As Pete and John carried Tim over to a waiting pallet, Pete called out to Eric, “You shot him? Damn, even that’s cold even for you Eric.”
Eric smiled, “Yeah? I bet he remembers to ask more pertinent questions next time.”
Everyone chuckled at that. They all believed the werewolf with the mouth would use it to make sure he understood how the rules worked the next time.
It took no more than ten additional minutes before the Weres began waking up. By then, even Rickie’s small 9mm bullet was ejected by his body.
Dan wanted them all to see the wounds, so he didn’t want any cleanup done until after the video viewing.
Once they were all awake and provided with water, it was a quiet walk back to the conference room. When Rickie woke up, Dan had gone over and had a private conversation with him. He grimaced, but shook his head.
CHAPTER FIVE
The second part of the meeting had them watching the Nosferatu video, Bill and other, rather bloody footage.
Dan didn’t need to make the point that the first humans had been killed by Nosferatu. The humans who had taken them out had beaten the Nosferatu. If they weren’t good enough to beat the humans, they certainly could be Nosferatu dinner. It was a sobering time for the typically brash young men.
The picture of Bill in all of his vampire glory was a little startling to everyone. Here was one of the boogeymen; one of the vampires that mothers used to get their boys to mind. It made an impression before Dan continued the video and showed them other attack footage.
At the end of the video, some food was brought in and Dan released them to get into a fresh set of clothes.
Dan and John were pleased. While they hadn’t planned on shooting anyone, it was an object lesson every one of them recalled and it was only slightly painful for Rickie. It was more of an embarrassment than a pain since he had been in more shock than pain when Eric pistol whipped him into unconsciousness. He didn’t feel much of anything until he woke up.
They were pretty tired by the end. Pete showed them to their rooms, their duffles and let them know the area was expected to stay as clean as it was at this moment. All cleaning would be done by them. Also, he mentioned they might want to get as much rest as possible. John Grimes, the big guy, was known to get new recruits up early.
He closed the door to their shared suite at approximately 10 PM. Four hours later, John Grimes came in banging a trash can lid getting all of their sorry asses out of bed. The whole guard was with him as John used this time to get them back into the gym and running laps with stop, drop and give me twenty pushups, spread throughout the morning. Both guards and the new recruits stopped at 4:00 AM and John told them they had fifteen minutes to be ready for breakfast.
Every one of the grumps and complaints John heard only caused his smile to get bigger.
After breakfast and another session on Nosferatu training, John told the new guys to get ready for a sparring session. This time, all five were a little more cautious getting ready.
The time was 10 AM, now came the final test.
Tim, Joel, Rickie, Joseph and Matthew came out in their white workout clothes, Pete came out in a black set with a patch on his shirt. Darryl, Scott and Eric were standing together, their arms crossed. Pete was the only guard who started stretching and warming up. John got their attention.
“Listen up! You guys are obviously a new team we are moving through this training operation for the first time. However, it doesn’t mean that we won’t train you to be ready to work together if something happens tomorrow. Because we don’t know what can happen, I’m not comfortable without you guys already pulling together and working as a team. Therefore, you guys are going to work out who is going to be the lead of your team. I don’t know how a leader for a Wechselbalg team is chosen exactly, but since I don’t care who it will be I’m not going to push a particular choice. To make this as even as we can, the four of us are going to leave. Pete has decided he wants a shot at the leadership of the Wechselbalg group, so he is going at it as well. The only rule we have is any unnecessary or capricious damage will be counted against you and it might take only one such display to get you tossed off the boat. Depending on how badly you act will determine whether we toss you off with a life jacket or not, so don’t fuck up. There are video cameras around the room; we will not be taking someone’s opinion. If I can’t make a decision, it goes to Dan. Dan will get Nathan’s opinion and if together they can’t make a decision it goes to Bethany Anne.”
Tim spoke out, “Are you the lead for the humans?” Tim would feel a little better if he had been beaten by the head of Bethany Anne’s team, at least that way he could perhaps believe that he wouldn’t have lost to every one of these guys. He had watched all of the fights before his and had been impressed with all of the team members, but had secretly felt that he would have done better. John had dissuaded him that he was as good as he thought.
John looked at Tim, “No, not anymore. Our lead is a female and trust me, you don’t want to go up against her by yourself. We will often test the four of us against her. We have almost fought her to a draw, but we have never beaten her yet, so don’t push yourself to try that anytime soon, Tim.”
John looked at all of them, including Pete. “You guys need to figure this shit out for yourselves. The lead isn’t the strongest, he is the one who is going to get you guys through the dark and out the other side safely and accomplish the mission. Remember that concept as you discuss your leader.” John turned around and waved the other guys to follow him.
Team TQB wanted Pete to take this lead, but they couldn’t do anything about that now. Nathan had explained that Wechselbalg would follow only strong people. It didn’t mean that they would follow the strongest physically to the detriment of intelligence or wisdom, but they couldn’t and wouldn’t follow someone who wasn’t in the top as a fighter. It was built into their DNA. They, of course, didn’t realize that was absolutely the truth. Their DNA had been manipulated and they were unable to follow weak leaders.
When Pete informed John and Gabrielle he wanted to drive the new team, they both asked him the questions they could think of to make sure he was doing it for the right reasons. Both were satisfied with his attitude and emotional stability. Gabrielle had spent eight grueling hours training Pete one on one. Driving him to the end of his abilities and then kicking him while he was down. Asking him each time he was on the ground, his body mending the broken bones, dislocated shoulders and minor cuts she had delivered with her swords if he was willing to take this pain for his team?
Pete had to know, beyond anything these new recruits would dish out that he was capable to push through to the end. Gabrielle was finally satisfied that Pete had what it took to push through everything to accomplish this goal. If any of the new recruits could beat him, then that person deserved the title.
Gabrielle told him that if he threw his hat in to be the leader, he would be staying on the new team. He would be making his choice to make that team successful whether from a leadership position or as a team member just like in her group.
That evening, Pete consumed three normal dinners to get the energy he needed to recuperate from Gabrielle’s training efforts.
The door closed behind John and the TQB team.
Pete turned around to everybody and looked them all over. “Every one of you knows that only one of us can lead. Only one of us is going to be the one that we all look to drive us forward. I’m not pulling my punches; I’m not pulling anything that will stop me from making sure I’m the team lead. You had better not do it either.”
Pete continued, “The six of us represent the first Were Guardian team for Bethany Anne. If you were in New York for the meeting, you know I will not accept anything less than the utmost respect for her. For this reason, you will have to go through me, to make the team lead. If you believe anyone else, or you yourself, would make a better team lead then let’s get this discussion started.”
The guys talked it out for a
few minutes. Tim made it plain he was throwing in. He was almost apologetic about it, but said his inner wolf couldn’t have it any other way. Pete didn’t mind. Matthew, Joel and Joseph all said that they would follow either one of the guys. Rickie admitted that while he wouldn’t mind trying for it, he was still nursing some issues where he had been shot the day before. No one really believed that Rickie was powerful enough to beat Tim, so it wasn’t like Rickie was truly giving up a good chance at the leadership position.
It really came down to Pete or Tim. Tim had thirty pounds and a couple of inches on Pete, but he didn’t have Pete’s TQB training or the most recent experience Gabrielle had put him through. Pain wasn’t Pete’s friend, but he sure as hell knew pain intimately and had all the experience necessary to know what he could and would live through to make the position his.
Pete walked over to Tim and held out his hand, Tim took it. Both understood this wasn’t personal; it was just the way Wechselbalg decided things.
——
Bethany Anne was in her room, three monitors had been brought in to watch the discussions and the fight or fights. It looked like it was going to be just one between Pete and Tim. The fight was also being piped over to the other ship, where Todd Jenkins and his group of Marines were also watching. Everyone wanted to know if this group could pull together and be something more than a bunch of unruly young Were. This was a new experience, even for Dan and his group. No one had fought with Wechselbalg before. Thousands of miles away, there was one person watching this fight who wasn’t part of Bethany Anne’s group. Near Denver Colorado. Jonathan Silvers had been called and had admitted he would want to watch his son in his first alpha fight.
Jonathan was proud that his son was fighting, yes. However, he was more proud the way he was fighting. Pete had taken a hammering early on. Tim had the reach on Pete, but he got back up. Tim didn’t want to know who was going to beat who up first. Both realized this wasn’t a quick fight, but rather this was a fight to decide the future. Only one Were would be able to stand after this fight was finished. Many times, those who watched the fight cringed as a particularly hard punch or kick connected with massive follow ups. Pete was the first to go down and barely roll away in time. Tim wasn’t holding anything back, after the first five minutes Tim didn’t have any extra anger to release because he was fighting for his own ability to breathe when a particularly hard kick cracked a couple of his ribs. After fifteen minutes, both guys had separated to give themselves a minute to heal. Surprisingly, Pete had the better healing rate between the two of them.
They hadn’t started out as anything but two guys who needed to prove something to themselves and a desire to drive the future for Weres. Pete had a driving desire to leave the kid from Colorado behind and step into the shoes of the man who would help drive his kind into the future. Tim knew he wasn’t going back and was striving to be the only thing he knew to be, the one at the top.
Both were losing a little of themselves each time they connected or felt the brunt pain from wherever their opponent connected. Tim was bigger, he had the reach but Pete was well tuned muscle and well versed to make his strikes hit harder and more accurately. Both men kept pounding the other. Their faces were damn near unrecognizable. Pete’s right eye had closed up after successive poundings by Tim. Tim would lean on his right side, trying to not put so much weight on his broken left ribs that Pete kept crushing with punches and kicks to stop it from healing.
By the twenty-fifth minute, there wasn’t one person watching who didn’t respect both men. Pete had an appreciation for Tim he hadn’t had when he walked into the gym that morning. Tim couldn’t believe anyone was capable of taking that much damage and still stand.
Pete stopped dancing around and set his feet. “Was that the best you’ve got Tim? Can’t you put anything else together? I can go all day doing this shit. What are we at, twenty, thirty minutes? Ready to go for an hour or are you ready to stop doing the fucking tango with me and let’s end this. It isn’t that I don’t respect you, but there is no fucking way I trust someone I don’t know to move the Wechselbalg forward for Bethany Anne. We have more to accomplish than you know, and I will never quit, I will never give up, I will only finish my mission Ad Aeternitatem.”
Tim wasn’t sure what those last two words meant, but he recognized them from the patch. He nodded his head and walked up to Pete and settled into position.
Pete nodded, “I called it, you go first.”
Tim didn’t say a word, just reared back and let his first slash down to hit Pete in his half protected face. Pete stumbled, but stood back up and got back in position. It was his turn and he used it to deliver a solid upper cut that barely got to Tim before the block, Tim’s head blew back, causing him to take a couple of steps away before he shook his head and got back into position.
They went on like this, exchanging blows that came with less power and less accuracy for five more minutes. Blows that would have put most humans down on the mat. Todd’s group of marines all had their mouths open at the shear ferocity of the two men going at it like gladiators of old. No quarter asked for, no quarter given. No one doubted these two guys would have been some scary people to meet in a dark alley.
Pete’s left eye was slowly closing and Tim’s ribs had been re-cracked again causing him to spit up blood. They both grinned at each other.
Tim slowly spoke through thoroughly cracked and swollen lips, “For a skinny fuck, you’ve got a really good right hook.” Tim threw another downward slashing punch, but Pete was able to block most of the damage and kept it away from his face.
“There’s only one problem with my right hook, Tim.” Pete got himself back in position.
“Yeah, what is that?”
Pete let loose a lightning fast left that connected solidly with Tim’s jaw. Tim’s eyes rolled back in his head and slowly dropped to his knees and then slammed down on the mat.
Pete stood straight up and looked down at the man he had just bested, “My left hook is even better.”
Pete looked at the four other Wechselbalg, all of them having stopped everything but breathing as they had witnessed the two guys pummeling each other, sheer determination moving them through pain and injuries that should have caused them to drop to the mat forever ago. “Any of you guys want a piece of this? I’ve got all day. We are the Guardians. We don’t stop, we don’t quit; we will not know the word defeat. We will move through the darkness, we will defeat our foes; we will never leave our people behind. Anyone who can’t deal with that, step over here and let’s discuss it.”
Joseph, usually the quiet one, just shook his head, “Hell no.”
Pete kneeled down and grunted as he started to lift Tim up, “Come help me take our team member to medical, it seems he ran into a wall.”
Tim mumbled, easily heard by the Weres but unable to get himself to move his body, “No, a fucking freight train kicked my ass. As soon as I can move, I’ll buy you a … shit, I have no money.” Then, Tim dropped back into unconsciousness.
The team all smiled as they helped their new team lead carry Tim to medical.
The Queen Bitch’s guards lifted their beers to the monitor and said with solemn voices, ‘To Bethany Anne’s Guardians!”
Back in the United States, in a very pricey bedroom in Colorado a man stood with tears sliding down his face.
Two hours later, Pete had his new team of Guardians running through some of the same workout routines he had learned from John. Tim was right there with them and Pete told him that he and Tim would keep their bloody clothes on. Pete wanted everyone to realize how fast Wechselbalg guardians come back from what would have put humans in the hospital and he and Tim were the poster boys as they walked through the hallways. If either one of them had cleaned up, it wouldn’t have been as pointed an example.
The door opened into the workout room and the six guys looked over, expecting to see John or maybe Dan Bosse come in for a follow-up.
Tim and the guys, some who had se
en one of them before, felt their internal warning signals go off the charts. Two lady vampires had just entered the room.
CHAPTER SIX
Key Biscayne, FL - USA
Frank went looking for Lance, and found him in the kitchen making a sandwich. Looking up, Lance asked him if he wanted a sandwich for himself.
“No, thanks anyway. I need to get your opinion on something, or rather someone.”
“Ok, can we do this while I eat this roast beast?” Lance tossed a jalapeno chip into his mouth and grabbed a beer. “Want a beer?”
“Yeah, actually that sounds good.” Frank sat down on the barstool. His body had continued to get a little healthier and he figured he was probably in his late thirties about now.
“Foreign or domestic?”
“Foreign, I feel like living on the wild side.” Lance grabbed a Heineken and set it on the bar, closing the refrigerator after putting up the roast beef in the meat drawer.
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