The Sisters Sent Us

Posted on Sun Oct 19th, 2025 @ 3:11am by Dominique LaFramboise & Jarrod Lask & Liza Behn & Gideon Asher

Mission: Wasted
Location: Nicki and Jarrod’s House

The cabin sat about five hundred feet off the road, surrounded by trees. It could just be seen in the daylight, but it was fully dark now. All that gave the cabin away was a single light shining through a window- a light over the kitchen sink. Liza knew that because she had sold them the house.

“Can anybody see anything?” Liza asked the two men. They all stood on the road, hoping to see the hounds. Liza had been allowed on the property to sell it, but now that it was sold, she had to get their permission before crossing the property line. Perhaps, had it simply been herself and the Baron, she’d have risked it, but given that the Havildar-Major was with them, she didn’t dare.

“Some construction supplies,” answered the Baron. “But no movement. Full moon is tonight. Perhaps they are on patrol.” He turned to Gideon. “Isn’t there some sort of provision to allow a law keeper to venture onto their land in pursuit of justice?” he asked hopefully.

"I've got a novel notion," Gideon said. "Perhaps we just walk up to the front door and knock. Even if you're one of those vampires that can't enter a house without being invited, you should be able to cross the line of their property."

Liza glanced nervously at the Baron, who in turn glanced at the property line. “Old habits,” he explained to Liza. “It used to be forbidden to even cross a human’s property line without an invitation. I imagine it comes up far more often for law enforcement.”

“You mean you taught me incorrectly?” Liza teased.

“I erred on the side of caution, which is permissible,” replied the Baron haughtily.

“Lucky for you,” Liza countered with a grin.

"Well," Gideon said. "Hounds aren't human. Anyway, you crossed the Weird Sisters' property line to go to the door without permission and you didn't burst into flame." Gideon walked up to the edge of the property. He gingerly put his foot over the line and touched the ground inside the property with his toe. Nothing untoward happened. He put his foot down. Nothing happened. He stepped fully over the property line. Suddenly, he began writhing and screaming! "Argh! It burns! It burns!" then he stopped and grinned. "Well that answers that, for me, anyway. You two might want to take it slow."

“That wasn’t funny!” Liza said once she managed to put her eyes back into her head.

“The sisters,” said The Baron, enunciated the word as if it were more significant than it implied, “had a welcome sign at the edge of their property, indicating that we were allowed to cross the line, but a ‘please ring the bell’ sign at the front door, indicating that we needed to seek permission to enter the house itself. I am certain both Liza and myself are old enough to not react to a simple border, but our laws still hold, even if the magic does not.”

“And one of the hounds is a witch,” added Liza. “She might have added wards to the property.”

“Gideon got through, so I don’t think she- a witch?” said the Baron. “You didn’t tell me one of them was a witch!”

“Didn’t I?” said Liza, brow wrinkling. “I’m sure I did.”

“Well, I don’t remember it,” said the Baron dismissively.

“It wouldn’t be the first thing you didn’t remember,” pointed out Liza.

“Is that a dig against my age?” demanded the Baron.

“No, you just seem to conveniently forget things that I tell you!”

“I have never once forgotten anything you’ve told me!”

“You almost never remember anything!”

“That is simply not true!” The Baron turned to say something to Gideon to find him not there. “Where did he go?”

“He’s halfway down the drive,” said Liza, exasperated. “Come on.” And the two of them hurried to catch up with Gideon as he reached the house.

There was a door knocker on the door in the shape of a dog with a witch's hat on. Gideon rolled his eyes. "Subtle." he muttered, then knocked on the door.

Inside, many different sets of footsteps could be heard approaching the door before it opened tentatively and an adorable blond peeked out. “Nicki!” she called over her shoulder. “It’s vampires! Hi, Baron!”

“Good evening, Adelaide,” replied the Baron politely.

“You know her?” asked Liza, surprised.

“She is a descendant,” answered the Baron. “My many time great granddaughter.” He rolled his eyes at the look on Liza’s face. “I have kept in touch with my son’s family since vampires have been in the open. Before that, I kept tabs on them and made sure nobody would harm them.”

But Liza did not get a chance to reply as a large white dog appeared in the doorway. It seemed to smile at them, then shifted and flowed until Nicki stood in its place. “Good evening, Havildar-Major,” she said. “And Liza,” she added, almost confused. “You’ve arrived just in time to meet my new Leesh. Well, hopefully, anyway.”

“We just got bitten!” announced Adelaide, holding up her bandaged hand. “It hurt like a sonofabitch, but it’ll all be worth it if the virus takes!”

“I’m assuming you’re here on official business?” Nicki asked Gideon.

"Nikki!" Gideon exclaimed. "Finally! A sane person! After a visit with the Weird Sisters, you're presence is a relief!"

Nicki grinned. “I’ve only met one divinator before and he was very strange,” Nicki sympathized. “But I hear the Weird Sisters are even worse.”

“All divinators are strange,” replied Liza, eyeing the Baron.

“I am not a divinator,” The Baron told her. “Visions are not divination.”

“I didn’t say you were,” pointed out Liza, “but the fact you thought I did proves that even you think you’re strange.”

“He is strange, though,” Addy said in an aside to Liza.

"If we're done determining who is and is not strange," Gideon said. "Perhaps we might get to the matter at hand? Liza, would you mind telling Nikki what the the Weirdos... er... the Weird Sisters told you?"

“They said-“ started Liza, but then she glanced in at the gathered prospective hounds. “Is it safe to talk around them?”

Nicki glanced over her shoulder. The hopefuls were busy chatting while Jarrod- still in Hound form- sat nearby listening. “Vampires on the premises,” she announced to them. “If anybody is uncomfortable with that, now’s the time to go. If you stay, you will be under my protection.”

Nobody seemed keen on leaving, though. In fact, most of them were very uninterested and the rest seemed only vaguely interested that there were visitors, but unconcerned that they were vampires.

“Come in,” Nicki told them, stepping back to let them through the door.

Gideon entered, resenting the thought that anyone needed protection from him. Not because he wasn't dangerous. It was quite true that he was. But rather the insult that he would drink from a dog, and that he had such pathetic self control that he would attack any sentient being out of hunger just any old night of the week.

"Thank you," he said, betraying nothing of his internal feelings, something he did easily after a 1000 years of practice.

Nicki led the Vampires to the kitchen, motioning Jarrod to follow as she went. The white dog shifted and shimmered and revealed Jarrod, who followed along.

“Sorry about that,” Nicki said as they reached the kitchen. “Sometimes normals can be weird. I didn’t want anybody freaking out.”

"Well," Gideon said. "The sad truth is that if you take an honest look at Vampires, we're horrifying. A wolf or a hound or most other lycans can kill animals to satisfy themselves. Our prey is humans, plain and simple. We control ourselves by choice. We drink animal blood sometimes, but we must have at least some human blood to survive. So we drink from willing sources and pray that we won't lose control, when all we want to do, at the end of the day, is drain our prey dry. We're all one loss of self-control away from giving in to our ravenous hunger and our predatory nature and becoming killers again, especially those of us who were turned before the Accords. We're stronger, faster, and more lethal than humans. While lycans are dangerous to us, millenials like me can often go toe to toe with a lycan or a hound in wereform and hold our own, for a little while at least. Long enough for either help to arrive or to make a successful escape. And there are bloodsuckers far older and more powerful than me. I never encountered a Vampire before I met the one that turned me. It was Lycans that slaughtered my family. But I remember the fear when they attacked, the feeling of powerlessness. I imagine that is what some humans feel when they encounter me, and they either fear me or fear me AND resent me for making them feel powerless and afraid."

Nicki blinked. It may have been a fair assessment, but it was certainly one she never thought to hear from a vampire. “I suppose you have a point,” she replied. “I can even admit that Hounds are terrifying, too, even without meaning to be. Have you ever heard our howls? Absolutely blood curdling.”

"True," Gideon said, a smirk on his face to show he was poking fun. "But at least some of you guys look like Scooby Doo in were form and it's hard to be scared of Scooby Doo."

“Until he bares his teeth and lets out that ungodly howl,” said Jarrod with a smirk.

“Somehow, I think that would be creepier coming from Scooby Doo,” agreed Nicki. “Anyway, what did the sisters say?”

“They said that there’s a Waster,” said Liza, obviously expecting some sort of reaction.

But she got none. Nicki only nodded. “That backs up what we’ve seen, too,” she said grimly. “He’s getting sloppy. Or she, as the case may be.”

“You mean, you don’t know who it is?” asked the Baron incredulously.

Nicki shook her head. “Not a clue,” she answered. “Why? Should I?”

“They also said the two white dogs in a cabin in the woods could lead us to it,” replied Liza. “I immediately thought of you two. I mean, I know you’re not the only two white dogs in a cabin in the woods, but honestly, why would the sisters see two white dogs in a cabin in the woods while talking to me if it wasn’t the only two white dogs in a cabin in the woods that I’m aware of.”

“How many times can one say ‘two white dogs in a cabin in the woods’ in the same sentence?” muttered the Baron. But nobody paid any attention to him.

"Everytime," Gideon said. "Every fucking time I listen to anyone from the Wyrd Sisters coven. Every, single, fucking time, I end up going down a rabbit hole and whether I will actually have found anything when I come out the other side, other than a spectacular headache, is questionable to say the least. This is why everyone perverts the name 'Wyrd' into 'Weird'. Because they're fucking weird--" Gideon stopped. "Oh, boy. What if, and this could be a total mind fuck here, but what if you don't know them YET, but you're about to? What if the Bizzare Biddies predicted we'd all find out the identity of the Waster here and now? You have to admit, lopping of the heads of the Hounds and the Blood Rangers would be a good move for our hungry friend."

“Fair point,” said Jarrod with a slight grin.

Nicki nodded in agreement. “Well all we know so far is that it’s probably a necromancer,” she said, “but definitely a witch. Wasters are always witches. And it’s likely one that got their power from the opposite gendered parent. When magic crosses genders, it gets stronger,” she explained. “And the residual power at the nursing home was definitely stronger than your average witch.”

"Can we take this thing if it shows up now?" Gideon asked. "Do we think I am correct? That the waster is going to show up here? Now?"

Nicki paled and Jarrod immediately began looking out the windows, alarmed. “Oh God I hope not,” she said. “What were the Sister’s exact words?”

Liza blinked, stunned. “Uh… they said, ‘there is a cabin in the woods and two white dogs. They can lead you to the Waster.’”

Nicki relaxed slightly. “That sounds like we find it,” she said, “not that it will come to us. That would almost be a relief, though. At least then we’d know who it was.”

"Well," Gideon said. "While we are in a cabin in the woords, neither Liza, nor I, nor his nobleness is a white dog, so the three of us can find the waster. That leaves the two of you. Though, if you could find the waster yourselves all this time, we are going to have to have a serious talk about efficiency when this is all over."

“The sisters said they can lead us to the waster,” Liza pointed out. “So maybe we’re supposed to be here, too? Or… my head hurts thinking about this.”

“Sometimes I think prophesies are specifically for causing headaches,” replied Nicki. “Maybe we’re supposed to be in hound form? Vampires can keep up with Lycans under normal circumstances. Should we go out on patrol with you three following?”

"We can keep up," Gideon said. "For a while, anyway. But over long distances, on four legs, you're going to be faster and be able to keep up a faster pace for longer periods."

“Kinda makes you wish that rumor about them turning into bats as true,” Jarrod said to Nicki.

She grinned and shook her head, then sighed. “Well, we must be able to help them some other way that we just haven’t thought of yet.”

“Maybe I can help.”

They all turned to see Addy smiling in the doorway.

“What do you mean, Adelaide?” asked the Baron irritably.

“Well, there are witches in my ancestry,” she said. “I didn’t inherit any of the abilities, but I just know about people. You know?”

“Soul searcher,” muttered Nicki. “That’s an incredibly rare talent. Are you sure you have it?”

“It’s how I knew the two of you were hounds last night,” she said. “And I can always tell witches, vampires, and Lycans from humans, even when it’s not readily apparent. And i can tell which people are trustworthy and who isn’t. I even helped catch a serial killer once because I could see the evil in his eyes. I tipped off the police and they tailed him for months. But it was him all right.”

There were vampires who could shapeshift, but it was a gruesome process. And if you screwed it up, you could be stuck half the real you and half what or who you were trying to become, and not in a cool way. Many a vampire had done themselves irreparable harm failing an attempt at shapeshifting. The elder Wallachian could shift into some gruesome creatures. Part man, part wolf, part bat. Horrifying. If the younger Wallachian had these powers, he kept them to himself. If he did he would never risk losing the name his contemporaries had given him: Radu the Handsome, by disfiguring himself in a shapechanging mishap.

"You've lost me," Gideon said. "I consider myself a fairly intelligent being, but I'm not following. Where are we headed with this."

“If I happen across this Waster, I’d know him at once,” Addy replied. “He’s pretty evil, right? I would definitely see that. All I’d have to do is look into his eyes.”

“So you’ll just wander around Nashville looking into everyone’s eyes?” asked the Baron, rolling his eyes. “How practical.”

“No!” defended Addy. “I’m just saying that maybe I’m supposed to happen across him. And when I do, I call Nicki and then she calls you three and you all go after him. Or call the authorities. Or something.”

Gideon sighed. "Pardon the Baron's rude outburst," Gideon said. "It was unnecesary. However, he is correct. It is ineffcient. Alright witches, we need a way for Addy to use her sight on all of Nashville, all at once or almost all at once. That's going to require magic. So let's alakazam a solution to this problem."

“There aren’t really any good ones,” replied Nicki. “Scrying is the most likely, but you have to know the person you’re trying to scry. I’ve never heard of anybody scrying a whole town at once. I could ask the Altar. He might have an idea.”

They brain stormed for a few more minutes, but Jarrod and Nicki were getting antsy- being human on the full moon wasn’t exactly comfortable. “We’re really going to have to do this later,” Nicki concluded. “We’re not getting anywhere and Jarrod and I really need to be dogs for awhile.”

"Go," Gideon said. "Don't let us keep you. Go forth and sniff each other's backsides and roll in wild animal skat or whatever."

Nicki grinned in spite of herself. “I know you well enough by now, but just FYI, most Hounds would find that highly offensive,” she said.

“Yeah!” said Jarrod, feigning offense. “We only sniff vampire asses!”

“Jarrod!” Nicki exclaimed, trying to hold back a laugh.

"I'm well aware of what hounds find offensive," Gideon said to Nikki, a slight grin on his face. "I had to hide from hounds when I was young if I was on my own, but later I won enough brawls before the Accords with young, easily offended and even more easily provoked hound puppies looking to score points by picking off a baby vamp and running into me instead. Don't worry. I was kind. Most of them lived to tell the tale... the tale being 'don't fuck with Gideon Asher or anyone under his protection!' However, in this case, no offense was intended. Those days were long past, and, on my better days, I do not miss them. I'm just grouchy after dealing with the Twisted Sisters. I cannot stand those manipulative... well, anyway, you get my point. Apologies, Hound Mistress."

Nicki waved a hand as if any misunderstanding could be physically brushed away. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “For now, we’ve got a pack to attend to. Come on, Jarrod.”

“I suppose we could go find some food,” suggested Liza. “Ooo, Gideon, we could take the baron to Dragula! There’s always tons of willing prey there. Plus, the show is amazing.”

“What on earth is Dragula?” asked the Baron.

“It’s a Vampire drag club,” answered Liza.

“A vampire drag club?” hissed the Baron as if it were the most disgusting thing he’d ever heard.

“Lighten up, father,” answered Liza with a roll of her eyes and she moved towards the door. “Come on, let’s at least leave the hounds to their devices.”