by Randi Darren
“Who are you?” asked a feminine voice. “And why did—oh.”
Turning to face the voice, Vince found a Beastkin that looked identical to Andrea. Just with darker hair.
She was dressed strangely, in dark clothes, and was holding what looked like a gun.
“You really do look a lot like Felix,” she said. “Here, put this on so we know what side you’re on.”
Pulling off some kind of padded vest, the Beastkin then tossed it to Vince.
“What side I’m on?” Vince asked, pulling the vest on but not quite understanding how it cinched.
“We’re currently fighting a defensive battle,” said the Beastkin, coming over to fix the vest for him. “I’m Adriana. Andrea is my sister; you met her. One of me is stationed here to defend this room. In case you happened to walk out, just like that.”
“A battle?” Vince asked. Adriana gave the vest a thump and pointed toward the door.
“The government decided it didn’t want to play nice. They sent in infiltrators. Not all the hallways are safe and we’re working in teams to clear them. Felix is in the command center.
“Go out the door, down the hall, and take the elevator to the fiftieth floor. After that, you’ll have to ask for directions for the safest route.”
Adriana pulled a handgun from her side, racked the slide and handed it to him handle first.
“Extended thirty-round magazine. Shoot anyone not wearing that vest, or the Legion symbol,” she said, pointing to a patch on her arm.
Vince took the gun and then looked to the door.
“Can this Felix heal people?” Vince asked.
“Heal people? Yes. He has machines that can fix anything,” Adriana said.
“Great,” Vince said, a grin suddenly spreading on his face.
Violence? I can do violence. And if I do it well enough, perhaps I’ll get that machine.
Moving the pistol to his left hand, Vince drew his saber and left the room.
A minute later, he stepped out of the elevator onto the floor Adriana had indicated.
The sounds of fighting and gunfire were loud. Loud to the point of deafening.
Ten feet away, a man in green and brown colors was firing a rifle down a hall.
No patch, no black vest.
Vince walked up and stabbed the man through the chest without a thought, then moved into the hallway.
Several more men were spread out in front of him behind cover.
With a flick of his wrist, Vince buried his blade in the throat of one on the right.
Lifting his left hand, he fired twice in quick succession into the heads of two others.
Pulling his blade free, Vince slashed it across his body at the unprotected rear of another man.
The splash of blood and the feel of killing his enemies was satisfying.
Satisfying on a level he couldn’t even put words to. Outside of a lucky strike on a Dragon, he’d been resorting to running around.
Running away.
Moving down the hallway as quickly as he could, Vince found what the men had been firing at.
A woman standing behind a semi-translucent dome of magic.
She looked familiar, but Vince couldn’t place it. She was dark haired and rather pretty.
Though not as pretty as his Dryad wives.
“Felix?” asked the woman, clearly confused.
“Vince,” said Vince.
His head whipped to one side at the sound of gunfire nearby.
Feeling the need for combat, Vince moved toward the sweet siren song of battle.
“Where’d you come from, Vince? I’m Lily,” said the woman, coming up beside him.
“Through a portal. Adriana gave me a gun. I’m going to use it.”
Stepping into a large room, Vince saw two sides facing one another down, and a scrum of people fighting weapon to weapon on the far side.
A woman wearing a helmet stood nearby, her hand outstretched in front of herself.
To Vince, it looked like she was literally stopping bullets from reaching her and those around her. Far fewer rounds were firing in this direction, though; apparently the enemy was aware of the futility of the act.
Bracing himself, Vince turned and sprinted toward the enemy group directly in front of the woman. Hoping to use her ability to his advantage.
Bullets whizzed around him like angry bees.
Except he didn’t care.
Nor did he care when several clearly hit him in the chest. He felt the pain of the strike, but none of the burning he associated with gunshot wounds.
Leaping over the impromptu enemy barricade, Vince began to lay about himself with his saber.
Flicking the tip around, he skewered a man in the neck, then ripped it out to gut another man close beside him.
Vince lifted his left hand and began to fire down the line of enemies in front of him.
Marching forward as he went, he fired once into each person’s head.
When the slide locked backward, he dropped the gun and lunged forward with his blade.
It went through the back of a woman’s torso and exited just below her navel.
Reaching down, he yanked the pistol from the holster and lifted it to fire into the person next to her.
Only to find the gun wasn’t chambered.
Letting go of his sword, Vince took a step back, racked the slide, and began to empty the magazine.
With each and every shot, another bullet passed through someone’s head.
When the gun clanged with the chamber open, Vince flung it aside.
Ripping his blade out of the dying woman, twisting it as he did, he paused only to stomp on her throat.
Then he picked up the rifle she’d been using and continued his death march.
Holding it slung low, he squeezed off small bursts of rounds down the line. He wasn’t as accurate like this, but it didn’t matter.
The rounds were heavy and seemed to pass right through the soldiers. Vince was rapidly closing in on his original goal—the press of men and women fighting hand to hand.
A woman in glowing armor with a black patch on her shoulder passed by him as she dueled with another person in similar armor. She wielded a brightly glowing sword with ease of long use.
Dropping his rifle, Vince snapped his wrist into a thrust of his blade into the enemy of the swords-woman.
His blade snapped in half as it passed into the man’s gut, leaving Vince with only a hilt.
Grabbing the glowing weapon out of the man’s hand as he fell to his knees, Vince began to slam the pommel down repeatedly into the foe’s helmeted temple.
On the third impact, there was a crunching noise and the man went limp to the ground.
Hefting the weapon, Vince gave it an experimental swing at a nearby enemy, then grinned when it passed through the person’s forearm and sent it flying in one direction.
Wading into the middle of the brawl, Vince stabbed at anyone close to him that looked like a foe.
He was aiming for the back of the fight, hoping to find somewhere he wouldn’t have to distinguish friend from foe.
Where he could just let loose.
Chopping through the spine of a woman who held a club, Vince stomped forward.
A roaring sound came from behind him that only spurred Vince on. It made his body flush with excitement, and the sides of his vision tinged bright red.
Don’t let it out completely. Use it, though. Use it up.
As quick as a finger snap, Vince launched a series of slashes at those around him, stabbing out at the ones who tried to fall back.
Bodies fell around him as he worked himself into a frenzy. The blade in his hand was amazing and seemed to know no resistance. It cut through everyone and everything that stood in his path.
Suddenly, Vince found himself staring at a man in what looked like very shiny pajamas.
“Stop right there,” said the man, standing in a strange and silly pose with his hands on his hips. “You—”
> Flashing forward, Vince put his blade through the man’s chest and twisted it viciously.
The man curled up around the wound as Vince yanked the sword out. Then he whipped it around and lopped off the man’s head.
Kicking the headless corpse out of his way, Vince continued on.
Across from him, several men and women lifted rifles and pointed them in his direction.
Vince snarled at them, lifting his arms.
Do it then!
Roaring his defiance, Vince pushed on his magic as if he were about to let into his rage.
But he held on to his ability to think. Just barely.
A wave of life magic exploded out from him and knocked everyone around him flat.
Leaping across the distance in a sprint, he began to brutally stab at everyone he could reach before they could stand up.
By the time he’d managed to work his way out of that group and into the next, people had rolled over onto their stomachs with their hands behind their heads.
It made it all the easier for him to smash his blade into their backs and insides.
“Stop,” said a woman who appeared in front of him.
She looked of Asian descent to him, and was dressed in form-fitting clothes. On her shoulder was the patch for those Adriana had labeled as allies.
“Why?” Vince growled out, shoving his blade into a woman who lay on the ground in front of him.
“They’re surrendering,” said the woman, coming closer, putting herself between Vince and his next target.
“So? Enemies die. No need to accept their surrender,” Vince said, pointing at the man on the ground. “Move so I can keep going.”
“No. Felix asked me to request that you stop, so I am asking you to stop. Please do so, as I do not wish to fight with you,” said the woman.
Hefting the blade he’d acquired, Vince started to weigh his options of fighting this unarmed woman.
“I am Miu. Felix asked that you stop. He wishes to convey his thanks for your assistance,” Miu said.
Assistance? Assistance!
Feeling his rage immediately boil away with the memory of getting help, Vince nodded at Miu.
“Fine. I need a sheath for this,” he said, holding up the blade. “I claim it as a trophy.”
“I have no doubt we can arrange that. Would you be willing to come with me to meet Felix?” Miu asked.
Vince looked behind himself, back toward where this Felix probably was.
A mass of men and women in black vests and patches were watching him. Many of them were armed with rifles and pistols.
“Lead on,” Vince said, looking back to Miu.
Chapter 13
Vince sat in the indicated chair and looked around the room.
It reminded him of his father’s study. Bookcases full of tomes, several pictures, a writing desk, a sofa, a table with chairs.
Put all together, it made Vince feel comfortable to a small degree.
Nostalgic.
It radiated a lived-in feel. One that had a lot to do with simply being here and working out of it.
“Good afternoon,” said a male voice from behind him.
Turning in his seat, Vince looked back toward the door.
A man stood with the door closing behind him. He was a bit older than Vince, but it didn’t seem as if by many years.
He had brown hair and blue eyes.
And he looked extremely familiar. Eerily so.
So much so that Vince stared at him for several seconds before it registered. It was like looking in a hazy mirror. A distorted reflection.
This man looked a lot like himself.
It’s rather uncanny how much we look alike, actually.
The man was a hair shorter than Vince, he’d bet, and a bit narrower in the shoulders.
Though not woefully so. Vince would have put the man at an average build and figure.
“Hm. We really do look alike, just like they kept saying,” the man said, scratching at his jaw. “It’s uncanny.”
“I thought the same when I saw you,” Vince said.
Walking over to the chair next to Vince, the man sat down and held out his hand.
“I’m Felix,” he said.
“Vince,” Vince said, shaking Felix’s hand firmly.
“First off, thank you for your assistance back there. I can’t tell you how much it helped. I have no doubt your actions saved the lives of many of my people,” Felix said.
“Mm. I wanted to blow off some steam. I haven’t been able to fight my own foes as directly as I’d wish.
“The Beastkin at the portal gave me the gun and told me anyone without a patch or the black vest was an enemy. Seemed straightforward enough.”
“Adriana. Yeah, I could see her doing that.” Felix nodded slightly with a strange grin. “She tends to view things fairly differently.”
“Forgive me for getting straight to the point, but honestly, I came here for help. From anyone I could find,” Vince said, leaning forward in his chair. “I was hoping I could get my hands on some technology. Technology that could help me and my people.”
Felix folded his hands into one another and didn’t immediately respond.
“What kind of tech did you need?” he asked after a few seconds.
“First and foremost, medical. One of my wives is… dying. Others are attempting to heal her, but… they can’t. It’s too much for their magic. She’s slowly dying.
“They said it’s in her blood and they can’t seem to stop it, no matter how much magic they use,” Vince said.
Simple words and a straightforward explanation of his needs—he didn’t want any misunderstanding about his request.
“That’s not a problem at all. Consider it done,” Felix said. Reaching over the desk, he pressed a button on a box. “Andrea?”
“Yes?” came a voice from the box.
“I need Mr. White, a healing pod, and some people to carry it through the portal. Take a portable energy source as well. Tell Mr. White he’s on detached duty as a special favor for me,” Felix said.
“Okay! Oh, there’s three more guests that just came through the portal.
“They’re on their way over to you with Prime, Adriana Prime, Kit, and Lily.”
“More guests?” Felix asked curiously, letting go of the button. “Were you expecting more people?”
“No. I left orders to not follow me, to be honest,” Vince said.
Both Vince and Felix looked to the door as it suddenly opened. Seven women trooped in and stood staring at the two of them.
Vince knew three of them, of course. Mouth, Felicity, and Red.
Two of the other four were the twin Beastkin with different hair colors, Andrea and Adriana.
Which left the other two as Kit and Lily, whom Vince recognized after a moment.
One had been the woman behind the magical shield in the hall, and the other had been holding the line in the battle.
“They look like brothers,” the twins said at the same time.
“I don’t have a brother,” Vince and Felix said, also at the same time.
Red bounded forward and leaned over Felix, audibly sniffing him.
Then she turned and cuddled in close to Vince, nuzzling him while smelling him loudly.
“Red thinks they smell like each other,” Red said, then scooted around behind Vince and laid her hands on his shoulders.
“Ok, before this gets any weirder,” Felix said. “My father died quite young, and as far as I know, I have no siblings. The end.”
Vince nodded. “My father vanished when I was in my twenties, but I have no siblings that I know of.”
“On top of that, we’re from different planes of existence,” Felix added, folding his arms in front of his chest.
“Well, that doesn’t seem to matter,” Vince said with a shake of his head. “Apparently my father wasn’t from my… plane of existence… as you called it. The portals were an experiment, I think. They found my father with one.”
“You said… they found him?” interrupted the woman who had cast the magical shield.
She was attractive in a way, but not at all compared to his Dryads.
“Yes. They opened a portal and brought him through, I believe. And you are?” Vince asked.
“Oh, ah, Lily,” said the woman, bowing her head a bit toward Vince.
Ah, she did introduce herself, didn’t she?
“That makes you Kit,” Vince said, looking to the other woman.
She was pretty, though looked rather malnourished from how thin she was.
Her figure looked more akin to Green’s.
“Yes, I am,” she said.
“This is Red,” Vince said, pointing at the Beastkin behind him. “That’s Mouth, and Felicity,” he continued, pointing at each woman.
“The portals were an experiment on your world?” asked Lily.
“Yes. They ruined my world in doing it. Much of what used to be the United States is a mess of other races all battling for supremacy.”
“The United States? What’s that?” Kit asked.
“A country. It was a country many years ago,” Vince said.
Felix raised a hand and started to rub his chin as if in thought. “Oh?”
“Felix?” asked Andrea.
“Hm?”
“Mr. White, the pod, and the guards will be ready in about ten minutes. They’re getting it all packed up now.”
“Great,” Felix said, not looking at anyone or anything in particular.
Then his eyes flicked to Vince.
“Would you be willing to make a trade with me?” he asked.
“Depends on what you want,” Vince said uneasily.
“Gold. As much as I can get my hands on. It’ll help me and my people immensely. What do you need?” Felix asked.
“Weapons,” Vince immediately replied. “I’m fighting a war against those with weapons I cannot match. They have guns, artillery, and bombs. I have… very few of those for my country.”
“Your country?” Andrea asked.
“Yes. Yosemite. It’s my—our—country.”
“Ooooh! I wanna visit!” Andrea said, looking at her twin.
“I do, too!” said the second one.
They both turned and looked at Red. “Feral friend, will you give us a tour?”
Red looked at the two Beastkin as she continued to hold Vince.
