Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Judas Stones - Chapter 23

Her finger moved again, pressed on to the next with a smooth precision that came through practice, she concentrated harder in the silence, but the noise of her competing thoughts and desires pushed out what normally had always been one of her most person times of the day.  Even calling up the memories of her mother, her soft hands around hers guiding her through the process did nothing, she was becoming lost, her finger slipped again and she paused, her fingers turned white and she squeezed tighter, her forehead furrowed, then her whole body tensed tight and finally began to shake, her eyes snapped open and she threw the object away.

            “Six hundred and seventy eight years and I can’t remember any longer!” she cried as the beads hit the wall, broke and scattered about the room.

            “I’m losing, I’m changing and I’m so hungry, I want it so bad, more than I want what has given me comfort all my life,” she lamented as she picked up her shattered prayer beads and then the crucifix which she brought up to her face.   “Surely my deeds do not warrant such and end as this or do they,” she said and kissed it more out of habit than comfort, for today and since she’d bitten Diata she’d had none and each day brought less and less and more of the hunger that was starting to consume her every thought, both waking and sleep.

            Lady Alice Hamilton had managed to push them down day after day, she only needed a few more and she would be able to save Claire, her only direct descendent, it was that love, as strong as any mothers for her child even across the large expanse of generations that keep her going.  Claire was the connection between the baby she lost fleeing the Great Pestilence and the baby she’d found again 699 years later, that desire to save her baby kept her going and kept the evil at bay, but evil, as she’d been told by her mother never slept nor did it die by anything except love.  Alice closed her hands around the collection of beads.

            “Love,” she said and went to get dressed.

            The morning was still cool as Lady Alice Hamilton alighted the first of eight steps at the base of the Majunga Cathedral, a structure of five stone towers, the shortest ones on the outside, then two taller ones inside of those and finally the tallest in the centre making up the Norman Tower centre at the top and the three sets of doors at the base.  Alice stepped out of the soon to strong sun and into the cool and a little damp of the Narthex.  She glanced to her right and left, stone sets of stairs on each side led up the balcony seats, she chose the right and headed up.

Alice turned right at the top of the second set of steps and into a much narrower, only wide enough for her, stairway made of wood that sharply ascended back and forth in a series of ten step, then a turn and up again. Back and forth she ventured mindful of the rough brick walls on either side of her. 

            Lady Hamilton reached the end of the climb and stepped into a small four by four foot room, the bell ringer’s pulpit.  Alice moved to the inside wall and the ladder bolted to the wall that led straight up into the bell tower itself via a small trap door some ten feet above her head, in no time she was inside the belfry.  The vampire switched on the small flashlight she’d brought along, its yellow/white light reflecting the dust and bugs in the air.  Alice ignored them and crawled along the wood floor her eyes and the beam focused on what she was here for.  A small smack from the blunt end of the flashlight dislodged her prize, she had her piece and suddenly she didn’t feel the hunger anymore.  She unscrewed the back of the flashlight a placed the stone inside for safe keeping before moving back to the trap door and down the ladder.

            “I told you I can smell them from a mile away.”

            “She always has been able.”

            “I wish you could teach me how you do it.”

            “You can’t learn it; it’s just something you’re born with, a gift if you will.”

            Alice turned to face four female figures, each one wearing identical robes, much like a monk only each of a separate colour, one white, one black, one red and the final one a sickly green. 

            “Give us the stone heretic and things can be made easier for you,” the one in red spoke.

            “You do not know the meaning of word, that robe is not stained red by anything other than the blood of innocent people and your compatriots here are no better,” Alice spat out the words.

            “The heretic has a temper, this one’s going to be fun,” said the one in black.

            There were very few things Lady Alice Hamilton took offence to, but being called a heretic was right near the top of the list, she felt her temper rising and made a mental effort to push it down. 

            “Come lets begin before the heat of the intrudes, this air is already becoming stifling,” the white robed woman said in a bored voice.

            “If you leave now you might just make it in time to return those costumes before the penalty kicks in,” Alice mocked.

            “Enough,” the last one to speak, the green one said and took a step forward.

            Alice whipped around on her heel and smashed her foot into the woman’s jaw send her sideways and careening into the wall. 

            Neither the Apocalyptica nor any of its minions,” Lady Hamilton said.  “Will have me without a fight and not before I send a few of you to hell,” she snared and something of a low primordial growl filled the background of her words.

            Their eyes opened a little wider at her voice as they closed ranks and rushed her.  Alice dashed sideways seized the bell rope in her hands and spend towards the wall on her way kicking the legs out from under the  sickly green coloured woman as she hit the cement floor hard on her back.  She continued on several steps then launched her feet up the wall and attenuated her body sideways as she climbed the wall the tense rope acting as brace to push her up and along.  The vampire dashed along several steps then sprang off the wall in a wide arc and crashed the trio of their feet like so many bowling pins.  The pendulum crashed into the main bell above them just as Alice cart wheeled around the sprawled trio and over to the green robed woman and crashed a foot down hard on her sternum to the bell tolling, its sound muffling the cracking bone. 

            “I’ll avoid the obvious clichĂ©,” she said as the woman coughed up blood.

            Alice turned around just in time to catch one of the trio, the red cloaked one, coming right at her and unwise move at any time.  Lady Hamilton waited until the last possible second then dropped to the floor her lower legs catching and tripping the on rushing woman in a leg lock.  Just as she smashed to the floor Alice twisted her body, which had been laying perpendicular to her opponent, back across the woman’s body, the aristocrat’s hands cupping and locking under the womans chin.  Alice released her legs and volleyed off the flats of her feet, her torso twisting overtop of the women as her lower body move the position itself so her feet would land at the womans head.  In mid flight, her body gliding through the air she snapped her upper body to bring it back in line with her bottom half and in so doing snapped the red cloaked woman’s neck quite excellently leaving her body face down but her head face up as she released her grip.

            The vampire aristocrat was instantly set upon by the remaining two, they rushed her and seized her arms just as she came to her feet and slammed her against the brick wall driving knees and fists into her stomach and sides to soften her up which they did most effectively in seconds.  Alice buckled to her knees in a wash of pain as the black and white robed assassins removed the braided rope cords from their hips and quickly tied them about her wrist and ankles and then joined them to each other.

            “I’ll watch her, not that she’s going anywhere you get the ropes from our fallen sisters,” one said to the other.

            She was back in seconds and the two went to work on the winded and sore Lady Alice who’s effort to struggle and resist was met with several sharp punches to her sides and stomach that stopped her efforts instantly.  The Apocalyptica worked silently and quickly after that only taking a minute or so to finish off their handiwork.

            “I can’t think of a better way for you to die than in this predicament.  The Heretic’s Subjugation, used extensively during various Inquisitions with total success as I’m sure you are aware off having been around for them all,” the White robed assassin offered.

            The vampire was all too aware of the fate that awaited her.  The victim was placed on her knees with her hands clasped together in front of her and place in a traditional praying position.  The two ends of the rope binding Alice’s hands ran up and over her shoulders and down her back where they were tied about her ankles.  Another rope ran from her wrists, circled around her waist and was tied in the two that ran down her back in a special way so as the slightest movement caused not only the rope encircling her waist to cinch inward but as well it forced the ropes down her back to tighten as they slipped inside a specially tied knots, thus forcing her to be pushed down into a more prostrate position.  One final piece of the puzzle needed to be added and Lady Alice Hamilton watched it emerge from her sleeve of the black woman’s robe.

            “There are many designs but this one has always proven to be the most effective,” one said as she showed it to Alice who recognised it right away.

            “I see her eyes tell us she knows a little of her fate, perhaps she knows more, but I think we should explain it anyway, just for the tormenting fun of it,” the white robed Apocalyptica honeyed.

            “I agree sister. This one’s called Satan’s Claw,” she said producing the carved object about 8 inches in length. 

            “You can see from the intricate work that every curve is a receptor for the female, the two horns on top stimulates you endlessly once the statue is imbedded far enough into you.  Of course once that happens you are constantly pleasured by the devilish device, which in ancient times the device was powered by a spring to ensure some stimulation while the mechanism lasted, today it is powered by a battery to ensure endless pleasure so that the ropes are constantly tightened until your back is snapped and you are killed,” she added then reached down and placed the Satanic Phallus against Alice’s pussy.

            “Try not to move heretic or perhaps you want to, what’s one more sin to take to hell with you and to think you nearly had your hands on this most sacred object,” the white one said as she picked up the stone.

            “Let’s retrieve our fallen sisters and leave the heretic to die in sin,” one said to the other as they each picked up a fallen comrade and left Lady Alice to her fate. 

            Their footfalls had barely dissipated when Alice’s lips delicately separated and began to envelope the head of the devil in her soft firm grip as the rope drew and pulled her down, even the slightest motion was deadly to the bound person.  The pulsating devil moistened her, even the little she had consumed of barely his head was alright feverishly at work within her, his carved details locating and invading every pleasure point she had.  She grimaced in wilful defiance to its touch her body racked in torment from pain and the dreaded pain of approaching pleasure.  Alice jerked downward swallowing a tiny bit more of the humming phallus but it was enough to induce scream driving orgasm that bucked the vampire up and down her bound hands mocking her in a submission of prayer while drawing her down and bowing her more.  Alice drew in half the demonic phallus as she was pulled down her mind now blown wide open in carnal ecstasy as the device drove her insane with stimulation.  Alice swirled her hips in desperation to dislodge her tormentor, she fell forward resting on her knees and elbows the ropes bowing her dangerous back upon herself.  The aristocrat pushed with her pelvic muscles in a bid to work him free of her.  She soon realised the mistake as the phallus induced stimulation even as she tried to extract it, the shape and etchings climaxing her to uncontrollable motion.  Her arms were pulled back she crashed to the floor the phallus driven fully into her wet mound. 

            Alice felt the horns secure her clitoris in their embrace and then her body spasmed as she exploded in joy and gyrated uncontrollably as the orgasm went on and on unabated until she thought she’d expire from pleasure.  The rope pulled back endlessly as she was bowed backward her hands nearly touching her feet her body adding the sensation of exquisite pain to her endless pleasure.  The chamber reverberated with her screams the two emotions intermixing into one long endless symphony of torment for Alice until the decibel level reached and apex.  Her last thought was of Claire, “Love” she screamed and then she was gone.

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

            She’d often read about people who had out of body experiences at death only to come back and resume life almost all of the people reported being surround by in a warm bright white light that made hem feel loved and safe and when they returned to their bodies they no longer feared death when it would come again for them and where changed people almost always happier better souls, Lady Alice Hamilton was not one of those people.

            The place Alice found herself in was empty, a void beyond human understanding the complete absence of anything, even she was nothing and yet somehow still existed though she felt nothing as was nothing.  Alice shuddered at the recollection and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, the memory still having the power to affect her like nothing in her past had ever been able to do.  She splashed more water on her face and when to sit on the edge of her bed in her hotel room.   

            “I suppose I should be thankful I’m still alive, but in reality it just means I’m one step closer to becoming truly lost,” she said before staring to dress.  Alice new the only thing that had pulled her back from the void she dreaded slipping into and truly becoming a soulless person was her last thought of her love for Claire and her willingness to sacrifice everything to save her, she was not sure she could count on that to save her again or worst was the thought that maybe she didn’t want to.  Alice busied herself with dressing and picking her jewellery to push those thoughts from her mind.  She finished dressing and packing and left her bags at the front desk with instructions that she would have them picked up in a few hours.

            When she came back to this reality Alice thought only a few seconds had past and when she saw the rope bindings and the Satanic phallus on the floor near her seem assumed, although not entirely convincingly that she had managed a miraculous escape of some kind.  It was only when she’d stumbled out of the church and back to her hotel that she new everything was wrong.  First the front desk asked if she was alright as they hadn’t seen her for a while and then when Alice glanced at the date on the morning paper that she new she’d lost an entire day.

            Alice made inquires in all the right places which in truth weren’t too many in a place this small and soon found the two unaccounted for Apocalyptica women had left on seaplane the previous day.  She intended to be right behind them, even if it was a day behind the trail could still be picked up.  Until that time she sat in a cafĂ© by the beach passing the time with a drink.

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

            “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt but I believe this belongs to you,” a woman with a very proper English voice said as she placed the stone on the table in front of Lady Alice Hamilton.

            The vampire put down her glass of Double Diamond, her favourite and looked up into the face of a very beautiful woman.

            “It is yours isn’t it or have a made a mistake, if I have please accept my apologies for intruding,” the woman said and reached her hand for the stone.

            “No, no you haven’t made a mistake, the stone is mine and I’m very grateful for its return,” Alice recovered as her hand closed around it.

            “No doubt Claire will be as well,” the woman answered and saw the expression on Alice’s face change.

            The woman put down her small but stylish leather briefcase.  “May I have the pleasure of your company and join you for a drink while we wait for the seaplane Lady Hamilton,” she requested.

            “How could I refuse when you have naturally peaked my curiosity and I am indebted to you for this,” Alice said pleasantly as she slipped the stone safely into her small purse.

            “A beer, seems an odd choice for a woman of your stature, but then again perhaps not such an out of place refreshment given the chanciness of the water in places and times such as this as well as other places and times,” the woman said and acknowledged to the waiter that she wished for a vodka and tonic with a lime.

            Alice studied this woman in the interval, she was immaculately attired in a while silk and cotton skirt and halter, her tanned long legs daring and dazzling as she crossed them, the contours of her skin and rolling delight to the eye. She had all the self confidence in the world, an assurance of her place and her purpose in it and those who were meant to be part of.  Alice was certain she was the next act in the play, but unsure if she would continue on as a character, but was curious to find out.

            Tara received her drink and took a sip as she eyed Alice a thrill going through every part of her at the sight of this woman.  It was an emotional she very rarely let lose, so used to playing a role and wearing a mask she sometimes found it hard to just be herself, a person nobody really knew, for in her world, she could never let that out fully, yet with this woman, the connection and she hoped the time was at hand to do so, still she would be cautious no telling what she had been told about her.

            “You are very skilled at dangling sentences and innuendo, but that can be tiresome and you do not strike me as the tiresome type, rather the opposite I should think,” Alice said taking a drink.

            “Then I shall have to meet those expectations.  Lady Tara Ashton-White your Ladyship, it is a very great pleasure to finally meet you, I planted the story about your assailants leaving in the right ears so I could assure this meeting” she said with a smile and an extended hand which Alice shook, her face expressionless as she did.

            “I see you’ve heard of me, acquaintances no doubt telling tales in the school yard,” Tara said calmly.

            “To say that your reputation not be mention your organisation, proceeds you.  I find it highly ironic that a woman who did her best to kill Claire would be so very interested in her welfare,” Alice said with a tone.

            “You mustn’t believe all you hear about me, Lady Hamilton, that is only one side of the equation.”

            “And are your mathematics skills that great that you can balance this equation,” Alice asked with a tip of her glass.

            “Yes, if you’ll allow me the indulgence on the matter and several others,” she replied and seeing Lady Alice nod slightly she began noting that the woman was cool under what see was sure was crushing curiosity.

            “I was a COIL agent and a very good one, but I had no desire to end my days, however long they may have been as just an agent, being used and yes sometimes abused, by my own side and other sides.  I wanted more and let that be known, I rose up through the ranks and because of my abilities, title and connections not to mention my growing up in India I was able to become COIL’s Head of Operations for the Indian Sub Continent.  I later realised upon reflection that I would have been better to stay, to use the vernacular ‘just another agent’ but I wanted more and I got it.”

            Tara took a longer sip on her drink that usual and continued.  “Whether you believe me or not, I had nothing to do with what happened to Claire when she came to me in India.  I have never told another person this, the things that happened to her were strictly DOOM operations, I have my own troubles to contend with, only mine were with COIL and I was unable to aid her, but I was so happy when I heard she’d survived,” Lady Tara said

            “A fanciful start to an interesting tale, I can’t wait to hear how it ends up,” Alice said sarcastically.

            “I have no doubt Claire told you the entire mission details and from her side I certainly appear to be a COIL Judas, but I see I shall have to build some trust between us before you will listen and perhaps accept my side of events,” Lady Tara said as she reached for her folder and extracted some papers.

            Lady Tara Ashton-White opened the manila folder and her expression visibly changed from one of cool confident woman into what Lady Alice could best describe as excited schoolgirl as her hand reached out and rested lightly on Alice’s wrist.

            “It is true!” she gasped.  “Please excuse my forwardness but I just had to know.  You really are 684 years old, oh my God.  I apologise, I don’t usually gush like this but….”

            Alice patted her hand clutching her wrist in a reassuring way that helped to focus the woman.

            “You may take comfort in the knowledge that the very few people who know about me have exactly the same reaction, which naturally leads me to inquire as to how you know,” Alice asked.

            She watched the SNARE agent turn back into the cool calculating woman she was before.

            “You cannot live as long as you have your ladyship and not leave at least some small record of your existence whether intentional or unintentional.  You seem to have had a long and I will say distinguished career to kings and queens of country and they seem to have kept quite a dossier on you,” Lady Tara said as she patted the folder.  “You also seem to pop up here and there is times of crisis, the references are at times archaic and I had to sift through many a dusty volume of history in long forgotten corners of libraries and archives to make the connect,” Tara answered.

            “You are a born researcher, I compliment you on your tenacity and scholarly abilities but I must confess I feel a little like my privacy has been violated in a way, not by you, but by those people I trusted over the centuries,” Lady Alice said taking another sip of her beer then seeing the reaction on her counterparts face.

            “Oh yes, you were quite right about the beer, but I started when I was six, water was not to be trusted, brackish at times people strangely fell sick from drinking it, so beer was always preferred, very weak of course, you had to drink a great deal to get drunk, but it was safe and it gave you all the necessary vitamins and calories you needed to stay healthy, Lady Alice said tipping her glass up in a salute and taking another sip.

            “How did you find them?” Alice asked as she put the glass down.

            “Quite by accident actually, I was there looking for my records and something I could use to convince COIL that I was not the traitor they thought I was, my visits to official government records offices, were shall I say of a clandestine nature, as I am not welcomed since my unfortunate incident.  I stumbled upon them in complete error, they were misfiled, I counted believe what I was reading anyway to make a long story short I smuggled them out along with my files and then did my research on your Ladyships most fascinating life,” Lady Tara said her voice getting excited again before she calmed it quickly.

            “At any rate, these belong to you and nobody else,” Tara said pushing the manila folder toward Alice.

            “And that?” Alice inquired referring to a second folder Tara had her hand on.

            “This is the one I took about me, I want you to look at it, but I must have it back, this is part of my building a trust factor between us and hopefully others,” she said sliding it over.

            Alice in good manners left hers and opened Lady Tara’s and began reading and scanning over the minutes as she flipped pages forward and back, checking facts and dates with what Claire had told her and others before she put it down after ten long silent minutes.

            “COIL and your own country sold you out because you discovered this secret and threatened to expose it and you if they didn’t destroy it,” Alice said.

            “I was never kidnapped by SNARE, that organisation was a creation of some COIL mind as part of the plot against me.  I was in fact kidnapped by COIL and interrogated for two weeks in Sri Lanka.  The part about me escaping is true, the part about me killing my fellow agents is not, I could never do that, even after what they did to me for those two weeks.  If those agents, who were probably acting on a false tale told to them about me, died then COIL did it to cover their own tracks,” Lady Tara said her voice cracking a bit.

            “So you turned up again and they had no choice but to keep you on as you had carefully woven a web of security around yourself with regard to your personal safety and the release of information should anything happen to you,” Alice finished.

            “COIL put me in charge of Ops for the Indian Sub Continent, but under very close observation,” Tara said.

            “Yes a woman named Pushpa if I recall, she is a very good friend of Claire’s,” Alice said referring back to the folder to confirm.

            “Pushpa was a wise choice a highly skilled agent, she kept a very close watch over me for which I was eternally grateful for you see, she was a confident of mine from the start, in fact my only one, until today.  She played her part perfectly, saved my life when COIL assassins used the secret entrance into my office to drug me.  You see Lady Hamilton, they were afraid I was going to tell Claire my little secret, pass it on to an agent they truly could never totally control, Lady Tara Ashton-White said.

            “Claire did mention to me that she did hero worship you a bit and even told you so upon meeting you,” Alice added.

            “Yes, she did gush a little the way I did a few minutes ago, you have no idea how happy that made me feel, to have a woman of her exceptional abilities look up to me that way, I knew I could chance telling her everything, but that’s exactly why I didn’t,” Tara resigned.

            “Because you didn’t want to see her hurt,” Alice said softly.

            “There’s a part of me that believes COIL sent her on that mission knowing she’d meet up with in the hopes that I would tell her so they could then eliminate the both of us, two agents they could never control for I don’t need to tell you that in this business its all about control,” Lady Tara offered with derision in her voice.

            “But wasn’t that de Roy man in charge of COIL at that time and wasn’t he a DOOM convert?” Lady Alice questioned.

            “This is higher than that, these decisions are made at a level and in the shadows most people cannot even imagine, things have not changed that much from when Cromwell ran Elizabeth’s secret service,” Tara said.

            “Despicable man,” Lady Hamilton said nearly spitting out the words.

            Tara had to contain herself, this woman had actually met him, questions flooded into her mind, yet she stopped the flow and retuned to the matter at hand only after a concerted effort.

            “As for the other incidents with Claire, the lipstick tracker was so Pushpa could save her from another attack from the Silkworm Seema.  The trap in the house was an act of treachery from a DOOM plant by the name of Raj, Claire took care of him.  I knew I had to flee, draw the COIL and whatever DOOM operatives away from Claire so she and Pushpa would be safe.  I returned to deliver the poison dart of Claire, by that I mean, fake poison dart to make the plan all make sense in Claire’s mind.  The dart was merely a suggestive hallucinogen that allowed Pushpa who was waiting in the bushes, to suggest to Claire the drug was designed to cripple her for life, but that she had saved her thereby cementing the bond between them, Pushpa is a excellent ally to have,” Lady Tara explained. 

            “So she is still your friend then?” Alice asked.

            “My only eyes and ears inside COIL, she tells me missions, so my agents, ah yes, that part I forgot,” Lady Tara smiled a sexy smile.  “I purloined the SNARE name; after all it was a good creative story from COIL so why not bring it to life, make them live in a nightmare of their own creation so to speak.  I have a few agent’s, all excellent, we are a small group, but very effective.  Pushpa provides me with intelligence on COIL missions so we can avoid contact with them and in the event we do clash my agents are under direct orders not to harm them seriously.  I have no loyalty to COIL, but I do have to the men and woman, especially the woman, they have some exceptionally talented young agents.  Pushpa also knows the secret, keeps it close and works to uncover more as she is united with me on this,” Tara stated.

            Alice said nothing for a long time, she just thought, it was Lady Tara who spoke again.
           
            “I was going to tell Claire, but then, she ran into the current situation that brings you here your Ladyship. Which brings me to another point on this matter, you.  What do you think COIL would pay or do to get their hands on you Lady Hamilton?  A woman impervious to poison, cold, heat and as beautiful as you are, you would make almost the perfect agent.  Your DNA would be priceless to them and you’d have no choice in the matter, truly Alice and please forgive me for saying this you’d live forever and ever, world without end.  They would just create another Lady Hamilton, one after the other, just as they intend to do with me, Claire, probably with Alex Chase and Paige Worthington and a few other select ones and we’d have no choice in the matter and worse neither would our copies and it all would have been done without our consent or knowledge had I not found out,” Tara said in a sour tone.

            “But if they knew about it, then really wouldn’t it be up to the individual to choose?” Alice asked.

            “If that was their choice then they would have been told about it and not had it buried in classified files,” Tara said reaching down and tossing out a folder from her case that spilled documents.  “All copies I made.”

            “There are some names here I know, but I must confess I do not know the inner workings of the organisation nor most of its agents,” Alice said as she scanned the list.

            “The ones with a check beside them are dead already; they appropriately named this little project Lazarus.  Playing God and being God are two separate matters.  COIL had control of my destiny as an agent I freely gave that to them when I signed up, but I never gave them permission to create me again and again to suit their purpose,” Lady Tara snapped.

            “Why tell me all this, you know there’s every chance in the world I could think you are lying and this is all just some made deception for you to play out as some form of plot against your former employer who found you actually were the quisling they suspected you were,” Alice ventured.

            “Or I’m telling you because you’re the one person who isn’t tainted by COIL’s poison about me.  The person who would listen with an open mind and know what I say was genuine and trust that I was telling the truth,” Lady Tara smiled.

            One advantage of living a long time was that you were better able to discern a charmer verses a person telling you the truth.  Lady Tara’s smile came from her heart, it was pure and true as were her words, she needed no more convincing, of the others she was not so sure, but that was for later, if she made it.  Alice pushed down a sudden menacing bolt of her hunger and willed herself to focus, her effort was caught in Lady Tara’s eye and she reached out a hand to Alice.

            “No!” Alice yelled, more at herself than at her companion, but it was not interpreted that way.

            “I sorry I didn’t mean to be overly familiar, please accept my apologies for overstepping,” Lady Tara said in a truly sorry voice.

            Alice finished her struggle and looked up as Lady Tara collected all the folders except the one that contained Alice’s data, which she had left. 

            “I had to try, I hope you understand, thank you for listening, I’ll not bother you again,” Lady Tara Ashton-White said as she made to leave before Alice put a gentle arm on her elbow and stopped her.

            “I am dying Lady Ashton-White, not a physical death, but a spiritual one, I cannot explain how, but I am being transformed into nothing, it has happened once already and I’m losing my will to control myself and keep it from consuming me once and for all.  For me there is a world with an end, a void I will slip into at some point soon and not be able to return from.  It calls me now and all I have to do is say yes to the hunger and give into the ravenous evil that thirsts inside me,” Alice as she looked Tara in the eye.

            “What awaits you that is so evil,” Lady Tara asked as she stroked the woman’s arms in comfort.

            “The complete absence of everything, even myself,” Alice answered.

            “And the hunger, its me, my blood you hunger for isn’t it?” Lady Tara asked.

            “Its so much more than that Lady Tara, the blood is so sweet, but its nothing compared to what I really want.  I want to feel you surrender to me, to acknowledge me, to give me what you give no other, just a little of it, then I can pull the rest from you and watch you die in succulent regret, that is the sweetness I crave, but refuse to let have me until Claire is cured.  The love of my child, then as now keeps me here and I will not be drawn away from it.”

            “What will you do then,” Lady Tara asked knowing and dreading the answer.

            “We will just keep that our secret as we both know what must happen, but rest assured I will explain everything to Claire that you have told me,” Alice answered as she again looked fine.

            “I, I would be remiss if I didn’t say this and I take no pleasure in saying it,” Tara hesitated.

            “Then I will say it for you, I know that stones can cure me, but Claire is my child, my second child, and this one will not slip away from me.  She carries on for me,” Alice said and saw the bewildered look on Lady Tara’s face.

            “Well we ample time before the plane comes and I’m quite recovered would you like to here my story,” Lady Alice smiled and upon receiving a nod ordered another beer and a drink for Tara.

            “Before I begin I noticed a large bound dossier in your case that you have glanced at several times and then at me, what is it may I ask?” Alice smiled.

            “Nothing, it is not important now, given the situation,” Tara tried to wave it off.

            “Come your Ladyship no secrets between us ladies,” Alice laughed as she reached over and pulled it out.

            “The Effects, Consequences and Responses to the Citizens of London 1665 to 1666,” she read allowed and looked at Lady Tara

            “My PhD dissertation, I had hoped to present it later this year,” Tara said reaching for the dossier.

            “You not only make an excellent spy, so I’m told, but apparently a superb research detective as well. I see the records the government kept on me were quite extensive,” Alice said.

             “I was hoping to ask you to look at it, given the fact that they do indicate you were back in London for the entire outbreak, and then send it back to me if our encounter went well, but given the circumstances, I won’t burden you with it,’ Lady Tara explained again reaching for the document.

            “Nonsense, as the survivor of two great plagues and many smaller ones I consider myself quite and expert on the matter,” she smiled.  “Seriously, it would be a pleasure, but I think we need to go a little further with this,” she said going into her purse and pulling out a key and a blank card the size of a business card and began writing on it.  “Take this key and this card and go to this address in London, present the card and everything will be explained and provided for you,” Lady Alice said.

            “What language is this and where am I going,” Lady Tara said in a puzzled voice as she started at the card.

            “Early Middle English, just the way my mother taught me to make the letters and as to where you are going, my home in London Lady Ashton-White and my library,” Alice answered with a smile.  “You see trust comes full circle.  If by chance I do not return, I shall take the privilege of the first address.  Congratulations Dr. Lady Tara Ashton-White,” she said raising her glass.

            “Just when you think there are no more surprises in the world, now to my story,” Alice said.

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

One by one the women returned from their respective quests, Alex being the last to arrive and after the usual welcoming hugs from the others she turned and smiled as Aki wearing her best kimono silently appeared in the doorway of the room.  Alex walked over and they joined hands before embracing then the smile disappearing from both their faces at the precise same time, then they left together without a word to the others.

“It’s like they share one mind,” Paige said with a sigh.

“That may not be the blessing you think it is,” Mrs. Hawthorne added.

“Oh I don’t know two heads are better than one and all that,” Kiko mused.

“When do we proceed with Claire?” Alice focused the talk in a sharper tone than she would have liked.

“I thought we would do it after dinner, kind of a welcome back for all and to toast our future success,” Kiko said flatly then felt she needed to add.  “Claire is my blood sister, there is no one closer to me than her, but you have all become my family as a result of this exercise and I wish to honour you all as part of my new family and I think some people need to spend some time together and perhaps others need to unwind.”

Alice took the tone for what it meant as well as the message and didn’t push it they have several days to spare and several more hours one way or another would not matter.  She simply smiled, bowed and let and the others trailed out after her.

Dinner was a more subdued event than Kiko could have imagined.  Alex and Aki talked low amongst themselves, Kiko somewhat surprised at the rudeness of The Poison Geisha given all her training.  Mrs. Hawthorne seemed very pensive and forward looking, Alice made small talk but seemed totally inward and stiff, Kiko would have thought she was in pain if that had been possible which she knew it was not.  Only Paige was herself so Kiko took to her to make the time pass rather than undo the calculus of emotions in the room. 

“I think it is time that we complete this epic quest to save Claire.  Alice has the stones we recovered and she will lead the ceremony,” Kiko said as she rose from her sitting position. 

The paper door in the dining room was slide open by a student of the school, the women filled out and followed Kiko down a hallway out into the circular open reception and training area down another short hallway and into the room where Claire’s body lay on the floor another student closing the paper door as the last person entered. 

Alice placed the stones at the cross points where lines would have intersected to form the pattern of a crucifix then led each women to a place she wished them to stand. 

“Should we join hands and say something,” Paige blurted out.

“No need,” answered Alice.  “Most of what happens in the universe we never see, so it is with this, the miracle is in seeing the outcome not the pomp and circumstance.  We just need to patient and wait,” she added.

They waited quietly until Kiko bolted from the circle and sailed through the air her extended leg slamming its heel into the jaw of one of her students her body spinning like a top before whirling to the ground the clang of the sword she had held in her hand echoing across the room.  The rest was a blur that even they could not piece together after reflection.  It was all a blur of swords and cutting air and steel hitting flesh as the women battle an equal number of students who fought much better than they should have been able to.  It was over inside of a minute the guards vanquished as Alex finished the last of three she had taken on then turned to face the others. She smiled puzzled by the horrified looks from the group, licked her lips, her taste buds just recording the minute sensation of acrid liquid as she swallowed.

“What?” she began before her throat and mouth filled with blood the deluge spilling forth drowning out anymore of her words.

She looked down, then up again at the faces of her comrades, they still bore the horrified expressions, hers was more awestruck, as if she’d witnessed a magician’s parlour trick and was unsure of the reality she occupied, hers or his.  Then she looked again and the present washed over her!  Alex’s knees weakened, Aki and Alice rushed forth catching her and holding her up, Alice reached behind and pulled the sword from her back, the blade receding from beyond the six inches it had emerged out the front of her chest and back through her body, its discarded clashing sound on the floor reverberating like a death toll! 

“Alex!” Aki, her voice soft and panicked said as she took the weight of her soul mate and lowered her to the floor her hand cradling the spy’s head until she placed it on her under folded thighs as she leaned over her.  Alice was at her feet seeing if there was anything she could do, but knowing in her heart the wound was mortal. 

Alex tried to speak, but the blood streamed and flowed from her mouth allowing only a tortured gurgling sound intermixed with coughing that only increased the volume of the red mass as her eyes widened and flashed with the knowing realization of mortality spent before her.  Her arms reached up shaking with the effort it took to move them until they found Alice’s hands in hers.  Their eyes locked together as each looked into the other.  The spy coughed several times her body convulsing in its efforts to dispel the blood from her throat and keep her from drowning in it.  The red effluent pored forth from her as she twitched and desperately tried to speak, the only sound a guttural cacophony of wheezing air forcing its way from her mouth, Alice desperately fighting the temptation to taste it.

Her eyes dimmed, her body stilled and she was gone.

Across the room among the stones a pair of eyes opened.





            

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