SEVEN
(12/24/319 0955 London, Blue Continent)
Seraphina settled down in the chair beside Gloria’s desk and nodded in the direction of their tamer. “What is he doing?”
Gloria looked up from reviewing the photographs of the latest crime scene on her tablet. Cooper was sitting at his desk and working with his tablet. “What do you mean?”
“He’s surfing the net in one window and has the crime photos from the first murder up in another.”
“Is it porn?”
Seraphina chuckled. “If it is, he’s wasting his time. I can give him all the hands on porn he can handle whenever he wants it. I’ll even let you help if you’d like.”
“I can hear you two.”
“Shit,” Seraphina muttered.
“I heard that.”
Gloria drove her fingers hard into the Rapitaur’s side just under the ribcage. Seraphina yelped and flinched away from her. “Stop cussing.”
Seraphina dropped her voice to a harsh whisper. “That hurt. Why’d you do it? Was that because I cussed or because he heard me?”
“You figure it out,” Gloria whispered back. She turned to face Cooper. “All right, Coop, what are you doing?”
“I’m starting to wonder if I’m crazy.” He tossed his tablet onto her desk. “You two take a look at that and tell me what you think.”
Gloria pulled the tablet to her and peered at the display while Seraphina tried to see around her. The Enchantress looked at the grainy pictures on one side and the high definition stills of Rosalind on the other. Her face was grim as she handed the tablet to the surprised Rapitaur. “I’ll let the major know we need to talk to him immediately.”
“So I’m not crazy?”
“I wish you were.” She handed him her tablet as she passed by. “The press knows about the killings and when someone leaks what you’ve found out, this is going to get ugly. They will too; this is too juicy.”
Cooper looked at the display on Gloria’s tablet and blanched at the videos running in four windows. All were looping and all covered some of the details of the three murders. One even mentioned Bianca as a survivor and that frightened him for Bianca.
“You know,” he looked up as Seraphina tapped his tablet with her fingertip. She gave him a crooked grin. “If you weren’t my tamer, I think I’d be swearing a bloody blue streak right about now.”
“Yeah, I considered it myself. It seemed appropriate somehow.”
Gloria appeared again. “The major will see you now, Coop. Bring your little show along.”
Cooper took his tablet back and followed her into Neff’s office with Seraphina close behind him. The Rapitaur took up station against the wall opposite Lieutenant Liv while Gloria motioned him into a chair. Neff leaned back in his chair. “It’s Christmas Eve, Billy. Why do you have to be the bearer of bad news on such a nice day?”
Cooper shrugged. “Trust me, major, when I say I’d have been perfectly pleased if Gloria had dismissed my idea as completely farfetched.”
Maggie came in and handed Neff a mug of coffee. Neff blew on it and took a sip. “You think murders like these have happened before. When and where?”
“Here in London, sir, in -114AS.”
Neff stared at him. “-114AS? That was over four hundred years ago. While there are pokegirls with longevity, there weren’t pokegirls that long ago.”
Maggie snickered. “Maybe Cooper here believes that myth that pokegirls have always been on Earth somewhere and Sukebe didn’t make them.”
Cooper managed not to glare at them both. “If you’ll give me a little credit, the first crimes were definitely committed by a human. These, I’m beginning to think, could easily be the work of a Farfuck’d who has decided she’s this killer.” He waited a second to see if Neff was going to mock him some more and continued when the major remained silent. “You see, the crimes are very similar and the first set of murders even took place in this part of London.”
“In Tower Hamlets?”
Cooper nodded. “That’s right, captain. More specifically, they took place in Whitechapel and the killer was known as the Whitechapel Murderer until a letter was sent to the press, allegedly from the killer. After that, he was called Jack the Ripper and, depending on which source you believe, he killed between five and eleven women here in Whitechapel during a four year period between -115 and -111AS.” He restored a minimized window. “These five women are considered most likely to have been the work of the Whitechapel Murderer due to similarities in the victimization as well as the time frames involved in their deaths. What’s important to us is that the first four were killed and treated in a similar, but not identical manner as the three victims we’ve had recently.”
“What about the victim who lived?” Maggie was echoing Cooper’s displays on her tablet.
“If the killer is trying to recreate the Whitechapel Murder’s crimes, then he or she must have been interrupted while attacking Bianca.” Cooper shrugged. “So far the bodies have not been laid out identically to those killed before, so this is all just supposition. There is no direct proof and in only one instance was it suggested that the Whitechapel Murderer left a note at the scene similar to the one at Mona’s.”
Neff took another drink of his coffee before putting it down. “Who was the Whitechapel Murderer?”
“Nobody knows. He was never caught. I put in a request for the Whitechapel files from our archival storage but they were lost during the chaos of Blue becoming Blue.”
“That doesn’t bode well for us.” Neff ran his fingers through his hair. “The media is going to crucify the Met with this.” He glared at Cooper. “I would really like to offer the powers that be a scapegoat when this hits.”
Cooper shrugged. “It’s not a secret and nothing about the Whitechapel Murders is classified. I found it because I’d read about Blue League serial killers while I was at university. There’s an interesting study about how the proportional numbers of them dropped off dramatically after the Revenge war. It’s suspected that many of them found a legal way to indulge their fantasies by becoming tamers.”
Maggie was staring at him while stroking the butt of the pistol she wore. “That’s sick.”
“I agree.” Maggie looked surprised at his words. “Serials almost always find out that the fantasy can never be met in reality and they then begin to escalate. Eventually many of them would move on to human prey. We certainly don’t want that.” The Gun Bunny’s scowl returned. “Fortunately, I believe that most budding serial killer tamers fall victim to tamer mortality statistics. Serial killers tend to be arrogant and solitary and so would be unlikely to see that the Shepherd program could be of any benefit to them. That means they should have a higher mortality rate than that of the Shepherd graduates.” He touched the tablet. “If all five of the canonical murders were the work of the Whitechapel Murderer, then he had the same problem with making reality fit fantasy. The murder of Mary Jane Kelly is a significant escalation from what had been done to previous four. However, it must also be pointed out that only Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in the privacy of her own room and therefore the killer had much more time with the body to mutilate it.”
Neff nodded absently. “How can this benefit us?”
Cooper frowned. “I’m not sure, other than by being forewarned about the next victim and anticipating what the media is going to speculate on. If the killer is completely mimicking the Whitechapel Murderer, then it may stop killing after the fifth victim. But most serial killers don’t stop unless they are stopped. It is very likely that the Whitechapel Murderer only stopped because he got frightened, was killed or arrested somehow or left London and went somewhere else to kill people.” He paused for a moment. “The murders would, of course, also continue if the killer thinks that the Whitechapel Murderer killed more than the canonical five. In any case, today’s murderer has already deviated from the Whitechapel murders.”
“How so?”
“The current timetable is a lot more accelerated in comparison to the original. The canonical five were murdered over a span lasting from August to November of -114AS while our killer has attacked four victims in less than a month.”
“Will all of this help us catch the killer?”
“Probably not. These attacks seem to be purely random. We’ve looked at it from every angle we can think of and there is no pattern we can find. It appears that someone is wandering around in Tower Hamlets at night and picking targets of opportunity. Right now all we can do is just keep waiting and hope the killer makes a mistake.”
Neff sighed. “All right. We’ll keep this in mind when more bodies show up. In the meantime, Cooper, Glory and Sera, none of you are trained in public relations and you are to give only one statement to any of the media. Do I need to remind you what that statement is?”
“No comment,” the three chorused.
“Very good. If they persist, refer them to our public relations liaison office at New Scotland Yard and then go back to no comment.” He leaned back in his chair. “Glory, although this pains me to admit it, tomorrow you’ll be the ranking officer at the station. Keep your ass out of my chair, do you hear me? Nobody sits in my chair but me.”
Gloria held up her hand. “I will not sit in your chair no matter how much it taunts me, sir.”
“Good. I’ll be out of London for the next week. Try not to burn Tower Hamlets down while I’m gone.”
***
(12/25/319 0955 London, Blue Continent)
Gloria pressed a button on the side of his tablet and the display went dark. “Hey!”
She sat down on one side of him while Seraphina sat down on the other. The Enchantress took the tablet and put it down on the table. “It’s Christmas, Cooper. This is not the day to be looking at autopsy and crime scene photos.” She smiled at him. “And sometimes it helps to put things down and let your mind process them for a while. That’s where hunches come from.”
“We’re at the station. I figured I was still supposed to be working.”
Seraphina took his hand and dragged him to his feet. “We are working. We’re on call in case there’s any trouble. While we’re waiting, however, we have something more important to do than stare at photos of blood.” She led him into the room used for viewing testimony and pointed at some chairs arranged in front of the wall sized display. “Sit there. I’ll be right back.”
He sighed and picked the chair in the middle as Gloria pushed in a trolley. “I’ve got tea, eggnog, some whiskey and lots of candy and cookies.”
“What’s going on?”
“The tradition at the station is whoever is on duty gets to watch movies. Christmas is usually quiet, so we take a break.”
“Does Neff know we’ll be drinking liquor?”
She nodded. “It’s his gift to whoever is on duty. Don’t worry; I’m not going to let you get as drunk as you did at the wake.”
“You’re the one that doesn’t need to worry. I’m not getting that drunk ever again.” Cooper decided to give in and enjoy the day with his harem. “What movies are we going to see?”
“We’re going to watch A Christmas Carol first. This one was made in 214 with Mark Travers as Scrooge. It follows the original story pretty closely. I can’t stand the remakes where they turned the Cratchit family into a pet owner and his harem.” She shuddered. “Some things should not be redone with pokegirls.”
Cooper had seen it and enjoyed it. “What else?”
“We’ve got a new one that I’ve never seen before. A reclaimer found a Christmas movie that was released during the Revenge War and it was converted and put on sale here in Blue just in time for Christmas. It’s called The Nightmare Before Christmas and I‘ve read some good reviews for it.” She parked the trolley in front of him and loaded a data chip into the computer that ran the video system. “After that, I want you to sit in the major’s chair.”
“Neff said that he didn’t want anyone sitting in his chair.”
“Yes, but he made me promise not to sit in his chair, not to keep anyone else from sitting in it.”
Seraphina came in with a big tub of popcorn. “Oh, that? It’s already taken care of. I rubbed my naked arse all over it first thing this morning.” She snorted. “Control freaks always irritate me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cooper said dryly.
“Oh, I’m not talking about you, William. If you want to control me, I’m all yours.” She grinned wickedly and plopped down in the chair next to him. She handed him the popcorn bowl and kicked off her boots. Then she wriggled her toes contentedly and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “That’s better.” She was wearing a dark brown skirt suit that ended just above the knee and she curled her legs underneath to lean against his side. “You smell good.”
“We’re just watching movies and eating stuff that’s bad for him,” Gloria warned as she settled down on Cooper’s other side. She pulled the trolley closer. “No sex at work.”
“Did I say anything about sex? I just said he smelled good.”
“I remember you saying that to your previous tamer. Don’t you usually follow it up with something about your man smelling good enough to eat and then blowing him?” Seraphina just grinned widely. “That’s what I thought and that’s why you’re getting the warning now. Unless you want to take a chance on my displeasure you’ll obey me in this.”
Seraphina gave an exaggerated pout. “You’re no fun.”
“Not in this I’m not.”
Cooper frowned. “Why is the food only bad for me?”
“Coop, a healing cycle fixes everything wrong with us so we can eat what we want without having to worry about it. That’s not true for you.” She picked up the remote and activated the screen. “Now it’s time for the movies.”
***
(12/25/319 1630 London, Blue Continent)
Cooper leaned back in his chair with his feet on his desk and idly watched Gloria and Seraphina playing chess. They were playing a popular variant called absorption chess wherein the pieces gained the abilities of any piece they captured along with their own. Each piece was marked on the bottom so that a notepad could be used to keep track of which piece could do what.
From what he had seen, both pokegirls cheated outrageously. They deliberately didn’t write down the absorbed abilities of their pieces so each in turn could claim that particular pieces had powers that he didn’t remember them absorbing. There had been lots of yelling and some rather bloodthirsty threats exchanged, but so far no physical violence.
The elevator dinged and the chess game abruptly halted as Cooper sat up and turned to see who was visiting. He came alert when the first person stepped out of it and headed for his desk. He knew the blue haired pokewoman and her presence here was a complete mystery, at least on this day. “Happy Christmas, Penny.”
“Happy Christmas to you as well, William.” Penny motioned to the woman with her. “This is Dechen.”
Cooper blinked once. Dechen had the blue hair and build of an Officerjenny, but the epicanthic folds in the corners of her brown eyes and the color of her skin showed strong Eastern ancestry. “Happy Christmas, Dechen. I’m William Cooper.”
She inclined her head politely. “It is a pleasure to meet you, William.” Her accent was strong but her English was excellent. Idly he wondered where she was from before deciding it wasn’t important.
Gloria joined the three and stood to Cooper’s right. “Please sit, you two. Coop, Sera’s getting some tea for everyone.”
“Thank you, Gloria.” He waited until the two Officerjenny were seated. “What brings you to our little place today?”
Penny got right to the point. “I wanted to talk to you, remember?”
“I do. You said you’d call me to set up an appointment.”
The older Officerjenny waved dismissively. “You’re the junior detective and I knew you’d be on duty so I thought I’d just drop by.”
Cooper watched Seraphina return with cups of tea for their visitors. “I thought you wanted to talk to me without Gloria around.”
The Enchantress made a choked noise while Penny smiled. “I know I didn’t come out and say something like that. You’re pretty perceptive, though, and you’d be right. However, I’ve changed my mind and I think Glory should be around for this.” Her eyes touched on Seraphina as the Rapitaur took up station behind Cooper. “And so should the sergeant.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Rosalind showed great potential and we all miss her, but pokegirls and tamers in the military all know that life goes on when a soldier falls. The mission goes on.” Her gaze bored into him “And you show a lot of potential too, Cooper. With the right guidance, that potential could be realized and there could be no limit to your ambitions.”
Gloria’s eyes went wide while Cooper continued regarding Penny calmly. It was frustrating to know that there was a dance going on but not to be aware what the dance was so that he could decide how he wanted to participate instead of following Penny’s lead in the steps. He decided to play it safe. “I’m happy to hear that you feel that way about me. You’re well known as a good judge of character.”
“I’d like to think so,” Penny replied smoothly. “I also think that the synergy that forms between a tamer and his harem when they function well together can be far greater than the sum of its parts if it is properly channeled, don’t you?”
“I would agree,” he said cautiously. “You feel that I lack proper direction and that your aid can help to put me on the right path?”
Penny’s eyes lit up. “That’s exactly correct, William.”
Gloria leaned over and whispered into Cooper’s ear. “You could do far worse than having Penny as a patron.”
He nodded as he waved his alpha away. “Your history with the Met speaks for itself and I would appreciate any guidance such an esteemed officer could give, Penny.” Deep down he knew Gloria was right. Penny would be a powerful patron and patronage was what advanced a career. Talent was all well and good but having a well placed patron, either retired or active duty, would put him on the inside track for faster advancement and much higher rank in the years to come.
But patronage was never free.
Penny favored him with an approving smile. “I have seen that officers with a diverse harem makeup often achieve far more than those with harems that have a narrow focus. You are on the right path with the pokegirls that you have in your current harem, but the presence of a legal specialist would increase the depth of your harem significantly.” She nodded to her right. “Dechen is such a specialist and her appearance is rather nonstandard for our breed. She would be less likely to make you worry about diminishing Rosalind’s memory by having her in your harem.”
Cooper glanced at Dechen to see the blankest face he’d ever seen on a living person. Still, it told him that she wasn’t necessarily enthused by the idea that Penny was suggesting. That was actually encouraging to him but delicacy was still called for. “I appreciate what you’re saying, Penny, and I don’t disagree with what you’ve said. There are a couple of issues that need addressed, however.” He turned to Dechen. “Are you trained as a detective?”
Curiosity filled her eyes and Cooper had the distinct impression that she was surprised by being spoken to. She shook her head slightly. “I am not. I understand that on the job training is possible in a situation such as this.”
“That is true,” he admitted quietly, “but Gloria, while an incredible alpha, is currently working very hard to bring both me and Seraphina up to speed as detectives. Since my position is at stake, I don’t think I want her trying to train yet another person at the same time she’s working with us. Major Neff was very explicit about what would happen if either Seraphina or I were not trained in the required time. Some of that is my fault in that I refused to remove Seraphina from my harem after she joined it and he tried to make me do so; and some of it, I believe, is a lingering generalized dislike for Gloria based upon her past.” He glanced at Penny, who had a suddenly thoughtful expression. “In either case, Neff is still my superior and right now he is unlikely to countenance my adding to my harem at this time.”
He held up a finger when Penny started to speak. “It is not an insurmountable problem, however. Something else that needs considered is that I am still getting used to two new pokegirls and they are getting used to both being with me and with each other. Considering that while there is some past animosity between Gloria and Seraphina, neither is stupid and so any difficulties in that direction will be settled in a manner which will result in minimal disruption.” He smiled slightly. “I’m not stupid either and I know that peace will only reign where I can see them interacting. For all I know, they’re trying to kill each other during their private time.” Cooper smiled at both Officerjenny in turn. “The upshot of all of this is that I don’t feel comfortable throwing someone else into that mix until everything has settled down and I’m certified as a detective. That will be in roughly five months. So what I’d like to suggest is that in six months Dechen can join my harem and the four of us can work together to make her into a proper detective. In the meantime, I thought we’d spend some time together seeing if she would be interested in me and my ladies.”
The curiosity in Dechen’s eyes hadn’t faded. She inclined her head slightly. “If I were human I would think you were suggesting we date.”
“A date is an appointment to go out socially, which is what I am suggesting so you’re right. I’m talking about dating.” He reached to his right and patted Gloria’s hand. “I have no complaints about Gloria or Seraphina, but if I did it would be that I didn’t get a chance to know Gloria even a little before she and I bonded. I didn’t know much about Seraphina either before she joined the harem. That has and will continue to create friction while we iron out some of our differences. It would be nice to get to know you a little beforehand so we both have an idea of what we’re getting into.”
“I would like that too.”
Cooper looked at Penny. “I know it’s not what you wanted, but I hope that this will satisfy you as well.”
She nodded. “It will. It’s actually better. This will help your image since others will know you care for the feelings of your pokegirls. The time will also give Dechen a chance to start studying the material for the detective’s exam.”
Gloria cleared her throat lightly. “What is Dechen’s rank?”
“I am a civilian at the moment,” Dechen replied. In the sudden deafening silence Cooper could feel the astonishment coming from his pokegirls. Dechen seemed unaware of the instant tension. “I thresholded three months ago and would have been sent to storage for assignment at boot camp if Penny had not intervened. As an Officerjenny, I have an instinctive understanding of law and law enforcement here now that Blue is my home. I was studying at university here in London when I underwent threshold.”
Cooper cocked his head. “What was your major?”
“I was a 1st year student at Queen Mary University and was studying chemical engineering. Now the prospect of being an engineer holds no interest for me but neither does the idea of returning to Edo to oppress my people.”
Gloria blinked. “Oppress?”
“My people are Tibetan by both history and practice. Edo has long tried to suppress our culture so we would more fully integrate into mainstream society. They say they are encouraging us to become more Edo, but what they are doing is continuing what the Chinese did in the beginning and are trying to force us to absorb their ways and give up ours. Edo law will allow us to be full citizens only if we follow Edo ways, which are foreign to us. I would be sent to my people and made to enforce Edo law on them, something that I do not wish to do.” She shuddered. “And I know that once there, I would be happy to punish my people for breaking Edo law but I think that a part of me would always hate myself for it.”
Penny sounded surprised. “You don’t think of yourself as Edo?”
“We were Tibetan for nearly three thousand years. We have been part of Edo for only three hundred. All we want is to be left alone to live our lives without being disturbed.” Dechen stood and looked down into Cooper’s eyes. “I apologize for burdening you with so much of my grief.”
“I understand. Threshold is terrifying enough but for it to happen in a foreign nation and in such a way that you don’t want to return home only magnifies the terror.” He rose gracefully. “Since you will be joining my harem, I would like it if you found me a suitable confidant.” He pulled one of his cards from his pocket and wrote his private com number on it before offering it to her. “Call me and we’ll arrange our first date.”
She turned it over in her fingers before looking up at him again. “I will. Thank you.”
“Thank you for coming by, Penny,” Cooper walked the two of them to the elevator, “and also for introducing us to Dechen.”
Penny patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be in touch. Now I have to get to my family for Christmas dinner before they send out a search party.”
Cooper stood in front of the elevator until he was sure they weren’t coming back. “I need a drink.”
Seraphina handed him a glass of whiskey. “What was that about?”
“It means we have been selected for great things,” Gloria replied.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Cooper slammed back the contents of the glass and enjoyed the fire as it burned down his throat and the bloom of heat in his belly. “It also means Penny will have a spy living with us unless we can win Dechen’s loyalty away. She kept Dechen from being shipped back to Edo or being sent to boot camp. That’s going to be hard to beat even with her alpha bonded to me. At least I got us a six month reprieve while we plan what we’re going to do.”
“She didn’t seem all that happy about what was happening,” Seraphina pointed out.
“Of course she’s not happy.” Gloria snapped. “You heard her. She was human and had just about beaten the odds when she turned into a pokegirl. She had to be protected by Penny and now Penny is giving her to William and we both know the goddess Penny didn’t consult with her about it first. While I really like the idea of him dating her so I don’t have to try to carry another person right now, it may have been the best thing he could have told her in order to begin weaning her away from Penny’s influence. She thinks he cares about her human past.”
Seraphina’s eyes narrowed. “Carry? You think you’re carrying me?”
“It was a poor choice of words.”
“No shit.” Seraphina blanched and spun to face Cooper. “Crap. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok,” he said soothingly. “As it turns out I didn’t appreciate the choice of words either.”
“I’m sorry,” Gloria sighed. “Look, what can I do to make this right?”
Seraphina responded instantly. “Let me be alpha.”
“I wasn’t talking to you. Coop?”
“Do you really feel you’re carrying us?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. You’re coming along quickly and Brownie came to us ready to be a detective. She’s doing fine. I was just pissed at Penny and turned it on Sera.”
“And me.”
She winced at his tone. “And I shouldn’t have done it, Coop. Please accept my apology.”
He nodded and pulled her in for a hug. “I accept your apology. Now, it’s Christmas and let’s just stop bickering amongst ourselves.”
Seraphina grinned. “Yeah, that way we can focus on our external enemies.”
“No, that way we can try to enjoy the rest of Christmas.”
***
(12/25/319 2215 London, Blue Continent)
Cooper tested one of the restraints and sighed. “Why do I have to be tied up for this?”
Gloria didn’t look up from mixing ink on her palette. “You keep moving when I’m trying to work, that’s why.”
“I just want to see what you’re doing.”
“I’m finished marking out the tattoo with a pen.” She picked up her needle and touched it to the ink, frowned and went back to mixing. “I’m about to start giving you a protective tattoo, as you agreed that I could. What more do you need to see?”
“You said it would be small and easy to cover, remember?”
“It’s less than five centimeters in any dimension, Coop. In light of your barbaric heritage from Ireland I’m giving you a Celtic cross. Today I’ll be filling up part of the design with knot work that conceals the protective spell I’m weaving into the tattoo. The rest of the tattoo will be blank until I can talk you into adding more spells. Eventually I’d like you to have at the very least the same level of protection that I have.”
He frowned and sat up partially to look at her disbelievingly. “I have seen every millimeter of your body and you don’t have a single tattoo.”
She smirked slightly. “Have you noticed that I have no makeup in my flat?”
“I have. Why?”
“My lips are red because they’re tattooed that way. The protective spells are done in a slightly darker red so they’re not noticeable unless you know to look for them and you’ve got a really bright light. That and I also have to be completely still.” She tapped him in the chest with a fingernail. “Which just so happens to be what you’re supposed to be doing right now.”
Cooper laid back and stared at the ceiling. “Message received and understood, lieutenant,” he said dryly.
Gloria chuckled softly. “It’s about time, corporal.” She leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips when he grunted sourly. “I know you think I’m being silly about this but I don’t want to lose you.” She went back to stirring the ink. “There are a couple of different ways to do this, you know. The first is that I spend the next five hours applying the tattoo to your skin. That’s an estimate, by the way. It might take longer. The other way is the way I’ve decided to proceed with this. I’m going to apply the tattoo all at once. It means I only have to mix the ink once and also, cuts the time down to almost nothing.” She stopped mixing and tested the ink with the needle again. “Perfect.” She placed the palette on his stomach just below the rib cage and held it down with her free hand. “There is a downside to what I’m doing, however.” She held the needle over the drawing she’d traced on his skin. “Here we go.”
“What’s the down,” he broke off with a gasp as the needle dropped and pain ripped across his chest, slowly fading away as he tried not to scream. He panted air as endorphins blurred through his body.
Gloria was watching him intently. “As you now know, you get the pain of the entire session all in one big dollop. People can pass out from it sometimes. I gave a Doe a full body tattoo this way once. She almost died from the pain.” She smirked at the memory. “Usually I anesthetize my subjects beforehand but since you’re my tamer it wouldn’t be right.” She tilted the palette to show it was empty of ink. “All done.”
“Why not,” he finally managed to get out.
“Why not what,” she asked curiously.
“Why wouldn’t it be right to put me out before giving me that tattoo?”
“You’re my tamer,” she said in a tone that suggested he was deliberately being dense, “and anesthesia is for the weak.”
“Oh.” He lay limply as she began removing the restraints. “Will the other spells hurt that much?”
She shook her head. “I won’t have to put in the primary tattoo again so no. Why, was it too painful for you?”
“Of course it wasn’t.” He tried to sit up and finally rolled onto his side before slowly pushing upright. His chest was still on fire and he felt weak. “I didn’t pass out or die, did I?”
“No, you didn’t.” Worry appeared in her eyes. “Should I be concerned about that happening?”
“It doesn’t appear so.” He touched his chest and winced. “So I have my first magical tattoo?”
“Not yet. Right now you just have the tattoo part and not the magic spell it will support. I want to let the tattoo heal for a couple of days before I enchant it and I want to let that happen naturally to give you a chance to get used to seeing it in the mirror. It has to heal because a single blurred line from inflammation and the spells might fail. Once the spell is put in place the tattoo can be sliced up without affecting its ability to function, but if I lay enchantment on a weak structure then the spell will be weak and vulnerable to damage.”
“Are Tats bound by the same restrictions?”
She snorted. “They are if they know what’s best for their clients. Of course, if the tattoo is weak and the tamer or pokegirl gets killed, how does someone determine that it was a substandard tattoo that was the primary or even a contributing cause? We’ve busted a couple of tattoo rings here in London where the Tats involved were slapping magic on fresh tattoos that were so faulty that the enchantment hardly ever took at all. They weren’t doing business in Tower Hamlets but I was called in as an expert witness in magical tattooing to consult and testify against the human owners of the business.” She took a hand towel, dipped it in a bowl of warm water and began gently wiping down Cooper’s chest. The water turned pink the next time she dipped the towel in it. “Unfortunately, unless the work is that blatantly false there’s little that can be legally done to stop the tattoo parlors.” She met his gaze. “I’ll admit to you that I was ordered to by a previous tamer and therefore used extralegal means to close down a couple of the most objectionable ones, but I won’t be able to do that when we’ve got an Officerjenny in our harem.”
“Extralegal means?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
Cooper nodded. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked.”
“One of them suffered an electrical fire that burned the building to the ground. The cause was traced back to an illegal tanning setup. In the other, the customers started coming down with nasty stomach viruses and rashes. Eventually the staff did too. Even when healed the staff would get sick again as soon as they worked at the parlor. They brought in me as a consultant and I determined that the place had been cursed by someone. I broke the curse, but by then the damage had been done and their reputation was in ruins. Clients were suing them and finally they went bankrupt and closed shop a month later.”
“How did they happen to hire you as a consultant?”
“They suspected something magical might be going on and I had sent them my business card a few months before things began happening. I used to have a side business as a consultant back when I had a tamer and the licensing fees were cheaper. It was a lot of fun.”
“Do you want to do it again?”
She shrugged. “First I have to get you and Brownie up to speed. Then I have to get what’s her name up to speed too.”
“Her name is Dechen.”
“Right now her name is mud. When she’s in the harem she’ll be important to me, but after she’s pulling her weight we’ll see if I’d like,” she grinned, “to be a consulting detective again.”
***
William Cooper
Gloria - Enchantress
Seraphina – Rapitaur
Author’s note: Absorption chess is a real variant of chess and can be both a lot of fun and a real pain in the ass to play.