Chapter 6 Calm before the storm

I had caught the murderer of my Grandfather and her son. However, I was still not happy. I realized I was not a killer, even though I wanted them dead. It was an oddly mixed feeling; how do you end someone without putting him or her in the ground. Then I had to admit to myself that yes, technically, I would be putting her in the ground. She just wouldn’t be dead when I did it!

I wouldn’t be killing her. Though she just might wish I had.

I pondered the question, of just what to do with her, Oh, I would carry out my plan to make her life a living hell; but what, after that? I was sure the answer would be forthcoming in my mind. As Grandfather had always said, if there were something I wanted, I would find a way to get it. I had never considered the truth of that before.

I asked next, “Adam status of the subject.”

Adam replied, “Affirmative, Status of ‘the subject, ‘Implant successfully completed, discipline collar emplaced and activated, ‘the subject’ is now awake. Interpretation of body language indicates extreme distress. Would you like a visual and audio feed?”

I said, “Yes, and make it a two way.”

I smiled as it came up on my monitor. It was as expected, she was still furious and making threats. She should not reach the state of trying to harm herself until much later. Self-preservation and escape and a burning need to get back at me would be foremost on her mind at this point.

Rebecca Wolfenstein, now 398 looked much as I expected. The priceless gown she had worn gone, replaced with an ordinary orange prison garment, and it didn’t fit well. I had made sure it would be a few sizes too big. The cell was as I had ordered it, about as bare and austere as one could make it, with only the basics, essentials you might say. Well, actually I could have put her in a bare box, nothing more than four walls a floor and ceiling. That would come later as she thought she had nothing more to lose, I would make it extremely clear that 398 still had a great deal that she could lose.

For now, it was no worse than what you’d find in a maximum-security prison. There was a shower, and for now, it had hot and cold water; as did the sink. A toilet which flushed ... for now. The bed had a two-inch foam pad and 398had a pillow and blanket. It would all be a shock to 398 sensibilities, but there could be worse, much worse. All these things could be taken away from 398 at a whim by me.

I had Adam adjust the sound so that it would be grating and harsh on the ears.

I said conversationally though it came out harsh, “Prisoner 398!”

She hadn’t stopped her pacing or muttering of her plans for once she was freed.

I was reasonably sure she had no idea I was addressing her.

I repeated, “Prisoner 398.”

Still clueless, she didn’t respond.

I repeated, “Prisoner 398, you will respond or be punished!”

Okay, I know people can be dense, but even for her, this might be carrying it a bit too far.

I activated the discipline collar. 398 dropped to the floor as she lost control of her body in pain. She may even have lost control of her bladder. I believe that I now had her attention. As she frantically looked about.

I repeated, “Prisoner 398.”

She frantically looked around. “Yes?”

I smiled, “Good, Prisoner 398, I was afraid you had lost your hearing.”

She sputtered that her name was ‘Rebecca Wolfenstein.’

I started again, “Prisoner 398, you lost the use of that unit designation when you murdered your family head. In fact, I don’t believe you ever thought of yourself as a true ‘Wolfenstein,’ so maybe you don’t believe you have murdered your family head, but you did kill someone. Someone that I was very close to.”

I heard her say, “So the brat makes an appearance.” As she glared at my image on the monitor in her cell. She had said it snidely.

I activated the discipline collar...

Sometime later I inquired, “And ‘the subject’s’ son?”

Adam replied, “Affirmative, as per your instructions social media has been utilized to spread misinformation about his health as a carrier of persistent forms of STDs and immoral character (Actually, that might already be known to more than a few.). He has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to access his bank, his apartment and to locate his vehicle. As per your specifications, delivery of his crushed vehicle will be made to him, as soon as he files a police report of its disappearance. It should arrive at that location before completion of his making of that report.”

I had to laugh at that ... or, as in the words of my grandfather, ‘Before the ink has dried.’

Then I instructed, “Adam, as soon as that delivery has been made, copy all electronic data on the ‘son’ to your databanks, then wipe all his public records clean. Wipe everything but the social media postings. I don’t want him or anyone to be able to find any information about him on file, not even a birth certificate, School records, social security, IRS, nothing! I want it all gone! Even the police report he just made!”

Then I was chuckling to myself, thinking how the officer taking the report would wonder how he could have lost it in the time it took for the ‘son’ to check on the status of his freshly returned vehicle, and back. It would be interesting. When they ran a google search, they would only find comments on his dubious sex life.

Adam replied, “Affirmative.”

I still think there was just a bit of ... well, whatever. I knew my instructions would be carried out.

I smiled to myself, it would be impossible for him to make anyone believe who he was. Furthermore, no government agency would be able to determine who he was, either. There would be no DNA coding on record, nor even simple fingerprints, not even facial recognition. As far as they would be concerned, no record meant, well ... it would be frustrating at first as he tried to prove who he was, and eventually, NSA types would wonder who he was, and what he was doing here. Which reminded me, “Adam, have one of our contacts within the NSA and have the son interviewed. Find out who he calls for help.

As it turned out, the son did have a pet dog or dogs they were put down; but he also had other ... pets, girls with no pasts, not even records of birth. They would be brought to me and placed in safekeeping, I would be attending to them later. Meanwhile, I would have Doctors examine them.

Adam spoke up, “Query! Lack of data limits recommendations based on human emotional responses. Emotional responses were not programmed into my database, and additional data is thus requested and required, for further such recommendations.”

I thought about Adam’s request and decided to put aside my immediate quest for vengeance.

I looked around a bit. It was still disconcerting to be talking to a disembodied voice. I wondered if Prisoner 398 was having the same response to my voice. I hoped so. Watching her on the monitor, this time one way, unsmiling, I again activated the discipline collar...

All the personnel had made it to the compound and were slowly re-engaging in their work. I was pleased with Nick’s efficiency. Meeting up with all of them greeting them and making them welcome. I asked about their new facilities, their work and through that, I was prepared to realize that advances would be painfully slow if ever to come from it all. (I think grandfather had more faith in them than they did themselves.) Most of the time, as with many of the most exciting developments, they were often incidental to the research being done. I assured the administrators of each of the departments that they were free to do as they had under my grandfather’s watch, but now it was my watch, and they would not be able to dazzle me with Male Bovine Excrement! Anyone that tried would find themselves shot ... and survivors would be shot again! Then terminated...

Actually, I stressed that I was working on my own doctorate and I was acquainted with the process of scientific inquiry. I then suggested a path that would include combining research groups to work together to see where their research could or did overlap, and to look into ways that it might make for some interesting developments if they proved compatible. I then realized that Adam was multi-task capable of assisting.

I saw possibilities; I would have to go over Grandfather’s notes carefully to see where he had been going with this and mesh with it if possible. Each could be significant individually, but the sum could outweigh the parts in ways so far undreamed. The ‘Stars’ no longer seemed so far out of reach.

My own work was progressing much more quickly than I could have imagined with the brain pool I now had around me, and before I had access to Adam. I was referring to it as ‘he,’ almost as if it was alive, now. I would remind myself that it was just a machine, but at other times I wasn’t so sure. In any case, my work was progressing. I was envisioning my first working prototype to be soon completed. I wondered how much was as a result of Adam working with so many different disciplines, meshing them together, finding keys.

I more or less forgot about Prisoner 398. She was tucked safely away and would not be escaping. Her punishment would be unending boredom. Her son was wandering around the streets in his five-thousand-dollar suit that was quickly giving way as it became worn and dirty with wear, the two cents in his pocket a constant reminder of how he came to be this way. I did have him watched, and I would be receiving updates. If anything, out of the ordinary happened, I would know about it. I thought I’d give him a bit more time to stew before pulling him in to join his mother in adjoining cells.

Her father, well that was another matter. As my people were closing in on him, he took his own life. It was disappointing. I wasn’t the only one that wanted him alive. His residence was physically gone over with the proverbial fine-tooth comb. There were little tidbits here and there that were interesting, but no leads as to what he had planned, for later. It had all been wiped clean, his personal computers had not been connected to the internet, and their drives were now a melted mess. All the hard copies had been destroyed. That was literally a dead end. I was at a loss as to what to do with the body, so I instructed my people to just leave it there to rot. I didn’t consider it be worthwhile to waste any more time on it. I did have blood and tissue sample drawn,

I didn’t really know what I would be doing with them. I ended up having them placed in the Zoo vault, marked do not disturb. A small amount was tested to confirm it was really him and not somebody double. The testing revealed that he too had the oddly altered DNA. I speculated that the ‘12th’ had been infiltrated and taken over much as they had planned to do to us. Did I want to think about the implications?

Just how much of the original ‘Twelve’ were still left? I ordered that I wished to test every one of the 12th that was caught or killed. It could be that the 12th as we had known them, no longer existed. That the deaths I had uncovered, were merely the ‘others’ cleaning house to remove the last of the original ‘Twelve.’

When had it happened? The attack on our family had been in the makings for over twenty-five years. So, the attack on the ‘Twelve’ most of had occurred well before that.

Just how deep did this plot go. First my Grandfather, then I learned of the deaths of the servants. Then the family, then that it had been instigated against all the Families. An outside influence bent on the destruction of all the families. How long had it been going on?

Could this be related to what had happened with ‘The Justinian Plague of 541 AD? So little of that had been recorded, and practically all records before they were lost. Only bits and fragments to be found, painstakingly pieced together. If there had been a warning there, it was lost in an undecipherable writing or code.

So much lost, yet the ‘Family’ continued, its fundamental mission to serve and protect, though not as policemen or soldiers.

Now I thought about that goal, who were we to serve, and what were we driven to protect them from?

Did Grandfather know? The contents of ‘The Compound’ seemed to show that he knew to some degree. Yet he had been silent about it. But there wasn’t enough for an all-out war. Was he actually expecting an end of the world scenario? Did he die before he was able to tell me?

No, he had meant to tell me at some point, and now I was expecting that he would, just as he had planned ahead for so many other things. I needed a great deal more information. Would I have time to gather it?

Of course, I had all this shown to Prisoner 398, her father’s death, the hunting down of the remained of the twelfth as well as the surveillance the decline of her son, his deteriorating condition. Oddly enough she just snickered, as if her confinement was only temporary. Unconcerned with the status of her son, the death of her father, and destruction of her family.

I knew I’d had her scanned before being placed into her cell, but as soon as she fell asleep, I gassed her, to ensure she didn’t wake as I had her given a more in-depth scan. Nothing turned up, but I couldn’t shake the feeling she knew something I didn’t. I thought about doing a mind scan, but I didn’t want to go there, just yet. Adam questioned me about it. Was it another example of a gut feeling? It was, however, I was unable to give him details. Its questioning ended with the predictable, “Analyzing.”

Some might ask why 398, and not 1, well I picked a random number, and I felt giving her a single digit might in some way offer a sense of pride. After all, there was nothing special about the number ‘398,’ as there might be with the numeral ‘1’. Just one more thing to have been taken away from her. Among the many things I had done, was having the lights turned off and on at random times, the cell heated to near a hundred degrees, and then plunged down to near freezing. The tasteless gruel was at times spiked with hot chilies, other times it might be frozen, or extremely hot. But most of the time, it was just a sameness ... day after day. The discipline collar would be activated at random times, often spaced days or weeks apart. Sometimes months would go by. But she would be reminded of it every time she touched it. I had Adam strip away anything that might give her a sense of time. Was I trying to drive her mad? I thought about it, but in some ways, that would be like killing her, and I wanted her fully aware at all times of what was being done to her and why!

Time passed as I integrated myself into the family businesses. It was remarkably easy, as Grandfather had anticipated this as he had so many other things. I hadn’t demoted my father; I gave him an impressive title and placed him in control of the assets I had taken from the twelfth. While not to be trusted with the care of the Family he was more than capable of running that new part of the Family’s business. I just made sure there were enough good people to do the work, I paid them extra well, and it became an inside joke that it was considered hazardous duty pay for working for my father.

While there may have been some resentment with me usurping him from the Family’s leadership, it didn’t last. He realized that power was just not worth the effort he had been forced to give it. His prestige was little different, instead of being the son of the Family’s leader, he was now the father, and in a way, that sounded even more impressive. When it came right down to it, as long as he got what he wanted - which father had quickly learned, was not the responsibility of being the head - it just didn’t matter to him where he worked. The job I had given him was not demeaning in any way. In fact, it was a step up for him. Then there was the perk of living in Europe, and while mother was pissed at not being the Queen Bee, residing in Paris sort of made up for it. She was still the mother of the head, which could be used to her advantage. She may have even seen it as a promotion for herself as well. I really couldn’t do anything to help the staff, I just made sure they each received a good severance check and excellent references when they, inevitably, were sacked by my mother.

My father was no longer saddled with the headache of being head of the First. He took his demotion in stride. In fact, he told others that he had basically retired and had passed on the torch, but he was working there because I needed his help. I didn’t disillusion him. Let him believe what he would, it just wasn’t that important.

The other families saw what I had done to the twelfth, and wisely steered clear, lest they provoke me. I tried to assure them that as long as they didn’t cross me, and treated me with respect, they would receive the same.

There were more than a few that recalled how I got back at their sons in Prep school for doing me wrong. Even if it might have been permitted within the rules to have done so. Payback was and should have been expected, as it was also allowed.

It was supposed to an exercise of individual effort, but those of the class had turned into a melee of sabotaging each other’s efforts. They had blindsided me, yet I had done the impossible after my so-called peers thought they had put me out of the running. I had felt as classmates we might become friends. I had no idea that they might have harbored such resentment for my name.

I had been in no mood to let them get away with it. So I crushed, my so-called peers. It had all been done above board, no dirty tricks, I just used their own greed against them. That it worked so well was a testament to that greed.

None wanted a repeat of that, even more so now that I had the full weight of the Family and its holdings to back me. I would let them do as they pleased. I’m not too sure whether they trusted that, only time would tell.

Speaking of being saddled, I made my way to the stables, it was time for one of my rides. I had gotten used to my regular horseback riding and took every opportunity when not pressed with other business. The girls followed naturally. Nick had wanted a full security detail to follow me but relented when the girls had a little two on one with him. I was more trusting now and told him of the suits qualities. He was most impressed if not a bit shocked when one of the girls shot me at close range. I can’t say I was exactly pleased myself. But the point had been made, and what Wind Song had done to him on the exercise mat, it was assumed the Nicky could do the same, Nick realized I was well covered. Still, he would have aerial coverage with a discreet drone flying overhead.

One of the advantages of having the compound where it was, was that little could approach without being noticed. We were in the middle of over thirty-three-thousand acres. Our nearest neighbors were more than five miles away. The main road to the compound was what one might call a rather long cul-de-sac, with a guarded gatehouse where it turned off the main highway, and then there was the rail spur, and well it was just that, a spur that ended at the railhead of our small switchyard. A carry-over from the times the compound was more a working ranch and sold cattle to the more significant markets to the north and east.

It was an enjoyable ride; we went out further than most of our trips, covering ground I had briefly seen from flying overhead. It was a warm day when we stopped for lunch. There was a small spring, damned up to provide a watering hole for the cattle. A small grove of trees protected a bit of the stream and provided us with shade.

I don’t know how Cook always seems to know what to provide for a tasteful meal for our picnics, but it was perfect. The girls sat close, and I could smell their nearness. I was becoming very aroused. I don’t think I had intended to do so, but I quickly discarded my clothing and ran into the water to cool off. It did little good, for the girls were right behind me also in a total state of undress. We frolicked for a while, but clearly, my arousal was not being abated even in the frigid water.

The girls pressed themselves against me, and that was it. The reaching out and groping led out my pent-up passions. Their lips on mine, mine on theirs, striving to cover every part of each other’s bodies. The girls would spend as much time kissing each other as they did me. I didn’t mind in the least as it was an erotic sight, that only inflamed me more.

They having the advantage of there being two of them to cover me, and only myself to cover the two of them. I was outnumbered. But I was not going to admit defeat. I gave as good as I received. As I went down on one, the other went down on me, then we would exchange positions from time to time so that I got to sample each, as they had sampled me. But I didn’t let up till I had gotten them both off and tasted them in the wild. I might have to apologize to Cook, as whatever I had eaten paled with the nectar they each released, and I lapped it all up greedily.

They hadn’t yet brought me off with their mouths, so I was still rock hard and full and ready for each of them. It took but a moment to throw one to the ground spread her and plunge in deep. Upon entering I felt myself stroking deep and hard, as I was encouraged by the other to give it to her hard, no harder she would egg me on, yes make it hurt. Teach the bitch she can’t manipulate you, the one under me turning vulgar and goading me on to fuck her harder if I was man enough. The veneer of Civilization seemingly stripped away. I found myself fucking this girl under me hard, and I would fuck her bitch sister as well.

The girls had unleashed the part in me, the psyche ability to order men to their doom, the base instinct that should always be kept in check lest it takes away my ability to lead with nobility.

But for now ... the girl cried out whether in pain or satisfaction that I was filling, stretching her, and I now owned her, their wanton display of challenging me had been conquered, they both meekly surrendered crying out in submission that I was indeed their master, and they begged forgiveness forever questioning it. I pounded into them, and each shuddered in surrender as they lost themselves in fulfillment. Yet I was not done with them. I used them unabashedly. I would teach them their place as both came under me as I possessed them. Pounding away within, I felt her shiver under me, she came hard under me, and suddenly I felt my self-changing partners before I had a chance to release starting over again, as the other took her turn.

We must have done this many times before I became so stoked, I had to release. The one under me was just beginning another round of shimmering powerful orgasms, and it took us both over the top. I slammed her to the ground forcefully, and she wrapped her legs around me, holding me in as I erupted deep within her whimpering her surrender.

God was it overpowering and draining. I held in place as I felt the last of my surges leave their deposits deep within her. Drained I finally rolled off her, it had been genuinely overpowering as I looked down on her just how small she looked under me.

When I came to some of my senses, I saw it had been Wind Song I had released into. I watched as Nicky dove down on Wind Song and started lapping her up, I could hear the slurping and sucking as she drew out my seed from Wind Song. Then as I had seen many time before they both got up and exchanged it with each other, as if trying to divide it equally between themselves. Then finally turning to me displaying my thick cum on their tongues, before closing their mouths and noisily swallowed it all, most solemnly as they looked for my approval. Then seeing it breaking out giggling and smiling.

Such brashness could not go unpunished as I then had them prepare my cock, sucking it clean, once it had returned to its hardened state, I had them get on their hands and knees so as to submit themselves to me. I forced their faces to the ground arching their butts high and spreading their ass cheeks wide, displaying the loveliest of brown rosebuds. I felt a need to ascertain this territory, and I took my rod in hand and proceeded to do just that.

I might have prepared my cock by dipping into the folds of their drenched cunts, but as this was a punishment, I entered them dry. The feelings of tightness as I pushed against their tight anal sphincters, slowly giving of way as my head pressed inward. Moans begging pity as I would finally bottom out in one then the other, pressing in with deep, powerful strokes, switching back and forth till I was well lubricated by their anal passages. Sensations of their tight asses stretching, accommodating the plunging of my cock. The sucking feels as I pulled outward of their clinging anuses accompanied by whimpering frustration as if trying to draw me back in.

I was now well lubricated, so I commenced to fucking both their asses unmercifully. Slapping their butts red as I pounded into them to get them to push back against me more actively, grabbing fistfuls of their hair as I yanked back forcing their heads back turning them so I could attack their lips as well. As I continued the onslaught of punishment, stroking deep and hard into them, till sated, I filled each of them in turn with thick spend.

I guess I hadn’t realized what an ass man I really was, but I was really enjoying anal. Pulling free, I watched their gaping holes’ ooze back out that thick white cream I had so recently filled them with. Thoroughly subdued now, they turned and without needing to be commanded too, began meekly to lick my manhood clean, making sure that all the brackish brown film was cleaned away. I then allowed them to dress me. I watched them clean up the area around where we had a picnic before I allowed them to wash and dress as well.

All in all, it had been a pleasant, if unusual afternoon.

Yes, since Grandfather had refused to give me details about them, I had been observing them more closely. I was discovering things about them. It was almost fun, and sometimes shocking, such as the example of Nick and Wind Song on the exercise mat. I had no doubts in my mind that Nicky could have done the same. Realizing that I wondered about how and why I had been allowed to dominate them as I had.

Nicky and Wind Song, since I had first seen them, had always been at my side. Ever obedient, I had no doubt again about their sincerity when they called me master. There were times they were so unobtrusive that I forgot they were there. But they were always there when I thought about it, always ... I could only think of a mere handful of times when one or both of them hadn’t been. The one real time was when I’d had that first real talk with my grandfather. That may have been an interactive recording. After I had arrived at the compound, and he had asked for the room to be cleared. The other time was when I was locked away in my office after I had learned the identities of Grandfather’s murders, and had started planning my revenge.

After that episode, they had never again left my side. I never resented it, unlike how Nick’s men would shadow me, his men had almost made a point of being noticed. It had gotten on my nerves. It was shortly after that the girls had their talk with Nick that I saw much less of his men.

I never knew what they had said to him, and he never volunteered an explanation. Somehow, I figured it was something I didn’t need to know.

Other than that, I don’t think they had ever left my side. As I said, there were times they were so unobtrusive that I would forget they were there. They were servants and yet were not. They seemed to have a number of roles they played, all of which centered on my wellbeing. I hadn’t noticed at first in the lab work I had been doing; that while I relied on Adam heavily, the girls were there, and had made their contributions as well. It was because they hadn’t drawn attention to themselves that I had failed to notice it sooner.

Not mere serving girls, nor assistants, nor even bodyguards; the range of their duties was many-faceted, but it was clear they all now centered on me. No mere bodyguards ... they were guarding my spirit, as well.

Where had Grandfather found them, and why were they mine, now? Some part of me felt that they were indeed mine.

It was a case of the more I learned, the more profound the mystery became.

Colonel Blood, as he was making one of his weekly reports, and mentioned that one of the larger elements of the militia would be returning, soon. Typically, they’d be here briefly six months in, six months out for simple refresher training and sent back out, but with the militia’s contracts not being renewed there would be fewer units sent out as replacements. He told me that we would soon have the bulk of the militia here, along with their equipment.

I thought again about why Grandfather had let those contracts lapse. It was not like him, and for that reason alone, I knew there was more behind it than mere careless oversight. There was a reason for it. There had to be.

It was as if I was playing another game of chess with him; only this time he had planned it far, far ahead. Well past his death. The will, the companies I had been sent to see, the compound, perhaps even the discovery of his murders; had all been a part of his game, and now this.