When It Falls

by Jan Stryvant

  Both Jacob and Chris nodded, "Yeah, he did that as soon as we told him that they were missing."

  Al shook his head and swore, "What a waste, though I suspect they were probably dead already, anyway. Damn, what am I going to tell Morgan?"

  "That this Sean guy is stronger than we thought?"

  Al snorted, "Come off it. It's more likely that Sawyer has a lot better defenses than we realized. Morgan's going to tell me that we should have waited, that we should have picked the kid off someplace else."

  Al looked over both of the men, "And he'll be right! We just lost one of our best teams and we've got nothing at all to show for it! Nothing! Trying to take him at Sawyer's place was a stupid move!"

  Jacob and Chris both paled at that, being on Morgan's bad side wasn't something that anybody wanted.

  "Now get out of here, the both of you, and I don't want to see or hear from either of you again until you can tell me where Sean Valens is hiding out now."

  "Yes, Al!" They both said and nodding they tried not to bow and scrape as they left the room and closed the door behind them.

  Al swore and banged his hand on the table again, who the hell knew that Sawyer would have mounted so much in the way of defenses? When he'd heard that Valens had gone in there he figured not only would they get him, but they'd be able to clean out Sawyer's place as well! It was a safe bet that that bastard greedy goblin was sitting on a fortune in cash and magical items!

  Apparently Sawyer wasn't greedy enough to have skimped on his defenses.

  Al sighed and shook his head, bad enough he had to explain this failure to Morgan, but Jerry would undoubtedly take advantage over it as well.

  At least he could pass some of the blame on to Jacob and Chris. Normally he would have expected Jacob at least to have known better!

  Oh well, time to go face the music.

  "That was a pretty cool idea, covering up the front of the shop with an illusion," Jolene said to Peg as they all drove back to Claudia's. Sean had sent the werewolves in their two vans out to the new place, after removing all of the silver in their bodies and destroying the tracking devices that had been planted on them. Seeing as they had no replacement clothing for them yet, he didn't think it would be wise to send them anyplace else.

  Peg smiled and preened at the compliment. "If it appears that they all just vanished without a trace, the folks at Vestibulum are gonna freak! Think about it, you could hear the firefight far enough away that the police came loaded for bear, and when everyone gets there, nothing?

  "Oh yeah, the magical community is going to be terrified of Sawyer from this day forward. They're gonna think he's got some pretty serious defenses surrounding that place."

  Jolene laughed, "I've never seen Sawyer so impressed with someone else's ability for deceit. You just may have a new best friend there, Peg."

  "Eww," Peg said sticking out her tongue.

  "Oh, don't worry," Roxy laughed, "he knows your Sean's wife, and that Sean'd kill him if he ever even made a pass at you."

  "Would he?" Peg asked.

  "Yes," Sean growled from the front seat, where Roxy was once again sitting on his lap, causing Roxy to giggle, Daelyn to laugh, and Jolene to smile as Peg blushed.

  "He's very possessive," Roxy purred leaning back and rubbing her head back against Sean's, "but then again, most male cats are. Lion's are just the most aggressive about it."

  "You say that like it's a bad thing," Sean teased.

  Roxy laughed again, "Hardly. I knew the moment I saw you start beating up Dean that if I got you alone, you'd be all over me like white on rice! With all the times I caught you giving me the eye?" Roxy purred and shivered in Sean's lap, surprising him. "Oh yeah, I knew what I was getting into."

  "Damn, I had no idea," Sean chuckled.

  "Yeah, Rox is a kinky one alright," Jolene teased.

  "Pot, meet kettle," Sean said, and looking back at Jolene, he winked at her.

  "Well, I had no idea, until it was too late," Jolene sighed.

  "Bullshit!" Roxy giggled, "I warned her, twice! She knew what she wanted just as much as I did."

  Sean looked back at Jolene, who was suddenly biting her lip and blushing.

  "What about you, Dae?" Peg asked.

  Daelyn looked back from the driver's seat for a moment with a grin on her face. "What can I say? I like 'em young!"

  "You're older than him?"

  "By about a year," Sean chuckled.

  "Well," Peg sighed with a smile, "at least I'm not the only one who threw themselves at you."

  "I didn't exactly 'throw' myself," Jolene corrected, still blushing but she was smirking as well now. "It was more like a blatant sexual offering."

  They all got a good laugh out of that, and Sean reached back to pat Jolene on the knee as they pulled into Claudia's place.

  "So, what next?" Daelyn asked.

  "I talk to Claudia to see if she has any recommendations on people to build the bunkhouses and stuff I need, then we start shuttling people up to the new place. Sawyer's going to start delivering stuff tonight, so we need to be ready for him."

  "What about the Vesti's?"

  Sean shook his head, "Not a lot we can do about them right now. We need to take care of our own first."

  "Still think they were the ones who attacked us last night?" Peg asked.

  Sean frowned a moment, "No. From what Travis and the others on the team told me, they'd been waiting for days to find out where I was, so they could attack me. He also said that their handler was surprised by the attack. So no, I don't think the Vesti's did it."

  "Who did then?"

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

  Daelyn parked the car then, and getting out of it, Sean went and found Claudia with the girls following along.

  "So, Gloria tells me that you found a place?"

  Sean nodded, "Yeah, we're gonna start moving in tonight."

  "Tonight? What's the rush?"

  "We stopped by Sawyers and ordered some heavy armaments and they're going to start showing up tonight," Sean told her, "plus I don't want my problems following me here. I suspect you have enough of your own already."

  Claudia thought about that a moment and nodded, "It would make life difficult, I admit, but I don't think they have the balls to attack this place."

  Roxy spoke up, "Also we have a lot of people that need to be moved, and stuff to buy, it'll probably take a few days to get everyone there, so the sooner we start...."

  "The sooner you finish," Claudia agreed. "Now, Gloria told me that you want to hire some folks to build you some bunkhouses like I have here?"

  Sean nodded, "Yeah, as well as a few shops, more garages, and a lab for me. Also I'm going to need to build some defenses and mounts for the weapons I'm getting."

  Claudia nodded, "And let me guess, you want them to start work yesterday, right?"

  Sean chuckled, "Right."

  "Well, the company I use is owned by one of my pack members, and he only employs pack members, so you don't have to worry about anyone asking any questions you don't feel like answering. Problem is, he told me that he's got a few jobs that he can't walk away from right now. So best he can do would be two of his smaller teams."

  "Is there anything we can do to improve that?" Sean asked

  "How about we send him about fifty of our own wolves?" Daelyn asked. "He could stick them in low end jobs and free up more of his people to work on our place. If there's one thing we ain't lacking right now, it's bodies."

  "I don't know if he'd want to add anyone to his payroll," Claudia confessed.

  "They can work for free," Sean told her. "We need to get this done, and I'm sure a lot of them wouldn't mind learning some new skills beyond the few that they have."

  "Sounds good, I'll have him come out to the place tomorrow and talk with you."

  "Great, now any chance we can borrow a couple of vehicles?"

  "What for?"

  "I need to send some of my people out
to buy a ton of camping gear so they have a place to sleep and I need to move the ones here out to the new place."

  Claudia sighed and nodded, "Fine. At least you're asking and not ordering."

  Sean turned to the girls, "Dae, you and Jo start moving the guys at the bunker out. Leave the women and children for now. Oh, and see if you can't score a couple more vans or a truck.

  "Peg, go find Oak and take him to Cabella's or Walmart and buy up all the camping goods that you can. Rox and I will go hit a couple of food stores and stock up as much as we can get our hands on so people can eat."

  They all nodded.

  Sean gave each of them a stack of cash, "If you need more, let me know."

  Peg looked at the wad of money and giggled, "Oh man, I definitely made the right choice!"

  "Don't make me start asking for receipts," Sean grumbled.

  Peg kissed him, "Don't worry, I'll hide it all real well!"

  "Peg," Daelyn said with a smirk, "you're his wife now; you don't have to hide a damn thing from him."

  "Oooo!" Peg said with an evil grin. "I like that even more!"

  "Just don't go overboard, Please?" Sean said with a grimace, "We're on a budget until I get the new lab going."

  "I'll be good!" Peg said and skipped off.

  "I'd say I've heard that before, but so far, that's the one thing none of you have promised," Sean complained.

  "Well, that sounds like our cue to get going," Jo said and grabbing Daelyn's arm they started back to her car. "We should probably grab a few of the boys if we're going car shopping."

  "Vans are in the barn over there," Claudia pointed, "keys are in 'em. See you later I guess."

  Sean nodded and grabbing Roxy he started for the bunkhouse following Peg.

  "We might as well grab a few of the guys to help carry stuff as well."

  Roxy nodded, "One of them can drive the van back to start ferrying the rest of the people up there for us."

  "Good idea."

  Going inside, Sean confirmed with Oak what he'd told Peg, and after grabbing Hunter and a few others Peg and Oak headed out to go shopping.

  As he and Roxy were getting ready to go, Sean was surprised to see Alex there with Demon, they were just coming in from outside.

  "Alex! What're you doing up here?" Sean asked.

  "Oh! Hi, Sean. Demon called and told me what happened, so I came up here to see how everything was."

  Sean noticed that Demon had his arm on Alex's shoulder; apparently they really were getting on well.

  Sean nodded, "We lost the shop, and I think we lost the van we were setting up as well?"

  Alex sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I stopped by and looked at the place, total write off."

  "Well, do you think you and Demon there could go hit the stores and pick up replacements for the gear we lost? I just sent Dae out to see about some replacement vans, so maybe in a day or two we could at least start taking care of all those dealerships we signed up again?"

  Alex blinked and looked at Demon, who just smiled at him.

  "What about money?"

  Sean pulled out the remainder of the cash, and counted out fifty grand.

  "Is that enough?"

  "More than enough!"

  "Great, take care of it! Demon, keep him out of trouble, okay?"

  "Oh, definitely, wouldn't think of allowing anything at all to ever happen to Alex here!"

  Sean noticed Alex blushing then, and Demon was grinning at him rather widely. Whatever it was, it wasn't his business. At least Demon and Alex seemed to be getting along.

  "Great! See ya' all later," and grabbing Roxy and a couple of the wolves they headed off to the barn to grab a van.

  "Nice to see that Alex has found a friend," Sean sighed.

  "A friend?" Roxy giggled and looked at him.

  "Yeah, he's always hanging out with Demon these days. I was pretty worried when he took over the detailing shop for me, I wasn't sure if the wolves would accept him. But apparently Demon's taken him under his wing."

  Roxy giggled, "Oh, that's not all that Demon's 'taken him under!'"

  "Huh?" Sean stopped and looked at Roxy, "I don't get it."

  "They're boyfriends."

  "Boyfriends?"

  "Yeah, you know, they're sleeping together?"

  "Huh?"

  "Alex is gay, and apparently Demon is either gay, or bi. They're a couple now! Have been for weeks! Geez, Hon! Haven't you noticed?"

  Sean looked back at the bunkhouse, Alex and Demon were heading off towards Alex's car, and they did look rather comfortable together.

  "Wow, I had no idea."

  "You've known Alex for how many years, and you didn't know he was gay?" Roxy said, surprised.

  Sean shrugged, "Never really thought it was my business, not like I was dating enough myself to notice who anyone else was dating. Honestly? I really don't care, I got too many problems of my own to worry about other people's business.

  "Now, let's go shopping, and then head to our new home."

  Stewart groaned as his head throbbed. The last thing he remembered was being in the truck, leaning against the door, and thinking about his witnessing Allen's brains getting blown out the back of his head as the got shot in the eye.

  He must have leaned too hard against the door and it opened and dumped him out on the ground! Reaching up to rub his head was when he started to realize that something was wrong.

  He couldn't move!

  He started to flail around then and quickly realized that his hands had been tied behind his back, his legs had been tied together, he was tied to a chair or something and he was both blindfolded and gagged!

  "Ah! I see you're awake at last!" someone, whose voice he didn't recognize said. "Just a minute and I'll go get Jace."

  Stewart started at that! Jace! Had he been betrayed? What the hell had happened?

  Stewart heard someone come into the room, and from the sounds of it, they sat down somewhere nearby. Then he felt the fabric covering his head slide up and suddenly he could see!

  Blinking at the suddenly light, he quickly saw it was indeed Jace, in his human form, sitting on another chair directly across from him! He started to yell something, but the gag prevented him from speaking.

  Jace just looked at him and shook his head, then held up a sawed off shotgun, with a wire loop at the end with the barrels.

  "Okay," Jace said, looking at Stewart. "You know what this is, right?"

  Stewart could feel his face going pale and started to struggle harder.

  "We're not going to kill you, Stew. Not as long as you don't force us to, that is."

  Jace passed the shotgun to whoever was sitting behind Stewart, and after a moment the wire came down past his eyes, and he could feel it being pulled taught, as the barrels poked into the back of his head.

  "Okay, listen up, Stew. If anyone of us suddenly falls dead, the person holding the shotgun will pull the trigger and you'll die. If they die, the rubber band that their finger is keeping from pulling the trigger won't be blocked anymore, and you'll die.

  "Do you understand this?"

  Stewart shivered in his seat; they were going to kill him!

  "Stewart," Jace sighed, "Do you understand what I just told you?"

  Stewart nodded. He had to play it cool and wait for his chance, if he didn't they'd just kill him, he was sure of it!

  Jace smiled, "Good boy. Now, as you've probably figured out, things have changed, just a bit. I want you to understand; we could have just killed you and thrown you in that hole with our brothers and your friend Allen.

  "Oh, we probably should have; after all, you didn't think twice about those ten people dying, none of you or your friends did. But then, you never do. However, lucky for you, we're not mean vindictive bastards like your father, or Harris, or the rest of the people back home.

  "So, we decided we're going to trade you to some people who probably want to ask you a few questions. What they do with you, well that's going to be between you and them
. You weren't in charge of what happened last night, so hopefully they won't hold you to blame.

  "I'd say it's nothing personal, but honestly, Stew, it's very personal. We're not the dogs you treat us like, we're people, and we sure as hell don't like being slaves or being disposable. Now, are you hungry or thirsty?"

  Stewart realized then that he was both, he was dying for a drink and his belly was empty. He nodded his head.

  "Hey! Not so hard!" someone said behind him, he thought it was the first voice, "Ya' don't want my finger to slip off this trigger! Trust me on that!"

  Jace smiled, "I'm going to undo the gag, if you try to trigger any of our kill devices, you'll be dead in an instant. Understand?"

  Stewart nodded.

  "Good."

  Jace leaned in and reached around his head with both hand and removed the gag.

  "You can't do this to me!" Stewart gasped.

  Jace laughed at him, "One of my brothers said that to your father once, you know what your father did?"

  Stewart gave a small careful shake of his head.

  "Popped his silver pellet. Killed him. Took a whole minute for him to die. In front of me, my younger brother, and our mom. Please don't tell me what I can and cannot do to you, Stew. You just don't have that right anymore."

  Jace took a bottle of water off of the table behind him. Stewart noticed suddenly that they were in a room of some kind. Obviously a motel.

  "Drink it slow, you don't want to make a mess," Jace said and held the bottle up to his lips and let him drink it slowly while he thought about what Jace had said to him. He didn't doubt that what Jace had said was true, he'd seen his father kill a lycan before; his father always told him that they were just animals, they weren't human, and they didn't matter at all.

  When Stewart had enough he tilted his head back a little and Jace took the bottle away.

  "Good boy," Jace said with a grin. "We'll see if we can't get you some food as well.

  "I'm sorry," Stewart said.

  "It's too late to be sorry," Jace told him and leaning forward he put the gag in his mouth again. "Just understand, I would love to kill you and send your head in a box to your father with a note telling him that I did it to pay him back for murdering my brother. But unlike your father, I'm not an animal."