Later, in the Garage
The mood at the evening meal reminded Violet of the formal dinner at the military school. It was the night before the enquiry to decide if she would get kicked out. She was sitting across from her father in his finest mess dress uniform who was working hard trying to act like nothing happened. He was ignoring her swollen face and blackened eye, trying not to look at her because he was upset about her getting into a fight and possibly getting thrown out. She was disappointed in herself that night long ago. She lost her temper and let him down.
It had the same tense feeling. As the real adults tried to act like nothing happened, making a point not to mention Daniel’s swollen nose and cheek. Everyone tried to play along but like the proverbial elephant in the room, it could not be ignored. They all knew it would have to be talked about but it would be just the three of them alone, without the kids.
The kids. That was a problem. They were trying to hide their animosity towards each other. They did not talk to each other; no food was passed among them only dirty looks. Good thing the adults were there to move the food around or someone might have gone a bit hungry.
Daniel finished eating. Pushing his plate away, he got up from table and left the table, never asking to be excused. He left the kitchen without a word instead giving everyone the nastiest glare he could muster up.
Owen started to get up and call him back. He was stopped by Violet’s hand on his arm. She did not want him to start a problem at the dinner table or make things worse. She hoped by letting Daniel go, the he would find a quiet place to think about what he did, maybe even work out a way to say he was sorry. The kids needed the opportunity to work it out among themselves.
Owen knew different. It wasn’t going to happen but he gave into Violet and sat back down
Once again, everyone tried to ignore what was going on, finishing their meals in silence figuring it was best to get done quickly and away from this uncomfortable situation.
It did not take long for everyone to start clearing the dinner table and cleaning up the kitchen of the cooking mess. It became chaos as Owen bumped into Violet not knowing yet where things went, Derick ran into Veronica and Gretchen purposely started to trip over the dogs.
Gretchen put on her most frustrated face proclaiming, “There are enough bodies in here. I’m going to take the dogs out to get them out of the way so at least no one else will trip on them. Senshi, Onna.” Obediently the dogs followed Gretchen out of the kitchen down into the garage.
In the Basement
Daniel heard the sound of the dogs on the stairway and figured the meal must be over. He needed to go back upstairs to get his pad he left on the couch. Hopefully everyone was busy so he could just come back down and ‘not cause problems’. Besides, he had some planning to do.
Daniel came up the stairs into the garage. As he turned to go up the stairs into the kitchen, he felt something slip around his neck and jerk him backwards. His hands flew to his neck. The rope jerked him backwards and upwards until his toes barely reached the ground. He fought to loosen the rope, to no avail. A person came into his dimming vision, it was Gretchen.
“If you ever touch me again, I will hurt you so bad, the beating my brother gave you will look like mercy. You put your ****ing fingers on my crotch again, I will hang you up on this hook and skin you while you’re still breathing.” She punched him in his broken nose, restarting the blood fountain.
The rope released. Daniel fell to the floor, gasping for breath. As his vision returned, he could see Gretchen’s lithe form walking to the stairs, a long thin naked blade in her hand.
A Tense Evening
It did not take long before Gretchen returned with the dogs. She was a bit shaken by what had happened, by what she did, but she tried to not let it show. Rushing past Derick and Violet finishing up in the kitchen, she raced toward her room with Onna close behind. This concerned Derick.
“I am tired I think I will go to bed” Derick said as he excused himself to go to his room. He really hoped to find out what was wrong with his sister.
Violet joined Veronica in the den after Derek and Gretchen went to bed. She passed Owen headed the other way.
“I know you want them to work it out, but I still want to know what happened. Maybe Daniel will tell me.” Owen said as he went past Violet.
Violet just shook her head as he walked on.
Coming into the den, she found Veronica grabbing a bottle of Scotch off the shelf, along with some of the good crystal. She looked around. Lying next to Veronica’s chair was Senshi.
Veronica saw the look and chuckled.
“I know, Violet. They seem damned determined to make me like and accept them. I have to admit, its working. If I know they are there, I don’t get as startled by them when I see them anymore.”
“You will be fine. They are a lot easier to figure out than people, especially these two.” Violet grinned.
“I don’t know what went down, but I know it’s not a good idea for someone to mess with Gretchen when Derek is around.” Veronica said as she poured some into the crystal bar glasses for both of them.
“I don’t know. I kind of got the impression there was more to it, but neither will talk about it yet.” Violet sat back in the recliner.
“Well, they better work it out before we have to get into the middle of it.” Veronica put her nose over the scotch and breathed in its peaty aroma. This reminded her to see if there was any left at the Class Six on base.
“We better get with Owen in the morning and hash this all out. A wagon train style road trip to the middle of nowhere isn’t the best place to have people at one another’s throats.” Violet sounded more concerned than Veronica expected.
“Thank God the dogs weren’t with them. Depending on how it started, it could have gotten really bloody very quickly.” Veronica shuddered as she considered her own words.
Violet reached down and scratched Senshi’s head, thinking of this sweet little ball of fur unleashed into his fully protective mode. She had wrestled and played tug of war with him in the backyard. She knew how massively powerful he could be. And if he was there, Onna would be as well. If they felt they were protecting Derek or, heaven forbid, Gretchen…
Deep in the Night
Veronica woke up. There was something wrong. The first thing she noticed was movement on her bed. Someone was on it. Correction, something. She could see the shape of one of the dogs, it was Onna.
Onna was on the end of the bed. She was alternatingly sitting on the end of the bed facing the door and turning tight circles on the bed. Whenever she was facing the door, her ears were at full attention and every now and then, a little whine came out. When she would turn her circles, she would pause when her eyes crossed Veronica’s.
Across the Hall
Derek woke up feeling someone climb into his bed.
“Derek, something’s wrong!” It was Gretchen. Senshi joined them on the bed.
“What do you mean, something’s wrong?” Derek tried to wipe the grit from his eyes.
“Senshi woke me up. He kept pawing at my arm until I got up, then he came this way.”
Derek looked at Gretchen, now that his eyes seemed to be working, he saw she had her pants in her hands, complete with belt and holstered pistol. Part of him thought it melodramatic. Then he remembered mom and dad.
“Let’s get dressed. I don’t like the feel of this.”
In Violet’s Bedroom
Violet woke up. She wasn’t sure why. She did that sometimes. When she woke up, she just knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. She threw on shorts and a tank top wandering down the hall to the kitchen. The house was quiet. Then again, this house was always quiet. You could have a gunfight in one of the bathrooms without disturbing the person in the bedroom there was so much sound deadening in the walls along with the super insulation.
In the kitchen, she could see the wind outside was whipping things around. She could hear it howling in gusts as it rearranged the snow in the backyard. She put water on for coffee. After she got it started, she looked around. She had expected the dogs to come investigate.
Violet started feeling off…The last time she felt like this, a rocket hit the tent next to hers downrange.
Later
Violet sipped her coffee as she stood in the kitchen trying to get a handle on her feeling. She could still feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up. It has been almost an hour since she woke up. It just wouldn’t go away. The weather radio on the counter told her it wasn’t much of a winter storm. The wind has died down, so that wasn’t it. Everyone else was asleep. It was only her wigging out, she figured.
She heard noise on the steps leading into the garage. She looked down at her hand. The coffee cup was gone and a twelve inch chef knife was in its place. She didn’t remember doing that.
The doorknob turned. When the door opened, she saw Owen standing there. He looked like he had just gone three rounds with Mike Tyson. His lip was swollen and bleeding. His face was wet with sweat or tears. His torn shirt had smears of blood across the front. His eyes looked empty and hollow, like two piss holes in the snow. He moved stiffly, like every movement was a struggle.
“I had to. It was all my fault.” He said as he stumbled and fell onto the floor.
Dawn
Sunrise saw Derek and Gretchen headed to the base with Senshi and Onna. Veronica had them get dressed , grab their gear and go meet up with Bron at the base golf course to do some snowshoe practice. Felicia was going to join them and take over. Veronica needed Bron to work another matter, off the books.
When Derek and Gretchen asked why no one else was coming, Veronica invoked the ‘just trust me and obey‘ clause.
With them out of the way, she could get down to the serious problem at hand with Owen.