Story

In the long ride back to my hotel, I sat quietly, brooding.

My mind clenched and wrestled with goals that my arrogance and lack of focus had cost me. I'd not gotten close to the Serpent. Her security chief and a bit of bad luck thwarted me. With Doris Connor caught, subdued by my little trap, I'd needed just a few moments to ensure that she was no longer a problem, even though I meant her no harm. Yet, by not anticipating the police's quick arrival and then losing my concentration when they showed up, I allowed Doris to regain control of her mind, forcing me to retreat and run for cover, tail between my legs. Now, on top of everything else, I was going to have to contest with both the Serpent and Doris warned and on their territory, where they had the advantage. I was forced to access the Great River fully to make a clean escape, and the effects, while slight, were noticeable. It would take time to regain my balance, and I would need my wits fully sharp when next I faced my adversaries.

Sighing, I decided to listen to some music, and flipped on the radio. A moment of static, then the radio glowed with life, filling the car with music. I smiled ruefully. A favorite of mine, "Ironic" by Morrisette. Funny, the song pretty much described my mood as well as my situation at the moment. My lost Clan's relationship with the Great River is odd and perhaps small compared to most of the Ancients. In my studies as a doctor, I had learned much about science, energy and matter, and how such interacts with the human body. There are still many unknowns, but I had come a bit closer to understanding myself in the process. As near as I can figure, the spectrum used by the radio has parallels to my own subtle powers. Sometimes, when I have tapped into the Great River, my proximity to a radio alters the normal tuning function, and I become a subconscious processor of random signals, from random stations, all over the world.

In those times, I've often discovered the radio data resonates with my deepest thoughts, or perhaps untouchable depths of the River itself. The peculiar becomes fact. Songs float through the radio like dreams of knowledge. Snatches of meaningful keys or lost suppositions then slip from the speakers. Sometimes, it gives me exactly the information I need to know, with uncanny accuracy. Sometimes, however, it gives me nothing but peculiar music.

Or old favorites.

It is an unpredictable and rather unreliable Gift, more useful as entertainment that anything else. Still, it does occasionally come in handy. Sometimes I wished that I had inherited the fairly amazing, more reliable psychic talents that the Judgment had been granted. Then again, who knew what costs might she pay for those gifts? As I paid for my own.

Song change.

"Sometimes its feels like...somebody's watching meeee---"

Hmmm. An fairly old song, definitely not something I would have chosen. Apparently, this is going to be one of those times when I get cryptic information. And it is not very surprising that Tapestry would become aware of my presence just now. I had managed to live this long by hiding, by blending into the shadows, and by staying out of conflict. Today's activities with a major piece on the chessboard had exposed me, at the very least to Tapestry's ever-watchful eye, and quite possibly to the Salamander's watchers, or whoever had sent them. I had a period of perhaps a few days of rest while those watching the Serpent's nest would try to figure out the identity of this "new" player in the Game.

Then, unknown or not, I'd be tracked, followed, and eliminated if it were possible. It was still possible to deal with D'Amber and vanish once again back into anonymity, but the longer I waited the faster that chance was slipping through my fingers. Damn, but I did not want to do this!

Song change again. Queen's "Show Must Go On" suddenly began piping into the car. I had hoped for perhaps "We Are The Champions" in this case, but I guess this was telling what I already knew. That my path had been chosen for me long ago and this was merely another road I had to travel. Damn, but sometimes I just wished for a normal, mundane, HUMAN life, content to live in a little flash of life instead of the long drawn out burn of my own! To be able to simply live blissfully oblivious to the war being waged behind the lines, in the background. Sometimes--- some days I longed for peace.

But of course, as that thought the music turned up all the louder:

"Show must go on--
Show must go onnn--
Inside my heart is breaking,
my make-up may be flaking, but my smile--
Still stays on--"

Okay. I had a job to do and I couldn't back out now. I had to help Corelle D'Amber even if it did expose me, even if she would most likely kill me. Very well, so be it. I focused my thoughts on Doris, the lesser of the two problems, thinking on how best to immobilize her. After our last meeting, I knew she would be of little consequence. Amazingly enough, the needle on the radio shifted again, and the familiar voice of Busta Rhymes bled off the speakers.

"This-- is-- serious--
We will make you DELIRIOUS--
You should have a healthy fear of us--
'Cause too much of us is DANGEROUS--
Yeah, so DANGEROUS--
The Flip-mode squad is DANGEROUS--
Yeah Dangerous, it's so Dangerous--
My whole entire unit is Dangerous--"

Now I had to pause. Was this my unreliable Gift trying to warn me to take Doris Connor more seriously, that she was a bigger threat that I knew, or had that merely been another one of those random tunings? I had been inside her mind, if only briefly, and I knew something of how she thought. She was tough-minded, and fiercely loyal, willing to sacrifice herself to protect D'Amber if need be. But I also had a glimpse of her Initiate Dance, and she was still practically a newborn, with neither the raw power nor the experience to be more than a minor nuisance. Still, there was a good way to test it. I again focused my thoughts, this time on D'Amber herself. The radio seemed to spin crazily, first to one end of the dial, then to the other, as if it couldn't decide where to go. Finally it stopped on a rather unlikely selection, but also a personal favorite--

"We thuggish-ruggish niggaz always... always...
We ready ta bring th' war if you aint, you aint...
We thuggish-ruggish niggaz always... always...
We ready ta bring th' war if you aint, you aint..
Look into my Eyes n tell me what It is You See, in me...
Would you tell me what you See...
Look into my Eyes n tell me what It is You See, in me...
Could you tell me what You See..."

Another interesting choice. For some reason I felt like there was a sort of double meaning in the words, as if it was trying to tell me something other than the obvious. After all, one did NOT look the Serpent in the eye, not if you expected to keep your mind, and perhaps even your life, intact. Was the song suggesting that I do just that, meet her face-to-face, ignoring the danger? Or was it warning me even more to AVOID her gaze? Shaking my head, I turned the radio off.

Apparently I had gotten all the free insight I was going to get. Parking the car behind the hotel, I walked back to my hotel room.

Doris watched the countryside roll by outside the limo. In the reflection of the window, she also studied the auburn hair and gray silk eye patch of the woman sharing the seat. Gray pumps, stockings, skirt and jacket matched Corelle D'Amber's most signature eye wear.

Corelle ended her phone call and sighed. "Well, Stanhope ran a diagnostic on our security tapes at PolyCorp. Your description fits the facts as reported by our EM scanners in the lobby. He vanished by cloaking himself with the River, then walked out after enough people had left the lobby."

Doris frowned, remembering the weapon pointed at her forehead. "How do we put our hands on him? He'll be back."

"I don't know that we can."

Doris put her hand on Corelle's leg. "He came close to getting to you, but he said something about not planning to hurt anyone. What do you think that means? All the gun waving seems to argue otherwise. He had me, why bother to tell me how nice he was going to be?"

"A clever trick," Corelle smiled. "He misdirected attention and used danger to confuse his frontal assault." She paused. "I wish the EM scanners were refined enough to give me a rough image of his face. I'd like to know who the Invisible Ancient is. I've never encountered his like. The video tapes are not very good even when he was visible."

Doris allowed her hand to feel the warmth of Corelle's leg. She also took confidence from her boss's matter of fact attitude about the brush with danger. "He was quite arrogant. Almost paternal, or as if he considered me your trained pet. I got a strange vibe from him. I think he was serious about the 'not hurting' part."

Corelle shifted and looked at Doris. She raised a slender eyebrow.

Doris leaned forward quickly and kissed her cheek lightly. "I won't let him get near you."

Corelle slid her hand up Doris' leg under her skirt hem. "Yes. I think you will." She smiled mysteriously and began stroking her fingers above the brunette's stocking tops.

"Oh?" Doris shuddered.

"Draw that out a bit and repeat it endlessly while I tell you what we will do." Corelle whispered.

"Ooooooh. Ooooooooooooooooooooooh." Doris Connor squirmed on the hidden fingers while Corelle began to speak.

I slept.

Not a two hour cat-nap but a long full eight-hour sleep period. And I dreamed. Not the nightmares about D'Amber, which I had expected to increase the closer I came to her location. Instead, I dreamed that I was on a journey, a long endless path, searching for something... someone. I was being chased, shadowy figures in the background, following me, hunting me. I was racing against time, trying to find that something or someone I so desperately sought, trying to avoid capture long enough to reach my goal. It seemed I had almost found the object of my search, and was stepping into the light to grasp it, when suddenly the shadowy figures fell upon me, descending from the sky, coming up from the ground, on all side, engulfing me, brining me down despite my desperate struggles. I had opened my mouth to scream in anguish... when I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing.

"Good morning, sir, this is your eight a.m. wake up call. Have a nice day." The desk clerk's voice gave way to static, and still I held the phone, tightly, nearly crushing it to pieces in my hand. It was a lifeline, a crutch, a staple link back to reality from the dreams I had just had. After a time, however, I managed to lower the phone back onto the cradle, and remove my hand. This was bad. It was taking longer than I thought to regain my balance. If I had to face D'Amber like this, I could very well kill her and myself in this condition. I needed to ground myself, to discharge the dark energy inside me and recharge the light.

I needed SEX.

No. I needed someone. No. I needed...I needed Shelley. Picking up the phone again, I dialed my personal satellite connection, activating the encoder and scrambler, and dialed her number. A few rings, and then her voice.

"Hello."

"Hi." I paused a moment, considering what I was about to do. I would in effect be turning this girl inside out merely to help myself, then switching her off like a light switch and discarding her once again. The darkness inside me rejoiced even as that dim glimmer of light shied in revulsion. But as in all things in my life, my path was set and it was too late to turn back. "Hello, Shelley," I continued. "You probably have no idea who this is---"

"So, who IS this then," she cut across him, sounding annoyed. Shelley, the lawyer, the no-nonsense, independent, business minded woman. She wasn't about to put up with an apparent crank-call. "If you have something useful to say, say it. But don't waste my time."

"Shelley." I closed my eyes and spoke the simple word. "Remember."

A gasp sounded on the other end of the phone, and I could well imagine her reaction as memories of her life with him came flooding back to her. Probably leaning against the wall or sitting down on the bed as she dealt with the little vault in her mind opening, dumping its contents into the stream of consciousness. A moment later I hear the timid and wondering reply. "M-M-Master?"

"Yes, Shelley. It's me."

"Oh Master!" she said, sobbing softly. I felt my own eyes edged with tears. Of all the women I have ever taken, of all the souls I had ever encountered in all my years, hers was the purest. I had found her quite by accident, and upon searching deep within her, found her natural, almost instinctive submissiveness, her innate desire to serve and to please. I soon after released her from the strict control I gave my other slaves, and was rewarded with her boundless affection and servitude, coming straight from her heart, not from any tampering in her mind. She was my greatest joy. In retrospect, it seemed so wrong to deny her that side of her, to put her back inside the indifferent business-like shell of the OLD Shelley. But I had done so to protect her.

"Oh, Master," she said again after a moment. "Its so good to hear from you. I...I think in the end I had given up on you, thinking you had meant to abandon us for good. That...that this was not just a simple mission for you, that you had planned to pull up stakes and Rollover your identity again." She sniffed, as if the thought was too painful to even consider. "But you're here, and you allowed me to remember."

"Shelley, it's more complicated than it seems," I began, trying to put my true feelings into words. "I am still on this mission of mine, exposed to the world. I shouldn't even be calling you at all...but I just needed to hear your voice again."

"I think perhaps Master misses his sweet little Shelley, just a little bit," she replied in a pouty, baby-like voice, so innocent and yet so sinfully naughty. I always loved that voice. "Is something wrong there, Master? I really wish you would allow me to come with you. If nothing else, I could at least help settle you at moments like this."

I had told her much about me, and she knew, better than most, that using the Great River, tapping into its untold Power, is at best a double-edged sword. "Absolutely not. You would only be a liability to me in something like this." It was a lie, and a boldfaced one at that. As perfectly trained as she was, I knew she would do anything I told her to, and immediately, without question. She would in no way hinder me. The only reason I refused to take her with me was the fear of her getting hurt in the crossfire, should things turn ugly. But I was unable to say that to her.

"You don't fool me for a moment, Master," her sweet voice came through the receiver. "You don't want me there because you think I might get hurt." She sighed, deeply, and I could hear the sound of the old wish to argue the point, lawyer style, giving way to her innate need to submit in all things. "You are Master, and you decide what is right, you control my life in every way, and I submit to it freely. But... Master, please, I implore you! Let me remember you while you're away! Just this once! Please! I promise to stay inside and not interact with ANYONE, just...just don't take yourself out of my life!"

This was more painful that I could have imagined. Her words tugged at my very heartstrings, stroking an unnatural warmth, thawing some of the ice inside my heart. She loved me, my Shelley, really and truly loved me. Despite knowing what I was, the monstrous Thing I was inside my human guise, still she loved me. Of her own free will.

I did let the tears fall then, even as I kept my voice calm and controlled. "You know that's not possible, Shelley. Even if you hid yourself away in a convent, in time someone would find you. Someone in league with one of the Others would find you, discover who you are, and raid your mind for all my secrets. What I'm doing now will expose me more than any other little job I've done in the past. The Others will know I exist now, if they were still unaware of me until now. Once they start looking, it won't take them long to backtrack my life to you and the others. No, its best for you this way, remembering nothing of me."

She was silent for a long long time after that. "I know, Master," she said finally. "You're right. And it was foolish and selfish to even make the request. Please, forgive your humble slave. I did not mean to dictate to you."

"It is okay, my dear," I replied, wiping the wetness from my cheeks. "I must go now, I have things to attend to. Just know that I love you much, and that you have helped me more than you could ever know today, just with your words. I shall try to return to you and the others, if I live through the next few hours, but if I do not...you will remember me at the right time, and remember that I loved you, my little slave."

I hung up the phone then, feeling cleansed, human again. Or as close as one such as myself could be to feeling human. My balance was restored. Walking to the bathroom, I entered the shower, where I proceeded to wash away the rest of the stress and frustration of the last few days. I was feeling good again and hopeful for the future.

Doris locked the panel and switched off the lights. Short minutes later she walked into Corelle's private office. Her boss sat calmly behind the desk entering something in the computer rig hidden in the large mahogany desk.

"We are set. I'll get into position." She felt her heart begin to speed up.

Corelle looked up. "Give me a kiss before you go."

Doris felt a rush of pleasure as a small voice in the back of her head whispered that Corelle didn't take these little pleasure breaks when there was work to be done. She pushed that aside and moved around the desk. She put her hands on Corelle's shoulders.

They kissed. It lasted.

Lips sliding against each other, Doris still felt the pang of her lover's danger and exposure. She'd do anything to prevent what was coming. Yet Corelle had given her a position of safety in the plan.

A role that might not even come to anything, if diplomacy works on an Ancient.

Fat chance. Doris grimaced.

Corelle cleared her throat. Her face was flushed and she smelled of heated satin. "Was it that bad? You look like you were kissing a lemon."

Doris laughed. "No. Just thinking again about this plan of yours. Why don't we start from scratch? You can take the roof and I---."

Corelle reached up and touched her eye patch gently with a clear lacquered fingernail. "Doris."

Doris squeezed her legs together. "Yes?" her voice returned dreamily.

"If I'm killed, you must survive to take care of the family. Louisa and the others will be your responsibility. Everyone's pleasure will be your duty."

"Everyone's pleasure. My duty. Yes." Doris came in her panties.

Corelle pinched her own nipples through the gray blouse. "I wish we had time to--- Balls! Go now, Doris. I'll take care of the Ancient and you'll do your part."

Doris smiled. "Of course, Corelle." She moved out of the room to take her position pulling on black gloves. God, she is so sexy. How can she think I'll ever be able to take HER place?

Leaving my room, I motioned to Marcus and Ahmaed, who were waiting for me in the lobby of the hotel. Both men stood, a slightly glazed expression in their eyes. I'd had neither the time nor the compulsion to re-write the situation in their minds. Marcus had served his main purpose earlier, when I sent him to post bail for Ahmaed. I would have to make a trip there later to remove all traces of his arrest, both the files and the memories of the officers. Tedious work, but I needed Ahmaed free to serve me. The strong bulky cab driver would no doubt come in handy for the task, as both a helper and a distraction. Marcus, with his slight build and small stature, would serve a more indirect function, by cutting power to the security systems when the time was right. Hopefully, during the confusion, I would be able to slip inside past any defenses prepared for me, and make my way unhindered to Corelle. I was under no illusions that this would be a cakewalk. My brief glimpse into Connor's mind had showed me what she had faced in her Initiate Dance, the intricate traps and preparations D'Amber had set up, and for one of her own. I was an unknown, a dangerous and deadly enemy, and I held no illusions to the type of reception I could expect.

Grabbing both men by the shoulders, I let my Touch trigger their dormant sleeping minds, instructing them to their roles, and programming them with all sorts of measures and countermeasures in case the wrong people captured them. After several hundred years of dealing directly with human minds, I had found it fairly quick and easy to accomplish.

Walking past, letting my hands drop back to my sides, I felt, rather than saw, the two men shake their heads in confusion, blink their eyes, then, remembering what they were supposed to do, followed quickly after me. Outside, Marcus quickly went to his car, and started the engine. He had the farthest to go.

"It's nearly ten-thirty PM now," I said. "Wait until one minute till midnight before you make your move. With luck, Ahmaed and I will be in position by then. Got that, Marcus?"

The man nodded grimly. "Of course, Sir. I understand. But be careful. If she is so powerful that even YOU need such precautions---"

I held up a hand to silence him. I was trying not to think of the repercussions of such actions myself. "I'll be careful, Marcus. Now get going. Once you do this, you can consider yourself free to go."

Nodding, he drove off to his destination, to await execution his part of the plan. I watched him drive off for a moment before Ahmaed gestured to the cab.

"We'd better be going too, Sir," he said softly. "The sooner we get there the sooner we can get this all over with."

I nodded, agreeing with that, and entered the taxi. Taking out my Sony Discman, I slid in a Smashing Pumpkins' CD in and turned it on. Sometimes, when faced with tough decisions, I listened to music that fit my moods. Today, these melancholy tunes were precisely in-synch with my mood for the moment. Perhaps other Ancients are confident in their power and control, settled and unshakable, after years of ruling unchallenged. Perhaps they never tasted fear. I didn't know. All I knew was that I felt fear at the approaching confrontation. My demeanor denied this, my hands still as stone, my breathing and heartbeat regular. My body reacted same as always, as if it had Danced this tune numerous times, yet in my long life, I had only faced another Ancient this way perhaps three times. Each time, I had escaped enslavement, death, and fates worse than both, by only the slimmest of margins, with creative use of all my unique skills. Luckily, those I had faced were now all dead, killed not by my hand but by Others, and no one still alive knew of my existence. Except now. Except for Jeanette.

D'Amber. The Serpent.

And I had stolen her memories of me from her conscious mind.

"Sir, we've arrived," Ahmaed said, awakening me from my dark musings.

Much had changed in both our lives since last we had met. I eagerly wanted to see her again, as much as I dreaded the confrontation. Someone would be very hurt, and perhaps one of us would die. Yet, this is the only path open to me, I reminded myself. Some cosmic hand stronger than my own is guiding us all, moving the Ancients into violent confrontations, and it was only a matter of time before I too would be sucked in.

And it is indeed one of Life's Little Ironies that YOU are the first one I must face.

Steeling my resolve, I left the car, and followed Ahmaed to the wrought iron gate encircling the premises.

I moved past the failed electronic front door locks and into dark halls. Looks like the old ways still work. Face to face, without any of these technological toys is not so bad after all. Moving slowly, I felt my way forward. She should be at her own office, trying to restore things or get word out. I didn't intend to be here that long. I stopped for a moment, then moved gently up and circled the woman in dark clothing with the automatic weapon. She went by unknowing as I moved on to D'Amber's office.

I glanced hard at the door mechanism. Tensing slightly. Running my hand around the metal, I felt no power, no voltage of any kind. Unlocked. I quietly moved inside when it simply opened.

She was talking. "Well, you can do better than that. If I don't have power in three minutes, I'm not sure you'll have a job tomorrow."

Moving silently now, wrapped in the protective embrace of old shadows and the Great River. I was Tapping it fully now, letting it hide my sounds and well as my motions. I was a ghost. Good. She hasn't even lifted her eye patch to read the currents yet. I'll just---.

The whine of kilovolts of power smashed through the air around me like a burning scimitar fueled by rage. I gasped. What was this? My powers could deflect the energies of the Great River, I'd even improved them over time, and having been exposed to the Serpent's Eye once before I had been ready. Or so I thought.

This wasn't the Eye. This wasn't the River. What in thunder could it be? How could she stand it? She stood now, less than seven feet away watching. The burn seemed to flow along my very blood, rushing into me like quicksilver. Biting my lip, forcing myself to concentrate, I adapted my shadowy wards to deflect the power.

It gained me only seconds.

It changed. It became discordant music. It became a sliding scale of dragging energies dancing up my spine and down into my groin. My clothes singed, my hair burned. I realized I had fallen when the floor rose up and cracked me in the face.

What the hell was I being hit with? No guns, no machines, no generators. The power was still out, and the floor wasn't electrified. Yet, my body was on fire with pain and energy, from a source I couldn't identify. All the while, D'Amber looked on, stone-faced, watching. I rotated the frequency of my shields again, compensating, drawing more from the Great River.

Aaaaaarggggh!

It changed. Sucking my head tight against the inside of my skull. Pain! Unbelievable pain. I bit my tongue. My feet drummed convulsively on the floor, kicking helplessly.

It stopped.

I wasn't even aware of being back on my feet as my body thrust itself back towards the door to the room. I was going on instincts now, not thinking just reacting. Escape! Try something else later!

Zeus' lightning crashed through me again, jerking me off my feet. Desperation now drove me. Grinding my teeth, I put discipline to my strength and Healed myself, something I had seldom tried. It worked to give me a clear moment without the pain, to think quickly. "Jeanette!" I screamed, without realizing if she could hear me.

It stopped again.

I smelled the burn of clothing and hair. He breathed the acrid smoke or my own singed burning body. Heart pounding, brain foggy with remembered pain, I tentatively reached for the comfort and safety of shadows, reached for---

Lightning smote down, driving my head once more into the hardwood floor as my body thrashed.

I blacked out.

Story: Shadowdarke--- Twilight Dance

by J. Darksong

The End...