by Jan Stryvant
Sean noticed that Art was looking just a little uncomfortable. Obviously, there was a story there, and just as obviously it wasn't any of his business.
"Well, if you can get any of your friends back in Sacramento to let us know what their husbands are up to, maybe we can arrange a little weekend get together with their old boyfriends. Provided they're willing of course."
Art snickered, and Sarah smiled, "I'll be sure to let them know."
At lunch, Sean corralled Jolene to go with him to visit her uncle, Daelyn was busy with building the hardware for his prototype, Roxy was going over some of the defense issues with Oak and Maitland, and of course Peg and Cali weren't back yet, so he grabbed Roberta to come along with them. It didn't hurt that Roberta was a better driver than either of them.
"You know," Jolene told him on the way over to her uncle's home, "if the Ascendance is planning something, and if they have talked to Sapientia about it and asked for their help to perform the silencing spells, Arthur isn't going to be able to divulge any of that."
"Actually, I hadn't realized that," Sean admitted. "All the more reason to talk to Eruditio next I guess, and continue to try and develop our own sources of information."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it, if I were you," Roberta told them both.
"Why?" Sean asked.
"Yes, why?" echoed Jolene.
"Because Arthur has thrown in with Sean and the rest of us. His path to power, for him and for Sapientia, is through the freeing of the lycans. It's in his best interest to side with us and not to side with the Ascendance. I'm sure everybody knows that now as well. So I don't really think that any of the councils or covens out there are going to broadcast their attempts to the one group who is the most likely to stop them."
"You sure about that?" Jolene asked.
"My mom is," Roberta chuckled, "so, yeah."
"Still," Sean said, "it's best to keep it in mind that it could happen, even if it's unlikely."
"Just remember that Arthur and even Joseph are always going to put their welfare and goals first. It's nice to be friends with them and to always try and stay on their good side. But they will always be fickle allies at best."
"What about the Guild?" Jolene asked.
"The Guild has a very vested interest in lycans," Roberta smirked, "so you could say that they're somewhat biased."
"Yes," Sean laughed and patted Roberta's thigh, "I've noticed."
Stewart's Truly Terrible Afternoon
Rachel watched as Stewart worked. She actually felt sorry for the kid, a new and novel sensation for her, she'd never felt sorry for any of the 'masters' before in her life. Stewart's father had continued to find fault with everything she did, whenever she was around, and because of her lycan hearing, she could hear him finding fault with Stewart when she was up in his room.
She wasn't surprised that the kid's brother and sister had left home, or that his mother had run away as well. She just wondered how the kid had been so unaware of it all for so long, each night now he'd come to bed with an almost shell-shocked expression on his face. She'd noticed that he'd taken to standing between her and his father, whenever she was in the same room with them.
That hadn't gone unnoticed either, and his father had given him more than one nasty tongue lashing over it. Rachel, however, had been sure to show Stewart just how grateful she was every night. She knew sooner or later, something was going to give, and she'd been making plans to figure out her escape.
If only Stewart wasn't so afraid to let her out of his sight. Then she could go find something a bit more suitable for his father's food and maybe put an end to this whole problem once and for all.
Stewart looked at the spells settling into the ring before him and shook his head. It was better than his previous attempt, but it still wasn't right. What he needed was someone to teach him, the books he'd been reading only went so far, too many enchanters held their techniques a closely guarded secret.
When Stewart had asked his Grandfather to teach him, the old man had been more than happy to do so, and Stewart had been making great progress, but after his father's blowup, his father must have called his grandfather and filled him in on exactly why his mother Sarah had left. That or perhaps the local rumor mill had finally caught up with him.
Because showing up at his Grandfather's that Thursday had not gone well. Stewart's grandfather was not only mad at his daughter for having the 'temerity of a bitch in heat' to leave her powerful and successful husband to run off with a lycan, but he was also mad at Stewart's father for treating his daughter 'with such uncaring coldness that she took up with an animal,' he was even mad at Stewart now for having been born from 'such a loveless and self-serving duo.'
So Thursday afternoon found Stewart in the council library and workshop as he tried to learn on his own. He'd come back here on Friday and done it all again. This morning, with the mood his father was in, he decided he'd rather spend Saturday here than be in the same house as his father, even if he had been planning on spending the day in bed with Rachel.
Picking up the ring, he gave it a careful examination using the magical tools he'd learned from his grandfather in the past, when he'd first tried to convince Stewart to become an enchanter, instead of a strike team leader, like his father wanted him to be. Stewart had to shake his head at that, looking back at it now. He had all of his grandfather's gifts and none of his dad's abilities with mind magic.
But he had wanted to make his father happy, and yeah, he liked the gifts or bribes as his brother called them, that his dad gave him to get him to do as he was told.
Well, the trip to Reno had proven what a bad idea that was, he could only hope that his grandfather would forgive him and take him back eventually. Maybe once his mother's running off wasn't such a scandal anymore.
"So, just what are you trying to do?" Rachel finally asked, more out of boredom than anything. Stewart was so terrified of what his father might do to her that he'd been keeping her by his side constantly.
"I'm trying to enchant this ring with an anti-domination spell. But it's not laying down into the matrix I've put underneath to anchor it."
"Why?"
"If I knew why, I'd be able to do it right," Stewart grumbled.
Rachel giggled, and suddenly Stewart didn't feel so frustrated.
"I meant, why are you trying to make an anti-domination spell? Isn't that like, the opposite of what a mage would want to do?"
Stewart grinned back at her a little ruefully, he didn't know why she always made him feel so good, he was just happy that she did.
"To piss off my dad, do I need a better reason than that?" he laughed and was pleased when Rachel laughed with him. "But the truth is, I need to learn how to actually do something. My dad wanted me to become a strike team handler. Said it would make a man of me, harden me, and teach me what was important. He also said it was the best way for me to move up to a council seat."
"So, why didn't you?" Rachel asked. She knew what a strike team was; the idea of Stewart leading one was laughable. He wasn't cruel, and he wasn't all that tough.
"Because I didn't like it."
Rachel's eyebrows went up, "You actually did it?" She found that hard to believe.
"Yeah, I did it," Stewart sighed, "and everybody but me died. Well not everybody, one of the other leaders murdered his partner and ran away. But it was..." Stewart sighed again and shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it."
"I'm sorry," Rachel said and patted his hand, surprised that he flinched.
"Don't be. You've got nothing to be sorry for. Me on the other hand..." Stewart snorted. "Anyway, I've decided to follow in my grandfather's footsteps and become an enchanter. They make good money, and I'm starting to think that the sooner I get out of my father's house, the better.
"But I need a lot more training. I can make simple trinkets, like the rings I gave you, but more involved stuff, like this ring," Stewart pointed to the ring on the workshop table, "I need more training."
"Isn't there someone you can apprentice to?"
Stewart laughed, "Yeah, my grandfather. He's the only enchanter in the area, well other than this guy up around Tahoe somewhere."
"Oh," Rachel said, remembering the things his grandfather had said. "Maybe he'll forgive you?"
Stewart nodded, "Maybe. But I'm starting to realize that us magic users can be incredibly stubborn assholes. Just how do you guys put up with us anyway?"
Rachel smiled and thought about all of the things she'd done to get even with her previous masters, including killing the last one.
"Oh, we manage."
Stewart leaned over and kissed her, "Glad to hear it. Now, do you think you could run over to the restaurant across the street and bring us back some lunch?" Stewart said and pulling out some cash he handed Rachel a few bills.
Rachel smiled and hopped her feet and walked out of the room. Finally! A chance to be on her own. If she was lucky, maybe she'd find something to solve Stewart's problem.
Stewart smiled at the way Rachel bounced off her chair and out of the room, then returned to looking at the ring and watching the spell he'd laid on it. Without being attached to the anchor matrix, it was just falling apart and fading away, just like the last six attempts he'd made since getting thrown out of his grandfather's.
That was when he noticed it. It was falling apart the exact same way each time! The spell was breaking into components, and the components were then fading away. The root component of the spell, however, that was the one that lasted the longest. Maybe if he tried that one first, then layered the others on top of it? It would be a lot slower, but the more powerful spells were supposed to be harder to enchant. Maybe this was why?
Stewart grabbed a piece of paper and started to write out the things he'd need to do to only cast the root component of the spell, he'd have to make a few minor changes so he could link the next part to it.
Head down in his work he didn't even hear the door open.
"Ah! There you are, Stewart!"
"Father!" Stewart said, looking up in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"What, a man can't look in on his son?" Kurt smiled happily.
"I thought you didn't approve of my learning to be an enchanter?"
"Well, a man has to learn a skill, and enchanting is an honorable way to make a living. Besides, until we set things right, there really isn't a lot of need for a strike team leader."
"Thanks, Father. Honestly, after what happened in Reno," Stewart shook his head, "I'm not so sure I'm suited to the job. It was a failure after all."
"Nonsense!" Kurt smiled and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "You didn't do anything wrong, in fact, you did everything right. It was that bastard Matt who messed things up, his killing Stan to cover up his mistakes proved that!"
Stewart noticed then that there was a young woman standing behind his father. An incredibly attractive young woman who was looking him over very carefully.
Stewart felt his blood run cold. No, it couldn't be!
"So, seeing as you did what I asked you to, and everyone agrees that you weren't to blame for what happened, I decided to follow through on my promise. Happy Birthday, Stewart!"
And with that, his father stepped aside and gestured to the young woman. Actually, she looked more like a girl. Stewart suspected that she was barely eighteen.
"My name's April," she said in a shy voice and shifted, the tight clothing showing off a very sexy fox lycan hybrid body.
"She's all yours son! Your very own fox girl slave!"
Stewart sat there, blinking, literally gobsmacked. He didn't know what to say, April was hands down one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen in his life, but after what his father had been doing, just where the hell does something like this come from?
Just then Rachel came into the room from the other entrance and looking at her, Stewart smiled, yeah, April was hot, but Rachel was his.
"Oh, and I guess you won't be needing that annoying wolf anymore," his father said.
Turning back to his father, Stewart jumped to his feet, "Wait! Hold it right....
Kurt incanted the spell that connected to the silver pellet in Rachel, and then uttered the trigger word, "Rumpelstiltskin!"
Rachel screamed and turning to look back at her, Stewart watched, dumbfounded as she collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.
"What have you done!" Stewart yelled back at his father.
"She disrespected me!" Kurt said holding his hands up and looking innocent. "Besides, I replaced her; I got you that trained fox you wanted!"
"You had no right!" Stewart yelled, fuming. "Rachel belonged to me! I paid for her, I bought her! At the very least I could have ..." Stewart grabbed his hair with his hands and wanted to scream.
"She was going to kill you! She murdered her last master! She poisoned him! I was doing you a favor, Son!"
"Get out, Father! Get out now!" Stewart screamed and just pointed at the door.
Smiling Kurt turned and headed for the door, maybe the boy was finally developing a spine.
"Not you," Stewart said and pointed to April, "You belong to me now, you heard him. Come here."
April was shivering, eyes wide, staring at the body lying on the floor.
"Yes, M...master."
Stewart glared at his father as he left the room, then ran over to Rachel, and carefully picked her up.
"Come on, April, I need you to get the door."
April just nodded, her eyes still wide, and she ran over to the door and opened it.
"Lead the way, I'll tell you where to go," Stewart said and directed her to where his car was parked. Opening the back door, he carefully laid Rachel's body in it.
"Get in the passenger's seat," Stewart told her, "and shift back into your human form."
April got in the car and sat there; shivering in fear as Stewart got in and they drove off.
Stewart waited until they were a few blocks away from the council house.
"Okay, Rachel, you can sit up now."
Sighing Rachel sat up in the back seat, and April squeaked.
"She's not dead?"
"No, and after we deal with this, I'll change your trigger word so my bastard of a father can't kill you either."
"Ummm," April looked around, a little panicked.
Stewart looked over at April, and thinking about just how much of a bastard his father really could be, he cast the anti-domination spell on her and from the way she shivered again, he figured he must have hit the target on that one. Most people couldn't cast a domination spell on a lycan, but his father was a master of mind magic, and it's not like he'd have allowed April to resist him.
"Now what?" Rachel asked. "If you take me back home, he'll know you lied to him."
"I need to think," Stewart sighed. "But I'm not letting him kill you, and I'm not selling you to some other asshole. If there's one thing I learned in Reno..." Stewart stopped and thought about it. Reno. Yeah, Reno was definitely the answer. Turning the car around, he headed towards downtown.
"Where are we going?"
"Amtrak."
"Why Amtrak?" Rachel asked, bewildered.
Stewart glanced at April. "I'll tell you when we get there."
"April, wait here in the car," Stewart told her when they got to the station, "Rachel come with me."
Not exactly sure what Stewart was up to, Rachel got out of the car and followed him into the station, where he immediately bought her a ticket for the next train to Reno. Thankfully it was only an hour until it left.
"Why Reno?" Rachel asked him.
"There's a lycan revolt in Reno. Or rather there was. They run the town now, and everybody up there is free."
"What? How can that be?"
Stewart shrugged, "I don't know, but I do know that some big lion is leading all the lycans and that they've found a way to make you immune to silver or something."
Rachel's eyes got wide when he said that.
"Look, that's where all the l
ycans from my council are, that's where my mom is! Find her, her name is Sarah, Sarah Reese. Tell her I sent you, she'll help you. Here, take this," Stewart pulled out his wallet and gave her half the money in it.
Rachel took the money and then looked up at him. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because saying you're sorry isn't enough? I may have been a big enough bastard to have bought a sex slave, but I'm not a big enough one to want to see you killed, or even hurt."
Rachel smiled and kissed him, "You're not a bastard at all Stewart. Honestly, I think you're really sweet."
Stewart grinned down at her, "Were you really going to poison me?"
"You? No, of course not! I figured by the time I was done with you, you'd put me in charge of your household, and I'd have a nice cushy life. No," she growled, "It was your father I was going to poison!"
Stewart chuckled and wrapping his arms around Rachel, he pulled her close and kissed her, enjoying the fact that she kissed him back warmly.
"You know, I'm sure you could get another ticket to Reno," Rachel grinned.
"I don't think I'm all that welcome up there," Stewart sighed. "Besides, I left April back in the car."
"Ah, your new sex slave."
Stewart snorted, "I doubt she'll ever live up to the old one. Hell, who am I gonna get to cook my meals now?"
"Bye Stewart, thanks. Oh, in the bag of food back in the shop is a container of rat poison. You might want to try that on your dad."
"Eh, rat poison is too slow. I'll look for something better!" Stewart grinned and giving Rachel one last kiss, he left her there and returned to the car.
"Master?" April asked him.
"First off, it's Stew or Stewart in private. Master when my father or other people are around. Now, how about you tell me your keywords, and I'll make sure that if worse comes to worse, you get to go to someplace safe, instead of an unmarked grave?"
April looked out the window at the train station, then back at her new Master. Who had just stood up to his father and disobeyed him. And gotten away with it. To save the life of a lycan who he then just turned around and let go.