"Yes, I am... and you are a Dragon. Do you think we can be friends?" he asked as he squatted down and addressed the child.

"Yes, me do," Daniel said as he put out a small hand to shake Dwayne's.

"You be Wolf, but you are diffwent," Daniel said as he pointed at Hank and me.

"How are we different, little man?" Hank asked as he got down next to Dwayne to talk to the boy.

"You no have red eyes. Me like the red eye Wolves. People be afraid, but not me," he explained in a very serious four-year-old way.

"The feral Wolves-he's talking about the feral Wolves," I said.

"Well, that makes sense," Hank said.

"How so?" I asked.

"They know the boy is here. He's why they won't leave the perimeter of Dwayne's property," he said.

"Dang it, you're smart," I said with a shake of my head. I knew Junior was MENSA, but I wondered now if Hank was too. Hell, if he was then our kids had a chance of being amazing...as long as they got all of his genes. My genes liked to skip classes.

"Sounds possible," Dima said thoughtfully, "but the Wolves wouldn't give away the location of Daniel."

"Do you know these Wolves personally?" I asked, wondering if she'd been straight with us earlier.

"No, most of them want nothing to do with Dragons. However, there are two who seem attracted to Daniel."

"Does your father know of Daniel's existence?" Hank asked as he picked the child up and put him on his shoulders, much to the small Dragon's delight.

"He suspects," Dima said darkly. "He's not sure. Hardly anyone has ever seen Daniel and no one will until it's safe."

"Okey dokey," Dwayne said as he took Daniel from Hank's shoulders and handed him back to his caretakers. "We need to get back upstairs and figure out a game plan for a game where we have no real clue who the players are, what the rules are, or what the end goal is."

"Sounds like my kind of plan," I said. "It's a weird one, but since I don't have anything better I'll go with it."

Dima kissed her child and sealed the wall with a reverse spell. We quickly made our way back to the Great Room and sat down to figure out what the hell was going on.

Way easier said than done...

Chapter 20.

We sat in the Great Room and mulled the possibilities.

"So you think the Council is out there somewhere and is going to use Angela, with the horrendous dress sense, as bait to get to you?" Dwayne asked, trying to clarify.

"Possibly," I said. "Is there any way they'd know about Granny's situation?"

"No, I don't think so," he said.

"Edward and Spike are friendly with the Dragons and the Council," Vlad called down from the rafters of the room as he tattled on his comrades.

"If you're going to speak, then get your dead ass down here," Dwayne reprimanded the Vamp.

"For enough money they'd talk to anyone," Vlad informed us as he floated down to the floor.

"I don't know," I said with a firm shake of my head. "This situation is stranger than that. It's been like one big elaborate set up for something. We've been attacked several times in the last week."

"You told Angela that Dwayne and your grandmother were in Michigan when we were at the zoo," Dima reminded me.

"Mother-humper... I did."

"I certainly hope you were paid well," Vlad said with distaste at my perceived faux pas.

"She's a good guy. She's on our side, Dead Dude," I snapped at him. "Oh my God, do you think they beat it out of her?"

"It's possible," Hank replied.

"Why does the Council want you dead?" Dima asked.

"We're not a hundred percent sure," Hank said as he touched my shoulder possessively, "but we think it's because they don't want her looking into the death of her parents."

"Which leads me to believe the Council was involved," I added with very little emotion.

I was going on autopilot. I needed to divorce myself from feelings to get the job done.

"So your granny is just confused about your folks being alive?" she asked.

"Looks that way," Dwayne confirmed. "Too many coincidences here-makes me uncomfortable. It's as if I was performing Madonna dressed as Donna Summer."

"God, that does sounds horrible," Vlad said as he flew around the room in agitation.

"Yes. Yes, it does," Dwayne whispered in horror.

"I do believe you might want to look out the window," Vlad informed us as he halted and floated in front of what had to be a fifteen-foot floor to ceiling sheet of glass.

"What the hell?" I muttered as I made my way over and tried to make sense of what I was staring at.

The compound was surrounded by Dragons and Wolves-not feral Wolves-Council Wolves. The feral Wolves were facing off against the Dragons and Council and stood squarely in front of Dwayne's house to defend it.

"Does anyone else think what those feral Wolves are doing is really weird?" I whispered as I made sure I was armed to the teeth.

Dima's quick intake of breath made my stomach drop.

"What?"

"My father is out there with the Dragons. Why in the hell is he out there? It's below him to be with commoners."

"Call me crazy, but my guess is he knows you're here and has come to kill you," I said.

"Okay, Crazy," Dima said with a grim look on her lovely face. "I think you are correct."

"Vlad, there are people trespassing on my property," Dwayne said casually. "What do you think we should do about them?"

"I think we should politely ask them to leave," Vlad answered with a smile so terrifying I got a little sick to my stomach.

"Yes," Dwayne said as he put on a boa which was conveniently laying on the couch. "I think that is a grand idea."

"Oh shit," Hank muttered under his breath.

"I second your shit and will raise you an oh my hell," I mumbled back.

"There were thirty," Hank said as he hung up the phone.

"Thirty what?" I asked as I checked my guns.

"Thirty unsolved deaths of WTF agents over the last thirty years, according to Junior."

"Thirty?" I asked, completely shocked. "The Council let thirty cases go unsolved? Thirty cases where their own agents were murdered?"

Like every other stinking epiphany about WTF, I would deal with the information Hank found later. Right now I wanted to get Angela back if she was out there. I wanted to kill Dima's asshole dad and figure out why the Council was here in the first place.

Was it for me? Was it for Granny?

"Yep. Junior will call with more info as it comes in. He thinks he's on to something," Hank said as he put the burner back in his pocket.

"Why aren't the feral Wolves siding with the Dragons?" I asked.

I looked in dismay at the Cows who were preparing to fight alongside us. It was a tremendously bad idea since they were pacifists.

"Um... maybe you guys should..." I started, but the explosion that rocked the house shut me up quick.

"Half the Cows go to the back of the house and half to the front," Hank yelled as chaos ensued. "Just aim the serum at the mouths of the Dragons, same as we did the other day. We have to stop them from shifting. Vamps divide and cover the Cows. Everyone else go out front."

"Weapons won't work on the Dragons," I called out. "How many of you Vamps can mind meld?"

None of them raised their hands.

Shit.

"I'm the only one," Dwayne said. "I'm a bit drained from feeding Granny, but I'll try if the need arises."

"Good. Dima, you wait to go after your father until we've nailed him with the serum and we're with you. Understand?" I asked tersely.

"Yes," she replied in a clipped tone as pink and silver tendrils of smoke fanned out of her mouth and nose.

"Can you shift?" Hank asked her.

"I can."

"Um, Essie?" Pat called out, raising her hand.

"Yes, Pat?"

"Fart bombs?"

I grinned from ear to ear and bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at such a serious time. "Yes, you can utilize fart bombs, but wait for us to give the go ahead."

The Cows all high-fived while the love-struck Vamps looked on in pride. Again, if it wasn't life or death staring us in the face I'd be on the floor in hysterics. Hank groaned and shook his head.

"We need to add nose plugs to our weapons arsenal," he mumbled.

"Is it that bad?" Dima asked as she checked her stash of knives and daggers and strapped on several more.

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe it," I said with a full body shudder. Simply thinking of it set off my gag reflex.

"Who's watching Granny?" I asked as we all made to go outside.

"Nobody," Granny announced from the doorway that went down to the dungeon. "I'm fine, and if any of them get too close there's a good chance I'll go all Wolfy-Vamp on them. God only knows what that means."

A quick glance at Dwayne confirmed my worst fears. He looked ready to have a fit-similar to the one he'd thrown when he realized Milli Vanilli wasn't really singing. However, this was much worse and far more serious. Granny was a danger to the bad guys, and very possibly the good guys. She needed to go back to the basement with a few of the Cows to protect her.

The second explosion put a stop to moving Granny anywhere.

"Go, go, go!" she yelled as we all broke and headed for the doors. Several of the Cows dove right out of the windows with the Vamps flying on their heels. Two of the Vampyres exploded out of Dwayne's chimney, blowing fieldstone hundreds of feet into the air and the rest of us took the doors. It was a spectacular entrance.

And then there was silence.

Nothing was happening outside. I wasn't even sure who set off the explosions.

Was it the Council? The Dragons? The feral Wolves?

There were about ten or so of the feral Wolves standing guard. Where were the others? We'd killed seven-there should be twenty-three...

They completely ignored us and stayed focused on the quiet threat hovering in the hills surrounding us.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Hank on my left.

"No freakin' clue," he answered.

"Oddest thing I've ever witnessed," Dima said as she squinted up the hill. "Why aren't they charging us? We're outnumbered by a shitload."

"We want Essie McGee and Hank Wilson."