Recipe for Disaster Pt. 04

"Let's get our degrees under our collective belts and then we can make plans," I said and she nodded.

"Mr. Donahue," a male voice cut into our moment.

"Who's asking?" I asked.

"Detective Morris," a man said moving from the shadows and holding his gold badge at chest level.

"What can I do for you detective?"

"I wanted you to come into the station to answer a few questions," he replied.

"Is this about the death of Professor Loveless?" I asked and the tall bulky figure nodded. "Sure, just give me a minute." He nodded but never moved. "Take care of my briefcase and this..." I told Carol passing her the crystal.

I walked with the tall imposing figure of Detective Morris. He looked more like a linebacker than a cop. He was hard to read and gave little away when he spoke, which was sparse. I rode in the back of the cruiser and wondered if something was wrong. We arrived at the police station and there seemed to be a steady stream of people moving in and out of the building. I walked next to the detective as I led to the bowels of the station. I passed six doors until I reached the interrogation room. I sat on one side of the metallic table and Morris was on the other. His body language screamed tension and I felt like I had done something personal to piss him off.

"I am going to record this..." he launched into the monotonous babble of his name, my name as well as the date and time. "How well did you know Professor Loveless?"

"He was my instructor, my mentor and I'd like to think we were friends." I replied.

"How did you react to his death," Morris asked his gaze taking in everything I did and said.

"I was crushed and shocked," I said. "I thought he was in jail. Another detective came by earlier and informed me that someone had bailed him out and he died shortly afterwards."

"That was a mistake, he had already pleaded out and wasn't open for bail. We are still looking into that."

"So you guys dropped the ball," I said and his eyes narrowed dangerously thin.

"His death is not on our hands," the detective snarled. "Where were you early this morning?"

"I was at the university until two thirty or there about. After that I went to my mom's house to check up on her and my sister. My dad is on a fishing trip this weekend. With everything that has been going on I was worried about them."

"I will call them and check your story," he said for the record. "Did you murder Professor Loveless?"

"NO," I growled. "Like I said he was my friend!"

"Even after he betrayed you," the detective purred. "Sure you didn't want some payback."

"This is ridiculous," I said. "I am not a violent person."

"Would you be willing to take a polygraph test?"

"No," I said and watched him bristle. "I dated a law major and she warned me to never take one. She quoted how inaccurate they are and besides they can't be used in court so what's the point."

"I don't like the way you look at her," he growled suddenly. "Look at these punk!"

He slapped a manila folder on the table and in it were the crime scene photos of what was left of Professor Loveless. I opened the folder and stared in horror at what had happened to that kind old gentleman. He had literally been torn apart. I kept looking for the machinery used to brutalize his body. I closed the envelope and stared at the detective and saw the satisfaction he had gotten from showing me the photos. There was a long silence between us as we looked at each other.

"You are in the doctorate program," he said beginning again. "You must be pretty familiar with legends and myths from all over the world. Are you familiar with the story of the Rakasha?" He asked but I shook my head. "It is an old story I heard during my deployment in Iraq. The Rakasha are supposed to be soul eaters. They find those that are vulnerable and eat them from the inside out."

I sat there and a sudden chill filled the room. I remembered one of the passages in the Mal Contentis about demons of the air how they are summoned and banished. Was he talking about the same thing? He was still talking but I had lost track while I had been thinking.

"...they crawl inside and gobble you up, frightening isn't it?"

"Terrifying really," I said as I grabbed the yellow legal pad and a pen. "Go on, I am going to just sit here and doodle."

I pulled the tablet close and leaned over it. Morris glared at me but then laughed as he sat back and started asking questions again. He began to peek into my past and I answered the questions that weren't too personal. If he asked about a touchy subject I just told him to move on. There was nothing he asked that excited too much of a reaction until he brought up something he shouldn't know about.

"Tell me about the book the Widow gave you," he said and I looked up briefly.

"You tell me, you seem to know more about it than I do," I replied.

"It was a rather pricey tome of dark magic," he said and I raised an eyebrow. "It is one of only four left on the planet. I want it as evidence of course."

"Get a warrant," I said calmly as I continued to draw. "Wind chimes... all those damn wind chimes..."

"I know right, drives one crazy... it's like nails on a chalkboard. I want that book Donahue."

"Judge... Warrant... good luck coming up with a good excuse for trying to seize my personal property... I mean how the hell do you tell a judge you need a book of black magic to pin the murder on someone. I don't see that happening, do you?"

"New subject... where is the scroll," he asked and again I shook my head.

"All of the scrolls stolen by Graves were recovered. I have no scrolls in my possession. You and yours already searched my apartment remember. If there was a scroll it is long since dust or burned to ash."

"NO... no one would cast aside immortality so easily," he growled.

"You seem to know a lot about a mythical scroll. Did you hear about it when you were overseas?" I asked and the mask of control was barely holding.

"You are not walking out of here until you confess," he growled.

"Done," I said and set down the pen. "Not happening sunshine... but I'll let you peak at my drawing of you."

I placed the pad facedown and passed it across the table. Morris actually snarled at me as he reached down and flipped the pad face up. The mystic design I had drawn had quite the reaction on the detective. He shot to his feet and tried to cry out but instead fell to the floor twitching and gasping for breath.

"Call an ambulance," I screamed.

I dove down and tried to help him. He quit breathing and I began first aid. The door flew open and two uniformed officers and one detective raced in. I was doing compressions as they called for help. The cops took turns giving compression and giving him mouth to mouth. I was ushered out and grilled by another detective and I asked them to review the video. Soon I was sitting in another room and another detective asked me what had happened. I told them the longer I was in there the stranger he got. The evidence is on the tape recorder. The medics arrived and took Morris away. I asked if I needed a lawyer and I was told I could leave but to expect another interview after they had reviewed the video and the audio evidence. I took a taxi back to the university.

What the hell had happened? I replayed the stranger parts of the interview. He had said he didn't like the way I looked at her. Was he talking about Felicia? She is the only her I could think of. Then there was his mention of the Rakasha. He had said he had heard about it during his deployment in Iraq. The problem was that the Rakasha was a Hindu demon. Why lie about something that was so easy to check out? His reaction to the banishing circle was alarming. Had the detective been possessed by a demon and if he had where had it come from? My circle of acceptance had grown much larger since this entire disaster had begun.

I paid the cabbie and headed for the planetarium. That was the last time I had seen Carol and since she wasn't answering her phone I assumed she was caught up in her work or something. I walked into the darkened building and was about to turn away when I heard a muffled sound from within the shadows. I walked to the domed arena and found Carol sitting on the floor half dressed with her fingers buried in her sex. She looked feverish and I saw my open briefcase next to her.

"You got curious didn't you?" I asked and she whimpered. "You dosed yourself didn't you?"

"I found a powder in a plastic bag and sniffed it," she moaned. "The next thing I know my body is on fire."

"Come over here," I said as I unzipped my jeans and fished out my cock. "Here's a treat for you."

Carol crawled over her body shaking and smiling took me into her mouth without any hesitations. I grabbed her by the hair much like I had my mother. Carol's body submitted instantly as I fucked her mouth. Her one hand went between her legs and I shook my head. She adjusted her position so that she was on all fours now. While I thrust my hips Carol worked her tongue around the head of my cock when she could. I pulled away and she cried out until I moved to kneel behind her. The drug had been working on her for too long without a partner. I eased into her slick sex and she thanked me as I made love to her. Unlike my mother or sister, I didn't want to use Carol as a mere sex object. I cared about her on a deeper level. My family had pretty much declared that the physical aspect was just sex for sex sake.

I moved slowly and Carol thrust backward against me. There was no hurry as we took and gave pleasure to one another. I set the pace and Carol mirrored it perfectly. She was the perfect pet. I felt her body begin to shake as her pleasure built up to its eventual conclusion. Her cry echoed in the domed chamber and even managed to get Carl's attention.

"Is the lady in distress?" the A.I. asked.

"No, she just climaxed," I said as I continued to thrust into her.

"Ah, I have done some research on human reproduction. Is your intention to impregnate her or just have your pleasure with her?"

"Pleasure for now, but in the future who knows," I replied to the cool intellectual voice.

"I appreciate your honesty," it said. "You appear close to your own climax Doctor Donahue."

"Doctor eh," I said and dug my nails into Carol's ass cheeks.

I hammered poor Carol relentlessly but she never did anything but raise her ass higher into the air for me. As my cock swelled inside of her she just begged me to fill her pussy with cum. I didn't disappoint. I came so damn hard she was filled to capacity. She spun around and licked me clean before cuddling close.

"I promise I won't misbehave again," Carol promised.

"I don't mind," I said. "...Though I may have to punish you for peeking this time around."

"Are you going to spank me... or maybe force me to deep throat you... or maybe..."

She went on for a while offering all manner of sensual punishments for her. I told her to get dressed and that was punishment enough for now. She pouted at first but was soon smiling as she kept thinking of new and better forms of bondage or submissive things she could do for me. I zipped up and inspected my briefcase; it was more or less intact. I closed and locked it. We stepped out of the planetarium and headed off for a late lunch. I was starved after the surprising romp. It sure had taken the edge off of my stress level. We talked shop as we sat across each other in the burger place. I asked her about her thoughts on the monolith. She shrugged and told me that her research had shown no classical alignments of stars or planets. There were a few prominent stars but as she had said they held no traditional cultural status.

"That's freaking weird," I said and she nodded. "Which stars did you isolate?"

She listed them off and I felt a chill run through me. Two of the stars mentioned figured prominently in several of the rituals that I had perused seeking the meanings behind the glyphs. I wanted to take out the tome but was leery of someone spying such a valuable book in a public place. I had her jot the entire list of stars upon a napkin and I tucked it in a pocket for viewing later.

"Can I climb under the table and suck you off Master," Carol asked as matter of factly as she would the time.

"No, you are in a time out," I told her and she pouted.

"I'll let you fuck my tits..." she counteroffered with a genuine smile.

"If you keep this up I shall be forced to do something rather rash," I informed her and left the threat undefined since I had no idea what I would do.

Carol frowned and munched on her fries. I was about to say something when my phone rang. I took it out and it was Felicia, correction Detective Harding. I answered the phone as clinically as I was able.

"Detective," I said in greeting.

"You are cleared in the situation involving Detective Morris. The video and audio have both been examined and I am calling to apologize for any trouble his erratic behavior might have caused."

"Apology accepted," I replied and knew how hard this must be for her.

"If we need anything from you we'll be in touch," she said with just a hint of something more behind her words.

"Understood Detective," I said before hanging up.

"Are you okay," Carol asked.

"Yeah, an interview at the police station went poorly and one of the detectives was taken to the hospital. I think they are afraid I will sue them considering his unprofessional behavior. I have no intention of doing that though I may seek some legal advice. I have an old friend that passed the bar last year."

I steered the conversation back to the thrice damned monolith and what the other departments had uncovered. I learned the geology department tried to take a sample of the marine stone and failed. It seems to be impervious to traditional tools. The engineers were still working on the malfunctioning scanner with little progress. I firmly believed the architect of the monolith was a sadist and was watching the failures with great enjoyment.

The group was gathered in the cafeteria. They were taking an even later lunch break. I asked them how they were doing since I had last talked to them but as Carol had told me earlier they had made little headway. I suggested we reconvene in the planetarium. Once everyone had finished eating we left as a group and Ian seemed in better spirits. We reached the planetarium but we were two people shy. Carol and Ivan were not present. My first thought is that the aphrodisiac was still affecting her actions. I just smiled and guided everyone to the domed theater. I woke Carl up and asked him to access the engineering scans of the monolith. With Ian's help the A.I. was able to project a three dimensional image of the scans.

"Pretty," came the familiar voice of Felicia. "What's up Professor?"

"We are studying the monolith," I told her. "But we are having problems."

"What sort of problems," she asked and Ian launched into the entire situation.

Felicia stood there and asked questions when Ian got too technical for her. She had him distill it down to basic English. It took a while but by doing that we ended up covering everything we had done so far and the issues. The geology department was next and they talked about all the gorgeous stonework but their inability to take a sample. Felicia nodded and then the biology group talked about the fossils that were visible and how old the stone was. The marine life placed the monolith at over three hundred million years old. The detective whistled and walked around the hologram looking it over.

"You say that the scanner emits a full spectrum beam," Felicia said. "What part of the spectrum are we looking at here?"

"Oh my god," Ian cried out and became a blathering idiot.

"Carl," I said getting the A.I.'s attention.

"Yes Doctor," Carl replied.

"Can you display isolated parts of the scan?" I asked as Ian hopped up and down in place next to me.

"Yes, which end of the spectrum would you like me to begin?"

"Let's start at the violet end and slowly work down," I said and Ian was nodding like a kid in a candy store.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it," Ian said beating himself up.

"You just needed a pair of fresh eyes," Felicia said.

We all watched as the image flickered and changed. The first anomaly showed up at the middle of ultraviolet end. It showed that the monolith was in fact crafted of two dozen or so individual blocks of marine stone. Felicia cried out and told us what it was.

"It's an optical illusion," she said. "You look at it from one angle and it appears as one thing. But why are just a few of the pieces glowing?"

"It was designed that way," Ian said.

"May I make a suggestion," Carl offered surprising everyone. "Let me analyze the data and then display the frequencies where individual stones are illuminated. It will be much quicker."

"Go for it," Ian said. "He's freaking brilliant."

"His name is Carl after all," I said.

"I knew his voice sounded familiar," Ian replied.

The display fell dark and we waited for Carl to do his thing. A minute or so later the hologram came back to life. There were a total of seven images for us to examine. Six of them showed the individual stone while the seventh was a blank outline of the monolith. When we looked at the frequency of the blank it fell right in the middle of the visual spectrum. What did it mean? I looked at Ian and he walked around the holograms, squatted down to look at them at a different angle. He made thoughtful faces and then cried out in understanding.

"I got it... oh my god... it's freaking brilliant," Ian shouted as he stood up.

We all waited as he processed it all. He was pacing now as his hands worked gesturing wildly but he was muttering so low that we couldn't make anything out. Felicia moved to stand next to me and as all eyes were on Ian she leaned over and nibbled my ear. Ian stopped suddenly and looked at everyone. We waited as he began to ask questions of the different departments. He asked the tensile strength of the tools used to take a sample and he paused doing calculations in his head for all we knew.

"I think I've got it," Ian said and stopped.

"Just spit it out already," I said.

"Transparent steel," he blurted out. "That is why we can't get samples." He pointed to the blank outline of the monolith. "That creates the illusion that the surface is smooth."

"Makes a sick sort of sense," I replied.

"Who the hell made this damn thing?" One of the geologists asked.

"I've been asking that from the beginning," I said and fell silent.

"We need a new attack plan," Ian said still brainstorming. "How to remove the shell or should we remove it, I think we need to speak with the Chancellor."

Everyone looked at me and I threw up my hands in surrender. Felicia followed me and as we reached the outer doors Ivan and Carol were just walking in. They both look noticeably disheveled. I threw them a thumbs up and they both blushed. Yep, the drug was still working on poor Carol. I winked at her as we headed for the administration building.

"Isn't that the gal I saw sitting on your porch that first night?"

"Yep," I said.

"She looks cuter with her hair down," Felicia commented but I just kept quiet. "I bet she sucks cock like a fiend." I looked at her and smiled. "I could go on you know unless you stop me that is."

"Hush up," I said. "...Or I'll ram my cock down your throat..."

"Yes please," she said cutting me off. "I want all of you Professor and soon."

She talked dirty to me the entire time we walked to the Chancellor's office. She fell to a soft whisper as we waited for the secretary to tell him that we needed to talk to him. I glanced at Felicia and she just smiled as she laid her hand on my thigh. I mouthed the word 'behave' but she shook her head. We had to wait fifteen long minutes until we could see the Chancellor. Felicia never let up and I almost pulled her across my lap to spank her. She was definitely in a mood.