Chapter 8: Glasgow
Kathryn swooped down to hover in front of Devon. “There’s been an accident up ahead. I could see a couple of people down, but I couldna see anyone moving. There’s a lot of blood on the ground.” Devon fell into a trot. “Do ye want to be getting any of the other girls out?”
“Not yet.” Devon glanced at her and marveled briefly as she effortlessly flew backwards to stay in front of him. “Now lead me to the site.”
“Aye.” She turned and sped off. Devon followed. Now that he knew to look he could see a faint thread of smoke rising into the air in front of him.
As he ran, Devon reflected on the fact that it might be a good thing that Glasgow was just a couple of kilometers ahead. Nobody in their little group had any medical training except him, and his was just what he’d read.
The accident was as bad as Kathryn had feared. A grav-car was overturned and a thick column of white smoke climbed sluggishly into the air. Three bodies were scattered around the car and blood spattered the whole scene.
The first two bodies were corpses, but the third, a man, still had a pulse. Devon pulled him farther from the car and started first aid.
Kathryn came back down to hover next to him. “There’s someone coming down the path.”
“Go tell them what happened and ask them to hurry.” Devon was trying to apply a pressure bandage to the hole in the man’s torso. “Without real medical care this guy’s going to die.” Kathryn flew off.
Devon was still trying to apply the bandage when a tremendous blow took him in the middle of his back, blasting him up and over the dying man. Pain shot through his body and darkness swallowed him up.
***
There was coolness on his head. Devon opened his eyes. The dim light started his head pounding. He slowly looked around carefully not moving his head. The room was small and dark. In the corner was a stainless steel toilet and a sink. He was lying on a pallet and a woman was sitting cross-legged nearby. She was small and neat with long pink hair. A NurseJoy most likely. He slowly and laboriously turned his head to look at her.
“So you’re finally awake.” The NurseJoy gave him an unfriendly look. “I’ll let the OfficerJenny know.” She got to her feet and knocked on the door.
Devon frowned and tried to sit up. That was when he discovered that he was handcuffed.
He stared at the cuffs for several minutes trying to understand their presence in his reality until the door opened and a Growltit entered the room. She took him by the cuffs and jerked him to his feet. Devon’s head spun and he fought not to throw up as she dragged him out the door and down the hall to an empty room with a table and three chairs, two on one side of the table and a single chair on the other side. She dumped him roughly into the single chair. “Now stay put and no one will have to get hurt.” She turned and left the room.
“Any more you mean,” Devon muttered to himself. He wondered how long he’d been unconscious.
A few minutes later, the door reopened and the Growltit returned along with an OfficerJenny. The Jenny sat down in one of the chairs while the Growltit took up a position not too far from Devon.
“I’m under arrest.”
The Jenny smiled nastily. “That’s right. So want to confess and tell us where your base is?”
“Or you could just tell us where your base is,” commented the Growltit. “After all we’ve already got you dead to rights on the murder charge.”
“Murder charge? I didn’t kill anyone.” Devon’s head spun. He took a deep breath and focused his mind. His confusion faded. “What happened to Kathryn? Is she all right?”
“Your Ladyba?” The Growltit smiled. “You’ll be happy to know that all of your pokegirls are at the pokecenter and as soon as we can find them a good Tamer, you will be just a bad memory.”
Devon’s mind tried to lock up. “What in the hell are you thinking? Not only have I not been convicted of anything, but I haven’t even been charged!!!” He glared at the Growltit. “I don’t know what in the fuck is going on, but if anything happens to my pokegirls I will end up owning this entire town, whatever this fucking place is!”
The Growltit smirked at him. “Not a chance. We caught you wallowing in the blood at the scene of the crime still trying to finish off the only survivor.”
Devon tried appealing to the Jenny since she didn’t look quite so confident. “I was trying to put a damned pressure bandage on his chest wound!” She flinched. The Growltit slapped his face.
The Jenny spoke. “We’ll look into your allegations, but I must admit it looks pretty bad for you. If you could give us any information on your secret base it would help the magistrate to be inclined towards mercy.”
Devon just looked at her helplessly. “I haven’t had a secret base since I was four.”
The Jenny shook her head. “We’re done here. Maybe you’ll feel more a bit cooperative tomorrow after you’ve had some more time to rest.”
Time. Devon blinked as the Growltit hauled him back to his feet. “I need to know how long I’ve been unconscious.”
The Growltit laughed. “Got a hot date? Forget it, boy, you’re going to be here a while.”
“I’ve got a problem that needs regular care.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got some good NurseJoys.” The Growltit grinned.
“YOU STUPID BITCH! I’VE GOT TAMER’S DISEASE AND I NEED TO KNOW HOW LONG I’VE FUCKING GOT BEFORE I START RAPING PEOPLE!”
The Jenny waved the Growltit to a halt. “Do you have any idea how often we hear that story? Almost everyone who comes in here has that terrifying unverifiable curse.” Her voice was sad like she’d been disappointed by him somehow.
“Please,” Devon pleaded. “Tell me.”
The OfficerJenny relented. “You’ve been here for almost two days.” She smiled grimly. “So, how long does that give you?”
“I Tamed Tess the night before I came across the accident so I’ve got maybe a day, two at the most.”
The Growltit grinned. “At least this one has an idea how the disease is supposed to progress.” She pulled Devon forwards.
“Call the Harris Conservatory and tell them you have Devon Harris in custody. It’s located not too far from the village of Laird in Highland County. They’ll verify my story.”
The Growltit dragged Devon back to his cell and threw him on his pallet. He slumped dejectedly. Idiots. He pushed himself upright and ran through some calming exercises. His headache slowly subsided.
With nothing else to do, Devon began sawing his cuffs back and forth, putting as much stress as possible on the chain. Probably nothing would happen but it beat counting the minutes until he went insane. He worked at the chain until sleep came to claim him.
The next morning Devon awoke to find that a bowl of cold oatmeal and a spoon had been pushed through a flap in the bottom of the door. His senses seemed preternaturally alert as he ate. He fancied that he could smell the pokegirl who’d brought it on the bowl. After his morning toilet, the Growltit came for him again. “Get up.”
Devon laughed. “Not touching me won’t protect you if my disease kicks in.”
She sneered. “Sorry to burst your bubble but we talked to the Sheriff in Lairg and he says you are a right sorry piece of work and he’s never heard of you having Tamer’s Disease.”
Devon shook his head. “That man doesn’t like me. That’s why I wanted you to call the Conservatory.”
“There wasn’t any need to bother anyone there. The sheriff knows the people there and promised to get in touch with them when he could.” The Growltit gave him a hard look. “Now are you going to walk or am I going to drag you?”
“I’ll walk.” Devon walked to the interrogation room with the Growltit close behind.
The OfficerJenny was already waiting in the room. She gestured him to the single chair again. “Sit.” Devon did as ordered.
“How are my pokegirls?”
“They’re fine.” OfficerJenny looked at him with a little sympathy. “You really seem to care about them.”
“I do.” Devon’s voice was a low growl.
The Growlie chuckled. “And let me guess, if anything happens to them we’re going to find out just how angry you are going to be, right?”
Devon turned his head to look at her. “Do you think you could lay off on the bad cop routine for a while?” He turned back to the Jenny.
“Who do you think I am affiliated with?”
“You are a member of Team Viper.” The OfficerJenny watched him closely for any reaction.
Devon gave her incredulity. “That’s insane. I am just starting out on my pokegirl journey. I’m not a member of any Team Rocket or Viper or any of those losers.”
The Growltit was standing next to him again just behind his peripheral vision. “That’s what we expect your type to say.” She sounded amused.
Devon disagreed. “Actually you should expect those morons to loudly proclaim their allegiance and follow it up with threats if you don’t immediately let them go.”
The Jenny frowned. “You seem to know them pretty well.”
“I have an eidetic memory and members of the various teams have been all over the news.” He shook his head resignedly. “Let’s get the psychic pokegirl in here so you can verify my story.”
The OfficerJenny nodded. “We’ve requested one. She might be here tomorrow or perhaps in a few days depending on where else she might be needed.”
Devon winced. “That will be too late.”
OfficerJenny shook her head. “Drop the Tamer’s Disease nonsense. We’ve already verified you don’t have it.”
“No, you talked to the sheriff of Lairg. It turns out that he’s a man who doesn’t like me very much. I just didn’t realize how much.” He shook his head. “You’d have been better off talking to Molly, his Denmother.”
“Be that as it may, we’ve got some questions for you.” The Jenny’s voice was firm.
Devon gave a resigned sigh. “It’s not like I can refuse. I can almost guarantee that you aren’t going to find the answers to your liking.”
The interrogation lasted for several hours. There was little new information and eventually the frustrated officers returned Devon to his cell with a promise to start up again early the next morning.
Devon was despondent. He now knew that it was going to take a long time for the police to satisfy themselves that he wasn’t part of Team Viper. They were frantic for a break and would be more than willing to bend a few rules to stop that band of ruthless killers. He was going to be here for a long time. He hoped his pokegirls were being taken care of. He’d find them when this was all over. One way or another.
Devon slept fitfully.
When he finally woke up his vision was like he was viewing everything through a wall of crystal while the rest of his senses were hypersensitive. He caught himself sniffing his bowl of oatmeal and realizing it had been handled by the same pokegirl as yesterday. She smelled good.
He spent his time while waiting for the Growltit performing deep breathing exercises. He could beat this with enough inner strength.
He looked at the Growltit as she came into the room and she stopped briefly, nonplussed by the strength of his gaze. Recovering, she waved him forward with a smile. “Didn’t attack me, did you?” She forced a chuckle. “Time for our daily chat.” Devon led the way to the interrogation room. The whole way he knew just where the Growlie was behind him. The same way he knew that only one of the other cells was occupied by a pokegirl.
Devon sat in the single chair uninvited and shuddered. The air was full of the scent of the OfficerJenny and it awoke a roaring in his blood. The Growltit stopped in the doorway and gave him an uneasy look. She shook it off and took up her position to his right and a half meter away. Devon knew where she was so precisely that if his hands were free he could have reached out with his eyes closed and touched her.
A pulse began to pound behind his eyes and his groin tightened. He closed his eyes and sucked air. He could have told how many pokegirls had entered this room within the last day and could have placed the time to the correct hour.
He opened his eyes to find the OfficerJenny looking at him with concern. “Are you well?”
“Don’t you remember? Today Devon is going to show us what a Tamer’s Disease attack looks like up close and personal.” The Growlie’s voice was taut with tension.
The Jenny looked at her. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine,” the Growltit’s reply was curt.
“So yesterday we determined that you don’t know anything about Team Viper.” The OfficerJenny’s summed up the previous day’s questioning succinctly. “I have some bad news for you.”
“What?” Devon’s voice was a low growl.
“It looks like Dr. Monroe is going to live. As soon as he wakes up we’ll have all the evidence we need to put you where you belong.” She gave him a grim smile. “Do you have anything to say now?”
When Devon was silent, the Growltit shook his shoulder. “The lady wants an answer. Say something.”
Devon tried to speak. Unintelligible sound came out of his mouth. He licked his lips and tried again. His mouth formed words but this time no sound came out.
The OfficerJenny watched him closely as he took a deep breath and tried one more time. Nothing.
This behavior was new. This could be what they’d been waiting for. She nodded to the Growltit, who shook Devon harder.
Devon closed his eyes and took a deep lungful of air. Holding it, he opened his eyes. The crystal wall he’d been viewing everything through trembled and splintered into fragments leaving his vision razor sharp. He smiled.
“Run.” Devon spoke the word clearly and then turned and bit the Growltit where she held him. His fangs sank deeply into her arm.
She yelped in surprise and pulled away to stagger against the wall. Her eyes began to glaze as his pheromones invaded her bloodstream through his saliva. Her nipples became erect and she began to get wet.
Devon slid to his feet smoothly and smiled at the thunderstruck OfficerJenny as he twisted his arms and pulled. There was a sharp metallic noise as the chain on his cuffs shattered.
***
Devon stirred and stretched. The pokegirl who was spooned against his chest made an unhappy noise and snuggled her ass back against his groin. He nosed into her hair and breathed deeply. She sighed with pleasure. His eyes popped open as he realized that he didn’t know her scent.
His vision was a sea of pink. Devon pulled his head back and the sea resolved itself into an unruly mop of pink hair. He slowly sat up. The NurseJoy sighed again and curled around the pokegirl in front of her.
Devon carefully looked around the room. He was surrounded by a circle of sleeping pokegirls. This is bad.
Memory flooded back. He remembered biting the Growltit. He remembered standing up and breaking the chain of his cuffs. He glanced at his wrists automatically.
The cuffs were gone.
Devon couldn’t remember a thing from the cuffs breaking until just a minute ago.
He carefully got to his feet and cautiously picked his way through the pokegirls to the door. Each time one of them stirred as he passed, Devon froze until she was still. The worst moment came when one of the sleeping pokegirls tried to curl around his feet. He spent several minutes carefully disengaging without waking her up.
Devon had clear memories of that day in the Conservatory. A DragonQueen who’d been caught up in the frenzy had woken up as he walked by and almost killed him by reflex. She’d been even madder when she found out what had happened.
Devon made it to the door without incident and silently padded down the hall. He could see a few supine bodies in each open doorway that he passed. A police station. Offhand, I can’t think of a worse place. He tried. A Team Viper lab maybe?
Finding no one to surrender to inside, Devon made his way to the entrance and peered out through the glass doors. There was a solid cordon of police and other emergency vehicles blocking the street. Behind them he could see a variety of pokegirls and humans intently watching the building. There were a lot of them.
Devon took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door. Everybody stopped what they were doing and became completely focused on him as he slowly stepped outside.
His mouth twitched as he fought a smile. He was standing here nude and everyone looked terrified. He fought an insane urge to caper and yell.
Devon took a deep breath. “It’s over. Be careful going inside as the pokegirls may respond badly if someone startles them.” He sat down on the step and waited to be taken into custody.
***
“Would you like some more tea?” This OfficerJenny was much more solicitous than the last.
Devon had been very surprised when he hadn’t been taken back into custody. Instead he’d been hustled into a paddy wagon and rushed to the other side of Glasgow to another police substation. Here he’d been offered clothes (He’d turned down the prison jumpsuit they offered first and they’d had to scramble to find him something to wear. They were still looking. His nudity seemed to bother people so he was currently wrapped in an emergency blanket.) as well as some tea and cookies. Devon had politely turned down the cookies and asked for something with protein. They were still looking for that as well. He smiled at the thought that perhaps there was no room in the budget for food and clothing for a sexual monster.
This OfficerJenny was also a good deal more nervous than the last. “Are you all right?”
“Relax. I’m fine. I won’t be a danger for another three or four days.” She didn’t relax.
“We are very sorry that we didn’t believe your claims of Tamer’s Disease.” She sounded sincere.
Devon smiled. Jenny flinched. “You may not realize this but you are in over your head. It is not your personal fault, but I tried to warn the police that I had a serious medical condition that needed urgent care and the police on the scene not only ignored me but if the records are viewed the right way they tormented me about it.” The pokegirl flinched again.
He continued. “This is now a political issue because if the wrong events take place I’m going to shout what happened to the entire world.”
“I’m not politically naïve enough to sign away my rights either verbally or on a sheet of paper.” He smiled gently. “Once again, I do not hold you as an individual responsible for what happened but I do hold the police department of Glasgow as well as the entire civil administration of the city and of this portion of the Blue League responsible for the sad series of events that resulted in my not being treated and thus being the trigger for the events that took place.”
“Sorry about the formal language there. I was speaking for the recording devices that are operating in this room.” She nodded hesitantly. Devon leaned forward slightly.
“There are a few things that I want right now and I’m not relinquishing any of my grievances in doing so. If it would be expected that I give up my grievances in return for any or all of these items, then I will withdraw all of the requests.”
“First of all, I really hope we are done with this nonsense about me being a part of Team Viper or any other nest of lunatics. Secondly, I want my equipment and my pokegirls returned as of yesterday.”
“If I don’t hear from someone with the authority to grant or deny my requests soon, then I’m going to leave.” He smiled. “By the way, soon does not mean I am willing to wait until tomorrow. I’m so mad I can barely see straight, and if some bureaucrat isn’t smart enough to realize just how big a bucket of shit he’s stepped into and clear some time from his busy schedule of useless meetings to meet with me then I’ll take my chances with the media and let the chips fall where they may.”
The OfficerJenny’s eyes had been getting bigger and bigger as he spoke. By this time they were the size of saucers. Devon sighed. OfficerJenny’s were great police, but they were often out of their depth in anything not neatly covered by a law. This one was obviously flustered to hear her bosses described as assholes. Devon decided to take pity on her.
“Why don’t you go get your superior officer? I promise not to leave while you are trying to find where he or she is hiding.”
She flashed him a huge smile of relief and fled the room.
***
“It is unusual to find such political, ah, sensitivity in a man of your tender years.” Brandon Smythe once again set the opening gambit. Devon glanced at him and smiled while still busily chewing his slice of steak. The light of the midday sun highlighted the gray in Mr. Smythe’s hair.
The deputy mayor was of middling age and middling height and middling build and of middling color and was of average attractiveness and all of these things were why he would never be mayor. He knew this of course, but tried to do his job to the best of his ability. Devon could respect that.
The Denmother sitting next to the deputy mayor was in late middle age and wisdom gleamed in her eyes. Her name was Deborah and she was the chief of police.
Mr. Smythe had attempted to start this particular conversation several times this evening, but Devon had stalled him by the simple expedient of constantly eating.
It wasn’t difficult. This was his first meal since the bowl of oatmeal three days ago and he’d expended a great deal of energy in the meantime. He was intent on packing in all the protein he could get and filling in the edges with simple carbohydrates, which explained why a mostly empty jar of peanut butter sat next to the sad remains of three steaks and a couple of empty bowls of bean soup. Several empty glasses of Milktit milk stood vigil over the fallen. The Denmother seemed impressed with the damage he’d done to his meal.
Finally Devon pushed the plate away and answered the deputy mayor. “I had a good teacher.” He’d have to be careful. All he really wanted now was to sleep and he had to keep a clear head.
He carefully picked up the glass of iced water in front of him and sloshed some onto the lap of his new pants. It was cold and felt good.
He looked up to catch the Denmother staring at him curiously. He gave her a wan smile. “I have friction burns and I need to stay awake since Mr. Smythe here and you have been tasked with getting me to admit that you are not at fault and he shows no signs of being willing to let me get any sleep before crossing swords with him.” He looked at Smythe. “You are responsible by the way.” Smythe blinked.
“I realize that this isn’t how the game is usually played but in spite of your attempts to prevent it I have found out that my family is aware of what happened and that our legal representative (Ming Die in this case) is on her way down right now. You are going to have to deal with her no matter what I say. Therefore, I’m not going to say anything, which will keep me from accidentally derailing whatever she’s going to do to you.”
He watched with interest as Mr. Smythe turned completely white.
***
He’d found out after that poor OfficerJenny had rushed out of the room to find her superior. He’d been waiting patiently when the door opened. Looking up, Devon had been stunned to recognize that unruly shock of pink hair even though the face was a total mystery. The NurseJoy came over to him and whispered. “I pulled your records and called the Conservatory. Poppet said to tell you that Ming Die is on her way down and that you are not to say a thing. After she gets here she’ll deal with the responsible parties.”
Devon had been stunned. Not so much at the news as at the fact that this NurseJoy hadn’t slugged him. “Thank you.”
She dimpled. “No problem. Look I have to go. I’m supposed to be on my way home to rest and I think someone will be coming by to check up on me.” Her smile broadened. “So I’ll see you later.”
“OK.” Devon was still nervous. “No hard feelings then?” He waited for her to start pummeling him.
“Don’t be silly. That wasn’t your fault.” She patted him on the shoulder. “If the detectives questioning you had been smart enough to have listened to you when you tried to warn them then this wouldn’t have happened.” She winked. “For me though, this was the best thing that ever happened to me.” The NurseJoy closed the door firmly behind her leaving Devon to his mounting panic.
He was never sure how long he stared at the closed door with the same thought running through his head. I could be in much deeper trouble than I thought when they find out that I alpha bonded one of the police department’s NurseJoys. He was just wrapping his mind around that when the next thought sent his mind skittering in several different directions at once like frightened mice. How many others might I have bonded as well?
***
Devon watched Mr. Smythe slowly regain his color. The Denmother kept her face neutral.
“Since I can’t talk to you about what happened and you don’t really want to talk to me about anything else then I’ve only got one more thing to say before I go find somewhere to sleep.” He tiredly wondered if that NurseJoy could put him up for the night without getting in trouble. He so wanted a bath.
Brandon smiled graciously. “We want to help you to get closure in any reasonable way we can.”
“Have you been waiting all evening to say that?” Mr. Smythe blinked at the acid in Devon’s tone. “I just told you that I’m not going to discuss what happened. And for the record there is no such thing as closure. There is only revenge.”
Deborah spoke for the first time that evening. “What is it that you want, Mr. Harris?”
“I want my equipment back and I want my pokegirls returned to me and I want to get out of Glasgow.” Devon’s voice was grim. “My first visit to your pleasant little town has been just a bit too memorable.”
Deborah flinched as if she’d been struck.
“Yeah, you are starting to see that for some reason I still have just a little bit of residual anger over what happened and that perhaps dealing with Ming Die may be easier than dealing with Ming Die and me.” He gave the deputy mayor a hard look. “No matter how much you try you are not going to deal with me alone,” Devon spat through suddenly gritted teeth. “I trust that I am perfectly clear.”
“We see no reason why you can’t have your perfectly reasonable request.” Brandon was all smiles. “I hope you will communicate our cooperation to this Ming Die fellow as promptly as we move to assist you in the resumption of your journey.”
Deborah cleared her throat and leaned over to whisper into the deputy mayor’s ear. Devon watched as the blood drained from Brandon’s face a second time. Devon thought the man was actually going to faint this time, but it was not to be.
Deborah turned to Devon as she opened her belt pouch. “I anticipated part of your request but I’m afraid that there may be a problem in complying with the whole thing.” She laid some items down on the table in front of Devon.
Devon stared uncomprehendingly for a moment at his Pokejourney belt, his pokedex and his three pokeballs.
He calmly reached out and gathered the items up as he turned to look at the Denmother. He rolled the pokeballs in his hand and tucked them into the belt. He knew each of his pokeballs by feel.
His voice was filled with fury. “Where is Maeve?” He opened up his pokedex as she spoke.
“You will never find her that way. When she was adopted, the records were expunged. That’s the law. No one knows who adopted her except the NurseJoy and she won’t tell. I’m sure she’ll be well taken care of.”
Devon attempted to access Maeve’s records and as Deborah had predicted came up with nothing. He glanced up at her as he shifted modes and accessed the Conservatory mainframe. He worked frantically for a couple of minutes and then looked up again. Deborah actually got out her chair and moved to put herself between Brandon Smythe and the naked hatred in Devon’s eyes.
His voice was quiet and almost conversational. “You are correct in that once a pokegirl is adopted out in a case of cruelty, even if the accusation is completely unfounded, the ownership records under her old name are expunged.” He smiled. “Now let me educate you on a little known fact. When a pokegirl goes into pokecenter for treatment she is tracked by her name and owner’s ID number. Everyone knows that. What isn’t commonly known is that every pokeball has its own unique serial number and that number is tracked separately by the pokecenters and arenas. It’s a little program left over from the days when pokeballs were still being fine tuned. It allowed the pokecenters to give the pokeball manufacturers data on pokeball use and failure rates.”
“It just so happens I can access that database with my pokedex.”
“So while I can’t tell you what happened to Maeve after she was adopted on the day that I went feral, I can tell you that her pokeball was checked into a pokecenter in a nearby community the next day and went through a level five conditioning cycle.”
The Denmother turned white and then red.
Devon continued in a voice of hammered iron. “So while I can’t tell you what happened to Maeve, I can tell you that two days ago one Jason Thornton killed the personality of Kinisha, a Mini Top who just happened to reside in the pokeball that used to house Maeve.”
Devon got to his feet. “Now while I’d love to stay and continue this fascinating conversation about how Maeve has come to terms with her new owner and her life is just oh so much better now, I really think that explaining to the rest of my harem about how their sister is dead should come first.”
“I want the rest of my things returned to me right now. I want your hearts on a plate but that pleasure I’ll have to forgo for the moment. I want Maeve back.” He took a deep breath.
Deborah had thought Devon’s anger was frightening. Now she knew the truly frightening thing was the way it completely disappeared as he swallowed it up. He gave her a broad smile.
“Be seeing you.”