Future Hounds

Posted on Tue Jun 24th, 2025 @ 2:37am by Dominique LaFramboise & Jarrod Lask & Gideon Asher

Mission: Wasted
Location: Insomnia Coffee House
Timeline: August 18, 2024 ; 8:00PM

Finding a place to meet future hounds had been far easier than Nicki had thought. It turned out that the owner of the late night coffee house had a son who was an unwilling Hyena and so had a vested interest in the number of Hounds in the city.

“I haven’t done this in a long time,” said Nicki, hiding her nerves very well.

“I’ve never done it,” replied Jarrod, also doing a great job of hiding his nerves.

“Last time, I thought it was just because I was new to recruiting,” she told him as she glanced around the sparsely occupied coffee house. “But maybe recruiting in a new area is always nerve wracking.”

Jarrod nodded. “Just do what I do; remind yourself that it’s impossible to pick wrong,” he suggested lightly.

She grinned. “Well, I’m glad to have someone here with me this time,” she told him. “Want an iced latte?”

“I’ll get the drinks,” he insisted. “Go save that big table. Hopefully we’ll need the whole thing.”

So she went to reserve the table with eight chairs, hoping enough people would actually show up to this meeting. She was mentally crossing her fingers and nervously chewing her lip while she waited.

Finneas Eagle entered the coffee house, oozing a confidence that, if he were to be completely honest with himself, he probably didn't really feel. But Finn Eagle didn't always feel the need to be honest with himself. As his dear departed grandfather used to say: "If there's anyone it's okay to lie to, it's yerself." As far as Finn was concerned, wiser words were never spoken, and if lying to himself about how confident he was (or wasn't) got Finn what he wanted, then he'd tell himself as tall a tale as he was capable of crafting.

Finn looked around for a group of people that looked like Hounds recruiting. He wasn't sure what to look for or what to expect, but he didn't see a group of people sniffing each other's arseholes or anyone licking their own bollocks, so that was good sign. He'd been asked to send in a picture of himself, so maybe someone would recognize him and call him over?

Turning from the counter with two hot drinks in his hands, Jarrod spotted a familiar face. That was one of the guys who had expressed interest in the Pack, wasn’t it? He caught the guy’s eye as he approached. “You would be Mr. Eagle, right?” he said.

"Yeah, mate," Finn said with a cautious grin. "If you tell me who's asking, you can call me Finn as yer reward. Only me mother calls me Finneas."

“I’m Jarrod Lask,” Jarrod continued. “I’d shake your hand, but, these are in the way. Our Alpha’s just over here,” he said, nodding to the table where Nicki sat and heading in that direction. “Nicki, this is Finneas Eagle,” he said, handing her one of the coffees. “Finn, this is Nicki LaFramboise.”

“Nice to meet you in person, Mr. Eagle,” Nicki said by way of greeting. She was glad for Jarrod’s help; she had a hard time recognizing people at first. It took her awhile to remember faces. Lucky for her, Jarrod didn’t have that problem.

"Call me Finn," Finn replied with a smile. "Mister Eagle makes me sound like a puppet in a kid's show. You got a table? I'll grab something unleaded and join you. Coffee at this point in the day would have me up all night baying at the moon!" If things went well, Finn might be doing that soon anyway, for reasons far removed from caffeine intake.

“Caffeine doesn’t affect hounds,” Jarrod replied. “Handy at times, but if you didn’t get enough sleep, you’re SOL.”

“I’ve claimed this table,” Nicki told Finn, nodding towards the largest tale in the place. “Hopefully everyone shows up.”

When Nikki told Finn she'd 'claimed' the table, the thought crossed the young man's mind to sniff a table leg and then piss on it. Fortunately, the thought passed through too quickly to take hold. "I'll be right back," he said instead, and went to the counter to order a decaff latte with extra shots of decaff. The decaff espresso here was good enough that if he added a few extra shots, the flavor sort of made up for the lack of caffeine. Once he had his drink, he returned to the table and took a seat. "So," Finn said. "How long have you two been Law Dogs?"

“Since my second year of college,” Nicki answered. “So… what does that make? Sixteen years?” she finished after some quick mental math.

“Almost ten years for me,” Jarrod added.

“Wow, has it been that long?” Nicki added. “It seems like just a couple of years ago I started the Bay City Leesh.”

“Ten years in March,” Jarrod confirmed.

"Is that in dog years?" Finn asked. Then he blushed. "Sorry," he said. "I crack wise when I'm nervous."

“What would that be in human years?” asked Jarrod with a grin.

“About two, I think,” replied Nicki. “So I was right after all.”

“Hi!” said a cheerful voice and the three of them looked up to see a pretty blonde with a heart shaped face and unusually long eyelashes smiling at them. “You’re the hounds, right?” she asked cheerfully.

“That would be us,” Jarrod replied. “And you are Adelaide Martin, correct?”

Adelaide grinned and joined them at the table. “That’s me!” she said cheerfully. “Call me Addy, though. Everybody does.”

“Nice to meet you, Addy,” replied Nicki. “I’m Nicki and this is Jarrod. And that’s Finn, another prospective hound.”

“Hi, Finn!” said Addy cheerfully.

"Hiya, Addy," Finn replied. "Pleasure to meet you."

“So what makes you want to become hounds?” Nicki asked.

“Oh, I’m very interested in justice,” answered Addy at once. “I’m just about to start law school- I start next week- and I’m hoping to become a prosecutor one day. And hounds just sort of fit right into that. Plus, I’ve done a lot of job shadowing already and a lot of loc attorneys have a very favorable opinion of hounds.”

"Well," Finn said. "The way I sees it, there's a powerful lotta dangerous types living side by side, and I include humans in that. A crowdah scared, angry, belligerent humans with torches and pitchforks is just as dangerous as a pack of wolves or a coven of vampires or... whatever you call a group of witches. Someone's got to keep the peace... and the Blood Rangers scare the shitte out of me so it's the Hounds for me!" Finn shrugged. "Sorry I don't have a 'when I was a child, a Hound rescued me when I was a child and adopted me' story, but that would seemed trite and forced even if it was true, which it ain't. Anyway, I done some bouncer work at a few clubs around Nashville and other places. I've picked up work as a process server and did some other legwork for a few private dicks here and there. I also got a few bail bondsmen who use me fairly regular to do some bounty hunting for them. I'd try for being a human copper but I'm not keen on all the trouble they been gettin themselves into lately."

“They’re also bound by laws,” Jarrod pointed out with a grin. “We can do more than they can. A hound doesn’t need a search warrant.”

“Jarrod,” said Nicki with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, we don’t,” insisted Jarrod with a mischievous wink.

“I mean, he’s technically correct,” Nicki told the other two. “But we reserve that sort of activity for Lycan matters. We don’t need to go harassing regular humans unless the police enlist our help.”

“Do they do that often?” asked Addy.

“They did in Michigan,” answered Jarrod. “Who knows here, though. Hounds are new to the area, so they might not understand our abilities.”

"That's okay," Finn said. "I'm used to not needing warrants to enter a property. When I work for a bail bondsman, I can enter a residence if I have a reasonable belief my target is there. I just need to be a bit careful and usually I go with a couple or three other bail enforcers so we can overwhelm whoever is inside with shock, awe, and numbers. Since I don't carry a boomstick, that's important."

“Imagine going after a bail jumper and you turn into a great white dog,” said Jarrod with the barest hint of a smug grin. “Or better yet, imagine being a bail jumper and seeing a great white dog coming after you.”

"Or I could be a werebeagle and slap the bracelets on them while they're laughing their asses off," Finn said. "I kind of like the thought of that as a superhero name: Finn Eagle the Beagle!"

“I met some werebeagles once,” commented Nicki. “They might look silly but they are no joke.”

“I gotta admit, Finn Eagle the Beagle is a great name,” added Jarrod.

“Finn the Hound doesn’t have quite the same ring to it,” said Addy. “Granted, I don’t have any room to talk. Adelaide the Hound isn’t exactly the height of poetry, either.”

"You find your fun where and when you can," Finn said. "If that means making a funny name for myself, so be it." Finn's face got serious. "But as Hounds, we'd be policing Lycans and Vampires and Witches, right? So it's not likely they'll be much afraid of a Hound in their were form, right?"

“Just Lycans,” Nicki corrected. “We help with vampires and witches when requested, but witches never request and vampires avoid it whenever possible. We even help human law enforcement if they ask.”

"That's right," Finn said. "Vampires have their own cops, don't they. I've run in to a few of them. They scare the Hell out of me."

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of them, that’s for sure,” agreed Nicki. “Do either of you have any questions about the process? I mean, it’s fairly straightforward; one of us bites you and then we wait until the next full moon to see if it took. Yes it hurts. No you cannot clean the wound. Yes you can bandage it. Did I miss anything?”

"Um... do we get fleas?" Finn asked. "I mean, in were or dog form? I assume we do. You're not wearing flea collars. Do you splash yourselves in flea powder periodically or something?"

“Fair question,” replied Nicki with a grin. “The short answer is no. There are a lot of theories, but the most likely is that something in our blood is toxic to them. We kill a lot of infectious diseases and ticks have been observed expiring after feeding off Lycans, so it wouldn’t be hard to believe that fleas would have a similar reaction.”

“That’s a relief,” muttered Addy, actually managing to sound relieved.

"That is a relief," Finn said. "Hey, what are the chances I could become a werebeagle? I kind of like the idea of the moniker 'Finn Eagle the Beagle'!"

“We’re both of the giant white variety,” Jarrod told him. “So not very high. But, as I understand it, all Hounds are related, so I suppose anything’s possible.”

After a short pause, Nicki asked, “are there any other questions?”

Addy shook her head.

“All right,” said Nicki, taking a pair of cards out of her purse. “Here’s our address. Tomorrow’s the full moon. Come any time while the moon is out and ask one of us to bite you. That’ll give the virus a whole month to settle in and take effect.”

“Oh, hey!” exclaimed Addy, a grin spreading across her features. “You’re right across the street from my gran! She said you fixed her front steps!”

“Mrs. Landry,” said Nicki. “She’s a sweetheart. She brought us cookies.”

“Thank you for fixing the steps, by the way,” added Addy sincerely. “I don’t know when my brother and I could have gotten out there to do it.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Jarrod assured her. “I hadn’t gotten a job yet, so I had a lot of time on my hands.”

“Well, I appreciate it,” Addy replied, standing. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Probably not too late because I’m training myself to get up early for an 8AM class next week.”

“Early is fine,” Nicki assured her. “See you tomorrow!” she added as Finn and Addy left the table.

“Looks like another three are just arriving,” Jarrod told her, nodding towards the door.

She glanced over and saw them at once- a girl with fair skin and black hair, a very tall dark skinned man, and a bright faced young man of Korean decent. “Whoa,” she said. “It’s like Margo, Pete, and Jaime just walked in.” Not that the three looked anything at all like their friends from Michigan, but the similarities were enough to give the impression.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” he laughed as he waved them over.