The door was answered by a youth who looked like an older copy of the stableboy, only with a mousier brown to his hair. He looked puzzled for a split second before his eyes landed on the star on my chest before leaning into the doorframe a bit to peer around me. His eyes widened when he saw Pilar, the same look of excitement as his younger sibling making an appearance.
“Pop!” he turned around to yell, “the sheriff and the vampire are here!”
I winced at that, though felt somewhat mollified by the low chuckle I heard from Pilar over the kid’s reaction.
The stableboy scurried to the door first, followed soon by an alpha who looked to be around thirty or so.
“You came!” the stableboy exclaimed.
“We did,” Pilar said. “I brought some treats from home I thought you might like. There’s enough to share.”
“Pop, can we?” both boys asked. “Please, please?”
Their father chuckled. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m sorry if Lenny made a nuisance of himself.”
“Not at all,” I reassured him. “He’s taken such great care of our mounts and seemed such a great kid, we wanted to reward him.”
“In that case, come on in. I’ll put the kettle on. I’m George, it’s nice to meet you. Lenny wouldn’t shut up about meeting you both.”
Remembering our plan, I quickly replied, “Very nice to meet you. I’m Kelly Townsend, but you can just call me Sheriff Kelly. My companion here is Hunter Pilar. You know what? It’s lovely out. Why don’t we sit out here? The outside lantern gives plenty of light.”
He blinked but didn’t quibble. “Okay, sure. Why not! Nolan, you boys grab the benches from round the table and bring them on out. Then put the kettle on.”
By the time the benches were out, the kettle boiling, and us situated with the promised pastries, everyone was fairly relaxed in our presence.
“It’s cool how your eyes glow!” Lenny said, munching on his share.
Pilar laughed. “It’s an adaptation to help us see better in low light. They don’t actually glow and give off light so much as reflect and magnify what light there is.”
“Just like the voxes,” Nolan observed, referring to the six-legged carnivores that looked rather like a cross between old Earth’s gray wolves and foxes, if pictures were anything to go by. Except those had four legs and not six and weren’t marsupials. Voxes carried their young in a pouch until they grew fur and opened their eyes, which was once they were about the size of a large man’s hand. Voxes were also much larger by all accounts, standing chest high to an adult human male of average height. Thankfully they were shy creatures and stayed deep in the forests away from the settlements for the most part.
“Exactly like that,” Pilar replied, casually looking around as he took a bite of his pastry. Swallowing, he observed, “Nice view of the river from here.”
“Yeah, well, it was even better before they built those big sheds. I had to relocate my outdoor lines because of all the comings and goings kicking up dust,” George said with disgust as the sound of a whistling kettle filled the air. “I’ll go get that. No sugar I’m afraid, but plenty of milk.”
After reassurances from us both that would be fine, he went inside to make the cups of tea.
“Pops moved the lines around back to keep some of the smell from what they're doing in there from blowing and settling into the washing. They didn’t like the smell in their sheets up at the house,” Nolan said.
“Just cooking the pine needles aren’t they? To scent soap?” I asked. “And make pine tea.”
“Oh yeah, sometimes it smells real good, but other times it stinks.”
Pilar and I exchanged glances. Okay, so something else is getting processed in there besides pine needles maybe. Or perhaps it was spoiled batches. It was worth finding out more if we could.
“Lots of boats and wagons, bet that makes a lot more comings and goings than you were used to up here,” Pilar stated.
“Yeah, and half the boats coming at night, too. The lanterns on the barges glare into the windows,” Lenny grumped.
“They wouldn’t if you closed your curtains,” George told him sternly, bringing out a tray with three slightly chipped mugs on them.
Lenny looked chagrined at that. “I hate closing them. If you close them, the cool air gets blocked coming in the window!”
“So do a lot of skeeters!” Nolan said pointedly. “Stupid bloodsuckers!” His eyes rounded and he popped his hands over his mouth upon realizing what he’d just said.
Pilar simply laughed. “We call them l’ku’shmo. It means biters, and they certainly do like to get their fill.” As if on cue, one buzzed around his face and he swatted it away.
The tension defused, Nolan dropped his hands.
“I know Lenny works at the stable. What do you do?” I asked the boy.
“I help with the laundry and run errands for Pops.”
“My Larry left three years ago and the boys have done their best to help out,” George said.
“He left? I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yep. Came home from the big house after delivering the washing to be pressed and was all abuzz about that new township being planned. Said we should go see about helping set it up, be more than vassals. Take in laundry for the workers and open it as our own business, maybe adjacent to a new inn or something.”
“New township?” I kept my voice even, not wanting to betray the fact that I had no clue what he was talking about. Folks were always talking about the settlement expanding and expressing opinions about where they thought a new settlement would be beneficial, but as far as I knew, nothing official had ever been announced.
“The one his people have opened land up for on the other side of the divide, about a hundred miles south,” he said, tilting his head towards Pilar and referring to the No Man’s Land zone the train tracks ran through. Neither us or the vamps had settlements there, just stations.
“And he left without you for this venture?” Pilar asked quietly, leaning forward, balancing his cup on his knee.
“Sure did. Guess he didn’t like me telling him I thought we should wait until it was more established. I only found out he’d gone when Master Joe stopped by to let me know he’d given him a ride to the station.”
Pilar sat back. “I see. I’m very sorry to hear that. It must have been a terrible shock.”
“That it was.” He sighed. “I knew things were a bit strained between us but we always worked through the rough patches before. And him not leaving nary a word after, neither.”
“Screw him!” Nolan shouted angrily. “We don’t need him. We’ve got you and me and Lenny!” He stood up and ran inside. Lenny got up and followed him.
“I’ll go sit with him,” he said.
Pilar and I exchanged another glance. As far as I knew, and surely I’d have heard about something like this, seeing as they’d need law enforcement support, there was no such new township in the works. So where did Larry go? Who told Larry the story that started it all? And did Joe know anything about it, or had he merely given a ride to someone he found walking to the nearest station?
We came for answers and got some, but now we were leaving with even more questions.