Trying Times (The Valens Legacy Book 14)

by Jan Stryvant

  It was a massacre, a complete and utter slaughter. The defenders never stood a chance, their weapons having no effect at all on the attacking lycans, as they lacked anything magical that could have made a difference. They flowed through the buildings, killing all who opposed them, and anyone who looked like they worked there, with the exception of the secretaries and the wage slaves.

  When they hit the intelligence section, Sean and the rest got their first surprise.

  "Demons!" one of the werewolves growled.

  "They're possessed! They're all possessed!" Sean growled. Looking around the room, there were over a dozen people in here, and the room was rank with their stench!

  "Kill everyone in the room!" Sean yelled. "Kill them and take their heads!"

  The fight got vicious as those in the room quickly ran out of ammunition and were forced to fight tooth and claw. But for all that it was as nasty and vicious a fight as Sean had ever been in, he felt a strange calm as he tore the head off what he suspected was the head of intelligence. He felt vindicated.

  "Torch the room," he growled.

  "Not yet!" Roxy said, holding up her hand.

  "What?" he growled.

  "I want to search the room, see what I can find. With any luck I can find the machine they used to print this!" she said waving the map.

  Sean nodded and gave her a kiss. "Cali, protect her."

  "But..." Cali started to protest.

  "I'll stay with Roxy," Estrella said, "Cali, go with Sean."

  Sean gave Estrella a quick hug, then left to find more people to kill.

  "Let everyone but their bosses go," Sean growled as they made their way up to the floor of the ambassador's office.

  When they got there the door was barred, but using a fire axe, it only took them a minute to break it down. Inside he found the ambassador and several other officials, all of whom were busy shredding and burning documents. Standing in a corner and looking terrified, he could only assume, was the ambassador's wife.

  He was surprised the man had the guts to stand up to him.

  "What is the meaning of this!" he yelled. "How dare you attack us on our sovereign ground!"

  Sean shot him in the head, followed by quickly shooting the others as well, stopping only before he shot the woman.

  "This is the price for trying to assassinate a lion. This is the price for killing my people and my friends. That's the meaning of all this," Sean growled at the stunned woman. Turning, he started to leave the room, when he heard her scream.

  "Sean?" Cali said in a voice that made him stop and turn back.

  The woman was pointing at her husband's body, which was twitching and changing.

  "Anybody got anything made of iron or steel?" Sean growled as he moved back into the room.

  "Catch!" Travis yelled.

  Turning back to him, Sean caught the axe they'd used to break down the door.

  "Find some more of these," Sean growled and, vaulting over the desk, he set to work on the ambassador's body as his wife continued to scream.

  "Shut up already," Cali snarled at the woman. "Or are you in league with the demons, too?"

  Sean was able to make quick work of the ambassador's body using the axe, taking its head off with the third sweep. But two of the others in the room, one man and one woman, were also shifting and changing as well.

  "Shit!" Sean yelled and engaged the man as he started to get up, hitting it with the axe and taking pieces out of it.

  "Cali! Out of the room!" he yelled. "And take her with you!"

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cali drag the hysterical woman out of the room as he continued to fight the demon that had taken over the man's body. Sean had taken off one of the arms, but he hadn't been able to get close enough to get it in the head. Adding to matters, the other demon was moving around the table to attack him.

  Sean was forced to vault over the table once the other demon had finally circled it, and backed towards the exit, using his axe keep them at bay. One of them he was sure he could take, but definitely not two.

  When he got to the door, he fought a defensive battle while he waited for someone to return with more weapons.

  That was when he noticed another demon getting up off the floor from under the bodies.

  "Shit! How many of these people sold their souls?" one of the wolves behind Sean yelled.

  "Here, throw this inside," Cali yelled.

  A fuel can of some sort when flying by him, with the cap undone, followed quickly by two more.

  "Light it up!" someone called.

  "I don't have a match!" someone else replied, flustered.

  Backing out of the room, Sean threw the axe at the closest one and cast a flame jet, fanning it over the demons as the entire inside of the room went up with a very loud woof!

  He then cast a force wall before the door to keep the demons from escaping.

  "She clean?" Sean asked Cali.

  Cali nodded. "She's not tainted."

  "What, what was that I saw?" the woman asked.

  "What you get when you sell your soul to the devil, that's what," Sean growled. He looked over at Travis. "Burn it down, burn it all down. I'm heading back to Reno."

  Mourning

  "You were right, Son," the First told him. "That wasn't something you could let pass."

  Sean nodded and sighed. "I know. I don't even feel guilty anymore; well, not for what we did. I'm more worried about the shit storm that's going to follow. I'm just glad Roxy kept her head about her while I was losing mine."

  "Oh? What'd she do?"

  "She found the printer the map had been printed on. If that guy I killed hadn't been dumb enough to write the phone number on the back..." Sean shook his heavily-maned head. He was moping about in lion form while his sleeping body rode back to Reno in the jet with everyone else.

  "Anyway, Steve took that, along with the map we found at the scene, and had a screaming fit at the Whitehouse over how 'America's allies are trying to kill Americans'. How they were trying to assassinate us in the streets. How they were trying to stop the very people protecting us all, while reminding them at the same time that lions are sovereign, and as my attack took place on German soil, the government couldn't do shit to me."

  The First chuckled. "Tisha told me, said Steve really went off on them while she just sat there, scowling at them the whole time. Good call on telling everyone to get out; the German Parliament is trying to pass a law as we speak to strip any lycans in the country of their citizenship and outlaw them."

  "I was thinking more along the lines that if any demons made it there, they could deal with them on their own," Sean grumbled. Rolling on to his side, he sighed as he shook his head. "And people say Adam has a temper."

  The First shrugged. "You lost one of your oldest friends to a bunch of duplicitous bastards, who you'd just found out were doing their damnedest to stop you from doing what I told you to do. Sorry if I can't fault you for any of it, Son."

  "Still, I wonder what they're going to try next? I mean, this is an act of war, right?"

  "You're in the middle of America, I don't think there's a hell of a lot they can do right now."

  "Then there's our own government, well, I mean the American government." Sean shook his head. "I'm sure no matter what Steve does, they're not going to be that forgiving."

  "According to those congressmen you had turned, the phrase 'We can't spare this man, he fights' has been making the rounds. There's also all the possessed, as well as the demons you killed there."

  "I'm sure it's still going to cause problems. It doesn't take much for someone to hold up our supplies, to take away our support. Yeah, they were full of traitors and demons, but unfortunately we destroyed all the evidence." Sean sighed. "So I don't think anyone's going to believe us."

  "I think you'll find the dwarves and the goblins will be more than willing to help you there, Son."

  Sean nodded. "Still, I can't help but feel like I made a terrible mistake. Sure you want
to leave me as the one in charge?"

  The First chuckled at that. "Son, right now, if we weren't in the middle of a war, I think there'd be a couple thousand lions on their way to Germany right now to have words with them. Look on the bright side."

  "And that would be?"

  "I think the British are about to make you a hero and name a holiday after you."

  "Are you serious?"

  "They've never been all that fond of the Germans, and you are a lion, after all."

  "I guess that's something. I think I need to get back to the plane and see where things are," Sean said, sitting up. "I'll talk to you later, Dad."

  §

  Opening his eyes, Sean looked around the airplane. Most of the people were asleep, but there were a couple up front by the cockpit talking with the pilots, and a bunch more sitting in the back by John's body.

  Sighing, he put his head in his hands, thought about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and what, if anything, he could have done that would have made it all turn out differently.

  But nothing came up. They'd attacked him before they'd even known he'd found the girls and hacked their systems. The NSA guy had actually called Sean to give him his condolences and tell him that John's work had gotten them into everything; they even found the order to assassinate Sean from the ambassador, using the local ALS people as a front.

  The German government really didn't believe the demons were that big of a threat, not to them, at least. Sean and the NSA guy had wondered on the phone how much of that was due to the influence of the traitors at the embassy, which lead to even more speculation about how many traitors there might be in the German government as a whole.

  But it was clear the German government seemed to think lycans were a threat, as most of what the government knew of them came from the different councils.

  So again, it circled back to their belief that killing him or any other lycan was no big deal, but hampering the defense of the United States and doing the kind of economic damage that would take decades to recover from was seen as something very much worth the risk, especially as all they had to do was give a bunch of crazy Americans the means to carry it out. They'd even given them the rocket launcher.

  It was just their bad luck that Sean had found them out.

  Roxy and Cali were curled up together, sound asleep. Roberta was studiously reading a book, or trying to, at least. It looked more like an exercise in ignoring everything around her. Sean hadn't realized she was that upset by everything that had happened.

  Estrella was up front talking with the pilots, undoubtedly wanting to learn what was keeping them in the air.

  Getting up, he decided to stretch his legs a little, not that there was all that much room in the jet. Sean really didn't want to talk to anybody, however, he was still torn between his own guilt and mourning. So that meant not venturing too close to the front were the others were talking, or too far to the back where the others were comforting Cenna.

  He ended up standing by Rachel's seat. Looking up at him, she smiled.

  "Thanks for letting Stew get the girls," she said in a soft voice. Sean noticed all four of the girls were sound asleep in their seats. Stewart was also sleeping, with his head in April's lap; he looked exhausted.

  "How is he doing?" Sean asked Rachel.

  "Tired, but he'll recover. He's been trying to change some of the things that were done to them. From what I'm hearing here, it's not exactly easy. I mean, I used to think I had it rough as a slave, but these girls? They have no idea at all what was done to them."

  "Ignorance is bliss," Sean said with a shrug.

  "No, it's scary as hell. They're like children, very young children, with no real concepts of self beyond 'making the voice happy' and screwing every chance they get." She shook her head. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for it. It meant a lot to Stew. He's got a soft spot in him, he wants to save the world sometimes."

  "What about you?"

  Rachel smiled. "I want to help him. He saved me, after all."

  "Just 'cause he sent you up to Reno after his step-dad tried to kill you?"

  Rachel shook her head. "He was looking to buy a young lycan slave on the black market. He'd never admit it, but he was looking for a sex toy. But instead, he bought me."

  "You're a very attractive woman, why wouldn't he?"

  "Because I'm almost ten years older than him? Young boys want young toys. But when he heard what was in store for me, he bought me anyway. Saved my life and treated me better than most guys treat their girlfriends, even though I was his slave. He was the first owner ever to put my welfare before his own, even before he sent me up to Reno. He's a good man, Sean. And you know what?"

  Sean shook his head. "No, what?"

  "You are, too. Now go comfort your wives, that's what you're here for," she said with a smile.

  "In a moment. I think I need to comfort somebody else first."

  Gathering up his courage, Sean walked to the back of the airplane where Cenna was sitting down. All of Travis's team, including Travis, were sitting there with her.

  They all silently moved out of the way as he came up beside her in the aisle. Dropping to his knees, he looked up into her eyes as he took her hands in his.

  "Cenna, is there anything I can do?"

  "I, I wish you could bring him back to me, but I know that's beyond your power, isn't it?"

  "I would have done it already if I could," Sean said softly.

  "It's just all so, so senseless, and so sudden." Cenna looked into his eyes. "We were talking about marriage. I'd been teasing him about getting him one of those collars the Sorceresses use."

  Sean smiled wanly. "What was his reaction to that?"

  "He, he liked the idea. He said, he said for the first time in his life, he thought..." Cenna shook her head. "But it's too late for that now."

  Sean stopped for a moment. He knew the spell that the Sorceresses used. He also knew, as a lion, he had certain gifts in that department as well.

  It should be possible.

  "Is that what you want?"

  "What?" Cenna asked, looking at him. "What do you mean?"

  "Do you want to have John's child?"

  "He's dead, Sean! How can I have his child?" she said giving him an angry look. "He wasn't even a lycan!"

  "No, but you are. When did the two of you last have sex?"

  "Last night... wait, you can make me pregnant with John's child?"

  "Do you want me to try?"

  Cenna suddenly grabbed both of his hands with all her might. If Sean had been a human, she would have crushed them. As it was, it was still painful.

  "Yes!" she said in a strangled voice.

  "Well, you'll have to let my hands go first." Sean smiled.

  She let go off his hands, and placing them on her abdomen, Sean looked down inside himself.

  'Too bad the First isn't here.'

  'Shift, I can help you. This is a part of both of us,' his own lion replied.

  Sean shifted into his hybrid form and concentrated. He remembered how he'd used his power to put his wives into season when they weren't, so his first step was to do that to Cenna, who gasped audibly.

  Next he looked at the powers he'd used to make his own children.

  'Think this will work? Or should I use the Sorceresses' spell?'

  'Do you want her to have a lycan child, or a human child?'

  "Do you want a wolf or a human baby?" Sean asked.

  "Wolf!"

  'Use our power.'

  With his lion's help, Sean channeled the power into her.

  'Anything else?'

  'She will conceive.'

  Blowing out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, he smiled up at her.

  "Thank you, Sean."

  "I loved him, too, Cenna."

  Standing up slowly, he shifted back to his human form, as it was way too small in the back of the jet for a lion. Bending over, he kissed her on the forehead. Turning ar
ound, Sean walked back to the seat Roberta was sitting in and carefully dropped into the one next to her.

  "Are you okay?"

  "No," she said with a slight shake of her head as she put the book down.

  "Want to talk about it?" he asked.

  "No."

  "Me neither," Sean said. Putting an arm around her, he pulled her head down into his lap and decided to spend the rest of the flight stroking her hair and doing his best to comfort her for a change. It had been a rough day for all of them.

  When they finally landed, he felt a lot better than he had when they'd taken off.

  Sean helped carry John's body off the airplane. John's parents and family were already there, waiting for them. Chad walked up and helped as they set the coffin in the back of a large van, then the two of them climbed in the back and rode with them in silence back to the reservation.

  Kweeda was there when they arrived, dressed in a ceremonial outfit. Sean bowed to him, but still didn't say anything. He didn't have any words, and he didn't understand the language. When he realized that, he also wondered if he could understand the language, so he quickly called up his stats program, scrolled down mentally to the lion abilities, and under languages, he found Paiute. Without a second thought, he put a point into it.

  He almost regretted doing so, because hearing them talking about John didn't make it any easier on him. They each took a turn talking about John, and when they'd all finished, they turned to look at him and Chad.

  "If you would tell us about John?" Kweeda asked. Chad got up first and spent several minutes talking about how he'd met John, and what John had meant to him, which had been quite a lot. Sean had never realized how close the two of them had been.

  When Chad finished, Sean walked up to the front of the room. Once again he wished the First was still in his head, because he'd love to let someone else do this. Then again, knowing the First, he wouldn't have let Sean off that easily.