Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

Natalia didn't feel comfortable with how the call ended.

"How can a blonde baby be causing all this fuss? Do you know Victoria?”

Victoria did a little twitch in her sleep.

“No, I didn’t think you would. Let's go downstairs and see what's going on.”

She was surprised to find the living room empty, including the playpen for Grace. There were noises out in the garage, but not the basement. She opened the door to take a look.

A dozen men were excavating a trench across the garage floor. All the cement that comprised the garage floor was gone. The drains that had been positioned under each stall were dismantled and leaning against the back wall. By the house, men were already laying cement blocks to form the tunnel. Uri wasn't in sight. None of Grazie's group was in sight, either.

She backed up and shut the door, then checked the kitchen.

“They're all in the backyard,” Mag said.

She was making another pitcher of iced tea.

“It's nice out. Come join us, and in a bit we'll go over to the other house. Cleaning crew is already there.”

“Thanks, Mag.”

In the backyard, there appeared to be a couple of games going on. Tracy carried Grace while they walked around the yard collecting leaves. Grazon was picking up sticks and making engine noises. Theresa, Marian, Jaine, and Zean appeared to be doing a dance routine, but kept breaking up in giggles.

Natalia sat in one of the patio chairs. Tracy with Grace joined her.

"Are you going to the lake tomorrow?” Natalia said.

“You bet,” Tracy said. “So nice to have someone with a place at the lake.”

Grace now had a leaf in each hand and was waving them.

“She's all smiles,” Natalia said.

“She likes you,” Tracy said.

Grace was now trying to hand leaves to Natalia

Natalia took the leaves and put them on the table. Grace picked them up and gave them back to her. This became a game of back and forth.

Mag came out with the pitcher and a plate of cookies. Zena followed with a stack of cups.

There was a chaotic rush for drinks and cookies. Natalia calmly watched Victoria who seemed unaware, sleeping peacefully.

“Time to show me the other house?” she said, once the cookies were gone.

“It's been airing out long enough, so I think so.”

Marian took Grazon's hand. Grace reached out for Natalia.

“Sorry, girl. I have a load.’

Grace gave a little pout, but then was all smiles when Tracy picked her up. They headed for the other house.

“I can see a guy not finding this place dirty,” she said. “However, the grime is almost dripping.” “They don't see dirt, only clutter,” Mag said.

There were noises overhead.

“The cleaning crew started upstairs,” Mag said to explain

“Four bedrooms and two baths up there,” Zena said, leading the way up the stairs.

They did a quick look in every room, moving around the cleaners, then trotted back downstairs. “The main level has a formal dining room, but it's a little small,” Mag said. “Living room is good sized. Then there is a den with a half bath next door.”

I like the three-seasons room,” Zena said. “The pantry and kitchen are decent.”

They took the stairs to the basement.

“There's a full bath down here,” Mag said. “There are rooms that can be finished and made into bedrooms.”

“What are those marks?" Natalia said.

“That's where the tunnel's coming through from the other house,” Mag said, pointing.

“What about those marks?”

“The doorway to the other grubby area that Uri thinks he’s building in the backyard,” Mag said. “The place already feels small for the four of you and children,” Natalia said.

Bonnie joined them.

“Bonnie and Kate are taking the basement rooms. That leaves me with two extra rooms upstairs,” Mag said.

“Uri said he was adding three garage stalls. That gives us five to use,” Bonnie said.

“Lots of room then,” Natalia said.

Natalia's phone rang.

"Hi, Grazie. How is everything?”

“Corean is fine. Baby girl. Alaina. Oh, yeah, you knew that. All is good.”

“Do you want me to keep the girls? Or bring them up to the hospital?”

“Wha'd they name her?” Zean said, jumping up and down.

Everyone was looking at her. Grazie and Corean hadn't told anyone the name they had chosen, saying they wanted to wait until she was born

“Can I tell everyone what you named her?” Natalia said.

He laughed.

“Yes, you can.”

“Give us an hour or so, and we'll come up to visit.”

“Thanks, Nattie. Bye.”

Natalia put her phone in her pocket.

"Well?" Tracy said.

“Alaina,” Natalia said.

Ahh, that's a nice name,” Zean said.

“I think that's his grandmother's name,” Tracy said

“Yes, it is. Give me a little bit and we'll drive over there. Bonnie? Can the limo hold all of us.” Bonnie was counting heads.

“I only have one baby seat,” she said.

“Grace can have the baby seat. Victoria will be strapped to me.”

“Not legal, but we can do it,” Bonnie said.

“You'll need to add Zena,” Mag said. “You're not going to drive Nattie home by herself.”

"We can fit,” Tracy said.

“Two can ride up front with me,” Bonnie said.

“Never thought I would say we need a bigger limo,” Natalia said.

"Grazie keeps saying we need a bus,” Tracy said. “Good thing the new baby will live with Corean.” "He needs to stop having babies,” Natalia said, stepping outside. “How's Besa doing and Piza?” Besa was another woman who had had a breeding with Grazie. Piza was another boy, born only a few weeks ago.

“They're doing great,” Tracy said. “We see them a lot, but they can’t go to the lake tomorrow. She's going over to visit her mother.”

Natalia stepped out of the house. The sunshine felt nice.

“Grazie only has four babies,” Zean said.

“Yeah, but he inherited a few,” Marian said, indicating all of them.

Grazie had gained custody of Sherri's children when she had gone to jail. No one said their mother's name. It was as if she didn’t exist any more. Natalia hadn't heard how she was doing or if she was still alive. It wasn't discussed in Council meetings and the children never asked. It was as if she was put into prison and forgotten.

Natalia headed over to the house and upstairs, but Mag passed her on the way up.

“I'll put together a travel bag for Victoria,” Mag said.

"Mag, you have way too much energy.”

Natalia, instead of going to the nursery, went into the master bathroom. She gave her hair a quick brushing and used the toilet. When she returned downstairs, there seemed to be some confusion. "What's going on?”

"A cement truck is blocking the limo,” Zena said. “They're not going to move it until they're done pouring.”

“I guess we wait,” Natalia said.

She went to the garage to peer out. Uri was supervising. She couldn't see where the cement was being used.

“Why is there a cement truck blocking the limo?’ she said, speaking Viperian.

“City is fixing a curb. That cement truck isn't for our project. They won't be much longer.’

Natalia could see that the cement blocks for the tunnel were almost halfway across the garage. The men were working frantically. She wondered what incentive he had used. Or how much, since the incentive had to be money.

“Alaina was born. Need to go to the hospital and drop off the girls.’

“Who's going with?"

Zena."

He nodded.

Il come in and let you know when the truck is gone."

Natalia backed up into the house. The house was empty. She moved out to the patio to find that was where everyone was.

“Uri will let us know when the truck moves.”

“Bonnie is out there glaring at them,” Mag said. “Won't help.”

An hour passed.

Natalia rose and went to the garage door. The tunnel was almost done across the whole garage. Uri was nowhere in sight. There weren't any workers, either. She could hear angry voices out the front. There were no sounds coming from the basement, so she headed out the front door. As soon as she opened the front door, she could hear both Uri and Bonnie. They were talking loud and they were both angry. She couldn't see them, so she stepped out. Kate ran up to her.

“Stay in the house,” Kate said.

"What's happening?”

“Altercation with the city workers. I think someone put them up to it.”

“Again? This isn't the first time we've had city workers harassing us.”

“It might escalate since they've blocked in our workers, too.”

Natalia went back into the house. Mag was doling out sandwiches to the children.

"Might be a while,” Natalia said.

“I heard.”

Mag handed her a sandwich. Everyone returned to the patio.

Victoria started to fuss. Natalia headed into the house to go upstairs to nurse, but Victoria fussed more.

"You think daddy needs some help?’

She stepped out the front door.

It was a little too silent.

She walked down the laneway to the street. There seemed to be a standoff between the two sides. One side had Uri, Bonnie and all their workers. The other side appeared to be the city workers. Natalia could see the curb they were supposedly fixing. It wasn't a curb. They were cementing in posts to block their laneway.

Uri saw her and took a few steps back. She didn't know what Victoria was sensing, but a few moments later a huge tow truck appeared. It was the type that hauled semis.

The truck aimed right for the city workers who had to scatter. That's when Natalia saw the condition of the cement truck. It looked like it had been cemented in place, right in front of their laneway. The tow truck backed up to the cement truck. Uri waved his hand and their workers surged forward with sledgehammers.

It didn't take long to break loose the cement truck. The tow truck hooked on to it, then took off rather fast. The cement truck front tires screeched like chalk on a chalk board as the tow truck took a fast turn.

Victoria fussed.

A couple of the city workers looked pissed.

"Did they just lose their ride?” she said.

"Some of them did. They might lose more than that if they stick around,” Uri said.

He didn't sound too happy.

“They can leave in those,” Natalia said, noting there were two other city trucks.

“And why aren't they?”

The city workers had grouped together by one truck.

“This isn't good,” he said. “I want you in the house.”

Natalia turned to go when another truck screeched around a corner and skidded to a stop by the city workers. This was another city truck. Three men got out. They were armed with what looked like shotguns.

The workers with sledgehammers backed off. Some headed back toward the garage.

"Gun beats hammer,” she said to herself, stepping over to put a hedge between herself and the men with guns.

Uri stood his ground. She knew he could beat a shotgun. By the time the men could raise it to fire, he could throw enough knifes to hit them all.

“Where's the truck?” one man called over to Uri.

“I'm on my property. I have no idea what you did with your truck. I want to know why your workers are blocking my laneway? We can't leave.”

“You don’t have a permit for this work,” the man said.

“I have a permit to work in my garage. I didn't authorize or request this work to my laneway.”

A car appeared, driving down the street behind the city workers. Natalia recognized it as belonging to one of the Viperian neighbors. The city workers backed off, allowing the car to pass. The car pulled up to Uri and the passenger side window rolled down.

“Issues?”

Natalia recognized Martin. He lived a block down with his wife and two children.

“Apparently.”

Natalia waited patiently while Martin and Uri chatted about what Uri was doing with the neighbor's house. She watched the city workers. Behind her, she could hear the men working in the garage again. She took a few pictures with her phone of the cement mess in their laneway.

“Nattie.”

She left her hiding spot and joined Uri who was now over on the drivers side of Martin's car. “This is our daughter, Victoria,” Uri said.

Natalia loosened the wrap around Victoria, so Martin could see.

“Can I touch her?” he said.

“Sure.”

Martin reached out to touch Victoria's cheek. She responded with a wrinkle of her nose

“She's warm,” he said.

“My little heater. Just what I need on a warm day.”

He smiled at that comment.

“She's beautiful. I've never seen such coloring.”

“Undent blonde genes on both sides,” Uri said.

Natalia's eyes were drawn back to the city workers. They didn’t seem to like the standoff.

“Police should be here pretty soon,” Martin said.

“Thanks for calling. I'm sure if they knew it was me they would ignore it.”

“You've got too much of a reputation, Uri.”

“I'm married and settled down, now.”

“Police,” Natalia said, noting two police cars coming down the street.

“Things should wind down,” Uri said. “Unless the cops arrest me.”

Natalia caught a movement she didn't like out of the corner of her eye. One of the city workers with a gun had moved. He was by the side of one of the trucks. He was raising the gun to aim it right at them. At the same time, she put her arm around Victoria to protect her, and she threw her knife. “Shit,” Uri said, pulling her down to the ground a second later.

The gun went off, shattering the back windshield of the car.

"Martin."

“I'm okay. I ducked. Damn.”

The two police cars skidded to a halt.

There was another gunshot, but it wasn't in their direction.

Uri pulled her up and around the car. The city workers had changed their focus to the police.

“Put down your guns,” one of the police yelled at the city workers

“Get the fuck out of here. We can handle this,” someone shouted back.

There was another gunshot. The windshield of a police car cracked. The police fired back.

Victoria fussed.

“Easy girl," Uri said to Victoria while he edged around so he had a better view. “Looks like you hit that guy in the hand.”

“I didn't want to kill him,” Natalia said.

“Wouldn't matter. They're acting like teddy bears. They'll be dead soon anyway.”

“It might matter to the police. However, I think the police are speeding up their demise.”

One city worker was hit by the police gun fire. The others seemed frantic. One ran down the street as fast as he could go only to run into a tree and knock himself out.

“What the..." she said

“They get frazzled when their going out,” Uri said. “They're not in their right mind.”

There was one more shotgun fire, then the police let loose their fire. It was over in seconds. Not a single city worker still stood.

Uri stood and helped her up. She watched while the police checked all the men. Then one officer came over by them.

"What the heck? Seven teddy bears?” he said.

“You tell me, Keye,” Uri said.

Keye shook his head.

“I heard your daughter was born.”

His voice made Natalia think he was determining that was the cause of the problem.

“Right here. Victoria,” Uri said, gesturing toward Natalia.

Natalia uncovered her.

"Wow."

Keye stared.

“Can I touch her?”

“Sure.”

The request to touch Victoria now seemed odd to her. That's wasn't usually what one said when seeing a baby.

Keye touched Victoria's hair.

“She's warm,” he said.

That comment also was starting to sound odd to her.

“She's a baby,” Uri said. “My daughter.”

The three other police officers came over.

"Uris daughter,” Keye said.

"Oh, my.”

“She's the troublemaker.”

“Can I touch her?”

“You can all touch her,” Natalia said.

“She's warm.”

They all touched her. Everyone nodded at her being warm.

“So what happened?” Keye said.

"Someone sent city workers and a cement truck to block my laneway.”

“This is their mess?” Keye said, waving at the poles and the globs of cement.

"Yeah. I have workers here repairing my garage floor which caved in. We weren't doing anything out in the street.”

"We're trying to get to the hospital. Corean had her baby, and I have all of Grazie's children here,” Natalia said.

Martin told his side of the story, explaining why he was there.

"People have to figure out that Uri isn't the knife throwing monster anymore,” Martin said.

“I saw one knife,” an office said.

“Sorry, that was mine. I took offense when a gun was aimed at my baby and me,” Natalia said.

All the officers seemed to still be staring at Victoria. She fidgeted and pursed her lips.

"You getting any sleep with her?” Keye said.

“We had intruders last night,” Uri said.

“I reported it to the Council,” Natalia said.

Keye shook his head.

"We'll get this cleaned up.”

He walked away.

“Looks like Bonnie is getting the limo ready. Get out of here and get the girls back to Grazie. I'll get your knife.”

"Okay," she said, heading back to the house.

She could see that Bonnie had already figured out they were going to leave. Everyone was being ushering into the limo.

“I have the travel bag for Victoria,” Zena said.

"Good thing the police are busy,” Tracy said, once everyone was seated.

“Tinted windows make it hard to count people,” Natalia said.

Zean smiled like they were up to something.

"I let Grazie know we were going to be a little late,” Tracy said.

“Thanks.”

The limo pulled out of the laneway. It bumped over one blob of cement. The police were standing in the road as if directing traffic. They were waved on.

"What happened?” Zena said.

"Seven teddy bears sent to harass us,” Natalia said.

Zena shook her head.

Natalia didn’t want to say any more with Grazie's children around, despite none of them seemed concerned about passing seven dead bodies.

Everyone was quiet for the ride. There were no incidents and they passed into Viperia without issue. The parking lot for the hospital was crowed.

"Wow. Everyone is visiting Corean,” Zean said.

“They might be visiting others,” Tracy said with a laugh.

They got out, and Bonnie drove off to park. The hospital seemed empty, but when they reached the fourth floor they could tell there had been two other births.

“Corean is in room two,” the nurse said.

Natalia felt the nurse give her a wary eye.

Grazie stood just inside the door holding Alaina.

Natalia immediately thought she looked exactly like Grace, but decided she shouldn't say.

“She looks just like Grace,” Tracy said.

“I thought so, too,” Natalia said.

“She does,” Zean said.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement.

“You have a strong influence, Grazie,” Zena said.

Natalia moved in to see Corean.

“Hi, Corean. She's beautiful.”

“Thanks.”

"How are you doing?”

"Better than I thought. An easy birth.”

“Good to hear.”

Corean mouthed the next words.

“Almost sad that he’s with Tia now.”

Natalia smiled.

"He's a good man.”

“I thought I had a good one, but he refused to be with me for this. It's not his.”

“Uri once said “When you want to keep a woman, you have to attend to all of her, including her children’. That's what Grazie is doing.”

Corean nodded.

"Uri is wise. May 1?"

She gestured toward Victoria.

Natalia opened the wrap.

"Oh, my word. Look at her coloring. She looks like you.”

"Yes, that's what my father said.”

Corean reached out and touched her.

Natalia expected her to say something about her being warm, but she didn't.