When Sean woke up that day, he knew it was going to be the one day that would mark his ascension into his adult life.Years of mental and physical preparation had built him up to this point and he was ready. 

 

Opening his eyes he blinked and regarded the ceiling above him as he stretched his legs. How would things be different though?  No one else apart from the kin in the household of the people of the Caern would know what it meant. August 24^th 2001, a normal day by anyone’s standards, nothing monumental in that date. Only the fact that if he played his cards right and made the right choices then today, Sean would no longer be a cub. He’d be a man in his nation’s eyes. 

 

Taking a breath as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the large bed he was laying in the wooden floor was smooth to his heels and the rug beside the bed was thick and luxurious to his toes. Savoring as he did each morning he woke, Sean stood and began to make his preparations for the rest of his life.

 

 

Down the stairs, one of the other house occupants sat already at the table eating.  “Awake then are you?”

 

She grinned teasingly as the young man shambled his way into the kitchen and plonked himself down at her side, rubbing his eye as he poured himself a brew of tea from the pot and helped himself to the food.

 

“Yeah, I think so. Don’t quote me on it though!” The grin was cheekily returned and he smiled to her. The darker smaller version of himself, the one he’d cherish until the day he died was his little sister.  He winked at her and continued to eat.

 

“It’s today isn’t it? About three hours from now?” She sat forward eagerly and rested her chin on her hand as she watched him eat.

“I’ll make you some bacon butties, that’ll get you started out properly.”

 

When he nodded to her suggestion she stood and began with the task of making her big brother his meal.  Sean sat back and munched his toast down, enjoying the sound of silence in the early light of morning that washed through the coloured glass of the old Victorian house that they sat in.  The sky was light and birds singing gently in the distance. The smell of bacon though made his stomach gurgle and he smiled turning to watch the spitfire that his little sister was slowly becoming. Even as children she’d be the one that he spoke gently to, the one that he listened to, the one he fought with and told his fears to.  She was the one that had kept his spirits up when their parent’s bodies had been found. Not understanding as much as he did, she was the one that had sat on the edge of his bed with him all night and they’d made that promise.  He glanced down to the fleshy mound at the base of his thumb where the J sat, white against his tanned flesh, Jamie, his little sister Jamie.

 

The memory of that night was back again with sudden alacrity. Two small children sat in his room, the same room he’d just woken up in earlier, the same bed too, massive enough for maybe five children to sleep in comfortably or so he’d jokingly stated at the time.

 

“I Sean Slater, promise that I’ll look after my little sister Jamie until my dying day.  I will make sure she’s happy, that she laughs, and I’ll give my last drop of blood for her if it’s needed.”

 

Then they’d cut that small initial into each others hands.  Just deep enough to make that mark, no deeper, he being the elder, the smart ten year old with a wise guy attitude already took it upon himself to make her a dressing to make it better, but secretly he was impressed that she’d not cried. Sure, she’d bitten her lip and frowned, gasping a bit, but she’d also been the one girl that could climb the big tree on Primrose Hill.

 

“Sean… Sean!” The voice interrupted his thought and he was back to the present.

“Hmm?” Frowning he looked back to Jamie with the frying pan and blinked.

“I said did you wanna egg with this or not? Were you even listening? You ain’t that big hard Cliath yet buddy and I can still spit in your sarnies. There’s time for that yet!”

 

He chuckled despite her threat and shook his head. “You know me sis, same day, different planet. What do you think I’ll end up having to do?” He sat back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. Listening to her council had become normality now and something he enjoyed being able to do. Sometime’s their opinions were alarmingly similar, but there were times when she was surprisingly astute and took a vastly differing approach to the situations they had found themselves in.

 

 

 

Later that morning, breakfast a distant memory he’d stood in the circle with the other members of his pack that were taking the Right of Passage.  Two of the others were still pretty nervous though and he could hear their bones shaking nearly!  But he was calm, calm of heart, steady of mind and more than ready for whatever the future held.  Tall Shadows, the Theurge smiled menacingly at the youngsters stood in the circle.

 

“Today, if you survive this you’ll no longer be treated as cubs. You’ll be able to attend the moots and some of the Elders rites. How ever,” He held up one finger, the third of it still left and gestured to them.

 

“Some of you might not pass. Those that don’t will just be a memory to those that do. But even memories can be useful. So remember this last moment as Cubs, remember and look kindly on those cubs that follow you. Lead them in battle with honour, lead them with glory. But mostly, lead them with wisdom. IF you fail, you will be struck from our existence. Nullified and none shall give you succour.  Your kin will be ridiculed for your failure. If you cannot do this task by dawn tomorrow then don’t come back. And I mean by that, never darken our city again. If you die in battle then it proves you were just not strong enough.  That is also failure. You shall not fail.  Be like Grandfather Thunder, strike quickly, brutally. But be immediate.”

 

With that, he nodded and the challenge was on.  Each of them had to achieve a challenge, each of them knew as ahrouns it was going to be physical and each of them knew that it would be dangerous.   Sean smiled inwardly to him self, his face in shadow as the others went off to take their challenges, when his turn came he evenly kept his gaze on the fire and nodded as he listened to the instructions.

 

HE was to lead a group into a facility that had for a while now had been growing in power and becoming more and more dangerous. His task was to deal with the known two bane spirits within the establishment that might attempt to prevent the accomplishment of their task, killing was an option but as Shadow Lords, death was not always useful. Being able to out think and out smart your opponent was often more fun and more humiliating for them in the long term.  He was given his instructions of how to get there and the time limit was set.  Then, three other cubs stood up and nervously smiled to meet him. Michael with the longish blonde hair he’d known for a few months, the other two, James and Lucas were twins and old friends of his from their days when they were playing in the sun as children.  They were to be his pack and his responsibility. Failure was NOT an option.

 

 

 

The establishment in question was in the slum area of the east end of London, not hard to find, not difficult to locate or spy upon and Sean took his time checking it out from the umbra.  Nothing moved apart from the occasional net spider that pretty much ignored them as long as they ignored it as it went about its business.   There was an alarm, it was time to let the Michael do his job. Calming the spirit and preventing it’s claxon from going off wasn’t Sean’s job, but he took it upon himself to try to prevent the spirit from being damaged. After all, again the Elders words rang into his head, a live spirit that can be allied with can be more useful than a dead one.  It didn’t overly take Michael long and the pack moved through, promising to collect the creature on the way back and find a better place for it to be.  

 

 The next challenge was the establishment itself. Once inside, they had no idea of where to look first, so the initial scouting process began.  Hiding from the occasional net spirit that might have betrayed their presence and peeking through the umbra to locate specific targets.   It turned out there were three security guards with two dogs, and an office with two men talking but there was something odd about them both, both were banes. Both were dangerous.  This was what Sean had been expecting, but it appeared there was a complication, an item that had a spirit bound in it was there, trapped.  It wasn’t happy and Michael grew agitated at the thought of the trapped spirit being held by these people. Listening in wouldn’t be too hard Sean decided, so while the two chatted it was discovered that the patrol with the dogs would be along shortly, but then there’d be another 20 minutes or so before the next patrol would pass through.   He smiled and nodded, that would be their chance then.  First though they need to organise their troops carefully, Michael had his job to do.  Getting the spirit to remain calm and steady and then they’d simply pop out of the umbra and steal it. 

 

All things passed easily, the dog and the human passed through without a second glance, nothing to alarm them there.  The plan was created and set in motion. They would attack the wyrm spirits and take them head on as the distraction for Michael who would in the mean time take the captured spirit.  They would just have to be careful not to trigger off any alarms within the establishment. Not giving the banes a chance would be best it was decided and so the pack moved stealthily, creeping slowly into position. 

 

When they moved and took on the banes, all hell broke loose.   There was fur and teeth flying all over the place.  Sean took on one, hitting it repeatedly as hard as he could. He wasn’t too badly hurt in the process but he certainly took care of business. The bruises would hurt in the morning though.  The other bane was a bit more trouble to take care of.  One of the cubs Lucas was already down when Sean got there.  He ploughed in though, gashing the bane and raking it viciously with his claws until between him and James it was completely destroyed.  Michael meanwhile took the item and they started home.   Coming to the alarm spirit the Michael had to comply with the wishes of the spirit and was forced to aid it with freeing it. This was to be the most complicated part.  Once they had removed it though and taken the trophy of one of the alarm casings from the outside of the building, Sean and the pack with the wounded pack member returned home to the Caern. 

 

Right of Passage complete, the Caern then released the Alarm spirit and much to their ‘honour’ it would appear, the item chose to stick about and help protect those that had freed it, thus claiming more than was expected in their Rite of Passage.  The other spirit was handed over to the elder’s, the rite of binding on it being something that Sean felt they should deal with. 

 

Without the item of power, the group in the east end of the city fell apart. Without the two banes to control the humans, the alliance between the two gangs teamwork faded, they fell out and no longer deal with each other.  It soon became a bloody and embittered battle which the Shadow Lords happily used for their own dealings and distractions. Finding a way to manipulate one to destroy another and then having their own packs move into the territory with a sly and happy smile in place.  They were busy and eager to finish it up.  The new territory meaning that they were closer to removing the vampire clans that had infiltrated that part of the city and ensuring the inhabitants safety.

 

 

Addendum:

 

Since Jamie’s death, Sean has become more and more a loose cannon, threatening the whole enterprise, thus being sent out to America as per instructions from the tribal elders to keep him out of their plans suits his uncle just fine.