The Miami Broncos

Chapter 23: Darkness

Written by Francois Guint-Riel (FGR)

I could hear the sounds of water splashing and the shower’s usual odd whistle as my eyelids slowly peeled open, sort of easing me into reality as the last shreds of my dreams subsided back into the deep recesses of my mind. Sliding to my side and opening me wings to ruffle my black feathers back in place, I looked over to the cot I’d set up for Lee, my dearest and only niece, as none of our nest had been blessed with kids other then my sister. Two months ago, she’d blown through town here in Valletta with her daughter on a visit of the island. Her life back ion Italy as a cosmetics saleswoman was pretty hard, and as of late the bills had started to become more of a problem then she’d been able to deal with. Truth was, she didn’t feel it was right for her to lower the household’s level of living even if their means were sort of tighter, for Lee’s sake, which brought her to ask me directly is I could help her out by taking in her daughter here in Malta until she could get things back on track and regroup. I’d offered her another option that saw the two of them stay, but she was an obstinately stubborn crow, even selfish, now that I think of it, and refused.

This wasn’t the first time that I looked after Lee, either. After she had ‘gotten enough’ of her husband and basically divorced him out of boredom and personal ambition, she had gone through a rough spot and she’d stayed with me just like this time. It was a bit of an annoyance to play big brother and pick up the slack for her, sort of becoming an enabler for her pretty irresponsible behaviour, but then again, she was blood of my blood, and I could hardly turn my back on a fifteen-year-old girl that was faced with the situation that Lee was exposed to. Nonetheless, I accepted the request against my better judgement.

Now I’m not a complainer, not by a long shot. Still, even if I don’t caw that much, I’d been a comfortable, easy-going bachelor with a cool Goth club to run that took up the majority of my time and energy in return for a decent lifestyle and over all living, unlike the first time that she’d put Lee in my care. I’d even had the occasional girlfriend since, for the usual companionship that mortals seek, but eggs hadn’t been anywhere in sight for me. To add to that, the crowd that I worked with and frequented my club, La Bella’s Tower, were in either their early twenties or older. Summing it up, I didn’t have a clue what to expect or do with a girl Lee’s age. I’d let her take the lead for the first while, sort of using good sense and reason to fill the gaps, as well as define what I’d need to plan on the long term, like registering her into school for the nest semester and the like. That functional relationship was straightforward enough so that after the few weeks we’d shared a roof, all the pegs had found their holes without too many taps of the mallet.

What had thrown me clear off my perch was what had happened two days previous. I’d been sitting at my desk on the north wall of the 1 ½ studio (living alone hadn’t prompted me to really get anything bigger) when she’d come over and taking my face to turn in towards her, licked the side of it, a bird’s equivalent of a kiss, then told me that one of these days, she’d work up the nerve to tell me how she felt and that she was pretty sure that my feelings were the same as hers. Tell the truth, I was so stunned with disbelief that it had actually happened that I’d stayed at my desk for a few more minutes while she settled into a book before going out for a few errands to clear my mind.

Would it have been anyone else, another girl at the club, someone I didn’t know all that well and all that, maybe I wouldn’t have been so confused, even a bit turned on. To have Lee kiss me and say that spiel, a chick I’d tended to until she was eight and I moved here from Livorno, was just plain odd, surrealistic. I hadn’t brought it up since either, somehow hoping that I had been the victim of some trick of the mind and the memory of the event was the manifestation of some repressed libido in my subconscious.

As hard as I held on to that version of reality, it would be dealt a killing blow that morning. I got up to put my work uniform on, a black suit that I sported until evening, when it was time to change into my Goth outfit. Thinking how smart I had been to take my shower before going to sleep and the time it would trim off our morning routine, my eyes travelled and locked onto Lee as she walked out of the washroom without a square inch of fabric on her back. The same mechanism that had worked its magic to cover for the kiss kicked in, suppressing what my senses reported to me as some hallucination I was better off ignoring until further proof of its existence was made available. The latter was satisfied as she gave a smile and motioned with a claw to forget about dressing up, and to try and deal with the situation, I let my theatrical training take control and words started leaving my beak.

-Prithee Nocturna, I started with the use of her Goth alias, could you tell me why I’m looking at the disrobed form of my niece’s mortal shell?
-Because, good uncle Darkness, she is a woman of her word, and a word I doubt you’d have forgotten so soon.
-Yes, that word, I said with a half cringe as I started manoeuvring myself into a position to have a clear path to the door. And what does she wish to add to it?
-That she feels a fire in her heart and loins that ignite when she looks at your soul, one she craves to fuel in the here and now.
-I see, I cawed as she tried to push me on the bed, only to land on it herself as I sidestepped out of her way. So I’m to understand…
-You’re to understand that it’s high time that you put your manly attributes to good use with a woman who longs for them, completed Lee as she held her legs towards her and fanned out her tail feathers. What say you?
-Lee, there’s no delicate way to say this, but…
-Then forget about saying anything, she shot as she used her talons to hook me towards her and fall on her. Yes, that’s it!
-Wait a second now, I cawed before she tore my briefs off me. Nocturna, Lee, I don’t want to do anything like this!
-I do, she protested before taking my unit, which I’ll admit had reacted as could be expected as per its biological programming, and getting on me. Oh, that’s perfect! Just stay still. Just don’t move if you don’t want to.

I could visualize the same sort of red lights and horns that go off in movies when a torpedo hits a submarine as she bounced over me, obviously the first time she’d done it by the absolutely painful discomfort that I felt. Though it felt good on a sensual level, something told me that I was going to regret this later, big time. After all, for an uncle to be giving moustache rides was just the sort of thing you read in papers before police raided his place, put a baton to his balls and said ‘dance’. I had the reflex to do some damage control and try to lift her off me by her rear as I felt that I was about to blow my load, but she’d managed to dig her claws into the mattress firmly enough that it was a lost cause and with a half-relieved, half-frantic caw I shot off in her and only after having yanked on my meat to make sure that the fun was over did she get off and stretch out with a sigh.

What comes next is still not totally clear for me, but I remember hearing her talking about going for a walk as she got into a dress and strode out of the place. Now two things struck me as odd then and there. First off, I couldn’t quite figure why she would have wanted to go for a walk after having played jumping jack. Second, as starry-eyed and messed up as I was, I didn’t see her take anything out of her drawers that remotely resembled underwear. Nonetheless, I just wanted to get on with my life in my little magic happy place where that hadn’t happened and someone had slipped me a needle of something pretty interesting, so I took another shower if for no reason as to spiritually cleanse myself and finally getting my suit on, took off for the club.

I was always one of the first to check into the place, intentionally. If there was one thing that I’d learned during the years I’d run the business, it’s that the people there liked to know I was paying attention to them and the level of care they showed to their work. It wasn’t a mandatory thing for the employees to be dressed up when they came in, but the majority of the twelve who punched their cards with me had as much love for theatre as I did and never missed a chance to put on some sort of show or at least get into their characters as much as possible. As I walked in, I saw one of my servers slumped over the bar counter with a colleague pretending to be draining him of blood with a small vial of fake haemoglobin spilled on the wood. Giving the pair of them a good applause, I continued on to the kitchens and proceeded with my tour to make sure that things hadn’t drifted from the status quo I liked to maintain. By the time that eleven rolled around and we opened our doors to clients, there wasn’t a single crooked fork on a table to be seen and the whole staff was totally pumped.

I was standing behind the counter, looking over the club as a few groups came in for lunch, the majority in their good getups, when by the oddest coincidence, as I gave a passing thought to the disturbing events of the morning, I saw our good detective, Rebeka Svensekova, walking into the club. I half expected her to be in her work uniform, but for a change, she was actually sporting a beautiful, very well-fitted black trench coat over a tee of the same colour with her badge hanging out of her side pocket. I nodded and waved to her as she came over and sat at the bar.

-Wow, Rebeka, now that’s a piece of work worthy of you! Where could you have gotten it?
-A certain zebra who came by here a while ago sent it over, replied the tigress. I get this package, about ye big, sort of heavy-ish, and I find this inside with a note from him asking if I wanted a matching dress. I tell you, we’re surrounded by surprising friends, Darkness.
-I couldn’t think of disagreeing about that, I groaned as I slouched on my hand. Care for a glass of something interesting?
-Sorry, I’m on the clock, she stated as her face changed. See, Darkness, when I said we were surrounded by surprising friends, we got a big surprise this morning at the station.
-Oh? The likes of what?
-You want to talk somewhere else? This is a bit personal, cautioned Rebeka.
-Let’s take a walk for a bit then, I offered as I hopped over the counter aside her.
-Well, you see, Darkness, continued the cat as we left the club and took a turn down the street, she came in this morning with a complain about you having raped her.
-What? What sort of joke is this, I cawed almost louder then I thought I could ever push a call out.
-No joke, frowned the tigress. Look, I think I know you well enough that I have serious doubts about her story, which I took, by the way, but when the nurse processed her, there were pretty much all the signs; semen, very light bruising, and even if her vagina didn’t show the patterns we usually expect during an assault, it was pretty irritated.
-Well that’s because her partner didn’t want anything to do with her, I shot back. Look Rebeka, I’ll tell you the plain truth because I don’t know what to do anymore. She came on to me this morning, walking out of the shower with nothing but her feathers and then jumped me and did her thing on me with her talons all over me! If you want to see cuts, I can show you those!
-Not wanting to push you in the wrong direction, but you and her have about the same difference in built that you and I have. You could have stopped her physically, couldn’t you?
-I didn’t want to hurt her, I said. She’s my niece and these claws are sharp, so are a lot of things in my apartment. For what it’s worth, I did what I could to get her off me without getting too rough.
-Hence the defensive bruising we found, nodded Rebeka. You have to understand, Darkness that even if there’s mitigating evidence, this isn’t too good. I mean, a young crow that walks into a station in nothing but a light dress that talks about rape with all the ingredients a good prosecution needs isn’t something that can be brushed off that easily.
-And to think I took her in to help out both her and my sister, how nice, I sighed as I stopped and looked at the tigress. All right, then what do we do now?
-Well, that’s a bit complicated, Rebeka replied. Unless we do something pretty outlandish, you’re unfortunately going to run into some jail time, even if it’s just while you wait for your trial to defend yourself.
-And what’s the problem with doing something outlandish? I mean, with all that you and the Falcons can do, outlandish isn’t impossible!
-Here’s the pitch, grinned Rebeka. You see, there was a gang that we put behind bars with Aqua’s help, along with a few of his friends, a few years ago. I’ll skip the details of the arrest, but these were some big players in human smuggling from pretty much everywhere in Eurasia, to anywhere. We’re talking about taking people right off the streets and selling them off to buyers, for all the purposes that you can imagine, along with all the other crimes that it took to make it happen. We were happy to have them stashed away, but now friends of ours over in Europe have been running into old comrades of theirs, and we don’t have much to go on because they operate very, very discretely. They’ve been flying under the radar for so long they’ve turned their trade into a goddamned science, basically.
-Okay, but you can’t interrogate the ones you have right now?
-They’re career criminals, professionals, refuted the tigress. They don’t talk to anyone outside their gang, ever. We tried infiltrating the prison with agents, but you can tell a cop when you know what to look for when you have their track record.
-And other prisoners? Can’t you have one of them help?
-Actually, we’d rather have something better, smiled Rebeka as she put one of her huge paws on my shoulder. What I can offer we do it to have you slam-dunked into prison if you plead guilty, then you become our eyes and ears inside.
-What? Are you insane, Rebeka? You mean I’d be a convicted child rapist?
-Wait up, crow, I’m not done. We put you in under an assumed identity. I mean, I saw ‘Archibald Prior’ on my papers at the office, but ‘Darkness Featherback’ sounds just as good, get my drift? When this is over, as per our rules, your record gets scrubbed, everything, plus we seriously owe you one. Plus, think of all the people you’ll also be helping by getting us the information, eh? What do you say?
-I suppose that it’s stupid to ask for time to think about it, I grumbled.
-Well, there isn’t much time. There’s a warrant out for you right now, and I did what I could to delay today’s beats so no one would come around here for a while.
-I understand, I moaned. How long will I be in there..?
-At the very most, two months, after that, we pull you out. The conviction is mostly to make sure that the paper trail is clean and proper in case that anyone decides to check into your story from the other side. Don’t make any mistake, Darkness, this is the real thing.
-Don’t worry, I’ve noticed, I said as I started out aside her.
-Hey, whispered Rebeka as she gave my back a pat, no foul between us, right?
-You’re doing your job, I said with a reassuring smile. In the meantime, I’ll also give you the address to ship that niece of mine to...

I phoned back to the club before we reached the station and set things up with my assistant managers to keep the place on its feet while I was away on vacation, so I told them, anyway. To ‘help my cause’, as the tigress had insisted, I was to turn myself in instead of being brought in, which would work on two fronts. First, it would keep me away from some of the darker corners of the prison that I was going to be calling home for sixty-one days (certainly, I was already counting them), and also it would land me in the group that our targets were kept in. Rebeka stayed with me for indirect moral support while I went through the booking process, getting my finger and claw prints as well as the classic mug shots, which I have to say, were pretty flattering to my good looks. It anything, I was certainly showing my strength of personality by holding up my own.

That satisfaction was sort of eroded with my march to the stately old courthouse aside the station, two days and some crumbs later, spending most of that time in the common holding cell where I tried to compose with my situation. After all, I was fooling myself if I thought that I was going to be walking into a paradise, but the speed at which the situation had degraded was such that I didn’t really have time to grasp the full extent of it until I took my seat in the box and waited for the proceedings to start. Honestly, I can’t really relate the majority of the experience, mostly due to the fact I didn’t really have all my wits about me at the time and that I was too busy taking on the challenge of putting on an award-winning impersonation of Rudolph Hess at Nuremberg, unintentionally, alas. Even through the veil of stupor and total disillusion, I took my cue as the question of my plea was put to me, getting to my feet and announcing it. Rebeka must have had time to put the gears in motion before the ridiculously short trial, as there was no sign of surprise on the part of anyone in the room and as my sentence was given, the imaginative fictive identity that I was to assume while I was inside was used, rather then my real name. The ride I was given to my new world was no fabrication though.

My arrival at the prison wasn’t the routine rough handling that I’d been used to seeing on television and movies, nor anything like the horror stories that old convicts usually tell about in the media to scare straight those who’d be tempted to follow in their footsteps. I expected to be shown to my cell with a change of clothes and a few words of cynical advice, but instead, the driver of the police car who was delivering me declared that the director of the facility wanted to talk to me first. I retorted that it wasn’t the best idea, but he didn’t say another word until we arrived and parked aside the administrative wing of the facility. Though well looked after and obviously built to serve its purpose with flying colours, I didn’t think that the centre was that large. Actually, the wings were maybe a hundred meters long by half that in width, built in a cross-shaped configuration separated by the warden’s offices which was simply a glorified concrete box that had every functional characteristic of a bunker, three stories high, with a watch tower built into it to tend to the exercise yard we had driven through.

I didn’t have time to really get a better idea of my new abode before my escort showed me out of the car and transferred me to the care of two wardens who looked as though they were happy to see me, somehow. If they knew why I was here, I thought, this was going to be a very strange experience to attempt. After all, if the gang that I was to probe was familiar with the staff, the omnipresent danger of my purpose being uncovered by a slip of the tongue or any such indiscretion was going to be a problem. Still, I kept my concerns to myself and followed the pair inside as the car drove away, walking up a series of concrete steps to the second floor, where they guided me into the office of the director, a Doberman dog in his late forties, from his looks. He welcomed me in a hurried manner along with his two wardens, closing the door behind us after having taken a short look around in the hall.

-Sorry for the inconvenience, he started. We need to take certain precautions with you. Please, have a seat.
-Thanks, I said as I took one of the spare chairs in his office. I take it you’re the director of the establishment?
-Geb Al-Jawa, glad to meet you, mister Darkness. I know why you’re here, by the way. Detective Rebeka came here yesterday and informed me of the infiltration, but be assured that only those here in this room know about it.
-I was worried about that, I nodded. So I’m just another con for everyone else, right?
-One of the chickens in the coop, grinned the dog. I hope these will be two good months, because we’ve had positively no luck whatsoever with these bastards. The more we tried to get info from them, the smarter they got about the way they operated inside here. Right now, I have no idea if you’ll even be able to get a conversation on with any of them, let alone fit in enough to get some meaty tips off them.
-Well, I’m here to try, I shrugged.
-All right then! You’ve got some sort of courage, Darkness, I’ll grant you that right off the bat. Now, here are a few pictures that you’ll need to memorize. These are the people you’re going to be interested in, mainly, but they have a lot of friends looking after here inside as well in exchange for some kickbacks. I don’t recommend you go too fast at first, just because you’ll run into some mean risks, form getting a bad reputation with them and getting walled out, which sort of kills this mission, or they could decide to make life hard for you. Don’t pull any punches that you can’t take yourself, and keep your feathers down as long as you can, crow.
-I won’t put myself in the line of fire right away, got it.
-Great! Now, when it comes to information, I’m afraid that your best and only safe means if to keep it in your memory until the weekly review in the yard. We sort of take attendance to make sure no one is skipping class, if you will, but then we’ll smuggle you in here so we can talk.
-Won’t the people from my block wonder where I am?
-Oh, the thing takes place in two parts; first the review, then an extended exercise session. We’ll bring you over during the latter.
-Got it.
-All right then! Ready to rock, Darkness?
-No time like the present, I sighed with a grin as I shook the men’s hands.

I couldn’t say that I felt anything from there on out, as if some program had been loaded into me that would drive me for the rest of my sojourn at the facility. Walking down the cellblock, I was aware that the other inmates were talking about me or calling out comments, but I was concentrated enough that it didn’t touch me. What I did though was to keep my sight on the faces in the cells as I passed by, not fixing any of them, but still getting awareness about where my subjects called home. The first thing I heard through the artificial anechoic wall I’d put up around me was the door of my cell closing with a heavy metallic thud. It wasn’t a luxury hotel room, that’s for certain, twenty feet to a side, three of them concrete blocks without only the light from the skylights that ran down the middle of the two-story structure providing illumination, though I suspected that the halogen tubes that lined the walkway which granted access to the second level cells were to be turned on at night.

-Hey, called a voice aside me, which I realized was my cellmate, a dwarf ermine. Name’s Pascal, but people call me Mini.
-Darkness, I replied as I shook the diminutive creature’s paw, good to meet you. Been here long?
-A year already, nodded Mini as he sat on his cot with his legs pulled in aside him. You just got in?
-Yep, I replied. My conviction was bullshit though.
-I hear you, but heck, this place isn’t so bad after a while. Once you understand who’s who, things get better.
-Yeah, called a voice from the cell aside ours, when you first got it in the ass it took some readjusting, didn’t it Mini?
-I suppose, whined the ermine as he looked at the brick wall with a resentful air to him. Look, Darkness, around here when it comes to that, you know, ‘that’, some people will try stuff on you. Do what you can to stay out of that, okay? They’ll tell you that they’ll look out for you after, but they don’t.
-I wouldn’t trust them to, I assured. Actually, trust is something that don’t think that I’ll be giving away so easily anymore.
-Heck, I can see where you get that, insisted Mini. But, you know, can you trust me, at least? We’ll be spending a lot of time together and everything so if we’re going to be cold with each other it’ll seem even longer.
-I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, I commented as I reached across and shook his shoulder. You look pretty young, though.
-Nineteen, just got under the wire as to get sent in here, sighed the ermine. I tried getting some sort of appeal or something because I’m pretty helpless here and everything. I mean, I’m three-eleven, so I’m pretty much on the receiving end of everything.
-Including dick, called the same voice from the next cell.
-As I’m sure you could have figured out, seconded Mini. Look, I don’t want to come across wrong, but I’d really feel better if I could be sure that you won’t try to abuse me. I had some bad nights with my last cellmate. It was pure hell...
-I wouldn’t, I cawed, cross my heart. I have too much consideration for my fellow creature to do that sort of thing, tell you the truth.
-Odd to have you around here, grinned the ermine. Heck, I’ve been pretty much something to entertain people all my life. See, I grew up in a circus, where my parents worked. My mother was smaller then me, and had an act as a carnie freak show, while my father was a juggler. They taught me a lot of tricks to try and get a job too, but I found that because of my height, people automatically put me down as my mother’s successor under the dark tent.
-That’s not a way to treat others, I grumbled as I took as seat across from him on my own bunk. So you tried another specialty?
-Yes, slight of hand, he smiled as he took his toothbrush and made it disappear from sight. There, gone!
-Impressive! But that didn’t work out, then?
-Well, continued Mini, I started using it to get more income in another way, lifting stuff of visitors. I was a very good pickpocket, but eventually someone spotted me and reported me to the police. Before long, I was accused of every theft that had occurred at the fair for the previous five years.
-Were they right?
-Sort of, smiled the ermine. I can’t really do anything here, though. The wardens’ searches are very thorough, and even if I can make something vanish from sight, I need to put it somewhere until I can retrieve it, right? Anyway, that’s my story. I have another six years to serve, hopefully in peaceful conditions. What about you? How the heck did a good crow like you get put inside?
-I got set up by my niece, when to the police and accused me of raping her after having put things in place to support her claims. She did a very good job of it, and I was convicted of it.
-Didn’t you appeal that? If you were set up, you could have put up a defence!
-I ran out of money, and I didn’t want to end up on the front page of the papers. If I serve my time here and get out, at least I’ll still have my reputation. They put me in for a very reduced term because of a plea bargain I made in exchange for lenience.
-I can see why you could have done that, but still, it’s a shame to have someone like you in here. Hey, just a random question here...
-How random could it be?
-Well, started Mini, can I have a hug? I know it sounds silly or gay, whatever, but after all, you’re the first person I’ve talked to about this stuff since I got here.
-It took a year? Really?
-No one listens to the midget ermine, he whined. So..?
-Sure thing, I said with a smile as I paced over and sitting aside him, wrapped my arms around his chest. Don’t mind if I actually call you Pascal, do you?
-It’s a nice change, he chuckled as he closed his eyes and put his head against me.
-What’s the horn for?
-Oh, it’s time for lunch, replied Pascal. We’d better get ready to go. They pass you through a metal detector in and out of the mess hall, so it’s a lot less hassle if you don’t have anything that rings on you. No metal plates in your wings?
-Not when I checked, I laughed. Hmm, it looks like some people are pretty excited out there right now.
-What are they doing, asked the ermine, can you see?
-Hand gestures, I whispered, like this.
-Oh man! Darkness, you’d better get back here, shot the Mustela as he moved to the back of the cell. There’s going to be a riot.
-Aw crap, I cawed as I followed suit while the doors of the cells started opening.

It didn’t take long. The prisoners must have had planned the move for a while, because the five dozen on the first floor flooded into the corridor and rushed to block the doors granting access to the rest of the facility en masse. The wardens pulled back out of the way, desperately outnumbered, even more so as the cells on the second level opened. I tried to make some sense of all the chaos, but as I was getting a better idea what was going on, gas canisters came in through the skylights. The fumes where incredibly irritating to the eyes, and I could hardly keep them open as I quickly discussed getting somewhere safer with Pascal, who didn’t seem to want to leave even if the atmosphere had become absolutely impossible to breathe. I sort of felt bad about it later, but as I saw a way into the centre of the facility open up through the crowd, I took the ermine under my arm and rushed to take advantage of it. I would have expected squeaks of protest from him, but I didn’t hear a peep from the creature as we left the hellish cellblock and entered the intersection of the four wings. I put Pascal down and started testing doors to see if any of them were unlocked, though we continued moving at a good pace to make sure we were out of the way of the action.

We’d taken a stairwell down a level before locating a hospitable place to use as shelter while the storm raged above. If not the homiest, it was warm, as we’d successfully located the machine room of the prison, or at least a room crammed with heating equipment and all sort of mechanical gadgets I usually had the habit of letting qualified people deal with back at the club. Pascal took a seat aside one of the units and contented himself with putting his paws against it to enjoy the waste heat.

-That riot is sure lasting a long time, I commented.
-It is, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing, said the ermine. I hope no one got hurt up there.
-I’ll go take a quick look, I voiced as I left the room and took the stairs back up.

The prison had degenerated into a disaster area, with all sorts of garbage strewn about and anything that could sustain damage, broken apart. Inmates had run deeper into the facility, leaving the wing where we’d been held pretty much deserted. Out of curiosity, I walked around a bit, trying to trace the chain of events as best I could. Before I reached the block though, I saw two figures on the ground sprawled on the floor, both in warden uniforms. As much as I wanted to help them, I needed to be careful that I wasn’t seen doing so, because the chances that I’d join them in the same condition were pretty good otherwise. Waiting a few minutes to make sure that I wouldn’t run into anyone between there and the door, I started moving them, dragging each one at a time a few meters before in alternate sequence. It took a bit longer then I would have hoped, but after some effort both of them were in the heating room, laid out on the ground for us to tend to them. Pascal seemed to have a special stake in the duty of mercy, putting the wares from a first aid kit that he’d dug up in my absence to good use. After a while, one of the two wardens came around, looking at us as we were giving his co-worker a few stitches.

-Thanks, he said in a rough voice. I suppose you’re not with the rest of the inmates?
-This was an irrational, stupid thing to do, I answered. Were there any more of you?
-Two more, the warden counted on his fingers. Damn, everything aches...
-Stay put, I cautioned, we think you have a bad leg right now. I’ll go see if I can find your friends. Do you know where they’d be?
-On the second level of the cells. I’ll pray for you out there, crow.
-Name’s Darkness, I said with a bow before going off once more.

The air in the block hadn’t gotten any better since the wardens had dropped the gas cans into it, and I had to take off my shirt and wrap it around my beak to be able to move around without hacking my lungs out. One of the guards had simply passed out from the chemical mixture on the walkway of the second level, and I managed to wake him up with a few pinches and slaps, motioning to stay calm and stay with me. The other was a harder case, as he’d been pushed over the handrails and hit the floor of the wing from a good four meters up. I didn’t want to move him without going over his injuries, and even as I only found a dislocated elbow, I asked my third rescue to get a bed cover for us to sling him in for transport. With the victim of violence lying comfortably in the fabric, we jogged back to our hiding spot, where Pascal had taken it upon himself to make the place a bit nicer to look at as well as fetched a few things from upstairs to give the battered wardens improvised mattresses to lie on.

Now that we knew that the full complement of wardens and the both of us were accounted for, safe and sound, I barricaded the door with whatever I could find, insuring that unless the rioters had managed to get their hands on firearms, we were amply safe for a while. Heck, with some of the taps to the units in the room, we even had running water. For an emergency shelter, we could have landed in far worst straights. What was really our main concern was the fact we didn’t have any way to know the status of the rest of the prison, other then the occasional noise, and stemming from that, how long we’d be hiding out from the rest of the world. If we were going to be stuck for an extended period of time, then we’d have to take care of the warden’s dislocated elbow ourselves, which I wasn’t too comfortable doing, as well as locate something to eat. Personally, I was starving, not having been offered my breakfast before my ride to the prison, so that concern was a legitimate annoyance to me.

I didn’t shy up on talking just because we were in mixed company either, staying quite open with the entire group assembled around me. The wardens’ reactions were pretty much the same, seeing as how we accounted for half the able bodies at that point. We managed to pretty much get everyone back in good shape after an hour, and bending to the pleas of the gentleman with the blown elbow, all got together and reset it, crossing our fingers that we’d either done it right or at least not screwed up anything irreparable. I admired his fortitude after all, considering the fact that we only had some mild painkillers to give him and I doubted that they were influencing his state of pain all that much.

-I have to say that this one heck of a weird adventure, said the gorilla warden that had received twenty sutures from us. I figure that God has a strange way to toss us around.
-It wouldn’t have been a bad thing for him to take it a little easier on us, replied one of his guys. Man, if it were up to me, you two would get your walking papers after this.
-I second that, moaned the fellow with the bum elbow. Shit, we should be able to set something up with the director for you to at least have it better.
-Just quickly, I said, you guys don’t have your radios anymore, do you?
-Nah, the other inmates broke them. While we’re going to be here, I’m Chapman, the groundhogs are Sahed and Bernard, and the baby in the hamper is Rudy.
-Fuck you, said the latter.
-And he has a dirt mouth, said the gorilla. Hey, that’s the general siren right there, hear it?
-That buzzer? Yeah, replied Pascal, but is that good news?
-It means that the cavalry’s arrived, said Bernard. It shouldn’t be long now and we’ll be able to get the heck out of this cavern here.
-Good news for us, I cawed. You figure we’ll be in lockdown for a few days after this episode?
-At least, exclaimed Chapman. I sort of feel bad about this, though. Maybe if we go out and find the director before you both leave, we can make sure you’ll be sort of better off.
-Actually, I think that it might be the start of an even greater idea, I stated. If you go, do you think it might be possible to tell him that Darkness needs to talk to him?
-What, the gorilla started with a narrowing of his bow, do you two know each other or something?
-I can’t really come out and give you all the details, but there’s more at work here then just a crow that got put behind bars. So can you?
-Dude, called Sahed, you saved our asses! We won’t say no!
-As soon as it’s clear, we’ll go see if we can do it.

Just like civilians hiding under the threat of an air raid, we sat tight and listened to the siren for a few minutes before Pascal started a little show for us, finishing in a phenomenal act that had him lift the watch, keys, wallet and belt right off warden Chapman, who looked almost alarmed at the ermine’s skill. From the other side of the door and up the stairwell, footsteps started echoing, along with loud voices. Checking it out with more care, we all agreed that they were going in the right direction for them to be the prisoners being marched back to their cells, but even so, we waited until they subsided before starting to dismantle the barricade against the door for the wardens to leave. With a good sling to support his arm, Rudy was in walking condition as long as he had someone to help him along, so without further ado, the quarto went on their way, giving us a last handshake and thumbs-up before vanishing through the first story door.

-So Darkness, started the ermine as he walked over to climb on my shoulders, what was that idea that you wanted to see the director about? Can you tell me?
-I suppose so, I shrugged as I gave him a once-over of the reason why I was really at the institution. If I can stay here, out of the way, then I could spy on every one of the people involved in a safer manner, as well as interrogate them more closely if required. After all, we’re not really obligated to play by the same rules as the wardens.
-You don’t mean torture, do you?
-Oh no, not that! I’m sure that we can find some other way to get them to cooperate. I was thinking of more traditional mind games and maybe light sedative use to put them at ease. That’s not painful in any way, shape or form, and I’m sure that we can make it seem like enough of a weird dream that they won’t be able to believe that they’d actually lived the episode.
-So you want to make them think they’re in some sort of dream and talk the information out of them, muttered Pascal as he slumped over my head. I suppose that it’s a way to do it, but I’m curious to see if it’ll work. These are hard people, Darkness, and I’m not too sure how well you could fool them with that kind of illusion.
-The same way you fool people at a carnival, I said with a smile.
-So you mean like a hall of illusions? Under sedation? Wow, laughed the ermine, what a trip! We’d do it here?
-With whatever we can get from the director in term of resources, sure! Then we just wheel the guys in for a ‘medical examination’ after the riot and we take them for a ride. We don’t push it though, so whatever comes out freely during the session is what we’ll take to the bank.
-Okay, that’s good enough for me, nodded Pascal as he got off me. You keep saying ‘we’, so I assume that I won’t be going back to my cell either?
-Well, you can’t run a carnival alone, can you?
-Not that I know, he grinned.

The ermine and I had plenty of time to plan our little show before a knock came at the door. Cautiously, I opened it a crack and peered out only to see the Doberman standing there, waiting to be let in with a very tired expression. Swinging it wide, I let him in before closing it again and welcoming him to our tent.

-I’m glad to see you got out of there in one piece, said Geb. What a way to start your stay here, eh? How do you like a horde of imbeciles turning the place into a landfill site?
-Not that much at all, I replied as we sat down in the little ‘living room’ we’d set up. I assume that the fours guys that hid out here are all right now?
-Rudy’s at the hospital, but the others are going to be fine. My thanks go to you two, straight from my heart. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if I’d be able to say that. I’m really eager to hear what you wanted to talk to me about, though. Are you both involved in it?
-We sure are, exclaimed Pascal before going back on my shoulders. You want to tell him, Darkness?
-If you want. You see Geb, I figure that after this bingo, the guys from the dock gangs will be even more on edge then before, so in two months, there’s no chance in hell for me to be able to infiltrate them. Shit, considering that I was missing in action during the whole thing, I’m sure that they’d wonder what sort of game I’m playing.
-I’ll give you that, nodded the dog. So you have another way of getting the good stuff?
-I sure do. You see, we set this place up with mirrors and coloured projectors to make it look like a mix between an inverted disco ball and a circus tent, then after having slipped certain guests a little mix of calming medication, we sit him down and while he’s dazed out of his mind, we ask him whatever we want. If we do it right, then we shouldn’t have any problems.
-You’re certainly making this sound like something reasonable, laughed the Dober. And why wouldn’t they start spinning tales about what they were through?
-How reasonable would it sound to you if you had that sort of dream, I asked, and would you actually start raving on about it?
-I can see what you mean, shrugged Geb. So you two would be running this little illusion together? Is there anything you need, other then the stuff to turn this room into your studio?
-Just cooperation to deliver us our subjects when we’re ready, I answered. So you’re onboard with us?
-Hey, after what they did to my prison here, I wouldn’t mind them having a few weird nightmares. Still, you don’t have all the modern conveniences here. I can have the last section of the corridor on the first floor converted for a while so you have an office each and a john’s.
-Man, you’re really eager to start this, I chuckled as I gave the dog’s shoulder a rub.
-After you’ve been through all the crap that these dicks put us through, ask me how much compassion I have for them. I don’t suspect that you have much either, Pascal?
-None whatsoever, replied the ermine.
-All right then, I’ll start making things happen, stated Geb as he got back up. Make yourselves comfortable, guys.
-Wow, giggled my white-furred collaborator, this is going to be a lot better then a cell! Can we hug again, Darkness?
-Hey, you climb on me without asking, so why would you need to when you feel like hugging?
-I don’t know, it’s just a thing I have, I guess, said the ermine as he hopped over and grappled me. Plus, it’s sort of an intimate thing, compared to just hopping on you like I did. Not that I want to freak you out, but it feels good to have someone that’s willing to without trying to pin you down and ram you through your pants.
-Ow, I groaned. So, did you lose your virginity here?
-No, blushed the ermine. You see, I had this thing with another guy that did pockets at the circus, but it didn’t really last. You?
-Oh, just a few little adventures that didn’t really become anything else then experiments after a while.
-Is the door locked?
-Insofar as I know it isn’t but I don’t see why anyone would come in. Why?
-Well it’s just that it you’re in the mood for an experiment, whispered the ermine as he put his thumbs inside his belt, I’m sort of you know, feeling naughty right now.
-So I have a horny ermine on my hands, I hummed as he sat down on my lap.
-Nah, you have a horny ermine in your hands, he corrected. Wanna see?
-Seems like I do, I said as he pulled his pants and briefs down, dropping off his ankles to put a pretty reasonable pink cock for his stature with a scaled scrotum under it. Nice one...
-What about the birdie, can I see him?
-No problem.

As soon as he’d cleared me the room, I took off my bottom as well, my own unit hanging half-loose at about the height of his shoulders. The little guy jumped on me with enough swing to knock me down over the pile of sheets I’d piled up to sleep on later, and sat up on my stomach to run his penis into my feather under my shirt, which I eventually threw off seeing it wasn’t really that useful at the time. Carefully caressing his privates and all the soft white fur I had on me, I really got myself into a wild mood, so much that before he’d had time to realize it, I’d pulled his top off and started rubbing my beak over his chest, finding it to be something that he adored feeling as he put a paw on my head and kissed the smooth bone.

With so much crow giving him so much pleasure, I wasn’t surprised to see him start to leak precum between elongated squeaks, but I didn’t want his ride to end there. Instead, I asked him to slide down and opened my legs for him to be able to get in position in me, something that got a wide-eyed interrogation from him before transfiguring into a mean grin as he closed his eyes and ran into me. The sensation wasn’t too uncomfortable, seeing as how after all, he wasn’t that huge and wasn’t going at it very hard. It didn’t take much at all for him to get off, but no rest was granted to my pulsing nerves as he reached out and grabbed my dick and started moving through his coat, pretty much maxing out my hardness potential before he crawled onto me and raising his bushy tail, managed by some feat of quantum mechanics to fit me a few inches in him before I took him against me in a hug and screwed him until I shot off with a happy caw.

Though we felt like cuddling a lot more, we’d been bumping each other for long enough for me to be worried for someone to walk in, should Geb have felt our plan to be a pressing issue. I couldn’t have made a better guess, as the moment we’d hitched up our pants and I’d taken a few good grabs at Pascal’s rear, the familiar metallic knock sounded at the door before the Doberman poked his sharp ears through the door and asked if we were free.

-Come right in, I called to the dog as he took the six metal steps down to the concrete floor. So, what’s on your mind?
-I was just wondering it you could give me a list of what you needed down here to start ordering it in. I already have some guys setting up your offices upstairs with a bunch of software and bed, because those will have to double as your living quarters, but I didn’t really have any idea what sort of materials would be required for here.
-Sweet, squeaked the ermine. Can we go see the offices? It might be a nicer place to talk things through then here.
-Oh, I have to agree with that, laughed Geb as we flew up the stairwell. There! They’re not that much to look at right now, but you can put in your own personal touches yourselves to make it a bit more hospitable.
-I’ll take these over concrete and steel any day, hummed Pascal.
-All right, so this is what I was thinking, I started as we sat down on one of the beds and I took a pen and a pad of paper to write on. If we have this sort of three-quarters hexadecagon shape form by mirror and four stage floodlights with coloured filters, we could get a pretty good thing going. Most of the mirrors will be reflecting on each other, and the ones that aren’t will be showing the closed door, that will be covered with black paint.
-Yeah, everything has to be black, insisted the ermine. That’s how it was back at the circus, so that it was easy to change things around when people got too bored of the setup.
-Right, so then we have this big black tarp dropping down over the whole thing to hide the ceiling and stuff, so that they can’t figure where they are. We can project on that too, all sorts of shapes to make them think they’re actually in a fair ground. For the delivery of the drugs, we can just give them a hypodermic dart when they come in from where we’ll be hiding, behind the mirrors.
-It might be good for you to have speakers, added Geb, and something to distort your voices, exaggerate them. Hey, all of this is pretty much stuff we can find around here, if you don’t mind setting it up.
-Not at all, I waved.
-So I’ll have that shopping list gathered up, and sent down as it’s found, plus a bunch of hardware. I’ll have Chapman temporarily assigned to help you, since you’ve already met and everything. He’s a good man, and he knows how to keep a secret.

Geb didn’t waste too much time lingering around, jogging off with the same energy that he seemed to keep stored somewhere. For my part, everything that had happened left me drained, as I didn’t have the willpower to do anything else then pull my knees in, bend my wings against my back and turned to lie down on the bed, pulling the cover over me. My friendly little ermine went and closed the lights, giving us just the light coming through the frosted door side window from the corridor as he smacked down aside me, burying his face into my feather with his long tail running between his legs. I almost felt like I was sleeping with a kid, just based on the sensations that I had, sort of making me uncomfortable until it came to me that in the situation I was in right now, I could have been locked in the basement with anything from a pubescent girl or a retired old man and with the case of psychological trauma I had, I wouldn’t have had that much problem with having a relation with that person and sleep with them squashed aside me. At least Pascal was major and of the age of consent, a positive improvement from Lee, and his knowledge of the art of sex had contributed to the good time in such a way that probably pushed it all the way into the top ten of my best ones.

	I woke up with the ermine looking at me with a calm face, reaching up to stroke my beak before leaning up to give me a peck on it. My reaction was as peaceful, reaching down to put my hand on his back and rub his back until he closed his eyes and put his head back against me.

-This has got to be the coolest time I’ve had in ages, said the small creature. I don’t know how to say it without sort of giving away what I am, but I really love being with you, Darkness.
-You’re great company, Pascal, I replied as I gave him a squeeze. You know, now that we have this new ride to oversee, maybe it might be time for you to make yourself up a new stage name. Any ideas, Ivory?
- Ivory? That’s one I could get used to, laughed the ermine. So, you think that we’ll be able to build all this fantastic stuff?
-Listen, I said with a grin, I run a Goth club in town. I’m used to designing decoration for all sorts of events and most of the time, I’m doing most of the heavy hauling. Let’s get a few sketches together, though.
-All right, nodded Ivory. Draw what you’re thinking, I’ll draw what I am. We’ll see which version we’ll build, eh?
-The carnie ringmaster against the stage hand, I cawed, that sounds like an age-old challenge being brought back to life! May the best artist win!

I took my place at one end of the bed with a handful of papers, grabbing the closest pen I could see before starting a perspective view of the place as our guest would see it, then another as we would from behind the series of portholes that I thought would be good to have incorporated into the mirror wall to make sure we kept visual tabs on him. I really put my back into it, really going into the small details that I considered to be necessary to keep up the illusion of having been taken away from the prison, including a veil of the tarp in front of the machinery to make sure that we didn’t let any of the strange lights that they bode shine through and give any sort of worldly reference. Overall, it took me time to picture the scene in my mind’s eye, though having Ivory’s paw rubbing my crotch as he tried to break my hold on my ideas didn’t really do much to help. As soon as he declared that he’d finished, we both spread our papers on the ground, realizing how much of a difference there was between our backgrounds.

-Wow, I said as I looked at the much plainer but concise layout that the ermine had scribbled on his pad, that’s Spartan.
-It’s not like we had a fortune to spend on tents back where I came, he underlined. You have a lot of stuff in your plans, I tell you that! If all of our places had been that complicated, it would’ve had take weeks to set everything up for visitors to come in and visit!
-Bah, I have a flair for excess. After all, we can go a bit overboard, can’t we?
-Not as much as that, hummed the white-furred boy. Maybe something between both, richer then mine but a bit less ornate then yours. That lace trim is over the top, after all.
-I suppose that I’m used to having that sort of thing at the club, I shrugged. Hey, is that someone at the door there?
-Looks to be, replied Ivory as he went to answer the familiar knock that came. Hello again, Geb! Don’t directors get off after six o’clock?
-I wish I did, chuckled the dog as he gave us both a wave. Hey, what’s all this? You guys drew all those?
-I don’t think anyone else could have, I answered. Like the pics?
-Man, you two sure have an overflowing imagination! I’ll cut to the chase, if you don’t mind. I really don’t have any official business here, other then hiding out from my office while this whole riot thing gets straightened out.
-You’re not in trouble for it, I said as I moved over for the director to have a seat, are you?
-Oh no, but there’s a lot of stuff to look at, reports and all that, plus the obligatory re-evaluation of all the prisoners that participated. It’s a lot of work, and frankly, I’m not up to it right now. I thought I’d just hang out with you two for a while, if you didn’t mind.
-Not at all! We were really just killing time here, commented Ivory. So, what’s your history, Geb?
-Just another working Joe from the big city, smiled the dog. I grew up between brick walls, kicking the tarmac, so I didn’t sneer at this job when it came up after I graduated from Police College. I’ve been here just longer then you have, Pascal, but I’ve gotten more then enough to make me hungry for a change of profession.
-Hard hours to keep with all the stress?
-You know it, Darkness, he smiled as he put his paw on my back. I’ll be the first that it’s been harder since I’ve sort of turned into a devoted celibate. The money’s good, but beings guys, I’m sure you can guess...
-That you miss having a good, hard fuck, on a regular basis?
-I couldn’t have picked more choice words myself, laughed Geb. So, did you have any plans for tonight?
-Try and forget the heck we’ve been through today, yawned the ermine. Hey, let’s try and find some games on the Internet for three people, eh?

I let the Doberman and Ivory team up against me as we surfed a few sites to find a few competitive games we could challenge each other at. I fared decently on my own until we got into more strategic tourneys, were the two were so good at plotting with pen and paper in total silence that I couldn’t really make out much of anything that they were doing, even less on the screen then in person, therefore got my tail feathers handed to me in a lavish bouquet.

-Damn it, I laughed as I saw my last viable counter in the game of chess we’d been playing get cut off by a click of Geb’s mouse. All right guys, you win the cup, the crow gives up.
-I think we honestly had a bit of an advantage, returned the dog as he spun around on his chair and shook my shoulder. Man, this is the most fun I’ve had in a while!
-Whoa, they don’t let the dog out much, poked Ivory, eh?
-Not that much, and the wardens are stuck-up around me. I figure that they think I’ll fire them if they step out of line an inch, but that sort of kills the atmosphere around my office. Sucks, really. On the other hand, all I have other then that are the inmates, which aren’t all like you two, unfortunately.
-Bah, we’re special, I said as I rubbed between the director’s ears. You had those cut, didn’t you?
-Doberman’s vanity, and the tail too, he chuckled as he turned to prove that he’d had the latter removed. I’ll also admit it because we’re all guys here, but I had a certain surgery to make my unit bigger too a few years ago when I was fresh out of college.
-Really now, smiled Ivory, I’ve never seen anyone who went through that!
-I thought I could pick up a bit easier in bars with that in my pants, but it didn’t end up having much impact at all. I mean hey, I know that I’m no lion or anything, but I thought that I might turn a few heads anyway. If you don’t mind me saying this either, I’m gay, by the way.
-This is precious, I cawed. I go wherever the winds turn me, and Ivory’s...
-Pretty much open to anything, nodded the ermine. So if you were looking for a good time, even without knowing it, you found one.
-Oh, I didn’t meant that I wanted anything, Geb frantically protested. I was just saying...
-You said you were longing for a good hard fuck, and now you tell us you’re gay, I retorted. I think we’re going in the right direction...

I hopped to my talons and pushed the dog’s chair over to the bed, pushing in on the mattress as soon as we were right aside it, then without missing a beat, Ivory pounced on him to cuddle against his chest. With him in place, there was no way for Geb to get up, so I was free to undo his belt and pull off his clothes. Now I’d seen a lot of cocks in my life, all over the place, from my bedroom to the changing rooms of the club, be it stallions or mice. All were pretty decent for their stature and species, but the penis I saw lying on the dog’s lap was honestly very impressive. Thick and long with the particular shape canines usually have their rods, I couldn’t help but give a caw before pushing his black, brown-patched legs aside and putting it my beak.

If the reader had the misconception that because we had hard beaks, we birds couldn’t possibly be able to give head, then I could point to a soul that would have begged to disagree. With my tongue wrapping around his sausage, I sucked on the Doberman with the ermine’s help, who has turned to dip his own package into our victim’s maw. Not that I wasn’t dedicated to my work, but I didn’t mind stopping ever so often to kiss Ivory and just hand-pump Geb, though we were vigilant enough for my mouth to be over him as he ejaculated with a sharp bark and whine. He had to cut it short as our ermine had accelerated his hips to get himself right up to par, and as the Doberman was settling down, he had to deal with the little soul’s load squirting into his mouth. I wasn’t about to go unsatisfied either, so taking Geb’s legs over my shoulders, I pushed myself into his rear, not going further then he seemed used to. I closed my eyelids and just let whatever visions came float through my mind, whatever the feelings of good loving and happy humping brought on.

The specifics of what we did after that doesn’t need many words to express, just ‘fucked, fuck more, fuckedy-fuck-fuck’. The end result was me sleeping with Geb lying on my back with the both of us using Ivory’s stomach as a pillow, with some haphazard configuration of covers giving us enough extra warmth to go under like the frigging dead. I don’t know if the Doberman expected to stay the night, but he certainly didn’t seem in any hurry to wake up, weighing me down as to keep us where we were, while his paws groped and hugged us with the sweetest comments to support his actions.

-Don’t you have a prison to run, I asked him as I felt him lift a bit of his mass off me, eh Geb?
-The roof won’t fly off because I’m not in my office to hold it down, grumbled the dog as he twisted on his axis to get to his feet. Plus, I suppose that I should lift the lockdown that I declared yesterday.
-Have to get the bunch to breakfast too, I commented. Even if they rioted, I mean, it’s still in the books.
-I’d feed them a mouthful of pepper spray if it was just up to me, growled Geb. You’re right though, Darkness. Up and away we go, then.

We let the director escape before we went for our own shower, sort of wondering what we were going to do for fun now that really scratched our itchy libidos and our plans for the interview tent was pretty much finalized. After I’m managed for the first time to actually get a pen to stick in one of the ceiling tiles from a good wrist throw, we saw a large mass appear in the frosted window and a loud knock came at the door. Ivory answered for us, myself sort of at the ready to throw the stapler aside my hand at whoever it was just in case we’d find ourselves in a confrontation. It wouldn’t happen though, as the figure we’d seen was actually our friendly old gorilla Chapman pushing a trolley with a first batch of stuff from our shopping list.

-Hi guys, said the warden. Up for some renovation work?
-Renovation? I think that this is more of a makeover, called the ermine as he grabbed our drawings in a folder and hurried aside me as we followed the primate to the door to the basement.

In pairs, we took the sheets of construction wood and mirrors down the stairs, though most of the time it was me and Chapman, seeing as how the two times that Ivory tried to help out with the objects, he nearly surfed the flights on his tail if it wasn’t for our quick thinking. De facto relegating him to taking charge of the hand tools and lighter items, we turned the mechanical room into a workshop, putting up workhorses to have flat surfaces to cut whatever pieces were needed. With both the ermine and me used to the sawdust and rusty nails, along with Chapman’s amazing natural strength, we put up the framing for the new walls of the tent in record time, cladding them with the pressed wood panels and rolling on a coat of black paint over the entire thing, sort of forcing us to take five for lunch while it dried.

Now at this point, the whole enterprise had taken a turn for the sillier. Ivory had stripped down to his underwear, result of a bet with me that I could finish my side of the wall before he did his. After having heard Chapman voice a caveat about how unsafe it could be to work without proper protection, I’d thrown off my own shirt and made it a point to give him a flick of my wings whenever I could just to distract him from his work. In response, he not only lost his top but also put on a huge chain that we’d been using to temporarily secure the walls while we anchored them as a harness and made a very good imitation of Mr T in his deep register. On cue, as we resume our work in our probably somewhat objectionable state of dress, our favourite Doberman came in too check on us. Any eyes which had the gift of sight granted upon them could see the dog getting a huge erection as his eyes trained on the three of us with a gob of drool dripping from his maw. I was going to make a pass at him, but before I could, he scampered off, returning a few minutes later with a bit less of a performance then before.

-I suppose that we look good, Chapman my man, I said as I thumbed at the director.
-Hey, I can be cute when I want, laughed the gorilla before turning his back to Geb and slapping his ass with one of his heavy fists. Like the work, director?
-I can see you know where you’re going with this, he nodded. The tarp’s on it’s way, and I had a private consultation with the medic here to arrange for your little truth potion. He’ll prepare tranq darts with something pretty fun for you, so all you have to do is poke a pistol out from back there somewhere and give them a pop with one of them to start the show.
-Sounds like we’re almost set, I nodded. I say by day’s end, we’ll be ready to start, maybe with one of the less important characters, just so we can sort of work up out act if we find that we’re having trouble somewhere in the process.

By late afternoon, we’d pitched the roof of our stage, set the projectors, and had a computer set up to take care of the voice alterations we needed for the sessions. All and all, there wasn’t anything we could think of which could require our attention. Geb had run off with Chapman, leaving Ivory and me alone to get a real evening off everything, though we were too hyper to actually sleep for any length of time. The whole day’s heavy labour had worked our adrenaline up to something awful, and we didn’t have anywhere we could run around to get it our of our system, so instead I put on small theatrical performances of the great classic horror movies while the ermine put on acrobatic and magic routines. The thing was a bit competitive, as the relationship between us had become, to the point we actually made it a contest that would end when I forgot a line or screwed up something obvious or when I figured out a trick he was doing or he fell during a stunt.

-I saw that ball under your tail, I said to the white-furred boy as I caught sight of him stashing one of the three objects he had been juggling between his tail and his underwear. Gotcha!
-Aw shoot, he muttered as he put his act away and walked over to cuddle against me. I hope that you don’t think that I’m that much of a pot of glue here.
-Nah, you’re just statically charged to my feathers, I laughed as I rubbed his head.
-I’m making the most of it, shrugged the ermine. After all, you’ll only be here as long as you need to get the confessions from the prisoners and I’ll be back to my previous abode after that, so hey, I’m making it count!
-I didn’t think about that, I muttered. Listen, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible for you to get some sort of pardon to get you out of here when I go. After all, we’re doing the police and government a big favour here and hey, courtesy is a two-way street. Plus, I don’t think it’s fair for you to be in here.
-I broke the law, corrected Ivory. By every law in the book, this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. Not that I like it, granted, but for the sake of argument, there’s no reason why I should be let go when it comes down to brass tacks. But when it comes to the practical side of things, I sure wouldn’t mind running away with this little circus, if you still want me to stick by you after this. I know you have your reputation and everything, and having a gay ex-con with you that sits on your shoulders and cuddles with you enough to think you’re wearing a ermine coat is sort of odd, but I’ll change if you just tell me to.
-Please don’t, I muttered as I kissed his chest and suckled on his left nipple. I like you just how you are, Ivory boy.
-Hey, that’s right isn’t it..?
-What?
-I got my little nips here, giggled the ermine as he pulled as one of his buds, but you don’t have any! I didn’t even realize that yet!
-I’m a bird, I laughed, it’s not in the blueprints, and the contracts were cheap when they built it so any extra we didn’t need, they didn’t put. Let’s get to bed, we have a big day tomorrow.

We had an entire morn’s worth of setting up the lights with the program we had decided to follow, one which really went nicely with the questions we were going to ask our subjects. It was really simple, starting with easy ‘yes’ or ‘no’ ones, then moving on to names, places, then ending with quantities and descriptions. We had a wide cobweb of paths to follow depending on how they cooperated and if they were telling the truth, but we didn’t stretch it past the one-hour window that Chapman had told us the injection from the doctor could buy us. Even there, that was really pushing it, out of precaution, so just so we didn’t run into trouble with more resilient individuals, we cut it down to forty-five minutes, tops. By the time that we had pre-recorded all the questions we needed and some of the basic phrases we’d need to work, mostly to save us from having to repeat the same ones over and over and free up our concentration to focus on the reactions we’d get.

I called Chapman around three with the request to have our first inmate sent over, then got into position with Ivory behind our wall to start everything that we needed, from the cricket and carnival noises in the background noise to the repetitive light pattern that we used as our welcome and farewell show. We didn’t say a word, just waiting patiently until a very disoriented squirrel walked into the room, looking at the simple chair we’d placed in the middle of the room with just as much confusion as the carnival show that seemed to be going on outside the tent. As the door closed behind him, he started looking around to see if there was a fold in the tent that led outside, but before he found anything we didn’t want him to, I had planted one of the needles right in his left butt cheek.

Instinctively, he reached down and took it out, but the effects of the product were already manifesting themselves as he wobbled over to the chair and sat down on it, trying to steady himself out with his legs sort of ached apart to give himself more stability. Waving to Ivory, the ermine started the session, getting pretty much honest answers from the rodent as he looked around at the mirrors with a dazed stare. As we got into the deeper questions, we needed to repeat them a bit more often and change the light patterns to get a proper response from him, but eventually what he knew, we did too. He wasn’t a big player in the gangs, so there wasn’t much meat to gnaw on, but still, it was a proof of concept. Almost as perfectly as we’d hoped, he dozed off with the last of our interrogations, and Chapman stepped into take him from the room and return him to his cell.

-Perfect, squeaked the ermine as the door closed again. This is the best! He just came out with everything! See how much he was convinced about the whole tent thing?
-We couldn’t have put more thought into it then we did, I grinned as I went over our findings. If we get one of them every two hours, day and night, then I’m sure that we’ll be done after three days. With breaks for our rest, of course.
-No use losing out on rest for nothing, giggled Ivory. Man, this really makes me feel like going back into show business! I know I opted out of it back at the circus, but you know, I could sure change my mind now.
-Where was your place, I asked, in the capital?
-No, Naxxar. Why?
-Well, I was thinking like this that I could sure use an assistant at my club. After all, I’m always sort of beating myself up for ideas sometimes, and another sharp white-furred head would be wonderful to have.
-Seeing as how you only have a black-feathered one now, you’d better be off with mine then none at all, cooed the ermine. You don’t mind my record though?
-Just your record as my friend, I said with a smile as I opened my arms.
-Aw, come here you, he squeaked as he rushed to hug me tight. Man, if I rubbed a lamp and a genie came out, I’d just ask for you, Darkness.
-Isn’t there a thing about genies not being able to make people fall in love as one of the directing rules?
-Well, I think that has already been taken care of, no?

The nest few days went by quickly, with regular session in the Mind’s Eye Circus, as we called the basement facility. I’ll skip the exact transcriptions from these, as they were pretty monotonous, the same questions being asked again and again with varying replies. Even so, the quality of the information we gathered couldn’t be denied by any stretch of the imagination, for as we compiled the entire report on the experiences, we had pretty much a composite picture of every facet that the gangs were involved in, as well as a lengthy list of names of contacts overseas that they did business with, some of them even while they were in jail through runners and associates that came as regular visitors. Geb came by twice a day for us to keep him up to date, each time getting something of a surprised from the pair of us in some shape or form, though constantly thrilled by the result.

The afternoon that ended my weeklong stay behind bars was sort of a mixed bag. Sure, I had lots of enthusiastic thoughts about going back to my place and seeing what sort of a mess my employees had made of my club, even if the phone calls I placed there every day seemed to point to everything being all right. Besides that though, Geb had been busy getting Ivory’s release ready on time for us to leave, and apparently was going to pass by with them soon, while the ermine and I polished off the final version of the thick volume I’d be handing over to Rebeka. I’d warned the tigress through the director about the end of our investigation, getting by the same bias a confirmation that all legal buttons had been pushed for me to be getting out scot-free from the mess I’d wandered into. As unreasonable as it seemed, I felt a bit cross about having to say goodbye to the Doberman, though. After all, if I’d gotten close to Ivory, we certainly had grown pretty fond of the dog, and his openness of heart about his life and the other aspirations he had rather then the stressful, tiresome and pretty much all-around unpleasant job he had to punch into each day really brought a lot of compassion from us for his situation. As I was taking a break from the keyboard to rest my eyes, I caught sight of Geb as he looked in at us.

-Hey there sparky, I called to him, come in boy!
-Arf, barked the director in his deep voice. Pretty much done with your papers there, boys?
-I’d say she’d done, nodded Ivory as he closed the word processing program and turned to face the door. How’s the puppy?
-He’s good, nodded Geb. You’re a free ermine the moment you step out of here, kid. As for you, Darkness, I had a call from Rebeka this morning, telling me that since you were done with your stuff here, she’d be picking you up at the front gates at dusk, around six.
-Cool! I’ll thank her when I see her. What about you, Geb? Anything on your mind, with all these big changes and all?
-Shit, I really think that it’s time I moved on, sighed the Doberman as he sat down aside me and put his arm across my shoulders. I mean this was a good chapter, maybe, but I’m really not in the mood anymore to put up with the bullshit that flies around here. I printed out my resume, and I’m sort of asking myself where I want to throw it.
-How about at the police, I asked, downtown? I mean hey, it’s a noble profession, and you certainly have all it takes to pass the physical exams, you hunk of dog you!
-You think so? It’s a good idea, I suppose, he nodded. If I was to give a copy of it to you, could you pass it on to someone who’d care?
-Pff, come on! I’ll suck whatever cock it takes to get you that office, I giggled as I gave his crotch a quick rub. No regrets if you leave, though?
-There are always regrets when you leave a job, shrugged Geb, but it’s just a question of balancing them out with what you’ll gain by a new one. Just wondering though, where do you live, Darkness?
-Oh, right here, I said as I wrote down the address on a paper and handed it to the dog. I don’t think I’ll be staying there though. After the crap that got me here, I need to change the scenery. I was thinking of getting a row house, if I could find a nice one.
-You’re in that much of a hurry to get out of there, asked Geb, or what?
-If could just toss my furniture and wheel it out of there into a new place, I’d do it, I grinned. Why?
-Well, I have a place myself, smiled the Doberman, and guess what – it’s a row house! If you want to move in for a while, you’re free to.
-Wow, that’s pretty wild, I laughed. I guess it could work out if you want to keep us two showmen in orbit around you.
-That would just rock, he chuckled as he took us both in a hug. How about I pass by there tomorrow afternoon and we’ll move you out?
-Music to my ears, squeaked Ivory.

We printed off a few copies of the report on the interrogation sessions, then jogged off to make sure that the cleanup job we’d done to get rid of any trace of the existence of the Mind’s Eye in time to go see Rebeka at the gates while Geb returned to his office to get ready to go home himself and prepare for our move at his end of things. He’d given us our walking papers in advance, so as we passed through the guard post at the fence, we were let through without event, striding into the parking lot. There wasn’t a sign of Rebeka until a car in one of the front rows started, pulled out of it’s parking spot and rolled in front of us with its windows down and a tigress’ head looking out through one of them.

-Hi there strangers, called the detective, get on in!
-I don’t know, I mused, I don’t usually get in with cats I don’t know. Maybe this time I’ll take a risk, though.
-If you like to live that dangerously, it’s your decision, she said as she grappled me the moment I sat in the passenger seat. Got the bird!
-Eep, I laughed as she let me go, I always forget how strong you are, Titania! Oh, I almost forgot! Ivory, this is Detective Rebeka, the brightest striped gal on the island and a brilliant policewoman besides.
-It’s a pleasure, said the ermine as he shook her ridiculously larger hand.
-We have the reports here, I commented as I presented the papers to Rebeka. I didn’t know what you wanted to do, but I though you might like them sooner then later.
-They’re good, but I was more worried about you then anything else, Darkness, she purred as she rubbed her head against my shoulder in a strong movement. You’ll be glad to hear that your niece was extradited to Italy on completely unrelated accusations of drug possession, I’m sure.
-Oh, too bad, I cawed as I ran a hand over the woman’s arm. I’ll shed a tear sometime when I’ve stubbed a toe.
-Right, she laughed. Now, I was wondering if you guys wanted to come by my place for a drink or something? After all, your place is a right mess now, Darkness, and the records don’t show your previous residence, Ivory.
-Seeing as how I didn’t have one, I couldn’t see how they could, replied the ermine. I’m all for drinks, if we’re not intruding on anything.
-Nope, answered Rebeka. I’m pretty bored these days with the routine and all, so I really welcome the interruption.
-Oh, and what about Marcello?
-Off on a prolonged stay in England with Aqua and Blizzard.
-Man, the Falcons are going to be in a mess when they come back, I joked. Who did they leave in charge, Paul?
-Yep, good luck to them, roared Rebeka as she patted my head.

The cat really drove smoothly and the dim headlights glowing in the darkness was almost magically soothing, drawing my eyelids down if it wasn’t for the conversation that I was holding with Rebeka. As any drive in Malta though, it wasn’t that long. After all, on an island just around twenty kilometres on it’s wide side didn’t really offer a chance for a long haul, but for the time it lasted. Ivory had fallen asleep in the back seat, brought about as the wheel bumped over the curb to pull into the driveway of the tigress’ den, a very nice duplex she obviously paid a lot of attention to, looking beautiful even in the witching hours. There were three gazing balls on the lawn arranged in a line, almost like a line of columns, and the flowerbeds beds behind it brought an even more surreal appearance, straight out of a fairytale. As she led us inside, it was even more so, will more fantastic sights then I thought anyone could cram into a house, dragons, unicorns, tales of knightly valour and honour all over the residence. She caught my stare with a smile, nodding as if approving of my evaluation of her whimsy.

Slapping down in the living room, the detective took out a decanter of sherry and poured us each a glass, passing them out for us to toast freedom and justice. Ivory didn’t last long under the influence of the drink, his arms handing limp as he dozed, slung over the arm of the massive single-place sofa he’d been sitting on. Rebeka found it funnier then anything and inched closer to me on the loveseat we’d been squatting. My view was pretty entertaining, looking at a mirror just past her where if she sat just right, she appeared to have sprouted black wings, as I was short enough to completely disappear behind her profile. She caught on to my gaze and turned to see what I was giggling about, then muffled a laugh herself as she reached behind her to pull me closer so that she could make the illusion as good as possible.

-That’s cute, said the tigress as she let me go and turned back to look at me. Sometimes I wish I had some of those myself, but I think the pair I’d need would be sort of cumbersome considering the weight that they’d be responsible for lifting off the ground.
-I’m enough of a gentleman not to ask for a detail to that effect, but you can take my word for it when I say that I’m pretty light. If it wasn’t for my natural stature though, I’d never make it either.
-Can I, she asked as she got up and motioned for me to do so as well so she could try to lift me, do you mind?
-No, not at all, I replied as she took me against her and heaved me up, compressing my chest into hers.
-I saw that smile, she purred as we sat back down.
-Well come now, Rebeka, what sort of a blind, senseless creature would fail to smile with a hug like that?
-Oh, that was just a lift, she grinned as she leaned over and wrapped her arms around me and put my head against her shoulder. This is a hug.
-Ah, my mistake, I whispered as I caressed her arm. So what does the queen of the palace do for fun these days? I don’t see you that often at the Tower.
-I’ve been writing a few stories, just fantastic stuff I really wanted to get off my chest before I forgot about them. As for being a queen, that would suppose that I’ve found a prince I elevated to kingdom, which isn’t the case.
-Sorry, I assumed that...
-I know, nodded Rebeka as she looked over to Ivory. You want to go somewhere else to let the little ermine get his rest?
-Anywhere you want, I’ll follow, I stated as I tailed her upstairs to her office, communicating with her room next door. I’m sorry if I touched a nerve, Rebeka, I didn’t mean anything by what I said.
-No, but there’s a lot of truth in there though, sighed the tigress as she turned to take her jacket off to get more comfortable in the thick tee she was wearing. I wanted to talk to someone, but I really didn’t have anyone I didn’t feel embarrassed about telling about some stuff. You know, Aqua and Paul would end up blabbing everything I say to Marcello and Lamia wouldn’t understand what I’m thinking.
-If I can be of any help, I’d pluck myself to the last feather to do it, I commented as I reached over and took one of her hands. What’s bothering you, what’s wrong?
-You know Darkness, started the cat as she looked at me with deep eyes, I’m really a traditional woman. I mean, I grew up in a religious orphanage, with pretty set morals and everything. I’m not religious at all, nothing like that, but a lot of that good upbringing sort of follows me around. All the other examples I had when I was young was from legends about knights, conquest and all that beautiful lore, full of stories of perfect love and happily ever afters, you know, all that sweet stuff. That sort of gave me a certain impression about men, about everyone being sort of one of the perfect guys. When I had a short episode with Don Ulrich, the panther, remember him..?
-Hard to forget that cat, I nodded with a compassionate smile.
-Well that night, what he showed me was exactly that! I mean he was such a good cat, from the loving, pleasurable sex we had to the way he talked to me. Then I sort of fell in love sideways with Marcello... now I don’t mean to sound like I’m bringing him down or anything, but he’s sort of a wilder guy then most, and sometimes I don’t really follow along with all his ideas. Recently, we sort of drifted apart because he was in strange bit where he wanted to move into another place, something totally different and start something new. I didn’t really feel like giving this place up, but he was pretty convinced about it himself. I know that also meant he wanted to maybe get into another sort of relationship with me you know...
-Get married, I completed.
-You got it, she sighed as she gripped my hands. Now I didn’t want to take that step just yet with all those little things in the way about how I felt about him. That was something, but then he did something weird. Paul was over here for supper, when we’d finished and sat down in the living room, he started talking about really dirty stuff.
-More improper stuff?
-Well, lots of things about three-ways and that sort of thing. I didn’t really like it and concentrated on the television to get my attention off that, but then he came out and asked me if I’d ever do something like that with him and Paul.
-Whoa! What the hell?
-That was my reaction! I mean I’d never let him do anything other then, you know, the traditional thing, so nothing up where it doesn’t belong, and there he is asking about that sort of thing! I looked at him like I didn’t believe what he’d asked me, and he shrugged as if he was really expecting an answer. I stormed out, took my car and drove to the station, then called him from there, telling him to get the hell out of my place and take his things with him before going to the range and dumping about three full clips at the range to get it out of my system. When I came back, he’d left and locked the door with the spare key from the garden. He left with Aqua for Britain the next day, and I haven’t spoken to him since.
-I’m sorry to hear all this, Rebeka, I whispered as I gave her a tight hug.
-Darkness, I just wanted to know, the tigress cut as she looked over at me, did I do the right thing? Was it all right for me to kick him out like that? I mean, maybe I’m too much of a prude and I thought that it was a bigger deal then it was.
-I think that you did exactly what was right, I nodded. It’s your body, and you have every right to say what you want and don’t want. If people don’t respect those limits, then they’re not welcome to take what they’re not entitled to. Plus, you have feelings, the most loving I know, deep in your soul, and he should have considered them before saying something like that. You did exactly what was right, tigress, don’t even doubt that.
-I may look like this, but I’ve very sensitive. This body is what I have to protect my heart with, and I don’t want to cheapen myself to being some... some... some fuck toy! I mean as far I’m concerned, if that’s the sort of thing that those horses have in mind, they can just beat off and leave me out of their lives! That... that hurt, she continued as I saw a few tears on her face. I’m more then just a bunch of stripes here! I’m a good woman, Darkness, a good woman who wants a good man to love her properly, caring for her like she deserves. I thought he loved me, but then all he wanted was to be fucking my clit while his brother had his dick up my asshole! What the heck is that, Darkness, what the heck? I mean what sort of romance is there in that? None!
-None at all, I seconded, holding her closer. Rebeka, forget about them. You’re here, a beautiful soul with more magic in her heart then all the dragons and fairies of the world could gather in a lifetime.
-You know, Ulrich always talked about my soul like that, not my body, smiled the tigress as she gave me a kiss on the side of the beak. I want someone who doesn’t care what I look like, who loves me because of what’s behind this mask that I wear.
-I understand, I sighed as I caressed her back. I don’t pass judgements like that, never. Look at Ivory! Did I treat him any differently then anyone since we got here?
-No, you certainly didn’t. So you’re saying that you have the sort of love I’m looking for under those wings?
-I have a heart that’s lonely in this world without another to beat with, I replied. If you would lend yours to join it, I’d find myself as humbled as Galahad before the Grail.
-If you think that you’re able to have that noble a love, then it should be put to the test to see if it will hold it’s temper, stated Rebeka with a smile. Take off your clothes, everything.
-Are you sure you want that, I asked, sure?
-Part of the test, giggled the cat as I stripped to my feather. That’s your penis there?
-Last time I checked that what I used it as, I blushed as I looked at my soft member.
-Then I don’t want to see it raise a speck until I say so, said Rebeka as she started to take off her own clothes.

The tigress did everything she could to be the sexiest woman that God had ever placed on the world, taking each article off as slowly as possible and as soon as she had nothing on but her stripes, she rubbed and massaged her heavy breasts, moaning and groaning with expression of carnal ecstasy, following by hard rubbing around her groin, which was sort of deformed in it’s own way with muscle by her extraordinary build. I held fast, keeping my stare locked on her eyes rather then on the rest of her anatomy, reciting a few pages of old Byron to her rather then babble on her simply impossibly appealing shell. After having emptied her back of tricks, the tigress voiced her defeat.

-All right crow, she laughed, I think you’ve certainly proven what purity you have in your soul. Now, if this tigress’ temporal appearance didn’t stir your hunger, what could do so?
-Actually, it’s very simple, I said as I sat aside her on her bed and took her face to look at me. For her to tell me that she would allow for a greater love to grow between us, with all honesty and virtue, then I would find myself generously overcome by true suprasensual appetite.
-Then she’ll say it, answered Rebeka as she held me by the beak. I love you Darkness. You’re more of a man to me then any legion of barbarians who would let their swords and mortal frames talk before their souls have a chance to even manifest their existence. If you’d give me a try as more then a simple friend, then I hope you find that this tigress’ heart is as bright as yours.
-I can already feel it’s radiance from where I sit, I hummed as I ran my hand down her sides and held her hips.
-And I can see you keep your word loyally, giggled the cat as she saw my unit in full erection. You know, that couldn’t come at a better time either.
-Ah, and why would that be?
-Because as pure as our spiritual love may be, she replied as she leaned back and opened her legs to show her completely flooded genitals, I’m really, really horny right now. Come Galahad, and claim your chalice.
-Ah, but Galahad never took it, I mused.
-You’re not going to leave me all wet and lonely here, purred Rebeka as she ran a claw down along her clit, are you?
-No heart can be as pure as that godsend knight’s, I chuckled as I mounted her stomach to stomach, feeling my penis push deeper in the tigress’ warm, soft loins. This feels so right, tigress...
-And that’s just right too, she moaned as I moved in her and kneaded her breasts. You know, apart from being traditional, I really don’t like having something too big in there either. I’m not saying you’re not a handful though... how can I say it?
-Goldilocks found the perfect of the three beds?
-Ah, that would say it, she laughed as she came a first time. Hold my tail, play with it a bit...
-And that isn’t an unconventional thing for cats?
-Not in the least, she said as I loosely held her striped tail in my beak.

I felt as if I was transported to some other plane as Rebeka started contributing more actively in the intercourse, moving in unison with me and stressing her frame tight, making me feel just how strong the woman’s physique was. As much as she did so though, with my hands resting on her stomach and hers holding my arms, I could tell every time that she had even the slightest orgasm, giving me all the information I needed to bring her to an ever-increasing level of pleasure. I didn’t foresee her peak though as she released her tension in a low growl with her eyes closed tight and her upper fangs poking over her lower lip. I couldn’t be more relieved that she’d hit it though, because personally, I couldn’t hold back anymore, and as she started coming down from it I felt myself come, signalling it with a muted caw and a full wingspread, almost knocking over the lamp on the bedside table. Without any reason to hurry, I continued at the tigress for a few minutes, but eventually disengaged myself and hurried to get a towel from the nearby washroom for us to at least absorb the moisture, so to speak. Rebeka let me pat her down with the warm cloth, wiping her brow, stomach and loins before I turned my attention to myself and tossed the towel back over to the land of the white porcelain. As I returned to the bed, I felt her hand take my arm and pull me in aside her. Looking into her beautiful eyes, I lay down and hugged the tigress, holding her tightly with my beak slung over her shoulder and a wing folded over us.

I can’t remember ever having slept as well in my entire life as I did with Rebeka, though foreshadowing the future, if wouldn’t be the only time. I woke up as I felt her hand caressing my side and a low, vibrating purring echoed through our bodies. I opened an eye and gave her a ‘wing hug’, as I called squeezing down with my members, all the while running my palm down the cat’s neck, back, thigh and leg as far as I could comfortably reach. The tigress gave a giggle as I occasionally deviated and continued down her back to her tail, forming an annulus with my fingers to brush the length of it.

-I love that, she whispered as I held her balancing member. Give it a pull, can you?
-Sure, I replied as I massaged the vertebrae. I hope I didn’t tickle you too much with my feathers, Rebeka?
-Not if I didn’t do it with my coat, she chuckled as she brushed the longer mane she had around her neck all the way to the start of her large breasts. Here...
-Ah ha, I hummed as she guided my beak to her chest. Neither land nor sea may carry the bounty of this tigress’ bounty.
-Then enjoy some of it, crowy, she mothered as she kissed my cheek. I don’t know though. Can you suckle, you know, without hurting my teats? They’re sort of tender.
-I can be as gentle as the feathers I carry, I answered as I moved to have Rebeka’s right nipple as close to the start of my jaw as possible and delicately sucked on it.
-Just a bit harder... perfect, moaned the tigress as she moved my other hand to grasp her other breast. Could you bear to share a bed and a roof with this striped cat, to always show her the same sweet love, for longer then a night’s lifetime?
-If I’m to understand that you just invited me to move in, I whispered as I rolled to straddle the woman’s legs and placed my hands at her sides, then...
-Then..?
-Then I’d have to be dreaming, for God would have to be the most wondrous being to occupy the night sky if he brought this moment about. If this is reality however, then the entire sum of my mortal and immortal parts cries out in full agreement.
-Aw, you’re so cute when you act, laughed Rebeka as she pulled me down against her. You’re welcome to come in anytime, but since we’re Saturday, I think it might be a good time.
-You’re in a hurry, I mused as I ran a finger along her face.
-Well, you know what they say, a bird in the hand...

We lingered in the shower as long as we could, making love under the water’s soft spray again, this time even slower and more disembodied then we’d done in bed. I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say that Rebeka was insecure, but she certainly seemed to need love and a true heart with her and even as we cleaned, she occasionally asked my opinion about her appearance. I could understand to a certain extent, considering the fact that she had pushed herself pretty far with her bodybuilding and her muscular frame had undergone the usual deformations that sometimes occur when such activities are partook in. As large as they were, her breasts had been pushed slightly up and outwards made to look larger then they probably were because of her overdeveloped pectorals, her lower stomach and crotch put into relief as to make her clit almost invisible from the front if it wasn’t for the longer fur that covered its surrounding. Basically, the more obvious aspects of her femininity had tarnished a bit, and she seemed to think that it was something absolutely tragic she’d caused through her necessity for outer strength and building up her confidence in herself. I negated every bit of it though, proving with affectionate gestures and tender comments that she was far too concerned with it without warrant. Ending her introspective with a long hug and warm kiss, we ran downstairs to find Ivory looking like a mess, sitting on the sofa to look at the television.

-Hey ermine, I called as we walked over. We didn’t want to wake you up, seeing as how you were out like a light last night.
-Man, I just woke up like five minutes ago, replied Ivory with a wide yawn. Sorry about that. Just my instincts talking here, but I assume that I’ll be moving in with Geb alone?
-I didn’t think we were that indiscrete, commented Rebeka. Were we?
-So much happy tigress moving about and wing-beating crows blowing hurricanes in a house is hard to miss, grinned the ermine. That’s fine, though, we’ll get by. On the other hand, how about that club of yours, Darkness?
-I think that we could pass by there this morning, I nodded. You want to come, gentle lady?
-It’s the weekend, boomed Rebeka, and I leave my work at the station. I don’t think that taking the morning off will outdate that information you gathered, dark knight.
-Dark night? Man, giggled the ermine as he rubbed his indexes at us, you two are a perfect match!

We didn’t bother to think about making breakfast or going anywhere else then La Bella’s Tower, considering that after all, there was plenty of food in the kitchen there and it wouldn’t cost us a penny to get our fill there, at least not until I wrote it off on the accounting. It was a nice change to be riding in a car, seeing as how I’d never had one myself since I came to Malta, and from the comments that Ivory made, he had never been in a position to contemplate ownership of a vehicle either, other then a circus wagon, not that one of those really made the cut to be considered a practical mode of transportation. It was too early for there to be that many customers at the club, but I recognized one of the black limousines that the Falcons normally used to shuttle around the island, raising a bit of a suspicion in my mind that we were going to have a conversation that we hadn’t planned for. Still, there was no reason for me to be intimidated by one of the stallions coming to see me, and I doubted that we would have any trouble from them. Even if he was a pretty irrational person sometimes, Marcello wasn’t outright violent and Paul was sort of a coward when it came to taking care of his business.

As we walked into the building, I scanned the place with Rebeka and Ivory flanking me, finding Aqua sitting at one of the tables at the back of the restaurant. The stallion wasn’t wearing his makeup, so it was probably in his professional capacity that he had come, sort of getting a tightening in my throat until he got up and walked over to us. His air wasn’t hostile or anything. If anything, he looked humiliated, incontestably subordinated to us, and gave a heavy sigh before greeting us.

-Good morning everyone, said the Don. It’s good to see you’re back, Darkness.
-Hey, someone has to run this place!
-Right, half-grinned the stallion before returning to his previous expression. Rebeka, I hoped that you’d be willing to talk before you sent teams in to take our hotel apart.
-I wouldn’t have done that, stated the tigress as she crossed her arms defensively, but I’ll listen. What is it?
-Rebeka, I wanted to apologize in person for my brothers’ absolutely dishonourable and completely stupid behaviour. I trashed out both of them as soon as I got what they’d said out of Paul. God help me, Paul’s an idiot of a pervert, stated the stallion as he shrugged in exasperation, and Marcello’s such a gullible, spineless set of hooves that sometimes I feel like I’m running the hotel for him. If anything, I almost felt bad for you to have to put up with him. I’m sure you’ve seen how his mood swings, depending around who he’s hanging out. All I can say in his defence is that he’s too innocent for his own good, but he understood when I told him that he shouldn’t even try to insist on trying to talk to you if you didn’t want to, and that he’d be well learned to take that door slamming you gave him as walking papers.
-That’s what it was, said Rebeka with a stern tone. Look, I hope that this doesn’t keep us all from being friends, but now I’m with this good crow, and I want to put that side of things six feet under.
-Understood, loud and clear, nodded Aqua as he gave her a hearty handshake. So you’ll put that aside?
-I’m a policewoman after all, grinned the cat, I’m pretty much your expert reference on compartmentalizing. How about a round for your friends, Darkness?
-Coming right up, I said with a smile as I shooed Ivory to the back of the club.

It took me a few minutes to show the ermine around, trying to give him the best impression possible about his new place of employ, as well as the papers he needed to fill before he became a bona fide member of our little dark family. I didn’t learn much from them about him that I didn’t know already from our conversation, but I really cut down on what he needed to put down, just to save time. After all, it wasn’t like he was going through my normal hire process, so specifics like references that that sort of thing was of no use. By the time that we came out with a round of vodka coolers for us to kick back, the mood had lightened up and I could hear laughing from our table.

-Glad to see that things came back together, I stated as I put down the drinks as sat up aside Rebeka. We just got these in, so you can’t get much fresher drinks unless you’re waiting in the parking of the distillery.
-I’ve never been enough of a raging alcoholic to find myself doing that, chuckled Aqua. So you guys had something planned today?
-Moving this crow’s nest, replied the tigress as she patted my head. After that, we have some information to send to some friends in Europe to put an end to an international human trafficking operation.
-Friends in Europe, eh? Whereabouts?
-Oh, this was pretty widespread, I said as I cut in. The closest place to here, or at least the most important was in Lithuania. Apparently they run a very important kidnapping ring there, and losing it would cripple them.
-Wow, that’s a place you don’t hear a lot about, commented Aqua. Did you have any more information?
-Plenty, nodded Rebeka. It’s all back at my place though. Why?
-Well, things have been too quiet, shrugged the stallion. I don’t know if I can free myself up to go with you, but I think that I could manage to get you over there if you’re in the mood to take a better look around.
-I don’t think that I could get that sort of a travel allowance from the station, grunted the tigress. Still, I don’t think that the commissioner would be anything but thrilled if we were able to get more dirt before sending this report out. Sure it would be sort of questionable how we got the intelligence but seeing as how what we have now was already obtained through alternative means, I don’t think that toeing the line more would be anything to worry about.
-Then when you’re ready, just go to the Mandrake Lines airstrip outside of town and show them this card, said Aqua as he took out a business card from his wallet and wrote down a few scribbles on it. There’s room for ten people onboard the plane they usually lend us.
-Well, started Rebeka, I don’t know what sort of a group we’ll be. Darkness, would you be able to come with Ivory? I know I’m taking you away from your club again, and I’m sorry about that, but you had the firsthand experience of the interrogation sessions, so what’s not in the report, maybe you could give as we go.
-I think that I can trust this place to be all right for a while still, I nodded. After all, pay checks and that sort of thing go out automatically, so there’s no actual need for me to be here other then make sure that everything runs smooth, which already have for a while now. Anyone else you’d like to come along?
-I think that I’d like Wings with us, said the woman. That bat’s a clever sort with evidence, so if we just come up with a few crumbs, I’m confident that we’ll get every shred of data that they’re worth. Along with him, I suspect that Lamia will be onboard, and then I’m sure that I can call up at least three move officers from the station that would be willing to play this game.
-You’ll inform your superior, though?
-Well, laughed the tigress, I don’t think that most of his higher cadres leaving on some strange voyage across the miles will go unnoticed anyway. I’ll just place a few calls to get this going.
-There’s a phone aside the bar over there, I said as I showed her to the small reception desk, holding her by the small of her back.
-Now that’s how you lead a woman, she purred as she felt me rub her lower back before letting her go. I won’t be long.

I retired to the back room of the restaurant to set things up for me to be able to be footloose and fancy free for at least a week or slightly longer, hitting up suppliers and assistant managers alike to make sure that this well-oiled machine’s gears were going to turn without event. Rebeka was faster then me, and I felt her massive, strong arms wrap around my shoulders while I was looking over the time sheets one last time. I turned and gave her as tight a hug as I could, though I had the comedic pleasure of getting carried out of the office by the cat as she lifted me off the ground and walked out to the table were Ivory and Aqua were buckled over in laughter.

-I have a crow here, said the tigress in a moving worker’s voice, where do you want him?
-Just on that chair there, replied the ermine as Rebeka plopped me down on the seat and squashed me into it a bit.
-There you go. That’ll be five bucks, she chuckled. Hey! There’s our lady Rapone!
-Hi everyone, called the lioness as she walked up to us with her flying mouse of a common-law husband. Beating Darkness up, Rebeka?
-I’m moving on to pile drivers next, growled the tigress as she pretended to get in position to wrestle me. So you two are all packed?
-Pretty much, answered Wings as he lifted the pair of suitcases he was hauling. Are your other guys ready too?
-Two guys and a gal, corrected the tigress as she pointed to the trio that entered the club, waving to them to come over. This is Austin, Emmanuel and Trish, two sergeants and a corporal with more character then you can pack into most people.
-For the better, insisted Trish, a pretty well set wild dog bitch with one of the most commanding faces I’d seen on a policewoman. We’re ready to go when you are, sir ma’am.
-Good, then let’s not waste any time. You flew in, Wings?
-No, we took a cab, replied the bat. Not enough room for seven in your car, Rebeka?
-She doesn’t, but it’s a good thing we’re two fliers here, eh mousy?
-Aye! Are you heading straight to the airport?
-I just have to make a detour by my place to get a few things, said the tigress. Do you need anything from yours, Darkness?
-Ivory and me will buy stuff over there, I waved. My wardrobe’s not exactly that proper for where we’ll be anyway. Either it’s too formal, or cliché gothic that just won’t fit in right.
-And all I had before they put me in a jumpsuit was this, seconded the ermine as he waved to his clothes.
-Then we’ll meet you there, said the bat. Ready to fly, crow?
-Into the skies we go!

Since Lamia had dragged the forensic examiner into the club, I’d had my share of friendly flights with Wings in the night skies. Everything differed between us when it came to our method to use the forces of fluid dynamics to soar, from takeoff to landing. As we stepped out of the building, he gave a few apparently helter-skelter flaps of his skin-covered wings before getting off the pavement, soon bouncing around the air without too much ado. I had an easier time, just kicking off and opening my members to leave the ground with half as many beats as the bat to get at the same altitude as him. He gave a pair of high-pitched squeaks as we made for the airstrip, keeping at about a hundred feet from the ground. The wind was pretty good to us, blowing from behind to give us a slight boost while we enjoyed the cooler air, performing a few scissors just for the fun of it, diving and rising to show off our control over Hermes’ favourite element. We had so much of a good time that we arrived at our destination at the same time as Rebeka, watching the car park in the airstrip’s lot and everyone unfold from it’s confines. Staff from the installation had hurried over to see our friends just before we came down from the great blue, and we caught sight of Rebeka handing them the card Aqua had given her. Without any questions, they asked her what the destination was, and with Vilnius, Lithuania spoken by the tigress, we were immediately escorted to a sweet-looking jet with words of assurance from the pilot and co-pilot who appeared aside us and accompanied to the plane.

I was incredibly surprised how we’d been welcomed onto the aircraft, but even more by the enthusiasm of the crew as they got us back into the Ether. Rebeka took out the reports that we’d printed just a handful of hours ago and briefed everyone on what we were going into, as well as what her objectives were, leaving the means open to situational improvisation.

-All right, she started, here’s how’s it is. What we have here is an indeterminate number of kidnappers and smugglers who have been taking right about any sort of innocent from the streets to put them into the white trade. We don’t know all that much about them, just general rumours. What we know is that they’ve been concentrating on Roma lately, so maybe we can start from there and work from whatever information we can get members of the community. Our main objective is to find out a lot more about how this ring operates, there and elsewhere. However, if the opportunity presents itself to put the hurt on them, we’re working without our badges here and there’s no reason why we wouldn’t pay them back for the good they’ve been doing towards civilization.
-Sounds pretty vague, commented Lamia.
-It’s all we got and we’re lucky to have that much as it is, insisted the tigress. Got anything else, Darkness?
-The kidnappings are done at gunpoint, so we can expect for them to be pretty well equipped if we face them. Seeing how well we’re armed, we might want to avoid direct confrontations, or combat in general.
-Agreed, nodded Rebeka. On a positive note, hey, this is a nice trip and if we’re smart about the way we go about this, this’ll be a nice trip in a country none of us have ever seen! Where was this operation going on anyway?
-The Southeastern Plain, I replied. In the southeast, wouldn’t you know?
-There’s logic in there somewhere, giggled Lamia, give it a minute to sink in.

We made two stops on the way to our destination, lasting too long for me to keep track of. I missed most of it anyway, seeing as how sitting with Rebeka, trading legends and lore had been so relaxing that we’d fallen asleep, both our hands laced together and our heads squished against each other. What was really magical was that I even dreamt about Rebeka, in an early Greek setting, though we’d both forgone togas for some reason. Bah, it didn’t matter for what we were practicing, lovely soul of a tigress...

The last few minutes of the flight were beautiful, gliding over the highlands with the topography just exploding outwards with the setting sun’s shadows peering over any outlying extrusions. The pilot and his wingman warned us that they’d be returning the next day, so if we needed to get back, we’d need to either contact Aqua again or find our own means, nothing we couldn’t deal with or came as a surprise. After all, it wasn’t like we were riding a cab or something we could just have on standby, at least not without a pretty mean fee to foot. The local airport was nice enough, still sort of the blocky soviet architecture which prized concrete over all other building materials for some reason, but seemed to have been cared for attentively by its proprietors. There appeared to be a few hotels within walking distance, and as soon as we’d pulled all our stuff from the plane, we made for one of them at random, not really too concerned about anything except having a bed to sleep in. The price was low for the four rooms we rented, including a modest breakfast free of charge, and the fact that we couldn’t tell the attendants exactly how long we’d be saying wet their appetites enough to make us feel like residents rather then guests.

-Not bad, commented Rebeka as she tested our mattress while we settled into our room. I’m honest when I say that I didn’t have a clue what to expect, but this is pretty cool!
-I’ll second that, I replied as I took a look out the window. Maybe we could start tonight, though. I think we could expect to find a few people to talk up if we just went out for a drink or light supper.
-Light supper? Who are you kidding, corrected the tigress, I’m starved! Maybe you don’t eat that much, but I need my protein over here!
-Ah, I stand corrected by my striped damsel, I chuckled as I tickled the back of her neck. In that case, we could see if anyone else wants to take a stroll.

We waited a few minutes before going out in the hall and knocking on the doors of the rest of the group, only getting affirmative answers from Lamia and Wings, unfortunately. Still, even if we were just four, we could sure make a ruckus if we put our minds to it, and we weren’t exactly silent as we took to the streets, making a mental note of where our hotel was as we went deeper and deeper into the city. Seeing as how Valletta was just inching over sixty-five thousand people and this place was well over half a million in population, we were pretty disoriented, to put it mildly. We didn’t take too long to find a nice bar to socialize in, where a pair of Roma men were giving a few performances in old song that seemed to thicken the atmosphere of the place a hundredfold. I’d always loved Gypsy violin over more light-hearted French or Italian pieces, just because they always had so much more meaning to both those who played it and to those who listened, and I took to it immediately, half closing my eyes with the help of the heavy ale that Rebeka had ordered us. As soon as they took a break and incidentally came to the bar for something to freshen up with, I jumped the gun and called over half a bottle of the house’s best wine for them, getting a grin from the wolf who had been playing the part of instrumental accompaniment for his partner.

-Hello, I started. Kif int?
-Nesuprantu?
-Oh, I’m sorry, I cawed with a laugh, my mistake. How are you?
-Quite well, thank you! You spoke Arabic there?
-Maltese, I replied. I’m glad we found common ground! That was a beautiful song, simply enchanting.
-It’s an old tale, translated in Lithuanian we play here pretty often. I don’t think that is much help to you though, eh?
-Not as much as to everyone else here, I’m sure. I’m Darkness, this is Rebeka, Lamia and Wings.
-I’m Andrius, and this is my cousin Linas. Was that Laima, or Lamia?
-Lamia, as in the queen of vampires, replied the lioness. Why?
-Oh, Laima means luck in Lithuanian, I was curious, said Andrius. It would have been a strange coincidence for someone from Malta to have a name from here. Actually, it’s quite curious to have travelers from your island here. What brings you here? Tourism? Certainly not business, I hope?
-As it would be, yes, stated the tigress. You see, we’re here to look into rumours regarding a number of kidnappings that have taken place in this region, as well as others.
-You’re from the police, frowned Linas.
-We’re not here as policemen, I said, but as creatures who want for such things to stop.
-As do we all, sighed the wolf. There have been many cases of what you speak of, but not here in the city. Here, it’s pretty safe and there have only been a few times where those... well, people I suppose... were seen. Where we normally stay, however, is a completely different question. We don’t have official police forces, and not that I mean to sound like I’m making our people to be victims, but we have to take care of each other before trusting anyone to stand by us.
-No one offers you assistance, then?
-Not without requiring a reward for it, which we don’t always have, replied Andrius. Fiddlers and tavern signers don’t have the money to pay for private security forces, I’m sure you can see that.
-If we were to volunteer, Wings started, would you accept?
-I suppose we’d be fools to turn down help so freely given, grinned the Roma lupine. We’ll be returning home after this, if you wish to come so soon. Otherwise, maybe you can find us later, but I suspect that it might be more difficult for you to do so.
-You know the range better then us, I smirked.
-We’ve been here quite a long time, laughed Andrius. We’ve gotten very used to the terrain through the centuries.
-My fingers are still a bit numb, grumbled Linas, but we have to pay the bills, eh cousin?
-Good bard, cut Wings, I don’t imagine you’d allow me the pleasure to replace you for a bit?
-You know how to play? How well?
-Oh, smiled the bat as the wolf passed him the instrument, quite well indeed. Now, let’s see what Fritz Kreisler I remember...

The flying mouse left both of the wolves’ jaws bouncing the floor as he started playing the violin in one of the most beautiful impromptu rehearsals I’d ever heard. The drone of the bar died down as a number of people turned to pay closer attention to his performance, a few of them slipping bills to Wings as he paced around the place with the soft notes he produced. By the time that he stopped and handed the piece back to Linas, he also had a good wad of cash to pass to him with it, getting a few chuckles from the Roma as he and his cousin took back the main stage. Lamia gave a short reprimand to the bat for having kept his talent to himself for as long as they’d been together, getting in reply that if she’d known, he would have become enslaved to be her canary rather then something else, which he left open for interpretation, though knowing the lioness, the meaning was pretty clear without need for further precision.

The streets looked beautiful at the night, the different textures and shapes of the older architecture illuminated by the streetlights and fixtures dispersed here and there, though the chill that had crept in along with the dark really made itself felt. Rebeka gave a giggle as my feathers naturally poofed up, giving me a really chubby look in her opinion. If I looked silly, at least I was warm, which was pretty important, seeing as how from our guide’s statements, we had a good, long walk to make before we got to their camp outside the city. We were all pretty well outfitted for the trek though, either by nature in the case of Rebeka or Wings’ thick coats, or artificially, as in Lamia’s case, who had wisely decided to wear a thick black wool cloak. Of the whole bunch, Ivory was probably the worst off, but he didn’t seem to care, sitting pretty on my shoulders to enjoy a free ride. Two hours later, our way saw us marching along one of the main roads into Vilnius, aside which the Roma had set up shop. We heard them before we saw anything obvious though, a few familiar sounds of camping resounding in the crisp air still ringing out as fires and lights started to become more visible. The wolves picked up the pace as we got closer, chatting about how they’d occupied the spot for over ten years along with other bands and it had become a regular stop for other members of their people when passing through the region.

-It’s a good place, right next to the city, insisted Andrius. Having a wagon or tent there is like having an apartment in the city, without having to care about rent or anything like that.
-I would have thought that you – I mean your people, would have migrated into the city a lot more, I commented.
-Oh, there are plenty inside and out, but our troupe has always been on the road, so we’re sort of attached to the lifestyle we have right now, shrugged Linas. We don’t usually have that many visitors though, even if we are close to the road. Once in a while some tourists come by, but most of the time everyone just goes on their way without paying much attention to us.
-Not a problem for you?
-Are you kidding? That’s perfect, laughed the wolves. I think you’re the first bunch of gaujo that we’ve ever had this late, come to think of it. You all go by your birth names, I assume?
-Not all, said our tigress. My name’s really Rebeka and she’s really Lamia, but as for the rest of these people, nope.
-Would you trust us enough to tell us your real ones, asked Andrius, or is that too much?
-Not a problem, I said. I’m Archibald Prior.
-Pascal Wright, called the ermine. Ivory’s just a funnier name.
-And I’m Juancarlo de Namur, said the bat. No one ever gets it right though.
-It’s just a tradition of trust to call each other by their real names, said the canine.
-And you, I asked, you go by your real names?
-Oh, not with non-Roma, no, cringed Linas. It’s nothing personal, just tradition again.
-Fair enough, I shrugged. I’ve almost never been called Archibald personally.
-Not even Archie, jeered Rebeka, or Arch?
-That was one of the reasons why, I said with a smirk. Nah, first it was Malachite, then Darkness.
-Wow, that sounds even better, purred the tigress. Why did you change?
-Because there was another crow back in Livorno that was also called Malachite. I suppose I could pick it up again now, though. Want me to?
-It’s your pick, but it sounds a bit less foreboding then ‘Darkness’, doesn’t it?
-True, true. Fine, Malachite it is then!
-You people are complicated to understand, Linas complained.
-That’s Gothic carnies for you, giggled Ivory, we’re weird that way.

The encampment that the wolves called home was pretty big, over a hundred souls strong, from what they said as we walked into its perimeter, welcomed by a few men with rifles at their sides, looking both dead serious and joyous at the same time in a strange mix of facial expressions. The inhabitants were almost all outside of their residences at this time, gathered in all sorts of groups here and there. We stopped by a pretty decent-looking wagon for the cousins to dump their cash, as well as for Linas to give a wolf bitch a big hug and kiss, announcing to us she was his wife, already four months pregnant. After expressing long-winded congratulations to her, Andrius led us on to meet the leader of the group, who had his own camper parked near the centre of the cluster. The tall Russian Blue tomcat was already standing outside the vehicle, leaning against its side in a completely nonchalant stance, quietly waiting for us to come closer before nodding and speaking.

-I heard that you and Linas brought some friends here, said the cat. As long as your intentions are good, you’re welcome here.
-We were hoping to offer our help to you in putting an end to the kidnappings that have been plaguing the region, said Rebeka with a touch of bravado. I’m Rebeka Svensekova, detective with the Valetta police department in Malta, and this is Archibald Prior, Juancarlo de Namur, Pascal Wright and Lamia Rapone.
-You can call me Karolis, said the cat, so you’re a policewoman, eh? The only police we usually have visit us come to document the disappearances we report, then leave never to be seen again. I’m convinced that you have much more fortitude then that, good lady. Come in, and we’ll talk more.

Not wanting to seem like bad guests, we followed the tomcat inside, though Andrius didn’t seem to dare to do the same. The wagon was pretty well decorated with all sorts of artisan pieces, a lot of them still in construction, from their looks, especially a good inventory of knitted items that Karolis gave a quick glance with a smile as we passed by them. We were a bit crowded, but there was enough standing room for us to fit if not everyone competed for the few chairs at the small dining table. The tomcat seemed to study us for a moment as we took our places, then spoke again.

-I’m glad that someone cares enough to have come here, and to see such a large group of you is quite impressive. You see, we’ve lost four good people over the last five years. One is already too much, mind you, but I feel that we’ve become targets somehow. I can understand why though, seeing as how we’re so isolated, but I’m at a loss to do anything about it. I tried to give the green light for men to carry arms, but that only led to the demise of one of our best as he attempted to fight off some of the kidnappers, who were hopelessly more ready for a battle then us. I feel powerless, for certain, and even ashamed not to be able to insure the safety of those who trust me to do so. I’ve run out of ideas, simply.
-Is there a certain pattern to how they come, asked Rebeka, something regular that you’ve observed?
-They come in the middle of the night, replied the tomcat. At first, they took a girl who had been wandering outside in the camp. Then, they actually broke into a wagon to take the second. The third they tried to do the same, but the good man I spoke of had been standing vigil and tried to fight them off. Until then, we didn’t even know how many of them came at a time, and certainly not that they were armed.
-So you know now many there were?
-Half a dozen, from what was seen and tracked. As for the dates, which I take will be your next question, there’s been a month between each, incidentally culminating tonight. I’m been restless for three nights now, staying up and walking the camp in case I could see or do anything.
-What would you have done if you saw them, I asked, just hypothetically?
-What I could, replied Karolis as he took out an old revolver from a drawer aside him. It would probably not have been much, but still, better then to stand aside and let them commit their crimes.
-Tonight, we’ll all be out there, insisted Wings. You will not face them alone, good cat.
-There’s comfort in that, nodded the man. Do you wish to have anything to assist you in it? Actually, just a moment, I’ll be back.

The tomcat rushed out of the wagon, returning moments later with a few rifles and pistols, offered them to us to borrow for the evening’s probable conflict. I took a hunting rifle that looked a lot like the one I had home, hence probably would react the same way. The others dispersed, though it was almost comedic that Ivory picked out another long gun himself, just slightly taller then him, which he insisted he could manage just fine with, and that we’d see who was laughing if he needed to use it. After a shot of a bottle of something rather potent that Karolis passed around, we left the confines of the residence, splitting up in groups to cover as much of the camp as possible. With us out and about along with the few men already dispersed here and there, the encampment appeared almost impenetrable. Still, it was black as pitch out, and beyond the lights we had to work with, there could have been anything and we wouldn’t have been the wiser.

Ivory and Rebeka had stuck with me, probably making us the stronger of the two teams overall. We’d been out for just over two hours, but we’d only gotten more touchy and sharper, our eyes at the ready to spot any suspicious movement in the forbidding mass of black. Once in a while, I made a small flight, just in case I could see something else, but honestly, it wasn’t much help at all. Rebeka’s shining eyes seemed even brighter then before, and her concentrated air was almost frightening, as if she was actually stalking a prey with her primal intrinsic instincts on full. Ivory? Well, he was an ermine, doing what ermines do best, which was to stay out of sight while his keen eyes took in everything possible. Suddenly, I felt Rebeka’s paw fall on my shoulder, harder then she meant to, I’m sure, and a short growl as she whispered that she’d seen something move. We all hunkered down while I slung my rifle’s strap under my elbow in the old-style sniper position, though the belt was just a bit too long for the tension to really be that helpful to stabilize my aim.

-There’s four of them, muttered the tigress as she drew her pistol. One looks like he’s holding an assault rifle or something like it. See them, Malachite?
-Malachite... yes, I see them. Man, I’d like to get the rest of the gang over here.
-It could be a diversion, warned Ivory. They’d better stay put. In the meantime, we might want to give them a warning shot, just to make sure they’re hostile.
-Then here it is, said Rebeka as she aimed towards the targets and snapped off a shot that had them get in position for a riposte. There’s your confirmation, open fire!

I aimed at the better armed figure down the irons and took my shot, hitting him right in the face and throwing him back accidentally firing wildly a few times as he fell though by some twist of fate, a pair of the projectiles hit the soul aside him, who tried to get up from behind his cover and run off, only to get cut down by our ermine, the latter giving a cute squeak as he reloaded. The last members of the attacking group probably didn’t expect to lose two of their friends to their chosen victims, and started retreating from where they had been sitting, though Rebeka’s professional skill was more then enough for her to put three slugs into one of them, leaving a single lone creature. I asked for them to stop firing while I got to my talons and flew off in a wide arc to cut back towards the remaining figure with the butt of my rifle at the ready. Coming down fast, I timed myself as to send the wood into the back of the head of the bear, knocking him out as he crumpled to the ground. I waved to Rebeka and Ivory, who ran over to help me carry the heavy load back to camp.

As soon as we’d brought him back, we heard a few calls from the right, getting out attention immediately as we saw two more forms running off, though slower then would be expected for anyone making a break for freedom. Rebeka and I left Ivory behind to guard our prisoner with two more men who’d been attracted by the gunfire, the tigress running flat out while I cut through the air. I aimed for the furthest target and snapped off three shots before nailing a hit that blew through his upper chest, but by then, the tigress had reached the closest form and a loud roar resounded as I saw her savagely maul it with two hands full of sharp claws, smashing it to the ground, twitching from the massive trauma that she’d caused him. I landed right aside her, looking down at the ten bloody striations that traced over the creature’s chest, a few deep enough as to expose bone beneath. Looking at me for a moment, she voiced indecision as what to do with him, but I quickly gave my opinion as I pointed my barrel at his forehead and pulled the trigger, ending his suffering definitively. The other I’d hit had been the unluckiest fool ever, not only getting pierced through and through by my projectile, but he’d fallen as to have a broken branch do the same thing sneaking between his ribs and tear his heart to a bloody mess. Aside him, I saw what looked like a body bag, though it was moving and screaming loudly enough to tell me that whoever was inside was far from having passed. Opening it, a fox kit jumped out of the plastic, looking around in a panic before running for the encampment.

-Well, that’s one they won’t be stealing away from her future, commented Rebeka as we pulled our last targets back to camp.
-I’d correct you there, kitten, seeing as how none of them are in any shape to steal anything anymore. I’m sure that we’ll be able to get plenty out of that last bastard, under the proper conditions.
-Ivory and you seem to have your way with interrogations, she purred as she ran her fingers through the feathers on the back of my neck. Any ideas?
-Something exceptionally evil, I said, smiling with a long click and caw. It’ll be a vision of Hell that he’ll take to his grave, if not to an insane asylum.
-Well-deserved, giggled the cat. Can I have a hint?
-We’ll need five large beams, I started, and some firewood.

It took the tigress and me a while to set up the bonfire, composed of a pile of firewood on which we placed the bodies of the bandits. Then, we set up pairs of beams in crosses at opposite sides of the pile before tying the bear to the fifth. Only be the time that we’d placed him over the bonfire and lit it did the bear wake up, crying out in horror as he turned his head about to see over twenty souls looking at him with various airs of contempt at his fate. Just as added theatrical support, Rebeka, Ivory and I had made ourselves medieval executioner’s hoods from fabric Karolis had given us on request, himself in proud attendance with Linas and Andrius, playing a screechy, high-pitched tune on the violin to add to the experience. I have to admit I probably took too much pleasure in our work, but as I saw the kit that had been cooped up in the bag the men had tried to make off with, the feeling subsided and I started the questioning.

It took a while for the bear to focus on the questions through the vision of horror he was being subjected to, but the whole set-up seemed to work it’s charm quite well and he answered everything I asked without holding anything back, or at least nothing that dissatisfied us. After we’d run out of things to ask, we simply removed the beam and cut the rope holding him, letting him run off, screaming like a madman all sorts of gibberish that pretty much confirmed my premonition about the experience being enough to make him lose his mind entirely. Wings, who had been taking transcripts of the session, looked at the fire burn itself out while he gave a series of suggestions back by expert knowledge on what to do to be rid of the remains once and for all, though in addition to those, Karolis gave a few more rather mystical instructions to the men who had volunteered to clean up the scene. The tomcat looked pretty happy with us, showing the bunch of us back to his wagon as he talked on about how wonderful it had been to pay back the criminals for their misdeeds.

-I think that this will dissuade them from ever coming back, stated the cat as he passed around another questionable bottle. I have to say I’m impressed at how creative you were, Malachite. If there’s still a shred of reason in that bear, it’s nothing short of a miracle.
-Bah, just desserts, I waved as I threw back a glass of the hard alcohol. I take it that you live alone, Karolis?
-Yes, that’s quite so, nodded the tomcat. I’m a bit of a complicated sort, too worried about things to really open up to people without them complaining that I don’t seem to be paying attention. I’m sure you’d pay me that reproach yourselves, but that’s just the way I am.
-What weights so much on you?
-You see, I don’t know if you believe in this sort of thing, but I have a rich heritage of more supernatural intuition and I’m quite sensitive to things beyond. I’m pretty thoroughly blessed with that curse, if you understand the double nature I’m pointing to, so I spend a lot of time taking in what that knowledge can get me. Not all of it is so joyous and light-hearted, I’m sure you can understand.
-Still, you must have a good idea of what to concern yourself with, I continued. I suppose you’re not alone with that sort of heritage here?
-No, but I’m normally the one who shows them around it, just because of the experience I have with it. My niece was very good, but she left for the United States a few years ago. Too bad, she was the closest to my eventual replacement I had.
-Interesting, I hummed. What was her name?
-Her common name was Catherine, replied the tomcat. She had a white crest right below her throat in her fur, pretty hard to miss. You know people over there yourselves?
-We have friends all over the place, smiled Rebeka. I could drop her name by a panther we know over there, just in case.
-If it happens you can get a hold of her, tell her to call home once in a while, chuckled the tomcat. For now though, it’s a good walk to the city, and I don’t think that I’d recommend it, not in this sort of night. You’re welcome to stay here, or maybe if Andrius could take a few of you in, in might make things a bit less packed.

Tired eyes didn’t resist the attraction of sleep, especially once further weighed down with the Roma hooch that honestly hit me harder then pretty much anything that I’d ever put down my beak. I broke off with Rebeka and Ivory, knocking on the wolf’s door, who quickly came over to answer and shoo us inside from the chill. His wagon was a lot more practically arranged then Karolis’, with everything packed into cupboards and on shelves as neatly as possible, leaving a lot of room to walk around, even if it was a physically smaller. My compliments went to the lupine, who even had a few spare bedrolls stashed away for us to use, and there was plenty of room for us to lie down. We sort of packed together, myself hugging against Rebeka while Ivory huddled facing away from us perpendicular to us, squeezing into a ball before going out like a light.

We woke up long before Andrius, sneaking out of his wagon to get some air. We’d only really gotten just under six hours of sleep, but honestly, it felt like more then enough to get us rolling for the rest of the day. Sitting around a fire pit aside the wolf’s, we talked away the time before Karolis came out with the rest of our friends to join us. Over a few helpings of dry sausage, we looked over the remains of a night, so to speak, just to make sure that there was nothing obvious in the daylight that our hasty cleanup might have skipped. Save for the burned circle of grass where we’d raised our little Wicker Man, there wasn’t anything to be seen, pretty much sealing the matter.

-I suppose that you’re thinking of returning to the city, commented the tomcat. Know that you’re welcome to stay though, if you want to take a few days off from your lives to see what we do here.
-Personally, I think that after all this madness in last few days, I could use a break, I commented. Rebeka, you think you can spare the time?
-I’d like to have these notes in the hands of my officers so they can send it back home, but aside from that, I don’t see why we couldn’t kick around here a while.
-I know a few men are going into town to sell some things at the markets, offered the cat, so if you’d trust them with those notes, they could find their way to your friends if you wish.
-I think that trust is something we’ve established pretty solidly, said Wings. Ah, the bohemian life, wondrous...

A group of folk passed by a few minutes later, taking the transcripts along with the name of the hotel and the room number of our associates, swearing solemnly to deliver them as soon as they could. We picked up the slack at the camp right after that, getting a good lesson in the style of knitting that Karolis used, though seeing Lamia’s nimble fingers, it was obvious that she’d done it before, and we looked a bit silly trying to compete with her as she produced a good two feet of scarf in the time it took me and Rebeka to make a pair of mittens together. The tomcat seemed a bit more interested in me as we worked, moving to sit aside me after we’d gotten into the project, looking over casually to give a bit of helpful advice whenever he saw it fit. He seemed a bit more serious as he brought up an interesting thought though, one that I didn’t really see coming.

-Malachite, I don’t know if you’re really aware of it, but you have a certain predisposition for the sort of thing that I talk about being involved in last night, said the cat as he laced his hands under his chin.
-Really? You mean I have some good mojo in my soul?
-That’s a way to put it, he laughed. If you want, I could try to show you a few things you might want to work on to try and get a better grasp on it.
-Sure! When?
-Well, seeing as how you and your good tigress are done with those mitts, I think that we could go back to my wagon and see what we can do, eh?

The incredible talent that Karolis had as a mentor and guide was simply amazing as he presented to me the realities of the world beyond, how some are naturally able to see more then mortal sight can behold, at least with the desire to do so fuelling them. Rebeka watched with wide-eyed wonder as he helped me relax and lean how to become more and more aware of the subtle energies around me. His views on what we experienced sounded as normal as those on anything in the tangible world, though it took me a while to get used to the fact that when I was under the trance that he showed me, everything which could even be considered alive had a glow to it, almost as if backlit. The cat eventually gave me a break as he saw me blinking a bit harder, commenting that it might be a good idea for me to continue whenever I have time as long as I have someone to show me the ropes back home, so to speak.

-This is a different world you’ve just flapped around, crow, said Karolis as he patted my hand. You can get a lot of surprises when you’re wandering around it, some good, some less. I don’t really recommend that you try to go ahead and explore on your own, just because at first, you can’t really tell when you’re in trouble. There are things out there that you’ll never read about, because no books have been written about them, nor hear about, because no one wants to talk about them.
-Sounds like I’m in for a ride, I said with a grin. So no one ever does this sort of thing alone?
-No, not normally. There was a fellow that came through here when my niece was here, an arctic fox, who was doing quite well on his own, but I don’t know if you’d have any luck in finding him. I suppose that based on that, it’s doable, but he was really, really skilled in the art. If you want to try, I’m nor saying it’s impossible, but still, be very careful.

We stayed at the camp for two more days, during which we exchanged a few messages with the police officers in the city, who had faxed everything we’d gathered to ‘the right people’, as Rebeka had stated, people in the Interpol that were in the best position to act on the information. From what she said, the fact they had it meant a crushing blow against the bad guys, to put it in a bit of a puerile way. I took as much time with Karolis as I could to learn from him, though when I wasn’t with him, my sweet tigress had plenty to talk about with me, half of it romantic poetry in its own right, the rest almost an almost theological discourse on what I’d gotten acquainted with in the last few days.

Even if the stay had been a pretty life-defining experience, when Rebeka and I started to talk about going back home at breakfast on the fourth day, the rest of the Maltese among us were quick to throw their opinions behind us. With that in mind and plenty more to think about, we parted ways with the Roma, giving Karolis a full set of stainless steel knitting needles in thanks for his hospitality before taking a cab back into town, linking up with those we’d left behind at the hotel. They had been far from miserable, far from that, enjoying the high quality of life that the establishment offered, looking like the least enthusiastic amongst us as we reached the airport.

Without the same urgency as before, we didn’t mind waiting a few hours for a regular flight to Marseilles, were we took one of the numerous ferries that made their way to our quiet island. All together, the return cost us the totality of the day’s sunshine, giving everyone all the more reason to scurry off to their own homes. Ivory was eager to call Geb from the airport, luckily getting hold of the very confused dog, who had become convinced that the pair of us had vanished from existence entirely. The Doberman didn’t mind the change in plans regarding my exclusion from the move, actually looking quite happy to have the ermine all to himself as he came by to pick Ivory up at the airport. I warned him that I expected to see him at the club the next day bright and early, getting a squeaking laugh from him as they rolled off.

Rebeka and I didn’t have the same sort of hurry, especially after Lamia and Wings split off as well. The sunset was as beautiful as anything as we stopped by the nearest fortifications to look at it descend over the waters.

-Hard to believe all this actually happened, sighed the tigress as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against her. It sort of when quick, didn’t it?
-Well, when things are meant to happen, they do, as quickly as the winds move them, I replied as I traced one of her forearm’s stripes’ contours with two claws. Like love.
-Like love, sighed the woman as we shared a long kiss. Say, Malachite, just on that topic, barring the traditional way to announce this...
-Yes, Rebeka?
-Would you marry me? This may be a weird way to put it to you, but what would you say? Could you live with this big kitten?
-I most certainly could, I stated as we rubbed our heads together. And you could live with a strange crow flying around you?
-Like Terra and the Moon, she giggled, of course. Hold the tigress, crow.
-For now and forever, I replied. Purr...
-Hmm, it doesn’t quite sound like mine, but I’ll take it...