Pins and Needles - Part XVIII
#27 of Patterns of the Grand Design
This story is a work of fiction and contains adult situations. No character depected as engaging in sexual activity is under the age of 18. No one under the age of 18 should be reading past this disclaimer. All characters are copyright Radical Gopher.
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PINS AND NEEDLES - Part XVIII
Victor jumped frantically to his feet and immediately keeled over as a wave of dizziness washed across him. Gwen and Alyssa caught him before he hit the floor and eased him down onto the bed.
"Steady there, Vic," cautioned Saul. "You need some time for your body to recover."
"Recover?"
The human nodded. "I don't know what happened in that dream walk of yours, but Pepper and I had to perform CPR on you. You were knocking on death's door."
"CPR?" muttered the Zorr. "You mean my heart stopped?"
"Yes, for almost two minutes before we could get to you," Pepper replied.
A cold, sick feeling began to build within Victor. If his heart had actually stopped then the spell binding him and Sapphire as mates had been broken. Not only that... their link as master and djin would have also been severed. His eyes tracked up toward the tapestry, confirming his fear. The hanging was no longer dulled by age. Now the threads and colors had taken on the same unnatural vibrancy they had the day he'd found the lamp. He searched the lower corner of the hanging. All hope vanished. Victor's head dropped in despair, his chin brushing his chest ruff. The lamp was gone.
To one side Alyssa frantically pulled her clothes on and tried to straighten her hair. "Will someone please explain what the hell's going on before I call the police?"
Without a word, Gwen reached over and touched two fingers to the human's forehead. "Remember," she whispered. There was a soft green glow and Dr. Aryan's eyes suddenly went wide.
"Oh my gawd!" she muttered, looking around the room at the people gathered, then turning and looking up at the tapestry. Backing over to her desk, eyes locked warily on the fabric, Alyssa picked up the phone and auto-dialed a number. "Hello... Mr. Kreschner? This is Dr. Aryan over at the museum." She listened quietly for a moment. "Yes, I know it's four in the morning and I apologize for calling you so early, but this is important." Again there was a pause. "Right... Well, what I'd like is for you to have the display staff pick-up that tapestry in my office and put it in secure storage the moment they report in this morning." Pause. "No... the very first thing, understand?"
Gwen and Victor sat together holding each other for several minutes. The thought that he might have lost Sapphire forever twisted violently at his insides. The todd unexpectedly felt sick. Still unsteady on his feet, Saul walked him over to the bathroom. The skunkette watched as they both disappeared temporarily and she looked up at Pepper. The vixen was holding some tissue to her nose pad, which had started bleeding again. She also noticed the powder burns and bullet scar on her muzzle. "Are you all right?"
The detective nodded. "Your 'friend,' Cypriana, tried to take over my mind using..." she paused for a moment, thinking quickly; "Some rather devious means. I had to fight her for control."
"You managed to expel her from your mind?"
"Yes... but it wasn't easy. I convinced her that if she didn't leave, I would kill myself. She believed me and took off running, though it was a close thing," Pepper admitted. "I hope I left her with as big a headache as she gave me!"
"Here," Gwen said, reaching up, "let me help you with that." Once again, a soft green glow pulsed from her hands as she treated Pepper's injury. Within moments, the scar was gone and the residue from the powder burn had been gently cleansed from her fur. She then reached up and placed both hands on either side of her head. Within moments, the nosebleed stopped.
"I can't sense anything too seriously wrong here," Gwen said, brushing her hand across the Zorr's temple," but you may want to check with your regular doctor and get a cat scan to make sure."
Pepper nodded in agreement just as Victor and Saul returned from the bathroom. They waited until shortly after dawn to leave. At first the todd wanted to remain at the museum, but Gwen convinced him to come home by offering the possibility that Sapphire might be there waiting for them. Too tired to argue, he left with them. He was not too surprised to find the djin was not there waiting for them. The skunkette put the exhausted Victor to bed, casting a healing sleep spell on him so he could rest.
The two detectives stayed one more day, but then had to leave to escort George Leonard back home for indictment. They promised to keep in touch.
* * * *
For the next two months Victor seemed to function pretty much on auto-pilot; Getting up each day, going to work, coming home, eating and sleeping. Gwen focused much of her effort on caring for the todd, trying to find some way to help him deal with the loss of Sapphire from his life. He checked the tapestry almost daily, but there continued to be no sign of the missing lamp.
During that time, Alyssa Aryan became a close friend to Victor and Gwen. She seemed to understand what the todd was going through and cut him more than a little slack as far as his work was concerned. She would often visit, using the farm as a quiet hideaway from the sycophants and responsibilities associated with wealth. As per the djin's suggestion, she found a new circle of friends to associate with and became quite happy. Within this circle, she counted the Lappe and Zorr as her most trusted friends.
Neither Gwen nor Victor slept together for several weeks. She recognized that he was mourning and, hard though it was, she gave him as much space as was necessary for him to work things out. Ironically, the enforced 'distance' between them seemed to strengthen her feelings for him. The skunkette compensated Victor's isolation by throwing herself into her magical studies. She became a frequent customer at 'The Enchanted Realm.' The books and scrolls she found there were quiet useful in helping her refine and develop her skills as a sorceress. The shopkeeper always made sure the texts she purchased were the 'real deal' and not new age pop culture junk, of which there was apparently a lot.
Victor continued to change into a pseudo-dragon on the nights of the full moon. During that time, he kept himself isolated from Gwen and the world, and only voluntarily changed when the skunkette needed his help as a familiar while learning a new spell. It was shortly after one of these 'lessons' that the todd finally broke down.
Gwen woke late one night to hear a soft, whimpering moan coming from Victor's room. She found him crying in his sleep. Climbing into his bed, she lay down next to him, enfolding him in her arms in an effort to comfort him. At some point, he woke up and felt the skunkette in bed with him. His long held stoicism gave way completely at that point. Shaking and crying, he wrapped himself around the Lappe and buried his head in her chest. His tears dampened her breasts. The mood was contagious and Gwen too found herself crying for the loss of her friend and mentor.
When they had exhausted themselves they fell asleep, awaking to a sense of peace and wholeness they had not known since the djin had left them. They made love at long last; not the rapid, needful kind, but slow, patient and fulfilling. When they finished, they slept then made love several more times. Each act of lovemaking brought them closer until it felt as if they were each one half of a single soul.
Victor and Gwen were married a month later in a private ceremony attended by only a few friends and family members. They did not; could not forget Sapphire, but her memory had become not one of loss, but one of joy for having shared her life with them.
Three years passed. Victor finally earned his doctorate and was rewarded with a fellowship to accompany his duties as head of restorations for the museum. Gwen advanced in her own craft to the point where she was accounted, by the handful of true mages who still existed, to be one of them.
Both she and the Zorr talked of adopting children, since being of different species they could not have kits of their own. They even went as far as making some initial inquiries and filling out the paperwork for a background check. As with other potential parents, they were put on a rather long waiting list.
Early one spring morning Gwen stopped by the museum to take Victor out to brunch. The todd had gotten into the habit of checking Sapphire's tapestry once a month, just on general principal. The skunkette accompanied him to the lower level vaults. After checking on the status of several other restoration projects, Victor went to the security vault and punched up the appropriate code. Within moments, the tapestry hung before them. The Zorr opened the protective plexiglas and was about to examine the threadwork when he received a buzz on the intercom. An apprentice technician was asking for Victor's advice on one of the projects. Smiling ruefully he excused himself and left, promising to return in a moment or two.
Alone, Gwen stood back and admired the tapestry. Despite its dark secret, she thought it really was quite beautiful. Her eyes skipped across the image, noting the detail throughout. Suddenly, she stopped and stared. Rubbing her eyes in disbelief, she looked again. Yes! There it was... the image of an oil lamp woven on the lower right hand corner.
She leaned in hesitantly and examined it. It was exactly as Victor had always described it. Curiously, she reached out and delicately touched it, brushing her fingers lightly across the lamp. There was a sudden, silent flash of light. The skunkette tumbled back in surprise landing firmly on her tail. "OW!" she cried.
She looked up. Standing before her was an extremely handsome male Lappe. The bulk of his fur was medium blue while his flash and striping were a light, powder blue. His hair, which hung down to his shoulders was a deep shade of navy blue.
"I must say, this is an interesting development," muttered the figure, looking at Gwen and smiling in a bemused manner. The skunkette simply stared at him for a moment before she recognized that smile.
"Sapphire?"
He nodded then vanished is a swirl of smoke only to reappear as a six inch high figure, sitting on one of her knees. "Did Victor tell you all about our first meeting?"
The skunkette nodded.
"Good... that means I can dispense with the formal introductions and explanations." He looked down at himself and chuckled. "How to go from Zorr to Lappe in one easy lesson. Makes me wonder if I'll ever have a human master again."
"Why did you leave us?" Gwen asked quietly. "You pretty much broke Victor's heart and left me without my best friend in the world."
"It's not as if I had any choice," the djin replied sadly. "When my master dies it breaks the bond between us and I am forced to return to the lamp."
"But Victor's not dead."
"No... he's not. You have no idea how happy that made me feel. He's the first to ever survive ownership of the lamp."
"Survive?" asked Gwen.
"Well... think about it," the djin said. "How many of my masters and mistresses do you think were ever willing to give up the power of the lamp before they'd milked it of everything they could?"
"I'm guessing none."
"Bingo!" He slid down her leg and sat on her ankle. He leaned back against her foot and used it like a recliner. "Most died of self-induced old age, burning up their life span by making a large number of powerful wishes. Others pretty much died because of stupidity. One even wished to walk barefoot on the moon. He was really stubborn about it. Wouldn't listen to me when I tried warning him. You can imagine how that turned out." Sapphire chuckled. "Someday they're going to find his vacuum-dried carcass up there and that's going to really give your scientists something to wonder about."
"Okay... granted, you had to return to the lamp." Gwen said "Why couldn't Victor see it in the tapestry after that?"
"That's because I wouldn't let him."
"You wouldn't let him... but why? He loved you?"
"That's why."
The skunkette leaned forward. "I don't understand."
The djin sighed. Waving his hands he conjured up two overstuffed chairs and a small table on which sat a pot of tea and two china cups.. Returning to normal size he sat across from Gwen and poured her some tea.
"Victor needed something more real... more substantial than being in love with a wish." He held up his hand before the skunkette could interrupt. "Victor loved me... yes, but the truth of the matter was I didn't love him. Oh I was fond of him, and he treated me better than any master I ever had, for which I shall be forever grateful, but I wasn't in love with him."
"But the spell... his wish for a mate. Was that all a fake?"
The blue-furred Lappe chuckled. "Yes and no," he replied. "In his innocence and naivety he accidentally circumvented one of the rules we have as djin. We cannot force someone else to fall in love with the owner of the lamp. However there's nothing that prevents us from being enthralled by a love spell. Victor wished I was his mate. For that to occur I had to become semi-mortal and I had to respond to him the way his ideal mate would have..." He looked across at Gwen. "The way that you presently do."
"So all the time you were with Victor, you were lying about how you felt?" the skunkette responded angrily.
"No... it wasn't a lie. I really did feel love and I believed everything I said. But it was a love that was induced by the parameters of his wish. When the bond between us was broken, the love I felt vanished. It left me feeling just a little... used, if you know what I mean."
"But Victor would never..."
"I know," Sapphire nodded. "As so do you. Imagine how he would have felt, how he would feel now if he knew I had been compelled to fall in love with him."
"Miserable."
"So, to avoid that from happening I hid." He put down his teacup and smiled. "I will admit that despite the nature of the spell, I did, and do, feel something for Victor. I knew if he ever found out the truth, and he would have eventually, he would be devastated. He needed the real thing. He needed someone to love him without the relying on magic. That's why I worked at playing matchmaker between you and him."
"You WHAT?"
"Well... it wasn't all that hard. Once I knew how you felt about him, it was just a matter of making him realize that deep down, he felt the same about you. You both had a sincere feeling for each other, but you were burying it because of me. Look at what's happened since I left! Nature simply followed its true course." The djin smiled "The genuine beauty of it is that your feelings for each other are real, not ensorcessed!"
Gwen became silent, thinking about what the blue-furred Lappe had said. It was true... she loved the todd with all her heart and would never want to see him hurt. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "What happened to yours and Victor's kits? I mean, you were really pregnant... weren't you?"
"Yes," Sapphire replied, chuckling. "Talk about complications... You wouldn't believe the problems that posed when I reverted to my true form. Kurok's death combined with my pregnancy created so much excess manna that it nearly blew the lid off my lamp."
"Kurok's dead?"
The blue-furred Lappe nodded. "He died while in Alyssa's dream, and you know the consequences of that."
"So you absorbed his manna?" Gwen asked.
"Ick... No! But when he died the extra manna from the spell that trapped him in the tapestry was returned to the lamp. You can imagine how much manna I generated, being pregnant, especially since the act of creation is what gives me my power."
"So what happened to your kits?"
"Do you trust me?" the djin asked.
Gwen nodded.
"Well then, let's just say that your rubbing the lamp has set something in motion that addresses that particular issue and leave it at that... and don't worry, everything'll be fine." The djin looked over at the skunkette. "Well, now on to other things."
"What things?"
"Well... You are now mistress of the lamp and I'm your slave. What wish would you want fulfilled?"
Gwen looked at him in shock. "I couldn't do that... You're my friend, not a slave."
"I am what I am," the Sapphire replied. "It is my nature and my fate."
"Personally, I think your fate sucks."
The blue-furred Lappe shrugged. "It is what it is." He looked intently at the skunkette then smiled. "I think I already know what you most want "
"What are you... a mind-reader now?"
"No... but I can read auras." Without a word the djin stood then reached down, pulled up Gwen's skirt and slipped his hand into her panties. Two of his fingers slid passed her petals and brushed against the inside of her passage.
"WHAT THE HELLLLL...OH GAWD!!!" Gwen suddenly shuddered in orgasmic bliss as a wave of pleasure shot through her like an electric current.
Grinning, the male Lappe withdrew his fingers, and watched as she continued to spasm for several minutes. When she finished the skunkette looked down at herself then up at the djin.
"Look at me," gesturing toward her thoroughly soaked panties, skirt, thighs and the chair cushion. "I'm a mess."
He conjured up a box of tissues, which she used to clean herself. "The next time you and Victor make love, you will conceive a female Lappe with his fur coloration, your hair and fur pattern and his eyes."
Gwen looked up at the djin, stood, and hugged him fiercely. "Thank-you... Oh, thank-you."
"Like I said... it's what I do, especially for a friend."
The skunkette stood back and gazed at Sapphire. "You've done so much for Victor and I. I wish I knew a way to really thank you." There was a very slight, blue flash and Gwen's eyes went wide. She stared at the djin, then the tapestry. "Do you have enough power to do it?"
"If you wish... and if she cooperates."
"Well then, let's ask her."
Nodding, Sapphire waved her hands across the tapestry. "I know you've been listening, Cypriana and you are well versed in the laws of magic; now you must choose; eternal damnation within this woven prison, or voluntary servitude."
"You aren't giving me much of an option here," she replied. Gwen thought the unicorn's voice sounded quite subdued, and certainly not defiant or bitter.
'Regardless of degree, it is still a choice and you are the one who has to make it," the djin replied.
"And if I accept?"
"The nature of your power will change, as will you over time. You will not be a goddess, but then that was more Kurok's dream than yours, wasn't it?"
There was a very long silence.
"You deserve a much worse fate than this, and you know it," the djin said.
There was another long silence.
"Well... What do you say? I haven't got all millennium."
There was a resigned sigh. "AGREED!" said Cypriana.
Smiling, Sapphire looked over at Gwen "It's your show now," she said
The skunkette smiled. She raised her hands above her head in a dramatic gesture and looked the djin in the eyes. "I wish for the ancient laws of substitution to be fulfilled!"
There was a tremendous flash of blue light as manna blazed across the chamber. Several things happened at once. A white furred, female, anthropomorphic unicorn suddenly appeared, dressed in a skimpy, but expensive harem outfit. Simultaneously the wristbands on Sapphire vanished and reappeared on the unicorn. Sapphire herself changed, becoming a small, female elfin figure with large pointed ears. Her hair and skin coloration remained the same, but her clothing changed to a more familiar white silk Chinese style jacked and pantaloons. Large hoop earrings dangled along each side of her head.
Cypriana looked down at herself. For a unicorn, she was quite stunning to look at, though the harem outfit made her a bit uncomfortable. "Do I have to wear this?" she asked.
Sapphire shrugged, grinning wickedly. "Just think of it as tradition."
"Fine... I suppose all things considered it could be worse." The unicorn/djin looked down at Gwen. "You and your mate are truly exceptional souls. While we cannot be friends... I bear neither of you ill will and consider you worthy of respect. Fare thee well." With that, Cypriana vanished in a puff of smoke. The lamp in the corner of the fabric also vanished.
"Was that an apology?" asked Gwen.
"Of a sort," chuckled the aelven female. "She still has much to learn, but at least she's open to the concept." She noticed Gwen looking at her and smiled. "Yes, this is my true form. Few, aside from yourself, have ever had the privilege of seeing it."
"It's beautiful, though you are a lot shorter than I imagined you might be, especially for someone of your power."
"Well... you know the old saying."
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain?"
Sapphire looked at her for a moment and then they both laughed.
"So... where are you off to, now that you have your freedom?" the skunkette asked.
"I thought I'd visit and explore my home dimension for a while... It's been centuries since I was there and I'd like to see how things are... But don't worry; I'll be back from time to time. Not only to check on Cypriana, but to see how my two favorite mortals are doing."
"Promise?"
"Promise!" The two women hugged then Sapphire took a step or two back and waved her hands. "Tee-Tee-Eff-En!" With that, she vanished in a puff of blue smoke. With her went the furniture and tea set.
Gwen looked over at the clock and was surprised to see that only ten seconds had passed since she'd first touched the lamp. Victor returned moments later and was practically tackled by the skunkette as she kissed him, then lay her head on his shoulders.
"I'd go to the office more often if it meant getting this kind of reception every time I got back," he joked. "Hungry?"
"Famished!"
The two furs strolled arm in arm to a nearby bistro, hugging and kissing like newlyweds the whole way. They were in the middle of eating when Gwen received a call on her cell phone. Sensing she wanted some privacy, Victor made a quick trip to the restroom. When he returned his mate was beaming at him.
"You look like the cat that caught the mouse," he said. "What's up?"
"That was the adoption agency. They have a pair of special needs children they are convinced would be perfect for us."
"Really... What species?"
"Zorrs," she replied. A brother and sister, both about three years old."
"Twins?"
Gwen nodded. "The agency thought we might want to come down this afternoon and see them."
"Certainly... if you want." He paused for a moment. "Did they happen to say what their special needs are?"
"Yes."
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"What are their special needs?"
"Oh... it's nothing too serious."
"Really... Well then, what is it?" Victor asked, casually taking a mouthful of pasta salad.
Gwen smiled knowingly. "They both have blue fur."
"GLUICK!!!"
THE END