"Next week?" Daelyn said, surprised. "I thought you just put your tarball program in there and let it rip!"

  Sean smiled. "It's not the tarball for the tags that's hard. It's laying all the programs down to handle the exchange of energies. Remember, it takes a lot to make one of those tags. The one for the collars is going to be a lot easier, though we'll need a bigger plate on the top."

  Daelyn nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Cali, why don't you give me a hand with this?"

  #

  Stewart sighed as he pulled into the casino parking lot. He needed to find a telephone. He didn't want to use his cellphone, because it was on his father's account, and the last thing he wanted was a call to his mother showing up on it hours before a major attack.

  Also, he'd turned it off and left it in the trunk of his car.

  April followed him inside, dressed as scandalously as always. But being a casino, no one seemed to notice.

  "Do you have a phone I can use?" he asked the lady at the concierge desk. He'd driven by the building they'd attacked the last time he was here; there was supposed to be a car-detailing place there now, but it was after six, and they were closed.

  "Don't you have a cellphone?" the woman asked.

  "It's dead, and I need to call my mother and let her know I'm in town," Stewart told her. "I'll pay if I have to, it's no big deal."

  "Why not just show up?"

  "Because she left my dad last month and is with her new boyfriend." Stewart sighed. "I didn't want to make it awkward."

  "Oh! I'm sorry to hear that!"

  Stewart snorted. "I'm not, my dad's a bastard."

  "Oh!" the woman pulled a desk phone out from under the counter and set it on top. "Dial nine to get an outside line," she said, then she walked to the other end of the counter twenty feet away to give him some privacy.

  Shaking his head, Stewart dialed the number for his mother's cellphone and waited.

  "Hello?"

  "Mom, it's Stewart."

  "Stewart, why are you calling me from a casino? Is something wrong?"

  Stewart sighed heavily. "Mom, everything is wrong. I need to talk to you, and I need to talk to you now."

  "I don't know, Stewart, I'm not so sure this is a good time."

  "Mom, please! I need you to come down here, or if you want I'll go wherever you want. This is important, Mom. I just drove all the way up here; it's not something I can talk about over the phone. Hell, bring that damn lion if you're afraid; bring an army, I don't care, Mom. But I need to talk to you, I'm desperate."

  "Does this involve your father?"

  "Yeah, I think it's safe to say it does."

  There was a moment of silence on the phone; Stewart suspected his mother was talking to someone.

  "Okay, stay where you are, I'll be there in a little while."

  "Thanks, and Mom?"

  "Yes?"

  "If Art really is my real father, bring him along too, okay?"

  Stewart heard his mother cough. "Why would you think a thing like that?"

  "I'll be waiting, Mom."

  "Okay."

  Stewart hung up the phone and went to sit at a table near the door, one that wasn't on the gaming floor. He knew the casinos didn't allow anyone under twenty-one to gamble, and April definitely looked under age.

  Fifteen minutes later several men came up to Stewart, he recognized them immediately; they were lycans that had once belonged to the Sacramento Council of the Ascendance.

  "Come with us please, Stewart."

  Stewart nodded and got up; he noticed one of the men had taken April aside.

  "What are you doing with her?"

  "I don't think that's any of your concern anymore," the leader said.

  Stewart lowered his voice, "If she tells me she wants to go with you, she goes with you, but if you try to force her to do anything, don't think I won't fry your ass right here in front of the whole damn world."

  "Yeah well, once her pellet's gone she may not feel that way about you anymore."

  "I sent Rachel up here, didn't I?"

  One of the other guys nudged the first one. "He's got you there, Jester."

  Jester sighed. "Fine, Pete, bring her with us, we can take care of her pellet on the way over to Art."

  Stewart smiled and let them lead him outside, where they had him get in a van.

  "Put this on," Jester said and tossed him a hood.

  Stewart didn't hesitate, pulling it over his head. He heard April gasp for a moment.

  "Okay, your pellet doesn't have silver in it anymore," Pete told her. "Do you still want to go with him? If not, we can take you someplace else."

  April smiled, "He changed the trigger word on my pellet to "supercalifridgeadosciouspartarganonatheim."

  "Damn, you remembered that?" Steward said, "I sure couldn't!"

  All the wolves turned and looked at Stewart, sitting there with the hood over his head.

  "Looks like somebody's changed sides," Jester said after a moment.

  Stewart shrugged and sat back in the seat as the van started to drive.

  "This isn't going to take long, is it?"

  "No, Art just wanted to be sure this wasn't a set up by your father to get even with Sarah."

  "He would too," Stewart sighed, "if you guys thought he was bad before, he's gotten worse, a hell of a lot worse. I don't even feel safe around him anymore."

  "Oh, I don't think he'd do anything to you, you're his son, after all."

  "Am I?" Stewart asked. "I'm not so sure anymore."

  The van stopped then, and Jester grabbed Stewart by the arm and helped him out of the van, then into a building. After about a minute of walking, they pulled the hood off.

  "Mom!" Stewart smiled and hugged his mother.

  "Stewart, it's so good to see you again!" his mother said, hugging him back.

  "Now, what's so important you had to see her right away?" Art asked.

  Stewart let go of his mother and walked over to Art.

  "I see Mom brought you."

  "Why is that important?"

  "Because it means that bastard I used to live with isn't my father. Thanks, Dad!" Stewart said and hugged Art, who suddenly looked a combination of both shocked and proud.

  "Is that it? You just wanted to meet your father?" Jester asked.

  "No." Stewart sighed and letting go of Art he looked around the room. Spying Rachel, he smiled and waved at her, and she waved back.

  "At midnight tonight, most, if not all, of the magic users from the Vestibulum, the Gradatim, and the Ascendance are leaving Sacramento and coming up here to kill all of you."

  Stewart couldn't help but notice the shocked looks on everybody's faces.

  "That's probably about five hundred magic users, armed with everything they can get their hands on. Tobias apparently has lost it, and my own fa... I mean Kurt, is going to be leading the charge."

  "How long ago did you find this out?" Art demanded.

  "About two hours ago. I got in my car and drove up here."

  "He did," April spoke up. "He came right here."

  Art looked around the room. "Hogue, call Oak, tell him what you just heard. Jester, call Chad; Piper, call Claudia. We need to head back home right after I call Sean."

  "Thanks for coming here and telling me, Son," Art said with an almost goofy smile as he pulled out a cellphone.

  "Yes, Stewart," Sarah said and hugged her son. "Thank you for telling us."

  "You should really tell Joyce and Lee, Mom." Stewart said, naming his sister and brother.

  "You think so?"

  "They really hate Kurt. So yeah, I do."

  Face The Music

  Chad came running into the dining room, and found Sean, Oak, Art, all of Sean's wives, and Maitland going over maps of the area.

  "I already picked a spot and have gotten Claudia to start shuttling our troops there with the helicopters," Chad said.

  "You did?" Sean said, turning to look at him. "Where's Max?"

  "I sent Max out with the first load of my lieutenants to make sure they got set up properly."

  "Taking a lot on yourself there, aren't you?" Maitland said, eyeing Chad with concern.

  "It's almost seven; we have four hours, at best, to get everyone in position and start this op. Besides, the solution is obvious. We don't want to fight them here, hell; we don't even want to fight them in Reno!" Chad said and, pulling out a map of his own, he laid it over the maps of the local area on the table.

  "I-80, just past the Floriston exit, in a spot called 'Canyon Twenty-four'. It's perfect. We have the high ground to either side, so we'll put the mass of the troops up on the north side, with snipers and some artillery on the south for when they retreat down the hill into the river below. This time of the year the water's still cold enough they can't go in it for long or they'll risk dying of hypothermia."

  "You want to take them on, on the highway?" Sean said, blinking. "But what about the other cars? And how do we stop them?"

  "Same way the Totis folks tried to stop the dwarves from helping you. About midnight, we'll rig a major truck crash on the westbound side of eighty out of Reno, say up at the state line. That'll cut all the western traffic so that side of the road will be clear. I've already sent a crew up to Floriston with a large tractor-trailer, one of the ones we liberated from the Vestis. They'll stage a huge accident that will block both lanes, and will destroy a section of the divider so we can give them the option to turn around and retreat if we want."

  "What about the eastbound traffic?"

  "I've talked with the people we left at Sapientia. They're going to keep an eye on the enemy and watch for when they leave. They'll follow them up the hill and block the traffic from following once they're about thirty miles from the ambush site."

  Just then they heard the sound of a helicopter.

  "Ah, that's Claudia. I guess she found a fourth pilot," Chad said.

  Sean bent over and looked at the map Chad had laid on the table; there were a number of spots marked on it and what looked like firing lines already drawn on it.

  "How will they know where to put the roadblock?" Daelyn asked.

  "Max is going to spray paint a big 'X' on the roadway," Chad told them. "I'm going to need to borrow a couple of those mortars of yours, and their fire crews."

  Sean looked up at Roxy. "You trained them, Hon. You want to deal with that?"

  "After Cali, I'm the best shot we've got. I'd rather be with the snipers."

  "Set up the mortars over here," Chad said, pointing to the map. "Then you can take this spot here and snipe."

  "Okay, I better get to work, setting up those mortars and sighting them in without anyone noticing isn't going to be easy!"

  Roxy came over and gave Sean a kiss, then ran out the door as Claudia came in.

  "Where's she off to?"

  "Fire support," Chad said. "How long do you think it will take to get your troops out there?"

  "Two hours and we should be set up."

  Chad looked to Oak. "Full combat load, as many folks as you can spare, how long?"

  Oak looked at the map, then at Sean.

  "He's our general," Sean told him.

  "About the same. I have the advantage of everyone living right here, it's just the ferrying that's going to take a while."

  Chad nodded. "I'll tell Ryan to send one of our new tractor-trailers up here to help out."

  "Where do you want us?" Art asked.

  "Sacramento," Chad said and pulled out another set of plans and laid them on the table. "I figured with Gradatim occupied elsewhere, we should hit their headquarters in Sacramento and take their lycans. After you do that, you can go house to house to pick up all the lycans we missed last time."

  "Damn, I better get my people together and get a move on! How are we going to get there?"

  "Same way you got here. I had Jace rent the two busses that brought you here again. Should be arriving within the half hour."

  Art looked up at Sean who nodded.

  "Take these plans," Chad said and handed them to Art. "Otherwise, use your discretion. You know the area a lot better than I do."

  "I'll need more collars and tags."

  "Peg, give him the ones I worked on this afternoon." Sean looked up at Art. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

  "I'll make do," Art agreed. "I better go round up my men," he said and left the room.

  Sean looked at the map and sighed. "I need to talk to Arthur over at Sapientia."

  "Why?" Maitland asked.

  "Because this is most definitely a war, and the sounds of what we're about to do will be heard for miles. We're going to need his mages if we want to honor their whole 'silence' business."

  "Are you sure you want to keep doing that?" Claudia asked.

  Sean nodded. "This isn't the time or place to start alienating the few allies we've got."

  Chad nodded. "If they can get Wayne and the Sacramento Sapientia council to work with us, that'll make Art's job easier, and may even help with blocking the traffic coming east up highway eighty."

  "I'll go talk to him," Jolene said, standing up.

  "Take Cali," Sean said, looking over at Jolene and then Cali. "Cali, take all of your gear, I don't want anything happening to either of you."

  "Okay," Jolene said, and she and Cali left the room.

  "Well, that just leaves the big five-hundred-pound balrog in the room that no one wants to talk about," Maitland said.

  "And that is?" Daelyn asked.

  "How many of them do we want to kill," Sean said with a heavy sigh.

  "More like, how many will we have to kill," Maitland agreed.

  "Don't look at me," Chad said, holding his hands up, "I just set it up so we can kill them all if we need to."

  'Suggestions?' Sean asked the First.

  'Pin them down, locate the leadership, kill them and everyone around them, decimate the rest.'

  Sean sighed again and shook his head, but even he could see the logic of it; the only other choice was to kill them all.

  "Okay, here's what we're going to do," Sean said, looking around the room. "First, we stop their cars and force them out of them and onto the side of the road. Next, we locate their leaders. The snipers take out their leaders and their support staff, basically whoever is around them."

  "That might not be easy," Chad pointed out.

  "Then drop a couple of mortar rounds on 'em. But we want all of their leaders dead."

  "After that?"

  "Decimate the rest and send them walking back to Sacramento."

  "That could take days," Claudia pointed out, "and any wounded may die by then."

  "Cry me a river," Sean growled. "It's that or we kill all of them. And I'm not keen on the idea of killing all of them, for all that they're coming here to do that to us."

  "It's a good plan," Maitland said, nodding. "They'll be thoroughly demoralized by the time they get home after being so completely routed, and seeing their friends die, knowing that we let them live. Especially after having a couple of days on foot slogging their way home."

  "I'd think that would make them want to come back at us all the harder," Claudia said.

  Maitland shook his head no. "Without their leaders to whip them back up, they'll turn on each other and fall apart, the longer they walk. It's like rubbing salt into their wounds. You have three factions down there that don't like each other. Recriminations will start; they'll probably kill or wound more than we will."

  "You don't think adversity will bring them together?"

  Peg had come back into the room during the discussion and started laughing. "Are you serious? I bet half of them already have plans to stick knives in each other's backs the moment they finish killing us. Too bad Jo isn't here; she'd tell you the same thing. We were raised to hate each other. That's not going away overnight."

  "I can send a couple of teams to harass them," Chad said, looking thoughtful. "That way they won't try to call for anyone to come get them."

  'Leave enough rations along the way to feed two thirds of them,' the First told Sean. 'That will really set them at each other's throats.'

  Sean repeated the First's recommendation.

  "Damn, that's brutal," Chad said.

  Maitland agreed. "The more they hate each other, the less they'll be inclined to hate us."

  "Okay, now that the easy part is done," Chad said, "let's go over the actual battle plan and the logistics."

  "Jolene! Dear!" Arthur said and, standing up, he gave his niece a hug after James had led her into the room. "And Cali!" Arthur smiled and took her hand in greeting.

  "To what do I owe this pleasure? Though," Arthur said as he noticed Cali was wearing a pistol, "I suspect this isn't strictly a social call."

  "We need to invoke the silence, Uncle Arthur, and we're going to need at least eight of your better mages to do it. Maybe ten."

  "What? Why?" Arthur asked, looking surprised.

  "I can't give you all the details, but there's about five hundred magic users, from three different councils, on their way here to kill all the lycans in Reno. How soon can you get your magic users here?"

  "Dean," Arthur said to one of his guards, "make the phone calls, tell them to get here as soon as possible."

  "Yes, Boss," Dean said and left the room.

  "Does this have anything to do with the foiled attack on our council in Sacramento?"

  Jolene nodded. "I'm afraid so. From the sounds of it, the Vestibulum has gone around the bend."

  Arthur nodded. "They're trying to hold on to their power. It's not an easy thing, watching it slip away. Unfortunately for all of us, they're still living several centuries in the past."

  "I'll let Sean know you're with us," Cali said and, pulling out her phone, started to text something.

  "It's early enough in the evening that I don't think it will take too long too round them up," Arthur said. "Most are local to us."

  "Thanks, Uncle." Jolene smiled. "For all that I may not consider myself a member anymore, I really do appreciate your support."

  Arthur gave her a wistful look. "They were going to attack one of our councils. If they were to come up here and destroy you and yours, I don't doubt they'd be coming after us next. We'd hoped that, with the failure of that attack, cooler heads might have prevailed."