Reka's Point of View
Reka felt Brad drift off to sleep in her arms, his breath evening out, his body relaxing. For a time she laid there, counting his heartbeats and enjoying the feeling of his form pressed against her own. It had been a busy day. Their time working in Stardust City was over for now, and school started tomorrow.
Reka knew from experience that Brad slept best when she spent the whole night holding him, but she had errands that couldn't wait. Her body didn't need as much rest as his, and the dark hours would provide the opportunity she needed.
Gently, carefully, she eased herself out of their entanglement and slipped off the bed quietly. Brad stirred for half a moment, but did not wake.
I'll be back soon, my love.
She dressed silently and picked up the box.
Tribute she had received in her time, dues she required from her subjects, but never had Reka received a true gift until now.
It was a pair of expensive shoes, queerly named, Louboutin, after a famous cobbler.
He didn't have to get her anything. She never would have demanded anything from Brad other than his presence by her side. All the same, he saved his wages in order to present her this token. A giddy grin that made her look half mad stretched her cheeks quite against her will. After all the time they spent together he could still surprise her.
One day, my boyfriend shall wear a jeweled crown and nations shall bow before him, Reka vowed.
The shoes were finely made and appropriately regal. They'd match the outfits she wore to recitation sessions this year. Just now though, it was the box they came in that interested her.
Just the right size for my plan, she marveled. Brad had no way of knowing her secret agenda. He didn't even know she could do magic. No, it was fate again for true. The emotional significance the gift box had for her would add to the resonance of the enchantment.
Reka withdrew a small dagger from a compartment in her writing desk and cut her hand carefully, spilling some blood into a shallow dish. From there, she dipped a calligraphy pen in the blood and began to write.
Thick lines, thin lines, arcane symbols, spirals, geometric patterns, making up a confinement array in perfect balance. Thus, the magic circle took shape on the inside of the Louboutin box.
She made a small mistake, two lines that were not perfectly even, and muttered a cleansing spell. Instantly, the blood writing vanished.
I'm going to need a lot more practice, she thought resignedly. The rest of the night passed quickly as she transcribed the containment circles again and again before returning to Brad's arms about an hour before he would usually wake. With guilt, she could tell his slumber was not as restful as it might have been, and squeezed him all the tighter until morning.
The next day, Reka walked Brad to his first class after breakfast and made for the life magic department. He had told her they maintained a stock of rats for sacrifice. It would be some time before she felt her circles were solid enough to begin charging with rat blood, but it never hurt to think ahead.
Her Louboutin heels clicked loudly as she stepped through the halls. Reka noticed a few women admiring them.
Aren't you jealous, girls? She let her footfalls become a little heavier to emphasize the shoes.
Brad had shown her how to send a herald by silent lightning and request a meeting, so she was expected.
A woman waited for her outside the life magic laboratory, plump but fair, with spectacles, honey-blonde hair in a messy bun, and garbed as a white mage.
"Hi, I'm Julie!" she greeted cheerfully. "Julie Winchester. I'm a grad student in pharmacology," she said, holding out her hand.
An apothecary, perhaps, Reka thought, grasping the woman's hand in the customary greeting. "Reka Fekete," she identified herself.
The stood in silence, taking the measure of one another.
"Oh my god, you're beautiful!" Julie blurted out.
Reka was taken aback, not expecting to be flattered so sincerely. "You think so?" she asked softly.
"Girl, are you being serious right now?" Julie asked right back. "You could be a model! Or an influencer, or...or anything! It's actually messing with me how perfect you look."
Reka didn't really understand how posing like a statue could be a profession, so she didn't ask for clarification.
"Be that as it may," she segued, trying not to seem flustered, "I believe we are here to talk about rats."
Julie's eyes lit up. "Then you've come to the right place," she said confidently. "I've poked and prodded and poisoned more rats than I can count, and I'm the go-to hand in the lab for disposal. My rat body count is in the thousands," she bragged.
Reka couldn't help feeling interested. "You've slain thousands of rats?"
"It's part of the job," Julie went on. "You run what tests need to be run and then you get rid of them. Some can't take it. I've seen newbie lab techs and research assistants break the first time they see a pack of rats gassed with CO2. I guess I'm just built different," she said confidently.
Indeed? Reka was intrigued. Somebody like this might be a useful subordinate. "And you can just...order them? It's that simple?"
"Oh yeah," Julie waved off her concerns. "Labs across the country go through millions of rats a year. There is a whole system in place to breed and deliver them ready for whatever tests you might want to run. Radiation screenings right? I heard you were a nuclear engineer."
That was the cover story she was going with. "Correct," Reka confirmed.
"Well," Julie said slowly, "If you're exposing the rats to radiation there might be additional disposal procedures you'll have to do, but I'm sure they'll have the facilities at Stardust City. How's that going by the way?" she asked conversationally.
"Early stages yet," Reka explained. "I foresee difficulties but there is a path to accomplish our goal, though not nearly as soon as some might wish."
"I hope you figure it out," Julie said sincerely, clasping Reka's hands in hers. Reka tried to conceal her flinch at the unfamiliar contact. She wondered if Julie was so free with her to touch to everyone.
"There's a lot of exciting things going on in pharmacological research that artificial intelligence could really help with," Julie continued. "If we only had the electricity to run the models it could result in miracle cures. Cancer, genetic disorders, diabetes, heart disease, all the biggest killers could just be wiped out, a thing of the past, like smallpox or polio."
"The thinking machines have great potential," Reka agreed.
Julie tilted her head as if she didn't quite follow. "Anyway," she redirected the conversation, "How about I give you a tour of the lab and show you what working with rats is really like?"
Reka agreed instantly. This was an angle she hadn't considered. The world had need of energy but also medicine. Could her magic help? Could she use this woman? It would be something else to hold over the people when she took over.
The white mage looked masterful as she led Reka through the lab, casually slipping on some gloves as they walked.
"Working with rats is not terribly complicated," she instructed. "They come fresh in a box just like this one." Julie tapped it confidently and reached in, pulling out a surprisingly large squeaking white rat without a care.
"Now this batch is for testing heart medication. All you have to do is put the rat in the restraints," she indicated a rat-sized clear plastic tube that looked cleaner and more efficient than any torture device Reka had ever seen.
Julie locked the rat in its prison without ceremony and procured a needle. "Here is configuration we're testing, notice the convenient holes in the restraints for injection."
The rat squeaked in pain as Julie injected it without feeling. Was she really a white mage?
"The same gaps can be used to collect your data," she continued, hooking up some wires to the caged rat. "There, the machines will monitor everything."
Calm, efficient, thorough, Reka was impressed. "And that's it?"
"Yep," Julie said, sitting back on her heels, "that's about all there is to it." She paused and gave Reka a look, almost a cunning look. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Reka was nonplussed at being scrutinized in this way.
"Unless you're really about that life, Reka," Julie said challengingly.
"About what life?"
Julie didn't respond at once. "Look, I've got a batch that just finished testing and are scheduled for disposal. Think you're up for the last step?"
Reka almost wanted to laugh. This woman thought she would flinch from killing rats, she who once slew armies and champions of light in plenty. She held out her arm in acknowledgement, "after you."
"Just don't faint in my lab or run away in tears, makes me look bad."
Julie placed a cage full of writhing rats in a white box with a glass door. She looked back at Reka. "Last chance," she said with gravity.
Reka stayed put, her eyes forward, projecting calm. Julie pushed a button.
An invisible miasma started filling the killing chamber. The rats didn't react at first, but before long she noticed the rats breathing heavily, scratching at the walls, and moving in great agitation, their little white chests puffing desperately. One by one they seemed to lose their energy, slowing, and finally stilling. Reka noticed Julie looking at her through the corner of her eye.
Thought I would look away, did you?
Julie let out a breath once the last of the rats stopped moving. "Well look at you," she said in approval. "Our beauty queen is ice cold. Maybe you do have what it takes." She took the rat cage out of the white box and poured the corpses into a trash bag, having to shake a few stubborn ones loose.
"You'll probably want one of those CO2 euthanasia chambers if you're going to be running through a lot of rats down in Stardust City," Julie said matter-of-factly.
Reka hummed in acknowledgement, knowing that she'd really be cutting their throats one by one. Perhaps some of those gloves wouldn't go amiss, though. She didn't want to touch Brad with rat blood on her hands.
"Reka, you're a real one," Julie praised. "You have any idea how long it usually takes to build a newbie up to that? It...oh my god are those Louboutins?"
Suddenly shy, Reka inclined her head, "a gift from my boyfriend," she supplied softly.
Julie snorted. "Figures the most beautiful woman I've ever seen up close has a boyfriend." She looked away and muttered quietly, "I wish I had a boyfriend."
I highly recommend it, but get your own! Reka thought.
The dark apothecary revealed her true nature and took off the white mage coat. Reka noticed Julie's breasts were even larger than her own. With a hint of trepidation, she recalled that Brad often admired her breasts. Would he prefer the dark apothecary?
No, surely not. Brad's feelings are an open book to me. It would be shameful to question his loyalty, even in the privacy of my own thoughts.
"Reka, you've got beauty, brains, a boyfriend that buys you Louboutin shoes, and you're bad ass bitch! You're everything I aspire to be. How about we exchange contact information? We could have dinner sometime."
"I don't know, my boyfriend and I..."
"Bring him along!" Julie insisted. "I bet he's cool. He'd have to be to pull somebody like you."
Reka blushed. Brad was cool, in the parlance of this world anyway. In truth, he was quite warm to embrace. Julie's company was not disagreeable, and Brad had explained to her the difference between having a girlfriend and having girlfriends. Could the dark apothecary be one to her?
"Very well," she accepted, handing Julie her phone, not trusting herself to add the contact information without making a mistake. She was still acclimating to this world's peculiar magic, after all.
"I'll text you when I'm free," Julie said brightly.