Elect II—7 Orcs on Parade, part 1 of 3

November 14, 2016October 28, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I could be the hunter,” Keisha said. Latasha gave her a funny look, so she explained. “Well, I don’t have any magic power, and I’m not psychic. I figure the wise woman and healer are too much work. If I said priestess, you would laugh. So that leaves the hunter.”

“You can’t even find your backpack in the lunch room,” Latasha pointed out.

“Yeah, and what would Janet be? They don’t have a fat one, do they?”

“No. And be nice.”

Keisha’s phone rang. Janet was on the other end and she was getting a ride home.

“She wants us to meet her at her house,” Keisha said.

Latasha said nothing, but nodded. Maybe Janet was beginning to thaw toward her since they talked about Bobby Thompson and the drug delivery in the garage basement level.

###

Heinrich dropped his sword point and stepped back. “You are still dropping your shoulder when you back-swing toward the legs. You know where your opponent is, you should not have to look first.”

Emily frowned and ran a hand through her hair. She nodded and took a moment to look around. Jessica was helping Melissa learn the staff. They had the ones with the cushions on each end so they did not hurt much, but poor Melissa who only began these workouts in the fall kept taking it in the gut while Jessica kept explaining how to block that shot. Maria was off to the side working through her hand to hand techniques. Mindy was helping Amina try to hit something with an arrow. Amina was great with the staff and hand to hand, but she couldn’t shoot straight. It was like she was willing to hit someone, maybe even knock them out, but the idea of an arrow or knife cutting and maybe killing someone made her balk.

“Ready?” Heinrich finished wiping the sweat from his brow and tossed down his towel.

Emily shook her head and pointed to the back door. “I think you have a new pupil.” Sara came in, and she brought her shepherd’s crook, the one Heinrich had given her as a gift.

“Ah, priestess, welcome.” Heinrich was friendly and the others stopped and welcomed Sara as well. Melissa was especially happy to see the priestess.

“Priestess. Now maybe someone else can get punched in the stomach for a while,” she said.

Sara shook her head. “I’m still getting used to priestess. I know it is just the classical title, but it irks my Anglican nerves. There is a reason I am a Methodist.”

“Zoe called you priestess,” Amina said as if that should settle the matter.

“Yes, Sybil,” Sara responded in a kind tone of voice and nodded toward Emily for emphasis. “Your majesty. But that is another thing. I can’t hardly bring myself to talk to Zoe, much less pray to her.”

“I can answer that one,” Heinrich stepped up. “I guarantee, right or not, she does not want or feel worthy of prayer or praise. Just talking is what she prefers. Sorry, you will have to take my word on that for now. But here, let me help you learn what you can do with that staff.”

“Just so you know, I am a woman of peace, not war.” Sara looked around the gym and looked hesitant, though she came dressed in sweats.

“So was Father Martin,” Heinrich responded with a smile and an outstretched hand. “But he said there is nothing unchristian about learning to defend yourself and to defend the innocent.”

“Father Martin?”

“A disciple of Francis of Assisi.”

“A Franciscan?”

“No,” Emily said. “I think he means a disciple of Saint Francis himself.”

Heinrich nodded. “He was my age now, four hundred and seventy something when I was an impressionable youth of twenty something. He was a good man.”

Sara’s eyes widened a bit, but she took Heinrich’s hand and let him lead her into the middle of the room. “Paul is also having real problems with all of this,” she confessed.

“Your young man?” Heinrich pulled her in so she took his arm.

Sara nodded. “Paul is a lawyer, very logical. He took a job with the District Attorney’s office last year and was glad to hear I will be sticking around for the next three years.” She stopped and withdrew her hand and arm and stared at Emily. “Look, he has a hard enough time with me being a minister. Amazon priestess is freaking him out.”

“Don’t look at me,” Emily said with a deadpan face. “I killed my last boyfriend and the one before that turned vampire. I killed him, too.” Emily’s eyes watered a bit. “I am not the one to talk to about boyfriend troubles.”

“Invite him to meet us,” Amina said. “He will see we are just a bunch of normal women and nothing to worry about.”

“Ms Joel heard from?” Emily lost her tears and grinned as Amina darkened and looked at the floor; but she smiled at the mention of Joel’s name.

Sara looked around the room at all of the ones present before she made her pronouncement. “There is not a normal one here.” She bit her tongue. She knew she should say they were all special and gifted beyond reason, but at the moment she felt like saying they were all freaks.

Maria stepped up. “Actually, we are all facing the same problems with boyfriends. Okay, maybe Emily and I aren’t dating right now, but Amina and Joel are, Mindy just asked Bill out, Melissa is hanging out with Robert and Jessica has Brinkman wrapped around her finger.”

“Please!” Jessica interrupted. “I gave up boyfriends for lent.”

“Robert?” Emily asked with a look at Melissa.

“Later,” Maria said as Melissa turned red and looked away in her best Amina imitation. “Anyway, the point is you are not alone.”

“I did not choose to live four hundred and seventy years, which is not public knowledge by the way,” Heinrich said. “Emily did not choose to be one of the elect. The Spirits of Artemis and Eir chose their own vehicles in Jessica and Maria. Amina and Melissa had no say in whatever power they were granted, great or small. You are the only one who has graciously been given a choice, but you must choose. You have swum half-way, now will you turn and swim back or finish the journey?”

“I am here,” Sara said. “Priestess is still going to take some getting used to.” Everyone smiled happily, and several hugs were exchanged before Sara remembered. “Oh, Jessica and Emily, I brought your ROTC crew. They say they want to join the, um, tribe?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Mindy said it before Amina could.

Sara turned back to the door she came in and wondered. “I thought they were right behind me.”

Natasha came tumbling in after a second. She was winded, but said one word, loud. “Orcs.” She threw her hands to her knees as she breathed. “A bunch of them, heading this way.” Diane, Greta and Hilde followed Natasha in and Greta and Hilde started to bar the door.

“Wait!” Emily shouted and Greta and Hilde paused. “Mindy and Amina, get arrows, bring the bows. Diane, show me. The rest of you stay here. Jessica, prepare a defense.”

“After you,” Heinrich said. He still had his sword, but picked up a bow as well. Emily was not about to turn down the help and experience, but she looked again at Jessica and once at Sara. Jessica looked uncertain, but Sara assured her with her eyes and Emily felt the Priestess earned her place permanently with that look. There would be no going back.

Elect II—6 Secrets, part 3 of 3

November 9, 2016October 28, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Mindy spent a lot of time in the sub-basement beneath the Library where the archives were kept, and she searched through every tome that she, a mere undergraduate, was allowed to touch. It took a long time because she kept stopping to read, bad as she felt her Greek and Latin were. But it was all so fascinating. Meanwhile, she found nothing about the tattoo of the circle with the three squiggly lines apart from some vague references about the search for immortality, and they might not even be accurate or related.

She also searched through the archive database where some of the scrolls and more ancient writings were scanned into the system. Most of the materials had not yet been scanned. It was a new program, and she was not allowed to touch the originals, but she had a friend working on that. Bill was one of Papadopoulos’ graduate students and he was keeping his eyes open as he scanned his documents. So far, though, he had not found anything.

Mindy had not shown the symbol to Professor Papadopoulos, yet. She was not exactly sure why, except the time was not right. He was a busy man. When she was first asked about it, by contrast she went straight to Professor Schultz. Heinrich said he only recalled seeing the symbol once, carved on an old Roman column in front of a ruin, and knew nothing about it. At a guess, he said the column was probably from the third or fourth century, but he did not think the ruin was there anymore so there was no way to check. He imagined it fell victim to some war. “Napoleon, probably,” he said. “That man was an expert at accidentally blowing up ancient things with his cannon balls.”

It was late in the afternoon when Professor Papadopoulos came down into the basement. He had a man with him that Mindy did not recognize, a man with a slight limp, but he made a point of stopping by her reading desk so Mindy got a good look at the man.

“I know it is getting on winter,” the professor said. “But the sun is still out and the day is warm. I am not one to discourage my students, but you really should spend some time in the sun lest you end up old and pale like me.”

“I’m trying to research something and having a hard time finding anything about it,” Mindy went straight to the subject. She had drawn the symbol on paper to show because she imagined showing photographs of dead men’s arms was not the best approach. “Have you seen this symbol?” She handed over the paper. “A friend of mine says it is being used by some kind of secret society, like a fraternity or something, but she was wondering if I could find out what it stands for. So far I haven’t had any luck.”

The Professor showed it to his friend and looked again at Mindy as he spoke. “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen this before.”

“Probably some modern stylized version of a more ancient symbol,” the friend said, and he made a point of turning it upside down and right side up again. “Some kind of fireball?”

“A shooting star?” Professor Papadopoulos suggested. “Possibly some modern cult?”

Mindy took back the paper and held her tongue. She wanted to say she saw the symbol on a page of symbols in a book from the middle ages—unfortunately without a name or description of the symbol. She wanted to tell them about the carving on the Roman column, but she said nothing about that. “If you come across this symbol, would you let me know, please?”

“Of course,” Professor Papadopoulos smiled. “But I am sure you have other homework, too.” He touched his friend on the arm and walked back into the stacks. The friend limped after him. Curiously, the Professor never introduced the man, and he forgot all about encouraging Mindy to partake of the great outdoors. Professors could be like that, and Professor Papadopoulos was especially the absent minded professor.

“No help?” Bill came over after they left.

Mindy looked up at the man, but not for long. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him smack on the lips before she said, “Keep looking.”

“What?” Bill was looking, but somewhere in outer space.

“A little encouragement,” Mindy said, and she thought if she was really going to be an Amazon there was no point in waiting for him to make the first move. Scholars were slow by nature. With Bill, she might wait forever. She gathered her books and put her hand to Bill’s shoulder. “Keep looking,” she repeated herself before she walked to the elevator.

“Right,” she heard him say that with conviction as the elevator doors opened, and it made her smile.

###

Lisa watched as the Cadillac pulled into the underground parking garage. A half-dozen young men in their late teens and early twenties were there, standing around making noises at each other, pretending to be tough. The Cadillac pulled into a parking space and two men got out. One had a semi-automatic in his hands. The other looked around and then walked to the back of the car to open the trunk. The young men lined up like children in a lunch line. The man at the trunk began to pull out brown paper packages tied with twine, and Lisa spoke into her microphone.

“Move in.” Then she started to hum “These are a few of my favorite things.” Ashish ignored her and brought the car in to block the exit. The lower level of the parking garage was a wonderful place off the street, where few cars went, with few prying eyes, but it was a terrible place if the police were watching. There were only so many ways out, and they could all be blocked.

Lisa and Ashish got out when everyone got in position. A dozen officers came from the four exits and Lisa spoke up. “Police. You are surrounded. Lower your weapons and put your hands up.” The man at the back of the car, the driver and the one with the semi-automatic had no hesitation in complying, but one of the boys reached into his jacket pocket. “Don’t be stupid,” Lisa shouted. “Dead is forever.” The young man did not listen. He drew the gun, jumped away from the others, fired twice in the direction of the voice, hit nothing and ran in the opposite direction. He caught at least three bullets in return fire and went down.

The police let the ambulance right in as they cuffed the others. “Good thing the ambulance was waiting,” Ashish remarked. “Why does one always have to be stupid?”

Lisa could only shrug. She got out her phone now that they were out of the underground. She wanted to call Latasha and let her know that Janet’s information was accurate but Bobby Thompson was not there, and she thought, neither was Carlos.

Elect II—6 Secrets, part 2 of 3

November 8, 2016October 28, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Latasha and Keisha walked down to the corner store for some junk food. It was the middle of November, but not cold. In fact, they were talking about an Indian summer. They had not had one of those in a while. Latasha thought she was good company, but all she could think about was Janet. She missed her friend and felt all along it was stupid to lose their friendship over a boy, especially one like Bobby Thompson the drug dealer.

In the past two weeks, Latasha spent time with Wendy and Mini, two friends she thought she lost after the eighth grade. They were in her class with Ms Riley and noticed the teacher seemed to like Latasha. They liked Latasha too, and she liked Wendy and Mini well enough, but they were students back when Latasha was still making a joke of it all. Latasha wondered if maybe their friendship faded because she was the negative influence they wanted to get away from. Probably so.

“You know if you eat that you will get a big butt,” Latasha said. Keisha picked up the golden cakes with the crème filling.

“What’s wrong with that, Slinky?” They started calling Latasha Slinky in middle school because the taller Latasha got, the skinnier she appeared. Technically she was Lanky. Emily’s friend Maria said she had a high metabolism which showed itself in the way she was always moving, flexing her fingers, tapping her foot. It was just nervous energy, Latasha thought, but she did it even when there was nothing to be nervous about.

Latasha rounded a corner in the store and stopped. Janet was there and Keisha was looking at the chips.

“Hi,” Janet said.

“Hi,” Latasha responded and wondered if Keisha set this up as a kind of neutral ground. Whether she did or not, Latasha was going to take advantage of this one chance. “I’m sorry I can’t think good thoughts about Bobby Thompson. I’m glad you have a boyfriend, but I’m sorry he has come between us.” She got it out, though it was not exactly what she meant to say.

Janet just looked at Latasha for a moment before she burst into tears.

Latasha and Keisha went to her. They began to escort her outside where they could find a more secluded place and Janet might not be so embarrassed, but the clerk shouted at them.

“Hey, you have to pay for that.”

Keisha let go and stepped over quickly to slam her things on the counter. She gave the heartless clerk a mean stare and smashed the golden cakes, accidentally. Then she rushed to hold the door for her friends.

When Janet calmed down enough to talk she said Bobby turned mean. “He said he liked his women fat and stupid. I’m not fat and stupid.”

“No, you’re not,” Keisha said. Latasha said nothing as Janet turned to talk directly to her.

“He said he only let me get close to him so he could keep an eye on you, but if I stopped being your friend, I was useless to him. He said his supplier said you were dangerous.”

“We are still friends,” Latasha said, but the back of her mind painted a different picture. It said that Janet wanted to be friends again so she could be useful to Bobby, so he would like her again. That told Latasha that maybe Janet was indeed as stupid as she was fat. “Forget Bobby Thompson. You are a great girl. One day you will have a real boyfriend who loves you for who you are and not just because you are useful.” Latasha said it, but the look on Janet’s face said she did not believe it.

“So, do you want to hang out at my house for a while?” Keisha offered the middle ground and Janet and Latasha agreed.

Elect II—6 Secrets, part 1 of 3

November 7, 2016October 28, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Emily came out from her room and saw everyone sitting in their usual places. She got her chair and joined them with a casual word. “So I think I saw Pierce’s brother today. I’m not sure because he ran off before I could ask him any questions.” Emily felt the sudden tension in the room and looked at everyone in turn. Jessica spoke first.

“We saw him the other day, during midterms.” Jessica tried to keep the same casual tone to her voice, but Maria thought it necessary to apologize.

“We didn’t say anything because we didn’t want to upset you.”

Emily looked around and Melissa nodded and looked into her orange soda while Mindy nodded and looked at Jessica. Amina had her hand up.

“I wasn’t there, but I knew he was around. I did not say anything because he did not feel like a threat.” Emily frowned at her and she looked away. “I am sorry. I am still learning what to say and what not to say of what I see. I am sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Emily assured her. “But this is just the sort of information we need to share. We need to not keep secrets from each other. And while I think of it,” she looked again at Amina. “If you want to go out with Joel, you don’t need my permission. I’m not your mom. You keep saying we are Amazons, start acting like one.”

“Saved by the knock,” Amina said, and then there was a knock on the door. It was Sara, the Priestess, and she brought a copy of the picture Jessica drew.

“I got this from Lisa. She got it from Latasha who showed it to her science teacher who is apparently a very mysterious person. She says it was an ogre or troll, but turned orc. That means an earth spirit in rebellion.”

“I said ogre or troll,” Mindy piped up.

“And I would guess where there is one, there are probably others,” Emily said. Amina nodded.

“Lisa said she may have seen one skulking around her house,” Sara added.

“Zoe’s mystery, do you think?” Maria suggested. “Like maybe some escaped from wherever it is they belong.”

Jessica had a different thought. “I never had cool teachers like that back in high school.”.

###

Jessica sat quietly in her environmental science class and looked around. The lecture hall was half empty. She thought it might be Professor Maynard’s teaching style. The woman was more boring than a drill. Then she thought it might be the subject matter. Emily had the class freshman year and described it perfectly. It did not matter what the book said, Maynard blamed the human race for every ill on the planet. It did not matter how twisted and tortured the logic, Maynard made it clear she thought the earth would be better off without people.

Emily warned her not to take the class, but she needed a science class and figured this would be an easy “A.” All she had to do was blame humanity for everything in her tests and papers and move on. Apparently a number of other students figured it out as well, but she was still surprised they were not in class. Attendance counted as part of the grade.

“All right.” Maynard put down her chalk and stopped lecturing. That caused Jessica and others to start paying attention, at least temporarily. “Professor Orlov and I are still in need of additional volunteers. We have plenty of Center for Disease Control money so we can pay you for your time. We are mapping the relationship between the brain and immune system in combination with certain environmental factors. We need samples only, and no, I don’t mean brain samples, and it won’t hurt. Please consider volunteering.” Professor Maynard smiled, but it was a pitiful thing. “Class dismissed.”

Jessica stepped out of the building and saw Mindy, Melissa and Amina walking toward the campus center. She thought she might join them, but then she might not. She felt frustrated, pointless, unworthy… She could not find the right word.

The Priestess was right. All of the other girls were seriously talented and special in some way, and Sara, the Priestess, was just as talented in her own way, even if she did not see it in herself. Jessica wondered, what a hunter was, anyway? Did that mean she had to become a redneck and take her bow and arrows out in deer season? Fat chance of that happening in Beverly Hills. She felt useless.

Okay, she said to herself. Emily and the others expected her to be in charge when Emily was not around, but what did that mean, really? Okay, she joined ROTC because she discovered she could do things she never imagined, like all the physical stuff and fighting and weapons. Oddly enough she found the course work interesting as well, unlike Maynard’s stupid class. But what did that really mean?

Jessica shook her head and thought of Jack. She thought, Jessica Brinkman and wondered if every woman thought such things at the beginning of a relationship, just to see how the name fit. He was nice. She really liked him, not the least because they shared so many interests, including the army.

Jessica made up her mind. She was going to sign up for a time of service. The upper class of ROTC, the junior and senior class was only for those who signed up for service after college. And she might marry Brinkman, or someone like him, and be an army wife. That would not be bad. And then she could put all this Amazon stuff behind her and not feel useless anymore.

Jessica stepped down to the walkway and made another decision. She was going to change her major to political science. She really did not like business. She knew her CEO father would not be happy, but he could not be more upset than he was when she told him she was going into ROTC.

She paused.

Jessica’s nose went up into the air to get a good whiff. Something did not smell right. There was a fire somewhere. She stepped around the corner toward the faculty parking lot and found a small campfire made mostly of twigs. Three students, two boys and a girl were bouncing around it, excited, touching it and pulling their hand back to lick with their tongue and stick their fingers in their mouth. It was like they never saw fire before. Jessica recognized the girl.

“Megan, you missed Maynard’s class.”

The girl looked up and Jessica saw nothing behind those eyes. The girl shrieked and the boys echoed the sound, and they all ran off toward the distant woods.

“Hey, your fire. Hey!” Jessica yelled, but they did not respond. Jessica stomped out the stick fire and commented out loud. “That was weird.”

Elect II—5 Stab from the Past, part 3 of 3

November 2, 2016November 2, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The mats were laid out in the gym and the company stood at attention. Captain Driver walked the room first and eyed each member of the class before he said, “At ease. Be seated.” Emily held the clipboard that day. Hand to hand training required some close quarters and Captain Driver told her he did not want anyone to get hurt, accidentally.

“Sophomore.” Besides, he had Jessica to pick on that year. She got up and stood at attention. She felt ready for whatever the man threw at her. She had been training with Heinrich for over a year.

“Some of you might think she is just a girl. What can she possibly do if someone sneaks up and grabs her from behind as a prelude to rape or murder, or in a combat situation. Let me tell you, properly trained she has nothing to fear.”

Lieutenant Brinkman grabbed Jessica around the middle, though it was not entirely unexpected. Jessica did what she had to in order to flip him over her shoulder, but he expected that and resisted.

“Not a chance,” he whispered in her ear. That made her mad. She hooked her right foot around his right ankle and stepped forward, effectively lifting his ankle off the mat. Then she twisted enough to make him lose his balance toward his weak side. They both went to the mat with Jessica on top. To his credit, Brinkman hung on even when his back slammed against the mat, but Jessica was ready and added the natural motion to her deliberate motion and slammed the back of her head into Brinkman’s face.

“Surrender,” Brinkman let go. Jessica slipped off, but laid a hand on his chest as she spoke.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“No.” Brinkman shook his head, but took a moment to rub his nose. “I was afraid I might hurt you.

“No, I’m fine,” Jessica scooted up close to Brinkman’s face to examine the man’s nose. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he said.

“I’m fine, too,” Jessica said, and Emily turned to Captain Driver.

“Lost for the session.” Brinkman and Jessica were both grinning at each other.

Captain driver frowned. “Exactly why I don’t like women in the ranks. No offense.” He turned to the class. “Pair up. You women need to pair with each other.”

The class went well after that until two young men called Emily over. One spoke in a serious tone. “I don’t get the grab from behind bit,” he said. “Could you show us?”

Emily set down her clipboard. The one who asked was her height, hardly the biggest boy in the class, but she understood that he might be having a problem because his partner was a hulk. He was one that Jessica called a two-hundred and fifty-pounder.

Emily faced the smaller man and told the big one to grab her from behind. She expected his hands around her middle, but that was not what happened. Those big hands reached up and grabbed her breasts. Emily could only imagine the grinning face over her shoulder. She turned. He could not stop her. She broke free, grabbed the big man’s sweatshirt and sweat pants and tossed him eight feet through the air. He landed beyond the mats and slid across the gym floor another six feet to where he crumpled up against the wall. Nothing was seriously damaged, except maybe his ego.

Emily turned on the other who quickly took several steps back. “Does that make it clear?” the young man nodded, vigorously.

“Hudson.”

“Sir.” Emily came to attention.

Captain Driver stepped over, but his eyes were on the two young men. “When I told you I did not want anyone accidentally hurt, I left off one part.”

“Sir?”

“Unless they deserve it.” Captain Driver turned to the class who had stopped to stare in any case. “Don’t you people understand? This is not just a class. This is your team. These are the people you will have to depend on when the going gets rough. You will respect your team members at all times. If you cannot do that, there is no room for you in this program. Am I clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

“Hit the showers.” He turned to the two young men, one standing still and the other staggering back from the wall. “You two need to give me a reason why you should remain in this class. And I saw the whole thing so if you lie to me that will be instant dismissal.”

Emily changed, and as she did she felt sorry for the boys. She said nothing to Jessica, but Jessica could tell. “Pent up frustrations,” Jessica said. “You need a date.”

“Look who’s talking?”

“He asked me out and I said yes.”

“He is your superior officer.”

“So we will have to go undercover.” Jessica paused while Hilde and Natasha giggled. “I did not mean that the way it sounded.” She tried again. “You outrank me too, your majesty, but it doesn’t keep me from telling you to turn your light out when I’m ready to go to bed. Wait. That’s not helping.”

###

“Hey, wait up!” Emily turned her head. It was Joel from Anatomy and from the library study group. “Something I have to ask you.” He was puffing a little from the run, like he followed her half-way across campus. “Emily.” He acknowledged her and smiled. It was a nice smile.

Emily never thought about dating until Jessica brought it up. She did not imagine she could date, after Pierce. But Joel was nice. She could easily smile for him.

“I want a date,” Joel said.

“What?” That was a bit sudden.

“Oh? No, no. Not what you think.” Joel’s smile widened. “I was talking about Amina.”

“Oh? I see.” Emily felt a pang of something, but she was not sure what she was panging about. “Why are you talking to me about Amina?” she started to walk again and Joel kept up.

“I asked her out. She wants to go out. Maybe supper and a movie, nothing special. But she said I had to get your permission first.”

Emily stopped walking. No way. Amina was a big girl who could make her own decisions. Emily was not going to get stuck with approving something that turned out wrong. “If you respect her and care about her, I don’t see anything wrong with the idea.”

“I think she’s great,” Joel said, and Emily could see he meant it. “I mean, you don’t mind?”

“You do know she has not dated much, or at all as the case may be.”

“I know. We talked about that. It seems our families are very similar, considering.”

“Considering?”

“Considering she is Catholic and I am Jewish.”

Emily sighed and nodded. It wouldn’t be the first time. “Okay with me,” she said, but planned to have a long talk with that girl. Emily had no business making those sorts of decisions. If Amina insisted they be Amazons, then Amina would have to start acting like one and make her own decisions about boys or men.”

“Thank you,” Joel said sincerely, and he ran off to celebrate, or to find Amina, or to do both.

Emily shook her head as she walked up the steps of the administration building. It was one flight up to find the President’s office. She was ushered right in when she arrived, and the door shut behind her.

“Come in. Sit down.” President Batiste seemed cordial and that made Emily’s intuition flare into the red zone. “Captain Gouldos tells me you lead the raid on Morgan Granger’s house., but you neglected to call security first like we asked.”

Emily practiced this line. “It was a police matter, sir. It was not a matter for campus security.”

“Are you a trained and educated expert in these matters?” The President spoke with every ounce of restraint he could muster. He was clearly ticked. “My security people are knowledgeable about what requires outsiders and what is best kept in house. That is what we pay them for, to make those determinations. Let them.” He underlined the last part and Emily thought it wise to keep her mouth shut.

“You are a dangerous woman,” Batiste said, though he said it with a smile returned to his face, his anger temporarily abated. “But there is a reason we have rules and regulations at this university. I am not saying you have broken any rules, but you have failed to keep some. A sin of omission, I believe. I don’t know why you seem to attract trouble, but next time please do the right thing. Call Captain Gouldos. He is not a bad man and may even help you with whatever Boogyman you might be facing.”

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time,” Emily said and stood. She had enough. President Batiste looked at her with his mouth forming around a word, but then he swallowed whatever it was.

“Hopefully,” he agreed and waved her out.

Emily went, but kept looking back as the door slowly closed. She bumped into an older man. “Careful, young woman,” the man said and smiled for her as he put his hands to her shoulders and helped her step aside. “My youngest daughter is the same way. She loses track of where she is going, and that is not a good thing when she is driving.” He showed a gold cap on a tooth as his smile came out.

Emily returned the smile, but her intuition was still flagging her. She took a careful look. The man was fifty-something, salt and pepper hair and he had a left eye that looked a bit to the left when he was looking straight ahead.

“Mister Franco. Ferdinand. Come right in.” President Batiste reached out for the man, and Emily thought it best to disappear.

Back on the Administration building front steps, she tried to put together what she just experienced and saw. Why was she dangerous? She posed no danger to President Batiste as far as she knew. She probably saved the university last year from any number of law suits. And why was he so determined to have her call security? So they could sit on what was obviously a police matter? Lisa said the men guarding Granger’s house were drug men. For all she knew it might have been a federal matter, but not something campus cops were designed for. What was he trying to keep “in house,” as he called it? Was she a threat to that, whatever it was?

Emily hardly had time for another thought when she looked up and saw a familiar figure down the path. “Pierce?” She called, though she knew that was impossible. The young man looked up and she saw his face. “Pierce!” The young man took off running. Emily chased him.

Emily had the strength in her legs to outrun a deer, but she could not catch this young man. That confirmed in her mind who she was chasing. Pierce said he had a younger brother. This had to be him, and he looked to be about sixteen, not quite old enough for college whereas Pierce masqueraded as a graduate student. He masqueraded, she remembered, because he was a person created in a lab by Doctor Zimmer, only something did not go right. Pierce aged at twice the normal rate, which meant in real time Pierce was only twelve or thirteen-years-old. If the same was true of this one, she figured she was chasing an eight-year-old, but she could not catch him.

Emily rounded the building and came into a parking lot. It was full of cars of commuters and some faculty and staff. Pierce’s brother was nowhere to be seen. He might have raced into the building, but she imagined he was out there among the cars. As long as he kept low, he could easily work his way to the back of the lot and disappear among the trees without her ever finding him. “Needle in a haystack,” she said to herself, and then had a thought in case the young man could still hear her.

“I need to talk to you. I want to tell you about your brother. Find me when you are ready.” She turned to go back to her dorm to mope.

************************

Monday. Everyone has them, but figuring them out… Be sure to visit the blog Money for the Elect II–6 Secrets.

and Happy Reading

Elect II—5 Stab from the Past, part 2 of 3

November 1, 2016October 3, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lisa stared out the kitchen window, but the movement did not happen again. She stepped over to the wall and switched off the kitchen light.

“Hey,” Josh protested.

“Kids,” Lisa called.

Bobby and Adam are in Bobby’s room playing some game and Megan is watching television,” Josh explained.

“Megan. Come in here,” Lisa called and returned to the window. “Josh, honey. Turn the back outside light on.” Josh stood and did, but he had a question.

“Something out there?”

“Something,” Lisa said, and watched whatever it was move away from the light and back out to the street. It was gone.

“A person or animal?” Josh asked as Megan came in to the kitchen.

Lisa touched her daughter’s shoulder. “Time to get ready for bed.”

“Aw,” she gave the expected response but went upstairs.

“Person or animal?” Josh repeated.

“Not human,” Lisa responded with one more look before she turned the kitchen light on again.

“So, an animal,” Josh said.

“No. Not human,” Lisa repeated.

###

Maria and Jessica crossed the campus, fretted about the mid-terms just taken, but they talked about everything else. They talked about what Zoe’s mystery might be, and admitted they still had no clue. After a time of getting nowhere, Maria asked a different question.

“So, where are your hangers-on?”

“Studying, I hope,” Jessica answered. “Father always said I had natural leadership qualities.”

“Your CEO father?”

“Yeah. Who would have thought military leadership? Go figure.” Jessica looked down as Maria looked up, curious. “Did you ever see that old movie, “Clueless?” Jessica asked. Maria was not sure. “Well, anyway, that was me in high school. On the other hand, my five-year reunion should be interesting.”

“I’ll bet.” Maria sighed. “I don’t know if I will have a reunion.” Maria saw the curiosity jump to Jessica’s face. “Too many of my classmates are in jail. High school in Jersey City was sort of like West Side Story, but with semi-automatic weapons.”

“Hey guys!” Melissa and Mindy came out of the library and Jessica and Maria stopped to wait for them.

“I wonder, though, if I should be majoring in business. I’m starting to think poli-sci might be better.” Jessica was not asking an opinion.

Maria shrugged. “All I know is I need the grades to get into a good medical school.”

“Yeah, well. You realize that Emily and I are at the bottom of the heap as far as academics are concerned. But at least Emily has a goal. What the heck is a business major anyway? I just started out with that because I knew the most about it and thought it would be easy. Hanging around you guys has made me want to actually learn something. You ruined me. It’s unnatural.”

“What’s unnatural?” Mindy asked when she stopped to catch her breath.

“You and Melissa. Watch.” Jessica smiled as Melissa was the last to arrive. She asked a question as they started to walk again. “So, Melissa, how’s physics?”

“Great!” Melissa was enthusiastic about the mind boggling stuff. “Professor Becker has just about got the reactor ready. Imagine, cold fusion. Won’t that be great? And he is letting me help.”

“See?” Jessica said. “I don’t even know what cold fusion is.”

“Oh, sorry.” Melissa barely avoided a long, mathematical explanation. She had to yank her mind elsewhere. “Would you rather hear about Professor Piedmont in robotics. I swear he just about has that robot thinking for itself.”

“I don’t think that was the point,” Maria interrupted.

“What is a business major, anyway?” Jessica repeated herself.

“You could come down into the archives with me,” Mindy suggested. She was not really serious, and Jessica understood. She stopped walking. They all did, and Jessica made a fist and pointed it at Mindy, but it was only play.

“I have to go,” Maria said. “I have to see my new advisor, Professor Singh.”

“What does he teach?” Melissa asked, wanting to get the topic in someone else’s court.

“Evolutionary biology. Not really where I belong, but the man is brilliant. He has really taken the whole study of evolution on the fast track.”

“Not where you belong?” Mindy asked.

“Well, I had Zimmer last year, genetics and such before he did the fast disappearing act. That was right before Pierce got activated and Emily had to, you know, kill Pierce.”

“Hey.” Jessica interrupted. “Who is that?” She pointed at the young man who came out of the science building. “I swear to god that is Pierce.”

“Can’t be,” Maria said.

“Looks like him to me,” Mindy said. “But I didn’t know him as well as you did.”

“Looks exactly like him,” Jessica insisted.

“Too young,” Maria concluded the conversation with, “Don’t tell Emily. Maybe she won’t ever see the guy, whoever he is.”

“My lips are sealed,” Jessica said.

Mindy looked up and grinned. “I thought you were saving your lips for that Lieutenant Brinkman fellow.”

Jessica made a face. “Please! The man is a Neanderthal.”

“I saw the way he was looking at you in front of Granger’s house.” Melissa joined in.

“Ha! You should have seen the way she was looking at him,” Maria added.

“Get off it! Not interested. End of story.” Jessica got heavy handed. Maria went into the science building for her appointment with her advisor. Jessica lead the way back to the suite. Mindy turned to Melissa who walked a half-step behind.

“She must really like him,” Mindy said.

“She is in denial,” Melissa agreed. Jessica kept her mouth shut.

Elect II—5 Stab from the Past, part 1 of 3

October 31, 2016October 4, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Latasha stayed after school. It was Halloween, and she had something very Halloween to share with Ms Riley. It was a copy of a picture Jessica drew. It was based on the descriptions Emily and Reverend Michaels provided. It looked like a drawing of a goblin she saw in one of Leah’s fairy books, but somehow she imagined Ms Riley would know what it was. She knew she had no one else she could ask.

Latasha sat on one of the lab stools in the biology room and shuffled her feet as she thought about Emily and Emily’s friends. She knew Jessica and Maria, and liked them. She liked Amina too, but Amina scared her a little. She met Mindy a couple of times and Melissa once. They both seemed nice. And now there was Reverend Michaels. Latasha had always been taught to have a deep respect for her elders, and especially for her preachers. She could not call the woman Sara no matter what, but the woman was nice, like Detective Lisa. She could not call her just Lisa either.

Latasha put her hands under her thighs to keep her fingers from nervously drumming and to lift her legs a bit so she could shuffle them better. Detective Ashish said she was a bundle of nervous energy. Maybe she was. She was five-eight, almost as tall as Jessica, but she was only sixteen and maybe still growing. At the same time, she was skinny, and that made her feel like a fence post. She was not terminally skinny, but like one still waiting to fill out. That would have to happen soon if it was ever going to happen.

Thoughts of her own friends finally surfaced in Latasha’s mind. There were four, but as of last year there were really only two. Keisha was a joker who never took anything seriously, especially school. She was not stupid, just lazy. Latasha never noticed it before, but she was sure that Keisha would throw her life away on doing nothing and dragging down everyone around her besides. Janet, on the other hand, was not very smart, but she had a good heart and was good to people. Sadly, that meant she was also easily manipulated and right now Bobby Thompson, the drug dealer had her in his orbit. Presently, Janet and Latasha were not on speaking terms.

“Latasha?” Ms Riley came in holding a stack of copies she had run off in the office. “I thought you would be home getting ready to trick or treat.”

“I’m a bit old for that,” Latasha said.

“Not going to dress?”

Latasha shook her head. “But I probably should be home helping Mama get John and Leah ready to go out. My younger brother and sister,” she explained and Ms Riley nodded while she set down her papers.

“So why are you here? Need help with the chapter?”

“No, not biology. I wanted to show you something.” She held out the paper and Ms Riley took it and stared, mouth shut tight for a second or two.

“This is very good. Did you draw it?”

“No. Jessica at the university. Do you know what it is?”

Ms Riley shook her head. “Sorry.” She handed back the paper.

Latasha took it, but looked disappointed. “Maybe they were making it up,” she said, though she knew better.

Ms Riley stopped what she was doing. “Who was making it up?”

“Emily and Reverend Sara, the university chaplain. They saw this, or something like it on the campus in the dark and described it for Jessica to draw. I thought it might be a goblin.”

Ms Riley paused and the two stared at each other for a long minute before Ms Riley spoke. “It looks like a troll or ogre, but one turned orc. I know there are no such things as orcs. Tolkien just made them up, but that is the current term in use.”

“Orcs?”

Ms Riley reached her hand out again and took the paper. “It isn’t a dark elf, or what you call a goblin. They can be much more frightening, but this looks bigger and distorted in some way, and in pain. That is the look of an orc.”

“What is an orc?”

“It is one of the little spirits of the earth, like light elves, dwarfs or dark elves, that has turned against their god. A spirit in rebellion, you might say. They get all distorted looking. The distortion is an unavoidable process, a thing our god has done so we can tell each other apart.”

“What?” Latasha took a step back. “What do you mean, we?”

Ms Riley handed the paper back with a smile. “I said they, didn’t I?”

Latasha shook her head. “You said we, and you said our god.”

“You should think about wearing a Halloween costume.” Ms Riley never lost her smile. “I always dress for the occasion. Would you like to see my costume?”

“No. Yes.” Latasha quickly changed her mind.

“Promise you won’t scream?”

Latasha nodded but thought she had better sit down. Ms Riley raised her hand. That was it. Something stood in front of Latasha that was still recognizably Ms Riley, but she was not human at all. She was too skinny, as skinny as Latasha. Her fingers were too long and her ears came to clear and definite points at the top.

“Elf.” Ms Riley said the word in Ms Riley’s voice.

“But you said you were born outside of Boston,” Latasha remembered what Ms Riley once told her.

“I was, and I was born human, too,” Ms Riley said. “How I came to be an elf is a very long story, but let’s just say my husband likes me this way.” She grinned, and Latasha suddenly understood what an elfish grin was really all about. “I wear a glamour, an illusion, but to be sure my natural form is a bit too much even for Halloween.” Ms Riley raised her hand again and most of the more extreme and inhuman bits went away so she looked more human again. She kept the ears, though. “I’ve been practicing. Would you like the illusion of being an elf?”

Latasha got off the stool and took a step back. “It would just be an illusion, not real, right?”

“Oh, don’t be afraid. I don’t have any such power to change you for real. I’m not even sure I can do the glamour. It is hard enough doing the glamour on myself.”

Latasha changed her mind and smiled. “Leah loves fairy stories. My baby sister.”

“Come here,” Ms Riley said. She took something like dust out of her pocket and sprinkled it in Latasha’s direction. She chanted something too soft for Latasha to hear, and then threw her hands out and Latasha felt something.

“Let me see,” Latasha said, but all Ms Riley had was a small mirror in her purse.

Latasha had the pointed ears. Her nose and chin were a bit more pointed and she had that grin on her face. Her hands also looked more narrow and with longer fingers. She looked up again. “It is just an illusion.”

“Just an illusion,” Ms Riley said. “It will wear off at midnight, or when you say, “No more illusion. Illusion go away.”

“No more illusion,” Latasha started to repeat the phrase and Ms Riley clamped her hand on Latasha’s mouth.

“Don’t say it now. I’m not sure I have it in me to do that again.”

Latasha nodded. She picked up her paper with the drawing. “Orc,” she said.

Ms Riley mirrored Latasha’s nod. “Right now there are little ones in rebellion. That has only happened a couple of times in all of history, but they were bad times for all of us. There are not many rebels, but we detected some activity in this area. That is why I had to stay for another year of teaching. And you better do your homework if you expect to pass my class.” Ms Riley shook her long and skinny finger.

Latasha looked at the woman with big elf looking eyes. Ms Riley still looked more elf than human, even if her features, apart from her ears, were within human range, but at the same time she was still Latasha’s teacher. Being an elf had nothing to do with that.

The door to the room opened and Principal Wearing came in. He spoke as he looked down at a sheet. “Mary, I have a question about this.” He looked up and stopped.

What could Latasha and Ms Riley say, but, “Happy Halloween.”

Elect II—4 Venus de Jekyll and Hyde, part 3 of 3

October 26, 2016October 3, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Latasha stopped in to see Ms Riley. She had some time to kill before Detective Lisa picked her up, and the grump in the library wanted to go home early. To her surprise, Wendy and Mini were there asking Ms Riley a question. She sat quietly to wait, when a man stuck his head in the door.

“Ms Riley. Can I see you a minute?”

“Of course.” Ms Riley stood. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back,” she said, and stepped out the door.

“Hey, haven’t seen you in a while,” Wendy started the conversation.

“I’ve been busy trying to do something with my life.”

“I heard you been hanging out with the police,” Wendy continued. She was fishing for information, maybe to gossip, but Latasha did not care.

“I am trying to get the grades to go to college. I want to join the police force.”

“That’s what I heard. You are making some of the kids around here nervous.”

“Not my problem,” Latasha said.

“Wendy wants to be a lawyer,” Mini interrupted.

“So why are you so worried about science class?” Latasha was curious.

“Asking questions shows you are doing the reading and interested in the subject,” Mini spoke frankly. “Teachers give better grades on papers and stuff if they think you are really making the effort.”

“But you are making the effort, aren’t you? You’re not just being slick.”

“Of course,” Wendy rolled her eyes. “You have to do the reading to show you are doing the reading.”

“Of course,” Latasha responded, and added a thought. “I miss hanging with you guys.”

“Me too,” Mini said. Wendy looked non-committal as Ms Riley came back in.

“So girls, what was that question?” Ms Riley asked.

“Never mind,” Wendy said. “We just figure it out.” Wendy and Mini left.

“Latasha?” Ms Riley turned to her. “Did you have a question?”

“No, ma’am. I just figured it out, too.”

###

Detective Lisa brought Ashish to the trash can out back behind the police station. She carried Professor Hilde’s journal. He watched as she set it on fire along with all of Granger’s notes they discovered in the house. She warmed her hands by the fire while Ashish spoke.

“So you think Professor Hilde kept the personal journal to track all of his experiments because he planned on selling it to the highest bidder?”

“That is the only thing that makes sense,” Lisa responded. “Last year’s contest was to make super soldiers. The Pentagon offered lots of money for the winner. Hilde figured if he did not win, his formula was still good enough to sell. Even if he did win, he might double his money by selling the formula to the Chinese or someone else.”

“Why do you think Granger got into it? I don’t know the science, but even glancing at the journal let me know the formula was highly addictive. Hilde wrote that everywhere. It was a real problem he was struggling to overcome.”

Lisa looked at her partner. “Maybe she always wanted to be the most popular girl on campus. Maybe she liked the power it gave her over men, and eventually some women. Maybe she thought she had the addiction overcome? All we really know is once she started, she was hooked. But her immune system fought back. It took larger and larger doses to get the same internal effect while the external effect increased exponentially. In the end I think Emily was right. She already overdosed by the time the girls got there.”

“I wonder how Franco found out about it.”

“We’ll never know. We know the men were connected to Franco but we can’t prove the connection. Ferdinand Franco is no dummy. He came up with the gas masks and radiation suits with their own oxygen supply.” Lisa stirred the fire to be sure all the pages burned.

“Do you think Franco made a copy of this information?” Ashish looked worried.

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t think he got that far, and this journal was still locked up when we found it. If it was not in the safe with her notes, it would have burned up in the house fire.” Lisa pushed back her hair. “I suppose we will find out eventually.”

Ashish frowned. “The Prosecutor is going to be upset, you burning the evidence.”

“What evidence?”

“Just checking.”

************************

Monday,things turn up that should be buried. Be sure and return for The Elect II–5 Stab from the Past.

Until then, Happy Reading.

Elect II—4 Venus de Jekyll and Hyde, part 2 of 3

October 25, 2016October 3, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Emily made the women march in formation. Jessica and Emily marched out front. Amina and Mindy brought up the rear with Heinrich behind them all. A number of students saw them, but since they were all still in uniform and walking with a history professor, they thought it was some ROTC or history thing and raised no alarm.

Emily stopped them before they reached the street. There were houses across the way where a number of faculty and grad students lived. Granger’s house was one lot in from Harbor road. She and Jessica went up to the curb across the street, just the two of them, and spotted several men in gas masks on their side of the street watching the perimeter. There was also a line of men outside Granger’s door, but Emily did not want to think about that. They snuck back to the group. Brinkman was there with several of the juniors and seniors from the upper class, and they were all armed. Emily immediately made a speech.

“Don’t cross the street no matter what, and don’t go near Granger’s house. You will just get sucked into the web and we might not be able to get you out. This has to be military, covert. There are men around the perimeter wearing gas masks. They are heavily armed. Silence and surprise are your best weapons. Bring them back here, especially the gas masks.”

Brinkman signaled the men, divided them two by two and sent them out. Emily called Lisa and explained the situation. “And for God’s sake, keep Ashish and the other men back from the house. It looks strong enough so even being a woman might not help.” Then they waited.

“Heinrich?” Emily asked.

“He went with Brinkman. They had an odd number.” Jessica answered.

Emily nodded, and they waited some more.

Maria and Melissa came up to where they were standing, within sight of the house, but back from the street behind some bushes and trees. “Melissa calculated the straight path from the gym to Granger’s house, thinking to catch you on the way.”

“Good thinking. We don’t know how bad it might be over there.”

A shot was fired some distance down the road.

“Do you have the vials?” Emily finished her thought.

“Hey, hey!” Jessica got their attention. They saw a man in what looked like a radiation suit come to the door. He looked around the line and went back in.

“Right here.” Melissa held out a leather bag. There were two vials strapped to the inside.

Maria pointed to each as she talked. “The pinkish one is probably not a cure, but at a guess it might tone her down enough to save her life. If not, the red one should produce the Hilde effect.”

“What’s the Hilde effect?” Hilde asked.

“Not you, Hilde. Professor Jack Hilde. He invented the endocrine formula that Granger has abused. He died in a ball of flame from overdosing.”

“Spontaneous internal combustion,” Maria explained.

“Good thing that wasn’t you.” Greta nudged her friend.

Emily tied the leather bag to her belt and spoke to the girls that were leaning in to look. “Assignments,” she said, and outlined what she expected them to do to the best of their abilities. “No guns. If you are fired on, get out of there. The police will have the whole area cordoned off. We can lay siege if we have to and starve them out. Jessica, you and I go inside. No one else.”

When Brinkman and his men slowly straggled back, they had nine gas masks and eight prisoners. They left the dead one, minus his mask, but brought the man Heinrich had only wounded with one of his knives.

“Greta.” Emily made a quick decision. “Take my phone. Get in touch with Lisa and tell her you need a gas mask when she gets here. Then wave to us from here when the circle of police is complete.”

“Oh, but—.”

“Soldier.” Lieutenant Brinkman spoke harshly.

“Yes, ma’am.” Greta took her position.

“Brinkman,” Emily spoke up so the prisoners could hear. “If any of these men try to escape before the police can take custody, shoot to kill.”

“Don’t have to take their heads off this time?” One of the seniors looked at her and smiled. He fought the zombies last year.

“Not this time,” Heinrich spoke in answer. “But you can if you want to.”

Emily said nothing. When her girls had their masks all in place, they rushed to their positions. Melissa and Maria started down one side of the house. They used their staffs to break the windows as they went. Amina and Mindy started down the other side. Mindy used Greta’s spear. Amina used her staff and was ready when a man in a radiation suit stuck his head out the upper floor window she just busted. Amina thrust up with her staff and caught the man in the neck. The man was pushed back into the house and did not stick his head out again.

Natasha, Hilde and Diane guarded the men who were in line to be sure they made no hostile move. Emily calculated that trying to force them to back up might have provoked them. It was enough to be sure they did not interfere as Emily and Jessica cut ahead and burst into the house.

Emily was in front and leapt to the guard on the far side. Two men were dressed in radiation suits, but like space suits with an independent oxygen supply. Both had machine guns, but when Emily shoved the one’s gun into his belly, his finger inadvertently squeezed the trigger. His fellow guard got gunned down.

Emily kneed the man and ripped his protective headgear right off. The man tried to fight back, but Emily’s fist soon stopped him. “Jessica.” Emily shouted through her gas mask. “Go back out. It is too strong in here.”

Jessica was carefully watching the dozen or so men inside the house. They were naked and enjoying being so close to the sex goddess. “Out!” Emily commanded, “And get the troops away from this house.” Jessica went when she saw Emily put on the man’s headgear with oxygen attached. When Emily saw that Jessica got out and got the door closed without letting in a flood of men, she slowly opened the sliding doors.

There were any number of men around the room in various degrees of death and unconsciousness. No man was built for that level of unending stimulation. There was also a woman on the floor rolling around, making sounds of ecstatic pleasure. There were bills everywhere, hundreds and thousands of dollars. Emily guessed the woman was collecting the fees until she became overwhelmed herself. Emily felt whatever it was in the air. Her breasts began to throb, and she was becoming wet and ready for unending sexual pleasure while her mind turned to thoughts of orgasms. She knew this had to be quick.

The only piece of furniture in the room was a bed, and Granger was tied to it, spread eagle and unmoving. Emily touched the pink liquid and looked again at the dead and dying around the room. She looked at Granger, but there was no recognition in Granger’s eyes—eyes that never blinked. She risked touching the woman, but found no pulse. If the woman was still alive, it was not likely enough to save. She pulled out the red vial and forced it down the woman’s throat. She stood back to watch.

Nothing happened for a few seconds which felt like an eternity. Then the fire sprang up in the woman’s belly. It slowly spread up and down the woman’s body while Emily leapt out the broken window. She staggered away. She told herself it was an act of mercy. Even if Granger could have been saved, the woman would have had to remember being raped over and over.

Lisa caught her at the edge of the street. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.”

“I think Granger was already dead,” Emily said as she whipped off her mask and coughed. “Even so I would not fetch her remains until the morning. The house needs to air out and the pheromones need to dissipate.”

Lisa looked at the house. “Maybe the house will burn down.”

“That would be a mercy,” a woman said. Emily looked up from where she was on her knees. It was Sara who spoke, and she had the shepherd’s crook Heinrich picked out for her. Emily smiled before she spotted someone else. It was Courtney Chase, Channel 5, Eyewitness News followed by her ever faithful cameraman.

“How did you get through the police line?” Emily asked.

“Power of the press.” Lisa looked back toward the police line and it was not a kind look on her face. Courtney continued. “Joe. Get the camera from that angle. Joe?” The camera fell to the ground and Joe stumbled across the road like a man in a trance. “Joe!”

“Does he have a last name?” Sara asked.

Courtney shrugged. “Joe the camera guy. Say, where is he going?”

“Bad drugs,” Emily said, and Lisa grabbed the reporter’s hand to keep her from stumbling off in the same direction.

“Maybe you could work the camera,” Sara suggested with a smile.

Courtney looked at the camera and again at Joe. “I have no idea how that gizmo works.”

“I hope it didn’t break when he dropped it,” Emily said in a not totally insincere voice.

Elect II—4 Venus de Jekyll and Hyde, part 1 of 3

October 24, 2016October 2, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The young women talked on the bus about why they got into ROTC. Emily listened. Hilde said if she was living in Israel, she would be doing the same thing. Military training was pretty much compulsory. Greta, by contrast, said her parents were pacifists, but her family had a long history and tradition of proud military service so they really could not say much when she felt the call to serve her country.

Diane, from Kansas said her brother was in the army. “That and there aren’t many opportunities for college. Not much money back home,” she said. “This way I get help from veteran’s groups and the American Legion.”

“I know what you mean about not much money,” Natasha said. “I’m from Detroit. Need I say more?”

“Emily’s brother is in the national guard,” Jessica offered.

“Oh?” Diane looked at Emily who nodded, but declined to speak.

“Besides,” Hilde took up the conversation. “What better way to meet boys?”

“Oh, please!” Jessica tossed her hands in their direction. “Be serious.”

“I would like to meet someone nice,” Diane said.

“And athletic,” Hilde added

“And rich,” Natasha said, which made the others nod.

“Wouldn’t you?” Diane looked at Jessica. Emily looked away.

“I had about thirty boyfriends when I was a freshman,” Jessica admitted. “What a waste of time.”

They talked about it for a couple of minutes before Natasha turned to Emily. “What about you, Ma’am?”

Emily said nothing. Jessica spoke into the silence. “She had a good boyfriend last year. A graduate student.”

“Had?” Greta asked.

“I had to kill him,” Emily said as the bus pulled to a stop. They all had to disembark and form ranks. They were at the firing range.

Emily stood at the head of the class and went through the care and cleaning of the rifle, piece by piece. She took it apart, named all the parts and put it back together perfectly. Then she had to turn her back on the class. She had tears in her eyes.

Captain Driver saw Detective Lisa come in and knew Emily would be occupied for a bit. He picked up the rifle and said, “Sophomore.” That was Jessica’s name. “Knowing your weapon inside and out is important and what we will mainly be working on today, but it does not guarantee that you can hit anything.” He led Jessica to the range and loaded a clip of three bullets. He whispered, “Try and hit the target.”

Jessica managed three trips to the Hollywood range in the two weeks she had free between ROTC summer camp and returning to school. She worked with a personal trainer, and did her best to remember her lessons. She squeezed the trigger, but the bullet was low and to the left of the bull’s-eye by an inch. Her second shot overcompensated by a couple of inches and just nicked the top right edge of the bull’s-eye. Her third shot was a little low and to the right, but well within the bull’s-eye. She was satisfied.

Captain Driver continued to whisper as Lieutenant Brinkman moved up to eavesdrop. “You are one of Hudson’s women, aren’t you?”

“Sir, yes sir.” Jessica answered properly but kept her voice low.

“You are in the group that has been working out with Professor Schultz?” He knew she was but he wanted confirmation. Jessica nodded.

“Professor Schultz?” Lieutenant Brinkman was not aware, but Emily’s Amazon council had been learning hand to hand for a year and now were concentrating on the bow and staff with the hope of working their way up to the spear and the sword.

Captain Driver showed he understood. “Heinrich Schultz in a historian in the old sense. He has forgotten more about combat and arms than you and I and all our books put together.”

The Lieutenant nodded even if he did not fully understand. He had a class to get working, and the class spent the rest of their time taking apart and putting together the ten rifles the company had, and hopefully without breaking them. Very few bullets were fired that day.

After a while, Emily stopped weeping and Lisa let go and stepped back. Emily wiped her eyes and said the words that Lisa did not want to hear. “Thanks, mom.”

“I’ve told you. I get enough of that at home,” Lisa scolded, but smiled.

Emily laughed, but it was a sad, little laugh. “But why are you here?”

“Latasha,” Lisa said. “She has me tangled up in gang wars and drug dealers and it is a real mess. I keep telling her judges and juries don’t always do the right thing. Even people caught with their hand in it can plea bargain their way back to the street.” Lisa shrugged and pulled out some photographs from her briefcase. “Meanwhile, Anna got attacked in New York.”

“Is she alright?” Emily knew the woman well. Last year, between Christmas and New Year’s, Anna came to Ohio and helped Emily clean out a nest of vampires.

“She is fine, but the only thing she could find to connect the three men is this small tattoo. They were all marked. Miriam at the FBI has plenty of nineteenth and twentieth century scholars at her fingertips. The pentagon has also been notified, and the M I B.”

“The what?”

“Katie Lockhart and her people,” Lisa said without further explanation. “The thing is both Miriam and Anna think it may be older, and I have one man who saw these photos and became very afraid. He says he doesn’t want anything to do with secret societies.”

“Older.” Emily said the word as she studied the images of the upper arms and the small circle with three squiggly lines.

“I was hoping Mindy, your wise woman, could look at these and maybe share them with Professor Papadopoulos. The rest of us are getting nowhere.”

Emily nodded as she continued to study the photos. Lisa looked around.

“Where is Mister Jakovich?”

“The range manager? Probably in his office,” Emily said.

“With you here, I suppose, but when he saw me come in he probably locked the office door.”

Emily laughed. The last time she was at the range and Detective Lisa showed up they had to fight off three zombies. Lisa was glad to hear Emily’s laugh this time because it sounded genuine.

###

When the bus came to a stop on the campus, Amina and Mindy were waiting for Emily and Jessica. Morgan Granger was in trouble. The words came fast.

“She has been taken prisoner,” Amina said. “There are men after the drugs. That is all I know.”

“I made the mistake of showing her a picture of the woman we saw in the library,” Mindy explained. “She grabbed it and immediately felt the connection to you.”

“She was crying out for help.”

“Maria said we had to get you right away. She and Melissa are working on a potion.”

“I brought your address book,” Amina held out the green notebook where Emily kept all her relevant information, including addresses of faculty members, some of whom had since died.

“I said we might have to do something,” Jessica took the book.

“We’re ready,” Natasha spoke for the ROTC group while Hilde, Greta and Diane nodded.

Emily looked at her freshmen and frowned. She pulled out her phone and called Lisa. “Stay in uniform,” she told the girls. “Damn, message. Lisa, Amina had a vision. Morgan Granger, biology teacher is in trouble. Too much Hilde juice. We will start looking at,” Jessica held up the book and Emily read the address. “Amina says people want the drugs. We can’t let that loose.” Emily hung up.

“Trouble?” Captain Driver stepped up, Lieutenant Brinkman beside him.

Emily thought briefly about asking for six rifles and bullets, but decided no for herself. Six rifles unloaded might intimidate, but not if someone had a loaded gun. She considered castigating the man for his part in last year’s fiasco. She imagined he was in on the super soldier competition, but she never proved it. She was sure he acted as liaison between the biology department and the Pentagon, but without evidence it was best to keep her mouth shut. Finally, she answered in the only way she could. “Yes sir, but women trouble. Nothing you can help with.” Captain Driver nodded, stepped away and dragged Brinkman with him.

Emily called Sara. Again she had to leave a message as she walked into the gym. The others trailed her and found a surprise which did not really surprise her. “I was about to call you,” Emily said.

Heinrich Schultz was there with the closet unlocked and open—the one where he kept all of his weapons. “Even un-activated, I can smell unnatural trouble miles away.”

Jessica and Mindy got their bows and plenty of arrows. Amina picked up her staff, and the one Maria used. She grabbed a third for Melissa, though Melissa had not spent much time yet in the learning process.

“For the army, I think spears.” Heinrich pulled out four, all different, but all sharp. Jessica was miffed because he had not let them touch the spears yet. His instructions to the freshmen were simple. “Hold the sharp end up when you walk. Point the sharp end at the enemy when appropriate. Try not to cut yourselves.”

“That’s it?” Amina asked. She felt like Jessica. She was good with the staff and could not wait to try one with a sharp end.

Heinrich shrugged and pulled out a shepherd’s crook. “And this for the Priestess. It will be a pleasure teaching her how to use this crook effectively.”

Emily had her knife and got her sword which she left there for when she worked out and Heinrich taught her how to use it, as he said, effectively. It really had no place in her dorm room, and this avoided her need to carry it regularly across campus.

Heinrich pulled out a bandolier of small throwing knives and strapped on his samurai sword. Emily hated to interrupt him.

“I know you are four hundred and seventy some years old, and sterile besides, but you are still a man. The last time we saw Granger she was almost irresistible. The boys in the library could not help themselves just looking at her fully clothed. Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea for you to come.”

Heinrich nodded. “But I can still watch your rear, and maybe keep Mister Ashish or young Rob Parker from stumbling in too close.”

Emily could not argue with that. “Let’s see if we can find her.”

“Shouldn’t we call campus security?” Greta asked.

Emily sighed. Why did it have to be the spunky little German pacifist? “Let’s see if we can find her first,” Emily repeated, and they stepped out into the late afternoon. Emily’s phone rang. Her words were short and to the point. “We will meet you there. Keep Ashish and any other men away from the place.” She paused. “Get Mitzy to drive. She doesn’t get out enough. Fine.” She hung up.

The phone rang again. This time, her words were even more cryptic. She gave the address and only added, “Let’s hope it works.”