"Come!" the agent gasped as Roxy released her grip. "I'll come." He handed Roxy his assault rifle and drew his pistol. "Drew, Harris, give the others whatever of your weapons they need."

  "Better," Roxy growled. "Jo, Rob, if you got any shield spells, put 'em up. Peg, I want you up here with me on offense, casting whatever nastiness you got. Cali, Dae, grab a gun and let's move!"

  Roxy and Peg formed up in front as Jolene and Roberta went to work on a shield spell to cover all of them, while Cali and Daelyn each relieved one of the agents of his assault rifle and took partial cover between the front two.

  "If I get shot, I expect some extra pampering when this is done, you two!" Peg grumbled at Jolene and Roberta.

  "If you get shot, you'll get better," Roxy told her. "They won't, so stop bitching."

  "Hey! I'm already expecting it from you for making me go first with you!" Peg said. "Anyone else, I wouldn't be doing this!"

  Roxy let her grumble; getting shot did hurt, and as far as she knew, Peg never had been. The Secret Service agents formed up as flankers as they moved forward. While they had body armor, Roxy and the others were still impressed; they didn't have any magical protections after all, and the enemy definitely was not human.

  "Where are the rooftop snipers?" Roxy asked.

  "Dead or wounded," the agent replied.

  "What's going on inside?"

  "I don't know, their radios got jammed while I was getting that last report."

  A fireball went off on the left side of the building, and Roxy noticed Peg was holding a wand.

  "Where'd that come from?"

  "Oh, I always keep a few around now." Peg grinned and then flicked off another one at the same spot.

  "Yeah, I think he's dead," Daelyn said from behind Peg.

  "Just making sure!"

  "Cali, you see anyone on the other side?" Roxy asked.

  "Nope! It's clear."

  "Forward," Roxy said and they all moved at a fast walk across the open ground towards the main building. Shots rang out as Cali engaged someone who returned fire, right up until Peg hit him with a lightning bolt."

  "What happened to the fireballs?" Roxy asked.

  "Two to a wand, I'm on lightning now," Peg said with a chuckle.

  "Just how many wands did you bring?" Roberta asked.

  "I'm afraid to ask where she's been hiding them in that outfit!" Daelyn said with a snicker.

  "I showed her how I hide my knives," Cali said with a giggle.

  "TMI!" Daelyn groaned, then started shooting.

  "I don't see anything over there," Peg said.

  "Better safe than sorry!"

  They made it to the door then, and they could see several armored werewolves engaging in a firefight down the hallway through the heavily-scarred glass.

  "Open the door, I got this!" Roberta yelled. "Everyone, get DOWN!"

  Roxy kicked the door with all her might, knocking it off its hinges and sending it flying, then dropped to the ground below as she picked out one werewolf and shot him repeatedly in the head. Just then, something that looked like a butterfly flickered slowly over her head and floated into the room. It looked completely innocuous, and Roxy was about to ask Roberta what the hell she was doing, when it landed on one of the werewolves, who immediately screamed as his body quickly started to swell, then suddenly exploded into an entire swarm of butterflies, which immediately started to fly around the room and land on the others. Only instead of exploding this time, they stuck to the werewolves, quickly covering them head to toe, then they started to dissolve, taking the screaming werewolves with them.

  "Remind me never to piss her off," Peg whispered to Roxy.

  "I heard that!" Roberta said.

  Roxy could still hear the sounds of fighting going on inside.

  "Can it! Sean's still fighting in there!"

  Jumping to her feet, Roxy ran inside to find a bloody and tired-looking Sean fighting with two wolves who didn't look half as bad as he did. One of them suddenly got hit by a lighting bolt and fell down dead.

  The other got hit by Roxy, who didn't hesitate at all to pull out a knife and sever his spine. Daelyn came over and hit him on the head then several times with Maxwell until his head was only a pulped mess on the floor.

  "Is that all of them?" Roxy asked, looking up at Sean, who was panting and bleeding slowly.

  Sean looked down the hallway. There were dead bodies, blood, and the pieces of dead bodies everywhere. Sadly, the two agents were also among the dead now, their bodies ripped apart by the explosions and gun fire.

  "Yeah, I think so…"

  Carl first started to realize that something was wrong when he heard one of the wolves growling.

  "What's happening back there?"

  "Did you bite George?" the president asked.

  "No, of course not!"

  "Well, he's healing! And it looks like, like he's turning into something…"

  Swearing, Carl ran over to look at George's body. Sure enough, the head was now solidly on the body, and it was starting to twitch! Pointing Jeff's Uzi at it, Carl unloaded the entire magazine into the head. The bullets passed right through it, and to make matters worse, the eyes opened.

  "Kill it!" Carl ordered the two wolves and, grabbing the president, he dragged him over to the barricade and started to shove everything aside as fast as he could.

  "What's going on?" the president asked. The sounds of the two wolves fighting with whatever George had become filled the room.

  "I don't know, I just know we're safer out there than in here."

  Pushing the table away, Carl yanked the door open just as one of the wolves gave a loud yelp and went silent. Grabbing the president, he dragged him out into the hallway. A very bloody Sean was standing there panting with his wives. Even dirty and slightly bloody, Carl had to admit they looked good.

  "Carl?" Sean said, blinking at the black werewolf.

  "No time to explain! George was a traitor and he's turning into some kind of monster! Run!"

  Picking up the president, Carl proceeded to do just that.

  "This way!" the agent who'd been with the girls said. "We'll get him out of here."

  "Take him to our house, Carl," Sean sighed wearily. "It's the safest place around here."

  "Take one of the helicopters!" Roxy yelled as they left the room.

  Panting, Sean looked down the hallway as a wolf came flying out the door, hit the far wall, and slid down to the floor, stunned.

  "Great, just great. Now what?" Sean sighed, as a demon stepped out of the room holding a wolf's head in one hand, and threw it at them.

  Sean looked it over; it was black, all black, just like the other demon had been, and was blatantly male, grotesquely so. Sean had to wonder what kind of reality produced such caricatures of ours. It stood about six feet tall, but its legs were shorter than normal, while its arms were almost dragging on the floor.

  "What the hell is that thing?" Sean asked.

  'It's a forræderen djevel,' the First supplied.

  "What the hell is a forræderen djevel?" Sean asked out loud as he slowly backed down the hallway towards the lobby. With its shorter legs, this one at least looked like it was slow.

  "Who are you talking to?" Roxy asked.

  "The First, obviously," Sean muttered. "Damn, somebody call Oak and have him fly one of those iron swords out here, I think we're gonna need it. Unless we can find the summoner."

  'It's a betrayer demon, and it wasn't summoned, it's a possessor.'

  'What does that mean?'

  'You're gonna have to kill it. Yourself.'

  "The First says we have to kill it," Sean growled. "Let's draw it into the lobby where there's more room to fight."

  Sean's ears picked up the sounds of a blade being drawn behind him. Looking behind him, he saw Cali had one of those iron darts in one hand and one of the iron swords in the other.

  "Thanks, Cali," Sean said and held out his hand as he backed into the lobby.

  Cali smiled at him and, coming over to him, she gave a flick of her wrist and the dagger went flying down the hallway and hit the demon in the left eye. Screaming, it stopped and pulled the dagger out. Standing up on her toes, Cali grabbed his mane, pulled his head down, and gave him a quick kiss.

  "My husband needs to rest. This is woman's work."

  Sean blinked. "What?"

  "You're not going to… Jolene started as Cali skipped off down the hallway towards the demon. Snarling, it threw the dagger it had plucked from its eye back at her, and Cali not only dodged it, she caught it in her left hand.

  "Cali!" Sean yelled.

  "Oh, do not worry, this one shall be easy!" Cali giggled, and just then the demon charged her…

  …and missed. Cali danced to the side and hit it at least three times with the sword as it went by, then stabbed it in the ass for good measure when it looked like it might continue on down the hallway towards the rest of them.

  Sean just stood there, watching, a little dumbfounded and a lot impressed as Cali fought the demon. Or perhaps he should say 'danced' with it? Because that's what it was, a very fast and flowing dance as Cali circled first one way, then the other, then back again. The entire time the sword in her hand never stopped spinning, cutting, thrusting, and stabbing. Twice he saw her use the throwing dagger to slice one of its long arms as it made a grab for her.

  The demon continued to scream its anger and its pain as Cali flowed and danced around it, always light on her feet as her body swayed and twisted, the long black evening dress she was wearing making her look more like a cloud of black ink than an elf. It was mesmerizing, and she wasn't showing it the slightest mercy as she first bled it, slowing it down, then started to cut chunks out of its body.

  When it finally collapsed, Cali ran up its back and drove the short sword down through the base of its spine, actually jumping up in the air as she thrust, putting her weight behind the sword, which broke, but not before the demon's head separated from its body and the whole thing began to slowly dissolve into a noxious mist.

  "You may be dangerous," Peg said to Roberta in an aside, "but she's scary!"

  "You won't get any argument from me," Roberta whispered back.

  Cali came skipping up to Sean, jumped up into his arms, and kissed him.

  "Did my husband like?"

  "Oh, yeah," Sean smiled and gave her a kiss back, "husband liked! I think your sister wives all liked it too!"

  "Yeah," Roxy nodded, "I think tonight is definitely 'Cali' night."

  Sean noticed Cali blushing, but she was smiling just as well.

  "What do you say we go see if the president is still here?" Daelyn asked, then found the one Secret Service agent who was still with them, who looked at Cali and started to applaud.

  "She's not scary," he said. "She's fucking awesome!"

  What Has Been Seen

  "So, welcome to my humble home, Mr. President," Sean said as he came into the living room. There were a half dozen Secret Service agents, and of course Carl, who was standing there as a big black werewolf in a black, blood-spattered, suit—same as the others.

  Sean found it rather fascinating that the agents weren't watching Carl, but they were watching everyone else. Obviously he was still 'one of them' as far as they were concerned.

  "Did Agents Turnbull and Walters survive?" the president asked.

  "Turnbull did, though he's probably going to be unconscious for a few hours. Walters, sadly, did not."

  The president nodded. "Oh, just to make things clear, I ordered Carl there to bite the others to see if we could save their lives. So if you're going to blame anybody, blame me."

  "Are you sure about that, Mr. President?" Sean asked, surprised.

  "My people, my responsibility. I don't regret making the call; at least one of them survived, and Mr. Walker, or whatever the hell he was, is dead."

  'I like this guy,' the First said, 'he's got a set. Definitely a leader.'

  'Well, yeah. He's the president. He didn't get here by being a wimp.'

  Sean nodded. "Well, just understand, we have reasons for that rule, but I agree that, given the circumstances, it was the right decision."

  "So, just what exactly was George? I mean, obviously he wasn't human!"

  Sean sighed and looked around. He wanted to take a shower, he was tired and covered in blood, but it was the president.

  "Could someone throw a towel or something on the chair here, I need to take a load off," Sean said.

  Rania rushed into the room and threw a large cloth of some kind on the chair, and with a smile Sean dropped onto it. Then of course he grabbed Cali and pulled her onto his lap while the others circled around him.

  "Okay, George," Sean said while the president looked on expectantly.

  'Just what the hell was George?'

  'May I?'

  'Be my guest.'

  "Okay," the First said as Sean relaxed and gave Cali a hug. "George was as human as you are. Or rather, he was. You've all heard the stories of the kinds of things that happen when you make a deal with the devil, right?"

  The president nodded.

  "George made a deal with a demon, or several demons, I have no idea how or where."

  "I thought there weren't any demons in the world," Carl said, speaking up, "that they had to be summoned?"

  "It's complicated," the First said. "The powerful ones have to be summoned, but there are some places in the world, and some times, when things between the different underworlds and our world come into close contact. George must have been to one of those and made a deal."

  "What kind of a deal?" the president asked.

  "I have no idea," the First admitted. "Oh, I could make some guesses, power is usually the one most people go for. I'm sure they gave him some gifts that helped him and improved his life."

  "What did they get out of it?"

  "Again, no idea, but I'm sure we'll discover it in time. But the tricky thing about making deals with demons is that sooner or later, they either infect you with their own essence, or they just flat out take you over. George betrayed his oaths, his trusts, his office, so when he died, a forræderen djevel probably claimed his soul, then came and took his body for its own as well."

  "A fora…?"

  "Forræderen djevel, or a 'Betrayer devil'. As demons go, they're not physically the most powerful. Oh, they'd kill most people fairly easily and can be a very difficult or tough fight, but their main strength is in their abilities to subvert and decieve, then attack those who think they're friends or allies."

  "Well, he definitely betrayed his office," the president said with a nod. "Any idea how long he was working with them?"

  "I have no idea. It could have been a couple of years, it may have been decades. But for him to have been taken over like that, it was at least a couple of years."

  The president nodded and looked like he was considering something for a few minutes, then he continued.

  "And what about the werewolves who attacked us today?"

  Sean took back over then.

  "The Vestibulum set it up. Those were their wolves, and they sent them here. Most of the ones we questioned up front said they were sent here to attack me en masse in a diversion tactic. The general idea, I take it, was they'd send a group into town while attacking me, forcing me to commit most of my people in town to honor the silence. Then the rest of them would hammer my defenses from the south, while their Primes would sneak in from the north and ambush me from behind once my defenses were stretched thin enough."

  "Primes?"

  "Apparently the Primes were a group of wolves that had been indoctrinated into complete loyalty from the time they were born. Any who don't fit in, I suspect, were gotten rid of. They're also supposed to be the best of the best."

  "And they were supposed to attack you, but didn't," the President concluded.

  Carl spoke up again, "Mr. Walker was allied with them."

  "Are you sure?" Sean asked.

  "He said as much, right, Mr. President?"

  The president nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment. "He did in fact say something to that effect. It would also explain how they knew when and where we were coming."

  "So what are we going to do about the Vestibulum?" Sean asked.

  "You mean, what am I going to do about the Vestibulum," the president said. "They didn't attack you, Sean. They attacked the United States and tried to assassinate the sitting president, namely me. This is something I will have to deal with, I don't see any need for you to involve yourselves."

  "Are you sure that's wise?" Sean asked. "They have a lot of resources."

  "Well, actually," the president smiled a bit slowly, "do you think I could borrow a dozen or so of your men? From what I saw on the way up here, they all seemed to be well trained."

  Sean nodded. "Carl, find out who's interested. Get Travis to help you." Sean turned back to the president. "Anything else?"

  The president turned to look at the agents with him. "Anybody here want to be a werewolf?"

  Sean was shocked when all six of them raised their hands.

  An hour had gone by, and a now clean- and human-looking Sean was shaking hands with the president at the foot of the stairs leading up to Air Force One.

  "Thanks for the help, Sean. I appreciate your sincere desire to make your people citizens."

  Sean smiled. "Well, I appreciate your help in freeing them, though I can't help but feel guilty for what happened today. Some of the blame for this has to fall on my shoulders."

  "Nonsense. They're the ones who took this action, not you. They're the ones who are going to pay for it. Slavery is an ugly business, and if I'd known about it sooner, I'd have gone after it sooner. If the justices on the Supreme Court can't get their butts in gear, then I'll just have to write an executive order and start leaning on Congress to pass a law."

  "I'm not sure the magic users are going to like that, Sir."

  "Well, they brought it on themselves. Goodbye, Sean, ladies," the president said, then shook hands with each of Sean's wives.

  Turning, he climbed up the stairs into the aircraft, with Carl and several other agents following.