BryonySeries Excerpt: "Reunion," by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara

 Since the beginning of this blog on August 1, 2010, Saturdays has been a day to celebrate BryonySeries author and Irish vampire character Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, and all things Irish.

Since then, Ed has written three books in his BryonySeries Ruthless series ("Ruthless," "The Fifth," "Recovering Ruthless") and is currently working on his fourth.

This excerpt from "Recovering Ruthless" also references the third book in the BryonySeries young adult "drop of blood" vampire trilogy "Staked!", where Ed also appears.

Enjoy!

 

CHAPTER 2: REUNION

 

 

“Not much? Really? In fourteen years not much happened?” Marsha demanded.

 

It sounded incredible to black lesbian veteran Chicago cop turned fugitive who unknowingly escaped into the future.

 

Marsha was twenty-seven years old. Her pregnant lover came with her to escape her husband and get a new life…and she was even younger than Marsha was. Some kind of portal brought them to Beulah County and into Munsonville thirty years later. Time anomalies were old hat to her as this time was the second time. Nothing sinister happening; well, that was unimaginable.

 

              Funny, Matt didn’t age one day since yesterday from Marsha’s perspective but fourteen years ago from his. Most white people showed their age. Matt was strangely sensitive to being called white. Anyway, he seemed relaxed for a sheriff that had to police all of Beulah County without deputies for the past evening or fourteen years, depending on which half of the population you woke up being.

 

              “Not much,” Matt repeated, leaning back in his desk chair and smiling at her, a little too confidently, it seemed to Marsha. “The treaty with the vampires seems to be holding and the werewolves must be hibernating – or something. The only calls I had concerned human offenders, mostly juveniles. And since most of those calls are pranks, I'm more inclined to tolerate them than arrest them.”

 

              “Well, it seems like you don’t need Trudy or me as deputies.” Marsha shrugged.

 

   Now Matt tensed up.

 

              “About that…” He paused to collect his words.

 

Now Marsha tensed up, too. Was Marsha being fired? Or maybe he finally decided to do what must be done about Trudy. Words seemed to elude him. So Marsha waited with a raised eyebrow.

 

              “Well…Matt faltered and fumbled for the right words. “This is uncomfortable for me. Let me start off easy. I pulled some strings and got you a homestead. It’s not ideal, but it’s what I could get. The homestead is on the abandoned Fisher Farm.”

 

              “The one where the mysterious Devil’s Moonshine is brewed?”

 

              Money from the Devil’s Moonshine was the only funding Beulah County received. Even though Beulah County was contained within the borders of Northern Michigan, the State of Michigan never heard of Beulah County. Just as mysterious was the brewing and selling of moonshine in the decrepit barn on Fisher Farm. Nobody ever saw who brewed the stuff, but Matt once saw the leprechaun-like creature who bought it. The creature would toss the full wooden barrels into a portal then leave the empty barrels and a pouch in payment. That pouch always contained pure gold coins. There was an exchange in Thornton that would melt the coins down and pay in cash with no questions asked. The journey from Fisher Farm to the exchange and then to the Beulah County Bank was a weekly trip for Matt. All Beulah County employees were paid in cash from that sale.

 

              “Yeah, but I put the trailer on the far east side of the lot. I don’t want you’re soon-to-be-born sons playing with God knows what.”

 

              “The trailer?”

 

              “Trailer home. When I hired you, I promised you a hundred dollars per day and a place to live. Yes, we’ve been putting you up in that room at the Wisten Hotel in Jenson, but it’s cheaper for the county to buy you a trailer now that you’ve got land to put it on. Its already hooked up to the utilities and ready to move into. I know it’s a small living place but it’s enough to get you started. And – here.”

 

              Matt handed Marsha a cashier’s check. Marsha gasped at the amount.

 

              “Is…is this some kind of severance pay?” Marsha looked up at Matt in disbelief.

 

              “You're not being fired, Marsha. This Pike fellow is running for Beulah County sheriff and I'm not going to win reelection. After he takes office – well, who knows what he's going to do and how he's going to fund it. Besides, it would look suspicious if the sheriff's department budget didn't stay the same. Once I cut the budget, I might not be able to explain it when I need to raise it back.”

 

              “Matt, this is almost a half million dollars!”

 

              “Three hundred fifty-six days in a year times fourteen times your hundred per day brings us to $498,400 dollars,” Matt said calmly. “That won’t be enough to start your farm, but it’s a start. It seems our funding fairies all woke up on my side of the time anomaly. Good thing. The other half of us county workers couldn’t wait fourteen years for the next paycheck.”

 

              Marsha stared at the check. True, only her first name appeared on the “in order to pay” line, but the bank in Thronton never had a problem with cashier’s checks written that way. She was still looking down when Matt moved to the next less comfortable topic.

 

              “Remember when I said that the crime problem in the county was mostly juvenile pranks? There is one criminal matter. Shoplifting. I know who's doing it but it's a little awkward for me to arrest the offenders. It's two kids that weren't here when you went to bed last night. They're both around nine or ten and they’ve started stealing from the local stores around Jensen. One of them is Amy's kid.”

 

“Again?”

 

Matt nodded. “You only know about one son but since then she’s had two others, and the youngest boy has taken up with the New Girl in town.”

 

              “And?”

 

              “The new girl is black.”

 

              Marsha stared at him, trying to keep the shock from her face. Why would that matter? That was what she expected herself to say except she realized that it did matter in the way it might look for an elected sheriff to arrest the only black kid for shoplifting. She remembered what she assumed of him the first time they met: racist backwards corrupt Beulah Country sheriff.

 

              “Did you talk to her parents?”

 

              “Parent. The new girl’s mother seems to be running from something. That’s the story of everyone that moves here. The problem is that I can’t seem to get her to come to the door. She’s hasn’t paid any rent, and the hotel wants me to evict them.”

 

              “And you won’t do that?”

 

              Marsha had never seen Matt so flustered.

 

              “I shouldn’t have to, for now. The mom and her two children live in the same hotel that we put you up in.”

 

              “So, you want me to evict them.”

 

              Matt sighed and looked pointedly at Marsha. “You’re not getting it. You see, I bought your trailer several years ago. And they’ve been living in your old room ever since.”

 

              “Beulah County is paying the rent? Matt you’re not helping… wait. I woke up in that room.”

 

              Matt started to explain but she was already on her smartphone, calling with a forefinger in the air for Matt’s silence.

 

              “Hey, Babe,” Sandra answered. “Is work as crazy as it was supposed to be? Because you would not believe what I’m looking at right now…”

 

              “Where are you right now?”

 

              “I’m taking a walk. Why?”

 

              “In Jenson?”

 

              “No. I’m on the homestead. Why would I be in Jenson?”

 

              “Because we live in Jenson.”

 

              “No, we don’t. We live in a trailer now.”

 

Marsha said nothing, trying to absorb this shift in their lives.

 

“You’re not freaking out about this, right? We’ve been through time warps before, and we both know how it goes. Everything feels natural, like we always lived in the new time. If you were to go home right now, you’d know the way there even if no one told you where the trailer was. By the way, our trailer’s nice. Better than a hotel room and there’s a herd of wild mustangs grazing on our fields. I was afraid they’d eat the poisonous weeds, but they seem to know not to do that. This is so cool.”

 

              “It’s just that another family lives in our room. They have for the past...” Marsha looked at Matt to fill in the time frame.”

 

              “Two and a half years,” Matt said.

 

              “Two and a half years without paying rent?”

 

Matt nodded and reached for his coffee.

 

To Sandra, Marsha added. “But I woke up this morning in that room. You were still sleeping.”

 

              “Babe. No biggie. That’s how time warps work.”

 

Sandra chatted about the mustang herd and how they could be good for the farm. Marsha

Marsha caught Matt’s eye. Matt was smiling by the time Marsha hung up.

 

              “You have a true farmer's daughter there,” Matt said, nodding gain, this time to Marsha’s phone. “You know she's right. The quicker we accept it, the clearer our heads will be. It's like the leprechauns told us. Yesterday or fourteen years ago, half the population thought it was 1994 and the rest thought it was 2008 and nobody thought to mention it or – for that matter – even notice it. Well now it's 2008 for everyone. If anything, life is more straightforward today. Still, I want you to handle the shoplifting issue sometime this week. Are you OK with that?”

 

              Marsha grinned. “Hard to argue with the boss that just gave me a half million dollars as a bonus. Don’t worry; I'll take care of it. There won't be any shoplifting in Jenson, and I won't make this a political incident either. However, I would like to know what you intend to do with Trudy. Why is she still with us? I can hear her snoring in the lockup.”

 

              “She wasn’t here at all, until this morning. For everyone on the other side of the time anomaly, it was as if they never existed. Now, today, it’s as if they never left. I only know that because I took careful notes. But as to why she’s here now, well, I’m not going to get rid of her while she sleeps. Besides that, Ed Calkins needs her. According to him, she hasn’t fed the vampires yet. She has to do that in some kind of magical dream that he’s going to help her with.”

 

              Marsha frowned. So did Matt, both of them finding distaste in their mouths about what had to be done.

 

              Then Marsha broke the silence. “I’m sure she knows what’s coming. Do you expect she will do her duty knowing that she’s a goner after she does?”

 

              “I do.”

 

              “But how will Ed Calkins take it? She’s his best friend.”

 

              “Well…you know how ruthless that vampire is. I’m sure he’s going to write several limericks to hurt my feelings.”

 

              Marsha couldn’t tell if Matt was intending to be sarcastic or not. He always spoke as if everything were a literal truth.

 

“But if you see him, tell him it was all my decision.” Matt gulped the rest of his coffee. “No need for both of us to feel bad. Anyway, his helping Trudy feed the vampires is going to come at a cost. In exchange for help in that…what’s it called?”

 

              “Enchanted dream.”

 

              “Yes, that. Enchanted dream.” Matt leaned back and folded his arms. “Ed says he needs a vampire to help him against Kellen Wechsler, the vampire that killed Professor Cornell Dyer. He needs to find another vampire – Susan Betts – that Ed claims Kellen turned and enslaved. To get her, he needs the help of two people from the future. One is Patrick O’Patrick…”

 

              “Never heard of him.”

 

              “That’s because you haven’t met him. Yet.”

 

   “And who’s the other?”

 

   “Karla Dyer.”

 

              “Not the daughter of…”

 

              “The very one, but from the future, so we have to make sure she doesn’t meet herself. Ed needs us to get Karla’s cooperation. At thirty-two, it seems Future Karla is in a world of legal trouble.”

 

              Marsha let out an unhappy groan and marched toward the coffee machine for her own, badly needed brew. Then she returned to Matt’s office, where they spent the rest of the morning discussing the plans.

 

             Immediately after lunch – for Marsha was not one to procrastinate – Marsha pointed her cruiser towards the Wisten Hotel in Jenson where she woke up this morning. She hurried up to her room and fumbled for her keys. It unnerved her – but she didn't panic – when she saw that the key on her ring was not the key to her room.

 

              “Good afternoon, Deputy. It’s good to see you.” The hotel manager, a think and balding man, walked quickly down the hallway with keys and motioned for her to follow as he didn’t break stride but kept going. “We appreciate Beulah County for paying the rent as we haven’t been able to find tenants. The police have been too afraid to respond until now, and I find that disappointing. I’m sure you understand.”

 

              “I really don’t. Didn’t you want the occupants evicted? Isn’t that why I’m here?”

 

              He turned to face her. He was sweating. But he selected a key from a large key ring and handed it to Marsha. “In a sense, that is what we want. Take the key. I'm not going any nearer but I’m sure you’ll find the room quite empty of any personal effects.”

 

              “What? Why?”

 

              “The room is haunted.”

 

              Half an hour later, Marsha collected herself before radioing the change in information about the squatter family.

 

              “According to the manager there never was a family renting the room,” Marsha reported to Matt,” only floating specters that make noise at night terrified the maintenance staff and neighboring guests. In daylight, it was only unexplained sounds, but at night, there were images floating, clear enough to make out a young black woman and her two children. The manager has no recollection of any requests to evict. He did report hauntings, but he couldn’t give a helpful description of the ghosts.”

 

              “Other than the ghostly family is black,” Matt finished correctly.

 

              “Correct. I don’t think he’s voting for you, Matt.”

 

              At the sheriff’s suggestion, Marsha spent the rest of her shift questioning Jesson. None of them remembered making any complaints about shoplifting children. Worse and even more confusing than that, Amy still only had two children.

 

              Matt was still at his desk when Marsha radioed the end of her shift. All at once “he” was there. Matt tried to keep the panic from his voice as he exclaimed, “Ed Calkins!”

 

              “Sheriff Matt,” Ed said quietly and evenly.

 

Ed was a white-haired and white-bearded, bespectacled, pot-bellied vampire of average height, but he looked at Matt as if he were measuring an ally or opponent. The silence that hung between them made Matt think the Ed Calkins before him came from a very different time.

 

             “How can I help you?” Matt asked nervously, feeling certain Ed was reading his mind.

 

 The vampire suddenly noticed the discomfort.

 

              “Sorry,” Ed said with a tone of genuine remorse. “It’s just that the Sheriff Matt I knew wanted no part of the mystical, mythical, or supernatural. I find a very different sheriff before me and I’m glad of it.”

 

              “You’re not Ed Calkins of this time,” Matt told him. “You’re not the Ed Calkins that’s still dying either.”

 

              Matt knew how Ed, who was also a paper carrier, turned vampire. In the seven seconds Ed was bleeding to death after being shot, Ed somehow stretched that time to ten years…and then more. A lot more.

 

              Ed shook his head, not just to express the negative, but to show Matt – and perhaps himself – that there was no bullet rattling in his skull. This meant the Ed Calkins standing in the office was not “seven second Ed,” which was not good as that Ed was the least crazy.

 

              “I have no idea what time I’m from,” he spoke to Matt’s unspoken concern. “But I do know where I got this.”

 

              A large paperback book fell onto Matt’s desk with a thump. The cover was mainly white with a single flowered red rose and the red lips and white fangs of a vampire. The book’s title was one word with an exclamation point: “Staked!”

 

              “And this book will help me somehow with my policework in the Department of Mythical Creatures?” Matt asked doubtfully. “Why give it to me? I’m still a rookie at this. I’d have thought…”

 

              “Read the author.”

 

              The author’s name under the title, but words couldn’t be true. They said, “story by Denise M. Baran-Unland.”

 

              Matt raised his eyes at Ed, still disbelieving the words. “The Goddess? When did she write this book?”

 

              Ed ignored the question. “Notice it doesn’t say, ‘novel by.’ It says, ‘story by,’ the same way a reporter takes credit for a report. Every place except Beulah County will see this book as a work of fiction. We know better. She must not see this. I don’t know what harm might happen if she does. No one in the book should see this either.”

 

              “This is what happens?”

 

              “Exactly what happens…as far as The Goddess knows, anyway.”

 

              Matt tried to wrap his mind around Ed’s words. “When does it happen?”

 

              “Today. The book starts today and mostly ends on Christmas. Don’t let Trudy see it either. Eircheard is in the book and Trudy has no control over her mouth when she’s … look. I know what you’re planning to be rid of her after I finish helping her with that dream. I’m OK with it, but well, sometimes plans don’t pan out.”

 

              Matt nodded his head as he thumbed through the pages. “You’re in this book. You’re in here a lot.”

 

              “I’m already crazy.”

 

              Matt kept browsing. “Kellen is in here. Is that good?” He looked up for an answer. As he did, the thought hit him. Kellen, since he was a vampire would be able to read Matt’s mind.

 

              Ed’s frown confirmed the fear. “That’s why we need to rescue another vampire, Susan Betts. You’re still with me on that?”

 

              “Yes. Who gets staked, by the way? Kellen?”

 

              “No. I get staked. Kellen gets offed too – but I can’t tell from the text if the ‘offing’ sticks – and I have reason to doubt it does. Don’t ask why I’m still here because time travel makes it all confusing. Remember Millicent Gothart? She was staked by a Serbian priest in the beginning of the twentieth century, but she still causes trouble here in Beulah County. And she doesn’t mess with deep time like I do.”

 

              “Deep time…, I don’t know…”

 

              “Don’t make me explain. I’m still trying to figure it out. Anyway, I might not have been staked. Even I don’t know.”

 

              Matt looked down and started browsing through the pages again.

 

              “I can’t believe that The Goddess didn’t write a single word about Trudy, Marsha, or me.” Matt shook his head as he turned the pages. “I suppose I should be accustomed to being under-appreciated, but my entire staff…”

 

              “Maybe at some point I told her not to write about certain people. Anyway, she doesn’t totally ignore law enforcement. One of your staff gets mentioned.” Ed turned pages for Matt with vampiric speed to where a dispatcher was depicted as responding to a situation,

 

              “But he’s just a…”

 

              “The book doesn’t mention that.” Ed chuckled. “But the local legend sure does.”