by Jan Stryvant
When they pulled to a stop in front of Wilston's house, they were met by the Goblin who had been watching it. Sean pointedly ignored the rather large bag that he was carrying slung over his back.
"Don't bother going inside," the goblin told them.
"Why?" Bill asked. Sean noticed he was looking rather pointedly at the bag of obviously stolen loot.
"Cause they're all dead. Everyone, the servants, his son, even his wife."
"What?" Sean said, surprised.
"Hey, don't look at me! I didn't do it."
"I didn't think you did," Sean shook his head and got back into the van, feeling even better about his decision to kill McConnell and leaving the other guy to certain death. "Let's move on before someone notices us."
"This isn't going to be easy to explain tomorrow," Bill sighed as they pulled away.
"What isn't?" Sean asked him.
"A string of vans showing up at houses all over town, with teams of armored men running inside them, then back out with a bunch of people? Those shotguns might only be shooting beanbags, but they're still almost as loud as the real thing."
"Huh," Sean said and thought about it for a minute.
"Hey, van two, put the guy on whose house we're heading to next," Sean called on his radio, having hopefully come up with a workable solution.
"This is Hans, what do you want?" Sean heard after a brief moment.
"If we just stop in front of your house and let you run inside, do you think you could get the other lycans in the house to just come out and hop into the van with you? You know, make some sort of excuse so the others inside won't even know you're going anywhere until you're long gone?"
"Easily!" Hans said.
"Good. Everyone hear that? That's what we're going to do at each of the stops. Understood?"
Sean noticed that Bill was nodding as a lot of 'Yes, Sirs!' came over the radio.
"That'll help," Bill agreed.
"I hope so," Sean sighed. "When Roxy catches up with us, me and her will use the collars and the tags on everyone as we free them. So when they are finally missed, we won't have to worry about any casualties."
"What about the homes of the other Gradatim coven members?" one of the guys in the back asked.
"We can't free them all tonight," Sean told him, "other than the council members, we don't know who else in Gradatim keeps lycan slaves, or even where the other members live. This isn't going to be over in a few nights."
"No, no I guess it isn't," he agreed.
"But you have to admit," one of the others said, "that it sure is one hell of a start!"
It was after midnight when they got back to the staging point. All Sean wanted to do was sleep, but as soon as he got out of the van, Daelyn and Jolene had come running up to him and Roxy, wanting to be sure they were both okay.
"Come on," Daelyn said dragging Sean along by the hand, "I think you'll want to see this."
"See what?" Sean yawned.
"This," Daelyn said and pulled him into the large room where they'd set up that morning before the sun had come up. Sean didn't know who owned the building, Bill had just told them that a wealthy wereboar had loaned it to them.
In the room there were dozens of people sitting or lying on sleeping bags that had been arrayed neatly on the floor into about eight different groups. The people they'd just freed from the different councilor's houses were being handed sleeping bags as they came into the room, and were now looking around for places to sit.
"Who are all these people?" Sean asked looking around.
"Those are the Gradatim lycans," Oak said coming up to Sean, with an attractive young woman attached to his arm.
Sean made a silent 'oh' with his lips as he looked around the room, there were about twice as many men as there were women, and probably an equal amount of young boys.
"Why aren't there any young girls?" Sean asked, "Just boys?"
"Because they don't raise girls to be soldiers in Gradatim," The woman on Oak's arm growled.
Sean winced at the tone of her voice and decided that he didn't want to know more than that, "You must be Minnie. Hi, I'm Sean."
Minnie smiled at him, "Thank you for saving us, and thank you for saving Oak here as well."
"You're welcome," Sean said and then looked at all of the people there a second time, it looked like close to a hundred.
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" Daelyn chuckled.
Sean nodded slowly, "Yeah, it is. What's going to happen to them though? They don't have any money, possessions, hell I don't even know if they even have any legal ID's."
"About that," Oak said, and Sean couldn't help but notice Oak was smiling.
"Well all talked it over, and we decided that we wanted to work for you. All of us. The Alpha teams, the Beta teams...."
"Even us women," Minnie added.
"What?" Sean said looking at the two of them, then at Jolene who just shrugged and Daelyn who was smiling rather happily.
"They're yours, Hon," Daelyn chuckled. "They all want to work for you now."
"But," Sean looked at Roxy who shrugged.
"Where else are they going to go?" Daelyn told him, "Like you said, they've got nothing, they've got nobody. Hell, they were all raised to be servants; most of them don't have the slightest idea of what to even do with themselves now."
Sean facepalmed, "I just obligated myself to them, didn't I?"
"More like they feel obligated to you."
"What's the difference," Sean sighed, "I all but own them now, don't I?"
"Yes, but," Oak's voice was serious, "unlike our previous situation, you not only care about us, you're actually one of us."
"I have no idea what to do with all of you," Sean said, waving his hand out towards the floor full of lycans.
"Don't worry," Minnie told him, "we can handle the day to day stuff. All we need is a place to stay."
"And weapons," Oak added.
"And money too I bet," Sean sighed, "lots of money."
"Isn't there like a half million dollars in your bank account?" Jolene asked him.
"Probably more," Roxy said, "we did give Sawyer a bunch of stuff to sell just a couple of days ago."
Sean shook his head, "This is going to take some getting used to." Sean turned back to Oak and Minnie, "You two are in charge of all of them, let me know what you need, and I guess I'll deal with it in the morning.
"Girls?" he said turning back to Daelyn, Jolene, and Roxy. "Let's go find Roxy's father and the other leaders. I have a lot of questions, and they need to help me answer them."
"Can't it wait until morning?" Jolene asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Sean grumbled. "And coffee, I need lots and lots of coffee. Let's go."
"Hey, Son, what's up?" Bill asked as Sean came into the room. Bill was sitting at a table and talking with Samis, Claudia, Michael, and Jorge. Chad had gone home hours ago; he'd agreed with the others that he probably shouldn't be there once the actual shooting started.
"Well," Sean sighed and dropped into one of the seats at the table. "Apparently I need a place not only for me now, but for a hundred werewolves as well."
"What?" Michael said, as he and Claudia looked at him. Michael and Claudia were the heads of the two northern wolf clans, and considered Reno to be their mutual territory.
"I thought they were going with us?" Claudia said.
Sean shrugged, "I thought so too. Apparently they had a different idea."
"I'm not so sure that about that," Michael said, leaning forward aggressively.
Sean sighed, "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and right now I really don't give a damn what you think. I just want a place where we call all live and I can go back to making these," Sean tugged his lycan tag off his collar and held it all up to see. "So, let's all save the pissing contests for later, because the fact of the matter is right now I've got the biggest dick in the room," Sean said while waving the tag at them before putting it back on his collar, "so let's find me a nice safe place and save th
e politics for later."
"Listen you young whelp, don't you dare take that tone of voice with me! I've been running my pack since before your balls even dropped! I'm not about to let you take any wolves into my territory that don't answer to me!"
Sean was trying to figure out a polite way to tell Michael to go have sex with himself when suddenly he realized that his lion was not at all happy.
'I got this,' Sean's lion growled.
'Thanks,' Sean really wasn't up for any pissing matches with people who were supposed to be his allies.
Sean shifted into his full lion form then, quickly getting mentally out of the way of his lion and just settling in to see what he did.
Everyone leaned back as Sean, now in full lion form, stepped up onto the table and padded across it, closing the very short distance between him and Michael, and then sat down.
"I'm waiting," Sean's lion said in a very soft voice, causing all of the others in the room to lean in closer and strain to try and hear him.
"For what?" Michael said hostilely.
"For your apology, of course."
"I'm not...." Michael's voice suddenly cut off as a paw got shoved partially into his mouth, the paw being far too big for more than a single toe to fit past his lips.
"Before you say something that we'll both regret," Sean's lion continued, in that same soft conversational voice, Michael starting a bit as one of Sean's claws pierced his tongue, keeping him from pulling away, "let me remind you of something which you seem to have forgotten.
"There is a reason why lions are rare, why we are different. When a lion bites a man, they are judged, and if they are found acceptable, one of our souls joins with his. We are not an infection; I did not come from Sean.
"We are the kings of the shifter folk, for we have created you, all of you. I was there when your race was spawned. Sean may be young to you, but you are insignificant to me. That you would easily find insult with someone who works to free your race, as well as the other shifters, I find disturbing. Understand that from this moment forward you are no longer the leader of your pack, that is now done and another will be set in your place.
"Now, are you going to apologize, and meditate on the error of your ways, or am I going to pull out your entrails and predict who the next ruler of your pack will be? I suggest you chose your words," Sean's lion lowered his voice into a growl, "wisely."
The first words out of Michael's mouth as Sean's paw was removed were: "You can't do that!"
Sean felt his lion smile, "It is already done. The only question remaining is if I will allow you to live to see your grandchildren born."
Michael sat there a moment, grimaced, then got up and left the room.
"What just happened? Claudia asked.
"I took his wolf away for a while. Now, Sean is tired and so am I."
'How much of what you just said is true?' Sean asked his lion as they carefully hopped off the table and left the room.
'How much do you want to be true?' his lion responded.
'So when do I get to start doing mystical shit?'
Sean could hear his lion snort, 'Wasn't that mystical enough?'
"Let's find a place to sleep," Sean said to the girls, yawning.
"Are you going to stay like that?" Roxy asked.
"Too tired to shift back."
"What did you say to Michael?"
"Didn't you hear any of it?" Sean asked, noticing that his lion had receded a fair bit, leaving Sean more in the driver's seat.
"Oddly enough, no."
"Huh. Well, basically he got told to shut up," Sean said and yawned again.
"This way," Jolene said, "I claimed a room earlier, in case we had to spend the night."
Sean nodded and just followed along.
Morning Sun
Sean woke up the next morning, and was rather surprised to find he was still in his lion body. Shifting back to human he went in search of a bathroom and then food, in that order.
"Morning, Sean."
"Morning, Dad," Sean said with a smile as Bill sat down next to him. He'd found the room that had been set aside for breakfast, someone had cleaned out all of the cereal from the local grocery store he guessed, as there were boxes of every brand available stacked three feet high.
Bill snorted, "What did you say to Michael last night?"
Sean shrugged, "Last I remember was my lion offered to deal with him for me, that was about it. Why?"
"He quit as pack leader, that's why. Walked out last night after you read him the riot act apparently. They say he's up in the mountains someplace now and not talking to anyone."
"Huh," Sean said and shoved some more cereal into his mouth.
'What did you do, and why can't I remember it?'
'You fell asleep, and I just gave him something to think about' came back the innocent reply.
'Oh you're so full of it! But right now, I don't care, I still got a hundred lycans to find a home for.'
"Well, my lion ain't talking," Sean shrugged.
"He can do that to you?" Bill looked surprised.
Sean snorted, "I'm not the one who wanted to know. If it's important, he'll tell me. Right now I'm more worried about how I'm going to move a hundred people out of here before we come to anyone's attention, and just where I'm going to move them to."
"Hiding them isn't going to be the issue; it's hiding you that's going to be hard."
"Why do you say that?"
"No one's going to go looking for another group of lycans, remember there are thousands of free ones living all over the area these days. The only people who might be interested in them would by the Gradatim members, and I'd say you've given them a pretty good reason not to go looking. Not as long as you're around of course.
"Which leads right back to you, you and your girls are the ones that need hiding. You're the ones that they're after."
"You're not good at deception, are you?" Sean sighed, and Bill laughed.
"Of course not, I'm a cop!"
"Well, I guess I need to check on my people," Sean stopped and shook his head, "just how the hell did I end up with people?" Sean sighed, "Then I'll go talk to my friend Steve, if anyone knows how to hide a hundred people, it'll be him."
"Well, good luck with that. I need to leave, Sean. I have to get back to Vegas for a while, my being up here hasn't been helping my job at all, and I can run most of the task force the governor put me on from home."
Sean nodded, "So who from the fellowship do I talk with around here?"
"Well that depends on who you need, but Jorge or Claudia can put you in touch with people, if you need help. They're both local."
"Thanks, Dad." Sean got up and shook hands with Bill, then headed back to the main room to take a look at his latest problem. Most of the people there were segregated into small groups, sitting around talking or sleeping. He had to shake his head, what to do after he freed everyone had just never occurred to him. He just guessed that they'd all magically find their own way after that. Obviously he'd been wrong.
"Morning, Sean," Oak said coming over to him. "What are your orders for today?"
Sean just shook his head, "I'm still trying to find out where I can move all of you to. Any idea how long we can stay here?"
"I'll look into it."
"How's the money situation?"
"Oh, Roxy gave us ten grand last night. I think we'll be okay on food stuffs and such for while."
Sean remembered then that Daelyn was actually holding most of the money now. He'd talk to her later.
"How's everyone holding up?"
"Fairly well. Most of the servants from the houses you liberated last night have decided to throw their lot in with us, though five of them are going to go their separate ways once we leave here."
"That's fine."
"Sheila however is having some problems with Peggy though."
"Peggy?"
"Wilston's daughter, the one you told her to bite?"
"Oh," Sean winced. "Where are
they?"
"Just follow the sound of the crying," Oak snorted and pointed to the far side of the room.
"Well, I broke it, guess I bought it," Sean sighed and skirting around the groups of people on the floor, all of whom smiled, nodded, and said "hello" to him, he came up to the two girls.
Sheila was looking rather upset and was actually wringing her hands. Peggy was wrapped up in one of the sleeping bags and was sitting on the floor with her legs bent, arms wrapped around them and her head down on her knees.
"Sheila," Sean nodded and then dropped down next to Peggy, sitting legs crossed, Indian style, "Peggy."
"Why did you tell her to bite me!" Peggy cried, "How could you do this to me?"
Sean shrugged, "Because I'm a cruel and heartless bastard. I mean, I know you would have been much happier if I just let you bleed to death. But well, I thought this would be so much more enjoyable for me to see you suffer."
"Stop making fun of me!" Peggy said glaring at him.
"Listen," Sean said lowering his voice to a whisper and leaning in closer so that none of the wolves in the room would hear him, "your father was a right bastard who whipped you nearly to death, and the only reason you're alive, because trust me, I didn't care if you died and I wasn't going to save you, is that your father's sex toy pleaded with me to save your life.
"Biting you was the only way that was going to happen. The only reason it even worked was because you were so close to death that your body's magical abilities were too weak to destroy the infection. But then, seeing as a month ago the same thing was done to me, I think I know a little something about it. So quit your bitching. This is a lot better than being dead."
"But I'm one of them now," Peggy sobbed.
"No, they're wolves, you're a fox."
"What's the difference!" Peggy complained.
"The difference is that you're way hotter and sexier," Sean grinned, "so now I've got a pair of sexy fox bookends for my bed!"
Sean almost laughed at the look Peggy shot him then. "You bastard!" She growled.
"If you don't like lycans, why were you nice to Sheila then?"
"It's not that I don't like them," Peggy grumbled looking down at her knees again, "I like them just fine, and Sheila was always so lonely and scared. I just couldn't ignore that, she was too sweet.
