Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)
Chapter 72

Natalia didn’t wait for a response. She ran into Victoria's room and grabbed her up, patting all around her body to make sure nothing was there.

“Uri,” she said again, almost screaming.

Victoria was now crying. Uri joined her in the hallway. He looked somewhat disoriented.

"What?" he said, despite he was looking down the stairs and seeing what she was seeing. “Beetles,” she said. “The beetles are on the loose.”

Beetles were half way up the stairs, but were now retreating because of the lights. The entire floor below them was covered with beetles to the point where it was impossible to see the floor. “Beetles?” he said.

He took a breath and then seemed to come to his senses.

“Give Bonnie a call and tell her,” he said. “We'll need the lights.”

Natalia moved fast into the bedroom to get her phone, only to drop it and have to fish it out from under the bed.

“Bonnie. Bonnie. Beetles,” was all she managed to say before the call disconnected.

Natalia rushed back out to make sure Uri wasn't doing anything stupid, but he was still at the top of the stairs looking down.

“That's a lot of beetles,” he said.

He seemed to be stunned while he stared down at the mass.

“They escaped,” she said.

“We don't have that many beetles,” he said, looking confused.

She wondered if this was some of the confusion she was supposed to be concerned about.

“Then what the hell are we looking at?” she said.

“A lot of beetles,” he said.

There was a sound from the garage door to the house, and a bright light appeared.

"Oh, my word,” Bonnie said, coming into view.

Beetles scurried away from her, looking for any dark spot to escape the light. The sofa moved and rose from the ground as beetles scurried beneath it, squeezing under those already hiding. The cushions quivered.

Mag came in through the front door with a bright light, causing the mass of beetles to head toward the kitchen. A few headed up the stairs, but then jumped through the railing to join the mass below. "What the hell,” Mag said. "Where did these come from?”

"What do you mean?” Natalia said.

“We don't have that many beetles,” Uri said.

“What?” Natalia said.

"We don't have that many beetles,” Mag said.

Now Natalia felt confused.

Zena came in through the front with a bright light.

“I saw them crawling on the kitchen window and decided I shouldn't come through the patio door,” she said.

"Yeah, that would have pushed them the wrong way,” Mag said.

"Oh, my word,” Zena said. “Where did they come from?”

“Nattie, come down and get this,” Bonnie said, coming around toward the stairs.

“What?”

Natalia was terrified of going down.

“I have Victoria,” she said as if that explained everything

“I have a light for you. You can keep any strays from coming up by you.”

Natalia went down only a couple of stairs. Bonnie tossed the light up to her.

“Stay up there with Uri. We'll get this lot down into the basement and see what happened.”

“If we don't have that many beetles than where did they come from?” Natalia said.

“We're nowhere near a farm,” Zena said.

Uri shrugged.

Natalia wondered if a whole bunch had matured that they just didn’t know about. Their grubbies had been getting a lot of good feedings.

"Over there, Nattie,” Uri said, gesturing toward a step.

A mass of beetles were heading up the stairs.

She aimed the light on them, and they scurried through the railing. They clattered when they landed on top of more beetles.

It seemed to take a long time for Bonnie, Mag and Zena to herd the beetles toward the kitchen. They disappeared through the doors. As soon as they did and the bright lights were gone, hundreds of beetles materialized out of every dark nook and cranny.

“Bonnie,” Natalia said, keeping the light she had aimed at the stairs to keep any from heading up. The beetles keep wanting to head toward the stairs.

“I know. There are stragglers,” Bonnie said.

“Stragglers?” Natalia said, looking at the hundreds of beetles.

Kate appeared through the garage door with a bright light and a stack of black plastic wastebaskets. "Oh, my word. Bonnie, you missed a few hundred,” she said.

“I know,” Bonnie's voice said, sounding exasperated.

"Aren“t they just going to escape into the garage?” Natalia said.

“I'm sure they have a light pointing down the hole,” Uri said.

She flinched and looked own. Her skin was crawling, and she kept thinking one was climbing her leg, but there was nothing when she looked.

Uri left to get dressed.

“What time is it?" she said.

“About one am," he said.

He came back out and sat on the top stair.

“That's a lot of beetles,” he said again, staring at the floor.

Kate left and soon returned with long, thin boards and blocks. She put a block down, using it to prop up a wastebasket so that it leaned to one side. One of the long boards was placed against it like a ramp.

“Don't bait them, yet,” Bonnie said, coming from the kitchen.

Zena and Mag appeared.

They walked around the room with the lights, flushing beetles as they went. There had to be hundreds more that they herded toward the kitchen.

"What are we going to do with all these beetles?” Natalia said.

“Eat them,” Uri said.

The four women did another sweep around the room. There still seemed to be hundreds of beetles. Then, they set the wastebaskets up and dropped a piece of raw meat into each one.

“You can go back to bed. This is going to take awhile,” Mag said.

“Bed?” Natalia said, looking incredulous.

"You, too, Uri. Go to bed. There's nothing we can do until morning. We're just catching stragglers,” Bonnie said.

"How can I sleep knowing...” Natalia said, looking around the room in horror.

Everywhere she looked she could still see beetles.

She glanced down at Victoria.

“We're moving her crib into our room,” she said.

"Okay," he said.

Uri helped her carry the crib. She shut their bedroom door and stuffed towels underneath to prevent any beetles from crawling under. He slid back into bed fully dressed. She followed, but it was a long time before she fell back asleep, and that was only because Victoria was quiet.

Natalia woke when Uri moved. It was almost six am. The sun was shining.

"Victoria is hungry,” he said.

He rose and lifted her from the crib.

Natalia was quick to look around to make sure there were no beetles.

“I'll go to check progress,” he said, sounding normal. “I'm sure the ladies are already up and at it.” She was glad he remembered what had happened, but terrified of him leaving.

“What? Don't leave me alone?”

“I'll open the drapes. No beetle is going to come into this room with all this light,” he said, throwing open the drapes.

Sunlight flooded in.

Even though he did that, she noted he took care removing the towels from under the door. He opened the door slowly, scanning the floor.

“Not a one,” he said.

He disappeared down the stairs.

Natalia didn’t want to be alone, but she took comfort in that Victoria was content with nursing and didn't seem disturbed. She dressed as soon as Victoria was finished, putting her in the wrap around her.

“Let's go see what the house looks like," she said.

She grabbed the light and walked carefully down the stairs. The wastebaskets were still there. Every single one of them contained at least a dozen beetles.

“Morning,” Mag said, coming from the kitchen.

She dumped the wastebaskets into a pail, then put them back in place.

"Come on out to the patio.”

Natalia followed her.

There were three propane burners going. On top of each burner was a large kettle of water. "What's happening?” Natalia said.

"Beetle cook off,” Mag said. “We've got to do something with them. Cooking is it. Have a seat. Zena will be out with tea and utensils.”

“You're serious?”

“Hell, yes.”

Natalia sat and a moment later, Zena appeared with tea.

“Did you guys get any sleep?”

Zena nodded.

“We managed some.”

“You look awfully happy, considering.”

“I love beetles. We're going to stuff ourselves with beetles and be sick of them. I so look forward to this,” Zena said.

She went back into the house, but came back out with a bowl of melted butter, a butter warmer, and a bowl! of quartered lemons. She lit the candle in the warmer and put the bowl of butter on top. “This is breakfast?”

“The best,” Zena said.

The water in one of the kettles began to boil. Zena dumped her bucket of beetles into it.

The kettle screamed.

“Three minutes is all it takes.”

She timed it out before using a metal net to fish them out and plop them on a platter on the table. "Use one of these to pierce the shell and pry.”

“I remember. We've had them once before.”

"I forgot about that.”

Despite they were still steaming, Zena picked one up and pried it open. She used a tiny fork to scoop out the white flesh, dip it into the butter, and finally, into her mouth.

“You can drizzle lemon if you want. Don't put any in the butter. Uri doesn't like lemon. Go ahead There's plenty coming.”

Uri stepped out with a bucket full of beetles. He was wearing rubber boots that came up to his knees.

“We ready to go full production yet?"he said.

“You're supposed to be resting,” Natalia said.

“I'm just scooping. Don't worry. Bonnie is watching.”

"Almost," Zena said, handing him her empty bucket.

He disappeared

As soon as another kettle was boiling, Zena dumped in the bucket of beetles.

Natalia squirted lemon on her plate and began prying open shells in earnest. She dipped the meat in the butter first and then in the juice on her plate.

“You're right, Zena. These are so good.”

"We'll need a garbage bin."

Zena headed toward the garage. Uri came out with another bucket. Another kettle was boiling and he poured them in. While it cooked, he slipped off the boots.

“Those are hot to wear,” he said.

Zena returned with a large garbage bin.

"Use this for the shells,” she said, setting it by the table.

Natalia threw in the ones she had.

"What about the claws? Any meat in them?” she said.

“There is,” Uri said, “but totally not worth the work to get it. Very small.”

He began to pry open shells.

“That pot is ready now,” Uri said.

Zena scooped out the beetles and added them to the platter.

For the next couple of hours, Natalia pried open shells along with Uri. Everyone took their turns sitting and eating.

"We need reinforcements,” Uri said, taking out his phone.

An hour later, Grazie and his children arrived.

“Beetles,” the girls cried with glee.

More tables and chairs were brought out. Grazie sat at their table with Grazon on his lap, alternating feeding himself and his son. The girls sat at their own table.

"Grace isn't too sure about beetles,” Tracy said with a laugh.

“Try with no lemon, just the butter,” Grazie said.

Mag used the garden hose to top off a pot that was low in water. The garbage bin was full of shells. "Still plenty left,” Mag said. “Don’t slow down now.”

Zena brought out a bowl for each table.

“If you're not eating, keep prying and put the meat in the bowl. We'll freeze for later.”

"Someone went to a lot of expense,” Grazie said while he popped a bit of meat into Grazon's mouth.

"How much does this many beetles cost?” Natalia said.

“A batch of all male beetles like this costs thousands,” Uri said.

"What if they were stolen, and we're eating stolen merchandise?” she said.

“Oops,” Uri said with a shrug.

Grazie laughed.

“What are we doing with all the shells and parts we don't eat?”

"Grind them up and feed them back to the grubbies,” he said.

"Our grubbies are well fed. You sure this isn't some big mature bloom from our own?”

“No,” he said. “Bonnie's investigating how they got into the house. So far she’s a little puzzled. Our beetles are still locked behind their doors and undisturbed. Although, I think Mag did grab a few of these males and throw them into our breeding room. Good to have some genetic diversity.” Bonnie came out and sat down.

“I just got word. Ingus has put out a broadcast about a break in at his grubby farm and that there are a large volume of male beetles missing.”

“Ingus is on the Council,” Grazie said.

Natalia nodded. She now knew him well.

“Should we let him know we might just have his missing beetles?”

“In a little bit,” Bonnie said, prying open a shell. “Zena, are you sick of beetles yet?”

"Sick of cooking them maybe, but not eating them.”

She joined the table and pried open a shell.

“The children are,” Grazie said.

Most of the girls were now playing in the yard, using shells to decorate around a tree. Grace was crawling around holding a number of shells and disturbing what the others had put down. Grazon was still in his father's lap but was now pushing a shell around and making his usual motors sounds.

“You sure he's not going to be a race car driver?” she said.

"Viperians don't race cars,” Grazie said.

“Limo driver?”

"Only ladies drive limos,” he said.

“Really?”

Bonnie nodded.

“But I've seen men in the Drivers Guild,” Natalia said.

“They drive lorries or buses, not the limos,” Bonnie said.

“Why is that?”

“They don't have the necessary skills,” Bonnie said.

“Women are better at sensing things,” Grazie said.

“We're better at handling all of the... ah... different things that can happen,” Bonnie said.

“I can agree with that,” Natalia said, thinking through all of the things Bonnie had to go through so far in the last year.

Zena brought out a large garbage bag.

“Let's empty that trash bin again.”

Uri helped her.

It was mid afternoon by the time everyone was sick of beetles.

"Okay, I'm done. Even Victoria has had it with beetles. How many are even left?” Natalia said. “You'd be surprised,” Mag said.

“I'll alert Ingus,” Bonnie said.

In a whirlwind, all the kettles and cooking items disappeared. All the shells were picked up, including those the children had dragged around the yard.

“Sorry, girls. No evidence of our feast must remain,” Zena said.

An hour later, Natalia heard what sounded like a large truck coming down the street.

“Movers?” she said.

“Probably a truck from the grubby farm,” Mag said. “I hope they brought a couple of tayras.” "Couple of what?”

“Tayras. Weasels. They're good at finding beetles. It would be nice to send a couple through the house. We keep catching beetles in the baskets and thinking that's the last of them, but we reset the traps and an hour later, there are more beetles.”

“Yeah, it would be nice to know they're all caught.”

Uri came out with Ingus.

"Afternoon, Nattie.”

“Hi, Ingus. Are you going to save us from our infestation?”

He laughed.

“I would be quite happy to take every beetle off your hands.”

"Just the ones roaming free in the basement would be nice.”

“This way,” Uri said.

Tracy came out of the house in haste. She was carrying Grace.

“I hate those things,” she said.

“What?” Natalia said.

“They got tayras.”

Everyone that had been in the house was now out on the patio.

“They shooed us all out. As soon as they've got everything out of the basement, they'll run the tayras for an hour,” Mag said.

“Let's go next door,” Natalia said, thinking of ways to spend the time and entertain the children. The children ran over, closely followed by Mag and Zena

Bonnie and Kate were slower, staying by Natalia.

“This is a lot to take care of,” Natalia said, looking over the combined yards.”

“You have a good yard service,” Kate said.

"Still. Is that where they were tunneling?”

There was a pile of fresh dirt near the new house.

“Not sure,” Bonnie said, but she veered in that direction. “I didn't think they had gotten this far.” “I thought they were only past our garage,” Natalia said.

“So did I,” Kate said, looking closely.

The dirt sunk beneath one of her feet, causing her to hop back.

“Maybe we just found how they got the beetles in,” Bonnie said. “Our security doesn't watch over here. Damn.”

Bonnie left, heading back to the main house.

"Someone spent a lot of time on this,” Natalia said.

“I'd say.”

Natalia swallowed hard and glanced down at Victoria. Someone wanted those beetles to do some nasty work, not end up as a meal.

“You can go on to the other house,” Kate said

“No, that's okay. I can wait here with you. The whole idea of going over here was to distract the children.”

Bonnie returned with Uri.

“I'd say you're right,” Uri said to Bonnie.

"Someone dug in, then waited. I checked the house yesterday, and there weren't thousands of beetles in the basement. So someone slid in last night, opened the basement door, and poured in the beetles before sealing the hole.”

“But you didn’t check the tunnel?” he said.

“I looked down it, but damn if I was going down some spooky tunnel.”

"So we didn't know if it was longer than before.”

“I wouldn't have known either way,” she said. “I wasn't monitoring the work. You were.”

“You guys had buckets and shovels, how are they getting the beetles in their truck? Hauling them through the house?” Natalia said.

“Vacuum. Big hose. They just suck them up, and they end up in a cage.”

“That must be the noise I hear.”

"Yep."

The noise stopped.

“They must be running the tayras now,” Bonnie said.

"How many are there?”

“They brought four.”

“Hey,” Natalia jumped.

The fresh dirt was moving.

"Escapees?” Uri said.

"Anybody down below?” Bonnie said.

Uri looked at her with some urgency, causing her to run toward the house.

Natalia looked at him with concern, then puzzlement.

“The beetles wouldn't come out here. It's daylight,” she said.

The moment she said that, the ground caved in all the way to their garage.

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