“It’s a miracle,” the female paramedic gasped. “The wounds have healed. My God, they’re completely gone.”
There were cops standing around, all staring in amazement at me. “How?” one asked me.
“A miracle,” another whispered.
“Praise God,” a cop whispered.
“What are you?” a fireman asked. “How did you…”
“Tell me you got that! Tell me you were rolling film?” a woman demanded. Debra from Q13 Fox, her microphone hanging loosely in her hand as she stared in wide-eyed amazement. “Tell me you to got that?”
“Holy shit, I got that,” her cameraman answered, pointing is camera at me. “I got the scarlet light and everything. Holy fucking shit!”
“This is unbelievable,” Debra gasped. “Let’s do my coverage over there and then upload this to the network! Jesus, this is the news story of the century. A miracle happened and we caught it!”
I was about to object to Debra’s plans when I got a good look at the cul-de-sac and my heart stopped. It looked like a war zone. The street was lined with ambulances, fire trucks, and cop cars. And everywhere I looked there were people lying on the ground, some had paramedics working on them, others were covered by blankets. Houses and cars were shot up. Bullet casings glinted gold in the sunlight.
And blood. Dark blood pooling on pavement, splashed on the sides of houses, running down the fenders of cars.
I looked back at our house and gasped. Bullet holes racked along the front of the house, shattering windows. Our sluts were clustered on the porch watching me in amazement. A stretcher came out, carried by two firemen. I stared in stunned disbelief as they walked by carrying Xiu. My busty Xiu had a mass of bloody bandages on her stomach and looked so pale as they carried her past to a waiting ambulance.
What the hell happened here? And where was Mary? The last thing I remembered was Mary’s face before the darkness. I looked around and I noticed the bodies covered with blankets dotting the neighborhood. Fear constricted my heart. No, she could not be dead. Not when I got a second chance.
“What happened? Where’s Mary?” I asked, ignoring all the cops and fireman that were watching me with awe.
“Sir, we were attacked by some nuns,” a bodyguard told me. She was Black, one of the new guards. 51, I think her number was.
“Where is Mary?” I demanded. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.
“The nun took her,” 51 bitterly said. “We tried to stop her, but…”
“The nun’s used the SWAT from the raid,” Violet told me. There was a bandage on her forehead. “We were all so frightened, Master.”
The teenage slut hugged me fiercely. The other sluts followed her down, clustering about me. All of them reached out to touch me, smiling happily and muttering about me being alive. There was Alison and Desiree, and Korina, pregnant with my child. April and Lillian hugged each other in joy. Jessica and Thamina were supporting Sam, who had a bloody bandage on her leg.
All the sluts were accounted for. Xiu was being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Willow and Noel were at work. Karen was in the hospital and it was Fiona’s turn to stay with her. I frowned, no, there was one slut missing. “Where’s Chasity?” I demanded. “We need to go after the nuns. We need to rescue Mary.”
“She’s dead, sir,” 51 reported, sadly.
“Who is dead?” I asked, confused. Not Chasity.
51’s eyes flicked over to a body near the shot-up police cruiser. “Chasity, sir. She died defending Mistress. I got the man who killed her.” She patted the black machine-gun in her hands.
I stared uncomprehendingly at her. How could Chasity be dead? She was so dependable. Anger started to burn in me. These fucking nuns. Why couldn’t they just leave me the fuck alone. I never did anything to them. I felt pain in hand and uncurled my fist to see bloody nail marks in my palm.
“Who else died?” I asked, coldly, staring at my hand.
“05, 22, 34, 63, and 78,” 51 reported. “04, 30, and 47 are critically injured and may not survive. And Xiu. She took a round through the gut from inside the house. Another eighteen bodyguards have moderate injuries. There are only ten of us fit for duty.” She paused. “We killed two nuns and three of the SWAT and critically injured another four. We captured another four more with moderate injuries. One nun and a SWAT officer got away. Along with Mary. Alice, the woman who shot you, she sustained critical injuries and may not survive either.”
“Fuck,” I whispered. Emotions threatened to overwhelm me and I shoved them back down. I needed to save Mary. The rest, the grief and anger and guilt, that all could wait.
“Sam!” I barked at the injured Asian graduate student. She was our newest sex slave. She was translating the Magicks of the Witch of Endor for us. “Is there any spell in the book that would let me track Mary?”
She frowned, thinking. “Um, yes. The Alluwph ritual. You will need, um, something very personal of the person and hold it in your hands. Think about the person, about your connection with the person and say Alluwph.”
Something personal. I frowned then went into Mary’s art studio. I found my buttoned-down shirt she liked to wear when painting. She always looked so beautiful wearing only this shirt. I held it in my hands, thinking about Mary, about her beautiful smile, how the shirt draped her plump ass and how beautiful her bare legs looked. I concentrated as hard as I possibly could, and whispered, “Alluwph.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I watched Karen’s hospital room from the shadows. One of Mark’s whores, Fiona, was watching Karen, a bored expression on Fiona’s face. I smiled, Karen was mine, now. Well, she was mine until the birth, and that gave me certain powers over her.
I manifested and Fiona jumped in alarm, shouting, “Lilith!”
I ignored the stupid girl. There was nothing I could do to her anyways. This manifestation could not interact with the Mortal World except in certain, very limited ways. It didn’t have the freedom of being summoned, but it was enough freedom. And owning Karen, even temporary, was one of those limited exceptions. I reached out and grabbed the unconscious woman’s hand. I could feel her life being slowly drained by my vessel growing quickly inside her.
“Soon,” I whispered to her belly. Soon my vessel would be born I would be free of the Abyss forever.
I concentrated and drew Karen with me back into the Shadows and then shifted to Seattle, to the house of Babylon. It was a modest dwelling, but adequate, for now. I concentrated again, and Manifested with Karen into the guest bedroom. Chantelle and Lana were ready, scooping Karen up off the floor and placing her gently in the waiting bed.
“Keep her safe,” I charged my High Priestesses.
“We won’t fail you, my Goddess,” Chantelle murmured.
Both women stared reverently at Karen’s belly. Lana reached out and placed her hand ever so gently on Karen’s stomach. A smile quickened on her face. Chantelle’s hand joined hers, awe painting Chantelle’s beautiful face. They both knew their Goddess grew within.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I whispered, “Alluwph.”
From my chest, a pair of entwined red threads, wrapped so tightly together they were practically one thread. A black chain wrapped about both of the threads, shackled them together. I recognized those red threads. They connected my soul to Mary’s soul and represented our love. The threads led off to the south, vanishing through the wall. Tears were shining in my eyes.
“I’m coming, Mare,” I whispered. “Just hold on.”
I ran back outside. “51, gather the remaining bodyguards. We’re going after Mary.”
“Yes, sir!” 51 saluted.
The ten bodyguards still fit for duty and I piled into three cop cars. I rode shotgun in the lead car, guiding 51 as best as I could. The line pointed straight to where Mary was, but not which streets to take. We tore off down Shaw Road heading south. Eventually we were forced to cut west when we hit Sunrise Drive. We drove west until we reached Meridian, and then we turned south. We passed through Graham, racing as fast as we could. Once we were through Graham, heading out towards Eatonville, the threads led us down several side roads until we came to a single house in the middle of a field. A silver Jeep Cherokee parked in the driveway. The threads pointing right towards the house.
We got out of the car, the bodyguards flanking out to encircle the house. Three of them were armed with AR-15’s, the others with handguns and shotguns. All were wearing flak jackets. My heart was hammering. My Mary was inside that house. I was so close. I just wanted to run across the field and kick in the door and save my love.
The door to the house banged open and an unarmed SWAT officer walked out, his arms held up. He marched forward, straight towards me. The bodyguards all trained their weapons on him but none opened fire. I could see the SWAT officers aura, the black of a Thrall, but surrounded by a band of gold, a corona of light around darkness.
“Mark Glassner I have a message for you!” he shouted. “You, and only you, are to enter the house unarmed. If you enter armed or if anyone else enters, Theodora shall kill your woman. You have five minutes or Mary dies.”
And then he turned and started walking back to the house. I stood up and 51 grabbed my arm. “Master, don’t. Never give a hostage taker another hostage.”
She was quoting her training at me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t risk Mary’s life. If this Theodora wanted to talk. Fine. She had a lot to answer for. I strode out across the field, almost catching up with the SWAT officer before I reached the house. I followed him in and he led me to a small living room.
Mary was gagged and her arms were bound behind her back. Tears ran down her eyes and she struggled against her restraints. A sandy-blonde woman, young like all the nuns, with piercing blue eyes, stood next to Mary, a 9mm handgun pointed at her head. Fear roiled inside me. I would need to be careful. I didn’t want to provoke this woman, not with Mary’s life at stake.
“I am Mark Glassner,” I said, holding my hands out to the side. “Let’s talk, Theodora. There’s no need for any more violence.”
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