"Here we can eat them," Sean corrected. "Back home we can physically injure them, but while we can destroy their souls, we gain nothing from it."

  "I would really love to do some tests on the two of you. I wonder if you could be taught to control our machines?"

  "I don't see why not," Sean said.

  "You don't understand, our machines are controlled by thought. They are tuned to our minds to prevent any others who might come along from interacting with them. However, as I can detect a resonance in both of you, the possibility may exist."

  "I think we'd have to get rid of all the demons first, before we could do such a thing," Sean replied.

  "If they cannot kill you, I do not see what the problem would be."

  "They can kill us physically, if they outnumber us," Estrella said. "We're not immune to physical attacks, after all."

  "And we don't have any weapons here, unless you have weapons?" Sean asked.

  "No, we never had the need for weaponry and what we used in the last war has long since crumbled into dust."

  "Then I suspect we will have to go home and get some."

  "That reminds me, how did you know when a portal was going to open?" Estrella asked.

  "Oh, I know when and where all the portals on the ley lines for this station will open and close. I may not have control over them from this station, as it was intended for research and study, but the reporting machinery works quite well."

  "When does the next one open?"

  "The next portal, which is a single daer portal, will open in approximately four daers, or two days local time."

  "Can you show us where?"

  "Of course, but why would you want to know that?"

  "So we can go home," Sean told him.

  "But there is so much about you I would like to learn," Mahkiyoc said, looking at them. "Could you not wait until a later time?"

  Sean shook his head. "You have to understand, Mahkiyoc, my people are at risk, just as yours once were. Now that I know it's possible for us to come here and kill the demons, to finally put an end to this continuing scourge, we need to go back."

  "Do you wish to come with us?" Estrella asked.

  Mahkiyoc gave a single shake of his head. "This is my place; it has always been my place, and will always be my place. I will not leave it. But if I understand you correctly, your desire to go home is so you may return with others to remove the demons from my world?"

  "Well, they're not going to go away on their own now, are they?" Sean grumbled.

  "No, no they will not."

  A holographic map suddenly projected itself in the air between them.

  "This is where we are, and this is where the next gate will open," Mahkiyoc said.

  Estrella studied the map for a few minutes, then turned to Sean.

  "I know where that is."

  "Think we can get there?"

  "Easily. It's on the edge of King Sladd's domain. So once it opens, if he were to send troops, it would take them hours to get there. As he has been pulling people off of the smaller helliges, odds are it won't be that heavily guarded."

  Sean nodded. "Well then, I guess we should get going."

  Standing up, he gave a small bow to Mahkiyoc. "Hopefully we will meet again, and if not, perhaps one of my people will come in my place."

  "Is there nothing I can do to get you to stay just a little while?" Mahkiyoc asked.

  "It's a long trip," Estrella said, also standing, "we really need to get started now."

  "If you could find the designs for the weapons you used in the last war, those might be helpful when we return," Sean told him.

  "I will search for them," Mahkiyoc agreed, though he looked sad to Sean's eyes.

  "Someone will come back, don't worry," Sean told him. "This is too important for us to ignore."

  "Then I will see you when you return."

  Sean nodded again, then followed Estrella out the door and down the stairs.

  "I don't think he expects us to come back." Estrella sighed.

  Sean snorted. "Chad, my general, has been begging me to invade this place so he can go down in history for conquering a world."

  "Sounds like Alexander all over again."

  When the door behind them closed, Sean was a bit concerned the one leading outside might not open, if Mahkiyoc had decided to make an issue out of their leaving early, but it opened without a problem. As soon as they were outside, they both shifted into the full leonine form and took off at a brisk trot.

  When they finally stopped to rest many hours later, Estrella turned to look at him.

  "Are you really planning to come back?"

  Sean shrugged. "Maybe? I don't know. My friend may be crazy enough to think he can take over a world, but I know I don't want to. I think it's up to the First."

  "I was thinking more along the lines of blowing up their machines with those 'nukes' you were talking about and hope for the best."

  "What about Mahkiyoc?"

  "What about him? It's his race's fault we're in this mess!"

  "Yeah, but it's also his race's fault you exist." Sean purred and rubbed up against her. "And the world would be a poorer place without you."

  "Umm." Estrella's ears flattened and her tail curled in embarrassment. "Okay, you got me there."

  "Still, though, I don't think I'd want him in our world. I think there are things the average human isn't ready for, and he's all of them."

  "So we tell Father and let him decide."

  "What did he have to say when you talked to him during the last gateway?"

  "That there was a massive battle going on, but Chad seemed to be dealing well with it. Tisha thinks someone in a place called 'D.C.' told the demons about your presence here."

  "Did you mention that we think he ate Mahkiyoc's colleague?"

  "He said it made sense. He also said not to mention it to anyone else, to keep people from getting ideas."

  "Well, duh!" Sean chuckled.

  "Now what's your plan for getting through the gate?"

  "Simple, we get as close as we can, then you sneak up to the gate using your necklace. Once it opens, I'll charge for the gate; you take my sword and start slaying the defenders from behind. Then when I get up to where you are, we both jump through together and hightail it away from the gateway on the other side."

  "What if they chase us?"

  "We'll worry about that when it happens. We'll be home then, so we'll have access to a lot more help than we have here. My people move on the gates pretty quickly, so I don't think we'll be without help for long."

  "Let's catch a quick nap, then be on our way. We've still got a long way to go if we're going to get there in time."

  "There it is," Estrella said as they peered out from the edge of the tree line.

  Sean gave the scene before them a careful look over. The gateway looked exactly like the one they'd held before. The building for this one was a little smaller, and a little shabbier. There were probably a hundred or so demons around it, but nearly all of them were gnashers and bonde. He was sure there was at least one higher-level demon there, but they must have been in the small building, because they weren't outside.

  "I'm going to circle around to the left side so I can make a run at it without having to go by the building," Sean told her.

  "I'm not so sure I like this idea." She sighed.

  " I didn't have the time or the materials to make another one of your necklaces. So it's really the only chance we've got. Besides, I can cover that ground in thirty seconds, maybe faster. So shift back, turn your necklace on, and get your ass down there already," Sean said with a smile.

  Grumbling, Estrella shifted, then Sean shifted as well and gave her his sword and the scabbard.

  Estrella pulled him close and kissed him. "For luck."

  "Just don't turn out to be my sister," Sean teased.

  "Huh?"

  "Oh, right, you missed that too. I'll explain later."

  Sean shifted back into his lion form as Estrella disappeared, then immediately began picking his way through the woods to circle around to where he had to go. Hopefully they wouldn't have long to wait. He was regretting not getting an exact time from Mahkiyoc, he'd forgotten he had a watch on him now.

  It was slow going, picking his way through the bushes and the trees; he had to stay in far enough they wouldn't see him, but not so far he'd miss it when the gateway opened.

  As it was, he was only halfway there when something began to happen.

  A single note of a gong rang out, then the interior of the ring turned a very bright white. As he and everyone else watched, a small dark dot formed in the center and began to slowly grow.

  Realizing he was wasting time, especially now that everyone was looking in at the gate and not out at the forest, Sean burst out of the trees and started a mad dash for the gateway. He'd gotten about a third of the way there, and the gate had fully formed, when someone started screaming "Lion!" at the top of their lungs, and everyone quickly turned to look at him.

  Swearing under his breath, he lowered his head and kept going.

  He hit the first of them when he was halfway there. Literally hit, as he head-butted them and kept going. The next group had taken time to get organized, so he leapt up and over the line of them, picking up a few good slashes from their weapons as he did so. But he was past them all the same.

  Upon landing, he had to slow down, as they were charging at him from all directions. Shifting to his hybrid form, he pulled out one of the two wands he'd made at the blockhouse and laid into the bonde with a constant stream of small fireballs, while he used the claws of his left hand to deal with anyone who got close enough as he continued to make his way towards the gateway.

  When the first wand died, he dropped it and grabbed the second one. Things were getting tight; he shifted the wand to his left hand and scooped up a sword from one of the dead with his right hand. It was small for him, but it was better than nothing, and made the demons shrink back when he waved it in their faces. He had just gotten within a hundred feet of the gateway when the demon in charge came out of the building.

  It was a demon lord!

  Sean cast a shield on himself and immediately started throwing offensive spells, one after the other, at the demon lord as it turned and charged him.

  Swearing, he jumped to his left to free himself from all the gnashers trying to stick him, then as the lord closed, he thrust at him with the sword while using the vambraces on his arms to block the lord's sword attacks.

  Sean quickly found himself regretting giving his sword to Estrella, but he was more afraid for her at the time than he had been for himself.

  The sword he had wasn't doing any damage at all to the lord, but the sword the demon lord was using was doing so much damage, it was starting to overwhelm Sean's healing. Throwing the sword away, Sean attacked him with his claws, ripping and tearing at the demon lord, forcing him to drop his sword as Sean got inside the sword's range, and the fight turned into a complete slugfest.

  Sean felt he might be able to win the fight, if it wasn't for all the gnashers, and even some bonde, who were now attacking him from behind. He was starting to worry about his chances of survival as he got stabbed twice in the back, as well as both legs, numerous times, when the demon lord's head suddenly separated from its body and fell to the left, while the body gave a massive shudder and collapsed at his feet, revealing Estrella standing there with his sword, surrounded by a lot of very dead bonde.

  Sean stumbled forward over the dead body as she grabbed him and, hauling him up with her free arm, she dragged him towards the portal, slashing at any who got close as he focused on healing his legs and did what he could to keep his feet working. He continued stumbling towards the gateway as Estrella all but picked him up with her left arm, continuing to swing the sword with her right…

  …and everything was suddenly bright, and sunny, and hot!

  Sean started to gasp for breath and, grabbing on to Estrella, he concentrated on moving in time with her as they pushed forward, moving away from the gate.

  The demons were following them, but every few seconds one of them would suddenly jerk and fall to the ground, causing the others to scatter for a moment. But he could feel his legs healing, he wasn't stumbling so much anymore and, looking over at Estrella, he could see she was staring at something with her mouth open as they continued to run, moving faster now that he was healing.

  Looking up, he could see what she was seeing.

  It was a helicopter.

  And it had a lion's head painted on the nose in white.

  "Did I mention that things have changed, a lot," he gasped as a door gunner opened up on the pursuing demons with a machine gun and quickly shredded them.

  "I…I…I…" she said, looking at him, then the helicopter, then him again.

  "Don't worry, I own it," Sean said as they stumbled to a stop. "Just keep your head down so you don't get hit by the blades," he grunted, then dropped to his knees as the helicopter came around and landed between them and the gateway, with the gunner facing the gate. Two werewolves piled out of the back and, running over with their heads down, they helped them back to their feet and led them back to the helicopter. Once inside, they all strapped in, and one of them put a headset on Sean, while the other one put one on Estrella.

  "Welcome home, Sean!"

  "Is this thing safe?" Estrella said, claws coming out to grab at the seat she was now sitting in.

  "Yeah, it's safe," Sean said, catching his breath. "How'd you get here so fast?" Sean asked the others. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

  "Chad's instituted a regular combat patrol from when a new window opens up until a gate forms," the werewolf sitting across from them said.

  Sean nodded and looked out the window; there were already helicopters heading in the opposite direction. When they got back to his home, they actually had to circle and wait for a clear space to land, as troops were still boarding helicopters and taking off.

  "Damn, how many helicopters do I own now?" Sean asked.

  "I think it's eight," the werewolf told them. "But the government's loaned us two dozen more, and we got more coming. Colonel Kennedy has bivouacked his troops out in the desert so they can respond faster to any gates. A lot's happened since you left us, Sean."

  Sean nodded, but he was looking at the landing area now that it was open. There were six people in particular he was looking for, and it didn't take him long to find them.

  "Time to meet the family," Sean said, smiling.

  "Are you shivering?" Estrella said, putting a hand on him.

  "It's been a month!" Sean said, then grinned at her, "I just can't wait! You gotta understand, I never had a family, and now I have a nice big one!" Sean hugged her as they touched down. "They're gonna love you."

  "Umm, glad you're sure about that," Estrella said, looking a little nervous.

  "You're my wife," Sean said, then laughed again. "Of course they're gonna love you!"

  Sean popped his seatbelt the moment they touched down and, opening the door, he flew out the side and ran for the girls, who were just off the landing pad.

  Roxy grabbed him first, and he didn't hesitate to kiss her, long and hard. Roberta and Daelyn got to him next, and he took a good minute with each of them, then he snagged Jolene, followed by Peg, then he ended up with Cali, last of all.

  "I missed you all so much," Sean said, looking at them happily. There wasn't a dry eye among of them.

  "If you ever do something like that again…" Roxy growled.

  "We'll stick you in a cage with a leash and never let you out!" Daelyn finished.

  "Now, now, girls," Sean said as Cali and Jolene started removing his armor. "I didn't do it on purpose." Sean pulled off the main body piece, and with a sigh he shifted back to his human form. "Ah, that's a nice change."

  "Somebody needs a shower," Peg remarked.

  "Somebody," Roxy growled, "needs to introduce us to our new sister!"

  Sean blushed a moment, but he was smiling. Turning back towards the helicopter, Estrella was standing there in her human form, quite naked. She was really lovely, and even though she was as dirty as he was, she was still quite sexy. She was almost as tall as he was, with an athletic figure not unlike Roxy's, though her chest might have been a little smaller. Her thick black hair was so black in human form it was almost indigo, and it went all the way down to her ass.

  Smiling, Sean walked up to her, grabbed her, and dragged her over to the girls.

  "Everyone, this is Estrella. Estrella, this is Roxy, Daelyn, Jolene, Peg, Roberta, and Cali," Sean said as he pointed to each of them in turn. "Roxy's a cheetah, and the one in charge of pretty much everything when I'm not around."

  "And even when he is around," Roxy growled playfully.

  "Daelyn is obviously a dwarf, and as long as she has her hammer Maxwell, you're never out of reach."

  "And don't you forget it, Lion-boy!" Daelyn snickered.

  "Roberta is a sorceress with a thing for lions." Sean grinned as Roberta blushed.

  "Jolene is a tantric witch, she knows how all the muscles work!"

  "Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it," Jolene purred.

  "Peg is a magic using fox whose hobbies include breaking and entering and stealing."

  "Hey, you made me what I am today! Not that I'm complaining, mind you!" Peg said, grinning.

  "I think Sheila had a part in that as well." Sean smiled.

  "And last, but never least, is Cali. Our dark elf assassin."

  "Again, this is Estrella. I love her, and I know you'll all love her too, literally as well as figuratively." Sean snickered and gave Estrella a hug as she blushed. "There are just two things you all need to be aware of: The first is she's been out of touch for a very long time, so everything around us is new to her. The second is she's spent all that time in a place where extreme violence is the norm."

  "Oh, so she acts like you when you're pissed at someone." Daelyn snickered.

  Sean rolled his eyes. "Just go easy on her until she's had time to adjust. Now, how about we find a shower, and then I can see the kids! Sorry I missed your delivery, Peg." Sean let go of Estrella to give Peg a hug and a kiss. "I really wanted to be there."