by Jan Stryvant
"What about the Gradatim council here?" Maitland asked.
"They've left the Gradatim and joined with Solidad."
"Solidad? Who are they?"
"A small but older council group that rallies for solidarity among the different magic user councils and prefers negotiation over confrontation. Not sure why they picked it, but Jolene tells me they're pretty safe."
"Ah, okay."
"Anything else? No? Okay, until tomorrow, everyone!"
Sean watched as everyone got up and left, a few people stopping to talk to Roxy on the way out.
"Max tells me you promised to buy Chad some Black Hawks?" Claudia snickered, coming over to him.
Sean sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'm on the hook for a ton of money now. I need to talk to Deidre, who does my books, and find out just how much I need to earn."
"A lot, it's going to be a lot," Claudia said with a grin.
"So other than rubbing that in, what brings you over here?" Sean asked with a smile.
"I want in on your casino project."
"Oh? Why?"
"You're not the only one looking at money issues, obviously."
Sean nodded. "What can you bring to the table?"
"Connections. I've been doing business here for a very long time, I have a fair number of connections with the licensing bureaus, and even know a few people on the gaming commission. While no one will break the law for me, they'll grease the skids a bit, so we'd be looking at a faster turnaround."
Sean nodded. "Still, it's going to take a few years."
"Ah! Here's the kicker," Claudia smiled, "I've got a piece of property I've been trying to turn into a casino for several years now. I just haven't had the money, the staff, or the acts. You now have all of those, with the people you picked up from Vegas. So if we partner, we could have a casino in there by the end of the year."
"And just what kind of a deal are we looking at?"
"Sixty, forty."
Sean thought about that a moment. "I don't know, sounds like you're putting up a lot for only a forty percent share," he said with a worried look.
"I meant the other way 'round," Claudia said with a frown.
"Sure you did!" Now it was Sean's turn to grin. "I have a much better idea, we split it evenly, three ways between me, you, and my friend Steve, who has better business sense than the two of us."
"But he's a mundane!"
"Not if his lust for catgirls wins out and he convinces his wife to let Roxy or one of the others bite him," Sean joked.
"Are you serious?"
"Well, not really," Sean chuckled, "but these days, you never know. Steve is my best friend. If he ever did ask, I wouldn't even think twice about it."
Claudia sighed and nodded. "Well, he's been doing a hell of a job with his father's business, and he's got a lot of contacts in town, too. Fine. I'll have my lawyer talk to your lawyer."
Sean smiled. "Great!" Standing up, he stretched as Claudia headed out.
"So, girls, what's up for tonight?" Sean asked, looking around the room.
"You are, obviously!" Roxy smirked. "And me, Jo, and Dae get first dibs, because we're the ones who are going to be staying at home!"
"No rest for the wicked," Sean said with a laugh.
"More like no rest for the lion-boy!" Daelyn said with a grin.
Sean sighed as Roxy and Jolene grabbed him and dragged him off to the bedroom, with Daelyn pushing him. Not that he was resisting, of course.
As soon as they got him into the room, Jolene slipped out of her dress, and Sean wasn't all that surprised to see that she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Roxy pushed him back onto the bed, and she wasn't wearing any clothes, either, as she straddled his head, Jolene straddled his legs, and three sets of hands started to tease him. Not that he needed much teasing at that point!
Putting his tongue and lips to work on Roxy, he ran one hand over her body, and with the other he reached up to fondle Jolene's body with the other one as she raised up for a moment, only to direct his member into her as she lowered her body back down onto his. It was at that moment that Daelyn joined them, surprising him, as she straddled his chest between Roxy and Jolene and joined into their little three-way, turning it into something a lot more.
Sean could only guess that Jolene's 'corruption' of Daelyn had become successful, as Daelyn was facing Jolene, and the two of them weren't being shy about what they were doing as Jolene rode his erection.
Roxy wasn't being shy with Daelyn either, Sean soon discovered, and for all that they tended to butt heads from time to time, here in the bedroom, apparently, the feelings they shared were quite loving.
For the next hour or two, Sean really couldn't tell how long it was, they kept him on his back on the bed, swapping places as they used and abused his body. When they finally let him be on top, he took his time loving each one of them, with the other two helping as he did. He wasn't really surprised that Daelyn was attracted to Jolene, Jolene was a tantric witch, after all, heavily studied in the arts of seduction and attraction. But the affection she was showing for Roxy was rather telling.
Roxy, of course, had been 'corrupted' by Jolene long ago, but then again, Jolene had been the only woman Roxy had ever been with until he'd brought Daelyn into the family.
Sean had to admit it made him happy to see that the three of them got along so well, and had no problems with sharing him at the same time.
When Roberta, Peg, and Cali joined in, then he started to worry, but more about himself as they all used and abused him as much as the other three already had. Peg and Cali were quite shameless, almost Jolene's equals on that scale. As for Roberta, well, she seemed to be as good at abusing him and instigating the others as the rest.
They didn't let up until the sun started to peek through the curtains, and Sean found himself in a pleasantly mellow and slightly exhausted frame of mind.
"So, what are you thinking, Sean?" Roberta asked as he stared at the ceiling with a smile on his face.
"Maybe I should get a seventh? I'm still conscious, after all."
He then spent the next ten minutes being soundly beaten by pillows until they all fell asleep from exhaustion.
Dog Eat Dog
Chad sighed and looked out the window of the helicopter as they flew a circle around Seattle, and Jonas pointed out all of the council compounds. Sapientia had the largest setup, followed by Eruditio, surprisingly. The Vesti's, the Grad's and the Ascendance's were all fairly small. Jonas figured they had probably fewer than two hundred lycans among the three of them.
The problem was the Asian councils. Most of the Asian councils were not found anywhere but on the Asian continent or Indian subcontinent. There were three of them in Seattle, however, and they were all fairly large. On top of that, as if it wasn't enough, the Dragon Triad, which was the only magical gang in the Asian area, also maintained a large presence in Seattle. Probably because of the other three councils.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it," Jonas asked Chad as he looked it all over.
"No, no it isn't. But we have seven hundred and fifty troops, so we're not lacking in manpower. Do you have access to any boats?"
"Boats? Why do you want boats?"
"Because the city is on the side of a huge ass bay."
"Sound," Jonas corrected.
"Whatever. In any case, we could use a couple of boats to move our people in and out a lot faster. We're not in Steven's territory anymore, so I'd feel kind of bad if I had to ask him to pony up for some more helicopters."
"You could always get Sean to ask him," Jonas suggested with a laugh.
"Sean's got his own problems right now, trust me. I think we're going to need to meet with Sapientia's head up here. Can you arrange that, or do I need to do it?"
"I've never met the man," Jonas admitted.
"Well, no time like the present. George, take us back to the airport."
"You got it!" George said from the pilot's seat and banked them around as Chad studied his map
. Sapientia was just on the edge of Newcastle, Eruditio was a little further north in Bellevue. The other three were all to the northern side of the city; the Grads were just inside the city limits, but the Vestis and the Ascendants were not, with the Ascendants being the furthest north.
The three Asian councils were all in the city limits, two on the east side and one on the west. As for the triad, they were scattered in numerous places. Chad wasn't sure if he should really worry about them, yet. They were a criminal enterprise; taking them on would be a whole different ballgame.
He spent the trip back to the airport looking at the map and considering his options. When they finally got back to the van, one of Jonas's people sat in the front and gave Jace directions on where to go.
Pulling out his cellphone, Chad dialed the Sapientia number.
"Who's calling?" a woman's voice answered.
"Chad, could I speak to Arthur, please?"
"What's this in regard to?"
"I'd like him to warn the folks up here in Newcastle that I'm about to stop by for a pow-wow."
"One moment."
Chad looked out the window as they continued north. It wasn't quite as green as Portland, but compared to Reno, it was still pretty green.
"Chad!" Arthur came on the line. "Do you know what Sean did?"
"Something nasty, from the sound of it," Chad said, "but he's a big boy, and I work for him now, so it's not like I can call him up and chew him out over it, Arthur."
"He nuked the Gradatim headquarters in LA!"
"Is that what the news is going on about? I just saw something about a big explosion, and they were wondering if it was terrorists. Are you sure it was him?"
"He was here earlier today and told me, so yes, I know he did it."
"Well, what's the problem? Like I said, Arthur, he's the boss now. I'm about to roll up on your friends here in Seattle, and I'd really appreciate it if you could let them know I'm coming so they'll talk to me."
"Chad, this is serious! Someone needs to talk to him. We can't have Sean just blowing places up!"
"Arthur, how many of your friends have been killed in the last two months?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I've lost over a dozen. If you're looking for a pity party, or even a sympathetic ear, you've come to the wrong place. There's a war on, Arthur. People die in a war. You don't like it, well then, why don't you ask all of the other councils to play nice and turn our people over to us, and we'll all live happily ever after."
"That was uncalled for, Chad," Arthur said in a stern voice.
"Yeah, well, a friend of mine got murdered in a bar in Portland the other day; you might have seen it on the news? So maybe I'm not in the best of moods right now. All I do know is I've got enough troops up here to peel the city like an onion, but I'd prefer a far less violent solution, 'cause I really don't want to see any more of my friends die."
"This isn't a game, Chad."
"Yeah, I know. And congrats on looking up my gamer cred, did you get to the part where a random gang member mistook me for a Crip and blew out my knee?"
Chad grinned at the silence from the other end of the phone; he loved it when he got there first in an argument.
Arthur sighed into the phone. "I'll call them. But still, you're his friend, talk to him; he went too far this time."
"Arthur, you're not taking the long view. If this stops the other councils from engaging in such foolishness, maybe, just maybe, we'll have this all wrapped up in a month. Then you can think of how many lives were saved. But if it'll make you sleep better at night, I'll talk to him."
"That's all I can ask, Chad."
Chad smiled and hung up the phone.
"What are you going to say to him?" Jonas asked, curious.
"That he made an awesome strategic decision, and I'm gonna award him a thousand XP the next time we play!" Chad said with a chuckle. "He said he was going to do something over the top, and hell if that didn't send just the right message."
"Aren't you worried about the feds getting involved?"
"That depends on whether they're going to side with us freedom fighters or the oppressive slavers. Course I don't think the rest of the country would appreciate hearing that slavery is alive and well in the ole' USA, do you?"
"You'd out everybody?" Jonas said, looking shocked.
"Jonas, there's two rules in life, the first is 'always win'."
"And the second?"
Chad smiled widely, showing all of his teeth. "Beats the hell outta me! I don't lose, so I never had to learn it!"
When they got to the gate, the guards there just smiled and waved them through once Jace told them who they were. Parking the car and walking up to the front door, they were met by a man who reminded Chad of Robert Stack from the Airplane movie.
"Hello, you must be Chad. I'm Burke Devlin, the head of the Seattle Sapientia council. Arthur called and said you would be by. Please, come inside and we can discuss why you're here."
"Thank you." Chad nodded. "This is Jonas, he's the leader of the northwest lycan fellowship. I don't think you've had the opportunity to meet him before."
"No, I haven't," Burke said, leading them inside. He directed them to a parlor near the front door and showed them to a pair of seats.
"Now, I've gathered from Arthur, as well as events, that you're here to free the lycans who are being held in bondage by the Vestibulum, Ascendance, and Gradatim. Am I correct?"
Chad nodded. "As well as the three Asian councils; the Jade Society, the Huan Council, and the Saad Council. However, if what I've heard is true, the Gradatim won't have any lycans left."
"Sadly, that would not surprise me. They have always been a very reactionary group. They only really came to power in the late forties. They caught on quickly in certain parts of Europe, but not really the rest of the world."
Chad nodded, "What I would like your help with is maintaining the silence, of course. All of these places are in the middle of populated areas, especially the three Asian groups."
"Actually, the Saad Council are mostly Indians from the subcontinent. They're fairly new to the area; normally they tend to stay close to home."
"Thank you," Chad said and smiled. "Do you have any intelligence on those councils you'd be willing to share with me?"
"Oh, we have a little. What would you like to know?"
Chad sat back and got comfortable as he asked questions based on what Jason had already told him and the things he'd observed from the air. He wanted to see how much of what Burke told him agreed with what Jason said, and later tonight, when he caught up with John, he'd tell him what he'd learned and send him out with his toy collection to see what further information he could gather.
Burke did ask once what Chad might know about the explosion in Los Angeles, but Chad didn't know anything, and told him as much. He was surprised that Burke also asked about the demon they'd run into down in Eugene. Chad answered all his questions on that score and noticed Burke looked worried when Chad recounted the affair to him.
It was getting late when Chad finally said goodbye to Burke, having gotten a phone number and a promise of assistance when it came time to strike his targets. Burk had several teams of magic users, it seemed, but then from the size of the place, it was obvious a lot of Sapientia magic users had made the Seattle area their home.
"Well, that went well," Jonas said as they left to drive back to their encampment in a warehouse outside of town.
"Yes, thankfully, it did. I think tomorrow night we'll deal with the Vestibulum and the Ascendance. We'll start on the other councils on Monday."
"What about the Gradatim?"
"We'll leave them until last. I think once we hit them, the local Sapientia council may not be that happy with us anymore."
"Why even bother asking them for help? There's a lot of us, and very few of them. I don't think it's going to take all that long."
Chad sighed and nodded. "Yeah, it probably won't. Not looking forward to it."
"
They murdered our people, Chad!"
"The men did, and maybe their women did too. I'm not so sure about the kids, though, are you?"
Now it was Jonas's turn to sigh. "I won't tell Sean if you don't tell Sean."
Chad grinned slightly. "Kill the men, leave the woman and children alone."
"Deal."
#
Gil looked out over the low wall that surrounded the compound, watching as a car drove by.
"Damn, Gil. Give it a rest already," Wes said. "No one's bothered us in like forty years. They're not going to start tonight."
"I don't know, Wes. What if they come here? What do we do? We don't have any lycan guards here anymore!"
Wes snorted. "That's why we got rid of 'em all. If we don't have 'em, that lion isn't gonna come here to free 'em."
"Wes, he destroyed the LA council! Killed all of them! He already hit Portland! He'll get us next, I'm sure!"
"He didn't kill everyone in Portland, Gil, did he? No, just the ones that got in the way. Look, we're small fry. We're not gonna matter to this guy. We don't have any lycans anymore, and he ain't gonna bother us."
Gil heard another car, and popping his head up, he saw a van driving down the street, "I don't know, Wes..."
Wes blinked as Gil's head exploded like a ripe pumpkin, showering him with blood and brains.
"We're under attack!" Wes screamed and, picking up the rifle with silver ammunition that he'd never fired before, he pointed it over the wall and pulled the trigger, making sure to keep his head well out of sight.
All around him he could hear the sounds of gunfire now, and looking down towards the gate, he saw a car ramming them and busting them open. Turning his gun towards the figures coming in through the gates, he took a couple of shots, dropping one of the attackers, who howled loudly as he died, before his gun jammed.
"Werewolves!" Wes yelled. Gil had been right! They were coming after them anyway! Looking at the rifle, he noticed that the bolt was locked open, and it took him a few precious moments to realize that it hadn't jammed, he was just out of bullets!
Throwing it at the werewolf coming up the ladder, he grabbed Gil's weapon and fired it down at the werewolf, killing him. Looking around, he could see the others hadn't been so lucky, there were dead werewolves on the ground, sure, but there were more dead people than wolves, and they all knew he was up there now, and were taking cover as he tried to shoot them.
