Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
This work is the property of Kerrik Wolf (saethwyr@ (SPAM) hotmail.com). Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, cannibalism, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, mimes, and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider.
The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
Feedback is encouraged. I enjoy hearing from people. Positive feedback will be appreciated, cherished and flaunted in front of people. Negative feedback will be appreciated, cherished and listened to, that I might continue to grow. Flames will give me a good laugh. Feedback may be delivered to: saethwyr@(SPAM) hotmail.com. Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
Bhavacakra
Twelve
(09/25/19 2330 London, Blue League)
The rain came down as a soft spray and gave everything a wet sheen that glowed in the scattered streetlights. Three figures hurried through the rain and turned in at the hospital. Once inside, they paused to take off hooded cloaks that were then shaken to remove the excess water before being rolled up. Raven took them and used the wand of her pokepack to put them into storage. “I like the fact that,” she said quietly, “they won’t go sour in there.”
Morwen was watching an unusually busty bunnygirl pushing a dust mop down the hallway. The rabbit was wearing a white knee length skirt and top. Both carried the logo of the hospital, marking her as an institutionally owned pokegirl. She blinked when Raven tapped her on the shoulder. “What?”
“Pay attention to your surroundings first. Then stare at the bunnygirl’s boobs.”
The young vampire flushed crimson. “I wasn’t staring at her breasts. I was realizing that could have been me.”
“Your breasts aren’t that big.”
Kerrik shook his head. “Raven, please stop teasing her.” He glanced at the bunnygirl. “Morwen, that could have been you, but it’s not. You’re a vampire now and you’ll never be a bunnygirl. You made that decision and I think it was the right choice.”
Morwen gave him a startled look. “You do?”
“I don’t know much about you yet, but you’re bright enough now that as a bunnygirl you’d have known how much you lost.” He flashed a grin. “That and if you’d become a bunnygirl, we’d have never met and my life would have been a little poorer for not knowing you.”
The vampire gave him a shy look before suddenly becoming interested in something to her right. “Thank you,” she said softly. She looked around suddenly. “I mean, thank you sir.”
“You are quite welcome, Morwen. It’s only true.” He started down the hallway. “Now to find our quarry.”
“Already it starts,” Raven said with an amused lilt to her voice as she took Morwen’s arm and followed him past the empty help desk towards the elevators.
“What’s starting?” Morwen jerked her arm free.
The archmage gave her a stern look. “He is not going to tell you to follow him like you’re a bimbo who can’t figure things out. You need to catch his cues or you’ll get left behind. As for what is starting, Kerrik likes to look for ways and reasons to compliment his pokegirls. You just got your first one.”
“I liked what he said,” Morwen replied defensively. “What’s wrong with that?”
“I like it when he does it to me, too. It’s just that I’ve realized it’s one of his ways to help keep his pokegirls happy and so I’ve tried to learn to notice when he does it. It’s a useful tool and one I might do well to master.” Raven’s fangs flashed in a smile. “I was never really socialized all that much, just like your other sisters. In fact, you may get to help us learn more about being social.”
“Sisters?”
“We are your harem sisters and part of what we’ll do is assisting Kerrik in teaching you, little sister.”
Morwen looked stunned. “I’ve never had sisters before. This doesn’t sound anything like what I’ve read about involving harem dynamics.”
Kerrik chuckled as the elevator door opened. “Yeah, well, none of us have been involved with other harems and we’re all making this up as we go. For that reason, things are bound to be different.” He waved the two women into the elevator as he held the door. “We hope they’ll be better, but they’ll definitely be different.”
The vampire watched him push the button for the fourth floor. “Where are we going?”
He smiled slightly. “Up to four.”
Morwen gave him a cross frown and turned to her maharani. “Is he always like this?”
Raven began laughing. “Yes.”
The elevator door opened and Kerrik headed down to a door, ignoring a sign that said “Authorized Personnel Only”. He listened for a second before pushing it open. A young man in scrubs was stretched out on a couch, snoring softly as he slept. His face was more pretty than handsome and the curly strawberry blonde hair that framed it only made him look even cuter as he slept.
Kerrik slapped him on the bottom of a shoe. “Wakeup.”
The man jerked upright with a start. “I didn’t do anything.” His eyes were a brilliant green and he looked around wildly before seeing Kerrik. He stared for a second and then grinned. “Grandfather! Mother warned me that you’d become young, but she never said you’d look like a kid.” Raven watched them curiously and pointed Morwen to an empty chair. The vampire nodded and settled down as the archmage leaned against the wall next to the door and began worrying a loose thread from the hem of her shirt.
Kerrik shook his head and motioned to his side. “Stephen, this is Raven, my maharani and an archmage and the young lady in the chair is Morwen, a vampire and the newest member of my harem, even if she’s a pokekit.”
“Your harem? You got pokegirls? Wow. What’s next, the return of Elvis?” Raven snickered and Morwen looked blank. Stephen frowned slightly. “What brings you to London?”
“I had to come here unexpectedly, Stephen, and wanted to see you before we left again.” His ears flicked sideways. “This wasn’t a pleasure trip, but your mother can get kind of annoying. ‘Why didn’t you go see him, you were on the same world? It’s not that big, is it?’” His voice was identical to Candace’s as he imitated her.
Stephen roared with laughter. “That’s mom, all right.” He sobered. “What business brought you here?”
Kerrik shook his head. “I have to tell Poppet first, but you’ll probably be making a quick trip to Haven in the near future.”
Stephen blinked. “Graeme’s dead, isn’t he?” He suddenly looked sad. “Damn. I wasn’t especially fond of the twit, but he was my brother.”
Kerrik smiled slightly. “You always were smart. Don’t tell anyone about him until you get contacted.”
Stephen rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “It didn’t really take that much in the way of smarts, grandfather. It’s the only reason I’d have to go to Haven and waiting to tell Poppet first just underscores that it’s something very personal to her. I wouldn’t go back to Haven before finishing medical school for anything other than a death in the family and it’s just me and Graeme here.” He grimaced. “I guess it’s just me, now.”
“I’ll set things up so it doesn’t interfere with your school, or the intern work you’re doing here.” Doctors were always in short supply and the ones that could handle the load were allowed to get some of their internship out of the way while attending medical school. So far, Stephen was a straight A student.
“What happened?”
“You knew about Celestine, right?” When his grandson nodded, Kerrik continued. “Someone in Sanctuary wanted her and him back for punishment. Celestine sent me a message asking for help, but it was too late. By the time we arrived, Graeme had been turned into a pokegirl.”
Stephen went white. “You fulfilled your oath.” He got up and hugged Kerrik. “I am so sorry that you had to do that.”
Kerrik hugged him back. “I tried to talk my way out of it, but Graeme couldn’t respond and his twee was adamant. I had no choice or I’d be forsworn.”
Raven grimaced. “Death has never bothered me before that one. It bothered all of us.”
Kerrik nodded. “Graeme was my grandson and I love him. It probably affected you through our link.”
Stephen looked from the archmage to his grandfather. “Even without me being qualified, we’ve got a pretty good psychiatric staff here. Would you like to talk to someone about it?”
Kerrik’s ears went flat. With an obvious effort, he kept his voice even. “Thank you for the offer, but if I ever do go in for therapy, there’s already a line of therapists who’d like me as a patient.”
“I’ll bet it’s a long line, too.” Stephen got up and headed for a counter. “Want some tea? All we’ve got is teabags, but it’s not too dreadful.”
“We won’t be staying. I just wanted to drop by and see you for a minute. You know, your mother is going to try to convince you to stay on Haven.”
Stephen nodded without looking up. “Yeah, I know. She’ll have an easier time of it, too.” He glanced over his shoulder. “This place has gotten harder to tolerate now that mum and dad are gone. I learned more in a day with Stardust and me mum than I’ve learned in my first year of medical school.” He turned around, cradling a beaker in his hands. “Do they need psychiatrists on Haven?”
“If not, I know they’ll need some in Texas. The people there are suffering from the same mental stresses everyone else is, along with the fact that they’re preparing for the other leagues to go to war with them. If you’re not still enamored with psychiatry, everyone needs doctors. You could pretty much write your own ticket right now in Haven or anywhere else, for that matter. That becomes doubly so if you’ve got a medically minded pokegirl.”
Stephen snorted. “I’m not getting a nursejoy. I’ve never wanted to tame my mother and that’s just a bit too close to that for me.”
Kerrik nodded. “Have you seen the nursejoys that Shikarou and Faelan picked up in the alternate Glasgow? They’ve got black hair and blue eyes and aren’t even built like nursejoys from here.”
“That’s sneaky and cruel, grandfather.” He sipped at his tea. “Think I could meet one or two of them after the memorial?”
Kerrik didn’t smile. “I don’t see why not.”
The young man frowned. “What happened to Graeme’s woman? Her name was Celestine.”
“That still is her name and she’s traveling to Haven with us in a pokeball.”
“I’ve never met one of ‘them’.” Stephen sat up eagerly. “How about I get an introduction?”
“How about you wait until you come home and I don’t have to worry about some psychic pokegirl shitting herself when she detects Celestine? The universe already hates me and I don’t see why I need give it reasons to try and smite me. It can think up plenty on its own and doesn’t need my help.” His ears canted sideways. “You can meet her either at or after the memorial, ok?”
“That sounds good, grandfather.” Stephen jumped when his watch started beeping. “Crap. I’ve got to help out changing bedpans in the permanent residency ward. That’ll take the rest of the night. Sorry, grandfather.”
“You didn’t know we were going to drop by, Stephen. There’s nothing to apologize for.” Kerrik patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll see you when you arrive for the memorial.” He looked at Raven. “Let’s go. We’ll cross over and I’ll talk to Poppet.”
Raven and Morwen followed him into the hall and down to the lift, where he pressed the call button. Raven yawned. “I want everyone rested first, in case there’s any trouble. And Morwen needs a pokeball for her to go into.”
“Wait a minute; I’m not going into a pokeball. I’m a kit.”
Raven gave her a bland look. “There are pokekit balls and we have some. You’ll need it so you can be healed after you start training with us. In the meantime, I want you on the same time cycle as the rest of us, so you get healed too. Don’t worry; Kerrik beats himself up every time we have to go into them, so you’ll only go into your pokeball when it’s absolutely necessary.”
Morwen looked at Kerrik. “Is she telling the truth about you beating yourself up over using pokeballs?”
He nodded. “I hate the idea behind them, which is that pokegirls have become tools that you wear on your belt and whip out when there’s work to be done. Awakened pokegirls, or tamed ones if you prefer, are people. They’re kept illiterate and are often deliberately oppressed, but people they remain.” The lift rattle open and he waved them inside.
The vampire gave him a curious look and apparently wanted to continue the discussion. “What about ferals?”
“Ferals have the potential to be people, if they’re tamed. However, as feral pokegirls, the ones who represent a threat to people need to be dealt with. Sometimes that involves killing them.”
“What if someone wanted to just travel around and tame them so they become people?”
“Then more power to him. It’s a noble goal, but those pokegirls still need tamed on a regular basis, which means they need someone to care for them. If he can’t find homes for them, it would be immoral for him to let them go feral. It’s also rather likely he’ll be eaten eventually, unless he had a powerful harem of his own, and they might not appreciate him banging every feral they find.”
“I know I wouldn’t appreciate it.” Raven gave him an amused look. “I might have them for breakfast and give what’s left to Whisper.”
“I don’t remember volunteering to be that free love tamer, so you just pull those claws back in.”
Raven nodded. “I’m just reminding you that we do have standards in this harem, and just being a life support system for a pussy isn’t anywhere near good enough to meet them.”
Morwen frowned. “Did I meet them?”
Raven shrugged. “In six months you will.”
“Why does that sound like my life is going to suck for the next six months?”
Raven’s fangs gleamed as she gave the vampire a predatory grin. “It sounds like that because, like Kerrik said, you’re a smart one and you’ve figured out that your life will suck for the next six months. Then you’ll be a pokegirl and things will only get tougher.” The smile faded and she gave Morwen a look of quiet pride. “But at that time, you’ll have been trained by some of the best pokegirls in the world and, when we’re done, you’ll be one of us.”
“You don’t look like a night nurse, but you are beginning to sound more and more like one.” Morwen sighed. “I need to remember that if I weren’t here, I’d be losing my virginity to someone who’d probably have tied me down to make sure I didn’t tear his throat out during the night when I was feeling hungry.”
Raven snorted. “I’ve been doing a bit of research. Pokegirls don’t have virginity.”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “Then why is there a thriving industry in auctioning to the highest bidder the right to deflower a pokekit who comes of age at some ranches? I understand the bidding is pretty intense for some of the rarer breeds.”
Raven looked appalled for an instant. “Could it be because some humans are sick monsters worse than even I am?”
“You’re not a monster, Raven.” Kerrik reached out and stroked her cheek gently. “You’re a beautiful and intelligent woman and I owe Alice a lot for introducing us.” He suddenly looked mischievously at her. “And I’m very fortunate that you agreed to see if being in my life wouldn’t kill me.”
She gaped at him for an instant and then scowled. “I haven’t killed you yet.” She started to say something else but stopped when the lift chimed and the door opened. “We’ll finish this later.”
He just chuckled and waved the ladies out in front of him. “I certainly hope so.”
Morwen gave Raven a curious look. “Why does he let us go first like this?”
He replied before the archmage could. “I get a much better view back here. You know, if I ever find out who first thought about convincing women to start wearing trousers on a regular basis, I’ll go back in time and thank them personally.”
Morwen turned bright red.
(09/26/19 0045 Outside London, Blue League)
Kerrik released Misery and Whisper at the same time. “Welcome back, ladies. I’ve missed your company a lot.”
Raven’s greeting was more succinct. “Whisper, you’ve got sentry duty. Misery, you’ve got Morwen. Start showing her the ropes.”
Whisper’s antennae shifted and she grinned toothily. Love you too, Raven. Other than possible dark pokegirls, the area is empty of anything larger than rodents.
“Did we miss anything interesting?” Misery’s ears twitched as she surveyed the area.
“We got to meet Stephen Wolf, but you’ll get your chance at the memorial for Graeme.” Raven watched as Kerrik summoned his pack and began digging around in it. “Otherwise, things were quiet.”
Misery moved next to Morwen. “One of the things you’ll eventually be doing is sentry duty, like Whisper is right now. You’re not a psychic like she is, but you’ve got good ears and vision, and the goal is to keep alert enough that if something happens, hopefully you get to give everyone a bit of warning before the bottom falls out. We don’t expect you to deal with whatever is going on by yourself, we just want you to tell us so we don’t miss out on the fun.”
Morwen’s eyes were wide. “What happens if I miss something?”
“You mean when you miss something. It happens to us all eventually. What happens then is someone gets hurt. Sometimes it’s you, sometimes it’s someone else.” The mini-top grinned. “They yell at you more if someone else gets hurt. Here, you’ll never be on sentry duty alone. Kerrik wouldn’t allow that and I agree that it’s a good thing. None of us are. Whisper is the designated sentry, but I’m keeping watch too, as is Raven and even Kerrik.”
“But you’re talking to me.”
“Yes, I am, but I’m listening to the night while I’m doing it. You’ll learn to do it, too.” She swept a hand in an arc. “Listen to the insects and the birds and, of course, listen to your brain. If your brain says something is wrong, it could well be right. Vampires are hunters and somewhere inside your brain it knows what it needs to listen to or feral vampires would all get killed by something with more predatory skills, like a fucking ponytaur. We’ll give you a hard time about it after a while, but I’d rather you be wrong about nothing being out there a dozen times instead of ignoring your warning system just once when its right about the incoming feral pokegirl or idiot with a gun.” She frowned and turned around to see Kerrik watching her, one hand still in his pack as if he’d been suddenly distracted. “I felt that. What?”
He gave her a fond smile. “You’re a good teacher. Mini-tops are supposed to be horrible teachers because they’re so self centered. Just goes to show that the breed information isn’t right for individuals.”
Misery grinned. “Oh, I’m just as bad as any of them. This is pure enlightened selfishness, since the person who gets chewed up when she fucks up and misses something could be me.” She winked at Morwen. “It’s a lot easier to talk to her now than try to kick her ass after I’ve lost a leg.”
Kerrik pulled a controller out of his pack and pointed it at the center of the clearing. “If that’s what works best for you.” He frowned and adjusted the unit. “I want to return a minute after we left.” He activated it and a tiny blue dot sprang into existence. “Selene will need about a minute to tune and open the portal.”
Something else you need to remember is that you are never alone, Morwen. Even if your harem sisters are in their pokeballs, you have Kerrik and, if you warn him, within seconds we will be out and ready to help you. If he’s somehow otherwise engaged, don’t forget that you can release us yourself.
“I’d have to be critically injured or unconscious to be that engaged. All of you are really good in bed, but a firefight always takes precedence.”
Raven grinned. “I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not by that. Of course, I’m likely to toss you off me so I can fight, so I guess I’m not.”
Whisper’s tail twined slowly. We are vastly more experienced than you are and even if you want to fight an opponent by yourself, having us as backup is wise. If you ask us to stay out of the fight, most of the time we will respect your wishes. We all want you to get better as quickly as possible. Only combat will allow that. Training will help you to survive, but only real combat can teach you about real combat.
Morwen looked at them in turn. “I’ll try to remember that.” She turned to Kerrik. “Thank you for taking me in. I know things would have been very different with almost anyone else.”
“Don’t thank me yet. In six months, if you can still muster the gratitude to say thanks to me, then I’ll have earned it.” His ears came up on point as he smiled. “I’m a hard taskmaster and Raven is even worse.”
The portal is open. The dot had expanded to form a glowing blue circle two meters across.
Kerrik dismissed his pack and squared his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. Waiting isn’t going to make it any more pleasant.”
“I doubt Poppet will be waiting on the other side for you.” Raven gave him a curious look. “So you don’t need the ‘I’m going to before the firing squad’ look just yet.”
His ears flicked. “You’re right. Poppet won’t be waiting on the other side. Selene will, though, and she knows we were headed here to find Graeme.”
The archmage frowned. “I forgot about her.” She hurried forward as he strode towards the portal. “Let me go first.”
“Make sure Morwen gets through ok.” He disappeared into the circle.
“Damn it!” Raven growled. “Whisper, Misery, take Morwen through. I’ll bring up the back.”
Misery turned Morwen to face the blue disk. “This is a portal. It’s a doorway between places and all you do is walk through it like you would a normal doorway. You don’t feel anything and you’ll come out in a room with us. Now go, or do I need to hold your hand?”
“I’ll be fine.” The vampire only hesitated briefly before stepping through. Misery, Whisper and Raven were on her heels.
The room was unchanged. Kerrik stood, facing Selene’s hologram. He motioned to Morwen. “Selene, this is Morwen, a vampire who is joining my harem. She’ll require access to all parts of Alexandria and delta level clearance. Morwen, this is Selene, the AI who is in control of Alexandria. It’s a facility in the Kingdom of Haven.” He smiled slightly. “All of that will make sense in time.”
Selene raised an eyebrow. “All of the other members of your harem have omega eyes only clearance. She should too.”
“You’re right. Let’s get her set up and then I’ll answer your questions after I ask a couple of my own.”
“I’m willing to wait, colonel.” Selene turned to the vampire and gave her a friendly smile. “Good afternoon, Morwen. It is 1705 or 5:05 PM on September the fifth in the year six AS. You are in Alexandria, a subterranean research and defense facility in the Kingdom of Haven. I am Selene, the base intelligence. You may consider me to be like a video girl, although I am not a pokegirl at all. The form you see before you is a hologram and I have no life-disk.”
Morwen’s eyes were big, but she replied with only slight nervousness. “Good afternoon, Selene.”
Kerrik opened the medical kit and pulled out the sampler. “Morwen, please hold out your arm so I can take a DNA sample. It won’t hurt.”
Misery nodded as the vampire dutifully held out her arm. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
Selene folded her arms as Kerrik returned the sampler to the medkit. “What are your questions, colonel? Please let me know when you are through asking them so I can ask mine.”
“I will. Has Elizabeth left for Prime yet on her errand to see if Devon has found another recruit?”
The Egyptian woman shook her head. “No, she hasn’t. I don’t think she’s leaving for a couple more hours. Should,” she paused. “Never mind. If you wanted me to contact her, you’d have instructed me to.”
He flashed a smile. “That’s right. Do you have any idea when Elizabeth will return?”
Selene replied in an amused tone. “She typically likes to return an hour or so after she leaves so that Shikarou gets a chance to miss her a little.”
“Good. If she does leave before I finish talking with you, please let me know.” His ears drooped. “Now it’s your turn.”
The AI didn’t hesitate. “Is something wrong with Graeme?”
Kerrik shook his head. “You are not to communicate this to anyone until I get a chance to personally tell Poppet, but Graeme is dead.”
A chair appeared behind Selene and she sank heavily into it. “Can I get the details?”
“There’s not a whole lot to tell. Celestine sent us a letter saying that they were in trouble and asked for help.”
“Not Graeme?”
“He was still trying to pretend they could get out of this without contacting anyone.”
The Egyptian shook her head sadly. “He was always too proud. Was it about Celestine?”
“Yes. Her mother sent someone to retrieve her and Graeme. We got there too late and Graeme had been turned into a pokegirl. He wouldn’t let me out of my oath to him. I even tried explaining that Celestine needed him, but his twee was adamant that Graeme wanted death more than he wanted to be with his pregnant mate.”
Selene winced. “I didn’t realize he was so selfish. You brought him home, right?”
“I used an ash knife and so I have his remains. We did eliminate the capture team that did it to him, but that will be small comfort to Poppet. I know its small comfort to me after I killed my grandson.”
Morwen gasped and Misery quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her. The vampire glared over the hand. Misery glared back as she whispered. “You bite me and I’ll pull your fangs out and add them to my collection.”
One of Kerrik’s ears rotated to point at them. “Misery, what are you doing?”
“I was eavesdropping until you heard half pint here make a noise.” Morwen’s eyes narrowed and she almost hissed at Misery.
“Please let her go.” He turned to look at them. “What collection?”
The mini-top released Morwen. “I’m making necklaces for all of us.” She glanced at the young vampire. “Except for the kid. She wasn’t there.”
“She wasn’t where?”
“She wasn’t with us when we were fighting the dameosaurs. While you were interrogating our prisoner, I collected their fighting claws. I’m cleaning them now and, when I’m done, I’m going to make necklaces out of them for us.”
“You’re collecting trophies? I thought you said they weren’t much of a challenge?”
Misery shrugged. “The claws look impressive. Nobody else will know that they were lame opponents.”
“What’s a dameosaur?” Morwen’s curiosity overruled her irritation. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“They’re like a big green chicken, only dumber.” She chuckled. “They’re supposed to be the elite warriors of Sanctuary, which is pretty sad.”
“What’s Sanctuary?”
Misery started to say something and then turned to Kerrik. “How well known are those bitches?”
He gave her a bland look back. “You know, my daughter in law is the only one of them on this world, so you might want to find another descriptor for them. As for Sanctuary itself, the leagues haven’t seen fit to let the citizens know about its existence and actively suppress any knowledge about them. Personally I think that’s a huge mistake, but I don’t make league policy.”
Why is that a mistake?
“Most pokegirls either are or believe they are happy with the tamer they have. They’re going to want to protect the system that gives them tamers that they believe are good to them. They’re certainly not going to leave to go running off to the Dark Continent to join a bunch of pokegirls who want to do away with the whole tamer system or destroy the leagues.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “Morwen, Sanctuary was built by the Sanctuary Goths, who are a relatively new breed that can exist without having a tamer or going feral. It gives them an incredible potential for your world. Sadly they took that potential and promptly wasted it mimicking the leagues. What they built was a mirror of the leagues, only with the Sanctuary Goths in command. Humans are pets and other pokegirls are part of the Goth harems. Sanctuary is ruled by a council of Sanctuary Goths and their avowed goal is to subjugate the leagues to their own will, essentially replacing one set of pokegirl masters with another. The leagues are afraid that Sanctuary wants to turn all pokegirls into Sanctuary Goths, which they don’t, and don’t have the resources to do even if they wanted to. They’re also concerned with being put out of a job, but all governments worry about that. It’s all kind of pathetic, really, since Sanctuary and the leagues could work together to control their common problem. That, of course, would be the feral population of pokegirls.”
“How do you know so much about them, if the leagues suppress information about them?”
“I’ve made it my job to know things and I’m pretty good at it. Later, you’ll help with gathering and interpreting the raw intelligence data, if you find it interesting. But that’s in the fairly far future for you. For the time being, you need to learn about who you’ve become and how to control your gifts. You also need to finish your basic education and around our new home are a lot of things you might like to draw in your free time.”
That got him a look of disbelief. “I’ll have free time? Sure I will.”
“Nobody else in the harem had to go through being the butt girl for a harem, and there’s no reason to start that silly tradition with you.” His eyes met Raven’s. “I’m serious about that. She’s a full member without coming to my bed, and I don’t want anyone creating some dumbass hazing rituals that none of you had to endure. If something like that happens, I’ll find out about it and I won’t be happy when I do.”
Raven shook her head. “She’ll be a full member when I can trust her to do all the things I can trust Whisper and Misery to do. Until then, she’s a trainee. As for hazing, there won’t be any.”
She looked at Misery, who nodded slowly. “No hazing. Kicking her ass on the battlefield will be fun enough for now.”
The archmage turned her gaze on Whisper. The cabbit shrugged. I am perfectly capable of getting my own coffee, when we have any.
Selene had become perfectly still while not engaged in the conversations, but suddenly she looked at Kerrik. “Elizabeth is no longer on the island and there was a portal opened by her husband right before she vanished. I can’t pull video records without your specific authorization.”
“Why don’t you just ask Shikarou if she’s gone to Prime instead of violating his privacy? If she has, I’d like you to please request that he and Poppet meet me in the briefing room in the Rothschild Building.”
“Not in the family garden?”
“That would kind of give away that I’ve got bad news. I don’t want to panic Poppet before I break her heart.”
“What about the rest of the family?”
“Poppet has always been a private woman. I’ll tell her first and then everyone else can find out when she’s ready for them to know or when Elizabeth gets back and starts everyone wondering what Poppet needed to know before I’d tell her.”
I am a powerful psychic and genius. How do you keep all of that straight in your head?
He flashed a smile. “Practice.”
“Colonel, Poppet and Shikarou will meet you in the briefing room in five minutes.”
He nodded. “Thank you Selene. Ladies, we need to adjourn to the command center.” His ladies followed him out of the room and to the lift. Morwen was all eyes as they entered the transport for the ride to the surface.
(9/05/06 1900, Covenant Haven)
The Rothschild Building was built near the middle of Covenant and was a rather unimposing building that had nothing special to signify that it was the C3 (Command, Control and Communications) center for the entire kingdom. On the outside it looked like the hotel it used to be, and the surface portion still functioned as such. Kerrik led the group into the hotel and turned down a flight of stairs into a new basement. He stopped in front of a blank wall. “Open.” The wall slid aside and they went inside.
The briefing room was a comfortable room with seating for twenty along one of the walls. A table took up one side of the chamber and on the other was a coffee mess with some fruit and other items. Shikarou was sitting at the table while Poppet was making some tea. She smiled when Kerrik came into the room, closely followed by his ladies. “Good evening. How was your trip to Prime?” She gave Morwen a questioning look that she turned on him.
He motioned to Morwen. “I’d like you to meet Morwen, my vampire. Morwen, this is Poppet, my daughter in law.”
“How do you do, Morwen?”
Morwen looked miserable as she realized that this was the woman Kerrik had to tell about her dead son. “Um, ok.”
“You don’t seem to be ok. Are you treating her well, Kerrik?”
He shook his head. “Sit down, Poppet. I have some news for you, and it’s not good.”
Shikarou’s ears went flat. “We don’t have to move again, do we?”
“No.” He settled down in a chair as Poppet sat next to her husband. “I think the best way to explain what happened is to have Whisper link our minds together so you can experience what happened.” He looked at the cabbit. “Start with the letter and then jump to going through the gate to Prime. Then let the story unfold until we leave the camp.”
What about Morwen?
The vampire started to say something but stopped when Kerrik raised a hand. “She needs to know this too, if only so she knows what a bunch of loons she’s thrown her lot in with.” Morwen sent him a grateful look.
Whisper nodded. I agree and I’m glad you feel that way about our newest sister. She lifted into the air and hovered as her antennae came up to full extension. Please close your eyes. I have not done this before and restricting your vision will help me to work.
Everyone’s eyes closed and their breathing synchronized with Whisper’s as she linked them together. Minutes slowly ticked by until everyone’s breathing began to change. Whisper opened her eyes and was slowly followed by everyone else. Morwen stumbled forward as her face crumpled and climbed into Kerrik’s lap where she began to loudly sob, her body jerking with each cry.
Kerrik’s eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around the vampire. He twisted slightly to look at Whisper. “You were supposed to strip my emotions from the memories.” His voice was even and his ears still as he tried very hard not to be angry at her. His voice dropped and he murmured soft soothing sounds to the pokekit.
I am sorry. I have not done this before. Later we will practice so I can do this properly next time. Tears were slowly running down her face and when he freed up a hand to reach for her, she clutched at it fiercely enough that his ears twitched when she cracked the bones. They would knit and he didn’t otherwise let the pain show.
When Misery and Raven touched his shoulders, he immediately sealed that anger into the compartment where he kept the rest of it and let the calmness fill him that the mini-top needed. She sighed. “Thank you.”
Poppet reached for her husband as she looked at Kerrik. “Don’t be upset at Whisper. If she had done what you wanted, I wouldn’t have known how much keeping your oath hurt you. It hurt you as much as it hurts me and if I didn’t know that, I would hate you for what you did.” She took a deep breath and looked at Shikarou, who nodded. “I don’t want Sanctuary to rise here. Between what happened with Cameron and now this? No, I won’t have them here where they can hurt anyone else.” She turned back to Kerrik. “Will you give me that?”
“Celestine is Graeme’s mate, and I brought her here with me. She is family and I will not prevent her from giving birth, but I can keep whoever created the Sanctuary Goths from repeating that here. The pokegirls whose hate made Sanctuary what it is won’t be able to create it, should they exist in the future of this world. Is that enough?”
Shikarou pulled his wife against him. “Celestine is welcome here.”
“Of course she is.” Poppet relaxed against his side. “And that will be enough. You killed the ones who did that to my son, but not the one who gave the order that made it happen. Still, you’re right that destroying Sanctuary on Prime will kill a lot of people who are caught in the middle.”
Kerrik nodded. “Selene, patch me through to Bastion.”
The Egyptian’s hologram appeared. “Yes, colonel.”
Cassiopeia’s form joined Selene’s. “Commander.” She bowed. “Hello, everyone else. Commander, how may I help you?”
“Cassiopeia, I command you to deploy Duat to Sukebe Site Eleven and prepare to execute Judgment.”
The hologram came to attention. “Sir, I require authentication before Duat can be deployed.”
Morwen had calmed down to quietly crying and he shifted her to a more comfortable position as he stroked her hair. “I am Kerrik Wolf and I authenticate the order to deploy Duat to Sukebe Site Eleven.”
“And do you have reason to believe that this place is in need of judgment, sir?”
Kerrik met her gaze. “Sukebe Site Eleven has been judged. It will be found wanting.”
“Authentication confirmed, sir. Duat deployed.” As she spoke, a portion of Bastion separated from the rest of the station and accelerated hard for Earth. “Time to optimum firing position is eight minutes.” She became completely still.
“What is Duat?” It was Poppet. “And what is Judgment?”
“Duat is a monitor, which is an intersystem interdiction ship designed for planetary bombardment. Due to the protocols involved in AI programming, they won’t allow such a bombardment unless it has a specific name and the AI receives explicit orders and authentication by the ranking officer in the system. Judgment is the name of the bombardment protocols for Duat. I thought it appropriate since Duat is the name given to the Egyptian underworld and you have to be judged to enter it.”
Shikarou stared at him. “Why the hell did you build one of those?”
“It was one of the possible methods of dealing with Typhonna, should my first plan fail. Since my plan worked, I didn’t expect to have to use it and was considering decommissioning it in a couple of years. Now I think I’ll keep it around.” He looked at Poppet. “I’m going to destroy the site where the Sanctuary Goths were first made and where the dinosaur DNA is stored. If you think it’s too much, I’ll call it back.”
Poppet looked at him for a long moment before standing. “I’m going to make me another cup of tea. Would anyone else like some?”
Raven grinned. “Do you want popcorn, too?”
“No, I don’t like the way the hulls stick in my gums.” She busied herself making some tea. When Cassiopeia cleared her throat, the unicorn hurried back to her seat.
“Sir, Duat is in firing position.”
“Put it on the display.”
The wall without any chairs in front of it became an overhead view of Africa. Clouds scudded by and faded from view as Cassiopeia filtered them from the view. A dot appeared in the center of the display as it zoomed to reveal an unassuming portion of the African veldt. “Target selected. Sir, I need firing criteria for Judgment.”
“Evaluate for six projectiles at fifty pounds each. Two are to be penetrator rounds.”
A flashing circle appeared around the dot and Cassiopeia turned to point at the display. “With those criteria, Sukebe Site Eleven will be completely destroyed along with everything in a five mile radius around the impact site. The use of penetrators will extend the underground damage to roughly nineteen miles below the surface.”
“That sounds good. I order Judgment.”
Cassiopeia nodded. “Ten seconds to Judgment.” On Duat, high speed manufacturing equipment trimmed the desired projectiles from a solid piece of iridium and shaved them to within a thousandth of a gram of the required mass. Two were deliberately undersized. As they were being loaded into the coil gun, these two projectiles were fitted with forcefield projectors that brought their mass up to the required total.
The coil gun cycled every hundredth of a second and launched the second and each successive projectile at a slightly higher velocity so that all six rounds would impact in the same millisecond. The last two rounds activated their forcefield generators right after they were fired. Spears of light showed their path through the atmosphere as their passage converted the air around them to incandescent plasma.
Duat was positioned fifty thousand miles above the continent and the rounds, launched at ninety six percent of the speed of light, arrived at their target twenty seven hundredths of a second after launching. The forcefields on the last two projectiles failed one thousandths of a second after impact, allowing the projectiles to travel eighteen miles below the surface before liberating the energy their mass represented. All told, well over two thousand megatons of energy were delivered onto the target in the blink of an eye. Cubic miles of earth were instantly converted to plasma that exploded upwards as it quickly cooled back to gas and then to lava that rained down on the blast zone. All life for ten miles was wiped from existence from the shock wave and thermal bloom. From Duat, all that could be seen of the target zone was a vast pool of glowing white molten rock that reddened around the edges as it began to cool in a process that would take years to finish.
Cassiopeia turned back to her commander. “Judgment has been given.”
Kerrik looked over at Poppet. “Is that enough?”
She was looking at the display with a cheerful look. “Yes, I think that will do nicely. You did say that you are the only person who can order that, right?”
“I did.”
“Pity.”
He eyed her for a moment. “No, I think I called that one just right.” He gently tugged his hand free from Whisper and stood, still cradling Morwen. “I’m going to go home now. I’ll be back for Jamie’s ceremony. At that time we’ll set up for Graeme’s memorial.” He looked at his son. “Shikarou, you know exactly what happened, so you can tell the rest of your family. My ladies and I have some bonding to do, so please don’t bother us unless it’s a dire emergency.”
“No problem, father.”
Raven took his elbow. “We need your pack. Celestine is in it. We wouldn’t want to accidentally take her home.”
“Oh, right.”
Name: Wolf, Kerrik
Age: Unlisted
Residence: Kingdom of Haven - Currently Texas League
Status: Active
Rank: NA (5)
HRA rank: Colonel
Security Clearance: Omicron
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Breeder Y
Watcher N
Researcher N
Pet Owner N
Tradesman N
Active Harem
Raven Archmage
Whisper Cabbit
Misery Mini-top
Morwen Vampire pokekit