I wake up later lying in bed under a set of baby blue sheets and a matching blanket still in my birthday suit. I sit up and look around the guest bedroom and wonder how I got into this bed. I can still smell the scent of the bath beads my sister made for me coating my body. I can't seem
to remember leaving the tub. The last thing I remember is laying in the tub and relaxing. I sniff around the room and smell the scent that Jack left in here.

"I must have fallen asleep." I lay back down and curl back up under the blanket.

I look over towards the night table near the bed and see my cell phone and gun-laying there as my travel alarm. I check the alarm to see what time it is set for and notice someone had set it for nine in the morning. I moan and bury myself under the blankets and sheets and go back to sleep.

I don't know how long I have been asleep, but I wake up to the smell of freshly made coffee coming from under my nose.

"Wakey! Wakey! Vicky. Time to get up and go to work." Jack passes the mug of richly made Columbian coffee under my nose again.

"You know how to wake a girl up." as I grab the mug of coffee from him and take a sip of it.

"Mmmmm!!" I feel the coffee glide down my throat. The taste and feel of it are unbelievable. It was better than the stuff I serve at home for me and Tom.

"Oh! this is wonderful." as I glance up at Jack.

"I found it in the cabinets. Emygdia's must have stocked up for you. Because there's food in the frig and the cabinets." Jack looks down at me.

"You know you fell asleep last night in the tub. I was lying in bed waiting for you to leave the bathroom and I heard you snoring away. So, I got Ajax to come in the bathroom and held you up while I dried your body and then carried you to this room and tucked you in." Jack gives me
one of his silly ass grins.

"I don't even remember fallen asleep or you carrying me." I look at him after taking another sip of coffee.

"I think whatever your sister put in that bath beads made you fall asleep right away. Cause after I got a whiff of it. I started feeling sluggish and such. So did Ajax. You might want her to cut back on whatever she is putting in that powder." Jack picks up a mug he had sitting on the
dressing table and takes a sip of the coffee from it.

"I'll talk to her about it. We're going to need to head to my house. Sebastian stopped by last night while you and Ajax were in the showers. He's sending a young girl to my house for protection because he thinks she is the next victim." I lift the mug of rich coffee to my lips again and take another sip from it.

"What's so special about this girl?" Jack looks at me with a puzzled look on his face.

"She fits his profile. From what I have gathered so far, he only goes after those kids born with special gifts. Kids that one day will be able to wield magic or have special mental gifts. The type of kids that the Hunter organization likes to scoop up and use against us." as I take another sip from my mug.

Jack's eyebrows lift over his left eye. "Wow, how did you find this out?"

"Remember sister Monica? Well, she is a Hunter, but she is of the other branch of them that doesn't have anything against us. I helped her out and she reveals to me some things I didn't know." I just sit there with my mug of coffee.

“Okay, who would have thought they would go that low to use children and their gifts." as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Where's Ajax?" as I look past Jack.

"He's in the kitchen cooking breakfast. He's making Spanish omelet’s this morning.

"I hope it's better than his stew he made last pack meeting. It was way too spicy for me." I get up out of bed.

"Here's your robe. All tho you could remain in your birthday suit and no one would mind." as
he lifts both eyebrows.

"And make Tom jealous or give him the wrong ideas. I don't think so. You have to remember Jack, I'm a married woman and my husband is a council member, so I have certain protocols I have to follow. He wouldn't complain, but why take the chance?" I slip my robe on and belt it.

"Besides I like wearing clothes every once in a while." as I head out of the bedroom with Jack following behind me.

"You know we have another problem as well."

"Oh, what's that?" I stop to look at him.

"Remember my Blazer got damage last night from that attack."

"I remember. I was thinking about asking Karen to come and get us. Besides she wants an excuse to fix your Blazer if I remember right." as I turn back around and continue towards the living room.

"If she drives as crazy as she flies. I won't ride with her. The last time she took me up in one of her planes. I nearly upchuck everything in my stomach because of her flying."

"Oh, come on Jack. She's not a bad flier. She graduated top of her class in the United States Air Force Academy. She has been flying planes and working on them since she was six years old and has fixed and rebuilt several old WWII planes as well. She has a Mustang that really works from WWII and a Wildcat as well. On top of that, she is a licensed Helicopter Pilot." I take a sip of my coffee.

"She's still nuts. I swear I have no idea where she thinks I would have enjoyed being shown how
creative she could be with a plane doing the stunts she did."

"Okay, maybe she gets a little out of hand when she is flying. It's because it's in her blood Jack. She loves flying more than anything in the world. Except maybe having her brains screwed out by my next-door neighbor." I think back on how many times she came crawling and walking back to my house kind of funny.

"You got to be kidding. Are he and her some sort of couple?"

I listen to the tone of voice Jack is using.

"Nope, they’re both good friends and fuck buddies. That's all. There's nothing between them." I sniff the air and smell the Spanish omelets Ajax is making.

"Well, I guess everyone needs a good fuck buddy every once in a while." Jack follows behind me.

"Morning Ajax." as I walk over to refill my coffee cup.

"How are you feeling today Vicky?" he looks towards me after flipping the omelet he is working on.

"A little sore still, but otherwise pretty good this morning." I take a sip of my coffee.

“That’s good because whatever bath beads you used last night knocked you out cold and started affecting us as well when we came in to get you out of the tub.” Ajax flips the omelet onto a plate and adds the special sauce to it that he made.

I walk over towards the small table in the kitchen and sit down on one of the chairs holding the cup of coffee in my hands.

“That’s what Jack said when he woke me up this morning with this wonderful story.” as I take another sip of it.

“I’ll talk to my sister about that bath beads she sent me.” I put my coffee down and start cutting into my omelet.

“Mmmmm!! This is really good, Ajax. Where did you learn to cook something this good at?” as I fill my mouth with another piece of the omelet.

“I worked down in Mexico for a few years as a cook in a little restaurant owned by the local shaman in that area.” he gathers his plate up and comes over to sit with me and Jack.

After sitting down at the table “so how are we going to get around with Jack’s Blazer being all beat up and such?” he stuffs his mouth with a large piece of his omelet.

“I’ll ask Karen to come and gets us. She should have her cell phone on.” as I fish around in my robe and pull out my cell phone as well. I use the quick dial on my phone to call Karen.

“ello!!” as a very tired and sleepy voice comes over my cell.

“Wakey, Wakey Karen., How was your night?” as I think about what she did last night.

“Mmmmm!!, wonderful as always Vicky. Why are you calling me this early in the morning?” As Karen’s voice gets a little bit more awake.

“Cause Jack’s Blazer had an unfortunate accident last night with some Vampires and dust junkies.” I listen to the snoring in the background and can only guess who it is coming from.

“Really? Oh my!”

I hear her giggle.

“Did you tell him that I would fix it for him?”

“Yes, he thinks you had something to do with it. “ I take another sip of my coffee.

“Oh, come now. I’m totally innocent in this, but I’ll be happy to fix it for him and come and get you guys. Where are you guys at?”

“We’re at Emygdia's place. The one she gave me the key to.” I put the coffee mug down and take another bite of my omelet.

“Okay, gave me about an hour or so to get dress and pick up my Expedition. It’s not far from your house Vicky.”

“K, see you in two hours then. Bye!” I end the phone call and place my cell down.

“Well, we have time to finish our breakfast and clean up the kitchen and the rooms.” as I stuff another piece of the omelet in my mouth and drink some of my coffee as well.

“Are you going to call Stanley and tell him you’re not coming to the meeting tonight?” Jack and Ajax both look at me.

“I guess I have no choice in the matter do I guys?” I look back at both of them.

“He’s the head alpha of our pack, Vicky. You know as well as me that we would have to report your behavior to him.” both of them stare at me not in a challenging way.

I sigh and look his number up in my contact list. I have Stanley on speed dial since he is my alpha, but sometimes he can be a pain in the ass about the way I do things. It’s not like I don’t respect him, it’s just I’m more of a lone wolf and feel I shouldn’t have to tell him everything going on in my life. As I find his number and dial it.

“Hello?” as a strong commanding male voice with a deep southern country accent comes across my cell speaker.

“Hi Stanley, it’s me Victoria.” as I listen to my own shaken voice. I don’t know why this always happens when I call him.

“How’s your investigation going Vicky? Are Ajax and Jack still there with you?”

“It’s not going too well, Stanley. We got attacked last night by some vampires and dust junkies that were stronger than normal. Plus, we’re dealing with a vampire that goes after kids born with special abilities. Jack’s Blazer got damage as well and we’re staying here at Emygdia's place that she gave me the keys to.” I sit there trying to figure out why all of a sudden I’m being submissive to Stanley even though he isn’t standing here in front of me.

“So, what is your next move then?” Stanley’s voice drops a little in his commanding voice.

“Well, right now Karen is on her way to pick us up and take us back to my house. I have to see if she will loan us her car as well. Also, there are some sites I want to check out and I might need Ajax and Jack's help on that as well. So, I was calling to tell you I won’t be able to make that meeting I have with you tonight.” I sit there and wonder what he is going to say to me.

“Victoria, you know we need to talk about your actions and your disregard for my orders, but since you’re working on a case right now. We’ll talk about it later when this case is done. Finding these kids that you say were kidnap by a vampire is more important.”

“Thank you Stanley for understanding. As soon as the case is over, I promise to meet up with you Zupan.”

“Alright and take care of yourself Victoria. Oh, and if you need the pack’s help on this one call me right away. You may be a pain in the ass, but you’re still a member of this pack and I can’t have you running around getting yourself killed.”

“I will and thanks, Zupan.” I listen as the connection between his phone and mine goes dead.

I close my cell phone up and pick up my semi-warm coffee “Oh, yuck!” as I look towards Jack.

“Jack, can you refill my cup with some fresh coffee please?” I hand him my coffee cup.

“No Problem Vic.” as he accepts my coffee cup. “So, what is the plan for today?” as Jack dumps out the cold coffee and refills it with some fresh coffee. He then adds my favorite items to it like three scoops of sugar and then some fresh cream to it.” Jack hands me my coffee back after he stirs the cream.

“Mmmm!, much better” as I take a sip of it. “Well, we need to head towards my place so that I can met this Kimberly and then head back this way and investigate the graveyard and the neighborhood some more to see if this vampire is going to be dumb enough to kidnap another kid.” as I take a sip of my coffee.

“Is this Kimberly, is she going with us or with Karen? Because if I remember right Karen isn’t supernatural. “ Jack takes a sip of his coffee.

“I’m thinking about leaving her with my next-door neighbor. There’s more to him than even I know. I don’t know what, but I have a feeling he is hiding what he is.”

“What do you think he is then Vicky?” as Ajax looks over towards me.

“I don’t know Ajax, but I have a feeling whatever he is. It’s very powerful and not something I would want to tangle with.” I take another sip of my coffee again.

Ajax just looks at me. He had felt it too when he met him my next-door neighbor, but he couldn’t place what he was feeling from the guy.

“Well let’s go ahead and finish up our breakfast and get ready for Karen to come and get us then.” Ajax stuffs another bite of his omelet into his mouth.

I watch as Jack puts his coffee mug down and began to finish up his omelet. I follow suit afterward and finish up what I had left on my plate as well.