It took a week of arguing with David to convince him to not only let Jonas leave, but to let him practice magic, and he still wasn't happy with the set up. Jonas was free to leave and practice magic, as long as he had a proper teacher, and one of his werewolf siblings was around, "just in case." The "proper teacher," happened to be Maggie Adler next door, the witch who literally had saved Michael's life. Even after finally planning Jonas' magic studies, it was another week of very complicated planning and discussion with Michael still in the hospital, mostly about what relics and heirlooms they absolutely had to bring out of the den.

That week, added to another week and a half, was spent finding somewhere far enough to keep David out of the way, yet close enough so it wasn't an excruciatingly long drive, with enough room for two werewolves, a human, and relatively close enough to any designated hunting grounds for Alex and Michael. Finally, after two weeks of just waiting, Michael was discharged from the hospital.

"Are you sure you want to leave so soon after Michael was admitted leave from the hospital?" David was standing in the doorway to Alex's room, running his hands through his hair at constant.

"David, we'll be fine."

Michael spoke up from his seat on Alex's bed, "Yeah, don't worry about it. Jonas already agreed to driving me to my follow-up appointments, and Alex said she'll help monitor my medication intake and all that jazz."

"Yes, I know. I'm just...worried, especially since you're taking Jonas with you, and he's been practicing magic."

"Dad, I'll be fine. You'll see me at least once a week while I'm taking lessons with . We'll all be fine. I promise," Jonas lifted a few boxes, and began carrying them out of the room.

A month into living in their new apartment, everything was going surprisingly well. Michael had four jobs as a bartender, two bus boy jobs, and walking dogs. Alex worked at a music store twenty minutes away, and Jonas was still trying to find one job as anything but a barista.

"Jonas, just apply for the barista position."

"No. I was a barista before we left, and it's only going to be worse here. I refuse to relive that nightmare."

"Jonas," Alex growled. Jonas needed a job. He wasn't putting anything towards rent, since what money he had left was going towards things like food or gas.

"Alex, it's fine. We're doing fine right now. I'll find a job, okay? And it won't be a fucking barista."

She really didn't have the time to keep arguing, so she rushed out the door. Once she got to the music shop, she noticed a faun tuning a guitar in front of the shop. Her boss really didn't like people loitering out front. Then again, her boss didn't like much of anything. Skeletons always had bones to pick with people and things.

She approached the faun, "Hey, you can't play out here."

"Actually, I asked the manager. He said I could as long as I brought in business," the faun had a goofy smile, "Can't be too hard, if music doesn't do that, I can just crack jokes. I mean, it's a music shop called "The Trom-Bone," and it's owned by a skeleton."

Alex sighed, apparently she'd have a new co-worker for the day, "Okay, well careful with those jokes. might stop letting you hang out out here if he catches wind."

The faun laughed, set his guitar down, and reached out a hand, "I'm Ren, by the way."

"Alex," they shook hands, and neither of them let go when they stopped.

When she noticed, Alex was quick to let go, "I gotta get inside, I...really can't get fired here. I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Huh? Yeah, okay. I'll just be out here all day."

Turns out he wasn't kidding because he was out still there when Alex was leaving. In fact, he was laying out across a bench.

At first Alex thought he was asleep, but after approaching him she realized he just had his eyes closed. Maybe he was trying to sleep, "Uh, Ren?"

"Yeah, whatcha need?" He opened one eye, and was sporting another goofy smile.

"Are you sleeping on the bench?"

"Well, we're talking.. so obviously not. But that was my plan, yes."

He was awfully casual about sleeping on the streets, "Ren, do you have a home?"

"Nope. Haven't had a steady place in about a year and a half. Why?" He was awfully open about it also.

Alex stopped for a minute. She could offer him a place to stay the night at least, but without consulting Michael and Jonas, that probably wasn't smart. It was also out of the question entirely if Ren stayed longer than a night or two and didn't pitch in around the house.

"You can probably stay with me and my brothers for the night," Probably, probably didn't sound very promising, "Well, you can stay the night. But if you stay for anything longer than a few days, you have to start pulling your weight. Got it?"

Ren looked like he was just told he won the lottery, "Really?"

"Yes, but if you turn out to be some crazy serial killer, you can not kill me first. I only fit one of the two criteria for the first killed. Michael fits both, so go after him first," Ren looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh at Alex, "You can laugh, Ren. I wasn't being serious, mostly. I was serious about not killing me first though."

"I'm not a serial killer, scout's honor," Ren picked up his guitar case, "So, uh, lead the way."

Alex began walking, "Alright, but first we gotta stop and grab something for dinner, because Jonas can't cook for shit."

"Oh? So how many brothers do you live with?" Ren was following close behind, "What kind of wolf are you guys linked to?"

"Just two, Michael and I are technically hybrids. Our dad was a hybrid and a lone wolf, and then my mom came in to the mix who was also a hybrid? And it's just a lot of breeds and subspecies, okay? So don't ask, unless you're prepared for a couple of centuries worth of science and cross breeding. Anyways, Jonas is our step brother. He's just a human witch."

"Whoa, how many breeds do you think you've got flowin' through you?"

Alex was about to enter a small Italian diner when she got a call, "Hey, Jonas, what's up?"

"Alex, you're never gonna guess what I just did!"

"Jonas, I swear to god if I find out you set off the fire alarm again trying to cook, I'll apply to that barista job for you."

"No, no, no! I actually cooked edible food! Oh my god! It's just some spaghetti recipe I found online, but it's fucking delicious."

Alex sighed, "That's awesome. Now I don't have to spend $12 a day on your dinner. How much did you make?"

She signaled for Ren to follow her as she began walking again.

"I dunno. Enough for us? Definitely not enough for leftovers for Michael."

Alex looked behind her at Ren, he shrugged, "Alright, well I'll be back in like a few minutes. We just passed that hole-in-the-wall Italian place you like."

"Wait, we?"

"Yeah, I'm bringing over a friend to stay for a few nights. Bye Jonas," She hung up, and sucked in a big breath after finishing the call in one breath, "Sorry, Jonas didn't manage to cook enough for you, Ren."

"Ah, it's fine. I'm a vegetarian anyways," He paused for a second, "I also think I'd rather make my own food, rather than let your brother burn your place to the ground."

When they got to Alex's apartment, Jonas was sitting on a bar stool positioned next to the island, looking like an angry parent, "Alex. Who's your friend?"

"This is Ren. He's...I think he's my co-worker now?" Alex looked to Ren for confirmation. He nodded.

"You thought he was a co-worker? You didn't even know if he was or not? You've never mentioned him ever. Where did he come from?"

"Technically, I hail from England, but Alex knows me as the guy from in front of her work, who plays guitar and sleeps on benches."

"What he said."

"Alex," Jonas buried his face in his palms, "If this guy turns out to be a murderer, I'm locking him in your room so he kills you first."

"Ha! I already made a deal with him so I can't be the first blood!"

Jonas and Alex surprisingly got over the bump quickly, and both began interrogating information out of Ren by playing their own version of twenty questions. Jonas began tuning Alex and Ren out when they got into monster questions.

"Alright, so what deer species are you linked to?"

"I'm not answering that until you answer my question from earlier, Alex."

"Four. Indian, Arabian, and Eurasian from my dad. Mexican and Eurasian from my mom."

"That's...a lot. How did your mom get Mexican and Eurasian?" He picked at some berries left in his bowl, "I'm pure fallow by the way."

"Conquistadors. Alright, how'd you get here from England?"

Jonas perked up at the new question, "Yeah, you don't have any shred of an accent left."

"I was a noble, I was kidnapped by pirates for ransom and my parents didn't have money for the ransom. I got in good with the captain, so I sailed around with them for a while. Eventually I got bored and wanted to go home. The captain was pissed off but not enough to kill me. They ditched me in New Orleans and I've kind of just been wandering since then."

"Holy fuck, you were a pirate?!"

"Yeah, for a few years. How about this question, where's your pack? Don't most werewolves have packs? Like, I get that there's lone wolves, but usually if there's family, there's a pack."

"Oh, um, my biological dad died, and he was our alpha. Michael isn't old enough to be the alpha of the pack, and our dad left a big legacy so know one else wanted to take his place. We had this kind of unspoken deal to reform after Michael became of age but...I have the feeling that won't be happening."

Jonas spoke up, "Um, so you were a pirate. Met any famous ones?"

"Eh, not really. Most of them had retired or died already. I was only kidnapped in 1799, so I mean," Ren gave a a vague hand wave.

The three of them continued goofing off and asking questions for hours until they heard the front door open after some hassle with the doorknob. Alex peeped over the back of the couch as a wolf and Ren and Jonas looked back as well. They were met with a drunk and bruised Michael with a stranger on his back. It was a slender woman with black, rimmed horns and short red hair; she also seemed completely sober.

"I can explain," Michael slurred as he leaned against the wall.

The woman slid off of him and stepped to the side, grinning, "Oh, this should be fun."

"Guys. Meet Clarissa," a hiccup, "She's a succubus."


Michael was just doing his job, serving some shots to a group of guys, when he heard some guys further away getting progressively louder. He turned around to see a couple of guys with a girl with black horns. He excused himself to the group he was serving, and made his way to the guys and horned girl. One of the guys had a bleached undercut, and the other was wearing a backwards ball cap.

"Excuse me, is there something I could help you two boys with?" Michael tried to keep his voice as level and inconspicuous as possible, but there was definitely an attitude when he said 'boys.'

"Yeah! You could help this young lady realize that we're trying to help her. She's a succubus, and we just want to help her renew some energy, ya know?" Undercut nudged his friend with his elbow, grinning and chuckling.

"Well, maybe she would rather I help you realize she's not interested. I'm certainly leaning more to that one."

The succubus rolled her eyes, and spoke quietly under her breath, "Oh, whatever would I do without some guy coming play white knight for me."

Michael turned to face her, "Well, if you don't actually want my help, I won't. It's just.. I assumed you could use some.. Guess that was my fault. I-"

He was cut off when ball cap threw a punch and hit him directly in the face. The two guys were laughing. Michael let out a loud huff before turning to face them. He raised his shoulders and bared his teeth. He took a step closer to the guys.

"You two don't look nearly as afraid as you should," His voice came out a low growl.

Without anymore warning, Michael grabbed ball cap by his shirt and tossed him like he weighed no more than a feather. Ball cap slammed into the bar, and suddenly everyone in the bar was screaming and running out of any exit they could get to. The succubus just stepped a few tables away and watched. She certainly found it entertaining. Undercut almost made a run for it, but was stopped prematurely by Michael, who's grip on undercut's shoulder was coming close to ripping the fabric and piercing the skin. Michael turned undercut around and lifted him up like he did ball cap, but slammed him into the table next to them.

"You thought it was fucking hilarious harassing a succubus? Let's see how funny you think nearly getting killed by a werewolf is," Undercut was crying, and Michael realized really fast that the guy had also pissed his pants.

He tossed undercut off of the table with less force than he did with ball cap. Michael then looked towards the succubus who had taken a seat at a table, and watched the fight.

"You'll probably get arrested for that."

"I wasn't trying to kill them, just rough them up...a lot. Plus, they attacked first. So it was self defense. At most it'll be public disturbance or assault, maybe vandalism? My dad can totally bail me if I get arrested."

The woman laughed, "Oh my god, please tell me you don't live with your parents."

"What? No! I swear I don't I-wait, why does it matter?"

The woman got up and walked towards him. She placed her hand on his chest, "Just because I wouldn't go home with those two guys, doesn't mean I plan on going home alone."

The succubus grinned and Michael could see the dull points of her teeth. She was definitely a lot taller than Michael first thought, but she was still a head shorter than he was. She had dark red shadows around her eyes. Michael took a mental note that the shadows matched her hair color.

"Hey, buddy. You still alive in there?"

"Huh? Oh. Um...yeah," His voice definitely almost cracked on the yeah, and he could feel himself blush.

The girl chuckled, "My name is Clarissa."

"Michael. And like, I promise I totally don't need these to sleep with you, but I would love it if we could get some drinks first. If that's alright with you?"


Clarissa was lounging across Michael's lap. Michael had passed out maybe twenty minutes prior to finishing the story, so Clarissa had to take over.

Jonas looked confused as hell, "Are there cops looking for Michael?"

"Possibly, it depends on- if the cops were called and who called them."

"Wait, so you're only here because you and Michael were going to have sex?" Alex certainly wasn't amused at the story.

"That was the plan. Obviously, that won't be happening right now because he's asleep. But if he's still open to the option when he wakes up, I'm game. If not, I'll leave and you guys won't have to deal with me, alright?"

Jonas stood up, and paced around the living room, "Michael's definitely fired from that job as well- meaning we're not making as much cash as we were, and we have another person staying here, which is fantastic! Oh, and we also never solved that whole skin walker ordeal. So who knows when that's going to come bite us in the ass!"

"Jonas, c'mon, just get some water and breathe. It's fine, we can get through this. We're family remember? And if that means we have to extend that to others, then so be it. We'll be okay, alright?"

Jonas sat down at the island after grabbing a water bottle. He rested his face in his hands, "We're so screwed."