193. AFTER PARTY: TABITHA

Hello, sweetie! Harry is one very fine-looking woman. The actress hanging off her arm pales in comparison. I have just been introduced to her and can’t remember her name. Starts with M, I think. Harry stands out of the crowd. She is tall and blonde and would rival an elf in looks. In fact, I can compare her to Canwr, our soprano in the Comedic Rhythm, and she still stands out.

She moves down the greeting line, saying polite things to all of the Comedic Rhythm team. I drag my eyes back and greet Michael, who seems to be looking at me like I looked at Harry. This is despite having a gorgeous lady on each arm.

George didn’t come, which is a disappointment. He would know who I am, Krvne Sestre to Modrica, who has “his” Dire Bear and that I am the new owner of the Razkošje luxury spa that he used as collateral on the loan. I was looking forward to meeting him and seeing how he would react to me. I am pretty sure I could have got him blabbing in public. I suspect somebody made him stay away.

The next in line was Duke Terry. His attitude to me had severely cooled from that last meeting. I guess he found out I was the new owner of Razkošje. I barely held back my smirk. I greeted him warmly and enthusiastically and even wiggled my boobs for him to carry on our flirting. It fell flat. I know I am quite flat, but this just fell flat. I grinned wider as if I didn’t realise. He had a different lady on his arm today. Maybe this is hopeful number eight. Hopeful Eight was enthusiastic about the show, so I engaged the airhead in a conversation, and we both ignored the hints from the Duke to move on. I ignored him on purpose. Airhead just never realised.

“It was lovely to meet such a fan,” I said as the Duke practically dragged her away. Her chances of being wife number eight were not great. At least now, I am less likely to be invited to the mansion for an orgy and more likely to be made an offer “I can’t refuse.” You just watch me. George is not the only one I am getting blackmail material for.

The line came to an end. There were about a hundred and fifty people here, which was the limit of the reception area. I looked around for Harry. She was across the room. The actress, Megan, that’s the name, was still hanging on her arm. I started to move toward her when Ört put a hand on my shoulder. That annoyed me, but I schooled my irritation and stopped. He leaned in and said, “There is something not right about that blonde woman, Harry.”

I had Najprej and Ört in the room with me. I specifically brought Ört because I wanted his insight on the people here. I made myself wait, as it would be silly to reject the reason I wanted him here. Wiremu is probably right that he is the smartest one in our group.

I took stock. Why was I going over there? Because I liked her looks? That’s not good enough. I distracted myself by stopping a waiter and grabbing a drink off his tray. I am not one to get caught up in a sexy body, I am one to use a sexy body to distract others. Have I just been outplayed at my own game? I let my Spatial Awareness Skill examine her without looking at her. She is nice enough to look at but not as outstanding as I thought. Her Status was locked up tight, so I started working at it with my Spatial Awareness.

She used a Skill on me, the bitch! It is the only reasonable explanation. How? I checked very carefully with my Sense Spiritual to see if she had a spiritual link to me as Wiremu does with his Hunters Marks. I couldn’t sense anything. Was it pheromones? A mental Skill? If it were a mental Skill, I would counteract it with Mental Strength. That has never been my strongest attribute, but I put energy through it to resist any influence. I had two spare attribute points from my Rider Class, so I put them into Mental Strength to help.

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The Bitch!. The longing to go to her stopped, and I gained Mental Resistance 1. She is definitely the most dangerous person in this room. Apart from me, of course. Some random couple approached me and started chatting about useless stuff, but it gave me time to assess who this Harry was. My Spatial Awareness was all over her, even as I had my back to her and was apparently engaged in conversation. I sensed her looking my way with a slightly puzzled look. She had been expecting me to come over. It was a skill she used on individuals, but could she use it on a group? She could use it on more than one individual at a time, as I was pretty sure Megan was under her influence.

Is she scheming, or does she just have a thing for actresses? It could be both. I need a lot more information, but I must warn Wiremu of this Skill. I broke it quite easily, with my low Mental Strength. Wiremu has a higher Mental Strenght than I do. I think the key is to be aware of it and resist it. She used it for physical attraction. Sexual Attraction, to be specific. The key question is, can it be used for anything else?

Harry obviously has high Mental Attributes. She is going to be a hard one to fool. She was still puzzled as to why I had not gone over. Am I the first to break her Skill? Maybe her senses are not that great. Information. The person I am most likely to get information from is Michael, the heir. The Duke is grumpy with me, Harry is on alert, and Megan is under her Skill. Michael, the womaniser, seems like an easy target. He is over at the buffet table.

I excuse myself and take a step toward the buffet table and stop. Pain comes through the link. Modrica has been hurt badly. I reach out for Dusk, already gathering Shadows. Najprej and Ört go immediately on alert, Najprej coming to me. Dusk screams just outside the door as she breaks free of the temporary stables.

“Modrica, hurt,” I tell Najprej. Then I said, “Go,” but I was talking to Nyx.

The door to the reception room breaks and smashes open as Dusk crashes through, wreathed in shadows. Just outside, a wolf howled, sounding the alarm and calling the pack. A second wolf howled on the opposite side of the building.

All the guests were crowding away from Dusk in fear. The Duke's guards were drawing blades, but I was already on Dusk, deep in Shadows Embrace, and I thrust them back with a spike of Intimidating Aura. Dusk screamed again and did a half rear, and he spun toward the broken door, and we were off. Najprej and Ört were running out of the building right behind us. Skavt and Oske were our heavy backup, and I could hear Oske thundering in, but we would quickly outdistance them.

The quickest gate into the base was the naval entrance. Modrica would be on the other side of the base, which was the army side, but it was still quicker through the naval entrance. Of course, the bloody gate was closed. I directed Dusk to the side. I would go over the wall, and she would wait for Skavt.

Then I stumbled off Dusk as the pain hit harder. This time it was Nyx. She had been hit hard by something strongly spiritual and was critically injured. I stumbled to my feet. The Spiritual pain was intense, I wasn’t sure Nyx would survive. She retreated into the Blacksteel pendant that Modrica was wearing, but Modrica was also in the line of that attack.

I struggled to my feet while throwing as much Spiritual Energy to Nyx through our bond as possible. She was still fading as the attack had some ongoing effect. Not happening! I threw myself at the wall and went up so fast I didn’t realise I had finally learned Shadow Step, which I had been trying to get for months. If my shadows can be made solid, why can’t I step on them?

From the top of the wall, my Darksight could make out a lot of aerial activity and green fire, but I didn’t have Farsight, and I was not stopping now. I jumped down, crashed onto a roof, rolled off and landed on the ground running. The base alarm bells finally started ringing, announcing that they were under attack. Bloody useless army.