Perfect Strangers

by Jan Stryvant

  Sean nodded, "Something like that."

  "I thought lions were supposed to be all about law and order?"

  "Yeah, for lycans. We're also pretty damn big on revenge against people who murder our families," Sean growled the last bit out showing a lot of fang.

  "Whoa, whoa, kid! I wasn't involved in any of that; I was living in her neck of the woods up until just a few years ago."

  Sean nodded slowly, "That's why I'm here talking to you, instead of say, tearing you into little pieces."

  "So, you're really gonna pick up your old man's work and stick it to the councils and help the lycans out?"

  "Of course. They ruined my life, now it's only fair I ruin theirs as well. They should have just left me alone; I was willing to move on with my life. But they weren't, so what choice do I have?"

  Sawyer thought about that, and then nodded.

  "You got a deal, Kid," he turned to Marx then. "Anyone shows up, I'm on an hour break." Picking up the necklace Sawyer turned back to Sean, "Come on in the back, better not to have any of you out here, in case someone shows up while we're talking."

  Nodding, Sean shifted back to his human form and followed Sawyer through a series of doorways and short halls until they entered a rather nice conference room.

  "Have a seat," Sawyer said and took the one at the head of the table, which was raised up to put him on an even footing. "Now, what do you want to know?"

  Jolene spoke up then, "First off, who led the attack on us in the tower yesterday?"

  "That was Harkins' people. He's pretty pissed over what Sean there did to his guys over the weekend. It made him look weak to his people, so he had to commit to some force."

  "How's he feeling after what Sean did to the ones in the tower?"

  "Harkins is telling people that while everyone up there got away, that Sean's dead."

  "Really?" Sean asked, surprised. Jolene and Roxy looked just as surprised as he was.

  "One of their people heard some gal yelling about Sean being shot, really bad, and they couldn't find any traces of him, just a lot of blood. Course they couldn't stick around long with the fire and the fire department on the way, but since then, no one has been able to scry him anywhere, even for an instant. Total blank."

  Sawyer looked Sean over a moment, "You must be one hell of a magic user, Kid. You can create powerful magic items, and block the most powerful scrying mages in the city enough that they can't even get an echo out of you."

  "So, who is this Harkins?" Sean asked.

  "Harkins is the head of the Council of Ascendance. They're one of the weaker major councils, except for out here in Reno; here they're the number two. They believe in the divine right of magic and magic users. They ain't too popular with most of the other councils out there."

  "How many councils are there?'

  "Five major ones, I think nine minor ones. The major ones are Vestibulum, they're the most powerful and the biggest, Morgan runs their coven here. Next is Sapientia, they're the oldest, they made most of the rules and traditions that everyone follows these days, Troy is the leader of the local coven. Eruditio is all about learning and knowledge, they tend to stay out of politics, so I have no idea who runs their local coven. That leaves Gradatim, they're weaker than the Ascendance crowd, and those two hate each other's guts. McConnell runs them."

  "And which of these are trying to kill me?"

  Sawyer pondered that a moment, "Well, Eruditio, I doubt they care. Sapientia? If they think you're violating some of their more sacred rules, they might. Vestibulum, they'll want to rein you in, get control of you. If they can't do that, they may decide to kill you, but only if they see you as a threat to the current status quo."

  "That doesn't sound too bad."

  Sawyer laughed, "Kid, if the rumors about you getting the collective boot of the councils off the lycan necks are true, they'll want you dead, trust me. Same for Sapientia too most likely as making the lycans free probably violates some stupid rule of theirs."

  Sean sighed, "I know that the Gradatim want me dead."

  "They want your power, they just figure they'll have to kill you to get it," Sawyer pointed out.

  "So I take it the guys who did the lightning attack, Totis Viribus, they're a minor council?"

  Sawyer nodded, "Yeah, they're pretty much in Harkins' pocket; they're allied with the Ascendants in most places. They're small enough around here that they were able to get two other minor groups to ally with them to cast the spell. Harkins had promised some pretty sweet rewards to those that helped."

  "I heard two of the mages involved died?"

  "Yup, Preston, the guy leading the Totis, he had a few qualms with the folks from the Sorceress's guild. Seems they found his problems with his ex-wife to be rather humorous and laughed at some point during the casting and resisted his attempts to kill her. So he turned on them as the circle's leader and killed them.

  "So now the Sorceress's guild is at war with the Totis, and no one other than the Ascendants will side with them any more for breaking their word."

  "So, who wanted my father dead?"

  Sawyer shrugged, "Best I know, Kid, they all did. They hired someone from the outfit back in Chicago to come out here and do the job. Honestly, I'm surprised that the locals are going after you themselves."

  "They probably thought I was going to be a pushover," Sean sighed, "but the ones who started all of this seems to have been the guys from Lithuania."

  "No, they're just the ones who got to you first. I gotta ask you, Kid, what did your father leave you?"

  Sean thought about that a moment, he didn't want to say 'nothing,' because that would so obviously be a lie.

  "He left me a bunch of books on magic," Sean told him, "but I couldn't use them, because someone had put a geas on me. After a couple of the attacks, I got the geas removed."

  Sean shook his head, "Like I said, I just wanted to move on. I actually know a lot about magic, probably more than most of the covens out here. But I wasn't able to practice it. Now I can."

  "So, he didn't leave you something to free the lycans?"

  "I don't even know just what the power magic users have over them," Sean admitted. "So if my father left me something, I've totally missed it."

  "Hasn't she told you?" Sawyer said and motioned towards Roxy.

  Roxy shrugged, "I'm not so sure I understand it myself, I just know it has something to do with silver. My father was never keen on the details and well, our family hasn't been under the sway of any of the councils for generations."

  "They implant a ceramic pellet that contains powdered silver, with a spell on it. So all it takes is the proper word, your name, and the ceramic splits, and the silver is dumped into the bloodstream and the lycan involved dies a slow and very painful death."

  Sean blinked, "What? Why not go to a doctor and get the pellet removed?"

  "It's often placed somewhere hard to get at. Also, a lot of magic users, when dealing with lycans, know to use silver bullets, darts, or cast a cloud of silver particles. Silver has been fairly well weaponized against lycans by the magic community, to keep them under control. They've also spent a lot of time indoctrinating the hell out of as many of them as they can.

  "True, not all lycans are controlled nowadays, but enough are that most free lycans know better than to get involved with magic users. If you want to do something to stop that control, you have to do something to remove their weakness to silver."

  "And everyone thinks my father had figured out a way to do that?" Sean said, looking Sawyer in the eyes. "That would take a complete understanding of why silver effects them at a biological level, and then the ability to make a retrovirus that altered them enough to block that effect, while still leaving lycans as lycans. You'd need genetic skills that don't even exist in the world today! That's just crazy."

  Sean shook his head again. "These people are insane."

  "Well, apparently your father did something that convinced all of them that it was possible and tha
t he was going to do it."

  Sean sighed, "Maybe if I knew what that was, I'd have an idea of where to start. But right now we need to find a new place to hole up for a while."

  "Well you can't stay here!" Sawyer said, "I get too many people coming through here to ever keep it a secret. Hell, I'm hoping Marx doesn't go telling all his lycan friends you came here."

  "Why would he do that?"

  "Because, you're like the lycan messiah right now, Kid. You're not only the one who's supposed to free them from oppression, but you're one of them too!"

  "Damn, any chance on keeping that last bit a secret? Last thing I need is them to start using silver bullets."

  "Sorry, Kid. Sooner or later they're going to figure it out, and the odds are on sooner. Once word gets around that Harkins didn't kill you, expect things to go into overdrive. If I were you, I'd lay low for a while."

  "Yeah," Sean sighed. "Now about those chains?"

  "I have a few more questions first," Jolene interrupted, "starting off with the addresses for the council leaders."

  "It'll take me a minute, but I got 'em all on file," Sawyer grinned.

  Sean listened only with half an ear as Jolene started asking a lot more specific questions about the smaller councils and a number of people in particular. She also wanted to know if either she or Roxy had been outed yet as the people who were with him.

  The score on that seemed to be yes on Roxy, and no on Jolene. So Sean made sure to keep Roxy's protection from scrying spell active. As she couldn't cast magic, she couldn't do the firewall spell. Though maybe if he put it on an object and let her wear it? Sean would have to think about that.

  When it finally came time to leave, Sawyer gave them a bag of a dozen gold or gold-plated chains that all looked suitable, and then he showed them out through a back passageway that came out quite a distance away from his shop.

  "So, now what?" Roxy asked as they walked out of the industrial park. "It's after five, and the sun's starting to go down.

  "We go get a car," Sean said.

  "And just how do we do that?"

  "Steve's shop is about a twenty minute walk from here, and he's open 'til six."

  "And he'll sell you a car?"

  "I wouldn't be surprised if he just gave me one," Sean shrugged, "but if not, I've still got almost five grand in cash, a debit card with a lot more money on it, and twelve troy ounces of gold in my pocket. I'm not worried about it."

  "Aren't you worried they'll find your friend?"

  Sean snorted, "They couldn't find my room off campus for how long? And I was living there for years? They've probably only figured you out because they saw you at the tower, and they still haven't discovered Jo.

  "If they were going to bother my mundane friends, I'd think they already would have. But if they're not seen with me, how are they going to know about them? I don't think these people really traffic much with mundanes, or have spells to find out who your friends are, am I right, Jo?"

  Jolene nodded, "There aren't any spells to find out who your friends are, or who you know. Unless they're already inside your head. Though I will warn you that they do traffic with the mundanes more than just a little. They have to go to the shops just like we do, after all, and some of them actually do have mundane acquaintances."

  Sean nodded, "Point taken."

  "So let's not try to stand out too much, okay?"

  "Agreed. There's the shop, let's go in the back door," Sean said.

  Cutting around to the back, Sean led them in the back way, and went up and cut into the offices for the shop from the back.

  "Excuse me, but you aren't allowed back here," a woman behind a desk said.

  "Martha, after all these years, you don't recognize me?" Sean teased, taking off the glasses.

  "Sean, I swear, what happened to you? What in the world ever possessed you to dye your hair?"

  "Long story, is Steve in his office?"

  "He's about ready to close up, better make it quick!"

  Sean nodded and crossed the room, stepping into Steve's office.

  "Steve," Sean said, looking at his friend who had his attention focused on a computer screen.

  "Sean! Grab a seat, I'm just finishing up the day's numbers," Steve glanced up and then back at his screen. "And what the hell did you do to your hair and who are those lovely women and why would they be seen with the likes of you?"

  "It's a long story," Sean sighed sitting down. "I need a car, preferably one that won't be traced to me right away. I got cash, so I can pay you for it."

  Steve made a raspberry sound at him, "Your money is no good here, you know that. You can have one of the shop's loaner cars. Don't worry about it."

  Steve did something on his computer and then stood up.

  "I gotta close up the shop and send everyone home for the day. Make yourselves comfortable, there's beer in the fridge," Steve pointed at a small cube fridge in the corner.

  "Don't tell anyone I'm here, okay?"

  "I saw what happened to the house and I've already talked to your lawyer, don't worry, I know you've got problems. Now, take a load off, I'll be back in ten."

  Sean nodded as Jolene joined him on the couch; Roxy got a beer first and then sat with them both.

  "So how much are you going to tell him?" Roxy asked.

  "As much as he wants to know," Sean sighed. "I'm not in the habit of keeping secrets from my friends."

  Roxy was on her second beer, and Sean and Jolene had both relented and were on their first when Steve finally came back up.

  "Okay, shop's locked up, the customers are all gone, and my mechanics are cleaning up and checking out as we speak. So, tell me, who are these two lovely women and why are they both hanging off of you?" Steve asked with a laugh.

  "Everything that's going on and you want to know about my sex life?" Sean sighed shaking his head.

  "Well come on, Sean, what's harder to believe? That people are trying to kill you, or that you've actually got a sex life now?" Steve grinned, "So, introduce me already."

  Sean smiled, "This is Roxy, the hot track star you've heard me talk about, and this is Jolene, the hot friend of Roxy's that I don't know if I've ever mentioned before. Roxy, Jo, this is Steve, my friend from public school, and former partner in crime."

  Steve smiled and shook hands with each of the girls, and then dragged a chair over.

  "So, inquiring minds wanna know, are all three of you?"

  Roxy and Jolene both smiled, "He's our man," Roxy said, "And we're his women," Jolene finished.

  "Whoa, seriously?" Steve asked looking at Sean, who blushed and nodded. "Yeah, very seriously. A lot has happened in the last week, and they're the only two good things in it."

  "Yeah, I can tell that much at least," Steve nodded. "So, on the serious side of things, who's after you, and why? In the last week there's been something of a deadly crime wave in town, as well as quite a bit of arson."

  "Yeah, I know," Sean grimaced, "and it all revolves around me."

  "Let's start with the why."

  "My father didn't die in an accident. He was murdered. He was working on something that a lot of people didn't want to see succeed. So they murdered him, and then set things up so mom and I would be destitute."

  "And someone thinks you've discovered his secret, right?"

  "That was quick," Roxy commented.

  Steve shrugged, "Only thing that would make sense. Sampson's dead, his mom's missing, and there've been multiple attempts on his life apparently."

  "That's about the size of it," Sean nodded. "They think my dad left me something and I'm gonna finish his work. They think that he arranged for me to get his notes or something on my birthday."

  "Okay, the next question then, who?"

  "You're not going to believe me."

  "Well, you won't know until you tell me, now will you?"

  Sean shrugged. "Okay, try this on for size. My father was a powerful alchemist who was working on a magical device that would free all of
the lycanthropes who are in thrall to the magic users, who run a bunch of magical councils and stuff. They didn't want to lose their servants, errand boys, and cannon fodder, so they had him killed. Now they're after me."

  "Lycanthropes? Like werewolves?" Steve said sitting back in his seat, "And magic users, like wizards and mages?" Steve tilted his head to the side and gave Sean a rather frank look. "Sean, are you feeling alright?"

  "I said you wouldn't believe it, now here's the tough question: Do you want me to prove it, or would you rather believe I'm crazy."

  "How do you prove a thing like that?" Steve said, looking at Sean like he was crazy.

  Sean stood up and pulled his shirt off over his head.

  "And just when in the hell did you become so muscular?"

  "Part of what happened to me. You see, Sampson was a werelion; he worked for my dad and promised to watch over me and mom when dad was killed. When they tried to kidnap me last week, he rescued me, but I was pretty badly hurt and he'd been shot up with silver and was dying. So in order to save me, he bit me."

  "Oh dear lord, you're kidding me!" Steve said. "If you can't prove that right now, I'm calling an ambulance and getting you committed."

  Sean shrugged and shifted into his hybrid form.

  Steve just sat there a minute, staring at him.

  "Well?" Sean asked after a second minute had gone by.

  "I'm trying to figure out just what the hell to say next. There's a lot going on here, Sean."

  Sean laughed, "How the hell do you think I feel? I'm right in the middle of it! Hell, I'm a lion-were now, Steve. I can turn into a full lion if I want!"

  "Seriously?"

  Sean nodded.

  "Let's see it."

  Sean shifted into his full lion form and then blinked as Steve got up and walked over to him and tapped him on the head, then ran his fingers through his fur.

  "You know," Steve said looking at him, "I know the booking agent for the Atlantis. I bet we could put together one hell of an act."

  "Really, Steve?" Sean grumbled.

  "You'd have to be silent though, I don't think the audience would buy a talking lion," Steve looked at the girls, "And are you both?"

  "I'm a cheetah-were," Roxy smiled, "Jo's a magic user."