"Mom," Genie breathed.
Knowing what she now knew about her mother, Genie had
wondered if she would look… different somehow. In her flawlessly tailored white
dress, Luna Elderberry looked as cool, calm and in control as she always had.
Was there something in her eyes that hinted at the weight she carried? Some
brittleness to her confident mask that Genie hadn’t recognized before? Or was
Genie imagining it?
"You shouldn't have gotten involved, Genevieve,"
Luna said.
"We need to deal with these two," Mr. Grey said in
his dispassionate voice, nodding at Genie and Jenny. "They've interfered
once too often."
Genie blinked. She’d been so focused on her mother, she’d
almost failed to see the cold, murderous gangster standing behind her.
"I am speaking to my daughter, Mr. Grey. I will thank
you not to interrupt," Luna said in an eerily conversational tone.
"Now, Genevieve, I hope you will understand how difficult this is…"
--------------------
"I always knew leading the pack would be
difficult," Jake Volkov muttered grimly. "Balancing the needs of all
the pack members, the townies, the other packs... but what I never anticipated
was the paperwork. Property taxes. Local Council meeting minutes. Two pages on
the debate over the Jacksons' right-of-way... which I was there for! I just
spent ten minutes reading about an hour of my life I'll never get back.
Honestly, I don't know how Kristopher managed..."
"Jake, you have a visitor," Lily cut him off,
mid-rant.
"Miranda?" Jake said, recognizing his old friend's
strangely intoxicating scent even before he turned. "What are you... wait,
what's wrong?"
"The svartalves. They're coming. Now!"
Miranda gasped out. "Where's Beth?"
--------------------
"This is Command," Mr. Hand said into their
headset. "Location one is secure. Teams Two and Three, go."
Their eyes, their real eyes, swept the room. They were
glad to finally shed their bio-mask, with its dulled senses, even if that
forced them to shield their eyes. Humans were obsessed with light. Of course,
humans were weak, physically and mentally, and needed the Settlers' guidance.
Here, in the pathetic repository of books, they were surrounded by proof of that.
"You may refer to me as Mr. Hand," they said to
their prisoners. "You are hostages. You will be detained for as long as is
required to complete our mission. Cooperate and no one else will be harmed.
Resist and we will use force."
"Everyone stay calm," one of them said.
Hand observed it was a breeder. Like vermin, humans did not
have proper Queens. They sensed the shape of this one's mind. Not a human,
after all. One of the theriomorphic aberrations. One Hand recognized.
"You are Elizabeth Volkov," Hand said.
"Pair-bonded to Jacob Volkov. That presumably is your... offspring. You
will come with me. Leave the offspring here."
They sensed the breeder's anger, her defiance, but also her
control. Impressive. Reluctantly, she passed her mewling spawn to another,
human, breeder, muttering words of comfort to them both. Words she knew were
lies. Hand could see it in her mind. The aberrations had been warned of the
pending attack.
Despite her display of confidence, the breeder, Elizabeth Volkov, knew she would die tonight.
--------------------
Everything had gone completely to shit, Mariah reflected
without any real feeling. The Agency people who were supposed to be taking Bess
Stirling off their hands were bleeding all over the furniture instead, and
somewhere out in the night an assassin and her alien dark elf men in black
buddies were closing in.
"We can't stay here," she said.
"What's your exit?" Etta asked, returning from
washing Agent Barnette's blood off her hands.
"Cash, clean IDs, burner phones and rail passes for me
and Miranda, in a locker at the community garden near the overpass, about a
block from here," Mariah said. She'd put them there within days of them
arriving in Evergreen Harbor to lay low.
"We're parked in a public lot near there," Etta
nodded, looking at Demarco.
"What am I supposed to do?" Bess cried, looking
panicked.
Reaching into his coat, Agent Light tossed Mariah a small
packet. She caught it easily, tried to ignore that it was wet and sticky with
his blood.
"Pocket money, clean ID and a rail pass for Ms.
Stirling," the agent said with a grin. "We've got a safehouse set up
for her in Windenburg," Light continued, giving them the address.
"Get out of here."
"What about you?" Mariah asked.
"We'll keep Mallory and her goons busy. Buy you some
time," Light smiled. "We'll be fine."
Mariah's eyes flicked to Agent Barnette on the couch. She
didn't look like she'd be keeping anyone busy. She didn't look conscious.
Mariah looked at Etta, putting the silent question in her eyes. Etta shook her
head slightly. Barnette wasn't going to make it.
"Get out of here," Agent Light repeated.
He knew what he was offering, Mariah realized, and that she
knew it too.
"Let's go," she said.
--------------------
"It really is my fault, I suppose," Luna mused.
"I encouraged you to form a friendship with Miranda. I told myself that,
if you got close to her, you might eventually be able to sway her to our side.
Honestly, though, I think I was just being sentimental. I hoped you would find
friendships like the ones I had at that age."
"I did," Genie said. "Well... I mean, not
exactly like. We never... I mean, we aren't... God, mom, this is all
complicated enough without you bringing your weird college orgies into
it."
"Really, Genevieve. There were never any orgies,"
Luna chuckled. " The occasional threesome, perhaps..."
"Well there was that one night," Rohan grinned.
"OK! Off topic," Genie shouted. "Seriously!
We will talk about you guys having group sex with my friend's parents never!
Right now, we’re talking about you and the murderous alien conspiracy you’re
involved in."
--------------------
"Please, hurry," Mariah said, quickly hanging up
before the Emergency Services operator could ask her any questions. Maybe, if
they got there soon enough, they could save Agents Barnette and Light. It was
all she could do.
Tossing her old phone and ID into the locker, she thought,
that was the last act of Mary Cavaliere, newlywed S-Mart clerk making a fresh
start in Evergreen Harbor. She'd liked being Mary.
"We could cover you to the train station," Etta
offered.
Mariah looked over at the little blonde ex-witch who had
once seduced and betrayed her wife. She wasn't sure if she was more surprised
that she welcomed Etta's offer of help, or with her response.
"Get to Moonwood Mill. Take care of Miranda for
me," she said.
"Might be easier said than done," Demarco growled.
"We've got company."
"Oh God, they've found us," Bess gasped.
"What do we do?"
"You, get in that bathroom there," Mariah said
sharply. "Lock the door."
"And hope they don't have blasters," Etta quipped.
"No more movie nights for you," Demarco sighed.
Stepping outside, Mariah's eyes quickly scanned the
community garden. Everything looked quiet. There wasn't anything dangerous
here. Mariah felt herself relax, filled with a sense of calm and peace. A
heartbeat later, her mind screamed in alarm at the sheer wrongness of that. She
could probably count on one hand the number of times she'd felt so totally calm
and at peace since the age of fourteen.
Even then, it took her a moment to register the threat
represented by the three figures in black, confidently advancing on them. With
pure, bloody-minded stubborn will she pushed through the alien's psychic
veil.
"Right," Mariah snarled.
--------------------
"Of course the phones are down again," Jake
grumbled. "I don't know why I bother. An hour spent debating right-of-way
but not a minute talking about upgrading the cell tower. Honestly."
"You can bring it up at the next town meeting,
dear," Lily said reassuringly. "I'll run over to the Moonrunners.
Update them."
"Right, I'll head into town, find Beth and Di and warn
Rory," Jake nodded. "Miranda, any idea how long we..."
The roar of gunfire split the night.
"Shit!" Miranda cried as they all dropped to the
floor. "Less time than I thought."
-----------------------
Author's note - Poses from modders including Simmerianne93
and SamSims (with apologies if I used some from someone I forgot to credit). -
L
