Title: Sand (Part 3)
Series: Sailormoon
Author: Sievert Dinar
Rating: R (For scenes of violence and sexually suggestive content)
SAND (Part 3) 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.
Across the rooves of the township the Senshi pursued the
abomination. Automatic lights flickered on as they flitted by,
sensors registering their transitory presence.
The chill wind of the desert night was free up here. With
many of the rooves above the line of the town wall, there was
little to stop the steady stream of heat-tearing air. Yet the
Senshi was perspiring, her body reacting to the sudden overexertion
required to chase the creature that had once been Kimmie, fuelled
by the excesses of her Senshi powers.
And she wouldn't have it any other way. She loved the chase
of her particular form of prey, polearm blade swinging like a
propeller in their footsteps, often missing the target
deliberately. A creature like this was nothing for a true
Senshi... Easily defeatable, whenever she deigned it time. It had
even suffered appalling injuries at the hands of a novice, albeit a
powerful one, such as the whore... Lafayette? Was that her name?
She wasn't even fooled by its attempts to make its flight
look random. She knew it had switched to some kind of backup plan,
after its attempt on Lafayette's life had failed. But she WAS
curious, by what it intended to do, where it was trying to lead
her.
And all the while, she could feel the eyes of her TRUE enemy,
watching her.
The Mayor shivered as he downed a scotch, the best malt the
hotel manager's wife was able to rustle up at such short notice, as
he sat at the bar, flanked by two of his councillors. The smaller
and younger of the two held a folder in his hands as the other
patted the hotel manager, who was sitting on the next bar stool, in
sympathy for the damage to the residential building at the back of
his establishment.
"That's three rooms gone, you know that?" The manager shook
his head. "Three rooms, with smoke damage to the rest of the
place. And that damn Senshi wasn't even involved. I'd hate to see
what would have happened had she been."
"The entire hotel probably would've been immolated." The
Mayor placed his glass on the bar and turned to the councillor with
the folder. "Well, Tompkins, you had better give me the good bad
news about the transport arrivals."
"Uuhh... Yes sir." Tompkins opened the folder and started
leafing through its contents. "Well, sir, as you asked for anyone
on the manifest who stood out as being, well, unusual, and I have
to say, nobody really stands out. A couple of families, some mine
workers, a merchant, a new chief pharmacist and an engineer.
That's about all, really."
"Did you run a background check on these people, Tompkins,
there are occasions where we like to make sure that the people who
arrive here are actually what they say they are, especially if
they're actually horrible, demonic creatures, intent on killing
everyone in the town." The Mayor said the words with a silkiness
that, in Tompkins mind, was quite uncalled for.
"Well, it's not as if we have any plans to deal with this
kind of situation, sir..."
"Well of course we don't have any bloody plans, Tompkins, why
the hell would anything like that bother coming to Garribos, to our
town... Wait a minute..." The Mayor's brow furrowed as a worrying
thought crossed his mind. "Did you say that one of the people
who'd arrived in town was an engineer?"
"Er, yes sir." Tompkins flicked through the notes within the
folder. "One Phillip Mathis, thirtyfive years old. Used to be an
engineer for the impeller drive in the Shackleyville mine. Mister
Prentice hired him." He paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, sir, I
didn't mean..."
"That's alright, Tompkins, I think I'm starting to get over
it already. Having that damn Senshi in town is skewing my thinking
like you wouldn't believe." The Mayor stood from his stool,
readjusting his coat jacket and tie. "I take it, then, that this
Phillip Mathis really is whom he says he is?"
"Well, sir, if it really is as bad as you say it is..."
"Never mind. Where was this Mathis staying?"
Tompkins looked through his papers once more. "Umm, at Mrs
Kimble's guest house, along with the merchant, Egerton Cuppert."
"Mrs Kimble's guest house?" The Mayor frowned, grimly.
"That, if what Deputy Calin tells me is correct, is where our dear
ladies of the night did peddle their services."
"Lafayette and Kinnie?" The hotel manager looked up from his
miserable fugue. "Well, they did have customers tonight, but they
would never have been able to go near Mrs Kimble's. She wouldn't
let girls like that near her daughter."
"No, she wouldn't." The Mayor turned to him. "Makes you
wonder if Mrs Kimble was entirely herself, doesn't it?"
The Senshi landed silently within the rear courtyard of the
small house, holding out her polearm as a balance. Slowly, she
stood, warily taking in the darkness into which the abomination had
ceased its flight and vanished. She could feel the dark energies,
latent within this place, stronger than it had been before, but not
strong enough to have been her true enemy... Other abominations?
More unfortunates, turned into a sick mirror image of the people
they had one been? How many were there? Two? Three? Maybe...
Just at that point, the courtyard lit up, and she felt
herself become heavy, weighted down. Surprised, she fell to her
knees and stared at the ground, where she could see the burning
bright image of an inverted pentagram within a circle. There were
four of them, including the creature that had been Kinnie, just
enough to generate the dark energies to create the burning circle,
to trap her and try to drain off some, but certainly not all, of
her power.
Oh, it would have been enough, certainly to slow down her
hunt for her true enemy. With what would be taken from her, her
ability to sense the enemy would have been diminished, as well as
her ability to fight him. She looked up at the four figures,
standing around the circle now... Kinnie, her body mutilated and
mutated almost beyond recognition, along with a man in his mid
thirties, and middle-aged woman and a young girl, perhaps no older
than ten. That really hurt... She hated it most when the beasts
turned children.
The child smiled at her as she stared in her direction: a
sick, rictus-grin, of someone who was more than dead. She wanted
to lift up her weapon, sitting at her feet where she had dropped
it, and rip the child in half, thus ending her suffering, but the
dark energies held her fast. How stupid she was, not to realise
what was going on.
And how stupid her enemy was, not to take into account that
there was, still, more than one Senshi within the town, despite his
best efforts. With a bright flash and a comical popping sound,
Lafayette appeared above the girl, and brought her fingernails to
bear on the monster-child's back, ripping her apart.
The girl screamed and exploded as Lafayette landed on the
ground, her eyes unseeing, as if hypnotised. She then stood as the
girl's remains scattered into dust around her, watching as the
burning circle faded and failed. The three remaining abominations
hunched down on their fours and hissed angrily at the newcomer,
forgetting that, with their trap now gone, the Senshi was no longer
bound and weak, free to do as she pleased.
And she did.
Before they could attack Lafayette, she grabbed her polearm,
stood and swung the blade in a long arc, cutting all three through
the midriff. They screamed and exploded in exactly the same manner
as the girl, and then were no more than dust.
The Senshi shook her body, loosening up her muscles and
joints, shaking away the dark energies that had tried to injure
her, and turned to Lafayette as Teffe and the Sherrif appeared on
either side of her. They staggered a moment and looked around,
dazed and confused. "What happened?" The Sherrif looked at
Lafayette, who was still standing blankly between them. "Where are
we?"
"This is the back yard of Mrs Kimble's guest house." Teffe
said, before almost jumping a full two feet into the air as the
courtyard lights flickered on, the sensors no longer suppressed by
the dark energies. "Woah. That's not something I want to do
again, any time soon." He then registered the presence of the
Senshi, and that she was staring at Lafayette. "You..." He put
himself between the two women. "I know what you're thinking, and
you can just stop it, you hear?"
"I wish I knew what she was thinking. It might make things a
lot easier." The Sherrif shook his head to clear the cobwebs.
"What was that?"
"Sailor Teleport. A basic power of a Senshi." The Senshi
stepped forward, towards the Sherrif, but not taking her eyes off
Lafayette.
"Well, next time, would you warn me before you do that. I'm
just a mere mortal, and it isn't much fun, I can assure you."
"Oh, I didn't do it." The Senshi turned to him, now. "I can
assure YOU."
"Then who did?" He turned to Lafayette. "And what is wrong
with her? She must be freezing, dressed like she is."
"She's talking about Lafayette." Teffe brushed the Sherrif
aside and took Lafayette by the hand. With her seeming compliance,
he guided her towards the verandah of the guest house. The Sherrif
looked from them, to the Senshi, and back.
"Lafayette? But she isn't..."
"A Senshi? No. I'm afraid she isn't." The Senshi smiled.
"Her mother probably was, though. Remember what I said about this
planet, and its dynamo-like generation of life energy, and that I
thought it strange that no Senshi had ever appeared amongst the
more permanent population. Well, there are Senshi here. Probably
dozens, but they probably don't realise it."
"Oh great. And I thought things were bad with just one."
The Sherrif threw his hands in the air in frustration. "So
Lafayette has inherited some of her mother's powers, if her mother
ever had them. So what? Even if she had them, they were of no
use to her. She died a mortal woman, in an accident. If she had
really been a Senshi, you'd think she would have been able to
prevent that from happening."
"On Garribos? This planet is so latent with energy that they
probably wouldn't have realised their own energy signature from the
background noise the planet creates. It is recognition of that
signature that gives birth to the Senshi. So her mother probably
didn't know." She nodded at Lafayette. "But she DID recognise it,
from a very early age, because she is not a Senshi."
"You can't prove that. You can't prove a thing." Teffe spat
in the Senshi's direction. "Why did you have to come here?"
"Deputy! Are you insane?" The Sherrif stepped over to Teffe
and Lafayette. "Who do you think you're talking to? What the hell
is wrong with you?"
"Why don't you tell him, eh? Why don't you spell it out for
him?" Teffe growled at the Senshi. "That you can't let a Senshi
novice go, and live a normal life. That, once recognised, you drag
them away from their home, to 'train' them, back on the stinking
homeworld..."
"I keep telling you, she is not a Senshi. But yes, that will
have to happen." The Senshi rested her weapon against her
shoulder. "It is for the best. Who knows what would happen if she
were to inadvertantly use her powers, with no understanding in how
to control them. The situation could be disasterous."
"It doesn't matter. She doesn't want to leave, and that, as
far as I'm concerned, is good enough for me." Teffe turned away
from the Senshi and slowly lowered Lafayette into a seated position
against the wall of the guest house.
"You will change your mind, when you realise just what she
is to become." The Senshi turned away from them and gestured to
the house and courtyard. "This place... Is there some
significance to it all?"
"This is the Guest House of Mrs Marlene Kimble. She's a
widow, living with her daughter. Her husband used to be a mine
worker, until he was killed in a drilling accident. Since then,
she has hired out some of the rooms..."
"For other mine workers, preferably male." The Senshi
finished his sentence for him.
"Only important ones. Chief or Specialised engineers. She
liked having a male presence around the house. It made her feel
safer, at least, for her daughter."
"Silly woman." The Senshi tutted unsympathically. "Men are
more trouble than they are worth."
"Forgive me for being a man, then." The Sherrif sniffed with
mock hurt pride.
"Whatever the case, I think we can now rule out Mrs Kimble,
her daughter and their guest as a going prospect. They had been
turned, like Prentice and the other girl."
"What?" Teffe turned from his efforts to bring Lafayette
around. "You can't be serious."
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I had to..." She took a breath as
Teffe turned away, disgusted. "No point laying all the blame on
me, young man, it's your girlfriend, there, who put the little girl
out of her misery."
"God." The Sherrif looked pale. "Marlene and Tricia? Both
of them." He put a hand over his mouth, as if to be sick.
"And their guest, whoever was staying with them." The Senshi
underlined, grimly. "I'd say this is where Lafayette and her
friend did their last order of business, before returning to the
hotel."
"Lafayette left here first." Teffe looked into the woman's
blank eyes. "And she wasn't turned."
"But Kinnie was." The Sherrif leaned against a verandah
post. "Did they have just the one customer?"
"I... I was lead to believe that they had a customer each.
And the one Lafayette was with didn't try to attack her in any
way."
"I'd dare suggest he was human, then. She would surely have
felt something about him, otherwise." The Senshi snorted. "Being
that close to him."
"Oh, it's soooo easy for you to moralise, I'm sure. You've
never had to live a hand to mouth existence, like we mere mortals."
Teffe's anger had returned. "Just because she's on the game
doesn't make her any less a human being."
"Phew, sore nerve there." The Senshi shook a hand in his
direction, mockingly, then continued. "However, she left early
because Kinnie was still busy, and unless Mrs Kimble had tastes we
didn't know about, I'd say that puts another person in the guest
house at the same time."
"Your man." The Sherrif nodded. "The one you're after."
"Indeed."
"Yes, but why here? Why not in the hotel? Or why not
register for one of the empty residences upon his arrival? Surely
it would have been easier if he had gone incognito almost as soon
as he arrived."
"No, there was something he wanted. Something here." The
Senshi rubbed her chin, then stepped over to Teffe and Lafayette.
The deputy stood, trying to turn himself into a shield. The Senshi
looked at him, painfully. "I was only going to try to bring her
round. She was here earlier, remember? She might know something,
about why the freak chose to stay here, and where he might be now."
"He's not here, then? I mean, not anymore?" The Sherrif
gently pushed Teffe aside and knelt down to Lafayette, softly
shaking her by the shoulders.
"No, he isn't. Had he been, I would have known. So would
Lafayette, and she probably wouldn't have felt safe enough to put
herself into the protective trance she's in right now."
There was a noise from beyond the courtyard, the sound of
approaching vehicles. The Senshi, the Sherrif and Teffe turned and
listened as a group of the vehicles passed by the side wall of the
courtyard. The Sherrif strode over to the gate in the wall and
threw it open as a second group approached on the road beyond.
There were eight trikes and buggies, each carrying two to
three men apiece, all armed. A couple on the lead trikes were
deputies of the Sherrif, and he was able to stop the group as he
waved them down.
The first he approached was Calin, a much older and more
grizzled figure than Teffe, who had served under the Sherrif for
a few months shy of a decade. The deputy removed his riding
goggles as the Sherrif shouted out to him over the sound of the
motors.
"What's going on? Where are you people going?"
"Up to the mine, sir. The Mayor told us to." Calin pointed
up the street to the largest building complex in the township,
still some distance away but easily visible, illuminated by
hundreds of lights as it was.
"The mine?"
"Yes sir. He said they looked into the background of the
worker who was staying here." Calin gestured to the guest house.
"I take it you have things under control here, then?"
"You could say that." The Sherrif frowned as a third group
of vehicles roared past them. "Is it to protect the mine?"
"Hmm?"
"Sending all the men up there. Is it to protect it from our
mysterious friend?"
"No, as I was about to say, the Mayor looked into the
background of the worker who was staying here. Apparently the guy
had already been briefed on all of the access codes and system
operations of the mine before leaving his original posting."
"Which is why my target chose to stay here." The Senshi
approached them, stepping slowly from the gate into the lane. The
men on the vehicles watched her, warily. "He knew who this person
was. How he knew, we would probably never find out. But by
turning him, he gained all of that man's knowledge."
"Hmm?" Calin shook his head. "The Mayor thinks this
criminal may have kidnapped the man and taken him to the mine.
So he headed up there with the men he had on hand, and told Forrest
and I to collect as many more as we could."
"He did WHAT?" The Sherrif stared at Calin as if he were
mad. "What does he think he is going to be able to do, no matter
how many men he takes, against a war criminal from the Forces of
Chaos?"
"We don't have much time." The Senshi gestured to Calin and
the other man sitting on the trike. "You two, off. Help Teffe
with Lafayette, back in the guest house. Sherrif, you do the
driving."
Calin and the other man looked at each other, then
reluctantly dismounted the trike. The Sherrif shook his head.
"So, you still need help from us mere mortals to get around."
"Not really. I could ride the thing myself if I didn't have
to carry this weapon about." The Senshi shook her polearm.
"Well, then, why don't you give it to me? I'm sure I could
carry it for you."
The Senshi smiled and held out the weapon, horizontally, for
the Sherrif. He looked at it warily, then took it with one hand,
as she had held it. It was like trying to hold up a transport with
one hand: he fell to his knees, his hand under an impossible
weight. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he removed his fingers before
they were crushed, the polearm clattering to the ground. "What the
hell is that made from?"
He watched as the Senshi casually picked it up, again one-
handed. "It's not what it is made from..." She almost chuckled.
"It is how you intend to use it that determines whether it wishes
to be held or not. As you have no use for it, it... feels no need
to be held by you." She gestured to the trike. "Shall we go?"
The group approached the empty lot in front of the mine
complex. The main gate to the complex was wide open, and through
it could be seen the other vehicles that had passed earlier.
At the head of the group, the Sherrif coasted his trike to a
stop just outside the entrance, shutting off his motor. He
gestured to the others to do the same. Riding pillion, the Senshi
tapped him on the shoulder and dismounted, her polearm resting on
her shoulder. She stepped past the trike and through the gates,
pausing to take note of the guard post.
"Well?" The Sherrif also dismounted. The Senshi turned back
to him and shook her head. "I'd say we were almost too late." She
pointed at the guard post. "This poor man would have been the
first to die."
The Sherrif stepped up to the gate and stared at the corpse,
still seated at the window. Apart from the fact that his head was
missing, there wasn't a sign that he'd even noticed the approach of
his killer. The Sherrif swallowed. "Tommy Kernhoff. He's been
the gatesman at the mine for almost seven years."
"Not any more." The Senshi turned from him, dismissively.
The Sherrif clenched his teeth, angrily.
"Can't you be a little more sensitive to peoples' feelings?"
"There is nothing more we can do for the dead, Sherrif.
However, there are people very much alive in here." She pointed to
the entrance of the mine's front building. There were other
figures, lying on the steps.
The Sherrif gestured to his men to dismount and follow as he
stepped back to his trike, removing a shotgun from its mount, just
under the seat. Slowly, they filed through the gate as the Senshi
moved on to the steps, checking the bodies. She waved them over,
and as they approached, they could see one or two of the figures
were still alive and breathing.
"Are they...?" The Sherrif was about to ask, but the Senshi
shook her head.
"No, they're still human." She pointed to one, whose left
arm had been ripped clean from his shoulder. "But they won't be
alive for long, unless they receive some attention."
She placed her polearm against the steps and knelt down to
the first man, holding her hands out to the bloodied stump. There
was a soft, warm glow, and the bleeding slowed and stopped as the
wound cauterised. She then stood and snapped her fingers, pointing
at the man she had helped to heal, then turned to a second figure,
one of the mine workers, who was bleeding from his side. She
repeated the effort as two of the Sherrif's men carried the first
injured man away.
"What is that you are doing?" The Sherrif leaned over her.
"Some form of Senshi healing power?"
"No. This is something I can do, surplus to my role as a
Senshi.
"Useful, I have to say."
"Painful. It takes a bit out of me." She stopped and sat
back on a stair. "He'll live, if you get him to a hospital, fast."
The Sherrif nodded and gestured to two more men to take the worker
away.
"So, what now?" He asked as he watched his men carrying the
worker in the footsteps of the earlier party.
"I'm going to have to take the freak on alone." She sighed.
"If any of you get in the way, he'll probably do the same."
"And what about the Mayor and his men?"
"They're probably dead. Or worse." She sighed and looked
down at the steps. "I'm feeling really old today, you know that?
Nobody over 1200 years of age should be doing anything like this."
"Are you alright?" The Sherrif took her shoulder with
concern. She looked up at him and smiled.
"I'm as well as could be expected." And with that, she
grabbed her polearm and stood. "Time to go. Sherrif, you and your
men follow men from a respective distance. Take as many of the
injured as you can back to whatever hospital or clinic you have
here. Leave the nasty stuff to experienced, nasty people like me."
And with that, she opened the main doors to the front
building and stared into the lobby. There were about a dozen more
bodies lying there in various states of death or near-death.
"Although there are times when I wish I didn't have to be so
experienced." She said, before stepping in.
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 3) 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.
Across the rooves of the township the Senshi pursued the
abomination. Automatic lights flickered on as they flitted by,
sensors registering their transitory presence.
The chill wind of the desert night was free up here. With
many of the rooves above the line of the town wall, there was
little to stop the steady stream of heat-tearing air. Yet the
Senshi was perspiring, her body reacting to the sudden overexertion
required to chase the creature that had once been Kimmie, fuelled
by the excesses of her Senshi powers.
And she wouldn't have it any other way. She loved the chase
of her particular form of prey, polearm blade swinging like a
propeller in their footsteps, often missing the target
deliberately. A creature like this was nothing for a true
Senshi... Easily defeatable, whenever she deigned it time. It had
even suffered appalling injuries at the hands of a novice, albeit a
powerful one, such as the whore... Lafayette? Was that her name?
She wasn't even fooled by its attempts to make its flight
look random. She knew it had switched to some kind of backup plan,
after its attempt on Lafayette's life had failed. But she WAS
curious, by what it intended to do, where it was trying to lead
her.
And all the while, she could feel the eyes of her TRUE enemy,
watching her.
The Mayor shivered as he downed a scotch, the best malt the
hotel manager's wife was able to rustle up at such short notice, as
he sat at the bar, flanked by two of his councillors. The smaller
and younger of the two held a folder in his hands as the other
patted the hotel manager, who was sitting on the next bar stool, in
sympathy for the damage to the residential building at the back of
his establishment.
"That's three rooms gone, you know that?" The manager shook
his head. "Three rooms, with smoke damage to the rest of the
place. And that damn Senshi wasn't even involved. I'd hate to see
what would have happened had she been."
"The entire hotel probably would've been immolated." The
Mayor placed his glass on the bar and turned to the councillor with
the folder. "Well, Tompkins, you had better give me the good bad
news about the transport arrivals."
"Uuhh... Yes sir." Tompkins opened the folder and started
leafing through its contents. "Well, sir, as you asked for anyone
on the manifest who stood out as being, well, unusual, and I have
to say, nobody really stands out. A couple of families, some mine
workers, a merchant, a new chief pharmacist and an engineer.
That's about all, really."
"Did you run a background check on these people, Tompkins,
there are occasions where we like to make sure that the people who
arrive here are actually what they say they are, especially if
they're actually horrible, demonic creatures, intent on killing
everyone in the town." The Mayor said the words with a silkiness
that, in Tompkins mind, was quite uncalled for.
"Well, it's not as if we have any plans to deal with this
kind of situation, sir..."
"Well of course we don't have any bloody plans, Tompkins, why
the hell would anything like that bother coming to Garribos, to our
town... Wait a minute..." The Mayor's brow furrowed as a worrying
thought crossed his mind. "Did you say that one of the people
who'd arrived in town was an engineer?"
"Er, yes sir." Tompkins flicked through the notes within the
folder. "One Phillip Mathis, thirtyfive years old. Used to be an
engineer for the impeller drive in the Shackleyville mine. Mister
Prentice hired him." He paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, sir, I
didn't mean..."
"That's alright, Tompkins, I think I'm starting to get over
it already. Having that damn Senshi in town is skewing my thinking
like you wouldn't believe." The Mayor stood from his stool,
readjusting his coat jacket and tie. "I take it, then, that this
Phillip Mathis really is whom he says he is?"
"Well, sir, if it really is as bad as you say it is..."
"Never mind. Where was this Mathis staying?"
Tompkins looked through his papers once more. "Umm, at Mrs
Kimble's guest house, along with the merchant, Egerton Cuppert."
"Mrs Kimble's guest house?" The Mayor frowned, grimly.
"That, if what Deputy Calin tells me is correct, is where our dear
ladies of the night did peddle their services."
"Lafayette and Kinnie?" The hotel manager looked up from his
miserable fugue. "Well, they did have customers tonight, but they
would never have been able to go near Mrs Kimble's. She wouldn't
let girls like that near her daughter."
"No, she wouldn't." The Mayor turned to him. "Makes you
wonder if Mrs Kimble was entirely herself, doesn't it?"
The Senshi landed silently within the rear courtyard of the
small house, holding out her polearm as a balance. Slowly, she
stood, warily taking in the darkness into which the abomination had
ceased its flight and vanished. She could feel the dark energies,
latent within this place, stronger than it had been before, but not
strong enough to have been her true enemy... Other abominations?
More unfortunates, turned into a sick mirror image of the people
they had one been? How many were there? Two? Three? Maybe...
Just at that point, the courtyard lit up, and she felt
herself become heavy, weighted down. Surprised, she fell to her
knees and stared at the ground, where she could see the burning
bright image of an inverted pentagram within a circle. There were
four of them, including the creature that had been Kinnie, just
enough to generate the dark energies to create the burning circle,
to trap her and try to drain off some, but certainly not all, of
her power.
Oh, it would have been enough, certainly to slow down her
hunt for her true enemy. With what would be taken from her, her
ability to sense the enemy would have been diminished, as well as
her ability to fight him. She looked up at the four figures,
standing around the circle now... Kinnie, her body mutilated and
mutated almost beyond recognition, along with a man in his mid
thirties, and middle-aged woman and a young girl, perhaps no older
than ten. That really hurt... She hated it most when the beasts
turned children.
The child smiled at her as she stared in her direction: a
sick, rictus-grin, of someone who was more than dead. She wanted
to lift up her weapon, sitting at her feet where she had dropped
it, and rip the child in half, thus ending her suffering, but the
dark energies held her fast. How stupid she was, not to realise
what was going on.
And how stupid her enemy was, not to take into account that
there was, still, more than one Senshi within the town, despite his
best efforts. With a bright flash and a comical popping sound,
Lafayette appeared above the girl, and brought her fingernails to
bear on the monster-child's back, ripping her apart.
The girl screamed and exploded as Lafayette landed on the
ground, her eyes unseeing, as if hypnotised. She then stood as the
girl's remains scattered into dust around her, watching as the
burning circle faded and failed. The three remaining abominations
hunched down on their fours and hissed angrily at the newcomer,
forgetting that, with their trap now gone, the Senshi was no longer
bound and weak, free to do as she pleased.
And she did.
Before they could attack Lafayette, she grabbed her polearm,
stood and swung the blade in a long arc, cutting all three through
the midriff. They screamed and exploded in exactly the same manner
as the girl, and then were no more than dust.
The Senshi shook her body, loosening up her muscles and
joints, shaking away the dark energies that had tried to injure
her, and turned to Lafayette as Teffe and the Sherrif appeared on
either side of her. They staggered a moment and looked around,
dazed and confused. "What happened?" The Sherrif looked at
Lafayette, who was still standing blankly between them. "Where are
we?"
"This is the back yard of Mrs Kimble's guest house." Teffe
said, before almost jumping a full two feet into the air as the
courtyard lights flickered on, the sensors no longer suppressed by
the dark energies. "Woah. That's not something I want to do
again, any time soon." He then registered the presence of the
Senshi, and that she was staring at Lafayette. "You..." He put
himself between the two women. "I know what you're thinking, and
you can just stop it, you hear?"
"I wish I knew what she was thinking. It might make things a
lot easier." The Sherrif shook his head to clear the cobwebs.
"What was that?"
"Sailor Teleport. A basic power of a Senshi." The Senshi
stepped forward, towards the Sherrif, but not taking her eyes off
Lafayette.
"Well, next time, would you warn me before you do that. I'm
just a mere mortal, and it isn't much fun, I can assure you."
"Oh, I didn't do it." The Senshi turned to him, now. "I can
assure YOU."
"Then who did?" He turned to Lafayette. "And what is wrong
with her? She must be freezing, dressed like she is."
"She's talking about Lafayette." Teffe brushed the Sherrif
aside and took Lafayette by the hand. With her seeming compliance,
he guided her towards the verandah of the guest house. The Sherrif
looked from them, to the Senshi, and back.
"Lafayette? But she isn't..."
"A Senshi? No. I'm afraid she isn't." The Senshi smiled.
"Her mother probably was, though. Remember what I said about this
planet, and its dynamo-like generation of life energy, and that I
thought it strange that no Senshi had ever appeared amongst the
more permanent population. Well, there are Senshi here. Probably
dozens, but they probably don't realise it."
"Oh great. And I thought things were bad with just one."
The Sherrif threw his hands in the air in frustration. "So
Lafayette has inherited some of her mother's powers, if her mother
ever had them. So what? Even if she had them, they were of no
use to her. She died a mortal woman, in an accident. If she had
really been a Senshi, you'd think she would have been able to
prevent that from happening."
"On Garribos? This planet is so latent with energy that they
probably wouldn't have realised their own energy signature from the
background noise the planet creates. It is recognition of that
signature that gives birth to the Senshi. So her mother probably
didn't know." She nodded at Lafayette. "But she DID recognise it,
from a very early age, because she is not a Senshi."
"You can't prove that. You can't prove a thing." Teffe spat
in the Senshi's direction. "Why did you have to come here?"
"Deputy! Are you insane?" The Sherrif stepped over to Teffe
and Lafayette. "Who do you think you're talking to? What the hell
is wrong with you?"
"Why don't you tell him, eh? Why don't you spell it out for
him?" Teffe growled at the Senshi. "That you can't let a Senshi
novice go, and live a normal life. That, once recognised, you drag
them away from their home, to 'train' them, back on the stinking
homeworld..."
"I keep telling you, she is not a Senshi. But yes, that will
have to happen." The Senshi rested her weapon against her
shoulder. "It is for the best. Who knows what would happen if she
were to inadvertantly use her powers, with no understanding in how
to control them. The situation could be disasterous."
"It doesn't matter. She doesn't want to leave, and that, as
far as I'm concerned, is good enough for me." Teffe turned away
from the Senshi and slowly lowered Lafayette into a seated position
against the wall of the guest house.
"You will change your mind, when you realise just what she
is to become." The Senshi turned away from them and gestured to
the house and courtyard. "This place... Is there some
significance to it all?"
"This is the Guest House of Mrs Marlene Kimble. She's a
widow, living with her daughter. Her husband used to be a mine
worker, until he was killed in a drilling accident. Since then,
she has hired out some of the rooms..."
"For other mine workers, preferably male." The Senshi
finished his sentence for him.
"Only important ones. Chief or Specialised engineers. She
liked having a male presence around the house. It made her feel
safer, at least, for her daughter."
"Silly woman." The Senshi tutted unsympathically. "Men are
more trouble than they are worth."
"Forgive me for being a man, then." The Sherrif sniffed with
mock hurt pride.
"Whatever the case, I think we can now rule out Mrs Kimble,
her daughter and their guest as a going prospect. They had been
turned, like Prentice and the other girl."
"What?" Teffe turned from his efforts to bring Lafayette
around. "You can't be serious."
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I had to..." She took a breath as
Teffe turned away, disgusted. "No point laying all the blame on
me, young man, it's your girlfriend, there, who put the little girl
out of her misery."
"God." The Sherrif looked pale. "Marlene and Tricia? Both
of them." He put a hand over his mouth, as if to be sick.
"And their guest, whoever was staying with them." The Senshi
underlined, grimly. "I'd say this is where Lafayette and her
friend did their last order of business, before returning to the
hotel."
"Lafayette left here first." Teffe looked into the woman's
blank eyes. "And she wasn't turned."
"But Kinnie was." The Sherrif leaned against a verandah
post. "Did they have just the one customer?"
"I... I was lead to believe that they had a customer each.
And the one Lafayette was with didn't try to attack her in any
way."
"I'd dare suggest he was human, then. She would surely have
felt something about him, otherwise." The Senshi snorted. "Being
that close to him."
"Oh, it's soooo easy for you to moralise, I'm sure. You've
never had to live a hand to mouth existence, like we mere mortals."
Teffe's anger had returned. "Just because she's on the game
doesn't make her any less a human being."
"Phew, sore nerve there." The Senshi shook a hand in his
direction, mockingly, then continued. "However, she left early
because Kinnie was still busy, and unless Mrs Kimble had tastes we
didn't know about, I'd say that puts another person in the guest
house at the same time."
"Your man." The Sherrif nodded. "The one you're after."
"Indeed."
"Yes, but why here? Why not in the hotel? Or why not
register for one of the empty residences upon his arrival? Surely
it would have been easier if he had gone incognito almost as soon
as he arrived."
"No, there was something he wanted. Something here." The
Senshi rubbed her chin, then stepped over to Teffe and Lafayette.
The deputy stood, trying to turn himself into a shield. The Senshi
looked at him, painfully. "I was only going to try to bring her
round. She was here earlier, remember? She might know something,
about why the freak chose to stay here, and where he might be now."
"He's not here, then? I mean, not anymore?" The Sherrif
gently pushed Teffe aside and knelt down to Lafayette, softly
shaking her by the shoulders.
"No, he isn't. Had he been, I would have known. So would
Lafayette, and she probably wouldn't have felt safe enough to put
herself into the protective trance she's in right now."
There was a noise from beyond the courtyard, the sound of
approaching vehicles. The Senshi, the Sherrif and Teffe turned and
listened as a group of the vehicles passed by the side wall of the
courtyard. The Sherrif strode over to the gate in the wall and
threw it open as a second group approached on the road beyond.
There were eight trikes and buggies, each carrying two to
three men apiece, all armed. A couple on the lead trikes were
deputies of the Sherrif, and he was able to stop the group as he
waved them down.
The first he approached was Calin, a much older and more
grizzled figure than Teffe, who had served under the Sherrif for
a few months shy of a decade. The deputy removed his riding
goggles as the Sherrif shouted out to him over the sound of the
motors.
"What's going on? Where are you people going?"
"Up to the mine, sir. The Mayor told us to." Calin pointed
up the street to the largest building complex in the township,
still some distance away but easily visible, illuminated by
hundreds of lights as it was.
"The mine?"
"Yes sir. He said they looked into the background of the
worker who was staying here." Calin gestured to the guest house.
"I take it you have things under control here, then?"
"You could say that." The Sherrif frowned as a third group
of vehicles roared past them. "Is it to protect the mine?"
"Hmm?"
"Sending all the men up there. Is it to protect it from our
mysterious friend?"
"No, as I was about to say, the Mayor looked into the
background of the worker who was staying here. Apparently the guy
had already been briefed on all of the access codes and system
operations of the mine before leaving his original posting."
"Which is why my target chose to stay here." The Senshi
approached them, stepping slowly from the gate into the lane. The
men on the vehicles watched her, warily. "He knew who this person
was. How he knew, we would probably never find out. But by
turning him, he gained all of that man's knowledge."
"Hmm?" Calin shook his head. "The Mayor thinks this
criminal may have kidnapped the man and taken him to the mine.
So he headed up there with the men he had on hand, and told Forrest
and I to collect as many more as we could."
"He did WHAT?" The Sherrif stared at Calin as if he were
mad. "What does he think he is going to be able to do, no matter
how many men he takes, against a war criminal from the Forces of
Chaos?"
"We don't have much time." The Senshi gestured to Calin and
the other man sitting on the trike. "You two, off. Help Teffe
with Lafayette, back in the guest house. Sherrif, you do the
driving."
Calin and the other man looked at each other, then
reluctantly dismounted the trike. The Sherrif shook his head.
"So, you still need help from us mere mortals to get around."
"Not really. I could ride the thing myself if I didn't have
to carry this weapon about." The Senshi shook her polearm.
"Well, then, why don't you give it to me? I'm sure I could
carry it for you."
The Senshi smiled and held out the weapon, horizontally, for
the Sherrif. He looked at it warily, then took it with one hand,
as she had held it. It was like trying to hold up a transport with
one hand: he fell to his knees, his hand under an impossible
weight. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he removed his fingers before
they were crushed, the polearm clattering to the ground. "What the
hell is that made from?"
He watched as the Senshi casually picked it up, again one-
handed. "It's not what it is made from..." She almost chuckled.
"It is how you intend to use it that determines whether it wishes
to be held or not. As you have no use for it, it... feels no need
to be held by you." She gestured to the trike. "Shall we go?"
The group approached the empty lot in front of the mine
complex. The main gate to the complex was wide open, and through
it could be seen the other vehicles that had passed earlier.
At the head of the group, the Sherrif coasted his trike to a
stop just outside the entrance, shutting off his motor. He
gestured to the others to do the same. Riding pillion, the Senshi
tapped him on the shoulder and dismounted, her polearm resting on
her shoulder. She stepped past the trike and through the gates,
pausing to take note of the guard post.
"Well?" The Sherrif also dismounted. The Senshi turned back
to him and shook her head. "I'd say we were almost too late." She
pointed at the guard post. "This poor man would have been the
first to die."
The Sherrif stepped up to the gate and stared at the corpse,
still seated at the window. Apart from the fact that his head was
missing, there wasn't a sign that he'd even noticed the approach of
his killer. The Sherrif swallowed. "Tommy Kernhoff. He's been
the gatesman at the mine for almost seven years."
"Not any more." The Senshi turned from him, dismissively.
The Sherrif clenched his teeth, angrily.
"Can't you be a little more sensitive to peoples' feelings?"
"There is nothing more we can do for the dead, Sherrif.
However, there are people very much alive in here." She pointed to
the entrance of the mine's front building. There were other
figures, lying on the steps.
The Sherrif gestured to his men to dismount and follow as he
stepped back to his trike, removing a shotgun from its mount, just
under the seat. Slowly, they filed through the gate as the Senshi
moved on to the steps, checking the bodies. She waved them over,
and as they approached, they could see one or two of the figures
were still alive and breathing.
"Are they...?" The Sherrif was about to ask, but the Senshi
shook her head.
"No, they're still human." She pointed to one, whose left
arm had been ripped clean from his shoulder. "But they won't be
alive for long, unless they receive some attention."
She placed her polearm against the steps and knelt down to
the first man, holding her hands out to the bloodied stump. There
was a soft, warm glow, and the bleeding slowed and stopped as the
wound cauterised. She then stood and snapped her fingers, pointing
at the man she had helped to heal, then turned to a second figure,
one of the mine workers, who was bleeding from his side. She
repeated the effort as two of the Sherrif's men carried the first
injured man away.
"What is that you are doing?" The Sherrif leaned over her.
"Some form of Senshi healing power?"
"No. This is something I can do, surplus to my role as a
Senshi.
"Useful, I have to say."
"Painful. It takes a bit out of me." She stopped and sat
back on a stair. "He'll live, if you get him to a hospital, fast."
The Sherrif nodded and gestured to two more men to take the worker
away.
"So, what now?" He asked as he watched his men carrying the
worker in the footsteps of the earlier party.
"I'm going to have to take the freak on alone." She sighed.
"If any of you get in the way, he'll probably do the same."
"And what about the Mayor and his men?"
"They're probably dead. Or worse." She sighed and looked
down at the steps. "I'm feeling really old today, you know that?
Nobody over 1200 years of age should be doing anything like this."
"Are you alright?" The Sherrif took her shoulder with
concern. She looked up at him and smiled.
"I'm as well as could be expected." And with that, she
grabbed her polearm and stood. "Time to go. Sherrif, you and your
men follow men from a respective distance. Take as many of the
injured as you can back to whatever hospital or clinic you have
here. Leave the nasty stuff to experienced, nasty people like me."
And with that, she opened the main doors to the front
building and stared into the lobby. There were about a dozen more
bodies lying there in various states of death or near-death.
"Although there are times when I wish I didn't have to be so
experienced." She said, before stepping in.
To be continued. Or "bugger, is that all?" =^.^=
Sievert Dinar
sievertd@hotmail.com