One Whiny Were is Schooled

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

Hope part 02 got fixed! Sorry for the confusion earlier.I basically OVER WROTE the first email when trying to create the second email. Then, couldn't get the original info back.

This might be why my team rolls their eyes when I said I was going to do an email ;-)

Ad Aeternitatem, 

Michael

ONE WHINEY WERE - DURING THE TIME OF QUEEN BITCH

Book 02 of The Kurtherian Gambit

BEGINNING OF PART 02 of 02

The retreat was lit up like candles on a cake. Ecaterina and Pete remained in the van, to Pete’s annoyance. Bethany Anne had ordered everyone else to spread out and form a perimeter around the building.

They had been keeping watch for most of the night when a double click came from Eric's comm, indicating imminent contact.

“Converge on Eric’s location,” Bethany Anne murmured into her comm.

 She received three single clicks in reply as she ran at vamp speed to the southwest boundary of the retreat’s property.

Eric was cursing up a storm as he fired on the nosferatu tearing toward him from the tree line.

“Incoming!” Bethany Anne yelled as she blurred past him and clotheslined the nearest nosferatu. 

Two more had emerged from the tree line. Bethany Anne picked up the one she’d downed by the ankles and swung it around before releasing it into the one coming from the left.

Before that one hit the floor, she had torn out the throat of the third with her nails. She put two rounds in its head and was about to take care of the other two permanently when two loud reports told her Eric had taken care of them.

Six more shots cut the night, the sharp reports muffled by the trees. Eric lowered his rifle and winced at Bethany Anne. “Please tell me I get a pass on uninspired cursing this once.”

“I thought ‘toe-sucking camel fucker’ was inspired.” Bethany Anne patted Eric on the back as she walked past him. “Looks like having all that time to train is paying off.”

John, Darryl, and Nathan arrived as the three nosferatu bled out. Bethany Anne pointed out the nosferatu whose face was still mostly intact. “That used to be Paul Duquesne. Low level thug who went missing three weeks ago.”

A commotion from the building got their attention. Six armed men dressed in black jeans and white t-shirts were headed their way.

Bethany Anne held up a hand when John, Scott, Darryl, and Eric automatically moved to surround her and stepped forward to meet the heavies. “I suggest you go back inside. This doesn’t concern you.”

The lead thug eyed the rapidly cooling corpses. “Frankie? What’d you do to Frankie?”

“Hey,” his buddy added, “not just Frankie. That looks like Paul.” 

Bethany Anne revealed her vampire nature. “I said, this doesn’t concern you. Go back inside or end up in the same predicament as your friends.”

For once, Bethany Anne didn’t mind that flashing her fangs had the desired effect. Two of the guys crossed themselves before running back to the building with the others.

Bethany Anne waved her hand in a circle. “Everyone back to the van. Something screwy is going on here and I want to know what.”

Back in the van, she called Frank. “Did you find anything else?”

“Well, hello to you, too,” Frank answered with a chuckle. “Nothing that makes sense.”

“What if I told you that the three nosferatu we just killed were recognized by the heavies of tonight’s targets?” Bethany Anne asked.

“Curiouser and curiouser.” Frank didn’t answer for a moment before continuing. “I’m going to send you the police reports for the others I’ve found. Let me know what you make of them.”

 “Thanks. Get me the names of the officers who dragged the fourth nosferatu back to the police station as well,” Bethany Anne requested. “I need to have a little chat with them.”

___

“Your credentials hold up, but this isn’t standard procedure.” The police chief eyed both Bethany Anne and Dan with skepticism as she spoke. “Then again, nothing about this has been standard. I’ve got four officers on medical leave; one in the hospital and three out of action until the department psych can clear them for duty, and you’re telling me what they’re claiming they saw was real?”

“I understand,” Bethany Anne assured her. “Unfortunately, yes. It was real. That’s why we’re here.”

The Chief shook her head. “Well…Shit. There I was thinking they were dosed with something that had them tripping balls. Alvarez came in as requested. Lawrence has signed himself into inpatient care. If you want to speak to him, you’ll have to swing by the hospital.”

She walked down a short hallway before showing them to a small room laid out with a table and three chairs, where a wiry Hispanic man wearing civilian clothing was sitting patiently. He turned his head when they walked in. “Chief. What’s this about?”

She inclined her head. “Thanks for coming in on such short notice, Alvarez. These are the people who asked to speak with you.” 

The chief closed the door behind her, leaving the three of them alone. Bethany Anne introduced herself and Dan without giving him any department or agency name.

Alvarez nodded, fingering the cross hanging from a fine gold chain around his neck. “You must be from the Spook Squad, or something. This is about the demons, right?”

“Nosferatu,” Bethany Anne clarified.

Alvarez frowned, eyes narrowed. “What, like vampires?”

Bethany Anne nodded. “Exactly like vampires,” 

“You don’t seem to have any problem believing what you encountered was supernatural,” Dan asked.

“There are more things in Heaven and Hell than are dreamt of in philosophy and science,” Alvarez paraphrased in a steady voice. “I know what I saw.”

“Talk us through what happened,” Bethany Anne requested. “Don’t hold back.”

He placed both hands on the table and blew out a breath. “We were called out to a disturbance at the cabins off South Lake Mary.” Alvarez’s eyes became distant as he recalled the events. “Owner reported a regular guest was being harassed. We pulled up and all hell was breaking loose. Me and Lawrence, that’s my partner, took the front of the cabins while Smith and Giorgio went round back.”

 Alvarez’s arm moved back up as his fingers rubbed his cross between his thumb and forefinger. “The cabin was under assault by a few goons with guns. It looked to be pretty straight forward, when out of nowhere these creatures came from the trees and started chowing down on the gunmen.”

  Bethany Anne nodded. “Someone took out one of the nosferatu with their car, right?”

“Giorgio,” Alvarez told her. “She didn’t panic like the rest of us. She got behind the wheel and smashed that monster straight into the cabin. By then we’d all recovered from the shock. We’ve got four dead bodies in the morgue and nothing to show to prove who killed them. They look like they’ve been torn apart by wild animals.”

“That’s not too far from the truth.” Bethany Anne turned to look at Dan. “Looks like our next stop is this cabin park.”

“The owner has shut the place down,” Alvarez told her. “I’ve got his number though. I’ll get it for you before you leave.”

___

They tracked down the owner of the inn to a bar in town. 

“Looks like someone’s drinking to forget,” Dan commented when they spotted him propping up the bar.

“Do you blame him?” Bethany Anne asked. “It’s not everyday someone finds out that the supernatural exists.” She looked around the bar area. “If I was him in his position, I’d be hitting the bottle, too.”

The owner of the inn and cabins was several beers in. Bethany Anne introduced herself as an out-of-town investigator and offered to pay his tab in return for answering a few questions.

“I want to know about the guest who was being attacked,” she told him.

“Dave’s not a guest,” he answered. “He’s a local artist. He rents out a cabin to get away from it all. Says being in the forest helps him connect with his subject matter, or some shit. He’ll come and stay in one of my cabins for a month at a time.”

“Where can I find Dave?” Bethany Anne asked.

He scrutinized her for a moment. “Is he involved in some kind of organized crime outfit? Monsters are hard to believe but I can’t see him having anything to do with that. The mobsters, though… If he’s into something shady I need to know about that.”

“I’m not liberty to say,” Bethany Anne told him. “Right now, he’s a person of interest and we just need to talk to him. You’d be helping him out.”

The man shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not like insurance isn’t gonna pay out on the damage to my property. You’ll find him not the old Mill.” He gave her directions to the building and added that it had been converted into apartments back in the 60s.

As promised, Bethany Anne cleared his tab and left tip for the bar staff before heading back out to the parking lot with Dan in tow.

“You need to wait in the while I have a chat with Dave,” Bethany Anne told him as they pulled up outside the apartment complex.

 “Didn’t figure I’d be playing chauffeur today,” Dan complained.

 Bethany Anne laughed. “It’s a damn sight better than playing murder victim if the Forsaken gets hold of you.” She turned to face him. “You get me?”

Dan snorted. “Loud and clear. Just call me your wheelman.”

 The old mill looked like it hadn’t had any maintenance since it had been converted. Peeling paint on the fixtures and graffiti covering the crumbling brick façade gave it the appearance of a place people came to be forgotten, Bethany Anne left Dan in the SUV and headed around the back of the building to checkout possible escape routes.

 Seeing nothing but the fire escape, she headed back around the front and gave the front door a little shove to force it open.

She smelled the Forsaken as soon as she stepped inside. Tracking the scent, she headed up the stairs to the third floor, where the smell combined with a mixture of paint fumes and solvents became damned near unbearable.

TOM.

Yes or benevolent Taxi?

Cut that shit or I’ll figure out a way to kick your ass.

Right. You wanted me?

Please, if you can, do something with my sense of small.

You could always breath through your mouth.

I could always figure out a way to insert a needle into my back until I find you.

Her smell sensitivity was reduced significantly. While not a total win, she would take it and be happy

Bethany Anne found the apartment door unlocked. Unusual, but it worked for her. The sound of her movements was lost in the music, Metallica playing full blast through speakers deeper inside the apartment.

The narrow hallway led to an open living space containing a kitchen and living area, complete with pull-out sofa bed. Bethany Anne wrinkled her nose at the mess as she stepped over piles of dirty laundry and discarded pizza boxes.

The smell of solvents got stronger the closer she got to the back room. She stepped through the plastic curtain separating the living spaces from a studio bathed in fluorescent strip lighting and the source of the solvent smell was revealed. 

A twenty-something, hipster-looking man was standing with his back to her, a can of spray paint in each hand. The eight-by-ten foot canvas he was working on commanded his attention. He didn’t notice Bethany Anne until she tapped him on the shoulder.

He screamed and dropped his paint cans, his glasses slipping off his nose in his fright.

Bethany Anne grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dropped her fangs. “Surprise, motherfucker.”

“Who—” Realization dawned on his face, followed by relief. “Shit! You’re the new Queen! You’re not a rumor!”

“Do I look like a fucking rumor?”  

The Forsaken held up his hands, cringing. “Please don’t kill me! I can explain everything!”

Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t what she expected from a Forsaken. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for exactly as long as he played nice. If he pulled anything she didn’t like, his ass was grass. She released him. “Okay, explain. You’ve got thirty seconds. Start with what kind of Forsaken calls himself Dave.”

“One who doesn’t want anything to do with vampire politics,” Dave answered. “I didn’t ask for this existence but I’m making the best of what I’ve been handed in life.”

“By making nosferatu and unleashing them on your enemies?” Bethany Anne snarked. 

“I didn’t see any other choice!” Dave protested. “This has been my territory for sixty years. I take care of it. I feed on deer, for fuck’s sake.”

Bethany Anne snorted. “That’s funny, because there are four dead nosferatu that prove that's not true.”

“They were the only ones I ever made.” Dave remained frozen to the spot. “I swear, I obeyed the strictures to the letter, but when Michael and Bill disappeared there was no one to call on when I found myself in this situation. The family don’t give a shit. I’m all on my own here. I didn’t think help was going to come, so I took it into my own hands.”

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Bethany Anne told him, suppressing a smile at the flicker of fear in Dave’s eyes. “I take it this ‘situation’ you’re talking about is the surge in organized crime in this area?”

Dave nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. I just want to live my life in peace. But there’s this gang that’s been causing enough trouble to get the attention of the cops. They’ve been kidnapping women and filling the brothels they’ve opened with them. They’re killing people over established drug routes, bringing weapons into the area. Look, I’m not the police, but thing here were quiet up until about a year ago. They’re intent on taking over, sensing there’s some weakness. Michael disappearing didn’t just affect the UnknownWorld. It's affecting the human world in ways they don’t understand. The local Weres refused to help, so I did what I could. I turned a few of the gangster’s henchmen and set them on their bosses. I swear, on my life, I didn’t harm anyone who was innocent.”

Well, fuck. Bethany Anne couldn't be mad at him for doing what he could to maintain a peaceful territory. If Michael hadn’t decided that he needed his head separating from his body, who was she to decide differently? Hell, she would have gone in guns blazing and taken out the whole operation if she’d been in his position.

Still, she wasn’t born yesterday. She treated Dave to the full force of her vampiric energy. “Whatever the situation, you killed people and you are Forsaken. Normally, that would be an automatic death sentence, but luckily for you, I’m not Michael. Don’t skip town. I’m going to corroborate your story and then I will pass judgement.”

Dave nodded. “Thank you. It’s all I can ask.”

Bethany Anne lifted a finger and pointed at him. “If you run, I’ll automatically assume you’re guilty of something. Do not leave this apartment until I come back, am I clear?”

“Crystal,” Dave agreed. “I’ve got nothing to hide and everything to prove.” He eyed his painting and shrugged before looking back to her. “I’ll be here.”

___

Dan looked Bethany an over with a puzzled expression as she climbed into the SUV.

“What?” Bethany Anne asked.

Dan waved a finger at her clean clothing. “Forgive me, but you’re lacking the coating of blood that usually comes with executing a Forsaken.” 

“That’s because I didn’t kill him,” Bethany Anne told him as she buckled her seat belt. She ignored Dan’s shock and pulled out her phone and one finger up to stall Dan’s question from erupting out of his mouth.

“Frank? I have a situation here. I found the Forsaken, but it looks like I found the only good Forsaken on this godforsaken planet. His story needs some corroboration and I’m hoping you can help.”

She explained what Dave had told her about Michael passing judgment on his sire while he was in the midst of transforming and asked him to root around in his records.

Whether or not the story was true, there was still a meeting of criminal masterminds happening at the meditation center and she intended to break it up permanently.

“While you’re there, I need you to dig up anything that can be used against the mob bosses at the retreat. I don’t care if it’s parking tickets, or misfiled taxes. They’re going down. If I can’t do it through legal channels, I’m going to do it my way.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Dan heard Frank promise.

“What now?” Dan asked as she put up her phone.

Bethany Anne grinned. “Now, we get dinner while we plan our next move. Call back to the base. Tell everyone to meet us at that steakhouse we saw on the way into town.” Dan put the car in gear. “I’m starving.”

___

Pete padded silently over to Bethany Anne. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

Bethany Anne didn’t take her eyes off the warehouse across the street from where they’d parked the van. “This is where the ground team tracked them to. Use your senses,” she told him. “What do you smell?” 

“Fear,” Pete answered a moment later. “Seems to me like a bunch of mob bosses wouldn't be so scared.”

Bethany Anne closed her eyes, working to maintain control of the righteous anger stoking her urge to react violently to what she knew was inside the building. “That’s not the criminals you can smell.”

She turned to John. “You know the drill. Make sure no one but the innocent makes it out of this building alive.”

She vanished into thin air before he could reply.

He eyed the empty space she had occupied. “Well…fuck.”

___

Benny and Chuck were patrolling the perimeter of the warehouse when a small sound distracted them from shit-talking what they’d do with the merchandise the moment Harvey and the other bosses had their backs turned.

“It’s probably rats,” Benny guessed. He drew his gun anyway, as did Chuck.

“I’m gonna check it out,” Chuck told him. “I catch me an intruder, my uncle’s gonna be happy with me.”

“Kissass,” Benny called after him. “Ain’t no one comin’ out here.”

Chuck dipped behind the crates. Benny heard scuffling and a muttered curse, then silence. He waited for Chuck to come back, his patience waning rapidly.

“Chuck,” Benny called. “Stop fucking around.”.

Chuck didn’t reply. Trepidation enhanced his natural tendency toward caution, Benny crept around the crates, muttering under his breath about nepotism and the lack of professionalism since Harvey had brought his nephew aboard to replace the missing guys. His words died on his tongue when he found Chuck spread eagled on the floor with his throat ripped out. He looked around wildly, his eyes bugging out with fear.

He was about to run when he sensed a presence above him. He looked up, right into the red eyes of his worst nightmare.

___

Bethany Anne wiped the blood from her mouth. The sooner you come up with a way for me to avoid having to make snacks out of bad guys, the better.

Is it really so bad? TOM asked.

You ever hear the saying, “there are no stupid questions?”

Yes?

That was a stupid fucking question.

Bethany Anne resigned herself to needing the energy boost. She had been planning to let the authorities deal with these criminals. Finding the cages in the back of the warehouse had changed her mind, which meant she needed to have the juice to pull off a few vampy tricks. 

She opened her comm after dealing with the two idiots who had been patrolling the outer reaches of the warehouse. “They’re holding young women and girls prisoner in here. The gloves are off, no more Ms. Nice Bitch. These fuckers are all going to die.”

“What do you want us to do?” John asked.

“Tell Ecaterina to get on the radio. We need Dan working with the ground team to manage the interaction with emergency services once we’re done here. These women will need medical assistance and aftercare, and I’m thinking we should leave one or two of the assmunchers who kidnapped them alive to talk to the cops.”

“Gotcha,” John replied. “I’ll take care of it.”

Bethany Anne remained in the shadows while she checked out the rest of the warehouse. The two she’d taken out were the only ones outside of the office on the upper level besides the women who were being held captive. She completed her reconnaissance and headed back to the cages.

The majority of the captive women shrank back at the sight of her. A couple who had not succumbed to their predicament whispered asking for help. Bethany Anne put a finger to her lips, cautioning them all to stay quiet while she dealt with the gang. 

The girls watched the woman in black walk away like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Just who was she?

Bethany Anne headed for the mezzanine level overlooking the warehouse floor.

“Cut the power,” she instructed into her comm.

 The lights went out and the office window showed several phone lights go on. The door opened and two men came out, whining about the inconvenience of having to go into the back of the building where the breaker box was located. 

Bethany Anne informed the team they were headed that way and closed her comm before ghosting up the stairs and slipping into the office before the door closed.

The soon-to-be dead didn’t realize that she had entered the room. Bethany Anne pressed herself to the wall, staying out of sight while she discerned who was who in the group.

“What are we gonna do about the disrespect this guy’s been showing us?” one of the men complained. “It’s bad for business if we get seen to be letting some unknown take our guys out without retaliation.”

“I don’t know,” another ventured with uncertainty in his voice. Bethany Anne recognized him as one of the six who had seen the nosferatu.

Bethany Anne pinpointed the man in charge when he spoke.

“This guy’s just some artist as far as everyone else is concerned. Could be he's retired special forces or something. It doesn’t matter either way. We’re going to get the shipment sent out, and then we’ll deal with that rat ass sonofabitch.”

Hearing the women downstairs referred to as nothing more than commodities to be bought and sold burned the last bit of restraint Bethany Anne had been holding onto.

“Where’s Nico and Kevin got to?” the boss complained. “Johnny, go see where they are and tell them to hurry the fuck up with the lights so we can see what we're doing.”

Bethany Anne laughed, low, deep, and dangerous.

Everyone in the room froze, fear turning their blood to ice in their veins. On the surface, they were outraged by the intrusion. On a visceral level, they understood they were no longer the apex predators in the room. 

The boss recovered first, flashing his phone light around to locate the sound of the menacing laughter.

Bethany Anne stepped out of the shadows with her fangs exposed and her eyes glowing red. “You’re going to die. Normally, I would say something to make my point. But you all know you are despicable.”

Everyone in the room drew their guns and started firing in Bethany Anne’s direction. Bethany Anne moved at vamp speed, nails extending into claws. As the door exploded in a shower of splinters with the bullets piercing the planks, every man in the room dropped to the floor with his insides suddenly finding themselves on the outside.

In a moment, it was all over but the last ricochet out in the warehouse ending up in a far wall. Bethany Anne flicked the blood off her fingers as she returned her nails to their normal shape and size.

She stepped over the steaming entrails soaking the carpet with blood and wiped her hand on the jacket of the boss before activating her comm. “I’m done here. How is it going out there?”

“If you get here fast enough, you’ll see,” John answered.

Bethany Anne translocated to the outside of the building, where she found Ecaterina and the guys forming a semicircle around the two remaining gangsters. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of one laid out on the ground unconscious, and Pete straddling the other while pounding the shit out of him.

“He took offence at finding out what they were doing.” John had leaned over to speak to her as he watched the spectacle. “Lost his shit.”

“Can you blame him?” Nathan asked. “It was my call to let him vent a little.”

“Enough, Pete,” Bethany Anne called in a calm voice. “We need him alive to talk to the cops.”

Reluctantly, Pete climbed off the guy and got to his feet. “Asshole deserves everything he got for hurting those women.”

“Can’t say I disagree.” Bethany Anne turned to her right. “Ecaterina, where are we at with emergency services?”

 “They are on the way,” Ecaterina informed her. “Dan Bosse is coordinating with the National Guard. They will be here in maybe fifteen minutes.”

Bethany Anne nodded. “Okay then. Hold tight. I’ll be back in a minute.”  She paused, then held out her hand for Ecaterina. “You can help me with this.”

Ecaterina didn’t hesitate before taking Bethany Anne’s hand. Bethany Anne translocated them both back to the back of the warehouse, where they freed the women.

Thirty minutes later, the warehouse was surrounded by ambulances and cop cars. Bethany Anne pulled the police chief aside as the EMTs worked on treating the women’s shock and injuries.

 “When you make your official report, it would be best if you forgot me and my group were ever here,” Bethany Anne requested.

The chief snorted. “As if I could explain, anyway.” He looked around the entrance to the warehouse before turning back to her. “But someone’s going to have to take responsibility for the bodies in there.”

Bethany Anne shrugged. “Looks to me like they were attacked by a wild animal.”

The chief sighed and nodded. “That will work for now, but it’s not going to deter anyone who is determined to get to the bottom of this.”

“If it comes to that, I will deal with it.” Bethany Anne understood her predicament. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a loose end to tie up before we leave town.”

___

When Bethany Anne arrived back at the apartments with John, Nathan, and Pete in tow, Dave was exactly where he promised he’d be.

The Forsaken eyed the wall of muscle at Bethany Anne’s back nervously. “Judgment not go in my favor?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Bethany Anne smiled. “My judgment is that you are free to continue living in peace, so long as that is all you do. You are technically Forsaken. However, I believe you will go back to what is essentially a vegetarian diet now that your issue had been solved.”

“You bet I am,” Dave sighed. “Feeding on humans is so many kinds of wrong I can’t begin to list them.”

Bethany Anne winked at the guys. “Told you. Total hippie.”

“So, there won’t be any more kidnappings?” Dave asked.

Bethany Anne assured him that his organized crime problem had been solved.

“Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” Dave eyed them all. 

“What are you going to do about getting in contact with the rest of the family?” Bethany Anne asked.

“Nothing.” Dave shook his head. “They’ve got nothing to do with me. Everything is going to go back to normal, and I can carry on living my nice, peaceful life making art that doesn't sell.”

Bethany Anne gave him Frank’s direct number and told him to get in touch the next time he had any problems. “If I find out you’ve taken things into your own hands again, you won’t find me so accommodating.”

The return trip to Miami had the group in high spirits. No one had gotten hurt who didn’t deserve it, and Pete was feeling himself after handing out a little of the Queen’s Justice.

While the rest of the adults celebrated with a round of beers, Pete nursed a bottle of Coke along with Bethany Anne.

Scott bumped his shoulder. “You did good out there, kid.”

The other guys agreed and even John cracked a smile and praised him for putting into practice what he’d learned in training.

“I wanted to kill those fuckers,” Pete admitted. “Handing them over to the cops so they could squeal on the rest of the gang will have to be justice enough.”

“Yeah, soon as they’ve had time to heal some so they can talk,” Darryl quipped. “One of those guys is gonna have his jaw wired shut for a few months, minimum.”

“I didn’t break his hands,” Pete retorted. “He can write his damned confession.”

Bethany Anne smiled and raised her Coke bottle. “Here’s to Justice, and to growing up.” She held her bottle out to Pete, who clinked his against it with a grin.

“I guess I understand a bit better why you guys have been so hard on me,” Pete admitted. “Things needed to change before it got too late turn my life around. I can’t say it’s going to happen overnight, but I swear, I want to do more than becoming another statistic the way I was headed.”

“Bethany Anne is good at creating statistics,” Scott quipped. 

“Remind me why you are on this team again?” Bethany Anne inquired in a sweet voice.

Scott flexed his arms and winked. “Every team needs guns this deadly.”

“Comic fucking relief, more like.” Bethany Anne rolled her eyes as the others chuckled. She turned her attention back to Pete. “Does that mean you’re going to start taking your training seriously?”

“Yeah.” Pete looked around to everyone there. “And I want to thank you all of you for giving me the chance to do better.”

“Hundred bucks says the kid’s whining again by the end of the week,” John stated. He grinned at Pete. “You’re still a kid, after all.”

END OF PART 02 of 02