All the King's Horses Pt. 10

"Y..." He paused. "You...knew about Lisa?"

"Cha," Tiff said, grinning. "Am I better?" She growled it now.

"Yes..." Sebastian said, sounding faintly bemused. As if he had been planning to not think about the time he had been seduced by a demigoddess who had planned to brainwash him into serving her vicious whims. His hands slid down from her rump to her hips to her breasts. He squeezed her, leaning in close. His voice was soft. "Your pussy feels so much...better. And tighter. And...I love it, Tiff." He kissed her forehead, gently and Tiff giggled, whispering quietly.

"Some dirty talk, sir..." She murmured, then gasped as he started to rock his hips, fucking her again -- slowly now, but with every bit of his vampiric strength. His balls slapped against her ass again and again and again and Tiff felt her own pleasure cresting inside of her -- one of the advantages of having a vampire boyfriend when you were bound to him by a connection of blood and lust: He knew how to fucking push her buttons and he could push buttons she didn't even know she had. Tiff's eyes closed and her mouth opened as her back arched -- and then Sebastian finished her.

His teeth sank into her throat and she tensed up, her body trembling as his fangs plunged into her jugular. The wonderful, darkly seductive feeling of having her blood drained. It was a bit like flying. It was a bit like falling. It was...the thing you shouldn't want, but you do. She trembled and as she trembled, she felt the hard tips of his fangs, teasing against her neck as her blood gushed into his mouth and his cum gushed into her cunt, filling her with a wash of cool seed. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she felt several climaxes bursting through her body -- white flashes that filled her eyes with light.

His fangs popped free and Sebastian's slick, cool tongue flicked from her collar bone to her ear. Salacious. Needless. But it damped the blood that came from her throat and left her toes curling in absolute delight as he whispered into her ear.

"My precious little blood doll..."

"God, can you two get any more mushy?"

Sebastian and Tiff both yelped - Tiff's arms jerking hard and ripping the leather straps off her. She sat up, grabbing a blanket and sweeping it over her body as Sebastian laid on his back beside her, blinking.

DeLacny sat in the chair in the corner of the room, dressed in the most ridiculous outfit that she'd ever seen. It was a black turtle neck that swept up and around the head and poofed out like a mushroom, with red robes laid over that and a massive, tacky gold and ruby necklace around the throat. He wore huge black gloves and big stompy black boots and looked absurd in that way that only very official, very old kinds of institutions could, when their uniforms got so fucking goofy but they were so old so no one could tell them boo. That was how it looked. Tiff scowled, picked her shoe up off the ground, and threw it at DeLancy's head.

The shoe vanished into a white light before it reached him.

"What are you doing here, Lancy?" she snapped.

"Beyond being endlessly disgusted by the inefficient ways you blobby, protoplasmic sacks spend your time?" DeLancy asked, cheerfully. "I'm here because you impressed me somewhat. My sister, Kfap, is free thanks to your admittedly, idiosyncratic attitude. And I-"

"Why are you dressed like an evil mushroom, also?" Tiff asked.

DeLacny's lips pursed. "Do not interrupt a Harrower, Winters-"

"No, seriously, yo-"

DeLancy snapped his fingers -- and quite suddenly, Tiff had no lips. She put her hands to her mouth and Sebsatian growled, springing to his feet, his fingers twisting into claws. "Let her-" he started and DeLancy snapped his fingers and Sebastian flashed with white light, transforming into a sleek, silver furred puppy. Like his wolf form, only adorable. DeLancy clapped his hands.

"There! Now I can monologue in peace," he said, cheerfully. "So! You have impressed me, Tiffany Winters. We Harrowers are not often impressed." He leaned back into his seat even more, his eyes glittering. "And so, I've come to offer you a little compensation for what you've done. You may have done it for your own reasons, but..." He spread his hands. "You still benefited us."

Sebastian, who had pawed up onto the bed, growled at him. Tiff took the opportunity to pet him, her other hand still rubbing the smooth patch of flesh where her lips had been.

"I...will grant you one wish, Tiffany Winters," DeLancy said. "It can be anything you want. For instance -- did you know that a properly adjusted warp field allows for travel through time?" He chuckled. "Well, after a fashion -- it shunts you into a parallel universe along the great circle, but that's the Cosmic Dragon's problem to deal with, so I don't mind." He grinned at Tiffany. "I can send you back. Back to the night you were grabbed. You can save your friends, from all those horrible little fates that befell them. Heck, go one step further. Warn people about 9/11. Break the Masquerade earlier, maybe keep the Hunter's War and the Eugenics War from happening. Do whatever it is your little heart desires."

Tiff blinked at him. Her mouth opened, then closed. "B...But..."

She looked down at Sebastian, then at DeLancy.

"Y...You'd just...send me back?"

DeLancy nodded, his hat creaking alarmingly.

Tiff gulped, slowly. She sat back in her seat. She wasn't sure when she'd gotten her lips back. She just knew that when she had been allowed to speak, she had been able too. Her fingers worked through Sebastian's fur. She bit her lip, hard. Looked aside. Her fingers caressed him again and again slowly.

Tiff opened her mouth, then closed it.

DeLancy hummed softly.

The view out the window shuddered and shifted -- the twisted field of warp space snapping away. And there was the Earth. The Earth that she didn't know. Even looking at it from orbit, she could see that the coastlines had changed -- the ice caps were visibly smaller. The city lights were all in different places. The space around it was choked with glittering beads of light -- the thousands of space habitats that thronged around the world. She looked at the blue green world she had been halfway excited to explore.

"Well?" DeLancy asked.

Tiff looked down at Sebastian. "No..." She whispered, the word dragged out of her by jagged chains. She closed her eyes. "I...I'm...I'm scared, DeLancy. I'm scared...of...w-what if I go back and I mess it all up? What if I..." She shook her head. "And...and I don't want to give up Sebastian." She closed her eyes.

Then she snapped up her head. "Can I send a letter, though?"

DeLancy, who had been about to stand up and leave, frowned at her.

"Can I send a message back in time?" she asked, grinning slowly.

"I...a-actually..." He frowned, slightly. "That would actually be significantly more dangerous. Information flowing through space-time actually exists within this continuum. It's not crosstalk between dimensions, it's actual causality editing." He looked square at Tiffany. "Do you understand?"

"Kinda sorta maybe a little," Tiff said, shrugging, petting her tiny wolfish boyfriend. "But don't worry. I'll be super vague and mysteriouso!" She wriggled her fingers. "And! Since it's just a letter, can I also bum another wish off you?"

DeLancy gaped at her. "I..."

"Come onnnnn!" Tiff said, grinning at him. "Just one eensy teeny tiny itty bitty wittle little wish."

DeLancy shook his head slowly. "Winters...your gal impresses me. Very well! What is it?"

Tiff beamed.

***

WHAM.

Shifter-Tiff's eyes opened.

She looked up -- and groaned as she saw the regular Tiff grinning down at her. "Heyyyy, I saved your life, buddy o-pall-o-mine!"

"Why do..." Shifter-Tiff spoke aloud, her brow furrowing as her hand went to her chest. She sat up, blinking, looking around herself. She was in the medical bay of a Federation facility. It didn't look like the Deedee's medical bay -- but several doctors were standing nearby, with scanning apparatuses focused on her.

"And we got nothing," one said, sighing. "Fucking Harrowers."

Shifter-Tiff looked at Tiff, her eyes wide as saucers. "Harrower? You had a Harrower bring me back to life?"

"Ehhh, what can I say? He owed me a solid," Tiff said.

Shifter-Tiff blinked again. Her brow furrowed. "T-Tiffany, something very strange...I..." She bit her lip. "I no longer feel this intense compulsion to protect the weak and destroy the wicked." She scowled slightly. "And my strength is reduced..."

"Yeah, the Hunter spirit snapped back to me," Tiff said, then grinned. "But you're also a fuckin' liiiiiiiiier Shifter-Tiff. You totally do feel the urge to protect the weak and defeat the wicked. I can tell."

Shifter-Tiff glared daggers at her. "No I don't."

"Yes you do!" Tiff said, cheerfully, leaning in close, whispering. "The spirit only chooses people who have that impulse, even if it's buried deeply. Promise."

"Get away from me!" Shifter-Tiff shoved her back and away. Tiff stepped back and laughed -- as two men in Federation diplomatic uniforms stepped into the room. They both looked like they weren't very amused by Tiff at all.

"Goddess," one said. "We're from the foreign office."

The other knelt down, prostrating himself before her, unfurling a small purple roll of cloth upon the ground. Shifter-Tiff stepped onto it, smiling as she did so. She breathed out a slow, happy sigh. "Finally, some proper deference..." She crooned, her body shifting as she transformed into a tall, regal, human beauty -- broad shouldered and muscular, curvaceous as fuck, with long red hair and bright purple eyes. She dressed herself in ornate, flowing robes, which rippled as they brushed against the ground behind her.

"We can take you to the leader of the entire Federation," the other Federation spook said. "And we can begin the diplomatic procedure of getting you back to the Omni-Imperium, your omniscience."

"Bye!" Tiff waved as they started off, unrolling the purple cloth as they walked.

Shifter-Tiff didn't glance back, not even once.

"...so, are those guys, like..." Tiff glanced at a doctor.

"They're going to be showing her to a xenoanthropologist with a fancy hat who is good at lying," the doctor said, still glowering at the recording apparatus. "Can you ask that Harrower of yours to do that again but...slower?"

"I don't think so, buddio doc," Tiff said, grinning at him.

She slipped out of the office and stalked after Shifter-Tiff, watching her walk through the huge, busy, colorful and utterly gorgeous space that was the main thoroughfare of Babylon station -- which was where the Deedee had docked for repairs and R&R alike. She watched as Shifter-Tiff saw a young woman bowled over by a man hurrying past. The man didn't glance past, but Shifter-Tiff knelt down and helped the woman to her feet without thinking.

Tiff grinned, pumped her fist, then turned to walk off, whistling cheerfully.

The future?

The future looked bright.

And she was gonna go get fucked silly by her vampire boyfriend.

***

Sunnyvale, California

Earth

1998

Gibson Mackintosh Flower LaBonte yawned as he walked out of the front door of his house in the morning light. He rubbed his neck -- frowning as he saw that Birch was riding up the street, heading straight for him. She was riding her bike and wasn't wearing a helmet, something that made Gibson open his mouth.

"Zeppo, have you seen Tiff?" Birch asked, immediately, without preamble.

"What? No, why?" Gibson said, shaking his head. "We split last night after I helped her out with that werewolf that had gotten drunk."

"My auguries say that Victor is back in town," Birch said, frowning. "If they...do it again..."

Gibson shook his head. "No, no way would Tiff do anything that st..." he stopped. "Okay, maybe she would."

A stomping set of footsteps made both of them turn, hurriedly. But it was just a postman. He ambled up, then smiled. "Oh, hello! Letter for Gibson Mackin-"

"That's me," Gibson said, not wanting to hear his entire name get spelled out. But then he saw the envelope had Tiff's unmistakably terrible handwriting written on it. He snatched it from the mailman, looking at Birch, who nodded to him hurriedly. He opened it up as the mailman started to walk away, shaking his head slightly. They leaned over.

Yo Guys!

I've gone mysteriously missing mysteriously. It's AOKAY! Everything's gonna be fine! I'm in the future, and it's good. Here's some lotto numbers for the next big California one. Invest heavily in a company called Apple. DO NOT JOIN THE ARMY, GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!! Also, Birch, I totally would have done it with you, if you asked. If either of you want to see me again, just freeze yourself. Just not in San Diego! ALSO! Tell Gloria that if she stops being a bitch, you can be friends, but also, tell her to NOT TAKE THE ACTING JOB!!!!!!!!!! Long story.

-Tiff

PS: This is not a joke.

"She's joking, right?" Birch squeaked. "Also, ha ha, what? I'm not...a...lesbian or anything that's...ha...dumb." She looked away, her cheeks burning.

Gibson bit his lip, looking down at the envelope. "The California lottery is, like, in a week..." he looked at her. "Lets...if these numbers check out..." He bit his lip, slightly.

"Seriously?" Birch asked.

A week later, she was saying the same thing.

"Seriously?" she whispered, looking through her fingers at the TV as Gibson's family lost their fucking minds.

The next day at school, Birch found that everyone was trying to be her and Gibson's friends. It was unnerving as hell. Christian, after reading the letter, shook his head and said that he needed to check with his weird spooky order. But Birch was thinking about that last bit.

And so, in the computer lab, instead of studying black magic or thinking a whole heck of a lot about Tara, Birch typed slowly into the Infoseek engine on her computer desktop.

C R Y O G E N I C S

And she started to read.

THE END