The Breed II Chapter 2
The Breed 2
By Dream Janus
Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the story cannot be reproduced without permission.
This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave this site. If harsh language offends you please exit this page immediately. You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be copied or used in any way without my express consent.
Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe and Tight141 my editors as well as my second and third set of eyes.
Note from Dream Janus: I now have a presence in Yahoo groups.
On Yahoo it is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dream_janus_stories/
If you want, I can be emailed at dreamjanus@yahoo.com.
Chapter 2 "Toŏmę"
The Hotel's entry way was nice but obviously dated in its decor. The furniture was obviously from the 1950's with paisley prints and lime green accents. The wallpaper was even older than the furniture. The paintings on the walls ranged from the 1950's all the way back to the Victorian era. There were a few vases with artificial flowers showing that the room was more for show than actually used for guests.
Kent led everyone into a large parlor area. It looked as if it was also stuck in the 1950's with the exception of large painting from the 1890's. It was obviously a commissioned painting of a man. The room had the appearance of comfort even though it also felt as if it was never used.
A large table had been setup where a small brunch had been obviously put together in a hurry. Ice tea and ice-cold lemonade in pitchers were next to large vials of blood. A fresh and bloody side of caribou meat was next to several fresh fruit plates. Fermented meal worms also known as ghoul glop was sitting next to a cob salad and lastly scrambled eggs beside a seven-day-old road kill.
Toban looked at the supposed brunch with a wary eye. He did finally get a glass of lemonade. Karl, Junior and Tash followed suit by getting either tea or lemonade, but no one touched the food. They then waited for the mayor of the overtown to direct them on what to do next.
Kent quickly realized what was required and directed everyone to sit down on the small divans and chairs that were in the area. "Please tell me what brings you to our fair town Prince Toban?" he asked once everyone was seated.
"I have a total five missions to complete while here in Toŏmę," Toban began clouding his mind from any detection. "The Ancient has given complete autonomy to take care of any situation that might come to my attention."
"What are your missions?" Nathanial asked with a cold look on his face.
"My biggest mission is to make sure that my family has a good vacation when they arrive in a week," Toban said intentionally misleading the sheriff with a partial truth.
"My second mission is to check on the running of Toŏmę for the Conclave counsel," Toban continued.
"Another mission is to find out about some rouge Fangs that Antino heard about in Phoenix," Toban continued. "My main purpose for the visit is to use Toŏmę as a home base as my main missions are in Phoenix."
"Are you needing overtown accommodations or undertown?" Kent asked with expectation on his face.
"I am needing an undertown conference room at my disposal, but beyond that I do not need to rest in undertown, at least until my family gets here," Toban answered.
"What are your needs in conference rooms then?" Kent questioned.
"Tosh here has all that information," Toban directed. "She has a good head for what I need and want."
"Junior here will need to go to Phoenix today to start working on his own project," Toban said looking at both the sheriff and the mayor, reading them as he spoke.
[Junior, I want you to take the file and memorize it. Find that slavery ring but don't do anything without me,] Toban directed telepathically.
"We will need three rooms in overtown..." Toban began but was interrupted by a blood curdling scream coming from outside.
Without thinking, Toban, Karl and Junior jumped up and rushed out of the parlor and into the street. Toban brought his shadow energy up just enough that his fingernails now appeared to be painted black. Karl and Junior both had prepared their own wolven claws from their hands. They were prepared for the worst.
Out in the street a crowd had formed around an Agrobiotic `woman' holding the bloody body of a wolf boy that appeared to be in his early teens. The boy was breathing but it was labored and appeared to be painful. His eyes were open but rolled back inside his head.
The Agrobiotic woman was so distraught that she had lost part of her cohesive human appearance and her skin was green and pulsing with the chlorophyll blood. Her `hair' had reformed into a mass of protective sharp quill-like spikes. The woman was crying her face smeared with her green tears.
[Be careful of the woman: the spines are probably toxic right now,] Toban transmitted. [She is to be treated respectfully]
Karl and Junior pushed through the crowd to give Toban open access to the woman and hurt child. They made sure that the crowd did not interfere with anything he decided to do. Even though they were acting as Toban's security force, both Karl and Junior knew that Toban was much stronger than either of them, but they took the idea of helping protecting their friend very seriously.
Toban walked inside the group of onlookers without dropping his eyes or his focus from the woman and the boy. He got within a couple feet of the distraught woman and dropped to his knees. Toban continued to look at the woman with his eyes and monitored the boy with his mind; he walked on his knees toward the prone boy, whose vitals began to go critical.
"I can help the boy," Toban said softly to the woman.
The woman looked up for the first time and focused on Toban. Her control over her human appearance was almost totally gone, her eyes were large pools of gleaming blackness, without color. "I am Tabb'a`neal, His name is Dustin and I am his nanny"
"Hi, Tabby," Toban said as he finally was able to touch Dustin's body. "I am Toban, I can help heal him."
In her distraught condition it did not register to Tabb'a`neal who Toban really was or the fact that he had shortened her name. Instead, she heard the man wanted to help and that was enough for her. Tabb'a`neal calmed down some and nodded allowing Toban to work on the boy.
Toban extended his shadow energy with the intent of healing the boy. The dark energy drained into only his hands. The flow acted as another set of veins flowing toward his hands. Toban touched the chest of Dustin and began to concentrate.
The shadow energy flowed into Dustin quickly; his face grew veins of flowing, pulsing and increasing amounts of shadow energy. Dustin's small body began to heal on the outside, the blood was absorbed and the cuts began to fuse as well. His breathing began to spasm though as Toban's energy began to wane, he did not have enough energy to heal all the internal damage.
"I don't have enough life energy!" Toban cried. He did not want to lose this young boy and the possibility tore at his heart.
Just then, Toban felt a hand on each of his shoulders and a third on his hand next to Dustin's body. Karl's hand was on his left shoulder and Junior's was on his right. Tabb'a`neal hand was the one touching Toban's.
"It could kill you." Toban said directing it at Tabb'a`neal.
Tabb'a`neal's response was to tighten her grip on his hand. She felt responsible and as such, her life was freely given. Tabb'a`neal was just not ready for the amount of pain involved.
Toban attempted to draw energy more from Karl and Junior as their life was many times longer than the Agrobiotic. The problem was that her place of contact gave the energy greater pull from her than even Toban expected. The flow of shadow energy increased dramatically from Toban's previous amount.
Within minutes, the energy had almost totally healed Dustin. In the five minutes that it took, the shadow energy had absorbed five years each from Karl and Junior, and almost double that from Tabb'a`neal.
When Toban broke the shadow energy connection, both Karl and Junior were stunned momentarily. Tabb'a`neal on the other hand fell to the side near death. Her charge was now sleeping and recovering.
"Please take my seeds and give them a good home" Tabb'a`neal asked softly as the Agrobiotic nature took over in the final minutes. Her body began to fall apart into plant-like vines. She did not speak again as the life energy left her, the vines darkened as they decomposed.
Within moments all that remained of Tabb'a`neal was three large pods. Toban knew that they would grow into the children of Tabb'a`neal when planted in good soil. He gathered them up with a deep sadness, but a determination to see them grow.
Karl gently picked up Dustin's small body and held him closely. His heart went out to the teen. Karl lovingly moved a stray hair out of Dustin's face. He then looked at the Mayor and said, "Get me a room for the boy"
Kent was momentarily taken back by the power of Karl's demand, but within that same second recognized the sound of distraught parent. "Of course, Master Karl," Kent said softly, using the Conclave honorific.
Junior was also worried about Dustin, but his mind was on finding out whom or what hurt the boy and killing them slowly. He was scanning the crowd for obvious looks of guilt. Junior saw the Sheriff looking pensive, but he was unsure if the look was one of guilt or one of concern for his job as protector of Toŏmę. Junior made up his mind to watch Nathanial carefully from now on.
Kent led Karl, Toban and Junior back into the hotel. They were joined by Tash. Quickly they were led to a main floor room. The room like everything else in the hotel was modeled after the 1950's but traits of something older and of something more modern. It was comfortable looking and had a queen-sized bed as well as a daybed. Tash was led to her own room across the hall.
Karl gently placed Dustin on the day bed. Once he was placed on the bed, Dustin rolled over and sighed, remaining asleep. Karl sat down on a chair near the day bed and started a vigil until Dustin woke up.
Junior and Toban both sat down at a small table across the room and began a telepathic conversation. [So, do you still want me to go to Phoenix in the morning?] Junior asked.
[Yes, I will make sure the helicopter is here and ready for you in the morning,] Toban responded with a silent smile.
Toban then looked sideways and up slightly. [Tash, please verify that the helicopter is going to be here and when.]
The tri-tone voice of Tash came back [It will be here tomorrow at 7:00am]. Her voice was unnerving to Toban but understood that he was in communication with the host and both symbionts at the same time.
[Thanks, Tash,] Toban sent back.
[Seven in the morning it will be here ready for you,] Toban sent to Junior. [You should be there before noon.]
Nathanial had rushed from the street and headed to his office. Without even looking at his desk, the Sheriff passed into the back at to the lock-up area. Nathanial pulled on pipe that ran up the wall and stepped back. The pipe pulled away from the wall with his hand.
A loud metallic sound echoed as tumblers began to click and whir. After a brief moment, a portion of the wall slid into the floor, revealing a set of stairs leading downward. Nathanial released the pipe and rushed down the stairs.
The stairs ended in a tunnel that spanned the entire main street of Toŏmę. Every so often, another set of stairs appeared along the wall, each one leading to one of the buildings above. Nathanial continued down the tunnel until it dead-ended in a brick wall. He pressed a single brick and stepped back. A portion of the wall then opened revealing a much larger set of stairs heading downward.
Within minutes, Nathanial arrived at the bottom of the stairs and what appeared to be an elevator. He pressed the button on the wall and had his DNA scanned by the button. After a moment of hearing assorted noises below him and finally behind the doors, the doors opened revealing instead of an elevator a short tunnel and another set of stairs.
If a non-breed had touched the button, it would have opened up to an elevator with a false bottom. Once the doors shut, the floor would disappear and it would have been a 150-yard drop straight down onto spikes. No human could ever expect to survive the trip.
Once Nathanial stepped on the first step, they began moving him quickly down a winding tunnel and over a mile later, he arrived at another elevator styled door. This door immediately opened to reveal what appeared to be a subway tunnel. Once he stepped foot on the main floor he was immediately greeted by an electric-powered subway car.
Five minutes later Nathanial arrived at the governmental offices of Toŏmę's undertown. When he walked up to a receptionist, she immediately smiled and said, "He is waiting for you in his office."
Nathanial nodded to the woman silently and walked behind her, opening two massively large oak doors as he walked. It was revealed to be the offices of Valden the Mayor and undisputed leader of the undertown. Valden was the stereotypical representation of what most human's think of as vampire. Sallow sunken features, dark eyes with rings around them, long graceful fingernails, ruby lips and dressed as if he was from the 1800's, which he was not.
"Report!" Valden snapped when he saw Nathanial entered the room.
"He is going to be trouble," Nathanial said quickly. "He brought a female host and two male wolves as his retainers." He continued starting to fidget.
"They have several things that he is supposed to be working on, that might keep him busy, but I would not bet on it," Nathanial explained. "They even found and helped Standard's pup."
"How the fuck did the pup make it away from the men you sent to kill that meddlesome Standard and his family?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Nathanial spat. He had planned to kill the men anyway.
"Another problem is that his family is coming in seven days, which is four more sets of eyes looking around and potentially causing trouble," Nathanial finally revealed.
Back in the overtown, Toban arrived at his room and unpacked his laptop computer. He quickly accessed the Conclave communication network and made a call over the laptop. Within seconds, Toban heard George's strong bass voice, sending shivers down his spin. "Hello."
"Hi, my love," Toban said softly.
"Zomé, I miss you so much!" George said with so much feeling that Toban actually teared up.
"There is more going on here than I expected," Toban explained. "I got a female secretary from the Ancient Luis and of course Karl and Junior are helping but too many things are going on all at once."
"Calm down love and tell me about it," George said reassuring Toban.
Over the next ten minutes, Toban revealed everything that had happened since he had left that morning. Just talking about it seemed to calm him somewhat. Finally, he finished and waited for George to say something.
"You need more hands as well as eyes there. Expect reinforcements by the end of the day," George said with an apparent amount of secrecy. He did not want to reveal what he had planned.
"Ok, baby, I love you," Toban said softly, his voice caressing George as they spoke.
They talked for a few more minutes about how everything at home was and how Toban already missed his mates and children. Finally, Toban announced that he had to report to Antino and they soon disconnected.
Back in Tulsa, George quickly got back on the phone and made several phone calls in preparation for sending reinforcements. He knew that Toban needed to be the one leading the others, but he also knew that Toban needed people to support him. George had an idea of what team would be the best reinforcements.
Toban reconnected with the communication network and place a call to Antino. The call was answered by the second ring. "Hello, Toban, how is the weather?" It was their code so Antino knew how much could be said openly.
"It is sunny and clear" Toban responded. His response signified that things were hot, as in things were tense and he was alone.
"Well I wish the weather was better for you," Antino said with a light laugh. "What is going on?"
Over the next five minutes, Toban explained everything to the Ancient, even the point that George was sending reinforcements. He was upset that not even a day into his mission he was asking for help.
"My boy you are learning the hardest lesson of being a leader: knowing when to accept that you cannot do everything without help or even when to gathering extra help," Antino explained. "Just remember to lead, not demand or always do things yourself."
Toban decided after a few more minutes talking with Antino that he was hungry and wanted to look around the town for something to eat. When he finally disconnected from his talk with Antino, Toban walked out of his room and began looking around the small overtown.
Toŏmę consisted of three houses, a general grocery, a mill, a feed store, an icehouse, a school, a hotel, town hall, sheriff's office and jail, plus a restaurant, and a gas station. Toban decided to look around at each of them in-turn, the grocery was first on his list. He walked across the street and over two buildings to the store.
The grocery was a clapboard building like many of the other buildings in Toŏmę and had obvious spots of peeling paint. The front windows of the store were clean with sales signs covering most of the glass. It was obviously necro-glass, as was all the windows in Toŏmę.
When Toban entered the store, he was announced by a small bell attached to the door itself. The store only had four lines of food, a large produce section and equally large frozen food section. A large meat section with butcher area covered the back wall of the grocery.
Toban noticed that most of the signs had a combination of English and printed De'wann, but a few along the way were strictly in De'wann. Any lost human would not really see anything out of place in this store, other than the signs in the strange script that easily could be explained away as the language spoken by the old folk.
Toban walked up to the clerk and asked, "Do you have any fresh blood, A or AB positive?"
The clerk was a male wolf teen who immediately was infatuated with Toban. He smiled and nodded "Yes sir we have A, B or AB positive, A and AB negative and only a small amount of O negative." He explained leading Toban toward the back. "Everything except the O comes in vial, bag or mug; the O only comes in the vial or the mug."
"I want a bag of AB positive then," Toban decided as they reached the butcher's area.
The clerk led Toban into the back room to a refrigerator unit. He then extracted a plastic donation bag from the left side of the second shelf handing it to Toban. "That is $25."
"I also need some fresh deer if you have it," Toban decided. "Twelve chops should be enough."
"We have some really fresh deer chops in the meat department." The clerk answered fluttering his eyes at Toban.
Toban was shown the deer section of the meats and picked out eight large chops and four medium small chops to take back with him. He then took his purchases toward the front so the clerk could ring them up.
"That is going to be $60 dollars," The clerk announced after ringing up purchase on an antique register. "If you ever need anything, anything at all, I am Evan."
"Well hello, Evan," Toban responded. "I am Toban."
Evan's mouth popped open with recognition of the name and then his eyes flew toward the floor in respect. He was so embarrassed that he had acted so inappropriately toward the leader of the Conclave.
Toban reached out gently and raised Evan's head so that he could look into his eyes. "If I felt you had acted inappropriately, you would have known immediately."
Toban then smiled, "You were friendly, courteous and efficient." He then sighed, "Perfect and acceptable for a store clerk." Toban then winked "Even your personal thoughts were nice and comforting."
Evan blushed then but his head remained straight-ahead looking directly at Toban.
"Tell your parents that I am hiring you starting next week to show my family and me around," Toban announced. "At one hundred and fifty dollars a day, five day minimum." While Toban knew that they would not really need a guide, it made it easier for him to choose his own than potentially have someone that was a spy for the wrong people.
"Of course, your highness," Evan said attempting to bow. He then realized that Toban still had his face and was gently refusing to allow him to bow.
"Unless we are in a formal setting, I am Toban and you do not bow to me," Toban instructed. "That is for your ears only though."
Evan blushed again and said softly, "Yes, Toban." He then giggled at the idea he was allowed to speak to someone with such authority as an equal.
"One week from today, 8:00 am at the hotel," Toban instructed.
Evan nodded silently; he still could not get over the idea that Toban was so nice. It was almost impossible for him to accept that Conclave leaders could be normal people.
Toban accepted the nod as agreement and left the store with his purchases, his next stop was the school. Even though he did not plan to be in Toŏmę too long, he did not want the children delayed in their schooling. His idea was to investigate the school and see how easy it would be to enroll them.
The building was whitewashed brick and had two small play areas on opposite sides of the building. It was actually the largest building in Toŏmę, unlike the hotel it was only two stories but was much longer and wider than the hotel. It looked from the outside like any other small school in Middle America.
When Toban reached the main school entry, a large female bear opened the doors. Her gruff appearance slowed Toban but did not intimidate or stop him. She looked down at him as he reached the bottom step. "School is in session!" She growled.
"I am a parent of five children, two of which are school age," Toban roughly explained. "They are arriving a week from today and I want to see about their continued schooling." His voice never rose above normal pitch, but the underlying fury was evident.
"I apologize, but this needs to be taken care of by your mate," the woman's voice severity dropped. "She would be more suited for this than you."
"I have no female mate," Toban glared at the woman. "I am the Alpha father; they only have me and Beta, Gamma and Delta Fathers."
The woman surprise was evident; only one family in history had that many fathers and no mothers. "My apologies, Shade Prince. I did not recognize you"
"I understand," Toban said with a small smile.
"It is still dangerous for any male to visit the school without protection," the woman attempted to explain. "The pups and cubs tend to be aggressive toward males that are not their fathers," she said with a wry smile.
"So this school includes a nursery as well as common grades?" Toban asked.
"Yes, from second year up to graduation," the woman explained.
Toban whistled sharply, "I now understand." He knew that full blood wolf and bear children tended to be very feral in actions until the age of four, which included biting and chewing on others.
"Regardless, I need to see the facilities for 2nd and 3rd grade students," Toban demanded. "I realize that I take my own life and limb into my own hand by entering unprotected."
Those words were enough to relieve the school of any burden for damages done to Toban by their youngest charges. "I am Berta," the woman announced holding open the door for Toban to enter.
Once in the school Toban realized that the school had excellent sound proofing, as his ears were assaulted by snarls and growls the moment he entered. The noise came from the very first classroom on his right; singing came from the classroom on his left. He quickly was taken to the second set of doors on the left.
The room was the office for the school, it also appeared to have at one time been a classroom, but now converted into the schools office. A very prim and proper woman sat behind the largest desk in the room, she was wearing a floor length dress with wrist length sleeves and the dresses collar reached just below her neck.
"Roberta!" The woman snarled when she saw Toban.
"I am the alpha parent of a four father family without females," Toban interrupted with an even louder snarl. "I have been warned of the conditions in this school and accept it as my own responsibility, but I have two school age children who will need to continue their education while we are here."
"I see!" the woman said without losing her venom. "I am Mistress Tyfor'el, Principal of this school." She said it in a manner that left no misunderstanding that she demanded respect.
"Hello Miss Tyfor'el," Toban said shorting her name intentionally. "I am Toban, Lord of the Shadow Counsel, Shade Prince, Conclave President of the United States of the Breed and HEIR apparent of the Ancient Antino." His voice never rose above conversational tone, but his message was that she had to earn his respect—it was not given freely.
The venom in Mistress Tyfor'el's face and voice was instantly gone, her eyes dropped to the floor and she bowed slightly. She then murmured, "How may we be of assistance?"
"I have two children that will need to be placed in 2nd and 3rd grades for the duration of their stay here," Toban explained, "Both are special situations"
Mistress Tyfor'el immediately thought that all parents believed their children were `special situations'. She did not realize that Toban heard her thoughts, if she had, she would have been glad that he over looked it.
"The 3rd grader is a Human - Regia'an half breed female named Shanny and the 2nd grader is totally human boy named Davey." Toban explained. "They are my wards and the human is directly related to Antino." That statement was a veiled promise that if either were hurt, there would be hell to pay.
"I also have three others that may soon be eligible for your second year nursery; they are my blood children and the heirs to the Bear Clan royalty." Toban then announced. He was intentionally rubbing it in the woman's face that all of his children were special situations.
Unexpectedly, three wolf pups ran into the room, each one focused on Toban as being an outsider. Toban felt their presence a moment before their attacks landed and he put up a cell thin psychic shield around himself. For all intents, it appeared as if they were chewing on him, but without blood or pain. Toban stopped the women from doing anything to stop the attack.
Toban allowed them to chew for a few moments as he stood there unbothered, finally, he grabbed the closest one and pulled the boy/wolf to him. At this age, the full blood wolves had no control over their change and were usually hybridized between the two most of the time. Toban began to hum/growl a song to the one he held.
After a few moments, the boy/wolf quit thrashing and relaxed in Toban's arms. The other two continued chewing, but it was less focused, lazy and dreamy. Finally all three of them faded to sleep, two of them reverting to their boy forms and the one in Toban's arm reverted to full wolf form.
"Well I never!" Berta said softly but with feeling. "I have never seen pups do that with anyone but their parents before.
Toban just smiled as a small Ghoul teacher rushed into the room looking for her wayward students. The woman and Bert took the two asleep on the floor back to class leaving Toban with the boy in his arms. Toban began to rock the boy gently, looking in the boy's face caused, Toban to remember his children so far away and the sacrifice that Tabb'a`neal made; he had to freeze his emotions at that moment or lose control.
When the small ghoul teacher returned, the boy clung to Toban tightly, unwilling to let go. Toban smiled at the boy and said softly. "I am Toban, you and your friends will see me again, real soon." Only after the boy received a gentle kiss on his forehead did he allow the teacher to take him.
Toban toured the school, finding that unlike other schools, they had limited placement for humans and no separate gym classes at all. He found out that at one time, the school office was in a house next door to the school, where the administrator lived, but it had burned down in the 1940's and was not replaced when they updated in the `50's. Toban began seeing how the overtown needed another overhaul and face-lift.
The restaurant was the only other building in town that held Toban's interest, but he decided instead to return to the hotel to deliver the groceries he had picked up at the grocery store. The restaurant could be looked at by Junior, Karl, hopefully Dustin and himself that evening. The walk was short, but Toban felt that several people were watching his every step. He then realized that he was making himself observable by his own actions. Gossip spread with the Breed even fast than it did with humans.
At the Hotel, Dustin had finally woke-up; He immediately was focused on survival and fear. The teen while small was wiry and quick, he began the transformation before either Karl or Junior was even aware he was awake. The last memory he had was of his family being attacked and he wanted to make sure he hurt someone before he died.
Karl jumped backward as the partly changed boy attacked him. He was surprised to be attacked, but retained enough of his understanding not to try to defend his self, but to only block the young teen's unfocused but enraged blows. "Hee's rath'h, meă nar`l (calm self, young warrior)!" Karl yelled in the wolven tongue
"Paś, meă nar`l, meź braźş (peace young warrior I/me/we brothers)," Junior yelled as well.
"Braźş ŇǼ ʼnǽ (brothers FIGHT/KILL/DEATH hate/kill/will murder)," Dustin growled back with the intention of killing those who attacked his family."
"meă nar`l braź fěěżż ʼnǽ braźş ŇǼ (young warrior brother (possessive tense) we hate/kill/will murder (the) brothers FIGHT/KILL/DEATH)," Karl growled back, his own rage building. The intent was to tell the boy that they were true friends claiming him as family and were willing to help him kill those that attacked his family.
With that last statement, Dustin began circling both older men, growling and occasionally snarling as he took in their scent. It was his animalistic intent to prove they were not the ones that attacked as well as get used to their scent. Finally, after five intense minutes the boy sat down on his back hunches, transformed back to human and sobbed.
The usual stoic Karl walked slowly to Dustin and wrapped him in a warm hug. Within seconds, Junior had wrapped both the boy and his mate in loving and protective hug. Dustin continued to cry as he was held, both taking their scent on him but also with each inhalation of breathe he took in the scent as well.
They sat on that floor and held each other for several minutes. Karl felt a rage rise from deep inside him, his eyes yellowed as he fought to control the rage. His wolf nature fought to emerge so it could protect this boy and kill those who brought pain to him. In a moment of clarity, Karl realized that he was feeling the same killing desires that a parent would feel for their cub.
Junior had already realized that he felt those feelings. He was willing to go with his mate and destroy those that hurt Dustin, but he would wait until either Karl asked or Toban ordered, his focus was protecting Dustin. Junior continued to hold on to Dustin while being held by Karl as he began to hum an old wolf lullaby. When he finished the first verse, Junior began to rock gently back and continued to hum.
Toban returned to the hotel. He first went to Tash's room and knocked gently. "Tash, I need a few things."
A brief silent pause and then Tash answered "Of course, Highness." She then quickly opened the door and allowed Toban into her room.
The room was identical to Toban's with the exception that it had a feminine touch. The bed was a queen and an old-fashioned roll-top desk in the corner. The other corner held a small table and two chairs set. Toban could see that Tash had placed her laptop on the desk, several files on the table and her clothes in the small closet.
"How may I help you, Toban?" Tash asked softly.
"Plans have changed slightly," Toban began. "I am sure I speak for Junior and Karl when I say we are going after those that hurt the boy." He continued, "A back-up team is expected to be here sometime today and I want you available at a moment's notice."
"I do not trust the meeting rooms here or in the undertown and plan on taking everyone into the Shadow Realm for any meetings." Toban explained.
"That is a good idea since only shadows lords can enter the realm without help and of course the location can change." Tash said smiling. She was impressed by the intelligence of the young man.
"I have a meal for the carnivores in the group; unfortunately I did not know what you would." Toban said upset that he did not know what Hosts ate.
"That is fine Toban; I do not eat what the average host does, because I am an omnivore," Tash explained with a small smile.
"How does the Symbiote feel about that?" Toban asked.
Tash smiled and closed her eyes and then opened them again. Her eyes had changed and now glowed with a red color. "Even though it is not something we usually deal with, if the host wishes to add some meat to their diet, we accept it." A more masculine voice responded.
Tash again closed her eyes and opened them again. Her eyes now glowed with a green color. "Plus, we have been together a long time and the connections are not at all fragile," responded a slightly feminine voice.
Tash closed her eyes again and when she opened them, they had returned to her normal blue. Tash smiled and looked down slightly. "I do like it cooked though."
"With a basically human metabolism, I would hope so," Toban said with wry smile.
"I will head over to the store and get myself something in a bit," Tash said softly.
Toban reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He then withdrew a fifty-dollar bill. "My fuck-up, so my treat." His tone let Tash know that there was no arguing. He then handed it to her.
"I want all of us to eat in the diner this evening," Toban said with finality.
"Of course," Tash said with a slight bow.
Toban's next stop was Junior and Karl's room. He found the door partially opened and pushed the door open gently. He found Junior, Karl and Dustin still in the floor hugging each other. When Dustin saw Toban at the door, he began to growl and glared at Toban menacing.
Toban smiled holding back a laugh and softly said "Paś meă nar`l meź braźş (peace young warrior I/me/we brothers)"
Hearing the same phrase from Toban that he heard from Junior and Karl, Dustin immediately stopped growling and reached out for Toban. He was shaking with residual fear and anxiety, but he needed to make connections to help himself overcome his loss. Dustin did not realize through his pained touch, he was making it impossible for them to refuse to help him and kill those that hurt him.
Toban leaned down and hugged Dustin to his chest. His own rage flowed just under the surface; he had taken the time during his walk to gain the control he needed. "I promise you little one that I will make sure the one who hurt you and your family will pay with their lives."
"The Amos brothers are really bad people," Dustin said speaking in English for the first time.
"We will deal with them so you and your family can have peace," Toban said. He then stood and stalked out of the room [Follow me,] he pathed to Tash, Junior, Karl and Dustin. The anger seeping though his well practiced mind.
Toban walked quickly out of the Hotel and stormed toward the Sheriff's office. [Meet me in your office, NOW!] Toban projected at the Sheriff.
Nathanial had just arrived in the access hall under the town when he felt Toban's demand. Nathanial growled at the idea that some upstart `mutt' demanding his attention. It was with that mindset that the Sheriff entered his office. It was his greatest and final mistake.
Toban had felt the mind of the Sheriff as he entered from the back of the building. As thoughts were private in most cases, Toban was forced by his training to allow the man his thoughts for the moment, but he made sure that his group were all aware of Nathanial's thoughts.
"I want the Amos brothers arrested on murder and attempted murder charges against members of the Breed," Toban demanded.
"Those damned fools!" Nathanial thought to himself.
Toban jumped on that thought and forced his way into the mind of the Sheriff. Toban was now beyond livid. Unlike previously, Toban did not go into Nathanial's mind gently, but rammed his awareness into the mind. He was after all possible information as quickly as possible and did not care if he did the soon to be former Sheriff mental damage.
Toban found that the Sheriff was not only guilty of ordering the murder of Dustin's whole family, but had been involved in the disappearances of the last three people that the Conclave had sent to take over control of the southwest district. Toban located the three potential hiding places of the Amos brothers, the location of Dustin's family house and then Toban ran into a mental barrier.
The barrier was nothing that Nathanial had created himself, but was a mental haze placed there by someone else. It did not erase the information but made it unreadable by anyone who entered the man's mind. Toban cursed, as his choices were to tear Nathanial's mind apart and chance killing him before finding out what was hidden in his mind or kill him outright and loose the information anyway.
Toban forced his mind to paralysis Nathanial's muscle control centers and transmitted. [Let's see what this little puppy has hidden in his head] Toban transmitted with an evil barb. He then spoke, "The Sheriff ordered the death of little Dustin's whole family."
Being that Tash, Junior, Karl and Dustin were linked with Toban and fully aware of what was going on, it surprised that Toban spoke verbally. "Do I need to scan your mind as well, Mr. Mayor?"
Kent stepped into the room and knelt down onto his knees "It is not necessary, but you have the right to do as you wish."
"Stand to the side and stay silent," Toban said to the Mayor as he began digging deeper into Nathanial's mind. "IF I find something in here that shows you are involved I will kill you slowly."
The layers of Nathanial's mind slowly shredded under Toban's force, the pain created by the mental probe was beyond what Nathanial could comprehend and he silently screamed trying to get the pain to stop. Toban ignored the mental screams until he detected that Dustin was losing his composure, Toban then cut the internal voice portions of Nathanial's mind.
[Dustin, do you want me to disconnect you from his mind?] Toban asked when he felt Dustin move closer to Junior.
[Go ahead and disconnect both of us,] Junior said hugging Dustin to him. [It will give you more control and we will just sit overhear and talk.]
Toban nodded and disconnected Junior and Dustin, just as he began the trip into Nathanial's memories. Toban accessed Nathanial's earliest memories and filed through them at the speed of thought itself. In each period of his life, Nathanial had the mental haze, from his earliest memories to his memories of the present. Each time Toban came across the haze he pushed it, hoping it would reveal what was hidden, unfortunately each time he pushed the haze, it would react causing not only itself to fade, but it also took the memories surrounding it.
Finally, Toban growled in frustration, he reached into the autonomic region of Nathanial's mind and destroyed it. When Toban destroyed that region of the brain, it caused Nathanial's breathing, heart to stop instantly, and his brain a moment later. In that instant between destroying Nathanial's mind, Toban withdrew himself and the others before the heart or breathing ceased.
Toban disconnected from Karl and Tash's minds and then invaded Kent's mind. The invasion was much easier on Kent, but it still caused him to stagger backward anyway. Toban remained livid and was not being nice about it. The contents of Kent's mind was much more straight-foreword, as he was totally in the dark about everything. Toban found that he was in fact little more than a figurehead, without real power.
Toban withdrew more gently from Kent's mind, he even activated some pain relieving centers in Kent's mind to ease the pain he created on entry. "I apologize, Mayor; I had to make sure you were not involved in any of the situations I am here to check on."
"I understand completely," said Kent with a spaced out look on his face.
Toban then stood as tall as he could with all the authority of his station. "From this moment until further notice all decisions made in the overtown have to be approved by me first and there will be no Sheriff elected, nominated or otherwise put into office until I say."
"Yes, Highness," Kent said softly.
Tash planned to type the order into the Conclave database as soon as possible. When the order was issued into the database, it would lock out any changes without his authorization. She realized that it was exactly what Toban had intended.
Toban walked over to Dustin, picked him up, and held him tightly. "I am going to see if we can find you some ice cream," Toban said softly. "I am sorry for you to have gone through all of that."
When they arrived outside two black, SUV's were arriving in town. Both vehicles stopped in front of the hotel. Toban smile as he felt several familiar presences. The front doors opened and a large mountain lion jumped from the passenger seat of one and Steve immerged from the front passenger seat of the other SUV.
Next to emerge was Jason, Mike/Kar's brother. He came from the back seat of the first SUV. He was followed by Sam the ghoul. They both were smiling and looked around in surprise. Out of the second SUV, emerged a large Raven that was over two feet tall, it flew around the area and then landed softly on the back of the mountain lion. The last person to exit the SUV was Kar himself.