by Jan Stryvant
"Well, I'll try not to give any of you any more shocks, but sadly I can't make any promises yet."
"So what next?"
"I was thinking we would go over the books? I'm curious where things stand."
"Well, money isn't coming in as fast as it used to; with the war heating up, markets are getting tight. But on the other hand, with the government helping us on supplies, our expenses are going down. Once the casino opens, I expect things will improve drastically."
Sean sighed. "I forgot all about the casino!"
"It's been a while, but we're almost through the licensing committee."
"So how much money do we have?"
"Forty million, roughly."
Sean's eyes got wide. "That much?"
"The Secret Service bought that machine you made for their badges for ten million, and the government signed a long-term lease for one collar machine and one tag machine. Twelve million upfront, with a half million dollar a year usage tax."
"Huh," Sean said and, after giving Deidre a kiss, he sat up and stretched as she watched him.
"I could look at that all day!" she laughed.
Sean smiled down at her dark-skinned body lying sprawled out on the couch, looking relaxed and very well loved.
"Yeah, I feel about the same looking at you." He patted her on the hip. "Put the highlights in a report, I guess—keep it short and sweet—and I'll look it over in the morning. Right now I think I need to shower. Hopefully I haven't missed today's meeting, so I can find out what's been going on while I was gone."
"What about Sheila?"
"What about her?" Sean asked, curious.
"Aren't you going to spend some time with her?"
Sean smiled warmly. "Of course I am. Nice to see you care. Now, let's go see how our daughter Celeste is doing. Then I definitely need to shower and eat!"
Sean walked into the conference room and looked around; surprisingly, everybody was there, not just his wives and the crew up here at his ranch, but the entire lycan council, as well as Arthur and Joseph from Sapientia and Eruditio, respectively.
For the first time since he lost the First, Sean actually missed him, because right about now they'd be trading witty barbs about him making them wait while he was off making one hell of a racket with Deidre.
He felt a little embarrassed about that until his own lion rose up inside him to remind him he was the boss, and it would save him having to remind them of it.
"Well, this is a little unexpected," Sean said with a smile, while looking around the room. "Nice to see you all again."
Chad surprised him by coming over and giving him a hug and a pat on the back before sitting back down.
"Welcome back, Sean," Claudia said.
"And let me add," Chad said as he reseated himself, "that while everyone appreciates what you did that day, please don't do that again!"
Sean nodded as he stood at the front of the table, everyone looking at him.
"I know it was a dangerous choice, but honestly, two things came out of it that made it all worthwhile," he said with a grin while looking over at Estrella, who looked wonderful in the tight outfit she was now wearing, her long black hair swept over and onto her right shoulder. "Estrella, my wife, and saving our people from being wiped out."
Sean held up his hand as he saw a few people open their mouths to debate that statement.
"Understand, I saw what was on the other side of that gate, and there's no way we could have taken that on then and there. The situation was even more dire than we thought. Trust me on that," he said, looking around the table.
"Now, as for the other thing." He turned and smiled at Estrella. "Overlooking my personal involvement with Estrella, which again made the trip worth it." Sean grinned as Estrella blushed. "What all of you will really appreciate is that she's lived there for fifteen hundred years. She knows everything about them. Their culture, their leaders, their habits, their strategy, and I daresay even their tactics."
"I need to talk to you," Chad said, leaning forward and looking down the table at Estrella. "Like, for the next twenty days." Chad then turned and looked up at Sean. "I'll forgive everything if you put her on my staff."
"That was quick!" Claudia laughed.
"Our biggest weakness is a total lack of intelligence from the other side of those gateways." Chad leaned back and smiled. "Sean's right. Course, he'd still be right if he'd just saved her because she needed saving."
"I couldn't have done it without her, Chad," Sean said with a smile.
"You always need saving, that's why we all love you!" Roxy said, smirking.
"I love you, too," Sean said and, taking another look around the room, he finally sat down.
"Okay, let's go around the room, and everyone can fill me in on what I need to know."
"I'll start," Jack said, raising his hand. "As of today, we now have eighteen thousand lycans in the military."
Sean interrupted him, a very surprised look on his face. "Wait, did I hear that right? Eighteen thousand?"
Jack nodded.
"How are you infecting them so fast?"
"I've got a pretty big team at this point, Sean. I convinced a handful of lycan NCOs I know to come help vet people, and the local lycan clans have all been pretty generous in their support, especially Claudia. I don't know if I could have done so much so fast without her help."
"Oh, okay. So what are these folks? Infantry?"
Jack nodded. "Mostly. The Marines showed up today, and we're hoping to get a lot of them."
"Why's that?"
"Air power," Chad piped up. "The Marines have a lot of it. They're used to doing their own close air support."
"We also have an armored battalion coming here," Jack continued. "I'm not sure yet how or what they're going to do, but Chad's told me he has plans." Jack shrugged. "So I'm not gonna argue with him."
"How many do you think we'll have by the end of the month?" Sean asked.
"Well, that's only eight days away, but with the way things are moving?" Jack shrugged again. "Possibly another ten thousand."
Sean nodded. "Right now, our biggest problem is the large gates. Because they last so long, and because King Sladd has gotten involved and is definitely pissed, I suspect we're going to be having a lot of trouble at those."
"I think he's just feeling us out," Chad said. "He's throwing as much at us as he can to try and learn all our tricks for when the big show starts."
"I think your friend Chad is correct," Estrella said. "Sladd is reputed to be one of their smartest; he's been a king for over twenty thousand years, as I understand it. Plus we killed one of his lords when we escaped. I do not doubt there is a fair deal of face saving he must engage in now, as well, to continue to earn the support of his lords.
"At least not all of the large helliges are under his control. So with any luck, we will not have to face him too many times before the main gateway forms."
"Thanks, Hon," Sean said and smiled, enjoying the way Estrella smiled back at him, looking just a tiny bit self-conscious from his free use of endearments in front of the others.
Sean listened as Jack finished, and they then continued around the room. He learned they now had two camps out in the desert, which Jack had set up, with help, so they had a brigade's worth of soldiers they could send to a gate almost immediately upon opening. They actually had a division's worth of soldiers now, and thankfully they had enough officers and NCOs to manage them. Despite what had happened this morning, a lot of soldiers were very interested in becoming lycans, because of their enhanced chances of surviving combat, if nothing else.
The reports on supplies were heartening. While iron ammunition was tight, the steel AP ammunition was coming in good numbers, and the dwarves expected to be ramping up to full production on their iron bullets soon, according to Daelyn.
Deidre gave a report on finances that was just a bit more detailed than what Sean had learned during their 'in-depth meeting' this morning. Next, Arthur discussed where
they were with the magical support they'd started to supply, as well as how they were working on improving their hunter teams. Joseph from Eruditio then went over what they'd learned about the djevels' behind-the-scenes actions here.
During this, Joseph dropped a bomb on all of them.
"Last week the leaders of the Council of Eruditio, with a fair number of lycans supporting them, attacked the headquarters for the Council of Vestibulum in Belgium."
Sean noticed the many shocked and surprised expressions in the room.
"We tried to talk to their leadership, their council heads, but they were quite simply refusing any and all attempts to meet with us. In the end, we were left with no choice but to go in there and deal with things."
"What exactly does that mean?" Claudia asked.
Joseph sighed and closed his eyes a moment before continuing.
"What it means is every magic user was put to death, the remaining lycans were freed, and the entire place burned to the ground and leveled. Those are the terms of the treaty of Stuttgart. The number of people found to be possessed was great enough, and many of those who weren't possessed showed signs that clearly indicated they had willingly entered into league with the Demons.
"Gerald Perkins, the leader of our council, has decreed—again, under the terms of the treaty—that every member, and I do mean every member, of the Council of Vestibulum is to be examined for any signs of contamination. William Bayer, the new leader for the Vestibulum, is cooperating fully."
"'Bout damn time," Sean heard Bill mutter.
"Well, I can't say I really care about what happened to the Vestibulum after all they've done," Sean said, looking around the room. "However, I do sympathize with the members of Eruditio who were forced to deal with it. If you need our help here in the US, don't hesitate to ask."
"What did Bayer have to say about it?" Chad asked.
"He was in Belgium," Joseph told them. "He'd hoped he'd be able to lure them out of the compound to meet with him to minimize the damage. The reason he's agreed to our terms was because he got to see, first hand, just how bad things were. The lead council had been completely subverted."
"Hopefully this means the local chapter will start cooperating," Arthur said, speaking up. "So far all they've done is sit on their hands and hide behind their walls."
"I guess that brings us to the last item for today, which I'm sure you've all been waiting for me to bring up. This morning's attack."
"I heard something about that on the news this morning," Arthur said. "They even had some footage of the aftermath at your building in Sparks."
"How was the coverage? Were they taking sides?"
"The reporter seemed upset that such a large-scale shootout took place in the middle of town. I'm not sure he was taking either side."
"Well that's good, I hope. The group up here were a bunch of people following some sort of self-appointed prophet or religious leader. We're still looking into that, as he got away. The other group is called the 'Anti-Lycan Society'. They seem to be just a group of people looking for an excuse to attack and kill people and have a different enemy every few months they go after.
"Normally they stick to chains and clubs, but unfortunately for us, someone decided to give them guns this time." Sean scanned the room slowly. "Somebody provided both of those groups with those weapons."
"Vestibulum?" Claudia asked.
Sean gave a shake of his head. "We don't think any of the councils, or even any magic users, are involved in this. But it's still too early to tell.
"But the point is, everyone in this room needs to start thinking about their security. Both personal and for their people." Sean looked over at Arthur and Joseph. "I think that also includes the magic users. If either of you think you need more of our people to keep your people safe, let me or Oak know, and we'll help."
"What about the other councils?" Arthur asked.
"Warn them, too. Like I said, I think this is something all of you need to worry about. Honestly, I think the councils are a lot more susceptible to this kind of thing than we are. So make sure everybody gets the word."
Arthur looked at Joseph and they both nodded.
"We'll make sure everyone is told."
"I can't ask for more than that. Anybody got anything else?" Sean asked, looking around the room. Adam gave him a look, and Sean shook his head. No one else had anything to say.
"Alright, meeting adjourned."
With that they all got up, and everyone took the time to come over to him, welcome him back personally, and talk for a moment. It took almost half an hour to get everyone out of the room.
"So, now what?" Roxy asked.
" Adam and I are going to have a face-to-face, I guess," Sean said, nodding to Adam, who was still sitting at the table.
"Dae, could you find out if they fixed my armor yet? I'm going to need it when the next gateway opens. Oh! And I'm going to need a few more machines made. Not sure what I'll enchant them with, but if we just gave the government two, we may need to replace them. Either that or make ones to enhance the badges of all the local police."
"I'll take care of it," Daelyn said with a nod.
"You're going to have to pay Sawyer a visit soon," Jolene said.
"Yes," Cali said and nodded with a smile, "I promised him I would bring Alska, along with Jolene and the twins."
"He wanted to see Jo's kids?" Sean asked, surprised.
"I think he wants to see me suffering," Jolene sighed.
Sean shook his head and chuckled. "After the next gateway closes, we'll pay him a visit. I need to check with him on that task I assigned him a couple of months ago."
"You assigned him a task?" Roxy asked.
Sean nodded. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now I need to talk to Adam." Looking over at Adam, Sean beckoned for him to follow. "I'll be out in my shop if you need me."
"Don't you have an office?" Adam asked as Sean led him out the back door.
"Where do you think I spent the morning?" Sean chuckled.
"I thought that was Deidre's office?"
"Well, now it is. I still keep my laptop in there though, and it's one of the places I go when I need to get work done without being disturbed."
Sean noticed Adam was giving him a slightly incredulous look. "Really?"
Sean nodded. "Oh, half the time I end up having a little fun with Deidre while I'm there, I won't deny it. But she's more than happy to just stand behind me and give me a neck or shoulder massage while I work to help get the kinks out. She's a lot more laid back than the others."
"Should I be worried about what happened between you and Ryla?"
Sean shook his head. "Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. She was just being a brat. I think she and Roxy have been going at each other for a very long time." Opening the door and looking around his shop, Sean tried to recall exactly what he'd been working on the last time he'd been in here.
"So, why'd you want to talk to me in private?" Adam asked, just a tad bit worried.
"In case there was anything you needed to tell me that you didn't want to say in front of the others, including," Sean grinned, "Roxy."
Adam shook his head and gave a small laugh. "Yeah, that wife of yours is something else. I think I've lost the feeling in my shin, she's kicked me in it so many times. But other than your people telling me horror stories about you in an effort to scare me," Adam shrugged, "not really."
"They told you stories about me?" Sean asked, surprised, as Adam nodded. "Which ones?"
"I think their favorite is where you put a bunch of people in a circle and forced them to beat one of their own to death."
Sean sighed. "Oh, that one."
Adam looked surprised. "It really did happen?"
"Well, not exactly like they said."
"Oh, that's a relief; they made it sound pretty cold!"
"Umm," Sean looked at the floor a little guiltily. "It was twenty-three circles of five. And it was cold. Very cold. Course," Sean sighed, "I have done
worse; I just try not to make a habit of it."
"Now I see why the First lets you call him dad. He can be a right bastard, too, when he wants to."
Sean looked up at Adam. "This from a man who murdered a colonel in front of everyone?"
Now it was Adam's turn to look uncomfortable. "Umm, I have temper issues."
"Don't we all?" Sean asked with snort.
"Oh, I don't have that much of a temper compared to the rest of you. Most things that piss a lion off, I don't get all that upset about. Usually I just don't care about what happens around me all that much. But," he shook his head, "if I do get pissed off, if something really angers me to that point, I'll do the cruelest, most vicious thing I can think of, and usually I do it immediately. I don't even think about the consequences, I just do it.
"You see, I didn't just kill that colonel, I told all the others that I didn't give a damn about their problems, and that if they didn't do what we lions ordered them too, we'd let the demons eat them all. It was 'do it my way or suffer the worst death impossible'."
Sean nodded. "Well, at least they got over it."
"As I'm going back to Las Vegas with Ryla, I don't think it'll mater. I'll be gone, so they can just forget about me."
"About that," Sean said, smiling at him, "you're not going."
"Wait, what?" Adam said, stunned.
"I need you. Here. You're staying. Tell Ryla I said she has to stay, too, if you want. Or I can tell her for you."
"Wait just a minute! I was told I only had to fill in until you were back!"
Sean nodded. "I'm sure you were. And if you hadn't hooked up with someone and I'd even thought you were eyeing my girls, you'd already be gone. But you did a hell of a job here, and I need help. So I'm keeping you."
"You can't do this to me!" Adam growled.
"Want to bet?" Sean stood up and growled back. "Look, Adam. I've heard all the stories from your mom, even a few from your sister. But I also heard everything you did here from Roxy and got a report from Hunter. Everyone likes you; you did a good job... Hell, even Chad doesn't want you to go.
"So I'm keeping you here. Because I need all the help I can get, and I definitely need another lion here who knows what the lions want, whom my people respect, and whom I can trust."