“I think that’s his idea, sweetie.”  Patricia said.

Bethany Anne turned to her, “You too?”

“Me too what? I’m just pointing out the obvious.  I’m not sure what happened to cause you be so upset with him.”

Bethany Anne crossed her arms. “Nothing. Happened.”

Patricia looked over to Lance who was watching his daughter and minutely nodded his head up and down.  “I see.  Well, if you want to have a proper relationship with such a powerful supporter you need to go down there and have a discussion about the ‘nothing’.”

She stared at her dad who stared right back.  Finally, she dropped her eyes, “I’ll take it under advisement.”

“No, you will go and do it.”  Lance said. Bethany Anne brought her head back up in a flash, but Lance kept going, “You can’t have such a significant opportunity become a potential misunderstanding between you and Michael. Left unresolved it has potential for an enemy to use against you.  That is bad leadership just because you’re having a spat about God only knows what, young lady.”

She jerked her head up and down.

Lance turned back to Kevin, “What is your concern about security?”

Kevin flipped a page over, “We are implementing a large amount of electronic surveillance devices and triggers across the property, the problem is both the size of the base and how easy small drones can get on the property.”

Bethany Anne asked, “Are we talking quad-copters or what?”

Kevin turned his page one more time, “Those, plus tiny insect devices, bugs on items brought in, long range laser devices against the windows in the R&D area plus the normal people, data transfers and other miscellaneous items.”

Bethany Anne pulled a leg up and put her elbow on her knee putting her chin in her hand.

Kevin looked over to Lance who shrugged his shoulders, out of the corner of his eye, Kevin caught Patricia putting up one finger.

“We need vampires.”

Patricia coughed suddenly and then laughed a little, Kevin going to pound on her back but she noticed and said, “No!  It’s nothing.  I just wasn’t expecting her to say we needed ‘more’ vampires!”

TQB Base, Colorado – USA

“Hi boss.”

Bethany Anne looked to her left as she was walking down the hallway.  “Hey Kevin, how did the security review go?”

Kevin McCoullagh stepped out of the room he was in and joined Bethany Anne as they walked towards Lance’s office.  “Well enough.  Almost all of the troublemakers left without causing us a problem.  Can’t say I’m terribly happy about letting Robert go without something to remember me by.”

Bethany Anne cocked an eyebrow at him, “My, someone’s in a bloodthirsty sort today aren’t they?”

Kevin shrugged, “It pisses me off that he would so easily sell out.  I have to question if he would have done that while he had on the uniform?  Anyway, I didn’t say anything.”

“Good, the team has a plan to monitor the software he installed and see what they were targeting and then feed false information upstream.”  The two of them arrived at Lance’s office.  Bethany Anne knocked a couple of times sharply, then opened the door.

“Bethany Anne!”  Patricia grinned at her from behind her desk and stood up. Lance and Patricia had decided they wanted one large office with the desks at both sides of the office facing each other.  If you placed a mirror in the middle of the room, it would look the same.  Except the mirror wouldn’t show Lance’s occasionally grumpy face on the other side.

“Hey Patricia.”  Bethany Anne accepted a hug from the woman.  She didn’t look much older than Bethany Anne now.  It solved the issue of calling her ‘mom’ when she looked more like her sister.

Bethany Anne turned to see her dad’s empty chair, “Dad around?”

Patricia sat back down, “Yes.  He went to find a couple of Ding-Dongs.  He can get grumpy in the middle of the afternoon if he didn’t sleep enough the previous night.  I found the sugar and chocolate cheers him up.”

Kevin asked, “No worries for his health?”  He turned to face the two young looking women who were staring at him. “My mistake, I wasn’t thinking.  No calorie worries.”

A voice spoke behind them, “Hey Kevin, hey baby!” Bethany Anne received a hug from her dad, Kevin a slap on his back. “Ready to talk base?”

Kevin closed the door, “Yup.”

Patricia grabbed her laptop and Kevin turned one of Patricia’s chairs around and pulled it over so everyone was facing Lance.

Lance spoke, “We can talk about the three company R & D groups a little later.” He then asked Kevin, “What did we learn from Michael?”

Kevin answered, “We have a defense industry probe already into our business.  It seems the fact that you are the big guy for TQB Industries and residing here on your former base has made everyone assume you have a huge military play going on.  That was the ‘core focus’ of three people that Michael read.  We haven’t fired any of them yet. We are waiting for additional people to help cover their roles before we let them go.”

Bethany Anne asked, “What kind of people do you need?”

Kevin replied, “Security, engineering, maintenance and operations.  Pretty much all of the core people.”

Patricia interrupted, “Is it going to be hard to find people here in the States that know military and are safe?”

“No, we proved when selecting crew for the two ships that it can be done.” Bethany Anne answered, “However, we need to be thinking about merging more countries into our mix.  I don’t want there to be an ‘all U.S.A. all the time’ answer to everything.”

“What about vetting them?  When you crewed your ships, I understand from Frank that he took care of that for you.”  Lance said as he unwrapped a cigar and bit on it.

Bethany Anne wrinkled her nose, “Gah! Those things don’t smell good anymore, not like they did when I was young.”  She moved in her chair, trying to get more comfortable. “Dad, are you irritated with my comment about more Americans?”

“Honey,” Patricia said, “your dad knows we can’t stay so heavy U.S., but let him work through it his own way.”

Kevin hid a smile behind his hand which he quickly killed when Lance’s eye’s turned to him.

“Between Frank, Dan and ADAM I’m pretty sure we can accomplish the same as we did for the Polarus and the Ad Aeternitatem.  Plus, we have Michael to do a final.”

“About Michael.”  Kevin interrupted, “He says that the Pods are definitely a nice solution, but he would prefer a more personal experience and he requests a stewardess for his next flight.”  This time, Kevin didn’t hide his smile when Bethany Anne blushed.

“I’ll give him a ‘stewardess’…”

“I think that’s his idea, sweetie.”  Patricia said.

Robert walked into Hanger noticing that it was temporarily quartered into four distinct working areas with security around the perimeter.  He raised an eyebrow when he noticed Kevin standing over to the side with his arms crossed. Robert started walking towards him while watching all of the rest of the activity on the large floor.

“What’s up with the tables and everything Kevin?”

Kevin McCoullagh looked over to Robert McCarty, his senior member for the Corps of Engineers on the base and answered, “The company is doing a security check of everyone that came on board and wishes to stay since the main building is completed.”

Robert stood next to Kevin and watched for a couple of minutes, “I see them going into the two offices, but it doesn’t look like they are in there for more than a couple of minutes.”  He turned towards Kevin, “Do they have some sort of lie detector device?”

Kevin kept his face focused out towards the floor and lied through his teeth. “Don’t know.  I’m to understand that it is some of the new technology from one of the companies the General is over-seeing.  So, for all I know he brought it back with him.”

“You didn’t have to do this?”  Robert asked.

“In a way, mine was a lot longer and more thorough.  I’m sealed from disclosing anything about my experience, but I’m pretty sure they got all of the truth out of me they wanted.”

Robert turned back to the floor, “What happens if they don’t pass?”

“Released with four months’ pay. Or they’re given the option of working for another company, if a position they are qualified for is available. In that instance all moving costs for the employee and their family will be paid.  So far I’ve heard of six taking the package without even going through the security check.”

Robert asked, “Scared to take the test?”

Kevin laughed, “No!  They were just tired of the cold weather and found out the company has some operations in Southern California and Florida.”

“That sounds nice, my bones are starting to seize up mid-summer just thinking about some of the cold we get here.”

Kevin grunted, “Well, if you want warmer climes, I’m not going to hold you back, but you need to help me find a qualified candidate or two if you can.”

Robert watched the people entering the offices, “You say the company will pay the moving expenses?”

“Yes, for you and one household to go with you.  Although for you, I imagine the opportunities are pretty wide-ranging.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, they are building in other areas as well, plus in Europe.”

“No shit?”

“Nope.”

Robert seemed to be thinking for half a minute. “I’ll be back in a bit. I need to go call Tricia.  She keeps on my ass about living near the water and if I don’t tell to her about this moving option and she finds out …”  Robert left it hanging.

Kevin simply nodded his understanding as Robert started walking towards the door heading outside and pulled his cellphone out.

Kevin hoped Robert’s ‘wife’ chose to move, because it would really suck to have to fire the guy for taking money to pass along base secrets.

Or bury him, depending on who he had sold out to. Kevin understood that behind door number two over there, was Michael. And he was just passing time with most of these simple mind reviews waiting to see if Robert really wanted to try and become a mole in the organization.

Something that Kevin McCoullagh wasn’t going to allow.  Tom Billings had found evidence on three computers. Software had been installed to start passing information outbound in three weeks. Tom had deactivated the software and upgraded the firewalls, stopping information going outbound without authorization from the special data transfer rules now in place.

It would be good enough until ADAM brought AGILITY online, the refined version of himself capable of being run on the massive number of servers Tom had installed and fired up in the past three weeks.

Which was good, because when Kevin first learned that Robert was guilty of setting up all of the snooping software, he wanted to leave him a bloody wreck. It took everything he had to act as if he didn’t know of Robert’s duplicity.  Knowing they were mere days from AGILITY going active had stayed his hand.

Just barely.

Bobcat retorted, “Bullshit!  You said if I could make a donut in the moon’s one-sixth gravity that you would ask Gabrielle out on a date!”

Jeffrey set his reports down.  While he was holding some of the best information related to the moon’s surface known to mankind, he just had to hear what the base’s own version of reality-TV was up to today.

The three men spread around the table, taking their usual spots.  William to Jeffrey’s left, Bobcat at the other end of the table and Marcus on his right.

Marcus grumped, “I was talking about a real donut!  Not just marks on the Moon’s regolith.  You know, with yeast?”

Bobcat’s head shook back and forth, “C’mon doc.  You know better than that.  If you don’t specify, I get to choose my definition.  And I chose that a donut was done by wheels on the dirt!”

“Regolith.”  Marcus replied.

“Whatever.  So, how hard is it to ask Gabrielle out on a date?  C’mon man, grow a pair.  It isn’t like she hasn’t turned down a thousand men in her lifetime.  All that would mean is… is…”  Bobcat turned to William, “Help me out here.”

William smiled, “Hell no.  I’m not about to admit I might, or might not, be aware that Gabrielle is as old or perhaps even older than two centuries.  If a woman can be peeved when she hits forty, I damn sure am not going to say she is older than four-hundred.  So, hell-to-the-no, you’re on your own.”

Bobcat’s response was, “Fuck you, my no-spinal-cord friend! And I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

William nodded, “Apology accepted.”

Bobcat turned back to Marcus, “My point is, I’m sure she has learned not to rip apart the shallow and delicate ego some men have.  So, what’s your problem?”

Marcus looked between his two teammates and squeaked out, “What if she says yes?”

Bobcat slammed his hand down on the table making a loud ‘crack’ sound and then using the same hand to point at Marcus, “Perfect!  Then you … you…”  He looked back over at William again.  “Shit, what would you say to a woman who has literally been around the block hundreds of times?”

William just smiled and used the widely accepted motion for zipping his mouth shut.

Bobcat gave him a look of disgust and turned back to Marcus, “I don’t imagine she has been out with a rocket scientist.  Hell, you guys have only been around since what, the 1940’s?”

Marcus started to consider what Bobcat was saying when Jeffrey cut in, “Gentleman, as entertaining as this is, we need to move forward with our meeting.”  He pulled out his folder containing their recent tasks and then spoke to no one in particular, “And guys? Just a footnote to end your discussion.”

They all looked over from their own papers.

He looked up and smiled, “Remember that she was in Europe and could very well have dated the original rocket scientists from Germany.  Imagine if she had an evening with Wernher von Braun?”

Instead of causing Marcus to be more concerned, he turned thoughtful.

Jeffrey shrugged, sometimes he couldn’t figure out everyone’s motivation on the first pass.

TQB Base, Colorado – USA

Jeffrey Diamantz still felt it a little surreal to be working inside a mountain.  He was walking into what his team called ‘the pit’.  It was a room that looked like an auditorium. There were four levels, ending at the bottom with a large table full of monitors built into the table itself.  All of them were touch sensitive with large high-definition screens across the wall at the front.

Basically this was the most up-to-date version of a space focused command center you might want.

There were three sets of work areas on each side of the main aisle as you went down the three levels.  The top level was for supplies along with food and drinks.  Almost like someone expected there to be situations when no one would leave the room for any length of time.

At this particular moment, nothing was operational. Tom Billings, who headed the I.T. department, hadn’t wired up the eighteen individual computer connections yet.  That was scheduled for this afternoon.

Still the large meeting table was good to be used and allowed them to view some of the data they were receiving from their observation satellites and other home-built devices they had stationed between earth and the moon.

Like moon-droid-one.

Jeffrey laid his coffee down on the table and opened his folders to review the latest information.

He pulled out the report on moon-droid-one and reviewed what it had done in the last twelve hours.  The device was actually a twenty-four-volt adult sized dune-buggy with gear installed all over it.  Shipped up on their first cargo container and using one of Team BMW’s power units they had it driving all over the dark side of the moon.  Not that it was dark, but it was the side not seen from earth.

Fortunately, the team was able to find and override the detection units that the U.S. had on the moon and on that side facing out towards space.

Not too many people knew that some of the earlier rockets with nuclear warheads were designed to go into space.  You can’t hit what you don’t know about, so the U.S. had orbiting detection satellites as well.

Kind of makes it hard to build a moon base if you’re under the watchful gaze of Uncle Sam.

The dune-buggy had worked its way around a couple of larger craters and had been taking samples.  Jeffrey looked over at the top-down pictures their own satellite had taken and then back at the report.  He looked down to see that Bobcat had been in control of the dune-buggy for an hour.

Well, that explained the donuts Jeffrey could see on the Moon’s surface.

He needed to tell Bobcat to take Shelly up for a few hours to burn some energy out of his system.

He heard a few more people coming down the hallway, and then William’s booming laugh, it seemed that Team BMW was arriving.

Sure enough, seconds later the three guys entered with Marcus protesting. “That isn’t what I said!”

“Oh, you mean her guards?”

Damn, he already knew about them.  “Yes.  John, Eric, Darryl and Scott.  Gabrielle’s the head of the group.”

“Why did you call them her own?”  Barnabas asked.

“You need to think about it as a capitalized ‘O’.  When you do that, you realize that it is another title. It just happens to be one that is a little more P.C. than  ‘Her Bitches’.”

Barnabas mused, “I would have thought they would be more upset with being called bitches.”

Frank shook his head, “No. It goes back a couple of years ago when I asked Bethany Anne for help.  Well, to be truthful I would have begged for her help.  I was losing people left and right due to a lot of Nosferatu hits across America. I had lost all of my Nicht contacts and support.  Without Carl, who was Michael’s contact at the time, no one else in his family would lift a finger in support until she came on the scene.  She joined an opp in Florida and it’s been nothing but a wild ride since then.  She and the four men I told you about connected in a hellacious fight in the Florida Everglades.  They bonded and have been inseparable since.  They have her back and she has theirs.  Then, Gabrielle came aboard and took the lead position due to her skills and experience over the centuries.  They took the name as the ‘Queen Bitch’s Guards’ and even made a patch.”  Frank turned back to look at the vampire on the other side of the small round table, “Have you seen one yet?”

“Skull with vampire teeth and red eyes?”

Frank nodded, “That’s the one.  Trust me, no one who knows what that patch means wants to screw around with any of them.”

“They don’t seem to wear it much.”

“No, only on special occasions.  If it’s visible, it’s an operations moment.”

Both men took a sip of their wine and enjoyed the quiet for a moment.  “So now you do special projects?” Barnabas asked.

“I mentioned I still keep an ear open for events around the world, but now I also keep tabs on chatter that might mean someone is onto us. That includes any or all of the family for the people on Bethany Anne’s teams.”

Barnabas’s eyebrows furrowed, “She asked you to watch out for her people’s families?”

“No.”  Frank answered.

“Then why do you do it?”

“Because if she had to ask, I’m not the right person to be on her team.  I know my boss and she cares considerably more than she might let on.  You don’t want to cross her, and you sure as hell don’t want to threaten someone she loves.”

“Why is that?”

Frank turned to stare at Barnabas to see if he was completely clueless, or if it was a simple response to continue the conversation.  Barnabas turned when he realized Frank had been quiet for a few seconds and had turned to stare at him.

“What?”

“I’m not sure if you haven’t been paying attention, but I doubt that.  I’ll assume that you weren’t paying attention and I’ll answer the question, but don’t pretend to not know the answer.  Bethany Anne’s sense of right and wrong is pretty strong.  But her sense of fairness can be very skewed if she feels that someone is threatening those that are helpless or those that are pawns in a game.  She was furious when they were taking her off of a dead-cases team because she felt the dead wouldn’t get justice.  If she feels someone is threatening her own, her people?”

Frank turned back to look over the night waters, “Then we might witness what happens when justice releases a Fury.”

Barnabas sipped his wine, he was very familiar with the tales of the Furies, he could imagine some of what a mythological Fury could do in today’s society.

He enjoyed another sip of his wine, the waters would turn red with blood as it had in the battles centuries in the past.

TQB Ship Polarus, Mediterranean

Barnabas took a small sip of wine and then set the glass on the little table.  Both he and Frank had decided to step outside and recline on the lounge chairs. Their discussion was much more pleasant while enjoying the evening air and sounds.

“I have to admit,” Barnabas said, “I didn’t realize the United States government still had people operating against the Forsaken after all of these decades.”

Frank swirled the wine around in his glass and took a sip himself, “Well, they did but they don’t anymore. When Bethany Anne recruited me the position rather disappeared.”

“So, there is no one in the government aware of the UnknownWorld?”

Frank considered that, “I can’t guarantee that.  There are plenty of black-ops groups that have helped me over the years.  I imagine some members of the groups have long memories and files with hints and suggestions in them.  Plus, those that Michael’s group helped over the years, that weren’t memory wiped, are going to remember what happened.”  He thought for a moment, “Fat lot of good it will do them, no one will believe the stories except other’s who have been through it themselves.”

“But you fear the government?”

Frank considered his response, “I don’t fear the people, I fear their institutional habits. They tend to grab what they don’t understand and shove it into a dark hole for study.  What goes down the hole.”  He looked at his glass and then finished the little bit inside. “Doesn’t come back out.”

Barnabas nodded in agreement, “That does seem to be the general reaction when groups of humans get together.  It is almost a herd response, I believe.”  Barnabas reached over to pull the wine bottle out of the iced bucket. “More?”  Frank nodded and held out his glass.  Barnabas poured it half full and then did the same to his own glass before putting the wine back in the bucket.  “So, what is it you do now that you aren’t trying to track down Forsaken?  I understand from Gabrielle that they aren’t a problem in America anymore?”

Frank snorted, “If they are, I’m unaware of it.  I still run all of my tracking applications in case something happens. If anything was to happen they are so overpowered now it isn’t even funny.”

Barnabas had lain back in the chaise lounge, enjoying the opportunity to just chat and enjoy the night.  “Because of Bethany Anne?”

“No,” Frank answered, “she probably doesn’t even need to deal with any of that any more.  She can send either the Guardians,” he looked over to Barnabas, “you do know about her Guardians?”

Barnabas nodded, “I understand she has a group of humans and Wechselbalg who comprise her own para-military group?”

Frank resumed looking at the stars that were beginning to really shine above them. “More than that, but close enough.  The main Guardian is Pete or Peter Silvers.  He can change to their Procilici form.  They also have a marine contingent that works with them.  Between the two groups they ratchet ‘refined mayhem and pointed lethality’ up a few notches.  I understand that they are working to build new teams of Guardians.  However, I imagine she could cover any of that by just sending in one or two of her Own.”

“Her own what?”

“The Bitches.”  Frank smiled, he loved being vague and Barnabas was just the person to allow him to lead him down this merry chase.

Barnabas smiled, “I would like that.”  He turned back to Bethany Anne, “What is it you hope Frank to figure out with my help?”

“I need the two of you to work with TOM …”

Barnabas interrupted, “The alien?”  His face, if anything, seemed to become more like a boy at Christmas.  Bethany Anne wondered if Barnabas didn’t suffer from a mild form of mental issues due to his aging.  If he did, and she figured it out, she was seriously going to feel guilty for all of the names she had called him in her mind.

“Yes, the alien TOM.”  She turned to Frank, “We need a way to detect and pinpoint anyone entering or exiting the Etheric.   Barnabas can do it from half a world away.”

“I can’t pinpoint it, just the general direction and distance unless it is close.”

Frank asked, “How close?”

Barnabas pursed his lips, “Perhaps ten leagues.”

Frank muttered, “So, about thirty miles.”

Barnabas agreed, “Yes, thirty miles.  The farther away it is, the vaguer I am on distance.  For a long time, I thought Bethany Anne’s travels were much closer to me due to the strength of her ripples.  I’ve never felt anything as strong, so I assumed she was closer.  I lost a fair amount of time before I understood my mistake.”

Frank looked back to Bethany Anne, “Are you thinking that if he can sense it, then the ripples can be measured? And if it can be measured, it can be monitored.”

Bethany Anne reached down to where she knew Ashur’s head was waiting and scratched behind his ears, “Not only monitored, but triangulated.”

Frank’s grin grew, “You want satellites, don’t you!”

She shrugged, “You could give me chocolate covered cherry boxes with electronics if they worked.  But, you know … if satellites are the right solution?”

Frank continued smiling while he started rubbing his hands together.  He had just been informed that he needed to create a new, never before designed method of data acquisition.  “For triangulation, I imagine they are.” He turned back to Barnabas, “Except for Bethany Anne, do you have an idea where the other ripples are?”

“Asia and perhaps Australia.”

She picked her hand up off of Ashur who stood and walked towards the door.

“Do you two guys understand what I need?”  Both men nodded, “Then thank you for taking on this challenge.  Barnabas, thanks for your time and support.”

“Frank?”

He looked at her, “Yes?”

She smiled, “I want them in a month.”

Frank’s smile dropped from his face, but the glint in his eye remained.  “Ok.”

She stood and started following Ashur from the room. “Then I’ll leave it to you two, ta-ta!”

Both men absently waved a hand in the air as they started asking each other questions.

Barnabas kept Frank’s hand and measured his genial smile.  He stepped a little closer to Frank and covertly sniffed the air.  He stepped back and dropped Frank’s hand.  “You don’t smell like a vampire or a Wechselbalg.  Yet, you really mean that you have been interested in me for decades?”

Frank nodded in agreement.  His eyes alight.  “Yes, for at least six.”

Barnabas cocked his head, “You don’t look over mid-thirties to me.  Have humans created a way to slow their own aging process?”

Frank shook his head, “No, but the Kurtherians have and I’ve had an infusion of their best.”  He bowed his head slightly in Bethany Anne’s direction.

Barnabas turned to her, “Your blood did this to him?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Yes.” She turned to sit down at the head of the table.  Barnabas’s way of talking, almost always with questions, still tried her patience.

Barnabas took in a lung full of air and started releasing it slowly.  He had been warned by both Stephen and Gabrielle that Bethany Anne could be impatient. That she had zero tolerance of ‘dicking around’ when something needed to be accomplished.  Barnabas was naturally inquisitive and the centuries had afforded him the opportunity to satiate his questioning personality to the hilt.  Usually, anyone he spoke with outside of Michael and his brothers would be as patient with him as necessary.
He was unaccustomed to dealing with someone who had information he wanted, yet he had no leverage for getting the information.  It was…annoying.

Frank took his cue from Bethany Anne and sat back down.  Barnabas was left standing for a second before taking a chair as well.

Bethany Anne started, “Ok Barnabas, we confirmed back in the U.S. that you can tell there are two others walking the Etheric, besides me.  Frank is our number one person for all knowledge related to the UnknownWorld.  He’s made it a habit of indulging his own curiosity, you two should get along famously.

Barnabas turned to face Frank again, “Truly?”

Frank nodded, “Don’t think you’re getting off this boat without me peppering you with questions.”

Barnabas darted his eyes in Bethany Anne’s direction before lifting his right eyebrow in a question.

Frank nodded slightly, “Perhaps we can educate each other?”

TQB Ship Polarus, Mediterranean

Frank looked up from the conference table in the main meeting room on the ship.  He could hear steps but it was the large white German Shepherd which came around the corner. Ashur quickly looked around as if he was checking the corners before continuing to walk and sit behind the chair at the head of the table.

A moment later, Eric also stepped in and did the same check.  It amused Frank to watch the two ‘Queens Own’, Eric and Ashur protect an individual who was the one who least needed it.  Well, here on this ship anyway.  Some might argue Frank’s opinion on lumping Ashur into the Queen’s Own, but everyone who truly watched the dog came around to his way of thinking.

If Bethany Anne was aware of how Ashur treated her, she didn’t show it.  She came in with the new vampire behind her.  Frank stood as Bethany Anne came over to him with open arms.  He took her hug and smiled at the young woman.  “Beautiful as always, Bethany Anne.”

She winked to him. “I imagine you are testing your smooth talking on me in anticipation of a future conquest, Frank.”  She turned to the man he didn’t know, “Frank, meet Barnabas.”

Frank held out his hand, “Glad to meet you, I’ve been curious about you for decades.”

Barnabas grabbed his hand in a handshake, but when Frank admitted he had been curious about him for decades he looked puzzled. Barnabas glanced to Bethany Anne quickly and she just smiled back at him.

Barnabas kept Frank’s hand and measured his genial smile.  He stepped a little closer to Frank and covertly sniffed the air.  He stepped back and dropped Frank’s hand.  “You don’t smell like a vampire or a Wechselbalg.  Yet, you really mean that you have been interested in me for decades?”

Frank nodded in agreement.  His eyes alight.  “Yes, for at least six.”