Ward

by C Bilici

  Body askew on the bed, sheets screwed up in a mess, her underwear and clothing strewn about. Her nipples were erect and her thighs, much like her fingers which were still within her, were soaking wet.

  She yanked her hand away as the knocking sounded again.

  “Just a fucking minute!” she yelled, and rushed to find a towel to wipe herself off and did her best to make herself presentable before answering.

  * * *

  Violently shaking his shoulder, Stacey attempted to wake Fenton where she knew she would find him, naked behind the citrus trees. “Wake the fuck up!” she said, shaking him again.

  “I am awake!” he said testily. “Where are my—” his shorts hit him in the face.

  “Get dressed. We need to have a talk.”

  He pulled his shorts on, confusion and fear on his face as he shakily located his pocket to pull a crumpled smoke from it. He searched for the disposable lighter, pausing as he saw it on the ground nearby. “Why? What’s wrong?” he said finally, voice breaking.

  “Despina came looking for us.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, one: the hole in the Nexus is gone. Two: the shit just hit the fan. Oh yeah, and three, the Cardinals of the other realms are here.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  BARRY DEMPSEY HADN’T been a career criminal like some of his fellow inmates in the low security facility. They’d been petty thieves since their youth some of them, burglars and low level thugs mostly with some drug charges peppered in. He supposed he fell somewhere in between.

  He’d started with the best of intentions, an honest man out to make an honest buck, working for his money like anyone else. Then an opportunity presented itself that he hadn’t been able to ignore.

  The crime that Barry had committed had been to embezzle money from the company he worked for, which, as one of their accountants, had been quite easy. Trivial even.

  It was definitely not what one might call a victimless crime, he knew that now. He supposed he’d known it then, too, but had convinced himself it wasn’t that bad as he was only siphoning small amounts from multiple clients over years. More thrilling than the money itself had been the rush of it, and the joy he’d gotten in the spending of it. And spend it he had. Every cent of it he’d blown on drugs and women. He realised his choice of vice was a walking cliché, but that was what had made him happy.

  Still did.

  At least he hadn’t gambled it away, he mused. That would have been the final nail in that coffin. He hated to see money wasted and, even now, looking back he didn’t think the heroin, strippers and hookers were a waste. They did something for him at the time that gambling couldn’t and afforded him the protection of not having an addiction.

  Until, that was, he’d made the fatal mistake of falling for one of them.

  Sasha had been a high-class working girl. He had saved up to try her delights and found them far better than anything else he’d sampled. Oh, he’d still gone to the titty bars to satisfy his baser carnal needs, the kind that offered backroom lap dances with a happy ending. But Sasha had been one of a kind. She was model quality, although apparently not tall enough for the runway. All the better for him, he’d say, and she would smile and laugh and call him sweet. She gave, what they called in the business, the girlfriend experience. But she was a girlfriend with expensive tastes, and he couldn’t stay away once he’d been with her that first time.

  Expensive hotels, restaurants, gifts, cars, parties, and of course the drugs. He’d given her all these things and partook of them himself. And while he had, she had given him the attention and affection he’d needed, not to mention the best sex of his life. She may have faked all those orgasms, but she damn well made him believe them in the moment, when it counted. She had milked him for all he was worth, both in and out of the bedroom.

  He had been — still was — completely smitten.

  But the money had run out fast, and the trappings they afforded even faster. The problem was, she had been even more intoxicating than the heroin that he’d given up so he could give her more. But his belt tightening hadn’t been enough. He’d resorted to taking more and more and was, of course, caught.

  The police had come to his house to arrest him. They’d found drugs and evidence of his crimes aplenty. He didn’t tell them where the rest had gone, he didn’t have to. They had assumed he’d snorted, injected and fucked it all away.

  And so now here he was.

  He had ended up in the minimum security facility somewhere several hours out of the city, and it was peaceful, quiet, nothing like the things he saw on TV. There was definitely still a hierarchy, but he steered clear of the tough guys.

  All in all, it was uneventful and dull.

  The moment he had entered the facility they’d had him working. He had the choice of metal or wood fabrication, gardening, or working in the orchard. They also had a small dairy farm, but there was a limited number of places for that, already filled and highly sought after apparently. He’d never much fancied cows, in any case. He chose the orchard. On top of that, he’d taken up some vocational training in IT since he’d lost his CPA license and would never practice again.

  All in all, it was fine as prison went.

  And boring as fuck.

  When night would come, though, so too with it came the thoughts of Sasha.

  She would never see him again, of course. Not unless he somehow became an IT whizz and made a bucket load of money, which was never going to happen. He had a head for numbers, but nothing to that degree. He would never be a Gates or Jobs or even a middling manager at their companies. He was past that. He would have to find a basic job through friends of friends, if he was lucky. Definitely not enough to afford her time.

  Then He had come. He of the dark smile and darker promises, offering Barry the world. He’d come in the night, like a dream, appeared in Barry’s room in the darkness and asked him what he desired the most, and what he would give to attain that prize.

  “Anything,” Barry had said, and meant it.

  He would give anything for Sasha. Not just to see her again, but to have her as his. To own her. Why deny it? It was not love. She certainly didn’t love him. But he wanted to make her his regardless.

  “I can give it to you,” He had said, the man of shadows. “Give her to you.”

  “How?” Barry had asked. “In case you haven’t noticed…” He’d indicated his surroundings.

  He had smiled, and said, “When the time comes, all I ask is that you join me, work with me. Do that, and you will have your Sasha, and more.”

  “How will I know when the time comes?” Barry had asked his dark angel.

  “Trust me,” he had said, giving him another knowing smile. “You won’t be able to miss it.”

  And he’d been right. About everything.

  Barry stared at Sasha, stroking her sweet face, covered in tears, runny makeup and snot as it was. She was still perfect, even stained where Barry had her suspended from his new ink-like world, as naked as those times gone by.

  The same as she had always been.

  No. Not the same.

  Now, she was his.

  Barry guessed he was a bad guy after all.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  THE SHADOW MAN grinned and moved from the man with his woman to the next aspirants. Two men, so alike, with tattoos of near identical dogs on their arms. Their fervent eyes held a far more identical glaze as he nodded to them. They nodded back, unblinking.

  He moved on.

  He’d lost the worm, which in itself was no big loss. Their birthplace was full of the raw material to construct more of such creatures, and create he had. He found it helped to calm him, to sooth his anger. And he was oh so very angry.

  The Wards had almost been in his grasp. Their destruction and addition of so many of them to the Umbra fold would have been the seal on his victory. Instead, they had somehow engineered to eject a part of their precious Enclave and destroyed his creature.

  W
hile the worm and others had been connected to him through the breach, he had been fed information and senses by it, lost once that portion of their world, and the worm along with it, had been severed. Though he had witnessed the great loss to the Wards in its wake beforehand, it was no less a loss for the Umbra.

  Tammy and, to a lesser degree, Paul.

  The worm without Tammy would have been as good as the common garden variety, though perhaps a tad bit more aggressive. She had been its driving force with that special ingredient that basic Umbra lacked. Hers was a singular focus and tenacity that would take time to mine from the coal of humanity. She had been so deliciously devious, too. Taken away from him far too soon. He would grieve her loss for a long time to come, he knew.

  A potential diamond in the rough, Paul had been with him a short time, but had proven his usefulness while in his employ. Killed before he could have the chance to shine or rise in the ranks. No matter, though. He had served his purpose in providing a doppelgänger for himself, adding to the confusion in the fray.

  Tammy had been one of a kind, yes, but if she could no longer be his touchstone, she would be his yardstick. Putting them through the machinations, he would test Barry and the canine twins. Yes. They would do nicely for the moment until he could find further candidates.

  For now, he had to work fast to maintain his momentum, regain the offencive once more. And he knew just how as he gazed at his consolation prize.

  “Not entirely empty handed, no,” he said to himself.

  This was going to be a truly special re-creation when it was done. Until it was ready, he had more work to do. He would come back to this, his pet project, after his outing.

  He left it to rest and grow a while as he went to bolster his troops.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  THE OVERTURNED EARTH could be taken in as a whole from the vantage the high ridge afforded the group, all of them looking down at the patch of brown that, from their distance and elevation, Stacey could have cupped in her hands. The only thing that gave it scale were the bodies moving about the flashing lights. Emergency vehicles of all shapes and sizes dotted the area, their contents smaller specks that moved about, but none ventured near.

  “This was done by Umbra?” Vaya asked of no one in particular, surveying the expanse in disbelief.

  There was no visible sign of what had once been on the surface, the area looking uniform in colour and texture, unbroken by structures that one might expect to jut from the ground that swallowed it.

  Stacey wondered if the several planes and helicopters circling overhead had captured any grizzly close-up shots.

  “How many people were held in this facility?” the Mhyrr Cardinal asked.

  “We’ve only heard rough numbers from skulking about,” Charlie said. “Around two hundred inmates plus whatever staff.”

  A whole prison had disappeared from the face of the Earth. Stacey still couldn’t believe a

  “How on earth did you hear about this?” Fenton asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Seismic activity disrupted my calculations, and I noticed an oddness as I was recalibrating,” Charlie said.

  “After that, she hacked into communications.” Stacey shook her head. “Still can’t believe you can do that shit. I mean, I knew you were smart but… You’re such a stoner.” She didn’t seem to be paying attention to Stacey’s words.

  “They must have used multiple worms to undermine the entire area before breaking through, overturning everything and retreating so the earth subsided.” Charlie seemed to marvel at the scope of the thing, despite the loss of life.

  “Did anyone make it out? Any witnesses?” Despina asked.

  “None that I heard of,” Charlie added.

  Beside her, Jasper squeezed Stacey’s hand. She squeezed it back. After Stacey had told ger how close she’d come to facing down with one of those creatures, and now seeing the devastation before them, Jasper could probably now appreciate just how close to death she’d been.

  “Despite the boldness of this attack,” Vaya said, turning from the scene to face Despina, “they still do not want to expose themselves.”

  “At least we have that to be thankful for,” she responded.

  “Yeah, except now he has his pick from several hundred criminal douchebags to create new fucking soldiers from.” Stacey squeezed Jasper’s hand tighter. They could all be in really deep trouble here, and now Jasper was back on Earth after finally recovering. Jasper’s thumb brushed the back of her hand, and the girl smiled at Stacey when she turned to her.

  “It was the smart move to make, if you think about it,” Charlie said. “If they’re to have any chance of surviving, the Umbra will need further intelligent soldiers, as with the attack on the Enclave. Now that they have lost Tammy and—” She stopped as Stacey cast her a look.

  “Well if he was looking for someone as fucked up as Tammy in a secluded location,” Stacey spat the words out, “he probably came to the right place.” Wherever she was, Stacey hoped Tammy would live out eternity suffering. It was probably nothing to be proud of, but there was no guilt or remorse that came with the thought..

  “This probably means that another attack is imminent,” Jasper said, voice soft.

  Vaya looked to Charlie. “How goes the work we discussed?”

  “I’ve made little progress, but I believe I know how to achieve what you’ve asked for.”

  “Make it definite. We can’t afford to be caught off guard in a situation like that again.”

  “Understood.”

  “Meanwhile,” Despina interjected, “we must return to the Enclave.”

  “Yes,” Vaya agreed. “We all have much to report.”

  The senior Wards took their leave and the three girls looked at the disturbed earth before returning to the farm.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  ASTRIDE HER ON a patch of grass in a copse, Jasper leaned over Stacey pinning her hands down, the two of them lip locked. Stacey normally took the dominant role in all of her relationships, and it had not been any different with Jasper. People always told her it had to do with her big personality. Both she and Jasper had usually taken the reigns with Paul, though given the recent revelations she doubted everything to do with the man.

  Now it was just the two of them, and Stacey didn’t know how long it would last or how often they would see each other. Whether it was the loss and betrayal they had both endured, though, Stacey felt there had been a dynamic shift in their relationship, and she didn’t want to be the strong one for once.

  No matter what, she was still her Jasper, but she was Moorna too. That side of her that had been kept hidden for so long, it was time Stacey got to know the whole woman. An experienced Ward on assignment, now a trusted aide to a Cardinal no less. And Stacey had undergone her own rapid transformation.

  As if all that had not been enough, she now had Fenton’s backseat driver to worry about.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Jasper said, softly kissing her lips between words.

  “Oh, I was just thinking that I should rip my top off and make you motorboat me till I squeal, or you pass out from suffocation.”

  The girl above her snorted. “Please. I’m in charge now, remember? I outrank you. If anyone is going to be doing any motorboating it’s you.”

  “Oh, honey, do I have to explain this again? You don’t have the cleavage for it.”

  “Who said anything about my breasts?”

  Stacey smiled wide and unbalanced the girl, tossing her sideways and over, reversing their positions, but her expression became equally upturned when she felt her balance thrown, Jasper gaining the upper hand again.

  “Well aren’t you just full of surprises?” Stacey said, her head still reeling from the grappling.

  “You better believe it.” Jasper leant in to assault her with a big open-mouthed kiss, her tongue exploring, ending with her biting Stacey’s lower lip, releasing it to spring back into place, flushed. “I could teach you a thing or three
, and I don’t need gills or a Mhyrr link to do it.”

  “Is that right?” Jasper attacked her again, barely letting her finish her sentence, ending with her face nuzzled in the crook of her neck, nibbling and licking, sending shivers of delight up and down her body. “We’re supposed to be finding Charlie, you know.” Stacey’s voice was low as she spoke, as unwilling to leave her lips as she was to leave the ring of trees.

  “We’ll find her when we’re done,” Jasper said, her voice equal to Stacey’s in tone, though far more intense.

  “No need,” a disinterested voice called out from nearby.

  The entwined lovers shrieked at the interloper, Jasper rolling expertly into a squat, hand outstretched at the ready.

  “Fuck, Charlie!” Stacey yelled, trying to get to her feet or at least some semblance of alertness.

  Jasper stood down and started chuckling. Stacey couldn’t help but join her, the girl’s laughter infectious.

  “Did I say something funny?” Charlie neither looked confused nor offended, merely curious.

  “I almost blew your head off,” Jasper said.

  “You could have tried.”

  “She almost blew my head off,” Stacey quipped.

  “I doubt it, she’s an expert shot and very experienced.”

  “Yeah, so not what I meant! You couldn’t have waited fifteen to thirty minutes to re-appear?”

  Jasper stood and dusted herself off before pulling Stacey to her feet. “How did you find us?”

  “I rigged the property, remember? Sigils and shield?”

  “You tracked us?” Stacey said, brushing off her rear, which she was certain was covered in dirt, grass and all manner of muck.

  “Yes. Think of it as a magical GPS. I know where everyone is on the property at any time. See?”

  She handed over a piece of glass about the size of a small tablet to Stacey that looked like it had been broken off from larger pane. One corner was square with a chipped point, the other side a long waved curve that more-or-less formed a rectangular shape. About its edges, symbols were scrawled in a semi-transparent dark enamel.