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I've done nothing but type for a while, so...

Chapter 2:
I was the first out of bed the morning before the Convention, a fact that allowed me to get second dibs on the shower. Mina managed to make it from completely under the covers to inside the shower in less time than it took me to crawl out of bed and to the sink. She finished quickly, though, and left the water nice and warm. The rushing stream helped wake me up, as it always did.

I passed the hunk of my life on the way out of the bathroom. Alright, so at sixteen, maybe I haven't met the man of my dreams yet, but Damian comes infinitely close. Somehow, he manages to pull off looking like a sixteen year old Johnny Depp, and yet still have something unique about him. I have no clue how he does it, but hey, I'm not complaining. He's lived with me for about ten years now, and we've gone from mutual chew toys to dating. Funny ol' world, isn't it.

Mina had already gone out for breakfast, but my other sister had discovered the wonders of the shower down the hall. The wet black hair hanging down to her shoulders was streaked with purple. Lately, that was the only way to tell us apart. We're identical twins, but I streaked my hair with red. Luckily for my family, there are other ways to tell Silver and I apart, besides the tatoos we got for our Sweet Sixteenth: namely, scent.

I have to admit, growing up as just one in a family of lycanthropes has its perks, though I don't recommend trying to say ‘the dog ate my homework'. First off, they can tell you're lying, and secondly... well, we don't eat paper. My sisters and I are all wolves. Mina's the local Ulfric, wolf king... err... queen. It happens, just not frequently. Damian's one of the only hyenas in town, but he's an honorary wolf.

Silver and I headed out for breakfast after slipping into jeans and t-shirts. I'd always liked our kitchen. It opened right out into the dining room, which had a great big bay window. You could see our rose garden through the glass, and beyond that, the stretch of private beach. In the morning, when the sun was still working its way up to its zenith, the light shone in and kept the window seat warm and comfortable. Hey, who says you have to be a cat to catnap?

Surprisingly, Mina wasn't making breakfast. While Silver used her excellent culinary skills to whip up some pancakes, I looked in the Den. Yes, we are a wolf pack with a den. It's more of an office, really, but some of us can never resist a good inside joke. Sure enough, there was Mina, in the process of flinging her record books across the room. It would have been nice to have known that before walking around the corner, but hey, I'm sure the bump will go away by lunch.

"Owwwww..? What are you looking for?" I asked while ducking inside.

"I seem to have misplaced the vendor registration for the Convention." More flying books.

"That isn't the big blue book sitting on top of the printer, is it?" Well, what do you know, I must be psychic. I helped Mina put back the unidentified flying books, then steered her towards the breakfast table. It's harder than it looks to steer someone taller than you who's skimming through a book of records, but we made it, and I only bumped her into one shin-high table. Revenge is sweet.

I sat Mina down facing the back door, placed right next to the big bay window. The other door led to the public part of The Castle Bed and Breakfast, Mina Hati proprietor. Most of the other lycanthropes in town stayed with us, since there weren't enough of them to constitute their own individual groups. As far as I know, we're the only multi-species pack around.

"Ok, I've got to go organize vendor set-up at the convention center, but I can leave the car here if you guys need it. Are you doing anything?" Mina had finally put the book down, and even eaten some pancakes.

"Yeah, we were going to catch some waves down at one of the public beaches." My tanned Apollo walked into the kitchen, his sandy brown hair rumpled as usual. He gave me my usual morning smile before sitting down and grabbing some pancakes. That's right, we had planned to surf at one of the public beaches. I mean, the private beach was great, but the waves just weren't impressive. Not that I surfed much, though Damian was teaching me. I spent most of my time just watching him in the water. You'd think he was a were-fish, to see him gliding through the surf like he did.

"Wish I could go with you, but these booth assignments have to be done before tonight. Which reminds me..." Everyone was quiet, remembering the phone call that had made us all early risers a few nights ago.
"I might be busy, so could you guys meet Ms. Blake and her party at the airport? She said she'd be bringing three people with her at the least, and five at the most."

"Jessive's off duty tonight, so we can take the limo," Silver was the first of us to react, and as usual, she had a brilliant idea. Not that the rest of us were intellectual slouches, mind you, but when it comes to common sense... I'd pick her to be left alone on a desert island with.

"Alright then." Mina glanced at her watch and made a face. "I'll see you when I get back tonight, and I'll try and help out. I've got to go." She scarfed one final pancake, then hurried out the back door. Seconds later, her motorcycle roared into life, then faded into the distance.

As for the three of us, we hurried through breakfast, changed into surfing gear, and headed out.

Alright, so I currently have nothing to do and am bored out of my mind...

Chapter 4:
He had brought a coffin.
A big one.
A big, bulky, awkward coffin.

Luckily for us, he carried it, with help from Jason, who looked like he had done this many times before. Silver, Damian and I took some of the bags, though Ms. Blake insisted upon carrying some of her luggage. Nathaniel and Micah carried some of the heavier bags, so between the seven of us, we had it made.

In the parking lot, we spent several minutes working out how to fit the coffin in the limo. It finally worked, but coffins are definitely not space efficient. Silver sat up front with Jessive, probably to keep him company. Damian and I sat in the limo space itself, along with the Entourage.

I have to say, Lionné limousines are very roomy. Then again, Leona ran the company, so...

Leona was our resident werelion. She'd lived in St. Louis for a while, then moved out here. Lionné was her company, and it did everything from escort services to limo driving. Some of the employees were fellow lycanthropes, like Jessive.

Jessive was a leopard. A strange one. He tended to be on the submissive side when it came to lycanthrope politics, but he had a certain spunk to him. He stayed with Leona, partly because of the whole were-cats stick together bit, but mostly because she was his domme. The thing about living with lycanthropes, especially leopards, is that a lot of them tend to be into BDSM. It tends to make your innocence a thing of the past, but hey, they're fun to be around.

The ride back to The Castle seemed long, but it may have just been the fact that no one talked much. All four of the men kept looking at Ms. Blake. Finally, Damian saved the day, err... evening.

"So... you came out for the Convention?" He smiled in a friendly way. Always one for people skills, Damian. Ms. Blake nodded. Jason, perhaps happy to be staying with pack, loosened up.

"Well, Anita came for the convention, but we all came for her." All of them? Wow... Ms. Blake was a very lucky woman. Nathaniel smiled, stretching a bit in his seat. Ooh, flexible too. She was definitely a lucky woman. Surprisingly, it was Micah who spoke next.

"You said that your sister is working on the convention?" A good listener. Point for him.

"Yes, she's running security." That gave them something to think about, and this time, I knew why. Lycanthropes are currently the most discriminated against group in America. Even vampires don't have to put up with as much, maybe since people are more afraid of them. Silly, since a vampire can't break into your house and tear you to shreds, but then, who was I to dish out bad publicity?

The thing is, much as the laws might be impartial, reality is different. That's why so many lycanthropes keep their beast a secret, Mina included. The fact that she was CEO of the best security firm in the state didn't hinder her. A lot of the security were lycanthropes, especially the ones she picked for the Convention. It takes a lot to take out a lycanthrope, plus, a lot of them look strong. The emphasis was on appearance, the idea being that people will be less inclined to try something in front of a butch security guard than in front of a skinny one who could probably wipe the walls with them. Stiall (a werefox), Gamma(a hyena, and formerly one of Leona's subs), Mecha (Gamma's twin brother, also a fox), and Myth (a human who happened to be dating both Gamma and Mecha) were all on security detail. It worked out great for everyone involved; Mina got butch security guards, and lycanthropes got jobs where no one would ask questions.

To elaborate, I continued.

"When she's not dealing with pack business, Mina works as CEO of Wolfe Security." Remember what I said about inside jokes? "They got hired to run security for the Convention."

By this time, we were pulling into the driveway. Mina's motorcycle was in its usual place, and a light was on in the Residence. As we got out, the waxing gibbous moon shone down on the waves of the private beach, making them look like waves of silver moonlight. Silver and I took a moment to breath in the cool night air while Damian helped unload some of the luggage.

Home Sweet Home.

This is so wonderful!!! I can't wait to read what happens next!!!!

EEP! I'm working on it, I swear!
Any title ideas? I'm drawing a blank on that one... crying

((OOOOHHH!! What happens at the convention?!?! *bounces around all excited like* ><; ))

Yay! I finally got another chapter finished! This one took me forever, because I couldn't figure out how it was going to end. Thanks very much to my editor! *huggles Leona-chan* As I promised, 'Ted' is making an appearance... I'm open to criticism, even though he doesn't really do anything yet. Also, this still needs a title! Help me out guys!

Ok, I'll stop talking now...

Chapter 7:
We opened the convention doors at 10:30 on the dot. Thanks to Wolfe Security, we had x-ray devices and metal detectors at every entrance. We also had buff, no-nonsense security guards wearing all black and a particularly disapproving frown. Overkill? Maybe, but then again, you never knew what kind of nut jobs would try something.

Mina went upstairs to check in with her security teams, leaving the three of us free to enter the hall. The guards let us by with a nod, causing a bit of a stir amongst the crowd waiting to enter, until the guards politely explained that we were undercover security. A bit of a stretch, but hey, whatever works.

We meandered through the vendor hall, though we weren't technically supposed to touch anything. "Don't even think about it unless you're 18!" You know the drill. However, we did get to look, and if we really wanted something, it was easy enough to page Mina.

As we browsed, we got to see all the really strange people who come to conventions like these. Just when you thought all the strange people went to comic conventions...

A rather large group of rifle enthusiasts that was making a fuss about not being allowed to bring their loaded rifles into the hall was one of the more normal groups. Well golly gee, why on earth shouldn't they be allowed? It's not like guns kill people; only crazy nut cases with guns do. I don't think they quite got the picture, because our guards were still telling them, firmly and as politely as possible, that they would have to leave their guns at home.

I've seen several costume groups go to conventions. Granted, they were all comic conventions of some kind, but still. It's part of your typical convention day, right?

I have never seen a group of people dressed in CareBears™ outfits calmly perusing the machine gun aisle. They seemed particularly interested in the larger guns, especially the yellow one. Sunshine bear, perhaps? The thought made me cringe.

Actually, the CareBears™ group was gathering a crowd. Most people tried to hide the fact that they were staring, but others didn't even bother. Eventually, almost all of the bears noticed. All except the red bear did the CareBear™ stare at the crowd. It might have been effective, but the red bear didn't notice. The blue bear tried to tap the red bear on the shoulder, but he accidentally knocked the red bear into the green bear, who retaliated by tackling the blue bear, but they ended up landing on the pink bear, who then attempted to sock the green, but missed and hit the yellow bear instead, and then HE fell and landed on the red bear again...

It took five lycanthrope security guards to pull the bears off each other, and by the time they were done, all of the bears were worse for the wear. Blue bear, who really hadn't done much of anything, had the most severe... injuries? Both of his ears were drooping, and one of his arms looked like it was about to fall off. I could barely discern the shape on his belly. Red bear seemed to have lasted better, with only one bent ear. Yellow and pink were missing a nose and ear each, while green was missing both eyes. It probably would have been a sorry sight, but... they were CareBears™...

Trying to keep from laughing, I made a mental note to get a copy of the security footage. The guards started breaking up the crowd so we moved on. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone I thought I recognized. When I turned to look, he wasn't there, but I was almost certain... Maybe not. After all, how many unimposing men did I know with blonde hair? Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew, or should know, him. Silver and Damian didn't seem to have noticed him, so we kept walking.

After a while, we saw the Entourage, though they had split up a bit. We ran into Jason and Nathaniel, strangely enough, at the pack's booth, looking at the various whips and chains. Technically, Lionné was running the booth, but it was all organized by the pack. Cover companies and day jobs are a good thing to have in some situations. We started chatting with them, and managed to talk Leona into giving them a ‘visitor discount'. Having actual puppy-dog eyes has its perks when you want a favor. Damian stayed to talk with the boys for a while, but Silver wanted to see the rest of the hall, so off the two of us went.

Things seemed to have calmed down a bit. There was no sign of the CareBears™ troupe, which was probably a good thing. Maybe they went home to repair their costumes, call their therapists, and discover a new meaning in their life. Maybe they just went home to repair their costumes. Who knew?

At any rate, it was growing dark by now, and Silver and I saw Damien entering the hall to look for Anita and Micah. We followed him for a while, but not much happened, and we'd pretty much seen the whole hall, so we headed off to the pack booth again to help out. Damian and the boys were gone, wandering around the hall. Leona said that they should be back soon.

It wasn't long before Anita and Damien showed up. They seemed to be browsing just for appearances sake, and Anita looked like she had a lot on her mind. With perfect timing, the blond man from before showed up. I couldn't seem to place his face, but Anita recognized him. They talked softly, but I caught a few of his words.

"... Donna's here... call me Ted."

Hmm... Unimposing blond man called Ted... at least, some of the time. Why did that seem so familiar? Silver looked like she was trying to remember as well as I was. Luckily for both of us, Mina approached at just that moment, a pleasant look on her face that was obviously fake. I don't know if we were the only ones who could tell, being family and all, but she seemed slightly on edge. She slipped into the rear of the booth, and we followed, both of us raising questioning eyebrows.

"The blond man talking with Ms. Blake? That's Theodore Forrester, according to his ID," she started by way of explanation.

"He told Ms. Blake to call him Ted a few minutes ago, after she had already greeted him," I offered. Mina frowned harder.

"When he went through security, he was carrying some interesting weapons. He said he's a bounty hunter. It checks out, but... he was carrying some heavy duty weapons, some barely legal. There's some sort of police record from St. Louis that had him down as being questioned in a murder case, but I couldn't get that much information on him. The thing is, I'm sure I've seen his picture somewhere before. Somewhere not on the normal networks. I'm almost positive that it was in association with a lycanthrope kill, and the fact that he has at least one alias just makes it more suspicious."

Silver took a peek out at the front of the booth.

"He's still there, talking to Anita. A woman and two kids are on their way over. It looks like they're coming towards him."
All three of us went out to see what was happening. Ms. Blake murmured something to Damien, and he wandered off just before the woman and her children reached ‘Ted'.

The way the expression on his face changed, you'd think he'd gone from Jack the Ripper to Santa Claus. All four of them smelled human, though the woman had some sort of perfume on. She had short brown hair, whereas the children had rich chestnut hair.

"Donna, you remember Anita," ‘Ted' introduced. Ms. Blake looked like being involved in this conversation was taking effort, but not enough that she disliked it. Strange. Through the snippets of conversation that we heard, the children became identified as Peter and Becca. Both of them looked like they had something harsh in their past. Donna had the look too, but after a while, you get used to seeing it in adults. Even Peter, who looked a little younger than us, might have been old enough for that look, but Becca... she seemed so little, mo older than seven or eight. A few of her fingers had an odd shape to them, and after a moment I realized that they had been broken. I wondered what on earth could have happened to them to give them such haunted memories and marks, but at the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Obviously a bit bored by the conversation the three adults were having, Becca and Peter looked over at our table. Peter's gaze drifted immediately to the silver knives we had, while Becca looked at our faces. Silver and I smiled; Mina was absorbed in a quiet conversation with Leona.

"Hi," Silver said, giving a slight wave of her fingers. That earned her a smile and a wave.

"What's your name?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"Becca," she said, in that charming voice all children have. Heck, I'd probably had it myself a few years ago. "What's yours?" By this time, Peter was paying more attention to us.

"I'm Rowan," I answered Becca, but looked up into Peter's gaze.

"I'm Silver," I felt my twin's eyes look into his as well.

"Peter," he answered finally. Ms. Blake, ‘Ted', and Donna were still talking, but Donna was glancing over at us.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" I asked Peter. He had been looking, after all, and I was helping to run the booth. More than that, though, he seemed to need someone to talk to. Next to me, I heard Silver make small talk with Becca.

"So, are you here on vacation?" she asked. I didn't hear the reply, because Peter answered me.

"No, just silver." That struck me. Silver weapons were only especially useful against one species: lycanthropes. I knew my eyes betrayed my sudden unease when his eyes grew harder in response. I hurried to mend what fences I could, though I wasn't sure I could entirely fix the problem.

"Only silver weapons? That's a pretty specific target range."

"Yes, I know. Lycanthropes." I went utterly still, and felt Silver do the same beside me. He had just admitted that he wanted weapons specifically designed to hurt lycanthropes, our kind, our flesh and blood. I could think of absolutely nothing to say that could make any of us feel better. Never, never would I pretend to be one who hated my kind.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damian walking up, but I kept staring at Peter. He seemed to understand, because he took a sudden step back, the first glimmer of fear, or maybe anger, entering his eyes. Damian slipped behind the counter and came up to me.

"What's going on?" he whispered in my ear. Similarly, Donna, ‘Ted', and Ms. Blake had come over to ask Peter.

"Peter, what's the matter?" Donna asked him. He had the decency to whisper his reply, but I could tell what he said by the sudden look of shock and fear on Donna's face. "Becca darling, come here please," she said, panic barely disguised in her voice. ‘Ted' was frowning, and Donna whispered in his ear. Ms. Blake looked like she was ready to roast us on a spit, but it wasn't our fault! Becca gave an apologetic wave to Silver, then hurried over to her mother, who held her hand like it was her last anchor to civilization. Mina, finishing her conversation with Leona, looked up and walked over.

"Is there a problem, ma'am, sir?" she said in her most polite business voice. ‘Ted' didn't answer. It was more Donna's call anyway, I suspected. She looked uncomfortable. I certainly would be. How to explain your prejudice to a perfect stranger. It was a dicey issue. Mina glanced at me for an explanation. I decided to try the diplomatic approach; tell as much of the truth as you can in front of perfect strangers, and leave out any incriminating details.

"Silver and I were surprised when P... when he said he was only looking at silver weapons," I gestured, realizing that Mina didn't know who he was, and I didn't know him well enough to call him by name. Mina got it, and I hoped she knew a better way to patch things up than I did.

"I see," she said, her professional voice slipping just a little. "Well, he is certainly entitled to his own taste, though I'm afraid we can't sell weapons to minors." ‘Ted' stepped forward, taking the protector role. I'm not positive, but I think Ms. Blake understood what had happened and was at least partially on our side.

"Your assistants are minors," it was Donna who spoke, her voice holding a touch of confusion. Mina turned her blandest professional smile on her. It was also a smile that didn't actually show her full smile. Her full smile was only shown to lycanthropes or people she was threatening. Mina's canines were pointy and sharp, because ever since she was ten years old, she'd been the one who protected the two of us, and eventually, the three of us.

"That's true Ms..."

"Parnell."

"Ms. Parnell. However, their work permits are all in order, and I am their legal guardian, so this is a family run business." The word family struck her, and looking at all of us, I think she figured it out. s**t. Mina and Silver were really my family. Heck, Damian was dating me, and Leona was our adoptive aunt. She'd taken care of us before Mina could become our guardian. The thing is, Leona and Damian don't look like family, and for once, that was about to give away everything. "I don't know what significance that has to you, but I'm not sure why you're treating my sisters and I as a threat." Mina was still using her professional voice, but it held a glimmer of protectiveness to it.

I suddenly wished that I didn't have to be here, that this was all a dream. If our cover was blown... then maybe Silver and I could never go to school again. No one wanted ‘monster' going to school with their precious little ones.

Behind us, I heard Leona clear her throat to get our attention.

"Mina, Ms. Parnell, perhaps this is something that you would prefer to discuss privately? I know there is a conference room available upstairs." Mina opened her mouth, as if to protest, but Leona gave a firm shake of her head. With a quiet sigh, Mina nodded. Leona turned her matronly gaze on Ms. Parnell, who looked a bit speechless for a moment, then nodded. "Right. Mina, you know the way. Tio?" Leona called. A young woman emerged from the back.

"Yes Leona?"

"Would you mind watching the booth for a while? Mina and I have to talk with a customer... privately." Tio nodded, though she looked skeptical about it. "Thank you dear." Leona turned to the rest of us. "Go on then!"

Mina led the way out to the main hall and up the nearby stairway to one of the upper halls. Silver and Damian hung back with me, until Leona shooed us along as well. Behind us came Ms. Parnell, ‘Ted', Peter, and Becca. Ms. Blake followed them. Apparently, she'd been talked into coming along, maybe by Leona, who brought up the rear.

This was going to be a long evening.