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A Little Blue
Ten
08/18/09 0715 Edinburgh, Scotland
“How quickly do you want to get to Ireland,” Elsa asked in a very low voice.
Ciaran looked around for a second before focusing on her and allowed himself a whimsical smile as he realized he felt like a rabbit checking his surroundings for predators before relaxing. Long ago his ancestors had done the same thing for lions or tigers and he mused for a second on how the presence of pokegirls had made life so chaotic. Thanks to Tamsin and her badge they were now outside the gates and he had been consulting his computer to determine the best route. “I’m not in any particular hurry but I’m not inclined to tarry either. Why?”
“I could get you a jump on your trip by taking you to where we met if you’re willing to reveal some of my abilities to Tamsin. Just remember that Libby can probably teleport too and could go anywhere she has been before.”
He considered for a second. “That’s a good idea, but I don’t want to reveal what you can do.” He grinned for an instant. “Let’s see if we can use this, though.” He raised his voice. “Libby?”
She looked at him in surprise. He hadn’t spoken to her much. “Yes sir?” Tamsin looked at him curiously too.
“I know you’re a magical girl. Can you teleport?”
Libby’s twin tails stopped moving. “How did you know that?”
He gestured towards the computer on his belt. “These computers have a database of pokegirls and it’s as comprehensive as possible. It lists teleport as one of the Nekomata’s possible abilities.”
“Oh. Yes, sir, I can. Why?”
“If you could take Tamsin on ahead to where we met, Eliana could get the rest of us to that same point in about ten minutes. It’ll cut a day off of our regular travel.”
Libby looked at Tamsin. “Mistress?”
Baker was looking at Ciaran with a thoughtful expression and he grinned. “If I intended to ditch you I’d just bonk you on the head, put her in her pokeball with some help from my ladies and hide you here where you’d be in less danger from a wandering feral. I’d have more time to make my escape too.”
She frowned. “What does ‘ditch’ mean?”
“It means I’d abandon or escape you.”
“I see. Libby, please go check to see if it’s safe to take me there.”
“Yes mistress.” Libby vanished only to return thirty seconds later. “Mistress, the area appears to be uninhabited. There are signs that ferals tried to find food where the bodies were but I saw nothing worth reporting.”
Tamsin nodded. “We’ll leave right after you do, Ciaran.”
“I will go into my ball,” Elsa said. “That frees up Eliana to carry Victoria, Ciaran and Ceres.” Her tail twitched. “Please release me as soon as you can. I can’t bodyguard you if I’m not out.”
“I will.” Ciaran looked at Eliana, who’d already changed to her battle form. “Ladies, let’s go.”
“I will go in my ball as well,” Victoria told him. “You can give me yours and Eliana’s packs to save room for you and Ceres.”
“What about my pack,” Ceres asked with an amused smile.
“Give it to me,” Elsa answered. “We’re still figuring out how to do things as a group and if I get released in a fight I can drop two as easily as one.” She slid her recently purchased backpack off of her shoulders and dug her ball from it. She tossed it to Ciaran and took Ceres’ pack from the Tantrasaur.
He looked at the ball for a second. “Do you like being in a pokeball?”
Her ears flicked. “No, I don’t. I am, however willing to take a turn being in mine for convenience. Next time someone else will go into her ball.”
“That sounds fair,” Ceres said, “until we start settling into regular roles in the family.”
“Of course,” Elsa said. “Ciaran, I’m ready.” He toggled the ball and she disappeared into it.
After Victoria had been returned to her ball he took his place on Eliana’s back with Ceres cuddled up behind him. He looked at Tamsin. “We’ll see you in a few minutes. Eliana.”
The Samhain threw herself forward, hitting full gallop in two seconds. Ciaran grunted as Ceres tightened her arms around him hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. Once he could breathe again he chuckled to himself. Being on Eliana’s back at this speed reminded him of riding in the back of his father’s pickup truck when he was a kid. The air made his eyes and nose water and he laughed in spite of himself.
All too soon Eliana began to slow until she was moving at a canter. Up ahead he could see Tamsin and Libby waiting for them. As soon as Eliana stopped, he released Elsa and Victoria. Then he slid off of Eliana’s back.
Ceres joined him as Victoria opened Eliana’s pack and pulled out the webbing harness. “How do you want to do this?”
Elsa had retrieved his pack from Victoria and offered it to him. He took it from her and dropped it at his feet before retrieving his computer. “We could go two ways. We could go back to Glasgow and then head southwest or we could cut south from here to the A71 and then follow it west to Galston and then head south to Cairnryan.” He rubbed his nose. “I think we’ll avoid Glasgow. I just wish we had better information on the situation in Cairnryan.”
“What do we know?”
“We still only know what Tamsin found out about it. The town is lightly held and is supposed to still be in the hands of the Royals but there have been probes by the rebels into the region and it could have been conquered recently enough that news hasn’t made it to the government yet. If we know something definite by the time we get to Prestwick we can try to avoid the fighting if Cairnryan has fallen.”
“Could we just go somewhere else?”
“The problem is that we don’t have any water pokegirls and there’s a ferry to Ireland at Cairnryan that runs to Larne and Belfast. No matter who owns the town the ferry should be running. It’s operated from the Ireland end and should be neutral and left alone.”
Ceres made an amused noise. “And if the town is held by the rebels they’ll try to confiscate all of the pokegirls.”
“I know. We’ve got a couple of options at that point. We might ambush some rebels and steal their uniforms or we could put everyone up and Tamsin and I could go in as a married couple who live nearby or are Irish citizens.”
Ceres gave him a flat look. “The second option is not viable.”
Elsa was working with Victoria on Eliana’s harness and looked over at them. “You try and we will tie you down until the urge leaves you. If nothing else, Victoria looks human enough to pass as your wife if she has to.”
“She has better hearing than I thought,” Ceres said quietly. “But violation of your personal rights or not I will help her hold you down if it comes to it.”
He glared at her. “Fine. Plan B is a no-go.” When he looked away, Victoria was standing in front of him. He started slightly and then glared at her too. “What?”
“Elsa told me what you are talking about here. Do you want to get yelled at again?”
“Not really. I agreed it’s a bad idea, alright. I’d rather get some uniforms anyway.”
She frowned. “What happens to the people who were wearing them?”
“They die,” Elsa said from where she was still working on Eliana. “If they don’t they could escape and report what we did.”
Ciaran raised his voice slightly. “We do not yet know that Cairnryan has been captured by the rebels. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves in planning to murder rebels just yet. We’ll deal with the situation as it unfolds.”
“Killing rebels is good,” Libby said as she and Baker turned to see what he was upset about. Apparently her conversion to the side of the Royals hadn’t taken very long at all.
Tamsin eyed him concernedly. “Ciaran?”
“We were discussing options if Cairnryan has fallen but the ferry is still running. The most popular one is we kill some rebels, take their uniforms and bluff our way through.”
She smiled. “It’s not necessary. I have fake rebel IDs and not all their troops have uniforms to wear. Having their weapons would help though.” Her smile faded. “The tamers have the best gear and uniforms. The regular forces have to make do with what doesn’t go to the tamers. A lot of the time there’s not enough to outfit them all.”
“And if we want to have pokegirls out doesn’t that make us tamers to them?”
She frowned. “Bloody hell. Did the Edinburgh troops take all of the uniforms we captured with the prisoners?”
“Yes.”
Resolution filled her eyes. “We’ll find a way.”
Libby grinned, revealing she had fangs like Elsa’s. “Yes we will, mistress.”
Ciaran shrugged. “Like I just said, we’ll deal with the situation as it unfolds. Now let’s get Eliana loaded up so we can get moving.”
08/18/09 1820 A71, Scotland
The rain had been falling since noon, but only over the last half hour had it grown so heavy that he could barely see in front of him. The wind gusts had been rapidly changing directions often enough to blow so much cold water into his hood that he was soaked through. A little ways in front of him Elsa had her cloak wrapped so tightly around herself that he wondered how she could walk. Lightning provided the only light and thunder rolled constantly around them.
He grabbed Elsa’s shoulder. He had to almost yell to be heard. “We are done for the day! Tell whoever is in front to find someplace to shelter!”
She gave him an angry glare. “I don’t want to leave you!”
“I’ll be right behind you, I promise!”
“You’d better be!” She hunched against the wind and slogged forward as he worked to keep up.
Ceres was in the middle of the group with Libby and Tamsin. Elsa tapped her on the shoulder and she looked back at them. She hadn’t bothered with her cloak and water streamed over her skin in rivulets. “What!”
“Ciaran said to find a place to stop for the night!”
“Good!” Ceres stepped to the side and changed to her combat form in mid step as she started running. She galloped ahead; spraying mud with each step as she quickly vanished into the torrent.
Victoria appeared a few minutes later. “There’s an abandoned farm ahead a hundred yards or so,” she yelled. “The house is a ruin but there’s a large barn that seems ok. Eliana and Ceres are going in to clear it.”
At the house, Ceres watched as Eliana changed from her combat form so she could maneuver in the barn. When Eliana was ready, they opened the door and slipped inside. It was pitch black and humid. The air was heavy with the cloying smell of rain, old hay and rust.
Ceres held out her fist and waved her other hand above it to check for anything hanging down before she used a low powered version of ignite on her fist to make an improvised torch. Flames licked up an inch or so and reflected from the dozen pairs of eyes staring back at her. Hay rustled as the eyes moved closer and the wet smell grew stronger.
Ciaran and the others stopped in front of the barn as Eliana came out, glared at nothing in particular and slammed a fist into a post, snapping the inoffensive piece of wood in two. “How stupid they are,” she growled barely loud enough to be heard over the storm.
He grabbed her arm. “What is it?”
She looked like she wanted to spit. “It’s clear now. Not that it was ever dangerous.”
“Explain,” Victoria snapped.
“There were a dozen Pidgy inside taking shelter from the storm. I thought we were in for a fight, but all they wanted to do was cuddle and soak up heat from us and Ceres’s fire. They’re completely pathetic!”
Ceres came out the door. “She’s right. They didn’t even try to fight. I started pokeballing them and the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet just watched me.”
“I’ll take pathetic over having to find another place to wait out the storm because a fight trashed this one,” Ciaran said as more lightning flashed overhead. “Is it clear?”
“It is. I put the pokeballs in a bucket that’s just inside the door.” Ceres looked at Eliana. “Get your harness and the packs.”
Victoria eased past him and inside. A dim light suddenly shone through the open door. A rasping noise sounded as she called to him. “It’s safe to come in.”
When he ducked into the barn, Victoria was putting a pitchfork off to the side. Small glowing balls were spaced around the interior of the barn to provide a diffuse light blue glow that filled it. “It was on the floor with the tines up. It’s fortunate that neither Ceres nor Eliana stepped on it.”
Ciaran was looking around. The barn had been used as a general storeroom on one side and the other was portioned off for livestock, probably horses. A pile of hay bales had been scattered around part of the room and fresh feces, undoubtedly from the ferals, gleamed in the light. “Let’s see if we can find a shovel or two so we can clean up a bit.”
A short time later the place had been cleaned and Eliana’s harness had been hung to dry. Ciaran checked his computer. “It’s nearly forty degrees in here. I wonder if it’s safe to build a fire.”
“No,” Elsa said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Eliana,” Ceres said. “Come with me. Hopefully we’ll find what we need in the ruins of the house.”
“I really don’t want to go back out there.”
“Then I’ll go alone and Ciaran will reward me and not you when I come back with what he wants.”
The Samhain glared at her. “You would, too.”
“I would. Victoria, while we’re gone clear this ground down to the dirt.” Ceres indicated an area. Without waiting for an answer she led Eliana back out into the storm.
Victoria glared at the door. “You could have said please,” she muttered to herself.
“She should have,” Ciaran said as he picked up his shovel again. “And I’ll remind her of that later. Now would you please help me get this cleared? I’d like to be warm.”
A few minutes later the storm lit up with flashes of red light that shone through the partially open doorway. “What is going on?”
Victoria was on guard near the door. “Ceres and Eliana are using their flame attacks on something. It doesn’t look like they’re under attack, though. They’re not moving around and neither is their target, whatever it is.”
Someone yelled something Ciaran couldn’t understand and Victoria threw the door open just in time as Eliana rolled a large rock into the barn. She missed the clear spot and the rock stopped on some old straw with a sizzling noise and a puff of smoke. “Crap.” Eliana rolled it to the clear place as Ceres rolled a large chunk of rubble into the barn and smacked it into Eliana’s rock. Her boulder glowed a dull red.
Victoria closed the door and Ciaran could feel the heat pouring off the rocks. “Good work, ladies.”
“It’s better than an open fire in here,” Ceres said as she checked her palms. “Elaina, are you burned?”
“I’m fine.”
Ciaran reached for Eliana’s hands and smiled thinly when she quickly put them behind her. “Let me see them.”
“No.”
“If you have blisters I don’t want them popping and weeping in my sleeping bag or on me. That would be icky. So if you do have some blisters and you don’t get Victoria or Ceres to heal them you’re not welcome in my bag until they heal completely.”
She blinked and held out her hands to Victoria. “Please heal my hands.”
Ceres looked at Libby and pointed at the stall farthest from the door. “You and Tamsin can bed down there tonight. The heat will spread to there, it’s dry enough that you should be comfortable and it’ll give Tamsin a little privacy.”
Baker nodded to her. “Thank you, Ceres.” She hefted her pack and followed the Nekomata into the stall.
After dinner, Baker and Libby quickly retreated to their tiny room and shut the door. Ceres chuckled as it closed. “There’s really nothing here to do so we should probably sleep too unless we’re on guard. Eliana will take first watch, Victoria second, me third and Elsa last.”
Elsa’s ears flicked. “I want a story first. Ciaran owes one to us.”
He frowned. “I do?”
She nodded firmly. “I definitely remember you teasing us with a hook for a story and then not telling it.”
His frown deepened. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about. What hook?”
She smiled. “Victoria told you that you’d died and all you said was ‘again’. That leads to a whole slew of questions.”
Victoria cocked her head. “She’s right.”
Ciaran gave them an uneasy smile before he glanced at the stall where Baker and Libby were. “I really don’t want to share that story with people who aren’t family.”
Elsa muttered for a second and pointed at the stall. Ciaran sensed something that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Elsa’s ears rotated to point at the stall and she smiled after a few seconds. “They’re asleep now and won’t wake up until morning. Now tell.”
“That’s not a nice thing to do,” Victoria said.
“So? Now he can tell his story. Unless you want me to break the spell and wake them up so he won’t.”
The Angel’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to seduce me to the darkness?”
Elsa gave her a guileless smile. “I’m not trying. You wanted to become infernal, remember? That means you need to let at least a little moral ambiguity into your life. As for Tamsin and Libby I didn’t hurt them, after fighting the storm they need the sleep, now I don’t have to listen to them have sex again and Ciaran can tell his story without strangers hearing it.”
“You violated their personal rights,” Ciaran said.
She frowned. “You’re right. Should I wake them up?”
“No,” Eliana said. “I want to hear this story.”
He sighed and shook his head slightly. “Just remember it’s not a good thing to do to people and don’t do it again.”
Elsa’s ears stopped for a heartbeat. “I just remembered, Ceres needs to release me from my parole or I can’t protect you from all potential threats.”
“I’d rather you protected me from real threats instead of potential ones,” he said dryly.
Elsa ignored his comment and turned to Ceres. “Please release me.”
The Tantrasaur nodded. “You are released from your parole. Protect Ciaran with everything in your arsenal.”
“Thank you. I will.”
“Hey,” Eliana called from the doorway where she was standing sentry. “What about Ciaran’s story?”
He leaned back against a post and stretched out his legs as everyone looked at him eagerly. “I think you’re going to be disappointed when I tell it. It’s not really that spectacular.”
Ceres grinned. “We will make that determination, not you.”
He looked around at his ladies and grimaced. “I guess you will. When I was fourteen some friends of mine and I decided to play soccer after school while waiting for our parents to pick us up.”
“Hang on,” Victoria said suddenly. “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty three years old.”
“When is your birthday,” Elsa smirked when he glanced at her. “We’ll want to get you gifts.”
“I was born on January the twelfth in nineteen eighty six.”
“What time?”
Victoria blinked. “They keep track of the time someone is born?”
Elsa nodded. “Humans like to record everything they can think of. It’s a wonder they don’t keep records on their meals, sleeps and visits to the loo.” She looked at Ciaran. “What time?”
“I don’t know. Morning, I think.”
Victoria smiled suddenly. “We have the computers and so does his family. He can ask his mother.”
“You can ask my mother. It’s not important to me.”
“Get back to dying,” Eliana announced.
“Wow, I thought you liked me,” Ciaran said with a hurt look. He sniffled once.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on guard duty,” Ceres asked in a deceptively mild tone.
Elaina snorted. “I am. The door is closed and nothing is inside with us. I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary or hear anything out of the ordinary. We’re safe, unless you want me to go stand in the storm, which if I do everyone else gets to.”
“Anyhoo, we decided to play soccer while waiting for our ride. The parents took turns picking us up since we all lived in the same part of the county and they didn’t like us riding the busses. That day our ride was going to be Mr. Franklin and he was always late, so we knew we had a lot of time to play. Unfortunately, another kid, Doug Pippin, was also there and wanted to play too. Doug wasn’t part of our usual group. He was a football player, but he was a terrible student and his grades were too low for him to be on the team right then. He loved sports, however, so he wanted in our game. We decided it couldn’t cause any harm, even if he was one of the jerk jocks.”
Elsa frowned. “What’s a jerk jock?”
“Some athletes are,” he hesitated, “normal. They’re regular people and getting on the football team doesn’t change that. Others, they become jerks because they think they’re better than the non-athletes. Doug was a massive jerk.”
“Why didn’t you just tell him that he couldn’t play?”
“Because we were all raised to be polite, and polite people don’t do that sort of thing. Doug’s presence in the game is important because he’s the one who slammed into me and caused my head to impact a rock at a fairly high velocity. It cracked my skull and knocked me out. I wasn’t breathing so one of the other kids started CPR while someone else went for help. The paramedics took over and took me to the hospital, where they tried to revive me and failed. I was declared dead. Only after they stopped trying to save me and declared me dead did I start breathing again.” He grinned. “One of the nurses told me that when I did it freaked out a lot of people. But after that I got better and after enough tests for a platoon of people, I was finally released to go home. That’s pretty much the entire story.”
Elsa cracked her fingers one at a time and asked in an idle voice. “What happened to Doug?”
He wasn’t deceived by her nonchalance. “Why, you going to look him up?”
“If you’re asking if I intend to hurt him for hurting you, yes I am thinking about it.”
“You can’t. I wouldn’t appreciate it if you did. Besides it was years ago and finally Doug didn’t survive the plagues.” He gave her a hard look. “So let’s stick to keeping people from hurting me now.”
Her ears flattened and her lips parted to show the tips of her canines. “Can I hurt Amy? She almost killed you and that was a much more recent event.”
His gaze didn’t falter. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t. It’s over with. Amy is helpless right now and I can’t countenance hurting the helpless.”
“So Amy just gets off scot free after almost taking your life?”
“She’s not getting off scot anything, Elsa. She wants her tamer and he’s dead now. Instead of getting him alive, she gets dumped in the city of Austin to fend for herself. Iain’s not going to want her anywhere around the ranch since she’s likely to blame him since I am over here doing a job for him and I’m not around for her to get revenge on. She will have to find another person to bond with or go feral.” His mouth thinned. “And while I don’t really care what happens to her after she’s gone we are not going to murder her just to satisfy your blood lust.”
“This isn’t about my lust for killing,” Elsa replied. “I want to hurt people who hurt you. It’s not the same thing.”
“You weren’t around when Doug hurt me and you were on Amy’s side when she did. You can protect me but it’s not retroactive. Next you’ll be looking for the kid who bloodied my nose in the third grade.”
Elsa glared at him for a long moment. “I am not used to being thwarted.”
He nodded. “Neither am I. This isn’t about me winning, though. I don’t want you to imperil your soul by murdering any more than I want Eliana to and I will do everything I can to protect you, even from yourself. I like you and I don’t want you to leave.” He watched her consider his words. “Now I have to ask if I should hide Amy’s pokeball from you.”
Her ears came up slowly. “You’re not playing fair, you know.”
“How am I not being fair?”
“You’re not supposed to appeal to my feelings for you by telling me your feelings for me. It’s against the rules.”
He smiled slightly. “There are rules?”
She smiled back faintly. “Yes. The first rule is I am supposed to win. The second rule is you are supposed to play by the rules while I don’t have to. The third rule is you’re not supposed to use emotion against me. There are a lot of other rules but the fourth rule is that I don’t have to tell you all the rules until you break them.”
“Did I mention that I cheat?”
“I have already come to that conclusion, Ciaran. I will not try to hurt Amy unless she tries to hurt us.” Her ears flicked. “Do we have to tell her that Templeton is dead?”
Victoria frowned. “Why wouldn’t we? She needs to know.”
Elsa smiled maliciously. “That’s why I don’t want to tell her. If she doesn’t know he’s dead she’ll be frantic to find him and stuck in Texas. It’ll eat at her until she finally either gives up and finds another human or goes feral while trying to get back here.” She looked at Ciaran. “She can’t come back here, can she? Because if she can we should kill her now before she can attack you from ambush.”
“No, Iain agreed that anyone I have to send to him for release in Texas won’t get back here unless they can find someone else who is running transport to Scotland. Once she’s in Texas she’s pretty much there for the rest of her life. And if it makes you happy, we don’t have to tell her that Templeton is dead.” Victoria gave him an unhappy look and he shrugged. “You agreed that our family comes first and this doesn’t cause harm to Amy. It just doesn’t relieve her anxieties.”
“Anxiety is not the word I’d use to describe the terror Amy is going to feel and I’d argue that emotional damage is still harm.” The Angel eyed Elsa for a second. “Maybe I was wrong and her breed is evil. This is a sadistic thing to do to Amy. It’ll torture her for weeks or even months.”
Elsa grinned happily. “I know. That’s why it’s so wonderful. If we’re lucky she’ll always wonder what happened to him.”
“I like it,” Eliana announced. “I’d rather turn her into pig bait but if I can’t kill her I like this instead.”
Ceres looked thoughtful. “I can’t say this is a wonderful idea. Like Victoria said, Amy might just go crazy trying to find a way back here.” She made a tossing away motion with her hand. “But Templeton, Amy and the rest of them would have killed Ciaran, Tamsin and anyone else they had to as well as captured and raped whoever survived so I don’t feel a lot of sympathy for either of our prisoners.”
“Then we won’t talk to them at all and I’ll make the arrangements for them to be unceremoniously dumped outside of Austin.” He shrugged again. “It sounds like a reasonable compromise since none of you are completely happy with it.”
Ceres blinked. “How do you feel about it?”
“I don’t really care. All I remember of Amy is observing her briefly at a distance and a vague memory of a shape jumping on top of the wall. That’s where the memories I have of that day stopped until I woke up in my tent. I have no way of knowing what she might be like as a person and I’m not interested in spending enough time with her to find out.”
Elsa chuckled. “Amy is moderately intelligent but the box of tools with which she deals with the world and everything in it only has four items in it, those being her teeth, claws, fists and pussy. If it can’t be bitten, clawed, hit or fuc,” she broke off and her eyes flicked to Ciaran. “Is the word screwed considered profanity to you?”
He smiled. “It’s crude but acceptable.”
“Good. If she can’t fight or screw something she is at a complete loss in how to deal with it.” Her ears flicked. “I will admit that everything I’ve heard and seen suggests she’s quite good at fighting and screwing her problems away, but she’s not as good as I am and I have a much larger toolbox filled with all sorts of interesting things.”
Ciaran yawned. “You might notice that you have already been accepted into our family and we don’t need to see your resume again at this point.”
Victoria patted Elsa on the shoulder. “It’s ok, sister. You’ve been feared and rejected most of your life so it would make sense that you aren’t confident about being accepted by us as of yet.”
Elsa’s ears went flat. “Are you saying I am afraid of being rejected,” she snarled. Her claws partially extended as she flexed her hands.
Victoria’s eyes hardened at the threat but her voice remained mild. “I didn’t say you were afraid, Elsa. I said you weren’t confident. If you were truly afraid you would never have worked up the courage to have approached either us or Ciaran and you wouldn’t be here now arguing with me.”
Ciaran’s heart suddenly raced in his chest and he resisted an urge to scoot backwards away from the group as he forced his voice to be calm. “If the truth be told I am afraid right now.” Both women turned to look at him. “If you two fight so close to me we’ll probably get to see if the third time is the charm and I stay dead when killed again.”
Elsa sniffed. “There wouldn’t be much of a fight.”
Ciaran’s mouth thinned. “Stop trying to goad Victoria. You have no idea how a fight between you two would turn out except,” his voice rose slightly, “if you thought about it you should realize that it’ll be really hard on the barn and me. Right now you’re thinking like you just accused Amy of doing.”
Elsa hissed at him. “You have,” she stopped when Ceres dragged Ciaran unceremoniously backwards and put him behind her. He started to say something but only managed to squawk in surprise when Eliana grabbed him and shoved him behind her.
The Tantrasaur folded her arms. “I realize that you’re a good fighter. You hurt me and Libby is terrified of fighting you. But remember, sister, that I took you down once before and, while I don’t want to fight you tonight, if I do I will have help while you will be completely alone. I don’t think you’re afraid. I don’t think you know what fear is and I think that’s a weakness. But it doesn’t really matter. You did talk to us and you did talk to Ciaran and you are part of this family and you did agree to follow our rules and sometimes we say things to each other that we have to accept that we wouldn’t accept from strangers.”
Elsa’s ears were still flat, but they weren’t wrapped tightly against her head. “I might still win against all three of you,” she said softly.
“Not with Victoria behind you,” Ceres replied. “And even if you do, what do you think Ciaran will do at that point?”
Elsa blinked. She looked past Ceres to where Ciaran was partially hidden behind Eliana. “What could he do if I beat all three of you? He’s human.”
He moved his head so he could see her. “Have you ever heard the hoary joke about the big muscular man who said insulting things about his little wife in front of her?”
Elsa’s ears rose and flicked in confusion. “No. What does a joke have to do with my question?”
He grinned. “There are several variations of this joke but it boils down to this big muscular man was with his petite wife at a party and he said really insulting things about her to some friends of theirs while she was standing next to him. She didn’t say anything at the time, so he kept insulting her and it continued pretty much until they left the party and went home. Once they were at their house she got him a beer. As soon as he drank it she got him another and this continued until he started getting tired. The last thing he heard as he nodded off was her voice saying ‘that’s right, dear; I’m a nasty filthy whore. Now you just go to sleep.’”
Elsa stared at him for several seconds before she started laughing so hard that tears ran down her face. He could hear the other three chuckling as well. When Elsa finally got her laughter under control she stretched out so she was leaning back on her arms and shook her head, still smiling. “You would, too.” She blinked and wiped her face with her palm, which she licked clean.
“I can’t beat you in a fair fight and I’ve already warned you that I cheat.” He crawled back to where he’d been sitting. “I wouldn’t have any other choice.” He met her gaze squarely. “I didn’t intend to insult you with the comment about showing us your resume, but you were bragging about how good you are compared to Amy. I know how good you are.” He stopped. “Ok, I don’t have a decent idea of how good you are since I haven’t seen you in a fight yet, but I know that I like you and that’s makes everything else possible.” Something occurred to him. “I do know you rang Ceres’s bell and that means you’re no slouch in a fight. I did see a lot of that battle before I got hit.”
Elsa frowned. “I rang her bell?”
“You hit her so hard that the inside of her head rang like a bell.”
“Eliana warned me about your slang. I didn’t believe her.” She looked at the Samhain. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
Eliana grinned. “It’s hard to believe the odd things he can say until he does so. I haven’t heard that one before either.”
Ciaran yawned again. “I’m tired, ladies. Is everything copacetic?”
Elsa’s ears flicked. “Do you ever run out of slang?”
He flashed a smile. “In twenty or thirty years I might.”
She returned the smile. “I’ll just have to stay until then. What does that one mean?”
“I’m asking if everything is all right between you four.”
They exchanged a look between them before Victoria nodded slowly. “Yes, it is.”
“Good. Unless someone wants to complain about it I’m going to put my bed here next to these nice cozy hot rocks.” He waited a second to be sure nobody was going to speak. “I wouldn’t mind company.”
Ceres gently slapped her tail against a post. “I was with you last night and Elsa shared your bed the night before that.”
Victoria looked at Eliana. “I doubt we’re having sex tonight. I get him while you’re on watch, you get him while I’m on watch and we both sleep with him after that?”
The Samhain scowled. “Will it count for a night alone with him?”
Ceres shook her head. “No.”
Elsa started to say something and stopped. Finally she gave a grudging nod. “I agree that it won’t count. That way when it happens to me it won’t count then either.”
“Suddenly I feel like a pie being divided up,” Ciaran said.
“You taste better than pie,” Eliana stated almost immediately. “Well, better than any pie I’ve had so far.” She looked surprised when everyone laughed. “It’s true!”
They just laughed harder.
08/20/09 0930 A71, Scotland
Your delivery is in the area. His twee spoke just before his handheld began buzzing in its holder. It is requesting you turn on your computer’s beacon so it can home in on you.
Ciaran checked his computer and turned on the beacon transmitter. “Our delivery is incoming,” he announced, “nobody attack it.”
Ceres glanced at him and nodded. A moment later Eliana trotted into view.
She’d been on point and Ciaran gave the Tantrasaur a careful consideration. Your twee is on line.
She smiled without looking in his direction. All of ours are. We’re practicing communication without vocalization. Elsa still needs one, though. I’m pulling in the point guard and establishing a perimeter security instead.
You need to do some vocalizing or else Tamsin and Libby will eventually start wondering.
Her smile vanished. I should have considered that. “Eliana and Victoria are on perimeter watch. Elsa, you’re going to see advanced technology again, so be warned.”
Elsa’s tail flicked dismissively. “Why do you think it would surprise,” she broke off and stared as a black craft roughly the size and shape of a Volkswagen Beetle flew silently overhead and began to settle down in front of Ciaran.
Something blurred by just over the top of the transport so fast that Ciaran couldn’t make out what it was, but leaving an impression of large wings in his mind’s eye. The sonic boom of its passage hit him a moment later, staggering him and raising a pall of dust along the object’s track. The transport bobbed in the wake and stopped its descent.
In the distance the object curved upwards, its wings spreading to catch the air and slowing it as it curved around for another run on an almost reciprocal bearing from the first pass. Ciaran was able to tell it was a winged pokegirl of some kind and that her wings were separate from her arms as they stroked to accelerate her to nearly three hundred miles an hour. The words Harpy Empress murmured in his mind.
“Incoming,” Ceres bellowed. “Hit her hard!”
“Down,” a voice screamed in his ear and Elsa kicked Ciaran’s feet out from under him as she raised her hands. He landed hard on his lower back and gasped as white hot pain shot up his spine.
The oncoming pokegirl shifted her legs forward into an attack posture like a hawk readying to snatch a rabbit as she lined up on the transport, the claws on her feet beginning to glow as she pumped energy that would shred steel into them. She adjusted her flight slightly and then screamed as, in quick succession, she was enveloped in two flamethrower blasts and struck by two bolts of lightning. Trailing smoke, she abandoned her attack and wobbled upwards only to be hit by a third lightning stroke as she whipped overhead, this one from Libby.
The Harpy Empress sped off, but she was obviously dropping as she flew. Out of sight, tree branches snapped with loud reports.
Ciaran tried to ignore the pain and yell, but it came out as only a loud wheeze. “Elaina, catch her if she’s crashed and alive.”
Without a word, the Samhain raced in the direction the Harpy Empress had gone as Ceres looked at Victoria. “Take to the air and do a quick sweep for other attackers.”
Elsa jerked Ciaran to his feet. He rubbed his back and headed for the transport, more to get away from her than for any other reason. Ceres gave him a concerned look. “Are you all right?”
“No, I am not.” His voice was low and hard. “I am getting sick and tired of being manhandled.” He touched the transport. “Hello, Theodora.”
She appeared next to it and looked at him curiously. “Hello, Ciaran. I hope I am not the one you’re angry with.”
He forced a smile. “No, you’re not. Thanks for bringing me the supplies I wanted.”
She smiled back. “It was much less trouble for me to load a small delivery pod into the primary transport and send it to you than it would be for you to have to go all the way back to Dundee. Besides, I like doing favors for my friends.” The transport opened to reveal a pokepack and a couple of fiberboard boxes.
Ciaran started lifting things out. “Trust me, I appreciate it.”
Theodora looked past him. “Are you Elsa?”
Apparently she’d followed him for her voice was closer than he currently liked it to be. “How do you know who I am?”
“Ciaran told me about you. I am Theodora and I work for Ciaran’s employer.”
“So you’re not his Video Girl?”
Theodora’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “No, I’m not.”
Victoria landed nearby. “I didn’t see any other girls in the area. Eliana captured the Harpy Empress and is on her way back.”
“Speaking of which,” Theodora said, “if you want I can take your captures now. Iain is curious as to what you’d catch so soon after the Revenge War. I’ll also take the two prisoners off of your hands. He likes your special instructions for Amy. April isn’t so sanguine about your request, but Iain isn’t going to release them around the house so there’s not a whole lot she can do. Although you suggested Austin, right now he’s considering releasing them in El Paso. They can stay in Texas or go to Sunshine, Johto or even Indigo if they want to be slaves again.”
Ciaran nodded. “The captures are in several different packs. I should have consolidated them before now, but if you’ll wait it’ll only take a few minutes to get everything together.”
“I am not in any hurry, Ciaran.”
Ceres looked at Elsa as Eliana returned. “Come with me. I need to have a word with you in private.”
“What is it?”
“In private,” Ceres repeated. She led them away from the group until they were out of earshot of everyone, including Libby. “Don’t do that to Ciaran again.”
Elsa’s ears flicked. “Do what?”
“Don’t knock him down or out of the way. It infuriates him.”
Elsa’s mouth dropped for a second. “I was trying to get him out of the line of fire. I was protecting him.”
“I know you were but since he likes it as little as you would if I did something similar to you you’ll have to find another way to do it. If you don’t he’ll eventually, and by eventually I mean very soon, stop letting you be his guard. He’s angry at you right now, Elsa.”
Elsa frowned and twisted to look back over her shoulder at him. “He didn’t say anything to me.”
“I have learned and am still continuing to learn that Ciaran is probably smarter than I am, and I am not by any sense of the word stupid. He knows that every time someone is mad at you, instead of trying to discover why they’re upset you just get mad back. It’s a defensive mechanism that we’ve seen rather often. He’ll probably say something to you later, once he gets his own temper under control.”
Elsa’s ears flattened. “I don’t get mad at someone just because they’re upset at me.”
Ceres smiled dryly. “You’re doing it now and I’m not even upset at you.”
Elsa’s eyes narrowed. “I,” she broke off and her eyes went wide. “Shit.”
“Watch the language, but I agree in principle. I hoped that by not presenting aggression you’d be easier to reason with, but then I know you’re probably nearly as smart as I am.”
Elsa blinked. “Nearly?” She started to say something and stopped before continuing in a calmer tone. “That’s a trap. Arguing with you will just prove you right.”
“Actually, your response did prove me right but if you like it’ll be our secret.”
Elsa wisely dropped that line of discussion. “What do I do?”
“That’s an excellent question. Getting in front of him won’t make him angry, and neither will telling him to take cover, although he might not listen to your commands. His sister has hinted broadly that we don’t want to see him really lose his temper. I respect her and her opinion, so we’ve decided she’s likely enough right that we don’t want to goad him that far. I’d like you to help with that.”
“But I’ve already made him angry.”
“He doesn’t get mad easily but he seems to get over it fairly quickly. That works to our advantage. Give him an hour or so and if he doesn’t say anything, you might bring the subject up yourself. Are you too proud to apologize to him?”
Elsa scowled. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” She blinked and took a deep breath. “I’m not used to apologizing.”
“If I remember correctly you’re also not used to being thwarted. If he refuses to let you guard him you won’t be able to do that job.”
Elsa gritted her teeth. “For him, I can be apologetic. He’s extremely frustrating.”
Ceres smiled broadly. “You are the one that wanted a man who was interesting. Now you’re complaining because you got one?”
Elsa blinked and her scowl became a wry smile. “I should have been more careful of what I wished for.”
“You could always leave if you find he’s too frustrating for you to tolerate.”
“I’m not leaving.” She glanced back at him again. “I found what I want.”
“Then stop trying to make him into something else. If you succeed he won’t be what you wanted in the first place. He is going to be heroic, no matter how much it scares us.” She smiled slightly. “It’s actually a good thing that he’s heroic.”
“Why do you think that?”
“A coward might have accepted Victoria into his life, but he would have probably balked at me or Eliana. And he’d still be running after finding out what you are.”
“A more prudent man would be easier to keep alive.”
Ceres shrugged. “You’ve been with more prudent men. You referred to them as oatmeal, if I heard correctly. Now you have, at least according to Eliana, something better than pie.”
Elsa chuckled. “Is she always so fixated on food?”
“No, but food is important to her. Go without it long enough and it will be important to you, too.”
Elsa’s ears flicked. “I will find another way to protect him. And I’ll try to apologize to him tonight.”
“Good. I know that fitting in with us is difficult, especially considering your inclinations. You’re working hard at it and I appreciate that. I don’t want you to leave. Guarding Ciaran is important and you free up us to try to ensure his security to the extent that hopefully you will have little to do most of the time.”
“What inclinations?”
“Victoria is right. You’re not evil, but you are decidedly self-centered. That makes it harder for you to play on a team. I know it’s not easy for you and I appreciate you working to overcome that.”
“Oh.” They both turned around when Victoria called. She was waving towards them. “I think we should go back now.”
“One more quick thing. When you apologize to him, be specific about what you’re apologizing for. Generalized apologies tend to irritate him more.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“They’re coming back now.”
Ciaran grunted at Victoria’s statement. He finished loading the last of the captured pokeballs into the transport and stood up, placing his hands behind his back to stretch out muscles still hurting from when Elsa had knocked him to the ground. “That’s everything, Theodora. I’ll let you know when we’ve caught more.”
The hologram nodded. “Be careful, Ciaran. We like you and Iain doesn’t have so many friends that he can afford to lose you.”
Ciaran chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”
“So will we,” Victoria offered. “So I’m very grateful for the extra medical equipment.”
“Ouch,” he muttered. “Is there anything you need from us, Theodora?”
She shook her head. “No, but if the circumstances change and I do, I’ll contact you immediately.”
“Yes, I know it’s unlikely you’ll need something that only we can provide,” Ciaran said with a deprecating smile. “I realized how presumptuous that sounded right after the words left my mouth.”
“You mean well, Ciaran. I like it and you never know what we might need.” The transport lifted into the air. “And thank you for stopping the attack on this pod.”
“You’re welcome. Be well, Theodora.”
“And you, Ciaran Sullivan.” Her image vanished and the transport accelerated away.
Victoria placed a hand on his lower back and it immediately stopped hurting. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Thank you, but I think it was just a bad bruise and a muscle pull this time.”
She winked at him. “If I can remove your pain, shouldn’t I? You would do the same for me without asking permission.”
“That’s true enough.” He motioned towards the new pokepack. “Can you give Elsa a quick instruction on the care and feeding of her new equipment?”
“I will and gladly.” She touched him on the arm. “She’s trying to fit in.”
“I haven’t forgotten that. That’s why I’ll wait until my temper is under control before telling how much her I don’t appreciate what she did.”
Victoria eyed him for a second. “Is that best for you?” When he gave her a confused look she smiled slightly. “Repressing your anger will help Elsa, but will it help you? Remember that I am more concerned about your mental and physical health than I am about Elsa’s.”
“In the scheme of things what happened is a little thing and I’m not that upset about it. I do appreciate your concern, however.” He looked at Ceres as she and Elsa returned. “Let’s get this cavalcade back on the road. We’ve still got a lot of daylight.”
She nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
08/20/09 1430 A71, Scotland
Elsa looked at Ciaran’s back, gritted her teeth for a second and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” He looked over his shoulder at her with a curious look. When she didn’t say anything else he returned his gaze to watching where he was walking. After a few long seconds she finally scowled. “I’m sorry for knocking you down while trying to protect you from the Harpy Empress. I should have found another way to do that. I will, next time.”
He stopped and fell in beside her as she came up alongside him. “Without agreeing that I always need protected, yes you should have.” He glanced at her. “I accept your apology.”
Her ears flicked. “I am your bodyguard. To me, you always need protected.”
He smiled grimly. “Did I ever say I needed a bodyguard? Did I ever say I wanted a bodyguard?”
“You didn’t say you didn’t.”
He nodded. “I didn’t. Do you know what an argument is?”
Her tail twitched. “I am learning that I usually don’t like it when you suddenly change topics. It means I’m about to learn something I may not like.”
He chuckled. “Nice try to change the topic yourself. An argument is a discussion in which people attempt to change the minds of other people by giving reasons why they’re right. That’s the technical definition, by the way. What an argument usually boils down to, however, is that both sides have already made their minds up and nobody is going to change their mind and support the other side. Arguments can also get rather heated, unlike a rational discussion that uses proof instead of the emotional content found in most arguments. The problem is that since emotion is engaged, arguments rarely settle anything. Once you have an emotional stake in an idea you are much less likely to abandon it for anything as weak as mere reason. If I’d disagreed that I needed a bodyguard, we would have had an argument about it because your mind is made up that I always need one and mine is made up that I usually don’t.” He smiled again. “And only one side has to have that emotional stake for a discussion to become an argument. You see it a lot in politicians no matter what side they’re on. If they feel they’re losing control of a rational discussion, they resort to emotional statements and, once the diatribes start, you’ve got an argument and nothing will ever change except perhaps people will get angrier at the obvious stupidity of the other side and their inability to realize just how right their side is.”
“So you do agree that sometimes you need a bodyguard.”
“I do. But I also say that there are times when I don’t.”
“Can’t you see how silly that is, considering how dangerous the world is for humans?”
He looked at her again and shook his head. “Do you really think that calling someone else’s belief silly will encourage them to change their mind about it? Insults almost always provoke an emotional response to them.”
Her eyes narrowed. “We are quickly reaching that point I mentioned before where I’m annoyed.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I figured we might be, but if you want to convince me of the correctness of your position you’ll have to do better than an insult and now a vague threat.”
“I don’t know how to respond to that.” She smiled. “That’s not true, I do know how to respond to that but I know you won’t like it.”
“Think about it this way; how would you want someone to convince you of something? Decide what that way is and see how you can apply it to other people.”
She was quiet for a little while as they walked. “Do you agree that this world is much more dangerous since pokegirls came into it?”
He flashed a quick grin. “An excellent opening and yes I do.”
“Do you agree that a human has a poor chance of defending himself or herself against a pokegirl?”
He frowned. “I presume you’re using human to describe homo naturalis?”
“I am.”
“Then, with a few caveats, I agree. An unarmed human has a poor chance of defending himself against an average pokegirl.”
Her ears flicked. “Do you agree that a pokegirl usually makes a good defender for a human from another pokegirl?”
“She can. It’s a proven fact that in most cases tamers need one or more pokegirls to defeat other pokegirls.”
“Do you also agree that pokegirls provide a significant threat to humans?”
“That’s a poorly worded question. Feral pokegirls usually do, yes. Aware pokegirls can, but you and the other ladies in my life are low level threats in regards to my safety.”
She shrugged. “But you do accept that the basic premise is correct.”
“I do.”
“If you agree to everything that I’ve said, how can you disagree that you need a bodyguard?”
“Because your reasoning, while logical, reaches a conclusion not supported by the facts.” She gave him an exasperated look and he smiled. “What you didn’t conclude, and can’t from the reasoning you’ve given, is that there is a specific threat to my person. There is a threat from feral pokegirls as well as one from aware pokegirls that are hostile to us for one reason or another, but that threat is to all of us, not just me. Under that reasoning, I could suggest that you need me to bodyguard you.” She blinked. “Yes, I know it’s an absurd idea, but it’s not, not really. I can help to protect you and everyone else even as you act to protect me. That’s what families do. If someone decides to single me out, I expect everyone else to band together to protect me but I expect I and everyone else will do the same to protect you if someone decides to make you their specific target. Also, don’t ever forget that hostile humans can be just as dangerous as hostile pokegirls. If nothing else, they can command previously neutral or friendly pokegirls to become hostile to us.”
“Are you talking about Tamsin?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not and yes, I am. She seems to be our friend and I think that she is, but she also works for the Crown. If the Crown decides she needs to capture us, most likely she will obey that order. In addition, she works for two crowns and I don’t know where her ultimate loyalty lies, but I’d bet it belongs to Ygerna.”
“Victoria explained a little of Tamsin’s divided loyalties. What can we do in a situation like that?”
“We can only treat her as she treats us while at the same time understanding that she has responsibilities that are not ours and that she is not part of our family. It’s the same way we’d treat anyone who isn’t family.”
“Do you think she’s a danger to us right now?”
“No, I don’t.”
“But you could be wrong. She might already be under orders that make her dangerous to us.”
He shrugged. “That road leads straight to paranoia. She’s not bad company, she hasn’t done anything that would be considered threatening and she helped us get out of many of the requirements they wanted in Edinburgh to make recordings.”
“That’s what she said. Nobody else told us of these requirements.”
He gave Elsa a hard look. “We have no proof otherwise and I don’t see a reason for her to lie about it. The problem with lies is trying to remember them all. Keep lies simple and liberally sprinkled with the truth.”
She cocked her head. “Is that what you do?”
“What I do is try not to lie to people.”
“And when you have to?”
“Lying is a decision. You seldom have to lie. There may be situations where lying seems the best course, but it takes a conscious decision to actually lie.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I am. Simple lies are easy to remember. Remembering the lies you tell is important because lies have a tendency to grow beyond the limits of the people you tell them to. So, yes, I keep mine simple.”
“Have you lied to me?”
“No, I haven’t. I won’t, either, although I try not to be brutally honest, either. Usually there’s a way to be truthful without being mean.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Imagine you’re a girl and you’ve got a big butt.”
She twisted around to look at her backside. “I don’t, but I’ll pretend.”
“You put on a skirt and ask me if it makes your butt look big. I reply, no, it doesn’t, but I don’t say what the brutal truth is.”
She grinned. “That is my butt is big whether or not I’m wearing that skirt.”
He nodded. “Exactly.” He frowned. “How did we get from your apology to lying to people?”
She grinned again. “We are learning about each other. But to get back to the primary discussion, if you don’t feel you need a bodyguard why do you accept me as your bodyguard?”
“Because sometimes I do need protected, you’ll do a good job of it and if someone else needs protected from an imminent threat I won’t let you stand idly by while they’re in danger.”
“You’d try to order me to help, say Ceres?”
“No, I’d help her and you’d help me. Or you’d help her to keep me from getting involved and therefore I’d stay safer. Or you’d help because I was already helping and that was the best way to keep me safe.”
Her smile became a deep scowl. “Manipulating my protecting you to protect others doesn’t seem right.”
“Is it that it intrinsically seems wrong or is it because in that situation you’re the one being manipulated?”
Her scowl deepened. “I don’t want to answer that.”
“I wouldn’t either.”
She glanced at him, giggled once and then glared. “I hate it when I giggle.”
“I think it sounds cute.”
Her head came up haughtily. “I am beautiful. I am gorgeous. I am not cute.”
“Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder.”
Her ears flicked. “If anyone else calls me cute there will most definitely be something in their eyes.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“Good.” She gave him one last glare before dropping back behind him to guard their rear as he tried not to laugh out loud.
Ciaran Sullivan
Victoria – Angel
Eliana – Samhain
Ceres – Tantrasaur
Elsa – Mazouku