As it was only a week before the beginning of the winter break, Tyler asked for confirmation of who would be going along with him, his mother, and Melanie to a fashion show in Paris the following week. The still-angry Vincent had turned down the offer, and Tyler's girlfriend Caitlin had other obligations (much to his chagrin), but Ivan, Jasmine, and Corinna were good to go.

  The rest of the day was hectic for Ivan and Corinna; the debut performance of the school's production of _Faust_, in which they had the starring roles, was to be that evening, with additional performances throughout the week. In the course of preparing for the show, they discovered that Corinna's brother Devon had signed on as one of the lighting techs, and was perhaps even more unfortunate than they, having hardly slept in two days of intense preparation. Even Corinna seemed to develop a spark of compassion for her geeky older sibling, and Ivan tried to help Devon get some rest during a catnap by mentally inducing REM sleep much sooner than normal.That wasn't pure altruism on Ivan's part, as it turned out; he was already moving into the first "off" phase of his on-again, off-again relationship with Corinna, and figured that befriending her despised brother might buy him some time off from the girl's incredible ego. (A later conversation with Tyler would confirm that Corinna was thinking much the same thing about Ivan and his similarly obnoxious self-assurance.)

  Finally it was time for the show. The rest of the usual gang attended, of course. As expected, Ivan essayed a brilliant Faust and Corinna a diabolical Mephistopheles. Even their co-stars' performances, while not nearly as powerful, were far above the level they usually displayed in class. Miss Elaine, the ditzy drama teacher, was well pleased -- and so was the audience, which called for several encores. Ivan wisely let Corinna have the lion's share of the adulation, and she basked in it.

  After the performance, each of the two stars was shocked to discover a surprise parental guest in the audience. Ivan's pursuit of acting had been the only one of his innumerable attempts at rebellion that had actually gotten a rise out of his infamously iconoclastic father -- yet here he was, the Beast himself, on hand to watch the play. Crowley actually congratulated Ivan on his performance, which left the boy speechless for several minutes. To fill the silence, Crowley turned to Corinna and proclaimed her a most tempting devil, at the same time favoring his son with an amused look which made it perfectly clear that Crowley knew just whom she'd been tempting, and how successfully.

  Finally disengaging from his father, Ivan next got to watch the tables turned as Corinna's mother appeared to offer her congratulations. This was the first time Ivan had met Nancy McCabe, and it quickly became clear that mother and daughter were not at all alike. There followed the first time that Ivan -- or, indeed, anyone in recorded human knowledge -- had ever seen Corinna blush, when Nancy mentioned how much of her own mother she could see in her daughter. (Oddly, Ivan noted, it was not a blush of *pleased* embarrassment, but more one of resentment.)

 As soon as he could, Ivan slipped out of the theater to be alone. He considered his father's praise, and loudly cursed the old man's name for always upsetting the status quo just when Ivan thought he had their relationship figured out. Miss Elaine, passing by, overheard Ivan's shouts of "Damn him damn him DAMN him," but assumed her star actor was merely letting off steam after a stressful performance.

  A little later, Corinna also slipped away from the crowd and found Ivan outside. They commiserated about parents for awhile, and Corinna explained that she hated being told how much she was like her grandmother, because the old gal had been incurably insane for decades now, and Corinna didn't particularly intend to share that fate. Then she proposed that the two of them go back to her room and get as wasted as possible. Ivan readily agreed with the plan.

  The rest of the week passed mostly uneventfully. The other performances of _Faust_ went off without a hitch, and the rest of the gang was far too busy with end-of-semester deadlines to get into supernatural trouble. Finally, the last day of school before winter break ended, and the kids made ready for their trip.

  Ryan Elliot picked up the five kids in a huge limo packed to the gills with luxury amenities. After a short interval, that was replaced by first-class accommodations on an airliner, which were only slightly less luxurious. The other kids began to realize just how disgustingly rich the Elliots were. The only one who didn't get to enjoy the trappings of wealth that surrounded them was Melanie. The Paris show was to be her first real modeling job for Elliot Enterprises, and both her employer (Ryan) and her self-appointed coach (Corinna) kept Mel busy with pop quizzes on style and technique the entire trip.

  Several hours later the plane touched down in Paris, and a rental car conveyed the group to Ryan's flat in the city. Though spartan compared to their previous surroundings, the apartment was spacious and had its own cleaning staff, who had obviously been hard at work in preparation for their arrival. Ryan pointed out two rooms outfitted with cots, one designated for the boys and one for the girls, and the kids stowed their stuff. Ivan and Corinna quickly realized that they would not be having Freaky Circus Sex *that* night . . . at least not on the premises.

  Melanie's torment had still not ended. No sooner had they unpacked than Ryan whisked her away to practice and prepare for her debut the following day. The other kids, however, were free to do as they pleased. Tyler and Ivan reached immediate agreement on what would please *them*: "Naked chicks!" Corinna, of course, wanted to go shopping, and invited Jasmine along. Jasmine wondered aloud if Paris had a good Radio Shack, whereupon Corinna realized that her mission for the day was to teach the young nerdette why one shops for *clothes* in Paris. In the end, the boys decided to go along on the shopping spree and grab some Parisian Christmas gifts. Ivan bought a nice crucifix for Simon's collection of protective icons. Tyler realized that he would likely be made a eunuch if he didn't bring back a souvenir for Caitlin, and quickly picked out something nice.

  During the excursion, Ivan slipped away to the local branch of the Bank of Switzerland and opened an account for himself. Then he corralled Jasmine away from the others and asked for her help in his Top Secret Plan. He revealed that he'd memorized a great deal of information about future sports scores and stock prices during the time they'd been stuck in 2014. He intended to exploit that information to make himself rich, and offered Jasmine a chance to do the same in return for her assistance. Like just about everyone, Ivan had heard about daytrading, and how astute speculators could become wealthy far faster by that method than by playing the stock market the traditional way. However, he hadn't the patience or the knowhow to do it himself. However, that very day it had become increasingly important to him to be at least as wealthy as Tyler when they grew up, preferably by expending only a minimum of effort. He wanted Jasmine to write an automated routine that would take his future data and interpolate the best times to buy and sell various stocks on a day-to-day basis. In exchange, he'd let her use the data, too. While Jasmine was already Set for Life a couple of different ways (having a large, expertly-administered trust fund and being more-or-less predestined to marry Tyler), she figured having a secret fortune of her own *before* she reached majority couldn't hurt.

  After an afternoon of commerce, the boys and girls separated. Tyler and Ivan went off to find their naked chicks. Tyler knew of a dinner club that featured such things; his mother frequented the place when she was in town because it also had very good food. Conspicuous dropping of the Elliot name overcame the staff's initial reluctance to admit two boys their age without adult accompaniment, and the lads settled in for an excellent repast, supplemented by booze and babes.

  Meanwhile, the girls decided to see if Melanie was back before going to dinner themselves. They found her in the flat, soaking her feet and looking generally exhausted. It took a lot of work for Corinna to persuade her to stand up, much less go out to eat, but in the end hunger overcame pain. Asking after the boys, Mel was told of their plans; at first she expressed disbelief, but then was reminded who they were talking about. Of *course* Tyler and Ivan would want to find naked chicks, and of *course* they would somehow manage to pull it off without getting arrested.

  Talk of the boys reminded Jasmine that she had a question for Mel, which she posed telepathically so Corinna wouldn't overhear and start acting obnoxious. Now that the group was in Paris, she wanted to know, and Caitlin Summers was conspicuous in her absence, was Mel planning to put the moves on Tyler? Surprisingly, Jasmine did not seem disturbed by the idea; indeed, when Mel initially reacted with noncommittal embarrassment, Jasmine practically dared her to try, insisting that if she couldn't succeed in the City of Love, she would have to be downgraded from being Jasmine's only legitimate competitor to occupying the interchangeable-bimbo bucket with such luminaries as Kelli Nesmith. That pissed Mel off, but she still made no firm decision.

  After the two groups had enjoyed dinner (the boys perhaps more than the girls), and had where necessary returned to a state of relative sobriety, they returned to the flat at roughly the same time. There they found Ryan conferring with a number of younger women, some of whom were recognizable as famous supermodels in the employ of Elliot Enterprises. Ivan's steadily increasing resentment of the power of Tyler's name and wealth grew further when the ladies caught sight of the boss's son and immediately began treating him like their favorite little pet. When Tyler assured him that one particular model was quite nice in person, Ivan growled, "If you say she's good in the sack, I swear to God I'll kill you right here." Tyler reminded Ivan that the models had known him since he was about ten, and certainly didn't think of him in *that* way. Besides, he insisted, they were really far less physically impressive in person than in their photos -- most were far too skinny for comfort, and could easily impale an unwary man on their collarbones. That laugh quashed Ivan's bitterness considerably. Shortly thereafter, everyone headed for bed.

  The next day was hectic in the extreme, as everyone rushed to get ready either to attend or to participate in the fashion show. Everyone dressed in their best (which, in most cases, meant brand-new clothes purchased the day before). Ryan was on site early in the day to supervise her models, and of course Mel went with her. The other four kids followed along later, shortly before the show was to begin.

  After they took their seats, Corinna went backstage to check on Mel. Returning a bit later, she reported that the other girl was a bundle of nerves. Ivan decided to try to do something about that, while simultaneously getting a look at as many half-dressed models as possible. Finding Mel backstage, Ivan administered a shoulder rub coupled with a Jedi mind trick ("Relax"; fortunately, Mel proved stronger-willed than Jar Jar Binks). Shortly, Mel calmed down considerably and seemed ready to Do Her Duty to God and Corporation. Ivan wished her luck, and briefly considered concealing himself backstage to ogle the models while they changed outfits, but ultimately decided it was better just to take his seat than to risk the unrestrained wrath of Ryan Elliot.

  The show went off spectacularly, though some of the _haute couture_ outfits left the audience scratching its collective head. Mel did extremely well for her first time out, and her friends applauded her vigorously -- though the woman clad only in strategically-placed strips of duct tape actually got a bigger ovation from the boys (shhh).

  Once the show was over, the kids still had a week in Europe to enjoy, and Mel was finally free to join the others. She insisted on doing the "stupid tourist stuff," so that evening the gang found itself atop the Eiffel Tower. There, Mel did in fact put the moves -- well, *a* move -- on Tyler, quietly asking if they could talk privately later. Jasmine, who'd been carefully observing the pair for signs of just such behavior, noted this development with a neutral expression.

  After their evening on the town, the kids went to bed again. The next morning, Ryan woke them to announce that she had to fly elsewhere on business. While she was uncomfortable leaving the group unsupervised in a foreign land, she was willing to trust them to stay in Paris if they would promise to get into as little trouble as possible. (Ryan knew her son and his friends too well to bother asking them to stay *completely* out of trouble.)

  Left to their own devices, the kids decided to take in another foreign capital -- London. Ivan didn't seem too thrilled at the prospect of returning to his sometime home, but was finally persuaded by the others that he could have fun showing them around. He even offered his father's estate outside the city as accommodations for the group should they decide to stay the night in England. Given a choice of getting across the Channel by tunnel or hydrofoil, the group chose the latter. On the ride over, Tyler and Mel were observed holding hands and whispering intimately. Corinna gave the relationship six hours, tops. Ivan, who understood more of the history involved, was not quite so pessimistic. Jasmine kept her own counsel.

  Arriving in England, they found the place as merrie and olde as advertised. They made their way to the Neville estate, where Ivan got the staff busy readying rooms for them. And then Ivan remembered an important fact he had forgotten. Several times in the past, his father had sent someone overseas to start a new life, usually either at Ivan's request or because of something Ivan had done. As far as Ivan knew, all those people had been sent to the very property onto which he had now brought his friends. Their former schoolmate Damien Mefford would be here, just starting his new existence as Ivan's "cousin" Christian Neville. So would the schoolteacher Ivan had seduced when he was in sixth grade. And then there was Desiree. Ivan had never told anyone at school about Desiree. A girl slightly older than he, she had been his first love and first sexual experience a couple of years back. Desiree had been a student at his father's girls' school -- a group with which Ivan had been strictly forbidden to fraternize. Of course, Ivan being Ivan, the pleasure of breaking the rules and sneaking around under his father's nose had only made his lovestruck heart beat all the faster. In time , Crowley had found out about the romance, and had sent Desiree away to England. Would she be here, now? Ivan didn't think he wanted to find out.

  Ivan went to round up his friends, wanting to be off doing touristy stuff as soon as possible, so as to avoid any unwanted encounters. Unfortunately, just as everyone got together, "cousin Christian" showed up. Damien Mefford was just as surprised to see Ivan and friends as they were to see him, but he managed to hold onto his fake British accent and, with Ivan's assistance, got through the meeting without having to explain anything. He was also able to confirm for Ivan that Desiree was out riding on the property, and shouldn't be back for awhile. Fortunately, most of Ivan's friends were so floored by running into Damien again that they completely forgot to wonder who Desiree was and why Ivan was so keen on avoiding her.

  Afterward, Mel took Ivan aside and demanded an explanation. Unlike Corinna, she'd been at Huntington long enough to know Damien Mefford when she saw him -- but back then, she'd been the "mundane" of the group, and had never been told what had happened to the boy. Ivan explained as best he could, then changed the subject by mentioning that he'd noticed Mel acting all cute and romantic with Tyler earlier. Mel confirmed that the two of them were considering finally giving a relationship a shot. "Why, you cheap tramp," responded Ivan with a grin, "and you know I mean that in the nicest possible way." Mel kicked him in the shin.

  After a bit, Ivan finally managed to get everyone moving, and they headed into the city to see the sights. Ivan suggested a bus tour of famous murder sites, and the others agreed that sounded like fun. On the tour, Tyler used his innate sense of the Touch of Death to tell his friends which murders had actually happened, and which had merely been invented by the tour company. Museums were next on the agenda; Jasmine was hot to see a Babbage Difference Engine, and got her wish.

  As evening came, the group decided to hit the club scene. In an effort to rebuild his dwindling stash of drugs, Ivan had bought some Ecstasy the day before, and now badgered Tyler into trying some, hoping to give his grim Euthanatos friend a mood boost without the ancillary problems that came with alcohol. Once the drug took effect, Tyler became Everyone's Best Friend. After hugging all his pals multiple times, he decided to become Best Friends with everyone in the mosh pit. That earned him a bloody nose, but he claimed jovially that everyone else there had suffered worse.

  In time, Tyler's overly happy attentions focused more and more on Melanie. Jasmine watched the two of them until intellectual detachment failed her, then walked over to Ivan and asked him to whack her a good one for ever encouraging such a thing. Ivan had noticed that Jasmine was behaving in an oddly calm fashion over the developing Tyler/Mel situation, and asked why she had encouraged it, since everyone involved knew it wouldn't last. Jasmine explained that she'd been watching Mel act just as bummed out over Tyler's dating Caitlin as she herself was, and since Jasmine *couldn't* very well exploit this particular window of opportunity and Mel could, well, why not? That was the *nice* reason. Of course, it wasn't the only one. Also, Jasmine didn't like the way that Tyler's policy of only dating girls he didn't really like essentially reduced her to a default setting. She didn't want there to be any "roads not taken" that he would regret for the rest of his life. Related to that was the final, most honest, downright evil reason, which Jasmine made Ivan promise never to reveal to either Tyler or Mel. In a nasty little part of her soul, Jasmine didn't just want to win the competition for Tyler's heart; she also wanted to watch Mel compete and *lose*. Ivan seemed impressed by Jasmine's nasty streak, and promised to remember it in case he ever needed to use it someday. In the meantime, he agreed that letting Tyler and Mel have their time was probably necessary, but cautioned that if Jasmine were ever going to make it as an Evil Mastermind, she was going to have to become more cold-blooded about watching her schemes play out. From his own experience, he recommended that she find some project in which to immerse herself as a distraction. He also recommended that she follow Tyler's example and acquire an interim boyfriend of her own, but she wasn't sure how she could manage that. ("Don't most boys my age spend their time playing with dirt or something?")

  Finally the kids wound up their clubbing and returned to the Neville estate to sleep. It was late enough that Ivan was able to avoid meeting Desiree. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky when it came time for breakfast the next morning. Ivan was the first one up, and found the Lady in Question sitting alone downstairs. The two traded nervous "hi"s, and then an uncomfortable silence ensued. After a bit, Ivan tried to fill it by describing his recent exploits, including his starring role in _Faust_ and his father's surprise appearance at the debut performance. Hearing that Crowley had actually praised Ivan's talents, Desiree wondered aloud (and almost hopefully) whether her old teacher had finally mellowed. Ivan thought that too good to be true, though. Realizing that his friends would soon be down, including Corinna, Ivan decided he'd better warn Desiree that he was sort of seeing someone. He hastened to assure her, though, that Corinna was a good lay and little else -- certainly nothing rivalling what Desiree had once been to him. He confessed to missing her, then, and she admitted the same.

  That was when the others began to trickle in, and so Ivan and Desiree were saved from having to bare their souls further. Ivan introduced everyone around, and explained to his friends the wonders of a proper English breakfast. ("Yes, those are fish. Just eat them.") As the meal wore on, Ivan found again and again that some look or movement from Desiree would bring to his mind an incident from their time together. He gradually began to realize how much he really did miss her. He'd been unlucky in love too many times to take that as a source of joy, though. Instead it caused him pain; he felt sure that any actual attempt to recapture the happiness he remembered would inevitably collapse, not only breaking his heart again but spoiling the pleasant memories he did have. Ivan thought he was going to die. He could not imagine feeling any worse than he felt at that moment.

  And then he noticed certain . . . looks . . . passing between Desiree and Christian. Looks that meant something he didn't want to think about. Damien Mefford, the weak-willed lackey of the school psychopath, to whom Ivan had offered a second chance when he really just should have killed the little punk -- THAT Damien Mefford was now romping in the sacred groves of IVAN's great lost love? Ivan suddenly realized that it was possible to feel much, *much* worse. . . .

  The others were a bit surprised when Ivan abruptly stood and announced that they should be getting back to France . . . but one look at his face told them that it was not the time to disagree. On the way back to the coast, Corinna wisely refrained from her usual flirtatious behavior with Ivan. She knew as well as he did that their relationship was destined to be shallow and periodic at best, and realized that Ivan had just had a run-in with someone whose influence over him went far deeper.

  Meanwhile, wanting to help his friend, Tyler knocked politely on Ivan's mind, and asked if he wanted to talk. Glad for the distraction, Ivan explained the situation, and Tyler commiserated. His advice was in much the same vein as Ivan's advice to Jasmine the night before: Distract yourself. At the moment, though, Ivan couldn't imagine anything that would distract him from what he was feeling.

  Arriving back in Paris, the kids tried to decide how to spend the rest of the evening. Ivan didn't want to do much of anything but sit and brood. Mel wanted to see Notre Dame, and Tyler offered to go with her. It was obvious that they wanted to be alone, so Corinna invited Jasmine on another shopping trip -- even to Radio Shack, if necessary. What Jasmine really wanted to do was to spy on the happy couple, but -- "Distraction. Cold-blooded," she reminded herself, and agreed to go with Corinna.

  Left alone in the room, Ivan wallowed in despair. Then, by pure chance, he touched a folded piece of paper that someone had stuck in his coat pocket. That it was from Desiree was almost certain, but whether that was cause for hope or dread, he didn't know. For a long while he considered just destroying the letter unread, but finally decided against such cowardice and opened it. Apparently, Desiree had noticed Ivan's reaction to the meaningful looks between herself and Christian, for the letter assured him that Christian meant no more to her than Corinna did to Ivan. He was a comfort when she would otherwise be alone, but it wasn't as though she loved him or anything. While she was far too level-headed a girl to make fairy-tale promises or demands in the letter, Desiree was obviously making it clear that, while she may not technically have been faithful to Ivan while they were apart (no more than he had been faithful to her), she hadn't replaced him either. That made Ivan feel a little better . . . but only a little.

  Meanwhile, Corinna and Jasmine were shopping. Corinna mentioned that she found girls like Mel and Jasmine interesting because they were so different from herself. Jasmine wondered if that were really such a good thing, having observed that the social-butterfly types like Corinna often seemed to be the standard against which everyone else was judged, especially in the circles they were all likely to move in when they grew up. Liking nothing better than to play Pygmalion with a willing subject, Corinna offered to teach Jasmine the tricks the socialite's trade, along with other essential Arts of Womanhood including the Secret Truth About Guys. Jasmine could hardly pass up an offer like that.

  When the girls returned from their excursion, Ivan was still sitting around looking bummed. There was no sign of Tyler or Mel. At first, everyone figured that maybe they had decided to have a romantic dinner or something. But time wore on, and they still didn't return. Jasmine finally decided to crack open her laptop and track them down. Unfortunately, as she was quickly reminded, she hadn't yet had time to conceal tracking devices in the new clothes they were wearing. Without her little homing transmitters, finding the pair in a city the size of Paris was a hopeless task.

  Just then, there was a knock on the door. It was Tyler, looking grim, with his hands tucked inside his coat. Mel was nowhere to be seen. Indeed, Tyler asked -- with some desperation in his voice -- if she had managed to make it back to the flat. Obviously not . . . and anyway, wasn't Mel supposed to be with him? She had been, he explained, and they'd visited the cathedral as planned. Then something at a street vendor's stand had caught Mel's eye as a good surprise gift for Tyler, and she'd made him stand well away while she went to purchase it. That was the last time he'd seen her, and he feared she'd been abducted. Asked if he had any leads, Tyler removed his hands from his coat to reveal that they were slicked with blood. (At that point, Corinna realized that things were getting beyond her comfort level, and quietly excused herself.) Tyler reassured his friends that the blood wasn't his. He'd just spent the past couple of hours playing Rorschach among the local Lowlife Scum (tm), trying to find out who had nabbed Melanie. Now he had an idea where to start looking, but he'd first returned to seek his friends' help. Of course, Ivan and Jasmine immediately signed on.

  And that was the cliffhanger ending of Session 14. And now I'm caught up! Woo hoo! Next time: The Rescue (we hope) and its aftermath. Tyler's obviously not inclined to show mercy to his enemies. And Ivan was in a bad mood already. If rescued, will Mel appreciate the effort on her behalf . .. or will it scare her to death?