The Woodward Academy, Year 6

Chapter 9: February

"Thought I might find you here," David said as Christa stepped out of the security office.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"This was the same time you came to get me the other day.  I figured you'd made it a scheduled activity."

Christa nodded.  "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you a couple questions."

"Okay, Officer.  Shoot," she said with a grin.

David smirked, but this was serious, so he didn't play along.  He held up his hand and said, "Opakovani pommet."  Suddenly, floating above David's hand, was a bust of a man.

"Is this the man you saw talking to Lydia the other day?"

"Yeah, that's him.  Creepy looking bastard."

David ended the charm, and nodded his head.  "You didn't hear anything they said, though, you just saw them talking."

"I was too far away to hear anything.  They just stood there talking.  I didn't see them do anything else, but like I said, I was going to class, so I didn't have time to watch."

"Right," David agreed.

"Why, who is he?"

"He's the man who attacked Olissa."

"Holy shit," Christa replied.

"Yeah.  Speaking of that, why did you tell your father to bail me out of that little jam?"

"What makes you think I did?" Christa evaded.

"Because someone called the king, and it wasn't anyone from the Rimohrs.  No one else would have dared, which only leaves you.  So why did you do it?"

"Because you really are pretty much my only friend here, and because I don't think it would have been right for you to get in trouble for what you did.

"And, despite how much I hated having to live with him, I know my dad really well, and I knew that he would have completely agreed with what you did.

"Besides, for some reason, Daddy wants you to succeed.  Not that you don't seem to be doing just fine on your own, but a little royal attention never hurt anyone."

David grunted.  "Not actually sure how much of what I've done has actually been 'on my own'," David replied.  "Especially since receiving this damned Paladinhood."

"Trust me, Daddy's not going to push them to promote you beyond your capabilities.  Oh, sure, he might keep them from punishing you if you step outside the rules once in a while, but he's not gonna shield you if you do something really stupid."

"I try not to do that.  It seems to be getting more difficult, however."

"Why?"

"The shit being thrown my way is growing more serious.  In the old days, I was facing people like Marcus Savolar and Aaron Tisdell.  They were annoying as fuck, but they weren't really dangerous.  Now I'm facing down people who are trying to kill those around me.  It's just harder for me to not let loose and just destroy them."

Christa nodded.  "A lot of demighosts wouldn't be trying to fight it."

"So I've heard," David said.

"So if Daddy is kind of pushing your career a little, I'd bet that's why.  He wants to keep you on his side, rather than becoming a criminal.  But I don't know that he's actually doing anything.  He didn't know about your troubles with the Rimohrs until I called him, so..."

"Yeah.  Well, thank you for getting me out of that, even if you really shouldn't have."  David leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Christa took full advantage of this, and turned her head, grasping his head in her hands.  She thrust her tongue between his lips and kissed him strongly for a long moment.

"See, wasn't that more fun?" she said when she finally let him loose.

"If I had wanted to kiss you that way," David said, "I would have done so."

"Well, then consider it payment for my help," she said, unperturbed by his attitude.

David grumbled, then said, "I need to go.  I've got work to do."

"Sure thing.  Have a good one."

David walked away shaking his head in bemusement.

 David was practicing a bit of conjuring in the infirmary, just passing the time by keeping his skills sharp.  When he heard a groan from the bed, he turned quickly, dropping the block he'd been working with.

Olissa groaned again, slowly putting her hand to her forehead before she tried to open her eyes.  David waved his hand, magically closing all the curtains in the room and making it quite a bit darker.

When she thought she could stand it, Olissa opened her eyes.  The world was blurry at first, but gradually it came into focus.  She saw David looking down at her, and she tried to smile.  Her head hurt too much when she did that, though, so it ended up as a wince.

"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked.

"It's pretty bad, Master," she confirmed.

"I'll get Annie.  I'm sure she has a nice potion for that."

Annie did, in fact, have a potion for it, and by the time she'd finished her exam of the now-awake patient, Olissa's headache was mostly gone.  Annie left the two of them alone to talk.

"What happened?" Olissa asked.

"You were attacked."

"By who?"

"A man named Tim Passage."

"I don't think I've ever met someone by that name."

"And you never will," David said.

"What do you mean?" Olissa asked.

"He's dead."

"Oh.  Did... you kill him?"

"Yes.  He hurt my Little One.  No one gets to do that."

Olissa smiled at him.  After a moment, a frown crossed her face.

"What?" he asked.

"Will you get in trouble for killing him?  I don't want you getting in trouble over me..."

"That's all been taken care of already."

"Already?  How long have I been here?"

"Eight days."

"Oh, no.  My classes..."

"Your instructors said you've been doing fine.  They will help you make up what you've missed, don't worry.  In fact, they've agreed to come here in the evenings to tutor you.  You're going to be in here for a while, I'm afraid."

"Is it that bad?" she asked.

"You came very close to being a ghost."

"Oh.  I knew it had hurt a lot, but... well, I mean, I didn't really realize that it was that serious."

David nodded.

"Have you been here all this time waiting for me to wake up?" she asked.

"Most of it.  I had some case-work to attend to, but other than that, yes."

"I love you, Master," she told him.

"I love you, too, Little One.  You know, if you'd wanted a few days off from your duties, you could have just asked..."

Olissa giggled.

David was led down a hallway.  From behind the solid cell doors on either side, he heard people moaning.  He recognized it as the result not of physical pain, but of mental anguish.  This was Venom Block, and the people in here were some of the worst perpetrators.  David had sent a few people here in his short career.  He was here to see one of them.

The guard unlocked the cell door.  "Just bang twice, pause, then twice more, so I know it's you," the guard said.

"Don't the prisoners eventually figure out the code?"

"We change it for each visit.  I just pick one at random."

David nodded.  The guard opened the door, and David stepped in.

Rob Beckel had been sitting on his bunk, but as the door opened, he stood up.

"You!  What the fuck do you want, Stroud?"

As the guard closed the door behind him, David took three steps and nailed Beckel with a right cross.  Beckel went down in a heap on his bed.

David backed up as Beckel rose, now rubbing his jaw.

"You came all the fucking way up here just to hit me?"

"No.  That was just to get this conversation started on the right foot."

"I could file a complaint, you know," Beckel said.  "They know what goes on in these cells."

"Go ahead," David replied.  "I don't think you understand, so let me explain it to you.  I could slit your throat, leave you bleeding here on your bed, and walk out.  It wouldn't even be illegal.  You have no protections.  You are not a Callamandian citizen.  Legally, you're not even a person anymore.  You're in here because my boss thought it was a good idea, and for no other reason.  As the leader of The Clan, you bear the responsibility for everything that organization did.  You are guilty, therefore, of dozens of murders and hundreds of counts of battery.  Fraud, extortion, rape...  You may actually die in here.  I don't know if the life extension spell can account for the amount of time you must have been given."  David had not attended Beckel's sentencing, though he had been part of the trial, of course.

"I am being allowed to die in here after four hundred years," Beckel grumped sourly.  "And it's all your goddamned fault!"

"For catching you?  So sorry for doing my job."

"For starting the whole thing in the first place!"

"Excuse me?  I seem to recall you pushed me in that shower five years ago, not the other way around."

"Yeah, well, you must've pissed off someone somehow, to make that guy want me to form a gang just to challenge you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Did you really think that I was going to devote my life to trying to fuck you over?  Do you think you're really that special?"

"Beckel, I didn't even know you were involved with The Clan until a few weeks before I busted you.  All I know about you is that every time I've come in contact with you, you've been trying to hurt me somehow.  I know that you expected protection from the Rimohrs.  That's what I came up here to find out.  Who promised you protection?"

"The same guy who convinced me to form The Clan in the first place," Beckel said.  "The guy you must have really honked off."

David shrugged.  "Possibly, but unless it was Prof. Quayde, I'd have no idea."

"This guy's no professor.  He's too smart for that."

"Uh-huh.  So what's his name?"

"Levi Dailey."

Beckel waited with eager anticipation for the recognition to spread across David's face, but it never did.

"Who the fuck is Levi Dailey?"

Beckel frowned.  "You don't even know who he is?"

"Never heard of him, that I can recall.  Why did he want you to form The Clan?"

"He said it was to 'punish' you.  He said you were a danger, and we needed to be rid of you."

"And... did he tell you how you, a barely-acceptable conjurer, was supposed to achieve that?"

"He never really told me anything about how to do anything.  He just told me to do things that would harass you.  He said when the shit really hit the fan, he'd be there to keep me from going to jail.  What a fucking liar he turned out to be."

"There was no way he could have ever done that without being the king," David told him.  "Oh, he might have freed you once or twice by force, but sooner or later, you'd have been escorted to prison by a Rimohr escort force that no one wizard was ever going to get past."

"Yeah, well... the day he approached me was just a week after I got out of prison from that jail break attempt.  I was pretty pissed with you at the time."

"And you're not now?"

Beckel shrugged.  "One of the things Venom Block does to you is to make you relive all your worst fuck-ups in life.  I've kinda been reminded, over and over again, that I'm the one who kept starting shit between me and you.  And every time I start to get angry at you, this place punishes me.  They don't allow you to get angry at your victims in here."

David nodded.  "I had wondered why you were being cooperative."

"Oh, I'm not telling you this all to help you.  I want you to nail that motherfucker to the wall.  He's the one that convinced me to do this shit."

"C'mon, Beckel.  You weren't exactly an innocent before The Clan."

"I didn't say that.  I enjoyed being a hood.  But if I'd left you alone, I could have remained a small-time hood, maybe spent an occasional stretch in the CMF or the jail.  Now I'm in here for the rest of my life."

"What else can you tell me about Levi Dailey?"

"Not a damn thing.  I know he dresses rich, seems to have money.  He never told me what he does, where he lives, or anything else.  Just told me he could help me be the leader of a gang, that I'd get to do things I consider fun without any real consequences, and that I'd get back at you."

"And what help did he actually provide you?"

"Taught us some spells to use, gave me some advice on ways to harass you, how to grow the gang on campus... generally told me ways to make your life miserable."

"And that battle, was that his idea, or yours?"

"Actually, that was Kendall's idea.  He was tired of your damned Ghost Squad interfering with his fun."

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, I'm not making excuses.  We were having fun.  If I was out of here, I'd be doing the same kind of shit on a smaller scale.  This place isn't going to rehabilitate me into thinking what I was doing was evil or whatever.  I did what I wanted to do.  Fuck the rest of you."

"Uh-huh.  Well, thank you for the name."

"You want to thank me, get me out of this god-damned place."

"I don't have that kind of pull, even if I wanted to," David told him.

"Then what good are you?" Beckel demanded.

"None, to you.  But we just covered that.  Look at the bright side, Beckel: you'll be in here for the duration of the war.  That means you'll actually live through it.  An awful lot of people won't be able to say that."

"Yeah, that's so comforting," Beckel groused.

"Oh, one last thing.  Did you or Kendall pay off someone on the Board of Discipline that year?"

Beckel snorted.  "Like we needed to.  Those pricks hated you almost as much as we did.  We just let them be themselves."

"So wonderful that they felt that a gang was better than strong discipline."

"Hey, what can I say?  Professors are stupid."

David chose not to respond to that.  He knocked on the door in the way the guard had told him, and he left Beckel to his misery.

"He vaits for me in zat building.  Room vun-oh-two." Klerk said.

"Okay.  Go ahead and go through your routine.  If you mention our presence to him, we will know it, and you will be in serious trouble."

"I unnerstand.  I vill not varn him."

"Go on, then," David said, letting the man out of the glidetruck.

David used a viewing lens to keep an eye on Klerk.  They couldn't use it as evidence, but it would allow them to know whether Klerk betrayed them.  It didn't take long.  Klerk went to the room, knocked on the door, and a man opened it to join him.

"James Maccarone," Chloe said.  She was sitting next to David in his glidetruck, watching the viewing lens with him.

"Yeah.  He was kidnapped over three months ago.  That's a long damned time to hold someone."

"Maybe he needed to find someone who wanted a guy."

"Maybe."

David dialed Joe on his mirror.  "Joe, we've got Klerk coming to you.  He's got James Maccarone with him."

"Which one was that?" Joe asked.

"That doctor who defrauded all those people."

"Oh, right.  Okay, I'll keep my eyes open."

"That will do you no good if you don't stop staring at the waitress," David told him.

Joe chuckled.  "You're one to talk."

With that David grinned, then fogged off.

"So what do we do?" Chloe asked.

"We wait for Klerk to come back out, then we join him.  We take down the kidnapper.  Joe will arrest the buyer."

It took only a couple minutes before Klerk left the restaurant.  David and Chloe exited the truck and moved to either side of him as he walked across the street.

"You betray us now, Klerk, and my first hex will be straight at your head," David told him.

"I unnerstand," Klerk assured him.

The man went to room 102, and he knocked on the door in a specific pattern.  David and Chloe both had their wands out.

"Come on in," a voice said.

Klerk reached for the doorknob.  As soon as the door unlatched, David pushed Klerk out of the way and shoved the door open.  He and Chloe rushed in, one on either side of the door.

"Rimohr officers!  Do not move!" David snapped.

The man had actually had his back to the door.  When he heard their voices, he stiffened, but he made no threatening moves.  Slowly, he raised his hands above his head.

"Get in here, Klerk," David said.  The man entered the room.  David enacted the handcuff hex on him, then he told the other man to turn around.

"Lower your hands and cross your wrists," David said.  He did as instructed, and was soon handcuffed as well.  David reached over and removed the mask he was wearing to hide his identity from Klerk.

"Your name?" David asked.

"Wyatt Earp."  He waited for, and received, the expected looks of incredulity.  "I'm not joking.  My father is somehow related, and they named me after him.  Yes, it is extremely annoying."

David nodded.  "If it makes you feel any better, one of my first college roommates was named Steven Hawking."

Earp snorted.  "Why am I being detained?"

"You're not being detained, you're being arrested," Chloe told him.

"On what charge?" he asked.  His voice was resigned to his fate, but he was clearly not going to volunteer any information.

"Kidnapping, willful disruption, misuse of magic, selling sentient beings... and probably several other things, depending on what you've actually done to your victims while they were in your custody."

The man nodded, but said nothing.  "What happens now?" he asked after a long pause.

"You will be going to the Bolmont jail.  Why, exactly, did you pick Bolmont to make your exchanges?  Didn't you know there's a Rimohr office right here?"

"I live here," the man said simply.

David shook his head.  "Come with us."

"This isn't the jail," Earp objected.

"No, this is the Rimohr office.  You will be questioned rather extensively.  You have a lot to account for."

"I'm not a bad man, you know," Earp offered.

"So you say.  Your victims might disagree with you," David said.

"But they are evil people!  They didn't deserve freedom.  I picked people specifically who would not be missed by society."

"And James Greer?  Did he deserve to die?"

"He's dead?" Earp asked, clearly stricken.

"Yes, he's dead.  You killed him."

"Oh, no," Earp said.  "I wasn't trying to kill the man.  He fought back.  I was seriously hurt and bleeding.  I had to get away.  I only meant to wipe his memory.  Somehow the spell must have gone very wrong."

"Something went wrong, all right.  You let an eight-year-old girl listen as you killed a family friend."

"What?" Earp asked.

"There was a little girl there that day.  She heard what you did."

"Oh, god, no."

"Vigilantes always end up hurting the innocent," David told him.

"What?  Oh, you think... no, that's not it at all!  I wasn't trying to clean up the world or anything like that."

"What, then?  Was it all about the money?  Selling the slaves?"

"Not really that, either.  I mean, yes, that gave me money to live on... I was merely perfecting my magical spells.  I was working to give the government an alternative to jail time."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't you see?  By wiping away their memories, you also wipe away their personalities.  You can then mold them into helpful people.  You could make them socially useful, instead of socially destructive.  You wouldn't have to send them to Barnard Hill for hundreds of years, you could just spend a few months casting spells."

"It takes months?"

"Oh, yes.  The mind is very redundant when it comes to these things.  You have to remove all of the redundancies, and that can take quite a bit of time."

"Uh-huh.  How many people are currently still in your home?"

"Just one."

"Lynn Hackett?"

"Yes."

"So you said you weren't trying to clean up the world.  Yet you chose targets that suggest otherwise."

"I had to know if the spells would work on that kind of person.  I don't know all the psycho-babble, or the neuro-babble.  I do know that many people believe that criminals have a different kind of mind, a different way of thinking.  To make sure that what I was proposing would work on that kind of person, I had to have that kind of person to work with."

David nodded.  "I will want a list of everyone you kidnapped, and the people you sold them to."

"Of course.  I have that list at my home.  I'm sure you'll find it, it's not hidden."

David sat back.  "You act like you're actually glad to be caught."

"Not glad, no.  But I expected it.  I have a great deal of respect for the Rimohrs.  I also knew that you had been assigned to the case, and I know just enough about your record as a Rimohr to know that you weren't going to stop until you found me."

"How did you get that information?"

"I have a few friends in the Office of Outlawed Magic.  Before you ask, no, they didn't help me in any way commit the crimes.  They're old friends from my Woodward days, and we've kept in touch.  Truth is, they'll probably be shocked when they find out I've been arrested."

"Still, you seem more relieved than just having expected it."

"Do you have any idea how stressful it is to wait for the day that your life gets completely upended?"

David frowned.  "Yes."

"Well, my day has arrived.  It means some very bad things for me, I suppose, but at least the waiting is over."

"I see your point."

"I will cooperate with you.  You have Tobias, which means you have the connection between me, the victims, and the customers.  There's little point in me trying to deny it.  It would just waste time and resources, and really, that's what my whole little project was about getting rid of: that waste."

"Well, I appreciate your cooperation."

"Of course.  And I will sign a confession, if that's what you want."

"We don't write them out, but if you're willing, we will set that up."

"Very good.  Do you think I'll be able to request my own sentence?"

"Maybe.  Why?"

"I'd just as soon they use my own spells on me.  Otherwise, I'll just be wasting a slot in prison for... what, two or three hundred years?"

"Something like that, probably."

"And I'll be of no use to anyone.  Do it my way, and at least I'm helping somebody."

"You'll have to talk to the magistrate about that.  That sort of decision isn't made at my level."

"Of course."

"We'll keep you here for a little while.  I need to go out to your home and do a search."

"You'll need my security medallion.  It's in the items you took from me when we got here."

David nodded.  "Thank you for your assistance."

"Absolutely," the man said.

David walked out of the room shaking his head.  He thought he'd seen weird suspects, but this one was taking the cake.

"Hey, Tom?  Keep an eye on that guy, would you?  See if he wants something to eat.  Go easy on him, he seems to be cooperating."

"Sure thing."

"Cooperating how?" Joe asked.

"Well, he's confessed to the crimes, for one thing.  He says there's a list of both his victims and his customers at his house, and he also warned me that we'd need the security medallion that he had with him to get in."

"That's what I call cooperating," Vivian said.

"Damn sight better than our buyer," Joe agreed.  "He won't say a word."

"And Maccarone?"

"Just like Casini.  He doesn't remember anything."

"That was the guy's intent."

"What do you mean?" Vivian asked.

"He claims that the whole reason he did this was to find a new 'punishment' for criminals.  Instead of imprisoning the worst offenders for centuries, you wipe their memories, kill off their old personality.  You then install a new one and send them off to be helpful."

"Sounds a bit far-fetched," Joe said.

"He did it, though," David pointed out.

"So why not just go to the king and ask them to try it?" Vivian asked.

"He had to perfect the spells first, didn't he?" David asked reasonably.  "At least I'm assuming that's what he was doing.  I didn't get that deep into it with him yet.  I figured we should go rescue his last victim and search the house first."

"Good idea.  You and Chloe head on out there.  Be careful, though.  He could be setting you up."

"I'm always careful, you know that," David said.

"Except when it comes to covering your ass with the administration," Joe said with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?  I had that whole disciplinary thing royally covered," David said with an air of mock-arrogance.

Joe coughed, and Vivian giggled.

"We'll be back in an hour or two."

"Right."

"Hello again, Officer."

"Good evening, Mr. Earp.  Have you been fed?"

"Oh, yes.  A very nice pot roast from a nearby restaurant.  Do you treat all your prisoners to such food?"

"No.  The cooperative ones get the really good food.  The annoying ones get the food from the burger joint across the street.  It's still pretty good, but it's not pot roast."

"I see.  A way of encouraging cooperation?"

"Rewarding it, more than encouraging it.  We don't exactly advertise our meal policy."

"Of course.  So, did you search my home?"

"Yes.  Ms. Hackett is now in protective custody."

"That's good.  I never intended to harm them physically.  I realize some may feel I've seriously harmed them mentally.  Obviously, I disagree."

David nodded.  "How does your process work?"

"I have three spells I use.  One erases the memory.  The second breaks the association between those memories and the person, so that, even if they remember something, they no longer believe it has anything to do with them.  And the third spell protects some vital 'knowledge' memories."

"Knowledge memories?" David asked.

"Things they have learned how to do.  For instance, they will not forget how to drive a car... assuming they knew that.  More importantly for my research, they would not forget things like how to have sex.  Had I completely wiped their memories, they would have lost all such knowledge."

"Why was them knowing how to have sex important?"

"Well, regrettably, I was forced to sell them as slaves when I was finished with them.  Otherwise, what would I have done with them?  Most people willing to buy a slave are going to want to have sex with them.  And they're not going to want to have to teach them how it's done, either."

David nodded.  "So, you have to wait between each spell?  You said the process takes months..."

"No, no.  You have to repeat them.  First, you do the protective charm.  Then you do the memory-erasure spell.  Next, you do the disassociative charm.  You then wait several days for their mind to start reassembling itself from the remnants.  When that starts to happen, you cast the spells again.  And again, and again.  Eventually, you've not left them with anything to reassemble.  What little is left, they no longer think of as their own memories, but perhaps snippets of dreams, a forgotten play..."

"So... can this process be reversed?"

"Not to my knowledge.  I never attempted to seek a reversal spell."

"Why not?"

"I was working on the theory that you would only do this to someone you had used a truth potion on, so you were one hundred percent certain of their guilt.  Under those circumstances, there would be absolutely no point in a reversal spell."

"So, you're telling me that the six people you've put through the entire process, there is no way to turn them back into who they were."

"If there is a way, I don't know it," Earp confirmed.

"And Lynn Hackett?  How far had you gotten with her?"

"She is well into the process, but there is the possibility her personality could attempt to reassert itself.  I must tell you, Officer, that she is in a very unpleasant position."

"What do you mean?"

"Most of her memories will be gone.  Some of them may be able to reassemble themselves, but they will be fragmented, disjointed, and isolated from all the other thoughts.  Each cycle through the process removes some percentage of the memories.  That's not by choice, that's just how the process works.  I don't know the actual amount, but let's just say that each pass removes three-quarters of the memories.  But that means the second pass removes only three-quarters of the remaining one-quarter, and the next pass removes three-quarters of what's left after that, and so on.

"Eventually you get to a point where the memories are so sparse and disconnected that they no longer matter.  That's the point at which you can stop.  But Lynn is not at that point yet.  What is left in her mind could reconnect itself into... something.  What it would turn into all depends on exactly which memories are left.  It could be a nightmare situation for her, if the wrong memories are what remains."

"And the only way to fix that..." David said, leading him.

"Is to finish the process, yes."

"That's a decision someone else will have to make," David said.

"Of course."

"How did you kidnap your first two victims?  We never got called in on those cases.  I can only assume your method was not the same."

"On those two, I regrettably used force.  I simply zapped them with a petrification spell, then levitated them into my truck."

"Why'd you change methods?"

"I almost got caught by a neighbor on the second one.  I realized it was simply too obvious what I was doing."

David nodded.

"Did you have any help on the Earth side?  For instance, in victim selection?"

"The Internet," Earp replied.  "People love to complain about things, especially emotional things.  All I needed to do was search for people bemoaning specific injustices."

"You realize that the man you killed was actually innocent?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"How would you have felt if you'd found that out after zapping away his memories?"

"About how I already feel.  I never meant to hurt anyone that way.  I imagine they will throw the book at me for that one, and rightfully so.  I should have been much more careful."

"You realize you're leaving us with quite a mess to clean up."

"How so?"

"We have to rescue these people from the ones you sold them to... but what do we do with them?  You've just told me that we can't put them back the way they were, so we can't just release them to their old life.

"Further, they are all technos, which means they cannot live here in Dugerra.

"Finally, they don't really have the ability to live on their own.  You've removed the portion of them that allowed for good judgment.  So we have to figure out what to do with them to keep them safe until they can relearn how to run their own lives."

Earp frowned.  "Yes, I'm sorry.  This wasn't something I worried about, because my process is intended to be a permanent situation."

"Right.  Well, what's going to happen now is, we're bringing in the court recorder to take down your confession."

"I thought this was already being recorded," Earp objected.

"It is, but this is a more official process.  Once that's done, you'll be taken to the jail.  A junior magistrate will go over your confession and either accept its validity, or reject it.  Assuming they accept it, and there's no real reason they shouldn't, then they will schedule a sentencing hearing for you in front of a senior magistrate.  You can discuss your request for sentencing with them."

Earp nodded.  "Thank you, Officer.  You've made this much less unpleasant than I anticipated."

"No, you made it that way, Mr. Earp, by cooperating."

Earp grinned.  "Yes, sir."

 David was working on a potion when a soft hand interrupted him.  He turned, expecting to see Sam.

"Oh!  Hey, Penny.  Sorry, I expected you to be someone else."

"Samantha is busy with a student at the moment," she said with a smile.

"Uh-huh.  And are you here for what she would normally be here for?" David asked with a grin.

"Hmm.  It would be fun, but no.  I have come to summon you for His Highness."

The specific way she said that told David who she was talking about.  "What does Lord Woodward want?"

"I'm not sure.  I think he has something he needs to discuss with you, but he didn't tell me anything, as usual."

"Right.  Okay, let me just turn this fire pit down."

Once David had squared away his potion, he accompanied Penny up to the castle.  Lord Woodward, she said, was in the war room, so she left David to go back outside.

David made his way up to the fifth floor and entered the war room.  Intriguingly, it looked to be in operation.

"You asked to see me, My Lord?" David asked.

"Yes.  I need you to get some information to the king."

"Lord Woodward... don't you have people who can do that for you much faster?"

"The king is using ghost prevention devices these days.  None of my associates can get near him."

"I can't get near him, either, then."

"You have enough of a history with him that he will probably meet you outside of those protections.  You can tell him whether there are any ghosts nearby, so he can feel secure there is no one spying."

David nodded.  "Okay, so what do you need him to know?"

Lord Woodward told him.

"Paladin, this had better be important," the arkigo - the equivalent of an American general - told him.  "The king doesn't leave his protections behind lightly."

"Sir, there are no ghosts present here, unless you count me.  And yes, I believe the information to be highly important."

"How do you know there are no ghosts present?" the arkigo asked.

"Because I'm a demighost, and I can sense them when they are."

"Very well."  The arkigo nodded to an underling, who then left the room.

In just a few moments, the king entered.  David and the others in the room bowed, but the king didn't bother to say anything.  He instead walked over to David.

"Good to see you, Paladin.  I gather your recent... administrative difficulty has passed?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, thank you."

"Had the man attacked my wife, I would probably have done much worse to him," the king said.

"Yes, sir."

"Now, I'm told you have some information for me.  Where does this information come from?  One of your visions?"

"No, sir.  If it was that, I'd just have told Prof. Zoroaster.  I got this information from Lord Woodward, who got it from another colleague."

"Another ghost?" one of the other military officers asked.

"Yes.  Lord Woodward has tasked them with gathering as much intelligence as they can.  Alpha Hurovlad has enacted the same ghost protections as you, Your Majesty, but there are still ways to gain information."

"How did they learn... whatever it is?"

"They've been watching junior officers.  The generals... sorry, the arkigos of their army, whatever they call them... are using the same protections as the alpha, but the junior officers aren't deemed important enough for that.

"If you pay enough attention to what the juniors are doing and saying, you can start to piece together some of their plans."

"Right," the king agreed.  "And what have they seen?"

"It is Lord Woodward's opinion that the Vrudenans are planning some kind of offensive for early April.  It's not to be a major push... it seems to him as if it's designed to push us into making a bigger, more aggressive move, so that they can blame us for starting the war."

"Did he have any idea where it was going to happen?" a batalo - a lieutenant colonel - asked.

David moved over to the wall map.  "Along here, within this one-hundred mile stretch.  He was unable to pinpoint it any closer than that.  Perhaps because the Vrudenans themselves haven't decided yet.  In any case, they - the ghosts - have seen troops assembling across the border, and the plans of the junior officers all indicate an attack in this region."

"How do they come to it being in early April?"

"The Vrudenans are currently in a training cycle.  Given the length of such cycles, and when this one started, it should wrap up at the end of March.  According to Lord Woodward - I'm no military tactician, all of this is Lord Woodward's evaluation - you wouldn't want to let the men settle too much after a training cycle before attacking.  It would dull the edge they'd just built up in training."

"He's right," the arkigo agreed.  "You'd wait a week to rest them up.  Maybe as long as two weeks, but any longer than that and you risk losing the benefit of the training exercises."

"Early April?" the king fretted.

"Yes, Your Majesty," David replied.

"Dammit.  I was hoping we could forestall this.  Callamandia doesn't need a war just now."

"Does any country ever need a war, Your Majesty?" David asked.

The king smirked.  "No, I suppose not.  Thank you, Paladin, for bringing this to my attention.  If Lord Woodward should give you any more such information, please get it to us rapidly."

"You can use the communications nexus in the Bolmont Rimohr office," the batalo said.

David nodded.  "I felt this needed to be in person, since I've never delivered information from Lord Woodward before."

"Yes, it was a wise move," the king agreed.  "It proved to me that whatever it was, was serious.  Not that I thought you'd be wasting my time, but there are only so many hours in my day.  Now that we've established your source of information, we can go through a more regular channel."

"Yes, sir.  I'll keep you apprised of any information Lord Woodward passes my way."

"Good man.  I won't keep you.  I'm sure you have work to do."

"Yes, sir.  I have a potion to finish by the end of the week."

"Oh?  A gift for the festival?" he asked with a smile, appreciating a moment for levity.

"Something like that," David replied vaguely.

"Well, good luck with that, then.  I'm sure I'll see you again soon, Paladin.  Take care."

"Yes, sir."

With that, the king headed out.  The arkigo turned to his subordinates and said, "I want a defense plan for this area drawn up immediately."

"Sir?" David asked.

"What is it, Paladin?" the arkigo replied.

"Are you sure you want to defend the area?"

"Are you nuts?" the batalo responded.  The arkigo raised his hand for quiet.

"What are you suggesting?"

David said, "If you counter this attack, without having had any warning, they're going to know that you had an intel source.  They'll know there's a leak.  You might be hurting our cause.  Might it not be better to simply evacuate the area, so there aren't any people nearby to get hurt?"

"Wouldn't that tell them the same thing?" a batalisto - a major - asked.

David shook his head.  "I'm going to assume that they're going to play some political ploy with the negotiations near the end of March.  Once they do that, you could issue an evacuation order for the entire border area.  But you could send people in to make sure this area is cleared out."

The arkigo nodded.  "I like it.  It's a good plan, and it protects our intel.  Good work, Stroud.  You must have learned something from Lord Woodward."

"I have studied some military tactics with him, sir, but those were aimed mostly at defending the school."

"Right.  Well, let us get on this.  Keep us informed," the arkigo ordered.

"Yes, sir."

With that, David was dismissed.

 "Well, hey, David," Christa said, her tone seductive upon seeing him at her door.  "Fancy seeing you on the festival day.  What can I do for you?" she asked, batting her eyes at him.

David rolled his eyes at her.  "I wanted to sort-of invite you to dinner."

"Sort of invite?" she asked, grinning.

"I want you to sit at the table next to me."

Christa raised an eyebrow.  "That's a weird invitation."

"That's why I said sort-of.  You'll understand why at dinner."

"May I assume," she said with a frown, "that you're actually going with Lydia?"

"Lydia will definitely be there," David confirmed.  "We plan to eat around six thirty."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay.  Anyway, I've got stuff to do.  I'll see you later."

"Here?' Lydia asked, after David had said hello to the people sitting at the next table.

"Sure.  Something wrong with here?" he asked.

"Sitting next to the teachers is like sitting with your parents."

"Were you planning to do something naughty right here in the cafeteria?" David asked with a grin.

"Well, no... not quite here..." she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Then there's no problem.  Just ignore them and enjoy your meal."

"Okay..."

The two ordered their food and chatted.  Just before their food arrived, Christa showed up.  Though she said hello to David, she sat down at the next table, as he'd asked her to.

"At least she's learning her place," Lydia growled.

"Ignore her," David said.  "It's the festival."

"Right."

Just then, their food popped in.  David nodded to Jailla, who was sitting on the table.  Jailla walked over and grabbed a meatball off Lydia's plate.

"Hey!  Give that back!" she shouted at Jailla, who hopped further down the table.  Lydia reached out for him, angry.

As soon as he could do so without Lydia seeing him, David reached into his coat and pulled out a small vial.  He popped the stopper off it and dumped it into her drink, then put the vial away.  He swished his finger in her drink while she continued to try to catch Jailla.

Finally, David was finished with what he was doing.  He said, "Jailla, give her back the damned meatball."

Jailla dropped it and hopped further away, swishing his exceptionally long tail across the table and knocking the meatball to the floor.

"Ugh!" Lydia growled.  Others who had seen her struggle were chuckling.  A few, who had watched David's actions instead, were waiting to see just what would happen.

"Sorry about that.  He's not big on festival days."

"Why bring him, then?" Lydia grumped.

"He needed to get out of the dorm room for a while.  Anyway, I would like to propose a toast," David said, raising his glass toward her.  Lydia picked up her glass as well.

"To love, and the protection of it," David said.  He glanced over at Christa for a split second, leading Lydia to believe she was the cause of the somewhat odd toast.

"To love," Lydia agreed.  She took a deep drink of her juice.

After Lydia had taken another few bites of her dinner, David said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What?" she replied.

"I wanted to ask you how you felt..." David paused, and when he continued, his voice was somewhat harsh.  "...right before you hexed Sam."

Lydia's look changed, but David didn't have time to register the emotion there, as her face was immediately twisted into a look of agony.

"Oh, ugh!  Ungh... what the hell..."

"Problem?" David asked solicitously.

"It feels... it feels like blood lust, but I took Lust Less this morning!" she whined.

David nodded.  "But Lust Less won't stop Vampiric Vengeance."

"What the hell is that?" Lydia asked, almost gagging.  She had grown used to not feeling the sensation, and its return was proving very unpleasant.  She had not fed in two days, and so the lust was quite strong.

"Vampiric Vengeance?  It's a potion I created just for you."

"You made me feel this way?  Why?"

"Because I don't take betrayal lightly," David said bluntly.  "And you betrayed me.  And because no one hurts my family," he snarled.

"You don't even have a family!" Lydia retorted.

"Sam is part of my family.  Flo is part of my family.  Ellen, Olissa, Gwen, Lise... these are all members of my family.  What I want to know is what you're getting out of hurting them."

"David, I didn't do anything!" Lydia cried.  Almost everyone in the cafeteria was staring at this point.

"Don't lie to me.  Mychel told me about the man who came to see him.  I know you attacked Sam and Lise by yourself.  Christa identified the man you were talking to as the one who tried to kill Olissa."

"You can't prove any of that!" Lydia screamed.

"You're right.  I can't.  But I also don't have to.  Without the antidote, you'll get to live with Vampiric Vengeance the rest of your life.  Just so you know, feeding on blood will not help you.  You will continue to feel the lust.  It has some other nasty effects, too, but this seems to be your real concern right now."

"Give me the antidote!" Lydia demanded.

David withdrew a vial from his coat.  "You want the antidote?"

"Yes!"

"Then you're going to tell me what I want to know.  Otherwise, I'm going to walk away and leave you just like you are."

"Fine.  What do you want to know?"

"Who are you working with?"

"I can't tell you that.  He'll kill me."

"I think you might find that preferable, if you don't tell me..."

Lydia stared at him for a long moment.  "His name is Levi Dailey."

David nodded.  "And where do I find him?"

"I have no idea.  He always came to me."

"How long have you been working with him?"

"Since right after you left us in Travaysal."

"I thought we were getting along while I was there."

"We were, but he offered me something you couldn't."

"What was that?"

"The ability to form my own vampire family.  The money and resources needed to do that are enormous."

David chuckled to himself.

"You think that's funny?" Lydia demanded.

"Lydia, if you wanted help forming a new family, all you had to do was ask."

"And you'd have just given me the help just like that?  I'm not stupid, David.  People don't do that kind of thing."

"Believe as you wish.  So he offered you money to start a new family.  Why did he want my friends hurt?"

"To hurt you, he said."

"Why does he want to hurt me?"

"All he said was that you were a danger to the world."

"Why not just come after me, then?"

"I don't know.  He said he had a plan.  My part of the plan was to help him hurt your friends."

"Who's next?"

"No one.  Olissa was the last target he gave me."

"So why are you still here?"

"Because I was also supposed to tell him about whatever you were doing.  And because I still have to finish out my schooling here to get my license."

"I see."

At this point, Jailla flew up onto David's shoulder.  David turned his head to act as if he was listening to Jailla say something.  In doing so, he set the vial of potion onto the table.

Lydia, seeing her chance, seized the vial and ripped off the stopper.

"Hey!  Don't do that!" David shouted at her.

"Hah!" Lydia told him, and downed the entire vial.  In just a second, she dropped it to the floor and began to gag.  David looked viciously at her.

"Welcome to the real Vampiric Vengeance," David said.  "I told you not to drink it."

"You said it was the antidote!" she screamed.

"No, I did not.  I made damned certain never to say such a thing.  You assumed it was the antidote.

"Oh, fuck, this is so much worse," she said, struggling even to breathe for the moment.

"Yes, it is.  The first potion you drank was a teaching tool.  It's called Lust-like.  It's meant to show people what one of the drawbacks of being a vampire feels like.  It would have worn off in about three hours, given the dose I'd given you, and then you'd have been fine.

"Vampiric Vengeance, however... that is a much, much nastier potion.  The first thing it does is to permanently negate the usefulness of Lust Less.  Drink a gallon of Lust Less, it won't matter.  You will always - always - feel bloodlust.

"More importantly, Vampiric Vengeance kills off about nine-tenths of the blood in your system, instantly.  From this point forward, you will have just enough blood in your system to allow you to move.  You will, however, be in permanent, intense pain.  Drink the blood from a hundred people, it won't matter: you will be exactly the same.

"And finally - and this one was particularly tricky to add in to the potion - your bite now produces the same effect in your victim as if they'd taken Bloodbank.  This means you can never again turn anyone.  I had to include that, lest you go on a rampage, turning people as revenge against me.

"I've been working on this potion since Mychel was here."

"Why?" Lydia cried, the pain setting into her bones and joints, her hands curling up.

"I told you.  No one hurts my family.  You nearly killed Sam.  For that, you must pay the price.  I could have just killed you, but that would not have been a high enough price, not to mention it would be illegal."

"Giving someone poison is also illegal!" Lydia screamed.

"Ah, but I didn't give you a poison.  I specifically told you not to drink what was in the vial.  You disobeyed that warning, and now you're suffering the consequences.

"Just so you're aware, there is no antidote to Vampiric Vengeance.  I will never create one, and I'm the only one who knows how the potion is crafted, so I'm the only person who could.

"If you find your life is too unpleasant to continue, then you'll have to find your own way to end it.  I suppose you could go around looking for a Potions Master to help you.  One of them is probably good enough to figure out a... well, it wouldn't be a cure, but they could find a way to nullify the effects somewhat, even without the original potion.

"Then again, it could take a few decades to find someone.  Personally, I hope you take the time to do an exhaustive search for a fix to your problem.  You deserve decades of pain and agony for what you've done," David snarled, his voice dark and malevolent.

"Urgh..." Lydia gurgled, the pain almost overwhelming her.  "How could you do this to a girlfriend?" she gasped out.

"Girlfriend?  You were never a girlfriend.  You were a liar from start to finish.  You want to know the truth?  Christa has been a better girlfriend to me than you have!  And I plan on taking her to the rest of the festival tonight, assuming she hasn't made other plans.  You harmed innocent people, in an effort, by your own admission, to hurt me... all for money... and you have the unmitigated gall to call yourself my girlfriend?

"I have half a mind to introduce you to a few other of my favorite potions, just for that remark!"

David rose from the table.  "If doing this to you saves just one person in this room from having to be harmed because of their relationship with me, then it is absolutely worth it.  You, and people like you, are my sworn enemy.  Nothing that happens to a person like yourself is too vile."

 "Have a nice rest of your life... such as it is."

David turned, first, to the table where the faculty was sitting.  All of them were stunned at what David had done, but one set of eyes was all he really cared about.  Sam looked at him, still in shock, but he saw, beyond that, the look of gratitude.  She could never openly voice her desire for revenge on the person who had attacked her.  She never needed to.

Nodding to Sam in specific, and the teachers in general, David then turned and walked over to Christa.

"Lady Aberlin, would you care to attend the rest of the Festival with me?" David asked formally.

"I'd love to," she replied, rising, linking her arm in his, and accompanying him out of the cafeteria.

It was a solid minute before any conversation began again in their wake.

 David and Christa made it all the way to the river before they said anything to each other.  Finally, Christa felt the need to speak.

"So, not that I'm complaining, but how come you chose me?  Was it just to cheese off Lydia?"

"No.  What Lydia thinks no longer has any importance to me."

"Why, then?"

"Well, I don't want to make you feel too bad, but I don't actually have that many options right now."

"You could have skipped the festival altogether..."

"I could have, and I would have, if you hadn't been an option."

"Since when do I rank as dating material in your book?" she asked, not unkindly.

David shrugged.  "You've been a bit more tolerable over the last month.  Plus, you were the only person who tried to warn me about Lydia.  Call this a thank-you for trying to help.  Or a way to keep you from saying, 'I told you so.'"

Christa grinned.  "I never thought she was this much a problem, though."

"Yeah, well... let's stop talking about her.  This is your first Festival of Love and Lights away from home.  Let's just enjoy it."

"Sounds good," she agreed.

The two continued to walk unhurriedly across the campus.  The artificial aurora was filling the sky, and the fireflies were out in force.  After a while, they came to the tunnel of love ride.

"I haven't done this since my first year here," David admitted as they sat down on the floating bench.

"Is it going to be dark and scary in there?" she asked.

"Dark, yes.  Scary, not unless you're afraid of me."

"Hah!" she snorted.  As the ride got underway, she pushed herself close to him.

Once they rounded a corner in the path, thus blocking any view of them from outside the trees, Christa leaned up and kissed David.  He kissed her back, running his fingers through her hair as their tongues began to dance.

David did not react when Christa's hand began to undo his pants.  When she reached in and stroked his cock through his underwear, he moaned softly.  She reached in and extracted his dick, slowly stroking it as they kissed.

After a minute of this, they broke their kiss.  "Gee, you don't seem to be objecting for once," Christa said with a grin.

"Shut up and start sucking," David said with a corresponding grin.  "This ride's not all that long."

Christa leaned over and slipped her lips down onto his shaft.  David closed his eyes and pressed gently against the back of her head, encouraging her to start moving.  She got the idea, and was soon bobbing up and down on his dick.

David kept his eyes closed, just enjoying Christa's efforts.  A lack of skill had never been his problem with her; she was quite good at what she was doing.  Good enough, in fact, that in just a minute, he was struggling to prevent himself from coming.

Finally, he simply couldn't hold back any longer.  He said quietly, "Gonna come."

Christa pushed her mouth all the way down onto him, pushing the head of his dick down her throat.  She then squeezed her throat around him.  In a flash he was coming, pouring his spunk straight into her stomach.

Once he had stopped spasming, Christa slipped her mouth slowly off his dick, using her tongue to clean off any remnants of his cum.

As she sat up, David tucked himself into his pants.  The two didn't speak for a while, but David pulled Christa close, snuggling with her as the ride wound its way through the trees to the exit.

David actually took Christa's hand as they slipped off the floating bench.  The two walked toward the rock lift which would carry them down to Firebird Dorm.  In only a few minutes, they were stepping into Christa's dorm room.

David waited as Christa closed the door, but then he gently pushed her up against the wall and started to kiss her again.  She was eager to participate, kissing him back and running her hands along his sides.

When David's hand slid from her hip up to her breast, Christa moaned.  He squeezed and gently fondled her tit as they continued to kiss.  Christa began to pull at his shirt, trying to get it loose from his pants.  Once she did, she stopped, because going any further would require him to stop kissing her, which she didn't want him to do.

Finally, however, David did step back from her slightly.  He pulled his shirt off, tossing it onto the couch.

"Wow.  That looks... bad," Christa said, gaping at David's scar.

"You want to kiss it and make it better?" David asked mischievously.

"Hmm," Christa said, then leaned forward and placed her lips against the center of his wound, then ran her tongue along his skin in a wet circle.  When she straightened up, she was smiling.  "All better?"

"Nope.  All you did was make me horny."

"That's better, as far as I'm concerned," Christa said with a wicked smile.

"Oh, is it, now?" David said, pushing her against the wall again, but this time running his hands under her shirt and pulling it upward.  She pursed her lips as he worked, happy to have him participating for once.

Christa's shirt landed on top of David's.  He had known that she wasn't wearing a bra, and so he was now staring at her bare tits.  Her breasts weren't large, but they were perky, with large nipples and puffy areolas in a faint pink color.  As his hands went to work on her pants, he leaned down and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth.

"Ohh, that's nice," Christa said, leaning her head back against the wall.

In short order, David had Christa's pants undone, and her pants and panties soon found their way to the floor, leaving Christa completely nude.

David stepped back and looked at her, causing her to blush slightly.  He shook his head.

"Your father's gonna kill me."

Before she could respond, David moved to Christa's side.  He reached down behind her knee and slid his other hand around her back.  He lifted, and she was now cradled in his arms.

"Whoa!  You're a lot stronger than you look!"

"Combat training will do that," David said.  He carried her carefully downstairs to her bedroom, and set her gently on the bed.  He didn't yet join her there, however.

Christa watched with avid curiosity as David unfastened his slacks.  He kicked off his shoes and socks, then let his pants fall, stepping out of them.  As he began to slide his boxers off, he watched Christa's gaze, which was fixed firmly on his crotch.  Though she'd seen it several times before, and even sucked on it, this would be the first time he would be completely exposed to her.

When David stood back up, now nude, Christa mewed.  As he slipped onto the bed, she spread her legs slightly, inviting him to take her.

David slid up the bed until he was looking straight down at Christa's pussy.  Her curly pubic hair was neatly trimmed, and her pussy was clearly wet already.  He leaned down and slid his tongue gently across her opening and up toward her clit.  Christa moaned at the feel of it, and her hips rolled to make greater contact.

David repeated his actions several times until Christa's clit peeked out of its hood.  Once it had exposed itself, David's tongue slid over and around it, sending tingles shooting through Christa's body.

"Oh, fuck, yes!" she cried out in joy.  "Oh, that feels good..."

David kept up his licking, driving Christa higher with each second.  Finally Christa could take no more.  She grabbed the back of David's head and held him in place while her hips rocked against him.  Her body shuddered and she growled in ecstasy as her orgasm washed over her.  Only when her tremors subsided did she let him go.

"Oh, shit, that was nice," Christa told him.  He slipped the rest of the way up her body, and the two kissed, sharing her taste.  She could also now feel his iron-hard dick resting against her leg, and she was eager for it to rest elsewhere.

David wasn't going to make her wait for it.  As soon as it was clear that she had regained her breath, he adjusted himself, the head of his dick pressing into her opening.

Christa tensed a bit, then said, "Go slow at first."

David looked down with concern.  "You're not a virgin, are you?"

Christa snorted.  "No.  But yours is the biggest dick I've ever seen, and the last couple guys weren't anywhere near your size, so..."

David nodded.  He pressed forward slowly, the head of his cock sliding almost reluctantly into her pussy.

"Oh, shit..." Christa said in a long, low moan.  As his dick continued its slow slide into her depths, her moaning continued.  Finally he was fully within her, his hips resting against hers.  He stayed still for a moment, allowing her to get used to his size while he toyed with her breasts.

"That feels nice," she told him.  "You can fuck me now, though.  I think I'm ready."

David slid about halfway out of her pussy, and slid back in.

"Whoa, fuck!" Christa said.  "Do that again!"

David grinned, and did as requested.  He didn't wait for her reaction this time, but started a rhythm, keeping his motions smooth.  He took hold of her hips, lifting slightly for better leverage and a slightly different angle.

"Oh, hell!" Christa screamed.  "Give it to me!"

With that, David began using full strokes.  Christa's cries intensified, and her hips shuddered against him as she worked to force him more deeply inside.

It didn't take too much of this before Christa was right on the verge of her second orgasm.  David started to thrust a little harder, shoving her over the edge.  She cried out and her back arched, her pussy squeezing his cock as her climax overtook her.

David held on to her, keeping her fully impaled on his cock as her orgasm peaked, and then subsided.  Finally, her breath still heaving, she looked up at him with a grin.

"Oh, fuck, this was definitely worth the wait.  Can I have another one of those?"

David smiled.  "If you'd like."

"Can I be on top this time?" she asked.  "I like that position a lot."

"Anything you like."  David leaned over and pulled her up against him, then he slowly rolled them over until he was lying on his back.  Christa shifted her legs and then pushed herself up so that she was straddling his waist, his dick still nestled comfortably in her pussy.

Before Christa could start moving, David reached up and cupped her tits, fondling them and tweaking her nipples, causing her to make little squeaks of pleasure.  She eventually started to move above him, using her legs to slide up and down his cock.

"Oh, yeah, that feels so fucking good," she cooed.

David grunted in agreement as he continued to toy with her breasts.  She was using her pussy muscles to massage his dick as she moved, and it did feel exquisite.

Christa's moves picked up speed, and it was clear she was driving herself toward another orgasm.  In short order, it crashed into her and she cried out again, her body twisting and turning on top of David.  He grabbed her and pulled her down on top of him, holding her as she rode the wave of ecstasy.

Once she was able to calm down, she leaned up and kissed David passionately.  Their tongues were soon into the act again, and their bodies were sliding against each other almost of their own accord.

Finally, Christa broke their kiss.  "You can choose the next position.  I just like to make sure I get to be on top at least once."

"Uh-huh," David said with a grin.  He rolled until they were on their sides, and then he held her in place while he shifted, lifting her leg and straddling her other one.  He pressed his dick back into her opening, and she mewled as it impaled her once again.

David didn't wait, but set up a fast pace right away.  He held Christa's leg against his body, using it to keep her in place, which allowed him to slip even deeper inside of her.  He could feel his own heat rising this time, so he thrust faster into her.

"Oh, fuck, yes," she murmured. "Faster.  Harder!"

David complied, thrusting into her with all he had.  She was quickly crying out in joy, her body quickly approaching its release.  He was now holding back his own, working to put her over one last time.

In a few more seconds, he got his wish.  Her body jerked and trembled as she cried out in bliss.  As soon as she started, he slammed his hips into her, burying himself to the hilt in her pussy, and his cum exploded out of his cock.  For a long moment, he blasted her insides with his juice, grunting with each spasm.  The feel of it pushed Christa even higher, causing her cries to intensify.

David recovered long before Christa did, but he didn't move.  He continued to hold her leg against his chest, kept his dick buried inside of her until it softened and slid out on its own.  Finally, not wanting her leg to cramp, he lowered it gently, then slipped down beside her.

Christa snuggled up against him immediately, and he wrapped his arms around her.  The two stayed that way for a long time, not saying anything, just enjoying the afterglow of wonderful sex.

After a while, Christa slipped away from David so that she could go to the restroom.  When she came back, David was sitting up on her bed, his back against the wall.  She came over and slipped next to him, cuddling against him.  He put his arm around her gently.

"So where do we go from here?" David asked.

"Hmm?" she replied in confusion.

"Did you want me as a boyfriend?"

"I... don't know."

"You don't know?  You just spent six months trying to get to this point, and you don't know what you actually want?"

Christa smirked.  "I didn't actually expect you to give in.  Once you'd rejected me the first few times, it became kind of a game, to see if I could ever get you to sleep with me.  Now that you did... I'm not sure what I want."

"What did you want initially?" David asked.

"Just to sleep with you.  You're cute, you're famous, you've got power.  All that makes you attractive.  I never expected you to reject me that first time, so I just figured we'd have a good time, then go about our business."

"So... do you want to do that now?  Just act like it was never an issue?"

"I don't think so," she said.  "For one thing, there's no way I'm not gonna want to do that again, and soon.  That was fucking intense.  But there's also the whole thing about how much different things are between us now than they were six months ago."

"So... again, do you want me as a boyfriend?"

"I don't think that would work out.  I'm not good at sharing."

David nodded.  "But if you want to do it again... isn't that sharing?"

"I prefer to think of it as stealing," Christa said with a grin.

"Stealing?"

"Yeah.  I'm stealing your time from someone else."

"And this is a better idea than sharing?"

"Well... it's less unpleasant, emotionally."

"Okay, fair enough.  So... just... friends, then?"

"As long as I'm that kind of friend that regularly sees your dick..." Christa replied.

David snorted.  "I have a few of those."

"I know.  And I promise, I won't tell Daddy."

"Thank you."

Christa giggled.

 "So I need to ask you a question," David said to Olissa.  She was still in the infirmary, and was likely to be there for quite a while.  She had been doing homework when David arrived, but he, of course, took precedence over that.

"Sure," Olissa said.

"I know you won't tell me who the 'other woman' is... but it's not Christa, is it?"

"Why are you asking?" Olissa wanted to know.  "Did last night go badly?"

"Oh, no, we had a good time," David said.  "I just don't think I want to be ordered to disembowel myself once a month by the king."

Olissa giggled.  "Just how well did it go?" she asked.

"Not that well," David said.  "We're just friends.  You're avoiding my question."

"I don't want to affect your relationships with people, Master."

"I understand that.  Now answer the question."

"She's not the person I saw in my vision," Olissa finally said.

"Good enough."

"You really didn't enjoy being with her, did you?" Olissa said.

"No, it's not that.  We really did have a good time together.  But she's not interested in a relationship, I'm not sure we'd work out long term, and really, I don't want to know what her father would do to me for sleeping with his daughter."

"She could pick far worse people to sleep with," Olissa replied.

"Maybe, but none of the others were tasked by the king with keeping her safe from... guys like me," David said with a grin.

Olissa giggled.  "I doubt he actually expected you to prevent her from having sex."

"Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure he didn't expect me to encourage her."

"Okay, that's probably true.  So don't tell him."

"I have no intention of telling him.  My concern is, if I make Christa mad at some point, will she tell him?"

"I doubt it.  You can always tell him how she was harassing you over it, and I think he'd be madder at her than you if you did."

"Yeah, but she can't live through a disemboweling.  I can," David said with grim humor.

Olissa smiled.  "I think you're worrying for nothing, Master.  You already know that the king likes you.  I think, even if you were going to court her, that he'd be shocked at first, but then he'd probably like the idea."

"I don't know about that.  But you say she's not 'the one', so I don't have to worry about it."

"So you're just going to avoid her now?" Olissa asked worriedly.

"No.  Last night we decided to be friends with benefits.  Since she's not 'the one', I can leave it that way."

Olissa nodded.  "And how did Lydia's punishment go?"

"Well, the potion worked.  I don't know what she's doing now.  It's really unimportant at this point.  She will either live her life suffering, or find a way to end it.  I really don't care which; either way, she pays the price for her treachery."

Olissa nodded again.

After a few moments, David said, "I wanted to apologize to you for not being here more since you've woken up."

"Master, I know you have work to do.  I really love that you worry about it, but really, I'm your slave.  Whatever attention you give me is the amount I'm entitled to."

"Hmph.  Well, I think you're entitled to more than I've been giving you.  It's just that things have been piling up."

"I know.  And I doubt that's going to change, with the war coming."

"Yeah," David grumbled.

"Don't worry, Master.  I'll be all right."

"Thanks, Little One.  Sometimes I need the reassurance."

"Of course."

"Good morning, David.  Haven't seen you in a few days," Nancy said to him.

"Hey.  Yeah, I've had some school work to get done.  Can you do me a favor?  I need you to pull the file on a Levi Dailey."

"Spelling?"

"Not sure.  Probably the same as that idiot Lord Dailey, way back when."

"Okay, I'll see what I can dig up.  Who is he?"

"The scumsucker who's been having my friends hurt.  It's an open case, don't worry."

Nancy nodded.  Rimohrs weren't supposed to randomly look up people's files, but any information tied to an active investigation was fair game.

David headed back through the bullpen.  He'd come down because Agent Keef had summoned him.  He knocked on the door, and entered when bidden.

"David.  How's your friend doing?"

"Getting better, sir.  She's still going to be in the infirmary for quite a while, but she's out of danger at this point."

"Good.  I called you down because the Minister brought us a case."

David turned to the other man in the room.  "Oh!  Minister Chalmers.  Sorry sir, I didn't recognize you at first."

"David... you look exactly the same as the last time we met."

"Demighosts don't change, sir."

"Oh?  I didn't know that.  Now I understand why Agent Keef thought you would be the best one for the task."

"What's going on?" David asked.

"We've heard some rumors about an unlicensed wizarding school," the minister said.

"Really?  Why would anyone go to the trouble?"

"Apparently, this particular school is focused on magic of a most troublesome nature.  In fact, the rumor is that they specialize in magic which has been outlawed."

"Oh, I get you.  Can't exactly get a license to teach stuff you're not supposed to teach."

"Exactly."

"So where's this college located?"

"That's what we don't know.  It's somewhere in this area, but we don't know where, nor who's running it."

"And you want me to find it?"

Keef said, "Find it and enroll in it.  The reason I felt you should take this case is because you still look extremely young.  They are supposed to be targeting wizards who have just completed licensure.  You can easily pass for someone of that age."

"What are we going to do about the possibility of them checking my record?  They've got to have some kind of way to keep themselves safe..."

"We'll give you a new identity, including an official wizarding license, issued by the ministry," Minister Chalmers said.  "Do you think you can do it?"

"What does your case load look like right now?" Keef asked.

"I've just got one other case running.  That one's a slow burn, so I shouldn't have any trouble working with this.  Just how far do I need to go?  Do you want me to actually take classes?"

"We need them to teach you something illegal," the minister said.  "Until then, the charge is minimal.  Unlicensed schooling is one thing.  Teaching outlawed magic is a whole other problem."

David nodded.  "So, find the school, enroll, and take class long enough to prove they're teaching illegal magic.  Um... what about the fact that it's the middle of a semester?"

"They can't be running on a normal school cycle," the minister said.  "People are having to hunt down this school to join in.  I'm guessing that they're doing an almost individualized teaching system.  They probably don't have many students, maybe don't have more than one or two instructors.  We need to stop them before it gets bigger than that."

"Right," David agreed.  "I'll get on it today."

"Good man," the minister said.

"David has the best record in the division, Minister.  If anyone can bust this, he can."

"Well, good luck to you, David.  Hopefully our next contact will be in court."

"Yes, sir.  Let's hope."

With that, the minister shook David's hand and left.

"What's the slow burn case you've got running?" Keef asked.  "I thought your desk was clear."

"That bastard who's been attacking my friends.  I've got a lead on him now."

"Oh?  Is this something that's going to distract you from this college thing?"

"I doubt it.  The bastard's careful, so tracking him down's probably not going to be easy.  Until I know where he is, I can't go... uh... have him arrested."

"Right, 'have him arrested'... and hope like hell he resists arrest, right?" Keef asked knowingly.

"Who, me?  Would I ever hope for such a thing?"

"Yes," Keef said with a grin.  "Go on, get to work."

"See you later, Boss."

 "Okay, everyone, let's settle down," David said to the class.  He was once again substituting for Prof. Zoroaster.  At least this time it was already Friday, so he only had to substitute for this one class.

The students got quiet and waited for David's instructions.

"Prof. Zoroaster is off seeing the king again, so you're stuck with me one more time.  The professor didn't leave me with a lesson plan, either.  What have you guys been learning lately?"

One of the girls said, "We've been doing seeings of people we don't know."

David nodded.  "Okay.  I can't have you do that, because I don't have the permission information available.  So we're going to have to do something different, and because of recent events, I'm going to ask you to do something rather more serious than your usual viewings.

"As you are all aware, the negotiations with Vrudena are at a complete standstill.  Vrudena hasn't even come to the meetings for the last three days.  It is looking very much like this does not have a peaceful ending.

"As such, what I want is for you all to do viewings that relate to the future of Callamandia.  Focus, if at all possible, on whether there is a way to avoid war.  Barring that, see what information you can gather about Vrudenan intentions.

"Whatever you view, write a report about it, and turn it in at the end of class.  These will be given to the Ministry of Defense if they contain anything I think they need to know.

"A couple tips before you start:  Don't bother trying to focus on Alpha Hurovlad or the Vrudenan army.  They've been protected with unbreakable impedivation.  Even us level 4 proraziveurs haven't been able to break it; you're not going to, either, so don't waste your time and energy on it.

"Also, try not to focus on your families.  Not that you shouldn't be concerned about their future, but the likelihood is that you will not get a good reading due to the emotions involved.  Plus, what you see is less likely to be useful to the overall war prevention effort.

"All right, begin," David said.  The students all settled in to see what they could see.  David was tempted to use the time to do his own viewing, but he felt like he should stay available in case any of the students had a really unpleasant experience.

As it neared the end of class and all the students were writing reports, one of them raised his hand.  When David acknowledged him, he asked, "Professor... we all know that war's coming.  Do you know when it's going to start?"

"Yes.  No, I can't tell you, by orders of the king."

"Is it soon?"

"Much sooner than I'd like," David replied.

"What should we do to get ready for it?"

"Getting ready for what's coming all depends on what you plan on doing during it.  If your intention is to stay here at school, then I'd suggest you consider taking one of Prof. Teller's courses, just in case."

"Prof. Teller?" Another student asked.

"He's the weapons master here," David explained.  "There is the possibility that the school could be attacked.  Your life would then be in danger, if you were here.  Please note that I'm not suggesting the school is in any more danger than anywhere else... although it is somewhat harder to get away from once the trouble starts.

"If you're planning on joining the military, you don't need preparation; they'll train you themselves.

"If you're going to discontinue your schooling and head back home, or off to work somewhere, I'd suggest you consider working in the south.  Or maybe even going to Earth for a little while, even if you don't want to live there permanently."

"You want us to run away?" one of the guys asked incredulously.

"Listen carefully: if you don't intend to fight the Vrudenans, then the best way you can help Callamandia win the war is to stay out of the way.  The fighting is likely to all be north of Cormatsen, unless the war goes horribly bad for us.  Staying south of there... or in any case, staying out of the area north of there, will help us to conserve resources in the war area, and will reduce your chances of winding up dead.

"It took decades for us to recover from the last war with Vrudena.  There is no telling how long this war will last, nor how long it will take to recover.  If you don't want to deal with that, then you need to not be in that area.

"The truth is, if you've taken Earth Studies, the safest course of action is to go to Earth until the war is over.  It's not cowardice or betrayal of anything to do so.  Unless you plan active participation in the war by joining the military, really, you're just going to be in the way."

"What are you planning to do?" a girl asked.

"I have another year of school left.  Woodward is my home.  Barring a direct order from the king otherwise, I will remain here and protect it, as best I can.  I plan to remain a Rimohr intern, as well, so I will try to protect as many in the surrounding area as I can.  Look, don't use me as your benchmark of what to do when the trouble starts.  I long ago committed myself to this academy and its faculty.  Plus, let's not forget that I'm a demighost.  The war cannot kill me.  It can kill you.

"Are there any other questions?"

The room was fairly subdued after that last reminder, and so no questions were offered.

"Okay.  Hand in your reports, then you are dismissed.  Prof. Zoroaster should be back next week, so you'll be able to get back to your regular studies."

One of the students, a girl, stayed after the others had left.

"Professor?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"If I wanted to stay at the school next year... how could I start my combat training early?  I worry that the weres could show up here early in the school year, and we won't have had any time to learn anything."

David nodded.  It worried him, too.  "I'd suggest you go talk to Prof. Teller, and see if he has any suggestions for you."

"Okay.  Thanks."

 David stepped into an upscale place called the Minn Bar.  He nodded to the man behind the bar, and looked around.  He was looking for someone specific.

After several seconds of looking, he found him at the end of the bar.  He walked over and sat two seats away.

"What'll you have?" the bartender asked.

"Dragon bourbon, and make it a double," David growled.  Those within earshot turned their heads.  Dragon bourbon was notoriously strong.

The bartender nodded at David, and stepped down the bar to get his drink.

"Rough day?" the guy next to David asked.  The man was not his target, but David knew he could still use the guy to help things along.

"Just found out my sister's marrying this son-of-a-bitch that used to dog me in high school," David said.  "Motherfuckin' asshole and his friends used to harass me every fuckin' day.  I think Sis is marrying him just to piss me off."

"Don't get along with your sister?" David's target asked, insinuating himself into the conversation.

"Are you kidding?  That bitch... you ever met a woman who will cause herself problems, just so long as you end up worse off than her?  That's my sister.  I think she's doing this to try to get even with me for being a wizard.  She's just a fuckin' blind man, you know?"  David said, using one of the worse epithets for non-magical people.

"Sounds like you should find a way to get even with her," the man said.

"Yeah, well... that's not easy to do without getting caught.  Goddamned Rimohrs are always watching over people's shoulders."

"If you know the right spells, the Rimohrs aren't really a problem," the man offered.

"So I've heard, but they don't teach you that kind of thing in school."

"Depends on the school," the man replied.

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about, but I have no idea how to get into that school.  I've looked around for some way to contact them, but no dice."

"How interested would you actually be in going there?" the man asked.

"Hey, if they can teach me how to get even with my sister and those fucks from high school... maybe get me a good job in Earth... I got a little money saved up... Yeah, I'd go for it."

"Even if it's not entirely within the rules?" the man pushed.

David snorted.  "Following the rules never quite seems to work out for me, anyway."

"What's your name?"

"David.  You?"

"Paul, but I meant your full name."

"Oh.  Anderson.  David Anderson."

"You live here in town?"

"No, but I'm stayin' here for a few days.  Damned apartment in Earth is being repaired, and it's cheaper here than there."

The man nodded.  "Where you staying?"

"That place up the street.  You know, the one with no fuckin' name."

Paul snickered.  "Yeah, that guy's just weird.  Okay, David-"

"Call me Dave."

"All right, Dave.  I think I can get you in contact with someone who knows someone who knows how to get you into that school."

"Hey, that'd be awesome.  The shit I've heard they teach... Man, that bitch'd never know what hit her."

"I'll be in touch," Paul said.  "Just chill out, and don't leave town."

"Where the fuck am I gonna go?" David asked.  "I can't even travel in this goddamned place."

Paul nodded, then put down some granas for his drink and left.

"Man, you don't want to get messed up with what that school is teaching," the guy on the other side of David said.

David had to be careful.  He didn't know if this person was involved with the school, or if he was just a normal guy.

"You ain't met my sister, dude," David said, nearly gagging on the word.

"Ain't no sister worth getting in trouble with the Rimohrs.  Especially not the bastards in this division."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I ain't exactly the upstanding type myself, so I've got friends who have dealings with the Rimohrs on a pretty regular basis, you know?"

"Uh-huh."

"They tell me that somethin's changed here lately.  The Rimohrs here have gotten nasty, they say."

"Corruption?"

"Naw, worse!  They're actually enforcing the laws... and doin' it old-style."

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" David asked.

"Don't you know about Rimohrs?  Man, a hundred years ago, those bastards' sooner kill you than look at you.  If you gave 'em any reason to fuck you up, you were gonna regret it.  Course, things had mellowed out and were a bit more cool for all of us... till lately.  There's this one bastard there, name of Stroud... They say if he's on your case, you are in deep shit, and you do not want to fuck with him when he catches you."

"Ain't no Rimohr that tough," David said.

"You don't think so?  Well, I hope you don't gotta find out.  Me, if I ever see him?  I'm runnin' the other fuckin' way."

David grunted, and took a swig of his dragon bourbon.  He had silently cast a spell on it to remove its alcoholic content.  He couldn't have handled the small glass in front of him, and he needed a clear head for this assignment.

Finally finished with his drink, David put down exact pay for his drink and left.  It was unusual for him to not tip a bartender, but then, he wasn't really himself tonight.

Wandering down the street, David wondered what else he could do that would make him look less like a cop to the guy who was almost certainly following him and watching his every move.

Walking down the street, he made up his mind, and he turned to go into the brothel.  Brothels weren't illegal, but they weren't exactly the place people expected a Rimohr to go, either.

Besides, David needed the stress release.  Undercover work wasn't his thing.

 David was relaxing in his room at the Inn With No Name, flicking sunflower seeds across the room to see if Jailla could catch them.  He'd brought Jailla along because he was supposed to be a newly licensed wizard, and as such would have a familiar.

Just as Jailla caught a seed and started to munch on it, there came a knock at the door.  David looked around briefly to make sure there was nothing out of character visible, then he went and answered the knock.

"Yeah?" David asked.

"You Anderson?" the man asked.

"Yeah.  Who're you?"

"Name's Chris.  A guy told me you were interested in furthering your education."

"As long as it's in the right direction..." David said.

"Invite me in," Chris ordered.

"Sure."  David stepped aside and Chris entered the room, looking around.

"This your familiar?" Chris asked.

"Yeah.  His name is Jay."

Jailla squawked at him, but David just gave him a look, then turned to Chris.  "So are you like Paul?  You know a guy who knows a guy?"

"No," Chris said.  "I'm the guy everyone knows.  Why do you want to attend Brookhurst?"

"That the name of the place?  If it's the school everyone's talking about, I want to learn how to get back at some people without getting to see the inside of Barnard Hill.  I'd like to be living well enough that I don't have to come back to fuckin' Callamandia just so I can afford a place to stay for a couple weeks.  I'd like to not have to worry about my apartment needing repairs because the dope fiend next door let his apartment catch on fire.  In short, I'd like to stop living this shitty fucking life, and start having some goddamned fun.  Now, if... what'd you say the name was?"

"Brookhurst."

"If Brookhurst can help me do that, then I'm in.  Otherwise, we're both just spinning wheels here."

Chris nodded.  "And you don't mind bending a few rules?"

"As long as I don't get caught, I don't really give much of a shit."

"And do you have the cost of tuition?"

"Since you ain't told me the cost of tuition, how the fuck would I know?"

Chris smiled.  "Fifteen thousand granas."

"Fuck, that's nearly all I've got in savings!  Goddamn, dude..."

"With what you'll learn at Brookhurst, you'll be able to make that back in less than six months."

"I'd better.  Okay, yeah, I can get that together.  Might take me a couple days, though."

"Not a problem.  Monday morning, eight o'clock, you be down at the Minn Bar."

"They're gonna be closed that fuckin' early, ain't they?"

"Yeah.  Just stand in front and wait.  Someone will be by to pick you up and escort you to Brookhurst."

"Am I supposed to stay here in this little shithole inn until then?  I'm gonna have to go back to Earth to get the money..."

"Do whatever you want.  Just be down at the bar on Monday.  If you miss the bus, so to speak, you won't get another chance."

"Right."

"See you on Monday."

"Yeah."

Chris left the room, and David immediately began packing his stuff.

Jailla said, "My name-"

"Is unique enough," David said, interrupting, "that criminals might be familiar with it.  I've not exactly made a habit of taking you with me on cases, but some criminals study their opposition.  You might be a known factor.  I couldn't take that chance."

"Okay," Jailla said.  "Are we leaving right now?  What if they are watching you still?"

David walked to the window and opened it.  "They are.  That's why you're going to go for a flight, and I'm going to leave the room invisibly."

Jailla nodded in agreement, and hopped out the window, taking wing and disappearing down the street.  David followed more slowly on foot, and used the door.

"I'm letting her go home now," Annie said, "but I'm counting on you to keep her work load light for several more weeks."  It was uncomfortable for Annie to treat Olissa as if she were a child, and speak to David as if he were the parent, but that was what Olissa had insisted on, and she'd do what her patient wanted.

David nodded in response to her order.  "I've already hired a few more pixies and brownies to help out for a little while back home.  Olissa will be staying here in the dorm for now, because I'm going to have to be gone, and this way she'll be near people who can help her if she needs it."

Annie said, "Good.  Where are you off to?"

"I have a case I'm working on that's going to take me out of town for an extended period.  Several days, at least."

"Okay.  I will want to see her daily, since she is staying on campus."

"What time?"

"Oh, it doesn't really matter," Annie said.

"Two AM good for you?" David said with a mischievous grin.

Annie chuckled.  "Not particularly."

"Well, then," David said.  "Pick a time."

"Let's have her come in at the end of the day, so if she really needs to, I can have her stay here overnight.  Say, five o'clock.  PM," Annie emphasized.

David chuckled, and Olissa smiled.  David agreed, and then he motioned to Olissa, who slipped off the infirmary bed and stepped next to him.

"See you tomorrow, then," David said.

"Good.  Take care."

As David and Olissa walked toward the rock lift down to the terrace, David asked, "Does it ever weird you out a little, having to react the way you do now?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Ever since you became my slave, and especially since the collar, you talk different, you act different.  You force people like Annie to basically ignore you and talk to me... doesn't that ever get to you?"

"Actually, Master, I find it quite enjoyable.  It makes my life a lot more peaceful.  I have only one thing to worry about: you.  Everything else that needs worrying about is now your job, and really none of my business.  Let's face it, Master, you don't exactly mistreat me.  My life is, right now, exactly what I have wanted it to be for a long time.  So no, it doesn't bother me at all."

"Well, that's good.  I guess it's just me who's still trying to adjust."

"I'm sorry that's proving so hard for you."

"I'll manage," David said.

"You said you were going to be gone for several days?  Where are you going?"

"I don't actually know.  They aren't telling me the location of the school.  I have a name, but that could relate to a dozen places... or no particular place at all.  It could be the name of the founder, for all I know."

Olissa nodded.  "Is it dangerous?"

"Not if I do my job right," David said.

"Please do your job right, then."

David smirked and nodded.  "Come on, you look tired."

"I'm hungry more than tired."

"Oh?  Well, I'll make you something to eat when we get to my place, then."

"I won't be staying in my dorm room?"

"Not while I'm still here, no.  After that, you can stay where you like... you'll have to look after Jailla while I'm gone."

"That's no problem.  Is Bispy still in the Animal Annex?"

"No, he actually went to visit his clan for a while, since you didn't need him.  He said he'd be back sometime next week."

Olissa nodded.  "I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but I'll be honest, I will enjoy a few days without him around.  He can be a real handful."

"And if Bob is any indication, he's not gonna grow out of it while you're still breathing, either."

"Thanks a lot," Olissa said with a groan.

"Thanks a lot, what?" David asked with a grin.

"Thanks a lot, Master," Olissa said with a much wider smile.

David was leaning against the wall of the Minn Bar.  One other guy and a woman were standing nearby, but he didn't say anything to either of them.

At 7:59am, a coach pulled up and stopped.  The door opened, and Chris stepped out.

"Okay, you three, get in.  Come on, we haven't got a lot of time."

David climbed into the coach and picked a seat, dumping his bag on the floor next to his chair.  The other two did likewise, and then Chris came in and closed the coach door.  Before Chris even managed to sit back down, the coach was underway.

"Someone in a hurry?" the other man asked.

"We have to make a connection.  We don't have time to dawdle.  Now, does everyone have their tuition money?"

Each of the three pulled out a sack of granas.  Chris took the sacks and counted each one.

"Very good.  Okay, we're nearly to the travel gate."

"We're going to Earth?" the woman asked disgustedly.

"Yes.  Brookhurst is in Earth.  It makes it easier for us to keep a low profile from those we'd rather not pay attention to us."

"So, that connection you mentioned, that was a plane?" David asked.

"That's right."

"Just how fucking far are we going?" the other guy asked.  David blessed him silently.

"Far enough," Chris replied.  "It'll only take a few hours."

"Few hours?  You can get across the entire fucking continent in five..." David objected.

"Not when you figure in all that damned wasted time at the airports," Chris grumbled.

The others muttered in acceptance, and after that, they rode silently to the travel gate.

Passage through the gate, and the subsequent ride to the airport, was smooth and quick.  Getting on an airplane was never smooth, nor quick, and herding people who may never have been through the process before was not Chris' idea of fun, but soon enough, they were all sitting in the back of an airplane, occupying an entire row.

The flight took off on time, and landed early, thanks to favorable weather.  A van was waiting for them, and it drove them to a large estate, with a fairly nice house.  David figured you could only fit about two and a half of them inside his own home.

As they exited the van, a woman was standing before them.  They all lined up to face her.  When he saw the woman's face, he was suddenly very glad that he had decided to use a glamour to disguise himself for this case.

"Hello, my name is Sherry Padman.  Welcome to the Brookhurst Academy."