The Breed 2

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.

Spoiler Alert This chapter has spoiler aspects for other stories. I am sure you want to know what stories; they are "The Boys of Kendra school of Magic" and "Demonico Angelus". Characters from all three stories will crossover at least limitedly in this chapter and possibly a few other chapters.

Chapter 3 "Phoenix"

Rex and Antino were sitting in the sunroom of the mansion. The evening sun was setting as they talked. Their conversation was a mixture of daily activities, what was going on in Toŏmę and the children. In the other room Davey, Shanny, Adam, Betty and Chris were playing a human/wolf/bear version of ball/tag/war.

The rules of the game were simple, throw Adam's favorite toy ball and then attempt to get to the ball before the others. Tickling, clawing, limited biting and wrestling were involved as well as running and chasing. During their play, the ball escaped the confines of the room and bounced into the sunroom. The ball bounced a couple times and then landed in Antino's lap.

"OH SHIT!" cried Rex when he saw the ball in Antino's lap.

The bemused look on Antino's face was quickly replaced by shock as the partially transformed body of Adam crashed into Antino, that very next moment was quickly followed by immense amounts of pain as Adam was quickly joined by Betty and Chris, each hitting Antino in crotch, HARD. Antino struggled to breath and was not sure to laugh or cry as he felt the freedom of their play as well as his own massive pain.

The little bundle of fur did not realize he had hit the most important man in the entire world in groin with all four sets of paws or hands and feet until after his sister and little brother followed suit. Even as an almost three-year old were-cub, he did not realize that part of the body could feel incredible amounts of pain. The usual nipping, clawing and tickling match was cut short when Davey, Shanny and Papa Rex all were yelling, crying and pulling Adam, Betty and Chris apart and away from their uncle Antino.

Antino's shock was short, but he recovered quickly. While Rex, Shanny and Davey were trying to get the younger cubs off him, Antino had found the ball and palmed it, hiding it. When a brief momentary opening appeared, Antino tossed the ball into the other room. Adam was off like a shot after the ball, he was quickly followed by Betty and Chris.

"OH, God, I am so sorry, Antino," Rex cried a begging tone in his voice. Shanny and Davey both were crying in fear.

"After all this time you haven't figured it out have you?" Antino said with a tinge of anger in his voice. "You are my family, you are the guardians of my Grand-great-grand nephew," Antino said pulling Davey into his lap. "Silly accidents like that will never anger me; it is what happens with family."

At the same time in Phoenix Arizona, George was departing a commercial airliner carrying his overstuffed carry-on bag. He was not in happy mood; the airport security had delayed his arrival after searching his two extra checked bags and finding his weapons. Each bag had been tagged as holding small handguns, ceremonial and martial arts weaponry, but the security officers demanded to know what was in the bag. They then demanded that he identify each weapon, even though they had been properly secured.

After he retrieved his four checked bags, George walked to the car rental agency and picked up his SUV rental. He quickly stowed his bags in the truck and headed toward the downtown area. George had been to Phoenix before and selected a mid-priced hotel that did not have any connections to the Breed Conclave in the area. He was trying to stay off the radar as he helped Toban.

The Hotel was a simple six-story building with all the basic luxuries and amenities. Their pool was outdoors and had a hot tub nearby. George was more interested in being settled in his room, contacting a few people that he knew in the area and calling Toban. While he was being given his room keys and welcomed to the hotel, George detected the scent of a werewolf, but the scent was so fleeting he did not pay attention.

Meanwhile in the recesses of the employee-only hallways, a teenage werewolf was on his cell phone. "I am sure it was him." He then listened to the other side of the conversation. "That means some heavy shit is going on. Yeah, I will, just make sure they know about him."

George rushed to his room and dropped his bags on the bed. From his pocket, he removed a small PDA-sized scanner. George quickly swept the room with the scanner and found no recording or other surveillance devices. Once he was sure that the room was clean, George began opening his bags and suitcases.

The first bag opened was actually a small weapons locker. It held his Katana, Kodachi, a short sword, a Wakizashi, which were a dagger-like sword and two sets of Kumas, which were sickle-like weapons.

The second bag opened held two hand-held blowgun and fifty darts, a dozen four-sided shurikens, a dozen three sided shurikens, a dozen five sided shurikens and six throwing daggers.

The third was a hard-shelled case that held three Glock .357 handguns and thirty-bullet magazines each holding 17 bullets. There were four different types of bullets assorted by the magazines that held them, six golden-tipped bullet magazines, twelve silver-filled bullet magazines, six lead filled bullet magazines and six Aurora bullets (mixture of gold, silver and lead) magazines.

The fourth suitcase held holsters, and carriers for all the weapons. Each of the different items was able to be velcroed to a number of locations on his black armored pants, shirts and on his face guard, when fully dressed George could hide in shadows almost as well as Toban or Kar could. George quickly transferred the weapons from their luggage holders to their carriers.

A few moments later, George picked up the hotel phone and dialed a memorized local phone number. He heard the connection and waited a moment and the voice on the other end spoke, "I expected you call a few minutes ago, George."

"Always full of surprises, Dom," George answered with a smile, "Are you available for a few days of work?"

"Magical or normal?" the voice named Dom asked.

"I am surprised that you don't already know the answer," George responded jokingly. He then answered, "A bit of both, but hopefully the magical part won't be that much."

"Sounds good to me," Dom acknowledged, "The usual time at my place." The line then went dead.

"Damn freaky Wizards," George mumbled to himself and then laughed.

At 10:45pm, George made his way to an older upscale portion of the city. He quickly found the large storefront building, the building was white washed and in George's eyes, it swam with strange rainbow energy. The energy pulsed randomly, weakening in one spot and increasing others, overall maintaining the level of whatever protection the energy gave. George smiled and shook his head as he walked to the door of the building.

George opened the door to the storefront. As he entered, he saw magical runes on the doorframe. George could tell that the runes were hidden from human sight. The room was decorated in earth tones and other than the runes; the room possessed no other magical qualities. A young woman was seated behind a desk and obviously a receptionist. She smelled as a non-magical human. `I wonder what he tells her is going on?' George thought to himself.

"Welcome to Demonico – Angelus Investigations, Who may I say is visiting?" The young blonde receptionist asked when she looked up from her computer."

"Mr. Tolero," George responded. He was intentionally using a name that the girl would not recognize and others would not think anything about, unless they knew Latin. The name George gave meant to tolerate, endure, sustain and was a lesser used form of bear. George had used the name before with Dom and even though Dom knew his real name, it would immediately tell him that things needed to be quietly and with as little disturbance as possible.

The receptionist picked up the telephone, dialed a couple numbers, and then looked up at the ceiling. When the phone was answered, her look did not change as she announced, "A Mr. Tolero is here to see you." She listened a moment and began to say, "He will be right..."

At that moment, Demonico Angelus, also known as Dom walked into the room, in an Armani three-piece suit. George could tell that something was not right with the suit but choice to ignore it. Dom's light brown eyes gleamed with mischief. "Come in Mr. Tolero, I have been expecting you."

George followed Dom to the back of the offices. While the four of the offices five door were regular, the fifth was an archway with a rounded door. George was ready when he watched Dom walk through the door itself. Without a second thought, George followed Dom though the door. He felt a light tug on his skin and bones as he passed through the barrier but was unharmed.

Dom was no longer dressed in the Armani but instead was dressed in a sapphire blue sweat pant and shirt set. He smiled as he noticed the surprise on George's face. "You expect me to be dressed to the nines twenty four a day?" he asked rhetorically.

George smiled but did not answer. Instead, he went right to business. "I have two separate situations that I am helping my Zomé with and I need your help."

"What is situation one?" Dom asked pulling a feathered quill from out of the air.

"A group of parentless Fangs, number unknown and been parentless for over a month. Of course, the information is anecdotal at best," George began to explain. "We need to find out how they have lived this long and either dispose of them or have them adopted immediately."

"What is the second situation?" Dom asked as he wrote notes on a scrap piece of paper with the quill.

"My Zoméa and I are investigating an illegal human child slavery ring which is supposed to be in the area," George explained.

"That is interesting," Dom said calmly, "I have been working a case for a client that appears to be slavery-based and everything that I have found so far leads me to believe that we are on the same case."

Dom led George to a small table with an ornate dark red bowl recessed in the center. There was a chair on either side of the table and the bowl appeared empty. Dom and George set on opposite sides of the table and Dom then looked directly into George's eyes.

"Usually magical payment is required for Magical processes and money for the non-magical side," Dom began, "but being that one of your situations has been paid for by another person," He paused. "I want some information to cover the costs of doing the divination and I want your help, your muscles as payment for the slavery case."

"Explain further," George responded.

"I want information about why there are three varieties of Werewolves, their similarities and differences, why are the wolves the only ones that are like that," Dom answered.

"That is your payment for the divination and help locating the truth about the Fangs?" George asked to make sure he understood.

"Yes," Dom responded.

"Done," George agreed.

"Being that we are basically on the same case with the Slavery, I want to team up with you and whoever you are working with to get this done." Dom added.

"Done," George agreed, adding, "I don't want any connections back to the Conclave on either of these. Toban is team leader and we don't want them looking elsewhere for leaders."

"Understood," Dom finalized.

"Information now or later?" George asked.

"Later, I trust you," Dom responded with a smile.

Dom popped his neck, snapped his fingers and then smiled. A map, a piece of paper, a pen, a small dagger and a pitcher of water appeared on the table. Dom poured the water into the bowl recessed in the center of the table. "I need essence of the seeker," Dom said flatly, his voice and demeanor revealed that he had shifted into a light trance; he held the dagger out toward George.

George took the dagger and drew the blade across his wrist, opening the skin and allowing it to bleed. Dom took George's arm and held it over the water-filled bowl. After nine drops of blood dripped into the water, George was able to withdraw his arm from Dom's hand. The thick blood of Thrope began swirling around the water in a very unusual manner. Dom began to focus on the bowl, his eyes changed from their normal light blue into a sparkling sapphire blue with no visible pupil.

"The eight are protected by an old form of sympathetic magic wielded by a shaman that knows not what he does or the power he possess," Dom announced slowly as he gazed into the bloody waters. "A place of learning, a city of the dead and a temple to a singular god hide the eight and will forever be the home of three."

"The place of learning and temple to a singular god confirms what we already suspected; the cemetery is new but does not help much," George mumbled more to himself than anything. "The idea that three of them will remain is both disturbing and frustrating at the same time."

"The Bridge must be the one to speak to and for the eight; no others can or will be accepted," Dom said cryptically but with authority. "He must arrive by the setting of the sun, tomorrow or it will be too late for two more than the three."

"Give me a location," George said nearly demanding.

Dom closed his eyes and with the index finger of his left hand stabbed at the map in front of him. His finger covered a single city block that was home to Saint Marks Catholic Church and a cemetery, across the street and around the corner from the cemetery was Carver High School. "They may be found near their protective Shaman at night as he requires them to be inside at night as part of the agreement to protect them," he finished as he began coming out of his trance.

"I need to call Toban, "George said with a question in his voice.

"We are done with this portion and he needs to be here to help those boys," Dom said waving George off to make his phone call.

George stood and walked to a corner of the room and activated his phone. Within a few seconds, he had dialed Toban's number. "Hello, Baby, I miss you so much that Dom says you have to be here by tomorrow night or a lot of fangs will die," George explained lovingly, but intentionally kept out the part about three of them not leaving with the others. "Catch a ride down here with Junior in the morning."

Toban was excited to be able to see a large city like Phoenix but was concerned for not only the Fangs, but also the children being sold as slaves. He also knew that things needed to be worked on in Toŏmę, but was the least of his worries, if things got too out of hand in the town, he could order a team to come in and raze the town, upper and lower. "I will call for an early morning chopper instead of the mid-morning one that is scheduled."

After a few more moments of idle chit chat, George and Toban hung up the phones. George then returned to Dom and nodded that everything was set-up. "Let's go over the information we have on the illegal human children slavery ring."

Just at that second, a small boy no older than eight or nine sleepily stumbled into the room rubbing his right eye and mumbled, "Daddy?" The first thing that George noticed was the deep burns on the left side of the boys face and neck. The boy jumped when he saw that Dom was with someone that he did not know and with a strangled, "eep", the boy disappeared.

"Sean, son this is George. He is a friend," Dom began to explain apparently to the air, He then winked at George and added, "He is also a Bear Thrope and a Breed warrior, he has seen injuries worse than your face, I am sure."

The hazy form of the boy named Sean appeared near Dom's elbow. He had not totally reappeared and did not seem to want to do so. Sean's ghost-like face had a shadow over the left side as he looked at George, looking for any signs of laughter or other signs that he was going to be made fun of by the giant man. When he found that the man was genuinely not going to poke fun, Sean slowly faded back into a solid form.

"He is focused on nature and forest magic; he takes after his great grandmother." Dom said conversationally. "He was burned in a potion accident, he was trying to make something without being watched and without permission, it literally blow up in his face." Dom patted Sean on the shoulder and wryly smiled. "It is a magical burn so there is nothing that can be done for it magically,"

"I get to go to magic school next term," Sean announced proudly. By him saying that about school, George was able to calculate that Sean was not eight or nine, but a small ten years old, George smiled genuinely and asked,"What school?"

"Oh he is going to my cousin's school," Dom began to explain. "It is a school for boys who have a couple differences, one of them being having issues with being magical."

"He seems comfortable with magic as he is," George interjected.

"He is when it comes to spells, but he is now terrified of potions and I have to fight with him just to take a vitamin potion." Dom explained.

"I would then say he is going for the other reason as well?" George asked, but he had correctly figured that the small boy was most likely gay as well.

"Yes," Dom said with a slight smile. He then turned to Sean and explained, "That is something you have in common with George here, and he has three husbands,"

Sean immediately went from terrified his father was going to say too much to look at George with surprise and a bit of hero worship.

"OK, bud, what did you need?" Dom asked Sean, his total focus was now on his son.

"I had a dream again about Timmy," Sean said with a slight smile, "His fire is getting stronger but he is getting scared more now, and the bad is coming."

Dom nodded grimly and then turned to George. "He also takes after his Great Grandfather, Grandmother and me. He sees things in dreams."

Dom kissed his son on the forehead and said softly, "I will make sure Terry and Cousin Max know about it. I will be talking with them later tonight, before I go to bed." He then hugged Sean tightly. "Now it is your bedtime."

George waited five minutes as Dom returned his son to bed upstairs in their apartments. As he waited, he pondered what would become of the fangs once they were found, would someone `adopt' them or would the Council order them to be put down. It was then that George went over what Dom had seen and said. He then realized that "The Bridge must be the one to speak to and for the eight; no others can or will be accepted," could mean that Toban would become their parent.

George began an internal argument about how that would be possible when Dom emerged from behind a tapestry-covered wall. He looked at George and smiled. "Arguing with oneself is one of the first signs of either being crazy or old age."

George busted out laughing and nodded. "I am old enough to have gone through senility at least two or three times."

Dom smiled and then sat down. "Payment for the seer is information about the difference between a Thrope, Werewolf and Loup Garoux."

George nodded and took a deep breath, "It is not common knowledge but all three share a common ancestry. Of the three what we commonly call the Thrope wolf, is the purest, followed by the Loup Garoux and the most polluted being the werewolf," he began to explain.

George paused for a moment and twisted a bit in his chair, getting more comfortable. "Let's start with the similarities between them. The common ancestor that all of them share and in fact is shared by all the different Thrope subspecies is a Shape shifter. The race no longer exists but they could assume any form they met. The first of each kind of Thrope was the offspring of the Shape shifter and an animal."

"The offspring bred several generations until they were stuck between a humanoid form and a single animal form. Some continued to mate with animals and created the first group of Loup Garoux." George explained, "While others chose to mix their blood with true born vampires, infected vampires, wolves and humans, muddying their lines. They eventually became what we commonly call `Werewolves'."

George paused and then decided to explain further. "Loup Garoux and Werewolves have an innate dislike and distrust of each other. Werewolves look at Loup Garoux as little better than their wolf cousins, while Loup Garoux look at Werewolves as blood traitors and abominations." He smiled and finished "Thropes look at the Loup Garoux as a type of cousin and to the Werewolves as sad excuse for a Thrope and a convenient way to hide their own nature from prying eyes."

"What about the bears?" Dom asked.

"The Thrope bears of old tended to be a bit more xenophobic and stayed with their own kind, with only the occasional one breeding with a bear or human, but NEVER with a vampire." George responded. "It has only been within the last couple hundred years that some of the bears have bred with Thropes and other breed races, sadly it was found that we can breed with Ghouls, Humans and Wolves."

"So you don't like the idea of interspecies breeding?" Dom asked.

"It isn't that it is the fact that hundreds of children were lost to still birth or killed as not being viable by the parent or the parent's family." George explained. "Toban, my Zomé, started his life as combination of Bear, Wolf, Ghoul and Human. He was at that time stronger than any other mixed-blood child had ever been. He has since gotten even stronger, but he has always had the heart of human."

"Gotten even stronger?" Dom asked in surprise.

"He has gained control of shadow energy without a shade and he is no longer human," George explained. "He was attacked and the Ancient saved him. He now has the Ancient's blood flowing in his veins and is the heir apparent of the Ancient."

"Bear, Wolf, Ghoul, Shadow and Vampire with the heart of human," Dom remarked, "No wonder he is called the Bridge, He is a bit of everything."

Over the next few minutes, George and Dom talked about things in general. George then asked, "What do you know about the illegal human child slavery ring?"

Dom's face fell from content to angry. "They are well funded, change locations irregularly and claim to be backed by someone high up in the National Conclave." He then sighed. "They don't like humans around the operation even if we are known to be very friendly with The Breed."

Dom snapped his fingers and a new map of the city appeared. He then folded it up until only an industrial section of town remained. "I have located seven different locations in this area of town, so I suspect they have other locations in the same area, probably marked in a non-magical way that only breed can identify."

George took the map and examined the area shown. He noticed that in the area was also Phoenix's largest Safe Haven. The information piqued his interest but also made him angry. "The cities largest Safe Haven is also in that area." George shared.

"The location 57^th and Birmingham," Dom said nodding his head. "I have had to use it before for some of my less than average clients." He then shook his head. "The Safe Haven has not lost anyone recently; it is like the slavers are making sure no one disappears from the area."

"We will scout it out either tomorrow night or night after," George decided.

"Sounds good to me," Dom agreed. "You need to help your Zomé sort the Fangs first." He hated the fact that children would be sold over the next couple of nights, but overall rouge Fangs were more dangerous to everyone. He then quickly decided to do some more investigation by himself that night.

Meanwhile in Toŏmę, Toban and Kar had transported their group in to the shadow realm for a meeting. The first thing that Toban notice was that the raven had not made the trip. "What happen to the raven?"

Kar smiled and explained, "It is in normal space watching and making sure we don't have a spy try and hear our conversation, plus if it came here it would not exist."

The confused look on Toban's face tickled Kar. "Remember how I have been studying more about our Shadow energy and how it can be used, well I found a way of splitting my awareness into a shadow animal."

Understanding crossed Toban's face and he smiled "The raven is a piece of your awareness."

Kar nodded and then kissed Toban. "I am not sure if you would be able to do it or not, most that could were shadows created from human hosts." He then tenderly kissed Toban again.

"I don't think were brought here to watch you two make out," Jason, Kar/Mike's brother interrupted.

"True," Toban responded quickly kissing Kar and then turning to the group. "Here is what is going on."

"There are three reasons that I was sent here by Conclave Council and Antino," Toban began to explain. "First and in my mind least important, Toŏmę is infested with corruption in both the overtown and the undertown. I have killed the overtown sheriff and made the overtown mayor realize the extent he has been made a puppet by removing all his executive authority and cutting the authority of the undertown sheriff and mayor."

"Second, and most important, I am supposed to find and deal with a hive of rouge Fangs in Phoenix that lost their parent, about a month ago," Toban explained. Surprised murmurs escaped from the different Breed, while Kar and Jason remained silent.

"Third and equally important, I am supposed to find and stop an illegal child slavery ring in Phoenix."

"No fucking wonder you needed help," Jason interjected and then he asked, "I thought slavery was legal with the Breed?"

"Adult and family slavery is, but child-only slavery is not," Toban explained, "But under strict guidelines and the children of a slave family are to be released at eighteen. Children are never to be made slaves separate from their parents." He then thought he had better explain more. "There is a thick book on just family slavery laws and how a child of a slave is to be treated."

"You have all those African slave boys," Jason countered confused by what he saw as hypocrisy.

"True they were a gift from another Breed. They were born into slavery. They are sent to school, given outside training. When they reach eighteen they will be freed, given twenty thousand dollars for each year they have been with me and allowed to choose to remain with us as servants, not slaves or move elsewhere and start a new life," Toban explained. "They will be getting much more than is required by law."

Jason nodded finally in understanding. He still remembered being a prisoner and felt the situation was too similar. He then tried to think about how to make a subject change when he was saved the effort by Kar.

"I understand Fangs have to have a parent to survive but why such reactions to hearing about some that have been without a parent for a month," Kar commented, the confusion showing on his face.

"Fangs without a parent usually die within a week or so of losing their parent and the longer they survive without one, the greater the chance of them going crazy and going on killing spree," Sam the Ghoul explained.

"Yeah," Steve agreed in a strange dual toned voice. His eyes showing that he and his symbiote both were talking. "For a group of Fangs to have survived this long without a parent and without a blood bath rampage is unheard of."

"That is why I have had to set it as the highest priority for the moment," Toban acknowledged. "Tammy, Sam, Junior and I are all going to go to Phoenix first thing in the morning to help George deal with the Fangs."

He smiled at the mountain lion and said, "It looks good on you, fruit fly."

The mountain lion nodded and began to ripple and bubble as she changed. Within a few seconds, the mountain lion was replaced by the now prettier version of Tammy. "Thanks, I have been working on it for months."

"Kar, Karl and Jason need to stay here with my new secretary Tash and hold down the fort." Toban explained. "No decisions get made without either my approval or an agreement between Kar and Karl and noted by Tash."

Toban then turned to Tammy, Sam and Steve asking, "How did you get out of school for this?"

"The superintendant and principal both got calls from some very powerful people," Tammy responded. "George and the Ancient both called both of them and let them know that we would be doing some independent studies and would need the time off without being penalized. They agreed as long as we completed the expected work and could fax or email it to the school for grading."

Toban laughed, "Leave it to them to create a breed-only study plan for the human schools."

"Now who is the young man, that you have been holding all this time?" Tammy asked slowly approaching Dustin.

"This is Dustin. His family was killed by the former sheriff and some other men." Toban explained. "He is now basically Karl and Junior's adopted son and my nephew."

"Our nephew," Kar said holding out his hands to the small boy.

Dustin sniffed Kar's hand and quickly launched himself into Kar's waiting arms.

"Our nephew," Toban agreed.

"Can we get Ice Cream now?" Dustin asked.