Mine...Yours Pt. 14

I heard her shuffling her feet. "He is patient, but very standoffish. Kind of skittish too. But he doesn't seem too...I am not sure what to call it. What was his crime?"

I turned back and smirked. "The title is Sexual Abuse in the second degree. Or is it third? I don't remember. The definition is: Sexual Coercion without the use of threat, force, violence, blackmail, or use of drugs or alcohol."

Nancy pondered this for a moment, "So what does that leave?" She spoke the definition out loud, thinking it over again. "He talked her into it? I don't understand..."

"She also was bipolar manic depressive, which was covered up in court. Gregory did wrong in dating her though without doing a background check first. In this day and age you don't take people at face value unless you have power enough to put them down if they turn on you." I sighed and finished my drink.

"The Honorable Judge Michael Roberts could probably smell that my dear boy was innocent, but it doesn't look good for a Judge to allow those accused men to walk away unmolested. So found him guilty. Lets see...yes...If I remember correctly that was an election year as well. So it stands to reason he would take that tactic."

Nancy was starting to breathe a little harder, I could tell she was going to cry soon. "That explains...so much...I...that...ASSHOLE!"

I was expecting pity for Greg which I would have cut off quickly, this was unexpected! "That woman...no! That GIRL that did this to him was no woman! Probably still wet behind her ears with her mother's milk still on her lips!" Nancy continued, her fingers in fists, the notes she had taken crumpled between them.

"If I ever find that bitch I will strangle her with her mother's apron strings she is still tied too!" Then she began to cry!

I moved over and put an arm around her shoulder, kissed the top of her head. "There...there now. Take a deep breath and relax. Don't cry right now. We got work to do. First off we need to stop this nonsense about Gregory being forced to sell his home. Then I am going to make some phone calls to Trevor and let him know he needs to take Michael in hand about this."

Nancy spoke up then with a shake of her head, "Just because he is an Alpha wolf doesn't mean anything when dealing with Imminent Domain! Two million dollars as just compensation, a trifle when it is shown who is buying it and their reason's for doing so. I graduated from Harvard! I will show that jumped up sheepdog what's what!"

I smiled as Nancy got upset, she really is a wonder. We both got to work after that. It was early in the morning as I was putting together a full synopsis of where we could take a stand at, when I felt a stirring in my blood. I recognized it. Gwendolyn was anxious, and upset! I immediately shushed Nancy, making her blink at me in surprise. I dialed Gwendolyn's personal number. I heard it pick up.

"Gwendolyn!?"

"I told you not to call me that Godpop!" I heard my granddaughter say. She sounded a little out of breath and distracted. "I am riding my bike right now, can't stop. Hospital, Greg's hurt. Gonna fix him. Bye!"

I closed my phone and saw Nancy giving me another curious look. "Godpop?" she questioned. I rolled my eyes.

"I am her Godfather! I don't see her very often since we are both busy, but both Trevor Malfour and his wife have made me her godparent. She doesn't really need it, it's more of a formality...but let's keep it between us for now...alright?"

I explained what had happened and then we both decided to go to the hospital. Not because I wanted to see Gregory, but if Gwendolyn did what she normally does, she would heal him up all the way to full health! Which in a hospital would draw unwanted attention. Money would change hands, reports were going to be changed.

The phrase, "While our initial assessment was not as severe as we suspected and not being clear on all details of the cause of the trauma...we based our treatment on the information available..." would be thrown around a lot.

I made a phone call to Reg. He was still helping some of his men move in, and they were having a barbeque. In short order I had round the clock passive surveillance for Gregory, two man teams working in eight hour shifts. It was the best I could do without actually visiting. Which bothered Nancy!

"You say he is your friend, but you don't go to see him?" She asked me incredulously.

"Of course not, his family is there, Lucretia will be there, Gwendolyn will have him patched up in no time at all. I am not needed. My main concern is who attacked him." I replied. Nancy posted her hands on her hips glared at me.

"I will give you three guesses, and the first two don't count! It's that Judge!" She said hotly. My little rat is such a firebrand!

"Useless conjecture until we have more facts. I want to be certain before I move against an old member of the Gatewatch." I picked up my cell phone and called Trevor.

"Not a good time Will, waiting on Michael to give me a call." Trevor told me.

"Well isn't it fortunate, since Judge Michael is who I wish to talk to you about!" I said with a cold smile. There was silence on the other end of the line. "Gregory Brooks is in the hospital, did you know?"

Trevor was still silent. Which told me everything I needed to know. I leaned forward in my chair. "Your daughter, my goddaughter is probably already there healing him."

Trevor was silent, but I could hear his breath catch. "She didn't tell you did she? Of course not! Wouldn't want to wake you up this early in the morning. Would you like me to tell you how badly he was injured?"

Trevor spoke then, "He attacked and killed 9 of Michael's pack, between him and that succubus of his. Michael told me that we should be ready to move to bind and either send the outsider back home or destroy it. Suzanne and I are both ready and waiting for the call."

He took a deep breath and spoke before I could, "You know the score Will! We can't let them just stay here as long as they want! Sure, he didn't technically break the rules. He didn't summon her, she came here and then he bound her...I get it. But this whole situation is getting out of hand! We don't want visitors coming to our plane all the time and just staying however long they want. It sets a bad precedent. If the current Gatewatch won't do their jobs, then we need to step in and do it."

"Are you finished...Trevor?" I asked quietly. He must have missed my tone of voice because he continued speaking.

"No, I got another point to make Will. Being bound to Outsiders corrupts the anchor. From what I have been told, Greg is a criminal with a felony conviction. I just found out yesterday after I met him. I am surprised it took him this long to snap and start attacking us..."

"SHUTTUP!" I roared into the phone! "You blind IDIOT! Say it again and I will personally melt you down into paste and feed you to your wife!" I felt my teeth coming out as I spoke, I tried to avoid that since it made it difficult to speak.

"You have been LIED to! And if you act on this information and banish Lucretia from our Plane I will unmake you! You will stay HOME tonight! You will not answer Michael's call unless I SAY you can! I will personally look into this matter and you tell Suzanne the same thing! In the state I am in I would declare WAR on her if she gave me any attitude at all!"

No sound from the other end of the line except for some ragged breathing. I took a moment to calm myself, then resumed speaking in a regular tone of voice.

"Now, Trevor. Please repeat back to me what I have asked you to do?" I waited as he started to speak and faltered a moment.

"Will...I..."

"SAY IT!!" I roared.

He did repeat it back and I hung up without saying goodbye. Rude of me, trying to be polite and courteous was key to being good I had long ago surmised. Amazing how the stupidity of others was throwing that plan out the window!

I heard Nancy behind me and turned to look at her, she was biting her lower lip, and sliding her hands over the outside of her thighs like she was straightening her skirt. "How is it possible for you to be so scary and so incredibly sexy at the same time?"

I shrugged and stood up. "Time for more research and..."

My phone rang! Without even checking the screen I opened it and shouted, "WHAT!?"

I heard Reg's voice crisply ignore my greeting and say, "Sir, last report was that the Succubus left the building along with the witch. I just came on shift now and...sir..." His voice trembled.

"Sorry Reginald, please...report." I said as I felt my legs weaken and I sat down, preparing myself for the worst. He coughed once and then resumed speaking.

"Sir, I am here to report that Gregory is alive and well...I think." I blinked and stared at my phone.

"Come now...what do you mean? Either he is or he isn't." I returned.

"I saw him floating in a bubble of blue light, and then umm...err...he appeared to be flying a few feet off of the ground while standing...and uh...never seen that before sir." His voice firmed up, but still sounded a little shaken. In truth I felt a little shaken as well!

"Wonderful news, thank you for reporting in. Please stay to the end of your shift and make note of anyone who comes to inquire about him. Then you may return home. My thanks for your work Reginald." I told him.

"Your welcome sir, last message I picked up on audio surveillance was that Gregory was going to help the succubus Lucretia. I will send all audio to you in the morning sir." Then he hung up.

Going to help Lucretia?

"Nancy? Warm up the van, we are going to Greg's house."

Chapter 7

"Whatever made that hole...I don't want to meet it!" Nancy said as we looked at where the sliding glass doors of Lucretia's bedroom had been. The residue of magic as thick in the air, and I saw scorch marks on the deck and several in the grass.

"There appears to be a magical duel of some sort that happened here..." I murmured. Talisman stirred in his holster and I stroked him through my coat. Nancy was moving around the hole and I saw her stiffen, and then bend down to sniff at the broken glass.

"What have you found?" I asked her. She ignored me and turned into a rat again and sniffed more closely at the broken glass. I smelled it too as I got closer. It was blood, human blood!

"A wizard did this then?" I asked Nancy, she turned back into a human again and straightened her clothes. One good thing about being a shape shifter over a Were? You don't need to get dressed and undressed every time you change shape!

My assistant looked over at me with a face paler than normal. "This is my old master's son. Who had me for a little while...Allan Wade Dickson!" I glanced back down at the blood and drew my finger through it before having a little taste. The scent and flavor stuck a nerve in me, and suddenly the memories of Matthew Woolrim clicked into place. The unseen second wizard, "young" Suzanne had told me. It began to come together, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of the mystery of who had been targeting the Gatewatch.

Allan Wade Dickson fit the profile perfectly! I silently thanked the dead Matthew for being such an idiot and attacking me.

"It's him! It has to be! Dickson! Matthew was friends with his father Leonard! HE was the one who found out that you were a compendium familiar, and he told Dickson. Chastised him for letting you get away, hatched a plan to get you back and try to break the curse for the information in your mind..." I began pacing as Nancy looked on in silence.

"I remember a Dickson, my own memories...very faint. With Matthew's memories and some sorting...ah...yes! I remember now. Suzanne had killed his father who was consulting Outsiders for knowledge. No one else on the West Coast was as skilled at summoning as he was. He wouldn't stop his summoning not with all the information and medical breakthroughs he was getting. Found a cure for six different forms of cancer and a way to stop birth defects in..."

Then I stopped as more thoughts came to me.

"This isn't a move of major significance...this is merely petty revenge by a wronged child! I was looking for a grand conspiracy! This isn't a Conan Doyle tale, this is a Franklin Dixon pulp story!" I said angrily.

"What?" Nancy said, I glanced at her.

"Frank Dixon? Author of the Hardy Boys." I told her.

"Oh, I preferred Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene...though I think that is a pseudonym." She said while crossing her arms.

"But why go after the current Gatewatch when it was the previous members that wronged him?" I said. "It doesn't fit!"

I felt Nancy's hand take my elbow, stopping me as I paced on the deck.

"If someone wanted to hurt you Will, would they attack you directly?" She said quietly. "Or would they go through those you count as friends...family...the people you care about?"

Oh...gods! Trevor's daughter, Suzanne's...Michael's...

"Damn it! Where would they have gone!"

Nancy was looking up at the sky, clouds were gathering and rain was coming, but every now there were flashes of light. Small, but still noticeable.

"That's...lightning?" she asked suddenly.

I glanced up, and then again as I saw another small flash. "Too small, maybe a low flying plane?" I offered. Then saw it streak through the air, several in fact!

"Lucretia! She is under attack, right now! That's coming from the area where Gregory works, at the industrial complex."

We got back into the van, and I drove with the pedal to the floorboards, relying on quick reflexes to avoid collisions with the few other people on the roads this time of night. It was lucky we were not pulled over!

At the area of conflict we pulled over and ran to a small rise that overlooked the area of construction and I saw...well...you can read about that in the other chapters that Gregory has already put down to pen and paper.

I will say this though, Lucretia is a force to behold! Her devious traps should have worked. Nancy saw her old master and wanted to go down right then to kill him! I was tempted to let her, but that large Outsider down there would probably have killed her before she got close.

"William, do something!" She told me as the battle drew to a close. We saw what was about to happen, and for a moment I gripped Talisman's handgrip. I knew it could kill an Outsider, even one that large. What stopped me was the flash of blue that I saw coming fast across the parking lot. I gripped Nancy's hand a little tighter and pointed.

We got to see what happens when Gregory finally cut loose!

I always knew what my friend was capable of to a certain extent, but to see him like this was...unnerving! I actually felt a shiver of fear run up my spine. No, fear is the wrong word. Awe. That feels more appropriate.

When they both left after the fight was over, Nancy and I peered down at the decrepit looking young wizard, aged far beyond his time.

I sat down to think, letting the rain wash over me and soak my clothing. Talisman was strangely still, as if this evening's entertainment was a lot for it to take in as well. Nancy sat next to me, but her eyes kept darting to the Wizard lying unconscious in the rain.

"Well?" She asked suddenly.

"Well, what?" I responded.

"Aren't we going to do something about Allan?"

"I am thinking...give me a moment."

She settled back, still watching me, and glancing down at her old master.

I didn't know how to explain to her what my thoughts were, or if she would understand their significance. But the length of time was stretching and I knew I had to say something...then again, she was an intelligent woman. Perhaps she had some insight?

"Nancy...?" Her eyes snapped to mine. "I am a very evil person."

Her eyebrows drew together and she opened her mouth to give me what appeared to be an angry retort but I held up a finger to stop her.

"Hear me out first, let me explain what is going on in my mind...alright?" She closed her mouth and waited.

"I grew up in a time of violence. Mercy in killing would have shown weakness to my enemies. As times have changed I have wanted to change with them. I want to be...good for lack of a better word though I know the concept is subjective..." I drew a deep breath and sighed. I was getting to the heart of the matter now.

"I decided, in this day and age to be good. Through my actions, and being polite and having proper etiquette and manners...I thought that I would somehow get into the habit of being a good person. That maybe it would start to be natural for me to do what is right and not be a selfish power hungry monster."

I felt her take my hand in his and gently took it back. She made a small dissatisfied noise but I shushed her. "Wait for me to finish first, then you may run away or stay...decide then."

"Nancy, when I made friends with Gregory after learning of his past I saw I very good man, who had a great wrong done to him. He is damaged, but still good. If I had been in his position I would have adopted a scorched earth policy and deleted a few generational bloodlines and family names from the archive of the world if you follow my meaning. He didn't though. I was fascinated by this, and...after he told me what he did about my taking in the whole essence of others..."

I stopped and looked down, "...I couldn't tell him that I had thought to do the same thing with him after he passed on to the next life. I wanted to have his character, his memories become a part of me! I want to be good, like he is. I know he is unpolished in many areas, and crass in others. But he has such a good heart, a bedrock of integrity that I want for myself."

I felt my tears mixing in the rain, when was the last time I had cried...really cried! Was it sorrow for myself? Was it...I don't know. Probably something to brood about in my study later.

"I don't want him to die because I want to see what he does next. At the same time I want what he has. I don't want what he is to be forgotten. I have tried many times, run scenarios through my head of just asking that when he dies if I can handle his funeral arrangements so I can get the chance to have a little of what he has! I don't...I mean, what kind of friend thinks that way?"

Nancy's hand found mine again and her fingers were warm as she held mine tight.

"William?"

"...Yes?"

"Look at me..." I did.

"Why didn't you go down to help Gregory and Lucretia in their fight?" She asked me seriously.

I thought about it, examining the situation again. "They didn't need me to, I was ready to kill that big horned Outsider...I think his name was Balmont? Yes, Lord of the 6th plane if I remember right? But then I saw Gregory coming..."

"Why didn't you help them?" Nancy asked again. I shrugged.

"They didn't need me, they had everything covered. Generally speaking I don't make friends with those who can't handle themselves."

She nodded, as if that confirmed something for her. "So then...why are we here?" I looked at her in surprise! She knew why we ere here.

"In case something else came up and they needed help! Obviously...your point?" I said.

She laughed and leaned in and kissed me!

"Dear William, you are just as good as you should be, and just as bad as necessary! I hope that you never change!"

She looked back down at Allan Wade Dickson, who appeared to be slowly waking up and moving in little twitches. "But right now I need you to be bad for a little longer..." She said with an angry heat to her voice.

We went down and I gently rolled the now fragile wizard over. He blinked up at us with milky eyes.

"Who...who are you?" He asked in a quavering old voice. I grinned down at him.

"Someone who is very curious to see what I look like through your eyes!"

To be continued...