Splinter - 7. Heart ache and dust

Watching what troops we could muster arrive was mondo scary. My pack had one hundred, the Rogue Valley Flock had sent their promised fifty, Goldie had called in fifty, Jack had fifty of his own. There were guns, shifters, magic users…I mean it was a fucking sci-fan con gone furry. The Alphas and Pat were in a rented office pretty much down the block from my old office building where Angus was holed up. The entire area was blocked off, folks had been evacuated by Lycan police because of a reported terrorist cell in the area. Hopefully, this would limit civilian casualties.

We had a city map enlarged to just show the area, but my dearest mate had a map of the sewers laid out beside it. A glance told me who made it. I recognized that stylized script. Even now the old wolf was helping us out. Gene had mapped the entire sewer system, including the places no sane person would go.

The four of us were looking for a nice way to get in. That was hard since it was designed to withstand a siege from outside forces. That damn secret bunker could not be breached from the outside without a drilling machine, and I had a feeling Angus was down in there waiting this out. I said as much.

“Fucker isn’t stupid,” said Goldie, tracing her finger along the maps. “He’ll be in there or he has already escaped without us seeing.”

Something told me he was still in there. I don’t know what, but I knew Angus would not abandon the pack’s stronghold. He’d worked too hard for too long to run now. Even that didn’t feel right. “He’s too stubborn to run,” I said, and Patrick nodded.

“What about an aerial assault?” asked Jack.

“There are reported snipers on the roof and an AA battery on the helipad. How he got anti-aircraft guns is beyond me,” grumbled Pat.

We all jumped when a voice said, “Leave them to us.” We all looked over to Minerva who had magically appeared with another group of people. I even knew a few of them. “Alphas all, these are the fellow heads of the Tribunal. I believe you already know Beta Levi Hawkins and Jessup Whitebear.” There were handshakes all around.

I did give a huge hug to Jessup and a smaller one to Levi. “What are you two doing here?”

Levi handed me an envelope. “In short, that says I’m here with two hundred Missionaries ready to be annoying.” I know the look I gave him was not amused. “What? Did you honestly think every missionary was just out to talk about the LDS? Who better to scout than people who just walk up to your door asking about Jesus Christ?”

For the life of me, I could not tell if he was serious or not. “Fuck it. Send in the pedal-powered pests. Glad to have you, Levi. Jess, if you get hurt, Brig will kill all of us.”

He nodded gravely. “I’m here to defend the command center.”

“Who put you in charge of that?” I’d have to speak to them about enlisting outsiders, although he was pretty much family. I was honestly glad to see him. Jess was a down-to-earth man with a good head on his shoulders. He also gave good hugs. Might need those more than the rest by the time this was over.

“Your son. Since he’s assigned the rest of his boys to protect Homestead, you still have yourself a bear protector. Brig and the buns are safe there.” I almost had to ask what he meant when I recalled his wife was pregnant.

“Wait…buns?”

Jess was beaming with pride. “Triplets.” Then his face became serious again. “Leave the command base to me, Alphas. You do your part.” And with that, the bear shifter ducked out of the room. He knew he had work and went to do it.

I turned to the Tribunal members. “I know why Aunt Minnie is here, but what about the rest of you? I’m sorry to be informal, but…no, I’m not.”

The elderly man gave me a smile. “Just like your son. To the point. We are here to keep magic from leaving the containment zone. We have a dozen other shamans around the area already setting up the first barriers. Only the Fire Mother will join your fight directly.”

“Then, if you’re here as defense and containment, I’ll leave you with the walking mountain that just left. If you happen to see my son, send him in, please.” Part of me knew I was being a bit rude just dismissing them, but this was no time for pleasantries.

As they left, I heard one of them chuckle and say, “Yes, he is related to Minerva. Business before patience.”

I turned back to the maps and just looked at them. I was no tactician. I couldn’t spot a weakness in a damn building. Maybe in a personal confrontation I might see they have a bit of a lag in their left hook, but this was a fucking inanimate object. I needed specialists.

“The biggest problem for the air is the AA’s. If we can take them out,” Goldie was saying, “then we can send in the birds. I know that ass has some troops inside, but he wouldn’t be expecting us to come in the top.” She had a point. Angus would expect us to come from some other direction than above. The only thing I couldn’t see was how we were going to get rid of them.

I listened as suggestions were thrown into the mix, but nothing seemed to be good enough to try without heavy losses. I didn’t want people to get hurt or killed on either side. There was no way to tell who was on Angus’s side by choice, by force, or by blind loyalty to the pack. Many of them could just be doing what they could to save the family and friends, and I didn’t want to hurt them.

Hurt Angus, good.

Hurt nice pack, bad.

Where was my damn specialist?!

“Don’t think so loud, Dad, I’m right here.” Dylan came marching in.

“Good. Get us in with the least number of casualties on either side,” I ordered. I didn’t tell him how to do it, just to do it.

He moved forward to look at the maps. The assembled group just looked at him as he nodded or shook his head, his eyes darting around the pages. Now is when I hoped he lived up to the nickname given to him by Quint. “Aunt Minnie, you take out the AA’s. Gently. Then join the flight coming in from the top, forward radiant heat, non-living, evil eye at max. I’ll send the rats in through here, here, and here,” he said pointing at places on the maps which were little more than vents, “which will open up a way through this path.” He traced the exact path to take like it was drawn on the map. “You will have exactly one minute and thirty-two seconds from the time the AA’s are taken out to get in and to the elevator down where Angus is waiting with twenty of his best troops. Anything more than that and both sides will start taking losses that can’t be fixed.”

Dylan moved his finger to another place and shuddered as he said, “Pat, you need to be here exactly twenty-seven seconds after Dad and the rest start across. Wear your leather harness and leather pants in your hybrid form.” He looked over apologetically to his other dad. “Pretend you agree, and just do it.”

Patrick just nodded and I think went to get changed into his “playtime” clothes. How the fuck did Dylan know he brought his leathers and why the fuck would he have to wear them?

“I’ll be leading our diversionary forces along here and here. This is very important, Dad.” He looked me straight in the eye. Rare for him. It exposed too much of himself to look most people in the eye for more than a few seconds unless he was being very serious. “Do not stop moving toward that elevator, no matter what. If you do, all of Homestead and the allied packs will be destroyed. Angus will win if you hesitate for even a second.”

“You’re going to get hurt, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Yup. I may even die. Let me worry about that.” I could see he was scared to death to even say that, but he knew it was something he had to do. “Understand? Too much is at stake to worry about me. More than you will, of course.” I felt tears in my eyes, but I nodded. I couldn’t shelter him or keep him from harm all his life. He was a grown man, stronger than I could ever know, and it was time for me to let him show me if I had prepared him for adulthood. God, please say I did enough.

“How the fuck do you know all this?” asked Goldie.

Dylan grinned. “You’re speaking to a group of gamers with super magical assistance. My boys are linked up with Phuong, Rhava, and Marcus. Too many hours of CoD mixed with a coyote’s Pathfinding and a shaman synergy to tell the near future.” She just blinked. “Hive mind link, don’t ask,” was all he said, and she just nodded. “Now. You will be having back-up coming in two waves. First one will arrive as soon as you reach the elevator if you are there on time. If you are late or take the elevator too early, you will not have that back-up and will be in for more of a beatdown. Make no mistake, you will get hurt.” There were grim faces all around, but we all knew this would not be easy.

“The last back-up…will get there when it gets there. I have no clue when or what form it will be in, but you will have a very powerful ally show up. Don’t ask me more than that, the shamans can’t see that far. And that, dear alphas, concludes your mission briefing.”

And Dylan fell over.

I almost caught him, but he never touched the floor as invisible hands slowed his descent and laid him gently on the floor. I just looked at Minerva. “That little conference took a lot out of him. Give him a few minutes to recover.”

“How did he do all that?” I asked as I knelt to smooth back my son’s hair from his face. He was slightly feverish, but honestly, I had come to expect such strangeness from him. Hence why I just told him to get us in. The Creep would accomplish it somehow.

“Dylan linked to Quint and the other boys, I linked to Rhava and his mates, then Dylan and I linked. It was nothing to establish the links for us all, but Dylan’s natural defenses against magic make it hard for him to sustain the magical side of the link in his mind. We all did what we could, but it still takes its toll.” She knelt and kissed him softly on the forehead. She was both aunt and honorary grandmother to him. “We have one hour to prepare. If it will make it easier, I will tell all involved of the plan. That way you can concentrate on your part.”

“Love you bunches,” I said with a smile. How had I grown up to be a semi-sane and functional adult without having Aunt Minerva in my life? If Pop didn’t go visit her the first chance he got, I would drag him by his tail.

That hour went by way too fast. Dylan had just come to, stood, gave me a rib-cracking hug, and walked out. I was so used to him being freakish that it didn’t even phase me much. The other alphas just gaped.

“You get used to it,” said my mate when he poked his head in the room. He had on his leather harness, and I couldn’t help but become a bit aroused. I was more amused by Goldie’s response to him. Her arousal spiked, and I knew she was remembering the times Pat and I had a threesome with her. He covered his furry chest with one hand. “Madame, do you mind? I am not a piece of meat!” he exclaimed with mock affront. Then he just took his hand away. “Jon, help me refit?” he asked.

I loosened the straps to their largest size. When I stepped back, he shifted into his hybrid form. Pat was one of a small few who could change any time he wanted, but outside of the full moon, he could only go partially Lycan. Maybe he had a small amount of Alpha blood in him. I mean he could use the Alpha’s Command voice, so who knows what my sneaky mate could do? The blond hair grew in thicker and snow-white, his face shifted more toward canine as his nose and mouth took on a more muzzle-like look, and he now stood about seven feet tall. I loved him in this form. It usually meant my ass was going to be wonderfully sore for the next week.

Jack grinned. “That will get their attention.”

Patrick pulled me gently into his arms. “Stay safe, my love.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead on mine. “You better fucking come back to me, or I will follow you into the next life.” All I could do was nod. We both knew this was going to be very hard on both of us. We could lose each other. We could lose family. Friends. There was no end to the amount we could lose in the next hour.

That was our goodbye. It didn’t have to be big or include any show. We knew we loved each other from here, to the moon, and back. If only one of us survived, it wouldn’t be for long, and we both knew that. This wasn’t a final goodbye. It was just…see you later, alligator.

All our alarms went off on watches, phones, a pager.

Five minutes until showtime.

We all went to our assigned places. I could see the top of the ECP building easily, and if I leaned over a bit, I could see the front steps. I saw barricades around the building and at least a dozen armed men crouching behind. For each one I could see, I knew I would miss another ten. I also knew their bullets would be silver. That didn’t mean much to me, the silver part, but a silver bullet to the head or heart would be fatal. Anything else I could probably survive.

It would be a rather fast walk to get to the doors. I knew they would be locked, barred, and maybe even spelled shut. They would be damn near impossible to get through even if we didn’t have people shooting at us. We had a minute and a half to get there, get in, and get to the elevator. We were so fucked. To top it all off, it was starting to cloud up. Yup, movie trope #16: The final battle must have rain.

Wait…those clouds were moving in too fast. They couldn’t be natural. “Get ready to move,” I told Jack and Goldie. They nodded. Both had a rifle in their hands. I had my hands changed into claws. We were supposed to be able to just walk over, so I thought it best to not have anything too flashy.

We looked up as the first rumble of thunder could be heard. Then we had about a half-second to shield our eyes as the sky exploded. I knew a fork of lightning came down and struck the AA’s, destroying them and tossing the snipers and other men off the roof. It scared some of the men on the ground, and as they looked up, we started across at a trot. I could see people falling from the roof, but they never hit the ground as RVF flyers came swooping out of the clouds to catch them, bind them in restraints, and drop them on a nearby building. Probably a few injured, but hopefully, no one was killed. If that was Minerva’s idea of gently, I would hate to see her try.

Gunshots were cracking all around us, some even hitting the ground inches from our feet or whizzing past our ears. Although it wasted precious seconds, we all had to look up when we heard a loud roaring howl from the building to our left. I chubbed. Pat was standing up there in his leather-clad glory, and no one could look away from how fucking hot he was. Or scary. I’m sure someone found him scary. Not me. I had to keep my boner in check. I was glad we had paused because, had we kept at the same pace, the grenade that exploded would have killed us. We moved on.

The copious scent of blood covered any chance to track hostiles by scent. Smoke made it hard to see, and that acrid stench made it harder still. It was hard going, but one thing I saw made my body want to shrivel up and die. Dylan-as-Lion was racing up the steps. He was sleek, muscular, deadly as he waded through the opposition there. A head would roll, and scream would be cut off, and then Dylan would move on. He was fluid death until he saw somebody he knew aiming a gun at him.

“Aunt Mariam,” he said. Her eyes widened, and Pat’s sister lowered her gun as she recognized him. She had stayed in the ECP as one of their hunters. Sure, she visited often enough, but she wasn’t much of a family person. Then we all screamed as Dylan’s head jerked back, and he toppled to the ground. A bullet hole oozing blood was in the center of his forehead. His pause had cost him, and I couldn’t move.

“That’s my nephew, you son of a bitch!” she screamed and began to open fire on her own allies. They weren’t expecting it at all and took some heavy fire. She may not like me much, I was banging her brother, but she had a small soft spot for Dylan. “Move your ass, mutt!” she yelled at me. Such a loving sister-in-law I had.

I couldn’t move. I was staring at my son’s body. My boy. My strong, stubborn, creepy boy was gone. He told me it would happen. He told me to keep moving, and by the way Goldie was shoving me forward, she intended I keep doing so. It didn’t stop her from sobbing her own tears. She liked the loud-mouthed smartass. Alice loved him oodles and bunches.

I heard engines roaring and saw dirt bikes come tearing through the gunfire. It didn’t really register that they were pretty much a biker gang of Mormon missionaries. It didn’t matter that they were zipping in, snagging any wounded person they could find, and riding off to get them medical help. They didn’t discriminate between allies and enemies. All I cared about was seeing three of them riding in formation and pick up Dylan.

Something in me just shut off, and I marched forward under my own power. I used the convenient hole Mariam made for us to get to the door. It had to be locked, and I went to just smash through it, but it opened. I looked down at one of my hunters. A wererat; guess Dylan had sent the rats in. As I stepped into the entryway, I saw a dozen Lycan wounded. None of them were mine.

In fact, as we made the elevator with a few seconds to spare, I looked around for that wave of reinforcements. They came jogging over from the carnage. Alpha Tucker Hayes, Alpha Sascha Ianevski, and Beta Foster Gracin. Fuck yes, I thought. Two more alphas and a beta with a huge chip on his shoulder. “Took you long enough,” said Alpha Ianevski.

“Had to get my mind back in the game,” I growled as I pushed the button on the elevator to go down. As the doors closed, my alarm went off. Creep for the win. I choked back a sob and shook my head. I could break down later. Right now, I had a mongrel to put down.

We had all of a second once the doors began to open before we had to dodge bullets. Not fucking easy when you’re trying to get out of a crowded elevator. Thankfully, we had a bear with us. Something goosed him to warn us to stay to the sides and low, so we had. Not a single bullet hit us. I was the first one out, shifting to my full lunar form and dashing at the closest enemy. I did take one shot that went through my ear, but that just pissed me off more. The gunman dropped his rifle and fell to the floor. Smart when you have a huge black wolf about to rip your head off. Two of the other nineteen troops surrendered when it was obvious they were facing off with alphas. The rest died. Not a single fuck was given.

“Foster, keep watch over them. Kill them if they move,” I said, and the beta nodded grimly. No kid gloves here. “Oh, Angus! Come out and play!” I yelled into the spacious room. I had beaten him here once already just before I founded Homestead.

I felt the air charge with energy, and then I was flying back trailing smoke from my chest and feeling pain. What hit me, a missile? I was able to land on my paws. When I looked up, I could see Angus McLeod had his hand raised and electricity crackled around it. The eerie purple sparks seemed almost as erratic as the look in his eyes. He was fucking insane. Nothing of the cool and calculating gaze remained. Whatever had been done to give him magic had made him a crazed whack job. More than before.

“So glad you could make it, Jon. Just the person I wanted to see. Once I add you to my little collection, I’ll be complete.” Even his voice sounded insane. His tone was almost distant. It was like he was just trying to figure out the last few pieces of a puzzle that had taken him way too long to complete. He seemed distracted as the muscles of his face twitched.

“What do you mean, Angus?” I asked as I stood. I stayed crouched to move if I had to. Jack and Sascha were heading one way, Goldie and Tucker the other. I needed to keep him distracted and focused on me.

“Jon, your little secret was not so secret. Silver doesn’t hurt you.” The smile that slithered onto his face made my bowels turn. God, he was fucking insane. “Once I take that from you, I will be unstoppable.”

I wasn’t too surprised he knew. I kept it a secret as much as I could, but enough people knew before the split that some who knew stayed here. When he pulled out one of the squiggly daggers, a Kris, I felt the wrongness of it. It oozed evil and death, and I knew it had taken the lives and probably souls of many Lycans. I shuddered at the sound it made when he dragged it through the air. It was like the blade was scraping across bone, and the air was screeching in agony. My gut told me to stay as far away from it as possible.

“How many people have you killed, Angus? How many souls have you sacrificed for your power?” Keep him talking, I thought to myself. I needed him to focus on me and me alone. That way the other alphas can take him down.

“Two hundred ninety-six with a dozen or so to go. Those last ones just for fun.” When his body tensed, I knew he was about to do something bad. He threw the Kris at me!

I dodged it without too many problems. Or so I thought. It stopped in mid-air and came spinning back at me. Just great. A fucking magical dagger that homes in. Totally bogus. The one saving grace I had was it took a second to stop and didn’t swerve once it started a new trajectory. Every time I got out of the way, Angus cursed and moved his hand. “Not easy to hit a superior target, huh Anus? I mean Angus.”

Goldie went in swiftly, taking out Angus’s knees with a nasty swipe of her own claws. Wolf claws? Nope. Lee Press-on Nails circa 1985. Those things could slice through titanium and still look good. She rolled forward to avoid his own heavy hit, but Alpha Hayes landed a boot to his head. Just…WWE style boot to the head. This distraction made the dagger drop, but all it really did was piss off McLeod.

A blast of ragegasm-powered energy surged from the mongrel and all five of us went sprawling. It didn’t hurt much, but it did cause me to shift back to non-furry mode and stunned me a bit. That was a nasty bit of shit. Thankfully he seemed too distracted to make his slash-happy dagger dance again. Angus’s eyes were red with rage, and he lifted his hands to fire off a few small bolts of lightning. They weren’t accurate enough to kill us, but he was able to keep us from getting at him as a group.

We fought to get in close enough to get some sort of kill shot, but we couldn’t. We could annoy him, hurt him, bleed him, but we couldn’t seem to get a death blow in. It was like each hit just missed its mark. This would just make him aim at us and get lightning shoved up our noses. Small miracle that it was, he couldn’t hit all five of us at once, so we just fought like jackals. Scratch and bite and then run off. Like five bothersome kittens against an irate Rottweiler. Nibble, nibble, claw, claw, run away. It was a fucking stalemate, and we all knew it.

He was healing too fast for us to really do much, and with five of us, we could keep this up for a very long time. It just came down to who would win this showdown. Jack got in a very solid rake of his own claw across Angus’s groin. I knew from experience that crotch shots wouldn’t win against Angus, but it was still satisfying to hear him yelp in pain. It threw off his rhythm, and Goldie was able to get in and uppercut him in the jaw, shattering it. Then came me and Sascha with twin punches to his chest, sending him flying back into Tucker’s godly powerful arms. I had never seen anyone break out of a bear’s hug. Zeke won every fight against his training partner this way. Once they were grappled, it was over.

There was a sickening crunch and I thought this was over. Angus’s spine had snapped, and Tucker dropped him to finish him off by stomping on his head. Almost had him too, but that dog McLeod shot a fireball right into Tucker’s face, and it exploded. The bear went flying against the far wall, leaving a massive dent in the steel-reinforced concrete. I heard the bear groaning, so I knew he would live. His fucking magic was saving his ass! We couldn’t fight that without magical aid.

Ask, and ye shall receive!

Aunt Minnie came in, her own magic seeming to shatter some sort of bubble around Angus. She was followed by a dark-haired man with a severe look on his handsome face. The sneer reminded me of Pop. Minerva came to a halt beside me. “Fashionably late, once again. Magical trouble, I see?” she asked like she was asking if it was raining outside. Which it probably still was, come to think of it.

“You are officially my favorite aunt, Minerva.” I gave her a huge kiss on the cheek.

“I’m your only aunt, but thank you, Jon. Rhisi, secure that mongrel.”

The tall man nodded and grabbed Angus up by the back of his neck. He shook him a few times to keep him from saying anything. So, this was my new cousin. Dour was how Dylan had described him, and it fit. He didn’t look like the kind of man to smile much. “Pathetic,” he said and shook Angus again. “You almost succeeded, but nope.”

“But,” Angus muttered. He couldn’t get anything else out as shock lit up his eyes. That damned dagger he had been controlling was now sticking out of his chest. An eerie, vile black energy shimmered from the hilt and seemed to suck the light from Angus’s eyes. The last thing the man uttered was, “But…I’m…Alpha…” and then he just died.

That energy wound around Rhisi’s arm in tendrils, and then he sucked the energy into his mouth. His body shivered as he swallowed it all, dumping the corpse of my least favorite person onto the floor. Angus’s body looked like a shriveled husk now. Yell boo, and it might just turn to dust and blow away.

“Rhisi, what have you done?” Minerva asked in horror.

His sneer was so malignant I was surprised I didn’t get cancer right then. He shook his head. “Fire Mother, I did what was necessary.” He kicked the husk, shattering it into bits. “This useless thing wasn’t up to snuff. He couldn’t control the magic he had taken. He couldn’t handle the power. He failed me, so he had to die. Simple as that.” Rhisi flicked his hand dismissively, and Minerva just vanished. Poof, gone.

I wanted to yell “Eureka!” as it started to fall into place. “So, is this where the evil puppet master starts his villainous monologue and spills his nasty plot? Please say yes. I need some answers,” I quipped, trying to stall again. I did need some answers, though.

The other alphas dashed toward him, but he just raised a brow. They froze in place and couldn’t move. “If you must have my plan, Jonathan, then fine.” Another simple flexing of his brow and the others were slammed against the wall, the metal in the concrete snaking out to wrap around their wrists, ankles, and necks. “I have been planning this for some time. Oh, and before I do this, if you make one wrong move, all six of you will die, as will the kids we have stowed away.” I had actually forgotten about Beta Foster, but he was pinned to the wall as well.

I nodded.

“I’m the oldest. I should have been the spiritual leader of our camp, but my little brother was born stronger than I. He became the leader when he was ten. He couldn’t even Skift yet, and he was made a leader!” Rhisi’s voice echoed in the hall. He clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace, keeping his eyes darting all around to make sure no one was moving. “So, I decided I would take what was supposed to be mine. I couldn’t. You see, Rhava was far stronger and more even-tempered than I. I challenged him and lost.” He gestured toward what was left of McLeod. “I needed power, and the only way was through ritual sacrifice. So, I found someone ruthless enough and dumb enough to follow my lead.

“Enter Angus McLeod. Big, strong, stupid enough to believe I was a young alpha. I used my magic to make him my patsy and then used a bit more to make him seem worthy of succeeding Alpha Andrews.” His smile was shrewd. He knew he had done what he needed and could gloat a bit. “So, he goes out and collects the sacrifices I wanted. Other shamans, some lunar Lycans, some solar Lycans, and then I would take their life-forces for myself, becoming unkillable and far stronger than my little brother.”

Rhisi stopped his pacing and cocked his ear like he could hear something. “Then this mongrel went and dabbled in the ritual himself and began grabbing his own victims. One was a Skifter with very potent mind control powers.”

“Probably how he kept the pack in line,” I said conversationally.

“Probably. He was becoming unstable because he couldn’t control what he was taking. He almost jeopardized my entire plan. Ten years I have waited for all the right powers. With both solar and lunar Lycanthrope blood, I don’t need your immunity to silver. That’s the only reason you’re still alive, honestly. I could have taken it, but contrary to evidence, I don’t waste life.” He sneered at the pile of dust and bone bits. “This idiot didn’t know when to stop and had to be put down. You and I saw eye to eye on that, I believe.”

I had to agree. Angus had to die. “Actually yes. So, you were what? Sixteen when you hatched this plan?”

“Seventeen, but only just. Don’t sound too impressed,” he retorted smugly.

“Actually, I am. It has worked. You have all the powers you wanted, can beat your brother and take what you felt was yours by right of birth, and deal with the rest as it comes.” By the glint in his eyes, he had missed my sarcasm.

“Precisely! Thank you for understanding. Another small reason is you are family, even if by adoption. I lost my parents because that Roomba food killed them. Don’t worry about Minerva, I sent her back to Canada. She’s fine. I may have a reckoning with her later, but she will see it was all for the greater good.”

“The greater good,” I mumbled, having seen “Hot Fuzz” recently. Damn you Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for your shenanigans. “So, will you kill your brother and his mates?”

For the first time since he showed up, Rhisi looked troubled. “No. I love my brother, and Marcus is a man worthy of respect. Miss Saechao is formidable and will be a good match for them. I don’t waste life.”

The elevator dinged. Looks like Dylan’s second wave of reinforcements had arrived. Please let it be some sort of magical god come to put the smackdown on Rhisi.

But no.

It was Alice and Patrick.