Here we go. Logan gets insecure, Max tries to figure out what happened
with Alec outside the bar, and our favorite villain makes a dramatic re-
entry.
#############################################################
"Thud, thud, thud, crack." "Thud, thud, thud, crack." As an aid to meditation, banging my computer chair into my desk really sucks, and yet I've been steadily chipping away at my desk for the last hour and a half.
Her face fills my head. Do I still have whatever it was that drew her to me. She used to look at me sometimes, when she thought I wouldn't notice. This look of tenderness overcame the tough-girl image, that smile that melted me.
Then nothing went right for us; though I think that it was her luck. Black cats walk in her wake, and ladders and broken glass magically materialize in her path.
It isn't fair, I wasn't ready to give up yet. She looks at me now like I don't exist. Casting call over, sent to join the ranks of her dead brothers and sisters. I ought to move to Canada, start over fresh in a place where you can still buy a decent bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Somehow I know that I can't. She may have moved on, but the scent of her still haunts me. Until the last drop of her blood leaves my veins, she lives in me. #############################################################
"a four inch incision causing damage to the exterior and interior oblique on the lower left side. Little to no visible internal bleeding. Slight bruising to the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebra, consistent with the fall."
"Well?" Kate, who was now in charge of the infirmary, had a creepy way of making her diagnoses sound like an autopsy. She was also trying my patience in the extreme.
"Physically, I expect a full recovery in two days. Mentally, I don't know what to tell you. There is a very remote chance that Alec's personality returned briefly to dominance. Still I think it's more likely that the head trauma blacked out the recognition portion of 494's memory. Therefore, when he attempted to identify you, he dug into a cache of Alec's old memories."
Kate looks nervous as she speaks. Okay you can't blame a girl for having a reputation for uncontrolled bursts of temper. She needn't have worried, ever since the moment Alec spoke my name, I had felt this pervading sense of calm.
"I know it sounds crazy Kate, but I saw what I saw. It was him, it was my Alec. I could see the difference in his eyes." She smiles back at me.
"If I didn't know better Max."
"What?"
"Nothing, really it's nothing. I just had a thought, but sharing time is over. Besides I like my internal organs exactly where they are. Not to change the subject, but Joshua and Mole are waiting for you in Command."
Great, if she isn't acting like an undertaker, she gets delusions of being a sphinx. I cuff Kate on the shoulder and make an exit with the remaining portions of my dignity.
"Six, Seven, Eight." Two units of X-6's are training out in the green, I lean against a balustrade and stop to watch them. The familiar, repetitive movements are soothing.
"Max, hey Max, oh thank god I found you I was so worried and I came just as soon as I could."
Logan stands before me, and oddly I find myself neither thrilled nor saddened to see him. Instead I feel a vague wonderment at seeing him. The past twenty-four hours had erased his existence from my memory.
His bespectacled eyes wander my body, taking me in. I fight off the silly impulse to rip off his glasses and stomp on them, anything to wipe the goofy expression of puppy-dog adoration off his face.
"Max, I heard about him, and I meant to come by that is, that is to apologize for what happened at the food, hum factory." He seems to be thrown by the coolness of his reception, even Logan doesn't babble this badly.
"It's fine, really Logan. I wasn't hurt at the factory, or at the bar. As for the factory, I'm sure that it wasn't in any way your fault." I feel the oddly maternal urge to placate him, let him know that I don't blame him. Damn maternal urges. My words seem to encourage him and he insinuates himself more closely into my personal space.
"Maybe I could make it up to you tonight? I thought that maybe you'd like to get out of here for awhile and come back to my place? I could make some." I cut him off before he can say it, I might have gone ballistic if he said the word pasta.
"Really Logan, I think that I got myself into enough trouble the last time I snuck out for a night of fun. Besides it doesn't seem appropriate to tell my people not to sneak out of here, then go out myself." Triumph! His face closes off, his tail droops between his legs.
"Well if you ever, ever need anything, you know you can count on me." I nod absently and give him a small smile for his troubles; and by the time I look up again he has already wandered off. #############################################################
My lover lays sprawled extravagantly across my bed, a far away look in her eyes. She is so lovely, so unlike the other women of our kind. Coming back to reality, she crawls cat-like to my side and strokes the bandage across my throat.
"It won't be long now my love, I followed the beasties all the way to the backdoor of their lair." My lips move soundlessly in reply, and she reads them without effort.
"Patience never was your strong suit Ames, but yes we will make our move by the end of next week. Don't worry love, the kill has your name on it. I am but a humble servant of the Familiars, my place is in the shadows, watching."
Her words are carefully tailored, she knows what I want to hear; but I'm not as gullible as Lela thinks me. There is something hidden beneath her words, something that does not compliment her pretty words.
I had learned long ago of Lela's heritage. Although Lucia's story was well- hidden among the more shameful tales of the Conclave's past, I was a Sandeman and no records were barred to me.
It suited my purposes to allow her to underestimate me. Lela was the ultimate predator and I enjoyed our little games. Besides this, her usefulness as a hunter was beyond a doubt.
A purring rumble sounded deep in her throat as I ran my fingers across her arms. So pretty, and so very clever; and so fortunate that she still fed me useful tidbits such as my opponent's weakness. It would be a shame to destroy such a perfect match to myself to soon.
"Thud, thud, thud, crack." "Thud, thud, thud, crack." As an aid to meditation, banging my computer chair into my desk really sucks, and yet I've been steadily chipping away at my desk for the last hour and a half.
Her face fills my head. Do I still have whatever it was that drew her to me. She used to look at me sometimes, when she thought I wouldn't notice. This look of tenderness overcame the tough-girl image, that smile that melted me.
Then nothing went right for us; though I think that it was her luck. Black cats walk in her wake, and ladders and broken glass magically materialize in her path.
It isn't fair, I wasn't ready to give up yet. She looks at me now like I don't exist. Casting call over, sent to join the ranks of her dead brothers and sisters. I ought to move to Canada, start over fresh in a place where you can still buy a decent bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Somehow I know that I can't. She may have moved on, but the scent of her still haunts me. Until the last drop of her blood leaves my veins, she lives in me. #############################################################
"a four inch incision causing damage to the exterior and interior oblique on the lower left side. Little to no visible internal bleeding. Slight bruising to the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebra, consistent with the fall."
"Well?" Kate, who was now in charge of the infirmary, had a creepy way of making her diagnoses sound like an autopsy. She was also trying my patience in the extreme.
"Physically, I expect a full recovery in two days. Mentally, I don't know what to tell you. There is a very remote chance that Alec's personality returned briefly to dominance. Still I think it's more likely that the head trauma blacked out the recognition portion of 494's memory. Therefore, when he attempted to identify you, he dug into a cache of Alec's old memories."
Kate looks nervous as she speaks. Okay you can't blame a girl for having a reputation for uncontrolled bursts of temper. She needn't have worried, ever since the moment Alec spoke my name, I had felt this pervading sense of calm.
"I know it sounds crazy Kate, but I saw what I saw. It was him, it was my Alec. I could see the difference in his eyes." She smiles back at me.
"If I didn't know better Max."
"What?"
"Nothing, really it's nothing. I just had a thought, but sharing time is over. Besides I like my internal organs exactly where they are. Not to change the subject, but Joshua and Mole are waiting for you in Command."
Great, if she isn't acting like an undertaker, she gets delusions of being a sphinx. I cuff Kate on the shoulder and make an exit with the remaining portions of my dignity.
"Six, Seven, Eight." Two units of X-6's are training out in the green, I lean against a balustrade and stop to watch them. The familiar, repetitive movements are soothing.
"Max, hey Max, oh thank god I found you I was so worried and I came just as soon as I could."
Logan stands before me, and oddly I find myself neither thrilled nor saddened to see him. Instead I feel a vague wonderment at seeing him. The past twenty-four hours had erased his existence from my memory.
His bespectacled eyes wander my body, taking me in. I fight off the silly impulse to rip off his glasses and stomp on them, anything to wipe the goofy expression of puppy-dog adoration off his face.
"Max, I heard about him, and I meant to come by that is, that is to apologize for what happened at the food, hum factory." He seems to be thrown by the coolness of his reception, even Logan doesn't babble this badly.
"It's fine, really Logan. I wasn't hurt at the factory, or at the bar. As for the factory, I'm sure that it wasn't in any way your fault." I feel the oddly maternal urge to placate him, let him know that I don't blame him. Damn maternal urges. My words seem to encourage him and he insinuates himself more closely into my personal space.
"Maybe I could make it up to you tonight? I thought that maybe you'd like to get out of here for awhile and come back to my place? I could make some." I cut him off before he can say it, I might have gone ballistic if he said the word pasta.
"Really Logan, I think that I got myself into enough trouble the last time I snuck out for a night of fun. Besides it doesn't seem appropriate to tell my people not to sneak out of here, then go out myself." Triumph! His face closes off, his tail droops between his legs.
"Well if you ever, ever need anything, you know you can count on me." I nod absently and give him a small smile for his troubles; and by the time I look up again he has already wandered off. #############################################################
My lover lays sprawled extravagantly across my bed, a far away look in her eyes. She is so lovely, so unlike the other women of our kind. Coming back to reality, she crawls cat-like to my side and strokes the bandage across my throat.
"It won't be long now my love, I followed the beasties all the way to the backdoor of their lair." My lips move soundlessly in reply, and she reads them without effort.
"Patience never was your strong suit Ames, but yes we will make our move by the end of next week. Don't worry love, the kill has your name on it. I am but a humble servant of the Familiars, my place is in the shadows, watching."
Her words are carefully tailored, she knows what I want to hear; but I'm not as gullible as Lela thinks me. There is something hidden beneath her words, something that does not compliment her pretty words.
I had learned long ago of Lela's heritage. Although Lucia's story was well- hidden among the more shameful tales of the Conclave's past, I was a Sandeman and no records were barred to me.
It suited my purposes to allow her to underestimate me. Lela was the ultimate predator and I enjoyed our little games. Besides this, her usefulness as a hunter was beyond a doubt.
A purring rumble sounded deep in her throat as I ran my fingers across her arms. So pretty, and so very clever; and so fortunate that she still fed me useful tidbits such as my opponent's weakness. It would be a shame to destroy such a perfect match to myself to soon.