Chapter 5: Heather Hears a Who

Phoenix: Tuesday Midnight

The clock was telling me it was 1:11 when my phone rang. Caller ID said it was Brandy Ravenscroft. I answered, sleepy and curious.

Before I could even say hello, she blurted out: "Hi, Eric. Did I wake you?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, I ventured. "Brandy, why did you call?"

"Oh! Right." She giggled. "I just wanted to let you know I haven't had a smoke in two days! I haven't even felt the urges."

I racked my brain trying to remember what I'd told her. "Congratulations, bimbo." She giggled again, and moaned.

"Thank you!" She sighed, sounding content. "You're always so nice to me."

"Is that all you wanted to say?"

She sounded nervous. "Um, yeah?"

"Okay. Good night."

"Wait!"

"Yes? Was there anything else?"

"Ummmmmmm." She was almost hyperventilating. "I guess not."

"Okay. I'm going to go back to sleep. Sweet dreams, Brandy."

"Um, yeah. You too?"

That was weird

Phoenix: Wednesday Dawn

The sun was barely peeking through my balcony doors when the phone rang again. It was Jordan. I figured she wouldn't call this early unless it was urgent.

"You slept with Brandy?!" That was urgent?

"Um, yeah? Is that a problem?"

"You used to babysit her! She was almost our SISTER!"

"Step-sister. Besides, Dad and Cindy broke up fifteen years ago."

"Whatever. You know what I mean."

"No, not really."

"Argh! You're so clueless!" I could almost hear her eyes rolling in their sockets. "You better hope Sheldon doesn't find out."

"Oh, come on, Jordan. Yeah, he put Jay in the emergency room, but that was back in high school."

"The precinct put him on probation last month for excessive violence." Her voice caught. "Just be careful, campione."

"Fine, sis."

"This isn't over, Eric."

"Yeah, yeah."

Phoenix: Wednesday Morning

There were two manila folders sitting on the table in the nook, Heather perusing them. I went to get some coffee. "What's that?"

"Some files." Heather shrugged. "They were delivered this morning."

I caught the label of one of the folders out of the corner of my eye as I was sitting down. "Is that a file on Erin? Geez, do you have a file on everyone? Or is just people in my life?"

She snorted. "No, we only have files on numina, except for the family trees, which include the changelings."

"Changelings?"

"People with half the genes needed for power."

"Wait a minute. Erin's a numen?" I started laughing. "Oh man, that's classic."

"Okay, Andy." Heather glared at me. "Why's that so funny? I can't read your mind, you know."

"That's just the point, Kiki!" I caught my breath, calming myself down. "You can't read my mind, I can't control your thoughts. Because we're numina, right?"

"Right?"

"Erin's hearts desire is to be controlled. She can't quite bring herself to submit, and she's gotten obsessed with the idea of being reprogrammed."

"Oh my!" Heather started laughing, then. "She's why you started looking into hypnosis?" At my nod, she added, "That started making them nervous."

"Enough about Erin," I said. "Who's in the other file? - Demetrius?'"

She nodded. "Apparently his name is Jorge. Jorge Rocco." She handed me the file.

"He looks familiar." I flipped through it. "Shit. He went to Horizon?" Unlike me, most of the kids in my neighborhood went to Horizon, the local public high school. Even Jordan went there. "I wonder if I knew him." I stared at the file a little longer. "Oh, he played football. That's probably why." Brandy and Jordan were both Horizon cheerleaders (go Huskies). "Wait, he didn't graduate? He dropped out, then got his GED?" A light bulb went off in my head. "Jorge Rocco? This is J-Rock!"

Heather just looked at me. "Who's J-Rock?"

"Jock who dated Brandy for a while. Her brother beat him up after finding out that they'd slept together. Put him in the hospital. Last I heard, he walks with a cane." I flipped through the pages. "Looks like he still does. Neurological damage. Waitaminute, we have the same doctor?"

Heather laughed. "Dr. Parry is the best in her field. You can imagine how neurological issues can be complicated with numina." I nodded, pointing at my skull. "They pull strings to make sure everyone gets good care."

"Big Brother is watching?"

"Sort of. But she's supposed to be off-limits. That's one more thing you're going to have to answer for."

"What?! You've got to be kidding me. It's not like I took her on purpose. I haven't taken anyone on purpose."

"Remember, the easiest way to neutralize a brand is to kill the brander." She sighed. "If you want to avoid that, you've got to prove you can be responsible."

"I remember." I looked down at the file in my hand. "I can't think about anything else."

"You might have to let go of that anger, Andy." She got up and refilled her coffee cup. "This is a society of mind controllers. Sometimes, you've got to accept that there are people you want that someone else has." Taking a sip, she added, "You're both Hexer."

"Hexer?"

"A numen that's discovered their abilities, but is still limited, and also unrecognized. Halfway between a Schläfer and a Zauberer."

"That sounds like German. What happened to the Latin?"

Heather laughed. "Did I mention Germany dominates the Society?"

"You did." I laughed, taking another sip of my coffee. "So what does it mean that we're both Hexer?"

"You don't have any of the rights and protections that comes with being Zauberei. That's why you need to prove yourself at the Tribunal."

"So, wait. If I don't have any of the protections, then neither does Demetrius?"

"Right. You two are still bounded by the law."

"Why don't they call a tribunal on him?"

"He hasn't done anything worth noting."

My fist clenched. "He took my sister."

"Who has no protected status." She sighed. "Unlike Dr. Parry."

"Right. So, why didn't he take Dr. Parry?"

"Did you read the file, Andy? He's limited. Thinks the power is through hypnosis, not himself. He's tried to coax Parry to one of his shows, but we've always made sure she's been ... distracted by other plans." At my look, she added, "It's for her protection!"

"Uh-huh." I rolled my eyes. "I take it, since he's still classified a Hexen, he's been considered and rejected for the Society?"

"Yep, like you." She shuddered. "He's a more marginal case. You almost were invited; he never would have been. Guy's a real misogynist, almost a misanthropist. Nothing like you."

"Why doesn't the Society do something about him?"

"The Society is really laissez-faire." She shrugged. "I don't like it, but they don't care very much what he does as long as he stays out of their way, and they can keep track of his kids."

"Okay, so if I can't kill him - for now - what other methods can I use to get his brand off Jordan's mind?"

"There's always the brute force approach. It's ... not pleasant. It's easier if you can get her cooperation, but that's tough when there's a brand involved. And, um..." She looked at me. "Nevermind."

"What?"

"You're not going to like it, Eric."

"Heather, spill it."

"There's no easy way to say this." I glared at her, she gave me a dirty look. "Fine! Sex is the best way to replace a brand. Or even to establish one. Happy?"

I started to feel sick. "So ... to save Jordan, I should have sex with her?"

"More or less. At least, it makes it easier." She finished her coffee. "I'd do it soon, before she sees him again. She's rather unstable."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone," she gave me a pointed look, "tore through the brand she has. It's full of holes. A branded brain can't handle not having one - and right now she has two half-brands struggling over her head."

I winced. "That's not good."

"No, it's not. But if she gets to him before you fix her, he'll rebrand her, and it'll be harder to clean her up."

"I need some time to think about this." I sucked down the rest of my coffee and stalked out of the room.

Phoenix: Wednesday Midday

Since I don't drive, I have an entire three-car garage of extra space. I've turned the first two into a studio, where I can make my sculptures. The third garage houses my motorcycle. Renters park in the driveway, which is sometimes a point of contention in the Arizona summers. But since the house is entirely paid off, I can charge a more than fair price, so I've had no trouble keeping tenants.

My studio is a telephone-free zone. Anyone who knows me knows better than to interrupt me while I'm working. So I popped my earbuds in, foregoing my usual eclectic mix of music in favor of the Ilyskn language "tutorial" supplied by Elise and her ILYSKN compatriots.

As I started working, I ran through the situation in my head. It looked like I had two options: kill - Demetrius' or fuck Jordan. Each turned my stomach, but had their certain appeals.

Killing the bastard would sate the white hot rage that was possessing me. But, despite my newfound nifty powers, I doubted I could successfully dispose of a body or dodge a police investigation. At least not solo, and the ILYSKN people weren't going to back me, at least not until I joined them. And it would be months before they even assembled the Tribunal that would decide on my fate. Heather gave me the impression that going rogue probably wouldn't reflect kindkly on me. So, that notion had to be discarded.

Apparently, I was going to have to fuck my sister, and I had a little more than a week to do it. On the bright side, she was as hot as a supernova, and recent events had stripped my ability to ignore it. Speaking of those recent events, she was at least a willing participant for the sex (for some varied definitions of willing, at least). I just needed to talk to Heather to figure out what, besides the sex, I had to do to make sure she was mine.

I looked up at the clock - all that thinking had apparently taken me quite a few hours; it was almost 8, the sun was just setting. Of course, I'd interspersed all that thinking with work. I took a glance at my final creation - and was happy. Later, it sold for quite a lot of money - to someone in the Society, and I don't think it was politeness. But I digress, I pulled the earbuds from my ears and decided to emerge from my cave and see what'd been happening since my aborted attempt at breakfast.

Phoenix: Wednesday Evening

I found Heather poolside in the backyard, watching the sunset.

She looked up at me, over her coffee. "So Socrates finally returns from his cave."

I chuckled at that long-dead in-joke. "Plato."

Heather rolled her eyes. "You need to eat."

"No food. Just party leftovers."

"Look again, Andy." At my look, she added. "When it was clear you were going to ignore me, again, I decided to go shopping." I'd have thought she was angry if she weren't smiling, and her eyes weren't laughing. "Can I see what you made?"

"Sure," I said, waving her off to the garage, walking into the kitchen. She'd bought everything, so I opened up a few hamburger patties and walked out to fire up my outdoor grill. It'd gotten some use at my birthday party, but Dad had insisted on cooking. Now, it was my turn.

Heather came back, looking breathless. "That piece is amazing, Eric! What are you going to call it?"

I gave her a dirty look; she knew I hated naming any of my work until I had to. "I don't know, Kiki." An idea passed through my head, but it wasn't something I could verbalize. I didn't know it yet, but it was a word from the language, Ilyskn, which had mostly etched itself into my head. After mulling around several possible translations - some allegorical - I settled on, "Hesitation Marks."

She frowned. "I guess I can see that."

"Still like your hamburgers rare?"

She made a face. "Medium, please. The older I get, the less I like the pink."

"But you always looked so wonderful in it." She stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed. "I've made a decision."

"I thought you might have." She cocked her head in thought. "Jordan?"

"I think I have to. But, apart from the sexing, how do I make sure I've got her branded?"

"Remember how I told you men almost always brand on their first time?" I nodded. "Eric, you already approach every woman like it was your first time." She got a tender, dreamy look in her eyes. "Even when you took me, roughly, on the washing machine the other night, you were still doing it." She walked up to me and put her hand on my arm. "Just trust your instincts."

I couldn't help it, tears were starting in my eyes. "How long are you here for?"

"Just until Friday." She made a face. "Norm's waiting."

I smiled at her. "Well, we should make the most with the time we have left."

She smiled back. "Does that mean I won't need the guest room anymore?" Her eyes twinkled.

We hurried through dinner, because we knew what waited after.

We started in the pool, then eventually moved upstairs to my room. Sometimes there are experiences so intimate and so intense that to describe them would be an insult to the experience, and a waste of words. Suffice it to say, two souls that had loved each other came together again to slake a thirst that had been growing for a decade. Even though we were more or less blind to each other's heads, we communicated on a level too deep for words. I don't know when we wore each other out and fell asleep, but I know it was around midnight, as it was shortly after that when when the phone rang.

Phoenix: Thursday Midnight

It was Brandy. Again.

"Hello, Brandy."

"Hi, Eric! Did I wake you?"

Heather started to stir beside me. I started stroking her skin. "Yeah, you kinda did. What's up?"