Sean had his back to the door, so the three Hanson brothers facing him had a full view of the three men as they entered the shop. Sean turned around to see what was going on, already having a good idea of what he’d see. All three men were very large, and all were wearing clothes that seemed too heavy for the warm summer weather. The man being supported was obviously hurt. Blood ran freely down his pant leg and onto the floor. Two women, who were sitting at the table nearest the door, rushed to help support the man, while another quickly closed the door, pulling the blinds down.

One of the unhurt men spoke quickly, “New arrivals, two blocks south. No idea of where they were or what they should or shouldn’t be doing out there. I think they followed us. I didn’t see them as we came in, so they may not have seen us either, but I wouldn’t count on it.” The waitress, using the same sign language Sean had used earlier, quieted the man, and helped move their wounded companion to the back of the shop. All eyes in the coffee shop were looking around, anxiously avoiding looking at Sean but obviously searching for someone to take charge.

Sean took stock of the situation quickly. If the Err’neth who had done this were following them, they may pursue them into the shop. Someone needed to take charge in case that happened. There were no soldiers at any of the tables. Sean recognized them well enough to know that, and the men who had come in from the street were already shaken up, and between them probably had less than a year’s experience in situations like this. Apparently, Sean would have to assume responsibility.

“Shit!” Sean growled, frightening the three stunned boys at his table who were still trying to make sense of what was going on.

Sean stood up quickly and began issuing orders. Everyone in the shop, with the exception of the young men he had arrived with, knew him, and knew to obey immediately. He spoke to the three men from the street first. “Get him in the back, and get him help. If the wound’s too bad to deal with here, take him right down and get him healed. I’ll take care of any pursuit. Everyone else, back to your tables. Nothing happened. No one came in. If we get any visitors, give them a taste of the New York attitude. Chances are they aren’t sensitive enough to see anything useful.” Sean glanced at the floor, and the disturbing pool of blood that had accumulated where the hurt man had stood.

“Hand me that pot of coffee.” He spoke to the man behind the counter now. Grasping the full glass pot, he poured the contents on the floor, diluting the blood. Then, he dropped the pot, smashing it into the puddle. Calmly, he ordered the waitress, “Start wiping that up. Use those brown paper towels if you have them. If not, anything will do. Get a bucket to keep the used towels in, so they’re not too obvious. If they come in, ignore them as long as you can, just keep wiping.” The waitress nodded shortly and began working. Sean sat down and quickly spoke to Taylor, Isaac and Zac.

“If anyone comes in, ignore them; just keep eating. Don’t answer them unless they talk to you, but they probably won’t. I’m going to make it so it’s hard for them to see in this corner. I don’t want to drag you guys into this.” The boys looked back at him, their eyes full of fear and confusion. “Everything’s going to be fine, we’re just trying to keep the problems down to a minimum.” Sean assured them, and finally, his voice filled with regret, “I shouldn’t have brought you guys here. I’m sorry you guys had to have anything to do with this. You’ve got nothing to worry about, though. I promise.”

Taylor looked at Sean for a few moments before nodding shortly. “Well,” he said, “You’ve come through so far.”

As he spoke the words, the door banged open again. Two burly men wearing long, ragged coats swaggered in and surveyed the shop. “Where are they?” One demanded to no one in particular. Taylor and his brothers froze in fear, not daring to move. The other patrons just looked up absently and resumed eating. This was, after all, New York, and you’ve got to be a lot more interesting than that to keep anyone’s attention, no matter who you are. “I said, where are they?” The man demanded again, this time louder.

“Well, if ya tell me who you’re looking for, maybe I can answer that.” The man behind the counter said shortly, leaning over towards them.

“We aren’t here to play games, worm.” The man threatened.

 The second man seemed finally to notice the waitress wiping up the mess on the floor. “What are you cleaning up?” He demanded with a sneer.

“What’s it look like, genius?” The waitress rolled her eyes and help up a large piece from the broken pot. “It’s a coffee shop&ldots; This was coffee.”

Sean chuckled to himself. His people were good; there was no doubting that.

The second man made a move towards the waitress, visibly angry that their questioning wasn’t going anywhere. Sean, however, had been preparing for such actions, and strode quickly from his chair to intercept the large man, while at the same time reaching towards the shadows with his mind, shrouding the table the Hanson brothers were at in darkness. They would be able to see out fine, but the troublemakers in the shop wouldn’t be able to make out the figures at the table, should they look over.

“I really don’t think you want to get violent, do you?” Sean asked, stepping between the two men and the waitress. “She’s just doing her job after all.”

The man sneered again, and Sean began gathering energy to himself. These men weren’t leaving without a fight, but they had no idea who they were facing now. “Well, we’re just doing our job, too. And our job is to kill the three cowards who ran into here. But first, I guess we’ll have to kill you.” The man swung a beefy fist, aimed at Sean’s temple, but it never reached its target. Sean released a tendril of energy and blocked the fist about three inches from his head. He then struck out with his mind, catching the man full in the stomach with enough force to send him tumbling backwards. The other man reached into his coat and pulled out a wicked looking dagger, eight inches long, and obviously well sharpened. Sean lashed out with his mind again, this time catching his assailant full in the face. The dagger clattered across the floor and was calmly picked up by another patron, who swiftly hid it beneath a napkin. Both men now lay sprawled on the floor, one holding his abdomen and groaning, the other, hands full of blood, covering a broken nose.

Taylor sat between his brothers as all three watched in stunned silence. Sean had just floored two huge guys. The weirdest part was Taylor could swear Sean hadn’t moved a muscle. Not to mention that while everyone else in the shop was obviously alert and on edge, none seemed shaken or even impressed by the display. Sean coolly knelt between his vanquished foes and spoke so softly Taylor could barely make out what was being said. “I realize you two are new to the neighborhood,“ Sean began in a soft, almost friendly tone, “So please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sean Sandford.” Taylor could see the men’s eyes grow wide with fear as Sean spoke his name. “Ah, I see you’ve heard of me. That’s good. You’ll be sure to listen, then. Now, since you’re so new, I’m going to give you a warning to take back to all your little friends. This block’s off limits, and this shop is very off limits. I’m sure your superiors warned you about carrying on like this in public, so I’ll let them deal with that.” Sean’s voice suddenly became hard as stone as he spoke the next sentence. “But if you, or any of your people, ever walk in that door again, I swear to God you won’t walk out.” Sean stood up and opened the door. “Now get the fuck out of my sight.” The too men quickly picked themselves up off the floor and ran out the door into the street. Sean calmly shut and locked the door, then turned the sign in the window to read Closed.

Taylor watched Sean as he stood in front of the door. Something huge had just happened, and he had no idea what it was. Curiosity fought with fear as he struggled to decide whether he and his brothers should stand up and try to leave. The worst part was, he knew that at any minute, Sean would turn his attention back to thee young men he had come in with. It was obvious everyone else in the place was in on whatever it was that had happened. Suddenly, Taylor’s trust of Sean began to crumble, and he started to fear the moment when Sean turned his gaze back towards them.

Taylor was granted a momentary respite as the curtain leading the back room was pulled back, and a strikingly beautiful woman stepped into the shop. Despite everything else going on in his mind, Taylor couldn’t help but notice Isaac suddenly jolt when he noticed the young woman. His eyes were fixed to her, and Taylor was aware that another something huge had just happened.

“You let them go?” The woman asked Sean accusingly.

Sean nodded to the woman, both in answer, and in an apparent show of respect. “That I did. They were only two, and we’ll certainly run into them again. They were new&ldots; Very new&ldots; They’ll go back and report on what happened. Their colleagues will learn just how bad an idea it is to come down this street, and their commanding officer will make an example of them for attacking one of ours in the daytime. They get a second chance, and we teach a whole new crop of them that even they have to obey some rules.”

The woman looked at Sean for a moment and nodded. “Fair enough. Jeren’s going to be fine. I took care of him myself, so I suppose there’s no real harm done, and I guess it’s good to get the ground rules sorted out quickly.” Her glance passed over Zac and Taylor briefly, but seemed to stick on Isaac for a few moments longer. “And them?” The woman asked, obviously referring to the brothers, “What were you planning to do with them?”

“I was planning on having dinner with them, then getting a cab back to their hotel.” Sean said ruefully, “But that’s changed. We’re just going to have to trust them, I suppose.”

Taylor’s worried mind was eased a bit at that answer. He wasn’t sure what he had expected Sean to say, but there were plenty of unpleasant possibilities. Taylor’s best guess was this was some kind of Mafia thing. That or drugs, though both choices seemed to have the catch phrase “No Witnesses” hanging ominously over them.

The woman seemed about to object, but Sean interrupted her. “I’ll take full responsibility for them. It’s my fault they’re here, not theirs. We can’t do anything that will keep them from talking if they want to, so we’ll have to trust them not to. The best way to do that is to make them realize why we need to keep all of this secret.” Sean walked back to their table. “I’m sorry, I know it’s rude to talk about you like you’re not here. I promise to give you guys as much as an explanation as I can. It’s important that you keep all of this to yourself. And I want you to know that none of you are in any danger. No one’s going to hurt you, or threaten you. You’ve got my word.”

Again, Taylor couldn’t help but feel comforted by Sean’s promise. For some reason, he was sure Sean wouldn’t make a promise he couldn’t keep.

“So now what?” Taylor asked.

“Well, we’ve still got a few hours before your parents start wondering where you are. There’s someone I need to talk to about all this. I can’t just start telling you guys about this without her okay. Then I’ll explain as much as I can, and I’ll take you guys back to the hotel.”

Taylor nodded. “Okay. That’s sounds fair, I guess&ldots; I mean, I don’t really know what’s going on, but I guess there’s nothing wrong with hearing you out.” Taylor supposed he was in charge of the three brothers at that point. He was the one who had suggested they take Sean’s offer in the first place. Besides, Isaac was still enthralled by the mysterious young woman standing near the back, and Zac was apparently overwhelmed by the whole thing. That worried Taylor. It worried him a lot, actually. Zac had been having odd spells for the past year, where he’d suddenly pass out, or lose track of what he was doing. Their parents had taken him to a few doctors, and lately he seemed to be better, leaving Taylor to wonder if there was something wrong with his brother, something they had either cured, or were treating. It wasn’t like Zac or his parents to hide something like that from the rest of the family, but Taylor wasn’t entirely sure any more. Unfortunately, now didn’t seem like the time to bring it up.

“Come on, you guys can wait in the back room while I go talk to the person I need to see. I won’t be long.” Sean took a few steps towards the curtain in the back, but none of the brothers stood to follow him. Looking back, he could see fear and mistrust in Zac’s eyes as he looked towards the back room. Even Taylor, who was certainly taking all of this the best, wasn’t too happy about the idea of disappearing through the curtain. Sean blinked, and walked back to the table. “That was a bad idea. You guys can stay here if you want.” Sean unlocked the door and returned the sign to the Open position. “Kaera, do you mind keeping the boys company while I go talk to your mother?” He motioned the young woman over.

“Of course.” She said, smiling slightly as she crossed to the table. Sean introduced her to the three boys. As she shook Zac’s hand, Taylor noticed her look change to one of surprise, then thoughtful contemplation, before releasing him. When she shook Isaac’s hand, Taylor noticed another change. Her smile seemed to deepen as she greeted the eldest Hanson, and her hand slid off Isaac’s slowly as she sat down at the table besides him, as if she didn’t want to let go. Sean pulled her attention back to the present by telling the boys they were free to go before he got back if they really felt uncomfortable.

“I’d really prefer to get a chance to explain everything to you, but I understand that all of this is really strange, and probably pretty frightening too. The door’s unlocked, and no one in here will try to stop you from using it if you want to. Karl will even call you cab if you want, right Karl?” Sean looked over at the man behind the counter.

“Of course, sir.” The man replied, giving the boys a nod.

“Uhm, Sean?” Kaera asked as Sean made to leave. Anticipating her objections, Sean just shook his head.

“Don’t fight me on this Kaera. Keep them company. Get to know them; you’ll probably even get to like them. But if they want to leave, they leave. I’ll make that an order if I need to.” To Taylor, Kaera seemed surprised at Sean’s directness. Apparently she wasn’t used to being spoken to like that.

“Of course, sir.” Kaera replied, half mockingly, though Taylor was sure she would obey Sean’s wishes even if she wasn’t happy with them.