by JG Jerome
Marissa cups my face. “William. How many times do I have to tell you. I’m ‘slut.’ Rebecca is ‘strumpet.’ Get it right, husband.”
Jack says, “Will, just put collars on them and call them all ‘Pet.’” He slides past Susan with a nod. He adds, “It works for me.”
Marissa asks, “Sure, Jack. How does it work for Darcie?”
Darcie moans, “Oh, it definitely works for me and all Jack’s ladies. We love being Master’s pets.”
Susan says quietly, “I gave myself to William once, and he took care of me just how I needed him to. I would gladly be his pet.” She raises her arms, and I slide into them to claim Susan’s lips, to devour them. She moans into my mouth as I squeeze her to me.
Marissa slides up close behind Susan and squeezes her body hard against Susan’s with her hands on Susan’s hips. She whispers into Susan’s ear, “Welcome to the family, beautiful.” I feel Marissa’s hands slide up Susan’s body to cup her breasts. She whispers again, “On behalf of all the ladies of the family, welcome.”
Susan moans as she grinds her hips forward into my growing hard-on. I release her mouth, but before I can speak she turns to capture Marissa’s mouth. Suddenly, I’m completely rampant watching these two sexy ladies devour each other’s mouths.
They break the kiss, and Susan just looks in Marissa’s eyes with lust. Susan says, “You really are a slut, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am,” Marissa answers without an ounce of shame.
Susan responds, “You are my new role model. I have way too many hang-ups.”
I release Susan into a side-hug and Marissa slides under the other arm. “You just have to (smack) Oh!”
3
Marshalling the troops
I look at her. “Marissa, this is a good conversation to have, but I don’t want to distract Carla. So dampen the fires a bit, my love. We need to find Bernadette.”
Carla calls back, “Thank you, Mr. James. I’ve got this regardless, but I appreciate you watching out for me.”
“It’s my pleasure to support you, Ms. Jackson.” I see Viktoria standing next to Bernadette’s desk. “Come here, Precious.”
Viktorija’s head whips to me as I release the ladies on either side of me. I beckon her with a crooked finger and she tentatively walks to me. I hold my arms out to her, and she rushes into my arms. I clasp her armored body to me.
She looks into my eyes. “That’s what Mistress calls me, Will.”
“I know, Viktorija. You are precious to her,” I tell her. “You are precious to me. If you come to join us, you will be my ‘Precious Tori’ as well as hers. For now, my focus is finding her, easing the pain of all her family and mine, and bringing her back to us. Let me ease your pain, Precious.”
I give Viktorija a lover’s kiss, and she melts into me. I release her lips and pull her head to my chest. A shorter, helmeted figure slides in to hug me on my right.
I see blond hair sticking out, so I murmur into the helmet. “We’ll get your mummy soon, sweetheart.”
Carla stands to walk her circle to inspect it. She nods to herself before looking at me. “Here we go, Will.”
“Okay.”
Carla starts chanting in the language she uses to summon imps. Shortly after, there is a little critter in the middle of the circle. She says, “Hello, Xerxes. My lord requires reconnaissance, will you take this mission? We will fetch a jar of peanut butter for you if you are willing to do this.”
Xerxes stands at attention and gives Carla a British salute. “Aye aye, Captain. I will take this contract.”
Carla says, “The deal is struck.”
Xerxes replies, “The deal is agreed.”
Carla says, “Jump out of the circle and report to my Lord General.”
“Aye aye, Captain!” The little critter jumps out of the circle. It’s on a high trajectory to land on Clarice’s head, so I step through the circle of hugs and barely manage to snag the two-foot tall little monster with my right arm. I spin backwards and pull Xerxes with me, guiding it to the ground.
Once it is on its feet, Xerxes salutes. “Reporting for duty, General! That was fun. Can we do it again?”
I laugh, “You wouldn’t have found it so fun if Clarice decided to rip you a new asshole for landing on her head.”
Xerxes shrugs. “I’m an imp. Being a pest is what I do.” I chuckle at it.
Hermes jumps in right next to Xerxes. “Reporting for duty, General!” It turns to Xerxes. “What was fun?”
Xerxes shrugs, “The general caught me in the air before I could terrorize the little one with the helmet.”
Argos lands on the other side of Xerxes. “Reporting for duty, General!” It sniffs the air. “I smell elf!”
I squat down in front of the three imps and nod. “Lara is here. She is one of my people.”
I see the elven woman peak around the doorframe. I wave her in and gently wrap an arm around her waist. I tell Argos, “I think you remember her. She is part of my extended family. You are not to harm her in any way. In the last battle, she fought the other elves to protect my family, so I value her greatly. Is that clear, my critters?”
They snap to attention, salute, and sound off. “Aye, aye, General.”
I salute them back before I respond. “Your mission is tracking and reconnaissance. I need to find the mistress of the house where we battled last.” I point to Bernadette’s chair. “That is where she sits when she works here in case you need a refresh on her scent.”
Viktorija adds, “Her phone is on the desk. It is the last thing she touched.”
I tell them, “I need you to track her, and find her if possible. If you can’t find her, note well where you lose the trail. One of you comes back to tell me where the trail ends while the other two watch and learn - UNLESS, the trail ends at the Valeran stronghold. Argos knows where that is. If the trail ends there, then two of you come back, and one stays to watch. Are you clear on your mission?”
Again, they snap to attention, salute, and sound off. “Aye, aye, General.”
Quietly I tell them, “Check your scent and go.” They explode into motion. One hops on the desk and sniffs the phone. The other two hit the chair. Then they dash off.
I follow them to the back door, and open it for them. They follow the route the car took, running on all fours.
I walk back inside. As I take a seat in one of the chairs around Bernadette’s conference table while I pull out my phone. I dial a familiar number.
I hear a grumble. “Hello, Monty. Will James here.”
“What’s up, Studley Doright?” he answers. I think the only way I’ll get rid of that nickname is to ignore it.
I respond, “Yeah, well I need to kick my game up a notch, so I thought I would impress the ladies by clearing a building tonight.”
“Oh, I’m sure that would impress your ladies. Are you fucking insane?” he growls.
“Yeah, likely. It’s this new team building thing. It’s essentially clearing a building like we did in the desert, but quieter. There is even OPFOR.”
“OPFOR, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m getting the G2 on it now, I’ll know within an hour whether it’s a go for tonight or not. I’d love for you to join us.”
“Hmmm. Well, Monique is out of town, so why not. I suppose I should bring my own paintball gun?” he asks.
“That’s right. Rally point is Pasquale and George law office, 4634 North 44th Street,” I tell him.
“Okay. Should I come by now?” he asks.
“Yeah, come on by. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll buy the first round.”
“This is going to cost you at least two,” he growls.
“Ha-ha-ha. Sure, the first two rounds. I’ll see you soon.” I disconnect.
I call out, “Luis. Can you get some peanut butter?”
Luis sticks his head inside the office, and I get up to meet him - again avoiding stepping on the circle on the ground. Luis asks, “How much do we need?”
“At lea
st three, but I’d like to get about twenty-five to thirty if you can find them. Don’t worry about getting anything special. Just all the same size jars,” I explain.
Luis nods, “There’s an AJ’s across the street, but I better hurry before they close. I should be back in less than thirty minutes unless I need to troll convenience stores.”
I give him a quick hug. “Thanks, Luis.” I get the obligatory pats on the back in return before he backs off and runs toward his car.”
Marissa dashes off and calls, “I’ll come along, Luis!”
I hug Susan. “How are you doing with all this?”
“Oka-a-ay,” she says dubiously. “What were those?” She points to the circle.
“Imps,” I tell her. “Little demons. They feed off chaos. They are fast, have a great sense of smell, and the only thing they hate more than greater imps are elves. The only thing they like to eat more than emotional strife from chaos are elves. They rather like peanut butter, too. That makes it a good method of payment for their services.”
“That’s why you told them about Lara,” she says rhetorically. Carla, Viktorija, Clarice, and even Lara all join us in a group hug.
I nod once. “Yep.”
Lara tells Susan, “I am the Lord’s property. Duchess Valeran sent me to the Mistress in the guise of a gift to collect intelligence on her house. My Lord removed the glyph she put on me that forced me to do that. I fought to protect his ladies while they worked to kill the greater imp lord Xranalazny and fight off the elves. I died after that battle. My Lord let my spirit go to the Summerlands at my request, but he resurrected my body to serve the mistress. I am a zombie. Despite that I have a good life serving my lord and the Mistress.”
Lara is normally fairly stand-offish, but she has been emotionally raw since the death of her sister. This is the most verbose I’ve ever seen her. Her behavior reminds me of Erica growing her new soul. This is not what I’ve come to expect from zombies, but maybe it is just anger manifesting as emotional pain. I’ll have to investigate later.
I hug Lara and address Viktorija. “Precious, I’m thinking when Bernadette looked into the security camera, she said ‘Valya.’ Did you see that, or did I imagine it?”
Viktorija says, “I thought so too, Will. I didn’t want to say anything in case I was imagining it. I despise her, so my brain went to Valya as soon we discovered Bernadette was missing.”
“Let’s go sit down. Is there a conference room here?” I ask.
Viktorija leads out of Bernadette’s office. “This way?”
I check to ensure the back door is open for the critters to return. Then, as I usher our crew to the conference room. I ask, “How much research have you done on the area around the Esplanade, Precious?”
“Some,” Viktorija says. “I’ve been trying to hack the security cameras all the way around their building. I’ve gotten into all of the Valeran cameras, the ones across the street to the north, and three of the four buildings that have cameras facing the back parking lot entrance to the Esplanade. I just got the name of the monitoring firm this afternoon on the fourth. The one across the street to the east doesn’t have a view into the back door, so I haven’t been focused there at all.”
I ask, “Does the fourth building have a line of site onto the back door? Can we get to the back door without showing up on their camera?”
Viktorija grimaces. “I think so, but I can’t be certain until I get control of their monitoring console. That will take a little time.”
I rub my scalp to work out my frustration.
Viktorija bites her lip for a moment. “Will, I might have another solution.”
“What are you thinking, Viktorija?”
She bites her lip again as she focuses her thoughts. “I have a contingency plan that I’ve had for a while. I have a drone that I can use to disable cameras. I can either cut an exposed cable or spray paint a lens. I did a test flight and function test Tuesday. It’s ready.”
“How long for it to get on station?” I ask.
“To the Esplanade from the townhouse?” she asks. I nod. “Fifteen minutes if I’m careful. It’s a big, powerful drone, and it’s not very far. I have a ninety minute flight time on the battery, so I might need to bring it here once I finish sabotaging the cameras.” She shrugs. “It depends on how fast I can fix the cameras.”
I smile at her. “Okay, that sounds like it will work. Do you want to go get it and come back here?”
She shakes her head. “No. The last thing I want is for someone to see me getting it out. I’m a little worried about someone seeing it land. If I can get it done quickly, I’ll send it back to the house, but this is the first time I’ve actually used it other than a couple of test flights. It didn’t seem very windy out, so I’m hopeful.”
I ask Carla, “Could we have the critters do it?”
She smirks at me. “How much carnage do you want?”
Jack says, “I think the only way to use imps is how you are currently doing. If you send them out to destroy something it will go wrong.”
Carla smirks, “Master Clement sent one to steal a briefcase out of the Cherokee House hotel. He told it to ‘do whatever it takes.’ That turned into the Great Fire of Denver in 1863.”
Susan visits with Clarice, Darcie, and Lara as they go to find a restroom. Jack asks me, “Who did you call?”
“Gus Montgomery. He’s the guy that brought all the guns to the range in Prescott. I train with him in Master Hiromatsu’s dojo, and we were both with the First Infantry Division in Turkey covering Fourth Infantry. I got out after that, but he went on to retire as Command Sergeant Major, 18th Airborne Corps. He’s Ranger, Special Forces, and he looks like he could still mount up and deploy to the sandbox to kick ass.”
Jack nods and says, “I remember him. How do you propose to clear Valya’s building with just three of us that know how to do it? She has nearly two thousand people in that building.”
I glare at him, “Bring more of those little terrors along, and turn them loose on the elves. I’ll follow along behind them sucking the souls out of the elves and the human guards.”
Carla says, “I will be hard pressed to keep more than about twenty or twenty-five, Will. If I do more than twenty-five or thirty, some will get away. We don’t want that.”
“No we don’t,” I concede. “Okay, our initial three, plus seven each. That gives us twenty-four.”
Carla crawls onto my lap. “Will, I understand you're angry and worried, but the eighteen last time was a challenge. Can we just go with that number again? Please.”
I can see the concern in her beautiful grey eyes. “Okay. I don’t want to set you up for failure. I’m concerned that we are going to be severely outnumbered. If Josie hadn’t been tipsy, I would have brought her along to zombify more elves. I’ll need to zombify the guards, too. I would have had to kill them either way.”
Jack says, “Let me see if Steven can come out to play tonight.” He steps out into the hallway.
Viktorija says, “Koree said most of them will have daggers on them at all times. Swords, bows, crossbows, and firearms are kept in an armory on each floor. Remember, they prefer the quieter weapons, and their firearms are mostly low velocity and spring fired - essentially technical crossbows.”
I nod, “Yeah, I remember that. What was that about magnetic propulsion weapons again?”
Viktorija grabs my hand and reminds me. “They are supposed to get five crates of high-velocity, magnetic propulsion weapons in the next couple of weeks from House Elassaine. They are to be delivered here directly to encourage House Valeran to keep their word not to use them on the prime planet. He said…”
I nod, “...two dozen in a crate. So 120 of these dream weapons in the hands of House Valeran. Just abso-fucking-lovely.”
“Exactly,” says Viktorija.
Jack returns, “Steven said he is already a bottle of wine into the night. He said he would come if necessary, but Lidia would have to drive him.” He frowns to em
phasize we’re fucked.
“Yeah, but the longer we wait to mount a rescue, the more likely is that Valya has hurt her,” I say.
“Or sent her to her sister, the Archduchess Gabrielle,” Viktorija says. “I think she would rather die than that.”
I call Audrey, “Hello Kitten. What do you think about Shryl?”
“Hello, Will. So she’s really gone?” Audrey asks. “Suck. Uh Shryl...she’s lovey, but she is young. I was surprised to find she was known to the royals due to her age unless she was a lady-in-waiting for one of the younger royals.”
“I’m contingency planning,” I explain. “Do you think we can trust her to be our eyes among Bernadette’s family?”
Audrey says, “Certainly. She adores Bernadette. She’ll do whatever is required to find her. I know how to reach her, so no research is required.”
“Okay, Kitten. Love to all the ladies. I love you.” She responds in kind just before I disconnect.
Viktorija gets a ping on her phone and leaves the room. A minute later, Luis and Marissa traipse in carrying two cases of peanut butter each. They run back out and return with Viktorija and coffee mugs from the trucks as the other ladies chatter quietly in the conference room.
Luis puts on a pot of coffee while Darcie slides onto Jack’s lap. Clarice, Lara, and Viktorija remove their helmets and lay them on the table or a credenza nearby. Carla gives Clarice the seat on my lap, and Viktorija sits closely next to us. Lara, Marissa, and Carla all squeeze in as tightly as they can in chairs and the tabletop while Susan drapes herself around my neck from behind me.
We sip coffee. We nuzzle, cuddle, caress, and kiss each other for comfort as we wait impatiently for word of our beloved friend and lover.
Susan asks, “Am I understanding this correctly? We’re going to attack a building full of elves, Will?”
I kiss the crown of Clarice’s head. “If the trail takes them there. Otherwise, we’ll go where the trail leads.”
Darcie gasps and rocks in Jack’s lap. He says, “Susan, the odds are that is where we are going.”
Darcie gasps, “Oh Jesus, YES” as she spasms in Jack’s lap.
