Chapter 1

Jase knew that Barron was tired of driving. He had made the guy drive for the past three hours. Glancing over at him he smiled; the wolf could barely keep his eyes open. They were about twenty minutes from his mother’s house.
“We’re almost there,” Jase assured him. He nodded his head slightly. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when he got to his mom’s house. He knew he was angry. She had lied to him his whole life. Regardless of the fact, he loved her and he still looked at her as his mother. Nothing would ever change that. All the things that had come to light in the past week had made him question so many things though. His mind drifted to Travis and he squinted back tears that were burning behind his hazel eyes. He squeezed Barron’s hand, gently trying to pull out some of the comfort that he had always felt when touching the wolf. His wolf, he silently reminded himself. He still wasn’t sure what that had meant, but he had heard it come from so many peoples’ mouths. Madame LeVeaux’s, Travis’s, even Barron had said it when they parted ways with the Organization.
They both knew that the Organization would come after them. No one walked away from them without some kind of retribution. What that was going to be, they weren’t sure of nor did they know when it would come. His phone vibrated and he glanced at the caller I.D.; LaShay.
“Hello?” he asked.
“I wanna kick both of your asses,” came LaShay’s angry voice.
“What’s going on?” Jase inquired, totally confused. Barron glanced at him curiously.
“Guess who Barron’s replacement in the Organization is?” she asked.
“No way?” Jase replied.
“Yes way,” She stated. There was a pause as she took a breath. “Jase they have it out for both of you.”
“What do you mean?” he pushed.
“You and wolf boy. They’ve informed all branches about the both of you defecting. We also have a new witch,” She explained.
“This may work Shay,” he began. “Do you promise to be my eyes and ears?” he asked.
“What did we tell you? We owe you big time,” She paused again. “Gotta go, we are at Vinnie’s meeting up and talking, I’ll call later,” She said and the line cut out.
“Wow,” Jase mumbled as he put his phone away.
“What’s going on?” Barron asked.
“LaShay is your replacement, and apparently they have it out for us. How bad, she still isn’t sure of,” Jase explained.
“Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t tell Taralyn about the debt they owed you,” Barron stated. Jase nodded and pointed to the right side of the road; their exit. Barron followed the direction and turned off the highway.
“When you get to the stop sign go right,” He stated. Barron nodded and they grew silent.
“So, how are you going to introduce me?” Barron inquired. Jase hadn’t really thought about this. He chewed on his bottom lip a little as he thought about this.
“I guess as my friend,” Jase replied. He felt a silent wave of shock and disappointment roll from Barron. “We haven’t really set anything in stone,” he defended. “We are testing the waters and seeing where they lead,” He added.
“True, they could end up leading to rapids,” Barron joked. Jase laughed slightly as they came to a stop light. The town seemed bleak around them and Barron grew a little uncomfortable.
“It’s okay,” Jase stated. Barron shook his head slightly.
“This town has Therians,” he explained. Jase realized he had never thought if the rest of the world had supernaturals. For so many years New Orleans had been his home. It had been all that Jase was. Now, they were out in the real world and the odds of them running into other supernaturals were very high.
“Do you know what kind?” Jase probed. Barron rolled his window down and smelled the air.
“Hmmmm,” Barron muttered.
“What?” Jase pushed.
“There are a couple different kinds, but not like a pack or anything,” He explained. “There are two, maybe three feline, and one canine. And there is another one that I am not sure about it.”
“Ok,” Jase concluded. “I wonder what else is here. It’s really a small town. Everyone knows everyone. It’d be hard to be a supernatural here.”
They continued through the stop light and the town grew slightly. It wasn’t much; a theater and a few gas stations, some family owned stores like the hardware store, and an alterations store. This was Denison, Texas. It was five in the morning, but he was pretty sure his mother was awake. He hadn’t been here for almost two years.
He had come out for Christmas one year. She loved Christmas. His mind flew back to being a kid, the only child. Christmas was his favorite holiday. Not because of the presents but because of the feelings that filled his house. He never would have thought his parents would divorce. If they were unhappy they sure knew how to hide it.
“You okay?” Barron asked.
“Yeah,” Jase muttered.
“Your energy is rising,” Barron added.
“Just remembering being a kid,” Jase explained. “It was so much easier then,” he laughed.
“For you,” Barron countered.
Jase was reminded that Barron was raised with a pack of wolves, believing he was himself a real wolf and not a Therian.
“Do you remember being a kid?” Jase asked. They had never really discussed Barron being a kid.
“Kind of. I mean I remember what my adopted mother smells like. I remember landmarks, like areas we migrated to and places we would hunt,” Barron explained.
“After they found you did you ever see your pack again?” Jase inquired.
“I smelled them a few times, but they knew I was gone forever. I was always an outsider with the pack, but this crossed the line. I was a human and I could never come back,” he said quietly. Jase felt him pull away, his mind wandered back to being a child. It was confusing for him. Jase reached out and touched his hand trying to calm him.
“Turn right up here,” Jase said changing the subject. He realized he was close to his mother’s house. He felt nervous suddenly; what if she was a supernatural? “It’s the house at the end of the road on the left,” he said trying to ignore his nerves.
“It’ll be okay,” Barron ushered. Barron pulled his truck into the driveway. The headlights flashed across his mother sitting on the porch. She was sitting in her robe smoking a cigarette and drinking her coffee.
“Oh Goddess, she’s waiting for me!” Jase gasped.
“Does she not normally sit out and smoke and drink coffee?” Barron asked.
“Well, okay maybe she does,” Jase confessed.
“Who’s there?” came his mother’s voice. He stopped and caught his breath, trying to steady himself. He didn’t want her to know that he was freaking out.
“Mama, it’s me,” he replied.
“Jase?” she asked surprised. He heard the chair creak that she was sitting in, and in a few seconds she was at his window.
“Yeah,” he said smiling.
“Boy, do you know how worried I have been about you?” she snapped. “You have not called me in a week.” She reached through the window and smacked the back of his head. “You gave me a scare,” she added.
“I’m sorry,” he attempted. “I’ve been really busy and I wanted to surprise you.”
Her arms reached into the window and opened the door. He slid out and stood in front of her. She was shorter than he was; he had outgrown his mother years ago. She wrapped her arms around him and began to cry. He hadn’t expected something like this. He hugged her back as his eyes began to burn.
“I should beat you,” she stated pulling away. She stopped as she noticed Barron in the truck next to him. “And who is this?” she asked.
“Oh, this is my friend Barron,” he replied.
“Nice to meet ya ma’am,” Barron offered.
“Is he just a friend, or your boyfriend?” she asked.
“We still aren’t sure about that,” Jase laughed.
“Let me go make the bed in the guest room. Ya both can stay in there. Ya’ll must be tired,” she stated walking back to the house. Jase motioned for Barron to follow him as he walked to the porch and stopped. He sat on one of the chairs and lit a cigarette. His mama entered the house and Barron joined him, sitting down in the chair next to him.
“She seems nice,” Barron stated.
“Yeah, it’s hard for me to be mad at her,” Jase replied. He noticed his mother’s cup of coffee was still sitting on the small table next to them. “Try some of her coffee,” Jase pushed. He watched as Barron lifted the cup to his mouth and took a drink. He swallowed and began to cough and spit.
“Oh my god! That is like motor oil!” he declared.
“I know,” Jase replied laughing. “She says she makes it so strong cuz my dad was in the army,” he added. They both grew silent and looked out into the vast openness. A lone tree stood in his mother’s yard, it’s branches swaying in the soft hot breeze.
“The air here is making my skin sticky,” Barron stated.
“It’s Texas,” Jase explained. “Nowhere for the humidity to go, so it stays in the air until it sticks to something.”
“In this case me,” Barron laughed. “I couldn’t imagine being changed in this weather. Having fur would suck,” he added.
Jase heard his mother rummaging in the house behind them, most likely trying to clean up anything sitting around. It took his mother ten point five seconds to make a bed, something he unfortunately had never inherited. She knew he was tired, and he was in all honesty. Another part of him was just wanting to draw out what he knew was going to have to happen. She had lived with this secret for so long he knew she probably believed the lie she had created. He didn’t want to confront her and let her know that her lie was no longer a secret. It hurt Jase to think that she had lied for so long. That she had hidden his true identity from him and let him grow up believing her story.
“When are you gonna talk to her about it?” Barron probed.
“Tomorrow some time, I dunno,” he confessed. “I want her to enjoy this for a little while,” he added.
“I know what ya mean. Besides, if she can’t give us all the answers then we need a rest from driving,” Barron stated.
“L.A. is a long ass drive from here,” Jase laughed nodding his head. Barron threw his hand up quickly and shushed Jase, his head snapped to the side. He began to sniff the air and released a low growl.
“Something,” Barron started. Something moved in the darkness and Jase felt the hairs on his arms stand on end.
“What is it?” Jase whispered. Whatever it was continued to slink towards them, slow and meticulous, and it was creeping Jase out.
“Therian,” Barron mumbled. The shadow came into the yard and into the street light, a fox watching them cautiously.
“Are you serious?” Jase asked.
“I got the guest room all cleaned up,” his mother stated opening the door. The fox ran off, startled, and they both turned to find her holding out cups of hot coffee.
“Thanks mama,” he said accepting the cup.
“So what brings ya out here?” she asked taking her seat beside him.
“Just a visit. A pit stop you could say,” he explained with a smile. Barron yawned and stretched his big arms. Jase’s mother glanced at the man.
“The bed is ready if the two of you are tired,” she offered. “I even tossed the blankets in the dryer for a couple of minutes,” she added with a smile.
“Yeah, we’ve been driving for nine hours,” Jase stated standing. Barron stood beside him and followed him into the house. The smell hit Jase and he was thrown into remembering his mama. The things she would cook filled the house and he started to crave her homemade fudge. He wondered if she could whip him up a batch before they left, or if she would even want to, since she would most likely be upset at him.
“You okay?” Barron asked pulling him into a hug as they lay in bed.
“Just nervous,” he confessed. He let his hips settle into Barron’s groin and slowed his breathing. His eyes drifted closed and Barron’s soft snore led him to a dreamless, deep sleep.

Chapter 2

Jase opened his eyes, still in Barron’s arms and smiled. He took a whiff of the smells invading his nose and his smile grew. Jase’s mom was cooking, and from what he could tell it was one hell of a breakfast. He glanced at the glowing red numbers of the clock, it was almost four pm, late as hell. The thought of the Therian from the previous night hit him again. Was someone watching them?
“Mornin,” Barron said, squeezing him tightly. Jase was trying to get used to having a guy in his life again. He rubbed Barron’s warm skin and rolled over to face him. They had kissed once, but that had been all that they had done. He couldn’t explain the feelings he had for Barron, and was pretty sure Barron could say the same thing. They were happy and that was all that mattered right?
“Mama’s cooking,” Jase explained. They were suddenly very aware of the bulges growing in their pants. Jase almost screamed; everything about Barron was larger than life.
“Sorry,” Barron mumbled, pulling away. He was blushing and started staring at the ceiling silently.
“I don’t mind,” Jase laughed. He hadn’t had sex in over six months, how sad was that? “What are you thinking about to make it go away?”
“Old people,” Barron laughed. “And baseball.”
“If we weren’t in my mama’s house, I would so try to jump your bones,” Jase whispered into Barron’s ear.
“That is not helpin,” Barron whispered back. “Besides, I am not easy,” he stated sliding out of the bed. He opened the door to the bathroom and disappeared. Jase lay in the bed, thinking about everything, still confused about it all.
“You two awake?” came his mothers quieted voice.
“Yeah mama,” Jase replied. The door cracked open and she popped her head in. It was covered in rollers.
“Do you mind going to the grocery store for me? I don’t have any soda’s for ya to drink,” she explained.
“Sure,” he replied. “Barron’s getting a shower. We’ll head down there after he gets out.”
“That TV show you love is on, the one with the models. They are having some kind of marathon,” she offered.
“Good, we have entertainment for the day,” he laughed. She smiled and closed the door, leaving him alone again. He heard the shower cut on and Barron curse. He should have told him the hot water took a while to kick in. He laughed and rolled over in the bed, looking out the window. His mind began to wander; mostly thoughts about his mother. He loved her so much. She was all he had left in regards to family. His mother and father had found they were unable to have any more children after him. Maybe they weren’t able to have kids even before him. This thought put a knot in his stomach. How could someone he loved so much, lie to him for so long?
Then his mind brought up another odd thought. What if he did have family out there somewhere? That would be strange. By no means would he disappear out of his mother’s life, but he would like to know if he had other family. He came back to reality as a yelp escaped his lips, which almost turned into a scream. The fox was up on its hind legs watching him through the window. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone again and Jase had to blink a few times.
“What?” Barron exclaimed running out of the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around him and he was still dripping.
“The fox,” Jase mumbled. “I am pretty sure we are being watched.”
“What would give you that idea?” Barron laughed. He slipped the towel off of his hips and began to scrounge through their suitcase. Jase couldn’t help admire the view he was getting. Barron’s strong back flexed with every movement. He was still covered in water which revealed every chiseled feature of the man. Jase wished Barron would turn around, to give him a full view of everything. As if Barron had been reading his mind, he stood up and turned around with a dazed look on his face.
“Okay,” Jase muttered as his eyes grew wide. Barron shook his head and squinted his eyes, as if he had a headache.
“Damn,” Barron mumbled. He looked down at his body and was suddenly very self conscious. “What the hell? What just happened?” Barron exclaimed wrapping the towel around himself. “Did you make me do that?”
“I am not sure,” Jase replied climbing out of the bed. He slipped his old slippers onto his feet with a smile and left the room. He didn’t want to wish anything else while Barron was in the room.
As he hopped down the stairs, the smell of pancakes made his mouth start to water. It had been years since he had eaten his mother’s homemade pancakes. She had yet to share the recipe with him. He reminded himself to ask her about her recipe book before they left. He doubted she would share. Those family recipes were guarded like Fort Knox.
“I hope yer hungry,” she stated in her southern drawl. He turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the table. She had made enough to feed an entire elementary school. On the table sat a plate of French toast and pancakes, sausage and bacon, a covered plate he was pretty sure was holding fried ham. Some hash browns covered another plate sitting next to the scrambled eggs and a plate of fried eggs finished the table off. His mother had not stopped there though. In a bowl on the counter sat a fruit salad. She smiled at him dusting her hands off.
“Mama,” Jase muttered.
“I know you can eat, and Barron is built like a football player,” she tried.
“Yeah,” Jase stammered sitting at the table.
“So what are you doing in town?” she asked as she began to prepare him a plate.
“We are handling some business for work, so I figured I would stop by and spend some time with ya,” he lied. She had lied to him all this time what was one little fib?
“For Dillard’s?” she probed. He nodded his head. A loud clink made them all turn their heads. “Mail is here,” his mother stated. She began to get up to get it.
“I’ll get it mama,” Jase offered and she smiled at him.
“I’ll go with ya,” Barron offered. They both headed for the door and closed it behind them. “I don’t think she likes me,” he whispered.
“Why do you say that?” Jase asked as they walked down the driveway. To say it was hot was an understatement. The combination of the humidity and the heat left a sticky feeling across his skin. The air was heavy and every breath was a struggle. The tree in the front yard sagged as if it were tired of trying to reach for the sun. The thing they needed seemed to be against them and they knew it.
“I dunno,” Barron replied. “I just get the feeling that she doesn’t like me.”
“Maybe it’s that she doesn’t know you,” Jase tried as they got to the mailbox. He opened the box but stopped. Something had made the hairs on his neck stand up. His arms were suddenly covered with goose bumps. He glanced over at Barron. He had the look on his face that he knew something was watching them.
Jase turned his head in the other direction and noticed the fox watching them from around the corner of a house across the street. He felt, more than heard, a low growl slip between Barron’s lips. The fox stared at them and as the growl from Barron grew louder, it took off around the house. Before Jase knew what was happening they were both running towards the house, full on sprint speed. He could feel Barron beside him, running at the same speed. Jase wasn’t a runner, he knew this, and to be honest he considered himself pretty damned lazy. Running like this was first of all out of character, but more so unbelievable.
They ran through the backyard of the house and Jase leapt over a swing set. As he began his decent back to the ground he half expected to break his leg and tumble to a stop. This didn’t happen. Instead he hit the ground and continued at the pace Barron had set. Something inside of him rose up and he couldn’t describe what he was feeling. His mind said it was almost playful. Running with Barron felt like they were both on the hunt. A forest edge was in front of them and as they crossed the line he glanced at Barron. He had stripped off his shirt and his eyes were in their lupine form. Jase felt himself delving into the world around him. He knew it was the empathy that was doing this, because he could feel Barron beside him.
This was different though, because it was almost like the empathy was pulling something from Barron. Jase could tell that Barron felt it, but they just continued running. It almost burned to breath. They had been running for so long but he could smell the fox still. Hold on, did he smell the fox? Yes he could and they were getting close. He felt it happen, his body convulsed once. It scared the shit out of him because of how much it hurt. He just couldn’t stop running, and the convulsions began to get worse. Pain coursed through his body. The world around him began to look different. His smell increased as he ran and he could almost see where the fox had gone. Through his vision it seemed like the world had gotten a little bigger. Was it losing color?
THERE!! He had seen the fox almost a hundred feet ahead of them. It sat there, waiting. Jase was afraid it would try to run away. What fun would it be if dinner ran away? Dinner? A small part of him felt disgusted that he had just thought that. He felt his hind legs bunch up and release as he leapt through the air and tackled the fox. He caught the neck of the fox in his jaws and wrestled it to the ground. Where had Barron gone? He held it pinned down, ready for it to try and fight him. It lay there and didn’t fight; a sign of submission. Jase had won! He growled into the fur around the fox’s neck. It let a small squeal go, once again letting Jase know he had won.
“Uh, Jase?” came Barron’s voice. Jase let his eyes dart to the left where Barron was staring at him, his eyes wide. “Is that you?” Jase? Someone had called his name. Suddenly that little part of himself became a big part of himself. He released the fox and began to gag as he realized that he was chewing on an animal.
He turned to tell Barron that that was disgusting, “Roarrhoahy,” was all that came out. He stopped and realized that his vision was screwed up, and that he couldn’t seem to stand up.
“How the hell did ya do this?” Barron asked kneeling down to him. Jase looked down at his hands but found they were paws. What the fuck?
He wanted to say, what am I? “Argghurrrha” came out instead. He didn’t have lips or a proper voice box, so this sounded extremely funny.
“Uh, well,” Barron stammered. He looked up at Barron pleadingly. “Well I don’t know how you turned into a wolf!” he exclaimed. The fox stood to the side of them waiting patiently. “I ain’t scratched ya, or bit ya, we ain’t even,” he stopped remembering the fox was still there. “Just change back,” he finished. He looked at Barron again, this time trying to contort his face to look pissed off.
They both turned to look at the fox as he laughed. How could he laugh? Jase glared at him and he shut up. He turned back to Barron who still looked confused.
“Just change back, think of your body and it’ll change ya back, I guess,” Barron tried. Jase nodded at him and closed his eyes. He began to think about his body. His hands, his face, his big ass. Okay maybe he shouldn’t think about his body.
“I don’t think this is working,” he said. His eyes flew open as he realized he had actually said it. He was naked, well almost; he was wearing only his boxers. “What the hell was that?”
“Not really sure,” Barron replied.
“Your empathy, I felt it too,” the fox said. Jase and Barron looked over and found an aged Indian man sitting on the rock the fox once occupied. “It’s is a heightened level of empathy, synchronicity. You are pretty powerful.”
“Was I just a freakin wolf!” Jase exclaimed grabbing some branches trying to cover his body.
“Yeah,” Barron muttered.
“Give me your pants!” Jase demanded. Barron quickly removed his jeans and tossed them to Jase. They were a little longer in the legs but they would work. He wasn’t sure if his pants had come off or shredded when he changed over. Was this going to be a permanent problem now? Changing into a wolf? How the hell had it even happened?
“Ya okay?” Barron asked coming to his side. Jase pulled back from his touch, he hadn’t meant to just out of reflex really.
“Who the hell are you?” Jase demanded glaring at the Indian. He was angry and he couldn’t help snapping at the nearest person. The man stood and closed his eyes; his body began to spasm and tighten. His mouth flew open and a grey smoke-like material poured from his mouth. The smoke began to take shape beside the Indian and when a man stood in the smoke’s place, the Indian man fell to the ground unconscious.
“My name is Caben and I am a messenger for the Queen of Dallas,” the man explained. Jase looked to Barron hoping for an explanation.
“A Possessor Demon,” Barron stated.
“You took possession of a Therian?” Jase inquired. The man nodded and Jase pulled the pants up. They were trying to fall off of him. “The Queen? What Queen?”
“Queen Sheridan, she is the regional Queen of the Texas area.” Caben explained.
“The demon Queen here,” Barron added.
“Do all cities have Demon Queens?” Jase asked the men. Barron just nodded; he seemed to be shrinking away from Jase, most likely because he felt responsible for Jase suddenly being a Therian. “So what does she want?”
“She needs your assistance,” Caben replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled a card out handing it to Jase. “She said she would prefer to use your services instead of handing you over to The Organization.” That last comment caught Jase. This bitch was basically black-mailing them.
“Are you friggin serious?” he exclaimed. The demon looked startled. “Who the hell does she think she is?”
“Well, the Queen,” Caben stated matter-of-factly. Barron tried to put his hand on Jase’s shoulder but he recoiled again. His skin felt so funny now; really tender.
“What if we just do this, so Taralyn doesn’t get word of where we are,” Barron stated stiffly. Jase looked down at the card angrily.
“I don’t like being black-mailed,” he growled.
“Don’t think of it as black-mail. Think of it as an exchange of favors. You do this, she keeps quiet,” the demon offered. Jase glared at him and he slunk back, his pompous attitude suddenly deflated.
“Tell her we will be there at six this evening,” Jase barked.
“See you two then,” the demon smiled and disappeared into the black smoke again.
“What is going on with me?” Jase screamed after a few moments. Barron seemed at a loss for words, his shoulders slumped forward. “First weird ass spells just randomly happening, then I kill one of the Bitches of Kane and now, NOW!” he was screaming at this point. “Now I have super empathy or what the fuck ever?” He threw his hands in the air feeling defeated. What the hell was he? It kept getting more and more confusing as time passed by.
He stopped talking and looked to Barron, who gave him a wide-eyed, doe like reply. He spun around and began to head back to his mother’s house. He heard himself grumbling and bitching the entire trip through the woods. Barron remained silent behind him, following him at a safe enough distance. They came to the street his mother’s house stood on, and Barron stopped beside him as he scoped it out.
“We climb in the window there,” Jase ordered. Barron just nodded in response. He didn’t need his mother freaking out. He did not know what she would say to the sight of them walking in the front door half dressed. His t-shirt was all shredded, hanging from a tree branch back in the woods. His jeans were Goddess knew where, and here he was in broad daylight, standing half dressed in the suburbs.
They both darted across the street, Barron in a pair of boxer briefs and Jase in Barron’s pants. If anyone called the cops they would have a lot of explaining to do. They stopped at the window and Barron knelt down, giving Jase a little leverage to open the window. He felt his weight shift in Barron’s hand and they tilted slightly to one side.
“Wolf boy, straighten up,” Jase barked. He felt Barron push his body back into place with his face.
“Climb in the damned window or I am gonna bite ya,” Barron snapped back.
Jase reached up and grabbed onto the ledge of the window. He really didn’t have any upper body strength, which sucked in situations like these. Barron kept his hands in support of his lower body, which helped a lot, and Jase was able to pull himself inside. The aluminum window frame rammed against his stomach as he leaned onto it. It hurt like a bitch and Jase bit his lip to stop from yelping. He had to slow his body down from crashing to the floor, but he made it in without cutting any main arteries. He rolled over and onto his back on the hardwood floor. Barron leapt into the window in one graceful move.
“I get to change and shit, but can’t just leap into a window like that?” Jase asked. Barron shrugged as they both began to sort through their clothes.
Five minutes later, they stood dressed again both wondering how to get around the situation with his mother downstairs.
“I will go back downstairs; tell her I had to go to the bathroom,” Jase began. “You jump out the window again and go get the mail.”
“But,” Barron began. Jase held his hand up cutting him off. He was pissed and didn’t need to hear any shit from anyone. Barron huffed slightly and jumped out the window again. Jase opened the door and headed back downstairs. He was really freakin hungry now.
“I thought you went to get the mail?” his mother asked, as he peeked his head into the living room.
“I had to pee,” he smiled.
“You made Barron go get it?” she asked laughing. He nodded his head. He sat down across from her in a chair.
“I have some stuff I need to take care of,” he explained. She looked at him curiously.
“Are ya okay?” she inquired. She always knew when he was upset. Mothers intuition or whatever, but how was that possible when she wasn’t even his mother? This thought pissed him off even more and he shook his head.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” he tried. He stood up and began to head back to their room. He would mope around till it was time for them to leave. Glancing at the clock he realized that they only had about a half hour till they needed to leave. Where the hell had the time gone? He heard his mother stop behind him as he grabbed some sausage links and a few pancakes, stuffing them into his mouth.
“Jase, what is going on honey?” she pushed. God, why did she have to know everything? Why couldn’t she just wait until he was ready to talk about it like a normal parent? He gulped down some orange juice to wash down the food. He felt numb at the moment, as he looked at the ugly floral pattern on his mother’s table cloth. He has always felt weird as a kid, like he never really belonged in their family. This ugly pattern was another point why he felt that way, never would he ever put something like that in his apartment.
“Mom,” he began. He stopped short, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this right now.
“Honey?” she probed touching his arm. He pulled away from her still sore from the change.
“I know,” he whispered. He felt he freeze behind him, he knew she was trying to assess the situation.
“Know what?” she tried her voice cracking slightly. He began to head up the stairs and towards the room.
“That you’re not my mom,” he called back down to her. He heard her gasp as he closed the door.
He flung himself on the bed and buried his head beneath the pillows. He had said it, maybe wrong timing or whatever, but he had said it. She knew that he knew her secret and he wasn’t going to let her keep it anymore. It was his secret too only he hadn’t known about it till Travis had shown him. Travis, he thought about the boy perhaps too often, wishing he had saved him. Maybe if he had grabbed him and pulled him away from the blast he would still be alive.
“Travis, let him make the decision,” he remembered Madame LeVeax saying to him. He had let the boy do what he needed to do.
The door behind him opened and he reached out with his senses to make sure it wasn’t his mother. It was Barron and he stood behind him silently.
“I think your mama is cryin,” Barron whispered.
“I told her,” Jase replied wiping his eyes. He hadn’t realized he had started crying. He heard Barron start to say something else but held his hand up stopping him again. “We need to go, just get me the hell out of here. I am pissed off and scared, so let’s not start anything else right now,” Jase snapped as he rose from the bed. He walked down the stairs and as he passed his mothers room he heard the unmistakable sounds of her crying. His heart ached because he had never wanted to hurt her. She had dug this grave all those years ago, it was her grave to lay in. Now he had other things to worry about, like meeting this damned bitch of a Queen.

chapter 3

Jase sat quietly in the passenger seat, he wasn't mad at Barron by no means but what had happened was some how linked to the guy. Then again it wasn't truly Barron's fault that his powers were growing, Taralyn did not say it would be like this thought. Did she know that he was on the road to being able to do this? Who the hell knew? She had been hiding stuff from all of them, he knew that in his gut but he didn't have any concrete proof of that yet. When he did have the proof, he intended on showing all of them. Exposing the Organization for what it was, some twisted fucked up form of the mafia. He glaced out the corner of his eye towards Barron, the wolf was staring straight ahead not making an attempt at conversation. He trusted the guy so much more than he wanted to let on, he had followed him away from that motley crew. Jase wasn't sure he was following his heart, his head or his gut. He fumbled pulling his pack of cigarettes out of his leather jacket, he wanted to quit one day. Who the hell knew when that was really gonna happen.
"So how about those," he paused trying to think of some team from Texas. "Spurs?" he finished exhaling a plume of smoke.
"Now you're talking to me?" Barron asked through gritted teeth, Jase could smell the anger rolling off of the man. He was so engrossed in his mind he hadn't realized.
"Yeah," Jase tried. "What's wrong?"
"You freak out over the whole changing thing, and then stop talking to me like it's my fault!" Barron barked. "Didn't you think, hey maybe it freaked me out too?" he finished his southern drawl getting thicker. Jase knew from an argument they had while driving that when he got really pissed off, his country accent kicked into full gear.
"I'm sorry," Jase tried feeling like shit.
"You're sorry? No, ah'm sorry. Sorry I thought, I dunno maybe ya cared about me," he finished.
"You're about to miss the exit," Jase muttered getting pissed off too.
"What?" Barron snapped.
"That's our exit!" Jase replied yelling back. Barron cut the truck across three lanes of traffic cutting several cars off. Jase heard horns honking and heard cussing through the window. He was too mad to worry about it now. "I do care about your stupid ass!"
They both grew silent as they turned into Dallas, Jase returned his attention to what was outside the truck. The outskirts of Dallas was covered in small buildings, shopping centers. Ahead of them lay several different giant buildings none of which were their destination. Barron glanced at the small card and made a right hand turn, never turning to look at Jase. He never meant to come off as uncaring, but he wasn't sure he wanted to try anything with a virgin. Sure, they flirted and kissed but other than that it hadn't gone much further. Everytime Barron had stopped from crossing that invisible line of make out fun and into sex or foreplay even. It was frusterating as hell to Jase, he wanted more but it seemed like the wolf was not really gay sometimes.
"Here it is," Barron mumbled as they pulled into a gas station.
"Are you serious?" Jase inquired.
"This is the address on the card," Barron stated handing him the business card.
"What kind of Queen lives in a gas station?" he asked slippin the card in his front pocket. He slipped out of the truck and hit the pavement, he stopped because he did not want to acknowledge what his foot had landed on. He walked trying to kick it off of the bottom of his shoe.
"You okay?" Barron probed.
"I have a used condom stuck on the bottom of my shoe, and we just walked by two used needles, so no I am not okay," he replied angrily. "This better not be a joke, or I am kicking someones ass."
They walked into the gas station with a jingle from the overhead bells alerting the clerk that customers had arrived. She was short with giant eyes that stood out like two giant green saucers on her face. Her brown hair was cut a little longer than the bottoms of her ears and she smiled at them, giving her an almost anime quality to her features.
"Hi!" she exclaimed too chipper for anyone in Jase's opinion. "Welcome to gas mart!"
"Okay," Jase stammered still staring at her. He glanced over at Barron, he was watching the girl curiously. Jase waited wondering what the guy was doing, he watched his nostrels flare a little and shook his head. "What?" Jase whispered.
"She's not real," Barron muttered.
"Huh?" Jase replied dumb to any meaning behind this little comment.
"She doesn't have a scent," he explained. That was weird, well at least Jase thought so. He walked up to the girl and gave her a smiled right back.
"Hi," he stated reading her name tag. "Peggy-Sue! I am looking for the Queen and this is her address." Who the hell named their kids Peggy-Sue nowdays?
"Huh?" the girl asked clueless. Jase caught a whiff of the girl and it reminded him of Madame LeVeux's shop, the smell he couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly. An idea struck him, a spell he had read in the book to disrupt magicks. He put his hand in front of him about five inches from the girl.
"Uh, Jase what are you doing?" Barron asked.
"Shhhh," he ordered. He started to whisper the spell and his fingers began to crackle and spark as the spell took hold. The crackling blue energy began to get stronger with the second wave of the spell. He wasn't sure what would happen when he finished with the third round, but the girl just smiled at him so he knew it would work. He was having to push with this one so he knew it would be something big. As the final words fell from his lips he watched as the blue energy became white and it exploded from his hand. He felt his body lift up off the ground as he was propelled backwards from the blast. He felt his body slam into Barron's as they both flew back into some of the shelved aisles. They landed with a thud and Barron's arms were wrapped around him tightly.
"Fuck!" he screamed as they slid to a stop. He felt like his chest had been kicked in and he knew he would be bruised. He rolled off of Barron as he grunted slightly, they were surrounded by bags of chips and candybars.
"Next time, do it from at least fifteen feet away," came a voice. Jase jumped up ready for a fight, perhaps too quickly because his left leg gave out and he fell back down onto Barron.
"OW!" the man grunted. "Get yer elbow outta my gut!" he screamed. He slid to the side off of him again and crunched a bag of chips in the process. Jase again stood but this time going slower, he felt a sharp pain echo through his body starting in his ankle. The odds were it had been sprained, this was something he had always come to expect of assignments with the Organization. Some form of pain, wether it be a broken bone or a sprain or some other kind of ailment he figured he would have gotten it from the assignments at one point or another.
"Are you really that new?" asked the voice. Jase followed his ears to where a till man stood, dark black hair cascaded down his shoulders. His dark coals for eyes bore into Jase trying to figure him out, he looked to have some form of Hispanic heritage.
"Excuse me?" Jase asked suddenly offended. Barron stood up next to him craddling his arm a pained expression on his face. He wanted to reach out and heal whatever was wrong with the man but his angry side told him not to, it told him to let him feel a little pain.
"I guess so," the man answered. He was wearing layers of dark colored velvet, navy and marron, his fingers were covered in rings and glinted in the overhead light. Some form of crystal hung from a golden chain draped around his neck, as Jase felt his senses reach out the crystal began to glow and Jase felt a streak of pain shoot through his head.
"You okay," Barron asked as Jase stumbled.
"Don't try to infiltrate my mind," the man stated snidely.
"Who the hell are you?" Barron growled.
"My name is Luis," he replied walking to the counter. He looked over to where the girl was laying unmoving and shook his head. "You broke her," he mumbled. "Shaelynn!" he called. From what appeared to be a freezer a girl appeared dressed in the same uniform as Peggy-Sue.
"Yes sir," the girl asked.
"Take her to the back I will fix her later, till then you work the register," he ordered. He spun back around taking in Jase and Barron. "I am the Queen's lead advisor," he explained as if that meant something.
"Where is this bitch?" Jase asked still pissed off. He wasn't sure if it was Barron feeding his anger or what, but the question almost came out as a growl.
"Do not insult the Queen," Luis barked. With his last words he felt a wave of energy flow from the man, almost as if it were a challenge to Jase.
"What the hell are you?" he found himself asking. He knew what a witches energy signature felt like, but this was something totally different.
"A sorcerer," Luis replied with a smile. "Now follow me, I will take you to her court," he ordered walking into the freezer towards the back. Jase glanced up at Barron and the wolf nodded, they both began to follow the sorcerer. Jase had never run into one before this day, so it was something new. Since learning of the Dark world he had grown accustomed to meeting new beings and creatures. He learned that every myth had some form of truth behind it, the stories had to start somewhere. He remembered when they had an assignment to track and apprehend a Sasquatch, yes as in big foot.
It has been in his first month with the Organization, he had made Taralyn repeat the assignment twice just to make sure he heard her right. They all looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"A freakin sasquatch?" he had asked incredulous.
"Yes," Taralyn replied hard as nails.
"So we have to go find big foot, like the real big foot?" he repeated.
"You have to find a big foot," she stated, She was starting to get pissed off, her eyes were starting to change color. Susan later explained to him as they drug the unconsious body to Barron's truck what a sasquatch really was. It seemed that whenever a human was bitten or scratched by two or more different species of therian during the full moon, they became infected by both and permanently transformed into a sasquatch. Apparently there was a jail-like place near every major metropolis for any Dark world creature deemed uncontrollable. Jase had never been to one and had no intention of ever going, but he knew if the Organization found him and Barron it would be where they ended up.
They entered the walk in freezer and Jase felt his skin tighten from the thirty degree drop. A part of him thought of the possibility of an ambush by the Organization but he dismissed the idea. The sorcerer stopped towards the back waiting impatiently for them, his hand grazed the rear wall and Jase watched as a door appeared. He turned the handle and Jase and Barron followed slowly. When they crossed the thresh hold Jase felt his mouth drop open, they entered a palace which was not by any means visible on the outside. The walls rose at least sixty feet above their heads, golden and light came from nowhere reflecting off of the golden walls and pillars.
"What da hell?" Barron muttered.
"How?" Jase inquired.
"It's called magick," the sorcerer replied in a condescending tone. Jase glared at him, he was really getting tired of the better than you attitude he was spitting in his direction.
“You made it,” called a voice. Jase and Barron both turned their heads as Caben walked down a set of golden stairs, a smile plastered across his face. His hair was grey but Jase knew he was far too young to be that grey.
“Unfortunately,” Jase said to the demon. Caben rolled his eyes at this comment as he stopped in front of them.
“I would agree,” Luis added snidely.
“The Queen is awaiting your arrival,” Caben said nodding his head back towards the stairs. He started for them as Jase and Barron followed and continued talking. “She is in her board room with her court,” he began as they trotted up the stairs. He was wearing flowing silks in layers, all different shades of grey.
“Her court?” Barron inquired.
“Her generals, and a few other members of her court such as her children and sister,” Caben stated.
“What is going on?” Jase asked. “What is it she needs?”
“That is not for him to tell you,” Luis replied from behind them. They turned down a long narrow hallway. The floor was covered in a burgundy carpeting that felt soft under Jase’s feet. The walls were covered in portraits of women, Jase assumed they were the Queens of the past within this family. They stopped at large doors at the end of the hallway, Caben turned to look at them the smile still on his face.
“They are in this room, don’t be nervous,” he whispered. He turned away from them and threw the doors open in a very flamboyant fashion. Jase wanted to laugh but stopped as he realized they were standing at the end of a long mahogany table. The shine alone scared Jase, but this on top of the fact that about forty pairs of eyes turned and looked at them. “My Queen, they’ve arrived,”
“Finally,” a woman from the opposite end of the table stated. She stood and looked down the table at them almost sizing them up. Her hair was short and bright blonde, her eyes a blue that seemed to look through them. She crossed her arms across her chest to reveal her red manicured nails. She was wearing a tight leather red dress, in Jase’s opinion it was a tad bit over doing it. Then again he had never met another Queen so maybe this was typical. She strode around her end of the table and began walking toward them, her tail swayed back and forth between her legs behind her. Pure blood demons did not have the ability to glamour their tail away, so that made it a little harder for them to blend in with humans.
“Yes M’lady,” Caben said with a smile.
“I am not sure of what Caben has told you,” she began. “I am Queen Sheridan,” she added as if she needed to be properly introduced.
“So I have heard,” Jase replied. The eyes at the table grew a little wider with this comment. Why couldn’t he just shut up sometimes? He felt it before he knew what had happened, her fist slammed into his face. He felt his eye do something funny as the force moved it around, his head snapped to one side. Barron roared but this silenced soon, he turned his head back to the Queen she was staring at him hard. Two men were holding Barron back, he seemed to be trying to change but he was having a hard time doing it.
“You will not disrespect me witch,” Sheridan barked, the pupils of her eyes seemed to be slits. Her head turned towards Barron and she smiled. “I have some of the best magicks placed upon my palace,”
“One crafted so that no Therian may change while on the premises,” Luis chimed in. Barron stopped struggling at the mention of this and began to revert back to his human form.
“What do you want?” Jase asked through gritted teeth. Magick of this power he knew he didn’t stand a chance against. They were in over their heads, and he was suddenly afraid that if things went bad they would die. Not just die, but the last things they had said to each other were words of anger.
“Well,” the Queen began. She turned her back to Jase and began to stride around the table. “We seem to have had an incident.”
“An incident?” Jase asked slightly bored already.
“Yes, an incident,” the Queen clarified.
“Like what kind of incident, someone fall while on the job?” Jase laughed. The Queen glanced over to where the two men held Barron and Barron let out a scream. Jase looked over to see one of the men had pulled out a dagger and was cutting him across the chest. It was most likely a silver blade; this was something a Therian could not heal so easily from.
“Watch your mouth or the wolf may not make it,” Sheridan warned. She continued walking around the table and stopped behind a woman with dark hair. She laid a hand on the woman’s shoulder and smiled. “My husband was murdered,” she began. “I need to know who, and why, but I am pretty sure it was my dear sister here,” she added.
“Sheridan why would I kill Chris?” the woman barked.
“Toni,” Sheridan muttered. “What better way to weaken your sisters hold on the throne?”
“She didn’t kill the king!” exclaimed the man sitting next to her. He stood quickly to make his point, a long sword dangled from a belt loop. He was pretty, almost too pretty and this tipped Jase off that he had to of been a Fairy.
They had to deal with Fairies, or to be P.C. about it Fey, one time during his run with the Organization. There was a murderer out killing different families in the Fey community. Something the murderer did not think about was that they were prominent families and could afford to enlist the Organization. It had been Jase’s first assignment so the details about the case he really didn’t remember, but he distinctly remembered they were all beautiful. The men, the women, all beautiful in an ungodly way and no matter what your sexuality they would make you think dirty thoughts.
“Kevin,” Sheridan mumbled staring the man in his eyes. “Shut-up!”
“What does this exactly have to do with me?” Jase asked reminding them that he was there.
“I am pretty sure you could help me with this,” she said looking at Jase. “You are the ones who helped the Daughters of Kane invoke Lillith aren’t you?”
This question stung Jase a little because he never meant for any of it to happen the way it had. If he could have stopped them he would have, and would have saved Travis in the process. This comment reminded him of the loss of Travis and he bit his lip to keep from cussing the bitch out, he didn’t want Barron anymore hurt than he was. They may have been angry at each other, but Jase knew he could count on Barron to protect him. So his well-being was directly connected to Barron’s well-being.
“We did not help them, we simply failed our mission,” Jase corrected.
“Tomato, tomahto,” Sheridan replied.
“I don’t like tomato’s,” Jase snapped only to hear another roar come from Barron.
“You need to learn respect,” Sheridan chided. “Or do you not need this Therian, is he but your eye candy?” she laughed.
“He is mine,” Jase heard himself say. The word mine came out more as a growl and it almost scared him the way he sounded. He looked over at Barron who was looking at him in a blood soaked shirt. His eyes looked almost drained but something in them sparked when they made eye contact and he actually managed a smile.
“Well, then stop with the smart ass comments,” Sheridan ordered. She stopped again behind Toni and Kevin. “Toni my darling sister, would you please escort our guests to the crime site?”
Toni stood and nodded, her dark hair giving of a radiant shine. She could not have been any different from Sheridan if she had polka dots. She wore a green dress which seemed brighter against her pale skin. Her eyes seemed almost kind compared to the darkness hidden behind Sheridan’s. She barely came to Sheridan’s bust line but she had an aura about her the same as Sheridan. Kevin stood beside her and they both walked to the wall and opened a door.
“Please follow us,” Toni offered. Jase turned and waited for the men to release Barron. He stumbled forward and stopped beside Jase silently, he didn’t have to say anything for Jase to know he was in extreme pain. The wounds across his chest still oozed sluggishly, they were going to leave some wicked scars. Jase walked forward and followed the two of them through the door. A musty odor invaded Jase’s nose as they entered the tight corridor. They seemed to be walking down a hidden passage in the palace. The clicking of Toni’s heels on the stone floor was the only noise for a while.
“I am sorry,” Kevin stated without looking back at them.
“It’s nothing,” Barron replied. Jase could smell Kevin and he felt himself start to grow in his pants. He shook his head trying to clear it and stay focused, he didn’t need any dick-strations.
“I am sorry my sister is such a bitch,” Toni added. This made Jase laugh and she glanced back smiling at them. She pushed open a door at the end of the corridor and they entered a library. Well to call it a library would say that it ended somewhere, but this was a room that never seemed to end. Jase wanted to run through it and grab every book he could get his hands on. He loved books and reading, and seeing this he felt himself get dizzy. The ceiling was domed with sky lights scattered throughout the dome, almost like they were sitting inside a dome of swiss cheese. Book shelves lined the walls and created aisles covering the floor as far as the eye could see.
Toni continued walking forward, passing aisles with Kevin at her side. Barron was silent behind them as he too followed slowly, taking in the scene the same way Jase was. Well at least that was what Jase thought. They stopped after passing at least a few dozen aisles where a table sat, books splayed across the table some thrown to the floor.
“This was where they found his body,” Toni said as she stopped. She and Kevin both stood before them staring at them. Without warning Barron crossed the distance between himself and Kevin and began making out with the guy.
“What the FUCK!” Jase exclaimed. Kevin pulled Barron in and ran his hands down Barron’s back. His shoulder length blonde hair bunched up in one of Barron’s fist as he let out a slight moan. Toni glanced to the side as if this were normal behavior, Jase on the other hand was getting more angry as the make out session continued.
He watched as Barron lifted Kevin up off of the floor and set him on the table, wedging himself between the Fairy’s legs. Were they just gonna fuck as the two of them watched?
“Excuse me!” Jase barked. Toni held up a hand slowly and nodded for Jase to follow her.
“Your Therian friend may not be able to hear you,” she whispered when they were away from the boys.
“Is this like piss me off day or something?” he asked her.
“It’s not his fault, Kevin’s line has issues with Therians,” she began. “His family is irresistible to Therians for some reason so majority of them, get lost when they meet him.”
“Oh I don’t freaking think so,” Jase replied turning back to the boys. He marched over to them and stared at Barron’s suddenly bare back. Kevin’s was hanging from his bare shoulders in shreds. “Hey!” Jase screamed tapping Barron on the shoulder. “Stop!” he barked. Barron’s body stiffened, he shook his head a little and pulled away from kissing.
“Holy hell,” Barron mumbled. He broke away from Kevin’s grip quickly and looked at the three of them. “What did ya’ll do to me?”
“That is a first,” Kevin said standing.
“WHAT did ya do?” he screamed getting angry. Jase looked over to Toni not sure what to tell the wolf, he could feel the anger radiation off of Barron.
“It’s my blood line,” Kevin stated.
“Therian lust?” Barron asked slightly skeptical.
“Yeah,” Toni answered.
“Good, glad we all know about that one,” Jase exclaimed still pissed off. “Love how this shit is always interfering with my life.”
“Can we forget it happened?” Barron mumbled.
“Yeah, let’s forget it all happened,” Jase stated with a glare. He turned back to Toni and Kevin.
How did you do that?” Toni asked.
“Do what?’ Jase asked.
“You made him stop, no one should be able to conquer their lust. You told him to stop and he did. So, how did you do it?” Kevin clarified.
“I dunno,” Jase replied with a shrug. “So this is where it happened?” he asked looking around. “Cool, shouldn’t be hard.” he added without waiting. He wanted to get out of the damned palace and scream and beat something up. He cleared his head quickly and began to recite a spell. He wanted to see the past, not be in the past like a previous spell he had cast. This would just give him a vision to show what had happened. He saw as the little lights appeared in front of his face and began to dance around picking up the past events.
Kevin and Toni watched curiously as the spell worked itself, they didn’t know that the spell would also show them what happened. That was why there were four little lights dancing around them. He had cast the spell one other time to practice it with Michelle before they had left. The four lights stopped suddenly which was different than before. They seemed to trembled slightly and changed colors from white to red and blinked a little.
“That’s different,” Jase muttered. He didn’t have time to react when one of the little lights slammed into his face, not showing him the past but running him through book shelves. His feet were lifted off of the ground and he didn’t see anything. All he felt were the book shelves breaking as he slammed into them one by one. His back hurt like a bitch when he finally came to a stop several aisles away, the roar of the other three going through the same thing had stopped. He lay there not wanting to move because of how badly it hurt.
“WHAT WAS THAT!” he heard Barron scream. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but a part of him told him it was magick. Something had interfered with his spell and caused it to backfire. Whatever had happened to the King was being hidden from him. Sadly, he could not tell what kind of magick had been used to weave the spell. It could have been a witch, a fairy, a shaman; anything could have done what had just happened.
“Ow,” Jase screamed as he clamored out of the rubble. He looked in front of him at the several rows of bookshelves his body had obliterated. He gently stepped over some of them trying to get back to the murder scene. He waited patiently as Barron, Toni and Kevin did the same each looking at him expectantly.
“Okay, we’re wondering what that was,” Kevin muttered wiping some blood away from his lip.
“Someone or something has etched the murder with magick,” Jase stated. He looked around at the destroyed book shelves and shook his head. How was he supposed to figure this out when his magick wouldn’t work right?
“This is going to take longer than ya thought?” Toni asked. Jase nodded his head and she attempted to fix her hair. Kevin reached out and adjusted the shoulder of her blouse that had fallen slightly. They were all silent as they took in the sight of the mishap.
“Are ya gonna be able to even do it?” Barron asked. Jase glared at him, wasn’t he supposed to be on Jase’s side?
“Yes,” Jase barked. “I am just going to need to make a phone call or two.” He stopped and shook some broken wood from his hair. Why couldn’t things just be easy for once? Jase pulled out his cell phone and began dialing a number. “I will be back as soon as possible,” he stated heading out of the room.

Chapter 4

Jase walked through the parking lot of the “gas station” as his phone rang. He had called her but it went straight to her voicemail, maybe she had been screening her calls.
“What’s up?” LaShay asked as he lifted the phone to his ear.
“I need some help babe,” he whined.
“Babe?” she asked.
“Not now please,” he pleaded. “Ok listen, I am helping someone out in Dallas with a murder.”
“Wow, why is it that trouble follows you?” she asked with a slight laugh.
“Shay, please,” he mumbled.
“Sorry, sorry,” she stated. “How can I help?”
“I tried to use a spell to see what happened at the scene of the murder, and I am pretty sure there are some strong magicks stopping me,” he rambled. “Do you have any connections out here?”
“Magick, hold on,” he heard some papers shifting. “I have a witch friend out there named Phoebe, she owns an occult shop called Widdershins. Drop my name, she’ll help you.” she explained.
“Thank you so much,” Jase exhaled. He paused leaning against the truck as he watched Barron exit the building. “Anything happening in NOLA?” he asked.
“We’re not sure yet, Upper Management has us doing some investigating, who the hell are they?” she whispered.
“I never met them, not sure anyone really does,” Jase laughed.
“Yeah, well it annoys me. The new witch Adam annoys the hell out of me, he thinks he knows everything. Which he doesn’t,” LaShay sighed.
“Any news on the Bitches of Kane?” Jase probed.
“No, nothing. They’ve been in hiding since Lillith’s resurrection,” she stated. “Oh, shit I gotta go. Christian is coming to get me, talk to ya later,” and the line went dead.
“You figure it out?” Barron asked over the hood of the truck.
“Yeah, we gotta go to a shop here in town, called Widdershins,” Jase replied climbing into the cab. They both sat for a moment quietly, Jase wasn’t sure what to say. He was a little angry at what had happened with Barron and Kevin in the library. He knew it was jealousy, he didn’t exactly know what to think about that. He wasn’t used to being jealous of anyone or anything.
“Today sucks,” Barron laughed starting the truck. Jase refused to respond to him, he was worried that if he opened his mouth he would become a mean ass. “So?” Barron tried again as they pulled out onto the road.
Jase focused his attention on his P.D.A. finding the directions to the shop. Barron began tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as they stopped at a red light.
“Are you really ignoring me?” he asked appalled.
“Are you really talking to me?” Jase snapped back. Barron huffed a little and Jase wanted to punch him in the face.
“It was nothing,” Barron tried to explain.
“Nothing?” Jase exclaimed in a pitch he had never heard come from his mouth. “You just tried to fuck a fairy through his clothes!”
“But it wasn’t like I even did it on purpose!” Barron replied. “His blood line has Therian Lust!”
“Oh my goddess, that makes so much sense to me!” Jase squealed. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this?
“How about instead of yelling at me you ask!” Barron barked. Jase grew quiet and crossed his arms across his chest. “Every pure blood fairy has something that comes with their family blood line, Kevin’s family has Therian Lust.” he finally explained. “Therian Lust means that any Therian cannot resist them, their animal instincts take over, the primal urge to fuck.”
“Whatever!” Jase whispered through gritted teeth. He felt his eyes start to burn, he was not going to cry.
“Are you really that mad?” Barron asked. Jase shrugged, he didn’t want to speak anymore or he knew he would start crying. “It didn’t mean anything,” he tried. Jase shrugged again, he didn’t know why he was acting the way he was.
“It’s just,” he started but his voice cracked. He felt Barron lay a hand on his knee and rub slightly. “I’ve never seen you like that, not any of the times we have made out,” Jase confessed. Barron let out a sigh as they continued through the light. He was silently mulling over what Jase had just explained to him. Jase watched his face shift though the thoughts of whatever was going through his head.
“I’m sorry,” he finally managed. “I just haven’t let myself go with you, kind of scared to do it honestly.”
“Why?” Jase probed.
“Scared to hurt ya,” he stated eyes still straight ahead focused on the road.
“Get on the freeway, it says it will be faster,” Jase ordered processing what Barron had just admitted. Something struck Jase, and he wasn’t sure where it had come from. “Maybe we should,” he stopped himself.
“What?” Barron pushed.
“Maybe we should just be friends,” Jase heard himself saying. Barron’s breath caught. Jase had to admit he was kind of just testing Barron to see what he wanted from all of this.
“If that’s what ya want,” Barron replied recovering. Jase was a little surprised, but he made sure not to let it show. He nodded his head as if agreeing with what Barron had said. “Cool, friends then.”
“Take the next exit,” Jase ordered still looking at his P.D.A. He was beyond angry but he refused to let Barron know just how pissed off. Barron grew quiet again taking the cue from Jase. He pointed to the right and Barron took the next right.
“You okay?” Barron inquired with a laugh. That laugh made Jase want to punch him in the face again.
“It should be up here on the right,” Jase said ignoring the question. They pulled up to a brown building with the name Widdershins in orange lettering splayed above the doorway. Jase felt a wave of positive energy flowing from the building, probably some protective charms incrusted in the building itself. That was understandable because if Jase had opened his own shop he would have done the same thing.
“This is different,” Barron muttered. Jase ignored him yet again and opened his door. The sun had already set and the air was chilling down by the minute. Jase rubbed his arms trying to keep himself warm, it seemed his heart was chilling off as well. A blue neon sign lit up the pavement and blinked advertising readings.
“This is the place,” Jase stated coldly. He walked to the front door and felt the energy push against him slightly. He opened the door with a jingle from the bells hanging above the doorway. He smelled magick, different herbs wafted in the air and invaded his sense of smell. He smelled cinnamon, mugwort, and he wasn’t sure but thought he smelled cinquefoil. The smells eased his anger slightly and he felt like the magick enveloped him in a calming aura.
“Wow,” he heard Barron almost purr. Jase just nodded his head in agreement still ignoring him. His eyes began to dart around the darkened shop. He didn’t see anyone which made him a little nervous, but the magicks kept him calm enough to not freak out.
“Where the hell is the shop keeper?” Jase asked no one in particular. As if in response a loud roar blasted through the shop scaring the shit out of Jase. A large figure swooped past Jase and tackled into Barron, Jase felt a claw hit him in the chest and knocked him over the counter. He felt several glass bottles break under him and he was pretty sure the stinging feeling was the glass digging into his back.
He sat up slowly the ache in his back turning into a creeping burn. He looked through the glass fronts of the counters and seen Barron had shifted and he was wrestling with a bear. Yes a bear, a big black bear that looked a lot like Smokey on steroids. This bear was obviously having a roid rage.
“Dammit,” Jase screamed standing up, he felt blood leaving rivulets down his back. He really liked this shirt too.
A roar shook the glasses all around him as he tried to peek over the counter at the ensuing battle. Barron was latched onto the bear his jaws breaking the skin and blood pooling beneath them. What the hell was going on and who was this bear?
“Stop it!” he screamed. The two creatures continued their battle. Jase felt the spell take hold as he held his hand in front of himself and the two floated off of the ground still fighting. “Barron let him go!” Jase ordered in his ghostly voice. The wolf released the bear’s shoulder and he separated them with the spell, they were still floating off the ground. “Who the hell are you?” he barked. Barron and the other Therian began shifting back into their human forms, both of them naked.
“Who the hell are you?” came a voice. He turned his head and found a woman standing in a rear doorway. She stood maybe five foot seven, her dark hair cut close to her head giving her a pixie look. She had a small stud in her nose her dark eyes flared with anger. “Put my husband down,” she ordered.
“LaShay sent me here,” Jase explained setting the two Therians on the floor. The woman looked him over and glanced at the two men now standing naked.
“So you know the sistas?” she asked crossing her arms. She wore a loose spaghetti strapped tank top and jeans. Jase nodded his head and she continued looking him over. “And you are?”
“My name is Jase, I was in the Organization, but some things went bad,” he explained.
“And what do you want?” she barked.
“I need some help,” Jase tried calming down again thanks to the magicks.
“I’m going to the truck,” Barron grumbled.
“You’re naked,” the woman stated. “Let my husband grab you some of his clothes. Cooper can you go grab him something to wear outside?” she asked the man. He quickly disappeared behind her through the door. “My name is Phoebe,” the woman stated closing the distance between them and extending her hand. Jase accepted it and gave it a firm shake with a smile.
“I really need some help,” Jase confessed. “LaShay said to come to you.”
“Well she was right, I am the High Preistess of the coven in power here in Dallas. What do you need help with?” she asked grabbing a brookm and tackling the mess on the floor.
“I am helping Sheridan,” Jase replied. Phoebe stopped and looked up at Jase her eyes beady and curious. “Her husband was murdered.”
“She’s probably the one who did it,” Phoebe muttered.
“She’s blackmailing me,” Jase returned. She looked up at him still trying to figure him out. Cooper returned from the back with a pair of jeans and t-shirt handing them to Barron.
“Sorry man,” Cooper tried.
“It’s okay,” Barron replied.
“You guys are married?” Jase asked.
“Five years and going,” Phoebe replied with a smile. She held the dustpan in one hand and looked to Cooper, the look in her eyes said she really loved the guy. She turned and dropped the glass in a trash bin and duster off her hands.
“I’ll be in the truck,” Barron said after he had gotten dressed. He quickly exited the store and the sound of the truck door closing signaled he was serious.
“I didn’t mean to offend ya guys just, I smelled him before ya even walked in,” Cooper said apologetically.
“It’s cool,” Jase replied with a smile.
“Hon, I am gonna leave you two to figure stuff out,” the man said walking to her and laying a kiss on her lips. She smiled and watched as he walked back to the back door. He did have a nice ass Jase noticed.
“So, how can I help ya?” Phoebe asked leaning over the counter.
“I tried to see what had happened at the murder scene, and it has magick strapped all around it. Backfired real bad, like we were all slammed through about ten book shelves in different directions,” he explained.
“Damn,” Phoebe sighed. “Those are some strong magicks.”
“Tell me about it,” Jase added. “Shit,” he felt his back where the cuts were. “I think I have glass stuck in my back.”
“Let me help ya with that,” Phoebe smiled. She grabbed a few jars off of the shelves behind her and a mortar and pestal floated to the counter in front of her. “I am pretty sure I have most of the ingredients we’ll need here for a magicks nullifier,” she said grinding some herbs in the mortar.
“What about the stuff you don’t have?” Jase probed.
“I am trying to run the spell and ritual over in my head, I am pretty sure there’s only one thing I am missing,” she replied adding some oil to the herb mix. “Pull your shirt over yer head,” she ordered him. He did as she asked and she laughed. “And turn around goober,” he turned and he felt the cold tingling of the herb mesh press into his wounds.
“So how did you and your hubby meet?” Jase inquired.
“We were in school together down in Austin,” Phoebe explained. “We were in abnormal psych together and he sat behind me the whole semester,” she said. He could tell she was drifting into the memory of it all. “He never talked to me, not till the last day of class. He chased me down and asked me out,” she added with a laugh. “There are a few pieces of glass here,”
“Ow damn!” Jase screamed as she removed a few slivers of glass from his back.
“Sorry, sorry,” she squealed. “So how long have you and your Therian been together?” she asked rubbing more of the mesh into the wounds.
“We aren’t,” Jase replied. The rubbing stopped on his back as she grabbed some gauze.
“Leave these on for a day, the wounds will be healed by tomorrow,” she ordered. “Then why did he defend you? He acted the way Cooper does around me,” she asked as he pulled his shirt over the gauze.
“We tried something, it just got weird and complicated,” he confessed. She turned away from him and grabbed a book from a shelf.
“The best things are always complicated,” she laughed. She turned through the pages of the book skimming them over.
“It is all complicated, he’s a virgin and all that good stuff,” Jase tried shaking his head.
“Ah, yes, I do not carry Belladonna,” Phoebe said stopping at a page. “To nullify magicks this is the only spell and ritual I have, it calls for Belladonna.”
“Where can I find some?” Jase asked. He suddenly felt like he was on a wild goose chase. He was never going to be able to get any of this done, at least he was feeling that way.
“That is a little complicated,” Phoebe stated biting her bottom lip. “I know a guy, he’s a dealer and should have some.” Jase stared at her for a moment, unsure of how to take that comment. “A dealer of rare herbs,” she laughed.
“Ahhhh, okay,” Jase replied. She reached under the cash register and pulled out a card and handed it to him.
“That is where he usually is,” she stated. “How is LaShay doing?”
“Well she is now the Therian for the Organization in New Orleans,” Jase replied.
“Shit,” she sighed.
“Yeah it’s kind of our fault,” Jase added. Phoebe nodded her head with a slight frown.
He stopped and looked out the front window, he could make out Barron’s figure sitting in the truck. Just friends, what the hell had he been thinking? Then again the wolf had agreed to it so maybe it was what he wanted. Seeing Phoebe and Cooper made him wonder if he would ever find someone to make him happy, if there really was someone out there for him. Dating had never been something he enjoyed, he found it tiresome and stressful. Every other person was different, so with every new date you would have to change your game plan. And Jase hated playing games.
“Hmmm,” Phoebe murmured.
“What?” Jase asked coming back to reality.
“Just thinking about something,” she replied. She tapped her nails on the glass staring at him curiously. “Do you have a weapon?”
“Aside from a few spells, not really,” he replied. She turned and walked around the counter.
“Going to this side of town you are gonna need a weapon, and not just the wolf,” she explained walking down an aisle in the shop.
“Why?” he asked.
“Magicks can stop a Therian from changing, they can nullify any spell trying to be cast, there is only so much you can do with magick,” she explained as they came to a wall. She pushed a little button in on the beam of the wall and Jase watched as the wall flipped inside out.
“Holy damn,” he gasped. The wall had a wide variety of weapons pinned onto it on its opposite side. A staff, a sword, even some kind of whip looking thing.
“These are all enchanted and aren’t usually effected by spellcaster,” Phoebe explained. “Pick one,” she said waving her hand at the wall. Jase began to look at all of the weapons pinned to the wall. He wasn’t exactly sure what kind of weapon he would use; he had never needed one in the past. He let his fingers drift over a dagger with a black handle and small rubies in the hilt. It wasn’t too big, but wasn’t too small either. He continued to look them over stopping at a sword that seemed to give off a slight green glow whenever the light hit it the right way.
“I’ve never used any of these,” Jase confessed.
“It’s okay, go for the one that calls out to ya,” Phoebe replied with another smile. Jase could see why Cooper had picked her, had he been in the business of women Jase would have developed a crush.
His eyes stopped on a very small dagger, this one was totally different. The sheath looked to be sculpted into the face of a person and the handle was the man’s hat. It was small, very small in fact he wasn’t sure it could even do any damage. The molded face seemed to wink at him as his eyes stopped.
“What is that?” Jase asked Phoebe pointing.
“That is a fairy blade, not a lot of people pick that one,” Phoebe replied grabbing it from the shelf. She sheathed it and handed it to Jase, he rolled it over in his hands. There was a clip on the back of the hilt so he leaned down and clipped in onto the lip of his boot.
“Plus it is under four inches long so if a cop finds it you can’t be charged with carrying a concealed weapon,” Phoebe laughed. Jase nodded in agreement. She said to pick the one that called out to him, and for some odd reason this small dagger had called out to him.
“Alright,” Jase finally gave it. “So I go find this dude and bring the stuff back to you and you will help me?”
“Yup, normally I charge a fee but since the Queen is being a total douche to you I’ll do it no charge,” Phoebe explained. Jase extended his hand and she shook it firmly.
“It’s good doing business with you Phoebe,” he stated.
“You too Jase,” she replied with a smile.
“I’ll be back,” he said heading for the door.
“Tell your wolf my husband is really sorry,” Phoebe called after him.
The doors closed behind him with a jingle and he walked across the cement towards the truck. He looked inside to find Barron leaning against the driving wheel with his eyes closed. Jase looked up at the night sky the crescent moon trying to light up the darkness. He realized that some music was playing and he strained to hear it through the glass window. Some country song wailed from inside the cab and Jase shook his head trying not to laugh.
“Hey!” he belted tapping on the glass. Barron jumped up surprised and scared all at the same time. “Unlock the door,” he ordered. He heard the click of the lock and opened the door.
“Did she give ya what ya need?” Barron asked turning down the music.
“Ehhhhh,” Jase began. “We have to go somewhere to get one of the last ingredients.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Barron grumbled.
“It’s a Dark club,” Jase stated climbing into the passenger seat. Dark clubs were the places that looked like a run down bar on the outside, and to anyone not supernatural looked like a bar on the inside. To any witch, warlock, vampire, or Therian it was a happening spot to hang with other Dark worlders.
“Okay,” Barron replied pulling out into the traffic. They both grew quiet again and Jase shifted in his seat. The herb mesh was still tingling which meant it was working still, he was just glad he didn’t have to use too much magick in front of her. He felt comforted by the fact that she was a witch married to a Therian, she could relate to him and he could go to her for advice. Then again he was pretty sure he wouldn’t settle down in Dallas, but knowing that someone out there was going through or had been through what he was made him feel better.
“Have you ever been to one of these clubs?” Jase asked breaking the silence. Barron bit his lip thinking, Jase thought he always looked hot when he did that.
“A few years back, we had an assignment in Baton Rouge and had to go under cover at the Dark club there,” Barron replied. “Susan hated it, all the girls with their midriffs showing,” he laughed.
“I wonder if they’ve even been back to that fang chaser club,” Jase wondered out loud.
“Huh?” Barron asked.
“LaShay said that the Daughters have been in hiding, Marisole owned that club, I wonder if they have been back to it yet,” Jase explained.
“Probably not, you always were the one to catch something they missed,” Barron stated. He bit his lip again after he had said it, Jase wondered what was going through his head.
“I hope t-shirt and jeans doesn’t break their dress code,” Jase said changing subject. “Speaking of, is one of my bags still in here? This shirt is bloody as hell.”
“Yeah, there is one behind your seat,” Barron replied. Jase unbuckled his seat belt and turned around. He reached behind his seat and unzipped the gym bag that was there. He leaned back a little to strip off his shirt and tossed it out the window.
“What the hell is that all over your back?” Barron asked sounding grossed out.
“It is an herb mesh, it will help with the healing,” Jase replied pulling a shirt out.
“Well it looks like you have spinach smeared across yer back with some gauze over it,” Barron laughed. He was nervous, Jase could feel it radiating off of him and filling up the cab. Jase leaned back a little father holding the t-shirt in his lap and leaning into the dashboard, Barron’s eyes kept glancing over at him. “What are are doing?” the wolf asked. The nervous energy spiked again and it made Jase smile.
“I was stretching,” Jase lied slipping the shirt on. He spun back around and seated himself. “So the street should be up here somewhere,” Jase stated. They could see a neon yellow sign ahead of them blinking several people stood outside waiting to get in.
“Are you serious?” Barron asked as they stopped across the street in a parking lot. The big neon sign spelled out the name of the club, Dark World. Jase laughed slightly, it seemed that no one could really be original now days, not even in the Dark World.
“Well, it only has a name on the card so I am guessing I will be going around asking people who he is,” Jase said. He opened the door and slid down to the pavement. He heard the crunching from the other side of the car as Barron did the same. They walked to the sidewalk across the street from the tall brick building and stared at it for a moment.
“Let’s do this,” Barron muttered staring across the road, Jase followed him but he got one of his feelings again. This time the feelings were saying that something was coming to light, whatever the hell that mean. He brushed it off and got in line with Barron.
There was a tall guy at the door, but he by no means looked intimidating. Jase was pretty sure he could have taken the guy by himself, if it came down to it.
“Can you pay my cover?” Barron asked looking at the ground.
“You didn’t bring any money?” Jase replied. Barron shook his head still not making eye contact. “Fine,” Jase sighed. “But you better really watch my ass in there, I get hurt I am making you sleep outside tonight,” he said with a laugh. This made Barron smile too, he was thinking too much and it was starting to worry Jase.
“I.D’s and species?” The bouncer guy asked as they finally got to the door. They both handed over their I.D’s to the man Jase tried a smile to be flirty. “Species?” he repeated annoyed at Jase’s attempt.
“Witch, and Therian,” Jase replied.
“What kind of Therian?” The guy asked, he seemed so bored with his job.
“Lycan,” Barron stated letting his eyes change over to their Lupine form. The guy looked at the two of them and seemed to smell them, he locked eyes with Jase for a moment. His eyes were really weird looking no whites just all green with black speckled throughout.
“You’re a witch?” the guy asked he seemed confused.
“Yeah,” Jase replied.
“Hmmm,” he pondered. “Alright, it’ll be twenty bucks.” Jase handed him a wrinkled twenty and the bouncer opened the door for them. The club was like any other club, darkened and smoky music seemed to reverberate through the club from hidden speakers.
“What the hell was that guy?” Jase asked as they approached the bar.
“He was a Senzis Demon, they are able to smell what a person really is regardless of magick,” Barron explained.
The bartender trotted over to them with a giant smile across her face. He wasn’t sure she could open her mouth because of the piercings that decorated her lips. Her hair gave the idea that she rolled out of bed and ran here. Looking into the mirror on the back wall Jase realized she had probably flown there, a set of leathery wings were pulled in close to her back.
“What can I get for ya guys?” she chirped.
“I’ll take a Bud light,” Jase stated. Barron ordered a soda and she disappeared in a blink to get their drinks.
“Thanks,” Barron said to Jase.
“It’s nothing babe,” Jase replied without thinking. The bartender returned and Jase handed her a ten. “Do you know where we could find Draconis?” he asked her.
“He’s usually up on the sun deck lounging by the pool,” she replied. Jase nodded to her and turned away from the bar.
“This place has a pool?” Barron muttered baffled. Jase laughed at this comment and began to look for a set of stairs.
“There are two sets of stairs, which do we wanna take?” he asked Barron as he took a swig from the bottle. The wolf looked from one end of the club to the other.
“Which do you think we should take?” Barron replied. Jase sighed at this response and headed to the set of stairs he wanted to take. Barron followed close behind, he was probably literally watching Jase’s ass. Not that he minded but it still made him feel a little self conscious. A guy leaned against the inside of the doorway they needed to walk though and he eyed Jase as they approached. He had shaggy blonde hair that hung into his eyes. He smiled a little as Jase got closer and Jase smiled in response.
“Hey,” the guy said.
“Hey,” Jase replied now stopped at the doorway.
“My name is Ash,” the guy said reaching out and grabbing Jase’s shirt. Jase heard Barron gasp a little as it all began to happen. He didn’t want to do anything with anyone, but this guy seemed to know something or someone that Jase needed to know.
“Jase,” he replied inches from the guys face. Ash licked his lips and that made Jase want him even more. He could feel the tension rolling off of Barron hitting him square in the back, but all he could think of was the lips. Ash closed the remaining distance between them and kissed him, deeply and hungrily. Jase felt like the guys tongue was doing acrobatics in his mouth, and he grabbed the back of Ash’s head and pulled him in. He was getting aroused as they kissed, and Ash took that as his cue to start the groping.

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