“You mind if I ask what happened?”  Alessia rested against the corner of the ring, now using her cane for balance instead of poking.  “Madden and I, we were both injured in a fight.  The same, fight, actually, on different sides.  I’m the reason for his hip replacement, and my friend is the reason for his eye, while his friend is the reason for my stuff.”

Troy looked really surprised at this, his eyes widening as he looked between us.  “And that…doesn’t bother you?”

“Nope.”  I pushed myself back to my feet.  “It was about 75 years ago, for one thing, and for another, we both did that for our job, you know?  It wasn’t personal.  Just work.  No reason to hold onto it.”

“Yep,” Alessia agreed.  “Besides, it turns out we’re kinda similar, so that’s cool.”

“Huh.”  Troy still seemed stunned by the idea.  “I – nothing complicated like that.  Motorcycle accident, but I smashed into this tractor trailer truck and it kind of ate my leg a bit.  It was all mangled and they couldn’t save it.  I used to think being a shifter meant I could heal fast, so I’d be pretty invulnerable, right?”  He laughed a little shakily.  “Apparently not.”

“Same,” Alessia grunted.  “I mean, demons are supposed to be pretty indestructible.  We can heal from a lot.  Like, say, brain damage.  That usually goes away, actually.  Broken bones, if they’re set right, they’ll repair.  Even crushed bones are likely to, but it’s a little more iffy.  But we can generally survive, even if humans or most other supernaturals wouldn’t survive under the same circumstances.  I didn’t realize that meant that sometimes we’d survive, but we weren’t 100% again.  Tissue and muscle and whatever mostly regenerates for demons, but bones, not so much.  The stuff I got messed up, well, there wasn’t enough for them to reconstruct, so they tried, but it’s not like there’s prosthetics for some of those.  The annoying part is it’s little things, you know?  Inner ear, sinus stuff.  Stuff you don’t think about, but man, can it affect you.  People look at me and think I’m fine, but I’m not.  On bad days, I might end up vomiting due to the whole dizziness thing and practically can’t get out of bed.  It’s such a small thing, but it can really screw up your life.  Don’t get me wrong – I’ve learned to accept it and I still enjoy life just as much as the next person, but it still changed me a lot, changed what I could do, and I had to come to terms with that.”

“I’ve struggled some with how people view me,” I said slowly.  I glanced at the kid, then realized he might need to understand and tucked my hair back behind my ear so he could see my whitened eye.  “I got used to hiding it because it can suck to have people whisper things about you – and you can tell they’re about you – and avoid me because they think I’m weird or creepy or whatever.”  I hesitated, not wanting to point this out, though Troy might have already realized it.  “You might get some people who will do that.  Don’t let them get to you, okay?  They’re just ignorant or unsympathetic.  You be you.  You’re fine as you are, there’s nothing wrong with having a disability, all it means is sometimes things can be a little more complicated for you.  People who don’t get that, they’re not worth your bother.”

“I already have.”  He sighed, his eyes looking a bit sad.  “My friends, they don’t know what to say when they see me.  And when I take the bus – so I don’t have to bother my parents with driving me, since I’m not back to driving yet, though I hope to be eventually – people stare and sometimes they move away from me.  It’s frustrating and kind of hurts.  I was just in an accident, it’s not contagious.”

“Madden’s right, ignore them,” Alessia immediately piped up.  “Maybe it hurts sometimes, can’t really pretend it doesn’t, but you be fine with you, and then just ignore the people who aren’t.  If people can’t handle someone being less than ‘perfect,’ that’s their problem, not yours.  Who you are, what value you have, that isn’t determined by what’s going on with your body.  And if they don’t’ get that, then just ignore them.  They’re not worth your time.”

He cheered up a bit.  “It’s kind of nice to have people who understand,” he admitted.  “You’re both just so normal with me.”

“Pack privileges,” Alessia announced cheerfully.  “Now, you boys wanna watch a movie or something?  We got a huge screen in the back, we can put on something spooky and see how many times Troy falls out of his chair with the jump scares.”

Troy complained about that plan, but he still seemed to like the idea overall, and we ended up having a nice evening hanging out.

When Troy’s mom came to pick him up – and told both Alessia and me thank you, very seriously, when he was grabbing his things, informing us that she was glad he had someone who understood and she hadn’t seen him this excited about going somewhere since his accident – we were left alone, which meant it was time to turn our attention to my problem, which we’d both silently decided Troy didn’t need to be present for.

“Okay, I’ve been thinking,” Alessia sat down at a table in the break room.  “You’ve got something on these guys.  Venom.  Even if you’re limited in taking them on, naga poison is brutal.”

“I can’t shift into full naga form,” I informed her absentmindedly as I sat down, thinking over what she said.  “I still have some in human form, though.  We can still bite people and inject something.”  I pulled a map out of my pocket and set it down, a spot marked on the page.

“So, I got in touch with the techno vampire and they’re working on tracking down all three.  The shifter is closest, in a nearby town.”

“What kind of shifter?”  She asked.

“Moose, I think.  Or elk.  I forget, one of those.  Big enough I can’t just ignore it, but I think I can handle him.”  I tapped the map thoughtfully.  “I want to give them a chance to just let bygones be bygones, considering how long it’s been, but I’m not willing to let them threaten Ambrose or Troy, so this has to end.  If they’re not going to let it go, I’ll just have to kill them.  I like the idea of poison, though.  I think this guy, I can probably surprise him.  Bite him, partially paralyze him, then give him the choice.”

She thought for a bit.  “You think you can trust him if he says he’ll back off?  What if he just goes to his friends afterwards?”

“I suppose that’s a risk,” I admitted.  “I’m hoping they’ll just be willing to talk straightforwardly and not turn this into a mess.  But if he’s lying, I think I can pick up on it.  I’m not young, I’ve had enough experience around liars I should have a pretty good guess on whether he’s lying or not.”

“Hmm, okay.  And the other two?”

I sighed.  “It gets more complicated.  Near as I can tell, they’re together.  Not like romantic partners, but business partners or something.  They’ve stuck it out even when the gang fell apart and they seem to keep going into similar businesses together.  The shifter I think might be willing to call a truce just because they haven’t been as involved in that kind of activity in a while, but those two…I really doubt it.  And since they’re always together, it’s going to be tough to figure out how to handle them because I doubt I’m going to be able to find a way to approach them separately.”

Alessia tapped her fingertips together in thought.  “I’m assuming they know how to fight?”

“Unfortunately, yes.  I saw them back when we were in the gang together.  They’re good enough I think I could handle them one-on-one, but together…probably not.”  Maybe before my injury, but even then, I’d have been hesitant to take on two supernaturals at one time.  “I’m less worried about the centaur.  He’s a problem, sure, and he likes violence for violence’s sake, but he’s basically just a big brute.  The nightwing, though, she’s smart and fast and she has some magic.  Not as much as demons, obviously, but a concern for a fight.  I can handle physical fights, within reason,” especially with my hip replacement, “but magic is harder.”

“Right.”  Alessia frowned in thought.  “Okay, so…I wish I could help, but I can’t.  Well, I don’t think I can.  I can basically rip someone off me if they tried to attack me, but if I was walking up to those two, they’d see me use a cane and chances are they’d figure out they would stand a better chance ranged than up close.  On the other hand,” her expression changed, “wait a second… magic.  I never really used magic that much in fights, it wasn’t my thing, but I could.  Maybe I could come.  Just having some sort of backup might help, and I can use magic against the nightwing, try to counter that.  I’d have to practice ranged stuff, but we can make really any type of weapon from our magic, so I don’t see why I couldn’t just make arrows.  Or bullets.  Nah probably arrows, I feel like they’d do more damage with how demon magic works.”

I mean, that could be helpful, but I really didn’t want to drag her into this.  “Are you sure?”  I asked hesitantly.  “It’s okay if you don’t.  I was thinking about maybe taking a page out of my own history – hiring a mercenary or two.  That could cover that problem.”

“It could,” she agreed, “but no, I want to.  You don’t get it – you’ve been able to still do some fighting in the past 75 years, but I haven’t.  Yeah, I coach people, but there’s a part of me just dying to actually get involved myself for a change.  Maybe it’s a different method, with magic instead of my bare hands, but I want to try.  Besides, we’re doing this pack thing – I want to protect my pack members.  You and Troy.  If someone’s threatening you, they could threaten the kid, too?  I don’t want that any more than you do.  So let me help.  It might not solve the problem, but it’ll even the playing field a bit.”

Honestly, I felt really relieved at her offer.  I wasn’t sure I could afford to hire mercenaries, especially to specifically fight supernaturals, but knowing I had someone who would back me up, as much as she could, was helpful.

“Thanks,” I said quietly.  “I’d rather have you at my back than some strangers.”  Weird, maybe, considering our history, but it didn’t seem so weird to me.  She understood, and she wanted a chance to be who she used to be again, even if it was in a slightly different format than before.

But then the thought made me frown.  “I’m assuming it’ll just be the two of them, but I don’t know what they’re involved in now.  What if they bring friends?”

“That could be a problem,” she agreed.  “Uggh!  It sucks, before our injuries, I bet you and I could easily take on those two and any friends they brought.  But it’s okay, it’s okay – we can figure out how to adjust.”  She took a deep breath.  “75 years and sometimes still working on accepting how things are, huh?  Anyway, you got any other friends you can maybe count on?”

I shook my head slowly.  “I have a coworker who probably would if I asked, but she’s human, I’m not bringing her into this.  And to be honest, Ambrose would if he knew, but I don’t want to put him in danger.”

“Kind of a special kid to you, huh?”  She looked like she understood, though, and wasn’t mocking me about it.  “Yeah, okay.  Hmm.  Well, I got a few supernaturals who work out at this gym, maybe some of them would be on board.  I’d have to feel them out a bit.  There’s a satyr, though, I want to say he’d be game.  He’s fast on his feet and packs a punch, but the guy talks way too much.  Won’t shut up.  Like, ever.  He took a bad punch once and fractured his jaw and still wouldn’t shut up.  I was tempted to hit him again to knock him out just for a minute of quiet.”

I was kind of amused at the description.  “Okay, maybe.  Let me deal with the shifter first, and see what the techno vampire can dig up on the other two – maybe they’ll be able to find out more about them and narrow down whether or not we can actually expect any friends of theirs to show up.  If not, shifter first, then, I don’t know, just send them an invite to a meeting?”

“Nah.”  Alessia immediately shook her head.  “They could set up a trap.  Granted, we could, too, so it could go either way, but I think it’d be better to take them by surprise, throw them off balance.  Don’t give them time to consider calling for help or anything like that.  You figure out what their routine is, then we surprise them one day in a backlot or something – whatever works based on their routine.  Maybe we break into their house.  I bet I can get in without alerting them,” she added with a sharp smile, “demon magic can knock out electronics for a bit, you know.”

“The downside of their house is they’d be more familiar with it and whether they have any weapons there,” I murmured.  “I like the idea of an open space they’re not as comfortable with.  But we’ll see.  See what options there are and plan from there.”

Honestly, I might try to offer them a truce, but I was 99% sure it wouldn’t succeed with them, so it was better to plan for a fight.  Or, well, for how it was best to try to kill them.  Maybe that sounded cruel, just deliberately planning to murder people, but they’d been trying to kill me for years and I figured it was only fair if I turned around and struck back at them.  That’s what you get for harassing a snake – don’t be surprised if it bites you.

But we had a plan on how to start this, and that was important.  My recovery was almost complete and I was returning to work soon, and then I’d have just a few short months to finalize everything and take care of this mess.

And then I’d be free to be proper friends with Ambrose again.