Flying Blind Ch. 07

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Evil Alpaca
Evil Alpaca
3,663 Followers

There was a small, crude wooden altar decorated by candles and a human skull. The skull still had hair and skin on it. Around the table, a crude circle littered the ground. Littered was a more appropriate word than "drawn," because the circle was made up of the remains of the dead. All manner of animals, from cats and dogs to snakes and birds, had been ripped apart and left in bloody heaps in the form of a circle. And mixed in amongst the animal parts were things that were . . . once . . . human. Fingers, eyeballs –

'Where did he . . . he –' Heda thought, then was forced to fight the urge to vomit. 'He's fucking insane. How could anyone –'

Heda heard the slightest of noises behind her, and she jumped straight up, but not in time to completely avoid the blow that had been aimed at her head. Instead, some heavy object slammed into Heda's leg, which sent her tumbling directly into the circle of carnage.

"You insolent bitch!" Daryl screamed, raising a monkey wrench over his head. "Elitist, unworthy --"

If you had asked Heda to list all of the things that she would probably never do in life, "bludgeoning an insane spell caster with a human skull" would probably have been on it. Before that night. But she found another skull under her hands when she fell, and she used it as an instrument of destruction on her enemy's face.

"Shut up!" she squawked, her eagle mouth not normally suited for human words, but managing to spit those out. The sound of skulls cracking was cringe-worthy, but to his credit, Daryl did not go down. He went backwards, colliding with a tree. His human form was no match for Heda's half-form in a straight up fight.

Daryl, bleeding heavily from the nose, spat blood and words in Heda's direction, and a chill wind blasted the eagle-shifter in the chest with the force of a hurricane. Her body bounced across the ground like a tumbleweed at a rave, coming to an uncomfortable rest in a thorny bush.

"You would be like Him, wouldn't you?!" Daryl screamed. "A pathetic monster with a crown and a throne?! I will not stop until you have all heard my Message, and until you have all been judged!"

Heda had to end this quickly. Edgar was out there in the mist, possibly dead or dying. His blood was on her hands as it was. She could not handle being responsible for his death.

She fixed her eagle eyes on Daryl's face, and things started to move in slow motion. She waited until she saw anything . . . a face twitch, a sneer . . . anything that would signal his intent. She saw the corner of his eye crinkle, as if he were preparing to stare really intensely. She clambered quickly towards him, finding her talons underneath her and she spread her wings, making herself as big a target as possible. She had to make it irresistible to her opponent.

Whatever Daryl had been thinking, he changed his mind and began pulling in magic, pooling it, and began to create the vessel through which that power would flow. That was when the charging eagle-shifter screamed.

Heda had never used her battle-cry against a living creature before, and there was a reason for that. An eagle only gave the cry when he or she was going to kill someone, and Heda had never been in a position where it was appropriate before. But she had no doubt that she or Daryl were about to die.

Her cry did what it was supposed to do, namely it froze up her enemy. It did not last long, but it lasted long enough. As Daryl removed his hands from his bleeding ears, his eyes widened, and he tried to regain control of the magic he had summoned. Loose, wild magic was a dangerous thing. As he tried to bring it to bear, Heda closed the gap.

As long as she lived, Heda would not forget that moment. She flapped her wings and launched herself into the air. With the tree cover, she would not be able to gain much height, but she really did not need to. One taloned foot rose up and tore Daryl Mosely's throat out. The second foot swung sideways and ripped the man's jaw off. Both blows sent sprays of blood cascading across the clearing like demented waterfalls.

The mist began to clear as soon as Daryl's body crashed into the ground with a grotesque, liquid thump. For a moment that seemed like a lifetime. She could see the blood seeping into the soil, mixing with the veritable graveyard that Daryl had built. Death begat death. She shifted back to her human form and finally threw up.

Heda heard shouting off in the distance. Her friends. They had come looking for her and –

"Edgar!" she shouted, feeling a shame that felt as endless and deep as an ocean. She had forgotten about her brother.

"Here!" came a shout from off to her right.

Tears were streaming down her face as she moved through the brush, careful to avoid the traps, but still too careless to be smart. She had to get to him. She found him sitting against a tree, his leg peppered by buckshot. Heda sobbed, partially from guilt and partially from relief. A leg wound . . . Ed would be fine. A few shifts after getting the buckshot out, and he'd be all right. She hugged her brother like there was no tomorrow.

"Heda, while I'm happy to see you, I'm bleeding. And this is feeling a tad incestuous, so --"

"Oh shut up," she sniffled. "Edgar, I'm SO sorry. I shouldn't have . . . I mean, this is all my fault."

Ed just looked baffled. "Uhm, this is all Daryl's fault. Remember him? Psychopath? Speaking of which," he added, looking over her shoulder, "I'm assuming that since you're here, he's --"


"Dead. I killed him. You almost died because of me, and then I killed him and now I don't know what to do."

Edgar could almost feel his sister falling apart, and he could certainly see it. "What's wrong? You got the bad guy, we both made it out alive. This is good, right?"

"How can you be so blasé about this? You almost died because I couldn't follow protocol!"

"If you followed protocol, we never would have found him. Heda, I was just as stupid as you were. I came here without backup, and I should have made you wait. I fell into the same stupid trap I pointed out earlier, and all I could do was think that I let you down. You had to fight a madman, and I should've been there."

"If we had waited like you wanted, none of this would have happened."

"He might have gotten away, or someone else would have gotten hurt." He looked through the woods to where their companions were streaming from, a mixture of animal forms that would normally never be found together much less work together. "It's about time," he shouted. "Lazy assholes."

Their friends surrounded them, with Edgar warning them about the traps, while Heda . . . she just sat there. Billy waved a hand in front of her face, but she did not blink. She heard their voices, saw the lights of their flashlights, but they were all indistinct . . . vague. She was not sure when she passed out, or if she ever actually did. She was not aware of anything.

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Some time later . . .

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Heda came to with a start. She was in her own bed, the windows still open, the air still cool. 'A dream?' she thought. But when she heard a slight cough, she turned and saw her mother sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"No," Jessica Adler whispered, "It wasn't a dream."

Heda's mouth opened, but she paused, making no sound. Then, she hung her head.

"You're going to have to talk to me," Heda's mother said. Her voice was firm and even, hiding well the contempt that Heda knew had to be there.

"How's Edgar?"

"Your brother is fine. He's downstairs being 'consoled' by Joanna. He made his report to the Council, so I guess he feels he's entitled to be pampered now."

"When did you get here? Why --"

"Why did I come? My son was shot, my daughter slipped into a state of shock . . . did you really think I wouldn't come? Your girlfriend and her father will be landing in Albuquerque in Mr. Hannity's private plane, so we need to get this conversation out of the way so that you can let Madison dote on you."

"Dote? Mom, this is serious."

"I know," Jessica said softly. "I know."

Heda could not stand the suspense. "Aren't you going to say it?"

"Say what?"

"How much I screwed up?" Heda replied, almost angrily. "How I let you down? How I almost got Edgar killed because I couldn't just mind my own business?"

Jessica leaned forward. "Would that help? Fine, you screwed up. You went into a situation without any tactical appraisal. Edgar could have died. He could do that on any investigation he participates in. And there is always the chance that people who follow leaders may come to a bad end. It would have broken my heart if Edgar had died tonight, just like it would have killed me if any of my children got hurt. But I will not say that you let me down. I will not say that I'm ashamed of you."

"Why not?"

The mother took the daughter's hand. "Because that's not what this is about. This was your first trial by fire. Ed told me how freaked out you were about people thinking you might be Queen someday. This," she said, looking out the windows into the night sky, "was what being a Queen someday might mean. It means taking chances to protect the community. It means maybe losing those you care about because they followed you. And sometimes, it means killing."

Heda tried not to weep. Not in front of her mother, who had seen more than her fair share of conflict. "I didn't think it would be like that."

Jessica Adler moved to her daughter's side. "No matter what you thought it was supposed to be like, it never is. It wasn't for me, it wasn't for Queen Brown, it wasn't for any of those I've served with in the line of duty. Taking a life is sometimes necessary, but it is never easy. You thought it would be easy because the guy was evil? Because of what he did to Madison and the others? Heda, what makes the good guys different from the bad guys is that for us, it shouldn't be easy. We put ourselves in the line of fire because that's who we are, not because we asked for it. No one asked Daryl Mosely to do what he did. This is ALL his fault."

Jessica pulled her daughter to her, wrapped her arms around the younger woman, then continued. "I'm sorry that you had to do what you did. Did you ever notice that in all my stories, I talk about the battles, but never the killings? Never the parts where I looked someone in their eyes and then took the light from those eyes? That's because it was never easy. Because I never wanted to think about it. Now, I wish I had. I wish I had prepared you better for this part."

"This part?"

"Dealing. I taught you the mechanics of the fight, and the art of war. The physical part of killing is no different from any other part of the conflict. Killing . . . it's a decision. It's the final punctuation mark on the story of someone's life." She stroked her daughter's hair. "It's one of the things that concerns me about you becoming a writer."

Heda scrunched up her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because you don't like it when the story ends. Even the scary ones. A good writer needs to know when to place that last period and then move on. Now, I know that you can. You may not like it. It may disturb the hell out of you, but you understand that sometimes, a story simply needs to end."

In Jessica's embrace, Heda finally just let her body relax, and let herself cry a little bit. Her mother let Heda detoxify her spirit. Heda Adler had grown up a little that night, and her mother understood the true meaning of "growing pains."

But after a little while, Jessica spoke again, this time with some amusement. "I believe Madison is here."

Heda, who had been lost in her own little world, sniffed and asked, "How can you tell?"

On the stairs came the frantic pounding of feet. The door flew open and Madison came charging in. Her mouth was slightly parted as her echolocation sought out Heda's form. Then the lithe young bat-shifter ran across the room and dived onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. She had moved with such speed and determination that Jessica had been forced to actively dodge the ballistic young woman.

Heda almost smiled as Madison gave her a complete once over, scanning every part of Heda's body with her sonar. Finally, the slim bat-shifter punched her girlfriend lightly in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" Heda asked, actually chuckling a bit.

"You're not even wounded," Madison said, her voice quivering with relief. The she threw her arms around Heda's neck and kissed her. Hard.

"Sweetheart --"

"No talking. More kissing."


"My mother is in the room."

Madison stopped and turned bright red. She had forgotten about the presence of the other Adler female. "Hi Mrs. Adler."

Jessica was smirking. "Hello Madison. I must say, I've never seen 'therapy' quite like yours before. I just tried talking to her."

Madison buried her head in the pillows next to Heda. She muttered something, but it came out as a muffled mess of sound.

"What was that dear?" Jessica asked.

Heda grinned. "I'll translate. That was embarrassed-Madison-speak for, 'Please kill me now.' I've learned to speak her language over the last few months."

Madison mumbled again, this time blindly punching Heda in the stomach.

"That was her telling me to shut up."

"I'll let you two talk for a bit," Jessica said, standing and moving towards the door. "And I do mean 'talk'."

"What is it about parents? Do they really think that sex is the only thing on our minds?" Heda muttered.

Madison brought her head up. "Well, I WAS thinking about it. Mood's kinda ruined now." She ran her hands over Heda's face. "They told me that you faced him down and that you were messed up. I was terrified."

"I think I've got some things to think about," Heda replied softly, bringing Madison in closer and kissing her forehead. "Hey, would it be okay if we didn't talk for a little while?"

Madison looked a little confused, but she was so grateful for Heda to be alive and well that she did not question the request. So for an hour, they just enjoyed one another's company, basking in the warmth of contact. Then, slowly, Heda began to talk to Madison about the things that she had told her mother. Madison just listened, letting her lover get all her insecurities out.

"So that's it. You flew all the way out here to help counsel me through my mental breakdown," Heda finished.

"Your Mom was right you know. But I won't repeat what she already told you. The spirits know that I'm not the type to think things through either."

Heda sighed. "I'm scared. I've been angry before, or nervous. Now, I'm just scared. What happens next time? What if Ed or someone else gets shot somewhere other than the leg? What if --"

Madison's mouth moved in and stopped Heda's voice for a moment. She liked kissing Heda. A lot. "You know," Madison began, "I used to think about tomorrow a lot. At first, it was because I was sure that my real family would come and take me away, but it never happened. Well, not for twenty years anyway. After 'tomorrow' stopped being the time the good things would happen, it became the time that bad things would. I'd get harassed again tomorrow. I'd be beat up again tomorrow. I'd be alone again tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," Heda said. "I keep forgetting --"

"No, I'm not fishing for sympathy. Because THOSE tomorrows turned out to be wrong too. I found a friend in Billy, then in Sasha. Days came and went where nothing bad happened. Then, you showed up, and I wasn't alone. When it comes to figuring out tomorrow, you're just as blind as I am. So stop worrying about it. Right now, today, you're here. You're alive. Your brother is downstairs, your friends and family are all waiting on you to come down and get the party started. For crying out loud, King Reichert owes you his life."

"Crap! I forgot all about him!"

"Then let's go downstairs and find out what happened."

It turned out, according to Edgar, that Daryl had obtained liquid nitrogen and had been planning on dipping the voodoo doll in it at midnight. Luckily for the investigators, Mosely had kept a journal of his ramblings. The investigators had decided that Daryl needed to be "found" because his crimes had affected the world of normals, they would need closure as well. So Daryl Mosely would be found in the woods, his face blown off by one of his own booby traps. Ed was sure the story would stick. Madison gripped Heda's hand as Ed talked about the damage to Daryl Mosely, the man Heda had killed.

Reichert had come out of his pseudo-coma almost immediately. His doctors were observing him, but he seemed to be back to his old self. He had been told what happened, and wanted to thank Heda for saving his ass.

Then, the conversation had turned to Heda and Edgar, and what had happened in the woods. Ed took over the storytelling, playing up his own bravery to such an outrageous degree that he had almost everyone laughing. Heda just concentrated on her breathing, her mother watching her closely, and her girlfriend holding her hand.

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Months later . . .

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Heda was biting her bottom lip and gripping the bed sheets, her whole body glistening with a thin layer of sweat. She groaned, climaxing so hard that she was seeing stars by the end of it.

"So," Madison asked, nibbling on the inside of Heda's thigh, "I haven't completely lost my touch?"

"I think," Heda started, "that your reputation is intact." Heda pulled Madison up for a long, post-coital kiss. This was Madison's first day back in the house since her internship and the events of the fall semester, and the two young women had been making up . . . and making out . . . for lost time. Actually, they had dropped off Madison's stuff in her room, said goodbye to her father, then had begun a marathon sexual session that had lasted for four hours.

"Good, 'cause I was all out of ideas," Madison murmured, tracing a fingernail around Heda's nipple. "You're a hard woman to satisfy, Heda Adler."

"That's why I admire you're 'old college try' mentality."

Madison chuckled. "We should probably get cleaned up and get to the meet-and-greet. Reichert asked for you specifically."

Heda sighed. "I hate public stuff. Why couldn't he do this when everyone had left?"

"Then it wouldn't be a 'public ceremony,' now would it?" Madison reluctantly rolled out of bed. "I had pants when I came in here."

"But you look so good without them," Heda replied earnestly, watching her girlfriend's long legs and cute little ass moved across the room. Not that she minded Madison's new wardrobe, courtesy of her sister Morgan. Gone were the body stockings and plain dresses. Madison was currently rolling on some tight hip-hugger jeans and a "Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell" original concert shirt, which had been scored on Ebay with some help from Mr. Hannity's credit card.

"You really should be getting dressed," Madison said. "Are you? Heda?" She turned around and did a quick scan, only to find that Heda was still very naked and only standing a few feet away. "You're going to kiss me, aren't you?"

Heda grinned. "And grope you. And make you think twice about making be go to this stupid thing."

"It's not stupid, and you –," Madison was cut off with a kiss, "-- did promise and it's not like we (kiss) won't have plenty of time later for more (kiss) (kiss) (ass grab) DAMN you're hot!" Madison shook her head. "You promised your mother."

Heda sighed and reluctantly put Madison down. Just had to throw cold water on me, didn't you?"

"Hey, this is me, remember? Think that I want to go listen to Reichert again?"

"You're looking forward to the after-party, aren't you?" Heda laughed when Madison blushed. Just four months earlier, she would not have been able to get invited to a party to save her life. She had been the quintessential social pariah. Now, she was DJ'ing the biggest of the shifter shindigs, and all the tickets were already sold.

Evil Alpaca
Evil Alpaca
3,663 Followers