Chapter 8: Home Sickness

Phoenix: Sunday Evening

"I think it's time I introduced myself."

"We already know each other."

"Not like this," he added, walking into my house. "I'm the Frog."

"What do you mean?"

Quickly, he overtook me, grabbing my wrists. Then I felt the subtle touch of the Ilyskn language running through my head like a babbling river.

"Oh." And then I remembered, my memory helped by the Ilyskn - the Frog was the code name, at least, of the person who'd first reported Erin.

"You've been a busy beaver, haven't you, Eric?"

"I haven't had much of a choice," I sighed, "Okay, you're going to have to explain some things to me. First my ex-girlfriend, then you ... next thing you're going to tell me, my high school principal is a ... Zauberer?"

He laughed. "No, as far as I'm aware, it's just Heather and me. And my wife, of course." He ran his hand through his hair. "We numen do seem to have a habit of crossing each other's paths. Somehow, you found Erin, then she led you right to me. Imagine my surprise when I saw you cross the threshold of my club."

"What do you do?"

"My wife and I are both..." he made a face " ... Verfolger." I started to ask, but he immediately interrupted me. "I don't really like the German language, but it's efficient. Verfolger means hunter. It's our job to find unknown numen, observe, and make recommendations. Heather's still a Verfolger."

I had no idea what to say, so I just stood there.

"Look, I just thought I'd check in. I'd like to think we were friends, or at least good acquaintences." He smiled at me, and a shiver went down my spine. "After all, it's been a month since your rather unfortunate awakening; you must be having some trouble adjusting, and Heather could only get away from Norman for a weekend."

"Has it already been a month?"

He slugged my shoulder. "Happy New Month, bucko. Only three days until Independence Day. Have any plans?" I shook my head. "Too bad. You're not looking so well. Maybe you should take a vacation. I hear Mexico is beautiful this time of year."

I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Okay?"

"And then, after your vacation," he said, brightening up again, "you'll be back to deal with our mutual friend."

"Demetrius."

He nodded. "The same." He frowned. "He's been busy, too. Been making quite a mess." He shook his head. "I wasn't looking forward to cleaning it up - and now it looks like I don't have to." Grinning, he looked at me. "After all, you need some sort of test to prove yourself, right?"

"I guess."

"I should mention that taking someone else's chattel is frowned upon. So, be careful with that."

Then he walked out the door, which I'd still been holding open.

Phoenix: Monday Morning

The phone's ringing ripped right through a pleasant dream I was having, involving both Tess and Taffy. It was Jordan. "Hey, big brother, you ready?"

I wasn't sure if I was ever going to be ready for what I was planning on doing to her. But I was pretty sure that's not what she was talking about. "Ready for what?"

"Your appointment, duh. Are you still sleeping? I've already had breakfast." She laughed. "Up and at 'em, campione. Got to get those staples out of your head, right?"

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and looked at the clock - it was almost ten. "Right, right. Let me take a shower; I'll be ready in half an hour."

Around about an hour later, my doorbell finally rang. I could sense the golden glow of the 'Demetrius' brand, even through the door. It made me sick to my stomach, even though the remnants of my silver mark were shining almost as bright. I opened the door to find Jordan dressed quite provocatively. She was wearing a tight, low-cut hot pink top that ended above her belly-button, as well as a black miniskirt. Only the flip-flops on her feet looked out of place.

"We're not going clubbing, sis," I said. "We're just going to the doctor." I couldn't help myself; I stared. I longed for the days when my sister was not a sex-object to me.

She noticed me staring. "I dressed to impress," she said, glancing down at the unfortunately growing bulge in my crotch, "and it looks like I did." She dimpled a smile and flounced off down the front walk. "Now come on, we've got to get you to the doc's."

I strapped myself into the car. "So, got any plans for the fourth?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Why?"

"Was thinking of heading out of town, take a vacation. Maybe visit nonno Tony."

She looked at me slyly; I almost saw a glimmer of my sister in there - the way she used to be. "Road trip?"

I grinned. "Hell yeah."

"Six hours alone in the car? I'll break you, campione." She winked.

"I'm stronger than you think, piccola."

"We'll see, big brother. No man can resist my charms for long."

"Yeah, but you're my sister. That gives me an edge."

"You don't look at me like I'm your sister anymore." She shot a hand into my crotch, where my cock was just finally starting to get back to normal. "And this guy seems to like what you're seeing instead." I batted her hand away, but she'd managed to achieve her goal: my south was rising again. Even in high school, I wasn't getting erections this often.

"Anyway," I gasped, my hand now encircling her wrist, "are you up for a road trip?"

"To California?" She smiled. "Sure! It's been way too long since I've seen the beach. I've got a few new bathing suits I've been dying to show off." She winked at me.

Finally, we pulled into the parking garage. I was sad that I wouldn't be seeing Dr. Parry - this appointment was with Dr. Tran, my surgeon. Not that that was horrible - he was a nice guy. But Ashlynn was a looker, and unfortunately thanks to Jordan (and the events of the last month) sex was almost always on my mind.

"Oh, it's you." That was Xiao Mei, sitting at the reception desk; the golden glow of Demetrius's brand all over her scowl. "You're late." Then her face brightened. "Helena!" She came out from behind the desk, ran over to my sister, and gave her a big hug. "Are you coming to the show Friday?"

The two girls tittered.

"You know it!" Jordan grew somber. "Don't want to disappoint Mr. Rocco, after all."

Xiao Mei leaned in and whispered something, and Jordan's face grew white. "Oh no!"

I leaned into Jordan after we finally got seated. "What was that all about?"

Xiao Mei shouted over the desk, "None of your beeswax!"

Jordan just smiled at me, politely, and shook her head. We sat in silence for a while, until Xiao Mei called my name. Brusquely, she led me into an exam room, took my blood pressure and other vitals, then weighed me, making a disapproving tsk-tsk sound when my weight came up.

Finally, she left me alone. I started to snooze on the exam room table before Dr. Tran came in. He was an older asian gentleman, the father of Xiao Mei. He examined me, did some tests to make sure I was recovering okay, we joked a bit about the hypnosis that happened on my birthday. Then, as he walked out, he said everything looked good, and he'd send in 'the nurse' to take out the staples.

Unfortunately, it was Xiao Mei. She glared at me, then had an almost sadistic glint in her eye as she grabbed the remover.

"Be gentle, okay?"

She just snorted. And she wasn't gentle at all. I thought about bringing it up, but she was pretty thoroughly saturated with Demetrius, and unlike my previous damsels in distress, I was pretty sure I couldn't reach the level of intimacy required to 'save' her. After all, she didn't even really know me. So, I didn't bother mentioning anything. I just walked back into the waiting room to meet Jordan with my head throbbing.

She was on the phone. "Here he comes," she said, "See you soon, nonno."

"Uncle Antonio?"

"Yup," she nodded. "Just wanted to give him a heads-up that we were going to taken him up on his offer." She looked sideways at me. "You don't look so good, /campione/."

"Yeah, the doc said I was doing good, but the whole staple removal took a lot out of me."

She kissed the top of my head, which wound up shoving her tits into my face. "Oh, poor baby. Let's get you home and into bed. We'll leave for our vacation tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Fine," I grumped. The stabbing ache in my head wasn't doing anything for my mood. The drive home pretty much involved Jordan raving about the trip, while I just grunted responses. Jordan tried to get me to go to lunch, but I just turned her down.

Phoenix: Monday Afternoon

We finally pulled up in front of my house. I struggled out of the car, then stalked up the walk, my head throbbing. All I could see was red.

"Wait up," Jordan said, trying to catch up to me, flopping behind me in her sandals. "Holy shit, Eric, that looks horrible. We should get some antibiotic cream on it."

Despite my noncommittal grunts, eventually we wound up on my bed, my head in her lap, with her rubbing medicated cream on my head wound, cooing at me. Right then, she felt so much like my sister again, I was so comfortable I just fell asleep.

The darkness that overtook me wasn't just darkness; it was the presence of the minds of my herd, all pressing together, observing. I felt wave after wave of concern and worry. Then the darkness swirled, and the voices started.

"Eric? What's wrong?" It was Diana.

"You've been giving us nightmares." That was Bobbie. "What's going on?"

It was disorienting, dealing with voices coming from the darkness, so the my mind reacted - and the scene shifted again. Now I was standing in front of a large university lecture hall. The seats were filled with members of my herd. In the front row were some of the original harem: Diana, Richelle, Bobbie, Marissa, Edward, Ingrid ... Behind them were others - many would come into focus as I looked at them, then blur out again as I looked away. Some I recognized, most I did not.

"Struggling with ethics, Eric?" Edward gestured at the board behind me, where 'EVIL?' had been written in red marker.

"You brought us here for a reason, Master." Richelle's dark eyes glittered.

I put my head in my hands. "You have to admit," I said, "that my powers lend themselves to certain ethical considerations."

Marissa piped up, "Yeah, but you've mostly used them for good, right?"

"He does, or at least he tries." Ingrid leaned forward. "Okay, but you're struggling more now than usual. What's the root cause?"

"My sister, and Demetrius."

"Demetrius?" Bobbie frowned. "That's the evil you, right?"

"We don't know if he's evil!"

"Yes, we do." Two voices chimed in, from the back of the room. I looked up to see Tess and Taffy both walking down the aisles.