Desert? What Desert?

It has been raining lately. Now it is green outside, granted it's all weeds and a little desert grass, but the problem is that it is green.

Now let's start with the whole desert thing. People aren't used to rain out here, so they aren't used to driving with moisture on the road. Of course, if it starts raining everybody feels that they immediately have somewhere to go, and they start driving. Oh Boy!

The other problem that starts when it starts raining like it has been recently is that people who move here from wet areas think that there is enough water for long showers and grass. There is not enough water for either. There are communities in this state that have run out of water entirely. So obviously there is not enough water out here.

Anyway, just a little complaint about the weather.

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25

Malchevio had been pacing in his study for hours.

He had not fared so well in the second meeting. The members had decided on his punishment for not paying enough attention to Jack. And while it could have been worse, he was unhappy with the decision.

He was trying to decide if there was anything that he could do to lessen his punishment when there was a pounding on his door.

He grumbled all the way to answering it, the punishment was starting already. He felt that he would now have no peace until he was dead.

He opened the door and was instantly revolted. A zombie stood there, one hand raised in mid-pound, the other clutching a letter.

Malchevio ripped the letter from the zombie’s hand. He almost dismissed the creature, then thought better of it.

“Idiots,” he mumbled to himself. “They want me to run their errands and then they send a zombie to deliver messages. How long do they expect me to live if the villagers see zombies stopping by to deliver messages?”

He wrote as much in a return letter. He checked to make sure that the letter looked similar enough, then returned to the zombie.

He thrust the letter into the zombie’s hand. Waving his arms and pointing just in case anyone was watching he instructed the zombie to deliver the letter to the person who had sent him.

The zombie nodded, and walked away.

Malchevio wondered if the letter would even reach its destination. Zombies were notoriously slow-minded and forgetful. That one may have forgotten who had sent him before he ever reached Malchevio’s dwelling.

Malchevio wasn’t as concerned as he might have been, though. Communication was only half the reason for the return letter. The other half was to fool any villagers that might have noticed the presence of a zombie. If they believed that the zombie had gotten lost and the stop was in error, he was much more likely to be left alone about it.

He retrieved the letter that the zombie had delivered.

After reading the letter he decided that they were trying to kill him.

He was to monitor the common telepathic channels, intercept any messages that might be useful to their side, and travel to various points when the message was a summons.

He crumpled the letter and tossed it into a fire.

***

He had been monitoring the channels for hours, and was about to fall asleep when a familiar voice cut through the mental fog.

Malchevio was instantly alert. He knew that Julius would not initiate an exchange unless absolutely necessary. It felt like a lifetime passed before Julius received a reply to his call.

Malchevio listened, and then swore to himself when he heard the other person tell Julius that he was going to the vamp’s location. It not only meant that he was to travel, but that he had to jump realms as well.

He continued to monitor the conversation as he readied himself for the jump. Traveling between the realms was not a common occurrence, so he would have to time his jump to coincide with the other person. He would also have to arrive farther than he would have liked so that nobody noticed the jump. That meant having to walk some ways to hear the conversation, and maybe missing some of it.

He felt the beginnings of the other person readying the jump. He pulled his own energy, and disappeared.

***

Malchevio had chosen the wooded area where he had confronted Julius as his landing point. He was glad that he had scouted the area during that earlier visit; it would make it that much easier to reach where he was going without complication.

He quickly made his way toward the house.

As he came into earshot of the vamp and the other he slowed and snuck into a position where he could hear them, but not be heard by them if he remained silent. At least he hoped that was the case.

The first thing he heard instantly made the trip worthwhile. He could have shouted with joy at the sound of it.

He had worried all day about Jack’s abilities to defeat her, especially since he now had to use some of his energy in protecting himself. But this… this was almost the best news that he could have heard.

Things fell silent as the vamp went to go check on the girl. The silence continued as the other followed the vamp inside a moment later.

Malchevio readied himself to leave. He figured that whatever they talked about once they reemerged would be small talk, but he was going to stick around and jump from his current location. Just in case.

The other came back outside. Julius was not with him. Malchevio stood up carefully, ready to return home.

Julius came out of the house. He was asking about the girl’s family.

Malchevio laughed inwardly. Even after all this time the vamp still cared for her feelings.

Then he heard something that shocked him.

Her family was not being protected. Their side had never bothered to check the protections on her family because the protections surrounding her were so strong.

He didn’t have time to dwell on the information. The other was preparing to leave, and he had to leave as well.

He stepped through the portal between realms, thinking about how the information could be used.