Over Our Heads

by Jan Stryvant

  "But that doesn't mean I wanted to become one."

  "Well, you are one now. So you can either kill yourself or you can live with it. Me? I'm pretty damn happy with it. Not only am I alive, but my magic is way more powerful, and I'm a lot fitter and healthier."

  "No magic user is going to want to be with me now," Peggy grumbled again, "all my friends will hate me."

  Sean snorted, "Trust me, you're not losing out there, they'll hate you more because you're better than they are now, not because you're a fox," Sean gave her a wink, "not that you weren't a fox beforehand I bet!"

  Peggy glared at him again, but not as forcefully this time.

  "Oh, one last thing," Sean said as he started to get up.

  "What?"

  "Your friend Sheila there? Stop treating her like shit. You're alive because she asked me to save you. No one else bothered, that right there is your best friend in the whole world, Peg. Start treating her like it. And take the time to learn about the gift she gave you, you might just find that your life is a lot better now than it was before."

  Standing up Sean turned back to Sheila, "You need anything, talk to Oak. You have any problems, talk to me or one of my wives and we'll take care of it."

  "Yes, Master Sean."

  "It's just Sean, Sheila. You're free now, though you're welcome to stay with the rest of us."

  "Thank you, Sean."

  Roxy, Jolene and Daelyn caught up with him as he left Sheila and Peggy, heading back to the room they'd spent the night in.

  "There you are! We were wondering where you'd gotten off to!" Jolene said coming up and giving Sean a hug.

  "I was just looking in on everyone," Sean smiled, "and trying to figure out just what to do with them all. I think I need to go talk with Steve, and see if he's got any answers for me."

  "Why not Chad?"

  "Chad's more about politics and wars. Steve's more about dealing with everyday life's problems."

  "Steve?" Daelyn asked.

  "One of Sean's friends, he's pretty cool," Roxy told her.

  "Does he know about us?"

  "Yup."

  "Good, maybe we can borrow a shower while we're there, let's go see if we have any clean clothes left."

  Sean followed them back to their room, he knew he could use a change of clothes and a shower as well. He'd been wearing the same stuff since they'd geared up yesterday.

  Ten minutes later they piled into the van and drove off to Steve's house. Steve lived right in the center of a nice middle class neighborhood in a rented house. It was actually a fairly nice place, in a nice quiet area.

  Pulling into the driveway, Sean led them all up to the door and knocked on it. After a minute he knocked on it again. He was just starting to think about breaking in when the door opened and a very bleary-eyed Steve looked at him.

  "Sean, it's nine am on a Sunday," Steve yawned, standing by the door, "I mean, come on in and all, but damn, it's early!"

  Sean waved the girls in as Steven stepped out of the way, Roxy going first, followed by Jolene. Sean stopped Daelyn a moment when she got to the door.

  "Steve, this is Daelyn, she's a dwarf. Daelyn, this is Steve, he's a professional con artist."

  "Marketing genius," Steve smiled and yawned, "the correct term in marketing genius."

  "Conmen are more respectable," Daelyn said with a smile and shook hands with Steve."

  "You may have a point there," Steven chuckled as Sean stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

  "So, three now, Sean?"

  Sean smiled and shrugged, "What can I say? I just seem to attract intelligent beautiful woman!"

  "They can't be all that smart if they're taking up with you, oh busboy to the stars," Steve chuckled, "no doubt they have some fiendish plan to use you in some clever scheme to make some real money. Like say the lost treasure of Sam Fairchild."

  "Well, that would be a pretty clever plan, alright," Sean laughed.

  "Who's Sam Fairchild?" Roxy asked.

  "The mythical silver baron who founded the silver legacy," Daelyn said. "The hotel made up the story when it was built to give it some 'vintage' history. You have no idea how many dwarves have even fallen for that story."

  "Really?" Steve looked surprised.

  "My uncle has had to shut down three separate attempts to mine under the place. One guy even dug a tunnel under that big fake machine in there," Daelyn snorted, shaking her head.

  "Marketing senses tingling!" Steven said with a grin, "We need to talk about some business opportunities girl!"

  "Separating the dumb bunnies from their money is a time honored dwarven tradition," Daelyn said with a smile. "But do you think I could use your shower? Where we crashed last night didn't have one."

  Steve nodded, "Not a problem. Main bathroom is down the hall to the left. Towels are in the closet, and if you see a sleepy looking blonde woman, that's my fiancée, please be nice to her and be sure to tell her that you're here with Sean. She's very possessive."

  "Thanks!"

  "And you?" Steve motioned at the Roxy and Jolene.

  "I'm gonna hit the shower," Jolene said and followed after Daelyn.

  "Well, let's head to the kitchen, I need coffee and you can tell me what brings you here this early on a Sunday. Somehow I don't think it's just to use my shower."

  Walking into the kitchen Steven got out the coffee and looked at Sean and Roxy, "Coffee?"

  "Definitely," Roxy nodded.

  "Please," Sean agreed.

  "So, tell me what the problem is that only I, Steven, the greatest marking genius in all of Reno can help you with?" Steven said dramatically as he measured out the coffee into the machine.

  "Well," Sean said sitting down and pulling Roxy onto his lap, "I now have about a hundred werewolves that I need to house, keep out of trouble, give something to do, and keep anyone from thinking that they can make back into slaves."

  "Whoa, someone's been busy!" Steve said and yawning again he filled the coffee pot up with water and started pouring it into the coffee maker.

  "I also need a place to live, where I can work on my own stuff and not have to worry about the local magic users coming after me."

  "How likely is anybody to be looking for the folks you just liberated?" Steve asked sitting down as well while waiting for the coffee to brew.

  "The only ones who might even want to look for them, probably won't be. I'm hoping that I put the fear of god into them when I freed their servants. To everyone else, they're just more free lycans. There really isn't any way to know that they were slaves to another council after I get done with them."

  "They trained?"

  Sean nodded, "Most of them are. Course I need to buy them weapons and stuff."

  "I meant for anything other than fighting," Steve sighed looking up at the ceiling.

  Sean blinked, "I have no idea."

  "Well, the first thing I would suggest is you buy or lease a building. You know, one of those with a business front on the first floor and lots of apartments and stuff on the floors above? You can stick them in there and open up a detailing shop or something like that on the ground floor to give them something to do and deflect suspicions."

  "Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but where will I find customers?"

  "I know a garage manager who is looking for a place to send his customer's cars," Steven smiled. "Sell me a piece of the business and I'll get a couple of my guys who I used to have do that stuff train yours."

  Sean nodded, "That might work. But where do the girls and I live?"

  "Same place. With all those people in there, you won't stand out. Just hide in plain sight. Plus, if they're all trained for fighting and stuff like you inadvertently just told me, you can have them guard the place, hire John to put in cameras and alarms and all that crap. Trust me, he knows security pretty damn well. The system he hooked me up with has already paid for itself."

  "Still, getting in and out of it is going to be hard," Roxy sighed, "people would only hav
e to keep watch around the building."

  Steve got up as the coffee maker clicked off and after passing out cups, started filling everyone's mugs.

  "Sugar's on the table," he pointed, "creamer is in the fridge."

  Filling his own cup last, Steve put some sugar in it and took a sip and they sighed happily.

  "You married a dwarf," Steve said looking up at Roxy, who was still sitting on Sean's lap as they both drank their coffee. "Hire her family to come over and dig tunnels all under the damn place. Hell, the place I'm thinking about is just over and down the block from my family's business. They could put an exit in our back storage lot.

  "Actually," Sean pondered that, "I'd even hire a few of them to do security at night, that way there'd always be someone back there, so no one would think twice about it."

  "Steven! There are strange women in the house!"

  "Ah, that would be Terri," Steven sighed, and then called out, "I'm in the kitchen with Sean, they're with him!"

  "Why is Sean with two women," Terri said coming into the kitchen wearing only a bathrobe, as far as Sean could tell. Terri smiled at Sean, "Hi, Sean. And who is this?" she smiled at Roxy.

  "That's my girlfriend, Roxy," Sean said and made introductions.

  "Ah finally! We meet! Pleased to meet you," Terri said and smiled at Roxy. "So you're the woman who finally snared the elusive Sean-beast! Been trying to fix him up for a year now with no luck. Who are the other two?"

  "Jolene is the tall one, Daelyn the short one."

  "And they are?"

  "His girlfriends," Roxy smiled.

  Terri stopped and looked at Roxy, "What are you, Mormons?"

  Roxy laughed and Steve almost snorted his coffee while Sean just felt his face turning red.

  "Damn, Terri! Don't do that to me while I'm drinking coffee! You know Sean's not a Mormon!"

  "Well with the way these gals look, maybe he converted? I mean really Steve, he's been single for years and now he hooks up with three lovely gals? Utah ain't that far away, what other conclusions are there?"

  "Hippies?" Steve suggested.

  "Too clean, too well dressed. Plus she's got a gun printing under that shirt."

  Roxy blushed, "Oops!"

  "Well, let me get a cup of coffee and then I'm going to hit the shower too and we'll see how well the hot water holds up while you all come up with a better story for me," Terri grinned and started pouring a mug of her own.

  "I'm sure we'll all think of something, Dear," Steve said and gave Terri a kiss.

  "Just remember that it isn't going to work for you too, so don't try to get too creative!" and with that Terri left the room.

  "What are you going to tell her?" Roxy asked.

  "Oh, I'll make something incredibly stupid up and tell her. She won't really care; she probably figures that the other two are just friends, and not really girlfriends. Terri's rule is that if it's not her business, it's not any of her business. She knows some of my friends are weird, she just rolls with it."

  "That's a pretty unique attitude."

  "Her parents are a little unconventional; they sell airplanes to the rich and famous. So, she's kind of used to strange. So, how much money you got now, Sean?"

  Sean shrugged, "I have no idea."

  "Well, give me the name of your bank and your social security number, and I'll check."

  "You can do that?"

  Steve snorted, "I write loans to people for car work often enough that I have a credit agency account. Give me a moment to find my tablet."

  Five minutes later and Steve was looking impressed. "That's a pretty hefty bank account. This will definitely let me purchase that building down the street from my shop that's been up for sale. Write me a blank check, I'll float the paperwork by your lawyer, and I'm sure we could have it tied up so you can move your people into it in a couple of days."

  "You know who my lawyer is?" Sean asked, surprised.

  "Guy who sent Sampson's bike over, right?"

  Sean nodded.

  "How can you get the place so quick?" Roxy asked. "I thought real estate deals take months?"

  "Eh, I'll just have the owner give us an immediate lease. When you walk up to the deal with cash, things move a lot faster. We'll probably close on it in less than twenty days. Now if you excuse me, I think I'm going to go molest Terri in the shower. Leave the check under my tablet and lock the door behind you when you leave."

  "I was hoping to use the shower next," Roxy complained.

  "Then go right ahead, trust me, you'll be done long before I am!" Steve grinned and walked off.

  Home at Last

  Sean looked around the first floor of 'his' building, Steve had been right; they'd gotten the go ahead to move in on Tuesday and had immediately set to fixing the place up to be livable. Daelyn's uncle Samis had been a lifesaver, he knew several dwarves who owned contracting companies who were more than willing to come over at a moment's notice and not only help Sean redesign the place, but get the work done.

  Two weeks later and he owned the place, and John was busy rigging security systems throughout it with several of wolves helping him. John had already asked Sean if he could take two of them on as helpers in his business, being rather impressed with how willing they were to work as well as the quality of their efforts.

  They'd just finished setting up the detailing shop yesterday. Today Steve was going to send over someone to help train Sean's people. Once they had it down, Sean was thinking of buying a couple of trucks to send out a couple of mobile teams as well. Because he wasn't looking to make a profit, just cover the cost of feeding everyone, Sean figured he'd be able to get away with some pretty low prices.

  As long as lycan necklaces kept selling at least. Even with Jolene restricting them to how often they could make them, the price was still starting to fall.

  "Alex!" Sean said as a familiar figure walked in the front door, "What are you doing here?"

  "What do you think? Steve sent me. Said you were training up a bunch of folks to run a detailing shop."

  Sean looked at him, "You're our trainer?"

  "Dude, I've been detailing cars for Steve for years now when I need cash. You know that!"

  "Yeah, but I didn't think you'd be the one he sent over."

  Alex shrugged, "I know you're a werelion now, and it didn't take long to guess that these folks were all part of your little war. So Steve figured I'd be less likely to freak if I saw something I shouldn't."

  Sean nodded and smiled, "Well cool then! Honestly, I was a bit worried about that, come on in and I'll introduce you to the guys."

  Alex nodded and followed Sean back into the shop.

  "So, what are they, anyway?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "What kind of, well, what do they call you guys? Lycans? Shape shifters?"

  "Oh, they're werewolves."

  "Okay, that's cool. I've always like dogs and all."

  Sean rolled his eyes, "They're not dogs, Alex."

  "Un-huh. Next time we all get to game again, I'm gonna bring a laser pointer and see if I can get you or Roxy to chase it around the floor," Alex grinned.

  "Roxy will kill you, I'm sure," Sean chuckled.

  "Nah, she'll be too busy chasing the red dot. Now, let's see what gear Steve set you up with, and we can do introductions. He told me he'd be sending a car around in an hour for us to start with."

  "That soon?" Sean said, surprised.

  "It's one of the shop's cars. He likes them looking sharp, so he details them often."

  "Okay," Sean said and led Alex over to Oak.

  "This is Oak; he's the building manager, as well as the shop manager right now." Sean then spent the next couple of minutes introducing everyone to Alex, and let them know that Alex knew what they were. Sean figured they could find out about his quirky sense of humor all on their own.

  When that was done he went and met with Hunter and the leader of the other Alpha team, Sten.

  "So, how's the equipment guys?" Sean a
sked. He'd taken them out gun shopping yesterday, and they'd made a serious dent in his bank account. They'd then hit a few other stores buying tactical gear. As soon as Sean got the money, he was going to buy them all body armor as well.

  "Good," Hunter said, "it's all good. It was well maintained and the few minor issues we can fix ourselves."

  "How's John's security system?"

  "Impressive," Sten said. "Guy knows his stuff. It's better than anything I've seen any of the Councils or covens use."

  "Great. I saw your plans for our security and the drills you want to do, and I'm happy with all of it. Start training everyone up as soon as you can. Any questions?"

  "Nope," they both said shaking their heads.

  Sean nodded and smiling he went up to the third floor, where he had his room. He didn't have a shop yet, Samis was having someone excavate one in the basement for him. Surprisingly they told him it would be finished next week.

  Once that was done, he'd start work on some of the designs he'd been playing around with, to make sure that he fully understood enchanting and his father's power management spells. He really needed to get started on those tags, for his own people if nothing else, so he could be sure of defending his home.

  Sean was getting rather tired of having to find a new place to live every couple of weeks, and while things were quiet right now, he knew it wouldn't last. The Council of Gradatim had been behaving, but they were still recovering from what had been done to them as their new leader, Richard Sorother consolidated his power.

  Sean was seriously hoping he wouldn't have to go back there and teach them another lesson.

  Harkins, over at the Council of Ascendance, had finally gotten his people settled down, and Sean was sure he was up to something, but even Sawyer's people hadn't heard anything for days now. While the wonderful people over at Gradatim hadn't told anyone what had happened, with McConnell's now obvious replacement, the rumors had not been at all kind.

  And more than a few of those rumors had hinted very strongly at Sean's involvement.

  "So, how's it feel to be a businessman?" Roxy asked as he dropped down onto the couch besides her.