Into the Fire
Fifty Two
Author’s note: This chapter presumes that you are familiar with Kelvin’s Choice’s story, Tamers, as well as Micah Hakubi’s story, Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, and uses characters and situations from them with their permission. If you have not read these stories, you are very naughty and need to remedy the situation immediately. Both are well worth the time.
***
Iain put down his glass and looked across the breakfast table at Ninhursag. “What’s the emergency of the day?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have anything. April?”
“Nothing has come up that I know about.”
Dominique looked up from where she was sopping up egg with her toast. “Someone should probably let Monica know that you’re no longer in the custody of Capital. No matter who tells her, she’ll most likely want to talk to you, if only to apologize. That means it should probably be you.”
He frowned. “What on earth does she have to apologize for?”
“She doesn’t, but she thinks she forced you to go to that meeting with Rebekah.”
Iain chuckled. “She did, but even if I hadn’t gone that night, Rebekah would have kept calling until I did meet with her and whenever it happened I would have still been dumb enough to go a meeting with a policewoman completely unprepared for a fight. It’s one of those ‘lesson learned’ sorts of things and there’s nothing Cherry could have done to prevent or facilitate that. She has nothing to apologize for.”
“Do you really think that matters?” Eve began picking up plates for the sink. “She’s going to feel guilt about it until she gets to apologize and you forgive her.”
Iain grimaced. “Fine, I’ll talk to her today. Should I catch her at work or wait until she leaves?”
“Going to her work would be best, I think.” Eve handed the plates to Raquel and took her place at the drying station. “She’ll be busy and that’ll limit the time she can spend with you.”
“Is that important?”
“I’m not sure, so yes. Maybe you should take Canaan with you. If she’s willing to pry, she might be able to answer that question.”
“That’s rude,” the Splice commented around a piece of bacon. “Not that I wouldn’t do it, but Iain thinks that sort of thing is in very poor taste.”
Ninhursag cocked her head. “He’s the one who said he was going to take you to visit friends just for this sort of thing. Well, Iain?”
“I’m not sure what Eve is concerned about.”
The Megami-sama gave him a look that suggested he was being slow, perhaps even deliberately. “I am concerned about whether she wants to join the harem or not, Iain, or at least share your body.”
“You are all nuts. Cherry likes girls.”
“Is that all she likes?” He frowned thoughtfully and Ninhursag smiled at him. “If you don’t know, I think we need to find out the answer to that question once and for all. Sex is the ultimate driver of relationships, as you are well aware.”
He sighed. “When you’re right, you’re right.” He blinked suddenly. “Oh, crap.”
April patted him on the shoulder as she got up. “Hurts?”
He gave her a bewildered look. “What?”
“When an idea hits you. Does it hurt?”
He began chuckling. “Sometimes,” he admitted wryly. “I just remembered something from New Beginnings that I had planned in the original plot sequence. Cherry either likes both boys and girls or is willing to tolerate boys sometimes if required. Or at least she did in my story.”
“She’s willing to tolerate boys?” Eve’s puzzled expression made April smirk. The Megami-sama ignored her. “What does that mean?”
“In the original story arc I had planned for Cherry to decide Jamie was a worthwhile sperm donor to have a child by and harass him about it for a while. The fact that she hasn’t had a child yet suggests that she never found a suitable replacement or decided she doesn’t want children. I really doubt she’d decide I was a good source for genetic material, though. I do have more than a few character flaws and I don’t have Jamie’s blood gifts.”
Ninhursag scowled. “That settles that. Canaan is going with you. If you forbid it, then I’ll just send her to scan Monica when you’re not paying attention.”
“When do I ever forbid?” He frowned. “Don’t answer that. If I did, I was probably out of line, but the past is the past, at least until and if I master temporal magic.” He raised a placating hand when Ninhursag gave him a flat look. “If it makes you feel better, I’d like to know even more than you might. I don’t think she’s looking for a kid right now and I really don’t think I’m a viable candidate for her, but I seem to be wrong more often than right lately and I’m tired of finding myself in situations where I have to make snap decisions about some event that I should have already had a clue about.”
“So you’ll take Canaan?”
“I’ll take Canaan.”
The Splice got up, pulled his chair out and settled heavily into his lap. The chair creaked protestingly beneath them. “Where you are going to take me,” she asked in a sultry voice.
Iain’s eyes were wide and he was trying not to gasp. “You’re crushing my nuts,” he finally managed to get out.
***
The Flarea sitting behind the desk looked up when the stairwell door opened and Iain appeared with Canaan. Her ears flicked and she glanced at the elevator door. “Sir, is the elevator broken?”
Iain read the nametag on the desk and the rank tabs on her collar. “No, it’s not, Corporal Nancy. I just don’t like being in easily trapped confined spaces right now.” Iain pulled out his badge. “Is Minister Chambers in? I don’t have an appointment but I needed to talk to Camille.”
“Yes, admiral, she is. Do you want me to call ahead?”
“I’d prefer that you didn’t. I was hoping to surprise Cammie.” He smiled thinly. “But will what I want stop you when I leave?”
The Flarea’s ears turned pink as she flushed. “Sorry, sir, I have my orders.”
“That’s fine. I am curious though, why bother asking if you’re going to call her anyways?”
The pink turned darker. “It’s polite, sir.”
“Yes, I suppose it is. Well, have a nice day.”
The Flarea gave him a cautious smile back. “You too, sir.”
He looked at Canaan. “Shall we?” She gestured him down the hall. “Won’t you go first?”
“You’ll just stare at my ass. While I appreciate when you do, right now you’re practicing your ability to be more alert, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. That.” He sighed and headed for Chambers’ office, pausing halfway down it. “You do realize that my foes not letting me stare at your shapely ass is going to make me kill every last one of them. Kidnapping me is one thing, taking my fun away is something else entirely and I take a loss of fun rather poorly.”
Canaan burst out laughing and gently shoved him the rest of the way down the hall.
Camille was sitting at the receptionist’s desk and her eyes went wide when she realized who he was. She gave him the warmest smile he’d ever gotten from her. “I wasn’t sure I should believe Nancy or not when she called. I am so glad to see you’re safe. Was it durance vile?”
“It had its moments,” he said depreciatingly. “I know I don’t have an appointment, but do you think you could squeeze me in to see your boss today?” He looked around the room thoughtfully. As always, it was empty. “You know, how come nobody is ever here? I always thought the power of a politician could be measured by the number of people hanging around and hoping to bend her ear for a minute.”
The Ladyien chuckled. “You got me. This place is usually packed, but whenever I get word from the front desk that you’re here,” she gestured at a nondescript door, “I quickly hustle everybody into that cupboard and lock it just to make it look like we have nothing to do.”
“Oh.” Iain went over to the cupboard and leaned close to the door. “You people hang on. I’ll be out of here just as fast as I can. Remember to take shallow breaths and, whatever you do, don’t fart.”
Camille bit her hand to muffle her giggles. When she calmed down enough to speak, she pointed at a chair with one of her extra hands. “Please have a seat. My mistress is in a meeting, but when she’s done I’ll get you right in to see her.” She cocked her head and gave him a mischievous smile. “I haven’t told her you’re here so you can surprise her with your safe return.”
“Oh, goody.” Canaan steered Iain to the chair and sat down next to him. Camille thinks Monica is unusually worried about you. She’s not sure if Monica is interested in you sexually or if it’s just you’re one of her few friends.
He frowned slightly. She doesn’t know? I take it she’s not delta bonded to Monica, is she?
Believe it or not, Iain, you are probably the only person who can establish a delta bond by blowing in a girl’s ear. Everyone else usually takes years or decades to develop one and that only if they ever do so. Camille and Monica have the basics for one. If they continue as they have, I’d expect a bond to appear within the next five years or so. Now stop pestering me with questions. There’s a psychic surveillance net here and it is remarkably sophisticated, especially considering that only the short lived are involved with it.
“Well, at least you don’t call them ephemerals,” he murmured. Canaan blinked and chuckled.
Nearly half an hour later the door to Chambers’ office opened and a man he didn’t know came out, nodded to him, Canaan and Camille and headed down the hallway to the elevator. The Ladyien folded a pair of hands under her chin and winked at Iain. “Go ahead. She doesn’t have another appointment for twenty minutes.”
When he peeked in the doorway, Monica was intent on something on her computer. “I understand you’re looking for me,” he said calmly.
Her head jerked up and she stared at him. “Iain!” She jumped up and came around her desk to give him a hard hug. “You got away from the Cappies.”
Awkwardly, he hugged her back. “Obviously. How’re you doing?”
Donna was sitting on a stool near the door and gave him a pat on the hip. “I’m glad you got away from those bastards, sir.”
He looked down at her and winked broadly. “Thanks, Donna. I’m glad I did too. The alternative was rather grim.”
Chambers tightened her grip again. “I am so sorry for making you go to that meeting, Iain. I feel like what happened was my fault. Can you forgive me?”
“I would have eventually ended up there no matter what you did, Cherry. There’s nothing between us to forgive.”
“Thank you.” Monica pushed away from him and grinned. “Cammie, get us some tea,” she called out loudly enough to be heard in the next room, “and, Iain, you sit and tell me what happened.”
Canaan moved behind him as he sat down in the indicated chair. He waited until she’d returned to her seat behind the desk before beginning. “It turns out they captured me for aiding and abetting Micah Hakubi in stealing that airship he dumped here.”
Chambers gave him a disbelieving look. “Iain.”
“Very nice,” Canaan chuckled. “You do that almost as well as Eve does.”
“Fine, but that is the excuse they trotted out when I cried foul at them. It turns out that Vincent McMahon is desperate to get an author of his own. Apparently he thinks we’re some kind of super weapon and he wants in the special club with the other people who have one. Or maybe he just wants in the club since it’s so exclusive. He doesn’t realize that the club is empty and nobody owns us. Unfortunately for him, he pissed Micah off completely, got his ass spanked by Kelvin and apparently didn’t learn his lesson since he then went after me. He tried bribing me and followed it up by threatening my family when that didn’t work. That was a bit out of line, so I decided to leave at that point.”
Canaan grinned when Monica’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Believe it or not, he had this gift for understatement before he came here. His time in Capital was a little more chaotic than that.”
“I’ll bet.” Monica was interrupted when Camille came in with a tea trolley and waited until it had been served before she spoke again. “How did Vincent take your refusal?” The Ladyien paused near the doorway so she could hear what was being said but left the door cracked so she could keep an eye on the outer office.
Iain’s eyes hardened. “At the time I was holding his life in my hands and let him continue living. Not because it was within his power to make me do so, but because he is nothing to me. I let him know it, too. How do you think he feels right now?”
Monica blinked and then laughed so hard she had to put her teacup down before she spilled something. “I’m surprised he didn’t die from apoplexy.”
“At the time he was more worried that he was going to die from me. I was within millimeters of killing him for his threats. Only my ladies convincing me that it would mean a state of open war would exist between us and Linda stayed my hand.” Iain stared at his teacup unseeingly and finally shrugged. “I’m still not sure I did the right thing in listening to them.”
“I think you did. Did he believe your threat?”
Iain shook his head. “It wasn’t a threat, Cherry. I was eagerly looking forward to chopping him into tiny bits with my own two hands. I warned him what would happen if he threatened Eve and the others beforehand and he ignored it.”
Monica looked into his eyes for a moment. “Are you really that much of a sociopath or is it an act?”
“I’m not completely sure what I am. I know I don’t really meet the criteria for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. It is true that laws that aren’t important to me don’t really matter, but I don’t go out of my way to break them. I think it’s just that I don’t care about people that aren’t important to me and I enjoy killing. However a lot of people enjoy killing and won’t admit it. I’m just honest.”
She frowned slowly and then shrugged. “Am I important to you?”
He looked at her with neutral eyes for what seemed like a very long time. While it was going on, Monica felt as if he were judging her very existence. Suddenly he smiled disarmingly. “Yes, you are.”
“Then I don’t really care about your issues as long as they don’t interfere with your work or our friendship. What happened with Vincent?”
“I left pretty much right after that, but I suspect that after he’s had time to change his underwear he will be madder at me than he’s been at anyone in quite some time. I just hope Linda can make him see reason before he does something stupid. If he bothers me again or sends his flunkies after me, I am not going to be interested in taking prisoners.”
“How does Eve feel about that?”
Canaan smiled beatifically. “She will probably be trying to kill anybody attacking us before Iain can get to them and add their deaths to his conscience. We feel that since Vincent and his people did threaten to hurt us to make Iain obey him, he deserves no mercy. After all, we’re pokegirls and so don’t matter in the eyes of the law. What’s a little killing of humans after that?”
Iain snorted. “Yeah, sure, as if you’d be found out. I would never report killing anyone to the police. They don’t need the paperwork and I don’t need the hassle proving self defense. There’s lots of wilderness out there. And that wilderness is filled with hordes of starving ferals who could use a square meal.” Humor danced in his eyes for an instant. “Even if Vincent would probably make them ill.”
“I don’t know if I should be hearing this,” Monica said slowly. “Can you write up the details of your experience there and send the report to me?”
“You really expect me to commit the things I said and did to a permanent record?” Iain stared at her for a second. “You have got to be kidding.”
“I’m serious, Iain.”
“Cherry, I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not interested in reliving what happened. Have your spies do their jobs and steal the video records from Capital.” He got to his feet. “Your next appointment should be arriving soon, so I’ll get out of your hair. Oh, and I will try to show up for your retirement, if you haven’t changed your mind about having me there.”
A pained look crossed her face. “You are my friend, whether you are Iain Grey or Kerrik Wolf around me. I never had many friends and right now I’m discovering to my dismay that I really have fewer than I thought I did. I’d love to have you and the rest of your family at my retirement.”
“Then we’ll be there. Have you heard anything about your new ship?”
Monica shook her head. “I understand they’ve been busy with some issues, but no, I haven’t gotten any word about when our ship will be ready. Could you check with your contacts and see if there’s a problem?”
“I will. Now you try to have a nice day.”
Chambers chuckled. “Well, it got better when you dropped by, but I doubt it’ll last. Be well, Iain.”
***
“Are you ready?”
Raquel nodded eagerly. “Yes, Pandora, I am.” She was in her centaur form and her tail switched with excitement.
“Ladies?” They both looked at Iain. He was standing in the shade of the omega tree and waiting for Ninhursag to arrive for his training session with her. “Raquel, you need to watch your tells.”
The Rapitaur gave him a puzzled look. “I don’t understand.”
Sofia was in the place which had become traditional since Iain’s return from Capital, sitting somewhere she could see him and close enough that she could run to his aid if he needed it. They still hadn’t had sex, but she was spending more time closer to him. He calculated that he should be able to coax her into bed before she died of old age, at the very least.
The Peekabu cocked her head. “You flick your tail,” she said in accented English, “before you attack.”
“She’s right,” Iain confirmed. “It’s a dead giveaway when you’re planning something.”
“Really?” The sight of the Rapitaur twisting her human torso around to stare at her equine butt made him laugh. She flicked her tail experimentally and frowned. “I hadn’t thought about that. Do others have these tells?”
Pandora nodded. “Everyone has them if you know what to look for. It’s not a big deal if you’re fighting someone who doesn’t know you very well, but now that Iain’s pointed it out I’ll be looking for it when we spar and I will use it against you. You need to consciously keep your tail still when you’re fighting until it becomes an automatic habit.”
Raquel gave the Fallen Angel a curious look. “What’s your tell?”
Pandora smiled thinly. “Right, like I’m going to give it away to you. You figure it out and you’ll know.”
Raquel turned slightly to look at Sofia. “Dearest sister of my harem, do you know what Pandora’s tell is?”
“Si. I mean, yes.”
Pandora looked surprised. “You do?”
The Peekabu’s ears flicked slowly. “When I no pay attention, my family catch me off guard and hurt me. So I always pay attention.”
Raquel nodded. “That makes sense. What is Pandora’s tell?”
Sofia glanced at Pandora before returning her attention to the Rapitaur. “I no tell you. You remember better if you learn.”
Pandora grinned as Raquel irritably stomped a hoof. “She’s right. Now, focus your mind on your training. We’ll work on your tail later. First, let’s begin with ignite.” The Rapitaur burst into bright red flames. Pandora eyed her critically. “I think that later we will work on you increasing the temperature of your fire. Right now that looks like the lower range of what I’ve seen possible from your breed. Your flames should be at least yellow, if not yellow-white.”
“Ok. I’d like to get stronger.” To Iain, it was eerie hearing Raquel’s voice come from the flaming centaur shape. It sounded so normal, nothing like the strange image of the fiery figure in front of him. “Now, what do I do?”
“Mixing techniques is difficult, whether you are trying to hold one like ignite and use a different one, like flamethrower or if you are trying to combine two techniques into something entirely new, as we are trying. You need to hold the first technique and reach inside yourself to activate the second technique.”
“Have you done this, Pandora?”
The Fallen Angel shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I don’t know ignite since I’m not a fire type. Now stop delaying and do it!”
Ninhursag joined Iain. “What’s going on?”
He smiled at her. “Watch and see.”
The flames covering Raquel’s body danced wildly and, for an instant, the tips of the flames darkened to a rich burgundy before returning to their original brighter hue. Raquel sounded like she was gasping. “This is hard!”
Pandora shook her head. “Everything has been easy for you, Raquel. I’m not going to let you give up just because something is a little difficult. Oh, and it might help if you don’t stop breathing while you’re doing this. Air is important to staying conscious. Now try it again.”
Ninhursag bent down and whispered into his ear. “Is Pandora replacing April as the beta?”
“She helps April with training,” he muttered back. “April is still and probably always will be my beta.”
Specks of dark red appeared in the flames on Raquel’s body and spread, deepening farther and farther until her fire turned deep charcoal. They could hear her wheezing as she fought to keep control and finally the flames turned solid black.
Ninhursag’s mouth dropped as Iain clapped. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Raquel is using hellfire and ignite together. I think it’s cool.”
“I think it’s mildly frightening.”
Pandora frowned. “That’s interesting. Iain, does it look to you like the fire is absorbing the light around Raquel? It seems dimmer around her.”
Iain peered closely. “You’re right.”
Raquel shuddered and her flames turned back to their original color. “That’s hard to do.” The flames rippled down her body, wuffed once like a gas burner that had been shut off, and vanished. The sweat trickling down her face didn’t detract from the exultation visible on it. “I did it!”
Ninhursag shook her head and raised her voice. “You face a celestial with that and she’ll shit herself.”
Pandora smiled grimly. “Celestials aren’t the only pokegirls who will find that terrifying. Any person who knows that hellfire will burn anything it touches will not want to fight Raquel when she trots out that technique. In the hands of an accomplished user, it’ll even burn water, which means that theoretically water techniques are useless against Raquel’s combined technique if she becomes powerful enough. Even if turns out that she can’t use it to protect against water attacks, I know from experience that you can set a water type on fire with hellfire and it really freaks them out when you do.”
The Elfqueen blinked and suddenly looked thoughtful. “Now that is interesting. Not for water types, since they don’t usually bother me, but if it can burn a fire type or fire using dragon pokegirl.” Her voice trailed off and she smiled at something only she could see. “Maybe becoming infernal has its uses after all. I’ll have to think about that.”
Iain nudged her gently. “Planning to become some kind of super Elfqueen?”
She blinked and grinned. “No, just remembering a fight I had with a Whorizard who burned me pretty badly before I killed her. She’s the reason I learned ice beam. Pandora, does hellfire protect against normal fire attacks?”
The Fallen Angel shrugged. “I don’t know. Give me a few days to increase Raquel’s control and endurance. Then April and I’ll use her to run some tests and get you an answer.”
“Does it matter anymore?” Iain smiled when she gave him a curious look. “Dominique is almost finished with your armor ring.”
Ninhursag gave him a lofty look. “One can never be too prepared to face one’s enemies, as you should already know. And speaking of being prepared, I believe that someone might be working to keep me distracted so he doesn’t have to train.”
Iain looked around. “Where is the sonofabitch? I’ll fix him.”
The Elfqueen put a finger under his chin and lifted his face so she could kiss him on the forehead. “You’re cute when you think you’re being cute and failing.”
“Hey, I’ll take the win.” He held out his hand and the tattoo of the black and silver tree flowed down his arm to become his staff. “So, what’s on the agenda today?”
“April will be along in a few minutes to give me some help, but what I intend to do is run you through an obstacle course that has targets for you to attack. That’s why she’s not here right now. She’s busy finishing up the final preparations. You won’t have any firearms, but other than that feel free to use anything that comes to hand.”
“Does that anything include ordering my pokegirls to attack for me?”
Ninhursag blinked and grinned. “No, it doesn’t.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“It’s because I’m not sleeping with an idiot.”
“He’s a lucky fellow.”
Her grin appeared again. “Yes, you are.”
April appeared out of thin air. “Did you tell him?”
“I did. He responded by flirting with me.”
The Duelist shook her head. “That’s our Iain. Give me all of your firearms.”
Iain sighed and pulled out his pistol and several magazines. “I’m not carrying any other guns and no explosives.” He frowned. “Maybe I should replace my shotgun or get some more handguns.”
“That’s up to you, Iain. I’d like you to keep your Dragonesses and other undead out of this, too, husband, while you’re running the course.” April gave him a stern look. “Even if they volunteer.”
“They only get involved if they think my life is in danger and you’re not around. Since I won’t meet those conditions during this they won’t act unless I ask them to.” He held up a hand when April started to speak. “Which I will not do.”
“Thank you. Feel free to use your staff or sword or even throw rocks if you’d like.”
“Why do I have this suddenly sinking feeling?”
She favored him with a broad smile. “Oh, that won’t happen unless you get stuck in the bog.”
“Bog? There’s a fucking bog? How much work did you two put into this thing?”
“A lot. It’s not just for you. We’ll be running the harem through it one at a time.” Her head swiveled to focus on the Peekabu. “Including Sofia.”
“I suspect that after my turn, I will hardly be able to wait to see you and Ninhursag run it.”
“We will.” Ninhursag gave him a look usually reserved for mothers taking errant children to task. “And you’re trying to be distracting again. Come along, my male.”
***
Iain stared duly at the grass pressing against his face and wondered if he’d ever have the energy to raise his head again. He was completely exhausted to the point that his limbs felt like lead. His breathing had finally steadied out but his heart still slammed against his ribcage as it tried frantically to send oxygen to his abused muscles and pull the lactic acid out for processing.
The obstacle course had been ten kilometers of timed agony. Climbing over things. Burrowing under things. Slogging through mud. Swinging around on ropes, wires and chains. Speaking of wire, he numbly wondered where they’d managed to get the razor wire that decorated the course. Thanks to that damned wire the bog now had his blood in it to go with the sweat. He suspected Eve had requisitioned it from Lucifer’s people and made a mental note to try and figure out a way to reward everyone involved as they so richly deserved.
Ok, the mud that was left in the bog. He was pretty sure that he was still covered with about a ton of the gluey stuff. It had managed to get inside his clothes with him and when it finished drying he’d be a mud sculpture.
And it already itched like crazy. If he could move he’d be scratching himself raw already.
If that hadn’t been bad enough, at a bunch of places along the course he’d had to stop whatever he was doing and attack some targets. He presumed it would be easier for his harem since just about everyone had some form of ranged attack, but it meant he had to make his way over to the target and attack it with his sword.
Iain found the energy to grin faintly as he remembered the point, about halfway through the course, when he’d finally lost his temper over it.
“We need to talk.”
Ninhursag’s boots appeared to his right and Iain painfully turned his head to stare at her ankles. “Can it wait until next spring?”
She squatted and peered down at him. “Why spring?”
“That’ll be when I can finally sit up.”
The Elfqueen grasped his arm above the elbow and rolled him over. “Are you whining?”
He blinked at the sun and closed his eyes against the glare. “No, I’m just stating facts. I’m beat.”
“Do you want April to feed you some of her life so you’ll feel better?”
He opened his eyes and glared at her. “No.” He reached down inside himself and unlocked his magic, twisting it to heal him and letting it free to fill his body. Suddenly he rolled over and threw up. “Motherfucker.”
Ninhursag wiped his face. “Your magic?”
“Yeah.” He slowly pushed up and crossed his legs to sit. “It hits hard.”
“You need to learn how to do it slowly, while you’re exerting instead of afterwards. If you do it that way instead of all at once it’ll keep you fresh as you run the course. And hopefully you won’t puke.”
“It’s a good idea. I’ll work on it.” He began carefully picking at the mud on his clothes. Careful let him move slowly and right now he wasn’t sure he had any other speeds. “What do we have to talk about?”
Ninhursag held out her hand. “This. I found it in one of your targets after you were done. And don’t you dare ask ‘what about it’.”
Iain looked carefully at the black and silver arrow she held. It was thicker and a good twenty five centimeters shorter than the ninety one centimeter ones that came from her quiver. Also unlike hers, the broadhead tip was serrated along part of the blades. “Like you figured, it’s mine.”
“This is an omega arrow.”
Iain slowly clambered to his feet and held out his right hand. The black and silver staff flowed out of his hand and changed, becoming a heavy looking black compound bow trimmed in silver with silver cams. Attached to the side of the bow was a flat quiver with an omega arrow in each of the six slots. He offered her the weapon. “Here. The original idea came from your bow when I realized that my staff could change shape into more than a sword.”
“My bow is a recurve.” Ninhurag carefully took the weapon and hefted it, “not a compound. How did you get cams out of a wooden bow?”
He shrugged. “I asked for them. I don’t know how the staff made them, it just did.”
Ninhursag grunted in surprise when she pulled drew the string experimentally. It wasn’t hard for her enhanced strength, but the draw weight was far heavier than she’d expected. “What’s the pull on this thing?”
“I’m not sure. It’s customized to me and allows me to use just enough of my strength to keep from being fatigued by multiple draws. I don’t think a human without bloodgifts could pull back the drawstring.” He eyed her as she pulled it back and slowly relaxed several times. “You know, it’s entirely possible that your bow could be changed into a compound.”
Ninhursag blinked at him. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Compound bows have much faster arrow speeds than comparable recurves.”
She shook her head. “They also require arrows with much stronger spines. I’m good with my bow and it’s comfortable with me. Can you change the arrows like I can with elemental affinity?”
“I wouldn’t begin to know how to do that.”
The Elfqueen handed him back his weapon. “You’ve learned by watching before, so I don’t doubt you could learn that too. You do know what this means, don’t you?”
The bow disappeared into his hand. “I can do ranged attacks without a gun?”
“That too. However, what I was thinking about was the fact that now you get to have more training so I can make sure you’ll bring honor to that bow and to me as your Elfqueen.” Her eyes twinkled merrily. “It’ll probably involve hundreds of hours of training.”
His head dropped. “Fuck me.”
She grinned. “Don’t worry. You’ll get that as a reward for doing well.”
***
If it wasn’t for the line of pokegirls stretching around the block, the warehouse would have been completely unremarkable. Eve looked towards Iain with a slightly worried cast to her features. “Should we get in line?”
He smiled and opened his mouth but Dominique spoke before he did. “We’ve got VIP passes. We don’t wait.” The Archmage’s hair had been pulled tightly back and braided, putting her pointed ears on display and letting her crimson eyes glow in the darkness of her face. She was wearing a one shoulder white mini dress and white knee high platform boots.
Eve shook her head, making her high ponytail dance behind her. It fell down the back of the glittering gold kimono dress she was wearing. Her gold espadrille high heels made Iain’s feet hurt every time he looked at them, but she wore them without any obvious signs of discomfort. She hooked her arm through his. “Front door it is, then.”
The Succubus standing guard at the front door kept her face expressionless as she watched them walk towards her, but her eyes flicked over each in turn, evaluating them for admittance. She paid particular attention to Iain’s outfit, but his paisley light gray button down half sleeved shirt tucked into black denim jeans and his black leather Belvedere boots apparently passed muster because she smiled warmly at them when they stopped in front of her.
Iain had been amused to find that the boots had cost more than the rest of the outfit, but then he’d been surprised to find the Italian boot maker was still in business after over three hundred years. Even if where he now did work was not longer called Italy.
“You’re supposed to get in line, people, no matter how well dressed you are.” The Succubus’ smile didn’t fade as she crossed her arms. “Unless you’ve got a good reason to think you can push past everyone else.”
Iain produced the passes from his pocket. “Is this good enough?”
The Succubus ran an ultraviolet light across them and her eyebrows rose when the watermark became visible. “Yes, it is.” She nodded to a camera posted over the door and the heavy barrier unlocked with an audible clunk. She pushed it open with a flourish. “Welcome to Meringue.”
Meringue was a pokegirl only club, one of a handful that had sprang up in the last few decades as more pokegirls became free and had free children. It was currently the club for the social elite of the pokegirl community and humans were only allowed in by special invitation. They were also never unaccompanied. The pokegirls with them were responsible for any misbehavior.
The door opened into a short, featureless hallway. It ended at a delicate looking door that Iain knew was a façade over enough steel to stop a hyperbeam. He’d read the available information on the place when he’d gotten the passes. They walked down the hallway to the door and, during their stroll, Eve and Dominique were scanned to identify their breeds and everyone was scanned for concealed weapons. Pokegirls themselves were weapons and the club couldn’t do anything about that, but they could and did check for explosives, firearms and occupied pokeballs. The owners had even gone to the expense of ensuring that the building was proofed against phasing and teleportation by hiring some of the best Archmages and Enchantresses available to make it so. A ready reaction team was kept on staff to respond to any disturbances and, while they tried to take people prisoner whenever possible, they were definitely geared for a lethal response when required.
In many ways Meringue was better protected than many government buildings.
The door behind the façade opened and the thump of heavy rock made the air vibrate. Iain and the two ladies stepped past the real bouncer, a bored looking Frozenare, and into the club proper.
The first impression was of the heat radiating from the gyrating mass of pokegirls that filled the dance floor and whose motion invariably drew the eye. Mirrors along the walls both made the place seem larger and filled that space with the reflections of the dancers. Tables were arranged around the periphery of the dancers and wait staff circulated amongst the people at them, bringing drinks and taking away empties. The bar that ran the length of the right wall was crowded by pokegirls and the air was thick with the odor of alcohol and a multitude of perfumes both natural and applied.
For an instant, Iain fought a sneeze.
Eve pointed. It was loud enough that she would have had to shout to have been heard, so she didn’t try vocalizing. The stairs to the VIP section are at the other end of the bar.
Three times on the walk to the stairs, Iain was assaulted by pokegirls who tried to put their hands in his pants or grab his ass. Dominique finally put a stop to it by dipping her fingers inside his belt above the buckle and telling any other girl who reached for him that she was there first. She didn’t remove her hand until they reached the staircase.
Iain had to produce the passes again at the base of the stairs and once more at the top to gain admittance to the VIP level.
The VIP lounge was less populated, and the pokegirls present eyed Iain with undisguised interest but didn’t touch as the three of them made their way to the very back where Magdalene and Tanika were seated. As they approached, the sound level dropped by half. Tanika grinned and stuck out her hand. “I’m Tanika.” Her eyes lit up when he kissed it. “Well, well, Mr. Grey, quite nicely done.”
Magdalene glanced at her sister and looked at Iain. “Good evening. Please, sit. I must say I’m surprised that Ninhursag didn’t accompany you.”
Iain pulled out a chair for Eve and then repeated the action for Dominique. “And a good evening to you two ladies. She’s a country girl and doesn’t like the noise level here. It makes her jumpy and that makes her inclined towards violence. It’s a common trait in Elfqueens and another reason they’re not good urban dwellers.” He settled into the last chair. “And it’s an honor to meet you, Tanika, as well as to see you again, Magdalene. I wouldn’t have expected you to want to meet here.”
A waitress approached and took their orders before disappearing again. Magdalene waited until she was gone before speaking. “The acoustics of this place are especially bad for surveillance and the vibrations from the music make laser microphones useless.” She smiled briefly. “And my sound isolation spell also slightly blurs the images at the spell’s periphery to defeat lip readers. To be honest, nobody shows any sign of being aware of our presence, but calculated paranoia is a good habit to cultivate in our line of work.” The waitress reappeared and served their drinks. “I take it you are ready for me to convey you to One? Or is it that you want to call in your favor?”
Tanika blinked. “You owe him a favor?”
“I am aware that I do not dispense favors lightly and yes, I do.”
The redhead’s ears flicked. “Lightly? You don’t give out favors at all.” She turned her attention to Iain. “What did you do to get a favor from my sister?”
“That is between Magdalene and me, but no, I am not here for my favor. I would like to ask that, instead of taking us to One, you show Dominique how to use a spell she already has to journey there. That way we can come and go as we need without incurring further debt with you.” He hesitated for a second. “And, after we conclude that discussion, I’d like to offer you something.”
A golden eyebrow rose curiously. “I think we should pursue your topics for discussion in reverse order. What is this offer, Iain?”
He paused as he collected his thoughts and tried to find a way to frame his reasoning that wouldn’t result in violence. “You understand,” he began slowly, “that I am an author and that, somehow, I know things that I shouldn’t about the pokegirl universe. It is thought by some that I have the power to shape reality as I write it. It is also thought by others that instead I have the power to see things across the dimensional walls.”
Magdalene nodded. “I remember.”
Tanika’s ears perked. “Which is it?”
Iain shrugged. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not sure. The problem is that the result is the same either way and there is no experimental technique I can think of that would allow a method to discern between the two. It’s entirely possible that each suggested ability is merely a mirror of the other and that, therefore, they are the same thing.”
Tanika’s ears canted sideways. “You have thought about this. For a fledgling, you show a remarkable amount of promise.”
“Well, the truth is that I’m not exactly a fledgling truewizard. I carry the memories of an older truewizard, even if I have no intention of becoming like he was.”
“We are aware of what happened to Mhodvitnar, Iain.”
“Do you know the whole story?”
Eve gave him a sympathetic smile as Tanika nodded. “We do, but why don’t you tell us what you know and I’ll corroborate it if it’s accurate.”
“Nightraven explained I drained his memories along with his soul when I didn’t understand why I have Mhodvitnar’s memories.” He ran his finger around the rim of his as yet untouched drink. “It took me a while to come to terms with what I’d done. In the end I decided that while Nightraven was right when she’d said that I did what I had to do in order to survive, still I didn’t like what I’d done and I don’t intend to do it again unless I have no other options.”
Tanika’s face split in a grin as she turned to Magdalene. “I was right!”
Magdalene frowned for a second. “You are.” When Iain looked puzzled, she explained. “After you killed Mhodvitnar, we discussed the situation at length. My sister said that you’d be unhappy about what you’d done and you would make a conscious choice to avoid walking that path.”
Eve flared slightly. “Of course he would. He’s not a bad man.”
“Others might disagree based on what they see. It is true that he has been surrounding himself with infernal pokegirls and that will send an image to those who refuse to look deeper.”
The Megami-sama smiled. “They’re not really infernal. They’re something new and we’re taking satisfaction in twisting something that’s supposed to be a reward for evil into a tool for good. We’ll just have to come up with a new name for it.”
“I think we’re straying a bit off topic,” Iain said quietly. “Like I said, whether I create things with my writing or I see what’s going on in places where I shouldn’t be able to, the fact is that I know lots of things about lots of people. That includes the Wolf family.”
Tanika snorted. “You think you know about us.”
“I know that while I am taking a chance revealing this to you and Magdalene, I know very well that I could never reveal how much I do know to your father and his family. The Greystarrs would very likely exterminate me.” He rubbed his eyes as Tanika gasped. “I know enough to know who Falati is and who Jehane is. Considering that Falati never goes out in public and is seldom seen inside the household, that information should show something about the depths of my knowledge.”
Magdalene didn’t look surprised. “Where are you going with this, Iain?”
“I’ll reiterate that I know things about the Wolf family too. And I think I’ve come up with a solution to a problem that Kerrik has been working on for a while.”
“Then you should make this deal with Kerrik, not with me.”
“It’s a problem that you have explored finding a solution to as well. Besides, right now Kerrik is deliberately limiting his powers and I am not sure he can do the necessary modeling to prove my solution works.”
Magdalene eyed him as she sipped at her drink. “Without agreeing to purchase this solution sight unseen, what do you want for it if I do agree to buy it?”
Iain hesitated again before plunging ahead. “The truth is that I want as much as I can get for it, but I’m not really sure what it is worth. However, I know that you are trustworthy and I’d like to give it to you and let you decide what it is worth, along some general guidelines I’ll establish beforehand.”
Tanika blinked in surprise. “That’s cheating.”
Dominique frowned. “How so?”
“He’s not playing by the rules. First come the demands and then we negotiate.” She sounded almost outraged. “Trusting us to decide fair value isn’t how it works.”
Iain shrugged. “With all due respect, Tanika, I was talking to Magdalene. I trust her to do this. You, not so much.”
The cat kami’s mouth dropped. “I think I should be offended.”
“Like I said, I know things about the Wolf family. I know that I can trust Magdalene to give me full value for what I’m offering. You, while you would not cheat me if you said you wouldn’t, would give me no more than what I’ll suggest if you think you can get away with it, even if what I’m offering is worth far more than that. As long as Magdalene agrees to give me full value, she will be fair in her evaluation. While I could probably live quite well with what you would give me, Tanika, I don’t want there to be bad blood between us. I am hoping that our families can be friends.”
Magdalene glanced at her sister and, after a second, Tanika gave a tiny nod. “Very well, Iain Grey, I will listen to this proposal of yours and I will give fair value for it.” Her eyes shifted to his. “Understand that if it means I think it is worth less than what you are suggesting, that is what I will give.”
“That is more than equitable, Magdalene Wolf.” Iain touched his temple and pulled a glowing ball of golden energy the size of a marble from it. “Here is the concept, explained in as much detail as I could come up with.”
Tanika’s ears flattened. “You can do memory globes?”
“Nightraven used the technique and I figured out how it was done.”
She pulled her ears back up as she picked up her glass. “Then you’re right. You are more than a simple fledgling.”
Magdalene held up her hand and the gold ball floated across the table to hover over her palm. She glanced at him. “Are you aware that there are ways of inserting artificial personalities inside a memory to control anyone who accesses it?”
“Yes, but I have no idea how to make them and no desire to learn more than how to defend against the technique. There are no traps in there.”
The globe moved higher and pressed itself against her forehead, sinking into her head and vanishing without a trace. She blinked slowly and closed her eyes.
She remained that way for nearly five minutes before her eyes opened again. “Do you have other ideas like this one?”
“I think so. Only time will tell.”
“Then it will be beneficial to us if your family is on friendly terms with ours. Your suggested price was absurdly low and I will need a little time to calculate how much and with what I should pay you.”
Tanika was almost bouncing in her seat. “What was it?”
“He has come up with a way for people like us to get twees.”
Tanika’s mouth dropped. “That’s like finding the Holy Grail for Christians. It’s impossible.”
“Yes, it is. Nonetheless he has found a way to achieve the impossible. Perhaps we should task him with finding the Holy Grail next.”
“I don’t meet the criteria. I’m not pure of heart.”
Tanika chuckled. “Well, that would present a problem. I guess it’s a good thing that we would have no use for the Grail. Now, sister dear, do we pay him now or wait until we have tested this potential solution?”
“The actual execution is elegant and yet quite simple. No further experimentation is needed. As soon as we return home, I will use the technique on myself and then on you and Kerrik before selling this to other family members and such Tirsuli who cannot have a twee through conventional means.”
“How is it done?”
Magdalene shook her head. “That I will not disclose here. We are not secure from other truewizards trying to observe this conversation.” She rose gracefully. “Dominique, I will come to you in one week and look over this spell that you have. I’ll need to see how it works and the coordinate system it employs before teaching you best how to utilize it in travel to One. Understand that this means you will have to teach me the spell.”
“I know.” Dominique didn’t look particularly happy for a second. Then she shrugged. “I didn’t develop it, so I guess my pride shouldn’t be hurt.”
“It’s good to see such a mature attitude in a spellcaster. We are not always so reasonable.” Magdalene bobbed her head in a nod. “Iain, it has been a pleasure, but I’d like to return home and do something I’ve been wanting to do for several thousand years. Considering that you were molested coming into this place, do you need Tanika and me to escort you out of the club?”
“I think we can handle it,” Eve said tartly. “Are you still going to try to marry him off to one of your family?”
“I would like to introduce him to several of them and see if anything happens between them. It would be to your benefit, Eve Wolf. Kerrik and Drake seldom kill their in-laws, no matter what they do. What Iain has given me to tonight is creative enough that some truewizards might see him as a prospective threat. You do not want that from my family. I don’t mean that as a threat, but certain members of my family are prone to impulsive behavior and keeping you alive is far easier than bringing you back from the dead.”
Eve blinked. “I see. We would be willing to entertain Iain meeting with unmarried female members of your family. Also, when we have children, I think we would be willing to let them mingle with children from the Wolf family in the hopes of a union forming.”
Iain held up a hand. “Just to let you know, I’m not going to waste time getting to know everyone you might want to throw at me. For example, I am unlikely to be interested in any of Jenna’s children.”
Dominique frowned. “Why?”
“Let’s just say that I don’t approve of her ideas of proper childrearing and her daughters share her beliefs. I’ll explain later.”
Tanika gulped down her drink and stood. “I find the way those bitches treat their children repulsive too, if it helps. I’m sure that we won’t have to involve anyone besides Magdalene and me. We’ll find a suitable daughter or ten between the two of us.”
“I’m unlikely to be interested in coercion, Tanika. I take it rather poorly whether it’s me or the girl being coerced.”
She laughed. “So I’ve seen. Don’t worry, Iain, I don’t want you sending your liches after me to protect one of my own girls. Besides, the smart ones will be interested in you after they meet you.” She took Magdalene’s hand. “And I don’t have any stupid children. Well, sister, let’s do this.”
The kirin nodded. “I will come to your house in a week to begin working with Dominique and to finalize plans with you for payment.”
***
Iain sat and watched the rain pounding against the window for a moment before realizing that he’d been asked a question. “What was that?”
April glared at him in annoyance. “Can you pay attention, please? This is important.”
“It’s a sleepy day and a dry discussion.” Iain didn’t try to sound apologetic. “And if I drink any more tea I think I’m going to explode. At this point be happy I’m awake.”
Canaan grinned. “If you don’t mind his cock smacking against the bottom of the table we could give him some Stamina XXX to perk him up.”
Ninhursag gave the Splice an unhappy look before turning back to him. “Iain, we were asking about what you think we should do with our bank accounts here. We all agree that just leaving them behind is entirely unacceptable. That said, liquidating them would be simplest, but there are reporting laws in place for purchasing large sums of gold or other items that would be valuable on One.”
Iain nodded. “Well, one of the things Kerrik and the others did before moving to One was go around purchasing equipment that they thought would be in short supply in their new world. Pokeballs, healing gear and clothes were some of the stuff they bought. We could do some of that too, but we aren’t setting up a kingdom and won’t need tons of equipment. The first question we need an answer to is what are we planning to do once we get there? If it’s farming or ranching, our needs will be very different than if we intend to focus on opening a magic shop using Dominique, Eve and April’s skills. I don’t think we need to stay active tamers. Vanessa is pregnant and April will be getting pregnant just as soon as we’re settled if she’s going to have that parthenogenic birth she wants before she becomes a pokewoman.” He looked thoughtful. “Other women may take the opportunity to have kids, too. We will want the solar powered generators we have hooked up to the house and our appliances. There won’t be any electricity outside of very localized areas. We also need to decide if we’re going to live in Texas or move somewhere else.”
April closed the open file on her handheld and opened a blank one. “Then let’s start making those decisions now. Where would we want to live? Blue?”
“Not if it’s like this Blue,” Dominique growled. “In the beginning they treated pokegirls like shit and the league confiscated any pokegirl they thought they needed. They’d nab us and conscript Iain in a heartbeat. Considering the size of his harem, it’s almost certain that most of us would be taken away to be forcibly bonded to other tamers. And there’s the little issue of the Order of Pendragon and Queen Ygerna being here. She decided to grab magic pokegirls just as soon as she realized what a resource they could be and Iain as a mage would be irresistible to her. She’d impress him into the Order as soon as she became aware of his existence.”
“And Eoghan and Germanicus are there,” Iain said quietly. “They’re whole reason the Dragonesses convinced me to expand my dead harem. They’ll eventually discover us no matter where we are, but I don’t want to try to build a home in their backyard. I don’t really think we’ll be safe pretty much anywhere in Europe. And then there are the European leagues. You’ve all seen my information on One. Some of the stuff is pretty sketchy, but that’s because I didn’t plan to develop it until and if I needed to.”
“Kerrik is in Texas.” Eve looked around the table. The putative harem leadership was sitting around it with Iain while the rest of the harem was scattered around the room so they could participate too. “We are well aware that if he decides we’re a threat, he will move to neutralize us.”
“There’s no reason for him to see us as a threat. We’re working with one of his wives, damnit.” April smacked her hand on the tabletop. “Iain says we should be safe from him and I believe him.”
Pandora stirred from where she was sitting with Sofia on an ottoman. “I have a question for the old ladies. Honestly, from what you remember, is any organized league going to be any better than Blue? They’ll all be desperate for trained pokegirls and for tamers. We’ll be prime targets no matter where we go.”
“If we found a deserted region,” April began.
Pandora cut her off ruthlessly. “Then when they find us and impose their league laws on us, not only will we have to worry about protecting each other, we’ll have children to look after. Yeah, that’ll make it easier.” She looked at Iain. “You’re our leader and, as far as can be said, you’re the man on the ground here. I think it’s time for you to exercise that power and make a command decision for us. Otherwise this discussion could drag on for months.”
He looked around at everyone watching him and something inside him quailed for a second at the calm certitude in everyone’s eyes that he’d do the right thing. Then he steeled himself. If he had to make the decision, then he would and so be it. “We have left places before and never looked back. We can do it again. We’ll settle in Texas for a decade and then assess the situation to see if we should move somewhere else.”
April made a notation in the file. “All right, the place has been decided. Now what will we be doing there?”
“There’s not much manufacturing infrastructure,” Eve said. “In fact, there isn’t really any at the time we should be arriving. The harem’s skill sets run towards combat, military engineering, investigative police work and agriculture. Since we can’t make much of a living as mercenaries in Texas and there’s no infrastructure to make military fortifications, we’ll end up farming.”
“We could make fortifications out of natural elements,” Raquel observed.
“We could, but it wouldn’t slow down tamed pokegirls very much. That’s what we’ll be facing, by the way. Ferals will be an issue, but the armies of the other leagues attempting to conquer Texas will blow right through any log palisades we put up or fosse that we dig. Modern fortifications require concrete and steel in very large amounts. Good camouflage is also greatly desirable.”
“Oh. I didn’t know.”
Canaan patted the Rapitaur on the knee. “It’s ok. Other than classified small unit incidents and Special Forces encounters, the last time units of pokegirls faced other units of pokegirls to death was long before you were born. My Amachamp half remembers it well. It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was fun.”
Raquel gave the Splice a disgusted look and sidled away from her.
“Cattle,” Zareen grunted.
April shook her head. “It’s too early for them, unless we take some of them with us. I suppose we could do that, but I doubt we could take a large flock.”
“No, not kattle, cows. We can collect them and Ninhursag can make them fertile.”
April blinked and looked at the Elfqueen. “I hadn’t thought about the livestock from the period. Can you do it?”
“I know it works on cow pokegirls. Iain?”
He nodded. “Earthmother works on all life. They’re not pokegirls so they won’t get pregnant, but any infertility issues except those caused by menopause will be corrected.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “There were several million head of cattle in Texas at the time. A lot of them wouldn’t have been killed by ferals yet, so we might be able to collect wild ones. It’s how a lot of the original ranchers got started. We’ll do the same thing with chickens, sheep and goats. Hell, we could also collect cats and dogs and ranch them too.” Iain shook his head. “But that’s pretty ambitious. Even if we do end up with a livestock ranch, we will be farming too.”
“Well, that’s good.”
Iain laughed at the clear irritation in Ninhursag’s voice. “Trust me when I say that I love having plants around and I wouldn’t dare ignore your talents, my dear. I’ll be counting on them to get at least one harvest in before winter.”
“One? I can get you one a day, depending on how many crops we have.”
“This sounds pretty labor intensive, even with Ninhursag’s help.” Dominique looked curiously at him. “Is the harem big enough for all of this?”
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think so.”
“My cards can help out a lot,” April said, “but she’s right to be concerned. When you started talking about going to One, I read some historical books about the time period. We won’t need a lot of pokegirls for farm work, but really only Zareen and Raquel are suited for traditional ranching. Granted there’s not a lot of information about how cows respond to being herded by flying pokegirls, but I suspect that since only predators come from the air the answer isn’t going to be one we like. And before Iain says we can ride horses, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve never been on a horse and, frankly, I’m not excited at the thought of getting on the back of something that dumb. I’m especially not looking forward to trying to ride a horse after it’s been running wild for a couple of years.”
Her eyes narrowed suddenly and she gave Iain such a suspicious look that he recoiled. “What?”
“You were planning this for a while, weren’t you?”
He gave her a cautious smile. “Perhaps.”
“What are you talking about, April?”
“Eve, I just remembered when I set up the interviews that resulted in Hathor joining the harem, Iain asked me if I could get Ponytaur and the breed’s various evolutions the same way that I lined up the interviews for the Milktits. He said they might be useful if we ended up ranching.”
“At the time you said you were happy I was planning ahead.”
“That was then, mister. Now I don’t want to share my husband with strange pokegirls.”
Raquel shrugged. “He’s not my husband and I don’t want to share him either. However, we will need them and I, for one, am willing to help keep them tamed. The question then becomes what breeds would be get and how many. How fast is a cow? Is it faster than a Ponytaur?”
Eve snickered. “Any pokegirl with enhanced speed is faster than a cow.”
“That will help a lot,” Pandora observed. “I would suggest that unless the representative harem member agrees, we shouldn’t choose any breeds that are already present within the harem. A few Milktit would be useful too, if this farm is going to be providing stuff to take to market.”
“Now wait a minute,” Iain almost sputtered. “I am not excited about more women to fuck. How about we figure out what our requirements for our new home will be before you start lining up more girls for me to have to deal with?”
April frowned. “Well, we can’t really do that until we’ve seen the area where we’re going to settle. I think we’ll need a river or lake on our property, but you didn’t manage to rescue your maps of Texas from your car before it sank so we can’t review them.”
Dominique nodded. “All we can do is rough out some plans until Magdalene comes back to help me.”
“No, that’s not all.” Eve looked around the room pointedly. “We are going to be moving and it will not be too far in the future. Start packing, girls, or get ready to have ‘help’ with it. Trust me when I say that if we’re rushed, Ninhursag, April and I are not likely to be sympathetic about how you want your things packed and, if you hold off too long, you might not even get to take everything you want to. So I recommend packing everything except the vital necessities. Don’t seal the boxes in case you need to get something out before the move, but understand that packing now will save a lot of unnecessary worry and stress later on.”
Ninhursag nodded. “She’s right. When time comes for the move, we’ll be moving a lot more than just whatever you happen to own and if you’ve wasted time avoiding packing when I tell you to start moving the household stuff, if we’re rushed you may not get to go back for your things. Remember Iain’s saying about the stupid being punished and don’t be stupid.”
Iain pushed away from the table. “I guess that’s it for the moment, ladies.” He waited to see if anyone had something to add before standing up.
April looked at Pandora and nodded. The Fallen Angel flickered in a teleport, making it to the door before anyone could leave. She deliberately blocked it with her body. “Since the chores are done and this meeting has concluded, there’s a good storm outside going to waste. April and I devised a training exercise for weather just like this and finally we get to use it. The people who wear clothes have five minutes to change into something they don’t mind getting soaked. In six minutes everyone needs to be under the omega tree.”
April grinned at everyone as they stared at Pandora. “Oh, and people?” They turned to look at the Duelist. “I’ve got special plans for anyone who is late.”
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen (maharani)
Eve - Megami-sama
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
April - Duelist
Zareen - Nightmare
Pandora - Fiendish Fallen Angel
Canaan - G-Splice (Amachamp Hunter/Alaka-Wham)
Sofia - Peekabu
Raquel – Fiendish Rapitaur
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
21x Twau