"Are you sure that you wish to go through this, you will never know the warmth of human contact ever again?"
"Ha-ha, like it matters to me, all that matters is that I get my revenge, anything beyond does not matter."
The shadowy figure just laughed and said, "Fine, little mortal. I will grant your wish, but what will happen what will happen to you once that you have your revenge an eternity is a long time."
Before she could say anything the pain started, the pain that she had to endure during the ritual was like nothing that any human should be able to endure without dying. But, her strength of will got her through the pain; she had to get through it so she would no longer be vulnerable and nothing would ever be taken from her again. That she would be strong enough to protect those that she loved.
"Mistress, Mistress."
Lena opened her eyes and cast a glance across her desk to the women who was standing in the door of the office. In a calm and deliberate voice said, "What is it Jess? I hope that it is important because you know that I don't like to be disturbed at this time of the morning."
Even after all of their time together, and all Lena had done for Jess over the years, Jess knew how dangerous Lena could be when she was upset; she had witnessed first-hand what happened to people who really pissed her Mistress off. Lena could hear her heartbeat start to accelerate as she spoke, "Yes, Mistress, I know but you told me that you wanted me to let you know if there was anything paranormal going on in the town."
Lena looked at Jess as she gulped and took a pause, "Yes and?" Lena asked somewhat impatiently, not that she was really upset with Jess but she was still unhappy by the news that something paranormal was going on in her town.
"Well they found a body in the river this morning, and the cause of death was exsanguination and according to what I overheard there were several marks on the body that could not be identified."
Lena got a hard look in her eyes, this time not directed at Jess but at the fact that someone had dared to come into her town and do something which would draw attention to the town. Jess's heart was now beating so fast that Lena was afraid she was going to have a heart attack so she looked at her and said, "Jess you don't have to be so worried you did a good job."
Lena almost smiled when she heard Jess let out a barely audible sigh of relief. "I think that I am going to go take a look at this body and talk to Margaret. Thank you Jess, I really appreciate all of the work you do for me."
Jess beamed like a little child who had just been praised by a distant and cold parent, something Lena knew all too much about. "Anything for you Miss Luthor," she said as she turned to leave the room. As she left the room Lena pondered how lucky she was to have Jess, she was the closest thing she had to a friend in over a thousand years.
After a few secondly she got up from her chair and headed out of her study and walked through the old colonial house, a vestige of a time long gone. When Lena had first moved to the homestead it had been a pristine, upscale, safe haven in an otherwise drab New World, it was warm and comfortable with relics from her time; but the years had not been kind to the old colonial and it was starting to show its age, unlike it Mistress.
To the normal human eye they would have noticed anything wrong with the house, they would undoubtedly have been impressed by its size and the collection of rare artefacts. However, there were small problems with the woodwork, which was to be expected but also it did not feel like it was being lived in. There was a thin film of dust that covered everything, Jess had tried to clean but Lena would not let her.
She grabbed her favorite leather jacket from the rack where it hung by the door, it wasn't even like she would be cold even on a cold morning in the fall. But, she knew better then to draw attention to herself by not wearing jackets in the cold. She then grabbed her keys as well, again she could easily make it to river faster without the car but that would draw to much attention to her. Which is the last thing that she wanted to do in a small town like this; it was one thing in the city when she could easily disappear but out the townspeople have long memories.
She opened the front door of the house front door of the house and looked out over the view she had, it was a beautiful New England autumn day. She walked over to her 1966 black corvette and gracefully slid into the car and turned the key as the car came to life.
Lena revved the engine and pulled the car out of the driveway and out onto the small New England backroad that ran away from her property. As she drove with the windows opened the smell of autumn filtered in and she thought about all of the houses that she owned all over the world over the years and she couldn't help but think that this was by far one of her favorite even with all of the painful memories it brought her a certain amount of peace.
As she approached Main Street she slowed down a bit; even in the center of town there was still only the town hall, public safety building, school, library, diner, and general store. As she drove past she noticed that there were people standing outside of the police station; this was probably the event of most of these people's lives.
As she approached the bridge she saw the police lights off in the distance so she slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car. Lena opened the door and stepped out of the car; shutting the door behind her. She took in her surroundings there were not many people other than the police around, they must be keeping people away.
As she approached the police barricade she heard a voice say, "This area is off limits to anyone who is not with the police or medical examiner's office." Lena looked over to the trooper who said that and walked over to him. He was a conventionally handsome young trooper, Lena would guess that he was probably just out of the academy.
Lena looked at his name badge, James Olsen, "Thank you very much Trooper Olsen do you know where Margaret is," said Lena.
The officer gave her a once over, hovering a little bit longer would have liked on her chest before answering her, "The Chief is down by the river with the body but she was very specific that no civilians are allowed down there."
"Come on I am sure that it would be okay to let me down there," Lena said seductively in a way that no man was ever able to resist. "I am sorry Ma'am she said that no one was allowed down there, I would love to let you go down but I can't." Lena smiled at the poor flustered boy, which was what he was in Lena's eyes, Lena removed her sunglasses her eyes gleaming in morning light like two round emeralds even on the dull autumn day.
"Trooper, I think that you are mistaken and it is okay for go down and see the Chief."
The officer nodded standing there dumbly for a second before he reached down and lifted up the police tape. Just as Lena crossed the police line a voice appeared out of nowhere and said, "Trooper Olsen how come you let her go through? And I am not allowed to? Are you hiding something down there that the people have the right to know about?"
Lena turned around and looked for the source of the voice, when she turned around she saw a blonde woman emerging from behind a car that was also parked on the side of the road. But what drew Lena's attention was her eyes, steely ice blue eyes which burned with a passion that threatened to burn whatever they were directed at. Lena had not witnessed a woman with that kind of passion since…
The trooper was snapped out of his trance and looked over at the blonde woman, "Ms. Danvers this is an active crime scene we cannot have members of the press just running around messing with it. I told you, you can talk to the Chief when she is down with her inspection."
This did not seem to sit well with the reporter, "But, you were just going to let her go down?"
"Yes, she has business with the chief, now if you will please back up Ms. Danvers," but Kara was no longer listening to the trooper, her attention now firmly on Lena.
"Excuse me miss I don't think that I have seen you around town before may I ask who you are?"
Lena smiled and tried to compel the woman to leave but unlike the officer the young reporters mind was much stronger. So, Lena decided to go about this the old fashion way, she was going to pour on the charm. "My name is Lena Ms. Danvers; it is a pleasure to meet you."
Kara nodded and took out a notepad out of the back pocket of her jeans and started to write. "And do you live in town?"
"Yes, I moved back to town a couple of weeks into my family's old home."
The reporter continued writing, and asked, "So, Lena, who is your family?"
Lena knew that if she was a break from moving around and stay in town in quiet for at least a few years it would not do her any good to lie to this reporter. So, biting her bottom lip and looking at the girl she said, "The Luthors."
"As in the Luthor's House up on Birch, the infamous founding family of Midvale."
"One and the same," said Lena.
Kara marked down a few notes before continuing, "I thought the last of the last of the Luthors die out years ago, and how exactly are you related to the Luthor family. So you must be the person who recently moved into the old homestead."
"I am a distant relative to the last Matriarch, I did not even realize I was related to them until I was in college and I got a letter informing me that I was gifted the land and all of her wealth in her last will and testament. Now if you don't mind I really don't want to keep the chief waiting Ms…"
"Danvers, Kara Danvers. It was a pleasure to meet you," said the reporter as she fished in her pockets and produced a business card. "If you have some free time I would love to get to know you better, maybe do an interview on the last remaining Luthor?"
"Of course Ms. Danvers, I would love that I will have my assistant contact you to arrange something."
As Lena turned and walked down towards the bank of the river she thought that could have been worse. She was worried about the young blonde for two reasons, first of all the last thing that she needed as a reporter snooping around her life and second how did she not fall for her compulsion there hadn't who was completely immune to her suggestions. She would have to have Jess investigate this girl there was more to her then met the eye.
But that would have to wait she saw the chief standing by what she assumed was a body covered with a cloth. "Good Morning Margaret, how are you this morning?"
"Great!" said the chief rolling her eyes. "Don't take offense to this Luthor but you are absolutely the last person that I want to see right now. The mayor may love you but that doesn't mean that I have to share you confidential police information."
Lena smiled and said, "Margaret let's try to keep this friendly I really don't want to have to call in a favor with the mayor to get you to tell me what is going on. Just tell me what is going on and I will get out of your hair"
"Fine, fine, have it your way," the women said throwing her hands in the air, "We have a 20-26 year old Jane Doe."
"Cause of death?"
"Exsanguination."
"May I take a look?"
The chief grimaced and said, "I am not sure that you are going to be able to handle it, the body has been in the river for a while and decomposition has started to set in."
"I am not has delicate as I look Chief."
The chief mumbled "bitch" under her breath probably not realizing Lena could hear everything that she was saying, but Lena was used to those comments so Lena just ignored her. The chief pulled back the cloth that was covering the body and Lena leaned forward to inspect the body. She quickly inspected the body, as the chief began. "There was minimal trauma to the body just a couple of puncture makes with slight bruising around the marks. Nothing much else there."
There was however something else that drew Lena's attention, the girl had a tattoo which reminded her of something but she could not place it. "What about this tattoo here?" she asked pointing to the tattoo.
"Yeah that does look different from most that I have ever seen before, do you know what it is Luthor?"
Lena shook her head, "No".
She nodded to the chief and she pulled back. "Thank you very much chief I will leave you to your work I am sorry to bother you. I hope that I have not been too much of a bitch." Emphasizing the last word to make a point
Before the chief could say anything Lena turned on her heels and walked back towards to the car. The chief's heart started to beat really fast, she must have realized that Lena had heard her, and since she had a mayor in her pocket the chief was nervous.
As she reached the top of the hill she pulled out her phone and dialed Jess, the phone had not even ring twice before Jess picked up, "Jess I need you to pull out all of my old supernatural and heraldry books for me."
"Yes, of course Mistress I will get on that right away. So, I guess that I was right regarding this being a supernatural case?"
"Yes, I believe you were she was drained of all of her blood and there was a mark that was familiar on her body that I could not place."
As they were talking Lena reached into her pocket to grab her key and felt the card that the blonde woman had given her earlier.
"Also Jess do me one more favor please?"
"Yes of course Mistress, what do you need?"
"Please call over to the Midvale crier and ask for a Kara Danvers, she asked me for an interview typical long lost Luthor stuff."
There was a slight pause on the line before Jess replied, "Are you sure that you should be talking to the press Mistress?"
Lena sighed and said, "Jess, it is the Midvale Crier not the Washington Post, and I have a funny feeling if I dodge this one she is going to hound me, just set up the appointment."
"Yes Mistress, my apologies, are you coming home now?"
"No, I need to go talk to someone about an important matter. I should hopefully be home in a few hours, please pull out a bottle and let it breathe. I will be home in time for lunch."
"Of course."
"Thank you very much Jess, she you soon," said Lena as she started up the car and pulled it on the main road.