Black Friday

by Jan Stryvant

  "Um, no, that would be it."

  "Thanks," Sean said standing, and sticking out his hand, he shook hands with Barton as he stood up.

  "I hate to rush off like this, but well, the people who killed Sampson are trying to kill me, and until I know who the hell they are, there isn't a lot I can do about it."

  "Are you sure about that?" Barton asked, looking at Sean, "The police seem to think that he just stumbled on some tweakers robbing houses, killed the two in his house, went after the others, and they killed him for it."

  Sean opened his mouth, about to say something, and then remembered something he saw on a Netflicks show. Pulling out his wallet, he took out a five-dollar bill and stuffed it in Barton's pocket.

  "There, you're my lawyer now," Sean said and noticed that Barton suddenly looked a lot more serious.

  "You're not making meth out in the desert, are you?"

  "No, but I was there when Sampson was killed, he was saving me from being kidnapped. Apparently my father was actually murdered because of something he did, or was doing, and now they're suddenly afraid I'm going to do the same damn thing."

  "If that's true, why don't you go to the police?"

  "Because the police wouldn't believe me, just like you don't. Even if they did, they can't protect me; these are powerful people with lots of money."

  "So what are you going to do?"

  "What they're all afraid I'm going to do of course," Sean said leaving the office, "what other choice do I have?"

  Wednesday Afternoon

  "Hon," Sean said looking over at Roxy who was studying, "Take a look at this, would ya'?"

  "Sure, what is it?" Roxy said looking up.

  "It's the fourth key from the envelope that the lawyer gave me."

  "The one for your friend's tool shed?"

  "Sampson didn't have a tool shed, he didn't even have a garage," Sean sighed.

  "Do you think," Roxy asked picking up the key and looking at it, "that this is what everyone is looking for?"

  Sean shrugged, "Maybe? I don't know. But if it is, how did Sampson manage to take it without everyone knowing about it?" Sean stopped and looked at the key in Roxy's hand. "I suspect that it probably isn't, but it's obviously important."

  "Well, maybe Jolene can help us out when she gets back."

  "Yeah, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

  "Why don't you try studying for a while? Maybe it'll help."

  "Eh, I'm probably dropping out; I don't see what the point is at the moment."

  "I wasn't talking about school, Hon, I was thinking about those spell books you have? I'm surprised you haven't been diving into them every spare moment!"

  Sean looked back at her sheepishly, when the spell had triggered last night, he'd immediately canceled it and gone back to sleep as he was just too tired after everything that had happened, not to mention what he'd done with the girls.

  "Can you believe that I keep forgetting to do it?"

  "Well, I'm reminding you now!" Roxy said and pointed at him, "Study!"

  "Yes, Ma'am!"

  Laying back on the bed, Sean started thinking about the magical classroom his father had created.

  Nothing happened.

  Next he cast the spell that he'd learned, and the magical spread sheet, or what he was now thinking of as his stats sheet, opened up. A quick look at that showed nothing had changed.

  Closing that spell he wondered a moment, could he only do this when he was asleep? If so, that would suck. Then he remembered that it all focused on the watch that Sampson had given him, which his father had prepared. Raising his hand he looked at the watch, and concentrated on the magical classroom.

  It worked and suddenly he was there once more. Looking down at his desk, there were now several books with names on each of them. Picking up the 'book' from the previous night, 'Mastery of Self,' he skimmed it quickly, nothing new had appeared in it, so he set it back down.

  Next he picked up one labeled 'An Introduction to Magic' and started to read that one.

  As books went, it was fascinating to Sean. It talked about the structure of magic, starting first with where the power came from. Primarily it came from one's self, and some people, as well as some creatures, had more than others. It wasn't quite the power of life, because certain objects could be embodied with magical spells by alchemists and the secrets by how they did that were closely guarded ones taught only from father to son.

  Sean was a bit surprised to see that for something that had apparently been around for thousands of years, where the power came from no one really knew. But then again, no one knew where gravity came from, but everybody inherently understood just how it worked.

  But that was just the introduction, the next part talked about spells.

  Spells were all about using a language, which had a structure, a syntax, and a series of simple commands that could be combined in an infinite number of ways. There were more complex commands and structures that took longer to do, but once done by a magic user, you never had to do them again; you simply called them out in your regular spell casting.

  Sean got it immediately: Magic was a programming language. Plain and simple, the same basic fundamentals were there, all of them! The logic statements, the branches, the tests, it was all there! Even variables, pointers, names. It was all about building objects and manipulating them! Magic was an object-orientated language!

  Digging through the book further he even found the parallels to serial programming, though he could find nothing on parallel programming. He wondered briefly if that thought had ever occurred to anyone? Maybe it was in an advanced text? They mentioned ritual covens, with more than one user, so perhaps it was there.

  Sean also wondered about the underlying structure of the language briefly. Computers had compilers that turned code into machine code, a basic structure of ones and zeros that people used by assigning labels to and called 'assembly code' to make it easier to remember. He wondered if that existed as well?

  Setting that book down, he saw one titled 'Advanced Magical Structures' and picking that one up, he started in immediately. The book was all about how complicated spells worked, the high-level ones, Sean guessed. Obviously it wasn't a book for a novice like him, because the book described very advanced spells and how they were constructed.

  But Sean had almost no problems figuring it out; it was so close to his object oriented textbook that Sean was shocked by the similarities. Objects, classes, inheritance, polymorphism, data hiding and encapsulation, it was all there. The parallels between it and several other languages were shockingly close, close enough that Sean started to wonder if he could just use one of those languages instead?

  But then how would he implement it? Putting the book down he started to look for an intermediate guide, something that would teach him how to craft spells. Someplace to start. Just because he was pretty sure he understood the theory, it didn't mean he could actually cast any spells.

  That was when he felt something tugging on him, so he quickly found the exit from the 'classroom' and opened his eyes. Both Roxy and Jolene were looking down at him on the bed.

  "What time is it?" Sean asked, looking around.

  "Dinner time," Roxy said, "you weren't sleeping on me, were you?"

  Sean shook his head and swinging his legs off the bed he sat there a minute and looked at them.

  "No, I was studying the basics, it's fascinating, really!"

  "Why's that?"

  "It's like computer programming! It's just another programming language, with its own syntax and structures! The theory is all so similar," Sean smiled, "it looks like all of those computer courses I took will still pay off."

  "Have you learned how to cast anything?" Jolene asked.

  "No, not yet. That was what I was starting on when you interrupted me. Honestly though, now that you mention it, I'm pretty hungry. I had no idea I'd been in there that long."

  "Isn't there any kind of a clock?"

  "Not that I'v
e noticed."

  "Maybe you should try looking at your watch?" Roxy suggested.

  Sean shrugged, "Sure, why not? So, what's for dinner?"

  "We're gonna hit the buffet tonight," Jolene said, "you're driving."

  "Is that safe?" Sean asked.

  "We're going to find out," Roxy shrugged.

  Jolene nodded, "The buffet is in the Silver Legacy, so it's all under casino security, and it's pretty full on a Wednesday. Plus somebody warded the whole place decades ago."

  "Warded?" Sean asked, giving her a curious look.

  "Best I can guess is that someone with power either liked going to the buffet there or to gamble, and so they warded the entire casino against scrying. The only way anyone is going to know that you're there, is by actually physically finding you."

  "Oh," Sean nodded. "Oh! Do you think you can ward my mom's car? Seeing as we're using it?"

  Jolene thought about that a moment, "I think I can keep anyone from realizing it's yours when you're not in it. But they'll still be able to find you, if they're trying hard enough."

  "How come it worked with the house?"

  "Because the house doesn't move," Jolene laughed.

  "And why can't you just hide me from them?"

  "Not my type of magic. Even the protections I cast on this place aren't in my normal realm, but my old master had learned them, because tantric masters are often not popular with the rest of the magical community."

  "Really?"

  Jolene grinned, "Magic users have more essence for us to tap off of than normal humans. So we're very willing to sleep with them, and well," Jolene smirked then, "for some reason their wives or husbands just don't seem to understand."

  "Go figure," Roxy laughed.

  "Well, seeing as you're ours now," Sean winked at Jolene, "I don't think they'll be worrying about you much longer."

  "Ummm," Jolene squirmed a little, "I think I found you a new place to live," Jolene said changing the subject.

  Roxy and Sean both looked at her questioningly.

  "The old Belvedere tower, the taller one."

  "Isn't that abandoned still?" Sean asked.

  "Yup! And that's exactly why it's a good place. No one lives there, but the smaller tower next door is full of people. So you can lose yourself in the crowd, and then go up to the top floor."

  "How do we get in? Isn't the place next door a gated building?"

  Jolene smiled and nodded, "That's the best part. It's hard to get into without a key card."

  "Which we don't have," Roxy pointed out.

  "Now you do," Jolene smiled and gave them each one.

  "How did you get these?"

  "Simple, I live there," Jolene grinned.

  "I thought you lived on campus?" Sean blinked and looked at her, "You're not a student?"

  "Oh, I'm a student, but you try to bring someone back to your dorm rooms for sex! Yeah, that didn't work out well at all."

  Sean realized that the idea of Jolene having sex with other men was not sitting well with him when she said that. He coughed when he realized he was starting to growl.

  "So, ah," Sean said, noticing the look Roxy gave him, and the confused expression on Jolene's face, "what are you studying?"

  "Oh! Physical therapy. It's a good way to get my hands on people and tap into their essence, and because I know a lot of body manipulation spells, I can actually do something for them. Beyond massaging and stuff, that is."

  "You know, I've been wondering, what happens if you drain all of someone's 'essence?'"

  "Usually they just fall asleep," Jolene said, "I suppose I could kill someone, if I went beyond that point, and tried to drain their actual life force. But I don't know how to do that, and honestly, I'd rather not learn. It's icky."

  "Well that's a relief," Sean smiled.

  "Eh, I'm not sure I could drain a lycan. You guys have a lot more essence than regular humans."

  "Yeah, I noticed that I seem to have a lot of magical energy, when I was looking at my, well, 'stats' in that magical spreadsheet that they use."

  "Everything about lycans is magical, Hon," Roxy told him, "I would have thought that to be obvious, I mean we turn into animals and can regenerate damn near anything."

  Sean nodded; it was obvious, once he considered it.

  "Just don't use up all of your essence or mana," Jolene warned.

  "Why? What happens then?" Sean asked a little worried.

  "Then you'll be stuck in whatever shape you're in, until you recover enough to shift."

  "You'll also heal slower," Roxy pointed out, "which will leave you more vulnerable to normal attacks."

  "Good things to know. Well, let's get going."

  Grabbing his things, Sean put on a light vest to make it a little less obvious that he had the massive gun strapped to his side.

  When they got to the casino, Sean went up a few floors in the parking garage, where there were fewer cars and fewer places for an ambush to hide, then they all went down and had dinner. For once Sean felt like he got his money's worth, because he was able to really pack it away.

  When they finally left, he had his right arm around Roxy's waist and his left one around Jolene's, holding them close as they walked. Sean noticed he got a few looks from Jolene when he put his arm around her, so he bent over and kissed her, making her blush. He kissed Roxy then, just so she wouldn't feel left out.

  "This way," Jolene said and instead of leading them back to their car, she led them out and down the street.

  "Okay, there are a few ways to get into the big tower from the smaller one, and I made sure that there aren't any cameras on them. I think there are ways in from beneath the street as well."

  "Beneath the street?" Sean asked.

  "Sewers, water, power, phone," Jolene replied and led them up to the back side of the shorter tower, and using her keycard she buzzed them in, and then took a left and they went down a long hallway with a few doors off of it.

  "Maintenance access, most of the people living here don't know about it, but some of us use it because it's convenient."

  Sean and Roxy just nodded, and they came to the end of the hallway, there was a heavy door.

  "This is kept locked, but they keep the key right here," Jolene said and bending down she ran her hand along the underside of a small metal box.

  "The key is magnetic, and there's a magnet in the box. So someone I guess decided to stick it there."

  "Is that someone you?" Roxy giggled.

  "Um, could be?" Jolene giggled back and unlocked the door, then replaced the key.

  Opening the door, they stepped inside, and as Jolene locked it behind them, Sean looked around. They were in the back of a lobby that looked a little dated, and was completely empty, and rather dark as the windows and doors were all boarded up. Except for a lone 'Exit' sign above the door they'd just entered that was still lit, there was no other illumination at all.

  "Come on, we need to take the stairs. There's no power in here at all."

  Sean nodded and he and Roxy followed Jolene over to a nice wooden door, which once opened revealed a stairwell went down as well as rose all the way up into the darkness.

  "How many floors is it?" Roxy asked.

  "Twenty."

  Sean could see Roxy take off her shoes and push her pants down really low. Then she shifted and smiled at him, tail curling behind her cute butt.

  Sean took off the vest, unbuttoned his shirt, kicked off his shoes, and then pushing his pants down as well, shifted too.

  Sean had been worried about his pants falling down, they were pretty low on him now, but with his much larger size, they weren't about to go anywhere, especially as the once loose legs were now nice and snug.

  "Here hold these," Sean said to Jolene after picking up his shoes and handed them to Jolene along with his vest.

  "You expect me to carry this all the way up for you?" Jolene said, scowling at me.

  Sean squatted down in front of her, "Hop on."

  "Oh!"
Jolene said and quickly got on Sean's back.

  "I didn't think you wanted to climb forty flights of stairs," Sean chuckled, and followed Roxy as she started up the stairs quickly.

  "So, what's on the floors we're passing?" Roxy asked softly as they climbed.

  "Condo's," Jolene said. "They were rebuilding this place when the economy crashed. So they just abandoned it for now."

  "You've looked at them?" Sean asked.

  "Some. Mostly they're just walls and fittings for fixtures. Only the first few floors are done."

  "Have you been to the top?"

  Jolene sighed and nodded, "Yeah, took me almost twenty minutes! I hate going up stairs."

  "But you're fine with going down, right?" Sean teased.

  "Hey!" Jolene grumbled at him and bit his ear.

  "Oooo, do that again!" Sean said and slowed down a moment, purring loudly.

  "What'd you do, Jolene?" Roxy asked looking back at the two of them.

  "I bit his ear! Isn't the supposed to hurt?"

  Roxy laughed, "It's a form of foreplay. For us big cats that is! Now, if you want to play, how about you wait until we get to the top?"

  "Yes, the toooop!" Sean purred, grinning, as Jolene just sighed

  When they got to the top they exited the stairwell though the fire door onto the penthouse floor. It was actually rather nice!

  "What the hell? Why is this finished?" Roxy asked.

  "They never gutted the penthouse in the remodel," Jolene told her as she slid off of Sean's back. "Everything is in here, beds, chairs, tables, bathrooms, showers, the whole lot. Best of all?" Jolene grinned, "The power may be off, but the water is still on."

  "The water's on? Why?" Sean asked looking around. There were plastic tarps over all of the tables and couches. Looking into one of the rooms, there was a nice big bed, also with a tarp over it.

  "Water sprinklers. They have to keep the lines charged, and well, they turned off the other floors when they stripped them out for the remodel, but as they never got to this one, they never turned it off."

  Nodding, Sean smiled and started to pull off his shirt, as well as his holster and set them down on the floor, then very carefully peeled his pants off.

  "What are you doing?" Jolene asked.