Ch. 6 - Grimoire

Chapter Six - Grimoire

 

Sighing, Zageith found himself sitting in one of the meeting rooms of the organization, located in Cambria. This was one of the larger cells of the organization, and happened to be his. Not to say he owned it, but at least belonged to it. He was the primary assassin of the cell. He tapped his foot gently, while his captain read over several papers on his desk.

Several minutes went by, as Captain Delucci casually flipped through his paperwork. Finally, Zageith twitched. "Uh… boss, why did you call me in again?" he asked, still managing to be polite.

Delucci shook his head irritably and looked up towards Zageith, before replying, "Well, we got your reports of what happened, yeah? It's all right here."

Zageith blinked, then waited for him to continue. There was almost another full minute of silence, before Delucci shook his head again and looked back up from the paperwork. "Oh, ya, where was I?" he asked bluntly.

"Um, you were telling me why you called me in here, Captain," Zageith reminded, hoping he'd get to the point.

Delucci got a vacant stare for a few seconds, before he nodded. "Oh, right. Yeah. Just review the report. You knows we can't have failures, Zageith. The Don don't look too favorably upon them," he continued, tossing a file towards Zageith.

Zageith frowned as he caught the file and flipped it open. "What do ya mean?! I killed the bitch, and lost a good pokégirl in doing so," he exclaimed irritably, looking at the reports. How was this possible?

Captain Delucci shook his head slowly. "Yah, imaging for the soul uplink is still clear. Ye missed your mark, somehow," he pointed out.

The report read that strong auras were still in the area he hit, and that Kessandris was still showing soul uplink?! That wasn't possible. Zageith stood up abruptly. "No, I killed the bitch. I saw her die. There's no way she could have lived through that!" he yelled.

"Shut up, Zageith. Ye being sent back to finish her again, then. And we're sending ya Auroras ta give ya a bit of the edge, this time," he ordered, waving his hand towards the fuming hit man.

Zageith growled and stomped out of the room.

* * * * *

Sighing, I let my feet dangle gently in the water. It bubbled up from the center of the small pond, formed directly in the middle of the cobblestone path splitting through the center of the cemetery. The cobblestones just abruptly shattered around the edge, followed by a two foot drop into the heated water. It flowed down a broken grove off to the side, and under the wrought iron fence of the cemetery. The water proceeded directly off the edge and into who knows where. Probably the same place it came from, as far as I could tell.

Swishing my shoeless feet around in the water, I just breathed in and out, relaxing. My body had repaired itself nicely, being a day or so since everything fell apart. I leaned over and looked into the water, gently. My own reflection, tinted red, greeted me, and I frowned. A deep scar ran from my cheek bone, all the way up to my left eye, then continued for another inch above it. There was a similar mark on my left cheek going in the other direction, from the claw wound. Only the middle, deepest cut scarred. I practiced wiggling my larger ear about a bit, and realized that I'd just about fully recovered, aside from that which would never recover.

It was weird here. The day passed slowly here, but in surprising peace. It's just the six of us here right now. Karumi could use her magic to "pull" food from areas of the real world easily enough. I didn't understand it very well, but I suppose it didn't matter much. She even laughed at me trying to convince her to deposit money in the food's place. But I had to eat, so there wasn't a lot I could do.

I had been doing a lot of thinking, lately.  There was quite a bit to think about, really. What was going to happen from here on, and what different things meant to me. And my different relationships with individuals, and what they meant to me.

A hand suddenly brushed against my shoulder, knocking me out of my thoughts. Looking over, I saw it was furry and yellow. Smiling up at Kiya, she returned a soft smile and sat down next to me. This time she was back in her summer dress. Thankfully I had clothing back as well, after it took four hours to wash all the blood, and other liquids, out of them.

"Hey, Kiya. How's your chin doing?" I asked, noticing that she had a smaller bandage on it today.

She stretched sleepily, seemingly having just woken up, but nodded to me. "It's doing a lot better today. Thank you, Keith," she spoke, in a surprisingly chipper mood. My relationship with her changed a huge amount. It was weird having her do pretty much everything I asked, even extending down to helping wash clothing and cook yesterday. She treated me like Patrick, but thankfully without the "master" thing. Her speech was back to normal as well, thankfully.

I grinned. "Hey, I know I'm not a nurse, so I was just wondering, you know?" I offered, earning a snicker.

"You did a wonderful job," she murmured, resting her head against my right shoulder while she wrapped both of her arms around my right one. She looked so tiny, the top of her head barely going over the level of my shoulder.

Smiling gently, and still managing to blush a little, I played with the fingers of her left hand. Again, I wasn't exactly popular in school, unsurprisingly less so with my new bodily additions. I'd never had a female pay so much attention to me, and I didn't quite know how to react. Sure, she was a pokégirl, but did it really matter? She felt human to me, in speech and personality. I wouldn't go so far as to think of her as a girlfriend, but I had tamed her.

Taming? Well it was sex, with simply a more polite wording attached when dealing with a pokégirl. It didn't make a lot of sense, but I suppose a lot of things didn't, when you got down to it. It was weird when I realized I wasn't a virgin anymore. I blushed more at the thought, and shook my head again. Kiya was looking at me curiously, but smiling still.

"What's on your mind?" she asked after a few seconds.

I looked away, trying to hide my deepening blush. "Uh, sorry. Um, I was just remembering things," I muttered weakly. My neck hurt from looking that far away from her, so I lessened my angle, looking back again a little.

She snickered. "Remembering what? With the amount of blushing, I'd say me, right?" she construed. I mentally winced.

"Um, yeah. Sorry again about all of that," I apologized. How many was it, my fifth time?

Kiya shook her head. Again. "No, silly. I came to you for it, not the other way around. And if you hadn't, I'd be a, well, monster by now. With the intelligence comparable to a squirrel. I'm very happy for what you did, so thank you," she said, repeating most of what we discussed prior. Sighing weakly, I nodded.

"I just hope Patrick doesn't mind, when they finally get him up and at it again," I muttered, grimacing at the thought of him getting pissed and pummeling me.

Kiya laughed again. "He likes you, and understands my needs.  I think he'll be happy that you didn't let me go feral. He despises the thought of me returning to that state," she explained, looking down at the water again.

"You were feral born, weren't you?" I asked, mostly for confirmation. Her lessened humanistic qualities had given her away earlier.

She nodded softly before smiling down at her own reflection. "Yeah. Patrick rescued me after a tree fell over on me during a thunder storm. He apparently didn't read much about Pias, though, as he didn't realize how absurdly horny I was after he got me free. He's lucky he lived through our first taming. I fell asleep on his chest after, and woke up in a pokéball," she told, as I listened politely through her story.

The image of Patrick getting mauled by a Pia was extremely funny, and I started chuckling. She grinned over at me and nodded, seemingly realizing what I thought was so funny. "Wow, he lucked out to get such an amazing girl without even needing to battle," I muttered, envious of him. Kiya went scarlet and rapidly looked down at her feet dangling in the water.

"Hey now, I'm not that amazing, Keith," she protested, shrinking down.

Chuckling at her again, I wrapped both arms around her shoulders and squeezed her. "But you are. You're very polite and nice, and he couldn't have asked for a more gentle pokégirl. And you kick ass in combat, so I've seen," I pointed out, causing her flush to deepen considerably.

"Now stop it, if you're not careful, you're going to need to tame me again," she retaliated, smirking up and over at me. 

My turn to blush as I looked away. "Oh, um, sorry. I forgot that you," I muttered, not quite sure what to say.

Kiya shook her head softly, but continued smiling at me. "No, it's okay, silly. I'm glad you enjoy my company. I'm just worried that I might bond with you if you need to do too much taming for me," she explained, resting against me again. Oh, I forgot about that. That might erase Patrick's bond.

I nodded in understanding to her, before a light snicker caught my attention from behind me, my left ear instinctively rotating back to catch it. Kari walked up on my left and knelt in front of the water next to me. "You two are adorable. Hope I'm not interrupting a potential taming," she teased, winking at me. I glared at her and stuck my tongue out.

"Hardly. Did you get checked out?" I asked, trying to shift the subject. Karumi had released her last night. After a minor freak out, I managed to calm her down and explain the situation. This morning, or at least I think it's morning, being perpetual night here, she was much calmer.

She nodded, and looked down at the water, still smiling. "Karumi said the headaches seemed to be caused by a reaction to the initial transportation here, and now that they had died down, I should be okay," she informed.

"That's good. I was worried that you'd be more injured than you were." I glanced back at my reflection, still not used to my dual-colored eyes.

Kari smiled and rested against my other shoulder suddenly, causing me to blush again. "Thank you for looking out for me all night," she murmured softly, after several more moments of silence. My blush widened.

"She told you?" I groaned, wishing I could curl into a little ball and hide.

Kari grinned and nodded. "Yup. All night watching over me as I slept? You're like my own personal guardian angel," she gushed, laying it on thick. I felt the heat flare up, much to her amusement. She loved making me blush, I discovered!

"Oh stop it, I was just worried about you." My self-defense was cut short as most of my vision went a deep blue color. I blinked at the fabric that had flopped over my head, before realizing it was Kiya's summer dress.

Slowly pulling the fabric off my head, I looked down at it in confusion before looking back up at the Peekabu slowly wading into the spring, just in time to watch her butt descend below the water level. Kari snickered at her as she turned around and smiled back to us, seemingly utterly oblivious and unabashed that her breasts were totally visible. "What, my muscles are still sore from the battle?" she defended, crossing her arms over her stomach playfully.

My blush finally lowered and I nodded, smiling. "A dip in the hot springs would do you a lot of good, then. If you sit, it should go up to your neck," I pointed out. She nodded and sat down at the other end, just her head above the heated water.

"Thanks, Keith! Wait, don't you have actual wounds? You should join me! You too, Kari!" she exclaimed.

I chuckled at her over-exuberance. "Kiya, my clothes just got dry. If I take a dip in the spring, they'll get soaked. Again."

My rebuttal was shot to hell as light green flooded my vision this time? My cheeks went crimson as I realized it was the same color as Kari's t-shirt was! Something landed in my lap then, along with something else draped over my left shoulder. Groaning, I didn't even want to look.

Pulling the t-shirt off my face, I noticed that her shorts were laying in my lap. Her bra was also draped lightly over my shoulder. Dark blue? I blushed more. Kari giggled, standing in the middle of the spring, looking back at me. I rapidly closed my eyes before I could see anything. "Kari!" I protested weakly. She burst into laughter.

"Oh come on, you had sex with Kiya, but blush at me even being naked? Am I not good enough for you?" she flaunted, still snickering. I went to glare at her for teasing me, when a pair of panties hit me in the face, also dark blue.

Kiya laughed at my huge blush. "Wow, I can't even get him to blush that much. He must really like you!", she exclaimed, causing me to mentally wince again. I hadn't quite sorted that feeling out yet.

"Oh really now? Well he doesn't seem to be in a very big hurry to actually join us," she pointed out, play pouting. Her arms were over her chest, and she was in the middle of the water. Still, she was a little taller than Kiya, and I could clearly see the lines starting to turn inwards towards her more personal areas.

Fighting down my blush, I shook my head. "That would involve me stripping," I objected.

"And?" Kari simply asked, as I noticed she blushed a little herself.

"I've never seen you naked before, and you've never seen me so? And you're my best friend?" I attempted to lay out.

Kari seemed to contemplate this for a few seconds before smirking again. "Well I trust that you're not one of those more perverted type of boys anyway," she added, and to my utter shock, dropped her arms entirely. She had high B sized breasts, and I saw that her nipples were a little bit wider than Kiya's, before I squeezed my eyes shut and was utterly routed in stopping the blush again.

After several seconds, she relaxed back down into the water, about a foot away from the still giggling Kiya. I sighed and resigned myself to the teasing. "This still doesn't seem very like you, Kari," I pointed out, folding her clothing and depositing them in a tidy pile to my left.

Kari looked away slightly, and lost a bit of her smile, causing me to frown. Something was definitely off. She'd never flirted with me before, and I hadn't even realized she was capable of it until yesterday. I accounted it to system shock earlier, but it seemed a bit more than that now. "I'm just scared, is all. A lot of changes are taking place around me, and I don't have much control over any of them," she muttered, looking back at me and losing her smile.

Kiya frowned, but slid over and rested her head gently against Kari's shoulder. It earned her a soft smile, and Kari leaned her head against the top of Kiya's. "Well if you want to talk about it," I reminded, taking my shirt off slowly.

She nodded towards me and smiled gently. "Thanks, Keith. You always have been a good friend, and aside from Jessica, I trusted you the most," she agreed, causing me to chuckle. She laughed and shook her head wearily. "No, I only trusted her more with girl things, as she was a girl, Silly," she added.

Chuckling, I nodded, having already gathered that through deduction. My body protested a little, but I managed to kick my pants off finally and add them, and my shirt, to the pile with Kari and Kiya's clothing. Looking back up, I noticed Kari's eyes were locked on my boxers, and I blushed. "Although I don't know what that's about," I pointed out, causing her to blush and look back up at my face, realizing I'd caught her.

"Ah! Sorry, I couldn't help it. And I suppose I, well, no, never mind," she trailed off, causing me to raise an eyebrow. But she lost her smile, and I realized she wasn't telling me something.

Kiya responded faster than me, though. "What's wrong, Kari? You're acting weird," she asked, resting her chin on Kari's shoulder.

Kari shook her head weakly, looking down at the water again. "It's hard. The possibility was always there, but it was always somebody else it was happening to," she muttered, seemingly deep in thought.

Sighing, I took this moment to slip out of the boxers and into the water before she could look up again, sitting down opposite of the two girls. After a few seconds of stirring the water in front of her with her finger, Kari looked up and smiled softly again, but I could tell it was forced. "Karumi did a full examination of me, right?" she threw out.

I nodded gently, and she continued, "Well she said the exposure to high magic of the spells was messing with my DNA, then asked if I had any known pokégirl ancestry that could be influencing it." Oh.

"And your Mom's an Elf type, which has plant and magic elements, I see," I concluded absently, frowning at the possibilities.

Kari nodded and laughed then. It was a weak laugh, and sounded sardonic. "Yeah, the magical element in me got stirred up due to the exposure. I have what Karumi stated was a high probability of going through threshold in the near future," she informed, looking away from me then.

A moment of silence prevailed. I'd seen it coming, but there was still the revelation mulling over in my mind. She'd wanted to go to school, but as far as I knew, higher education didn't legally accept pokégirls. This was life changing for her, for obvious reasons. And the only people she had to talk to really, was her mother and I. 

Kiya frowned and nodded gently. "Being a pokégirl isn't that bad though. Is that why you were being attentive towards Keith suddenly?" she asked softly after a few moments. The bottom of my brain dropped out and I looked back up at Kari in surprise.

She just smiled and nodded lightly. "If I don't have a choice and am to become a pokégirl, I'll have a new basic need which ties me to an individual. I'd like to at least try for the individual that I want right now, instead of them picking me afterwards, I suppose," she explained, smiling lightly, but still looking bothered.

I sighed, blushing lightly. While awkward, the situation wasn't as awkward as it probably should have been, to me. "Why'd you consider me, then?" I asked after a moment of pondering it.

"Are," she said in return.

"Huh?"

"You used past tense. I'm still considering you," she replied, smiling more fully now back up at me, causing the blush to hit again, but she continued anyway, "And you're the closest person to me that I know. And not just. You're the nicest boy I've ever met, and exceptionally cute to boot."

Fighting down the blush, I gulped weakly. Kiya snickered and nodded. "Keith is very nice. He'd treat you with respect and act like you were a human girl still. He does that with me too," she jumped in, causing me to blink in minor confusion. I treated her like her. It was weird, but I didn't notice any different way I was treating her, even after I had tamed her.

Kari nodded softly. "I know. That's part of the reason why I'm picking him. He's also truly my friend and I trust him with my life. He's the only person I can say that about, or really want to say that about," she agreed, eyes softening towards me. I watched her with surprise, but warmed by her words.

There were all kinds I suppose. Pokégirls were a lot like humans in that regard. A miasma of personalities and goals, differing from girl to girl. To condemn the lot of them for the actions of a select few was wrong, I admit. But their strength still made me wary. It was beyond me, simply put. Anything that can obliterate myself and anything I hold dear with little to no effort is definitely a concern for me.

Once again, ever since the incident a month ago, I found myself looking at a far more bitter and cynical side of myself. If anything, I had discovered an inherent cheapness in life. So easily destroyed. I wondered what kind of pokégirl Kari would become. The thought made me uncomfortable.

"You're not saying anything, Keith. That somehow scares me," I suddenly heard Kari mutter.

Jumping out of my thoughts, I looked back up at her, vaguely dazed. "Er, I'm sorry. I zoned out," I replied, blushing a little at my own stupidity.

Kari just smiled a little and shook her head. "No, I should probably let you think about it more. It was kind of out of the blue, I admit."

Blinking again, what she was talking about suddenly came to me, and I chuckled a little. "Kari, even if you turn into a pokégirl, what I said earlier still applies. I'm not going to abandon you, and if you choose me for being with you, then I'd hardly refuse," I assured, smiling at her again. Her turn to blush this time, but she nodded gently.

"This sounds a bit more than a standard pokégirl relationship, you two," Kiya commented, snickering.

Kari and I both blushed, but I shook my head. "Regardless, I'm here if you need me," I affirmed, smiling towards her again. She nodded happily and smiled back.

Kiya seemed greatly pleased at the turn in the conversation, and suddenly stood and walked towards me. I couldn't help but briefly glance down at the drips sliding off her breasts. She grinned as she caught me looking, but still grabbed my hand and pulled be over towards where she was sitting before. Kari's and my blush deepened drastically as I was forced to stand as well. I'm taller than both of them combined, and I swore I could feel the base of my shaft leave the water.

Upon sitting down, I remembered the water was mostly see-through anyway, and tucked my legs together. Kari giggled merrily, leaning into my right side, while Kiya flopped back down, splashing me before leaning into my left. My blush only increased as both girls squeezed into me.

After a few moments of them simply cuddling, I let myself relax a little. The entire notion felt silly, if I thought to hard about it. I was skinny dipping and cuddling with my friend's Peekabu and my best friend in an enchanted, perpetually night graveyard that didn't exist. Although I wish the truth wasn't as sinister as that. If I'd been a little faster in getting us all out of the graveyard, we wouldn't be here. I gave a small sigh.

"What's wrong, Keith?" Kari asked after a few moments.

I looked down at the water again. "I'm sorry for getting us all into this mess," I muttered.

Kiya frowned and tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"We're basically hostages here, I'm sure you realize. I'd been too slow in getting both of you out of the graveyard, so we're stuck here. On top of that, I got your master killed trying to defend me. It's so pathetic," I explained, lowering my head a little and tucking my knees up.

"But Master is coming back soon, right?" Kiya pointed out, attempting to nuzzle into my shoulder.

Kari frowned, though. "What do you mean, 'get us out of the graveyard'?" she asked hesitantly.

I sighed. I'd forgotten she was in that stupor during. "I'd tried to get both of you out of the graveyard during the battle. But the teleport effect happened before I could get out of range. I wasn't fast enough," I explained hesitantly.

"And if you'd rushed, hauling both of us, you could have killed yourself from the over-exertion," Kari growled, in a surprisingly angry tone.

Wincing, I tucked up further. "If it was between that and getting you two out," I started.

Wham! Kari's hand collided with the side of my head, causing me to sprawl sideways and topple into Kiya, dunking us both beneath the water. I scrambled, and managed to push myself back up to the surface and off Kiya, so she didn't drown. Both of us re-surfaced and started coughing and sputtering. And my jaw hurt a little.

Glancing back over at Kari, bewildered, I only got more so as I realized she was crying. "How could you say something like that?!" she shouted, "You're all I have left here, and I couldn't possibly want you to." The rest was cut off by her crying harder and just lowering her head.

Kiya, yellow hair dripping now, just watched her sadly. I sighed and pulled Kari into me, hugging her. She just tucked her head into my chest, but didn't stop crying. "I'm so scared of what's going to happen. Nothing's the same anymore, and you're the only one I know. That I trust. Don't treat yourself so," she muttered, clawing her right hand along my shoulder, as if trying to take a chunk of me with her. She's what I wanted to help the most. Everything bad seemed to just gather around her. I wanted her luck to change, most of all.

I'm not sure how long we stayed like that. Kari drifted gently in my arms, while Kiya lay against my back. It brought a little sanity to this mess, and felt like I'd probably be rocking back and forth in a corner by now without them here. Kari stopped clawing at me, and just murmured gently as she settled into me. Kiya seemed to be falling asleep on my back, as I felt her breathing deepen. I suppose we were all a bit more stressed out by all of this than we initially let on.

"You know, you're all going to get water logged if you keep that up for much longer," suddenly came from about three feet away. I opened my eyes into a blink, and looked up at Kittra peering down at us. "Can I borrow your eyes again, Kit? Karumi needs to make more of the salve," she added, upon getting my attention.

Kittra had changed the most since. After she'd helped practically rape me, it's like she looked at me differently now. She was a lot more, for lack of better words, kind towards me now, anyway. I nodded to her, and untangled myself. Kari opened her eyes and nodded at me, smiling, as I turned and waded back to the pile of clothes. This would be fun. Kiya, still protesting and muttering, slid down in my absence and just flopped against Kari instead.

As I stepped out of the water, a massive blast of heat and air smashed over me, causing me to yelp and fall over. Sitting up again, I saw the water was rippling from the force of the wind, and Kittra grinned at me. Then I realized that, regardless of steaming now, I was mostly dry again? "Figured that beat wet clothes. Now come on," she spoke, walking past me and towards the taller grass, pulling out the book she had tucked under her arm.

Chuckling, I pulled my boxers and pants back on, anyway. Heat made me really uncomfortable now for some reason, so I left my shirt off to cool myself after her little display of power. Walking over to her, I noticed she was eyeing my chest, and chuckled at her. "You need taming again? Wasn't yesterday enough?" I pointed out skeptically.

She winked at me almost instantly. "Kit, I'm always up for taming, if that was an offer," she shot back, in a low purr again. I laughed this time and took the book she was holding out.

"I doubt Karumi would like the delay," I reminded, looking at the page she had it open to. A small flower, with blood red pedals. Five of them to be exact. A strange pink center, though. I focused on the image.

Kittra snickered, but nodded. "Yeah, I think she wants to get Patrick up and going as soon as possible."

Karumi had examined my eyes further last night. Trying to focus now, image of the flower locked in my mind, I pushed the inner flow up into my eyes. I felt that mental "flash" of the image again, and my eyes locked onto a small flower eight or nine yards from me. I walked over and picked five blooms from the small cluster, causing Kittra to smile. Karumi had been the one to teach me that I could force the flash. She called it second sight, and that it could be used to locate things, or warn me of impending attacks. The flow she labeled as "chi," although she said it had a lot of other wordings for it. Life force, basically.

I stood up and handed the clump to Kittra before pulling the energy up again. "Sweet. You do make this easier, although I hate to admit that your eyes are better than mine. Five or six more," she informed, walking along after me as I headed towards another clump.

Karumi had explained that I could use the chi focusing technique to magnify the special attributes of my eyes. Then she had me practice doing it so she could examine the results. Apparently I acquired a glow to them while I did it, but they did a variety of things. They both magnified my vision and had the second sight, which she said was more my mind than eyes. But only my left saw ethereal and energies, while only my right saw in the dark.

Picking three more blooms, I handed them to Kittra and looked around for another. Karumi explained that I'd had the latent pokéboy gene, and heat vulnerability before the incident. The eyes seemed to be latent as well, but, like the pokéboy mutations, was only brought out when Dad did, whatever it was he did. She had no answers at all for why any psychic manipulations, scans, or even detection spells towards me were violently attacked by something.

Tail twitching irritably, I finally got a reading and spotted another cluster further along the fence. Kittra snickered at my display, but followed along anyway as I picked four more off that one, getting more than enough blooms for a new salve. I'd seen Karumi using it earlier by coating along the sewed line of the angel's torso and Patrick's neck. I was under the impression that the angel was done, although she'd run out on Patrick.

Kittra spun around, tail bobbing. "Thanks, Kit!" she exclaimed, dancing off with all the blooms towards the structure again. I shook my head and walked back towards Kari and Kiya. The latter was snoozing in the prior's arms by this point.

Kari nodded and smiled at me. "You got what she was looking for?" she asked gently as I sat down at the edge of the pool again.

I nodded gently to her. Cooperating with them was a lot less painful than pointlessly struggling, I'd found out. Then my attention snapped forward again as I realized I was still holding the book with the plant diagram in it! Oops. I contemplated returning it to them, but curiosity got the better of me as I opened it and leafed through.

"What's that?" Kari asked, looking at the book.

I shook my head. "It's the book Karumi's been preparing the potions and salves out of. But it looks like that's only one chapter. Weird," I deduced, noting the plant section stopped further in and it moved onto various minerals and gems.

Kari tilted her head, then slid over to the other end, still holding the snoozing Peekabu. She stopped when she was at the edge of the pool I was sitting at, and able to peek at the book too. "Do you think it's a spell book or something?" she asked hesitantly, as I looked at the front cover. It was bound in some type of black leather, although where the dried skin came from, I wasn't entirely sure. And I doubted that I'd want to find out, I considered.

"It looks like one, although certainly not a very pleasant one," I noticed, as the binder looked like an actual spine, and it was topped at each end with a small skull. Flipping inside it a bit, I widened my eyes as the first section was actual spells? The writing was in strange glyphs, but for some reason, they looked familiar.

Kari frowned as she watched my face, and tilted her head. It was weird. Had I seen writing like this before? How could I have? It felt like I should know what it…

Memories of a small room snapped into my mind, and I saw an older man up at what looked like a black board, with the varying symbols on them, and writings of other sorts. His voice was echoing though, as he explained the usage of symbols and flows of energy in producing magical effects. I 'felt' another person in the room to my right, as well, but my viewpoint was locked intensely on the board, trying to absorb the images and memorize them. I felt the 'need' to memorize them urgently. But it didn't feel like 'my' need? The memory faded as fast as it had come, and I winced a little.

Looking back down at the words, I realized in surprise that I could read them! It wasn't like normal writing, describing far more accurately the flows of energy than words could ever hope to. "Are you okay, Keith?" Kari asked, worried. I was a little worried too, but more for my sanity than my health. How the hell did I know how to read something I doubt I've ever seen before?

I nodded gently to her. "Just weird memories, that's all. Can you read these?" I asked, tilting the book more towards her. She frowned, and shook her head at them.

"They look like squiggles to me," she concluded, causing me to be further disturbed. Looking at the book, I looked more towards content than the fact that I could actually read it. Spells. Set patterns of twisting energy using mine, to produce already researched effects, from eight primary schools. Why did I know this? 

This grimoire seemed to deal with the darker aspects of the art. Both in necromancy, the art of manipulating life forces, and illusion, the art of weaving layers of magic around things to fool onlooker's mentalities, and beyond. I frowned as I skimmed through the first few pages. "Why, can you read it?" she asked quizzically.

I nodded weakly, confused. Something felt like it was stirring in my mind. A desire to remember each and every symbol. I shook my head wearily. It was so strange, and my head really hurt now. But I had to try it. Skimming through the first few pages, I discovered the basics of necromancy. Life manipulation, or attacking with negative energy, or dark energy was possible. Hmm. A lot of the lower end things didn't seem to have many requirements, so what would it hurt?

"Ah, so that's where it went! The silly human is looking at all the pictures in your book," I suddenly heard Kittra call out. Looking up, I saw her and Karumi exiting the structure and walking towards me. Crap. "Okay, that was a dirty trick. Give it back and I won't bash your face in," she added, stalking towards me.

Karumi frowned towards me, but stopped walking suddenly. "You were the one that walked off without it in the first place," I muttered, closing the book and extending it towards her. That growl in my mind wanted me to pull my hand back, but I silenced it.

Kittra and I both jumped as Karumi flickered into existence directly in front of me instead, and knelt down to my level. "You peeked at it, right? Was it interesting?" she asked, smiling at me again.

Kittra raised an eyebrow to her mistress, and Kari glared at her. I just shrugged and handed her the book. She raised an eyebrow to me, but continued smiling in way too amused a fashion. "Just wondering what compelled you to look at it in the first place, Kit," she commented, stroking her finger along the cover instead of simply taking the book back. I felt a bead of sweat form on my forehead, but I shook the growling back as it intensified.

"It had pretty pictures," I finally muttered, looking back up at her instead of the book.

Kittra snorted behind her, now. "He's a human, and fifteen. Shouldn't you have assumed that answer, Mistress?" she asked.

Karumi didn't respond, but formed a smirk instead. "I see a very familiar hunger in your eyes, Kit. It's not nice to lie to someone who's just curious," she muttered softly, leaning in dangerously close, only an inch away from my eyes.

It was instantaneous. A spike of anger that I didn't realize I had. I wasn't even sure it was mine to begin with. It lashed upwards from that flowing feeling that I was distinctly aware of at a subconscious level now, and directly up into my eyes. Karumi dodged backwards in surprise just before the energy swelled, crashing into my forehead. My left eye picked up a rapid crisscross of energy where she had been, dancing like fast moving fireflies at night, and the air rapidly cooled around me, as I saw frost form on the cobbles below the crisscross pattern. The lines were only there for a second, though, before fading away again.

Kittra looked back at Karumi in confusion, as her mistress stood up again and smirked. "Feisty, whatever that is inside of you. And very close. Almost too close," she muttered. Kittra tilted her head curiously, when Karumi motioned towards her right arm. I looked at the same time and widened my eyes as I saw that it was partially frozen! The ice formed all around it, with darker blue lines mixed in, glowing with energy that I recognized was the same as before.

Kittra yelped at her arm, suddenly noticing it and flailing it about wildly. Then she burst her whole body into flames. My eyes widened further as not only did her flailing not knock the ice off, but the fire didn't melt it either. The lines of energy reacted to the fire, somehow, and started glowing brighter. I saw them lace up her arm and the ice extended with them, heading for her shoulder.

"Kittra, put out the flames! It's feeding on your energy," Karumi shouted, walking over to her. She started whimpering uncontrollably, the ice obviously hurting her a lot. Regardless, the fires went out almost instantly, and the ice slowed to a crawl again.

"Get it off, Mistress! It feels like it's freezing my bones!" she whined, in a low growl of obvious pain. I stared in surprise at the whole scene, before reaching up and touching under my left eye slowly. Had I done that? How?

Karumi tugged at the top of the ice sheet on Kittra's shoulder, causing the feline pokégirl to yelp in pain. "It's going all the way through with entangled energy. Forcing it off will rip off your whole arm, and trying to dispel it will feed the magic," she deduced as she examined the ice, still slowly spreading. I could 'feel' the lines eating into her flesh, feeding on her life force.

"Ah, it hurts! I can regenerate the arm, just cut it off!" Kittra screamed, collapsing to the ground on her knees. Suddenly I felt badly for her. She had only been standing in the wrong place, and I hadn't meant to attack her.

Kiya had woken up now, and both girls were at the edge of the pool just watching, wide eyed. Karumi frowned and pulled out a dark energy blade from nowhere. I winced as she whipped it downwards towards the shaking Hellcat. My eyes widened as I felt the energy whip out again and eat the sword before it even connected. As expected, the sword flickered and only broke against Kittra, who screamed in pain from the collision regardless. The ice rapidly burst forward a few more inches, eating into the base of her neck.

"Shit! I'll go get a physical one from inside!" Karumi shouted, actually losing her cool, surprisingly. I winced again. By the time she got back, most of her neck would be frozen. Kittra was going to die. Karumi flickered away again, and I heard crashing inside the structure as she seemingly searched for a blade.

Frowning, I debated what to do. They were keeping him and his friends hostage. Having one less attacker would be good, right? But Kittra had started warming up to me, and I wondered what to do. She didn't deserve to die like this, especially since I had no idea what was even happening.

Crawling towards her, I reached down and gently grabbed her frozen arm. She shook weakly, but looked up at me, surprised regardless of the pain. I felt the strings of energy respond to me instantly, and pull up into my fingers? At first I thought they were attacking me too, but I didn't freeze. Then I realized I could move them around the same way I focused on finding something with my eyes.  

The ice halted at my command, and I actually moved her entire arm up, the ice bending and moving at my will. Her eyes widened but she just sat there, rigid, as I took over her entire arm. I extended it out fully, and decided to try an idea. The strings were connected to my fingers, so I mentally 'reeled' them back inside of me, pulling them out slowly along the full length of her arm. They eventually made it to the finger tips, and I withdrew my hand, severing the connection to her entirely.

Kittra blinked in surprise as the ice thinned, lessening considerably along the entire arm. I backed away from her and nodded. "Use the fire now, Kittra," I told her. She nodded slowly and burst into flames again, actually believing me? The ice sizzled and melted at a rapid pace, no longer being perpetually fueled by her energy. She smiled as the ice dripped off her arm, then flexed it sorely a few times. Each flex popped her claws out, and she winced a little, as it was probably sore.

Then I realized that the noise inside the building had stopped. Looking over, I saw Karumi holding a long sword, staring in surprise at the both of us. "You actually helped her? Even after everything you've been through?" she asked, as if not quite believing her eyes.

I didn't quite get a chance to respond though, as Kittra's flames died down and she pounced me? I fell over backwards and just stared at her hugging me in surprise. "Thank you for the mercy, Kit. I thought I was going to die!" she whimpered, eyes still closed.

Karumi lowered her eyes, but chuckled. "Yes, you've done us an unexpected service. You understand that we still need your help, but we'll try to be more polite and gentle from now on," she explained. I sighed and nodded, expecting honestly that they wouldn't take it like this at all. Even if I didn't mean to, and have no idea how I did, I still attacked them. Karumi seemed big on the politeness aspect, and held herself more regally than I expected an infernal to do.

"Thank you, Karumi," I said gently. I couldn't help but smile down at the girl on top of me still. Kittra sat up on me then, and smiled down towards me, in a surprisingly gentle way. She was actually scared of dying, I suddenly realized.

Karumi seemed to ponder for a second or two before snapping out of it. "Oh, yeah, now I remember why I'd come out here again. Does it say how much of the powdered willow to use on the page I was opened to, Kit?" she asked, causing me to blink and realize I was still holding the stupid book.

Sighing, I flipped way back to the plant section and looked over the sections she had bookmarked. "Three ounces for one dose, but it recommends cutting back to only eight ounces for the full three if you go for that," I informed absently, staring at the picture of the concoction she was making. It seemed to be something to reverse minor effects of entropy in someone who's died up to a month ago. I was guessing she'd use it on Patrick and the angel before whatever the ritual was.

Karumi gave me a rather large grin before nodding. "Thanks, Kit. I'm glad you stayed around now," she muttered before turning and walking back inside. I frowned and looked back down at the book.

"You can read it?" Kittra asked, still on top of me but looking down in surprise. My eyes widened as I realized the part she had me look up was in the weird writing. Damn it!

I winced and my lax attention span and sighed, nodding to Kittra. "Yeah. Don't ask me why, though. I have no idea," I returned, closing the book again.

"Interesting. I wonder if you can actually use the information? I wish I could read it," she muttered, causing me to frown. I thought it was special pokegirl writing, and my eyes could read it due to that.

Remembering the test I was going to do, I recalled the first spell in the book. Holding my left hand up, I focused on extending the chi out of my body, as the book said. It came faster than I thought, like I 'remembered' how to do it. The effect was the lines extending from my hand. Frowning, I wrote the needed symbol for the spell in the air with the invisible threads.

My eyes widened as I saw the area around my hand darken, the mana being sucked out of it to fuel my spell. Such was the nature of necromancy, I suppose. The symbol collapsed and a ball of light formed in my palm. I simply held it there, as Kittra leaned in to look at it closely. Kiya and Kari also appeared to each side of me.

"The basic light spell Mistress uses?" Kittra asked after a few seconds of looking at it.

I nodded slowly. "It was the first one in the book," I informed, staring at it myself. I felt an inner happiness, like I was proud of myself?

"Karumi will be happy with this. I'll go tell her!" Kittra exclaimed, excitedly hopping off me and scampering towards the building.

Kari frowned and looked towards me. "Sure that was a good idea?" she asked hesitantly.

I sighed and nodded. "We're less likely to get attacked if we cooperate," I pointed out. It felt like I was trying to convince myself too, but Kari just smiled gently and nodded.

* * * * *

Patrick threw up for a second time, then started another coughing fit as he crawled across the ground. Kiya whimpered weakly, crawling along after him as he went, while Kari and I just watched from ten feet away or so.

"Oh yeah, the regeneration potion may or may not still be in your stomach. You'll probably throw a little bit of it up," Karumi warned, several minutes too late.

"Or a lot of bit," I added, watching the process skeptically, and kind of thankful that I didn't have to go through it. Kari nodded profusely to my right, while snickering from Kittra sounded to my left.

Patrick finally stopped crawling, and Kiya promptly knocked him over and rolled with him, until he was on his back again. "Is Master okay?" she whined, looking horrified. I got ready to flip him back over in case he threw up again, but he seemed to be back under control now.

He just stared up at her for a few seconds, before slowly reaching up and feeling along the line in his neck with his right hand. Several moments passed, and he made an spasm face again. Pushing Kiya off him, I tipped him over just as he threw up for a third time. "Good call, Kit. Don't need him choking and dying. Again," Karumi pointed out, looking on with what seemed to be vague amusement.

I rolled my eyes and pounded on his back a few times, causing him to cough more and spit out more of the blackish slime. I recognized it as dried blood brought back to a liquid state by something. "Damn it, that sucked," he coughed out, shuddering for a few seconds.

"You okay, Patrick? Besides the obvious, of course," I asked, letting him tip back over onto his back. Kiya crawled back on top of him, crying now.

He looked over at me, surprised for a few seconds before nodding. "Damn, the last thing I remember was getting my head chopped off. I'm guessing that was real though, right?" he pointed out, hesitantly sliding his finger along the line again.

I nodded weakly to him, grimacing at the black line. She could have at least made it flesh toned. It looked like his skin was totally sealed up now, but the line was indented just a little bit, and unnaturally black in coloring for a quarter of an inch to each side. "Yeah. Karumi brought you back because she needs helpers to escape this place and," I started, before I realized that she'd never said what she needed after that.

Karumi nodded and stepped forwards. "I brought you back. The spell I use to keep you alive is based off keeping this crystal energized," she informed, holding up a black crystal about the size of a baseball, "If the energy is ever lost entirely from the crystal, you'll die again and need to be re-sealed to come back. It's not that hard to do, but you seem to dislike the process." Patrick grimaced lightly as he glared up at her.

"So I'm being blackmailed into helping you with my very life, then?" he asked skeptically after mulling it over for a few seconds. Karumi shrugged and nodded.

"Essentially, yes. I'm an extremely selfish woman, but not unreasonable. You'll be allowed basic freedoms, of course, and I expect you to keep your own pokégirls tamed, as well. I plan on expanding as soon as possible, so you'll get an allotment to take care of," she explained with an expression of utter indifference on her face.

Patrick frowned and looked down towards Kiya, who was crying on his chest. "Kiya, you're still tame," he suddenly muttered, remembering she'd been out of a ball, "How long have I been out for?"

"Two and a half days," I informed, trying not to blush as I looked away from him.

He blinked, then frowned at Kiya, who was blushing already. "You were due for a taming that night. What happened?" he asked, raising an eyebrow to her.

She blushed heavily and shook her head. "Please, don't be mad, Patrick! I went to him and, uh," she muttered.

He raised an eyebrow, then looked over at me. I blushed slightly, but nodded to him. "I came to him for taming though. It just kind of happened. And I haven't done it since, so please be mad at me if you are!" Kiya exclaimed, whimpering.

There was a moment of awkward silence. I saw Kittra's ear twitch out of the corner of my eye. Then Patrick started laughing? Kiya looked bewildered, but he couldn't seem to stop. After a few seconds, Kiya started laughing too, then me. Then Kari started laughing at me, instead. "Okay, so I'm dead for two days after getting my head chopped off, and you think I'd be worried that my pokégirl was taken care of properly during?" he finally managed to laugh out.

Kiya blushed more and kissed him gently on the lips. "Thank you for not being upset," she spoke softly, after several seconds of kissing.

Patrick shook his head, wiping his eyes of tears from laughing too hard. "If you two went crazy with it and you had like, a dozen, I might be a little miffed, but a single taming to keep you from going feral, hardly," he affirmed, holding her against him. I smiled at the two of them and nodded, standing up again.

Kiya blushed harder though. "I'm not a Vixxen, Master," she reminded playfully after snuggling into his arms.

He snickered and nodded, pulling her tighter against himself. "Danni will need a taming soon too, Master," Kiya reminded. I'd assumed she was his 'alpha', if he truly needed one.

Karumi, seemingly done now, went back insides. It was strange, but I hadn't seen Cassia for a while. Since the first day, actually. She was a ghost pokégirl, so I figured I'd still be able to see her, but apparently she was elsewhere somehow. Kittra followed her Mistress inside shortly thereafter, after giving me a smile. Ever since the events of yesterday, she was acting unbelievably nice to me. I know Karumi said they'd be more polite, but she was taking it to an extreme.

"Why are you stuck here?" Patrick suddenly asked, snapping my focus back over to him.

I sighed before looking over at Kari, who gave me a meek smile. "Karumi informed me that the ritual spell that she put Kari under can also be used to shatter her life force, regardless of distance. And unless I help her, Kari dies," I explained, looking back to him.

He frowned, obviously pissed, but shook his head. "So you're blackmailed as well. How have they treated you so far?"

"Cordial. Less like prisoners, more like servants, with respect growing more solid," I tried to sum up after thinking about it for a few seconds.

Patrick raised an eyebrow to me. "Respect? That surprises me," he commented, looking back down at Kiya before lightly fingering her chin nick. It had mostly healed at this point.

Kiya grinned back up at him. "Ever since they figured out how nifty Keith's eyes are, and that he can do magic," she added, causing him to look even more surprised.

"Magic? Where'd you pick that trick up?" he asked, smiling back up at me this time.

I started laughing. Why'd everyone ask the questions I can't answer? "I have literally no idea. It's like the memory just popped into my head when I looked at the writing," I explained, shrugging helplessly.

"Huh, that's weird. Maybe it was your sister's memory?" he pondered out loud.

I frowned. "I didn't think Sis could cast magic. Only Mother knew spells, and those were healing magic," I related while idly thinking.

"Yours isn't?" Patrick asked, smirking now.

I laughed again and shook my head. "Not quite." That said, I raised my hand and the area darkened around my palm again. This time I created six little balls of light, which I promptly released and let drift around his head. I'd been playing with the spell.

Patrick and Kiya smiled as they watched the little orbs dance around them. Karumi suddenly poked her head out the doorway and grinned at me from the side. "I thought I sensed magic. Light again? And you've been practicing," she noted, smirking at me. 

I chuckled and nodded softly. "Yeah. I can only get up to ten so far, but I get a little better each time I try it," I informed, watching them slowly drift.

She seemed to think for a few seconds, before smirking and instructing, "You can feel the control lines, right? Try burping, only with your chi down the lines."

I raised an eyebrow to her, but she just snickered merrily and disappeared back inside the structure. I really should have read the entire spell before trying it, if she knew something I didn't. Frowning, I shrugged and 'burped' down the chi lines, just as Patrick's eyes widened. Oops. They were still floating around him.

All six orbs exploded. It wasn't a violent explosion. More like someone popped a balloon. But I saw black puffs of what was either powder, or some absurdly adhesive spray, spread over the entire area around each orb. Patrick and Kiya were covered in a light gray film, and instantly started coughing and gasping.

"Damn, dude! This crap smells like sulfur and rotten eggs!" Patrick exclaimed, rolling to try to get it off. Kiya looked miserable as her eyes started watering and she tried desperately to clean it off her face. Kari however, started laughing hysterically.

I laughed, but recovered rapidly. "Go wash it off in the spring, you two!" I recommended. Kiya nodded, regardless that Patrick looked confused, and hauled him towards the pool of water rapidly. I didn't turn around, but heard the accompanying splashes.

Kari grinned and flopped onto my right arm gently, and I heard laughter from inside the building.

Chapter 6 - End