Chronicle - Mel and Chris Ch. 04

"There'll be trouble if you've cut the cake," Maria's accented English clear once she'd entered by the side door. She had an open overcoat over a dark blue business suit with a knee-length skirt, calf-high boots with low heels. She pushed through the crowd and wrapped Chris in a bear hug and pressed her mouth hard onto his as his arms went around her grabbed her ass.

Sam smiled at Shaw's confused expression at Maria's greeting, enjoyed it even more when she released Chris and repeated the greeting with Mel before she stood between the two. It wasn't that she was all that petite but with those heels Mel all but dwarfed her. Sam also wondered at the woman's thoughts, she wasn't sure but guessed Shaw and Maria had to be about the same age, she knew the brunette was in her mid-thirties.

Sam saw Anna and Bobby stand at the back of the crowd, not unusual for them. They were taller than most people. The big amazon was in a red and black cheerleader's uniform, Bobby in a football jersey in matching colors. Both had 'WHS' and a stylized falcon badge. Sam searched her memories but couldn't remember ever discussing either one of their high schools so didn't know if these were carryovers or just costumes they'd found.

"Now that Maria's here," Mel said as Teresa finished lighting the candles, "the party can start!"

Sam looked across the room and saw Terry had returned from his errand, she caught his eyes. She nodded very slightly at Shaw and smiled at him. His face showed confusion for an instant before he nodded. He walked through the hallway, greeted Bobby and Anna and then pushed through the crowd in the kitchen as Sam slid behind Shaw to make space. Shaw expressed a moment of surprise but smiled softly and her body language welcomed him.

The crowd cheered and broke into the birthday song, with the inclusion of the 'you belong in a zoo' phrase. After it was over Mel gave Chris a big hug and kissed him hard on the lips and Sam chuckled as that ridiculous skirt popped up and had there been anyone with remaining doubt about the demon's choice to avoid underwear that was cleared. She saw that sort of odd 'other' redhead Asha put her hand over Dave's eyes but she smiled as she did it. Sam thought that was rich, given Asha had taken every opportunity to swing the long slits of her own skirt and show off her own lack of underwear and that shaved pussy.

"Hey," Dave snorted.

Maybe she could get Teresa to shave, Sam wondered what one like that would taste and feel like. She saw her student Aron and his pouting girlfriend Brandi help the bucket brigade with three cartons of ice cream from the freezer. That blonde had lost her panties and had shifted her toga to expose her perfect right breast but she still didn't get the attention she expected and hadn't seemed happy all evening.

Mel released Chris and Teresa handed the birthday boy a long cake knife.

"Where did you get this cake? It's wonderful," Shaw said after a couple of bites, an assertion echoed by many others.

"You should know, Joyce," Mel announced, "it's from Bill 'n Ada's. Best chocolate cake in town!"

Sam and Teresa had picked the cake up and she still had trouble believing it had come from... from THAT place. That Chris had somehow corrupted that poor, pretty black-haired demon by convincing her to like that place... It was utter silence from everyone as they looked at their cake then at the laughing demon as her wings flapped.

"See, Mel," Chris said, "no one believes us. Just like when we told 'em about invisible satellites!"

Chris

"Detective Shaw?" Anna's flat voice almost had feeling in it, Chris thought as the pale woman's brows knitted more deeply as Dave led Shaw into the basement storage room and closed the door behind them. The room was lined with shelves and contained bulk food storage bins, stacks of canned goods, empty water storage bins and equipment such as grinders for making flour from the bulk wheat. The one unusual and obvious item was Mel's powered-off RedFruit computer on a shelf in the far corner.

"What's up, Mel? Chris?" Shaw said and she and Anna looked at each other then at the pair. Mel had done up the bottom-most button on her blazer, which just emphasized the perfect roundness of her breasts. Then Anna looked around at the walls and she tilted her head a couple of times.

"Anna, relax," Chris's voice tried to exude calm, "we don't mean any harm. We just have some questions. Have you ever seen either of these two?"

Mel pulled two enlarged pictures and held them up as Anna and Shaw looked. They were Peter's and Carole's pictures enlarged from the paper after their disappearance. Chris studied Anna's face. Although her voice didn't convey emotion, her face did.

The tall cheerleader worked to tamp down her reaction but Chris was certain there had been one, although she shook her head and straight brunette hair that fell between her shoulder blades bounced.

"Why'd you take his last name, Anna? Seemed kind of, oh, obvious, not to mention keeping his car," Chris kept his voice calm as he glanced at Shaw. He'd given her the VIN the previous night and she'd whispered the confirmation about the car in his ear earlier. Dave had taken a step away from the door, his face hard and angry as he glared at Anna. Anna stayed silent.

"One more picture," Mel's voice stayed low as she shifted a container on the shelf next to the RedFruit and pulled out the padlet and tapped the screen. The cat-elf alien couple's picture they'd shown Shaw at the diner appeared. Anna's face had shown obvious surprise as soon as she'd seen the device but she stared at the picture and her eyes went wide before she blinked multiple times and her mouth moved without speaking before her head swung and she looked around the walls again. Dave's eyes narrowed at the picture, Chris had shown a small, printed version to him privately a few minutes before this meeting. It hadn't badly surprised the grad student as he'd seen the original Anna and having heard Chris and Mel's repeated assertions he'd readily agreed to this plan.

"We wondered, Anna," Mel's turn, her voice low, raspy, pitched to go straight to the crotch in normal times, "this room. We figured out it's a Faraday cage. Dunno why, but it is. You know how the people in this state love to store enough food for the apocalypse..."

"It's a bomb shelter too, with EMP shielding. Way over the top. But it blocks padlet signals, so...," Chris said.

Anna's eyes flared and she ran straight into Dave, who grunted hard with the contact. Shaw stepped back as the big woman went past, Dave had an inch and with his bulk some weight on her but she used an arm and simply threw him against the door where he grunted again but stood. She grabbed Dave's shoulders and lifted him but he grappled and wrapped his leg around hers as she tried to throw him.

"Anna," Shaw shouted, "stop!"

Shaw had dropped, drawn her pistol from her left ankle and positioned herself where she had an angle on the big, angry woman.

"Bobby told us how strong you are," Chris said, "sorry Dave, we didn't know THAT strong."

Anna glared at him then at Shaw, who stood with a two handed grip. Shaw cocked the hammer.

"Please, Anna, relax. We're just talking," Shaw tried to calm her, "it's only a .38, but hollow points. At this range, messy. You're strong, not bulletproof."

I hope, thought Chris, on that last point.

Anna relaxed then removed her grip on Dave's shirt and let him stand, half turned and elbowed him hard in the abdomen, slammed him against the door again and he slumped but held his position and growled but it turned into a short cough.

"Enough, alien bitch!" Mel's growl was brutal, Anna stared at her open-mouthed, Shaw successfully fought the urge to turn.

Anna obeyed as Shaw motioned her to sidle to her left and Chris strode behind the policewoman. Mel stayed at the detective's left while Chris passed behind her and pulled Dave upright, the latter's breath heavy and rough.

"Shit, broken ribs," Chris said as he tapped Dave's abdomen and his friend winced, "need to get you out..."

"No way," Dave groaned, "not yet."

"Anna," Mel's voice again soft, raspy, syrupy, "did you, did your people, take Peter and Carole?"

Anna closed her eyes for a count of three then looked around at everyone in turn.

"How in the hell do you have that? With THAT picture? How?"

"We have our contacts," Mel said, "from the crashed satellite."

"No, it isn't," Mel's turn to be surprised at Anna's stridently snapped words, "those are the golden criminals. From the first expedition. They destroyed the ship and killed everyone. We never had that picture."

"Holy sh... What?" Shaw exclaimed, Chris saw the same spark that Maria had shown when the meaning of their photos had truly sunk in. But unlike the photographer, Shaw kept her composure. At least for now. Maria had only partially come around even today and that had taken months, it was unclear whether Sam and their other housemates BELIEVED or were humoring them to keep the peace. Now? This had to be hard, although the previous evening had prepped her. And she claimed she'd seen a live, original-issue alien like those in the pictures. Chris and Mel's eyes flashed at each other then at Shaw, then back to Anna. The policewoman admirably kept her focus on Anna.

"Yes, detective, I'll be happy for you to investigate and find them. It was easy for us to know who was responsible because golden eyes are very, very rare for us and they were the only two. We were, are, the second expedition and have no gold eyes with us. They were ten years ahead of us. I wasn't born yet, but we got the messages, the panic while we were still on the way. The messages said those two had sabotaged the ship and were trying to escape. "

"Escape? To where?"

"Here. Earth. They sabotaged the navigation computer so the rockets misfired. They sped past Earth but those two ejected with probes. We found what's left, they blew the starship up and the pieces are in a long, elliptical orbit around the sun. July of 1963 by your calendars. If your astronomers saw anything, probably thought it was a comet."

"Okay, then, we bought the padlet at a yard sale," Mel's voice started as a little girl's chirp as Anna glared at her, then back at the gun, "whatever. We have it. It had that picture on it. Did you take Peter? Nothing about him."

"Of course not, twenty years too soon, however you got it. That means they're here. Somewhere. They're mass murderers. There were fifty of my people on that ship. Well, forty-eight we care about."

"Anna, we don't know anything about that or them, other than this picture and a couple others there's nothing about them or your people," Chris hoped Anna wasn't experienced enough with humans to catch the slight lie in that, the usually oblivious Bobby wouldn't be a good role model to help her pick up such clues, "but we'll help you. Bring them to justice. But."

"Peter was my lover," Anna's voice was low, "before I came here. Well, more specifically, he was my teacher."

Now it was everyone else's turn to gape.

"Yes, we took him and Carole. They, they were going to reveal our plans, we thought. But also, well, also Anna, the Queen, I think she loved him, that he reminded her of Ian, but she never admitted it. But we couldn't leave them down here. I took Anna's name to honor her."

"He taught you to fuck humans?" Mel's question.

"Yes, devil girl, he did. Quite well, I think Bobby will tell you," Anna smiled, a happy expression as she said the name, "and more. How to, be, human."

"Bob—-"

"And one more thing," Anna stopped Mel's statement, "I learned from him how to use their love. Peter... well, Anna loved him. But he loved her too. And Vicki, Vicki loved him. He was torn. He... and Carole... but Queen Anna and Vicki too. Some Brittany whore too but that was just because she was a slut, he didn't love her. But I learned that. Just like Bobby loved you, demon."

Chris smiled and nodded slightly at that, Shaw looked at him then at Mel. Her smile was soft.

"He did. No more. Now Bobby loves you something fierce, Anna," Mel told her and Chris nodded his confirmation, "and Peter did a good job. Or you're a good student. But who was Vicki?"

"Vikrangia," or something like that was the word they heard, "Vicki. My mother. Yes, like the gold eyes but well, her eyes aren't golden. I kinda took Peter's name too because, well, she was going to ask him to marry her. Then he'd have been my stepdad."

That left the room in stunned silence.

"Kinda weird when your mom steals your boyfriend, but...," she shrugged.

"Tell me about it," Mel said with a laugh, Chris snorted but no one else reacted.

"Oh hell, Anna," Shaw finally said, "I saw your... the other Anna. Queen Anna? She was with Peter at Halloween. Months before you took him. The port wine stain, her cheek."

"That was her, green and gray eyes, she snuck down to Earth a few times, usually on Halloween. She wasn't like me. Not one of us new ones, there weren't that many of us and even fewer now. But she wanted to meet Peter, we'd had issues with Carole, she wouldn't follow the plan to let us take him. So the Queen wanted to meet him."

Everyone stood silent for a moment but Shaw didn't relax her stance.

"Now, you've got me here. But. I'm out of touch. Much longer and guards will come and check up on me."

"Guards? You mean," Shaw said, "like Queen Anna had that night? Big like Bobby?"

"But stronger than me. I was made," Anna looked at Dave with an almost apologetic air, "to be strong. And, well, they're designed for nastiness. Different gene changes."

"We believe you, but, Anna, can you bring Peter back down? Let him go now?"

It was Shaw speaking but the others nodded and Dave glared.

"No."

"Huh, why? Are you worried he'll reveal—-"

"He's dead."

Shaw went stiff, glared. Dave's mouth moved soundlessly.

"Did you..."

"No, the satellite. He and Queen Anna were on it when it crashed. There was... a mutiny, the mutineers tried to take over the reactor control rooms but something went wrong. Way wrong. I'd left months before to go to another satellite—-"

"There are three," Mel interjected.

"WERE three. Then I was already on Earth when it crashed but there were messages during the fight. Three centuries ago when we found your planet with telescopes then the probes we sent some of my people felt we'd bring you peace and prosperity. To my people, war was something only in our history books. But, you've infected us and now some of my people want to destroy you, most of you, take this planet, Queen Anna would've never agreed with that. It's been a bit... hectic since the crash. We lost our Queen and don't know if there are still any of... those others among us. We think they were all on the crashed satellite..."

"Clusterfuck, we call it," Chris said, "lucky it didn't hit a city."

"The mutineers tried," her hard expression silenced the rest, "but Peter had burrowed deeper into our systems than we'd known. Once it was going down, he crashed it where no one was."

"He'd grown up here," Shaw said, "knew these states really well."

"What about Jayne? Cat?" Dave wheezed and winced as he spoke.

"My best friend, but, well, our agent. For years. Leave her alone, I've told you everything. Now, the door..."

Chris helped Dave shift as Anna turned but they all stopped when Mel spoke firmly but with a kinder cadence than usual..

"No, last thing. That star, the one that blew up, that was your home wasn't it? You're refugees?"

Anna turned and looked at Mel.

"Yes, demon, we were meant to be explorers. But then someone attacked our sun two centuries ago, it went unstable, Queen Anna's lover Ian figured out it would go supernova. A fleet, with millions of my people in hypersleep, is on the way. We think. We hope. The last messages said they'd made it out just in time but with all of the interference from the supernova we're not getting communications."

Chris pulled Dave aside and Anna threw the door open and strode rapidly out and collided with Asha two steps out of the room as Mel and Shaw stepped where they could see.

"Oof, hey, bitch," Asha said before her voice trailed off as her hands pushed off of Anna's bare arms, "oh, wha..."

Asha looked to her left, saw Chris support Dave, and back at Asha. Anna's eyes became slits as she looked at Asha's eyes, her hat and eye patch apparently left upstairs. Beyond them Terry led Maria into view from the stairs, both sets of eyes went wide.

"Lemme go," Anna broke loose and half ran through the shocked trio and turned the corner to the stairs.

"What the fuck?" Asha half yelled as she ran in and grabbed Dave, "I'm going to kill her."

She glared at Mel and Shaw. Her eyes flared quickly as she glanced at the darkened padlet Mel held alongside her right hip.

"And maybe you too. You did this."

"Asha, wait!"

Asha looked at the policewoman then at her hip where she held the gun pointed at the floor.

"I'll be faster, calm down. She's not—-"

"I know she's not," Asha snapped, "I know what she is. Fuck's sakes. Why didn't you bring me—-"

"Because you told us not to, upstairs, remember?" Mel's voice firm, competitive.

Asha exhaled slowly, nodded.

"Anyway, I'm taking this one the hell away from here before you bunch get him killed. C'mon, Dave."

Dave stood firm for a moment, looked at Chris then Mel. His voice was wheezy and chopped.

"Chris, Mel, thank you. Finally."

Asha glared and Terry and Maria stepped back. The sound of a crowd was obvious on the stairs, strange murmurs made clear the mood was confused, likely by Anna's presumed passage. Dave had his arm over Asha's shoulder and the other across his body as they looked up.

"Make way," Asha's voice brooked no dissent and she led Dave up the stairs. Shaw slipped out of sight for a moment before she rejoined Chris and Mel, no gun in her hand.

Mel quickly placed the padlet back on the shelf next to the RedFruit and hid it behind the full container of wheat kernels. Chris led their trio out of the storeroom and Mel pulled the door closed then stepped to slide her left arm around his right and reached out and Maria took her free hand, the photographer had a fretful look.

"Hey, Chris," Teresa spoke as soon as she'd landed at the bottom of the stairs, "Anna grabbed Bobby and they left at warp speed. And Dave and Asha. What's up?"

"Nothing we can do anything about tonight, guys," Chris said as Shaw pushed past with a nod at Terry and ran up the stairs just as Teresa and Sam made it to the bottom, "shit happens sometimes."

La Diabla

[March 2]

Maria

Maria's fingers brushed and quickly drew away from horns that jutted from black hair that was even messier and wilder than usual so they could find purchase on each side of the head that bobbed between her widely spread legs. From her upper back and up she rested on a piled incline of pillows but her neck was arched and her head pressed down and her eyes were closed. She gasped as Mel sucked her clit in and held it with her lips as her tongue swirled around it. Fingers worked the firm spot behind that clit as another finger paused against her second entrance. Maria felt her body pushed and pulled as la diabla was herself impaled by each powerful stroke by the beautiful boy they'd shared these last few months.

Shared. No, not really shared.

She'd lost count of how many climaxes this would be, but she was greedy. She wanted it. She had no doubt her partners would get theirs too. She'd given plenty but this was her turn to take.

She didn't mind that it was a woman driving her to this orgasm. It'd been a tension in her Central American youth, her conservative and religious family and society hadn't looked kindly upon such desires. They still didn't. The rush of freedom when she'd arrived in this country when she'd started her university studies had been disorienting. The rapid succession of her and her family's escape from the junta and her subsequent escape from them to even broader freedom meant she'd barely survived her freshman year. A cute but clumsy American boy had taken her virginity the first week but it was two weeks before a pale blonde teaching assistant had been her first woman.