Copyright PennameWombat June 2020

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This is part 4 of "Chronicle: Mel and Chris," which began in "Chronicle: Mel & Chris" and continued in part 2 of the same title. This series is a sequel to the "Mel's Phone Call" trilogy and works as part 7 of that series.

If you haven't read them I hope you'll be interested in Chris and Mel's 'origin story' in the trilogy that begin in "Mel's Phone Call" and continued in "Mel's Phone Call, Part 2" and "Mel's Phone Call, Part 3," all in 'Exhibitionist & Voyeur Stories.' Our core cast of characters were introduced there.

New characters have arrived here and you might also find my 'Geek Pride' series of interest (initial entry, 'You Promised Me Geeks' in Non-Human) as their characters are likely to drop by here now and again (and vice-versa) as well as 'Chasing Robes & Shadows' in Exhibitionist & Voyeur.

Tags: Anal Sex, College, Cum Swallowing, Cunnilingus, Fellatio, FFM, First Time, Exhibitionism, Older woman, Vibrator,

*****

Beware of Gifts from Geeks

[January 25, 1986]

Sam

"You look like shit," Sam heard from the smiling, horned, demonic presence that poured itself a mug of coffee, black hair messily askew but coal-black eyes glittery and excited. It wore a too small, worn, no longer fuzzy white bathrobe that left the entirety of its long, lovely legs exposed to the ankle socks. The robe was sort of tied but rather than hide the round and firm breasts it simply framed them. Sam knew the demon could control its image. Its wings being invisible was common but for now the tail was also hidden.

"Bleah...," Sam managed and stretched her neck as she moved her head in a 360 degree roll as she closed then opened her eyes. The demon chuckled and prepped a second mug.

"Never drink with that fucking barbarian and his giant amazon bitch," she continued but her usually clean, high voice was hoarse and trailed into a squeaky complaint, "she must have two livers or something. By the end it was tequila shots and they didn't even touch her!"

Sam accepted the steaming mug, just a dash of milk as she liked it, closed her eyes again as the hot liquid hit her tongue before she felt the warmth spread. She wore a thin tee that ended just below her crotch and over that an untied knee-length robe and her second-favorite pair of fuzzy slippers. Despite the Saturday morning January chill the house was well insulated and Sam was a tad jealous that even though this house was much larger than her little apartment from what Teresa had said her share of the heating bill was barely two-thirds what Sam paid on her own each month.

The demon laughed as Sam opened her eyes and exhaled slowly to remove one of the multiple layers of rough wool around her brain. As usual this emissary of the hadean planes was way too cheerful for whatever time it was, but especially THIS morning. She watched the infernal beast disguised as an athletically beautiful girl prep another mug.

"Oh, yeah," Sam grunted, "happy birthday Mel! Oh god, another night with alcohol!"

"We'll stick with sodas and juice," said the succubus with a grin, "come see my birthday present!"

Mel picked up the extra mug and turned to lead Sam out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The redhead lagged and topped off her mug then followed slowly, in part because bells rang in her brain with each step but being a few steps below the demon meant the bottom half of her excellent ass was visible as was a hint of closely-trimmed black with each rising step.

That sight and the coffee did wonders for her mood, then Mel altered her stride slightly to bend forward, apparently aware of the attention. Of course she was. Then she stopped with both feet just beyond shoulder width on the last stair before the landing and leaned forward at an acute angle.

"C'mon, Sam," the demon's suddenly raspy husk sliced through Sam's hangover like a knife, "give it a kiss, you're enjoying it so much."

Sam stopped with her face level with Mel's ass, saw her pink lips, the hair dried but clearly matted from activities the redhead tried not to think too deeply about because thinking hurt too much. Sam nudged the robe a bit higher with her free hand then kissed first the right then the left ass cheek, slid her hand between the legs to find with two fingers the clit that never seemed to sleep. Then she withdrew her hand as she trailed the fingers along the puffy lips. A not unpleasant aroma of plenty of sex and lust just about crowded the coffee's out of her nose.

"You've been fucking boys again," Sam said, "jeez girl..."

"A boy, give it a try sometime," she heard Mel snort, then a light laugh and the demon stepped quickly onto the landing and turned into Chris's room. Sam blinked, smiled, after a second's hesitation stepped up and followed Mel into the room.

"Ah, about time," she heard Chris say just as she saw Mel set his mug of coffee on his desk, which for some reason had two computers on it instead of the usual one. He grabbed it and 'aahhed' after a long sip.

"Well, I had to reboot this one's brain," Mel said as she nudged Chris, he turned.

"Oh, hey, hi Sam, you look like total shit...," he said, Mel's happy laugh joined with Sam's raspberry with extra tongue for his response, "I guess I should've warned you."

"Huh?" Sam's eyes scrunched as she stepped to the desk, stood to his left in front of the terminal he'd had since summer as he sat in front of some new machine, Mel at his right shoulder with an equally puzzled expression. Chris had old soccer shorts on, unfortunately not that pair, Sam thought with a touch of disappointment, and a tee.

"Yeah," Chris said with a shy smile, "Bobby's told me Anna has some sort of supernatural tolerance for the booze, said she drank him and his buddy Howard under the table over Christmas. Howard's the guy that brought us the Halloween beers and Bobby says he has only a bit of blood in his alcohol circulatory system. But she even did him in."

"Now you fucking tell us," Sam growled as Mel had to quickly recover as her laughter fit caused her to almost lose her coffee, "Teresa's liver left a farewell cruel world note on her desk..."

"Chris will make it up to you with nice hot baths and full body massages for you and Teresa," Mel said, lightly punched him in the shoulder, "right? For failing to warn any of us about the alien and her magical resistance to strong drink?"

Sam's mouth opened but she caught herself, took the statement in. She decided she'd leave it, didn't have the strength for THAT discussion right now. Change the subject.

"Yes to the massages. Now, what's that machine, you guys?"

"That's my birthday present," Mel's face brightened, her hair bounced around the horns, "Chris had phone sex with my mom he won't admit how many times to arrange it. Well, that and one of his relatives is screwing a married guy. Not the guy she's married to so Chris blackmailed her to get it for me."

"That's the prettiest computer I've ever seen," Sam said, "and, um, what? Phone sex? Blackmail?"

"Blackmail is a tawdry word, let's say I made an agreement of mutual benefit. As to the first point, I plead the fifth. But it is from her mom and me."

Sam compared it to the terminal next to it, which was a dark gray box with a screen, a gray keyboard, all hard lines, ninety degree angles. The new one also had a screen, but there the comparison ended. There were no right angles, all curved slopes to the rear, green, red and blue panels, the keyboard a darker blue, the white lettering of the keys in sharp contrast.

"It's a FruitTree Computers RedFruit," Mel chirped, "a Plus model, they just came out like, last week!"

"FruitTree?" Sam sipped her coffee as she fought through the pain to think, "oh, wait. They did that big Super Bowl commercial couple years ago?"

"Yup," Chris said, his face turned back to the screen, "back in 1984. Their older ones look more like that one next to you, but even they had colors. Now, super sleek and awesome screens. Ok, Mel, I have the terminal emulator set up to call in for the physics system at the Uni so you can check your email, what's your password and we'll test it out?"

"Hah! You think I'm telling a blackmailer and phone sex pervert like you my password?"

Sam smiled, sipped her coffee to stifle a laugh.

"Only if you want someone skilled to use your email, you'll tell me."

"Skilled? I've seen your email. When that otter isn't writing on paper he's doing your email."

"Well someone's been sending rude emails to Sandy down at Mallomar and they're not from my account," Chris said, "why do you let YOUR otter do that?"

Otters? Sandy? Mallomar? Sam was totally confused as this discussion once again approached 'Anna is an alien' levels of absurdity. She put her left hand on the desk to steady herself as the fuzzy wool retightened its grip on her brain. Her fingers nudged the RedFruit's user manual as she balanced herself and she felt a hard, smooth surface. She looked down as the pair's inexplicable otter obsession deepened.

She saw a glassy surface with straight edges and slightly rounded corners. The glass was glued or somehow connected to some sort of hard, gray material behind it. She nudged the user manual off until she saw it was about the size of a large book, but had no markings other than a tiny, dark spot in the center of the 'top' edge, the one furthest from her. It was uniformly gray. Except.

"Hey, guys," she said in a stutter voice as their discussion had somehow escalated to involve assassin versus ninja otters, "hey... CHRIS! MEL!"

The spasm in her brain informed her of its unhappiness at her volume. But at least otters quit being discussed. The pair stopped, their eyes slightly wide as both heads snapped to look at her, the faces ghosted smiles.

"Um, what the hell is this thing?"

She looked down and tapped it with her finger, saw two mouths move from those smiles into 'ohs' of surprise as their eyes followed her gaze down to stare at the object.

"And why is there a little red light blinking in the corner of it?"

Sam's finger hovered over the glass at the 'top' left corner, although she didn't know if it had a 'top' or 'bottom' or whatever. She had the impression the blinking had started when she'd tapped it. Chris leaned toward the item and Mel stepped quickly to squeeze between him and the redhead, Sam fortunately reacted quickly enough to move her coffee and avoided the whirlwind of arrival sending it flying.

The whole of the glass seemed to flash dimly as the red light brightened. A glow spread to the whole glass surface and started to brighten slowly.

"Oh, shit...," Sam heard in stereo.

Phone Home?

[January 25]

Chris

"What's it doing?" Sam's question was met with murmurs.

The screen's glow stayed soft, with a handful of tiny black square dots spread randomly around the surface. Only the pinprick red light dimmed and brightened on a cycle a few seconds long. Mel handed Chris her coffee mug and he set it on the desk on the far side of the RedFruit.

"It's booting up, Sam," Chris said, "I think."

"Booting up? Like I said, what the hell is this thing?"

"Either the greatest thing in the world," even Mel was subdued, "or a major, major problem."

The red light dimmed and steadied. A window opened that covered most of the top half of the screen and unrecognizable lines of symbols ran across it and scrolled, lines disappeared at the top for a few long heartbeats before they stopped.

"It's called a padlet, Sam," Mel continued as they watched the screen, "and no one on this planet made it."

Sam drank the last of her coffee and eyed the mug longingly.

"If I go downstairs and get more coffee and come back will it still be here?"

"Not sure," she looked at Chris, "the aliens might break in and take it."

Chris smiled at Sam who stood with her mouth slightly open, frozen. Between them Mel stared at the padlet.

"Aliens..., Anna...," Sam said slowly and Chris shrugged.

"Chris..."

All eyes went back to the padlet. A line of unreadable symbols formed across the screen a third of the way from the bottom. With one recognizable word.

'Fred.'

Below that were four white buttons on the screen, a line of text under each.

"Those look like Russian and Chinese—-," Mel said.

"And that one is apparently alien," Chris said, "so I think I we choose..."

He tapped the one with 'English' under it. The text in the window scrolled again but this time in English.

'Hello, Fred. Battery is critically low but is charging using an unknown nearby device.'

"Is Fred the alien?" Sam's question.

"Dunno, I...," Chris stopped and looked at the RedFruit, "shit, it's somehow been charging from the RedFruit all night."

'Power too low for communication, cannot yet communicate with unidentified nearby device or ultranet. Continue charging for one hour for minimal use.'

The window dissolved and a timer appeared at the top left and an indicator in the shape of a battery outline.

"We have some time," Chris said, "but I don't know—-"

He went quiet as the screen brightened before a rectangular window covered the lower two-thirds of the screen and it displayed two people, a picture taken from their waists up to show their entire upper bodies and heads.

No. Not people.

"Holy frog balls," Mel said, "aliens."

The creature on the left from their view was apparently the male and it was a female around whose shoulders the male's left arm rested. At least, the one had breasts, under some sort of beige short-sleeved one-piece jumpsuit garments both wore. The bodies were reasonably human in proportion and shape except for their faces and very pale skin. The female was maybe an inch shorter but no scale for their actual heights, the background an unmarked gray wall. The female's hair a reddish-blonde, the male's brown, both cut short.

"Their noses look like cats, and hey, pointed ears. They're elves!" Sam's usually smooth high pitch wavered up and down, a strong note of anxiety.

"No lips, no wait, sort of but same color as their skin. And they have designs on—-," Mel's voice slow.

"In. Under their skin," Chris interjected, Mel nodded with a barley audible 'ah.'

"Paisley, paisley cloth."

"Yeah, like that ugly chair your dad sits in," Mel chuckled and nudged Chris.

"Hey, guys...," Sam's voice wasn't calmer.

"Sam... sorry," Mel put her left arm around the shorter woman's shoulders and pulled her close, "we've been right. From the beginning."

"I'm...," Mel grabbed Sam's mug and braced her, nudged her to the second chair in front of Chris's monitor and helped her sit down. She leaned her head against Mel just above the demon's hip and closed her eyes.

"She okay?" Chris's expression was worried.

Mel looked down then at Chris and nodded. Chris squinted at the padlet then at Mel and nodded down, she leaned forward but kept Sam braced. He put his finger an inch away from the faces on the screen.

'Gold eyes, both of them,' Chris mouthed, Mel's eyes widened a bit then she nodded, 'Asha. Aron.'

'Shit.'

The eyes were more oval or almond-shaped than round and had no whites. Each had some sort of black watch on their left wrist.

"The timer is at fifty-five," Chris said, "before it says it'll start broadcasting. Maybe I can find an off button."

"Broadcasting? Is it a radio?" Sam's eyes popped open.

"Yeah, Sam, sorta," Mel squeezed her shoulders.

"Good it's not in the storeroom then," Sam's voice was fast and thin.

"Storeroom? Why, Sam?" Chris tried to get her to talk and hopefully calm down.

"Teresa and me took her boom box in there. Promised her uncle we'd sort out everything, use the oldest up first. Wanted to listen to the radio. Bzzt. Nothing, wouldn't work."

Chris and Mel looked at her.

"Ok, yeah, I've looked at the walls and they're way overkill, must've meant it to be a bomb shelter. It wouldn't have been hard to put in EMF shielding," Chris said, "most people just put up a bunch of shelves in a corner. Like that upstairs room, they don't do half measures in this house."

"I definitely didn't do anywhere near enough research before I decided to move to this state, you people here are weirdos," Mel huffed, Sam's strained laughter was only barely from amusement.

"Weird? You're all fucking insane!" Sam said but her voice had a strong streak of anxiety.

"We have time. Mel, we should take the RedFruit down there too. They have power outlets. Hell, I should've realized when I saw that. And that water tap. Maybe take Sam downstairs? I'll—-"

"I'm ok," Sam said, stood, nudged Mel then wrapped her in a hug, "I'm going back to bed and when I wake up this dream will be over."

She released Mel and strode quickly out the door, Mel followed.

"She made it ok," Mel said, "at least to the next level."

Chris moved to the RedFruit's keyboard.

"Shutting it down, we'll run it all downstairs. There's room on the shelves for them both. We'll let it power up and hope if it blocks AM/FM it'll block whatever this uses. So long as it can reach the RedFruit."

"Loss of power source," Mel read, "need to restore."

The screen went dark except for the red light and that message in dim white text.

Chris jumped out of the chair and scrambled to unplug the RedFruit's power and modem cords. He gathered it and grunted as he collected it all in his arms.

"I've got the padlet, let's go," Mel followed him, "you know what's the freakiest part of this?"

"Freakier than apparent pictures of aliens?"

"Those gold eyes. How the hell...," she followed him down the stairs, at the bottom of the second set they saw Teresa's bedroom door closed.

"So there's Asha and Aron's eyes, Peter's message talked about green eyes which Anna has. Whatever the hell they are, whatever they really look like, let's hope there's some answers on this thing."

He led them into the storeroom and Mel pulled the door closed.

Chris grunted and directed her to a spot and she moved a large sealed container of wheat, he set the RedFruit into the spot and grabbed the cord and plugged it in. Mel set the RedFruit to the left side of it as Chris powered it up.

"Shit, cold down here," Mel said.

"Yeah, it is," he swirled a finger around one of her very erect nipples and each put an arm around the other's waist.

A few minutes later the padlet redisplayed the picture of the apparent alien pair. The human pair smiled. The padlet beeped and they jumped.

'Unknown device restored.'

"Sure this isn't an elaborate prank? Those gold eyes an inside joke?"

"No. This screen reminds me of liquid crystal displays, you know, like in the calculator you have," she had a doubtful look, "there's even tiny televisions, we just don't have the tech for this big yet. No one's spending the millions for this prank."

She kissed him.

"I'm going upstairs, get us some sweats," he 'brrred' in agreement, "get a couple of those folding chairs and we'll see what happens."

Falling, Falling, Falling

[February, 1986]

Chris and Mel sat in the last booth at Bill 'n Ada's, along the wall to their left side in a section without windows. Past any sort of dinner time but the bars didn't close for a couple of more hours so just a handful of tables or booths had diners. Rose had two glass coffee carafes and stood next to the couple's booth and three sets of eyes turned toward the woman who'd just entered, her shoulder-length dirty blonde hair in a loose perm. She had a worn dark brown leather jacket over a blue blouse and high-waisted jeans that fit the current style. Chris guessed she was similar in age to Maria's mid-thirties but her paler skin showed the remnants of slightly too enthusiastic tanning in her past. But she matched Dave's description and she'd obviously IDed them as soon as she'd entered. In their bare feet she and Mel would be pretty well eye to eye.
The detective maintained a friendly but not broad smile as she approached them. Chris didn't notice an obvious gun under the jacket but wondered about the purse that had its strap over her left shoulder.

"Coffee, dear?" The waitress lifted one of the carafes quickly.

"No thanks, Rose," she read the name tag, "but I'll have a tea if you have it."

"Can do." She strode toward the other diners on her resupply run.

Chris tried to hide his smile, this policewoman may as well have been recording them.

Mel sat on the outer edge of the booth bench, Chris against the wall. The demon was in jeans, just plain old regular jeans. And had a red blouse on. A tight and too small red blouse. A way too tight very see through red blouse. A way too tight very see through red blouse with no bra. Mel flashed her smile when the woman's eyes lingered a moment too long on breasts concealed only by transparent red fabric.

Beyond that 'shirt' Mel's black curls and waves bunched on top of her head to fall over her shoulders and onto her back and denied recent use of a comb or brush. This time it was the two red-black horns whose points jutted from that hair that caught the woman's eyes.

A final couple of blinks when it was Mel's devil's tail that caught her eye.

"Joyce Shaw, we presume?"

Mel's voice was pitched lower than normal and with more rasp.

"That's me, you're Mel, I take it?"

"Mel Caldicott," she extended her right arm and Shaw took it, "join us."

"Chris Bajevic," the young man followed suit and she shook his hand across the table, "you're Dave's friend?"

"Not so much Dave's friend as Peter's. Peter Miller's."

Warned by Dave the couple simply nodded and Chris continued.

"And you're a detective, Joyce?"

"Yes. But this is personal. Not official business."

"We'd noticed from what few articles that were in the press you'd not taken his disappearance all that seriously," Mel tried to keep her voice neutral but there was a hint of accusation in it.

"Don't confuse official response to what I and others might've felt. I wasn't in position back then to force anything. I tried but there are things I didn't know back then. Like who Cat was. Is."

"The reporter who doesn't report on herself," Chris laughed, looked up as Rose brought Joyce a mug of hot water and the ubiquitous tea bag.

"You three be wanting food tonight?"

"Just a plate of fries, Rose, you want to share some, Joyce? They have pretty decent chocolate cake, too. Best kept secret in town."

She shook her head

"No dessert for us, he owes me ice cream," Mel bumped her shoulder into Chris and smiled at him. Rose walked off with a light laugh.

"So why are you two interested in Peter? I know you're in comp sci like he was, Chris, but you're too young to have met him, right? It's coming up on five years that he went missing."

"This one, mostly," Chris nodded at Mel, who smiled softly, "I introduced her to friends as 'my demon' and well, everyone made me explain that."

"He saw through my disguise of just being a girl from North Dakota," Mel said with a lighter rasp, "and so now I just let the horns and tail show. But back then..."

"It was Dave's fault."

"Dave? I know he's one of your TAs..."

"He said Peter always called that Carole girl 'my succubus.' His demon. So after they disappeared it sort of became tradition that on the rare occasions us CS guys got beautiful girlfriends they became 'our demons.' So this one..."

"But apparently Dave's not so happy about that anymore," Mel said and shrugged, "he said Asha didn't react well to it. But they all call me 'devil girl' so it's okay for me."

"But how does that—-," Shaw started.

"Getting there," Chris said, "when we were looking up info to work out the orbit of that crashed satellite Mel looked up the info about Peter and Carole in the newspaper microfiche. There wasn't much. It was like they disappeared into thin air and there's never been word from them and hardly anyone even noticed. We even found his ex-housemates, talked to them just after Thanksgiving. They've never heard anything, are certain he'd have dropped them a line if he could."

"And his family," Mel picked up the thread, "is pretty crap. But I guess you know all about them..."

Shaw snorted, nodded.

"But why do you keep talking about 'that satellite' that crashed? It was just a meteor."

The younger couple looked at each other and Mel poked her chin at the pile of their coats between Chris and the wall. He reached over and revealed a small pack, opened it and pulled out a video cassette and handed it across.

"Watch this. It'll explain it. But hide that, don't take it out until you're at home. And make sure your blinds are closed. But, there are two more still in orbit, we proved it."

Shaw raised an eyebrow but she slipped the cassette after a momentary hesitation into the small bag she'd been told to bring. Chris followed with an enlarged picture and set it on the table.

"See this fuzzy line?" Mel traced her finger across the disk recognisable as Jupiter. There was a fine arced line across the bottom quarter.

"My drudge here took this when we were up in the Unitas," Chris snorted at Mel's description, "we have others but this one is about the best. That tape is our press conference last September at Mt. Mallomar observatory with their astronomers. These satellites are almost invisible. We have theories how they do that, but well, not go into that here.."

"Press conference? Never made the news..."

"Of course not. Black Cloud here blew up a star the same day we did it. That's all the news cared about."

Mel reached over and play-punched Chris on the shoulder at that. Shaw heard a laugh over her shoulder and turned, saw Rose set the plate of fries down in the Center of the table.

"Refills?" Chris and Mel both shook their heads at their half-full Coke glasses.

"Black Cloud?" Shaw's expression was confused.

"First night I was in town, he takes me up to a park on the hills to show me the lights across the valley. He'd made me get my tits out and was molesting me when we saw the flaming satellite fly across the sky."

"Molest?" Shaw said slowly.

"That's ok, I was molesting him back."

"Right. Sure. That was, what, late June?"

"Yup. So he's Black Cloud. Even his family calls him that. He crashed a satellite and blows up stars because he knows I'm obsessed with astronomy and it turns me on so he can get into my pants."

"This is all wild," Shaw said, "but what does it all have to do with Peter and Carole?"

"The aliens, the ones in those satellites, kidnapped him. Carole was helping them."

Chris picked up the discussion while Shaw stared open-mouthed.

"With the Mallomar folks we worked out they've been up there ten years or so. But they've had us under observation lots longer, remote probes and even a previous expedition that seems to have disappeared. We don't know for sure where they're from—"

"I'm pretty sure I know where," Mel said firmly, "that star that blew up. They're from there, escaping. Need a new home. Earth."

"But they need more info about us humans. Why not recruit beautiful spies like Carole. Succubesses. They seduce men like Peter, who are smart, know all of our technology and don't have families who'll make a big fuss if they disappear."

Shaw sipped again at her tea while the pair munched on fries and sucked up their cokes.

"But why kidnap him? If they have invisible satellites can't they just spy?"

"They have plans," Mel's voice was again firm.

Chris rummaged in his pack again, glanced around and pulled out some pictures. He put the first one down and saw Shaw nod, it was the picture he'd taken at Halloween. Bobby had been a barbarian with a huge sword strapped across his back, Anna had been a red, white and blue Amazon warrior in knee-high boots.

"Anna...," Shaw said softly.

"The guy is our friend Bobby and yeah, that's his girlfriend Anna. She claims her parents were church missionaries and she was born in Africa and grew up with them moving around the world until they finally settled in Nashville when she was a teen."

"Ok," Shaw said as she looked at the couple's picture, "I couldn't place her accent because she has too many, that upbringing would do it."

"But that's just a story. She's an alien."

"Um, what?" Shaw's head snapped to look at Mel.

"She calls herself 'Anna Miller,'" Mel said, "and we're pretty sure she drives Peter's old Boss 351 Mustang. Carole was helping them somehow make women like her. Because..."

Chris shuffled that picture and exposed a second one. Shaw's jaw dropped when she saw it.

"We're guessing," Chris said, "they look like this. So somehow they're altering themselves or humans. We don't know yet."

Chris laid the photo he'd taken of the padlet's home screen, the cat-elf alien couple with the golden eyes. Shaw's reaction was a surprise.

"Anna...," Shaw said calmly as she put a finger on the bottom edge of the picture.

"Anna? Anna was the other picture...," Mel said, for the first time not assured and confused by the policewoman's calm.

"No," Shaw said, "five years ago Halloween. Peter wasn't with Carole but was with a woman named Anna. Another Anna. Has Dave seen this?"

"Um, no," Chris said slowly, "just our friend Sam. She used to just think we're crazy, now she's convinced."

Shaw chuckled and put her finger on the female in the picture.

"She looked like this, mostly. She had..."

Shaw's voice trailed off but it was unclear if the emotion in her voice was anger or sadness. Most likely both.

"It was Halloween," she snapped, "everyone thought it was a costume. Peter told me he didn't think it was. She had heterochromia, two different colored eyes, one was green, and a port wine stain. Here."

She rubbed her left cheek.

"She had this same kind of reddish-blonde hair, but more blonde than this picture. Months before he disappeared. He was really attracted to her. He... had a thing about heterochromia. And she had great tits," Shaw continued, "so ok, your friend, this new Anna, I saw her and Bobby at the Broiler. She does have one hell of a rack."

"Mine are pathetic next to hers," Mel sniffed, "and apparently Dave doesn't think I compare to Carole's either!"

"And Jayne, the Cat," Chris added, "she's got a hell of a set too."

At that Mel's elbow in his ribs forced out a grunt but he laughed.

"Dave swears," Shaw said slowly, "that Jayne was disguised as a Cat and was Anna's driver that Halloween way back when."

"She makes a great Cat! And she was with Carole," Mel said, "the day before they disappeared."

"But since she filmed us on Halloween she seems like she's avoiding us," Chris said, "but we know she and Anna hang out."

"Yeah," Shaw said, "they were at the Broiler together during that robbery and all that."

"Oh, yeah, Bobby told us about it. He was really pissed he didn't get to take anyone down."

"Probably for the best," Shaw's best policewoman voice, "but how the hell did you get this picture?"

"It's my birthday party tomorrow night," Chris said, "come to our place and we'll show you. It's kinda, well, sensitive. But it's a costume party."

"And we're being watched," Mel said firmly, "need to be careful. I mean, I like people watching, I don't even mind the aliens watching us, you know, but for some things..."

Shaw was silent for a moment.

"How?"

"They have invisible, well, stealth, little probes. About the size of soccer balls, they fly around and can hover in one spot."

Chris shuffled the pictures once more, revealed a fuzzy, out of focus landscape.

"I know what I'm doing with a camera," Chris said, "I took the space pictures. But this is all I get trying to get these damn spy balls."

"Shit...," Shaw said, "I've seen pictures like that. When Peter was with the first Anna."

"Wait," Shaw added quickly, "these are invisible?"

"It's stealth, not really invisibility," Chris said, "hard as hell to see but not impossible. We've only ever seen one at a time, no idea how many but they seem to check us out now and again."

"We've given them a couple of shows," Mel's rasp deepened and her hand shifted to high on Chris's left thigh, "they stuck around until we were finished. Probably got that on continuous loop somewhere."

Shaw blinked and shook her head, grinned but went serious.

"Think they follow this new Anna around? If she is what you say?"

The pair nodded, Mel added, "probably sometimes at least."

"Like at the Broiler? I can't explain why a nimble young sneak thief slash drug dealer fell through a roof hatch. Broke his neck."

"Yeah, Jayne's reports mentioned that."

"Could've been an accident. But he had some wound on the back of his head. Autopsy said he probably hit it on the ladder when he broke his neck. But I wonder. If one of those hit him on the back of the head, could they do that?"

Mel and Chris looked at each other then back at her.

"I'd guess," Chris said slowly, "pretty sure they're likely metal of some sort. Might be heavy, use some sort of anti-gravity. They fly, don't float like balloons."

Shaw finished her tea and nodded.

"Thanks."

Chris Turns Twenty-two

[March 1, 1986]

Sam

"I've got it," Sam said at the sound of the front doorbell. Her gown swished and her eyes again ran down her body. She'd liked the translucent white gown at first sight when Mel had presented it to her the previous weekend. Her Angel two dot zero costume. The shock had been when Mel had pulled an opaque white g-string from behind her back and said 'this is all you're wearing under it.'

Mel had tried to convince her to not even wear the g-string. True, she'd thought, the gown's drape and movement meant it wasn't like she was naked. But the views offered were past what she'd shown at Halloween. Well, mostly. But with Teresa supporting Mel Sam had agreed but she'd had second thoughts on the day of the party.

Until Mel had come downstairs just as she and Teresa had finished getting dressed. Both jaws had dropped.

"Ah, Teresa Bond, superspy, and my mortal angel enemy! What do you think of my new demonic look? Better than the last one?"

"How can this skirt be SHORTER than that one you had on at Halloween? And how do you wear these platform heels? How high ARE those?"

"Inch in front, six back," Mel spun and her tail flew in a circle and swished when she'd stopped. Her legs were in black stockings that reached her mid-thighs where red garter straps met them. Her long-sleeved black blazer was lined with silky deep red material and it reached only a few inches below the firm braless tits that were momentarily exposed when the blazer flew open.

"I see you trimmed extra short," Teresa's turn as Sam snorted, "and it matches. You really like black and red."

"Chris REALLY likes black and red..."

"Ah, explains much. You're braver than me," Sam shook her head.

"Why bother with such a cute little skirt if I'd just be showing off underwear? Same with the top! Now, ready to go upstairs?"

"Last question," Sam leaned and looked closely at Mel's bare chest flesh in the gap of the unbuttoned blazer, "how the hell are those wings hooked on?"

The glossy black wings had flapped as she'd spun, they stuck through a tight slit in the blazer which didn't allow skin to be seen but there was otherwise no obvious brace or other support.

"A girl gets to have a few secrets," Mel's deep raspy purr left no room for argument, both women exhaled with closed-mouth laughs.

"Anyway," Teresa pointed behind her to a low shape covered by a towel, "cake's ready. I still cannot believe..."

"Best kept secret," Mel laughed, "Dave's bringing the pizzas so after that. Plenty of ice cream in the freezer..."

She'd turned and led the pair up the stairs.

"Oh, uh, Officer," Sam said as she looked through the open doorway at the tallish dirty-blonde woman in what she sensed was an authentic police uniform and a medium-weight service jacket. A quick look showed a pair of handcuffs on their belt loop but not the rest of the equipment she'd expect. And no gun. Just a bottle of wine cradled along her left arm.

"I'm Joyce, Joyce Shaw, Chris and Mel invited me," the policewoman introduced herself quickly, apparently she'd read Sam's expression. Sam's intuition told her that she probably was a cop. It was the kind of thing Chris and Mel would do, but why?

"I was told it's a costume party, unless that's what YOU wear every Saturday," Shaw smiled and Sam decided she was right.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, your costume is very, um, authentic, I'm Sam. My uncle and cousin are both police officers in San Francisco."

They both stood there a couple of heartbeats.

"Oh, hey, come in," Sam stepped back and Shaw entered and looked around. A thin young woman almost as tall as Shaw with very short sandy slicked back hair and wearing a tuxedo met her and reached out a hand.

"Teresa," she said as Shaw took her hand, "Teresa Bond."

"Joyce Shaw. I brought a bottle of wine, I guess some of you are old enough."

She handed it to Teresa.

"Most of us. Except Mel. She's crazy enough without it. Ah, I like cab sav, and it's in a bottle! Geez Sam, you're from California and you never bring me wine in actual glass bottles. Just boxes."

The redhead stuck out her tongue and blew a loud raspberry.

"Terry, c'here," the young man had the same thin build and sandy hair as Teresa, and excused himself from his conversation with a couple of other guys about his age. His only concession to a costume was what looked like an old rugby jersey and faded jeans.

"Terry Bingham, Joyce Shaw," the two shook hands, "Terry, show Joyce around and put her coat away and take her to Chris and Mel. And since Pam's not coming..."

Terry exhaled quickly at that and his eyes flashed at his sister but then he managed a sad smile.

"Think they're upstairs, we'll work our way there."

"Thanks," Shaw said and she followed the young man.

"Is she really a cop?" Teresa said as they watched Terry lead Shaw deeper into the house.

"Yup...,' Sam said, "that's a real uniform but she took her rank off. And with the wine I guess she's not here on official business. No gun, but maybe the cuffs are for something she and Chris and Mel have planned..."

"You have a dirty mind, redhead," Teresa laughed and put her arm around Sam's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

They laughed again when they saw both Terry's and the policewoman's jaws go slack at the landing near the stairwells, their gazes made clear someone was coming up from the basement. They couldn't quite hear what Terry said but both he and Shaw smiled at each other and he stepped out the side door to where the beer keg had been surrounded by ice in a large metal wash tub. A moment later Mel appeared on the landing and the two pairs of eyes widened as the demon wrapped the older woman in a tight hug. After a moment she led Shaw up the stairs.

"I think they've met...," mused Sam.

"They're in Chris's room," Terry told Sam and Teresa around twenty minutes later when he'd showed off the large second floor rec room and the new Segtendo Entertainment System video game console, "I've got a queue of people to play Duck Hunt up there, keep 'em busy until Chris and Mel finish with whatever they're doing with Joyce."

The Segtendo was only supposed to be available in the New York area for the next few months but thanks to Chris's cousin and her illicit electronics selling paramour they'd been able to run the blockade to acquire it. A raft of attendees had arrived on the policewoman's heels. With the guest of honor missing Terry had found the one way to keep them from questioning that.

Sam quirked an eyebrow at Terry's lilted tone for the police woman's name, she didn't think he'd seen it as he'd headed back upstairs. He hadn't seemed to take the breakup with Pam all THAT hard but Teresa had implied he'd bottled up a fair amount. Shaw was attractive enough, but she had to be fifteen years older than anyone else here. Ah, well. It wouldn't be one of our parties without some weird shit going down.


Chris



"It's really impressive, isn't it?"

Chris smiled as his back was turned to Mel and someone else as he finished setting up the VCR. He wore a tight sleeveless vest and his very tight leather pants from Halloween and turned, his arms weren't thick but his shoulders and chest were nothing but taut muscle.

"Oh, hey, hi Joyce. Just setting up the VCR to record the news, apparently our favorite reporter gets a prime slot recapping all about the Broiler and plenty of other things this gang's been doing. Including that assault by their old boss up at the dorms. Anna wants us to record it since we'll all be busy."

Chris flashed a look at a grinning Mel as the detective's eyes lingered as she scanned his body before she finally locked her eyes on his.

"Um, yeah, Jayne interviewed a few of us officers but only Pearson got his mug on air, we like to cooperate when it's a cautionary tale. I had the impression Asha and Tracy weren't very, oh, cooperative."

Shaw's eyes widened as Mel unhooked her leash from her waist. She attached it to a hook on the leather strap around Chris's neck.

The demon led them across the landing to a door. Chris pulled a key out of a snug pocket and opened the door and the pair ushered Shaw into what was a large bedroom, a desk along the far wall with a standard gray computer on it the only unusual piece of furniture. Mel led Chris and they pulled the door closed then she pulled him to a pair of bookshelves attached to the wall and he grabbed a Coke can.

"Take a look at this," he said as he offered the can to Shaw.

Shaw rotated the can. The top had never been popped but it had apparently exploded outward, a jagged metal split from the top and down a third the length of the can. It appeared to be singed or burned.

"What's this?"

"We told you about that spot in Bonneville Glen? The housemates told us Peter and Carole would take Cokes to the Glen with them and that last day they'd taken two. This one was hidden, not easy to find."

"Garbage," Mel chimed in, "we were picking up garbage other people left and found it hidden behind a wall. But that was also good, kept the sun off of it and away from the worst of the weather."

"Do you know what happened to it?"

"Not for sure," Chris said, "but the tear sorta looks like electrical arcing. Saw it doing welding when things would go wrong. I cut a bit off, right there, and used a microscope at school, definitely some melting each side of the split."

He pointed to a cut out gap, Shaw nodded.

"So you think someone shocked this? Up there? That doesn't make sense."

"Does if you have a ray gun. But I don't think even a stun gun would do this."

"No," Shaw said as she rotated the can a few more times, "and the force hereabouts at least didn't have them back in '81. We're only just experimenting now, only a handful around. Back then, they were like hen's teeth."

"That's if WE made it," Mel's wings shivered as her body shook with her emphatic statement, "but WE didn't. Peter and Carole were in their spot in the Glen and were surprised."

Shaw rotated the can a last time before she handed it back to Chris, who returned it to the shelf, with the split hidden to the back. Just an inexplicable souvenir in a college guy's bedroom.

"Kind of thin evidence, though. My lieutenant would laugh at me. And we DID search up there, we had a ranger take officers to all of the nooks. No sign anyone was injured enough to bleed badly, it's all tiny gravel, no way anyone could clean that up."

"Star Trek," Mel said, "phasers. Maybe the can was a demonstration. 'We'll do this to you.' Or maybe it has a stun setting."

"Mel, I appreciate your..."

Chris and Mel looked at each other, frowned slightly, looked back at the suddenly silent Shaw before Mel spoke softly.

"Joyce, you ok?"

"Motherfu... the Church. The black robe."

"Your turn to speak in code, detective," Chris chuckled.

"Five years ago, Halloween, Chris, you're a local, right?"

He nodded.

"That derelict church that burned down. You remember? Where the Gatewest Center is now?

"Oh, yeah. The biker gang lived there, right? It was THAT Halloween? Shit!"

"Close enough. That was where Peter and I ran into each other. That was when he was with Anna. The other Anna, the cat or elf or whatever one I told you about last night. The one who matched that picture."

The pair nodded.

"He'd brought them all to the Church. I was there undercover. After the fire started we saved a girl, a friend of his, she was being chased by people in black robes who had some ass-kicking knives. Peter took out the guy but the second, a woman, might've gotten him but she went into a fit, her whole body in a spasm and she went down. I remember now, I thought I smelled ozone. But hell, the place was full of smoke and fire. Who knows."

"Ozone," Chris said, "like after lightning. Or some sort of electrical shock."

"Chris," Mel's voice was quiet and she turned to look at a window with its closed blinds, "the little probes. Could they have?"

"Probes? The invisible ones you told me about?"

"Sure. You said this Anna was inside," Chris said, "could floating balls have gotten inside? They really aren't big, bit bigger than soccer or basketballs. They'd keep an eye on her I'm sure..."

Shaw glanced and sat down in an office chair in front of the desk.

"Yeah, the place had old stained glass windows up high in the front and around the sides but they'd been removed or busted years before. Some holes had been covered but not all of them. Plenty big enough."

They were all silent.

"And, your picture. The fuzzy one. We had the same thing, any pictures that might've shown Anna and Cat. And they had two big, muscular guards with them. They just looked like big, solid people. Normal faces except for the dark glasses. Pale skin."

"Like 'new' Anna," Mel said.

"C'mon," she continued as she led Chris by his leash again and she paused at the door, her bright raspiness returned and strengthened, "let's get downstairs before everyone thinks we're up here fucking. Unless, Joyce..."

Mel gave her the look again, just the tip of her tongue between her teeth as she and a grinning Chris looked at Shaw then Mel looked at the bed and back at the detective.

Joyce's mouth moved but no words came but she managed to shake her head slightly.

"Ok. We'll wait until Anna gets here and spring the other surprise with her."



Sam



Sam wandered the ground floor and assured people not checking out the video game setup the birthday boy would make a cameo appearance and made sure people had drinks and snacks. With Mel not sponging up the testosterone Sam caught plenty of eyes as her gown offered fleeting clear views of her pale white breasts and their small pink and at the moment very erect nipples. She felt a hand on her ass and a voice in her ear.

"You're getting as bad as Mel," it was Teresa, "teasing the poor boys. And this hot ass you're showing off."

"Maybe I should take this g-string off, eh...," Sam said when the doorbell rang and someone from the kitchen called Teresa.

"Go," said Sam and she took a few steps to get to the front door and opened it.

"Holy shit," she snapped, "Asha, do you and Mel shop at the same store?"

"What, Sam, is she dressed like a pirate too?"

"Um, you and her have the same top on. Well, she doesn't have the bustier under hers, she, um, doesn't have anything under hers."

Asha snorted and the long and curved white feather in her black, broad-brimmed cavalier hat shook and the crimson hair that cascaded from under it highlighted her face and the one golden eye not covered by a patch. Her long black skirt and the white petticoat under it both had long slits to her crotch that seemed designed to offer plentiful views.

"Hey, Sam, these are getting cold," she turned toward the voice at Asha's right, it was Dave, he had three pizza boxes.

She stepped back and Asha led her retinue into the house. Cheers broke out as folks saw or smelled the pizzas.

"Put 'em the table just there," Sam pointed to the new arrivals' right.

"Hey, teach," Asha's brother Aron had three more pizza boxes, "this is Brandi. Brandi, my instructor Sam. I've mentioned her."

"Hi, Aron, good to see you," Sam said and Asha snorted, "nice to meet you, Brandi."

"Hi," Brandi's voice dripped with, something, Sam couldn't quite place it but the greeting wasn't overly enthusiastic. But Sam smiled at the willowy blonde who carried bags with what smelled like garlic bread.

She knew Asha and Aron were fraternal twins, just like her girlfriend and Terry. But unlike those two, the pirate and the Roman legionnaire both had only that smooth and beautiful latte colored skin and those unique golden eyes in common. They otherwise offered little resemblance. Aron was thin, lithe, but he'd helped her carry some equipment in the lab and was strong. His long milk chocolate brown hair was wavy and definitely didn't mesh with his Roman soldier's costume. But it did show off his nice legs, not quite Chris's Sam thought, but few were.

Sam didn't know his sister well, the 'other' redhead now, only a couple of fleeting meetings. She wasn't quite Mel's height but softer, curvier and beautiful and with this costume seemed determined to challenge the demon for everyone's attention. The bustier simply pushed those huge tits up and left the nipples exposed and Sam was pretty sure she had nothing under that skirt although it had been only a quick glimpse. But even though her almost knee-height boots had wild heels, she still wouldn't catch the demon in hers.

Third-hand accounts from Chris via Dave had her as friendly, outgoing, recently recovered from a broken ankle over Thanksgiving. Her knife-wielding heroics at the Broiler robbery and kidnapping wasn't anything anyone had expected. Sam couldn't quite read her expression as she directed her three companions in laying out the feast but chuckled a bit as it was obvious that was all she was going to do.

Sam had the thought she should get knives, forks, in case anyone wanted them but then Asha turned and stared and the formerly noisy crowd of classmates and soccer teammates went absolutely silent.

She saw Mel and a leashed Chris pause, demonic coal black eyes locked onto a single exposed piratical gold eye. Sam shivered. The sudden electricity between the two vixens could've powered the neighborhood. No, thought Sam, maybe half of the state. Without moving her gaze Mel's left hand unhooked the leash from the ring on the leather band around Chris's neck, coiled it and reattached it to her waistband. Asha stood with her hands on her hips and her right leg angled outward to open a slit on her skirt.

After a moment both of them stepped forward slowly so their blazers moved just enough to award a quick clear view to anyone with a lucky angle. Both shuffled again and Sam confirmed two things. Asha had no underwear and she definitely shaved. Sam wondered if the scabbard on that redhead's right thigh had a real knife. The stories of the Broiler incident said it probably did.

Sam also confirmed Mel hadn't donned underwear while she'd been upstairs.

Then each young woman stepped forward and met halfway but to Sam's surprise it wasn't Mel's usual hug. They took each other's hands but stood at a distance.

"So many sailors you've sent to their willing dooms," Sam had never heard Mel's usually deep voice so langrous, rasped, a sensual purr that forced her thighs to rub together and moisture pushed against her g-string.

"The souls you've devoured screamed in joy," Asha's voice was the opposite end of the register, a slow soprano that flowed over Sam like syrup.

"That's a lovely bustier and skirt, pirate captain."

"I couldn't let you get all the attention like Halloween, girl-child of the underworld."

Sam looked at Teresa and thought to drag her downstairs and fuck her brains out. Right now. Then she looked at Chris and the memory of sitting on his face at Halloween while Mel fucked him forced its way in, not to mention Mel's encouragement for the angel to wrap her mouth around his gooey cock when he came. She closed her eyes for a heartbeat to calm herself and then saw the slack faces around the room. Shit. She may as well lose the g-string. No one here was going to pay the least attention to her the rest of the evening. Hell. Lose the gown. Just keep the halo.

"Thank you for bringing the pizzas. Good you could make it."

"Wouldn't be anywhere else."

Chris lessened the spell when he stepped forward and shook Dave's hand, the latter did quick introductions to the rest of Asha's party. Mel released the crimson pirate's hands and she quickly hugged Dave to elicit another electric arc before she greeted Aron and a glum looking Brandi. That blonde's tiny and tight toga around her small but absolutely perfect bust and her long bare legs would've made her the talk of any and every other party.

"A question, Sam," it was the policewoman, Shaw, who'd somehow slid around the crowd to stand next to her, "does Mel ever wear a bra? Or panties?"

Sam smiled and took a slow breath.

"Not unless she has good reason, and then only ones that push 'em up even more," Sam's voice was slow, her manner trance like, "and usually no panties either. After she arrived last summer Chris got her a job temping in offices and she looked the perfect office drone. Then he bought her a pair of stockings and garters and that was it. No more pantyhose. She told me those short skirts have no reason if she has undies on. But she has the sense when to dress right, though, but if those people in the offices had known she was commando..."

The spell relaxed but wasn't erased, everyone shuffled for position to get at the pizzas and garlic bread. Just before she decided to join the fight Sam was gladdened by Asha's flashed expression of confusion when she saw the policewoman. Sam was sure there was recognition in it. Had Shaw been involved with the Broiler investigation? That reporter Cat who'd been there had only interviewed a man, a middle-aged detective, Pearson, if Sam's memory wasn't completely amiss. Asha hadn't been too complimentary about the police, had complained 'had the police dealt with this gang properly when their leader attacked my friend Tracy the first time she wouldn't have had to deal with this too!' She watched Asha dismiss the officer's presence as she went to Dave's side and reconfirmed her ownership as he stood next to Chris and Mel.



Chris



"Does the name Fred ring a bell, Asha?"

Chris didn't expect the reaction as Asha's eyes widened before she glared at them. A few people picked over the last pieces of pizzas and Dave helped Sam and Teresa collect used paper plates and empty boxes into a large garbage bag. Terry and Shaw stood close to each other and smiled as they talked but had been nudged away from the cleanup crew.

"Asha, you okay? I didn't mean...," Mel's voice was apologetic, her black wings flapped slightly as she reached out and took the redhead's shoulders.

"How do you two know that name?" Asha's voice was low, barely audible as her eyes danced from Mel to Chris and back.

"We, um, well," Chris rethought his words multiple times, "we saw it."

"My father, his name was Fred," Asha's voice stayed very soft but she reached up and took Mel's hands in hers, lowered them then released Mel's right hand and reached out and Chris responded, one hand took Asha's and the other Mel's free hand.

"My father was Fred, he was from Ohio. My mother was Janet, from Iowa. You guys... oh, shit. You... didn't. It... didn't."

Chris turned his head, locked on his target for a heartbeat before he turned back.

"It did. Sam's fault. And otters. And Mel's RedFruit."

'Otters,' Asha mouthed, then she shook her head, "and what the fuck's a RedFruit?"

"How much do you want," Mel's pitched her voice low to match Asha, "to know?"

"Nothing. No more. For now."

They heard a laugh, a strangely flat one they'd all learned to recognize and turned to see a visually joyful Anna just in view in the hallway behind Terry and the policewoman. The tall and pale woman's almost luminous green eyes seemed guileless but Chris read Asha's face and turned to catch Mel's upraised eyebrow while Asha continued to look for another moment before she turned to the pair. They held the hug for four then five heartbeats. Asha squeezed their hands and walked off, caught Dave in the doorway to the kitchen and slipped her arm into his and led them out of sight.

"Her letter said she knew, at least suspected, about Anna," Mel leaned in and whispered, Chris nodded as they released hands and he slipped his hand under her skirt and tail to palm a bare ass cheek, "but her dad couldn't have been the... 'person' in that picture. There's something else going on. Her letter did say her parents were murderous psychopaths. Maybe they, you know, took care of the Golden Criminals after they made them turn over the padlet and show them how to use it."

"Yup," he squeezed and she wiggled, as they watched a commotion in the dining room as Sam and Shaw placed his birthday cake on the freshly-cleaned table and Teresa counted out candles and placed them.

"Looks like it's time for my cake and ice cream. That ought to keep most people occupied so let's do that then you can get a crow bar and separate Anna from Bobby and get her downstairs. I'll prise Dave away from Asha and have him bring that nice policewoman along and show her what we promised."



Sam



'Why did Teresa get the bloody candles and I got this stupidly heavy cake' ran through Sam's mind as she carefully climbed the stairs. Behind her, Teresa offered reminders to be careful and 'hurry up or it won't be his birthday anymore!' Sam finally topped the stairs.

"Make room," she grunted to clear a path through the kitchen, her dining room table target in the distance. She saw the policewoman alone at the far doorway near that table, Terry having been dispatched to haul the full garbage bag to the bins near the garage. Sam walked quickly and caught Shaw's eyes as she neared the table.

"Gimme a hand, officer?"

Shaw stepped quickly and they each grabbed an edge of the cake's thick cardboard base and set it on the table.

Deep red letters across the top of the cake spelled out 'Happy 22nd, Leather Boy, don't forget the ice cream! Devil Girl & Everyone!' Teresa followed with a big handful of candles and once Shaw and Sam set the cake down began placing them and the two women stepped back but stood alongside each other.

"Hey, Sam, another question," Shaw's voice was soft so Sam edged closer and leaned her head a bit, "I know they're 'leather boy' and 'devil girl' 'cuz that Halloween thing, but what's up with ice cream?"

"Oh, um," Sam glanced over as Mel and Chris approached the table and attendees arrived from the other floors, she bit her lower lip for a second, "um, well, it has to do with..."

Sam felt the heat as her cheeks reddened and the older woman laughed.

"Oh, uh... Mel says her ass is Chris's favorite part of her and if they'd met when she was younger he would've bribed her with ice cream until she let him stick his thingie up her butt," Sam blurted the last bit out too loudly, a couple of Chris's soccer teammates heard that and turned and leered, Sam waited for their attention to go back to the cake before she leaned closer to Shaw, who leaned as well, "... then he'd have been sent to jail... and... oh um, you get it? Their joke, like, he buys her ice cream after he sticks it, uh..."

Sam paused a few heartbeats.

"And that girl LOVES ice cream," Sam finished, she guessed that her face was redder than her hair. That Shaw almost doubled over in laughter didn't entirely surprise her. Sam was about to ask what exactly was this officer's relationship to her friends when Maria ran up the driveway, followed by Anna and Bobby.
"There'll be trouble if you've cut the cake," Maria's accented English clear once she'd entered by the side door. She had an open overcoat over a dark blue business suit with a knee-length skirt, calf-high boots with low heels. She pushed through the crowd and wrapped Chris in a bear hug and pressed her mouth hard onto his as his arms went around her grabbed her ass.

Sam smiled at Shaw's confused expression at Maria's greeting, enjoyed it even more when she released Chris and repeated the greeting with Mel before she stood between the two. It wasn't that she was all that petite but with those heels Mel all but dwarfed her. Sam also wondered at the woman's thoughts, she wasn't sure but guessed Shaw and Maria had to be about the same age, she knew the brunette was in her mid-thirties.

Sam saw Anna and Bobby stand at the back of the crowd, not unusual for them. They were taller than most people. The big amazon was in a red and black cheerleader's uniform, Bobby in a football jersey in matching colors. Both had 'WHS' and a stylized falcon badge. Sam searched her memories but couldn't remember ever discussing either one of their high schools so didn't know if these were carryovers or just costumes they'd found.

"Now that Maria's here," Mel said as Teresa finished lighting the candles, "the party can start!"

Sam looked across the room and saw Terry had returned from his errand, she caught his eyes. She nodded very slightly at Shaw and smiled at him. His face showed confusion for an instant before he nodded. He walked through the hallway, greeted Bobby and Anna and then pushed through the crowd in the kitchen as Sam slid behind Shaw to make space. Shaw expressed a moment of surprise but smiled softly and her body language welcomed him.

The crowd cheered and broke into the birthday song, with the inclusion of the 'you belong in a zoo' phrase. After it was over Mel gave Chris a big hug and kissed him hard on the lips and Sam chuckled as that ridiculous skirt popped up and had there been anyone with remaining doubt about the demon's choice to avoid underwear that was cleared. She saw that sort of odd 'other' redhead Asha put her hand over Dave's eyes but she smiled as she did it. Sam thought that was rich, given Asha had taken every opportunity to swing the long slits of her own skirt and show off her own lack of underwear and that shaved pussy.

"Hey," Dave snorted.

Maybe she could get Teresa to shave, Sam wondered what one like that would taste and feel like. She saw her student Aron and his pouting girlfriend Brandi help the bucket brigade with three cartons of ice cream from the freezer. That blonde had lost her panties and had shifted her toga to expose her perfect right breast but she still didn't get the attention she expected and hadn't seemed happy all evening.

Mel released Chris and Teresa handed the birthday boy a long cake knife.

"Where did you get this cake? It's wonderful," Shaw said after a couple of bites, an assertion echoed by many others.

"You should know, Joyce," Mel announced, "it's from Bill 'n Ada's. Best chocolate cake in town!"

Sam and Teresa had picked the cake up and she still had trouble believing it had come from... from THAT place. That Chris had somehow corrupted that poor, pretty black-haired demon by convincing her to like that place... It was utter silence from everyone as they looked at their cake then at the laughing demon as her wings flapped.

"See, Mel," Chris said, "no one believes us. Just like when we told 'em about invisible satellites!"



Chris



"Detective Shaw?" Anna's flat voice almost had feeling in it, Chris thought as the pale woman's brows knitted more deeply as Dave led Shaw into the basement storage room and closed the door behind them. The room was lined with shelves and contained bulk food storage bins, stacks of canned goods, empty water storage bins and equipment such as grinders for making flour from the bulk wheat. The one unusual and obvious item was Mel's powered-off RedFruit computer on a shelf in the far corner.

"What's up, Mel? Chris?" Shaw said and she and Anna looked at each other then at the pair. Mel had done up the bottom-most button on her blazer, which just emphasized the perfect roundness of her breasts. Then Anna looked around at the walls and she tilted her head a couple of times.

"Anna, relax," Chris's voice tried to exude calm, "we don't mean any harm. We just have some questions. Have you ever seen either of these two?"

Mel pulled two enlarged pictures and held them up as Anna and Shaw looked. They were Peter's and Carole's pictures enlarged from the paper after their disappearance. Chris studied Anna's face. Although her voice didn't convey emotion, her face did.

The tall cheerleader worked to tamp down her reaction but Chris was certain there had been one, although she shook her head and straight brunette hair that fell between her shoulder blades bounced.

"Why'd you take his last name, Anna? Seemed kind of, oh, obvious, not to mention keeping his car," Chris kept his voice calm as he glanced at Shaw. He'd given her the VIN the previous night and she'd whispered the confirmation about the car in his ear earlier. Dave had taken a step away from the door, his face hard and angry as he glared at Anna. Anna stayed silent.

"One more picture," Mel's voice stayed low as she shifted a container on the shelf next to the RedFruit and pulled out the padlet and tapped the screen. The cat-elf alien couple's picture they'd shown Shaw at the diner appeared. Anna's face had shown obvious surprise as soon as she'd seen the device but she stared at the picture and her eyes went wide before she blinked multiple times and her mouth moved without speaking before her head swung and she looked around the walls again. Dave's eyes narrowed at the picture, Chris had shown a small, printed version to him privately a few minutes before this meeting. It hadn't badly surprised the grad student as he'd seen the original Anna and having heard Chris and Mel's repeated assertions he'd readily agreed to this plan.

"We wondered, Anna," Mel's turn, her voice low, raspy, pitched to go straight to the crotch in normal times, "this room. We figured out it's a Faraday cage. Dunno why, but it is. You know how the people in this state love to store enough food for the apocalypse..."

"It's a bomb shelter too, with EMP shielding. Way over the top. But it blocks padlet signals, so...," Chris said.

Anna's eyes flared and she ran straight into Dave, who grunted hard with the contact. Shaw stepped back as the big woman went past, Dave had an inch and with his bulk some weight on her but she used an arm and simply threw him against the door where he grunted again but stood. She grabbed Dave's shoulders and lifted him but he grappled and wrapped his leg around hers as she tried to throw him.

"Anna," Shaw shouted, "stop!"

Shaw had dropped, drawn her pistol from her left ankle and positioned herself where she had an angle on the big, angry woman.

"Bobby told us how strong you are," Chris said, "sorry Dave, we didn't know THAT strong."

Anna glared at him then at Shaw, who stood with a two handed grip. Shaw cocked the hammer.

"Please, Anna, relax. We're just talking," Shaw tried to calm her, "it's only a .38, but hollow points. At this range, messy. You're strong, not bulletproof."

I hope, thought Chris, on that last point.

Anna relaxed then removed her grip on Dave's shirt and let him stand, half turned and elbowed him hard in the abdomen, slammed him against the door again and he slumped but held his position and growled but it turned into a short cough.

"Enough, alien bitch!" Mel's growl was brutal, Anna stared at her open-mouthed, Shaw successfully fought the urge to turn.

Anna obeyed as Shaw motioned her to sidle to her left and Chris strode behind the policewoman. Mel stayed at the detective's left while Chris passed behind her and pulled Dave upright, the latter's breath heavy and rough.

"Shit, broken ribs," Chris said as he tapped Dave's abdomen and his friend winced, "need to get you out..."

"No way," Dave groaned, "not yet."

"Anna," Mel's voice again soft, raspy, syrupy, "did you, did your people, take Peter and Carole?"

Anna closed her eyes for a count of three then looked around at everyone in turn.

"How in the hell do you have that? With THAT picture? How?"

"We have our contacts," Mel said, "from the crashed satellite."

"No, it isn't," Mel's turn to be surprised at Anna's stridently snapped words, "those are the golden criminals. From the first expedition. They destroyed the ship and killed everyone. We never had that picture."

"Holy sh... What?" Shaw exclaimed, Chris saw the same spark that Maria had shown when the meaning of their photos had truly sunk in. But unlike the photographer, Shaw kept her composure. At least for now. Maria had only partially come around even today and that had taken months, it was unclear whether Sam and their other housemates BELIEVED or were humoring them to keep the peace. Now? This had to be hard, although the previous evening had prepped her. And she claimed she'd seen a live, original-issue alien like those in the pictures. Chris and Mel's eyes flashed at each other then at Shaw, then back to Anna. The policewoman admirably kept her focus on Anna.

"Yes, detective, I'll be happy for you to investigate and find them. It was easy for us to know who was responsible because golden eyes are very, very rare for us and they were the only two. We were, are, the second expedition and have no gold eyes with us. They were ten years ahead of us. I wasn't born yet, but we got the messages, the panic while we were still on the way. The messages said those two had sabotaged the ship and were trying to escape. "

"Escape? To where?"

"Here. Earth. They sabotaged the navigation computer so the rockets misfired. They sped past Earth but those two ejected with probes. We found what's left, they blew the starship up and the pieces are in a long, elliptical orbit around the sun. July of 1963 by your calendars. If your astronomers saw anything, probably thought it was a comet."

"Okay, then, we bought the padlet at a yard sale," Mel's voice started as a little girl's chirp as Anna glared at her, then back at the gun, "whatever. We have it. It had that picture on it. Did you take Peter? Nothing about him."

"Of course not, twenty years too soon, however you got it. That means they're here. Somewhere. They're mass murderers. There were fifty of my people on that ship. Well, forty-eight we care about."

"Anna, we don't know anything about that or them, other than this picture and a couple others there's nothing about them or your people," Chris hoped Anna wasn't experienced enough with humans to catch the slight lie in that, the usually oblivious Bobby wouldn't be a good role model to help her pick up such clues, "but we'll help you. Bring them to justice. But."

"Peter was my lover," Anna's voice was low, "before I came here. Well, more specifically, he was my teacher."

Now it was everyone else's turn to gape.

"Yes, we took him and Carole. They, they were going to reveal our plans, we thought. But also, well, also Anna, the Queen, I think she loved him, that he reminded her of Ian, but she never admitted it. But we couldn't leave them down here. I took Anna's name to honor her."

"He taught you to fuck humans?" Mel's question.

"Yes, devil girl, he did. Quite well, I think Bobby will tell you," Anna smiled, a happy expression as she said the name, "and more. How to, be, human."

"Bob—-"

"And one more thing," Anna stopped Mel's statement, "I learned from him how to use their love. Peter... well, Anna loved him. But he loved her too. And Vicki, Vicki loved him. He was torn. He... and Carole... but Queen Anna and Vicki too. Some Brittany whore too but that was just because she was a slut, he didn't love her. But I learned that. Just like Bobby loved you, demon."

Chris smiled and nodded slightly at that, Shaw looked at him then at Mel. Her smile was soft.

"He did. No more. Now Bobby loves you something fierce, Anna," Mel told her and Chris nodded his confirmation, "and Peter did a good job. Or you're a good student. But who was Vicki?"

"Vikrangia," or something like that was the word they heard, "Vicki. My mother. Yes, like the gold eyes but well, her eyes aren't golden. I kinda took Peter's name too because, well, she was going to ask him to marry her. Then he'd have been my stepdad."

That left the room in stunned silence.

"Kinda weird when your mom steals your boyfriend, but...," she shrugged.

"Tell me about it," Mel said with a laugh, Chris snorted but no one else reacted.

"Oh hell, Anna," Shaw finally said, "I saw your... the other Anna. Queen Anna? She was with Peter at Halloween. Months before you took him. The port wine stain, her cheek."

"That was her, green and gray eyes, she snuck down to Earth a few times, usually on Halloween. She wasn't like me. Not one of us new ones, there weren't that many of us and even fewer now. But she wanted to meet Peter, we'd had issues with Carole, she wouldn't follow the plan to let us take him. So the Queen wanted to meet him."

Everyone stood silent for a moment but Shaw didn't relax her stance.

"Now, you've got me here. But. I'm out of touch. Much longer and guards will come and check up on me."

"Guards? You mean," Shaw said, "like Queen Anna had that night? Big like Bobby?"

"But stronger than me. I was made," Anna looked at Dave with an almost apologetic air, "to be strong. And, well, they're designed for nastiness. Different gene changes."

"We believe you, but, Anna, can you bring Peter back down? Let him go now?"

It was Shaw speaking but the others nodded and Dave glared.

"No."

"Huh, why? Are you worried he'll reveal—-"

"He's dead."

Shaw went stiff, glared. Dave's mouth moved soundlessly.

"Did you..."

"No, the satellite. He and Queen Anna were on it when it crashed. There was... a mutiny, the mutineers tried to take over the reactor control rooms but something went wrong. Way wrong. I'd left months before to go to another satellite—-"

"There are three," Mel interjected.

"WERE three. Then I was already on Earth when it crashed but there were messages during the fight. Three centuries ago when we found your planet with telescopes then the probes we sent some of my people felt we'd bring you peace and prosperity. To my people, war was something only in our history books. But, you've infected us and now some of my people want to destroy you, most of you, take this planet, Queen Anna would've never agreed with that. It's been a bit... hectic since the crash. We lost our Queen and don't know if there are still any of... those others among us. We think they were all on the crashed satellite..."

"Clusterfuck, we call it," Chris said, "lucky it didn't hit a city."

"The mutineers tried," her hard expression silenced the rest, "but Peter had burrowed deeper into our systems than we'd known. Once it was going down, he crashed it where no one was."

"He'd grown up here," Shaw said, "knew these states really well."

"What about Jayne? Cat?" Dave wheezed and winced as he spoke.

"My best friend, but, well, our agent. For years. Leave her alone, I've told you everything. Now, the door..."

Chris helped Dave shift as Anna turned but they all stopped when Mel spoke firmly but with a kinder cadence than usual..

"No, last thing. That star, the one that blew up, that was your home wasn't it? You're refugees?"

Anna turned and looked at Mel.

"Yes, demon, we were meant to be explorers. But then someone attacked our sun two centuries ago, it went unstable, Queen Anna's lover Ian figured out it would go supernova. A fleet, with millions of my people in hypersleep, is on the way. We think. We hope. The last messages said they'd made it out just in time but with all of the interference from the supernova we're not getting communications."

Chris pulled Dave aside and Anna threw the door open and strode rapidly out and collided with Asha two steps out of the room as Mel and Shaw stepped where they could see.

"Oof, hey, bitch," Asha said before her voice trailed off as her hands pushed off of Anna's bare arms, "oh, wha..."

Asha looked to her left, saw Chris support Dave, and back at Asha. Anna's eyes became slits as she looked at Asha's eyes, her hat and eye patch apparently left upstairs. Beyond them Terry led Maria into view from the stairs, both sets of eyes went wide.

"Lemme go," Anna broke loose and half ran through the shocked trio and turned the corner to the stairs.

"What the fuck?" Asha half yelled as she ran in and grabbed Dave, "I'm going to kill her."

She glared at Mel and Shaw. Her eyes flared quickly as she glanced at the darkened padlet Mel held alongside her right hip.

"And maybe you too. You did this."

"Asha, wait!"

Asha looked at the policewoman then at her hip where she held the gun pointed at the floor.

"I'll be faster, calm down. She's not—-"

"I know she's not," Asha snapped, "I know what she is. Fuck's sakes. Why didn't you bring me—-"

"Because you told us not to, upstairs, remember?" Mel's voice firm, competitive.

Asha exhaled slowly, nodded.

"Anyway, I'm taking this one the hell away from here before you bunch get him killed. C'mon, Dave."

Dave stood firm for a moment, looked at Chris then Mel. His voice was wheezy and chopped.

"Chris, Mel, thank you. Finally."

Asha glared and Terry and Maria stepped back. The sound of a crowd was obvious on the stairs, strange murmurs made clear the mood was confused, likely by Anna's presumed passage. Dave had his arm over Asha's shoulder and the other across his body as they looked up.

"Make way," Asha's voice brooked no dissent and she led Dave up the stairs. Shaw slipped out of sight for a moment before she rejoined Chris and Mel, no gun in her hand.

Mel quickly placed the padlet back on the shelf next to the RedFruit and hid it behind the full container of wheat kernels. Chris led their trio out of the storeroom and Mel pulled the door closed then stepped to slide her left arm around his right and reached out and Maria took her free hand, the photographer had a fretful look.

"Hey, Chris," Teresa spoke as soon as she'd landed at the bottom of the stairs, "Anna grabbed Bobby and they left at warp speed. And Dave and Asha. What's up?"

"Nothing we can do anything about tonight, guys," Chris said as Shaw pushed past with a nod at Terry and ran up the stairs just as Teresa and Sam made it to the bottom, "shit happens sometimes."

La Diabla

[March 2]

Maria

Maria's fingers brushed and quickly drew away from horns that jutted from black hair that was even messier and wilder than usual so they could find purchase on each side of the head that bobbed between her widely spread legs. From her upper back and up she rested on a piled incline of pillows but her neck was arched and her head pressed down and her eyes were closed. She gasped as Mel sucked her clit in and held it with her lips as her tongue swirled around it. Fingers worked the firm spot behind that clit as another finger paused against her second entrance. Maria felt her body pushed and pulled as la diabla was herself impaled by each powerful stroke by the beautiful boy they'd shared these last few months.

Shared. No, not really shared.

She'd lost count of how many climaxes this would be, but she was greedy. She wanted it. She had no doubt her partners would get theirs too. She'd given plenty but this was her turn to take.

She didn't mind that it was a woman driving her to this orgasm. It'd been a tension in her Central American youth, her conservative and religious family and society hadn't looked kindly upon such desires. They still didn't. The rush of freedom when she'd arrived in this country when she'd started her university studies had been disorienting. The rapid succession of her and her family's escape from the junta and her subsequent escape from them to even broader freedom meant she'd barely survived her freshman year. A cute but clumsy American boy had taken her virginity the first week but it was two weeks before a pale blonde teaching assistant had been her first woman.
It was a time when almost every one of her fellow students had also cast off the older generation's shackles. They'd all tasted as many of their fellow students as they could as often as they could.

She'd woken up naked and sweaty and wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by others in the same state. It had been midway through her first spring semester and she'd been in a large, old house she'd been invited to. She'd arrived Friday night. The floor was strewn with empty wine and beer bottles and a heavy pall of stale marijuana smoke floated.

It had been Sunday morning.

She hadn't been to Mass since midnight Christmas.

She'd looked around, coughed when she'd taken a deep breath.

She'd already been late on multiple assignments.

She'd found her jeans, sweatshirt and shoes strewn on the floor, shrugged and didn't waste time looking for more. She'd pulled her jacket from a pile and simply nodded at the few silent eyes that followed her as she pulled the door quietly behind her.

She'd noticed as her fellow worshipers had tried to slide away from her as they'd wrinkled their noses in the pew. Her eyes had been hooded, her dark hair wild, she'd gone straight from the party house. The outside air had cleared her nose and she knew she stank of booze and grass and sweat. And of sex. But she'd wanted the reminder when she'd made her confession of what she'd done.

She'd known something had to give. The grades were her key to a life in this country and freedom. The drugs, alcohol and sex were all part of that freedom. And that was why she was here.

She'd kept the sex. If she stayed sober she could fit that around her studies.

She'd finished freshman year with grades only just above water and twenty pounds that her five-four frame didn't appreciate.

By her graduation she'd pulled straight 'A' grades the last five semesters and had dropped her freshman twenty and five more, the last to her mother's chagrin. She'd found her passion, photography, and had forsaken the hard-earned BA in history to chase an MFA. She'd also attended Mass every Sunday after that weekend. After her revelation she'd fucked men and women but she'd not lost more weekends and she'd slowly found herself concentrating on boys. She hadn't thought that was the result of the clucks from the priests at confession but she also hadn't dismissed that thought. Nonetheless, she'd always known she wasn't like the housemate Teresa in the basement and before these last few months she'd concluded that it had been a phase.

She pulled her chin toward her chest and opened her eyes as slits. They were in the ridiculous 'rec room' in this multi-story house the likes of which she'd never afford. Especially on her own. She looked past red horns and wild, black hair to watch two leathery, black wings that slowly waved, the black blazer that covered the girl to mid-torso and below that the tail that fell to the girl's left, attached to the waist strap of her garter that had red straps that extended over that round ass to disappear out of sight. The demon had shed shoes and the skirt that had done nothing to prevent everyone from knowing she'd had no underwear on. But she'd kept the blazer and the mysteriously connected wings and her stockings that offered solid black cover for her feet.

Behind the girl was the lithe, muscular upper body of the beautiful boy who was backlit by two small, recessed lights on opposite sides at the far end of the room that cast directed beams downward. He was on his knees and his strong arms held hips and he slammed himself against the too-lovely ass of the black-haired demon who had her at the brink of another mind-blowing explosion. Wings and hair bounced with each penetration.

Her husband, no, ex-husband she happily reminded herself, she'd known from the start, hadn't been her best idea. But her victory in winning the position of assistant lab director for the Uni's Fine Arts department lab meant moving to a new city that she'd never even visited other than for her interview trip. It had been late spring, the mountains green-wrapped and white-capped, trees and flowers blossomed everywhere. It had been beautiful. But she'd already left family and everything she'd known behind once. A break that complete a second time scared her. That he'd had so little to leave behind, no career, hardly even a job, no school, no interest in family left behind threw up red flags that she'd ignored. It'd also stopped the constant questions from her mother and aunts and sisters about settling down. But she'd ignored the warnings as she'd settled into the Uni community and ramped up freelance side gigs photographing weddings and missionary parties and the occasional fashion or food spread for local publications. She'd since been promoted to Director and an adjunct position with occasional teaching gigs.

She looked at the fine lines of the diamond design on the boy's chest. She'd heard the story but hadn't seen it at its worst. How it had become a permanent feature was beyond her understanding.

The boy, no, a man now. Could he really have been hers? He'd been not much more than a boy in years but handsome and more, his passion for photography had almost matched hers and was beyond all but a handful of students she'd encountered. He'd had a natural analytical approach that he'd had to sometimes tamp down to find the artistry. Why hadn't she jumped him when they'd been close and alone developing pictures?

Her eyes rose to meet his, his open mouth smiled, his breathing hard with his exertion and the pleasures as he shoved his cock fully into the demon's body on each push and in turn ram the horned head hard against her pubic region. She knew her expression was the same, a smiling open-mouthed pant as she watched his eyes go to her breasts, her brownish-red nipples hard and prominent against her dark flesh. Hers didn't have the size or roundness of the demon's but they perfectly complemented her shorter, more slender frame. Once she'd shed her freshman twenty she'd kept it off even if she'd gained those five extra she'd lost back, and five, but only five, more. The women in her family tended toward thinness and she'd been no exception with a steady but not excessive level of activity as she'd entered the second half of her thirties and she felt those five rounder pounds weren't a burden.

Was it always this boy's fate to have found, or been found by, this creature, this force of nature between her legs? When she'd met the boy he'd been alone, available, open, but not lonely, not needy. He'd been naive, when she'd realized the extent of her flirting and approaches that he'd seemingly missed she'd been surprised. She'd been limited only by her refusal to admit at the time that her marriage to that wrong husband had been over and in her quiet thoughts she'd finally understood he'd seen that, even if not consciously, and that had kept him away. She'd kicked herself but with the course done, they'd gone their separate ways except for his visits to develop film, visits that over a couple of years had tapered to almost nothing until the arrival of la diabla.

She was here now out of the kindness of that demon. No, not kindness. Her power. His power. She'd been the lonely one when they'd come to her the previous summer wanting to take pictures of 'squishy stars.' She'd invited herself along in part to slake that loneliness but also a strange feeling that the lust she'd denied before could be satisfied. And the challenge in photographing something that wasn't there.

She felt a finger press at her. There. Her... her back door. Her butt. That night in the tent and since she'd goggled at what could be done with that passage. She'd always resisted, refused the couple of guys who'd asked during her wild days, her husband had brought it up occasionally but as their sex life had dwindled those requests had gone first. She'd resisted even here, the one power she'd wielded over these two. But this time she nudged her hips and bit her tongue as the finger penetrated her, the ample liquid that flowed from her body eased its passage. She felt the diabolical fingers scissor her flesh as that mouth worked her clit then the tongue pressed against her pussy lips before it pushed between them.

She'd not asked what had happened hours earlier in the basement store room with the strange, tall girl named Anna and that detective. She at least understood Mel. The girl was in touch with spirits, not all of them benign, she'd grown up in an environment where you'd meet such people. Not everyday, but often enough. She'd thought she'd left such behind until the boy, her almost-boy, came back into her life and brought this demon.

But Anna. Anna was... she didn't know. She wasn't just a girl, not just a grad student. But Maria didn't know what else the girl was beyond a near-certainty that she didn't want to know.

The detective. Another mystery. And that weird redhead with the power to challenge la diabla. Who dared do that? Unless they had their own allies on the other side. She'd not witnessed the initial encounter but it had still been top of everyone's mind once she'd arrived.

Some hidden connections not only to her lovers but also, somehow, to that girl who wasn't a girl. Spirits had brought them all together on this boy's birthday. But why? To what purpose? After the revelations from their trip to the Unitas she'd not wanted to know more and she felt, no, knew, that all of it was connected.

But she pushed that from her mind and let her body take back control.

Her breath went into a staccato rhythm and she slightly bucked her hips. The boy's breathing matched hers. She heard the mechanical whine of one of the demon's vibrators, guessed she'd applied it to her own cunt. Maria felt hard breath against the suddenly overly sensitive flesh between her legs. She bucked her hips hard and the black-haired head pushed her back down. Her back arched and she opened her mouth in a hard and long moan. Her pussy and her ass squeezed the fingers that violated her as a rolling wave pushed outward from somewhere deep inside of her. She heard slurping sounds as la diabla sucked in juices as a second wave pushed not only out but up her entire body before her muscles finally relaxed and her sweat-soaked butt cheeks and back fell again onto the bed.

She blinked when fingers were pulled from her body. Had she passed out? She had the sense that time had passed but she couldn't register the span. She saw glittering coal black eyes and an open mouthed smile. She didn't register whether those eyes held huge pupils or tiny, she had little memory of ever being able to differentiate. She looked up, the boy, the girl, both mouths open as they panted. She watched Mel's face emote and her body shiver as the combination of cock and machine brought her to her own climax.

Chris slowed slightly then sped again for a half dozen fast strokes as Mel arched her neck back and locked eyes with Maria. The older woman heard the soft grunt from her almost-boy.

"Not her," it was Maria's voice but she didn't control it, "give me your cum. Now."

Mel's mouth popped open but she quickly caught her tongue between her teeth with the tip exposed as Chris withdrew quickly. Mel quickly slid on her hands and knees to Maria's right and Chris squatted just enough to use his feet to propel him quickly to her left side. She rolled slightly to face his quivering erection as it approached her. She opened her mouth and made clear where she wanted it. As it neared she reached around to press his solid gluteal muscles to pull him forward. She fine tuned the aim and sucked almost the entirety of his extremely gooey cock into her mouth.

For many men she'd been with the stream of cum she felt hit the back of her tongue and throat would've been a decent effort. That this man was Chris meant it was well below average.

That it was, what, his fifth, sixth, seventh load of the evening? That was beyond belief. The king size mattress that folded out of the sofa in this room rocked as Mel pushed against her from behind and she added an arm to hers to keep the cock buried in Maria's mouth as it sputtered and spasmed. How could he even do this? After Thanksgiving dinner until noon of the Saturday what little sleep the three had managed had been in this bed. But with the housemates gone they'd ranged far and wide. She'd left barely able to walk but she'd never noticed that either of these two had been spent. Maybe not even close to being spent.

That had been the weekend she'd understood women hadn't just been a phase. But it was also the final and true confirmation that she wasn't Teresa. She really wanted a man. But she had new requirements for one. They were raised. Raised high.

She and Mel eased their hands as she began to gasp and Chris backed to slowly pull his still hard cock from her mouth. She took a deep breath before Mel twisted her and a mouth met hers. Her mouth was already open so her tongue was already embattled before it could mount a defense. After a moment she'd gained sufficient traction to relax into a tongue wrestling contest.

She detected and shared three distinct tastes. The salty, creamy taste of Chris. The tangy, sweet taste of la diabla. And her own, not as tangy taste that bordered on sour. She felt fingers caress each of her breasts to keep her nipples as erect as possible while her kiss with Mel had moved to a langrous melding. At some subconscious signal they slowly broke the kiss until she was free. Mel nudged the older woman's head around and she met Chris to reestablish a kiss.

Deep down she knew that this Chris, this assured young man, this lover of skill, subtlety and stamina, was not the Chris who'd been in her class. Oh, he'd been the foundation of this Chris. Had she taken him in the before there'd be no guarantee he'd have grown as had this Chris. She didn't know details but there'd been that other redhead, Sam, the cute and friendly one, not that other, strange one, somehow, despite what she was. And Kelly. She'd heard the stories. Those had all shaped him.

She wanted this Chris. Not just the cock she'd had three times already tonight. And would have once more, if her plan was realized. Not just the mouth that this moment meant so many times she'd lost count. Oh. She wanted those. She wanted them badly. And she could have them, within reason.

But she still wanted his heart. She'd told him that scant months ago. He'd been honest, forthright, that she wouldn't get it. She'd get affection. Friendship. The best sex of her life.

She felt the bed move as the body behind her slid away. She turned slightly and put her hand on a firm chest, right where she knew the diamond was, felt the fine chest hair. It wasn't heavy or thick. Another thing she liked. She pushed her hand down taut sweat-soaked abs until she again found hair. It was thicker but trimmed short and matted with more sweat and Mel's cum. She'd seen what that girl could do, this had been good but nowhere near her best. Slim, dark fingers slid each side of the base of a cock that hadn't gone completely to sleep before she used the thick layer of liquid to ease her path.

She opened two mouths wider and two tongues pressed harder as her hand twisted to wrap the cock. She felt it respond as she slowly stroked its length and used her thumb and forefinger to pay attention to the head for an extra moment before her reverse stroke.

At that his hand found her abs, toned but softer than his, before he pushed past pubic hair thicker than the demon's. She'd taken to trimming but hadn't gone as far as the younger woman's short landing strip. She'd kept her legs wide but pushed them further apart, surprised that her clit could take pressure again. But it could. It wanted the pressure.

The mattress shook and a soft sound caused her to break the kiss and turn slightly away from the boy. Her for-now boy. Each hand continued its soft strokes at its assigned target and they both looked at the smiling, horned visage.

"Drink, you two," it rasped, "you need liquids. Then you can fuck again."

She held out a tall, plastic cup full of cold water. Maria took it and drank a quarter before she handed it to Chris who followed suit before they alternated one more time to empty the cup and hand it back to Mel. She slid to the edge and leaned to set it on the floor before she returned and added her hand to Maria's on Chris's cock.

"I think it has one more in it, you agree?" Her voice was quiet and slow syrup.

Maria's eyes bore into the demon's as their hands twisted and twined around the hardened flesh, Chris puffed breath as their grips tightened.

"It needs to be very, very hard," Maria's accented English offered its own syrupy contribution, "it's after midnight but it's still his birthday, I have a gift."

Chris pressed against Maria's clit and she twitched but kept her eyes on Mel's. The two women added pressure to their efforts.

"No presents," he said just above a whisper into Maria's ear, "remember."

"Maybe it's a gift for me, nino," she turned slightly then back to Mel, "is it hard enough? It needs to go... But I want to look him in the eyes."

Mel's eyes glittered like diamonds.

"Slide down to the end, I'll make sure it's ready."

Two hands squeezed Chris's cock one last time before they released it and Maria slid off of the pillow pile and squirmed until her crotch was near the edge of the bed with her legs wide and her feet just on the edge.

"On your feet, drudge," Mel directed, "assume the position."

Maria was flat on the bed as she looked up at him. He slid backwards and extended his legs, his cock jutted from his body and swayed as he walked around the bed and Maria's gaze followed him. Mel shuffled across the bed and stopped to pull Maria's face to her and kissed her, slowly and deeply, and pulled a couple of pillows and left them alongside the older woman. She broke the kiss and slid off of the bed with a slight twist to allow the wings to follow her.

"C'mhere, boy," Mel growled and he obeyed, Maria lifted her head to watch, her almost-boy stopped to be framed between her upraised thighs. Mel moved and used a hand on his ass cheek to pull him and she quickly worked the entire shaft into her mouth then withdrew.

"Not quite there, yet, Maria," Mel's eyes caught hers then Chris's, "you, boy, she wants a special treat. Get her ready while I finish this."

Maria saw their eyes flash to something out of sight but Chris's right eyebrow rose slightly and he smile. Mel nudged him again and as he bent over she sucked his cock in again. Maria shivered as Chris inserted two fingers into her gooey pussy and bent to slowly push his tongue between her lips and slide it slowly upwards. She dropped her head flat and purred as Chris's fingers worked inside of her body and his mouth worked outside. Maria's head lifted when she heard Mel's exaggerated sucking sounds but all she could see were quivering black wingtips and the top of Chris's head as he worked and she dropped her head again.

She felt a pang of disappointment when fingers left her pussy but inhaled quickly and held it as a finger, no, two fingers brushed the juice that oozed from her slit down the short stretch of flesh and circled her closed back door. He sucked her clit in quickly as those fingers used the ample natural lube and slowly pushed past her outer ring, two more fingers pushed back into her cunt. He worked his fingers back and forth and she felt them expand her.

Her breath went slow but uneven as Chris worked her until she gasped when he stopped and his fingers withdrew. She lifted her head and opened her eyes.

"It's ready," Mel's voice was deep and slow, Maria watched as she rubbed something all over Chris's erection. The photographer's mouth opened slightly as she felt Mel's warm and gooey fingers push into her back entrance as she crawled back onto the bed. She grabbed the thinnest pillow.
"Lift up, sacrifice," Maria snorted but braced by her feet she lifted her ass and Mel slid the pillow under her then touched her and she lowered herself. She reached and grabbed Chris's cock and pulled him forward. Maria felt the hard head at the entrance to her ass as the demon's eyes locked hers. Maria's head nodded slightly.

She inhaled hard as Chris pushed himself into her but she kept her eyes on those black orbs. Finally her jaw popped open quickly and the intrusion halted. Mel's eyes had the slightest humour in them. She shimmied her ass and Chris took hold of her legs and she straightened them to form a vee as he pulled them against each sweaty shoulder.

"I'm not done yet, la diabla," Maria's usually soft voice a growl before she turned to catch eyes that she knew matched her mahogany brown, "give me a couple slow strokes and I'll take it all."

He withdrew but kept the head inserted then pushed again, his pace had sped by a bare degree. He stopped again.

"You won't break me," she growled again, "not like that weak gringa you buried."

Mel snorted, no, Maria thought, the spirits snorted through her. Chris inhaled deeply and with a quick push inserted himself fully into her. Her mouth popped into a wide 'O' and she exhaled hard. She moaned as Chris withdrew again before he buried himself fully. With enough force that she huffed breath.

She opened her eyes and saw black hair and horns as her right nipple was engulfed by a warm mouth, suction coaxed it to almost painful hardness as the steel-hard shaft threatened to split her in half with each stroke. She looked past the dark hair as it shifted to her other nipple to match her assailant's open mouthed expression, two pairs of half-closed eyes.

God, he is so beautiful. Her mouth opened slightly more as a second nipple was pulled almost beyond its breaking point.

She lost her view as the girl, this girl-child of the underworld the weird redhead had correctly called her, crawled over her. She felt kisses and suction that tracked down her torso. She tried to follow suit but her concentration wavered as she felt two large and hard nipples meet her skin as well. Chris spread her legs wider and she felt them fall into the crooks of his elbows before her entire torso spasmed and her head popped up so her face collided with the sopping wet demonic pussy.

She fell back but her breath was fast.

The devil-spawn had a vibrator and her mouth and hot breath on Maria's tortured clit. But she tried to lift her ass but the boy, her almost-boy, pushed her down each time he forced his way into her tight back passage. Then he stopped. She felt him barely inside of her, wondered, then felt tongue follow her body until it met the junction of her flesh and the hard, hard cock's flesh. Then a momentary chill of fresh lube before the intruder resumed its mission of tearing her open. The vibrator and tongue were expertly applied to drive her to a series of peaks but not over.

She gave the pussy that dripped on her face a long lick but she had trouble concentrating on it. On any task.

They had to be close.

The spirits. The spirits she needed to find. To embrace for the coming battles.

The priests wouldn't understand. They never did. Their conception of the other side was... flat, black and white, so very incomplete. But her family, generations of her family, had lived it. She'd dismissed all of that as passé when she'd settled in this gleaming country of wide open spaces, of cars, of buildings that touched the sky.

That'd been a mistake. She needed them. She let the waves of sensation that rolled from her cunt, her clit, her ass, flow through her body. The thought that her passage to them was through her, her, back passage, allowed her a tiny laugh before her scream was muffled by the pussy that descended onto her face when her clit, desperate for relief but begging its attention not stop was driven to another peak, the highest yet, but it still didn't, wouldn't, wasn't allowed to reach the summit. The cock, HER cock, didn't stop her rhythmic punishment. In fact, it sped up just as her pleasure had found a new, higher cloud to ride.

Let these two empower her to match them. To meet them when it would be the right time. She surrendered herself and rational thought dissolved.

It was pain. No. It wasn't pain. It was pleasure beyond. Her screams were muffled again as the demon, this terrible, terrible creature forced her cunt to a spasm that almost broke her. Her entire body went rigid as her boy's cock slammed fully into her bowel, again and again as her body screamed in desperation to make it stop.

No. DO NOT LET IT STOP.

Her face was sodden with tangy juice, she knew the taste well. It had welcomed her back to the world of women that Thanksgiving night. And now it flowed as freely as the liquid that gushed from her own slit as coruscated spasms from her cunt and her ass collided and almost broke her in half.

Finally, the waves subsided but hadn't stopped when the creature who'd covered her jumped off. At the same time her ring slammed closed as the flesh that had so opened it was removed. She simply went along as she was pulled sideways until her face was at the foot of the bed. A second face just above hers, the mouth open. She didn't think, simply duplicated.

A white stream hit the face above then hers. Hot. Gooey. That salty, creamy taste she wanted. She licked at it around her lips, pushed forward and was rewarded with the next squirt directly in her mouth as she swallowed a third of the rippling flesh and held it tight with her lips and cheeks. It seemed to go dry and she released it, the mouth above hers found it as she panted, not entirely sure where she was.

She was tired. But. They. THEY were here. She smiled as slow, quiet sucking sounds lulled her.

She heard... voices. Or did she? She was picked up by strong, strong arms, turned, sheets flew. A glass of cool water was at her mouth, she drank, swallowed. Then she was covered and warm, her head on a pillow.

"Did her in?"

"Yup."

"C'mon, clean up. One more?"

"Think I can manage."

Was that them? Or THEM? Her dreams were immediate. Dark skies of pinprick lights. Planets. Wondrous phantasms as she flew among orbs and rippling streams of stars.

They were here.

Movement of the bed caused Maria to stir. The body, the male body, the very fit male body, crawled back into the bed between her and the demon. How the hell, and hell was the right word, did she wear those damned horns in bed? Maria leaned her head slightly to the left, saw around the blinds of the large window that dawn had made promises that it hadn't yet kept. Then an urge she finally acknowledged pushed her to carefully slide off the side of the bed, she winced slightly as her ass slid, two bodies snuffled but stayed still. Shouldn't be a wait for the toilet. Good.

The demon's back was to her when she returned, the blankets pushed down to just reveal the top of her shapely ass. It was all bare. She smiled as she walked softly and slid into the bed. Chris was on his back, she pushed her cheek against his shoulder as she laid alongside him, she closed her eyes and slid her hand down to shape itself around his cock.

A minute, or maybe an hour, later, the bed moved and Maria opened one eye a slit. She saw la diabla slide off her side of the bed and she watched her naked back and ass as she walked quietly out of the room.

She decided.

She shifted and started to kiss the sleeping flesh next to her shoulder, across the chest, made sure to hit the center of the diamond. Then she worked down. He smelled strongly of sweat and cum but as she neared his crotch it was clear he'd wiped down.

As she licked the length of his cock she'd tried to think of a time when she'd found it like this. Truly at rest. She worked the head into her mouth and heard him exhale. He trailed his cock to wakefulness as it hardened and she contained it in her mouth before a firm hand found her lower back and caressed up her spine.

The hand massaged her back and shoulders as she sucked softly. It'd been a while since she'd had a full-body massage, another skill he'd mastered after she'd failed to take her chance.

She'd get one. But another time. He was ready.

She released his hardened flesh and quickly kissed her way up his torso. She crawled her body on top of his and kissed him. Morning breath. She pushed his mouth open and sucked it in.

She wiggled her body until his cock was at her entrance. His hands wrapped around her ass cheeks and he broke the kiss.

"Like that last one?" His eyes glittered with amusement.

"We'll do it again, but now only if you want my screams to wake everyone up, had to gag myself on the toilet," she snorted and pushed her body down. She was wet. He adjusted his prick with one hand and used the other to push her. Her lips jerked as he pushed into her sore but ready pussy and she encouraged it until he was fully inside of her body.

Chris arched his back so they could kiss as she balanced where he could slowly pump that cock in and out of her pussy. She'd had an amazing amount of sex these last few months but last night had been tough, there was discomfort. But the pleasure was so much more she accepted it. Desired it.

She thought she heard a purred laugh but when she opened her left eye and rolled it to the edge of her view the room was empty except for the two of them. She closed it again. She had plenty of time and clean clothes here to wear. It wouldn't be like THAT weekend long ago. She'd make slow, slow love to this strong, beautiful boy. Her almost-boy.

And maybe more, spirits willing.

Terra Incognito

[March 2]

Chris

"My priest will be so disappointed if I don't make it to confession and tell him what we did," Maria said to Mel's laugh as they stood at the side door, "something new for him!"

"And, Chris," he turned from his spot in front of the coffee maker and caught her eyes, "don't forget MY ice cream, nino."

Chris chuckled and heard a laugh from out of sight, Mel turned and smiled and Maria looked around Mel and he saw her mouth 'oops.' But she smiled too.

"G'morning, detective," Mel chirped and Maria echoed it. Chris heard the greeting returned from a slightly hoarse voice.

"Needs," Chris heard then a door closed, probably the bathroom. He finished the coffee maker prep and pushed the brew button. He walked over and Mel and he both hugged Maria and she opened the door, the air cold but not biting. They leaned out and waved as she strode down the driveway with a wave. They heard the bathroom door behind them close and turned to greet the policewoman whose participation had been so valuable. She had on Terry's rugby jersey from the previous night, it fit nicely and left her toned legs bare almost to her crotch.

"Hell, Chris, can't you buy your girlfriend a nice new robe that fits?"

As usual, Mel's worn robe exposed her crotch as she moved and when tied simply framed her breasts. Chris had on a snug pair of old soccer shirts and a loose tee. Chris saw Shaw's eyes flash down Mel's and his legs before they stayed for a moment on Mel's ankle socks.

"I happen to like this robe. A whole lot, detective," Chris said, Shaw smiled and shook her head.

"Joyce, just Joyce. Unless I'm arresting you. That... wasn't what she wore here last night, was it?"

"Oh," Mel said after a moment then she shrugged, "Maria. Keeps a couple things here in case she needs to go straight to confession. All the rooms, all of them, have plenty of spare closet space."

Joyce raised an eyebrow at the demon's smile and tilted, horned head, then she nodded before she spoke.

"So I hear breakfast might be provided this morning, unless your housemate just offered me that to overcome my resistance to his advances?"

"Unless you need to go to Mass, like Maria," Mel's voice raspy, the chirp abandoned.

"I've hit my quota for time on my knees for the weekend," Shaw winked.

"I'm going to go wake up the layabouts in the basement, there's plenty of towels in the linen cupboard in your bathroom. Chris just made coffee, it'll be ready in a few minutes, mugs just above. Help yourself. No rush. Sam'll be the sluggard, she actually combs her hair!"

"Oh, if you need, bug Terry. I bet he has some warm ups that'll fit, if not, I'm pretty sure mine will. Unless you're wearing your uniform again, or..."

"That'll be fine. It's been a... long time since I've been in this situation, guess not the first time for your photographer. But Terry's not much taller than me."

Mel nodded as she stepped forward and wrapped the older woman in a tight hug that was returned then they separated but held each other loosely.

"Thank you for helping us, sorry it got, well..."

"Next time, clue me in a bit better, okay? We need—-"

"Yeah. We do. There's a probe just outside," Mel whispered in her ear, Shaw's eyebrow rose, "saw it when Maria left. If it's still there we'll show you so you know them. We don't know if they can hear us. Noisy restaurant, eh?"

Shaw nodded.

"Hiding the tail? And wings? But horns," Shaw's voice normal volume.

"Yup," Mel's chirp again, "always the horns."

Mel released her and dashed down the stairs. Chris saw Terry come out of his bedroom and wave as he went into the bathroom.

"Oh hey, coffee's ready, want one? I'm going to take one up."

"Don't mind if I do. Bathroom's in use for now."

"We share around here."

"So where are we going? I'll take my car and meet you," Shaw asked the gathered crowd as both Sam and Teresa joined them at the landing around the stairs, everyone with coats on or in hand. Mel's tail accompanied her horns. Shaw carried her folded uniform and her gaze as she'd spoken had made clear Terry would ride with her. His eyes hadn't disagreed.

"Oh, and," she continued firmly and drew everyone's view before she looked hard at Mel then Chris, "if either of you so much as even breathes Bill 'n Ada's, I'm going to shoot both of you."

She lifted her left foot a couple of inches off the ground and reached her right hand in its direction for emphasis. Terry had lent her warm-ups that fit well enough but if you knew what to look for the fall of cloth over the gun was visible.

"And if she does that," Sam added, "we'll all testify that she had no choice. And her need to go out to her car and get enough shells to reload, twice, while she was doing it was essential. It had to be done."

The twins laughed but nodded with enthusiasm.

"Oh, well, in that case...," Chris drawled as Shaw motioned again.

"Belgian Waffle Inn, then," Mel started chirpily but went raspy, "last night's ice cream took care of one debt but I'm owed more, Maria has to wait for hers."

Mel grinned as Shaw's mouth dropped slightly open and Sam caught her eyes and winked before they both shook their heads.



Sam



"You were very pretty last night, Sam," Shaw said in a not-quite-whisper as she leaned to her right toward the redhead, "too bad you had Mel and Asha egging each other on. People hardly noticed you or Brandi."

Sam laughed. They were three-a-side at a table in the very center of the noisy restaurant through which not well controlled children wearing Sunday best abounded. They'd had a slight wait to get this spot but Mel and Chris had been rather specific.

"I'm used to it, Joyce, but I have Teresa and a pile of marriage proposals from when that Halloween video went around the world that always makes me feel better, even if they're all from weirdos. But I enjoy looking at her too. Even here, she can't help herself!"

Sam and Shaw looked across the table, Mel on the far end to Shaw's right across from Terry. Chris was on her right and Teresa across from Sam at the other end. Mel and Chris both had button down flannel shirts but there the comparison ended. Mel's was unbuttoned and her very thin and skimpy white tank top did little more than provide material for her nipples to press against.

"So, does Mel ever comb that hair?"

"Sure, when she's in her office drone disguise," Sam chuckled, "like wearing a bra."

"Hell, I really could get rich renting those two out to, ah, the right kinds of parties."

Sam took three heartbeats then her mouth went into a wide 'O' and she laughed quietly.

"Did she, um, make you an offer?"

This time it was Shaw's turn to pause, before she smiled and nodded. Then her head snapped to look at Chris.

"What did you just say?"

"Oh, sorry, you two looked occupied. I said I'm a bit surprised our house wasn't just a smoking crater this morning."

"Uh, Chris," Sam said, "if it was how would WE know?"

"Well, I'm sure Detective Shaw's colleagues would be primed to avenge her untimely end. And well," he looked at Terry then Teresa, "your aunt and uncle might be a bit upset..."

Shaw laughed, said "I hope you're right about that..."

"They wouldn't have done it though," Mel said brightly, "too obvious. They're subtle. But Anna also said they're still kind of confused, internal worries."

"So we probably have some time," Chris said, "but we should keep an eye out for those, what, guards? Those big dudes?"

"Yeah, big, mean looking," Shaw said, "the one time I saw them I'd say their builds almost make your friend Bobby look lame. And after watching Anna throw Dave around and she says they're stronger..."

The twins and Sam started at that, apparently hadn't received a full recap. Only Bobby was bigger although Dave's muscles were padded and much less toned.

"That's why he was banged up," Terry said, "shit. Bobby's joked about her..."

"And they probably have ray guns," Chris said and Shaw's mouth was tight as she nodded.

"Ray guns? Shit," Sam said, "you know, if you two idiots hadn't been jabbering about otters that morning I wouldn't have touched that thing, we wouldn't have seen that picture..."

"Oh, Sam," Mel smiled, "Anna called them the 'Golden Criminals.' If we found them, that would help things."

"But, Mel," Chris said softly enough everyone else had to lean in, "we know who they are. Or were..."

"There is that," she replied but then she went silent.

"What? Who?" Teresa's turn.

"Asha," Shaw said, "Asha and Aron. Their parents are somehow involved. But I can't see those two aliens were their actual parents although all of them having gold eyes is weird. But Anna said the Golden Criminals destroyed the first alien ship in 1963. Those two were born in May of 1965. So yeah, those two aliens made it down, met up with Asha and Aron's parents somehow. Gave them the padlet, maybe some sort of payment."

"Where are they now? How could they stay hidden?"

"I don't know, Teresa," Shaw said, "Asha and Aron's parents died a few years back, accidentally electrocuted in a hot tub."

"Ow," Terry spoke for the table.

"Last I spoke to her last night," Shaw said, "Asha was in no mood to discuss this and hasn't been overly fond of me at any point. And no answers from her parents unless by seance. But judging at least from their daughter, they were definitely odd. Trained her and her brother in knife-fighting and hand-to-hand combat, how she took down those two gangbangers at the kidnapping."

"Yeah, Cat's enthused about her but Asha didn't seem at all happy about the publicity," Mel added, "maybe Aron would be easier to approach. Asha's not happy with me either. Sam, he's your friend."

"He's my student, not sure he's a friend," Sam said, "well, I'll try to talk to him tomorrow. We'll see."

"What about Anna? Think she'll stick around? Another who won't want to see me. I could claim espionage but we have no real proof..."

"And Jayne the Cat," Chris said, "maybe they'll both disappear. But then, there's Bobby. I think him and Anna, um..."

"Really love each other," Mel said firmly, "I don't think she's faking THAT. And he definitely isn't."
"They took Peter," Shaw said, "because another alien fell in love with him."

"I'll go try to talk to Bobby, he's my friend," Chris said, "we don't know what Anna's told him."

"What next? They know we know, the government has to know at least some of this but they've been silent. I... can't really bring the force in on this with what we have, a picture and a distressed girl breaking a guy's ribs. She, if she's around, could claim we trapped and threatened her and she made up what she told us because she was scared. And we have nothing, really, on Jayne."

"We have the padlet but don't want the government taking it," Chris said, "and I've read plenty of files on it. I know at least one is some sort of design for semiconductors, but tiny, I mean, like a bazillion would fit in one of ours. And another that's a quantum computer. And the software that is artificial—-"

"Wait," Sam said, " a quantum what?"

"A quantum computer, couple of papers, pure theory but would use qubits and entanglement—-"

"Like she said," Shaw snapped as she pointed down, "right here, I have it. I'll use it."

Everyone nodded, Mel laughed.

"Um, okay, it uses... oh hell, it would do things no computer we have could do. We might be able to build one, in, oh, fifty, sixty years. And..."

He held his hand up to some grumbling.

"And fusion. Fusion reactors. And star ships and stealthy satellites."

"Okay," Terry said, "those I understand."

"Only problem, the padlet also has AI, artif, never mind. It's smart, it likes the RedFruit, it's mostly told ME how it could copy the design files over. But the files are so large I have nowhere to put them. But it doesn't have more info on their home world, as if anything about their home world had been erased."

"And that's MY RedFruit," Mel grumbled.

"Hey, you just let your otter use it to send nasty emails to Sandy at Mallomar, telling her if we'd known she was a virgin we'd have invited her to have sex with us in the conference room."

"Well, my otter feels bad she missed out," Mel rasped.

"One more word about otters," Sam growled, "and my policewoman friend IS going to shoot you both."

Shaw's expression was momentary confusion but Sam's tone convinced her so she nodded toward her ankle again before she raised an eyebrow at Chris and Mel.

"No more otters, Sam. My friend Jess gave us info that they've read at least one padlet from the crash, but who knows. She said it was in English and our guess is it was actually Peter's padlet. But they have to have ideas about this tech. I've thought about Roger, but with his baby I've been worried about involving him."

The waitress and a busboy arrived, the latter collected dishes while the former refilled empty coffee mugs to thanks around the table. Sam glanced, there was a slight lull in arrivals so no mob waiting for seats but that would end soon since the rest of the churches were about done. Get this over.

"Can't you do what you make that RedFruit or your other machine do and just call a computer and put it all there?"

"No, those numbers are..."

Chris paused and stared into space. Mel grinned and put her hand on his crotch and rubbed.

"He does this, I can reboot him..."

"It knows about an 'ultranet,' their version of the arpanet. Oh, well, it's the 'internet' now. Shit. I can sneak it up to the Uni and hook it on a T1 line. Maybe I can just dump info live..."

A Dance of Protocols

[March 2]

Chris

"Sure won't be any issues at the house?"

Mel walked alongside Chris into the Engineering building, their coats left behind in the car with the suddenly mild first day of March with flannel shirts over a tee and a tank.

"Joyce said she'd check the place out with them, we showed her the tape on the doors. Hopefully the aliens haven't watched low budget mystery movies. She, all of them, saw that probe outside our place when we left. They know what to look for. Besides, I think she wants to spend more time with Terry and she and Sam seem to really get along."

"I'm going to tell her about your overlook up past Herriman, just in case I disappear one of these days. Anna's folks will only be the second suspects. Maybe I should mention poor Kelly too..."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek as he groaned and they walked up the stairs and Chris used a pass card to open a door before he pulled the padlet out of his pack and set it next to a colorful computer. He pulled his flannel shirt off and tossed it over the back of another chair.

"Ok, let's hope the padlet is as happy with this RedFruit Plus as it is yours," Chris said, "maybe it just likes yours because it likes you..."

"I like you too, padlet, you don't force yourself up my poor abused ass. Like this does."

One hand tapped the padlet to turn it on, the other hand rubbed Chris's cock.

"Hey, I need to concentrate."

Mel released them both and stood and pulled off her flannel shirt, they were alone in the graduate lab that he'd been allowed access to by Dave and Dr. Carlstrom. Chris snorted as he looked at the tight tank that was tight and translucent enough to allow not just the shapes but even the color of her nipples to show through. She walked across the room and set up the coffee maker.

Chris had a grim smile as the padlet's base screen offered the picture he now knew as the Golden Criminals, mass murderers or so Anna claimed. And in her shock he doubted it was an intentional lie. He tapped the screen twice and they disappeared and a set of icons appeared. The system offered four languages, English, Russian, what he took to be Chinese and, well, Alien. Maybe Aron or Asha could give info but he didn't know if that had been done before or after it had come to earth. Anna had mentioned probes so likely they'd known Earth had multiple languages and had prepped as the first starship neared. The choices meant they'd had to have waited, a couple of hundred years earlier Russian or Chinese wouldn't have been as likely. He'd caught her mention of 'hypersleep' so guessed that had been in use on the earlier expedition. This Anna had been born on the journey but it seemed the other Anna, Queen Anna, might've been born on that now-destroyed home world. His fingers worked on their own as he directed the padlet to connect via his jury-rigged radio-modem to a local DEC machine running Unix and TCP/IP to the arpanet become the internet. He jumped when he felt teeth on his ear and a hand on his cock.

"Hey," the voice was low, raspy, "come back, lover."

"Oh, sorry."

"It working?"

"It's still working out direct Ethernet, I've loaded the specs. But not there yet, but this AI is freakish. Just give it goals, but it's a bit stilted in English still... We've been talking about this. The source code's on this thing but even translated it's going to take me a long time since I have to work out the programming language. And well, finals in a couple of weeks... Guess failing out a quarter before graduation would be bad."

"Can you tell the world what we have? Show them the diagram for the CPU? Just to demonstrate?

"Better than that, I'm dumping the spec for carbon nanotube transistors and their odd silicon and the high-level design of the quantum computers. It'll take us a decade to develop the equipment to build the factory to prototype even these transistors but well. I talked to one of the computer engineering guys, he laughed, said 'if you can do that you're forty years ahead of us.' But it'll prove we have something."

The padlet chirped.

"We're in," Chris said, "comp.hardware, get ready to freak out."

Chris tapped the screen and two icons appeared. One to indicate the progress and the other the time in strange symbols."

"I like their digits," Mel said, "base 10."

"The Golden Criminals have 10 fingers, well, 8 and 2 opposable thumbs. Freakish. Like a sci-fi author too lazy to come up with better aliens. But he's really horny too so the female ones have great tits and high sex drives!"

Mel laughed and kissed his cheek again and rubbed his cock before she pulled a chair close and sat down next to him, one leg behind his chair and the other splayed to her left so she could put her chest against his left arm. She put her right arm across his shoulders and her left worked the hardening flesh through his jeans. She'd kicked off her Converse hi-tops and her socked feet were flat on the commercial carpet.

"Once I've got it running Ethernet it'll be much faster. I want to dump some of this program to comp.sources and post a message on comp.ai. But not enough bandwidth to do all at once... Just gotta wait."

His attention wavered from the cooperating padlet and his prick asserted itself in response to the strokes it was receiving.

"Do we have time—-"

Mel's question was interrupted as the door to the lab opened and she turned her head but her hand didn't waver from its task. Chris rotated his chair just enough to see the new arrivals.

"I can smell it, fresh coffee—-," the speaker stopped as he looked at the coffee maker then at the seated pair, Mel's horns and her swinging tail in clear view, the deep curve of her tank's armhole meant her shoulder was exposed along with most of her right breast.

"Hey, wha—-," a second arrival stumbled to avoid a collision.

"Hey, Alan, Arjun," Chris said, "Mel just made the coffee."

"Oh, hey, Chris," Alan, the first entrant spoke, "ah, yeah, you're Mel. We've heard about you... Nice to meet you."

Mel waved and leaned back so considerable amounts of the swell of both breasts was visible, the cool air in the lab had coaxed her nipples to maximum erection through the thin cloth. Her hand stayed in his crotch and while hidden her intent couldn't have been missed. Mel squared her shoulders and she and Chris both chuckled very quietly.

"Um, what you two doing?" It was Arjun, another first-year grad student.

Alan had been a local undergrad a year ahead so Chris knew him reasonably well but had only met the first year grad student Arjun a couple of times. Both were a bit shorter than Chris and chubbier. No matter, both sets of eyes were locked on Mel's chest. Her left hand moved with an exaggerated flourish to cause the eyes of both viewers to widen momentarily before she kissed Chris's cheek and stood quickly and walked to the coffee maker. She stopped and bent forward from her waist and Chris smiled as their eyes went even wider.

"We brought a fresh carton of milk," Mel pulled it out of the mini-fridge below the coffee maker, "I'm just going to fill a couple of mugs for us but I'll be happy to fix yours first. Either of you have milk with yours?"

A few minutes later Mel had returned to her position next to Chris at the long table where the RedFruit, padlet and other computers sat. Her left hand returned to task, its target hadn't relaxed in its denim prison.

"Quite the show you gave them..."

"They ask any more questions about what we're doing? Think they even SAW the padlet?"

"Nope, hmmf," he said as her fingers worked his belt then his zipper and worked the cloth until she pulled his stiff prick free and stroked it with both hands.

"Let me start the quantum 'puter spec goi—-," he panted as she nudged him back slightly and bent and sucked in half of his erection, "oy, uh, concentrate..."

His right hand tapped icons as his left found the back of her head and pushed.

"Going," he grunted and she huffed as she swallowed his full length before his arm relaxed and she rose then pushed rapidly down again. She repeated the deep suck twice more before she rose and wrapped the wet flesh with a hand.

Chris rolled his chair away from the table as Mel's mouth met his and their lips rapidly spread and tongues dueled. She stood and pushed her chair sideways from him as he found the button of her jeans and popped up and pushed her zipper down. She spun his chair ninety degrees so he faced her, their lips still locked as he worked her tight jeans over the bubble ass that had grabbed his brain from his first sight of it and pushed them down her legs. She broke the kiss as his hands reached her knees and he let them fall from there.

"Knew I should've worn a skirt on such a nice day," a raspy purr as she wiggled her left foot and stepped it out of the piled jeans. His left hand found her crotch. He pushed a finger between the lips of her vulva while the other kneaded her left tit through its thin cover. He slid the finger deeper inside of her as she kissed him quickly then straddled him and moved forward before she squatted.

He got the hint. Their eyes locked as he grabbed his lubed cock and with it recreated the path his finger took before he found her opening. She pushed it slowly into her body as she exhaled and he moved his hand to allow him to finger her erect clit, his other arm around her waist now as she put hers on his shoulders for balance and pumped using her strong thighs.

"Those two," her voice was deep, slow, his cock twitched at it, their eyes locked as she moved, "said they've not seen others. But they'll be back I bet. Refills."

"Yeah, but they'll...," his voice in puffed breaths, "give it a little while."

They alternated deep, slow kisses and Mel pumped with breaks to breathe while she stood slightly and he pushed his prick into her by now well lubricated pussy. The padlet chirped periodically as it progressed with its upload of impossible technology.

"Is it almost...," Mel's voice hoarse, "done?"

"Yeah..."

Mel kissed him hard and pushed down to stop his pumping before she lifted clear with a slight gush and pushed him back, turned away from him and bent at the waist with her arms on the table.

"I want to watch it finish," she wiggled her ass, he pushed the chair and stood and quickly shoved his entire cock into her cunt, she grunted, "don't cum in me, pants gonna be messy enough! But wait, after it's done..."

He laughed as he held her hips, diligent practice meant they quickly found the rhythm to fuck each other with only the head of his cock left inside of her on each slow backstroke before they met in the middle of each hard fore-stroke. He watched over her shoulder as the alien digits counted down to their zero, a circle with a horizontal line across its center. Another freakish coincidence. The padlet emitted what the lovers took to be 'finished' in the alien language, at least that was the English word it used for the same action.

He grabbed her hips hard and slammed his cock repeatedly into her, his pubic region slammed against her ass each time and the loud squelches might've been audible in the hallway. He felt the tips of her fingers as she ground her clit hard with them.

"Oh, fuck, fuck, quelsh, quelsh," Mel spat the syllables that the padlet claimed was the alien equivalent to her word as Chris moaned when he felt her hot gush of cum around his cock. He slammed himself to full depth and held while she quivered and spasmed around him.

"Virsh," she said, 'out,' and he pulled his shaft out and backed up a half step, she turned rapidly and squatted, one hand went to his ass and the other wrapped the base of his dripping cock before she sucked the rest into her mouth. He rested one hand on her horned head and the other on her shoulder as his own legs quivered while she sucked him hard and fast.

He let go and heard her cheeks and tongue work the light load of semen down her throat, the previous evening's exertions showed their impact. After his last spasm she backed slowly and released him before she kissed the still hard head and stood. He pulled her against his body and she held him tightly and he tasted their mingled cum on her lips and tongue. She stayed tight as they broke this kiss and took deep, slow breaths before she placed her mouth next to his ear and whispered. His response duplicated her tone.

"Think Anna's taught any of those words to Bobby?"

"Whole subject, that... our pronunciation might be crap, we just imitate the padlet but who knows how it's set."

"You should put that nasty thing away," Mel's deep rasp as she pulled her head back, "I doubt Alan and Arjun will be interested. Maybe if any of the CS girls are in today, I've wanted to taste a couple of them... Think you could, you know, invite one..."

"I'll work on that, maybe Veronica... She's graphics, not AI or languages, only had a few classes together but always been friendly, pointed her out to you one day..."

"Yeah. You would pick the only one with bigger tits than me, your kerchief," she stuck out her tongue before she kissed him again and they unclenched and he pulled his handkerchief out of the pocket on his pack. She bent down and kissed his softened prick before she wiped it with the cloth and worked it back into his jeans.

"Oh dear," she used her little girl chirp as she did up his belt, "what are these stains on your jeans from? Well, they're not toooo bad."

She stood, kissed him quickly on the lips. She looked down and shrugged and stepped completely out of her jeans and used the kerchief on her own crotch before she tossed it to Chris. He caught it and made an 'ugh' face which caused her to stick her tongue out at him again while she stood in place wearing only her horns, a skimpy top that had shifted so both tits were fully exposed and socks.

"You get that next file going before we get vaporized by alien ray guns, I'll get us coffees."

He watched her first couple of steps as she returned her top to its rightful place before he shook his head, grabbed his chair, sat and prepped the weirdest and most unique posting comp.sources had so far seen. If he and Mel had their way it wouldn't be the last. He heard coffee mugs being handled as he tapped the padlet. It beeped and he turned. Mel carried two mugs and was halfway to him when they heard the door lock click. She smiled and caught the tip of her tongue between her teeth and lips.

He reached up to accept his mug as the door pushed open and a woman entered, her light brown hair almost reached her waist and was in a loose ponytail, bangs and loose strands framed her round face and gray eyes that were behind glasses with black frames.

"Coffee in he—-," it was Alan's voice as the woman froze and he bumped into her as his voice went silent mid-word. Her mouth dropped open and his followed as Mel winked at Chris and then turned and sipped from her mug.

"What's...," Arjun pushed in and gaped along with the other two when he saw Mel.

"Hey," Chris said with enough force to draw looks, "oh, hi Veronica. Veronica, this is Mel, Mel, Veronica."

"Hi, Veronica, I've already met Alan and Arjun. Pretty sure there's enough coffee for three."

Chris fought down his smile as Veronica's eyes locked onto Mel's black landing strip before they worked up her taut abs, her very erect nipples. They jumped to the horns before they settled on her coal black eyes. The woman was between Sam and Mel in height, her hips were broader than Mel's, her face rounder and her sweatshirt was loose but not loose enough to deny Mel's observation of a few minutes earlier.

"Help yourselves, I'm just going to pull my pants on," Mel said in a husky tone, she turned and set her mug on the table and bent at the waist to grab her jeans with their attached tail. Only Chris saw her demonic grin as the trio walked trance-like to the coffee maker.

"Veronica was very nice," Mel purred as they walked through the hallway, clothes restored, "meeting us for dinner at Crown Burger tonight. Get to know each other..."

"Told you she was friendly—-"

"But I'm not sure she's all that into boys... I'm sure I'LL have plenty of fun, both of you taking care of me. We'll just ignore the boy parts!"

"Oh,well...," Chris went silent as he stopped them at a window that overlooked the parking lot and his car. There weren't more than a dozen cars in the whole lot and Chris had parked toward the west end in the second row where it would take multiple cars to block him in.
"That's a Boss Mustang," Chris said of the car that was four empty slots to the east of his.

"And an alien disguised as a human standing next to it. See anyone else?"

"Only recognize a couple of the cars, but no one else moving. No really big guys in cheap suits like Joyce described."

"Hello, Anna," Mel said a few minutes later, her voice as clear as Chris had ever heard it, "nice morning today, isn't it?"

"I've had better, but yes, demon, it looks like a beautiful day. Queen Anna and my mom talked about days like this back on... I'll never, no one, will see that again."

She went silent, her eyes moist.

"We're sorry, Anna, we... well, we've just needed to know."

Chris nudged Mel's arm and moved her attention to a white van that had just entered the parking lot a couple of hundred yards to the north. She nodded and moved ten steps away from him.

"What?" Anna's gaze swung from Mel to Chris, back to the horned head.

"Those your friends, Anna? White van, dark windows," Mel's voice roughened.

The tall woman turned and looked.

"Shi...," her lips moved but nothing more was audible. The van stopped.

"I... kind of lied last night," Anna's gaze bounced between the pair, "I don't really have... guards. Well, yeah, they're here."

She quickly turned to glance again at the van.

"But I'm not really supposed to stay down here. Queen Anna had it all laid out and I was already down here. She didn't tell me to come back during the fight when they crashed. There's a... council. They told me to come back up a while ago and I said no and my mom told them to stuff it. The guards don't watch over me so much as track me. But they haven't tried to force me to go, almost never even talk to me. Yet. But there's only a couple of them."

"Do they hear everything you hear?"

"Huh? No, leather boy, they don't. Only if I... allow that. It's usually... telemetry. Location, that I'm alive. Injured or not."

"What did you tell Bobby about last night? Does he KNOW about you?"

"No. He... doesn't. Told him it was an argument between me and Asha, about Jayne, Dave got in the middle and stumbled. People saw me and her wrestle. He knows Asha doesn't like Jayne because my friend is a pushy bitch about reporting and she keeps wanting to interview her and Tracy."

"Except about herself. You're very human, Anna," Mel said, "you can lie."

"We're, we, were, are, like you in many ways. Queen Anna could spin tales. Is Dave okay?"

"Yeah, I called his place. His roommate Linda said he called her, ribs badly bruised but not broken, he'll be fine. He stayed at Asha's place. She wouldn't let him call us."

"Tell him... sorry. I panicked a bit. Guess I'm not as good a spy as I thought."

"We promise," Mel's voice kind, "we won't tell Bobby."

Anna opened her mouth but Mel spoke again.

"But the rest of us, and that detective, all know. It might... slip."

Anna smiled sadly and nodded.

"But hey, it's Bobby. I've known him since my first day here. I think... you'll be fine. But why are you here, right now?"

"I want that padlet. It obviously has information about the first expedition. The criminals. And more..."

"The government must have plenty of them from the crash. Well, some had to have survived."

"The mutineers had wiped them, we can do that remotely, but each needs a unique code, so can't do yours. And Peter's was somehow protected, he broke into all of our stuff. They can disassemble them, but what will they figure out? Computers, yeah, but circuitry no one on this planet knows how to build."

Chris and Mel looked at each other. Chris mouthed 'yet' and Mel replied 'Peter.' Anna had said he'd burrowed deep into their systems. Chris was pretty sure it had to have been Peter's padlet that had survived the crash. But what else had the government gotten off of it?

"And if we don't give it to you? There's at least one of your little probes behind Mel. Do they have ray guns?"

Anna's eyes went wide and she mouthed 'what?' But her eyes darted to her right to the spot and Chris turned and saw the telltale blur as it sped to his right and out of sight.

"That one just so we'd think there was only one while another sneaks up on us?"

Anna smiled.

"We don't have millions of them. Just kept one close to you after your little announcements last summer."

"We know," Mel purred, "hope your people enjoyed the shows we gave it."

Anna shook her head at that but her smile told them she'd seen some of what the probe had seen.

"Do they follow you?"

"Sometimes," the tall brunette shrugged.

"Like at the Broiler?"

"Huh? Uh... after... after the gang showed, I... called... what you'd call an SOS. One was outside to let the guards watch. But they wouldn't have shown themselves unless it was really desperate."

"Uh huh," Chris continued, "Joyce, Detective Shaw, thinks one bashed that Wolfman in the head, made him fall. We told her about them Friday. She's pretty good."

Anna's face twisted and her mouth moved for a few moments before she could speak.

"I didn't tell it to do that..."

"We believe you, Anna," Mel said, "and it's not like Joyce plans to tell her bosses. Yet. But we got the impression she's not happy he's dead."

"Do they have ray guns?" Chris asked again as he did a slow spin, his eyes unfocused. You couldn't see the probes but you could see the interference pattern in the background. Like a heat haze.

"Ray guns?"

"Shock weapons," Mel picked up, "like an electric shock. Your people used one on Peter or Carole. Or with them."

Anna glanced back at the van, it hadn't moved.

"They... that was the guards. To convince them. The only probes with weapons would've been ones with Queen Anna. We have very few of those. As you can see I don't have a weapon."

She held her hands angled out from her body and showed them her palms. Her tight sweatshirt and jeans didn't offer room for weapons, at least nothing gun-like.

"But they do," Chris looked at the van.

"Yes. So please. Give me the padlet."

"And if we don't? Will your friends in the van come over and convince us? Take us away?"

Anna exhaled loudly. She really was a very good human, Chris thought.

"No. They... don't know. I don't know what they might really do to you. Or to me... they're not here for you. They're... watching me. But that padlet might have answers for us."

"Don't have it."

"But... in there...," Anna nodded her head at the building.

Chris shrugged off his backpack and unzipped it. He and Anna took a step and he angled it, she saw a couple of textbooks and nothing else. They retreated and he zipped the pack and slipped it on.

"I think you'd be disappointed though," Chris said, "it's just your technology. Like, someone planned to sell info... nothing about your people, or home, or the other people on the expedition."

"Maybe it's hidden, I---"

"No," Chris's voice was sharper than he'd meant, "it's... paranoid. It was... hesitant until it knew we were humans. It claims it was told to help only humans and hide from your people."

"You're kidding, right?" Anna looked at Chris then Mel, their faces held sad smiles.

"What were they? The criminals?"

"She was a reactor engineer, how she would've known how to sabotage the starship. He... the male, was a computer speciali...," she paused and sighed, "they taught it English? There were linguists, we had recordings of your languages from hidden probes."

And Russian and Chinese," Chris answered.

"We're not ready to give it back. It's fallen in love with my RedFruit and we'd feel bad to break them up."

He clearly read the 'what da fuck' although Anna's voice stayed silent as she stared at Mel.

"Anna, I once joked to Mel that if we lined you up with every student in the Engineering building, you'd easily be more human than half of them. I underestimated you. It was just seeing those two, the ones you claim are criminals that threw you."

"We just have your word about them being criminals," Mel said, "we accept something happened. But I'm going to dig into the archives, check up on any sightings back in '63. And the padlet likes to watch me and Chris... just like your probes. Your people really are quite the horn dogs! But if that stuff you told us is true about Peter and Carole and your Queen and your mother... And a Brittany?"

Anna scowled harshly at the last name.

"All true, I swear. He... he fucked all of us, even that blue-eyed mutineer whore. Except the Queen. She and him... never..."

Mel and Chris glanced at each other, he offered a tiny shrug, before Mel responded.

"You, well, your people, can fuck humans? You definitely..."

"There are... some issues, if they're not like me. But, yes. Peter and my mom adapted quite well."

Mel shook her head.

"Wow. You may as well BE humans! Chris can only dream of such a good sex life! Did Peter ever sleep up there!"

"Couple hours, now and then. We kept him busy...," Anna drawled as Chris snorted.

"The criminals, Queen Anna, Joyce and Dave saw her, aren't like you. Are you all changing?" Mel's question was sharp.

"We can't just change... anybody," Anna's delayed answer, "only in the womb. There were only a few like me. But, Angie and Kim were on the ship that crashed. Not that many of us left, most just little. Us, we changelings, we were Queen Anna's project and my mom was her protégée, took over the project after I was born. But my mom was devastated by the crash."

"Anna, we'll help you find the golden eyed criminals or whatever they are," Chris added, "but we're keeping the padlet for now."

"Can you get your friends in the van to leave, then you leave? Then we'll go."

"If you're still around, come to racquetball on Friday. We'll talk then."

"Huh," Anna snorted, her 'human' side again front and center, "yeah, that or stay at my place while that bitch Asha and Dave that I beat the shit out of come to play that silly D&D Friday night. That ain't happening. Ok."

"And one more thing," Chris drew her stare, "you said someone 'killed your sun.' Who? How? There's nothing on the padlet about that, like we said, nothing about your home world, just tech stuff. But more, does that mean something for us?"

"We... don't know. Ian had ideas. Something about dust clouds in the galaxy. But yes. Someday. I... don't know why your padlet doesn't have it, we sent them the info once Ian had it, told them our plans to evacuate. But about the sun, I don't understand it all, I'm not an astrophysicist."

"I am," Mel's voice firm, "get me what you have."

Anna looked at Mel, nodded. Her lips moved slightly and a moment later the van drove a half circle and exited the parking lot and it followed the road down the slope around the rise where the Engineering Building stood. Anna opened her driver's door.

"You're not going to tell anyone else about me? About Jayne?"

"No, Anna," Mel said, "but like we said that detective knows. But she's not going to do anything for now. I mean, what laws have you really broken?"

All three laughed but there was little amusement in it.

"That detective," Anna said, "I'd like to talk to her."

"The Golden Criminals?"

"Yeah, them, but also something, someone else. Ties to Peter and maybe other things. But not quick, like, maybe after spring break. Me and Bobby..."

Her worry was obvious. Chris knew that wasn't just her human visage. Whatever exactly she truly was, that being loved Bobby.

Mel nodded her head, mouthed 'okay.'

Anna slid into the driver's seat as Chris stepped to Mel's side and they sidled away. They heard the throaty 351 and Anna waved quickly then put the Mustang into gear, pulled forward and did a slow one-eighty to the left away from Mel and Chris before she mashed the accelerator and laid rubber with second gear.

"She's a good driver for having been born on a spaceship," Chris said as the Mustang's tires squealed through the first three gears as she traced the van's path around the hill.

"Think they'll search the building?"

Mel slipped her arm around Chris's waist and he put his across her shoulders as they walked to his car.

"If they can. So we'll have to hope the rest of our plan works out. Let's go home and get changed, we haven't done a hard run up the hill to our park since fall. Good day for it."

"Sounds like part one of a plan," Mel's free hand reached across and did a quick crotch grope, "let's hope the rest of today's plans work out."

****

Chris and Mel will return soon in their next adventure. Asha and Tracy star in their own 'Geek Pride' series (initial entry, 'You Promised Me Geeks' in Non-Human) and they drop by here now and again (and vice-versa). If you've not read about Peter's time with Queen Anna and her 'paeple' please take a look at my Halloween 2019 tale 'A Tale of Two Parties' in Erotic Horror and its sequel that follows him and Queen Anna on her satellite 'Adrift in Space' in Science Fiction & Fantasy. Detective Shaw's full search for what happened to Peter after the fateful Halloween evening is in 'Chasing Robes & Shadows' in Exhibitionist & Voyeur.