Chapter 6

Lisa's Necrotwins were together again after having separated several years earlier to pursue various interests of their own. The raucous, cheerful group consisted of three sets of identical sisters, recruited dozens of years earlier (back on Earth) because of their budding psychic abilities. This was Lisa's 'family' – the ones she'd chosen to make immortal, and, as such, they were the only humans who carried Lisa's blood in their veins. (Actually, there were two others, also females, also twins, but they lived in New Eden now, still sharing a husband, and uninterested in Lisa's fiery career choice for the others of her blooded family.

Here, again back on Earth, but in the prehistoric existence of Frank and Tanya's Jurassic Lodge, they sat (dressed for a change) at one of the long dining tables, eagerly tearing into their food like ill-mannered children while yammering away, happily content to be together once again.

"So where did you two go?" Haley asked, grinning through a mouthful of partially chewed (tastes like chicken), directing her question at Tia, the most advanced of all the twins in their Phoenix training.

"We've been back on Earth," Tia replied, her mouth equally full of something dark and green.

"Well, from here it's forward," Tara piped in, " 'cause we're farther back, now..."

"Learning about human life in the 22nd Century," Tia continued, ignoring her twin's impolite outburst.

"Yeah!" Tara added, grinning impishly, "We been collecting souls!"

"What?" Holly asked, her attention drawn from her own conversation with Murielle and Miranda about life at the 'royal court' with Béla, who was now Queen Alana and her consort, Sibilius, who had once been the 'father' – the creator – of all the hybrids, who were known in New Eden as 'goddesses'.

"Collecting souls," Miranda told her twin, sending an image of the 'grim reaper', complete with scythe, whacking off people's heads and putting them in a bag.

All the girls laughed at the ridiculous image, then Tia added, "No – not like that!"

"We find girls who are about to die," Tara continued her sister's sentence.

"And then we 'guide' them..." from Tia.

"Take them with us to New Eden!" from Tara.

"After they've died!" both twins announced, then smiled at each other, pleased with the shocked effect that explaining their new project had on their blood sisters.

"Wow! You are the living embodiment of the original Necrotwins, then!" Murielle announced, her mouth open in astonishment.

"We are the original Necrotwins!" Tia insisted haughtily. "You guys came along later."

"But we all had a death wish, as I recall," Haley replied.

"Lisa required it before she would perform the blood ritual that made each of us immortal," Holly added.

"Where is Lisa, anyway?" Tia asked, noticing their 'den mother' was missing from the festivities.

"Um," Miranda began.

"She and her mom," Murielle added.

"The Queen, she means."

"They had a bit of a falling out..."

"When Lisa tried to cook Macario."

"She was trying to get him to accept her Phoenix Fire!" Murielle fumed, directing her ire toward her twin.

"You don't teach someone how to 'flame' by making him a crispy critter!" Miranda shot back.

"If I recall, she stuck a spear in Tia's back!" Murielle argued back. "That seemed to work quite well!"

"Actually that was me," Tara murmured, almost embarrassed to find it necessary to correct her.

"What?" Murielle asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"I was the one who stuck Tia with the spear," Tara confessed. "And as I recall, you two couldn't behave that violently toward each other, which is why you dropped your training."

"That's because I love Mury too much to hurt her like that!" Miranda growled.

"Well," Tara shrugged, "I love Tia so much that I couldn't permit her to fail. Even if I had to kill her."

"You did kill her!" Murielle argued. "How can you call that love?"

"It triggered her Phoenix powers!" Tara cried defensively. "It was the only way!"

"Hey!" a new voice called out, angry and authoritative. "You kids gonna fight – take it outside! We have guests!"

"Sorry, Tanya, we just got carried..."

"Murielle, are you seriously picking a quarrel with Tara?" Tanya interrupted, surprised now that she could see who was quarreling. "You know that if it comes to a showdown, she can turn you into carbon powder, don't you?"

"And I'll just flare it back up in her face!" Murielle snarled, still angry, but willing to back down if Tara was also willing.

Tanya was right. Out of all the girls Lisa had chosen, Murielle and her sister, Miranda, had the weakest Phoenix abilities. Tia and Tara had evolved to the degree that they no longer needed a physical form to survive, and required bodies mostly for social interaction with their friends.

"It's alright," Alana chimed in from the other dining table. "Leave them be – they haven't seen each other for ages. I'm sure they can work out any disagreements that occur."

"Hrumph!" Tanya muttered, but she returned to her seat and the conversation that had been interrupted by the boisterous chatter from the 'kid's table'.

"You were telling us why Lisa didn't join us," Frank mentioned, trying to get Tanya's attention back on topic.

"And Tabatha," Tanya added, disappointed that her reincarnated baby daughter hadn't come with the royal party.

"Yes, well..." Alana sighed, "Tabatha is, um, guarding – I mean, taking care of – babysitting. There is a mutant strain of humans, mostly young girls, who can access the mind power of a goddess, when one happens to be nearby. Nobody knows how the mutation was introduced into human DNA, but these kids were all sexually molested when they were younger, and they only seem interested in using our powers to retaliate against any nearby male."

"The ultimate in Women's Lib," Macario grinned, then reached for another biscuit.

"And speaking of the 'great liberator'," Frank said, grinning at Macario, "Where is Lisa?"

"She's ... um..." Mac began, hesitating and trying to choose the right words. "We're not, uh ... together. Anymore."

"I asked her to leave New Eden," Alana added, her soft voice sounding sad and tired. "Not permanently, but ... just until ... things," she sighed, then continued, "some things need to be sorted out, and Lisa was preventing us from..."

"Lisa was protecting a cult of flesh-eating cannibals," Sibilius informed them, not wanting to watch his queen stammer through the words that condemned her first daughter to exile. "In addition, she refused to submit herself for judgment to the Praetor even with the Seeker offering to supervise her interrogation."

"I can understand that..." Alana murmured, remembering her own torturous murder 'trial' where she'd submitted daily to the cruel invasion of the Praetor's questing mental probes.

"Child," Sibilius said, interrupting himself to address his lifemate, "We didn't have the 'right-finding' techniques that you developed..."

"I didn't develop them!" Alana flared. "They were part of the 'old' civilization. The Praetor is the one who taught me how to do it! Yet the Praetor insists on using its own cruel, mechanical methods. I'd rather see Lisa lobotomized than watch her go through what I had to endure!"

"Lannie!" Sibilius admonished, trying to quiet her down by using her childhood name. "Now listen, my love – it takes a powerful psychic to use the techniques that you – and most everyone believes that it was you, the Goddess of the Land, whether that's true or not – developed. The Praetor was willing for Elaine to monitor Lisa's process because Elaine could ... help ... her, like she helped you."

"If I recall," Mac interrupted softly, "Lisa refused to let you 'right-find' her, and that's why the Praetor insisted on taking over her case."

"What did she do that was so terrible?" Tanya asked, fascinated by the things she was hearing. "I remember the last time she and Mac visited. Mac and Frank had me sandwiched between them and Lisa stuck a pike through all three of us!"

"Yeah," Mac laughed. "She stuck us together and shoved her head down between me and Tanya, and Tanya came so hard she caught fire!"

"I remember that," Frank mused. "But being underneath my favorite blond haystack, I missed most of the action – except for the part when that spear came out of Tanya's belly and into mine."

"Yes," Tanya hissed, a sated look on her face as she squirmed in her chair, "and you squeezed my tits so hard I thought they were gonna pop – and then you started to c..."

"Alright, I get the picture," Alana interrupted. "You all adore Lisa. Well, I love her, too. And that's why I suggested that she leave us for a while. For her own protection."

"Why didn't you go with her, Mac?" Tanya asked.

"Well, a couple of months ago," Macario replied as his sappy, sexy grin vanished and his face became more serious, "Lisa got a little frustrated, and tried to..." He sighed, not really understanding what had happened.

"She burned him," Haley, who had come up behind Macario, continued. "She tried to force Phoenix fire on him, and ... it went badly." Haley bent down and draped her arms around him from behind to press her lips gently against his left ear. 'My darling Macario... '