Chapter 24

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is so long. I just couldn't bring myself to break it up. I hope you agree that it would have lost some of it's brilliance if I had hacked it in half. Enjoy!

Kyle got off the number 12 bus two streets over from the address on his palm and walked the rest of the way. When he came up on the old rundown duplex he was surprised to see that every light in the house was on. The joint was hoping he could hear Drake all the way down the block.

Kyle only had a minute to think what the fuck before a big African American dude came strutting up to him like he owned the joint. The guy got right in his face despite the nearly foot height difference. Kyle wanted to laugh at him but the party was crowded and no doubt the dude had a few more friends inside.

Even though he was well versed in martial art practices, he was no Jet Li. So he decided to play it cool, besides he needed to find out what was going on. This did not look like a safe environment for any thirteen year old kid.

Kyle looked the poser in the eye and said as nice as he could without sneering, which wasn't easy that was for damn sure, "Hey I'm looking for Jonah he here?"

"Who wants to know," snarled the guy with his pants practically around his ankles.

He was leaning in so close Kyle could smell the salami pizza he must have had recently. He was tempted to tell him about it, there looked to be some fine girls at the party and bad breath could be a real game changer, but in the end he thought why do the guy a solid.

"Tell him it's Kyle. He knows me."

The dumb ass punk took a moment to look him up and down before demanding, "Stay here." And strutted away like some gansta in a bad B movie.

Kyle was liking this situation less and less. Where was Jonah's foster parent? Did his foster father run a crack house? What the hell was happening here?

When Jonah swung open the screen door it screeched on its hinges so loud he could hear it over the ear splitting music. He walked down the five short steps with a smirk that spoke volumes. No F'N way he was giving the pack back. And he was hella pleased with himself about it too.

Kyle could see in his eyes that he was done with the club as well and it broke his heart. He couldn't help, but blame himself for driving him away. If only he'd handled the situation better, but discrimination was a sore point for him, he just couldn't tolerate it.

Kyle knew Jonah didn't have too many chances left; so he decided to try and be as persuasive as possible. So he hit him with his friendliest smile. Never mind the pack he wouldn't even bring it up. He could always get Lauren to scry for it anyway. He needed to get through to Jonah and find out what the hell was going on.

"Hey dude what's up?"

"Nothing much." Jonah continued to smirk at him. Kyle could tell he expected him to demand his pack, but he wasn't going to fall for his tricks, he'd played them a time or two himself.

"Cool, cool, "Kyle shrugged nonchalantly and said, "So you having a party?"

"Well Duh, ya think." Was Jonah's caustic reply.

Kyle chuckled and trying to keep it light smacked himself in the head, and said, "Yeah what was I saying."

Damn it was awkward on the curb. He didn't know what to say to the guy. Kyle was terrified of saying the wrong thing yet again and making things ten times worse, but he had to say something, so he took a deep breath as he ran a nervous hand through his short hair and asked," Dude what's happening here," he pointed at the ruckus party," where are your fosters?'

"He went away for a few days. So, what's it to you?" Jonah demanded loudly.

The guy from earlier came sauntering down the front steps.

"Well for starters this dude looks to be more than twice your age. Don't get me wrong, I like a party just as much as the next guy, but this looks like these guys crashed your party and are trashing your fosters fathers house for shits and giggles."

When Jonah's eyes darted to the side he knew he'd hit the nail right on the head. He had no idea how he'd guessed it right, the thought had just come to him, but who was he to doubt the wonders of the world, psychic or otherwise.

"Hold up," he whispered as he leaned in to Jonah, "Is that what's going on here."

Jonah looked truly frightened before he masked his feelings with a sneer and said, "Step the fuck off dude. I said you weren't invited. So drag your sorry ass home."

Kyle didn't have to hide the shock on his face. It was a likely reaction to the tone Jonah had taken, but that wasn't why he was shocked. He was shocked because Jonah was trying to protect him.

And he was going to do the same. Yeah he could call the police, but Jonah was already on his last strike with them as well, but that didn't leave him with any other options.

Kyle smiled smugly and threw up his hands and said, "No problem Brah. I'm leaving, but do you mind if I use your phone to call a cab?"

When the big guy heard the exchange he turned around and strolled back to the party convinced that Kyle had been dealt with.

When Kyle grabbed the phone Jonah offered and took it further down the street Jonah followed him with his eyes.

He could tell he thought he was calling the cops by his crestfallen look, when he returned with the cell and handed it back to him, he could also tell he was resigned to that being the only option of getting out of his fucked up situation.

Kyle made a point of saying, "Thanks dude," loud enough for the poser to hear before he walked away down the street to wait at the corner.

He looked over his shoulder as he walked away to watch Jonah walk dejectedly back to his front porch.

Two minutes later Lauren opened a port door and her and Zach stepped through, she quickly stepped right back through it and less than a minute later Quinn came through. In less than ten minutes all of his gang was standing in front of him on the corner just out of eyesight of the gang bangers down the street. Even Kelly had come sporting a cat that ate the canary grin.

It wasn't often, well never actually, that they got a chance to square off against humans, but now was their chance to find out firsthand whether their combat skills held up to the real world.

Lauren spoke softly, "We're all packing, but I won't un-glamour our weapons unless the humans have weapons of their own."

"Thanks guys. I really appreciate your help. Jonah is deep down a decent kid, he just makes shitty decisions."

Zach walked up to Kyle and gripped his shoulder to squeeze it reassuringly, before he said softly, "I don't think I have to tell you, your family is our family, we know how much you care about your kids."

There were a chorus of 'yeah's and 'damn rights' from the rest of the gang that made him chuckle.

Kyle's face cracked into a wide grin when he announced, "This weekend at NYX this first rounds on me."

Travis piped in then and said, "When are the rounds not on you?" Which made everyone laugh.

After they quieted down Zach waited for Kyle's cue, deftly acknowledging it was his show. So in true Kyle fashion, he gave the lethal group a silent nod, and gestured for them to move out while giving the gang bangers the finger.

The crew laughed silently.

When they came up on the house Kyle was in the lead. He was completely chill about the situation; until, he came up on the scene in front of him. Jonah sat on the front stoop, his head in his hands looking like he'd lost his best friend. While the guy with the bad breath laughed and joked with another gang banger on the front step.

Now Kyle was really angry. Who the hell were these guys to terrorize a child? The dude only just turned thirteen for Christ sake. Travis walked beside him and when he checked him out from the corner of his eye, he could see a tight sneer on his face too. He was none too happy to see a kid being bullied in this way either.

He looked back over his shoulder to see the same expressions on all his friend's faces. Oh snap these dudes were going to be very sorry they messed with one of his kids.

As they approached, Jonah looked up and at first the expression on his face looked really confused and then it turned to fear. No doubt he saw Kyle's little rag tag crew as no match for the scary dude's inside his house.

When bad breath guy saw them coming he banged on the screen door loudly, which must have been a predetermined signal, because a dozen gang bangers came flooding out on to the front porch. Their gang banger girlfriends threw the curtains aside to watch from inside, but a few came out looking just as tough, if not tougher, than their fellow gang members.

When bad breath strutted up on Kyle again he got real close, with a look on his face like he was no longer playing, but yet he still thought it safe to be the close talker that he was, and yup his breath still stunk.

This time Kyle had to say something, but not before he signaled to Jonah to join them. He didn't want him in the line of fire, "Brah unless you're planning on kissing a Dude you should never feel it's okay to get this close. So just step the fuck off."

Jonah's face split into a big shit eating grin and he tried to stand up to come over to Kyle, but one of bad breath's crew pushed him back down with a hand on his shoulder.

When Jonah fell back on the step with a thud Kyle heard Travis growl from behind him.

The biggest of their crew walked up to Kyle and sneered in his face before asking, "Got a problem fuckface?"

"No but you will," Travis rumbled in the deep gravelly voice of a true Mountain Troll. If Kyle had been on the receiving end of that he would have been shitting his pants. Human dude had the good sense to look scared, before he quickly hid his expression from his friends.

"What do we got her?" A wiry stringy haired freak walked up on Kelly and leered at her in a very suggestive way and drawled, "You stay. All the rest of you can fuck off."

When Kyle watched Kelly the very beautiful, even more desirable, and ultimately deadly halfblood demigoddess of war and death fall into her fighting stance and smile, he actually had a moment of fear for the sorry sack that had made the mistake of thinking Kelly was anyone he could command. And when he laughed at her when she did it, Kyle winced and thought Dude sucks to be you.

Someone one must have thought they were threatening enough for the gang leader to finally exit through the front door. The music was still blaring, but as he forced the door open with all his might it could be heard clear down the block. Obviously he was trying to make a point for affect, but lots of other scarier creatures have tried to intimidate his crew and failed miserably. His efforts almost made Kyle laugh.

He stood at the top of the stairs and proclaimed like he was some king of some foreign land and not just some guy in a shitty leather jacket, "Shit what you waitin for fuk their shit up."

When Kyle's crew all fell into their fighting stances, he just laughed and said, "what you gonna do some kung fu shit or something?"

All of a sudden things went south fast, but not for them, when their leader pulled a magnum out of his pocket and pointed it at them sidewise like in the movies.

But before he could even put his finger on the trigger all of his friends had their weapons drawn and Lauren had muttered the magic words to make them appear.

Kyle looked around him to see his friends all lined up on the side walk in front of the house. Connor and Megan had their bow and crossbow cocked, Brenna had her bow staff at the ready, Zach had his broadsword drawn, Liv cracked her whip for emphasis, Marley raised her fist and let the street light on the corner fall on her brass knuckle, but she wasn't making it easy for the humans to see them because her fists were flying faster than a human eye could see, Quinn tossed a couple of his dozens of throwing starts at the nearby lamppost and they sunk in almost all the way with a sickening thud, CJ had his nunchuks spinning around his body so fast that Kyle thought he was going to take off like a helicopter, Ryan sliced his Khopesh through the air in tight and efficient figure eights making the steel blade whistle as he did it, Donnie brandished his dueling daggers and was looking at the guy that had insulted Kelly like he wanted a piece of him, Ray held his katana and wakashi in either hand menacingly, while Xander stood in the center of him with both his Sigs pointed directly at the leaders heart.

Xander spoke with a laugh, "I don't know who taught you to shoot, but holding your lame ass gun like that will not guarantee accuracy. "

When the rest of his gang drew their weapons, Kyle watched as Jonah's eyes got as big as saucer when he realized that he was in the middle of two deadly groups. Kyle couldn't help, but think good maybe this will scare him straight.

The leader laughed thinking he had the upper hand. That many guns against mostly melee weapons, but what he didn't know was that his crew wielded more weapons then just human ones.

When CJ said, "Guys let me and waved his arm in a semi circle to stop time. Everyone got with the program and fast; they knew he only had thirty seconds before the spell wore off. Everyone closest to the gun-toting banditos grabbed the gun and threw them in a pile at Xander's feet.

When the magic effect wore off it was comical to watch the tough guys' reaction to their guns seemingly disappearing out of thin air and reappearing at Xander's feet like a magic show.

Kyle being a long time lover of the famous quote from Taken the movie decided to adapt it for this occasion.

He addressed the leader in a tone of voice as serious as a heart attack and intoned , "I don't know who you are, and I don't know what you want, but what I can tell you is this: me and my friends have a very particular set of skills, skills we have acquired in a scary ass world you cannot even begin to imagine, skills that make us a nightmare for people like you."

Kyle's eyes encompassed the entire gang, before he continued," If you let my friend go, that'll be the end of it, we will not mess with you, and we won't call the cops. But if you don't, we will look for you, and one by one, we will find you, and we will fuck you up."

And even if they did know the quote, none of them chose to laugh at his choice of words, because his friends followed it up with a very menacing cocking of their weapons straight at their opponents.

The leader turned out to be brighter than he looked when he said, "You better go to your friend kid."

Jonah stood up like someone had lit his ass on fire and ran to Kyle's side.

The gang members raised their hands when their leader announced, "Look we don't want any trouble. We'll just take our guns and go."

Lauren waved her hand over the weapons and muttered under her breathe before saying, "Be my guest."

But, when the first guy who tried to pick one up found they were miraculously stuck to the ground in a mangled heap, he jumped back in shock, suddenly coming to the realization that the situation wasn't normal -- far from it.

His face went deadly white and he fell back throwing his arm out to stop the next guy from making the same mistake he had.

"Ricko," he said in a high pitched frightened squeal," Something ain't right here."

At his word his friends all started to scatter, but not before Kyle yelled out, "And we better not hear you came back here, or we'll do the same to you."

Everyone managed to get away without a scratch except the guy who'd looked at Kelly like a piece of meat. She curled her small hand in a fist and clocked him so hard he went flying backwards.

But before his eyes could roll back in his head, she grabbed the front of his shirt lifting him off his feet to stare him straight in the eyes and said, "You're lucky I don't pluck your eyes out for looking at me that way," and let him flop to the ground where his friends had to pick him up and carry him off fireman's style.

Jonah was whooping like a crazy person as the kids he had invited over slowly came out of the house. Looking sheepish . None of them had even bothered to leave the party to try and get help, and he could tell when Jonah saw them and stopped celebrating; he'd thought the same thing.

He had to hope that would be the catalyst he needed to find a better group of friends.

Kyle bellowed at the lowlifes, "Get on home before I call the cops and have you all arrested for underage drinking."

That was it they scattered like leaves on a windy day.

Kyle took Jonah under his arm to walk him up the steps. When they opened the door he saw tears in the kids eyes at the damage done. Kyle friends stayed and helped clear up as best they could and in the end Jonah had been lucking. Aside from a couple of smashed items, and a hole that was punched in a wall upstairs the house was okay.

Kyle helped him hang a picture over the hole and they tossed the lamps, but miraculously Kyle just happened to have exactly how much they would cost on hand.

When Jonah left his side and ran for his room Kyle had almost completely forgot about his pack, but when he came running back with it, Kyle was so relieved he nearly cried.

What he and his friends had done tonight was tantamount to treason in his magical world. Showing your powers in any way is considered a crime punishable by removal from the magical world completely. If they were found out they'd all be wiped and left only with their mundane memories. Kyle shivered.

'Magical Lobotomy' anyone?

He'd have to thank each and every one of his friends tomorrow for risking their necks for a kid they didn't even know. When they got downstairs most of Kyle's friends were gone, but Travis and their magical escort Ryan. Travis asked if Jonah was hungry and made him something to eat before he ordered him to bed.

Before Jonah went up, he started to thank him, but Kyle stopped him and said, "Save it! You can thank me and my friends by straightening your shit out, staying out of trouble, and coming back to Boy and Girls club tomorrow."

A tiny tear coursed down Jonah's face, but he finally let his guard down when he threw his arms around Kyle and let the tears flow and allowed him to comfort him, Kyle hoped he was going to be all right , in the end he could only hope that he'd finally gotten through to him.

They left soon after, but not before Ryan warded the house with the hex bag Lauren had left. If the assholes came back they weren't getting in there.

I hope you all liked this chapter.

Oh crap they showed their powers to humans.

Do you think the council will find out?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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