The Houses

"Oh, Sweetheart," I said to the man that looked much older than me. "If you agree to join House Gypsy, then nothing changes. You maintain your current level of power, and when the fatal shot comes, it comes."

"And if I join House Tesalor?" asked Dementyev.

"Then the thread of fate keeping you bound is cut. You go back to the power you were born with, the immorality that comes with being tied to me, and nothing else changes. Well, Odin might come here and be cranky for a while, blow some hot air, and then go away. But that is about it."

"Odin is my father. He exiled me not only for wanting to join the military but also because I was stronger than him. He only had two shapes he could easily transform into besides his human form."

"Ouch, that must be upsetting for him," I said with a chuckle.

"What? That I am his son?" smirked Dementyev.

"No, that he can't even transform into all of Odin's animals."

"You guys are talking about Skinwalkers like they are common or something. I have never heard the term before. What are they?" asked Greyson as he looked between me and the man from his team. It must be a bit of a shock to know that things weren't the way they appeared.

I looked around the room and saw six men looking back at me. Two of them were part of my House. One was a Skinwalker, one was a wolf, and the fifth was a knight. That made it only one man left, one human, and his fate was resting in my hands. Whether I explained the world of monsters to the humans or not, he would either have to be brought into a House or killed. There was no third option.

"When it comes to the Monsters or the 'supernatural' world as you humans like to call it, there are six Houses," I started as I leaned back in my chair and closed my tired eyes. I needed sleep, ice cream, and hot chocolate, and not necessarily in that order. But things had to be put to rest before that could happen.

"Those Houses are divided based on what kind of monster lurks beneath your skin. There are the obvious ones with countless stories written about them; House Werewolf and House Vampyre. I am sure that you can figure out those two?" I asked, looking between Greyson and Levi, wondering just how much they liked horror movies.

"Werewolves and vampires exist?" said Greyson, confused. "I thought they were merely myths."

"Most things, if given enough time, are myths," I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. "But it doesn't mean that those myths didn't come from reality at some point in time. Aside from Werewolf and Vampyre, there are Houses Monstru and Gypsy. House Monstru are those that you guys refer to as Frankenstein's Monsters. They find it very… upsetting… that they aren't given their own name in the stories about them, but they have settled for just being called Monstru or monster."

"Wait, isn't Frankenstein its name? Tall green guy with bolts coming out of his neck?" asked Levi, and the four of us in the room swung our heads around to look at him.

"You can get away with it right now because we are all friends," said Mathew sounding anything like friends, but for some reason, his wolf seemed to be closer to the surface than ever before. "But never say that outside again."

I held up my hand to stop Mathew. It wasn't personal to us what they were called. They weren't from our Houses, so it didn't really matter. But House Monstru was known for going on rampages when someone brought it up, and it was annoying cleaning up the mess after.

"Frankenstein was actually the name of the scientist in Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein's Monster. The monster itself was never given a name. Time passed, and Frankenstein's Monster became too much for people to remember, and the name changed to just Frankenstein. However, it is very much a sore point for that House to be named after a fictional scientist that never existed."

"Then what type of monster are they?" asked Levi confused.

"They are Frankenstein's Monster in that they need lightning to feed, they are normally slow and clumsy and are generally…" I looked to Sasha to see if he could come up with a better word than the one I was thinking of to describe Mary Frank and her people.

"Stupid?" he offered. Yeah, that was the one that I was thinking of too, but I was hoping for a nicer word for it.

"Slow both mentally and physically?" said Mathew.

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed?" added Sasha.

"A few cards short of a full deck?" continued Mathew. The look that the two men were sharing over top of my head made me realize they were enjoying this more than they should.

I held up my hand to put a stop to their banter. "I think you understand what they are getting at."

"So, they aren't harmful?" asked the General, causing me to let out a bark of laughter.

"The opposite. They have a short fuse and the ability to rip a full-grown male apart with their bare hands. When they are… triggered… they are almost unstoppable. Especially in a thunderstorm. Otherwise, they are amazingly kind, loves kids and puppies, and couldn't bear the thought of hurting anyone," I continued with a shrug. That was the secret of all of us. We could pass as humans in our normal form, but when were got upset? Yeah, not even running for the hills could save you.

"And Gypsies?" asked Levi looking at me. "Gypsies are nothing more than humans with an extra gift, you might say. Some might be good at potions, others telling the future. There are some that are amazing at seeing into the past while others excel at casting curses." I shrugged. It was true. Gypsies were human with an added dash of salt. There was nothing lurking beneath their skin.

"And House Skinwalker?"