A little while later . . .----------- -----------------"It's about time," Red mumbled as she and the rest of the scavenging crew stumbled into the Den."Stop complaining," Tarloh told her. "It was a damn good haul!""One frickin' security guard and we get denied those medical supplies." She sighed. "I'll . . . I'll go back up tomorrow. I'll find a way to get what Arthur needs."It was Tarloh's turn to sigh. No matter how good a job Red did, in her mind it wasn't good enough. "Fine. We may have to just buy it. We'll see how much cash we've got and I'll get it to you by the evening."Red hated spending the pack's limited funds on something she should have been able to acquire, but there were some things they couldn't wait on. She dropped her bundles off at the main table so that Tarloh and some of the others could start checking it off their lists. Red held onto a small package that had a different destination.While out, Red had noti

On the surface . . .------------ ---------------Victor Nawrocki was walking home from the bar, his breath stinking of domestic light beer and his face stinging from multiple rejections of his offer for female companionship. He was pissed that the bitch from apartment 134 . . . Jane . . . had skipped out without paying rent. He KNEW he could've had her eating out of the palm of his hand. 'Or licking my stuff off her hand,' he thought acidly. He was sure she was on the verge of breaking, and broken women were easy to manipulate.He got to his apartment, which had the word "manager" printed in big letters so the useless morons he rented to could read it. But there was a surprise waiting for him there. Next to his door was possibly the hottest girl he had ever seen that wasn't on the cover of a porn DVD. She had a killer body, major curves, and curly red hair with a white streak in it. 'Things are beginning to look up,' he thought."Hey honey," he slurred.

A little while later . . .-------------- ---------------Hellfire and brimstone, the sirens were loud! Jane awoke from her daze with a start. There was a blaring noise pulsing from down the tunnel. It sounded like an alarm. And even at that distance, she heard a commotion, and she felt her heart sink in her chest. She scurried up the stairwell and down the tracks. And the sounds she heard began to gel into an unpleasant cohesive concept . . . there was a fight going on.Jane poked her head around the corner and up over the floor of the lower platform. There was a full-scale battle going on in the underground subway station. She saw the Strays locked in mortal combat with . . . things . . . in suits and sunglasses and . . .'Oh God,' Jane whimpered inside her mind, 'it's those things! The ones from the alley . . . the ones that almost killed me.' Jane's feet froze, thought her heart was going a mile a minute. She felt her skin growing cold and her hand's

"Jane . . . I was so mean to you," Red started. "Why me?" "Have . . . have you seen you?" Jane asked. "Talia told me you never meant to be mean . . . you just were stressed. And you've been so good to me and . . . and you make me feel things I never did before. And it's more than making me feel safe. You've been honest and decent and . . . and you're so beautiful." Jane lowered her face. "But if . . . if you don't want . . ." Without warning, Jane was swept off her feet and cradled in Red's arms. "How could I NOT want you?" Red murmured. "But if we do this, there's no going back . . . no pretending it didn't happen." "I don't want to go back," Jane whispered. "And I'm not pretending," she added. Red kissed the girl in her arms again. Jane was a little more confident this time, but still let Red control the pace. Red finally lowered Jane's feet back to the ground, then pulled the corner of the comforter and blanket back. She was looked at Jane's gentle

---------- ------------ An hour later . . . ---------- ------------ There was an air of unease around the central table and the adjoining bleachers as everyone settled in for the meeting. Jane sat quietly towards the back of the aluminum steps, planning on being a silent spectator of the proceedings. She was watching Red who was still in consultation with Tarloh as well as the shadow demon known as Johan. Jane hadn't spent much time with that particular trans-dimensional traveler, but Mindy and Anya assured her that he was a class act. "Okay people," Tarloh boomed, his voice as intimidating as his six-and-a-half-foot frame, "let's settle down. First things first. We lost six of our own yesterday, and there will be a service for them an hour after the meeting ends. So nobody goes running off. Now, we need to discuss what happened. The Hellspawn got too close and knew us too well. As many of you know, there are two ways this probably happened. The first is that they've been spying