Death Becomes Her

by Michael Anderle

  She just didn’t have enough information to form a solid answer.

  “Bethany,” His voice was a little gruff from emotions, but apparently he had it under control. “I’m not positive about everything I am about to tell you. I can explain that to the best of my belief, this is Top Secret and you are I are held to the strictest confidence.”

  He waited until she dipped her head in acknowledgement.

  He told her the story. Starting with a klaxon sounding down on Level Five and ending when she walked into his office.

  —

  It was a short time for Michael to form an opinion of this lady. If Bethany Anne and the General decided to meet him tomorrow night then he had made his decision. The door to the vault would open and there would be no Bethany Anne in the vault.

  Michael really never left the vault until the door opened. He would grab his chosen children and go to myst, leaving when the door barely cracked open.

  Since he had been watching some of the new shows it has become obvious that there are too many scientific devices to use this method any longer. They could just wait until the door was opened and check all kinds of signs and he was sure one of them would spike.

  Maybe it would be one of the ghost chasers.

  When he wasn’t just so tired with life, he might decide to go and play with those Ghost Chasers if he figured out where they were going to be.

  He could always have Carl check into their location for him. Where he wanted to keep the UnknownWorld a secret which was best for everyone, the more he could cause consternation with those that lived on the fringe, the better.

  Age, no matter what your body felt like, the years of living always imprint your mind. Those that fear death eventually feel like a quiet death in bed shouldn’t be feared too much. This acceptance of death often sneaks up on you.

  Living as many centuries as he had, even sleeping through so many decades, still cause a weariness on the soul.

  Maybe, just maybe what the Family needed was a new parent. A mother, not just a father.

  If she was as strong of mind as he suspected, then maybe he could choose to hand off the responsibility for the world and sleep one more time. A very, very long time.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Military Base, Colorado Mountains

  Michael ghosted into the plane. With the gear down, there was plenty of options if you knew your way around with a few judicious pin holes.

  He formed up and looked over at Carl who had apparently finished a liquor and was relaxing and running some sort of research items on his laptop. He had a few windows open and he could see that there were some items timing themselves as ‘% Complete Done’.

  Sitting down across from Carl, the seats on the plane faced each other. He changed his body from myst back into a visibly corporal form.

  It took a few blinks before Carl realized that Michael was in the plane and sitting across from him. If he wasn’t so thoroughly wrung out from the stress of the last few days, he was sure he might have jumped.

  As it was, his head just jerked up when he realized he wasn’t alone.

  “Carl, can you see what it will take to fly to the Baltics?”

  Carl stared at him, his question so out of left field that Carl had nothing to process it with. No previous knowledge of why Michael would want to go to Europe. As far as Carl knew, Michael hadn’t been out of America for… um, forever as far as he knew.

  Well, he knew he came over from Europe before, but that was in the 1700s or thereabouts. Pretty far back.

  “Um, sure, any particular country?” Carl wasn’t sure what permits and how to get a plane from the U.S. overseas. However, he was sure the pilot would let him know what he needed to do and Frank could smooth over any issues. He hoped.

  “No, I haven’t tried to figure out exactly where quite yet. I would prefer we choose Romania if we can. Probably Brasov if they have an airport. Let me know what you find out on our options.”

  “Are we going to see someone in particular? Do we need to announce ourselves?” Carl was searching just a little. He knew that the family could be particular about uninvited guests and there were always the other types of supernaturals one might have to deal with. Although here in America it was never a problem for Carl. Michael took care of the pecking order some one hundred and fifty years ago and he hadn’t heard a sneeze from the allied groups in his fifteen years.

  Frank apparently had all major supernatural leaders on speed dial and if Carl needed support, it magically appeared and they were ‘happy to do it’. Carl always assumed it was a healthy respect of living and let live. As in, Michael let them live and would continue to leave them alone unless they broke the accords or dishonored him in some way.

  Usually, if Carl received a package on a problem event or something internal to their group, the leadership already took care of the situation before Michael ever woke up.

  It was nice to hear about the problem and the solution at the same time.

  Often, Carl would receive requests for information from the other research people in the UnknownWorld if they were stymied. None of them wanted to work closely with Frank as he was too close to the government for their liking. They would pick up the phone to talk with him, but it was either that, or possibly a conversation with Michael.

  They really, really didn’t want that discussion again. One hundred and fifty years isn’t so long a time to forget when many of the existing leaders moved up the ranks due to the previous, massive, quantity of positions simultaneously available.

  It seems a handful of groups, mostly weres and other quasi-humans came together and decided that since they had taken on a few vampires with moderate casualties, they could gang up on Michael and either put him in his place, or soak up enough damage and get rid of him altogether.

  It was the first, and truly the bloodiest, Valentine’s Day ever. Well, it was February 14th anyway. All of the groups that participated consider their present leadership the ‘Second Council’ now. Since most of the first group suddenly became very dead by getting cut up into tiny chunks.

  A few that could regenerate their wounds apparently pissed Michael enough that he would cut a large part off their body. Then would stake them to the ground so they couldn’t escape until their body parts grew back, and then cut those parts off again.

  He required the ‘new’ pack leaders watch to make sure they got the message that to attack him had perilous consequences.

  It tends to make an impression, even one which lasts, apparently, one hundred and fifty years.

  Michael pursed his lips and decided to answer the question behind the request. “No, there are no families that I wish to interact with. This isn’t something they need to be aware of, and any of the dishonored we meet will be dealt with. None of them need to be aware of our presence as it will create problems with too many questions.”

  Michael looked out the glass of the small private jet. He knew that at this instant the plane was being surreptitiously snooped on as much as possible by the military. While Carl took care of any of his responsibilities very well, Michael’s plane was prepared to withstand all sorts of attacks, both overt and clandestine.

  Regardless, you couldn’t be too cautious, so Michael just projected his thoughts into Carl’s brain. It was impossible to snoop there.

  “You need to be careful and protect our information as much as possible. This won’t be a normal trip. We will be going into the Baltic's for a week at least, maybe two. We need two additional scouts to help us into the mountains for two people. We will be gone for at least one week. I will need a satellite phone to inform you to continue with the second stage of the operation.”

  “We won’t be staying there?”

  “No, I need you to be busy leading anyone following us on a merry chase until you get notified. No one must know of the plan. If anyone suspects anything, that area will be crawling with dishonored with all types of supernaturals.”

  Carl looked perplexed for a minute. “W
hy?”

  Michael sat back and looked pensive as he stared out the plane’s window.

  “Because a mother is to be born. In pain she will be conceived, in fire she will be tried, in agony will she be tested and for love she will kill. Unfortunately, there is a great need to show love right now.”

  Carl looked at Michael for a moment, then he noticed that one of his windows was blinking with a red ‘Query Complete’ at the top.

  It sounded like Michael had selected his latest child… No, that couldn’t be right. He called her a mother.

  He didn’t marry, did he?

  —

  “Fuck me sideways.” Bethany Anne had a bit of a potty mouth, she knew it, her father knew it and at times like this there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Besides, some of her best curse phrases her dad had taught her.

  Bethany Anne believed that cussing was an excellent and should be morally approved way to release stress.

  Bethany sat for a while, a little introspective after taking in everything she was just told.

  OK, so mysterious people, ops so black she never heard about them and government officials that can reach into her group and just make up orders and send her across the nation at the drop of a hat.

  Freaky and weird? Check.

  Supernatural situation and unexplained invisible old geezers. Double check.

  Well, that wasn’t really fair. Dad didn’t say the guy was a geezer, just older and in a suit. Kinda spoke in a clipped fashion. English wasn’t his first language, she was sure.

  Let’s not forget the ‘dying but not dying’ part either. She might be able to give old hoary long-scythe a royal middle finger but at what cost? That was the question she had right now.

  All of it tied up in some sort of honor system that spoke of beliefs that go back way before she was born.

  She let out a long sigh. “Dad, if I’m possibly going to die but not die tomorrow, how about we play hooky just one time and go and have dinner? On me? We can charge up my American Express and they can eat the bill.”

  He looked blankly at her, and then just cracked a shit-eating grin and stood up gruffly from his seat and reached for his hat.

  “Hell yeah, Beth. Tell you what, there is this steak house outside of the base that has a wine cellar with some very old favorites that I’ve been tempted to try, but didn’t want the bill. That sound about right?”

  Bethany Anne looked up at her father, who she might not see again after tomorrow. “You know what? I’ve got the company’s Amex and a personal Black Visa that just came in the mail two weeks ago. I’d been saving it for a special occasion. Let’s crack a little out of every bottle they have.”

  Patricia’s eyes grew and her mouth opened as they walked by. Her jaw almost hitting the ground.

  Both Reynolds were smiling and looked like they were about to get into some mischief.

  —

  Dr. John Evenich was outside the vault, the General’s daughter appeared to be getting ready to go inside. About five other soldiers stood outside and surrounded the rather small area. She was a bit of a beauty with that black hair. A bit of a hard-ass too. Well, the looks might have come from her mother but the attitude was all her father.

  She was talking with her dad matter-of-factly. If he didn’t know any better, he would swear the General’s nose was a little red. Drinking? No, probably crying when no one could see, the rumor was that he had just found out his daughter had a blood disease that had a high mortality rate.

  They both seemed in good spirits. That was just… odd.

  “General, Dad, I’ve no idea where I’m going or what I’m doing, but I want you to know that apparently I couldn’t have had this chance without you preparing me the way you did. If I was a school teacher, this opportunity wouldn’t be available right now.” She looked him straight in the eyes to make sure he understood her message.

  Lance considered his responses, realizing she was right. She didn’t want him going through the heartache when she ‘died’ this time that he did with her mother. Although she was right, without him training her the way he had she wouldn’t be prepared to be acceptable for this commission, such as it was. However, he was going to miss her.

  “I hear you, Bethany. Know that I won’t go all Houdini’s wife on you but drop a line if you can?”

  She smiled. After Harry Houdini died his wife performed a lot of séances to try and talk to him in the afterlife.

  With a kiss for his cheek, she stepped into the vault, slapping the red button beside the door as she stepped in.

  Klaxon going off, the vault door started to close.

  —

  “Fuck me, no lights…” The lights went off when the door shut. That was unexpected. You can’t get any darker than this.

  A deeper voice, not unpleasant, came out of the inky blackness. “That’s because I like to know the mettle of a man, or woman, that I’m going to communicate with and the easiest way to get past their defense is in the dark.”

  She jerked upright a little, her heart pumping a little faster, she tried to figure out where in the little vault he might be.

  “Bethany Anne, you might as well sit down. Reach to your left and you will find the closest chair at that end of a table.”

  “You have me at a little disadvantage.” She reached down and found the chair back, pulling it out she only slightly banged her leg against the table before sitting down. “Who am I speaking with?” The way he spoke, he would probably be at the other end.

  “My name is Michael and I am the one who is offering you a potential way to continue your effort to help others. My family has been working, behind the scenes, to help even the military of this country to handle hard cases, dangerous cases. Cases you would never hear about on TV. It is a lot of responsibility to help those who won’t know that they have been helped. Similar to helping those who have already passed away, true? Does this interest you?”

  His voice was older, cultured, but also sounded just ancient at the same time.

  “I don’t know yet. Well, not true. Yes, I want to help others who need it. However, I’m not sure how you expect to get out without anyone seeing. Why do you believe you can fix what no other doctors here in the States can accomplish? Are you with a special ops group? Special Medical Testing?”

  “No. Well, nothing like what you are discussing and expecting. There are some facets to the family which you might consider similar to these groups you are familiar with. However, the reason I feel comfortable knowing you can be fixed is that I’ve worked with and studied blood and blood issues for most of my adult life.”

  “Oh? How long would that be, Michael?”

  “Well over one thousand of your years, Bethany Anne. Your kind might call me a vampire, but that isn’t true for me. For my children, maybe, certainly for their children. Our blood changes us, will change you. It will never allow the bad things going through your body right now that your doctors cannot fix. You will, in all ways, have a superior body than what you have now.”

  “What’s the downside to going through this procedure?”

  “Unimagined pain.”

  Bethany Anne had kinda expected something crazy from this situation, so while she was certainly spooked, she could only die once, right? In for a dime, in for a dozen…

  “So, if you are not exactly a vampire, what are you?”

  “Bethany Anne, I’ve been waiting all day for you to ask that, I am…”

  Thirty minutes later, Base airport control gave approval for the very unique civilian plane to taxi. The planes destination was the East coast.

  While the plane was starting to ramp up her engines and prepare final checks before starting down the runway, the klaxon startled everyone and the vault door started to open. The talking was excited when everyone realized that Bethany Anne wasn’t inside the room and the knife was missing, as well.

  She was right, the General thought, she was going to leave her way. Good thing it worked out. A $32,000 bill
for one night of drinking would really have sucked to reimburse on her existing salary. Good thing her life insurance was paid up.

  Smiling to himself, the General took a prepared envelope Kevin was holding and taped it to the door. Lance Reynolds stared at the red button, something his only daughter had touched just a few minutes before, and gently pushed it. He turned around and started the walk back out of Level 5.

  He chose to think of this event as one mission that had an undetermined length of time associated with it. She wasn’t gone, not to him.

  Kevin just stared at the empty vault along with Dr. Evenich and the other soldiers, no one knew what to say.

  Ten seconds later a gruff and annoyed General called out, “Kevin! Get your ass and everyone else we have down here moving!”