Chapter 1

Key:

Bold italics: radio transmissions

Italic with single quotes ' ' : mind transmissions

Present

"All units, report, " I whispered softly over the radio. I mentally ticked them off as I heard them check in.

"Marine one, in position. Marine two, in position, sir. Long range sniper rifles ready, sir. Anyone leaving this building except us or the girl will not have a head, sir!"

I listened as Rhonda's voice checked in for John and herself. They would be near each other, on the roof of the adjacent building, covering the exits. Probably holding hands, if I knew them. I didn't worry there. If Rhonda and John said no heads, headless they would be.

"LOP in position, sir!"

"Little One in position, sir! Dynamite ready to go off, sir!" I heard Becky and Katie announce their status.

My heart skipped a beat with the dynamite remark, then I chuckled as I got it. Dynamite - small but mighty, explosive. Becky and Katie — small but mighty, ready to explode on command. Katie also probably put the dynamite remark in there to irritate the cops.

This was a high profile case, and everything we did would be monitored by the police. I hated the radios we were using instead of just talking in our minds, but the cops wanted to know everything, and I didn't want them to know our secrets. They were a little paranoid and a lot irritated. They had wanted to handle this case, but when the President of the United States called and expressed an interest in the case, and requested that a particular Security Firm handle it, you usually didn't argue. They liked it even less that he insisted on carte blanche for us for any means we wanted to use. Hence, Katie was pulling their chain. I laughed.

'Like that, Daddy?' Katie giggled in my mind. I sent a kiss her way and ignored her, getting back to the status reports.

"Robert Heinlein in position, sir!"

It took me a minute to figure that one out, although I obviously recognized Julie's voice. Then I got it, and laughed in my mind. Pretty Julie giggled her appreciation of my appreciation of her humor. Author that wrote science fiction stories that dealt also with father-daughter incest?

"Bewitched and the Cat in position, sir!"

I heard the giggle that even Sammi couldn't suppress with that one. Samantha? On Bewitched? The pretty, blond witch? Ok, Tarqa queen, witch, close enough. Pretty funny for a fourteen-year-old honest-to-goodness princess that was just made a few months ago.

'Love you too, Daddy!' Sammi sent back. Oh, and the Cat, of course, was Eric. Poor guy would probably always be remembered and teased about being 'the cat'. He didn't seem to mind, though.

"Green Goddess in position, sir!" Amy reported in. I heard Cindi snort good-naturedly.

'Are you dressing, dear?' I sent back through my mind. A chorus of 'Ewww', 'Yuck!' and 'Disgusting' filtered back. I didn't think it was that bad.

"Precious Metals in position, sir! L & L and H & K accounted for, sir."

Sarah and Jessica, of course. Gold and Silver. They were in charge of Lisa and Lori, the six year olds, and Heather and Kim, all four of which were my newest daughters. They were safely tucked away but nearby. None of the four had any experience in this stuff, so I wanted them out of the way, safe but close. At least Lisa had powers we could use in a pinch.

"Twisted Sister and the Green Beret in position, sir!"

Ah, Victoria and Robert. I didn't know anything about Twisted Sister except I thought they might be a rock or heavy metal singing group. I doubted that Victoria knew about them, either. I think she just liked the name. Green Beret, of course, was Robert. That in itself was a joke, either by Victoria on him, or on him by himself. Green Berets were Army. Robert was Marines, or was before he died. I'm not sure what he was now.

I mentally counted them off. Megan. She hadn't checked in. I sighed.

"Purple Orchid?" I called out softly. No answer.

'Megan?' I said softly through my mind. Still no answer.

'MEGAN!' I blasted out through my mind. I heard several of the girls groan with pain.

"Yes, sir. In position, sir," I heard the numb answer.

'Stay awake, dear, ' I told her gently. 'We need you, honey. You're the only one that can read this girl. Her life may depend on you staying alert.' I was worried about her.

"Yes, sir. Sorry sir," she said over the radio. Ah, so we were not going to mind talk today. I hated to think it, but I was afraid I was going to have to kick Megan's ass when we got home from this job. Figuratively, of course. Something was going to have to change. I sympathized greatly with the poor woman, but this had gone on long enough. It had been a month since the confrontation with Bandor. I didn't expect everything to be roses, but I expected something to change for the better. She was getting worse. I was worried; really worried.

"Stay awake, children," I said. "This girl's life depends on us."

'It's not the children that are falling asleep, ' Julie grumbled in my mind. I had to fix the problem with Megan, if for no other reason than to save her relationship with her daughter. Julie was getting increasingly irritated at her Mom.

'Cool it, Julie, ' I sent quietly.

'Sorry, Daddy.'

As I said, it had been one month since B-day. I thought about it as I watched and waited for something to happen.

One month ago

It's a bizarre feeling, to have someone hunting you for years, ready to kill you on a moments notice, having tried many times, and then suddenly, he was gone, dead, extinguished. Don't get me wrong; it was nice, but your life changes dramatically. Suddenly, we had nothing to do. We filled up the time doing nice things. Most of us did, anyway.

Amy and I got 'engaged'. Her Mom, Elizabeth, had left her engagement and wedding rings for Amy when she died and had practically commanded me to make her little girl happy that way. Not that I needed much persuasion. Megan and Cindi had agreed. Amy and I, along with Cindi, had a wonderful night together on the night we 'got engaged'. Amy never did anything without Cindi, even then. Amy finally found out what we all kind of suspected; Cindi loved her a whole lot more than Amy ever thought. They worked it out and in the process I found out that Amy could do interesting mind things we never suspected. I also found out some interesting things about how our minds worked.

Everyone settled down. Well, almost everyone. Victoria started working on getting to know Robert again. She was walking on cloud nine, a permanent smile on her face.

After the first day John was happy too, although nervous. Both Robert and Victoria made it clear to him that they expected him to remain as close to Victoria as he had been. Victoria and John had grown very close, and Robert was grateful to him for taking care of her. I figured I wouldn't be seeing much sexually of my sister anymore; she had two guys now. I would find out later just how wrong I was. About being with my sister, I mean. But right now, I was sad in a way. It was pretty clear to me that things were going down the tubes with Megan, and now I figured Victoria was out of the picture also. I would consider myself fortunate if Megan and I remained friends, the way things were going. Now I knew how Victoria felt when she was reluctant to run to me when she had lost Robert. She was afraid she would be interfering between Megan and me. I felt the same way now. I longed for closeness with my sister, but I knew she had a lot to catch up on. I tried to avoid talking about it with her, because I knew she would drop everything and come running if she knew I was hurting.

My anger boiled over every time I thought of Megan and what Bandor had done to her over the years. She didn't deserve any of this. The poor woman was just torn apart. I really worried about her. I hoped Elizabeth always was right, as I didn't have any hope for Megan outside of Elizabeth's predictions.

Katie and Becky were as close as ever, but I saw more of them apart now. Becky had a habit of disappearing periodically. I knew that Katie knew where she was, but she wouldn't say anything. Katie didn't seem to mind, but I noticed her looking wistful a few times. Poor Katie. She was all female, sexy, pretty, and sweet as hell, and she had no one to share it with. I spent time with her as much as possible, and Amy even arranged that I would have time free for her, but Katie was lonely and terminally horny. I tried, but I couldn't even come close to satisfying her that way. It didn't help that we were pretty sure Becky was with my Dad some of that time. They weren't playing dominoes, and Katie knew it.

Sammi and Eric were doing what teenagers always did; falling in love. They were so cute together! Eric was a nice, well-behaved, good-looking kid. It didn't hurt that he was essentially a 37 year old in his mind. That didn't keep him from acting as if he was fourteen most of the time, however. They spent their time holding hands, kissing, and just generally being teenagers. I was pretty sure they had not done 'the deed' yet. Eric was painfully shy about that, having zero experience. Sammi had no desire to break in a virgin, and was trying to talk Amy into taking care of that little chore for her. Amy was the only one Sammi trusted not to steal him away from her. Amy was willing, kinda, as he made her wet just looking at her, but she worried about me. She loved me, not Eric, and didn't want to mess that up. She just wanted to fuck Eric's brains out and then just walk away. The only person that seemed to have a problem with that was Amy.

Amy and Cindi continued to work on their new, deeper relationship. They were as close as they could be without being one person. I wasn't sure they weren't one person, after that energy exchange I witnessed. All the other girls seemed really interested until they found out that Amy and Cindi really weren't having sex together, and then they kind of lost interest. That one night with them could easily fuel any fantasies I had for many years to come, however.

If we thought Amy and Cindi were close, Jessica and Sarah were like shadows of each other. They were such a delight and a joy to be around. Poor Sarah had been away from her twin for so long, and loved her so much, she literally refused to be out of her sight. Sometimes they even sat on the other's lap when they ate breakfast. We were getting more bedrooms everyday, as Sarah and Jessica slept together and Amy and Cindi slept together. Becky and Katie had always slept together, and if Becky wasn't off on one of her mysterious jaunts, they still did. I guess if I were female, Megan would have slept with me too; she didn't seem to be shy about sleeping with Victoria.

Lisa and Lori were just as cute as little bugs also. I still thought of Lisa as a six year old, although she obviously wasn't. It was odd; they were identical twins but they were very different personality wise. Lori was very quiet, shy, and almost invisible. Lisa was a firecracker. We loved them both.

Present

"Marine one to Shamrock!" I heard through the radio. Shamrock? Oh, yeah, that was me. Patrick? Irish? Lucky? Four leaf clover? Don't talk to me; I didn't make up these call signs.

"Go ahead," I answered.

"There is movement towards the building, sir. Six armed types just pulled up and are headed in. Any instructions?"

I knew what instructions Rhonda wanted; the same ones all of us wanted on this job. Kill the bastards. It was bad enough when they picked on children, but when it was someone you knew... well, we had not expected this to go down without a fight.

"Hold on..."

"Shamrock to Purple Orchid, are you seeing anything?" Holy cow, Megan answered for once.

"Nothing definite, sir. The hostage is quiet. The target is taking a nap. There is something weird going on, but I'm not sure..." Megan said uncertainly. I sure was not used to a hesitant, uncertain Megan.

"Like what?" I almost said honey, but I knew that irritated her these days and I needed her right now. I would irritate her later, when we were done with this job. If we ever got done.

'I'm not sure, sir. Strange readings in her mind. Not natural. Almost as if there were more than one there. Or if someone else has been there before. Don't know.'

Ok, that was all I was going to get out of Megan right now. When she started talking in abrupt, short sentences, it was time to leave her alone. At least she remembered not to send comments about mind reading and the like by radio.

"Shamrock out." What was I going to DO with her?

"Marine one, no activity out of the ordinary. Continue just observing."

"Aye, aye, sir, you're the boss," Rhonda replied. I could hear the disappointment in her voice.

Things settled down and I went back to thinking.

Three weeks ago

As I said, at first things were better than I had a right to expect. The girls were remarkably resilient. Hours after almost having the powers sucked out of them and dying horrible deaths, they were laughing and joking. That was the girls. Megan was another story.

Megan got worse each day. I tried to talk to her a couple of times, without much success. She was just devastated at what she had done. I tried to explain, but she wasn't listening. I couldn't tell her why Bandor was able to control her so easily; there was no way she could handle the fact that she had died a horrible death and that her best friend had sacrificed everything to bring her back. That would send her over the edge for sure.

Finally, she came into my bedroom one night and called the whole relationship off, giving me my ring back. I wasn't that surprised, as I figured it was coming. I was a little upset about the ring, though; it made it so permanent. She actually seemed more relaxed and comfortable after that; I guess it was the relief of finally making a decision. She actually was a little more friendly to me, but it was still hard. I have never believed in the concept of being friends after being lovers. I liked Megan a lot and hoped, in principle, that I would always be her friend, but damn it, I didn't want to be just her friend right now! Unfortunately, the small peace we got from Megan settling down was more than eaten up by the problem with Julie.

Had I been thinking, I would have closed the door when Megan came in to break up with me that night. I knew Julie prowled around all the time, doing her job collecting information as the author. I knew she took her job seriously and never slacked off. I also knew it was about time for her to come to me for our short nightly meeting about the book. It never occurred to me that she would hear what Megan and I talked about.

Julie is such a sweetheart. The wellbeing of others is always her first concern. She found me in the dining room, and proceeded to make sure I was ok. I could tell she had been crying. I was shocked at how forcefully she came on to me. I had known for a long time how Julie felt about me; to be honest, I thought the world of her too. I couldn't marry everybody, though. (Could I?).

Julie had her priorities straight. First, she made sure her Daddy that she loved above everyone else was ok, and was feeling properly loved. She just about killed me that night. By the time she was done showing me she loved me, I could hardly move. Once she was sure I was feeling better and wasn't going to do something stupid, she exploded.

In a rage that I have seldom seen the likes of, she told me in graphic terms just exactly what she thought of her Mother for this latest boneheaded play. I was stunned. I couldn't ever remember Julie raising her voice in anger before, especially about her Mother. Julie loved Megan. I guess it was because Megan was harming the only person she loved as much or more than her Mother.

I calmed her down and we just cuddled and played for awhile. In a moment of excitement, she repeated what she had said before, that she would love to marry me if her 'idiot Mom' (her words, not mine) wasn't interested. I was surprised she was that bold, but it was a night of boldness from pretty Julie. I was a little surprised at the twinge of excitement I felt at her offer, and wondered how I could let her down easily. The idea was appealing, but I would like to marry all my girls. Amy was an unusual case. As usual, I didn't have to say what I thought. Julie hugged me tight and kissed me, her eyes bright with happiness.

"It's ok. I know it could never happen. I understand. It's enough that I know you love me and you like the idea! I'll be happy with a night like this occasionally. Scribes shouldn't marry anyway; it ruins their objectivity, messes up their jobs, and ruins their private lives as they try to compensate and they feel guilty for neglecting their jobs. Look at Mom. Just hold me and love me tonight and I'll be happy."

I did. She was. Such a sweet girl.

Unfortunately, her sweetness didn't extend to her mother, more and more each day. Julie decided to show her mother how stupid she was being, and what she was missing out on, I guess. She started taking every opportunity she could to show me affection. She would kiss me when she came in to breakfast, sit on my lap and feed me if I wasn't otherwise occupied with someone else, and just generally do her best to make me feel loved and wanted. She was always very careful not to interfere with the other girls if they were paying attention to me, and she always looked at Megan first if she was there, like she was giving her first chance. If she was trying to make Megan jealous, it didn't work. Jealousy, as far as I could see, only existed in males in our race... that is, only in me! Eric was too young and inexperienced to know if he suffered from it too. But I did see Megan look pensive a few times, and once she left the room misty-eyed. Most of the time she looked like she was glad I was getting attention. Not that Amy and the other girls were ignoring me.

I knew what Julie was doing, both trying to shake her Mom out of her tree and also sincerely enjoying spending time with me, and I did enjoy the attention from her, but at first it made me a little uncomfortable. It seemed like she was rubbing it in Megan's face. I finally decided that was not the case. I couldn't see sweet Julie doing that to anyone, and Megan certainly wasn't taking it that way. Julie just seemed to have become more... gutsy?... since that night we spent together, and I think she just realized that how much time she spent with me was largely up to her. She decided she wanted more. I was fine with that; she reminded me a lot of Megan, and filled a void at the time. It wasn't only that, though; I loved Julie. A lot. <God, I love being the author of this book; I get to put things like that in! Sigh. Shiver.> J.

The other girls didn't mind at all. No jealousy, remember? They thought it was cute. They quickly realized it was not upsetting Megan and played along. Amy would sometimes get off my lap and give her space to Julie. The smile Julie gave her when she did that was worth it. I think Amy was truly appreciative of Julie taking care of me that night. Amy knew I needed some attention, and she just wasn't comfortable with sleeping with me the same night Megan broke up with me. Julie didn't have a problem with that, as she had already made it clear that if Megan ever didn't want me, she considered me fair game for herself.

Julie was showing signs of getting more and more upset with her Mother, however. With her new-found... aggressiveness... well, aggressiveness for Julie, she wasn't being reticent in showing her displeasure. I understood what was going through her mind. Julie would have laid down her life and everything in it in a moment without a second thought, or even a first thought, for even a slight chance at spending her life with me, married or not. She just couldn't understand someone having that opportunity and not only passing it up, but actively throwing it away.

I was a little confused by it also. I did manage to corner Megan a few days later and verify that this wasn't just her being upset about Amy being in the picture now. She seemed horrified that anyone would even consider that and assured me that had nothing to do with her decision, that she was delighted Amy was there. Megan is a lousy liar; I could tell she was telling the truth.

I spent quite a lot of time after B-day (Bandor day) with my Dad. I had always respected him. Maybe not always liked him, but always respected him. Now that I knew who he really was, I respected him even more. I guess I was also a little intimidated at first. The first time after B-day I went over there, Amy and Becky asked if they could go too. I watched Amy horse around with him and the two of them tease each other mercilessly. Then I watched Becky flirt shamelessly with him. I wondered if he saw in her eyes what I saw. This wasn't just a Tarqa Defender job to her. Becky had spent almost her entire life studying and learning the Ancient Prophecy, falling in love with it. It was her husband. Now, to find out it was a living, breathing male, good looking at that, and an older male (that was important to her!)... Well, poor Becky never had a chance. She was madly in love with my Dad.