Forwarded by the ASC-VSO 
Posted: 28 Feb 2004 18:37:58 -0800  
In: alt.startrek.creative 
From: djinn@djinnslair.com (Djinn) 
 

TITLE: The Lost Years: Hellspawn(Slayer Series)
AUTHOR: Djinn
CONTACT: djinn@djinnslair.com http://www.djinnslair.com
SERIES: TOS
RATING: PG-13
CODES: Ch, K, U, Others
PART: 2/6
SUMMARY: The sixth in the Lost Years series.




Christine doubled back for the third time as she headed down toward
the piers and Tolvar.  Tonight she had to be sure that no one was
following her.  She turned on every slayer sense she had, focused on
anything that seemed the least bit unusual.  It took her a very long
time to cover the distance.  To the casual observer she might have
seemed a bit erratic, but she didn't care.

Finally satisfied that there was no one following her, she hurried
down to the water.  Tolvar was reading cards for a customer when she
arrived.  He looked up at her and nodded slightly, then went back to
his reading.  She ducked into the alley, waiting in the shadows,
staying out of sight.

"It's been a long time, Slayer."  Tolvar stretched as he walked into
the alley.  "Weasel tells me your friend is even more powerful than we
thought.  And he learns quickly."

That didn't surprise her but she hadn't come to talk about Jim.  "I
need your help."

He leaned against the wall.  "What can a humble fortune teller do for
you?"

"I need to talk to our mutual slayer friends."

"Ah."  He frowned.  "I don't believe I know how to reach them."

She smiled.  "Oh, I know how to reach them.  I just need a private
place to place the call.  One where I won't be disturbed...or
observed.  Can you help me?"

He nodded.  He took her arm and guided her down the alley.  Taking a
key out of his pocket, he opened one of the doors.  It was a
storeroom, a variety of mystical objects were on the shelves.  She
recognized some of the things he sold when he wasn't reading fortunes.
 She made a face.  The smell of incense in the small room was
overwhelming.

He smiled.  "It's nauseating, I know, but it hides the smell of other
things."  He pointed down to the door frame, where a strange symbol
had been carved.  She knelt down, dipped her finger in the wet
substance that had been rubbed on it.  It felt oily, but it smelled
like--she turned her face away, making another face.  "Urine?"

"Gremlin urine.  The best way for a quick and easy barrier.  And
difficult to fake.  The smell is quite distinctive, don't you think?"

She nodded and took the moistened wipe he handed her.  She was
surprised that the smell came off, but whatever was on the towel was
more powerful than monster pee.

"I need a new line of work," she said as she handed him back the
towel.

He laughed.  "Here.  Bring it back when you're done."  He dropped the
key in her hand and left.  The door locked behind him.

She reverently touched Laura's portal ring, which she'd jammed onto
her little finger.  It was one of the five lost by the
Noguras--ancient now.  Ancient and dangerous.  But necessary. 
Christine had never tried to use it.  She wasn't sure what she was
supposed to do.

Jim had said that Weasel told him to keep it simple when he did magic.
 It was probably good advice for her too.   She touched the stone, and
said softly, "Kirsu.  Take me there."

Nothing happened.

"Damn it."  Would it have killed LaVelle to give her better
instructions?  She probably had deliberately not told her some crucial
step.  Christine and she were going to have a little talk when she
figured out how to get to Kirsu.

A portal appeared in front of her.  

Christine smiled as she stepped in.  Whatever worked.  She couldn't
call up Kirsu, but she had no problem calling up her annoying fellow
slayer--LaVelle didn't even have to be in the same dimension to piss
her off.

The opening closed, and a surge of panic filled her.  She felt as if
the space jerked, and she lost her balance and fell down into a
crouch, trying to catch her breath.  She was being suffocated in this
dank, cramped place--

She forced herself to breathe slowly.  This wasn't the sewers.  She
was safe.  She was fine.

"Kirsu," she muttered over and over until the portal opened and she
threw herself out, landing on soft grass.  She pushed herself up,
feeling warm sunshine beating down on her.  The air smelled of green
herbs and a distant shore.

"Who are you?"  A young girl backed away from her.

"It's okay. I'm Christine.  I'm here to see LaVelle."

"It's all right, Magda.  She's a friend."  LaVelle walked down the
stairs, her face not at all welcoming.  "Not my friend, mind you."

"How've you been?"  Christine walked past the younger slayer, invading
LaVelle's personal space.  "You miss me?"

"Not at all."  LaVelle moved even closer.

Neither blinked, neither moved.  Christine realized that they probably
looked immensely silly to the young girl watching them.  Some role
models.

She took a step back and walked around LaVelle.  "Can I come in?" she
smirked as she bounded up the stairs and into the house.

She heard LaVelle call out, "Make yourself at home."  

She turned around, waited for the other slayer to catch up. 
"Actually, I've brought something home."  She pulled the amulet out
from under her shirt, gently undid the clasp and slipped it off her
silver chain.  She handed the amulet to LaVelle, fastening the chain
back around her neck.

"What is it?"

"According to the watchers, it's what keeps Kirsu tied to our
dimension."

LaVelle glared at her.  "The watchers?  You asked them?"

Christine forced herself not to snap.  "No.  They volunteered the
information.  They're trying to get me to work with them."  She
touched the amulet's main stone.  "Two people have already died for
this.  It's valuable and too dangerous to keep in my dimension."

LaVelle stroked the stone.  "Does it work like the rings?"

Christine shrugged.  "Maybe if you're a magician--it was sorcerers who
made it.  I think it's more of a focus.  Some kind of link between the
worlds."

LaVelle sighed.  "I'm sick to death of magic.  Orbs and amulets and
links."

"Kirsu is magic.  Are you sick of it?"  Christine smiled grimly. 
"Because there are a lot of people who would like to take it off your
hands."

LaVelle shot her a look. "If they try, it will be the last thing they
ever do."

"It's easy to say that, LaVelle.  But these are watchers.  And
powerful people in Starfleet.  They have firepower--both conventional
and magical--at their beck and call.  You have to be careful.  Stay
here unless it's absolutely necessary to leave."

"We won't let a slayer die when we can save her."

Christine nodded.  "I know.  Just don't take any extra chances, okay?"

"I might almost think you care."  LaVelle smiled, the expression a bit
friendlier than her usual glare.

"God knows why."  Christine nodded at the amulet.  "You have somewhere
you can keep it safe?"

LaVelle nodded.  She led Christine into an adjoining room, moved a
carpet aside and lifted a trapdoor.  "This has been here since the
time of Helene the founder."

"And Nogura the original owner."  At LaVelle's look, Christine pointed
up to the carvings that ran around the wall.  "Kanji symbols.  It's
Japanese.  Put there by Tachikawa and Nogura, the men who conjured up
the bridge to this place.  Don't forget that at the end of the day
you're squatters."

LaVelle tossed her a lightstick.  "Fortunately, possession is still
nine-tenths of the law."

"At the moment, it's ten-tenths, and there is no law here except what
we make."  Christine followed her down the steps.  A small storeroom
opened up into hallways that ran both ways.  "This runs under the
house?"

LaVelle nodded.  "Comes out in two places.  I guess your magicians
felt a few bolt holes might be a good addition to their magic?"

Christine nodded.  "I've got to bolt.  I don't want anyone to wonder
where I've gone."  She hurried up the stairs.  "Don't tell anyone
about the amulet.  Except Marion, I mean."

"Your will is my command, your highness."  

Christine turned.  "You could say thank you.  Or would it kill you?"

LaVelle's lips tightened.  "One of these days, you and I are going to
have to figure out who's the boss."

"Fine.  One of these days we will.  But not now.  We don't have time
for this."  Christine turned her back on LaVelle, hurried upstairs,
and touched her ring.  She thought of the storeroom, the reek of
incense, the carved symbols.  When the portal opened, she stepped in
and closed her eyes until she sensed the portal opening again. She
turned and dashed out; the portal closed behind her.

She looked at the ring.  She felt safer with it close to her, but it
was too conspicuous to try to wear.  She couldn't continue to hide it
in her apartment.  Maybe Jim could help her fnd a better way to hide
it?  A magical way?

She pulled the door shut behind her and fished the key out of her
pocket, handing it to Tolvar.

He smiled.  "That was a quick call."

She made a face.  "And LaVelle can still irritate me."

"She's not so bad.  If you'd just quit challenging her."

"Me?"  Christine turned away.  "I'm not the problem."

He laughed.  "Of course not, my dear.  Give my best to Emma, won't
you?"

"You've never told her about the slayers, have you?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?  You and Emma seem close."

"We are.  I love her dearly."  He looked down.  "But she is a watcher.
 You must never forget that.  Not when it comes to our mutual
friends."

"Are you saying I can't trust her?"

He shook his head.  "She's a good woman.  You can trust her in all
things...except this."  He caught and held her gaze.  "You already
know that or you'd have told her by now."

She smiled.  "You're probably right.  Thank you.  For everything."  

He waved her away as a young tourist wandered by.  "Tell your fortune,
pretty lady?"

Christine walked quickly away from the piers and back up toward her
apartment.  She kept looking around as she walked, not so much for
anyone following her, but for something, anything she could fight. 
Damn LaVelle.  Would it have killed her to be gracious for once?

Christine turned and walked up the hill, realized she was heading for
Jim's.  He had told her to let him know she was back, she might as
well do it in person.  She nodded at the doorman, rode the elevator
up, and walked to Jim's door.  It suddenly struck her that she didn't
even know if he was alone.  It also struck her that she didn't care. 
She rang the chime.

It took him so long to get the door that she almost gave up.  

He opened the door and smiled when he saw her.  "This is a pleasant
surprise."

She sniffed.  Was that sulfur?  "What are you doing?"

"Magic?"  He pulled her in.  "Weasel gave me an exercise to try at
home and I'm just not getting it."

She followed him into his study where smoke was still swirling.  He
had the windows open to air out the room.

"It's like a nightmare chem lab."  

"You're not wrong."  He shook his head.  "I'm trying to make a ball of
fire."

"I was sort of kidding about that whole throwing lightning bolts
business."  She grinned, touched his shirt where it was singed. 
"Although it looks like you got part of it."

He nodded, snuffing out the incense that was burning around the room
in the bowls of sand that held the sticks upright.  Without the
incense's sweet smell, the reek of sulfur intensified.

"So what have you learned to do?"

"Well, I'm hell on wheels with that protection spell.  Of course, it's
only one word and a whole lot of fear, so that's not so hard."

She smiled.

"I learned to ground today."  He shook his head.  "It's like any power
circuit really.  Only I have to think of myself as the vessel it's
passing through, which is not what I'd want to be if it were real
current."

"Did it work?"

He looked up at her as he dug through the closet for something. 
"Yeah, it did.  It's strange stuff, Chris.  It's as if I always knew
how to do it; I just needed someone to remind me of that."  He
wrinkled his nose.  "Big stinky sulfur balls notwithstanding."  He
grinned and pulled out a padded case that he tossed to her.  "I
finished this finally.  I bet you forgot all about it."

She shot him a puzzled look and opened the case, laughing as she
pulled out her new, improved, folding crossbow.  "I had forgotten
about this."  She assembled it quickly and held it up.  "I've missed
this.  Can we go kill something?"

"Bad day at the mystical office, hon?"  He was already walking toward
the door.  "Come on.  I'd love to let it air out for a while."  He
pulled the door shut behind them.

"LaVelle was her normal charming self, so yeah, I'm a little tense." 
She shook her head.  "But mission accomplished.  Except..." She held
out her finger.  "Can you help me hide this?"

"Hide it?"

"Like you did the padd.  Only more so.  I want it invisible."

He smiled.  "I think that might take more power than I have."

She grinned.  "Use mine.  I've got plenty."

"I can try.  You want to wear it?"  He touched her chain.  "It might
be safer on this?  Easier to hide?"

When she nodded, he stepped behind her and undid the chain.  His hands
seemed to linger on her neck and she shivered.

"The ring?"

"Oh."  She pulled it off and handed it to him.  

He slid it onto the chain and refastened it around her neck.  Then he
sighed, "I'm not sure I can do this, Chris.  Invisible?"

"Sure you can."  She wasn't sure why she did it but she reached up for
his right hand, pulled it down, and around her waist.  He moved
closer, his hand on her necklace.  She set her hands on his, pushing
down slightly.

"Weasel says breath is key."  Jim began to breathe slowly.  He pushed
against her as he inhaled, pulled away as he exhaled.  She tried to
synch her breathing to his, but something was off.

"From here," he said, as he pushed on her stomach.  "Not from your
throat.  Don't move your shoulders.  Keep your mouth closed."

She leaned back against him and closed her eyes, tried to breathe low
from her stomach, from where his hand pushed down on her.  In and out
and in and out.  She suddenly felt lightheaded, felt her body moving
in perfect time with his, their breaths joining as they inhaled and
exhaled.  Without knowing why she did it, she began to pause longer
and longer after each exhale, not taking a breath just sitting empty
as she waited to breathe.  Jim did the same thing, his hand moving a
bit, pulling her closer.

She felt an energy beginning very low down and traveling up her belly
into her lungs and up past her throat, past her forehead, out the top
of her head.

"Let it ground," she thought she heard, but she didn't know how Jim
could have spoken when he was breathing in such perfect rhythm with
her.

The energy continued to flow out of her and she let it go, imagined it
pouring back into the ground, then rushing back up through them,
through their feet, their legs, their groins, back to their bellies.

Jim grasped the necklace.  "Protect," he whispered.

She felt a tingling begin where the chain lay against her skin.  

"Hide."

The tingling increased.

"By our will," he whispered in her ear, and she echoed it back.  

The tingling increased, moving through her until she thought her legs
would collapse.  Jim's hand jerked against her and she lost the rhythm
of their breath, opening her eyes as she seemed to fall even though
she hadn't moved.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Why?"  His lips touched her neck, so softly that if she hadn't been
so in tune with him she'd have never noticed it.  "We did it, Chris." 
He turned her so she could see their reflection in the window.

The necklace that she was running her fingers over was invisible.  She
smiled and turned to him.

His pupils were dilated.  She thought her own probably were too.  

"You're really good."

"I had the slayer booster pack."  He grinned, then he looked down
where the necklace should have been.  "But damn.  We are good."

She laughed.  Tried to come down from the place the magic had sent
her.  She wanted to touch him so badly.  Needed to touch him, to hold
him and kiss--.

She grabbed the crossbow.  "I think we should go now."  She didn't
wait for him to follow, nearly ran out of the apartment.

He was right behind her, pulling his sword case over his head..  "So
you think there'll be lots of things to kill?"

She was obviously not the only one who found doing magic together a
powerful aphrodisiac.

---------------------------- 

Kirk breathed deeply, trying to suck in as much as he could of the
fresh night air.  He felt as if every cell in his body was boiling
over, as if the only thing that could cool him down was the woman who
was hurrying ahead of him.

It had been one hell of a spell.  He'd have to ask Weasel what exactly
he and Chris had done.  He had a feeling it was probably not something
he should have done with a woman he was desperately trying to keep his
hands off of.

He could still feel her pressed tightly against him, her breath in
perfect union with his.  He'd felt her power bubbling up.  Her energy
was different.  Not targeted, not focused.  Just there.  For him to
use if she let him.  And she'd given it freely.

When he'd touched the necklace, he'd known there was no way they could
fail.  Together they were so powerful. Together...god if only they
could be--

But they couldn't.  He was glad when they arrived at the cemetery,
hoped they'd run into a whole nest of vampires.  He felt as if he
could take them all on himself.  And still have more tension to work
off.

She slowed and turned to him.  "You okay?"

"I will be.  How about you?"

She shook her head, a slow grin beginning.  "My god, Jim.  That was
better than some sex I've had."

"I know.  Imagine how good sex would be."  He was instantly sorry he'd
said that.

She just laughed.  "I'm having a hard time thinking about anything
but.  Hopefully we'll find some big nasties to fight.  Sublimation is
a good thing."  She loaded her crossbow.

"No stake?"

She patted her jacket pocket.  "Never leave home without one."

He patted his pocket too.  

"Good boy."  She tugged at his jacket and he let her pull him to her. 
Her look was suddenly much less playful.  "Jim.  I want you so --"

"--I smell food," something yelled behind them.

Her smile was feral; he wondered if his own mirrored it.

They turned as one, as if they were still in the hold of the spell. 
The vampire looked confused as they advanced on him.

"What's the matter, big guy?" Chris asked.  "Were you under the
impression you were the scariest kid in the playground?"  She lifted
the crossbow, then put it down.  "Nyah.  Too easy."  She grinned at
Kirk.  "It's not for close-in fighting, anyway."

Kirk drew his sword, laughing at her idiotic bravado.  She kicked out
at the vampire, hitting him solidly, knocking him back.  The vampire
scrambled to keep his feet, then he turned and ran.

"No way."  Chris lifted the crossbow, took aim, and let the bolt fly. 
It was a perfect shot; the vampire exploded into dust.

"Well, that was unsporting of him," Kirk said as he pushed his sword
back into the case.

"I'll say."  She pushed the crossbow behind her back and walked with
him toward the middle of the cemetery.

They strolled along in silence for a while, and he was glad to just
get his bearings again, to come down from the high place that the
magic had taken them.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked.

"You can tell me anything."

She took a deep breath.  "Today...in the portal.  I sort of panicked."

He slowed.  "Well, you didn't know if it would work."

She shook her head.  "It wasn't that.  It was like being
trapped...have I ever told you what happened to me in the sewers?"

"No.  But David did."  At her startled look, he said, "I need to tell
you the truth about that.  Not because it is the truth, but because
David is going to pull it out and use it against you.  And I want you
to be prepared for it."

"How does he know about it?"

"Let's sit."  He guided her to a bench, took a deep breath and told
her what David had told him about the Cruciamentum, about her own
watcher's role in the trial.  He told her everything he could
remember, didn't spare her.

She stared at him through the telling, barely blinking.  He thought at
first she didn't believe him, but then he saw the tears in her eyes. 
She believed.  She knew.  Maybe she'd always known, just hadn't been
able to admit it to herself.

"I'm sorry, Chris."

"Roger did that to me."  She blinked and a cascade of tears fell down
her cheeks.  She blinked again but no more tears fell.  She smiled
instead, a bitter, angry smile.  "I shouldn't be surprised.  Look at
what his android self did to you.  He might have done that to me too. 
In time.  Made me into a proper mate."  She looked away.  "They're
monsters.  The watchers."

Kirk wasn't sure what to say.

"And they're still doing it."

He nodded, even though he knew it hadn't been a question.  

"We'll stop them.  Somehow."  She seemed to shudder.  "No more.  No
more of this."  She gave him a hard look.  "You knew and you didn't
tell me."

"I was going to tell you."

She nodded, her face hard.

"Chris."  He touched her arm, but she pulled it away.  Not a jerk,
just a gentle tugging, moving inexorably away from him.

"No."  He pulled her to him, felt her tense.  "No, I was just waiting
for the right time.  Stop it.  Think of what we did tonight. 
Together."  His fingers found her necklace, rubbed between it and her
skin.  "You want to pull away just because I was having trouble
finding the right time to tell you something I knew would hurt you?"

She stopped pulling away, looked up at him.  Her eyes were hurt and
lost.  "Why?  Why do they do this to us?  We're just kids when they
find us.  When they turn us into killers.  How can they do it to us?"

She sobbed and he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her and
holding her as she cried.  Strange, broken sobs came from her, as if
she was still trying to hold it all in.

"It's all right.  I've got you."

Her arms tightened around him almost painfully but he didn't make a
sound, even as his ribs protested.

"I don't know why they do it, Chris.  We'll stop it.  Somehow, we
will."

She let up on his ribs and he sighed in relief.  

"Oh, Jim, I'm sorry."  She smiled sheepishly.  
 
"It's okay."  He kissed her, a soft, gentle kiss that had nothing to
do with sex and everything to do with trying to tell the scared little
girl she'd probably never been allowed to be that it was all right. 
That he was there and nothing bad would get her.  Ever.

She closed her eyes.  When she opened them again, his Chris was back. 
But she looked older and terribly tired.

"Who do we trust, Jim?"

"Each other.  We trust each other."  He wiped her cheeks.  "I'll never
hurt you."

"Spock said that too.  So did Roger.  The words mean less each time." 
She looked away.

He tugged her chin gently until she looked at him.  "I've never said
them to you.  They mean everything to me."

She sighed.  Then she looked past him.  "We've got company.  Humans I
think.  Stupid ones."

He turned around and felt his heart catch in his throat.  He turned
quickly and grabbed Chris, pulling her close.

"Jim, what?"

"Just don't move.  Not till they've gone by."  He ran his hands down
her back as if they were two lovers too hungry for each other to find
a room.

As soon as he heard footsteps pass, he pulled away.  He watched the
two people walking down the path, the light falling on their blonde
heads.  Carol.  And David.

"You know them."

He nodded.  

Chris studied them.  "Tell me."

He shook his head, an instinctive reaction.  But not the right one. 
He'd kept this inside for so long.  Only McCoy knew.  And Spock.  No
one else.  No one else but Carol and she didn't care how much Kirk
hurt.

"That's my son," he said softly.

"Your son?"  She stood, pulled him up.

"We can't.  I promised I'd stay away."  He felt an odd sense of panic
fill him.  His son was so close.  And he had to stay away.

She forced him to look at her.  "Jim.  We're in the cemetery at night.
 They need us to follow them."

God, how could he have forgotten that?  They were helpless.  Alone. 
With the vampires and the werewolves and other ghastly things he'd
learned really did go bump in the night.  "They can't be a part of
this."

"Look at me."  When he didn't, she shook him.  "Look at me, Jim."

It hurt.  He looked at her.  "Chris.  My son.  We have to protect
him."

"We will.  Come on."  She pulled him, and they hurried down the path,
following Carol and David.

When Carol and David turned off toward a row of graves, Chris led him
into the bushes.  They slowly worked their way closer, then she turned
and looked him in the eye as if taking his measure.

He touched her arm.  "I'm okay," he said softly.  "I just didn't
expect to see them.  They've been offworld for so long."

"Well, they should have stayed offworld a while longer.  This cemetery
is far too busy these days."

She nodded past Carol and his son, to where a vampire was emerging out
of the bushes.

"No."  The word came out as a moan, a prayer.

Chris swung the crossbow around and sighted.  "They'll never know he
was there, Jim.  Trust me."  She let the bolt fly.

He smiled.  He did trust her.  She hit the vampire dead in the heart. 
He didn't make a sound, just stared at the bolt sticking out of him in
confusion, then burst into a cloud of dust.  Carol and David never
even turned around.

She looked at him.  "See.  Nothing to fear.  I'll take care of your
son."

He nodded.

She took his hand in hers.  "We'll make sure they get home okay."

He squeezed her hand back.  In all his time with Carol, he'd never
trusted her the way he did the woman standing next to him.  The woman
who had just saved his son.

"Your son has a name?"

"David."

"Popular name these days."  She smiled tentatively, the expression
growing bigger when he nodded and smiled too.  She turned to watch
Carol and David.  "What's he like?"

"I don't know."

She turned and shot him a startled look.  "You don't?"

"She wanted me to stay away."

"That's not fair," she said quickly.

He shook his head.  "She wanted me to stay with her.  Stay here, on
the ground.  Not be in space."

"But we're Starfleet.  That's where we work."

He nodded.  "I couldn't promise I'd stay with her.  So I had to
promise I'd stay away."

Her hand tightened in his.  "I'm sorry, Jim."

"I know you are."

They stood in silence for a long time.  Then she whispered, "So much
pain.  It's what marks us and molds us, isn't it?  Not the good
times."  She shook her head.  "They're so hard to remember.  The good
times."

"I know."

She looked over at him.  "Do you know that most of the ones I remember
now have to do with you?"

He squeezed her hand.  "That's nice to say."

"Just the truth."  She pushed him farther back into the bushes. 
"They're coming this way."

They stood still in the shadows as the woman he'd once loved and the
son who he'd never had the chance to love walked by.  Chris gave his
hand a final squeeze, then let go, stepping out of the bushes to
follow them. To make sure they got safely home.  Wherever home was for
them.

Wherever it was, he knew he would never be welcome in it.

End part 2 of 6

--
Stephen Ratliff
ASC Stories Only Forwarding

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