Rock and Roll Angel Pt. 03

Temp gave her a look and made a move that could only be interpreted as a shrug.

A bit unnerved, she went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. She found a shot glass, filled it with the beer and took it to the cat sitting on the table. This is were the joke ends. Noway is the cat going to drink beer. She watched the fucking thing lustfully lap at the beer.

"MMM," Temp said contentedly. "Nothing beats cold beer and fish.

"Okay, I'm dreaming," Jenna said calmly. "I fell asleep after having Skype sex with Ethan.

Temp snickered. "You certainly was enjoying yourself," the cat said. The end of its tail curled around the shot glass then miraculously lifted it the off the table. He tip the glass at her then put it to his mouth and gulped it down like a sorority girl on pledge night.

"Yep, this is all a dream," She said as she sat down at the table to watch the cat finish eating his meal. With his amazing tail, he pushed the shot glass in Jenna's direction. She got the gist and refilled the glass.

"Won't change your mind on the tequila?" Temp asked. Before Jenna could answer, the cat put a paw up to delay her answer. "Hold on, my boss is calling." He looked away from her the way people do when they rudely took a call at the dinner table. "Hello?" the cat said in his smooth tenor voice. "I need a few more minutes ... What? ... I'm not eating ... No, I'm not drinking beer either." he looked at Jenna and gave her a wink.

Jenna barked a laugh but quickly covered her mouth because it sounded a little too hysterical.

"Okay," Temp said to whom ever he was speaking too. He looked at Jenna and said in a serious tone. "We have to move this along. This is about Ethan Grant."

"Of course it is," Jenna said.

"We need your help to stop him from doing something unspeakable."

"We?" she asked. The cat nodded. She closed her eyes. This was getting too weird. "I'm stressed out about Ethan. This is what this stupid dream is all about isn't it?"

"Do you believe that Ethan's wings are real?" Temp asked.

"Yes," Jenna said with her eyes still closed.

"Good, then trust your eyes," Temp said.

"Trust?" Jenna said with a laugh. "You're a fucking talking cat drinking beer for Christ's sake."

"Sorry about that," Came a whole new voice from the direction of the pool deck doors. "I told you that this approach would disturb the poor girl you silly Batu." The new voice was deep but clearly female. She had an accent that made her sound like a jazz singer from Europe or maybe Jamaica. Sade would sound just like that Jenna thought.

"Open your eyes please," the woman said gently.

With a racing heart, Jenna's eyes fluttered open. Standing in the Haverdink living room was the a tall beautiful African woman with long, waxy, bluish black hair. She wore faded jeans and high fashionable leather boots but nothing else. The woman was topless. Her coffee brown breasts were full, firm and perfect. She had a classic hourglass figure that would look at home on a 1950's fashion runway. Merlin Monroe had nothing on this woman. All that aside, it was the gray-brown wings sprouting from the woman's back that dropped Jenna's jaw.

"Fuck me," Jenna whispered.

********

Ashley Grant sat in the neurological wing of the San Francisco Medical Foundation doing the one thing in her life that she truly sucked at. Waiting. Sarah had gone out to find drinkable coffee for them. Good luck with that, Ashley thought. Over the years, she had learned that all hospitals universally served shitty coffee. The more prestigious the facility, the worst the coffee it seemed.

"Ethan is going to be fine," Sarah had told her before going on her coffee hunt.

The scientist in Ashley just couldn't accept that. How fine can a person be that had regular blackouts that lasted days at a time? The first coma at the concert in Chicago was horrifying. The following blackouts were just as upsetting.

The sound of footsteps made her stand up. Her heart raced, it was Doctor Tobita. the brain specialist. Not wanting to think about what news she came to deliver, Ashley did something that men did to her all the time, she reduced Dr. Tobita to her outward physical attributes. Tobita was in her forties, quietly attractive even in green scrubs. She was pure Japanese, on the petite side barely five feet if that. Ashley was half Japanese herself and could easily pass for full blooded if not for her height of five eight. As the doctor drew close, Ashley tried to read her expression but the woman's face gave nothing away.

"Are you Ashley Grant?" Tobita asked.

"Yes," Ashley said. The doctor was about to speak further but Ashley stopped her. "Can you wait until I call my fiance who's hunting down some coffee somewhere in the building?"

"Of course," Tobita said. She gave Ashley a curious look, tilted her head to the side and said, "You a very tall for an Asian girl."

Ashley detected an eastern accent. "I'm half Japanese, half Norwegian. I have relatives named Tobita on Maui."

"My people are from out east, New York, New Hampshire," Tobita said. "I'm all Japanese. No half tall and beautiful for me."

If Tobita were a guy, the compliment would have put Ashley on guard. Ethan and his crazy wings had a strong effect on people, women in particular and Dr. Tobita had just spent the last couple of hours in his presents. Just as Ashley was about to call Sarah, on the phone, her six foot tall fiance was suddenly among them.

"Oy, more tall this one ," Tobita said reacting to Sarah's six foot frame.

"Go ahead, tell us about Ethan, doctor," Ashley said.

Tobita looked around for Ashley's Fiance but all she saw was tall, blond Sarah Logan holding two cups of coffee. Seconds later Tobita put it all together. Sarah Logan was the fiance.

"Ethan is perfectly healthy," Tobita said. "I ran all the tests and can find nothing wrong with him neurologically or other wise."

Both women stared at Dr. Tobita.

"No cancer or tumors were detected," Tobita said bluntly.

Sarah held out both cups of coffee to Dr. Tobita. A bit baffled, the doctor took the cups. Sarah took Ashley into her arms and the pair hugged long and fierce. Tobita waited patiently. Both women were crying when they finally pulled apart.

Ashley recovered enough to ask, "Any idea what is caused the blackouts?"

"None," Tobita said.

"Healthy normal people just don't laps into days long comas, " Sarah said as she took charge of the coffees again and handed one to Ashley.

Ashley took a sip and grimaced proving herself right, it was a shitty cup of coffee. But after the good news about Ethan, it was the best cup ever.

"I agree that normal people would not," Tobita said. "But Ethan is clearly not normal."

"You were briefed about his condition before hand," Ashley said flatly, clearly ruffled by the doctors bluntness.

"Give the doc a break," Sarah said. "Ethan has wings, nothing normal about that. You think his wings and the blackouts are connected?"

No idea," Tobita said. She eyed up the two tall women before her. "I am a bit overwhelmed by your physical beauty. I suspect that Mr. Grant's wings is the cause of that, no?"

This woman is sharp, Sarah thought. "We called it the Ethan effect," Sarah said with her signature crooked smile.

"He puts out a powerful pheromone is my guess," Ashley said.

"Perhaps," Tobita said sounding doubtful. "Although I can't imagine a pheromone being this powerful. The feelings I'm experiencing is too extreme."

"What ARE you feeling my good doctor?" Sarah asked clearly amused by Tobita's reaction to Ethan.

Ashley nudged Sarah hard.

Tobita looked thoughtful, then said, "Back in college I made out with another girl. It was just that one time and I thought I had successfully buried that memory forever." Realizing she was talking to two lesbians, she bowed her head and said, "I'm sorry, I mean no offense."

"None taken," Sarah said. "Carry on doc."

Tobita nodded. "After spending time with Mr. Grant, the memory reappeared and is now front and center in my head." she blushed and added softly, "I look at you two and wonder what it would be like to kiss one of you?"

"Wanna find out?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah!" Ashley yelled.

"My point is," Tobita went on, "Mr. Grant is effecting my mood in a way the goes beyond a simple pheromone exposure. Somehow, he is stimulating a part of my brain that is in charge of sexual interest."

"Are you saying that his wings are giving off some kind of vibe?" Ashley asked.

"She's saying that Ethan has psychic powers," Sarah said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ashley said. Sarah was a fine lawyer but quite dumb when it came to serious science.

Tobita's forehead wrinkled in thought. She said nothing for several seconds. "You can take him home," she said softly and turned to go.

"Thank you doctor," Ashley said.

Yeah, thanks doc," Sarah said. "If you're still curious about kissing girls, we're staying at the Braddock, room sixty two."

"You so embarrassing," Ashley said and punched her fiance in the arm with all her might.

*******

"Jennatta Goldberg of Byle, Ohio," Temp said with a nod of his head then he bent and lowered the front half of his sleek black body.

"Oh my god a cat is bowing to me," Jenna whispered. She covered her mouth to stifled a giggle

"May I present to you Julin Pa of the Vustag line, the first winged Hodjbon to grace that family in—"

"Stop with the formality, I hate that," the winged woman said cutting the cat off. "You can call me Yella, Jennatta Goldberg of Byle, Ohio."

"Call me Jenna," Jenna said just above a whisper.

"I think the poor thing needs to sit," Yella said to her cat.

Temporary's tail tightened around Jenna's right wrist and the cat pulled her to the living room sofa. Although gentle, the cat's grip was firm and his pull surprisingly strong. If it wanted to move her in a direction against her will she was sure it could. She didn't resist though and sat down heavily on the sofa.

Yella grabbed a dinning room chair and plopped it in front of Jenna. Her light gray wings lifted and parted as she sat down. Yella's legs, hips and butt were made for faded denim. Old Navy or The Gap would make a billion dollars if she advertised for them just as she was. Her skin was a flawless rich brown, several shades darker than Jenna's, her firm breasts at that cusp between a C-cup and D's, the nipples firm, areolas a darker brown about the size and texture of small seashells that were shaped like Chinese peasant hats. Joy called the shells ophi in Hawaii.

"Sorry if my Kahiss has caused you any discomfort," Yella said.

"The new term in Batu," Temp said as he hopped up and sat on the coffee table facing Jenna.

"Batu?" Jenna asked.

"Local acronym," Temp said. "for binary artificial technical unit. Although I'd be better referred to as a Biological artificial tech unit by the same acronym. Either term is an over simplification of what I am, not to mention a little derogatory. From where Yella comes from they called me Ka Kenishka Fa. Fa for short, fa meaning brains or thought. But when I found out that fa was also the name of a very popular soup dish from Vietnam, I settled for the imperfect term Batu. Don't much care for it but it does roll off the tongue better."

"Too much rolls off your tongue," Yella said. "As usual we are having a conversation all about you. Conceited thing!"

"Could you give more detail as to WHERE Yella is from?" Jenna asked Temp.

"She is from a from another world," Temp said.

"I see," Jenna said trying to stay calm.

"We need your help to stop Ethan from doing an unspeakable thing," Yella said.

"Namely clipping his wings," Temp said.

"Don't be so flippant!" Yella snapped. "This is a grave matter, disrespectful ..." she slipped into another language that sounded like a mixture of Hawaiian and Swedish.

Like any earthly cat, Temporary yawned and stretched to show how little he thought of his boss' reprimand. Of course, that pissed Yella off even more.

"Why you picked such a haughty form I will never understand," Yella said.

"If I remember right it was YOUR idea," Temp said. "Become a pet and infiltrate the Haverdink household to spy on Ethan Grant you said."

"I was thinking of a local pretty bird or one of those intriguing creatures they call bats."

"Birds are boring and usually caged and humans have an aversion to bats don't they Jenna?"

"Um ... "

Yella stood, and looked down at her Batu cat sternly. "You have been eating, I can smell the fish on you."

"Everybody's gotta eat," Temp said with his weird cat shrug.

"The more you eat, the harder it will be to change your form," Yella warned.

"I like being a cat," he said. He pointed his nose up and sniffed. "Precious, the unfixed Siamese down the lane is in heat again. Remind me to use protection. Don't need a litter of kittens to bog me down at this time in my life."

"Foul creature!" Yella said. "Next time pick bat or one of those charming beasts called dogs!"

Temp shivered and hissed his contempt for dogs. The started arguing in that other language.

Jenna fixated on Yella's lush long hair. It gave off a waxy sheen. Was this its natural state or did she have to work it? Jenna cringed. Here she was, having a close encounter of the third kind and all she could think of was what kind of hair products the chick used. Plus, sitting here in her no nonsense white cotton underwear made her feel even less qualified to be Earth's diplomat. The late Carl Sagan or Eisenhower Heinz should be talking to Yella not me.

"You guys are from another planet," Jenna said flatly.

Yella and Temp looked at Jenna, clearly they had forgotten about her.

"I think for Jenna's sake we should stay on point," Yella said.

"Yes of course," Temp said and dashed into the Haverdink pantry. He returned with his amazing tail gripping a fifth of tequila.

"Compliments of the Haverdink liquor cabinet," Temp said.

With no hesitation, she took the bottle, undid the cap and took a big swig. She held out the bottle to Yella but she politely refused. She held it out to Temp.

"Not in front of the boss," he whispered. At normal volume he said, "We should clarify a few points. Yella is from another planet but I'm from here."

"Right," Jenna said. "You are one of the multitude of Earth's talking cats."

Temp laughed. "You are keeping a sense of humor. That is good."

"I'm fucking crazy is what I am," Jenna said.

"Be that as it may," Temp said. "I started life as a Android five smart phone from Motorola.

"You started life as a smart phone?" Jenna asked not believing a word. Apparently all talking cats were liars.

"Sound crazy huh? With Yella's help that old phone become the awesome beauty before you."

"You started as a smart phone and now you're a talking cat?" Jenna said flatly.

"I introduced a tiny bit of Bioclay to the little phone," Jenna said. "If I had known that the outcome would be HIM I might have reconsidered."

Temp smiled like a cartoon cat then he jumped into Yella's lap. Jenna expected her to fling him across the room but she did what every cantankerous cat owner has done for the last several thousands years, she scratched him behind the ear.

"Do you have a spaceship squirreled away somewhere?" Jenna asked.

Temp chuckled. "Yella can't parallel park let alone fly a spaceship." That little jibe earned him an unceremonious dump to the floor.

"I came by keshkit," Yella said.

"Wormhole technology," Temp translated as he hopped into Jenna's lap.

Since she was hardly wearing anything, she flinched expecting cat claws to dig into the skin of her thighs. None came though. Dubiously, she allowed Temp to curl into a warm ball in her lap. She couldn't help recalling all the times she found Temp waiting in the bathroom as she stepped out of the shower.

"Wormholes like in outer space?" Jenna asked as she tentatively scratched the cat's head.

Yella nodded. "They occur naturally but my people have learned to create them."

"I wouldn't use the word learned," Temp said. "Stumbled upon would be more accurate."

A tingle of fear ran up Jenna's spine. "So at any time, an armada of alien space ships could just pop out of some artificial wormhole and surround earth?"

Temp laughed in her lap.

"That is not how wormholes work," Yella said. "I assure you that I am the only one of my kind that you will ever meet."

"Oh my god!" Jenna said, "Ethan is one of your kind isn't he?" She felt stupid for that to finally occur to her. "Have you come to take him home?"

"That is perplexing," Yella said and seemed unable or unwilling to speak further.

After a few seconds of silence, Temp said, "May I take it from here?"

Yella nodded.

"Long ago in a galaxy far far away," Temp said.

"You're kidding right?" Jenna said.

"Yes I am,"Temp said. "Yella's people live in the milky way too. Anyway, roughly sixty thousand years ago earth time. There was the great migration."

"The great foolishness would be a better title," Yella said.

"Millions of Yella's people chose to make the keshkit—"

"You mean the blind leap into death," Yella cut in.

Temp rolled his eyes. "Do you want to tell this?"

"Sorry," Yella said.

"Millions of Yella's people chose the keshkit, namely to step into a temporary worm hole and into the unknown."

"So millions of winged people made this keshkit thing?" Jenna asked.

"There were only two winged ones among them. Hodjbon like Yella are very rare. One in five million was the last count. Anyway, a Hodjbon is needed to stabilize a wormhole. Over the last fifty thousand years Yella's people have not heard a peep from the millions that vanished.

"Were they crazy?" Jenna asked. "Were they following some Jim Jones character to their death."

"Nothing like that," Temp said as he shifted on her lap. He stretched his neck for her to scratch. "In a way it was kind of a fad like bell bottoms. It was considered cool to go on the keshkit. Except for a few driven individuals, no more mass keshkits have occurred since."

"So they all died?" Jenna said.

"We think so ... until recently," Temp said. "The Mon council detected weird shifts in the time-space continuum on the opposite side of the galaxy. Whatever was happening was unauthorized, unethical and illegal."

"So you found your lost tribe?" Jenna asked. "Those aliens ... Yella's people have been living among us all this time?"

"That was the assumption," Temp said around satisfying purrs as she scratched under his chin. "The Mon council traced the time-space anomalies to here. And this is were Yella comes in."

"I volunteered to be an envoy," Yella said. "I was sent to bring the lost ones back into the fold and get them to stop tinkering with the continuum."

"What happened?" Jenna asked. "They said no? Told you to get out"

"It turned out that my people had nothing to do with the anomalies," Yella said.

"What about Ethan? He's one of you right?"

"The great migration never came this way," Yella said.

"Ethan is human," Temp said.

"But he's got wings like her?" Jenna said confused.

"It is preexisting," Yella said.

"So the space continuum thing is what then?" Jenna asked.

"Of human origin," Yella said.

"And this means?" Jenna asked.

"That Yella is totally fucked," Temp said.

********

"Told you there was nothing wrong with me," Ethan said as the three founding members of Angel's Nest filed into their shared room at the Braddock hotel. He went at the Velcro tabs on his custom jacket then the shirt beneath. It was October and the weather was a little chilly in the Bay Area. His wings were covered with a velvety fur but the rest of him was just plain old skin. He hated wearing a shirt let alone a jacket. Free of the shirt and jacket, he spread his wings. Ashley had picked the Braddock Hotel because it boasted tall ceilings. Jenna Goldberg was the one to thank for that. When they were on tour, Jenna had gone out of her way to find places that would accommodate Ethan and his wings. The Braddock was on that list.