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Thirteen
(08/21/06 1845 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“You don’t look happy.” Veronica settled into the chair next to Caradoc as he turned off the radio.
“I’m not. Kingston is reporting more cases of this mysterious illness. They just had their first death from it, too. The government is worried that the people are going to panic and scatter into the woods.”
“They’ll starve, sir; that is, the ones that the pokegirls don’t eat will starve.”
“That they will, but they may not consider that in the light of what they could see as another unknown plague sweeping over them.” He patted the valkyrie on the knee. “We’re fine, though. Maybe it’ll delay Bernard Hamilton’s trip.”
“You don’t really want that.” Naomi leaned in the doorway. “The job hasn’t been that bad, but we all know you don’t want to be administrator to a colony in Falmouth.”
“There is that. I’m not good at giving people orders. I’d prefer to let them decide what they want to do. If you’re doing something you enjoy doing, you tend to accomplish a lot more than if someone orders you to do it.” Bishop stretched lazily. “Speaking of getting things done, now that I’m done with that bloody radio, I can get something done before it’s too dark to accomplish anything.”
“Are we going to finally visit the Appleton Estate?” There weren’t any more chairs, so Naomi slid into his lap and made herself comfortable.
He nodded as he wrapped his arms around his alpha. “I’d like to visit and see what we find. I think we might be able to go there the day after tomorrow.”
Veronica looked from her alpha to her tamer. “What are we going there for?”
“We’ve got a lot of sugarcane that’ll be ready soon and I’d like to turn some of it into rum and beer. The Appleton Estate produced rum and hopefully they’ll have all the equipment still there for me to either take or copy. Hardcopy books of their recipes wouldn’t be turned down either.” He started to lean back in the chair and almost overturned with his and Naomi’s weight. “Whoops.” He steadied the chair. “If they were closer, I’d consider just claiming the place, but where it is, I’d just like to strip it for supplies. Unfortunately, most of what I want is either heavy or bulky, like the crushing equipment and the barrels.”
“Of course, some of it is both.” Mindful of the chair, Naomi carefully snuggled against him. “It may be easier to recreate the equipment or we’re going to have to make several trips with the wagon. A lot of it Shima won’t be able to move by air.”
“We could always find a truck.” Veronica blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. We’d have to find fuel too.”
“And tires and oil and everything else that’s needed for a truck. At least Shima is pretty much self-contained.” Caradoc nodded. “It’s a good idea, though. Just the execution needs a bit of work.”
Naomi snorted. “Shima does have that nasty squeak that needs fixed.” When Veronica gave her an inquiring look, the elfqueen smiled amusedly back at her. “I’m talking about her whining about pulling things.”
“Oh.”
Caradoc chuckled. “Personally, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to pull a fully loaded wagon either, so I don’t really find fault with her being unhappy around it.”
Naomi’s emerald eyebrows went up. “You’d at least wait to complain until after you’d pulled something. Shima is preemptively complaining. She’ll do the same thing when we have to move supplies from Appleton. I’m tired of hearing it.”
Veronica kept her face carefully blank; something that Caradoc was learning meant she was trying to be clever. “Alpha, are you preemptively complaining about Shima’s preemptively complaining about hauling supplies from the Appleton Estate?”
Caradoc laughed so hard he upset the chair he and Naomi were sitting in.
(08/22/06 0830 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
The shortwave radio transmission always sounded like the person transmitting had their head inside a bucket while they spoke. At least that was Caradoc’s opinion. Still, he took his job seriously and listened closely to make sure that he got everything right. He even recorded all of the transmissions in case he had to play it back for clarity.
He keyed the mike to repeat back the latest bit of news he was supposed to pass on. “You’re reporting another contact with the Black Rivers. You had one tamer killed and believe that you injured several of the Rivers forces. Over.”
The transmission had a breathy quality to it as the woman in Montego who operated their radio replied. Caradoc didn’t know her name and they’d never met. “Your read back is correct.” There was a pause and she spoke again. “Stand by for Commander Jordan. Over.”
Caradoc’s brow furrowed as he pressed the transmit button. “Standing by. Over.” He’d never talked to anyone from Kingston except for the one operator.
Jordan’s voice came on. “Bishop, this is Commander Jordan.” There was a pause. “Over.”
Caradoc suppressed a smile. The use of the word over at the end of a transmission allowed the receiver to know that the transmitter was done speaking. It prevented people from trying to transmit while the other was talking. He suspected that the normal operator had been forced to instruct the commander in proper radio protocol. She’d certainly done that for him when they’d first started communicating, and in a rather brusque manner he suspected she’d never give Jordan. “Good morning, commander. Please remember that this line is not encrypted. Over.”
“What the bloody hell does that have to do with anything?” Another pause. “Over.”
“Commander, it’s possible, although there’s probably only a remote chance, that the Black Rivers have a radio and monitor radio transmissions. Over.”
Caradoc got the distinct impression that the next several seconds were tinged with surprise from Jordan. He spoke slowly. “Bishop, that is something we’ll have to consider seriously, but right now that’s not important. I have been using one of the pok,” he paused, probably in light of Caradoc’s comment, “devices you furnished us to communicate with Haven. They’ve prepared a shipment of a broad spectrum antibiotic that I want you to pick up and deliver to the Tropic League Constabulary Force commander in Kingston. The price has already been agreed upon. You are to pay them out of your funds and you’ll be reimbursed on your next visit into Montego Bay. Over.”
Caradoc gave the transmitter an unhappy look. “Repeat the last, over.”
“You heard me, Bishop. You are still the administrator of Falmouth and while I normally wouldn’t ask you to pay with your own money, in this case time is of the essence. Over.”
“Commander, be advised that this trip may result in interrupted radio communications because of the league requirement that pokegirls not be trained to operate the shortwave. Over.”
“In this case, it’s understandable. Get those medicines, Bishop. In light of your idea that the Rivers might have a radio of their own, I can’t go into the situation, but I am ordering you to get the drugs as soon as humanly possible. Am I clear? Over.”
“I am to proceed to Haven and purchase antibiotics. Then I am to transport them to Kingston. I will be compensated once I return to Montego. Over.”
“That’s right. Go with God, Bishop. Over.”
There was a pause and the female operator came back on. “Commander Jordan is gone. There are no further messages for passage to Kingston.” There was a pause and her voice became softer, or perhaps it was a trick of the atmosphere. “Good luck on your mission, Caradoc.” It strengthened and became crisp again. “Montego Bay over and out.”
Bishop changed frequencies and checked his watch. He had another ten minutes before Bog Walk came on to receive his relay from Montego. He got up and went to the door. He looked around and spotted an elf checking the fruit trees. “Lithops, please stop what you’re doing and let Naomi know I need to see her at the radio immediately.”
The elf put her basket down. “Yes, master Caradoc.” She raced off silently as he returned to the radio.
Naomi didn’t show up until he was in the middle of his broadcast to Bog Walk. She slipped behind him and began massaging his shoulders, flashing a smile and a wink when he looked up at her. When he signed off and hung the headphones up, she hiked up her skirt and slid into his lap. “You called for a taming?”
“Not in this chair.” The elfqueen laughed softly and curled up in his arms as he continued. “When I was talking to Montego, Commander Jordan took the mike and issued some orders to us.”
Naomi stopped unbuttoning his shirt. “Orders? What kind of orders?” She smoothed her skirt down as her tone became businesslike.
“We have been ordered to go to Haven and pick up a shipment of antibiotics for Kingston. Apparently Jordan has been in communication with the kingdom via the satellite com on the pokedexes we sold them.”
She sat up. “How bad are things in Kingston?”
“You already know what I do. The question then becomes whether they have some secure communications that we don’t know about or if they’re anticipating things getting much worse in Kingston.”
“If they managed to get have secure communications, why bother with the radio relay at all?”
Caradoc lifted her from his lap and stood, still cradling her. “It could be some kind of messenger relay for critical messages they don’t want us to overhear or a line of telepathic pokegirls, assuming that telepathic pokegirls could be used that way. Why would they set up something like either of my two ideas? There’s a really simple answer for that. A report of Kingston going down due to plague could panic every relay station on the island and possibly the entire league.”
“Why not use the messenger relay for everything?” She twisted in his arms and he carefully lowered her to stand on her feet.
“They have a serious shortage of manpower, especially among tamers. Pokegirls aren’t likely to be trusted to deliver this sort of thing on their own. The fact that pokegirls aren’t allowed to operate the radios suggests I’m right. So a tamer would have to personally ferry any messages and they don’t have the personnel for it. That and flying back and forth on a regular basis makes it more likely they’d lose messengers and their mail to ferals or to someone like the Black Rivers. Considering their uncanny ability to hit the league where they’re least alert, they have to have someone on the inside or a way to intercept radio communications.”
Naomi shook her head, the motion of her hair reminding him of watching a treetop move in the wind. “They could also be using a psychic pokegirl to predict where to hit. If so, they will eventually get taken down when their psychic operator screws up. They’re never right all of the time.” She grinned. “If they were, you’d be my private male and we’d have won.”
“I’m glad to hear you’d keep me,” he replied wryly. “Jordan didn’t announce a timeframe for the pickup, but I suspect he wants me to head for Haven immediately.”
“Do we leave Veronica here in charge?”
Caradoc thought for a moment. “I’m inclined to say no. Your opinion?”
She pursed her lips. “Haven won’t be a problem, but we’ve never been to Kingston. Besides, Montgomery might be around and this Bernard Hamilton probably will be. If we run across either one of them, I’d like to have the whole harem present in case they start something.” She nodded firmly. “I want Veronica with us.”
“I can’t fault your logic. Veronica goes with us and we’ll leave Lori in charge.”
Naomi gave him a speculative look. “What do you think about bringing Lori into the harem? We’re going to be relying on her more and more in the future.”
“I think you’re more than powerful enough to keep control of her without her having to join us in bed.”
She relaxed. “That’s good to hear. I know I insisted that you sleep with each one of our pokegirls once to make sure they’ll obey you, but I don’t want her in my family. I’m also glad you’re not interested in taming any of them regularly.”
“I’m sleeping with the queen. Why would I want to breed down from that?”
“You say the sweetest things.”
He chuckled. “I try. I’m just as picky as you are about who I want in my family. I may even be more selective than you and also I’m not interested in making you unhappy. Another elf would definitely do that, wouldn’t it?”
Her eyes hardened at the thought. “I wouldn’t be upset at you, but I would definitely let any rival know how I felt about it.”
“And that is why I wouldn’t do that sort of thing, either to you or to one of your vassals. It’s not right to either of you. Besides they all have small tits and would be very jealous of yours.”
Naomi gave him a startled look and burst out laughing. “You remember that?”
“I remember all of our conversations.”
She gave him a look he couldn’t read. “What do you remember of that one?”
“It was our first real conversation, and I’ll never forget it. I’d made a second trip to the house that the Henry’s later moved into and was sorting through the stuff I’d gathered when you came outside to attend to your body’s needs. I remember that your hair glittered in the sunlight like it was festooned with tiny emeralds and that you were careful to sit where you could touch me with your hip. It was warm and felt nice through my clothing. You apologized for not knowing what to do as my pokegirl and then we talked about clothing and weapons, during which I’m pretty sure you fished for your first compliment from me about your breasts.” He smiled when she blushed and looked down at her hands. “They were nice than and they’re nice now.”
Her voice was small. “It was the first time someone ever said anything about me was pretty. It was then that I decided that you weren’t going to get away from me. Ever.” She lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. “I haven’t regretted that decision, either.”
Caradoc took her hand. “You know, in a few days you’ll have been a part of my life for two whole months. It really hasn’t been that long, but I don’t want to ever have to envision a future without you in it.”
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed until he gasped. “You don’t have to. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”
(08/22/06 1000 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Lori stepped back and gave a sharp salute to her elfqueen that also included Bishop. “You worry about your trip, ma’am. I’ll keep things firmly in hand here for you, my queen.”
Naomi nodded. “I expect no less from you, Lori. You are my right hand among the elves.”
The elf blinked and broke out in a grin. “Thank you, my queen.” She headed off.
The elfqueen watched her go. “Someday I’ll reward her for her hard work. Maybe she’ll go to your first human child.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve been reading the laws of the leagues where Shikarou came from since he’s the only king around here and I wanted to see if his elves had anything that I thought well enough of that I might want to copy. They came from this other place and I wanted to see what helped to shape their laws. It turns out that leagues there gave beginning tamers their first pokegirl before they ventured out. It may be a good idea to do that here.”
“First of all, you have longevity, so you won’t become a pokewoman for at least a couple of centuries. I don’t see where you need to worry about it now.”
She smirked. “I may have longevity, but neither Shima nor Veronica does. They will bear you human children long before I can. On the other hand, I’ll be around long after they’re gone, so they are unlikely to offend me unless they try to become arrogant. Because they will bear you human children and they will do it relatively soon, I need to plan for the future. The truth is your children will need pokegirls just as much as pokegirls will need humans. It’s not really safe for a human to go around without a pokegirl and the situation is only going to get worse as the ferals reproduce.”
“You may have a point.” He turned and led her towards the barn where Shima and Veronica waited. “We’ll talk about it again later.”
Shima was holding Winona and staring down at her daughter when they arrived. She looked up and held out the child. “Something wonderful happened. Winona, who am I?”
The pokekit giggled and thrashed. “Mamamamamamamamama.”
I’m not sure that’s a real word, but I guess for a mother its close enough to count.
Caradoc ignored his twee. “Her first word. That’s wonderful.” He leaned forward and kissed Winona on the forehead. “Even if it should have been dada.”
Shima looked appalled. “It should not!” She blinked when she realized he was chuckling. “That’s not nice.”
Veronica’s eyes were bright as she worked hard not to look the slightest bit amused. “Indeed, Master Bishop, that was a cruel thing to say.”
“Mamamamamamamamama!”
“See, even our daughter agrees with me.” Shima cuddled her child close before slipping her into the carrier. Then she shifted to her centaur form. “Or would you rather walk to Haven?”
“Well, if you’re going to threaten me, I think I’ll change my opinion and say that ‘mamamamamamama’ is a much better first word than dada would ever be.” Caradoc picked up the numnah and put it on the nightmare’s back.
“It was mama, even if she’s still not sure where to cut if off.”
“Of course it was.” He lifted the saddle onto the numnah and began fastening the cinching. After some discussion, it had been decided to double rig the saddle since it was a western design and had a horn. Caradoc had tried his hand at roping and determined that he had a lot to learn, but Shima had proven adept at handing rune chains back to him to wrap around the saddle horn while she used other techniques on a second target. There was still some concern that with either her enhanced strength or that of her victim, the saddle horn might break off, but it was decided that the possible usefulness outweighed the risk. If it worked out, later they’d have a reinforced saddle commissioned.
Naomi had pointed out that in an aerial battle, Caradoc’s place was on the ground instead of on the back of one of the combatants, but she had agreed that circumstance would eventually put him in the wrong place at the wrong time and helped them to brainstorm how to keep him safe. She’d also had some words with Veronica and the valkyrie had practiced snatching Bishop off of an actively dodging Shima’s back and ferrying him to the ground.
For his part, during this operation Caradoc had learned to kick free of the stirrups before Veronica grabbed him in order to keep his legs from being dislocated. Unfortunately that lesson was one earned by experience.
Veronica pulled her pokeball from his belt and handed it to Naomi. “My alpha, if you would do the honors.”
Naomi recalled her as Caradoc climbed into the saddle. She handed up the pokeball and gave him a smile as he exchanged it for hers. “My turn.”
“You could ride in front of me.”
She shook her head. “I would enjoy your erection against my ass, but I wouldn’t enjoy Shima glaring at me over her shoulder. This is your time together with her.”
“So be it.” Caradoc recalled his alpha and stowed her pokeball in his belt.
“You’re not going to argue with her?” Shima twisted around to look at him.
“I usually don’t argue with people when they’re right. This is traditionally our time together.” He settled into the saddle. “Are you ready to go?”
Shima responded by breaking into a gallop and leaving the ground as she swung around and set a course to the north. The wind began to whip past them as she sped up. She looked over her shoulder at him. “Want to see something neat? It won’t add too much time to the trip.”
He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. “If you want to show me something, then let’s see it.”
Shima leaned back against him and began murmuring a spell that he’d never heard before. A clear shimmering bubble appeared around them. “Ok, now we’re ready.” The wind died as she phased. The nightmare began descending sharply as they crossed the beach and headed out to sea.
Caradoc steeled himself for impact, but being phased, nothing happened as Shima ran through the surf and into the water. Startled fish scattered in all directions as she kept running, moving up and down over the sea floor as she continued to head north.
“This is incredible.” Caradoc stared around him. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
“I don’t get to do this often,” she commented as she slowed to a trot. “It’s not that useful in combat, although I once got inside a submarine this way.” She laughed softly. “Now that was a bunch of panicky humans, at least until I opened the hull to the sea.”
Bishop continued staring around them as they moved across the bottom of the ocean. “Do you miss it?”
“This? Its fun, but no, I don’t.”
“I meant the fighting and the killing.”
Shima was quiet for a moment and climbed slightly to go over a shipwreck. It was recent, and the fact that the keel had been cleanly ripped off suggested that a pokegirl had put it on the bottom. “Sometimes. I like the farm, although the hard work isn’t really that challenging. But I like pitting myself against someone who could hurt me.” Red eyes peeked back at him with a slightly worried look. “Is that wrong?”
“We all like what we like. Would it help if we started actively hunting ferals?”
“What does it matter? Naomi is happy with the farm, so we’re not going hunting anything.”
Caradoc kissed the back of Shima’s neck and she shivered. “Right now, I’m not worried about her being happy. I’m concerned about your happiness. If beating up ferals will help, then we’ll find some ferals to beat up and capture. Naomi doesn’t have to come along, but Veronica will probably come if we let her.”
“If we let her? You’d leave her home if I didn’t want to share hunting?”
“If you didn’t want her to hunt with us, I’d bring her along as backup only if she stayed in her pokeball.”
Her voice was soft. “I think I’d like that. Can Naomi watch Winona while we hunt?” She turned slightly as a shark lunged through the space where they were.
“It will be just you and me if you want, with Veronica along in case things go wrong.”
“Veronica would like something like this. She probably likes fighting as much as I do.”
“Then she and I will work out something for us to do together. If it’s hunting ferals too, then the feral population around us is going to nosedive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for us or for them. We’ll get better security and they’ll get tamers.”
“We were promised our own men by the leaders. Most of the ferals would like that, if they could think about it.”
“What was being feral like?”
“The memories don’t make a lot of sense. I remember what happened, but it didn’t really happen to me, because I wasn’t there.” She looked back at him. “I don’t want to ever be that way again.”
“You have a family now and we take care of each other.” He looked around one last time. “This is a nice view and I’d love to come back down here, but right now we need to get to the surface and head for Haven. What was that spell for, anyway?”
“It generates air for us if I have to unphase underwater or in a hostile environment. I did it as a precaution.” She angled upwards and they slid through the surface of the water. “I’ll need directions.”
Caradoc’s vision lit up with a marker and he pointed at it. “Go that way.” I want to get twees for my harem as soon as I can. They’ll never be allowed to openly carry pokedexes. His twee sent a feeling of agreement back to him.
Less than an hour later they went feet dry over Haven and adjusted their flight path towards Covenant. I’ve been given landing instructions. You are to land next to the hospital and your contact will be Molly.
A short time later Shima spiraled down and landed lightly, shifting to a trot and finally halting in front of the denmother Bishop had met when he first arrived on this world. She watched him silently as he slid from the nightmare’s back. “Bishop.”
“It’s good to see you again Molly. You’re well, I hope.” He patted his ride on the shoulder. “This is Shima. She’s part of my harem.”
Molly nodded to her. “I’m Molly. Is he good to you?”
The nightmare’s eyes narrowed as she stomped a hoof. “You will not sit in judgment of my man. If you don’t like him, give us our package without being a bitch about it and we will leave.”
Molly smiled slightly. “I’ll take that as a yes. Wait here.” She headed inside the hospital.
“Thank you for defending my honor.”
Shima snorted. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I rubbed her the wrong way when I first arrived and she’s got a long memory.” He shrugged. “I didn’t do anything wrong. She’ll either get over it or she won’t.”
“I suppose your no hitting rule is in effect?”
“She’s just doing her job. Let it go.”
“I will if she will.”
A few minutes later Molly appeared, carrying a backpack. She put it on the ground. “All the doses are in this pokepack. The Tropic League uses SLC, right?”
“They’re converting over still, but yes.”
“Will you be giving the pokepack to the Tropics?”
“I wasn’t planning on it. Why?”
“Then that’ll be sixty five thousand SLC.” She smiled broadly. “If you were giving the pack to the Tropics, I’d have to charge you their rates. That would make the total two hundred and thirty thousand SLC.”
“Then I’m definitely keeping it.”
Nine crowns, one half crown, four royals, one half royal and a ten pen will cover everything nicely.
Caradoc pulled his money pouch from his pocket and began counting out gold and silver coins. Molly looked surprised. “I didn’t know you’d been here since you left.”
“I’m currently the trading factor between Tropic and Haven. I’ve been working with Tammy.”
“I’ve been working on the south side of the island, so it’s not surprising that I’m out of the loop. How’s Jamaica?”
Caradoc finished counting money and put his pouch back up. “It’s ok. I’m having a couple of issues with the regional commander, but it’s not a big deal.”
“Commander Jordan?” She nodded at his look of surprise. “I’ve been helping Kasumi deal with the negotiations, so I know who he is.”
He handed over the money. “I’m supposed to be reimbursed by Commander Jordan so I’ll need a receipt.”
Molly’s ears flicked. “I’ll have to get you one.” She disappeared back inside as he began strapping the pokepack behind Shima’s saddle. He was finishing up when the denmother returned. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. You know, I wasn’t trying to be a jerk when we first met.”
Molly’s ears went flat for a second before she took a deep breath and let it out in slowly. “I know that now. I had to talk to Shikarou and then send a message to his father, who explained you were just being Tirsuli and pointing out that you didn’t belong to the Wolf family. I was pretty pissed.” She twisted her muzzle in an approximation of a wry smile. “It still shows, doesn’t it?”
“First impressions mean a lot in establishing opinions and, to you, I didn’t make a good one. I do apologize for offending you.”
Green eyes watched him intently. “If you’re willing to apologize for that, you are probably good to your pokegirls.”
“There you go being a bitch again.” Shima glared.
Molly’s tongue lolled in a silent laugh. “I can’t really help it, now can I? After all, I am a bitch.”
(08/22/06 1330 Kingston, Tropic League)
Caradoc pointed downwards. “We’re a couple of miles away from Kingston. I don’t know what their policies are about aerial over flights. Let’s land and proceed on foot so they don’t attack us.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I’m not excited about being shot at while carrying you and our daughter.” Shima slowed and began circling as she looked for someplace to touch down. Finally she straightened out and began descending. The nightmare came to a halt in the middle of a grassy field. She looked over her shoulder as he reached for his belt. “Winona needs changed.”
Caradoc slid off of her back. “Don’t let me stop you.” She chuckled and aimed a lazy kick at him before trotting over to a small rise that would allow her to attend to their child. The child carrier had a pocket with everything needed for an afternoon away from the farm and she unzipped it as he released Naomi and Veronica.
The elfqueen slid her bow off her shoulder as she looked around. “Where are we?”
“We’re about five miles outside of Kingston. The pickup went smoothly and the flight was nice and quiet.”
“So why are we stopped here?”
Veronica grinned. “He wanted his security out before going on into town. Montgomery might be around and he doesn’t want Shima to kill that swine.”
“That and I have no idea what their policy is about pokegirls flying over the town or where the TLCF building is here.”
Naomi hesitated. “Could it be where you were tortured?” Veronica’s eyes hardened, but she stayed quiet.
“I don’t think so. That happened at the docks and that’s a bit exposed for seagoing pokegirls. I’d put the building deeper in town.”
“Who tortured you?”
Naomi looked at the valkyrie. “It’s taken care of.”
Caradoc frowned. “Taken care of? What does that mean?” When he realized that she was taking too long to answer, his frown deepened. “What did you do?”
The elfqueen squared her shoulders and looked into his eyes. “I suppose you won’t be satisfied with me telling you that Janine won’t bother you ever again.”
“You suppose correctly. Out with it.”
“I killed her. She’d have come after us again once she heard you’d been replaced as the administrator of Falmouth.”
“She didn’t know the last time I saw her. I didn’t know. So, was that an issue before or after you killed her?”
Naomi stepped up to him. “What she did was completely unforgivable. You hated her and you know it. She wanted to strip the skin from your body again and you know it. I will protect you just as absolutely as you will protect any of us. Since she still wanted to play with you, she had to die.”
“You shouldn’t have kept this to yourself.” Shima glared at her alpha.
Caradoc nodded. “She’s right.”
“I would have been happy to help you kill her.”
He blinked. “That’s not what I was getting at.”
“No? It’s the truth. Nobody is going to torture you as long as I am around.”
Veronica put her hand on Caradoc’s shoulder. “It’s as long as we are around.”
Bishop closed his eyes and sighed as he shook his head slightly. “Did she suffer?”
Naomi nodded. “Yes, she did.”
He was silent for several seconds, his eyes still closed. “Good.” He opened his eyes and looked around. “However, murdering a pokegirl is still a bad thing, and I really needed to know about it in case it comes back to haunt us.”
“I can’t be tied to her death and that’s even if she’s ever found.”
“There’s always evidence. How did she die?”
“I strangled and drowned her in a latrine. Her body is still rotting there.”
“How did you,” he broke off. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t really know all of the details right now.” He rubbed his eyes briefly. “Veronica, you’ve got point. Naomi, Shima, you’re with me. Let’s do this as uneventfully as possible and go home.”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit