Chereads / DIRTY BEAST / Chapter 18 - Chapter 17:  A Home Away From Home

Chapter 18 - Chapter 17:  A Home Away From Home

The Master Bedroom, Apartment 73, The Regalway Towers, Southport, New Jersey.....

  Still holding the aluminum bat with his rather large and powerful hand, Ron simply looked down at the enraged fourteen-year-old girl unsure of what to make of her, but found that he was definitely impressed by her bravery in the past few hours. Her father was something of a warrior in his last moments despite them being mortal enemies, Ron had begrudgingly respected the wolf hunter for it in the end. Savannah had not let go of the bat still glaring rather murderously at Ron who was amused that she believed she could actually do him harm. He sighed releasing the bat and strolled over toward the nearby black leather sofa appearing to be exhausted from the fight with the two bloodsuckers and the onset of early morning. He didn't doubt that his associates and bosses would be ringing his phone nonstop as he noted the time and realized it was less than an hour before he usually got up for work.

Ron yawned and folded his arm in the back of his head looking over the enraged fourteen-year-old who had now become a guest in his rather luxurious home. As with her father, he felt that introductions were in order especially if he was going to convince her to stop her petty rounds of attempted murder whenever the mood struck her.

"I'm Ron by the way," he said his American accent returning as he spoke to the still-on-edge teen. "You may not wish to believe this, but I've been sent to ensure your safety and tasked by your very father, the Werewolf Hunter, to keep you away from the clutches of the bloodsuckers that recently invaded your apartment."

Savannah looked at him still gripping the bat tightly within her rather small hands as she glared at the shirtless older man who had invaded her life out of nowhere. She knew all too well that he wasn't human or mortal as he put it and that there was something else going on that she had not been privy to for all these years.

If her father was a wolf hunter, then why was he entrusting her well-being to an actual werewolf?

Ron appeared to note her confusion and reached into his back pocket where he pulled out a silver key given to him by her father. He dangled it in her view and awaited her reaction. She stared at the key apparently recognizing it as something her father never took off and reached for it in a timid manner that was laughable when one compared all the times she had attempted to kill him when she thought he wasn't looking.

Savannah took the key but was careful to keep the bat against her knees in case she needed to use it. Ron smirked watching her knowing that he'd have it in his hands long before she even looked back down to grab it. She examined the key slowly and looked back up at Ron as if expecting something.

"What does it unlock?" she asked finally using her voice in place of weapons when dealing with Ron directly.

"A chest that he insisted I bring here for you when you got home," replied Ron with something of a yawn as his exhaustion from the back-to-back fights and the running and chasing in the middle of the night seemed to be catching up to him at last. "I've taken the liberty of setting up the guest room for you and even added some of your things while I waited for your arrival, you are welcome to venture to it, and as long as you are here the guest room is yours to make your own."

Savannah didn't know what to say as she took the bat into her hands and made her way toward the guest room at the end of the long hall that lead to the bedrooms of the werewolf Ron's apartment. He continued to sit back on the sofa in his living room looking up at the ceiling after he watched the girl disappear into the guest room.

It was quite a long night for him, more so than usual but he concluded that he had a good deal of phone calls to make. He strolled over to his house phone where he dialed the number for the agency.

"Heather...it's Ron...I don't think I'll make it in today," he said sounding every bit as worn out as he had been following the night he had.

{"Rough night?"} asked Heather in an inquisitive tone.

"Had some business to take care of for my old man," replied Ron mentioning his father to Heather for the first time since they'd known each other.

{So that was your father that dropped by the agency."} said Heather piecing it all together. {"He seems like a nice man, wonder if he's proud his son became a model."}

"He's not," replied Ron with a sigh. "Can you handle things for me...I have to catch up on some sleep after the night I had."

{"Sure thing."} replied Heather dutifully, he couldn't tell but she was smiling on the other end of the phone. {"Sweet dreams."}

Ron hung up the phone without another word now that he had that situation squared away and it appeared that the fourteen-year-old was occupying herself for the moment, he ventured toward his bar and poured himself a stiff drink.

The drink of choice was a nice cool dark whiskey with no chaser. He poured himself a nice fat round glass and drank it down almost immediately before pouring another and drinking it down as well. He'd been so busy enjoying his drink that he had barely registered the appearance of an intruder and was once more on his guard.

"A little early for whiskey isn't it my son?" asked the voice of Marcellus from behind him.

"Holy shite Da, you could have given me a bloody heart attack," growled Ron startled by the sudden appearance of his well-dressed father.

Marcellus smirked noting the return of his Irish accent and made his way over toward one of the available black leather armchairs where he sat and looked over his weary son with inquisitive dark eyes.

Ron poured himself another drink before stepping away from the bottle, but he elected to sip this newest glass as he turned his attention to his rather patient father. He knew he was there for a debriefing and wished to know about the girl in the guest room.

"As it turns out, the murders were committed by bloodsuckers, the low-grade fiend kind and they came off the ship that crashed into the docks," said Ron immediately getting into it. "They managed to track down the Wolf Hunter's family and found only him and a lot of fucking traps waiting for them, but he was no match for the female bloodsucker and she clawed his guts out before I could intervene."

"And what of the child?" asked Marcellus making it clear that he had come to the conclusion of all this with his own investigation.

"She's safe...I gave her the guest room...promised her old man I'd look after her and all that," replied Ron taking another sip from his glass.

"And you shall," replied Marcellus with a stern expression. "You are hereby in charge of the girl and her well being so see to it that you don't fail me this time around."

"WHAT!?" asked Ron with an arched brow. "DA!?"

Marcellus sighed.

"She trusts you, well about as much as one could trust an unruly pup like yourself and it is better that you see to her than the Vampirirans getting ahold of her or worse one of the lesser Were Clans in a bid to get retaliation for lost members," he explained. "She is to remain with you and in your care just as her father entrusted you, so shall I...keep her safe and for the love of everything that is sacred stay out of trouble."

Ron still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He had initially believed that his father would take the girl and he'd be done with this whole mess, but here he was forcing him to keep her.

"DA!" he said as Marcellus took his leave of him ignoring the evident indignation behind his tone as he did.

The old man was quite fast when he needed to be, possibly part of the reason he was so effective at his position of Night Watchman.

Having little choice but to go along with what his father demanded, Ron turned his attention back to his bar and poured himself another whiskey making it a double before heading back toward his bedroom.

He had quite enough of this day, even if it had just gotten started.