The Girl With Pink Hair: Pt. 03

The cousins were all very welcoming and Elena was hugely reassured until a large woman with tightly curled silver hair and very blue eyes took more than a keen interest in her and she found herself being backed into a corner.

"I'm Claire," she announced. "I see you've caught the eye of our Jessica."

"We're in Sympathy so perhaps a little more than just friends then." She sipped her wine, taking care not to addle her wits. She could feel Claire's power trying to inveigle its way into her head.

"No witchy tricks, now!" she murmured as another even older relative fetched up alongside Claire. An aunt to Claire, perhaps?

Claire drew back. "Young lady-"

"I will insist you address me as Miss Kowalski, if I must," Elena interrupted.

Claire stared at her, affronted and the other woman laid her hand on her arm.

"Now, Cee, remember your manners." She turned to Elena, "I'm Isobel by the way."

Claire frowned and Elena needed no paranormal abilities to know what she was thinking.

"I may be a mundane -" the others stiffened, "- but I'm Jess' guest."

"Indeed," said Isobel, looking at her niece.

Claire looked mulish. After all, pushing mundanes around was about the only perk of being Folk and was second nature in any case.

Jess appeared. "Everything alright?" she enquired breezily.

Elena could feel the roil as her girlfriend and her relatives exchanged bland smiles.

"Please, if I'm going to cause trouble then perhaps it's best we call it a day," Elena said quietly.

"No, darling, you stay right here. Our bond is clear - to those that care to look for it," Jess said, fixing Claire with a gimlet stare.

The other woman frowned and stole a quick glance at her older relative but found no support there. "Excuse me," she muttered and turned away.

Isobel apologised, explaining that the Folk were very defensive around ... her kind. Elena smiled warmly and waved away her apologies but experienced a lingering aftertaste. She was quiet on the drive home and Jess left her to her thoughts.

***

The Heavenly Angel pub

The nights were drawing in and by mid evening it was fully dark. However, there was a little of summer's warmth left in the air and the girls had spent the early evening at the riverside pub, sitting on the riverbank and drinking cold lager to soothe the heat of some properly made chips.

"Where are we going?" Elena asked casually.

Jess inspected her through the steam of another chip as it hovered before her lips. She could tell where this was coming from. Elena liked things mapped out. She chose her words carefully.

"I have another eight months in my current assignment. After that I don't know. I'm very bored but the Assembly haven't given any hints about what I might do next."

Elena looked at her in surprise. Jess never spoke about her other job. She giggled. "Aren't you scared I'll blab to the Other Side?" She made quotation marks with her fingers.

"Yeah? And who would they be?" Jess replied, tartly.

Elena threw a chip at her. The ducks rushed to crowd in the water below them, guessing rightly that a tasty morsel would soon be coming their way. Jess tossed it over their heads, trying to give the females half a chance of getting some before the drakes bullied their way through.

"That's us, you know, the helpless double X, tasked with furthering the species while Mr Y struts about and gets the best of the goodies."

"Oh, puh-lease!" Elena snorted. "I want children but it's going to be at a time of my choosing. I'm no man's incubator!"

There was a long silence while they looked out across the river, the shadows starting to build in the trees on the opposite bank, the ducks having long since dispersed in search of easier prey.

"Children," Jess said, softly, half as a question.

Elena thought about it. It was an issue that had cropped up from time to time as she toiled though University. The unfortunate truth was that children and an academic career were quite often an either/or choice. Then what Jess had said earlier came back to her.

"Could you choose to leave the, err ... service?"

They looked at each other in the golden light.

Jess chuckled. "I guess. I don't know what I'd do instead. Waitress and grocery girl go hand in hand into the wide blue yonder."

"Don't you have to have a child with a male with Talent?"

"I don't have to," Jess replied, sturdily. "I can get a child with whoever I want. I get an income for having a child through the Programme though."

Elena's eyes were wide. She remembered laughing at the idea of Jess' father, nice George Calamar, being put out to stud. The reality was this. Of course Jess' dad couldn't be expected to support all the offspring he fathered. And all those single mums would have to be helped ... unless they met someone. Someone willing to share the burden.

Jess turned to her. "What about you? How would you feel rearing a mundane alongside one of the Folk?"

"I honestly don't know," Elena replied.

There was another long silence, each lost in their thoughts as the evening deepened.

Finally Jess jumped to her feet and put out her hand to pull Elena up. "Come on, let's put that on one side for another day." Her voice grew sly, "Besides, I got something in the post this morning."

***

The Loft

Jess sat astride Elena as she carefully tightened the straps of the sex toy. Elena's tongue was working at her, lapping at her clit, and then making its way down into her cleft, between the swollen sex lips to dip into her hole, the lubrication dripping on to her face. She sucked the labia into her mouth and lashed the nub, feeling Jess's thighs tighten.

"Nearly done," Jess gasped, "don't blame me if everything's not in the right place. You're ruining my concentration."

Elena swallowed what she could and went in search of more, she couldn't get enough of the tart deliciousness. She moaned as Jess moved forward taking it out of reach. However, as she sat up, she saw her lover on her knees with her amazing derrière in the air, her sex wetly gleaming in anticipation.

"Fuck me, darling." Jess drawled as she looked underneath her arm at Elena.

Elena scrambled to her knees and aimed the bulbous head of the dildo at Jess's opening. She teased her girlfriend by rubbing the tip up and down her cleft.

"Just to make sure it's properly lubricated," she breathed in Jess' ear.

"Bitch!" hissed Jess, desperate to be filled.

Elena thrust gently with her hips and the head disappeared, Jess's labia stretching and engulfing the sex toy. She let out a carnal groan.

A little extra pressure and each ridge pushed Jess a little higher. She could feel her climax building and fumbled for the wand. Elena withdrew and then entered her again, taking hold of Jess's hips for leverage.

"God, you look sexy," she murmured, picking up the pace.

Jess managed to turn the wand on and press it to her clit. She cried aloud as the sensation overwhelmed her and Elena groaned in answer, Jess's Talent bringing them together at the moment of orgasm. Elena rammed the dildo home with final a thrust of her hips; and collapsed over her lover. Each could do nothing but pant for several minutes.

"We could teach rabbits a thing or two," gasped Jess, as they sprawled over the bed, the strap-on still deep inside her.

***

Green By Nature

Stacy had gradually thawed towards 'Miss World Super Brain' and now, if not exactly BFF, was at least on speaking terms with Elena. Late one morning as the two of them went through the storefront boxes looking for vegetables that were no longer saleable, she nudged Elena.

"The straight," she murmured, without pausing or looking up.

Elena looked through her lashes to see a woman in a dark business suit perusing the chilled cabinet. "What about her?" she whispered.

"Probably food standards. Possibly environmental health. They're always sniffing around. Think everything should be shrink wrapped and sterilised."

"Or she might just want some ponir," Elena gently chided. "We shouldn't just preach to the choir."

Stacy snorted, unconvinced, but as it turned out, she was right to be suspicious. When Elena went out on her break, the suit fell in beside her.

"Might I have a moment of your time, Miss Kowalski?"

Close up, Elena thought she was curiously anonymous. She would have been hard put to describe any distinguishing features. She did not break stride.

"What about?"

"A mutual acquaintance."

"I don't know you, Agent Smith or whoever you are."

The woman's brow furrowed; the reference escaped her. However, one side benefit was to give her face more character and Elena tried to memorise as much as she could. She wondered if, like Jess at the Varsity, her obfuscation had slipped under the stress of distraction.

Agent Smith tried to re-take control of the narrative. "But I know you, Elena Serafino Kowalski. Twenty eight years old, currently resident at Somerset Street, romantically involved with Jessica Calamar ... shall I go on?"

Elena rounded on her. "What do you want?"

The other woman gestured toward a nearby cafe. "Let me buy you a coffee, Elena. I assure you I am not hostile."

Elena snorted. "I'll be the judge of that."

Agent Smith did not respond other than to continue to study her with her mild hazel eyes set in her eerily bland countenance.

"Fine," Elena muttered. "I was half expecting one of your sort to come crawling out of the woodwork anyway. You've got five minutes and you can keep your coffee."

The other woman's expression did not change as she turned towards the cafe. Elena thought that if she wasn't using obfuscation then she had a promising career as a storefront mannequin.

Inside Agent Smith ordered a flat white and led the way to a table in a little alcove. Providing they kept their voices down they wouldn't be overheard by the other patrons. Elena considered asking to move to a different table, just to see if she could get a rise out of her, but then decided it would just prolong things. She sat down across the table from her and folded her arms.

"So defensive, Doctor Kowalski!" Smith chuckled. "Aren't you at least curious to hear what I've got to say?"

Elena said nothing and the silence lengthened. The other woman sighed. "I want to make you aware of certain ... facts about your present situation. Jessica Calamar is an agent for a faction that seeks control over others of our kind."

Elena shrugged. "That's just politics."

"Did you know she is authorised to use lethal force?"

Elena shifted in her seat. She had wondered just how much agency Jess had. Her girlfriend didn't seem like a killer though. Did any killer? She lacked data.

"And?"

The agent sipped her coffee and a certain taint to Elena's thinking started to register. When Smith put the cup down, Elena leaned forward and pushed it into her lap. Smith leapt to her feet, swearing and brushing frantically at the liquid soaking into the material of her skirt.

The barista hurried over with a dustpan and a cloth and knelt to deal with the debris.

"That's going to be embarrassing," Elena remarked.

The barista looked up to see Elena leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed and a wry smile on her face. His gaze flicked to the other woman who glared at him, and he decided on a prudent retreat. He'd clear up properly after they left.

The agent leaned on the table and ground out her words.

"Haven't you wondered why she attached herself to you? What advantages do you offer her in the furtherance of her mission? She wouldn't tolerate a hindrance so you must be an asset, a piece in play to be used at some crucial moment. And, let's face it, she didn't have to do very much to entice you in, did she? A nice place to live, companionship and a taste of adventure."

"She loves me," Elena retorted, noticing that Smith had narrow shoulders and quite coarse hair, cut short.

"Says she does," the other replied. "And what do you really know about the limitations of her powers? Can she make you love her?"

Elena was silent. Suddenly the speed with which she'd shed her old life seemed out of character. A familiar chill gripped her insides.

"Come on, Elena, you're a clever girl. How about you use your head for a change? Give your ..." she bit the next words down and fell silent, thin lipped.

Elena looked at her with narrowed eyes. Smith had been on the verge of a sneer. "This is personal for you, isn't it?"

"Just think about what I've said," the agent muttered, turning from the table. "And don't do anything stupid."

Elena was taken aback. Do anything stupid? What would that even be? Go to the authorities?

"I think if you turn right out the door there's a dry cleaners just up the road," she called after her.

A couple of the other patrons sniggered at her appearance, and Smith cast a poisonous look over her shoulder as she opened the door to leave.

***

Back at the loft, she sat Jess down at the little breakfast table. "I have something to tell you."

Jess cautiously sampled Elena's emotions and found concern and a little fear, but nothing too pronounced.

"I met someone from the other side." Elena looked up at Jess and her lips quirked. "I didn't blab."

Jess gasped, "What did they look like?"

"Business suit, nondescript otherwise. I think she was using obfuscation because it slipped when I wrong footed her. She's thin, has coarse dark hair, cut short, and brown eyes, and her forehead creases terribly when she's puzzled."

"I know her!" hooted Jess. "That's Monica Zedelsky! I didn't know she was in business for anyone. My handler will be delighted! Anything else?"

"There was some unpleasantness," Elena said, quirking her lips.

Jess stared at her. "What happened?"

"She tried witchy powers on me, and I tipped her coffee into her lap."

Jess gasped and put her hand to her mouth. "Good girl! What else did she do?"

"She told me I was a pawn that you wouldn't bother with unless I was an asset. She also implied that you could make me love you."

"Uh," Jess grunted. "Interesting that they're trying to use you as a lever so soon. I've not involved you in any of my sneakwork and you don't know anything about anything where the Folk are concerned. Not really."

Elena looked down at her hands. "And the love thing?"

"No," Jess said, firmly, "it's like hypnosis. You can't make someone jump off a cliff, you can only nudge their existing emotions one way or another. To do what you're suggesting would require subverting someone's whole personality and the Ego has some strong opinions about that."

"And she's right that I don't know much about you. You said as much just now. About The Folk, I mean." Elena qualified, staring at her lover.

"We're back to the trust thing then. Do you trust me?"

Elena put her head on one side and considered Jess for an awfully long time, her emotions like a shell of white marble. Just around the point where Jess was about to pass out from holding her breath, her girlfriend smiled.

"Do you really have a licence to kill?"

"No. Although you may change your mind when you see what I've done to a treacle sponge."

***

October-November

Somerset Street

Working in the calm light airiness of the loft room between shifts at the grocery, Elena finished her thesis. Professor Edwards grumped but decided that there was nothing that still needed tweaking. Elena drew a long breath and gave him the slow blink. Just a little longer and she would be free of him. Free of the not so subtle digs at her sex, free of the smell of stale tobacco and faint miasma of mildew that surrounded him. The thesis was duly submitted, and her viva was scheduled.

She prepared as best she could, trying to work out what they would ask, getting Merry and Sanjay to poke holes in what she had done. Jess was both a comfort and a wonder, suppressing Elena's nerves and pushing her to concentrate, then relaxing her with all the tools at her disposal.

The examining panel was headed by Adrian Hanson. "That's good," Elena said as she reviewed the list of names. "We've always got on well. He's appallingly bright and he will ask some difficult questions, but he won't be nasty."

Jess nodded approvingly. "Good, that's someone I don't have to kill, then."

Elena laughed, "No, don't kill Adrian, he's nice. I've met Dorothy Spencer a couple of times. She's a good choice and it'll be nice to have a woman on the panel. I don't know anything about Professor Dexter, he's visiting from MIT. He's authored a lot of papers, just not many in my field."

Oddly enough some intelligence about the Professor came from an unexpected quarter. Merry texted Elena to tell her to watch out for the American. 'Probably cleverer than everyone else in the room put together. Reputed to give students a very hard time.' When Elena thanked her, the reply came back, 'Don't thank me, it was Jack Turner. He said he hoped it made up for a few things.'

Elena sat back in genuine surprise and stared at her phone. She hadn't thought about Jack in quite a while but now discovered that a lot of her anger had dissipated. She wouldn't thank him but maybe allow him to occupy a slightly less poisonous place in her memories.

***

November

On campus

Looking the American up on the web seemed to back up what Jack had said so when the time came, Elena politely asked Jess not to interfere, squared her shoulders and entered the fray, otherwise known as Meeting Room F40.

In the café where she had met Mariam, Jess sat on her hands. She could feel Elena across the city, like a black hole, letting nothing out. She could also feel Elena relax when it ended. At this distance it was hard to get more than a general impression, but her love didn't appear to be distressed.

'Meet me at The Swan,' flashed up on her phone and Jess fled the café, grabbing her jacket and her wallet.

***

In the pub, Elena was sitting with a pint of stout, and next to it, rapidly frosting over, was a shot glass of vodka. Jess stared at it. It was somewhat out of character for her wine loving girlfriend.

Elena looked up, smiled, and said, "Na Zdrowie!" and drained the vodka. She held it for a moment and then coughed. "I used to be able to do that better," she croaked.

Jess was baffled. "Are you alright? How did it go? How was the American?" Elena's aura flickered, indicating either great stress or very mixed emotions.

Elena patted the seat beside her and took a deep drink of the stout to soothe her throat. "Professor Dexter congratulated me. I thought Professor Hanson was going to faint."

"Now who's the smartest person in the room?"

"I think Evan Dexter even liked me!" Elena shook her head in disbelief. "But, get this, Jess," Elena turned and grabbed her hands, "better than all of that, no corrections!"

Jess was puzzled, all this was alien to her. "No corrections? So what?"

"It means they can't fault my work. People like Adrian Hanson, Dorothy Spencer and Professor Lord God Almighty Evan Dexter think my work is good!" Elena squeaked.

Elena appeared to be in a state of shock; her emotions swirling lemon shades of delight and blue confusion.

"And why wouldn't they?" Jess replied, loyally.

Elena slumped back in the seat and stared at the ceiling.

"There's a bottle of champagne sitting in the fridge at home. Why don't we order takeaway and have a bit of a celebration tonight?"

***

Somerset Street

Early in the evening a small group sauntered the couple of hundred metres from the house to the railings that marked the edge of the park. As the first of the fireworks from the public display illuminated the surroundings, Jess and Mike prised the corks from the bottles of champagne, and everyone cheered.