by Jan Stryvant
"Yeah, apparently someone's got a trace on my debit card and they followed us there. I would have let you know sooner, but well, I've been busy."
"I told Chad about your problem, by the way."
Sean sighed, "He thinks you're crazy now, doesn't he?"
Steve laughed, "Oh, does he ever! I got a big bet going with him now! You know that Nintendo world championship cartridge of his?"
"Steve, you didn't!"
"Of course I did. Put my old twenty-six hundred console up against it! You'd think he'd know better than to bet against me!"
Sean just shook his head and sighed, "So, what'd he say?"
"Well, he said that if I wasn't crazy, that he had a few ideas, I think he mentioned helots, or something like that."
"I'll call him or something. One last question?"
"Sure, shoot."
"Gotta riddle: What's the last view they'll ever see? Does that mean anything to you?"
"Beats me, ask Chad, he's better at that kind of thing than I am!"
"Okay, bye," Sean hung up the phone.
"So, learn anything?" Roxy asked.
Sean shook his head, "Not really, no."
By the time they got back to their new hideout, the power had come on, and there was light as well as hot water. Sean left the girls to take care of things as he found a place to get comfortable and then went into his classroom. There was so much he had to learn, so much that he needed to know, but the problem was, he had no idea what to study next.
He checked his stats first, but it'd only been a few days since he'd last checked them, so of course there'd been no changes there. After that he looked at the books that had been left to him, there were thirty-nine of them, if he counted the beginner's primer, and while he understood enough to learn any of them, the problem was that he didn't have the time right now to learn all of them.
So which was he to pick?
Or should he just forgo them all, and make up his spells on the spot? The problem with that was that it took longer to cast those spells, and used more energy. The limiting factor for mages everywhere Sean had learned was energy. This was why they used the spells in the books, which were easier to learn, and which had been designed to conserve as much energy as possible.
It also explained why they used weapons or magical items against him in most of his conflicts with them, more than they had magic. Jolene's uncle was probably the only one who'd gone straight to magic, but then, his actions had been more for the purposes of showing off than for winning any kind of fight.
Now, as a magic using lycan, Sean was their worst nightmare, because lycans had lots of magical energy, which was what allowed them to change. And it was that very nature that tended to keep magic users from becoming lycans, as their magical ability normally seized hold of the 'infection' and drained it dry of magic, thus killing it, before it could transform the magic user into one.
And the magic users most certainly did not allow lycans to learn magic, lest they be overwhelmed. Sean also suspected that there might be other reasons as well why lycans avoided magic. What those were however, he had no idea.
He ended up deciding to learn as many of the different healing spells that there were for now. Daelyn couldn't regenerate, and if Jolene ever got injured, he'd have to do something for her as well. Plus it taught him the magic of the living flesh, as well as how to manipulate it, and surely that would be useful at some point.
He felt someone shaking him eventually, and when he opened his eyes, Jolene was smiling down at him. She was naked.
"Mmm?" Sean said looking her over.
"I have an idea on just how to solve that little riddle of yours," Jolene smiled back and started to undo his pants.
"Sure you do," Sean chuckled.
"What, don't want me to try?" she paused, smirking up at him.
"Now I didn't say that, did I?"
Jolene laughed, "No, no you didn't."
Crawling onto the foam mattress they'd put down over one of the stone beds, Jolene slowly kissed her way up his body, until eventually she reached his lips and Sean put his arms around her and kissed her back lovingly.
They took their time, and as Sean felt the power start to build, Jolene took him on a slow journey through his memories, searching for that one phrase, or something like it.
Sean found it very fascinating, apparently some parts of his mind remembered things so much better than he ever had.
"Blame the geas for that," Jolene whispered in his ear.
All Sean could do was kiss her back, thanking her for restoring to him more of what his father had been, and what his father had meant to him. The geas and the years had turned Sean's father into a perfect stranger, and now, finally, he was able to remember the man who had once been so important to him.
Sean relived much of his childhood then, his childhood from before the death of his father, after which he'd had to start working in order to help his mother pay the bills and put food on the table.
His father had been a larger than life figure, and not just because Sean had been a small boy. With the experience that he now had, he could tell that many of his father's friends had been non-humans. The people they would go off to meet, or who would come over for dinner or for parties, there were dwarves, lycans, some tall fair race that Sean hadn't yet met ('Elves,' Jolene supplied), and other magic users.
There were also famous people, politicians, interesting and eccentric folks, and then beings that Sean couldn't remember clearly and for which Jolene couldn't help him.
In all of this, Sean could see that his father was held in high regard by so many of these people, though none as great as the lycans. That he was warm and generous with everyone, and that he never raised his voice, never used a mean or even harsh word, with anyone, and was always fast to forgive.
It was no wonder that they had hired a man from far away to kill him, Sean realized. Any local, even if they'd had the power, would never have been able to go through with it, his father was too charismatic, too friendly, it would have been like killing a member of your own family.
Sean again had to laugh at the pure folly of those who had put the geas on him, blocking away so many of the things his father had taught him. If Sean had been able to retain those lessons during his formative years, he doubted that he'd be thinking many of the thoughts he was today.
He hadn't lied when he'd agreed with Samis that a war was a bad idea.
But he still planned on waging one against every person who had been involved in his father's murder. The lessons Sean had learned after many years of struggling and suffering had been very clear, and the biggest was that you paid back those who wronged you, whenever you could, and as Roxy and his lion had taught him, you never suffered an enemy to live.
They were up to the last of the memories in Sean's mind, one of Sean and his father off in a rather green place, in the early spring. A place that Sean had only been to twice before.
"Dad, why do they call this place Mountain View?" Sean asked his father as they visited the gravesite of his grandfather and grandmother.
"Because it has such a wonderful view of them," his father had replied.
"Why would they want to have a view of the mountains?"
"Well, what would you want your last view to be? The one that you'll watch for eternity? Things come and go, but mountains endure."
Sean opened his eyes and grabbed Jolene's hips.
"I know where we need to go now!" He said, excitedly.
Jolene wrapped her legs around him tightly then. "You're not going anywhere until you finish here first!" She laughed.
Sean smiled and kissed her, "Oh don't worry, I need to be sure and thank you now, rather thoroughly, don't I?"
Saturday Night
"You know, we really need to get a bigger car," Roxy spoke up from the back seat as they heading into Sparks.
"I'm not giving up my 'Cuda!" Daelyn grumbled.
"Who said anything about giving it up?" Roxy replied. "We
just need another, and larger, car. We need to go food shopping and see about stocking our home."
"And clothes shopping!" Jolene piped up "I'm out of outfits! Again!"
Sean rolled his eyes as he listened to the girls go back and forth in the car. They were on their way to Chad's place. It was Saturday, gaming night, and while Sean wasn't crazy about the idea of exposing all of his gaming friends to the new realities of his life, the fact was he needed Chad's help, and it was too late to go raiding graveyards with the sun down. That would draw the police like flies. Better off to wait until tomorrow, during the daylight.
"We need another car," Sean sighed, drawing an immediately end to that part of the debate. Sean was still getting used to the weight that his words seemed to be gaining with the girls as the days went by.
"You'll let me pick it out, right?" Daelyn told him.
Sean nodded, "Anyone who can maintain a car like this definitely knows more about cars than I do."
Daelyn smiled, "Thanks!"
Sean listened with half an ear as the girls then debated what kind of car to get. The only thing that Daelyn was willing to agree on was making it an automatic, which made Sean happy, as he'd never learned how to drive a stick. He hadn't even gotten his license until he'd gone to college and suspected he was probably the worst driver of the four of them. Well, maybe not Jolene, he still didn't know if she owned a car or not.
When they pulled up in front of Chad's house, Daelyn carefully backed into the driveway. Sean noticed Alex's and John's cars parked in the street in front of the house. Chad's girlfriend's car wasn't there, but then she rarely came over on game night.
"Well, time to face the music," Sean sighed.
"Why are you so nervous?" Daelyn asked.
"Because I'm about to walk in there, and show my very human friends that not only do I now have three wives, but that I'm not even human anymore."
"Three?" Daelyn asked with a grumble, looking at him.
Sean turned to her and smiling he leaned over the center console and taking her head in his hands he kissed her, as he slowly counted to thirty.
When he released her, Daelyn blinked and looked a little disorientated as Roxy and Jolene laughed.
"Three," Sean smiled and patted her on the leg, then opening the door he got out and tipped the seat forward and helped Jolene get out. Gathering them up, he walked up to the front door of the house, knocked once, and then went inside.
It was after nine, so they were deep into the campaign when Sean walked into the room. Chad was the first to look up from the table, as the front door was in his direct line of sight.
"Sean!" He called out as Sean entered, "Where you been hiding? We heard you gotta new girlfriend!"
Sean noticed that only Alex and John were there, Zack either hadn't made it tonight, or had left earlier.
Chad got up and came around the table as both Alex and John looked up. Roxy was dressed pretty normally for her, a t-shirt that didn't hide any of her charms, a pair of shorts that showed off her legs and her butt, and a pair of sneakers. Jolene, well Jolene was wearing skintight jeans with another of those low cut and loose fitting blouses that Sean had noticed she seemed to like, with a pair of sneakers as well.
As for Daelyn, she was actually wearing a dress with heels. Mainly because Sean had vetoed her going out in her coveralls. She looked rather stunning in it, even with her hair done up in a thick braid that reached down to her ass. Of course she was wearing the same thing under the dress that she wore under the coveralls, namely, nothing.
Chad smiled at Sean and gave him a hug, "I'd ask which one of these lovely women is your girlfriend, but I have a sinking feeling that I just lost a rather large bet!"
Sean smiled and shook his head, even when he lost, Chad didn't bitch. He was always happy, and almost always there with a smile.
"Girlfriends?" John said from the table as he got up, "as in plural?"
"Yowza!" Alex laughed, also standing, "and I was already jealous when I heard about him and Roxy!"
Sean nodded, "Girlfriends, or to put it more aptly," Sean smiled at Daelyn, who blushed, "wives. This is Roxy, former trackstar and werecheetah. Next is Jolene, who is a tantric witch, and rather accomplished if I say so myself," Sean grinned as Jolene winked at the guys. "And last, but definitely not least, is Daelyn. She's a dwarf, if perhaps a little tall for a female, but she definitely lets me hold it against her every night," Sean smiled at Daelyn who blushed and then swatted him on the ass.
"Wow!," Alex said, "Female gamers!"
"Umm," Chad said and looked each of the girls over and then looked at Sean, "I'm a little surprised that you came by tonight. I thought you'd want to have kept it a little more secret."
Sean shrugged, "I've known all of you since junior high, you're my friends, if I can't trust you, well, who can I? Besides, no one's going to believe you anyway, right?"
"Wait," Alex said, "what's he talking about?"
John sighed, "He didn't tell us what characters they played, he told us what they are."
"Huh?" Alex said looking around the room at everybody.
Sean looked at John, surprised. "You know?"
"Course I know," John nodded, "I know you guys all think I'm a conspiracy nut, but half my customers are either lycans or dwarves. Hell, I even get the occasional elf."
"How'd that happen?" Chad asked looked at John, a bit surprised himself.
"Eh, you know I do a lot of security systems work with my dad, well I started doing a bunch of side work under the table for a goblin," John shrugged and grinned, "the money was good and the work was challenging as hell. Didn't really care that he wasn't human, besides, I grew up on stories about all that kind of stuff, my parents are Indians after all. Apparently I have a great grandfather who was an elf or something."
"Sawyer, right?" Sean asked, looking at John.
"Yup, that's the one. Guy's a laugh, always telling people how much he hates humans, when he really just hates magic users."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment," Alex said looking at John, "Roxy is a werecheetah?"
"Yup," Sean said, "and since I got bit, I'm a werelion."
"Well, that explains the girlfriends," John said with a shrug.
"You know," Chad said, thinking a moment, "Steve did say you only had two wives, I wonder if I could void the bet now that you have three...."
"Hold on!" Alex said looking around, "I want some proof, before I start thinking you're all just putting one over on me!"
Sean shrugged and shifted, noticing that Roxy did the same.
"Impressive," Chad said looking up at Sean, "Watch out for the chandelier!"
"Holy..." Alex said, and looked at Sean first then at Roxy. Then he sat back down in his chair, rather hard. "This is gonna take some getting used to."
Sean shrugged and growled, "Hey, how do ya' think I feel? I am one now."
Alex snorted, "You're big, buff, and got three wives who are all hot as hell, excuse me if I fail to see your problem, Sean!"
"Right now," Chad said looking over at Alex, "there are a lot of people who want Sean dead. As they're all magic users, I'd say that's a hell of a problem, wouldn't you?"
Alex grumbled, "Okay, you got a point. Still," Alex looked over at Roxy, Jolene, and Daelyn, "with three women like that at your side, I somehow don't think you'll in all that much trouble."
"Yeah, we are pretty kick-ass," Roxy grinned.
Chad motioned for everyone to sit down at the table, "Well, I guess we're done with gaming for tonight. So, Sean, tell me about this problem Steve told me you're having."
"Sean," John spoke up, "while he's doing that, how about you let me take a look at your phone?"
Sean nodded and handed John his phone, and the battery.
"Ah! Smart man, pulled the battery. Let me get my stuff from the car and I'll fix it for you, while you and Chad talk strategy."
"What are you going to fix?" Daelyn asked, curious.
"Take out the GPS, disable the camer
a, the wifi, the microphone, make sure no one can snoop on him or trace him easily when he uses it."
"Oh, cool! Can I watch?"
"Hell's yeah. I'll even do your phone if you want."
Sean grinned and shook his head as the two of them went off talking tech.
"So," Sean started, "This is what I know," and he proceeded to tell Chad almost everything about the last two weeks.
After Sean had finished, Chad was looking thoughtful, while Alex looked rather surprised, and John was showing Daelyn some tricks with her phone, having already finished with Sean's, Roxy's, and Jolene's.
"First off, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your father," Chad said. "Even after all of these years, I'm sure it must hurt to find out the truth."
Sean sighed and nodded at that as both Alex and John offered their sympathies as well.
"That said, how often do the magic users just out and out kill lycans? Is it common? Do they regularly go out there and reduce the numbers?"
Sean shrugged and looked at Roxy, "Rox? Do you know?"
"Well," Roxy said, "if you upset a magic user enough, and you're one of 'their' lycans, yeah, they'll kill you on the spot. If you belong to another mage," she shrugged, "it depends. If you're a free one, well that depends on if they think they have the power to kill you or not. But free lycans avoid magic users like the plague, because no one wants to end up serving one."
"So, just how do they keep the numbers down?" Chad asked her.
"They don't have to. There are so many different races of us, and we're so spread out, that it's not uncommon for a lot of us to never hook up with someone we can have children with, or to not even try hooking up. Raising a lycan family is tough, not a lot want to do it."
Alex spoke up then, "Why are there free lycans? Why aren't they all in thrall to a magic user?"
"Because there are just too many of us," Roxy said, "and a lot of us just won't stand for it. We outnumber them, they know it, and some of us are willing to launch an all out offensive against any coven or group that steals one of our family."
