Times Like These

by Jan Stryvant

  But such were the fortunes of war.

  §

  "So my daughter tells me you killed a demon lord today?" Keairra asked, walking over to Sean as he woke up in the lion dreamland.

  "Yes, and please don't hit me," Sean grumbled.

  Keairra laughed. "What makes you think I was going to hit you?"

  "Because your daughter almost did? Seriously, doesn't anybody trust me?"

  "Not really," the First said, padding over to them. "You're still young yet, and you have to admit, you do have a tendency to go off half-cocked at times."

  "Well, Stell beat one once, and I've beaten her, so I figured I had a good chance."

  "You only beat her because you cheated," Keairra pointed out.

  "Like I wasn't going to cheat against him?" Sean blew a raspberry. "Please! I’ll cheat outrageously every time I’m presented the chance and my life is on the line."

  "So what brings you here tonight?" the First asked.

  Sean rolled his eyes and sighed. "You know, I do come here just to visit most of the time, even if this isn't one of them."

  "Oh, don't feel bad," Keairra said with a laugh. "Estrella ratted you out."

  Sean nodded. "When the lord died, I absorbed his power; I even absorbed him. Just like when I was in the Onderwereld."

  "So?" the First asked. "That's why when one of us kills a demon, they don't reincarnate."

  "The thing is, I felt it! I learned things from him!" Sean said, looking back and forth between them. "I'm not a demon, and I'm not on their plane. I know when we kill them we stop them from coming back, but I never actually felt it before."

  The First shrugged. "The lords have a lot of power tied up in them; I'm not surprised you felt it."

  "But, why?" Sean asked, looking confused.

  "Why did you feel it? Or why do we absorb their power?"

  "Why do we absorb their power? How does that happen? We're not demons!"

  "Why can we do any of the things we can do?"

  "Because you and Mom over there ate what's-his-name, Mahkiyoc's friend."

  The First nodded. "Exactly. Why that is, I can't tell you. Somehow when we digested him, we got his abilities, and I guess his powers, as well."

  Sean nodded slowly and sighed. "And that brings me to the next point; we need to go back to where that alien was and see if he managed to find anything on those weapons they used."

  "Yes, we've gathered you're rather strong on that idea," Keairra said.

  "I want to take as many of the other lions with me as possible."

  "That's going to be a problem," the First said.

  "We need those weapons, Dad! Also, if we're running around back there, we can do all sorts of things to mess them up. Kill their leaders, threaten them on their own ground. Disrupt them."

  "Back before we knew how any of this worked, I thought that was a good idea," the First said. "But you found out for yourself how hard a lord is to kill. Can you imagine trying to kill a prince? Or worse yet, a king?"

  "Could you kill a prince?" Sean asked the First.

  "Yes, I believe I killed one once before. Those of us in my original pride, the First Pride, all of us know about the lords; we killed a lot of them the last time they tried to invade us. Back when we decided not to let them do it anymore.

  "Well, back then, we came across one of their leaders who looked different from the other lords, and he was a lot tougher. We fought the entire night, then the day, and into the next night before I won. We had no idea then what he was. But now that I know…" the First shrugged. "I think I could do it again, but the problem is, I'm not alive down on Earth. Only a few of the First Pride are.

  "Which brings me back to your request, Son. We have less than ten thousand lions living on the Earth now. Most all of them are engaged with important tasks. I can't just pull them from their current fights and send them to aid you in yours."

  "But this is important, Dad! Weapons that kill djevels. If we can mass produce it, or even just copy it in limited numbers, we could quickly cut their numbers down to size."

  The First pondered that a moment, nodding his head slightly. "Maybe after we've closed the permanent gate, we could do it. Then at least we wouldn't be risking as much."

  "I can't wait that long." Sean sighed.

  "Why not?"

  "Because lately, I'm starting to realize, win or lose, if we do this the way we've planned, we're not going to have much of a world left when the smoke finally clears."

  "It's better to have something left in the end than nothing left at all," the First pointed out.

  "I'd rather have everything left at the end." Sean sighed. "Just accepting fate isn't something I'm very good at, Father."

  "Well, the war is just starting. Let's see how it goes over the next month, as the gateways stabilize. We can talk about it again then."

  Sean grumbled a little, but there wasn't much else he could say right then. He didn't have the equipment or the supplies for a trip yet, anyway. He'd hoped the First would be a lot more interested in the idea than he apparently was. So for now, he'd just have to wait and do a little lobbying while he got things together. He did still have one ace up his sleeve that he hadn't played yet.

  Maybe when the opportunity came to use it, he could change the First's mind.

  Wherever You Are

  Sean woke up early for a change, someone having shifted in bed. That was when he noticed that Peg was getting up. He didn't say anything, just watched as she went over to one of the cribs, where their daughter Sharon was fussing.

  Picking her up, Peg held Sharon to her breast, and the baby started nursing as she softly hummed a little tune. There were six cribs in the room, one for each of the children he'd had with his wives—well except for Jolene's twins Nguvu and Mtawala, they shared a slightly larger crib for now.

  He just laid there quietly and watched Peg, without moving, enjoying the moment. He was a father now, and he'd come to appreciate these rare moments of calm and quiet. Between these seven, plus Deidre and Sheila's children, it was often noisy and chaotic when all his kids were around.

  There were occasions when he wished he could spend more time with them, but he had a job to do if they were going to have any kind of a world to grow up in.

  As he watched, each of his wives got up in turn as their babies woke. Roberta was next with their daughter Roseanne, then Roxy and Sean Junior, Daelyn and Bernard, Jolene and their two sons, and Cali last of all for Alska, their daughter.

  "When's my turn?" Estrella whispered huskily in Sean's ear as her hand slowly slid down his chest towards his groin.

  "After we get back from visiting Mahkiyoc," Sean said with a slight growl, "and trust me when I tell you, I hate waiting."

  "I really don't want to go back there, but you're right, I'm the one who knows it. Just don't get me stuck there again."

  Rolling over on top of her, Sean took her head between his hands and kissed her. "Don't worry. I know how to get us out of there, even if we can't get to a gate."

  "Oh? And how is that?" Estrella asked, reaching around to grab those nice, muscular buns of his. She really did have a thing for his butt. Of course, she liked the other parts of him quite a bit as well, especially that one part she was urging him to slide up inside her.

  "Promise not to tell your mom? Or your dad?" Sean asked.

  "Why?"

  "Because I know your dad, he lived in my head long enough, and I'm sure he'll find some reason to tell me why it can't be done."

  "Then maybe you should listen to him?"

  Sean snorted and ran his hands slowly down her body. "I only listen to him when he's right, and even then, I make him prove it. He's a tyrant, and while I love him like my very own father —" Sean paused a moment as he moved to kiss his way down her neck towards her chest, "hell, he is my father now—But he's still a tyrant, and there are times when…" Sean stopped as he reached a nipple and then gave it a slight nip, making Estrella gasp. "When he has to have the facts rubbed
in his face before he'll have an honest discussion."

  Estrella shivered and slid one hand up his back to run her fingers through his hair as he went back to teasing her nipple with his teeth. "Oh, don't stop! And you're right, he is. I won't tell."

  "Promise?" Sean mumbled and gave her another nip, which made her shiver again.

  "I prom...promise!" she groaned as his left hand discovered her damp sex and tickled things down there ever so slightly.

  "I'm going to open a gate to la-la land."

  Estrella blinked, but before she could formulate a response, he slid further down and stuck his tongue in her belly button, something that never failed to get a rise out of her.

  "What?" she gasped after she stopped bucking against him. Sean was back to moving down her body.

  "It's on the list of powers," Sean told her as he stopped at his destination and eyed the nice prize awaiting him.

  "List of powers?"

  "Yes. But it's expensive. Once there are enough lycans, I'll open one from here to prove it works."

  "Prove wha..." Estrella's voice cut off as Sean dove into her sex, putting his tongue, teeth, and fingers to very good use. She grabbed his hair with both hands and wrapped her legs around him as she held on. Apparently the other wives had trained him well, because damn if breathing and holding on were the only things she could think about!

  Sean snickered as Estrella wrapped herself around him and went to town on her. All of his women were very responsive to oral sex, and he enjoyed giving it as much as they enjoyed receiving. He spent a good long while licking, nipping, and pinching her through a couple of well-deserved orgasms before her grip loosened enough that he was able to lick his chops and kiss his way back up her body.

  Rubbing his erect shaft over her now soaked lower lips, he settled in between her legs.

  "You...you said a, a gate?" Estrella asked as her eyes slowly focused. Reaching down, she took Sean's manhood into her hand and led him to her entrance. She was definitely ready to take her mate inside her body once more.

  Sean grunted as he slid deep into familiar depths once more. "Yes," he whispered as he kissed her again and slowly licked his way up to her left ear.

  "How?" Estrella said and tried to evade his approaching lips. Tickling her ear always drove her crazy, and while she might secretly enjoy it, she'd never tell him that.

  "It's on the list."

  "What..." Estrella shivered as his tongue started in on her ear.

  Sean snickered as Estrella wrapped her legs around him as his hips began to move his shaft in and out of her tight heat, while her hands vainly tried to pull his head away from the teasing his tongue was now doing.

  "...list?" Estrella growled, and tried to focus on the conversation instead of the wonderful feelings going through her body.

  Relenting a moment, Sean's raised his head. "The list of our powers."

  "I...where is this list?"

  "In our heads," Sean said and, looking up, he noticed the others were giving him the eye.

  "I don't have a list in my head!" Estrella panted.

  "Jo, could you join us?" Sean said, and then smiling down at Estrella, he added, "Why don't we fix that?"

  "Huh?"

  Sean rolled over onto his back, pulling Estrella along with him.

  "What's up, Sean?" Jolene asked as she climbed up onto the bed with them.

  "I want to teach Estrella some spells," Sean told her, grabbing Estrella's hips as she sat up to straddle him. Estrella reached around to tickle his balls as she started to shimmy and grind down against him. She didn't mind sharing—she was a lioness after all—and Jolene really was a doll.

  "She's not a magic user," Jolene said as she leaned over and kissed Sean, putting a hand on each of them.

  "This is lion magic," Sean told her as she broke the kiss.

  Jolene smiled and gave a small shrug, then turning her attention to Estrella, she gave her a warm kiss as she moved to straddle Sean's body.

  Sean didn't hesitate. Moving his hands to cup Jolene's generous chest, he urged her backwards until he could put his tongue to good use on her as Estrella rode his body, making her own needs quite clear.

  Jolene sighed as Sean went to work, pulling Estrella closer into her embrace, letting her hands explore Estrella's body as Estrella did the same to her. Closing her eyes, she kissed Estrella and opened up her magic. She'd been in both of their heads often enough at this point that it wasn't difficult; she did 'feed' her magic off of all of them, after all.

  'This way,' Sean's thoughts sent to her, and as she got comfortable in his head, he pulled her down towards the old learning aid spell he'd gotten from his father's books.

  'I still don't see how she can use this,' Jolene said.

  'I'll show you were to put it.'

  'I'm sure you will!' Jolene teased. Looking it over, she copied it and then flowed into Estrella's mind, with Sean watching where she was going.

  Estrella continued to drive Sean's shaft in and out of her body as she watched inside her head as Jolene explored her. It was quite stimulating; apparently mind magic always was, which was why tantric witches were so good at it.

  When Jolene finally stopped at a place inside her, she shivered as she heard Sean's voice inside her head.

  'Put it there.'

  Jolene looked around, surprised. There was power here, alright, but a kind of power she'd never seen before, and one she wasn’t willing to experiment with touching. How she'd never noticed it before was beyond her; maybe because Sean was now working with her?

  In either case, she carefully copied the spell into Estrella's mind, then checking her work over quickly, she pulled back out until she was only in deep enough to feed.

  Between Estrella's fingers—which had moved back to teasing him—the way she was grabbing at him with her insides while she rode him like a bucking bronc, and of course Jolene's mind magic, Sean didn't last much longer at that point.

  Neither did Estrella, and even Jolene joined them as they all climaxed together, a heaving, sweaty, panting, and quite satisfied tangle of three bodies.

  "Gee, that looks like fun, Lion-boy!" Daelyn laughed. "My turn!"

  "Don't forget me this time, either!" Roberta snickered.

  "I live to please," Sean said with a happy smile. Sometimes getting up early was worth it.

  It was much later in the day when Estrella caught up with Sean, who was helping Roxy, Daelyn, and Oak go over the last of the evacuation plans. She'd been busy herself helping get the children ready to go. Most of the non-essential personal had started moving out a couple of days ago, but Sean had decreed last night that they would all be moved out by sunset today.

  So things around the ranch were fairly busy.

  "Sean, do you have a minute?" she asked, coming into the room.

  Sean looked up from the diagram he was studying. "Sure, Stell, what's up?"

  "That 'thing' you put in me this morning..."

  "Is that anyway to talk about a man's dick?" Daelyn asked with a smirk, causing Roxy and Sean both to start laughing.

  Blushing, Estrella growled at Daelyn, "That's not what I'm talking about, and you should know it! Sean had Jo copy some sort of spell into my head!"

  Daelyn laughed. "It was still worth it to see you blush! Damn, you're a hard one to get, Stell! Now I get to see how much I won!"

  "Won? What are you talking about?"

  "They have a pot going on who can make you blush first," Sean said. "Though for some reason, I'm excluded from the betting."

  Estrella blushed again. "You're kidding me?" she said in a much lower voice.

  "Course not," Roxy said, smiling. "Sean makes you blush all the time! That's why he's not allowed in it. I mean he just made you blush again, am I right?"

  Estrella tried to scowl at Roxy as she continued blushing. "Is there an award for second place, too?"

  "Nah, that one was just because I could!" Roxy laughed.

  Smiling, Sean came around the table, took Estr
ella by the elbow, and steered her towards the door. "Let's find someplace a little less distracting, and I'll show you how to use it."

  "Don't be gone too long!" Roxy called out. "We still have to get this finished!"

  Sean nodded and lead Estrella out of Roxy's office, closing the door behind them.

  "Sorry about that," Sean said with a smile, "but it was funny."

  "It's okay. It's nice that they're finally starting to treat me the same way they treat each other. I know it's taken me a while to get used to all the changes. Though," she looked at Sean, "a wager on who could get me to blush?"

  "You should see the side pot on who would win it!" Sean said with a chuckle. "I had a hundred on Dae, so I think it's safe to say I just doubled my money, at least."

  "Why Dae?"

  "Because she's rude, crude, and not afraid of you in a fight. She may be small, but she's deadly!"

  Estrella sighed, but had to smile. "Yeah, dwarves are like that. So, how do I use this thing you put in my head?"

  Sean steered her into his office, which was a lot smaller than Roxy's. Peg wasn't there currently; she was busy helping get the kids moved.

  "Okay, how do you currently use your lion powers?"

  Estrella shrugged. "Mostly I just think about them. Mom trained me. She told me what they are, how they 'feel', and what to expect from them. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but over time, I got each of them down."

  Sean nodded. "Okay, try doing the same thing, only this time, think about opening up your 'stats' menu."

  "Stats menu?" she asked, looking at him.

  "This spell is about looking at your statistics." Sean walked over to the whiteboard and picked up a marker. "Magic users use it to find out what their physical stats are, their mental ones, and then they go down to the list of spells. It looks like this."

  Sean made a list on the white board; under the heading of 'Physical', he listed: Constitution, Agility, Strength, and Regeneration. Then he put the heading 'Mental' up and listed: Intelligence, Wisdom, Reasoning, Memory, and Integration. Last he put up 'Magical', and under that: Ability, Mana, and Will.

  "Now, this first group," he said pointing to physical, "deals with your body, obviously. Some of these you can change, some you can't. The first three all magic users get; the forth one is only for us lycans. Magic users don't even see that one," Sean said taping the tip of the marker by 'Regeneration'.