Wyvern and Company (13 page)

* * *

At breakfast Tuesday morning, I learned that our underground
bunker in the backyard was now occupied by vampires, while the third floor was
inhabited, not just by Uncle Dragon and Uncle Karzac, but also by Daniel Carey,
Second from the Corpus Christi Pack.

"They were all up late, packing, traveling and then
holding a meeting," Mom explained while we ate. "The vampires won't
be up before nightfall anyway, and Daniel may sleep almost that long. I think
you and Mack should take it easy after school today, and nap if you can, since
we don't know how late you may be getting back tonight."

"What about Teddy—Beth's boyfriend?" Mack asked.

"He'll arrive before nightfall. We've invited him to
dinner," Mom said.

"I thought I'd get to meet him when Beth brought him to
the house. This is certainly different," Mack grumped.

I could tell right then that Theodore Williams had his work
cut out for him—he'd have to be extra special before Mack would ever approve
him as husband material for his sister.

"Honey, keep your mind open," Mom hugged Mack. "Give
everybody the benefit of the doubt until you meet them and know for sure what
they're made of."

"I'll try."

"Good."

Again, I wondered about Mack's mother, and why she'd never
bothered to contact him when he was in the hospital. If she'd called, he would
have mentioned it. Mom was standing in—and standing up—for Mack. He was right
to call her Mom.

He went to visit his mom for a week every summer, but he
seldom talked about it when he got back. I worried that it was stressful and
awkward for him, after a year of not seeing and seldom hearing from her.

I'd never asked Beth about it, so I didn't know how she felt
about the whole thing, either.

"Don't worry about it, honey," Mom gave me a hug
next, as if she'd read my mind. "Finish your breakfast and get ready for
school."

* * *

After school, I saw Gina and Sarah off again, then went to the
kitchen looking for a snack. Grampa Franklin sat at the island, as if he were
waiting for me. Mack was already into a glass of juice with peanut butter and
crackers.

"Grampa Frank!" I was at his side in three seconds
and getting a hug. I didn't want to say it, but he looked so much frailer than
when I'd seen him last. "You taking it easy?" I asked, grinning at
him when I pulled away.

"Always," he nodded. "I hear you have a
girlfriend."

"Yeah," I hung my head to hide the embarrassment.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of," he chuckled. "First
one, is it?"

"First serious one." I sat beside Grampa Frank and
made myself comfortable. "I think I drooled on some girl in kindergarten,
but that's it until now."

"Just don't forget to show her how important she is to
you," he said. "Because you never realize how significant that will
be in the long run. Now, I hear you and Mr. Mack over there are going to hunt
spawn."

"That's the plan," Mack nodded.

"Be careful. While you've dealt with younger spawn up to
now, watch out for the older ones."

"Older ones?" Mack stopped eating for a moment.

"They're bigger, faster and more deadly," Uncle
Merrill walked in and nodded to Mack and me. "Are you hungry, Franklin?"
he asked, placing a hand on Franklin's shoulder.

That was different. Before, it was always Grampa Frank asking
that question, and fixing something if anybody wanted to eat.

"I'm fine, stop fussing," Franklin said. That's when
I knew that his health really was more fragile than when I'd seen him last. I
could have
Looked
to check, but was too afraid to do it.

"Are you prepared for tonight?" Merrill turned the
conversation in my direction. "It would be wise to rest an hour or two
before night falls. We have plans to be in Dallas, tonight."

"Okay. Ready to go to your room, peanut butter and
cracker boy?" I turned to Mack.

"Sure." He slid off his stool, stuffed his plate in
the dishwasher and followed me down the hall toward the stairs.

* * *

Adam's Journal

"He doesn't want help, and if he goes, he wants to make
sure nobody takes heroic measures. His partner died years ago, and he wants to
follow him," Merrill sighed. Franklin had gone to the bedroom we'd
prepared for him on the second floor, so I'd joined Merrill in the kitchen.
Franklin was the topic of conversation.

"This is going to be hard on everybody," I said. "What
did the doctors say?"

"That his heart is giving out on him," Merrill
replied simply. "My child doesn't want interference—he wants to enjoy the time
he has left and especially doesn't want to linger."

I knew—because I'd
Looked
—that Franklin had steadfastly
refused Merrill's offer to make him vampire through the years. I understood
that decision, up to a point. I'd been turned early in my life and had never
faced the pains and diseases that came with old age.

Merrill had a front-row seat to it, however, as he watched a
child he'd adopted at eight grow old and wither before his eyes.

"I don't know what I'll do without him," Merrill
muttered. "We've been together so long. At times, I think of ignoring his
wishes and making the turn anyway. That will destroy his trust, however, and
that would be more painful to me than his death."

"Things have a way of working out," Kiarra walked
into the room looking slightly ruffled. She'd been taking a nap in our bedroom
and hadn't bothered to look in a mirror before shuffling into the kitchen.

"Hello, my darling," Merrill's face lit in a smile.

"Merrill, how are you?" She leaned in to peck him on
the cheek.

"I am more than fine. Franklin's health is failing."

"I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around his
shoulders and squeezed. "We love Franklin, too."

"How soon?" I asked.

"Unknown. I just don't want him to suffer. We watched his
partner, Greg, die of pancreatic cancer, and that was painful enough. To know
it's Franklin suffering? I'm not sure I can bear it."

* * *

Justin's Journal

I think Mack wanted to growl at Theodore Williams, who asked
everybody to call him Teddy when he was introduced. Something was going on, there,
that I didn't know. For the first time, I used my ability to
Look
for
something personal, and what I found was unsettling.

At the core of it was perhaps the reason Mack's mother remained
distant. Werewolf marriages were arranged more often than not, and the rules
were that the mother had to birth two children before she could leave the
werewolf she'd married.

Mack knew his mother's marriage to his father had been
arranged by her father, because Martin Walters, Mack's dad, was a strong and
important Packmaster. She'd had little choice in the matter.

She hadn't been mistreated, but the arranged marriage had
never been what she'd wanted so when Mack turned eight, she'd left him and his
sister, moved away and married someone she chose to love.

He was human.

I understood how awkward that might be for Mack, both in the
past and in the future, because now he knew he was werewolf, whereas his two
half-human brothers would be considered human.

Human-werewolf children were never werewolf. That's the way it
worked. I was almost sorry I'd gone
Looking
for the facts of the matter,
but understood better what Mack's grievance with Teddy Williams might be.

Beth's marriage was being arranged by Mack's dad and Thomas
Williams, the Sacramento Packmaster and Teddy's twin brother.

Packmasters and Seconds were the top choices in marriage
material for any female werewolf, for obvious reasons. I found myself
hoping—like Mack—that Beth could have love in her relationship. That her
children wouldn't be left behind if she went in search of happiness. That's how
things worked in the werewolf community—the children were left with their
fathers, who raised them.

All of that information came to me in a matter of seconds. It
offered a new perspective on Mack's world, and his struggle to understand his recently
altered place in it.

The tension between Mack and Teddy eased considerably when
Beth arrived unannounced, went straight to Teddy and wrapped her arms around
him. He pulled her close, kissed the top of her head and asked her how her
classes went.

I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw Mack visibly
relax. I understood, too, that Teddy was in his fifties, while Beth was twenty.
He still looked young, and I suppose that if your lifespan might cover two
hundred years or more, fifty was still quite young.

"I wish I could go with you," Beth told Teddy later,
as the sun was setting over Fresno.

"Baby, it would scare the hell out of me if you were
fighting those things," Teddy took her face in his hands. "I know you
can do it, I just can't guarantee my reaction if one of them tries to hurt you."

He walked her to her car so she could drive home. Mack and I
exchanged glances, but the arrival of Daniel Carey and the vampires distracted
us quickly.

"Son, this is Russell Farleigh," Dad introduced a
tall, dark-haired vampire first. He smiled and offered his hand. I took it. "Russell
and I, well, we're considered vampire siblings," Dad said, shocking me.

"That means the same vampire turned both of us,"
Russell grinned. "The filthy, conniving bastard."

"Uh, what?" I jerked my head from Russell to Dad and
then back again.

"Xavier wasn't the easiest vampire to get along with,"
Dad growled.

"He was a prick," Russell confirmed. "And he's
dead," he shrugged. "We don't care," he added, with a laugh.

Not until then had I considered the fact that as Dad was a
vampire, it stood to reason that someone had made him that way. I shivered.

Xavier and another vampire tried to kill your mother and me
,
Dad sent mindspeech. That explained a lot.

"This is Will," Russell introduced another vampire,
who grinned and saluted me. I could tell that Will would be fun, even though he
was vampire.

"This is Radomir," Dad introduced him next. He was
the one I'd pick as a vampire, because he seemed older and much more reserved
than Russell or Will.

Daniel Carey came next. "This is Daniel, the Second for
the Corpus Christi Pack and an old friend," Dad said. Daniel gripped my
hand firmly and offered a nod. He was tall, straight, dark-haired and had a
military bearing about him. Dad said he was Navy, but I didn't ask if he were
still an active service member.

"And this is Kyle," Merrill introduced the last
vampire. "He is one of my vampire children," Merrill said, causing my
eyes to widen in surprise. Kyle was shorter than the others, thin and tough as
a whip, with dark hair and eyes. He looked like a lightweight boxer, in my
opinion.

"It's funny that you're thinking that," Dad said. "Russell
was the boxer, when he was human."

Somehow, Dad pulled the boxer thought right out of my head.
I'll
teach you how to block your thoughts
, he sent.
Later
.

Until then, I hadn't realized they needed blocking. Dad
grinned. He'd gotten that one, too.

I have to be actively listening
, he sent.
I didn't
want you to be uncomfortable around Russell and the others, so I opened up to
your thoughts. Shutting it down again
, he nodded.

"Awesome," I mumbled. He ruffled my hair in reply.

We trudged into Dad's study after that, and he and Merrill
laid out our game plan. "This is the building you targeted," Merrill
pointed at the large photo of a satellite image from Dallas. Mostly we saw the
roof of an old warehouse on the outskirts of Dallas. I'd selected it as a
hiding place for spawn when I'd
Looked
for them.

"These are the entrances," Merrill pointed at the
front, the back and one side of the building. "This is a small, side door,"
he tapped the east side. "The other two are large enough to drive a
good-sized van inside."

"Will and I will take the back," Russell
volunteered.

"Good," Merrill nodded. "You'll take Justin
with you. I warn you, he becomes a Wyvern when he turns, so give him plenty of
room to fight."

"Will do," Russell nodded respectfully to me.

"Kyle, Daniel and I will take the side door,"
Radomir offered.

"Good. That leaves the front for Teddy, Mack and me,"
Merrill said. "Mr. Walters had an appointment this evening and couldn't be
with us," he added.

Pack meeting—they're checking out possible spawn at the lake
,
Mack sent.

Gotcha. You ready for this?
I asked.

Better be
, he said.

"Dragon and I will provide transportation," Dad
said. "And we'll be back when you send mindspeech," he nodded at
Merrill. I understood then that Merrill had mindspeech, too, he just didn't
want it known. "If anyone gets hurt," Dad went on, "Let me know
immediately. Is everybody ready?"

Mack and I exchanged glances. For us, it was like going to war
for the first time. Our first two outings had been unplanned skirmishes—this
was planned and for real. When I'd
Looked
for spawn, I'd seen a huge
knot of them at this location in Dallas.

I hoped we wouldn't be overrun.

"Ready?" Uncle Dragon stalked into the room. Was it
strange that the vampires and werewolves gave him respect? Not at all. Two
minutes later, we landed on a street not far from the building in Dallas. A
quarter moon hung overhead as we walked as quietly as we could toward the
targeted warehouse. Dad and Dragon disappeared behind us.

Mack, Daniel and Teddy hung back—they removed their clothing
before becoming wolf. In seconds, three large wolves trotted up beside us,
their paws almost silent on the rough concrete—the old road hadn't been
resurfaced in a very long time.