by Jessica Snow
"I believe it is a little joke from Akiko," Melanie said, picking up the green wrapped roll and biting. "Yep. She had mentioned this the other night, but I didn't think she was serious. She calls this Irish sushi. It's corned beef, mashed potatoes, and boiled cabbage rolled up like traditional Japanese sushi. I think the sauce is a mix of brown mustard and wasabi if you want to give it a go."
"Sure, why not?" Edward said, popping one into his mouth. "By the way, thank you for not telling Keith or Kimberly about the comments we heard," he said, referring to some of the whispered comments they had been on the receiving end of. While Melanie's presence was by this point more or less accepted, Edward was still unknown. Considering he was Aklark, he was greeted with even more suspicion, and more than a few whispered comments. While Melanie hadn't made out a lot of what had been said, Edward's sharper ears had, despite the Lycans' attempts to hide them. Still, in the interest of preserving the peace, they had both held their tongues.
"You're better at this than you realize. Besides, while you’re learning how to use your Link with Kimberly, I bet she's heard everything already. I can almost guarantee you that she's dealing with it in her way."
"I hope nobody gets hurt,” Edward replied with a soft chuckle, spearing another meatball and chewing on it. "We don't need any more of that."
"No, knowing Kimberly the way I do, she's going to be much more subtle. What was it Frank Hebert said in Dune? It is the slow blade that pierces the shield. I suspect that Kimberly knows that lesson very well."
Edward nodded, shivering slightly. Melanie noticed. "What is it?"
"Sorry, I just know more about the loving side of Kimberly, and the honest warrior who I saw during the assault to rescue you. I guess I have to get used to the subtle politician and noble part of her as well. It's a side I'm not entirely comfortable with. Reminds me too much of my father."
Melanie nodded, thinking of the little interaction she had had with Ben Stormstout. A consummate tall tale teller, there was always an angle to whatever the man said, it seemed, and his continued presence in their lives was something Keith worried about. "There's a difference between your father and Kimberly," Melanie said finally, sneaking a meatball away from Edward. "Mmm, those are good."
"Here, you can have the rest," Edward said, handing her the greatly diminished bowl. "I think I'll move on to just drinks. So what is different?"
"Let's see," Melanie said, pretending to think. "Well, Kimberly's about eight inches shorter, a hundred and fifty or so pounds lighter, and at least in my opinion, has much nicer boobs and butt than your father."
Edward laughed, getting the joke. "I'm glad about all those things, that’s for sure."
"More importantly, though," Melanie continued, "Kimberly might be political and subtle at times, but her heart's always in the right place. There's a line she's not going to cross, a moral one for sure. She'll never put anyone in the position that your father put both of you in."
Edward thought, then nodded his acceptance. "You're right, of course. Thank you, Sister.”
"You are welcome. But I'm not calling you Brother. Too tempting to make a bad joke," Melanie replied. "I doubt you need that nickname."
"Good point."
Chapter 43
The Gathering, which had gone well for the first eight hours of meetings, was finally reaching areas of disagreement. For Keith, it was actually a record, in his estimation. The attack by the Hunters had forged a sense of unity among the various Clans that hadn't existed in generations. What had once seemed like causes for major disagreement, had instead been excused as minor quibbles, and motion after motion had been either voted up or down with large majorities with no fighting afterward.
Keith had to admit that some of it was the huge coalition that he found himself the linchpin of. With most of Clan Lockwood's allies, such as the Blanc Loup and the Mac Tire, along with Clan Thornblood's allies, such as the Lykos and the Bez Beco, all working in concert, most of the other unaligned Clans joined in just to go with the majority. Issues such as travel rights, revenue sharing and trade deals, which had almost derailed the last gathering, were passed with a minimum of fuss.
Keith noticed that a certain pattern developed. While Clan Thornblood and Clan Lockwood still took their original initial positions, Kimberly and Akiko both debated their points respectfully, moving towards a compromise that Keith had to admit was better than he had expected possible. Most importantly to him though was that each of the compromises strengthened the ability of the Lycans to wage war against their enemies.
Now, however, at the end of the first day, with the sun going down, the big issue in the room was being worked towards. Keith felt his hands clench as he had to sit and listen to the comments from some of the others.
"I do not wish to call into doubt either the honor of Clan Lockwood or Clan Thornblood. Every member here is an honorable and noble Lycan," Lord Dumas-Vez, one of the unaffiliated Clans, said from his seat. "I myself watched as Nioclas Thornblood fought with all of his heart to repel the invaders. But the facts are unequivocal. This war is a war of vengeance, sought by the Lockwoods and the Thornbloods for the losses they incurred. And sadly enough, those same losses come about because of the very actions of those same Clans. There would have been no reason for the Hunters to attack us if Lord and Lady Lockwood along with Melanie Lockwood had not killed one of the Hunters in this city, and we all know who sold out the Gathering to the Hunters before. While I understand your anger and your desire for more blood, I don’t feel it’s time for a war, not when our own wounds are still so fresh."
Keith stood to say something but sat down when he saw Akiko look over at him, her eyes knowing. Instead, he nodded to her and let her stand to speak. "Lord Dumas-Vez, I understand what you’re saying, and before I make my reply, I would ask my Sister, Lady Melanie Lockwood, to speak to us. I know she’s not of this Council, but we have granted her seating rights with her Mate, and I feel her words are important. Any objections?"
There were none, and Melanie made her way to the center of the area. Everyone could see the swell of her belly under her loose top, and more than a few smiled sympathetically as she tried to work her way in between two of the tables that had been set up before they were pulled apart for her. Akiko brought a chair into the area, which Melanie respectfully declined. "I've been sitting down for the past two hours, I think a little bit of standing will be helpful."
"Of course, Melanie Lockwood," Akiko said, falling into the formal forms of address that still ruled the meeting. Addressing her as Sister or by first name only would have been a mistake. "If I may ask, could you please relate to this Gathering what was told to you by the kinbushi that you knew as John."
For the next twenty minutes, Melanie related her conversations with the man who had claimed to be her jailer, physician, and possible adoptive father for her child. She saw as both Alpha Male and Female grimaced as she related the story. Finally, she wrapped up her story with her rescue and stabbing John before kicking him down the stairs.
"And you’re sure that he was killed?" Akiko asked, who had remained in the area between the tables with her. "You are positive?"
"The blade cut both his jugular vein and carotid artery, based on the amount of spray that covered my shirt and body," Melanie replied evenly. "While there is a small chance of survival if someone had immediately sealed the wound, considering that less than two minutes later Kimberly Waldwyck leveled the building with rocket fire, I’m very certain he is dead."
"Thank you, Melanie. One further question, something you said earlier. In one of your conversations with John, he said that they had never captured an Alpha level child. Could you please go back to that conversation, and try and recall exactly what he said?"
Melanie nodded, using one of the skills that had been one of her strongest skills even when she had been a normal cop, a nearly flawless ability to recall conversations with other people. "He said, the best way to defeat the werewolves is to use their own kind a
gainst them. So your child, son or daughter, will become the Order's greatest weapon against werewolf kind. Combining our training with their physical skills, they'll be one of the best soldiers our kind has ever seen. Imagine, the speed, strength, senses of a prime Alpha, able to blend in amongst werewolf kind, but armed with our sense of purpose and skill."
Akiko nodded. "I now ask your opinion, one that I must admit when you first told me scared me to the depths of my soul. Do you think that John had done this sort of brainwashing before?"
Melanie shivered as the implications became clear to her as well. "It may have been. John was certainly capable of it, I think."
Akiko nodded and came over to Melanie, placing her hand on her shoulder before clasping arms with her. "Thank you, Melanie Lockwood. I have no more questions, but thank you for your bravery and words."
Returning to her table, Akiko picked up a tablet computer and looked at it. "Members of the Council, I think you realize what I am implying. The kinbushi have been engaging in this sort of barbaric actions for years, I feel. If the attack wasn't enough, if the kidnapping of Melanie Lockwood was not enough, there is this, the fact that for years, maybe even a decade or more, they have been turning our own kind against us."
"Do you have any evidence of this, Lady Thornblood?" asked Lord Blanc Loup. “I’m not saying your accusations do not have serious consequences, but there are serious implications if so."
Akiko nodded and turned to her tablet. "Ernest Gabriel. Saki Munro. Margery Blackwood. Robert E. Kallas. Guy Caillet. Evelyn Rice. The list goes on, twenty-seven in all, but I had my staff go through the Thornblood database. Each of these names, within the past ten years, has disappeared from their Clan. Some of them, about half, were discovered dead later, but the other half have flat out disappeared. They all were first or second generation Lycans, and I know within the Thornbloods, their disappearance was dismissed as them being shot by a regular hunter or something else equally unfortunate during a time they ran with the full moon. With the numbers being scattered by one or two each among all the Clans, perhaps nobody made the connection before. But there are too many similarities when the cases are compared. Young, Unmated Lycans who just vanished without a trace, often from urban areas or areas where kinbushi were suspected of operating. What if even a third of these were subjects of the experiment that this John was going to perform on the Lockwood baby? A dedicated group of eight or nine Lycans, fully committed to our enemy's cause. Lords and Ladies, the implications are clear. They will not stop, and they will continue these barbaric acts. Unless we stop them."
Akiko's assistant, the same bodyguard she had brought to the last Gathering, passed out folders to each Clan, detailing what she had found. Mutters of disbelief turned to rumbles of anger as Clan after Clan read about their missing member, and the similarities they had with the other missing Lycans. Akiko let the emotion build, then cleared her throat. "I move that we arm for war. We can discuss the details tomorrow. What say the Council?"
The vote was unanimous.
Chapter 44
"A fine move, Sister," Kimberly said as they slid forty-five pound plates on the bar in Keith's exercise room. The two, after a long day of stressful discussions, had both wanted to replace the mental stress with physical work and had both quickly agreed to use Keith's workout room while the rest of their family either changed clothes, relaxed, or did work for tomorrow's preparations. "I only wish that you had clued me in on it."
"I apologize, Kimberly. I wanted to make sure everyone was surprised, for maximum effective impact. I knew you and I shared the same point of view, so I felt that bringing you in would have only maybe ruined the surprise," Akiko replied. She had changed clothes from the severe red and black women's suit she had been wearing all day to exercise clothes, relaxing in an Everlast short sleeved sweatshirt and martial arts pants, while Kimberly had opted for yoga pants and a high-necked white t-shirt.
"That's all right," Kim replied. "And call me Kim, okay? Kimberly is too damn long for close family."
"When I was a young girl, my mother called me Aki-chan, but nobody has done that in years," Akiko replied. "I guess I'm stuck with Akiko."
The two women started their routine, alternating sets of squats until the bar groaned with each set of forty-five-pound plates placed on the side. "You know, with that shirt, I would have thought you'd be using the heavy bag we have downstairs."
"You have boxing equipment?" Akiko asked as she settled herself beneath the bar. "That sounds like a lot of fun."
"Yes, there is some in the basement," Kimberly replied as Akiko lifted the weight out of its racks. "Perhaps we could swap some lumps tomorrow if you’re in the mood?"
Akiko grunted through her set and turned to Kimberly. "You'd try and attack an old woman like me?"
"Meh, you have those Asian genetics. You're going to be young and beautiful looking until you're easily ninety or so, then implode. I've seen it on the Internet," Kim joked.
Akiko chuckled and watched Kim cinch in a weightlifting belt before getting ready. “You know, that Edward is quite the presence, standing there behind you in the room. If anyone disagrees with you, you could just have him glare at them."
Kim laughed and backed out from under the bar for safety's sake. "The funny part is, for all of his rough exterior, he's really quite the teddy Bear," she joked. "Now, no more laughing, not until I get this set done."
While the two were working off their stress, Keith, Edward and Melanie had already changed clothes and were discussing options for the next day's meetings. "I think the hardest part of this war will be that it has to be done in a series of surgical strikes," Melanie said.
She tapped the controls on the computer she was using, and Kimberly's screen popped out of the wood paneling where it had been hidden. "Oooh, that's cool," Edward said. He leaned over to Keith, stage whispering. "How often do you watch football on that thing?"
"Super Bowl party, right here," Keith replied, before turning his attention back to his Mate. "Sorry. Surgical strikes, how so?"
"Because the Hunters have connections to the regular infrastructure of the government, certainly more than what the Lockwoods have. We saw that when we took down Yankowitz, my former police lieutenant. And Akiko thinks that the military grade equipment the Hunters got for the attack on the Manor was because they have members in the military and National Guard. If the public sees us just out of the blue start shooting cops, military officers and other sorts of people, we're going to have a fight on our hands we simply can’t win. We have to take them out without the public realizing what is going on."
"That's going to be difficult," Edward said. "While I am sure the Lycans have forces that are trained in such surreptitious activities, the Aklark method of combat is much more direct, as you've seen. They are shock troops."
"Unless the Hunters happen to be living and working with the New England Patriots, I would have to agree," Keith said. "Your cousins don't quite fit in with most other people."
"No, but Melanie and Kimberly have the skills that we’re going to need," Edward replied. When Melanie looked at him surprised, he gestured towards the screen. "You said it yourself, a lot of the Hunters are involved in law enforcement and military. Ironically, so are a lot of Lycans, if other Clans have taken the same approach the Lockwoods did to secure their headquarters. Melanie, you know the ins and outs of police structures. You know how cops talk, how they share information, and how to avoid their interest. You know how to use things like the NCIC and how to manipulate it, I bet."
"I'm not the only person, but yes, I can do a lot of that," Melanie replied. "But what about Kimberly? I mean, besides being a kickass helicopter pilot among other things. Distract the Hunters with drop dead hotness while we sneak up on them?"
Edward laughed and shook his head. "As much as I agree with your sentiment of my Mate, I was actually talking about her computer skills. I can do a little, but nothing like what Kim has told me about. From what I have gathered from s
nippets of conversation and what I've overheard the past day and a half, many Clans have Lycans with advanced computer skills. Maybe we could use that to our advantage.”
"Yes, many of the wealthier Clans have at least one computer hacker among their ranks. It's actually been quite easy to recruit them when we want. It seems that a lot of them want to be Lycans," Keith said, stopping when Melanie started laughing. "What?"
"You’re surprised that a computer techie, who’s most likely either skinny and severely sun depleted or overweight and nonathletic, wants to be a Lycan. Where even the first generation turned Lycans all tend to be, if not taller, at least lean and muscular. Hell, even the tailor I met is just about the most athletic looking suit maker I've ever seen," Melanie replied. "Long life, super powers, great looks, maybe even potential to Mate with someone like you or Kimberly.... yeah, I have no idea why anyone would be attracted to being Lycans."
Edward tried to repress his laughter with a poorly muffled snirk before he too joined in. Keith looked from his Mate to his Brother in blood, then just shook his head. "Okay, okay. I got it."
"You should check your Lycan privilege, Keith," Edward added, sending all of them into gales of laughter. There was time for planning later, but sometimes laughter was more important.
* * *
Akiko woke up, turning over in the bed that had been delivered just that morning. It had been over six weeks since she had been able to get a full night's sleep, and she knew exactly what the reason was.
