Nos Faux Ratu Ch. 02

"For which you have only their word. What if there is no greater threat? What if they're bluffing?"

"Why would they do this for a bluff? Even if they're lying about their numbers, which I doubt, I don't think they're lying about the threat to their people. That alone warrants consideration. I don't have time to rebuild my social image just so that people might want to believe me. And you're telling me that I'll probably be put in the brig for my cover being blown and for even talking with Nessa, which would probably mean no meeting would occur. I'm screwed," she said, staring across the street again. Then something occurred to her. "Unless I get a source that the Fool might actually believe. You!"

"Jenna, are you asking me to jeopardize MY cover as well?"

"You could leave the mask on," she said. "Just --"

"That would still be acknowledging our existence to an unauthorized source."

"They already know about us though. Are you really going to just let me hang out here on my own?"

Nigel had been a good soldier, but he was also a good man. He had just reminded Jenna that he was her only friend, and then had told her that there was nothing he could or would do for her. So he was being forced to choose between duty and friendship.

"Jenna --"

The tone and pause in Nigel's voice was all that Jenna needed to hear. Her eyes narrowed and her heart hardened, and she stood up. "Sorry for bothering you. I'll deal with this."

"Jenna, don't do this. I just need time to think --"

"Time I don't have. At least don't go telling the Fool about how the crazy Empress has gone off the deep end for another twenty-four hours."

"That's not what I --" But Nigel was cut off when Jenna stormed out of the coffee shop. He had never seen her mad before, at least not like this. Getting set up on a blind date was nothing by comparison. She was more than angry, she was wounded. And to add insult to injury, she had stuck him with the check. By the time he was done paying, Jenna had vanished.

"Well done," he said, speaking mostly to himself and a nearby, uncaring parking meter. "You handled that perfectly."

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Elsewhere . . .

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Avery pulled his much less conspicuous single-person hover around to the location that had been relayed to him. The bag that he had given Jenna to keep her stuff in had a rune of ownership stitched into it, which allowed one of the local witches to cast a tracking spell on it. The bag had stayed in this location for five hours, so unless she had chucked it --

"Oh fuck," he said when an imposing stone church came into view. "Not here. Not this." He knew this place far better than he ever wanted to. Back when he was a cop, it was a place that gave him nightmares so bad that he quit and finally took Nessa up on her job offer. "She can't possibly live here? I thought this place was supposed to be condemned." 'Condemned or not,' he thought, 'it was certainly damned.'

He took a quick look around. He saw some external security cameras, but the front door itself was mostly bare. 'No, he thought,' just disguised to look that way. He used his surface-level x-ray goggles and saw that behind a little plaque next to the door was a keypad and fingerprint recognition pad. He was willing to bet that there were other security measures too. This was no ordinary home security. This is exactly how he thought that someone like Jenna would guard herself.

So the question became, why would she live here? This was the Messenger's church, one of the darkest figures in American history for the last century. That's when it hit him. He knew who Jenna was. She had even used her real name, something he never would have expected. Not only that, he had met her before, in what seemed like a lifetime ago. For Jenna, maybe it was.

"Anabella said that you were hurt inside . . . that your soul was faint. She was more right than she knew, wasn't she?" He turned the vehicle around and headed away from the cursed place. He had a few friends back in the force who could help him find the info that he wanted, but he already felt the truth sinking in. Nessa needed to know this as soon as she woke up. This did not change the mission, but it might have to change the methods.

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That night . . .

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'Of all the nights to have gotten called out on a stupid retrieval mission, why tonight?' Jenna thought. She had shown up at the command post, still unsure as to what she was going to do, and the Empress was immediately tasked to retrieve a former CEO who was supposed to testify before the Chamber of Commerce as to his company's questionable business practices. He had decided to risk flight to China, but Empress had picked him up outside the transit center. She had not set an official time to meet with Nessa before leaving, but she was pretty sure that she was late.

She was grateful to have at least avoided Death that evening. Nigel had laid a lot on her before putting their friendship into perspective, and she did not want to deal with him. She was unused to emotional turmoil, so she was not sure what she would have said to him even if she HAD desired to do so.

It occurred to her on the way that if Devil's Night was still being watched, she should probably not simply walk in looking like the very thing that Garon and his men were expecting. So she had gone back to the church and gotten the one set of casual clothes that she still owned, namely a pair of throwback jeans, denim jacket, and a black tee-shirt. Not exactly trendy, but fashion was not something that Jenna had ever subscribed to or even understood.

She walked down the alley while attempting to convey the feeling that she belonged there. She found the hidden door easily enough, and it opened before her. Cresil and Kobal were waiting for her.

"Boss is expecting you," Cresil said. "Just head to the Stairway."

She nodded, trying to remain cool. She headed downstairs and was once again almost overwhelmed the the pulsating sound of music. The crowd was even thicker that night than it had been the last time she was there, and many people, male and female, tried to draw her into movement with them as she made her way across the dance floor.

'This is such a bad idea,' she thought. 'I hate being touched.'

She thankfully arrived at the Stairway to Heaven, where the guard Ipos waved her up. When she got to the VIP lounge, things were . . . different . . . than they had been before. First of all, there were people up there this time. Second, most of them were naked and engaged in some kind of sex.

Instantly, Jenna's heart-rate shot up, her skin felt clammy, and her hands began to tremble. She was on the verge of bolting when Avery appeared. He looked around, then a look of alarm crossed over his face. He grabbed Jenna by the arm and pulled her towards the lift, and for once she did not fight.

"I'm sorry about that," he said. "Nessa didn't have a chance to order VIP area cleared for the night."

Jenna fought to get her body rhythm back under control. "No problem. Just surprised is all." Was it her imagination, or was Avery looking at her strangely? Almost sympathetically?

"Hope you have some good ideas, because Garon has been bringing in more werewolves and has been bugging the Council like hell. I don't think it's helping though. He's such a pompous pain in the ass that the Council may wind up giving Nessa more time just to spite him."

"Some people simply have no mind for politics," Jenna replied absently. "Are they any different for the Night Breed than they are for humans?"

"Just a lot more ceremonial. Well, more brutal I suppose, but humanity is catching up with them in that regard."

"Hooray for us," Jenna said.

Avery glanced out of the corner of his eye. 'She's changed so much,' he realized. 'But the hair, and those eyes . . . how did I not notice those earlier?'

"What?" she asked when she caught him staring.

"Just thinking that you remind me of someone," he said, focusing his gaze forward. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm glad someone is thinking that way," she muttered.

"Pardon me?"

"Never mind." The doors opened and she stepped out into as luxurious an apartment as she had ever seen.

It took up the entire floor, and every exterior wall consisted of one-way glass, giving the impression that they were sitting out in the open on the top of the building. The floors were warm hardwood and the furniture looked like genuine leather. The entire area was open, with a spacious kitchen, living room, a holoprojector normally reserved for high-priced cinemas, and a bed --

"That bed is big enough to have its own area code," she muttered.

"And believe it or not, I've had it filled to capacity on at least three occasions," Nessa said, once again appearing from out of nowhere. "Mostly, I just like to lounge." Nessa was dressed in a trendy business suit, completely unlike what Jenna had seen her in up until that point. She was still too attractive for words, but now she looked slightly more reserved.

"You look . . . nice," Jenna said. 'Why do I find myself wishing I hadn't dressed down?'

"You look a little more relaxed."

"I didn't think wearing my uniform would be wise."

Nessa grinned. "At least you're admitting it was a uniform."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "What else would it be? The worlds most complicated bathrobe?"

"A joke! I'm impressed. Would you like a drink? I promise, I can get you something with no alcohol."

"A coffee please," she said. 'See,' she told the non-present Nigel, 'I can be sociable.' Did she really want to be?

Nessa waved to Avery, who headed to the kitchen, then she sat down on a luxurious sofa and invited Jenna to do the same. "So, what have you decided?"

Jenna tried to make her mouth move, but the words didn't come easy. "I believe you," she said, "and I want to help. I discussed the issue with a colleague of mine, hoping he would help."

"And will he?"

"No. The problem is that if I approach my employer and try to arrange a meeting, I might well be charged with creating a security breech. If I did that, I could be found guilty of treason."

"You're not serious?"

Avery stood by with the coffee. "Nessa, treason can still be punished by death. It's a serious charge."

Jenna looked at her hands. "If you give me some kind of tangible evidence to help me support my case, I'll approach my boss on my own. No reason to expose you until there's no other choice. He might imprison me for a bit while he examines the evidence, but if it is something that science cannot explain --"

"Jenna," Nessa interrupted, "you have already said that your involvement could lead to your death, yet you are willing to help us? Why? You barely know me. You could just walk away and pretend you never met me."

"Even if I hadn't told my colleague, what would happen next? Either you find someone else, which could take a while, or you go to war. As powerful as you and the Night Breed are, you don't want that. That would probably actually get the companies to stop with all the infighting and unite against something."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Nessa said appreciatively. "Thank you."

The woman's demeanor was so calm and professional that it was making Jenna uneasy. "Okay, was yesterday the act or is today the act?"

"Come again?"

"Yesterday you're traipsing around in your unmentionables threatening to fight or fuck anything you see --"

"I hardly see an offer of a good shag from me as a threat, but go on."

"Now you're doing the power suit? I want to know who I'm dealing with."

"Do you really? Because I would expect the same from you." Nessa statement sounded less like a threat and more like an offer.

"I can't provide you with any information about my operation without --"

"I mean that I want to get to know you. You might understand me being a bit suspicious of someone who is willing to help a monster like me."

"You're not a monster," Jenna said, glancing at Avery, "you're a person with powers."

"You might not think that in a minute," Nessa said softly.

"Why?"

"We cast a spell to track you to your home. I figured that since you knew where I was that I should be able to find you. The bag --"

Jenna was on her feet. "You've been in my home?!"

"No, Avery simply knows where it is. And what it is. And . . . and he knows your name."

"You know nothing," Jenna said coldly. She had been foolish to trust them.

"You hunt me down in my home and that's fair, but me doing the same breaks some rule?" Nessa sat there as poised as could be. "Does us knowing where you live change the issues at hand?"

Avery leaned back in his chair. "I didn't go inside. Not because I was afraid of your security, but because I never want to go inside that place again."

"Again?"

"Jenna, I was one of the officers that stormed the building the day that you were rescued --"

"It's just a house," she started say. "It's just a place --"

"I went back and looked at the news vids right after. Your hair is the same color, but I recognized your eyes more than anything. You didn't happen into that place by accident. No realtor on the planet would have been able to sell that place considering what happened there, especially not with full disclosure."

"Okay," Anabella said, looking confused, "I'm missin' somethin' here."

"How could you move in there?" Avery said, his voice and face reflecting just how shocked he was. "The other officers and I had nightmares for months after going in there --"

Jenna let out a short, humorless laugh. "Months? I've had nightmares every day of my life since then. You have no right to go there. I'm here in good faith to try and stop a slaughter, and that's the only thing that matters. One more word about that . . . that time, and I walk and you can find your own damn solutions." She was so much more than angry that there were not words for it. And the parts of herself that she kept walled up screamed and railed against their bindings. She needed peace. She needed space.

"If you need a moment, you can step out on the balcony," Nessa said, not wanting to push Jenna any further than she already had. She had to accept that she was working with a time bomb now.

Jenna quickly walked outside and put her hands on the rail, gasping for breath and trying to drown out the ghosts wailing in her head.

Anabella sat down next to Avery, looking between the dashing man and her boss. "Okay, what the hell is goin' on? Her spirit energy just went haywire, like nothin' I ever seen before."

Avery covered his eyes with his hands and rubbed them. "She . . . you were right when you said she's wounded. Do you remember the news about fifteen years ago? The Messenger case?"

"I remember the name. Weirdest mother fucker since Manson, wasn't he?"

"He was way worse than Manson. Some priest went nuts and started kidnapping families and taking them back to this church here in New Atlanta. Thought the world was going to hell and he was going to start seeing who was going to Heaven. He was a total old-school Old Christianity kinda guy. He decided that these families, every man, woman, and child, needed to be stripped of everything to make them 'worthy.' He tortured them, raped the women and girls, sodomized the men and boys with broomsticks, gouged out the eyes --"

"Okay, I think I get the picture. Really wish I didn't."

"Well, he always ended by taking the family's bodies somewhere and crucifying them on a hill, and always on Sunday. All except the last family. For some reason, he kept them longer than the usual week. Cops finally tracked him down because of some neighbor who heard and smelled bad things coming out of this abandoned church. Well, the Messenger had killed all the girl's family but he had kept her alive. He'd kept her for himself."

Anabella gulped a breath of air. "How long?"

"Two months. Her family's corpses were still sitting in chairs around a dining table, and she . . . she was so broken. She fought against the officers and the medics who tried to take her away. Said that she loved him."

"Good grief," the banshee whispered. "What made her different? Why'd he spare her?"

"I don't think he did spare her. I think that the ones who died were the lucky ones. She was only fifteen years old when it happened. I tried checking up on her with some boys from the force, but there aren't any records of Jenna Owens after that. Her records were sealed, then they vanished about three years later. I'll bet that's when she joined the service, looking for some meaning."

"Did she at least get help?"

"I don't know. I suspect the authorities tried, but I can't say that they were too successful. She lives in a place where over forty people were killed in the most horrible ways. She sleeps in the same room where she was tortured and raped. Does that sound right to you?"

The door to the balcony opened, so they all shut up as a more composed Jenna returned. But Anabella saw past the facade to the freezing rage underneath. Jenna sat down.

"I need proof. I'll take it to my boss tomorrow. Can you get me something?"

Nessa looked thoughtful. "Hmm, how about a dancing sword?"

"Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?" Jenna was looking to criticize. Actually, she wanted to rip the throats out of everyone in the room, but that really would not accomplish much.

"It's a sword that would show up as completely normal to every scan you could imagine, but it moves and does whatever its controller wants, as long as the controller stays within fifty feet. No, I don't know why fifty is the magic number, it just is."

"Your bosses won't be able to pick up any kind of radio control or other transmissions. And the sword is able to cut through things that it should not be able to. It should be enough to get them interested."

"Okay, we'll do that."

Nessa looked at Avery. "Could you get a sword please? Try --"

"I'll help 'im," Anabella said. "Don't want him givin' away one of yer kitchen knives by mistake." The two wandered to the lift and went . . . somewhere."

There was a period of absolute silence as the two remaining women stared each other down.

"I don't want you coming near my home," Jenna said at last.

"Give me a way of getting in touch with you," Nessa replied.

Jenna rattled off her communication number for her civilian line. Exactly two people had that number now, and she did not want to speak to either of them.

"May I ask you a question?" Nessa asked.

"I can't stop you."

"Are you happy? In your life?"

Jenna let her confusion show. "What do you mean?"

"You just don't seem happy is all. You do your job, but you don't seem to enjoy it. You're trying to help stop a bad situation, but you don't seem excited at all."

"Getting excited never solved anything."

"I disagree," Nessa replied, "Getting excited is what life is all about. I want you to know that I mean this when I say it, but if you ever want to get back into the game of actually living, you can come to me."

"Not everyone has time for fun and games." Jenna knew that for a fact. They were childish things, and she had lost that part of herself fifteen years ago.

"Which is why we must sometimes make time." Nessa smiled, and it was a warm, compassionate smile. "I know you did not want me to say anything else about it, but I must. Please, wait," she added as Jenna started to stand. "I cannot imagine what you went through. I don't know what your mind was like afterward. I just would hate to think that you survived it all just to give up on life. It's too precious to be discarded."

Jenna stopped. She had not spoken to anyone about the events of those two months since the counselors had given up on her after a couple of years. "He made me decide," she whispered.