Red Skies

by Jan Stryvant

  "Go sit in that tub and wash off all the blood," Roxy said and pointed.

  "Yes, Ma'am," Sean said with a sigh and went and did as he was told.

  When it came time to leave, he felt a lot better, though he was now starving. Peg had used some of her magic to help clean up the blood, so except for the damaged section of wall, the house looked almost normal now.

  When they all left, 'Jared' came out and waved goodbye. Sean could see several of the neighbors who had been watching going back inside their homes.

  "I need some food, let's hit a drive-thru," Sean grumbled.

  "Maybe if you're lucky I'll let you eat some," Roxy said, still obviously a little upset.

  Sean turned and looked at her. "You'll still eat my food before I do?" He hugged her. "I guess you're not really mad at me after all!"

  Peg and Daelyn just snickered at that, while Roxy turned very red, looking extremely embarrassed.

  'You're learning, Son. You're learning.'

  Awakenings

  Sean put down his sword, dismissing it, and then dismissing the armor he'd been wearing.

  "I must say, I'm very impressed with your progress," Keairra told him.

  "I've had a lot of incentive to learn." Sean sighed. "Now if I can stop making stupid mistakes like I did last week when that guy shot Roxy, I'll have it made."

  "You haven't learned to think with the sword before thinking with your teeth and claws," Keairra said with a shrug. "Plus, it's finally dawning on you that they're pregnant."

  "What do you mean, 'finally'?" Sean asked, looking at her.

  "It's one thing to hear that your woman is carrying your child. It's another when you start to see it. That's when it really sinks in!" Keairra laughed. "Trust me, the first time I was pregnant, it didn't really get through to me until I saw my belly starting to swell."

  Sean shrugged. In a strange sort of way, he guessed it made sense.

  "Where's your husband, the First? I need to talk to him."

  Keairra waved her hand, and a moment later the First came walking over in hybrid form.

  "Yes, Son?"

  "Chad's almost done with Mexico, and we haven't seen a demon or possessed person in DC since we killed the rest of that bunch last week. All the lycans are now freed, and we're making progress on Congress and the laws. This phase is almost done, and I need to know what's on my plate next. We're all but finished here; it's time to fess up, Dad."

  "You still haven't gotten those politicians to change their position on lycans yet; I'm not so sure you're finished."

  Sean nodded. "I know; they're digging in and refusing to change. I guess those demons really had something big on them, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to do whatever I have to do to bring them to heel. I don't expect them to be a problem much longer."

  The First looked at him. "You sure you're ready to play hardball with them, Son?"

  Sean shook his head. "I don't have a choice. Whether or not I like it or I'm ready for it, I still have to do it. You told me there's a war coming. Well, I need to know why this is so important in fighting it. I need to know what I'm doing next so I can prepare for it."

  The First nodded. "Every few thousands of years, the conditions exist for the demons of the Onderwereld, what the Danes and the inhabitants of the fædreland consider to be 'hell', to invade this world. Normally they can only get here by traveling through the fædreland first, which is why so many people associate Dark Elves and Goblins with it, even though they're not really from there.

  "They've done this more times than I know of, but there's never been enough food here to encourage them to stay and make it permanent. Earth was just another feeding ground, and they'd harvest it when the time came, again and again. I have no idea how many fledging civilizations they destroyed or how many hundreds of thousands have died.

  "But when we came on the scene, we made this our land, our territory, and we resisted them. Eventually we were able to keep them out well enough for civilization to flourish. The cost to us was high; we lost so many of our people in the first war that we lions suffered for it."

  "So is that what was behind the great 'die off'?" Sean asked.

  The First nodded. "We suspect so now. You have to understand, when we had our lycan armies and kingdoms, there were a lot more of us than there are today."

  Sean nodded and thought about that for a moment.

  "As civilization flourished, the dwarves came in greater numbers. So too did the elves, the fae, all of them. So when the time came for the demons to harvest again, they were met with more resistance than they'd ever encountered before. That was the second time we were able to drive them off, and we achieved a much greater victory over them as well, mainly due to the better weapons and superior tactics we had learned.

  "So for the next seven cycles, they only sent in token attacks, to probe us and see what we'd learned and what we're capable of."

  "So what changed? Why now?" Sean asked.

  "What changed is, humanity is over two billion people strong, Son. The larder is full, and they know if they can get a permanent beachhead here, they'll be able to feast off the humans for a thousand years, perhaps longer. Humanity has grown large enough for all the demon kings and rulers to rally together and stage a massive invasion when the next cycle begins.

  "To put it bluntly, they want a more permanent connection to their favoite food supply. If they're successful, the gate between their world and ours will go from being a temporary bridge to a permanent one, and they'll kill every intelligent being on the planet."

  Sean could feel the blood drain from his face, even here in this place, at those words.

  "So what makes us instrumental in this fight?"

  "I've told you, Son, they can't possess us, and none of their mental abilities will work against us. We can take the kinds of damage they deal without dying or even being taken out of the fight. But most of all," the First smiled nastily, "we can kill them."

  "Lycans?" Sean asked.

  "No, lions. When a god kills someone, they're dead. Period. If a human or lycan manages to kill one of these demons, it just sends them back home, unless of course you use a specially blessed and created magical weapon. Then they have to wait to be reborn again."

  "Like the faerie swords?"

  The First nodded. "Exactly, like the faerie swords. But if a lion kills them? They're dead for good. It's permanent. They don't come back, ever. It's why we can kill them with our teeth and our claws, if necessary. When we dispatch them, they're dead.

  "This is why we need the lycans, our children, to be free. So they can fight without reservation, without concern, so they can fight not only for the magic users or the humans, but fight for us, the lions."

  "And why do they need to fight for us lions?" Sean asked.

  The First laughed. "I thought that would be obvious, Son. So we can break through their lines and kill their leaders! Without them, without their leaders, their tacticians, their army cannot function, and their invasion will fall apart."

  Sean nodded slowly as it all settled in. "You'll be sending help, right?"

  "What do you think everyone has been training for? North America won't be the only place they'll come out, just the largest place. You'll have help, but all the lycans already know who you are. They'll follow the rest of us, eventually, but they'll follow you right from the start."

  "And just when does this war start?"

  "It's already started; that's why those demons are here. They're the opening attacks. As for the gateways?" The First shrugged. "It's never easy to tell when, exactly, they will open. We'd thought we had until November, but now? I think we have a month. We could have two, but I wouldn't bet on anything beyond that."

  Sean nodded. "Thanks for telling me, Dad. I'll get everything handled after I wake up. I'll make sure this is wrapped up by the end of the month, no matter what it takes."

  The First smiled and then surprised the hell out of Sean by hugging him.

  "I know you wi
ll, that's why you're my Son."

  §

  Sean was sitting in the small office he was sharing with the girls, thinking about what he'd learned last night. As the First had reminded him, almost a week had gone by since they'd killed the five possessed people, and nothing really had changed.

  Oh, Scheckley was in a bit of a public relations nightmare because of what had happened to his campaign manager, but he was still holding firm, fighting the president's executive order. Conway had been showing signs of bending, up until Jared's house burned down in a very suspicious blaze. Jared and his family were now officially 'missing' and assumed to have fallen victim to foul play.

  Sean was pretty pissed about that one—they'd had the place under surveillance, but someone had gotten to it anyway. Chad had already finished up in Mexico City, so the only thing really holding back the completion of Sean's job was right here in Washington DC. Steve had initiated a PR blitz that was beginning to have some effect. He'd hired two PR firms, and was ruthlessly overseeing both of them, while engaging in a meme war online that was both vicious and hilarious at the same time. Steve could have taught a course on rhetoric, his tactics were that refined.

  But the end of July was drawing near, and as Sean had told the First, he'd finally run out of patience. It was time for the gloves to come off. Walking into Steve and Terri's office, he dropped down into one of the chairs and waited until Steve finished whatever he was typing on his laptop.

  "Boy, you don't look happy," Steve said.

  "I'm not. Pull the trigger on phase two, but hold off on incriminating our 'friends' just yet."

  "You know once we start down that road, there's no turning back," Steve reminded him.

  "We're going down that road sooner or later, whether we like it or not, and I suspect you already know that."

  Steve gave a small nod. "So launch the lycan initiative campaign."

  "Exactly."

  "People are going to think it's a PR stunt, that it's all fake, you know."

  Sean shrugged. "None of that matters to me at this point. All that matters now is getting it done. How soon do you think it'll take to reach critical level?"

  "Well, today's Thursday; I'll tell the firms to slam it hard starting tomorrow, just before lunch, and all the way through until Sunday. Then on Monday we can start staging our little 'incidents' all over DC, New York, Atlanta, Seattle, LA, and Boston, where they'll get the most coverage."

  Sean nodded. "Do it. I have a lunch appointment here in an hour."

  "Really? With who?"

  "Duncan, the head of Sapientia. I've heard Perkins is in town meeting with him."

  "And they invited you?"

  Sean smiled. "They don't even know I'm here. Yet."

  Steve laughed. "Oh, they're going to love you. Are you going to ask for their help with the campaign?"

  Sean shook his head. "I have a couple of others in mind for that. I want to get the bill introduced on Monday. That's why I want you to start the blitz now."

  "I don't know, Sean. You've still got a tough row to hoe. Conway, Scheckley, and Markston are digging in for this one. I think they're still more afraid of their former taskmasters than whoever killed them."

  Sean smiled and leaned over conspiratorially. "You know me, Charlie, I've got an angle!"

  Steve snorted. "Well, he better not be named Hannover Fist, I'm not sure the capital could take it."

  "Nah, it's better than that. But warn everyone to batten down the hatches; it's going to be rough ride from this point out," Sean said, getting up out of his seat.

  "I'll make sure everyone's got their eyes on the lookout."

  "Thanks," Sean said and, leaving the room, he rounded up Jolene, Roxy, Peg, and Daelyn.

  "What's up?"

  "We're going to the Sapientia Council Headquarters."

  "They don't know yer comin', do they, Lion-boy?" Daelyn teased.

  "Now where would the fun be in warning them? Besides, they don't even know I'm here. That'll make it even more fun. Everyone thinks I'm somewhere between Mexico and Reno."

  "Does Eruditio meeting with Duncan have anything to do with this?" Jolene asked.

  "A little," Sean admitted, "but I'm tired of reacting. That's all we've been doing now for weeks, reacting. It's time to start making things happen again."

  "Uh, oh," Roxy sighed, "what are you planning on doing this time?"

  "I'm thinking the lycans of this country are horribly underrepresented, don't you?"

  "So you're going to represent them?"

  "A lion running for office?" Sean shook his head. "I'm not that much of a sadist. But that can wait until after we've had our little meeting today. Let's grab one of the cars and give Daelyn a chance to set a cross-town speed record."

  "Shotgun!" Roxy said with a grin.

  "It's all yours, girl." Jolene sighed.

  "Yeah, I think I'll be hiding in the back with Jo," Peg admitted. "The traffic here already scares me, I'd get motion sick watching Dae navigating it."

  "Too bad Cali and Roberta aren't here," Roxy said with a frown, "I miss them both already."

  "I know," Sean sighed, "I do to, but Cali needs to be there to train everyone and get some sort of system worked out, and Roberta needs to be there to keep an eye on things, and honestly, Sarah needs her mom, and she is starting to show."

  Sean reached over and gave Jolene a pat on the belly. "And with Jo here carrying twins, she's starting to show a little as well."

  Jolene blushed and Roxy laughed. "Let's go, you can abuse us all later."

  "Abuse, me?" Sean scoffed, "If anyone here gets abused, it's moi, my dear lady."

  "And you love every minute of it, Lion-boy." Daelyn snickered and smacked Sean on the ass hard enough to make him stagger as he blushed just a little, because frankly, it was true.

  Rubbing his butt, Sean followed Daelyn as she led the way out to the car she'd already claimed as her own. With the work she'd put into it since they got here, most of the others were afraid to drive it now, as Daelyn had proven that, with a big enough turbocharger hooked to a supercharger, even a luxury sedan could be made to go fast.

  Sean hadn't bothered to ask what she'd done to the suspension, but from the looks of the tires on the new rims, he had no doubt the car would now corner like a demon while being able to run like a scalded cat.

  The car was painted black and had tinted windows, so it fit right in here in DC, where half the cars looked almost exactly like it. Sean wouldn't even be surprised to find out this one had armor in the doors. Things were definitely different in this part of the world.

  "Okay," Roxy said, as they got settled in the car and Daelyn started it, pulling out a stopwatch. "On my mark... go!"

  Sean just shook his head and let Jolene bury her face in his chest as she latched on to him, while Peg buried her face in her phone and started messing with something on that.

  Overall, the ride wasn't that bad. Daelyn didn't fling them around all that much in the back of the car, but she did have a way of threading through traffic that was almost magical.

  "Fourteen minutes, fifty-three point five seconds. Not bad," Roxy said, clicking off her stopwatch when they got there.

  "I coulda gone faster," Daelyn said with a serious expression, "but I didn't want to upset Jo any more than she already was."

  "What, don't I rate any concern?" Peg teased.

  "You don't throw up," Daelyn said. "If it was anyone else, I'd be more than happy to let them blow chunks. But I'll slow down for Jo, because it really does bother her."

  Sean smiled at that. For Daelyn to slow down for anybody was a pretty serious thing, considering her love of speed.

  "Thanks, Dae," Jolene said, "I love you, too."

  Daelyn blushed a little and turned the car off.

  "Well, let's go say hello," Sean said, getting out of the car and helping Jolene out. Then the five of them walked up to the front gate, with Sean leading this time.

  "Can I help you?" the lycan guard at the gat
e said, giving Sean a curious look. He obviously suspected Sean was a lycan, but was having trouble placing it.

  "I'm here to see Duncan Roberts."

  "Who are you, and do you have an appointment?"

  "Sean Valens," Sean said, and then shifted into his hybrid form, "and I don't think I need one, do you?"

  The guard blinked and immediately grabbed his radio.

  "Tell Duncan that Sean Valens is here and is coming up to see him."

  "Tell him to wait," came a voice back on the radio.

  "You can tell him," the guard said, looking at the seven-plus-foot-tall lion. "I have no desire to piss off a lion."

  The guard pressed a button and the smaller sidewalk gate opened. "Go on in, and please don't hurt anybody. They've been good to us, even before the slavery ban."

  Sean nodded and patted him on the back as he walked by. "We're allies, I wouldn't dream of it."

  They were halfway across the courtyard when a man in a suit hastily came out the front door and ran down the steps.

  "Mr. Valens! This is highly unexpected! I'm afraid Duncan is busy at the moment, would you mind waiting?"

  Sean smiled at him. "Of course I mind waiting. I came here to see both Roberts and Perkins, who I believe he's meeting with?"

  The man nodded, looking a little surprised.

  "Please let them know I'm here, and I want to talk to them. This will probably be their only opportunity before I leave."

  "I see. I take it this isn't just a social call, that this is important?"

  Sean nodded.

  "Then come inside and I'll let them know."

  "Lead on," Sean said and followed the man inside the house. Once inside, he motioned for them to wait by the door and hurried off for a moment.

  A female lycan, whom Sean made to be a wolf, came up and greeted them, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

  "Water, please?" Jolene asked.