Hecate had plans. The plans of a five-year old half human, half Immortal. The Creator didn’t understand this, nor account for any of the consequences that could follow. Had the Creator thought a little bit more about it, it still might not have registered. The number of things that would have to actually happen in the proper sequence with the proper conditions were so vast, that the worst outcome possible from the Creator’s perspective was so tiny that realization of this disaster scenario was a virtual impossibility.
But, “virtual impossibility” wasn’t the same as “impossibility” as the Creator and the vast legion of Immortals would soon come to realize.
Chapter 17
The months since the last big talk among the captors of the three Mussos hadn’t progressed well if you considered that no new clues had been obtained through careful beatings, new incentives and aggressive threats. Entry into their minds yielded nothing of consequence; either they had nothing relevant to share, they were adept at hiding what they knew, or they were vastly more complicated than they appeared to be.
Saldana was still sure that Heidi was the key; no matter which alternative forms of persuasion were attempted on Rene and the Mom, nothing was obtained. Adam and everyone else believed that the Mussos still held out hope that Dad, Federico, was on his way to rescue them if he could only find where they were held captive. They all clung to this hope with the fervor and belief of religious dogma; help had to be on the way. They weren’t destined to die alone, and in pain in some remote part of Germany.
The three Mussos were, however, quite wrong.
They would die in this remote part of Germany as soon as they were no longer necessary for finding the big prize, Federico. When Adam gave up hope of their utility, the Mussos would be dead the next day. Chel worked Adam hard to kill them now; it was unseemly for the Manti to abuse what the Gens considered innocent family members for information they had proven they didn’t possess. Adam responded by showing Chel the tapes proving their lack of innocence, and told Chel that this type of human, though rare, wasn’t without precedent. These three would endure daily beatings believing that Federico loved them and wanted them back. Adam assured Chel that Musso did not care; worse Federico couldn’t care less about the three and that he, Adam, would be proven correct when Federico was found.
Chel was despondent for days afterward; he was unable to decide whether it was because he didn’t believe the Manti capable of such cruelty, or because he realized humans were. This was virtually, but not entirely, unknown among the Gens, but like humans too, he thought his race better than this.
Adam told Chel one day, “Don’t worry my friend, when we’re done with the work of the Creator, this aberrant behavior will disappear. For now, just forgive me each day and guide me as best you can to make better, wiser decisions.”
“I will do my best, my King.”
“Oh, and I forgot to mention that when I abdicate, I have named Akira as my successor as King, Tar as his successor, and you as Prince of the Realm. All of my family will abdicate except the Princess Kendra though she will remain in residence with me in the City of Light.”
“Not if your training slows to a halt. Forgive me sire, but when you have taken Paulo’s head, you will have plenty of time for the fairer sex.”
“No, though I wish that were so. The Creator has sentenced me to death for disobedience.”
“Sire?”
“The Creator demanded that I destroy most all of Gens, mixed race, human and all other life now living, and begin again as ruler of the planet with extraordinary powers. I refused. No matter what happens, I must die, either for disobedience or for my failure. The Creator has sent someone to destroy me or me and all life on this planet if I don’t succeed in creating the new beings the Creator wishes to rule this planet. I have one year to start the planet in a new direction with a new species of beings capable of fulfilling the Creator’s vision of the future. Killing Enzo and Paulo are the last steps in the process of saving the planet, even though I must die no matter what. The things we do now are far more important in the grand scheme of events. Getting to Federico Musso, and preventing his agenda are part of that process. He wants a war of the species on Earth, but that will result in the death of the planet. His family might know where he is, so I will force them to talk. I realize how repugnant my methods are to you and the Gens Germania, but I need to know what they know. My methods are barbaric, and beneath us all, but I have no alternative even if my methods don’t work. I will do and try everything within my power to succeed or prevent failure.
“We must seed a newer, more enlightened species and you’re a part of how we will do that.”
“Sire, I have no idea how I can help.”
“Do you enjoy sex?”
***
The biggest falsehood believed by the captive Mussos was, of course, that Federico was actively looking for his wife and children. He was not. He was safely stashed away in his Villa in Granada, Spain bringing in new recruits for his exotic and cruel pleasures. Some lived through his strict interview process, some did not. Some just left, escaped as fast as they could. Federico didn’t care; there were women just like them all over the world, and he would seek and find a new mate. He had grown tired of his family, and wanted younger, newer, more deviant playthings. He considered having more than one mate, then decided he didn’t need a wife or a family; serial depravity alone would suffice to fill up his calendar. But he did need constant diversion; he had fallen into comfortable habits that had insufficiently challenged his libido, as extreme and depraved as it was.
There were a few very attractive, and pious nuns he knew from his travels. Two in particular came to mind who would be more than willing to meet with Musso as his alter ego, Cardinal Bellinelli, at a summer retreat in Spain. No need to decide, he told them, I’ve arranged everything. It is a private assignment for His Holiness, so secrecy is essential. They would soon regret that decision, convinced, after all, that he was an ordained Cardinal. Who would have suspected otherwise?
Unfortunately for Musso, not only was Adam looking for him, using his own primitive methods, so was the Vatican. The Marchetti investigation was proceeding, and His Holiness, when presented with the evidence, asked Marchetti to apprehend and return Cardinal Bellinelli to the Vatican. The only qualification from His Eminence was that, if at all possible, to bring him in quietly. Marchetti was asked to contact Edward St. James, apologize, invite him to the Vatican for a private audience with the Pope, then ask for his assistance in finding the rogue Cardinal.
Marchetti would do as requested but knew nothing of the intervening and external events.
Edward promised to help, but said if Adam got to him first, Musso would be dead. Maybe not right away, but as soon as he was done with him. Sometime before the big brawl on the Serengeti.
***
Saldana came into Adam’s Study one evening. “I think I have something.”
Adam’s ears perked up. “Do tell.”
“Musso. I think we’re getting close to finding him.”
“You’ve found him?”
“No, but I’m narrowing the places he might be.”
“How so?”
“As I said, I narrowed my focus to Heidi, the weakest link. Or so I thought. But one day, after having had no luck, I asked our little one if she would like to have a turn with Rene, the brother. I didn’t think it would be any more than some corporal fun, a distraction for our little girl who so, virulently hates men. She does, after all, get second choice; we all assume you want the daughter for a couple of days before you end her, giving her a taste of what she did to other women.”
Adam interrupted, “That and what she had planned for Vera. I have her private notes, and every detail she had planned for my wife. The notes were signed off by Daddy too, but both Rene and Marta had scribbled some suggestions to increase Vera’s pain while keeping her alive. A concoction of timing, rest, drugs and medical technique. Mommy and Daddy were particularly helpf
ul, using their medical knowledge.”
“Is this the big reason we’re having this chat when you should be training? Harder?”
“Yep. So, tell me what you found.”
“Well it seems that brother Rene has a crush on his sister Heidi and was beginning to respond to Kendra’s questions and lack of desire to beat him. Nothing like ‘Dad’s in Paris living at a B & B on the Rue de Fer’. But he did start to talk about how and where Mom and Dad met, places where they visited and stayed, how they planned coming home to Switzerland. Turns out Rene claims he and his sister were kidnapped as babies; mom, Marta, didn’t wish to be pregnant. Too much, well, of everything, you know, maternal. Anyway, one day our little imp tells Rene that I’m is just brutalizing the shit out of little Heidi, and that pretty soon I’m going to start slicing and dicing her tits. But, Kendra can get me to ease up if he talks more about Mom and Dad, and where they liked to go. Get her an extra day off, more food, maybe even a shower.”
“And?”
Rene thinks it’s pretty harmless, proving to me anyway that he has no actual idea where his Dad is. He starts to do the family bio, how and where they met, why, blah, blah, blah. Needed it in case they ever got arrested. Stick to one story. A story that could be confirmed. That means parts of it must be true. This goes on for a while, and Kendra takes mental notes. Now granted, so far, it’s like thirty or forty places or more, and growing. But if we assume Dad isn’t on the run-in safe houses, then he’s probably somewhere he knows. Somewhere familiar. Somewhere he’s been before. Family vacation? That’s what our little nympho homes in on, familiar new places. But this is the only spot where we disagree. I think it’s a familiar old place. Maybe even predates Marta; a family vacation villa he used to go to when Federico’s mommy and daddy were still alive. Somewhere still owned by the family, but unoccupied and maybe secret. Maybe a place Dad has planned to use all along as his private getaway for years.”
“Why not on the run?”
“Easy. His own men hiding him would smell blood in the water, and kill him or turn him in. Probably the former. If the family just disappears like they have, his men might assume he’s bored with fucking his daughter and got rid of them all. Ashes scattered at the lake.”
“OK, now what?”
“Well, when Federico ‘died’ in that car accident, since he didn’t die, where did he go? The ‘replacement’ Federico looked a lot like the ‘old’ Federico. Some older residents whispered it was the same guy. Nobody said that out loud to the police; they were frightened of the Musso family, and with good reason. From time to time if the Mayor got nosy, the Mayor’s daughter would disappear. Most thought the Mussos were sending a message. The daughters were never found.”
“So, we call Alana?”
“Already have. She’s working on it, but warns that a lot of airline, train and private transportation might not have digitized records.”
“Dead end then?”
“Nope. Your little honey thinks the information may be on microfiche, so if we narrow our time frame to around the purported ‘date of death’ and guess which country he went to, we might find something.”
“Lot of countries out there, you know.”
“Yes, but only one that Marta came from. Spain.”
Suddenly Adam, and Saldana heard a voice and felt a presence in the Study. “Bravo, humans. Very nice work, though mostly luck, and the hard work of that little whore, what’s-her-name?”
The doors suddenly locked.
Then, in shimmering colors, Hecate the Immortal appeared.
Chapter 18
Saldana, though impressed, acted quite the opposite. She looked over at Adam, shrugged her shoulders and said, “And you are who, exactly?”
“I am Hecate, the Immortal, bug. Surely that poor excuse for a husband, and lover has mentioned me to you and to his other sluts who service his pathetic physical needs.”
“Nope. Don’t recall husband mentioning you. Did you?”
“At breakfast one day. You were spitting muesli that day as I recall.”
“No matter. I am a very powerful entity as your worm has finally conceded. Wasn’t even that hard to get him to bow down to me. I promised not to kill you whores if he obeyed my commands.”
Saldana turned to Adam. “Really, you said that?”
“What choice did I have? She was the one behind what happened to Kendra that day. Had to do something, so serving my new Master …”
“… Mistress.”
“Yes, Mistress. Sorry about that. Well, it seemed prudent at the time.”
“What’s your name again, I forgot,” said Saldana with a smirk.
“Heca …” Hecate stopped mid-word. “Attempt to try my patience again will only result in more punishment for you and your fellow whores. And any additions to the harem. I am very powerful, so you will learn to obey me without hesitation.”
“But didn’t you already agree to leave us alone if our husband served you. Has he broken his word to you?”
“Not yet.”
“Then it seems to me that you are breaking yours, oh wise and powerful one, to the bug. Doesn’t that break some cosmic rule of the Universe? The Creator?”
There was no answer. “By the way, is the Creator a guy, a gal or a eunuch? I’m not clear on this point.”
“What’s a eunuch?”
“A guy without a dick. Sexless.”
“You impudent fool.” Saldana was about to do something drastic as infuriated as she was, temper lost, then stopped. “Yes, Master. I shall not do so; I serve as you command.”
Saldana roared with laughter. “You got in trouble, didn’t you? Spanked red on your little bottom like a little slut with daddy issues. This is just too good to be true. It’s precious.”
“Insect. You shall be second to suffer long and painfully after the worm is disposed of. Tick tock, Chosen of Chosen. What’s your response now, harlot? Cat got your tongue?”
“Say Hecana, …”
“Hecate. Hecate the Immortal.”
“I thought you were here to kill my husband, not torture him. Or me. What’s with that?”
“I was told to kill him, not how long I have to enjoy it.”
“Yeah right. But a couple more questions if you don’t mind.”
“Proceed, if they are not inane.”
“First why are you here? I mean here, right now. Just stopping by to harass the lower life forms?”
“My actions and movements do not concern someone as unimportant as you. The other?”
“Don’t you think this interference thing is a little unfair. I mean, it’s already almost impossible for my husband to finish on time, which means you get to lop off his head soon anyway. So why make it harder for the bug. Really, it’s kinda chicken shit, right?”
“What is ‘chicken shit’?”
“Hey, why don’t you find a good urban dictionary, and we’ll meet back here in an hour.”
“We shall, minus you. I will meet only with the Chosen of Chosen. I need only speak to him. Now go, whore. I shall return in one hour.”
“Okey dokey. Nice meeting you Hecara,”
“Hecate. Hecate the Immortal. Are you ignorant?”
“Yeah, that must be it. Ignorant.”
***
Adam went back to work and exactly one hour later, Hecate reappeared.
“I see the impudent, and disrespectful whore has left my presence as I commanded. I was about to vaporize her, but the Creator intervened. Sometimes the Creator, who has no gender by choice, thinks that I am too severe with the lower life forms on your miserable, irrelevant planet. I shall call the Creator ‘She’, however, as that gender on your planet is clearly superior to your ignorant, intolerant and cruel males.”
“You have a point.”
“So, one of the reasons I wish to speak to you has to do with learning your world culture, languages and more about you. Time is short, so I need to learn quickly. You are considered a superior human, so I thought you could
serve me best by guiding my education.”
“No bug?”
“Bug? What does that mean?”
“You didn’t call me ‘bug’. Just thought I should be respectful in these matters.”
“Oh, correct. But let’s drop the insults for the time being. There is no longer any need. I understand you treat your mates and other females fairly and with respect. I shall attempt to be kinder to you in the future and be mindful of the time frames we have to deal with.”
“Your kindness is appreciated.”
“I need to learn more about you and your planet, and I’m not sure how to do that. Can you help me … Adam?”
“Well, on one hand why don’t you just enter my mind, and find out everything about me from conception until today?”
“Not allowed.”
“My wives?”
“Yes, but I don’t think I’ll get what I really need to learn about you.”
“I don’t understand. You will end my life, after toying with me first, so what’s the value of understanding me.”
“Might help elsewhere.”
“You can do better than that.”
“I have had a change of mind on this issue; I would never torture you or your whores. I like your females. I will restrain myself from insulting your women; that was wrong. They have done nothing wrong as far as I now know and are only trying to help their mate succeed. They love you, another concept I fail to comprehend, but which I hope you can explain to me. All your mates have this same feeling, in different ways, but not other females. And your females seem happy, another mystery to me. I must learn more about this. It is essential now that I have invaded the minds of your mates and understand more about them.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then say nothing. I hope you succeed and the Creator relents and changes her mind about my task. She asked you to fix her mistake now she threatens to end your life for the tiniest of reasons unrelated to that task. You have served her well and have in no way offended her except to not destroy your fellow beings as she commanded when she became impatient. I do not understand her thinking, but, then, I am young. Perhaps order is more important than offense. Or offense more serious than success. I do not know.”
Resolution Page 47
