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A Little Blue
Eight
08/13/09 1400 Blackburn, Scotland
The tent had been set up and Ciaran carefully placed inside it. He hadn’t woken up but all of his vitals were strong and he appeared to be in a deep sleep that Victoria was loathe to disturb.
Another tent had been erected to hold their gear. Ceres used her handheld to take a picture of the prisoners before she and Eliana took the enemy pokeballs and headed away from camp. Ceres eyed the sky. “It still looks like rain.”
“It often does,” Eliana said cheerfully, “but that doesn’t mean it will. What are you afraid of, that you have so much plant in you that if you’re watered you’ll grow?”
“You’re getting better at teasing.”
“Thank you. I am trying.”
They stopped under some trees where the camp was out of sight and therefore its location unknown. Eliana got out her handheld as Ceres took one of the prisoner pokeballs at random and activated it. It turned out to be the green haired human looking pokegirl. She looked at them both and then around her. “Where is Thomas?”
Ceres showed her the picture. “Is Thomas here?”
“He is. He’s the one in front.”
“I see. Then I can’t let you stay out until we sort things out with our man. I was going to take your parole but it would be worthless if he ordered you to violate it.”
“It would,” the green haired girl agreed, “because I would.”
Ceres returned her to her pokeball and glanced at Eliana. “Well?”
The Samhain had scanned the girl with her handheld. “She’s an Amazon.”
Next to be released was the golden furred cat. She looked from one to the other. “What happens now?”
Ceres was looking at the girl’s fur. “Are those letters?”
She smiled and nodded. “It’s Futhark.”
“What is that?”
The smile grew. “I have no idea, but that’s what the Tatmon told me they were when she put them on me as part of my promotion to company commander.”
“What is your name?”
“I’m called Libby.”
Ceres held up the handheld. “Is your tamer in this picture?”
Libby didn’t look at the image as her ears canted back. “No. I saw him die when you attacked. Someone shot him in the head.”
“You don’t sound upset,” Eliana said suddenly.
“I’m not. He was my fourth tamer in five months.”
“Why did you have so many?”
“Humans are rather slow in combat. All but one of them was killed by the oppressors.” She made a face. “The last one, he I lost to friendly fire.”
“Who are these oppressors?”
She gave Ceres a slightly incredulous look. “You are.”
“She means the Royals,” Eliana said. “We aren’t with them.”
“You attacked us. That’s pretty definitive as to where you stand.”
Ceres smirked slightly. “Your group would have attacked us if they’d found us, wouldn’t they have?”
Libby nodded. “We had orders to eliminate any tamers and catch any pokegirls.”
“We knew that and attacked first. If you might have been willing to let us alone, we wouldn’t have attacked. Offense is easier than defense when humans are around so it was safer for ours if we attacked you. It’s too hard to defend them from a determined attack.”
Libby’s ears cocked. “That makes sense.”
“Do you have a problem with women,” Eliana asked suddenly.
“Of course I don’t. It’s like being with my sisters. Why?”
“We have one Royal with us and I think she would be interested in you.” Eliana looked at Ceres. “She’s a Nekomata and they are spell casters.”
Libby looked from one to the other. “Is that important?”
Ceres interrupted Eliana as she opened her mouth. “I’ll let Tamsin explain that to you. Do you understand what parole is?”
The Nekomata nodded slowly. “I do. During the war we trusted tamed pokegirls we caught to give us their parole if their tamer wasn’t around.”
“We did too. Would you give me your parole? It would mean you would not take up arms against us or the Royals until a year and a day passed or we released you from your parole.”
“I get to meet this Tamsin, right?”
Ceres understood the urge to have a tamer. “You will.”
“If she accepts me, I’ll need released from my parole so I can protect her against Royal spies or rebels.”
“Once she has tamed you, I will release you from your parole.”
“I give you my parole.”
“Excellent.” Ceres cocked her head. “Normally I wouldn’t ask this since it could violate the spirit of your parole, but since you are looking to join us would you be willing to tell us about our other prisoners?”
Libby smiled a cat’s smile. “And if I do this you’ll speak well of me to this Tamsin?”
“I will speak highly of you to her whether you do this or not, but I would put in a special effort if you help us.” Ceres smiled back. “Since we may be working together, I will be honest with you. Tamsin has no pokegirls and our man insists we protect her too. So no matter whether you help or not, I will be pushing Tamsin to accept you so we can focus on Ciaran.”
“Thank you for your honesty. After two years with the Blues it’s rather refreshing.” Her ears twitched and she frowned slightly. “Would that be Ciaran Sullivan?”
Ceres frowned. “You know of him?”
“We were given instructions to be very polite to him if we ran across him.”
“Be sure and tell Tamsin this,” Eliana said. “She will appreciate the information.”
“I will.”
“What can you tell me about the Amazon?”
Libby laughed. “Mai? I can sum her up in three words. Willing happy slave. If Thomas is alive her loyalty will be to him and him only. You can trust her to do exactly what he wants. Accepting her parole would be a quick road to disaster because she’s so full of honor and obedience she’s blind to the fact that Thomas is a wanker with no honor at all.” Eliana snickered as she continued. “He’d order her to break her parole and she wouldn’t even hesitate. His orders are so far from her honor that you can’t see one from the other. It’s a shame, really. With a better tamer she’d be a joy to work with.”
“I see,” Ceres said. “Well, I’m not going to tempt fate by paroling anyone who has a tamer who is still alive. What about the others?”
“You mean Amy and Lilith?”
“Who is who,” Eliana asked.
“Amy is a Tigress. Her tamer is Quincy.”
Ceres held up the picture. “Is he in here?”
“Yes.” She pointed to the loudmouth. “That’s Captain Quincy Templeton.”
“What’s Amy like?”
Libby shrugged. “She’s ok. She laughs at my jokes. She’s not stupid, but she’s also not the brightest girl you’ll ever meet. There's no real loss there because she doesn’t have to be since she gets to claw her way through almost all of her problems. Templeton is not anything like her. He’s loud and likes to talk about what he’d do to me if he were my tamer. He does that to Mai, and to be honest, pretty much any pokegirl he’s alone with, except Lilith.”
“Not Lilith?”
Libby chuckled. “No, I think Lilith frightens him, not that he’d ever admit it. He tries to pretend she doesn’t exist.”
“Is the she funny looking cat that’s got the wings?”
The Nekomata nodded. “That’s her.” She blinked when the Ceres and Eliana exchanged a look. “You caught her too?”
“Ceres almost killed her,” Eliana announced proudly.
Libby looked Ceres over. “You don’t look like someone who could take Lilith down, but we all know that appearances mean nothing. After all, Neo Iczels look nice on the outside. It’s only after you open them up you find out they’re made of bad attitude and turpentine.” Her ears flicked. “Have you talked to Lilith yet?”
“No. Is her tamer in the picture?”
“No, Nancy isn’t. If she’s dead it won’t bother Lilith much.”
“Oh?”
“Lilith wasn’t impressed by Nancy.”
“Not impressed? She sounds like a Neo. Is she? She doesn’t look like one but sometimes looks are wrong.”
“No she’s not. And I don’t know what she is. She refuses to tell anyone her breed. She says if they can’t figure it out it they’re just not bright enough.”
Ceres scratched her neck. “Do you want to be here when we question Lilith?”
“Of course I do. But I’m not sure it would be smart.” Libby frowned. “No, it would be best if she doesn’t know I’m talking about her.”
“I can take her to camp, introduce her to Tamsin and Victoria, give her some chores and then come right back,” Eliana said.
Ceres hesitated. “Will you ignore the orders of the Blues who are our prisoners?”
“My tamer is dead. I have no desire to obey the ones who are still alive.”
“All right, Eliana. Take her to camp and give her to Victoria.”
Libby grinned. “I thought I was going to Tamsin.”
“One step at a time, Libby. Let’s introduce you to Tamsin and let her make the next move. Eliana, tell Victoria that Libby is a good choice for Tamsin. She’ll know what to do.”
A few minutes later Eliana had returned and Ceres activated one of the last two balls. The red and black striped pokegirl appeared. She looked around. “Where am I and where is Captain Templeton?”
“He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re asking,” Ceres said. “He’s our prisoner, as are you. What is your name?” She’d decided not to let the prisoners know that Libby had, at least superficially, changed her loyalty to Ciaran’s group and given up information on her associates. It would help her to determine if anyone tried to lie.
“I’m Amy and I want to see the captain.”
“No, I think you don’t get to make demands.” Ceres toggled the ball again and Amy vanished into it. She activated the last ball.
The girl who appeared looked a lot like a domesticate born Lioness, but she still had those wings. She slowly looked around and smiled. “Isolating us for interrogation? Smart.” She looked down at her chest. “I see I’m no longer covered with bits of Nancy. How’d you manage that?” She looked at Ceres finally and her eyes narrowed. “You.”
“Me. And you’ll notice that you can move your legs and tail again, too.”
“You surprised me. That doesn’t happen twice.”
Ceres smiled broadly. “What you mean to say is that I won’t surprise you the same way twice. That, at least, is true. I’ll surprise you another way next time. What is your name?”
“I am Lilith.” She rolled her eyes. “Nancy is dead and I don’t know you so Templeton’s group lost. Who are you going to give me to?”
“I’m not going to discuss the situation yet. I want to know if you would be willing to give me your parole.”
Lilith’s ears went still and her wings twitched. “You want my parole? Humans don’t do parole, not even for each other. Is this some all pokegirl unit that managed to stay intact?”
“No, we have a man. He’s willing to accept your parole and I’m willing to do it on his behalf.”
“And because I don’t have a human right now you think I’ll keep my word?”
“I wasn’t going to question your honor. Should I?”
Lilith’s lips lifted to show her teeth in a silent snarl. “It wouldn’t be smart. If I give you my parole I will keep it. What are the conditions?”
“You will not take up arms against us or the Royals for a year and a day unless Ciaran releases you from your parole.”
“What will I be doing?”
“We’re not releasing you; instead you’ll be doing chores for a while.”
“And after that?”
Ceres gave a Gallic shrug. “We’ll see. I want to take this one step at a time.”
“And if I don’t give my parole?”
“You go back in your pokeball.”
Lilith blinked. “I have a pokeball?”
“You do now.” Ceres held it up. “This is your pokeball.”
“Are you sure you’re not some lost unit from the war? You have access to technology I haven’t seen except in rare cases amongst the Blues. It’s certainly not common enough that they’d share it with their prisoners, either.”
“We have a good supply of it,” Eliana said suddenly. “And we share with our friends.”
Lilith’s brow furrowed and then smoothed. “I must admit that I am decidedly curious about this situation. I do not want to miss what’s going on here. I give my parole.”
Eliana nodded. “How do you feel about dragging around dead bodies?”
Lilith smiled. “They complain less than live ones do.”
“That’s what we’ll be doing.”
“We?”
Eliana nodded again. “Ceres will keep an eye on us, but there’s more than enough work for three so I’ll help.”
“Three? Who,” she stopped. “Who else turned?”
“Libby’s tamer was killed. Like you, she wants to be outside her ball.”
“That makes sense. Lead on.”
“Just a moment, Lilith.” Ceres took Eliana a short distance away and dropped her voice to a whisper. “What breed is she?”
Eliana shrugged. “The computer isn’t sure. It suggests she may be a Splice.”
“Oh. Well there’s nothing that can be done about it. Let’s get her back to camp and get to work.”
08/13/09 2030 Blackburn, Scotland
The fire was starting to burn down and Ceres had finally lost her patience and practically dragged Victoria out of the tent to eat. She’d refused to bring the Angel food, using the excuse that Ciaran didn’t like eating in the tent unless the weather was so bad that they were trapped inside. Eliana was on guard and Lilith was sitting and staring into space with an unblinking gaze that was making Victoria give her several askance glances. Baker was near her tent sitting with Libby and the two of them were talking in low tones, but they were too far out of earshot to make out any words.
“I take it the fact that we aren’t tied up means you ladies won the fight.”
Victoria dumped her plate of food in Ceres’s lap and flew to her feet. “Ciaran!” He was standing in the entrance of the tent and holding the flap for balance. She stopped in front of him and peered into his eyes. “How do you feel?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Everything hurts. I didn’t think toenails or hair had nerves but apparently I was wrong. What happened to me?”
Ceres had ignored the food dripping down her nude body to slowly stand. “What do you remember?”
He frowned. “I remember Eliana coming in to get healed.” His eyes widened. “I was attacked by someone.”
“She was a Tigress named Amy. She hit you.”
“From Victoria’s pleasure in seeing me awake, I take it I was hurt pretty badly.”
Victoria took him by the shoulders. “Ciaran, you had no pulse and you weren’t breathing for over three minutes. You were dead.”
He blinked. “Again?”
“Now that sounds like there’s an interesting story in that one word.” Lilith was watching the tableau from where she sat.
Ciaran stared at her for a second and looked around slowly. “I saw you. You’re a Blue.” He looked at Ceres. “Why is she loose?”
“She gave us her parole. You said that’s what Texans did with prisoners when they could.”
He smiled. “You remembered.” He swayed suddenly and Victoria pulled him against her. “I’m sorry I’m so weak.” He bobbed his head in Lilith’s direction. “Well, miss, you are welcome in my camp.” He looked down at Victoria. “I’m thirsty. I think that’s what woke me up.”
“Can you sit up?”
His eyes twinkled. “I can as long as nobody climbs into my lap.”
Ceres looked down at herself and swiped at the stuff on her stomach, smearing more of it than removing. “Let me clean up and I’ll get you some food too. Whether or not you’re hungry you need to eat. Then I’ll relieve Eliana so she can see you’re awake with her own eyes.”
“I take it she’s unlikely to believe it if you just tell her?”
“She won’t. She’s been almost as frantic as Victoria.”
Victoria gave her a surprised look. “She has?”
“Eliana doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve like you do but she cares deeply for Ciaran.” Ceres gave him a look he couldn’t read. “I do too. I’m glad you’re back.”
His smile was wan, but strengthened as she watched. “Not more than I am.” He looked at Victoria. “I really need to sit down now. The pain is starting to diminish, but I feel as weak as a kitten. Um, the four legged kind, not the pokegirl.”
Victoria led him over to the log they’d pulled near the fire and fussed over him until he shooed her away. “I’m fine. Now I just want some water?”
Victoria sat down next to him with a canteen and filled cup for him. While he was drinking it, she gave him a concerned look. “What did you mean by again?”
He was looking around. “I’ll tell the story when I feel better. Didn’t we take any human prisoners?”
She nodded. “We did. They’re in that house over there since they wouldn’t stop complaining and Eliana was thinking of ways to shut them up. We used the plasticuffs to restrain them and stripped them nude to keep them from hiding anything they could use to get free.”
He blinked and chuckled. “In the reverse order, I hope.”
She smiled. “We had to cut them free, strip them and bind them again. Then we had a discussion and cut their bindings once again.”
He was sure the explanation for that would make sense but right now he didn’t really care and ignore the odd comment. “How many?”
“We’ve got two pokegirl prisoners, four human prisoners and the two parolees. The pokegirls we haven’t released have living tamers and we were concerned that they’d cause trouble.”
“I think your concern was entirely justified,” he said as he held out the cup. “More please.” She refilled the cup. “Thanks.”
Ceres returned, her skin still glistening with water from where she’d had a quick wash. She handed him a napkin filled with several slices of bread slathered with honey that had been stuck together face to face to make honey sandwiches. “Here. What you can’t eat I’m sure will end up in someone’s stomach, but I’d like you to try to eat as much as you can. You need the energy right now.” She smiled. “What you really need is protein, but that’ll wait until after you’ve had some rest.”
“Thank you,” he said simply. He wasn’t hungry, but she was right.
“I’ll go relieve Eliana so she can come and see you.” She disappeared into the darkness as he drained the cup again and held it out to be filled.
A few minutes later Eliana loped into camp and changed to her human form. She stopped behind him and knelt to wrap her arms around his shoulders and press her cheek against the back of his head. “I’m sorry,” she murmured into his hair.
He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. “For what?”
“I didn’t protect you.”
“Eliana, you were not supposed to protect me and you were in your pokeball and inside the PHU. There was no way you could have stopped her attack.”
“I led her to you. That’s my fault.”
He sighed and put the napkin in his lap so he could reach behind him and stroke her legs. It was all he could reach from where he was. “You had to come back to me to be healed. I could see you were in a bad way. We didn’t think that a pokegirl would tunnel vision so much as to leave her humans and chase you and that’s not on you. That’s on all of us. We’ll know better next time.”
“Amy is like that,” Lilith announced from where she sat. “She’s not bright and she focuses on one target at a time until she takes it down. In a mixed unit it’s generally a useful trait, but if she’d helped gang up on one of the others instead of chasing Eliana, things might have turned out better for our side.”
Victoria shrugged. “What if is a popular game to play but it changes nothing about what actually happened.”
Lilith nodded her acknowledgement of the point. “True enough.”
Ciaran was looked at their parolee. “What kind of pokegirl are you?”
She gave him a lazy grin. “Why don’t you guess? If you get it right you’ll be the first.” The grin widened. “I’ll give you three guesses tonight. Be honored, I usually only give one.”
He stared at her for a second before focusing inward. Can you help with this?
I am already trying. Visually she’s like nothing on record. There was a pause. I’m checking the computers each of you has. Eliana scanned her and the others. I have the record. It doesn’t mean anything to me. Can I cheat?
Ciaran gave a mental chuckle. I don’t remember any rules being laid out.
True. I’m asking for help from Theodora. Interesting. She’s asking for help from Cassiopeia and Selene. I think they’re comparing notes. They have an answer with 92% certainty. They’ve also provided the top ten alternate breeds. That certainly took a long time.
It seemed instantaneous to me.
It would. You are organic. Because of the fact that she has gone to great lengths to keep her breed hidden it took the electronic equivalent of five years of your life to come to a conclusion based on an exacting study of the historical archives of breeds and evolution, the energy readings the handheld record and DNA records from the pokeball tuned to her. That’s twenty four hours of continuous research every day and every day of every year for those five years. Counting all three of the people involved, that would be a hundred and thirty one thousand four hundred hours of work. At eight hours a day and not taking any days off it would take you forty five years of work to match that time.
I stand corrected. Ciaran started to stretch and stopped when the fading pain surged back. “That was a bad idea.” He looked at Lilith. “I think you are a Mazouku.”
Lilith’s mouth dropped and she gaped at him for a heartbeat before recovering and pulling her mouth closed. “How,” she broke off and sat up straight. “I’m impressed, Sullivan. You are correct.”
He looked at Victoria. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“I don’t see why it would. The idea that pokegirl breeds are good or evil is a label assigned to us by naturals. Her breed has a reputation and tendency towards extremely selfish and self-centered behavior while mine has a reputation and tends more towards altruistic behavior. Neither tendency is in and of itself either good or evil. Also, individuals within each breed can still run the gamut in how they act.”
Lilith smiled again. “I’m glad to hear that. I’ve only been here a few hours and things have gotten decidedly interesting. I haven’t been this interested in anything in nearly a decade.” Her ears flicked. “What is a natural?”
Victoria chuckled. “Where we come from, there’s this idea to make sure that pokegirls are included as part of humanity. According to this idea, non-pokegirl humans are Homo Sapiens Naturalis and pokegirl humans are Homo Sapiens Supernaturalis. So he’s a natural or nat and I’m a supernatural or super. But we’re both Homo Sapiens.”
Lilith blinked rapidly several times before settling back with a slightly annoyed look on her face. “Does it really matter what we’re called if we don’t have the same rights they do?”
“But in Texas we do,” Victoria said. “I haven’t lived there yet, but I have seen it and pokegirls there are treated as everyone else except for their need to be tamed. And that’s not really considered much of a problem. A pokegirl can always ask to be tamed and a human can accept or reject the request as he or she wishes. A human can ask to tame a pokegirl and she can accept or reject as she desires.”
“This place is real? You’re not fucking with me?”
“No, we’re not,” Ciaran said. “It’s real. While Victoria hasn’t lived there yet, I’m a Texan and someday I and my girls will live there together.”
“Does Sukebe run this place?”
Ciaran chuckled. “No and if he’s smart he’ll stay far away from Texas. There are a lot of people who would like to have a word with him about what he’s done to the world.”
Victoria grinned. “And then there’s Raven.”
“Oh, you read that bit, did you?” She nodded. “Yeah, she’s a good reason for him to steer clear of Texas.”
“What does this Raven want to say to him?” Lilith cocked her head when Victoria snickered. “What?”
“She doesn’t want to talk to him. I think she wants to slowly flay the skin off his bones for what he did to us. She’s a pokegirl and while most of us might be instantly suborned to his will, she used to be one of the Deaths so she could quite conceivably carry out her threat.”
Lilith stared at her for a second. “You know one of them?”
“Actually, we haven’t met but I expect we will someday. I’ve corresponded with her via email, though.”
“You have?” Ciaran frowned. “Whatever for?”
“She knows we have a copy of Iain’s writings and I wanted clarification of some of the things that took place in them. She checked with Kerrik, who contacted Iain to verify my claim and probably to have him vouch for us. After that she’s been pretty friendly since I can’t join her harem and I have nothing she wants.”
He shrugged. “As long as she or her harem doesn’t show up looking for our scalps, I have nothing to say about what you do.”
Eliana kissed the back of his neck and got up. “I have to go back to guard duty. Is it my turn tonight?”
Victoria leaned around Ciaran to glare at her. “Nobody gets a turn until I say. He’s still weak from everything. It’ll probably be a couple of days before he’s ready for sex.”
Eliana eyed her and nodded. “I know when you say nobody gets a turn it doesn’t mean you get all of them so I’ll go along with it.” She looked at him and winked. “Get better soon.”
“I’ll do my best,” he replied dryly as she headed for the sentry post. “And that means I need to eat this bread and go to bed.” He looked at Lilith. “This is not interest on my part, but I should probably ask when you last had sex.”
Her ears stilled. “Is that important?”
“It is if you’re going to be around and you’re on the edge of going feral.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “I can see your point. I was last tamed two days ago, so I should be good for a while.”
“At least two weeks, I estimate.” Ciaran looked at the bread and sighed. “I’m really not hungry but,” he began slowly eating one of the sandwiches.
Lilith was staring at him with the same intensity she’d earlier been wasting on nothing. “But what?”
He swallowed the mouthful of bread and honey. “But Ceres made these for me and it would hurt her feelings if I didn’t at least eat some of it.”
“Her feelings are important to you?”
He took another bite and nodded.
Libby got up and headed for the tent she was sharing with Lilith. He cocked his head and whispered. “Who is that and what’s going on?”
That is Libby and she is a Nekomata. Her tamer was killed and she and Tamsin are getting acquainted. Your ladies hope they will click and Libby becoming Baker’s girl will allow them to stop defending Tamsin to focus on you.
Ciaran gave a mental shrug and looked at Baker. “Well, Tamsin, what do think of Libby?”
“She’s interesting and we’re going to talk some more tomorrow.” She blinked and suddenly looked embarrassed. “I wasn’t really ignoring you. I’m glad you are feeling better.”
“I am too.” He finished the first sandwich and handed the rest of them to Victoria. “I’m going to bed.” He pushed slowly to his feet and wavered slightly before steadying. He squeezed Victoria’s shoulder gently, making her look up at him. “I can’t seem to get warm and I wouldn’t mind if you and Ceres squeezed in with me.”
Victoria’s face lit up. “And Eliana when she’s off watch?”
“Of course.”
“Do you want me standing guard,” Lilith asked unexpectedly.
He shook his head. “You’re on parole, um, what is your name?”
“I’m Lilith.”
“It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to stand guard over us. And I suspect that even if I did, Ceres would make sure that a member of my family is on guard too. So you just enjoy getting a full night’s sleep.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
He glanced at Baker, who was heading for her tent. “I probably get to discuss what to do with the Blues tomorrow with her. She’ll want to haul them to our destination and turn them over to the Royals.”
“What do you want?”
He shrugged and wavered slightly. “I’d probably give them some weapons in a manner where they couldn’t use them on us and turn them loose to try to make their way back to Blue territory.”
“You wouldn’t be doing them any favors. They’re supposed to be nice to you if they run across you and once you give them your name the Blue government is likely to be rather stern with them about attacking you.”
His smile was as cold as winter. “That just gives me an added incentive to cut them loose.”
She laughed and watched as he and Victoria headed back to his tent.
08/14/09 1230 Blackburn, Scotland
“Why didn’t someone wake me up?” Ciaran’s glare was lukewarm at best. “This goes past oversleeping to outright laziness.”
“You needed the rest, Ciaran.” Victoria’s voice held no apology. “Tell me, are you feeling better?”
He sighed and replied resignedly. “Yes.”
“Then stop complaining. We are not on a schedule.”
He smiled slightly. “There’s that shed Yule again.”
She didn’t smile, but her lips quivered at the corners and her tone was gentle. “Stop making fun of how I speak.”
“I agreed with her and so did Eliana,” Ceres interrupted. “And not even Tamsin complained.” She glanced over at Baker and the Nekomata, “especially since it gave her more time to spend talking with Libby. I’m pretty sure they’re talking about magic but the truth is that everything I know about magic could be summed up in one sentence. Good magic is good and bad magic is bad and it’s usually pretty easy to tell the difference between the two. Good magic does good things to you and bad things to your enemies.”
Ciaran chuckled. “Considering that I’m not magical at all, that sounds good to me.” He looked around. “I see everyone except Lilith. Where is she?”
“Tormenting the prisoners, I think.” Eliana grinned. “Without laying a finger or a technique on them, I might add. After breakfast she said she was going to visit them for a bit of fun and left.”
Ciaran closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’d forgotten about them. After I eat I guess I’ll deal with them.”
“I’ve got your food ready.” Victoria headed for the fire.
He raised his voice slightly. “Tamsin, we need to talk.”
She looked at him and spoke a brief word to Libby before getting up and joining him where he sat. “Good morning, Ciaran.” He noted that Libby trailed behind her and sat down nearby.
“I think it’s actually afternoon, but I appreciate the sentiment. Good afternoon.”
“What did you want?”
“We have prisoners.”
She leaned back and folded her hands in her lap. “Ah, now we get to their disposition.”
He nodded. “My first inclination is to give them a gun or two and some ammo, preferably separated by enough distance that they can’t use them on us, and proceed on our way. What do you think?”
“My orders are pretty clear, Ciaran. They are enemy. Whether or not they are actually combatants as defined in the articles of war is questionable, but I am not the one to determine that sort of thing. I’m supposed to turn them over to my government.”
“Why wouldn’t they be enemy combatants,” Eliana asked.
“An enemy combatant is defined as a member of the armed forces of a government my government is at war with. I don’t think my government recognizes the Blue League’s legitimacy, which means they’re unlawful combatants and fall under different rules of engagement. But until that determination is made, I’m supposed to treat them as prisoners of war. Sadly it means I can’t just shoot them. When we get to Edinburgh and I report in, I’d better have prisoners or a very good reason not to have them and I suspect ‘Ciaran wanted to let them go’ isn’t going to be well received as an adequate excuse for their being absent.”
Victoria handed Ciaran a bowl of soup and sat down next to him. “What about leaving them here and telling your government where they are? It’s only a day to Edinburgh.”
Baker shook her head. “And if they get killed or released by anything or anyone else it’ll reflect badly on my government if they do decide these are prisoners of war. We can’t abandon them.”
Ciaran lifted the bowl to his lips and drank all of the liquid before using his spoon to quickly scrape up the potatoes and pieces of meat. It tasted like rabbit. “And if I let them go?”
“Please don’t. We’ll get in a lot of trouble if you do. And don’t abandon them to me. I still can’t leave you and I’m going to need your help to get them to Edinburgh.”
He handed the bowl to Victoria and considered her request. “All right.”
Ceres cocked her head. “Why do this? It’s not the Texan way.”
He nodded. “I’m glad you understand that, but one thing that Tamsin has politely not mentioned yet is that this isn’t Texas and she’s not Texan. She is within her rights as a member of the British Army to ask for our help and since we now know they won’t be murdered out of hand I don’t see any reason to deny her request for assistance.” He handed the bowl back to Victoria. “Thank you. I know you want me to eat more but I’m not hungry yet. I will try to work up an appetite for lunch.” She didn’t look happy but took the bowl away without comment as he turned to Ceres. “Give me a moment to clean up and we’ll go see the prisoners and let them know they’re now prisoners of war.”
A few minutes later they stood outside the house. “Lilith,” Ciaran called, “please come out of there.”
She opened the door. “You’re up. I honestly expected you to sleep through until tomorrow.” She stepped outside, looking around with a tension that hadn’t been present last night. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” he replied. “I need to talk to the prisoners and I didn’t want to worry you or compromise your parole by giving the impression I expected you to help us with them.”
The tautness drained away as she smiled. “Oh, I was concerned you were here for me.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong.” He smiled suddenly. “At least you haven’t done anything wrong that we are aware of.”
She laughed. “No, I haven’t done anything you’d want to punish me for since I gave my parole.” Her tail twitched. “What’s going to happen to us?”
“Well, the humans are going to be taken to Edinburgh and turned over to the Royal government. You and Libby have given your paroles and are my responsibility, so you’ll go with us. As for two pokegirls in their balls, Tamsin and I haven’t discussed it yet, but they’re not feral and forcing them to have sex with someone is rape, so I am disinclined to give them to the Royals. They’d either ignore my desires and have them force bonded or they’d pretend to listen to me and wait for them to go feral before having them bonded. Neither is an acceptable solution.”
Baker frowned. “What about any ferals we catch on the way?”
“I’ll sell those to your government at a reasonable price.” He held up a finger. “But my price is not negotiable down. If you want to pay more I won’t protest, though. If the government won’t meet my price I’ll sell them to Iain at the same price I’d sell them to you and he just might sell them back to you at a profit.”
Lilith’s ears flattened for a second. “If you won’t accept their paroles and you won’t give them to the Royals, what will you do with them?”
“I’ll, ship them to Texas and tell them good luck finding new tamers. That’s the same plan I had for you. Libby and Tamsin seem to be getting along, so she might stay here with the lieutenant.”
“What if I wanted to stay?”
“Your parole kind of limits your options, but if you want to take that chance I can’t force you to go to Texas.”
Lilith shook her head. “This is hard to believe.”
“I understand. I’d be more than a mite suspicious if I were you.” He looked at the house. “Ceres, please get the prisoners out here.”
She nodded. “Eliana.” The Samhain grinned and walked through the wall into the house as she continued. “We pulled down part of the interior to block off a single room and Eliana put the prisoners inside it after removing their bonds. Victoria was concerned that the bindings might cause necrosis. We cut a small observation window in one wall.”
“That’s how I was teasing them,” Lilith said, “through that window.”
Eliana appeared, dragging a nude woman by the arm. She let her go. “One.” Then she went back inside.
Victoria handed the woman some plain cotton pants and a t-shirt that were light enough to be considered pajamas. The woman stared at them and then her. “Where are my clothes?”
The Angel’s look wasn’t friendly. “Put those on or give them back. You’re not attractive enough to interest Ciaran, so it makes no difference to me.”
The woman looked around, saw him and gasped before struggling into the clothes. Ciaran politely turned his head while she dressed. Eliana made three more trips, each time returning with one of the surviving men. Victoria offered each pants and a shirt, which they quickly donned.
When they were all dressed, Ciaran cleared his throat. “Who is the senior prisoner here?”
Templeton scowled at him. “I am Captain Quincy Templeton. Who the hell are you?”
“I am Ciaran Sullivan. I understand now that you had orders to be nice to me if we met, but we both know you’d have attacked first and asked names second, if ever.” He nodded towards Baker. “This is Lieutenant Tamsin Baker of the British Army.”
Templeton’s eyes went wide as he saw the person standing behind Baker. “Libby, you fucking traitorous whore!” His eyes shifted to Lilith. “You I expect to do something like this. Lilith just sneered at him.
Libby cringed for a second before straightening. Her voice quavered but she faced him resolutely. “Captain, someday someone is going to send you to hell for the things you’ve done and I hope I am there to see it. I don’t take your orders anymore. I see no reason to take your abuse either.”
“She’s right,” Ciaran said. “I’d appreciate it if you kept a civil tongue.”
Templeton sneered at him. “Civil? Fuck you. You know what’s going to happen? We’ll be incarcerated for a while and then exchanged for prisoners we have. We’ve got a lot of them to trade, too, so I won’t be there for long. And after that, I’m going to look up your family and I’m going to kill the men and fuck the women! I’ll fuck all your pokegirls, too, and they’ll enjoy it! And you should know they’re not safe in America, either. I’ll get them wherever they are.” He glared at Ciaran, having worked up a full head of rage. “You little prick, if you didn’t have all the guns I’d kick your ass right now!”
Ciaran’s eyes narrowed. “Eliana.” Her head came around. “Get my pack and whichever pack has their weapons in it and bring them here, please.”
“Ok.” She raced off for the camp.
“Captain Quincy Templeton, you have threatened my family and you have challenged me. I accept your challenge,” Ciaran said.
Templeton grinned. “You’re dead, mister. I’m the best knife fighter in my battalion.”
“I’m sure that’s a remarkable achievement but as challenged I get choice of weapons, not you. It’ll be pistols at ten paces.”
Victoria gasped. “Ciaran,” she began.
He cut her off. “This is not open for debate, Victoria. Whatever you have to say I don’t want to hear it right now.”
Her face froze. “Yes, Ciaran.”
Baker gave Templeton a glare. “Dueling is not legal in Britain, Ciaran.”
“Are tamers allowed to use their pokegirls against other tamer’s pokegirls in grudge matches,” he asked. “Isn’t that a form of dueling?”
Baker frowned and shook her head. “Yes, it could be.”
“This is just the same without using pokegirls as intermediaries.”
She nodded once. “Kill him quickly.”
“I intend to.”
Eliana returned with a large sack and his pokepack. “The firearms we took from the battlefield are here.”
He took his pack. “Victoria, please separate out the pistols and let Captain Templeton get the one he wants. If he tries to take anything else from the collection, he has violated the spirit of this duel and you can kill him on the spot.”
After giving the sack to Victoria, Eliana sidled over to Ceres. “What is going on,” she asked in a low voice.
“Ciaran and Templeton are going to have a gunfight.” Ceres’s voice was barely above a whisper. Her eyes were locked on her male. “Templeton threatened us and his family in Texas and then challenged him.”
The Samhain blinked. “What can we do?”
“Before the fight, nothing, but if Templeton kills Ciaran you are to kill him as soon as Ciaran falls.”
“Why not kill him before? It won’t bother me to do it.”
“Ciaran has announced that this is his fight. If we interfere he will be very unhappy with us.”
Eliana nodded. “I don’t like it but I understand about being insulted.”
Lilith looked at Ciaran, who had released his pistol and was belting it on. “Is this really necessary?”
“I think it is. He’s threatened and insulted my family and me. I’m tired of the way that people here think they can threaten with impunity and run roughshod over everyone who they think is even close to being in their way. He challenged me and so I have accepted.”
“You could be killed.”
“I could.” He pulled his pistol and checked it.
“I don’t recognize that one.”
“I upgraded my weapons recently. This one is a shoots a bullet called a .454 Casuli. The pistol itself is based off of a type of pistol that was being made in Austria at the beginning of the Revenge War. It’s not very common but a gunsmith friend of mine had one and uses it to make knockoffs of the Glock in Texas. It’ll also shoot 45 Colt ammunition and I’ve got the parts to turn it into a 9mm if I can’t find .45 ammo. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
While Templeton was finding his pistol and belt and checking it, Ciaran marked off the places where they’d stand. There were houses behind each of them to act as bullet stops. Finally, each of them stood on one of the spots. Ciaran looked at Templeton. “Are you ready?”
“I am.” He seemed less confident now but determination filled his eyes. “Today you die.”
“Ceres, please say ready, wait two seconds, draw, wait two seconds and go. At that point we raise our pistols and begin trying to kill each other.”
She gulped and nodded. “Yes, Ciaran.” She looked from one man to the other. “Ready.” Ciaran was already in the stance he preferred for target shooting. “Draw.” He lifted his pistol from its holster and held it next to his side. “Go!”
Firing first in a gunfight is important, but the most importing thing is firing accurately, so Ciaran held his fire as his weapon rose. Templeton fired as soon as he had what he considered a target, hitting Ciaran high in the left thigh. The military issue full metal jacket round tore through Ciaran’s leg and out through his pants. Ciaran grunted but otherwise ignored the pain and held his fire until he saw Templeton’s chest floating over his front sight before he squeezed the trigger.
He was shooting jacketed hollow point rounds suitable for driving off bears and hopefully killing pokegirls. The first round staggered Templeton backwards, making his second shot go over Baker’s head. Ciaran’s second shot took Templeton just below the ribcage and knocked him to the ground.
Ciaran kept his pistol trained on Templeton and walked up to him. He knelt and checked Templeton’s pulse. The first bullet was just below the heart and the Blue was probably dead before the second bullet had been fired. He holstered his pistol and ignored his screaming leg as he shoved himself back to his feet. Then he turned to the other three Blue prisoners. “Anyone else?” Frantic head shakes answered his question. “Lieutenant Baker, do you care how I dispose of the body?” He sounded as tired as he felt, and he felt deathly tired.
“Traitor or no, he was British. Don’t leave him out as carrion.”
One of the houses he’d chosen as backstops was of mostly wooden construction. “Eliana, please put the body in there and fire the building.”
Victoria was suddenly at his side. “You’re wounded.” She picked him up easily with her enhanced strength and took him back to their tent. “Ceres, restrain the prisoners.” Once in the tent she removed his boots and pants to examine the wound. “It’s a through and through and it missed the bone.” She used her healing power and the wound quickly closed. “Are you all right?”
“I just killed a man in a duel, Victoria. No, I’m not. It wasn’t my first, but,” he broke off. “No lecture on how stupid I was?”
“I’m a pokegirl, Ciaran and I understand how honor can drive a person. Besides I have firsthand experience about how protective you are of your family. Nothing is going to change that and I need to learn to live with it.” She poked him in the chest. “Just as you need to learn that we are far tougher than you are and that we want to protect you. You’re our family just as we are yours, so try to help us keep you safe.”
He nodded. “I’ll try. Can I have my pants back?”
“These need washed.”
“Wearing them will keep the prisoners afraid of me. I’ll wash the pants and myself when we camp tonight or in Edinburgh if we make it that far.”
She got up. “I’ll tell Ceres and Tamsin that we are striking camp.”
“The prisoners will need their shoes,” he said as he grabbed his pants. “They can’t walk to Edinburgh in bare feet and I won’t be accused of torturing them.”
“I’ll take care of it.” She slipped out the door.
When Ciaran stepped out of the tent he was surprised to see Lilith standing nearby. “Is there something I can do for you?”
She smiled, showing her fangs. “No, I hadn’t been given anything specific to do and wandered back to camp.”
He shrugged. “All right, would you be willing to help me take down my tent?”
She looked surprised. “You help set up and take down camp?”
“I do. There aren’t enough of us to let me laze around while they work even if I wanted to.”
She made a disgusted noise. “That didn’t stop Templeton and his people from pretending to stand guard while we took care of camp duties. Do you stand guard with them too?”
“No, I wanted to but I lost that battle. Victoria is afraid I’ll be spirited away or murdered in the night and the others conspired to help her against me.” He started working on his tent and Lilith quickly gave him a hand. “I know they have a right to be worried, but I am an adult and adults do their part. They need their sleep as much as I do and if I stand guard in the rotation that gives each of them a couple of hours more sleep every night. And if I get attacked, my shotgun will wake them up.”
“Only if you get a chance to fire it before you’re taken down,” Lilith pointed out.
“You’re as bad as they are.”
She chuckled. “No, I’m far worse. Haven’t you heard that my breed is evil?”
“An evil reputation for your breed no more makes you evil than it does me.” He paused and looked around. Nobody was close by. “Since we’re alone and I can ask this without worrying about accidentally giving away your secrets, I have a question about you if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. What is it?”
“Understand that this is simple curiosity and I’m glad things turned out the way they did, but you have a battle form and I’m curious as to why you didn’t use it when fighting Ceres.”
Lilith stopped working and her ears canted sideways as she gave him an embarrassed glance before staring at the tent fabric she held in her hands. “I didn’t recognize what Ceres was and I didn’t think she would be a powerful enough opponent to bother using my combat form against her. I was wrong and I almost paid for that mistake with my life.”
He squeezed and released her hand and at the touch her head came up to look at him. “It’s ok. The battle is over and we’re all friends now.”
She stared at where he’d touched her for a second before going back to rolling up the tent with him. “I’m not sure if we’re all friends. I’d still cheerfully see the rest of the Blue humans dead.”
He grinned and began shoving the tent into its bag. “I wasn’t counting them.”
She sat back to watch him work. With her strength she knew she could easily hurt him or tear the tent or the bag if she tried to help too eagerly. “I’m not used to thinking about having friends. Most people are at least a little afraid of me and to be honest I was never that interested in making friends.”
“Let me guess, you killed a lot of people during the war and it’s made you feel isolated from the people around you.”
She blinked. “That’s part of it. I still kill people and the fact that I’m efficient at it scares them too.”
“Now you sound like Victoria.”
Her eyebrows rose and her ears rotated to fix on him. “I sound like an Angel?”
“She killed a lot of people during the war. Eliana probably did too. It was war and you either killed the other fellow or he killed you.”
“What about you?”
The tent was proving reluctant to go into the bag. “I didn’t fight in the war. We were still part of the good old US of A and too busy on the farm being good patriots and growing crops to support the soldiers and Dad needed me more than the army did. My fighting didn’t come until things fell completely apart and the infrastructure collapsed.” He looked around as the tent finally gave up and slid into the bag. Victoria and Eliana were taking down their other tent while Baker and Libby were working on Baker’s tent. “I see we’re not needed with that anymore. Can you please bury the fire while I see if Ceres has figured out how to move the prisoners without hog tying them and draping them over Eliana’s back?”
Lilith seemed amused by something, but she nodded. “I will.”
“What’s so funny?”
“I’m used to being given orders as to what to do and not asked. It’s refreshing.”
He chuckled. “My mother always says that two of the most powerful words in any language are please and thank you.”
“I hadn’t thought about it. Perhaps she is right.”
His chuckle became a laugh. “Oh, she’s always right. Mothers are.”
08/14/09 2130 M8, Scotland
“Why have you called us here?” Ceres looked at Victoria, who was standing sentry duty and then Eliana before returning to Lilith. “Well?”
The Mazouku didn’t hesitate. “I intend to join your family and I wanted to give you advance notice and get your blessing if I could.” She glanced at Eliana. “I am surprised. I half expected to be defending myself against your attack at this point.”
The Samhain inclined her head slightly. “Ciaran says I am too impulsive. I may be but my impulsiveness is tempered by my intelligence. If I attacked you head on I would be too uncertain of a quick victory. Also, your method of approaching us directly makes me curious. Should I change my mind you can rest assured that I’ll be certain to wait until you are unwary before attacking.”
Lilith grinned. “I like your honesty.”
“Why are you interested in Ciaran,” Victoria’s tone and body language was neutral. “And what would you bring to our family?”
“He is a very intriguing man. He treats you no better and no worse than he treats himself,” Lilith said quietly. “Not only does he claim to do it, he does. And he won’t let you let him treat you differently. He won’t even let you make him treat you differently. He doesn’t seem to play favorites, either. He may have them, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t, but he doesn’t let it color his behavior. He was also able to figure out what I am. Nobody has been able to do that since I became a Mazouku. And yet, he doesn’t hold it against me. Not even most pokegirls would do that. Finally, he risked death to avenge an insult to you and the rest of his family. I’d like to be with someone who would do that for me, even if I am certain that I would work hard to make sure he was never in that position in the first place.”
Ceres cocked her head. “You didn’t start out a Mazouku?”
Lilith hesitated for a second. “Normally I wouldn’t reveal this, but no, I look like a Lioness because that’s what I was originally. Mazouku often look like their original breed,” her wings unfurled and folded closed again, “with something considered demonic appearing added.”
Victoria frowned. “How does one go from Lioness to Mazouku?”
“Like many of us, as I was promoted I was given an evolution each time.” Her ears flattened briefly. “And that’s all I’m going to say about the matter until I know you much better than I do now.” Her tail stilled. “As for what I can bring, I was once a general in the armies. I am a superior combatant and I am a mage. I don’t want the command position here; I want to be his bodyguard. He’s worth protecting and worthy of my loyalty. I have met nobody that has been that way for me before now.”
“Except Sukebe,” Victoria said quietly.
Lilith’s lips parted enough to show the tips of her canines. “I said nobody and I stand by that. Sukebe didn’t give me a choice to be loyal to him, just like the humans have since. They just used me. I can’t remember the last time a human asked me to help.”
“We all protect him,” Eliana said.
“I know. I’m willing to teach all of you techniques you don’t know and learn ones I don’t that you’re willing to teach me so I can protect him better.” She looked at each of them with a slightly desperate air. “My first instinct is just to force my way in, but I know he wouldn’t accept that. He would consider it,” she shook her head slightly with a slight smile, “rude and I’ve already figured out he abhors rudeness. He’d never accept me that way. Besides, if I enlist your help I have a better chance of getting what I want.”
Ceres looked at Victoria. “Remember our discussion a few days ago?” She nodded. “Now that Templeton is dead I was thinking about trying to recruit Amy, but I had hesitated because she was the one who attacked Ciaran. Lilith is a much better choice on several levels, if you two can work together.”
Victoria nodded slowly. “You’re right, she is a better choice.” Her eyes lit up. “Would you consider giving me your Dark Blessing and making me Infernal?”
Lilith’s eyes widened. “You’d want that? I’d think a celestial would prefer to be dead first.”
“I worked with an Infernal Archangel at a friend’s house. The abilities she has would broaden my base of power considerably and I could protect Ciaran better with them.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll seriously consider it.” She smiled. “It’s something just twisted enough to be amusing and I like amusing things.”
Victoria looked at Ceres. “She hasn’t been with us long but I have been able to work with her so far. I don’t see that changing after she’s joined us and been released from her parole.”
Ceres looked at the Samhain. “What about you, Eliana?”
Elaina looked thoughtful. “Will this give me more time with Ciaran or less?”
“We will have someone else to stand guard so we can either shorten the watch times or rotate someone out every day so she doesn’t stand watch at all. Either method would give you more time with Ciaran. And in battle if she wants to be his primary bodyguard you’ll get more chances to fight.”
“Fighting is good. Let her in.”
Ceres nodded. “Now we have to convince Ciaran.”
“I want to talk to him alone first,” Lilith stated. “If he rejects my offer or he wants to consider it then you can add the weight of your deliberations to his.”
“Very well, we will respect your wishes.” Ceres looked at Eliana. “There’s an abandoned farm not too far from here and I want to look for some items there. Why don’t you tag along as extra security while Lilith talks to Ciaran?”
Eliana grinned. “Can we loot?”
“I don’t think you’re after the same things I am, but if you’ll keep an eye out for me we’ll search the buildings for anything of interest for you. We can stay a while, at least until it’s time to come back for my watch.”
“Then I’m in.”
Lilith remembered something Ciaran had said earlier about words and their power. “Thank you all for helping me.”
Victoria patted her on the shoulder. “You’re welcome, sister to be.”
“Give us a few minutes,” Ceres said, “while Eliana and I get our packs.”
“Why do I want my pack? It’s not heavy but hauling it around is not my idea of fun.”
“I need mine because I don’t wear clothes and don’t have pockets. Your dress only has a couple of pockets and with your pack you can collect a lot more loot.”
“Sometimes you making sense sounds a lot like you’re talking down to me.”
Ceres shrugged. “Sometimes I am, but I’m not doing it now. You can just use your pockets for loot, but I still have to get my pack.”
“Since we have to go back to camp I guess I’ll get mine too.”
They headed for the camp while Victoria and Lilith talked quietly. Ciaran looked up from his handheld when they stepped into the firelight. “I was wondering if you were going to come back from your powwow any time soon. Tamsin and Libby have gone to Tamsin’s tent. Things might be getting interesting between them, but it’s been very quiet so I’m not sure.”
Eliana frowned. “What’s a powwow?”
“It is a word that means you were having a meeting.”
The Samhain eyed him suspiciously. “Is that more Texan?”
“Yeah.”
“You have funny words.”
“Yeah.”
Ceres picked up her pack. “I want to search that farm for some things. Eliana’s going to go with me as backup. We’ll be back before I go on watch.” She carefully didn’t smile as Eliana grabbed her pack. “Is there anything you’d like me to look for?”
“Lilith and Libby need bedding and towels and such.”
“You’re right. I’ll see if I can find some that’s not too badly damaged.”
“Thanks. Be careful.”
“We will.” Ceres motioned to Eliana and the two of them headed for the farm they’d passed before making a cold camp in a nice grassy field. It was about a mile away and they took their time getting there since there was only a tiny sliver of a moon floating in a cloud scudded sky. They were almost at the house when a feminine croon and the sound of a slapping tail brought them to a halt. Ceres looked at Eliana as the Samhain dug into her pack and slipped some pokeballs into the pockets of her dress. They laid their packs down and eased forward slowly until Ceres could make out a form in the darkness. It was a centaur type pokegirl who was leaning against the wall of the house and snoring softly.
Eliana held up a pokeball and Ceres nodded and made a quick punching motion with one fist. Elaina offered her the ball and Ceres took it. Eliana crept forward until the pokegirl stirred uneasily. The Samhain crouched and froze until she relaxed again before creeping closer. Suddenly she lunged, grabbed the girl’s right hind leg and jerked it sideways with all of her strength.
The sleeping pokegirl shrieked as her femur was popped out of its socket. She tried to jump away and shrieked again as her leg refused to support her weight, turning her leap into a uncontrolled thrust that slammed her human torso into the wall head first. She staggered sideways and fell as the stunned girl once more tried to put weight on that leg. Ceres hit her with the pokeball and the girl disappeared into it.
Eliana yelped as both of them were suddenly bathed in flames that came from a second centaur pokegirl who came charging out from behind a barn. She blurred towards them, bugling in fury as she kept the flamethrower attack going.
Ceres shifted to her battle form, but Eliana seemed frozen in place as the girl trampled her down. Suddenly the centaur screamed and her hindquarters thudded to the earth in a spray of blood. Ceres realized that Eliana had phased and summoned her poleaxe. As soon as the attacking pokegirl had cleared her just enough, Eliana had come out of phase and cut both of her hind legs off at the thighs with a single swing. She stepped around the thrashing body and cut off both of her forelegs at the same point before stepping back to watch the girl bleed out.
Ceres was looking around for other attacks, but the sound of hooves racing away from them suggested that they were safe, at least for the moment. She double checked to make sure that the fleeing girls weren’t headed straight for their camp and relaxed when she knew they weren’t. Then she changed back to her human form. “Eliana, she’s almost unconscious. Are you going to let her bleed to death?”
“I was thinking about it. Ciaran would want us to take her alive, though.” She tossed a pokeball at the girl and watched the capture dispassionately. “Do you have a flashlight?”
“The flash on our handheld’s camera can be used as one. Why?”
“We have to find the first pokeball. I think it went somewhere that way but she may have kicked it. If we can’t find it we’ll have to come back in the morning for it. Show me how to do this.” Fortunately the ball hadn’t moved far and they found it within a few minutes. Eliana grinned as she put both balls securely in her pack’s storage. “Good. Now let’s do some looting!”
Ciaran Sullivan
Victoria – Angel
Eliana – Samhain
Ceres - Tantrasaur