(Author's Note: As you will have noticed this is the edited version, when it appeared in the story section and i read through it, i found several things i thought i had already fixed but hadn't.
I also want to address a couple questions in the comments page.
The original story was 20 plus chapters and while it is a romance story it could also fall under the category of supernatural. All the characters are human, and i hope you will enjoying meeting them as the story progresses.
Peace
darkstone57)
*
Chapter 1
"So there I am, sitting in this bar in Macon, Georgia at one in the morning and old Bull here, he walks in and the whole place gets dead quiet." Zach Lazarus paused in the middle of his story telling to take a drink of his beer. It had been two years since his last visit, and he wasn't sure which had tasted better, the beer, or the home cooked meal his mom had fixed. No one was a better cook then Helen Lazarus and everyone admitted it freely. She had perfected her skill feeding Zach, his four older brothers, his dad, and his lone kid sister. "Now, you know me, I ain't afraid of anyone...." That didn't get the response he expected, everyone knew Zach was the biggest coward in the whole Lazarus clan. When he realized that no one was going to agree with him, continued with his story. "Okay, so even I was shaking in my boots. But hell, look at this guy, he makes the word giant seem small." Zach grinned at the big man who had come west with him after a steady night of talking and drinking.
Seven pairs of eyes turned to the man sitting across from the table from Zach. He was a big man, nearly seven feet tall, and as broad as any door frame in the house. The Lazarus clan all tended to be big people, but they were all impressed, all of them that is, except the girl sitting next to their visitor. She had yet to meet any man who impressed her simply by size alone. Of course, Dani Lazarus had yet to meet any man who impressed her in any way. Growing up the youngest of six children and the only girl in the bunch had been very educational. She supposed he was a good looking man, the odd combination of the bronze skin, the almost pure white hair, and blazing blue eyes making him stand out even without his size. She didn't think he was all that scary though, there were a lot of men out in the world she considered scarier than him in fact.
Still, Dani did glance his way after Zach started talking again, just to see how he was reacting to the way her brother was just talking about him like he wasn't even there, or if he was, he was deaf. He didn't seem to care one way or another, just sat back in the chair that had groaned when he sat down and listened. Odds were good that Zach was probably making it all up as he went. Dani always thought that a man was more prone to telling stories than women were. Made her wonder, just how many of those supermarket novels she liked to read were really written by men.
Zach was just finishing his story when she turned her attention back to him. "So here we are. Bull was a little unsure at first, but I told him he'd be more then welcome, and he was good company on the ride out. He didn't even yell at me like the rest of you do when I go into down time."
Jack Lazarus, by no means a small man himself and still in good shape despite his fifty odd years, gave their visitor a glance. "I knew a guy about your size once, called him Mountain...." He stroked his long beard and a silver cross dangled from his left ear. "Met him back in the hills of Kentucky, made some of the best moonshine I ever tasted, had two tasty daughters as I remember..." He caught the look in his wife's eyes and coughed. "Well, maybe that's a story for another time that was back in my younger days mind you, before Helen here showed me that one woman can be more than enough for a man."
Dani gave a small groan that no one but she heard. Here it went, now her dad would spend all night trying to make up to her mom and her mom would be all pain about it, but in the end they would go up stairs and spend the night rocking the house. Better get out while she could. Pushing back her chair, she got to her feet, and shook her head. "Got to go, see you all later." Her voice was raised just enough to be heard over the sound of men guzzling beer and her mom asking Bull if he was sure he'd had enough to eat.
Her dad paused just to look at her. "And where do you think you're going young lady? It's not every day we have more than one or two of your brother's home at the same time. I think it's a time for a party." He rubbed his hand in a gleeful manner. "Now what could be more important than being here to welcome your brother home, and to welcome his friend to this house?"
Dani didn't stop pulling on her jacket. "I promised to meet Annie and Sue downtown. We're going to go see a movie, then just hang for a while." She checked her pockets. Her money and cigarettes were all in place. Identification, it was definitely in place. Since she had gotten old enough to go cruising around town with her friends, she had learned never to leave it at home. At the door she grabbed her truck keys, but before leaving, she looked at her brother and his friend. "Zach, welcome home. Bull, it was nice to meet you. Welcome to Elton."
As she drove downtown in the truck, she found that her major problem with being part of the Lazarus tribe was her family in general. Her dad was always looking for a reason to have a party, and her brothers treated the family house more like a motel then they did a home. To make it worse, she had learned early that her family was a constant alarm going off when the cops were around. All of her brothers had been and still were hell raisers, and her dad had busted up the local bar more than once. She didn't even count the number of times her brother had been busted for possession and half the kids in school who did the drugs had been shocked to learn that no, she didn't smoke pot, she didn't carry and she didn't deal. Hell, she was still three days away from her eighteenth birthday, and a virgin for Christ's sake.
Annie Belton and Sue West were waiting outside the Elton movie house, and they already knew that Zach was home. Bad news traveled fast in Elton. The short, slim built brunette Annie had been in love with Zach forever anyway, and she wanted to know how he was and how did he look. Sue, a tall, long legged blond with an almost flat chest, on the other hand, had somehow heard about his traveling buddy, and just had to hear all about the guy. Dani told them both what they wanted to know, and then promptly forgot about both her brother and the Bull.
When she wasn't home, she did her best to just forget she even had a family. Sometimes she wished she were an orphan, or had been raised by some family that was at least a little bit normal. That would be so nice, being around normal people. Sitting back in her seat, staring up at the movie screen, Dani let her mind wander. What would it be like to have a dad who worked nine to five, or a mom who didn't bleach her hair and wear a ton of makeup? Parents who didn't ride a Harley and have friends who could scare the hell out of normal people? What was it like to live in a house that wasn't cluttered with motorcycle parts and biker magazines? Where the pictures on the wall were real pictures, not rebel flags, and posters of motorcycles and half naked women?
Even her name, her folks had been so sure she would be another boy that they hadn't even thought up any girl names. When she had been born, her dad was so shocked; he had to ask the doctor twice to make sure. It was her mother who just changed it from Danny to Dani. She didn't even have a middle name like everyone else. Which was fine, but her teachers sure hadn't understood it when she tried to tell them that her name was just Dani Lazarus. She had finally brought a copy of her birth certificate in to prove that she didn't have any name in the middle.
This hadn't made life any easier for her. Everyone just assumed that she was the unhappiest kid in the world, and the most ill treated. People had given her dolls, dresses, and all the stuff that went with being female. Of course, all that just made her parents shake their heads in amusement, and tell the do-gooders thank you very much, but Dani preferred to wear jeans to school, and the black leather jacket kept her much warmer than a regular jacket did. Most of the clothes she wore were hand me downs from her brothers, so what difference did it make one way or another?
There was also the thing that had happened the summer she turned thirteen. That year, she had grown five inches, and developed hormones and breasts. Unlike Annie and Sue, she had never owned a training bra. Her first bra had been a 44D and it hadn't changed in the last four years. The rest of her body, almost six feet of it, had taken on all the female curves and lines in the last four years as well, but it was a full figured sort of curve and line. Now, she found men thinking she was older, and even when they knew the truth, didn't much care. Boys at school had tried to grope her, and even adult men tried to ask her out. Some of her parent's friends were just as bad, always half teasing her and half being serious about it.