DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters
are the property of Twentieth Century Fox, Mutant Enemy, Paramount Studios, Inc
and Viacom. The story contents are the creation and property of Djinn and are
copyright (c) 2004 by Djinn. This story is Rated PG-13.
The Lost Years: Dirty Secrets
by Djinn
Christine searched her closet
for something dark and conservative enough for a watcher funeral. She didn't have much to choose from: a couple of slinky dark dresses, her uniforms,
and all her comfortable clothes for patrolling.
She pushed the clothes
around, as if she'd suddenly come up with something in tweed.
Nothing. There was nothing she could wear to Emma's
funeral. Why hadn't she stopped on the
way home and bought something? Now it
was too late.
She felt tears threaten. They came at the oddest moments. She knew that was how grief operated. She'd never allowed herself to experience it
before. Always ran from it. Ran or killed things. Now she wasn't running, and there was a
dearth of things to kill. Having an army
of slayers around had seriously decimated the local vampire population.
She sat on her bed. Tried to think of someone who was her size
who might be able to loan her a dress.
Even just a dark skirt.
She felt a tingling and
backed up quickly as a portal formed in her bedroom. LaVelle stepped out. She did not look happy.
"I thought you'd be by
earlier to bitch me out," Christine said, turning back to her closet.
"I would have been, if I
could have gotten the portal to bring me here.
It would go anywhere else."
"Guess The Powers That
Be didn't want you yelling at me."
Christine gave up on the closet, sat down on the bed.
"Could you get
dressed? I don't need to see you
half-naked."
Christine looked down. She was in her underwear. "Well, I would get dressed. But I don't have anything to wear." She rubbed at her head. She was getting a headache. LaVelle wasn't helping.
LaVelle glanced at the
closet. "I see clothes in
there. Put some on."
"Look," Christine
said. "I'm sorry about hijacking
the portal. I really am. But I was trying to save a friend." She decided not to tell LaVelle that her
friend was either her watcher or a vampire who used to be the worst kind of
watcher. LaVelle was not big on
watchers.
"Did you save your
friend?"
Christine shook her
head. Emma was dead, and it was too long
a story to explain about David.
"Her funeral is today. I
don't have any clothes for a funeral.
I'm a slayer, and I don't have any clothes for a funeral." She felt the tears again. Wiped at her eyes angrily. "That must seem pretty funny to
you."
"It does seem a bit
odd." LaVelle got up and gingerly
reached into the closet. "This is a
mess."
"And I bet your closet
is neat with all the right things in it.
Lined up by color."
"And fabric."
She looked at LaVelle, who
shrugged and said, "I can't help it that I'm organized."
"Where I'm from we call
that anal."
"Whatever."
Christine crossed her arms
and tried not to pay attention to how time was ticking away. Jim would be here soon. They could not be late to this funeral. Everyone would be staring at her anyway. Even if she was perfect, they'd find some
fault with her. The watchers. The other slayers. The people she'd left behind.
No one would be on her
side. No one but Jim.
She sighed. Closed her eyes.
LaVelle stared at her for a
moment. Then she said, "Okay. I'm very angry about what you did. And later, we're going to have a discussion
about the proper use of our portals."
She sighed. "But right now
I'm going to go get you something to wear.
And you had better not ruin it."
Christine looked up at
her. "You're going to do
what?"
LaVelle was already calling
the portal. "Tell anyone I did this
and I'll deny it." She disappeared
into the portal, and it winked out. A
few minutes later, she was back. She
handed Christine a black dress and jacket.
"I assume you have shoes?"
Christine slipped the dress
on. It wasn't a perfect fit. LaVelle was bigger in the hips, smaller in
the bust. But it would do. The jacket hid a multitude of sins.
She turned away. Why did any little kindness make her
cry? She felt LaVelle touch her
back.
"You okay?"
She nodded. "Thank you."
"I'm still going to yell
at you."
"And I'm still going to
piss you off."
LaVelle laughed. "No doubt." She rubbed her ring. "Don't wreck that."
Christine turned. Smiled.
"No way this is your favorite.
I know you pulled out something you don't like that well."
LaVelle grinned. "It's possible. Try to not be late." She stepped into the portal. "Is that annoying Kirk man going to be
with you?"
She nodded.
LaVelle nodded. "Good.
Lean on him. Sometimes you have
to let other people be strong."
"Do you ever do
that?"
LaVelle shook her head. "But it's still good advice."
Christine laughed. "I'll try not to wreck the dress."
"Just don't get into any
fights. And don't eat anything. Or drink.
In fact, don't even breathe."
"Right."
The portal disappeared before
LaVelle could change her mind about the loan.
Christine touched the fabric,
smoothed it down. It might not be one of
LaVelle's favorites, but it was a really nice dress. She dug out her most conservative shoes and
slipped them on. Hurrying to make up for
lost time, she put her hair up, went easy on the makeup, and was ready for Jim
when he buzzed from the entrance. She
grabbed a bag and rushed out.
He smiled when he saw
her. "That's a new look for
you."
"It's not
mine." She hugged him. "I didn't have anything. LaVelle loaned it to me."
"LaVelle? Slayer?
Dark? Doesn't like you? That LaVelle?
She loaned you a dress?"
Christine nodded.
"I'll never get
women."
She laughed. "It's okay. You get me.
That's enough."
He smiled, took her hand as
they walked to the transporter station.
She glanced over at him,
noticed the dark suit. She'd never seen
him in it. "You look
handsome."
He smiled. "I didn't have anything to wear
either. But I went shopping."
"Always prepared."
He nodded. "You've had a lot on your mind." He leaned in, seemed to be studying her
eyes. "Have you been crying?"
She nodded. "I went back to Emma's house. I wanted something of hers, maybe her walking
stick. Or some tweed."
He smiled.
"But it was all
gone. Kevin had packed it all up. Shipped it back to the mother country, I
guess."
Jim squeezed her hand.
"I'm sorry."
She just nodded. Damn tears.
He sighed. "I know it doesn't help, but you had her
love. And that's inside you. Kevin can never pack that up and send it
away."
She leaned into him, nestling
her head against him for a moment.
"You're so smart."
His arm went around her. "It's just the truth. She loved you enough to die for you. And to die with you. I think she would have run from anyone
else. I think that's what Kevin
meant. He loved her, but she wouldn't
have stayed with him. Only you."
She smiled. For the rest of the walk, she worked on
getting control of her chaotic emotions.
By the time they materialized in the London transporter station, she
felt more in control.
She suspected that Jim was
shoring her up somehow.
"Magic?" she
whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Did you do magic just
then. For me?"
He frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"To make me
stronger?"
He shook his head. "You don't need me for that."
She smiled. "Then I think I may have stolen some of
your calm."
He laughed. "Take whatever you need. It's yours.
You know that."
She nodded, looked away. If only other things were as freely available
as his magic.
"Is that the
church?" he asked softly.
An army of tweed stood
outside. "How can you
tell?" She smiled at him.
He grinned back at her and
she was grateful he'd insisted on coming with her.
"Lots of slayers,"
he said.
She was surprised at the
number. They seemed to part as she and
Jim walked up. She saw Lynda look over
at her. Her expression was
unreadable. Then she nodded.
Christine nodded back. She
followed Jim into the church.
On the left side were
watchers. More watchers than she'd ever
seen in one place. No slayers sat
there. On the right side, she saw
slayers and watchers sitting together.
She looked back for Lynda, but the slayer had disappeared into the
crowd.
Jim rested his hand on her
lower back, and she leaned into him for a moment. "Take a deep breath and let's go,"
he said.
"I can't take a deep
breath, this dress is too tight."
She led him up the far right aisle.
"May fortune favor the foolish."
He smiled. "That's my line."
She found an empty pew near
the middle of the church and sat down.
He followed her.
More watchers came in, some
stared at her. No one sat next to
her. In fact, no one sat near her. She could see Jim's jaw tighten. She touched his hand, shook her head. And shrugged.
He still looked angry.
She saw movement out of the
corner of her eye and turned as someone stepped into her pew from the center
aisle.
"Is this seat
taken?" Peter Wyndam-Pryce asked as he sat down.
"No." She smiled up at him gratefully. "I didn't think you'd be here."
"I'm not sure I'm
supposed to be. But I thought it would
be a good experience for Indusa."
He leaned back as his slayer leaned forward. "Christine Chapel meet Indusa
Kimani."
Christine held her hand
out. "Hello."
The girl took her hand and
stared at her in awe. She looked up at
Peter. "It's true. What you said."
"Yes, you can get to be
very old if you're careful," Peter said.
Christine heard Jim
chuckle. She elbowed him. He rubbed his mouth, trying to hide the
smile.
Peter winked at Christine as
the young slayer continued to stare at her.
He nodded to Jim.
"Captain."
"It's Admiral now,"
Christine whispered.
"Oh, well,
congratulations."
Jim nodded.
"Where's Spock?"
She took a deep breath.
"Oh my. Not the question to ask apparently. Well, forget I asked it."
She smiled tightly. "If only it were that easy." She looked over at Jim.
He took a deep breath
too. Smiled at her. Sadly.
She heard harsh footsteps on
the wooden floors of the church coming toward them, and turned out of reflex. She wasn't the only one who turned--a lot of
the watchers seemed to be very interested in what was going on in their little
section of the church.
Lynda led a small group of
slayers toward her. She seemed to be
stepping down quite hard. Christine
suddenly realized that the girl wanted everyone to look at her. She felt a surge of anger. Emma didn't need this kind of behavior.
Lynda stopped at the pew
behind Christine. She stepped in, then
leaned down and put her arms around Christine's shoulders, kissing her on the
cheek. "I'm sorry for your
loss," she whispered. Then she slid
all the way in to the inside.
The next slayer leaned down,
hugged her. "I lost my watcher last
year. I know what you're going
through." She moved away.
The girls, ten of them in
all, all hugged her, each saying something sweet, then sitting down behind
her.
Christine felt her control
slipping, reached for Jim's hand. He
caught hers and she felt support flooding into her. And control coming back.
She looked over at
Lynda. The girl was staring out at the
other watchers, as if daring them to start something. Then she looked over at Christine, her eyes
perfectly calm, and she motioned for Christine to turn around.
"What's going on,"
Jim whispered in her ear.
She made a helpless
gesture.
He squeezed her hand, leaned
in again and said, "I think they call them minders over here. Bodyguards.
Emotional ones maybe?" He
shrugged.
It was as good an explanation
as any.
The service was short and
didn't seem to capture Emma at all. It
was cold. Nothing like the woman
Christine had known. The watchers filed
up to the front to view the casket, then trooped out. None of them looked at Christine.
Jim was squeezing her hand a
little too hard. She shook her hand a
little under his, and he shot her a look full of remorse and anger. Anger at these cold, cold people.
She noticed that some of the
watchers had stayed behind. One of them
got up and walked past the casket, to the podium. He smiled at those who remained. "Emma helped me. I want to tell you how."
The watchers who were still
sitting nodded. Nobody got up to leave.
Christine looked behind
her. The slayers were still there.
To her surprise, she realized
Kevin was sitting in the back of the church, listening to the man talk about
how Emma had helped him through the death of his slayer. The man sat down and another watcher got
up. The woman told a similar story. Then a slayer got up, talked about how Emma
had helped her find the strength to go back to slaying after nearly being
killed in a nightmare battle.
Christine smiled. This was the Emma she remembered.
She pushed herself up, walked
to the podium. "Emma didn't save
me." She smiled. Took a deep breath, fought for the control to
say what she wanted to say. "Emma
helped me save myself. That was her
gift. To see where we were broken and
help us find the way to put it all back together. She was brilliant."
She took a deep breath.
"And she was my
friend. I loved her." She tried to say more, but she couldn't. Tears were threatening and her mouth was
trembling. She looked out. No one was frowning at her. She saw someone nod, another person
smile. "I loved her."
Then she walked back to her
seat. Jim scooted over to make room, put
his arm around her. She felt one of the
slayers touch her back gently.
A few more people got
up. Kevin didn't get up. But he didn't leave either. Not until it was over.
The slayers behind her got
up. Lynda leaned down as she passed
her. "I need to speak with you
after the burial."
Christine nodded.
They followed the rest out to
the graveyard. So many headstones. All watchers?
"Do they bury slayers
here?" she asked Peter.
"Sometimes. If they have no family." He looked down at Indusa, who didn't seem to
want to move very far from his side.
"Most of the time not."
He touched his slayer's shoulder.
Christine smiled. He was a good watcher. Indusa was in excellent hands.
The burial was nearly as
quick as the service. She looked for
Lynda but didn't see her so she and Jim wandered around the gravestones. So much history.
"She's there," Jim
said softly.
Lynda stood at the edge of
the graveyard, near a tree.
They walked over to her. When they got there, she was kneeling down,
digging a small hole in the dirt, near the tree roots.
Lynda reached into her pocket
and handed Christine a container. Then
she stood up. "There's no stone for
David. There was no service. He'll be forgotten." She turned to Christine. "Or he would have been...if he hadn't
made certain arrangements."
Christine frowned. "I don't understand."
"He'd made
provisions. If he didn't check in with a
certain code on a regular basis with a certain set of people, then a lot of
rather damming information he'd collected would be sent to some of
us." She looked up at
Christine. "Some of us approaching
the age of eighteen, for example."
Christine started to
smile. "I take it you didn't like
what you read?"
"Not one bit." Lynda smiled grimly. "There's more information coming. All the time.
More things that he's bringing to light.
Terrible things." Lynda
sighed. "He was on our side, and we
tried to kill him."
"He was on our side, and
I did kill him."
"We saw how it
happened. Kevin recorded it."
Christine looked at her in
horror. "What?"
"He had surveillance in
the warehouse." Lynda smiled. It was not a nice expression. "Until today, I was his favorite slayer. I had access to those recordings. I made copies, passed them around. It's really quite touching. He died for you. You cried for him. David's becoming a sort of legend...and so
are you."
"Good. For him, I mean. He wasn't just evil. He wasn't just a vampire to be dusted and
forgotten. We should remember him."
"He wouldn't want to be
there." Lynda gestured to the row
of white headstones. "But
here. To the side. Watching them. I think he'd like that, don't you?"
Christine nodded.
"Kevin kept his
ashes. He said it was out of
sentiment. I don't know if I believe that
anymore."
"Who can tell with
Kevin?" Christine shrugged, opened
the container. "In any case, his
remains don't belong with Kevin. David
would have hated that." She knelt
down, poured out the dust, filling the hole.
Lynda spread the dirt back over
it and tamped it down. "Rest in
peace, David Wharton."
They all stood silently for a
moment, then Jim asked Lynda, "What are you going to do?"
She shrugged. "Not trust Kevin when my birthday rolls
around, that's for sure." She
touched Christine on the arm. "I'm
sorry about Emma. I didn't know her that
well. But I liked what I saw."
Christine touched her
hand. "Thanks."
"If you need us. We're here." Lynda looked across the cemetery. Her expression froze.
Christine followed her
gaze. Kevin was staring at them. "And if you need me, you just call. I'll be on the Enterprise. But I can get help for you."
"I'll be okay. I'm a slayer." Lynda smiled cockily at her. "Grandma."
Christine rolled her
eyes.
Lynda walked off, directly toward
Kevin. He stood his ground.
"What do you think is
going to happen?" Jim asked her.
Christine shook her
head. "I think Kevin might be
facing a coup d'etat if he's not careful."
She laughed. "And not a
moment too soon." She looked down
at the new grave they'd made. "I
don't understand why David didn't send me the information."
"Did he know you were
leaving?"
"Probably. He knew everything." She shook her head. "But I promised
him."
"And you'll keep that
promise. Later. Besides, you're looking out for some other
slayers."
"One of whom will want
this dress back." Christine took
the hand he offered. "Let's go
home."
"Yeah."
They walked out of the
cemetery and down to the transporter station.
She didn't look back.
--------------------------------
Kirk saw Nogura come into the
cafeteria. He made a beeline for his
table.
"Have you seen
Lori?"
"No, sir."
Nogura's expression was
stormy--a tornado barely held under control.
"Jim, this is important. If
you've seen her, I need to know where and when."
Kirk could feel the other
man's energy buffeting him. But it
didn't seem like an attack, more like Nogura was having trouble controlling
himself. "I haven't seen her, sir."
Nogura shook his head
tightly. "If you see her, you comm
me. Got that?"
"Got it." Kirk kept his expression bland. The dutiful subordinate.
Nogura suddenly slammed his
hands down on the table. Kirk's tray
jumped and several people around them turned to look. They saw it was the admiral and quickly
turned away. Nogura's temper was
legendary.
He leaned in. "Jim.
This is no game. If you see
her--"
"--I'll tell you. I heard you the first time." Kirk clamped down on his own energy, trying
to only project a reassuringly neutrality.
Nogura straightened up. He seemed about to say something else but
instead turned and strode out.
Kirk took a deep breath and
tried to go back to eating, suddenly not very hungry.
"Is this seat taken,
sir?" a young lieutenant asked.
"Go ahead." Kirk gave him a distant smile, not in the
mood to talk.
"I have a message for
you, Admiral." The lieutenant
barely moved his mouth, was hunched over his lunch tray.
"A message?"
"From a certain person whose
name we don't want to say because of another person whose name we also don't
want to say."
"Well, that narrows it
down," Kirk said with a grim smile.
"This first person...I take it she's not eager to be found by the
second?"
"Yes, sir. That's correct."
"And you would be?"
"Her cousin, sir."
"Ah." Another one.
Kirk reached out with his magic, felt the crackle snap as the hair on
the back of his neck went up. Were there
any normal people left in Starfleet?
"She needs to talk to
you and the slayer. She said the slayer
would know where."
"When?" Kirk looked around the cafeteria. No one seemed to be paying attention to them.
"After you're off
work. Don't draw attention to yourself
by leaving now. He'll be
watching." The lieutenant smiled. "She said he won't notice if you're with
the slayer. He expects that."
Kirk rolled his eyes. "You can tell her we'll be
there." He pushed his chair
back. "I hope she's in a safe
place."
"She is, sir. But it might not be safe much longer. It's important that you and the slayer come
tonight."
"We'll be
there." He got up, took his tray to
the recycler and went back to his office.
He had plenty of work to do--not much of it interesting, but at least it
consumed time. At the end of the day, he
walked down to Starfleet Medical, found Chris in her office.
"Jim." She smiled, but the expression barely moved
her lips, did not make it anywhere near her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I lost a patient
today." She stood up. "He was a technician performing a routine
diagnostic on a comm unit when it overloaded somehow." She turned, sighed. "It's a given it'll be dangerous out in
space, but no one expects to die performing everyday maintenance down
here."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. As a slayer, I see death all the time. Take it for granted almost. But as a doctor, it's still a blow."
He smiled gently. "And your first one as a doctor. He was _your_ patient."
She nodded. "I know he won't be my last. I'll just have to not let it get to
me." She leaned against her
desk. "What are you doing
here?"
"A mutual acquaintance
of ours needs help."
She mouthed "Lori,"
and he nodded.
"Trouble with someone
high up?"
He nodded again. "Let's go find her."
"Did she say
where?"
"I was told you'd know
where."
She nodded. "Ah.
When?"
"Now, would be
good."
"Let's go."
He followed her out. They didn't talk until they were off the
Starfleet grounds.
"He was looking for her
today," he said.
"Something's
changed?"
"I'd say so."
Chris nodded, not talking again
for a while, until she said, "There it is," and pointed down to the
restaurant Uhura had shown them. That
day seemed so long ago. But it hadn't
been.
He watched Chris as she
hurried ahead of him. He'd gotten so
used to having her with him, enjoying the occasional lunches, the more frequent
dinners. Just spending time with her--in
the cemetery, in one of their apartments, it didn't matter. Just enjoying being with her.
That would be over soon.
He clamped down on the
emotion that ran over him. It did no
good to give in to this sadness. She
needed to go. It would be good for her.
She turned back to look at
him. "You okay?"
He smiled, wondered if she
had sensed the downward dive his thoughts had taken. "Yeah."
She touched his hand as she
pulled the door to the restaurant open.
"Show no fear."
"Werewolf heaven?"
She nodded, then they were
inside and he could feel at once that the place was shielded. Heavily so.
The crackle of energy of the outside world faded away. He'd come to take that energy for granted,
felt uneasy now, unnerved by its absence.
A group of men by the bar
turned to watch them as Chris walked to a staircase. They didn't challenge them but they never
took their eyes off them. Kirk didn't look
away from them either. He thought he saw
one of the men lift his lip in a snarl.
He decided not to return the expression.
"Jim," Chris said.
He turned to look at
her.
"I didn't mean you
should challenge them all."
"Oh." He shrugged.
"You'll protect me." He
looked back over his shoulder.
"The bartender already
doesn't like me. Let's not add you to
his list of people to eat for dinner at the next full moon."
"Well, at least we'll go
out together."
She smiled at that, and he
grinned.
"You're
incorrigible," she said.
He laughed, but as they
pushed open the door to the lower level and walked into the room, his smile
faded.
Lori sat slumped at a table,
a young man rubbing her shoulders. She
looked gray, and had terrible circles under her eyes, and over them too, in the
deep hollows underneath her eyebrow. Her
lips were dry, chapped, as if she'd been wandering in the desert for days. And her eyes were dull, the whites almost
yellow.
Christine said, "Oh my
god."
Lori held up a hand. "There's nothing you can do for me. Not as a doctor anyway. This is magic, not illness."" She motioned the young man away, gestured for
them to sit.
"Nogura's doing this to
you?" Kirk asked. But he knew the
answer.
She nodded. "I started not feeling well yesterday
morning. I just thought it was some kind
of virus. But then when I woke up this
morning and looked in the mirror...I knew." She swallowed, convulsively. Hands shaking, she reached for a glass of
water and took a sip. She choked.
Chris touched her gently on
the back. "It's okay. He can't get you in here, right?"
"I can't stay here
forever. He'll figure it out. Or someone will tell him about this
place." She grabbed Chris's hand. "Please.
I don't know how he found out what I was doing, but he did. We"--she gestured to all those in the
room--"have to get out of here. You
know what he's like." She turned to
Kirk. "You do, Jim. You know how he is."
He nodded helplessly, looked
over at Chris. She looked trapped.
"It's not something she
can hand over to you, Lori. No matter how much she might want to."
She turned to Chris. "But you can ask? You can ask whoever it is that does make
those decisions? You can find out. Please?
I need to get there.
Now." She sobbed, seemed
very small and very far from the cocky woman he was used to dealing with.
Kirk leaned in. "You can't go back to Command. He's looking for you. And he's not happy."
She looked down. "I know.
He can't feel me, can't find my energy while I'm here. It must be driving him crazy." She sounded as if that was a good thing.
He didn't blame her.
"He'll never give
up. I can't go back out
there." She looked up at them, her
eyes pleading with them to help her.
"You had to know the
risks," he said softly. "When
you decided to act on your own."
Lori met his eyes, her
expression was dazed. "I knew. But in an impersonal way. It was a game. Now, it's not. Now, I'm scared." She turned to Chris. "Please.
Help me. Help us all."
"Can we help the ones in
the pens?"
Lori nodded. "We'll figure out a way to get them
out. If I just know that there's a place
for us. A safe place. Finally."
She looked around the
room. The others were nodding. They looked scared too. Scared and concerned for Lori.
Kirk frowned. "What are the pens?"
"You don't want to
know," Lori said, putting her hand over his. "It's horrible."
Chris nodded. "It's what I couldn't tell you
about."
He could see that they still
weren't going to tell him.
"Okay."
"I can't just sit and do
nothing any longer," Lori said.
"I'm the alpha. I have no
choice. I have to lead them. Out of here.
Away from him. To safety. To freedom."
Chris still looked
trapped. "I'll see what I can
do."
"When?"
"Soon."
Lori tried to stand up but
didn't have the strength.
The young man rushed to her,
pushing her gently back into the chair.
He looked at Chris. "Soon
might not be fast enough."
"Tonight," Lori
said, reaching out and grabbing Chris's hand again. "Please do it tonight. Before he finds us. Before he kills us."
"I'll try." Chris gently pulled her hand away and stood
up.
Kirk sighed, staring at
Lori. "Stay here. Rest."
She nodded, leaned back as if
everything was normal, but he could tell by the way she was sitting that she
was not all right.
She was a hell of long way
from all right.
------------------------------
Christine barreled out of the
restaurant, could feel Jim close behind her.
"Chris. You need to calm down."
"You don't know what's
at stake." She spun on him.
"How can I? Neither of you have told me a
thing." He touched her arm. "And you don't have to now. But just calm down and think rationally
before you go charging off."
She sighed. He was right.
She took a deep breath, then another.
"Better?"
She nodded.
"You hate to see
suffering. I understand that. But she's safe for now. What are you going to do?"
"I need to talk to
LaVelle. I can't just hand over the keys
to Kirsu." She fiddled with the
necklace.
He gently pulled her hand
away. She realized what she had been
doing and made a face.
"No harm, no
foul." He grinned. "Just looks a bit odd, playing with
nothing." He started off, heading
for the waterfront. "I presume
we're bound for Tolvar's?"
"Yes."
He reached down for her hand,
squeezed it gently. "We can't give
in to emotion. Not where he's
concerned. He'll read us too easily if
we don't keep our cool. Okay?"
She nodded. "You're better at that then I am. I tend to prefer opening a can of whup ass to
keeping my cool."
He laughed. "I haven't heard that expression for
years."
She smiled. Looked down at their joined hands and
sighed. Soon this would be over. This touching, the sharing. Too soon.
"Chris. Ow."
She realized she was
squeezing his hand really hard. She let
go.
He laughed ruefully as he
rubbed at his hand. At her guilty look,
he said, "No broken bones. Don't
worry." He grinned. "But now I know how poor Carol
felt."
She laughed. "She had it coming."
"I'm not sure she
did. I make her nervous and angry. Just seeing me now seems to set her
off."
"Well, she needs to get
over it." She didn't want to talk
about Carol. She hadn't liked the way
the other woman had looked at Jim. Yes,
Carol been mad once Christine had appeared.
But before? The look she'd seen
on Carol's face hadn't looked like anger, so much as interest, and Christine
had felt a brief moment of panic--the woman had a history with Jim that she
could never share. When Christine had
gone in all macho slayer and terrorized Carol and her hand, she'd been acting
more territorial than Jim seemed to realize.
Which was fine with her. He didn't need to know. She pushed Carol Marcus out of her mind and
hurried through the small crowd to Tolvar's booth.
It hadn't been easy telling
him of Emma's sickness, but he'd nodded sadly, as if he had known it all
along. And maybe he had, being psychic
or so his sign claimed. He had spent a
great deal of time with Emma during her last weeks, and it had been clear that
he cared for her deeply.
He looked up as they walked
up. "Christine." He smiled at Kirk. "And Admiral."
"It's just Jim
here."
Tolvar looked pleased. "Jim."
Christine smiled. "I need to make a call again if you
don't mind."
He dug into his pocket, tossed
her the keys. "Take your
time." He gestured for Jim to
sit. "I'll tell your fortune."
Jim shook his head. "Thanks but no."
"You don't want to know
what your future holds?"
Jim looked positively
mournful as he said, "No."
Tolvar shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Christine headed for the
storeroom, opening the door and locking it behind her. The portal was getting easier to call. She'd had no trouble with it the last time,
when she'd taken LaVelle's dress back.
The brightness of the Kirsu
sun was a shock after the cool darkness of San Francisco. Two slayers were sitting on the steps talking
when Christine stepped out of the portal.
One of them ran inside, came back out followed by LaVelle.
"I need to talk to
you," Christine said.
"Well, come in
then."
Christine shook her
head. "Can we walk? I need to talk to you alone."
LaVelle walked over to
her. "All right."
They moved away from the
house. The day...or night--Christine
wasn't completely sure what time it was in Kirsu--was warm with a light breeze.
"Is it always like
this? Pleasant. Sunny."
LaVelle nodded.
"How big is Kirsu?"
"Why? Are you thinking of relocating?"
Christine shot her a
look. "No, I want to put in
vacation rentals."
LaVelle didn't laugh.
"I know some people who
need to get off Earth."
"What kind of
people?"
"Well, they're
humans," Christine said. "Most
of the time."
"And what are they the
rest of the time?"
"Werewolves." Christine turned to see LaVelle's expression.
It was not a agreeable one.
"How many of these
mostly human people are you talking about?"
Christine swallowed. "I'm not entirely sure. I think it would be much like with you and
the slayers. When a new one was found..."
"So potentially a
lot."
Christine nodded. '"Yes.
A lot." She held out a hand
to stop LaVelle's answer. "But they
won't change into werewolves here.
They'd be human the entire time."
LaVelle shook her head. "Why do they need to come here? Can't they find somebody else's
dimension?"
"Why should they? If it's a whole dimension, surely there's
room to share?"
LaVelle took Christine by the
arm and turned her. "What do you
see?"
Christine studied the
landscape in front of her. "The
house. The sky. Grass."
She sniffed. "I can smell
the sea."
"Yes. I can too.
I've never seen it." She
pulled Christine back around. "Run
with me."
She took off, heading away
from the house, loping easily through the grass, her long strides eating up
ground. Christine followed her, her
boots not the best for running but serviceable.
It felt great to open up, to try to catch LaVelle. They ran for a long time.
LaVelle turned her
around. "What do you see?"
The house was still in
sight. As big as when they'd started
running.
"We don't understand it
yet," LaVelle said softly. "We
think that it opens up. That the more
space we need, the more we get. But at
the same time there is no space. We can
run and run...all day, if we want. And
when we turn around, the house will always be there."
"I didn't know."
LaVelle laughed. "Neither did we. We'd been fighting Anacost. For as long as I can remember, that was our
life. We didn't have time to worry about
how much space there was here or what Kirsu was really like. Now, we do.
And a lot of us have gone exploring.
But we never seem to get very far."
Christine looked down.
"I can't tell you that
we'll live cheek to jowl with a bunch of werewolves when I'm not even sure yet
that there's room for all of us. We're
crowded in, Christine. We're going to
try to build some new houses. Explore
this place--if that's possible."
Christine looked around. "You've never seen the sea?"
"No. The smell's there. Sometimes so strong it makes me crazy with
the need to find it. To see the water
again, to splash in it, maybe swim. But
I can't get to it." LaVelle
sighed. "I'm sorry I can't tell you
yes."
"Well, not yet is better
than no."
"I think that might
depend on your perspective."
LaVelle sat down on a large rock, her back to the house. "And from the sound of it, these people
you know are in a rush to get here?"
Christine sighed. How was she going to tell Lori that she'd
have to wait? "You're not
wrong." She sat down in the grass. "They'll just have to wait. Or find another solution to their
problem."
LaVelle studied her. "I thought you'd argue with me."
Christine shook her
head. "Your way of illustrating the
problem was quite dramatic. This world
may be smaller than any of us realize."
"I know. It scares me."
Christine looked at her,
startled to hear LaVelle admit that.
The other slayer met her
gaze. "Before we met Anacost for
the last time, it was starting to get crowded.
But then we lost so many in that battle and it bought us time." She looked down. "There's water here to drink, and we
grow some food. But we bring most of it
in, even after all these years. Marion
and I provision the others. We leave and
go to worlds where no one questions who we are.
Hit their markets. Shop."
"I wondered where you
got the clothes. That was a nice
dress."
LaVelle nodded. Then she looked at Christine guiltily. "Haven't you wondered where we got the
money?" She made a face. "We relieve not-so-nice people of their
wealth."
"You steal it?"
"They stole it
first. Or made it through doing bad
things." LaVelle smiled, as if
mocking her own simplistic terms.
"You have to
survive. It's not like the watchers pay
us." Christine shook her head,
remembering David's words on that score.
"No, it's
not." LaVelle sighed. "And we'll need even more if we have to
start looking for another home for most of the girls. I'm afraid that Kirsu may turn out to be only
a place to rest in between dying and starting a new life. Or a place to launch the next battle
from. There will no doubt be someone who
rises to take Anacost's place."
"Do you want me to keep
an eye out for a nice place?"
LaVelle shot her a confused
look. "We don't want to go back to
Earth."
Christine shook her
head. "I mean a nice planet. I'm shipping out again. On the Enterprise. The ship I was on before."
"Is the annoying Kirk
man going with you?"
Christine laughed. "Most people just call him Admiral. Or Jim."
She looked down. Sighed. "And no.
He's not coming."
"So the other one will
be there? Spock?"
"No. He's gone.
For good."
LaVelle shot her an amazed
look. "You mean you're going on
your own? No man?"
Christine made an exasperated
sound. "I spent many years of my
first tour on the Enterprise alone.
Without a man."
"No, you didn't. You were looking for that watcher of
yours. You may not have been with him,
but you were still tied to him."
Christine sighed. "Someone far cleverer than you already
covered this ground." She felt a
pang, sent a silent apology to Emma for speaking so cavalierly of her.
"Right. And besides.
What do I care? We're not
friends." LaVelle laughed.
"We're not, are
we?"
LaVelle shook her head.
"Do you think we could
be?" Christine smiled. "You did loan me your dress."
"And had it fumigated when
you brought it back."
"Right." Christine smiled. "It doesn't matter if we're friends or
not. We're of an age. And we're slayers. That's all that matters." She pushed herself to her feet. "I'll show myself out."
LaVelle didn't say
anything. Just sat on her rock, staring
out to the distant, possibly unreachable, sea.
-----------------------------
Kirk was running out of
things to talk about with Tolvar. They
could only go on about what a great guy Weasel was for so long. He looked over at the storeroom, wondered
what was keeping Chris.
"She's fine." Tolvar seemed to read his mind. "Inter-dimensional calls can be a bit
tricky."
"I know." Kirk felt restless and began to pace. He was full of pent-up energy that was just
itching to go somewhere, preferably in Nogura's direction to make the man
pay. It had been a shock to see Lori in
such a bad state. A shock...and
sobering. She was so strong--stronger
than he was by a long shot. If she
couldn't keep Nogura's magic away, what chance did he stand if his boss ever
decided to go after him for real and not just with a little coercion spell?
Tolvar looked up from the
table. "You sure you don't want
your fortune read?"
"I'm sure."
"Then sit down. You're making me nervous. And I doubt I'll get any other customers
tonight."
Kirk sat, but the
restlessness persisted. He jiggled his
leg, the vibration making everything on Tolvar's little table shake.
"Anxious?" Tolvar
asked.
"Antsy."
"Ah." He smiled.
"What?"
"Well, it's just semantics,
isn't it?" Tolvar smiled
again. "Antsy being less pejorative
than anxious. Less unmanly?"
Kirk shrugged. "Words are tricky."
"Yes, they
are." Tolvar didn't press any
further. A few moments later, he asked,
"You went to Emma's funeral?"
"Yeah."
"Was it nice?" Tolvar made a face. "Well, it was a watcher event, so nice
probably doesn't apply. Did they honor
her?"
"Some did." Kirk shook his head.
"They were not welcoming
to you?"
Kirk laughed bitterly. "Let's just say that Chris isn't one of
the finalists in the slayer popularity contest."
"No. I don't imagine she is. It's one of the reasons I like her so
much." Tolvar sat back. "Isn't her energy remarkable?"
Kirk could feel his eyebrows
heading skyward.
Tolvar laughed. "Oh, I didn't mean it that way. I've only tasted it from a
distance."
Kirk grinned, a little
sheepishly. "Oh."
"You, on the other
hand..."
Kirk shot him a look.
Tolvar held up a hand. "I know, I know. I'm a terrible gossip."
He seemed about to say more,
but the door to the storeroom opened, and Chris came out. She did not look happy.
"Not a pleasant
call?" Tolvar asked.
"Not the result I'd
hoped for." She didn't look like
she was relishing telling Lori.
Kirk got up. "We should go?"
She nodded, tossed the key
back to Tolvar. "Thanks. I hate to abuse your hospitality and run
but..."
He nodded. Waved them away. "Go.
You're in a hurry, I can tell."
She walked quickly away from
the pier, not talking for a few minutes. Finally, she turned to him. "As dimensions go, Kirsu may not be much
of one. It's possible it's too small to
support even the slayers."
He took that in. "How long before LaVelle knows
more?"
Chris just shook her
head.
He rubbed at his eyes. "Lori needs our help now."
"I know that, Jim. But Kirsu isn't the way. There must be another answer."
They walked in silence, then
he had a thought, touched her arm to get her to slow down. "Didn't Weasel say the motel was a
dimensional way station?"
She began to smile. "I think he did."
"Then maybe he can
help?"
She nodded, looking a bit
happier. "Maybe he can."
The restaurant came into
sight. There were, if possible, even
more werewolves crowding in. Kirk could feel
the strangeness of being in such a shielded place warring with the overwhelming
energy of that many werewolves so close to him.
His body went into high alert.
Chris headed downstairs and
he followed her.
Lori was still at the table,
slumped over it. If anything, she looked
grayer. She looked up at them, her
expression one of cautious hope.
"Well?"
Chris looked down.
One of the men at her table
slammed his hand down. "Did you
even try? Or don't we matter to
you?"
Chris looked up, her eyes full
of regret. "You do matter. But
Kirsu isn't what you think. It's
limited. Possibly incredibly so. Until the slayers can survey it, see how much
room there is..."
"And how long will that
take?" Lori asked. Her voice was
low, angry.
"I don't know. But long enough to make it no longer an
option."
"Then what? We just sit here and wait for Nogura to find
us?"
"We have another
idea," Kirk said softly. All eyes
turned to him. "We need to check it
out first. But if we could get you to
another dimension...?"
Lori closed her eyes. Shaking her head, she said, "You don't
know what you're saying. We don't know
what kind of dimension we might end up in.
It might be a worse hell than this...than the pens."
"That's why we have to
check it out," Chris said.
"We're nearly out of
time," Lori said. "We can't
afford to waste what's left." She
forced herself to her feet. "I need
to talk to the slayers in Kirsu."
"That's
impossible," Chris said.
Lori walked toward her; every
step seemed an enormous effort. "I
must talk to them. If they see, if they
understand...just get me there, and I'll do the rest."
She was standing very
close--too close--to Chris. Her eyes
were wild, frantic.
"No. I'm sorry." Chris stood her ground,
didn't budge.
A surge of anger flitted
across Lori's face, then she clamped down on it. "Of course. You have to protect them. You're a slayer...one of them." She turned away, walked back to the table as
if she was a hundred years old. "Go
away then. You can't help us."
"Let us check out this
other solution," Chris said.
"Please."
"Fine. If it makes you feel better, go
ahead." Lori's voice left no doubt
that she didn't feel any better for the suggestion.
"I'm sorry." Chris shook her head. "I wanted it to work out for you."
"I'm sorry too,
Christine." Lori held her eyes,
there seemed to be something dark in her expression. Then it was gone. She sighed and looked away. "I'm tired. Go away."
A low growl started in the
room; it became louder as more voices took it up.
Chris motioned for him to go;
she took the rear, following him up the stairs.
The upstairs room was filled
with the sound of growling too. The low
tone seemed to pass right through his bones, straight into his heart and stomach
and soul.
He and Chris had failed them,
the growl seemed to say. They had failed
them utterly.
------------------------
Christine slowed once they
were well clear of the restaurant and all those accusing faces. She wasn't in any rush to hear Weasel tell
them he couldn't help--bad news seemed to be the only thing they were
getting.
She looked over at Jim. He looked as dejected as she felt. And he didn't even know the full story. It was just so much in his nature to help, to
want to make a difference. Even for a
bunch of werewolves.
He glanced at her, gave her a
sad smile. She reached out, and he took
her hand.
"Maybe Weasel will have
better news than LaVelle did," she said, trying to sound hopeful. Although Lori hadn't seemed very thrilled
with their alternate solution.
"Maybe," he said
softly.
They passed the cemetery and
she looked through the iron fence, remembering all the times she'd patrolled it
with David shadowing her. She missed
him. She'd been willing to destroy him,
but she still missed him.
Jim squeezed her hand. She smiled, looked over at him. His own smile was sad. He knew.
He always seemed to know what she was thinking.
"Help. Please help."
Christine whirled, pulling
Jim with her. A young woman was running
out of the bushes from the center of the cemetery.
"Please wait," she
said, running straight for them.
Christine and Jim both
hurried to meet her.
"Oh my god. It was horrible. It was clawing itself out of the ground...out
of a grave." She sobbed, short of
breath and obviously scared out of her wits.
She looked at Christine.
"Its face was all--"
"--Bumpy?" Christine was surprised there were any
vampires left in San Francisco. She
turned to Jim. "Go on. I'll catch up."
"Be careful," he
said.
"You too." She turned back to the woman. "Where was the grave?"
The woman pointed back the
way she had come. "Near the big
mausoleum. Just behind it. I was cutting through the cemetery on my way
home. It knocks ten minutes off my
walk."
"Don't do it
again." Christine studied the
woman, remembering how David had met her the first time in much this way,
pretending to be there innocently. She
drew out her cross, held it against the woman's arm.
The woman stared down at the
cross. "Is that to bless me or
something?"
"Something like
that. Now go, get out of here. And don't cut through the cemeteries,
okay?"
"Not a
problem." The woman looked at her
curiously. "But what are you going
to do?"
"What I always
do." Christine laughed
bitterly. "Don't worry. Just get home safe." She turned away from the woman, headed into
the heart of the cemetery.
She reached the mausoleum
quickly, walked around but didn't see any disturbed graves. She started another pass, figured she must
have missed it.
As she came around the back
of the mausoleum, she heard a strange pop, then felt a sting in her neck. She reached down, felt cold metal, and pulled
out a dart. She stared at it,
confused. "What the hell?"
She turned. Too fast, much too fast. She nearly fell as her head started to
spin. She felt her legs begin to
tremble, her arms tingled, as if they'd fallen asleep.
And it was hard to breathe.
"I'm sorry." Lori walked out of the bushes.
She looked different somehow,
but Christine was having trouble focusing on her.
Lori moved closer, held up a
small weapon. "Don't try to fight
it, Christine. You can't. It's a very fast-acting nerve agent. It's paralyzing but not fatal. You'll lose control of your limbs soon, so
you might want to sit down before you fall down."
Christine could feel her legs
about to give out. She sat, heavily and
gracelessly. She tried to catch herself
with her arms, felt the muscles screaming as they gave out and she fell to her
side in the grass. "Why?"
Lori walked over to her. "I don't have any choice anymore. I was hoping you could get me Kirsu. But you didn't come through." She knelt down, stroked Christine's
hair. "I wish it didn't have to be
this way. I do like you."
"Be what way?" Christine couldn't move but she could still
talk...with effort. "Jim...Jim's
going to get help for you. We'll find
another way. Whatever you think you're
doing, you don't need to."
Lori leaned down, sniffed
along her neck. "I would have liked
to have gotten to know you better."
She laid her lips on Christine's neck, not a kiss as much as a
nuzzle. One animal to another.
Or predator to prey? Christine tried to move. Couldn't.
"I don't understand."
"I know." Lori drew away. "I need Kirsu. Another dimension just won't work for
me. And I'm out of time. You let me down, Christine. I was counting on you, and you didn't
deliver. Now, I have to look out for my
people. I don't have a choice."
"So you kill me?"
"Not me. Him."
Lori moved Christine's head so she could see the vampire moving across
the lawn.
"Where...there was no
grave."
"No. There wasn't.
She was one of mine, dear."
Lori stood up. "I made a
deal with this nice vampire. He's going
to kill you slowly so the slayers in Kirsu will have plenty of notice that you
need help. I expect them to come rushing
in very soon."
Christine felt her stomach
sink. "Lori, no. It won't work. Not if you're here."
"Oh, I plan to
hide. And once they're busy with you, I
can borrow their means of travel and go to Kirsu. Once I'm there, I can bring my own to join
me. I'm out of other options,
Christine. One way or another, you'll
deliver Kirsu to me."
Christine waited, but Lori
seemed to have moved away. Then she
heard her footsteps on the path.
"Slowly." Lori's voice was neutral, as if she was
ordering a junior officer to take a reading or run a diagnostic. "Remember, she can't fight you."
"She's really a
slayer?"
"You're not seeing her
at her best. Believe me, if she was
feeling better, she'd kick your ass."
Christine tried to send a
silent message to LaVelle, and to Marion.
Don't come. It's a trap.
The vampire picked her up;
she hung helplessly from his grip. He tightened
his hold on her neck, cutting off her air.
She tried to kick; her legs didn't even move.
He laughed and punched her in
the stomach hard. Her middle erupted in
pain. She tried to punch him back,
couldn't get her arm to even twitch, much less strike.
He kicked her away from him,
and she landed on a gravestone, her back wrenching. He stalked over and dragged her off the
marker, shaking her as he pulled her up.
"If it were going to be
quick, I'd rip your throat out here and now." He opened his mouth, horrible teeth coming
closer and closer. "But she said to
make it slow. So your neck is off
limits." He bit down hard on her
shoulder, tearing away a chunk of skin.
Then he drank.
Pain shot through her. This was nothing like David's bite.
She heard a whimper, realized
it was coming from her.
This was how she would die?
"What the hell is going
on?" The voice was commanding, but
she couldn't place it.
The vampire looked irritated
that anyone would interrupt his fun. He
turned, and she could see who was standing on the walk watching them.
Nogura.
He lifted his hand, muttered
something, and the vampire's shirt caught on fire. He let go of Christine and dropped to the
ground, rolling, putting out the flames.
She landed on her side, tried to crawl, couldn't even inch away.
She heard Nogura murmur
something, and she suddenly felt as if she was in an isolation tank. The air felt funny, and the normal sounds of
the night seemed muffled. And when the
vampire reached for her, his hand was repelled, as if by a forcefield.
"Lori," Nogura said
loudly. "I know you're here."
There was no answer.
"She has darts,"
Christine managed to say.
"It doesn't
matter." He walked over to her.
She heard the vampire charge,
could only see his feet as he ran past her.
There was a moment's struggle, then she heard a scream and the familiar
sound of an undead body turning to dust.
Nogura knelt down next to
her. "She was trying to call the
slayers, wasn't she?"
Christine didn't answer. Hoped he'd think she was out of strength.
"It was a good
idea. Except for the fact that they
aren't here." He muttered something
that sounded like Latin, and the air returned to normal around her.
She tried to take a deep
breath, felt as if her lungs were tightening up.
"If I have an emergency
medkit beamed to me, can I reverse the drug's effects?"
"I don't think so. But a toxicology kit might work."
She heard him open his
communicator, there was the whine of connection and then he was ordering both
kits from someone named Ellie. He left
the communicator open, set it down just to his side.
"Why are you helping
me?"
"Why wouldn't I help
you?" He pulled her shirt away from
her torn shoulder. "This has to
hurt."
She didn't answer.
"I know you don't trust
me, Lieutenant." He set his hand
over her torn skin.
If she could have pulled away
from him, she would have. But she was
frozen, at his mercy. As long as he
didn't touch the necklace, she'd be okay.
Fortunately it was hanging down, away from the shoulder that had been
bitten, away from him.
"Just relax. I'm not going to hurt you." He pressed down.
She felt as if he'd shot her
full of anesthetic, the pain fled under his touch. "What are you doing?"
"Fixing your
shoulder. You're bleeding badly."
"Why?"
"Why am I helping
you?"
She tried to nod,
couldn't. "Yes."
"Starfleet's made an
investment in you, Doctor. It wouldn't
do to let you die before we get any value back.
And I could hardly let you bleed to death out here." He let go of her shoulder. "There, that's better."
His communicator beeped, and
then the medkits materialized next to it.
She saw him open one, his large hands digging through the kit. "What am I looking for?"
She tried to think. Lori had said nerve agent. "Load the hypospray with the canister
that has orange stripes on the casing."
He did it. "On the neck?"
"No," she said
quickly, afraid again for the necklace.
"My arm."
He pulled her sleeve up,
injected her, then put the hypo back in the bag.
A wave of pain roared up her
spine. She'd hit the gravestone at an
odd angle, and so hard. Could her back
be broken? She couldn't afford to let
Nogura check her out with the scanner.
Not while she had the necklace on.
She could scan herself once her arms and legs were working again.
The pain came again. There were other meds in the kit. It would be easy to tell him which one to
load up, easy for him to give her some relief.
But an analgesic might mask the feelings of the nerve agent rubbing
off. And she had to keep her head around
him--drugged she'd be far more vulnerable to his magic.
She was a slayer. She'd heal fast. She could live with the pain.
"How long will it take
to wear off?" Nogura asked.
"I don't know if it even
will work."
"If it doesn't, we'll
have to get you back to Starfleet Medical.
I'd rather it worked."
"Hate to take time from
the hunt?" She wasn't sure why she
was baiting him. Maybe it was because
she was feeling helpless--it made her damned cranky.
"Actually, I think it's
time you and I and Jim talked. And he'll
listen to me better if you're along. And
I'm a bit old to be carrying women through the streets of our fair city."
"You don't have to carry
me. Or are you out of transporter
credits?"
He laughed. It was a surprisingly normal laugh. "No.
I just prefer to leave no trace of where we're going. I assume Jim is with his sensei?"
She decided not to
answer.
He sat down next to her. "Do you have any idea where Lori
went?"
She stayed silent.
"She tried to kill
you. Why are you protecting her?"
"She's desperate."
"Yes. I imagine she is." His voice dropped dangerously. "Where is she, Lieutenant Chapel?"
"I wouldn't know,
sir."
He sighed. "This is why the three of us need to
talk."
"Talk won't change
anything." She groaned as her back
spasmed again.
"You are in
pain." He reached for her.
"Don't touch me."
He pulled his hand back.
She felt her legs begin to
tingle, tried to move her foot and was gratified when it jerked just
slightly. She reached with her hand,
felt a finger move.
"It's working?" he
asked. He actually sounded relieved.
"Seems to be."
"Then we wait until you
can walk again." He settled down
next to her. "Have you ever heard
the story of Sachiko Nogura, Lieutenant?"
She nodded, was surprised
when her head actually moved a tiny bit.
"It's an interesting
tale even the second time. And maybe you
heard a different version? I'll tell you
mine while we wait."
Christine felt her hand
twitch, moved her thumb and wiggled her fingers. She wasn't going to die. Or be paralyzed forever. She closed her eyes, waiting for her body to
come back to life.
And as she did, her body's
resurrection was accompanied by the curious sound of an Admiral recounting
slayer lore. His version wasn't all that
different than the story Emma had told her.
She wished her watcher were
here now. Not this Admiral she would
never, ever trust.
Even if he had just saved her
life.
Kirk tried to concentrate on
creating fire, tried to become one with the element. It wasn't working. "Why are we doing this?"
"Because we are waiting
for your slayer to get here."
Weasel gave him a sharp look.
"This is to distract you.
Now, pay attention."
Kirk stared at his hand, saw
fire begin to grow, forming a glowing sphere just inches from his skin. Then his eyes were drawn again to the
entrance. Where the hell was Chris?
"Will you stop looking
at the door? We can go out and look for
her if you're that worried." Weasel
swatted the small fireball out of Kirk's hand.
It exploded as it fell to the ground.
"Mac, you are really off your game."
"Something's
wrong." Kirk sat down in the chair,
then immediately felt guilty. What if
Chris was hurt? Why the hell was he
sitting down? He pushed himself back
up. "I've got to go find her."
He headed for the door, then
backed up as Nogura suddenly pushed it open.
Weasel's head shot up. "Heihachiro. I don't recall inviting you here."
"I don't need an
invitation. I'm not a vampire. Did you really think a Caverimics Shield
would keep me out? I'm surprised at you,
Nathan."
Kirk looked at Weasel and
mouthed, "Nathan?"
Weasel scowled. Deeply.
Nogura held up a hand. "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you still going by that rodent
name? What was it? Muskrat?
Opossum?"
"Weasel."
"Of course. How apt." Nogura leaned against the doorframe. "We need to talk, Jim."
"We have nothing to talk
about."
"Yes, I figured you'd
feel that way. That's why I brought her
with me." He reached back, pulled
Chris into view.
Her shirt was torn and
covered with blood. She was walking
under her own power, but she seemed shaky.
"What have you
done?" Kirk stalked forward, not
sure exactly what he was going to do but ready to do it with everything he had.
Chris stepped between
them. "Jim. He didn't do anything."
Nogura coughed softly.
"Well"--she
sighed--"actually, he saved my life."
"_He_ did?"
She nodded, then groaned and
reached out for the doorjamb as if to steady herself. "Can I sit down, please?"
Kirk pushed Nogura away from
her, then helped her to a chair.
"I'm okay, nothing
broken. Just badly bruised," she
whispered as she touched her neck, just a fleeting dip of her fingers.
He frowned. Had Nogura noticed the necklace?
"All okay," she
said again, smiling.
He could feel his expression
clear. "I'm glad to hear
it." He smiled, knew the look was
full of worry.
She sighed as she sat. "God, I'm tired."
He knelt down, peeled her
shirt back where it was torn, expecting to see a nasty wound. Her skin was unmarked.
"You can thank me for
that, Jim," Nogura said softly.
Chris nodded.
Kirk looked over at him. "What is this? Some kind of game? Put her in danger, then be the hero so we
trust you?"
She touched his
shoulder. "Not him. Lori did this." She held his eyes, nodded slowly. "She thought she could call the Kirsu
slayers if she put me in danger. She's
desperate."
"You're sugarcoating it,
Doctor. Put you in danger? You were well on your way to being
dead." Nogura moved into the room,
studying everything. "Quite the
place you've got here, Nathan."
"Yeah, well, it's
home."
Nogura chuckled. It was a nasty sound. "Whether you like it or not."
Weasel didn't say anything,
but his face tightened.
Nogura put his hands behind
his back, turned to face them all.
"We have a problem, people."
"You have a
problem," Kirk said.
"Lori is a problem for
all of us. I don't understand what she
wants with Kirsu. Not that it wasn't a
good idea, original thinking on her part."
He seemed to ignore the twin glares Kirk and Chris sent him. "But if she'd been doing it for
me...for us, then she'd have come out when I called." He shook his head.
Chris leaned forward. "You really don't get it? Whose fault do you think it is that she wants
Kirsu so bad?"
Nogura looked at her
quizzically.
"I've seen what you've
done to her. To her kind. I've been there." She pointed her finger at him, as if with it,
she could make her words stronger, her emotions more clear.
They were very clear
already. To Kirk anyway.
"Been where?" Nogura asked.
"The pens."
All expression faded from his
face. "The what?"
"The pens. The pens under your beautiful house and your
pristine fields of irises...and wolfsbane.
The pens where you torture werewolves.
Where you kill innocent people."
He walked over to her, stared
down at her as if she were delusional.
"My family's methods may be harsh at times, but they've been proven
over the centuries. And I don't kill
innocent people."
"You killed Carl,"
Kirk shot out and immediately wished he hadn't.
Nogura turned to him. "Yes.
I did. I had to."
"Why?"
"He was working for the
enemy, Jim. He was working for the
Romulans. Their program is quite
advanced. Psychic observation, a
breeding program to increase magical potential, perfecting methods of
telepathic invasion. You name it,
they're studying it--hell, they're doing it.
And he was helping them."
"Carl?" Jim knew his look was full of disgusted
shock. "Carl Richter was never
working for them. He was onto you and
your hunt for Kirsu, and you killed him for it.
Because he got too close."
"My god, Jim, he was my
friend. Our friend. You know how highly I thought of him. It killed me when Lori found proof that
he--" Nogura's face went white, and
he closed his eyes. "When Lori
found proof." He opened his eyes,
looked at Kirk. "It was good
evidence. Rock solid. I demanded that. He was...he was my friend."
"You're saying Lori's to
blame," Chris said, her voice full of scorn.
Nogura turned to her. He seemed not to have heard the scorn, only
the words. "Yes, that's it. So much that's gone wrong lately. I didn't see it. I didn't want to see it. I trusted her."
"Why were you looking
for her earlier if you trusted her?"
Kirk shook his head. Too much
didn't hold water. He glanced at Chris. She didn't look convinced either.
"Because she's been
missing. I was worried. I thought something had happened to her. I thought the Romulans--"
"--Enough with the
damned Romulans. They aren't a
threat." Kirk wanted to punch
Nogura, make him pay for what he'd done.
Carl had died--been murdered...because of this man's obsession with the
Romulans.
"If Lori wants to get
away from you, it's entirely understandable." Chris shot him a look filled with loathing.
"Did Lori take you to
the pens?"
She didn't want to answer;
Kirk could see it in her face.
"Of course she
did." Nogura began to pace. "What is she playing at?" He pulled out a communicator, spoke softly
but never stopped pacing. "I need a
flitter. Yes, at my coordinates. Come at once.
There'll be three of us." He
closed the communicator. "You need
to see the pens again. You need to see
them through new eyes."
"I saw them fine the
first time."
"No, you saw what she
wanted you to see." Nogura
smiled. "Did she show you mainly
women? Girls? With no choice in the matter?"
Chris glared at him.
"She did. She knew you'd resonate with that. Your dislike of the watcher-slayer system is
well known to us. She just cast me in
the role of watcher for you, didn't she?"
Kirk moved closer to
Chris. "She knows what she
saw."
"Trompe L'Oeil. I'm sure you know the reference? When the eye is tricked, the brain does not
question." He knelt down, seemed to
be putting himself at Chris's mercy--although with the non-violence spell in
place, neither of them was in any danger.
"I know what I
saw," she said, but this time she didn't sound convinced.
"Look again. With new knowledge." Nogura's eyes were steely. He pushed himself up. "The flitter should be here soon. We should go."
Kirk looked at Chris. "We don't have to. If you don't feel up to it."
She pushed herself out of the
chair. "I want to believe
her." She shot a look at
Nogura. "I want to not believe
him." She shook her head. "But the way she told the vampire to
kill me. It was cold, Jim. So cold." She seemed to be realizing something, looked
up at him, her eyes filled with anger.
"And she looked just fine.
Not haggard, or sick. She wasn't
being poisoned. That was for our
benefit." She turned to
Nogura. "A glamour, to make us
think she was in danger. Because you
weren't attacking her, were you?"
"No. I told you; I was looking for her."
"Let's go," Chris
said, sounding utterly exhausted. She
pushed past Nogura, headed up the stairs.
Nogura started to go, but
Kirk grabbed his arm. Nogura looked down
at it, then back up at Kirk. "Jim,
if you aren't careful--"
"--I talk now, not
you." He moved closer. "If you've hurt her in any way, I swear
I'll kill you."
"I saved her. What part of that is so difficult for you to
understand?" Nogura seemed to stand
straighter. The boss. His boss.
"Now, take your hand off me before I get very, very angry."
Kirk let him go.
Nogura turned and strode out.
Kirk looked at Weasel. "You never said you knew him."
"You never
asked." Weasel shrugged. "The magical community's a small
one. And Nogura's a powerful man."
"And an evil one."
"He's driven. He's focused.
And he can do evil things. But
I'm not wholly certain he's evil."
Weasel sighed. "Jim, I know
it's hard to accept, but not everything is black or white."
"He killed my
friend."
"And there'll be consequences
for that. Cosmic...karmic
consequences." Weasel shook his
head. "It's just...I'm not in much
of a position to judge him. Because he's
not the one being punished by The Powers, now is he?" Before Kirk could answer, Weasel pushed him
toward the door. "You better catch
up. Christine needs you. She's very weak."
There were a hundred things
Kirk wanted to ask him, and there was no time.
He hurried out the door and up the stairs to where Nogura waited for
him. Chris was already sitting in the
back, her head tilted back, eyes closed.
He crawled into the back with her.
She moved, leaning her head against his shoulder. He put his arm around her.
"Touching," Nogura
said, as he climbed into the front and closed the door.
It was the only thing any of
them said during the entire trip.
----------------------------
Christine felt Jim's arm
tighten around her, didn't tell him how much he was hurting her back. She shifted slightly, trying to get
comfortable, and a sharp pain shot up her spine.
She didn't realize she'd
moaned until Jim said softly, "Can I help?"
She shook her head quickly,
didn't want to draw attention to how much pain she was in.
"I helped Emma."
She opened her eyes. He was staring at her with such tender
concern.
She smiled, a small, pained
smile. "You never told me
that."
"I just thought of
it. I didn't set out to help her; it was
sort of by accident. I felt so bad for
her. Maybe I can help you too?" He pushed her slightly forward, let his hand
drop down her back. "Is it
here?"
Somehow his hand went right
to where she'd connected with the stone.
She imagined she had a huge bruise blossoming as the blood pooled
underneath her skin. "It's a
shooting pain, radiating out from there."
They were talking so low the
words were barely more than breath. She
saw Nogura lean back, as if he were trying to hear them.
Leave us alone, she wanted to
yell at him. But she didn't.
Finally Nogura started
talking to the driver; his words didn't carry into the back.
Jim pressed his hand down on
her back, moving it gently. "I can
feel it," he whispered. "The
pain is right here."
He pushed down a little
harder and she flinched. Then the pain
receded, as if pushed behind a wall. It
wasn't gone, but it hurt so much less that she almost cried out in relief.
She looked up at him.
"Better?" he asked.
She nodded. Smiled at him. What was she going to do without him? Soon she'd be leaving Earth, leaving him. So soon.
Too soon.
He seemed to feel what she
was thinking. "No more
patrols. No more hurt backs."
"No more you," she
whispered.
He swallowed hard,
nodded. "I know."
She felt tears, knew she was
weak and that the weakness was making her overly emotional. She nestled back against him, felt him pull
her closer. She closed her eyes
again. Let go and drifted, hovering
somewhere just north of sleep.
She felt the flitter slow,
then land. Opening her eyes, she saw
that they had arrived at Nogura's.
Taking a deep breath, she followed Jim out of the flitter.
Jim stood staring at the iris
fields.
Nogura followed his
gaze. "They bother you. Why?"
"I sensed them. From Carl's body. That day in your office. They were a clue...a link. To you."
"Ah."
Jim turned to him, his expression
angry again. "That day in your
office you tried to force me to do what you wanted. I know about the spell."
Nogura shrugged. "I was only nudging you toward what you
already want." He gestured toward
her. "A woman who loves you--who
you obviously care for. Your son in your
life. Was my spell so heinous?"
"Free will. It's crucial."
"If you say
so."
"How could you kill
him?" Jim's lips snapped tightly
together.
Nogura seemed to sigh. "Carl _was_ my friend."
Christine laughed bitterly. When Nogura turned to look at her, she said,
"I hope to god that I'm never one of your friends."
He did not react, just stared
at her coldly.
She held her ground. She wasn't the bad guy. "I thought we were here to see the
pens," she finally said, tiring of their stare down.
"Of course." He
motioned them toward the stable.
She followed him, Jim
trailing behind. She knew he'd taken
flank so he could watch out for her, loved him for it. They walked down the stairs and went through
the metal door. The pens looked just the
same.
She heard Jim gasp. The enormity, the sheer scale. "What is this place for?"
"It's where we teach
werewolves to control the change," Nogura said. "We use a form of conditioning built
from pain and reward. We've been very
successful with it."
"Define
success?" Christine saw the little
girl that had been haunting her thoughts, hurried down the stairs toward her.
She was still in the same
pen. As Christine got closer, the child
charged at her, growling even though she was in human form.
"Honey, it's
okay."
The girl lunged at her
hand. Only slayer reflexes--and she
barely had those tonight--allowed her to get her hand out of the cage before
the girl bit her. The child threw herself
against the bars over and over.
Christine backed up several
steps.
"We found her in
Estonia. An orphaned werewolf. Apparently raised by some Criagan
demons. Have you ever come up against
one of those?"
Christine nodded. It had been a long time ago. But she would never forget how vicious the
thing had been.
"She's completely
unsocialized. Has no human speech, but
is fluent in Criagan and a few other demon languages. She's quite dangerous, because as you know,
it only takes one bite. We kept her
muzzled for the first six months. This
is, believe it or not, an improvement."
"I saw one of your
people torturing her."
"The cattle prod is, at
times, the only thing that gets through to them. And when they're in wolf form, it doesn't
hurt them as much as you might think."
"She wasn't in wolf
form."
"Well, she's barely
human even when she's not." He
watched the little girl sadly. "She
may be unreachable. This may be as good
as it gets."
"And then what? You kill her?
Like you did that woman?"
Nogura turned to her. "What woman?" He seemed genuinely confused.
Christine led them to the pen
that had held the woman. She pointed to
the window. Past it was the other
pen. "You had a man there--a new
arrival who had been uncooperative. The
woman was here. You had pumped her full
of aconite so she couldn't change. You
were going to let him change and kill her.
Then you were going to show him the recordings of what he'd done to her. You'd keep showing them until he gave in,
until he let you train him. But the
woman...you killed her. Because she
wasn't good enough at controlling the change."
"That's quite a
story." He turned, motioned to a
woman in a gray coat. "Tsuya, who
was in this pen during the last full moon?"
"The Larssons."
"Ah. Of course.
They're still here?"
She nodded. "Ilka's upstairs."
"Have her come
down."
The woman turned away. Nogura led them through the facility,
explaining the technique, how the werewolves were taught to resist the
change. It was harsh. Cruel even.
Pain was an effective means of breaking through, of forcing control.
"I've heard of another
way," Christine said, remembering what Emma had said. "Herbs, meditation."
"The Osbourne
method?" Nogura sneered.
"Their control is not perfect.
Heavy emotion gets through too easily because the control is
voluntary. My way conditions the
response. It becomes instinctual,
habit. Not a choice. Just the way it is."
"A nice argument for
pain," Christine said.
"I don't enjoy
inflicting pain."
"Right. Tell me, Admiral, how many times have you
picked up that cattle prod?"
"That's not the
issue."
"I think it
is."
"Sir?" A soft voice sounded behind them. "You wanted to see me?"
Christine turned, and
gasped. It was the woman Lori had said
was to be killed. She looked very much
alive.
She looked at Christine
curiously. Smiled at her, but her smile
died when Christine didn't react.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"No, Ilka. You did not.
Please tell my visitors why you were in the pen, and why Ulf was in the adjoining
one?"
She smiled. "I'm learning to perfect my
control. Even if my husband changes, I
need to be able to resist."
"Perfect it?" Jim
asked softly. "You're not good
enough?"
She shook her head. "If it were just me...but I'm going to
get pregnant."
"My god," Christine
made an incredulous sound and turned on Nogura.
"So they have to prove themselves worthy to be part of your
breeding program?"
"My what?"
The woman was staring at
Christine like she'd lost her mind.
"I can't afford to endanger the baby." She looked at Nogura, as if wondering why she
had to talk to these particular guests.
He grimaced at her. "Explain it to them."
"Ulf and I want to have
a baby. It will be difficult to not
change during the pregnancy--the hormones...they make it very hard to
resist. And aconite--wolfsbane--will
harm the baby. So I must get better at
controlling it. Without any help. We're working on that now."
"I don't
understand. Will changing harm the
baby?" Jim asked.
Ilka nodded. "Some of us are born werewolves. It's because our mothers changed while
carrying us. If the mother can resist,
the baby will be free of the curse. It's
what we all hope for." She
laughed. "Those of us who like the
modern ways, anyway."
Nogura looked at her. "What do you mean by that?"
She looked suddenly
nervous. "I just mean, I'd rather
be human than the wolf."
"No," Nogura moved
closer. "You meant something
else. What?"
Ilka's cheeks flushed; she
took a step back. "There's a
movement among some of us. A reversion
to the wolf side. Primitive. Not under control."
"Who leads it?"
She looked down.
His hand jerked out, wrenched
her head back up. "Who?"
Christine pulled his hand
away. "Lori said she was
alpha."
Ilka laughed, her eyes
darting to Nogura as if afraid he'd be offended at her laughter. "She's not my alpha. I like being human. I want my baby to be free of this."
"Alpha." Nogura turned away. "Alpha?" He ran his hand through his hair, hard,
almost spastically. "I took her
in. I taught her everything she knows
about magic. I treated her like a
younger sister. She wanted for
nothing. And this is how she repays
me?"
He turned on Ilka. "What is she planning?"
"I don't
know." Ilka looked at Christine, as
if asking her to intervene again. She
must have seen something less than helpful in Christine's face. "They keep talking about this place
where we would be free of the change.
And from where we'd also be able to launch an attack." She held her hand up, as if afraid Nogura
might hit her. "It's crazy talk. We
laugh at them. There's no such
place. And why attack? I'm glad I can control this."
"Where do they
meet?"
"Ulf and I aren't part
of it. They only tell the ones who are
loyal where the safe place is."
"I know where it is,"
Christine said. She looked at Jim. He nodded.
"I'll take you
there," she said, as she started up the stairs.
Nogura and Jim followed her
up. She tried to not look like she was
struggling to get back up the stairs.
How much blood had she
lost?
She felt a hand on her
back. "Lieutenant."
She turned.
Nogura shook his head. "You are too tired to go in there. You will get hurt. I will take my own reinforcements." He turned to Jim. "I'll have the driver take you back to
town. Or to Starfleet Medical if you
think that is necessary."
"I don't need a
hospital," Christine said.
"And I'm fine."
Jim shook his head. When she started to protest, he said,
"Chris. No."
"Jim, I can do
this."
"You may not need a
doctor, but he is right. You're too
weak. We'll be no good to
him."
She was about to shoot back
an angry retort but he just shook his head, a knowing smile on his face. She sighed.
They both knew it was an admission of defeat.
Jim turned to Nogura and told
him where the restaurant was, how many werewolves they'd seen there. He explained about the shielding. She'd felt none of the things he was
describing.
"If she's smart, she'll
move them. And Lori is nothing if not
smart." Nogura spoke for a moment
to his driver, then strode off. Four of
the hooded figures that Christine had seen before appeared from out of the
bushes. They followed Nogura to a larger
flitter, climbed in. The flitter took
off, heading back to town very fast.
"I wouldn't want to be
Lori right now," she said.
Jim watched the flitter
go. "No. Me neither."
She went to crawl into the
back of the flitter but he stopped her.
"Take the front," he said, as he slid into the back. "It's easier to get out of."
She smiled at him, settled
in. She was asleep before the flitter
was airborne.
-------------------------
"Sir? Where to?" The driver looked back at Kirk.
He gave him his address. Chris could stay with him. He wouldn't put it past Lori to try to kill
her again. It had been a clever idea
and, but for Nogura, it might have worked.
He was still hazy on the
details. Chris would have to tell him.
The flitter landed gently in
front of his building. Chris woke on her
own, got out stiffly. She looked at him
curiously.
"You're staying
here. Safer."
"Oh. Okay."
He wasn't sure she cared; she
just looked so terribly tired.
John was on duty. He already had the door open for them. "Good night, sir, ma'am."
Kirk wondered if the elevator
would ever come. He punched the call
button again.
She touched his arm. "Jim.
I'm okay. I'm just a little
banged up. And you were right. I'm so tired."
He led her onto the
elevator. "I know. I want to get you safely to bed."
She laughed huskily, but
without her normal energy.
"Sure. I've been waiting
months to hear those words, and you pick tonight?"
He laughed, but he wasn't
sure it was very convincing.
They walked down the hall
quietly, both aware of how late it was.
He palmed open the door, then turned on the lights. He could feel the wards--he hadn't even been
aware he'd put them on the place when he first moved in. That seemed like so long ago. He sent out his magic, strengthening them. He would keep Chris safe.
She was heading for the couch
but he turned her. "The bed."
"With you." She didn't make it a question.
He decided not to argue about
it. "Yes, with me."
"Mmmm." She smiled, but it was a sleepy smile.
He went into the closet,
found a t-shirt and handed it to her.
Then he slid her uniform top off of her, staying behind her. The skin on her back was scraped badly, and
there was a bump around which a huge bruise was already forming. "Oh, Chris. What happened?"
"She shot me with a dart
filled with some kind of nerve agent. I
couldn't move. I couldn't fight. He threw me onto a gravestone. It hurt.
A lot." Her voice fell,
became very small. "I thought I was
going to die, Jim. I would have
died...except he came along."
"Put the t-shirt
on," he whispered, waiting until she'd done it to nudge her toward the
bed. "Does it still hurt?"
"It does. But not as bad. I heal fast.
You know that."
"I can still help."
She looked over her shoulder
at him. "That'd be nice." She crawled onto the bed and lay down on her
stomach.
He pulled the t-shirt back up
and began to work on her back, trying to help her, wanting to ease her pain
more than anything. She groaned
slightly, but in a good way. He was
helping.
"Thanks," she said,
turning over.
He pulled off her boots, then
his own, and climbed into bed. He rolled
to his side, watching her as she lay staring at the ceiling.
"Were you
scared?" He leaned in; their faces
were very close.
She looked relieved that he
had asked her. "Yes." Then she smiled, turning her head slightly to
look at him. "But mostly I was
pissed. He was a nothing vampire. I couldn't believe I was gonna get taken out
by him."
He laughed.
"And I think she knew
that. I think she enjoyed having this
nobody vampire be the one to kill me.
Damn werewolf bitch."
"That's not much of an
insult in her case, is it?" he asked.
"Probably not."
He laughed again, just a soft
chuckle. Mostly out of relief. That she was okay. That his boss, while an obsessive, dangerous,
megalomaniac, was probably not evil incarnate.
He had saved Chris. Kirk would
always be grateful.
"What are you
thinking?" Her eyes were so soft,
half closed. Her voice was low and a bit
hoarse.
"How empty my life would
be if anything happened to you."
She stared up at him. Then she reached for him, pulling him
down.
He was kissing her before he
could think better of it. Kissing her
and gently rubbing her arm, afraid to lean too much, that he'd be too heavy and
hurt her.
He knew he should stop the
kiss. Knew he should pull away. It took him a long time to do so. "Chris," he said, shaking his head.
She gave him a guilty
smile. "I'm weak and hurt. I have no self-control tonight."
"No?"
"No."
She pulled him down to her again,
but he resisted and she didn't try to force it.
"Hold me?" she said
softly.
He gathered her up in his
arms, relishing the feel of her against him, her warmth, and the way her hand
snaked slowly around his waist.
What would he have done if
she had died?
What was he going to do once
she shipped out?
He sighed.
"What?"
He shook his head.
She sighed then.
Would she find someone
else? Some other man to love her. To hold her like this.
Kirk thought he would hate
that man.
He wasn't sure if he didn't
hate himself right now.
He sighed, louder this
time. And longer.
She started to move
away. "I'm sorry. I'll go sleep on the couch."
He held her, careful not to
hurt her. "It's okay." He let go of her. "Unless you want to sleep on the couch. Do you?"
She shook her head.
"Then sleep here. I'm fine.
It's just been a weird night."
She nodded.
"I think a visit to our
friends Chekov and Sulu is in order."
She looked up at him, her
eyebrows providing the question.
He smiled. "Silver bullets. I have guns that can fire them; we just have
to make some bullets." He felt better already. They had a plan. Plans were good.
"Do we need that if the
werewolves are in human form?"
"I don't know. I guess Nogura would know."
"I guess so." She snuggled closer. "I still don't trust him. He's not going to give up on Kirsu. Ever.
He's obsessed with those Romulans."
"I know."
But Nogura had still saved
Chris. That made him all right in Kirk's
book.
"Doesn't it seem like
everything's a lie?" She sounded so
forlorn.
"I know one thing that
isn't a lie." He laid his hand over
her heart. "You're not a lie."
She put her hand over
his. "I love you. That's not a lie either."
"Chris, I--" He stopped when she put her fingers over his lips.
"I don't expect you to
do anything about what I just said. It's
just that it's true. And I wanted to say
it."
He brushed back her hair,
fiercely, almost too hard. She frowned a
bit.
He'd never wanted a woman
more than he did her. He wondered if she
could see that in his eyes, in the way he was touching her.
She smiled ruefully. "You sure you don't want me on the
couch?"
He laughed, closed his
eyes. "I'm sure."
She moved her hand, found
his. Their fingers twined as if that was
their natural state. She fell asleep,
her breathing changing, becoming more solid, deeper.
When he was sure she was out,
he whispered, "I love you too."
FIN