Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) by Beverly Toney Page B

not
knowing what to do or if I was in danger. As if it sensed my dilemma,
the dog lowered itself to the ground and lay on its back. From what I
had watched on National Geographic and the Dog Whisperer, I knew that
this was a sign of submissiveness. Even so, a submissive 200lb dog
was still a 200lb dog. I approached slowly and scratched it behind
the ears before rubbing its stomach. I noticed a heavy chain around
the dog’s neck and looked at the tag that was hanging there.
Her name was Artemis after the Greek goddess of the hunt: an
appropriate name for such a powerful dog.
    As I stood up and
turned to get dressed, Artemis followed me to the closet and sat in
the entrance. I wondered if she was there to watch me, but couldn’t
tell if it was to keep me safe or keep me from leaving.
    “ Artemis,
what’s going on here?” I asked the dog.
    Artemis’ head
turned toward me and her eyes glistened as if she truly understood
what I was asking her. After a moment, she tilted her massive chin in
the direction of the clothes I had yet to put on as if telling me to
hurry up. On cue, the other large dog entered the bathroom looking at
the two of us as if we were late for something important.
    “ I’m
coming”, I said, feeling silly that I was talking to the dogs,
but the dog at the door promptly left when I made my statement. They
must have been trained really well, I thought. These dogs certainly
weren’t stupid.
    I returned to the job
of getting dressed in a set of black sweats while Artemis cleaned her
front paws. She was actually quite an amazing animal. Her short coat
was the color of caramel and she had a white patch on her chest. Her
eyes were that brownish-yellow that dogs have and which made them
look really mean and her ears and tail were cut and she reminded me
of a huge Pitbull. After I dressed, I knelt next to her and rubbed
her shiny soft coat. She lifted her head and placed it on my shoulder
and exhaled. What a great dog.
    When we walked out of
the bathroom the remaining dog completed the same submissive
maneuvers that Artemis had and I was able to read his tag. His name
was Apollo, the Greek sun god among other things, and Artemis’
twin. I wondered if these two dogs were actually twins. They
certainly looked alike except that Apollo was larger than Artemis. I
rubbed his belly and scratched him behind the ears before we rose
together and headed for the door.
    The two dogs acted as
escorts, one on either side, guiding me as we walked down the hallway
toward the stairs. I assumed that they were trained in some type of
search and rescue school as they led me all of the way downstairs and
to an enormous kitchen. There were two dark granite islands, both
with bar stools on one end. The gas range was an industrial monster
with 8 burners and a grill. I counted three ovens, two stainless
steel fridges, two dishwashers and a microwave over the range.
    I stopped in the
entrance and felt Artemis lean on my legs in agreement. We stood
there while Apollo walked forward causing the occupants of the
kitchen to quiet and turn to face us. In unison all of them did a
quick bow, put their hands behind their backs and cast their eyes
downward. There were about seven of them of all genders, all ages and
all nationalities. All of them were wearing the same blood red tunic
and pants with black shoes. The pants had perfect creases from mid
thigh all of the way to the ground. They wore varying styles. The
ladies’ tunics had pockets in the front and the men had side
pockets that you could only see if they put their hand there. In
addition to the uniform, each of the people standing before me wore a
black 2 ½ inch suede choker with a red calligraphy initial on
it.
    “ I
see that you’ve found the kitchen”, Tabitha said.
    Her silent appearances
were really starting to get on my last nerve. She walked toward
Apollo, and knelt to scratch him behind the ears. As she stood, a
girl about my age walked toward her reaching behind her neck