The Keepers
Part 18
by Elizabeth


    "Goddamnit, it was easier to navigate this neighborhood in animal form!" 
Moe cussed quietly.

    "Moe!"

    Moe turned at the sound of her name, giving a cry of joy when she saw 
Mike heading towards her.

    "You asshole!" she screamed, smacking his arm even as she wrapped her 
arms around his neck and began to cry.

    Ace and Anna watched nearby as the friends were reunited. Mike just held 
Moe, stroking her thick black hair and murmuring to her soothingly. After 
several moments, a massive snowy bird alighted on Mike's shoulder. It bent 
down to nip at Moe's arm through her leather jacket, cooing gently.

    "Kittycat safe now." the bird piped up in a sweet, musical cadence. 
"Don't cry...Kittycat safe."

    Moe gasped, backing up slightly.

    "Moe, meet Crystal." Mike chuckled, reaching for the bird's feet. Crystal 
allowed herself to be transferred from Mike's shoulder to his forearm. He 
brought Crystal closer to the woman. "She came along and made herself my 
familiar...she's the reason we found you."

    Moe, still looking suspicious, reached out to pet Crystal's head. Crystal 
cawed, leaning into her touch.

    "Actually, Crystal's the reason WE found YOU." Ace finally interjected.

    Mike glanced at the couple, trying to place the brunette's features.

    "Anna Draven, I'm Moe's cousin." the woman spoke up, offering Mike a hand.

    Mike reached out to accept the girl's hand, smiling. "Pleasure. If you're 
anything like Moe, I fear for our lives."

    Anna laughed, and the sound did strange things to Mike. "Well, only half 
as bad, actually. I used to be a good girl, but then she corrupted me."

    "Only after she made me straighten up my act." Moe chuckled, continuing 
to pet Crystal. "You're such a good girl!"

    "Kittycat safe." Crystal reiterated. "Found Kittycat...Kittycat safe now."

    "Thank you, sweetie...and thank you for taking such good care of this big 
lummox for me."

    Crystal fluffed her feathers up. "Mikey nice man...Crystal loves Mikey."

    Moe chuckled.

    Mike brought the bird up to his lips and kissed Crystal's beak. "Yeah, 
love you too angel birdy."

    The Sebrus nipped at Mike's cheek gently.

    "So how did Crystal bring you guys here?" Jim asked.

    "She cried out to the gods." Ace explained. "The caw of a Sebrus is the 
Voice of the Dead...and the gods always hear the words of spirits."

    Jim shook his head, idly stroking the scales of the snake wrapped around 
his arm. "Is there anything that bird can't do?"

    "Not much. I see you have your own familiar...who's this?"

    Jim glanced down, smiling. "This is Ruby Red...but she's not my familiar, 
she's not even magickal. I just found her, hurt on the sidewalk."

    "Don't be too sure...that's a Crimson Cobra if I'm not mistaken. They 
were once a powerful magickal race, until they became endangered. Poachers 
hunt them for the venom of newborns and the fangs of females. The venom is 
used in some highly deadly poisons, and the fangs can be used in certain 
medications. Those can be harvested harmlessly, but it's far easier to kill 
the snake and rip the teeth out."

    Jim gazed into Ruby's little black eyes and seethed. "She was bleeding at 
the mouth when we found her...but she had her fangs, I don't understand."
    "They might have come back when you healed her, buddy." Eric pointed out.

    Ruby settled her head against Jim's shoulder, and he felt her coils begin 
to relax around his arm.

    "Careful, baby girl." he laughed, sliding her off of his arm. "Don't want 
you to fall and hurt yourself. Here." He wound the snake around his neck, 
making sure she was evenly balanced. Ruby curled against him, and Jim heard 
her coo in his head as she fell asleep.

    "You can speak to her?" Ace asked.

    Jim nodded. "Yeah...is that a bad thing?"

    "I'm not sure. The fact you understand her thoughts means that YOU sir 
are a Serpentine."

    Jim stared at him blankly.

    "A Serpentine," Anna explained, "is someone who can talk to snakes 
telepathically."

    "You mean a Parselmouth?" Mike asked.

    "You read too much Harry Potter. Snakes are telepathic, but their 
thoughts work on a level far different from that of any other species so no 
one can talk to them. A Parselmouth can speak to snakes verbally...a 
Serpentine has a mind that is capable of understanding reptilian thought, 
snakes specifically."

    Jim frowned. "Ace, you said that Crimson Cobras were once magickal...is 
it possible that Ruby is one of the special ones?"

    "As I said, their power died out as their numbers decreased. However, it 
is likely for a gifted one to be born. This one's not too long hatched, so 
it's going to be hard to tell yet."

    Anna gave Ace a proud smile. "You're learning, Tiger."

    He just smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

    "How do you know so much about this stuff?" Mike asked.

    "I'm in school right now." Anna explained. "College...I'm majoring in 
User Biology."

    "That's a pretty inexact field of study...no one knows much about Users 
yet, physically anyway."

    "I know...I want to help increase the scope of knowledge in that area. I 
had a childhood friend who was a User that died as a result of improper 
medical treatment. This was before Users became commonly known, but it still 
happened. She had pneumonia, but she was a healer so her body metabolized the 
medication she was on far too fast for it to help her. I want to try and make 
sure that more Users don't die because of their own abilities...especially 
now that I AM one."

    "That's cool." Jim responded, impressed by the woman's initiative. Giving 
her life over just to make the world a better place...she was far more 
honorable a person that he was.

    As Jim went to respond, his link to Peter caught his attention. The voice 
of Peter's captor...

    "Jim, the blond guy's hooking Pete up to more gizmos." Mike announced. 
They're talking...what's he saying?"

    Jim shushed his brother, communicating silently with Peter.

    "Shit!" Jim cursed. "Simon Burkstrom!"

    Mike's eyes went wide. "Is THAT Burkstrom? Didn't recognize him with the 
dyed hair."

    There was another moment of silence before Jim broke out cursing. Around 
his neck, Ruby was awoken by the violent tensing of Jim's muscles.

    "Eric, get ahold of Julia, NOW!" he hissed, his crystal blue eyes growing 
stormy. "That asshole Burkstrom is about to fry Peter's brain!"

**********

    "Gene, what are we gonna do?" Rhea hissed, eyes wide with panic as she 
pressed tightly against his lean frame.

    Gene heaved a sigh, peering around the corner once again. "I don't 
know...but I can bet you that Ben will be mighty pissed we beat him here."

    "This is no time for jokes!"

    "Who's joking?"

    Rhea glared up at Gene as she looked past him at the porch of the small 
residence they had located. While searching for Ace and his Keeper, they had 
stumbled across a man that fit Mike's description of one of Peter's captors. 
Peering through a blind that had not been closed properly, the couple had 
glimpsed the drummer's familiar profile. Now the stocky, dark-haired man sat 
on the porch, and they were trapped, hiding against the side of the small 
stucco house.

    "We have to do something about this!" Rhea whispered. "Peter's right 
inside...we can get him out of here!"

    "Not without getting ourselves killed in the process, woman! The same 
goes for me as it does for Peter...with the death of Power comes the death of 
all."

    Rhea growled softly, her blood boiling with frustration and fear. Damnit, 
she had to do SOMETHING...but what?

    That's when an idea occured to her...a part of her power she'd only been 
toying with in the last couple of days...

    Rhea peered around the corner and watched the dark-haired kidnapper 
carefully. She imagined that he was far closer to her...so close she could 
smell his skin. She envisioned the warmth of his body near enough to flush 
her own skin...

    "Heat." she whispered so softly that not even Gene could hear her voice. 
"Heat. Discomfort. Nerves. Feel me."

    Rhea nearly giggled when she saw the bright red flush creep up her 
target's arms. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, standing to pace.

    Gene watched Rhea in shock. "Rhea, what the fuck are you doing?"

    She ignored his questions, concentrating. She remembered how easy it had 
been to make Mike uncomfortable on that quiet dirt road and in the hospital, 
flirting not just with her body and eyes but with pure energy. She was the 
Keeper of Power...the power of mankind.

    Power she could easily use against them.

    Rhea continued her silent assault, increasing the kidnapper's stress 
level by sheer force of will alone. She'd never taken it this far with Mike, 
never above amusing social discomfort. Right now, she was doing her damndest 
to take it all the way.

    Rhea was shooting for a heart attack.

**********

    Ben could feel the energy crawling over his skin like a living 
thing...they were getting close.

    "He's nearby." Ben told Paul and Julia. "I know it."

    Paul looked around nervously. "We have to find him soon...I have a 
feeling..."

    "You're just worried." Julia soothed.

    Paul shook his head. "No, I'm not. My intuition is far more than 
intuition. I'm The Soulbearer, the current of emotion flows through my blood."

    Julia blinked, realizing what Paul was talking about. "You can sense him, 
can't you?"

    "To a certain degree, yes. My hunches, uneasy feelings, ominous 
thoughts...they all stem from what my power brings to me. A low-key, but 
intense form of empathy. The Beast is my brother...I'm connected to him."

    As Paul spoke, a buzzing began in Julia's ears. She shook her head, 
trying to clear it, but the buzzing persisted, growing in intensity.

    Julia doubled over, gasping, when a wave of hot energy coursed through 
her. The cuff at her wrist burned, searing her skin with the heat of the sun.

    Paul grasped Julia's shoulders. "Julia!"

    She stood up quite suddenly, and Ben flinched when he saw that her eyes 
had transformed into two sightless black metallic orbs in her head.

    Those eyes fixed on Paul's face. "Time's running out, Paulie...they're 
about to cook themselves a tomcat."

    Julia slumped in Paul's arms, standing up straight a mere second later. 
"Paul?..."

    "It's the Heart of Chrome, love." he soothed. "That was Eric...you're not 
going crazy."

    Julia heaved a sigh of relief, then grew troubled. "Then that means..."

    "Step up the search, Ben." Paul instructed. "Peter's condition just went 
critical."

**********

    Gene and Rhea continued to watch as their victim wore holes in the porch 
and driveway. He was storming back and forth now, running his hands through 
his hair and muttering.

    "You're almost there." Gene whispered.

    Rhea grinned. She was vaguely disturbed by the immense amount of pleasure 
she was getting from this exercise in cruelty. It was torture and attempted 
murder, an act of violence like she'd never even imagined.

    And she was loving every moment of it.

    Out of nowhere, their victim vanished.

    Rhea blinked in shock. "What the fuck?..."

    "Hands up, both of you."

    The couple turned around to see their intended target, red-faced and 
gasping, with a Ruger 9mm in his hand.

    "A User, but just barely." he wheezed in explanation. "Increased speed, 
and I can break the hold of User abilities. You two gave me quite a run for 
my money, though...what are you?"

    Both of them remained silent.

    "No matter...I recognize your face, Mr. Simmons...youthful as it might be 
these days." The man chuckled. "What do you know...we've got ourselves the 
god we were looking for. And this pretty little thing," he continued, leering 
at Rhea, "must be the key. It's the only thing the tomcat is lacking."

    The stocky kidnapper waved his gun. "Inside, both of you. I'm sure Mr. 
Criss will want some company...at least, if Light hasn't already gotten the 
better of him."

    When neither one responded, the kidnapper clicked back the hammer of the 
gun as a warning. "Move, both of you! And no funny business, or you all die."

    Rhea put her hands on top of her head and began to move towards the porch.

    "Shit." Gene sighed, following her example as they were ushered into 
their newfound prison.