“Gerry,” she answered.
“The Pack Council Leader Gerry?” John asked, and she nodded. “Damn! You obviously take after your mother.”
Jacqueline opened her mouth to protest, but what came out was a chuckle. “Yes,” she finally agreed. “My dad was a lot of things, but a fine-looking specimen?” She shook her head.
“Your dad wasn’t ugly,” Eric argued. “Perhaps not a ten, but not a two either.”
There was a woomph as bodies hit the ground, but none of the ten even flicked an eye toward the noise.
“Twenty,” Gabrielle commented.
“Dad would have appreciated your support,” Jacqueline turned to Eric, “but even I know he was a solid six, maybe a seven if he shaved.”
Darryl was going to ask where he was when the ten of them received a message.
We will be a while, Michael sent, followed by Bethany Anne’s, I’ve got some booboos to heal.
Then the ten were alone.
“Did she mean,” Gabrielle questioned everyone there, “that she had the booboos, or Michael had the booboos and she was going to make them better?”
No one spoke for a moment, thinking through what Michael and Bethany Anne had told them. “I’m not sure we will ever know,” John replied.
Gabrielle shrugged. “Ok, pay up, bitches!” Gabrielle winked at Jacqueline. “I won!”
After five more minutes with no sign of Michael or Bethany Anne, Akio wondered aloud, “Does anyone want to meet Michael’s cat?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Etheric
This time it was quiet in the Etheric.
Michael was lying on the ground, his coat beside him, with Bethany Anne resting her head on his chest. “I am sorry,” Michael finally broke the silence. “It took a long time for me to reconstitute enough to come back to consciousness. I think I reacted in fear for a while. To awaken was to feel the pain of the bomb eating my flesh away tick by tick. I was fleeing the bomb area in my Myst form when the explosion caught up to me. I could not tell you how long it truly was before I might have been whole, but I am pretty sure I would not have been back before your team left the solar system.”
Bethany Anne sighed, thinking back to those times she had felt something in the Etheric. “You were there the whole time.” She reached behind her head and ran a hand down his chest. “I think I might have been just as upset with myself for leaving you there.”
“How were you supposed to know?”
“You dropped out where?”
“Colorado, near where the bomb went off.”
She turned on her side, leaving her head on his chest, and stared at him as he looked into her eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s why I never found you.” A tear slowly formed. “You were there, but you weren’t solid. I could feel you, but I never found you…and I did look.” She reached up and put a hand on his face to feel him again. “I promise you I looked.”
Michael put his hand over hers. “You did what you had to do.” He made a face. “Except that part about sending my casket into the sun. That wasn’t necessary.”
She pulled her hand away and slapped his chest, the sound loud in the silence of the Etheric. “You ass! I gave you a moving eulogy.”
He grinned. “I know. It was beautiful.” He reached down to caress her face. “I need to tell you this, and I’ll say it again in front of everybody, but here goes…”
She looked up into his eyes, a tear of joy in one corner. “Bethany Anne, Matriarch of the Vampires…”
>>Oh wow.<< ADAM said. >>He knows.<<
Michael continued, his words giving her mind sweet peace. “I love you. I love the woman you were before I passed, I love the woman you were while I was gone, and I love the woman you are now. I accept any love you might still have for me, and I will love you forever more.”
Bethany Anne, tears streaming, kissed his chest.
Michael continued. “I don’t know our future, but know that I’ll always be with you, through hell and back…”
Bethany Anne kissed another part of his chest, this time a little closer to his mouth.
“We will make it there together. I’ll never forsake your mmmphhhh.” Michael quit talking when Bethany Anne’s lips met his.
A moment later she came up for air. “Don’t make me create real booboos to kiss.” She reached for his shirt collar and ripped it down his chest. She had a red glow in her eyes as she licked her lips, her fangs growing. “I want you too bad for that!”
This time Michael wisely kept his mouth shut.
—
Michael looked down at his shirt, lifting one side and then the other to examine the rip. “Well, this won’t be easy to hide,” he said, chagrined.
Bethany Anne patted his stomach. “You wear it well, so flaunt it.” She reached up to his head. “What really did happen with your hair?” she asked, playing with the quarter-inch stubble.
He turned, searching for his hat before walking three steps and picking it up. He dusted it off and put it back on his head as he explained, “Well, when I dropped out of the Etheric I was completely bald.”
Bethany Anne frowned. “It’s growing back slowly?”
“No,” Michael admitted as he picked up his coat and shook it out. “It wasn’t growing back at all until recently. Now it’s growing back quickly, so I’m not complaining, but I was rather hoping you wouldn’t arrive until it had grown back out,” he admitted sheepishly as he put on his coat.
“Michael?” Bethany Anne stepped over and grabbed him by the chin, pulling him down for a kiss. “Are you vain?”
Michael sniffed, looking around. “I thought that was already clear!” he told her in a dignified manner before breaking into a grin. “Shall we fetch our friends and go up?”
Bethany Anne grabbed his hand and they stepped out of the Etheric.
—
“Where did everyone go?” Bethany Anne asked, looking around in the park.
>>They are already on their way back,<< ADAM replied.
How soon?
>>Probably fifteen seconds, and then those staying or leaving can decide.<<
“Incoming friends and compatriots in ten or so seconds.” Bethany Anne grabbed Michael’s hand. He was busy looking around at people taking photographs of the two of them.
“Did you ever get accustomed to the fame?” Michael asked softly.
Bethany Anne focused on what he was talking about for a moment.
“Some,” she admitted. “It comes with the territory when you are the leader.”
Hmmm. Michael rubbed his jaw as his eyes flicked to the sky, looking at the ships and then at the people around him again. They turned soon enough when someone mentioned the ships.
“I believe I liked it when the UnknownWorld was a little less obvious.”
“I think,” Bethany Anne watched the crew leave the old container box, “that secret is well and truly out.”
A shadow passed over them and the two looked up when a lot of hands pointed into the air.
The craft that was coming down was sleek, black, and menacing, and sported a white female vampire logo on the side.
“That is one sexy bitch,” Michael remarked as he watched the spaceship float down.
Bethany Anne leaned her head against his arm. “Shinigami probably heard that.”
“Shinigami?”
“The AI who runs the ship,” Bethany Anne replied. “She will like that you said that.” Michael felt a small squeeze on his arm. “But if you say that about any other female—”
Michael chuckled. “I’m obstinate and arrogant, not idiotic and suicidal.”
The ship stopped just short of the ground.
She patted his arm and they walked toward the ship. John and Eric had already pushed people back to give them room as they approached the stern ramp. “Good to know,” she told him as they entered Shinigami.
—
“Holy…” Mark looked at Jacqueline, who was complete
ly oblivious to his comment. She was staring out of the view screen at the massive ship as well.
“That’s…” she started. She stopped for a moment before finishing her thought. “I understand why guys have inferiority complexes.” She turned to Akio. “I’m feeling a little put in my place.”
“What place?” Mark asked, returning his gaze to the ship. “She’s been at this longer than you. Give yourself a little credit.” He pointed to the ship out there. “Work hard, be handed a shit-ton of money and the objective of saving the world, and all that can be yours, too.”
Jacqueline pursed her lips. “I think I got lucky with you.”
“Mmhmm,” he answered.
“You aren’t listening to me, are you?” She raised an eyebrow. Akio glanced at Mark, who was staring at the video screen. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t watch the train-wreck about to occur.
“Mmhmm,” Mark answered again.
“Does this outfit make me look fat?” she asked, her voice super-sweet.
“Mmhmm,” Mark answered again. Her eyes narrowed as she inhaled. “But,” he turned, winking at her, “I think you look sexy exactly the way you are, so what does it matter?”
Akio opened one eye. It flicked from Mark to Jacqueline, and then back to Mark before he opened the other eye.
This young man was smarter than Akio had given him credit for.
“I don’t know whether to be upset with you for saying I’m fat or kiss you for saying you like me just the way I am,” she answered. She put up a hand between them. “Don’t be trying to lay a kiss on this,” she waved it around her face, “until I figure it out.”
Mark smiled to her. “The answer depends on whether you want the truth from me. Those ladies who are seeking the right answer, truth be damned, aren’t helping their relationships. You asked if I thought that outfit made you look fat.” His eyes went down her body and back up. “And it makes you look like you have an additional five pounds on you. But I know what’s underneath—intimately—and I don’t care what the clothes up top have got going for false advertising .”
“Kiss.” She reached up to pull Mark’s head closer. “Now you can look at that sexy bitch out there.” Her eyes glinted just a little with moisture.
A voice rang out over the speakers in the ship. “I will accept that as a compliment.”
Jacqueline put a hand over her mouth, “Oh my God!” she whispered, “did I just call the Queen a sexy bitch?”
“No,” a voice that sounded remarkably like the Queen’s answered. “You called me a sexy bitch, and I’ll accept that as a compliment.”
Both Jacqueline and Mark turned to Akio, who shrugged before he asked the ship, “Am I speaking with ArchAngel?”
“Yes, Akio,” the voice replied as the Pod closed in on the ship. “Specifically I am ArchAngel II. I was made in my mother’s image.”
“Hai,” he replied, dipping his head in a small bow. “It is an honor, ArchAngel.”
“Likewise. My mother has worried about you, and she is happy to know you are safe.” The three of them noticed one of the black X-wing vessels move into position beside them. “You will now have a guard with you at all times.”
“Wait, why?” Jacqueline asked, seeing that more of the ships had been out there the whole time as they flew from Earth to the fleet surrounding the planet.
“Any time you are off-ship, the Queen wants enough firepower to ‘lay waste to a shit-ton of idiots,’ as she put it, if they dared try to harm you.”
“Oh,” she answered a bit meekly. “I thought it was to stop us from, uh…” She looked at Mark and then Akio. “Never mind.”
“You will find, young Jacqueline,” Akio told her as he watched the ships around them, “that the Queen is very protective of all her people.” He glanced at the two fighters that flanked the ship, which had the Queen inside it as well. “Sometimes others can be very protective as well.”
They slowed as their ship pierced ArchAngel’s field and slowly entered the massive bay, which was easily a hundred yards long and thirty high. Mark noticed that the ship they were on took up most of the bay.
He looked around, thinking that it was a good thing the people who had invaded Earth were from Earth.
The three disembarked, with Michael and Bethany Anne in the front. “Do not get too comfortable yet.” Akio told the Were and the vampire. “We are here for some refreshments, and then we will catch another ride back to the planet.”
A Yollin walked through a nearby hatch, joking with a human as they turned and headed down the bay.
Akio shook his head. This wasn’t going to be a quick trip. He was about to push the two of them forward when the hatch opened again and a Leath stepped out and ran to catch up with the two from before.
The three watched the massive and fearsome alien grunting for a moment before the previous two turned and waved it forward. They waited until it had caught up, and then the three continued toward another ship.
A female’s voice caught their attention. “What’s the matter?” The three of them turned as Gabrielle, who was behind them, finished, “Cat got your tongue?” She winked at Akio. “This and more will be on shown later. Let’s keep moving.”
Mark blushed as Jacqueline pulled him along, but he kept looking over his shoulder as the three hooked up some lines to the ship’s belly.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
QBS ArchAngel II, Orbiting Earth, Cafeteria Level Six
Jacqueline pushed her empty plate away from her. “I don’t think I can eat another bite,” she huffed as Mark walked up behind her, setting down a new plate plus a plate with a slice of chocolate cake next to it. “Except for whatever I’m smelling here.” She pulled the second plate closer.
Lowering her head, she inhaled the scent of the cake and waved a hand negligently to Mark. “You may go and fetch yourself another one of these.”
‘That was mine,” he told her, eyes amused.
“So?” She looked up, a smile on her face, “Consider it an object lesson for the course Food-You-Don’t-Put-Down-Next-to-Your-Girlfriend 101.” She picked up her fork and put the first bite in her mouth. The chocolate exploded with a few flavors she couldn’t connect with Earth.
Groaning, she looked back at Mark, who was looking at what was left of his slice of cake. “I’ll forgive you for not bringing me a second slice this time, because I was already stuffed.” She blew him a kiss and smiled for all she was worth. “Thank you!”
Mark shook his head and headed back toward the line.
“I thought you were full?” Gabrielle asked Jacqueline.
“I was, but this smell just makes me want to hurt people if I don’t have more cake,” Jacqueline admitted, putting a hand up in front of her mouth to hide any teeth that might have chocolate on them.
Gabrielle frowned and reached over to the plate. Jacqueline had barely started to protest when her nose stung like a sonofabitch and her eyes started watering. “Wha di oo do to my noth?” she asked, both hands covering her face as she worked through her pain.
“I swatted you,” Gabrielle answered, lifting the cake to her nose. “Oh, the chef put some Yollin winnomine in here.” She placed it back in front of Jacqueline. “Don’t act like you weren’t about to growl or do something particularly disrespectful, and your nose should be fine in a moment,” she thought for a second, “or two.”
Jacqueline rubbed her nose and reached down to grab another bite of cake, eyeing the woman across the table.
Mark slid a new plate onto the table. “Here’s another one for you, and here is mine. But I swear on an Intel I7, if you so much as try—” Mark’s hand shot out, spearing Jacqueline’s right wrist and pinning it to the table just inches from his plate.
She smiled at Mark as her left hand slowly grabbed the other cake plate and brought it back her way.
“A girl’s gotta try sometimes,” she told him, pulling her right hand back after Mark released her.
“Uh huh,” Mark replied, sitting down and p
ulling his cake toward him while keeping his eye on his girlfriend’s hands.
New York City State, Old United States
“Daaaammn,” Mark whispered. The three of them were going back down to Earth in something Gabrielle called a “low-level Executive Pod.”
It was plush.
Akio sat back and enjoyed the seats as Jacqueline and Mark whispered between themselves about the “Ten-Thousand-Mile-High Club” behind him.
He considered explaining that they weren’t ten thousand miles above the Earth, but decided to drop it. They were just playing and frankly, after everything they had been through since meeting up with Michael, he didn’t begrudge it.
The fact that they had made it through as minimally affected as they seemed to have been was in itself a miracle.
He wasn’t sure if they would have some sort of PTSD once they were safe, but he would make sure he spoke with ArchAngel to keep tabs on them once they left. PTSD was a thing from the past, and even vampires he had known throughout his life had been affected years later. These two seemed to have been helped by being around Michael and his radiant self-assurance.
Akio didn’t let them know it wasn’t self-assurance on Michael’s part that they would all be ok, but rather acceptance that whatever would be would be, and a complete failure on Michael’s part to clarify how they interpreted their feelings.
Akio had spent fifteen minutes with Bethany Anne, and those were some of the most precious he had experienced in his life to date.
Gabrielle had provided his men with an honorable way to surrender. Bethany Anne had shown him and his people honor as her guards, and now a team of hers would pull the massive amount of rubble off his men who were stuck on Earth and, fingers crossed, they would be waiting for him when the tons of rock were removed.
First their operations in Japan would have to be finished, though, and the fact that massive ships were flying around the world would need to become commonplace.
For now, the three of them were going back to New York one last time.
Mark didn’t have any family he wanted to visit, but he did have a few restaurants he wanted to take Jacqueline to and in return, Jacqueline wanted to take Mark clothes shopping.
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