a few more hours.”

It was already after midnight.

“I'll sit in bed and do a little reading, but I know I'll fall asleep.”

“I'll let everyone know we're going to bed.”

Natalia was in a deep sleep when Uri woke her.

“Do you want to listen or sleep?”

“Listen.”

She rose and followed him into the quiet room, yawning.

Uris phone was on silent and didn’t even vibrate when the call came in.

"Uri and Nattie here,” he said after he had tapped to answer.

“Moralis here.”

“Mina here.”

“Mirren and Sophie here.”

“Tia here.”

“Grazie here.”

“Boom went off as expected,” Moralis said. “Everyone was where they were supposed to be. Those monitoring the Abbess and Abbott said they both received phone calls. The Abbott was pissed and ordered that nothing be done. No one was to respond to any inquiries. They aren't going to let on, but we know better.”

“New entrance is complete,” Mina said.

“The Council doesn't know why the Drivers Guild attacked,” Tia said. “Or at least no one fessed up. If Sherri was involved, she’s not talking either. I show her at home. We're looking at how to track Anna.”

“I have some earrings,” Natalia said.

“You can try to give them as a gift and see if she'll wear them,” Tia said. “We'll look at other methods just in case.”

"I can say they are in appreciation for her work with Lisa.”

“Good,” Tia said.

“What was said after the men left?” Mirren said.

“Not much,” Tia said. “Nothing more than worry over Sherri.”

“Does anyone have anything else?” Moralis said.

There was silence.

"Everyone do what they normally do. Next call same time tomorrow. Good night everyone,” Morals said.

The call ended.

"How many people are in this group of ours?” Natalia said.

"A couple of hundred.”

“What?”

“There has been some dissatisfaction with the Council. We've been monitoring them the best we can. We thought we would get further with Mirren as Head Council, but we didn’t. Now we hope with Tia as a member, we'll know more. All indications are that there is a group working with the Church. We didn’t know who until the Guild attacked, but who is directing the Guild? Other than Sherri?"

“Does Bonnie know any more? Or is she not talking?”

"Oh, she seems willing to talk plenty, but she states she wasn't in on any of this. She has heard nothing. However, we'll trust her as far as I can throw a knife.”

"What's this audit thing set for Monday?”

“There is a government committee that watches the Church. It has been recommended that they perform an audit. It is believed that the expenses of the Church are exceeding their reported donations. And we know things are not being reported. It's been five years since they were last audited.”

"So they were okay last time?”

Uri shook his head.

“No, but they only got their hands slapped.”

“Just look at how the Abbott dresses. He dresses better than my father, and he’s rich.”

"All gifts, supposedly.”

"Yeah, right.”

“The purpose of this audit is just to get them to move money to the safe. Now, back to bed.” Natalia felt like she was back in her parent's house on Sunday. Mag was constantly checking on her. She couldn't even walk around without finding Mag or Zena lurking in a corner.

“Can we go throw?" she said, stepping into Uri's office.

"Yes. With the fear of a wayward knife, we might have a few moments to ourselves,” he said, rising. Natalia felt the garage was rather empty without the limo parked there. She noted that Uri didn't turn on any lights like he normally did, but the garage wasn't totally dark. Daylight seeped around the garage doors.

As expected, Mag stepped out to see what was going on.

“Nattie’s going to practice throwing,” Uri said. “I recommend you stay on the other side of the door.”

"What about your car,” Mag said stone faced.

Uri held up the keys.

“I'm moving the car.”

Mag stood there the whole time while Uri pulled his car out of the garage. He left the garage door open. When he walked back in, he gave the keys to Mag.

“We're not going anywhere,” he said to her. “Out.”

Mag finally left.

"We'll play a game of five o one,” Uri said. “That will make this more interesting, but we'll focus on just the points. Ladies first.”

"One miss and you'll win,” she said.

“Don’t miss,” Uri said with a grin.

Natalia performed two practice moves before she let the knife fly. It hit the wall with a thud. “What?” Natalia was dumbstruck. “I missed.”

“That's the first time you missed all together,” Uri said. “You're thinking too much. Take your time.” "How could I miss?”

But she already knew why. With Uri watching, she was nervous.

"Go slower. You're not used to an audience,” he said, retrieving her knife.

She focused on a different area.

“Triple fourteen,” she said.

She did two practice moves before she released the knife. It hit the area with a thud, followed closely by a second thud. Uri's knife was right beside hers.

“Good,” Uri said, retrieving the knives.

“Double ten,” she said, doing one practice move then releasing the knife.

It hit where she was aiming. Uri's knife was right beside her's almost before she registered that her knife had hit.

“You throw too fast,” she said.

“Saved our lives,” he said in a quiet voice, retrieving the knives.

Natalia set up to throw again when the garage door on the limo side began to open. She turned to look. Through the middle garage door, she could see a black limo pulling up. There was no red V on it. The limo pulled into the garage. Bonnie got out and came around

“Rental,” she said. “The other one is in the shop getting fixed. Good thing it's built like a tank. It was all fender, chrome, and side panel damage. Mostly cosmetic. Although the front wheel was damaged, but its replaceable.”

"Good," Uri said. “Very good.

Mag stepped out.

“Limo. It's not Viperian,” Mag said.

Natalia thought there was a little too much concern in Mag's voice

“Incognito might be a good thing for a while,” Uri said.

He was watching Mag closely.

“Keys,” he said, holding out his hand.

Mag gave him the keys to his car and left.

“We're done throwing,” he said in a quiet voice.

Bonnie also left. The garage door behind the limo closed.

Uri went out and drove his car into the garage. Natalia noted he put the keys in his pocket instead of hanging them up on the hook by the door.

“Do you have an extra set?” she said in a whisper.

“In my office, in a safe,” he answered in a whisper.

“Who can we trust?”

“No one. Go do some more reading.”

He led her into the house.

While she went upstairs, he went back into his office.

Natalia found it hard to study. She was always listening to the noises in the house. She kept her door ajar and noted every time Mag passed. Based on what she knew, she tried to piece together who was good and who was bad. All she came up with was that everyone was bad

Monday felt tense. At work, there seemed to be more traffic past the conference room. Other than Uri and Caidy, the rest of the traffic consisted of Viperian women. She knew by the sound of the door to the stairwell that was how they were coming. They were either keeping track of her or Uri or both. Someone wasn't trusting the tracking devices she and Uri had on them.

Monday night, Bonnie picked them up in the rental and took them right home. Natalia focused on her classwork. Uri stayed in his office.

At three in the morning, Uri woke her.

She didn't say a word, following him into the quiet room

His phone lit up.

“Uri and Nattie here,” he said.

She yawned.

Everyone else chimed in that they were on the call.

“Well, it was close,” Moralis said. “We were almost to the point of extracting the safe when the Abbott showed up. Luckily we had approached from the rear. As soon as he was sighted, we stopped. Because of all the trash around, they didn’t notice some of our work.”

“My word,” Tia said.

“I almost shit my pants,” Mina said

“It was lucky we weren't early. He opened the safe and put more into it.”

“I had the foresight to stash a camera real fast,” Mina said. “We got the combination.”

“Nice to know we don't have to crack it,” Uri said.

“I could have done it,” Sophie said, sounding pretty sure.

“Have you been been practicing on bank safes?” Uri said. “No wonder we're having problems with auditors finding discrepancies.”

There were a few chuckles.

"After he closed the safe, the Abbott and his crew left. All of them looked like priests. At least by how they dressed. We didn’t smell a Viperians among them,” Moralis said.

“And the safe?” Uri said.

“It's not in Hell any more. We also didn't need to use any of our distractions. Everyone seems to be watching everyone but Hell.”

“Good.”

“No one is to open the safe. I'll give that task to you Uri,” Mirren said. “But via Mina’s camera we had a peek. Tons of cash. There are lots of boxes for you to look through, Uri.”

“Will do,” Uri said.

“We have a Council meeting tomorrow. Make sure you can make it. It's at seven pm,” Mirren said. "We're going to push a few issues.”

“I'll put my accounting skills together and see what we have. I may have to make some estimates.” “That's good enough,” Mirren said.

"Anything else?” Moralis said.

There were five seconds of silence.

"Good night everyone.”

Uri ended the call

After work on Tuesday, Bonnie picked them up in a limo rental.

"A few more days in the shop and we'll have our limo back,” she said.

“No hurry,” Uri said.

Bonnie closed the door while Uri slid over by Natalia and took her hand. The limo pulled back into traffic. Natalia noted immediately that they were headed to Viperia.

“Does everyone know we're going there?”

“Not unless Bonnie told them and I told her not to,” he said.

They refrained from any more conversation.

The gate into Viperia no longer had the curfew notice.

“Drunk guys are under control? No curfew,” she said.

“There were only three causing the problem. They've been banned from club nights for a month.” The limo pulled into the laneway for Uris house and pulled up to the garage, but no garage doors opened.

"Stay in the car,” Uri said, pulling Natalia out with him.

Natalia figured the command was for Bonnie.

Uri took out keys and unlocked the pedestrian door to the garage. He opened it and stepped inside. As soon as she stepped in, he pulled closed the door.

"Oh, my word.”

A safe, almost as tall as the garage door, sat where the limo usually parked.

"How did they get that in here?”

"Special rollers. See?”

It was only after he had pointed it out did she see the series of rollers under the safe.

"Did we put it on there or it was how the Abbott and his people moved it?”

“No, they had just put it on the ground and pushed it in with a big truck. Moralis had said there were deep grooves. Our crew figured out how to jack it up and put the rollers under it, then rolled it up on a trailer to haul it out.”

Uri stepped in front of the safe. There was a note taped to it, but she didn’t understand any of it. Uri, however, spun the dial a number of times, going a couple of different directions, and the safe clicked. He turned the handle and pulled the door open. The door just tapped the garage door. A whiff of scented air floated out.

"Oh my,” she said, shocked with what greeted them.

The back half of the safe was floor to ceiling cash. The front half contained file boxes and more piles of cash.

Uri left her staring in the safe. She knew he had gone up to the shelves by the house door. He returned holding a box of garbage bags. He pulled some out.

“The money is in bundles. Fill the bags, but don't fill it so heavy that you can't lift it. Count each bundle that you put in each bag. Use as many bags as we have.”

She started doing as he said. There were pieces of gravel in the garage tracked in by tires. She used pieces to help her keep count. One piece of gravel represented ten bundles. However, she soon ran out of gravel.

“I need a pen and paper.”

"Work bench,” he said. He was sitting on a box while going through another box.

She found a pencil and a scrap of paper.

“I'm out of bags,” she said a short time later.

She had filled ten of them.

He glanced at her scrap of paper and lifted a few of the bags.

"About forty-five pounds each. I'm guessing about two million.”

“Two million in dollars?”

Yes."

“For all these bags?”

“No, for this one bag.” he said.

“That's twenty million total,” she said with wide eyes.

“You are good with numbers,” he said with a smile.

“I haven't even made a dent in the money,” she said with astonishment.

“Let's see if they did what I asked,” Uri said, going behind the safe. “Good. They left it far enough ahead. I can still get to the drain.”

“I wondered why they hadn't put the safe back further. You couldn't open the door the whole way.” He knelt by the drain that allowed water to drain away from the garage stall. Each stall had one. He pried it open and reach his hand in. There was a click. He rose, heading toward the back of the garage. She saw that there was now a door open in the wall that she hadn't seen before. He opened the door wide and waved her over. He pulled up a trap door.

“Throw the bags in here. Then go in the house and see if you can find any more garbage bags.” Natalia hauled over each bag. She noted there was a safe in this room, but it was much smaller than the one sitting in the garage. When she was done, she went into the house. The air was a little stale. In the kitchen she opened cabinets until she found more trash bags. There was one box that stated there were fifty in the box, but the box was open. She figured it was almost full since if felt pretty heavy.

"Am I going to fill it up?” she said after her twentieth.

"Could be possible,” he said. “If you think so I can go down there and rearrange.

He was taking pictures of some of the papers he had found

After a while, Uri stood and stretched.

“What's our count?”

“Forty-one bags,” she said, pulling one more over. “They're not all going to fit."

“I'll make them,” he said, going to the door.

He slid through the trap door.

"And there's a ton of money left in the safe. We're not going to be able to bag it all.”

“I know. We're just bagging enough,” he said.

She watched while he rearranged the bags.

“We got room now,” he said, reaching out for the other bags.

She handed them to him. When they were all in, he hauled himself out. He closed the trap door and then closed the door to the room.

“What did you find in the boxes?"

“Lots of evidence against them,” he said when he closed the safe and spun the dials. He took off the note and put it in his pocket.

“Let's go see what the Council has to say,” he said, taking her hand.