One Whiny Were is Schooled

Thanks for joining me on this mini-adventure in sharing stories...with Michael.

I totally screwed up the release info. I will try to fix it.

Ad Aeternitatem, 

Michael

ONE WHINEY WERE - DURING THE TIME OF QUEEN BITCH

Book 02 of The Kurtherian Gambit

BEGINNING OF PART 01 of 02

John Grimes watched Pete take the packages in two trips. Back straight and arms out showing him he could hold the weight of the packages easily as he put the bags on the private plane.

John smiled a little to himself. Maybe the boy has potential, he thought.

Bethany Anne looked up from her phone. “Frank is going to take care of the blackmailing problem.” 

“He’s handy to have on board,” John commented. 

Bethany Anne nodded, thinking it was a pity he could give Methuselah a run for his money when it came to being pretty damned old and probably croaking pretty soon. She needed every ally she could get if she was going to come out on top of the mountain she’d taken on.

She switched the topic back to the Were problem. “Three months isn’t that long to turn around the entitlement that comes with having no boundaries your entire life.”

John grinned. “You'd be surprised how much someone can change in a short time given the right motivation.”

Bethany Anne patted his arm, “Motivation we can provide.” She walked onto the jet. “Let’s hope the little gobshite takes to it and I don’t have to send him back to his father in a box.”

She noted that her packages were stacked neatly as she walked to her seat. She raised an eyebrow at Pete lounging with his feet up on the table. “John.”

John strode past Bethany Anne and slapped Pete out of the seat. “Chairs are for people who have earned the right to kick back and rest. Get your spoiled ass on the floor and make like a plank. Then I want to see your arms going up and down like your life depended on it.” He eyed him. “Because it does.”

Pete’s eyes glowed yellow.

“You shift inside my plane and get fur on the upholstery, I’m going to make a throw rug from your pelt,” Bethany Anne stated in a low voice, flashing red in her eyes. “You will do exactly what you are told, and you will thank John for making the effort to instruct you.”

“The fuck I will,” Pete muttered.

His next words were choked off by Bethany Anne’s nails digging into his throat and cutting his air supply. “Listen up, fucknut,” she snarled, “the only reason you are still alive is because your father came to me and admitted the majority of your problems are down to his shitty parenting.  Any time you feel your mouth running away with your common fucking sense, engage your brain and remind yourself that I showed mercy. Do not mistake that mercy for weakness. Your continued ability to breathe depends entirely on not. Pissing. Me. Off.”

Bethany Anne released his throat and pointed at the carpeted floor. “John gave you an order. You don’t want to submit? Defenestration is always an option.”

“At 30,000 feet?” Pete edged away from the emergency exit as he rubbed the tender skin of his throat with a hand.

Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “You bet.”

Her warning had the desired effect. Pete thanked John, then shut his mouth and kissed the carpet for the rest of the flight.

Miami, FL - USA

Bethany Anne was woken by a light tap at her bedroom door. She groaned when she looked at the clock. She’d only been asleep for three hours thanks to time zone differences. “If this isn’t an emergency, someone is going to bleed, and then I’m going to send them the cleaning bill.”

The nervous gulp she heard from the hallway improved her disposition, but only slightly. She pulled on her robe and answered the door.

“It’s four forty-five AM, Eric,” Bethany Anne grumbled. “You’d better be hiding something with caffeine behind your back.”

Eric chuckled and produced a bottled Coke. “I came prepared with a peace offering for waking you up. We thought you wouldn’t want to miss Pete’s first day in the real world.”

She eyed Eric, then the Coke and her eyes turned back to Eric before her hand reached out to snag the Coke. “Accepted. You are forgiven for waking me up at this ungodly hour.” She closed the door in Eric’s face. “I’ll meet you all outside,” her voice came out through the door as she headed for the shower.

Vamp speed was a useful thing. Bethany Anne was showered, dressed, and waiting by the pool when she heard John berating Pete’s apparent lack of a spine.

The Were in question walked out bleary-eyed and his shoulders slumped. 

John prodded him in the back and told him to stand straight. “First part of your day is wasted if it takes you two hours to wake the fuck up. A few laps will fix that for you.”

Pete emitted the combination grunt/whine particular to teenagers who have had it their way for too long. “You want me to run?”

“Nope.” Pete’s hopeful smile was dashed when John shook his head, grinning as he grabbed Pete by the arms. “I want you to swim.”

He tossed him into the pool without ceremony. “Thirty lengths, then we’ll see if you need thirty more before we warm up for training.”

Pete trod water. “What about breakfast?”

“What about it?” John retorted. “You want to eat, quit wasting time talking and get to swimming.”

Bethany Anne pressed her lips together to suppress a snicker. Breakfast burritos would be delivered at 8.30AM, same as every day, but Pete didn’t need to know that. She left John to oversee the rude awakening and headed inside to her office. 

Considering she’d only been offline for three hours, she had a shit-ton of messages waiting. She sorted through her various inboxes, forwarding the stuff Ecaterina could handle to the email she’d set up for that purpose. 

The request from Dan Bosse for her to provide somewhere for the guys to work out caught her eye. Bethany Anne smiled. If there was one thing she didn’t mind doing at any time of the day or night, it was shopping.

She found a site that sold top-of-the-line gym equipment easily enough.

Your pleasure center just lit up, TOM commented offhand.

Bethany Anne paused with her hand on the mouse. My what?

In your brain. You had a significant dopamine uptake and your cortisol level dropped. Wait…no, now it’s spiking again. Was it something I said?

Did you open your mouth?

Technically? No.

Smart ass. Don’t you have some creepy alien-body-jacker shit to do?

I’m learning through observation.

Funny, it sounds like you’re interrupting me while I’m working.

Shopping is working?

Shopping is life. Bethany Anne sighed. TOM was like a toddler at times. Smart as all hell, but clueless in every way that counted. She waved a hand around the room. Right now, I have this huge house and nowhere for my team to train. Throwing Pete into the pool every morning is going to get old, fast. We need exercise equipment, weights, mats, weapons. You don’t get to stay the best by resting on your laurels.

Laurels?

Ass.

Got it.

She sensed TOM’s confusion and added items to her basket as she explained. It means that while the guys are shit hot, we’re going to keep coming up against enemies from the UnknownWorld. Subduing the Weres is half asserting dominance, half politics. Getting the vampires in line is not going to be anywhere near as easy.

I thought it went well with Stephen.

It did, Bethany Anne agreed, and Petre was a shitshow. Teaching the UnknownWorld that there are humans who should be feared as much as any vamp is going to take some work, and for that we need a safe space to train.

Ecaterina knocked before walking in. “You are the early bird this morning.”

“I’ll skip the worms,” Bethany Anne replied, returning her smile. “What are you doing up already?”

Ecaterina waved at the window. “I hear a lot of splashing and whining from our new puppy. He is, what you call it—”

“Spoiled?” Bethany Anne cut in. 

“Neglected.” Ecaterina nodded. “No one teaches him how to become an adult. He is the big baby boy.”

“That’s why he’s getting all the attention he missed out on growing up,” Bethany Anne agreed with a sigh. “I hope it’s not too late for tough love to make a difference.”

“What is this ‘tough love?’” Ecaterina asked as she rooted around in the fruit bowl on Bethany Anne’s desk. She selected a shiny red apple and polished it on her shirt. “I have heard of love hurts, but not this one.”

“It’s going to take a combination of pushing him to achieve, showing him the benefit of hard work, and giving him family to fall back on for the emotional support he didn’t get from Jonathan,” Bethany Anne explained. “All while teaching him that the bullshit he’s pulled to avoid responsibility so far isn’t going to wash anymore.”

 “I like this tough love. For puppy, is what he needs.” Ecaterina took a big bite of her apple and chewed thoughtfully. “How you are— No, wait. How are you going to do this?”

“Your English is improving.” Bethany Anne walked to the window and opened it, letting in the sound of John, Scott, Darryl, and Eric cheering Pete on to complete his laps. “We expect the most from him, and we don’t hold back when he deserves praise, or when he needs an ass beating. We break him down until he lets go of that attitude he’s been using as armor against the hurt of having a dad who put more time into his ranch than he did his son, and we build him up at the same time.”

She turned and grinned at Ecaterina. “We give him discipline, structure, and the respect he earns. It’s going to hurt like hell, but he’s going to come out the other side a whole new Were.”

Ecaterina tilted her head. “You have a plan for him.”

Bethany Anne nodded. “If he lives up to the potential I know he has, then yes.”

___

Pete had spent the past three days discovering that Bethany Anne had not been kidding when she told him pain was the most effective teacher. 

For example, he was learning that whining about training hard and often only got him more time on the mat, getting his ass handed to him by people who shouldn’t have been able to touch him. 

Let alone throw him so hard his shoulder came out of the socket.

That bastard Nathan just watched with a stupid smile plastered all over his smug face as Pete hauled himself to his feet, cradling his dangling arm.

“Two choices,” Nathan told him amiably. “You let it heal badly, or you accept the pain of putting it back into place as your consequence for not taking Scott seriously.”

Pete considered curling up in a ball and willing himself to die. What stopped him was the complete lack of pity in Nathan’s expression. Screw King Dick. He wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of an “I told you so.” 

The basement that had been filled with fancy gym equipment in the last few days was split into different sections for working out by reinforced concrete support pillars. He walked over to the nearest pillar and lined up his shoulder before throwing himself at the concrete to force it back in. 

He made the mistake of holding back on the first attempt.

“Fuck this shit!” he screamed. “Just fucking put a bullet between my eyes and be done with it already!”

Scott glanced at Bethany Anne, who passed him the .45 she was holding. “If that’s what you really want,” Scott told him. “Just so you know, there’s silver in these rounds.”

Pete glanced at Bethany Anne. She said nothing, just tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. It felt like she was looking into his soul and examining what he was made of. 

The notion of being seen, of everything he'd become in defense of his father’s soft handed parenting exposed to her made the smart reply dry up in his mouth. 

Scott was right. He'd brought himself to this moment. Acting the spoiled brat, risking everything to get the attention he craved. Maybe there was another way to get attention. The kind that didn’t come with painful fucking injuries and a never-ending list of shitty nicknames. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Wait.”

Bethany Anne held up her hand and Scott lowered the. 45.

Pete turned back to the post and screamed before he slammed his shoulder back into place. The pain was nothing in comparison to the wounds he'd inflicted on himself by dicking around all his life. 

There was the ghost of a smile on Bethany Anne’s lips when he faced her again. 

“Do you need to shift to expedite the healing?” Bethany Anne asked. 

Pete nodded, suppressing the wince of pain that shot through his shoulder at the movement. 

“Then do it,”” Bethany Anne told him. “Eat, rest up for two hours, then get your non-furry ass back to training.” She waved for Scott to follow her, leaving Pete alone with Nathan. 

Before Nathan said a word, Pete dropped his gaze to the floor. “I know. I need to man up.”

He was surprised to feel Nathan’s hand on his uninjured shoulder. 

“It’s got nothing to do with being a man, and everything to do with learning to take responsibility for yourself,” Nathan told him. “Kid, you’ve sulked and whined and generally behaved like a sullen teenager since we picked you up. What you’re not getting is that you have an opportunity here to turn your shit around and become the best version of yourself.” He patted him once then started to head over to the wall. “Shift. We’ll talk more when you’re healed.”

____

“That was a bold move back there. Would you really have let me shoot him?” Scott asked as he munched on an open bag of tortilla chips he’d found in the cupboard.

Bethany Anne shrugged. “If it came to it, yes. The kid needs to learn that temper tantrums hold no water in the adult world, and that goes triple for the UnknownWorld.”

“What does?” John asked as he walked in.

“Our resident wank splat decided for a moment that death was preferable to putting on his big boy pants,” Scott told him. “I threw him, he landed badly and dislocated his shoulder.”

John snickered. “That must have hurt like a bitch. I’m guessing he changed his mind, seeing as he's doing laps of the grounds in his fur suit. Wondered why he was limping a little.”

“I think,” Bethany Anne drew out her thought, “that he's close to a breakthrough if he’s not already had one.” She looked up a moment before looking back at him having made some internal decision. “I want you guys to start pushing him harder.”

“Harder than we already have been?” Scott’s eyebrows went up. “Fuck, Bethany Anne. He was pretty much at breaking point down there.”

“Good,” John stated. “Breaking point is where we need him. Then a little way past that. Then we can put our focus on building him up again.”

“He’s got it in him.” Bethany Anne nodded. “I know he has. He’s had a lifetime of his dad burying his head in the sand. Where do you think he learned it from? He’s got a bright future ahead of him, and all it's going to take him to realize that is going to hell and back and learning that he can survive anything we throw at him.” 

They switched topics, chatting about mundane domestic arrangements while they worked together to prepare dinner. Bethany Anne left the guys to prepare the sides while she cooked the burgers on the patio grill. 

Rarely did she cook, but every once in a blue moon she could whistle the tune. 

She preferred her meat on the rare side these days so she kept hers, Nathan’s, and Pete’s to the side while she cooked the rest medium.

Eating out or having catering bought in more usual for the team. However, Bethany Anne’s plans for tonight required they stay in and have a minimal of interruption.

Ecaterina joined them as their food was close to being ready. Nathan as usual was never far behind her. He appeared at the patio door with Pete in tow. Darryl and Eric came over the fence, dusty and paint-splattered from the work they were doing on the house next door, drawn by the smell coming from the patio grill.

“I thought I had to get back to training?” Pete asked, all but drooling as Scott added crushed chips and nacho cheese to the burgers before putting on the tops of the brioche buns.

“I thought you injured your shoulder, not your head,” Bethany Anne told him with a warm smile. “We’re going to eat while we have a discussion. Training is not limited to the body. You need to feed your mind as well.”

“This sounds serious,” Ecaterina quipped.

Bethany Anne handed her a glass of wine and took a sip from her own before answering. “It’s very serious. We need to decide what we’re going to do about the Were situation.”

Pete grabbed his plate and started walking away. Bethany Anne called him back, one eyebrow raised. “Where are you going?”

He turned. “Getting out of the way while you have your meeting,” Pete answered with confusion.

“Sit your ass down,” Nathan pointed to a chair. “You know the Weres in your age group better than we do. Your input will be useful in helping us to decide what to do with them.”

Pete blinked in astonishment. “But…”

 “Yes. Sit on it,” Bethany Anne told him. “Before I get annoyed and decide you need another moment on the mats again.”

___

The next morning, Pete was not only awake when John came to turf him out of bed, but eager to get started.

“What are we doing today?” he asked as they headed downstairs. “Combat drills? Say combat drills.”

“I figured we’d start with breakfast,” John told him. “Then I’m gonna walk you  through your new duties.”

“Duties?” Pete echoed. “You mean I get to do more than…”

“That’s right,” John confirmed. “Bethany Anne liked what you added to the meeting yesterday. She’s decided you should take more responsibility as part of your training. Guard duty is the bulk of what us guys do while Ecaterina deals with operations stuff for Bethany Anne. Having you do some of that is going to ease the load for Scott and Eric.”

Pete’s initial excitement faded when he realized that John wasn’t talking about the kind of guard duty that was going to get him out of the house. “You’re putting me on door duty?”

“Got it in one.” John patted him on the back. “You’ve got a way to go before you get to guard a live body, kid.”

Pete sighed. “Yeah, but I was hoping you meant I was gonna get some action. I didn’t figure I’d be guarding Bethany Anne’s package hoard.”

John snickered. “Everyone has to start somewhere. I wouldn’t let Bethany Anne hear you call the ever-growing mountain of packages a hoard unless you want to wake the dragon.”

“No shit, dragon.” Pete grinned a moment before his eyes took on a quizzical expression. “Can she breathe fire? That would be so cool.”

John rolled his eyes. “Not that I know, but she can tear you limb from limb and turn you into bite-size snacks.”

“Less cool,” Pete conceded. “Okay, what do I have to do?”

___

The call came in later that day. Bethany Anne listened as Frank explained the situation, making the appropriate noises of understanding without interrupting as he spoke.

She said her goodbyes after promising to take care of it.

“What was that?” Nathan asked.

“Nosferatu nest in Arizona,” Bethany Anne told him.

Nathan snorted. “Seriously? They couldn’t have chosen somewhere with a little less sun?”

Bethany Anne shrugged. “That’s what Frank said. Looks like we’re headed to Flagstaff. Ecaterina, call Bobcat and tell him to get Shelly ready.”

Ecaterina came back a few minutes later. “Bobcat says we will have to refuel along the way.” 

Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “Fuck. Okay, get back with him and tell him we’ll take the jet. I just hate dealing with the landing and cars. Tell the group I want everyone on board in thirty minutes.”

She called Dan Bosse and informed him what they were heading into.

“I’ll mobilize local support,” he replied. “You’ll need medics and a ground team.”

“What about clearance to land?” Bethany Anne asked. 

“Nearest airport to where you’re headed is Flagstaff Puliam,” Dan answered. “I’ll arrange pickup while you’re in the air.”

“We’ll need transport for seven, plus all our gear,” Bethany Anne told him. 

“Done,” Dan assured her. “Good luck out there.”

“I don’t need luck, “Bethany Anne replied. “I’ve got a badass team and some frustration to work off.”

She walked into the front hall as she wrapped up her call.

“Can I come, too?” Pete asked, his back straight and his arms pressed to his sides.

Bethany Anne hid her amusement at the effort he was making to imitate John’s professionalism. “You’re not ready for this.”

“I can fight! I swear!” Pete protested. “Just give me a chance to prove myself.”

Bethany Anne chewed her lip as she considered the likelihood he would get himself killed trying to be a hero. He wanted her to see someone worth believing in. He didn’t realize that she already saw that. 

“A few days’ training doesn’t make you ready to engage a nosferatu. If I let you come with us, strictly to observe, you need to follow orders,” she told him. 

Pete nodded enthusiastically. “Sure. Whatever I need to do.”

Bethany Anne smiled as she texted Dan to update him on the transport requirements. She loved it when her plans started coming together.

Flagstaff, AZ - USA

Dan had come through with the transport. They were met at the airport by someone from a private security company, who handed over the keys to an unmarked armored van before leaving in an SUV with another employee from the company.

John and Scott had Peter watch while they did the standard security check on the van before waving Bethany Anne and Ecaterina over.

John handed the keys to Pete. “May as well make yourself useful since you’re here.”

Pete was happy to have something to do while the “adults” talked over the possibilities for the operation. He zoned out, enjoying the scenery as they headed west on I-40.

Bethany Anne filled everyone in on their target location, a meditation retreat set back from the highway.

“Why would nosferatu target a bunch of rich hippies?” Pete asked without taking his eyes off the road.

“Yours is not to question why,” Scott told him. “Yours is just to sit and drive.”

“Funny,” Pete grumbled.

“It is a good question,” Ecaterina countered. “If there is Forsaken in the area, why would they not attack somewhere like Vegas?”

Bethany Anne had considered the same question. “They’re not hippies, they’re Buddhists. I’m waiting to hear back from Frank with more information about the retreat’s current guest list. Could be a clue there.”

John nodded. “Following the money, as always.”

“It’s never failed me yet,” Bethany Anne agreed.

“What’s the play when we get there?” Eric asked.

Nathan and Darryl nodded without saying anything. Bethany Anne smiled. “Dan’s people should already be in place. We’ll get the sit rep from them before making any hard decisions.”

“Are they evacuating the guests?” Darryl asked.

Bethany Anne shook her head. “Not yet. We don’t want to alert whoever made the nosferatu that we’re coming. Our ground base is set up out of the way so we get to keep the element of surprise.”

“We will be taking out this Forsaken along with the nosferatu?” Ecaterina asked.

“That's the plan,” Bethany Anne confirmed. “Without having all the information, I’m thinking we split up. I’ll take Ecaterina and Pete. Nathan, you’ll provide John and the guys with backup. You’ll deal with the nosferatu while we track down the Forsaken.”

“Like hell you will,” John argued.  “It’s our job to protect you. One of us needs to be on your team.”

Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “First of all, while I appreciate that you feel protective over me, I’m the one who calls the shots. There's a difference between a mindless nosferatu and a fully cognizant vampire. Those fuckers are sneaky. Ecaterina has experience dealing with that already, and Pete needs the green slapped out of him.”

Pete smiled so hard they could hear him.

“From a safe distance,” Bethany Anne stated.

“Aw, nuts,” Pete grumbled. “Fine. It’s better than sitting in the van while everyone else has fun.”

Nathan knew better than to argue. However, the tension in the van rose several notches.

“Something you’d like to say?” Bethany Anne asked.

Nathan’s eyes darted to Ecaterina before coming back to Bethany Anne. “I agree with John. One of us should be with you.”

“You think I cannot take care of myself?” Ecaterina asked.

Nathan did a reasonable impression of a fish, caught between his instinct to protect the woman he loved and his instinct to protect himself from her. “I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” Bethany Anne pressed. “We don’t know how many nosferatu there are. Protecting the civilians at the retreat is the priority, which means you need to be there to provide backup for the rest of the team since I will be engaging the biggest threat to us.”

“Shouldn't we wait to find out what we're up against before getting into an argument about who is doing what?” Pete ventured.

“Shut up, Pete!” everyone in the back of the van except Ecaterina yelled.

Williams, AZ - USA

Frank’s call came in just as they were arriving at the foot of the mountain where the ground team had been set up by Dan. 

Bethany Anne was surprised to find Dan waiting to greet them when they arrived. “I wasn’t expecting you would make it,” she told him.

“Neither was I until I was offered a ride.” Dan jerked his head over to the command tent that had been set up. “Locals decided to call in the National Guard. This is the second incident involving this group of nosferatu and they’re taking it seriously.”

Bethany Anne frowned. “A whole group? Could this nest have anything to do with the group that killed Bill?”

Dan shrugged. “Not enough information to make a guess either way. All they know is that there are definitely at least three nosferatu in the area and their movements appeared to be coordinated. Local PD got lucky and killed a fourth.”

Bethany Anne didn’t hide her surprise. “How did they manage that?”

“One cop got lucky and hit the sonofabitch with her car, and the others shot the shit out of it. They were pretty shook up by the sounds of it. The nosferatu still hadn’t healed by the time they got it back to the station.”

“They did what?” Bethany Anne shook her head. “They were fucking lucky it didn’t wake up and tear them to pieces.”

Dan nodded. “They were even luckier than it was close to dawn by the time they got it into a cell. Sunlight finished it off. That’s when it got flagged and Frank picked it up.”

Bethany Anne tapped her upper lip with a finger. “Okay, so we have three nosferatu and at least one Forsaken. Any intel on where it might be hiding, or why it’s targeting people out here?”

“Could be as simple as the Forsaken is trying to establish a foothold,” Dan suggested. “The victims in the first attack were known criminals.”

“That tracks with what Frank said,” Bethany Anne told him. “Six of the guests at the retreat have criminal records.”

A plan formulated in her mind as she spoke.  The criminal records in question had contained a laundry list including money laundering, drug and gun running, and possible connections to several illegal brothels that had popped up on the outskirts of suburban areas nearby in the last six months.

 Her phone rang and it was but a moment before she had it to her ear. “What’s the word, Frank?”

“Something is not sitting right with me,” Frank told her. “I’ve been digging into police reports looking for a trail leading to your Forsaken, and I’ve come across a number of missing person reports for men associated with the men I identified as possible targets. I’m sending you the reports now.”

“Who’s making these reports?” Bethany Anne asked.

“Families, mostly,” Frank replied. “The strange thing is that these reports are spaced out over the last six months, and most of them went missing on the third Saturday of the month. Like clockwork.” 

Bethany Anne didn’t have time to consider the reasons for the admittedly strange pattern. “Keep digging. Get back to me if you get anything concrete.”

“Will do,” Frank assured her before saying his goodbyes.

___

“Update to the plan,” Bethany Anne announced as she walked into the command tent that had been set up for them. “We’re going to take out the nosferatu, and then deal with the Forsaken.”

“New intel?” Nathan inquired.

“Not sure yet.” Bethany Anne shrugged. “Frank has uncovered something that doesn’t make sense.” She relayed the call she had just had with him and shared the police reports, complete with mugshots of the missing men.

“This smells bad,” Ecaterina stated.

“I think you mean to say it stinks,” Bethany Anne agreed. “You’re right. It does. So, we’re going deal with the immediate threat and work outward from there.”

END OF PART 01 of 02