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Loose Threads
Twenty Five
Iain sat cross-legged on his desk in his laboratory and held his cupped hands together as he concentrated. He’d been focused on this for over an hour and finally light flared between his hands. It died and appeared again several times before finally becoming a tiny glowing sphere that floated at the center of the cup. Iain took a deep breath and let it out as the light faded away. “Well, I managed it. Now what do I do with it?”
Eirian cocked her head. “What is that, my lord? I sensed no magic.”
“Technically it isn’t magical and what it is,” he smiled briefly, “is yet another attempt on my part to cheat my way to a win.”
“Good. You must stay ahead of our foes, my lord, even if we do not know that these foes yet exist, for they do whether we are aware of them or not or even if they are our foes now or not.”
“That’s really paranoid and yet decent advice.” Iain slid off of his desk and into the chair as he reached for a thermos of lemonade. “Are they coming yet?”
“My lord, they will arrive momentarily.”
Iain held out his hands and his tome flowed into them from the tattoo on his arm and he opened it to begin reading. A few minutes later he closed it as Skye, Beryl, Aurum, Emerald and Rhea rose from a shadow to stand in front of his desk. Over the Chimera’s shoulder was draped a human skeleton.
The Chimera stepped forward, dropping the skeleton to stand in front of her as her Billie head spoke. “My lord, this is the lich you believe is your analog.”
Iain looked it over as it looked at him, the red dots it had for eyes seeming to bore into him. “You fixed the damage to the skull.”
“No, my lord,” the Lioness head replied. “The skull fixed itself during the enchanting process. According to Eirian, all physical damage to the structure of a subject’s skeleton is spontaneously repaired at this time. I do not understand this, but my education into magic is just beginning.”
Iain chuckled. “That’s where we all start, Rhea.”
Skye stepped forward and held out her hand. “This is her stone, my lord.” She opened the proffered hand to reveal a brilliant deep green crystal. “I do not know why her stone is a different color than the others, my lord. I suspect it has to do with the fact that she was free willed for a time.”
Iain took it. “I just hope that she can be bound.”
“My research indicates that since she has been properly processed, the binding should proceed normally.”
Iain was looking at the stone. “I wonder if that would also work on the next Eoghan and Germanicus we came across.”
Aurum tilted her head curiously. “My lord, they were male. Why would you want them in your harem?”
Iain frowned. “Did you only take females from the Blackguards?”
“We did, my lord. It was only proper.”
He thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Whatever. I don’t have a problem with my dead harem being only female.” He looked at the skeleton standing in front of him and focused his magic on it. “I am Iain Grey and I am your lord. Nyclioch ameloth zalestiel rholaeipt. Kalieth lhurept.” The skeleton shuddered for several seconds before kneeling and bowing its head to him. He waited a few seconds. “Stand.” It smoothly stood. He held out the crystal. “Is this yours?” It nodded. “Take it and awaken as part of my dead harem.”
The skeleton took the crystal and swallowed it. Instantly flesh began spreading over bone. As Iain watched, muscles grew as, inside the torso, organs began to rejuvenate and in less than a minute he was looking at the woman he’d seen sitting on the bench so long ago, only now she was nude. She looked down at herself and then at him. “What happened to me? Are you the one who killed me?”
“I am not, Geraldine,” Iain replied. “I believe you were killed by a Blue League sniper. What do you last remember before you died?”
“I had gone outside to study as I always did,” she said calmly. “I started to sit down and then I was in my bed and I was dead. I remember that over the next few days my flesh corrupted and decomposed. Who are you if not my killer and what happened to me?”
“My name is Iain and I believe I am your analog from a different universe. When you were killed, the bonds you had with the undead Dragonesses turned you into a lich.”
She looked surprised. “I hadn’t anticipated that. And now I can feel that I am bonded to you. Will you keep me?”
“That’s my plan.”
“Will you bring me back to life someday?”
“I would first have to find a reliable way to do that.”
“I do not wish to remain undead. If you could find him you could threaten Gwrlais with torture until he agrees to use the Grammaire of Nuada Airgetlam to bring me back to life.” Her eyes narrowed. “That is if you could find a way to make sure he actually does it. He’s a coward as well as a slippery weasel and fled when Eoghan took over the order.”
Iain frowned at her for a second. “Gorlais is the last living Sidhe?”
She shook her head. “He is Welsh and his name is Gwrlais. And no, he is not Sidhe. He is a wizard who killed the last Sidhe and took her place on the throne of the Order of Pendragon. According to what I have heard, he uses the mystical book to keep himself eternally young and has done so for thousands of years. The queen’s name is lost to history.”
“It was probably Ygerna,” Iain replied. “Have you ever seen this book?”
“I would not ever be within reach of Gwrlais. He would have enslaved me and bred me for his children. As he never lets the book out of his sight, I have not. But it is said that the book can be used to raise the dead.”
“I may have to see if I can find him.”
She looked around. “I see other undead, but they have regenerated the bodies they wore while alive. Why?”
“They’re mine and because of the close association with my life and power they become more and more lifelike as time passes.”
“You are more powerful than I was and am, aren’t you?”
Iain shrugged. “I think so.”
“You obviously know more. I did not know that the binding incantation could be used to bind other undead. Will it work on undead pokegirls?”
“No, the binding spell is part of the process of creating a lich using the techniques Eoghan taught his Dragonesses.”
Her eyes glowed briefly. “Your will is my will. I can feel it and I can feel that you are stronger than I am. What happens if I can get free of your control?”
“Considering the threat you are undoubtedly going to pose, at that point it is very likely that Kerrik Wolf will become involved and destroy you shortly afterward if I can’t get to you first,” Iain said calmly. “And he won’t care about bringing you back to life before he does, either.”
She blinked. “Kerrik Wolf is here.”
“He is and I am his student.”
“Then this is not the world I was on.”
“No it is not. I saw you once in passing and recently I went there to see if we could work together. Unfortunately you’d already been killed when I arrived.”
“I remember you appearing and disappearing in front me half a year ago. I thought you were an apparition from across the dimensional boundaries. Are you sure you didn’t seek me out so you could breed me yourself?”
Iain shook his head. “That would be impossible as you’re dead. Besides, I have children and I don’t do rape. I may have to see if I can locate Gwrlais and this book.”
Aurum stirred. “Do you wish us to begin searching for him, my lord?”
“I want to find out more about him first. It was my understanding that you had to have Sidhe blood to use Sidhe magical books. It could mean that he’s at least partially Sidhe, but if he is not and he’s enterprising enough to find a way around that restriction, I’ll need to know how he did it so I can use the book too.” He looked at Skye. “I may have you return to the Order’s demesne and copy everything from their library to see if they have any more information on him.”
“My lord,” the blue Dragoness said, “I would advise we start with the books we recovered from the libraries of that world’s Eoghan. If this Gwrlais was involved with the Order and the death of Ygerna, the Usurper would have knowledge of him and they would be in his writings.”
“Yes, start there.”
Geraldine frowned. “You have the library of Eoghan?”
“I had to go there to get the crystals to free the Dragonesses that you commanded so we do know where it is.”
“How did you get past the Order’s knights? I could never find a way around them and they were too strong for my Dragonesses to exterminate.”
“I’ve got my ways,” Iain said with a smile. “You’ll learn them as you learn more about being part of my dead harem.” He nodded towards the silver Dragoness. “This is Eirian and she leads my undead harem. She’ll begin teaching you.”
“Her?” Geraldine didn’t bother to do more than glance at Eirian. “What can I learn from a pokegirl that I don’t already know?”
Eirian smiled grimly. “You will learn humility, of that I can assure you. I advised my lord to keep you and attempt to bind you to him. If not for me, you would have been destroyed as a danger to us. That fate could still be yours.”
Geraldine looked surprised. “You would let her destroy me?”
Iain shrugged. “I don’t have any plans to do so as of yet, but you are kind of being a bitch. However, I would note that I’ll be the one to destroy you, not Eirian. I wasn’t responsible for your death or undeath. I am, however, currently responsible for your existence. I don’t mind you being free willed or I would have ordered you to stop. I can also appreciate wanting to be alive again and I’ll investigate if that’s possible and if I can do it. But I don’t owe you anything and I certainly don’t have any responsibility as far as bringing you back to life. If I can’t do it or if this wizard proves too problematic, you may stay dead for some time.”
She nodded jerkily, her face a study in frustration. Apparently she was used to getting her way most of the time. “May I inquire as to what happened to my harem?”
“Hel and Loviatar are in the process of being transformed into liches,” Iain said.
“What about Ganieda?”
“She’s in my living harem.”
Geraldine looked surprised. “Why keep her? Out of all of them, she is the most unreliable.”
“Are you aware that Loviatar was a Dark Queen?”
“I am. I can identify any pure pokegirl breed by sight.”
So that ability might be common across his analogs. That was something to keep in mind. “I have children and it was my opinion that neither she nor Hel could be trusted around them, much less with their care, so I executed both of them and Eirian wanted them for the undead harem.”
“So you can be cold blooded.”
Iain smiled. “I can be extraordinarily practical and cold bloodedness is practical.”
“Yet you’re not really like me,” Geraldine noted. “I wouldn’t answer this many questions from a lackey. I ask again, why keep Ganieda?”
“In spite of what you did to her by the repeated splicing, she’s stable and trustworthy. And she is so loyal to someone who shows her loyalty that it’s almost frightening. I’d have been a fool to turn her away.”
“We are talking about the same pokegirl, right?”
“We are. You’ll see her in the near future. She wants to make sure that you, Loviatar and Hel are all truly dead and under my control. She really hates you. You might want to remember that because if I do manage to bring you back to life she might just kill you as soon as she finds out. And if I let her do that I’m pretty sure that death will neither be quick nor neat.”
Geraldine looked away. “That wasn’t my fault,” she muttered. “Loviatar was the one who tortured her.”
“You allowed it. Obviously to me, from the outside of your group dynamic, Loviatar had her hooks pretty deeply into you and was manipulating you however and whenever she wanted.”
Geraldine’s head whipped around and she glared at him. “That is not true!”
“Obviously it is,” Skye said with a laugh that reminded Iain of fingernails on a chalkboard. Hundreds of fingernails scraping relentlessly as they tried to dig through the slate of the board and it made his skin crawl to hear it. “You didn’t allow the torture, you say, but you did or it would not have happened. A good tamer protects her harem, even from each other and you did nothing while your Dark Queen tried to destroy another member. My queen let me be tortured by the same inaction because it suited her purposes to keep me pliant for her. In the beginning you probably let your Dark Queen have Ganieda to keep her attention off of you, but let her you did, for the tamer controls if she truly desires to. If your Dark Queen had proven truly uncontrollable, you could have slain her or sold her off.” She smiled malevolently. “Ganieda would have been ecstatic to receive the order to kill your Dark Queen and would have shown her no mercy.”
“Loviatar was my best spell caster,” Geraldine protested.
“A Sorceress or Archmage would have been a much better and more reliable choice,” Skye countered. “You kept your Dark Queen because it suited her to have you keep her. That is their way and the fact that you didn’t see it shows how deeply you were in her thrall.” She looked at Iain. “My lord, she may be irredeemable.”
“Which one, Loviatar or Geraldine?”
Skye coughed a laugh. “Geraldine can be taught, my lord. She is haughty, but are all of your Dragonesses not as proud of their station in undeath as she mistakenly is about her life which has ended?”
“If Loviatar tries the things she did before she died and can’t be controlled,” Iain said, “she will be destroyed. She’s not going to go around hurting people without my say so, whether they are alive or in my dead harem.”
Eirian nodded. “My lord’s words are what a good tamer says, Geraldine. Now, come with me and your education will begin.” She bobbed her head to Iain. “My lord.”
He waved a hand. “Go. I need to get some studying done today.” He frowned. “Is anyone else ready to be bound?”
“No my lord, but most will be ready soon. I will inform you that we may schedule an appointment for the binding.”
“Thank you. Oh, and find her some clothes if she wants them.”
“You are more gracious than I would be toward this one, my lord.”
“I see no reason to be cruel, Eirian.” His book reappeared as Eirian took Geraldine by the shoulder and they stepped into the closest shadow to vanish, quickly followed by the remaining members of his dead harem.
***
Harriet struggled vainly as the dress slipped down over her head. Her ears were flat and her eyes angry when they came into view again. “No want!” It was interesting to note that the children, while parthenogenic offspring of Joyce’s, had cow’s ears instead of human while their mother was a very near human with only short horns and a tail. Iain suspected they were more animalistic because Joyce had been feral when she became pregnant.
Iain chuckled as he held the young Milktit still long enough to pull her arms through the sleeves and tighten the belt around her waist in the hopes it would keep her from wriggling out of it again. “You’ll have to take that up with your mother. She feels you need to wear clothes right now and I’m not going to argue with her as long as she holds my beer hostage.”
Joyce watched with amusement from where she laid with her other two kits while they slept. “She listens to you more than me,” she noted wryly.
“That’s probably the prey response all three of them have to me as a predator.” Iain finished up and stood Harriet on her feet. He leaned down and let her go. She immediately grabbed at the belt. “No,” he said curtly.
She froze and then gave him her most winsome look, all ears up, eyes wide and with a huge smile. “Yes.” Her fingers twitched on the belt.
Iain growled and she froze again. “No.” He dragged out the word as he stared into her eyes. “Spank.”
Her fingers came off of the belt instantly as she crossed her hands behind her back and conveniently over her rump as her tail tucked between her legs. “No spank,” she said distinctly.
“Then be good and you won’t get spanked. Bad girls get undressed without their mother’s permission and they get spankings.”
“I good.” He smiled and she relaxed before scampering over to her mother.
Joyce shook her head. “I can say the same words and glare at her too and she just keeps going with trying to become naked again.”
He shrugged. “I have a way with willful women?”
Her smile warmed. “You certainly do with me.” Her eyes shifted to look past him. “What is it, Theodora?”
Iain turned to see her standing a few meters away. “I hate to interrupt your time with him, Joyce, but something important has come up.”
Something in her tone made Joyce’s eyes narrow and her lips tighten. “Do I need to get the children inside?”
“It might be best if all of the children went inside,” Theodora said firmly.
“I’ll take care of warning everyone else.” She scooped up two of her daughters and looked at Harriet. “Come with Mommy.” She glanced at Iain. “Be careful and I’ve warned Dianthus.”
He watched her trot off and sighed. “Overreaction, thy name is any pokegirl I’ve fucked.”
“She may not be overreacting,” Theodora said. “Shikarou just arrived with Bellona, Branwyn and Lorelei and he’s demanding to see you immediately. He seems agitated.”
Iain got up and dusted off his clothes. “Is the rest of his harem deploying anywhere you can see them?”
“Not that I am aware of, but they could just be waiting until you arrive.” She visibly hesitated for a second. “If it is an attack, are you prepared to do what you must?”
“Shikarou’s life holds no intrinsic value to me. If I have to kill him and members of his family to save the lives of me and mine and then deal with the fallout from Kasumi or Kerrik, I will do so without hesitation.” He grimaced. “If Kasumi is one of the attackers I’ll kill her too if I have to.”
“Good. Should I lead you to him, bring him to you or send him to another ground where the two of you can meet?”
“Alert Ninhursag and bring him here. It’ll irritate him a little more if he has to come to me, but the psychological benefit of reminding him who is in charge may give him a bit of pause and is far more valuable than my running to his summons on my land. The fact that I’m willing to see him immediately in spite of the suddenness of his arrival should be of some salve to his pride but that’s all he gets.”
“Again, good. Should I arrange for refreshments?”
“No. What is his ETA?”
“You have about seventy three seconds.”
“I wish I had time to put on body armor.” Suddenly, Ganieda, Pandora, Dianthus and Heather appeared. Heather and Dianthus disappeared into the bushes around the area while Pandora and Ganieda took up station behind him. He glanced back at them. “Nobody talks or reacts unless I call for it or I am actually under attack.”
“We hear you,” Pandora said.
Iain spent the remaining time bending his magic around him but made sure to finish before Shikarou came into view. The black haired kami’s wolf ears were half flat and he looked somewhere between unhappy and severely pissed off, Iain noted absently. He decided to go for welcoming. “Good morning, Shikarou, Bellona, Branwyn.” He smiled especially widely for the Sphinx with them. “We haven’t met, Lorelei, but I’m Iain and I bid you greetings.” She gave him a curt nod but didn’t speak.
Shikarou stepped forward until he was a few paces from Iain. “I know this is unexpected,” he said in a half growl, “but it couldn’t wait. I’d like to talk to Kasumi and I’d like to talk to her immediately, with none of your bullshit about how I can only speak to her if she wants to talk to me.”
“First of all, it is hospitality, a clan rule and not bullshit of any sort,” Iain replied calmly as his brain raced furiously, “so I won’t force my guests to talk to you even if you demand it. And secondly, I can’t accommodate you or deny you the privilege since Kasumi isn’t here.”
Shikarou’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care, but considering your rudeness if she was here I’d tell you just to watch you squirm before I threw you off of my property. I am sure at least one of your women has a truth spell up, so I’ll say it again for your benefit. Kasumi Tendo Wolf is not here and I do not know where she is.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Branwyn said.
Iain rolled his eyes as Shikarou blinked in surprise. “I take it you think she’s missing.”
“She left this morning after,” he broke off and snarled loudly. “She left and I thought she’d come here since you two are friends. Do you know where she could be?”
Iain frowned. “Well, all of her harem members can teleport and each is powerful enough to span the globe. With us she’s been to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Austin, Orange, Port Arthur, Dublin, Cork, Tokyo, Dingle, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Dallas and El Paso, if I remember correctly. We flew some of the routes, like between Dublin and Cork so they could also conceivably teleport to anyplace along the way. Oh, and we’ve also been to Poppet Harris’ place in Scotland.”
Bellona cursed in Japanese. “You know her. Where do you think she’d go first?”
“Honestly, I thought she’d come here if she needed someplace to stay. I was expecting her back a week after her last visit but she didn’t contact me and I figured she was having more of a difficult time with whatever she needed to work out at the school than she thought she was going to have.” Iain frowned. “I intend to investigate and see if I can locate her.”
“If you do find her,” Shikarou said, “let me know.”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “Kasumi is my friend and you are not, not yet. Is that a request or an order?”
Shikarou took a deep breath, held it for several seconds and let it out before speaking in a far less hostile tone. “I’m sorry for barging in here and being an asshole. If you find her, please let me know.”
Iain regarded him for a moment. “Shikarou, if I find her and she is in danger I will let you know immediately while rescuing her. If she is not in danger I will ask her if I can tell you.” He raised a hand as Shikarou’s ears went flat again. “But if she isn’t in danger and she won’t let me tell you where she is I will still tell you that she is safe and that you can stop worrying about her.”
Shikarou let his breath out in a long gush as his ears came back up. “Thank you.”
“Hey, she’s my friend and now I’m worried about her too. And we are not enemies so I don’t see any reason to leave you twisting in the wind. Oh, there’s one other thing.” Shikarou scowled at him again and Iain smiled slightly. “We have a lot of children and they have very sharp ears and many of them are learning to speak right now so they’re very impressionable. Next time, please don’t say you’re being an asshole and just apologize for being a meanie.”
Bellona burst out laughing and Branwyn smiled as she took Shikarou’s arm. The kami shook his head. “I’ll try,” he said, his ears canting amusedly. “If I find her I’ll let you know.”
Iain inclined his head. “Thanks.”
Pandora chuckled after the four had vanished. “Can I use that reasoning to help you to avoid cursing?”
“First, I have gotten better and second, it’s a lot more logical than ‘Iain it’s bad’. I’d probably listen to it more than the usual.”
“He didn’t ask the right question,” Ganieda said with a smile. “So I’ll ask it. Do you think you might know where Kasumi is?”
“I don’t know why she left, but from his shitty attitude I’d have thought she’d have come here for sanctuary.” He frowned. “Hmm.”
“Do we have time to finish taking bets,” Heather appeared out of the brush and looked at Pandora.
“I doubt it,” the Archangel replied.
“Theodora,” Iain said. She had been standing nearby and turned to look at him. “Ping the pokedexes of all four and see if anyone stupidly left hers turned on and left out.”
“Shikarou should have thought of that,” Pandora said.
“He should have,” Iain said. “And Branwyn should have thought of it if he didn’t. But that’s just step one.”
“None of them have pokedexes that are on. I don’t have the override codes to turn them on and wouldn’t if I did except in response to a direct order from you,” Theodora told him.
“I wouldn’t do that. What I do want you to do is download the satellite records from our satellites for the last day. How often do Haven pokedexes check registration?”
“Every hundred and eighty seconds,” Theodora replied instantly.
“Were the pokedexes of Kasumi or her harem on in the last day?”
“They were until they were turned off this morning,” Theodora said.
“Track the pokedexes as they moved from satellite to satellite and tell me which satellite had the last registration, when it happened and where it was at the time if it’s not one of the geosynchronous ones. And see if the pokedex sent GPS coordinates when it did.”
“Do ours do that, master?” It was Dianthus as she broke cover to join them.
“They can,” Iain said, “but it’s turned off as a default. Haven’s units have GPS location transmission on as a default but it’s easy to turn off. However, you have to read the documentation to know it’s normally on and how to deactivate it.” He glanced at her. “And, Barb, you called me master.”
“Sorry. It’s more of a habit than and harder to break than I thought it would be.”
“Try harder.”
Theodora looked at Iain. “No GPS data was sent but the last transmission was from this region.” A map appeared and a blue circle appeared on the map. “This was the normal coverage area for a standard pokedex to reach for the satellite at the time it received a query from Nishiko’s pokedex based on the strength of the registration signal when it arrived at the satellite.”
Iain eyed it. “OK, I guess that makes sense.”
“Where is she,” Heather asked.
“I think she’s at Kerrik’s place.” He reached out through his twee. Kerrik, do you have a moment?
His response was a few seconds later. A brief one.
I have one question and a warning. Is Kasumi all right?
She isn’t in any danger but no, she’s not all right. You’ll see her Tuesday if she wants to see you.
It was Friday and Iain wasn’t supposed to return to Kerrik’s until his regularly scheduled class on Tuesday. It was also a subtle way of warning Iain not to drop by early and one he’d heed. Shikarou came here looking for her. He demanded he be allowed to speak to her and hospitality be damned.
Don’t tell him where she is. If she wants to speak to him she will.
I won’t. I will tell him she’s safe.
He could almost see Kerrik’s grimace and nod. Yes, you should probably do that. Goodbye.
Iain rubbed his eyes. “She’s safe but we’re not supposed to tell anyone where she is. Theodora, tell Shikarou that Kasumi is safe and that he doesn’t have to worry.”
“He’ll want to know more,” Pandora said. “He may even return.”
“I told him what I said I’d tell him. If Kasumi wants to talk to him I’m sure she can get in touch with him. That is all Shikarou or anyone from Haven gets. Hell, it’s all anyone else gets.”
“What do they get if they threaten us?” It was Dianthus.
“They get their asses handed to them if that happens,” Iain replied grimly.
“Good.”
***
“What’s the latest on the artificial world ship,” Kerrik asked.
“We really need to find something else to call it,” Iain replied. “Whenever I hear that I think of a much larger construct filled with a zillion hungry Magog.”
“Is that a real universe,” Kerrik’s ears perked eagerly.
“They’re all out there somewhere,” Iain replied. “While there’s some technology from that universe that it would be fun to incorporate into my tech base, I’m not sure I want to tangle with some of the villains from there until I have done so. On the other hand, unless the universe is vastly different from ours I have force shields and they don’t. As for the construct you’re talking about, it’s finishing construction of several tiny moons to go with the planet and sun. Once the moons are complete and orbiting I hope we can use the imagery to speculate on which world the owner comes from. It’s built a sphere of localized gravitational stability around the sun, planet and moons and has been moving from place to place by using magic to change the local gravitational fields to pull the localized sphere in the desired direction, which neatly moves it as a unit instead of trying to shove everything along at the exact same rate. More magic keeps the sphere from coming apart.”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “That’s unusual. I’ll send a message to Tanika and Magdalene asking them to do a bit of research at the Covenant House and see if anyone left records of such a creation. They like to brag.”
“Do you really think it’s fair to them to ask them to go? I mean that place is like what internet dating chats are like for real women. It’s full of horny males who think that greasiness and suaveness are the same things.”
Kerrik chuckled. “I’ll let them know you said that and see what their opinion is. The way my luck has been recently they’ll probably agree with you.” His gaze slipped past Iain. “You have a visitor.” He got up. “I’ll be at the house. We need to plan a bit about how to coordinate Theodora and Cassiopeia in an active defense of this planet if it comes down to that and we need to talk about that some before you leave today.”
“Sure.” Iain turned to see Kasumi standing well outside the range of his perception. She looked, well for want of a better term he decided haggard fit. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes and face were red and puffy. Behind her, Giselle looked about the same as usual, but Iain could see a set to her face that put him on edge. Only someone who’d spent a month around her could see it, but she was furious about something.
As he watched, Kasumi straightened her shoulders and deliberately walked towards him. She stopped a few meters away and gave him a wan smile. “I am sorry that you have to see me like this,” she said and stopped, obviously at a loss for words.
“Kasumi,” Iain said gently, “what can I do to help?”
“I,” she said with a desperate intensity in her voice that worried him, “I didn’t know where else to go. I wanted to come to your house but Shikarou was upset and I could see that even if he tried to hide it that he was angry and I didn’t want to bring that down on you and so I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go but I’m not really welcome here and I,” she looked up into his eyes, “I’m divorced and everything is different. It was so hard to do it and I thought it would be easy and it wasn’t and I don’t know what to do,” she trailed off.
“We’ve already had this talk. I’m not Japanese and being divorced doesn’t diminish you in my eyes or the eyes of my family. Your place is with us if you want it.”
He watched her shoulders slump and she sagged as relief swept over her face. “I so terribly want that, Iain.” She looked surprised when he wrapped her up in his arms before just relaxing against him.
“Master,” Dianthus said from behind him. “Eve and April are on their way to bring Kasumi and the others home.”
He looked at Giselle. “I have her. Go get your sisters. Is there anything that you can’t come back for later?”
“No, sir and I will be back in just a few minutes with Nishiko and Ayame.” She summoned her wings and vaulted into the air.
Kasumi tilted her head up to look at him. “What about Shikarou?”
“He’ll either understand or he won’t,” Iain said gently. “Either way we’ll deal with him, but I don’t think it’ll come to war between us.” He winked. “Even if you are worth it.”
That got him a faint smile. “I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“It won’t.”
“You sound so certain. Is this because you know him so well?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure that Kerrik is on your side in this. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t have given you refuge for the past few days.”
She nodded slowly and pulled away from him. “What do you think will happen with Shikarou?”
“It’s kind of complicated. I suspect that when he finds out you’re living with us I’ll get put back on his shit list for a few years. At the same time I had better get put on the Wolf family Christmas card list. Branwyn should be thanking me for removing the two biggest thorns she has, between you and Ygerna. She’s never liked having you around since neither of you are pokegirls and therefore aren’t controllable. She is likely to be spending a lot of time convincing Shikarou that this is the best situation for everyone involved.”
April appeared with Eve arriving a few seconds later. The Duelist looked around. “Where are the others?”
“Giselle went to fetch them. I don’t expect they’ll be more than a few minutes.”
Eve took Kasumi’s hand. “I’m going to take you four home, make sure you get hot baths, a decent meal and then you’re going straight to bed. If you argue with me about it I’ll probably just drug your food.”
“I need to talk to Iain when he gets home,” Kasumi protested.
“Unless it’s about an impending attack it can wait until tomorrow when all of you are rested,” Eve said firmly. “Now are you going to let me mother you or are you going to argue with me? You’re not going to win. I have a tranquilizer gun if my sleeping spell doesn’t work on you.”
April sidled up to Iain. “You really need to get Eve pregnant,” she murmured.
Eve didn’t look in their direction. “I heard that.”
April grinned. “Good.”
“Kasumi?” She looked in Iain’s direction. “Please do what Eve wants. Right now you’re too tired to think straight. I promise I’ll make myself available first thing tomorrow to speak with you.”
She nodded slowly. “I will hold you to that.”
“Iain keeps his promises no matter what,” Eve said gently. “That’s why he makes so few of them.” She glanced at him. I did not know that kami could look exhausted. Don’t disturb her until she wakes up even if she sleeps for a few days straight.
I made her a promise, Iain replied. She and I will talk tomorrow. But afterwards she can go back to sleep if she wants to.
Good.
Giselle landed, followed quickly by Ayame and Nishiko. “We are ready to go, sir.”
April turned towards her. “We’re going to the Sabine House. Arrive at the oak tree just outside the main house. I’ll be waiting for you there.” She vanished.
“Go.” Giselle watched her harem sisters vanish before hurrying to Kasumi’s side. She blinked when Eve grabbed her hand but the three of them vanished before she could protest.
“I hope they fit in,” Dianthus said quietly. Iain glanced at her and she smiled slightly. “Ygerna is emotional. You are practical to a fault, sir, but from what I have seen and read about Kasumi she is both. You and Ygerna will need that balance.”
“You could be right, Barb.” He shook his head. “Let’s go find Kerrik.”
Kerrik was sitting with Raven when they located him. He waved Iain to a seat. “I intend to make sure you don’t have to worry about Shikarou getting involved.”
“Thanks, but he is an adult and threatening him is likely to be counterproductive,” Iain pointed out. “Besides, I think Branwyn will be commiserating while trying to convince him that this is the best for everyone while also trying very hard not to do somersaults of joy where he can see them.”
Kerrik chuckled. “That is almost a certainty.” He shook his head. “How did I miss their marriage crumbling?”
“You weren’t around for most of it and you aren’t responsible for what they did. And I do mean they. Kasumi had a hand in the dissolution just as much as he did. She just didn’t violate her marriage vows during it and she believes he did.”
“I still want to tear a bloody strip off of him.”
“Please do so.” Kerrik looked surprised and Iain smiled thinly. “He managed to drive away two powerful women who were great assets to Haven, one of whom was married to him and the other who wanted badly to join his family by almost any means. Obviously he’s doing something wrong over there. While I appreciate that he drove both of those women to my clan, I wonder what damage he might be causing that we don’t know about. Considering that globally he’s our neighbor, he’s supporting some causes that we approve of and that if Haven falls Cuba becomes part of Tropic again, I’d like to see him succeed.”
“What about the fact that it’s a totalitarian regime,” Raven asked curiously.
“That part I’m hoping is just a phase,” Iain replied. “Even if it’s not or is at least a long one, rubbing his face in it will just bring out the famous Wolf stubbornness that has been known to fly in the face of logic and reason time and time again.”
“Are you talking about me,” Kerrik asked with amusement.
“Let’s say I’m not just talking about you and that your children come by it honestly.”
Kerrik’s fangs glinted in his grin. “I do know the rule that if I have to wonder if something is an insult it probably is.”
“It isn’t,” Iain said. “I wouldn’t deliberately and stupidly insult my master and his maharani. You’re only stubborn if you feel you’re right, and you usually are in those cases. Shikarou gets stubborn if he feels his will is being thwarted. Rightness or wrongness isn’t something he considers before he becomes intransigent.” He smirked slightly. “That’s something I try to beware of in myself. I want to be just stubborn enough.” He rubbed his eyes and turned his attention back to Kerrik. “Theodora is waiting for Cassiopeia to contact her so they can set up a dedicated com link for gaming. They can spend the next few days fighting the battle for the planet Earth against a wide variety of foes about a quadrillion times and figure out how best to support each other without us organics getting in the way. Theodora is willing to host Selene and Eiriu if they want to play as well, but we both know that she and Cassiopeia are the heavy hitters in this system unless you release Virtue and the others.”
Kerrik nodded. “I’ll let Cassiopeia know to contact Theodora today. Well, you’re finished with your training for the day and that’s all I wanted to talk to you about. See you Thursday.”
Iain laughed. “My training here is done. Now I just have to survive Sofia.” He took Dianthus’ hand and they vanished.
***
Kasumi slid out of bed and stretched slowly as her stomach notified her that she was hungry. Her bedroom was a little cooler than she liked and she glanced at the panel near the door as she smoothed out the oversized sleeping shirt Eve had given her “I’d like to try a few degrees warmer tonight, but this is almost perfect.” The panel blinked a dull white once in acknowledgment. A dim light in the corner gave her just enough light to see with her enhanced vision and she used the bathroom and washed her face and hands before quickly making her bed and opening the door to the hallway. She paused. “I don’t know where the kitchen is from here,” she muttered.
Please don’t vocalize, Theodora said in her head. Many of the clan’s members have enhanced hearing that can hear whispers as shouts and they often sleep with their doors open so as to try and catch Iain if he tries to sneak by.
I’m sorry.
No harm done. A blue dot appeared in front of her. Follow the guide and I’ll take you to the kitchen.
Thank you, Theodora. She followed the light downstairs and into the kitchen, pausing just outside it when she realized that a dim light glowed inside. “Hello,” she called cautiously.
“Come in, Kasumi,” Iain’s voice replied.
Her nose picked up the odors of dairy of some kind, probably cheese, and something she couldn’t quite identify. It smelled good, however and she followed the odors into the kitchen.
Iain was sitting at the table. He gestured at a seat. “I’ve got cheese, water and hardboiled eggs. If you’d like something else, the refrigerator for leftovers is the one on the left. The one on the right is for raw foods. And if you’d like more jerky, that’s in the cabinet on the right of the fridges.”
“Eggs and cheese sound wonderful,” she said as she sat.
Iain slid the plates of cheese and eggs in her direction before getting up and getting her a plate and a glass. “The eggs are already peeled and the cheese is already cut up. We do that because some people are still learning how to neatly peel an egg and it keeps the mess down.”
Kasumi helped herself to the food. “Why are you up so early?”
“I am currently going through the magical equivalent of a growth spurt,” he said as he refilled his plate with some eggs. “It means I am burning through calories at an,” he smiled slightly, “inhuman rate.”
“What kind of growth spurt are you talking about?”
“I am improving my body’s makeup to be stronger, faster and tougher without adding unnecessary bulk or other things. When complete, Kerrik says I’ll be able to fight lesser kami or the equivalent in hand to hand with a good chance of winning. At that point I figure he’ll bring up the subject of making me a hybrid again.”
Kasumi choked on her egg and coughed for a bit until she could drink some water to wash everything down. “He offered to do that?”
“He did. I said no, at least for the moment.” Iain picked up an egg, rotated it so the point was towards him and slid the entire thing into his mouth before chewing and swallowing.
“You are a barbarian,” Kasumi said.
He drank some water before speaking. “I think that’s already come up before and I agreed that I am. However, I don’t do it in front of the children lest they imitate me and if you’d like I won’t do it in front of you.” He leaned back in his chair. “Why are you up?”
“I hadn’t eaten since I left Haven and I didn’t eat a lot last night. Eve’s meal was excellent, I just wasn’t hungry.”
“That wasn’t Eve’s meal. She doesn’t cook.”
“No?”
“She does not and, to be brutally honest, we’re all happier that she doesn’t. Last night’s meatloaf was Raquel’s work.” He chuckled softly.
“What is amusing?”
“I cook and I enjoy cooking. I also enjoy learning and Raquel refuses to teach me several of her secret recipes, including that meatloaf. It’s one of the games we play, where she tries to keep things to herself and I try to ferret them out without cheating.”
“Cheating?”
“I could have Theodora monitor the inventory of everything in the kitchen down to the tenth of a gram and in real time,” he replied. “Then I wait for Raquel to cook and I have the ingredient list. A few cameras in the kitchen and I know how she prepares it. But this is a game and the game is part of our relationship and so I play it the way she wants.”
Shikarou would never do things this way. “But you don’t know the recipe.”
“No I don’t, but without it I already make a perfectly adequate meatloaf. I’ve been cooking since long before I moved out of my mother’s place. Besides, I have recipes she doesn’t know.” He smiled at her. “The game is what is important. I play games with every woman in the clan I’m involved with. It’s how I maintain my relationships with all of them in spite of the fact that I can’t have sex with them or date all of them all of the time. The games remind them that I haven’t forgotten about them and that I still want them in my life and in my bed even when they see me cuddled with someone else. And, of course, the game is different with each woman.” He grabbed another egg. “And I need to give a word of caution in that regard. The games I play with some of them are very personal in that anyone else who tries to join in could get hurt. For example, I am the only person who can pull on Daphne’s tail without being set on fire and if I’m not careful I may get her on a bad day and end up a little crispy anyway.”
Kasumi stared at him in disbelief. “She sets you on fire?”
“She’s very apologetic afterwards and I’m pretty sure that April and Sofia pound on her in training later to remind her not to do that, but accidents do happen and I’m still relatively fragile.” He smirked. “And flammable. I get hurt in training on a fairly regular basis, but I have an excellent healing team in the clan.”
“You get hurt a lot?”
“The problem is me. I’m a quick study and I’m inventive. Show me an attack and a counter and I start trying to figure out how to improve on both. Sometimes my improvements make my teacher react quickly and automatically and at that point I usually get hurt. You’ll find that out when we start sparring and I do something that you didn’t expect and you knock me flat for it if you can.” He smirked again and nibbled on the egg. “The thing is, however, that I don’t often make the same mistake twice.” He drained his glass of water, got up, grabbed hers and refilled both before returning to his seat. “You said yesterday that you wanted to talk to me. Is this a good time?” He frowned. “No, it’s not if you want to have a private talk. Ryan is up and she’s headed this way to start prepping breakfast for everyone.” He gathered up the plates. “Go get dressed and we can talk while working on the breakfast chores.”
“It’s four thirty in the morning,” Kasumi protested. “When do you eat?”
“We eat at six and Rosemary will be joining Ryan but they’re cooking for nearly seventy people. That’s why we have the industrial kitchen.”
“What are breakfast chores?”
“We’re up, so we’ll get started gathering the eggs. In half an hour the Elves will do the morning milking of the cows and bring what we need to the house while the rest goes to the dairy building for cheese and butter production.” He frowned. “Speaking of which, I need to check our rennet inventories. It may be time to harvest a couple of cull calves.” He smiled at her. “So unless you want to stay inside or go out in my shirt you might want to go get dressed. Not that I mind you wearing the shirt. It never looked that good on me and if you put on a belt it’s long enough to be a dress for you.”
Kasumi looked down at herself. “This is your shirt?”
“Don’t worry about it. All of the night shirts were originally mine before they were repurposed. Sometimes I even get them back for a while.” He got up and headed for the shoes laid out neatly near the back door. “And be careful when you go upstairs. Theodora warned me that Squirrel is loose again.”
“Squirrel?”
“That’s Pandora’s cat. She’s a very friendly cat that likes to sit on shoulders but she doesn’t always concern herself to see if you’re wearing pants before she starts climbing your legs. Please don’t kill her.”
“I won’t.”
***
When Kasumi came back downstairs Ryan and Rosemary were in the kitchen with Iain. The Unicorn was mixing something in a bowl while occasionally glancing at Iain and Rosemary to watch as Iain juggled a half a dozen peeled onions. The Mistoffeles was watching the onions intently while holding a razor sharp knife loosely in her right hand. At her feet was a large plastic tub. “I’m ready,” she said as her tail whipped expectantly.
“Are you sure,” Iain asked. She nodded and, without breaking his rhythm, he launched an onion directly at her. The knife blurred and sliced onion fell into the tub. “Ryan?”
The Unicorn leaned over and looked. “Three and a partial.”
Iain shook his head and put the onions down on the counter. “It would be in seven cuts if you were a Jedi.”
“Three is pretty good,” Rosemary protested.
“It is,” Iain agreed as he washed his hands. “But it’s not Jedi grade. Keep practicing and remember to let the Force flow through you.”
“One of these days I am going to feel this Force,” Rosemary growled.
“No anger. Down that path lies the Dark Side and it is seductive and ultimately weaker than the Light. Peace and calm.”
“No,” Ryan said firmly, “onion chopping, now, otherwise I’ll let Allison know you skived off on cooking breakfast, Rosemary.”
Rosemary grabbed for an onion. “I’m chopping!”
Iain waved Kasumi to the door and she slipped on her shoes as he went outside. When she joined him he was talking to an Elf with bright green eyes and hair the red and gold of maple leaves in the fall. “There was nothing to report last night, sir,” she was saying. “Do you think we’re finally running out of ferals?”
He shook his head. “No, we’re just in the lull between waves. We may have to carry the fight to them for the next few weeks.”
“I like that idea,” the Elf said. “What with more children on the way we need to cull them hard before they come here.”
“I’ll talk to Ninhursag today and see if she won’t start releasing teams to scout for us. Is your team ready to scout, Catori?”
“We are,” the Elf said proudly.
“I’ll be sure Ninhursag knows that. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Iain.” Catori vanished into the darkness.
Kasumi watched her go. “Catori?”
“It’s Hopi Indian and means spirit. Several of the newest additions to Ninhursag’s court took names from Native American tribes once they found out I have Native American blood, or at least I did back when I was human.”
“You’re not human anymore?”
He shrugged. “Theodora says I still am.” He led her to a medium sized building that had an inner and outer door that formed an airlock. “This is the Dorking coop.” He handed her a shallow, wide basket. “You gather eggs and I’ll feed to distract them. If a hen refuses to leave her nest, just reach under her. These are Silver Gray Dorkings and they’re pretty mellow. There’s a small room with a sign next to the door that says brood hens on it. Don’t go in there. That’s where we’re letting some proven hens nest and raise chicks so those eggs are off limits.”
“I have never gathered eggs before,” Kasumi admitted quietly. Then she smiled. “But when I was a little girl I always wanted to live on a farm and do farm stuff.”
Iain grinned. “Kasumi Tendo is living the dream. I’ll be sure and ask you if you still like it in a year and a day.”
“You do that.”
He let her into the airlock. “Never open both doors at once. Dorkings are mellow, but they’re faster than they look and they love to follow people.”
“Do you let them out?”
He nodded as he opened the inner door. “There’s roughly an acre of fenced area on the other side of the building. Ninhursag keeps it full of tasty grasses for them and now that we’ve exterminated the local fire ant population we’re starting to see earthworms again. Stay here for a second.”
There were chickens waiting at the inner door and they let him slip past them before turning to follow as he gave a low chirruping whistle. Soon he was busy putting down feed and cleaning feeders while Kasumi gathered eggs. “What did you want to talk about,” he asked suddenly.
“I spoke to Nishiko, Giselle and Ayame. All of us wish to join your clan.” She hesitated for an instant. “And the three of them would like to be bonded to you as well as me.”
“I don’t see a problem with you and yours joining the clan. We’d hoped that was what you’d want.” He finished filling the feeder in front of him and shooed the chickens out of his feed bucket before picking it up to move to the next feeder. “How do you feel about their request?”
Fury swept across her face to disappear without a trace. “It doesn’t matter how I feel about it. Shikarou went behind my back and fucked all three of them years ago to ensure their loyalty.”
Iain put the bucket down and turned to face her, ignoring the chickens mobbing around him to stick their head in the feed bucket. “I don’t give a shit what Shikarou did. I asked you a question. If you don’t want me to touch them right now, I won’t.”
She looked at him. “I’m more important to you than they are?” He nodded and she smiled gratefully. “It pleases me to hear that. But what do we do about their loyalty to him?”
“If he hasn’t touched them since then that loyalty exists only in his mind,” Iain replied, “and in theirs if he can convince them of it. If the latter is true, that’s easily fixed without me having to sleep with them right now.”
“Right now?”
“If they become clan and they are determined to have me lie with them and you are not absolutely dead set against it, eventually I will because they are clan and I’m supposed to give them what they need and as much of what they want as I can.”
“And if I am dead set against it happening?”
“Then things get a lot more complicated but we’ll work something out.” He looked down. “Hey, hey, out of the bucket you little thieves.” He shoved chickens away and picked the bucket up.
“I was surprised by their request,” Kasumi admitted. “I thought about it for a while and realized that I shouldn’t have been.”
“Oh?”
“Pokegirls were made by a man, Iain,” she said. “And he wanted to punish women so most of them only desire women when there are no men around. It means they settle for women like they settle for each other when there is no one around who can keep them from going feral.”
“Giselle, Ayame and Nishiko truly care for you, Kasumi. I doubt they think of their lives with you as settling or they’d have gone back to Shikarou, who would not have turned them down.”
She looked surprised. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about that.” She smiled warmly. “But it is part of your job, isn’t it?”
“It seems so.”
“I don’t want you to bed my harem because they’re mine, but if they do want to be with you from time to time I shan’t fight it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Shan’t?”
She gave him a haughty look back. “I speak English fluently, Iain. It’s French I have problems with.”
“Well, you’ll get a chance to work on that if you’re interested, along with Catalan” he replied with a smirk.
“I will?”
“The Prometheus Society is running a service delivering equipment to people around the world,” he said as he started filling the last feeder. “The Society is helping groups, not leagues and in two weeks there’s a scheduled delivery to Andorra in southern France.”
“That’s in Noir, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and no. Andorra was conquered by Noir and then ignored. Apparently the Andorrans are feeling feisty and its prince, a Catholic Bishop who fled the Gothic League, contacted Prometheus through Ireland and requested military and medical aid. Intercepts of Noir communications indicate that GIPA, a Special Forces unit in the Andorran police force has already been ambushing Noir and Gothic tamer units and claiming their equipment, including pokegirls for continued attacks. Noir tamers are being sent to the region to hunt the ambushers but so far they’re proving impossible to catch. The Gothic League hasn’t said much about it but they have shitty radio coverage. They are, however, shifting tamer forces and some regular military units to the southeast so they’re reacting to something in the same area as Andorra.”
“Gothic? I’m not familiar with who they are?”
“The Gothic League covers the territory of Spain and Portugal.” Iain turned the feed bucket upside down. “Empty.” Most of the chickens began dispersing to argue over the feeders. “They’re not a major player on the league world stage, but then most of their attention is focused on the spillover from Morocco in the civil war currently raging in what was supposed to be the North African League.”
“I’ve never heard of the North African League.”
“That’s because, other than on paper and league maps, it doesn’t exist. It did, briefly, claiming Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya, Chad, Niger and Mali as its realm. But it never got the resources it needed to conquer the regions and the whole thing fell apart when local tamers began dividing it up into kingdoms and waging war on each other. The population of the entire area nosedived during the Red Plague and the local kings have been working to slaughter the remainder if they’re of a different clan or tribe or religion.” He shrugged. “I am starting to think that the reason the leagues of the worlds we came here from didn’t divide up Africa is the same reason it’s proving such a cluster fuck here. The old hatreds trumped anything the leagues could do and once the thin veneer of civilized governments collapsed, the old ways came roaring back. Hell, in the Southern African League they’re fighting and losing a bloody regional war with a resurgent Zulu Empire that uses fast transport pokegirls and decent military tactics to leave the SAL troops killing themselves to try and catch them. And the locals are caught in the middle of that war. On top of that the Christians and Muslims are fighting each other all over the place with everything from rocks to pokegirls. Once one group wins they drive out or exterminate the other group, leaving religious enclaves all over the place that the local kings either nurture or have to massacre if they’re not what the kings wanted in their kingdom in the first place. A lot of the Christians who come out on the losing end head into Egypt and many keep going into Israel because currently Egypt is in a violent series of clashes between the Muslims and the Christians. With the worldwide weather changes getting wetter, the plans the various African leagues had to control the people through controlling access to the food completely collapsed.” He took the basket from her. “Are you finished?”
“I am. It’s interesting reaching under the hens to get the eggs. They’re so soft and warm.”
“That, it can certainly be.” He motioned towards the door. “Shall we go eat breakfast?”
“You’re hungry again?”
“I am hungry still,” he corrected. “If you don’t eat breakfast then you’re not hungry. If I don’t eat breakfast than the people cooking will presume I hate them.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“Well, not hate, but they will get their feelings hurt that I didn’t partake and enjoy their meal, so I don’t ever let my snacks fill me up or I’d be like the Vicar of Dibley when she ended up eating four Christmas dinners so her parishioners wouldn’t think she didn’t like them and ended getting taken home in a front end loader.” He smiled at her expression. “It’s a television show.”
“Am I going to need full time help from Theodora to understand all of your references?”
I am not sure that will completely help you, Theodora said in her head. He doesn’t explain all of his references to me until afterwards either.
“I see,” Kasumi said, “that won’t necessarily help either.”
Iain just grinned. “She will help as much as she can. Now let’s go to breakfast and you can start the process of joining our clan.”
Iain Grey
Inner Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elf
Dianthus Barbatus - Elfqueen
Outer Harem
Allison – Umbrea (Outer Harem Alpha)
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck – Doggirl
Ryan – Unicorn
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Mistoffeles (Uruguayan)
Silver - Pegaslut
Joyce – Milktit
Outer Clan
Melanie – Iron Chef
Siobhan – Nurse Joy (Glasgow)
Queendom / Outer Harem
12 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria - Slutton
Rhea Silvia - Chimera
Geradine - Human
Mother s & Children
Vanessa
Myrna
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Canaan
Hannah: Huntress
Rebecca: Huntress
Joyce
Lisa: Milktit
Sherrie: Milktit
Harriet: Milktit
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami-sama
Seraphina: Megami-sama
Zareen
Caltha: Nightmare
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare