Introductions

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Part 32

They’d only been driving together for five hours when Hypatia signaled and pulled off the highway. She drove a few more miles, finally stopping at a rather questionable motel.

“Why are we here?” Ricky demanded, getting out of the car he shared with Farrell. “It’s only three more hours to Boulder!”

The woman shrugged and unfolded, boots clacking slightly against pavement as she stood and stretched her spine, jaw cracking with an enormous yawn.

“Yes, but that would make it nearly three o’clock in the morning by the time we got there, Ricardo. Not really the prime hour for what you’ve got in mind, is it?” She arched a brow sleekly and went around to the boot of her car, pulling out a large-ish duffel bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Besides... one of these days someone WILL remember you two. Or me, now that we’re traveling together. I thought it might be best if we didn’t take rooms in the town we plan to victimize. Not right at first, in any case.” She yawned again.

Iggy laughed and grabbed his bag from the back seat then tossed Ricky’s to him. “You worry too much, sister dear,” he said with a grin. “The only way anyone could ever remember us would be if they had some sort of immunity and that only happens if someone is connected to one of us. We’re safe.”

He laughed again, the sound somehow suggestive this time. “But if you wanted to get started on that... joining we talked about, I don’t mind stopping here.”

Ricky rolled his eyes. “Do you EVER think with the BIG head, Farrell? Gods, even I can see she’s exhausted.”

The shorter, darker man tilted his head, finally noticing the dark circles and small, shallow lines around his sister’s eyes. “Yeah, okay,” he said, sounding grumpy, “We’ll save it for tomorrow. To celebrate.”

Ricardo just shook his head and started towards the small office at the corner of the motel. “I’ll get us a room, Farrell. And one for Hy. I’m used to his snoring,” he explained with a wink for the tall woman, “But he’d probably keep you up all night with it.”

One black brow rose slightly and Hypatia glanced at Iggy. “You share a room often?”

Farrell shrugged. “Yeah. All the time. Why?”

She shrugged back at him. “Just curious. You know, since you’ve complained about how gay he is... and seem to be so interested in... joining.”

The dark-haired young man blinked, trying not to think about the interested stirring in his groin. Then he chuckled and gave her that LOOK again. “Well, if there’s a woman involved, then... that wouldn’t make me gay, would it? I mean...”

Another, higher brow arch. “I’m fairly certain that shoving your cock into Ricky’s ass... or the reverse, for that matter... WOULD mean you were gay. Or at least bi-sexual, brother. And if the idea isn’t making you squirm in the BAD way, then maybe you should consider... broadening your horizons,” she teased with yet another yawn, this one threatening to knock her over. “You never know. You might like it.”

Ignatius slapped an offended and annoyed expression onto his face and shook his head quickly-- too quickly, although he didn’t realize that. “Exit only. Hell, I wouldn’t let YOU in there with as much as a finger! I’m no pillow-biter.”

Hypatia heard the words, but she also heard the slight uncertainty and smiled to herself. Iggy and Ricky had been right, she realized. She really WAS having fun with them.

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They were lounging about in her motel room, all of them having slept long and well although she was amused by the speculative glances she caught Iggy sending Ricky’s way when the taller man wasn’t looking.

Apparently her words the night before had made an impression, and enough of one that the horny bastard hadn’t tried to feel her up more than a few times, which honestly made her happier than she could recall being since New York.

“All right, gents,” she said after whatever piece of crap the blokes were watching went to commercial break, “I have a good idea of how this works but let’s clear it up just to be sure.”

Ricky shifted a little, not entirely sure of why his brother was looking at him the way he’d been doing since the previous night. Hell, Iggy was almost... checking him out? It was... weird. He grabbed the new subject with relief, giving Hypatia a smile.

“It’s really simple,” he said quickly, one leg bending to disguise his crotch which had been where Farrell’s eyes had been resting for a very long few minutes. “We find a club. A GOOD club. The shiny happy people don’t go to the dives.”

Ignatius sighed, not clear on why Ricky’s new position annoyed him. “Yeah. If we find a straight club first, I take point and Ricky’s just the look-out. If it’s a gay club, that’s reversed.”

“Of course it is,” Hypatia murmured, trying not to laugh at the disgruntled expression on Iggy’s face. “And?”

Ricky smiled, his storm-grey eyes sparkling. “And I find the one who shines.” He laughed softly when his sister looked confused. “It’s part of my gift. I can see what they dream, you know... manipulate it sometimes. And even when awake, humans carry a... shimmer. The brighter the shimmer, the more shiny-bright the soul.”

“Ah. I understand,” she said softly. And she did. Ricardo could sense the inherent goodness within a human by the colour of their dreams, and... if humans carried an echo of that when awake, he was probably the best judge of people that there had ever been.

Farrell nodded. “He points it out, then we do it. Simple, huh?”

Hypatia nodded slowly. “Yesss... and that’s how you decide which person to drug and rape, then?” She cocked her head, giving them a curious gaze.

“Look, it’s not RAPE,” Ricky insisted. “We just... take the shine off, okay? And they don’t ever remember it so who does it hurt? No-one! And... the drug doesn’t even have any side effects, so...”

“None?” she said softly, “None at all...?”

Ignatius smirked wickedly. “A headache. Not as bad as a hangover. And... depending on how we leave them, they might assume they got drunk and acted the whore. Memory loss from when they first drink it. That’s all, sister dear.”

She looked thoughtful for a few moments then let her wicked grin spread across her lips. “All right. That seems fair. You get your pleasure, they never know any better and... the worst they suffer is a guilty conscience... and less ‘shimmer’.”

Yet there was Robert, she knew, and... ‘Help him,’ she asked the Powers, hoping that they could hear her even if she couldn’t hear them. ‘Help him. Heal him. Make him SEE.’

“They don’t... suffer,” she added.

“Exactly!” Ricky nearly shouted, grinning broadly. “It doesn’t do them any harm. It just... lets us thumb our noses at the Powers, sis.”

“So is there a version of this drug that’ll make a man hard and ready?” she asked slyly, “because I don’t fancy being left out on the fun, boys. If I’m going to travel with you, I want ALL the benefits.”

Farrell and Ricky traded one long, gleeful stare.

“I’m sure we can come up with SOMETHING, sister dear,” Iggy said smugly. “Probably not for Boulder, but... definitely soon.”

“Add some distilled Viagra, maybe,” Ricky added. “That way when they wake up they’ll be even MORE confused.”

“And it’ll bypass the problems with the best choice being a straight guy in a straight club,” Farrell added. “Ricky would do them but somehow they never take him up on it when he offers them a drink.”

Hypatia laughed and shook her head, giving Ricky an amused glance. “Fancy that.”

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(A/N: Many thanks to Susan, Kat, RemityGirl (twice!), catsim (Cathy) and DaniKitten for the reviews! Always appreciated and adored! *grins* More soon, I think.)