When It Falls

by Jan Stryvant

  Sheila waited until she heard the steps fading, then hoping off she went back to the door until she heard Daniel leave.

  "Okay, he's gone," Sheila sighed.

  "Great! Now, let's get our things and get to work!"

  Grabbing their purses, they removed a bunch of small but sophisticated electronic gear, which Sheila assembled as Peg went in search of his office. Once she found it, she cast a few spells looking for his safe, while Sheila came in and plugged the device into one of usb ports on Jimmy's work computer.

  "Sure hope this works," Sheila said.

  "Sean says that John guy knows his stuff," Peg shrugged. "Guess we'll find out. I found his safe."

  "Great! I'll get started on this one, why don't ya' go find the others."

  "Others?" Peg asked.

  "Guy like this is sure to have more than one!" Sheila chuckled.

  Nodding, Peg went and searched the rest of the apartment. Sure enough she found two more, which Sheila quickly cracked. One of them was a gun safe that was full of guns and silver, neither of which appealed to her. The other one had a fair amount of cash, and jewelry, none of which was magic however. Then again, Jimmy hadn't had a lot of magical gear on him. The man may be a magic user, but obviously he was at the low end of ability, hence his job in 'acquisitions.' The only real stash of magic items were simply a bunch of collars they'd found in his office safe, along with some very interesting contracts.

  Two hours later the computer beeped and they retrieved their device, broke it back down into parts and put it back in their purses.

  "Well, one last thing, and we're out of here," Peg smiled.

  "I still have my doubts about this," Sheila said, a little worriedly.

  "No, you have doubts about him saying yes, you'd rather just kill him."

  Sheila blushed, "Well he is the man who sold me to ya' father."

  "And the punishment must fit the crime," Peg smiled. "Now, let's get him into that chair and find out if my little theory works."

  Jimmy woke up to a cold bucket of water in the face. Blinking his eyes, he felt his head pulled back and a vile tasting liquid poured into his mouth, which was then forced closed and his throat massaged until he'd swallowed it all down.

  It was only then that he discovered he was bound to a chair. Gasping as his head was released Jimmy shook his head, clearing the water from his eyes. Looking around the room he sucked in a breath, shocked. There were two naked fox lycans in the room, and one of them was smiling in a most unfriendly manner.

  "Here's the deal, Jimmy," one said in a voice that he recognized, it was Meg's!

  "You've just been given a deadly poison. You'll probably feel your arms and legs going numb as we speak. In a few more minutes, you'll be unconscious. Ten minutes from now, you'll be dead."

  "What!" Jimmy gasped, "Daniel! Help!"

  "You gave him the night off, remember?" Meg laughed as he felt a cold numbness starting to form in his hands and feet.

  "What do you want? I have money! I'll give it all to you! Don't kill me!"

  "Too late for that, Jimmy boy. You've sold enough of us into some pretty nasty circumstances, time for you to pay the price."

  "Please! No! I don't want to die!" Jimmy sobbed; he could feel the cold numbness starting to travel up his arms and legs now, just as she'd told him.

  "Wellll, there might be one thing I could do for you," the one called Meg paused thinking.

  "What? Anything! Please! Do it! Please!"

  "I could bite you and make you a werefox. Just like me. Then the poison wouldn't kill you."

  "What?" Jimmy gasped, "Magic users can't become lycans! We're not animals!"

  "Well you see," she told him, tapping a finger against her chin, "that's where you're wrong. You're dying. All of the magic in your body is gone now. So if I were to bite you, it wouldn't be able to prevent you from becoming infected.

  "And of course, the lycanthropy would neutralize the poison." She smiled at him, a big wide evil smile.

  "So the choice is simple, Jimmy. Either I bite you and you become one of us, or you die. What's it going to be?"

  "I don't want to be an animal!" Jimmy wailed.

  The other one, Cindy, sighed. "I told ya' he'd rather be dead. Come on, we got what we came for, let's get outta' here."

  The one called Meg shook her head, "No, not yet. I don't think he realizes that he's dying."

  Jimmy's face went white as he realized he couldn't feel his arms or his legs anymore, looking down he saw that his bladder had let go and he was pissing himself! This was it! He really was going to die! The damn bitches really had poisoned him!

  "I don't wanna die!" he sobbed.

  "Then ask me to bite you."

  "Please! Anything but that!" he cried.

  "It's that or death Jimmy. Better hurry up and say yes, you're almost there!"

  Jimmy couldn't take it; he was too young to die. Besides, who would know? Who? As long as he didn't tell anyone and kept away from silver, he'd be fine, right? He had money! He was rich! He could move someplace far away, and no one would ever know! No one!

  "Okay! Yesss, bite m...." he slurred just as his head fell forward, and drooling, he passed out.

  Peg grinned at Sheila, "You own me a nice full body massage."

  Sheila shook her head, "I still think this was wrong."

  Peg rolled her eyes, "And just why is that?"

  "Because ya' gonna make him a fox! He doesn't deserve ta' be a fox!"

  Shaking her head, Peg went over and put her hand on his throat, checking his pulse. The moment she felt his heart start skipping beats, she curled her lips back and bit him on the neck, triggering the process to infect him.

  Twenty minutes later, it was done, and there was a large male fox shivering inside one of the large pet carriers they'd also found in the office, with a magical collar around its neck that would prevent it from talking or from shifting. Which was how they got them past customs.

  On top, Sheila had affixed a note, from Jimmy, to Daniel, telling him that he'd gone on holiday with his two new girlfriends, and would be please see this latest specimen delivered for him?

  Misdirection

  "Arthur, I believe you know my mother, Louise, and this is my wife Daelyn.

  Arthur smiled and gave a small bow, "Louise, nice to see you again, especially under much more pleasant circumstances. Daelyn, it is nice to finally make your acquaintance."

  "I'm surprised to see Sapientia throwing its lot in with my son," Louise replied, albeit she was smiling when she said it.

  "Not all of our covens have, but I'm working on it. A number of rather good arguments have been made, and I'm just not as hidebound as some of my predecessors."

  "All things considered, Arthur has been a great help, Mom," Sean said, "and while I'm sure he has his own agenda, just like every other council leader out there, at least that agenda treats lycans as free people and not as slaves, and that is all I care about."

  Arthur laughed, "Yes, I don't think we're all going to be singing kumbaya anytime soon, we're all too power hungry for that. Now come, our guest is about to wake up."

  "Where's Chad?" Sean asked looking around.

  "He's upstairs. Understand that the young man has no idea what has transpired around here and has been unconscious since Chad got him. So, we're going to be playing a small trick on him. Chad and myself that is."

  "Why?" Daelyn asked, "If this guy is one of the people who attacked our home, what's the point?"

  "To stop a small war from turning into a big one, of course. Now, let's go upstairs."

  Sean looked at Daelyn and shrugged, then turned and followed Arthur up the stairs and down the hall into a room. Inside the room were Chad, another wolf lycan that Sean didn't know, and a woman who was apparently a magical medic or nurse of some sort.

  Arthur turned to Sean, "If the three of you would stand behind that screen, he won't be able to see you, but you'll be able to see him just fine.

  "Magic?" Dael
yn asked.

  "Lighting," Arthur grinned.

  Sean, Daelyn and his mother Louise went and stood behind the screen as Arthur turned to the woman.

  "Wake him up please, Dianne."

  Sean noticed that she cast some sort of spell, and then the young man's eyes opened. He started a moment then noticed the people standing around his bed.

  "Where am I?" Stewart asked looking around the room and seeing an older man, a middle-aged woman, and two younger men. "And who are you?"

  "You're in the Sapientia main council house, Stewart, my name is Arthur and I'm the council head."

  "You know who I am?"

  Arthur smiled, "I took the liberty of looking in your wallet. You're safe, but I have to ask you, just what happened to you, young man? My man Geoffrey here," Arthur motioned towards Chad, "found you on the north end of town with a gun shot wound surrounded by eight dead werewolves."

  "They, they turned on me," Stewart said and looked up at Arthur, "they were going to kill me, make it look like a suicide so no one would know that they'd gotten away."

  "Gotten away? Gotten away from what?"

  "I really shouldn't say," Stewart sighed, looking back down at the bed sheets.

  "Geoffrey," Arthur asked, looking over at Chad, "what was in the back of that truck?"

  "Weapons, Sir. Lots of weapons. Also I found blood in there, Sir. Fairly fresh blood. Plus the smell of gasoline and burnt flesh."

  "Thank you, Geoffrey," Arthur turned to look back at Stewart, who flinched.

  "Now, Stewart, we have a fair notion as to just why you were here. Everyone in town knows what happened Monday night. So how about you give me your version of the events?"

  Stewart looked around at the faces of the four people in the room, obviously Geoffrey and the man who looked like a guard were werewolves, but they didn't look at all hostile. Neither did Arthur or the woman standing by the head of his bed.

  "My father wanted me to go with them; he told me it was time for me to start taking on the duties of the men in the council, with my twenty-first birthday coming up and all." Stewart sighed and decided that it was probably best to leave out the part about the fox sex slave his father had promised him if he went, and instead looked back down at the bed sheets covering him.

  "And just where were they going?" Arthur prompted.

  "We heard about the lycan revolt, and how they attacked our council house and killed everyone up here in Reno. So we were sent here to attack them, to kill as many as possible before the others coming here arrived, to get the credit for first blood."

  Arthur stopped a moment, "The others?"

  Stewart nodded, "The heads of the Ascendants are rallying as many of our other chapters to send people out here to put down the revolt and avenge our dead members."

  "I see," Arthur said, and crossing his arms, he started to tap his chin with a finger. "What happened to the others? Surely they didn't send you up here all by yourself with a few fighters?"

  Stewart shook his head, "There were three handlers, Allen and I came up in the truck with the wolves. Matt and Stan, they came up first in a car to talk to some of the locals and see if they could tell us where the lycans were staying."

  Stewart looked up at Arthur, "Allen got shot in the head during the fight, Matt and Stan, they took off when the fire department started to show up. Half of the wolves were dead, and I didn't know what to do. Jace, the head wolf, he loaded up the bodies and drove us out of there, to a place outside of town to bury the dead wolves."

  Stewart sighed and shook his head, "And then they took me hostage. They said they were going to trade me away to the lycans we attacked. They didn't say why, maybe to get help escaping? I don't know. But for some reason they decided to just kill me instead, and then suddenly I guess someone came looking for me, because they all died. I guess their pellets got activated or something?"

  Arthur nodded, "Yes, Geoffrey told me that they were dead from silver. He patched you up, you know. Brought you here and saved your life."

  Stewart nodded slowly, hanging his head, "Thank you, Geoffrey," Stewart looked back up at Arthur. "What are you going to do to me?"

  "Give you a phone to call your family, I'm sure they're all rather worried, then take you to the train station and put you on the next Amtrak back to Sacramento of course."

  "Thank you," Stewart sighed.

  "Don't thank me, Stewart. We here want nothing to do with a war, it endangers us all."

  "But, if the lycans are killing us, what are we supposed to do? We can't just let them run wild!" Stewart exclaimed.

  "It wasn't the lycans that killed the members of the local council of the Ascendance, Stewart. It was your old enemies, the council of Vestibulum."

  "What? How can that be! The head of the councils told us so!"

  "I saw it with my own eyes, Stewart. We were there to perform the ritual of silence, so the lycan fellowship could free their people without coming to the notice of the townspeople. Which they did rather adroitly, without killing a single Ascendant member."

  "No!"

  "Yes, Stewart. You see, the lycans know that if they start a war, they'll become public with the rest of us. So they've been willing to sacrifice a few of their own. All they really want is to be left alone, in peace. Unfortunately the council of Vestibulum had been waiting for the Fellowship to strike, and right after they left, leaving the local Ascendants in disarray, they struck and killed everyone.

  "Now, here's a phone. Call your family. Then you can get dressed and go. I'll be back shortly with a writ you can give you local council leader. I'm sure he'll be rather unhappy when he finds out that he's been played for a fool by Morgan, the local Vestibulum leader."

  Arthur handed Stewart a phone then, and walked out, motioning to Sean and the others to follow him once he was out of sight of Stewart, who could be heard dialing the phone.

  "So, where are all the dead wolves?" Sean asked as they walked away from the room.

  "They aren't dead," Chad said from behind him, "we got there in time to save them from the silver." Chad paused a moment and then added with a grin as Sean looked back at him, "No, you can't have them, they're mine now."

  "I think we have enough of our own already," Daelyn replied, grinning back at him.

  "So what were they going to trade him to us for?" Sean asked.

  "They noticed that their silver bullets weren't killing your people," Chad said. "They thought they'd see if they could make a trade, you get rid of their pellets, they give you Stewart. You have to understand just how much they really hate his father."

  Sean nodded, "So the kid goes back and tells his father that everyone is dead. Is that your cunning plan?"

  Chad grinned and shook his head, "The cunning plan is that all those people they're recruiting to come here and kill you, me, and the rest of us, are now going to be looking to kill Morgan and his people instead."

  Sean stopped and thought about that, "That's a good plan. How long until this guy gets back home?"

  "He'll be on the train within the hour," Arthur told him. "It will be interesting to see if the Ascendants do continue their plans for revenge, or decide that Morgan's lot is too powerful to take on."

  Sean nodded, "Well, I better get back home and get cracking on the defenses then with everyone else. It never occurred to me that the other Ascendant councils would seek revenge like that." Sean stopped and thought a moment, "Has anyone been keeping an eye on the Gradatim members?"

  "We are now," Chad said. "We most definitely are now."

  "Well, I must see to the writ for our Mr. Stewart. If you'll excuse me?" Arthur said and left them standing there.

  "So," Sean said turning to Chad, "what are we going to do about these people in Sacramento?"

  "Nothing," Chad said.

  Sean looked at Chad, "What?"

  Chad sighed and shook his head, "If we attack the Ascendants in Sacramento, then we're just putting ourselves back in the crosshairs of all those people coming out h
ere to slaughter lycans."

  "That's not acceptable, Chad," Sean warned. "We have to do something, they killed my people, there has to be a response."

  "That may be, but we have who knows how many people on their way here to attack us and we still have the Vestibulum to deal with! You need to consolidate your powerbase, here, before you try to start projecting it elsewhere!"

  "Chad," Sean growled.

  "What!" Chad said looking up at him; Sean had suddenly shifted into his hybrid form, and was looking down at him.

  "This is not a suggestion; it's not even a request. It's an order. You will figure something out, something that drives the point home to them that they made a very big mistake. What that is, I'll leave it up to you. But you're going to do this and you're going to do it soon."

  Chad fumed a moment, "I thought we were friends, Sean?"

  Sean smiled, "We are friends, but you and I both know that you're the only one who can figure something out. You weren't drafted, Chad. You signed up of your own free will, and the only reason everyone listened to you, was because I growled at them and told them they had no choice.

  "Well, now it's your turn, you have no choice and I'm growling at you. Get this done. You've always wanted to be a soldier and now you're a big one. So just shut up and soldier. Go figure something guileful and cunning out and get me a win. Teach those assholes a lesson without killing them."

  "You know, you really suck at pep talks," Chad grumbled.

  "Life's a lot harder when you can't roll for charisma checks," Sean agreed.

  "Fine, I got an idea, I was going to hold off on it until we'd dealt with those Vesti clowns. But I'll get on it. I'm gonna need about twenty more collars and tags."

  "We got some out in the car, come on," Sean said and shifting back to his human form he led them all outside.

  "Was shifting really necessary?" Sean's mother asked him after they had gotten back into the car and Chad had left.

  "Chad remembers me as me, Mom. He's an old friend; he forgets just who I am now. I don't blame him, hell, I forget sometimes myself! He needed a reminder, that's all. I'm the boss; I'm a big bad lion with magic, an attitude, and even mystical powers when everything else fails."