Author's notes:

A warning: This chapter contains combat. If that is not for you, move on :)

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 25 -- Strangers in the Night

Thursday night/ Friday Morning, 22nd -- 23rd of June 2000, Outside Malaga, Spain

The sound of my door opening, interrupted my dream and woke me up. It was semi-dark in the room, but I had no trouble seeing Alice and Karen, tiptoeing inside with wide smiles on their faces.

Both were dressed in kimonos, but as soon as they had closed and locked the door, they dropped those on the floor, revealing that they wore nothing underneath.

They were statuesque with their perfect hourglass figures, firm round breasts that sat high and proud on the chest, a slim waist, beautifully rounded hips, and long shapely legs. The sight went right to my dick, causing an instant hard-on.

"Are you awake?" asked Alice in a whisper.

"No." I whispered back. "I'm in an erotic dream, where two of the hottest women in the world entered my room and took their clothes off, so don't you dare wake me!"

"Clown." Grinned Karen and threw herself on the bed. I dragged her into a hug. She was firm and soft, the faint odour of her perfume mixed with the smell of aroused woman. Alice and she had clearly been sharing pleasure before they came here.

That wasn't surprising. The Salamander Power was still doing its job and as their bodies were at almost peak efficiency, so was their sex drive.

"We were having fun with each other." Said Karen in a low voice, confirming my guess. "But we thought that it would be a shame not to take advantage of you being here all alone."

She moved against me, teasing me as her breasts squeezed back and forth against my chest. In response, I found her magnificent ass with one hand, palming a cheek and squeezing.

Her hand glided down my chest, until she found my stiff dick, and fondled it through my underwear. "Well, at least one part of you doesn't have any objections."

That made me laugh and kiss her. "Peach, if I ever complain about being awakened by two gorgeous and aroused women, just shoot me."

"Good to know," remarked Alice as she took hold of my underwear and pulled it down my legs.

My stiff dick sprang free, but only for a short moment, as Karen's hand closed around it, squeezing gently. A heartbeat later, it became even better as Alice's long hair tickled the groin area sensually before her lips closer around my dick, her tongue dancing against the head. A hand sought and found my balls, fondling them gently.

"This is only to make you nice and hard." Whispered Karen and wriggled her ass in my hand. "We had all the foreplay we can handle already... not to mention some very intense orgasms, but now we want to feel that magical cock inside us."

Alice nodded in agreement, but as she still had my dick in her mouth, the movement made her lips slide over the sensitive skin of the head, causing me to groan as pleasure shot through my body.

Karen chuckled as she let go of my dick and moved away, but Alice continued to play with her mouth on my cock, running her lips and tongue up and down the shaft.

It felt fantastic, but I knew it wouldn't last long. As turned on as they were, she was merely making my cock wet with her saliva, getting it ready for a ride.

My thoughts were disturbed by Karen, who placed a well-shaped leg on each side of my head. I looked up to see into her warm, brown slanted eyes as she supported herself against the bedroom wall before she lowered her pussy onto my mouth.

Even before it had reached me, the intoxicating scent of aroused woman filled my nostrils and I lifted my hands to grab her ass, fondling it until she had found a comfortable position.

Since she was facing the wall, I moved a little to get me into a better spot and flicked my tongue out, licking the moist lips of her pussy, savouring her taste as I ran my tongue up through her wet flesh until I reach her clitoris. When I reached it, I circled it a few times and gave it a soft kiss.

Karen moaned and jerked her hips, pushing her warm, wet pussy into my face. I worked back down the length of her pussy, enjoying the way her ass trembled in my hands and the soft moans coming from her as I swirled my tongue through her wet lips.

Then it was my turn to groan. While I had been licking Karen, Alice had stopped licking me, straddled my hips and was using her hand to rub my dick against her soaking pussy. It felt wonderful and a heartbeat later it became even better as she placed the head at the entrance and sank down on it. The slippery walls of her wet pussy caressing my cock as Alice took it all the way, until she sat on my hips with my cock completely inside her.

"Fuck, this is good." She moaned and started rocking her hips back and forth.

I couldn't really answer, as I had my mouth full of Karen's tasty pussy, so instead I went back to lick around her clitoris, while I moved my hand from her ass and gently pushed two fingers inside her tight pussy, feeling her muscles squeezing around me.

Karen started to move her hips back and forth, which not only made my fingers go in and out of her, but also dragged her clitoris over my dancing tongue.

"Yesssss!" She almost hissed, resting her head against the wall.

"Agreed." said Alice with a sigh of pure satisfaction and started to fuck me, rising up and down on my cock. It was only an inch or two at a time at first, but eventually she began to take more and more of my cock with each bounce, the hot tightness of her pussy massaging and caressing my dick with every move she made.

Still rocking, she leaned forward and while I couldn't see what she was doing, Karen sighed with pleasure, so I guessed that she was caressing her backside. That also put her within reach, so I reached out with the hand I wasn't using on Karen and found Alice's tits, cupping and squeezing them as she continued to ride me.

I went faster with my fingers, curling them slightly to applying pressure on Karen's internal pleasure point, without stopping with my tongue on her lips and clitoris.

"Fuck!" she gasped, as she started to shake, a long, slow shudder that affected her entire body. She was getting close, and I wanted to push her over the edge.

Suddenly I felt something against my hand as Alice ran a finger over Karen's wet pussy, but it didn't last for more than a few heartbeats before she removed it again.

A moment later, Karen let out a soft cry and through the inner walls of her pussy, I could feel one of Alice's fingers slowly and carefully entering Karen's ass, moving back and forth with the rhythm of the Asians hips.

"Oh yes!" Karen gasped into the wall, her hips moving faster.

Both Alice and I let Karen decide the tempo and it didn't take long before Karen's body tensed up. The she came with a soft cry, soaking my lower face and hand in a flood of her juices, her body racked by shudders and pleasurable moans.

I let go of her clitoris, but kept using my fingers and licking her lips, prolonging her orgasm as long as I could, and it did seem to go on for ages. Alice removed the finger and returned to caressing Karen's backside again.

At no point in all this had Alice stopped moving her hips and when Karen came, I could feel her pussy starting to contract around my dick, sending pulses of pleasure through my body.

However, as soon as Karen's orgasm started to fade, Alice picked up the speed, moving her hips up, down, and around in circles. Her breathing became ragged between her moaning and since I could use both hands now that Karen had come, I reached up and cupped her swaying, bouncing breasts, squeezing them gently and rubbing her hard nipples with my thumbs.

Alice groaned in delight and started to ride me harder and faster. She was getting close, and I could feel her juices squirting on my skin each time she slammed against me, her pussy squeezing my dick every time she lifted herself off again.

Then she placed her hands on my chest and leaned forward, moving her hips back and forth until she groaned. "I'm coming!" and slammed her hips down on me, impaling her on my dick and came with a small scream of pleasure, while her pussy clenched and released in waves as if it were milking it. Her tense body relaxed, but then shuddered as the aftershocks of her orgasm coursed through her.

"We're done yet!" said Karen with a laugh, as she finally moved away from my face, careful not to hit Alice as she swung her leg over my body to stand on the floor.

"You're right about that." I said as I let go of Alice's tits and ran my hands down her side until they rested on her hips. Then I bent my knees to get some leverage and with a firm grip on her hips, I began thrusting up into her.

Alice groaned and leaned against me, pressing her breasts into my chest. Moving a hand to her back, I pulled her closer and held her there as I continued to fuck her hard and fast, enjoying the sound of her moaning and the way her body shook against me.

"Fuck, it's good." She moaned into my ear and kissed the side of my neck. "I'm coming again!"

Burying her face in my neck, she squealed as the orgasm tore through her, her pussy convulsing and squeezing my cock as she sat down hard, driving it even further into her.

We lay there for a moment, panting for breath, until Karen poked Alice. "That was exciting to watch, Honey, but now it's my turn."

The Blonde nodded and made herself fall onto the bed next to me.

I looked up at Karen, noting her wide smile and the lust that filled her slanted eyes, and without even linking, I knew exactly what she wanted.

Getting out of the bed, I took hold of her hand, pulled, and moved aside, so she landed on her back on the bed, instead of colliding with me. The move made her giggle, but that stopped when I caught her ankles and hauled her closer, so she lay with her ass on the edge of the bed.

With a smile, she spread her legs invitingly and I went on my knees between them. The height was exactly right and without pause, I placed the head at her entrance and pushed forward into her wet and warm pussy.

Her eyes went wide, and smile turned into a groan, as her mouth opened into an 'Oh' shape. Then I reached bottom and pulled almost all the way out, before going into her again. That made her grab the sheets and moan. Her long legs circling my hips, drawing me closer. It limited how much I could pull out, but I could work with that, and increased the speed instead.

"So good!" She moaned and lifted her hips to meet my strokes.

Our eyes locked for a few heartbeats. Then I took a good hold of her flaring hips, gave her a wink and whispered, "I hope you're ready for the 'magical dick'?"

Then I concentrated for a heartbeat and removed the widening of the energy lanes, causing the Vis Energy in my body to move a lot faster.

Karen jumped a little, but then groaned louder than before. Her breath became rapid and shallow as an enraptured look started to spread on her face.

"Holy shit!" She grunted and her hands left the sheets as she reached up and pulled my face to hers, kissing me fiercely, her tongue shooting into my mouth as I continued to thrust into her. Then she let me go again, leaning her head back against the sheet, gasping for air.

Her pussy tightened around me with every stroke and her hips thrust against me with more force, making her tits bounce and jiggle in an extremely sexy way.

Not one to be left put, Alice moved on the bed, getting into a position where she could kiss Karen and they started making out, Alice's free hand wandering over the Asian' body. Finding the bouncing tits, she fondled them for a few moments, before she caught the delicious looking nipples between her fingers and pinched it, at exactly the same time as I rammed my dick into Karen.

Karen exploded in an orgasm that shook her body. Her pussy clamped down on my dick with surprising force and her legs tightened around my hips as she screamed her orgasm into Alice's mouth.

It took a while before the orgasm faded, but finally she relaxed and let go of me.

"Fuck, that was awesome!" She gasped as Alice and her stopped their kiss.

"Good." I said with a nod. "Now get into a sixty-nine with Alice. I want to take you from behind."

"Brilliant idea." Grinned Alice and lay down flat on the bed. "My pussy could use some tongue."

"No worries." I said as Karen shakingly moved so she was on top of Alice. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Sounds good." Alice said from beneath Karen and began to lick the offered pussy, making Karen moan again, as she returned the favour. Since it sounded like Karen was already close to coming again, I concentrate for a heartbeat and widened the energy lanes again.

I stood, placed my dick at the entrance and slid it right into her, while Alice's tongue was busy licking Karen's clitoris.

Karen squealed into Alice's pussy, then moaned, "Careful. That is deep!"

"Less talking, more licking." Alice said and groaned when Karen did exactly that.

Taking hold of that wonderful ass, I began fucking her with long hard strokes that caused her to bury her face in Alice's pussy and yelp with each thrust. It didn't take long before she started working her hips back into me, sending my cock deeper and harder into her quivering pussy.

It was fantastic and I spread her cheeks wider, enjoying the sight of my glistening cock sliding in and out to the sound of moans and whimpers from both women. A tingling was starting in my balls, and I knew that I wouldn't last much longer.

Determined to at least get Karen another orgasm before I came, I picked up the pace, slamming into her hard and fast. Karen yelped and then came in another shuddering orgasm, yelling into Alice's pussy as her inner walls pulsed around my cock.

I continued to move back and forth while Karen came down from her orgasmic high, but as soon as she did, she crawled forward, making my dick leave her.

"Enough!" She gasped. "I'm too sensitive right now."

"Well, I'm not!" declared Alice and turned around in the bed, so that she was on all fours, with her beautiful ass right in front of me. "Just f... " Whatever she had planned to say got lost, when I drove my dick into her pussy. Wet as it was from orgasms and Karen's licking, it slid right home.

"Oooh, fuuuck yess!" Alice moaned, causing me to start a slow thrust in and out of her, enjoying the feel of her snug pussy around my dick. It was way too good, and I could feel my orgasm approaching steadily.

"I won't last long." I warned her.

"Neither will I." She groaned and pushed against me. "Just fuck me."

I did and whatever Karen had been doing must have worked, because it didn't take more than a few strokes, before I could feel the first signs of an incoming orgasm.

She started to shake a little, waves of pleasure rolling through her body in a leisure pace, that slowly became faster as we fucked.

The was a rustle from the bed and a moment later Karen was hugging me from behind while her hands wandered over my chest. The feel of her breasts against my skin sending shivers through my body.

I shortened the length of my strokes, thrusting into Alice with short and powerful strokes that made her shudder a few times, before she came in a powerful orgasm, burying her head in the sheets to muffle the sound of her screams of pleasure.

I groaned as her hot pussy contracted around my cock as I slammed into her a few times, gasping with every thrust, before I could feel my balls boil over. With a moan, I emptied myself into her milking pussy.

Alice pressed back against me, shivering as she made small circles with her ass, but when she was sure I was done, she let herself fall on the bed, breathing heavily.

"Damn. That was sexy." Whispered Karen from behind me and gave me a kiss before she walked over to the bed and lay down next to Alice.

Out of breath, I just nodded and did the same.

---------------------------

I awoke with a start, as the words "< Ivan, Ivan, Ivan! >" rang in my head. There was even an echo of sorts since both Cyra and Zena were sending at the same time and along with my name, came a feeling of fear.

It was still too dark to see anything, but I could feel a soft warm body next to me in the bed.

Reaching out with my mind, I contacted the Twins "< Easy now. What is the problem? >"

"< We hear bad things in our heads! >" said Cyra and from the motions that leaked into me with the message, I could tell that she was horrified.

"< Be silent for a moment. >" I said and listened with my mind. At first there was nothing, but then a faint male mental whisper emerged from the silence.

"< Come to me, beautiful girls... Talented girls... Come to me... I need you... come to me... Together we can be happy... come to me, beautiful girls. >"

The creepy part was, that from the feel of the sending, it wasn't done on purpose. It was more like someone untrained were leaking it, without even knowing that he did so.

It went on, but I stopped listening as it gave me chills. It wasn't so much the words themselves, but with the words, there was a slimy, gross feeling. As if by listening to them, your mind was emerged in filth.

There was a tone of sexual hunger for the Twins in the voice, which disgusted me enormously. I had no doubt, what the unknown person meant, when he talked about 'being happy' and it went against everything I've learned. In Baylon, molesting a child had not only been a capital crime, punishable by death, it had also been one of the few capital sins of our religion.

That meant that while the criminal was slowly and painfully killed, the priestesses would make sure that their name would be erased from the world. If they had written any books, the authors name would be changed. If they appeared in books, their name in the book would be changed. Names on artwork would be changed and any image of them would be destroyed. It was to be as if they never existed.

"< You're not imagining things >" I told the Twins mentally. "< I'll be there in a moment >"

The whisper continued its slimy message, so I slipped into Vis meditation to activate Oculus Cati, enabling me to see something without switching on the light. As usual when there's no light source at all, Oculus Cati didn't work that well, but at least the room went from total darkness to dark twilight.

The soft female form by my side turned out to be Karen, who was sound sleep, and I remembered that Alice had gone back to her own room as usual. For a heartbeat, I wondered why the Twins haven't contacted their mother, but realized, that I was the only one they knew that could hear what they were hearing.

Silently I stood up, walked over to my iron silk clothes and dressed as fast as possible, wondering if I should bring my sword. At the end, I decided not to, since it would most likely scare the Twins even more. Instead, I took one of my knives and placed it between the pants and the small of my back, where it couldn't be seen unless I was forced to draw it.

I was about to leave the room when Karen stirred and sleepily asked. "What up?"

"< There's a man on the balcony! >" screamed Zena in my head, followed by Cyra's somewhat calmer. "< He's opening the door >"

"I heard something." I said hurriedly to her and left the room.

Since the guy clearly wanted to own the girls and not kill them, the biggest danger to the Twins right now was getting hurt by accident.

"< Act like you sleep! >" I sent, moving up the stairs as fast as I could without making sounds. Running would have given me away and as I didn't have a modern weapon, I would most likely need the surprise, since I couldn't rely on Ars Mentalis alone. The man clearly had some mental powers, which meant there was a chance that he might resist anything I threw at him and with each delay, the Twins could get hurt.

I concentrated briefly, and mental power surged through my body, making me stronger.

There were some muffled sounds from the twin's room, indicating that at least one of them had panicked instead of acting. Not that I blamed them: They were only kids.

I tried to open the door as silently as possible, but it didn't cooperate as it gave a squeaking sound, before it was even halfway open.

Inside the room, a tall blonde man was holding Zena down, pressing a rag to her mouth and nose, while Zena was clawing at the gloved hand. As the door squeaked, he looked up with surprise painted on his face.

Adrenaline rushed through my body and I moved the short distance between the door and the bed before he had time to react.

I hit him with a double strike to his upper arms and with a howl, he let go of Zena and took a step back from the bed with both arms temporary paralyzed.

Freed, Zena scrambled away, clutching something in her hands.

Moving in between Zena and the man, I hit him in the chest with the base of both my hands at the same time. Rips broke as the force of the strike sent him flying backwards over Cyra on the other bed and through the open door to the balcony, where the railing stopped him with a crash. A moment later, there was another crash as if something metallic had tumbled and hit the stone tiles.

A gasp from the other direction caused me to whirl. Karen was standing in the door, looking at me open mouthed.

"Watch the girls." I commanded and hurried around Zena's bed and onto the balcony.

The short disturbance had given the man time to get to his feet and as I came out, he swung himself over the railing and jumped to the ground below. The landing must have hurt, because the sound of a body hitting stone was followed by a cry of pain. Unfortunately, it wasn't a disabling injury and as I came out on the balcony, the man disappeared in the bushes.

I stopped and considered my options. No matter what, I was certain that the women would call the police and if I jumped after him and kicked his butt, the women would have a problem with explaining it to them. Especially since I felt like killing him.

Behind me, both Cyra and Zena were crying, so I sent a feeling of being safe to them along with a pride over how well they had handled the situation, causing the crying to stop.

"< You were very brave, girls! I'm proud of you both >"

"< Really? >" sent Zena, surprise in her mental voice. "< But I panicked! >"

"< You did good >" I reassured her and cut of the connection, so I could listen.

The sound of running feet reached my ears and I realized there was more than one person, most likely two, which made sense in a sick way, because there were two girls.

Then the mental whisper came back.

"< No! My beautiful girls... Get them later... Must have them... Together we can be happy... Talented girls >"

The 'Get them later' echoed in my mind and I jumped over the edge of the balcony, landing silently on the stone below. There would be no 'Get them later' if I had anything to say about it.

The sound of running feet was fainter, but still coming from the right side of the house, so I sneaked that way, avoiding the metal ladder, that were laying on the tiles, while staying in the shadows. If there were two, there might be more, and I didn't feel like walking into an ambush.

Reaching out with my mind, I searched for any mental presence in the area outside the house, but aside from two in front of me, there was no one around.

Somewhat reassured, I started to move faster, gaining on them. Then I heard something that made me curse: The sound of car doors closing followed by the roar of a staring engine.

I started to run and reached the road just in time to see a large car racing away.

Feeling like slapping myself for being stupid, I sighed. In my anger, I had forgotten that in this new age, almost everybody was driving and unlike footprints in the soil, I couldn't track a car on the road.

I turned and walked back towards the house, where I was met by Karen. With her short black hair in a mob and dressed in only panties and a t-shirt, she looked adorable.

Wordlessly she gave me a hug as soon as she saw me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, they ran, got into a car and took off, before I could even see the car."

"They?"

"It sounded like two persons were running away, but I never saw the other guy."

Karen shook her head, but then she gave me another hug and whispered. "You're insane to follow them in the dark like that but thank you anyway."

I nodded slightly, as I returned the hug. "How're the Twins?"

"Unharmed." Karen said as she let go of me. "Alice and Rita are with them now, waiting for the police to come." She suddenly looked worried. "Oh God. You don't have a passport and no way to explain how you got here. Are you going to get into trouble?"

"No... coz I don't plan to be here when the police show up." I said with a sigh. "Listen Peach, I can't explain why, but I have a feeling that any police officer that sees me living with three gorgeous women, that I'm not related to, will take offence and that I don't have a passport won't make things better."

"Right." She said with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Go pack your stuff... I'll talk with the others."

Wondering what she was up to, I went down to 'my' room and quickly packed my stuff, cleaning the place with a few Ars Mentalis tricks. Not only was it faster than doing it by hand, but it would also remove any scent in case the police still used dogs like they did two thousand years ago. I even remembered the toothbrush in the bathroom.

Alice and Karen met me in the living room, where Alice gave me a bone-crushing hug.

"Easy." I finally managed to get out. "I can't breathe."

She eased up the hug, kissing me instead. "Thanks for saving my girls."

"Anytime." I said with a smile, causing her to tighten the hug again.

"Give the guy a break." Said Karen with a smile and looked at me. "Okay, here's the plan: You were never here. Instead of you, it was me who heard the noises and rescued the Twins."

"Will they accept that story?"

"Well, I suggested that it should be Alice." Said Karen with a shrug, but before she had a chance to continue, Alice interrupted her. "Karen is the one with the fighting skills and the credentials to prove it, so it kinda had to be her."

Karen looked almost apologetic, as she walked over and gave me a hug, thankfully a softer one than Alice's bear hug. "Now, you need to go... the police can be here any moment."

"One moment... If you're going to explain it to the police, you need to know exactly what I did." I said and explained it in detail, adding an equally detailed description of the man. While I explained, I sent her subtle images of the scene and the man, somewhat similar to those the mind creates by itself whenever a person hears a description, but these ensured that she got the image in her head exactly right.

That done, I gave her a kiss and reached out to drag Alice into a group hug.

"It'll be fine. I'll go say goodbye to Rita and the Twins and then I'll be on my way."

There was a strange howling sound in the distance and Alice let go of me. "You don't have time for that ... It's the police."

"Say hello to the Twins and kiss Rita from me." I smiled, as I waved and walked out of the door.

Outside, I slipped into Vis meditation to activate Stealth of the Fox, which enabled me to move without leaving any trace and walked away from the house, until I was hidden by the darkness.

Turning around, I looked at the house as a car with a flashing blue light on top of it, stopped and two uniformed men got out.

Ignoring them I looked at the house again and realized what had been bugging me: How did the kidnappers know which room the Twins were sleeping in?

The most obvious answer was that they had seen it, meaning that at some point the kidnappers had been near the house, in a place from where they could see the balcony.

I circled around, keeping a good distance to the house until I reached an area from where the balcony was visible. Then I looked around for a good spot to hide and found a place near a tree where someone had been standing for a while, studying the house.

Kneeling, I examined the tracks. It looked like they were made by one man and not two, but they weren't as fresh as I had initially though, being at least five days old, which meant that the person was here the same day as the women found me.

That explained the look of complete surprise on the man's face: He must have thought the women were alone in the house. A though hit me, making me smile in the darkness. If the kidnapper had encountered Karen instead of me, the result would have been just about the same.

There were tracks leading away from the spot and with a slight smile of satisfaction, I followed the tracks until I reached the road again, where the tracks disappeared.

I sighed as yet another car with flashing blue light approached. While I could use Arte ex Visiones to look back in time to see what car it was, looking back in time generally took a lot of time and required that I was here and motionless while doing it. None of which was possible with the police using the road.

Disappointed, I turned around and walked away from the road, towards Malaga.

I was halfway there, when the mental whispers came back almost as a sick cry.

"< Need beautiful girls >"

For a few heartbeats, I stood completely still and looked around. Nobody was there, but the mental whisper continued. "< Must have them... Together we can be happy... Talented girls >"

There was a limit on how far such mental whispers could reach and that meant that the creepy guy had to be somewhere near.

Searching for a high point, I found a hill and climbed to the top, so I could look around at the surrounding area.

I didn't have to look far, because right on the other side on the hill, there was a small farm and there were no other buildings within sight, narrowing the most likely places where the mental whisper could come from down to one.

I slipped on my iron silk jacket and hid the backpack under a bush, before I used Vis meditation to activate Oculus Cati again and sneaked closer to the house. If it was the place where the creepy guy lived, I could walk back to get my sword before doing anything, but if it wasn't and I came walking in with a sword drawn, there was no way to explain to the people in the house, that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere and gotten lost.

Reaching the wall, I followed it, heading for a lighted window, when a door suddenly opened in front of me and a man stepped out, limping as he walked. It was the guy I had encountered in the twin's bedroom and unfortunately, he saw me as well.

"You!" he exclaimed in English and reached into his jacket.

Guessing that he was drawing a weapon, I hit him with a straightforward snap kick to the stomach and chest area, causing him to tumble away from the door with a scream, but instead of falling, he hit the wall and leaned against it as he drew a metal object and pointed it in my direction.

Assuming that it was some kind of modern weapon, I was dodging and turning at the same time, when thunder and lightning hit me. At least that was how it felt, as a flash blinded me and there was a loud boom. Something hit me in the right shoulder with enough force to break bone and make me turn even faster.

With the knowledge from the Trojan women, I knew it had to be a gun, but I haven't imagined that they would hit quite that hard. It was much worse than even a recurve bow. Two more booms sounded, but as I was moving, I was only hit once more, this time in my right leg, making it collapse under me and sending me to the ground.

Fortunately, it was only a flesh wound, but it hurt like a bitch and at the same time, I heard the mental whisper again. "< Got him, kill, kill! >"

Then I felt something that I hadn't felt since Baylon times: A spike of mental energy, aimed directly at my nerve system, and though it bounced of my mental shields like a fly against Alice's car, I was sure that a normal human would have been severely stunned, if not paralyzed, by the force.

Needing time to get rid of the blindness, I returned the favour by sending out a wave of mental power. It's an Ars Mentalis trick, designed to be used in situations where you're alone and surrounded, because it is powerful enough to stun most people near you, including any friends. It also works very well in a situation like this, where I couldn't see clearly.

Using my left arm to push off from the ground, I got to my feet and while my wounded leg hurt and was unstable, I could use it.

My vision was still blurry, but by now, I could see the outline of the gunman since he was right in front of me, staggering slightly from the mental wave.

I released the adrenaline in my body and moved.

A few halting steps forward brought me so close to him, that he couldn't easily use his gun on me. A punch in the throat crushed it like a ripe melon and since I was using my left arm and he was holding the gun in the right hand, I finished the move by locking his right forearm in my armpit.

A moment later, I was extremely happy about the arm-lock, because he fired the gun a few times more and had his arm not been locked in my armpit, he would have hit me.

Before the guy could come up with more surprises, I straightened his arm with a slight turn to the right. Using my non-wounded arm, I slammed the base of my palm into his elbow, breaking it and causing him to drop the gun. It looked like he was trying to scream, but nothing came out of the crushed throat and I suddenly realized that I needed some information.

Knowing I had little time, I reached out with my mind, using brute force to penetrate his mind-shield and picked out his name (David Curtis) as well as a mind-image and a name of his partner (Leonard Parker) along with the location of the partner's house.

The guy was dying fast and reading a dying mind was an extremely unpleasant experience, so I retreated from his mind and pushed him away from me. He fell to the ground trashing.

The pain in my shoulder and leg suddenly felt worse as the adrenalin level lowered and I looked down at the leg. Apparently, iron silk didn't work as well with bullets as it did with 'old school' weapon. Perhaps because the bullet moved so quickly that the fabric didn't have time to stiffen.

On the other hand, iron silk is one of the most impregnable fabrics ever made and the effects of those two facts were rather strange. Instead of penetrating the fabric, the bullet had dragged the iron silk into the wound as it pierced my flesh, mimicking the effect that ordinary silk could have on arrows or crossbow bolts.

The only explanation I could come up with about why the blow on the shoulder was different was that it had come at a glancing angle, giving the iron silk time to stiffen there.

It still hurt like someone had pierced my leg with a red-hot spear and as I looked at the wound, the leg suddenly collapsed under me, causing me to fall the ground. Agony soared through my body from both leg and shoulder, and for a moment the world seemed to spin before it settled down.

My training kicked in, suppressing the pain, and allowed me to stop the scream that was threatening to leave my throat.

Some deep breaths later, I had the pain under control.

Taking hold of the cloth with my left hands, I gently teased it out of my leg along with the bullet. It hurt like having your leg penetrated by an arrow, but I finally got the bullet out and used an Ars Mentalis trick to close the wound.

Fixing the shoulder was relatively simple, as that only required that I sat the bone correctly with my left hand and fused it together with Ars Mentalis, giving it time to work.

My eyes drifted to the dead guy. Like the Twins, he had clearly possessed some mental powers and that worried me. I had wandered the world for a thousand years and the few humans that could use anything that even resembled Ars Mentalis, had all had some Baylon blood in them, but now I had met three pure humans with that ability within a week.

However, the knowledge I had gotten from the women clearly stated that such powers only existed in fiction and not in real life, which told me two important things: It was extremely rare for people to have such powers and the very existence of those powers was kept secret.

The fact that both the gunman and the Twins had those powers, meant that there had to be more people out there with similar powers, since it was improbable that I had stumbled over the only three people in the world with mental powers, in the short time I had been awake.

The gunman looked to be in his early thirties and while he could have developed those powers early in his life, like the Twins, the latest any mental power would start to show was when the brain matured, which was around twenty-five. To make a guess, the gunman had possessed those powers somewhere between seven and twenty-two years.

My mind raced as I thought it through and then I grimaced, as I came to a conclusion that I really didn't like: There had to be some people out there that were actively working on keeping the existence of these powers a secret, otherwise it would be widely known by now.

It could be the various governments working together or it could be a completely independent organization, but the result for me was the same: Unless I kept a low profile, they would start searching for me at some point. The same could be said about the Twins, so I needed to warn them as well once the police had gone.

Looking at the house, I sighed and stood up. Detecting with the mind was extremely practical, but severely limited as it only detected known mental patterns or active thought. Besides the fact that some people, me included, were simply impossible to detect no matter what trick was used, unknown sleeping or unconscious people couldn't be detected either.

That meant that I had to go in there and search the place to be sure that the creep didn't have any kids stanched away somewhere.

After testing my shoulder to make sure it was in working order, I used another Ars Mentalis trick to clear away the blood from both my trousers and the ground.

Then I slipped into Vis meditation again to activate Stealth of the Fox, which enabled me to move without leaving any trace, picked up the gun from the ground and placed it on the dead guy, before I carried him into the house. That way he was out of sight just in case he had some late-night visitor, like his partner in crime.

Then I locked the front door and went exploring.

The ground floor of the house was empty of people, but as I searched the basement, I noticed it was smaller than I had expected from the dimensions of the rest of the house, making it possible that there were hidden rooms. However, even hidden rooms need a door and there's only so many ways to hide a door. Especially in a relatively bare room like the one, I was in now.

A quick look behind the closets showed that only one was built into the wall, making it a possible door. I opened the closet and looked inside. As every room needs a door, every door needs a way to open it and I spent some time pulling, turning, and twisting the things in the closet, until there was a click when I turned a heavy looking stone mortar that looked like it had been casually stashed away on a shelf.

Smiling to myself, I gently pushed, and the backside of the closet swung away, revealing a room behind it. It looked like a storage room, with several more closets. At the far end of the room, there was another door.

Since I was looking for people, I ignored the closets, walked silently to other door and put my ear to it, but not a sound came from the other side, so I opened the door as carefully and as silent as possible and looked into yet another room.

This one was larger and reminded me of a prison, since there was a corridor with doors on either side. The doors were made of wood and had small openings in them so one could look into the cell, as well as a flap on the bottom, allowing food to be pushed through.

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I walked to the first door and looked through the opening.

On the other side was what looked to be a sick cross between a cell and a children's room, but to my relief there was nobody in there.

Snorting in disgust, I checked all the cells, but as they were empty, I walked back to the first room again and checked the closets to make sure that I haven't missed another secret door. That turned out to be a good idea, because while the first closet contained various equipment designed to restrain people, it swung open when I pressed on a carving, revealing a hidden closet behind it.

The closet had shelves from ceiling to the floor and the shelves were filled with open plastic boxes except the bottom one, which held two bags.

Curious I looked through the boxes. As far as I could determine all the boxes were filled with valuables of different kinds. One small box was filled with jewelry of every kind, from rings to necklaces. Another box held cameras, while a third was filled with watches and so forth.

The biggest of the boxes was filled with weapons. Most of them were handguns, but there were several large knifes in there as well. All of them were finely engraved and while I didn't know anything about guns, the knives were the finest pieces of blade forging that I had ever seen, short of Baylon-crafted adamant blades.

My eyes fell on the bags in the bottom of the closet and kneeling down I opened one of them.

It was filled with clothes, two pair of shoes, a small bag with some plastic bottles, a wig, a fake beard, a handgun, and a leather folder with some papers. It had to be some kind of emergency bag that Curtis had planned to take in case he needed a quick getaway.

The other bag was about half filled with the paper money they used now. The notes looked used, but they were organized in orderly stacks. A closer look revealed that it wasn't even the local currency, but more of the dollars, that the coin-dealer had given me. Apparently, it was a popular currency and if Curtis had it in his get-away bag, it had to be widely accepted as payment.

Looking at the boxes and bags, I decided that it had to be stolen goods, which left me with a choice: Should I take some of it to finance the future along with the items from my value pack or should I leave it and rely on what I already had?

I pondered that for a few heartbeats and decided that I would need the money and some of the other items. Jewelry and precious stones have always been an easy way to carry wealth, since jewels had high value to little weight, so I started with the box of jewelry and took a handful of trinkets with the biggest gems and dropped them into the moneybag. It was obviously stolen and might be recognized, so I couldn't sell it before I had learned more about the world, but it could be a good boost of wealth.

There was no point in taking weapons, cameras or electronics I didn't know how to use, but a good knife is both a valuable tool and a weapon, so I dropped a few knives into the moneybag along with the leather folder from the bag with the clothes. Since modern people were obsessed with time, I decided a watch would be a good idea.

The plastic box with watches contained lots of different ones, but some of them were still in their boxes, exactly as those they sold in the shops in the Malaga. Not wanting to use more time to choose one, I simply took five and placed them in the moneybag as well. Then I closed it, placed it on the floor outside the hidden room and started to clean up.

I carried the dead man down to the cells and dropped him there, which somehow seemed fitting.

As I planned to lock the door after me when I left, I quickly searched the body and found a key chain in a pocket.

Then I used several Ars Mentalis tricks to clean everything in the cellar, as I walked out and closed the secret door. Even with the description of the man that the police could get from Karen, it should take a little while before they found him, as secret doors weren't that normal anymore. At least not according to the knowledge, I had gotten from the women.

A thought hit me, as I walked up the stairs: As they used a local currency in Malaga, it wasn't normal to pay for things with dollars, so either I had overlooked another secret room, or they used one of the plastic cards Alice had used to pay for sodas.

With a sigh, I placed the bag on the floor at the end of the stairs and went through the house once again, this time looking for hiding places for valuables.

I found two. One was a highly ornamented metal cabinet hidden in one of the bedroom closets and the other was a similar metal cabinet, hidden behind a painting in another room. Both looked extremely heavy and as with so many other things in the house, they looked old. Much older than the safe I had seen in the coin dealers' shop, but then again people seemed to be willing to pay a lot of money for old items in this age.

Both had locks, but by simply trying the keys from keys chains one by one, I found the keys that fitted in the locks. The first safe only held a small album, filled with pictures of little blonde girls with blue eyes and underneath each of the pictures was a label with a name and a date on it. There were at least a dozen different names and I felt like vomiting, when I realized that the girls had to be Curtis' victims.

"May the goddesses burn you forever!" I cursed and threw the album into the safe again, before I used an Ars Mentalis trick to clean everything in the room, including myself. I felt dirty just from having touched the album.

Promising myself I wouldn't open anything that looked remotely like a picture album, I walked to the other room and opened the safe there. Much to my relief, there were no albums in there, as it was filled with stacks of money, some jewelry, two more cases with watches and a leather folder that held some papers, including two sets of ID papers.

In the first one, Curtis had brown hair, was wearing glasses and the name on the papers was Diego Chaves. In the other set of papers, Curtis had blonde hair, no glasses and the name was Ivan Kolba.

The passports were in different colours, so I took a closer look and discovered that they were from different countries: Diego Chaves was from Argentina and Ivan Kolba was from Croatia. On both ID's Curtis was listed to be thirty-two, which surprised me, since I thought he had been older.

Along with the passports was a set of other papers including a driver's license, and while I wasn't sure, I guessed that I was looking at two complete set of ID papers Curtis had stored away for emergencies.

Turning around, I spotted a laptop computer on the table in the room and decided to take that as well. I didn't know how to use it, but after seeing Alice, Rita and Karen use theirs, I was aware that people put a lot of information in these things and it might come in handy, if I ever found out how to use one. I fetched the bag from the top of the stairs and placed the content of the safe in it along with the laptop. Then I cleaned the room and walked outside.

After cleaning the courtyard from any trace of the fight, I walked back to the bush, took my backpack, and walked on towards Malaga.

It might not have been the prettiest of solutions, but at least one of the child molesters was dead and as I had the name and address of his partner, I could make sure that he wouldn't come for the Twins, or any other kids for that matter. At least I would as soon as I figured out how the address system worked.

By sunrise, I was in the outskirts of Malaga, when I heard a surprisingly strong and focused mind voice "< Ivan? >"

Recognizing Cyra's mental voice, I smiled to myself as I answered. "< Yes, Cyra? >"

"< Mom said, that you had to leave ... Is that true? >"

"< Yes, but don't worry... I'll find you again >"

I spotted a good-sized stone by the side of the road and sat down.

"< Good >" There was a slight pause before she asked. "< Do you think that the bad man will come back? >"

"< No, I don't think he will. >" I said with certainty.

"< How do you know? >"

"< Just trust me on this >" Along with the thought, I sent the feeling that the 'bad man' was gone forever.

There was a slight hesitation, but eventually she said, "< Okay... thanks >"

I smiled at the mental sigh of relief that followed. "< You're welcome >"

There was a short pause and then I could feel Zena joining the conversation. "< Hey Ivan. Are you okay? >"

I chuckled out loud and sent some amusement through the link. "< Yes, I'm fine. How are you two doing? >"

"< Oh no worries >" answered Zena. "< But I saw you drop you knife during the fight, so I picked up and hid it in our suitcase. How can we get it back to you? >"

Instinctively I patted myself on the small of my back, where the knife should have been, but as Zena had said, it was gone. Amazed that I hadn't discovered it before, I sent. "< I don't know yet, but I'll think of something. Can you take care of it until then? >"

"< No problem > " they answered in chorus and then Cyra added. "< We need to go, Ivan. Can we talk later? >"

"< Sure. Just make certain that you stay focused >"

"< Umm okay... gotta go... Mom Alert >"

I stood up and took my backpack, but discovered that the sword handle was sticking out, so I covered it with some clothes. Then I slung the backpack over my good shoulder and continued my walk, carrying the bag from the house in my hand.

My plan had been to find a place to stay as soon as possible, but as I came nearer the beach, I could feel how tired I was. Besides the lack of sleep, I had used a lot of Vis this night and haven't had a chance to recharge.

It was starting to take its toll and at the very least, I needed some sleep urgently.

Fortunately, some of the beach-bars and restaurants not only served breakfast, but they also rented out sun loungers, so after a small meal, I rented a lounger that was in the shadow, lay down with the backpack under my head and the other back beside me and promptly fell asleep.