Page 20 of Storm Dragon
There was just no way her daddy, the oldest living Bobcat Shifter anyone knew of, the King Tom of the Ryder Pounce, and the Leader of the Mid Atlantic Branch of the Council of Others would’ve just up and left. Not only was he a dedicated father, but he had also pledged his undying loyalty to all the Big Cats and Supernaturals who called Defiance, NC, home–even those blasted Wild Boars.
One investigator–a Wild Boar from Hettie’s Herd– said the Ryders had misjudged the curve before Hump Back Bridge and ended up going over the edge of Mt. Serenity. But that was stupid. No, it was asinine and simply not possible. Of course, it had come from someone under that evil Sow’s control. They were all either idiots or browbeaten–or both.
Hettie ruled her Herd through fear, intimidation, and threats. It was the same way she did business. If one thing was for sure, it was that Sow had learned from the best–her daddy, Boss Hogg. What had started as a bully’s taunt when he was a little boy had been the moniker Doug Zanderghast embraced. He embodied, fostered, and actively promoted anything and everything that can go wrong when a narcissist is given Magic.
Boss Hogg was a bastard with a capital B. No, not in the traditional sense. By all accounts, his momma was a good woman who did all she could to bring up her son after the death of his father at the hands of Hunters. Sadly, she also died at a young age, and that left a young, power-hungry, self-absorbed asshole, Boss Hogg, in charge.
Under his leadership, the Wild Boars became the worst the Supernatural world had to offer. He ruled his Herd with an iron fist. If someone disagreed with him, they got one warning–a serious beatdown at the hands of his sadistic thugs. Not only did they do their level best to break every bone the poor person had, but they also locked them in one of Boss Hogg’s many bunkers after coating their victim in a silver salve developed by the Sorcerers with whom he was aligned.
Sadly, every Paranormal Being in all of North Carolina knew what Boss Hogg was doing. Worse still, there wasn’t a shit they could do about it. Even the Council’s Trackers and Enforcers sent in to investigate were thwarted at every turn. Witnesses disappeared without a trace- and the ones they could find developed a sudden case of amnesia. Evidence went missing or was completely absent. The last straw was when the files- hard copies and digital- simply disappeared into thin air.
Through the centuries of his tyrannical rule, Boss Hogg groomed his protégé, his only child, his daughter, Hettie, into his spitting image. She was a chip off the old block, but so much worse. She had no conscience, no morals, and a voracious appetite for all things evil.
“Damn straight, she’s evil,” Bridgette chimed in to Tams' train of thought. “Everyone knows she had something to do with her momma’s disappearance.”
“Oh, hell, yeah,” Peaches adamantly agreed. “One day, the sweet, but broken, woman was walkin’ around beautiful downtown Defiance and the next she was gone.”
“We still don’t know what happened to her,” Tams sadly sighed. Looking up, she found Donna Jean, the Luna of the Ripberger Red Wolves and owner of Mt. Serenity Foodland, in the crowd. Forcing a smile, she waved while continuing to talk to her sister and the Bobcat Queen with whom she shared her soul. “Patti Jo Zanderghast picked up her usual order, plus a few extra snacks that morning.”
“Yeah,” Peaches concurred. “But she declined their usual cup of coffee and cinnamon roll. Said she had to get home but would be back the next day.”
“And she never showed,” Bridgette hissed. “Donna Jean went to the Sheriff the very next morning.”
“And they launched the best investigation a three-hundred-year-old Whitetail Buck and two Deputies, who just happen to be his sons could,” Peaches added.
“Other Leaders of Defiance came forward without even being asked, and everybody said the same thing,” Tamsyn recounted.
“Three days in, the Elders and Leaders from other Paranormal Contingencies here on Mt Serenity swore she was killed because she dared to defy her husband,” Peaches sadly breathed.
“But just like all the other times…” Tamsyn paused, pushing the all-too-familiar memories of her parents’ disappearance to the back of her mind. There just wasn’t time for that specific trip in the dark and dreary side of Memory Lane. Swallowing hard, she kept going, “There was no evidence. She hadn’t left a note. Hadn’t taken any clothes. Most importantly, hadn’t taken her beloved daughter with her.” Shaking her head, the Bobcat Queen huffed, “Goddess knows Patti Jo wouldn’t have left Hettie with Boss Hogg. She saw the writing on the wall. If the bastard had his way, their daughter would be as nasty and evil as he was.”
Tucking the hair that had fallen from her braid behind her ear, she added, “It truly was the beginning of the end of sweet, little Hettie.”
“Nah, she was tainted by her daddy’s evil from the moment she was conceived,” Bridgette scoffed. “She’d never been anything but an evil bitch.”
Struck by a rather poignant memory, Tams slowly nodded, “You know, you might be right.”
Even though Hettie was older, the girls had been thrown together when the Zanderghast Wild Boars were still part of the Council of Others. Since Virgil Ryder was the Leader of the Council, Tamsyn had to always be on her best behavior and play nice with all the children, even when they were nasty little shits.
Enter Hettie Zanderghast with her designer jeans, expensive tennis shoes, and mean streak a mile wide. That very same day, the Sow Princess had pushed Tamsyn into the creek, put ants in her Jell-O, and set fire to the ribbons tied at the bottom of her long braids.
And things got worse from there…
On Hettie’s twenty-fifth birthday, she wed Milton, a Sorcerer she said was her Fated Mate. Six days later, Boss Hogg was dead. Karma? Well, maybe, because the very next day, the Zanderghast Herd left the Council of Others, and less than a month after that, the Leaders of smaller contingencies of Supes on Mt. Serenity began disappearing.
One such Leader, the female Alpha, or Jill, of the Hoopengarner Opossum Passel, escaped Hettie’s goons as they were breaking into her home. The brave Opossum came to the Council looking for protection. She and her family told their story of intimidation and fear, and the loss of their Alpha Jack, or Male, at the hands of Sorcerers. The entire family was willing to give evidence. Then, the night before they were supposed to testify, they disappeared into thin air, from a Council Safe House in Southern Texas, known to be the safest in the country.
And the stories didn’t end there.
Across the state and slithering into Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, the reign of terror of the Zanderghast Wild Boars and the Luchd-Brathaidh–Scavenger in Scots Gaelic–Cabal gobbled up all the land, resources, and Supernatural Beings they could in one of the most strategic and devious invasions Tamsyn had ever seen. So, when her parents disappeared, she knew where to start looking.
“And I will never stop…”
The sound of rustling feet and the increasing buzz of chatter as the growing congregation of Paranormals greeted one another snapped Tamsyn out of her revelry. Plastering on a smile, she winked at Peaches and mentally whispered, “Hit it, Bridge. I need the same volume you gave me when our boys won state.”
“Oh, I do love it when we get to have fun.”
Before she could thank the Bobcat Queen with whom she shared her soul, a burst of warm, fresh, Earthen Magic filled every fiber of her being. Clearing her throat, the sound was as loud as any stadium sound system and infinitely clearer.
