Chapter 188 – Bored of Bores

“Think there are like, merpeople and sea monsters in the great lakes? Oh! Is that why they say Lake Superior never gives up her dead?” – An overheard conversation at a Lake Michigan beach.

The days after touring the site of the future community on his land saw Kurt returning to one of his previous projects. This one even had special guest, James Cavans, local vampire gunsmith and all-around stand-up guy.

Jokes aside, the week was turning into a grind with a lot of back and forth for Kurt and James. They spent much of the time going over various firearms and how they could be modified to do what they needed. It was tedious work as they figured out not only the enchantments but how to feed the significantly shorter, and notably rimless, projectiles reliably.

They were on day three of the project and had moved on to revolvers. Val, who had been given a talking to after Kristi’s outburst, was completely fed up with the project and decided to find something more productive to do.

“I can’t take it anymore, I am going to the bookstore.” Val announced, looking over the group, specifically Kristi and Rindi. “Anyone want to come with?”

“I can’t.” Rindi reminded her, not bothering to look away from the work bench. “Unless it’s very close by, which I doubt.” She resumed her vigil over Kurt and James as they test fit a barrel into a heavily modified revolver frame.

Kristi looked up from her switch. “Why the bookstore?”

“Tech won’t work on Talth. Need books to stay entertained.” Val explained with a shrug. “I figure that’s better than sitting around here, since we have nothing to do in the Order.”

“You can always go around the bazaar again.” Kurt suggested. “See if we missed anything.” They had already done multiple trips around the various shops but couldn’t find anything they thought they needed after the enchanters they had met showed off their works.

Ears flattening atop her head, Val glared at him. “No. We have already gotten everything we need from there.”

Kurt shrugged and summoned a slip of paper from his storage. “Here is a list of things I would like to pack for the travels. Can you pick these up on your way?”

Snatching the list from him, Val turned back to Kristi. “You coming?”

“Sure.” Kristi got up and went to give Kurt a kiss goodbye before leaving the vault.

Val followed suit and was on her way out after another kiss. She added a light amount of groping but that was also pretty on character for her.

Their distractions solved, Kurt and James returned to the project in hand. Or in this case, in the vice on the bench top. “So, packet loading?”

The vampire snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Now I remember.” He summoned a small, flat piece of stamped metal. “Moon clips for packet loading.”

“Right but those need to clip onto a rim or something, right?” Kurt wasn’t sure how that would work without a case to hold the bullets and power.

James gave him a look. It was the same look that he was getting an awful lot from not only his wolf but also the girls. “What?” Kurt asked.

In reply, James rapped his knuckles on the small box of engraving tools. He raised an eyebrow at Kurt as he did before sighing. “Haa. Come on, Kurt. Enchant them.”

“Oh!” Kurt sat up straight on his stool. “Well, that would work.”

“Seriously, I can’t believe that wasn’t your first thought when we had a problem.” James groused as he pulled out a series of flat disks.

“Dude, cut me some slack. Between you, the refugees, the Order and the girls, I am running a little thin on mental bandwidth.” Kurt defended himself.

James was about to quip back but saw Rindi nodding sagely, still not looking up. “It’s true. He is being pulled in a lot of directions to handle a lot of things that are mentally taxing.”

“Alright, I’ll cut you some slack.” James slid the metal disks over to Kurt. “So, I mocked these up to see what you think.”

Removing the cylinder and crane from the revolver frame, James showed him how the disk fit on the back of the cylinder. “See, this can drop right in. I was thinking you could work an aligning or binding enchant on the face and then something to transfer the spell from the hammer on the back side.”

“Oh, that might work.” Kurt took one and saw that there were 8 spots marked on it for where the 38 caliber bullets would sit. “I just need to isolate each chamber, so they don’t all go at once. Would we still be able to single load if needed?”

“Sure.” James hit the ejector rod and the plate popped off. “Just make sure to do that same binding work to the ejector star so it grabs the bullets. The chambers are lightly choked since you are going to be shooting 125 grain stuff, but you could push a heavier one in with a little force if you wanted to shoot a 180 or something.”

Kurt looked at the parts again, wondering if they should have gone for a bigger diameter bullet. They had chosen the 38/357 guns for the capacity but that meant the parts were smaller and harder to work on.

The difficulty wasn’t a big deal, since they were only building a few, but it would take some time. The ejectors were an often-overlooked essential piece since safely unloading a gun was just as important as safely loading it.

“Alright, I can do that. Did you get the rifle barrels milled out?”

“Yeah, barrels and the firing pins are pulled. Hammers too, but you knew that.” James was going down his note pad. “I can quickly do the same with revolvers small parts for you and have the barrels back tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds great.” Kurt said. “What stock did you use for those clips?”

“Brought some with me.” James summoned a large sheet of metal. “I took the opportunity to get some stock of it.”

“Alright, let me draft a design. Can you use your laser to cut them out and etch the enchants?”

“Got it covered.”

Kurt nodded and slid his laptop over. He scanned the disk of metal and was able to use his program to make a design and then convert it to a 2D image for the laser. He had to do it twice, one for the holding and one for the transfer runes but it would be workable.

“Alright. That is sent.” Kurt said, half an hour later. James had taken the time to strip each of the guns down to leave him with the parts he needed to engrave since James’s laser didn’t work well on things that weren’t flat.

“How many do you want?” The vampire asked.

Unsure of the actual count they would need, Kurt shrugged. “Don’t know. How many can you make?”

“I can probably get a hundred-forty-four per sheet. So, I could do… I got eight sheets… probably have some loss…” James began trying to do mental math. “Like eleven hundred? Yeah, about eleven hundred assuming some loss.”

Kurt reached out a hand. “Deal. I will get these rolling and we can put one together tomorrow and test all of them at once.”

James returned the handshake and packed up his things. He said goodbye to Kurt and Rindi as he headed for the door. They let the vampire see himself out while Kurt cleaned up.

“He is a strange little man.” Rindi commented after she closed her book.

“Stranger than me?” Kurt joked.

Rindi smiled. “Maybe not.”

“Ouch.” He laughed. “Well, let’s break for lunch. I am sure the others will eat out.”

“Can I help?” Rindi asked as they went up the stairs.

Pausing at the top, Kurt turned to her. “Sure. What did you want to make?”

“I was thinking ramen and those dumpling things if we still have them.” Rindi offered. “I want to try frying something that isn’t an egg or some sort of meat.”

Kurt smiled. “Sounds good. I will do the other toppings if you want to give that a go.” He was trying to encourage her where possible as she tried new things. Her taking an interest in the more tedious domestic tasks was new but he was glad for the help. “After lunch I have to go meet with Jade about some pack stuff. Do you want to come with?”

Flashing a smile wide enough to show some fang, Rindi nodded. “I would love to.”

*****

“I love that man, but I really can’t stand to just watch him work like that for hours every day.” Val said by way of explanation when Kristi asked about the sudden trip.

“I get that, but you could always find something to occupy yourself.” Kristi replied.

The pair were sitting on a bench in Traverse City. It was in one of the parks that overlooked the bay and sat between the water and the city. This particular bench was in the shade and chosen for specific reasons.

The main reason they picked that bench was because it was away from the water and thus the majority of the people at the park. Secondly was that it would conceal Kristi’s angelic nature by not letting the sunlight refract from her mostly invisible halo. Thirdly, Val always complained about getting too warm in the direct sunlight if she wasn’t in much more ‘breathable’ attire.

Shrugging, Val leaned in, resting her head on Kristi’s shoulder. “After getting everything ready for Kurt’s parents to come and watch the house while we are gone, there isn’t much for me to do. Well, not things that are actually useful.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. Both of us kinda did everything we needed in those first couple days.” Val sighed as she snuggled in. “We also did the banking and the lawyer stuff, which were the main things for us. Then after all the enchanters we met, we are flush with all the equipment we could hope for. After you and Kurt finished the basement bedroom all I have left to do is put together the furniture.”

Kristi looked down, staring at the top of Val’s head. “So, you just felt fidgety?” She wrapped an arm around Val, adjusting their position to something more comfortable.

“That is a good way to put it.”

They sat in silence for a while longer, watching the world go by. It was a relatively calm day, only a slight breeze coming along the shore. It was enough to waft over someone with a refreshing coolness but not so much that the sail boats were out on the water.

Val really wished there was more wind. She liked watching the colorful boats going around on the bay. The chance to spend time with Kristi watching them would have been perfect. She would also say she was happy spending time with her no matter what. Afterall, quite moments with her girlfr-lov-mate?...

“Kristi?”

“Yes?”

“What are we?” Val asked, not lifting her head from its perch. “Like our relationship. You and me.”

Kristi hummed, the vibration carrying through her chest and into Val’s ear before she answered. “Well, I guess we are to each other as we are to Kurt?” she paused and they watched a young couple ride past on their bikes. “So, we are wives?”

Val felt the arm around her tighten for a moment, like a ratchet strap made from steel. It relaxed almost immediately, shifting so it was a hand on her arm that ran up and down. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“Really?” Kristi sounded surprised.

“Yeah, like, it felt right.” Val sat up, turning sideways on the bench to face her. “I had been thinking about you as my girlfriend, but it didn’t seem right.”

Smirking, Kristi’s eyes roamed up and down Val. “In my culture we would be considered married.”

“Not in mine. It would be a mistress sorta deal.” Val laughed then. “But that might be a fun game to play, ‘Mistress Kristi’.” She bounced her eyebrows in time with the inuendo.

“A mistress you say?” Kristi sounded like she was serious in her consideration. “Not sure about that, you’re kind of a brat some times. I think I will try my luck with Rindi instead.” She laughed at the look on Val’s face.

“I’m serious here.” Val pouted.

“That’s a first.” Krist’s chuckle faded. “But I think wife is right. We are all equals in the relationship.”

“Yeah.” Val smiled. “Wife feels good.”

“You feel good.” Kristi shot back before leaning in and placing a kiss on Val’s lips. “Come on, wife, we should probably go find lunch and get your stuff before we head home.”

Val hummed, her eyes still closed and face pressed toward Kristi. “What’s the rush?”

“Well, for starters, I don’t want to get freaky with my wife in a park. That is clearly bedroom activity.”

“What else?” Val was running her hands up Kristi’s bare legs, fingertips barely sliding under the tight hem of her shorts.

Kristi was starting to squirm from the attention but managed to push through the distraction. “We left Kurt and Rindi alone. It is probably not a good idea since they are both the most awkward people when dealing with this relationship thing of theirs.”

“That’s a pretty good reason.” Val conceded and stood up, suddenly stopping her borderline inappropriate touching. “Better get a move on before things come to a head and we have a mess to clean up.”

Snatching her wrist, Kristi pulled herself up while spinning Val into her and wrapping her in a hug. She leaned in and planted another kiss on the vixen, one that lasted a little too long. “Oh, there is going to be mess but you and I are going to be the ones making it.” She growled as they parted before placing a firm spank on Val’s butt. “I promise you that.”

*****

Kurt was standing on the porch of the farmhouse, looking out at the werewolves arrayed before him after Jade had called them to formation. “Run this by me again? What exactly are we looking to do here?”

“Of course, sire.” Jade was standing right beside him and didn’t have to raise her voice above a whisper. “Because we have taken on some new wolves, the packs are very imbalanced. We are looking to redistribute them and even things out.”

Pointing to Henry Schmidt, Traverse City Police chief and now acting Sherriff, Kurt did a quick count. “Doesn’t look balanced. The other packs have a dozen each while his only has seven, counting him.”

“Those are all the lycan deputies under him.” Jade explained. “The other six packs are the remainder.”

“Which one is yours?” Kurt noted that the packs were all standing in rows extending away from him with the alphas an additional step out front of each. He recognized Henry, Ra and Justin but not the others.

Jade shook her head. “None, sire. As your saint I have to stand apart from them to better see to their individual needs. It will also allow me to absorb any overflow until we can make a new pack.”

“And they are?” Kurt looked to the group of wolves milling about on the side. Nearly twenty of them were not arranged into packs. Judging by their demographic and recognizing a few of them, he had a suspicion of who they were.

“Families. They are not suited to the ‘working pack’ lifestyle but will live here regardless.” Jade explained the obvious.

That made sense to Kurt. He saw several children and their mothers along with a few older individuals mixed in. He also saw Kate, who waved as their eyes met. He decided to ignore the implications of the young, mother-to-be being there. “Tell me about the new alphas.”

He could see their auras. They looked strong and well rounded, outshining the other wolves in their intensity. He recognized two of them as coming from the previous packs, Gus and one of Justin’s men, Xavier. It looked like Gus was moving up in the world as his pack had the rest of Jades former team.

“As you can see, they are all very strong in their aura.” Jade began. “I have interviewed all of them and inspected as best I could for any undesirable traits or taint of our curse. They all have experience and, with the exception of Xavier, are born wolves with strong history of leadership.”

“Good.” Kurt grunted. “What about the packs in general?”

Jade summoned a clip board from her ring and handed it to him. “The packs have been arranged to spread out the demographics as much as possible without breaking cohesion with the alphas.”

“Language barrier and cultural reasons for some, I assume.” Kurt guessed, going off the names grouped on the rosters.

“Indeed. We also tried to even the genders as best we could for the previously explained reasons.” Jade hinted at their previous talk in the forest dreamscape and how a lot of the werewolves ‘bonded’.

Kurt’s eyes flicked to the group on the side. “How many with families and mates outside the packs?

“Seven, counting Calum. All evenly split.”

Nodding, Kurt read through the packet for a moment. “What is your plan for discipline and order?” He had seen the few names she flagged as troublemakers.

“The usual way.”

Cocking an eyebrow, Kurt turned to her. “The usual way?”

“Penal assignments can always be made.” Jade shrugged. “Rewards can also be granted for those who excel. But I always prefer finding alternate means of control.”

“Care to share?” Kurt was wondering what she meant but was thankful that she wasn’t looking to have problems solved with a brawl, shifted or not.

Jade huffed a laugh. “Ha. Why try to make someone into something they are not? Use people for what they are best at, so they get to do things they like.” She gestured to the werewolves.

Kurt then noticed that the teams were all organized in specific ways. He knew that Jade and Ra had different methods for getting things done and saw their packs were of similar mind. He also saw that Justin’s pack had also been split up to account for the rowdy folks, underhanded crooks and consummate professionals.

“Ah, I see. Alright, let’s do it.” Kurt grunted. “Is this going to be a spectator event or are we moving somewhere private?”

Stepping off the porch, Jade led the way to the front of the group. “I figured a public demonstration would be in order. Afterall, you gave one the other day and our new brethren missed it.”

Kurt walked down the line, greeting the alphas he knew. Henry was first and even seemed to be in a good mood for once, likely due to his ascension to an alpha not long ago. When he got to the new alpha candidates and packs, it took a little longer since introductions were being made.

He found the packs from eastern Europe and south America to be interesting. It was the first time in a while that he had interacted with a werewolf who didn’t have an idea of who he was in relation to them. To say there was confusion was an understatement after they saw his half-elf features up close.

There was a general grumbling from many of the wolves. Many of them likely assumed he wasn’t a wolf since, to their knowledge, only humans could be turned. He was happy to rid them of that misconception.

“Candidates!” Jade barked, causing the chatter to halt immediately. “This is your last chance to back out.” she eyed them while transforming her switch blade from a short baton to a long staff.

Barely waiting for Jade to finish, Gus stepped forward. “I am ready to ascend, Lady Jade, should our lord be willing to grant me the honor.”

“I too stand ready, Lady Jade.” Xavier said, stepping up alongside Gus.

Not even looking to Kurt, Jade smiled softly. “Then come, present yourself to the Lupus Rex.”

Both men began walking forward, crossing the few yards that separated them. They stopped before Kurt, removed their shirts and dropped to a knee. They both looked up at him, eyes filled with expectation that was both unnerving and humbling to Kurt.

Knowing that Jade was making a spectacle out of the situation, Kurt began to shift. He let his body go through the motion, the transformation unimpeded. If he had been able to hear, over the sound blood rushing and bones cracking, he would have heard the gasps from the assembled werewolves. As it was, when he opened his eyes, it was to see a mass of kneeling people before him with two exceptions.

Jade stayed exactly where she had been, not moving as she watched the proceedings while her aura surged and began interacting with the faith radiating from the wolves. The other was Kate, who stood there, mouth agape as she stared up at Kurt.

Ignoring the latter for now, Kurt bent down, placing his front paws on the ground as he opened his jaws over Gus’ shoulder. The man closed his eyes, his face adopting a peaceful expression even as teeth broke his skin and the rush of Kurt’s divinity began flowing into him.

Kurt immediately released Gus and moved to Xavier. Doing the same to the tall Hispanic man. This time, there was a sound as Xavier gasped but otherwise didn’t move until Kurt had released him. He began his shift immediately after and moved away to join Gus as they watched from Jade’s side

When Kurt looked up, it was to see the other two ‘candidates’ as Jade had called them. One was a Brazilian woman, Camila, with skin even darker than Jade’s, who had been standing in front of the primarily Hispanic group. The other was a painfully pale Polish man named Luka, who was the polar opposite of the woman.

Camila unbuttoned her uniform top before kneeling and touching her forehead on the ground. She lifted it a moment later and looked up at Kurt with a flinty expression, eyes slightly squinting. “By your will, I seek ascension.” She said in heavily accented English.

Clearly made of sterner stuff than the others, Camila watched intently as Kurt’s jaws descended toward her. She flinched only a little as his breath washed over her shoulder. He didn’t give her any more time to move as he clamped down, piercing her skin and making her grunt in pain. She was released a couple seconds later and managed to take a few steps away before her shift began.

Next in line was the man, Luka. He knelt just as the others had but didn’t touch his head to the ground like Camila. He spoke in a deep voice in his native language, which Kurt only understood due to the implant in his head. “I live to serve, God of Wolves.”

Tears streamed down his face as he looked up at Kurt. Initially he wanted to stop, to pause the raising of this alpha who was so clearly afraid. Then the instinct part of his mind reminded him that there was no smell of fear, nor even signs of hesitation. Luka’s aura only showed the radiating power of complete and total faith…

‘Another of the devout. Possibly another member for my clergy’ Kurt mused, his wolf instincts giving him certain impressions. His eyes flicked to Jade who watched from the side. Her previously serene expression had been replaced by one of intense focus. His mouth crossed the remaining distance in a moment and fangs pierced Luka’s skin.

As always, there was a moment of delay as Kurt bought the power forward and began to push it into the man. Unlike the last three, this one was a little different. This time, there was almost a suction that sought to pull the power from him. Still, Kurt’s will was that of iron and he forcibly cut the flow of divinity off, releasing the man to fall forward.

“Thank you, my truth, my alpha, my God.” The man said, his hands clasped before him as the tears finally stopped and the shift began.

Kurt stepped back and watched as Luka shifted and joined the others. They waited a few moments until they were able to revert to human forms. All the alphas, new and old rejoined their packs and faced Jade as she stood below Kurt. He then felt her mind reach out to him to deliver some instructions before she spoke to the crowd.

“For the wolf.” Jade called.

“For the blood!” came the response.

“By the gift.”

“By the bite!”

Jade then turned to Kurt. “By your grace, we serve.” She bowed, holding her arms and staff out wide.

“By your will, we hunt.” The packs all intoned then knelt. Even the packs of the new alphas and the ones under Sherriff Henry.

Shifting his features so he could speak in his werewolf form, Kurt projected his voice and its growling undertone. “My wolves, go now and see to your business, to your packs, to your families.” He kept it short as speaking was still difficult in this form.

As the alphas took over and dismissed their packs, Kurt turned to the one outlier of the gathering. He watched as Calum trotted over and took Kate’s hand pulling her attention to him as they began talking quietly. Kurt stalked forward, quietly approaching the couple. “Come, Jade, there one more gift to give today.”