by Jan Stryvant
But he couldn't understand them, not a one.
What's more, they changed! They changed constantly!
He wondered then if Bernard had done this, or if it had been his son? He suspected the father, a month ago the kid didn't even know what magic was, so he doubted the brat had learned to do something as complicated as this in such a short time.
That made him wonder, had that brat managed to read the book? To unlock any of its secrets? Not taking him alive with the book may have been a mistake, cracking the spell protecting it was going to take some time, and some serious work. Hiding that from Roger wasn't going to be easy!
"Mr. Wilston!"
Sam looked up at his servant as she came into the room, unbidden. Say what you will about the animals, but some of their women were rather comely, as well as fun in bed. Sheila was a comely one, alright, young too. A fox lycan he'd purchased from a dealer in England, she was a great deal of fun. He'd already had several offers for her, once he tired of her charms.
"What, Sheila?" Sam scowled; she wasn't supposed to come into his study without knocking.
"Sir! It's Mr. Hoise!"
"What? Is he here? Show him in already!"
"No, Sir!" Sam picked up now that she looked a little distressed. "He's dead!"
"What?" Sam said, standing, letting the book drop onto his desk. "How? When?"
"His servant called, she told me they just found him dead in his study, they think it was his heart, Sir!"
Sam swore and stalking around the desk he went past her and out into the hallway. "Tell my wife I've gone to Gerald's house to investigate this! Tell the staff not to let anyone but family into the house until I've come back!"
Grabbing his car keys, Sam quickly made for the garage. He didn't know that Gerald had a bad heart, him dying suddenly like this could set his plans back a fair bit!
Then again, Sam considered, right now Gerald was the only one who knew that Sam had the book. With the problems he was having deciphering it, his plans were all set back anyway.
But first, first he needed to get to Gerald's house and check to be sure that it was in fact a heart attack, and not something magically induced. If it were the latter, then he'd have to start watching his back very carefully.
Two hours later and Sam was seated around a table in the back of a small bar not far off the strip. He looked at the other five men who were there; all were well dressed like himself, but no so well dressed as to stand out.
"Was it a heart attack?" James, the one sitting across from him asked.
Sam sighed and nodded. "I checked him over carefully; there wasn't a single trace of magic to be found. Jessica, his wife, told me that he'd been complaining all morning of indigestion and not feeling well. He'd gone into his study to read for a while, and when lunchtime came around, one of his servants found him. He was already cool to the touch."
"Damn," James said.
"Yeah," Robert, who was sitting on Sam's right agreed, "Damn. Who knew he had a bad heart?"
"What does this mean for us?" Gary, who was sitting to Sam's left asked.
"It means," Sam grunted, "that we hold off for a few more days. If for no other reason than to respect Gerald's passing and let him be buried in peace."
Sam looked at each of them then. They weren't the most powerful in the coven, but each of them was the son of a key figure, and each of them was tired of waiting for their own chance at power, and was more than willing to go against their father's wishes to gain it.
"In fact, we may even be able to use this to our advantage. For now, we do nothing, but soon, soon I promise you," Sam told them with a grim smile.
"Now, I've been gone long enough, I need to attend to my own duties," and with that, Sam got up and left them.
"Well," James started to rise, but Gary put a hand on his arm, stopping him and looking at the others.
"What?"
Gary watched to be sure that Sam had in fact left.
"I found out something," Gary whispered in a low voice, causing the other two to lean in closer.
"What?" James asked, lowering his voice as well.
"Gerald helped Sam get some sort of book. They were supposed to get it for Roger, but once they got it, Sam killed Jamison and kept it for himself. Gerald told me he was worried that Sam might go after him next."
"Why would he say that?" Will, who was seated by James, asked.
"Because up until Sam killed him, Jamison had been onboard with the rest of us. Sam told Gerald that he had proof that Jamison had sold them out, but Gerald never saw it. Gerald was starting to get worried that he might be next, that maybe Sam was only using the rest of us to get power."
"And Gerald told you all of this?" James said, looking a little skeptical.
"Last night, when I went over there for dinner," Gary looked at each of them, "I asked the rest of you to come, you should have, then you would have heard it too."
"Still, that's a lot to take in," Robert said.
"Yeah, well maybe one of us should go check the body? If Sam killed him, then we may very well be next."
Gary watched carefully as the others sat back and considered that. His father Charles had been right; distrust would spread through these guys like a fire through a dry grass field.
"I'll look into it," Robert said at last, "my sister is dating his son, I can use that as an excuse to go over and look around."
"Okay," Gary said and nodded. He'd be sure to let his father know that they'd taken the bait and to arrange things accordingly.
Consequences
Sean yawned and tried to keep his eyes open as they left the guild. Roberta had lent them her minivan, and Daelyn was driving, as usual.
"You know, if you didn't run off in the middle of the night to abuse Roberta, you wouldn't be tired now," Roxy snickered.
"I also wouldn't be tired if you hadn't decided you needed a little 'abuse' yourself," Sean said and yawned again.
"Hey, I'm entitled! Senior wife, remember?"
"Uh-huh, and what's everyone else's excuse?"
"I don't need one, I own you," Daelyn laughed.
"Oh please, like the word no is even in your vocabulary," Jolene snickered.
"Well, I seem to recall certain people agreeing to loan me out, without my consent mind you, to a certain lady in return for a place to stay," Sean responded.
"And you went kicking and screaming all the way," Daelyn snorted.
"More like humping and roaring," Roxy laughed.
"Really, Hon, you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you want us to think you were at all upset with it," Jolene chimed in.
Sean sighed; all was right in the world.
"So, shall we check out the shelter first and see if either of the cars survived?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Sure," Daelyn said, "It's almost lunch time, wouldn't do to show up while everyone at the factory is on their break anyway."
Sean nodded, "Then let's do that. But let's drive up and down the road a few times first; just to be sure that no one's watching the place."
"They all think you're dead, I'm sure," Oak said from the back. "I doubt they're keeping an eye on it now. Especially with one less team."
"Still, it pays to be safe," Roxy said.
They drove back and forth down South Virginia several times, but they didn't see anything, or sense anything magical.
"Well, let's do this," Daelyn said and pulling off the road she drove down the side road into the drainage tunnel. "Lets go see what's left of my car."
Sean nodded and didn't say anything, just drawing his pistol and getting out of the minivan as soon as Daelyn stopped. Oak had opened the back door and already jumped out, his gun in his hand as well.
"I'll keep an eye on the entrance," Roxy said, moving back towards the end they'd come in from, also with a gun in hand.
"I'll just wait here," Jolene said, "I really don't feel like seeing any dead bodies today."
"Okay," Sean said and followed D
aelyn over to the hidden switch for the garage. When she triggered it, it just popped open like when they'd first come here.
"Power's out, but that's to be expected," she commented
Sean bent over and grabbing the edge of the door he pushed it up.
"Ugh, what's that smell," Daelyn asked, gagging as a foul odor floated out.
"Burned human," Oak said.
"Ugh. I don't know what's worse, the smell, or the fact that you knew what it was!"
"Jo, could you cast a light spell in here, please?" Sean asked.
"One moment," Jolene grumbled, holding her nose with one hand. "Boy does that stink!" and with the other hand she cast a spell, lighting up the whole of the garage area.
Oak immediately made a beeline for the dead body of his packmate, kneeling down and bending over to check his body. "They killed him," Oak growled, "he did his job, served them faithfully, and they killed him," Oak closed his eyes a moment, in obvious anguish.
"What was his job?" Daelyn asked.
"To grab Sean's book and then bring it up here to Jamison, then escort Jamison back to Wilston and Hoise in the van."
"Is this Jamison?" Sean asked walking over to the other dead body. Whoever it was, they were burned to a crisp.
"Yes," Oak nodded looking over at the body, "he was the only one wearing body armor."
"Guess there must have been an argument over something," Sean said looking over the charred remains. Turning, he looked over at Daelyn who had opened the door to her 'Cuda.
"How's the car, Dae?"
"She's fine!" Daelyn said happily. "Oh, I'll have to deal with the scorch marks from where mister human torch was standing when he got hit, and do something about the smell, but I bet she starts right up!"
Daelyn hopped in and sure enough, a moment later the 'Cuda started up without a problem.
"What about the van?"
"It looks fine from here!" Daelyn called as she shut the 'Cuda off.
"Well, that's something," Sean sighed, and getting up he went over to the metal door that led down inside. Putting his hand on it, he noticed that it felt a little warm, but not hot.
"I'm going to go down inside. See what survived the heat."
"Umm, you sure you want to do that, Sean?" Daelyn said. "There's four bodies down inside there that got poached. I doubt it's going to smell all that good."
"I'll be okay," Sean sighed. "Is it possible to get power doing down there again?"
"Sure, just close the valves by the door and give them ten or twenty minutes to reset, then open them again. But I don't know why you'd want to; it's going to be mess down there. The steam will have melted or cooked everything."
Sean nodded, "I know, but I need to check something."
"Well, let me move the 'Cuda out of here, it's already smelly enough."
"Can I go with you?" Oak asked Sean as Daelyn started the 'Cuda back up and slowly backed it out of the garage over to where she'd parked Roberta's minivan.
"If you want to," Sean told him.
"They were my pack; I would like to see them treated a little better than left to rot down there."
Sean nodded, then grabbing the latch he turned it and pushed the door open, the scent that hit him in the face almost made him, puke. He had to fight with his stomach a couple of times, to keep from retching.
"I hate that smell," Oak growled.
"What is it?"
"Charred fur."
Sean nodded and pulling out his flashlight he turned it on and made his way carefully down the stairs. Everything was wet and slimy, as well as warm. With the place sealed up, obviously the moisture from the steam as it condensed had no place to go.
When they got to the main room, sure enough, all of the pillows and pads they'd brought down had been destroyed. Going into the kitchen he looked at the box on the table. It was metal, so it had survived. So had the bracelets and tags inside of it.
Picking up the box he dumped it out onto the table, and felt along the bottom. There was a sticky substance there, which probably had once been tape. Turning his light back to the pile of necklaces and tags, it didn't take him long to find it: a small token, made of gold and still sticky from the melted tape was in the pile. Picking it up, Sean could feel the magic on it now that he was holding it. It was a fairly simple magical beacon. Calling up his enchanting program, he tarballed it first, and then erased it.
Slipping it in his pocket, he swept all of the necklaces and tags back into the box and went over to the panel with the two water valves. Setting the box down, he opened the panel and spun both of the valves closed, then picking the box back up he carried it up into the garage and set it down by the minivan.
Then he went back down inside to look for Oak.
He found him down on the lower level, looking at the cooked remains of his last packmate. Sean had seen the cooked chunks by the table in the living area, obviously from the one he'd frozen, and then two more dead bodies in the hallway.
"I want to bury them," Oak said looking up at Sean.
Sean nodded, "Do you want any help?"
Oak shook his head, "No, I can handle it. I owe to them, I was their leader."
Reaching into his pocket, Sean pulled out a wad of bills and handed them to Oak.
"The keys are in the van up above. I'd say go and buy some blankets to roll them up in first, and some heavy plastic bags as well. Maybe a few shovels too.
"Are you going to take care of Jamison as well?"
Oak nodded, "They killed him too, possibly because of us. I'll bury him with my pack."
Sean nodded, "Meet us back at the guild when you're done."
"Thank you, Sean."
"It's never easy losing family," Sean sighed and patted Oak on the back and then headed back upstairs. He opened the valves back up when he got there. With any luck Oak wouldn't have to rely on just a flashlight and his night vision for too long.
"Where's Oak?" Roxy asked as Sean came out of the garage.
"He wanted to bury his packmates, so I told him he could. He'll catch up with us at the guild later."
"We taking both cars to the factory?" Daelyn asked.
Sean picked up the box of necklaces and set it in the back of Roberta's minivan.
"Umm," He looked around at the girls.
"If it's all the same to you," Jolene said, "I'd rather miss what's going to happen next. I can take the car back to the guild, and check in with some of my sources along the way."
Sean nodded and closed the back door, then went over and gave Jolene a hug and a kiss. "Just be careful and keep out of trouble."
"I always keep out of trouble," Jolene smiled.
"I don't know, you took up with me, didn't you?" Sean winked.
"Yes, and now I know better," Jolene waved to Roxy and Daelyn, "see you back at the guild."
"Well, here we are," Daelyn sighed, she knew that someone was going to die and if Sean didn't kill them, she sure as hell would. Dwarves don't betray other dwarves, and even if Sean wasn't one, he was her husband, and she sure as hell was!
Sean reached over and patted her on the leg, "Time to see who runs."
"Yeah," Daelyn shook her head and grumbled, "but I still don't have to like it."
"Trust me, I'm going to be liking it even less than you," Sean told her. "I don't like having to do these kinds of things, as much as they have to be done."
Daelyn nodded and opening up the doors they got out of the car, Daelyn taking a moment to pull her hammer out of her handbag, she then led the others into the plant. Everyone inside was busy working as they walked by, just another dwarf leading a couple of humans towards the engineering office. Nothing that they hadn't seen before she was sure.
That probably would be changing rather soon.
"Daelyn! What a plea..." Garth's voice tapered off as Sean came into the room and shifted immediately into his hybrid form, the top of his mane actually brushing against the office's ceiling.
"What is this about?" Garth asked, notic
ing the look on both Daelyn's face, as well as the one on the face of the lion-were, who he guessed must be Sean, her husband.
"Someone sold us out to the Council of Gradatim," Daelyn stated rather bluntly, smacking her hammer into her hand.
"What?" Garth looked stunned, "What happened?"
"They raided us, two nights ago, after we brought back the samples from your office," Sean said slowly, growling just a little.
"Earth and Stone!" Garth exclaimed, "Was anyone hurt?"
"Not of ours," Daelyn said and smacked the hammer in her palm again.
"Well thank the gods for that, but what does that have to do with me or mine?"
"Someone, probably someone in this office," Sean growled again and looked at the three other dwarves who were currently in the office, sitting at drafting tables and following the conversation with wide-eyed apprehension. "Put a tracking device in with the samples. Roger McConnell gave it to them."
Daelyn nodded and pointed her hammer at Garth, "Does that name ring any bells?"
Garth's eyes got wide, and then they slowly started to narrow as he turned to look at one of the three dwarves in the room.
"Tarl, who boxed up that sample?"
One of the dwarves jumped in his seat, "Branff did. In fact he insisted on taking care of it himself! Said it was for a special customer."
"Did anyone else know who it was for?" Daelyn asked, smacking her hammer into her palm again.
"I didn't," Tarl said shaking his head, "not until just now."
Garth shook his head and then turned to look at Daelyn, "Only Branff was in the room when you ordered it, most everyone else was out to lunch. I don't think there's any way that anyone could have guessed, but if he's the one who boxed it up..." Garth shook his head looking about as angry as Sean did now.
"Where is he?" Sean growled.
"Out on the floor, he's running the stockroom today. The usual guy is out this week."
"What do you say we go pay him a visit?" Sean growled.
"Now wait a moment, you can't just go killing him out of hand!" Garth protested, "You need proof!"
"Oh, I have proof," Sean replied, "you can trust me on that!"