Head Down

by Jan Stryvant

  Sal was starting to regret taking on the contract, if he wasn't careful, he'd have one or both of the big local packs on his heels after he dealt with Sean. He started to wonder if that was the real reason that Harkins had brought him in? So he could blame what happened on an outsider and not face the wrath of the locals?

  Things had definitely changed since he'd been here last. Getting into his car he decided maybe it was time to go see the guy who was selling Sean's merchandise, maybe that goblin would know. The great thing about goblins was that they all had a price, even if that price was not to kill them.

  "We're here," Roxy said as Daelyn pulled the van into a spot that a car had just pulled out of.

  "Great," Sean said and sliding the back door open he stepped out into the sunlight as the others got out of the van.

  "Pretty nice shop," Roxy said looking at it. "He did this all on his own?"

  "Yup."

  "Where'd he get the money?" Daelyn asked.

  "Counting cards. Chad's a wicked sharp gambler."

  "I'm surprised he isn't on the poker circuit then."

  "Eh, he quoted Eastwood at me when I suggested that."

  "Eastwood?" Roxy asked.

  "A man's got to know his limits," Sean chuckled. "Come on, let's go inside."

  Walking up to the door, Sean held it open and let the girls precede him inside, following Jolene who he gave a pat on the butt to as she slinked by.

  "Sean!" Chad called from the back of the shop and waved him over.

  "What, no hello for us?" Roxy pouted as they headed towards the back. Sean couldn't help but notice all the teenagers giving the girls the eye, until they stepped through to the second room and out of sight.

  "Sorry girls. You didn't see a guy in black clothes with a black fedora on outside, did you?"

  "No, why?" Roxy said.

  "I just threw him out of the shop; he was asking questions about Sean."

  "Any idea who he was?" Sean asked.

  "Was he a mage?" Jolene asked.

  Chad shook his head, "He was a lycan, but I haven't been one long enough to know what kind. Definitely not a wolf or a cat. Beyond that," Chad spread his hands, "no idea."

  "What'd he want?" Sean asked.

  "He wanted to know where you were, and when I told him I hadn't seen you since you started college, he tried pressing me saying that there were rumors going around that you had something to sell.

  "He had followed me into the stockroom, and he wouldn't leave when I told him to go, so I got him in a come-along and marched him out of the store. I think he was a bit surprised by that. I don't think he figured I could do it."

  "Oh, that reminds me," Sean said, and reaching into his pocket he pulled out a tag and handed it to Chad.

  "Is this what he was talking about?" Chad asked, looking at the tag as he turned it over in his hands.

  Sean nodded, "Probably. Just click it to your collar. It'll stay on then."

  "So, you making these things now?"

  "Only in limited batches," Roxy grumbled.

  "Ah, well I can tell when a subject needs to be changed. So what brings you here?"

  Sean lowered his voice, "We need to start planning our assault on those Ascendant clowns."

  "Well I don't close up for another two hours, if you want I can give you the keys to my place and you can go wait for me there."

  "What about Kathy?"

  "Umm," Chad sighed, "we broke up."

  "What? How come?"

  "She's not a wolf," Chad sighed. "I talked to Minnie and Silver to get their input, and they both agreed she'd probably freak if I told her, that she was definitely not wolf material."

  "Wow, sorry to hear that."

  Chad shrugged, "She also came home smelling of another guy, I mean I'd heard a few rumors and had some suspicions and was trying to work through it, but with my heightened senses? Yeah, it was obvious. I confronted her on it and well," Chad shrugged. "She left."

  "Wow, now I feel even worse," Sean sighed. "How's your wolf doing?"

  Chad brightened up then and smiled, "Actually, he's doing really well. We've been going out every night and running all over the west hills. I've even started looking for a new place to rent up there."

  "How's the training going?"

  Chad snorted, "What's to train? Oak answered all of my questions in the car when he brought me home after biting me. The guys from the pack who've been coming down to 'teach me' about being a wolf have started to get annoying lately. The last two ended up face down in the dirt while I gave them a little lecture about polite behavior."

  Roxy snickered, "You didn't!"

  Chad grinned, looking just a little embarrassed, "Hey, what can I say? If you're gonna play dominance games with me, you're gonna lose."

  "Every time," Sean snickered.

  "Yup," Chad grinned, "I mean, I understand that I'm the new guy and all, but still, I've got my limits."

  "What's your wolf say?" Roxy asked.

  "My wolf wants me to go up there into the mountains and kick some major ass," Chad snorted. "After last night, I'm not so sure I disagree with him anymore."

  "What happened last night?" Sean asked.

  "Oh, a couple of hours after teaching someone a lesson, some random wolf caught up with me while we were out running. Seems I 'disrespected' his friend or something."

  Sean snorted, "What did you do to him?"

  "I was gentle! Honest!" Chad said with a large grin on his face.

  "I'm afraid to hear what gentle is when a werewolf is involved," Daelyn snickered.

  "Well, I can tell you all about it later, if you want to know," Chad laughed. Getting out his keys he took one of the keys off the ring and handed it to Sean.

  "I gotta get back to work. You may want to get some food; I think my fridge is empty."

  Sean took the key and nodded, "Later then."

  "He's going to be the new alpha, isn't he?" Jolene asked as they got back into the van outside.

  "As soon as he realizes he's in the running," Sean chuckled. "I just think with the recent breakup he's been a little distracted."

  "So," Daelyn asked, "In and Out, or Wendy's?"

  Sal looked at the front of the shop as he parked his car, Sawyer's Antiquities was the faded painted sign on the heavy metal door. The windows were small and up high, the walls were gray concrete and abutted up against the other companies on either side. The place looked about as disreputable as he'd expected, being squirreled away in the back of an industrial park.

  Tony had told him all about Sawyer, the goblin that ran the place. He'd set up shop here in Reno a few years back after being run out of Vegas by the law down there. Details about that were 'kind of hazy,' Tony had said, and a few phone calls that Sal made to some connected people down there hadn't provided any extra information.

  While he may have only been here four or five years, Sawyer was now reputed to be one of the best sources of information in Reno, as well as the best paying fence for all things magical and stolen. Then there were the rumors about the lycan collars that were flooding the local market. Sal still hadn't seen any of them, but he'd heard the rumors all the way back in Chicago, and the biggest source of those collars was supposedly a fence in Reno by the name Sawyer.

  Getting out of his car, Sal walked over to the door. This was definitely his last lead, if he didn't get anything out of this; he was going to have to resort to the kind of methods that he preferred to avoid. Hopefully he'd be able to pry something out of the goblin, he was selling the kid's collars and he had to pay him. So there had to be some connection there.

  Walking in through the front door, the first thing Sal noticed was the massive guard sitting by the door. The second was that the guard wasn't human, but actually a wereboar, a pretty tough looking one to boot. Sawyer obviously took his security rather seriously.

  The shop itself looked like a hundred other pawnshops that Sal had the pleasure or displeasure of visiting over the last forty years. As he made his way
slowly to the back, down one of the aisles between the typical stacks of overpriced merchandise on display, he saw a goblin sitting behind the high counter there.

  "Whadda' want?" Sawyer asked.

  "Are you Sawyer?" Sal replied, looking him over carefully. Sal had met and done business with a lot of goblins over the years, his profession kind of dictated it. Sawyer was definitely on the taller end of the scale, and as goblins go he wasn't all that ugly.

  "My name's on the door, isn't it?"

  "I'm looking for information."

  "Ain't we all?" Sawyer said. "The answer is, no."

  Sal raised his eyebrows, "I haven't even asked yet."

  "I ain't stupid, whoever you are. There's only two reasons someone I've never seen before walks into my store these days. The first I'm out of, the second I don't know the answer to."

  Sal pulled out a roll of bills and peeling off four one-hundred dollar bills, he set them on the counter.

  "Humor me then."

  "I'm not a comedian, but I'll give it my best shot. It's your money," Sawyer told him, but Sal noted that he didn't reach for the bills.

  "What are you out of?"

  "Lycan necklaces, which you being a lycan, is without a doubt the only reason why you're here."

  Sal looked at him surprised, "How did you know?"

  "What? You think I don't know what walks into my shop? The word's out now that I had 'em. Everyone keeps showing up."

  "When do you think you'll be getting more?" Sal asked calmly.

  Sawyer shrugged, "Don't know. They come in the mail, and before you get any bright ideas, not to this address or by my mailman. So leave the poor guy alone, he's been scared enough already and I'm tired of having to go down to the post office to pick up my mail."

  "And just how are you paying for them, then?"

  "Why would I tell you that?" Sawyer laughed.

  Sal placed four more bills on top of the pile.

  "You want me to tell you my trade secrets, for a measly eight hundred dollars?" Sawyer snorted, "Your bosses are cheap."

  Grumbling, Sal held up his bankroll and waved it back and forth slightly. He noticed Sawyer's eyes got just a little larger.

  "Before you go laying that down I'll tell you right now, I pay by a bank transfer to a numbered account, so I have no idea where the kid is."

  "Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" Sal growled.

  "Because I wanted to see if you were serious and because this is my shop. Why are you looking for him, anyway?"

  "That's my business," Sal said. "Think you can put me in touch?"

  "Seeing as just about every mages council, coven, and lycan fellowship has somebody watching this place and me so they can get their hands on the kid?" Sawyer snorted, "Hardly. With the number of collars that went on the market lately, everybody has a reason to 'want to talk' with the kid. Hell, some of those people might even wish him well. Just like you do, right?" Sawyer finished looking Sal over slowly.

  "What about the silver thing?" Sal asked, figuring that as long as he was here, he might as well take a few shots.

  Sawyer's eyes narrowed, "What silver thing?"

  "So you've heard about it?"

  "I've heard the rumors. But then some of those rumors go way way back. Back to before I moved here."

  "What if I told you they're not rumors?"

  "Then maybe you and I could do a little business," Sawyer replied cautiously. "How many you got, and how much do you want?"

  "I ain't looking to sell," Sal growled, "I'm looking to buy! And I got money, lots of money. I need one for my job and I ain't no choirboy."

  "No kiddin'?" Sawyer muttered in feigned disbelief.

  "So how much and when can I get one?"

  "If there were any for sale, I suspect that they'd go to an auction, that is assuming of course that this thing you're talking about even exists."

  "Alright, fine. So just where would I find this auction?"

  "I don't know. Yet," Sawyer told him.

  Sal pulled his bankroll out and peeled off eight one-hundred dollar bills. Finally! Some progress.

  Sawyer looked at the bills and put a business card on the counter and slid it towards Sal, and took the pile of money in return.

  "There's a website on there, you know what a website is, right?" Sawyer asked.

  Sal snarled at him, "I'm not a mage; I keep up with the tech."

  "Good, nice to know you're living in the present with the rest of us. Check the site, I've been told that's the place for lycans looking for certain things."

  Sal picked up the card and giving it a quick glance to see that there was in fact a website printed on it, he stuck it in his pocket.

  "This better not be a trick," Sal warned, more out of habit than anything else.

  "Hey, I'm a respectable businessman," Sawyer protested. "Just ask my customers."

  "Sure you are," Sal grunted and turning he headed for the exit and nodding to the guard by the door he went outside and back to his car. He'd check the website and see what it had to say, and even enter a bid or two.

  After all, if these things really were for sale, he figured they'd be priceless once everyone realized that the guy making them wasn't going to be making anymore.

  "Who was that guy, Boss?" Marx asked, coming over to the counter after he'd seen the car drive off on one of the hidden monitors by his station.

  "High priced hitman out of chi-town. Calls himself 'Hyena,'" Sawyer grumbled. "Can't say I'm crazy about having the likes of him in my shop. I guess the rumors are really starting to spread out there if they're starting to attract the likes of him."

  "He is a hyena, Boss."

  "Yeah, I sort of figured that one out myself, mister brain surgeon. Course a guy like him can probably afford a half mil for one of those tags, right? Too bad a certain someone won't let me raise the prices."

  Marx looked back at the door.

  "Hitman you say?"

  "Yup."

  "Raise the price, Boss. Like you said, he can afford it."

  There's a New Sheriff in Town

  "Damn," Chad said walking into the house, "what a day. First that guy in the shop, then some wolf I've never seen before wants to slug it out in the freaking parking lot! He even put a dent in the fender of my car! Now I'm gonna have to get Steve to fix it."

  "He put a dent in your car?" Roxy asked, surprised, "With what?"

  "His face," Chad growled, "which I introduced it to five times until he stopped struggling and gave up. What the hell is wrong with these people?"

  "They're looking for a new alpha," Sean said and held up a bag of food, "Here, we saved you a dozen bacon double cheeseburgers!"

  "Oh man, you're a lifesaver," Chad said and tossing his workbag on the couch he came over and sat down at the table. "I've been starving ever since Oak bit me."

  "Infected," Roxy corrected him, "they call it 'infected.'"

  "Whatever," Chad said and started to scarf down a burger immediately. For a moment Sean didn't think he was even going to take the wrapper off.

  "It's all the changes in your body," Sean told him. "Notice you lost that spare tire you were getting? It settles down some after a couple of weeks."

  "Well, that's good to know. I was starting to wonder how these guys stay fed."

  "So, Sawyer sent us the plans for their compound, the lycan kennels, and their main estate house. I haven't called up my father-in-law...."

  "Which one?" Chad snickered.

  Sean rolled his eyes, "Rox's dad. Dae's an orphan, and Jo..." Sean looked at Jolene.

  "My father and I have issues," Jolene said, "we don't talk. And before you ask, I don't talk with my mother or any of the rest of them."

  "What about your uncle? You seemed okay with him," Sean observed.

  Jolene smiled a little bit, "Uncle Arthur's okay. We get along."

  "You're straying off the point here, Sean," Chad said.

  "Right," Sean grinned. "I figure we'll work out a plan, and then I'
ll call up the one father-in-law that I can talk to, as well as Dae's uncle Samis, and we'll go over it with them, like we did last time."

  "Sounds good to me, let me finish a few more of these...."

  The doorbell rang then, "Damn, not another one!" Chad growled and getting up he stalked over to the door.

  "What?" he asked pulling it open.

  "I'm here to challenge you!" whoever was at the door said.

  "Fine, go around to the back, I really don't feel like putting a show on for the neighbors, again."

  "You can't tell me what to do!"

  "Oh? I can't?" Chad said with that tone of voice that Sean hadn't heard in years.

  "Someone, is about to get an ass-whipping," Sean whispered.

  As they watched, Chad reached out and yanked someone in through the open doorway. The guy looked fairly large, he definitely had a few inches on Chad, who spun him around, tripped him up then simply pile-drived him into the tile floor. All of them winced at the sound of the guy's head hitting the ground.

  "At least I don't have to worry about crippling them!" Chad said with a savage grin and then hauling the now dazed guy to his feet he marched the guy to the back door and opening it with one hand while he held the guy up with the other, he then tossed him out into the backyard.

  "Don't go bleeding on anything important!" Chad called out after him, "This place is a rental!"

  "He's going to want a rematch, you know," Roxy said as Chad came back over and sat down to eat another burger.

  "Well he isn't getting one. Who the hell taught these guys how to fight? I mean really, that was even more pathetic than the last one."

  Sure enough, two minutes later the guy was at the back door,

  "I demand a rematch! I wasn't ready!"

  "And you'll never be ready!" Chad said, "Now, go around front and direct anyone else who comes over to go in the backyard and tell them to wait until I finish my dinner!"

  "Who do you think you are!"

  "The guy who kicked your ass in two seconds, now do as I say and if you're lucky I'll teach you how to actually fight!" Chad growled.