LONDON CALLING

Jack felt arms go around him and the unmistakable feeling of a point of a wand push against his neck " nice to meet you again brother, if I can call you that" Jack quiped at James as he struggled to break fre of the persons hold.

"Jack, don't " Jessie said as he looked around the room. " even I know when were out numbered " he said his eyes flicking from human to yellow as he looked around the room then to Marcus.

"Introduce me to your friends, my dear," Edward said to Khaat. He had something in mind, she was sure.

"James, you know Jack and you know my friend Marcus. You don't know my friend, Jess, and my other friend. You may know his name. This is my very celebrated friend, Edward Donohue."

"Donohue!" James said. Even he knew the name and the legend of werewolf slayer Edward Donohue. She felt James' fear at the mention of his name. From where he stood, Edward saw the color drain from half the people in the room.

"I think there may be some people here that would like our discussion to be more private. So I think anyone who doesn't want to be caught up in our business should feel free to leave," Edward said. At that dismissal, Khaat and Marcus and Edward saw over half of the customers get up and quickly leave the pub. Even the mysterious Eve gathered up her tarot deck and put it in a drawstring pouch hanging from her waist.

"Who are you working for, James?" Khaat asked.

"Myself!" he said. "I work for no man. Why would you think so?"

"Because word on the street says you're desperate and you had to hook up with a real loser to feed yourself and the ones with you." James guffawed loudly.

"Well, you need better sources," he said. "And who am i supposed to be working for?"

"Supposedly you took a job as the brawn for a man in Paris who can't tie his shoes without help."

"I work with him, not for him. Let's be clear," James hissed at her angrily. "I work for no human. And if he doesn't mind his p's and q's, I'll eliminate him. Mark my words."

"I don't know," Khaat said. "Neither of you are smart enough to get much of anywhere. What makes you think he's worth your time?"

"He isn't," James said. "However, the payment is something I'm interested in."

"And what do you have to do to earn it?" she asked. "What does he have that you could possible want?"

"You, Sweet Cheeks," he said, taking it upon himself to swipe a prolonged, forced kiss from her. She was completely disgusted. "He gives me you."

"You'd have to get past my father first, and my husband, and a whole line of others," she said.

"Not a problem," he said, much too satisfied for her liking. They now knew his plan and Gelding's. Gelding had hired James to eliminate Robert and the rest of them, and in return, Gelding would give Khaat to James. It was exactly as they had surmised. Edward looked at Jack and Jesse. This was not the time for them to lose control. They were still outnumbered.

"Let me be clear, then," Edward said to James with complete fearlessness, "You lay one hand on any of the Lupins, and we will kill you and your entire pack. We won't have enough ash left of the entire pack to stuff the whole lot of you into an envelope. And we do have the manpower and the firepower to do it. Would you like me to demonstrate? Perhaps on her?" he leveled his wand at Eve.

Jessie lowered his head as he felt the wolf inside him sturring he glanced at Jack his eyes showing worry as this would be his first shift into the full wear form. " Jack if he does that again I can't hold my wolf back" he said. Jack looked at the man holding him and growled.

"he does that again I will not stop you" he told him but he could see Jessie internal strugle with the wolf. " HEY DOOFUS!!" Jack called out to James. " ONLY A FOOL WORKS WITH THAT GIMP" He shouted at him trying to get him to focus on him and not Khaat.

Jessie struggled his forhead beading with sweat as the wolf fought harder to appear. Now he could not stop it his back straghtened. His fingers and nails elongated and a deafening howl left his throat as he transphormed. His wolf stood just as tall as James, teeth sharp and dripping his coat white as the driven snow except for the tips of his ears his eyes bright yellow and they had a glow, an unearthly glow about them as he staired down James. Jack stood looking at Jessie in his wolf form.

When Jessie turned, three men in the pub that Khaat was sure were really werewolves took a dive at Edward, and Edward spun, with the grace and agility of a much younger man and fired his wand in three rapid fire spells, cutting them down like blades of grass. There was not even a fraction of a moment for them to know what hit them before Edward cut them down in self defense. The others who had witnessed it froze in their tracks.

Khaat was concerned about Jessie and how easily he had lost control and had changed. This was not a full moon. He should not have been able to change during the day and not during a phase of the full moon. Clearly his wolfsbane needed altering or something. In her opinion, he wasn't ready for a battle, not until his illness was not so unpredictable. They needed to bail, and they needed to do it now, before things went sideways in a hurry. James wouldn't hesitate to kill Jessie. He almost literally ate young wolves like Jessie for lunch.

"Jack!" Khaat shouted. "Get him out of here! Now!"

"That was stupid," James growled at Khaat. "I ought to break your neck for that, for bringing a cub here. It cost me three of my pack, and I won't forget it. Now it isn't good enough to have just you. I'll have you and three of your pack before I'm done. Mark my words, Blondie." Furious with her, he picked her up like a piece of firewood and chucked her across the room and into the hardwood bar. She fell, colliding with the bar, and crumpled, stunned, hitting her head. Marcus flew and placed himself between her and James.

"That's as much warning as you get," James said to Jack. "Get your cub and get out, and don't bring him back til he's dried out behind the ears. He's not ready, and you know it. And take my warning back to the old man. He has no idea what is about to arrive on his doorstep--whenever i decide to bring it. And next time, I won't let her go. Next time, she's mine--for good." Marcus picked Khaat up, not willing to give her time to come around. If they were going to get an opportunity to get the heck out, it was Marcus's opinion that he needed, at the very least, to get her out.

Jessie looked at them all and down at James " Im no cub, CUB!" He said growled at him. " you are nothing, you are cheap." he spoke taking a step and making the floor shake underfoot. Seeing Edward take down three men he swiped at the men holding him sending their apendages flying to land at James feet with out a second thought.

Jack swipped at the guy holding him and made him stumble back now they were all free and hadn claw or wand aimed at the others and James.

"Oh, my lord, you're a complete git, aren't you?" James rolled his eyes at Jessie, annoyed with him. "How long have you been a werewolf? You don't know the first thing about it. I don't care if you're 8 or 80 in human years. Your human years don't mean dick to me. In terms of your werewolf development and your understanding of it, you're a cub. You're a complete cub with no control whatsoever. Go home and grow up. You're not ready to take on someone like me." He looked at the other werewolves in the pub. "Go," he told them. "We're done here."

"It's time to go," Edward said forcefully to Jack and Jessie. "Both of you. Understand me?" We're leaving--now." They had accomplished what they needed to do. They knew the plan. They had answers, or at least enough of them for now. They didn't need to try to defeat James here. There were better ways of getting Tom Gelding under control.

Khaat was coming around, Marcus saw, but he didn't want James getting ideas of taking her now that she was waking. Edward looked at Marcus and nodded, giving Marcus the cue to leave. Marcus nodded and apparated out with her. Edward wasn't leaving, not until Jack and Jessie had decided they could go too. If the sparring wasn't done, Edward could still finish it.

Jack nodded and moved to Jessie who closed his eyes and calmbed himself opening it his eyes staid yellow as he returned to his human form. He smirked at James. One of indignent and replulshion "Well, Rouge at least I belong to a pack that makes me strong, you....you are weak." he told him then with Jack turned to leave the establishment out into the cool air.

Now outside Jessies eyes changed back and he stumbled forward as he walked. " what the hell?" he asked looking at Jack " what happened?" he asked Jack placed his hand on Jessies shoulder and spoke softly.

"you shifted, don't you remember?" he asked and Jessie shook his head.

"no its was like some one else took over my body." Jessie sat down on a low wall and breathed heavily.

"I don't remeber a thing last thing was looking at you then...nothing." he looked at Jack " that normal?"

"nope, so I think Robert should take a better look at you." he said his hand brushing reasuringly against Jessies shoulder as they waited for Khaat and Edward.

Edward followed Jack and Jessie out of the pub into Knockturn Alley.

"Marcus went ahead and apparated out of the pub, and he had Khaat with him. I presume he took her to the farm, but I don't know for certain. I presume we'll catch up with them," he told Jack and Jessie. "We did alright. We got what we came for. We can't ask for better, so now, let's get out of this nasty neighborhood and go home."

Marcus arrived back at the farm with Khaat, and by then, she was wanting to stand on her own two feet. Marcus helped her to a chair in the kitchen, telling Robert he believed she had hit her head and was out momentarily. Robert started checking her for a head injury.

"You're fine, I think," Robert told her, "except for a bit of a goose egg on the back of your head. An ice pack and an aspirin powder will do wonders." Kate got an ice pack out of the freezer and handed to to Robert and then fetched her an aspirin powder dissolved in water.

"Where are the others?" Robert asked.

"Following right behind, I believe," Marcus said. "I'm concerned for Jessie. He completely turned in that pub."

"Turned? But its broad daylight and nowhere near a full moon," Robert frowned.

"Exactly," Marcus said. "I wonder if his wolfsbane isn't holding him."

"Well, either he's not taking it or its not holding. I don't know. It's certainly worth looking into. What did you learn?"

"James is working with Gelding to try to eliminate you. And as payment..."

"As payment he gets Khaat, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"Of course he would. That's what he's always wanted. Well, unfortunately for both of them, they will get neither," Robert said, trying to hold his temper at James' continuing obsession about Khaat.

Jack looked at Edward concerned as Jessie held his hands in his head " come on lets get back. Jessie stood up and moved to face Jack. " I can't" he said taking off his medallion he handed it to Edward " Tell Khaat Im sorry" he aperated away. Jack looked at Edward and shook his head.

"lets go I'll find him later." Jack said and ported back to the farm " Jessie left." he told them. Kaden looked up at Jack.

"where?" he asked some what annoyed at Jessie, but Jack just shrugged his shoulders. " I have an idea, be right back" he said and ported out. Jack sighed and sat down.

" he seemed upset, realy upset, he told me that he couldn't remeber anything while he was transphormed, he said it was like some one else took over his body" Jack said to Robert. Jess walked over with a cup of tea for him and he smiled taking it from her " so whats our next move?" he asked.

"Well, that could be a lot of things," Robert said. "I won't know until I have a chance to check him, so until he returns, I can't do a thing about that. But, you do understand that if he doesn't return, and he continues to have spells where he gets out of control, someone like Edward will have to put a stop to him, and that isn't something I even want to think about."

"Well, perhaps we need to try to capture him if he doesn't return on his own," Khaat said.

"Wait a minute," Edward said. "I do have more than one gear, you know. I do know that slaying isn't the only option. I can think for myself, you know. If he doesn't return, I'll have a go at rounding him up. Hopefully, though, the lad rubs a couple brain cells together to form a coherent thought and comes back on his own."

"In the meantime, we continue on with our plan to try to turn Tom Gelding off his current path," Robert said. "I had a plan, and now I don't know if I can manage it without Michael."

"You mean his plan to rob Gelding of the money in his Gringotts account?" Mira asked, coming in. "I think I could do it."

"You?" Robert frowned. "You do know Gringotts is one of the most secure places in all England, right?"

"I think I could manage it. I really do. Uncle Robert, I want to do what Michael does. I think he's completely marvelous. And, well, he isn't getting any younger. I want him to teach me everything."

"Well, even if he does agree to take you on as an apprentice, he isn't going to want you to start off by trying to nick Gringotts, that's for certain," Robert said. "Besides that, your father will kill me and Michael both."