Chapter 4

The wide arch marked the top of the opening in the outer wall of the castle. From the outside, several large archways were visible – none close enough to the ground to allow physical entry, but with a good arm, an object could be thrown through some of the lower ones.

Security wasn’t an issue here, however. The castle had been built with regard to aesthetics, not fortification. The openings were mainly designed to allow both the Northern and the Southern crystal suns to light up the castle’s inner rooms. They were also convenient entry and exit points for the king and his queen, as well as any of the queen’s vampiric sisters and their winged offspring.

Alana sat in the uppermost chamber of the Western spire, her eyes closed in relaxed contemplation as she soaked in the warmth of the Southern sun. Her long, white linen robe fluttered in the gentle breeze, luxuriously brushing against her bare skin beneath and reinforcing the lazy, summertime feeling the queen sought to ease her troubled mind.

The Western spire was the queen’s refuge; where she could go and remain undisturbed. The chamber itself was more oval than square, and narrow enough so that the light streaming in from the two suns almost touched each other on the floor, exactly defining the chamber’s center division.

A rustling sound attracted Alana’s attention for a moment, and she quietly scanned upward to find a pair of nesting sparrows in the rafters high above. ‘I’m not the only winged creature to use these entranceways, ‘ she mused.

She sighed, then concentrated on the audience chamber in the central part of the palace and tried to block the psychic emanations being broadcast by those already arrived. Her sisters would be gathering there, and her presence would soon be required. Elaine and Lisa would be there, too, along with the monster-child whom Lisa had discovered.

‘How many were there now, six?’

These human mutations were difficult to find, as they exhibited no outward manifestations of psychic talent until they were mind linked to a goddess. Then, they could simply steal the psychic powers of their benefactors, often leaving the goddess depleted, helpless and sometimes unconscious. So far, the way to deal with these ‘children’ was to isolate them from anyone with psychic abilities. It was even worse if the goddess was also a Phoenix, but so far, there was only one of those.

According to Lisa, the child who had sought her out had almost fried someone on two separate occasions. These mutant human children didn’t seem to be able to access other humans, though, not even the enhanced humans in the various immortal, blooded families; only the half-alien hybrids could be mentally raped and their powers stolen. That was the main reason Alana held such fearful contempt of those deviously innocent, childlike ... creatures.

The nervous thoughts and images of those gathering below were too numerous and intense now to ignore. Forming a mental image of her royal throne in the audience chamber, Alana teleported.

The noisy din assaulted Alana’s ears as well as her mind as she materialized sitting regally, almost comfortably, on her throne. There was power in the room that drew her immediate attention. It was Tabatha – the last human Béla had added to her family group (and the most powerful member of the Tabor clan) – using a considerable amount of energy to shield the attending goddesses from the monster-child’s voracious mental questing. Being human, Tabatha was herself immune to darling ‘Jenny’ and her mental power drain. Alana immediately felt the monster-child’s touch against her mind as Jennifer took note of the queen’s instantaneous arrival. Within a single second, Alana felt Tabatha’s comforting, impenetrable time shield surround her, and the prickly, almost painful invasion of the monster-child disappeared.

The child, Jennifer, glared at Tabatha – actually baring her teeth at the luscious redhead like a wolf asserting its dominance.

‘She’s not like the others, ‘ Alana observed, speaking mentally to Tabatha, who (for the moment) was the only mind she could link with, as Tabatha was the one who was psychically shielding her. ‘She’s much more aggressive!’

‘The child has been abused – repeatedly raped and beaten by her father and brother, ‘ Tabatha thought back. ‘Where her love and sexuality should be, there is only blackness and hatred. When she can access power, she attacks any male who draws her attention. She tried to fry her own brother, and attacked a member of Jolene’s blooded family.’

‘That’s another issue we must address, ‘ the queen replied, radiating fresh anger. ‘Jolene has created a cult of cannibalistic flesh worshipers, and that was NOT the intention when the goddesses began to administer justice over the domains of New Eden!’

‘Your sister Elaine set herself up as a sex goddess, ‘ Tabatha chuckled, gritting her teeth in her efforts to hold ‘little Jenny’ at bay, as she was now kicking Tabatha in the shinbone. ‘Is there that much difference? They both get ‘eaten’ ... Ouch!’

Tabatha’s husband, Jake Hedron, finally noticing the problem his wife, Tabatha, was having, pulled the child away, intending to distract the girl from her mental pursuits. Jennifer immediately shrieked in mortal terror at the adult male’s firm but gentle touch, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

Now that the child was preoccupied with fighting off this ‘evil male’, Lisa took the opportunity, with the aid of the Praetor, to put the child to sleep. The sudden silence in the room was accompanied by a psychic sigh of relief from a dozen goddesses, including the queen.

“She doesn’t seem to have any mental defenses at all,” Elaine noticed, speaking out loud. “In fact, none of these mutant cases seem to react in a logical manner. Each is driven by some base, negative emotion that gives them the power to invade our very souls! I’ve been completely unable to mind link with any of them without being drained.”

“From what I understand,” Alana replied, “Lisa was able to control this particular girl – at least for a short time.”

“That doesn’t mean I can still do it,” Lisa confessed. “She took me by surprise, pretending to let me comfort her as she insinuated herself into my mind. It was very subtle...”

“I think that was her first contact with one of us,” Elaine interjected. “Jennifer perhaps didn’t realize what she was doing that first time.”

“She froze her brother with an electrical charge directly induced into his nervous system,” Lisa argued. “That takes some finesse...”

“She may have had some experience with electricity,” Dawn suggested as she stepped forward. “I’ve been right-finding her brother, and discovered one of the torments that he and her father used on the child was electrical shock. He thought it was ‘funny’ the way his sister jerked around and drooled when she was being fried. Both father and son have a limited ability to reason. In fact, low intelligence in the males of each mutant child’s family is a common factor they all share.”

“Could it be a problem with inbreeding?” Alana asked, curious about this new bit of information. “There are a limited number of humans here, after all.”

“It’s more a problem of excess radiation,” Jacob, Elaine’s lifemate, who had been silently listening until now, offered. “The Praetor informs me that a University medic just finished a physical analysis of all six children, and each emits about four times the amount of Gamma radiation than that of a ‘normal’ human.”

“What could cause that?” Alana asked, frowning.

“Sibilius is working on that very question,” Jacob replied. “Radiation can affect DNA, and Sibilius is the expert on genetic mutation – after all, he created the goddesses that ... I mean, who ... grace our existence.”

“It’s nice that you appreciate us,” Dawn smirked. “After all, if it weren’t for us, none of you would be here...”

“Alright, children,” Elaine interjected. “No bickering.”

‘If you want to fuck her, darling, ‘ Elaine spoke privately into her husband’s mind, ‘get it done with and out of your system. She’s only picking on you because of your broadcast desire. Even I can see the fantasies you try so hard to suppress!’

‘I need only you, ‘ Jacob thought back, angered that Elaine would suggest that he might need a lover other than her own gorgeous blond self.

He couldn’t deny, though, that whenever Dawn was around, he felt more aroused and interested – especially since she’d moved into Béla’s old quarters in the Goddess’ Manor. Dawn and Elaine often shared Elaine’s worshippers, and Dawn seemed to ‘accidentally’ run into Jacob after almost every worship service when she was covered with ejaculate and stinking of sex. Dawn seemed intent on taking advantage of the musician’s ambivalence regarding Elaine’s worship services and had even commented to Elaine that she’d like to seduce him. According to her, it would solve all his problems!

For a while, after Elaine and Jacob were bonded, Elaine tried to control her sexual urges and commit her dynamic sexuality to him alone. That worked for a while – at least while she birthed three children, who by now were long since grown and flown the nest, literally, to live their own lives. With Jacob working at University, Elaine found the goddess’ manor empty of the raucous noise and beautiful clamor of children. The loneliness that crashed in on her was as bad – no, worse – than it had been when Béla had abandoned her and returned to Earth. It wasn’t long after her last child flew before her audience chamber was once again filled with ardent worshipers.

Jacob knew, even before the worship services began again. Elaine kept no secrets from him, though it was difficult for her to share her feelings with him regarding this. She had kept to herself for seventeen years after her Choosing Ceremony, her only sexual outlet being her ‘chosen’, with the occasional (and eagerly anticipated) exceptions when her presence was required for a holiday celebration. This was a hedonistic society, after all, deliberately guided toward ‘Goddess Worship’ by Béla and her sisters, using the allure of their bodies and the healing magic of their blood to take control of the decimated remnants of the population after the plague. Part of the ‘plan’, given the fact that Béla had never actually reasoned it all out, was that the ‘new’ sexual freedom increased the chances that children would be born to unrelated parents. Too many people had been marrying their cousins.

But now, the sexual freedom, along with a problem arising from nearby Jupiter’s energetic radioactive fields, was creating a society where inbreeding was becoming more and more common. The real problem was that there simply weren’t enough people populating New Eden for a decent gene pool to be established, especially when sixty percent of the population had succumbed to the aforementioned wasting disease before the arrival of the goddesses. Even now, because too many who had known their familial history had died, men and women were getting married who didn’t know they were already related.

‘She’s your sister, for the goddess’ sake!’ Jacob thought into Elaine’s mind, intruding into her thoughts. ‘You want me to make love to her?’

‘Darling, you’ve been committed to me for over a century, ‘ Elaine thought, wrapping her arms over his shoulders. ‘Surely you must feel that I’ve stifled your creativity – at least once in all that time?’

‘My creativity is expressed in my music and my culinary expertise, as you well know, ‘ Jacob thought back, a somber look on his face. ‘And my love for you is all I need to feel complete!’

‘Still, ‘ Elaine smiled softly, ‘you long for more. Your love for me is so great that the touch of others has not diminished it. Do you believe my love for you is any less? Do you believe that taking Dawn to your bed would lessen you in my eyes? That it would lessen our ... that it would lessen ... us?’

‘She doesn’t love me, ‘ Jacob protested. ‘She only wants the sex!’

‘So this is then not a problem of commitment?’ Elaine mused. ‘Perhaps it is more a problem of ... let’s see ... performance?’

“Elaine!” Jacob protested aloud, shocked at her accusation.

“No, seriously!” Elaine insisted, then switched back to mental. ‘Are you worried that you may be compared to other men she’s had? After all, she’s had hundreds ... thousands, even!’

Jacob’s hesitation revealed his true concerns. He cast about frantically for a retort. “There aren’t a thousand men in her entire district!” he stated flatly.

“So, she’s had some more than once. So have I. Do you believe I compare you to any of them?”

“N-no,” Jacob stammered, then, “Yes. I ... I don’t know. Yes, I do know! You don’t!”

“And I never will,” Elaine promised, stretching up to caress his lips with hers. “And neither will she! We don’t think like that. For more than a century, we’ve tried to get people to stop thinking like that.”

Jacob, properly chastised, grinned sheepishly down at the incredible blonde he’d married. “And now you find this silly competitiveness right here in your own bedroom.”

‘Is that all that’s prevented you from reaching for Dawn?’ Elaine wanted to know.

‘Well, there is this idea... ‘ Jacob grinned, ‘Something about how my wife might feel about it... ‘

Elaine laughed out loud. His joke made her realize that he understood, now. She wasn’t threatened by Dawn. Even if he fell head over heels, Dawn wasn’t the threat that he’d feared she might be to Elaine. His happiness was what she cared about. Only something that threatened his health and happiness could affect how Elaine felt. He realized, for perhaps the hundredth time, that he felt the same way. That was why he allowed her to conduct those carnal worship services. Now that he knew she truly felt the same, the last of his doubts faded, the shadows finally vanishing in the light of this new truth.

‘You do love me, don’t you, ‘ Jacob thought into her mind as he embraced her tightly.

‘You know I do, ‘ Elaine thought back. ‘Now let go. Everyone’s watching!’

‘That never bothered you before, ‘ Jacob laughed into her mind as he released her to return to her duties. This was the queen’s court after all, and this time they were only guests here.

‘If you are quite finished, ‘ Alana thought at the pair of them. ‘We are trying to determine what to do with... ‘

“Look out! She’s getting away!” someone shouted.

Sure enough, little Jennifer was awake and making a bolt for the door. Several of the goddesses tried to place a mental stasis field around her, only to be rewarded with a reverse mind drain that left each of them staggering. Jennifer bolted for the door, then bounced back, stunned, stopped by Tabatha’s time shield blocking the exit.