My other home sat in a tiny apartment complex. The word complex was misleading since there were never more than a few residents, myself among them. In the last four months, I never bothered to go back more than a few times. It wasn't because I didn't miss home. Quite the opposite, I loved my little apartment and its secure basement.

It was the old owner of the home that I had issues with. Issues where I remembered her joking face and her quick hands as she poured out drinks for me on the bar counter night after night. Julianne had owned both the complex and a bar on the other side of the parking lot. The bar was out on the main street, the apartments tucked away in the back. For years, I spent excessive amounts of time at both locations.

Stepping out of the car gave me a wash of feelings that had been buried for months. The air was almost the same. Only a few sparse cars on one end of the lot. Most packed in tightly closer to the bar. Normally, at night, one or two cabs would be camped out waiting for late night patrons who were smart enough not to try and drive themselves home.

The name of the bar was the same. Julianne's Bar and Grill. Ownership had switched over to pack. According to the will, she left the business to her partner, a wolf by the name of Stacy that hated me simply because of the equipment between my legs.  And because I wasn't pack. And I got Julianne killed, or more rather a group called the Order of Merlin had caused the distraction and I failed to stand in the way of bullets.

Stacy turned the bar over to Thomas, Julianne's brother. It didn't matter at that point, pack was pack. Julianne's pack owned the range up north. Those two were normally the only ones this far south. An act of god, or sports, was required to get them away from their region.

How Thomas kept himself from growling every time someone came in the door was beyond me. I hadn't been comfortable going in there since Julianne had been killed in front of me months ago. All that by one stupid bullet. A little piece of metal that meant nothing to the scum who fired it. That had caused so many problems.

That same vampire put six more into me. No scarring remained. Julianne wasn't blessed with regards to healing. She wasn't even as durable as any other member of a pack. Julianne had never actually completed the change.

I carefully walked towards the security gate for the apartments. It was a cheap digital keypad that barely served as a deterrent. Past that was my front door with a faded purple ribbon wrapped around the knob. Ann stood just behind me. She had never been here.

The door stuck a bit and I had to force it fully open. A slight hint of dust and untouched air spilled outward. Everything felt empty and dark inside. There was still a weight bench attempting to forcibly mate with the kitchen counter. Broken dishes spilled out of the resulting wound. Next to the back entrance was a little door that lead downstairs. The windows were whole because someone had replaced them.

Ann was right over my shoulder and I had to fight not to growl at her.

"Stay here," I said.

"Sir?" She looked startled and backed up a step.

I didn't want to say it out loud, but there was a good chance of going kind of crazy if she came downstairs. No one had ever been allowed down there. Just me, myself, I. This was my sanctuary. Not Kahina, not Julianne even though she owned the building.

Shaggy stayed upstairs.

A small piece of tin lay crumpled behind the basement door. My hand reached for the light switch inside the stairwell. Even the panel had protection from being made of silver. Inside the faceplate, was plastic and wire like so many other things. The goal was to deter other races from my stash of stuff.

I crept slowly down the stairs checking for any disturbances. Lights gave a brief flicker where they died and started back up, finally staying on with a hum. Silver and iron lined the steps down.

Along the wall was every single type of charm I could find over the years. Some worked. Some were silly, but I couldn't be sure. It ranged from crosses, some simple and carved out of different types of wood. Others were complex and spiraled around pieces of preserved ivy or other superstitious symbols. Rocks worn through by river water, horseshoes, four leaf clovers that had been pressed carefully. Each one hung in an attempt to ward off unwanted guests.

Home security was an important topic. The only thing bigger would have been actual booby traps on the stairs. I would have gotten dogs, but they required attention and food. Once I almost put in a crossbow and ceiling collapse.

I traveled down the stairs slowly, enjoying the pressure against each step. Here, at home, my abilities were unchecked. The entire place felt alive as the sound of simple footstep bounded off the walls and fed into my senses.

It was hard not to revel in the untouched dust that lined the room. An undisturbed setting made me feel secure that no one had bothered to come in. These belongings weren't even worth a lot. Most were cheap, but mine, and no one else's.

There were two main rooms and a bathroom. One contained my simple mattress. It didn't have a frame to lift the box springs off of the floor. The other room contained all my possessions. This was the place my mental multicolored cord connected to.

The room full of stuff was all in order. Boxes lined up the walls, untouched and dusty like everything else. Each container held a myriad of items. Comics, replica swords, some real weapons, rare wooden puzzles. Jewelry I pilfered or bought. None of the bobbles were expensive, but many were old. Pieces of the collection had been purchased online, other items found in journeys, or acquired from random houses.

Ann's feet stomped around slowly above me. It was easy to sense things at home. From the feel of it, she had opened the sliding door to peer outside. There was a squish of metal wheels against grime that had stacked up in the tracks of the doorway.

A few minutes later I was back at the top of the stairs with some items out of the basement. Tiny things that fit easily into pockets. A few spare crosses that had come off my wall of charms. There was also a choke collar with silver glazed tips that jingled in my pocket. Inhumane, but effective.

"You good?" She asked.

I nodded.

"This is all we came for?" She pointed to the items in my hands.

"No." Now was a good time to try and talk to Evan.

"What else is there?"

"The bar," I said.

We trudged across the parking lot. Ann trailed along behind me as usual. The doorway to the bar didn’t change. Windows had iron lined through the safety glass. The metal wasn't there to keep people out, it was designed to keep the windows from completely shattering when someone inside threw another patron. Elves didn't like the iron-laced windows so Julianne had covered most of them with posters and other advertisements. What they couldn't see didn't freak them out.

This bar catered to all sorts of races. It was early morning, but that didn't mean the doors were completely closed. Most people would be gone by now. Vampires didn't stay out past sunrise, and those on the night shift would have staggered home by now. Someone was always here, though.

Guilt made me first through the door, but I held it open behind me for Ann. I wasn't sure what to expect. Not what we were presented with.

A bar room full of wolves and two waitresses. The waitresses were laughing happily but shuffling drinks about, mostly water and soda from what I could see. None of the wolves wore faces I recognized. I tried not to remember Ann's prior joke about wolves on their backs. Now would be a terrible time to snicker.

Entering into a room full of wolves is very tricky. If it's a public location then they normally keep things under control. The problem was that a pack's perception of public domain was directly related to how many were in the area.

A headcount put us at just over fifteen fuzzballs. A layman might wonder how someone could tell they were all wolves without seeing a shift. They had been around as long as vampires and elves, but that didn't mean regular humans were desensitized. Consensus said wolves give off impressions that modern instincts couldn't help but notice. Humanity would never have survived this long if it was completely unaware of danger.

If anything they were a bit sharper.

Ann didn't bat an eye at the room. Hopefully, she had a chance to wash between leaving home and here. The smell of strange wolves and blood might make this difficult. As for myself? Shower, check, new clothes after the gore, check, carefully cleaned my gloves? Not like I should have. Deodorant? Not enough.

We had been in the door ten seconds before heads started to turn towards us. I opened a closet to the side and reached around for a ziplock bag.

"What are you doing?" Shaggy asked.

A moment later and I shifted the gloves into the bag and sealed it up. The bags should be scent locked as well, Julianne had always kept them there in case something like this was needed. Shaggy put out a hand for the bag.

"I got it," I said.

"It'll look better if I take it." She was right. Ann, correction, Shaggy, held the bag against her side. Visible but not threatening.

Wolves stable enough to be in public knew this bag meant someone was sealing up silver. I wasn't the only person that carried it for self-preservation. Most people settled for an iron cored pocket blade of some sort. The coating had to be light because of regulations preventing lethal amounts. Those same laws allowed defensive quantities to be carried without a permit.

My gloves were well past lethal amounts. This was more like saddling into a room with a loaded shotgun instead of a can of mace. And I just handed it off to the dainty sidekick.

"We're not here to rile anyone up." I clarified, in case she missed it. Shaggy nodded and put the bag in an outside pocket creating an ugly bulge.

I watched the tension in the room shift down a notch. Wolves wore emotions on their sleeves. Little shrugs in the shoulders, the way they rolled the heads to the sides, not oblivious, but not ignoring us.

We were getting too much attention. Their quiet glances at each other or the way the volume died down. Both were hints.

One of the waitresses decided now was a good time to notice us. A girl with jet black hair that I swear must be dyed. She had been here for years, smiled awkwardly at everyone. I could never remember her name. It always slipped my mind, and that was unusual for someone in my old profession. The only fact that stuck with me was her love of ribbons. She frequently had conflicting colors tied to her apron as she shuffled around.

"Jay!" She swerved around chairs and headed over. "Long time no see."

"Sorry. Been busy." I said.

"It's alright, we understand. The rest of the girls were wondering how you were doing. I told them you'd be fine. Man of your nature couldn't be kept down just because Julianne passed." The waitress was as tactful as a sledgehammer.

All the tension in the room returned. I looked over the waitress' head, easy enough from my height, to the rest of the room.

"Anyway, grab a table, I'm sure we can cook up something for you. New hours and all, these guys eat through at least three cows a day alone." She shook her head and headed to the nearest table. The girl bent over for a moment and wiped the tabletop with a cloth from her apron.

"Here you go. I'll tell Charlie you're by, he's got some numbers to babble at you. I swear I don't understand what that man's saying half the time." Her voice carried on from the distance as she went to the back room of the bar. Behind the counter, there was a hallway and a few smaller offices. In one of those offices would be Charlie, the accountant for the business.

"I hope we didn't come here for a meal," Shaggy muttered.

We hadn't, but I wasn't sure how to broach the topic now that the wolves in the room were focused on us. Only one was actually looking. With the way pack thoughts worked only one would need to.

"Sir?" My dainty sidekick asked. There was a snicker in the midst of all of them. "Should we sit?"

I almost picked up some hush noises in the background. It was hard to extend my senses out and try to pick it up. Everything here was out of place.

"Sure." I felt odd sitting at the regular chairs. They were a size too small. The bar stools were easier since they were higher off the ground.

"So why are we here?" Her voice tried to stay quiet. A pointless gesture with wolves.

"Well, once they stop glaring we'll ask one of them if I can see Evan," I said.

"Who?"

"Elf-friend of mine."

"Alright." Ann sounded confused, but it wasn't on her face. "Isn't he in a different region?"

I sighed before clarifying. "I'm hoping to ask for some help."

"Help? Isn't that funny." Another voice came. It sounded run down and annoyed. Ann was already looking at him and I turned to join her. "Help is exactly what caused this mess."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Hello, Thomas," I said. Julianne's brother wasn't a tall man. Barely bigger than Julianne had been, which wasn't saying much. He never picked up as much of the eastern Indian look that his sister had. Just a hint about the eyes and accent.

Thomas, drink in hand, spun a chair around and saddled up to our table. One arm was slung across the backing and the other propped up against the side of his face. He wore an expression somewhere between bored and serious.

"Hey, killer. How goes the family murdering business? Come back to get a set for your trophy wall?" He said.

"I need to talk to Evan," I said. This was one of the shitty things about talking with wolves. Any hesitation in my response and I would be seen as subservient. It was hard to talk to him and not bring up Julianne.

"Too bad. He's not coming out, and you don't get to go in. That right was nuked when you got my sister killed." He smiled back at me without any warmth. I had known Julianne for a good chunk of my life. Thomas had known her since she was born. Not more than a year apart between them in age.

"I didn't kill her!" My words came out louder than intended. There was a jerk of other ears in the room.

"You all but pulled the trigger. If she hadn't gone with you out there then she never would have been shot. If that fake agent hadn't been left there with a gun in his hands. If your leech of a girlfriend hadn't brought her little entourage then Julianne..." Thomas' focus slipped away for a moment. Not that I was directly looking at his eyes. His gaze was focused on a place miles beyond this room.

"Well, then I wouldn't have to hate you." He continued and then grinned without an ounce of friendship.

"I need to talk to Evan, one day and I'll be gone." I couldn’t engage him about Julianne again.

"One day. Just to check your love journals against each other and giggle, then what? You ask again in another four months? Keep reopening the wound?" His foul breath was becoming more noticeable. Both eyes seemed to have trouble focusing on the same thing. He even looked languid, which for a wolf was nearly unheard of. They constantly moved in subtle little twitches as their skin reflected their thought process.

Thomas seemed almost dead with drunkenness. An inebriated wolf was terrible. It took almost three or four times the normal human limits to get them wasted.

"How much have you had, Thomas?" I asked.

"None of your goddamned business, besides, you'd know about getting drunk, right, killer?" He made it sound like a pet name for a kid. One who grew up to be an ax murderer.

Ann wisely kept her mouth shut. I wanted to respond, to put out some sort of defense against his words. There wasn't a good rationale available.

"No? Nothing? Not going to cry about how it wasn't your fault? Good, that's refreshing. I'm tired of people saying it's not their fault, that their terrible choices screwed it up for other people.” Thomas pointed at me with a squint. “Ownership."

The waitress from earlier saddled up with two plates filled with a half rack of ribs and fries. "Here, a little something for you. On the house."

"Why are you giving him my food?" Thomas sounded offended. Or, consider it was food, maybe it was a pack thing.

"It's not your choice who we serve. You own this place in title only. I'd rather have that girl Stacy in here than you." Her voice was angry at Thomas. "At least she wouldn't be so blitzed that two packs show up to keep things reigned in."

Just how drunk was he? And two packs? Ann turned and looked at the other wolves and seemed as if she was comparing them to a checklist.

"Didn't notice." Ann wasn't saying it to anyone specific. Did she know enough of the local packs to figure it out by faces alone?

I tended to go by region when figuring out which pack was which. The bar was typically neutral territory. Julianne and Thomas had been from the next group north. Owning a bar here had been more about avoiding her grandfather than anything else.

"I'm fine," Thomas said.

"Sure. That's what all the drunks say." The waitress responded.

"What about him? He drinks more than I do." He pointed at me.

"At least Jay has the sense to space out his drinks, and when there's work to do he behaves. You don't even have that down. Your shift at the yard started hours ago." The waitress used her towel and batted Thomas in the back of the head with it. He flinched away.

I sucked in my breath along with a lot of the wolves in the background. Thomas didn't do anything in response other than look dejected. His eyes were still unfocused. If he didn't smell like a drunk wet dog I would really be panicking. At least he wasn't being aggressive, probably because the rest of this pack was busy pouring in happy thoughts.

"Don't go telling others how to behave if you can't figure it out yourself. Glass houses and all." The towel was tucked back into her apron. Ann and I both watched the rest of the crowd and Thomas for any sign of aggression.

"Besides, no one told Julianne what to do. If she was somewhere dangerous, it was her choice. You'd think that'd be obvious to her brother." She shuffled off to other tables, picking up used glasses and cleaning countertops on her way.

Thomas stared at the drink he brought over.

"Don't you dare throw that glass!" The waitress' voice came back through the room. It wasn't hard to speak over the others in here. The wolves had been fairly quiet the entire time yet still managed to move in closer to Thomas and me.

A fragile silence took over the room. Thomas broke it first.

"Do you know what it's like for a pack to remember something, Jay?" Thomas asked while holding the drink in his hand. He looked like he was contemplating each individual ice cube. An expression I knew well.

I spared a glance for Ann. She was watching the other wolves who were closer and they stared right back. Tints of gold laced more than a few eyes. Everyone was on edge.

"When one of us remembers something, it touches all of us. It gets worse, and worse, and worse." Thomas' face looked a wreck. "My little sister was like the pack's little sister. A granddaughter, she was family twice over. Three times if you count Stacy."

"I remember, then they remember. They remember, then I remember. There's no escaping her face." He tilted the glass back and caught what little liquid and ice cubes remained. "And we let her get killed on our grounds. She barely got to see what she really meant to us. She should still be here."

I couldn’t find the words to respond. He was right.

"Right here." He pointed to the table with a sad face. "Not..." Thomas faded off.There was movement behind Julianne’s brother.

Some of the other wolves were looking at each other. It was easier to see how it was two packs now. They sat in clumps that weren't as intermingled. The difference in postures, different clothes. Almost a different scent but that was all in my head. My nose was nowhere near as good as a pack member's.

One set of wolves seemed to blink and nod at the same time. Then stand up. The other set stayed sitting. "Time to go, Thomas." A member of the mini-mob said.

"Not ready to go." Thomas protested.

"The rest of us have jobs, families, we have to go home." The random pack member tried again.

"Then go! Me and killer here can have a nice chat about old times. Then he can give me a ride home and stand still while I punch his face in. Maybe I'll call us even then!" The glass slammed down but didn't break.

"No. We need to go." There was something else driving his words. Something I didn't understand. Pack mentality was so far beyond me. It was like watching a soap opera in french. Sure you see who's kissing whom but the idioms escape comprehension.

Thomas seemed to deflate even more, then nodded.

"Yeah. You're right, let's go." He said. The other man's face flickered as tension drained from his skin.

Pack members came up forming an escort. Or protective detail for a wounded family member. Two lifted Thomas up, another went to the door, and between the lot they maneuvered Julianne's brother outside. Cars geared up in the parking lot, mumbles were heard through some of the walls. The other group had remained quiet.

"Any other friends I should know about?" Shaggy inquired.

"No." Friends weren't high on my list of things to make. The few relationships I had were more than a little screwy.

"Sir, pardon me if I say this, but you should get out more," She said.

"No more time." I responded sadly.

Ann was silent. Kahina would be on the last leg of the transformation tonight. After that, I might be in the same situation as Thomas. Lashing out at anyone involved to cover up my shame of failure.

"Sir?"

"What?" I was distracted.

"Are we going to sit here and wait for them to come over, or go to them?" She asked.

"I guess," I said.

It was easier to eat my cooled ribs than meet her glare. She always had a certain passive fearlessness in her eyes. Probably because she worked for one nearly full vampire and had to suffer two partials. Or her training under Sensei's brutal expectations. Between bites of deliciously burnt meat, I tried to clarify myself to her.

"They heard it all, and it's probably Malcolm's pack." Malcolm was a man I had run into twice in my life. Once he took a rogue wolf from my custody. The other time he was part of the little social gathering Julianne had died in.

"We are." They crossed the barroom to our table. Only four pack members were still here. They all had that same hulking build that came from most wolves. Bigger human form translated into bigger wolf form and more strength. Strength was huge in pack dominance games.

"Figured." I wanted to take another bite of my food but held off. Eating in front of wolves always made them think I was aggressive.

Julianne had told me that most wolves thought I was a strange pack member that hadn't earned his place. It was weird. Eating first warranted a growl. Showing my teeth got a snarl. Being unclean made them constantly flinch. I was careful with everything.

"We've got our own things to do. If you've got something to ask, we'll pass it on." The bigger one in front said. I didn’t look him in the eyes because a fight right now wouldn’t help.

"I need to visit a friend in the twenty-thirds recruit grounds," I said.

"Negative, not our territory."

"Can you ask Malcolm Smith to talk to Thomas' grandfather?" I still didn't know the old man’s name. It was annoying. If we were ever on good terms I would ask him.

"He's not..." One of the others nudged him in the back and the sentence changed abruptly. "Twenty-thirds Alpha is difficult to communicate with."

"Uh huh. How so?" Ann asked my question for me. She somehow managed less tact in the phrasing then I would have.

"He's fucking up." The third one answered. He got an elbow in the side for his efforts. "What? It's true. The whole thing's practically his fault. We wouldn't be here babysitting if they had their shit together."

"Can you get me Malcolm?" I asked.

They shrugged almost in unison. Pack mind was so freakishly creepy. One of them would think something, and the rest would think it at the same time. You could almost hear the 'I guess' echoing in their minds.

"Lucky you." The third one said.

"Why?"

"He's already on his way." Came from the first one.

"How long?" I moved on to the next question.

"Don't know, won't be long. You and the cutie here can wait it out I'm sure." One of the three said. I kept eying my food and didn’t really get a solid look.

"Cutie?" Ann's eyebrow moved upward in question.

"Don't tell me you're racist?" There was a smile plastered across the third one's face.

"Not in the least." Her grin became sly and for a moment her eyes narrowed in speculation.

"Good, because you know what they say." In unison, the trio headed to the exit and left the punch line hanging until they reached the door. Then one turned around and looked back at Ann and winked.

"Once you go pack!" The third one couldn't keep the stupid line from his lips.

"You never go back!" The others joined in a tired chorus as the door shut.

Ann snorted and stole some fries from my plate. I stared across at a moment towards her untouched platter of food. It took effort to suppress the irritation at having my things taken rudely like that.

"Relax, sir, you can have my ribs." She shoved the plate over. Then she went back to watching the front door. My mind was stuck on the food she offered in return for the fries. It helped calm me down.

"Men, same dumb jokes no matter what race," She said.

"That sounds familiar, Shaggy," I said while feeling less hungry. We were in Julianne’s bar, so close to the counter where I spent countless hours mulling over a drink while she shuffled around.

"Seven." Ann counted and tried not to grate her teeth.

I didn't really call her nicknames to cause annoyance. In my mind changing her name helped me remember that this girl wasn't Julianne's replacement.