Chapter 1 — Arrivals

Sat in the living room of Damien Cameron’s home in Suraban, was Timaus, Damien and K Dog.
Timaus placed his mug of coffee down asking, “Do you think I should put Nicholas Calton forward for selection to the Academy?”
Damien stood to walk to the window saying as he went, “Yeah, the work he did for us on that operation was excellent, and if that’s a sample of the work Nicholas has the ability to do then yes. The only issue is how will he react to the truth about what is happening here?”
K Dog looked at Damien and then Timaus, after a second pause he said, “I think Nicholas will excel in the environment as long as we give him the training to defend himself, he may be fit but how strong is he and what is his fighting skills like?”
“Those I have an idea on already, they aren’t bad, and he uses short staves as his preferred close combat weapon,” Timaus said.
“With that, I wouldn’t have a problem seconding your choice then,” K Dog replied before taking a mouth full of coffee.
“Right then I’ll send the email to the Selection committee and let them know to start the observation of Nicholas.”

*****

“You know selection for next years Academy intake is coming up in the near future Gaz?” Sarah lent back against the back of her leather office chair. In front of her was a four meter long desk. In the front left hand corner was a 27” LCD computer monitor, on the screen was a spinning wolf’s head encircled by the words ‘The Gangrel Gang — Let us be victorious by any means’ in front of which was a wireless keyboard and mouse. On the opposite side of the desk was a PDU (Personal Display Unit) which was sat in its charger. The LED on the top was green which indicated it was on the Net waiting for Sarah to need it.
“Yeah I do and you thinking of forwarding a Gangrel Street Gang Unit or something?” Gaz replied while he went about sorting out a coffee for himself and Sarah.
“Yeah.” Sarah sat forward and reached for the keyboard and mouse. She brought up the unit rosters of all the Gangrel Street Gang Units, scrolling to the line entry for the Bitch Vixens. She then pressed return the screen displayed the database entry for the Bitch Vixens. Listed on the screen were all the operations the unit had done since it joined the ranks of the Gangrels some 25 years ago. She scrolled done and stopped when the screen displayed the operations of the unit for the last four years.
“Which unit you planning of forwarding to the selection committee then?” Gaz asked as he walked to one of the three leather chairs in front of the desk.
“Bitch Vixens.”
Gaz smiled and nodded his head in an approving way, “Good choice, but are they ready to join the ranks of The Conspiracy, especially with what happened to Paul and Sandra’s mum and dad.”
“I think so. I think they will take the truth in their stride when they know the complete picture of what’s happening.”

*****

14th Juwar 2068 07:30AN
Nick walked down the stairs from the first floor of his family’s home, which was located in Central District, the main governmental and one of the main business districts of the city of Suraban, the capital of Surra. The two storey building was built on one of the standard patterns. Three bedrooms, one bathroom on the first floor and one large living room, that ran from the front to the back of the house, one kitchen and one dining room. Located on the left hand side of the house was a two car garage. The back door of the garage was beside the back door to the house. One of the family’s two cars was parked in the garage; it belonged to his mother, who was sat at the computer in the living room. His father was out on site sorting the last bit and pieces of the latest contract. Nick knew mum and dad was heading to South Sea Metro and a security upgrade of a Bastal Technologies Production site there. With being a Three Major student he had been given a scholarship by the MegaCorporation Cyber Industries to attend one of the main colleges that had electronics and computer courses.
At this point Nick was not sure if he wanted to go. The scholarship would lead him to a well paid job as either a computer programmer or an electronics engineer, possibly a micro-electronics engineer. His time in Suraban he hadn’t been idle with just school work the corporate run high school threw at the students. He had been busy in a sideline business of upgrading home’s security systems. Rather than install a brand new system that the thieves more than likely knew, he upgraded the system already present. Nick knew instinctively that when a thief came looking for targets he would hit those houses with a security system he knew. Nick’s ideas and plans revolved around throwing the thief through a loop and presenting him with systems that he had no idea how to break as he would have never come across the system before. With Damien Cameron’s upgrade he had overlapped, improved, movement sensors the first activated a second set that was pointing at right angles to the first set, and it was this set that fired the actual alarm. It had been that overlap, that had stopped, K-Dog and Cutters, two Street Ghosts Damien had asked to test the system. From that and the month he had spent researching the boring and dull stuff for Cameron’s Raiders, like corporate finances, bios for main people within the corporation the team was hitting. Tiamus had upgraded his Associate Street Ghost listing to one of a Full Street Ghost, with the proviso that Nick should be treated as an associate until he was 18, which was only a few weeks away now. Legally allowed to move out and become an independent person rather than needing his parent’s signature on the consent forms.
He walked towards the front door Nick realised that his posture was one of being depressed with life, and he shouldn’t be. The exams were finished, he was going to a party to celebrate and he was wearing a feminine crop top cum sport’s bra and a pair of high leg briefs. As he passed the coat hooks beside the door calling to his mum, “I’m off out to the party I told you about. Don’t expect me home until tomorrow sometime mum.” He made the conscious effort of straightening his slouch and when he had he felt much better. He was happy at the fact school had finished. Nick thought, ‘Payback is going to be a real bitch,’ the tone was one of being evil as now the school couldn’t do a thing to stop him breaking a few bones from the main bullies at school. This was the main reason for the depression, the bullying from the footbaal team.
“Ok hun. Have fun tonight, and don’t get drunk,” his mum responded, turning from the work on finalising the report to the board of ATDS.
He thought, ‘Jacket or no jacket? Jacket,’ opening the front door. A few steps down the path leading from the house to the road, he turned looking back at the house thinking, ‘I think this weekend will be the start of something new and a lot of fun. I wonder why Paul and Sandra invited me to the party, they know I have nothing even comes close to the clothes they wear.’ He went back to facing forward starting the short walk to the bus stop heading for South Central 6 Plaza.

*****

Sat in a living room was a group of four young people, three females and one male all dressed in black baggies and various dark tops and t-shirts, all of them had logos of bands famous in the rock scene. They were smoking pure Cambar cigarettes and drinking large glasses of Cabilla, a dark coloured fizzy soft drink. The living room was 25feet wide by 30feet long the front of the room was a split kitchenette with a breakfast come eating area sticking out into the room. The room had on the far wall a computer area, beside that was an open fire place with small flames licking around a couple of pieces of pallet wood. Sat beside the fire was a pile of more wood. In front of the fire were a couple of arm chairs. The male was sat in the one closest to main seating area, which consisted of two large piles of large cushions and bean bags and two three seater sofas. In the middle was a low coffee table The three females were sat with one sitting on the sofa against the wall of the bedrooms, the other two were sat on top of the pile of cushions against the back wall.
“Sandra.” Paul looked at Sandra, who had shoulder length dark red hair.
“Yes Paul.”
“Do you think Nick will come tonight?”
“I hope so, I think tonight he finds out that he has a lot more friends than he thought he had.” ‘I do hope you come Nick, please come, as even if you aren’t the person I think you are, I want to show you a good time before you leave Suraban.’
“So how are we going to make sure he knows where to come?” asked Abs looking at Sandra.
“I sent him an email with the local area map, but we all know what 76th Street is like, and that’s where you two come in Tina, Abs.” Sandra took a drag from the Cambar cigarette and turned to face the pair. “He said he would be arriving at the pub around 07:30AN and with where he lives I would say about 07:20 he’s going to be getting off the bus from Central district. Basically you two meet him somewhere near the bus-station and escort him to the pub.”
Tina took a gulp from the glass and said after placing it back on the coffee table in the middle of the sofas. “What makes you so sure he will come tonight, he’s lived the corporate life for all his life. What makes you think he’s going to want to stay and live on this side of the street.”
“Gut instinct,” Sandra replied.
The front door opened and in walked a group of five, three females and two males all of them looking and acting in a happy mood.
Abs called, “Hi Darla, Angel, Damieel. Oh hi Mike, Wayne, how’s things with you two.”
“Better,” replied Wayne as he took off his leather jacket and went to hang it up in the corridor that led to the bedrooms and bathroom. “Mike told his father about me and was pleasantly surprised weren’t you Mike.”
“Yeah, he’s ok with it as long as I don’t flaunt it around him, which I don’t as I spend more time at the South Central Sharks Home Base than I do at home. Thanks for the invite.”
“Hay your welcome man,” replied Tina smiling. “You still not signed on the dotted line then.”
“No, I’m waiting until I’m 18 in a couple of months before I make the jump. Let’s just say dad is not likely to understand my choice this time, but at the first Gathering following, Wayne is going to introduce me and then I am going to command for Basic Training when the Sharks has two more members in addition to me.”
Sandra looked at the pair and saw the love of partners in their eyes, she smiled at the fact two good friends were going to spend the rest of their lives together.
“You’ll enjoy the thirteen weeks, Basic Training is an adventure all of its own,” said Wayne.
“We should be heading to the pub now, remember Tom is also coming and we said we would meet him at the pub as well as a few others there,” said Paul standing up and heading for his bedroom so he could collect his jacket and shoulder holster rig.
Sandra, Abs and Tina all followed him so they too could collect their jackets and shoulder holster rigs from the other two bedrooms.

*****

Nick turned on to the road that ran in front of the house. The road was classified as a secondary road with a speed limit of 40mph, the main roads had a speed limit of 50mph but there was a lot of traffic lights which kept slowing the traffic as people and other roads joined and left. On both sides of the roads where single evenly spaced holes in the pavement from which grew either Sweet Fudam(Fu-dam) or Mardoshan(Mar-dosh-an) trees. The houses that lined the road on both sides looked the same as the one Nick had just left. Some had cars sat outside the garages, other homes had garden furniture on the front lawns, flowers in small beds around the edge of the lawns. His home had nothing like that as he had only arrived ten months earlier from Ne-U-Bar.
He had enjoyed the time he had spent in Ne-U-Bar especially the time he had spent with Uthura learning the combat form of Lappellr, that and the training he had had from Cubbadar and Sensei Hume meant that at could survive fights and hand the attackers their arses rather than have them hand him his. It would have come as a shock to all of the bullies in the school that he was more than capable of handling more than one attacker at once. He also understood it would not look very good if he had broken some bones, as the school thought the sun shone out of the footbaal team’s arses. This was due massively to the time he had spent with Wong-Ma and Jum-Fu in Teabban. That period in his life was the best, those two had been brilliant friends and the training Sensei Hume had given them had given Nick a founding in not only the martial arts but the world of street fighting. Nick fought the honourable combat; one on one, no holds barred street fighting, that’s until more than one fighter gets involved, then the velvet gloves Nick would have been fighting in would come off and god help the attackers. Nibs knew that he was more than capable of ramming his fist right through a human, but he controlled his massive strength through martial arts discipline. Nick had also noticed that his hearing, sight and smell were improving. He was capable to seeing detail in things at a far greater distance than anyone else, and he was defiantly reacting faster than nearly everyone including some professional Street Ghosts and they had modifications like wired reflexes.
As he walked up the road to the bus stop he carried his jacket, smiling as he walked, as the sun was warm and the sky was a light blue, off to the east the sky was getting a little darker as evening drew on. As he reached the bus-stop at the end of the road as it joined another secondary road that he walked along everyday he had attended school here in Suraban. Waiting at the bus-stop were two women. The bus-stop was one that had had a cover and a three line information board hanging from the roof. he looked up at the sign which was indicating the arrival times for the next three buses. After looking down the list, the last item displayed was the bus he wanted which would take him to South Central 6 Plaza bus station. The arrival time indicated it was due in five minutes. ‘I think tonight will be a fun, and who knows,’ a subtle smile growing on his lips. he watched the two women standing in front of him. He saw that they both looked like they had just finished work for the week and were looking forward to the weekend off. The second one in the queue saw the bus she wanted and moved out from under the shelter so she could stick her hand out and let the driver know he had a pick up to make. The bus slowed and stopped right in front of the woman. The doors opened allowing her on, she paid the bus driver the cost of the ticket she needed and the door hissed closed. A couple of minutes later Nick saw the single decker bus he wanted. He too moved from under the shelter and stuck his right hand out.
The driver slowed and stopped the bus almost in front of him. The doors hissed open to allow both Nick and a second man on, which had arrived just as the bus slowed.
Nick dropped the two decks for the ticket into the hopper, the machine then buzzed and the ticket appeared out of the machine. He took the ticket, after it was printed, and moved down the bus to a free pair of seats where he sat to look out of the window. The bus was one of the standard designs with 54 seats, space for 12 people to stand or six people standing and two wheel chairs. The inside of the bus was painted the same colour as the outside, a light midnight blue, on the curve of the roof coming down to meet the windows was various posters advertising local shops, services and special offers the bus company had on offer. Nick took out his digital player’s wireless headphones and stuck one into each ear, the player followed and he pressed the play button, then pressed the forward button until 'To Lovers Heaven Giths Go' by Dark Legion. Nick knew that he would have to go and see Dark Legion play, he had never been to a MegaBand Gig, and Dark Legion is one of those, one of the biggest MegaBands. At the front of the bus on the boarding behind the driver was the route the bus took. Nick looked at the route and counted the number of stops before the bus-station and saw that he had 25 stops as the bus first went north and at the border of North Central District it turned south and the stop Nick wanted was South Central Six Plaza Bus-station.
As the bus headed on its route he looked out of the window at the houses, office blocks, and the various corporate run shops and boutiques. He thought, ‘Was this night and party the start of a new page in his life. Will I be in control of my life or will things over take me. Who knows, but I bet it will be fun finding out.’

*****

In a darkened alley near the bus-station exit stood Tina and Abs. They both were waiting for the bus carrying Nick to arrive. Abs looked at her mobile and saw the time was 07.30AN. After putting it away she dropped her Coltanar 2-6 Machine Pistol and checked the magazine and the breech. “It should be here soon.”
“Good.” Tina was making a point of having her jacket open slightly and the bulge under her arm of the shoulder holster rig as very obvious to those who looked at the pair.
As the bus that came from Central Main bus-station turned into the entrance Tina said, “There it is.” Tina closely looked at the bus and saw Nick was standing near the front waiting for the bus to stop. Tina closed the zip a bit more and shifted her Theaban 44 Heavy Automatic so it was less obvious. Tina smiled at her life partner Abs as she watched the passengers exit the bus station.

*****

As the bus approached South Central 6 Plaza bus-station Nick stood, pressing the bell to indicate someone wanted to get off at the next stop. Nick said, “Thanks mate,” to the bus driver as he was the last to leave the bus and the driver closed the door pulling away heading for the exit and its next stop. He took out his PDU and checked the map Sandra, the friend who had invited him to the party a couple of weeks earlier, had sent him in an email reminding him of the party. She was known as a Gangrel in school as she wore black or dark coloured clothes and lighter than normal makeup with contrasting dark and rich colours, mainly reds, blues and violets. This surprised him as around the rest of the world he had seen people who dressed in the same way and they called themselves Giths.
Nick pressed the stop button on his Digital Player and removed the earphones as he walked out of the passenger exit of the bus station and turned down 76th Street. The street was lined with small shops belonging to small companies and sole traders trying to survive against the massive buying and selling power of the MegaCorporations. Every so often the shop frontage was boarded up against squatters and the like. The road and payment on both sides of the street were dirty, unkempt, sticking up through the tarmac and in places slabs were various trees. From what he could see Attarbar(At-tar-bar), Common Brattiss(Brat-tiss) and Zurbark(Zur-a-bark) Oaks where most numerous. The pavement and road itself was filled with pot holes and broken tarmac. A couple of old beat up cars drove past him heading down the road to the main street that ran at forty five degrees to 76th street. More old and beat up cars were parked on the side of the roads, some had people leaning up against them. He guessed that the people were selling some form of illegal drug or black market items. The contrast between the two Districts hit Nick hard, he had seen slums in other cities, but never this close to main governmental districts. The bus ride running down from the north of Central nearly the entire ride was through Corporate Enclaves. As the bus approached the borders the difference in the condition of the housing, apartment blocks and tenement buildings slowly changed from being pristine on the enclaves to more run down and dilapidated.
As he walked down the road towards the main road he neither looked at the people or did he spend time wondering about them. His senses were at a very much heightened as he wanted to be able to react to a threat before that threat became a problem. His plan should it happen would be to stop and face the problem and effectively stare the person down, using his clenched fists as a signal that he was ready to fight.

Tina looked at how Nick held himself, thinking, ‘I wonder about Nick’s upbringing. He looks like he knows how to fight. Interesting. I wonder what else we don’t know about you Nick. I think Sandra’s idea of inviting you to join may pan out better than we initially thought.’

Two hundred yards from the exit he bumped into two girls he had seen hanging around with Paul and Sandra. Nick looked at the pair seeing that the left one was wearing black baggies and a t-shirt with a wolf’s head and the words Gangrel Street Gang. Over the top was a leather jacket, the zip was just over a third of the way closed. Her face was oval in shape but she had friendly eyes hazel eyes and a pleasant smile, her hair was shoulder length and brown. She said, “Hi, I’m Tina and this is Abs. Sandra asked us to meet you as she is waiting for a couple of other people to arrive at the pub.” Nick heard a male sounding voice, not a female one as would the clothes and the pair of breasts would indicate.
Abs was wearing a similar pair of baggies, a Dark Legion top and like Tina a leather jacket except Abs had two buttons done up. Her hair was matt black and platted all the way to her waist. They were both wearing a similar style pouches on their left hips.
As the three walked, Nick looked a little more closely at the pair and even though they both were wearing leather jackets he swore they both had budges just under their left arm pits and the right hand side had similar lumps.

*****

After walking and small talking with the pair they arrived at a set of stairs leading down to the basement of an old tenement block built of bricks and mortar. The window frames were of the new materials toughened environment resistant plastic; which meant in most people’s books, it was good at keeping out the weather, but utterly crap at keeping out bullets and shrapnel from grenades and similar. The block still had all its windows intact and looked as if it was being looked after by the inhabitants as the front door, which was up two steps, had a fresh coat of paint on and the walls were white washed. And the railings that protected the steps down also had a fresh coat of paint and looked newish compared to the rest of the metal work in the area.
“Here we are,” said Tina turning down the steps heading into the basement of a tenement block.
Nick then Abs followed Tina down the ten concrete steps which led to the front door of the pub. The door was painted red and had small windows each side. Tina opened the door, and stepped inside. Inside she held the door open for both Nick and Abs to enter.
Upon entering Nick saw Sandra and Paul sitting at one of the tables along with eight more people, some he had seen hanging around with the Paul and Sandra. The walls of the main tap room were lined with what looked like Oraka panels, but, from the neighbourhood, it was likely fake or laminated. The rest of the fixtures, which were made from natural wood, turned it from an underground bar into an old style pub of the mid 1900AM(After Meteorite). The rest of the cliental looked like good people. Most of them kept to themselves quietly chatting away about life, loves and work.
The three walked towards the bar where Nick ordered a pint a Caferras; an alcoholic drink that originated from the country of Eban. Tina and Abs then ordered a pint of Cabilla, each. Standing at the bar Nick watched the barman pour the three drinks. He looked happy to be working behind the bar serving customers. Nick thought he knew why, and from the way the people, who used the bar, looked it wasn’t the normal one of ‘At least I have a job and an earning a little money’ it was one more of general happiness at being there, making sure friends and the customers had a good service.
The barman placed Nick’s Caferras on the bar asking, “Three decks, please?”
Nick handed the barman three deck coins, picked up the glass turning to face the group he was meeting before going to the main party. They where sat a few feet away in the middle of the main Taproom.
He saw Tom sitting with the friends from school. He was happy at the fact Tom had come as he knew from stories he had overheard Tom had been the main target for the bullies since they had arrived at the school two years earlier. Tom wasn’t big in size, but Nick knew Tom had an intellect that few people realised he had.
Tom looked up smiling, at the fact Nick had been able to find the bar and had made it in one piece, from taking a mouthful of lager and called, “Hey Nick.”
Nick approached the group carrying his glass, he looked around and saw a spare wooden chair under an empty table near by and grabbed it. He moved the chair so it was close to the group, sitting down after a couple of the people had made room in the circle. Nick placed the glass down on the table turning to face Tom. “Hi Tom, good to see you here. At least I’m not the only person out of place here. Anyway I thought you weren’t going to make it?”
“No. I put my foot down and walked out. I needed a party to celebrate the last exam and not having to go back after I give the books I borrowed back, which I’ll do on Moroth.”
Paul looked at where Nick was sitting saying, “Hello Nick, it’s good to see you made the party.”
“Yeah hi Nicki.” Sandra turned smiling, with both her mouth and eyes, to look at Nick, saying when Tina and Abs when they had approached carrying their glasses of Cabilla, “Oh hi you two.”
Nick heard Sandra say, ‘Nicki’, but decided to make nothing of it, shrugging his shoulders. He then took the glass and took a mouthful and ending up with a white line of the froth across the top of his mouth, which he wiped away with the back of his hand.
“Hi Sandra,” both Abs and Tina responded and also joined Nick in grabbing two chairs and sitting down.

*****

Chapter 2 — Home Base

After a few drinks had been bought and consumed. Paul stood saying to the group, “Shall we head back to Home Base.”
Sandra looked at Nick as he stood, placing the chair back from where she had taken it from. ‘Nicki, I so want this weekend to be special, for you to embrace the other side of your personality, and also join us the Bitch Vixens Gangrel Street Gang unit.’

Paul led the group which consisted of Nick, Abs, Tina, Sandra, Paul, Tom, Nancy, and Jonathan out the back way and down the back alleyways.
Nick knew South Central was classified as a habitable district by the city council, but the look of the place he knew the real truth, it was a slum, and also understood why. The City or Surra’s government didn’t have the funds to do anything about changing that classification. Looking around at the state of the alleys and backstreets they were walking through, he began to wonder about the entire corporation and governmental system and the fact it only seemed to serve the rich and in some places those in employment and not those out of work with little hope of getting a job.
Most of dumpsters and wheelie bins were overflowing with rubbish. Even though by this time the light was fading and would be gone in an hour, he saw the small damp spots in the darkened corners. Paul was still leading the group as they crossed a local small piece of parkland, in which was a few beat up old swings and a slide. Along the north and west side was a line of Silver Deiridine(Der-a-dine) trees.
The conversation mixed with laughter was about school, life and those who deserved a good beating. The walk took fifteen minutes. He and Tom were walking just behind Jonathan, who Nick took a very close look at his back and just under the armpits. He saw two lumps just under the arm pits. As he looked at his back he recognized a shoulder holster setup from the outline he could see under a tightish leather jacket. He then knew that at least three and more than likely all the Gangrels where armed with at least pistols and more than likely combat knives. He also began to wonder, ‘What if the Gangrels aren’t just the name they use to make them stand out from the rest, I wonder if the Gangrel. Hang on, what was written above the wolf’s head, Gangrel Street Gang. Bloody Hell, why the fuck didn’t I guess before. All the Gangrels at school are members, they must be. If they belong to a gang, then they also belong to the Gith Community as well. Idiot.’
Paul led the group out of a footpath that linked the parkland with a minor road on which was the Paul and Sandra’s home. Nick looked both ways and saw the street, more like a dirt track than an actual road, as in places the tarmac had gone and the ground showed through and in other places was potholes. The houses were all single storey affairs with cross ways white facia boarding. A lot of the houses had broken windows or they had been boarded up. Some had an underground garage. Some had attic windows, which normally meant they had attic rooms. A few even looked burnt out. The areas between the houses and the pavements, had lots of rubbish and items which could be recycled if people had the skills to do so. On some the larger items had been arranged to construct makeshift fortifications that he thought the local children played around. He turned with the group and walked down the road towards the house.
He then saw the house was similar to the rest except that it was painted red and the area in front of the house was totally covered in concrete. Sticking out from the main house was an extension with a window, a long curtained window ran down the side of the house a few feet from the wall was the fence line with the neighbouring house. In front of the house and extension were a couple of motorbikes standing on their main stands, both of them had bit’s of their engines missing which was strewn around the bikes. Also stood on the concrete was an old four door family car, both the rear doors were missing as was the bonnet, which was stood up against the front of a house. Its tyres were stood in a stack between the car and the house. He saw a window that ran from the corner to the extension, which allowed light into the basement.
Paul turned down the driveway which headed down and was between the two wings, the left hand wing was larger than the right hand one. As he turned the corner and saw ten various motorbikes and motor-trikes, sat outside the closed garage doors. Paul headed for some steps up to a small veranda in front of the front door.
As Sandra was behind him and Tom, he stepped to left hand side and Tom stopped to allow Sandra up the steps before them. She stopped at the top and turned to look at Nick and Tom as they came up the steps.
Tom moved to follow Sandra up the steps first. Stepping around her at the top of the steps Nick stood at the bottom for a couple of seconds to look at the various motorbikes, wishing he was 18 now, and climbed the steps. He saw Sandra waiting in front of the door in.
As he reached the veranda Sandra asked, “Why are you here Nicki?”
He stopped in front of her, she had her head cocked to one size as if she were sizing him up. “It’s better than being at home waiting to be told to pack again and I’ve just finished my exams today. Come on, you invited me Sandra. Don’t you remember the email you sent concerning the party and earlier this week yours and Paul’s personal invite a couple of weeks ago.”
“Yeah I do remember. I am surprised you came, as you didn’t strike me as the type to enjoy all night parties.”
“I do sometimes, but I have to know the people who are going or organising it.”
Sandra turned and led him into the house. The open front door looked onto the living room-cum-open-plan kitchen. All the walls were a light red with indigo borders and doors, on the floor was a rich purple carpet. Along the back wall was an open fire place with a good sized fire burning and a large screen which had patterns that changed in time with the music which was playing from hidden speakers. The kitchen was split into one section with the washing-up sink in a large alcove to the left of the front door, the other section with the cooker and microwave was straight ahead of the door. Sticking out from the wall opposite the front door was a breakfast bar with a few seats tucked under it. Just round the corner from the front door was another door which he guessed might lead to the bedrooms. As he walked in, he smelt the three different incense sticks were being burnt. Candles in holders were burning, and gave the room a really relaxed atmosphere. As he breathe in the smells and the air inside the house he did begin to relax.
Already present were fifteen people most he hadn’t seen around the school, but they all were wearing the same type of clothes as Paul, Sandra and the others, all of them sitting on cushions, bean bags, or low-backed comfy armchairs and sofas. The addition of the new arrivals the living room was about full with out having space issues. The only two not dressed in traditional Gith clothing were Tom and himself. Tom was dressed in dark blue jeans and a red T-shirt. Paul took Nick’s, Sandra’s jacket and shoulder holster rig. He turned, and headed for the other door, he disappeared through it.
Sandra walked to the kitchenette, where the sink was, and got herself an open bottle of Cabilla from the fridge and two glasses from the draining board beside the sink. After she had poured out two glasses she put the bottle back in the fridge. She placed the two glasses down on the breakfast bar, pulling a stool out and sitting down.
Nick moved to stand on the living room side of the bar taking a mouthful of Cabilla after Sandra had passed him his, his improved hearing easily hearing the various conversations. He picked out Tom’s conversation and it sounded like he was enjoying him self. Nick took a second mouthful of Cabilla, a drink he liked. He watched Sandra thinking, ‘Are you the one person everyone looks for, the perfect match. I think I now understand what my life has been leading to. You know nothing about me and yet I feel as if you know me.’ The feeling of warmth and friendship he was feeling coming from the whole room was like nothing he had every felt before. The closest feeling he could remember was the friendship he had had with Jum-Fu and Wong-Ma all those years ago. ‘I hope those two still want to be friends.’ He hit himself internally. ‘Why didn’t I keep in contact with my friends.’
Sandra opened the pouch on her left hand side removing from it a small patar, lighter and a two once tin. The smell from the tin after Sandra had opened it was pleasant, not unlike one of the smells in the room. Sandra took a small amount of the dried green plant it contained, tearing it up before placing it in the large open end of the patar. She then took the lighter lighting it and placing the small end against her lips. She drew air through the pipe which drew the flame from the lighter into the bowl of the pipe. Sandra sucked the air through the pipe for a couple of seconds, she then held her breath, exhaling slowly.
“Yeah, I take people as I see them, not what they look like. And in both of you I see people who are loyal to their views on life. I know how you came to be at the school. Your family died in a terrorist explosion three years ago, the compensation award to you by the company for not protecting the health and safety of their contractors included schooling until the end of college.” He looked at the patar and saw the top of the large bowl was covered in white ash. Sandra took the patar back and took a second inhale and like before she held her breath, exhaling slowly, Sandra looked into the bowl and tapped the patar against her lighter.
Sandra took another draw on the patar and again held her breath. After a few seconds she exhaled a stream of smoke into the air above her.
“How come you know that?” Paul asked, “And that’s bullshit, it weren’t a terrorist attack, we’ll tell you at some point what we were told happened by friends of our parents.”
Nick turned facing Paul who was sat of the arm of the closest sofa. “I did some research into the two of you. A little background news archive research, and what I told you is all I know, but I don’t care about that. I see in both of you a loyalty to people who you call friends, and over the last nine months I’ve grown to respect the both of you in many ways.” Nick took his glass and took a mouthful, continuing after swallowing the liquid. “Even though you were almost never in school, the times you were you showed Tom and I respect and what I counted as friendship. Especially you, Paul, when you put that little twerp tight-end on the floor for giving me a dead arm.”
The gent sat beside Paul turned and offered a cigarette like object to Paul along with a lighter. Paul accepted it, then placed it in his mouth and lit it. When he had exhaled the smoke taken from the draw, he said, “That was nothing Nick. The twat deserved it; he had hit upon Abs and Sandra and had become a nuisance to both of them as well.”
Nick turned back to face Sandra. “And you Sandra, when I look at you I see friendly eyes and you always wear a smile when you see me.”
“Thank you Nicki. Oh, was it you that emailed me and Paul the notes from the lectures we missed?” she asked with a quizzical look on her face.
He heard the name Nicki again and without knowing what the other names were, he assumed it was aimed at him. ‘Ok, that’s twice. How would you know that’s the name I use when dressing. I never chatted to a real girl called Sandra in the Young Transgendered chat rooms I use.’
“Yes it was.” He looked away feeling his cheeks turning were heating up.
“Thank you Nicki.”
“Ok, what’s this with Nicki?” As that was the third time Nick had heard ‘Nicki’. Now Nick just wanted to find out why?
“Sorry, the first time I saw you walking to the far table in the canteen I saw someone who was down, but not the normal down of school life or the bullying you were getting. Let me explain. I watch people and being a Gangrel my vision is honed to quite a degree. In you I saw the muscle tone of a warrior, possibly a street fighter, and sometimes I am able discern what sex the person should be. Yours I very definitely can, it shows as female. Don’t you remember both me and Paul came and sat with you?”
“Yeah I do.”
“As members of the Gangrel Street Gang we are taught to see, the way you sat and held yourself confirmed it for me. Being new to the school, most men would be out trying to make friends, some girls sit defensively and make friends when other people approach. You acted very defensively towards us and when we sat with you for the first few times.”
“Yeah. I did. I think both me and Tom are a bit out of place here.”
“Yeah I know. The two girls Tina and Abs — we sent them to meet you so you would make it to the party without running afoul of the locals,” Paul said, after knocking the ash from the end of the cigarette passing it on to the woman sat in the arm chair proper.
Both the girls smiled as they were stood at the end of the breakfast bar. Both moved and gave him a hug and a quick kiss. He just felt his cheeks going red again as he wasn’t use to being hugged or the closeness the people at the party seemed to have with each other.
Paul then stood up and walked to the fridge, opened it, he took out a can of lager it fizzed as he opened it. When he had taken a swig he asked, “Can I ask you something Nick? Tom, I know why you are here, you love a good party.”
At this Tom smiled and continued to drink from a can of lager and chat to Wayne.
“Yeah, ask away,” taking a mouthful of Cabilla, the glass was about two thirds full. Nick placed the glass back on the breakfast bar turning to face Paul as he did.
“I guess you aren’t too happy with your life of constant moving from place to place. Am I right in this?” Paul enquired. “How long before your next move?”
Nick read Paul’s face and felt as if he should tell the truth as he and Sandra seemed to want to know what Nick felt. ‘What the hell is happening to me. Paul’s question was out of interest not out of checking me out for some reason.’
“A few weeks, maybe a month tops. Yeah you’re right, I do wish my family would just settle down someplace and give me a normal life.”
“Have you ever thought of doing a bunk and disappearing?” asked Sandra. She took a draw on the pipe and again after holding it for a few seconds exhaled the blue tinted smoke.
“No, I’ve not had friends who would take me in to allow me that chance, plus it would hurt my family.”
“It’s time for you to think about you Nick,” Paul responded in a matter of fact tone to Nick’s statement. “You will be going off to college in a couple of months anyway, they know that?”
“True,” Nick said, and after a pause, Sandra passed him the pipe reloaded, with fresh dried plant taken from her tin and a lighter. “What do I do with this Sandra?”
“Smoke it. Stick the end with the small hole against your lips, hold the flame end over the bowl, light the lighter, and suck,” replied Sandra in a sarcastic tone. Nick heard a chuckle from the people that had heard the question.
Nick placed the small end against his lips and sparked the flint which lit the lighter. He then drew air through the pipe. The smoke from the burning dried plant burnt his throat as it went down into his lungs, this caused the involuntary response of a bout of hard coughing as he brought mucus from the wind pipe into his throat to cool the burnt area. The coughing lasted for a good thirty seconds and even then he could still feel the tenderness of the area. When he had finished coughing, the chemicals that had been absorbed into his blood began to take effect and he felt himself relaxing even more than the environment had relaxed him when he had walked in. As he relaxed he began to hear the music and smelt the smells from the various incense sticks being burnt. The music being played was excellent, slowly a smile of contentedness spread across his face.
Sandra asked, “Do you want to stay in this city?”
“Given the chance, no. But I am not going to be able to go to the city I would want to live in.”
“Which is?”
“Theaban, the capital of Jarrzar. I had a couple of very good friends there.”
“Ok. This isn’t Jarrzar but I have grown to really like you over the few times I’ve been with you. Paul, Tina and Abs have all said yes to you living here if you want.”
“You serious?” he responded looking at Sandra in I’m not hearing this, ‘Your giving me the chance to disappear, why?’
“Very. I’ve never been more serious,” replied Sandra.
“Do you want to fit in here, Nick?” asked Paul.
“Maybe. Well yes, if it’s possible.” He looked at Paul and saw a few of the people beyond were looking happy at something. Tom’s face was one of go for it man, you deserve it.
“I guess you are worrying about things like clothes, yes?” asked Paul.
He nodded his head.
“Don’t worry about things like that. We plan ahead. We have to.”
Sandra picked up the two glasses of Cabilla moving from behind the breakfast bar, leading Nick to a couple of empty bean bags. She then sat down with her legs out-stretched, placing the two glasses on the raised area that surrounded the fireplace.
Nick took a long draw from the pipe and, for a second time, spent twenty seconds coughing.
At this everyone in the room laughed and said at the same time “Welcome to the land of the stoned.”
Nick began to feel very light headed, everything started to spin. The next thing Nick realised he was sitting in the lap of Sandra. He could feel her hand slowly stroking his bare arm in a seductive manor.
She brought her head close to his ear whispering, “Don’t be startled and please hear me out.”
Nick smelt the fragrance Sandra was wearing. ‘I know that smell, where from.’ Nick thought about what Sandra had just said and nodded, ‘Yes. Ok’.
Sandra continued, “I know about what you do in your spare time. The cross-dressing and all that.”
His eyes opened widely. “Hey! How?” he whispered back somewhat angrily.
“You are not the only one who does research into people. I’ve been watching you for a few months. We in the Gangrels invite members to join rather than accept just anyone as most people couldn’t live up to our standards. I’ve also broken into your place and found the clothes.”
“Shit, why didn’t I upgrade the security at home?”
“What?” Sandra asked in a tone that said, ‘I’m interested in knowing the reason behind that reply.’
“I’m a freelance security expert, I break into people’s houses and test the security and, if the owners want an upgrade, I upgrade it so most thieves can’t break in.”
“Ah...” Nick heard Sandra’s voice raise as something clicked. “I see. You see Tina?”
He nodded yes.
“She is a full-time cross dresser and you know how good she is at Electronics; she made our bike communication system and it’s also used by seven other Gangrel Street Gang units. Come with me and say goodbye to Nick.”
“Ok. I think I can see where this is going, and you don’t mind?” Nick said in a questioning manner
“No, to be honest I have fallen in love with you, and it’s not your male ego either.” Sandra responded wearing the smile Nick loved so much. “Come with me.”
Nick stood up and helped Sandra to her feet. He then followed Sandra as she moved around the outside of the main seating area towards the door that led to the bedrooms.

Paul looked at the two as they headed for Sandra’s room. He smiled, and thought ‘Welcome to the Gangrels Nick.’

*****

Chapter 3 - Neighbourhoods

The corridor was a good thirty feet long and five feet wide. From the corridor were three closed doors and one open one, which led to the bathroom. Just behind the door hanging from the wall was a coat rack with the various jackets and shoulder holster rigs of the guests on. On the floor was a thin blue carpet, the walls were the same colour as the living room and had low wattage bulbs in the light fixtures.
Sandra led Nick to her bedroom, where she grabbed her leather jacket a second one and her shoulder holster rig from some hangers behind the door. The spare jacket she handed Nick was a standard leather jacket that just covered the torso from the waist up, on the back was a similar Wolf’s head motif as Tina was wearing. “You had better wear this. We’ve taking my bike. I want to show you the city after dark on this side of the street, where life truly is.”
“Ok.” Nick looked at Sandra and was wearing a face he had forgotten about. It was the one that was interested in learning about the environment, the ups, the downs, where people went for what and everything else Nick could learn, Nick’s Street Ghost face.
The two of them walked back through the living room, where Sandra took down, from the shelf beside the front door, two small black boxes. Sandra with Nick following walked into the early evening proper. The sun was now gone, but in the west you could see the redness of the evening. The redness faded to a mid blue and then it gradually faded to black which ran from about the middle of the sky. Sandra walked to where her bike was parked under the veranda. Nick stood at the bottom of the steps staring in shock, at the size of it, as she wheeled it out and propped it on the second stand. The light above the garage door provided enough light for Nick to see the bike was clean and looked well maintained. She handed Nick one of the small black boxes out of which came two wires, one was attached to a piece of material the second length of wire was attached to an ear piece. “Our communication system, put this on and we’ll be able to chat as we are driving.”
“Ok,” responded Nick smiling. Nick clipped the black box to his trousers, placing the earpiece in his ear. He then watched Sandra put hers on and copied the location for the material band. Nick felt the small piece of technology was sown into the middle of the band rest against his Adams apple the his voice box.
“Place the tech against your voice box, you only need to make the voice box vibrate, the technology in the material picks up the vibration and the box transmits it to all people on the frequency in the 3-mile range. The earpiece removes the air from your ear channel and then via the piece behind your ear vibrates the responses to the bones of your middle ear.”
He heard Sandra’s voice over the earpiece say, “Do you hear me ok?”
Rather than talking normally, he kept his mouth closed and forced the voice box to vibrate as if he was speaking. “Yeah, do you hear me?”
“Yeah, I do.” Nibs smiled at the affirmation.
Nick watched Sandra who stood the Wazz-Uki 1000 up off its side stand and swung her leg over so she could sit on the bike. She flicked out the kick start, which was located on the right hand side, out. She semi stood and forced the kick start down hard. As the engine caught Sandra operated the throttle a little. She then let the engine drop to a gentle purr. She turned and patted the seat behind her.
As she throttled he heard the engine, even with his relatively limited knowledge of motorbikes, the engine sounded well looked after. He walked towards the motorbike putting the jacket on as he did. He swung his leg over the passenger’s seat sitting behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held on.
Sandra switched the lights on, pulled the clutch, dropped the gears into first, throttled up, releasing the clutch as she increased the throttle. The clutch caught and the engine sound dropped as it started to pull at the back brake. Sandra released the brake and pulled the bike up and out of the darkening driveway. At the end of the driveway, Sandra turned left onto the minor street.
Sandra drove down the short distance between the driveway and the main road that ran from Richmond Park District and West Central District. At the junction Sandra turned the bike west and headed towards the western end of Central District.

*****

Sandra drove down the street at 40 miles per hour allowing Nick the chance to look around and see what life was like for the lower and underclass of society. As he looked at the street he saw that this main road was very similar to 76th street, except there were no drug dealers. Instead he saw both male and female street walkers touting for business from the passing cars belonging to the better offs, or those locals who had some money as they headed for the night clubs and parties. Nick saw a pair of girls climb into the back of a saloon car. Nick could hear the trendy popular songs that most of the commercial radio stations played, being played over one hundred feet away, and it got louder as they approached. It indicated and suddenly pulled out in front of Sandra which caused her to brake and swerve around him. She hit the horn and stared at the driver who looked back and looked like he was laughing. Nick wasn’t sure if he was laughing at Sandra’s reaction or something that had been said in the car.
He looked at both sides of the streets up the side roads. The buildings were run down only, only one in six maybe seven looked as if was being looked after by the landlords or the inhabitants, maybe both. Even on the side streets that joined the main road, it looked very much the same. The pavements and roads were broken up or in the process of breaking up, had potholes in or the tarmac was worn way and the surface beneath was visible. Down some he saw CSP(Corporate Security Checkpoints) which normally indicated the borders of an enclave either belonging to a specific corporation or the corporation his mum and dad worked for. These sights and what he had seen as he arrived disgusted him, he began to recall what his friend, the Street Ghost, Uhura had told and showed him on a few occasions. ‘The corporations have a lot to answer for.’ His thoughts went back to the conversation he had had with his father when they were living in Jarrzar and the chat with Wong-Ma’s father about Capitalism and the ‘corporate way’. He was beginning to see both of the concepts and theories as being fundamentally wrong. Looking at the corners as Sandra drove past, showed people down on their luck, street walkers, or the homeless not those who didn’t want to work, but people who the corporations didn’t need. They would work if given the chance, but they wouldn’t care about the ethics of the companies or corporations, just to get a little money to support themselves. Other corners had groups of youths milling about looking for something to do, or watching for other gangs to attempt to transgress the borders. Eighty percent of the shops on the main road were either burnt out, had the fronts covered by heavy wooden sheets or metal grills.
Nick heard, over the earpiece, Sandra’s voice, “This is the real city, the corporations have priced 90% of the small independently owned local shops out of business. The only place people can buy anything are corporate-run Malls and mega-stores, where most of the stuff is over priced and not of good quality.”
As she was saying this she drove past a large, brightly lit open plot. On the far side was a massive building, easily three stories the large sign that took up the top two floors in the centre said, ‘Rotanna HyperStore’.
“I never knew about this.” Nick realized, ‘Maybe Sandra was right. Maybe he was a warrior, a warrior for the people not the MegaCorporations he would have likely joined if he had not been offered this chance.’

*****

Fifteen minutes after leaving the house, Sandra slowed and stopped the bike. She then kicked down the kick stand climbing off after Nick had. They both walked towards the edge of an old quarry workings drop. He stopped and stood next to Sandra looking out over the site.
In front of him was a large site with tall chimneys, large buildings and large covered tanks, that probably contained some form of chemical. The chimneys were spewing smoke and all the buildings and tanks were lit up by powerful lights. His improved vision was picking out the various vehicles that were driving on the roads inside the compound, vapours coming from joins in the various pipes that ran all over the site. Surround the site was an eight feet high wall topped by barb wire facing out over the pavement. He looked at the towers that jutted out from the wall, each one looked as if they were for watching the inside of the walls. He knew that was to get around the laws that indicated anyone outside the grounds was under the judistiction of the city government. The convex mirrors and the two guards watching the city side of the wall proved how this corporation was getting around that World Government law.
He settled his vision on one of the guard towers seeing the inside, he saw that most of the towers had at least three guards. Placed on a weapons rack, hung on the wall was five assault grade weapons. Each tower was equipped with ten high powered lights that shone towards the floor and out from the tower.
“What is this place?” he asked.
“This place was bought by the corporation your father and mother works for and is the site where my mum and dad died. The previous owners in the upper management kept the budget to be spent on Health and Safety signs and warnings and general inspections, far lower than other companies spent, to increase the bottom line. They knew to run the correct Health and Safety procedures on all their sites would slash the profits by a third.”
Nick heard the ‘slash the profits by a third’ and stared at Sandra. “You are kidding.”
Sandra shock her head and Nick read the face and it to said, ‘no’. “In the end most days it was a miracle an accident didn’t happen. One day one did happen; a large stack of 25 gallon drums, which was far higher than was correct for the chemical the barrels contained should have been. The drums contained a bio-hazardous chemical. The stack collapsed and crushed the cab on the truck my dad was driving. The resulting spill as the drums spilt and tops flew off, also killed mum. She was the first on the scene and the signs that should have been visible weren’t. It was found out later than none existed at all on the entire sight, none of the drums had signs others were even mis-labelled. From what we were told by Echo Tech Security Investigations, neither would have suffered the fumes alone did most damage to the first eight on site. As all of them died within thirty seconds. Then the first corporate rescue services arrived and they had the correct breathing appartatus. Did you hear about the Maplar Chemical spill three years ago.”
“Yes, from what I remember Digital System News went massive on the whole tradagey and because of this the corporation was forced to settle big time.”
“Yeah, big time. To the high profile management maybe, not to us the mear contractors families. The corporation apologized and paid a pittance to us, and if it weren’t for Echo Legal Support Trust paying the legal bills we probably wouldn’t have gotten that. They then sold the entire site to Ebbsu and made over four million on the sale. They did offer to school us both and pay for our college, but we weren’t looking for that. We needed a lump sum to make sure that we were supported. The biggest advantage was that mum and dad owned the house outright, so we weren’t homeless after the accident.”
Nick knelt down and placed his hands around the sides of his face and rested his elbows on his knees. He had heard what Sandra had said, and began to wonder what Timaus had meant when he said, ‘The Echo Trusts are what make the difference to the people outside the umbrella.’ ‘If Echo Legal Support Trust paid for the legal costs. Hang on what did I hear, ‘All Corporations had dirty hands except C.Industries hands are dirty cleaning up the other corporations messes.’ I know C.Industries is under the Echo Tech Umbrella, and if. Bloody hell! Now I understand.’
“Back on the bike. We have a three more places to visit. The next one is one of the few public hospitals run by the government left in the city.”

*****

The route Sandra took to the hospital, which was located south of the factory complex, took only ten minutes, but it ran through one of the many true slum areas of South Central. Here like before Nick saw the same, rundown apartment blocks, tenement buildings and open areas waiting for some corporation to buy the land and put a new enclave or business park on it. As Sandra drove past one of the few Free Fire Zones which operated in or on the borders of the district. Nick saw the areas of battle damage to the houses and the large expanses of waste land or rubblized buildings. In these areas Nick knew from watching the various news programs that law and order was in the hands of either the local gangs or strong men and small groups of well armed thugs.
Sandra slowed and turned into the small car-park outside the Emergency and Casualty entrance. She stopped the bike in one of the bays for bikes. Both Nick and her climbed off and walked in through the open double doors. The inner set were closed and Sandra pushed the middle and opened the two so she could walk into the waiting room. Once through the door she was accosted by a young boy who slipped past Sandra and out through the closing double doors.
Nick noticed that he looked ill, but he still had a smile on his face when he saw Sandra. His checked shirt was faded and the trousers he was wearing was torn in places and patched in others.
Sandra turned to face Nick. “I volunteer along with the most of the people at the party, and I know most of the regulars in here personally as I also home visit. The problem this and the other public hospitals have is that the corporations price the drugs at the point that if you don’t have medical insurance you don’t get the treatments. David, the young one we saw when we walked in suffers from lukaria, and his parents can’t really afford the drugs and treatments he needs, but they do so by not eating for days at a time. Some days when I come here I’m surprised that he’s not gone.”
Nick stood to one side of the door and shook his head and looked around the waiting room, it was full to overflowing. He saw two doctors, five nurses and two orderlies, all had large bags under their eyes. The waiting room itself wasn’t exactly clean, but it wasn’t dirty either. On most of the seats were children or young mothers nursing babies and toddlers.
Sandra had moved and sat down on one of the only free red plastic seats. She began chatting with one mother who was holding a small baby, who was quietly crying.

“Don’t cry, what’s wrong?” Sandra asked in a comforting voice.
“My baby is sick. The doctor says he can’t do anything. They don’t have the necessary drugs to treat her, and I can’t afford to go to the any other hospital.”

Nick looked at the mother and saw in her face and the way she held her baby the love she had for the infant. Inside Nick’s stomach went very tight and his face changed from shock to one of anger for the Corporations generally. ‘Why price the drugs out of reach of the people.’ Nick turned and walked calmly out of the waiting room back into the night. He headed for one of the columns supporting the cover for the Emergency Entrance. He bent down leaning against the column and stared into the night sky, his face one of pure anger and hatred. ‘Timaus, Damien, I think I will be joining the ranks of the Street Ghosts. Creator help the Corporations when I have finished with them.’

*****

Sandra looked up from playing with the baby and looked around for Nick. She saw he had disappeared. She got up and wandered out the main door into the night. From the light produced by the four working fluorescence tubes and the light streaming from the entrance, she saw him leaning up against a column looking into the night’s sky the light being produced by the main moon. Sandra walked the short distance to where he was standing. “You ok?”
“No,” came Nick’s reply, “I’m actually very angry. Earlier today I remembered what my friends in Theaban showed me all those years ago, the corporate brainwashing the schools do had an effect on me. Until now that is. Does the girl know who the father is?” Nick stood up turning to face Sandra.
Sandra looked into a face of someone who had made up their mind, and The Creator help those who get in the way. “I wouldn’t have thought so. Most of the mothers are single mothers, and the fathers are corporate middle and upper management that want a bit on the side as well as a nice family life. Do you want to head back to the house hun? I think you’ve seen enough for one evening.”
“Thanks. Where were you going to take me next?” Sandra walked with Nick to where the bike was parked.
“Just to the tower, it’s a place where the street people go to be in a quiet place away from the busy street and survival. It’s where we watch the Corporations conduct business and to watch the world go by.”
“Let’s go there. Can I drive for a bit?”
“Yeah you can.” She handed Nick the keys and let Nick climb onto the driver’s position.
Nick slammed the kick start down and the engine caught. Nick let the engine settle into a purr.
Sandra climbed on behind him. “So can I take it you are going to stay on this side of the street with us Dirt Siders?”
Nick turned his head and smiled ‘Yes I am’ at Sandra. ‘I think I have found my partner and equal.’

*****

On the journey from the hospital to the Tower, Sandra directed Nick on a small tour of the city, so he could see the sights and places the Dirt Siders called home. To sites the corporations wanted, where hired in thugs and gangs, from other districts were told to empty, forcibly I need be, one, more than likely a few tenement and apartment blocks. The Corporate Security Forces providing a barrier between the angry locals and the thugs throwing the furniture from upper storey windows so that when the item landed it shatter or brake. Forcing the people to clear up the mess as the city security would arrest them for littering. Nick could see groups of twos and threes from Echo Security. They were powerless to help the people as the corporation had purchased the land from the city government, they just didn’t bother with the niceities of the housing laws; giving the occupants time to leave on their own. The following night after the contract was signed the Thugs moved in and started the clearance and put up the hoardings that would keep out the squatters.
“That’s the way the sites are left as empty vacant buildings for months, sometimes years. I’ve seen a couple of sites that have been owned by one Corporation lie empty for six years, and they still don’t look like it’s going to do anything to the site,” Sandra said over the communication system.

*****

He pulled up outside the Needle Dome Tower. The car park was full of disused and burnt out vehicles ranging from the massive seven trailer road train cabs to the small sub compacts. In places he could see the angles cars were at indicated they had been involved in explosions, probably from local gangs having turf battles. The lights would have illuminated the car-park no longer worked. Having had the lighting filaments stolen, busted or fail from useage long ago. His knowledge of the city told him that the Needle Dome Tower once upon a time was one of the main attractions of the City. The observation platform restaurant was world famous for its food. Then sixty years ago Echo Tower Suraban was constructed and opened by the world president. The floating restaurant became the place to be seen and people flocked to it, the Needle Dome tower lost it’s appeal. Then 40 years ago Suraban City Government closed it as it was costing a couple of million a year and they could not afford it.
Sandra climbed off and taking his hand she led him to a busted window pane near where the lobby finished and the offices that made up the first five floors started. Once they where inside the lobby, he saw a expansive area with four separate reception desks and above there were the signs of the last companies to use the office space in the dome. They found the only working lift to be at the bottom of the shaft, which nick guessed normally indicated no one was on the observation platform or the top of the dome. They travelled up to the top of the dome, walking out on to the surface. They walked to where the dome started to go down and became dangerous. The entire dome was made from galvanised Setadar panels welded to a reinforced Setadar frame work. He had seen Tele programs that told the story of the construction of the dome and the supporting tower as well. They sat down looking north, out across the city towards the Commercial and corporate centre of Central, South Docks and East Stevran Districts.
The night sky above was clear except for the odd cloud. The stars that made up the heaven twinkled and looked down upon the pair. Sandra placed her hand around his waist and held him tight. He could feel that the holding was affectionate but it missed something, Nick could not work out what it missed. In the sky flew short haul passenger planes, cargo planes and suborbitals, as they flew four to five hundred passengers at speeds in excess of Mach seven and eight. It would take a suborbital four hours to fly from Suraban to Echo City where an old style jet plane would take eight or nine hours.
The pair spent a good while there just looking out at the sky scrapers of Central, watching the police, local news and radio station choppers, as they went about their business. They both rolled and slowly smoked an entire Cambar cigarette and laughed at some of their adventures in Suraban. The sounds that drifted up to them were the sirens of local and Echo Tech Security vehicles speeding down the roads, the local emergency response units, and just the sounds of vehicles moving around.
Nick saw Sandra look up and she pointed at her favourite star shape, Nick saw it and smiled, neither of them wanting to destroy the special occasion this was.

Sandra looked into the face of Nick and saw happiness, joy and what she thought was unconditional love for her.

‘Are you the one Sandra, are you the one I’m meant to spend my life with?’ Nick thought. He too looked into Sandra’s face and saw happiness at being here with him.

Sandra thought whilst sitting on the Dome, with the person she hoped would become her partner, ‘Mum, dad I wish you were alive now to see me and also to welcome the Bitch Vixens’ newest member I think.’

After thirty minutes had passed, but it could have be a couple of hours for all the pair cared.
Sandra said, “One more place to go Nick, do you remember I said to let yourself go and say good bye to Nick?”
“Yeah I do.”
“Then do so and let me and the guys show you what you could look and feel like,” she paused for a bit, “in reality. For if I am right then the Aces Gang is going to be in for a shock.”
“Ok.” Nick replied smiling evilly to her self. At this Nick knew Nick was on his last few minutes of life. ‘Be warned, for the Black Fairy rises.’

*****

Chapter 4 — The changing of Nicholas Calton.

The pair travelled back to where the motorbike was park, and Nick drove back to the house where they entered the house through the side door, located on the furthest longest wall from the living room.
Nick was led by Sandra into her bedroom, where when they had entered he looked around the room which was about the same size as his old room. A fitted wardrobe lined the wall that backed onto the other large bedroom, a dressing table sat opposite along with a couple of shelving units on which was a few books and other items of Sandra’s. The floor was polished wooden laminate. A double bed, with a bed side table on each side, sat under the window. An office style chair sat under the dressing table and a couple of easy chairs sat on the corridor wall.
Nick handed his jacket to Sandra who hung it from the coat hooks, behind the door they were joined by Sandra’s boot knife and shoulder holster rig. Sandra then led Nick to the chair under the dressing table and sat Nick down. “I want to ask you something.”
“Ok, ask away.” Nick replied looking happily into the eyes of his friend.
“Will you Nick, allow me to transform you, from who you are now into who we both know you are inside here?” and she stabbed her finger into Nick’s chest.
“I do,” replied Nick.
“Undress then, totally.” Sandra headed for her wardrobe starting to rummage through it.
Nick did just that he undressed removing all of his clothes including the female mini briefs and top he had worn earlier. He knew his physique was not too bad, toned and honed by the cycling and shadow sparring he did. Most weekends he would do a good forty miles in the higher gears and the route normally included at least two good hill climbs. His Sumdar afternoons were spent in the garden of his old home shadow fighting and running through the various forms and sequences he had been taught during his life on the road. The one advantage he knew he had was, he had a lot less body hair than most men, including his dad, and most of it was really light in colour and difficult to see against his skin.

“How much smoking terminology do you understand?” Sandra asked looking right at his face after checking the rest of the body over. ‘You are going to make one hell of a good looking Vixen.’
“A bit. I know what a Waterpipe and a patar are and how to roll a cigarette, but that’s about it, until I came here I have never even smoked a cigarette.”
“See my pouch?” Sandra said pointing to the pouch on her belt. “Get the tin out and load the blue waterpipe with Cambar.”

“Ok.” He hoped no one was going to walk in whilst he was in his current state. He stood and walked to where Sandra was still rummaging through the chest of draws inside the wardrobe where he took the tin out, opened it and scooped out some Cambar and loaded the waterpipe like Sandra had requested.
After he had loaded it, Sandra said, “Bring it here.”
Nick walked towards her carrying the waterpipe.
Sandra stood and took the waterpipe, she took her lighter out of the pouch and lit it. After putting the large end against her mouth she took a good draw from the waterpipe which bubbled as she drew the smoke through the pipe and through the water. After finishing the smoke in the long tube she handed it to Nick along with the lighter.
Nick also too took a good draw from it, this time only coughing a few times as the water cooled the hot smoke. He held it in for a few seconds exhaling the smoke slowly.
Sandra stood up holding a black corset which she had taken from a hanger in the main wardrobe section. She passed him it along with a matching thong. He stepped into the thong and pulled it up. The feeling of him pulling it up was the death blow of Nick. For the next how ever long it took her true love to transform Nick from his current state to the new and improved person was her cocoon stage. The female to emerge the other side would take the war to the Corporations that deserved her retribution.
Sandra moved around to Nick’s back wrapping the corset around Nick. The front middle was hooked from the bottom to the top. Sandra tightened the ribbon until the corset was tight but not uncomfortable. Sandra then took a box from the top of the chest of drawers, opening it and taking out two breast forms which she slipped into the right locations. She removed them and applied a gluey substance to the flat back and for a second time she positioned them and stepped back. She smiled and nodded her approval at the way Nick was beginning to look. “See what I mean, I think ahead. Sit in the chair and Tina and I will do your makeup. You want a drink?”
“Yeah please.” He walked to the chair in front of the dresser and sat down, waiting for Sandra and Tina to return.

*****

Sandra walked out and headed to the fridge and took two lagers out. She saw Tina looking at her with a face that side, ‘what’s happening hun?’
Sandra smiled back and mouthed, “Shall we dance hun.”
Tina’s head nodded an approving way and tapped Abs on the arm.

“It’s almost time to welcome our ninth member.”

“I’ll get everything ready. A Delt 357 you think?”
“Yeah,” answered Tina as she got up and taking her glass followed Sandra towards Sandra’s bedroom.
As Tina was disappearing through the corridor door Abs was walking through the front door heading for the garage and the Bitch Vixens arsenal.

Sandra walked back in with Tina closely following. Tina closed the door and the pair looked at Nick and Tina walked towards Nick thinking about something.
“Can we do this without you seeing the results until the end?”
“Ok, I guess, as long as I can still drink!”

Sandra walked to the wardrobe and opened it, she had an idea how long Tina was going to be over the base makeup, this gave her about thirty minutes to get the items for Nick to wear. Hold-Ups were a must as Nick did like to wear stocking at points as she had found numerous pairs when she had broken in.
She took a pair out of the top drawer. She turned to face Tina waving to get her attention. Tina looked at her and she pointed at her boots and then at Nick’s shoes and mouthed, ‘Size?’
Tina bent down and grabbed on and tossed it at Sandra. Sandra caught the underarm lob and looked inside and saw the size said eight. She smiled as she was had the same size feet. She bent down and took out one of her spare Setadar Toe Capped Biker Boots and placed them down she stood up and took one of her Black eight inch wide baggies. It was soon joined by one of the matching tops she had. She removed her top and slipped the matching one on. She walked to where Tina was applying the white setting powder.

Tina took a blindfold from the top draw of the dresser and placed it over Nick’s eyes, smiling as she did. Tina turned and opened Sandra’s dresser side drawers which revealed Sandra’s main make-up supply, this was joined by Sandra’s small travelling case. Tina rummaged through the bottom left draw and found a new, un-opened Gothage White Matt Concealer Foundation she took it out along with a large tub of moisturizer. She opened the moisturizer and took some and massaged it into Nick’s face, when the moisturizer had gone she applied the Concealer Foundation and that too was massaged into until it was a thin layer covering enough of the shadow to make people wonder, as Tina knew when Nick started hormones it would be so much easier to cover the shadow as the speed it grew slowed and became finer.
Tina looked at Nick sat there in the chair whilst she waited for the foundation to set slightly, she thought, ‘If you bring just your skills in electronics and computers to us, you are going to be an asset to us, but seeing you like this, I think you are going to bring so much more, welcome to the Gangrels whatever you name yourself. It will be a pleasure to work along side you.’
When it had set to the point she applied the white finishing powder she took the large brush and the pot of loose powder. Sandra mixed her own out of a slightly clean finishing powder and bright white talcum powder. Tina dabbed the powder all over Nick’s face and then lightly brushed the powder so it covered what it had to, including the top and side join of the form to the skin.
Sandra then walked over carrying some clothes and smiled at the way Nick looked.

After Nick had felt the brush applying some finishing power to his face, he was stood on and felt the other friend slide a pair of something that felt like a silky, very fine mesh like material. He realised that these must be a pair of hold-up stockings.
Nick then had his right foot placed into what felt like a pair of boots. Nick was allowed to stand whilst he felt someone checking the boot for a fitting. It was removed and Nick was sat back down into the chair.
Tina said to Nick, “Close your eyes hun. I’m about to remove your blindfold so I can do the last bit, your eyes.”
Nick closed this eyes and the blindfold was removed. Nick could feel the moisturizer and then the foundation being applied to the eye area and the area covered by the blindfold. When the setting powder had been applied, he felt eye-shadow being applied to the eye lids, this feeling was followed by liquid eyeliner which he felt being applied to the upper lids along the edge of the eyelashes. The application of Mascara was the last job Tina did. Nick was at last able to take a swig from his can of beer.
Nick then felt a pair of trousers being slipped on. He was made to stand so the trousers could be pulled right up and fastened. This was followed by the pulling on of the top which finished his look. He felt his right boot being lifted again and placed in the boot again. When Nick was firmly into the boot the left leg was lifted and placed into the other boot.
Nick felt the hair tie being removed for the male pony tail he wore and one of the pair’s hands slightly change his hair, probably to a slightly more feminine look.
The other one led Nick a few feet and stopped him saying, “Open your eyes my lover.”
She opened his eyes and looked right at a full length mirror. The human looking back, was the one from Nick’s dreams, a real bitch-looking female with nicely sized breasts cleavage was implied rather than shown directly. Her hips were noticeable but not too large. The boots, the new person was wearing, felt comfortable, and the trousers where of the baggy variety most Giths preferred, when not wearing long skirts. The top was tight and you could just see the outline of the corset through it. ‘I need to correct the minor issue of the forms and other male noticeable bits.’ He stood looking at the woman looking back and knew with out any doubt that she had made the right choice.
Through the haze of the birth Nick heard Sandra’s voice saying, “Tina did your face while I got the clothes ready.”
Nick realised that ‘her’ was here to stay. ‘I’m not being known as Nicki, that’s for sure.’ He thought for a few seconds and decided on her new name.
“Thank you both. I think I’ll be called Nibola Calton — or Nibs for short.”

Sandra heard the name and thought, ‘I was so right when I asked the guys about asking you to join.’ “Welcome to the Gangrels, Nibs.”

Nibs turned to face Sandra and saw she was wearing a matching top. Her face was one of pure happiness.
“Yes welcome to the Gangrels, Nibs. Let’s introduce our newest member to the others,” said Tina with a happy tone in her voice.
“Just confirm something for me, the Gangrels are a street gang?”
Tina stepped towards the door to open it saying as she did, “Yes, The Gangrels are a Street Gang that we all, bar Tom, belong to.”
“Yes, let’s.” Sandra moved to Nibs’ side stepping through the open door slightly ahead of Nibs. Tina joined the two and brought up the rear.
Sandra walked to the door to the living room and opened it allowing Nibs to enter first.

Paul saw the door open and stood up from the chair he was sitting in. he moving to stand beside the door, just as the newest member entered. He took something out of his trouser pocket placing it around Nib’s neck. “Use the patar with pride.”

Nibs saw that Abs was standing beside Paul. In her hands was an open pouch, and inside was the same size tin as everyone else’s, the belt was a standard combat utility belt, a lot of Street Ghosts used, as did she when she broke in to homes. Abs wrapped the belt around Nibs’ waist securing it at the front. She then made sure the pouch was on the left hand side of Nib’s body. “Always keep the tin topped up.”
Nibs turned and saw everyone in the room was smiling. She completed the turn and gave Sandra a kiss on the lips.
After the kiss broke Sandra said, “In the cellar here and a few other places throughout the city we have enough Cambar growing to supply us all and keep us supplied all the time.”
“Thank you all.” Nibs moved into the living room. Only once before in her or Nick’s life had she felt so welcomed, and that was during Nick’s life whilst she was living in Jarrzar at the party a couple of weeks before she left and went to Rujunvia, ‘I wonder how Tammeria’s getting on?’
“Darla also has something for you,” Abs said smiling similar smiles as Sandra, Paul and the rest of the people.

*****

Tom looked up when the door had opened and Paul had moved to stand beside the door. Tom stared as the new arrival walked in. Tom saw Paul place a patar around her neck and then Abs wrapped a belt with a pouch on around her waist. After moving away from the pair she turned and gave a kiss to Sandra who returned the kiss. Tom saw Paul was smiling more than anyone else at this action. The kiss broke and the woman entered the living room proper, where Tom saw her take the tin from her pouch and load the pipe.
He thought, ‘When I walked into the party I was in heaven,’ but to look at the newest arrival he knew he was missing something in his life. He got up and walked over, asking, “May I ask your name madam?”
“You may,” the woman’s replied, “My name is Nibola Calton or Nibs for short.”
“Hang on, I know that voice.” He stared in utter shock as he realised he was taking to Nick, but this was not Nick. “Nick?” he exclaimed and asked at the same time.
“Nick — who’s Nick?” came her reply, “Nick is dead. Nibs now inhabits this body.”
Tom heard true confidence in her voice and the slight slouch Nick had was gone, Nibs stood straight and held her head high. “You’ve changed Nick somehow Sandra.” ‘I wish I had someone who would do that for me,’ Tom was unhappy inside as he had a feeling he would never find true love. The kiss Nibs had given Sandra showed true love, love for an equal.

*****

Nibs looked at Tom as he returned to his seat, and saw that even though Tom hid it well, he was unhappy. ‘One day Tom, I think this evening is me being invited to join and for you to be helped.’ Darla stood up closely followed by Angel and Damieel. As the pair walked just behind Darla, Nibs looked at them seeing two very happy identical females. Darla was carrying a long box with the clip to open it facing Nibs. Darla held the box so Nibs could open it, inside was an eight-inch combat survival knife and scabbard. Angel and Damieel both moved around Darla and kissed Nibs on each cheek. Nibs moved to the seat Jonathan and Michella had vacated for her and Sandra she saw everyone in the room was smiling at welcoming a new member. Nibs knew that this day she had left the world of a loner and entered the world where the whole of the Gangrel Street Gang was her friend.

*****

15th Juwar 02:00BN
At two in the morning Paul suggested, “Let’s go and have some fun with the vents.”
The thirteen people who were still enjoying the party all stood smiling, as this had turned into a great party, the welcoming or a new member, and now having fun with the ‘Vents’.
“Yeah,” responded a few of the party goers as they stood up to follow Paul.
Paul headed into the bedroom corridor and grabbed the leather jackets and holster rigs from the coat hooks just inside the door. Abs and Tina both headed for their room which was beside the side door. After Paul had passed all the remaining jackets out, he headed for the farthest door on the opposite side of the corridor to Sandra’s and Tina’s and Abs room. He walked out, a couple of minutes later wearing his holster which hung from his belt just in front of his pouch. On the opposite side was a second open topped pouch, in it were four magazines. Paul was sliding his left arm into his jacket. When Paul had walked into the living room, Darla passed him a communication system, which he clipped to his belt just behind the magazine pouch. He then pass the wires up his back and over his shoulder. Abs followed by Tina walked into the living room wearing their jackets and communication systems.
Whilst the others were moving Nibs stood and waited for her jacket and communication system. Sandra headed for her bedroom and grabbed the two leather jackets Sandra and Nibs had worn earlier that evening. She also took a second shoulder holster rig from the hook beside the door. When she came back into the living room, she threw the shoulder holster and leather jacket to Nibs.
Nibs slipped the shoulder holster on. She saw Abs walk back into the living room and head for her carrying a second pistol. Her hand grasped around the outside of the trigger guard. In her other hand was four magazines, she handed Nibs an Echo Delt .357 heavy automatic pistol along with the 4 magazines.
“That’s yours Nibs, a welcome to the Bitch Vixens present,” Abs said as Nibs smiled and slid the pistol home, Nibs felt good and happy to be welcomed.
“How are you with an SMG?” Sandra asked when she had finished putting her jacket on she was carrying a HK77 SMG.
“Don’t know, why?”
“When we go out having fun I normally use this.” She showed Nibs an HK 77 SMG, “Or an M22 Assault Carbine.”
An evil grin spread across the face of Nibs. Sandra passed the weapon to Nibs along with five full blank firing magazines. Nibs slipped the sling over her head and right shoulder. She moved the weapon to her back and took the magazines Sandra had handed her. These went into the two front pockets of her jacket. She clipped the pockets closed and zipped up the front of her jacket and followed everyone else out of the house and down the steps.
As Nibs walked out of the house she heard Darla ask, “You coming Tom or are you staying here?”
“How can I? I’ve not got a jacket or bike.” replied Tom.
“You have now.” Paul disappeared towards his room, and returned with a leather jacket, which he passed to Tom.
“Transport?” was the next question that came from Tom.
“You can ride with me Tom,” replied Darla.

*****

The group, which included three large motor-trikes and seven motor-bikes drove through the streets towards one of the many corporate housing estates that existed along the borders of South Central and Richmond Park District. The estates were smart, clean and well maintained. Most of the habitation blocks were either prefab single storey homes or ten/eleven storey tower blocks gleaming with glass, clean steel and concrete. Each street and road they drove through was well maintained with tarmac, the pot-holes were quickly filled and repaired. The pavements were again in much better state than the ones in South Central. The trees and in places borders of bushes were planted in specifically created areas and not just sticking through the pavements and the roots splitting the pavement as it snaked through the ground.
The group played chase as one would roar through the estate with the rest of the group following a few seconds behind. At some junctions they stopped.
Nibs as she was sat with Sandra loaded the first blank round and as Paul wheel span in the middle pulled the trigger and aimed the barrel into the air. The kick from the action working and the spent casing being thrown clear went into her elbow. Her knowledge of her own body and the limited control she had over it, she tensed up the skin and muscles which lessened the impact of the kick against the upper arm. The blank firing making as much noise as the real bullets but with out the risk of a bullet hitting a civilian as it came back to earth.
The group which now numbered ten motorbikes five motor-trikes and a heavy open top convertible pulled up in the car-park belonging to three corporate owned housing tower blocks. Sandra with Nibs on the back drove into the middle of the circle formed and after Nibs had loaded the forth magazine, she selected second, pulled and locked the front brakes. As Nibs fired the first round she revved the engine high and released the clutch and the rear wheel started to spin. She released the throttle and grabbed it again before it could fully reset and the engine stall, and revved the engine high again pushing the cyclinders towards the red line.
From the convertible came the sweet sounds of The Huntress’ song, ‘To Die Old is a Sin’.
As Sandra took the bike around in a circle, Nibs could see Tom was loving it.

Tom knew when Tina had asked him to come he knew the party was going to be fun, he enjoyed being around the Giths and Gangrels, they knew how to have a good time and pretty much enjoyed life. The only down side of going to South Central High was the Aces and the bullying he had drawn the brunt of, he wasn’t very big and like Nick and more than likely Nibs, he hated footbaal, he hated most sports really. As Sandra completed her first three sixty the group including Tom shouted one and half way through her second Tom saw the security guards begin to move as they had started to receive complaints from the residents. On a few of the balconies stood adults who were looking down angry at the scene of the various motor vehicles revving engines and playing heavy rock very loud Tom tapped Darla on the shoulder and pointed at the security officers as they headed for the doors.
Darla spoke over the communication system, “Security.”
Tom grabbed the hold strap as all the bikes dropped into first and pulled away, a few selected second and as they pulled away either wheel spun as they slowly released the front brakes or pulled wheelies as they headed for the route out of the car-park. The convertible rear wheels span as it left the car-park.

Around 03:00BN the group, which had a couple more bikes both with passengers returning home after clubbing on the alternative scene, returned to the house. The group were all laughing at some of the antics they did.
Pretty much the rest of the weekend was they same, members of the scene calling and going, but the core of the Bitch Vixens, Tom, and three other people just kept the party ticking over.

*****

16th Juwar 10:00AN
As Darla, Angel and Damieel walked out of the door, Paul and Sandra were standing in the middle of the living room. Nibs, Tina were sat on the sofa down the bedroom wall and Abs was sat on the one that divided the coffee and the projector screen area from the rest of the room.
As Damieel closed the door Abs turned said, “Sandra, you know what. As Frodar was the last day of term for us, we should go to school tomorrow and give a certain few students our goodbye presents.”
“I hope that includes me. I wouldn’t mind thanking a few people who need to be thank for the last ten months of hell.” Nibs was smiling her evil smile as she made a mental list of people who deserved thanking. At the top was Gary McKrudder 6 feet 4 inches of Defensive Back, as weak as the next guy when facing someone trained in street fighting and who has nothing to loose. In second place was Simoine Potter a fellow Defensive Back but he also had a fast set of legs when chasing Tight Receivers, but like McKrudder was weak as 95% of all people. All it would take was a few simple effective kicks and punches to the right spots on the body and both would be on their backs. Third place went to Detric Pots the team’s main Strike Thrower. Nibs had seen Detric practice boxing in the Gym and he also taught some of the students, especially if they were from the team. ‘Take out a boxers legs and he’s yours for the taking.’
“Yeah?” Sandra responded, “I can think of a few people who need a goodbye present. Tina, Abs?”
“Yeah I think a few people need a goodbye gift of some kind?” each responded.

*****

After the five had spent a couple of hours sorting out the living room, Abs, Tina and Paul had gone to bed leaving Nibs and Sandra sat in the living room as lovers do, cuddling up to each other. They had said nothing for the last fifteen minutes, but they were still exploring each other. Being displayed on the screen were some patterns changing as the music from the computer changed and travelled the path the composer had written for it.
Sandra asked, “How do you feel my love?”
“How do I feel?” Nick paused and thought about her answer. “I feel welcomed, wanted, supported.”
Sandra smiled at the answer Nibs gave. “I am so happy that you accepted the offer, especially after the last ten months.”
“The last ten months outside school were good, and sometimes in school as well. The last ten months were the cumulation of the last six years.”
“You must have had some adventures and met some interesting people indeed.”
“Oh yes, I’ll tell you some of them, I’m tired hun and need some sleep as I want to be on my best behaviour for tomorrow and the present giving.”
“Yes we should get some sleep, the weekend has been the best party in quite a while. I wish Amy and Bill had been able to make it, I think they would have enjoyed themselves as well.”
They got up and Sandra led Nibs to her bedroom and when the door was closed on the outside world. Sandra turned the main light block down to a low light which you could see enough to enjoy each other.
Sandra span Nibs round along with lightly pushing her across the room until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed and Nibs sat down. Sandra stood standing over Nibs who looked up at her life partner. Sandra then lent over and pulled off the top Nibs was wearing. As Nibs’ lips came into view Sandra again kissed her, this time with a bit more pressure. Her tongue lightly stroked across Nibs’ lips which opened and let Sandra’s tongue in and she also returned the favour. The kiss became passionate. The pair then undressed and climbed into bed and fell into a peaceful sleep in each other’s arms.

*****

As Nibs dropped off into a peaceful sleep laying on the bed next to Sandra she was thinking, ‘I have found my life partner, I know I have.’