Chapter 53 - Agent

"Hello? Do you know who lives here?" asked the petite woman.

"I -Uhh"

"Because it looks like you're dressed to visit" she cut in again.

"Thinking about it, it looks like I've made a wrong turn" I replied, looking back.

"What?"

"Because this can't possibly be the place I'm supposed to meet with my friend. It looks so abandoned." I said, looking for the next opportunity to hightail it out of there. The woman chuckled. "They would like that, wouldn't they?" she said.

"Who?"

"The house-squatters that have taken over this place, of course.

"House squatters?" I repeated.

The woman shook her head and moved back towards the main house. I made a U-turn before I would catch any conflicted feelings for the estate agent. She bent back to knock on the main door.

"I know you're in there!" she said, yelling.

Accords or not, this human, ironically was trespassing on full werewolf territory. Harris must've taken the courtesy of silencing everyone and locking the doors, but how long would that last? There is a clause in the accords for getting provoked by humans, where retaliation is forgiven. I strutted back, on whose side, Harris and my pack, or the real estate agent, I didn't really know.

But I made it to the front door.

"Uhmm, I don't think there's anyone here, lady," I said politely. She banged the wooden door with even more ferocity.

"Oh, yeah? So why is the door locked?" I paused to reflect on her apparent t lack of intelligence.

"Perhaps the owner locked it strongly?" I offered. She turned her red vicious eyes to me.

"I am the owner!" she barked. I paused to reflect on my own apparent lack of intelligence, while she resumed banging.

"That's it. I'm calling the police" she mumbled, pulling out her phone. That would be the worst-case scenario. The city police, the armed city trying to break into a house full of werewolves. I could already smell the blood.

"Whoa whoa" I waved my hands. "Do you have to do that?"

"Of course I do! These bastards are squatting in my house. I have no shirty idea where they came from, and what they want, and I even forgave them and didn't charge for breaking and entering. All I wanted was to evict them. " explained the woman. "And I even have them 2 month's notice!" Yeah, she sounded pretty justified.

"Wait. Maybe I can help." I replied. She narrowed my eyes to consider me.

"Why? I thought you had somewhere to be" she said.

"I - I, well yes. But I can't just leave you here shouting to yourself in the empty street. I just can't"

The agent's eyes softened a little bit. "Oh, thank you dearly. But, and no offence here, what are you going to do?" I wondered if out of one of these windows, Harris was staring, watching me trying to wring this woman away. Was he pleased, nodding in approval? Why did that thought suddenly make me feel so tingly?

"I've got a friend in the fire department. If I make an emergency call, they can get down here in no time. That saves you the hassle of reports and dealing with the police." I lied.

"Is that right?" said the woman, excited. "You'd do that for me? We've never even met"

I twinkled my eye in the flair of acting. "I don't find it hard to believe you, eh, Miss-?"

"Nicole" she replied.

"Ms Nicole. Do you work in the real estate industry?" I asked.

She nodded. "Why, yes."

"I can't imagine it's easy, dealing with things like these every day"

Nicole, the estate agent chuckled. "You have no idea" she replied.

"I do have some ideas. I'm a professor at the city's local university."

"What?? That's a lot cooler than my job"

"Hahaha. Don't be so sure. I'm sure yours pays way way better." We laughed lightly.

"But still, it can't have been easy," said Nicole.

"That's the thing, Nicole. It's never going to be easy. Not for women like us. That's why we need to stick together. I have 3 other female professors, and they've made my life a lot easier in that school. Even If I don't always admit it"

Nicole nodded in agreement.

"I suppose I better start calling him," I said, pulling out my phone.

"I'm in your debt" replied Nicole.

"It's no biggie" I replied, pausing, before springing the main question. "Say one more thing. Were you looking to sell or rent the houses here?" I asked.

"Ohh. We are in the process of selling at least 3 houses here. In fact, we've had more than several buyers interested. But we can never schedule a house inspection or visit, because of these house squatters"

"Uh-huh, " I muttered, still pretending to punch numbers in my keypad. "If you were to close a deal on one of the houses, how much would we be looking at?" I asked. She looked at me curiously.

"You know, these people don't like to be involved in cases where the owners of the houses sue them and ask to pay for any incurred damages, you know? So I need to know" I lied, thinking on my feet.

"Oh, well, the upper end would be at about 800,000 dollars" replied Nicole. 800,000! That was just a little shy of a million!!! The housing problem of the pack just matured into a more critical phase. I stopped punching numbers, and put my phone back into my bag.

"Aren't you gonna call them?" Nicole asked me.

"Yeah, sure. Just after this"

"After what-" My right hand had already struck the bottom of her throat; She gasped for air horribly, painfully, before her strength weakened and she crumpled on the floor.

I rapped on the door much harder than her weak human bones would have allowed, and called out: "It's me". For a few seconds, there was no movement. But soon, there was a sound of several bolts being unlatched from the inside, and the door swung open. It was Jeremiah.