Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) by Donald Wigboldy Page B

feet above them.
    A fun area far to the left had a pool table and foosball table for the vampires to blow off steam together. Most were born in an era well before video games or even televisions, so common games of skill were more likely to be their forte than something electronic.
    Sitting on a couch, a young looking woman sat with two of the men. They were among the youngsters added to the group. Where Marek and his original people were around a century old with their youngest remaining member in her fifties, the new people were all in their early twenties. The men were all either military trained or martial artists, while the women had been scouts for Cyrus and were good looking socialites of the local bar scene.
    Nicola had been complaining about the women in particular as they all tried to get along, but as they entered the blond shooed them all out of sight. Realizing something was wrong that they certainly didn’t want to get into the middle of, the three hurried out towards the bar calling their fifth a blond woman to join them from her open room. They were all ready to go out anyway, so only a last warning from Nick, “Don’t bite the patrons”, saw them on their way.
    Since the vampiress could smell Charlotte on him from earlier, Nick started cautiously, “We had a new hiccup today.”
    “What hiccup makes this wolf kiss you? I smell her all over you and why is her perfume so strong?” Nicola complained.
    The other two glanced to each other in surprise. The werewolves who weren’t supposed to be a part of her bonding wouldn’t call her pheromones perfumed and women that would be competition were supposed to have a similar response. Charlotte could smell Kate and vice versa, but for some reason they had said that their scents smelled sweet as well. Eric had no knowledge of the problem, so they were on their own, but a vampire shouldn’t have noticed anymore than a human in theory. Even if one did, they should have a similar reaction to those not needed, but Nicola was telling them that Charlotte smelled like perfume.
    “ It’s part of the hiccup,” Nick replied considering where to go with his explanation.
    Charlotte, in typical werewolf fashion in large part due to her raging hormones, stated bluntly, “I’m in heat, for lack of a more flattering word. My perfume is my pheromones going crazy.”
    Her eyes gauged Nicola’s reaction as she added, “According to Eric, when a female werewolf goes into heat, she is trying to form a bond with the lead wolf; but for some reason my pheromones didn’t try to attract any werewolves.”
    The thought sunk in and the normally pale skinned vampire’s cheeks started to turn red. “So what does that mean?”
    Sighing at having both women be similarly impulsive, Nick admitted, “Charlotte’s perfume isn’t supposed to affect humans and in theory no vampire should notice either. It’s a way to strengthen the pack. At the moment, she lives in my house with just her brother and I. Since Logan thinks she smells awful...”
    “Hey!” Charlotte complained at the remark before realizing that Nicola looked ready to claw her eyes out.
    “She obviously won’t see him as a potential mate.”
    Edging closer to Nick, the blond haired vampiress looked ready to pounce as she concluded, “You bonded with my Nicky? How could you? I’ve treated you as a friend and now you betray my friendship by trying to take him from me?”
    “It isn’t that simple,” Charlotte argued raising her hands in protest. Gone were the words she had said to him earlier of fighting for him, as Nicola’s hurt permeated the craziness of her hormones. “I didn’t know it would happen and I definitely didn’t know it would happen with a human or voran. It isn’t supposed to work like that according to Eric.”
    Nicola edged past Nick, who watched waiting for a sign that things were going to become violent. If Nicola were a normal vampire, a showdown between a werewolf and her would be