Chapter 22

Inspector Ticcoran

Egad slowly opened his eyes, feeling warmth on his face and body. He saw the sun rising from outside the glass wall of the villa, starting to peek out from the horizon. He heard Symon, as well as the rest of the coven start to yawn as they awakened.

Egad undid Symon's bondage cuffs, and all of them sat up, untangling their limbs from each other, and started stretching out as they started to slide off the bed, standing and continuing to stretch. Symon then turned to Egad. "So... I hope you have plenty of showers in this house because we are all going to need to clean up." He said playfully.

Egad smiled, picking up a tablet off the desk. He swiped and tapped a few commands, then set it down. "Oh, I've got a one-up on that. Follow me."

Egad first led the group down to the wine cellar, giving them all recovery potions that would not only restore their stamina but also replenish all the seed they had spent from last night without making them aroused. Then Egad led them out of the wine cellar, and down a small staircase, the group descending to the basement floor. Egad then opened a door at the bottom of the staircase, showing another underground level of the villa. He led the group down another set of stairs, and into an extravagant, commune bath! Steps led into a large bathing pool in the center of the room, complete with stone benches along the edges of the bath, along with a few cascading fountains that went into the bathing pool. The bathing pool was warm and inviting, with small clouds of steam hovering over the surface. Shelves lined an entire wall, filled with soaps along with many bottles of shampoo and conditioner. There was a large rack against another wall filled with towels, sponges, and washcloths, then the entire room giving off scents of aspen winter, beechwood, vetiver, and blue sugar. Along another wall were two doors: One led to a bathroom with sinks and mirrors, and another led into a sauna!

Symon chuckled, rubbing Egad's shoulder as he carefully peeled off his bandages for the bath. "You never cease to surprise or impress me, old friend."

# # # # #

Galen sat in the bathing pool with Uniko and Zhal with bars of soap, shampoo, and conditioner on the sides of the bath behind them, taking a little time to lounge in the hot water, the heat relaxing their muscles. The rest of the gallery slowly walked into the bathing pool from the stairs with cleansers of their choosing. Symon and Egad were the last two to descend in, the water submerging their bodies, starting to wash away the sticky mess from last night.

After sitting for a few minutes in the heated waters of the pool, they began to clean themselves, as well as each other. Galen stood up carefully and started to scrub his body with a bar of soap. Amon walked up from behind, and sensually started to assist the lion with applying the soap as it lathered up. Amon ran his hands across Galen's body, helping to scrub him down. Galen reached behind him and started to slather Amon's body with the soap as well, returning the favor.

Chaos and Hatred sat on Zarch's lap, leaning back slightly while their father gently ran his fingers through the demon wolves' hair with some shampoo in his hands as the cleanser started to foam up.

Uniko and Zhal also carefully stood up and started to bathe themselves in a mirrored fashion of what Galen and Amon were doing, Uniko standing behind Zhal.

Symon, Jet, and Egad also bathed each other, sitting on one of the stone benches. Symon took great care as he gently scrubbed Egad down with soap and a washcloth, being very gentle around the healing chest wound. Egad leaned against Symon, slathering Jet up with a bar of soap as well who sat on his master's lap, slathering him up with another bar of soap.

Eventually, everyone finished up their baths, then rinsed and dried off. After everyone put away the soaps and cleansers they used, Symon put clean bandages and some healing and disinfecting ointments on Egad's chest wound, then all of them went back upstairs. The gallery dressed themselves in clean extras of their slave outfits, ready to start the day. Symon and Egad ended up dawning some simple apparel: Symon wore some tan beach shorts, adorned with a blue flame pattern on one side with an open, button-up tie-dye t-shirt. Egad dressed himself in some black Thai-style pants, made of satin material, a matching tank-top covering his torso.

They all walked into the kitchen through the living room once dressed. Zarch, Chaos, and Hatred separated from the harem and went to prepare breakfast for everyone as they all went into the kitchen. They started up some automated coffee and tea makers, which quickly filled with the warm caffeinated beverages. After that, everyone got cups from the cabinets, filling them with their choice of coffee or tea, as well as adding small extras such as cream or sugar.

Egad and Symon retired to the living room, slowly drinking both their cups of coffee as they settled on the couch with Jet. Galen and Amon sat down in a few recliners in the room, while Zhal and Uniko chose to sit cross-legged in some cozy banana rocker chairs on the carpeted floor next to the coffee table, with their choices of tea.

"I wonder If your breakout made it onto the news?" Symon said jokingly, nuzzling Egad as he picked up the TV remote. He switched it on, turning the channel to a local news network. Sure enough, they were playing back a report of what they were calling "The assault on Runefield Asylum."

Jet sighed, feigning annoyance with a grin. "You had to say something," He said in a teasing tone, taking a sip of his coffee. A lady reporter was live on the scene, showing the damage to the facility while security footage taken from the asylum played back on the corner of the screen. It only showed Galen, Uniko, and Zhal as undefinable pixelated blurs, however.

Egad looked at the trio with an approving glance. "Camera Jammers... Good job planning ahead." He complimented.

Xen then stepped out into the living room, dressed in some maroon athletic sweatpants. He had a towel around his shoulders, drying his damp mane, clearly just getting out of the shower.

"Good morning, Amigos." Xen greeted. Everyone nodded back, bidding him good morning as well. Xen went into the kitchen, getting a cup of coffee. Then, he joined them in the living room. Fifteen minutes later, the wolves walked in carrying platters adorning a fancy yet healthy breakfast for everyone. There was lean sausage and vegetable quiche with whole grain crust, fresh croissants, small blackberry and strawberry muffins, and a good number of red-and-green bell pepper omelets.

The wolves set the trays down on the coffee table, then settled in with coffee and tea as well. Everyone started to get some food from the platters and began eating. Mick then walked out from the hallway in some loose dark-blue sweatpants with a towel, also finishing up a shower.

"Good morning, son." Symon greeted, raising his coffee cup slightly. "It sure is a nice sunrise, don't you think?" He motioned to the large window in the living room that overlooked the beach and patio.

"Honestly dad, I can't say yet. I haven't had enough coffee to think..." Mick replied, going into the kitchen to get some caffeine. When he came back into the living room with a cup, he noticed the news report on the TV.

"Wow," Mick said, taking a quick sip as he picked up a croissant from one of the trays. "I didn't expect this to end up town news..."

They saw the security footage showing the blurred images of Galen, Uniko, and Zhal piling into Micks' Audi, the windows only showing as a solid black.

Galen raised an eyebrow at this. "...Aren't the windows of that car transparent?" He asked, looking at Mick with confusion.

"Yeah, but they're fitted with an image-scrambling polymer to throw off cameras," Mick explained as the report finished, then switched to another headline. "Certain jobs I do carry the risk of me being identified by law enforcement. So, I must take steps to protect myself. By the way Uncle, I think Zarch used up the last of the milk in the fridge. I couldn't find any for my coffee."

"Apologies," Zarch said. "I had to finish what was left in the gallon that we bought when we arrived. I only had enough to prepare breakfast."

"Don't worry about it," Egad said, easy-going as Mick nodded in agreement. "That does remind me... I think there's some milk at the door. They usually drop it off at this time when I am here."

"Oh! I'll get it, master!" Chaos set his tea on the coffee table, standing up. He then playfully skipped over to the front door. Chaos opened the door, seeing a small cart outside filled with jars of milk, honey, and a loaf of fresh-baked French bread sealed in a container. He bent down, picking up the cart, and then noticed someone standing in the shadows of the doorway, walking up in front of him: A bulldog of average height, and a slightly greater than average build, dressed in a breathable blue-collar suit! His face was set in a grouchy expression.

Chaos looked up at the bulldog, a little surprised. "Uh... Hi." He quickly tried to close the door, but the bulldog put his foot in it, stopping Chaos! The bulldog then slowly pushed the door back open and got out a Moon City PD badge from his jacket.

"Inspector Jean-Yves Ticcoran." The bulldog spoke in a French accent, his tone a reflection of his expression. "And you are?"

Chaos stumbled over his words a little. "Uh... I'm one of the new servants." He explained, knowing he couldn't tell the Inspector that he was a pleasure slave as that would land his master in very serious trouble.

Jean raised an eyebrow. "I heard that Mick Daniels was staying here?"

Mick walked up to the door, hearing his name mentioned.

"Ah, Monsieur Mick!" Jean greeted warmly, his expression changing into a friendly smile, stepping inside the frame of the villa's doorway. "Apologies for showing up on such short notice. Is your invitation for coffee still open?"

Mick, though surprised, played it cool. "Of course, inspector. Please, come in. This is technically my Uncle's residence. We haven't seen each other in a long while, though. His work keeps him very busy. Along with running various merchant companies, Uncle Ryan works in private entertainment." He explained, leading the inspector into the kitchen, pouring him a cup of coffee. They joined everyone in the living room afterward.

Jean glanced around at everyone in the room, taking a drink of coffee as Egad stood up from the couch, walking over. "Private Entertainment... Like parties?"

"Yes, Inspector. Though my work centers around 'Adult Parties' if you get my meaning." Egad explained.

Jean nodded, catching on. "Ah, yes... The erotic variety. Not something unheard of in the city, or across the planet for that matter. To be honest, I have been invited to such events in the past, and still, get such invitations to this day. So, Monsieur Mick... I apologize again for intruding on you so early, but I assume you already heard about... A certain incident that happened in the city yesterday?"

"I was watching something about an attack on Runefield Asylum a few minutes ago with Dad and Uncle Ryan on the television," Mick said. "Very scary and strange thing that happened there."

"Indeed." Jean agreed, sipping on his coffee. "I just got the investigation request on my desk this morning, along with looking over some of the security footage. The attackers escaped though. So... Been out driving?" The inspector questioned.

"Until they pass a law that says I can't," Mick answered smoothly. "Care to join us for breakfast?"

Jean sighed. "Thank you for the offer, but I have a lot of stops to make: 88 to be exact."

"That's a lot of stops," Mick said, sipping a bit of his coffee.

"A lot of black Audi SVX-4000's with the letters 'AC' in the license plate to check out. It's a very popular car with a certain type." Jean continued, taking a glance at Mick's car from a far distance through the glass wall to the garage. "They usually come from off-world, dressed in very fancy suits, with all the pretty girls and handsome himbos, with the big jewelry and too much makeup... Anyway, the attackers on Runefield remain unidentified and are still at large due to help from a getaway driver. There was some very fancy driving, from what I heard."

"By someone in a black Audi SVX-4000?" Mick asked.

Jean nodded. "With 'AC' in the plate." Both Mick and the inspector let out a friendly chuckle, and Jean asked another question. "Been out into the city lately?"

"Not for a while," Mick replied, sipping on his coffee again.

Jean smiled. "I love Moon City. The food, the way they grill poultry and fish... No other place on Tarion III does it the way they do in Moon City, and the men and women... I prefer men and women there. They are more... Complicated than the local variety."

"I don't particularly like complicated," Mick admitted with a grin. "You can ask Xen any day of the week, and he will admit that straight out."

"Ah, yes." Jean mused. "You like to keep it simple."

"Why are you so interested?" Mick asked, turning the tables.

"Oh, you know... Ever since I was a little boy, military personnel and mercenaries have always intrigued me," Jean answered.

"I'm ex-mercenary." Mick pointed out.

"I'm an ex-little boy." Jean countered in a friendly manner, finishing his coffee. He set the empty cup on the coffee table. "Anyways, I need to get going. I have a lot more stops to make... Thank you again for the coffee."

"Door's always open to you, Inspector," Mick said, seeing Jean out, then shut the door once the Inspector was out of the villa. He then watched from the edge of a curtain-covered window near the door as Jean stepped into his unmarked patrol car and drove off.

After the inspector's car was out of sight, Mick leaned against the wall, looking up at the ceiling as everyone let out a collective sigh of relief!