Vacation to Tuscany

Bella listened to him talk about the criminal that he had been chasing for years. She shivered slightly because she wondered how long he was seen around her part of town. Then she remembered something that she made for Angus since she knew about him being a body guard. "Hang on one second," She said as she walked quickly to her room and took out a folded up shirt. Walking back into the kitchen she held it out to him. "I made it for you, the top fabric is regular black material but underneath that is a layer of denim and leather. It will help if a werewolf tried to claw you it will give you some protection from it. I want you to be safe when your protecting people."

"Your grandfather sounds like a good man, and it sounds like you really care for him. I trust you and your judgement, I feel safe around you." Bella said smiling at him softly as she turned taking out the lasagna after he took out and iced the cake. "Mmm that smells so good Angus. I don't think you'll have to worry more about me than you do Rose." She grinned at him mischievously as she took out the garlic bread as well. She grabbed a large bowl putting several slices of the bread in the bowl. She took some hot plates on the table placing the dish the lasagna was in. Putting in a serving spoon and knife she smiled again, "Well dinner is ready. Rose honey come on it's time to eat." Rose jumped up from the couch and ran over to the table and climbed into her chair which held her booster seat.

"Thank you," he smiled. "This is perfect. Every bit of protection that one can get between himself and a werewolf is a really good thing. And the color is perfect because most of the time, my work is at night. Well, at least that sort of work."

"I will teach you how to fight if you want," he said. "But the spell I started around your house can be added to in layers. So, we can keep adding. Think of it like coats of paint. In this case, every time we add a layer of a protection spell, it wards off dark arts practitioners or magical creatures with dark intent. In this case, though, with this werewolf, he really only has one target. Khaat. He's truly only after her. And the fact that you're a blond woman with a small child would make it easy for him to mistake her for you. Before I go, do let me check your perfume to make sure you don't wear the same scent as she does. He's often drawn to her by her scent. And--if he's only looking for her, and you're wearing something else, he'll smell that quickly. He's got a very keen sense of smell. All werewolves do. And if your perfume is something else, he's liable to figure out quickly that you're not her, and it might well save your life just by making sure you don't wear the same perfume."

"But speaking of smells, I'm finding it hard to get past the smell of the lasagna. Okay, as my grandfather would say, 'No business talk at the table.' We need to talk about pleasant things over dinner. Why don't you and Rose tell me what some of Rose's favorite things are?"

"Your welcome, I figured that black would work best in both nighttime as well as day time for you. It's light weight so it won't weigh you down when your running from or towards someone." Bella said smiling softly at him.

"It would help if I knew how to defend myself against properly against an intruder." She said softly hoping that he didn't think that she was a defenseless woman. "That is a good idea to have layers of protection instead of a single one. Well we'll have to make sure that everything is well protected here I guess." She couldn't help but wonder he knew that he kept saying 'We' instead of 'you' or 'I'. "How long will Rose and I need so many layers of protection? I don't want to inconvenience you by having you constantly helping to protect us." Bella said looking at him giving him a wry smile. When he mentioned perfume she blushed slightly, "I don't wear any perfume. I never thought I would need it for anything." Her face flushed a little more red at those words.

"Ah yes, of course you can sit in whatever seat you would like to." Bella said as she began to dish out the lasagna for Rose as well as putting a small slice of garlic bread on her plate. She served Angus next then finally herself sitting down and putting the napkin in her lap. There was a chair on either side of the table that was situated next to herself then one next to Rose. "Rose likes a lot of things like coloring, drawing, stuffed animals, but her most favorite thing is books." Bella said smiling at her daughter softly.

He took a seat at the table, the one next to Rose, and tasted her lasagna. It was very good. It was nice not having to be the cook for a change.

"It's excellent," he told her. "I think the sauce may be my favorite part." He looked over at Rose who had sauce already on her face, but she seemed to be happily enjoying her piece of lasagna. Messy faces at the table only meant to him that kids were enjoying their food. He didn't care about the mess. Heck, one of the Lupin toddlers liked to start food fights. Rose's little sauce face just made him smile.

"Well, then I won't have to worry about your perfume then," he smiled. "Just stay away from lilies or lily scents if you do ever decide to wear it, would you? That's what he looks for.

"I don't know how long you'll need the protection spell, but you honestly probably won't even notice its there except if it keeps an intruder out. And its not a bother. I used to be an auror until very recently. Protecting--well, its just what I do. Or its one of the things I do that I like best."

He looked at Rose, "I'm glad you like books and drawing. Do you like the beach? Swimming?" He wasnt even sure at her young age that she knew how to swim yet. Khaat's kids did, but that was because Brian had started them swimming when they were all babies.

"I'm glad that you like it, well that's one thing that you and Rose have in common. She loves the sauce as you could already tell." Bella said smiling at her daughters face covered in the sauce. She took a drink from her water glass as she saw her daughter almost make a big mess. She didn't care though because whatever fell on the floor or onto clothes was easily cleaned.

"Ok I'll make sure that I avoid those scents," Bella said then she thought of something. "Will lily scented laundry soap make a difference? Our laundry soap is a type of lily scent, i just want to make sure that it won't attract him here." She didn't know much about werewolves except what they were capable of and to make sure that if she had to go out on a full moon to be careful.

"Well that's a good thing, I may just keep it up for a long time just in case. I am all for keeping my child safe from everything." Bella said looking at Rose with a smile. "Well it suits you very well Angus being a protector."

Rose looked at him with a grin and nodded, "I have to wear vest cause not trong enuff to swim long. My vest is pwetty, it's glittery and pink. Mommy taught me to swim." Rose said as she finished her lasagna then wiped up the sauce with her garlic bread. Looking at Bella she said, "All full." She looked gloomy at the salad.

Bella laughed softly and said, "You don't have to eat it sweetheart. Why don't you go get cleaned up and change your shirt for me ok?" Rose nodded as she climbed out of her seat and ran to the bathroom to wash up. Bella continued to eat her lasagna hearing scraping sounds she giggled. "Sorry that her's stool, she hasn't quite got it down to pick it up to where she needs it to go." She explained to Angus as the water in the bathroom turned on. "How dangerous is the werewolf?" She asked looking at him.

He watched Rose go off to clean up. He understood Bella's concern about the detergent.

"I doubt that would attract him. There would be a soap scent behind the fragrance, and his sense are very keen. He'd know the difference. I don't think you have a worry there, but that's simple enough to replace if you want to be certain.

"But as to your other question, he's deadly. He's on the top of the wizarding world's Most Wanted list. He's wanted for mass murder. And I don't know if you noticed the scars on Khaat's face and her neck, or her paralyzed arm, but that was from him. She works hard to keep a veil or a hood over that side of her face. But she was lucky to live.

"He's enormous. He stands over seven foot as a human and when he transforms, he's even larger. And he's a bodybuilder, so he's pure muscle. His claws are several inches long and razor sharp, and he has the advantage of speed when he's in werewolf form. Fighting him is a lot like wrestling with a train. He is obsessed with getting Khaat and taking her for his own and eventually killing her. That's partly why the security around her is always so heavy. And its why I'm hunting him. Part of my job is to help protect her. This man needs to be off the streets, but so far, he's been impossible to catch.

"If ever see him, even at a distance, try not alert him to you by running. Just walk calmly unless you think he's onto you. If that happens, then get indoors. I'll provide you with a couple of potions that may drive him off--just to be on the safe side, but the protection spell will do a lot."

Bella shivered involuntarily as she was told the descriptions and how lethal the werewolf was. "I'm gonna see what I can do to make sure that your protected as well as I can. I don't want you getting hurt out there protecting everyone, I'm gonna see if I can make you something to keep you from getting hurt." She said knowing that he needed something to protect him from getting hurt. She knew it was silly but he needed someone to protect him as well and she was gonna do what she could to do that for him. "Someone has to protect you too and don't go all macho man on me saying you don't need protection." Bella said looking at him knowing those words were probably on his mind at some point. "When we get back from Tuscany, I'm gonna change the detergent we use just to be safe and I'll make sure that there's no lily smells in the house. I do have one question to ask you though, are you able to train me enough to protect myself when I will truly need it? My husband never thought it would be useful for me to learn when I was just a housewife to him." She had decided a long time ago that she was never going to be at the mercy of anyone and she definitely didn't want to have to depend too much on anyone. "I want to be able to protect my daughter as well as myself when there's no one here to do so. I don't want to be vulnerable when I need to be strong. Will you help me?"

"He's worth being afraid of," he told her quietly, understanding her fear. "His name is James Blood. Or at least thats the name he goes by. If its any consolation, we've tangled before. And I still have all my limbs attached." He smiled. "I'm not trying to be macho, but I do admit, I like the adrenalin that comes with the work I do. Its a part of who I am, Bella. I train hard to protect myself. And when I'm working, I'm prepared to fight hard if I need to.

"But every little bit of protection helps," he said, knowing she needed to help protect him. "And, I think you learning how to protect yourself and Rose is a very necessary thing. I think you should know how to do that. The more prepared you are, the less fear you'll have.

"The Minister has a handful of people he's handtrained to protect his family. If you really want to learn how to do this, then, yes, we're the ones you need to train with," he said. "Not just with your wand, but also your body, your muscles, your mind. It all works together. If you want to do this, you'll have to be ready to work hard because he trains hard."

Bella listened and said, "Yeah well he seems scary especially with how you said that he was a body builder. I couldn't imagine being able to go toe to toe with someone like that and come out alive." She finished her plate before getting up and taking her plate as well as Rose's to the sink. Filling the sink up with hot soapy water she turned back to face him. "I understand that, the thing that I can do to lessen the damage done to you is give you something tough. It won't be heavy or anything, it will be similar to what the shirt I gave you." She said as he thought of something that could help him. "I'd have to find something flexible though, you'll have to be able to move without fear of the legs not moving correctly."

"I'm willing to do what it takes to make sure that I can protect us both. She's everything to me and I want to be able to keep her safe." Bella said nodding at his words. "I don't care how long it takes for me to do it but I'm willing to do anything to get there. Who will train me though? I would like to meet them before hand just because I want to know what they are like. Also talk to them about all the things that I'll being doing in the training."

Hearing footsteps coming from down the hall Rose came out wearing jeans and a baby pink tee. "All eady mommy." She said walking over to her then holding out her arms.

Bella picked her up and said, "Well don't you look cute." Rose giggled then wiggled to get down and walked over to Angus. She pulled out something from her pocket but made sure that Bella couldn't see. It was a bracelet that had Angus' name on it except it was spelled ggie.

"Khaat's husband, Brian, is generally the trainer. He's an experienced physical trainer, an auror, and Robert hand trained him from the time Brian was a young boy. Robert still trains him. I can't say whether you'll ever train with Robert or not, but, from my experience, Robert is far tougher. In magic, its the older wizards who seem to hold the power and the strength."

"The fabric you used for the shirt should be fine. Right now, I've been wearing leather because its strong, doesn't tear easily, and its flexible. But I trust your judgement."

He saw Rose come downstairs and when she handed him the bracelet, he smiled. "Thank you so much." He let her put the bracelet around his wrist. "Now, I bet you don't like chocolate cake, do you? Because I made a chocolate cake, and if your mommy says you can have some, we'll cut it."