Chapter 6 The Morning After

The Morning After

It's early dawn at Prescott Manor. A window's curtains had been opened by the occupant of a room on the second floor. It was James Jr., Jill's 20 year-old brother. The ferret stood almost completely exposed in the light of his bedroom window. He had only a robe, which hung open from his shoulders, and a silk pair of panties covering his ass and groin, a sizable bulge being more obvious as the ferret had a case of morning wood right now.

He ran his slender paw through his hair, checking himself in the reflection of his window. Some of the pink was going away, his natural dark brown hair was showing more. He would let it stay that way for now, but he would need to re-dye soon.

The young adult drank his morning coffee as his bright blue eyes picked up his sister's metallic blue Mustang pulling up their driveway, followed by another silver car that he did not recognize. He saw his sister and her friend, Desiree. Then he saw three unfamiliar folks getting out of the other car.

The male mused to himself, "Oh what has my darling sister got herself into this time?"

...

Downstairs, James Sr. had just woken up himself. He was more suitably dressed than his son had been. He wore a maroon robe, tied securely to his waist, a pair of striped pajama pants, his slippers, but no undershirt. He had a good build for a businessman in his 60s, having three beautiful children in his life gave him that motivation to stay healthy so he could be in their lives as long as possible.

He had just been to his "royal throne" when he heard the front door to his manor open. Curious, the ferret father peered downstairs to see his daughter, her punk friend, and three new people.

Mr. Prescott ventured down to see what his eldest child was up to at this early hour.

Jill saw her father coming down and she put on her best "not guilty" smile, "Dad, I was just about to come get you."

The old British ferret chuckled at his daughter's confidence, ever the spitting image of her mother. "I'm listening, Jillian Ann..." he said with his arms crossed.

Desi snickered, "Ooh, he pulled out the middle name on you, girl."

The young millionairess kept her smile, "Dad, I hope you don't mind, but I invited a few people to come stay at the manor for a time. I am in charge, so if anything happens, I admit full responsibility; I promise, there is a very good reason behind all of this."

James looked at the three newcomers: a meerkat, a squirrel, an opossum; he would love to know what the hell this all was leading to. He looked to his daughter, "Very well, they can stay, we have spare guest rooms. Now, just let me get some more sleep before I have to deal with your nonsense, Jillian." He turned to her guests, "And to whom do I have the joy in meeting?"

Hidaya stepped forth, "Hidaya Sinclair, pleasure to meet you, sir. I promise, you'll hardly notice me being here."

Bill spoke next, "Bill Foster and, holy crap, your house is huge!"

James chuckled at Bill's childlike wonder, "Well, I'm glad you approve, now I feel complete."

Jon was last. He happily shook Mr. Prescott's hand, "Jonathan Garcia, but all my friends call me either Jonny or just plain Jon."

James was admittedly surprise by the squirrel's firm handshake, "Ah, by that grip, I'd guess you were a soldier at one point, Mr. Garcia."

The squirrel gave a full buck-toothed smile before he saluted the mature male, "Hell yeah, ex-Infantry. Discharged, unfortunately, after I was caught with a fellow soldier... I got sent home, sir. I had to come out to my mother and stepfather... I don't go home much after that, but hey, I have good friends with me and I still love who I am."

James nodded, "Ah, of course. My own father served Her Majesty in his time. He insisted I learn the proper handshake. Service or not."

Jill spoke up next, "Thank you again, Dad."

Mr. Prescott nodded some more, "Yes, now just let me get some sleep, Jillian." He said before he went back upstairs.

As he went up, Junior and Isabella both came down to join Jill and her curious new acquaintances.

Her brother had his arms crossed, "Before you say anything, Sis... You know we're already in." He said with a playful grin, "Right Isa?"

The iguana giggled cutely, "Of course! There's no way in Hell you're keeping us out, Jill!"

Jill smiled and rolled her eyes like she had already expected this out of her siblings, "Okay then, now why don't we all just move to somewhere more comfortable, then we can get started."

...

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Jacob had been having a difficult time trying to get some sleep. There were many things that bothered him, but never enough to rob him of that most basic need, but this...

The rat blushed having a toasty warm bat wing wrapped around him for much of the night, even being nuzzled like a lover by the fool currently laying next to him.

His mind quickly flashed back to earlier. Jacob was going to be taken to meet their boss before it was decided what the Marksmen would do about him. In the mean time, he had to be kept somewhere, and he wasn't quite trusted enough not to try and escape.

"So until Jerry sees and approves of ya, you're stayin' with me, cutie!" Jimmy had said happily, wrapping his leathery wings around the rat whose tolerance would certainly be tested tonight.

"Fucking why do I have to stay with you?" Jacob had complained.

Jimmy had explained thoroughly, "Well, Matt can't take you, considering that he lives in a nice house with a wife and kid, and Carrie would most likely kill you if you so much as sneezed, and we're not about to toss you in some cell like some prisoner, so you get to room with me, buddy!"

Jacob groaned, "Alright, fine, but you don't try anything with me, alright? I'm straight, and that's that, okay?"

Jimmy pouted, those bright red eyes with a goofy grin, a big change from the manic predator that had attacked Jacob before. The bat relented, "Alright, I'll respect that, though I only think it fair that I warn you, I still like to cuddle when I sleep, and I may or may not remember to wear underwear to bed, so if you should wake up and feel me poking you... I apologize deeply."

And so is how Jacob found himself, sharing a bed with another male, the vampire bat's wings wrapped around his torso and holding the rat close as he slept. At the very least, Jimmy kept to his word that he wouldn't perv on Jacob, and he did have underwear on, but he still had a mostly naked bat hugging him, warming him with his toasty bat wings.

The whole night, Jacob found himself feeling things he had never wanted to feel, such as Jimmy's bulge pressing into his own thigh.

At one point, during the night, Jimmy did wake up. The vampire got up, and did that late-night zombie shuffle to his bathroom, black briefs barely hanging off his surprisingly thick bat ass.

Jacob didn't know why he didn't pick this moment to try and escape, instead he just waited, staring almost dead-eyed at the ceiling of Jimmy's gothic bedroom.

The bat came right back, crawling into bed and wrapping the rat again in another wing hug as he gave Jacob a very platonic kiss on the cheek, "Thanks for keepin' me company, too. I haven't slept alone in a bed, not since I first came to America...

It would have almost touched Jacob, if not, again, for the naked bat hugging the rat, his underwear bulge, dangerously close to his own crotch.

...

The night passed, morning came, Jacob did get some sleep.

Morning found the black rat sitting at Jimmy's coffee table, without a shirt, just the shorts that Jimmy had given him to wear. The bat, also half-dressed in a pair of half-buttoned jeans sat across from Jacob, giving him his space at least.

Jimmy had bought breakfast tacos and the two ate in awkward silence until someone broke it.

It was Jacob. The rat sighed, "Thanks... for respecting my boundaries, at least."

Jimmy smiled genuinely at the rat, "Of course... listen. Am I a sex fiend? Hell yeah. And am I bisexual? Double fuck yeah! But I am also respectful. You made it very clear, you're not into me, and I respected that. The most I did was I cuddled with you, which for me, that's not sex, that's comfort. I like to feel comfort."

The bat fidgeted before he continued, "I used to live alone... when I was in Cancun. That's where I was born. I didn't know my mom, she had me underage, had to give me up. I wasn't adopted. I was in the orphanage until I was 18, then I was on the street. That's when I met Miguel... he took me under his wing, so to speak, he took care of me, gave me what no one else would, a home. I stayed there with him, until at some point..." He pointed to the mark situated directly over his heart, "This came into my life. I didn't want to be a danger or burden, so I left... came here to Texas."

Jacob listened to the bat as he unloaded his whole history to him.

Jimmy smiled, "I know that was a lot but, I guess I just needed to say it... I don't talk about this sort of stuff when I'm with Carrie, or Matt."

Jacob nodded. He sat in silence, "I... never knew my mom either. My parents told me they found me, I'd been abandoned. They, the Marshalls, they took me in, they raised me as their son. I knew nothing but their love as I grew up." Jacob felt his jacket which lay next to him on the couch, "This jacket belonged to my dad. He rode a motorcycle. He took me for rides on it. After... after he died, I've always held on to it."

Jimmy smiled, "So, ya about ready to meet your new future boss?"

Jacob grimaced, "I suppose I don't really have a choice."

The bat shook his head, "No..."

...

So, after getting dressed, Jimmy escorted Jacob outside to where Matt was already waiting in his minivan.

The badger watched the two of them walk up, "Well, I don't see any scratches and no cum stains, so I can guess you both behaved yourselves last night." He chuckled again at his bad humor.

Jimmy was about to quip, but instead it was Jacob who fired back, "Hey, is this your Minivan of Evil?"

The badger frowned, "Look, I just dropped off Sophie at daycare, so bite me!"

Jimmy bounded forward to give the badger a big kiss, "Oh, my precious Mattie, such a dedicated family man!"

The badger pushed Jimmy off of him, "Alright, alright, enough grab-ass, get in the van!"

Jimmy gestured for Jacob to get in, while he himself walked around to get in the passenger side.

Jacob climbed into the van.

Matt looked to the back, "Oh, and if you should find an elephant sippy cup, Sophie says she dropped it right before I left her."

Jimmy awed again, "Such a sweet father you are, Matt!"

Matt couldn't even fight back with that, "Yeah, just wait until it's you." Matt turned on the ignition, then the van started going.

...

At the same time, Jill, her siblings and their new group of friends were all in her dad's study trying to come up with a plan.

Junior and Isa had just heard everything that happened last night.

Junior whistled and he held his forehead, "Shit, so this is a real rescue mission... your boyfriend, this Jacob guy's basically been kidnapped by thugs with superpowers of all kinds, meanwhile we just have the one person with powers on our side." He said referring to Hidaya who sat with Bill. The ferret could feel an aneurysm coming, "Am I missing anything else?"

Hidaya had to interject, "Well, I am also currently on the run from soldiers with high-tech armor and a lot of guns, so there is that."

The ferret was smoking a cigarette, even though he didn't really like what it did to his complexion, but now was an appropriate time, "Right, so we're fucked on both ends, and nobody even bothered to bring the lube."

Isabella felt she had to say something, "So then, is there really something we can all do? Because right now, it sounds like very little."

Hidaya got up to speak, "Well, as I had explained last night, I, your Jacob, and these Marksmen are all shardbeasts, beings who came to power through meteor shards. That's been the theory at least. I have been aware that there are others of our kind, but I've hardly had the chance to meet with another. One way I believe we could do this, it would be dangerous, I mentioned there are soldiers pursuing me. They've had a way of tracking me, so perhaps if we could take one of them down, it would be a way for us to track down these Marksmen."

Junior had to argue though, "We could do this, but still, you're the only one here with power, the rest of us are pretty helpless in there."

Jill disputed with her brother, "Right, so we have to be more resourceful."

Bill came in with his thoughts, "Well, I think a better tactic would be to look for anyone who might also know about this. Just think, Frank's admitted he's worked for the Marksmen, if we can talk to him, he'd be happy to help if it's to help Jacob. He loves that guy like his own son."

Junior nodded, "That, that sounds better to me. We need someone who actually knows something about this, I'm sorry, Ms. Hidaya."

The meerkat shrugged, "I take no offense."

"Perhaps, I could say something."

The whole group turned to see Mr. Prescott standing in his maroon robe, with his smoking pipe, and a cup of his morning tea, "I couldn't help but overhear your planning of this rescue mission. Jill, I've known you to be a go-getter, but really."

Jill shrugged, "Well, if you have something, we'd be happy to hear, Father."

James smiled suddenly, "Oh, I believe I have something, if you'll all follow me." He then turned to walk, gesturing for the rest to come with him.

...

The middle-aged ferret led this group of young people out back behind his manor. Behind the house was a shed about the size of a small barn. He started to unlock a big old padlock that kept this shed shut, "Now, you kids may all recall that I had previously forbade you from coming out here when you were all younger."

Jill remembered it, "I know this place, and I've been inside! Grandpa used to let me, it was just his work shed wasn't it?"

James seemed to just remember that old ferret, "Oh yes, of course. The two of us never quite got along. He was a Scot, and his only daughter had to fall in love with a filthy Brit like me." He chuckled, "He loved you children, though. Particularly you, Jill, because you look so much like your mother." He unlocked the padlock then opened the door.

Inside, the shed was far more pristine than it's outside would make it seem. All the others followed Mr. Prescott inside.

The walls of the shed were all lined with all kinds of weapons, some dating back to medieval times. There were swords, knives, staves, all manner of old melee weapons.

Jill's mouth fell open as she looked at it all.

Junior whispered, "Grandpa showed you this?"

She blushed, "Well, it was a long time ago, you think a little girl's gonna really remember seeing all this years later?"

Hidaya stopped to look at a couple of Japanese daggers, still as clean as if they'd just been made.

Mr. Prescott stopped at an altar at the farthest back of the private armory. There upon the wall was a painting of a ferret in mighty armor, wielding an impressive blade.

Jill surely recognized the figure, "Grandpa?"

James nodded up to the old portrait, "Ah yes, Niall MacGavin, in all his glory. But this is not all I wanted to show you lot." He gestured to a large Zweihander sword that laid upon a pedestal under glass. "You see the inscription? The letters that line the scabbard."

Jill looked, the letters were in Gaelic. She couldn't read, but it was 8 letters in a specific order. Jill blinked, "No fucking way!"

James smiled sadly as he pointed out the first letter, "The old Gaelics did not have a letter for J, so they laid this mark instead. Indeed, the name should be obvious, Julianne."

Jill put her paw on the case over her mother's sword. Her mother's...

Mr. Prescott continued to explain, looking to Hidaya as he spoke, "You see... I have always known about these shards. In all this time, I had hoped it would never be relevant again. Unfortunately... This blade belonged to your mother."

Jill looked to her father, "Mom had power?"

James looked at his eldest offspring, "Julianne gave up her power, to have you, to have this family. These shards are both a blessing and a curse. They make you strong and grant you great abilities, but they also take away."

Hidaya had to agree with him, "He is right... our shards protect us once we come into contact with one. It heals us when we are injured, it keeps us safe from illness, but it also takes away our ability to breed. And it will continue as the bearer continues to feed it. The longer you don't feed it, the weaker and more desperate it becomes, until eventually it leaves your body, becomes dormant."

James came forward with a small black box. He placed the box upon the altar before he turned to everyone gathered. "This is one such shard. It has been kept here inside this lead case for all this time. Lead negates the power of the shard, forces it to stay dormant until it senses a life-form. I can open this, but only one of you can take it. One of you must decide, this is very important."

Jill stepped forth, "Well, if anyone... this is Mom's shard, right? She was a shardbeast?"

James nodded, "Yes. I'm sure she would have wished for you to live a normal life, free from the dangers she dealt with in her time, but it would seem that was not to be. I will open this, then you must stand right in front so it goes to you and not to someone else."

The young adult had to think to herself, this was really happening. She had to make her decision. She sighed, "Okay... I'll do it." She looked at Hidaya, "Does it hurt?"

The meerkat nodded, "Oh yeah, it's a feeling like you picked the whitest hottest coal from the deepest part of a fire pit and just chucked it down your gullet."

The millionairess gulped, "Thanks for the encouragement."

Hidaya smiled, "Of course."

James unlocked the box, then presented it to his daughter.

Jill took a breath, then she opened the box. There was the small shard, no bigger than a blade of grass. The little stone activated the instant it sensed carbon life.

Junior stepped up to hold his sister.

Jill looked back in a brief moment of distraction before there was a bright flash and suddenly she felt something shoot right into her, piercing her upper body and tearing the top she had worn.

Her brother had to let her go as her whole body suddenly became too hot, then Jill dropped to her knees before everyone.

Her father was there by her side, "Jill! Are you okay?"

Jill held her chest, because of the severe burn she felt within, and because the shard also tore her bra leaving her exposed. This was the least of her problems though.

The moment the burning stopped and she could catch her breath, her eyes started to glow.

This lasted a full minute before it stopped, then she passed out on the floor.

...

Elsewhere, in a location far from Corpus, Sam Montague walked through the sterile gray walls of the compound. Other operatives at the HQ gave the otter a wide berth, he was not someone to bothered, especially given his current mood.

Two soldiers in heavy armor stood outside a pair of thick mahogany doors. Both carried phaser rifles which could cut down any man from far away and decimated one's organs up close.

"I'm here to see my father!" He commanded.

One just nodded before opening the door for him.

Sam went right in as the door shut behind him.

There, behind a desk sat an old gray-furred otter with a jagged scar across his right cheek, and an eyepatch covering some hideous injury. The otter's breath was ragged as he pulled himself up. In his day, he'd have struck fear in any around him, but he had been ill in recent years, "It is good that you've come, my son... I apologize for pulling you from your hunt, but frankly, I don't have a lot of time left, and I would see that you are able to earn my seat as commander once I am gone."