Chapter 12

Randal - Chapter 12

Rogan was pissed off. His wife was gone, and her pisser of a brother was missing too. And his house had been fucked with. Wherever she was, Bridget was gonna pay, and pay big time. As he wandered through the house, trying his best to make a counting of all the shit that was missing, he was also mad because he couldn't even make a report about it. He, first of all, wasn't supposed to be near this place, and secondly, if she took it then it was hers to do with what she wanted. Fucking bitch.

He came out of their bedroom, after shitting on the bed, to find a man standing in his living room. Since he'd never seen him before Rogan puffed out his chest, and was sorely disappointed that his belly was still hanging out there more.

"What the hell do you want? You got a lot of nerve coming into a man's house unannounced." He said that he had called out. "I was busy."

"Yes, so I can smell. You actually shit on a bed that you may well have to sleep in? Whatever. I've come to tell you that Bridget and your children are no longer living here. Nor is her brother, Phillip. They have moved on, and I would suggest that you do something about it." The man looked around the place, and for some reason Rogan was even more pissed off that he seemed to find it lacking. "You might want to find yourself a job, as well as some sort of residence other than this one. The reason I say that is, when the state finds out that you are no longer living here with your family, they'll have you move on soon. This is a place for families that are too lazy to find good work, not a man bent on making others suffer."

"Who the hell are you, coming in here, telling me what you think I want to know about? I can damn well see that she's not here and that she's taken my kids. There's laws about that. See if I don't call me someone in to sue her too." He just smiled, and that was when he saw his fangs. "You thinking of killing me, vamp? I got news for you, I ain't going to be easy for you."

Rogan found himself a foot or so off the floor, and the man was holding him there with just his one hand. Rogan didn't struggle, even if he could have. The vamp would kill him and he'd never get his family back.

"Now, I should like to start over, this time with your undivided attention. I cannot kill you, yet, but I will should you force my hand. And since I know that you will, sooner or later, I suggest that you get your things in order so that your family members will benefit from your slow and painful death. Blink once if you can understand me." He did, slowly, so that he'd know that he was listening. "Now. I know that you have a brother and a sister. Both are attorneys from what I'm to understand. Blink again."

He did as he was told and was let down. The man leaned back against the wall while Rogan tried to get his breath back by sitting on the floor. Rogan wasn't one to let people get away with shit like that, but he didn't want to die either. Instead, he just sat there and waited.

"Your sister and brother, they'll come to help you, yes?" Rogan nodded, then shook his head. "Which is it, man? I'm a vampire that is on edge. I do not have time for your bullshit. I'm here because I was called in to help you. Which I do not want to do, but am obligated to."

"Yeah, they're both attorneys, but my sister would just as soon kill me as to help me. She has a burr up her ass." He might have said something like everyone did, but he wasn't sure if he should poke the bear, as his mom used to say. "Tyrrell, he's a good boy. I was gonna call him in a minute or two. You want him here?"

"I don't care who you call, but I want someone to come here and take care of this mess." He asked him his name. "Daegan. I knew your family long ago, and owe them a single favor. Since I have been called in to help, then I have no choice but to do so. Your great grandmother, she was a friend of mine."

Rogan wondered who would have called a vampire in to help him. His grannie had been dead almost since he'd been born. But it mattered little. If this creature was going to help him, then he'd use him.

"Do you know who helped them? My wife and kids?" He said that he didn't yet, but would soon. "You leave them to me. I'll take care of the fuckers."

"You can barely take care of yourself and keep your wife and kids here. How do you expect to take care of someone that has enough power to not only move your family, but her brother as well? You cannot. You're to leave them to me." Rogan asked him why. "Because the sooner I get this taken care of, the faster I will no longer have a hold over me. Just tell me what you know."

"I don't know shit. I was knocking her around a bit on account'a she got this burr up her ass about something. She was forever pissed off about this or that. Then this guy comes to the door and tells her that he'll run her to the hospital. That her fucking dumbass brother is hurt. What a pussy he is. And you know what, he's queer too." Daegan asked him why that was a problem. "I don't know. Men and men together? Hell, that just ain't right."

"Yes, well, I can see where your opinion would hold a lot of weight. This person that came to your home, how did he get around you if you were only…what did you call it, knocking her around a bit?" Rogan nodded, but he wasn't sure he was really asking him or just making fun. "How did he get her to go with him?"

"He's a big fucker. Bigger than you are. And strong. He just hit me the one time and I went down like a log." Rogan wondered why he was telling the man that; usually it was his habit to make himself look better than he was. "You got some kind of voodoo on you that makes me have to tell you the truth?"

"Yes, that's it. Voodoo. It's all the rage now. Was this man human?" He asked how he could tell. "If he didn't shift or anything else to you, then I'm going to assume that he is anyway. You're a fat fuck, and hitting you once to knock you down wouldn't have been a human's first response."

Again, it was difficult to tell if he was being insulted or what. So he only sat there, thinking of the shit he was going to have to do to get his family back. Daegan started pacing, so to get out of his way, he got up and sat at the dining room table. At the head of it. Even if they weren't there, he needed someone to know that he was in charge.

"Call your brother and tell him you need him." It might be a little more involved than that, he told Daegan. "And why is that? Have you managed to piss off more of your family members?"

"Something like that. I owe him some money. And if nothing else, Tyrrell is a man who likes to keep track of what he owns or someone owes him." Daegan asked him how much he owed. "About five grand."

"Christ." The money appeared on the table, and before he could snatch it up, Daegan smacked his hand. "You use that for anything other than getting your brother to help you, then so help me, I'm going to come back here and fuck you up."

"I'll pay him." Rogan wished now that he'd thought of more money that he owed his brother. That was just too easy. The phone appeared a second later, and he tried to remember his brother's number. When it started to dial it up for him, he thought about having someone around like this vamp all the time. Then Tyrrell answered the phone. "Hey, little brother, it's Rogan. I was wondering if you could come on here and help your big brother out."

"No. I told you before, unless you pay me what you owe me, then you're on your own. I heard from Bridget, by the way. Smart girl, leaving you like that." He told his bother he was getting her back. "Why? Just leave her alone, Rogan. She's a nice woman. Do you want her to end up like Mom? Hating Dad with every breath she took? Just let her live her life and you move on."

"I can't do that. She took my kids." He didn't say anything, so he looked down at the cash. "I have your money right here. All five grand of it."

"I don't believe you." He said that he could take a picture of it and send it to him. "Look, Rogan, why don't you call Giynna? I know that she's on vacation right now. Call her and see if she'll do it. I just don't have time."

"You're my brother, Tyrrell. Come on, help me out. Just this one time." He said that he would. "Thanks so much. I really appreciate—"

"I'll call Giynna. Give her the money. I don't think it's even close to enough to pay her back what you owe her, but use it to soften the blow at you calling her. And Rogan, don't call me again. I won't be dragged down to your level again. I doubt that Giynna will want to help you for the same reasons." Before he could point out again how he was his brother, the line went dead. He looked up at Daegan.

"He's being a shit about this. Like he thinks I'm some sort of lowlife." The vamp asked him if he was. "No. I got me a job when I want one. There are a lot of things I can do too. And if I work too much, those fuckers at the offices downtown, they cut my food card. That just ain't right. When they tell you that you're gonna get this much a month, they can't be taking if from you just on account'a your old lady made you get out and find something useful to do."

"Yes, well, I can see how that would stick in your craw. Imagine that, wanting you to make yourself an upstanding citizen." Again, he wasn't sure that he was making fun at him or not, so he let it go. "Then call your sister. You need to have legal representation, and while I'd love to help you with that, these things are usually conducted during a time when I cannot be out in the sun."

"I can tell you now, she's not going to help me. She might come along and help them burn me, and you too should it come to that. I don't like her much, but she is meaner than a bear that's been poked." Daegan asked him to speak English. "I was. Shit man, ain't you ever heard of not poking the bear?"

"I have, but not like you put it. Call her. Then when this is finished, you can go about your life as you were before." He asked him if he'd get his family back. "I suppose that would depend on how your sister does in the courtroom."

He called but she didn't pick up. Rogan knew that some people wouldn't answer a call that they didn't know. His wife had gotten into the habit of not answering his calls, nor those of bill collectors. And there were a lot of those. Leaving a message for Giynna to call him back, he asked Daegan what he thought was going to happen if nobody came to his rescue.

"You'll go to jail again. This time for a bit longer than just a few days. You violated your order that was put before you several months ago, in that you're not to use your wife as a punching bag." Rogan told him that she begged for it. "Yes, I'm sure that she does. As soon as you come in the door, she's all over you to take a swing at her face. Some women are just too hard to please."

"I don't know if you're insulting me or having fun at me." He said that he was most assuredly insulting him. "Why you wanna go and do that for? I ain't done nothing wrong."

"Just keep calling your sister. And your brother too. One of them has to come to help you, and since I know for a fact that you have no money of your own, nor enough for a retainer, then you'd have to take a court appointed attorney, and that won't get you anything but a longer prison sentence. You need someone that has a vested interest in your wellbeing." Rogan asked him if he thought they'd help. "I don't know because I can well imagine that anyone you come in contact with to even speak to you might have an unnatural urge to keep you behind bars. For life. Or perhaps it is just what you need. But I made a promise and I must keep it."

When the vampire left him, Rogan tried to figure out what the hell his family would have to do with a vampire and why he was going to help him. So far as Rogan could think, he'd done nothing wrong but kept his wife and kids in line. Bridge always was a stickler for making herself the victim when he was pissed with her. And that seemed to be all the time now. She just didn't want to listen to him when he told her something. As he tried to call his sister again, he wondered what was up his brother's butt. Sure, he did owe him money, but that wasn't enough to keep him from coming to help him. At least Rogan didn't think it was. And if Daegan could give him money to pay his brother, why couldn't he pay off some fancy lawyer to come and help him? If he really needed it.

"It sounds to me like he's lazy too. And whatever this problem I have is, which ain't nothing to get all twisted up about, then why don't he just make it go away?" Lots of questions that had no answers. He'd just have to think on it.

Going in the bedroom to take a nap, he realized his mistake as soon as he laid down. The fucking shit that he'd put on the bed was now all over his body. Rogan thought he could hear someone laughing at him, and knew that it was the vampire.

Things had better start going his way or he'd have to take measures. He wasn't clear on what those might be, but someone, namely his wife, was going to get their ass kicked. As he threw out the sheets and blankets, he tried to make the bed. But since he couldn't remember how to do it, having had Bridget around for that sort of women's work, he showered then laid down. Fucking bitch was going to have a lot to explain when she got back.

~*~

Randal sat at his desk and finished up the paperwork that came with his job. There was a meeting in half an hour, and he thought that going home then coming back would waste more time than he wanted to give it right now. This meeting couldn't have come at a worse time. He wanted to be home, with his wife and his little girl.

When he heard someone open his classroom door, he looked up. Even though the school was in a temporary place, he still got the willies each time there was some sound that he didn't recognize. The shooting and the deaths still weighed heavily on his heart and mind, but he thought he was doing much better. In a few months, less if the town's people had anything to say about it, they'd be in the school again, and classes would, for the most part, be the same.

"I knew I'd find you here." He nodded at the superintendent as he sat in one of the little chairs his class was using. "I need to talk to you before this meeting."

"No." Randal leaned back in his chair. "I'm not going to take the principal job. No matter how many times you ask, the answer is still no."

When his mom and dad came in the room, he stood up. Asking them if everything was all right, he returned his mom's kiss on his cheek and sat down with Mr. Pillar. As soon as his dad sat, he knew that he was being outnumbered.

"Randal, do you have any idea how much this will mend the communities for you to take this job?" He shook his head. "Don't give me that until you hear me out. This school has seen enough troubles lately. First there was the breakdown in communications that we had with the last school fundraiser. Then there was that idiot that was…he was a monster and we both know it."

"Mom, I really enjoy teaching. If I take this job like everyone thinks I should, then I'll miss that. I love being a teacher." She nodded and looked over at his dad. "Dad?"

"Hey, don't ask me to chime in. I was already told that I was to agree with her or not get any dinner for a week. I don't think she's gonna do that, but you just don't know about women." Mom smacked him upside the head. "Well, that's what you told me. And I have to say I agree with you anyhow. What's the alternative? Let the school pick again? They did such a bang-up job at it the last time. And maybe that once they pick the wrong person for the job, we won't have a school at all around here."

"Dad, you can't do this to me." His dad stood up and handed him a thick notebook. He only glanced at it, knowing what it was. "What does this have to do with me taking this job?"

"Teacher of the year ten years in a row. Ten whole years. Then in there are letters from parents, cards from the kids you taught. I saved every one of them. Articles in the paper. I even put in there your first ID tag that you got when you started teaching. That is all you, son. A man who knows how to be a good leader." He felt his face heat up. Randal looked at Mr. Pillar and asked him again to stop this. "He's not going to. And let me tell you why not. Because when you leave here today, you're going to tell every single person that is in the parking lot right now that you turned this job down."

"What do you mean? The parking lot is full of people?" His mom showed him the picture she'd taken. "I can't believe this."

"Well, you believe it. And that's not all. They have refused to help out with any kind of fundraisers unless you take the job." Blackmail. He was being blackmailed by the entire town. When Trent and the rest of his brothers joined them in his classroom, he gave up. "Well, son? What's it going to be?"

"You've left me no choice in the matter, haven't you? I'm taking the job, but I'm not going to be happy with it." Mr. Pillar left them, but his family sat around the little tables. "I hope you're happy with this. I've just taken a job that I don't want."

Trent stood up and cleared his throat. When he started speaking, Randal thought for sure that someone was forcing him to do this, but Trent assured him that he was on his own and that, unlike him, was excited.

"I'm going to come in and teach twice a week. Reading. And not only that, but I've been made part of the football team coaching staff so that I can help there as well." Trent looked at Sterl, who stood up.

"I'm coming in once a week, when I don't have anything going on, and help out with the art classes. Also, I've donated funds so that they can have the kind of supplies to encourage young minds to pursue something that they want." Sterl laughed. "And then at the end of the school year, I'm going to display all the artwork in the gallery. I'm hoping to make it a yearly event."

Scott was going to come in and teach self-defense classes. Also to talk about safe sex and other things. Chloe was going to help him with that. Elijah volunteered to come in twice a month to go over some of the things that they might find useful in the world. Like how to get out of a burning house, who to go to when things were bad at home. And how to use a cellphone. Tanner was going to show the older kids how to use a credit card safely, fill out a check, as well as a bank record.

"And this is because I'm taking the job?" They all nodded, and Trent told him that he would have to approve all this but they'd help out. "All right, I can see this working. But you do know that the board has to approve any and all of you working here."

"That would be myself and your mom. We've taken over the board, so to speak. Also, we've approved a fundraiser, which your wife is working on, to have food here at the school for kids to take home should they need it. There is also going to be a before and after school place for kids to come when their parents are at work. A place they can have a quick snack, as well as some activities they can do before going home." Randal thanked his mom. "Don't just thank me. This is all of them. Sterl organized his brothers and found out what they could do to help you. And the added bonus for all of them and for you is to get to be together."

He was overwhelmed by the support that he was getting. And not only that, that his brothers were so willing to come in and help out. That alone would help a great many people. He looked down at the note that he'd gotten today and decided to share it with them.

"Doug sent me this this morning. It says that he'll be hiring another two hundred people by spring. And he is willing to donate a lot of computers to the schools. That will be a dozen computers for each level of education." They all cheered. "And he promised to help any other businesses coming in too, so that they don't have as many start up issues as he had."

"See what I mean, son? You're good for this place. I don't mean that you had anything to do with the hiring and computers, but just you being the principal is gonna help out in ways that we can't even begin to see right now." He told his dad that he doubted very much he was going to be any good at the job. "Well, I don't want to be crude here, but I know for a fact that you're not going to be hurting anyone here. And that to me is the great thing."

When the board meeting began, his family was right there with him when Mr. Pillar announced that Randal was going to take the job. He could almost feel the excitement in the room. It seemed that his parents were right…they might have quit had he not taken over the job. But to do this, he had to make some major changes in his life. And that wasn't even counting finding someone to take his job as the kindergarten teacher.

After the meeting he made his way home. He was going to work until the end of the school year as both principal and part time teacher. It was going to be hard on him, lots of time spent away from his home and family, but Laney told him that she'd help in any way that she could. Even Wally said he'd put in a helping hand when he'd let him. With so much support, Randal was sure he could make it work.

"Dad, did you know that Mrs. Walden is retiring soon? She said that we're too much for her." He asked her when she'd said that. "Yesterday when some of the kids threw spit balls at her. You know what, that's discussing." He told her it was disgusting, not discussing. "Yeah, that's what I meant. Anyway, she said that she can't take it no more."

"Anymore, and I'm sorry to hear that." He wasn't, but he'd never tell a child that. Mrs. Walden had been his teacher when he was a child. And she was the most brutal, mean, sarcastic teacher he'd ever had the misfortune of working with. She hated change, even to bring computers into her classroom. He was glad to see her go on her own, because he would have had to fire her.

That reminded him that he had a lot of work to catch up on with finding replacements. As of today he had to find two teachers, plus a secretary for him. They'd lost one when the school had been shot up, and he dreaded having to find someone else.

Just as he was going up to bed with Laney, he remembered something that his mom had told him. That someone needed to be working that job that had a good eye for people. He thought they'd be better off finding someone that had military background, just to make sure that the kids stayed in line and safe and no one could just come in and hurt any of them. Smiling, he told Laney what he was thinking.

"Maybe we should hire pack for that job. I mean, they can sniff out trouble as fast as you can." He thought that had merit. "Also, they can heal faster should there be a flu or something. That way you'd not have to run that place on your own. Something that I'd run from as fast and as far as I can."