Etheric Adventures Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by S. R. Russell

  Peter surprised her when he told her, “I fully understand that. Buut…” he dragged the word out, “you aren’t just protecting yourself.

  “There are exactly seven dogs on this station, and you are partnered with one of them.

  “Nathan has already killed one person who saw his daughter Christina in wolf form and attempted violence to try to steal her. What are you going to do if someone goes after Jinx?” He saw the shock hit Anne as the idea that someone might try to steal or harm her dog sank in.

  “In fact,” he pressured, “what if I were someone who wasn’t even interested in a live dog? What if I was a trophy hunter who wanted a dog-skin rug in front of my fireplace?”

  Bingo! Peter saw Anne tense, then had just enough time to think, Oh shit, this is going to hurt before Anne’s eyes turned red and her hands appeared to be covered by a silver mist. Peter didn’t even see Anne move. She was standing in front of him one second, and the next his chest hurt and he was flying backward. Peter hit the floor and bounced, then rolled to a stop, twelve feet from where he had been standing when Anne hit him. His chest hurt, and he looked down at himself to see a burn mark in his shirt. He glanced up to see Anne advancing on him. Didn’t know I was pulling a tiger’s tail, he thought, and shifted into his Pricolici form.

  Jinx looked over from where she was having fun learning from Jennifer to see Peter turn into some sort of monster. She noticed a strange sensation and realized it was some sort of energy flowing through her to Anne. Jinx dipped a figurative paw into that stream and found she could siphon off some of it for her own use. Her muscles suddenly quivered with energy. She knocked Jennifer out of her way and in three quick leaps crossed thirty feet of floor to slide to a stop beside Anne.

  Anne didn’t slow, even when the man she had just hit turned into a monster from a nightmare. She didn’t care who or what he was; she’d already given up her home to stay with Jinx. No one but no one was going to threaten to hurt her dog.

  “Enough!” a commanding voice shouted. The man’s loud voice held a tone that affected everyone in the room. It even penetrated Anne’s rage, and she stopped.

  “Teee heee heeee …. Yoooo sstilll hit llikess a ggirll,” Peter told Anne.

  “Peter, not helping. Change back now!” The man commanded.

  Peter closed his eyes, and a second later a man wearing torn clothes with a burn mark fading as it healed stood before Anne and the new man. He took a towel one of the others offered him and wrapped it around his waist. “Well, she does,” he reiterated. “I haven’t been hit that hard since the last time I sparred with Bethany Anne.” He smiled at Anne.

  Stephen had dropped into the workout area to watch Jennifer spar. He was always entranced by her power and grace. Seeing Peter in Pricolici form with a young woman and a German Shepherd advancing on him left him feeling uneasy. Luckily, centuries of experience had supplied him with a command presence. His shout had brought everyone in the room to a halt. With Peter back in human form, he looked between the Guardian and the girl. “Would someone please explain what is going on here?” He asked.

  Stephen suddenly understood Peter’s Pricolici form when the young woman’s eyes turned red as she stabbed a finger toward Peter claiming, “He threatened to turn Jinx into a rug!”

  Stephen couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he looked at Peter. “Well?”

  “Joseph was working with her, trying to teach her some basic self-defense, but she wouldn’t attack him so I goaded her to get her angry enough to take a swing at me. Her hand did this weird glowy thing, and since she hits as hard as a vamp, I figured I needed whatever edge I could get until she calmed down,” Peter explained.

  Stephen looked around the room and called, “Everyone back to work. Peter, young lady and the young lady’s dog, come with me.” Stephen led the group out of the workout area and down the corridor to one of the mess halls. “Grab something if you need it, and sit.” Once everyone was seated, he looked at the young woman. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Stephen.”

  “Anne, sir, Anne Jayden,” Anne squeaked.

  Stephen reached over to Anne’s clenched hands and laid his hand on hers. “You may not wish to hear this, but you are no longer Anne Jayden. You are Anne. It has been a tradition for a thousand years now that when a person becomes a vampire, they give up their last name.”

  Anne’s eyes grew wide and she had to swallow a couple of times before she could get her voice to work. “I’m a vampire?” Her voice climbed an octave in the space of those three words.

  “Bethany Anne put you in the Kurtherian Pod-doc for some reason, correct?” Stephen asked, as kindly as he could.

  “Yes, I was sick, and it was all that could heal me,” Anne whispered in reply.

  “That device modifies human DNA. If enough modification is required, the person who comes out of there is enhanced. Because of a programming glitch with the first enhanced humans, they ended up being called vampires. It has become tradition for vampires to give up their last name,” Stephen explained gently.

  “I was wrong.” Anne murmured, remembering her letter for help from years ago. She had thought it was neat that Bethany Anne’s last name was the same as her own first name.

  “Correct,” Stephen answered. “Before the Pod-doc, Bethany Anne used to be called Bethany Anne Reynolds. She gave up using Reynolds after she came out.”

  “That sucks! You mean I have to be just Anne for the rest of my life? Bethany Anne is cool. Anne, not so much,” she groused.

  Jinx put her head on Anne’s leg, offering support. I don’t care what names other people call you, you’ll always be my person!

  Anne slipped out of her seat to kneel and hug Jinx. Thank you! I really needed to hear that. Anne settled back into her seat and gently rubbed Jinx’ ears.

  “Now we need to discuss your concerns with hurting people,” Stephen said, giving her his full attention.

  “Bad people hurt others. Bad men had me tied to my bed, rigged to blow up if I tried to move,” Anne shot back. “I don’t want to be a bad person.”

  Stephen was confused, and it showed in his expression. He looked at Peter and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  “Trophy wife,” Peter mouthed.

  Stephen flashed Peter a thumbs-up to indicate that he understood the reference and looked back at Anne. “You know that Bethany Anne killed those men, right?”

  Anne’s eyes went wide in surprise. “She did?”

  “Yes. Over the many years I’ve been alive, there has been a saying about great power having great responsibility.” Stephen kept his voice low and even, trying to ensure that Anne listened to and understood what he was telling her. “Those men had already demonstrated that they were willing to blow up an innocent girl to get what they wanted. If Bethany Anne had let them go, what would have stopped them from blowing up a different girl another time?”

  “Ummmm, I dunno,” Anne mumbled.

  “No one, myself included, wants you to go around beating people up just because you can. A person who does that is a thug and a bully, right?” Stephen turned his statement into a question to keep Anne involved in the conversation.

  “Absolutely,” Anne replied.

  “However, there are a lot of thugs and bullies in this world.” Stephen shook his head with a wry smile. “I’m an old man, and still not used to the idea we live in an occupied universe. Since Christina, a nine-year-old girl, has already been threatened with abduction, I think it’s fair to say there are thugs and bullies in the universe. Now comes the tricky part: should you stand by and let weaker people be hurt just so you don’t have to get involved, or use your power to protect them?”

  Anne looked both frightened and thoughtful as she sat pondering Stephen’s question. Knowing the answer would need to come from within the young lady, Stephen and Peter waited quietly.

  What do you think? Anne looked down at Jinx.

  My sire fought the bad things. His human fights the bad things. Bad things need to b
e fought. To Jinx it was simple: evil things should not be allowed to exist.

  “What makes Bethany Anne fight?” Anne asked.

  “Justice.”

  Having been alerted by Meredith about the issue with Anne, Bethany Anne had arrived in the doorway in time to hear the question.

  “While the mission has grown with the knowledge of the Kurtherians, I fought for justice way back before I even knew they existed and were a threat. The fact that people had been murdered by others who had gotten away with it just turned my stomach. Even though they were dead and catching their killers wouldn’t bring them back, knowing those murderers were behind bars and couldn’t kill some other poor soul was what motivated me to get up and give one hundred and ten percent every day.” Bethany Anne pulled out a chair, spun it around, and sat with her arms across the back.

  “Isn’t hurting people bad?” Anne asked.

  Peter and Stephen could see Anne was more comfortable talking with Bethany Anne, so they sat back to watch the magic that was the Queen Bitch.

  “You forget intent. That’s why some courts allow an insanity plea. If the person committing the crime truly didn’t understand that what they did was wrong, then they may get special dispensation. Most people, however, know right from wrong, and they chose to do wrong for any number of reasons.” Bethany Anne paused to give Anne time to process.

  “Like money?” Anne asked her.

  “Money, power, love, revenge, just because they get some sick wacko thrill from hurting other people. All sorts of reasons,” Bethany Anne agreed. “People don’t agree on who came up with it, but years ago someone said ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men stand by and do nothing.’ I just can’t stand around and let them get away with it.

  “There are a couple of other sayings from Earth: ‘With great power comes great responsibility,’ and ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ I found that the more I had to deal with some of the worst of humanity, the more I wanted to just kill them all and let God sort them out. But it would not be a good way to do things, and that’s why I created the Rangers. I have them look into situations to decide who’s guilty and what punishment fits the crime.” Bethany Anne reached out and scratched Jinx’ neck. “What’s Jinx say?”

  “Stephen said that earlier, the thing about great power.” Then Anne giggled, despite the seriousness of the conversation. “Jinx says bad things need to be fought.”

  Bethany Anne nodded. “Well, I think it’s true. I know there will be people who ask why my people and I get to be the ones to decide who’s bad, but that’s something I can live with. I don’t choose people with questionable morals. The fact that you are hesitant to hurt other people means I was right when I chose you as one of my people.”

  “I am? You did?” Anne’s eyes were wide with surprise.

  “Yes. Ashur and Jinx have an innate sense of good and bad. Since they both liked you, I knew you were a good person inside. Because of that, I didn’t try to limit what was done to you while you were in the Pod-doc.” Bethany Anne smiled, her tone of voice indicating it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

  “Is that why Stephen called me a vampire?” Anne asked.

  “You probably received similar treatment to mine,” Bethany Anne confirmed.

  “So, you want me to fight bad people?” Anne wondered.

  “I’m not making you a Ranger or one of my Bitches, and you will need to figure out what you are comfortable doing. I will tell you, so you can think about it, that a lot of people have been injured or killed over the years because someone chose not to get involved when they saw something bad happening. Instead of the bad guys being stopped then, they were able to go and injure or kill someone else. How would you feel if that happened to you?” Bethany Anne didn’t want to hurt the girl’s feelings, but she knew how she’d react if some slimeball were able to continue to hurt people because she stood by and did nothing.

  Anne’s face scrunched up with distaste after a few seconds. “Pretty angry.” she admitted.

  Bethany Anne smiled as she stood. She wrapped an arm around Anne’s shoulder and gave her a one-armed hug. “I want you to keep training, and I’m sure you’ll figure things out.”

  Anne stood and squeezed Bethany Anne lightly in return. “Thanks!”

  Bethany Anne smiled at Anne, gave Stephen and Peter a finger wave and left the cafeteria.

  Chapter Ten

  Anne had to stop herself from skipping. She’d just gotten the results of her first math test since going back to school.

  One hundred percent!

  She settled for kneeling and hugging Jinx. It was all right for a sixteen-year-old to hug her dog, but not so good to be seen skipping down the hall. She couldn’t keep the big smile from her face, however.

  She’d been back for four days since she got out of the Pod-doc. Explaining the changes she and Jinx had gone through had been a little challenging, so she kept it simple. “Alien tech was used to cure my cancer, and it had a few side effects.” What she found incredible, however, was how easy her school work now was. It seemed that as long as her teachers had good explanations for the material, she could understand and remember everything the first time through.

  On a couple occasions when she couldn’t understand what the teacher was saying, she had a quick conversation with ADAM. He’d look into the material and show her the proper way to interpret it; turned out the teacher wasn’t explaining the subject correctly. That was when Anne found another strange effect from her time in the Pod-doc. Time. She and ADAM could hold a whole conversation in her mind in between words of her teacher.

  Anne, this way. Jinx’ mind speech interrupted Anne’s musings.

  Anne turned and retraced the steps she’d walked beyond where Jinx had turned off.

  What’s up?

  You need to listen carefully, since you still aren’t accustomed to using your improved hearing. Mine was always better than humans’, so I didn’t have to learn to pay attention to it.

  Anne concentrated. Sounds like fighting. Come on. Anne broke into a jog, Jinx easily keeping pace beside her.

  The corridor that Anne and Jinx were traveling in intersected a hallway that led to another exit from the school. Just past the intersection were four boys, and it took a moment for Anne to figure out what she was seeing. Two boys were holding one while the final one punched him in the stomach.

  Anne quickly surveyed the area and noticed this was a hall that did not have any cameras installed yet. Expansion in the commercial sections was happening so quickly that some of the interior areas the aliens didn’t have access to were waiting for production to catch up to demand.

  “Hey, quit that!” Anne shouted.

  The boy doing the punching turned toward Anne and Jinx. “Oh, the freak. You and your mutant mutt can just …”

  Freak? Mutant?

  Like I said, you haven’t been using your enhanced hearing. They’ve been calling us that since we got back to school.

  “… stay out of this. We’re having a conversation with the faggot here.” The boy who was doing the punching snarled at them.

  Since everyone had turned to look at her, Anne could identify the boy who was being beaten. Josh Morrison was in one of her classes. He’d been taller than her before the Pod-doc and was possibly just a bit shorter than her current height, so she’d guess he was about five-foot-six. She’d also bet he weighed less than she did now. The fact was, three big strong boys were beating one skinny boy… Wait, the three weren’t even normal boys. She could pick out their scent now that she was paying attention. They were young Weres.

  “It’s true,” Josh croaked, struggling to catch his breath. “Just go.”

  Anne looked at Josh, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in shock. “So, what?” She finally got out. “You asked them to beat the ‘gay’ out of you?”

  Josh slumped a little in the arms of the boys holding him, trying to get his hands on his stomach. “Oh God, don�
��t make me laugh,” he told her.

  “What then, did you proposition one of them?” She asked.

  “Eww, gross! Not likely.” Josh’s face was a weird mixture of pain and disgust.

  “He was checking us out in the showers,” Punching Boy spat.

  “You mean, if you were in the girl’s shower you wouldn’t be checking us out?” She queried.

  “What?” Punching Boy looked shocked.

  “Oh, naked cheerleaders! That would be totally rad,” one of the boys who were holding Josh quipped.

  Anne’s temper went through the proverbial roof. In a flash of insight so clear it shook her to the core, she understood what Bethany Anne had been trying to tell her. The thought that some people could come across a scene like this and opt to ignore what was going on so they didn’t have to become involved made her feel sick. With great power…

  “You’re just a dirty stinking Were,” she snarled at Punching Boy.

  “What?” The poor guy was totally confused now.

  Anne stepped forward, feigned a punch to his head, then slid sideways to allow herself a full-extension kick to Punching Boy’s abdomen. He folded around her foot and flew five feet into the wall and slid to the floor, where he sat dazedly.

  “Hey!” One of the boys who had been gripping Josh tried to get hold of Anne. She ducked and spun in one motion, then grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder to land next to Punching Boy.

  The boy who’d been pinning Josh’s other arm put his hands up and looked at Anne in fear. “What the fuck?”

  “Well, since this seems to be Beat-up-people-just-because-they-are-different Day, I figured I’d beat up some stinking Weres,” she responded as she took a step toward him.

  “I figured I’d beat up some stinking Weres.” Christina Bethany Anne Lowell heard those words as she exited one of the doors of the school.

  She was only nine years old and not in a position to speak for all of the Weres on the Meredith Reynolds. But considering who her parents were, she held some influence, even as young as she was.