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  "description": "Book 1 in the Initiation series, following Thomas as he tries to escape his friends and understand why they are hunting him all of a sudden.\n\nWritten by :linkbenjaminmahir: and :linkkindar:\n\n[url=http://www.postybirb.com]Posted using PostyBirb[/url]",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Book 1 in the Initiation series, following Thomas as he tries to escape his friends and understand why they are hunting him all of a sudden.<br /><br />Written by :linkbenjaminmahir: and :linkkindar:<br /><br /><a href=\"http://www.postybirb.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Posted using PostyBirb</a></span>",
  "writing": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[b]Lewiston, MT, January 15th[/b]\n\nThomas ran, cursing having to do it in such dry cold.\n\nHe had no idea where he was going, other than as far as he could manage from them. How the fuck had they found him when even he had no idea where in this state he was? Even if he believe in Limbani’s constant talk of knowing stuff, and considering his own teleporting, it was getting harder and harder to. By the monkey’s admission, he saw when and who he was going to fuck.\n\nWhat had the monkey said as he’d exited the—\n\nThe screeching of tires made him look over his shoulder as Gilbert’s van rounded the corner. The monkey was in the passenger seat, excitedly pointing at Thomas.\n\nNo-no-no. He glanced far in the alley he was passing. He wasn’t letting them catch him. He focused, tightened his chest, shivered—\n\nHe slammed into a wall.\n\nRight. He pushed through the pain and away from it. Momentum. He ran again. Instead of screeching, he heard a door slammed shut. Good. On foot, he had the advantage. That, he knew from how he’d escaped them over and over on the way to his parents.\n\nHe stopped as he exited the alley, found the furthest flat spot free from snow. Willed himself there, and was running again. He smiled. Like the one before, he was barely more out of breath than the running was causing. And he was sure this time, he’d barely had to cause the physical reaction to trigger it.\n\nPractice made better.\n\nThe van rounded the corner ahead of him. Come on. Couldn’t they all have picked up the chase on foot? Why did Gilbert—he nearly tripped when he made out a rat behind the wheel instead of the armadillo. What had happened to Gilbert for him to let Madoc drive his van?\n\nFocus. Escape, worry about what happened to one of your frat brother when they aren’t trying to kidnap you anymore. He looked around for another—\n\nThe impact sent him to the side, and Thomas barely stayed on his feet as the capybara pulled him against his chest and held him there. “It’s okay, Thomas. You’re safe now.”\n\nThomas tried to push against Olavo, but couldn’t get the leverage. “Let go of me.” He couldn’t even turn his head.\n\nHe tried to will himself out of the capybara’s arms, but even as scared as he was, nothing was happening.\n\nOlavo shushed him. “We’re here to help, Thomas. Madoc’s elder sent us.”\n\n“Let me see,” he snarled, trying to figure what an elder had to do with this or why he’d even cared about him.\n\nOlavo whispered something that sounded like a lullaby, but in his native language. The idea his friend was treating him like a child infuriated Thomas, but didn’t give him the strength he needed to push away. Wriggling force them to step around, and Thomas realized his leg was now behind Olavo’s. He planted his other foot and pushed.\n\nOlavo let out a yell of surprise as he lost his footing, but didn’t let go of Thomas until he hit the sidewalk and had the breath knocked out of him. Thomas manage to turn his head, see something that wasn’t Olavo and will himself there.\n\nHe was on his feet on the other side of the street, then running again. He teleported a series of time to add as much distance as he could, and in random directions.\n\nHe was utterly lost, but he would love to see them catch up to him now.\n\n* * * * *\n\n[b]Lewiston, MT, January 15th[/b]\n\n\n\nThomas leaned against the dumpster, panting. Another lesson learned. One teleport might not take much out of him, but when he chained them, he eventually felt them. He should have counted how many had gotten him to this state, but he’d been too busy evading the monkey every fucking time Thomas thought he was safe.\n\nHow was he doing it? Clearly, he could see more than just the sex he was destined to have. \n\n“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Thomas said as a vehicle came to a screeching stop at the far end of the alley. He peeked around the dumpster as Madoc exited the passenger side. Olavo was behind the wheel.\n\nWhere the fuck was Gilbert? Thomas was getting worried now. The Armadillo never let anyone drive his van. He and Laurence had gotten in shouting matches over it more than once. So it was Olavo, Limbani, Madoc, Gilbert had to be in there.\n\nWas that all of them?\n\n“We just want to talk, Thomas,” Madoc called.\n\nHe looked at the other end of the alley. He could see all the way to the other side of the street. There he’d have a lot of possibility. Maybe he could even see the Subway and meet up with Grant again. If the kangaroo was even there. Would he think Thomas had just run off and continue on his way?\n\nHe panted as he tried to focus.\n\nWhat would happen, if he exhausted himself completely teleporting? Fall unconscious for them to pick up? Not reappear? He peeked again, and the rat hadn’t moved from in front of the van and Limbani had joined him. Olavo had his arms crossed over the van’s dash in what Thomas thought was meant to show he wouldn’t gun it toward him.\n\nThey seemed to mean it. And Thomas needed the time to catch his breath. It would be nice to know why they wouldn’t leave him alone. He stepped into sight. “Then talk.” Behind them, on the other side of that street was a three story building with what had to be the the roof’s stairwell entrance visible. If this turned bad, he was teleporting there. He’d kept his teleportations to the ground during the chase. There was no way even Limbani would think to look for him up there.\n\n“You don’t need to run anymore, Thomas,” Madoc said. “No one’s mad. Raphael just needs you to explain yourself. He’s a reasonable man, I’m sure he’ll understand.”\n\n“Who the fuck is Raphael?” First an elder, now this Raphael? Were they from some alternate universe? At this point, that would almost explain this craziness.\n\nMadoc and Olavo exchanged a look. “He’s our elder, Thomas,” Madoc said cautiously. “He’s the one you ran from.”\n\nSo it was only one stranger they seemed certain he knew. Was that better? “I don’t know any Raphael, and if you tell me he’s one of the guys I did, sorry, you know I’m not into old guys.” That only seemed to confuse the other rat. “It was Henry, I ran from. You know, because he went psycho on me after you called him to ‘help me’?”\n\nThis time, when Madoc looked at Limbani, he seemed worried. The monkey shrugged.\n\n“Did…” Madoc hesitated. “Did someone do this to you?” was that hope in his voice?\n\nThomas touched his neck as he remembered the pricking and then the bat on the other side of the room, Licking Thomas’s blood off his fangs.\n\n“I ran before he could do anything, Madoc.”\n\n“That’s good.” The other rat smiled. “Then you really need to come back to Kansas City. Look, Raphael has experts, and they’ll be able to figure out what’s going on with you.”\n\n“What? What does Kansas City have to do with anything?”\n\nMadoc stepped forward and Thomas raised a hand in warning, and the rat stopped.\n\n“I’m not going anywhere with you, Madoc. I have no idea what’s going with any of you, but right now. I don’t feel safe with you around.”\n\n“You tried, Mad,” Limbani said, then gave a nod to someone behind Thomas.\n\nThomas turned to see who it was and cursed himself as soon a he lost sight of his target. He had all the fear in the world and his chest was tight, but all he had in sight was the alley’s wall as his vision panned in what felt like slow motion.\n\nAs soon as he saw something else, that was where he’d be.\n\nUnfortunately, his vision was taken up by a jacket. He ducked, but it followed. He realized someone was holding it, then a hand grabbed his arm. The person behind the jacker cursed in Mandarin. Yating.\n\n“Don’t let him get it off his head,” Olavo yelled. “He needs to see to be able to pull a vanishing act.”\n\n“What do you think I’m tying to do,” the red panda replied as Thomas reached for the jacket with his free hand. It was batted away with more Mandarin cursing.\n\n“Stop fighting,” Madoc yelled, as someone took hold of Thomas’ shoulder. Thomas elbowed them as hard as he could and Madoc let out a pained oomph. The hand let go and Thomas pushed forward. With more cursing Yating fell, pulling the rat with him. As they landed and rolled on the ground, Thomas grabbed the jacket, but his hand was caught before he could pull it off.\n\n“Let go of me!”\n\n“No,” The red panda replied. “This is for your own good, Thomas. You need to go home.”\n\n“Oh, you just wait until Judith finds out about this,” Thomas snarled. “She is never going to let you fuck her again.”\n\n“Who?” Yating asked, and the confusion was enough of a distraction Thomas was able to yank his hand out of the grip. He jumped where ever he was looking. It was going to be better then where he’d had been.\n\nOr not.\n\nWeightlessness registered as Thomas looked at exactly the same thing he had been as the jacket went away. The clouds above him. The wind registered next, then that his body was turning.\n\nThis was definitely not an improvement over being in the red panda’s arms. Below him, way too far below him, his frat brothers were frozen in place.\n\nThe wind picked up.\n\nNo, he was picking up speed.\n\nWhat was terminal velocity? Fuck, he needed a landing spot before his momentum splattered him on appearing. He saw a large snowbank at the back of a parking lot and aimed for just above it. Oh, he really hoped it was all loose snow.\n\nSnow exploded around him the way the ground in Riverside park had when Gilbert had set off one of his fireworks to show Thomas what Texans called firework. It didn’t matter how loose the snow was, Thomas groaned. He felt like that firework had exploded under him.\n\nHe forced himself to his feet, then groaned again as Limbani, Madoc and Yating ran in his direction. Why hadn’t he looked for a snowbank further away?\n\n“That was impressive,” Gilbert said, approaching casualy. “I think Limbani called where you’d end up withing three feet.”\n\nThomas looked in the distance. There was a wall, and that was all he needed to determine where he’d land. He could deal with what he’d fall on once he was there. He squinted at it and when wanting to be there didn’t produce anything, he tried to tighten his chest, to summon fear. But he was too tired for the one, and trying the other only caused him more pain.\n\n“That’s not going to happen.” Felix grabbed Thomas by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “Lim saw me do this.” Something was around Thomas’s wrist, and zipped tight before he could react. “And as annoying as he gets about it, if he sees something, it happens.”\n\nBrake screeched, and Thomas looked up. The way his day was going, he expected the white van to skid to a halt next to him and then be thrown in the back. Instead, an old, beaten-up, pickup in primer gray sat at the entrance of the parking lot, Grant stepping out and reaching for the edge of the tarp secured over the bed of the truck.\n\n“Let go of him,” he ordered, undoing the corner.\n\n“Man,” Felix said in exasperation. “Go home. I really don’t want to have to deal with you.” He looked at the monkey. “How come you didn’t say anything about some bystander showing up?”\n\nLimbani was staring at the kangaroo in confusion.\n\nGrant reached under the tarp. “Can’t do that. I’m not that heartless. So I’m going to tell you kids this once. Go back to your Families. If you didn’t hear it, that’s with a capital ‘F’. As in, I have a good idea who you represent.”\n\n“You’re not getting my cousin!” Madoc yelled. “I don’t care what you want him for. He’s family.”\n\n* * * * *\n\n[b]Minneapolis, Hertz Household, November 24th[/b]\n\n\n\n“A Lewiston?” the older rat exclaimed angrily.\n\nThomas looked from his grandmother, who stood partway down the stairs, then to his aunt Carina, who had just finished introducing her fiancée to him, Ettore Lewiston. Thomas couldn’t remember ever seeing her this angry.\n\n“Ettore,” Carina said with an annoyed sigh, “this is Luisa, Nadia’s mother. Luisa this is—“”\n\n“Oh, I heard.” Luisa glowered at them.\n\n“I’m sorry,” Ettore said, letting out a nervous chuckled. “Have we met?” the man was good looking. Nearly six feet, with mottled brown and gray fur. The overcoat he’d just taken off revealed an expensive dark blue pinstriped suit that didn’t hide the muscles on his lean body.\n\n“Your family kidnapped my sister,” Luisa snapped.\n\n“I’m sorry?” Ettore asked, the tone making it clear that had been nowhere close to whatever he’d expected to have caused her ire. “My family did what?”\n\n“You heard me,” she said through gritted teeth and took a step down, and even though there was ample distance between them, Ettore took a step back. “Adelle went out with a Lewiston and she was never heard of.”\n\nHe raised his hands. “I’m sorry that happened, but why do you think my family did it? We don’t do that, not even now. And there has to be plenty of rat families out there with Lewiston as a surname.” He looked to Corina, but she too look unsure of why Luisa thought what she did. Then Thomas realized Ettore was looking at him, and he shrugged. For as much over sharing of stories as the Royer women were known for, his grandmother’s sister had never come up in any of hers.\n\n“If you want,” Ettore said, his tone gentle, “Maybe I can help you find out what happened to her? I have a few cousins and nephews involved in security work. They could find out. Her name is Adelle Royer?”\n\n“Fontata,” Luisa replied, some of her anger thawing. “Adelle Fontana, I’m a Royer through Marriage.”\n\n“Wait,” Madoc said, stepping around Ettore as he took his phone out, “are you talking about Grandma Adelle?”\n\n“So it was your family,” Luisa said, anger frosting over again.\n\n“You know who she means?” Ettore asked.\n\n“Grandma Adelle’s maiden name was Fontana, but I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” Thomas’s frat brother indicated the closet. “Why are you angry she married Jurrien?”\n\n“She was forced into it!”\n\nMadoc hesitated. “No, I mean, she probably isn’t your sister then. Grandma Adelle and Grandpa Jurrien were in Love. I mean Capital ‘L’ love. No one in the family could believe Grandpa stayed with her after the first four sons.” He raised a hand. “It’s a family thing. My grandpa wasn’t what you’d call faithful. But then again, I don’t think he’d ever met anyone who could leave him panting on the bed asking for a breather between fucks until Grandma.”\n\n“That’s a lot of details about your grand parents’ sex life,” Thomas commented.\n\nMadoc snorted. “Are you kidding? Grandma Adelle loved telling stories of what she got up to with Grandpa, or the guys before and while they were together.”\n\n“That does it, Mom,” Neiro said, leaning against the doorway leading to the kitchen. “She was a Royer alright.”\n\n“Then why didn’t she come with you?” Luisa asked, confusion slipping through the anger. “You thought her last name was Royer, so Corina told you who you were visiting. If she was allowed, she would have come to see her family.”\n\n“She’s dead,” Madoc said softly. “She and Grandpa died in a car accident twelve years ago. As to why she never contacted you or your family, I don’t know. I remember a handful of stories she had about her sisters, and they sounded like she cared about them. I…” he hesitated. “No one would have kept her from visiting, if she had wanted to.”\n\n“You’re sure she was with him because of love?” Luisa asked, and that seemed to make her hopeful.\n\n“Well, that or the size of his cock. Grandpa was among the bigger—”\n\n“Madoc!” Thomas exclaimed. “Don’t talk about your grandfather’s cock in front of my grandmother.”\n\nThe other rat smirked. “Why, worried she’s going to want to experience Lewiston cock the way you have, Cousin?”\n\n“Madoc,” Ettore said in a reproachful tone as Thomas’s ears burned from being outed had having had sex with him. “That wasn’t appropriate. You don’t even know if Luisa likes having sex with a kid like you.”\n\nThomas stared at Madoc’s some-times removed uncle as his grandmother chuckled. He’d been wrong earlier. This was going to be the most uncomfortable thanksgiving of the decade.",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Lewiston, MT, January 15th</strong><br /><br />Thomas ran, cursing having to do it in such dry cold.<br /><br />He had no idea where he was going, other than as far as he could manage from them. How the fuck had they found him when even he had no idea where in this state he was? Even if he believe in Limbani&rsquo;s constant talk of knowing stuff, and considering his own teleporting, it was getting harder and harder to. By the monkey&rsquo;s admission, he saw when and who he was going to fuck.<br /><br />What had the monkey said as he&rsquo;d exited the&mdash;<br /><br />The screeching of tires made him look over his shoulder as Gilbert&rsquo;s van rounded the corner. The monkey was in the passenger seat, excitedly pointing at Thomas.<br /><br />No-no-no. He glanced far in the alley he was passing. He wasn&rsquo;t letting them catch him. He focused, tightened his chest, shivered&mdash;<br /><br />He slammed into a wall.<br /><br />Right. He pushed through the pain and away from it. Momentum. He ran again. Instead of screeching, he heard a door slammed shut. Good. On foot, he had the advantage. That, he knew from how he&rsquo;d escaped them over and over on the way to his parents.<br /><br />He stopped as he exited the alley, found the furthest flat spot free from snow. Willed himself there, and was running again. He smiled. Like the one before, he was barely more out of breath than the running was causing. And he was sure this time, he&rsquo;d barely had to cause the physical reaction to trigger it.<br /><br />Practice made better.<br /><br />The van rounded the corner ahead of him. Come on. Couldn&rsquo;t they all have picked up the chase on foot? Why did Gilbert&mdash;he nearly tripped when he made out a rat behind the wheel instead of the armadillo. What had happened to Gilbert for him to let Madoc drive his van?<br /><br />Focus. Escape, worry about what happened to one of your frat brother when they aren&rsquo;t trying to kidnap you anymore. He looked around for another&mdash;<br /><br />The impact sent him to the side, and Thomas barely stayed on his feet as the capybara pulled him against his chest and held him there. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s okay, Thomas. You&rsquo;re safe now.&rdquo;<br /><br />Thomas tried to push against Olavo, but couldn&rsquo;t get the leverage. &ldquo;Let go of me.&rdquo; He couldn&rsquo;t even turn his head.<br /><br />He tried to will himself out of the capybara&rsquo;s arms, but even as scared as he was, nothing was happening.<br /><br />Olavo shushed him. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re here to help, Thomas. Madoc&rsquo;s elder sent us.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Let me see,&rdquo; he snarled, trying to figure what an elder had to do with this or why he&rsquo;d even cared about him.<br /><br />Olavo whispered something that sounded like a lullaby, but in his native language. The idea his friend was treating him like a child infuriated Thomas, but didn&rsquo;t give him the strength he needed to push away. Wriggling force them to step around, and Thomas realized his leg was now behind Olavo&rsquo;s. He planted his other foot and pushed.<br /><br />Olavo let out a yell of surprise as he lost his footing, but didn&rsquo;t let go of Thomas until he hit the sidewalk and had the breath knocked out of him. Thomas manage to turn his head, see something that wasn&rsquo;t Olavo and will himself there.<br /><br />He was on his feet on the other side of the street, then running again. He teleported a series of time to add as much distance as he could, and in random directions.<br /><br />He was utterly lost, but he would love to see them catch up to him now.<br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br /><strong>Lewiston, MT, January 15th</strong><br /><br /><br /><br />Thomas leaned against the dumpster, panting. Another lesson learned. One teleport might not take much out of him, but when he chained them, he eventually felt them. He should have counted how many had gotten him to this state, but he&rsquo;d been too busy evading the monkey every fucking time Thomas thought he was safe.<br /><br />How was he doing it? Clearly, he could see more than just the sex he was destined to have. <br /><br />&ldquo;You have got to be fucking kidding me,&rdquo; Thomas said as a vehicle came to a screeching stop at the far end of the alley. He peeked around the dumpster as Madoc exited the passenger side. Olavo was behind the wheel.<br /><br />Where the fuck was Gilbert? Thomas was getting worried now. The Armadillo never let anyone drive his van. He and Laurence had gotten in shouting matches over it more than once. So it was Olavo, Limbani, Madoc, Gilbert had to be in there.<br /><br />Was that all of them?<br /><br />&ldquo;We just want to talk, Thomas,&rdquo; Madoc called.<br /><br />He looked at the other end of the alley. He could see all the way to the other side of the street. There he&rsquo;d have a lot of possibility. Maybe he could even see the Subway and meet up with Grant again. If the kangaroo was even there. Would he think Thomas had just run off and continue on his way?<br /><br />He panted as he tried to focus.<br /><br />What would happen, if he exhausted himself completely teleporting? Fall unconscious for them to pick up? Not reappear? He peeked again, and the rat hadn&rsquo;t moved from in front of the van and Limbani had joined him. Olavo had his arms crossed over the van&rsquo;s dash in what Thomas thought was meant to show he wouldn&rsquo;t gun it toward him.<br /><br />They seemed to mean it. And Thomas needed the time to catch his breath. It would be nice to know why they wouldn&rsquo;t leave him alone. He stepped into sight. &ldquo;Then talk.&rdquo; Behind them, on the other side of that street was a three story building with what had to be the the roof&rsquo;s stairwell entrance visible. If this turned bad, he was teleporting there. He&rsquo;d kept his teleportations to the ground during the chase. There was no way even Limbani would think to look for him up there.<br /><br />&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need to run anymore, Thomas,&rdquo; Madoc said. &ldquo;No one&rsquo;s mad. Raphael just needs you to explain yourself. He&rsquo;s a reasonable man, I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll understand.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Who the fuck is Raphael?&rdquo; First an elder, now this Raphael? Were they from some alternate universe? At this point, that would almost explain this craziness.<br /><br />Madoc and Olavo exchanged a look. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our elder, Thomas,&rdquo; Madoc said cautiously. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the one you ran from.&rdquo;<br /><br />So it was only one stranger they seemed certain he knew. Was that better? &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know any Raphael, and if you tell me he&rsquo;s one of the guys I did, sorry, you know I&rsquo;m not into old guys.&rdquo; That only seemed to confuse the other rat. &ldquo;It was Henry, I ran from. You know, because he went psycho on me after you called him to &lsquo;help me&rsquo;?&rdquo;<br /><br />This time, when Madoc looked at Limbani, he seemed worried. The monkey shrugged.<br /><br />&ldquo;Did&hellip;&rdquo; Madoc hesitated. &ldquo;Did someone do this to you?&rdquo; was that hope in his voice?<br /><br />Thomas touched his neck as he remembered the pricking and then the bat on the other side of the room, Licking Thomas&rsquo;s blood off his fangs.<br /><br />&ldquo;I ran before he could do anything, Madoc.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s good.&rdquo; The other rat smiled. &ldquo;Then you really need to come back to Kansas City. Look, Raphael has experts, and they&rsquo;ll be able to figure out what&rsquo;s going on with you.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What? What does Kansas City have to do with anything?&rdquo;<br /><br />Madoc stepped forward and Thomas raised a hand in warning, and the rat stopped.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going anywhere with you, Madoc. I have no idea what&rsquo;s going with any of you, but right now. I don&rsquo;t feel safe with you around.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You tried, Mad,&rdquo; Limbani said, then gave a nod to someone behind Thomas.<br /><br />Thomas turned to see who it was and cursed himself as soon a he lost sight of his target. He had all the fear in the world and his chest was tight, but all he had in sight was the alley&rsquo;s wall as his vision panned in what felt like slow motion.<br /><br />As soon as he saw something else, that was where he&rsquo;d be.<br /><br />Unfortunately, his vision was taken up by a jacket. He ducked, but it followed. He realized someone was holding it, then a hand grabbed his arm. The person behind the jacker cursed in Mandarin. Yating.<br /><br />&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let him get it off his head,&rdquo; Olavo yelled. &ldquo;He needs to see to be able to pull a vanishing act.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What do you think I&rsquo;m tying to do,&rdquo; the red panda replied as Thomas reached for the jacket with his free hand. It was batted away with more Mandarin cursing.<br /><br />&ldquo;Stop fighting,&rdquo; Madoc yelled, as someone took hold of Thomas&rsquo; shoulder. Thomas elbowed them as hard as he could and Madoc let out a pained oomph. The hand let go and Thomas pushed forward. With more cursing Yating fell, pulling the rat with him. As they landed and rolled on the ground, Thomas grabbed the jacket, but his hand was caught before he could pull it off.<br /><br />&ldquo;Let go of me!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No,&rdquo; The red panda replied. &ldquo;This is for your own good, Thomas. You need to go home.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, you just wait until Judith finds out about this,&rdquo; Thomas snarled. &ldquo;She is never going to let you fuck her again.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Who?&rdquo; Yating asked, and the confusion was enough of a distraction Thomas was able to yank his hand out of the grip. He jumped where ever he was looking. It was going to be better then where he&rsquo;d had been.<br /><br />Or not.<br /><br />Weightlessness registered as Thomas looked at exactly the same thing he had been as the jacket went away. The clouds above him. The wind registered next, then that his body was turning.<br /><br />This was definitely not an improvement over being in the red panda&rsquo;s arms. Below him, way too far below him, his frat brothers were frozen in place.<br /><br />The wind picked up.<br /><br />No, he was picking up speed.<br /><br />What was terminal velocity? Fuck, he needed a landing spot before his momentum splattered him on appearing. He saw a large snowbank at the back of a parking lot and aimed for just above it. Oh, he really hoped it was all loose snow.<br /><br />Snow exploded around him the way the ground in Riverside park had when Gilbert had set off one of his fireworks to show Thomas what Texans called firework. It didn&rsquo;t matter how loose the snow was, Thomas groaned. He felt like that firework had exploded under him.<br /><br />He forced himself to his feet, then groaned again as Limbani, Madoc and Yating ran in his direction. Why hadn&rsquo;t he looked for a snowbank further away?<br /><br />&ldquo;That was impressive,&rdquo; Gilbert said, approaching casualy. &ldquo;I think Limbani called where you&rsquo;d end up withing three feet.&rdquo;<br /><br />Thomas looked in the distance. There was a wall, and that was all he needed to determine where he&rsquo;d land. He could deal with what he&rsquo;d fall on once he was there. He squinted at it and when wanting to be there didn&rsquo;t produce anything, he tried to tighten his chest, to summon fear. But he was too tired for the one, and trying the other only caused him more pain.<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not going to happen.&rdquo; Felix grabbed Thomas by the arm and pulled him to his feet. &ldquo;Lim saw me do this.&rdquo; Something was around Thomas&rsquo;s wrist, and zipped tight before he could react. &ldquo;And as annoying as he gets about it, if he sees something, it happens.&rdquo;<br /><br />Brake screeched, and Thomas looked up. The way his day was going, he expected the white van to skid to a halt next to him and then be thrown in the back. Instead, an old, beaten-up, pickup in primer gray sat at the entrance of the parking lot, Grant stepping out and reaching for the edge of the tarp secured over the bed of the truck.<br /><br />&ldquo;Let go of him,&rdquo; he ordered, undoing the corner.<br /><br />&ldquo;Man,&rdquo; Felix said in exasperation. &ldquo;Go home. I really don&rsquo;t want to have to deal with you.&rdquo; He looked at the monkey. &ldquo;How come you didn&rsquo;t say anything about some bystander showing up?&rdquo;<br /><br />Limbani was staring at the kangaroo in confusion.<br /><br />Grant reached under the tarp. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t do that. I&rsquo;m not that heartless. So I&rsquo;m going to tell you kids this once. Go back to your Families. If you didn&rsquo;t hear it, that&rsquo;s with a capital &lsquo;F&rsquo;. As in, I have a good idea who you represent.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not getting my cousin!&rdquo; Madoc yelled. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what you want him for. He&rsquo;s family.&rdquo;<br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br /><strong>Minneapolis, Hertz Household, November 24th</strong><br /><br /><br /><br />&ldquo;A Lewiston?&rdquo; the older rat exclaimed angrily.<br /><br />Thomas looked from his grandmother, who stood partway down the stairs, then to his aunt Carina, who had just finished introducing her fianc&eacute;e to him, Ettore Lewiston. Thomas couldn&rsquo;t remember ever seeing her this angry.<br /><br />&ldquo;Ettore,&rdquo; Carina said with an annoyed sigh, &ldquo;this is Luisa, Nadia&rsquo;s mother. Luisa this is&mdash;&ldquo;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, I heard.&rdquo; Luisa glowered at them.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry,&rdquo; Ettore said, letting out a nervous chuckled. &ldquo;Have we met?&rdquo; the man was good looking. Nearly six feet, with mottled brown and gray fur. The overcoat he&rsquo;d just taken off revealed an expensive dark blue pinstriped suit that didn&rsquo;t hide the muscles on his lean body.<br /><br />&ldquo;Your family kidnapped my sister,&rdquo; Luisa snapped.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry?&rdquo; Ettore asked, the tone making it clear that had been nowhere close to whatever he&rsquo;d expected to have caused her ire. &ldquo;My family did what?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You heard me,&rdquo; she said through gritted teeth and took a step down, and even though there was ample distance between them, Ettore took a step back. &ldquo;Adelle went out with a Lewiston and she was never heard of.&rdquo;<br /><br />He raised his hands. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry that happened, but why do you think my family did it? We don&rsquo;t do that, not even now. And there has to be plenty of rat families out there with Lewiston as a surname.&rdquo; He looked to Corina, but she too look unsure of why Luisa thought what she did. Then Thomas realized Ettore was looking at him, and he shrugged. For as much over sharing of stories as the Royer women were known for, his grandmother&rsquo;s sister had never come up in any of hers.<br /><br />&ldquo;If you want,&rdquo; Ettore said, his tone gentle, &ldquo;Maybe I can help you find out what happened to her? I have a few cousins and nephews involved in security work. They could find out. Her name is Adelle Royer?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Fontata,&rdquo; Luisa replied, some of her anger thawing. &ldquo;Adelle Fontana, I&rsquo;m a Royer through Marriage.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Wait,&rdquo; Madoc said, stepping around Ettore as he took his phone out, &ldquo;are you talking about Grandma Adelle?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;So it was your family,&rdquo; Luisa said, anger frosting over again.<br /><br />&ldquo;You know who she means?&rdquo; Ettore asked.<br /><br />&ldquo;Grandma Adelle&rsquo;s maiden name was Fontana, but I&rsquo;m sorry, I wasn&rsquo;t paying attention,&rdquo; Thomas&rsquo;s frat brother indicated the closet. &ldquo;Why are you angry she married Jurrien?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;She was forced into it!&rdquo;<br /><br />Madoc hesitated. &ldquo;No, I mean, she probably isn&rsquo;t your sister then. Grandma Adelle and Grandpa Jurrien were in Love. I mean Capital &lsquo;L&rsquo; love. No one in the family could believe Grandpa stayed with her after the first four sons.&rdquo; He raised a hand. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a family thing. My grandpa wasn&rsquo;t what you&rsquo;d call faithful. But then again, I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d ever met anyone who could leave him panting on the bed asking for a breather between fucks until Grandma.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a lot of details about your grand parents&rsquo; sex life,&rdquo; Thomas commented.<br /><br />Madoc snorted. &ldquo;Are you kidding? Grandma Adelle loved telling stories of what she got up to with Grandpa, or the guys before and while they were together.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That does it, Mom,&rdquo; Neiro said, leaning against the doorway leading to the kitchen. &ldquo;She was a Royer alright.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Then why didn&rsquo;t she come with you?&rdquo; Luisa asked, confusion slipping through the anger. &ldquo;You thought her last name was Royer, so Corina told you who you were visiting. If she was allowed, she would have come to see her family.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;She&rsquo;s dead,&rdquo; Madoc said softly. &ldquo;She and Grandpa died in a car accident twelve years ago. As to why she never contacted you or your family, I don&rsquo;t know. I remember a handful of stories she had about her sisters, and they sounded like she cared about them. I&hellip;&rdquo; he hesitated. &ldquo;No one would have kept her from visiting, if she had wanted to.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You&rsquo;re sure she was with him because of love?&rdquo; Luisa asked, and that seemed to make her hopeful.<br /><br />&ldquo;Well, that or the size of his cock. Grandpa was among the bigger&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Madoc!&rdquo; Thomas exclaimed. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk about your grandfather&rsquo;s cock in front of my grandmother.&rdquo;<br /><br />The other rat smirked. &ldquo;Why, worried she&rsquo;s going to want to experience Lewiston cock the way you have, Cousin?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Madoc,&rdquo; Ettore said in a reproachful tone as Thomas&rsquo;s ears burned from being outed had having had sex with him. &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t appropriate. You don&rsquo;t even know if Luisa likes having sex with a kid like you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Thomas stared at Madoc&rsquo;s some-times removed uncle as his grandmother chuckled. He&rsquo;d been wrong earlier. This was going to be the most uncomfortable thanksgiving of the decade.</span>",
  "pools_count": 0,
  "title": "Faith in the Family CH 14",
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