December 16
Professor Neal Dimatto
sat in his basement lab, surrounded by large tubes and testing
chambers, all large enough to hold a human being easily. The lab was
well lit in some places and mysteriously dark in others. Mood
lighting really, it was kind of cool, you should see it. Anyways, he
sat at his console looking up at six ridiculously large computer
screens. Each one was showing a vid feed from Spirals, the club that
he owned. On the first screen was an image of Celest, using her
magic. On the Second was an image of Ruby turning a gem into a dagger
and then back again while demonstrating the ability for Sam. The
third was divided into four parts each one showing Larka in a
completely different dress and completely different style each time.
The fourth one showed Shadow, in one of the rare instances when her
halo would come out. The fifth showed Isabella during the time when
Liam was hypnotizing her, her demonic eye and ear clearly present.
The last screen showed Kila, wandering Spirals while no one was
supposed to be there.
The professor typed a few
things on his keyboard and an analysis window popped up on each
screen. For Celest it showed that she was a mage, her relative
strength and her estimated age. For Ruby it showed that she was an
unknown version of human with a high magical ratio. Larka’s screen
was a bit more interesting, depending on how you look at it. It
registered her as human with an unknown biological anomaly, and an
unknown magical anomaly. Shadow was registering as and Unknown type
of angel. While Isabella was listed as an unknown human – demon
hybrid. Kila’s screen was the most perplexing to the professor.
Kila’s screen simply showed one word “Unknown.”
“Hmmm” the professor
said stroking his chin “very interesting.” With that he looked at
his watch and then at the screen. “Plenty of time for a little
specimen gathering” he said as he grabbed a bag and ran out of the
lab. Leaving all the lights and equipment on of course.
About
half and hour later, Dimatto was sitting down with Larka to discuss a
business deal. He was asking her if she could find for him a very
rare type of bird and bring him anything that would have viable DNA,
without harming the bird. Since it was very early they were doing the
casual business meeting over breakfast.
While Larka was viewing
the material Dimatto eagerly stood up to point out something in the
notes, the whole maneuver was a ploy to gently slip a neural sedative
onto her hand. With a slow and gentle point and a brush back to his
seat the chemical was already in her system.
“Well Mr Dimatto” she
said looking over the paper work.
“Please” Dimatto
interrupted “just call me professor” he said with a smile.
Larka tried to hide the
eyebrow raise that really wanted to occur but smiled instead
“alright, Professor, Assuming this animal still exists I should be
able to find it and get the viable DNA material that you require from
the feathers, and bring it to you within, 48 hours I should think.”
She said with a very professional look.
Dimatto was rather
impressed, even though the job was a cover story. “That’s very
impressive. Tell me miss, do you find the back of your head itching
now?” he asked in a way that implied it was more of a statement
then a question.
“What?” Larka asked
as she unconsciously reached up and started to scratch the back of
her head. “What do you mean by that?” Larka was starting to
notice that she was feeling a bit odd. She couldn’t put her finger
on it, but something just wasn’t right.
“No matter my dear”
Dimatto said with a smile. “I couldn’t help but notice your charm
bracelet, you have a lot of very nice charms on there don’t’ you
my dear?”
Larka looked down at her
magical bracelet loaded with protective charms then looked up at
Dimatto a bit confused. “Yes… Yes, I do, it’s very special to
me… Why do you ask?” she said her mind feeling very fuzzy.
“Well” he said
reaching into his bag “I happen to have a charm here that I think
you would like.” He handed Larka a sparkling spiraled charm that
would fit perfectly on her bracelet.
“I… I don’t know”
Larka said confused then started to shake her head a bit to try and
clear it, “I feel so strange.”
Dimatto leaned in a bit
and looked into Larka’s eyes. “Larka my dear, I think you should”
Taking a moment to let the words slide out as a command rather then a
suggestion “Try the charm on… Now, Larka.”
Larka’s eyes seemed to
glaze over for a moment as she moved the charm to her bracelet. Her
eyes seemed to clear just as she put on the charm and looked at
Dimatto “What did you do to… Oooooh!” Her question was cut off
as the charm she just added to her bracelet activated, a yellow surge
of electricity could be seen rising up her body to her eyes, which
flashed as the energy moved into her head. Larka sat motionless and
expressionless just staring at Dimatto.
Dimatto smiled “how do
you feel Larka?”
Larka looked at him and
in a rather flat tone said “I feel good professor.”
The professor smiled
“Wonderful… follow me we have much to do!” he said as he packed
up his bag and headed out. Larka rose rather robotically and followed
him out.
A few
hours later Ruby was busy doing some paperwork in her club when there
was a knock at the door. Not usually getting visitors at this time of
day she moved to the door and looked out. Dimatto smiled at her with
a big wave “Hi! I am professor Neal Dimatto and I would like to
show you a few things to help your club, may I come in please,
please, please!” he begged sounding more like a small child then an
grown man.
Ruby rolled her eyes and
against her better judgment opened the door “fine, just make it
quick ok? I have a lot of paper work to catch up on.”
“Oh thank you miss!”
he said as he rushed past her and set up his bag on the table. He
reached in and pulled out a disco ball “This young lady is the
hypnotron disco ball 7000, just let me turn it on here...”
“No, that’s alright
thank you, I’m not interested in a hypnoball” Ruby cut him off
being familiar with what that thing would do.
“Oh…” said Dimatto
looking a bit deflated. “Well then let me show you this item here,
this is the hypnomattic 4000 B toaster oven and…” Dimatto was cut
off by Ruby again.
“Is everything you have
to show me hypnotic?” she asked very leery of where this was going.
Dimatto just blinked at
her, very surprised by the question. “Well of course!” He said
enthusiastically.
“I’m sorry” Ruby
said trying to be as polite as she could “But I have enough
hypnotic things in my life, I don’t need any in this club. Thank
you for your time, but I am afraid I am going to have to decline.”
Dimatto looked deflated,
even though showing her the items was a trap, he still felt like he
had been rejected. “I understand, Thank you for your time.” He
extended his hand for her to shake, looking depressed and dejected.
Ruby couldn’t help but
feel sorry for the man and shook his hand without thinking. The
moment she did she pulled it back immediately, having felt a sharp
prick. “Owww. What was that?” she said looking at Dimatto her
eyes rapidly becoming glazed.
“Oh, that” he said
having genuinely forgotten that he was wearing his ring “That would
be my sleep inducing chemical ring, don’t worry miss, the effects
are temporary!” He said with a broad smile. Ruby looked at him
rather pissed, until her eyes rolled up into her head and she began a
slow swoon to the ground.
Dimatto reached out to
grab her but being a scientist, he was quite weak. Ruby fell right
out of his arms and hit the floor with a thud. The force of her
falling was enough to knock Dimatto over and have him land on her.
“Wow, you’re much heavier then you look miss.” He said as he
grabbed her under the arms and with great strain slowly dragged her
towards the front door. Having to stop several times to take a
breather along the way.
When he finally got to
the front door a still hypnotized Larka was waiting for him, he asked
her politely to take care of Ruby and with great ease she picked her
up in her arms and started to carry her down the alley with Dimatto.
“I could have done that you know…” he said more to himself then
to Larka.
Isabella
was finishing up an invention when she heard a knock at her door.
With a sigh she got up and opened the door, as soon as she did
Dimatto just barged in. “I love this place all the mirrors it’s
so lovely, does this make my butt look bit?” he asked in mid
ramble.
“Who the hell are you?”
Asked Isabella rather annoyed rather quickly by the barging in of a
stranger.
“Oh I am terribly sorry
miss” he grabbed Isabella’s hand and starts to shake it
vigorously “I am Professor Neal Dimatto, the owner of Spirals, you
have worked for me on several occasions.” He manages a truly warm
smile.
Isabella looked at him a
bit then nodded “Yes I have… what brings you here?”
“Oh!” he shouted
looking around in his pockets. “I forgot, I’m here to bring you
your Christmas bonus, after all you did some very good work and you
deserve it!” he said beaming a smile.
“Oh, well then by all
means please come in!” she said with a bit of a confused grin.
“Thank you, thank you!”
he said still searching his pockets. “Now where did I put that…
ah here it is!” He pulled an envelope out of his pocket but as he
did an antique pocket watch fell out of his pocket and shattered on
the ground. “Oh dear me… grandfathers watch!”
Isabella watched as the
man nearly started to cry, then smiled and put a hand on his shoulder
“There, there now, I can fix it.” She bent down to pick up the
pieces.
“Oh you can! Splendid!
It’s been in the family for generations, and it has sentimental
value.”
Isabella smiles as she
sat down and leaned over the watch reassembling it piece by tiny
little piece. But she was so distracted that she didn’t notice
Dimatto taking out a golden head band that had a yellow gem in the
center of it. He waited till she was just about done then slid the
headband over her head. The instant the gem touched her head it lit
up brightly and Isabella’s eyes flashed a bright gold then sank to
be half lidded.
“There now that should
just about do it, stand up now please miss.” Dimatto said. Isabella
stood up slack jawed and with half lidded eyes. The professor smiled
and told her to follow him out. He scooped up his watch which she had
managed to fix just before being captured and he walked her out of
the apartment.
The
sun was starting to set now, the sky was a nice and orange like it
gets in the late afternoon, and all was peaceful. All except for the
demon running hell bent down an alley way. He was panting and running
as if he had seen a ghost. But as he turned behind him to see if he
was still being followed, Shadow jumped down from the roof and gave
hot pursuit. The demon turned and ran as fast as he could. But he was
no match for Shadow. The angel’s physical conditioning was
tremendous and she was easily over taking the demon.
As the demon turned a
corner he ran face first into a dead end. Slamming into the wall then
bouncing back. He turned to try and run the other way and ran right
into Shadows blade. “Have a Merry Christmas” she said with a
smirk as the demon burst into flames and vanished.
Shadow smiled as the
demon disappeared into the vapors and took a moment to catch her
breath. She turned to walk down the alley and bumped face first into
Larka.
“Holy crap!” she
shouted then laughed and put her arm on Larka’s shoulder “you
scared the crap out of me girl!”
Larka’s face was a mix
of being half dazed and half asleep as she replied “I’m sorry,
that wasn’t my intention.”
“It’s ok… is
everything alright?” Shadow asked examining Larka a bit more
closely.
“Everything is fine
Shadow… everything is just fine.” Larka replied still in a sleepy
dazed tone.
“Umm ok?” asked
Shadow a bit more confused. “what are you doing here?”
“I am the distraction.”
Larka replied flatly.
“Distraction?” asked
Shadow. A split second later the realization of what that meant hit
her, but before she could do anything Isabella jumped down from the
roof and grabbed her arm. Larka grabbed the other arm and the two
women pushed her against the wall and pinned her arms and legs to the
wall with everything they had.
Shadow was powerful but
against a Demon hybrid and a Lycanthrope she didn’t stand much of a
chance. “Let me go, what are you doing!” she asked looking at the
girls. She then noticed a rather geeky looking scientist coming down
the fire escape.
“Wonderful!” he
clapped hyperactively as he moved closer to Shadow. “Oh you are a
fine specimen, perfect condition, perfect strength and muscle tone…
I can’t wait to get you into the lab!” he said as he pulled out a
small flashlight.
“Lab! You’re not
taking to me to any lab, now release me and them before I… I…”
Shadows voice trailed off. Dimatto had activated the flashlight which
was cycling through numerous color spectrums at high speed. While
doing so it was monitoring Shadows autonomic responses, and adjusting
itself rather quickly. Within a few moments it had found the perfect
setting to hypnotize the poor angel and was rapidly putting her
under.
“I… what?” was the
last thing Shadow managed to get out before her eyes glazed over and
her mind blanked.
Dimatto smiled and
clapped happily “Four down… two to go!” he said with a smile.
Celest
opened the door to her apartment with a smile “Shadow!” she said
happily.
Shadow bounced into the
apartment and hugged her aunt “Happy holiday’s aunt Celest… I
brought you and Xander something” she said with a smile while
handing Celest a yellow poinsettia
“Thank you Shadow, I’m
sure Xander will love it, he likes anything that’s not the color
it’s supposed to be in nature.” Celest teased as she invited
Shadow in.
“I figured as much”
Shadow smiled. She watched as Celest set the plant down on the table
and instantly started to yawn.
“Oh excuse me” Celest
said wobbling a bit then sitting down “I don’t know why I’m so
tired all of a sudden” she said smiling at her niece.
“It’s ok, you have
had a long month, you’re probably tired and could use a nap”
Shadow said matter of factly but with just enough sarcasm to make it
sound sarcastic.
Celest smirked as she
felt her body relax a lot more then she expected “you may be right.
I guess babysitting Xander is a bit more work then I originally
thought. Did you hear about his rabbit trap?” Celest said rolling
her eyes, only as they rolled up they didn’t really roll back down,
they just kind of fluttered as her eyes started to lower a bit.
Shadow smiled watching
“yeah, I heard he hit you in the head with a sandbag full of sleep
dust. Why do you stay with him again?” she asked teasingly
“I… I…Love…”
Celest shook her head trying to clear it, but it only made her even
dizzier. “I love…” she yawned nice and big and her eyes never
opened as she slumped into the couch a bit more “him.” With that
Celests head fell to the side. Sound asleep.
Shadows expression went
from happy to blank as she stood up and picked up the poinsettia.
This specially designed breed would put out a pheromone that had a
very sedating effect on mages. She gently tossed it out the window,
then walked to the closet and opened the door. Xanders pet Hyproid,
Sparky floated up and looked at Shadow. Shadow raised a small device
and shot a beam of ice at the Hyproid. It instantly froze and fell
into Shadows waiting hand.
With the Hyproid in one
hand, Shadow walked over to the couch and tossed Celest over her
shoulder carrying them both out, careful to make sure they both slept
peacefully.
Kila
sat down at a rather nice restaurant. She had received a letter
asking her to meet the owner of spirals here. As she scanned the menu
a rather geeky scientist sat down and quickly extended his hand “A
pleasure to meet you miss Kila, I am Neal Dimatto the owner of
Spirals.”
Kila blinked a few times
at the mans abrupt entrance. She gently extended her hand to his “a
pleasure to... Oww!” she said pulling her finger back. The
professor’s drugged ring had stung her. For a brief moment she felt
light headed then she simply shook it off. “I see how this is going
to go” she thought with a sigh.
The professor blinked
rapidly at Kila. “How are you feeling?” he asked very eager to
have her pass out.
“Annoyed that you would
try to drug me in the first 15 seconds of the dinner.” She said,
her tone easily conveying her annoyance.
Dimatto was literally
taken aback as he stared at her. “How did you?”
She smiled and picked up
the menu. “Oh you pick up a thing or two around this place.” She
couldn’t help but smirk behind the menu.
Dimatto, who was now very
agitated rapidly moved through his bag and pulled out the flash light
he used to subdue Shadow. Figuring if it worked on an angel, well
then it must work on whatever she was.
When Kila lowered the
menu the light shined right into her eyes. She blinked a few times
and then looked right at Dimatto. “Really in a restaurant you’re
going to do something that blatant? Come on now you should be better
then this?” she said getting a bit more annoyed.
Dimatto blinked rapidly
at Kila then leaned in looking at her curiously. “What are you?”
he asked not being able to figure it out.
Kila smiled and leaned in
a bit. “I am a young woman who thought she was going to have a nice
relaxing dinner.” She gave Dimatto a bit of a wink.
Dimatto blinked at her a
few more times and raised the menu then looked at her again. “Did
you ever try the fish?”
Kila smiled and the two
started to talk. Just talk. When the dinner was over she even gave
him a kiss on the cheek, despite him trying to chloroform her during
it. She walked home with a grin shaking her head.
Later
that night Dimatto was in his lab, happily scanning the computer
screen eagerly. Larka was behind him on a tread mill, still
completely hypnotized running at least 45 miles an hour and not
showing any signs of becoming tired.
Shadow was in a tube
completely sedated with scanners and things strapped to her body to
try and figure out her source of power, and her biology.
Celest was tied to a
table with her arms at her sides restrained. Above her head was a
screen flashing information at a speed that normal humans would only
see as a blur. A monitor strapped to her head measured that not only
was she reading it, but she was understanding it.
Isabella was also inside
of a glass tube with monitors strapped to her body trying to figure
out her anatomy. She was, however, naked, where as Shadow was not.
Ruby was sitting at a
desk with several rubies laid out in front of her. A pair of head
phones on her head would instruct her to turn the rubies into
different things. Some for tests, others a really, really expensive
alternative to buying tools at the store.
The night went on almost
till morning, as most nights do. Just before sun rise all of the
girls were instructed to redress and go home, remembering nothing.
Dimatto watched as the 5 hypnotized lovelies filed out of the lab and
all headed back home. Rubbing his hands together head hopped down
into the lab to review the data while humming Christmas carols.
Celest, Ruby, Larka,
Shadow, Isabella and Kila are all the properly of RubyRain and used
with permission.
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