Alien vs. Alien

Denise are both great looking enough to pass as A-Cs. I wouldn’t want to bet that whoever the Peregrines were sent to protect us from would ignore them.”
    I realized we were saying this in front of the children, and Raymond and Rachel were old enough to understand we were talking about scary people stealing them in the night. A quick glance at their expressions proved I’d indeed freaked them out. I wanted to do or say something to reassure them, and fast.
    Before I could open my mouth, their two Peregrines both cooed. At the Poofs. Several Poofs growled back. The Peregrines squawked quietly. The Poofs mewed. This went on for a while.
    Jeff sighed. “What’s going on?”
    I gave up and didn’t even pretend I had no idea. “They’re arguing. The Poofs don’t want to do what the Peregrines are suggesting.” The male Peregrine I knew was ours, specifically, looked straight at me. “Oh. Um, Poofies? I know you’re all jealous. But the Peregrines are clear—Poofies were here first, and everyone loves the Poofies, so the Peregrines will berines wi good. But my Poofies have to be good, too.”
    Several Poofs detached from the Poof side of the room and bounded over to the Lewises. “We already have our own Poofs,” Denise reminded us.
    The Poofs jumped onto their shoulders, purred, and disappeared. “Um, now I think you have more. So that Raymond and Rachel won’t need to worry. They’ll have their Peregrines and several Poofs. Nothing’s going to get any of the kids, not with Poofs and Peregrines on the job, right?”
    There was much head bobbing and wing flapping from the flock and a lot of purring from the Poofs.
    “Well done, Missus Martini,” White said. “Now, children, it’s late and we were all awakened rather rudely. Let’s deal with everything else in the morning, including moving new residents in more permanently and so forth.”
    “Dulce will continue to monitor the Embassy,” Gladys shared. I’d forgotten she was still on the com. “Will alert Embassy personnel if the Peregrines attack. Or if any more show up.”
    “Great, Gladys,” Jeff said. “Thanks. And good night.”
    “Dulce out.”
    Everyone took this as their cue to go back to their beds. Walter’s Peregrines went with him, which was interesting. He wasn’t a little kid, so I figured they were the flock’s version of Security. Which potentially meant the pair with Walter were even more badass than the rest of the flock. Something to contemplate. Tomorrow.
    Jeff, Jamie, and I walked down the hall to one of the smaller bedrooms, meaning it was easily as large as my entire apartment had been, back before it had been blown up by my first megalomaniac enemy, aka Ronaldo al Dejahl’s father. The remaining members of the flock followed us.
    “Peregrines, in here. You sleep in here. Don’t destroy anything. Use the toilet. Flush. Or something.” Jeff shook his head. “I’m reduced to giving orders to birds. How did we end up here, baby?”
    “No clue. Can we go back to bed now?”
    The Peregrines filed into the room, flew on top of the bed and settled down. All but one that was clearly on guard duty. Jeff started to close the door and the bird screeched.
    “Huh.” Jeff closed the door. All the birds started screeching. Great soundproofing or not, apparently a flock of Peregrines could be heard no matter what. He opened the door. Instant quiet. “Wonderful. If I find you’ve destroyed or messed on anything, you’ll all be dinner.”
    We went back to our bedroom and checked on our Earth animals. They were all huddled together, other than Bellie, who was clinging to her perch. “Wow. The pets don’t like the Peregrines, do they? I wonder why not. They’re really just big birds.”
    Bellie looked up. “Bigger birds are coming! Bigger birds are coming!” She didn’t sound happy about it. At all.
    “Bellie, is that one of Daddy’s secrets?”
    “Daddy’s secrets will help bigger birds! Bellie loves Jeff.”
    “Jeff loves Bellie,” he said soothingly. He moved the Poof Condos back into os back iur room, taking time to pet each Poof. While I held Jamie, Jeff got the cats and petted them, then put them into the biggest Poof Condo.
    He ended up picking up each dog, too, even Dudley—and picking up a Great Dane was never for the faint of heart or weak of back—and putting them into their beds. I’d never seen my animals this scared.
    Bellie’s perch was the last to move. “You okay with her being in the room