Hybridization

Chapter 181 – Seeing More Things

“It’s like that Twelve Days of Christmas song but with paranormal beings.” – Jade complaining to Ra.

Kurt swore then lunged to his left, putting himself in front of Rindi and reaching out that hand. He intercepted the spinning disk and managed to hook his fingers under the lip and catch it. He returned to a balanced stance and twisted his body around, flinging the frisbee back to where it came from.

“Sorry!” Gavin called out as he caught the returned disk and giving the group an apologetic wave before returning to the gaggle of Alec’s cousins who were tossing it around the front lawn.

“Nice catch.” Na said as Kurt took his place next to Val and they continued their stroll around the circle drive.

The group was having a nice little walk around the shaded front of the property in the mid-morning sun that poked through the canopies. The previous night had been eye opening for the girls who hadn’t seen how a dwarf clan can throw a party.

They had arrived before the bulk of the others who had come pouring in around dinner time. Almost all of them had come straight from their day jobs and only stopped in their rooms long enough to drop bags before headed to the main house where dinner was being served via pizza boxes.

Nobody cared as they all gathered in the massive dining hall and stuffed their faces while catching up with their cousins. Only after the last of the admittedly few leftovers were put in the fridge were drinks brought out in force, courtesy of Kurt and his storage ring.

He had spent a while setting up the bar area in the basement of the main house while they waited for the others and Alec gave the girls a tour. The amount of drink that he produced was still only half of what was already in stock from the last gathering the clan had. All he had to do was back fill the shelves with the fresh stuff and tap the older kegs first.

Kristi bent down to pick up a stick that had fallen on the pavement and toss it out to the woods. “What time did they finally go to sleep last night? I know we called it quits at eleven.”

Na thought for a moment before responding. “There were three groups. That one there went shortly after you.” She pointed to the group of 7 who had been playing catch with the frisbee. “Then there was Alec and his brothers who called it around midnight. Maybe a bit later.”

“And the third group?” Kurt asked as they completed their second lap of the circle drive.

“No idea. I got up to pee around three-thirty and was pretty sure I saw lights still out at the fire pit.” Na shrugged like it was no big deal.

Kurt smirked. “Well, they were still there when I got up at six.”

“Really?” Na sounded both surprised and ashamed.

“Yeah, still there but they weren’t conscious.” Kurt finished and got a round of chuckles.

They started another lap and Val waved to a few of the spouses of the dwarf cousins who waved back from their seats on the front porch. “Are they going to be ok? Like is alcohol poisoning a thing for dwarves?”

Na assured her that they would be fine. It was warm enough that they weren’t in danger of hypothermia and the bugs were negligible due to the constant breeze. The only thing they had to worry about was sun burn if they didn’t get moving by noon when the sun would be hitting the fire pit directly.

Kurt looked over his shoulder to Kristi and Rindi. “So, what did you guys think? Can we handle hanging around for another day or two?”

Rindi shivered. “As long as they don’t try to feed me any more of that… what was the liquor called? The one with the demon on label?”

“Not a fan of Fireball?” Val laughed.

“No.” Rindi said seriously, her ears flattening into airplane mode in displeasure. “I liked it even less when it tried to come back up. What even was that flavor.” She made a face at the memory.

“Supposedly it’s cinnamon but I think it’s the artificial kind that doesn’t taste right.” Val made a sympathetic face.

Kristi grunted. “What isn’t right is them wanting to do shots of it.”

Na laughed. “Awe, but it comes in those convenient little bottles.”

They continued around the circle for another two laps, only having to dodge one more frisbee. After the last lap, Alec came out of the main house, double fisting an energy drink with a Gatorade and sitting down on one of the porch benches. He had finished serving breakfast and looked like he needed a nap more than the Monster.

He caught them up on the plans for the day which, in his words, included ‘fuck all to do’. Kurt took that to mean that nothing was formally scheduled. With that in mind, they parted ways with Na and returned to their rooms. After changing into their swim attire, they met back on the balcony.

There was a quick discussion on what everyone wanted to do, and they decided to split up for a while. Everyone knew the boundary of the property and the magical ward that obscured the sights from the outside so it wasn’t like they would just wander out to be exposed if they didn’t cover up their features.

The only stop they all made was to the main house and the kitchen to make lunches. Breakfast and the midday meal were not ones that the Hammersmiths considered important to do as a group, so it was somewhat of a free for all. For those meals, a couple people volunteered to make sure it was served and put away afterword while dinner became a communal event.

Kurt wandered over to the north end of the property where the ground rose a little to create a sort of cliff that overlooked the bay. It was only 15 feet above the water line, but it was a nice place that had a few hammocks strung between the trees atop it.

He sat down in one of the nets and summoned a cigar from his ring. He lit it and enjoyed a few pulls before summoning a beer to go along with it.

In an effort to relax, Kurt had committed to spending at least an hour doing nothing but sitting and enjoying nature. He figured the Rocky Patel 1990 torpedo would be the perfect way to measure that time. It also turned out that he wouldn’t be spending it alone.

It was no surprise that Kristi had sniffed him out, literally in this case. She joined him on the hammock, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her own combination of cigar and beer. They sat in complete silence, just watching the world go by as the local vacationers got their days up and going.

The bay slowly filled up with all manner of boats that moved back and forth from Traverse City to the big lake. It amused them to no end when the small rental boats would inevitably wind up in the path of a sailboat and causing no end of headache for both.

After finishing the cigars, they got up and found their way down the hill to the water below. They were at the far edge of the property, on its very northern point where the ward ended at a concrete marker sticking up from the sand.

Deciding to go for a stroll, they began heading south, walking along the firmly packed sand at the water’s edge. They just chatted about the area and some of the things they saw while watching from the hammocks until they stumbled upon Val.

The kitsune had planted herself on a lounge chair where she was talking to some of the other women who had come with their boyfriends and husbands in the family. She waved as Kurt and Kristi approached, causing all the others to stop and stare at them before breaking out into whispers.

“What has she gone and done now?” Kristi asked Kurt as they approached.

He sighed. “No idea but I have a feeling we are about to find out.” He muttered as he noticed the appraising looks they were getting.

“Oh, hey guys.” Val said as they got within talking distance. “Have a fun time in the hammocks?”

“I doubt it. Hammocks are not the best for that sort of thing.” One of the women, another dwarf, said. Kurt recognized her as one of Alec’s sisters.

“Claudia. Good to see you again.” Kurt nodded at her. She and him had occasionally butted heads in the past and he suspected it was because of the stigma around hybrids because she had been perfectly friendly the previous night. “I assume Val has been keeping you entertained.”

Another one of the women, a human who was dating one of the family pouted at him. “Oh, don’t be like that. It was all good things.” Her eyes flicked between him and Kristi. “Lots of good things from the sounds of it.”

That got a round of laughs from the group as Kurt and Kristi both rolled their eyes and groaned while Val looked like the cat that caught the canary. Or perhaps in this case, the fox that got the hen.

Kurt felt his ears go a bit red while Kristi looked absolutely livid and stared daggers at their mutual lover. He just decided it was best to let them sort it out and wandered back up the steps that took him to the back yard of the pool house. He faintly heard a slapping sound followed by a yowl of surprise that was lost on the wind.

Following the pavers set in the lawn, Kurt made his way back to the house, intent on eating his packed lunch at a table far away from any sand. He had to stop and do a double take at the pool as he passed it, however.

Around the bar, which made up one side of the fenced off pool, was a group of older cousins that had come along for the weekend. These were mostly the ones who were a decade older than himself and Alec.

The group of five were standing and leaning against the bar overlooking the pool and muttering to themselves. Most were holding a drink of some sort, but they appeared to be various forms of electrolyte heavy beverages.

“… Never would have thought I would see that.” One of the two women said.

Brian, one of the ones Kurt knew personally nodded. “Yah. Who would of thought. Kinda weird to be honest.”

“Wait, don’t tigers like water? Her stripes look like a tiger.” Said another, adjusting his sunglasses under his wide brim hat.

Kurt got a bad feeling about them and the gossip as he got closer. He was about to insert himself into the situation as he loomed over the group but was distracted by what they were all looking at.

On the other side of the fence was the main outdoor pool. It was a large triangular affair with rounded points that had the steps built in. On one of the sides was the bar area, another had a hot tub that was comically oversized and the third held a sort of waterfall feature.

Sitting under that waterfall, with the torrent of water splashing down on her shoulders was Rindi. She had a sublime expression on her face as her eyes were closed and she gently swayed back and forth under the pounding spray.

“What is she doing?” Kurt asked, causing the gathered dwarves to flinch and wheel around.

“Jesus, Kurt!” Brian said while clutching at his chest. “Fucking warn a guy.”

“Sorry, I thought you were talking shit about my teammate and was about to make a correction.” Kurt said flatly. He panned his glare across them, making sure they understood what he was referring to.

The group of dwarves all looked abashed, recalling some of the things they had said after the booze had started flowing the night before. They had been rather rude in asking about Rindi and her unique condition once they got into their cups.

“About that.” One of the others began. “We are sorry. It was rude of us to gossip like that.”

Brian nodded emphatically. “Yeah, we were going to apologize to Rindi but didn’t want to disturb…” He waved his hand in the direction of the pool. “… whatever that is.”

Another of the two women, Lindsey, raised her hat brim enough for Kurt to recognize her before she spoke. “She seemed so peaceful that we didn’t want to disturb her but just couldn’t look away.”

They all turned their heads as a loud splash sounded and they saw the powerfully built woman push off the wall and begin paddling her way around the pool. They watched as she did a lap then returned to the waterfall.

“How about you catch her at dinner then, so you don’t disturb her.” Kurt suggested and saw them all off before he entered the pool area. He padded over to the side of the decorative waterfall and waited for Rindi to notice him.

After a moment, Rindi cracked an eye open and noticed him. “Oh. Hi, Kurt.” She said as she turned to face him and moved out from under the water. She still kept everything below her neck under the surface but swam over to him.

“Enjoying yourself?” He asked and sat down on the edge of the pool, putting his feet in the water.

“It’s amazing.” Rindi said with a big smile. “The temperature is perfect and the water feature is so relaxing.”

Kurt nodded. “I didn’t know you liked swimming so much.”

Rindi shrugged, her muscular shoulders rising out of the water for a moment. “I didn’t either. But when I walked past, I couldn’t resist.”

“How long have you been in here?”

“Umm. Since Kristi went to see where you wandered off too.” Rindi answered after thinking about it for a moment. “I have either sat under the waterfall or done a few laps before coming back. Why?”

“You aren’t all sick of the water yet? Most people get tired of it after a little while and their fingers and toes go all wrinkly.” Kurt asked.

Lifting her hands out of the water, Rindi inspected them and Kurt saw that they looked completely normal. Then she lifted one of her feet out to reveal the tiger-like paw and its toe pads. She returned them to the water a moment later and floated away from the edge a little ways.

“Nope, looks fine to me.” Rindi said. “The depth being shallow is nice too. Then I don’t have to tread water” She stood up to show that the water only came up to her mid chest, just above her breasts.

Laughing a little Kurt shook his head and stood up. “It’s not so shallow to most of the dwarves.” He held his hand up against himself to show where most of them came up to. “But as long as you are enjoying yourself, I’ll leave you be. I was going to go have lunch before catching back up with Val and Kristi.”

“Oh, I’ll join you.” Rindi said and swam over to the edge of the pool right in front of him.

She then bounced slightly before putting her hands on the edge and lifting herself out of the pool. She leaned forward and used the lip on the inside of the pool as a step as she stood up. The entire process put her rather large, though proportional, chest on display.

Kurt couldn’t look away as she climbed out. The way her body moved and the beads of water running off her was almost hypnotic and pulled his eyes in. The bright white swimsuit didn’t help as it contrasted very nicely with her fuzz like fur with its orange and black pattern. Her wringing water out of her tail before literally shaking off was the icing on the cake for holding his attention.

He almost missed it when Rindi held out her hand and a familiar rock appeared. She channeled some mana into it and was suddenly perfectly dry. Kurt looked up to her face and saw her wearing a curious smile.

“Something wrong?” She asked looking down at herself and passing a hand over her body.

“Ah, no. Nope. Everything is just fine.” He swallowed hard and swore he heard a familiar cackling laugh drifting up from the beach on the breeze. “Shall we?”

Rindi stored the rock back in her ring and summoned her cover up. “Lead the way.” She said while putting on the light garment that hung to her mid-thigh. It did bow out slightly in the back as her fluffy striped tail flicked behind her.

*****

Jade looked up from her desk in the remodeled office in the barn as Justin entered. “Hellooo, lady Jade.” He said in a sing-song tone. The man had developed a rather chipper attitude after becoming a lycan and his group of former mercenaries seemed to take after their alpha in this regard.

“What the hell do you want now?” She growled in response. She was no longer amused by his flippant attitude after he had dropped off twelve freshly turned werewolves with her before leaving just as suddenly as he appeared.

“Oh, touchy this afternoon I see.” He said and took one of the chairs in front of her. “Miss lunch today? I think I have a Snickers bar somewhere.”

Swiping her hand down her face Jade groaned. “Just tell me what you want and leave already.”

Justin let the smile fall from his face and quit pretending to pat himself down while looking for a nonexistent candy bar. “Got something coming down from Jay.” He began but had to stop almost immediately.

“I thought he already had a personal assistant, why are you running around for him?” She cut in harshly.

If Jade was being honest with herself, she would know that she was overworked. There was a tendency for her to take on everything herself rather than letting Ra, Justin and, just recently, Henry handle things. She also knew that the prospect of Kurt leaving Earth would likely cause many more problems that she needed to be ready for.

“Sorry, that was unprofessional.” She admitted, ducking her head slightly.

“No, you are right. I have been working for Jay more directly than you and Ra.” He held up a hand, acknowledging her apology. “This is part of that.”

Jade leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath. “Let’s start over. What can I help you with?”

Part of the typical smile he had adopted returned to Justin’s face. “Well, good news is you are going to get a lot of help around here that will take the burden of managing the property off your plate.”

When Jade didn’t do more than raise her eyebrows, Justin continued. “Ahem. Umm, part of what I was doing was finding some… lets say ‘displaced’ people who needed a place to stay. A place that was more supportive of their particular brand of paranormal…ness…ism…whatever.”

“And that place is here?” Jade asked. “Not sure if you noticed but this den is already pretty full after these latest ones you brought in and we don’t have much room for more. Hell, half of them are now in my pack while the rest went to Ra since you already have over twenty.”

“Well… that’s not much of a problem as you think.” Justin countered.

“Explain, please.”

“Sooo, yeah. The people I found are coming here. On Jay’s orders.”

Jade sighed and deflated a little in her chair. She then turned to her laptop and pulled up her spreadsheet and trackers. “How many?”

“Five hundred-”

“FIVE HUNDRED!”

“And thirty-three.” Justin finished.

Completely forgetting her computer, Jade stared at Justin. “How is this giving me help? Where did these people come from? Where are they going to live? How are we going to pay for all this?” the questions came bubbling forth at a rapid rate as the implications of it all struck her.

Holding up his hands, Justin waited for her to be done. “Listen, it’s not that bad. Most of them have come from Earth, or that’s where I found them. Many are skilled laborers and have magical means that will help in the construction of new places to live.”

“They aren’t all wolves?” Jade couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was supposed to be their sanctuary, their place to call home, not a place to house what was sounding a lot like refugees.

“No.” Justin admitted and summoned a cardboard tube opening it to reveal several rolled up papers that he slid out. “But there is a plan. Jay is providing funding from the overflow of his projects and some investment capital to keep things moving. There will be fifty-six wolves in the group, mostly coming from eastern Europe and South America. Forty of them are experienced in fighting but will need implants for language.

“The remainder is composed of the usual fare, elves, dwarves, a gaggle of kitsune, couple halfling families, some kobolds, several fairies and swarms of pixies. There are also a couple dryads in the group along with a host of human mages.” Justin rattled off as he unrolled the papers on the desk.

Jade looked down at the map that turned out to be rather detailed site plans. It included several drawings of a ‘normal’ suburban neighborhood. Then there were the maps and plans for the green spaces that would also be gardens that circled the development. There were even streets, water towers, sewage disposal and recreational facilities in the plans.

“This is a lot to put up here.” Jade expressed her worry about the plans she was seeing. “But is it enough for everyone?”

Justin tapped the first map that had a drawn view of the neighborhood from above. “It all fits on the cleared land that we have already not counting the rest the government had to fork over.” He then slid out the bottom page. “This is what will be below and why we need the help many of these people will provide.”

After seeing the extensive underground facilities they had planned, Jade looked back to him. “And how exactly does this ease my burden and get me help?” she was returning back to what he had first promised.

“Ah, I forgot to mention that there will be an entire village council that will oversee everything to do with the project and the civilians.” Justin said and placed a thumb drive on the desk. “Details are in there along with personnel files. The only thing you will have to be responsible for is your pack and our spiritual wellbeing.”

“Fine.” Jade said, making Justin’s smile widen a little. “But you have to break it to Kurt that his quiet home won’t be so quiet anymore.” she finished, making his smile vanish as quickly as it came.