Harris Saga Chapter 19
A line of fire covered the eastern horizon and the bonfires had burned low. All of Devon’s wives except for Zelda were clustered around their husband. Zelda was still curled up in his lap, where she’d cried herself to sleep hours ago.
A few birds were tuning up to greet the day. Devon reflected that the inlet where he, Kathryn, Lamya, Tess and Maeve had killed the Sharptits was a perfect place for the memorial to take place. He hadn’t considered it, but Kathryn had been adamant on this point.
“After Maeve died, the rest of us realized that eventually it would happen again,” she’d told him. “We knew it was just a matter of time, so we made some plans.”
“We are going consign our dead to the loch and have a wake in their memory. It’s what my father’s family has done for generations, and everyone thought it would be a good way to say goodbye.”
And that was what they had done. The remains of several empty bottles and food containers were carefully piled on the beach, and Hatsumi had pressed at least one large cup of hot sake on everyone.
At midnight the weighted bodies had been levitated far out over the water by Ming Die and released to slither out of sight forever. Then each person had recounted a tale of one of the missing. Several stories had featured Maeve.
Devon sat, cradling Zelda. His grief and anger had drained away, leaving emptiness in its place. He treasured the feeling, knowing it was only temporary.
Kathryn slid smoothly to her feet. Tess leaned over and gently shook Zelda as the Ladyien walked to her pack and opened it.
“Wha?” Zelda peered at Tess with bleary eyes.
Tess stroked her cheek. “It’s time.” Zelda nodded and scrubbed at her face as Kathryn removed a wooden box, opened it, and pulled out a small bag. Placing the box on the ground she returned to her family as the girls shifted to allow her to settle down beside Devon.
“Husband, after we lost our first wife, Maeve, we saw how devastated ye were, and while we knew that it was unlikely that she would be our only loss, we hoped that if ye had a memento to remember us by, it would perhaps make our deaths easier for ye to bear.”
“Each of us has given up a lock of her hair, and should the time come, yer alpha has been charged with presenting ye with it.” She met his gaze steadily. “I pray that I never have to do this again, but I fear that I will.”
She laid a thin braid in his hand. “Here is Seraphina.” Another braid was draped across the first. “And here is Vivien. Both of them loved ye very much and hope that we will all be together in the next life.”
Devon stared at the braids for an instant that seemed to last forever and then pain roared through him and he threw back his head and screamed his anger to the sky.
***
Arms wrapped around Devon and he faintly smelled jasmine perfume. “Hatsumi could do this much more satisfyingly for you. Much more satisfyingly than watching Ming Die think at them.”
Devon leaned back against her solid warmth as he watched the base commander, a man named Mark, and incidentally the man Hatsumi had captured trying to flee the base, float into the air in front of Ming Die. “After the memorial, I would really love to watch you crack his head like an egg and devour his brains, and therein lays the problem. You, my dear, walk a very dark road. One that isn’t safe for many others, including myself, to travel.”
“Eventually, all of us poor mortals would break upon that path. I cannot walk it with you and I will not allow you to walk that path alone.”
“I won’t claim to be pure, but I have to be able to look myself in the mirror tomorrow, at least while you and the others insist that I shave.”
The Demon-Goddess chuckled quietly and licked his ear. He continued as a thought struck him. “Besides, if I watched you cram that idiot’s brains into your pretty mouth, I’d have trouble kissing you later.”
Mark slammed to the floor in a boneless heap as Ming Die dropped him. I have stripped his brain dry. We have the information we need now. The pokegirls and Cameron Harris are both going to be brought here. I also have all of the passcodes and recognition signs that he knew.
Devon glanced at the terrified faces of his prisoners as they crouched along the wall of their cell as far from him and Ming Die as they could possibly get.
“Do we need them?”
Not really. I will sift through their minds as well to be thorough, but I do not anticipate any surprises from them. It is as you thought.
They were here to try to locate Sexmet’s lair and try to steal Sphinxes for Team Viper. Mark knew nothing about the source of the leak at the Conservatory and I doubt any of the others will as well.
“Proceed.”
***
Devon looked around at his harem. “As you all know, the plan with the greatest chance of success relies upon Team Viper not realizing that we occupy this base before they can arrive.”
Paulette grinned. “Here we go being sneaky again. I love this man.”
“Ming Die could force the humans to act as her puppets, but she’s informed me that their reaction time would be down and it would probably be fairly easy for anyone who knew them to realize that something was wrong.”
He reflected on the fact that Hatsumi had told him that she could kill and eat one of the prisoners and using her Ingest ability actually become that person for up to twenty-four hours. He was more than mildly repulsed by the idea, but more importantly, they wouldn’t know when they might need her to become one of them, so he’d decided it was a backup plan at best.
“So our best option is for me to Tame a couple of the pokegirls we captured and have them act as our agents. Unfortunately, Taming might not ensure their perfect assistance, should any of them have lingering allegiances with anyone who might show up.”
Kathryn nodded. “The DragonQueen would probably be a good choice. I spoke to her briefly this morning after we returned, and she already is well disposed towards ye, considering that ye saved her life. However ye have one captured pokegirl that should be completely loyal once you Tame her. That would be the Dark Lady.”
Devon shook his head. “She would most likely be too much trouble for any value we could get from her. According to what I know about the Ladys, she’d do her best to supplant you as alpha no matter what I told her. Our surest best bet still lies with the DragonQueen.”
“Are you going to keep the Cheshire?” This from Tess.
Zelda laughed merrily. “You just want a cat to smother with affection.”
“So? It’s not like you are cute and cuddly.”
Zelda bristled.
Kathryn raised a hand to stop the incipient fight. “Devon, if ye were to bring the Dark Lady into the harem, you just need to promise me that ye will stay out of any infighting that might go on.”
Devon gave her a startled glance. “I would be concerned about your safety. You aren’t as tough as she is.”
“Nae, I’m not. I am, however, your alpha and that means something within your harem.” Her gaze swung around the room. “According to yer pokedex, the Dark Lady is forty first level, and I’m a lot lower then that.” She grinned. “However, I have powers that she can never possess.”
“Tess, if I told ye that the Dark Lady was being a bitch and I asked ye and Paulette to beat her to a pulp, would ye?”
Tess grinned maliciously, but it was Paulette that answered. “You speak with my husband’s voice. If you want her beaten, then beaten she will be.” A growl of agreement swept the room.
Kathryn’s eyes sparkled with joy. “She’ll learn her place here, husband. All ye have to do is bring her into the family and then make sure I have access to plenty of healing potions. I’ll teach her what that place is, ye dinna have ta worry about that.” Her voice changed, developing the growl Devon had heard from the others. “And that goes for anyone else we need.”
“All right, then I’ll sit down with Kathryn and Ming Die this evening and we’ll plan out who will be joining the harem. Anyone else who’s got a khukuri to grind is welcome to be there to add her input. The only one that I categorically will not consider is the Slutton.”
“Zelda has been helping me with the computer systems and she found the base roster. It turned out that the Slutton voluntarily joined Team Viper, so she gets basically the same deal that the humans are looking at, since she killed Vivien. She’s going to go though three consecutive level five conditioning cycles and then once I’m satisfied that her personality has been completely destroyed, I’m trading her off or giving her away. Since Sluttons are very rare, perhaps I’ll just gift her to Poppet.”
He gazed around the room with a steely eye. “I presume there are no objections?”
***
Devon stared at the display screen for a moment in sheer disbelief and then exploded. “I DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS!!!” He turned and slammed his fist into the wall with all of his strength. Blood sprayed as his hand shattered. Devon never noticed.
“I AM GOING TO KILL HIM. NO I AM GOING TO ALMOST KILL HIM. I AM GOING TO BRING LETITIA HERE SO I CAN ALMOST MURDER HIM OVER AND OVER AND SHE CAN KEEP BRINGING HIM BACK UNTIL I ACCIDENTALLY KILL HIS TRAITOROUS ASS.”
Blood spattered the walls and a terrified looking Zelda as he waved his arms in fury. “THAT STUPID FUCKING COCKSUCKING BABY EATING SHARPTITS LOVING BASTARD IS GOING TO PAY!!!”
Devon raged out of the com room and down the hall. Blood drops marked his path towards the exit.
Ming Die appeared in the com room and looked at the screen. Hatsumi, Paulette, I need you to come here immediately.
The Demon-Goddess promptly teleported into the room. Paulette appeared a few seconds later.
“What is it?” Hatsumi gave Ming Die a concerned look. “Why is Devon yelling?”
Go with him. Both of you. Hatsumi, you will need to heal his hand. Paulette, I need the two of you to protect him. He is almost completely berserk. Do not let him out of your sight for any reason. I’ve contacted Tess and she will meet you outside. Keep everyone else away from him until he calms down. You three are the toughest and least likely to be injured if he attacks you.
“He might attack us?” Paulette gave Ming Die a startled look.
It is possible. He has only been this way once before and he attacked the pokegirls who tried to stop him. He hurt one of them very severely, and that was with the tiny claws he had then. That was many years ago and he is much stronger and much more dangerous now.
But he did not have a harem then and I calculate a probability of .86 that you will be safe with him.
I am bleeding off as much of his anger as I can, but if I take too much from him then I run the risk of becoming like he is right now. That would be…bad.
You must protect him. In his current state he would not hesitate to take on a Whorizard by himself.
“Hatsumi is going. Come Paulette.” The two pokegirls vanished.
Zelda uncovered her eyes. “What is going on?” Her eyes were wide with fear. “I came up here right after the meeting and found we had a message. I called Devon to watch it and he, well, you know.”
She wiped at the blood on her face. “I am so sorry.”
It is not your fault. It is his. She pointed with her chin at the message.
The man in the screen had continued talking. “…so the examination afterwards showed that the oil manifold had apparently had a small leak for some time and just recently decided to become severe. The entire engine welded itself into one big piece of metal.”
“The other two engines are fine but we are going to have to get the ruined one repaired or replaced. That means we will have to put in at the closest community that has an airport, and, as soon as we know which one that is, I’ll call back.”
“Unfortunately, even though our engines are standard and finding a replacement will be relatively easy, we are going to lose a great deal of time during the swap out, and that doesn’t even count how much we could lose if we can’t convince the repair shop to make us their top priority. We can’t very well use force to make the shop fix us first, as that would give away who and where we were and the Conservatory security force is proving just as resourceful as we feared.”
“When we lost communication with the base at Durness, I sent a team up there and they found that the base had been entered. The agent that we left to watch the base is missing, but he didn’t know anything that they might find useful. It doesn’t appear as if they managed to get anything out of the computers, but that damned Alaka-Wham of theirs is proving entirely too resourceful for my taste.”
“When we take over, I think we will restrict them to Team Viper use only.” He grinned. “Even then, I think we will need to reduce their numbers significantly and that bitch Ming Die will definitely be on the list for elimination.”
His smile became a frown. “So, it looks like we are not going to make it to your location for at least another ten days, and it is entirely probable the delay will be much longer. Go ahead with the transfer of the pokegirls on schedule; however, do not release the video we made of the hostage’s death as we had planned.” He looked thoughtful. “We are getting the cream of the crop of the Conservatory’s pokegirls, but with the delay we may squeeze Poppet for a couple more. I’ll work the idea and get back to you with any changes that I want.”
The frown returned. “And that brings me to my final comment, Mark. If you do not have someone live sitting your com panel when I call back, then when I am through with you, you will consider Ciel’s attentions to be gentle and loving.”
“Lord Crimson out.”
The screen blanked and the Team Viper logo returned. Ming Die gestured at the com screen.
That man was the leak that allowed the Conservatory to be attacked in this manner. That was Cameron Harris.
***
“So are we going to do the Dark Lady now?” Zelda sounded excited. Devon glanced at Tess. Her eyes were bright with the effort of smothering her smile at the Pia’s words.
He shook his head as he gave Zelda an amused look. She was in training to stand guard duty on Devon, which explained why she was here. He didn’t understand why she insisted on wearing the brown wool hooded poncho that she’d found or her claim that she was a “padawan”, whatever that was.
“No, I want to talk to the DragonQueen first of all.” He smiled briefly. “There isn’t going to be a lot of talking when I first meet the Dark Lady we’ve captured.” Tess was suddenly beset by a sudden onslaught of giggles.
Zelda gave her a suspicious look.
“Besides, I’m going to need Ming Die to ensure that she doesn’t teleport away as soon as she gets her bearings.”
He’d picked the dining room as the best place to meet the DragonQueen formally. Kathryn had laid out a small buffet that comprised a selection of sausages and other preserved meats along with some locally produced hard rolls and cheeses. There had also been a platter of fresh fish, but Dima had nicked it as soon as it appeared. Tea, juice and coffee rounded out the selections.
The DragonQueen looked around warily when Devon released her. Her nose twitched at the scent of the food. He gestured towards the buffet. “Fill a plate and have a seat.”
“We’re not allowed to eat with humans.” She glanced towards the buffet. “We’re also not supposed to eat human food. Only Ciel is allowed that luxury.”
Devon smiled. “New management, new rules. I happen to be in charge now, so please tuck in.”
“I won’t get beaten or given to Ciel?”
“You may never see Ciel again. And if I was going to be giving beatings I would have started with Dima when she breezed through here and a plate of fish and a pitcher of tomato juice vanished.” He frowned. “She’s the Baleena you knocked out during our attack.”
“So she’s ok?” The DragonQueen cautiously started filling a plate with sausage. She kept glancing back to make sure she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“Yes, she is.”
“That’s good. I hope not many of your pokegirls died in the assault.”
“Just the two you knew about.” Devon kept a tight rein on his emotions. After all, she’d be on their side after this.
She settled down at the table with her plate. “May I have permission to eat?”
Devon blinked in surprise at the request. “Sure. You don’t have to ask for that permission again.”
“Oh. Thank you.” She started picking at the food. “Did we lose anyone?”
“First of all, you are no longer part of that ‘we’. Second, a Sideviper was killed during the attack.”
“Otthild.” She shrugged. “She was lazy and undisciplined. I always despised her.”
“What happened to Ciel?” The DragonQueen gave him a curious look. “She is considered quite valuable.”
“She was captured and I’ll be getting rid of her as soon as I can. Until then she’ll stay in stasis along with all of the other pokegirls. They can’t cause any more trouble in there.”
“Why am I not there as well?”
“I wanted to talk to you about joining my harem and helping me against Team Viper.”
She looked startled, a forgotten piece of sausage halfway to her mouth. “You wanted to talk to me? You’re not just going to Tame me and bond me to you?”
“My wives would be rather upset at me if I did.” Her incredulous stare brought a smile to his lips as he gestured to his guards. “This is Tess, and the hooded Pia is Zelda. Feel free to get confirmation from them.”
Tess grinned. “Devon isn’t exactly right.” The DragonQueen flinched and looked at Devon, waiting for the explosion. His amused look did not appear to reassure her as Tess continued.
“My lord does not treat his pokegirls the way you are used to. While we might be distressed if he started abusing us and we love him enough to put up with it for a while, we know however that he would never do that.” She smiled at the appalled look she received. “We are his wives and he is our husband. The fact that we are a family defines the relationships we have with each other and none of us, either pokegirl or human, would dream of destroying what we have.”
She gave the stunned pokegirl a stern look. “That also means we are very clannish towards outsiders, so consider well what Devon is offering you. We expect that if you join our family, you will do so wholeheartedly. If not, Kathryn may have you removed.”
“It also means that the position of alpha is not open to the toughest pokegirl. Devon has chosen to retain the authority to select the person for that position and we support him completely. If you would think otherwise, be advised that at least one us is powerful enough that she could crush you without breathing hard, and she will help to defend Kathryn’s position.”
Zelda piped up. “Even if you managed to somehow beat Hatsumi, you would still have to deal with the rest of us, and we fight dirty.”
The DragonQueen glanced at Devon as she unconsciously rubbed her stomach. “If you fight anything like he does, I believe you.”
“What is your name?” Devon sipped at his tea.
“Grusha.”
“I’m going to change your name when you join the harem. Nothing against your current name, but it helps to mark the transition to your new family.”
Grusha shrugged. “If you want to do so then go ahead. Connie picked my name out of a book.”
Zelda grimaced. “So you belonged to the bitch.”
“I didn’t realize you knew her.”
Devon chuckled. “She doesn’t. She just really wants her dead, especially since she now knows that Connie was the one who kicked Seraphina’s head down the stairs.”
A faint look of worry appeared on Grusha’s face. “So she is still alive?”
“For the moment she is. One way or another, though, she’ll be leaving within a day or so. She’ll either be executed or sold into a breeding program.”
“You don’t intend to keep her?”
“Not a chance. I’ve learned that my harem can give me anything that a human woman can and a lot more. Besides, as a rule they are much prettier and softer.”
Grusha ruefully extended an arm, rotating it so her scales gleamed in the light. “Not me.”
Devon gave her a thoughtful look. “Oh, I don’t know. You might present some special considerations, but I suspect that spending time with you could be a great honor on my part as well as a lot of fun.”
Zelda grimaced at Tess. “There he goes again. He’s already figuring out how to Tame her. And tonight was supposed to be my turn.”
Grusha was watching Zelda with surprise. “You are serious.” She turned to Devon. “You want to Tame me?”
“Yes, I do. I only wish I didn’t have to use restraints.” He gave a rueful smile. “I tried to talk Dima into foregoing restraints at one point, but she was insistent. When I pressed the matter she gave me hug with a fraction of her full strength to show me how much she could hurt me without even trying. My back hurt for several days.”
“It’s just I like watching my wives respond, and if they are restrained it takes some of the fun out of it, unless the restraints are there as part of the fun.”
The DragonQueen looked curious. “So was there anything you could do?”
“Actually there was. We made putting on the restraints part of the foreplay instead of the typical ‘let’s put them on and then get it on’ that a lot of Tamers do.”
“Because she can touch me for a good portion of the time we are together, she knows I trust her. It’s also great for me because she has a real thing about physical contact and loves to cuddle and I like to be touched. It’s ended up where I put on the restraints only when I absolutely have to, and I take them off just as soon as possible. Since I’ve three times the strength of a typical human, a lot of the time she’s not in restraints.” He smirked. “She does go into restraints, however, before I will bring her to orgasm. We tried that once, with me going down on her and she jammed my neck pretty badly.” The smirk became a grin. “She was terribly worried about my condition, but frankly I was rather proud that she lost that much control.”
Grusha flushed as his hot gaze met hers. “I like it when my partner enjoys what is going on. In some ways that is more important to me than my own pleasure.”
“I think I’d like to try that.” Her voice was soft.
Zelda grumped quietly to Tess. “There you go. I’m sleeping alone tonight.”
Tess gave her a wink. “So am I. Perhaps we could sleep alone together.”
Zelda blinked slowly, and then smiled.
***
“Am I part of your harem yet?” The DragonQueen slid on top of him and ground her groin against his. Devon felt himself stir anew. She giggled.
“Yes. Do we need to get the restraints again?”
She nuzzled his neck. “Maybe.” She flopped down on top of him and pressed her lips against his and spoke. “Aren’t you going to give me a new name now?”
“Your new name is Bellona.”
She considered it briefly. “Does it have any significance?”
“Bellona was the name of a Roman goddess of war. According to the history books I have, she was present before Mars ever came into their pantheon. I thought it might be appropriate for you.”
She smiled slowly. “I like it.” She licked his face with long slow swipes.
“What are you, some kind of cat?”
“I just like the way your sweat tastes.” She licked his neck and started on his chest. He squirmed.
“That tickles!”
She looked up at him, her eyes hungry as she slowly dragged her tongue over his nipple. “We are going to need those restraints.”
***
Lamya settled down in Devon’s lap. “You wanted to talk to me?” She wriggled and smiled. “Is talking all you wanted to do? I think I may have been a bad girl, and I know how you feel about that.”
“Of course you know how I feel right now. I feel hard as rock from what you are doing. Stop that.”
She laughed throatily. “Yes, my husband.” She slid her hips in a slow circle until she was comfortable and he was throbbing. She gave him a seductive smile. “What do you want?”
Devon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I should spank you.”
“Yes, but will you?”
Devon tried to focus on the task at hand. “I have a present for you.”
Lamya perked up. “A present? Really? For me? I like presents.”
“I think a little bit of explanation is in order first.”
She frowned petulantly. “I disagree, present first, then explanation.”
“Well, since I’m giving you the present, you will just have to be patient for a few minutes.”
“Ok.” She gave him a serious look. “Oh, I think I should warn you that Zelda is in a crabby mood.”
“Do you have any idea why?”
“She was upset about last night, you know with Bellona taking her turn, and now she’s upset because she thinks you are going to tame the Dark Lady tonight.”
He snorted. “That is a job for in the morning and the little torture chamber we have in the basement. I’m already not looking forward to having to systematically rape a pokegirl to bring her into the harem, and I’m damn sure not going to do it in my bed.”
“It might be a good idea to make sure that Zelda knows this.”
“I’ll take care of it. Thanks for the warning.”
She kissed him sensuously. “We all work together to keep our family happy. So, what is my present?”
“Ming Die and I were talking the other day and she asked me if the Institute had ever reported you as Thresholding. We checked and they hadn’t. In fact they reported you missing.”
She grimaced. “By reporting me lost and possibly dead they could get a replacement for me without losing the grant money that came with my research fellowship. Crafty. Despicable, but crafty. Are you going to turn them in?”
Devon grinned lazily. “Perish the thought. Instead I took advantage of the fact that you are still considered human to arrange this little gift.” He gave her a mock glare. “Understand this, you sexy Enchantress you. I am not now or ever giving you up. This in no way is an excuse for you to take off on your own. You are still my pokegirl, no matter what the Blue League records say. Do you understand me?”
She looked hesitant. “I understand that you don’t want me to leave, and the sentiment is adorable, but I don’t understand why you are going to all of this. I know you are my Tamer, and so does the rest of the world.”
“Ah, but that is where you are wrong. Thanks to the greed of the Institute, you are still documented as human.”
Lamya blinked. “A technicality. I am a pokegirl.”
“Yes, but technicality can be a very useful tool. For example, as a human, you cannot fight in a pokegirl battle, except in special circumstances. That won’t stop me from using you in a fight, because anyone who sees you come out of a pokeball will know right away that you are a pokegirl.”
“However, there will be times when people will meet you and not know you are a pokegirl. And that is where my gift comes in.” He handed her a bundle wrapped in a layer of silk cloth. “Remember, you are still my wife and I’m not going to give you up.”
She started to unwrap the bundle and paused suddenly. Looking up, she gave him a worried look. “Are you going to get in trouble over whatever is in here?”
He shrugged. “It has that potential, but I think the results are worth the risks. If anything really bad happens, we’ll just flee the Blue Continent and go somewhere quieter. This sort of thing is in the works in a couple of other places, so eventually it may come to the Blue Continent. If not, then we move. You are definitely worth that.” He met her eyes squarely. “There are certain things that I know you have missed since you became a pokegirl, no matter how bad you are from time to time.” They shared a smile. “This will help you to cope with some of those things, and in the long run I think a lot of good will come out of this, not only by the use you will put that to, but by the very fact that you have it.”
“Now I know I have no idea what it is and I’m a little worried that it will bite me when I open it.”
“Go on. I hope that it will make you happy.” He gave her a smile. “If you hate it then we’ll pretend I never gave it to you and I’ll take you shopping for some expensive jewelry.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “Ok, I trust your judgment.” She unwrapped the gift and stared at it as her mouth dropped open.
“I thought you might respond that way.” A grin flickered across his features. “I took the test and Ming Die had the results back dated.” He smiled as she lifted the pokedex and opened it. Her eyes lit up as it verified her DNA and turned on. “According to the records, Lamya Harris has been a Tamer for several months now, almost since the day she left the O’Malley Institute.” She lifted up the belt and pulled out one of the six empty pokeballs. “You can even start catching pokegirls if you want.”
She jerked up to stare at him. “But… I really like being with you, Devon. Girls are ok when you aren’t around, but they are no substitute for you.” She shrugged. “Besides, I don’t know the first thing about keeping pokegirls.”
“I’ll teach you if you want, and I and the rest of your family would be happy to help if you caught a pokegirl or two. You are not alone in this. I really wanted this so I wouldn’t be the only one with a pokedex. I’ll synch mine up with yours and that will give you all of my data.” He gave her a brief smile.
“We may even be able to get you your first pokedex update credit. You can file the report on Vivien’s unusual abilities and method of acquiring them as a hearsay report. That means my name won’t get mentioned and I don’t have to admit to what happened. I just don’t want to have to deal with the Blue League’s ire at my skipping several steps, even though that abusive idiot did deserve to die.”
Lamya looked at the pokedex for a long moment and then slowly shut it. She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss. “I am very grateful for this gift, husband.” She sighed and leaned her body against his. “It means a lot to me. Thank you very much.”
***
“You know what I like the most about this?” Devon made a noncommittal noise. “I really enjoy the Taming with you, but I think the thing I missed most of all was curling up on your chest and listening to your heartbeat.” She looked up at him. “Does that sound ridiculous?”
“It isn’t ridiculous, Zelda. I happen to enjoy curling up with you too. The Taming is important, both to keep you from going feral and to keep me from attacking random females, but this, the time we can spend together is what builds a relationship. I think it may be the most important part of the time I spend with each of you.”
She sighed and stuck her nose in his armpit. “I really like the way you smell.”
“You know, we spent a part of yesterday talking with Bellona. She wants to fit in pretty badly and after hearing her talk about her previous master, I understand why.”
“Tess already has plans to get her to take over the training in the harem, since Ming Die has verified that she is truly loyal to us.” She raised her head to look at him. “Did you really tell Hatsumi to test everyone for magical ability and make anyone who can do some magic learn healing spells?”
“Yes, I did. I want everyone who can cast them to have access to healing magic. Even though it would not have saved Seraphina’s life, there is a remote chance that Vivien could have been saved. Regardless of that, however, it is a good idea in general. The more healing we have access to, the better chance we have of surviving combat as well as gym battles.”
He grimaced. “And, let’s face it, we need the healing more for combat, and so far we’ve only participated in one gym battle.”
Zelda grinned and licked his side. “I thought Karen said you’d been in two battles.” He just glared. “Anyway, Bellona wants to fit in, so we questioned her on the others that you want to bring into the harem and she gave us a lot of information on Portia.”
“Who?”
“She’s the Dark Lady you are going to Tame this morning. Her name is Portia.” She sat up and crossed her legs. “You do know that you are going to have to Tame her and humiliate her at the same time.” She rubbed his chest. “Deep down you have a gentle soul.” She stuck her ear against his ribs. “I can hear it!” She rotated her head to look up at him. “Are you sure you are up to this?”
“I’ve got no choice. Kathryn is right. With her loyalty, Cameron shouldn’t expect a thing until it is too late.”
“Well, that was why we were questioning Bellona. She thinks you are doing the right thing and she shared a lot of information about Portia’s likes and dislikes.”
Devon propped himself up. “Oh, really?”
“Uh huh. I made a list and I recorded the entire conversation. It’s in the base computer.” She looked at him shyly. “I hope that will be of use to you.”
He smiled and pulled her into his lap. “You have done a wonderful thing and may have made my job a lot easier.”
She snuggled against his chest. “Now no more Taming this morning,” she cautioned. “You need to save that for Portia.” Devon snickered. “What?”
“The first thing I’m going to do is taunt Portia about her name.” He grinned. “It means pig. A Dark Lady named for a pig.”
Zelda’s laughter echoed around the room with his.
***
Devon flexed his gloved fingers inside the brass knuckles. I will keep her from teleporting away while you destroy her spirit. Once you start your attack, you must not ever give her a single moment in control or you will have to start the whole sequence over.
“I remember. We’ve discussed this thoroughly. I know that I won’t kill her and she and I are about the same strength, so I don’t have to hold back. I’ve got a pile of healing potions in case I hurt her too badly or she manages to injure me.”
Excellent. Now hold still. Devon felt movement over his neck and back. There, that will make it harder for her to get a hold of you. Feeling behind him, he realized that his hair had been tightly braided.
“How did you do that so quickly?”
I have very fine control over my telekinesis. Ming Die gave him an arch look. Very fine control. I’ll give you a private demonstration one of these days.
“Stop distracting me.” A feeling of amusement washed over him. He focused on the task at hand.
After I release her, give her a couple of seconds to recognize you from before. It helps that the only time she’s seen you was when you and Paulette beat her into unconsciousness. I’ll let you know the best instant to proceed.
Devon squared his shoulders “Do it.”
Red light flared and the Dark Lady took shape. Devon quickly moved to stand squarely in front of her. Her eyes met his and he watched as she remembered him. Her eyes became molten pits as fury appeared in them. Now. Her mouth opened.
Devon smashed her in the pit of the stomach with all of his strength. She flew backwards with a strangled noise as the air was driven from her lungs. “Hey, piggy.” He stepped forward and caught her with an uppercut to the chest. She crashed into the wall behind her and staggered forward. He hit her again and again, methodically raining blows on every piece of soft tissue he could reach. Blood spattered the floor, walls and ceiling. He split the skin over her cheeks and pulped her nose and lips. Finally she lay in a broken, bleeding heap at his feet.
He took a deep shuddering breath and wiped at the blood on his face. As he bent down to pick Portia up, black scaled hands joined his. He glanced up at Bellona. Her eyes glinted with satisfaction. “That was very efficient. Is any of that blood yours?” She held the Dark Lady as Devon ripped her gown off.
“No. I never gave her the opportunity to fight back.”
She nodded as Devon reached for the manacles. “Very well done. I’ll take care of that. You will probably want to clean up for the next step.” She smiled. “I remember when Mark Tamed her. He couldn’t do it himself, so he had Ciel and I do it, even though I didn’t belong to him. I can see that you won’t need that kind of help.” She started chaining Portia up. “While your harem is determined to protect you, I am glad to see that you will be able to defend yourself while we are coming to your rescue.” She glanced up at him. “Do you want me to heal her at all?”
“Just enough close up the wounds. Don’t give her enough to heal the bruises. I want her to see those until they heal on their own.” The DragonQueen nodded.
“That will help a great deal.” She looked up at him again as she stood, jerking Portia into position to slide into the harness. “May I ask a question?”
“Sure. Always feel free to ask me anything. I may refuse to answer or tell you that this isn’t the right time, but I’ll never punish you for trying to understand something.”
“Since you have all of these potions, including a couple of ones almost powerful enough to bring the dead back to life, why do you need the surgical kit?” She gestured towards it. “It isn’t big enough to really do any good.”
“That isn’t a surgical kit, it’s a piercing kit.” He shrugged and started stripping the equipment from his hands. “Dark Ladys have a quirky personality. Once I break her to my will, she’s going to be almost slavishly loyal to me, but still aggressive towards others. According to the literature she’ll see me as some kind of evil warlord.”
“That is the way she treated Mark, but there was always a hint of condescension in it, as she knew he couldn’t have Tamed her without help. If fact, she often referred to both Ciel and me as Mark’s lackeys.” She poked at the bone glinting on Portia’s cheek and licked her finger clean. “She is unlikely to think that way about you.”
“Well, the aggressiveness towards others that she’s likely to manifest is a matter of some small concern to me, and since I’m not into casual violence, I had to come up with another way to work with her problems.”
“So, I’m going to treat her like an aristocratic evil warlord would. I’m going to pierce one of her ears and put a pretty emerald stud I’ve had for a while in the hole. It will be a sign of my favor. If she pisses me off then I’ll take it back and she’ll know she’s screwed up.”
“It’s a fairly typical method of reward and punishment. As a proud evil lackey, she should respond well to it.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Bellona sounded honestly curious.
Devon gave her a grim smile. “I said I’m not into casual violence, but I understand that having a Dark Lady in my harem is a serious responsibility and I’m committed to making this work. If she misbehaves and this method doesn’t work, then I will beat her over and over until it does. If I’m the boss, then I decide what she’s happy with or not.”
“Can you do that? If you don’t like casual violence then you may not be able to keep up the discipline required to bring her into line properly.”
He gave her a thoughtful look. “You ask good, thought provoking questions. I like that. I think I’m going to suggest to Kathryn that she make you her beta. The harem is getting big enough that she could use a full time assistant and you might be an excellent choice.”
Bellona bowed her head. “That would be quite an honor, my lord.”
Devon shook his head. “No, it’s not.” She looked up at him with a faintly puzzled look. “It’s a lot of extra work and responsibility, and sometimes you are going to have to give up the things you want to do because someone else needs help. You don’t like it, but it is a part of the job.”
“That is what I agreed to do when I decided to bring Rhiannon into the harem.” He smiled. “That’s going to be her new name. Anyway, I agreed to bring a pokegirl into my family who has some special needs and hers lie in the direction of needing a firm and controlling hand. I will do whatever is necessary to give her what she needs, because I’m not going to let anyone in my family down.” He shrugged again. “She just has to learn to do what I tell her when I tell her. I won’t hurt her more than I have to, but I won’t hurt her less than she needs me to in order to ensure that the message is understood.”
“It’s just a good thing that I can make a lot of this sexual in nature, especially as she settles into her new role and I can start rewarding her more often.” He gave Bellona a direct look. “And I’m going to need your help and the help of the rest of the harem. Kathryn can order her punished, since she is my alpha, and if you become my beta then you will be able to as well. But I want to do the majority of controlling her and I would prefer to be the only one who rewards her, especially in the beginning. There can be only one evil warlord, and I’m it. So when someone sees her screwing up, I want to know about it right away so that I can deal with it.”
Bellona tapped her khukuri with a talon. “Are you going to give her one of these?”
“I am, but only after she earns it. Rhiannon is going to have to earn everything, at least in the beginning. I’m even trying to decide if she is going to have to earn the right to wear clothes, since I understand that Dark Ladys don’t like to be nude. Of course, even when I allow her clothing, I will exercise a great deal of control over her wardrobe and if she screws up I’ll take her clothes away.”
Bellona nodded. “You seem to have a good idea of what needs done. Now let me finish getting her ready for you to Tame and you go clean up. Taking the time to make yourself clean while she remains bloody will help to underscore how beneath you she is.”
Devon smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks.” He glanced at Ming Die and gave her a kiss as well. “Please explain to Bellona what I have planned.”
Bellona is right. Go and get cleaned up. Everything will be taken care of and when you return the Dark Lady will be ready for you to Tame. By the by, I agree. She shows all of the signs of being an outstanding beta, and you are right in your conclusion that the harem will need one soon. In addition, showing her this trust will cement her loyalty.
Devon focused his mind. I know. I’m just glad she’s so capable.
***
“Devon!” He turned from where he’d been talking with Paulette and Lamya just in time to get swallowed up in a furry hug. His bones creaked. “I’ve missed you so much!”
“Jennifer, how nice to see you. Um, could you let me breathe?” She relaxed her grip slightly. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Lamya holding Paulette’s arm and whispering urgently to her. That made sense, considering that Paulette had never met Jennifer before and she probably thought Devon was being attacked.
Jennifer rubbed her whiskers against his nose. “Are you happy to see me, husband?”
“Indeed I am, but you know that it isn’t really safe to be with me. That is why we agreed that it would be best for you to go with Sexmet.”
There was a throaty chuckle from behind Jennifer. “See, even he agrees with me.”
Jennifer snorted and turned without releasing him to reveal Sexmet watching them with an amused look. “I’m an adult and I can choose where I want to be and who I want to be with.” Devon locked eyes with Sexmet and she gave a tiny shrug as if to admit the validity of Jennifer’s statement.
“Jennifer, do you acknowledge the fact that you are my wife and a member of my harem?” He continued when she nodded. “So you want to do what is best for everyone involved. That means you have to stay with Sexmet, because I can’t guarantee your safety if you are with me.”
“Your presence in the harem with me is a danger to you and it is a danger to us.”
She sighed and rubbed her cheek against his. “I know. But I wanted to see you so much. Sending you messages just isn’t the same. Can I stay for a little while?”
Devon smiled when Sexmet gave a brief nod. “I don’t see why not.” He peeled her arms off of him and took her hand. “This is Paulette, and she’s one of your sisters.”
“Paulette, would you please take Jennifer to Kathryn. She’ll know where to set her up with some quarters during her stay.” He turned his attention back to the young Sphinx. “Since I didn’t know you were coming, I’ve got a few things I have to finish up, but I should be able to get free in an hour or so. Until then, why don’t you go spend some time catching up with the harem gossip?”
A huge grin threatened to split her face. “Great.” She grabbed Paulette’s arm. “Lead on. And I want to know all about you.” With a bemused air, Paulette took her away.
Devon turned to Sexmet. “Lady Sexmet, without sounding disrespectful, do you think that bringing her here is wise?”
“No, I don’t, and I didn’t bring her here.” She patted him on the arm. “My child mastered teleportation yesterday and this was her first solo attempt. I came along and tried to talk her out of if the whole way.”
Devon grimaced. “So she is still bonded to me. I thought you were going to find her someone to bond to at your residence.”
“I was and I did.” Sexmet gave him an exasperated look. “Somehow she’s as stubborn as you are. I think you may be contagious. She kept prating on about how she already has a husband and none of my choices are good enough to replace you. She’ll use them to stay sane, but no more.” She fixed him with a steely eye. “I am starting to believe in this mystical power Hatsumi ascribes to you.”
“Not you too,” Devon groaned.
“Jennifer intends to keep a close eye on you and when your harem is strong enough to protect her, she’s going to come back.”
We will do strange and dangerous things for love. Ming Die walked around the corner.
“I know you. What would you know about love?”
Not much, but I am starting to learn. She is in little danger here and her presence may be useful. She smiled at Sexmet. You may wish to stay as well, at least for dinner. We are having lasagna. Several different types will be available.
Sexmet’s ears pricked. “Lasagna? I haven’t had any pasta in years and you obviously remember how much I like it.” A faint smile appeared. “You strike a hard bargain, but I’ll stay.” She cocked her head. “I don’t suppose any of them will have fish?”
Devon grinned. “I have a Baleena in my harem. Trust me; Dima will make sure that there will be one or more seafood lasagnas present at dinner.”
The Legendary licked her lips. “Well, well. How about milk?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
She grinned. “Maybe my daughter isn’t completely wrong about you.”
Ming Die gave her a suspicious look. At least for this visit, please remember that your invitation specifies BYOT.
“You aren’t being a gracious host.” She smirked. “I won’t be giving you a favorable write up in any travelogues.” Her smirk vanished and her head cocked. “Wait a minute, you did say it was just for this visit, right?”
Yes.
“All right then.” She turned her attention to Devon. “So where is the bathroom? This majestic powerful being has got to take a piss.”
Lamya chuckled. “I’ll show you.” They went off together.
Devon frowned at Ming Die. “What the hell is BYOT?”
She gave him her first genuine smirk. Bring Your Own Tamer. Devon just stared.
“Oh good god.”
***
The pokegirl’s ear flicked and then straightened. She muttered to herself, “I should have known Wilhelm would abandon me too.” She gazed disinterestedly at Devon. “So who are you?”
“I’m Devon.” He smiled. “Please, sit.” He gestured at the table, where a covered tray sat. She settled down in the indicated chair, her black and white striped fur at odds with the red and white colors Team Viper favored. Her nose lifted, scenting the air. “May I ask your name?”
“Kaya.”
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to change your name later.” She shrugged.
Devon tried a cautious smile as he stood. “I’m only going to walk over and uncover the tray, as a good host would. It’s your dinner.”
She eyed him briefly. “What, are you afraid that I’m going to attack you? That my violent tendencies will come to the fore and your guard won’t be able to get to you in time?” Paulette stirred but remained silent.
Devon smiled slightly. “No, it’s just that I’ve learned from painful experience that startling a pokegirl can result in serious injury, and from talking with Bellona, I mean Grusha, I understand that all of the pokegirls here were a little jumpy from having been given to Ciel every time they blinked without permission.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “No one needed a reason to turn us over to Ciel’s tender mercies. They did it just to amuse themselves, or to keep Ciel from going after their own tender hide. Since I wasn’t important, I got to spend a lot of time with her.”
“I promise you that will never happen again.” He uncovered the platter, revealing a plate full of fried fish and potatoes. Her nostrils widened as she took a deep breath. “Bellona told me that you used to get into trouble for stealing these fish from the kitchen, so I hoped that meant you liked them and weren’t merely taking them to aggravate someone.” He put the cover down and returned to his seat. “Please, tuck in.”
Kaya picked up a piece of fish and popped it into her mouth with obvious relish. “Why are you trying to be nice to me?” She frowned and picked up a fork, dangling it between two fingers. “Did you intend for me to use this?”
He shrugged. “You can use it if you want to. For fish I often don’t bother.” Kaya dropped the fork and took some more fish. “As for your first question, I want to talk to you about joining my harem, and I’m hoping that feeding you dinner first will put you into a more receptive mood.”
She shrugged and waved a piece of fish in his direction, scattering crumbs across the table. “So you give me your leftovers. So what?”
“Those aren’t leftovers.” Paulette sounded outraged.
“They aren’t? Then what is this fabulous repast?”
“We had lasagna for dinner, not that. Devon and Kathryn made that just for you.” She glared. “After Bellona said you liked fried fish, they went out and got the fish and prepared it just the way you like it.”
“And just so you know, I’m not here because Devon is afraid you are going to attack him. I’m here because he gets into trouble if he’s left alone so the harem makes sure he has a guard all of the time.”
Devon sighed. “Gee, that sounds so much better.” He glanced at the ceiling and shook his head. “I think I’d rather she thought I was afraid of her.”
“You’re serious. Is he that much of a klutz?”
Paulette grinned suddenly. “No, he just tends to pick fights with strange pokegirls. He wins most of them, but we’re just tired of cleaning up his blood afterwards.”
Devon just put his head in his hands. “I really don’t think you are helping me.”
The Nogitsune looked interested for the first time. “No, I want to hear this. He gets into fights with pokegirls and wins?”
Paulette smiled. “That is how I entered the family. He maneuvered me into agreeing to fight him one on one, with no special powers, and he won. Afterwards I begged him to let me join his harem, and after a little bit of persuasion on the part of another member, he agreed.”
“What kind of pokegirl are you?”
Paulette smiled. “I’m a Neo Iczel.”
“And he beat you in a fight?” Kaya looked incredulously at Paulette.
“No, he defeated me in the fight. He beat me before the fight ever began by using my ego to get me to agree to his terms of combat. That was why I begged to join his harem, because he used my emotions against me and no one else had ever managed to do that. I’d never seen emotional judo before.” She looked at Devon proudly. “I think that was the smartest decision I’ve ever made.”
Kaya snickered suddenly as Devon squirmed uncomfortably. “Look at him, he’s blushing.” Devon grew redder.
Paulette glanced at her husband and then back at the Nogitsune. “He’s humble, too. Look, I realize that you are not me, and you don’t know what I know. However, if I was you and I knew what I know, I would jump at the chance to join Devon’s harem.”
“Perhaps, but I am me and I don’t know whatever it is you know.” She leaned forward curiously. “Why would you, if you were me, want to join his harem?” She picked up another piece of fish. “I mean, besides the fact that someone in it is a good cook.”
“Devon will train you and fight you. He will also go out of his way to protect you and give you almost everything you might need.” She gave him a fond glance. “I would lay down my life for him, and I know he would do the same for me.”
“It sounds too good to be true.”
“I know. If I had known what I was trying to get into, I would have been terrified. But, you know, I would have fought even harder to join. This isn’t a harem. Like I mentioned before, it is a family. Devon is my husband and I am his wife. For us those are not just words, they actually mean something.”
“That is pretty tempting bait to dangle in front of me.”
“Then take it. Go with Devon and let him bring you into the family. If you don’t like it, I’m sure he’ll let you leave.” She grinned. “Of course, since I can guess how you’ve been treated, you just might want to stick around long enough to see what he’s planning on doing to Ciel.”
“I’d only care if you could guarantee me that the whore was going to die.” She looked at Devon. “Is she?”
Devon shook his head. “I was planning on getting rid of her, either by sale or trade.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Do you hate her so much, then?”
“I want her dead. I got to spend a lot of time in her hands and she did terrible things to me.” Kaya’s eyes were hot with hate.
Paulette gave Devon a worried look. “No, Devon. I know that look and whatever you are thinking the answer had better be no.”
“I’ll offer you a deal. You join my harem and I’ll let you kill Ciel. If you want assistance, I’ll help.” He turned to Paulette. “You do not make these decisions for me. Your job is to keep me out of inadvertent trouble, but I have never given anyone in the harem any power to make decisions for me.”
Paulette sighed. “Yes, husband. But can we bring Letitia here so she can actually treat you right after you get injured, or are you going to make us wait until you are unconscious and unable to stop Kathryn from ordering Hatsumi or me from getting her?”
Devon just gave her a look. She shook her head. “After unconsciousness it is.”
Kaya shook her head. “Ciel is a valuable pokegirl. She’ll either get you a good trade or a goodly amount of money. I’m nothing. Just a Nogitsune. You do know what that means don’t you?”
“Yeah, it means that if you decide to wear panties you won’t need a tail hole.”
Kaya looked at him incredulously and suddenly burst out laughing. “You are weird. I’m trouble. Just ask anyone. I don’t obey orders and I pick fights within the harem. I will try to monopolize your time. In short, I am what everyone doesn’t want in a harem.”
Devon smiled. “No, what everyone doesn’t want in their harem is a Neo Iczel and a Demon-Goddess at the same time. But that is exactly what I have.” He shrugged. “Just don’t expect me to go looking for a Shaguar just so everyone can really see just how insane I am.”
“I want you in my harem. I think you would be a valuable addition and I think I would enjoy learning what you like in bed. My offer to help you kill Ciel stands, if you want her dead. It can be in a fair fight or you can hack her head off while she’s tied up.”
Kaya jumped to her feet and rushed over to Devon. “Done.” She spat in her hand and held it out. Devon got to his feet and spat into his own hand.
“And done.” He took her hand firmly.
***
Devon stared at the small box with undisguised loathing as it sat innocently on the desk in front of him. He didn’t hate the box and its contents as much as what it represented. He’d retreated to the base commander’s office to try to deal with his emotions, and so far he was failing miserably.
His reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Devon?” Lamya’s voice sent his emotions again careening out of control. “Are you in there?”
He took a deep breath and squelched the fear that came from suspecting why she was looking for him. “Come in.”
She came in and carefully shut the door behind her. His anxiety grew as he realized that she was nervous, and he fought to keep any sign of it off of his face.
“Can we talk?”
Ice spread through his body. “Of course.” Sudden realization spread warmth that chased the ice away. It wasn’t really so bad. No matter what was said here, no one was really going to die. He’d lived through worse and he could live through this. They all would. He held onto that thought desperately, hoping it would bring him calm. After a fashion it did.
Lamya settled down on the couch that dominated one wall. “Well,” she began hesitantly, “I’ve been thinking.” Her face twisted suddenly. “I don’t know how to do this.”
She still needed him. Even if it was only to open the topic that she wanted to discuss. That thought brought him the strength that would carry him through this. Even with what was happening, she still needed him. He took a deep breath and felt the fear leave as he exhaled slowly.
“It’s ok. I know why you are here.”
She favored him with a confused look. “I don’t see how that could be possible.”
“You are leaving.”
Her dark skin paled. “How did you…”
“Ming Die has been spending some time teaching me and Zelda more about computers. I wanted to learn about hacking and Zelda thought it would be fun.”
“It turns out she’s quite good, and she’s been practicing her skills on the base computer. So when she found out that you were evaluating places in the Orange Islands along with the pokegirls we captured here, I figured out fairly quickly what was going on.”
“What do you think about the idea?”
“It hurts.” He pushed at the box. “It hurts a lot.” He raised his eyes to meet hers. “But I know that this is what you want, and that is vastly more important to me than what I want.”
“Devon, science has been my entire life until recently and I thought that it ended when I became a pokegirl. When you took me into your harem, you wouldn’t let me close that door completely. Every day I watched you making your entries in your pokedex and I wanted so badly to have that. Over the months I came to terms with it, until you gave me this.” She hefted the pokedex at her belt. “Then it all came back.”
“I want to stay with you. These months have been some of the absolute best in my life. But I want to DO something with my life. I can still be a Tamer for a couple of years and then I can settle down and be a researcher.” She looked at him desperately. “With you.”
“But until then I want to see if I can do this on my own.”
Devon moved to the couch. “Who do you want to take?”
Lamya sagged in relief. “I’ve looked through the pokegirls that we have, and I thought I could take the Slicer, Xifeng and the Cheshire, Morgan.” Her voice got small. “And Dima wants to come with me.” Devon flinched. “I don’t have to take her!”
“No, it’s ok. I guess she wants the ocean, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. She misses it.”
“Then it would be better if she were with you.” He made little circles on the floor with his boot tip. “Anyone else?”
“No.” She grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.” He squeezed her hand. “If you need to do this, then do it. Only I want you to do it right. Have you picked your alpha?”
She shook her head. “Dima doesn’t think she can do it and I don’t know the others very well yet.”
Devon smiled for the first time. “May I suggest that you ask Tess? She likes you and she’ll enjoy spending time with the Cheshire. And you can always trust her to give you good advice.”
“I can’t take her. She’s yours.”
“I didn’t say take her. I said ask her. That lets her make the decision. If she’s not interested, she’ll say no.”
“What are you going to tell her when she comes to ask you about it?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
Lamya looked at him uncertainly. “I thought I did.” She nodded firmly. “Yes, I do.”
“I’m going to tell her that I don’t think you can make it on your own right away and that I trust her to keep you safe while you are learning to take care of yourself.” He looked back at the floor. “I’m also going to tell her that losing both of you will break my heart and that I’m going to be marking the days until you and she are back.”
Lamya’s response was lost when there was a tremendous crash outside that shook the hall. Devon frowned and looked at Lamya. She shrugged in answer to his unasked question. The two of them moved to the door and Devon stuck his head out.
Rhiannon was picking herself up off the floor. She was nude and water ran off her body in rivulets to pool on the floor. Her ankle length red hair spilled around her. The bruises which covered her body in various shades of blue, purple and yellow gave her an almost dappled look and blood trickled down her face as she glared at Hatsumi. Kathryn and Paulette stepped into view, followed by Bellona.
Everyone froze when they saw Devon. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Kathryn. “Is this something I should be concerned about?” Bellona started to quietly edge back down the hallway, only to freeze when Devon fixed her with his gaze.
“I dinna think ye would have to be troubling yerself about this. Rhiannon and I were merely discussing what I meant when I told her to do something promptly.”
Devon watched Hatsumi as she licked her nails clean while Kathryn talked. She gave him a slight smile.
“Oh, I see. Try not to break anything, will you please. I don’t know if they’ll send repairmen out this far and I don’t know the first thing about plumbing.” Bellona’s mouth dropped open.
“Aye, husband.” Kathryn looked at Paulette. “Take her outside so we can finish our chat.”
Devon shut the door and turned to Lamya. “Where were we? That’s right, we were talking about Tess, and the fact that I really recommend you asking her to be your alpha.”
“In addition, I have a couple of gifts for you.” Devon picked up the box from the desk. He opened it to reveal two single use subcutaneous injectors. He pulled one out and held it up. “In here is the latest anti-capture chip that exists. It is so new that it isn’t even available for sale, and when they come out with a new one, I’ll get it for you as well.”
“Now this one is non-negotiable. You are going to need this chip.” He put the injector back and picked up the other. “You get to decide if you want this one. It is not quite a standard chip.”
Lamya shook her head. “The first one wasn’t quite standard, either.”
“No, but this one is a locator beacon chip that only activates when I query it. Nobody else will ever know it exists.” He smiled. “If you take it, it means that I will be able to drop in on you from time to time.”
Her eyes brightened. She turned around and grasping the bottom of her choli, quickly pulled it off, offering him her bare back. “Both of them please.”
“You won’t be able to go into a pokeball after this.”
“DO IT!”
***
Paulette and Hatsumi orbited overhead as everyone assembled in the clearing. They’d scouted the area ahead of time, in tandem with Xifeng and Morgan, who were being closely watched and evaluated by Tess and Lamya. Tess had wanted Lamya’s new pokegirls to get some experience while the group was still at the Viper base and she could call on Devon’s harem for support.
Ming Die was carefully observing the entire evolution and preparing a report for Lamya.
“So what do you think?” Lamya inquired of her alpha.
“They need a lot of work, but that is going to be true no matter how long we stay here.” Tess glanced at Devon, who was busy talking to his Nogitsune. “I think we can leave whenever you are ready. I want to leave soon.”
“Why is that?”
“Devon. He appears to be taking this well, but I suspect us being here hurts him a lot.” She hesitated for moment. “And you need to get off of the pot.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You know what I mean. You are eager to go and at the same time terrified. It’s normal. You are happy here and we both know that won’t last forever when we are on the road.” She fixed her mistress with at firm look. “But if you don’t leave soon, you may just talk yourself into never leaving.”
“Devon loves both of us, and the only reason he’s letting you do this is because he believes that you will come back to him once you’ve satisfied this desire for accomplishment. If he thought you were leaving him forever, he just might respond differently.”
“I am coming back.”
“No, right now you intend to come back.” Tess wagged a finger at her. “But you know as well as I do, that things always change. We could die, or you could find someone that you want to be with more than Devon. He is only fifteen, you know and someone closer to your own age may appeal to you more, especially once you let a few more men Tame with you.”
Lamya shrugged. “I am coming back. What about you?”
“I don’t have as many options as you, and frankly I’m glad. Devon has made it plain that I am his wife and he intends to keep a very close eye on me. I’m pleased that he cares for me that much.”
“He didn’t tell me that.” Lamya managed to sound hurt, angry and bewildered all at the same time.
“Of course he didn’t. Keeping an eye on you is my job and Devon doesn’t want you to wonder if he doesn’t think that you can’t make it on your own.” She gave a slight smile. “Devon knows I’m older than you and my world experiences significantly outstrip your schooling. He also knows I’ve had more than his dick, and that I’ll keep reminding you of what you gave up when you left.”
“In addition, he also knows I won’t fight a hopeless battle. If you fall in love with someone and manage to forget what you had here, he knows I’ll contact him and he’ll come get me.”
“I suspect he wants you to achieve your heart’s desire but he still hopes that you hate the time that you are from him. He’s still young enough to have some romantic ideals that haven’t yet been burned out of him, although considering his childhood and what’s been going on in his life since I met him I really can’t see how they have managed to survive to this point.”
Her voice grew soft. “I guess he is really too stubborn for his own good.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “I wouldn’t have put up with your nonsense.”
“What would you have done?” Lamya’s voice held a definite edge.
“I probably would have told you to shut the hell up and go away. You are many things, but a dominant personality you aren’t. You would have sulked for a while, but you would have gotten over it in a short time.”
She peered at Lamya out of the corner of her eye. “That is what Kathryn recommended.”
“Oh she did, did she?”
“That’s right. She told him that he was being entirely too soft on you and that letting you walk away was foolish.”
“He responded by telling her that she was out of line and that it was his decision to make.”
“Well, that’s good!”
“You know, she is right, you’ve had it easy. I’ve heard your tales of woe and frankly they don’t impress me. You had a family, you’ve had an education. Your life has been anything but hard.”
“Out of all of us, you and Zelda understand least how good we have it here. Devon isn’t abusive or casually cruel. He’s willing to do what we want in bed, and while I still don’t know what his fetishes are, I do already know that he’s not into degradation or something gross and exotic, for which I am very grateful.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“There is the problem. Your very words betray your innocence. You’ve never had a Tamer who liked to whip stripes on your back and lick the blood off or one who liked to stick it in your ass and make you suck him clean. I have.”
She watched Devon idly. “He’ll never be famous, but it’s people like him who actually make things change, if only by showing everyone else how good things can be if you try it their way.”
Devon frowned and looked up. Glancing around, he smiled as he noticed Tess observing him. “Are you two done critiquing Lamya’s harem yet? I’d like to get this done.”
He activated his radio. “Paulette, do you two see anything?”
“I don’t, but I’m not sure if Hatsumi’s ancient eyes are up to this kind of a job.”
“Fine, glad to hear the love you share with your sister.” A growl sounded in his earpiece. “Come on down and join the rest of us. I think we can keep security on the ground for the short time we’ll be here.”
He turned to the Nogitsune who was watching Hatsumi landing. “Siobhan, are you sure you want to do this?” He frowned as she ignored him. He reached out and touched her on the shoulder. “Siobhan?”
“Oh, I’m sorry Master. I’m still getting used to my new name.”
“It’s ok. I wanted to know if you really wanted to go through with this.”
Her eyes grew hard. “Very much,” she replied firmly.
“All right.” He looked around to make sure that Lamya’s pokegirls had joined them and glanced at his own. “Rhiannon, move back. If blood turns up on that dress, I’ll take it away from you right here.” Zelda blinked and backpedaled as she realized what was going to happen, apparently not ready to get blood on her cloak.
The Dark Lady started and looked down at her green silk cheongsam. “Yes, Master.” She levitated and floated backwards for a couple of meters. Devon just watched her. She’d been warned. Bellona smirked at his expression.
He pulled a pokeball from his belt and activated it. Ciel appeared, still bound and gagged. She glared impotent fury at him. She tried to say something around her ball gag.
“Now, now, no need for that attitude.” Devon graced her with a smile. “I hope you remember that I told you that we would speak again. I’m sorry, but that just isn’t going to happen.”
“I wanted to sell you or trade you away, but it turns out that every one of the pokegirls from the Team Viper base where you used to live, well, they absolutely hate your guts.”
“Siobhan here hates you so much that when she joined my harem, she made it conditional upon my letting her kill you. She didn’t believe that I would let her kill such a valuable pokegirl. She was very surprised when I gave my answer. You see, since I want her to be happy in my harem, naturally I said yes.” The Killer Queen began to struggle frantically.
“I seriously considered saying no, for I really don’t think it appropriate to punish a pokegirl for the will of her master. That just isn’t right. It’s not her fault that her master ordered her to be a cold blooded killer. And I don’t think that anyone would disagree that Mark was a bastard. So normally what happened wouldn’t be your fault.”
Ciel enthusiastically nodded her agreement.
“Now, it would be entirely different for free willed pokegirls who joined Team Viper of their own accord. Nobody was making them act vicious or evil. They did it on their own.” Morgan winced. She knew that only Lamya’s desire to have her in the fledgling Tamer’s harem had kept the Cheshire from experiencing a similar fate. “Don’t you agree?”
Ciel grunted her agreement around the ball gag and nodded vigorously.
“So I really thought about letting you live, until I had certain facts explained to me.” Ciel froze. “You were the dominant partner in your relationship with Mark. You spent all of your time indulging your whims while you made Mark see to the day to day operations of the base.”
“Essentially, you demonstrated free will. You wanted to be here and you ordered things done to your satisfaction.”
“So, in the end, I really had no problems condemning you to death.” Ciel just stared uncomprehendingly at him.
“You needn’t worry, you won’t be alone. Not too far in the future, Mark and the other humans will be coming to join you in Hell.”
He drew his khukuri and turned to Siobhan as Ciel started to struggle again. “Since you haven’t joined the harem, you don’t own one of these yet, but you can borrow mine if you would like,” he told her in a low voice.
“I thank you for the thought, but I want to use what Sukebe gave me.” She flexed her claws and bared her teeth at Devon. Paulette slid smoothly between them, facing Siobhan, until Devon tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to get out of the way. She gave him a shrug and did as he ordered.
“She’s very protective of you.” Siobhan gave him an amused look.
“That is as I want her to be. As far as she is concerned you are an unknown element since you haven’t yet joined the harem.”
“Yet you are not worried that I may attack you.”
“I believe I am perfectly safe right now.” If you tried anything, Ming Die would tear you to shreds before you moved a centimeter. Besides, thanks to her I already know you want to join the harem because you are curious to know if I will treat you as well as I have treated Bellona.
Siobhan grinned. “Yes, I believe you are.” Her gaze lifted over his shoulder. Devon spun, only to find himself looking up at Bellona, who stood close enough that he could smell the scent from her skin.
“Just doing my job, lord.” She smiled.
Devon gave her a cheerful smile back. “Take one large step backwards. Now.”
She looked uncertainly at him for an instant and then stepped back.
“Thank you.” He turned back to Siobhan as he sheathed the knife. “If that is what you want, be my guest.”
She smiled and went down on one knee in front of Ciel. “You know, I could make torturing you my life’s work. I want so much to do everything to you that you have done to me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “To do these things to you until you felt as much hopelessness and desolation as I do.”
Siobhan shook herself. Her voice returned to conversational strength. “I’m not going to, though. You see, I have a Tamer who actually seems to want me. Strange isn’t it. That someone might want me.”
“He asked me to join his harem. He asked me. No one has ever asked me to do anything like that before.”
“So while torturing you would be entertaining, I’ve suddenly got better things to do. Goodbye Ciel. Say hello to the devil for me.”
Siobhan pulled Ciel’s head back, sank her fangs into the Killer Queen’s throat, and with a jerk of her head ripped it out.
***
Name: Harris, Devon Jamie
Age: 15
Residence: Highland County, Blue Continent
Region: Scotland
Status: Active
Rank: 38
Security Clearance: Theta
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder Y
Active Harem
Name Species Level
1 Hatsumi Demon-Goddess (Hunter) Steel/Magic/Dark 86
2 Bellona DragonQueen Dragon/Dark 45 Beta
3 Rhiannon Dark Lady Magic (Infernal) 41
4 Paulette Neo-Iczel Magic 37
5 Siobhan Nogitsune Dark/Magic 34
6 Kathryn Ladyien Bug/Flying 29 Alpha
7 Zelda Pia Electric 20
8 Ming Die Alaka-Wham Psychic Unknown