Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: 28 Feb 2004 18:41:08 -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: 4/6 SUMMARY: The sixth in the Lost Years series. Lori's office was dark, and her aide looked up as Christine walked toward his desk. "Admiral Ciani is out." "Do you know when she'll return?" "She said she wouldn't be back today." He gave her a polite smile. "Shall I tell her you stopped by, Lieutenant Chapel?" As she walked back to Starfleet Medical, she frowned. Lori had wanted to see her. She'd made that clear to Uhura. But she hadn't said when or where. Christine was betting that it wasn't in Command, and sooner was probably better than later. She strolled down to the piers, enjoying the sunshine, trying to work off a strange lingering tension. She hadn't meant to leave her rounds to see Lori, but she'd felt as if she had to. As if she was needed. And it had been clear once she'd seen Jim talking to that woman in the corridors, just who had needed her. Her reaction to Carol Marcus had been visceral. She'd felt immediately protective of Jim, wanted to stop the woman from hurting him. Of course, Carol probably hadn't realized she was hurting him. She hadn't seen his face the night before, when he'd watched his son from afar, or later when he'd hung back, hadn't followed the two of them to the apartment on the corner. Christine could tell he was hurting. Had been especially in tune with him last night. It had been such a strange evening. Swinging from the immense high of the erotically charged spell they'd done together to such terrible soul-deep sadness. Hers over the trial the watchers had put her through. His over his son and this woman who seemed to dislike him so. In a million years, Christine could never fathom disliking Jim Kirk. He was just so...honorable. And sweet. God, he was so sweet. She sighed. She couldn't let herself dwell on what she wanted or how much she wanted it. She knew what held him back, and she had to respect it. For now. And she was going away soon. On the Enterprise. The closer she got to Jim, the less she wanted to take the assignment. She neared the water, saw the bench she'd shared with Lori, and later with Emma. It was empty. Lori wasn't here. She turned. Wished she had a werewolf's sense of smell. Even a vampire could scent better than she could. But she had a perfectly good brain and it wouldn't kill her to use it. Where would Lori be? She turned and headed back toward downtown, back toward the alley she'd found Lori waiting in last time. There was no one in the alley and the door was locked. Surely if Lori was waiting for her, she'd leave it unlocked if not open. Christine walked back out the other side of the alley, trying to retrace Uhura's steps. Where had the werewolves gone? Christine turned and looked at the restaurant Uhura had said they'd gone into. It was the odd part of the story, the thing that didn't make sense. She headed across the street and walked into the restaurant. "We're not serving," a man called out, not even looking up from the game he was playing at the bar. "I'm meeting a friend." He turned around, checked her out, his stare raking up and down her body, his eyes narrowing. "Come here." She took a deep breath, walked over. "Your manners leave something to be desired." He grabbed her, threw her back against the bar. He moved in, sniffing at her, his mouth close to her ear. "You're not one of us." "No kidding." She didn't move. "Now get away from me." "Shouldn't have come in here. Don't belong here." He tightened his hold on her arm. She kneed him sharply in the groin. As he doubled over, she knocked his head back with her joined fists, followed it up with a punch in the gut. She stepped to the side and he fell to his knees, his head hitting against the bar. She pulled his head back. "Manners. So important. Now, where's Lori?" "Downstairs." He pointed back toward some stairs, the movement made almost spastic by his pain. She let his head go and he crumpled into a ball. "Thank you." She went down the stairs, kicked the door in hard enough to hit anyone who might be on the other side, not hard enough to take it off the hinges. She heard a muffled groan, and pushed the door harder against the person she'd pinned to the wall. "You wanted to see me?" she asked looking around the room for Lori. "It took you long enough to get here." Lori glanced up from a table far from the door. She frowned at Christine. "Could you quit beating up the betas? It's beneath you." Christine let go of the door and a woman edged away from behind it. She slunk past Christine and then hurried over to Lori. Christine saw Lori glare at her as the woman went into another room. Several other people followed her--all werewolves, Christine presumed. "Come sit." Lori nodded at the men sitting with her and they got up and moved to another table. Christine sat down. "So you saved my friend." "I did." "You also kept her late so she'd be in danger in the first place." "Yep. Did that too." Lori smiled at her. It was a sexy smile. Christine looked away. Reminded herself it was a full moon and she wasn't immune to the pheromones floating her way. Lori reached over and touched her. "Oh my. What have you been doing lately? You positively tingle with magic." She ran her fingers over the back of Christine's hand, making her shiver. "And you're horny as hell." Christine jerked her hand away. "Let's stick to business." "I thought we were." Lori laughed. She seemed different. Softer. And lighter. Christine studied her. Relaxed. Lori seemed relaxed. "What is this place? I mean other than a hangout for the hip if somewhat hairy set?" Lori laughed again. "I do like you, you know." Christine shook her head. This woman was dangerous. She had to remember that. She had to not think about how maybe she liked her a little bit too. "This place is our refuge. Away from him." Lori closed her eyes. "It's safe to say his name here. I just hate to do it. I like to think there's a place he doesn't exist. That he can't find me." "He's your mentor. He's guided your career. Isn't that true?" Lori's good mood evaporated. "Yes, it is. But it isn't the whole truth." She pushed away from the table. "I have to show you something." As Christine stood, Lori closed her eyes, began to mutter something. When she opened her eyes, her irises were solid black. She began to move her hands around Christine's body, as if she was building a bubble around her. She pulled away, her eyes returning to normal. "Maya, come in here." The woman who had been behind the door walked in. She looked at Christine and nodded. "Where'd the slayer go?" Lori smiled. "Where indeed. That's all, Maya." Maya looked confused, but went back into the other room. Lori shook her head. "I'm being generous by calling her a beta. She'd be the omega if she weren't my sister." The look Lori threw Maya's way seemed to lack any affection--it was more full of obligation. "What did you do to me?" '"It's just a glamour. When anyone looks at you, they'll see someone vaguely familiar. Another wolf, but they won't remember which one if they try to remember. Don't talk until I tell you it's okay. He'll be able to hear us until we're in the pens." "The pens?" Lori shot her a look. "Don't talk. And you'll see." She turned and led Christine back up the stairs and out of the restaurant. They walked across the street and in through the front of the building Lori had said was shielded. They passed through several rooms, before coming to a small hangar where a flitter was waiting. Lori motioned her in and flew them out of the city, heading off in the direction Christine and Jim had taken when they'd gone to Nogura's party. She looked over at Lori. The woman sat with her jaw set. She glanced over at Christine. There was no smile now, no laugh. This was serious. Dangerous. Christine could feel her slayer senses going on alert. Lori was showing her something important. And probably not very nice. They slowed at the gate. Lori waited as someone--or something, Christine wasn't quite sure--in a long hooded robe appeared from out of the bushes and walked around the flitter. Christine forced herself to sit quietly, as if she'd been there a hundred times. As if she wasn't an interloper. The hooded figure nodded at Lori. She steered the flitter into a small open area and set it down. Getting out, she moved quickly across the yard and toward a building that looked like a stable. Christine followed her, then she caught a whiff of a strong fragrance. She turned, saw a field of flowers spread out in front of her. Irises, she realized. Beautiful. But the smell was overpowering. She hadn't realized they could smell so strongly. All the ones she'd seen were odorless. Near the edge of the field, the flowers looked different. Smaller and more of them on the stems. She frowned. Was that wolfsbane? She looked at Lori, her eyebrows forming the question. Lori nodded. Then she pointed to the other side of the field. A group of people were harvesting some of the wolfsbane. Lori motioned for her to follow her. They went through the stable and down some stairs. A huge metal door stood at the bottom. Lori touched it in a strange series of motions, and it opened. As it shut behind them, Lori said softly. "We can talk now. But try to limit what you say in front of anyone." "He can't see us here?" "He wouldn't look here. It's his safest place." Lori's face was hard. Her brown eyes seemed to have turned to some kind of iron. "You hate him." Lori smiled bitterly. "You'll understand why in a minute." She led Christine to another door, metal again. "What are these supposed to keep out?" "Not out. In." Lori opened the door and motioned her in. Christine was struck by the noise and the smell. She smelled sweat, the kind of sticky, fear-filled sweat that lingered forever in a place. Moans and odd cries filled the air. She brushed at her arms, suddenly feeling edgy and ready to fight. "Pheromones," Lori murmured. "Concentrated. Powerful. Makes you want to jump out of your skin, doesn't it?" Christine nodded. "Imagine what it does to my kind." "What is this place?" "In Japanese it translates as the place of conditioning. We just call it the pens." She stepped forward, walking around a narrow catwalk that ringed the place. Christine looked down. The room was full of people. Some walking free, some in restraints, others loose but locked in cages. "All werewolves." Lori stepped close to her. "The ones not roaming free haven't learned to control the change yet." She sighed. "But they will." Christine watched as a woman in a gray coat walked over to a young man shackled naked to the wall. She held some sort of metal rod, which she poked him with. Sparks erupted, and he changed immediately, the wolf snarling at the woman. She yelled something at him, and he lunged for her. She stuck him in the gut again, holding the stick against him for a very long time. He finally changed to human, collapsed crying, hanging from the shackles. "Why?" "Do you know the story of Sachiko?" Christine nodded. "She didn't die?" "Well, she did. Long enough to call the next slayer. Then they took her away. They were sure they could 'fix' her." Lori pulled her farther along the catwalk. "And they did." Lori nodded. "A combination of herbs, pain, meditation." "Magic?" Lori looked at her sharply. "No, not magic. Most of my kind don't have it. I'm a prodigy of sorts." "So when he found you--" "Found me? Do you think he's just rounding up stray werewolves?" Christine pointed out to the cages. "There are so many here. How else?" "Open your eyes. We're not foundlings. We're not his charity projects. We're livestock. He breeds us." Lori grabbed her and pulled her harder, hurrying them around the catwalk. "He tries breeding one line to another, coming up with different strains for different tasks. Not all of us make it. Not all of us can control it." "What happens then?" Lori pointed down to a cage where a woman was pacing. "She's failed." Lori backed up, leaned against the railing and watched the woman. "I know her. She's a distant cousin of mine. And I can't help her." "I don't understand. So she can't control it. She can be locked up for the duration. Three days a month, that's all, right?" Lori nodded. "That's all." She turned to Christine. There were tears in her eyes. "What will they do with her?" "They've loaded her up with wolfsbane. The aconite will keep her from changing. But she's frantic with the need to change. You can tell that from here." Lori pushed Christine away, led her down some stairs. "We do get new blood. If Nogura's people find a werewolf, they'll bring him or her to the pens. And they often have to be convinced to work at repressing the change." She walked over to a pen behind the one that held the woman. A man stood at the small window that separated his cage from the woman's. He talked to her as she paced. "He's new," Lori said quietly, as if not to disturb him. "They have grown close, sharing pens as they do. Grown close as was the design. Tonight, when he changes, she will not. And they will open the door between them and he will rip her apart. And they will record it, and show it to him over and over. Until he begs to be taught how to resist the change." Christine stared in horror. "We have to help them." Lori shook her head. "We can't. Not here, not this way. The whole place is his, ruled by his magic. They don't notice us now, and they don't care that we're here. But if we tried to help, rest assured we'd be stopped." Christine took a step toward the pen, but Lori touched her hand. "Come away. We can't help." She followed Lori back up to the catwalk until she saw a woman working with a child. When the little girl screamed, Christine stopped, hands clenching. "No. Christine. Come away." Christine turned. One slayer. How much damage could one slayer do here? Lori's voice was soft in her ear. "You'd be killed before you could free even a handful. I have a plan. And it doesn't require you to die for us. But it does require something from you." Christine turned to her slowly. "Kirsu?" Lori nodded. "We must go. Say nothing until we are back in the restaurant." She led Christine out, locking the doors behind them, climbing the stairs quickly, hurrying to the flitter. Christine wanted to go faster, needed to get far away from the people she had wanted to help but had just walked away from. Innocents. What had Emma said? They didn't want to be what they were? The hooded figure seemed to take longer to clear them, it stared at Christine. She looked past it, willing her racing heart to slow, sitting quietly even when it walked toward her side of the flitter. As it reached for the door, she tensed. "Confusion," Lori murmured. "Fog." The hooded one stopped. It shook its head, then turned away, waving Lori through the gate. Christine looked over, saw that Lori was sweating. She'd never seen Lori afraid before. Not like that. The flight back took no time. Lori stowed the flitter in the hangar and hurried out of the building and back to the restaurant. Maya looked up from setting the tables in the main room as they came in. Lori grabbed Christine's hand and pulled her to the bar. "Get out of here," she ordered her sister. Maya fled. "I need a drink." She grabbed a bottle, pulled the stopper out and drank deeply. Then she turned to Christine, put her hands to either side of Christine's head, not touching her but pulling outwards as if ripping away the bubble she'd built. "There. You're you again." Christine watched the other woman pace. "It tears you up inside." Lori nodded, not stopping her back and forth movement. "I'm not just a prodigy; I'm alpha. It kills me to go down there, to see what's happening to my family. To others like me." "And you think Kirsu is your answer? Your promised land?" "It's daylight there. All the time. And we'd be far from Earth's moon." "But it might have its own moon. Even in the daylight." Lori shook her head. "Doesn't matter. We only change with our moon. Earth's. We can feel it even in space, halfway across the quadrant. But in a different dimension, we'd be safe." She took another drink then recapped the bottle and stuck it back on the shelf. "The slayers are there." "And they can stay there. We don't want to hurt anyone." Christine shook her head. "What about Admiral Richter?" Lori looked down. "I had to. Nogura would have--" She turned away. "I didn't want to hurt him. I tried to get him to leave well enough alone. But he had to question, he had to make a fuss." Lori met her gaze, her own eyes hard. "I have to protect my own. And to do that, I have to maintain Nogura's trust. Carl was a price I had to pay. And I'd do it again." "I can't give you Kirsu." Lori nodded. "I know. Right now you believe you can't give it to anyone. But think about it. That's all I'm asking. You know what you've seen. You know he's a monster. He'll use Kirsu for his own power. He's dangerous. Nogura is more a monster than any of my kind." Christine sighed. "Just think about it. Please?" Christine nodded. She was thrown by this new Lori. This slightly-panicked, very serious woman and her very large problem. "I have other things to do right now." "Give me Kirsu, and we'll take out your vampire. He'll never hurt anyone again." "Help me take him out when I'm ready to move against him, and I'll think about it." Lori shook her head. "I took a huge risk last night. If Nogura had noticed what we were doing, then you and I wouldn't be talking. I can't help you again unless I know that we'll have a safe place to run to. Where he can't get us." "I have to think about it." "Fine. Think about it." Her angry stare held Christine captive until finally, she looked away. As Christine walked away, she called out. "And as you think, don't forget that innocent people are dying." Christine hurried out, nearly running. She didn't slow down until she got close to Starfleet Medical. She had rounds to catch up on. But she found it difficult to concentrate on her few patients. She kept hearing the screams of one little girl. One little girl who'd never asked to be what she was. End part 4 of 6 -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ ASCL is a stories-only list, no discussion. Comments and feedback should be directed to alt.startrek .creative or directly to the author. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From ???@??? Tue Mar 02 10:17:39 2004 X-Persona: Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n17.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.72]) by killdeer (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1aYbD54Om3NZFlr2 for ; Tue, 2 Mar 2004 07:16:19 -0800 (PST) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-13246-1078240556-stephenbratliffasc=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yah