Page 32 of Abraxas

“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 samebecause 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 ofthe 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 colorfuland 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.”

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