Red Skies

by Jan Stryvant

  "Not that I'm complaining about the later of course," Chad added with a snarl.

  "So where are their lycans?"

  "They killed about a third of them, and another third died when they tried to finish the job as we attacked."

  "They. Did. What?" Sean growled deeply.

  "Signed their own death warrants, apparently," Chad said, shaking his head.

  "Gather up all the men. Anyone over sixteen, bring them over here. And make sure the guards are well armed." Sean turned to the soldier who had been with him during the fight. "Grab a few men, and get me a couple dozen clubs. Nothing fancy, just a good wooden stick for beating someone."

  "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do?" Chad asked.

  "Of course not," Sean growled, "I'm going to do something much worse."

  Twenty minutes later, Chad had moved all the men over to an area away from the women. They were all looking at Sean rather nervously. Apparently Sean's reputation was starting to spread.

  "Break them up into groups of five," Sean told the guards, who quickly did so. Once they did, Sean told a couple of the other guards to give each group four of the 'clubs'.

  "Okay, as I'm sure you've all heard," Sean said conversationally to the men, "I'm a vicious, nasty, evil lion. But honestly, nothing could be farther from the truth. Even though you murdered fifty-four lycans in cold blood rather than just letting them go, I'm not going to kill all of you.

  "However, you still need to be punished, taught a lesson, experience a little justice. So here's what I'm going to do: Four of you in each group will pick up a board and beat the fifth man to death. If you use magic, everyone in your group of five dies. If you don't do it, everyone in your group of five dies. And of course if you try to run, you also die."

  "Animal!" someone screamed.

  "I could kill you all," Sean said with a smile. "Instead, I'm only killing twenty-three of you. Well, actually, you're doing the killing. But then, you're all pretty good at senseless barbarism."

  Sean heard several of the women swearing at him, but the men in the groups were all looking at each other warily.

  "BEGIN!" Sean roared angrily.

  Several of the older men immediately grabbed the sticks and started in on the younger men, and in some of the circles, the younger man was suddenly down on the ground screaming as he was hit.

  But in most of the circles, the younger men had been quicker on the uptake and had quickly isolated and started beating the weakest, which usually meant oldest, man in the circle. Twice the man being beaten tried to use magic, but before Sean could tell the guards to shoot him, a blow to the head from behind stunned them enough to interrupt their casting.

  Beating a man to death with a board isn't all that easy, Sean knew. If they'd had decent clubs, this might have gone faster, but as it was, it took over twenty minutes before each group of five had managed to beat or stomp the life out of one of their own.

  "There, are you satisfied?" one of the men yelled.

  Sean took the rifle from the guard next to him and shot the man in the knee, dropping him instantly and leaving him screaming in pain on the ground.

  "Now I am. Let's get out of here. These savages were way too quick to murder each other to make me think they learned any kind of a lesson."

  "You bastard! You animal!" one of the women screamed.

  "No, if they'd all refused to do it, I would have let them all go," Sean told her as they quickly left.

  "Seriously?" Chad asked as they double-timed it out to the remaining trucks.

  Sean snorted. "No, I would have just killed them all. But the whole purpose of this exercise was to make them feel like the scum they are."

  "Well, I think you succeeded," Roxy said, glancing back behind them.

  "Oh, that reminds me," Sean said and, pulling out his phone, he dialed Jonathon, the tiger Ruthelma had taken up with. She didn't carry a phone herself.

  "What, Sean?"

  "Put Ruth on, please."

  A moment later Ruthelma answered. "What is it now, Cousin?" she asked with a heavy sigh.

  "Remember that talk we had about your behavior and how I expected you to act when you get to Montreal?"

  "Yes, Cousin, I told you I'd do as you asked, and I'll keep my word."

  "Actually," Sean growled, "how about you and me just pretend we never had that conversation?"

  There was a moment of silence, then Sean heard Ruth all but purr into the phone, "Why, Sean, suddenly I can't remember a word you said!" and with that, she hung up.

  "Wow, you really are pissed," Chad said and laughed.

  The Space Between

  Sean woke up as they landed in Calgary. Roxy had his head in her lap, and was smiling down at him.

  "Want to talk about it?" she asked him.

  "Talk about what?"

  "You were pretty angry back there, why?"

  Sean sighed. "I had a dream."

  "A dream?" Roxy asked, looking concerned.

  "Maybe more like a vision. When I was at the sweat lodge, I had a vision, one where I was in another world, or dimension, I don't know what. And I fought a demon there. One of those raseri rage demons. Well, I had another one while I was sleeping in the truck."

  "What happened?"

  Sean recounted the dream up through the part of killing all the demons. "They were eating that little girl alive. Somehow they just were, and there was nothing I could do to save her. I had to kill her to save her from them, how messed up is that?

  "Then just before I woke up, I was coming on a battle, a battle of those same people, probably against humans, probably to damn more innocents like that little girl, to death or worse."

  'I didn't see that!' the First said, and Sean started a moment.

  "What?" Roxy asked.

  "The First just told me he didn't see the dream. Which means it was a vision."

  "Wait, I thought he was pretty much in your head and saw everything you saw?"

  "Apparently he can't see these. I don't know why, but I think it bothers him."

  "He doesn't like you having some privacy?" Roxy asked with a wink.

  'You got thrown in the deep end once, Son. At least Rox, Jo, and I were there to see that you didn't drown. Anything that separates you from me, or them, worries me.'

  "He just worries about me, that's all." Sean smiled then. "Have I told you I've started calling him 'Dad'? And not just in my thoughts, but in front of all the other lions, too."

  Roxy laughed. "How's he taking it?"

  "I think he was embarrassed a little at first, but he seems to like it. Especially when I stand up to him or disagree, and the others go on about how 'I'm definitely his son.'

  "It's kinda nice having a father again."

  "Miss your father that much?"

  Sean nodded. "Wouldn't you? Besides, my dad was larger than life. Look at all he did, all he left me, everything he planned for? I'm not sure at this point that anyone else could measure up to that other than the First. That's why I don't mind him being in my head so much, I'll never find anybody else who'll ever measure up to my father."

  'Why, thank you, Son. I'm genuinely touched.'

  'Just wait until I hit my rebellious stage, I'm sure you'll feel differently,' Sean quipped.

  "I can just imagine how much he liked hearing that," Roxy replied.

  "Hey, it's why I respect your dad so much too. He's another larger-than-life kind of guy."

  "Yeah, you've got that right! Now, how about we get up and find out where Chad's got us going next. Hopefully it's someplace with a bed."

  Sean nodded and sat up as the airplane taxied to a stop.

  "Listen up, everyone!" Chad said from the front of the airplane. "We're spending the night here and leaving in the afternoon. Don't leave anything on the airplane, we don't own 'em, we're only renting them."

  "I wonder what he told the people we rented them from?" Peg asked.

  "I think he told them we're a rugby team," Roxy said in a low vo
ice.

  "I guess we can ask him later then."

  Sean just shrugged as he sat up slowly. There were a couple of flight attendants onboard, and both waved and said 'goodnight' and they'd see them all again tomorrow.

  Sean waited until the others had gotten off the airplane, then got up and followed them out and down the steps. Chad was standing at the bottom talking to somebody who obviously worked for the company.

  "Problems?" Sean asked.

  "Nope, just going over tomorrow's schedule."

  "And this would be?" the woman asked, looking at Sean, noticing that both Roxy and Peg were on either side of him, with Sheila following close behind.

  "I'm the guy who pays the bills," Sean said and then yawned. "Sorry about that, been a long couple of days."

  "Oh, you must be Mr. Valens. Nice to meet you, Sir. We'll have them refueled and ready to go tomorrow, like I was telling your head coach here."

  Sean just smiled and let the girls drag him off.

  "Rugby is such a fascinating sport," Sean heard the woman tell Chad. "If I wasn't working tomorrow, I'd definitely stop by and see your match."

  "Do you need me for anything tonight or tomorrow?" Sean asked Chad when he caught up with them in the van.

  "Nope, we've only got six stops to make, and I don't think any of the places really have more than a couple dozen lycans."

  "Where are we staying?" Peg asked.

  "Local Sorceress Guild. Roberta's mom made the arrangements."

  "How many of the ones we rescued are with us?" Sean asked. He'd met with each of them personally before they'd left for the airplane. Twenty-six female wolves, three female foxes, one female cougar, and two old male wolves. Seeing them and realizing once again just how many people had been murdered, he'd almost turned around and gone back to finish off the rest of the Vestibulum.

  "All of them. None of them wanted to be within a hundred miles of Vancouver after what happened. I'm honestly at a loss as to what we're going to do with them."

  "Hopefully the Sapientia and Eruditio's former pack leaders can help them out once we get to Winnipeg. If not, I guess they can come back with us."

  "I just can't believe they were stupid enough to do that after what you did to the Gradatim," Roxy said, shaking her head.

  "Yeah, it's almost like somebody's giving them the worst possible advice in the hopes it'll get them all killed," Chad agreed.

  Sean smiled and closed the door behind him, shutting out the sounds of the others. As he'd expected, their visit to the Sorceress Guild had devolved into something of a small party.

  "I seem to recall someone saying something about a reward?"

  Peg had just pulled her top off, and she turned to face him.

  "Huh? Oh! Yeah!" Peg smiled up at him. "A reward is definitely what this poor fox needs for all that... Oh!"

  Roxy had come up behind Peg and wrapping her arms around her, Roxy started to nibble on her neck as Sean took Peg's face in his hands and lowering his head to hers he softly kissed her, taking the time to savor her lips.

  Peg's hands immediately went to the buttons on his shirt, quickly undoing them as Sean moved in closer to press up against her, Roxy and him making a Peg sandwich.

  Sean smiled and purred a little bit as Peg's hands dropped to his pants and Roxy's did the same for Peg. Taking a moment to shrug out of his shirt, Sean put one hand on the small of Peg's back, the other reaching further back to do the same on Roxy's as he pulled them closer, trapping Peg between the two of them.

  Putting her hands on his shoulders, Peg lifted her body up and wrapped her legs around his waist as he returned to kissing her, while Roxy put her fingers to good use teasing at Peg's entrance as well as Sean's rampant erection.

  Sean spread his legs carefully for balance, digging his footclaws into the carpet, tail waving a little as Roxy guided him into Peg, and then grabbing Peg's hips she pulled down, hard, forcing Peg all the way onto him.

  Sean almost laughed as Peg's eyes got wide, but he was just rumbling too loudly from the pleasure of it. Roxy of course followed up immediately by sliding her hands between the two of them and pinching Peg's nipples, causing her to clench down tightly as she came unexpectedly hard.

  "I think we're going to be rewarding this poor little fox all night long, ain't that right, Sean?" Roxy said with a giggle as Sean started to nibble on one of Peg's ears now that she was gasping and shivering against him.

  "I'm not so sure she can take it," Sean said with a throaty growl.

  "Oh, please, please make me take it!" Peg gasped, "If I die, you can bury me with a smile on my face!"

  "Why, Sean, dear. I do believe we've just been challenged!" Roxy laughed.

  Sean let go of Roxy and put both arms around Peg, though with the way she was now clinging to him, it was necessary. Moving over to the bed, he dropped down to his knees and slowly let Peg lay back onto the bed. Grabbing her hips then, he slowly began to pump in and out of her still quaking body.

  Roxy then stepped over Peg, with her back to Sean and laid, facedown on top of her, hooking her legs around Sean's waist as she started to kiss and make love to Peg. Sean smiled down at the two of them as they made love. Peg had one hand behind Roxy's neck and was hungrily kissing her, while the other cupped one of Roxy's breasts and massaged it. Roxy had one hand between the two of them, teasing at Peg's sex, the other running through the younger woman's hair.

  When Roxy started to nudge Sean with one of her heels, he got the message and sliding out of Peg, he slid deep inside of Roxy, giving her a few strokes before returning to Peg for a few more, then back to Roxy.

  Sean had to admit, he enjoyed watching his two wives make love to each other, as he took turns loving the two of them. Moving from one to the other definitely helped him cool his own ardor, and he lasted considerably longer than he would have expected with all of the blatant stimulation going on before him. Peg hit her peak two more times, while Roxy hit hers three, as both of the girl's put their hands to work on each other's most sensitive places.

  When Sean finally started to near his own release, both of the girls pulled off of him, and turning around they put their mouths to work on his erection, both of them sharing a rather deep soul kiss as he finally orgasmed into both of their hungry mouths.

  "Well, that wasn't bad for round one," Peg sighed happily when they both finally caught their breath. "Now, how about round two?"

  Stretching and sighing from where he was now lying between the two of them on the bed, Sean chuckled. "I'm not so sure you're the one who's going to be buried with a smile on their face come the morning!"

  #

  The next morning when they woke up, Sean took a bit of time to contemplate his last vision. It seemed to him that a lot of it didn't really make any sense. He took some time to explain it in detail to the First, who was a bit puzzled by it as well.

  'You have to understand, no lion has ever left the plane that contains the Earth.'

  'But you're all in a different plane now,' Sean pointed out.

  'Only our consciousness can come here. Everything here is immaterial.'

  'How can you be sure of that?'

  'Well, how else would you explain it? We only come here when we die or when we sleep. It's only our minds that ever come here. Not our bodies.'

  'I don't know,' Sean said slowly. 'It all seems too real there, not like my normal dreams, and definitely not like the two visions. Those seem more like memories than any sort of reality. I seem to have no real control over them, it's like I'm watching things unfold, almost like a movie.'

  'That young girl was the key,' the First said after a moment.

  'Why do you say that?'

  'Because even though parts of her body were missing, she wasn't bleeding, she wasn't dead. In fact, you said she looked more like a figurine that had been disassembled than a body that had been butchered. Then there was the way she talked, calmly and like an adult.'

  Sean thought about that, it was definitely not somethi
ng he had understood at the time, or even noticed until he recalled it later. The demons had bled, had looked like living beings that had been butchered when he'd cut and killed them with his sword. Obviously he was missing something, but what? He just didn't have enough information yet to know.

  'Pay more attention next time, try to ask some questions, see if you can't influence things,' the First told him.

  Sean thought about that. It wouldn't hurt to try. At least, he hoped it wouldn't hurt.

  "So how many did we lose?" Sean asked Chad as they leveled off for the flight to Winnipeg.

  "In the raids? Nobody. In fact, five of the minors we stopped at didn't give us any grief at all; even the Tall Men were cordial. Only the local Totis Viribus gave us any trouble, and they sure folded fast when they saw our numbers."

  "I meant at the Sorceress Guild," Sean said with a chuckle.

  "Oh," Chad sighed, "we lost the two old wolves we picked up from the Vestibulum, and seven of our own decided to stay."

  "And how many did we pick up from the minors?"

  "Only seventeen. Most of them said they'd go back to work for their old employers when they were offered pay. The ones we got are all from Totis, and a few from the Elevens, who actually have a fairly large place here. Another dozen decided to stay at the Sorceress Guild for now as well."

  "Anything else?"

  "The Goliard folks came by while you were in bed last night and sniped the cougar, two of the foxes, and one of the wolves."

  "Sniped?" Sean asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Those guys are smooth. They spent time with all the girls, and made the ones they liked a nice offer: give them six months, and if they're not willing to stay after that, they'd send them wherever they wanted to go."

  "And who referees?" Roxy asked.

  "The Sorceress Guild. But honestly, we've seen enough of them now to know that most of them are just looking to hook up and have a good time. Holding someone against their will just isn't what they're into."