Any supposedly secure facility has its vulnerabilities. The trick was to stop thinking like a swell and start thinking like the little guy what serves the swells. Drinioc, aka Dino, had little trouble thinking like the rabble, since that's where he came from. He'd not ever been of the silver spoon set, he was a blue-collar demon from Day One. So, the idea of breaking onto a planet that had a fancy schmancy scanner system set up just to keep his sort out, had been, at the very start, a challenge he was entirely up to meeting. And he had. I mean, no one scanned the refuse. Such a waste of effort.  No money spared to scan every passenger arriving on-world, but who bothered to check the trash lockers as they, well, they were pretty nasty.

He'd had to knock out the Bishop, who seemed to think himself above crawling into a small holding tank that smelled worse that people's dirty knickers. Well, too bad. Dino had knocked the smart-ass little punk out and crawled into the tank with the Bishop and had it sealed up around them. They were demons, after all, didn't need to breathe, so no problem. And when the Bishop woke up and gagged on the smell, and fainted from the filth that covered his pure pristine little body, well, it had at least provided Dino amusement to make the time spent stuck in there go faster.

Finally they were being decanted on St Michael's where upon Dino and the Bishop were hosed down then given clean clothes and sent off to a decent shower. Afterwards Dino poured himself a glass of incredibly expensive French brandy (he had a few bad habits and expensive taste-buds) and sank into a comfortable chair in a private little hovel near the college and waited for their contact to show, and for the Bishop, now nicely lobster colored since he'd scoured his skin in an effort to purify himself from his vile exposure, to sit down and shut up.

When she arrived he was bit taken aback since bright lemon yellow colored demons were something of a rarity.  He did however appreciate the humor that had decided to give her a thick, enormously thick and long head of tomato red hair and royal blue eyes.  She was a walking example of the primary colors and probably had a hell of a time coordinating her wardrobe.  That she was tall, with a lot of very shapely leg showing below the mid thigh hem of her skirt and a figure reminiscent of Betty Page only added to the eye candy.  It was possible, Dino thought looking at her from head to toe and back again, his eyes finally coming to rest on her breasts and the nipples clearly defined by the skin tight knit fabric and staying there, there were consolations to be had from this assignment.  He smiled slowly and dug a sharp elbow into the Bishop's ribs.  He had seen her first and if that didn't work, he outranked him.

She walked slowly into the room, a knowing smile on her face and sat, crossing her legs and letting the top one swing back and forth for a moment, a generous act of flirtatiousness that pushed her hem up  higher and revealed a tantalizing band of warmly glowing yellow skin above the top of her thigh hi stockings.   It was clear, Dino saw, that she approved of his survey of her assets and was enjoying it.  "Well," she said finally, her voice pitched low, with an underlying seductive huskiness, "Is looking the reason you're here?"

Dino cleared his throat. "I'm Drinioc, Dino to my friends. This here is the Bishop, Markos Riley, to his betters. He's a hacker and we need to get him access to the computer system. Either by conventional means, or by any other means necessary, including cracking open his head and plopping his brain down inside the server farm the college uses."

"A pleasure to meet you, Dino," she said.  "My friends call me Bitsy."  She glanced over at Bishop and shrugged.  "So have him fill out an application for admission.  When they accept him they'll give him a login."  She said the last indifferently, clearly bored by the subject.  "Can't imagine why you need me for that."

"Uhm, cuz they'd scan him and mark him as ours, dear."

"Why?  He done something?"  She looked at Bishop again.  "He doesn't look the type."  She returned her gaze to Dino and smiled, the hint of a pink tongue peeping out.  "So you wanna borrow mine?  Is that what you're saying?  Because you can't.  If he gets caught I'd get tossed."

"No, I'm thinking we use someone else's for starters. Then, we might need access to the building. We'll need blueprints and stuff of the security arrangements. Think you can get me that?"

"No," she said.  "I'm a student, I don't have that kind of access.  I can maybe get you into the building though and if he gets into the system he can hack into what you need."

"Okay, that'll work. Won't it Bishop?"

"I... I..." Bishop said.

"Yeah, that'll work. So, uhm, Bitsy. Busy tonight?  I've got an expense account and I hear there's a fairly decent restaurant or two round here."

"Sure," she said.  "There's a few."

"How about we meet in say an hour, at the one you like best. I'll ditch old Bishop here."

She grinned.  "Josie's on the square," she said.  "See you there."

"Great!" Dino replied and watched her leave, his eyes lingering on the flipping edges of the skirt. He sighed.

"What about me?" Bishop moaned.

"I'll get you a greasy hamburger. Ain't that what you punks eat?  All hunched over your little computer in some corner somewhere?  Oh, here, let me get that computer for you."  He snapped his fingers and the computer of Bishop's dreams appeared in front of him. "Have a good time, maestro.  Don't wait up for me."

Bishop didn't even notice him leaving.

Dino altered his appearance enough that he looked like any other denizen of St Michael's. He strolled along, just getting a feel for the place. He visited the central court at the college, checked out the Dean's house and then stared up at one particular room. The light in that room was lit. The Reverend Daniel Dudley Day was in.

He'd handle that meeting himself, he thought. Then casually walked away to meet Bitsy for dinner. And, hopefully, more later."

The Reverend rose from his knees, conscious of a sudden chill.  He ignored it and put his breviary carefully on the shelf of the prie dieu and glanced at the clock.  Just gone seven o'clock and time to do something about dinner.  He looked out the window into the darkness and decided to go out.  St. Michael had suggested he try the food at Josie's and he could see the place across the square, bright with lights, busy with people coming and going.  A smile lit his face, transforming it as he pulled on his coat and boots.

He took a seat at the bar where he could see the football game and ordered an ale.  Then he looked around the room.

It was crowded with an eclectic crowd. Students, professors, tradespeople, lawyers, anything you could imagine. Even a few House members were here, their warrior braids and buckskins making them apparent wherever they went. As for species, there was a wide range of them too. Humans, aliens, ghosts, demons.  He frowned. Two demons had just walked in. The one with baby blue hair looked vaguely familiar.  Then Notre Dame scored a touchdown and he forgot about in favor of the game.  He ordered a steak, an indulgence he didn't even try to justify and another pint.

Bitsy led the way to a booth in the back, against the windows and slid across the seat, the movement pulling her skirt tight and high and her breasts wriggled as she adjusted it.

"So," Dino said, appreciating the view. "You aren't seeing anyone? You're pretty enough to have a bunch of boyfriends."

"Thanks.  But what do you care?" she asked.  "Or are you thinking about more than the next few hours?"

"You're awful suspicious, Bitsy. I'm just trying to be pleasant. Tell me about yourself."

She grinned.  "Oh yeah, suspicious.  So you want to know about me huh?"  She met his eyes, pursing her lips.  "Well, I'm a third year grad student here, starting work my dissertation.  Before that I was a researcher in the pit, but that was probably before you got promoted.  I like good scotch, ice hockey, Stephen King thrillers and sex."

Dino grinned. "My kinda woman." He waved for the server and ordered them two scotches and let her order her own dinner. He ordered rare steak.  "I've got to confess," when they were alone. "I think Stephen King is over rated."

"That's why he's so funny which is why I like him," she said after she ordered a rare steak herself.  "Phil Rickman is better, but then he doesn't take himself so seriously.  I'm writing my dissertation on the errors in those sorts of works and how they arose."  She grinned.  "But I'm guessing that's of no interest to you at all."

"You're wrong there. I'm real interested. So after you get your degree what will you be doing?"

"Finding a way to never go back to hell," she said casually.

"Yeah, now that I can understand. See, that's why I'm here. So long as I'm useful... But I haven't got much chance at succeeding on this one. The Boss is pretty unreasonable at times."

"Yeah, now that I can understand.  I hated working there," she confided as the server brought their drinks.  "So what is this one?  Or is that need to know?"

"I've got to break into the GDD database," he replied. "That's why I've got Bishop along. He's supposed to be an expert."

"The registry?" she said, incredulous.  "Good luck, pal."

He nodded glumly. "I'm doomed."

"Well," she said, with a sudden smile.  "In that case I guess it's my duty to make your last hours of life as happy as possible."

"Now that sounds like a plan!"

They chit chatted over dinner and Dino watched the Reverend, pondering how to get his password. He doubted there was much chance of using Bitsy to seduce the guy. He doubted the Reverend had anything to get up.

"Why do you keep looking over there at that guy?  You know him?" Bitsy asked.

"He's a student here. I was trying to figure out how I could get his password. That might help us get into the registry.  And it wouldn't put you at risk."

"He's the talk of the place," Bitsy said.  "He's crazy and hates demons."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. I was at a party with him. He tried to exorcise a mage or two also. He thinks everyone who isn't like him is evil."

She laughed.  "And he's gonna help you?  Can I watch?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to get him to help. Any ideas? He's not corruptible. So I've gotta get him to a point where he thinks he's saving the world or something."

Bitsy looked at the Reverend who, oblivious to her scrutiny, was happily eating steak and watching the game.  "Well, the gossip is he's been sent here at the special direction of God Himself, who's mad at him because he's so intolerant."

"Ah, so maybe  you could befriend him?  And get the password for me?"

"No, probably not.  Being a demon makes it tough to even get a civil word from him.  But if you got a non-demon type to do it, one of the humans perhaps, you could probably manage it."

"Hmmm. Okay. I'll see what I can do. Sadly Bishop has the personality of a newt. He's useless for this. But I think I know who might be able to help."

"So, wanna go have sex now?" Dino suggested. He believed in being up front with his interests.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said.

Tabitha, the morning after the wedding, had gotten up at her usual time, made coffee and started breakfast.  She was sitting at the table helping Christopher feed himself when the others began filtering in.

Christopher, who hadn't seen Marc since Christmas Day when he'd been unceremoniously zapped back from Maine and tossed in Tabitha's lap looked at his favorite adult with caution and tried out a cherubic smile, one at least three people at the table recognized as having been the same smile Richard had never given anyone but Lily.  Stephen saw it and grinned.  "He wants to kiss and make up," he said to Marc as he helped himself to some sausages.

Marc only frowned at the boy.  "We need to do something permanent. Like send him off to a bloody boarding school," he growled.

"Too young but an idea to keep in mind for when he isn't," Stephen said.

"Meanwhile, how about the psi school on St Michael's. Maybe as a day student." Marc was ignoring the signs of incipient tears from the object of the discussion.

"The what?" Stephen asked, suddenly very focused.

"Dinah and I went there the other day. There's an interesting fellow there who is doing research and training. I'm wondering if he wouldn't like to work with Chris to see what's up with him. Give Chris something to do, rather than be bored enough to throw a tantrum, and maybe they can help us figure out how to better block his butt. As it is, every time we give Pru and Vinny a day off he gets in trouble."

"I'd like to meet this guy," Stephen said.  "You think he'd be interested in Christopher?"

Christopher, looking from Stephen to Marc and back as he heard his name reached out and laid an eggy hand on Marc's face, patting it.  "Please," he said, his smile winsome.

"Couldn't hurt to ask. Wanna go with?" Marc said to Stephen, ignoring the eggy hand.

Christopher tried again while Stephen nodded.  "We taking the criminal with us?"

Marc finally looked down at the child.  He sighed. "Yeah, I guess we'd better. How about Doni and Dinah?"

They looked at each other and then shook their heads.  "Nope.  Think of it as daddy practice," Doni said.  "Besides I have to work."

"And I'm not supposed to be on my feet," Dinah pointed out.

Christopher grinned.  "You," he said to Marc and held out his arms hopefully.  "Please?"

Marc sighed and swung the child up into his lap. "There, happy now?"

Christopher snuggled onto his lap and smiled at him.  "Happy.  Being good!"

"Yeah? For how long?" Marc asked him. "Never mind, don't answer."

Tabitha grinned and took him out of Marc's lap.  "You eat while I get him cleaned up.  He'll like the dragon ride."

Christopher did indeed like the dragon ride. He liked a new world to see even more. He was wide eyed as he looked around at the snow covered High Street and took in the crowds and the noise and the bustle. They made their way slowly toward the spires in the skyline that marked the university buildings, letting Christopher take in as much as he could, and wondering how many questions he would want to ask later, but be unable to formulate quite yet.

Marc had reached Milt Permellan  earlier and having explained the situation, they'd agreed to meet at 2pm St Michael's time. So it was as a grandfather clock in the foyer below the circular stairway that had led up to Milt's office bonged twice, Marc opened the door to the office and found Milton standing there awaiting them.

Christopher stared at Milt and immediately began trying to explore his mind.  Milt blinked and then smiled.  "Ah I see.  Precocious and gifted.  But come in and sit down.  Would you like some coffee?"

Marc looked over at Stephen who nodded agreement. They seldom turned down caffeine, except perhaps in favor of single malt.    "Stephen knew his parents. I'd met them but never knew them well. I think it would help him to understand Christopher a bit better. Don't you think so?" Marc asked looking at Stephen.

Stephen thought about it for a while and then nodded.  "His mother, Liliana was an Awakened, a phenomenally talented empath.  His father was Richard Plantagenet, Richard the Third who died on Bosworth field and then stayed on as a ghost for five hundred years.  At the request of his wife, Anne Neville, also a ghost who was reunited with her body, we went back in time and brought him off the field of Bosworth just before he died, leaving another body in his place to avoid changing history.  Richard was untalented in that he had none of the -pathic or psi gifts.  However Lily established a fully formed and functioning bond with him, something that had never happened before in our experience.  I'm guessing but I think part of what Christopher can do, does absolutely naturally is form bonds with others, talented or not."

"I see," Milt said, looking at Christopher with something akin to respect.

"The other part of the problem are the two sets of twins we're expecting in late spring; Dinah's and Marc's whom you've met and the one's Doni and I are expecting, whom you haven't.  Very early on, in vitro, at less than six weeks, Christopher bonded with the embryos and now they, all four of them are operant. But Marc knows more about that than I do."

"In my terminology," Marc continued, "Christopher has the ability to design and focus a metaconcert. That's a way to take multiple talented minds, for a unique and focused arrangement wherein the mental abilities are meshed together to for a sort of super mind, that is far more powerful than would be if the minds weren't locked into the metaconcert. It's a synergy and they feed each other, if the metaconcert is created correctly. It's my main talent, so I'm a bit of an expert on how it is done. Christopher was in the beginning, of course, entirely self-taught. But he's been learning more about the ways to do it as I show him how to mesh the minds more efficiently and effectively. He has a very good mind and grasps things well beyond his years quite quickly. He is, however, also a bit of a wild card in that he is extremely hard to rein in."

"He also seems able to get past the normal shielding we use when he wants to, so we now use mages to, uhm, establish limits," Stephen added.

Milt smiled.  "Not surprising.  So he's building metaconcerts...do I have that right?...with fetuses?"

Stephen nodded.  "And his sister who is a year younger and an unknown but more biddable factor at this point.  We all live together because of the distress the children display when they are separated from each other to a point where they can't remain mentally in contact with each other.  The bonding there...Christopher has only wanted to establish it among the six of them.  He's had other opportunities and ignored them."

"Interesting.  And how do you think we would be able to help?"

"Well, we were hoping you could look at his mind and give us some pointers on keeping him within some sort of framework. He showed up hundreds of miles from home, while Dinah and I were... ahem. Luckily he doesn't understand that yet, but he will soon enough.  We were hoping you might have some sort of training facility or some such place where he can learn and be happy and mostly be taught an understanding regarding privacy and such," Marc replied, all in a rush.

"A day care or preschool, in fact," Milt translated with a smile.  "We have a center here of course, for children who interest us and whose parents have agreed to allow us to pursue our interest.  I suspect their agreement is often a concession for a quid pro quo as it were.  I'd have to test him of course, and ideally do so with all of the other children as well as testing them individually.   One of the professors here, whom I will introduce you to...well her main research interest is bonding.  There is also a team doing work on what I would think is much along the lines of your metaconcerts."

"Oh, that sounds right up our street," Marc replied, "doesn't it Christopher?"

Christopher frowned.  "Not stay."

"Why not?" Marc asked. "I'll make sure you have a line open to the other kids.  Who knows? You might find more kids here that strike your fancy.  You could tell them what you did to Carmine!"

"Did to Carmine?" Milt asked as Christopher shook his head vehemently.

"He uhm decided something was broken in his mind...Carmine's a vampire...and fixed it.  He also told us that a friend of ours...his mind was, as Christopher called it, broken.  What he meant was that his mind had the potential to Awaken and Marc was able to trigger it without the usually associated trauma.  Then Christopher went in and manipulated his mind to improve on the result," Stephen explained.

Milt's eyes lit up.  "Did he indeed?"

"What if someone stayed with you Chris?" Marc looked at the child hopefully.

"You!" Christopher said.

"Uhm, no not me. Dinah needs me. Hell and Spawn need me. How about... uhm... Help me out here Stephen..." Marc begged.

"Well," Stephen said, rubbing his face, "Milt wants to see him with Drianna and both sets of twins, so for the first trip or two you could maybe be here and we could see if Drianna interests them and I dunno, maybe if you did it for a couple of times with someone else he'd be okay after that?"

"Separation anxiety," Milt said knowingly.  "Strangely enough they all have at least a touch of it at first.  It usually wears off as they get used to it here.  Why don't I show you the center and we can see how he likes it?"

"Sure let's see it.  You wanna see it right, Chris old boy?"

Christopher looked uncertain but went quietly when Marc, holding him, followed Milt down the stairs and towards the back of the building.  The center was brightly lit, large and located in the rear of the building, with glass doors out to a grassy playground area.  There were about a dozen children ranging in age from about two to four or five, watched over by staff at a ratio of about two or three to one child.  They were playing in various groups.  Over head Stephen saw a CCTV system.  Off to the side was a kitchen and next to it, through the open door he saw what looked like a nap room.

Milt led them in and introduced to them to a woman named Ellen Norton who, he said, ran the place.  "Doctorates in early childhood education and psi development in children.  But mainly," he said with a twinkle, "she just likes playing with them and this way she gets paid to do it."

Ellen laughed, a petite, plump comfortable looking woman in her mid forties with short hair and hazel eyes.  "Ignore him," she said.  "And tell me who this child is?"

"This is Christopher. Chris, say hello to the nice lady," Marc said with a grin. "He's a bit shy sometimes."

Christopher regarded her with wide solemn eyes and then tried to enter her mind.  He grinned when she let him and began exploring.

"He's not much into verbal communication," Stephen explained.

"So I see," Ellen said.  "He seems to be looking for something in particular, too, aren't you Christopher?"

Christopher chortled, showing four teeth and a lot of gum.  "Same.  Is same.  Share!" he demanded and began trying to construct a matrix with her, Marc and Stephen.

"He didn't react like that to me," Milt said.

"Let him in," Stephen suggested.  When Milt did Christopher clapped his hands and added him as well.

"He generally finds great contentment in such constructions. So far he hasn't managed to get into too much trouble this way. Only really when he's denied access," Marc explained.  "So, think you might want to study such a construct, Ellen?"

"Will he try to do this with the other children?" she asked, glancing at them.  "Here, why don't we introduce them and see what he does.  They might surprise him."

"Sure," Marc said when Stephen shrugged an okay. "Let's see. Although other children at the Refuge haven't interested him in this way. But who knows."

Ellen led them over to a group of kids and introduced them all, inviting Marc to set Christopher down.  Christopher didn't like it but didn't cry.  He gave each child the same serious scrutiny before putting his fingers in his mouth.

Stephen sat in one of the child sized chairs off to the side and watched as Christopher entered the mind of one of the children, a small tow headed boy about his age.  The child looked startled and then angry.  "OUT!" he shouted.  "Private! Not nice!" And then shoved Christopher out mentally.

Chris looked surprised, and unsure, and then glanced at Marc. "Yup. See. Told you.  Ask!"

Christopher looked at the little boy.  "Let see if same as me."  Then he added, "Please?"

The child frowned and then nodded.  "Me look too."

"Ah, ain't it cute, they're gonna play nice," Marc snickered.

"Don't say that quite yet," Ellen advised, not taking her eyes of the pair.

Christopher nodded and then tried the other boy's mind again.

"God, I wish had them wired," Ellen muttered as the two began exploring each others minds.

After a few minutes Christopher turned to Marc, his face confused.  "Same, not same.  You help," he instructed as he began to build another matrix, this one different from the one he'd built before, while the other children left what they were doing and came over to see.  "Help!" he demanded.  "Make work."

"That's what I thought," Ellen murmured.

"Don't need to be the same," Marc said to Chris, and began firing up a metaconcert with different minds and different abilities.  "Use all different minds, different ways," Marc explained.

"Timmy," Ellen said, nodding at the boy, "One of his parents is human, the other not.  His mind if very unusual in its topography and organization.  It appears to be a synthesis of both races."

Christopher apparently didn't care.  He looked around at the other children, uncertain but with growing curiosity.  One little girl, bolder than the rest tugged on his sweater.  "Me too," she said.  And as she spoke the matrix glimmered into visibility and the other children got round eyed.  The little girl grinned.  "Pretty now," she said.  "Me too."

Marc began fitting each child as he or she stepped forward into the matrix. "Strength in differences," Marc said, not certain Chris could understand it.  So instead he showed Chris the power indices. "Stronger together," he explained.

Christopher looked at them intently and then nodded.  He moved a couple minds around and smiled at Marc.  "Better now.  Go further."  And then he demonstrated by bringing in Drianna and the four fetuses.  "Missed me," he explained.  "Now sharing too," he added and patted Marc's face.

"Jesus," Stephen whispered.

"Oh my," Milt said.

"He can start tomorrow," Ellen said with a grin.

Marc grinned and finalized the metaconcert, let all of them sense it then shut it down with one quick slice through it. "Great Chris!  Great!" he enthused to the child. "So, don't you wanna come play here?"

Christopher apparently needed to think about it for a bit.  Then he nodded slowly.  "Teach them," he said finally.  "We teach them."

Marc nodded. "Yeah, we teach them.  Sounds like a plan, Chris old boy. Sounds like a plan."

Leroy Saunders hadn't been particularly delighted to hear Marc and Stephen's proposal that he be the stuckee with regard to ferrying Christopher back and forth to St Michael's to school.  But still, he understood their concern. The child was part of the Refuge, and would be a good target for someone to try to nab since they'd already tried to kill Dinah.  And since the recent dustup with the loonies at Grand Isle, well, who knew who else was out there holding a grudge. Not to mention Leroy was finally becoming aware what the whole House thing meant, and the amount of animosity and jealousy that might engender in other slighted parties. So he tried to convince himself he was bodyguarding Chris rather than just babysitting him. Well, it was almost true anyway. Besides, it was an excuse to not just play with the dragons but also see another world, and that was the final inducement that convinced him.

So, come the first day since the testing with Drianna and the others that Chris was to be on St Michael's Leroy was ready. Armed, pinned with a tracker by Trevor, briefed by Laz and examined from head to toe by Tabitha, who was none too happy with letting Christopher out of her sight. There hadn't been any agreements regarding off-world education, after all.  "I'm trusting you," Tabitha said, her hands on her hips and a warning light in her eye.

Leroy, wide-eyed, nodded warily. "Trust me. You scare me more than mad awakened vampires."

She nodded as if that were the way it should be and picked up Christopher and handed him to Leroy.  "Good, and if there's any trouble, just get him out of there and back here."

"Yes ma'am. You have my word that I'll get him out of whatever. Really."  Then he looked down at Christopher. "So, sport. You ready?  Uncle Leroy's gonna make sure you arrive and get home just fine.  Well, Kalie's gonna help too."

Christopher nodded and looked back at Tabitha who gave him a stern look.  "You, my little man, will behave."  Christopher, significantly less intimidated by Tabitha than Leroy grinned.  "Behave," he said and it wasn't clear if he was agreeing or giving Tabitha instructions of his own.  Tabitha just smiled and kissed him.  "Have fun you two."

"We will," Leroy promised. Kalie was waiting for them outside and they climbed aboard. "Okay, Chris, you're driving. Tell her where to go."

"Go!" Christopher said to Kalie who snorted with laughter and took off.  She climbed high with Christopher bouncing around on Leroy's lap and opened a portal and they were through it and then out the other end and landing gently on the green.  "There you go, Christopher," Kalie said, bending her neck around to look at him.  "Have fun."

Christopher grinned and petted her neck before Leroy lifted him off her back.  "Fun!" he agreed.  "Bye," he said, waving at her as Leroy carried him away.

As they walked the High Street toward where the school was, Leroy was enjoying the different atmosphere and types of people he got to see here. "Sure is different than Little Rock," Leroy said, as he craned his neck to see into a nice friendly looking pub.  He'd have to check that one out some time or another. "So you gonna want me to hang out at the school all day, or can I look around while you're in class?" Leroy asked Chris as they arrived at the front door of the school.

Christopher looked puzzled.  "Have fun," he said.  "Tab'tha said, 'Alie, too."

Leroy walked Christopher in, greeted Milton, and then was introduced to Ellen, and after keeping an eye on Christopher for almost an hour, finally let himself out of the building promising to return in time to take Chris home later.  Leroy stretched sore muscles and decided that looking around and just letting things happen was probably the best way to figure out St Michael's.  He wandered among the spires and columns of the university buildings, and then headed over to the judicial building. He was rather interested in seeing how things were done there, having attended a lot of trials in LIttle Rock as a witness. He thought it might be more fun to sit in and watch one as a disinterested obseverer. Not to mention, trials involving demons, ghosts and whatever else you could imagine had to be far more interesting than run-of-the-mill drug dealers or users or even the occasional murderer he'd had a chance to help track down.  He found his way into the building and at the first courtroom entered to grab a seat in the back.

"Mr. Constidine," the judge said, looking up from a brief he'd been glancing through, "If you could just summarize your client's position."

Lang nodded and stood up, smiling at the judge.  "It is my client's position, your honor, that given the fact that he's a demon, and that his demonness, as it were, is obvious to the meanest intelligence," Lang said, pausing and gesturing towards his client, a dark green creature with lighter green hair and ears of vaguely pointed shape, "That he did not in any way withhold information from the plaintiff when he filled out the rental application in the presence of the plaintiff and left the section labeled 'Other Pertinent Information' blank.  Hence he did not commit fraud nor does his rental application  constitute an act of perjury."

"Thank you," the judge said.  "Ms Mazronni?"

"Yes your honor, thank you," Lantana said as she stood up.  "Mr. Constidine is correct of course that his client's demonness is obvious, at least at the moment.  But at the time he applied for the rental he had make up on and was wearing a wig, among other things, being as he attempted to explain later, on his way to work, though we have been unable to determine how those items supported his employment as a mechanic.  We move, therefore, to bind the case over for trial."

The judge sighed.  "And there's no chance of settling this thing without tying up my docket?"

"He's refused to move, your Honor."

"He shouldn't have to move," Lang snapped, jumping to his feet.  "Your client is guilty of violating the Fair Housing statute by even asking him to do so simply because he's a demon."

The Judge pounded on his gavel.  "Enough, save it for trial.  Only I warn you if you can't get this settled before then..."

Both Lang and Lantana nodded their agreement to at least try, the judge banged his gavel and strode out of the room.

"Hey guys," Leroy said, coming forward while the two of them were collecting their paperwork. He grinned in a friendly manner, even at the demon. "Remember me?"

Lang looked up and grinned back.  "Of course.  How ya doing?  Lantana, this is Leroy Saunders, he was involved in that case I told you about with Siol'Ster, with the vampires.  Leroy, this is Lantana Mazronni."

Lantana smiled shyly at Leroy and held out her hand.  "A pleasure."

The demon, disgruntled, said, "Oh don't mind me, I ain't here."

"Well, Argalon, you shouldn't be," Lang said without sympathy.  "What the hell were you playing at wearing a wig and make up?  Leroy, this is Argalon.  We were just gonna get some lunch at Hash Brothers, wanna join us?"

"Sure I'd like that. I'm here with little Christopher from the Refuge. He's in school so I'm cooling my heels until he's done for the day."  As they walked off toward Hash Brothers Leroy added, "I've testified in so many trials I was just sorta interested in what a trial here might look like."

"Not much different from any other," Lantana said.  "Or so I'd assume.  Just sometimes a bit more colorful in terms of attendees."  She grinned at Leroy.  "Though for reasons I've never understood the GGD courts are a bit posher than the run of the mill courtroom."

Lang opened the door for her and nodded.  "Here we are, the home of chili with authority.  Known throughout the unimensional worlds and beyond for attempting to recreate the fires of hell in white porcelain bowls.  Don't say you weren't warned when you lose the enamel on your teeth."

"Yum, sounds good to me. I'm a fan of Cajun and Blackened food so the hotter the better for me."  They found a booth and got comfortable.  "So, you guys known one another long?"

Lang smiled.  "Almost as long as I've been a ghost.  She wiped the floor with my ass the first case I tried in the GGD and then came over after and told me what I should have done to win."

Lantana blushed.  "He exaggerates.  It was an esoteric point of law that few know.  Now I lose to him more often than not.  So how are Dinah and Marc?  I haven't seen them in a while.  And Irisa?  She has recovered from her ordeal?"

"Oh yeah, Irisa looks wonderful. Well, she always does, doesn't she?  But she and Cassidy are pretty happy these days. I'm wondering when the announcement will come out. As for Marc and Dinah, they took off for a week of private time and Dinah's smiling a lot so I'm guessing that went great. You know anyone at the Refuge Argalon?"

"Naw," he said.  "I don't mix with the hoity toity crowd like these guys do."  He set down his menu and looked at his watch.  "I'm gonna be late, so I think I'll just get something to take with me to work."

"Suit yourself, Arg," Lang said.  "I'll call you.  We need to talk."

Argalon flushed a darker green as Lantana smiled.  "Yeah, right," he said as he stood up and headed over to the take out counter.

"Didn't tell you, huh?" Lantana said.  "I thought maybe he hadn't."

Lang shook his head and put his menu aside.  "No he didn't."  He shook his head and looked over at Leroy.  "So what are you up to these days?  Besides riding herd on Christopher."

"Not a lot. I'm getting lessons on my newfound abilities, but other than that, I'm sort of bored. So I didn't mind so much toting Chris back and forth. Besides, I'm getting to see a new world, and that's a big plus. How's Azira?"

"She's doing well.  The agency's been getting busy lately." Lang said, swallowing a bite of chili.  "Bored huh?  So uhm would you consider some free lance work?"

Leroy cocked his head. "Yeah, I might. Like what?"

"Don't know, would depend on what came up.  Right now we're working a couple of industrial sabotage cases that I think are going to end being the same case.  Plus a missing person's case, but Langton's running that one.  Also we're handling the background checks for the University.  So we're getting thin on bodies who know what they're doing."

"Ah. Well, I'd be interested so let me know if I can help. Of course I've got Chris as my first priority."

"Understood," Lang said.  "How are you on surveillance?  That might fit into your schedule better than something else, since I can always plan on relieving you."

"Give me lots of coffee and I'm good on surveillance," Leroy replied. "This is good chili."

"Yeah it is," Lang said.  "Okay, let me talk to Azria tonight.  You gonna be around tomorrow?" he asked, fishing a card out of pocket and passing it to Leroy.  I'll be in the office over at the GGD all day I expect, so you either call me there or drop  by."

"Cool. That'll work.  Chris will be here for several hours all week, unless of course he flattens the school."