Chapter 33

Natasha spent the night in Nat’s bed, since Nat hardly ever used it anymore, and left at five Friday morning with a wave. I waved back, half awake. I worried about Ed and had not slept well.

At 7:30, I dragged her out of bed and drove her to UE’s training facilities. She dressed, located two reinforced foam swords, and came at me. With only a few breaks, we worked on control for the following nine hours only stopping for water and snacks.

She was way too erratic to trust in a Dungeon.

Returning home to shower and change, I picked up Kate and Cait and headed out to Beau’s. Cait had a list, approved by the PRA, for some trainees. Half were even Level 3s.

“We even received an application from an old friend of mine,” Cait snorted in disgust.

“Oh, what was your decision?” Since she was the one doing all the work, Caitlin had final say on who we accepted in our motley crew, with just light oversight from Heather, in case anyone stood out in a bad way.

Training-wise, that was.

“Can I convince you to take her on an Indigo four run with you and feed her to the Ghoul Lords?”

“I take that as a no.”

“A definite no. That two-faced whore is not getting anywhere near us.”

She did let me know who she did approve of. The initial list was short: six Level 3 Hunters, including three frontliners and three ranged. The ranged were two Fire Mages and an Ice Mage. The Melee fighters each had swords of one type or another.

Five were Illinois residents, and the sixth, an Ice Mage who lived in Green Bay, was taking time off of school to Hunt and train.

On paper they sounded good. We would have to see. As Koz was wont to say, time would tell.

Beau greeted us at the door of his (Time Share) house. “Miss Edna, you are more beautiful than ever. Miss Kate and Miss Caitlin, your presence lightens my house. Come this way please. The rest of you lot (me) can come in too.” Flashing us a grin. He led us into the living room and to chairs. We were the last ones to arrive. Even Koz showed up before us from wherever she scurried off to this morning, though she did look a bit worn out.

Ed was still not too pleased that her workout didn’t go as well as we hoped. After drinks and settling, Beau asked, “Miss Edna, can you please educate us hapless serfs as to your new status?”

“Which first? My new titles or my new Class?”

“Your choice, Ed. We want to know how we can best help you.” Beau switched off his charm and returned to normal.

“The one you all are going to be most curious about is not the Class.” No one here believed her but Kate and I. We had not shared the results of activating Hero’s Chosen to anyone, nor Kate’s equally powerful hidden title.

Odd, they could see my Hero title and each other’s, but I could not see theirs.

“Hero’s Chosen. Gold. When in a party with the Hero, all Stats are plus 1 and all resistances are plus 25%. Kate has a similar title with the same effects.”

We had, yet another, room silencing moment.

“His cheat function is contagious?” Nat sounded aggravated for some odd reason. Maybe she would share.

“Don’t knock it, babe. If we ever get stuck, he can help us and we can help him. It’s all about the last boss, after all.” Matt placated his wild girlfriend with solid reasoning.

From the follow-up discussion, no one was in a real hurry to get to Ed’s vampirism. Except maybe Beau, who held himself back for the most part.

“Red isn’t done yet. Remember be nice or sharp instruments of diciness are in your future.” Beau commented.

“Did you just make up a word?” Austin asked from across the room.

“Why not? Jason does it all the time.” Beau argued back.

I did.

“My Class is Daughter. A fuckload of special requirements were needed for that. I can thank Kate and Jason that I am even alive.”

“Aren’t vampires undead?”

“All of the other ones are, I think. There might be some that I don’t know about. But I am alive. Just ask Kate.”

“She’s alive. Heartbeat, EEG, EKG all tested normal. Ed’s just a little crankier now.” Kate was still on edge against her Sister-wife. At lunch today, we spent an hour with Kate and the UE in-house medic, wiring her up for a quick test of both systems.

“ ... And I need a liter of blood once a moon. Guys only.”

“And if you don’t get your monthly supply?” Francis asked.

“I start losing Attributes until I do. Starvation. But it shouldn’t affect my thoughts. Just that I would be hungry.” She went on to describe her hunger and natural control of it. The team was a little skeptical, but took her mostly at her word.

“My mood swings a lot.” An Understatement. “Fuck you.” She pointed at me, “As I was saying, my moods swing. I don’t get moody, just more ups and downs. If I get too ‘wonky’,” she flipped me off, since it was my word for it, “then say something. To me or to Jase. Kozzie has some exercises that I’m working on.”

“Honestly, I feel normal. Just that...” she breathed in, “I have less emotional control over my desires.”

An admission that hurt her to the core. I reached over and grasped her hand.

That last remark cast a pall over the team, due to the sadness underlying her admission.

“We have a Bastard Hero who Hides and Hoards, a Beautiful Bashful Saintess, a Crazy in Love Witch Doctor and now a Horny Vampire. And those are just the Level 5s. What the hell is in store for the rest of us?” Austin joked.

“Don’t break the furniture, I have to pay for all this shit.”

The furniture was saved. Austin, not so much. Although, he did do a great job of easing everyone’s mind with is impromptu humor.

“Our friends are pretty good.”

With a restrained smile, I saw a tear form on Ed’s cheek, “They are. Can I kill them?”

“Not today, dear,” I responded.

“Alright you lot. Off Austin. And Austin, tomorrow at 7:00 ... In the morning,” He winced. Austin wasn’t a huge early morning fan. “meet me at the UE gym. You need more practice.” Ed wasn’t done yet.

We all winced.

“It was nice seeing you, buddy. I’ll keep your Aston Martin safe,” and the like, were spoken in memory of the walking dead man to be.

“You’ll be there too. And you and you and you...” Ed decided that everyone, not just Austin, needed to join in on the ‘fun’.

“We are getting in some new blood, “ she grinned at her own pun, “Monday and Tuesday. You don’t want to get shown up by the rookies, now do you? That means you too, Heather.”

We were still friends. One was just a little wilder than we were used to.

...

Saturday, after we arrived at our destination, we were separated into two teams. Deke captained one side and Jackson the other. We gathered inside Joliet’s abandoned prison an hour southwest of our usual training facilities.

The USPRA announced that parts of the inside of that facility could be booked by Hunters in preparation for Indigo runs, but only by teams that had completed at least three runs of Indigo level two.

Outside of the aged correctional facility were four square miles of dead land for the public to train on, with an easily acquired permit. Apparently, every state had come up with abandoned, yet relatively safe buildings for the already suicidal Hunters to play in. The hunters in the Detroit area had the half-demolished Silverdome to play in. No one cared or even patrolled the area of Pontiac for years anyway. Most states set aside one location, while a few larger ones, like California and Texas, staged a second one.

Francis was given a patio chair, a Vogue and a mai tai. Kate had her homework and a card table.

“Protect the Princess from the other team.”

Francis flipped Deke off with both middle fingers and pulled out his phone to game on.

“You Healers, heal when you want (i.e. between rounds), and buff when you feel like it. Boys and girls, try and keep the blood to a minimum. Score conditions are snatching the flag beside the opposite princess and return it to the umbrella stand next to yours. Remember, the Princesses are wearing red jerseys. No touchie.

“Mages can only cast non attack spells. Let’s not to burn the world down, ladies.” It was Austin’s and Heather’s turn to flip Deke off.

“Try and not kill your friends, boys and girls.” Jackson added.

“What about those two?” Jude asked.

Ed and I had been excluded from the game.

“Edna is going to take Jason outside in the rain and beat some sense into him. Maybe even teach him how to share.” Deke, master of the game, declared.

“Better him than us.”

Ed mock-glared at the assembled teams and whipped her head away in false indignation. “Let’s go, you Bastard Hoarder.”

I followed Ed out. The teams looked pretty even. Hiring Deke and Jackson helped our development and teamwork immensely.

...

Twelve hours later, with only one real break at lunch, we called it a day. Both Ed and I were completely covered in cold mud. The rest of the team was mostly dry, but beaten, battered and bruised. Almost half of them were limping, including one of the instructors, who glared at an innocent-faced Caitlin.

“You’re not getting in my car unless you both agree to get hosed down.” We had met at UE, and ridden in the twenty-person minibus to the former state penitentiary.

Of course, we both ignored Heather, even if she was the boss.

“Listen up, you did well out there, for the most part. Remember that your teammates have your backs.” We were all too tired for a complete analysis, so Deke left that out until Monday. It would wait.

Heather spoke up, “Jason and Koz will be out of town next week.”

“Yay.” Tiredly chorused throughout the bus.

“Bastards.” I called out.

“Cait will do assignments. The fucking LA fiasco will launch on the fifteenth and I need to be in the office or at least available. No Blues beyond the first, no fours of any sort. Keep an eye on the wild woman.”

“We also have some trainees and hopefuls starting Monday. They are not to go diving with anyone until cleared. Is that understood?” Heather concluded. She too was overtired and needed to nap on the way back.

It was clear.

Their training was mostly going to be left up to Deke, Jackson, and Toff anyway. We needed to check their personalities as much as their abilities before teaming up with the unknowns.

...

Ed’s altered appearance went over like a lead balloon. In a family of solidly-built redheads, her new pitch-black hair, eyes, and nails (which no longer needed maintenance) stood out. That wasn’t to say her much slimmer figure did not too. The shock on Mrs. Peter’s face, when she saw her daughter, spoke volumes. Mr. Peters, who I still had not met, wasn’t due to arrive back in the states for two weeks.

Ginny almost cried, and she didn’t know why. Roger was pissed at the world. He had no idea who to blame other than his sister, and now wasn’t the time for that.

Lucy hadn’t been able to make it, classes at University of Kentucky had just started and she was swamped. And pregnant, making moving even slower.

Ed had planned on revealing her vampire status as the morning went on. She decided to withhold that until later, seeing her family’s first reactions. She did admit to being emotional and volatile.

They discovered her volatility easily. Edna had no intention of hiding it anyway. The massive increase in strength and agility were explained to an ever-frowning matriarch. For the most part her siblings were okay with the emotional instability and physical enhancements. Edna’s mother was not. She knew that her daughter was hiding more than she was telling.

Seeing their rock-like sister lean on me for support set them back. Ed’s sister thawed, and her mother too. Roger, not so much.

We departed two hours later from the restaurant and returned home.

Kate had complained the day before of not getting anything accomplished, and hid in my office with the door locked. And a DND sign on the door handle.

We got the hint.

...

“I don’t like you going to Washington. They are going to make you do something stupid.”

“I will not go deeper in any Gate than I currently have already. I promise.” I replied, thinking that Ed might be correct in the Pentagon wanting more from me than just a report.

“You’d better not.”

We made Kate come out and eat with us that night. I also made sure she wasn’t hiding on account of Ed. She wasn’t. She was just behind in her homework, due to practice and other shit that happened this last week.

My blonde concubine also made me promise to be careful.

...

My other blonde concubine (to be?) flew with me, business class and in her dress uniform, to Ronald Regan International Airport.

I used to not have a security clearance. I did now.

On my first time in D.C., I gawked.

I admitted it. Even when Natasha laughed at me in the taxi on the way to the Pentagon.

Holy fuck, that building is huge!

We presented our IDs at the guard post and about a hundred other guard posts along the way. We were even escorted and they still checked.

The meeting room we were escorted to was ‘guarded’ by five extremely fit Navy men between twenty-five and twenty-eight. If they were not a single Team of Hunters, I’d eat Lieutenant Kozlov’s hat. They were Seals most likely too.

I wasn’t lucky enough to get only three interrogators this time. Thirteen of the sixteen chairs were taken on our arrival. The chair at the foot of the table had my name on it and Koz was seated to my right in a place designated by her card.

My favorite Colonel Palm was five chairs down from my favorite General. Colonel Scarlet was three to the left of him. Two Generals/Admirals/whatever sat on each side of Charles Eastmont. The other chairs were taken up by Colonels in the various branches, and one sole Captain who looked as much out of place here as I did. He was also built like a strong safety, but in full navy dress uniform. Not that I knew which branch even if, I guessed Seal.

Seal. I guessed correctly when he was introduced. If I had to make a snap guess, he would be their strongest Hunter across all the branches, or close to it.

And at least one exceptional Skill, an intermediate one like mine.

“Welcome, Mr. Blakely. Thank you for joining us.” He didn’t say who ‘us’ was.

I noticed and he noticed me noticing.

He was better at this than I was. I needed to be more careful, I reminded myself.

“I hope your flight went well.”

“The flight was good, the peanuts a bit salty. But they were free.”

Not everyone liked my attempt at humor. A few kept straight faces.

“Colonel McGomery, would you care to swear our visitor in, please?”

“Jason Blakely do you swear to tell the truth and nothing other than the truth, so help you god?”

“Not unless the rest of you do.”

Instantly, twelve hands rose and swore the oath. One stood out. Mr. Special Forces.

“Captain Leclair?” General Eastmont prompted.

With some reservations, he too swore.

I followed.

I also noted that Koz was not asked to.

Curious...

“Thank you. Do you mind if we ask you some follow up questions from our meeting last time?”

“General, may I ask who the rest of the people here are?”

“Observers. Other than Captain Leclair, they have no authority in this meeting. You can say that they are here to see you in action, so to speak.”

Couldn’t be helped. “Ask your questions, General.”

Two hours later, we broke for lunch. The ‘observers’ asked the majority of the questions. All but three to be exact. The good Captain never spoke a word.

Thankfully, the atmosphere was formal and not aggressive or hostile in any way. I credited that on Colonel Palm staying quiet.

My aide, Lt. Kozlov, silently took notes during all of the meeting. On what, I hoped to find out later. Her silence during the inquisition was not unexpected. Her rank was too junior for this bunch.

At 1:45, one of the unnamed Admirals stood and thanked me for my time and cooperation. She and two of the other ‘observers’ shook my hand and departed. They weren’t exactly smiling, but definitely not unhappy with the way things went. That the rest didn’t offer to shake my hand was telling when they filed out the door.

That left Captain Cupcake, Koz, Colonel Scarlet and my least favorite Marine along with the host.

“Did you bring along the Key, Mr. Blakely?”

“I did.”

“Captain, place the Box on the table, if you would.”

Reluctantly, the man followed orders. It looked like one of those kids metal square lunch boxes from the seventies, painted Gold. Red plastic handle with metal connectors and all.

“Just to clarify. You chose one item, I choose two, you choose two, then one each until they are all removed. Is that correct?” General Eastmont asked.

“Yes, sir. I would like to make a proposal: if there is an odd number of Jokers than you can have the extra. No questions.”

“Thank you. You may open the box.”

“Don’t even think about placing anything in your inventory, Blakely. This room is monitored.”

“We are choosing blind? Sure. Same for your side, I take it?”

“It’s our box. We can do whatever we want.”

“This is not what we agreed to.”

“This is not a game, Blakely. This is a weapon. Either cooperate or spend some time in the brig until you do.”

“Is this your opinion or the official one, Captain Leclair?” I looked at General Eastmont when I asked that question.

“You have your orders.”

I saw what this was about. A pissing contest. I had seen plenty of those in my early and not so early football years.

“Captain Leclair, I challenge you to a duel. If you win, you get to look at the prizes before selecting. If I win no one does. Is that acceptable to all of you?” I only paid attention to General Eastmont. It was his show.

Natasha was tense. Very tense. I could feel that from three feet away while focusing on the good Captain on the other side of the table and not her.

She had been tense for a while...

A smug grin appeared on my opponent’s face.

“I agree.”

Colonel Scarlet gave the General a hard look, but said nothing. He was immobile. Same with the other Colonel. “Are you sure, sir?” She finally asked.

“Let the men play it out. I suggest the gymnasium on two. Colonel Scarlet, please bring along the item.”

“Yes, sir.”

Now I understood what the Team outside was for. A confrontation was planned ahead of time, with the good Captain relegated as the main instigator.