Wrinkles in Time Part 3 (long)

The Adventures of Béla, the Vampire Girl
Book 3: Wrinkles in Time
Part 3
Chapter 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sheila Belloq lay in blackness on the dusty stone shelf carved into the catacomb wall. She had barely managed to hide and turn off her light in time as her nemesis, Zachary Jones, entered the burial chamber. She rolled back against the mummified corpse sharing her narrow shelf space as Jones’ light beam swept past her hiding place, then leaned forward again as he passed her. His light beam was illuminating the altar at the end of the chamber as he approached it.

She sat up partially so she could see the combination of movements that opened the secret panel in the wall in front of him, gazing with lust-filled eyes as a section of the stone wall slid noisily open to reveal a tiny recess previously hidden. She leaned farther forward, her eyes reflecting the glitter of what his portable light revealed.

Zachary Jones heard her quiet gasp echo through the chamber and quickly spun around, pistol in hand. His portable light flashed back and forth, frantically searching for the source of the sounds as Sheila dropped to the ground and pressed up against a protruding pillar.

“I know you’re here,” he called out to her. “I won’t let you have it!”

His eyes still searching the ruins, he reached behind him and closed the secret panel. He could hear Sheila’s soft laughter – and the sound of a rifle bolt being quietly pulled back.

“Belloq!” he screamed at her, his heart pounding. “You won’t kill me! You’re not a murderess!”

His eyes searched the surrounding darkness. His light frantically moved from one possible hiding place to another, trying to search her out.

“Only I know how to open the chamber, Sheila,” he said into the darkness. “The wrong combination will trigger the booby trap that will kill anyone who tries to leave. You need me alive, darling.”

As his echoes died away, he could hear her laughter echoing through the chamber, hot on the heels of his ‘darling’ as it faded away.

“Zack, sweetheart, I’ve been in here all day searching,” she called out, turning her head away from him so that her voice echoed and didn’t reveal her location. “I know where the traps are. The only thing I didn’t know was the combination…”

Her sultry voice echoed through the catacombs. “And now, you’ve given that to me, just like you’ve given me everything else I ever wanted from you.”

While she was talking, he quietly cocked his pistol, hoping the lovely, echoing sound of her voice would drown out the quiet little click. His ruse didn’t work. She heard his gun cock.

“Darling! Would you actually use that on me?” Sheila asked, her sexy voice echoing through the chamber. “After all we had together? Tisk tisk… I liked your other gun a lot better…”

Zachary could hear her shifting her position as she moved her legs around. ‘She’s over there! Get ready to duck!’

“What we had was one torrid night,” he replied, crouching, getting ready to dive out of her way. “You drugged me, you stole my map, you tried to have me arrested…”

“Yes,” she admitted. “I did all that, but you’ll have to admit you liked what I did before that…”

‘He’s getting ready to move. He should land right… about…’

Zachary dived. As he did, he heard the quiet ‘Pfffft!’ of her dart gun. Then his leg was on fire. He cried out and grabbed his leg, dropping his pistol as he did so. It clattered away into the darkness, sliding down some unseen incline.

Sheila scrambled down from her hiding place, tearing her blouse on a spike sticking out from a collapsed wall, exposing one breast. She knelt down in front of him, a triumphant grin on her face. She didn’t seem to notice the blood leaking out of the cut on the side of her exposed breast.

“So, Zachary Jones, you’re as big a loser as your grandfather,” she laughed, her beautiful, rose red lips grinning widely with a sadistic twist in one corner.

Then she rose and stepped forward, moving the stones in the same sequence she had memorized while watching him. The panel slid open. Sheila reached inside.

“That necklace… belongs… in a museum!” Jones declared, gasping from the efforts of the sleepy dart in his leg.

His face was covered with sweat. Then the powerful narcotic overwhelmed him and he collapsed in a heap.

Sheila picked up the jeweled necklace, admiring it in the light from Zack’s portable lamp. She heard a small click from inside of the little vault in the wall. She quickly stepped sideways. There was a strange numbing sensation in her side. She looked down.

‘Fuck! I wasn’t fast enough,’ she realized as she noticed the little wooden dart sticking out of her abdomen.

She carefully pulled it out and examined it. It was hollow. It was empty. She knew she needed to reach the snakebite kit in her backpack quickly or she was going to die. She was already feeling lightheaded.

She began trotting back toward the entrance – in the same direction from which Zack had come.

‘It doesn’t matter if I walk or run – I can already feel the poison rushing through my system!’

She ran through an unfamiliar passageway.

‘This isn’t the way I came in! Fuck! I’m lost!’

She stopped. Her legs were starting to burn and her lungs were on fire. The venom in the dart was beginning to work, slowly paralyzing her.

‘I need to find my backpack! I’m going the wrong way!’

She staggered back the way she had come – back towards Zack.

‘He should have something. He would never be unprepared for something like this… would he?’

She stepped on a stone, knowing what it was the instant it moved. She dived to one side as a spiked metal arm swung down, barely missing her head. She cried out into the darkness as it slammed into the wall, pinning her left arm and shoulder and making a deep gouge.

‘Bastard! Shit! Fuck! That hurts!’

Groaning loudly, she tried to move it with her right arm, twisting her body around so that she could tear herself off the spike. She succeeded, tearing off most of her blouse in the process, and leaned against the wall, gasping in pain, trying to use the remnants of her blouse to staunch the bleeding. After a moment, she started forward again, each rasping, ragged breath echoing loudly through the underground ruins, one breast totally bare, the other barely covered with the bloody remnants of her blouse.

Sheila’s legs were getting numb from the poison in her blood and it was hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other. She was also sweating profusely, going into shock from the wound in her left shoulder. Up ahead she could see a light.

‘That must be Zack’s lamp! Thank God!’

She stumbled forward toward the light. She kept falling and bruising herself on the sharp edges of things she couldn’t see. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. Her vision was starting to tunnel. She tried to move faster.

‘If Zack has a snakebite kit, it can save me…’

Now Zack was lying right in front of her. Sheila looked around for his pack.

‘There it is!’

She thought she saw it lying in the shadows off to one side. She turned and stepped onto another trigger stone.

‘Nooo!’

She turned and tried to duck. She knew this trap was here and she still walked right into it. The heavy spiked arm swung down and pinned her against the wall. She looked down at herself, at the long, heavy spikes sticking into of her chest and stomach, and wept. She coughed up a modest amount of blood, just enough to drool onto her bare breasts, then her head fell forward and she slumped, still pinned against the wall by the spiked metal arm.

Time passed. Zachary Jones woke up. His portable lamp was almost dead. He found his canteen and used it to clean out the foul taste in his mouth and to wash his face. As he raised his head to drain the last of his water down his throat, he jumped, suddenly shocked, and choked on the water. Not ten feet away, dimly lit by Zack’s dying lamp, Sheila’s limp, bloody corpse was staked to the wall, the priceless jeweled relic lying on the ground by her feet where it had fallen from her lifeless fingers.

Zack rose unsteadily to his feet. His leg where she shot him with the dart was stiff, sore and still swollen. He staggered over to where Sheila was and shined the flickering light on her. He saw the dart wound and the gash in her shoulder from her encounter with the other trap and knew what had happened.

“You were my best student,” he moaned sadly to her lifeless, but still wet and sexy body, his voice uneven with emotion and exhaustion. “Where did you go wrong?”

He reached down and picked up the necklace. Carelessly putting it into his pocket, he shuffled away toward the entrance.

“Cut!” the director cried out. “That was magnificent!”

The lights came on, brightly illuminating the boxes, plastic rocks and pillars that made up the recording stage.

Katie pushed the spikes away from her as Doc Frank, as he was known on the set, trotted over to her. She hissed as she moved, favoring her shoulder.

“Here, let me take a look at that,” Frank said, sounding concerned.

He frowned, suddenly concerned about the depth of her shoulder wound. He handed her a bottle of brownish liquid for her to drink.

“The first spike didn’t retract,” she told him through clenched teeth. “I must’ve hit it wrong or something…”

She yelped as her brother shoved an absorbing sealer into the hole in her shoulder.

“That’ll hold until we get you back to the trailer,” her older brother said.

Doc Frank shoved the spiked arm still holding his sister against the ‘cave’ wall out of the way and wiped the fake blood off Katie’s breasts and belly to check the dark bruises where that last spiked arm had struck her. Luckily, all four spikes had dispensed their bloody residue and retracted properly, leaving only her bruised skin where the heavy metal girder had slammed into her.

“Well,” Katie said as she gulped down the last of her special ‘shake’ her brother had invented. “Here’s to the gory end of Sheila Belloq – poor, pathetic, greedy, over-sexed little granddaughter that she was.”

She grimaced at the taste of the concoction he’d given her as it slid down her throat. It was powdered protein mixed with liquefied vitamins, calcium, magnesium, zinc and other dissolved minerals in a sweetened orange-lemon base mixed with raw eggs.

“That she was,” Frank repeated, taking the bottle from her before she dropped. “But, she was incredibly beautiful… Looked just like you, in fact. Just… well, she had a nicer expression on her face.”

Katie grinned at him and gave him a shove. “She wasn’t drinking this stuff!” Then she grimaced, holding her chest.

“Ow! I think I cracked a rib or something,” she gasped as a sudden sharp pain began throbbing beneath one of the dark purple bruises on her chest.

Frank helped her to the edge of the recording stage and into the seat of her personal conveyance.

“I still say this thing looks like a golf cart!” Katie complained, trying to make herself comfortable in the plastic upright seat.

“It is a golf cart,” Frank admitted. “Only the star gets the limo.”

He laughed at the face she made at him. Once in the trailer, Frank determined that Katydid indeed have a broken rib. He carefully wrapped her torso in casting tape and smoothed it down.

“There! You’ll hardly notice you have it on,” he explained cheerfully, handing her a fresh blouse since the one she’d been wearing during that last scene had been thoroughly shredded and destroyed.

The bare, tortured, bleeding flesh that Katie Kelly, Snuff Girl, usually displayed in her movies was always very real, and part of her marketability. The fact that she was willing to bleed for her fans was making her famous, and, oddly enough, beloved, from all the fan mail she was starting to get.

A chime indicated someone at the door. It was one of the producers. He had papers in his hand and a disc. No, two discs. I wonder what the second one is.

Katie smiled at him. Frank excused her by getting up and accepting the stuff in the producer’s hand.

“Please excuse Katie, she cracked a rib on that last shot,” Frank explained.

“No, no. That’s alright,” Alberto said. “I was worried that the shot would be ruined when she got pinned by that girder. It was supposed to take a big chunk out of the wall, not her. Didn’t Richie get the script change to you?”

They both shook their heads. They both knew there was no ‘script change’ sent to them. News of her ‘accident’ would help promote the production.

‘This is why the regular talent won’t work with this creep…’

They kept their complaints to themselves. According to their contract, Katie would be well compensated for any injuries. Plus, this movie would add to her marketability as a snuff girl.

“Is this my copy?” Katie asked, looking at the two discs. She picked them up. One had Claremont logo on it, and the other was a label she didn’t recognize. It was written in…

“What is this?” she asked, looking up at Alberto. “Is this Russian? Hungarian? Anything I might be familiar with?”

“I would ask you the same question,” Alberto said pointedly. “It would appear that you have been doing some ‘underground’ work, contrary to your contract.”

Underground was the popular phrase that reputable Tri-d talent used to describe pornography.

“What?” Frank exclaimed. “Are you trying to get out of paying her?”

An Underground girl only made a fraction of what a legitimate stunt girl would be credited, especially a snuff girl like Katie.

Katie shoved the disc into the Tri-d built into the wall of the trailer. A pretty, blonde girl walked through a doorway. She was wearing… paint?

Katie began fast-forwarded through the recording, not saying anything. Frank just scowled at it.

“That’s not Katie!” he exclaimed. “Look! Her tits are too big! Katie’s not that… voluptuous!”

“Gee, thanks!” Katie said, still mesmerized by the scene playing rapidly in front of her.

She slowed it down to normal speed when she got near the end.

“What do you want me to do?” the girl asked timidly. She was trying to control her sobbing so she could hear what her tormentor was going to tell her.

“I want you to die, of course,” the Hungarian-looking guy said. “Why do you think I asked you here?”

He released the pin. The trap slammed shut. The young girl, suddenly perforated by a dozen long, metal spikes, screamed, gurgled and died. The scene slowly faded.

Katie sat, dumbfounded. “I don’t believe it!”

“I don’t either!” Frank stood up and said menacingly, “That’s not her and you know it! If you don’t want a credit tap on this production, you’ll make sure Katie’s paid according to her contract! Got it?”

He practically shoved the producer out of the trailer. Then he turned around to Katie and started to say something. The look on her face stopped him.

“What is it?” he asked, wondering what was wrong.

Katie blinked several times, seeming to come out of a trance.

“She’s really good,” she murmured with a frown on her face. Her eyes seemed unfocused. “I would’ve never guessed… not in a million years…”

“Guessed what?” Frank demanded.

Katie looked up at him and began laughing. She laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes. Then she had to stop. Her still-healing rib hurt too much.

“What’s so damned funny?” Frank wanted to know.

He didn’t like being out of the loop. Katie, trying hard to suppress her giggles, reached over and started the Tri-d again.

An image of a door – a sexy, young girl walks through it wearing nothing but a layer of psychedelic paint.

Katie froze the image and turned off the color. She aimed the controller at the girl’s head and expanded it to give Frank a better view. Frank’s eyes widened unbelievingly at the black-and-white bust hovering above the Tri-d projector as he recognized…

“Mom?” Frank exclaimed, not believing it.

He turned and stared at his sister. She nodded; her face all scrunched up and tears were coming to her eyes from her valiant effort to suppress her maniacal laughter.

‘My mother is an Underground Snuff Girl!’ Frank thought, totally dumbfounded.

Then both brother and sister were laughing, crying, and leaning on each other to keep from falling onto the floor.

Chapter 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He knows you’re going to be there?” Frank asked.

Tanya nodded. She looked in the mirror at her slut-bod costume. It consisted of two yellow spandex bands, one inch wide, stretched up and down the length of her body. To get into it, she simply had to put one leg into a loop, then stretch it over her shoulder, then do the same thing for her other side. Then she simply unfolded the loops running between her legs so that her best parts were properly, if barely, covered.

She didn’t like the way the bands squashed her boobs, so she slipped each one to the outside so they pushed her boobs together, then found a silky black sash and tied it behind her, covering her breasts with the sexy, nearly transparent fabric. She smiled as she looked at herself again.

She stepped out of her mirrored dressing closet, feeling the spandex bands slip over each other with every step she took. She looked at Frank. He was sitting on the bed, waiting for her.

“These costumes you design for me are primarily made to make me horny as hell, aren’t they?” she asked.

Frank grinned. “No, actually they’re designed to make me horny as hell!”

Tanya grinned and licked her upper lip as she pulled him up off the bed. Her eyes moved quickly up and down, checking out his costume. He was dressed typically; green tights, transparent nylon shirt and a suede vest. She could see the bulge in his tights. She rubbed her spandex-covered twat against his bulge.

“Wanna fuck before we go?” Tanya asked, grinning slyly.

Special missions always excited her. She’d been out of the field for too many years. Now that she had learned how to handle her body (with Beth’s help), and had gotten over her fear of getting hurt, she wanted back in.

“Always!” Frank replied. “You don’t think it will take your edge off?”

He wanted her to be sharp and on her toes. Going after this bastard white slaver could get her hurt or even killed. Tanya was going in as bait. She’d made herself well known in the underground world with that illegal snuff film and somebody out there wanted her. There had already been one failed attempt to crash her into the ground and kidnap her last week.

“Going in horny will take my edge off more,” she replied, truthfully. “I’m liable to let someone do me just for the sensation of being penetrated.”

She ran her thumbs down each spandex band, separating them where they ran down between her legs so that they were folded up into the crease of her legs, exposing her cunt. She rubbed her bare pussy against his bulge again.

“Fuck me!” she demanded. “I need that cock!”

Frank hurriedly pulled his tights down so that the waistband was stretched around the outside of his hard cock just above his balls.

Tanya grinned. “Imaginative – a built-in cock ring. Put it in me, baby!”

She lifted one leg and then she was riding him. They were both so horny that they only fucked for about ten seconds, then Frank was squirting his cum inside her as she shuddered with her own climax. Then he pulled out of her and slipped his tights up over his sticky cock. In just a few seconds, a wet stain appeared on the front of his tights where his cock was still leaking cum.

Tanya wiped her hand between her legs, scooped out some of the results of their lovemaking and smeared it on her bare belly. She loved the smell of their sex and the erotic effect it had on any man who got close enough to catch her ‘freshly fucked’ scent. She planned on getting dry-humped a few times before she got ‘kidnapped’ tonight. Having sex in dangerous places was one of the special benefits of being a field operative.

“I have more boyfriends than James has Bond Girls,” she’d once told Frank when they first met almost a century earlier.

She liked having special benefits like that. What surprised her was that Frank didn’t mind her having those special benefits. The similarities of what her present relationship with her husband was becoming and Frank’s earlier relationship with Béla weren’t lost on her.

Then they were in the limo, heading to the special presentation. There would be lots of snappers there, hoping to get some good shots of all the celebrities that would be attending. Tanya… Tootsie, rather, never disappointed them. Some one lucky bastard would get an exclusive shot of her doing something naughty – she would make sure of it.

“Praetor, can you hear me?” Tanya asked.

‘Is my GPS working?’ she thought, without speaking.

‘Yes, Tanya,’ the Praetor replied in her mind. ‘I can see your location on the satellite monitors.’

“Good,” she replied.

She looked at Frank, sitting uncomfortably straight. There was still a hard ridge in his pants.

“Poor baby,” Tanya cooed. “Let me take care of that for you…”

She pulled his tights down around his knees, then wriggled down between his legs and began licking his cock. It was sticky with cum, both his and hers. She felt the limo slowing down. They were arriving. She sucked feverishly on his cock for a few seconds, feeling the thick vein running up the underside of his cock slowly fill with fluid.

She pulled back and wrapped her tits around him just as he sprayed the underside of her chin and the front of her neck. She moved back and forth, smearing his cum all over her bodice, making her round breasts glisten with sticky wetness.

The driver opened the passenger side door of the limo, peeked inside, then quickly closed it again – but not before one or two flashes lit them up. Tanya was prepared with one eye closed; already winking at the lucky snapper, whoever he was this time, when the door had first opened.

After a moment, Frank knocked on the window and the driver opened the door. Frankie the Third and his slut-bod, Tootsie, climbed out. The strong scent of cum wafted off her body, making her smell like the slut she pretended to be.

‘The slut that I really am…’ she thought, giggling to herself.

They were somewhat bigger celebrities now with the rumors about her underground snuff film. Suddenly there was a microphone in her face.

“Are you worried that something might happen to you?” someone behind a bright light asked her. “Especially after the disappearance of the three underground starlets last month?”

Tanya shook her head. “Have you seen the recording, darling?” Tootsie asked in a nasal voice, noisily popping her gum. “What could be worse than that?”

She grinned and shrugged her shoulders, making sure her tits bounced for the hand-held Tricorder.

“Besides, how do you know it was me?” Tootsie asked, pretending to be too dumb-blonde to realize that she’d practically admitted to doing the film. “Do these tits look like I use them for a pincushion?”

Then the microphone and the recorder disappeared as she was swept toward the entrance by the sudden rush of people trying to get inside.

Once inside, a tall, shapely brunette suddenly appeared between Frankie and his pet slut-bod. A tall, dark and handsome man appeared next to Tanya.

‘Take note, they’re separating us already!’

Tootsie smiled at the handsome man, letting her scent do the talking. Aggressively, she backed him against the wall and ground her mostly naked torso against his. Then she had his cock out and was riding it, rubbing her spandex-covered pussy against his hardness. In just a few seconds, his cum was running down the insides of her thighs. She hugged him tightly, pressing her face against his chest as she shook with her own orgasm.

“Happy dry humping,” she whispered up at him, then walked away, leaving him to quickly tuck his cock back into his pants.

By now, the spandex between her legs was thoroughly soaked. She smelled delightfully erotic. Every man who got within a foot of her automatically reached out for her, his mind suddenly overcome with desire.

‘That’s over-cum, darling… over ‘cum’ with desire! If you’re going to write it down, spell it right!’

As she crossed the room looking for Frank, she was sandwiched between two men, one in front and one behind. They both rubbed their cocks between her legs while caressing her sticky, cum-streaked breasts. She noticed that they were also moving her toward the back of the hall. They added their leavings to what was already running down her thighs before vanishing into the crowd.

‘I need to find a restroom and clean up a little,’ Tanya decided, as the slippery mess reached the insides of her knees.

Looking around, she realized that she was right next to one. Just as she started to walk through the entrance, someone grabbed her arm and swung her around. She looked up into his face.

“Abdullah!” she exclaimed. “What a surprise!”

He backed her on through the door and into the restroom. Someone grabbed her from behind. She felt soft cotton being pressed harshly against her face. She tried to hold her breath, recognizing the sweet, cloying scent.

‘Chloroform! Praetor! I’m being kidnapped! Are you tracking me?’

Then she was unconscious.

She watched as Abdullah cleaned her up between her legs, using his thumbs to move the spandex bands aside so he could dry her off. He wasn’t very successful as her own juices had already pretty much filled her up. Then, unable to resist her well-fucked scent, he shoved his cock deep inside her and pumped several times, then squirted his load into her slippery cunt. He straightened his clothing, went back outside the restroom and motioned quickly for the laundry attendant.

The unconscious Tanya was dumped into the laundry basket and covered with dirty towels, then wheeled outside. Tanya, dream-walking, held on to the side of the cart, allowing her dream self to be pulled along with it. The laundry cart was wheeled up into the back of a van.

“Hello, Praetor, Frank, anybody… I’m being kidnapped! Is anybody interested? Is anybody out there?” Tanya didn’t get an answer. “Hey, guys! This really sucks!”

An hour later she was loaded into another truck. A man jabbed his fingers into her neck, feeling her pulse. Then he injected her with something.

“Hey! Stop that!” Tanya cried out, helpless to do anything to prevent her abductors from… well… abducting her.

She started to black out.

‘Hey! Wait a minute! I’m supposed to be able to dream-walk if I’m asleep! What is that stuff, anyway? Oh, God! I think I fucked up…’

Chapter 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frank Junior wearily flipped the switch, turning off the autopilot. He gently set the van down on the landing pad near Jake’s cabin. Katie stirred from the tiny bunk in the rear and looked through the portal (rear window?) to see if her little Lincoln had survived the trip being towed halfway across the continent from South Carolina behind Frank’s van.

‘Well, it’s a Continental, after all. It should be all right,’ she thought, amusing herself with her little play on words.

‘Are you asking a question?’ the Praetor responded.

“No,” replied Katie wearily.

She climbed forward and swung around the door grip, expertly placing her bare feet on the extended running board. Then she stepped backwards down to the ground, almost losing her balance because of the stiffness in her legs and taking an extra step backwards to catch herself.

“Careful, Bug,” Frank said watching her. He pulled their luggage out of the cargo bay and dropped it down by his feet, piece by piece. There were seven bags, total.

“Where did all this stuff come from?” Katie wanted to know.

‘We only had two bags each when we left…’

Then they were in the cabin. Beth was lying on the couch, her tiny arms making her look like a character from a badly drawn cartoon. Béla was coming in from the kitchen with a pitcher and an armload of glasses.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “I heard you arriving, so I made some lemonade.”

“How much sugar did you use this time?” Katie asked, remembering the last time Béla made lemonade.

“It’s premixed,” Béla pouted. “Jake bought it for me.”

Katie smiled and helped unload Béla’s armload of glasses, then held one up to be filled.

“Okay, I’ll try it,” Katie replied, pretending Béla might just be trying to poison her with sugar.

“So, how was your trip?” Jake asked.

He set down a couple of extra chairs he’d brought in from the kitchen. Beth sat up and scooted over to give them room on the couch. Katie sat down next to her and smiled. She reached out and touched Beth’s cheek, instantly mind-linking with her. Then they lay quietly on the couch facing each other with their eyes closed, just being together.

‘I missed you…’

‘Me, too. I’m glad you’re back…’

‘Me, too.’

‘Can I see what you’ve been doing, Earth Girl?’

Katie smiled at her new nickname and opened her mind to let Beth experience what she’d been up to for the past ten days. This was actually the first time she’d mind-linked with Beth when she wasn’t nearly dead.

Frank chatted about the trip to Bolivia and told Jake and Béla about some of the scenic sights.

“On our last day there, Katie wanted to go up the mountain. There’s a new ski lodge and she’d been on me to take her there all week.”

“Well, her body hadn’t healed right and she couldn’t hold a ski pole in her left hand. Her ribs were too tender to balance herself on a snowboard, so she decided to toboggan down the side of the mountain.”

“A toboggan?” Jake laughed. “You mean like one of those sleds that go zooming down some sluice?”

Frank grinned. “Yep! Except they didn’t have a sluice. They did have a slope that you could take one down…”

“You know,” Jake expounded. “Those things don’t have brakes! And they’re hard to steer…”

“They’re impossible to steer!” Frank laughed, remembering Katydid’s crazy, terrorizing journey down the mountain in that damned thing.

“We got her laid down in the thing, head forward so she could use her feet behind the rails to steer and to slow her down, and gave her a shove.”

Frank began laughing and couldn’t stop, remembering Katie’s terrified squeals and angry yelps as she plummeted down the side of the mountain at ninety miles an hour on a fragile pair of rails held together by a couple of boards. He’d chased down behind her on a pair of jet skis, staying close enough to hear her yelps of terror as Katie frantically tried to steer the thing with her feet, but he wasn’t able to go fast enough to catch up with her.

Béla curled up in the chair, holding her extended belly and trying not to hurt herself laughing while she watched the exciting, comedic scene unfolding in Frank’s mind.

Katie finally turned the sled completely sideways at a hundred miles an hour and flipped it over. She flew about seventy or eighty feet in the air and landed, amazingly unhurt, but completely terrified, in the top of a pine tree, which threw her back down into ten feet of freshly fallen snow. The parts of the toboggan that hadn’t disintegrated when it flipped over splintered into tiny pieces against the thick trunk of the same tree.

Frank jetted over the rise just in time to see her being ejected from the tree and hear her raucous wail suddenly muffled as she disappeared into the deep snow. After several minutes of frantic digging, he uncovered a very dejected and depressed Katydid.

“Are you all right?” Frank asked.

He was trying really hard not to laugh in her face. He tried to control himself by thinking about how badly she could have been hurt.

Katie glared at him, her face and eyes red from the impact with the freezing snow.

“Can we go somewhere? I have to change…”

Then she started calling Frank all sorts of vile names as he rolled around in the snow, braying with laughter. Finally, sobbing angrily, with tears of frustration running down her frozen face, she dropped down on her knees and started beating on him.

Béla, Frank and Jake sat on the kitchen chairs with their heads together, Béla mind-linking them so Jake could share the experience. They were all laughing so hard they had to hold each other up.

After a moment, Jake looked up. Beth and Katie were sitting with their legs folded demurely beneath them on the couch, staring at them like they were three laughing idiots.

“I’m sorry, girls,” Jake apologized. “I couldn’t help it. It was just so… unexpected…”

‘It’s better than any Tri-d I’ve ever seen!’

Katie’s intense stare was interrupted by a tiny ‘peep’ next to her. She turned her head toward Beth, to discover that Beth had buried her head against the back of the couch, doing her best not to make any noise. Her face was contorted with her intense effort not to laugh.

‘I thought you were my friend!’ Katie thought at her, with a lot of indignation.

Then Katie was laughing, too. ‘I don’t have any choice! Bastards! Every one of you!’

After everyone tearfully apologized (sincerely) to Katie for laughing at her, Jake and Frank went into the kitchen to prepare something to eat.

‘At least with two of them out there, we might get something edible…’

Béla excused herself and teleported to her bedroom, “to rest awhile.”

“So, how have you been doing,” Katie asked.

Beth held her tiny arms up. “They’re growing back. It just takes so long. Jake still tells me I’m pretty, but when he takes me, I can tell Béla’s the one he wants. But he can’t do it with her, now. She says it hurts the baby. It’s too big.”

“I think you’re pretty,” Katie said quietly.

‘Mom was right. Just being close to her makes you want to do it.’

She leaned forward and gently kissed Beth on the mouth. Katie’s body suddenly decided to remind her of how long it’s been since she last had sex. Beth radiated her desire, responding to Katie’s unintentional sexual broadcast. Katie hesitated, wondering how appropriate this was.

‘We can go upstairs, Earth Girl,’ Beth thought into Katie’s mind, recognizing the problem.

Although it hadn’t been a long time for Beth, as she fucked both Jake and Béla regularly, Jake’s rifle in her cunt was the last really great sex she remembered. Katie blinked at the broadcast image. She stared at Beth, her eyes wide with wonder.

‘It feels that good?’

‘You have no idea!’

‘Wanna bet?’

Katie opened up her mind and let Beth see her own fascination with puncturing holes in her body for sexual stimulation.

Beth grinned. “We could have fun with this…” she said aloud.

‘But my arms have to be longer, first.’

‘Not really… It’s not the power of the punch, it’s that little pinprick of sensual sweetness – that little jab of orgasmic agony.’

Katie tried to draw in a breath to scream as everything disappeared, but there wasn’t any air. Then she was sitting with Beth on her bed, upstairs.

‘I didn’t want to wait,’ Beth thought into her mind, then she pushed Katie back with her tiny hands and clamped her teeth down on Katie’s right breast, right through her shirt.

“Hey! Not so hard!” Katie yelped. “I bleed, you know?”

‘So do I, Earth Girl,’ Beth replied in her mind, radiating her lust for her new lover. ‘And I expect you to find that out…’

Chapter 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you tracking her?” Jake Hedron, the Chairman of Tomlin Security asked.

The tinny voice in his headphones assured him they knew exactly where Tanya was. She was presently about a hundred and fifty miles north of the Hawaiian Islands, and a hundred and thirty miles high, traveling East at six-thousand kph.

“Have you decrypted their flight plan yet?” he asked.

There were several major terminals capable of handling a strato-carrier, but unless it made a radical course correction, there were only three where it would probably land: Taipei, Hong Kong or Beijing. He had a capable team of Tomlin agents assembling at each of the three possible touchdown points.

“No, sir,” the tinny voice on the other end told him. “Wait! There’s data coming in now. Their landing coordinates indicate… Hong Kong. ETA is forty minutes.”

‘Hong Kong?’ Jake thought to himself. “Thanks for the data. Keep me updated.”

‘Okay, Grams, we’re coming to get you!’ Jake thought. He grabbed his coat on the way out of his office.

‘A short hop to the strato-port, and then ninety minutes to Hong Kong. We’re gonna get those white slaver bastards that kidnapped you!’

By the time he would arrive in Hong Kong, Tanya would have been delivered to whoever had purchased her, with his agents close behind arresting everyone involved and closing down another pipeline to the slavers that took advantage of helpless young girls that fell into their evil web.

Fifteen minutes later, he was strapped into the private Tomlin Corporation Strato-jet racing down the runway toward the tall, fragile-looking ramp that would launch the tiny craft skyward, despite a five minute delay to replace a steward who suddenly had a family emergency. By the time he was airborne, the craft was already bursting through the sound barrier.

Jake was glued to his contour seat by the heavy G-forces as the craft shot skyward, then was thrown forward against his restraining harness as the engines cut out. He was surrounded by total silence. There wasn’t even the sound of air whooshing by outside.

‘There isn’t any air outside to whoosh, you dummy! You’re in space!’

Curious, he unfastened his harness and floated upward. He always assumed that he would be airsick in one of these things, but his fascination with what was happening made him forget his queasy stomach. As he floated toward the ceiling of the craft, he noticed ladder rings running along its center.

‘I bet I know what these are for…’

Jake pulled himself along the ceiling toward the steward’s galley, traveling from one link to the next, excited by the ease with which he could move. Then he panicked as he approached the front bulkhead. Waving his arms wildly and yelling didn’t seem to help him avert the headlong crash. As he floated backward from the impact, the steward’s arm reached out and grabbed him, pulling him forward into the tiny galley.

“Whoa there, mate!” the steward said. Jake looked down at her and was suddenly lost in a pair of beautiful azul eyes.

“How did you do that?” he asked, referring to her easy catch of his seventy-kilo frame. “I’m not all that light, you know.”

“Well, mate, if you must know,” she said in a clipped accent, “I let the bulkhead stop you, then I just reeled you in, real friendly like!”

She grinned up at him, cocking an eyebrow.

‘Can everybody do that but me?’ thought Jake.

He looked away, stunned by her impact against his mind.

“Coffee?” she asked, offering up what looked like an old-fashioned ketchup dispenser.

He took it, noticing that it was cool to the touch, then put the pointed end in his mouth and gently squeezed. The coffee was warm, not too hot and made just the way he liked it, right down to the piece of cinnamon that now clogged the nozzle.

“Thanks,” Jake said, looking oddly down into the nozzle.

“Just blow into it an’ it’ll clear,” Tabatha, her nametag read, told him. She smiled up at him. “Business or pleasure?”

“What?” Jake asked, surprised by the question. “Oh, um, business, I’m afraid. Typical security nonsense.”

He sucked in another mouthful of coffee.

“Wanna look at the stars?” Tabatha asked, pretending to be coy.

Jake smiled. “Sure.”

Tabatha reached up and pressed a button on the side of a cabinet. The sound of a panel sliding made him look upward, and then he was looking at thousands of stars! Tabatha dimmed the galley lights so that their reflections didn’t obstruct the view.

‘They’re all different colors!’ he thought to himself, awed by the panoramic view.

He heard Tabatha chuckle. It was an odd sound for a girl to make; usually, girls giggled.

“Mostly only the white light reaches all the way to the ground,” she said quietly.

The sound of her voice soothed his hectic mind, allowing him to relax for a moment.

‘It’s almost like she can tell what I’m thinking…’

He watched her as she looked out at the stars, noticing the reflected starlight in her eyes. She caught him looking at her. Then they both looked back up.

“Do you ever get tired of looking at them?” he asked her.

He could see her bouncy red hair move as she shook her head.

“No, I never get tired of that view,” she admitted.

The emotion in her voice told him that she loved looking at the stars.

‘She looks outward, fixing her eyes on horizons that she will never reach in her short lifetime,’ Jake thought as he gazed at her.

Tabatha caught him looking at her, again. She smiled, trying to get him to relax. There was a strange sadness in her eyes, like he had somehow failed some kind of test.

Jake was feeling guilty of admiring her, and she’d caught him at it twice, now.

‘Why does she affect me this way? I’m immune to most girls. Is it the distance from everyone else? We’re hundreds of miles from anywhere…’’

“It’s just the starlight. It gets in your eyes,” she explained casually.

“What! You read minds, too?” he asked, trying to put some distance between himself and this bewitching girl.

‘Steward! She’s a steward! She works for me! Get a grip, man!’ the Chairman thought, angry with himself for feeling so… out of control of his emotions.

“Isn’t there something, um, you should be doing?” he asked.

She makes me feel like a schoolboy asking his very first girl out on a date!

She looked at him, wide-eyed and innocent.

‘She can read my every thought!’

“Yes, as a matter-of-fact,” she admitted, “there is something I should be doing…”

She reached up and brushed a bit of hair off his shoulder, then straightened his jacket.

“Taking care of you,” she said, finishing her answer.

She stood quietly in front of him, waiting.

Jake smiled, then held out his hand.

Then they were embracing each other, kissing fervently. Jake was surprised at his own reaction to her. He hadn’t realized he was so starved for what she was offering him.

Making love in free-fall was a new experience for Jake. The fun part was trying to hold their bodies together so that they stayed… together. The tiny galley offered them both plenty of handholds and footrests to lever themselves against, and they managed it after a fashion, although he remembered laughing with her more that he did making love to her. What he remembered most, though, was how wonderful she smelled.

Jake was worried that ‘afterward’ might be awkward, but Tabatha was the model of demure decorum. She helped him dress (you’d be surprised how difficult it is to get your foot all the way into and out the bottom of your pant leg in zero-gee), then brought him a light brunch. Then she sat down next to him and strapped herself in.

“Course correction,” Tabatha explained, smiling at him.

She helped him hold his food on the tray as the jets kicked in for a moment, jerking them sideways, then she unstrapped herself and floated over his head, upside down. As she floated by, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Welcome to the hundred-mile-high club,” Tabatha grinned at him, then disappeared into the galley.

‘Take care – there are dangerous people where you are going…’ he swore he heard in his mind.

He finished his meal in silence, sorely missing her company already. The automatic disposal chute sucked the debris from his meal away. Then a voice over the speaker told him they would be landing in ten minutes.

The steward who had greeted him and welcomed him aboard was the same steward who now offered his assistance as the Chairman departed. It wasn’t Tabatha.

Jake Hedron forced his mind onto the task at hand – closing down these slavers and rescuing his grandmother.

The signal had been tracked to a warehouse on the north side of Hong Kong. They followed the signal, now being broadcast from a delivery truck, to a company warehouse along the riverfront. When Tanya stopped traveling, they struck.

The attack on the warehouse was fast and efficient. The employees were rounded up and led away. Tanya’s signal was coming from beneath the ground. A little searching led to a dimly lit stairwell that exited into an underground dungeon.

The dungeon hadn’t been used for decades. On one of the rotted cots lay the tiny, bloody body monitor that someone had dug out of the side of Tanya’s neck. Jake stared at it, furious about the deception, and worried sick about his grandmother.

~~~~~

Tanya woke up. She was stiff from the drug they’d given her. It was dark. She had no idea how much time had passed or what day it was or if it was even day or night. The cot she lay on was swaying slightly from side to side. She looked around the dim cell she found herself in. There were two other girls in the cell with her, each looking lost and alone – terrified of what was happening to them. The room rocked for a moment. The cold steel wall vibrated. The dirty yellow bulb hanging from the ceiling swayed.

I hear engines. This is a bulkhead. We’re at sea!

‘Praetor! Can you hear me? Do you know where I am?’

She reached up and touched the side of her neck. She could tell from the smoothness of her skin that her new body monitor with its built-in GPS tracker was no longer embedded there.

‘What was that annoying phrase Katie always used? Oh, yes…

‘Holy K-rap!’

Chapter 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katie had her blouse off and was examining her tit. Beth’s teeth marks were indented into her tender flesh, but she hadn’t broken the skin. She also noticed her own scent, especially when she took off the shorts she’d been wearing since she and her brother left La Paz.

“I need a shower before we go much further,” Katie informed her wannabe lover.

“Can I bathe with you?” Beth asked.

Katie smiled, wondering how she should react. She’d showered with girls before, but none of them (as far as she knew) had wanted to get between her legs. Still, just being around Beth gave her cunnie a buzz she couldn’t ignore.

‘Sooner or later, we’re going to make love – it may as well be now…’

“Okay, I’d like that,” Katie confessed.

They hopped off the bed. Katie started toward the guest shower room, but Beth stopped her.

“There’s a huge tub in the master bathroom,” Beth was saying. “There are holes in it where water and air rushes in, like a waterfall, only sideways.”

Beth was grinning, and her eyes were dancing with excitement. Katie let herself be led quietly past Béla, resting in her bed.

As they passed, Béla opened her eyes a little and smiled at them, then appeared to go back to sleep.

‘My darling horny sister has found someone to pester besides Jake. I wonder how long it’ll be before she has Frank’s son up here…’

Since Jake and Béla weren’t ‘doing it’ for awhile, Beth had been taking care of Jake, although she personally preferred other girls. Beth also made careful and unnaturally gentle love to Béla on a regular basis. Although Béla was pregnant, her sexual appetite was still alive and well, and, except for Beth, mostly frustrated.

Beth quickly discovered that she could be the sexual outlet for both Béla and Jake – at least until Béla gave birth to her baby. She happily accepted her new role. Béla was willing to help, although their threesomes now involved Beth in the middle instead of Béla. Beth preferred to be on the outside with both she and Jake paying attention to Béla, but right now, that wasn’t possible.

‘Perhaps Katie would help… we could take turns being in the middle…’

Beth and Katie stood waiting for the Jacuzzi tub to fill, playfully pinching each other and pressing their breasts together. Katie was a couple of inches taller, so she had to bend her knees slightly to play ‘nipple swords’ with Beth. Katie’s breasts were also a little larger, although Katie didn’t considered herself ‘well endowed.’ Indeed, when her brother had unknowingly compared her body with her mother’s, he’d commented that ‘Katie’s not that… voluptuous!’

Then she was watching an image from Beth’s memory.

‘I can make my tits bigger – see?’ Her tits popped up, increasing somewhat in volume and becoming more… perky. Béla looked to see what she had done.

‘Oh my God!’ Katie realized as she gazed at the image in Beth’s memory. ‘There are dynamite caps in her tits!’

Entranced, Katie watched the image as Beth and Béla hugged, squashing their tits together. The two sisters embraced each other tightly and Beth blew up her tits!

Katie’s reaction to Beth’s memory was surprisingly sexual. Her stomach tightened and she could feel the wetness between her legs. In the image, both the sisters had orgasmed because of Beth’s self-mutilation.

“How could that possibly feel good?” Katie exclaimed, honestly frightened. “I would be screaming in agony for a week!”

‘There are ways to make pain feel wonderful,’ Beth replied in her mind. ‘I will show you…’

They both climbed into the tub. Katie felt strangely awkward, like she didn’t know exactly how to react.

‘She makes me feel like a teenager again. This is not necessarily a good thing…’

Beth swayed forward. It was difficult for her to embrace Katie due to the embarrassing length of her arms, so Katie reached forward and helped support her new lover as they kissed and caressed each other. Beth mind-linked with Katie to share their sensations as they made love.

Katie permitted the mind-link and was even enjoying it. It had been a long time since she was this aroused. She suspected that some of her sensations were actually Beth’s, but it wasn’t important to sort them out right now. She was feeling too good to be picky about who was doing what to whom.

Then Beth was kissing and licking her way along Katie’s cheek and down the side of her neck.

‘Let me taste your life-blood,’ Katie heard in her mind.

She felt her body stiffen in fear at Beth’s request. Katie had seen Béla feed Beth once before, when Beth had first arrived, badly burned and dying. She knew what she was being asked to do and that it would help Beth recover faster, but she feared the pain. She backed away and blinked several times, trying to decide…

‘It’s all right if you say ‘no’, Earth Girl, but be assured I will not hurt you…’

“Alright, I guess you can… if you still want to…” Katie smiled, trying to make her earlier withdrawal less of a personal affront to Beth.

Beth grinned. “You’re not horny enough, now. You wouldn’t enjoy it.”

‘Maybe later, Earth Girl…’

Katie followed Beth’s lead and slid down into the swirling, warm water. They rubbed their legs together for a few moments, giggling and pressing their toes up between each other’s thighs, then Beth turned over.

“Try this,” Beth suggested.

She backed her rump against one of the underwater outlets so that the water was swirling and bubbling around between her legs.

‘It feels good. Try it.’

Katie grinned. She was always up for new ways to masturbate, and she felt comfortable enough around Beth to try it right in front of her. She slid back and found her own outlet to rub against.

“Whew! This feels pretty good!” she exclaimed aloud.

She wriggled around, letting the little water cock play between her legs, moving up and down so that it caressed both her ass and her pussy. Then she twisted around and tried to kiss Beth while she let the water cock fuck her.

The two of them kissed and tongued each other for a moment, reviving the sexual sensations they were radiating at each other earlier. Beth caught Katie’s lower lip in her teeth and pulled gently. Katie opened her eyes and found Beth’s eyes gazing raptly into her own. She turned her head sideways slightly, twisting her lower lip in Beth’s teeth and closed her own teeth on Beth’s upper lip.

They were both giggling as they gradually increased the pressure on each other’s lips. Then they were gnawing on each other’s faces, Katie basically copying what Beth was doing to her. They both bit into each other’s necks almost simultaneously, Beth radiating her orgasm as Katie’s dull human teeth sank into her flesh.

Katie’s emotions were wild and uncontrolled as she tasted the vampire’s blood. The sensation of her cells regenerating as fast as Beth’s sharp teeth were damaging them was incredible. She knew what was happening because of the stories she’d heard all her life about Béla’s blood-gift to her parents.

‘Does Beth know she just doubled my life expectancy?’

The pair tumbled around in the Jacuzzi trying to get their bodies and legs lined up with each other without letting go of each other with their teeth. Katie finally managed to get her right leg up between Beth’s legs so she could rub herself against Beth’s right thigh. Their slippery breasts tingled and brushed against each other and were squashed and slipped and brushed together again. Katie could feel her orgasm building and held onto Beth’s slippery torso, hugging her tightly and pressing her pelvis against Beth’s hipbone.

“Ohhh!” she gasped, releasing Beth’s bloody neck.

Katie’s orgasm flooded through her body and radiated through Beth’s nervous system. Then Beth came again, reinforcing the sensations and flooding them back into Katie. Katie held tightly onto Beth, crying out her second orgasm as the incredible sensations completely drained her body.

She lay back against the side of the Jacuzzi, letting her body slide down into the water; her feet hitting the far side and stopping her sliding motion just as her head was about to disappear beneath the foaming water. She lay, half-floating with her eyes closed, gasping for air, slowly recovering. Beth sat in the center of the tub, her eyes radiating satisfaction and triumph, the earth girl’s blood trickling down her face.

“So,” Katie gasped after a moment, “that’s vampire sex, huh? Pretty wild.”

She took several deep breaths. I think I like it… Pretty sure, in fact!

“Wanna go again?” Beth asked, a purely wicked grin on her bloodied face. “That’s what vampire sex really is – If you’re conscious, you keep at it until you aren’t…”

“I think I’ll take a rain check,” Katie said, smiling, wondering how she got into this. “This is too strenuous for me to keep up for very long.”

Beth looked around and held out a hand as though feeling for raindrops.

“You lose, Earth Girl,” Beth said, gazing at her quizzically. “It isn’t raining. And you’re still conscious.”

Beth reached toward Katie. Katie stiffened slightly. ‘We could drown!’

‘We probably will. Does it matter?’

‘Yes! You can regenerate and I can’t!’

‘Of course you can! Or didn’t you notice what just happened a moment ago…’

‘I… I’m not ready!’

‘You’re ready. Don’t you want to experience the ultimate sensation?’

‘What is the ultimate sensation? You were being vaporized in a nuclear blast! What can top that?’

‘I wasn’t vaporized. You pulled me out. Remember?’

‘What! Did you want to die? You have a death wish?’

‘No! Of course I didn’t want to die. I had to! It was necessary!’

‘Why? Why should you do something you don’t want to do?’

Beth sat still. There were tears in her eyes.

“To atone,” she said, finally, speaking aloud. “To atone for what I did… It was right for me to die then. But you prevented that from happening. Should I thank you? Should I love you?”

‘Or should I kill you for it?’

Beth reached for Katie again. She wasn’t feeling sexy now. She was angry.

“Stop!” Katie cried, fending her off. “Jeez! Does your foul temperament run in your family?”

‘Praetor! Help me!’ Katie screamed in her mind.

Beth stopped, frozen by the earth girl’s mental plea.

“Boy! That really works!” Katie exclaimed, breathing heavily. “You people are terrified of that thing! What can it do, anyway?”

‘Calm down, girl, the fight’s over…’

‘Do you require my assistance?’ the Praetor asked in Katie’s mind.

The way Beth jumped, Katie realized that Beth heard it, too.

‘Cripe! It actually answered her!’

‘No, I guess not,’ Katie thought at it. ‘Thank you for asking.’

‘Do you have a question?’ the Praetor asked for the second time, either not having heard, or not accepting her first answer.

‘No,’ Katie thought, then changed her mind. ‘Yes! Tell me! Please, I mean. Please – tell me your function. What is it you actually do? Why are you so important to the space people?’

‘I represent law and order – the stability of civilization. When one member of society accuses another of wrongdoing, it is my function to determine the correctness of each person’s actions and judge accordingly.’

‘So, effectively, you’re their conscience?’

‘That is correct. Do you have another question?’

‘No. I do have a comment. May I?’

‘I am recording.’

‘What? Oh. Alright then. Let’s see. I decide what is right and wrong for me; based, of course, on the, um, morays(?) of the society. If I were to… uh… err, and harm another… ‘

“Yes!” Katie shouted, then switched back to thinking. ‘I do have another question: What if I thought that it was necessary to harm another? For example; someone who was trying to hurt others and it was necessary to harm him to keep him from harming others? Carrying this further; suppose there were innocent people who were hurt because of me doing this – harming this bad person. How would you judge that?’

‘Are you being charged? Or are you charging yourself?’ the Praetor wanted to know.

‘Is there a difference?’ Katie asked, confused now.

‘Of course, Child of Earth. If you are charging yourself, you are attempting to be responsible for your actions. All sentient beings are responsible for what they do and should be willing to make amends for their wrongdoings and errors in judgement.’

‘If another charged me, how would you find me?’

‘I would search your mind to discover your actions and intentions. I would judge you according to what restrictions on your freedom would be required to rehabilitate you. In addition, you may be required to compensate those to whom you injured or caused deprivation.’

‘And if I turned myself in?’ Katie asked.

‘If you charged yourself with a wrongdoing, my actions would be essentially the same. Since you charged yourself, you would probably not require rehabilitation. In such cases, I would suggest a mind-search to find the reason behind your wrongdoing. If you agreed, then I would search through your entire history – those memories available to you, and find your reason.

“That sounds like pretty heavy stuff,” Katie said aloud.

She blinked several times as her mind returned to the Jacuzzi and her vampire lover. Beth was huddled against the far side of the tub. She looked distraught. Her eyes were wet.

“What wrong with you?” Katie asked.

Then she realized: ‘The Praetor hasn’t judged her!’

“What about Beth?” Katie asked, directing her question to the Praetor.

‘She has not been charged with a wrongdoing.’

‘What? She blew up a city!’

‘Are you charging her with a wrongdoing?’

‘No! Of course not!’ Katie insisted vehemently. ‘Is she in trouble?’

‘The Princess Beth has not been charged with a wrongdoing,’ the Praetor responded. ‘She informed me of her circumstances and of her intentions before she carried them out. I concurred with her decision. She then carried out her decision without malice.’

‘Without malice? How can you blow up a whole city without feeling some malice?’

‘She was willing to sacrifice herself to save humankind from a dark future. It was the correct action. The Princess Beth has performed as a justice in her own society. It was her decision to make amends by sacrificing herself for what she found necessary to do.’

‘Well, she didn’t sacrifice herself! I saved her!’ Katie was thinking desperately, now. ‘Her guilt because of what she did is eating her alive! Can’t you help her?’

‘Would you have me judge her?’

‘No, dammit! I would have you help her!’

‘Her self-imposed judgement was to die with those she killed. You prevented that judgement from being carried out. Are you charging yourself with a wrongdoing?’

‘No!’ Katie felt furious and frustrated. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong! If anyone were to charge me with anything, it would probably be Beth. She wanted to die and I prevented that from happening – because she was hurting Béla with her horrible nightmares. I want you to help her!’

‘You wish me to help her to die?’ the Praetor asked, its questions restrained by the limitations of its purpose in the alien society.

‘No, dammit! Help her to live! Help her get over what she did! Help her to be happy again!’ Katie was sobbing now.

This damned machine was so frustrating!

‘She has not presented herself to be judged. I cannot make her happy. I can only help her to be civilized. She does not need help to be civilized. You saved her; you help her.’

‘What? How can I help her?’ Katie asked, her anger with the machine flattened by the Praetor’s cold statement.

‘I can only offer a solution by giving you a comparison. The Princess Béla turned herself in for what she considered a wrongdoing. After three weeks of mind-searching, it was determined that she be labeled ‘Carte Blanche’ and freed.’

‘What is ‘Carte Blanche’ anyway? Why do you often refer to her that way?

‘Carte Blanche’ means she no longer has to answer to anyone else’s concept of right or wrong. She is free to do whatever she chooses and will not be held accountable. She answers only to herself.

‘But Béla is her own harshest critic! How is that any kind of freedom?’

‘I do not understand your question. However, in the same manner, the Carte Blanche was not happy with her judgement. The Princess Elaine befriended the Carte Blanche and helped her to look forward again.’

Katie thought for a moment. ‘I think I understand. What Beth needs is a friend; someone who knows what she did and loves her anyway. Thank you.’

Katie felt the Praetor quietly disconnect from her mind.

She looked across the foaming Jacuzzi at her new charge. Beth lay listless against the side of the tub, her short, stubby hair half-grown out in uneven lengths, her too-short arms (They look longer than they did… Maybe my blood is good for her), the misery written on her face, the tears in her eyes.

‘The Praetor told me I can make you happy. I only hope I can…’

She scooted across the Jacuzzi, stopping when she bumped into Beth’s knees.

“I saved you because I thought you’re worth saving,” Katie began.

“Liar!” Beth spat back at her. “You saved me to help Béla!”

‘I couldn’t even die right!’ Katie heard in her mind.

Katie didn’t react. She realized that Beth was hurt and upset. She had already seen inside Beth’s mind and knew who she was – who she was supposed to be.

“Yes. I admit that,” Katie confessed. “But I also believed I was helping you to live again, too.”

“You didn’t intend to teleport my body out of that inferno,” Beth accused her. “It was an accident! Admit it!”

“No! I won’t admit it!” Katie fumed. “I didn’t know I did it! That doesn’t mean it was accidental! Some part of me realized that I could save you! Maybe it wasn’t the part that I think with, but it was the part that I feel with… My soul wanted to save yours… And it did.”

“Why?” Beth asked plaintively. “I killed millions of your kind! Many people will want me dead because I did that! Why would you want me to live?”

“I don’t know,” Katie started to say, then thought hard at her vampiric friend and lover. ‘Yes! I do know! I love you, dammit! I loved you even before we met! I felt your presence half a continent away and came as fast as I could get free from my obligations, but when I got to my folk’s apartment, you’d already left.’

“My work called me away again,” Katie said, changing to verbal. Her words were more real when she spoke them. “But you left something behind. I found it and I stole it. I took it with me, knowing that one day I’d have to return it, and then, finally, I’d get to meet you.

“I confess,” she continued, speaking more quietly now, “I thought it was Béla I was looking for, but when I met her, I knew it wasn’t her that I felt drawn to. It could only be you. But by then, you were already dead.”

She sat, silent for a moment, both girls thinking about what Katie had said. After a moment, Katie spoke again.

“The Praetor says that I walked through time to get you and bring you back.”

“That’s silly,” Beth said quietly. “No one can travel through time.”

“I have, and so has Béla,” confessed Katie. “We did something together which we believed was happening in present time, but when I remembered it later, it was ‘temporally’ wrong. We teleported my nephew Jake out of his wrecked flitter and dream-walked him here – two days after…

“He couldn’t have stayed alive that long,” Katie explained. “Even a long-lifer can die if he runs out of air. Either he wanted to live so badly that he reached out with his mind and found us walking through the wreckage of the city two days in his future, or I wanted to find him so badly that I mind-linked with him through time and brought him forward to where it was safe.”

“I think I understand,” Beth replied. “I was once trapped in that ‘wherever-it-is’ that we pass through when we teleport. It was… a teleportation gone bad. I’d lost all my hair – Yes, this has happened before; I mean I’ve looked like this before, not that I make a habit of blowing up cities… or anything. Oh, God. I’m not making any sense, am I?”

Katie reached out and hugged her slippery new blood-sister. “It’s all right. Tell me about what happened. How can a teleportation go bad?”

“Well,” Beth sniffed, then continued, “if you don’t think about where you’re going and you’re just trying to get away… I spent a thousand years in there. Béla found me in two days. I think she may have just gone into the future and pulled me back.”

Katie thought about what Beth said for a moment, then shrugged.

“I don’t know,” Katie said, finally. “Time is funny stuff. Maybe… maybe it’s just in our heads… time, I mean. Maybe… it may be that everything is all laid out in some ultra-simple fashion and we just can’t see it. Maybe we invent time in our heads so we can ‘experience’ the universe, or something. Maybe we just have time so we can travel from place to place. Would that make sense?”

Now it was Beth’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know.”

“So, maybe, just maybe” Katie said, trying to wrap up her radical theory, “dream-walking from past to future is the same as dream-walking from place to place. It’s all in your head anyway – you just need to visualize your destination. And the Praetor said that you were the first to teleport an object across deep space by dream-walking it from one image into another.”

“The Praetor said that?” Beth asked. “Why would it say that?”

“Don’t be silly,” Katie replied. “The Praetor’s absolute favorite thing to say is…

“ ‘It is recorded in history!’ ”

They both said it together and laughed. It was good to hear Beth laugh.

‘I’ve got to help her get over what she did in Albuquerque.’

Katie looked at Beth. Beth was looking at her. She wasn’t laughing now.

“My thoughts leak, don’t they?” Katie asked.

‘There’s no point in pretending, earth girl…’ Beth nodded, quiet now that her terrible crime was at the forefront of both their minds again.

“Did I tell you that months before my sister called me and told me Béla was back, I could feel you getting closer and closer to me? I would stand outside at night and look up at the stars for hours. I would go to sleep at night and dream. I couldn’t really get any images or anything, but it was just a feeling. I’ve never really felt at home, here. I was born here, and I’m part of this… amazing… family and we all live forever, you know?”

Beth kind of shrugged, not knowing how to answer.

“Me neither,” Katie replied, answering Beth unspoken thought. “I love my folks… my brother and my sister, but…” she sighed, not knowing how to say it.

‘Image of a vast emptiness where there should be life and happiness. A place with your sisters and brothers… a place where people live and laugh and love – mind-linked together, no crime, no death.’

Beth seemed to recognize the image, too. ‘I don’t know where that is, either… But… I don’t think it’s there, anymore.’

‘A whole world gone… destroyed?’

‘Like the Earth will one day be,’ Beth replied.

‘Earth? Destroyed? When?’ Katie was distraught, now.

‘I don’t know, Earth Girl. But New Eden was constructed because of the pending destruction of Earth.’

‘Praetor! Explain!’ Katie cried in her mind.

‘If you wish, Béla will explain when you wake up,’ the Praetor said into both their minds. In the meantime, you are both instructed not to think of your home world. When you awaken, you will believe you were dreaming.’

“Wait!” Katie cried. “What home world? This is… my home… world…”

‘Isn’t it?’

Then she was asleep, her head resting against Beth’s bosom as they slept. Beth slept with her head resting on her arm as it lay across the top of the Jacuzzi platform.

‘Are we dream-walking? Look. We’re asleep in the Jacuzzi. Do you think we might drown?’

‘Yes. The Praetor put us to sleep. And no, we won’t drown.’

‘How do you know that? And how come we’re invisible?’

‘Because the Praetor put us to sleep. It’s not a natural sleep.’

‘Can it hear us?’

‘I don’t think so. You have to think at it for it to hear you when you’re dream-walking.’

‘What were we talking about? It seemed important…’

‘I don’t remember. Oh, teleportation and dream-walking and stuff. You said the Praetor actually really recorded me as the first dream-walking teleportation?’

‘That’s what it told me. And I’m the first person to time-walk.’

‘Yes. You told me that. You also told me that Béla did it first.’

‘Yeah, but I was with her…’

‘Yes, Earth Girl, you said that. You were with her. You may actually have been the one who did it. You were the one who was seeking, after all… and the Praetor says that the universe bends to provide the answers to those who seek truly.’

‘Well, we’re asleep now. What do you want to do? Do you want to seek something?’

‘Who, me? I want to find an island far, far away from everyone, and go there and just… stay there. You know, all I want is to love and have fun! Is that too much, Earth Girl?’

‘My father always told me not to whine. It’s unbecoming. Let me make you an ocean. Maybe we can find your island…’

Image of waves reflecting moonlight. In the distance an irregularity marring the slight curve of the moonlit ocean suggests an island or a volcanic mountain. There is a ship churning up white water in the distance below them.

‘Nice job for a first try! Very picturesque. What’s on the ship?’ Beth wanted to know.

‘I don’t know; I didn’t put it there. Let’s go see!’ Katie replied excitedly, casting her thoughts down at the distant ship.

‘Hey! There’s people down here! Did you imagine them, too?’

‘Katie? Is that you? Is there someone here? Did the Praetor tell you where I was? Please help me…’

‘Mom? What’re you doing here? I thought this was my dream…’

Chapter 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yes, a USN ship commandeered the vessel two days ago,” Jake Hedron was saying into his private console imbedded in his desk. “There were fourteen females in five holding cells. The United Southern Nations allowed us to return them to the States after they got statements from each one. If we hadn’t intervened, the girls would have had trouble proving they were U.S. citizens – no papers, you know. They could have all been sold into slavery as illegal immigrants.”

“Well,” his grandfather said, smiling brightly, “I’m glad you got them. We’re still working on closing the ring on this end. It was only one shipment of girls, you realize. Their organization is still operating. But we’ll get them! I’ve got your grandmother on our side!”

Grandfather and grandson exchanged their farewells. Frank looked over at the trio of blond females sitting on his couch.

“You girls make a good team,” he said. “And I like the way you look as a blonde, Beth.”

Beth smiled. “Well, Tanya didn’t have any dark wigs, and I, well, you know…”

Katie, her arm already around her new lover’s shoulder, hugged her for a moment.

‘He wouldn’t care if you were bald, he’s just happy you’re alive!’

‘So am I…’ Beth turned her head up and nipped Katie’s cheek.

“Hey, you two,” Tanya exclaimed, pretending to be embarrassed by her daughter’s lesbian lover’s behavior. “Get a room!”

“Okay,” Katie chirped, suddenly smiling, “How about your playroom?”

“She has a playroom?” Beth asked. “What does…”

Images of a fifteenth-century torture chamber.

“Oh my God! I used to have one of those for my servants! I want to see it!”

The pair disappeared off the couch. The surrounding air went ‘poof’ as it filled the vacuum where they’d been.

“I was going to say, ‘No,’ but they seem to have already made up my mind,” Tanya said, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Well, there’s the bedroom,” Frank suggested, suggestively, “and you need depilated – you haven’t been able to do maintenance down there for the last couple of weeks…”

Grinning widely, Tanya stood up. She held out one hand with her thumb and middle finger pressed together.

“Should I snap my fingers or wiggle my upper lip?” she asked cheerfully.

Frank turned his head sideways, scrunching up his eyebrows. ‘What?’

Tanya snapped her fingers. Her clothing disappeared. She stood there complete naked, smiling at him.

“Neat trick,” Frank told her. “I approve.”

“The girls aren’t the only ones who can teleport…” Tanya said, her voice sounding sultry. “Where would you like to go?

“Cannes?” Frank asked. “But first, the bedroom, darling. You are much too hairy down there, and I… well…”

“I wish I could say the same, sweetheart,” Tanya confessed, “but the sailors kept us well entertained… In fact, they raped us all repeatedly. Some of the girls didn’t handle it very well. I intervened, offering myself in their place as often as I could…”

“I’ll bet you did, adorable little slut that you are,” Frank grinned.

He walked over to where she stood and hugged her.

“Ha! You would’ve liked to watch while they raped me!” Tanya chided him, kissing him on the neck. “Some of those girls had a terrible time. I’m just glad it’s over. For now, anyway.”

“You’re going back, aren’t you?” Frank said.

It wasn’t a question. Tanya had a crusade, now; an end to this bastard gang of white slavers!

“Not right away,” Tanya told him. “You promised to torch me, remember?”

She kissed him full on the mouth, surrounding him with lustful energy as best she could, a trick she learned from Beth after they teleported her off the slave ship.

‘Am I doing this right, Praetor?’

‘You are putting too much effort into it, child of earth. Simply ‘glow’ at him. He will feel it.’

Tanya relaxed, shoving her tongue into Frank’s mouth and glowing at him. She could actually feel heat in her breasts and belly. Her cunt was getting warm, too. Frank growled and hugged her tighter. Tanya tried hard to keep from smiling at her surprise for him – she didn’t want to spoil this really great kiss, after all.

They finally had to break and come up for air. Frank smiled at her, a quiet moan of pleasure in his throat. He opened his eyes to find her gazing at him. Her eyes were positively dancing with pleasure. He felt her tremble with excitement. He looked around, surprised. He was no longer in the living room. It wasn’t even the same building!

“Where are we?” Frank asked, astounded.

‘A second ago, we were in the living room…’

“The Cascade Comfort Inn and Ski Lodge,” Tanya announced. “I’m not strong enough yet to teleport two of us halfway around the planet. A hundred miles is about it, right now.”

She pulled him down onto the plush bed, then began unbuttoning his shirt. He helped her, then unfastened his pants and slid them down.

“Ooo! You do need some instant relief, sailor,” Tanya cooed.

She pushed him back up and off the bed, then slid around so that her head was upside-down, just below his dangling cock. She arched her back, shoving her breasts up toward him.

“You may play with these while I service you, Mister… uh, what did you say your name was?”

Then she had his cock in her mouth; its natural curve matching the curve of her mouth as she inhaled it into her throat. It took her thirty-five seconds to make him come.

“Sorry, Hon,” Frank apologized. “I couldn’t wait…”

Tanya smiled, wiping the residue off her face. She patted the quilted bedcover, inviting him to sit with her. Frank sat down, his wet, half-limp cock sliding against his leg and making it itch.

“It’s your turn, darling,” Tanya said in her bedroom voice. “Oh! I almost forgot!”

She held out her hand. Frank’s portable blowtorch appeared in it. She handed it to him.

“Now it’s your turn,” Tanya said. She lay back and opened her legs. “Don’t forget to get between the folds…”

She hoisted her pelvis up into the air, presenting him with her nicely scented, curly-haired blond muff. Frank laughed and shoved his face in between her legs.

He held her rump up with his hands, his elbows sinking into the thick hotel quilt. His tongue dug through the tiny golden hairs and found her pussy lips. Then he was lapping from her cunt hole to her clitoris, letting her rump slide down between his arms so he could hold on to her hips when she came.

As Tanya began to moan with pleasure, Frank became more aggressive. He began biting her soft, hairy pussy lips and chewing on the girl-flesh around her clitoris. Taking one hand off her twitching hips, he snaked it down and shoved two fingers into her cunt just under his chin. Then, turning his hand around, he began tickling the rough inside front of her pussy while he gently held her clitoris in his teeth and flicked it with his tongue.

Tanya coated the back of his hand and half his arm with her girl-cum, slamming her hips up into his face and almost dislocating his nose as she came with a loud wail.

Her pussy was loose enough now for Frank to shove his whole hand in there. Tanya screamed out her pain and pleasure as her suddenly ruptured cunt gave her another orgasm. Frank let her rest for a moment while her cunt, firmly gripping his hand, gradually relaxed and ceased its spasms.

After a moment, Tanya’s breathing was near normal. He heard her moan slightly as she twitched her hips, wanting him to do something down there, will you please?

Frank began turning his arm one way, then the other, caressing the moist, tender flesh inside her with the knuckles on the back of his hand. Tanya began twisting her hips back and forth, increasing the amount of motion inside her. Frank spread his fingers, slowly stretching her already-ruptured cunt walls. He felt her shudder as she came again, soaking his hand with fresh pussy juice.

He flexed his hand several times until Tanya was shuddering and wailing with one, long, continuous orgasm. She pulled a pillow out from beneath the quilted bedcover and held it against her face, screaming her orgasms into it again and again.

Finally, her body covered with sweat, she seemed to pass out, relaxing her body completely. Frank gently pulled his sticky, cum-covered hand out of her cunt, feeling her shudder and come (again!) as her pussy lips stretched to allow his knuckles through.

He was hard, again. The scent of Tanya’s girl-cum was too intoxicating for him to resist.

‘Unconscious or not, darling, here it comes!’

He shoved his cock into her soaking-wet pussy. It felt great, but it was almost looser than her mouth. He thrust into her several times, until she began to respond, twitching her hips in rhythm to his thrusts. Then, raising her right leg over and in front of him, he closed her legs together and turned her over.

Spreading her legs again, he aimed the head of his hard, slippery cock at her anus. Tanya thrust her rump up, presenting him with an easier target. He began slowly entering her asshole, fucking her with just the head of his cock flipping in and out, teasing her tight little splincter muscle. After a moment, Tanya shoved herself backward with a growl, practically raising herself up on her elbows and knees as she impaled herself on his cock.

Her head buried in her pillow, Tanya began to yell and moan loudly as Frank reamed her ass. He was pounding into her now, seeking his own release. Tanya felt another orgasm building and reached down, grabbing her own cunt and gripping it tightly. She squeezed her cunt and her clitoris, crying into the pillow with her orgasm. Then she felt Frank’s hot cum spurting deep into her ass.

She collapsed down off her knees, remembering to turn her head so she could breathe fresh air again. Frank lay down, falling heavily next to her on the bed. They lay there for awhile, breathing heavily into each other’s faces.

Tanya grinned and chuckled to herself.

“What?” Frank asked, grinning back at her.

He knew he had completely satisfied her. She more than satisfied him – to him, she was the goddess of love, incarnate.

“Six horny sailors couldn’t do to me what you just did,” Tanya admitted, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

“No,” Frank replied. “But they did a good job of warming you up…”

He easily warded off Tanya’s laughing, half-hearted attempt to clout him.

“We should probably check in,” Frank said, his mind beginning to come back to reality.

“Taken care of, already,” Tanya told him, “while you were talking to your grandson. But we could order some food.”

“Are you hungry already?” Frank exclaimed. “You just ate an hour ago!”

“Sex makes me hungry!” Tanya replied. “You should know that by now! Besides, I was warned by the Praetor that teleporting uses up body mass.

“So,” Tanya sat up with a pixy grin on her face, “I’m hungry from that, too! I have to keep up my energy, you know. You are a demanding taskmaster, and I must maintain my strength to better serve you…”

“Alright, already!” Frank cheerfully gave up. “We’ll order food!”

He found a menu in the drawer. They decided what they wanted, and then he had to use a telephone to phone in the order to the front desk.

“It’s rustic!” Tanya explained when Frank complained. “I’ve been wanting to come here for months! Who needs a wall console, anyway?”

The food arrived. They ate. They found the Jacuzzi. They made love (again) in the Jacuzzi. Then they crawled into bed and slept together for the first time in two weeks.

Chapter 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Slopes

A moment after Tanya closed her eyes, there was a knock on the door.

“Room Service,” a cheerful voice said through the door. “Your breakfast is here.”

Tanya opened her bleary eyes, squinting against the morning light coming through the window. It’s morning!

“Come in,” she yelled at the door.

Frank jumped at the sound of her voice. “… the hell?” he mumbled.

He was stiff and sore. Every muscle in his body ached. He pushed himself up, his hands burying themselves in the too-cushy mattress. He groggily turned over. Tanya was sitting up and demurely holding a sheet up over her breasts with her hand and arm. A young man was placing a bed tray on the bed, trapping her covered legs beneath it and taking silver lids off silver plates.

Tanya smiled at him as the hot smell of the food reached her nose. As the young man stood back, awaiting her approval, she grinned at him and leaned forward a little, accidentally exposing the side of her breast to him as she pointed to the dresser.

He was staring at that beautiful breast, then suddenly noticed she was gazing at him, right into his eyes. He blinked, breaking the incredibly erotic eye contact, and only then noticed her hand demurely pointing at the dresser. He looked over toward the dresser, not seeing anything at first, then he noticed a standard tip credit lying in the center of the dresser.

He walked over and picked up his tip, then turned and smiled back at her, disappointed that she’d lowered her arm and covered her breast again.

“Thank you,” he said, as pleasantly as he could. “I hope you enjoy your stay with us.” He backed out of the door and closed it in front of him.

‘That’s the Tabor kid and his fabulous slut-bod! God! She’s gorgeous! Wait’l I tell the guys Tootsie’s up here naked! Holy wankin’ shit!’

Tanya chuckled as she watched the young man recreating an embellished image of her as he walked briskly down the hall.

‘That stunning tousled platinum hair half-covering her beautiful face, those perfect shoulders, and those breasts, man, those gorgeous breasts…’

Then he was too far away for his excited broadcast to reach her.

“Breakfast, darling,” Tanya said cheerfully into her husband’s grumpy-looking face. “Sleep well?”

“Grumph,” he replied.

She handed him a small glass of juice. He swallowed it, then cleared his throat several times.

“Better?” she asked, delicately biting into a muffin.

Then she reached out and squeezed a tiny packet of jelly onto it. She smiled and patiently watched him as he woke up, slowly munching on her delicious, warm, toasted muffin… Don’t you wish you had one?

Frank woke up faster as the aroma of the biscuit Tanya was breathing on him reached his nostrils. He suddenly realized that he was hungrier than he’d felt for days!

He turned over and greedily reached into the middle of the silver bed-tray, ready to grab anything that looked edible that he could hold in his hand. He found himself staring into his wife’s wide, unblinking, deep blue eyes. Then he noticed the look on her face.

‘Oh, no! She wants to fuck again!’

“Don’t I even get to eat?” he complained, almost whining. “I have to keep up my strength, too!”

Tanya tilted her head, indicating the food on the tray. He looked at it. He picked out a plump roll and bit into it, moaning happily as the warm cream filling squished onto his tongue.

Tanya took the other one and lay down across the top of the bed, snuggling down on both their pillows. She took a delicate bite out of the freshly baked roll, exposing the cream center. Then she delicately nibbled her way completely around the outside, careful not to disturb the cream filling. When she was finished with her fragile creation, she had a tiny sandwich between her fingers, filled with a luscious, warm vanilla cream frosting and pudding mixture.

Something about the way Tanya was holding her little creation caused Frank’s attention to shift from the delicacies on the tray to his wife. He watched as she bit the bottom crust off her little cream ‘sandwich,’ then she squished the rest of it against her left breast, completely covering her areola. She lay back and looked at him.

“Care for a snack?” she asked suggestively.

She jutted her breast up at him. The top crust fell off and rolled onto the bed.

“Darn!” she said, then picked it up and ate it. “I saved the cream filling for you, anyway. Want it?”

Frank leaned over and delicately licked it off her breast. “It needs something,” he said, and began looking over the breakfast tray thoughtfully.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, and picked up a packet of jelly.

He held it over her breast, then squeezed its contents onto the sticky remnant of cream that was still on her nipple. Then he enthusiastically sucked the whole front half of her breast into his mouth. She yelped, laughing as she felt his tongue swirling around, cleaning the sugary, sticky mess off her sensitive nipple.

“Yep! That’s what it needed!” exclaimed Frank, then he headed for her other breast.

“Wait!” Tanya yelped. “You didn’t put anything on it! Ow! Oh! Ohhh… Never mind…”

She tilted her head back and arched her back, shoving her breast further into Frank’s mouth. “Oh, yeah! Bite me, baby! Ow! Yes! Like that… Oh, yes…”

Tanya felt Frank’s hand moving down her belly as he sucked on her nipple. Then he was massaging her between her legs.

“Oh, yes… That’s it… Right there, baby…” Tanya moaned.

Then she was flooding Frank’s fingers with her girl-cum and pulling his head down against her tit even harder.

She relaxed onto the bed as Frank sat up. He licked her cum off his fingers as he watched her lie there. He loved just watching her breathe – the way her stomach moved, her ribs, her breasts, the way her left breast bounced with her heartbeat after an orgasm…

‘I am sooo fucking lucky!’

Tanya grinned at him, hearing his thought.

‘Yay! He likes my tits!’

“So, lover,” Tanya said, breaking his trance. “What are we going to do today? Wanna fuck?”

“You are such a slut!” Frank exclaimed, grinning at her. “I saw you teasing that poor bellboy! You practically invited him into bed with us!”

“Hum,” Tanya said, thinking about that. “That’s not a bad idea… I think I’ll call him!”

She reached over toward the archaic telephone, then Frank was on top of her, crushing her into the soft mattress with his weight.

Then they were kissing passionately. Tanya felt Frank’s hand between her legs again. He began pulling on the tiny hairs between her legs. She giggled and pushed him away.

“We just did that!” she exclaimed, laughing.

“Yes, and when we did,” Frank explained, “it reminded me that we need to finish something we started yesterday.”

“Can we do that this afternoon?” Tanya pleaded, “After I break my leg on the slopes?”

“You don’t ski,” Frank said, suddenly confused by her request.

He realized that her request shouldn’t surprise him. After all, ever since Béla and her now deceased sister showed up, Tanya had been experimenting and trying different things; recklessly demonstrating a new and fearless attitude toward life that made her all the more fascinating to him.

Get off your complacent ass, boy, and see if you can keep up with her!

“Okay, it could be fun,” he said, half agreeably.

He sat up, still sporting his morning hard-on. Tanya noticed, and dutifully scooted around, and spread her legs for him.

“Fuck first, then ski,” she said gruffly, pretending to be the sexy cave girl in an underground Tri-d.

She sat up and pushed him back on the bed, then sank down on him. She bounced up and down, warming up her legs for skiing, not really expecting another orgasm. She was already sated. She just needed Frank to come.

Later, in the ski shop, Tanya stepped out sporting the brand new ski costume she just picked out. She had on kneepads, shoulder pads, gloves and boots. And not much else. Her spandex costume was as skimpy as the one she’d worn to that disastrous dedication two weeks earlier where she was kidnapped.

“You’re wearing that?” Frank exclaimed, attracting everyone’s attention to her. “You’ll freeze your tits off!”

Tanya – Tootsie, that is – looked down at her breasts. Everyone in the shop was looking at her breasts, and not just because of Frank’s loud objections. She looked up and smiled at Frankie.

“I think my tits will be fine, Frankie honey,” she chirped, ‘accidentally’ squeezing them together with her gloved hands.

She blinked for a second, suddenly flooded with lust radiating from every male in the shop, including Frank. She looked around the shop, pretending complete innocence, making everyone who had stared at her feel oddly embarrassed.

‘Oh my goodness! I’m such a total slut!’ she laughed to herself.

Soon after, they were on the slopes – the beginner’s slopes. Tootsie had no shortage of instructors willing to teach her. Frank actually caught on quickly – bending the legs and falling forward, but not too far forward.

Catching himself with his poles for the twenty-fifth time and nearly breaking his back as all of his weight hinged on his shoulders, he wondered how those guys over there were managing on snowboards.

‘Where are their poles? I’d fall flat on my face!’

Frank skied unsteadily on down to the bottom of the beginner’s slope, leaving Tootsie and her three instructors falling all over themselves and each other to be the first there to pick her up each time Tootsie slipped and, flailing wildly, landed on her sweet, sexy, mostly bare and very beautiful rump.

“This is harder than it looks,” she said, smiling sweetly at the young instructor who seemed to have a hard time letting go of her once he had her standing upright.

Eventually, she got the hang of it and skied down to join Frank. He was waiting in line for his third trip up when she found him.

“Having fun?” Frank asked, smiling at her.

Tanya’s luscious bare flesh was bright red from the cold. She grinned at him through clenched teeth, shivering.

“Uh-huh,” she uttered, not moving her lips.

He suspected she was too cold to move her lips. He sat with her going up the slope. She snuggled very close, shivering violently when a freezing, biting wind whipped around them and swayed the bench back and forth. When they got to the top, there were two guys on her side to help her off. Frank grabbed the hand of the guy on his side and hopped off, letting the now empty seat swing around on its cable and began its journey back down.

“You drew the short straw, huh?” he asked as he let go of his assistant and jerkily slid down the tiny mound in front of the lifts.

‘Tootsie’ managed to hop down and spin around, losing her balance and managing to sandwich herself between her two exuberant helpers. She grinned happily, suddenly surrounded by warm, furry parkas. Then she was exposed to the biting wind again as they sent her on her way and turned to help the next pair off the chairs.

She caught up with Frank and looked around.

“I don’t get it,” Tanya complained. “I’m not the only bikini out here, but I seem to be the only one who’s freezing to death!”

Her teeth chattered. Frank laughed. “Why’d you want to come out here, anyway?”

“Katie loves to ski!” Tanya explained, shivering. “When she rescued me from that ship, she showed me her memories of Bolivia, and some earlier ski trips. It looked like fun! She kind’ve left out the part about freezing to death!”

Frank laughed again. “You have to get your activity level up to where your body stays warm. You have to work up a sweat, girlie.”

He shoved with his poles to get moving. He moved forward unsteadily, slowly gathering momentum. A couple of younger kids shot by, one on each side.

‘Watch it, asshole little brats!’

He managed to glance back, checking his wife’s progress. Tootsie was no longer alone – there were two guys ‘helping’ Frankie’s poor, over-sexed little slut-bod to learn how to stand up and slide down a mountain on sticks.

He smiled to himself and continued on down the slope, realizing that Tootsie would probably end up somewhere warm; horizontally sandwiched between both of them. He reached the bottom and awkwardly clumped over to a stand selling coffee and hot chocolate. He bought one cup of each, then drank half the coffee. He refilled his coffee cup from the cup of hot chocolate, then sat down to wait for his hot little slut-bod to show up.

As expected, Tootsie didn’t show up for a long time – almost an hour. He watched as people came sliding, slipping and falling down the beginner’s slope. After he finished his chocolate coffee, he started in on the remaining half cup of chocolate, now cold. After a while, it was gone. She still didn’t show up. Then she was standing behind him.

He smelled her before he saw her. He turned around, his nostrils assaulted by the strong scent of male cum.

‘She got royally fucked again! I can see it in her eyes. And she’s positively covered with it!’

“Have fun?” he asked, grinning up at her.

She was still mostly naked, but she didn’t look so cold, now.

“You were right,” she told him, smiling. “I just had to get my energy level up…

“You ready to go in?” Frank asked. “We can ski some more if you want.”

He shook his head in wonderment. He doubted that she would ever stop surprising him with her adventurous spirit.

“Yes, absolutely!” Tanya said. “I want to call Frank and Katie to see how Béla’s pregnancy is coming. Plus, I want to tell Katie what I think of skiing…”

“You didn’t enjoy yourself?” Frank asked, only somewhat surprised.

“Not the skiing part,” Tanya admitted. “But those hunky instructors… Ohhh, my!”

Frank laughed at her remark.

‘She’s going to be horny all afternoon…’

He got up and followed her to the lodge. Every guy they passed pretended to only glance as her, then turned to stare after she went by, lusting for her sexy little body. Frank resisted the temptation to turn around and yell triumphantly at them,

‘She’s all mine and you can’t have any!’

But he knew that wasn’t true. Tanya belonged to Tanya. She was with him because she chose to be. Sometimes she played around, enjoying herself with other men. Often, the guy was a charity case – someone who wasn’t ever going to get that lucky again. Sometimes, she was so horny that she just had to fuck somebody.

But he knew she wouldn’t do any of it if he didn’t get a kick out of it, himself. He enjoyed watching her have fun. He enjoyed watching her fuck someone else almost as much as he enjoyed fucking her. Even when he couldn’t watch, like this morning, he felt good knowing she was having fun.

What he actually liked most about Tanya was that she never tried to hide anything from him. If she bedded someone, she always showed up right after, needing to be bedded again, letting him know that she hadn’t been satisfied.

She really made him believe that only he could satisfy her. It was enough. He didn’t care if it was true or not.

Chapter 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beth blinked in the bright sunlight cascading down from the ceiling and looked around. She had actually expected more of a… gothic… appearance. She walked over to the wall and examined the manacles hanging there. She could smell a faint trace of blood on them. Looking around, she saw a long cord hanging from a rafter. There was a box with buttons on it at the end of the cord.

She pressed a button, then grimaced at the annoying feel of an electric motor in her mind. She looked around to see where it was coming from, then walked over to the strange contrivance – a rotor with four leather whips attached to it. The rotor wasn’t far enough off the floor to keep the long whips from thumping down and dragging across the floor at the completion of each rotation. As each whip left the floor again, begin pulled into the air with centrifugal force, the supple leather tip whirred around, snapping back to catch up with the rest of its rotating body.

She grinned and licked her upper lip, then walked out to where the end of the whips was whistling through the air.

She held out her hand and waited while one of the whips dragged along the floor. Then the spring-loaded grip on the rotor flipped, snapping the end of the whip upward, caressing the palm of her hand. It stung. Beth pulled away and looked at her hand. There was a tiny streak of red in her palm. Smiling, she quickly pulled off her sarong and stepped into the path of the whips.

She found that the whips were different lengths. The first one licked her cheek as it snapped upward. After that, she remembered to keep her head turned to the side to keep from being hit in her face. The next one was longer and got her right between the legs. Beth yelped and stumbled backward, holding her crotch and hissing with the sensual pain.

She watched the whips go by for a moment, the longest one snapping upward only inches from her face as it went by a second time. She waited for it to come around again, then stepped forward. It snapped upward, licking her cunt with its sweet leather tongue. She felt at the welt it made between her legs. Her fingers came away red and sticky.

As she gazed, entranced by the blood on her fingers, the next whip licked her right breast, almost cutting her nipple in half. Beth yelped again, and stepped backward, the long whip just missing her chin as it came around again.

‘This thing is wicked!’ she realized, grinning with glee at the very idea of such an evil device.

She looked around. The manacles on the wall were too far away from the rotor for the whips to reach anyone chained to the wall. Then she noticed metal rails on the ceiling beams.

‘That must be how it moves.’

She found that pushing the red button turned it off. Other buttons had arrows, indicating the direction the whip rotor moved when they were pressed.

‘Positively ingenious! You can position this thing to flail any part of any body chained up here!’

A bee stung her rump. Beth whirled around and squinted against the bright sunlight coming from the center of the room. It giggled at her. She squinted to see behind the bright light. Something stung her right tit.

“Ow! Hey!” Beth yelled. “What are you doing?”

Moving sideways quickly, she was able to keep Katie from aiming that damned glass crystal thing at her. She finally went into pain-separation mode and just walked toward the source of the light beam as it scorched her.

“Turn it off or eat it,” Beth said, her right breast smoking.

Katie turned the magnifying glass completely sideways so that the sun hit the frame and not the glass.

“It’s not very powerful,” Beth said, looking at it.

Image of being shot at with an energy weapon by Béla.

“Wow!” Katie said, feeling the front edge of the laser blast as Beth teleported out of the path of the beam. “Why’d she do that, anyway?”

“Because she loves me,” Beth said casually.

“She tried to vaporize you because she loves you?” Katie exclaimed. “That’s hard to believe… How come I could catch you off guard so easily with this silly magnifying glass if your reflexes are really that fast?”

‘As fast as light?’

Beth smiled. “Conditions were different there. Béla was always testing me; testing my ability to counter an attack.”

She smiled sadly and snorted in derision.

“Fat lot of good all that training did me,” she continued. “You know, I didn’t even try to get away from them. It wasn’t until the very last second that I realized I messed up. I’ve never fought drugs, or needles. I miscalculated badly, and millions of people had to die for my mistake.”

“You think about that too much,” Katie said. “It was a mistake; yes. It wasn’t murder.”

‘Wasn’t it?’

“There were probably other ways it could have been done,” Beth admitted. “I looked into that man’s mind, even as he was carving into my ovaries, stealing my eggs. In other parts of the city, research was going on – genetic research based on my physiology. They were cloning me to make others like me that they could control.

“The helmet that father made to protect me from the sun gave them the technology to mentally control my kind. Would you like an army of warriors with the kind of power I have telling you what to do? I didn’t have a choice! I had to blow it all up!”

Katie stood listening to Beth talk. She remembered the story her parents told her long ago.

Naked and unarmed, Béla slaughtered a half dozen highly trained and heavily armed commandos to protect those she loved.

“Not someone you’d want opposing you, Earth Girl,” Beth said.

Katie realized that Beth had overheard her thinking about Béla.

“And,” Beth continued, “Béla didn’t even have any real power yet. She was total novice at mind reading. She couldn’t even teleport and she couldn’t kill someone just by thinking it. All she had back then was a lot of courage and her convictions. In the end, all her convictions did was get her killed.

“That can’t happen, now,” Beth concluded. “The only way one of us can die is if we permit it.”

“How did she… you… get so powerful?” Katie asked. “One of you is, like, a whole army. I’d be terrified if I had that kind of power.”

‘Especially if I had a temper like you or Béla…’

‘You think we’re mentally unstable?’ Beth said into Katie’s mind.

Katie didn’t feel any animosity or hostility of any kind. In fact, Beth seemed rather amused.

‘You would be dangerous to have as an enemy,’ Katie thought back at her, ‘and you could be a dangerous friend, as well. I am not without power, but I don’t pretend that I could match you. I’ve had need to call on the Praetor for protection from my two alien ‘friends’.’

Beth smiled, realizing Katie was right.

“You’re not exactly seeing us at our best,” Beth admitted. “That’s mostly my fault. You met each of us after I caused the biggest single catastrophe in your history.”

“Fourth biggest,” Katie corrected her. “There was Hitler; he killed six million Jews, then there was Hussein; he made a big hole where Iraq, Iran and Israel used to be. Then there was the plague; that was two billion dead.

“And,” Katie continued, “according to the Praetor, there is geological evidence in northern Africa that a nuclear war occurred about fifteen thousand years ago. I have no idea how many died then, but it evidently destroyed whatever civilization existed at the time.”

“So I’m only the fifth greatest evil that mankind has ever had inflicted on it,” Beth said, her voice sounding flat.

“I wish you’d stop talking like that!” Katie demanded. “You’re not evil! What would be necessary… What would have to happen for you to put this behind you and stop feeling bad about it?”

Beth thought. So did Katie. She walked around the massage table and took Beth by the arm.

Then they were both standing in white fire, frozen in time.

‘There it is!’ cried Katie. ‘There’s your great crime! Now stop it!’

‘What? I can’t! It’s too big!’

‘You know what started it! You can stop it!’

Beth reached into the wall with her mind and pulled the scientist’s body into herself – into the teleportation dimension.

The change in reality caused time to starting moving. Katie suddenly discovered she was being vaporized in the white-hot blast. She pushed herself into the teleportation dimension, but the white fire was moving there, too.

It was getting painfully hot as a single microsecond passed, and the heat and enormous pressure vaporizing her body overwhelmed her in an instant. There was a dim image in Katie’s mind. She reached for it – tried to pull herself toward it, out of the fire… Someone pushed her from behind; hard.

~~~~~

Jake Hedron woke up. It was dark in his cell, with a dim line of light beneath the steel door. His face was puffy from where he’d been brutally beaten and his throat was raw from screaming.

‘I’m not regenerating as fast as I was – he’s starting to wear me down.’

As near as he could tell, he’d been in this hole for more than two weeks – maybe three by now. His unerring ability to always know what time it was had failed him some days earlier. He began to consider that he might not get out of this alive!

In the last few days, his tormentors had been using electric shock on him – shocking him when he refused to answer their questions. The fact of the matter was he truly didn’t know the answers to most of the questions they asked. He knew that the vampire girl Beth was somehow responsible for what had happened. It was important to his survival that Blacker never find out that he even knew the alien’s name, let alone anything else the bastard wanted to learn.

Jake went over the events leading to his capture once more, trying to think of what he may have overlooked – what he could have done differently so that he wasn’t stuck in this stinking hole…

The limo landed on the MAS-DEC Building and I was thrown against the wall by the sudden blast of that building blowing up, several blocks away. Then I was dragged into the elevator by those two goons and needled.

There wasn’t anything he could’ve done different. He found out later, from Blacker, that the blown-up building had been the Genetics Research Lab where Blacker had been conducting experiments on the alien female. An entire city block had been leveled in the blast and windows were shattered up to a mile away. He remembered that the blast had knocked him down, then seemed to reverse itself somehow.

‘Almost like a black hole was created for a moment… But, for a black hole to be created, the explosion would have had to been caused by some form of atomic fission…

He remembered the blinding flash. He knew what a nuclear bomb looked like – there was a blinding flash and intense radiation. He recognized the flash that had blinded him as a nuclear explosion, but, even now, several days, (weeks?) later, he still wasn’t affected by any radiation.

‘It’s possible I may have regenerated, but I should have noticed something! And where did all that nuclear energy go?’

He was almost as confused about what had happened as his tormentors. The only thing he was certain of was that, somehow, Beth did it. It was possible that she had managed to free herself, and, unable to escape, blew up the entire research facility, doing as much damage as she could. If her temperament was anything like Béla’s in the stories he’d heard, she could have blown the whole place up without regard for any consequences to herself at all.

In any event, she destroyed Blacker’s plans and Blacker was taking his vengeance out on his boss.

Someone was approaching!

Jake heard the shuffling of several pairs of feet, then the metallic clinking of a key ring against a steel door. Then, with a loud clank, his door opened. He squinted against the dim light coming in from the hallway outside. Then hands were on him, and they were half-carrying, half-dragging him back to the interrogation room.

The Chairman and CEO of Tomlin Security hung his head and let his feet drag behind him, making his guards do all the work. Then he was thrown into a hard metal chair. He felt his arms and legs being strapped down. Someone grabbed him by his hair and pulled his head up. He leaned down close. Jake could smell his rancid breath.

“Lookit that!” the guard said, sneering. “Only two days old and it’s almost healed up! An’ he sez he ain’t in league with the aliens!”

The guard slammed Jake’s head against the metal backing of the chair, then let go, letting Jake’s head fall forward again.

“Yeah, but ’is blood don’ heal like the alien cunt’s did,” the other guard replied.

That was bad news to Jake. He was wondering why they were keeping him alive so long. The guard’s careless remark answered that question. They’d been testing his blood. A cold feeling swept over him. He didn’t believe he would live much longer.

Then Blacker was standing there, leaning over, looking at him closely.

“Well, boss,” Raymond said, “we meet again. And this time, I want you to tell me how you knew about the alien! How did you blow up the research laBéla What kind of explosives did you use? I know your people didn’t do it! There was no trace of conventional explosives! Tell me your secret! This is your last chance!”

Blacker was so angry he was spitting on Jake’s face as he spoke.

‘If he kills me, he loses any knowledge he thinks I have. He’s enraged because he’s decided to kill me anyway. Mother I’m sorry but I seem to have upset your plans…’

Raymond Blacker was so furious that he actually shook with his rage. He slowly turned away, swaying from one foot to the other, then he suddenly spun around.

‘There’s a gun in his hand! I can see right down the barrel!’

Jake’s eyes were blinded by the flash. He didn’t feel the bullet pierce his frontal lobe and travel into his brain.

Chapter 9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frank and Tanya stepped through the door and into their room. He was so horny from Tanya’s sexy scent that he imagined he could fuck her right through his parka. But he took it off anyway.

Tanya turned and looked at him. In the dim light of the room, Frank couldn’t see the cum stains that ruined her hot little spandex ski costume, but he knew they were there. He could smell the cum. The aroma of her earlier sexual encounter was much more intense now that she was standing right in front of him. He groaned as his cock got even harder.

‘This is starting to hurt!’

Tanya grinned and reached for him, putting her arms around his neck and pressing her mostly naked, sticky body up against him.

“Do you want me like this?” Tanya breathed into his mouth. He could smell cum on her breath. “Or, should we play in the Jacuzzi for awhile? Would you like to watch me fuck a water cock?”

She started to pull away.

“Just like this will be just fine,” Frank suggested, holding her tightly. “Do you know how sexy you are? And how badly I want you?”

He ground his mouth against hers as he shoved his pelvis forward, letting her feel his hardness through his thick, winter clothing. Tanya moaned, pushing her pelvis against his and trying to pull her head back to relieve the pressure of his over-zealous kiss.

She removed one hand from around his neck and began expertly working on the fastenings separating her from his bulging cock. Frank groaned low in his throat as her cold fingers wrapped around his raging hard on. He gritted his teeth to keep from shooting cum all over her belly.

Tanya giggled at his discomfort and moved her cold hand up and down on his cock several times, stimulating it beyond Frank’s ability to control himself. He spurted five times, spraying gobs of hot, sticky goo all over her belly and legs. Then she embraced him again, laughing and rubbing against his warm body, smearing his offering all over his clothing.

She could see he was disappointed. He wanted to spend the entire afternoon just worshipping her sexy body – fucking, sucking, fisting, scorching…

She helped him get out of his clothes, then pulled him down to the bed. Rising up, her knees on the mattress, Tanya slid out of her spandex suit. As she pulled it loose from her crotch, Frank could smell the stale cum down there. He could even see it matting down her golden bush.

He scooted around on the bed and put his hand between her legs. He smiled, enjoying the warm, puffy wetness there. As he moved his hand back and forth, caressing her girl-flesh, the aroma of her earlier activities was even more evident. The room became musky with the smell of her recent sexual encounter. He slid two fingers, then three, up inside her without any effort.

“How far in do you want me to go?” he asked, sliding his fingers in and out of her.

Tanya was beginning to sway as she felt newly aroused.

“As far as you can shove it, darling,” Tanya moaned. “But, you can only go one inch every minute…”

“I’ll die first!” Frank exclaimed.

Tanya grinned. Then she moaned as Frank added another finger.

“That’s one minute,” she told him.

She began sighing audibly with each breath, as his magic fingers heated up her insides. After a moment, he cupped his hand and added his thumb, moving his fingers in and out of her right up to the knuckles on his hand, stretching her pussy lips wide with each stroke. After several strokes, she impatiently sat down on him, crying out as she sank down all the way to his wrist, unable to withstand his tender torture any longer.

“That’s more than an inch, darling,” Frank admonished her.

Tanya fell backward on the bed, almost falling off when she didn’t find any bedding under her shoulders and head. Frank ended up holding her steady with his hand buried in her cunt. She yelped, in pain and some fear, as she felt the inside of her pussy tear from the pressure. Then she was coming, flooding his hand with her girl-cum.

‘Jeez! I just imagined she was wet before…’

Frank pulled his hand out, releasing yet another flood of her cunt juice. Tanya whined, loving the pressure inside her and wanting more.

“I’m still cold, baby,” cooed Tanya. “Come on and warm me up…”

That reminded Frank of her odd gift to him a month ago – one that she’d made a show last evening of actually teleporting here from their home, seventy miles away. He looked around, then spotted it. He hopped off the bed and picked up the acetylene torch.

“This should heat you up,” he suggested, turning back toward the bed.

Tanya saw what he was holding and rolled over onto her stomach. She spread her legs and moved up into a kneeling position, presenting him with a wonderful view of her puckered anus and her half-open pussy lips. They seemed to be smiling at him sideways…

Frank pushed the button on the nozzle and it lit. He adjusted the flame up a little higher, barely hearing the hiss of the gas as it burned. He moved the flame quickly up and down between her legs several times, moving it away from her when she shuddered in sudden pain.

“Is this okay?” he asked. “It’s not too hot, is it?”

‘I can just imagine what that must feel like…’

Tanya felt between her legs with her sexy, manicured fingers.

“Turn the flame up higher,” she told him. “You need to get the hairs in between the folds…”

Frank turned the flame up. It was blue now, and ended in a sharp little point of searing heat. He moved it down between her legs once. Tanya, expecting it, had already buried her face in a pillow to muffle her impending scream. The sudden muffled sound startled him, but not enough to make him drop the canister onto the bedsheets. He did manage to scorch her thigh, though, instantly making a dark, blistering mark.

He moved the torch up and down several more times, watching Tanya’s leg and butt muscles quiver each time the flame touched her. He knew she was enjoying it despite her whimpering – she was leaking cum all over the bed.

Finally, he decided he’d done enough damage. It wasn’t possible that there were any stray hairs left in her butt crack.

“Turn over, sweetie,” he said, “and we’ll do the front part.”

This was the part he enjoyed. The last time (the only other time) he’d done this, her clitoris had become so engorged that it was actually sticking out beyond its little hood. He’d stopped and caressed it with his fingers for a moment, making Tanya come again, then incinerated it with the torch. The instant it burst, she came so hard he actually felt it in his nervous system.

After he burnt all the hairs off her, he cleaned her up with his tongue. Tanya’s fresh, new flesh was so sensitive she could hardly stand his touch. He watched, fascinated, licking up the cunt juice that leaked out of her pussy as her clitoris regenerated less than an inch away from his nose. When he finally got up enough nerve to touch her brand-new, freshly grown clitoris with his tongue, Tanya flooded the bed with another load of girl-cum.

Using the torch again, Frank concentrated on her pussy lips, making sure the tiny hairs between the folds of her labia were melted away in the heat. Every moment or two, he would hold the torch in the air and check the folds of her cunt lips with his tongue. She tasted very sweet and smoky. He loved it.

After he was finished, Tanya had come four more times and Frank was hard again. Since he couldn’t seem to get his face out from between her legs, Tanya decided to suck him off. She came two more times from his tongue and teeth worshipping her tender new flesh while she did it.

Dinner was roast duck with creamed potatoes and a spinach souffl?Dessert was a caramel-flavored flan with whiskey sauce. They ate in one of the private dining rooms just off the main dining hall downstairs. Tanya wore a simple dark gown with a double row diamond necklace and matching bracelet (and no gaudy earrings), putting to rest the vicious rumor that Tootsie, little slut-bod that she was, had no taste in attire.

After dinner, Tanya called Jake and Béla to check on how they were doing.

“Béla’s having trouble with the baby. It’s started growing, again. Béla says she can feel its thoughts. It wants out! I might have to schedule a ‘C-Section’ on her. When’s Katie coming back? Katie could mind-link with the baby and keep it calm!”

“What do you mean?” Tanya asked, suddenly alarmed. “I thought Katie was with you!”

“No,” Jake replied. “She hasn’t been here since, um, before yesterday, anyway. I’m sure she said something about visiting you…”

“Well, she might be at the house,” Tanya told him. “We’re going back shortly. We’ll let you know, okay?”

They said their worried goodbyes.

“I wonder where she is?” Frank asked.

It seemed that he had seen her recently, but he couldn’t remember when. Things were starting to feel very confused.

Tanya looked around their room, checking to see what they needed to take with them – the ski clothes they’d bought for both of them, and the little acetylene torch. Holding her bag of clothes in one hand and Frank’s arm in the other, Tanya teleported back to their new home.

“Well!” She said, breathing a sigh of relief. “That was easier than the first time…”

Something was different. And that difference made her neck hairs stand straight up – and not just on her neck, but all over her body.

Tanya looked around. She was alone in the room.

“Frank!” she cried out, sounding frightened.

“Hey! You’re back!” Frank said, grinning as he came into the kitchen. “Where you been?”

“What?” Tanya asked, feeling her heart start to pound. “We were at the lodge!”

“What lodge?” Frank asked, looking at her quizzically. “You went to see Jake and Béla.”

“No I didn’t,” Tanya whimpered, really frightened, now. “I was with you – on our second honey- honeymoon. The ski lodge… Don’t you remember?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Frank laughed. “You don’t ski.”

“I know that!” Tanya replied, practically yelling at him in terror. “We left Katie and Beth here and I teleported you to a ski lodge in the Cascades…”

She stopped as she watched Frank’s face fall. “Oh, God, it’s happening again,” she heard him say.

“Darling,” Frank said solicitously, taking hold of her shoulders. “I know it’s been hard on all of us, but you’ve got to try to stay on track. Okay? Please? For me? We both miss her, but making up things like that won’t bring her back.”

“What?” Tanya pleaded. “Frank? What are you saying? What the hell’s wrong?”

Frank sighed, and Tanya suddenly had a horrible thought.

“Security check,” Tanya yelled at the wall. “Please locate Katie.”

A moment passed. Another moment passed. Tanya looked worried. If it was taking this long, Katie must be a long way off.

“Unable to comply,” the wall console finally replied.

“What?” Tanya looked stunned. “Locate Katie’s body monitor. It should be emitting a signal.”

“Katie’s last body monitor transmission occurred at 6:02 pm local time on September Fourteenth,” the wall monitor informed her.

“What?” Tanya cried. “That was weeks ago! She was just here the other day!”

“Praetor!” Tanya cried in her mind, “Where is my daughter? What happened to her?”

The Praetor didn’t respond.

“Praetor! Where are you?” Tanya cried out into the room.

“Darling, please try to remember…”

“I know! She’s time-traveling!” Tanya said, suddenly straightening up. “Praetor! Can you locate Katie if she’s time-walking?”

“Tanya!” Frank’s voice was more insistent now. “What are you talking about? Who are you talking to? There’s nobody there!”

“Katie’s gone! Can she be travelling in time?” Tanya asked, her voice shaking with disbelief. “I know she can time-walk! I saw it in her mind when she rescued me from that ship! She went back in time and rescued our nephew Jake from the bomb!”

“What ship?” Frank asked. “You weren’t on any ship! And what bomb are you talking about?”

“Frank!” Tanya snarled at him. “Don’t do this to me! You know what I’m talking about! I was kidnapped! I was on a ship! Katie and Beth rescued me and teleported me back here! Our grandson, Jake, had the ship intercepted and rescued all those girls…”

She stared up into his face, stunned by what she saw. He was staring at her, holding onto her by the shoulders and shaking his head in grief.

‘What’s wrong?’ Tanya sobbed.

Frank hugged his wife to him, understanding her grief. Katie and their nephew Jake had disappeared weeks ago, presumably searching for Beth, who disappeared sometime before that. Where she came up with this scenario where they were all alive and well was understandable. After all, he missed them, too.

All the resources of his company had been unable to find any traces of them. Katie’s body monitor had ceased transmitting at the exact instant of the explosion that destroyed that hospital in Albuquerque. His nephew’s body monitor had transmitted the fact that it had been removed from its wearer shortly afterward, then it had ceased transmitting, as well.

Jake Hedron’s last known location was at MAS-DEC Security, several blocks from the destroyed hospital. No one there knew why he would remove his body monitor. His Chief of Security, Raymond Blacker, a small, disagreeable, pasty-faced man, suggested that his boss “might be working undercover and needed to ‘disappear’, but he hasn’t seen fit to notify me or anyone here of his whereabouts or intentions.”

And now, Tanya seemed to be suffering from a nervous breakdown. She seemed quiet, now – almost numb. Tanya allowed herself to be led into the bedroom.

“Lie down, Hon,” Frank said gently.

He helped her lie down, noticing a small burn mark on her leg. It was almost healed, which meant (for her) that it had happened about an hour ago.

“Where’d you get this?” Frank asked, running his finger along the edge of the mark.

Tanya stiffened. Frank looked up into her face. Her expression was intense, but unreadable. He’d never seen her look quite like that, before. Then he remembered. He had seen that look once… long ago, when he’d asked her where Béla was.

Tanya stared at him for a moment, then inhaled slowly, beginning to shake with… fear(?)

“Frank,” she asked in a tiny voice, “have we ever gone skiing?”

She was behaving like she dreaded the answer. Frank could almost see the thought in her mind: I don’t want to know this!

“Don’t be silly, darling,” Frank said, attempting to put her mind at ease. “You don’t ski…”

Tanya cried out and abruptly turned away, hugging her face into the pillow. She sobbed in grief and terror, understanding only part of what was happening.

Katie’s been erased! No one remembers her! Please God, don’t let me forget! I’m her mother! I bore her! I won’t forget her!

Katie! I won’t forget! I won’t! I promise I won’t forget!

~~~~~

Frank Junior sat on the side of the bed, checking over Béla’s vital signs. He was worried. At the rate her baby was growing, it would be ready to come out in a few more weeks.

‘A human baby would take nine months. I don’t know anything about her species. Are these growth spurts normal? What am I even doing here? I could be killing them both and not even realize it…’

He remembered why he was here. He and his sister had been working on a recording set in South Carolina. Katie had simply vanished from the set sometime between nine and ten p.m. That same night, his father had called and told him something terrible had happened to Béla and pleaded with him to come and help with her pregnancy.

He understood his father’s upset. No doctor could be trusted to treat an alien species. He’d left a note in Katie’s trailer informing her where she could find him and left, coming halfway across the continent to give aid to the legend that had actually created the family he was a part of.

Now, it was weeks later and he still hadn’t heard from his sister. Béla’s troublesome pregnancy, on top of his worry about Katie, was almost more than he could stand.

‘I should never have left without making certain she was all right. Something happened to her and I wasn’t there to help!’

~~~~~

Béla’s child was ‘born’ ten weeks later. Béla’s contractions had just begun and the baby teleported out and landed in the middle of the floor, screaming her rage at all the world for having imprisoned her. Jake and Frank gently picked her up and cleaned off the residue that still covered her body. Béla’s contractions continued until she was able to expel her placenta.

Afterward they were both cleaned up, Béla and her baby lay together on the bed, Béla happily curled protectively around her child. The baby seemed to be sleeping. Béla was exhausted, as any mother would be after giving birth, even though this baby had helped birth itself more than any baby had ever helped before.

Tanya sat on the bed, quietly watching them sleep, then slowly got up. At the slight movement, Béla opened her eyes and smiled at her.

‘She is no longer a part of me, disrupting my body – my soul. But she is still a part of me, living separate, experiencing life on her very own! Is this what it’s like to be a mother?’

Tanya stopped and gazed down at her dear friend and her new baby, grief suddenly overwhelming her again.

‘Katie…’

Béla quietly sat up on the bed, distressed at Tanya’s strange reaction. She knew what was troubling her old friend. But, until now, she’d been unable to do anything.

‘I’ll help you if I can… Open your mind to me.’

Images of Katie and Béla – Katie’s arm around Béla’s pregnant waist, somehow mind-linking with the unborn child and pacifying her – helping Béla to get through her rough pregnancy. Images of Katie and Beth rescuing her from a ship that didn’t exist – rescuing her nephew from the destruction of Albuquerque, which never happened.

‘She’s living in some sort of alternate reality,’ Béla realized. ‘Something must have happened to split her mind that way…’

“It would have been helpful if this girl had come and helped my child make peace with her little world,” said Béla. “As it was, I’ve spent the last several months in extreme discomfort, to put it mildly, unable to do anything at all.”

“You don’t recognize your own child?” Tanya asked, incredulously. “It’s Beth! Katie told me…”

‘Katie couldn’t have told me that, Katie was gone before that… But I remember her telling me! The Praetor told all of us… No, that didn’t happen either. Did it?’

“It’s possible, I suppose,” Béla said, gazing lovingly down at her sleeping infant. “I haven’t asked her what she wants to be named. She’s going to be very powerful. Her mind is completely shielded and she can already teleport.”

Béla’s voice was full of love and pride.

‘Her accomplishments will be great…’

She looked up at Tanya and smiled, radiating love.

‘Please, darling. Don’t despair. When I am more rested, I will mind-link with you. Together we will discover what has happened to your daughter, I promise. Together, perhaps, we will find her…’

Tanya turned and went downstairs. Her son, her husband and Jake were all together, sitting in the living room.

“They’re resting,” Tanya informed them in a quiet voice. “Béla’s awake, now, if you want to check her again, son.”

Frank Junior got up and went upstairs. Tanya sat down where he had been sitting.

“She has her mental powers back,” she said to Frank.

They looked at each other for a moment.

“Good,” Frank said, finally. “Maybe she can help you…”

“She said she would,” Tanya replied. “She wants to rest first. I guess it’s been quite an ordeal for us all…”

Jake smiled and said, “I know just what we need.”

He got up and walked into the kitchen. Tanya could almost see the thought in his mind – his personal solution for making everyone happy: Flapjacks!

Chapter 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every couple of seconds, something went, “Beep!” It was incredibly annoying. It beeped again, then started beeping faster. He tried to open his eyes only to discover that they were bandaged shut.

Jake was furious. That damned Blacker had terrified him with that blank fired right into his face.

‘Did he think that would make me talk? Who the hell does he think he is, anyway?’

“Good. You’re awake,” someone said.

The voice was soft and female. There was a slight lilt in her voice.

‘British, perhaps?’

He hadn’t met anyone on Blacker’s staff that wasn’t born here in this country. That was part of his profile. Blacker didn’t like foreigners – even American-born ones.

‘A racist to the very core of his putrid personality…’

Besides, she sounded too… caring… to be part of Blacker’s crew.

‘That’s an awful lot of judgement to put into three words, mate,’ the Chairman definitely heard inside his head.

He tried to speak, but his throat was so dry it felt like shards of glass were cutting his vocal chords. Someone carefully raised his head and he felt the cool edge of a glass being placed against his lips. He sucked in and was delighted with a tiny flood of water on his tongue. The glass was quickly pulled away before he could choke. Gratefully, he licked his sore, dry lips and swallowed several times.

He tried to speak again. “More, please,” he croaked, this time actually able to form words.

As the glass was pressed against his lips again, he could smell the breath of the person holding his head up.

‘Definitely female – very pleasant – a faint trace of perfume. She smells very kissable… I wonder if she’s pretty…’

He swallowed, then grunted as his head was abruptly dropped back onto the pillow.

“Umph! Where am I?” Jake asked, his voice clearer, now.

“You’re in an OCI safehouse, mate,” the mystery voice said. “I can’t tell you where…”

‘OCI? Oceanic Civil Intelligence? What are they doing here?’

“Do you know who you are?” she asked.

He nodded, then wished he hadn’t.

“Yes… I think,” Jake replied, hesitantly. “Do you know who I am? If Blacker’s turned me over to you, there could be international repercussions…”

He stopped talking and gasped for air. That single sentence had exhausted him.

‘What’s happened to me?’

“Do you know what happened to you, Mister Chairman?” the voice said, not so friendly now that she had been threatened.

Jake thought back. The last thing he remembered was…

‘He must have actually shot me!’

“S… shot… I think,” Jake stammered.

‘If he shot me in the head, I should be dead! What am I doing here? Am I a prisoner, or did a foreign agency somehow rescue me? And if they did, why did they?’

‘So many questions for a mate who’s been sleepin’ for two months,’ the voice said in his head.

She got up. He realized that she had been holding his hand.

‘Why would she do that?’

“W… wait, please,” Jake pleaded. “You can hear me? Are you human? Or one of the…”

‘What the hell are you about to tell her? Are you nuts? She may be after the same thing Blacker is! That’s the most likely reason she’s here!’

“Yes?” she asked. She picked up his hand, again. “Please, go on.”

‘One of the ‘what,’ Mr. Hedron?’ he heard in his head.

Jake could feel the anxiety in her mind. She was desperate to know his answer. Then he was alone again. He could hear her moving quickly around the room.

‘What is she doing? What are those clicking sounds? Is she turning off the recorders? Or is she turning them on…’

Then she was back, anxiously holding his hand. Again, Jake could feel her anxiety in his mind.

‘No, this is personal. She wants to know! She needs to know! I think she’s searching for someone…’

He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Béla – the space people – the secret of the vampire’s blood… the history of his own family – the ‘long-lifers’.

He heard the woman draw in her breath as the information flooded into her head. She let go of his hand and sat down, breathing heavily, and Jake realize that this woman was a telepath!

After a moment, he could tell she’d regained her composure. He smelled her breath as she leaned over him. There was more stress in her scent, now. He felt himself tense up, not certain what to expect.

‘Is she going to kill me now that she knows?’

Gentle fingers began unwrapping the bandages around his head. After several times around, light began to appear – growing brighter as each layer was peeled off. She was almost finished when the door opened. She jumped at the sound, then continued unwrapping Jake’s face.

“Tabatha?” a male voice said. “Why’d you turn the cameras off, luv? You plannin’ on jumpin’ ’im?”

The voice had no menace in it; only concern tempered with humor, and the same Australian accent.

Jake blinked and shielded his eyes as the last layer of bandage was pulled away. He squinted up at the woman who had befriended him.

‘We are not your enemies,’ Jake heard in his mind.

It was the female’s mind he heard.

‘Can he do it, too?’ Jake thought back at her.

She looked at him; her sea-blue eyes open wide. With her auburn hair framing her freckled face, she looked stunningly beautiful.

She gazed at him, fascinated. ‘You heard me?’

They both thought the last part at the same time. Jake could feel both relief and confusion in her mind.

‘I’m not alone any more! There’s someone else like me!’

Harvey Applegate, the man who had intruded through the door watched the two – agent nurse and her patient – look at each other for the very first time. He recognized that something special was happening. He suspected it might – Tabatha had been nursing him ever since she’d rescued him. He quietly backed out of the room and closed the door behind him.

‘He’s the Director of Tomlin. We have his profile. He’s one of the ‘good guys’. He won’t hurt her…’

Applegate knew Tabatha’s talent and why she’d come to work for the agency. Tabatha had been a Political Science major at Melbourne. She had impressed him as one of the few who actually understood the Omicron theory of political upheaval during an interview on ‘Career Week’, a nationalized Tri-d show that moved from campus to campus each week.

Once she’d used her special talent on him and realized why he was recruiting members to his organization, she revealed her ability to him so he would recruit her to the one agency dedicated to maintaining the present status quo and raising the standard of living for all mankind; the Oceanic Civil Intelligence Agency.

As he was her handler, Harvey Applegate was one of four people who knew what Tabatha Warren’s special talent was.

‘She can touch people and pull their secrets from them!’

He wondered what she had learned, weeks ago, when she first touched the Director of Tomlin Security.

‘Whatever it was, it had fascinated her, then. It still fascinates her. She hasn’t left his side for more than a moment since we brought him here.’

When he’d tried to reassign her, she’d threatened to quit. She wanted to be here – had to be here, when he woke up.

He suspected that whatever she’d discovered about him was more personally, than politically, important.

‘The look on her face – she may have found someone she can love. Who knows? She’ll tell me when she’s ready.’

Chapter 11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baby Shower

“What in the world are you doing here?” Béla said, laughing and hugging.

She was trying to embrace all three of her visiting sisters; Elaine, Dawn and Annalisa.

‘You’re really here! On Earth! I’m so excited…’

“Well,” Elaine said, electing herself to be the ‘spokesperson’ for her little group, “we were practicing our teleportation abilities. The Praetor makes us practice every day. Sometimes, since we are the most advanced trio, we’re allowed to pick our own exercises.”

“Yeah,” Annalisa chirped. “The Praetor told us about your baby, so we just… um…”

“Popped in!” Elaine finished the sentence for her.

Béla was so excited. She closed her eyes and mind-linked with all three of them.

‘Wow! You bratty little sisters are getting really, really good at this stuff! You’ve gotten way ahead of what I can do! A red ball? Really! Now you know what I mean when I call you ‘lizard-breath!’ How much weight did you lose on that trip?’

Jake sat in a chair, watching the three naked vampires practically dancing around the room with his wife. He gently rocked the baby’s cradle with his foot and listened to their silent chatter interspersed with giggles and outbreaks of hilarity.

“Let me introduce you to ‘the baby’,” Béla said, dramatically.

She waltzed across the room, trying her best to simply walk across the room without dancing, she was so happy.

“The ‘Baby’?” Elaine asked out loud. “Then the Praetor was right – you haven’t named it – her, I mean?”

Béla gently reached down and picked up her infant, who had been quietly watching the four of them with great interest.

“No, I haven’t” Béla said, sounding a little sad. “Her mind is shielded, and she won’t talk to me…”

“Well,” Dawn said, “She is only a baby – maybe she doesn’t know how to ‘unshield’, yet.”

“You don’t think it’s odd that an ability has to be unlearned?” Annalisa asked. “Melinda’s baby wasn’t half-vampire half-human like yours, but…”

“Melinda’s baby?” Béla asked. “Nobody ever told me she had a baby…”

‘Damn! That bitch beat me again!’

“At least, he could talk mind-to-mind,” Annalisa finished her sentence to a room heavy with silence.

Elaine sighed, then walked over and hugged Béla and her baby.

“Your baby is the one who matters to us,” she said quietly.

‘Please let us end this strange affliction that has affected the two of us. I love you. Let’s not fight anymore… not everything one of us does is the fault of the other…’

“As soon as the Praetor has collected enough data,” Dawn spoke into the silence, attempting to lighten the mood, “we’re going to attempt our first time-walk.”

“Time-walk?” Béla asked. “Tanya – a friend of mine – a human… she’s obsessed with the idea that her daughter, Katie, could time-walk. She grieves constantly because of her disappearance several months ago. Even I couldn’t budge her mind from her illusions.”

“Katie disappeared?” “Several months ago?” “The most recent data we have on her is only two weeks old!” “What happened to her?”

‘Everyone be quiet! Please!’

“Alright, Elaine,” Béla said, picking one sister at random, “you go first.”

Image of the ‘Exploits of Katie Kelly – Time-Walker’ – Katie and Beth rescuing Tanya from the slaver’s ship – Katie and Béla rescuing Jake Hedron from beneath the rubble of what was once Albuquerque – Image of Katie pulling Beth out of the nuclear blast that destroyed the city…

“Wait! Stop!” Béla cried. “None of that ever happened! Only Tanya thinks that any of that happened! How did that get into the Praetor’s history?”

“The most recent one was transmitted from your Praetor two weeks ago,” Elaine said, not understanding what her sister was trying to tell her.

Béla looked over at her other two sisters. They were both nodding, agreeing with Elaine.

‘Praetor, please explain!’ Béla demanded in her mind.

‘Unable to comply. My data transmissions are not currently being accepted.’

‘Why not?’

‘There is a ‘sequence of events’ error. My database has been corrupted.’

‘A what?’

“A temporal error,” Dawn explained, listening to the Praetor’s explanation. “A error in time!”

“How is that even possible?” Béla wanted to know.

“Well, according to the Praetor,” Elaine said, “our Praetor, Beth died in the explosion that destroyed the Earth City. I was there. I should know. Then Katie time-walked back and pulled her out. She changed history! The Praetor, your Praetor, reported the anomaly. It is recorded in history – our history.”

“But Beth’s been gone for months,” Béla insisted. “No one knows where she is. This ‘Katie’ girl disappeared weeks after Beth did! She and her nephew disappeared on the same day. They could have both been in that hospital that was blown up by terrorists.

“They – the Earth people – have a technology here that keeps track of everyone – kind’ve like a Praetor, except that it simply collects and records data. It doesn’t think. That technology records them both in Albuquerque when their body monitors ceased to function. And they didn’t cease to function at the same time – there was several hours’ difference. Only Katie was at the hospital when it was destroyed.”

“Katie was at the hospital? Where Beth was? And that’s just a coincidence?” Annalisa asked. “Beth and Katie were more than good friends, Béla. They were lovers! It’s in our history! They could have all been together! She could have pulled her nephew in there, too. Katie could time-walk! That could explain the several hours difference.”

“But they never met!” Béla cried, sitting down.

The baby started to cry, too. Jake took her out of Béla’s arms.

“Here,” Annalisa said, reaching for the child. “She probably just needs changing.”

“No,” Béla said, the strangeness in her voice causing Annalisa to stop. “She never needs changing. When she messes herself, she simply teleports it away somewhere.”

‘Just like I taught Beth when she was too sick to clean herself…’

Béla looked closely into the eyes of her infant child. The child squealed and scrunched her eyes shut, screaming in terror and rage. The room filled with the child’s emotions.

“Ow!” Jake yelled.

He let go of the baby. The baby disappeared. They all could hear her screaming, upstairs, in the master bedroom.

“What happened?” Béla asked, jumping up in concern.

“She burned me!” Jake exclaimed.

He held out his hands and arms. The flesh was scorched black. Béla and Jake looked at each other in alarm.

‘What is she?’

“Not what, Béla,” Elaine insisted. “Who! Who is she?”

‘She’s Beth, Béla. Your dead sister is now your child! She’s a Phoenix!’

‘No! She wouldn’t do that…’ Béla stopped, remembering now.

‘Walking down the stairs, heavy with my child… fireball screams right through the front door… I can’t teleport to safety… the place in my mind where I teleport is full of white fire! Beth! Trying to escape – trying to reach me – to get to safety… away from the destruction she caused… the destruction she pushed into the teleportation zone, trapping me beneath her fiery energy – trapping Katie…

‘Where?

‘That’s why the city didn’t blow up! She changed it somehow – moved the blast into another dimension…’

Jake caught Béla as she collapsed. She lay in Jake’s arms, looking up at her sisters. There were no secrets here – they all saw the image she’d broadcast at them.

‘Beth is my child… No! She took my child! She made it her own!’

‘No!’ Elaine said firmly in her mind. ‘She IS your child! The Praetor says Katie told you that! Now I’m telling you, since you evidently don’t remember Katie! Love Beth as your sister – love her as your child – I don’t care! But she needs you to forgive her for what she did! Our Praetor has all the data! Make your Praetor understand! You’re the Carte Blanche! You have the authority! You should know the truth!’

Béla shrank away from her sister’s mental barrage even as she realized that Elaine was speaking the truth of what had happened. There was silence for a moment as the two sisters confronted each other, their faces only inches apart. Even her other sisters were shocked that Elaine had reamed into the Carte Blanche like that.

‘She is above judgement, Elaine… You can’t tell her what to do. You haven’t the right…’

“Well,” Béla said finally, surprising even herself with her lack of ire toward her sister’s disrespect. “Not quite the sex-hungry little slut goddess I left behind, are you?”

Then they were hugging each other and crying. Jake, unable to hold both sisters, fell to the floor, dropping them both.

Chapter 12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No, actually, you were pretty easy to find,” Tabatha said, shoving another mouthful of glass noodles into her face. “We monitor everyone that’s important to maintaining the status quo.”

“You mean you’ve got everyone bugged?” Jake asked, chuckling. The more he was with his nurse (captor?), the more enamored he became with her. It was almost like she was ‘the other half of my soul!’

“You’d be more than a little surprised at how simple it was,” Tabatha smirked. “We have agents in the stores where you buy your clothes; shoes, suits, socks, underwear…”

“Alright! I get it!” Jake laughed. “You bugged our clothing. But from what you told me, I wasn’t exactly dressed when you found me.”

“We, um, bugged your foot,” she admitted. “Your right shoe had a, uh, ‘nail’ in it that stuck you in your heel. You had to bring the shoes back so our guy could fix it…”

“Ha! I remember!” Jake said. Then he frowned, becoming more serious. “So, I have a microchip in my foot?”

Tabatha nodded.

“But Blacker’s men checked me from head to toe,” Jake protested. “They even disconnected my body monitor and smashed it so that it wouldn’t transmit my location.”

“We didn’t activate our bug until we noticed that your body monitor ceased transmitting,” she said. “Before that, we didn’t need it. Your own personal monitors told us where you were. OCI only became interested because your personal monitor transmissions ceased. Then, when we located you, we couldn’t get to you because of Blacker’s goons.

“OCI had written you off,” Tabatha continued. “They had no idea what kind of internal power struggle was occurring at Tomlin, but it was evident that something was going on. Things like that make us… curious.”

She smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.

‘Am I the only one who can’t do that?’ Jake thought to himself. ‘Where have I seen her before? Maybe I recognize her from a dream or something. Aunt Katie used to tell me about stuff like that. Maybe this girl and I are soul mates… Ha, ha, real professional attitude there, Jake!’

Tabatha had been smiling at him, watching him eat while she did the same. Now, she seemed more distant; more… professional.

“There’s something you should know,” Tabatha said, looking liked she’d just tasted sour wine.

“What? That bastard Blacker has taken over Tomlin?” Jake asked, smirking. “I figured he’d do that. I have a couple of cards to play in case I got away of him alive. And, thanks to your organization, I did.”

Tabatha didn’t smile.

‘There’s something else wrong! Something… personal?’

“A building blew up a few blocks from the MAS-DEC building a couple of hours before your personal locator stopped transmitting,” she said.

She looked very serious.

“Yes, I saw it,” Jake admitted. “At first, I thought it was a nuclear bomb. Then it backed up, like it was sucked into a black hole or something. I found out from Blacker that he was conducting some tests in that building. It was some kind of genetics research lab.”

“That’s right,” Tabatha sighed. She leaned back in her chair. “We don’t know what kind of tests were being conducted there, and, of course, we’re very interested in finding out. The type of explosive used wasn’t anything anyone has ever seen before.

“The images I saw in your mind,” Tabatha continued, leaning forward, “were of an alien female. I could see in your mind that your family was intimate with an alien woman, and that their genetic superiority has affected the longevity of several of your family members. That’s probably what your subordinate Blacker was experimenting on.

“The problem is, and I don’t know how to tell you this,” Tabatha’s voice actually wavered with emotion, “a member of your family evidently discovered where your alien friend was and…”

She sighed and looked at him sadly. “She was in the building when it blew up. I’m so sorry to be the one to have to tell you…”

“Your aunt, Katherine Kelly, was among those who died when the building collapsed after the explosion,” Tabatha said, pronouncing the words in a rote manner.

She could feel the shock and disbelief radiating from Jake. She blinked back her own tears.

‘Why should I be so upset?’ Tabatha thought to herself. ‘I never even met the girl – I only saw her in that chain-saw massacre thing. But she was a member of Jake Hedron’s family and I’m sure he loved her. Maybe it’s his grief that upsets me.’

It was late in the evening. Jake Hedron was still at the OCI safehouse, alone in the quarters that had been assigned to him. There was a wall console available. It was a secure line out, completely untraceable. The only ones monitoring it were OCI.

He had spoken to his mother and his grandparents to tell them he was all right. He had also asked about Aunt Katie. Gramps told him that Katie had been missing for months, and that her most recent locator transmission coincided with the destruction of the Stephens Research Facility in Albuquerque.

Sadly, Jake confirmed to his grandparents that Beth had also been killed in the same explosion, and that a renegade member of Tomlin had been conducting genetic experiments on her in the basement of that facility. He suggested that Aunt Katie may have been trying to rescue Beth on her own, and simply got caught in the explosion, although how she got involved, he couldn’t explain. He promised them he would bring Blacker to justice.

‘Aunt Katie knew how important our family’s secret is. She may not have been killed accidentally. She may have done it on purpose – to protect the rest of the family… Her mind worked like that. But, how would she even know what was happening there? I didn’t even know – and I’m the Chairman of the largest Security Organization in the Americas. And, how did she do it?’

There was a gentle knock on the door. Jake chuckled to himself.

‘All this technology and no door monitor…’

“Yes?” he asked.

“It’s me,” Tabatha’s voice sounded softly through the door.

He opened it.

“Are you all right?” she asked, compassionate concern evident in her voice.

He nodded, then invited her in. They sat down on the couch.

“So, her name was Beth?” Tabatha asked. “Did you know her?”

Jake shook his head.

“She was Béla Wilson’s sister,” he told her. “They’re both from outer space.”

“So, we finally make First Contact and we kill one,” Tabatha mused. “How many thousands of movies have had that as the major plot?”

She didn’t expect an answer. It was too obvious.

“They’ve been here for thousands of years, Tabatha,” he said quietly. “And Beth wasn’t the first to die here, so far from their home.”

“I know,” Tabatha admitted. “I’ve spent the afternoon researching into your family history.”

Jake looked concerned.

“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “I used my own personal link. It’s completely tamper-proof and I erased the data after I read it.

“This Wilson girl was killed back in the nineties,” Tabatha told him. “But then, you already knew that – I had to break into Reggie to get the data. It was locked under your voiceprint. So now, both of them are dead? Are there any more?”

“Béla isn’t dead,” Jake corrected her, “at least, not anymore. She and Beth showed up several months ago with some story about her father regenerating her, or something. She’s living with her old boyfriend, Jake Pestova.”

“Your real father,” Tabatha suggested. She smiled at the surprise on his face. “I told you, I’ve been studying your family all afternoon. The OCI has amazing resources.”

“So, this whole thing’s about to blow wide open?” Jake asked. “Our whole family just might have to… disappear!”

“No, I don’t think so,” Tabatha assured him. “The OCI isn’t an aggressive organization, and the people who are recruited are not ‘money’ or ‘power’ oriented. The deep, dark secrets we learn can be used to insure cooperation. I’m sure you understand.

“Yeah, and I’m sure you’re in the loop on what goes on over your head,” Jake sneered at her.

“You forget,” Tabatha replied, smiling at him. “I can read minds. I wouldn’t work for people I don’t trust.

“Besides, I think it’s fascinating,” she laughed. “The intrigue, the whole ‘double-identity’ thing your family has going. Frank Tabor pretending to be his own son, then his grandson – But the one who has to be having the most fun with all this is Frank’s wife, Tanya, playing the roll of that party girl, Tootsie!”

They both laughed, sharing the thought of his grandmother in the role of a party-crazed twenty-year-old.

“So, you’re impressed with my family, huh?” Jake asked. “You know an awful lot about us. How do I know I can trust you?”

Tabatha leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. While they were in contact, he could feel her mind with his.

‘I know what it’s like to keep secrets… I’ve kept my own very well. And I think I may have been looking for you for a very, very long time…’

‘You think? You’re not sure?’

Tabatha broke the long, sweet kiss.

“I’m only twenty-six,” she admitted. “But ever since I was a child, I knew there were people like you in the world, and I wanted to find them. I needed to. That’s the real reason I joined OCI.”

She kissed him, again.

‘To find you!’

Tabatha stayed the rest of the night. Two days later, they were married.

Jake and Tabatha Hedron spent their honeymoon taking back Tomlin Security. Blacker fought like the rat he was when the pair of them, along with several OCI volunteers, cornered him in the Tomlin parking deck. In the end, Raymond Blacker’s coup was completely foiled and Jake Hedron publicly denounced him.

During the short, fierce battle, Tabatha got her left arm cooked by an energy discharge. Later that afternoon, as she lay on the hospital bed in a secure ward, Jake came by to visit and cheer her up.

“Well, they hauled him away,” he told her, smiling.

She was happy for her new husband. “Some honeymoon,” she joked quietly, holding up her bandaged arm. “You know, I’ve always felt that silly injuries like this should heal faster, you know?”

He smiled. He knew exactly what she meant. He’d been caught in that crossfire, too. In fact, if he hadn’t stepped in front of her and taken the heavy part of the blast, his new wife would probably be dead, now. They both knew it.

“When this is all over,” he suggested, “maybe we can take a vacation and, maybe, just maybe, fix that little problem you seem to have with healing.”

Tabatha liked the idea.

In the months that followed, the Chairman of Tomlin Security and his new wife, the new Director of Internal Affairs, engineered and negotiated the merger of Tomlin and OCI, making OCI Tomlin the largest security organization in the world. His mother was very proud.

End Part 3.

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