Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

The group of fighters arrived at the intersection near the building where Natalia was watching form. The clashes between the men seemed brutal. There was more than slashing knives. Bodies slammed together. Fists and feet often found solid targets Then, all of a sudden the fighters separated as if someone had grabbed them and threw them aside. It almost appeared as if Tessa had done this, but it was her mere presence that separated the fighters.

Natalia could see that the men were all sweaty and panting. They were all watching Tessa closely when she strode into the opening between the two groups.

“Stand down,’ Tessa said in a loud voice. “You are acting like children.’

She spat.

“I've made my choice. Who are you to think you can change my decision?’

She did a slow spin to take in all the fighters.

“All you're doing is ruining my Festival night. I only know two ways to fix that."

She did another slow spin to finally settle facing a group of men. Natalia figured these were the family members of Wier and Jaskson since Beade was now behind Tessa.

“Ambulance,’ Bonnie said.

Natalia looked over to see an ambulance slowly making its way down the street. It traveled in eerie silence with no lights or sirens. She couldn't even hear the engine.

“Walk away. Or be carried away dead,’ Tessa said in a dangerous sounding voice.

Natalia thought it was an obvious choice, however, the men didn't move.

“Idiots,’ Bonnie muttered.

Tessa's two sisters came up to stand, one on each side of her. Knives seemed to appear as if by magic in their hands. Natalia thought she saw a knife blade on each fingertip of the women.

All the men they were facing suddenly dipped their heads and backed away. It broke the tension in the air like the crackling of glass.

“If I have to do this again, there will be no choice,’ Tessa said in a low voice after them.

The men turned and headed away. Tessa and her sisters followed which hurried them on. Natalia saw Beade and the other men head toward the ambulance.

“Stitches?’ she said.

“That or skin glue to close the wounds,’ Bonnie said. “I'm glad that Tessa choose wisely. She had every right to kill them.’

The crowd was dissipating.

I'm also glad that at least one Council member saw this,’ Bonnie said. “Make sure to mention on Wednesday about what you saw. Tessa needs to be commended for her actions."

Natalia searched the crowd for Uri, but she was unable to pick him out. People were starting to filter through to the dance area. Vendors were back to setting up their stalls.

“Francie,’ Natalia said when she spied her.

Natalia was surprised that Francie climbed up to joined her.

'So sorry I lost you. I was so turned around.’

“No worry. Have you seen Moralis, yet?’

Francie shook her head. She was now looking over the edge like everyone else.

“There they are,’ Francie said, pointing.

"You have sharp eyes," Natalia said, just catching sight of them.

Uri waved for her to come down.

Natalia dropped from the edge, using light finger holds on the bricks to slow her descent. Still, Francie beat her down.

"You're pretty good at that,’ Francie said.

“I've had more practice than I should have,” Natalia said with a laugh.

Moralis gave Francie a hug when he joined them.

'I swore we were going to end up with a bunch of dead bodies," Uri said, taking her hand.

She thought he almost looked disappointed.

"Yeah," Moralis said with laugh. “Challenging a man’s choice is one thing. Challenging a woman's choice is a death sentence.’

Natalia saw him give Francie a nudge which caused her to laugh.

Bonnie and Trevor dropped from the building and disappeared into the crowd.

“Those two are inseparable during Festival,” Moralis said.

"You noticed,” Uri said. “Is the soursop guy here, yet? I'm thirsty."

“Don’t know,” Moralis said.

As a group, they made their way down the street. Two women were walking along the street with buckets sloshing soapy water.

“What are they doing?’ Natalia said.

“Cleaning up any blood."

They passed the ambulance. Tessa was there with Beade who was being worked on. He had a nasty slash across his back.

Tessa looked up at her.

“Good choice,” Natalia said, giving her an approving nod.

Tessa smiled.

Natalia knew her words could be construed two ways. Tessa could think that she was being commended for choosing Beade or for letting the others live.

“Are you serving yet?" Uri said, stopping in front of the soursop vendor.

“Another five minutes. I was delayed.

The man nodded toward the ambulance.

“We'll wait. Does everyone want one? Nattie's buying,’ Uri said

Natalia laughed and handed him back the cash card.

“Now, you're buying.’

Natalia was seeing clothing getting shed even though it wasn't dark yet.

They're early.’

Moralis shrugged

It's getting late enough. They're only twenty minutes early. Not as bad as the reports I'm hearing from Summer Fest. A few clothing optional areas have been noted.

“I'm sure things are a bit more calm than what we just witnessed,” Natalia said.

“Actually, there have been three murders, two abductions, and one Ferris wheel malfunction that scared a lot of people,’ Moralis said.

"You're kidding, right?"

Moralis shook his head.

“We do have enough police and security personnel there that we recovered the two abductees rather quickly. We hardly have any security here other than to keep Undents out.”

“That's because women are here,’ Francie said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Both Uri and Moralis shrugged.

“Women? Oh, yeah. Women," Natalia said.

Natalia knew that women ruled in Viperian society. A Viperian woman wasn't someone to cross. Victoria climbed up the stairs as fast as she could in pursuit of Tail. In the game of chase, she wasn't winning, however, she didn’t mind. She smiled while she paused to catch her breath at the top of the stairs.

“I see you in Mommy's room."

She took the last stair and straightened before going into her parent's room. Tail was on top of the dresser.

“No fair. I can't get you up there.’

Meerup.

Tail batted at something. Her second bat sent it flying onto the floor.

"You are going to get in trouble,’ Victoria said, picking up the necklace. “This is Mommy's."

She took the few steps out to the hall where the light was better.

Victoria?’

“Upstairs with kitty,” she said to Zena.

Victoria held up the necklace to the light.

“Pretty.’

Tail came around and tried to bat it from her hand.

“No. Mine."

She held the necklace close.

Meerup.

She loved the sounds Tail made.

“Funny.’

She headed into her room.

Tail followed, butting against her legs.

'You can't have this.’

Victoria opened her toy box to drop in the necklace. Tail jumped in after it.

“No.'

Victoria picked her up to put her on the ground before she shut the toy box.

'You can't have that."

“Victoria. Come down. Cookie and tea time."

“Come on, Tail.’

She scrambled backwards down the stairs even though she had shown her parents she could go front ways. It was faster this way. Tail, however, beat her as usual.

“Someday I will be as fast as Tail," she said, following Zena into the kitchen.

'I believe that,’ Zena said.

Victoria saw a cup of the black tea by a plate with a single warm cookie. She was glad that Zena didn't even ask her if she wanted anything else to drink. Usually, she would fuss about it, but after hearing what Becky said, she was going to drink it whenever she could.

Tail hopped up on a chair across from her.

Victoria gave her a little piece of cookie. Tail licked it up.

“She likes cookie, Victoria said with a giggle.

“I'm sure she would. I'm sure grubbie tastes pretty good to her,’ Zena said. “Let's give her her own snack.’

Victoria snarfed down her cookie fast and gulped down her tea, hoping for more.

Zena put a plate in front of Tail.

“Grubbies,’ Victoria said.

“Raw, but I'm sure Tail will like them.’

'“Cookie?"

'More?"

Zena handed her another cookie and gave her more tea.

Victoria ate her cookie while Tail chewed down her grubbies.

'We have a Viperian cat,’ Zena said in a flat voice.

“Grubbies all gone,’ Victoria said.

"Yours, too."

“More?’

“That is more than enough for you, otherwise, you will have to go potty all night."

Victoria slid from her chair.

“We're going upstairs,’ she said to Zena.

“Okay.’

Victoria decided she needed to organize the toys that had gotten scattered when she shut her door. She arranged them all around her toy box. Tail kept knocking the ones on the box down.

“No, Tail."

She threw the shoe from one of her dolls at Tail. The shoe landed on the other side of the box. Tail jumped after it and batted it around the room until she lost it behind the changing table that was now used to hold some of her clothes.

“Dolly needs that shoe, Tail."

Victoria rose to fetch the shoe. She reached beneath the table but couldn't feel the shoe. Tail was trying to get under the table as well.

“No, Tail."

Victoria put her hand behind the table, but it was too close to the wall. She put a foot against the wall and tugged hard. The table moved away from the wall with a little screech.

Both she and Tail paused. She listened hard to make sure Zena hadn't heard. Victoria knew that if she had, Zena would be sure to come up and reprimand her. There was only silence in the house. "You're going to get me in trouble, Tail," she said in a whisper.

Meerup.

Victoria giggled.

She almost forgot what they were doing.

'I need Dolly's shoe.’

She reached behind the table and found the shoe. When she pulled back, a panel fell off the wall. “Uh oh,’ she said, wondering how she did that.

Tail squirmed in to take a look.

Victoria looked around to make sure no one had seen. Zena was still downstairs. She looked back at the panel, not quite sure what she was looking at.

Tail pushed the panel farther out of the way.

“Secret papers,’ Victoria said.

She pulled out a bundle. There was a paper strip holding the little papers together. The papers were green and reddish with the face of a man. She was already learning numbers and she saw a large number one followed by two zeros.

“What is this, Tail?"

Tail knocked more out while trying to access the cavity in the wall.

Victoria jerked at a sound.

“We have to hide this. Zena is coming."

She grabbed at Tail, but when she pulled her out, more bundles were knocked out.

Tail.’

Victoria cleared the bundles from behind the table, but couldn't see how to get the panel back in place. She pushed the changing table back against the wall, then picked up an armful of bundles and put them in the toy box.

“What are you doing up there?’ Zena said from the bottom of the stairs.

“Playing,’ Victoria said, grabbing another armful of bundles.

She put the last one in the toy box and grabbed out a ball, which she tossed against her door so it would bounce out of her room. Tail chased after it and Victoria chased after Tail.

“Come down here and play ball,’ Zena said. “We'll make up a game with Tail.’

It was three am.

“No more sex,’ Natalia said when Uri swerved toward the intersection with the misters. “Three times is more than enough.’

He chuckled.

“And you came the third time. I thought men didn't do that during Festival.”

“I knew three was your limit," he said. “Besides, if you did want to go again, I'm ready.’

She bumped him, but away from the intersection.

“This place feels more crowded every hour.’

“No one goes home early,” he said. “But I know you're tired, and I have to work in the morning. I wasn't able to get any days off. I'm just happy we were able to go. Happy that I had you to go with." He bumped her back and rubbed her cheek with his.

That move reminded her of the other man. She wondered who he was but wasn’t going to ask. He didn't try to mark her this evening for which she was glad.

“I've noticed that Francie doesn't seem so timid any more,’ she said.

“Women tend to feel the need to step up and out once they have children. I saw it in Tia," he said “She used to be pretty meek.’

“Now she is a commanding Council member.’

“Deadly, he said.

She thought he sounded serious.

Mag passed them, giving them a nod of recognition. Natalia saw her holding the hand of a man. “New boyfriend," Uri said.

“Is Bonnie taking us home?"

"Yeah. We'll meet her!

“How does she know? You don't have your phone on you.’

“I told her you would peter out at three am."

"You know me too well.’

Bonnie was waiting for them by the limo. Natalia suspected Trevor was up front with her. The drive home was quiet. There was no other traffic. Bonnie dropped them off at the front door.

“Is she going back to the Festival?’ Natalia said once they were inside the house.

'Of course.’

Natalia hardly remembered slipping into bed. She slept hard until something ran over her.

“No, Tail. Mommy is sleeping.’

“Good morning, Victoria.’

Victoria's head appeared at the edge of the bed, staring right at her.

“Morning, Mommy."

Natalia looked at the clock.

“Ten am. I guess I better get up.’

Victoria giggled and dashed off. Natalia rolled over. Uri was already gone

“Oh, yeah. He had to work.’

The kitten popped up onto the bed, ran across her, jumped off the bed and disappeared. Victoria ran in giggling to climb onto the bed.

“Got you," Natalia said, grabbing her.

Victoria giggled. Tail raced across the bed again.

Natalia cuddled her for a just a moment, then released her. Uri said not to cuddle too much. Victoria scrambled off the bed and ran, loudly giggling.

Natalia rose. She used the bathroom, hearing Victoria run from room to room. There was also the pitter-patter of other feet.

“I never knew a kitten could run so loudly.’

She dressed. When she went down the stairs, Victoria followed with Tail running ahead of them. She reached the bottom of the stairs, and her phone rang. Natalia recognized Kareen's phone number. 'If the top Council woman is calling me, it must be important. Hello?"

“Morning, Nattie. I hope I didn't wake you.’

“I have a one year old. I'm up.’

Kareen laughed over the phone.

'l was checking on your availability this afternoon. We aren't having the usual Council meeting this week because it's the last day of Festival."

“I took today off so I can meet at any time.’

“Excellent. I know Tia is working today, but she said two pm worked for her. If you're good with that, then I can get everyone else to come.’

I'm good with that."

It won't be a long meeting. We only have one item.’

“No problem, Kareen.

“Also...’

Natalia recognized a pregnant pause which meant there was something else.

Yes?

“Ursula called me with an issue,’ Kareen said.

“From the Bank?’

'Yes. Excuse me for asking, but you were at the Festival on Saturday and Sunday evening, correct? "Yes, I was."

“Did you go to the Summer Fest at all?’

“No, I didn’t. I thought that was really for the Undents.’

'Yes, yes, it is. But... knowing your origins, I had to ask.’

'I see. I understand. What is the issue?

'Well...someone complained that you... uh, sexually harassed them.’

“Me? Who?"

“The complainant is remaining anonymous.

'So, when did this supposedly occur? I take it they said it occurred at the Summer Fest.’

Natalia couldn't imagine anyone complaining of ass pinching at the Festival of Sex.

'Yes, well... perhaps you should give Ursula a call. The complaint went through the Bank, not the Council."

Natalia suddenly realized this was an Undent issue and wasn't coming from any Viperian.

Ill call her right away.’

“Thank you. See you at two."

Natalia ended the call. She sat at the dining room table, and Zena served her tea. After a couple of sips, she called Ursula.

“Good morning, Nattie. How are you doing?’

I'm fine, yet concerned.’

“Kareen called you.’

"Yes, what is this all about?’

'A complaint came in through one of the board members which means I have to treat this seriously and do due diligence.’

“What did I supposedly do?"

“Were you at the Summer Fest on Sunday?’

No."

'So, you weren't running around half-naked, pinching asses of fine upstanding gentlemen?’ Natalia gave a short laugh.

“Hardly. I did hear from Moralis that they had some issues with clothes being optional at the Summer Fest.

“Good intentions on his part to have the Summer Fest, but that just gave all the no-goods a reason to be no good.’

“It kept them away from Hell. Or at least most of them.’

'Yes, I've heard about that as well, but everyone swears they only did one bite and the teddy bear law wasn't broken."

Natalia knew with her work in the Council that Ursula was now being groomed for a future Council position. Ursula and Kareen worked closely together on Viperian and Undent incidents since Ursula had the Human Resources training. She was current on Undent laws.

That's good to hear,’ Natalia said.

'So, sorry to ask, where you were?’

'l was at the Festival until three am. Slept a few hours, then at one pm we had friends over for a birthday party for Victoria. She turned one.’

'Who was at the party?’

Tia...'

Tia is Uri's sister so family ties aren't a serious excuse.’

“Sophia..."

“Oh. A Bank executive.’

“Harold, Corean..."

'Corean?’

Just about everyone who had a baby born a year ago, including Mina who was here with Umi. And Besa. A total of nine children.’

"Harold?

“He brought Becky."

“Oh, yes, his little girl."

“Francie was there with Tazia. That's the mayor's wife."

"You have a solid alibi, so to speak.’

“The bigger question, Ursula, is who doesn't like me?"