Black Friday

by Jan Stryvant

"And go where?"

  "Las Vegas? My dad has quite a bit of power and connections there."

  "And then I'm firmly associated with not only you, but with him and the rest of your family? I don't know if that's a good idea. Plus Vegas is a pretty visible town, I'd rather stay out of sight. Besides which, if my father did leave me something, I'd think that it's probably somewhere here in Reno."

  "So what then? Go up into the mountains? Head up to the Tahoe forest?"

  "Well that would definitely drop us out of sight," Sean laughed.

  "Yeah, but we'd be easier to find," Jolene said.

  "But we wouldn't have to worry about witnesses, so we could deal with them rather firmly," Sean growled, grinning evilly.

  "Down boy!" Jolene laughed. "You haven't been a lycan a week yet. You've got a lot to learn about fighting, I'm sure. Besides, while you two might be more than fine with going au natural, and living in the woods. I'm more of a city girl, without the benefit of a natural fur coat."

  "I could change that for you," Sean said, still grinning.

  "Sean! Really!" Jolene gasped, just a little surprised. The idea that he'd want to infect her, change her, had never once entered her mind!

  "Well, sooner or later," he said with a wink, "I'd think you'd want to join the 'wild side.'"

  Roxy snorted and smiled, then patted both Sean and a slightly shocked looking Jolene on the knee, "I think that's a conversation for another time, Okay? So, Jolene, do you have an idea?"

  Jolene shook herself and then looked at Roxy, "Yeah, we stay in town. With all of the people here, it makes us harder to find, and Sean and I are both locals and you've lived here more than long enough to know how to find your way around. I'd say we either find something in one of the business districts, because it's cheap with lots of inside space to defend ourselves, or maybe in or near one of the casino's, because it's crowded with lots of security."

  "And lots of cameras," Sean sighed. "I don't think any of us want me or Roxy showing up on camera in the fur."

  "Hmm, good point, I hadn't considered that. Okay, one of the business districts."

  Sean nodded, "Well, that's a start. Anything else?"

  Roxy nodded, "Yup. Range time."

  "Range time?" Jolene asked confused.

  "Pistol range."

  "Oh!"

  "We need a car," Roxy grumbled. They had gotten their holsters on, guns loaded and found out that the nearest pistol range was about two miles away.

  Sean was about to agree, and then remembered, "We have a car."

  "We do?" Roxy asked as he got out his phone.

  "Yeah, my mom's car. But it's got two flats, hold on a moment."

  Opening up his phone he dialed Steve.

  "Sean!" Steve said answering the phone, "Where have you been hiding yourself? We missed you Friday night!"

  "Didn't Alex tell you?"

  "Tell me what? I haven't talked to anybody since Friday. Terri and I spent the weekend with her parents, and I was slammed yesterday with work here at the garage. A couple of our regular customers got their windows broken in that big dustup at the mall over the weekend, so I had my guys working on them along with all the typical morning stuff."

  Sean nodded to himself; Steve had gone to his work for his father right out of high school and taken over the auto repair business his dad had spent years building up. Steve had done so well that his father had just left his son to it, bought a sail boat, and now Steve's parents were sailing around the world. Last he heard they were in New Guinea.

  "First off, my mom's car is at home with two slashed tires, happened at work and they had it towed back to the house yesterday."

  "And they didn't repair 'em for ya?"

  "Not from what the detective told me," Sean sighed.

  "Detective!" Steve exclaimed loudly, "What the hell happened, Sean?"

  "Mom's missing, Sampson's dead, someone shot him to death up in Sparks."

  "What!"

  "Also the house was broken into, ransacked. So was Sampson's, but he caught the guys in the act, the police found their dead bodies inside."

  "You're shitting me! Sampson's dead? I can't believe it! Do they think this has something to do with your mom missing?"

  "Yeah, it probably does," Sean sighed.

  "Dude, if there is anything I can do for you, anything, just say the word man, and it's done. I'll send one of my guys over there to replace the tires right now, free. It's on me man, don't worry about it. Are you holding up okay? Do you need a place to stay? You can always crash at my place, Terri likes you, she won't mind."

  "Thanks, Steve," Sean smiled to himself, Steve was his oldest friend, a lot of kids had looked down on him too, because Steve's dad was a 'simple mechanic'. When Steve's dad gave Steve a Ferrari as a graduation present, a lot of kids suddenly discovered just how much a 'simple mechanic' who owns one of the largest shops in Reno actually makes. Several of their former classmates actually were now on Steve's payroll.

  "But I'm staying with my girlfriend right now."

  "Girlfriend? Oh yeah, that's right! Man, what didn't happen to you this weekend!"

  "Yeah, I know. Up until I got a call from the police on Sunday, life was going good," Sean sighed. "Honestly, she's been a lifesaver."

  "Well any woman who will stand by you through this is without a doubt a lifesaver. Better get a ring on her finger quick man!"

  "Oh, I will. Trust me on that one, Steve! Look, I need to run; I got a million things to do here."

  "Gotcha! Just remember, if you need it, call. Anytime, day or night, ya' hear?"

  "Thanks, Steve."

  "Hey, that's what friends are for, bud. Later!"

  "Well, that takes care of that," Sean sighed and put away the phone.

  "Is he serious about helping you?" Roxy asked.

  "Yeah, Steve and I go way back. With my going to college and him taking over his dad's business, we don't see each other as much as we used to. But I've had to go out more than once in the middle of the night when I was in high school to help him out of a jam."

  "Well, that's nice and all, but it still doesn't help us get where we're going."

  "I guess the only thing we can do is walk, and flag down a cab if we see one?" Sean said as Roxy grabbed her jacket and nodded.

  "We need to get you a hat," she said looking up him, thinking, "and maybe some glasses or something. It'll make you less obvious."

  "Uh-huh. Hey, does Jolene have a car?"

  Roxy stopped and looked at him, "You know, I have no idea. So, off to the indoor range, get some practice in, then off to get your mom's car?"

  "Yeah, and if possible I'd like to get Jolene to do to my mom's house what she did to our apartment building."

  "And the car," Roxy added.

  "Ewww, have sex in my mom's car?" Sean said making a face.

  Roxy shoved him, "You are such a goof. Now, keep your eyes open, and hopefully we won't have any fights today."

  Home - Again

  It was after lunchtime when they finally got to Sean's mother's house. Roxy paid the driver as he got out and looked at the car. It didn't have two new tires on it, it had four. Sean shook his head, but he wasn't surprised, knowing his mom, the back tires were probably almost bald.

  There was some sort of yellow device over the doorknob to Sampson's house with the words 'Police' on it, and a sign on the door saying 'Crime Scene, Do Not Enter.'

  Getting out his keys and going up the steps to his mom's front door, he unlocked the door and with Roxy following him, he stepped inside.

  The place was still a mess, but less of a mess, if that was possible. Before where everything had been just tossed all over the place, now at least it was stacked and ordered in piles all against the back wall.

  "Well, it was nice of them to organize things at least," Sean sighed.

  "Makes it easier for them to tell what they've gone through, or haven't," Roxy said.

  "Let's check the kitchen; if there's any food, I'm hungry. Lock the
door."

  "I don't think that door will stop anybody, Sean."

  "Yeah, but we'll hear them kicking it in."

  Roxy tipped her head to the side in a shrug, "Good point."

  The mess in the kitchen was less. Apparently one of the detectives had an OCD streak, as the dishwasher had been loaded and run. Opening the refrigerator there was food, and it all looked fine.

  "Might as well cook all this meat before it goes bad," Sean said and pulling out the skillet he turned the electric burner on, and tossed a ham steak in, leaving a second one on the counter for when it was finished. Raiding a few more things he set them on the table.

  "Well, let's see the rest of the mess," Sean said, leaving the food to cook as he went through the rest of the trailer.

  Surprisingly, both his old bed, and his mom's bed had been made. All the dirty linens had been folded and put in a pile on the floor. There wasn't much in his old room, he didn't have much to start with, and most of what he had, was now in his apartment.

  His mother's room however would take quite a while to clean up, and Sean really didn't see what the point to it was, either she'd come home and fix it herself....

  Or she was dead and it would all just go into the trash.

  It hit him then, why it had taken so long, he didn't know, but suddenly he realized that his mom was missing, probably dead. Sampson was dead, he'd seen his body.

  Suddenly he couldn't see anything, it was all just too blurry, and he was starting to gasp and choke.

  "Sean, are you okay?" Roxy said, coming over to him.

  "No, no I'm not," he said, trying not to lose it completely. "They're dead. They're all dead! Everyone is gone. It wasn't enough for them to kill my father, take everything we owned, destroy us completely, no, they had to come back and kill the only family I had left!"

  Sobbing then he just buried his face in Roxy's chest and held onto her as he cried. His old life was gone; nothing would ever be the same. All he had wanted to do was get a decent job, find a cute girl, and settle down. He didn't want to be famous; he didn't want to be anybody different from anybody else.

  He just didn't want to have to worry about if there would be food on the table each morning, or if there'd be a roof over his head each night.

  And they took that from him, they took that all. Along with his father, along with Sampson, and his mother. They took his mother! Probably one of the most harmless people in the world who had endured years of suffering and never once complained.

  "I'm going to kill them," Sean gulped, "I'm going to find them, and I'm going to kill them all. I don't care who they are, where they are, I'm going to find them and I'm going to tear their fucking heads off, Roxy.

  "I'm going to make them fucking pay. For what they've done to me, my family, and what they're trying to do to us now."

  "Don't worry, Sean," she whispered and patted his head; "I'll hold them down for you."

  Sean gulped and caught his breath, then looked up at her, and smiled, "You will, won't you?"

  Roxy smiled with a fierce expression that he hadn't seen since when she'd plotted to lure the men hunting them into a trap.

  "I love you, Sean. You're my mate, my man. Anyone who fucks with you deserves to die. That's just the way it is."

  Sean nodded and kissed her, then gave her a tight hug.

  "We better flip that steak, or it might catch on fire," she warned him.

  He nodded and let her go, then got up and went into the bathroom and washed his face.

  "I'm sorry," he said and gave her hug.

  "Don't be," Roxy said, "I was starting to wonder if you had any feelings left, if you were capable of grieving anymore."

  "It's just been so unreal, all of this."

  "Even me?" she teased, leading him back to the kitchen.

  "You've been the only shinning light, the only real joy in this nightmare," he sighed, looking down at that cute butt of hers that he had admired for so long from afar.

  "Oh? Forgot about Jolene already?" Roxy laughed, and coming into the kitchen she picked up the skillet and with a practiced toss, flipped the ham steak onto its other side.

  "You'll always be number one, Roxy," Sean purred and coming up from behind her, he put his arms around her. "I know there'll be others, my lion definitely wants to add Jolene, and well...."

  "You want her too!" Roxy laughed.

  "Yeah," he smiled and kissed her on the side of the neck, letting his hands cup her soft breasts.

  "It's okay, Love. I knew when I first scoped you out that lions are like that."

  "And still you brought me home?" Sean was a little surprised by that, but then he was still surprised that he had Roxy. And he did have her; both he and his lion knew it.

  "Sean, I grew up with a very dominate and at times overbearing father. You were attractive before this happened, I always thought you were cute, but you were always acting like you were trying to hide something, and nothing makes a girl curious like a secret. But you were human, and well, cross dating rarely works out.

  "But when you became a lion?" Roxy leaned back against him, "I like strong men, and I like dominate men. You're the first man my father hasn't run off. I knew he wouldn't be able to, hell the moment he met you, he even knew he wouldn't be able to, I could see it in his eyes.

  "Besides, lions aren't the only ones who have multiple wives, my granddad had two. Probably why my father isn't as upset as some other lycan fathers might be."

  Sean nibbled some more along Roxy's neck, causing her to sigh and lean back further into him.

  "Why don't you put that on the side and we can go..." Sean started, thinking that maybe he could finally 'christen' his old bed when someone knocked on the door.

  Sean growled and was surprised at how fast the gun appeared in Roxy's hand.

  "Enemies don't knock," he sighed.

  "The dangerous ones do," Roxy countered.

  "Louise? Are you home?" A woman's voice came through the door.

  "Mrs. Brently," Sean sighed.

  "Gossip?"

  "And then some, but she bakes cakes and cookies and loves to share," Sean smiled and after giving Roxy a kiss on the head, he went over to the door and opened it.

  "Sean! I thought I saw you! Is your mother home?"

  "Hello, Mrs. Brently. No, my mom isn't home. I don't know if the police told you, but my mom's a missing person right now."

  "Oh, dear!" Mrs. Brently said, holding her hand up to her mouth. "Everyone heard about what happened to poor Gregory, we had been hoping that your mother was just staying with you, until the police had cleaned everything up."

  "I'm sorry, but no."

  "How are you holding up, Sean? Is everything okay?"

  "About as okay as it can be I guess."

  "Sean, dinner's ready!" Roxy called from the kitchen.

  Mrs. Brently blinked, "Who's that?"

  "Oh, that's my fiancée."

  "Fiancée? I had no idea, Sean. Well, congratulations!"

  Sean smiled, "Thank you, I'd invite you in, Mrs. Brently, but I still haven't cleaned up the mess from the detectives, and well, I'm still dealing with everything that's been going on."

  "That's okay, Sean. I'll let you go eat. My prayers are with you and your mom."

  "Thanks," Sean said and closed the door. Locking it he headed back to the kitchen.

  "Thanks for the save," Sean sighed and taking the plate Roxy handed him, he kissed her and sitting down proceeded to eat while she cooked the other ham steak for herself.

  "We really can't stay here long," Sean sighed, after they'd finished eating.

  "No, we can't," Roxy agreed. "Is there anything you need? Anything you want to get?"

  Sean sighed and shook his head, "When you grow up without anything, it's kind of hard to make attachments to things." He took a moment to look around, "Well, let's clean up and get out of here. We can hit the lawyer's office and then get back to the apartment."

  "Lawyer?"

  "Sampson had a will and
apparently I'm the sole heir."

  "I thought he didn't have anything to leave anyone?"

  "Well, I think he owned the trailer, he had a car and a motorcycle as well. Beyond the books and clothing in his house? I don't think he had all that much. But if he left it to me," Sean shrugged, "I might as well get it. Not like I've got a lot anyway."

  Sean grinned suddenly then, "And we can't keep robbing the corpses of our enemies, sooner or later we'll run out of them!"

  Roxy laughed, getting up and helping him rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Then Sean grabbed one of the extra sets of keys for the car, and locking up they got in and drove off.

  It didn't take them long to get to the lawyer's office, and thankfully he was in. The office wasn't terribly large or very fancy. There was a secretary, a small waiting room, and the lawyer's office. It was located on the second floor of a fairly non-descript office building with insurance agents offices and other such stuff throughout.

  "Ah, Mr. Valens," Anthony Barton, the attorney said standing up.

  "Call me Sean, please, and this is Roxy," Sean said shaking hands.

  "Please, sit, Sean, Roxy," Barton said, sitting down himself. "Give me a moment to find the file, ah, here it is."

  Barton pulled a folder out of his desk and laid it on the table. "It's all fairly simple, everything that was Mr. Sampson's is now yours, his home, everything in it, Car, Motorcycle, his tools for work, his bank account," Barton looked up, "I can have that transferred to your account if you wish."

  Sean nodded, and looked at the piece of paper that Barton had pushed across his desk towards him.

  "Just sign there and I'll see to the title transfers. Do you have a current address?"

  "Just send it to my mom's house," Sean said reading over the document, it was fairly simple and all rather cut and dried. "Just add two to Sampson's address, we lived next door."

  Barton nodded, "Sure not a problem."

  Picking up a pen, Sean signed it and slid the paper back towards Barton.

  "Oh, and here are the keys to Sampson's house, his car, motorcycle, and tool shed." Barton said, picking up an envelope and handing it to Sean.

  "Thanks, is there anything else?"