Chapter 1
“Gutierrez, huh? It’s about damned time you got here. We’re starting to die without that air.” The security guard glared at the young man.
The repairman nudged his bag of tools with a booted toe. “You called and reported an emergency with your air conditioning. If you want to cop an attitude with me, I can always go home and your supervisor can talk to my supervisor in the morning, señor.”
The guard grimaced. “Give me your badge.” He carefully compared it to a list and nodded as he handed the badge back. “Here you go, Esteban Gutierrez. Do you know where you’re supposed to go?”
“Yeah, I was told how to get there.” Esteban hefted the bag. “I was also told you needed to search this.”
The security guard gave the bag a quick look through. He grinned and hefted a lunchbox. “What’s in here?”
Esteban sighed loudly. “Food. I like to eat while I’m working instead of taking a lunch. It’ll save you an hour without air conditioning.”
“I should confiscate this.” The guard shook the thermos and liquid gurgled heavily. It was accompanied with a faint chinking noise. “What’s in here?”
“Iced tea.” A mulish look appeared on Esteban’s face. “I didn’t answer your damned repair call so you could steal my lunch. I’ll just go home and you can call the office in the morning and have someone else sent out.”
The guard blinked and abruptly thrust the lunchbox back at Gutierrez. “Here. Now get to work. Find out what’s causing the breaker to trip and fix it.”
Esteban grunted and headed out with his bag slung over his shoulder. Once out of sight, he quickened his pace but not heading for the air conditioning closet. Instead, his goal was to a very different destination indeed, but one just as specific.
He stopped outside a chain link enclosure which dated back to before the coming of Sukebe. It was locked and held several large boxes and chests safely.
Esteban opened his lunchbox and pulled out his thermos. He carefully unscrewed the bottom of the thermos bottle and pried out the pokeball that was hidden inside it.
He released the pokegirl it contained inside the enclosure, the red beam condensing into a Ladyien carrying a large bag. She looked around carefully and moved quickly to examine the boxes. “Ah, this one has the Kuno family crest. Here is the one we want.” She looked up. “You were right. Instead of going with an electronic locking system, they went with something more in keeping with their samurai past.”
Esteban smiled slightly. “We were ready for both, but it’s good to see they are predictable. Get to work.”
“Yes, master.” Dropping the bag, she pulled on two pairs of latex gloves and flipped a set of picks out of a belt pouch. Quickly, she picked the lock and pulled it free.
The box opened and she began rapidly emptying the small padded compartments which lined the interior of the box, all four hands seeming to flicker as she worked. The items she removed went into a bag she’d pulled from the mouth of the one she’d put down. Once done, she pulled over the first bag and began filling the padded compartments with small oblongs of lead.
Once the box had been refilled, she restored the lock and grabbed up both bags. Esteban returned her to her pokeball as she stood. He put the pokeball into the thermos where it had lain hidden and screwed the bottle back together before heading off to the air conditioning closet.
Once there, he picked up a phone that was on the wall and dialed the guard. “What?”
“This is Esteban. I have to go onto the roof.”
The guard grumbled. “I figured you would. I’ve already silenced the alarm. I’m not an idiot after all.”
Esteban smirked to himself. “You are a credit to your profession. I’ll call you when I’m off the roof as per protocol.”
“Don’t worry about it. Nothing ever happens here. Just call me when you’ve fixed the air conditioning.” The phone went dead.
Gutierrez climbed the ladder to the roof and opened the hatch slowly, looking around. While rooftops in general were bad places to be, night was an especially bad time to be on a dark rooftop and, as he’d expected, security was lax. There could be feral pokegirls sleeping up here and he wasn’t going to take any chances if he could avoid it.
Nothing moved in the beam of his flashlight and he quickly moved to the fan housing. The intake grate had been pried up and Esteban reached inside and pulled out the iron bar that his pokegirl had jammed into the impeller of the squirrel cage fan an hour ago.
Once inside, he carefully closed and latched the roof access hatch before going back down the ladder. Pulling out a book, he settled down and read for an hour.
His watch chirped and he put the book away. The air conditioning system started right up when he reset the breaker.
The guard was much happier to see him. “Dios, but I’m glad you fixed it. We thought we were going to die in this old place.”
Esteban nodded. “It was fairly straightforward.” He hefted the toolbag. “Good night.”
“Wait.” The guard held up a hand. “I’ll need to search your bag again.”
“Again?” Gutierrez sighed and lifted the toolbag onto the counter. “If you must.”
The guard gave it a perfunctory search and paused at the lunchbox. “You didn’t take time to eat, did you?” His eyes glittered hungrily.
“I drank some tea, but otherwise, no, I didn’t. You can have the food if you want.” Greedily, the guard opened the lunchbox and pulled out a sandwich and some oranges.
He eyed the thermos and gave Esteban a curious look.
“You can have the tea, but I need the thermos. My woman gave me the lunchbox as an anniversary present and she’s got a loud voice when upset.”
The guard produced a cup and emptied the thermos into it with a smirk. “So does mine, but I just give her a few wallops when she gets mouthy.”
“I tried that. She’s bigger than I am and has scales.”
The guard gave him a sympathetic look as he shoved the lunchbox back into the bag. “Why not get a different one?”
“I just haven’t. Maybe you’re right and I should get rid of her.”
The guard nodded confidently. “You do that and it’s easy to find another. After all, we have what they need.”
“You have a point there, friend.” Esteban grinned, revealing a gold capped tooth. “However, the night is almost over and I’d like to get some sleep during it. You’ll need to turn the alarm back on.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll write up the report and email you a copy in the morning.”
The guard nodded. “I’ll let my supervisor know to be looking for it. Buenos noches.”
The guard nodded. “I’ll let my supervisor know to be looking for it. Buenos noches.”
Esteban nodded. “Adios.” He headed out the door and into the night.
***
Tawny eyed the bag without enthusiasm. “What did you say was in there?”
“Evolution stones.” Nicodemus leaned back and gave her an amused smile. “There are over three hundred evolution stones in there.”
Tawny’s expression didn’t change. “And just how did you get them?”
“Murchison told me to do whatever I wanted. I’ve been spending the last month setting myself up as a dealer in rare pokegirls to an importer and he finally ordered a large shipment of evolution stones that I’d been trying to get. I stole the shipment while it was still in customs last night, over in Buenos Aires.”
He shrugged. “A lot of the stuff that passes through there has to stay in a climate controlled environment and I found out they have a contract for their air conditioning with a company owned by the brother of someone in the local government. I stole an ID, van and pager from one of the company’s service technicians. Then I called the guard post and gave them a new emergency number to call. Then I broke their AC and they called me instead of the company. That gave me entrance.”
The woman glanced at her Ka-D-Bra, who shrugged helplessly. “Did Murchison have any idea you’d pull something like this?”
“He never told me not to.”
Tawny sighed. “How many stones are there?”
“There are three hundred and four stones. I’ve got them segregated by type.” Nicodemus pushed a sheet of paper at her. “Here’s an inventory. If it turns up a few short when it gets to Murchison, I’ll need to know beforehand so I can back up your story and also so I don’t complain when I get shorted on my share.”
Tawny grinned. “I like the way you think. I’ll let you know what I take as my cut. Don’t worry, I won’t be too greedy. What’s next?”
“I don’t want to push my luck for a while. I think I’ll spend some time in the country playing at being a Tamer. It’ll give me a semi-legitimate source of income to help explain the money I’m accumulating.” He gave his Ladyien a smile. “In addition, Lucretia thinks I need another pokegirl or two.”
The pokegirl nodded firmly. “Master, if you are going to keep up the appearances of being a Tamer, then you’ll need to catch pokegirls. You can sell the extras or any you don’t want for operating expenses.”
Tawny grinned. “If you’ll let me have ten percent, I can help with that. Unless of course, you want to get caught selling to the wrong ranch.”
Nicodemus grimaced. There were two pokegirl ranches in the Silver River League. One was the Silver River Ranch, or as it was still known in the old Spanish, Rancho de Plata Del Río. The other was the Silver River Estates or Estados de Plata Del Río. There were three things that were important to remember about the pokegirl ranches here. First, neither bought the same pokegirls as the other. Second, they hated each other with a passion. There had been knifings between the staff members of the two ranches.
The third thing was the most important to a Tamer. If one ranch found out that you were doing business with the other, they would stop doing business with you. Several different religions in the Church of the Thousand Gods had a version of a fiery hell, and all of them would freeze before a ranch would acknowledge your existence if you were caught selling to their enemy.
“You’re a broker?” Nicodemus asked her with surprise. “For which one?”
“I’m a broker for the Estados. So you can sell to the Rancho and I’ll take care of any that go to the Estados.”
“I see. Is that ten percent of the ones you move or of all of them?”
Tawny gave him an innocent look. “You’d give me ten percent of everything? That’s so sweet. I accept.”
Nicodemus sighed and rose to his feet. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” He paused. “How’s Malcolm?”
Tawny grinned maliciously. “He did such a good job recruiting you that Murchison has him looking for more new blood. He hates the work but he’s making money hand over fist.”
“I’m glad he’s doing well. Did you change my ID like I asked?”
“I did. I dropped your last name and now you’re Nicodemus Azrael.” She shook her head. “Why did your family name you after the angel of death?”
“Mother had a classical education and an odd sense of humor.” He motioned to his Ladyien, who hopped to her feet and moved to join him. “I’ll be in touch.”
***
The village was named La Esperanza and was three days north of Montevideo. The most notable thing about it was the name. Its only street was where the path had been widened a bit and some gravel had been spread around. Not enough to protect passersby from the mud, just enough that it could be noticed and the handful of buildings recognized as a community.
Throughout human time, this land now claimed by the Silver River League had held villages almost identical to this one; places where a living was eked out from the land and the inhabitants only hoped to be ignored. In the past, they hoped to be ignored by the rulers of their land and their hungry gods, as well as the enemies of their rulers. Now they hoped to be ignored by the rulers of the land and their pokegirls, as well as the ferals that infested the landscape. Throughout time they’d hoped and prayed only for this one little thing and throughout time they’d always been denied the peace they so desperately hoped for.
Nicodemus headed for the largest building. He could sense there was a flurry of movement as he approached and he knew the activity that meant the man of the family would be busy hiding everything he had of any value whatsoever, including the pokewoman who was his titular wife as well as any daughters they had.
His parents had brought him through countless villages like this one on their explorations. He’d been surprised when he was old enough to realize just how rare some of the pokewomen in these villages were and had asked his parents why Tamers didn’t come and snatch them up.
Being an archaeologist meant that you had to master several related disciplines such as sociology and anthropology and his parents had drawn on this knowledge in their explanation. The reason rarer pokewomen abounded in some of these villages was for the simple fact that weaker pokegirls and pokewomen weren’t tough enough to survive the droughts and floods, the famines and feral pokegirl attacks. Like tillers of the land everywhere, farmers in the Silver River League lived a life of constant excesses. It was too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet. Not enough pokegirls for the young men to take to wife or ferals wandering the streets at night and tearing their way into buildings looking for food. No support from the government or tax collectors coming by on a very regular basis.
So the men of these villages had rare pokegirls and pokewomen and secreted them from any outsiders with a skill that had been honed by thousands of years of hiding valuables from prying eyes.
The government turned a mostly blind eye to what was going on because of the uneasy truce they’d hammered out with the villagers. In return for not having their pokegirls and women taken, the men of the villages were content to sell any human female children to their masters. It was a situation that benefited everyone involved, the villagers got paid to turn over a child that in all likelihood was too weak to live to adulthood and the league administrators got a steady trickle of rare domesticated pokegirls when most of the females went through threshold. Any females that didn’t become pokegirls were married to the children of the administrators or the administrators themselves, that being one of the privileges of their esteemed rank.
The man of the house appeared in the open doorway, with a young son standing behind him. It was likely that they were of mestizo stock; most of the villagers were to one degree or another. However, at this point only genetic testing could tell for sure. Most male villagers would express the blood curse of pokeboy gene. The majority of them appeared to be only phase one but some were phase two or three. There were rumors of more than that appearing from time to time. So far they’d proven only to be that: rumor.
This man’s hair was white, fine and curly, closely resembling the wool some Lambchop or Kung Ewe ancestor had brought into the family tree. The fine wool of his tunic hinted that his wife and daughters were of similar pokegirl stock. Most of the inhabitants of these villages intermarried to a degree that would shock outsiders, but that was life in the jungle, where the price of traveling to the next village for a woman might very well be your life.
As he got closer, Nicodemus realized with a start that the man’s hair didn’t look like wool, it was wool. That meant what looked like horn buds on his son’s head probably were.
The man waited patiently. Villagers like the ones who lived here were reticent to initiate a conversation with outsiders; it was commonly considered bad luck.
“I’m looking for the headman of the village.” Nicodemus started with English, the official language of the Silver River League. Neither the man nor his son showed any understanding.
So Nicodemus switched to the unofficial language of the Silver River League, Spanish. “Estoy buscando la anciano de la aldea.”
The man’s eyes flickered and he replied in the same language. “My father is out. He will be back before nightfall. Come back then.” He shook his head violently when Nicodemus started to speak. “No, we have no room for you. Come back at dusk.”
“I will. Tell him it’s about the problem the village is having with a pokegirl. I’m here to remove her.” Nicodemus raised his voice slightly as he spoke. “I’ll be back at sundown or perhaps tomorrow.”
As he was walking away a new, older voice spoke, this time in scratchy, heavily accented English. “You’ll catch this problem? She has been destroying our crops.” Nicodemus turned and smiled to himself as the sight of the newcomer. This man looked to be in his eighties, which meant that he was probably over forty. Life was hard here and League medicines could only help if they were taken.
“I’ll either catch or kill her.” Nicodemus had hoped the elder would be somewhere in the house listening to the conversation. It had happened to his parents frequently enough that they’d come to expect it more often than not.
“We have nothing to pay you with.”
That was doubtful, most villages had a small store of valuables hidden somewhere, but Nicodemus wasn’t interested in robbing them too. However, he knew better than to sound like he was willing to work for free. “It won’t cost you anything. I’ll take her as the payment.”
The old man’s face twisted. “No, we want her.”
“Then catch her yourself or pay me to do so for you.”
A canny gleam appeared in the elder’s eyes. “You catch her first, then we talk price.”
Nicodemus nodded. “Tell me everything you can about her.”
***
Lucretia folded her wing cases and brushed her hair back. “That old man lied to you. She’s not a fire type at all, she’s an Ivywhore. I saw her clearly when she was headed for her lair. Nobody could be so stupid as to confuse her with a Flarea.”
Nicodemus shrugged. “He could easily be that dumb, but I agree with you, he probably lied to me. If so, he’s likely hoping we’ll weaken her enough for the peasants to catch her themselves. That just makes what I’m planning to do easier to justify.” He chuckled. “Are you familiar with Occam’s Razor?”
“No, master, I am not. Is it a magical weapon?”
“It’s the idea that the simplest explanation is usually right and it can be far more powerful than a mere weapon. In this case, it means to remember to never ascribe to cunning what can be explained with stupidity.”
“I will remember that, master.” The Ladyien glanced in his direction. “Can I ask you a question, master?”
“You can.”
“What do you think is going to happen to that shopkeeper who paid for those stones we stole?”
Nicodemus gave her a serious look. “He had insurance on the shipment, but does that really matter to you?”
“Master, does it matter if it does?”
“Actually, yes.” Nicodemus touched one of her hands and she turned it over to grasp his fingers. “If you are concerned about that sort of thing, I need to find you a Tamer who shares your concerns.”
“I could still be a good pokegirl for you if I did, master.”
“Yes, but if you are concerned about what happens to our victims, you won’t be the best pokegirl you could be for me and that’s what I want from you.” He wrapped his fingers around hers. “I’m supposed to be your conscience and it that’s not true, you need someone who can meet your needs better than I can. All you really need to know is that I would never ask you to do anything that I wasn’t willing to do myself.”
“What if you ordered me to kill someone?”
“My previous statement stands.”
She nodded slowly and swallowed heavily. “Master, what happened to my old master, Santiago?”
Nicodemus eyed her briefly before answering. “I arranged for him to die so I could get you.”
“You’re willing to admit that to me?”
“You were willing to ask and I try to answer your questions.” He gave her the serious look again. “Can you live with the orders I give you?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes, master, I can. I am, however, worried about the others. If something goes wrong, they could tie you to Team Zenith and if that happens I’ll lose you.” A brief smile appeared. “You are a better master than master Roberto was.”
“Thank you, Lucretia. The fact that we could be turned in by Tawny and the others concerns me as well. I have plans to keep that from happening, but I’m not ready to act on them just yet.”
“Master, when will you be ready?”
“I’m working on it right now. Don’t worry; when I’m in a position to neutralize the threat they present, I won’t wait. Promise.”
She cocked her head questioningly. “Is that why we are out here?”
“In part. You are right when you insist I need a larger harem, but this also helps to establish me as a productive Tamer, something Team members never bother to do. It’ll provide plausible denial if we are suspected of anything since it’s so far out of the normal behavior profile for Team members.”
“What if they use a psychic pokegirl to read our minds?”
“I’m going to teach you some mental exercises that will keep most of them from finding anything you don’t want them to. I learned to do it in a class on psychic pokegirls.” He flashed a smile. “It was taught so a Tamer could still surprise a telepathic pokegirl with presents, but it’ll work quite well to keep interrogators busy running in mental circles. You can’t keep them out of your head, but you can keep them from finding anything vital.”
Lucretia nodded and returned to the matter at hand. “When will we go after the Ivywhore, master?”
“We’ll take her in the morning when she leaves her lair. She’ll be hungry then and less wary.”
***
The sun was starting to peek over the horizon as Lucretia cleaned up the last of breakfast. Nicodemus looked up from lashing their sleeping bag to his backpack. “It’s just about time to get started.”
She nodded and hastily crammed the last bowl into her fanny pack. She couldn’t wear a backpack and fly, so Nicodemus carried most of the gear in his pack. Lucretia carried some of healing potions, her bowl, and a couple of trinkets she treasured in her fanny pack.
Nicodemus came over. “Wing check.”
Lucretia gave him an amused look and turned her back to him. She lifted her elytra upwards and unfurled her wings. “Is this really necessary, master?”
“I’m still learning about this so, yes, it is.” He ran his fingers over her wings and down to her back. She shivered and groaned in a low voice as he dug his fingers into her flight muscles.
“You keep that up, master, and I’m going to want to do something besides chase a plant pokegirl this morning.”
Nicodemus chuckled. “We have things we have to do first, but feel free to remind me later to reward you for your hard work.” He stepped back and she folded her wing cases back down. “They look good. Oh, did I mention that I’ve identified the species of Ladyien you happen to be?” She gave him a puzzled look. “Ladyien and Ladyba were developed from genetic material brought here by Sukebe, but it’s been long theorized that he included some DNA from local varieties of insects in the creation of his bug pokegirls.
“True or not, many bug pokegirls do show regional variations that match the local insect life. Your patterning happens to resemble a Coccinella septempunctata or seven spotted lady beetle. This suggests that even though you are from the Sunshine League, your mother was from somewhere in the Blue or Noir Leagues. The area that used to be what was once called Europe is where the Coccinella septempunctata occurs naturally. After one or two generations, the color patterns change to match the local insect varieties.” He smiled reassuringly when she gave him a worried look over her shoulder. “Your color and patterning are quite pretty. Turn around.”
Lucretia visibly relaxed. “Thank you, master.” She turned and nervously eyed the two pokeballs he was offering her. “Master, it’s illegal for pokegirls to carry pokeballs, much less use them.”
Nicodemus blinked and burst out laughing. “We just infiltrated a government customs building and stole a bunch evolution stones with a market value of at least a million credits and you’re worried about getting caught in this wilderness holding a pokeball?”
The Ladyien flushed. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, master.”
He smothered his laughter. “I wasn’t laughing at you; I was laughing at the idea.” He sobered suddenly. “You are quite right; it’s illegal for a pokegirl to use a pokeball. Out here, it’s a chance I’m willing to take.” He smiled again, this time without humor. “The only people who might say something would be the villagers and they’re more likely to set each other on fire than voluntarily contact a member of the government. We’d have never known they even had a problem if some wandering Tamer with a do-gooder complex hadn’t reported seeing some damage to the fruit crops around here.”
He frowned as he dug into his backpack. “Damn, there’s something I’m missing.”
“Sir?”
“Have you ever had a thought that you know is just out of reach and that with a little coaxing you know that it will shed some sudden new light on a situation. I’m having one of those moments right now.”
“Master, I don’t know anything about that. I remember everything easily. In fact, I cannot forget.”
“That’s right.” Nicodemus pulled a couple of small paper bags from his pack and tucked them into his shirt pockets. He reached back into the pack and pulled out a flanged mace which went into his belt.
Lucretia eyed him with a slightly nervous expression. “Are you thinking about trying to help take the Ivywhore down?”
Nicodemus gave her an appalled look. “If you get into trouble, I’ll recover you from a distance. I am not stupid enough to try to fight any pokegirl, no matter how weak she might be.” He hefted the mace. “But you never know what’s going to happen and if I have to, I’ll use this to try and convince a pokegirl to go bother someone else. If nothing else, I can throw it at her while I run away.” He smirked. “With my strategic precognition, I can probably hit her someplace sensitive enough to distract her while I flee.”
“Why didn’t you get a sword instead, master?”
“Swords are a dead giveaway that you are a Tamer, and a silly one at that. Any Tamer with a sword should have the guard cut off for convenience.”
“Convenience?”
“Yes. Any pokegirl with any sort of weapons skill is going to take it away from him and ram it up his ass. Having the guards cut off will make it easier to remove afterwards.”
Lucretia suddenly giggled at the image. “I guess you’re right.”
He chuckled too. “I try very hard to be. Now, let’s go catch us an Ivywhore.”
Lucretia nodded and lifted off. With a high pitched scream, a form dropped from the sky and slammed into the Ladyien, driving her to the ground. Nicodemus had a blurred image of brown wings and flying dirt as the unknown pokegirl slashed wildly at Lucretia.
Nicodemus considered his mace and blinked. “Not a chance,” he muttered as he pulled two pokeballs from his belt. The empty he hurled at the feral. It hit and she vanished into the containment beam. Nicodemus recovered and released Lucretia with a single motion, essentially moving her from across the clearing to stand in front of him.
“She’ll be breaking out any moment. When she does, hit her hard.” Lucretia nodded as the pokeball cracked apart, releasing an angry brown pokegirl. She whirled, hissing in rage as Lucretia blasted a glittering powder across her.
The pokegirl hiccupped and froze as she sucked the lust dust into her lungs. She coughed once and then her head came up and her eyes locked onto Nicodemus. Her wings spread and she launched herself directly at him.
Nicodemus dodged and ran, weaving through the trees and trying hard not to listen to the crashing sounds as they grew closer.
Suddenly, Lucretia was hovering in front of him. “Dodge!” Nicodemus threw himself sideways as she pressed her palm to her lips and used blow kiss. There was a streak of red light that zipped out from her lips. Out of the corner of his eye, Nicodemus saw the attack hit the feral. She instantly went rigid and fell, her momentum sliding her forward through the undergrowth. In a flash, Lucretia was on her.
The Ladyien pummeled the feral unmercifully with her fists. “Hey!” She glanced up as Nicodemus tossed his mace. She plucked it out of the air and smashed her opponent in the head with it.
Nicodemus pulled his pokedex from his belt and aimed it at them. It indicated that the paralyzed pokegirl Lucretia was beating into unconsciousness was a Rack. He pulled a pokeball from his belt and tossed it. The Rack unceremoniously disappeared out from under the Ladyien, who slid to her feet as the pokeball rocked. “What is she?”
“Rack. Good job stopping her.”
Lucretia grinned as the ball stopped rocking. “I knew she was a flying type but almost nobody is strong against sex attacks.”
She offered the mace to him and he shook his head. “You keep it. I’ll pick up another one for me later.”
The Ladyien nodded and spun the mace in her hands. “I like this. What’s it made out of?”
“The strongest alloy I could afford. Something like a Sphinx or a Neo Iczel might break it, but you won’t.” Nicodemus suddenly smacked himself on the forehead. Lucretia jumped. “I am such an idiot.”
“Master?”
“I just remembered the little fact that’s been just out of reach. The Ivywhore isn’t the problem here, it’s probably the Rack. Racks are fruit eaters and Ivywhores are content with sunlight and soil.” He shook his head in disgust. “I should have known to be looking for another pokegirl besides the Ivywhore. That was a rookie mistake and it could have gotten us killed.”
“Master Nicodemus, with all due respect, while you know a lot about pokegirls you are still learning your way.” Lucretia picked up the now quiet pokeball. “You did well today and I know you won’t make this mistake again.” She cocked her head curiously. “Now, will we go after the Ivywhore?”
He frowned as he considered his options. “She’s already left her lair and headed off to someplace to sun, so she may be difficult to find. I want to use a potion on you and let you rest overnight. We’ll go after her in the morning like we’d planned to today.”
***
Nicodemus opened his eyes and blinked slowly in the predawn light. Lucretia shifted slightly and nuzzled against his chest. On impulse, he kissed her gently.
Her eyes flickered open and she smiled before kissing him back. Nicodemus nuzzled his way down her throat and nipped her gently. Two of her hands cradled his head as she chuckled softly. It broke off in a gasp when he sealed his mouth over the pulsing vein in her neck and bit down. She sucked air in a hiss and looked down at him as her eyes filled with sudden heat.
He flashed a smile and kissed his way down her chest. Her eyes closed when he took her nipple between his lips and sucked. She arched her chest and pulled down on his head as he suckled.
The air had been hot and sticky that night and a thin sheen of perspiration covered them both. Nicodemus slowly licked his way across her chest, savoring the salty flavor with each stroke as he cleaned her. Lucretia ran her fingers through his hair as he inhaled her other nipple. She gave a low moan as the air began to fill with the scent of her arousal.
Her lower hands clenched on his back as he sucked hard, his hand sliding slowly over her belly and down her thigh. She twisted slightly, trying to guide him to her center but he resisted, sliding his hand up her inner thigh and down the other leg.
Lucretia moaned loudly as he slid his fingers into her growing wetness and between her folds. She pulled his head firmly against her breast as she spread her legs wider in invitation. Her hips lifted as she sought his touch.
She trembled when his fingers entered her and quiet cries filled the air as his fingers stroked. Suddenly, her hands twisted in his hair and she shuddered beneath him with a loud groan. Her lower hands dug into his back painfully until the spasms passed.
Lucretia slid one hand down his body and stroked his hardness before tugging gently on it. He shifted, letting her guide him inside her.
Nicodemus stroked into her slowly. His hips rolled in a slow circle as he plumbed her depths. Slowly, he moved faster as he began to lose himself in the sensations of being inside his Ladyien.
Lucretia’s eyes were closed as she savored the feelings their lovemaking generated inside her and she moaned in a low throaty voice. Her legs draped over his hip and she tugged, urging him faster and deeper with each thrust, until her body rocked forward with each stroke as their bodies slapped together.
Abruptly, she began shuddering as she crested. She pulled him down and kissed him hungrily as he swelled inside her and spilled liquid heat into her core, her legs wrapping around his waist to hold him inside her.
He smiled lazily as their hearts slowed together. “Morning.” She kissed him again and made a humming noise in greeting.
***
Nicodemus scowled out the window of the monorail as it sped around the city. He’d been on his way back to Montevideo after catching the Rack and the Ivywhore when he’d received a message from Tawny instructing him to return to the warehouse as soon as he could. He’d sent back an acknowledgement immediately and picked up the pace.
Once in town, he’d stopped at the closest pokegirl center and healed all three pokegirls before heading by the house he was renting. He’d dropped off his two newest pokegirls and the gear he’d carried while hunting. Then he’d put his normal equipment into a satchel and changed into a suit of coveralls before heading out. With Lucretia and his pokedex in the satchel, he didn’t look like a Tamer and, therefore, wouldn’t be subject to the never ending flurry of challenges they could face from other Tamers. The coveralls made him look like a laborer and put him beneath the radar of not only Tamers, but practically everyone else.
A suit and briefcase would be even better at avoiding attention; considering that Tawny’s place was an old warehouse, it would look out of place. As long as you didn’t dress or act like a Tamer, everyone would ignore you, so Nicodemus kept his head down and walked without the normal swaggering bravado all Tamers seemed to affect.
Kay looked nervous as she opened the door. “Murchison is here,” she whispered, “here for you.”
Nicodemus smiled and patted her on the wrist in thanks before he slipped past her.
Most of the warehouse was empty. He glanced around as he headed for the offices where he met Tawny. Sometimes he’d seen boxes move around between visits and figured that Tawny managed some kind of shipping operation. Smuggling was the obvious suspicion, but he wasn’t going to ask and he hadn’t been told.
He gave Tawny a big smile as he entered the office. “Hello.”
She nodded. “Nicodemus, I want you to meet Murchison.” She nodded towards a tall slender man in his early thirties seated at the head of the table. An Amachamp stood guard behind him and watched Nicodemus with flat, unfriendly eyes.
Nicodemus nodded a greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“You were contacted a day ago. What was the delay?”
“I was outside the city and on foot. I returned as quickly as I could once I got your message.”
“I suppose that’s an acceptable answer.”
Murchison raised an eyebrow when Nicodemus pulled out a chair. “I didn’t tell you to sit down.”
“You didn’t tell me to stand, either.” Nicodemus smiled pleasantly. “Should I stand?”
Murchison’s eyes narrowed. “Who authorized you to rob the customs building in Buenos Aires?”
“You did, sir. Not specifically, but you told me to work independently as long as I brought in some money.” Nicodemus settled into the chair. The Amachamp shifted slightly.
“You caused a lot of problems for the personnel in Buenos Aires.”
“With all due respect, sir; no, I did not. It’s very doubtful the police know who all of your agents over there happen to be. Even if they did know and scanned them all with psychic pokegirls, not even the Silver River police can find something that’s not there.”
“There lies the problem. A job as large as that has to be coordinated properly. What if something had gone wrong?”
“Nothing did and the more people who know about a job like that, the more people who can screw up and make something go wrong.” He plastered a contrite look on his face and put an apologetic tone to his voice. “However, sir, I now understand that I should coordinate something like this and next time I will.”
“You’d better.” Murchison leaned forward. “Otherwise the consequences will be severe.”
“Yes, sir.” Nicodemus waited patiently for a moment. “Sir?”
“I’ve got your money.” He skimmed a bank chip across the table and smirked as Nicodemus pulled out his pokedex and slotted in. “It won’t be as much as you expected, on a job this size I get a special cut.” He smiled. “Twenty percent of the gross. That goes for any of your pokegirl sales as well.”
Nicodemus looked up slowly. “Yes, sir. I wasn’t aware of that rule being part of Team Zenith.”
“Golden rule, boy.”
“Perhaps, but it’s my gold you’re making rules with.”
Murchison grinned. “I think of it as just not giving you as much of my gold.”
“I see.” Nicodemus nodded and closed up his pokedex. “I guess, since I don’t have any choice, that it will have to do.” He frowned. “It had taken longer than I thought to get ready and I was headed out of town to catch some pokegirls when you called. This money will let me get some more supplies for that before I leave town again.” Abruptly he looked up. “Did you need me for anything else, sir?”
“No. I think pokegirl catching is a marvelous idea.” He grinned. “Don’t forget my twenty percent.”
“Don’t worry on that account, sir.” Nicodemus rose smoothly. “I won’t.”