Chapter 4
Her avatar must be trying to teach her something because after getting up and taking care of things the next morning she fell into trance again.
She left Chinatown after two more years. Scar was appointed leader by a vote of all the clan members. She had used some of the time to set up several bank accounts for her use. They were set up in the name H. J. Anderson. That way it didn't matter if she was looked like a man or woman she could withdraw the funds.
She was now thirty-four but still didn't look older than eighteen. She noticed one of her shortcomings was the lack of firearms skills. She had learned with her time in the monastery that when she sought training that she should learn from the best. She decided to get into the army Special Forces unit.
Enlistment in the army was easy. The Vietnam Conflict was active. Henry Anderson was soon in boot camp.
Henry didn't seem to understand something about boot camp, and that is never draw attention to yourself. On the first day when the drill sergeant made his welcome derogatory remarks, he said, "You guys look like a bunch of pansy picking women. You make me sick. Is there any one of you with the guts to fight me to a fall?"
Henry spoke up, "Sir, I could Sir."
Sergeant Jefferson said, "Son you don't even look eighteen. There is no way you could take me."
"Sir, you asked for someone to spar with. I would be happy to comply. I assume that the sparring rules indicate that I am not supposed to hurt you, is that correct sir?"
Sergeant Jefferson was annoyed. Here was this kid asking to make sure he wasn't supposed to hurt HIM! He motioned Henry out. As they started circling, he noticed He didn't hold his hands up in fists like almost everyone he met but low and open.
The Platoon watched as this kid about 5' 4" circled the platoon sergeant and suddenly they came together and the sergeant went flying. He picked himself up looked at the kid and said, "Good throw kid. You may actually have some skills. That does not mean we will take it easy on you.
Training went on as it does. Most of the platoon thought it was hell. Henry thought it was good exercise. Sergeant Jefferson was always looking for something to punish Henry about but he never had anything. He graduated with the best reviews in his platoon.
Once his one station unit training was over, he went for Special Forces weapon sergeant training. This took forty-two weeks. It was extremely rigorous. He then spent six months on learning a new language. Since languages were so easy for him, he actually learned Spanish and French at the same time. Sniper school was next. This is where something unusual happened.
On the first day of training, he sensed something supernatural near him but could not pinpoint the source because it was different. By the second day of training, he was sure it was coming from one of his fellow students. On the third day one of the other students walked over to the table where Henry was sitting for breakfast and introduced himself as Jonathan Nestor.
"I hope you don't mind me interrupting your breakfast like this but I wanted to let you know that I am no threat to you."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I am talking about the fact you have been touched by the dragon and the tiger my lady mage."
"You just got yourself in a world of hurt unless you explain yourself."
"Is this really the place for that?"
"No one will pay attention to us at all. I could rip your head off while you screamed and they wouldn't notice. I suggest you explain quickly just to make sure I don't want to test the edge on my dagger." With that, she got out her dagger. It was made of the same enchanted material as her sword and had her runes carved on it for spells.
"You could say I am an anomaly. I am a Dhampir. My father was a vampire and my mother was a mortal. My father's sire killed him and my mother when I was six. I have decided to hunt the dead and the forces of chaos to make the world safer for mortals. I contacted you because I could sense you were seeking me and I did not want to chance having you for an enemy."
"That was probably a wise idea. I could sense a feeling of supernatural tinged by chaos and could have tried to eliminate the risk. Some of my friends among the natural folk have told me the dead can never be trusted. To date I have nothing to lead me to believe otherwise."
"May I suggest that you influence the instructors so that when we do sniper spotter pairs that we work together?"
"That may be a good suggestion. We need to go to training. We will talk later."
That evening they met again. "Ok you need to explain to me why I can trust you. Having anyone know about me is dangerous."
"As I see it in my best interest to tell you the truth ma'am I will. I inherited some unusual abilities from my father. I have heightened senses, increased strength, endurance and the ability to see auras. You have a very complicates aura. Right now, I see you are suspicious and sad; it sparkles so you have magic invoked or you are so strong it sparkles all the time. It is also somewhat faded so that tells me you are supernatural yourself. Let's see if I can come to any conclusions. You probably have some form of magic protection up. You look like a guy so that's magic. I know you don't sleep much so you must be part elven. Sad hmm suspicious, ouch, you have decided I may be too much risk. I would really prefer you trust me as opposed to destroy me."
Helen was stunned. Her concentration completely broke. Her magic dropped and she looked like herself again. She moved quickly and her dagger was out and at his throat before he could do more than flinch. "I would not move much. This dagger is enchanted to make supernatural beings take damage from it like mortals do from plane steel. You seem to know about me, far to damn much for me to be comfortable. When we leave this table, either we will be partners or you will have had a heart attack. Do you realize how much magic I will have to use to put things back together?"
"I really am sorry. My energy pool fills differently than yours. My body being alive fills the pool naturally. I assume meditation helps you recover your magic, power, essence, mana or whatever you call it."
"Tell me your story. You don't seem to be any better off than I was."
"The police put me in an orphanage because no one in foster care wanted me. One day I had all I could take and walked out. I was sixteen. Life on the streets in L.A. is no fun. I ended up joining a gang just for protection. I was their muscle. I never did drugs or abused girls unasked but I did beat some people up that I wish I hadn't.
"One night we were chilling and this big fancy black car pulls up. I sensed something bad in the car. I couldn't move. One of the other kids gets up and gets in back of the car. A minute later I could hear screams inside my head like his soul was being ripped apart. Too soon, the screams stopped and a deep laugh rang out. I knew he had his life drained away by a vampire. I swore then to fight them. I had to learn to fight. So here I am. I would almost give my soul for a dagger like yours since I know it can harm them."
Helen took her dagger away from his throat. Concentrated a moment and looked like Henry again. "You know, I actually believe you. Do me a favor. Don't startle me like that again."
John grinned, "You know I bet the two of us can have the best scores that have ever come out of this school, especially now that I have a partner worth something!"
Henry looked around a moment then went over to the rear end of a jeep parked nearby. He picked the back end up off the ground until the tires were waist high. "Just so you don't think you are the only strong one around here. One other thing, I have mastered every form of martial arts that I have been exposed to. Just because I am a girl, it would be unwise to try anything. I can break you in half if I must with or without weapons. If you are worth trusting, I can promise you a dagger like that for yourself."
John grinned at Henry, "Man you got yourself a deal. I hope I am harder to kill than you think I will be. When we get out of the army I hope to talk you into helping me destroy some of the dead that walk."
A couple of hours later one of the corporals from the communications center came and found Henry. "Your scheduled phone call can be taken in your commander's office in a few minutes."
She was now thoroughly confused. No one knew she was here. She went into the office. The phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello"
"Hello Mei, my firm would like the honor of investing for you. We will charge no fees for any of our transactions. The accounts that you have wisely set up with initials have excellent starting balances for the investments. I am related to some of the red furred brethren you met over seas. We watched you in Frisco but you needed no help and as predicted, you helped all you could. We would do this as a way of saying thank you for saving so many of us. If you happen to need more material converted to cash we will do that for you also."
"Let me guess. You are one of the children of Gaia?"
"Yes I have that honor. I personally am from overseas and I enjoy studying the weave of life. One of the members of a different clan is on your base. You have but to go to the PX and you will be contacted."
"From what I understand I have nothing to lose if I let you invest for me. How do we handle the paper work?"
"Your voice authorization is enough. We will start tonight."
Over the rest of the training, John and Henry did very well as a sniper spotter team. They made some of the best scores recorded.
Six years later both John and Henry had made Sergeant First Class by the time they mustered out. Helen was just happy to have been able to influence things so that the two of them never had to go on missions of questionable morality. Also in those six years, whenever she had extra mana she continued to convert coal and base metals.
She woke from her meditation early. She wondered what her avatar had wanted her to see. It had been thirty-seven years since she left the military, fighting evil the whole time. Glancing at the mirror, she still looked like an eighteen year old.
Feeling unsure what would happen next, for the first time in years she packed her fathers suitcase into the pocket storage dimension she had created years ago. She checked her wards they were tight. In fact, there was now nothing left in sight to indicate anyone unusual lived here, a three-bedroom home with a full basement. She went from room to room to try to find what was wrong. Finally, she sat on the couch and looked at her meditation bowl where she kept stones of many shapes and colors. Running the stones through her fingers, she came upon a really nice piece of black quartz. Looking at it closely she marveled at the creators handy work, good points, solid with no flaws, deep rich color. Suddenly her mind screamed. She didn't own a piece of black quartz. It was a trap. In her minds eye, she saw thirteen figures in a circle chanting. At the center of them was a large black stone. She was starting to fade away. Her last sight of this plane was the leader of the coven's surprised face when the stone exploded and killed them all.