"And biskops swear to lords, who swear to princes, who swear to kings," Roxy said.

  "Exactly. When a djevel becomes a biskop, if they want to continue to grow, they need to learn how to take that sworn power from other, lesser demons so they can pass it up to their lord. Usually they learn that by partnering with a ridder."

  "And biskops become lords by getting other biskops to swear to them instead of another lord?" Sean said, thinking about the implications. It made sense, from what he'd learned so far.

  "That's a simplified version of how it works, but overall, yes. Either this biskop never had a lord, or he figured out how to stop passing his powers on to grow himself…or…" Estrella paused for a moment.

  "Or?"

  "Or his lord was trying to become a prince, which would require him to turn his biskops into lords," she said, finishing with a sigh.

  "Well, that would explain why he was trying so hard to push out of the DEZ," Sean said, then leaned over to give Estrella a kiss.

  "Yes. He needed more power than he could get in there," she agreed.

  "Great, something else we need to watch out for," Roxy said with a heavy sigh.

  "We knew they'd do something; we just didn't know what," Sean reminded her.

  "True. Clyde's got his scouts running around down there, but they won't be able to cover the area well until the fires are out. But so far, they've only run down a dozen or so escapees. Clyde doesn't think many more than that got out."

  "Well, that's good news," Sean said. "Now I just need some shoes, and I can pay Sawyer a visit and see what he's got for me that he didn't want to share in the meeting."

  "You think he does?" Estrella asked, looking surprised.

  Roxy snorted. "It's Sawyer; he always does. There's the stuff he'll let out in meetings, and then the stuff that's pretty much only for Sean to hear, or one of us, if he knows Sean's out of touch for a while."

  "Ah."

  "As for you," Roxy said, looking at Sean, "we've got lots of sneakers in the barracks for our troops, seeing how many they tend to go through. I'll show you, then we can head over to Sawyer's."

  "We?"

  "As soon as I find Cali," she said with a nod. "We can bring Noje along and show her off to Sawyer as well."

  "Hmmm, I wonder if he'd want to see Harmony, too?" Sean said, thinking about his daughter with Deidre.

  "Might as well," Estrella said. "I'm sure Deidre would appreciate it."

  "Oh? Why?"

  "Haven't you recognized Celeste?"

  "Huh?" Sean said, feeling a little confused.

  "Celeste and Harmony are your children, but as far as dark elf society is concerned, they're bastards until you publicly recognize them, because Deidre isn't one of your wives, she's just a mistress."

  "And taking them to Sawyer 'recognizes' them?"

  "Well, he is a goblin prince now, isn't he?" Estrella said while giving him a look.

  "Ah, shit," Sean swore. "Find Deidre, tell her to grab both kids, and that she's coming along. And both of you find out if I need to do something like this with Sheila and my kids with her."

  Both Roxy and Estrella shook their heads. "Everyone knows about Sheila, and we don't do that in lycan society," Roxy said. "I just feel bad that I never thought to look into how things worked for dark elf families."

  "Oh, sooner or later, I'm sure either Cali or Deidre would have brought it up," Estrella said, "but doing it via Sawyer makes it clear to the other goblins and dark elves how high your esteem is for him, and that you recognize his place in their society," she finished with a grin.

  Roxy laughed. "Oh, Sawyer is just gonna eat this up, isn't he?"

  "Well, show me where these shoes are, and I guess we'll find out."

  An hour later, Sean, Roxy, Cali, Deidre, Cali's youngest, and both Deidre's children walked through the doorway and into Sawyer's shop.

  "Hi, Marx, how's things?" Sean asked as passed him at the door.

  "Good, Sean. The boss has been waiting for you," Marx said, then raised his voice, "Sean's here with some of the family, Boss!"

  "Yeah, I can see that! I got eyes too, ya' know."

  Marx grinned at Sean. "He's in a good mood today. I think he's planning a new crime."

  "Just when he thought he'd conquered everything, right?" Sean said with a chuckle to Marx, then headed up to the counter, following the girls and kids now.

  "Cali! It's so nice to see you! Is this your new daughter?"

  "Yes, it is. Her name is Noje. Sean and I thought you would like to meet her."

  Sean noticed that Sawyer wasn't talking to Deidre at all, though Sean knew they'd met, and Deidre often dealt with Sawyer on the phone for Sean, as she handled all his accounts. He'd even brought her here a couple of times and had told Sawyer she was one of his mistresses so he wouldn't say anything that might upset him. Of course that was before he realized what kind of regard Sawyer held dark elves in.

  Sawyer took a moment to say hello to Alska, Sean's other daughter with Cali, then looked up at him expectantly.

  "Hey, Kid. Nice to see you brought Cali down so I could meet your new daughter, though I suspect you're here about other business as well?"

  Sean smiled. "Actually, yes. You know, I don't think you've ever been formally introduced to the daughters I've had with Deidre here. So, Sawyer, allow me to present to you my two children with her, Celeste and Harmony."

  Sean didn't miss the smile on Sawyer's face, because it was so wide, he wondered if the goblin was going to hurt himself.

  "Why, Deidre, it's so nice to finally meet your daughters. It's always nice to meet two more children who have been born into House Valens, and to see them recognized for who they are."

  "Why, thank you, Sawyer. It is so nice to finally introduce them to you as well," Deidre said, smiling back at him.

  "You know what? Let's adjourn to my office for a drink. Marx! Bar the door, we'll be back in thirty —then come and join us."

  "You got it, Boss!"

  Sean smiled again as they went around the counter, and Roxy led the way.

  "'Bout time, Kid," Sawyer whispered, "I was worried I was gonna have to drop some hints!"

  "If I'd known sooner, I would have done it sooner," Sean whispered back. "Deidre was afraid to ask, and Cali thought I was planning something formal."

  "Ah, yeah, I can see that."

  "But you're pretty much family now, Sawyer, so there really wasn't anyone else I would have come to before you, right?"

  Sawyer paused and thought about that a moment. "You know what, Kid? You're right. There's times even I forget the old rules of court, 'cause I haven't been there in years. I'll see that it gets around, and it gets done right."

  Sean smiled again. "I can always count on you, Sawyer; you've become one of my life's true constants."

  Sawyer cackled as they made it to his office. "Oh, just you wait until I tell ya' what I've got planned for our little problem. Yer gonna love this!"

  Sean just nodded and followed him into his office, where Sawyer broke out a bottle of champagne. As he uncorked it, Marx came in and passed out glasses to everyone.

  "A toast," Sawyer said, raising his glass after Marx had topped them all off, "to Noje, who is just as beautiful as her mother, Cali, and to Celeste and Harmony, two more lovely young women of House Valens, whom I'm sure will also grow up to be a credit to Sean and Deidre!"

  Sean noticed that Deidre was blushing and looking a little embarrassed, so he put his arm around her while they all drank, noticing Cali's approving smile as he did so.

  "Thank you, Master Sean," Deidre said in a soft voice.

  "Well, I wouldn't want you to stop doing my books, now would I?" he said in an equally soft voice. "Besides, I love the children you've given me very much, and I love you for giving them to me. Don't ever think I don't."

  Deidre turned to him then, as always in skintight yoga pants and a thin shirt two sizes too small, and pressed her voluptuous chest into his, so he pulled her against him and kissed her while the others cheered.

  They all sat, and he dragged her onto his lap. He'd been careful at times not to pay her too much attention in public, because he did have his wives, but he suddenly realized that wasn't fair to her, whether she'd ever complain about it or not. Besides, it wasn't like his wives didn't like her—they did, and they didn't mind him spending time with her, because she was obviously completely in love with him.

  So it was only fair that he made sure everyone knew how he felt.

  "So, what's this big thing you've got planned?" Sean asked, looking over at Sawyer, who was already playing with the kids. It never ceased to amaze Sean—or anyone else, for that matter—how good Sawyer was with children, and how much they all seemed to like him.

  "Well, even if you manage to clean things up at the NSA, we'll still be dependent on others for imagery, and I have a feeling, as we look into this, we're going to find that some of our problems with the satellites you do have access to are coming from either the CIA or some wise guy in the NSA, perhaps both. So I was thinking, I said to myself: 'Sawyer, why don't we have our own satellite?'"

  "Because we can't afford to put one up in space?" Deidre said.

  "Exactly!" Sawyer cackled and pointed at Deidre. "But! There are so many satellites up there already, why would we bother to launch our own?"

  "You can't steal a satellite…can you?" Deidre said, looking at Sawyer questioningly. "I mean, it's way up in space! How can we?"

  "Ah! But you see, we don't need to go up into space to steal it, all we need to do is steal the keys to it, just like a car, and then it's ours!"

  "That doesn't sound easy," Sean said, frowning. "Surely they have to have those things all locked away! And copies everywhere to reclaim it if they're lost or stolen."

  "Of course they do, Kid! And that's what's gonna make this work for us! The only tough part is we're gonna need a couple of dishes to talk to it. After we steal it, that is."

  "There're dishes all over Vegas," Roxy said. "They used to use them for the special shows and boxing matches there. I bet Ted could help us get one."

  Sawyer smiled and pointed at Roxy. "That was my hardest problem, and now that it's solved, I can make some headway. Though I'm gonna need a few things, Kid."

  "Who are we liberating it from?" Deidre asked from Sean's lap.

  "Ah! I like the way you think. Why, nobody who'd miss it, I'm sure."

  "And that would be?" Sean asked, trying not to grin.

  "Oh, someone who doesn't want to help us, and I think is still carrying a grudge."

  Sean laughed. "Oh, I'm definitely going to enjoy it when they call me to ask for their satellite back. So what do you need?"

  "A lot of things, including your friend Steve's help, but first we need to track down how the images we've been getting from the Space Force people are being manipulated."

  "To stop it from happening?"

  "No," Sawyer said and grinned, "to get them to help! I saw how mad the colonel was when he found out the NSA was screwin' with him! Just how mad do you think those generals are gonna be when they learn the CIA has been screwin' with 'em too?"

  Sean had to nod at that; it would set them off, and they'd be looking to hand out some payback.

  "So you know who's behind what's been going on, then?" asked Roxy.

  "Ole Sawyer hasn't quite fingered the culprits yet, but he has his suspicions," Sawyer told them. "That's part of why I need your friend Steve's help. I need some people investigated, and my own people can't go all the places his can."

  Sean nodded. "I'll let him know. What about our other intel people?"

  "Someone needs to turn them into lycans," Sawyer said with a frown. "You can't trust 'em, Kid. They don't stay bought, and they think they're smarter than everyone else. Hogan might be on the up-and-up, but his aides aren't; hell, my people saw one of them meeting with that Taite gal more than once."

  Cali frowned. "Do you want me to take care of her, my husband?"

  Sean gave that some serious thought. "Maybe. It depends on whether we need to put the fear of god into them or not."

  "You mean the fear of you," Deidre said with a snicker.

  "Same thing," Roxy and Sean said at the same time.

  "But you're right," Sean continued. "Maybe I do need to have a few of them bitten and then order them to tell me everything they know. What else do you have?"

  Sawyer got a folder out of his desk and passed it to Sean. "Here's backgrounds on all the intel people, along with their bosses. I think you're going to find some of the stuff on the CIA people the most interesting."

  "Why's that?" Roxy asked.

  "Because the son of one of the senior people was doing hard time for trying to murder Steve in DC, and after he turned state's evidence on the ALS, they had him shanked in prison."

  Sean sighed and shook his head. "Like we had anything to do with that."

  "Some folks just can't accept that they did a poor job raisin' their kids," Sawyer said with a shrug.

  "Oh, before I forget. I came up with something new for people to use to protect themselves, or at least to give themselves a chance to get away if they run into a djevel."

  Sawyer perked up. "Oh? Is this better than the last one?"

  Sean snorted. "I hope so," he said, then pulled out a charm bracelet, and put it on the counter.

  "What's that?"

  "It's a sort of fire charm."

  "Sort of?"

  "Well, the big problem was how to keep it from accidentally setting everything on fire. I didn't want to cause a lot of accidents, or give arsonists some new toy. But basically, this will burn a djevel."

  "How's it work?"

  "You pull off a charm and swallow it, but you have to be wearing the bracelet, or it won't work."

  "What happens when I do all that?"

  "You appear to be on fire for several minutes, so that hopefully the djevels, who are quite flammable, will leave you alone."

  Sawyer frowned, "That's it? An illusion?"

  "What happens if you believe an illusion?" Sean asked with a smile.

  "It works, but once they find out it's an illusion, they'll never fall for it again."

  "And that's the genius of this, you see, if anybody touches you, unless they're wearing a bracelet too, they'll get burned."

  "Then why the illusion?"

  "Because the actual fire from the charm isn't as strong or as powerful as the illusionary one is. This way, it won't set everything around you on fire. Inanimate objects can't believe in an illusion, after all, but this will burn them if they touch you. So they'll see the fire, they'll believe it's worse than it is, and hopefully they'll run off before they can catch on fire, seeing as they burn so well."

  "How bad's the burn if I don't believe in it?"

  "It'll go up to a second degree burn if you hold onto someone for more than five seconds—if you're not wearing a bracelet as well."

  Sawyer picked it up and looked at it. "I think this may have potential. But why only five charms?"

  "I wanted to keep the cost low. The charms are actually pretty cheap; the bracelet is the expensive part."

  "If they're cheap, why not put more of them on?"

  "Because you can sell them separately. If people want to buy more or replace used ones, you can sell 'em at like five or ten bucks a pop. They cost less than a dollar to churn out."

  Sawyer smiled. "Did you say 'less than a dollar'?"

  "Yup. The bracelet costs about twenty. I don't know how much of a markup you can make off that, but the charms? Really cheap. All they're doing is powering the illusionary effect generating the fire."

  Sawyer laughed and rubbed his hands together. "Oh, this should sell like hotcakes. Will it set a djevel on fire?"

  "If they're stupid enough to keep holding on to you? Yeah, especially when they realize the fire is real. I think the illusion will probably run most of them off, or at least keep them away. I just added the actual fire effect so if any of them do grab you, they get burnt, then fall for the illusion."

  "I like it, Kid! I think you may have a winner here. How soon can you get me a dozen? I want to do some testing. If it pans out, I'll probably be wanting hundreds of 'em."

  "I'll have somebody come by tomorrow and drop off a couple dozen. You can keep that one."

  "Great!"

  That finished, they spent a few more minutes discussing things in Carson City in general, while Sawyer played with the kids a bit more, then they said their goodbyes and left.

  "Thank you for recognizing our daughters," Deidre said, leaning into Sean once they got back into the van, "and while I never expected such a boon from you, I can't thank you enough for doing that for me, Master."

  "But we're all sure you will try," Cali, of all people said with a grin.

  Deidre leaned into Sean, pressing those wonderful tits of hers into his arm and slowly rubbing up and down against him.

  "Let's at least try to make it back to the base before you jump his bones," Roxy said with a snicker from behind the wheel.

  "Oh, I think I can do that," Deidre purred.

  Sean let Deidre drag him off to her office after they'd gotten the children settled—not that he was resisting, of course. The thin t-shirt she wore when he was around was stretched so thin that it hid none of the bounty beneath it. He could clearly see her dark areolas through the fabric, her erect nipples sharply outlined by the protesting fabric. As soon as they were alone, he grabbed it in his hands and ripped it in half, tearing it from her body. Then he pulled off his own shirt and pulled her back against him, bending his head down to kiss her, as he enjoyed the feeling of her warm flesh against his.

  Her hands were busy undoing his pants, which quickly fell to the floor once there was nothing holding them up, so he kicked them off along with his sneakers and walked her backwards towards the couch. Laying Deidre back onto the couch, he grabbed the waistband of her yoga pants, which were tight enough to leave nothing to the imagination at all, and quickly peeled them off of her. Other than the white hair that graced her mons, her skin was as black as night. Looking up into her red eyes, he had to smile at the smoldering heat he saw there, her long white hair spread out wildly on the couch above.