Over the following weeks, Talia is given the shots to prevent her from getting rabies. Each shot left her feeling sick, and a few times she ended up throwing up several times. As for the person who painted the words on the side of the house. They made a big mistake one night.

They got caught by her older brother, and he wasn’t nice about it either. The poor teenager confessed to being hired and paid by a person who had connections to one of the politicians who shot down every gay bill that was submitted. Talia and her father make sure they get everything recorded.

The lawyer working for Talia’s family made sure to question the suspect. They wanted to make the case as tight as possible, so the politician couldn’t weasel out of it. All the research Talia has done on every politician who was against the LGBTQ community gaining any foothold in the state. The person who sent the teenager wasn’t even on her radar. That’s how they had managed to get away with a lot of things. Another thing she discovered about the person. They had a gay younger brother who was a member of a motorcycle club that went by the name of Silenus.

It was an ancient mythological name for the creatures that hung out with the Greek god Dionysus. Their sister club was the Iron Amazons. That group was composed of lesbians and straight women. Where the Silenus was strictly an all-gay men motorcycle club.

There weren’t many chapters in the United States, but there were a few chapters in Europe. Mostly in Greece, Germany, and Italy. As for their sister club, the Iron Amazons were mostly in the United States and had four chapters. Two were in California, one in Colorado, and the other was in Georgia. They only allowed transgender women who have already had the operation to change their plumbing.

The thing was, council member James Kallos had kept it quiet about his brother. She figures he wasn’t interested in letting what his brother was doing interfere with his political ambition. As she does more research into James Kallos. She discovers that he is backed by a lot of influential billionaires and several conservative religious groups.

Talia feels a law should be designed to keep religion out of politics. It doesn’t belong, and it shouldn’t dictate how people should live their lives. That was why the founding fathers left England. All because religion was trying to tell how you should live your life. She knew there was more to a reason, but religion was one of the major reasons.

What could she do to stop them? Talia leans back in her oversized executive chair and closes her eyes. She forwards what she has so far to the new council member working with her. The new person was trying to unseat councilman Kallos. If they could unseat several republicans who were against the LGBTQ community, they might be able to change or get rid of some of the laws on the books.

Talia logs off her computer and crawls into bed. She was feeling tired and worn out. All her college work was done and turned in. The final test was two weeks away, and she was working with some of the detectives at work on the assignment.

When Talia wakes up late the next day. She could hear the rain hitting against her bedroom window. She moves the curtain aside and notices how bad the wind is blowing.

She walks downstairs and spots her entire family sitting around watching the weather report. It was unusual for all of them to be home at once.

“How bad is it?” Talia walks over and sits next to her mother.

Talia feels her mother put her arm around her and hold her against her. She snuggles against her mother with her feet tucked under her robe.

“The roads are too bad to be out on. Some of them are flooded or blocked by fallen trees.”

“I’m glad your dad got the backup generator.” Brenda was happy her husband had planned just in case the power went out.

Two hours later, the power in their neighborhood is knocked out. After a few minutes, the generator kicks on. Talia was still snuggled up against her mother when it happened.

“I hope our neighbors are okay.”

Conner gets up and steps outside on the front porch. He looks up and down the street. He notices the whole block is out, and the street is
becoming flooded. It was a good thing all their vehicles were in the driveway.

“Looks like we might need to get the row boats out.” Ralph walks out onto the porch.

“I hope not.” Conner has only seen the streets flood a few times, and it was mostly due to the drains being clogged.

The two men turn and head back into the house. The wind picks up more and rattles the house. Conner looks outside again and notices the trees really swing.

“Is everything okay, daddy?” Talia looks over towards her father.

“Everything will be okay, sweetie.” Conner turns back around.

The rest of the morning and afternoon is the same. Talia stays by her mother watching movies. Her brothers and father check on the weather occasionally. Instead of Brenda fixing dinner, the boys do. It was simple; it was some stew they could cook right away.

After dinner, instead of sleeping in their bedrooms, everyone camped out in the living room. The backup generator was still working. Conner knew once the weather calmed down, the fuel would need to be refilled.