Nature's Gift

Night was still in a semi-trance. He had linked telepathically with the second Raven, who was now flying around above the house and grounds. Night was seeing through the bird’s eyes, and both of them were searching for any intruders. His activities had indirectly summoned all his shadow totems as well, and each had come to wait silently nearby in case they were needed. In the back of his mind, Night acknowledged their presence as Snake wrapped itself protectively around his right leg, and Wolf jumped the fence and sat down on Night’s left.

Kevin ran in through the front door and went in search of Night. He found him out by the pool, a wolf by his side and a snake coiled around his leg. He could see, by looking at his lover’s eyes, that Night was in trance, so he waited in silence. He knew that Night was using Raven’s medicine to seek out any intruders, and he could feel the muscles in his body tense, preparing to take immediate action if anyone was found.

Kevin’s cat had followed him outside, taking a seat to Kevin’s left. Suddenly, Night’s eyes grew wide as Kevin heard the Raven caw loudly from above a tall tree. In that instant, Wolf sprang to his feet, and bounded over the wall, followed by Kevin’s cat. Night shook off his trance and ran toward the wall, followed closely by Kevin. As they climbed the fence near the tree, Kevin could see that someone had been there. The wolf ran off down the street, as if chasing something. Cat had climbed the tree and hissed loudly to get Kevin’s attention. He pushed something with his nose, sending it falling from the high branches. Kevin caught the camera equipment as it fell, while Night thanked Raven and Snake, sending them on their way. He was sure they had frightened the intruder away… at least for now.

Climbing back over the wall, the two men sat down by the pool and talked. Night filled Kevin in on what he had found in the house, and told him of his suspicions that the house and phones might be bugged, too. Both of them decided that it would be a good idea to get Kevin’s security people to check everything out before the guys came over for dinner. After Kevin placed a call to them, he walked with Night into the bedroom, where Night showed him the video camera. Seeing no obvious place for a tape to be stored in the camera, they decided to leave it to security.

By the time security left, they had recovered 4 remote video cameras, and had found two taps on the phone line. The video cameras were digital, so there were no tapes to retrieve in the house. There were, however, memory cards inside the devices, capable of storing days worth of video at a time. Kevin was visibly angry at the thought of his privacy being invaded in his own home. The question remained, though, as to how these devices had been placed in the house without setting off the alarm. One thing he did know, however, was that there was exposed film in both of the cameras they had gotten from the tree, and he had the memory cards. He intended to see exactly what kinds of pictures were on there. Picking up the phone, he called the only one he knew he could trust with this sort of thing.

“Yeah…” She answered, obviously in the middle of something.

“Beth… Kevin… did I call at a bad time?”

“Kev! No… no… I’m just fighting with some new software. What’s up?”

“I’ve got a rather delicate situation here, and I need your help…”

“Hmmmm… a delicate situation? Sounds juicy!” She chuckled wickedly.

“Beth… come on, darlin’… this is serious!” He laughed, catching her innuendo immediately.

“Ok, stud man… what can I do for you?”

“I’ve got some video memory cards and some film that I need to see… but I need to keep it on the down low…”

“You been getting kinky on me, baby?”

“Someone planted video cameras in my house, Beth… and that same someone has been hiding in the trees outside snapping pictures. I want to know what they’ve got and maybe figure out who and why… can you do this?”

“Sure! Bring ‘em on over, doll!”

“Well… I can’t do it right now… got the guys comin’ over for dinner. You busy later?”

“Me? Busy? Nah… when can I expect you?”

“Maybe around 2AM, if that’s ok?”

“I’ll be here… just let yourself in… you’ll find me in the basement…”

“Thanks, darlin’! See ya then…” He smiled into the phone as they hung up.

The guys arrived for dinner just as Night was getting dressed. He had decided that it would be best to meet them in something other than a loin cloth and moccasins. Dressed in his semi-sheer black shirt, leather pants, boots, and that ever-present Bear bone choker, he descended the stairs as the guys were moving into the living room.

“There’s my baby! Guys, I want you to meet Night… Night, this is Alex, Nick, Howie, and my cousin Brian…” Kevin beamed.

“A pleasure to meet all of you. Kevin has told me much about you… I really enjoy your music.” Night smiled, shaking hands with them in turn.

“Thanks! It’s a pleasure to meet you, too…” AJ smiled as he admired Night’s clothes.

“Night had never heard of us until the day before we left Vancouver… I gave him a crash course in Backstreet 101 in the car…”

“Really? You had never heard of us?” Brian was a bit surprised.

“No… I don’t keep up with popular culture very much…” Night explained.

“Are you Native, Night?” Nick asked, somewhat in awe.

“Nick!”

“No… that’s fine, Brian. Actually, I’m not Native American… but I am a Shaman, trained by the Elders for many years. You’re very observant, Nick…” Night smiled.

“I just figured… with the name and the bone choker…”

“That does tend to give it away, doesn’t it?” Night chuckled as he led them into the dining room.

“Psssst… Kev…” AJ whispered, leaning in to Kevin’s ear as they brought up the end of the line.

“Yeah?”

“He’s fine, dude! Looks like a rock star! Wonder if he’d tell me where he got those clothes?” AJ grinned.

“Alex… sometimes I worry about you…” Kevin laughed.

Over dinner, Night and Kevin told them how they had met, and Kevin tried to explain the vision quest to them. AJ found it amusing that Kevin had done peyote, and laughed at the image that conjured in his mind. After dinner, they all hung out in the living room for a while, drinking coffee and watching some of their videos… and with each video, they all told Night funny stories about things that happened on the shoots. Kevin was pleased to see that they all liked Night. He had been especially worried about Brian, but he was acting as if he had known Night all his life. The evening had turned out to be lots of fun, and Kevin was very happy about that.

After the guys had left, Kevin and Night locked up the house to go to see Beth. Both of them called their totems and shadow totems to guard the house while they were away, just in case, and Night took a few minutes to smudge the house with Sage. As they were about to leave, the phone rang. Night, who was closer, answered it…

“Hello…”

Silence.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Who’s there?”

Breathing.

Kevin took the phone…

“Hello?”

Click.

“That was strange, Night. Did they say anything to you?”

“Not a word… just some breathing…”

“Odd… let’s go… we’re gonna be late…” Kevin said as they walked out the door.

In Key Biscayne, an angry woman sat staring at the phone, brooding darkly as she turned up the bottle of tequila. A plan was already forming in her mind…

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