The Miami Broncos

Chapter 21: Canine Moon

Written by Francois Guint-Riel (FGR)

It felt like I’d been looking at the same spreadsheets for hours on end as I clicked the save menu and closed off my laptop. I couldn’t believe how fast things had gone since Ulrich had hired me as the accountant for his hotel, The Black Stage, how much I’d actually done, besides. I suppose it was to be expected that I’d have more to do as his left hand here then I did back as the manager of a low-rent strip club, but then again, it was such a complete change of direction and pace that I couldn’t compare with any objective criteria. Between studying part-time for the chartered management accountant, which I’d ground through last month with enough skill to pass, and run through the numbers that Ulrich and the hotel’s majordomo, Victor Manning, a deer buck old enough to be my father but wiser then anyone I’d ever met, I couldn’t say I had that much time to do anything. My only actual hobby was photography, something I’d done since I was a pup. I still had the portfolio that I’d accumulated when I ran The Marina, my old club, over a hundred pictures of the girls I’d hired through the years, really beautiful technical pieces I’d been proud of back then, and still was.

Now though, those pictures seemed like a lifetime away. Sure, it had only been a few years, but it seemed longer, some distant mirage I stared at when I didn’t have the heart to do anything. Writing like this, I must sound depressive, but I’m certain whoever reads this can understand what a blow having become a self-made man in five years only to have your fortune crumble to dust in less then a year represents. Furthermore, I didn’t know what to think about the people in those pictures. It was strange to see these snapshots in time only to then walk out to the theatre and see them perform on stage, singing beautifully and letting their personalities shine through the characters they played. I felt like an ingrate, most of all, to have sold those men and women so short of what they could do.

Still, those were other times, and though vestiges still remained to prove their existence, what had grown from their remains was more then I could have hoped for. More then I could have done, that’s for certain! I got to my paws and gave a small howl as I felt my back stretch out to its natural position, throwing on my clogs before walking out of the office. My mind wandered too much, and I needed something to set it right, something to pull me out of a spiral I knew I didn’t want to enter. Maybe I’d even meet someone, who knew? I didn’t look bad at all for a 36-year-old wolf, quite the opposite. Here, I knew I didn’t have a chance to do that though. Someone would accost me and invite me for a drink or something, and wouldn’t have time to get out of the trap before getting pulled back in again. Instead, I strode out of the hotel, sighing as I looked down the streets to decide which to take.

As I started down one of them, I noticed someone had walked up to match my pace besides me and turning, I saw Sara, Yvonne’s younger sister, an absolutely breathtaking vixen in her mid teens smiling back at me.

-Good evening, Sara, I coughed as I gave her a short nod. Going out somewhere?
-I don’t know where yet, replied the vixen as she gazed up at some imaginary skyline over the visible one. All I know for certain is that I need a change from the routine, know what I mean?
-Certainly do. I just have too many memories in my head right now, none of them that I really want to pause on for the time being.
-Want to talk about it?
-You know what? Maybe I do. Still, I’m sure that you have more on your mind then talking up a dirty old lupine, eh?
-Aw, that’s a pretty cold way to talk about you!
-I’m sure you’ve heard worst said of me from Yvonne, I said with a grin.
-Yvonne... I wonder what clicked in her mind to become what she did, but to have lived at home with our father, I can’t even think what sort of psychology she built up.
-Psychology, I grunted, by that you mean you don’t approve of what she’s like now?
-Look, I don’t have the heart to put anyone down I’ve been with for so long, but I can’t recognize her anymore. I suppose that I spend so much time with Mist that I sort of expect everyone to be like her, not a PTSD case.
-Do you know where she is right now?
-At my mother’s, replied Sara. She needed someone to talk to too, but she doesn’t come see me when she has something to say that’s really deep. To her, I’m no much more then the crazy young kit that sleeps with her ex-roommate.
-Mist? You still you know, do that with her?
-Once in a while, sure. It hardly matters, because until lately, Ulrich sort of got around too. He calmed down a lot though, and consequently so did Mist. Puts me out of luck, eh?
-I’d have to say yes, I said as I offered a paw to the vixen, who took it after a pause for thought. She hasn’t talked to me since everything started at the hotel either, really. Well, seeing our history...
-Your history? Nothing! You hired her, she worked for you for a while, then you had to cut back and you did. Hey, I worked at the Trotter Mall since I moved out of my folks’ place and I can’t even remember how many times I got pink slips and moved around. That’s just the way business is, there’s no hard feelings to be had.
-See, that’s the sort of refreshing attitude I like to hear, I grinned. Hey, there’s a restaurant over there. What do you say about going in for a bite?
-I’ve got no problem with that!

We took a sharp left across the street to jump inside a Italian-style diner that looked like it could welcome two souls likes ours. The dress code was slack enough that I could manage to get in with just black jeans and my dress shirt, though it took a twenty in the busboy’s hand to get Sara in with her very casual pullover. Once we were in though, ushered into a quiet corner of the joint, we didn’t have much to worry about at all, leaving us free to take our time with the menus. I liked the atmosphere and seeing the vixen’s eyes shoot around behind me, she did too.

-I don’t have good enough a view over here, said the woman as she got up and changed places to sit aside me. There, now I have some scenery to look at!
-Sorry about the tail, I apologized as I shifted my member to give her more room.
-Oh, just look at mine if you think it’s something to deal with, she replied as she reached across to take her own. I’ve tried a lot of things, but I can’t really seem to get much volume into it. It’s just sort of flat compared to what I see on magazines.
-Bah, those are all retouched, I waved. Can I?
-Sure, offered Sara and I stroked the white-tipped coat. And what’s your verdict, judge?
-Guilty as charged! I say it doesn’t get much better then that in real life.
-Thanks, grinned the vixen. Sorry, that’s my cellular ringing there; you don’t mind if I answer?
-Oh, without a doubt!

My company took her phone out of her pocket and opened it with a practiced flick before putting it to her ear, giving only short and more and more frantic comments in reply to whomever had called, though I could certainly tell it wasn’t good news. As soon as she hung up, she turned to glance at me with an air of quasi-panic, explaining in fumbled words that she had to leave immediately.

-Rex, I’m really sorry, but I have to go to the hospital. My mother just had a stroke, and they couldn’t reach Yvonne.
-Oh! Then I’ll escort you there, I shot as I placed money on the table for the drinks we’d ordered and called a cab for us to take.

For the few minutes we had to wait for the taxi, Sara didn’t stop twitching her legs in tension and I knew I couldn’t really say anything to change the situation or bring her immediate relief. As soon as we got to the hospital, we sped-walked to the reception and asked about Tania’s health, getting a grave look in return from the attending nurse as she turned her attention from her screen. Not only had Sara’s mother had a stroke causing intracerebral haemorrhage, but the doctors were having trouble localizing it, and time was getting more and more of an issue. Being in emergency care, we couldn’t really get to her, and all we had left to do was sit in the waiting area and pray for the best. As any person in such a situation, Sara’s first reflex was to huddle against me to try and compose herself, but her expression wasn’t one I would have considered to be one of hope, but rather preparation for one of life’s grimmer realities.

As it was, an hour after our arrival, her instinctive emotional reaction would prove to be as terribly precise as we’d feared. Words were unnecessary and didn’t even come into play as one of the doctors walked into the room and settled his eyes on us, his air clearly not one of a proud surgeon coming to explain the details of his success. Sara didn’t break, strong woman she was, but rather asked that she be able to see her as soon as possible, as if requiring the visual confirmation that Tania had passed. With the doctor’s consent, we both filed behind him, not that I insisted on going, but with Sara’s paw locked around mine with a respectable grip, unless I surrendered a few fingers along the way, there was no way to escape it. Well, that perhaps, but also I didn’t want to fail the vixen in such a difficult time.

There was some odd familiarity with walking into the post-operation room and seeing the remains of a relative, I pondered as I reached the departed vixen’s side with her daughter. I had done this walk twice already, one for each of my parents, though with ten years between them. The first time, I hadn’t really grasped the meaning of the visit, but the second, I knew the closure that it brought to those who stayed behind, and I gave Sara a bit of room as she bowed her head and gave a long prayer for her mother, ending it with a long, heartfelt sigh as she made her cross and put her paws on Tania’s arm, giving it a short squeeze before closing her eyes and turning to get a hug from me, thought it might as well have been anyone, as the mechanisms of grief work. I took her against me as I expected she wanted me to, getting her own hands to my sides as well for a few seconds before she stood up and straightened herself out with a few dry tears.

-I suppose there’s no way I could ask for you to help me with this, said Sara, since Yvonne’s not here?
-Sara, I’d do anything I can, I corrected with a stroke on her back.
-All right, then. First, we need to contact a funeral home and get the body released to them so we can get ready for the ceremony. Then, we can plan it quickly, because I don’t think there’ll be that many people who need to be there, other then Yvonne, Francine, Mist and Ulrich. Well, plus you and me, of course. Then, Yvonne and I need to find a place to stay until we can get her will executed.
-Not wanting to seem like have anything but the best intentions, I have a place four blocks from the hotel, I commented as we walked back into the waiting room. I you want, I could certainly put you up. Yvonne can come too, if she wants.
-I’ll think about it, said another voice that got our attention the moment we heard it.
-Yvonne! Yvonne, mom’s...
-I know, I just learned it, cut the older vixen as she eyed me. Hey there, Rex. Thanks for the hand, eh?
-Look, I started as we turned our attention to the yellow pages in the room, I know this may be an odd time, but I hope that what happened before between us...
-Let’s take care of this first, waved the vixen.

I stood aside reasonably flustered as the two sisters agreed on an institution to host the funeral, confused as to what my course of action could be. They moved fast though, and I didn’t have time to formulate anything before they had finished the formalities. As late as it was, they were eager to go back to their place and get what they needed to camp it out at my place, as well as retrieve Tania’s will to have it at hand when they visited the funeral home and put it through the legal grinding stone. I started to regain some manner of self-composure as we took another ride to the condominium that the vixens called home, which for the time wasn’t under anyone’s official ownership, and by the time that we’d reached it, I was as helpful as the two sisters let me be, mostly sticking by Sara, who seemed to appreciate my presence more then Yvonne.

-I didn’t think she still was that bitter, I said to Sara with a half-grin as we packed her things in her room.
-She’s always held grudges, since we were kits. I remember I took a hairbrush from her once, and even if I did give it back later, she still didn’t like me for about a week. She has an attitude, let me tell you.
-From one of your parents?
-From herself, corrected Sara as she lowered her voice. Look, just to give you some background, our father tried to threaten her into having intimate relations with him, okay? That’s why she left so fast, and why I left even faster. He was a monster, Rex, a real walking nightmare. When he died two years ago, we couldn’t have asked for a greater blessing.
-My father used to beat me, I said with a growl. He went pretty far sometimes, but one time...
-What happened?
-I’d... I’d better not say, I stopped as I locked one of her suitcases.
-Rex, what could have happened? Listen, we’re all marred creatures here. There’s no one who would condemn any action you took.
-I fought back, I replied. I fought back pretty damn hard. Before I knew it, I’d...
-You’d..?
-I’d broken his neck, I finished. I killed him, okay? Fifteen years of hell just came out like a fireball, and there it was. No one knows, you understand? No one knows. I don’t mind saying it anymore, because there’s nothing left to substantiate anything that I say either way.
-I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t cross our minds too more then a few times, but you know, we’re just girls. Not that I’m a sexist and I don’t think chicks can’t rock and roll, but look at Yvonne and me and I think you can understand what I mean.
-I bet you could kick a few people around, I stated. Here, take a free swing!
-Sure, smiled Sara as she tried to throw a punch at me, which I caught with my off hand. See? Now if I try another, what do you think would happen?
-This, I replied as I caught her other hand before spinning her into me before rubbing my head against hers. Well, I suppose I’ve been smacked up worst a few times.
-I bet you have, laughed Sara as she tilted her head to give me a peck on the cheek.

I let the vixen go with a playful smile as we hauled her things into the living room to meet up with Yvonne, who’d already finished her own luggage. We rode back to my place in the last hour of the day, but it wasn’t a problem. I lived in a semi-detached three-story home, a bit of an odd item in that the third level was actually built into the roof, sacrificing the luxury of an attic in favour of more living space. I’d never really made worthy use of that expanse though, mostly based on the fact that I didn’t actually need it. After all, how much room could a single soul take?

-This is big, spat Yvonne as we walked in, sounding like a derisive comment mixed with actual surprise. Sorry to be dry, but how can you afford a place like this?
-Even if I owned The Marina, that was an incorporated entity, so I still had a salary to live with, I replied as I showed them around. That’s the kitchen over there, but I’m afraid the fridge’s a bit empty. I tend to eat out, so I just have breakfast stuff.
-It looks nice, offered Sara, obviously doing her best to compensate for her sister’s cold attitude. You did all the work?
-For the most part, but I couldn’t take care of everything. I can offer you the entire third floor as accommodations. There are two fully furnished rooms and your own complete washroom, plus this sort of living room with a big window.
-That’s quite generous, started Yvonne as we walked up the stairs.

I let the two explore the third while I returned to the ground floor and made myself a cup of coffee, really feeling like I needed the jolt to keep me grounded and sane for the time being. I didn’t know where this was going, not yet, and I wasn’t confident that the ride was going to stop for me to get off anytime soon. As I was going back up to ask if the sisters wanted some, Sara came down the stairs to tell me that they were turning in, which I replied to with a smile and nod, wishing them a good night’s sleep. Putting the cup down on the bedside table, I took out my journal and started writing down what had transpired during the day as best I could, though I was short on inspiration to give a decent account, stopping a few times to try and figure out what words to use. During one of those moments of confusion regarding the English language, I heard someone knocking at the door. I checked the clock, seeing it was minutes past one o’clock, but I didn’t think that the fact I was still up would disturb the vixens as I’d done nothing but lie in bed with my pen and book. Still, I got up and opened the door to find myself looking at Yvonne in her night robes, giving a half-wave with just as complete a smile.

-Hey Rex, said the vixen. Sorry for the hour, but I was wondering if you might want to talk.
-Oh, sure, sure! Come in, please.
-First of all, sorry. Really, I’m sorry. I know you think I’ve been acting like a complete bitch with you, but it’s just...
-What?
-I’m a goddamned mess, sighed Yvonne as she sat on the end of my bed on her knees and took her head by the sides. The only person I talked to really, from deep in here, was mom and now, shit... I’m alone, aren’t I?
-No, not at all! I’m here and I have ears, don’t I?
-You do, but do they want to listen to me?
-They sure do, I nodded. So, where do we start?
-I’ve been on my own since I left home, muttered the vixen, so I suppose that it’s as good a place as any. I left in a hurry too, you know. My father... wasn’t a good person, Rex. I had to leave before it got worst, not that he’d given me much of a choice. I was out and about for a while before you hired me, just trying to make ends meet with all sorts of odd jobs, but I couldn’t afford a place.
-Where did you stay?
-At some friends I made, until it became impossible for me to stay anymore.
-You mean they asked for rent?
-Come on, Rex, you’re a guy, smiled Yvonne. What do you think a guy ends up asking for when a vixen stays at his place for a while?
-Oh, I see.
-Yeah, so I did that, and a few shelters when it got really rough. Then I saw your sign outside the club, looking for new dancers. I didn’t even have twenty bucks with me and just a briefcase with my stuff at that point, and I squatted a diner’s washroom to get ready for the audition. Just as extra, I went to a pharmacy to buy lipstick with the rest of the cash I had. It was a make or break, to be honest. What? What was that twitch there?
-I knew that, I replied. Don’t take it personally, but you weren’t exactly who I was looking for when I put out that sign, but I thought I’d try you out anyway. You learned extremely fast though, I have to admit. You were by far the best of the troupe, by a long shot.
-Thanks, frowned the vixen. So with what I made, I got a small apartment, just a one-room thing. Then it was status quo, but I kept feeling more and more lonely. You know, you really never feel as isolated as when you’re under those lights. Did you... did you really care about us, past the dances?
-That’s a given, I almost shouted back. I paid every one of you as much as I could, and I remember forwarding a good few pays as well as loans through the years. Heck, I even put up Mephito here a few months when I met him. I’m not gay, by the way.
-I didn’t think you were, giggled Yvonne. Just a question though; why me?
-Why you, as in what way?
-Why did you pick me when you had to cut staff?
-I... I don’t know, really. I mean, I figured you were the best performer I had, so it would be easy for you to find another job in the business. The others I knew couldn’t really do that, just because they were too new at what they did, but I thought you’d be fine. Let’s be honest, The Marina wasn’t the nicest place and where are a lot bigger clubs in the city that were always recruiting.
-I suppose that makes sense, Yvonne slowly nodded. God, I wish I would’ve had that reflection.
-I tried to give you a referral when you said you quit, I added as I looked down at a scar on my wrist, but I remember you clawed my arm when I held it at you.
-Shit, hummed the woman as she settled her chin on her crossed arms.
-What did you do, if I can ask?
-I couldn’t afford my place anymore, so I moved into a shelter until I decided to try my hand at the world’s oldest profession.
-Oh God, I gasped. Yvonne, you could have done so many things! You’re such a talented, bright vixen! The world is yours, if you’d want it!
-I sort of think weird things when I’m in trouble, replied the woman. Anyway, before anything happened, Ulrich hired me at the hotel, so no harm done, just sort of a weird bit. Since then, after mom came back into our lives and dad died, things sort of got better. It felt good to have her back, without him to make our lives hard. Now, I sort of wonder where to take my tail though.
-Well, you’ll have a heritage to consider, I shrugged, plus you already have a pretty sweet job in your hands.
-I’d like to think I have someone to share it with though, said the vixen as she put on a thousand-yard-stare. You know, I’m sort of used goods here. Between the club years and what I had to put up with sometimes, I’m no spring chicken here.
-Hey, look at whom you’re talking to, I said with a grin. I’m pretty high on mileage here too.
-I could use a hug, stated Yvonne as she stood up from her crouch and opened her arms.
-So could I, I smiled as I moved forwards to wrap my arms around her. There are some beautiful blue skies ahead still, Yvonne.
-Yep, she hummed as she rocked us off balance to the side, crashing on my pillow and kicking out her legs. Care if I stay here for the night?
-If you’re good with it, so am I, I said. Need anything?
-Warmth, she replied as she took off her gown to lie down in panties aside me. Care to oblige?

I smiled as I took off my shirt and hugged her again, feeling her warm body against mine as I kissed her neck. There was some unconventional pleasure in the moment but that, I thought, would probably be the best place for things to be left. There was no need to hurry things just yet, I sighed as I gave the vixen another kiss and we took a ride on the good ship Dream Weaver.

I had more then a few kinks in my frame as I woke up, finding Yvonne still asleep with the majority of the covers cocooned around her like a red-haired chrysalis, her tongue hanging limp with more drool then most distinguished ladies would have them remembered to have. Holding back a laugh, I hopped out of the room in weekender clothing and made a break for the closest convenience store to get some scraps for us to eat. After all, I had to show myself a half-decent host, and to be able to put some bread on the table when the vixens got up was sort of the strict minimum. By the time I’d sizzled the pound of bacon I’d bought and scrambled half the egg carton along with it, two vulpine dames marched down the stairs in just about as formal an attire as I had and satisfied themselves with slapping their tails at the kitchen table to listen to the radio while they waited for me to finish.

-I hope you like your meat juicy, I said as I handed them plates. Coffee or orange juice?
-Can we have both, asked Sara, or do you charge extra?
-I do, I replied as I came over with the drinks and messed up the vixen’s hair with a hand. There, that’ll pay for it.
-Damn, chuckled the woman as she gave a huff of breath to get her mane out of her face, this place just lost a star.
-I never got a review here! So, what’s the plan today, ladies?
-Well, we don’t have a show today, grunted Yvonne as her bacon vanished. I think it’s Francine’s night. How about you, Rex? Is there anything keeping you busy?
-Nope, I don’t think so. Need a pair of paws?
-Well, you know, I think today will be all about the ceremony and getting it ready, declared Sara. We can do it from the hotel though, whenever we actually show up over there.
-Bah, the roof won’t fall over there because we aren’t there to hold it up.

The bus dropped us off in front of The Black Stage at noon, probably one of the busiest times for the establishment. Ulrich had started a daily brunch that had started to attract so much clientele that the tables were booked about a week in advance, but he’d made a bold move by actually reducing the number of tables available to keep it a bit of an exclusive event, as well as introduce musical acts by his resident jazz band, led by Eclipse, the dragon he’d brought back from China, apparently. I hadn’t really had time to talk the creature up, but he seemed like a dedicated sort, and the hyena on trumpet that had showed up a month ago he did duets with once in a while seemed to be the queen to his king. All I knew for sure is that he was employee 46690 on the sheets, and our employer really, really liked him! As we walked into the employee lounge on the second floor, another novelty the panther had instated, we actually found him in person as well, looking out the windows with a distracted air to him.

-Ulrich, how’s the cat?
-He’s fine, he returned in his deep voice as he turned to greet us, and the wolf?
-Hey, you know me; as long as the nose is wet, I’ve got no complaints.
-Standards to live by, smiled Ulrich. Actually, I was wondering if you had time to take on a little project that fell into my lap yesterday.
-Speaking of yesterday, started Sara, Tania is no longer with us. We were at the hospital last night after she suffered a massive stroke and passed. The service will probably be the day after next, if you could come.
-Tania? I’m so sorry, Sara, Yvonne, my deepest and most sincere condolences to both of you. If there’s anything I can do, just say so.
-It’s fine, we’re squatting Rex’s house, grinned Yvonne. We just have some more things to take care of before then, if you’ll excuse us.
-Certainly! What a blow, growled the panther as I sat down with him at one of the glass tables. Well, all things qualified, about that project. This might seem very unconventional, but I had a call from a friend in the State Department that I’m very well acquainted with. He had a favour to ask in that the finances of the city here need to be audited with absolute objectivity, as he’s had some information regarding the fact that some funds might have been seriously misplaced.
-So you think I would be qualified to do it?
-That was my idea, nodded Ulrich. There’s plenty to go through, as this story seems to go back about five years, and the exact source of the leakage isn’t really clear either. Some fingers point to the police department, but that’s not a definite truth to base anything on.
-This is weird, I whined. I don’t suppose that I could get more information from you about this work?
-You could, started the panther, but then you have to understand that it stems from a great secret that finds itself at the heart of my life. Everyone has a past, Rex, not all as beautiful as a fairytale.
-I know, I returned with just as stern a tone. It’s harsh to deal with sometimes, but it’s true.

Ulrich gave me a smile and patted my arm as he turned his seat to be right next to me with nearly no space between us. What came next from his lips was a tale that I would have questioned with energy if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew the cat to be a man of honour and that he wouldn’t lie to me just to impress me [Author’s Note: read the other stories for details...]. For him to be the Don of the city’s mafia Family was a lot to take in at one sitting, but there was a lot of episodes through the time I’d known him that could have been interpreted as proof of his declarations. I didn’t interrogate him past what he seemed comfortable telling me, which he indirectly thanked me for.

-I don’t want to throw you into that world, said Ulrich. It’s a bit of a strange environment, where you’re not really in charge of your fate as much as you think you are. Things move in even more mysterious ways then the Lord’s sometimes credited to cause them to.
-Thanks, I said with a grin, but I already have that to deal with myself.
-Well, there’s that, and the fact that sometimes the law is more flexible then an old rubber band and we’re always concerned that it might snap one day. You have to understand that I’d rather keep your hands clean from all that.
-There’s already blood on these paws, but once again, thanks for the concern.
-What? You mean, you’ve already, you know...
-I grew up in a broken home in Missouri with a drunk shit as a father, who’d come home hammered almost night after night. He worked at a plant in the city, but he spent nearly everything he made on the bottle, so much of it that it was hardly possible for us to be able to live without making sacrifices that are below the standard of human rights. If that wasn’t enough, he didn’t feel like he was a man unless he punched my mother around, and me as well. He got me pretty close to the Reaper’s blade a few times, but he never let me go to the hospital. Ever notice that I have a slight limp in my left leg?
-Yes, I did.
-That was a brick he hit me with, cracked my tibia. See this finger? Broken twice. One evening when I was about eighteen, he went way, way to far. Mom had started going to these meetings for abused wives, where they told her that what he was doing wasn’t right and she should try to talk to him about the violence he displayed. She waited for him to come home in the living room and when he did, she started trying to discuss it. He managed to put one and one together in his head, and got steaming mad that she had told anyone about it. I was looking from the second level, and I saw him storm out of the room to the basement, where he had his workshop. I walked down to try to comfort my mother who was already crying, but when I got there, he was back with a hammer and told me to go back to my room.
-Oh no...
-Oh yes Ulrich, you guessed what he wanted to do. I did too, and I just went into a frenzy that I can’t even picture myself able to enter. I jumped on him and clawed at him like I’d take down a prey, then took the hammer and pounded him with it until he didn’t move anymore. There was blood everywhere, just like if you’d taken a fire hose and sprayed the place down, and my mother was calling for me to stop. I couldn’t though, I just couldn’t. Eventually, I fainted on the floor and only came around late the next day alone in the house. My mother had left and her things were gone, but the rest was as I’d left it. I just went into some sort of automatic survival mode, where I went to pawn shops and sold off all kinds of things to be able to renovate the house and get rid of all proof of what had happened. It took over two weeks, but eventually I was ready to call the cops and report my parent’s disappearance for them to start the investigation. Eventually, they gave up and I was given the house. By then, my birthday had gone, and I was able to sell it before moving here, as far, far away from there as I could possibly get.
-Rex, I’m stunned! You... you were right to do it, though, you know that?
-I know, but it just sort of all happened the wrong way. Anyway, you can see that I’m not a clean slate here, so whatever business I bump into with this project isn’t beyond my grasp, eh?
-I’ll be right behind you every step of the way, assured Ulrich, taking my paw in his. You’ll be at the city hall, but you’ll have a phone with you, as well as something to keep you safe if I’m not there.
-This sounds like a very serious assignment if you’re suggesting that you’d arm me, I commented.
-I’m not suggesting, I’m telling you that I’m not letting you go if you don’t carry, startled the cat. So, you’re a taker?
-I suppose so, but I can’t tell you how long this’ll take me. Five years worth of finances is a lot to review, especially if I have to be on the lookout for irregularities. I don’t know if you can fully appreciate the horrors of auditing, Ulrich.
-Believe me, I studied it for quite a while myself, smiled the Don. I can’t say I put it in practice though, so that’s for that. Could you start today?
-Today? That’s a bit quick, but I suppose that I could, if Sara and Yvonne can manage without me. I don’t suppose that I could get the resources transferred to my place?
-Good luck negotiating for that, grunted the panther. Gallet, my friend, had some trouble already convincing them to have someone from the outside walk around their place freely. After all, we don’t know who’s been fudging with the numbers.
-All right then. Where do I start?
-You start by coming with me and I’ll get you in there myself. The Auditor General’s office is under recommendation from the powers that be to leave you be and cooperate with you, so you have godlike powers for the time you do this.
-Sounds like I’d better get straight to the point and get this done fast. After all, if too many people get wind that I’m in the house, it might become impossible to start playing a game of cat and mouse on this scale.
-Funny how fast you catch on, wolf.

I followed Ulrich out of the hotel as soon as I’d gotten a hold of the vixens and informed them about my engagement for the day, which they seemed to have no problem with. There was already a car in the parking waiting for the two of us, probably one of Ulrich’s Family associates, and as soon as we got in, the panther pulled a large pistol from the back of the passenger seat and checked it out carefully before passing it to me along with another clip of bullets. I didn’t own a gun myself, other then an old hunting rifle I’d bought eons ago and never gotten around to using, but this was a very fine piece of engineering that I was happy to have tucked in my coat as we rode on.

I would have expected at least a minimum of question from the city employees when we strode into the City Hall, but instead two men, almost caricature of FBI agents, were waiting for us and escorted us into the offices that I would call home for the time that I was there, and told us that they had been assigned to my detail throughout the term I’d be verifying the records. To be honest, I was more then a little flattered, and thanked them for their consideration, though their reply was simply that they were doing what they were ordered to hence it was nothing I should concern myself with thanking them for. I had a nice office to work from, a bit out of the way from the cubicle farm that seemed to contain the vast majority of the souls that were responsible for the spending of the taxpayer’s coins, and keys to everywhere in the building that I should need to go in addition to a list on contacts that I was authorized to monopolize at my leisure if I found something that hadn’t been looked into before my arrival. Ulrich took his own look around the place before giving me a card with a number on it, informing me that I was free to call it and ask for a ride to and from my place if I wanted with his compliments as a perk for the big hand I was giving, then left to return to the hotel. I didn’t want to give a bad impression to the two agents that hung around my office, one of them sitting in almost permanence in the room with me while the other patrolled outside, so I got dug into the dirt with a schedule of what I had to do.
Seeing as how diverse and spread out the assets were, I decided to go with a sector-by-sector approach to the investigation, going through the five years of files for one department at a time, starting with the ones that I judged less likely to be trouble or didn’t have that much cash to juggle, leaving the most complex for later. I had one of the many archives right next door, so I didn’t have to walk too far with my two-man crew to get the books I needed if they weren’t in the databases on the computer. I personally didn’t trust the digital version anyway, as it was a long harder to make any trace of tampering on paper to vanish rather then with unfortunately fallible virtual systems. Everyone has the right to strike out lines in a record, but where pages start to go missing, there’s trouble. Before the end of the day, I had gone through nearly all my lower priority targets and had a good idea what sort of policy was present in the accounting of the city, which was vastly respectable. Still, after a few hours of looking through them, I had enough of it and didn’t think I could open another book without going mental and starting to chew it up like a pizza.

I found myself a bit surprised when I saw the living room lights gleaming through the drapes of my place when I walked back from the bus stop, but then the recollection of the last few days came back in ebbs and I gave a smile as I let myself in. Trading my shoes for thick slippers, I joined the vixens who where watching some more female-oriented movie they’d rented at a convenience store down the street I normally rented adult films from, not that I intended to bring that detail up. The huge bowl of popcorn they’d prepared in my biggest salad tub was enough to tell me that they were in no hurry to go anywhere, but I couldn’t say I flaunted any revolutionary ambitions myself for the time, and turned into a puddle on the loveseat aside the huge leather unit they were camped out on. Sara gave a giggle as Yvonne looked over at me with a grin and hopped to her paws to change seats, crashing down on me and hugging me like a body pillow as she looked back at the television. I took her in my arms as best I could on the comparatively narrower cushions, stroking her tail against my leg until her sister gave another comment.

-Face it Rex, you just like vixens for their tails.
-It’s pretty hard to miss on any of you, I laughed as I cuddled with Yvonne. Not that I don’t see past it to their owners, though.
-This is disaster for you, Sara, stated Yvonne. You take Rex out, and I end up in his arms with a hand trying to pull my bra off my chest.
-I’m not...
-Sure you aren’t, whispered the vulpine as she undid the garment and slipped it from under her shirt. There, go nuts.
-Ha, Rex is common ground, waved Sara. Keep him for now, we’ll see who pulls his butt to the altar yet.
-Wow, I’m spoken for, eh?
-Would that be a great disappointment in life to you?
-Hmm, I muttered as I discretely took Yvonne’s left breast from under her, not really...

Sara eventually quit on the TV as her sister and I started to flutter through the special features that came with the movie, but seeing as how I felt Yvonne shift her weight into me each time I tried to get up, there were understandable ulterior motives to her actions. I decided to precipitate their revelation, taking her muzzle by the side and turning her head to give her a long, delicious kiss. She seemed to have been expecting it when I closed my eyes and added a few touches under her top to the mix, though she was far from repulsed by the gestures and moved us for me to find myself on top of her without a shirt to keep me warm. Yvonne played mean, peeling aside my fur to find my own nipples and carefully bite at them with her sharp teeth, but I was quick to return the favour, almost tearing her top off to start licking and playfully gnawing on her tits. He hands gripped my head and held it against her as I went on, but her whines were enough to tell me this wasn’t far enough for her. I pre-empted her words, undoing my pants and pulling them off, though she was quick to correct me as I put them down.

-Not just those, your underwear too, moaned the vixen. Give me your cock, right here...
-There, I whispered as I sat up to straddle her she took it to run her tongue on it. Oh, Yvonne, you’re divine...
-Does it take a goddess to do this, she chuckled as she put my rod down her muzzle and worked on it.
-To be feeling what I’m feeling right now, it would take a full Pantheon!
-Just for that, I want you to roll me like a wheelbarrow, she expelled after a few minutes whilst pulling off everything else she had on. I haven’t gotten any good love since I started at the hotel, not with the hours we have to work, so you’d better be in shape to make up for it.
-I sure as heck am, because I’ve been holding out just about as long myself, I answered as I pushed the vixen on her elbows and knees to start seriously assaulting her clit with my muzzle, getting more cum drooling from her then I’d seen in a bunch of years. Get ready Yvonne; I’m not taking any prisoners here!
-I don’t want to you even think about bothering with those, she muttered with a smile as I penetrated her and took her by the shoulders to steady myself, putting a paw on the sofa to clear my way. Oh baby, oh Rex, oh shit!
-Yvonne, damn, you’re something else, I growled as I lowered my hands to her hips, grasping her thighs to go harder.

The vixens lost focus as I pounded her goods, with one of her hands serving to prop herself up while to other massaged her breasts and my balls whenever she felt like another high. I took her by the laps and held her fast against me as she wrapped her legs around me in the last moments of our encounter, one which ended with me giving a massive ejaculation in the vixen while her eyes rolled back and her jaw hung loose up until I left her vagina and settled down aside her for some worthy post-coital spooning. A few whines and chirps later, I found myself on the sofa with Yvonne sprawled on me, arms and legs locked together with just enough room to reach for a winter blanket I kept under the loveseat to toss over us.

What I woke up to, I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around that easily at the time, though seeing my life now, I suppose I can now say I consider normal. Through some act of stealth, as I opened my eyes and looked down to my vixen, I found she had lost five years... and her looks... and her name. Though I clearly remembered falling asleep with  Yvonne, as I took the face I saw lying on me and gave it a kiss, I found myself sharing my body with Sara, who had just as mysteriously worked me into an erection and mounted me. After coming in her with no less energy then her sister, I found it suitable to say something about the situation.

-Either I’m really losing my sight, or am I looking at Sara just now?
-You certainly are, giggled the woman as she changed position without dismounting me to show me her full nudity. Is there a problem with that?
-If Yvonne got off and you got on without a fight, I’d certainly tend to say no, I replied as I suckled on her.
-Oh you know siblings; we have non-verbal communication. Hmm, you certainly know how to treat a woman, Rex. Now with these, hem, formalities out of the way, how about we get breakfast?
-There are more formalities left, I corrected as I guided her to the washroom on the second floor after we gathered clothes to put on our backs.

After having savoured Sara’s company for another half hour in the gentle rain of the shower and furthered my carnal knowledge of the vixen, we made it to the kitchen to find Yvonne already at the range, taking out a flying pan-made quiche from the oven and putting it on the table.

-Rex, started Sara, I was just wondering something like this. Just a hypothetical question, don’t take it the wrong way or anything...
-All right, I bite, I said as I leaned into my paw and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, what’s the idea?
-Well, I was thinking like this that seeing how this place is really big and everything and I consider we all cooperate pretty well, what’s your take on us being able to stay for a more extended period of time?
-We’d pay rent of course, corrected Yvonne, we won’t just be hanging around on your dime. What do you say? Would you be okay with it?
-I’d really love to have you here, I stated, but no rent, nothing like that. I mean it’s everyone’s roof, right? Everyone that lives under it is the same.
-We’re all canines here, sort of, smiled Sara. Well no, we are aren’t we?
-Hey Canine Moon, come cast your spell on me, I started to sing as I gave her a hug.
-So if we can stay here, said Yvonne, it means that we’ll certainly be able to live a good life with three salaries coming into the household. I say we can afford a car, can’t we?
-That’s been an ambition I’ve been keeping in the back of my mind too, I seconded. How about we go get one before checking into work?
-Now that’s a change of paradigm!

We took it pretty easy during the bus ride into the downtown core, trying to decide what exactly we wanted to get, though the idea of a nice five-door number with plenty of cargo room was the more prevalent topic in the conversation, which I didn’t mind if we got in either black or a good-looking grey. The poor salesman in the dealership we walked in probably had never had as easy a sale as he did then and there, for sitting in the middle of the showroom was exactly the embodiment of what we’d been debating over. It was long, sleek and just too androgynously sexy that both the sisters and me could get into it pretty easily. With over half the price of the vehicle down and a sweet rate from the happy bankers who really didn’t have to worry about a bad credence from our part, the three of us rolled out of the building in the car, me at the wheel cranking up the radio with pretty decent hip-hop for the three of us to bounce around to as we took the curve and turned onto the street.

It was just pure logic for me to drop off the sisters at the hotel before I proceeded to the city hall, though they had a glow to them as they walked into the doors of Ulrich’s establishment which I couldn’t really distinguish between the energy that you get buying a nice luxury item like a car or the good chi you harness when you’re doing it like a caveman with an interesting partner. Who had been better, I thought back as I drove to work, Sara or Yvonne? Well, Sara was certainly tighter, with tighter curves, but for a nineteen year old, what could be expected if not that? Yvonne had certainly had more guests through the years, as she’d said, but that experience had shone through and certainly enlightened me, oh yeah! The thoughts trailed off as I parked in the lot and walked to the side door I’d used to leave yesterday, finding my escorts already waiting for me as I stepped inside. I gave them a handshake each as we headed for my workplace, but there was something amiss when we reach it. It wasn’t anything physical really, nothing that would stand out as if someone had broken the door in, but something else that I felt was just as hard to miss.

I unlocked the door and took a look around, finding myself looking at a note on the desk aside my computer, along with one of the accounting books that were used in the office. My bodyguard was quick to hurry inside and check the place out, calling to his associate that they had to inform their superiors about the breach to make sure that everything was clear, but I cut in and asked to hold off on that for the moment until I actually read the note and understood what relation it had with the tome. I sat down with the paper, looking at it closely and rejoicing at its contents somewhat, reading as follows:

Whomever reads this,

In April 2003, the public transit department started taking funds from their accounts to be put towards project #115, which was never approved by the council. This project does not exist. I can’t say more here, but if you need to and you’re sure that it’s safe to talk, call me.

x892

I folded the note in my pocket and motioned my bodyguards to get in the office and close the door while I dialled the extension on the phone after one of them had checked it out to make sure that it wasn’t tapped. Two rings sounded before anyone picked up, but eventually a voice answered on the other end, though very nervous.

-Hello?
-Hi there, I said with a relaxed tone, I take it this is who left me a note this morning?
-More like last night, replied my mystery informer, but yes, that’s me. Look, I can’t talk right now like this.
-Then come back to my office, I offered. It’s safe to talk here, to answer your concern.
-Okay, if you say so, I’ll be down soon.

The informer hung up, giving us the time to get ready to welcome him, though I was adamant to keep a lookout in case something happened. After all, this was a pretty overt gesture, which had its risks. I was a bit too stir-crazy to sit around anyway, and didn’t object to walking around a bit to get the last knots out of my back from Sara’s morning surprise. While I was looking out though, I saw a raccoon getting rushed into the men’s washroom by three men, one of them holding his hand over his mouth. Alarm bells couldn’t have rang louder in my mind as I ran down the hall, drawing my pistol before trying to kick the door in. I have to admit that doing so is a fine art, and one of my bodyguards was glad to oblige in completing the gesture, slamming it open with his own weapon draw. One of the three aggressors had already started giving the raccoon a few punches, but one of his friends was of greater concern, holding a knife in his hand in a stabbing position. I trained my firearm at him and called to him to drop it if he didn’t want to get sent to the hospital.

As any cornered animal, his reaction was to run at us with his blade, but a good pistol whip from me was enough to dissuade him of trying for another run, as well as the fact be bounced off the ceramic tile wall while recovering from the hit. The two others didn’t seem to have the same enthusiasm with their comrade lying on the floor holding his face with liberal quantities of blood pouring from the gash my gun’s slide had cut and the split lip from the wall, and more wisely got against the stall wall as one of my guards ordered before calling for security on his earwig. I didn’t even count to ten or lower my steel in the instants between then and the arrival of ten more policemen who took the three in charge, not even saying a word about the massive piece I was waving around. With that over with and some peace restored, I helped the raccoon back up and gave him a wet towel to pad down the start of a bloody nose he’d received.

-Sorry about that, I said to the man. I didn’t expect that you’d get into trouble on the way.
-Neither did I, half-laughed the ‘coon. Name’s Luis Darius, by the way, glad to meet you.
-Rex Whitewood, and it’s my pleasure too. How about we get out of here and somewhere more comfortable to talk?
-Yeah, nothing like holding a summit in a john’s, laughed Luis.
-So, about this leak, I said as we got into the office and settled in. What’s your involvement in this?
-A family man with too much of a conscience to see dirty money getting shipped around, replied the raccoon. I’ve been with this city for the better part of ten years and I have kids to worry about, nothing like some con artists that think they can play god with Uncle Pennybags’ cash. I’m a good man, Rex, you have to trust me on that.
-I’d be glad to if I can be sure that you’re being honest about all this, I cautioned. Call it what you will, but the circumstances in which I find myself here don’t allow for much to be taken for granted.
-Sure, nodded the man, taking out his wallet and showing me a few pictures. This is Donna, my wife, and my kids Emily and Jake. Check my cards if you like, I’m not playing an assumed identity.
-Eventually, I hummed as I took the book from the desk and started going through the figures, finding the reference number that Luis had given. These are pretty big amounts! No one said anything other then you?
-The group is only six people, grinned the raccoon, so with the three you took to the cleaners in the washroom and myself removed, that only leaves two others. One called in sick today, but the last was still in his office when I left to come here.
-I’ll get him sir, said one of my bodyguards as he left with the name to hunt for.
-Heart to heart, stated Luis, what are you really doing here? I mean, I know you’re here to check the books, I learned that much from the noise around here, but I didn’t expect you to be armed and everything.
-Let’s say that the people I represent here are very worried about where the money from this scam is going, I replied. I’m sure you can understand the concern as well as me?
-I can, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t know where they were putting it. I just saw the numbers on paper, not in real life.
-They never even asked you if you wanted in?
-They did, but they were very careful not to tell me too much, in case I declined, which I did.
-Then I suppose that the next thing to do would be to check with the bank where this paper trail leads, I nodded. I have to place a call, if you don’t mind.
-Do you need your privacy, asked the man as he started to get up, or do you mind if I’m here?
-You took a few good licks, so I think you’d better stay put, I said with a wink.
-Thanks, Luis smiled as he sat back down.

I called Ulrich on his cell phone and told him about what had happened, getting a mixed response from the panther, but mostly concern for my safety, which I took to heart. I suggested that a trace be run on the money now that we knew more about it, as in the dates of its transfer and references, accepted as soon as I said it. Promising to get back to me as soon as he had something from his people, I hung up and turned back to my present company, who looked at me with a raised mask, intrigued at what I’d spoken to the Don about.

-And I thought we sometimes had a bit of an occult job! So you know people who have the authority to get into bankers’ pockets?
-They seem to come up with stories and ideas that wouldn’t occur to the common creature, I shrugged. To date, they’ve never failed to surprise me.
-Right! With this taken care of, I wonder if it would be a good thing for me to stay here for the rest of the day or call it quits. I don’t suppose that you could do anything about keeping me under some sort of protection for a little while, just in case?
-There are a few ways, depending what you prefer. To keep you safe in your home would mean a lot more effort as moving you into a more secure location, if it’s not for too long.
-What would that solution encompass?
-I think you could move into my principal employer’s hotel for a week, at least, since he unofficially has a few large enough rooms he’s not using reserved for guests of honour. He and his people have a penchant for security that I’m sure would be more then enough to make you feel like you’re in a velvet safe deposit box.
-I’m not against that, said Luis. Do you think that it would be possible to move in sometime today? Not that I want to push things along too quickly, but now that whoever out there knows that I helped you, the clock’s sort of ticking.
-I up with that, I nodded. In that case, let’s ride! Do you have a car?
-My wife uses it, laughed the raccoon. I just get rides on public transit.
-Then let’s ride, I said before turning my attention to my bodyguards. Are you fellows able to come along too?
-Our orders are to keep you safe during your assignment here, replied one of them. This would be included, therefore of course.

The raccoon took my phone and placed a call home to tell his wife about the temporary move, which didn’t seem to take a lot of convincing from his part. As soon as he turned to tell us that he was ready to go, we took off like mice to cheese, walking with conviction to our vehicle. I tried to make my driving a bit less radical and more pleasant for the ride to the hotel, which from Luis’ expressions wasn’t always successful. Still, everyone was in one piece by the time I parked in the employee lot and let everyone out and the feelings of anxiety had subsided somewhat. As we crossed the asphalt, Luis pointed to a minivan that pulled into the hotel, flagging it down with his arms. The car rolled in front of us with the driver’s side window open and a very, very nice-looking female raccoon’s face appeared, looking out at her husband.

-Hello sir, said the woman with a smile as she addressed her worst half. Where do we park this wagon train?
-Good question. Rex?
-You can park anywhere you want, I waved. I’ll tell the reception so you have complete immunity for your stay here.
-As long as you have good insurance, I’ll take that, replied Donna. Be right over!

We stood by and waited as she put the family car between yellow lines, but I could hardly hold back a giggle as two young kits ran out of van to go hug their father. Simply the most adorable two kids I’d seen for a while, they turned out to be completely disciplined other then the sudden outburst, following me and the guards inside the hotel, quickly greeted by Victor.

-Good morning, Rex, started the buck. I see you’ve brought good company with you?
-They’re close to my heart all right, I replied. Is one of the Bronco rooms open right now?
-All of them as far as I know, and I hope I know this hotel as well as I think, grinned Victor. I’m to understand that one of them will be booked?
-You know it! No problem with us just going right in?
-None at all! Welcome to the Black Stage hotel and cabaret!

The entire group fit into an elevator cab without too much discomfort to get to the top floor, where half the rooms were dedicated to Ulrich’s endeavours. I selected the second largest one we could pick from, unlocking the door and giving Luis a magnetic card to open it himself eventually, and as could be expected, the first thing to happen was that two raccoon kits ran into the room and jumped on the bed they selected as theirs for the stay, fighting over the pillows piled on it. I helped them settle in, giving them a hand and calling up some extra covers for the night, just as a gesture of goodwill. While Luis looked after the kids, Donna asked me to show her where the exercise room and pool was located. I didn’t mind the question, showing her out while my bodyguards flanked the doors of the room, now focusing on the protection of the raccoons rather then me directly. She was a very, very gracious specimen of her kind and amazingly cultured, talking about how the hotel made her think of places she’d visited through the years, and many she’d been.

-I think of all cities, I’ll never forget Florence, stated the woman. Have you ever been to Italy?
-I’ve only seen this great and wide country and some parts of Mexico, I replied. Sorry, I just haven’t had the chance.
-Oh, I can understand, hummed Donna as she took my arm and patted it before wrapping her hand in mine. I just had a lot of time before I met Luis and we started a family. Since that though, other then the kids, I have plenty of free time.
-That much?
-You saw our kids, smiled the raccoon, they practically raise themselves, they’re wonderful. I spend more time trying to figure out what to do with my time then anything. Even in the evening... well, that’s embarrassing to think about.
-What, Luis works late at the city hall?
-Aside from that, corrected to woman, he doesn’t ‘work’ anything else, if you understand me.
-Sorry to hear, I gulped. So what do you do..?
-I haven’t done anything, said Donna as she looked at me with simply mind-bending bedroom eyes. Don’t think of me the wrong way, but I haven’t gotten my ass slammed nice and hard in a while. I know we were going to the pool, but how about we go somewhere else?
-So you’re saying that you’d like a solution to that loneliness?
-Uh-huh, whispered the woman. Look at me and tell me you’d say no, eh?
-Sure about this, I asked, no regrets?
-None, she shot with a wink as she took my hand and placed it on her breast. C’mon sailor, let’s find us a tavern to shake and shimmy.

I turned us around back to the elevators and sent us down to the employee level, then just as stealthily ghosted us into my apartment, which I only used on the odd evening that I couldn’t make it home, but which came de facto with my contract. I was going to relinquish it next week, though for the time being, I was glad that I had put off the move. Donna didn’t have any inhibitions as we walked into the bedroom, nor did I, taking her and throwing her on the bed before pinning her down to make out. The woman was warm, and absolutely starved for love, holding my head hard as we kissed, running her leg inside mine. Hey fury was encouraging, no hesitation evident while we took a fraction of a second to strip before hopping back on the bed and ravaging each other. I took her nipples in my fingers and squeezed them tight, getting a groan from her until I nuzzled and licked at her face, getting the same back from her as she took hold of my cock and worked me up.

We were in a deep sweat by the time I turned to put my dick in Donna’s mouth, but she shot up to take in her lips, almost biting into it before I lowered my basin. I felt like I was on cloud nine as she did her thing, but I just had to go down on her and nibble the moist clit staring back at me from between her legs. Maybe some people had some deformation after having kids, but this raccoon was certainly an exception with an almost pen-thin slit that anyone would have sworn had never seen penetration, and I had the time of my life making it gorge with blood through the most well-conceived series of moves. Donna wasn’t in a thinking mood anymore, her fascia paralysed by sensual lust and her speech just perverted comment after another about putting a telephone pole up her cunt and connecting it to a diesel engine.

Though I couldn’t accommodate that request, I gentle slung her over the bed and holding her tail out of the way, fucked the ‘coon like it was the last thing I was going to do before I died. Thank God she took some covers and muffled her voice, because otherwise anyone in the neighbouring rooms would have had every reason to think that there was a bloody murder going on next door. Through the cries and calls, I didn’t slack off, going at her hard until I pulled out of her and without a much as a word, parted her rear and penetrated her in the ass, sodomizing her until I came, giving her butt a palm slap before lying down with her. I could have expected some frustration from her for the rough sex, but instead she rolled to screw around some more, kissing me between whispers.

-That was so good, said the woman, so good! It’s not because we had kids that I don’t want sex anymore. I want it so much Rex, especially, especially in the ass! I loved that! How did you know I wanted that?
-Wild guess I suppose, I said. Man that was good!
-I’m a good woman, a good woman who loves her husband, but I have needs he can’t deal with. Thank God for you, wolf.
-Well, let’s leave God out of this one, I said with a chuckled as I ran my hand over the raccoon’s cheek. He’s certainly going to think that it took us a while to find the pool and everything, though.

Donna gave a smile as she got to our paws and took a quick shower, just enough to get rid of any trace of our indiscretion. I still showed her the pool in the end, but by the time that we got back to the room, lunch had rolled around and a very hungry Luis asked me if it was also possible to see the dining room. I must have had some sort of training unconsciously from the flick that I’d watched with Sara and Yvonne, as I didn’t let off a single sign of discomfort about being in the presence of my unforeseen partner and her cuckold, not even a single odd stare of anything of the like, just becoming a much more relaxed version of myself, trying to keep my conversation to a minimum just in case. As we were leaving the table, I got a call from Ulrich, telling me that they had found a lead on the money that I’d informed them about, bringing them back into a problem that they’d tried to deal with definitively a while ago.

-Just a short while back we had a group of rebel-affiliated scam artists and arms dealers that sent shipments across the ocean to Kenya, explained the panther. This money leak seems to be going into the pockets through a few proxy accounts, but what’s odd is the fact that we shut them down over there not too long ago.
-Could they have changed their practice to profit themselves, I asked, rather then send it off? If they have all that money and influence, I’m sure they’d think it’s a waste to just throw a deal like that away. It certainly would make sense if they were the greedy type.
-Certainly would, seconded Ulrich. After all, no one really knew that much about the movement over there, so it wouldn’t be hard for them to keep their contributors in the dark about its failure.
-So what’s your take on that now?
-I have the possibility to freeze the accounts right now, but I’d prefer to let the cash move around a bit to see what it does, and who it goes to. Right now, it’s all we know for certain about these people, so it would be a shame to act irrationally and just hurt their pocketbooks when we can put an end to them entirely.
-Do I still have a part to play in this dance?
-Not actively, no, but nonetheless you need security. I’ll tell Gallet that he can call his bodyguards back, and I’ll have some of my own people take care of covering you. Oh, by the way, Victor called me, about the raccoons that checked in.
-Oh, right. You don’t mind?
-Mind? You did exactly what I would have, my congratulations for your excellent judgement. Now, I’ll get on that change of staff for your protection there. Talk to you soon, wolf.
-Same, panther. God bless!

(Switch to Tracks)

I kept a steady hand on the wheel while my other rested at the ready on the shift lever, keeping my car from going into the red while I sped through Miami’s streets. I’d never really cared much for speed limits, just because I knew that the chances a police officer would try to make a move on a Bronco was, well, slim at best. I’d never had any trouble though, and my reflexes were fast as my thoughts, being the second point of the Clan. I was mostly the brawn behind the affair though, but I didn’t mind. What I did, I did well, cleanly, and always with a huge amount of professional pride. This time, I had a call from Ulrich to play guardian angel to a family of raccoons that had served as informants for an important crackdown on a fraud operation stemming straight from city hall, nothing very extreme in my view, especially not when they were staying at his hotel. I hadn’t bothering bringing anything more then a Colt with me with a few extra rounds, as I didn’t expect for there to be any actual trouble and to serve more as an active deterrent then an actual fighter.

I knew the place as well as Ulrich anyway, and he’d given me a set of the janitorial keys very early after having taken the seat as Don, just in case he needed me to come in a hurry and take care of some business. If anything, it saved me the trouble of trying to hide in plain sight in the front lobby as I could simply take one of the back doors to get into the employees-only sections of the hotel, the majority of who knew me from some appearance in the building throughout time and didn’t pay attention to me in a way I would have found to be a problem. I took the lifts to the topmost floor, what I jokingly called the VIP floor because the rooms there contained twice as much stuff as any other level’s, and were either reversed for the Clan use, or for very privileged customers Ulrich had set up somehow. I didn’t expect to cross paths with the people from the state department either, and by the time I got to the room that my targets were located, they had already split, right on schedule. To my surprise, the first person to come out of the room was the hotel’s book keeper, a nice-looking wolf who had all the looks of an underground gambling house operator, but too much charm to be able to tell a lie to save his tail.

-Hello, said the lupine as he shook my hand. I take it that you’re the good man that Ulrich asked to look after our informants here?
-It looks to be the way of things, I replied, slapping his arm with a grin. I don’t remember your name, though. Was it something like Rex?
-Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that I met you though. I know I’ve seen you around here pretty often, but I can’t say I know more.
-I’m one of Ulrich’s closest friends, Tracks. I’m the guy he calls in when there’s more trouble then he can handle in one sitting, if you get my drift.
-Certainly do! Anything I can get you?
-Well, I’d certainly like to know more about the people in there so I can make the most of my presence here. How many are they?
-Four, stated Rex as he let us into the room. Luis, this is Tracks. Tracks will be looking after you for the rest of the week, or however long you end up staying here.
-Good to meet you! That’s my wife Donna, and my kids Emily and Jake. Listen, I have to go back home and get a few things. Would you mind staying close here?
-Security is me specialty, I waved, I’m sure I can handle it.
-See you soon then!

Rex and the male raccoon took off like a breeze, leaving me in the company of the rest of the family. I was great with children by some odd sort of skill, probably one of God’s little tricks on me since I was homosexual and the chances I’d ever have any was purely nil unless me and my mate adopted, which I doubted extremely strongly would ever happen. That said, the little girl didn’t waste a second to come and ask me if I wanted to play soccer with her in the corridor. Her mother was going to object, but I cut in before her and accepted, commenting that if Ulrich was going to have families in the hotel, he should have foreseen for them to be able to have some fun in them as well. We left the room, kicking the ball back and forth on the dense carpet until I caught a really strong kick that almost hit a painting on one of the walls, sort of signalling that we’d had enough.

-That was great, said Emily. Jake’s not that good, he kicks it too hard at me.
-I tried to go easy, I replied. How old are you, Emily?
-Ten, said the raccoon. My birthday was last week!
-Oh, well happy birthday with some delay, I comment as I picked her up on my shoulders and carried her on my back around the floor.
-Your back’s hard! Why is it so hard? Daddy’s isn’t that hard at all.
-Oh, it’s just because I work out, I replied. I do exercises to become stronger and that makes my muscles harder.
-I bet you’re not that strong, giggled the girl. I bet you can’t lift that sofa there!
-Oh come on, I laughed as I put her down to take the two-seater a few inches from the ground. There, I’m not that strong, eh?
-Okay, fine, you are. I think mommy would like you, you know.
-What do you mean?
-Well, whispered the girl as she came closer to talk in my ear, when daddy’s not home, sometimes men come to the house and she tells us to stay downstairs while they go up in their room. I think it’s not nice, because sometimes we hear her talking loud, but we don’t understand what she says.
-Do you know what they do, I asked naively, or do they just talk?
-I don’t know, shrugged Emily. One time, I went up because Jake had hurt himself with a table, and when I opened the door, they didn’t have clothes on and they were doing something strange. Mommy was screaming, but then she saw me and got really mad and told me not to tell daddy what I saw.
-Did you?
-No, I didn’t. I don’t know. Was that okay?
-What you did, yes, but I don’t think what your mother was doing was good.
-I didn’t tell anyone. Can I tell you more about it?
-If it makes you feel better, sure, I said as I took us to the room aside the family’s to take it easy in the smaller living room.
-I don’t understand why they didn’t have clothes, said the girl. Mommy says that it’s not good to take your clothes off in front of people. Is that true?
-Well, you see, that depends. Sometimes, when people like each other, it’s not a problem, I started as I heard a knock at the door and walked to answer it.
-Hi, said Donna as I opened the door. I’m just going downstairs to grab a bite to eat. Can you look after Jake too?
-Sure! We can make this room theirs, if you like. I mean this entire floor is empty, other then you good folks.
-Oh, sure! See you in a few, she called as she hurried off after having showed the boy to the room.
-I was telling Tracks about mommy, said Emily with a serious expression. You know, the other people who come. Did you ever see them in the room?
-Yep, nodded Jake. That was weird though! Dad talked to me about what they were doing once, but I didn’t think it was right to do it with anyone like that?
-What were they doing, asked Emily, you know?
-Dad said it’s having sex, stated the boy as if he was proud of using the word. That’s right, isn’t it, Tracks?
-I think so, I nodded. Hmm, that’s a bit of an odd twist to this. I’ll just go call someone in the other room, okay? I’ll be back soon.

I left the room after having made sure that the door was locked, sneaking back into the parent’s place to call up Ulrich and inform him of the news, just so he knew to keep an eye out on Donna and make sure she wasn’t left alone too long in the hotel.

-I guess that we’d better chaperone or something, I commented to the panther.
-The last thing I want to have to deal with is a trashed room after a conjugal war, replied the Don with a chuckle. I’ll tell Victor to take care of her if he sees her.
-You think he’s immune to feminine charm?
-That man has so little libido that sometimes I think he’s asexual, laughed Ulrich. If anything, she’ll concentrate her obsession on him for a while so things will steady out.
-I’ll keep the kids out of it, I offered. I know; I come from a broken home here, so keeping them nice and unaware of everything is for the better.
-I wonder what else we’ll have to deal with today, groaned the cat. See you later, Tracks.

I hung up with my hand over my face, rubbing my muzzle with a honk as I thought how much bad juju Ulrich’s last line represented. If you asked for things to get worst, they had a tendency to do just that, and I didn’t have the mind to play psychologist. Heck, I didn’t even have a high school diploma and though I could shoot the aces out of a card at twenty paces, to coin a phrase, having to take on the role of family therapist wasn’t high on my job description. Well, I’d have to pick up the part nonetheless, as the moment I walked into the kids’ room, I almost yelled out cursing as I saw the two of them stark naked, Jake mounted on Emily. They just looked at me and giggled as I turned to hold the nearest wall and thump my head against it, trying to line up enough thoughts to get it together. I walked over the bed, half hoping that the son didn’t know what he was doing, but rolling my eyes as I saw that he was doings things quite right, ramming his sister with a decent erection for his age. I waved for him to stop, but he seemed to be confused why.

-It feels good, he said as he looked at me.
-It does, seconded Emily. Do you want to try, Tracks?
-I... oh great, I groaned as Jake finally got off her, who am I, Pee Wee? Listen, both of you, put some clothes on, and we have to talk.
-Why are you mad, started Emily, looked back at me with tearful eyes, why are you talking like that? I just want to try to make you feel good, okay?
-It’s okay, I called as I tried to keep them from going into a crying fit. Look, it’s okay, it’s just that we have to talk about a few things.
-Do it and then we’ll talk, Emily called back. If you don’t, I’ll cry.
-I can’t believe I’m doing this, I grunted as I went and put a chair under the doorknob to barricade it. This time, you really can’t tell anyone about it, though.
-Okay, smiled the girl as I took off my briefs.

I didn’t actually do much, knowing that the two didn’t have a clue what we were doing, just going in Emily two or three inches for a few minutes while she started heaving with breath. She seemed happy enough as I ran to the washroom to pound myself off, trying to get my equipment down as soon as possible, though just as perfectly, I turned to see Jake looking at me with a strange look on his face, trying to wrap his head around what I’d done. This time my mind turned to jelly and I walked him back to the room, hoaxing both of them back into their clothes before giving them the longest talk about the facts of life I’d ever given in my life, aside from one I’d had with Eclipse, who had otherwise been such a frigging libertine that he would have screwed everyone he ran into without an ounce of shame if I hadn’t gotten to him in time. Not that Ulrich’s adventures with him had helped, to boot. I felt like a mix between some cartoon character on a kid’s television show and a watered-down Doctor Phil as I instructed them in everything related to sex, most of which seemed to strike them with a feeling of horror at what they’d done, not that I’d meant for it to be that way. Well, did and didn’t because the last thing I wanted was for it to happen again. After the talk and some discussion to drive the point home as far as I could, I heard another knock at the door, opening it to see Donna looking back at me, waving her hand at me.

-Hi again, Tracks, said the woman. Is everything good here?
-We need to talk, I said, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind me before motioning her to go into her room with me for a moment.
-Oh, certainly, she said as we entered the living room, stopping her walk towards the bedroom as she realized that I had stopped. Sorry, I don’t think I understand. What did you want to talk about? Can we do it in there?
-No, I stated. Look, ma’am... Donna. I’m not exactly the reference point when it comes to morality in this world, but there are some precepts that even if sometimes lead to some frustrating circumstances, need to be observed as closely as possible.
-Hey, frowned the raccoon, listen, what I choose is my choice...
-Not when it influences the morality and raising of your children, I shot back at her a bit louder then I would have liked. I just had a talk with your kids, a pretty disturbing one that I wish I hadn’t, but that’s too late to change now. To turn your place into a revolving door that you use as your palace to invite noble princes to whenever the kind is away isn’t the sort of environment that healthy kids walk out of.
-What sort of... I can’t believe that you’re saying this!
-I’m saying this because my mother was the village bus, I cut, and the second my father found out, he did the best ting for us that he could, to take us away from that place. None of us ever saw her again. Think of that, Donna, think of that. How would you like it if tomorrow, for some reason, Luis finds out that you’ve been doing this? What do you think he’ll do?
-He loves me! He wouldn’t...
-My father loved my mother too, but there’s a limit to everything, one that normally common decency is enough to keep most people with god given reason from crossing. I’m going back to take care of your children until your husband returns, Donna, and I recommend that you do some hard thinking about your situation in the meantime.
-Tracks, wait, said the woman as she tried to reach for my elbow. Just sit down and I’ll give you something that’ll make you feel better, eh? No one needs to know...
-If you were the first person to offer me that deal today, I’d be a lot less pumped about it. Bye.

I closed the door behind me as I stepped out of the room, putting my ear to the door to hear her sobbing on the other side. Good, I thought, regret might end up setting her straight, if her common sense hadn’t been able to. I took the two kids downstairs to the cabaret to kick back a bit, putting on a good front not to let anything that had happened upstairs shine through a crack. By the time that I checked my watch, I saw Luis peering in at us, soon coming over to hug his kids and get a bit of an update on how things had been when he’d been out. I didn’t have a straight answer to give him, instead trying to give some happy fairytale version of the stay, though I had a natural instinct that things weren’t going to stand still for long. And how so...

As we were chatting, I saw a shadow in the doorway of the cabaret, deserted other then our group. I didn’t pay too much attention to it until as if my eyes had become trained to spot the lethal instruments, I saw a gun in the shadow’s hand. I slowly told Luis and his kids to stay down between the rows of seats while I went to see what was going on. Her shadow walked into the light after a few seconds, revealing herself to be Donna, looking like a creature who sanity had deserted entirely.

-Tracks, I know you’re in here! You too, Luis! You were no good to me, Luis, you bastard! You get me pregnant twice, but as soon as we’re parents, you leave me at home to deal with everything while you’re off at work with your damn career! I won’t take it anymore, you hear me? This is it! I’ve had it with you! And you, Tracks, who the fuck do you think you are to tell me how I should think and live?
-Donna, put down the gun, I called as I drew my own iron. You don’t want to do this.
-Shut up, called the raccoon as she fired two stray shots in my direction, which started her kids crying. Ah, that’s were you three are hiding!
-Donna, sweetheart, stop it, howled Luis. We didn’t do anything to you!
-You did too much to me, she replied, firing a shot that landed in a seat just a row aside where her family were crouching.
-I’m only going to ask one more time, I called to her. Put the gun down and step back!

I could see from my position that Donna was few steps away from having a line of sight on her husband, who had taken a position to try to cover his children as she circled around the room. Taking a deep breath, I shot to my feet and drew a bead on her shoulder, though we both fired at the same time. I felt her projectile cut my skin just below the shoulder, but I didn’t flinch, keeping my stance to make sure that I shot true, and just as I hoped, my round caught her right in the clavicle, tearing a cry of pain from her as she released her firearm. I didn’t even think about my injury as I ran over to kick it out of her reach and cried to three security hotel guards to call an ambulance. I tried to apply first aid to the woman, but she was completely maniacal, loosing more blood from her wound as she raged. For her own good, I took the hilt of my pistol and knocked her out before sitting down aside her and checking my arm, wrapping the gash with part of my shirt. Ulrich himself ran in as I was tending to myself, asking for some sort of explanation as to what the firefight had been about.

-Was this about what you told me on the phone, asked the panther as he sat aside me, is it?
-She just lost her mind, I commented as I looked at her family, now in the throes of anguish. She’s insane, completely insane. I knocked her out before she worked herself up too much and bled out.
-What the hell people do sometimes, I’ll never understand, sighed Ulrich. I’ll take care of those three, if you can manage.
-I just need a stitch kit. When the ambulance gets here, I’ll get one off them and take a shower. Did anyone call the police yet?
-Yes, but they’re holding off. I think the only service that we’ll need after this is asylum orderlies. By the way, we got a trace on that money. We have names, if you want to look into it after.
-I’ll call Jumpy to give me a hand, I nodded.

The medics made their appearance five minutes later, taking Donna on a stretcher with solid straps to hold her down in case she started acting up and very generously giving me a full kit to look after myself as I retreated to panther’s room to stitch and wrap the graze. There was some meaning to this scar, I thought as I looked at the cut while I got in the shower and started the water. The realization that I’d failed to mend the same crisis that had cost me my childhood, that trying too hard to use words rather then kindness with Donna had lit a brush fire that would now sear this family, was devastating.

The events of that day, over twenty years ago, had lived in my heart and weighed it down like molten lead. I’d seen my mother do just the same thing as the raccoon, but my lips had remained sealed for years on end until my father went for a walk with me a windy autumn day and bluntly asked me if I knew anything about her adventures. It was a devastating decision to make, between two people I loved more then anything, more then myself, even, one I should never have made, perhaps, but whatever had been my course of action, I would have given a reply. If I’d remained silent, I would have been aiding my mother, sided with her and probably been thought of as just that by my father. When I spoke that day though, I threw my lot with him, trying to downplay the severity of her infidelity, but I knew from his stare that he had already had such a strong suspicion that even an ounce of verification from my part was the spark he needed.

When we returned home from the walk, he asked me to pack whatever I needed because we were leaving. Though I had more tears on my face then I’d ever shed since, I did it and we filled the car with everything we could before rolling off out of Virginia, across state lines until we arrived in Miami. We started again from the ground up, getting a new place to live and registering me in school. It seemed like a dream, some hazy reality that I couldn’t grasp properly because it had just gone too fast. I started my own garage rock band with small money I did with odd jobs in the neighbourhood, teaching myself guitar in my spare time. Still, it seemed more and more meaningful then school and I started cutting classes to put in more time practicing. The other guys in the band started criticizing me for it, and eventually gave out on me.

It was during one of trips I did in the city to try and audition for another band that I lost my father. He had been driving back from work when he got caught in a firefight between the police and some gang that had finished robbing a bank and were making their getaway. Less then the weight of a pencil’s worth of metal was all it took to end his life, orphaning me and putting an unthinkable hatred in me that drove me to sell my guitar at a pawn shop to buy a cheap revolver and go after the gang, who, worst of all, had managed to escape the gunfire. It took me weeks to find them in a shithole of a bar that they liked to frequent. I strode in, and right in front of the barman, I shot the three of them in the head as soon as I was close enough to the table. The man looked at me with a nod, and spoke to me.

-They killed your father, didn’t they?
-Yes.
-Now they’re dead too. What do you do now, son?
-I don’t know. It doesn’t matter now. I got them.
-It does matter, frowned the barman. You matter. What are you going to do now?
-Find a job, start over.
-Then you have one here, if you want.
-Okay.

The man closed the bar and took me to the back room, where he called someone on the phone. A few minutes later, three people walked into the bar. Two took away the bodies, and the third came to see me. He was a young enough badger, with more compassion in his eyes then I’d ever felt shown to me. He told the barman to hire me as a waiter, but that when I was ready to, I could come see him to start a new life. Five weeks later, I took a taxi to the Bronco mansion, and at the tender age of seventeen, I became a gun for the Clan, executing our enemies and protecting my new family. All the blood I split seemed to make my pain fade, but sometimes it came back as clear as day.

I didn’t even feel anything as I finished the last of my suture, cutting the wire and throwing all the expendable items in the garbage can, leaving the tools for Ulrich as thanks for the shower, which looked like a mess with plenty of my haemoglobin pooled around the drain. I sprayed it down before dressing the wound and with my clothes back on me, left the room. I needed to know that I was still part of this life, and didn’t waste any time to get back in my car to drive off to the mansion. Ulrich could handle the raccoons; I needed to get to work. I felt like casting some steel through wicked souls, to see their blood spilt, to wash away the thoughts I had right now.

I’d called up Jumpy, my lover and the only soul who I knew loved for everything I was in the world, while I was on my way, and sure enough the kangaroo was leaning against his car in the parking lot right aside where I normally stowed my own ride. I got out as soon as I’d taken my keys out of the ignition and gave him a big hug, not even minding the ache that my wound brought me as I tightened up my grip on him.

-Hey studmuffin, said the ‘roo as he gave a peck on the cheek and stroked my neck. You hurt?
-It hurts in here more then anywhere, I replied as I put a hand on my chest.
-Come on, we’ll gave a shot inside. That hit didn’t get you in the gut, did it?
-Nah, just my arm. Jumpy, I love you man. You know that, don’t you? That I love you that much?
-I sure do, he smiled. Rough day, eh?
-Shit, you have no idea how loud memories can call to you.

Jumpy opened the door for us as we snuck into the bar, stealing a bottle of better cognac and two glasses before cuddling at one of the tables and popping it open. The ‘roo’s hand didn’t leave my lap as we threw back over half a dozen shots, all of which brought me back from the abyss of regret very effectively. I would have turned my attention to the information Ulrich wanted us to act on, but to be honest we were too ripped to go out and our upstairs bedroom was far enough. Sandwiched between the sheets and Jumpy, I fell fast asleep, feeling his lips right next to mine so I could just pucker up and kiss them whenever I wanted.

I woke up to Jumpy’s usual greeting, that is to say I had my pants and briefs down to my angles and the ‘roo was sucking me off, butt naked. I laughed and threw him over, groping the heck out of him until we ended up just falling in a pile, laughing our asses off as we tickled each other any way we could. Jumpy gave up after I’d tackled him into an arm lock and ran my rod between his legs for a bit, so we simply got up and straightened out our act to get to the library and start reviewing the latest findings on the city hall fraud. The benefactors of the organization actually lived and seemed to work out of a large residence a few streets down from the mansion, using a very complicated network of offshore accounts and fake identities to move the money until it tinkled down into their real banks here in the states. Ulrich had informed the bankers that they dealt with about the affair, and they were just waiting for the word to freeze every last penny that the fraudsters had access to. Basically, we had them in a stranglehold, which gave the liberty to act whenever we wanted.

-I don’t see why we should be the ones to go after these guys, commented Jumpy. The way I see it, the police have all the information they need to go in and kick in their door.
-There’s nothing here indicating us that they have any affiliation with their former employers, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the case.
-So they want us to ask them politely if that’s the case? Figures, grinned the ‘roo as he put his hand under my shirt and rubbed my stomach. Up for it?
-I don’t think that having a scratch on my arm will keep me from a bit of exercise, I laughed. Let’s rock!

We slapped on our pistols and took out a pair of FN assault rifles from the basement before walking out of the mansion, jumping in one of our jeeps and roaring off. Not wanting to give them any time to escape if they’d notice something was off, we placed the calls to the banks from the car as we rolled on. The cash was frozen by the time we got to the address, a huge two-story home with more cars in the driveway then we wanted to see.

-Shit, I groaned as I looked at the location with a pair of binoculars. I don’t think that we have the metal to take this place on.
-Actually, you’d be surprised, smiled Jumpy as he opened the trunk’s release while he turned into the driveway. Come on, before they have time to spot us!

I hopped out of the car with my bro as he slung the rifles over our shoulders and cut back to look in the trunk, where I saw two MK48 machineguns with several cassettes waiting to be installed and used. My cheek muscles involuntarily stressed into a wide grin as I took mine and loaded it up, getting it operational and ready before Jumpy. By the time we closed the compartment and started down the driveway, a group of armed guards were running down to stop us, though their approach was enough to tell us that they didn’t have any intent in giving us even the slightest chance to talk. A trio of chest-level bursts from the both of us was enough to end their threat and give us the space we needed to get closer.

As we passed by, I slapped a plastique explosive under one of the cars in the driveway, just to give us a distraction if we needed it, winking at the ‘roo as he gave an approving nod. We flanked the front door, staying out of view of the windows, giving us time to catch our breaths and see what the defender’s next move would be. Jumpy didn’t trust the way to be safe, and as if to make his point, he pulled a lamp off the porch and banged the door with it. The sound hadn’t faded out of existence before bullets pierced through the wood and steel, telling us that they had set up a welcoming committee for us. I gave a wave of my hand, signalling for us to cut around back instead, because even if it meant that there was chance they could get out, it certainly was safer. Jumping the mesh fence and adjoining hedge, we stuck to the building’s wall and throwing a cheap, tacky concrete pineapple lawn ornament through the first patio door, we rushed in and liquidated the group minding the front door, emptying our first cassettes in the process. The count was now at ten wicked souls, no more of which showed up for the time we needed to put another fifty rounds behind the pins of our weapons.

We ran up to the second floor, taking out two more heavily armed guards during the sweep. Not wanting to lose the momentum and to let the frustration get to us, we swept the first floor, locating nothing but fresh air.

-Damn, I hope we didn’t come at the wrong time, growled Jumpy.
-There’s still the basement, I corrected. Let’s get it.
-Right, called the kangaroo as we took the stairs down, only to find ourselves looking at a safe door. Oh shit, I didn’t expect that.
-Get back, I smiled as I took my second plastique and stuck it on the door. Let’s go back upstairs.
-How strong is that stuff? Do you think that’ll be enough to punch through the door?
-Three, two one... click.

A massive explosion rocked the residence as a plume of fire and debris shot up from the stairwell, a good deal of the latter metal. A small fire had started in the vicinity as we hurried back down and trained our guns on five souls, three gazelle bucks, an elephant and a doe, shouting to them incessantly to do what we told them if they didn’t want to be turned into red tapioca. Herding them out of the safe room was no trouble with the omnipresent threat to their lives in effect, but as we started piling them into the car, the elephant made a run for it and dove into the very car I’d primed to blow. Looking right at the gazelles, I pressed the detonator’s trigger, sending the cabriolet several meters into the air before it plummeted back to the ground in a smouldering mess, landing on the next car in the driveway as to crush both together in a pile of twisted wreckage. While Jumpy kept an eye on our new friends with a cannon lined up with their heads, I dragged the bodies we’d shot outside into the building to be consumed in the fire that had spread to the first floor at this point, though there was far too much blood splattered around them to be masked in any way.

The gazelles didn’t speak a word as I sat backwards on the front seat with a calm smile and our high calibre equipment at the ready to make good on our promises if they did otherwise. Though we were close to home, we didn’t want to compromise the mansion and selected a garage that Ulrich had opened days ago, situated ten minutes away as our interrogation facility. The owner of the front was made after all, and she didn’t work on Sundays, so the place was ours to use for the day.

The four kept their silence as we got them inside the main bay of the joint, cuffing them to whatever equipment was at hand and gagging them just to make sure that things were peaceful while we got down to the task at hand. I offered to take the role of chief inquisitor for the first round of questioning, leaving Jumpy to lean against a toolbox with his rifle lazily resting against his armpit. From experience, not that I think anything less of women then men, I was certain I could get a better response from the doe then the three gazelles. She seemed more broken up by the arrest (aka kidnapping), hence if I didn’t go too hard, there was probably enough emotional manoeuvring room for me to get in there. I escorted her with a hand in the small of her back to the garage office, asking her in a calm voice to sit down for us to talk. She didn’t protest, doing exactly as I said, which made me confident enough to unlock her cuffs and undo her gag before going back to the better seat in the office. I gave her a second to compose herself, though there was enough swallowing of tears and trembling before me to explain her steady level of stress. Slowly, I took out a few papers and a pen and started the conversation.

-I’m sorry that you had to be brought here in these circumstances, madam, but I think that we both know why it happened. Now, how do you want this to happen?
-What do you mean?
-I mean that you have a choice between explaining to me whatever you know about the money that you and your comrades have been receiving for the last few years, or for things to become unfortunately very difficult for you. I don’t want to have to contemplate the latter, but this is too serious a matter for sensibilities to be considered at this point.
-Who are you?
-That doesn’t matter right now. Right now, we’re looking at your immediate future. So, do you want to talk?
-I... If I do, you’ll still kill me, said the doe with a hinny as she wrapped her arms around herself. What does it matter if I talk or not?
-It matters because you’ll be safe and sound if you do. Be assured, this is the closest thing to a trial that you’ll have regarding these actions, and it’s only as impartial as long as we’re honest with each other. If we start lying to each other, then you’re dealing yourself a very poor hand.
-Okay, okay, sighed the doe as she tightened her grip on herself. Two of the guys out there are my cousins, the others are their friends. They came back from a trip to Kenya in the late nineties with a bunch of stories about people they’d met that had talked to them about a new political movement that they were forming. They needed money, a lot of it, but they’d already ran a bunch of scams, mostly phone and Internet stuff. My cousins aren’t bright bucks and they talked them into giving them a hand, setting up a bunch of things to get money fast in exchange for a cut. They got a bunch of money and bought up a bunch of crap they didn’t need. You know, the sort of thing morons do when they win the lottery and have more cash then they know how to spend.
-This story doesn’t seem to place you in a position to profit from this.
-It never did. They invited me over and told me about it, offering a cut just like the others gave them if I ran a few credit card scanners here and there to get more dough flowing in. I did it, but they didn’t give me anything. I told them that I’d stop if they didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, but they gave me this instead, said the doe as she raised her shirt’s side to show a noticeable reddish scar through her pale fur. They said that if I stopped or told anyone, I was as good as dead.
-So you stayed because of that threat.
-I got pretty close to talking a few times, especially when some of the people they dealt with started buying all sort of weapons to ship with the cash, but I just didn’t have the guts. I was too afraid, and I don’t have any money. If I made a break for it, it would’ve been on my hooves and I couldn’t afford a two-dollar salad, let alone a hotel or a place to stay. I wouldn’t have made it far before they put a bullet through me.
-I see, I hummed as I continued to transcribe her words. All right, this puts you in a good position...
-Melanie, said the doe.
-Yes, Melanie, it helps you. Now for the wrap-up; Are there any other people that your cousins or associates worked with that are in liberty as far as you know?
-Just the guys they bought the guns and stuff from, but they’re not even in the country or anything. They’re in like Haiti or something like that, down there in the islands. You... you got everyone at the house, right?
-Every last living soul, I nodded.
-No apologies or pity for them, grumbled the doe as she looked across to the window with a view on the garage. Those four could have sent any of them after me with instructions to cut me down, so good riddance is what I say to that!
-It looks like my friend started talking to them already, I stated as I saw Jumpy beating information out of the four with a metal bar. If they have anything to add, we’ll know, as well as if you’re lying to me or not.
-I’m not, shot Melanie as she tried to get up but sat back down as I gave her a vexed stare, I’m... I’m not. I don’t know! How can I prove it to you? I mean that stupid scar and that fact I don’t even have spare change in my wallet is all I have to show to support it. If you don’t want to think that I’m honest, I can’t do anything about it other then pray that whatever you want to do with me will be humane.
-I don’t think that we’ll get to that, I stated as I watched Jumpy put a round through one of our captives’ head. I wouldn’t say the same for those four, though. Looks like two down, two to go.
-One, corrected the doe as another one of the bucks went down. Fine, now that’s four. I’m... I’m next?
-No, no. You’re coming with us, and we’ll find something for you to start anew with to put this chapter behind you, in return for this relation of mutual trust.
-You mean you’re offering me job? Is that what you’re saying?
-Yes, that’s the crux of it, I nodded. You work at one of our businesses for however long we can agree for you to, and make a good life for yourself while we keep an eye on you, so we can be sure that you’re everything that you say you are.
-I... I... oh God thank you, shouted the doe as she leaned over to give me a hug. Thank you so much, whoever you are! I’d do anything, anything other then go back to what I’ve been living for these past few years. If it’s honest work and you think I’m qualified, I’m there!
-All right, let’s gather our thoughts here, I said as I got up to pass an arm around her and give her a gentle squeeze. What’s your background?
-I used to work at an electronics repair shop until this crap started, said Melanie. I know my way around those things like I know my muzzle, right about anything that beeps and buzzes.
-Right, I said with a growing smile at the doe’s timid exposé. In that case, I suppose that you could even stay right here, if you like. I know we have a first-class mechanic, but as far as electronics go, we’re outsourcing. If you feel like it, I could make it happen.
-Yes, yes! I really do, said the woman, looking around wildly. Oh wow! This is just like a miracle here! Can I give you another hug?
-Sure, I said as she gripped me again. All right Melanie, I’ll call Mandy and tell her she has a new circuit girl to deal with. We can stay in here while our housekeeping takes care of the mess out there, though.
-Great! You can call me Mel, by the way. No one I know calls me by my full name. Say, just out of context here - you’re a pretty nice piece of work, you know that?
-Ha, thanks. You’re everything a doe should be yourself, if you don’t mind the flattery.

I stayed with the woman for half an hour in the office, mostly discussing her life, which was a nice one, starting with a nice family who was still perfectly intact in Louisiana to a college education that got her a technical degree to get the job that she’d mentioned. It was really a shame that her existence had been interrupted by these series of events, because short of a love to share her life, she had everything that the American dream could offer. My orientation aside, she was the epitome of a doe: 32 chest, five-eleven, that natural athletic build people would die for, and a sweet little white-trimmed tail. She must have realized what I was thinking and raised my muzzle with a finger with an interrogative air.

-Contemplating your prisoner, buck? There’s more to me then my looks, you know.
-That’s not even debatable! I was just thinking how sad it is a jewel like you would be kept from the world.
-Aww, that’s sweet, cooed Mel. Okay, he’s my pitch; is your rear branded yet, bud?
-You know the ‘roo in the garage? He’s my mate. Sorry to disappoint, but...
-Hey, if you’re a happy man, that’s all that counts in the end, started the doe before reaching under her shirt and pulling her bra and blouse over her breasts. Sure you can say no to these, though?
-No, I said as I looked at her pink nipples. There, I said it.
-All right, laughed Mel as she straightened her clothes out. I was just wondering like this though, seeing as how I don’t have a dime here, would it be possible for me to have an advance on my pay or something to get on my hooves?
-We can put you up at the mansion for a while, I nodded. One of our occupants moved out with his girlfriend a bit back, so there’s a free room if you like.
-Amazing what can happen in an afternoon...

(Switch to Ulrich)

I liked how things always seemed to fall back in my hands, especially when they already took the time to fall apart. The last phone call from Doc King, my insider at the hospital where he’d arranged for Donna to be directed to, told me that the raccoon had been transferred to a private room I footed the bill for, with a very good outlook with regards to recovery. The orderlies had strict orders to keep her under watch, with he mental state being what it was, and she had also been ‘secured’, as he delicately mentioned it, probably meaning she was probably shackled to her bed to make sure she didn’t go off and do something regrettable.

Still, on the long term, those precautions would have to be done away with and be replaced by a more permanent solution. I’d discussed that with him on the phone too, securing a spot at a psychiatric institute that the hospital was affiliated with in case that I could convince Luis to send her there, if just for a while to get her head screwed back on straight. That, hurray for me, was the next item on my agenda, not one that I was too enthusiastic about having to go through with. Hi Luis, you’re wife’s a fruitcake and we need to throw her in a padded room before she gets her hands on a Glock again... right.

Gallet hadn’t stuck around the hotel long, returning to his people to look into more problems that he’d have to address in the city in due time. Nothing like this business with the Kenyan rebels, rather tax evasion issues on a large scale, thankfully. Good luck, armadillo, but I still had to mop up the rest of the fallout here. I took the lift to the top floor, where I had sent up some better caviar and treats for the kids earlier, hopefully putting them in a good mood to talk. Knocking on the door, I waited until the good ‘coon opened it with a concerned look to him. I put my paw on his shoulder and gave him a comforting grip, which he responded to by putting his other paw on mine and patted it. The two kids were watching cartoons from the bed, hugging each other with just the same air to them as their father. I sat aside them with him while he turned the television off. After all, this was the first time that I talked to them since I escorted them to the room, and I hadn’t really been able to line up that many intelligent words at the time.

-Donna is recovering from the surgery, I said to them in a calm voice. There won’t be any sequels to the injury for her, from what her doctor told me.
-That’s good to head, sighed Luis. Ulrich, what happened down there?
-You haven’t discussed it together, then?
-We were scared, said Emily. Was mommy angry because of what we told Tracks?
-What did you tell Tracks, honey?
-Luis, I don’t think that there’s any easy way to approach this, I said as I put my paw back on his shoulder, be a man. Donna was having a number of affairs while you were at work, and your kids were downstairs while they engaged in congress on the second floor. Emily and Jake accidentally walked in on them as well, but she didn’t stop after that. She came onto Tracks too when he went to see her after having learned all this to try to talk to her about the problem, but he kept to his program and tried to give her some hard realities of life. It seems that with her fragile state of mind, it triggered a psychopathic episode and the result was the unfortunate incident in the cabaret.
-Donna, no... Emily, Jake, is this true?
-Yes daddy, said the boy. Please don’t be mad at mommy...
-I’m... I’m not mad, muttered the raccoon as a few tears mingled in his mask. I’m just... confused. I know I’m not a superman when I’m with her, but after my infection, we talked about it and she was understanding of the situation. Not with our kids in the house! Donna, why?
-Do you really love her, Luis? Because if you do, you can work through this like I did with my wife. We had that same problem, but we got through that storm, for the better. It’s not a pleasant memory to have, but when it’s behind you, you can move on.
-For our kids, he sniffled as he took his children against him. I don’t want them to grow up without their mom, Ulrich.
-That’s a good father, I said with a smile.
-I suppose that because of what happened though, we’ll have to deal with legal issues though, right?
-No, I put in a good word to the right people, I replied. What is an issue though is Donna’s treatment. You see, because of the breakdown she suffered, there’s a healing process that needs to occur before she can come home to you and even after that, I understand that she’ll also have to go to regular sessions to make sure that she makes a full recovery and returns to her life normally. Because of that though, she won’t be able to own firearms and her license will be suspended for a three-year period.
-You seem to be very educated on the subject, said Luis. I take it you also looked into it?
-Well, I also found a practitioner that has availability at his institute, though you don’t have to worry about the cost of this treatment.
-Good Lord, you’re certainly doing a lot for us! Sorry to be so blunt, but why?
-My bro Jumpy and I grew up orphans, and most of our close friends all come from broken homes. To be able to save anyone from that hell is a pleasure, Luis, priceless and thankless.
-That may be, but we’ll thank you anyway, sighed the raccoon as he put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in against him a brotherly embrace. I suppose that I’ll need to find a guardian for my little bundles of fur here to get them to school on time in the morning, though.
-Drop them off at our mansion, I offered. I mean if you want, it’s an option.
-You mean for you to look after them? Are you sure you can afford the time?
-We’re more then forty good souls there, I waved. They’ll never have time to get bored!
-They don’t call you men of honour for nothing! Tomorrow will be rough though, seeing as how I’m going to be the only guy in my division until they find replacements for the jailbirds that took up the other offices.
-Then go to bed early, I waved.
-I’m not sleepy, said Emily as she turned to look at me.
-Well, smiled Luis, mind taking a test run, Ulrich?
-Certainly! Come on kids; let’s find something to do in this big place, eh?

Emily and Jake took my hands as I led them out of the room to the Royal Suite, the largest room in the hotel, right down the hall. I’d outfitted the place for absolute VIP guests, playing host to the governors of six states to date and declared the ‘best damn place to lay me down’ by our own elected official. The television had every movie channel available in the city, and I’d personally had a game console and a bunch of games put in one of the entertainment centre drawers, knowing the said governor’s whimsical taste for the things, not that I didn’t sneak up and go nuts once in a while when things got too heavy at the office. As soon as we entered the room, the two little ‘coons ran off to raid whatever they could under my watchful supervision, careful that they stayed safe.

Jake wasn’t much trouble though, becoming one with the game controller as soon as he’d found the console and started a few racing games with feverish appetite. Emily didn’t seem to care much for it, declining an invitation from her brother to come and compete against him, instead looking around for something she could enjoy personally. I looked around with her, finally taking some spare sheets and tying them together in knots to form a rudimentary but rather good-looking rabbit doll for her, which she squeaked at as I was making it, and gently took it out of my hands to play with as soon as I’d finished. Sure, it would be a heck of a Gordian knot for the room service to undo, but they didn’t get a twenty-dollar an hour salary for scratching their rears, and seeing the girl lean against me as she talked to and cuddled with the sheet bunny was soothing to see.

Kids being what they are, both of the raccoons had played themselves silly and become tired out by nine-something. Jake had actually fallen asleep with the game controller in his hands, the game having long since finished without his intervention, but he still seemed the grip at it a bit as I took it out of his fingers and turned off the equipment before carrying him to the bed and tucking him in with his sister, who had migrated into the sheets under her own power, still holding the bunny. Wishing them both a quiet goodnight was hard somehow, just as a subtle reminded to myself that Mist and I had still not really gotten around to the life-changing step of having our own children while we were still not getting any younger. The lynx was five years my junior though, so it was probably no urgent matter to her for the time being.

Not wanting to take my watchful sight off them, I took up residence on the sofa aside the bed, a huge leather number with just as much stuffing as the mattress my prince and princess on the bed were privy to. I’d slept in odder positions and circumstances, hence found myself having no trouble whatsoever to go under the sandman’s spell. Still, it was a fragile, light sleep and around the witching hours of night, I heard some noises coming from the next room that got me to my feet, looking around to see Jake had left the bed. Just for the sake of having the certainty that he was all right, I slowly paced off to follow the sounds, finding myself inching towards the bathroom. I was going to knock on the door to ask if he was doing okay when I realized he hadn’t even closed it, instead busy standing facing of the water closet with his pants and briefs around his ankles, his hands obviously busy doing what all men eventually become acquainted with in life, though his mumbling didn’t seem to tell me that he was having that much success in his endeavour.

-Having trouble, Jake?
-Ulrich! I’m sorry, started the raccoon as he bend over to take his things, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I didn’t think I was very loud.
-You weren’t, I have very good hearing, I grinned. How old are you?
-Eleven, replied the boy.
-That’s about how old I was when I figured out how to do that, I said as I pointed in the general direction of the latrine. You didn’t get it?
-No, groaned the raccoon, looking down his pants at himself. I just don’t know how, I guess.
-Well, I suppose that you have to get that knowledge from another man, and it’s probably not from your dad that you’ll get it. Want me to show you around it?
-You don’t mind?
-Nah, everyone’s got to learn.

I closed the door before motioning for both of us to drop our belts, which Jake seemed to be a bit inhibited about doing, but following my lead he gave a smirk and took off his things, sitting on the edge of the bathtub aside me. His eyes seemed peeled over his head as he looked at me handle my own unit, but I kept encouraging him that eventually, he’d be on equal footing with me and that for his age, he was on the right track. The latter was quite honest to say, seeing how he already had a nice four inches of wang to work with that, following my tutoring, was quite responsive to a little TLC. Jake seemed glad to know that he wasn’t sterile or anything of the like and certainly huffed up with pride at seeing himself in full performance, though his comment about going to show his sister was a bit overboard.

-Whoa, hold on there cowpoke, I said as I held him back from the door. Listen, it’s great to be happy about what you got there, but your sister doesn’t need to see everything you have, eh?
-Why not? She was okay with it last time we were together. Tracks told us it wasn’t, but we liked it.
-You’re telling me that you did something with Emily, I frowned, right? Listen, Jake, there are a lot of good ladies out there that’ll be very, very glad to let you sleep with them and do things like that, but your sister is sort of off limits, okay? It’s just not something you do with your family.
-But it felt good when I, you know, made it come out.
-In her?
-Yeah. If felt really good!
-Still, even if it feels good, it’s not appropriate. Whenever you feel like having someone like that, just go to the washroom and masturbate, okay? You can do that if you like, it’s perfectly fine.
-And if she feels like it?
-I’ll talk to her later about that, I waved.
-I really feel like it now though, grumbled Jake. My hand hurts, though.
-All right, then you just close your eyes and relax. Keep this between us, eh?

As the raccoon masked his pupils, I got down on my knees and started blowing him, getting giggles and squeaks from him especially when I reached out my tongue to lick his balls. He was definitively on a mean nut, blasting some sweet tasting cum within minutes of the start of my work. Blinking hard, he looked down as his softening cock and then scratched his head in interrogation

-What was that?
-A blow, I simply answered. You’re good now?
-Sure! Are you going to do it for you too?
-Ha, I can’t reach that far, I laughed.
-Then let me do it, he said, reaching over and taking me. How did you do that?
-Okay, just put it in your mouth and start moving your head... yep, like that...

Some people are born with amazing skills on mathematics, sciences or a natural aptitude for languages, but Jake was gifted in the art of oral. I hardly had to say another word as he picked it up, and swear to God and sorry to say it, he gave me better head then my wife had ever managed to in the years we’d been together. Inadvertently, I finished in his maw, getting a surprised squeak from him as he instinctively spat it out on the toilet, rinsing his mouth as I almost lost my balance on the tub’s edge. Giving me a long hug, he got back in his shorts and ran back to bed, leaving me dazed while I cleaned the mess we’d made. No rest for the wicked though, I had Emily looking in at me with a smile a few ticks later, stepping in as soon as I’m signed for her to. Sitting her on the bowl, I gave my well rehearsed “do as I say, not as I do” speech about sex to her, this being the fourth time I spewed it. For the sake of thoroughness, I decided to give her the same sort of instruction that her brother had received and with both of us as nature made us, I took her in my arms and showed her how to get herself sky-high, which she proved to me was as much an inborn skill as it was in her brother.

My holy duty taken care of, depending what perspective is taken when contemplating it, I carried the girl back to bed and tucked her in. As I was going to return to my sofa, I heard her offer to come in with them, seconded by Jake who personally jumped out of the sheets to run over and knock me off my paws onto the mattress. I smiled and put him back in before trying to partition the bed as for me to be comfortably hanging on one of the sides, a strange position that somehow I’d learned to love, probably a cat archetypical thing, though the two united their efforts to put me squat in the middle of it with both of them squeeze against me, giving the most lovable coos and squeaks I’d heard in eons.

In the morning I played shower police, making sure that both of them had cleaned behind their ears and hadn’t skipped some washing somehow to be able to go back to their previous day’s fun. A knock eventually came at the door, turning out to be Luis himself, looking like he’d really, really enjoyed the long night’s sleep and looked better then I’d seen him since we’d met. I showed him in and insisted that I’d have to buy another console for Jake at the mansion as we watched the boy pound at the controller with energy.

-I thought about that treatment you talked about last night, and I think that I’d like to talk to the doctors to have it put to work, said the man. Do you have the hospital’s number?
-Here, I said as I scribbled it on a notepad and passed him the information. Just ask for Doc King, he’ll have all the details. He’s an old friend of mine, so I vouch fully for his integrity.
-Thanks for everything, sighed Luis. These two need to be at school in an hour though, so I’ll just go down the restaurant with them to make sure they get their brain food. Come on kids, put down the toys and walk away!

I called housekeeping to get the place set aright before going on my way to my office, almost doing a muzzle-to-muzzle with Rex as he walked out of his own. He obviously hadn’t much stability in his paws even before the collision, but as I balanced him out against the nearest wall, he managed a joke while his eyes blinked hard.

-Hey Ulrich, I like you too, but let’s stay Platonic, eh?
-Right, whatever, I laughed as I messed with the wolf’s mane. So how’s life?
-Sara and Yvonne officially moved in with me, he shrugged. I suppose that after tomorrow’s unfortunate business, I can honestly say that there’ll be plenty of love spread around our place.
-Both of them? You greedy shyster bastard! Are you sure there’s enough of you to go around?
-You’d honestly be surprised, replied Rex. If you’ll excuse me though, I think I’ll go for a camomile tea or something right now to get me over the hump...
-Heck, I’ll tag along, I nodded. I think I’ll add a bit of gin in mine though...
-Absinth goes better with camomile, corrected the canine. Not that I know firsthand, but...
-There are three bottles downstairs. Hurry up, or I’m keeping them for myself.
-And you called me selfish?