Belle

It was already just past three, and Belle cast one last wistful glance at the bed. It now looked pristine and unused because, despite her reminder to Lycaon that he was off duty, he'd cleaned and made up her bed while she was in the shower. Perhaps his devotion to cleanliness was not entirely related to his duties as a butler; or, perhaps… leaving behind a comforter that was obviously stained with their shared pleasure would raise problematic questions for him.

Either way, Belle could remember how it looked in her head, and that's what she did now: the wrinkled indentation of their joined bodies, the splotch of wet and discolored fabric from where they'd joined together- and that sparked a vivid recollection of the euphoria of those moments.

Belle sighed at the memory. She wanted to do it again. She wanted a lifetime of such moments. Who wouldn't? But the harddrive of her brain was about to lock out from being too full, or something, and there was an autonomous and self-learning artificial intelligence trying to kill her over it. So… she had some things to deal with first. After a final glance at the best hotel room of her life, she turned her back on it and headed for the elevator.

Lycaon was waiting for her at the far end of the hall, watching her approach him. He stood with his usual idle grace, his uniform and fur crisp and clean, his expression neutral and reserved. Belle's recollection fed her a delicious memory of Lycaon's face just above hers, intent and primal in his own sexual gratification, pouring himself into her. Belle shivered with remembered pleasure.

However, he didn't seem to be floating in happy memories. Lycaon looked worried. Very worried.

"Belle," said Lycaon, stiffly, as she arrived before him at the suite's elevator. "I realized recently that I… failed to protect you… from myself."

Belle looked up at him, mildly surprised. Until now, he'd seemed as thoroughly post-coitally content as herself. Why was he having second thoughts? Was it the return of his working mindstate? That might be it.

"Are you feeling guilty for being rougher at the end, or something?" said Belle, "I loved every part of what we did. You don't have to worry about-"

"You've adequately assured me of your resilience to my… enthusiasm," said Lycaon, obviously struggling with phrasing. "But I worry of potential long term consequences… as a result of my… culminating indiscretion."

Belle blinked, suddenly catching on. "Oh! That! Don't worry about that, Lycaon. I take care of that myself."

"Ah," said Lycaon, pausing to think for a moment, and then apparently deciding not to pursue the subject further. He pushed the button on the elevator.

Belle's inner gremlin couldn't quite resist. She put a pensive look on her face and tapped her own chin with a thoughtful finger. "Oh, wait. Did I remember my dose this month? It's been so hectic…."

Lycaon abruptly glanced at her, ears and tail ramrod stiff. She laughed and the memory of his expression had her snickering to herself the entire elevator ride down. Lycaon attempted indignant impassivity even as his tail twitched behind him. Oh, he could be a little fun to tease.

But as they crossed that tiny middle room of just elevator doors and they entered the second elevator downward…

Now that Belle thought of it… it had been a bit hectic lately… when was she supposed to take that stuff? The last one would have been around the time she and Wise were helping Belbog and their rogue machinery… that had also been a somewhat hectic time, too… but she'd taken the dose back then, right?

Uh…

Yeah!...

Yeah, she did. Belle knew she did. She was pretty sure she did. She had to have! She wouldn't have forgotten that. But her next time to take one should have been about… three days ago, and she had forgotten that, and now her room was destroyed. Well, she would just get some more today. A few days wouldn't make a difference, would they? Nahhhhh…

Belle's mind conjured up the intense sensation of Lycaon's heat gushing within her. She shivered pleasantly at that memory, too. But… when she'd showered a short time later… well… a lot came out.

Like… a lot, a lot.…

It was probably fine. No, it was almost surely fine. And there were a few over-the-counter things available that she could use if she was really worried… which she wasn't… not really…

Meanwhile, Lycaon's arm gently pushed Belle against the wall and he stood between her and the elevator door. Belle felt them come to a stop at the bottom floor. Lycaon held the button on the door, refusing its desire to open, and they waited. Belle presumed he was checking security systems or something. Apparently satisfied, Lycaon allowed the door to open and he guided Belle out into the staff areas of the hotel.

They set off in a different direction than would return them to the alleyway in which they'd arrived yesterday. Ahead of them murmured a soft din of voices and the clanging of pots: the kitchens, surely. Lycaon turned away from that down another long hallway and through a door that was a notable barrier line between the utilitarian halls behind them and a more stylish and chic hallway before them. They'd entered the guest portion of the hotel.

Belle realized they were getting close to the hotel pool. That tell-tale chemical smell growing heavy in the air. Happy child voices screeched out and echoed down the hall. Fun was definitely being had. The voices became louder as Lycaon and Belle approached a T-intersection of the halls, and the sudden approach of footsteps caused Lycaon to halt just before the corner. It sounded like little, bare feet slapping on tile flooring.

"Mom said we can't run-" yelled out a youthful voice.

"But we're racing! That's different!"

Lycaon's arm reached out, pulling Belle slightly behind himself. At nearly the same moment, two children exploded around the corner, yelped in surprise at finding Lycaon towering there, and in attempting to stop, slid on the tile, bounced off Lycaon's metal legs, and they tumbled onto the tiles in a tangle of bare limbs, pool towels, damp swim trunks, and waterlogged thiren tails.

Two, small human faces stared up at Belle and then higher up at Lycaon wherein their eyes widened further in shock and innocent, childish fear- their lupine ears folded back on both their heads, their damp wolf tails tucking behind them.

"A prohibition on running is a prohibition on racing," said Lycaon, his voice a deep and low growl. Belle had never heard him speak like that before now. It sounded subtly different, almost like there were tones to it that Belle couldn't quite pick out.

It had an immediate and stark effect on the children. Belle watched the half-thirens' ears somehow get even flatter on their heads and the children bobbed their heads in a sort of little bow.

"S- sorry, mister. Sorry, lady."

"Stand up and do it properly," said Lycaon, with a calm yet menacing annoyance.

The children sprang to obey the tone. They bowed formally to them both. Belle blinked in wonder: Two wild, half-thiren kids had appeared; Lycaon used Dad Voice, and it was super effective.

"We apologize," they said in unison.

"Good," grunted Lycaon. "Go. Walk."

The children immediately began walking away, their tails slightly down and between their legs, giving nervous glances over their shoulders.

"If only that worked on Ellen…," Lycaon mumbled to himself and then turned his attention to something in his ear communicator; meanwhile, Belle watched the children walk down the long hallway. They were definitely half-thiren kids; half-wolf-thiren kids.

Lycaon's kids would look like that… if he had them with a human… wouldn't they?

They were really cute…

"The car is here, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, suddenly pulling her off down the right-hand hallway, his stride long and quick, forcing Belle to almost trot to keep up. "We will be thirty seconds late."

They rushed through the bowels of the hotel, occasionally passing other hotel guests dressed in either swimsuits or exercise clothing. A side door led them into a plain cement stairwell and they emerged into an underground parking lot. There was a nondescript black car waiting, shiny and gleaming in the hard fluorescent lights.

Lycaon seemed to scan the large room with his eyes before allowing Belle to fully enter. He brought her as far as a concrete pillar that was between two parked cars. "Crouch here a moment, Lady Belle. I'll call you forward in a moment."

Belle did as instructed, quick to obey Lycaon in his full work mode. She watched from a low crouch as Lycaon strode out into the open traffic lane of the parking garage, opened the back door of the sedan, and looked inside. He seemed satisfied by what he found, as he straightened up, looked around the garage again, and then motioned for Belle to quickly join him. She walked quickly and was ushered directly into the vehicle.

Lycaon was quick to enter behind her, so she scooted across the seat. Belle was not an expert in vehicles, but this sedan was much less fancy than the Victoria Housekeeping car from the day before. No leather seats, just normal seats, and it didn't smell new, that's for sure. The car smelled well-used, like a normal automobile. But it was clean enough. Judging from the grate between her and the driver's compartment, Belle guessed this was actually an unmarked PubSec car.

The car began moving immediately upon the door closing, and Qingyi's green-haired head peered curiously back at them both through the grate. "Have a nice night? I hear this place is pretty fancy."

Belle felt a lump in her throat at the question. Did Qingyi suspect that she and Lycaon had been together? No. Of course not, don't be silly. That had happened this morning, anyway. And even if it wasn't totally possible- who cared if Qingyi knew or not? It wasn't any of her business.

"It was peaceful," said Belle with a neutral voice. "How was your night?"

"Busy," said Qingyi. "Two public investigations is a lot to get arranged in one night, but they'll start soon, and I hope it will distract Daemon's attention while you are in Scott Outpost today. Also: I have something from our interrogation of your surviving attacker. We got a phone number out of him and we found some of a logged call. Your would-be assasination is being discussed, Miss Belle. Want to hear it?"

"Yes, of course," said Belle. Goosebumps went up all over her body. Being offered the chance to listen to a conversation about killing her was a surreal experience. And maybe there would be a useful clue.

"Here," said Qingyi, holding a tablet computer against the grate. "This is what he have:"

A highly computerized voice emerged from the device's speakers. It sounded like a villain from a science fiction movie; a movie that was both old and low budget:

"The woman known as Belle must die. When she dies by your actions, you will receive currency."

"Look guy..," said a responding human voice. It sounded youngish and male, slightly annoyed. One of Belle's would be assassins and someone probably dead now. Probably someone chopped by Anby's sword inside Random Play.

"...We want the money up front. Getting into New Eridu isn't nothing. It costs. So we can't go in and do the job with nothing."

"Currency in exchange for services is proper," said the computerized voice. "If no service is performed, then no currency may be provided."

"No shit, but you ain't getting it, genius hacker man. The service location is in New Eridu. We don't live in New Eridu, asshole. If you want us to go there and perform your service, we need money now. At least half. For expenses in getting to the job site."

A very brief silence before the computerized voice answered. "Expenses related to your request are calculated only one-third of your fee. You will accept one-third now, and you will receive an additional one-third upon confirmed completion."

"Hey, hey, now we're talkin'! We'll take the job. You have our account numbers?"

"Affirmative. Perform your assigned task with alacrity."

The recording ended. Qingyi lowered the tablet computer and her face reappeared. Her eyes shifted between Belle and Lycaon, her expression businesslike. "Your first would-be-assassin was a small-time thug hired purely through instant messages. This latest group of Outer Rim fools who blew up your store was hired through that phone call you just listened to."

Belle looked over to see Lycaon frowning thoughtfully. He asked: "Is it in your capacity to decode that voice masking program so we might hear the culprit's true voice?"

"We tried and we can't," said Qingyi. She looked at Belle. "Either the voice mask is very, very good. Or…"

Belle took a deep breath, the dread of Fairy's revelation returning. "Or you can't break it because it's not a digital voice mask. It's Daemon itself."

Qingyi nodded grimly. "That's my guess."

"Great," said Belle. "It learned how to talk."

"Talking with humans is not as difficult as you might expect," said Qingyi, her tone slightly off-hand. "The hardest part is slowing down."

Belle gave her a questioning glance. What was she talking about?

"Nevermind," said Qingyi and she vanished back into the front seat. "We'll be at Scott Outpost in five."