*Correct,* the Iffrit’s voice was firm, *it’s not our problem Elgin. Tell Zeph, she can deal with it. Part of Petters-Smith’s problem is that she is the golden haired girl purely because of ability. He’s where he is because of his genes more than ability.*
Elgin nodded to himself and went back to looking out the window. In the vastly expanded halls of his mind Cutter and the Iffrit continued his education as his body went about being their joint habitat on Earth.
-o-
Elena took a sip of the very nice Merlot Allen had ordered in with the dinner, she looked at Elgin, “The man’s a slug.”
Zeph looked at Elgin in disgust, “He said that?”
Elgin nodded, “I can give you an audio file if you like.”
Zeph shook her head, “That won’t be necessary.”
Elgin looked at Allen who nodded and pointed at Zeph as he finished his last bite, “Zeph’s right, the weasel’s toast. He’s got good instincts, his antenna are telling him that things are shifting under him. If Chaz had done it once or twice he would probably have gotten away with it but he did it too often and none of the executive partners are dumb.”
“Probably a good thing I didn’t make him disappear, which was one of several impulses. The one of converting him into a large frog seemed a little extreme and would have required a great deal of time though it seemed appropriate.” Elgin swirled the merlot in his glass and took a sip.
Allen cocked an eyebrow, “You could turn him into a frog?”
“DNA on out, of course a two hundred pound frog would be pretty dangerous and leave a hell of a mess.”
“Huh, that’s either pretty profound or the four bottles of wine have taken their toll.” Allen blinked at his glass.
“There’s still one left, the desert wine.” Elgin pointed out, for no clear reason.
Zeph exchanged looks with Elena
Elena smiled, “Have they always been light weights?” Elena asked.
“Rumor is that Elgin gets tipsy on a single glass of beer then drinks everyone else under the table.” Zeph replied.
Elgin smiled, “Rumor is wrong, Elgin did most of his drinking in private,” the subtle cowboy smile faded, “Like my pa. In public I usually tried to make people think I was drinking more than I was...still do.”
Allen grinned, “And I usually can drink everyone under the table, but I took a pain pill and forgot that I wasn’t supposed to drink more than a glass or so.”
The women stared at their men and shook their heads, the two men toasted each other, finished up the last of their wine and started to search for the bottle opener with plans to apply it to the last bottle. Elena and Zeph got up to start getting the fruit and cheese cake desert ready.
Zeph made a detour to check on Humph who was lying on his side snoring, his dinner plate was empty so she gave him some more beef and fish.
He opened one eye slightly, yawned, “Mrow.”
“You’re welcome,” She replied.
Allen had been telling the truth about his head for drink, though he was very definitely tipsy he still won the light hearted game of bridge they played into night as they talked about this that and the other.
Zeph let the conversation flow around her, the wine made her feel warm and cozy, but also a little sad. She had her leg tucked up against Allen’s under the table, a contact that felt good and right. But it opened the distance that she felt towards Elgin even more. Once, as a girl she’d had a crush on Elgin Chalmers and in the months as a simple deputy in the Beauty sheriff’s office she’d felt the attraction again. And it had become something close to unendurable longing after he’d saved her life a couple of times. But that attraction was offset by the mixture of fear and awe she felt for the strangeness that had attached itself to him
Allen was safe, brilliant, funny, warm and normal. And she needed normal, now. Her days of hunting for adventure were over, she never wanted to see a Were again, or to have to endure the nearness of a Vampire. Elena, looking ridiculously clean cut upper crust WASP rather than Slavic femme fatal, was probably; undoubtedly was a better match. She seemed fearless and able to detach herself from the normal world, two attributes anyone who loved Elgin would have to have.
Finally the game stuttered to a stop as the discussion of politics, the new space race, the middle east mess etc, took over. And finally Zeph insisted that a bit giggly Allen go to bed.
When she came out from tucking him in Elgin and Elena were wearing coats and Humph was sitting on the floor nearby his tail neatly folded over his paws.
Zeph walked over and hugged Elena then Elgin and finally Humph, who nuzzled her cheek in a friendly way. She stood back with a smile, “I don’t know, owing my life to each of the three of you is rather strange, but I guess if have to be that accident prone I couldn’t have a better set of guardian angels.”
Elgin smiled back, “And if we thank you for all your work for the Tribe and for all the others you help we'd need another hour. Let's just say if I or they ever need a lawyer we’ll know who to call.”
Elena stepped forward and hugged Zeph again, “That’s for being a friend to Elgin when he needed one.”
“Mrowwr.” Humph wound around Zeph’s leg then strolled tail high to Elgin and Elena. Elgin grasped Elena’s arm and then Humphs offered tail.
Zeph blinked, and they were gone. No sound, no flash, no heat or cold, it was if she had fallen asleep for an instant. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned back to the bedroom and the warm bed and a warm Allen. Somewhere deep in her mind memories began to fade and delink, in a few weeks much of her adventurous year would be hard for her to remember. And though she would have argued the point, Zeph would be much happier that way.
-o-
An instant after stepping forward the three travelers were in the Air-Stream. Outside the wind howled and buffeted the aluminum shell.
Elena put down her travel bag. Most of her belongings were locked behind police tape, her apartment under watch by both the FBI and SVR. Though both government services thought she was dead. And though there were things she missed she wanted to stay dead. The faint genetic changes that the Iffrit had wrought, changing fingerprints, iris patterns and her DNA enough to make her a new person as far as all the biometric factors were concerned would only be helped by her not appearing again in her old haunts.
Elgin slung his backpack on the bed, knelt down and looked around the insulated blinds. “A good foot of blowing snow on top of the base. Damn, I hope Rich kept my driveway plowed.”
Elena looked around and smiled to hide her thoughts. Zeph had told her about Elgin’s home, somehow 26 feet had sounded bigger in the warmth of the lawyer’s New York apartment. But the little space was exquisitely finished and meticulously clean. The bed Elgin was leaning on was big enough for two, the dining area kitchen was bigger than the one her mother had cooked wonderful food in. And after she found a job they’d figure out how to expand.
“Mrowwwwrr!” Humph exclaimed from somewhere that sounded rather distant, probably the bathroom. Curious she followed the sound, around the partition at the end of the kitchen, there was an archway, with darkness beyond, an archway that looked like it was cut in stone.
Stepping carefully she walked forward, into a sitting room with warm leather and brocade upholstery, the floor of silvery wood radiated warmth, a big slate and stone fireplace with a fire burning merrily. There was a grand piano sitting ready in the corner between floor to ceiling expanses of glass that looked onto a moonlit night scene of scudding clouds and blowing snow flowing over the broad expanse of a frozen lake.
“How do you like it?” Elgin’s hands were warm on her shoulders.
“It’s unbelievable...is it real? Not that it matters, it feels real.”
“I would have answered that question different ways at different times my love. The truth is I don’t really know. The view s real; what we touch and see is real, there is a structure that could have these views, b
ut it does not, and the house is occupied by a rather unpleasant über geek. Not a cowboy and his girl.”
She turned in his arms and slipped her arms around his neck, she smiled up into his face, “Okay, I can deal with that answer. Let me demonstrate how much I like it Cowboy!” She pulled his lips down to hers.
THE END
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If you enjoyed Elgin Then please be on the look out for my other published books, Moon Dreams , Under Siege, Exotic Contraband: Lost Among the Stars, and Exotic Contraband: The Road Past Home with others on the way.
Afterword
https://www.ThisWorldandOthers.com.
Cheers
M.A.Harris
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