Hunting the Hunter

"Thank you," Brian said, grateful that Steven could reel them in so quickly. "Marcus is out of commission now too? My team is dropping like flies. Okay, nobody else is allowed so much as a hangnail. Either that or we might have to go on lockdown."

He needed catching up, so Khaat told him what she knew. He wasn't happy. The last he needed or wanted was James back in their lives again.

"Well, we're not going to push our luck anymore with being so predictable about where we are or when," Brian said. "And, Khaat, if you do go out, you certainly don't do it without Jack."

"That's not always possible," Khaat said. Jack had multiple responsibilities and a life and....

"And that's not your call. Its mine," Brian told her. "And Jack's. If he's too busy, he'll surely tell me. I need more information from Michael, and I expected him here by now. Is Li free to go see if Michael is sleeping in or baby wrangling?"

Steven walked back in to hear Brian ask about Michael and chuckled " Hes baby wrangling? has he not got the hogtying down yet." he said putting on his Texas accent with a smirk. Li walked in from out side bowing to Robert and Khaat.

"You wish me to check on him and help him bring them?" He asked looking to Brian for confirmation. Jess finished with the wound and stood up then moved to a chair to sit down and drink her own tea with regenerative potion in as she felt she needed it having used a lot of energy on the wound to make it start to heal.

"Please," Brian said. "Khaat and Marcus were wounded by a werewolf last night, and with Angus already wounded too, we're getting short handed. We've had trouble with this werewolf before. We've slowed him down but we've never stopped him completely. I won't lose my family or anyone in this house. If Michael has information, and he usually does, I want it."

"Oh," Khaat said, " Just a hint. Michael's house is not, well, typical."

"I'm sure he'll manage, as long as he can change a diaper on a 14 month old who's on the move. Now, that's an art. Mind the hat rack, Li." Then he got serious. "However, do keep your eyes open. I don't imagine you'll be followed to Michael's but, it just depends on how desperate the werewolves are. I want to make myself very clear here. If you are followed by a werewolf, take no quarter. Just kill them. You don't need a reason. That's on me. Understood?"

Li listened to them talking and he understood sort of, the bit about a hat rack confused him a little but he knew to take there word and follow it to the letter. He knew the general area of Michael's home and so once they had filled him in he nodded " nappy changing a fourteen month old isn't that difficult." He said and smiled " its just a matter of timing."

He ported away to Michael's house now stood out side it. Walking up to the door he knocked and stepped back waiting for the door to open. He placed his hands behind his back feeling a sense that this man was as important as Robert was but in a different way.

Michael's house had not ever looked like this. Never. This reminded him of a bomb going off. He hadn't had time to clean up, and the furniture appeared to be too shell-shocked to keep up. Between the toys everywhere, some of them chewed up by the dogs, and a lot of Michael's personal possessions either hurled or just outright broken, Michael feared the house would never be the same.

Both Otto and Faline were happily tagging along with the babies, who were, at the moment, screaming and leaving odorous trails out of their too-full diapers. Michael had given up chasing them for 30 seconds to snatch up a bottle of firewhiskey and take a big gulp for fortitude. He was hating Maddie about now. The wench--and that was one of the kinder terms he'd had on his mind.

He hadn't even heard the knocking on the door because it blended in with one of the boys yanking Michael's too full ashtray down on his head. Michael looked at his son and the ashes, feeling overwhelmed and dazed.

The hat rack hadn't been dazed though. It had been stealing just about everything it could manage that the babies had laid their hands on, and it was trying to squirrel it all away. The sound of the knock on the door was a blissful chance at company. It raced to the door, clattering all four legs on the wooden floor. The dogs turned their attention to the door, and gave up the smelly babies for potential company--hopefully company bearing black socks.

The hat rack opened the door and simply waited, not recognizing this particular guest.

"Well? Who is it, Snidely?" Michael called.

Li heard the noise from inside and watched the door open he stepped in and raised an eye brow. leaning down he slipped off his shoes and socks. noting the magical furniture he tossed one sock to his left and the other further to the right and waited as a child dashed past he grabbed the first placing it under his arms as he then turned and grasped a second.

" I am Li Lianjie, Robert sent me to help." He said walking over and still holding the wriggling children under his arms. " you might want to change these two while I hold them still." he suggested.

"I'm not that late, am I?" Michael asked, glancing up at the clock. He frowned, surprised that Robert had summoned him this early in the morning. That just didn't happen. Yes, he was later than when he had said he'd be there, but not overly. He immediately understood. If the estate was sending for him, something had happened, and Michael doubted it was trivial. It wasn't how Robert worked. And there wasn't a snowball's chance it was good.

Poop. Well, some sort of poop had happened before daylight. Not only that, but some of the poop in his morning was literally making his life and his floors miserable from the overly full diapers. He took one of the boys from Li, suddenly having a new surge of energy, snatched up two diapers from a cardboard box on the floor, and tossed one to Li. "You know which end of the kid that goes on? Lend a hand, would you? Robert doesn't send for me at this hour unless its important. There are wipes in that thingy on the table over there," he gestured to a plastic box of baby wipes.

He glanced at the babypoo on his floor. "Snidely, call the mop. I have to go out." The hat rack seemed to be adverse to poo, dashing off in the wrong direction. "Oh, stop," MIchael sighed." I'm taking the little monsters with me. They'll be housebroken eventually. Come on. Be a mate and fetch the mop. Then get the rest of the furniture to clean up. We've all gone to pot overnight. Where'd you put my pack, in case I need Hiss?" The hat rack responded by tossing Michael's pack at him. Michael scowled at the snarky hat rack.

He could manage one baby, but two was just a bit much. How did any parent do this in a hurry? It was like wrestling an octupus. How many arms and legs could one child have, honestly? He changed the one baby he had hold of, but he was more than ready to be turning them over to younger, more experienced parents, at least for awhile. It wasn't that he didn't love his boys, but he needed them to be less, well, childlike. He was feeling too old and too impatient and too incompetent to do this job alone. He wanted to be their father, really he did. Just not at the moment.

He needed to know, though, that the people he loved were alright. Aside from these boys, the people at the estate were all he had. He had no idea what the trouble was, and he didn't need the specifics right now. He only had one question.

"Tell me they're all still alive, Li,. I need to know I'm in time," he said quietly, finishing the diapering job and picking up some fresh babyclothes from a disorganized pile of fresh laundry on the sofa. It was amazing how automatic now changing a kid could become in the face of panic.

Li shook his head at Michael's question " no I do not think you are." he said watching him and catching the diaper that was tossed to him. " yes I use to help in the orphanage." he said and laid the young child down on the floor making the box of wipes float to him he began to remove the old diaper and clean it off. soon he was happy it was clean and slipped on the new diaper. He heard Michael talk again asking for him to confirm they were still alive.

"Khaat and Marcus were hurt but Jess is looking after them, so yes they are alive, it was minister Lupin that sent me to help and get you." he told him placing some clean bottoms on the child he held.

"Li," Michael asked, "Do you know a shrinking spell?" He looked for the dogs and saw them slurping up Li's socks, like they were sucking down a strand of spaghetti. "These two," he said. "Can't leave them. They need fed and let out and exercised. They think they're cocker spaniels. You can't tell them they're not d-o-g's." He spelled out the last three letters. "They're very sensitive. They get on well at Khaats and Brians, but if I'm gone, they pee all over the house if they can't get outside. Snidely's not very effective at taking care of the dogs."

He tossed Li one winter snowsuit for one baby and he picked up the other. He hated wrestling babies into snowsuits. It was a job and a half.

"Oh, didn't introduce you, did i?" he asked. "That's Snidely." He pointed to the hat rack. "Pickpocket, and household poker champ." Then he pointed to the large leather footstool, "He's Otto and the little pink chintz one is Faline--his mate. And, Faline is going to have another litter of footstools any day snow. Want a puppy?"

"Snidely, where's the diaper bag?" he asked. Then he thought. Khaat had a million kids. What could he possibly need to take?

Li looked over to where they both were and nodded "yes I know one." he said and whistled to them both " heel" he said then looked to Michael as he shrunk them both picking them up one by one he popped them into his pocket.

He looked around and spoke one word "Scourgify" and the whole room began to become clean. He stood and looked at Michael. " I hope you are not offended." He said now realizing he had done it out of instinct as he liked his own place clean and tidy and from the state Michael was in he felt he was the same.