A Stitch in Time pt. 1
#4 of Patterns of the Grand Design
his is a work of fiction. It contains explicit adult themes and as such is not recommended for readers under the age of 18. All characters are copyright RAD and may not be used without permission. All characters depicted in this story are over the age of 18.
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A STITCH IN TIME - pt. 1
The red light district was not someplace Victor usually hung out, but tonight was turning into the exception. He'd accepted the bachelor party invitation because the guest of honor was a long time employee of the museum, though if asked, the todd couldn't admit to knowing him very well. Still, he felt it would have been discourteous to ignore the invitation, even after he found out where the celebration was to be held.
The party's host had rented a private room at the Stray Kitten, a strip club known for its unusually "relaxed" standards and variety of beautiful girls, both human and furry. Naturally, without the moderating influence of wives and girlfriends, the festivities quickly devolved into something a little wilder than Victor might consider appropriate. It did surprise him that the debauchery didn't bother him as much as it once might have. Since taking Sapphire as his mate, other women held only a passing attraction. Oh certainly, the girls at the party were quite appealing, but none of them could compete with the vixen's beauty, charm, intelligence, wit and exuberance. Watching a barely legal, topless skunkette slink seductively across the stage did little for him. He merely sat back, sipped at his drink and enjoyed watching the crowd. He found their reactions to the girls far more entertaining than the actual show. He glanced at his watch. It was already seven p.m. He figured he'd give the party another half-hour then bow out gracefully.
"Personally, I think she's way too young to be working a place like this," a voice whispered in his ear. Victor sat up with a start, looking around him. His startled reaction produced a soft laughter, not unlike the tinkling of bells. "Over here silly," whispered the voice. The todd turned his head, finally spotting the source of the voice. It came from a three-inch tall, voluptuous, blue-furred vixen dressed in an unbelievably revealing harem costume. She was sitting daintily on his right shoulder.
"Sapphire! What are you doing here?" he whispered. "Someone might see you."
"Don't worry," the djin replied calmly. "You're the only one who can see or hear me."
"An invisibility spell?" She nodded. "Clever," the todd replied, "but it doesn't change the fact that women aren't allowed at bachelor parties. It's a... tradition."
"Oh? What about them?" she asked with a kind of wicked innocence, pointing to the girls scattered about the room.
"They're working the party. They're paid to be here."
"Well then, maybe I should join the entertainment. I'll bet they've never seen the dance of the seven veils the way it's suppose to be done."
Victor chuckled, drawn in by her playfulness. "You go up there dressed the way you are, it will start a riot." A thought crossed his mind. "Aren't you using up a lot of manna, like this? I mean shrinking yourself, teleporting, making yourself invisible?"
"Not as much as you think." Sapphire replied. "By playing around with spell combinations I'm finding lots of ways to use less energy and achieve the same effect."
"I always knew you were a genius," the todd replied. "Well, so long as you're here why don't you sit back, relax and enjoy the show."
There was a swirl of blue magic and Victor found himself next to a full sized vixen. She smiled, leaning in against him as he wrapped an arm around her slim waist "Don't mind if I do," she purred softly.
On stage, the skunkette twirled gracefully in time to the music, wrapping her plush tail about herself. One hand slid down to the string holding her thong in place. Pulling gently, she undid the knot and whirled the now loose garment above her head. With the other hand the dancer grasped a brass pole that rose from stage to ceiling and slid up and down, allowing her sex to brush the pole.
Watching, the blue vixen smiled wickedly. "Oooh! She's good... even I'm feeling aroused. Maybe we should reward her."
"Should I give her a tip?" Victor asked
"I've got a better idea," Sapphire replied coquettishly.
"You wouldn't!"
Without warning the skunkette suddenly arched her back and screamed in ecstasy as her body was wracked by a sudden and very powerful orgasm. Her toes stretched out clawing at the stage. The thong she had been whirling over her head flew outward over the audience, several members of which fell over each other trying to catch it. The dancer clutched the pole desperately with both hands, huffing, moaning and screaming again as a second orgasm raced through her body.
Wild applause and cheers came from the appreciative partygoers and they began throwing money on the stage. Sapphire looked up at Victor laughing. "You think she liked it?"
"Undoubtedly," Victor replied, "though the other dancers may give her a hard time when she gets offstage."
"Why? Are they jealous?"
"Perhaps. Wouldn't you be, seeing your competition make an impression like that?"
"Really? Well I guess I'll have to do something about that," the vixen said, cracking her knuckles together.
"Sapphire..." the todd said warningly.
"Don't worry... Third times the charm," she laughed. An instant later every female in the room was abruptly ravaged by an intense orgasm. Some moaned, other's cursed and moaned, still other's screamed. The girl on stage joined them in the chorus as she felt a third orgasm tear through her. Love's nectar pumped copiously from her mound, splashing against the brass pole. Unfortunately, the intense series of involuntary climaxes triggered a less desirable release from the skunkette. The room was suddenly filled with a noxious odor. Both guests and girls, many of them still naked, scrambled frantically for the door.
"Oops!" muttered the djin.
Victor, a napkin wrapped around his muzzle looked down at his mate. "Oops? Is that all you can say? Oops?"
She looked up innocently at the todd. "Sorry... I didn't know mustilid anthrops could still do that."
"The first generations of anthrops were intended to be soldiers. That's why I still have claws and sharp teeth," he replied patiently, looking around the now abandoned clubroom.
Sapphire, having sensed his discomfort with the current situation, waved her hands. There was a flash of blue light. The air immediately cleared itself out. Spilled drinks leapt back onto tables. Chairs and other pieces of furniture straightened themselves out.
"Happy?" she asked, hopefully.
"It's a start," Victor replied, smiling warmly at her. "Why don't you pop back home and wait for me? I'll be there as soon as I can get the party going again."
The air swirled in front of him again as she reappeared, kneeling on the table before him, giving him an unobstructed view down her cleavage. She slipped his jacket over his shoulders and straightened his lapel. "Don't take too long," she said coyly. "There were some moves that dancer made that I want to try out on you." She fluttered her tongue across his muzzle then vanished in a blue puff of smoke.
Victor continued smiling to himself. He actually liked it when Sapphire occasionally ignored him or made mistakes. He didn't want a fawning slave as a mate any more than he wanted absolute perfection. Perfection would have been boring. The djin's occasional foibles made her just that much more real, and more desirable.
The todd searched the clubroom until he found the thermostat. Flipping on the fan, he went to the back door and found the bachelor party still in full swing in the back alley. Laughing, he reassured everyone that the club was now odor free then stood at the door as everyone happily filed back inside.
Looking around, he spotted the young skunkette standing miserably at the far end of the dark alley under a dim exterior light. She was dressed only in a thin, black tablecloth. Victor waited until everyone else was through the door before glancing back at the dancer, intending to reassure her that all was well. In that moment he saw a rather muscular, gaudily dressed human appear from a side alley, grab the girl and shove her out of sight.
Sensing trouble, the todd shucked off his jacket and started moving through the alley. He scooped up a loose brick enroute. Pausing, he listened nervously before stepping around the corner. From his tone, Victor could sense the human was furious with the skunkette. He was obviously looking for a reason to vent that anger on something or someone.
"... but I said I was sorry," the girl whimpered. "I don't know what happened... it was an accident."
"Yeah? Well bitch, your accident could wind up costing me some dough tonight. How are you gon'na make that up to me?"
"Teddy... I..." There was a sudden, sharp crack and the skunkette cried out in pain.
"Don't talk back to me bitch. You're mine. Tell me how you're gon'na get me my money!"
"No Teddy... please! You promised if I danced for you I wouldn't have to do anything else."
CRACK! "Tell me now you're gon'na get me my money!"
Victor had no delusions about himself. Hearing what was happening around the corner his first impulse was to duck back into the club and call the police on his cell phone. However the girl's weeping pulled at him and before he realized what was happening he'd stepped around the corner, the brick firmly wrapped inside his jacket.
"HEY... YOU!" The human turned to face the todd. He was a lot bigger than Victor had first thought, standing at least a head and a half above him. The Zorr's ears flattened out in fear and he took a half step back. He was absolutely certain he'd made a major mistake here.
"This doesn't concern you, Dog-man," he grunted menacingly. "Turn around and leave before I break your fucking neck."
The skunkette took hold of the human's arm. "Teddy! No, don't hurt him. He hasn't... " She was cut off in mid sentence as he punched her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious, the cloth she had wrapped around herself fluttering loosely to one side. The human kicked her for good measure and Victor thought he heard the sound of a something snapping. It pushed the todd beyond the point of indecision.
He took two steps forward and swung his jacket, connecting with the side of the human's head. The thug staggered back a few steps and went down on one knee. Unfortunately, Victor was not, by nature, the aggressive type being too many generations removed from the warrior constructs he'd told Sapphire about. In someone else's hands, the blow would have at least stunned Teddy. As it was, it only enraged him. He was back on his feet again in seconds, swinging on the Zorr.
Victor managed to avoid the first blow, but not the follow up. The human's fist connected with the side of his muzzle and he went down on one knee, blood filling his nose pad.
"I fuckin' warned you, dog! This was none of your business." He reached into his jacket and pulled out the biggest commando knife Victor had ever seen. It glinted in the dim lights of the alley. "Now I'm gon'na carve you as a lesson. You animals should know your place."
Though dazed, the Zorr knew he was in trouble. He pushed himself to his feet and staggered against the nearby wall. He never once had considered that this would be how his life would end; gutted by some human thug in an alley behind a strip joint. He wished frantically that he were bigger, stronger and meaner looking than the human in front of him. His wish was unexpectedly granted.
There was a sudden, twisting swirl of greenish fire. Victor felt as if his flesh were dissolving, melting away to become something else. His clothing disintegrated, ripped to shreds by the sudden expansion of his muscle tissue. He felt himself rise until his head towered above that of the human. His skin thickened, fur shedding itself in favor of scale. Something exploded from his back. Leathery wings suddenly arched above his head, spreading out until they filled the alley from one side to another.
The thug screamed in absolute horror. Victor looked down in time to see the human's face turn chalky white. The air filled with the stench of piss and shit and Teddy keeled over backwards in a dead faint.
Confused, the todd looked down at himself, then into a nearby puddle of water. The reflection staring back at him was indeed quite fierce. Incredibly, he had been transformed into a twelve-foot tall, red, humanoid-shaped dragon. Victor squeezed his eyes shut and thumped the heels of his hands against his brow, not willing to believe what he was seeing. Despite all the head shaking and thumping he could do, he still found himself stuck in the dragon shape.
A brief puff of blue magic suddenly appeared next to him and he looked down to see Sapphire, standing there armed with a rather large battleaxe. "Victor? Victor, are you all..." She stopped and gaped open mouthed at the dragon before her. "...Right?"
The stare lasted a full five seconds then the vixen abruptly broke out in loud peels of laughter.
Annoyed, the dragon looked down on her. "Well, I'm glad someone finds this situation humorous," he muttered in a slightly hurt tone.
"No... no... it's not you," she gasped, breaking out into laughter once more. She pointed to him and he looked down.
"Oh! Yeah, those," he muttered. He suddenly remembered he was wearing a pair of white boxer shorts, festooned with little, red hearts. They'd been intended as a joke for later with Sapphire, but he had forgotten he had them on. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the elastic in the shorts had withstood his sudden growth spurt, saving his modesty but not his dignity.
Moving over to the skunkette, Victor went down on one knee and gently examined her. Blood splattered her muzzle and nose pad, darkening the white of her chin fur. The dragon looked over at Sapphire. "I could use your help over here," he rumbled.
The djin knelt beside him and gently moved her hand over the girl. "What happened?" she asked, her voice taking on a much more concerned tone.
The dragon nodded toward the unconscious human. "I spotted chuckles there beating the hell out of this girl. I think he may be a pimp. Anyway, when I tried to intervene, he turned on me. I thought I was going to die and I kind of wished I were bigger and tougher than he was. Next thing I knew, poof, instant dragon!"
"That... that's not normal," the vixen replied.
"You think?" Victor responded. "I mean how many guys have you known who could spontaneously combust into a dragon when they need to?"
"You didn't combust," she explained, "you transformed. And the answer is about two dozen, not counting you."
The dragon's mouth dropped open. "Two dozen?"
"We're talking 1,800 years ago or more, during the height of the Magic Age. Manna was everywhere back then and from time to time some inexperienced apprentice wizard, witch or warlock would accidentally tap into it. Where do you think the fairy tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice came from?"
"But I'm none of those things," Victor replied, point at himself. "How do you explain me?"
"That I have yet to figure out, but not now," she answered, gesturing to the skunkette. "I need to take her home and see to her injuries."
"Can't you just wave your hands and heal her?"
"A straightforward healing like that would take a lot more manna than I have right now. I need to do this carefully by mixing and matching a few spells, but that means taking her home and working on her there."
"Okay, if you say so," Victor replied. "Are you sure you can teleport all of us?"
Sapphire shook her head. "I can't teleport anyone right now, not if I'm going to save my magic for healing her and fixing you."
"Then how do we get home? I can't call a cab."
The djin chuckled. "Silly dragon. We'll fly home, on you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You'll carry sleeping beauty here in your arms, and I'll ride on your back. It'll be simple."
"What if someone sees us?"
"The vixen looked around. "I think it's dark enough that anyone seeing a flying dragon will simply chalk it up to a figment of their imagination."
"Well okay," muttered Victor. "Just remember it isn't MY idea." He was interrupted as a groan came from the human. Without a word, the dragon rose to his feet and picked up the pimp by both ankles. Carrying him into the main alley, he easily lifted a nearby manhole cover and held the thug head down over the opening. The sound of rushing water could be clearly heard below. He waited until the human was a little more conscious then he dropped him into the sewer. The pimp's surprised cry was abruptly cut off by a loud splash, followed by a series of sputtering curses that faded as he was quickly carried off by the current. Victor replaced the cover and walked back to Sapphire who was looking up at him with a curious expression.
"What else would you expect me to do with a piece of crap?" he asked.
"I didn't say anything," she replied innocently. "Though if I had the magic to spare, I think I would have been a lot less gentle."
Victor chuckled. "If you think that's gentle, just wait until he gets to the city's sewage treatment plant." Retrieving his wallet, keys and cell phone, the dragon handed them to Sapphire then gently wrapped the dancer in his jacket. Moments later, he found himself launching into the air, a djin on his back and an unconscious skunkette cradled carefully in his arms. This would definitely be one party he would remember.
TO BE CONTINUED