Chapter 28

The next morning Dr. Tran actually drove to our apartment, as I had 24 hours bed rest and Doug was there for his own peace of mind mostly. After telling him what happened, he called the clinic and got the report himself. We all talked, and he agreed with what Doug had thought of last night. Dire Wolf and Fang were going to help in a similar case in Ireland. Thankfully, they did have a slasher case. And that is when I found out there was actually a Chameleon that could assume any form she wanted! She would pretend to be me, and that Fang had been left at home for other reasons. I said that would be fine, and he said he would see us at work tomorrow.

That settled that, and 3 days later I met “Miss X”. She was one of the “Black Paladins”, something I had thought was an urban legend but was true. Paladins that had a mutation that they kept so secret that almost nobody knew they existed.

First, she spent several minutes just watching me. Then had me do things like walk around, sit down, stand up, even bend over to pick a pen off of the ground. Then she spent 10 minutes holding my hands. Then even though I was a bit shocked, she said she needed to kiss me.

And it was weird. I felt her lips against mine, and her tongue entered my mouth. But there was nothing sexual in this at all. Her tongue slid in, and it moved around like it was tasting everywhere inside my mouth. And I could feel her getting larger. Finally, she ended the kiss and moved back.

“There, done.”

And Doug and Dr. Tran said she looked exactly like me. “Of course, although it is harder, as I had to absorb the DNA of Dianne, then do the mental changes to make her Dire Wolf. How long do I need to be in this form?”

“We hope no more than 4 months.”

We all talked a bit longer, and I asked her about what she meant about absorbing the DNA then making changes?”

I could hear her talking softly to Dr. Tran, and he cleared his throat. “This is above your pay grade, but I will say a little bit, Di. Otherwise, it might bother you unless you figure it out on your own. You are the first time Miss X has done this with a Greater Chameleon. She can absorb the DNA and copy it into her own. At this point, I could have her submit a DNA sample, and it will be you. However, remember that what we all have is not a true mutation. The DNA of Dire Wolf is the exact same as the DNA for Dianna Wood.”

“Exactly. Also, I do not really get any of your abilities. Here is something you will know soon, the paper is already being written. In most cases of mutation, what happens is that the DNA remains the same, but different parts of it are triggered from active to passive, or passive to active. We know that explains very little of what we can do, but it does explain some. If you took the exact same sperm and egg that created you, shook them up, and combined them again, there is still some random chance in how the DNA halves bond. I bet if that was done 100 times, at least one time the resulting child would look like you, and at least one other time, it would look like Dire Wolf.”

“Miss X, can I ask what you do when you are not pretending to be others? Or is that secret also?”

She giggled, and it was strange as it did sound just like me as Dire. “Sure, I work in an adjunct lab we are running with the FBI in Quantico. Before that night, I was an FBI agent. Primarily sciences division, think of it as a super CSI tech. Now, I still work with the FBI, but for Control. And that is another reason why I am going on this trip. Because I am not only going as Dire Wolf, I am bringing in my back pocket my years of experience as an FBI agent.”

I nodded and said that actually made a hell of a lot of sense. “Miss X, how can you change forms, and still sleep? You said you have to remain in this form, how can you do that after you fall asleep?”

Dr. Tran simply said, “Dianne, that is classified, and you are not on the need to know list.” And I knew enough to shut up and ask nothing else. But I knew it would bug me, as I knew of no Chameleons that had the power to change, and not revert to their original pattern if possible when they were asleep. Even those that could change hair color at will went back to their birth color when they were unconscious.

Well, it was only a few days later when the reports of Dire Wolf being in Ireland started to appear. And it was like a weight fell off of my shoulders. And her being across the ocean as a pregnant me was waddling around Chinatown and work was perfect to throw off any who might have stumbled onto my secret.

And sure enough, reports started to trickle out from the Silent Slasher investigation. That the latest victim might have been known to the killer, and even that his prints had been located in her car and apartment. And that a murder weapon recovered at the scene of the last attack had been linked to previous murders, but it had not been used on her. And even that her old boyfriend was a known drug user. But that they had no idea who he was, he vanished after her death, as well as the crimes stopping.

I knew there would still be fear for ages, but that the danger was now over. I even wrapped the sword back in the silk covering and had it delivered back to Lim Wang. I wrote a short note that simply said “She is avenged, no more girls will be killed because of him.” I sent it to Uncle Don, and 2 weeks later he came to visit us on a Saturday night.

And after fussing over me and making sure me and the baby were alright, he switched to Mandarin. “Di, Lim died last night. The cancer finally took him, and I was at his side with his wife and daughters when it happened. But I did give him the dao back, and he smiled and cried when he read your note. It now hangs in the back of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, in a place of honor with the note. But no other explanation. But if you ever need it back, either come and take it or tell me and it will be returned.”

“Thank you, honored Uncle Dong Wu. I hope that never happens ever again. But I did what had to be done. And Susan Wang is avenged, as are over two score other girls.”

After he left I told Doug the news, and he nodded. “Do you think you might ever take that up again?”

“Honey, I hope and pray that I never do. But I will tell you this. If I ever do, those who I intend on using it against should tremble. I do not want to ever hurt anybody, let alone murder them. But I have now learned what my father had, and others. That I may look meek and passive, but awaken what is hiding inside and there is no stopping me.”

“Oh, that I am well aware of. You had already been looking for the Slasher, I think mostly because you found one of the first victims. But once Susan Wang was killed, you took it personally. Baby, if I have to guess, you see the entire city as your pack, now. But Chinatown? These here, this area are your puppies. And when the police were doing nothing to at least release a way for the girls to stay safe, you went ‘Lone Wolf’ and took care of things yourself. But in that, I support you. That was information they should have released, it might have saved quite a few girls.”

And to myself, not the least of which is Susan Wang. A girl I knew who had playful, brown eyes that twinkled when she laughed. Who loved telling stories that would draw to a slightly ribald punchline, and would leave you hanging there for a few seconds before telling you a more tame and conventional one. Yet leaving the dirty one lingering in the back of your mind.

A girl that loved wearing pretty dresses, and I had given dancing lessons on several different occasions. The first time after I watched her dancing in a set of pink bra and panties, her long black hair flowing as she turned. It was fast, almost frantic. So with my hands I guided her to a slower, more sensual style.

Then a second time a week later, when she had shown up in a rather simple dress, but underneath I discovered she wore a silk slip. Which is what she was wearing as I had put on a record that had been left with a bunch of others in a box down in the basement, “Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits”. Where after watching her move and gyrate through some of the faster songs, I held her in my arms as we gyrated together to “Weekend in New England”. Slowly, sensually, her eyes looking up into mine as she rubbed her hip against me, and my thigh against her.

A girl I had noticed that first night at Lala. I had in my mind christened Mei Ling as “Miss Stretchie”, for how she raised her arms over her head and stretched, pushing her chest out and bringing all attention to her fabulous little breasts. But one other I saw that first night I named “Miss Licky”, as she licked her lips as she watched me.

Who came to visit me several times after Mei Ling left. Who I knew as Suyin. Who I discovered had a marvelous sense of humor on the eighth or ninth time I visited the Lala Spa after Uncle Don first took me there. Who I spent more than a little time flirting with me, and then just showed up at my door a few hours later.

Uncle Don knew she worked at one of the massage parlors and was not a prostitute. Which technically was true, as by now I simply saw the girls at Lala as girls you could rent companionship from. When I went there, one or two would sit with me and we would talk, flirt, drink, and just have fun. And even though they never asked, I always paid them for spending the time with me.

And if they provided other favors in a more private setting, by now I knew it was entirely of their choosing. While technically it was prostitution, it was viewed by them as them renting their room, and enjoying the time in it together. Which both Mei Ling and Suyin along with others said most times was little more than kissing and touching. But sometimes only holding each other, or cuddling. Which may involve sex, but was less common than most would think

After Mei Ling moved on, during a visit where Suyin was often running her fingertips along my thigh, she told me that most of her customers were older women who were actually straight. “Oh, I sometimes massage them in a way to give them pleasure, but most just want to hold me or be held. They are married, in largely loveless houses where all they want is somebody to feel close to. So we kiss and cuddle, and they tell me all their woes.”

I was never sure if Uncle Don forgot that I had seen Sue Wang at Lala, but he knew that place was not like the others in the area. Where sometimes women never left the front parlor area, just spent an hour or so with one of the girls, talking and dancing. And I knew she did work also at a more conventional massage parlor, one that did not involve any sex but only massages.

Suyin, who I once in my mind called Miss Licky. Who showed up at my door after my third visit after Mei Ling left. After I had gone to the Lala and I spent a couple of hours sitting with and flirting with her. Even dancing a few songs. Who showed me that she indeed was a master of that tongue, and had a wicked look in her amazing brown eyes as she looked up into my own from between my thighs. Who I had shown a new appreciation of dancing, as we held each other in my living room, listening to songs that had been popular long before either of us was born.

Suyin, who I took a short time later, in a way that Aaron had taught me. But between two girls it works best with no panties at all. I can still remember to this day the feeling of her fingernails scratching into my back as I ground our feminine mounds together. Her gasping and crying out when she felt me giving her that ultimate release that only can be given from one person to another.

A delightful flower, who I had shared several evenings and nights with. Either in the parlor at Lala, sitting in my lap and squirming against me, or holding each other and dancing as she teased me with her long fingernails. Or when she would come by and spend a few hours in my apartment. Almost always ending up in my bed and giving each other great pleasure.

But not always, as sometimes we could just kiss and cuddle, and dance.

Because I had heard of the death of Sue Wang, also known as Susan on her birth certificate, and to the older brother of her best friend growing up. The brother of her friend who himself became a Tong enforcer named Chen Liu. But to me, she was always Miss Licky, and enjoyed receiving as well as giving those amazing licks.

Who after our last time together, told me that I had shown her how special dancing could be, and was going to try and do it a lot more often. An amazing young woman, who I still feel guilty over, wondering if I had given her an appreciation for something that ultimately led her to die in an alley. I think the only saving grace is that I knew that the rape and bites were post-mortem. That my darling Suyin did not have to suffer the indignity of that while she was alive.