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  Atticus was about to reply when he noticed that the wand was now drained, making it useless.

  "This is empty!" He yelled looking up at the Sheriff. "Do you have any idea how much this costs! And you just drained it?!"

  "We didn't drain it," Bill said with a frown. "I'm guessing that your son did that. Once we find out just who or what he used it on, I'm sure there will be people who'll want to speak with you about that."

  "Whatever," Atticus replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. If they didn't already know, they'd never know. However, he was going to have to find out just how his son got his hand on what had once been one of his most prized possessions.

  Walking over to the car he opened the back door, "Sheffield, we're...."

  Atticus looked around and then turned back to the Sheriff. Both he and his deputy were smiling.

  "Oh, I guess I should have told you that Sheffield quit."

  "You had no right!" Atticus screamed at the Sheriff, "Sheffield belonged to me!"

  "Nevada is a free state, Atticus. I suggest you get used to that idea because it's not going to change."

  Atticus threw a paralyzation spell at the deputy and was just about to throw one on the Sheriff when he noticed that both men had drawn their pistols and had them pointed at him.

  "I suggest you get in your car and drive straight to the border, Atticus. You've worn out your welcome here, and I'm sure your wife would hate to be burying both her son and her husband on the same day."

  "Are you threatening me?!"

  "I thought that was rather clear," Bill growled. "Now, get into your car and go. I'll be sure to have someone follow you, from a safe distance, to make sure you get out of my county."

  Swearing, Atticus slammed the car door and went around to the front of the car and got in. The keys were in the ignition, so he started it up and jamming it into reverse he backed out quickly, almost hitting the Sheriff's car. Then jamming it into drive, he sped out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

  "Not much of a driver, is he?" Sean said getting back into the squad car.

  "At least he knows how to drive it," Bill sighed. "Thanks for coming, by the way. I was worried he might try to do something, but at least he didn't do anything that the badge or the amulet you gave me couldn't handle."

  "Are you really going to have him followed to the border?"

  "Yes. You don't threaten a man like Atticus and then not follow through. Let's head back to the station and get you back into your street clothes before my daughter starts threatening me for hijacking you."

  "Aren't you afraid about getting in trouble?" Sean asked looking down at the uniform. "Doesn't this count as impersonating an officer?"

  Bill laughed, "Son, I'm the sheriff; I can deputize anyone I see fit. One of the perks of the job!"

  Atticus swore, loudly, as he pulled out of the parking lot. He hated driving, with a passion. In fact, the only thing he hated more than driving was flying. How those airplanes managed to hang in the sky without any magic supporting them was ridiculous. With how often they fell to earth, killing all the poor deluded fools inside them, his choice to avoid them at all costs was hardly ridiculous.

  At least cars sat on the ground, and while he didn't like driving, he understood it and could do it when necessary.

  Part of why he hated driving was he was quite unfamiliar with the roads whenever he traveled away from home. Thankfully, Sheffield had left that 'GPS' thing with the maps on it, turned on, so Atticus could at least look at that.

  Sheffield! Atticus had forgotten all about him! Stopping briefly in the middle of the road, he ignored the horns of the mundanes around him and quickly rattled off the spell and gesture that would pop Sheffield's pellet, even if he were miles away. Atticus had developed an improved version of the spell years ago, if one of his lycans ever ran away on him, he'd get them, no matter how far they went.

  Feeling better at having tied up at least one loose end, Atticus started driving again. He knew the general route home, thankfully that hadn't changed at all in the last several decades, and with the map, he could find his way back to the highway.

  Glancing at the map, he noticed the hospital where his son's friend Josh was staying. Sheffield had flagged it, as Atticus had been planning to stop there next. Looking up in the mirrors, he didn't see any police cars following him. While he didn't doubt that the animal sheriff was keeping tabs on him, the hospital was in the direction of Los Angeles, and dammit all, if he wanted to stop and check on one of his people, then he was going to stop and check on them!

  Josh sighed and looked at his father, who had fallen asleep in the chair by the bed. He was still pretty beat up, he had bruises and abrasions, what they called 'road rash' all over a good deal of his body. While his broken bones had all been healed, the damage to the muscles and the rest of him hadn't been. Apparently, that lion had only healed enough for him to live, the rest he'd have to do on his own, or by magic if his father could afford a healer when they got back home.

  Josh gave a little involuntary shiver when he thought about that lion. When he'd jumped out of the van and onto the hood of the car and driven his fist through the windshield. Josh was sure he was dead. Everything after that was a blur, it had all happened so fast! Right up until the lion was standing over him, asking him questions.

  Josh now realized that being honest with the lion had saved his life. He'd also had some time to think about what the lion had said to him, specifically when he had said 'you already know I'm more powerful than you.' That line right there told Josh that the lion, who had straightened out his arm and legs and healed all of his broken bones and the worst of his injuries, wasn't just a magic user, he was the magic user they'd run into at the gas station.

  A lion magic user.

  Josh had heard the rumors, with Blake being one of his friends, it was hard not to. A lion mage had taken over Reno, killed hundreds of magic users, freed all of the lycans there, and apparently, he was not only immune to silver, but so were all of those he had freed.

  And he had saved Josh's life while taking Blake's. Josh didn't care about Blake being dead, he knew his parents thought that his being friends with Atticus Cortland's son was a good thing. Problem was, Josh really wasn't his friend. Servant and lackey was probably a better word for it.

  Sam and Max had the better deal, they could say 'no' to Blake and not get in trouble for it because their parents were on the council and had power, unlike Josh's. Josh had been friends with Sam and Max as long as he could remember and when Blake had joined the group, it hadn't been a big deal, at first, but over time Josh kept founding himself being put in positions that he didn't enjoy.

  Stealing the wand from Blake's father's collection was something he hadn't wanted to do, but Blake had made him a whole bunch of promises, if Josh got it for him, because he couldn't. Or at least that was what Blake had told him. Then, of course, Blake had broken every one of those promises or used them to string Josh along with a series of false hopes.

  Yeah, he didn't mind that Blake was dead at all, especially now that he was alive to enjoy it. But that brought him back to the lion.

  The lion knew who he was, probably even where he was. Josh knew that Blake planned to use that wand on the magic user who had made a fool out of him in front of his friends, instead of selling it at the local shop and pocketing all of the money like he'd originally planned, the shop where he'd been selling stuff he'd stolen from this father for over a year now. But, as was normal for Blake, anger drove all sense out of his head.

  Josh also knew that Blake had been wearing his seatbelt, yet the police had said he wasn't. Josh had known that the car wasn't on fire when it had stopped rolling. Yet the police said it had been burned completely up.

  Obviously, to him at least, the lion had killed Blake. Knowing Blake he'd used the wand on the lion, and it hadn't worked. That meant that the lion was even more powerful than the rumors claimed. The lion that had saved his life. The lion who had said to him
to 'don't make me regret this.'

  The lion that knew who he was, and where he lived.

  So Josh had lied his ass off. What choice did he really have? Not like he could tell the mundanes about magic and lions anyways. By the time his father had gotten there, telling the same lie to him wasn't all that difficult.

  And that was what Josh was thinking when Atticus suddenly came into the room, with a protesting nurse hot on his heels.

  "Mr. Cortland!" Josh had gasped, sitting a little straighter in the raised bed.

  Josh's father immediately jolted awake.

  "It's alright nurse, he's with us," Josh's father Cory told her.

  The nurse stopped, grumbled a moment, then turned around and left.

  "Mr. Cortland, this is a privilege, Sir. I also want to offer my condolences."

  "Thank you, Cory. I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to ask a few questions of Josh here before I go back home."

  "No, Sir, of course not."

  "Call me Atticus, please," Atticus said with a weary smile. "Now, Josh, I've heard the official reports, but, if you could tell me in your own words, please?"

  Josh told Atticus about the run in at the gas station, and Blake's run-in with the mage when he'd tried to dominate a woman who apparently was the mage's wife. How they'd taken him back to the hotel and taken care of him until the spell had worn off, and how mad Blake had been.

  Josh then told Atticus how Blake had gotten them to take him to a place he knew about to buy a bunch of protective amulets and rings, so he wouldn't be hurt again. They'd gone along in the hopes that Blake would calm down after a while, but instead, he seemed to become more and more consumed with getting some sort of revenge on the mage who had paralyzed him. Sam and Max eventually had enough and left, Josh left out the part about Blake threatening him, to get him to help him after he'd gone with Blake to help him rent a car.

  "If they'd gone with you two, do you think my son would still be alive?" Atticus asked. Josh couldn't miss the anger in his voice, but he didn't want to tell Atticus that the only thing that would have saved Blake at that point would have been to knock him out, tie him up, and drive him back home. Blake's temper was famous, all the other kids knew about it, and they knew to keep far away from him until it had passed. Sadly, Josh hadn't been that lucky this time.

  "I, I don't know," Josh sighed, grasping for straws, then seized on an idea from a movie he'd seen last week. "When Blake rammed the van, the back doors opened and there were a bunch of guys in it, big guys. They had guns and stuff, I think they were drug dealers or something, and well, we panicked, and that's when Blake lost control of the car. Next thing I know, I was waking up in the back of the ambulance."

  "Wait," Josh's father, Cory said, "That's not the story you told the police, you just told them that Blake lost control of the car while chasing a van full of girls!"

  Josh sighed and shook his head, "If I'd told them Blake had rammed the van, that would have made it his fault," Josh mumbled, "I didn't want to do that. I, I didn't know he was dead until after I'd talked to them. I'm, I'm sorry."

  "Don't be," Atticus said, "at least you were faithful to my son."'

  "Yeah, but I failed him, I wasn't able to save him," Josh said, playing the role. It made it so much easier to tell the lie. The last thing he wanted was to tell Atticus about was the lion. Josh had no doubts at all that the lion could kill Atticus, and then it would be looking for the person who'd told Atticus all about him!

  There was no way Josh was going to put himself in the way of that, not for Blake, not after all the trouble Blake had gotten him in!

  There was a knock on the door, and looking up; the Sheriff was there, with a deputy. Josh's eyes went wide, the deputy! He was the mage! Which meant he was the lion!

  "Atticus, I believe you were leaving?" the Sheriff said.

  "I just stopped to check in on this fine young man, on my way back home. Now if you'll all excuse me?" Atticus said and shook hands with Josh, and then his father Cory, "I'll be on my way."

  Atticus smiled at Josh, "Again, thank you for standing by my son, Joshua. I hope you recover soon."

  Turning around, Atticus walked past Bill and Sean, leaving the room.

  Cory stood up then, "My son just told me that the back of that van had men with guns in it!"

  Josh's eyes got wide, and he wished for his father to just shut up and sit down.

  "Yes," Sean said, smiling at Josh, "we heard him. Don't worry; we will be looking into it."

  "Is that all?" Cory demanded.

  "Mr. Booker," Bill sighed, "without a license plate number, there really isn't much we can do. I will pass the information on to our gang unit, but it could just as easily have been any number of legitimate groups that come here to train on some of the more advanced shooting ranges that are in the area. This would, of course, explain why they didn't shoot at your son or his friend."

  Bill turned to Sean, "Come, let's make sure he doesn't make any other unexpected stops on his way back home."

  Josh collapsed back into the bed as the sheriff and the mage left, with a heavy sigh. The mage knew who he was alright, and on top of that, he was a cop! This just kept getting worse and worse. Damn that Blake! Even dead he was still getting Josh in trouble!

  "You alright, Josh?" his father asked him.

  Josh sighed, "I'm just a little overwhelmed, Dad. I thought Atticus would be angry with me."

  "Well, everyone does know that his son was a little hotheaded at times. But you heard him, he's happy that you stuck by him to the end. Loyalty is important, Josh. Remember that."

  Josh nodded and thought about the lion who had smiled at him after he'd heard the lie that Josh had told, apparently it was. Just as long as you picked the right people to be loyal to.

  Tuesday Night

  Sean listened to the plan for taking Dolitt's and then dealing with the other casinos that night at Ted's place. They were in a small conference room at Ted's cleaning business, and not in the fancier one at the casino, as there were a lot fewer people at this meeting. He'd brought Roxy, Jolene, and Daelyn, this time, as they had the most experience in planning for such events. Overall the plan for Dolitt's was a good one, and between the whole group of them, they were able to hash out the rough parts and make it work.

  He'd also brought Cali along, to help with the second part, the part of convincing them all not to try and replace their lycans with new ones. Sean had always thought that Roxy was the most ruthless of all his women, but he was starting to realize that Cali, for all of her happy and smiling demeanor of late, was possibly the most ruthless of all. Roxy's talents tended to focus on her and hers. Whereas Cali, having been trained to be an assassin, was able to bring that cold and callous eye to any situation.

  You just had to motivate her first.

  Currently, she was sitting on Sean's lap, as he sat there in his hybrid form, tickling her ears with his tongue. Elven ears, even dark elven ears, were apparently huge erogenous zones, and Cali was squirming and panting and giving out suggestions that were making Bill, Ted, and even Ryla look shocked.

  Sean purred, sure some of them were outrageous, and hearing them come out of the mouth of Cali, who often looked like the soul of complete, uncorrupted innocence was pretty shocking to the others at the table. But Sean was impressed by his wife's skill for complete and utter calculated viciousness. On top of that, the First was figuratively drooling in the back of Sean's head.

  'And here I thought Daelyn was your favorite!' Sean teased.

  'Daelyn will always be my favorite, Cali's just my special favorite! Any chance I might get to spend some special time with her tonight?'

  'Who knew you were so turned on by murder and mayhem,' Sean joked.

  'Son, after all the millennium that I've lived, one learns to appreciate a true master of the art. Too bad that dark elves can't become lycans, or I'd be having you bite her.'

  Sean was a little surprised by that admission, though honestly, Cali would make a pre
tty damn sexy lioness. He agreed that it was a shame and continued to listen to the stream of suggestions until Roxy raised her hand.

  "Stop, that one, I like that one," Roxy grinned.

  Ted looked at Roxy shocked, "Feeding their eldest child into an industrial meat grinder in front of them!"

  "No!" Roxy laughed, "She was just kidding on that one! I meant the one before that, showing them Dolitt's severed head, and telling them they're next if they don't comply."

  Sean gave Cali a nip on the neck and whispered in her ear, "I know you weren't kidding, but I promise not to tell," causing her to squirm in his lap.

  "But if they don't comply, you'll have to follow through," Ted pointed out.

  "Your point?" Roxy asked.

  "What do you think, Sean?" Bill asked.

  Sean shrugged, "I've already made it clear that killing them all and burning all of their places to the ground is an acceptable plan. I suspect we may have to kill another owner or two, if so, that'll just be more heads to sway the rest.

  "But honestly, these people can't be that stupid to want to stand up to us if we show up smelling of smoke with a severed head. Dolitt is the biggest of all of them, right?"

  "Yes, but some of them are more stubborn than smart," Ted complained, and Bill agreed.

  "Well, then let's talk about the teams we're sending to each of the casino's with Sean," Roxy said. "An overwhelming show of force will make it very clear that we mean business."

  "And," Jolene spoke up, "with all of the cops dealing with the fire, and all of the tourists going over to watch it, the number of witnesses should be refreshingly small."

  "Will you need me to call in any reinforcements from Reno?" Sean asked.

  Ted shook his head, "No, we've definitely got this. How many teams do you think we'll need?"

  "One for each Casino, I'll have to move from place to place quickly, so I won't be able to wait for a team to set up for each place. That means it'll be better if they're already there, and keeping an eye on the place."