Title: Sand (Part 2)
Series: Sailormoon
Author: Sievert Dinar
Rating: R (For scenes of violence and sexually suggestive content)
SAND (Part 2) by Sievert Dinar
Disclaimer: This is a Standard Sailormoon Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This is another disclaimer.
Disclaimer: The previous two disclaimers were not the same as this
disclaimer.
As she approached the hotel, Lafayette noticed the small
crowd of, what amounted to in this town, important people...
Members of the Town Council, the Magistrate, the Sheriff's
deputies. Teffe... It was almost too much for one of the town's
few prostitutes to take in. She hadn't seen this many important
people together since the celebration after the township had won a
contract to supply extra quantities of the crystalline ore.
But why did Teffe have to be here?
Because he was one of the Sheriff's deputies, that's why.
With her long blond hair, tied up in a ribbon, and the
flowing, brightly coloured, low-cut dress and shawl she wore, even
within the semi-darkness of the main street it wasn't long before
she was noticed by the deputy. "Lafayette!" He called out to her
as he started across the street to where she was standing, at the
entrance to the small lane she had used as a shortcut. She sighed
inwardly... The deputy had had a thing for her ever since they
were both still in school, and had been one of her regular clients
ever since he knew what one was supposed to do with that bit
between his legs. More than a client, he LOVED her, and there were
times when that became simply overbearing. Like now.
He placed his hands on her shoulders when he'd finally
arrived, looking at her with concern. "You know what I said about
making your way back unattended."
"Give it a rest, Teffe." She sighed. "I can look after
myself, you know."
Teffe smiled. "i know, I've seen it. But you really
shouldn't take the risks you do. Even in this small town, there
are strange people..."
"In this small town there is inbreeding. Of course there are
strange people." She shrugged as he facefaulted. "Yeah yeah yeah,
I know the drill. Always make sure you travel in pairs, with one
of the other girls. Well, I did, to get there, anyway, with
Kinnie. But she and her client weren't finished, yet, and I didn't
want to sit there, waiting, listening to them finish up. You know
what it is like..."
"Okay, okay..." Teffe let her shoulders go. "It's just
that, there could be bad things going on in this town. We have an
important visitor..."
"Is that why all the suits have gathered?"
"You could say that. It's a Senshi."
Lafayette swallowed. "A what?"
"You know, one of the soldiers of the Monarchy. They don't
go anywhere without a reason, especially a town like this one." He
looked at her, meaningfully. "If she should find out..."
"Then I'll just have to avoid her, won't I?" Lafayette
huffed. "I'm more than happy, where I am. I don't want things to
change, do you understand, Teffe? I don't want things to change."
Teffe took a long breath, looking down at the ground. "Well,
you see..." He looked back up, eventually. "...She's staying in
the room next to yours. I think she already knows something."
Lafayette turned white. "No..." She shook her head. "Then
I'm not going back. Not to my place." She thought for a few
moments. "What about your place? I can bunk there for the time
being, surely?"
"You know the Sheriff has forbidden me to take you in. In a
town this size, word quickly gets around... A Sheriff's deputy and
a hooker, under the same roof. I'll end up in front of the Mayor's
commission review, and you'll find yourself whistling away your
time in a cell." He shook his head. "No, I can't do that..."
"Yeah, right." Lafayette huffed, her cheeks puffed out like
a sulking child. "You're only thinking about yourself and your
reputation. Again."
Teffe thought quickly to avoid an argument. "Do you have
Kinnie's room key?"
"We both have keys to each others' rooms, of course..." She
paused, putting a hand over her mouth in realisation. "You mean I
should stay with her."
"Her room is in the building behind the hotel. It might not
be that far from where the Senshi is staying, but it keeps you
further apart than if I tried to smuggle you back to your room."
He paused. "Do you agree?"
Lafayette looked away, scratching her head. "Kinnie isn't
going to like it. Her room ain't that big to begin with, and we
only have each others' keys as a safety measure." She sighed,
shaking her head. "There really isn't anything else I can do, is
there?" She then smiled and looped an arm around one of his.
"Well then, my knight in shining armour, guide me to a place of
safety."
Teffe blushed and tried to look nonchalant as he and
Lafayette made their way past the group in front of the hotel, the
prostitute lying her head against his arm at the most inopportune
time. As much as he didn't mind it, he had visions of what his
life would be like without a job...
"For the last ten years it has been my duty to hunt down and
destroy criminals from the Sailor Wars. Many of these...
creatures, for want of a better term, are abominations, spawned
from the evil that is Chaos itself. They sometimes take a benign
appearance, but within they are totally corrupt, and inflict the
most horrendous atrocities upon the innocent. Things you couldn't
even begin to imagine..." The Senshi paused, watching the Mayor
stare at the patch of floor where his secretary had once stood.
The Sheriff had found him a chair from somewhere in the room, and
guided him into it. For those who weren't used to it, the horrors
of the warriors of Chaos were enough to snap the mind. "Have
either of you heard of the Mirrabeen camps?"
The Sheriff, having left the Mayor in his seat, was now
leaning against the edge of the bench of drawers on the far side of
the room, his arms crossed, deep in thought. He looked up at the
Senshi, who had re-donned her fuku bodysuit and was clipping the
sleeve fasts into place. "Mirrabeen, the capital of Navos, which
had been on the frontline of the war. The enemy had set up
concentration camps there, purely for the torture of children. The
beasts would rape their minds on a daily basis."
The Senshi raised an eyebrow. "So, even in this
insignificant corner of the universe, the more lurid tales of the
enemy's excesses are known?"
"Not really. I was part of the repatriation relief corps at
the time. When Navos was reclaimed, I was posted in Deraween, not
far from Mirrabeen. The situation was not much different." He
sighed. "Which is why I'm now the sheriff in this... insignificant
corner of the universe."
"You saw too much and you wanted to get away." The Senshi
almost sounded goading, as if contemptuous of the Sheriff's
actions. He looked at her with annoyance.
"Getting away from the arrogance of the system, yes. Getting
away from the horrors that came with it, yes. Don't try to psych
me out, it simply isn't going to work."
"I'm sure." The Senshi sneered, then frowned and turned to
the window, as if registering something. She looked back at the
Sheriff and the Mayor, then strode over to the window and peered
through the curtains.
There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. At
least, not now. She was sure she had felt something...
Having left Lafayette at the door of Kinnie's room, her not
allowing him to enter as it would, most likely, have upset Kinnie,
Teffe found himself crossing the small courtyard between the front
and rear buildings of the hotel, deep in thought.
Thoughts of Lafayette, and what it would mean if the Senshi
were to catch her... Which was why he almost walked headlong into
Kinnie, who had been standing quietly in the near darkness, close
to the entrance to the front building.
For a second, before registering that it was his girl's
black-haired friend in the trade, he thought it might have been the
Senshi, actually sniffing them out, and almost jumped back a foot
in surprise before calming, hand on his chest. "Aww shit, you
scared me there, girl!"
"Scared?" Kinnie looked at him strangely, her voice flat.
"Why would you be scared?"
"Standing in the dark like that. It could have been anyone."
Kinnie ignored him. "Lafayette. Where is she?"
"Hmm?" He frowned. "She's in your room. Couldn't use hers,
what with everything going..." Before he was able to finish,
Kinnie brushed past him, quickly crossing the courtyard to the rear
building. "What's with her?" He scratched his head as he watched
her dark figure disappear inside.
"You know, it is going to be hard to explain to the
Magistrate, and the other Council members, what has happened to
Prentice. I mean, what do I tell them? That he was killed because
he was, in fact, a monster?" The Mayor's whiney voice distracted
the Senshi. She returned from the window in annoyance.
"I don't really care what you tell them. For all we know,
many of them could be like Prentice, just monstrous copies, created
by evil. Telling them anything will probably only give away our
knowledge of what the criminal is doing."
"And that is?" The Sheriff quizzed. "Just what does he
intend to do in this town, might I ask? Why even come here?"
"The crystalline ore that you mine on this planet. It is a
powerful source of life energy. Because Garribos never developed
life of its own, the life energy that has been stored here is in
plentiful supply. Imagine this, we are all descended from Earth,
one way or another, and therefore we contain tiny flickers of the
life energy that was stored by that planet. Eventually, Earth
itself became icapable of sustaining our numbers, and we moved,
from one planet to the next, sharing our demands for life energy
with other worlds that had barely been used. Garribos is one of
those worlds."
"So he had life energy in almost unlimited supply. So what?"
The Sheriff shrugged. "Garribos is such a small world, why would
he choose this one over others?"
"Because of the amount of energy that is stored here.
Despite its size, Garribos is like a life-energy dynamo. It
produces a constant stream because of the structure of the planet.
Had we not come here and settled, mining the crystalline ore, then
the planet would have simply blown itself apart. Maybe millions of
years in the future, but it would have happened. Now we are here,
not only mining the ore but using the energy ourselves. On this
planet, people are saturated with it, like fresh fruit ripe for the
picking. I'm surprised that Senshi have not already developed
here, considering. Three to four generations of this should have
seen at least one."
"So he wants the energy. How does he intend to use it?"
"Quite simple. He'll use the energy to revive his failing
existence, his failing substance, and redevelop himself into a new
form to house the essence of Chaos. Garribos will become the new
Nemesis, and all who live here will be corrupted and turned into
his servants. As I said..."
"Fresh fruit ripe for the picking, yes." The Sheriff turned
to the Mayor. "We should gather everyone in the town together, in
the main square. It will be the only way we can keep an eye on
everyone, and find out who has been corrupted."
"We can do that, but it may take too long. It'll also
distract us from searching for him. Give him an opportunity to
break into the mine. Once he gets to the extractors, even I won't
be able to stop him." The Senshi looked from one to the other,
grimly. "Perhaps we should start with a manifest of the transport
arrivals within the last few days."
The Mayor stood, suddenly looking decisive. "Yes, I'll get
all the information you want. Immediately." He suddenly looked
lost again, and the Sheriff took him by the shoulder, guiding him
to the door.
"Don't allow yourself to be distracted, Mayor. And make sure
you're with people you can trust..." The Sheriff started to
lecture him. The Mayor's eyes showed her was starting to panic.
"How would I know who to trust, if those who have been
corrupted cannot be recognised by mere mortals such as myself?"
"All of those standing in front of the hotel are not
corrupted, so I dare suggest they can be trusted." The Senshi
smiled mischievously. "As much as you can trust politicians and
the law, anyway."
Her sarcasm was lost on the Mayor, though, and he nodded
seriously to her as the Sheriff opened the door and ushered him
out, closing the door behind him. He then turned to the Senshi.
"There was no need for that. He might be a mere human, but there
wasn't any need to treat him as if that meant he were a lower form
of life."
"He's a politician. Of course he is a lower form of life.
Unfortunately all forms of government create them, so we're stuck
with them." She waved a hand in the air, as if casually brushing
the subject away. The Sheriff wasn't going to let it go so easily.
"If you want the people of this town to help you defeat this
thing, then you're going to have to take a crash course in
diplomacy. Regardless of whatever you are, you have no right..."
"Yeah yeah yeah." The Senshi sniffed, reaching for her
polearm weapon, which was leaning against the wall by the bed. "Do
you feel a ripple in the ether? I think something bad is about to
happen again."
"Wh... what?" The Sheriff tensed up. She smiled at him and
pointed at the door.
"Shall we go and check the building behind this hotel? All
this talking is starting to get to me, and I feel the need to do
something really violent."
Having switched on the small heater in the corner of the room
to warm things up, Lafayette had shed clothes down to her
undergarments and had seated herself in front of the mirror,
brushing down her hair, before she would retire to bed (Well, the
sofa, anyway) when the door to the room opened. Lafayette turned
and smiled sheepishly as Kinnie stepped in. "Oh, hi." She
chirped. "Sorry about this."
"Sorry?" Kinnie said flatly, closing the door behind her.
"Didn't you bump into Teffe on the way in. He didn't leave
all that long ago?"
"Teffe." Kinnie turned to Lafayette, staring at her. "Yes,
Teffe."
"What's up? You look rather dazed?" Lafayette placed the
brush on the table before the mirror and stood. "Aren't you
feeling well."
"No, I feel fine. Perfectly fine." Kinnie stepped across
the floor, towards her. "You are Lafayette?"
"Pardon?" Lafayette frowned.
"Yes. You are Lafayette. I can feel you."
Kinnie smiled.
"I really don't think this is wise." The Sheriff pulled his
firearm from its holster and checked to see whether it was loaded
and in a condition to be fired. It had been a long time since he
had needed to. He then followed the Senshi down the stairs and
into the main hallway. "If something is about to happen, you
should let me and my men deal with it. Who knows what will happen
if you get out of control."
"It's 'My men and I', and I'm more likely to be effective
against this beast than you. Remember what I told you about the
camps in Mirrabeen?"
The Sheriff nodded mutely as she turned to him, the blade of
her weapon swinging alarmingly close to his face. "Uhh, yeah.
What about it?"
"The thing we are up against created the demon that made that
camp. In fact, created all the demons on the front of Navos. And
those demons have a thing for raping and mutilating the minds of
innocents, especially if those innocents contain copious quantities
of life energy. And one of them is in the rear building of this
hotel, right now, ready to feast."
"What do you..." The Sheriff found momentary distraction
from his confusion in the presence of one of his deputies,
approaching from the far end of the main hall. "Teffe!" He called
out. "Teffe, I need some help. Can you get the..."
Before he could finish his request, Teffe stopped and stared
at them, then quickly turned and made his way back towards the
entrance to the function room, from where he'd appeared. The
Senshi had watched his reaction from aside, a snide half-smile on
his face.
"Ah, the golden-haired youths who fall in love with the
beauties who shine most brightly." She almost whispered. The
Sheriff shook his head.
"Damn you. You've got everyone in this town in jitters."
"Maybe not for the reasons you think." And with that she
took off after Teffe, so fast that the Sheriff didn't know what was
happening before she'd disappeared from sight.
"This is crazy." He muttered to himself, and proceeded to
follow.
"KINNIE!" Lafayette cried out as her friend pinned her to
the floor with strength far greater than anyone her size and
stature should have had. "Let go! You're hurting me!"
"Yessssss..." Kinnie hissed, grinning. "Yes, I am hurting
you. How does it feel? Do you like it?"
"What's gotten into you?" Lafayette struggled as Kinnie
pinned both her arms above her head with one hand, squeezing her
flesh tight. Lafayette's eyes filled with tears of pain. "Oww!
Owwwoowwwww!"
"Hurts so good. Pain is good. Time to die, little bright
one. Time to rip out your soul." Kinnie opened up her mouth,
wider than a normal human jaw would allow, and a sharp, spear-like
frond slithered out from the back of her throat.
Lafayette stared at the frond, not understanding what was
going on, but instinctively knowing it was not something she would
like to see in action, especially not on her.
And she closed her eyes.
And screamed.
Teffe reached the courtyard before he felt the collar of his
jacket grabbed from behind. The sudden, sharp jerk caused his feet
to slip on the cobblestones and he went flying forward, landing
heavily on his back.
He stared at the night sky, seeing stars, literally and
figuratively. "What..." He mumbled, before the Senshi's face
leaned over his.
"You were going to get reinforcements, I take it?" She
smiled, kneeling over his prone form. "Or am I thinking too far
ahead?"
"You!" Teffe sat up quickly. Too quickly, his head hitting
hers rather hard. The both of them were sitting in the courtyard,
holding their bruised egos when the Sheriff found them.
"Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" He leaned
against the doorway.
"Not particularly funny." The Senshi stood, brushing hair
from her eyes with a flourish. "Especially not at this moment."
She turned to the rear building, from which a woman's scream could
be heard.
"My God." The Sheriff tensed. "Who is that?"
"Lafayette!" Teffe stood and started to stagger forward.
"Lafayette!" He cried out again, as the scream abruptly ceased.
"This..." The Senshi smiled. "...Is where I come in."
There was a steadily rising hum from the building, which was
then immersed in a brilliant light, ending abruptly when a huge
blast blew through the roof, expelling a doll-like figure high into
the air. The Senshi and the Sheriff watched as the figure arced
across the sky, then plummeted to the ground, landing in the middle
of the courtyard with a splattering squelch.
The figure then started to lift itself from the ground,
oozing a foul-smelling black slime, and stood, facing the Senshi
like a puppet on strings. What little remained of Kinnie's
features had been warped by the mutation into the creature that
she now was, or burnt off by the blast.
The Sheriff was lost for words, but the Senshi was not. She
lifted her polearm, blade forward, in an attack pose. "Well,
aren't we a mess?" She mocked the creature. It hissed a response,
making her smile. "That's what you get for taking on someone soooo
much better than you. I'm also better than you. Want to try me?"
The creature shook its head from side to side, hunched down,
then leapt high into the air, landing on the roof of the hotel's
front building. The Senshi turned, watching its progress. "And
just where do you think you're going?" The creature looked back
down at her and hissed, then took off.
The Senshi crouched down and leapt up onto the roof,
disappearing after her quarry. The Sheriff ran towards where Teffe
was standing, in a daze, trying to see in which direction the
Senshi was heading, but she was long gone.
There was a noise from the rear building, and the main door
opened. Lafayette stumbled out, looking stunned and pale.
"Lafayette!" Teffe ran to her before she fell over, catching her
and slowly lowering her to the ground. Then he realised she was
only wearing her undergarments, and, red-faced, put his jacket
around her shoulders. "Lafayette? Are you okay?" He asked her
softly. She nodded her head.
"What happened in there?" The Sheriff knelt beside them as
his other deputies, and a rather distraught-looking hotel manager,
ran from the front building towards them.
"I almost killed it." Lafayette whispered. "Almost. It was
going to kill me." She pressed herself into Teffe's chest.
"It's okay, now." Teffe held her. "Everything's alright."
"How did you...?" The Sheriff was about to ask, before she
wrenched herself from Teffe's arms, alarmed.
"It's not running away."
"Eh?" Teffe and the Sheriff said in unison. She stared at
them, imploringly.
"It's not running away. It's leading her into a trap." And
she grabbed both of them by the arm, before all three were
enveloped in a light. With an almost comical popping sound, they
vanished, eaving the manager and the other deputies staring at a
rising haze where they had once been.
To be continued. Or "bugger, is that all?" =^.^=
Sievert Dinar
sievertd@hotmail.com
Series: Sailormoon
Author: Sievert Dinar
Rating: R (For scenes of violence and sexually suggestive content)
SAND (Part 2) by Sievert Dinar
Disclaimer: This is a Standard Sailormoon Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This is another disclaimer.
Disclaimer: The previous two disclaimers were not the same as this
disclaimer.
As she approached the hotel, Lafayette noticed the small
crowd of, what amounted to in this town, important people...
Members of the Town Council, the Magistrate, the Sheriff's
deputies. Teffe... It was almost too much for one of the town's
few prostitutes to take in. She hadn't seen this many important
people together since the celebration after the township had won a
contract to supply extra quantities of the crystalline ore.
But why did Teffe have to be here?
Because he was one of the Sheriff's deputies, that's why.
With her long blond hair, tied up in a ribbon, and the
flowing, brightly coloured, low-cut dress and shawl she wore, even
within the semi-darkness of the main street it wasn't long before
she was noticed by the deputy. "Lafayette!" He called out to her
as he started across the street to where she was standing, at the
entrance to the small lane she had used as a shortcut. She sighed
inwardly... The deputy had had a thing for her ever since they
were both still in school, and had been one of her regular clients
ever since he knew what one was supposed to do with that bit
between his legs. More than a client, he LOVED her, and there were
times when that became simply overbearing. Like now.
He placed his hands on her shoulders when he'd finally
arrived, looking at her with concern. "You know what I said about
making your way back unattended."
"Give it a rest, Teffe." She sighed. "I can look after
myself, you know."
Teffe smiled. "i know, I've seen it. But you really
shouldn't take the risks you do. Even in this small town, there
are strange people..."
"In this small town there is inbreeding. Of course there are
strange people." She shrugged as he facefaulted. "Yeah yeah yeah,
I know the drill. Always make sure you travel in pairs, with one
of the other girls. Well, I did, to get there, anyway, with
Kinnie. But she and her client weren't finished, yet, and I didn't
want to sit there, waiting, listening to them finish up. You know
what it is like..."
"Okay, okay..." Teffe let her shoulders go. "It's just
that, there could be bad things going on in this town. We have an
important visitor..."
"Is that why all the suits have gathered?"
"You could say that. It's a Senshi."
Lafayette swallowed. "A what?"
"You know, one of the soldiers of the Monarchy. They don't
go anywhere without a reason, especially a town like this one." He
looked at her, meaningfully. "If she should find out..."
"Then I'll just have to avoid her, won't I?" Lafayette
huffed. "I'm more than happy, where I am. I don't want things to
change, do you understand, Teffe? I don't want things to change."
Teffe took a long breath, looking down at the ground. "Well,
you see..." He looked back up, eventually. "...She's staying in
the room next to yours. I think she already knows something."
Lafayette turned white. "No..." She shook her head. "Then
I'm not going back. Not to my place." She thought for a few
moments. "What about your place? I can bunk there for the time
being, surely?"
"You know the Sheriff has forbidden me to take you in. In a
town this size, word quickly gets around... A Sheriff's deputy and
a hooker, under the same roof. I'll end up in front of the Mayor's
commission review, and you'll find yourself whistling away your
time in a cell." He shook his head. "No, I can't do that..."
"Yeah, right." Lafayette huffed, her cheeks puffed out like
a sulking child. "You're only thinking about yourself and your
reputation. Again."
Teffe thought quickly to avoid an argument. "Do you have
Kinnie's room key?"
"We both have keys to each others' rooms, of course..." She
paused, putting a hand over her mouth in realisation. "You mean I
should stay with her."
"Her room is in the building behind the hotel. It might not
be that far from where the Senshi is staying, but it keeps you
further apart than if I tried to smuggle you back to your room."
He paused. "Do you agree?"
Lafayette looked away, scratching her head. "Kinnie isn't
going to like it. Her room ain't that big to begin with, and we
only have each others' keys as a safety measure." She sighed,
shaking her head. "There really isn't anything else I can do, is
there?" She then smiled and looped an arm around one of his.
"Well then, my knight in shining armour, guide me to a place of
safety."
Teffe blushed and tried to look nonchalant as he and
Lafayette made their way past the group in front of the hotel, the
prostitute lying her head against his arm at the most inopportune
time. As much as he didn't mind it, he had visions of what his
life would be like without a job...
"For the last ten years it has been my duty to hunt down and
destroy criminals from the Sailor Wars. Many of these...
creatures, for want of a better term, are abominations, spawned
from the evil that is Chaos itself. They sometimes take a benign
appearance, but within they are totally corrupt, and inflict the
most horrendous atrocities upon the innocent. Things you couldn't
even begin to imagine..." The Senshi paused, watching the Mayor
stare at the patch of floor where his secretary had once stood.
The Sheriff had found him a chair from somewhere in the room, and
guided him into it. For those who weren't used to it, the horrors
of the warriors of Chaos were enough to snap the mind. "Have
either of you heard of the Mirrabeen camps?"
The Sheriff, having left the Mayor in his seat, was now
leaning against the edge of the bench of drawers on the far side of
the room, his arms crossed, deep in thought. He looked up at the
Senshi, who had re-donned her fuku bodysuit and was clipping the
sleeve fasts into place. "Mirrabeen, the capital of Navos, which
had been on the frontline of the war. The enemy had set up
concentration camps there, purely for the torture of children. The
beasts would rape their minds on a daily basis."
The Senshi raised an eyebrow. "So, even in this
insignificant corner of the universe, the more lurid tales of the
enemy's excesses are known?"
"Not really. I was part of the repatriation relief corps at
the time. When Navos was reclaimed, I was posted in Deraween, not
far from Mirrabeen. The situation was not much different." He
sighed. "Which is why I'm now the sheriff in this... insignificant
corner of the universe."
"You saw too much and you wanted to get away." The Senshi
almost sounded goading, as if contemptuous of the Sheriff's
actions. He looked at her with annoyance.
"Getting away from the arrogance of the system, yes. Getting
away from the horrors that came with it, yes. Don't try to psych
me out, it simply isn't going to work."
"I'm sure." The Senshi sneered, then frowned and turned to
the window, as if registering something. She looked back at the
Sheriff and the Mayor, then strode over to the window and peered
through the curtains.
There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. At
least, not now. She was sure she had felt something...
Having left Lafayette at the door of Kinnie's room, her not
allowing him to enter as it would, most likely, have upset Kinnie,
Teffe found himself crossing the small courtyard between the front
and rear buildings of the hotel, deep in thought.
Thoughts of Lafayette, and what it would mean if the Senshi
were to catch her... Which was why he almost walked headlong into
Kinnie, who had been standing quietly in the near darkness, close
to the entrance to the front building.
For a second, before registering that it was his girl's
black-haired friend in the trade, he thought it might have been the
Senshi, actually sniffing them out, and almost jumped back a foot
in surprise before calming, hand on his chest. "Aww shit, you
scared me there, girl!"
"Scared?" Kinnie looked at him strangely, her voice flat.
"Why would you be scared?"
"Standing in the dark like that. It could have been anyone."
Kinnie ignored him. "Lafayette. Where is she?"
"Hmm?" He frowned. "She's in your room. Couldn't use hers,
what with everything going..." Before he was able to finish,
Kinnie brushed past him, quickly crossing the courtyard to the rear
building. "What's with her?" He scratched his head as he watched
her dark figure disappear inside.
"You know, it is going to be hard to explain to the
Magistrate, and the other Council members, what has happened to
Prentice. I mean, what do I tell them? That he was killed because
he was, in fact, a monster?" The Mayor's whiney voice distracted
the Senshi. She returned from the window in annoyance.
"I don't really care what you tell them. For all we know,
many of them could be like Prentice, just monstrous copies, created
by evil. Telling them anything will probably only give away our
knowledge of what the criminal is doing."
"And that is?" The Sheriff quizzed. "Just what does he
intend to do in this town, might I ask? Why even come here?"
"The crystalline ore that you mine on this planet. It is a
powerful source of life energy. Because Garribos never developed
life of its own, the life energy that has been stored here is in
plentiful supply. Imagine this, we are all descended from Earth,
one way or another, and therefore we contain tiny flickers of the
life energy that was stored by that planet. Eventually, Earth
itself became icapable of sustaining our numbers, and we moved,
from one planet to the next, sharing our demands for life energy
with other worlds that had barely been used. Garribos is one of
those worlds."
"So he had life energy in almost unlimited supply. So what?"
The Sheriff shrugged. "Garribos is such a small world, why would
he choose this one over others?"
"Because of the amount of energy that is stored here.
Despite its size, Garribos is like a life-energy dynamo. It
produces a constant stream because of the structure of the planet.
Had we not come here and settled, mining the crystalline ore, then
the planet would have simply blown itself apart. Maybe millions of
years in the future, but it would have happened. Now we are here,
not only mining the ore but using the energy ourselves. On this
planet, people are saturated with it, like fresh fruit ripe for the
picking. I'm surprised that Senshi have not already developed
here, considering. Three to four generations of this should have
seen at least one."
"So he wants the energy. How does he intend to use it?"
"Quite simple. He'll use the energy to revive his failing
existence, his failing substance, and redevelop himself into a new
form to house the essence of Chaos. Garribos will become the new
Nemesis, and all who live here will be corrupted and turned into
his servants. As I said..."
"Fresh fruit ripe for the picking, yes." The Sheriff turned
to the Mayor. "We should gather everyone in the town together, in
the main square. It will be the only way we can keep an eye on
everyone, and find out who has been corrupted."
"We can do that, but it may take too long. It'll also
distract us from searching for him. Give him an opportunity to
break into the mine. Once he gets to the extractors, even I won't
be able to stop him." The Senshi looked from one to the other,
grimly. "Perhaps we should start with a manifest of the transport
arrivals within the last few days."
The Mayor stood, suddenly looking decisive. "Yes, I'll get
all the information you want. Immediately." He suddenly looked
lost again, and the Sheriff took him by the shoulder, guiding him
to the door.
"Don't allow yourself to be distracted, Mayor. And make sure
you're with people you can trust..." The Sheriff started to
lecture him. The Mayor's eyes showed her was starting to panic.
"How would I know who to trust, if those who have been
corrupted cannot be recognised by mere mortals such as myself?"
"All of those standing in front of the hotel are not
corrupted, so I dare suggest they can be trusted." The Senshi
smiled mischievously. "As much as you can trust politicians and
the law, anyway."
Her sarcasm was lost on the Mayor, though, and he nodded
seriously to her as the Sheriff opened the door and ushered him
out, closing the door behind him. He then turned to the Senshi.
"There was no need for that. He might be a mere human, but there
wasn't any need to treat him as if that meant he were a lower form
of life."
"He's a politician. Of course he is a lower form of life.
Unfortunately all forms of government create them, so we're stuck
with them." She waved a hand in the air, as if casually brushing
the subject away. The Sheriff wasn't going to let it go so easily.
"If you want the people of this town to help you defeat this
thing, then you're going to have to take a crash course in
diplomacy. Regardless of whatever you are, you have no right..."
"Yeah yeah yeah." The Senshi sniffed, reaching for her
polearm weapon, which was leaning against the wall by the bed. "Do
you feel a ripple in the ether? I think something bad is about to
happen again."
"Wh... what?" The Sheriff tensed up. She smiled at him and
pointed at the door.
"Shall we go and check the building behind this hotel? All
this talking is starting to get to me, and I feel the need to do
something really violent."
Having switched on the small heater in the corner of the room
to warm things up, Lafayette had shed clothes down to her
undergarments and had seated herself in front of the mirror,
brushing down her hair, before she would retire to bed (Well, the
sofa, anyway) when the door to the room opened. Lafayette turned
and smiled sheepishly as Kinnie stepped in. "Oh, hi." She
chirped. "Sorry about this."
"Sorry?" Kinnie said flatly, closing the door behind her.
"Didn't you bump into Teffe on the way in. He didn't leave
all that long ago?"
"Teffe." Kinnie turned to Lafayette, staring at her. "Yes,
Teffe."
"What's up? You look rather dazed?" Lafayette placed the
brush on the table before the mirror and stood. "Aren't you
feeling well."
"No, I feel fine. Perfectly fine." Kinnie stepped across
the floor, towards her. "You are Lafayette?"
"Pardon?" Lafayette frowned.
"Yes. You are Lafayette. I can feel you."
Kinnie smiled.
"I really don't think this is wise." The Sheriff pulled his
firearm from its holster and checked to see whether it was loaded
and in a condition to be fired. It had been a long time since he
had needed to. He then followed the Senshi down the stairs and
into the main hallway. "If something is about to happen, you
should let me and my men deal with it. Who knows what will happen
if you get out of control."
"It's 'My men and I', and I'm more likely to be effective
against this beast than you. Remember what I told you about the
camps in Mirrabeen?"
The Sheriff nodded mutely as she turned to him, the blade of
her weapon swinging alarmingly close to his face. "Uhh, yeah.
What about it?"
"The thing we are up against created the demon that made that
camp. In fact, created all the demons on the front of Navos. And
those demons have a thing for raping and mutilating the minds of
innocents, especially if those innocents contain copious quantities
of life energy. And one of them is in the rear building of this
hotel, right now, ready to feast."
"What do you..." The Sheriff found momentary distraction
from his confusion in the presence of one of his deputies,
approaching from the far end of the main hall. "Teffe!" He called
out. "Teffe, I need some help. Can you get the..."
Before he could finish his request, Teffe stopped and stared
at them, then quickly turned and made his way back towards the
entrance to the function room, from where he'd appeared. The
Senshi had watched his reaction from aside, a snide half-smile on
his face.
"Ah, the golden-haired youths who fall in love with the
beauties who shine most brightly." She almost whispered. The
Sheriff shook his head.
"Damn you. You've got everyone in this town in jitters."
"Maybe not for the reasons you think." And with that she
took off after Teffe, so fast that the Sheriff didn't know what was
happening before she'd disappeared from sight.
"This is crazy." He muttered to himself, and proceeded to
follow.
"KINNIE!" Lafayette cried out as her friend pinned her to
the floor with strength far greater than anyone her size and
stature should have had. "Let go! You're hurting me!"
"Yessssss..." Kinnie hissed, grinning. "Yes, I am hurting
you. How does it feel? Do you like it?"
"What's gotten into you?" Lafayette struggled as Kinnie
pinned both her arms above her head with one hand, squeezing her
flesh tight. Lafayette's eyes filled with tears of pain. "Oww!
Owwwoowwwww!"
"Hurts so good. Pain is good. Time to die, little bright
one. Time to rip out your soul." Kinnie opened up her mouth,
wider than a normal human jaw would allow, and a sharp, spear-like
frond slithered out from the back of her throat.
Lafayette stared at the frond, not understanding what was
going on, but instinctively knowing it was not something she would
like to see in action, especially not on her.
And she closed her eyes.
And screamed.
Teffe reached the courtyard before he felt the collar of his
jacket grabbed from behind. The sudden, sharp jerk caused his feet
to slip on the cobblestones and he went flying forward, landing
heavily on his back.
He stared at the night sky, seeing stars, literally and
figuratively. "What..." He mumbled, before the Senshi's face
leaned over his.
"You were going to get reinforcements, I take it?" She
smiled, kneeling over his prone form. "Or am I thinking too far
ahead?"
"You!" Teffe sat up quickly. Too quickly, his head hitting
hers rather hard. The both of them were sitting in the courtyard,
holding their bruised egos when the Sheriff found them.
"Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" He leaned
against the doorway.
"Not particularly funny." The Senshi stood, brushing hair
from her eyes with a flourish. "Especially not at this moment."
She turned to the rear building, from which a woman's scream could
be heard.
"My God." The Sheriff tensed. "Who is that?"
"Lafayette!" Teffe stood and started to stagger forward.
"Lafayette!" He cried out again, as the scream abruptly ceased.
"This..." The Senshi smiled. "...Is where I come in."
There was a steadily rising hum from the building, which was
then immersed in a brilliant light, ending abruptly when a huge
blast blew through the roof, expelling a doll-like figure high into
the air. The Senshi and the Sheriff watched as the figure arced
across the sky, then plummeted to the ground, landing in the middle
of the courtyard with a splattering squelch.
The figure then started to lift itself from the ground,
oozing a foul-smelling black slime, and stood, facing the Senshi
like a puppet on strings. What little remained of Kinnie's
features had been warped by the mutation into the creature that
she now was, or burnt off by the blast.
The Sheriff was lost for words, but the Senshi was not. She
lifted her polearm, blade forward, in an attack pose. "Well,
aren't we a mess?" She mocked the creature. It hissed a response,
making her smile. "That's what you get for taking on someone soooo
much better than you. I'm also better than you. Want to try me?"
The creature shook its head from side to side, hunched down,
then leapt high into the air, landing on the roof of the hotel's
front building. The Senshi turned, watching its progress. "And
just where do you think you're going?" The creature looked back
down at her and hissed, then took off.
The Senshi crouched down and leapt up onto the roof,
disappearing after her quarry. The Sheriff ran towards where Teffe
was standing, in a daze, trying to see in which direction the
Senshi was heading, but she was long gone.
There was a noise from the rear building, and the main door
opened. Lafayette stumbled out, looking stunned and pale.
"Lafayette!" Teffe ran to her before she fell over, catching her
and slowly lowering her to the ground. Then he realised she was
only wearing her undergarments, and, red-faced, put his jacket
around her shoulders. "Lafayette? Are you okay?" He asked her
softly. She nodded her head.
"What happened in there?" The Sheriff knelt beside them as
his other deputies, and a rather distraught-looking hotel manager,
ran from the front building towards them.
"I almost killed it." Lafayette whispered. "Almost. It was
going to kill me." She pressed herself into Teffe's chest.
"It's okay, now." Teffe held her. "Everything's alright."
"How did you...?" The Sheriff was about to ask, before she
wrenched herself from Teffe's arms, alarmed.
"It's not running away."
"Eh?" Teffe and the Sheriff said in unison. She stared at
them, imploringly.
"It's not running away. It's leading her into a trap." And
she grabbed both of them by the arm, before all three were
enveloped in a light. With an almost comical popping sound, they
vanished, eaving the manager and the other deputies staring at a
rising haze where they had once been.
To be continued. Or "bugger, is that all?" =^.^=
Sievert Dinar
sievertd@hotmail.com
