The Breed

By Dream Janus

Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the story cannot be reproduced without permission.

This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave this site. If you are offended by harsh language, please exit this page immediately. You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be copied or used in any way without my express consent.

Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe and Flyboy38 my editors and second & third set of eyes.

Note from Dream Janus: I now have a presence in Yahoo groups.

On Yahoo it is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dream_janus_stories/

If you want, I can be emailed at dreamjanus@yahoo.com.

 

Chapter 30 "Revelations"

The six months after the war was declared over was a time of celebration and relaxation for both the Breed and the Regia'an. There were parties of all sizes all over the world. Even though the Regia'an now had Lady Elzabeth as their Queen, the members of the Breed did not accept them fully. Everyone knew it would take time.

Many things happened over those six months for many people, both good and bad. It was during this time that Ray and Mike graduated from high school. Both of them were honored with awards from the school for "Meritorious Service to the school, students, teachers, and staff." The reward was a not so secret, secret way for them to be recognized as the saviors of the school.

Iris and Gene moved into the manor house under the understanding that they were there to help take care of the five children. Of course everyone knew that with five slaves and a household staff that it was not totally the truth. Toban had decided that he wanted and needed the remainder of his whole family around him and the children. Iris and Gene did not sell their house but instead rented it out to a young ghoul family for half the actual value.

Gene continued his addiction to the television but now had a 50 inch High Definition Flat Screen and well over 500 channels to choose from—he was in television heaven. Iris took over as the head of the household and the staff. Toban and the Zoméa were then free to spend more time with the children and their individual Conclave business. Iris also took over answering the phone at the house and acting as the secretary for everyone in the house.

The five African slave boys remained with Toban at the manor. They were each given their own private room in the attic. The rooms were much smaller than typical bedrooms, but each boy had all he needed. They even were allowed to watch television in the living room, den, or the game room whenever they wanted, as long as their work was completed first.

Toban even decided that each boy would be going to school. They were homeschooled with tutors until they achieved the school level appropriate to their ages. The older two boys seemed to be torn between not wanting to go to school and not wanting to disobey their masters. The other boys were happy to go to school. Every boy's grades showed their true attitude. Toban finally spoke to the older boys and agreed that if they did their best, then they did not have to go to regular school and would be tutored at home. Their grades improved greatly after that talk.

Thomas and his three daughters, the mothers of Toban's three biological children, visited the Zoméa and family on a regular bases. Each mother pumped their breasts for the milk; it was bottled and refrigerated for later use. Occasionally the babies would have milk straight from the teat. It was never a thought that the women could or would want to take over parenting from the Zoméa. None of them had proper parenting skills anyway.

Antino's dogs Jethro and Coltrane stayed at the manor while Antino was in the hospital. Jethro had already taken a liking to Adam. Hera the dog was already attached to Betty, leaving Coltrane to imprint on Chris. When Antino returned from the hospital, he learned that the dogs had adopted the children and refused to leave their sides.

After a conversation between Antino, Jethro, and Coltrane, Antino decided that the babies needed the dogs much more than he ever would. He later decided to get a Wolf/Mastiff hybrid to replace Jethro and Coltrane. Antino was actually happy to see the interaction between the boys and the dogs. It had always surprised him how Hera protected Betty.

When Paul was killed he was buried in the plot that was intended for his mother, Mildred. His daughter Paula was forced to move in with Mildred. Neither Paula nor Mildred liked the idea but Mildred felt honor bound due to Paula being family.

During her time living with her grandmother, Paula collected three or four boyfriends at a time. Three months after the end of the war between the Breed and the Regia'an, Mildred passed away in her sleep. Within hours of the funeral, Paula had moved in with her main boyfriend at the time, a Hells Angel biker named Deacon.

Paula's life living with Deacon lasted exactly one month. Even though she was living with Deacon, she had not given up on her other boyfriends. Deacon himself was not faithful, playing with two other women and one guy. He was smart enough to keep them all separate from each other. Unfortunately Paula was not that smart. One day, approximately one month after moving in with Deacon, Paula was found in their bed with another of her boyfriends.

Deacon killed both of them with a .45 caliber Glock G30 pistol. He then disappeared with his boyfriend—neither was ever seen again. The police buried Paula in a pauper's grave without ceremony. Not even her boyfriends felt her loss.

Ernest took good care of Toby and Valen. Even though he was distant to both of them emotionally he took care of them. The monthly stipend that Ray gave for their upkeep was not only used on their upkeep but was also evenly distributed between Valen, Toby, and his three other children.

Ray was not happy with the way the money was handled but could not do anything as it was not illegal in either the Human laws or the Breed laws. He made his displeasure known by spending exorbitant amounts of money on his brother and sister during the times he visited with them. Toban even demanded that they be allowed to spend at least two months of their three month summer vacation, with him. A check for $100,000 smoothed over any issues that Ernest may have had at the time.

During the time of Antino's hospitalization, his fangs, the Brat Pack, rushed to Oklahoma City and remained at his side every day. They made sure that at least one of their members was there at all times. Damian and Micah made sure that they were beside Antino the majority of the time.

Just before his release from the hospital, Antino ordered the fangs to abandon their previous home of the moment and return to him in Oklahoma City. Even though the boys felt as if they were being punished, they had no choice but to follow Antino's command. When they returned with all of their possessions, the boys were surprised to find out that Antino wanted them to move into his largest house.

The boys found their new life very different than the previous one. They no longer had difficulty dealing with daily life and became messengers, housekeepers, groundskeepers, and general security for Antino's person and house. They were not only paid in blood but in money and love.

One month before school was due to start again Mr. and Mrs. Bundy sold their restaurant "Bundy Burgers" so they could retire. Darla the favorite waitress of Ray, Mike, and Rex was asked by the older couple if she thought she could buy the restaurant from them. She was not able to come up with the money and was sad to not only lose her job, her friends, and what she felt was her home.

Darla found an unmarked envelop with a cashiers' check for $1,000,000 in her mailbox. The only other thing was an unsigned letter inside.

Darla,

 

Use this money to purchase `Bundy Burgers', giving the Bundy's a hefty profit in the sale. Use the remainder of the money for the restaurant and your own needs. The only thing that we ask is that you leave the restaurant open and give the occasional free meal.

 

Your hidden friends,

Darla was happy to purchase the restaurant. She had the whole restaurant redone; fixing cracked booth seats and worn tables as well as gathering more memorabilia from the 1950's. Mr. and Mrs. Bundy continued to visit the restaurant almost daily, both to help out and to enjoy the companionship of their long-term friends/customers.

In the Junkyard, Justin had finally revealed his feelings to Larry. The small boy surprised Justin when he said: "Well, it is about time." and then jumped on him and kissed him happily. They then moved into Conclave housing for a short time and then finally into their own small home.

Daniel, the dhampir son of Marcus, found while living with Junior and Karl that he liked the freedom he now had. He occasionally would allow Junior or Karl to pleasure him, but never returned the favor. By the end of the war, he had found a human girlfriend named Cassie. When he was allowed to by Toban, Daniel moved out of the junkyard and into an apartment with Cassie. She was aware that he was different but not to the extent that he was and that was what Daniel wanted.

Junior and Karl were offered security jobs at the manor by Rex. Everyone knew that he missed his friends, even though he denied it. They were moved into the small apartment above the garage within a week of the end of the war. The changes in the security began immediately. Little was done that would affect the family. Most of the changes that happened involved how easy or hard it was for visitors to get to the manor door.

Simon and Theo found that they were losing people in the junkyard. While it was disturbing from a junkyard security stand point, they were happy to see everyone moving on to something better. They both then began looking at the Haven's for willing replacements.

Darius, the Conclave leader of the wolves, had been listening to the whining and griping of Marjoram about how she was improperly lowered in rank and how she deserved to be reinstated as the Head of the eastern wolf pack. He finally had enough. One evening he took her out on a drive into the countryside. Once they were far enough away from people, Darius took Marjoram out of the car and into the woods.

While they were in the woods Darius talked to her about personal pride, pack pride, and being proud of being a wolf. He finally looked at her and said: "What would you as a leader do to someone that did not show proper self pride, pack pride, or even pride in being a wolf?"

She responded with an attitude: "I would slaughter them of course."

"Then you'd better run." Darius said in a soft voice.

After a moment of shock Marjoram turned and ran for the forest. She began to change forms as she ran. Darius was much quicker than her and had her downed within ten minutes. She was mauled to death within another five. Darius knew that he had to report her death to both the pack and either the Conclave counsel or Toban. He was not concerned about getting in any trouble as the wolves were his responsibility and he could kill any one for breaking pack laws.

When Darius reported his killing of Marjoram to Toban, he was surprised when the young man did not question him, but instead retrieved the proper form and had him fill it out himself. Toban then took the form, smiled and asked if Darius wanted to get a drink with him.

Harry Walert the head of the ghoul clean-up teams spent the time after his last meeting with Toban preparing new ideas for keeping teams with new members as well as having back up teams available. He decided that three ideas would work the best: take your ghoul to work days, offering rotating shifts for the teams, as well as opening the spots on the teams to other races as well as the ghouls.

The first "Take your Ghoul to Work Days" was very successful. The idea was simply having team members bring at least one of their children to work with them. Harry even brought his own son Sam to the events, every single one of them. Sam enjoyed helping but it was obvious that his plans for life did not include working in clean-up teams.

The rotating shifts for the teams required two more teams but alternated the schedule for most of the teams. Two teams choose to remain on a standard work schedule. The rotating shifts were one shift of 8 hours on, two shifts off, two shifts on, one shift off, thus making one clean-up crew working 24 hours in a two day period, but with rest in between and the 6th and 7th cycles taking off totally.

The first non-ghoul clean-up team group was comprised totally of non-breeds—it failed badly. It was then decided that non-ghouls should be integrated into other teams. By adding the non-ghouls to the teams, the total number of teams was again increased, this time by five additional teams.

By the end of setting the new ideas into motion, Harry was very happy with the results and had enough teams that he came up with a new idea. The idea was to assign a clean-up team to only clean up after Toban and his family. After several discussions with Toban and George it was agreed upon that a team should indeed be assigned, but with the understanding that if they were needed elsewhere they would be going.

Bill, the manager of Club Maxx, The Cistern, and Thantos, came across three other clubs for Toban to own. Two of the clubs were for straight people. Both were meat market type clubs. The third club was a lesbian bar named T&T, also known as Tits and Twats. The only concern that he had dealing with Club Maxx, The Cistern, and Thantos was that the City council was considering creating a curfew for anyone under 18 and that would destroy the teen club scene permanently.

Bill was devastated when one month after the war, the curfew ruling passed. By the 3rd month after the war, Club Maxx and The Cistern were closed. Thantos followed the next month after that. When Bill brought up the situation to Toban, he was told to look into other forms of entertainment to use the buildings they owned. Within a month Bill returned with ideas of using the former Club Maxx as a franchised pool hall, the Cistern as a Starbucks coffee house, and Thantos as an Atomic Taco.

While Bill did not have experience dealing with coffee houses or restaurants, he was smart enough to hire managers for both of them. Toban was pleased that Bill took action and gifted him with 25% of all three of the properties.

Tobias, the Arena Pit Manager, was happy to see Toban one evening after graduation, before the fights even began. At first he thought that Toban was just there to watch the fights and was shocked when Toban removed his shirt and jumped into the arena. Toban then turned to the stands and found Tobias. "I want to fight tonight."

Tobias was in heaven as the return of Toban would be very profitable for both of them. That first night he netted $1,000,000 and Toban's cut was $250,000. Over the next three months when Toban had a rough day as the temporary leader of the Conclave, he came down and fought at least two other fighters. The money that he won was always donated to a charity or something else that happened to be on his mind.

When the war was over, Cylest the Afro-Simian ambassador was given a choice of being promoted to Interspecies Ambassador from the Simian King and Queen or promotion to International Conclave Liaison. The Interspecies promotion was offered by the King and Queen of the Simians, while the liaison promotion was offered by Antino.

Cylest was confused about accepting either promotion as he did not want to anger or upset either his monarch or the Ancient. His choice was made easier when the queen came to him and told him: "We understand that the Ancient has offered you a promotion as well, neither Jasya nor I will be upset if you choose the Ancient's offer as we know it would open many new opportunities for your future."

By the end of the month, Cylest accepted the offer to be the International Conclave Liaison. Cylest suggested his former aid NarJa for either the position of Ambassador or Interspecies Ambassador as she was with him in every one of his official duties. It was a week later that he heard NarJa had been appointed the new Afro-Simian Ambassador. Cylest sent NarJa several personal and non-personal gifts as congratulations for her appointment.

Mr. Borden was shocked when Principle Billings came into his office during the teachers' end of the school year cleanup, holding a certified letter. The letter was addressed to the music department care of the school. In the envelope were a short note and a check for $1,500,000. The note read:

 

Mr. Borden,

 

Please take this check as a donation for the music department. I ask that you use a good portion of the money to purchase new school based instruments. The brass Bari's E flat key sticks and the silver one's G key sticks. I am sure the other instruments need attention as well.

 

Thanks,

Mr. Borden smiled as he knew where the money came from, though the amount shocked him. With the references about the baritone saxophone, it could have been only one of two people, Steven or Ray, and only Ray remotely appeared to be able to have connections for that amount of money.

The principle looked at Mr. Borden with the expectation of him revealing the benefactor. When Mr. Borden looked at him with a look of confusion, which was faked, Principle Billings accepted that they would not figure it out. When he returned to his office he was surprised to see a small package sent to him on his desk.

The package held a cookbook, a note and an identical check. The cookbook held green and yellow Breed based recipes. The check was for $10,000,000 and the letter read:

Principle Billings,

 

I am sure that you now know that The Breed is a small part of your school. We appreciate the help that the staff, teachers, and students gave us over the last year.

 

The check is for you to purchase the much needed supplies for teachers and students, new equipment for the staff and stocking the teacher's lounge. I of course am only suggesting this, it is a donation to use as you see fit.

 

The cookbook on the other hand is for you and the cafeteria staff to offer other meal choices to the students. Green food is totally safe for all students; yellow is safe but could cause some of the students with weaker constitutions to have stomach trouble.

 

Over the next year or so The Breed population in your school will increase, directly proportional to your continued acceptance.

 

Thank you,

The Breed Conclave President

Principle Billings began reading though the cookbook. Some of the recipes looked sickening to him, while others look delicious. He was now very curios as the writing in his letter looked exactly like the letter Mr. Borden received. Though he was curious, he was not stupid enough to do anything about it other than spend the money.

Both Mr. Borden and Principle Billings put their new windfalls to excellent use. Mr. Borden purchased new band instruments, repaired the older ones, purchased new robes for the choir, and new music for Marching Band, Concert band, Jazz band, Choir, and the Orchestra. He also purchased a computer with Marching Band positioning software.

Mr. Billings made sure every department had new books and supplies. He purchased new computers for the office workers and the computer lab, new microscopes, chemical and specimens for the science labs, new cleaning equipment for the janitorial staff, new merchandise for the in school store, fully updated and stocked the teachers' lounge, and purchased several new varieties of meat and vegetables so the new recipes could be introduced.

When the new school year started the new freshmen class included 4 bear thropes, 2 wolf thropes, 1 ghoul and 1 of Antino's Brat Pack. The sophomore year had 1 bear, 3 wolf brothers and 2 of Antino's Brat Pack. The junior class was the least affected with only 1 of Antino's Brats. The senior year had 6 ghouls from two different families.

Steve, known by the newspapers as Chaos, started the new school year after Toban's graduation by being approached by several students who wanted him to start a new group. The group was named "The Friends of the Bridge" or FB. He accepted and at the first meeting was elected president. He also started another group as an offshoot of the FB that was not openly sanctioned by the school, called "The Protectors". He had been indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached to the Shade Prince's cadre known as The Bridge Council.

Tammy who became known as the Shifter also joined the FB. She had since the summer dropped her plain appearance and took on a more appealing appearance, much to the dislike of the older members of the band and color guard. Tammy did not care; it was to make her feel better about herself, not to try and snare a human boyfriend. She was an active member of "The Protectors." She had been indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached to the Shade Prince's cadre known as The Bridge Council.

Sam the ghoul still had a major case of hero worship and it only became worse when he was indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached to the Shade Prince's cadre known as The Bridge Council. His head began to swim when he joined FB and was elected to be the secretary. Sam calmed down slightly when he was also offered a place with "The Protectors." Every time he got the opportunity to speak to his hero, Toban would be nice and hold a conversation with him, treating him as an equal, and endearing himself even more to the boy.

Mr. Salvar became one of the favorite teachers at the school as everyone realized he was also Breed. Even though it was not accepted in the course work, the students began asking questions about the Breed and Mr. Salvar specifically; a few of the questions were a bit personal. Mr. Salvar openly acted as the facility advisor for the FB and unofficial advisor for "The Protectors."

Sherry retired from full-time work as an assassin and became an instructor for assassins in training. She was given the option of also going to school to get another degree. She said that she would think about it. Sherry visited the graves of the people that had raised her, George's oldest children, and wept for all the years of anger and confusion.

The Conclave council was surprised when soon after Toban took control he created several new legislations. The first was the Interspecies Educational Act, followed by the creation of the Council for Interspecies Relations, The Bridge Cadre, and Breed Family Responsibility Act.

The Interspecies Educational Act (IEA) made it easier for Breed children to go to human based schools from 6th grade until graduation. The act gave grants for any special needs that the students may have to blend in with the human children: contacts to change eye color and appearance, special make-up to change skin color, necroblock to protect the skin, and other special items. It also gave students stipends if they wanted to go to private human schools.

The Council for Interspecies Relations was a group currently composed of most Breed species, the human governor, and an open seat for the human President of the United States, and three seats for other humans without any rank. However each Breed species had an available seat on the Council as well.

The Bridge Cadre was created to act as a sounding and support board for Toban's interactions with the human population. It was agreed that Toban would attempt to limit or totally suspend going out in public as The Bridge so that the furor surrounding him could be controlled. They also began sculpting the image that Toban was to take when he went out as The Bridge.

Charlett took a short vacation, at least short for a vampire and after a month returned with three new helpers, two male humans and a female human. They were named Terry, Tony, and Teresa. Terry and Teresa were twins and Terry and Tony were lovers. Charlett purchased a home down the street from Antino's Swan Lake home.

Kar revealed the changes in his life slowly to his brother Jason. First to be revealed was that Mike was gay which Jason just looked at him as if it was no big secret. Mike then revealed that he was in a relationship with Ray, Rex, and George. Again Jason gave him the look as if he already knew that.

Kar then began to lay out the general facts about the Breed and how each of them fit into it. He explained that Rex, Ray, and he had been killed and how they were resurrected. It was then explained how they became more and had selected new names. The change also made them more powerful.

Jason did not believe the story until both Kar and Toban expanded their shadow energy into small shadow balls and played a quick game of catch. Jason was terrified until he remembered that they had saved him and had only treated him with respect. He eventually accepted the changes in his brother and the loss of his parents. He soon became a human helper of the Breed, the Conclave, and specifically the Zoméa.

The one thing that Kar continued to hide from Jason was the fact that he was an apprentice assassin. It was difficult on occasions when Kar had to go either to a secret assassin meeting or the assassination of a corrupt sheriff of a nearby town. Toban ordered it after it was found out that the sheriff had caused the death of several gay teens in the area.

The thing that was never a secret was that Kar felt the responsibility of being the five children's most active parent. He made sure that he was available as much as possible to be around the children. Kar doted on each of them individually and in groups: Davey and Shanny in one and Adam, Betty, and Chris in the other.

George continued working as the Conclave's Assassin guild master and began teaching Conclave law at the Breed school. Even though he was released from his protection duties by Antino, George continued watching over both his Zoméa and the Ancient, though a bit more secretively.

George was also able to spend a large amount of time with the children. He was able to interact easier with Shanny and Davey more so than the babies, but made sure to hold and love the babies daily. It became a common sight to see his large form wedged in the nursery's rocking chair holding one or two of the babies at a time while attempting to sing to them.

Rex spent his time exercising in the Conclave gyms, working with Breed teens, and training them in protection and blending in to human society. He also had decided to attempt to go to College and decided on Tulsa Community College, a two year school. Rex studied general studies and Criminal Justice.

 

 

Elzabeth, as the new Queen of the Regia'an, ordered an accounting of everything including the location and status of the cloning facilities. She began creating ways for the Breed and Regia'an to reintegrate together. Elzabeth made monthly reports directly to Antino and Toban. It was decided that they would fast track recombining the two groups, only taking a hundred or a hundred and fifty years to integrate.

Antino spent slightly over a month in the Oklahoma City Conclave Hospital under the watchful eyes of both the healers and his own `Brat Pack.' The council members made visits collectively and individually. Toban and the Zoméa made sure to visit Antino in groups of threes or fours almost daily. Toban was usually the one that was not able to visit as he was working for the Conclave.

When Antino had recovered enough to leave the hospital, he was taken home by the Zoméa and the `Brat Pack.' He then moved the `Brat Pack' into his house to help maintain it, keep an active presence in Oklahoma, and to protect them. He also reviewed the actions taken by Toban while he was in the hospital just so he could catch up on all of the changes that have occurred.

To prove to both Toban and the Conclave Council that Toban's rulings were proper, he confirmed each ruling in front of the whole Conclave Council. After the list of rulings was ratified by Antino, Toban was given a standing ovation from the whole Conclave, not just the Council.

The night after everything was ratified, Antino revealed three things that needed to happen: First, Antino had to go to Europe to show himself and see to the needs of the rest of the world; Second, Toban needed to visit the Southwestern Conclave to check on rumors of rouge fangs and find out what the issue is with the leadership in the area; third and last, for Toban to try and take a vacation in the Breed village of Toŏmę.

 

The six months following the war was extremely busy for Toban. He not only had to deal with the Conclave's business, but family business and The Bridge business as well. Toban sent a total of three checks out in the mail: one for the purchase of Bundy Burgers; one to help the band at school; and one to help the school itself. He enjoyed fighting in the arena pits as well.

Toban spent most of the six months as the leader of the Conclave. During that time he gained a lot of respect, a lot of publicity with the Breed, and friends in all the packs and all the clans. His income skyrocketed, making him the second wealthiest individual of the entire Breed.

Toban was upset about having to enter the human elementary school that Davey attended. He walked with determination toward the school's office. When he opened the office door he was met by a tearful Davey, an upset female principal, and Mrs. Davis, Davey's teacher who was doctoring her own leg.

"Mr. McFearsome," the principal began: "your child took a bite out of his teacher."

Toban verified that the teacher's leg indeed had a small but healthy chunk taken out of its calf. It was verified by the bloody face and mouth of Davey, who was absentmindedly licking his lips. Mrs. Davis was bandaging her leg with the school's first-aid kit, more in shock than anything else.

Before Toban could say anything she stated flatly and coldly: "The boy is suspended for the remainder of the year."

"If the boy was a few years older, he would be heading for juvenile hall." the principal explained with fury in her voice.

"Thank you." Tobin answered the principal, his anger just below the surface. "You may suspend him, but he will not return next year or ever again! I will make sure he is put in an exclusive, private school that will ignore your suspension."

The principal was upset at Toban's fury and began to interrupt him. "Now see here, Mr. McFearsome!" the principal sputtered: "The boy injured his teacher!"

"Yes and I am sure there was also a reason behind it." Tobin interjected forcefully. "What was going on in the classroom at the time it happened?"

"We were only discussing the difference between reality and fantasy." The teacher softly said. "The boy believes in vampires and were-creatures. He said one of his fathers was a bear and his grandfather was a vampire." the teacher explained incredulously.

"Well, I will have to correct that." Toban said with sarcasm. "Two of his fathers are bears, not one." He then turned and picked up Davey and walked out the door, leaving the teacher and principal with their mouths hanging open.

Davey was still crying as they left the school and headed toward the car. He was unsure what would happen. He did not know if he was going to get spanked, sent away or something worse. Davey's small body shook as he was being held by Toban. He looked at his hero in fear.

"Don't worry little one." Toban said reading the boy's mind. "You are not being sent away or something worse. You were only defending your family."

 

"Just remember that what you said was a secret." Toban said tickling the boy's belly. Davey then began to giggle and twitch as he enjoyed the attention. Toban then began using sanitized tools from the glove box to clean Davey's face, chin, and neck.

The rest of the day was spent getting ice cream, going to the park, and generally enjoying each other's company. Toban and Davey bonded deeper than ever before. Toban then explained to Davey that he would have to go to Breed school from now on. Davey was happy because he would get to see Shanny every day.

In the fifth month after the war Toban was to meet with Antino at the Swan Lake House. Antino told him that he needed a vacation. Toban also found that Antino had a project for him to complete. The project was to locate, verify, and deal with suspected rouge fangs. Antino gave Toban total approval and power on how to deal with the problem.

The reported fang activity was in Phoenix, Arizona which allowed Toban to visit the Breed village of Toŏmę which was northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. Toban learned that the village was originally a ghost town that had been forgotten by the government. Toŏmę had the largest underground complex in the United States at just over 40 square miles and almost one thousand yards deep. Its structure was totally artificial and the greatest building feat of the United States Breed.

Toban would be expected to fly out of Tulsa in the Conclave's private Boeing 787-VIP jet airplane at the end of the week. He would spend his time divided between Toŏmę and Phoenix, over 200 miles apart. Toban would have the jet, a helicopter, and cars at his disposal for quick travel. The Zoméa and the children would arrive by jet a week later for the vacation to start.

The very next day, Toban was informed by Antino's secretary that he had an international videoconference call waiting for him in his office. When he reached his office Toban found every computer screen in his office activated and showing a face.

"Hello, Shade Prince." a Nordic looking man said from the bottom left hand corner screen. "I am the Ancient Houg' an. It is good to finally meet you."

A dark skinned Mediterranean woman spoke next her face coming from the bottom center computer screen. "I am the ancient Athea. I apologize for this interruption of your day."

The face of Latino man in the bottom right computer screen spoke next: "I am Luis, another Ancient."

"G' day there youngster, I be James from Sydney, another Ancient." an older man said from the top left monitor.

"Well, now that everyone has gotten their introductions over with, I am Mobossa." a dark skinned boy in the top center monitor said. "I am the second oldest Ancient next to Antino."

The remaining face in the top right monitor then spoke: "I am Darius, the master of protocol. I am here to make sure protocol is followed."

Each and every one of the Ancients rolled their eyes at the fact Darius was even there. The Ancient James then asked: "Do we really need a protocol master?"

Each of the Ancients in their own time said no and then looked at Toban for his opinion. When Tobin realized that he was expected to vote also, he said: "No!"

Without further comment Darius disconnected and his screen went black. Each of the ancients then breathed a sigh of relief. Toban giggled until he realized and remembered who and what this group was. He was then embarrassed. The whole group of Ancients burst out in laughter at Toban's embarrassment.

"We have a couple problems," Mobossa stated after he finished laughing: "and we need to meet with you in person to discuss them."

"I will be leaving here at the end of the week and be staying in Toŏmę for at least a month on Conclave business and a family vacation." Toban explained. "So it needs to be in the next couple days or we can meet in Toŏmę in a week."

"I am sure that we can all agree to meet in Toŏmę," Luis acknowledged.

The other Ancients agreed that it would be the best idea for all involved, each acknowledging that they also needed a vacation as well. It was decided that they would all meet in Toŏmę one week after Toban arrived there.

That Friday Toban was taken to the Conclave air terminal by the Zoméa and the children. With both Shanny and Davey crying, it became even harder for Toban to leave, but he reminded them both that everyone would see him in a week. Toban then made sure that the older children thought of it as an adventure. With hugs and kisses from everyone, Toban entered the concourse and prepared to board the plane.

The planes interior was very stylized with wood accents. It had an ornate entry, a dining area, a meeting area, an office, and a bedroom on board. The office and meeting areas each had computer access and the plane was totally wireless internet accessible. Toban sat down in the office and buckled the seatbelt in preparation for take-off. His thoughts were not about the mission but what the future held and he smiled.

The End