Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Chief Morrison sank a little in his chair. “Good afternoon, Louise.”
Louise waved at him before her gaze landed on Rhaz. “Mr. Stormfyr! Fancy seeing you here. Though maybe I did get a tip.” She smiled cheerfully. “I’ve been wanting to interview you for days.”
Rhaz had no idea why everyone suddenly looked concerned. He peeked through the door behind Louise and noticed the men in the other room wore the same worried expressions.
Louise slipped toward his chair. “So, how are you settling in at Dr. Blackstone’s?”
Rhaz looked at the others, then at Louise. “Very well. Thank you.”
“It’s certainly a lovely house, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Big too. Do you have a nice room?”
“Yes.” At least he could answer honestly.
Louise scribbled something in a notebook she’d seemingly pulled from nowhere. “What is it? Eight bedrooms?”
Rhaz blinked. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea.”
“You don’t?” she asked, sounding disappointed.
He shrugged. “No.”
Louise’s shoulders slumped. “You’ve never counted them?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Why would I?”
Phin coughed into her hand, obviously trying to signal something to someone.
Louise ignored her. “And everyone in the house gets along?” She smiled at Chief Morrison. “Just like here at the fire station, I imagine. You all must get along and work together.”
She returned her attention to Rhaz. “Has anyone explained volunteer firefighter culture to you yet?”
Rhaz shook his head.
Louise lowered her voice a notch. “How long has Basil worked for Dr. Blackstone?”
Rhaz paused as panic crept up his back. “Basil?” By scale and flame, this woman knew about Basil?
“Yes,” Louise said. “You know, the short older gentleman?” She added another smile.
Rhaz sighed. “I know who Basil is.”
“Of course you do,” Louise said happily.
Chief Morrison cleared his throat. “Louise, do you want to interview me or not? Is this about the mayor’s race?”
“No, Hank. I’m trying to interview a guest who came to town, is staying with Dr. Blackstone, happens to be a fire chief where he’s from, rescued Lily Parker and Wilbur the dog, and is generally far more interesting than you are.
” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, you’re the only one running. What is there to report?”
Chief Morrison sank farther into his chair. “I was just asking.”
“Yes, I know. Maybe I’ll interview you next week.” She immediately returned her attention to Rhaz. “Does Basil live at Dr. Blackstone’s house now?”
Rhaz looked at Chief Morrison, then Phin, then Louise.
Louise scribbled furiously in her notebook.
Phin glanced at it. “What are you writing, Louise?”
“Notes,” she shot back. “What else?”
“Notes about what?”
Louise gave her an innocent smile. “This is a community-interest story. Any story I write requires copious notes.”
Rhaz had an uncomfortable feeling that wasn’t entirely true.
Chief Morrison cleared his throat. “Mr. Stormfyr, as I was saying, does this mean you plan on staying in Moon Creek Falls?”
Louise’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you’ll be living permanently at the Blackstone house?
” Before Rhaz could answer, she continued.
“Ever since our dear town dentist started renting out rooms, the place keeps filling up with the most interesting people.” She returned to her notebook and wrote even faster.
Phin rolled her eyes while Chief Morrison pinched the bridge of his nose.
Rhaz watched all of them in confusion. Humans were extraordinarily difficult to understand.
“Why don’t we take a little tour now?” Phin suggested.
“Wonderful idea!” Louise said. “Mind if I tag along?”
Rhaz noticed Phin’s shoulders tighten.
“Not at all.” Phin stood and headed for the door.
Louise beat her to it and was already in the other room.
Phin looked at Rhaz. “Is that all right with you?”
“Of course.” He rose from his chair.
Phin brought him through the door and into the room with the men seated around the table. “We’ve got two engines, a tanker, and a rescue truck.” She led him toward the vehicles.
Rhaz studied them. Two looked nearly identical while the others were different. “There are only four?” he asked.
Phin laughed. “Only four? Moon Creek Falls isn’t exactly New York City, buddy.”
Rhaz cocked his head. The trucks must carry the equipment used to fight fires. “What happens if there are more fires than trucks?”
Phin stared at him. “Are you kidding me right now?” She laughed again. “We call for mutual aid.”
He gave her a slight shrug. “Reinforcements, you mean?”
“Exactly.”
That made sense. Rhaz nodded as she pointed out various pieces of equipment and explained the station’s history. Eventually they came to a wall covered with renderings of the station. He studied them. The images were so realistic.
“These are photographs of the station throughout its history,” Phin explained.
Rhaz looked around and realized Louise hadn’t joined them. She was probably interrogating the men at the table.
“So you are all professional firefighters here?” He gave Phin a pointed look, curious what her answer would be. How could such a small woman have such an occupation?
“Most of us are volunteers,” she said.
“What does that mean?” Rhaz looked around again.
“That most of us have regular jobs.”
Rhaz stared at her. “Regular jobs?”
She shrugged. “Yeah.”
“You mean this is not your profession?” He heard the shock in his voice and hoped she hadn’t noticed.
Phin grinned. “Well, it is and it isn’t.”
Rhaz shifted his weight to his other foot. “I fail to understand.”
“We get paged when there’s an emergency, then we come running.” A tiny laugh escaped Phin. “The rest of the time, I… well, I was going to see if I could get a job at the hardware store.”
Rhaz stared at her anew. “What is a hardware store?”
Her eyes went wide. “Where you buy tools and stuff?”
He heard the disbelief in her voice. “And yet you are entrusted with protecting the town.”
“That’s also true.” She pointed at him as if he’d just answered some monumental question and won a prize.
“You would sell...” He searched for the proper word. He could be entirely wrong on this. “Hammers?”
A snort came from one of the firefighters in the other room. They were obviously listening to the conversation.
Phin also snorted. “Yes. This sounds strange to you?”
“It is strange,” Rhaz said with conviction.
One of the firefighters barked out a laugh. “I like this guy,” he said to the others.
Louise laughed too and immediately started asking more questions.
As they continued the tour, Chief Morrison joined them. “We train every Tuesday,” he told Rhaz.
“Only Tuesday?” Rhaz asked.
Chief Morrison blinked. “Well, yes.”
Rhaz exchanged a glance with Phin and noticed the chief suddenly looked uncertain. “Is that not enough?” the man asked.
Rhaz considered the question. “My combat instructors trained me six days a week for decades.”
The station fell silent. Several firefighters stared at him open-mouthed.
Phin looked impressed, either because she believed him or because she thought it was an elaborate joke.
Chief Morrison merely raised his eyebrows. “That’s dedication.”
It might also have been too much information. Fortunately, Louise started laughing. “Oh, Mr. Stormfyr, you’re such a card.”
Rhaz laughed too. He hoped that meant he was making a joke. “Yes, yes, I am.” He laughed a little more, then smiled at Chief Morrison and Phin. “But we did train longer than one day a week.”
“Well, of course you did,” Phin said. “You’re a much bigger department than we are. I imagine in a city like Dubai you have, what, six engines?”
For lack of a better idea, Rhaz nodded.
“That’s a mighty big station, son,” Chief Morrison said. “And you’re the fire chief?”
He looked Rhaz up and down. “How old are you?”
“Old enough, apparently,” Louise said as she rejoined them. “Besides, they probably do things a lot differently there, Hank. What do you expect?”
Louise grinned at Rhaz. “Just imagine if you were fire chief here in Moon Creek Falls. Good heavens, there’d be more kitchen fire alarms than we could count. All single ladies, of course.”
The firefighters laughed, as did Chief Morrison.
Phin, on the other hand, frowned. Rhaz noticed and wondered if she disagreed with them or simply thought it would be a waste of time and resources.
At this point, he didn’t particularly care. He just wanted to get out of there before they asked a question he couldn’t possibly answer.
He was beginning to understand why Anon insisted he blend in somehow, and his mind began to race with possibilities.
Jackson had become a mailman, delivering letters and packages throughout town. Prince Caelen helped his mate in her flower shop. Rhaz supposed that was a suitable occupation for a Fae. They did enjoy beautiful things.
Quill lived with Anon, while Aaron had taken up residence with his wife in her little house by the lake. The Nemthra needed to remain near water, so that made sense. But what was he going to do?
Of course, if anyone knew about fire, it was him. “If I were to move here,” Rhaz said carefully, “could I work here?”
Chief Morrison’s eyes lit up. “Well, of course, my boy. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’d love to have you take over for me, provided you meet all the requirements.”
Rhaz swallowed hard. “I will... see what I can do. Your little town intrigues me.” He hoped he hadn’t said the wrong thing again.
He also hoped they would accept that answer because he was getting out of there as fast as he could.
As it turned out, Chief Morrison was also caught up in the possibility that Rhaz might be living permanently in Moon Creek Falls. He accepted Rhaz’s excuse and sent him out the door with Phin as his ride back to Anon’s.
Phin led him to her little yellow car, the same one he’d seen on his first night in town. He still thought it looked like a beetle.
It was difficult for him to get in and out of because he was so tall, but he managed. She started it, pulled away from the curb, and drove off.
This was the first vehicle he’d ridden in, and he found it rather fun. It was especially nice that part of the roof opened, letting in more air.
“Louise isn’t coming?” he asked.
“No. Louise does what Louise does.” Phin sighed. “Sometimes that woman is a menace.”
Rhaz’s eyebrow shot up, and he nearly laughed. Part of him had to agree. “Why do you say that?”
She glanced between him and the street. “Isn’t it obvious? She’s a gossip, Rhaz. She sticks her nose into everybody else’s business, and worse, she writes about it.”
He thought of Louise scribbling in her notebook. “Writes?”
“Yes, and she puts it in a column she does for the Moon Creek Falls newspaper. It’s called the Daily Blabbermouth, if you can believe that.”
She rounded a corner a little too quickly for his liking. It shoved him against the door. “Do you always operate your conveyance this way?”
Phin glanced at him and made a strange sound. “Wow. You really aren’t from around here. What do they call it in Dubai? Driving?”
He shrugged. “Driving. Though no one from where I come from would drive this fast.”
“I’m only going ten miles over the speed limit,” she complained, then slowed the vehicle. “There. Is that better?”
He shrugged again. “Is it supposed to be?”
Phin was quiet for a moment. “I guess I am a little perturbed. Louise showed up and ruined our tour, but that’s okay. Chief Morrison is happy.”
She glanced between him and the road again. “Are you really thinking of moving here?”
Rhaz heaved a sigh. “I am here for now. Let me put it that way. I have no idea when I may return home. It could be months. Years.”
He thought of the stories Anon had told him. The vampire had been in Moon Creek Falls for two years already. The door in the pine grove had opened once, giving him the chance to leave, but he hadn’t gone because Hana couldn’t pass through it with Jackson, and he wasn’t about to leave her.
Anon hadn’t wanted Jackson left alone among the humans. The werewolf was still too new at blending in, and Anon feared he would slip up. If people discovered what he was, they might kill him or lock him away and perform terrible experiments on him.
Who knew what they might do to Hana, even if she was human.
Anon had been visibly agitated when discussing it. Then he’d told them about Jackson’s condition when he first came through the door. It had been the first time the door had done anything since Anon arrived.
“So are you saying your station isn’t where you want to be?” Phin asked, breaking into his thoughts.
He looked at her, noticed the creaminess of her skin, and quickly looked away. “I must discuss it with friends,” he hedged. “I came here under unusual circumstances.”
“You didn’t get fired, did you?” she asked with a frown. “If that’s the case, you should have told Chief Morrison. Especially since he has his hopes so high.”
Rhaz blinked. “His hopes?”
“Of winning the election. But he doesn’t want to leave us in the lurch without a chief.”
“And none of you are qualified to take over?” Rhaz asked.
“Like I said, a lot of us are volunteers. Trevor is a firefighter, and so is Lyle, but most of us aren’t.”
He gaped at her for a moment. “Do all small towns have fire stations like this?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’d be surprised.”
She pulled into Anon’s driveway and parked in front of the carriage house. “Well, here you are. Your stop.” She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.
Rhaz wondered if Anon owned a car. If so, he’d like to see it. Maybe Anon would teach him how to drive. Caelen mentioned at dinner the other night that he was learning.
“Are you getting out?” Phin asked.
“I was just admiring your car.”
“Yes, it’s a classic. It was my grandpa’s. It’s got a lot of miles on it, but the family has taken good care of it over the years.”
He smiled at her. “You like it very much, don’t you?”
She nodded. “I do. This little bug has taken me a lot of places in this state. One of these days I’ll visit California. It would be fun to drive down the coast to San Francisco.”
“San Francisco,” he repeated. “I have never been there.”
He’d never been to California either, or anywhere other than Moon Creek Falls for that matter, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“You haven’t? Wow. We get people from San Francisco up here. Tourists, you know. I sometimes help out at the campground, picking up trash and helping Stuffy.”
“Stuffy?” Rhaz asked with a smile. “What an odd name.”
“Stuffy James. He’s the camp host every summer and has been for years. He lives right here in town and has an RV he drives over to the campground every season.”
Rhaz nodded and realized he enjoyed listening to her talk.
“Well, I’ve got things to do.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for coming down to the station. It meant the world to the chief.”
He nodded. “Thank you for having me.” Rhaz climbed out of the car and watched as Phin backed up, turned around, and drove away. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d gotten himself into, but one thing was certain.
If he stayed in Moon Creek Falls, he just might get to spend more time with the little dark-haired beauty who had more than caught his eye.