Pepper On The Inside

Audrey slid Pepper to just past her waist, then out again. Pepper's bronze body, with its tense muscles, curves, mild arch, and the swell of her breasts massaged Audrey's clit. Audrey arched her body, moaned and licked her lips, bucking her hips.

Pepper did not know what to feel. Her experience was so far outside the pale, nothing in her, or anyone's, life could give reference. She absorbed the event mentally but not physically. She was a camera, a remote viewer for Ambrose who, to his credit, switched off his viewing spell once Audrey's intentions became clear. He considered it dishonest to say some part of him wasn't tempted, however. "I owe Miss Waite a sincere apology and a bonus," he told George. He decided to re-open the view at ten minute intervals until Audrey was finished.

Audrey's manipulation of Pepper increased in proportion to her moans. Pepper didn't know whether to feel relieved or frustrated at her lack of orgasm or exhaustion. "At least I'm no longer bored," she thought with wry humor.

Pepper heard Audrey shriek, and then a wet splat. Her vision blurred as fluid landed on her face. It took Pepper a few seconds to realize what happened. "Holy shit! She came on me!"

Audrey lay panting on her bed, nude, sweaty, and, "Still horny, fuck! That piece of shit Horace!"

She took the figurine and held it before her. It was slick with her juices. The slightly parted lips and sideways glance seemed to cast an aura of sensual mischief. "I would really love to meet the model." She knew it unlikely; the statue could be old and the model long dead. She stroked the figurine's breasts and wondered, "Hmmm, how would they feel on my clit? Are you ready for another run little girl?"

"Oh no!" Pepper thought as she was upended and thrust into Audrey's pussy. Her first instinct was to hold her breath. "Oh good grief! What am I doing? I'm a statue; I don't breathe!"

The view was different this time. "Holy fuck! Is that her clit?!" It looked swollen and engorged with blood and lust. "So this is what they look like up close."

She took in the details of the walls that closed in and caressed her body; the throbbing veins, the wet, shiny mucus, the cum oozing from the flesh. "I can see everything. This is some spell." Her magic-enhanced eyes blurred nothing, in close up or in the dark.

Pepper had no idea what to think about Ambrose's spying. It seemed voyeuristic on one hand but on the other . . . she didn't exactly feel a chill, just intrigued. "I can't share this with anyone. No one would believe me. A psychiatrist would lock me up. Ambrose or Kate would understand, maybe. God! Why did I agree to this?!"

Audrey slid the figurine's breasts across her clit, moaning until she came. The second time did it. The lust left and she lay with cum dripping from her parted legs, the cum-drenched figurine held against her belly. She rose from the bed. "I guess it worked," she told the bronze.

Audrey stripped the sheets, using one to wipe herself and the bronze, then put them in the hamper. She washed the figurine and placed it back with the others. She took another shower and then collapsed on the bed, nude, without replacing the sheet. The redhead was asleep in moments, and Pepper was left counting the hours, waiting for Ambrose to extract her.

****

George and Ambrose sat in the study for another hour. Every ten minutes or so, Ambrose entered the trance indicative of remote viewing, only to quickly come out with a beet red face and startled gasp.

"What's wrong?"

"I . . . uh . . . I'd rather not say," Ambrose replied, then muttered, "That woman really deserves a bonus for this."

The roar of a motorcycle outside announced Kate's arrival. "George, can you please let Kate in." Ambrose gathered George's drawings into a stack and wrote a brief note.

"Here I am, Uncle A," Kate entered the room with George, "Whatta you got?"

"Here they are. Look them over, tell me what you think."

Kate leafed through the drawings. "You know some of these are on the proscribed list? I saw a couple from these drawings."

"Oh? So much the better," Ambrose grinned.

Kate paused at the drawing of the mirror. "This it? Looks like a makeup mirror. The runes at the bottom, if they are what they look like . . ." She grinned, "You got the bitch."

George was confused, "I don't understand."

"Watch and learn George," Kate replied. "You're going to have to sign these pictures, both of you, for verification purposes."

Minutes later, the signed drawings were in Kate's satchel. Kate paused before she left, "I think you better wait 'til after they hit her before you extract Pepper. If Audrey misses her, she might put two and two together. Wait until she's in transit." A moment later, Kate was on her way to the firm of Pierce, Price, and Radford, attorney's-at-law, representing the mundane and Shadow.

George watched her go. "So what happens now?"

"I don't know about you but I'm going to bed. I'm bushed."

"So that's it?"

"Not quite, but there's nothing to do for the moment. We have to let events play out. Um, if you're too tired to drive home, you can sleep on the couch."

George yawned his, "Thanks."

After he fetched pillows and a blanket for George, Ambrose went to his bed and, for the first time in months, slept the sleep of the just.

Kate sped to the firm's office. It was late at night but Kate knew William sometimes worked into the wee hours. The firm was closed however, so Kate went to William's house.

William wasn't happy to be woken at three in the morning, neither was Jay Price, his husband, but the annoyance disappeared after he examined the drawings. "Son of a bitch!" he growled. "Sneaky little minx isn't she? How did you get these? No don't tell me. I'll give these to the Mage Authority first thing in the morning."

"Uh, there's a specific object I need retrieved. A bronze figurine of a young woman, standing. Can you make sure it's on the list?"

William opened his mouth to ask, stopped, and smiled. "Of course," he laughed. "My compliments to Ambrose. Good night Kate Wright."

"Good night Mr. Pierce," Kate smiled.

Just over a day later, Audrey was woken at six o'clock in the morning to a phone call and the door bell. "Who the fuck is this?!" she shouted into the phone.

"Ms. James, we are representatives of the Mage Authority. Please come to the door."

"What?!" Audrey put on her robe, went to the door, and looked through the eye hole. "What in the fuck are they doing here?" She opened the door.

"Audrey James?"

"Yes."

"We have a warrant for the seizure of proscribed magical objects found to be in your possession. Please step aside."

"Proscribed?! I inherited most of these from my Dad!" Audrey yelled, reading the warrant. "Hey! Stop! Put that down you fuckers!" Audrey raged through the apartment, arguing and shouting.

"Sigh! Look, the warrant was issued on order of the Authority. If you have questions, here's their contact number, or call your lawyer."

Audrey spent much of the morning screaming at the chief magistrate, her lawyer, and Horace.

"The Authority is at your apartment, you say?"

"Yes, you piece of shit! They're seizing everything! What the fuck did you do?! You rat on me?! What the fuck are you up to, fucker?!"

"You're blaming me for getting caught with the cookie jar, Audrey. I had nothing to do with this. I have no reason to call the Authority, though I find your trouble highly amusing. There's nothing connecting me to your mess, so I suggest hanging up and sorting it out yourself."

"If I find you had anything to do with these pigs running through my apartment, I swear, I'll spill every single goddamn thing I know. I'll bury you, you shit dick!"

"Really Audrey, if you stopped cursing, and started thinking for a change, you'll know there's only one man who could sic the Authority on you. I'm surprised he had it in him."

"Son of a bitch!"

"Poor security, Audrey. Poor security. Goodbye."

Audrey was so angry, she didn't notice the constables seize her bronze figurines.

****

Ambrose sat at the table in the Yale lecture hall, feeling not a little trepidation. It satisfied him immensely to see Audrey across the hall. Horace was nowhere to be seen, "The slimy weasel." Audrey's face bore an extraordinarily sour look.

The humiliation of the last inquiry loomed large. "What if it goes wrong?" If it did, the ruination would fall not just on him but on George and Kate as well. The prospect was just as terrible as the idea of Horace and Audrey winning.

He looked around the room. The venue was a repeat of the first inquiry; two White mages, one Grey, three Greys presiding. The difference was more spectators packed the room than last. He saw lots of reporters plus quite a few mages and scholars, some he recognized; a few were colleagues and friends. They saw him, smiled and nodded. He returned their greetings, heartened when a few gave him thumbs up signs of support.

There was a greater representation of the Grey Order in the room than the last, but he also noticed many White, and even a couple of Black, mages.

William Pierce saw the worry on Ambrose's face. "Don't worry," he reassured, "The evidence is conclusive. You've got her. We'll win. I even brought Jay for the show."

"I better not be disappointed," Jay said.

"Believe me, you won't."

"I know I should be confident, Bill," Ambrose replied, "But cockiness put me in this situation. I can't afford to gloat until they come back with the results."

"I still don't understand," George, who sat behind Ambrose, said.

"Watch and learn," Kate, who sat next to George, replied.

The Grey judges returned, along with a constable and forensics specialist. Other constables followed with the collected evidence. The objects were placed on tables in front of the stage, while George's drawings were displayed on easels behind the tables.

The looks on the judges faces, on seeing Ambrose, allowed him to finally relax. When they looked at Audrey, it was a collective gaze of someone viewing something fetched up by a dog on the sidewalk. One judge's contempt was extremely obvious. Ambrose turned to the smiling William, "Now I can gloat."

The chief judge cleared her throat. Mage Detector Ronson will speak on the investigation and evidence seized for this inquiry. We ask that all questions be withheld until after his presentation."

Mage Detector First Class Nicholas Ronson, constable in charge of the James Inquiry rose and spoke. "Thank you your honors. I will try to make this presentation simple and concise. Ahem! Now, on the morning of the fifteenth this month, the Constabulary Office of the Mage Authority received information concerning the possession of several listed proscribed objects by one Audrey James, resident apartment 316, 645 Park Avenue." He looked pointedly at Audrey.

"The information was presented in the form of certified remote illustrations, legal as you know, under section 537 of the Compact, if they establish evidence of criminal activity."

Audrey turned her pale, angry face towards Ambrose. "That son of a bitch! How did he plant the bug?! Is that thing still in my apartment?!"

"Upon establishing the certifications a warrant was issued for the seizure of all objects within Ms. James' possession, under section 482 of the Compact. Among the seized items was found this mirror." Ronson picked up the mirror and walked around the hall to give the audience a good view.

"A forensic and alchemical analysis determined this object was a scrying mirror. Scrying mirrors, as everyone knows, are not illegal, however, you will note the runes inscribed at the base."

Ronson brought the mirror to a video camera, which magnified and projected the runes to a screen on the stage. The audience stirred as some recognized the runes and the embedded spell they represented.

The chief judge spoke. "Thank you Constable Ronson. Now, I'm sure Mr. Pierce has some questions for you, Pierce?"

"Yes, your honor. Mr. Ronson, please state the nature of these runes and their function."

"Yes, ahem! The runes are pre-Druidic, possibly Atlantean, listed in the Codex as proscribed because of possible links to necromantic magic."

Another buzz from the audience. The judge rapped her hammer for silence. "Continue please Mr. Ronson."

"The function of the runes, which roughly translate as 'To see that written after' is a layered temporal spell."

A louder buzz and stir from the audience. Eyes turned towards Audrey and her lawyer. Audrey's face was pale and rigid. Her lawyer withered in his seat. Kate nearly came with glee.

"So, I take it to mean that this particular mirror is a temporal scryer?" Pierce asked.

"Correct."

"And temporal scryers are forbidden in the Codex. Can you explain to those members of the audience who may not be familiar with temporal scryers? Why is a device such as this forbidden?"

"Yes, unlike natural seers and other mages with precognitive abilities who, by training, culture, and/or spells and rules imposed by the Seer Society, would be expected to exercise strong ethical practices, temporal scrying devices allow their users to scan possible futures. People of questionable ethics can use these devices to shape events and select favorable outcomes for themselves. It's time manipulation, also proscribed."

"And how would this relate to the charges of plagiarism leveled against my client?"

"Analysis of the mirror revealed the spell was specifically crafted to focus on specific objects, not yet created."

"And those objects being?"

"The unpublished writings of other mages. The spell was set to scan across a temporal area of five to thirty years from the present."

The buzz swelled to a brief roar. Shouts of "Cheat! Plagiarizer!" burst from the audience, directed, Ambrose noted with savage satisfaction, at Audrey. He didn't like to gloat, but seeing his shoe put on her foot brought forth not inconsiderable glee. The chief judge rapped the hammer.

"Based upon this revelation, the Mage Authority issued a warrant for the seizure of all notes and unpublished writings by William James, archived almost to his disappearance five years prior to today. We then canvassed all mage academics, scientists, and scholars born within the scope of Mr. James' lifetime, and asked them for all their unpublished notes, articles, essays, and publications in development. We compared them to the notes and writings by James. We found a 98% match."

A roar erupted from the audience. The judge rapped the hammer.

"We asked the interviewees if they knew anything of William James' research. While most did admit they knew of James' studies on specific subjects, none had access to his notes. Furthermore, almost all the interviewees admitted entertaining ideas similar to James' in the past, but leaving them undeveloped upon the publication of his writings."

"I see," Pierce said. "If I may ask. Assuming my client was plagiarized by William, why didn't James just publish his writings years earlier?"

"It's not as simple as that. Temporal plagiarism, if we can call it that, is complicated. William could have published years ago, but he would need to back up his research with notes showing how he came to his insights. Some of his "discoveries" stemmed from undiscovered objects or theories outside the scope of contemporary knowledge. He might have been considered ahead of his time if he published. He could just as easily been cast as a crackpot. James had to wait until the field of research developed to where he could publish a believable book. All indications from his notes suggest he was putting together a book for publication, two years after his disappearance."

"Son of a bitch!" Ambrose thought. "He could have ruined my life three years ago!"

"So it is safe to say Audrey James' accusations are unfounded and that the reverse is in fact true?"

"Our investigations indicate William James may have, in fact, plagiarized ideas from most of the scholars present. It may take years to sort through his notes and compare but, at the very least, a major reevaluation of his scholarship is in order."

"Thank you, I yield the floor to Audrey James' representative."

Audrey's lawyer did not question Ronson. Instead, he read a statement. "My client wishes to deny any knowledge her father's scrying glass was temporal. While an associate of the Mage Society, she is not skilled in magecraft, and assumed the inscribed runes were merely decorations. When she came across her father's notes after Ambrose Wright had published his book, she assumed plagiarism. My client was only trying to protect her father's legacy. She formally withdraws her accusation, renounces any claims to royalties, and apologizes to Ambrose Wright for any inconvenience."

Ambrose whispered to William Pierce. The lawyer stood, "My client accepts her apology so long as she promises to bring no further action against him regarding his book and research."

"Rules of law prevent her from refiling nonetheless," the chief judge said. The White mage, Cassius, Ambrose noted happily, said, "We shall send these findings to the Mage Union and National Mage Society, with the recommendation for the immediate restoration of your Merlin Prize, and a thorough investigation into the conduct of William James, and Audrey James, given the number of proscribed objects in her possession."

Cynthia Byrd added, beaming at Ambrose, "And I also recommend your full restoration to the Grey Order, with the immediate suspension of the disciplinary hearing." Ambrose beamed back.

Audrey's lawyer hustled the redhead out of the hall with a speed that shamed Mercury. A baying pack of reporters and photographers followed. The hall erupted into cheers and congratulations, complete with handshakes and back slaps. Ambrose forgot most of whose hands he shook that day, except for one, William Pierce, followed immediately by a hug. "Thanks Bill." Those simple words carried the depth of gratitude and friendship the mage had for the lawyer.

George Patel got a hug as well, and Kate received the biggest, deepest hug of all. "God I love you so much Kate."

"I know Uncle Amb. Love you back."

Cynthia Byrd walked up to Ambrose. "Well I guess you're out of the fire," she smiled.

"I guess I am," he smiled back.

"We really should talk one of these days. I don't see you often enough."

"I'll be around. Thanks Cynthia."

"I'm so glad for you Ambrose," Cynthia turned to leave but hesitated. "You know, there's an opening in the Academy for the position of Head Mage for Curricular Policy. You interested?"

"I'm a researcher not a teacher, Cynthia. Besides, I'm too old and that's too big a responsibility at my age. Thank you for the offer, though."

"Oh well," she sighed. "I guess I'll give the position to Baker. You know, Horace put in a request for consideration. It was rejected immediately. He probably doesn't know. There's something about that man, gives everyone the chills."

"Oh really?" Ambrose cocked an eyebrow. Kate suppressed a giggle.

"Good day, Ambrose,"

"Good day, Cynthia."

The four decided to enjoy a lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, to celebrate a very good day's work.

****

Pepper sat at her desk, composing a story for her Creative Writing class. The professor assigned the students a task to write a story with a specific theme. Pepper chose change; change in oneself, change from extreme experiences, change from the satisfaction of performing good deeds.

She wrote from a perspective of someone who, until a short time ago, carried many worries. Now she had very few.

Her entire tuition paid up, through graduate school if she wished. The house bought and converted to a condominium, with herself in the top half. Ambrose really, really thanked her, and when he used part of the royalties from his book to pay for everything, she was really, really thankful. He even suggested he could pay for new construction to soundproof her floor.