Chapter 11

Mated Life

Gloria and Abe had finally worked things out. They moved into his place because there were three bedrooms, not just two, and the rooms were slightly larger. Homer had asked for Gloria's old apartment, and Lu gave it to him. Abe wondered if Homer and Dori would be the next couple. There were other possibilities, but why would Homer want the larger apartment if he didn't have plans?

Meanwhile, the work for the hunter video was going full steam ahead, and Dori had all kinds of cool plans to help those demons with trouble getting around go even faster than the ones that didn't. She built cool devices for the three demons in the video without limbs. Who knew that Dori could weld. She was a certified mechanic, and she had training in bodywork. Stef and the camera crew knew, as did Gloria, and she quickly told Abe that she needed those skills.

"Do you think she might train some of the demons who are interested in doing that kind of work?" Abe asked.

"She's done that kind of work before, so if they are really interested, you should ask her."

Abe thought he would suggest that to Lu because it seemed like a cool job for a demon. It was also something the resort could use because Lu wanted to put in a Go Kart track and a smaller one for little kids that would just stay in an oval area. Lu Felt that having things for the little kids, too, would make their resort different than many of the others. The toddlers were often left out because they were too small to do things on their own. Their lawyer, who had not managed to visit yet, had pointed out that there would be a higher liability, but Lu didn't care.

Everything seemed to be on schedule for the grand opening, and they were both excited and nervous about what that time would bring. Right now, they were getting a lot of help with moving Gloria and Kiki's things into Abe's apartment. Some of the demons were painting because Gloria didn't like the colors that Origin had you used, and Kiki was choosing her own colors, so she was going to have the place painted. They were doing one room at a time to make things easier. Homer was also getting help moving things into Gloria's old apartment. For now, Homer was leaving everything as it was, which made sense because if he mated, he would just have to do it again.

"Did you want your three bedrooms instead of my two bedroom? Do you have a hobby that I don't know about?" Gloria asked.

"It is my hope that we might want children in time," Abe admitted.

"Children? Maybe a little boy that looks like you?"

"Or a little girl that looks like you?"

Gloria giggled. "Kids can be a lot of fun."

"Making them can be a lot of fun too."

"Maybe we can do that as soon as I am finished putting in this order for costumes for the video," Gloria offered. "We may have to upgrade all the gear that Dori is making for them to be space pirates. They'll have some cool things to ride around on."

"Those two-wheeled things are cool. I think the other guys would like them, too," Abe said.

"I bet they would, but they are out of luck. They are not just expensive, but they are also hard to make. They will only go to those that need them," Gloria explained.

"You and Dori are killjoys."

"They asked you to talk me into it, didn't they? It wouldn't do any good. She will have a hard time getting three ready in time for the video."

"How about the next video?" Abe asked.

"There will be three more guys that need them then. If some other guys want them, maybe they should train to do the work themselves."

"That's a great idea. They could do their own and maybe even help with some more."

"There you go. Problem solved," Gloria approved.

Abe left to tell the guys Gloria's suggestion. He wondered how they would do if they actually tried to do that. Demons tended to be pretty good with their hands, so maybe they would manage. That welding looked tough. Some of the guys had talked about training to do some of the work with Gloria, but not anything as complicated as building something that could be driven around the island.

If one of them was good enough to do it, Abe wanted one for himself. What? Everyone knew that demons were just overgrown boys. They like to have fun and play, and that thing would be perfect for it. They needed to be careful, especially if they went to the side of the island that had animals. He thought he would just stick with the beach and the sand. He wasn't interested in getting chewed on by some wild animal. His communicator went off. The boss was calling them all. That made him wonder what in the world was happening now?

He headed to the office where they usually met when dealing with business, and everyone else was waiting for him. Lu got ready to talk and looked serious.

"I've been talking to Zeus about the things that have been going on here. He says there's a fight to control what is left of Origin. One group wants to come after us because they have decided that demons are now their best hope for breeding more gods. The other group wants to return, become legitimate, and do what they did before the gods were discovered. We had better be careful. We could be stolen and milked for our essence. When we leave the facility, we need to start carrying weapons. At least we can make it painful for them if they come after us," Lu explained.

"Is there any other action we can take?" Abe asked.

"If you think of something, you can let us know. Arming everyone is the only thing I can think of right now. We have surveillance. Security is doing everything they can to ensure nobody comes to shore without our knowledge."

"Damn. It used to just be us we had to worry about, but now we have our families, and soon we will have our guests."

"You're right, but unless we cancel everything and all stay stuck in the facility, we're doing all we can," Lu observed.

Abe tried to think of something that would help. If there was some way they could cause the two sides to have a serious fight, there might not be enough left of them to cause any problems. There was just no way to do that. Those people wouldn't trust anything the demons had to say. The thought of guard dogs had crossed his mind, but they were hunting down wild dogs, and it would be hard to explain adding more to the mix.

They had all worked hard, and a week had passed. The hotel had opened but only in a limited way. Lu had put off any more people coming for two more weeks. In the morning, they would begin to shoot the vid as they hunted the dogs with tranquilizers. Abe could admit that he felt bad for the dogs and wasn't even sure where they had come from. No one seemed to know, and that was odd. It wasn't even like the dogs were all the same because they weren't. Gloria had worked at an animal shelter when she was a teenager, and she said that one of them was a German shepherd. One was a Dalmatian, and one was a blue heeler. She pointed out a St. Bernard and two mixed breeds she wasn't sure of. Some breeds weren't usually vicious like this, but mistreated dogs could often go wild.

Undoubtedly, these dogs did not expect to be treated in a friendly manner. Even when the demons dropped some food for them, the dogs would wait until everyone was a good distance away before they would come and sniff it first and then begin to eat, often fighting over the food when they got to the point that there was only a little left. Abe knew that the Islanders would not have abused them, so this had happened before they had arrived at the island. It was true that there were people that would abuse anyone or anything.

It was time for the hunt to begin. Those demons that would be driving the dogs toward the hunters went to the area they were assigned to and began to make noise and move toward the hunters. They hadn't spotted the dogs yet, but they had a talent for hiding that a demon could appreciate. The demons continued to move, closing the distance but not allowing anything to get past them. It was about an hour before they spotted the first dog.

The dogs were moving away from the noise and the people making it. Once they realized they were being driven toward other people, their behavior might change. The hope was that they wouldn't realize they were being herded until they were within a reasonable distance of being hit by the darts. Everyone wanted this to be done as gently and humanely as possible. The dogs were so busy running that they did not pay attention to anything else. Once the dogs were seen by the hunters with dart rifles, the hunters could shoot them from that distance. Many of the demons used dart guns or other guns and were pretty good at their marksmanship.

The first dog went down, and Abe was sure he was the one who had gotten it. The second and third dogs went down almost immediately after that. The problem now was the dogs had realized that they were heading for a bigger danger than they were running from. Several more dogs went down, but they were nowhere near getting all of them.

Their backup plan was to sedate the dogs through their food if they did not get all of the dogs. They had not done this the first time because they feared the dogs would smell the sedative and refuse to eat. These dogs needed to be fed, and they looked better since the demons had started feeding them. By the time the hunt was done, and the dogs had turned and forced their way past the demons herding them, they had taken down fifteen dogs and had six to go.

The dogs that were knocked out by the darts were picked up and put in cages. It was sad for the demons to see anything in cages, but some of these dogs were extremely dangerous and aggressive and had to be dealt with in some way. It looked like the backup plan would have to be used as well. Several of the demons had been assigned to take care of the dogs until they decided what they would do with them. Abe hoped that they would be careful because, under these circumstances, it would be easy to be injured.

"I sure hate to see this. These are wild creatures being kept in cages, and they will not be pleased. How will they feed them without opening the cages?" Dori asked.

"Do you see the containers that are attached to the cages? There is also a shoot above them so that water and food can be put in containers for them to eat. The cages can be moved so that they can clean up any mess that is made." Abe explained.

The next day, there was a food dump. The meat they put out to draw out the dogs was lightly cooked and smelled really good. Everyone left the area, and the cameras were what they went by to see which dogs ate and which didn't. They were lucky because they all ate when they saw no one hanging around. When they were knocked out, the relaxed faces looked sweet and friendly. Nothing like what they were when they were awake. It made them feel guilty, but what choice did they have? The situation needed to be brought under control. Now it would be. The dogs would have to be caged until they determined how to handle it. Even the food dump where they tranquilized the dogs was filmed. This was reality TV at its finest.

Stef sold the first film to the highest bidder, getting a ridiculous amount for a film of that kind. Some new songs were highlighted, and it wasn't like the film was cheap to make, but it was worthwhile because it got many demons involved that normally didn't do this kind of thing. Dori had done an incredible job building some of the transportation devices that were only too cool. Some of the demons that hung out below were now interested in getting these devices, and a few of the other demons were interested in building them.

Dori was going to be busy for quite some time making devices and training assistants. Abe had to admit that he was impressed with her skills. He had not realized that she was a mechanic and an engineer. Homer was now sticking close to her, concerned that one of the other demons might get her attention. While that was possible, Abe thought that Dori was interested in Homer romantically and not anyone else. If they mated and Dori learned the demons' secrets, she would not be pleased with Stef or Lu. They had let her believe that an expert had built and applied their wings and tails. Yeah, she was going to be mad.

Abe and Gloria finally had the apartment done, including Kiki's wild teenage room. It was okay that she wanted a colorful and interesting room because they would just keep the door shut and not worry about what it looked like. The rest of the apartment was sophisticated and relaxing using earth tones, and the concrete floor had been acid washed, and it had turned out beautiful. It was a multitude of browns. Throw rugs in ideal positions, made the floor look perfect. The most important thing was that Gloria was thrilled with it.

This morning, Gloria's new assistant arrived. Tammy had just graduated from high school about a year ago and had graduated from beauty school. Several things made the young girl perfect, and one of those was that she was not tied down by family or a boyfriend, she was happy to travel and even live on the island. She had a little training but not so much that she would think she knew everything, and Stef had talked to her, and she seemed sweet and likable. She would be meeting Gloria at breakfast, but Gloria did not yet know she was getting an assistant. Abe wasn't sure that it was such a good idea to surprise her like that. Especially since she had never asked for an assistant. He could only hope that she did not blame it on him if this was not something she wanted.

Abe looked out the window and saw that the plane had landed. The mysterious assistant was not the only one who came to the facility. There was another slightly older lady, and he would swear she was a doctor. Maybe they had moved up the schedule for the second doctor joining them. A few other people got in a car and were taken to the hotel. He was sure those would be new employees. They had little time before the formal grand opening, and still few people had arrived. Abe was sure they would arrive every day until the major event.

More had better start arriving since the plane was only scheduled to make one run daily.

"I wonder who all the people that arrived are?" Gloria asked.

"One of them looks like a doctor," Abe replied.

"One looks like a teenager. I wonder what in the world she can do here?"

Abe saw Stef greeting the young girl and knew Gloria was about to find out exactly what she would do there. They headed over to the table where Abe and Gloria were sitting.

"Hi, guys. This is Tammy. Tammy, this is Abe and Gloria," Stef introduced.

"Gloria? I love your work. You are why I decided to become a makeup and costume professional," Tammy gushed.

Gloria's eyes immediately went to Stef, waiting for an explanation.

"You're always saying how hard it is to get the work done, especially this last time when you had so many extras to work with. I thought getting you an assistant would be a good idea."

It was obvious to Abe that Gloria was not pleased. It had never occurred to her that they would hire an assistant. Maybe had she had a little warning; she would have given some thought to the benefits of having an assistant. His Gloria just got very quiet, and eventually, Stef took Tammy to her room so she could settle in.

"That was awkward," Abe observed.

"Did you know?"

"It was mentioned, and I was told not to repeat it."

"You should have told me anyway," Gloria insisted.

They finished breakfast, and Gloria quickly left. Abe finished cleaning everything up and decided to leave Gloria to think things through for a little while. If he interrupted her now, it wouldn't go well for him. This had been Stef's decision, and she was the one that would be dealing with it. All he could do was hope that things would work out for the best.