by Jan Stryvant
"What about the fourth?"
The First sighed. "They all died in the die off and didn't come here."
"Sorry." Sean sighed.
"The fourth generation were children of the third generation and a lycan or a human. As long as there are souls waiting to be reborn, I don't think we'll be seeing any more of them."
"Wait, what about my children?"
"Well, Sean, Junior should be a third generation, but..."
"But?" Sean growled.
"You should be a third generation, and you're obviously somewhere in the second. So for all I know, your son might be up there, too."
Sean thought about that a few minutes, remembering some of what the First had told him about the first- and second-generation lions.
"But that doesn't make sense. Well, not genetically, it doesn't."
The First shrugged. "Estrella shouldn't exist, Adam shouldn't exist, and you shouldn't be here on your own. Yet these things happen still. There are powers higher than we are, and a great many things we still don't understand.
"Now, let's see what things from the past I can tell you about that'll drive those sages and magic users crazy." The First paused a bit. "Oh! I know, everyone always loves to hear stories about Atlantis."
Sean blinked. "It really existed?"
"Of course. Now, the stories humans tell have gotten it a bit bent out of shape, and it didn't disappear in a day, more like half a dozen months. I even had a home there..."
Sometime later, after listening to the First go on for quite a while with stories about Atlantis and other ancient cities, Sean felt his body being shaken. Standing up, he stretched. "Time to go, Dad."
The First smiled. "Keep your eyes open and your wits about you, as always, my Son."
Sean smiled, put a paw around him, and gave him a hug.
"Oh, almost forgot. Am I still 'the one who leads'?"
"Of course you are," the First said with a nod of his head. "You haven't led us wrong yet, and I have to say, your instincts have been solid every time they've been tested."
"Thanks, Dad."
§
"What's up?" Sean asked Cali, who was shaking Estrella now.
"We're about to land, so I thought you might want to wake up."
"Ah, okay." Looking around, he saw Roxy was stretching.
"Rox! Where are we staying in DC?"
"No idea. We'll meet Steve at the office when he shows up, and he can figure it out."
"He does know we're coming in early, right?" Roberta asked, yawning.
"Yeah, he's sending out a couple of cars to get us."
"More than a couple, I hope," Cenna said, looking around.
"Four cars and two vans," Travis said from up front, where he was sitting with his team. "I set it up with Granite before I left, and I'll be checking in with them as soon as we're on the ground."
"See," Roxy said with a smile. "Everything is under control."
"That's because we didn't let Steve make the plans!" John laughed.
"Still not forgiving him for forgetting to pick you up after school that day, are you?" Sean asked with a chuckle.
"Nope. Chad's the one who makes plans. Steve's job is making people feel good about us ripping them off, and I make sure no one rips us off while we sleep at night."
"I don't even want to know what my job is." Sean sighed.
"This a gaming thing?" Roxy asked.
"Not exactly..."
Just then they felt the plane touch down on the runway, and the pilot came on to tell them to stay seated until they'd stopped.
Once they had, the door opened, a stairway was pushed up to it, and they quickly made their way off the plane. Other than Cali, who had two large duffle bags, one of which Sean was now carrying, all they'd brought along were overnight bags. Sean was hoping they wouldn't be here more than a few days at best.
When they got to the bottom of the stairs, sure enough, there were four cars and two vans waiting for them, so they quickly loaded up and left.
"I want to get there before the traffic starts," Wally, their driver, told them.
Sean nodded and watched out the window.
"Think anybody knows we're here yet?"
"Probably. You're not someone who can move around discreetly anymore, Sean." Wally replied. "No one's tailing us yet, so I guess it's probably only the NSA, FBI, Homeland, and the Secret Service."
Sean snorted. "So just you and a couple thousand of our closest friends."
"It's Washington. Nothing here stays secret for long."
When they got to their office, Sean saw a bunch of people standing around with signs in the cold. When the cars pulled up, they started yelling and shouting while waving banners at them.
"What the hell is that?"
Wally shook his head. "They showed up yesterday. Apparently the news media has been having a field day with all the people who got shot storming the ranch."
"But most of them were shot by their own people!" Roxy growled.
"Yeah, well, this is Washington. Facts don't matter."
"I'm surprised they're up this early," Sean said. Pulling out his phone, he started texting.
"What are you doing?"
"Warning Oak and Demon to be aware of the situation," Sean grumbled. "Last thing I need is for a bunch of protesters to get shot. You better text your dad, too."
"Good point," Roxy said, getting her phone out.
"Sean! What are you doing out of bed so early!" Steve said with a grin.
"This ain't early, it's late," Sean said and gave Steve a hug. "Terri!" Sean said as Roxy turned Terri loose, and gave her a hug. "Tisha!" Sean said as he hugged her. "I can't believe you've fallen into his evil clutches. Guess being ten thousand years old hasn't learned you a thing!"
"It's learned me how to tell the winners from the losers," she chided him.
"Yup, Steve's a winner, alright! Now, before this goes any further, this is Roberta, whom I know you haven't met before." Roberta and Tisha shook hands and exchanged a brief greeting.
"Cali, who, as I'm sure you can tell, is a dark elf."
"Hi," Cali said and shook hands with Tisha briefly as well.
"And the newest member of the family, my new wife, Estrella."
"Esti, it's so good to have you back!" Tisha yelled and glommed on to Estrella in what almost looked like a bear hug as Estrella hugged her back.
"Oh, it's so good to be back!" Estrella said. "I missed you all so much! Thank providence for Sean, or I'd probably still be stuck in that hellhole!"
"Umm, you know each other?" Sean and Steve said at the exact same time.
"Jinx!" Steve added and poked Sean, who gave him a quick look and turned back to Estrella and Tisha.
"She's my older sister," Estrella said with a smile, "as in much older sister."
"You're related to Adam, too?" Sean asked Tisha.
"Uh? Oh no. Esti and I have different mothers."
"You know what this means?" Steve said, looking very serious.
"What?" Sean asked, a little worried.
"We're related!" Steve laughed.
Sean grinned. "And we didn't even have to talk your parents into having a daughter."
"Huh?" both of the girls said, looking at the two of them.
"Old joke," Sean said.
"You had to be there," Steve agreed with a nod.
"Don't get them started," Terri warned, "or they'll be going on all night. Trust me on this."
"So, Terri, Steve, this is my younger sister Estrella. Or Esti."
"We've been calling her Stell," Roxy said.
"I'm just happy to be home!" Estrella sighed and gave Tisha another hug. "And by that I mean home with Sean, Roxy, Roberta, Cali," she nodded to each of them in turn, "and my other wives back in Reno. It's nice to finally settle down."
"Well, we can catch up later," Tisha said. After giving her sister another hug, they let each other go.
"So," Sean said, turning back to Steve, "what the hell is that goin
g on outside?"
"Oh, the crazy brigade showed up yesterday. I'm kinda surprised they showed up here at this hour of the morning." Steve gestured to the couch and the chairs along the wall. "Have a seat, relax. My guess is someone's going to come by to do a news story or something, so the station probably tipped them off so they could be out there protesting in time for the morning news."
"Oh, wonderful." Roxy sighed. "The TV stations tip off the fanatics?"
Steve nodded. "Yeah, it's all political theater here. The hardcore crazies will probably stay, unless it starts raining. The rest will split right after the video cameras do."
"So what are you going to do about them?" Roberta asked.
Steve grinned. "Well, now I know they're going to keep coming back, I'll have some of my people show up first, take all the good spots, and protest. I'll have to come up with some name that's like theirs, and we'll see if we can't poach their people."
"Why would you do that?" Roberta asked, looking shocked.
"Because if they're worrying about losing people to us, they'll stop showing up, that's why. They'll figure this place is covered, and they'll go bug someone else. This way I don't have to worry about the crazies outside blocking the driveway."
"Wow, that's about as underhanded a thing as I've heard all week."
Tisha beamed. "Isn't it though?"
Terri laughed. "Now you know why Sean sent Steve here. The hard part will be getting him to go back to Reno."
"Have you talked to the president or anyone else about what happened?" Sean asked.
"Homeland was very interested," Steve said. "They knew about the SLA, but they didn't know about this Cross guy, and they're now trying to find out who gave him all that hardware. I told them what Roxy's dad found. Thankfully he shipped a bunch of them over to the FBI to examine. So far it seems none of them came into the country with an import license."
"Great, what else?"
"Well, after Senator Conway outed himself as a werewolf, let's just say nobody in his party has been looking to throw stones at us, and that includes backing the crazies. I think he's going to make a run for the Whitehouse after the war blows over, and his party is starting to think he might be able to ride the groundswell of lycan approval into office."
"After we win the war," Sean said.
"Exactly, after we win the war. So the last thing they want to do is make it look like they're anything but one hundred percent behind you."
"So if it's not them backing these people, who is it?" Roberta asked.
"That's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question," Steve said with a shrug.
"Well, how about we talk about why we're really here," John said.
"Before I forget," Sean said, "let me introduce Stewart; he's my apprentice, and he knows a lot of mind domination spells that work really well on unprotected humans. The two lovely women with him are his wives, Rachel and April."
"Hi, Stewart, I think we met at Sean's wedding?"
"Call me Stew, and probably."
"Sure thing. Now, I've got them making breakfast downstairs, so why don't we eat, then you all can take a nap while John and I go over our next step?"
Sean looked over at Cali. "Could you go with them, Cali? I want them to have the benefit of your experience."
"Why's that?" Steve asked.
Sean smiled. "I thought I told you? Cali's a highly-trained assassin. She knows a fair bit about spying, as well."
"Sheila's been helping me," Cali said with a smile.
"Oh!" Steve said and smiled. "Anyone Sheila's willing to train is a plus in my books! That girl really knows her way around a security system, according to what Star was telling me. Now, let's go eat before Granite comes up here and yells at me for letting it get cold!"
Watching the Watchers
Sean was sitting in a van with Cali, Stewart, and Stewart's wife Rachel. Billie, who had been one of the two investigating Elliana, the girl from the coffee shop, was driving. Apparently Rachel had told Stewart she was coming along, and if Stewart was fine with it, so was Sean. There were two other vehicles with them to help follow Elliana when she left work.
The plan, simply put, was to get her alone and kidnap her. Using Stewart's magic, they'd find out what she knew, and when he was done, he'd tell her to forget everything and send her on her way with no one the wiser. Cali had come up with that one, according to Steve.
If they didn't get anything useful out of her, they'd work their way through the other three girls, one of which also worked at the coffee shop in the capitol building. The other two worked at a coffee shop within walking distance of the Whitehouse, which was very popular with the younger staff members who worked there, as they were also free with their favors.
"She just came out of the building," said Clifford, who was watching from the other side of the parking lot, "and Roberta tagged her with a tracking spell. She didn't notice."
"So far so good," Billie said and started the engine.
"She's in her car, and she's pulling out," Clifford said a few minutes later.
Billie put the van in gear and headed for the exit as well, pulling out in front of Elliana's car. The roads were one way here, and they knew where she was going. So they'd lead the way for the first block, then let her pass them, and follow after that.
"What'll we do if she goes straight home?" Stewart asked.
"I don't know, punt probably," Sean said with a shrug.
"She needs to eat, and I doubt cooking is one of her skills," Billie said. "I'm sure she'll stop for takeout or something."
Sure enough, as they got within a few miles of her house, she pulled into a Chinese restaurant, hopped out of her car, and ran inside.
"This isn't a good place to grab somebody," Cali said, looking around. There were a lot of people in the parking lot, as well as several cameras.
"I got this," Rachel said. "Come on, Stewart. Just follow my lead, and make her agree with whatever I ask."
"I think I know where this is going," Stewart said with a smile. Opening the side door of the van, they both got out. Taking Stewart's hand, Rachel led him over towards the takeout place.
"Okay, let's talk."
"What?" Stewart said.
"We're waiting for our target, we're a couple, no one's really paying us much attention."
"Um, I think half the guys are checking you out, Rach, you are cute," Stewart said grinning.
"Yup, so no one thinks we're waiting for somebody. When she comes out, we're all old friends, and can she give us a lift. Then we get in the car and drive off to someplace a bit more secluded."
"Sounds good, here she comes!"
Rachel smiled and, taking his hand steered, a course to intercept Elliana before she got to her car.
"Elliana!" Rachel said with a smile and walked up to her, with Stewart in tow.
"We're your old friends Steve and Eydie," Stewart said in a low voice, "you're very happy to see us."
"Eydie! Steve!" Elliana said with a smile. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"I know! It's been so long, we really need to talk."
"Now offer us a ride to your place," Stewart ordered.
"You know what? Why don't you come back to the house with me and we can talk!" Elliana said with a big smile.
" We'd love to! Where are you parked?"
They got into the car, and as they pulled out of the lot, Stewart pointed to their van. "Follow that, don't say anything unless it's important."
"Okay."
Ten minutes later they were parked in an alley, and Elliana was sitting in the back of the van.
"Okay, Elliana, this lady here," he motioned to Cali, "is your best friend in the world. You'll answer any question she asks, and you'll never, ever lie to her. Okay?"
"Okay!"
"Damn, that's freaky," Billie whispered.
"That's why you keep your amulet on," Sean whispered back. Calling up his enchanting framework, he checked the girl for magic and didn't find anything.
"Strip," Cali told her.
"Okay. Are we going to have sex?"
"Maybe later. Now, why do you invite all those young men back to your home?"
"Oh, because we get to have sex. I really enjoy sex with young men. Especially the ones who work for the senators and congressmen on my list."
"Who gave you this list?" Cali asked, passing the girl's clothes to Sean and the others, who carefully went through each item to make sure there weren't any surprises there.
"I don't know, it just shows up on the bulletin board next to the coffee shop each day. It doesn't change very often, so it's not that hard to remember it!"
"So no one told you to do this?"
"Welllllll," Elliana looked thoughtful for a moment, "I remember a voice; the voice told me what I had to do to be happy. As long as I do what the voice tells me to do, everything is fine. The voice even had people teach me how to be good in bed."
Sean looked at Stewart, who was gaping. Rachel and Billie both looked decidedly uncomfortable. Cali was still focused on the business at hand. Elliana was fully nude now, and Sean could see why the men all liked her.
"What else did the voice tell you to do?"
"Well, most important, I was to invite the men back to my rooms—the young men, not the older ones—which is good, 'cause I like the young ones! And I was to get them to talk to me, tease them into telling me special things, and then reward them whenever they said something good!"
"How would you know when they said something good?"
"Oh! I'd get text messages before each man showed up, telling me what the interesting topics were. But I was never to ask them straight out, because this is a game, and I'd lose points!"
"Did the voice ever tell you how to contact him?"
"Oh, yes, I was told if I ever needed to contact him, I was to go down to the beach and swim to Europe. I'm a very good swimmer, you know! I bet I could swim there in a week!"
"And when would you need to contact the voice?"
"If people started asking me about what I was doing, like you are now! Or if I ever got arrested, or if anybody got suspicious of the game."
