"Where is Jack?"

"He's coming," Alexei said, leaning back in his office chair as he considered the view outside his office windows. The lawyer turned away from the windows after a moment, smiling faintly at Max as the younger Shadow Lord paced in front of the door. "Relax, Max. He'll get here soon."

"Who's Jack?" Brooke inquired, sitting next to Tanya in the chairs next to Alexei's desk.

"Jack is a very large man," Tanya answered with a smile. "He's our resident leg breaker."

"A very crude way of stating the job of an ahroun," Alexei commented, turning to the young woman. "I would think a galliard would be more poetic."

"Galliard?" Brooke repeated, turning to Tanya.

"The storytellers of Garou society," Alexei answered, regaining the girl's attention. "Warrior bards."

"I thought you were a Shadow Lord," Brooke said, confused. Tanya laughed.

"There's different classes, you might say, inside the tribes," the young woman explained. "Max over there is a ragabash. They're sneaky, so we use him to spy on our friends and enemies. Alex is a philodox, or judge, so he makes the shady deals. Jack, who may or may not ever get back from vacation, is the ahroun, the leg breaker, as I said. And cute little me, the galliard, makes up stories to make these guys look good when we all get together."

"Oh," Brooke said, still sounding a bit puzzled.

"You'll get the hang of it," Tanya said with a smile. Brooke started to nod, but turned to the doors as another person entered the room.

"About time, Jack," Max said, turning to the newcomer as he walked through the doors. Tanya's description of Jack Mortiss as large was an understatement; the black haired, faintly Slavic man was at least two or three inches over six feet tall and appeared nearly as wide. Everything the man wore was solid black, from his dress pants and suit jacket to his button down shirt and even his solid, flat black sunglasses. Jack regarded the girl with a faintly irritable and thoroughly disinterested expression, then looked to Alexei.

"How were the Adirondacks?" the lawyer inquired amiably.

"They would be much better if I was still there," Jack stated simply, allowing a clear note of displeasure to color his statement.

"I didn't want to call you back, but it appears our Black Spiral friends have taken an interest in Miss Farron here," Alexei explained, gesturing to the girl. Brooke smiled at Jack as he appraised her a second time, but the ahroun simply scowled at her in return. "I'd like you to escort her and Miss Kolesar to Matthew Narducci. I assume you know where he is?"

"I hate Brooklyn," Jack grumbled, shaking his head in disgust.

"None of us are particularly fond of the place," Alexei conceded. "It should only take the morning, though. You'll be back in time for lunch."

"Understood," Jack muttered. Then he simply turned and started back out of the office, leaving Tanya and Brooke behind.

"I see he's in one of his happy moods," Tanya noted to Alexei. The lawyer simply shrugged.

"You'd better catch up, before he leaves without you," the older Shadow Lord remarked. Tanya nodded, then turned back to Brooke.

"Well, let's go chase Jack down," the young woman said with a smile. Brooke nodded, and followed the galliard as she left the office. As the two disappeared through the doors, Max looked back to his boss.

"Well, we might as well get going," the younger Shadow Lord observed.

"Might as well," Alexei confirmed, pulling on his jacket.

___________________________________________________

"I'm surprised you even found someone to make and deliver a pizza at eight in the morning."

"So am I," Callow agreed, carrying an extra large pizza in one hand as he dragged the body of the dead delivery girl into Bickle's apartment. Spook followed a step behind the fat Black Spiral Dancer, his eyes locked on the college aged delivery girl. "Hey Xavier, is this one pretty enough for you?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Bickle demanded, coming back into the living room as Callow dumped the girl in the center of the living room.

"I'm eating a pizza," Callow answered. "Oh yeah. Pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese. You want a slice?"

"What the hell did you drag her in for?" Bickle asked angrily, pointing to the delivery girl.

"It's a present for Xavier," Callow said nonchalantly. "He was here a minute ago."

"You idiot!" Bickle shouted. "Every time you order a pizza here, you have to whack the delivery person! Pretty soon no one'll ever deliver here!"

"I don't do it every time," Callow countered as he dropped down on the couch and opened the pizza box. "Only when it's a pretty girl that gets that look in her eyes when I don't tip. So where is Xavier, anyway?"

"He's taking a leak," Spook answered, still fixated on the corpse in the center of the room. "What are you going to do with her?"

"As long as Xavier doesn't want her, she's yours," Callow replied through a mouthful of pizza. Bickle sighed in resignation, then helped himself to a slice of Callow's pie. A moment later, Xavier appeared from the bathroom, stopping for a moment to consider the room's newest occupant.

"You want her?" Spook inquired.

"She's yours," Xavier replied absently. "Has anyone even put any thought into how we can get Brooke away from Karamov?"

"I'm not fighting Mortiss, no way," Bickle stated with finality

"We know," Callow said. "I'm fighting Mortiss."

"No one's fighting anyone until we figure out how to get Brooke back!" Xavier shouted.

"I say we just sneak in and steal her," Spook said. "Though in all actuality, I really think you should just go hang around another high school and get yourself a different date."

"We need her, Spook!" Xavier shouted. The pack leader slammed his fist into the wall, then stopped and tried to rein in his anger.

"Look," Callow stated, pausing for a moment from devouring his pizza. "Do you think Karamov is really keeping this girl around him all the time? No. He' probably foisted her off on van der Waal or Kolesar. Van der Waal's only dangerous when he's a hundred yards away with that sniper rifle, and well, let's just say I'd really enjoy getting into a scrape with Tanya."

"I have dibs on her," Spook put in.

"To the victor, buddy boy," Callow stated. Then he turned back to Xavier. "So this is what we do. We hang out around Karamov's offices, and we wait to see who has her. Spook can track anyone through this city, so he can follow van der Waal. Bickle can send a spirit after Kolesar, and eventually we'll find out which one has her. And if one of them brings her to the offices, well, we jump them in the lobby and take the girl there."

"Great plan," Spook said. "Only I'll follow Tanya."

"Alright," Xavier said, a smile slowly coming to his face. "Good thinking, Callow. Spook, you follow van der Waal. Bickle, get a spirit on Kolesar."

"I'll follow Tanya," Spook said again.

"I can't risk having you get distracted," Xavier pointed out. "You follow van der Waal. When everything's over, you can do whatever you want, but right now, you stay away from the bitch."

"You ruin all my fun," Spook grumbled as Xavier brushed past him.

"Well, come on!" the pack leader said, heading for the door. "We have work to do!"

____________________________________________________

"So, um, who's this Matthew Narducci?"

"He's a Glass Walker," Tanya replied as she and Brooke ascended a creaky flight of steps to the third floor of a brownstone row house in Bay Ridge. The drive from Alexei's midtown offices to the southern end of Brooklyn had taken a half hour, but Jack Mortiss' intimidating presence in Tanya's silver Infiniti had kept the girl silent for the entire trip. Now, with Jack a half flight of steps behind the two women, Brooke finally felt secure enough to ask her guide about the man they were meeting. "He's a little weird, but he's relatively harmless."

"I guess the Glass Walkers are another tribe of werewolves?" Brooke concluded.

"Yep," Tanya replied as they reached the third floor. "The Glass Walkers are, in essence, Garou that are simply fascinated with the city and technology. They think the cities are great."

"But you don't," Brooke guessed. Tanya smiled.

"I don't mind them that much," the young woman stated. "Now Jack there, he despises cities. He's not too keen on humanity as a whole, but he was born a wolf. Hard to like the people that have pushed your kind to the edge of extinction."

"I guess not," Brooke agreed, throwing a nervous glance over her shoulder. Jack simply scowled at her as she caught his eyes, and the girl quickly turned back to Tanya just as she stopped at a door.

"Here we are," the Shadow Lord said brightly, knocking on the door. Jack joined the group as they waited for someone to answer the summons. Tanya looked up to the far larger Shadow Lord, and turned a smile on her ally. "Smile, Jack," the young woman said. "Look happy for once in your life."

"Maybe later," Jack stated curtly. Tanya chuckled as she turned back to the door. Brooke glanced back to Jack again, but turned back as she heard the door open.

The young man in the apartment could not be any older than twenty, with a scraggly goatee and an unruly mop of brown hair on his head. His dark brown eyes were only half open as he scratched at the Knicks jersey that he wore, but he quickly started to wake up as he saw Tanya.

"Jeremy," Tanya said warmly. "How are you?"

"Asleep," Jeremy replied, looking past the galliard to her entourage. "Are we having a party?"

"Sort of," Tanya replied. "Is Matt home?"

"He's asleep, too," Jeremy answered.

"Could we please see him?" Tanya asked, her voice almost sickeningly polite. "It's really important."

"Yeah, sure," Jeremy grumbled, turning back into the apartment. "Hey Matt!" the young man shouted to the back rooms. "The Queen of Darkness wants to see you!"

"Queen of Darkness?" Brooke repeated, looking to Tanya.

"He's just upset that I turned him down," the Shadow Lord explained nonchalantly.

"She's evil incarnate," Jeremy said, turning back to Brooke. "Don't listen to anything she tells you."

"Oh, come on, Jeremy," Tanya chided, walking up behind the young man and putting her arms around his neck. "You know you love me."

"As much as I love Jack," Jeremy grumbled. As he finished his statement, a second young man, this one clean shaven and, if anything, younger than Jeremy, appeared from one of the two back rooms. Brooke immediately noticed a resemblance between Jeremy and the newcomer that went beyond the brown hair and eyes.

"Um, was I expecting you today?" Matthew Narducci inquired, glancing from Tanya to Jack and back again. Tanya shook her head.

"No, not really," the Shadow Lord replied. "But we have a little bit of a quandary, and we thought you might be able to help us."

"Oh," Matt said, looking to Brooke. "Is she the quandary?"

"Such a smart boy," Tanya said with a grin. "Yes, she is. There's a pack of Black Spiral Dancers that have taken an interest in her, and we thought you might be able to tell us why."

"He's a Glass Walker, not a Spiral," Jeremy pointed out, walking into the apartment's tiny kitchen.

"He's also a theurge," Tanya added. "If it's something mystical about the girl that has attracted the Black Spirals, he should be able to find it."

"Do we have any O.J. left?" Matt inquired, taking a few steps to the kitchen.

"I thought you were going to get some yesterday," Jeremy said.

"No I didn't," Matt said, puzzled.

"Yes you did," Jeremy countered, shutting the fridge. "We're out of orange juice."

"Too many screwdrivers," Matt said, shaking his head and turning back to Tanya and Brooke. "Okay. So we're trying to figure out if Miss, um"

"Brooke," the girl prompted.

"Miss Brooke?" Matt said.

"Just Brooke."

"Oh," Matt said. "So we're trying to figure out if Brooke is somehow mystical, or something."

"Or something," Tanya agreed. "So do you think you can do it?"

"At this time of the morning I'm usually lucky to be able to hit the toilet bowl," Matt said, rubbing at his eyes. "Okay, let's give this a try."

Matt appraised Brooke for a long moment, walking around her and considering every last detail. He circled her three times, each time stropping and staring sternly into her eyes for a few seconds. Finally, he stepped back, and scratched his chin for a moment.

"Did you figure anything out?" Tanya inquired. Matt stopped scratching his chin for a moment.

"I need a shave," the theurge observed, rubbing his hand along his cheek for a moment.

"No, I meant about Brooke," Tanya prompted.

"Oh, yeah," Matt said. "Hold on a minute. I have to step out."

Brooke watched as Matt turned to a slightly dirty mirror on the living room wall, and then simply tried to walk through it. As he bounced off of the mirror, Tanya stifled a chuckle, and even Jack managed a smirk at the display.

"Concentrate, Matthew-san," Jeremy said from the kitchen, affecting a horrible Japanese accent. Matt rubbed his forehead for a moment, and turned a vaguely embarrassed smile on his guests.

"Always screw up the first try of the day," the Glass Walker said with a shrug. Then he turned and walked into the mirror again. This time, instead of bouncing off, he simply vanished into thin air. Brooke's jaw dropped in shock.

"He went to the Umbra," Tanya explained. "That's the spirit world."

"Do you think he'll find anything out?" Brooke inquired.

"I couldn't tell you for sure, but I hope he comes back with something," Tanya answered. "The curiosity is killing me."

_____________________________________________________

"Standard deadbolt lock. No problem."

"Do it quietly," Alexei said, leaning against the hallway wall as Max closed his eyes for a second in concentration. Calling upon the gifts of the ragabash, Max smiled as he heard the deadbolt retreat into the lock barrel, and slowly opened the door. Silently the two men entered the apartment, ready to react to any threat if Xavier happened to be home.

The living room was almost completely bare, with only a battered, black velvet couch and a large television set on the center of the thin, gray carpeting. Max and Alexei both froze, however, as they found two men waiting for them.

"How you doing, kid?" Trent inquired with a thin smirk, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his trench coat as he leaned back against the far wall.

"Alright," Max answered, his eyes drifting from the assassin to the man sitting on the couch. Dressed in a hand tailored, midnight blue suit and wearing gold rimmed glasses, the man was easily into his thirties, with impossibly neat, dark brown hair and cold brown eyes. Alexei and Trent's ally locked cold gazes for a moment, but then the Shadow Lord simply smiled.

"I didn't think you left your lair before dark, Nicco," Alexei stated, his right hand slowly drifting to his back sheath. Max tensed for a battle as well, folding his arms across his chest to keep them close to the Glocks under his jacket.

"Not usually, but I do make exceptions," Nicco Venizio said with a grin of his own. "I see where you hand is heading, but I actually don't wish to kill you right now."

"Are you looking for the girl I found?" Alexei inquired, relaxing only slightly. Nicco nodded in affirmation as he removed his glasses and pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

"She's dangerous, Alexei," the Black Spiral Dancer said. "It would be in your best interest to dispose of her in a timely manner."

"And why is she dangerous?" the philodox inquired. Nicco stood as he polished his glasses, taking a few steps to the window.

"I like this city, Alexei," the Black Spiral Dancer said. "I like its corruption, its moral bankruptcy, all the challenges a city of nine million, not to mention the millions of people in Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester, can offer. I even like you, Alexei, though only as an enemy. I'd hate to see it all get flushed down the drain by some fifteen year old slut."

"Oh," Alexei said. "She's going to destroy the city on us?"

"In a certain manner of speaking, that's what I've been led to believe," Nicco replied, turning back to the Shadow Lord. "Have you ever heard of Nigel Chouinard?"

"Can't say that I have," Alexei answered.

"I didn't think you would have," Nicco said. "He's a mage. A Marauder, to be exact, if you know what that is. To put it lightly, he's not playing with a full deck. He adores destruction and is a card carrying nihilist."

"Sounds like he's just your type of guy," Max commented. Trent chuckled.

"Like I said, I like this city," Nicco stated. "Nigel would like to see it burning to the ground. And he's not what you would call subtle. After that Sabbat disaster last Halloween, the last thing we need is a mage throwing fireballs in the streets or twisting metal with the force of his mind. Bad for business."

"It is," Alexei agreed. "So how does Brooke figure in?"

"Apparently, Nigel wants her for something, but we don't know what, exactly," Nicco replied. "It seems that Nigel is convinced of her usefulness, in some kind of ritual or spell, I would guess. Whether she really is or not, he won't move until he has her. So, we're not going to let him have her."

"Then you should call your thugs off," Alexei stated. "Xavier and his pack are working with him."

"We know," Nicco said. "They are less willing to take a long term view. They think Nigel will bring the Beast of War itself to earth. If that happens, it's all well and good, but I seriously doubt that he's going to manage that little trick with just one girl."

"So you're helping us to stop this Nigel Chouinard," Alexei concluded. Nicco laughed.

"I'm just telling you that you should kill that girl," the Black Spiral Dancer replied through his mirth. "Well, good day, Mister Karamov. I believe the business day is just starting, and I have the entire upper Hudson to pollute. But don't be a stranger. Stop by any time you like. You know where my offices are."

"I'll see you around," Alexei said. Nicco nodded, and he and Trent walked out of the apartment. Max watched them go for a long moment, then glanced to his leader.

"Should we go after them?" the ragabash inquired.

"No, not now," Alexei replied. "Let's get back to the office. Hopefully, Tanya will have found out something useful from our little Glass Walker buddies in Brooklyn."

______________________________________________________

"So we didn't find out anything useful?"

"No," Tanya confirmed as she led Brooke up the steps to Alexei's office building. The Shadow Lord's normally cheery mood had turned vaguely downcast, but she managed to give Brooke a bright smile as they neared the doors of the building. As he had earlier, Jack remained a few steps behind the pair, still scowling as he continued to watch their surroundings for any kind of attack. "I wouldn't worry, though," Tanya continued. "Matt said he was going to check with a few of his friends, and maybe they'll be able to come up with something more for us."

"I really hope they do," Brooke said, dropping her eyes to the ground as they neared the glass doors of the building. "I just want this all to be over."

"Soon enough," Tanya said as she reached for the door. "Maybe Alex-"

The glass doors suddenly exploded outward, cutting Tanya off in the middle of her sentence. The two women stumbled backward as shards of glass tore across them, ripping crimson lines across them. Brooke dropped to the ground with a scream of pain, but looked up in time to see Xavier and three of his companions simply appear over her. Xavier quickly reached down and grabbed her by her wrist, hauling her back to her feet before she could try to escape.

And then Jack hit him.

Xavier never saw him coming until it was far too late to avoid him. Jack was even larger than Brooke first remembered, his glasses gone and his shirt torn by his rippling muscles as he surged forward with a mace of black steel. Xavier was hurled backward by the impact of the Shadow Lord's fierce backhanded strike, flying into the building with a peal of thunder from Jack's weapon. Jack spun quickly, just in time to avoid a wiry, coal black wolf with a white shock of hair crowning its head and throw it into the low stone wall edging the staircase. Brooke scrambled behind the huge ahroun as Tanya dragged herself back to her feet and Jack pivoted to face an immensely fat man striding out of the shattered doors with a length of pipe in his hand.

"You and me, buddy boy," the fat man snarled, pausing long enough to size up his opponent. Jack hefted his mace and leveled a stern, icy glare on Callow as he started forward again. With each step he took, the fat Black Spiral Dancer grew even larger, quickly transforming to his crinos form as he closed the last few feet to his foe. Jack rushed forward at the last instant, quickly assuming his own war form as the two ahrouns slammed into each other.

"Brooke, come on!" Tanya ordered, dragging the girl toward the office. Callow let out a howl of pain that carried over another peal of thunder, and Brooke glanced over her shoulder to see the Black Spiral Dancer dropping away from Jack and cradling a shattered arm. She turned back just as Tanya stopped in her tracks, glancing around hastily to find a route around Bickle.

"Ooh, I gotcha now," the Black Spiral theurge snarled out, still in his human form. "I thought the glass doors were a nice touch, didn't you?"

A low, even snarl rumbled out from behind Brooke. Bickle glanced up from Tanya, and his eyes widened in terror as Jack stalked forward slowly, his huge mace in hand.

"M-M-Mortiss," Bickle stammered in fright. "II w-w-was j-just leaving."

Bickle turned and bolted back into the building lobby, but Jack was forced to turn as Callow rejoined the fight. Tanya quickly shifted forms, growing larger but stopping far short of the crinos form that Jack had taken. In her seemingly Neanderthal guise, Tanya's myriad cuts and gashes began to heal instantly, but Brooke had no time to marvel at the Shadow Lord's amazing regenerative capabilities as Tanya dragged her into the building. Brooke stumbled and nearly fell through the shattered doorway, but as she regained her balance, she could see Xavier winding up to throw something at the Shadow Lord.

"Tanya, look out!" Brooke shouted. Tanya turned quickly, but she had no time to react to the rope of putty that hit her and instantly wound around her. Brooke fell away as Tanya struggled to free herself, but the white headed wolf suddenly slammed into her from behind and knocked her to the ground.

"Come on, Brooke," Xavier growled, grabbing the girl by her hair. "We have places to go."

Tanya hit the ground flat on her back and still trying to break free of the putty rope that bound her, but the wolf over her quickly changed back to his human form. The Shadow Lord froze for a moment as Spook leaned in close over her, leering at her as he started to rip at her blouse.

"Oh yeah, we gonna have some fun now," the Black Spiral breathed out, leaning down over her. Fueled by rage, Tanya's body twisted and transformed instantly, growing to almost nine feet and rippling with muscles. Spook was thrown backwards as the Shadow Lord assumed her crinos form, but the Black Spiral was far from scared as he dropped into a low fighting crouch.

"Spook, come on, let's go!" Xavier ordered, still holding on to Brooke as she struggled to get free. Spook turned back to the Shadow Lord as Tanya howled in rage and finally tore free of her restraints.

"Next time," Spook promised with a huge, toothy grin. The he turned to run. "We'll do it doggy style, bi-atch!"

Tanya roared again and started after Xavier and Brooke, but the two bolted out onto the street. Tanya changed forms again into that of a large wolf, but by the time she reached the bottom of the steps, Bickle had come to the curb with a van and Xavier, Spook, and Brooke had all piled into the vehicle. On the steps, Callow let out a cross between a laugh and a howl, then charged down the steps to the van. Unable to change forms before the huge Black Spiral could reach her, Tanya was thrown out of the way with ma simple forearm shove by the ahroun. Jack pounced down the steps after his combatant, but Callow simply leapt on top of the van as it roared away from the curb.

"What the hell is going on?" Max suddenly exclaimed, rushing out of the front doors of the office building with his Glocks drawn. Reverting to their human forms, Tanya and Jack turned back to the ragabash.

"Xavier just took Brooke," the galliard stated simply.