That damned alarm again; this time I took no chances, zapping it with a lightning bolt. It left a scorch mark on my nightstand, but that was a small price to pay. Yesterday after hours of hand to hand instruction and spars with our demons still out, we worked on power theory; that is, the little powers our demonic contracts granted us. some were small but useful boons like Sneaky's ability to sense movement, which made hiding from him difficult.

Some were closer to me; mystical powerhouses usually with a theme. But we all had one thing in common. The major worked us all till we dropped from complete exhaustion, one by one. Being the last to fall hadn't seemed to help his disposition towards me any. And then of course, I had to work the next day. So I would normally have to drive home after all this. Karen got me somewhat mobile and drove me home.

I'd never bad mouth her driving practices again. Well... much.

Grex had of course, hovered. the major wanted me to dismiss him. I had to tell the good major that simple physical exhaustion was the culprit of my collapse, not the spiritual maliase the others suffered from. That with a little rest from his grueling regimen I'd be fine. Karen forced me to. Then she bailed herself out of the hole by explaining I needed to leave in order to make sure I'd be on time for my duties tomorrow.

The major made her promise that next week he'd have till 6pm to work with me on sunday, since I didn't drop for the same reasons the others did. All in all I think I got screwed pretty badly in that exchange. Not that I ever really expected to win. At least I got some good shots on my fellow squadmates yesterday, to try and even out the beating they gave me.

The insidious smell of fresh coffee tickled my nostrils; was that chocolate mocha? No, I must resist the evils of wakefullness! I shall sleep the week, that will show them! The entire week in my comfy bed!

"Mistress, not that I mind sharing your bed, but shouldn't you be getting ready for work?"

And just like that I was across the room, the entire moment ruined. Grex was in fact, laying down on top of the blankets on the other side of the bed. He likely had been the entire night. My memory when half asleep is something I really need to work on.

"Fine, go make breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, and the sausage I bought last week, with no ingrediants I might classify as strange."

I watched him work his way through that, searching for a loophole. I could feel the wheels turning in his head.

"Of course my mistress. You're getting better."

"I've always learned quickly."

Since staying in bed was out, I took my time in the shower, letting the hot water ease sore and battered muscles. Soon enough even that comfort was cut short with a polite knock on the door.

"Mistress, Karen has arrived."

"Then make her some too, if she hasn't eaten. Get my coffee ready, I'll be right out."

Probably twenty minutes later I'd suited action to words; I had more desert to wash off than I'd thought. I'd likely have to replace the sheets.

"It's cold now."

"It's fine Grex, I don't mind it cold."

He sat next to the fridge, a coffee cup in hand. He hadn't asked, but I didn't care much. Karen sat beside him, an empty plate in front of her, nursing her own coffee. She was also staring at my plate with puppy dog eyes. I sat down and started in, cautiously at first.

"Wow, not bad. Tolerable even."

"Thank you."

"So Grex, where did you learn to cook like this?"

"The internet of course, your mother never let me prepare food for her. I must say the network is a wonderful creation; all the knowledge of the monkeys at one's fingertips."

I nodded.

"Well my mother never had the safegaurds over your conduct that I do."

"True. Still next time, you should let me use the more esoteric ingrediants found in those recipes. I'm afraid the pancakes could be considered bland."

I nodded again, conceding the point.

"Make a list of ingrediants you'd like to use and we will see. I'm just trying to stop you from using yak liver or powdered human hearts or whatever."

He bowed.

"Of course my mistress, I will obey. To be truthful this morning I would have used oregano and pecans."

"That sounds... odd."

Karen pointed to her watch.

"Right, got to go. You're dismissed Grex."

"I exist to obey."

He vanished in a heat haze shimmer. Of course there was no heat.

Karen led the way out.

"Come on, let's go! We'll be late!"

"Like you care."

She stopped.

"True, but I know you do, so come on!"

I hurried after her.

"Shows what you know, I was all ready to sleep the week a few hours ago."

"Good thing you left orders for Grex to get you up on time then."

"Meh. At least the cops wouldn't declare me AWOL. They might send a team to pick me up, but they wouldn't shoot first and ask questions about why I was sleeping later."

"True enough. Then again they might break in and take embarassing photographs, like last time."

"Wait, last time? What last time?"

"Never you mind, before your time. just get in the car."

Hmm, a possibility of embarassing photos of Karen? Count me in.

"Got yourself a book?"

My hands were of course, empty.

"Of course I don't; why?"

"Well after the first week with the ADTF, it's a week of learning by doing; you're on call today. Which could mean a lot of sitting behind your desk reading; here we don't get many calls. The idea is to learn in true apprentice fashion from your seniors on the force; the reality is more boring. But from here on out the war games are a scheduled thing, usually the end of the month."

I sat back, words could not convey the depth of my relief, but I blurted some anyway.

"Oh thank God."

Karen smirked at me.

"Don't worry, if you want I can always ask the Captain to do more; he gets bored easily and is always looking for an excuse to play."

"Don't you dare! I'll get all I can handle next weekend."

"Well that's true, you do have one of the toughest majors we have training you."

"I understood the point of the training, all endurance and knowing your limits, but sheesh it hurt. I'm used to hurting, but no lie and I'm not ashamed in the least to say it, that was the worst I have ever had it. Having to run forever then having someone kick your butt at the end of it is pretty diabolical."

She gave me a pointed look, something unreadable hidden in her eyes.

"Silly suburbanite; it can always get worse."

I spluttered; she actually thought I was soft or something! Maybe her own childhood was worse than mine, but offhand I doubted it. Sure my family took good care of me, in it's own distant crazy way, but I was hardly coddled. But rather than make matters worse I quieted; the rest of the ride was spent in silence. We got out with plenty of time, and seperated.

"Thanks for the ride."

Karen did not reply. Well fine, she can be insulted. People everywhere have it rough, and have had it rough since forever. I snagged some coffee and a donut (no one told me I couldn't) from the desk sargeant's desk and rode the elevator up. I ceased muttering uncomplementary things when I noticed I wasn't alone. Conners was in a corner, eyeing me askance. She noticed my attention. She smirked.

"Rough weekend?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm not crazy. Well, crazier."

"Good to know, but you're a Numens, your family doesn't break. Well, much."

Skepticism was the watch word here.

"Oh? Is my family famous or something?"

I registered total disbelief in her.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

She gave a little chuckle.

"You should ask your family, it's amazing they haven't told you. I don't know the details, but apparently the Numens family is one of the major summoner families recognized by the U.S. Almost a form of royalty, or as close as we get. Friends in high places, that's your family. Might be why you're here, instead of at the base preparing to get shipped out."

"Well, I won't deny that. The General told me himself he feels... responsible for a part of my condition."

"Oh? Which part, the summoner part? Cause I'm pretty sure even he can't pull those types of strings."

I felt my face heat.

"No no no, I'm not implying that he would break the law! Just, the demon I got stuck with. It's a family one, apparently. The same one my mom summoned."

Yeah, that sounded believable.

"Not trustworthy?"

Oops. Hmm, how to answer this one.

"No less so than any other, just very powerful, and very pricey."

The light dawned across her face. Most summoners were... hesitant on talking about their price to non-summoners. Hesitant to the point of cutting out their own tongues before doing so. My own situation was a pretty good example of why. Such things were need to know, among the corps itself. Sure, some people in the ADTF undoubtedly knew, but I wasn't in a hurry to blab to anyone who didn't.

"Look it's fine, you didn't offend me or anything; it's just a touchy subject."

"Sure, my bad. So, did you bring a book?"

"No, but I can borrow one if I need to, I think."

"Better hope so, books are at a premium up here some days."

I decided to strike first.

"So what kind of books do you read?"

She shook her head with a grin.

"The kind you don't. Sorry, don't have a spare today."

Drat. She ran off with a little wave as I destroyed my donut in an orgy of powder and crumbs. It's ok, I wouldn't get bored. I'm sure there was much I could do. The coffee was terrible, but I drained it in between the elevator and my new desk. With any luck the coffee on this floor wouldn't suck. The captain waved me over as he saw me, and I altered course.

"Before you do anything else, 3 laps around the block."

Sigh. I started back down.

"And keep the robe on!"

I waved to show I heard. Oh well, at least it's not full blown war games. I breezed airily through the station, not deigning to notice the stares or in some isolated cases, the muted laughter. Call me captain oblivious. I took my time with the run, enjoying
the air; This day was numbered as one of the last of the pure fall days. leaves drifting gently down on stray currents, seeming to be ablaze in the sun, a smell of slumbering greenery in the air. People crossing the sidewalk to avoid me in droves.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would. The most trouble I had was fighting the urge to pull out a scythe somehow, so I could act the part of death running down the street. Somehow I did not think that'd look good in my file. Perhaps summoning had done something to my mind after all? Or perhaps I shouldn't say such things, to myself most of all. Questioning every decision could only lead to tragedy... or public nudity. Something like that.

Of course by the time I got back I didn't care about anything but breathing the sweet air; I wasn't tired exactly, but even for a runner a mile caused one to blow for a bit. I walked back into the gloom ridden building, acting the part of the unconcerned badass. I'm probably not fooling anyone though.

I strode up the stairs and to my desk, noticing that for the first time, another summoner was a desk away, sharing my shift. Or was I sharing theirs? This one had their hood up, even here. Of course that could only mean one thing.

"Morning."

A male voice answered me, as I expected.

"Good morning."

Then he turned to a book. What looked to be one of those cookie cutter murder mystery books. Wow, one would think he'd gotten his fill of such things. I turned to my own book, 'Police procedures, a field manual.' I'd barely read past the first page - proper handcuffing procedure - when I was interrupted.

"Yo, rookie. The boss wants to see you."

I looked up and into Karen's smiling face. Apparently she didn't hold a grudge. she turned to the guy next to me.

"Clarence, can you handle all this traffic by yourself for a bit?"

The newly dubbed Clarence made a show of looking left, then right, through the squad room at the bored looking cops and silent phones.

"I think I'll manage."

"Alright, come on Snow. Time to go see the boss."

The boss, it turned out, was in the building. Sitting in a plush chair next to the chief of police. No pressure, right? He was middle aged and balding, not very well built (an oddity among summoners) and had watery blue eyes. As in, constantly tearing up... Maybe a price thing?

"So you're the new blood."

"Good morning Sir."

"Sit down, sit down."

I sat.

"So how are you adjusting?"

I waited a heatbeat, but nothing more was added. Right to the point, this guy was.

"I think I'm adjusting well sir; it's hard to say with so few examples of stable summoners and police around me."

He blinked, water dripping on his ledger, then laughed a bit shrilly. the poor chief looked like he was eating lemons when I wasn't looking.

"Ha that's true enough. How do you define normal, and all that."

Well he wasn't making a good case for us, that was for sure. he put some glasses on, which made him look as if he was looking at me from the other side of an aquarium. Then he stared at me, saying nothing. For several minutes. It was hard to tell, but I was certain there was more to his look then casual insanity.

"Well I'm glad we had this talk. You may go back to your duties now, Karen will see you out."

...OK. whatever just happened I was sure I missed most of it. Of course they already knew all about me from reading my file; what you see is what you get with me. But the entire point of that visit was for him to stare at me with those glasses on. My hand on her arm stopped Karen from going back inside.

"Karen, does he stare at all new summoners with those glasses?"

She nodded, not looking at all surprised.

"Yes, they help him see things about people. Most interviews go just like that one, except about half don't pick up on the real reason he does them. Those people just think he's crazy. I got to go back inside, they are expecting me."

But no one who reaches that rank is just mindlessly crazy. I was beginning to catch on; or at least I hoped I was. My desk was right where I left it, but that summoner I didn't know was gone. I took a better look around and noticed half the team I trained with was missing. Judge was in earshot though, and doing nothing.

"What's up Judge, where is everybody?"

He looked up from his book, a western, and smirked.

"What's the matter Snow? Miss us all when we're gone?"

hmm, loaded question that. Best to sit the fence.

"Maybe, but truth told I was wondering what happened to the summoner that was sitting here; I wanted to talk to him. To soak up his wisdom so to speak."

"Ahh, you mean Turner. well they went out to patrol. See normally one team patrols around while the other sits around trying to look busy. That way if we get a call, a team is already mobilized to take it."

I knew that. I did!

"Ahh, so you mean they drive around trying to look busy instead of sitting here trying to look busy."

That coaxed a laugh from him. It was a course, gritty, but infectious sound.

"Yeah pretty much."

"So we do...." I invited him to finish for me; he wasted no time.

"Whatever we can do to keep occupied until we're called to back up SWAT or stop a demon."

"Got it; back to police procedures then."

He rolled his eyes.

"Good luck with that; that book is a text that redefined 'dry reading'."

It didn't take long. By the time I got to the many different kinds of robbery (and numbers for each) I was ready to scream, throw the book, and break something. Seriously, just call it robbery or armed robbery! The procedures are the same for whether you see a weapon or not! You draw your own gun to be safe and clear the house/area! Good grief!

Double good grief, the book has me Charlie Browning in my head! I threw it. It sailed quite well over the assorted desks and cubicles to the other side of the squad room where it rebounded off the wall.

"Told ya."

"Yes you did, thank you Judge."

Ugh, I still needed to get through it, but maybe in small doses. I decided I needed to move a little... while avoiding the captain of course. Moving didn't mean I wanted to run or do push ups for an hour. Then I spotted Cords. He was heading back into the communications room with a vending machine iced coffee. Then he pulled the privacy blinds closed. Then the lights went out. Hmmm....

I walked over and carefully tried the knob; it turned fully and with ease, to my relief without a single sound. Cords had his back to me, watching something on one of three computer screens. The first screen had some statistics open, the second appeared to have a monitoring program plugged into 911 or something, and the third had... cars? What the hell?

I smelled blood.

Reaching out carefully and watching him, I snagged his iced coffee; it was unopened. The screen where three british guys were racing cars against planes somehow held his full attention. Waiting for just the right moment, I popped the top of the can and took a drink.

He went from 0 to full blind stumbling panic, then back down to 'omg I wasn't caught, I'm still employed.' in about 2.5 seconds. The iced coffee was pretty good.

"So, does the captain know you do this?"

He nodded; as calm as he was now, it seemed the truth.

"Um, was that my iced coffee?"

"Why yes, it was your iced coffee."

I took another drink as he winced. Then he reached out and paused whatever he was watching, and walked out of the room without so much as a look back. While he was gone, of course I stole his comfy looking computer chair. He came back with another iced coffee and pulled another less comfortable looking chair up, then hit the play button.

"So what is this?"

"Top Gear."

"What's Top Gear?"

"You've never seen Top Gear?"

He seemed appalled, as if he'd just found out I murdered puppies in my spare time.

"Top Gear is a british show, where three british morons do stupid things with and to cars."

I watched. They currently had three cars being chased by planes around a track in a laser tag battle. Which of course they were losing. It really was funny, because they either believed, or were acting like they believed, they could win somehow. After that episode, Cords played another where the three were in africa, in 'estate cars' which were apparently station wagons, trying to find the source of the river Nile. I couldn't help myself... when I got to the point where they were stealing car parts off each other (hoods, doors, back windows) I laughed, loudly.

Oops.

Cords was grinning openly at me now. I drained the rest of the coffee to cover my lapse in doom and gloom etiquette.

"You have a really great laugh; like bells ringing."

Talk about awkward.

"Um, thanks. So, they've never come across a demon yet?"

He shook his head in answer as May reached their dubiously dubbed "source of the Nile" first.

"They have, but they are british; stiff upper lip and all that bullcrap. It doesn't hurt that they have their own in house summoners, and the british government won't let them go anywhere really dangerous, like most of France."

"Well that's something at least."

"There was talk a year or two back of them making an expedition into Germany to find the elusive Volkswagon that the they used to make, but nothing ever came of the talk. Instead they substituted one that was found in Poland. The Germans used to make some great cars; they did everything but strap dynamite to that Volkswagon and it survived. Oh hey it's lunch time; you want anything?"

I considered for a second. Time had really flown. I felt kind of guilty, but no calls for us had come in.

"A toasted sub and another coffee?"

He smiled; it was a warm thing.

"Sure, I'll be right back."

I rose and stretched. Comfortable or not, staying hours in a chair was a bad idea. Judge was still outside, but he was no longer alone; Conners and the Captain were there talking over a shared pizza.

"Captain, Conners, hello."

"Ahh, Snow. Good afternoon - Judge told me you joined Cords in geek central. How goes the police band?"

"Quiet sir. Very quiet."

I gently pulled him aside to whisper into his cauliflower ear.

"Do you know what Cords does in there sir? I mean, is it alright?"

He responded in a normal tone of voice.

"You mean do I know that he watches internet streams and dvds of television shows? Sure I do; as long as he's using that program of his to monitor emergency services whatever else he does is fine. We aren't like normal cops Snow. Sure we can do the normal cop things if we want, but we don't need to and the chief hates it when we try. The only reason we all aren't in there now watching along with him is his choice of show sucks. If you can stand it, more power to you... just don't forget to watch those other screens, and since Cords is getting lunch someone should be in there. Go. Shoo."

He actually shoo'd me. So I went back in. This seemed so messed up; I couldn't help but feel that getting paid to watch television was very wrong. Soon enough Cords came back with two subs in bags, some apple chips and two more coffees. I suffered yet another attack of conscience.

"Hey, welcome back. I have a minor confession to make."

Cords adopted a thinking pose briefly, his hand holding up his chin.

"You told the captain what we were doing."

"Yeah, I wasn't trying to get anyone in trouble, but it just seemed so weird to get paid for doing nothing. Kind of like a dereliction of duty. "

"And what did he say?"

"He told me to get back inside here and watch the screens."

He barked a surprising laugh.

"Of course, I was gone."

He glanced over.

"Well you lucked out; no calls. Otherwise the captain would be chewing you out, cause you left the place unmanned."

He handed me my sandwich; a black forest ham and swiss with a few extras, toasted of course.

"Most days that's what this job is; nothing. They don't dare send us on normal police work and risk needing us for a demon. So we're always on call. One team is always just sitting around... until it isn't and you wish you were. You'll see what I mean eventually. We earn the right to be lazy most of our professional lives around here. so just sit back..."

He tipped my chair back.

" ... and watch the show."

He clicked the play button and leaned back with a smirk, ignoring my best raised eyebrow trick.

And that's how the day went. shortly before 4 the other squad came back, and May joined us in watching "Top Gear" for the final hour. Karen was in a much more cheerful mood now, or so it seemed, so I spent the drive regaling her with tales of British car idiots. Once she was safely parked however, she hurried off with a muttered:

"Got to go, meeting an old friend in the coffee shop!"

I got the distinct feeling I was not invited. Upstairs I couldn't stop the sigh of relief; all day and only a bit of light PT. I felt downright sinful about it.

"Grex, veni huc!"

He materialized on my couch in a bathrobe and with an unlit pipe in his mouth.

"Ahh Mistress, an uneventful day I take it?"

"Pretty much, I thought we could do some training since I'm not dead tired."

"But you remain drop dead gorgeous; would you like me to make you dinner? I was considering roast beef and baked potatoes, with perhaps some steamed asparagus? All made according to your tastes, not mine of course."

"Sure; just remember our talk about ingredients."

"Only standard ingredients and spices considered edible by the majority of the North American palette, I promise on our contract. No powdered frog testicles or long pig."

Powdered frog testicles? What the crap? He got busy as I threw off my robe with a sigh. Soon enough there were pans rattling and smells of a rather heavenly bent - or not. I surfed through the channels for BBC America and found it; and lo and behold "Top Gear" was on.

"So what did my mistress do today?"

"She sat on her butt and watched this. Today was a lazy day."

He glanced towards the television as he brought my coffee.

"And what is this?"

"This is "Top Gear", a show made by british loons who do weird things to cars. It's pretty funny."

"You weren't doing police things?"

"Well I read a little of that stupid procedure book before it tried it's best to put me to sleep. But evidently most of my days will be boring, not that I mind. Even on days when the ADTF supports SWAT I likely won't be deployed. So I'll likely just spend my days pining away with Cords, watching TV shows."

" ...Cords? That mewling pipsqueek that smells of dust and oil?"

Holy crap. Holy crap, holy crap!

"Grex are you jealous?"

If he wasn't, he was all but glowing with some other dark emotion; his face was calm however.

"You should be careful mistress; he is unworthy of you. Do not hesitate to call for me should I be needed."

" ...Right. I don't think it'll be a problem. But burning my dinner might be a problem."

And just like that he was off like a shot, to the kitchen so fast he blurred. Still, Grex jealous of Cords? Just for hanging out with me?

(tbc)