“Which mean’s, Elias owes me a brand-new car,” Karen finished triumphantly.

We were all stood around leaning against the bar talking. Ophelia was behind the bar serving us each icy drinks as her wings fluttered coo; air into our faces. The heat wasn’t bothering me so much since I had taken off my collar.

I’d spent the last few minutes staring in fascination at my own otherworldly appearance.

Weirdly the hair’s on my chest and armpits were still dark, whereas my eyes brow were a soft white. I experimented closing one eye while keeping the other open. Then I’d open the closed eye to see whether or not my original hazel iris would be present.

They weren’t.

I tried desperately to see myself in a new light. To not put the collar back on. Mainly because I feared I would be stuck like this regardless of the Arium collar.

“I never agreed to that. Besides, your car was…” I trailed off, and snapped my mouth shut.

“My. Car. Was. What?” the blonde asked as her vibrant blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

“W-was… an… old model? You could get so many better vehicle’s,” I said dumbly. I had no idea if her choice of vehicle was fashionably, or not. Or even up to date. I didn’t drive.

“Nice save,” Patricia murmured into her glass at me. The raven-haired beauty was wearing black skinny jeans, high heeled shoes. A light blue blouse and a short leather jacket.

She had her red button earing’s in her ears. Her lips were slightly fuller and glossed a light pink. Her black raven hair was pooled around one shoulder like a spilling shadow.

“I liked that car,” Karen pouted.

“So, Patricia,” I started, trying to change the subject away from Karen’s poor taste in vehicle’s, and men. “Is what you said true. That you know what my super power is?”

“Of course. We just need to go into the basement,” she nodded.

“Are you sure?” Ophelia asked the dark-haired woman curiously. Karen nodded in question as well.

“I’m sure. That is if, Elias would like to see our Coven house?”

“Coven house? isn’t that like witches or something?” I asked them.

“Something like that. It’s what we call our base of operation’s. Our hideout and headquarters.”

“Ophelia’s witching cove. And our Coven house,” Karen declared and grinned at us all. Was her drink alcoholic? Because all I tasted was the fizzy tang of orange in mine.

“What about the SPBI patrol’s?” I asked a little worriedly. I didn’t want them finding this place, or these stunning and brilliant women because of me.

“I have sensors and camera’s up all along the street.”

“But wouldn’t their Arium equipment nullify that—”

“Nope. This is all pure tech. Arium can nullify my access. But not the actual technology itself.”

“Otherwise we’d all be sinking beneath the waves,” Ophelia agreed pleasantly and smiled when Patricia shot her a dark look.

“I like the new look by the way,” the raven-haired woman tactfully changed the subject. “It is all … like this.” She waved her hand encompassing me from head to toe.

“Ugh, don’t get him started again,” Karen whined.

“Don’t listen to her. She’s just jealous,” Ophelia snickered.

“New toy not working out?” Patricia asked her curiously.

“He’s dumb,” the blonde groused and sagged on her chair. “He seriously thinks women should be protected at all costs and shouldn’t do anything other than look pretty, please their man, and have huge tits.”

I snorted and laughed as I considered who she was talking about.

“That is fantastic,” I chuckled.

“Yes. I saw that you went for the meathead variety this time,” Patricia murmured amusedly.

“Don’t you start as well,” the blonde groaned.

“Hush,” the angelic woman soothed. “Elias will get you a new car soon enough.”

“I never actually agreed to that,” I scowled at them all.

“It’s either the car, or we all get to see your package,” Karen snickered, causing a blush to creep across my face. Hopefully, my skin didn’t make it obvious.

“Neither,” I sighed and shook my head disapprovingly at the blonde.

“Strip, or an expensive car. Hard choice that one,” Patricia muttered lightly. I think she enjoyed seeing me squirm.

“I’m not stripping in the middle of the bar. When they’re SPBI patrols outside walking around—”

“Boo,” Karen blew a raspberry at me.

“So mature. How strong is your drink?”

“Oh, Karen is an incredible light weight,” Ophelia supplied. “But this does mellow her out. She’ll sleep well after at least.”

“And wake up painfully regretting it,” Patricia finished. “Well, shall we adjourned to the basement?”

“Sure,” I answered immediately. It was so easy to get lost in the back and forth with these women.

“You three go ahead,” Ophelia waved us on. “I need a cold shower, and a change of clothes. Then I’ll meet you down there.”

“That bad huh?” Patricia smirked knowingly at the angelic-woman.

“You have no idea,” the gorgeous woman replied, as she cleared her throat and shot a glance at me.

“Let’s go,” Karen pump her fist in the air, and wooed cheerily. The blonde then stumbled off her stool and towards the back room.

“Shall we,” Patricia said and slipped her arm through mine.

The backroom was stocked with kegs of different liquor. Each massive steel drum lined one side of the room. A comfortable worn-looking couch sat on the opposite side. Beside it was a small kitchen counter top, a kettle, a microwave, and a few cupboards.

A small clear glass table was positioned off centre before the couch. A small old flat screen television hung on the wall near the entrance we walked through.

Karen up was already ahead of us. Moving through another door, and down a set of stairs presumedly into the basement.

The air became noticeably damp as Patricia and I walked through the swinging door following after the blonde. Naked bulb’s hanging from the ceiling flickered into life as Karen she made her down. The blonde muttered something about it being too dark.

Beside me, Patricia watched on in amusement at her friend’s antics.

I was honestly surprised to see she that had companions and friends. My first impression of her had given me the conclusion that she only worked alone. Avoiding the company of others. To see her interact with Karen and Ophelia was lightening in a way I couldn’t explain.

“Deep thoughts?” the dark-haired woman nudged me.

I blinked, smiled, and shook my head.

“Just admiring what you got here,” I said and nodded towards the short blonde stumbling down the steps ahead of us.

“Tipsy Stormcaster’s?” Patricia asked with a light laugh. I filed the mention of Karen’s power class away.

“No. More the camaraderie you all share,” I smiled sideways at her.

“It is nice,” she agreed pleasantly. “And you haven’t even met everyone yet.”

“Yeah, Karen mentioned that they’re five of you?” I asked, frowning in recollection.

“Yes. There’s Natalia, she’s a conjurer. Doesn’t use her powers as often though. Her conjured serpents tend to draw attention. And then… there’s Devlin.”

“She’s the gold digger?” I nodded amusedly.

“In a matter of speaking … yes. She’s a dual powered like me. Runecaster and Summoner. Though she doesn’t dabble with summoning anymore. It tends to take a toll on her. A great one.”

“Isn’t conjuring and summoning the same thing?” I asked her as we to the final step. A ‘T’ intersection split left and right. Karen grinned at us merrily from where she lean against the stone wall to our left.

“Not exactly. Conjuring is bringing forth bound creatures. Usually a Conjurer only binds one or two. And they don’t have any say in the matter either. Summoning is darker. It’s a form of bargaining for greater power. And those bargains can proof rather troublesome for a Summoner.”

“So many different classes of power’s,” I shook my head in wonder.

“No need to worry. Most classes seen present day fall into far simpler categories. Those of our Sisterhood are most definitely unique in that regard.”

“So unique in fact,” Karen slurred as we stopped beside her. She took my other arm and joined us walking down the dimly lit corridor. “That a few of us are the original’s.”

We came to a dead end and I blinked. A few small boxes of old beer, and a magazine sat piled on top of each other. There was even the slim wheel of a bicycle. Something I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. Patricia leaned to her right; her hand hovering over a brick engraved with a large rusted brass ‘T’ sign in its middle. On top of the ‘T’ which was the image of a Plateau city.

I had seen brand a few times. Mainly on old structures and frames dotted around the outer limits of the city. Supposedly it was the industry brand of the company that made the Plateau cities.

Trent Industry.

“Are you ready to delve deeper?” she asked me with a hint of amusement and foreboding. I nodded after a half-moment of consideration, glancing down at the starry-purple skin on my hand.

“Yes,” I replied, and she pushed the engraving inwards. It shimmered a blue light, slit inwards, and began to rotate. Suddenly the dead end and the collected garbage in front of it, all began to rotate and slide backwards with a soft hiss.

A bright soft blue light shimmered up from the ground, illuminating the clean glassy stair’s leading downwards before us. The dead-end wall stop rotating finally with a dull kerchunk.

“This is our Batcave,” Patricia declared, even as Karen said, “our Coven House.” The two shot each other a shot across me, and smirked in unison.

I had no idea what a Batcave was. But I got the gist of declaration. This was their secret hideout. Where they planned and monitored channels, and scanned for criminal activity.

Patricia took the lead moving down the steps carefully in her high-heel’s. I followed and Karen brought up the rear.

A narrow glassy light-blue corridor lead us out onto a balcony. Overlooking a massive complex of different buildings. It was something akin to an underground suburban neighbourhood. There were eight large estate’s each without a roof. Though from our advantage point I could see that each were tailored to an individual person.

“This is amazing,” I muttered in awe as I stared at the large block of house-sized rooms.

“Patricia built all of it,” Karen said proudly smirking at her friend.

“Judy helped,” the dark-haired beauty admitted.

“Who’s Judy—”

“You called, Miss,” chirped a voice from directly behind me. I spun to see a floating orb with four small wing-like fans constantly adjusting as it floated before us.

“This. Is Judy,” Patricia smiled and waved towards the flying orb. “Judy, introduced yourself to our guest, preferably without giving him a heart attack. Ophelia likes, and I mean - Likes – this one a lot.”

“My apologies, Miss. I’ll certainly rectify all undue concerns immediately. The orb flew directly towards me, closing the gap until it hovered a foot before my face. I leaned away from it, and felt my back press against the railing.

“It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Elias Zachary Thompson,” the orb stated and extended a small wing-fan towards my face. A long heartbeat passed, and I shot a look at Karen.

“Shake her… fin?,” the blonde whispered to me. Clearly amused by my interaction with the orb-robot-thing.

“A… pleasure to meet you as well, Judy,” I attempted to smile and reached up to pinch the small wing between my thumb and forefinger.

I shook once and let go.

“The pleasure is all mine, Eli,” it said almost too comfortably with me. I blinked at the use of my shortened name and shot a glance at Patricia.

“Judy is an artificial intelligence I copied a long time ago—” the Technomancer tried to explain.

“I am a poor imitation of the Dexica consciousness. Stolen by the greys on Kashira during the portal wars--” the orb seemed to grumble.

“As I was saying,” Patricia loudly interrupted, shooting a dark look at the orb. Judy is sort of our central intelligence and maintenance expert. She runs the day to day on the Coven. As well as helping me in designing the tricks for our trade, so to speak. She’s essentially my Alfred.”

“Miss, I must inform you that the repair to your extra suit has been delayed due to your lack of visitation. However the final touches have been adjusted on your combat suit, and is ready for your testing.”

“Thank you, Judy. Can you get the medical bay prepped for a deep genome evaluation, while I give our guest a tour of the facility.”

“Of course, Miss,” the orb bobbed in a nod.

“Miss Gillian,” it bobbed to Karen, then turned to me.

“It was nice to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. Thompson,” Judy told me.

“Likewise, Judy,” I nodded at the strange orb-thing as it started to float off. “Okay… I don’t know why. But out of everything that’s happened to me today. That was the strangest.”

“Aww, but Judy’s lovely,” Karen mock pouted at me.

~*~*~*~

“I’m in house, Techa,” Patricia waved at the first building, on our right as we came to the underground street. An array of eight building paralleled to each other on either side of the street, four on the left and four on the right.

“Techa? Oh, as in Technomancy,” I blinked and nodded my head dumbly.

“Each building, carries all the necessity one would need. They each have a large bathroom, equipped with a sizeable shower and bathtub. Kitchen areas, lounging areas. Bedroom’s--”

“Sex dungeon’s,” Karen interjected and winked at me.

“Exercise equipment,” the Technomancer continued as if Karen hadn’t interrupted her. “Each house is fully stocked with food and drinkable’s. There’s internet access. Computer’s and other docking devices. Which reminds me, we’ll have to either chip your wrist-phone. Or give you an untraceable one.”

“Shit,” I halted and smacked my palm against my forehead. “I didn’t even think of that—”

“Relax,” the raven-haired beauty soothed. “Every device that enters within the Witching Cove is protected and cloaked.”

“Okay,” I nodded reluctantly, my shoulders sagging in relief.

“Carrying on. Each building is also tailored to the specific needs of the resident. Ophelia house’s is mostly open space with a cushioned floor.”

“Every stumbling toddlers dream,” Karen quipped.

“Mine is mostly a workshop, where I build and experiment. Karen’s is mostly filled with old sticky posters of college hunks--”

“No it isn’t,” the blonde hissed at her. I could see that the dizzy mellowing affect, the liquor had had on her, had mostly faded now.

“What about posters of pink gaudy as hell car’s?” I asked innocently.

“Them too,” the Technomancer nodded seriously.

“No it isn’t- and why specifically pink? and why gaudy?” the blonde sputtered and frowned at us both. “Is he talking about my baby?” she asked Patricia in disbelief.

“If they’re five of you. Why the other houses then?” I asked, trying to change the subject of discussion.

“Specifically to fill in the real-estate,” Patricia replied and grinned at my scowl. “No, seriously. We had space, and I figured eventually we would recruit more people. The Sisterhood used to be based mainly in Preyta city before it sank. There, we had been fourteen member’s strong. Now we’re down to five.”

“Is it just women that join you then?” I asked her curiously as we moved down the street, towards the last two houses.

“Not at all. We’ve had men join us. But eventually they’re worn out by us,” the raven-haired woman shook her amusement.

“More specifically, Devlin,” Karen snickered. “If you don’t meet up to her standards of pedigree. She takes… steps… to make your passing on easier.”

“She can be a harsh bitch, when warranted. Most men that have joined think it’s simply a fuck-fest. That the buildings are open plan because every woman’s door is open and willing,” Patricia shook her head and sighed disgustedly.

“We’re not slut’s, we’re protectors—”

“Devlin is most definitely a slut,” Karen assured me quietly.

“Yeah… so we’re women. Doesn’t mean I want to fuck every man in a tight purple suit—”

“Why specifically purple?” Karen murmured amused.

“And I’ve seriously liked some of the men that’ve joined us,” she sighed heavily. “Devlin… is such… a slut,” she admitted finally.

“And here’s the medical bay,” Patricia declared cheerily and waved towards the house on our right. “This is our temporary bay, until I can draw up plans for a sub-base beneath us. Until then I’ve allocated the medical bay to house eight.”

We walked inside the building to a massive sprawl of wires, cables, and tubes going everywhere. Small robots on tread’s whirred about as they carried long thick cable’s. They plugged them in between units. A large seven-foot-long bed with a glassy containment dome over it, was the centre piece of the room.

“Ah, Miss,” Judy floated soundlessly over to us. “The medical bay has been readied and prepped per your orders.” The orb continued as we walked over to the bed. “The pod has been adjusted to the required setting for genome identification.”

“Thank you, Judy,” Patricia smiled at the orb, and patted it fondly. “Well, Elias. Are you ready to uncover the mysteries of the forgotten world?” she grinned as she swivelled to face me.

“As long as these ‘mysteries’ don’t require me to undress—” I began but she cut me off.

“They do I’m afraid,” she cooed innocently. “If you really want to know what your power is. You’ll. Have. To Strip,” she enunciated each word by crooking her finger downwards.

We turned as the door to the house slid aside and in walked Ophelia. Strutting towards us in a loose soft-brown satin dress. The deep-V cut displayed an ample amount of pale-bronze cleavage. A long split ran up the length of the right side of the dress until it reached her upper thigh. Her feet were bare and small.

The angelic-woman’s brown and white hair fell around her shoulders. Her soft white wings fluttered with nervous energy behind her back.

“Wow,” all three of us breathed in unison, as the angelic-woman stopped before us. I noticed that she wore a long thin chain necklace. At the end of which was a yellow amber crystal with a tiny handprint inside.

“What?” Ophelia asked us innocently as she twisted about. Her wings twitching.

“you look amazing,” I said at last.

“How come your all dressed-up Ohpi? got a date?” Karen grinned at the heavenly woman.

“No!” Ophelia blurted in response and shot a look in my direction.

All I could I think about was that I had to undress in front of these excruciatingly stunning women.

I inched over to Patricia and leaned in towards her and the other’s started snapping back and forth. “Do I have to… fully strip. Or just down to the boxer’s?” I asked her quietly.

“Fully I’m afraid,” she replied with a shit eating grin and turned to face me. Bringing her nose no more than a few inches away from mine. Her pale red eyes roamed my hair, eyes, nose, and mouth.

Then she leaned away and clapped sharply.

“Ladies. We’re about to begin the evaluation,” she turned a mischievous smile towards me. “And enjoy a little show in doing so.”

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]