The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (3 page)

“Twenty-two. Old enough to know
better. Forgive me…” He seemed truly ashamed now. Like he’d done something
worse than steal an innocent kiss.

Which he probably had. It had given
her ideas, after all, which was almost never a great plan. Really, it was a
thing to avoid, if at all possible. It almost never was, however.

“Oh. All right then.” Leaning in,
she put her arms around him and kissed him back. Probably poorly, but they
worked out what to do more or less after that.

Hopefully he wasn’t actually evil.
If so, then some of the things she was planning on doing with him would be a
bit hard to explain later, in the reports. Still, he didn’t seem all that
experienced. Also he wasn’t demanding of her. It was clear that he would have
left off at any point in what they were doing if she’d even
hinted
at
anything except her rather nervous eagerness.

It wasn’t until she was doing
things on him with her mouth, kneeling carefully in the forest at night, that
Katherine even bothered to pop her head out. Probably because she was perverted
that way.

~Try using your hand on the shaft.
That way you won’t gag if you go down too far. Men seem to like that well
enough. Like that.~
By their rules the other woman wasn’t actually allowed out at all any longer.
Not if she wanted her ten minutes of pleasure per night. The thing there was
that Gwen had
kind
of kept her waiting for that, since she was
traveling. The device that produced the incredible sensations wasn’t allowed to
be in Gwen’s control now. By her own orders.

It would be far too tempting to use
it. As it was, Katherine had to be conditioned to hide her away while it
happened, so that they both weren’t addicted to it. It very nearly wasn’t the
truth. She would have fought for the right to use that machine, after having
one ten second dose of it, years before.

As the man, who certainly wasn’t a
boy, started to moan a bit and stiffen, the other woman took over the body.
That was good, most likely, since she
swallowed
what came out of him.
Gwen would have too, if she’d known when to and
had
heard of things like
that. After all, she’d seen it all done on the internet, a few thousand times.
She hadn’t been dead below the waist. Just ugly enough that doing things like
she’d just done hadn’t ever been likely to happen. Which didn’t mean she wouldn’t
have probably botched it her first time if not for the help.

Then, interestingly, Kat pulled all
the way back. Not even commenting on her odd behavior.

It was like the embarrassment
Olympics then, with each of them barely able to stammer out a word or two.
Except that they were adults and had both
wanted
to do what they had. As
long as Tomas wasn’t married it wasn’t that big of a deal. In the
press
,
certainly, but not between them.

Being a bit mean, rallying a
little, she grinned at the fellow, as he buttoned his fly back up. It seemed
like the most awkward possible moment.

“You
do
know that we’re
dating now, right? Next time expect at least flowers. Dinner and possibly a
show first. Plus, you’re doing
me
, too. So look up how to do that? I
mean with your mouth, so don’t be shocked to find out that’s a thing.” That
seemed fair enough to her. Really, she kind of figured that he was going to
sprint away then, having gotten what he wanted. That was what she’d always
heard
about men, after all. They only desired the one thing and would take off if
they had it. It was her first time though, so she waited to see what was going
to take place in real life.

Instead of a foot race, she was
embraced. Gently. It was nice and less embarrassed suddenly than even a moment
before.

“That would be… Lovely, actually. I
understand if you can’t. I’m not famous, or even particularly good looking.
That… I’ve never done that sort of thing before. Might we do it sometime again,
do you think?” He sounded unsure and rather earnest about the whole thing.

“I think we might! I just have to
be careful about getting pregnant. That would be a bit hard to explain back
home. So… Tell me about yourself. Do you work? Or attend school? You seem to
have high level talent, magic wise… That work on the trees was impressive.”

That normally meant that a person
was pushed,
possibly
with a bit of social force applied, into doing
important work.
Especially
if he were from a poor family. Schooling
would have been mandated if he were from a wealthy one. Regardless of his
talent level.

There was a slow nod, followed by a
sigh.

“I clerk, for the local Baron?
Baron Harrison. He seems to be a good man. We don’t meet often, naturally. I
won’t claim it’s a high position, but I did attend university. I studied art?”
He pulled the mask from his pocket and shook his head. Blushing even more than
when she’d had him in her mouth. “This… Omegon? It’s a character that I invented.
For a graphic novel…”

Tomas stopped then, staring at her.

“I… Honestly, I don’t know if I can
explain that kind of thing to you? Not if you’re still Gwen after all this.
Illustrated stories. Normally for children, but they’ve become more popular in
these late years with older people as well. Omegon is… Well… A hero? He uses
his magic to help people and fight injustice.” He stood straighter then,
seeming proud for a few moments.

She licked her lips. The inside of
her mouth still tasted like him, which wasn’t a horrible thing, but was highly
unusual for her. Honestly, part of her fought to keep from realizing that she’d
actually
done
what she had.

Except that,
finally
,
something had taken place with a man. One that seemed to actually like her. Or
at least Katherine.
Possibly
still thinking she was someone called Beth.
That was a coincidence if true, since her best friend was named that.

“We have those in my world. Graphic
novels? Ones with heroes in them as well. Neat. Well, when you add in Gwen
Farris being in yours, leave out the suck job? That’s what you call that here,
right? It’s blowjob, where I come from. Though there’s no actual blowing, so…
That might be just a bit racier than my family here would like to hear about.”
She smiled, as he went slightly wide eyed.

“Of course. I’d be run out of town
if I tried that! Are you… Since we’re dating, is it all right to ask? Who are
you, really?” The words held a genuine tone to them.

Like he really meant it.

“Ahhhh. Um… Okay. So… You know that
part where I said I was Gwen Farris?”

“Yes?” There was no eagerness to
him, but he seemed ready to take in what she was saying.

“Well… I’m
actually
… Gwen
Farris. The woman from another world? So… If that doesn’t work for you, I get
that part. What Katherine did… Um… Just so you know…
She
was the one
that did the swallowing back there. The rest was
me
. I’m not really
experienced, so I think she wanted to help. Just so… You know, if we do
something again and I’m a bit different about that? I don’t mind doing it, but…
I really have nothing to fall back on, skill wise.” It was
why
she’d
done anything at all there, she knew. She was feeling like there was nothing to
her life. So she’d done something crazy. Doing sex stuff with a guy that she’d
just met.

Not letting fear rule her.

A thing that might just be working
out, at least for the night.

Instead of being bothered by her
being herself, he just took her hand and started walking. It made sense, if
they were seeing each other. That part was sudden, but she’d
had
worse
introductions to people than finding they liked to play super hero and lurk in
isolated caves. Honestly, that part was kind of cool, since he actually had
real powers. Not great ones for the world they were in, making him more like
Zorro than Superman, but she could deal with that. He had his own comic book,
if nothing else.

“Seriously? Not as pretend or a
joke? You’re really her? That… I… I’m going to be strung up for this then,
aren’t I? I’ve heard that you’re the King’s mistress… That, or special pet. No
one seems really certain which. Tongues
will
wag to the worst, of
course.” It sounded like it might be a saying, not just a clever turn of phrase
that he’d come up with on the fly.

Rather than pretend to be shocked,
since the man was probably just correct about what people said, and why, she
shrugged. She didn’t take it back, but did turn one hand, the free one, upward.
It meant about the same thing. One hand seemed to mean that she
honestly
gave no fucks. Only way more politely.

“Honestly? Ferdinand is nice to me
and thinks he owes me. Katherine… Not so much. He’d have put her to death, but
it would require doing me at the same time. I was going to kill myself,
originally, when we got back from Europa, but he didn’t want that. I… don’t
really know why. People would have understood. The coward’s way out, but still,
there was nothing else left for me to do. Don’t you think?” It had really
happened. Nearly.

There was silence as they walked
for a few moments, the sounds of their feet on the dirt being the only noise at
all. That and their breathing.

“No. I can see that part of it all.
At that point… It would have seemed that he had you killed. Murdered, because
you were inconvenient. Removing a hero that had saved the entire world, because
another
person betrayed us all… That would have lost him the kingdom, or
at least made it harder for him to keep in these troubled times. Didn’t Gwen
help come up with the new rift shield after that?”

She nodded, but also spoke, since
it was dark.

“Yes. It isn’t perfect though. We
can probably protect most places, but not all of them. If a person could
teletransport themselves in suddenly, then rift… No one would be there in time
to stop it. We can only cover a few miles per shield right now.” It
was
a lot and had slowed the current war down, possibly stopping a rifting battle
from happening.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

The man next to her scoffed a bit,
smiling.

“Almost no one can do that.
Teletransport like that. How many people have you ever met that can move
themselves instantly between places? It takes a rare talent to do that. I’ve
trained
in magic, with some rather high talents and never once met anyone that can do
that.”

The thing that Tomas didn’t know,
that she
wouldn’t
tell him, was that all the rifters could
teletransport. It was required, in order to be able to tear space apart. If you
could move an object, anything in theory, in three different directions at one
time, space couldn’t handle it. Then the world screamed and did things that it
wasn’t meant to. It wasn’t exactly a nuclear bomb, but it was comparable. Vast
explosions and contamination that she still wasn’t certain might not be
radiation.

In all the world there were a few
hundred people that could, due to their training, rip the world apart in a
rather spectacular fashion. There was even one that could grab an object at a
distance, possibly anywhere in the world and make it do that, letting her do it
hundreds or thousands of times without cost. That was so secret that she wasn’t
going to tell anyone about it. Ever. Not even her new boyfriend.

That idea got her to smile. Then
squeeze the hand of the man next to her.

“
I
can teletransport.”

That got a laugh from the guy as
they walked. It wasn’t condescending, but she was nearly certain that he
thought she was still play acting. Owning it too, not giving her act up too
easily. Because clearly,
she
was the boss when it came to that kind of
geeky thing.
Larping
. Live action role playing. Writ so large it
probably made her seem insane.

“Oh, really? Show me then. I don’t
think I’m accepting that one today. That you’re from another world I can see,
perhaps
.
Also that you have excellent taste in who you meet in strange caves… But
that
?
Do you have any idea how
difficult
that is to do? I’ve honestly been to
school, learning art, but
also
magic. I’ve never met anyone that could
do that kind of thing at all. Not even the smaller portions of it. It’s nearly
a myth, it’s so rare. You’d have to show me,
something
at least.” There
was a cute grin, a thing that she could just make out from the light of her
hand-lamp.

She did show him. The difficult way.
Holding Tomas close to her with both arms, she focused hard and moved the
information that made up both of their beings in an instant. Doing that
powerfully enough caused them to shift in space. Without moving physically at
all. It burned and left her gasping a bit desperately, but they were in her
hotel room. No longer on the dirt path in the woods.

Tomas was wide eyed as she sat on
the better than decent bed. Not speaking. She did smile though, between the
huge breaths of air she was taking in.

“Are you all right?” Tomas Moore
seemed to be actually worried for her, which was interesting to see. Not that
people there in the Western Kingdom couldn’t be polite, day to day. They often
were. The thing with that was all about how they
acted
, as opposed to
how they felt.

A man or woman might well stop to check
on you as you walked down the street if you seemed to be in distress. The thing
with that, Gwen had finally started to see, is that they gave about as much
thought to it as a person from her world would have if they asked how you were
feeling that day. In short, people cared about their friends and pretended with
everyone else.

Tomas however seemed to be
concerned with her heavy breathing. That was however just the way things went.
If you teletransported with two people at once, you got to sit there for a
while, sucking in air after you were done. On the good side, it didn’t matter
how far away you went with the thing. If you carried too many
people
, it
was hard. That was the only real rule.

When you traveled between worlds,
if you found a weak spot first, you could take a person with you much more
easily. Technically there were places like that in the world she was sitting in
at that moment, that would let her travel around far more simply.
If
she
could find them, which she seemed to lack the talent for completely. That part
was sad, since it meant doing it all the hard way.

It was comparatively easy to do on
her own, however. Now that she’d learned the trick of it.

Nodding at her new friend, who she
hoped would actually be that, and not just a one-night stand, Gwen smiled.

“I’m good. That just… takes it out
of you. Going like that, with another person?” It was hard to know if that was
going to be understood, but Tomas took a surprised breath and then went a bit
wide eyed again.

In an impressed way, Gwen figured.

“I should say so! I can’t believe
it still! You teletransported? With
me
… That’s… If it hadn’t happened to
me, I wouldn’t have believed it could be done at all. Do you need anything?
Water? Or food?” He seemed nervous suddenly, looking around, as if being in her
room would be forbidden. Even if she was the one that had brought him there.

Shaking her head, her breathing
finally coming around a bit, she wrinkled her nose. Gwen was going for cute,
instead of disgusted. The truth was she didn’t know if that was what she got at
the moment. The idea of eating right then made her want to be physically sick.

“I’m good. Thanks. Anyway, I need
to get your information?” She meant that it was needed for her investigation.
For once that seemed to be incredibly innocent, but she realized that she might
be biased, or even missing something. After all, when she looked at the man
across from her, who was better than
cute
, now that they had real light
on him, all she thought about was the way he’d felt in her mouth. That and the
awkward, but sweet, kisses they’d shared. The feel of his arms around her.

So her mind could be a bit misled
at the moment. Which probably meant he was going to prove out to be an
unearthly evil. Given his clever squid mask, he was almost certainly going to
be either brainwashed, or in league with the Elder Gods. In which case she’d
probably have to kill him.

For his part, he smiled and acted
like that was just a great idea.

“Oh! That would be
lovely
! I
work tomorrow, but we could get together in the evening? We could go for a walk
in the park? I know that… Well… I make enough at my job, but the graphic novels
don’t bring in that much. I do well enough, but each release is rather an
expense, you understand? Hundreds of mets for a printing. I
do
have my
works in many book and paper locations.” There was a bit of worry, as if he
might be admitting that he was too poor to really be dating.

Gwen wasn’t worried about that. She
had some money there, really. Enough that it wasn’t a real worry for her. A
good looking guy with an expensive hobby wasn’t that big of a deal in her new world.
Not now.
Except
the boyfriend part, if that was real. She’d been engaged
before, but that had fallen through and they’d never done anything sexual,
waiting for marriage like they were.

It occurred to her, for about the
tenth time since the man had finished behind her lips, that she
might
just be jumping to a lot of conclusions in regards to him.

So she smiled, trying not to ruin
everything by being lame and a bit socially out of step.

“That sounds good! I’ll have to
pick up a copy of one of your works, so I understand the idea. We could… Get
together after you get off work?”

That got a smile, which was only a
bit nervous.

“Wonderful! I should be free at
five. Call it six then, so I can clean up first? If that…” He looked around and
made a bit of a face at the place. Even though it was decently nice. The lamps
on the walls with their glass covers and brass fittings all worked, for
instance. The room had silk instead of paper on the sides, which was fine
enough. It wasn’t new, but the place was clean and tidy. She’d splurged a bit,
getting their best room. It was, she knew, the honeymoon suite. That didn’t
show however. Not to her. It was just nice, not done up with little hearts all
over the place or covered in lace.

Weddings there didn’t do that kind
of thing. Those were, she’d learned over the last few years, very different
affairs. People went away after, to have sex and start on making babies right
away, so that part was the same.

Tomas pulled a card from his pocket
and handed it over. A calling card. This one had his name, contact data
including home address and listed his occupation as both Legal Clerk and
Artist. Which made the whole thing seem far more real to her, suddenly.

She didn’t have any cards like
that, herself. It would have been odd if she did, since she couldn’t even dream
of what to say on it.
Gwen Farris: Alien.
It was the only thing that
came to mind at the moment.

Then, Tomas didn’t even ask her to
provide one.

“Neat. I’ll be here? Or I could
meet you someplace?” She stared up into his eyes, which were a deep brown, now
that the light was better. Which was good, since the black had been a bit
creepy seeming. Then, everything would have been, inside a cave. Just having
that as a secret hideout was a bit sketchy, to her mind. Then, on that score,
she knew, for a
fact
, that she was going to be biased. Batman had one
and that seemed just as wrong to her mind as Omegon’s did.

She also probably seemed too eager,
she realized. Like she was insisting that the man be her boyfriend, for real.
It wasn’t just that. Oh,
part
of her didn’t want him to get away, but
not knowing how things were going to turn out, she wasn’t holding her breath on
the matter. Still, she had his card, which meant something in the Western
Kingdom. No one carried around fake cards to throw off their enemies or the
constabulary. Not that she’d ever heard. If so, then the man was a genius, if
nothing else.

The fellow smiled at her, then
stood rather straight.

“Truly? I’ll meet you here then? At
six? In the lobby of course. I’m… Not truly certain where I am. A fine lodging,
but not a personal home. Given the decor… The Leslie?”

She smiled and shook her head, not
recognizing the name.

“The Bartley?” The name was right,
and had been the first one listed in the
place book
. That was basically
what they called the yellow pages there.

The man nodded.

“Ah? Well, that’s convenient for
me. I live about five blocks from here. I should probably be going. As it is,
the proprietor will likely have me tossed, if he sees me. Or given the high
tide here, he’ll have one of his men do the deed. That wouldn’t look good in
the next issue, would it? Omegon’s secret identity being tossed out of Gwen
Farris’ hotel like that.” There was a bit of a bow, and then, almost as if he
expected to be rejected, another kiss.

They did better this time. There
was a bit of tongue used, but not too much. A slight tickling of the upper lip.
The move was slow and sensuous however.

When he broke off, there was a
smile on his face.

“Until then? I… I think I already
miss you. Is that silly?”

She nodded, but smiled back.

“A bit? You should at least wait
until you get outside. Don’t be too late?”

That got a nod, as he let himself
out, backing up slowly. Then, like he was robbing her room, he furtively
checked the hallway, instead of just walking out. That was because anyone that
saw him doing it would presume that they’d been doing
things
. Adult
stuff.

Which, as the door closed, she
realized that they really had been. Not there so much, but before that. It had
been…

Incredible.

Scary, now that she thought about
it, but different than she would have imagined. More intimate and trusting than
she would have figured on. Thinking about the whole thing she took several deep
breaths. Then, trying not to be a child about the whole matter, she worked out
what was going to be needed. The next day would require her to do some
research. First she had to check out Tomas Moore, which would mean interviewing
his Baron, boss and everyone in his life that she could find.

Just to make certain that he wasn’t
a criminal mastermind or mind controlled slave that was secretly killing
people. Just because there was no sign of that kind of thing… The idea got her
to blink and then shake her head.

“Think. What would you do if this
were a
normal
investigation?”

That part was different. Honestly,
she probably would have set up to watch the forest where the power had been
being raised, to make sure no one else was doing anything. Then, after a few
nights of that, if there were no murders, or massive curses flowing out of the
cave, she would have left. Probably after calling Ferdinand and suggesting that
sending her on fool’s errands wasn’t the best use of her time. Even if it was
probably about right, given everything.

No one could really trust her now,
after all.

Which, since she wasn’t exactly
tied in place, meant that going to central was about as good of an idea as not.
That way she could hook up Katherine, to get her pleasure habit on and possibly
talk to someone about her insane mishandling of the situation there. That would
and should, have her instantly pulled from the investigation, she didn’t doubt.

Except that, after she got to the
large complex, in the dark, things were different than she thought they would
be.

For one thing, Bethany was already
in bed and no one was going to wake her up, because
pregnant
. That meant
she got to see Derrick Westmorland for her pleasure device needs. The man was
fit, tough, and the head of the Special Service. Her boss, if not currently in
charge of her, since she was off duty.

Which meant he actually wanted a
report anyway, as soon as Katherine let her back out. She was in a small room,
on a padded sofa thing that was built to last, rather than for extreme comfort.
The arms were wood, highly polished and darker than the leather that covered
the rest.

The man smiled at her however, not
actually
hating her or anything. In the main she thought they were even friends. Given
she’d been part of betraying that entire land, it was good to see. She didn’t
even wake up with bruises from the beating that Katherine had earned from the
man. It
would
have been fair, but didn’t happen.

Instead he seemed fairly pleased to
be there with her. They were alone, which was improper, but the man had never
even so much as held her hand, even if he could have come up with a real reason
for doing that if he wanted. Even doing a lot more with her might have been
written off as mere training. It still probably could be, she realized. It was
a thing to keep in mind if Tomas dumped her the next day.

“Now, how is your latest
investigation going? King Ferdinand sent you… But it doesn’t sound…” He fought
for a moment to say what he was thinking. Moving past the brainwashing that had
been
tortured
into him. In this case it was about saying something
slightly negative about the King. “Like… It was truly needed? A minor power
raising. Have you found the source?”

She nodded, feeling like she were
about to be in trouble.

“Um… Yes? A man, Tomas Moore. He’s
a clerk for Baron Harrison? Legal. Also an artist. He does graphic novels?” She
didn’t know if that would make any sense to the man, but he nodded.

“Really? Interesting. Anything that
I’ve heard of?”

How she was supposed to know what
he’d been exposed to, she didn’t get. It didn’t seem very likely, however.

“Um… Omegon? I don’t know if…”

He nodded then, seeming impressed,
if only slightly.

“I’ve seen some of his work then.
It’s a newer fiction, but some of the children enjoy that sort of thing, so we
have them around here. Most of the popular ones, at any rate. So, why was he
raising power? Have you located that reason?”