Stronger Together chapter 167

We had a few days of quiet after The Beast was put down. Honestly I  was a bit antsy to start looking for the twins since we only had a few  weeks left to deal with the bastards. But aside from my own mental and  physical exhaustion, Andi was in a pretty fragile state. We had somewhat  bonded over our similar trauma and she spent most of her time with me  and Barb and all of the rest of it with Morgan, who she was becoming  surprisingly attached to.

I think the still semi crazy  vampire had a bit of a crush on our red haired werewolf, but Andi either  wasn't ready to deal with it or didn't notice. I knew from the books  that Andi was bi, having ended up in a relationship with Butters and  Marci, another werewolf, but I also knew it was way too soon for her to  think about dating. Luckily Morgan seemed to get that and spent most of  her time trying to make the pretty werewolf laugh or smile, just trying  to be there for her during a difficult time. Crazy or not Morgan was  pretty good people.

Still it had been relatively peaceful  for the most part and it was nice to decompress a bit after the horror  show that was killing Chastel. I took a bite of pancakes, enjoying the  taste of real maple syrup that Kara went up to Canada to get for us. She  and Inari were eating with us, though the latter couldn't eat pancakes  because they had eggs in them so she was eating rice krispies in soy  milk. Raven was eating pancakes with way too much butter primly while  Barb sipped coffee and glared at everyone over the rim of her cup.  Morgan and Sam were sleeping, Cinder was taking a shower and Yang was  shoveling pancakes into her mouth as fast as she could fit them.

Speaking  of the berserker, I raised an eyebrow at her between bites "Hey, how  did Gabby's visit with Bea go yesterday? You brought Rumor over to play  with them and Angela right? Did Max go with you?" Yang had made it her  personal mission to help with Gabby after I told her what happened and  had even called to talk to Gabby's parents about her visiting Bea. They  had arranged a play date for yesterday so they could talk and bond and  Yang had been antsy about it the entire day before.

She  swallowed forcefully and glared at me "No. He did not. Mostly because  that asshole thing hates me and refuses to let me touch him. Rumor is  such a good and sweet boy I'm afraid that cat is a bad  influence on my good boy. Aside from you, Morgan, and Rae he hates  everyone in the house. If you even look at him wrong he pops his claws  and waves them around at you. I don't know how you trained him not to  maim us but it's only a matter of time until whatever you did wears off.  But yeah it was yesterday." Her scowl shifted into a sunny smile "They  had so much fun. We watched a movie and I made smores with the girls in  the back yard."

I smiled at the pure joy on my friends  face. Honestly I hoped she would go into social work someday if we could  swing the credentials, she would be so good at it. She was amazing with  kids. "I'm glad they had so much fun. Hopefully Gabby will be able to  come over more, I think being around Bea will be really good for her.  Did they talk at all about what happened to her?" I assumed not, it  wasn't the kind of thing you just brought up out of nowhere but you  never knew with kids. Even if not I felt better knowing Gabby would  probably sleep a little easier tonight after having some fun with a  friend.

Yang shook her head sadly "No, not really. I  mentioned it when I introduced them but they kind of avoided it. I  didn't want to push the subject on the first day. I'm hoping Rae will  come with me next time, her emotion sensing mojo would be perfect for  figuring out when the girls are ready to talk." She shot Raven a warm  smile "Plus even though you don't admit it I know you love playing  therapist. It makes you feel like you're helping without having to harm  anyone." Raven didn't respond but I knew Yang was right on the money.

Her  expression shifted back to her earlier joyful visage "Anyway it was  amazing, we watched Shrek, which I've never seen but love, and Mama C  taught the girls how to build their own tents in the back yard to sleep  in." I smiled at her use of the nickname for Charity but she was so  wrapped up in talking she didn't even notice. "Gabby wanted me to ask  you go say hi if you have time by the way. When she brought you up she  and Bea got into a long discussion about how amazing you were, if it had  been anyone but two little girls you saved talking about you I'd have  cracked up. As it was it was too sweet to laugh at.

I  checked the time with a laugh "You cut it a bit close I'm sure she's  leaving soon, but I'll head over after breakfast to see if I can catch  her. If not I'll give her a call and let he know I'll see her next time.  Also if you liked Shrek you'll love the next one. It comes out next  year." Yang was used to my little slips about future events by now so  she didn't make a big deal of it. "But it was really nice of Charity to  help out so much with the girls, she's one of the best moms I know and  if anyone can help you get them through this it's her."

Yang  nodded emphatically "Oh yeah, Mama C is the best. I don't know what I  would do without her. All the kids love helping out too, her and Big  Mike did a great job with those little ones." I tried not to choke on my  pancake as she mentioned Michael, I doubted the man had heard that  particular nick name. Not that he would say anything but at the very  least Harry would have been shouting it from the rooftops so it must be  recent. I hoped I got to be there to see the Knight's face when he heard  it the first time.

However I wasn't  able to comment on the moniker because before I got a word out there  was a knock on the door. We all looked at each other. After a few  seconds of indecision I stood up to go answer the door. I wasn't as  durable as Kara but I had magic defense and magical attacks worked on  her like they would on a normal person, which is to say violently and  with potentially devastating consequences. I looked through the peephole  on the door to see...a complete stranger. With a confused glance back  at the door I opened it, pretty sure nothing that was a threat could  easily breach our threshold. As the door opened the man on the other  side met my eyes, and as was getting increasingly more common in this  place there were wolf eyes set into his human face.

I  raised an eyebrow "If this is about cub scouts I'm a little old to  join, try the next house over. Wait, is it cookie season? Because I  really love those peanut butter cookies with the chocolate on them if  you have any." I didn't know who this was, but I knew I didn't feel a  threat from him and if he had really hostile intentions I doubted he'd  have made it past the angels in the neighborhood. As such he was just a  guy who had interrupted my pancake breakfast and deserved all of my  mockery.

The  man's brow furrowed in consternation, but smoothed out quickly. He  cleared his throat before announcing grandly in a voice thick with an  accent I didn't really recognize "I have come as a messenger. Their  majesties Remus and Romulus, kings of all wolves, invite you you to a  meeting to discuss terms at the site of your great victory over The  Beast. By killing the scum you have earned the right to speak as..." his  face twisted in disgust but he bit out the next word with some  difficulty "equals."

I  had not been expecting that. "When would this meeting take place? And  who can I bring with me? Because the last time I met with a legendary  werewolf by myself it didn't really go well for at least a few people.  I'd prefer to have backup this time." I also needed someone to wear the  other weapons and pieces of armor. Remus and Romulus weren't the type to  bow their heads to anyone and this was a pretty huge about face from  their threats of death last time we met. I'd be an idiot to trust them.  They'd been dealing with medieval people and entities too long if they  thought I was buying this.

The  messenger scoffed, and my hand twitched a bit, this guy was a dick and I  kind of wanted to punch him, but I assumed shooting the messenger was  bad form, because if not why bother announcing he was a messenger to  begin with. "You may bring whoever you wish. My masters say you can even  have your demonspawn accompany you should you wish it. They hold no  fear of you or yours. You will face them three days from now, at sundown." With that proclamation he turned and strode away,  which was good because if he'd been within arms reach when I got over  the shock of them calling Raven that I would have done a lot worse than  shoot him.

I  was so glad we were going to kill those smug pricks. I slammed the door  with annoyance and turned around to find the others crowded into the  living room. "Ok, first off, we're going to fucking kill those guys. No  one talks about my Raven like that. Second of all, since I'm bringing  everyone, did anybody miss the fact that this is pretty obviously a  trap?" Raven gave a small soft smile, and I realized she wasn't upset. I  expected her to be hurt by the casual remark, she'd always been  sensitive about her heritage in social situations, but she seemed fine.

She  saw my confusion or maybe sensed it and stepped up to kiss me "I'm not  upset because I don't care what they think. I have someone who loves me  enough to go to war over an insult, who wouldn't be happy to be loved  like that?" Her expression turned serious "But yes, judging by the  emotions of the messenger this is indeed a trap. I'm not sure what  they're planning, but based on his emotions and what you've told me of  them we should expect something big and flashy. They are not subtle  beings. That said they haven't seen most of us in action and they don't  even know we have Gard. They think I'm your ace in the hole."

I  nodded with a grin "Which of course you are. But you're not the only  one. With the gear Odin gave us and Gard to help out we can finish the  bastards once and for all, then have a few weeks extra to heal up before  we fight that scary bastard Fenrir." I exhaled and slumped down onto  the couch "Gods I can't wait until this nonsense is over and we can  relax. After this I just have to go to that crazy induction ceremony for  the accords. Honestly I'm looking forward to it, a party will be a nice  relaxing change of pace from all this crazy." It would be nice to have  some real downtime.