Singing to the Moon Chapter 17 by Maggie Finson

“So what is this so wonderful plan you have?” Carly asked once they had all gotten over my telling them I would trust each of them with my life.

“Well, it works like this.” I told them.

“You are insane, you know that?” Carson told and asked me all at once after I'd outlined the plan to them.

“Does Chris know about this?” Carly asked since my twin was teaching a class at the dojo that evening and couldn't be here.

“I told him earlier.” I answered. “He thinks I'm nuts, too.”

“You are.” Dani put in then grinned. “But I like it. My sisters are really going to be entertained with this one, by the way.”

“I'm not in this to entertain people.” I grumbled but had to chuckle. “But do have to admit that it is kind of like those old roadrunner cartoons.

“Only this time, the coyote wins.” I told them all. “These Hunters are going to die. No one, NO ONE, threatens me and mine and gets away with it. The plan will work, I just need to set up a few more things before getting it started.”

“I can live with that.” Carly shrugged then grinned.

“I'll be with you all they way.” Carson put in as he snaked an arm around my waist and gave me a gentle squeeze. “Get it to happen, and I'll be there for the end. With pleasure.”

“”Get it going.” Dani told me with a wink. “And there will more vampires kicking ass than the bad guys can keep track of.”

“But what about that Grail they have?” Carson asked.

“Oh, got help on that one, too.” I told him with a little smile. “No one around here likes Hunters, and this bunch have overstepped the bounds of tolerance that have been enforced before. They're dead men and women, they just don't know that yet. And we aren't going to let them know that's the case until I can drop that anvil on them from out of nowhere.

“Hope it isn't an Acme anvil.” Dani said recalling all those roadrunner cartoons and the company that Wile E Coyote ordered things from.

“Why not?” I grinned. “They need some good press for a change you know.”

“An anvil is an anvil.” Carly noted with a giggle. “If it works it works.”

“Exactly.” I nodded.

“You people can do what I asked before this really gets rolling, right?” I asked the invisible witch in attendance.

“Easily.” That one assured me. “You have the word for activation of the spell. Just use it and we will be alerted and be ready for the next phase of the plan.”

What else could a girl want? I recalled an old television show about some outlaw mercenaries and one line came to me with that. 'I love it when a plan comes together'.

And this one had. I just needed to do a few more things, fine tune a bit, and it would be ready to go.

Thank you Mason. Next time I saw him he was getting a good hug and a better kiss.

It's nice having friends, but even nicer to have have friends who can be 'not so nice' about things when the need arises.

Besides, it never hurts to butter up future in-laws.

The next few days were interesting. I went to school, did the cheerleader practices (Yuck, but I'd said I'd do it and just couldn't do less than my best there.) and wandered around town while blithely ignoring the followers or dark SUVs that were always around.

Well I wasn't really ignoring them. But you get the idea.

“So is the place going to be open?” I asked after I'd just kind of wandered into a small real estate office that handled some warehouses and storage facilities where a friend of mine worked.

“For three days when I get your signal.” My friend, Constance nodded. “It will be empty as it is and no one will be taken to look at it.”

“Oh, great!” I gave her a hug and said. “Thanks.”

“Hey, Daddy runs this company and I am his daughter.” Connie grinned at me. “And I am good at the job, so no one bothers me about things like that. If I don't make the sale, well, it happens.”

“If this works.” I promised her, you've made the sale. I'll buy the place.”

“No need.” Connie gave me a hug. “I don't know much, but I know why you're doing this. Just do it right, okay? Don't get yourself killed over this.”

What had I told her? Not much. Just that a bunch of guys had been dogging me and I needed to get them somewhere that a few friends of mine could use to convince them to leave me alone. It wasn't wise to let humans know much, if anything where the unseen were concerned. Humans who poked their noses into unseen business generally died young and kind of messily. Even if they weren't really aware of what they'd stumbled into.

“That isn't in the plan.” I assured her and hugged her back. “But I'll owe you one after this.”

“Then you'd better live through it.” Connie grinned. “Having YOU owe me a favor would be awesome.”

Wow. Since when had I gotten a reputation like that in town? Though there were worse ones to have. I could have been the town slut or something. Nah, I would have kicked the guy's asses if they tried that on me.

Okay, maybe that's why I had the rep I was getting. Who knows?

I took great delight in shopping for clothes. The Hunter following me for that one was a guy, and I could feel his discomfort from yards away. Especially when he had to follow me into the intimate wear section and was getting those 'looks' from every female there.

I thought his brain was going to explode when I was trying on bras.

It was really fun when a clerk walked up and specifically asked him if he needed help.

Isn't it amazing how the little things can boost you?

Of course I had held off on doing that until a guy was tasked with watching me.

I'm evil. Sue me.

Oh, being evil is so much fun if you do it right.

I didn't look at them, didn't flip them off, grin at them, or do anything but ignore them for the next few days.

It was kind of fun watching them get frustrated and worried.

I even took Linda to the park one day. With suitable backup that wasn't so subtle that the bad guys couldn't see it. But there was other backup they didn't see.

Strange, a couple of them just kind of — disappeared that day.

Go figure.

Nice having vamps on your side, you know. Especially when the 'no kill' prohibition had been lifted in this case. I'm sure the girls were happy about that one.

At least I was pretty sure those guys had died happy.

This was almost too much fun.

Which meant it was time to move into stage two.

More of them 'disappeared' when they were following me. The attrition was good, but what I wanted was the uncertainty, the beginnings of fear that I could tell were being planted in the Hunters.

“They know someone here in town is taking them out piecemeal.” Dani told us at our next meeting. They're worried, but can't just strike back because getting the whole town involved in this would be suicidal and they know it.”

“That's the idea.” I nodded. “Up to now they have had to deal with specific targets, and to be honest the rest of the unseen in town just let it happen. It has always been easier to accept the losses and let them go away thinking they'd won.

“This time, though.” I smiled and it wasn't a pleasant one. “They are being attacked on multiple fronts from more than one of our kind. They're used to playing by rules that don't apply now but they aren't all that sure we know they violated those rules in the first place. So they're getting jumpy, which is what I want.

“Having them so twitchy is dangerous, but it is also an advantage for us.” I went on. “Now, they'll jump at the slightest provocation and chase anything that even comes close to looking like me.”

“Who the gods will punish, first they will make insane.” Dani quoted and grinned. “Nice one there Coyote.”

Okay, so I was being really nasty there, but I wanted those assholes to suffer a little bit, just like the suffering they had caused in the past. It isn't only one side that can play a game after all.

I fully intended for this bunch to pay more than blood.

“Well the time of just playing with them is about over.” I answered. “Time to up the ante here.”

Remind me to never, ever piss you off, love.” Carson told me.

“Keep that in mind, dear.” I grinned at him then outlined the next step in the plan.