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The following is a work of adult fiction and is copyright the author. The story may contain adult themes and situations and is not to be read by anyone under the age of 18. All characters depicted as engaging in adult activities within this story are over the age of 18.

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A STITCH IN TIME - pt. 3

Sapphire sat back on the couch and looked at the girl sitting across from her. "I hope the robe is warm enough."

"Yes it is, thank-you." the skunkette replied, leaning back and snuggling into the thick, terrycloth bathrobe the vixen had provided her. "You and your mate have done so much for me, I just don't know how I can ever repay you."

"Repayment isn't a consideration, dear. Victor and I are blessed. It would be a shame not to help others when the need arises." The vixen quietly studied the girl in front of her. She looked perfectly normal, aside from a few bruises, small cuts and a black eye. There was, however, something unusual about her, something which couldn't be seen on the surface but could be felt.

Sapphire smiled as her mate walked into the living room carrying a small plate of scones. Using some napkins, he passed one out to each of the two ladies then picked up a small china pot from the serving tray.

"Coffee anyone?" Both nodded and he quickly poured a cup for each of them. The djin leaned forward and daintily dropped a couple of sugar cubes into her coffee, followed by a tincture of cream. She seemed completely unconcerned that doing so allowed the skunkette to see all of her powder-blue cleavage. Much more than what some people might consider proper.

Smiling, she sat back and looked across at the dancer who was trying hard not to look like she had seen anything. A slight blush fanned the inside of her ears causing the vixen to smile. The girl's emotional response had triggered something else, something the vixen had been looking for with her magical sight. Now she knew what she was dealing with. It was only a matter of finding out about the girl herself.

Victor took a seat on the couch next to Sapphire and put his arm around her and gave her a little kiss. The skunkette thought they made a wonderful couple, his red fur complimenting her blue.

"How's your head?"

"Fine," he replied. "I didn't hit it all that hard when I tumbled out of bed. There isn't even a lump."

"I'm glad," the girl said. "I guess I really shouldn't have startled you awake this morning..."

"It wasn't your fault," he reassured her. "My mate has an unusually aesthetic sense of humor, one which I've frequently been on the receiving end of."

"Well, it was cold last night," the vixen chuckled, "and since we only have the one bed I thought she'd appreciate sleeping on something more comfortable than the couch."

"Oh, I'm not upset with her being in bed with us last night," Victor explained. He looked at Sapphire slyly. "As a matter of fact, it was quite nice being nuzzled awake... OW!" He rubbed at his nose pad where she had playfully bopped him.

"Careful, you silly todd," she warned in a sultry voice. "You might make me jealous, and you know you wouldn't like what I'd do if I were jealous."

The skunkette laughed at their playful banter. "You two do this all the time?"

"Pretty much, Miss... uh...?"

"Ophelia... Ophelia Jones. But you can call me Gwen."

"Gwen?" asked Sapphire.

"Yes." The girl paused to sip some coffee. "Ophelia is my stage name. My real name is Gwendolyn Carpenter."

"Gwen... That's a nice name," Victor replied. "From your accent I'd guess you're from the mid-west; Either Kansas or Nebraska."

"Good guess!" the skunkette chuckled. "I'm originally from a town about ninety miles northwest of Omaha."

"A farm girl?"

"Of a sort," she nodded. "My parents co-owned a farm with a human couple named Van Alden. They adopted me after mom and dad were killed in a floater accident when I was nine."

I'm sorry," the djin responded sympathetically.

"It's okay, it was a long time ago," Gwen replied lightly. Sapphire, however, had the distinct feeling that there was still a lot of pain behind her words.

"At least you had people willing to help out when you needed it," Offered Victor.

"Well... Yes and no. They weren't the best foster parents in the world. I mean, they were kind enough and did everything right. It's just... well... I never felt they truly had their hearts in it. I was more an obligation than a daughter."

"Did you have friends there?"

"One or two, but I was always something of an outsider, even in high school. There weren't that many anthrops living there, and being the only Lappe made socializing nearly impossible."

"Lappe?" asked the vixen.

"Anthrop skunks," Victor replied. "The first constructs were named after various literary or pop culture icons. Vulpines were Zorros or Zorrs, Felines were Felixes or Feli, and Mustilids were Le Pews or Lappe."

"I always wondered about that," Gwen said. "So what exactly was this Le Pew?"

"A 20th century animated vid character," the todd said. The young girl looked at him with an uncomprehending stare. "A talking, cartoon skunk," he explained further."

"So we're named after a cartoon character?"

Sapphire smiled at the skunkette's apparent disbelief. "It's not all that surprising," she chimed in. "Humans have always been a bit random in their logic. I suppose it must have been thought of as a way to personify constructs in an easily recognizable way, at least for them."

Gwen giggled. "At least they're consistently inconsistent."

The vixen laughed out loud, joining the girl in her mirth. "I can see we're going to have lots of fun, you and I."

The girl suddenly grew quiet then shook her head sadly. "No, we're not."

"Why not?" asked Sapphire.

"Teddy. He's not the forgiving sort. If I stayed here with you, he'd find out and that would bring nothing but trouble for both of you."

"You're not honestly thinking of going back to him, are you?" asked Victor.

"I'll have to, sooner or later. Everything I own is over at his place. Even if I wanted to leave, I'd have to get all my stuff first. He has friends watching his pad. They'd tell him I was there and that would be it." She hung her head. "No, it would be better if I just went back and tried to square things with him."

"Who is this Teddy character anyway?" asked Victor. "How did you run into him?"

"I met him a couple of days after I got to town," The skunkette explained. "You know the story... country girl moves to the big city to make good. Anyway, I was heading back to my hotel after a job interview when I was jumped by these three guys and pulled into an alley. They took almost all my money and then they... they..." The girl hesitated for a moment, as if trying to force the words out. "They raped me." The dancer visibly pulled into herself, curling into a tight ball of fur.

Sapphire quietly rose from the couch and went over to her, settling into the overstuffed chair next to her and wrapping her arms around the skunkette. She began to shiver and her eyes misted. The warmth of the vixen holding her made her feel safe enough to continue her story.

"I didn't really know what to do... I mean they had a knife at my throat and warned me about trying to spray any of them. I was so scared... It hurt. They might have killed me if Teddy hadn't shown up and chased them off. He had a gun and I think they were more scared of him than I was of them. Anyway, Teddy took me home and let me stay with him so I would feel safe. He even went out and found those guys and got my wallet and I.D. back, though he couldn't find my money or credit cards."

Victor looked over at the vixen and shook his head silently. He'd heard about street scammers who'd sic their friends on some unsuspecting girl then come to the rescue, thereby gaining her trust. Having seen Teddy in action, he was fairly certain this was what must have gone down.

"Everything seemed to be okay between Teddy and me at first." The skunkette continued. He kind of took care of me and let me do what I needed to get back on my feet. He didn't make any demands and he even helped me get the dancing gig at the Stray Kitten. Sure, I know it's exotic dancing, but I kind of liked it and the money was good. Teddy even encouraged me, helped me build up my confidence. We even made love a couple of times. Then everything changed.

"How?" whispered Sapphire as she got the girl to open up.

"He started to borrow money. Not a lot at first, but in slowly increasing amounts. This went on for about two weeks until one morning when I asked him how soon he was going to pay me back. I wanted to use the money to take some acting classes. It was almost like someone had thrown a switch in his head. He got surly and said that I owed him. When I stood up for myself he... he slapped me, hard. He laid it all on the line then. How much of a percentage he wanted, where I could and couldn't go, and what he'd do if I tried to leave.

He took all of my I.D. and locked it up where I couldn't get it. Then, just to prove the point, he introduced me to these three other girls who lived in an apartment across the hall. They were 'his' as well. They worked at the club too, in the party rooms. As long as they did what he said and gave him a cut of their income, he pretty much would let them alone, but he was always watching; Either he or his friends."

"Were they anthrops as well?" Sapphire asked.

Gwen nodded. "One was. She was a Feli, but the other two were human. They warned me not to cross Teddy or his friends. One of the girls he had before me tried to get out by threatening to go to the police, but she never had the chance. They told me she'd had an 'accident.'"

"An accident?"

"She fell off the roof of the apartment building. When I heard that, I was just too scared to try and get away. I didn't know anyone in the city who could help, so I stayed. It was easier than running, and as long as Teddy got enough money, he didn't bother me or force me to do anything I didn't want to. I moved in with Beth, Suzy and Jessica. Teddy, of course, kept most of my things locked away at his place." She looked up at the vixen. "If I try to get away, he or his friends will probably take it out on the others, or on the new girl he's taken in."

"He's doing it again?" Victor asked.

"Yes," Gwen replied. "I haven't seen her yet, but Beth has. I think she's a Canis."

"Girl... Trust me on this," urged the vixen. "This Teddy isn't the kind of person you need in your life. Gods! He almost beat you to death yesterday... and now you want to go back to him?"

"I don't want to... I have to. He..." Gwen suddenly stopped and looked at the vixen in confusion. "What do you mean, beat me to death? I thought he only knocked me out."

Sapphire looked over at Victor who simply nodded in agreement. "When we brought you here you had a punctured ear drum and a broken rib that had pierced one of your lungs. You were badly hurt. Left untreated, your injuries might have killed you"

The skunkette reached up to her ear and felt it. "But I can hear perfectly," she replied, and except for a little soreness my side feels fine." Her eyebrows knit together. "How...?"

"It's not difficult to explain, just hard to believe," the vixen said. "More coffee dear?" The girl nodded.

Victor reached for the pot but Sapphire shook her head. "Don't bother love, I've got it." The china coffee pot slowly lifted from the table on a cloud of blue sparks and drifted over to the girl. She held out her cup, eyes almost as big as the saucer on which it sat, and watched as the pot delicately filled it. "Cream and sugar?" The sugar bowl and creamer floated toward her, but smoothly reversed course when she automatically placed her hand over the top of the cup.

"No thank you," the skunkette answered weakly. Her china rattled a bit, but she neither screamed nor dropped the cup, choosing instead to take a overly long sip on her coffee. The pot floated back, pausing long enough to refresh the todd's cup before settling back on the tray.

Victor watched in quiet amusement, admiring the girl's desperate aplomb as she was confronted with magic for the first time in her life.

"The simple answer, Gwen, is that I used magic to heal your most severe injuries." The girl reached up and gingerly ran a finger along her blackened eye.

"What about...?"

"I left the bruises because they'll heal themselves without any real trouble. The first thing you're going to have to learn as a sorceress, my dear, is how to conserve magical essence, or manna."

"SORCERESS?" repeated both Gwen and Victor in unison.

TO BE CONTINUED...