Altered Ch. 07

"I... I don't know," she said looking confused, "As a slave, I ate what my master gave me to eat."

I looked over as Mrs. Turner was walking towards us. With my exceptional hearing, I heard murmurs about how they were surprised that she was up and about, someone else mentioned a miracle, and someone else mentioned that she hadn't been in the diner in years. Mrs. Turner kept getting stopped by well-wishers and gossips wanting to know why she was here, and for each she gave a curt answer about how today she just felt better and that maybe God had something to do with it.

I actually started getting worried, I was just curious to see if I could make her feel better. With this new-found ability, this wonderful woman deserving help and my staying anonymous, helping her feel better felt like a no-brainer at the time. But now I realized that if this 'miracle' got out, they would know Jenny was still alive, I fucked up big time.

"Mrs. Turner! You are looking mighty fine this morning!" some burly man who just entered the diner shouted.

"Now Bart!" she answered, "Where are your manners?"

This 'Bart' seemed unduly cross. He looked dangerous and had me on edge instantly. Five other guys filed into the diner right after him holding various weapons - handguns, shotguns, baseball bats and one had an axe. Bart pulled out his pistol he was hiding behind his back and pointed it right at Mrs. Turner.

I reacted quickly by pulling Mrs. Turner and Jenny down below the table out of his view. Bullets tore holes in the wall behind us and I grabbed the table and flung it up in the air. The effect of this was that the table rose up until it was vertical. I pushed the table with my mind right when it reached its apex and flung it towards Bart. The huge table smacked right into Bart and he fell with the table crushing him underneath.

"Nate!" she forgot to call me Jack. "Their eyes... They are thralls... The guy that was chasing me must have survived."

One of Bart's henchmen was walking to the far side of the diner from the entrance threatening a couple begging for their lives. I swept his legs out from underneath him. At the moment of his sweep, he was leaned to take a turn around a table and the psychic leg sweep caused his momentum to fling him in a weird arc. His head slammed into the corner of another table, and he tumbled to the ground in a heap.

There was a weird antler chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the dining room. The dining room only had about 10 patrons beside myself and Jenny and luckily no one was sitting under the chandelier at the time, unlucky for the henchman standing directly under it. The chain holding the chandelier to the ceiling snapped when I applied such a great downward force to the chandelier it fell faster than gravity crushing the henchman like a bug. The resulting upward vector applied to me launched me three feet into the air, but no one seemed to notice as they were all distracted by the bigger disaster.

This all happened in the matter of seconds, the people in the dining room started screaming and the other three henchmen stood befuddled.

Bart was struggling to get out from underneath the table. So, I put the psychic fear of god into him and the other henchmen. Bart started hallucinating that the police had snipers pointed at his head. He was yelling that he gave up and set his gun on the ground and flicked it away from himself. Despite being pinned underneath the table, he interlaced his hands behind his head since he believed he was being arrested.

The other three henchmen turned white, seeing demons and other monsters and they fell to their knees begging forgiveness. One of them started confessing what they intended to do and begged the demons to stop. I felt like fucking with their minds and totally destroying them, but if Jenny was right this probably wasn't their fault.

From what I read about thralls, they have to stay near their master in order for their master to give them commands. Giving commands to a thrall over the radio for example has no effect, thralls are influenced by physical proximity.

I walked over towards Bart's gun and picked it up and said, "Don't have a cow, man." I couldn't help myself.

Jenny groaned when she heard that. Apparently, she wasn't so secluded that she hadn't heard of the Simpsons.

I handed the gun to Mrs. Turner, and rushed over to the fallen henchmen. The man under the chandelier was definitely dead, the other henchman that slipped and fell was still breathing but unconscious.

Me and a couple of patrons tied the henchmen up with some rope we found in the kitchen. I didn't want them freeing themselves so we searched them for knives and other contraband that they might use. I also took some rope and tied their hands to some posts in the dining room in a way where their hands were always above their heads. If they did try to free themselves we would know right away.

One of the patrons was an off-duty sheriff's deputy that worked in the town close by. He was able to reach backup over a long-range radio. After they were secure, he was able to get some zip tie cuffs out of his car to more properly secure them.

Once I had minute to get away from everyone, I used my tracking to search for the real culprit, hoping I would get lucky and see him or pick up on his signature but not knowing his signature, and not having time to do a thorough search without raising suspicions I found no trace of him. If he was anywhere near I would have at least seen an Ataru aura.

The sheriffs diverted a snow plow to clear the road between a town nearby and the diner so they could come in with their trucks and make the arrests. I was worried that they would go to jail for something out of their control but the deputy informed me that Bart and the others were wanted on various warrants so that eased my conscience.

Even though the roads cleared into town, the police kept us at the lodge for several hours taking our statements. The police were puzzled as to how the chandelier came down but they explained away the henchmen's fear as a bad drug trip saying that gangs like these normally got high before doing jobs like this to alleviate their fears and make them more aggressive. I was glad that's what they went with.

With the attack on the lodge everyone forgot about the miraculous recovery of Mrs. Turner. But I decided that we needed to leave as soon as possible in any case. From what I understood of Vampiric they didn't really heal anyone, rather they just 'turbo boosted' someone's own healing abilities. So, I doubt Mrs. Turner was cured but she would at least feel better for a couple of days.

I packed all of our stuff and thanked Mrs. Turner for her hospitality. Me and Jenny decided to drive into town and get some necessities. They were still plowing the main highway out of the mountain so we would have to wait to leave the area for a few more hours.

I took Jenny to get her some new clothes. They weren't anything fancy but they fit her and didn't look like they came from a thrift store. I grabbed some snacks for the road and Jenny bought a purse and some personal beauty supplies and other essentials. Jenny had no ID, and the police were kind enough to not hassle her about it as they had more pressing matters to attend to at the time but they did give her some stern advice that she take care of that right away.

I had made some contacts through the black market and I found a guy in San Francisco that could supply me with all sorts of IDs that I might need later. I was glad I did because Jenny would be needing his services. After the main roads cleared we took off. After a couple of hours of driving we finally got out of the mountains and made our way west through Wyoming. Jenny had been very quiet and seemed to be contemplating something.

"Was it you? Did you do all of that?"

"What are you referring to?" I asked, knowing full well what she was asking.

"The Chandelier, did you make it fall? The robbers... was that you that frightened them so much that they pissed themselves? Wa- was it you that healed Mrs. Turner?" she ended whispering.

"Yes, if I hadn't ..."

"I know why you did it... thank you for saving my life... but how can you do all of those things, no one is that powerful."

"I'm sorry if it scares you. I can drop you off in the nearest town."

"NO! No, please don't leave me... I won't make it by myself..."

"I am on a mission, Jenny. I will do my best to protect you but I have to take care of a few things... I don't want to put you in harm's way... not if I can help it. I will have to find you a safe place somewhere, maybe find some allies to protect you..."

"I don't care! Our fates are tied together. I would be dead in a ditch without you and I WILL die in a ditch without you."

We both became silent for a while before she asked more questions.

"What else can you do?"

"I don't know yet," I lied, partially. "I know that when I was created they tried to give me ALL of the positive aspects of the Ataru race and none of its negatives."

"What are you talking about Ataru? You were created? You asked me before if I was Ataruian... What are you talking about?"

"You are a hybrid of an alien race from a planet called Ataru that crash landed on Earth over 300 years ago. You are mostly human, probably 99% human, but the small percentage of you that is Ataruian gives you your vampiric abilities."

I went on to tell her what I learned about Ataru history, and about the subcultures on the darknet. I pulled over for a few minutes and gave her my tablet and showed her some sites to explore and read up on. She was silent for hours, pouring over all of the overwhelming information.

"It says here that we are so diluted that most Ataruians have at most one ability. And... ewww... in order to preserve their heritage they encourage incest! That's gross!" she said, then switched tones. "That's why he did it..." she said, recalling a dark memory.

I looked at her questioningly but I could tell she didn't want to talk about it.

After more exploration and her surprised comments about a Ataru 'Facebook' she finally asked, "So do you think these Ataruians are the people that kept me as a slave?"

"I don't know for sure, there are a few secret societies out there that could be involved... One of the Ataruian groups, called the OEC, is after me. There are also some guilds... err... groupings of similarly abled psychics. One of them is the trackers guild. I'm at war with both the OEC and the trackers guild. Maybe you were enslaved by a vampiric guild..."

"That makes sense," she said, "They were all Vampirics."

"Although there are some human secret societies that are just as malevolent, the most powerful is called the Illuminati... It could be them too... but my bet is that they are a fringe group."

"I don't want to be a burden to you."

"Burden or not, I'll do my best for you, have a little faith in me."

"I already do," she looked over at me with something that looked like admiration before she looked away and went silent once again.

"Just so you know, I have two side trips planned before I confront the OEC. One of them might be as dangerous if not more dangerous. I have some contact in San Francisco with an Ataru resistance movement that I recently became a part of, they should have a safe house for you..."

"I don't want to leave you..."

"Well, I can't exactly take you into battle with me, but don't worry if I do leave you with them it will only be temporary."

"I have to tell you something... I was afraid to tell you before."

"OK, go ahead, I hope you could trust me by now."

"I do... I guess. I'm guess I'm still scared, but here goes... I'm not just an escaped slave, I'm a mother!" she said, and let that sink in. "I know I don't look it but I'm much older than I look. My boy is a grown man now and my daughter is a slave... I have to get her back..."

"Is she a slave like you?"

"When I escaped I went to search for my son, not only to be reunited with him but in the hopes that he could help me get my daughter back. But, I found out he disappeared four years ago. They said he died in a terrorist bombing in Scotland but I know that's not true... Without him I don't know how I'll get my daughter back."

"How do you know he didn't die?"

"When a master vampiric enthralls you, they establish a link. Sometimes when he sleeps we share the same dream..."

"Hmmm, maybe fate did put us together after all..." I said, thoughtfully.

She looked full of fear when she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, calm yourself. It's nothing I did, but I did run into some Vampirics that were being experimented on..." I said, and she seemed to perk up and look hopeful. "I have to warn you a lot of them have died already and they are in danger... I'll see if I can get a list of their names for you... OK? But in the meantime, maybe I can help you get your daughter back?"

"I wish you could, but you see my daughter is enthralled by a master 'vampiric', only a master can break another masters enthrallment, and they are very rare... As far as I know, Yuri and my son are the only masters alive."

"From what I understand of a master level vampiric, they can permanently enthrall someone they sapped and they have ways to temporarily enthrall others without touching... well it's more like mesmerizing them then enthrallment but they often use it to lure their prey to become thralls."

"Yes, I'm ashamed to say that my son enthralled me when he was very young, he didn't even know he was doing it. This led to a sexual relationship and eventually I was taken away from him."

"Wait back up... Your daughter?"

"Yes, my daughter is my son's daughter!" she said, sobbing looking ashamed. "My son doesn't even know about her. He was taken away from me when he was 14. I had my daughter in jail and once I got out I was captured by a master vampiric who overrode my son's link and he enslaved me. He had me turning tricks for him for years..." she cried. "He raised my daughter as his own... I don't know what to do. Even if I get her back she will just go back to him."

"I think, I may be a master vampiric... when my father created me, he designed me to have the strongest traits of all the psychic abilities... Is there anything else that a master vampiric can do? Anything positive that we can verify." I wanted to tell her about my links with Anya, Tanya, Robin and Tracy, but I wanted to keep that on the downlow for a little bit longer.

"Yurgi had this ability to not only sap the lifeforce from beings but he could leach knowledge too. Not memories per se but knowledge of how to do things. Like he could pick up people's languages, he could learn how to program or how to shoot a gun... those kinds of things. He could do that even without touching someone. Although unless he sapped you they were mostly temporary."

"You said earlier that you were enslaved by Yurgi and it was impossible to break free of unless you were countered by another master vampiric... So just how did you get free of his hold on you?"

"Yurgi suffered a drive by shooting by another pimp. He almost died, but during his weakness somehow my son's link grew strong again and I found that I could resist Yurgi... Unfortunately, my daughter does not have a link with my son to fall back on so..."

"I don't see why we can't remove the link through psychic manipulation, I know you don't know much about psychics and I am still learning but maybe we can find someone to help her. I might even be able to remove the hold Yurgi and your son have on you."

"I don't know if that's even possible, but it would be wonderful."

"How many of your kind are in your group?"

"There are twenty Vampirics... Yurgi is a very rich man, he has control over many people, police, politicians, CEOs of very powerful companies. He uses women as lures. I have had to seduce many men... once I have them under my influence I bring the powerful ones to Yurgi where he establishes a more powerful link."

"Does Yurgi use your daughter that way?"

"No, no, no. He has a sick fascination with her. He really believes she is his daughter. I don't think Yurgi would even allow her to have sex with anyone, but no he doesn't touch her that I know of."

"As I said, I will help you but I have a mission to complete first... Once we get to San Francisco I have contacts there that will hide you. The only problem is that whomever attacked us up in the mountains is still following us. I may have to set up an ambush to take him out."

"What!? Where? How do you know?"

"I have seen his signature... I doubt he is a tracker, if he is, he is following you. He's been following us pretty far back. When we get to a straight away I can see his aura. I have tried pulling over but he just pulls over also. So, most likely, this SUV is bugged, he probably bugged it when we were being attacked in the diner. I could just look for the bug but I'd rather he continued to follow me so I can take him out."

"What are we going to do?" she asked, worried.

"Once we get to Salt Lake City, I'll look for a large multi-storied hotel, something that can't be sniped easily. Then I'll check in for a couple of days and wait for him to make his next move..."

"Why not keep going?"

"It will be more dangerous to keep going, the big city limits his options. With the snow limiting which roads we take he already knows which way we are going. He could ambush us or something, and I'm not sure I can protect you if he runs me off the road. I'd rather go on defense especially with you with me."

"You are going to make me bait?"

"Come on now, I wouldn't call you bait if they are already following you and tracking you. I'm not letting them know where you are to draw them out, they already know that..." I said defensively.

She seemed hesitant, then asked, "You'll protect me, right? You're no coward, you're not gonna just leave me with them... If you do, they already tried to kill me once. I'll be as good as dead."

"I wouldn't abandon you... Trust me, I have a plan."

She sat and thought then she turned to me and said, "I don't know why but I do..." she said, and I looked at her questioningly. "Trust you that is."

"Good! This plan won't work if you don't."

*

I booked all of the available suites on three different floors at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. I was able to book 11 suites all together and booked them for 2 nights. It ended up costing more than five grand but my thinking was that the more suites I had booked the harder it would be to find us.

I stopped off at an army surplus store and parked in a grocery store parking lot a block away to throw off whomever was following me. I didn't want them to know what I was buying. I ended up buying some surveillance equipment and other equipment I would need to put my plan in motion. Conveniently there was a hardware store next door and I got some other things I would need to secure a better defense.

Once we got to the hotel the staff was confused as to why I booked so many rooms. I had to make up a story that I was on business and was expecting business clients. I had no idea how many people were needed but my company insisted that I secure the rooms just in case. They were happy to take my money and gave me all of the keys to all of the suites. My SUV was a rental so once I pulled in I paid the concierge money to return my car and secure me a nicer rental. I was surprised that they thought nothing of it, I guess rich people had unusual requests like that all of the time. My main reasoning for the return was to get rid of any tracking devices on the car.

After we checked in, I had three rooms on the second to top floor facing the mountains and one across from them without a mountain view. The rooms were connectable through a shared wall, so it gave us options for escape other than through our room's door. The hotel was close to twenty stories high and had no other builds near it larger than three stories. This would give me a height advantage and help guard against snipers. The hunter would have to come into the hotel to get to us.