Chapter Fifteen
The Advantages of Superpowers and Plastic Feet
The Present
Emma sat on the old yellow couch in the basement surrounded by ointments, peroxide, cotton balls, gauze and paper tape. The wound on her right thigh had grown to the size of a quarter and had begun to ooze yellow liquid and bleed. Her abused fiber glass and mechanical limb lay exposed by itself on the floor next to her. She grimaced as she cleaned it with a peroxide soaked cotton ball. She hadn't had one like this before. She pushed herself too hard this time. It burned so badly when she put pressure on it; it felt like someone had stuck a hot poker deep into her leg. Because she did not have a foot, and could not walk in the conventional sense, the "ball" of her "foot" was now the back of her calf and on either side of her knee. So, under normal circumstances, any kind of walking would be out of the question and Jimmy would have to confine her to the upstairs with a pair of crutches and a TV remote. But since this time he was in trouble, therefore not here to tell her to take it easy, she was going to have to find away to suffer through to save him.
Blood ran down from the sore down the inside of her thigh and dripped onto the couch. She tossed the used cotton ball down to floor. In bounced and rolled next to the tiny pile that had begun to build.
Jerome stood behind her in Jimmy's "shop." He stood casually with his hands in the pockets of his black suit pants. With the sleeves of his grey button down shirt, he looked up puzzled at the site of several of Emma's spare legs dangling from the ceiling. He reached out with his left hand and gently pushed the nearest leg making it swing and knocking into the others.
"You know, people would think that some sick shit goes on down here if they saw this stuff, Slayer." He scoffed.
"You would know, psycho." She retorted. He shrugged and nodded in quiet agreement.
Upstairs, Layla dried her hair in what was once the youngest Hogan, Shea's room, now hers. She sat on the end of the bed rubbing her head with the blue terry cloth towel. Closing her eyes, she tried to push away all the voices they cried out to her in the tiny bedroom. With just a small twin size bed, dresser, and closet; to the average individual it would seem quite empty. But to someone like Layla it was very congested. Several souls fought to gain her attention through the curtain of a blue haze. But after this evenings excitement she found her usual discipline lacking. What had normally become a pesky nuisance was now reverting back to the riot that consumed all of her senses. Without thinking she had dropped the towel and brought her hands to her ears in an attempt to shut them out. So many things had happened laying so much on her mind at one time. The attack on the shop, her inability to stop Nica from taking Jimmy, Leo's torturing her, and Aslyn's confession which led to Layla banishing her. All of this compounded with guilt was causing her to loose the tight control she had worked so hard for so many years to get. Then gradually she heard a voice rising above all of the others.
"Layla Wayla Bumble Bee. Mummy's little cup of tea. I'm as happy as can be, with Layla Wayla on my knee." It continued to repeat the little poem and Layla began to recite it as well. It was something her mother had said to her since she was a baby, and when she got older her mother would use it as something for Layla to focus on when she was bomb barded like she was now. Layla had recited the poem three times when she realized that the voice wasn't in her head but was actually there. She opened her eyes and saw her mother kneeling at her feet reciting.
"Layla Wayla bumble bee. Mummy's little cup of tea. I'm as happy as can be with Layla Wayla on my knee."
Layla looked deep into her eyes and no where else and kept pace with her. Soon the din around her began to fade and she was able to hold on with out the old "Apply Dapply" poem.
"Mum, it's happened! I've gone mad! It's my fault and now I've gone mad!" She was beginning to panic. Her wide eyes started to well with thick tears and her chin began to quiver. She wanted to reach out and hold her but she knew she couldn't.
"No, you haven't gone made poppet. It's just stress. You'll be fine. You'll see. Just remember that you're my cup of tea!" She winked and stood. Layla gripped the edge of the bed with both hand and tightened her entire body as she sat vulnerable in just a grey t-shirt.
"No, no mum no! I can't do this! I'm a fraud I know it! I let them down! I let Jimmy down! And I am pretty sure I fancy him! Emma is going to bloody kill me and there is nothing I can do because I have gone mad and …."
"Layla, none of what has happened is your fault. You were not made responsible for everything that happens to everyone. Hey! You're a Fellows! You have been training your whole life for this sort of thing and you are one mighty medium! Are you going to let some tiny incident with a switched off Goddess, a kidnapping and a little torture throw you off? NO! That's not who you are! You have made being a pain in the ass an art form! No one gets rid of you that easy! They haven't even seen a fraction of the power you possess! Now, get up, wipe your nose and show them what Layla Fellows can really do! Go on baby, go save the world!" With that her mother stepped away and blew her daughter a kiss as she faded away.
Layla stood up more confident than ever and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
"I meant with a tissue. Really darling that's rather gross." Her mother scolded as she popped her head back in through the veil.
"Oh sorry." Layla quickly picked up her towel and wiped her hands on it. That being done, she went back to her confidence and tightened her fists.
"Fucking right I'm Layla Fellows and I'll….."
"And I really don't care for this language here. I'm sure you could monologue with out such crassness. It's not very lady like at all." Her mother interjected shaking a finger; and that was all that was seen of her.
"Mother! You are killing my moment here! You give this big fantabulous speech and then you keep cutting in and do want to do this for me I mean be my guest. There you go have the floor!" Silence proceeded. "Really, are we done then? Go ahead if you like. Good. When normal parents die, they you know, DIE. They are no more in this realm." Layla opened her mouth to continue her war cry but stopped short. "You know I don't really know what I would have said anyway. I think you got it right when you said it." She grabbed the note book off of the dresser and made her way for the basement.
Emma finished up by packing her wound with gauze and wrapping it with ace wrap. Next on her agenda was seeing if she could repair her battered bionic leg. She picked it up from the floor and held it upside down. She watched the foot flop over as it was broken at the faux arch and hung on by a meet thread of rubber. She had somehow broken the steel endoskeleton cleanly in half!
"Wow, never seen that happen before." She mused quietly to herself. She flicked with her finger and watched it flop up and down like a fish.
Layla had come down the stairs in time to catch Emma playing with her foot. She stopped short in shock and then quickly recovered.
"I'm never going to get used to that." She said shaking her head and plopping down on the couch next to Emma.
Emma continued to inspect the limb, spinning it around and checking all of the switches and hatches. When she checked the one at the ball of the foot she hadn't taken into account that the foot itself and all its internal workings had been severed so when the wooden dagger came jutting out of the toes it continued on flying out completely. Layla ducked just in time for it to fly passed her and into the arm of the couch behind her. "Oops."
"Have you gone daft!"
"That's why Jimmy is the mechanic." Emma said. "Well, safe to say this one is shot. As soon as we save him he's gonna kill me." She tossed it back to the floor.
Jerome stepped forward a bit more from the shop area and scratched his head. Layla flipped open her notebook and slid her pen from the binding.
"I need you to tell me what you know about what Nica and Leo are up to. And stop looking at my neck." Jerome stood up straighter and looked around the room conspicuously. Layla looked up at him and squared her eyes. "You are a brutal bastard aren't you? You certainly have you share of tag-alongs." She referenced the many tortured souls she sensed all around him.
Jerome smiled coyly and shrugged. With a swagger of confidence he spoke. "Well, you know, I do what I can." The girls at each disgustedly and shook their heads.
"If I'm such a brutal bastard then why did you invite me into your home? I could just kill you now, or even wait until your sleeping. What makes you think that I won't?"
Just as he finished his sentence the hatch in her leg malfunctioned and the stake inside came sailing up into the air. Emma caught it and with out even blinking or looking in that direction, she threw the stake just to the left of his head. He flinched as it stuck in the wall. In the same manner Layla raised her right index finger and sparks crackled forth from it. She wiggled it up and down and then when right back to work.
Jerome coughed and adjusted his collar. "Oh, that's what."
Emma reached over and retrieved her beater leg from behind the couch. She bit down on her lower lip and forced the leg on. The extra padding made it all the more uncomfortable. She hobbled over to the shop and lifted open the stainless steel counter top and produced brown box.
"Jimmy's been working on this almost from the beginning. He wouldn't ever let me play with it though. Caught me a couple of times so he hid it. He was afraid that it wasn't ready yet." Emma opened the box and pushed some of the packing peanut out of the way.
"How did you know where to look?" Layla asked.
"It's where he hides my presents." And then she added as an after thought. "And his porn." When she pulled it out and placed it bare in the counter what they saw amazed them.
"Wow, he really did get the super smarts." Layla said with eyes wide. It looked like a perfect leg. From the limp synthetic skin at the top, that was meant to roll over her existing knee creating a seamless transition from prosthetic to flesh, down to the artfully sculpted toes complete with toenails. "Emma, it's your 'Barbie Foot'. It's what you've always wanted. Don't tell me you've never tried it on and taken for a little test run?"
"Aren't you afraid of finally having what you have been wanting? Something's are easier left as ideas."
"How sweet of him, he was making you a cosmetic leg Emma."
Emma smiled. She thought of the kindness her brother possessed in his heart. They may tease and quarrel, but they were all that each other had and beyond that they loved each other greatly. The pain of one was the pain of both. There is no bond of that of a brother and sister. She knew that he was a little jealous of the abilities fate had bestowed upon her. He had insecurities too. But she also knew that it broke his heart to see her struggle each day with the pains and inconveniences that having something like this causes. He could feel her squirm when a beautiful woman sashayed across the television in a short skirt and sexy strappy stilettos. As much as she fought to keep up her cover to the rest of the world, she couldn't hide it from him. The more she thought of her brother, the more her chest sank knowing that he was lost, in trouble and afraid, the more the tears threatened to break their seal. She tore herself from her revelry, took a deep breath and continued on.
"Actually, it's more than that." Emma ran a gentle hand up and down the leg, when she got to the heel she pressed inward. Immediately it caused a reaction. The surface of the synthetic skin covering the leg began to spin around it. Within seconds it had disappeared to reveal a black shell. Layla reached forward and tapped it.
"What is that?" She asked
"Ceramic Kevlar." Emma stated proudly.
"You're kidding!" Layla was amazed. This was impressive even for Jimmy!
Emma reached over to the big toe and tilted it up. A clicking sound was heard and then a familiar hatch popped open on the side. This one was slightly different from its counterpart. Instead of just a hollow spring loaded door, this one was hydraulic and wasn't hollow. Emma gripped the inside of the door and pulled. It was a clip of sorts. It slid out from the interior of the leg to a length of about twelve inches. She laid it out flat and opened the drawer to her right under the counter.
"What's that for?" Layla asked intrigued.
"Lipstick holder. Yup, incase I'm out and I just can't make up my mind!" Emma responded sarcastically.
"Hey, I'm supposed to provide the witting comic relief!"
From the drawer Emma produced six slim leg stakes and pressed them into the clip. When she was loading the clip she slid it back into place and closed the hatch. She then stood the leg up and slammed its heel down onto the counter. Immediately the hatch popped open and a stake went flying back up in the air.
"Now all I have to do press my tippy toes and it switched to the next shot! Like cocking it." Emma bragged.
"He ha ha! You said…" Jerome began to laugh at Emma's wording but when he noticed that he was alone in the joke her stopped.
Emma rolled her eyes and went back to her bionic leg. "Anyway, if you thought that was cool wait until you see the rest! Watch this!" She held the leg up and pressed the inside ankle. This caused several tiny spikes to shoot out right into Jerome's arm.
"OW! Dammit! What they hell are these little things going to do in a life or death situation annoy people to death?"
"No that's your super power." Layla quipped.
"Just wait." Emma smirked. Two seconds later the smug look on Jerome's face slowly morphed into confusion, then to restraint, to bright red, and then into a mask of pain. He grabbed his arm that was now smoking and sizzling and howled at the top of his lungs. He rolled up his sleeve and watched his skin bubbled and burn. He slapped at it violently trying to make it stop.
"What the hell! Make it stop!"
"Those were hollowed pellets filled with holy water of course." She put her hand on her hip and winked at him. "Don't be such a baby; I only nailed you with like four or five. It'll stop soon."
Layla couldn't believe all that she was seeing! She knew that Jimmy was a genius but this was unheard of! "Emma this is like the 'Six Million Dollar Man' or better yet the 'Bionic Woman'! How did he know about all of this stuff?"
"Didn't he tell you?" Emma smiled braggingly. "He was a double major in chemical engineering and advanced technologies!" She placed the leg right side up on the counter again and forced it down on the ball of the foot demonstrating that the wooden dagger feature jutting from the underside of the foot was also available in this model. She gestured for them to step back and she aimed the leg at the cinderblock wall. "And not to be out done, Jimmy added a little something that I think is totally wicked!" She knocked the inside of the foot forcing it to spin clockwise. In doing so a nozzle was triggered to rise from the shin. Once it had locked into place, Emma touched the inside of the knee and flames shot out and scorched the wall!
"That is BLOODY BRILLIANT!" Layla exclaimed jumping up and down and clapping.
Jerome stood back in awe. "Damn, I want a fake leg!"
"Yeah and I get all the good parking places too!" Emma smiled and lowered the flame thrower nozzle back into its compartment. "That's why it's made of CERAMIC Kevlar. With the flame thrower, the steel Kevlar was just cooking the dummy legs like they were in a microwave. Ceramic isn't a good conductor of heat. This way I don't roast when I'm flaming. And I totally get I just said that." She pressed inward on the heel as she had when she began the demonstration and the rubbery synthetic skin returned. "And now for favorite part." She squeezed the foot and the heel lifted and the arch increased putting it into the perfect position for high heels. Emma and Layla both sighed in reverence.
"You have a freakin' flame thrower that shoots out from your freakin' shin and this is your favorite part? Our lives are in the hands of no better than a shorter, gimpier Paris Hilton!" Jerome turned and walked away with his hands on his head.
"Hey! This happens to be very important in the business of Slaying I'll have you know!" Emma defended pointing a firm finger at the vamp.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" He asked arrogantly.
She reached down and pulled up a high heeled, lace up leather boot. "A wider variety of fashionable footwear for stylish ass kicking!"
"Yeah, but what kind of damage can you do in heels?" He pointed out.
Emma raised an eyebrow and held up the heel of the boot. "You never saw Single White Female did you?"
Jerome acknowledged the reference and caught himself slowly covering his right eye with his hand. He turned to inspect the punching bag hanging from the ceiling across the room.
Emma waited for him to be far enough away and then turned to Layla. She spoke softly. "What's he thinking? Is he lying to us?"
Layla looked up abruptly. "Oh, I don't know. You can't read a vampire's mind."
"What? Why not?"
"When I read a mind it's not like I am in there jumbling around in there. It's kinda like I have sonar I guess. I have an antenna that throws something out at your noggin and your thoughts bounce off. But with vampires, they've been dead, their souls are gone into the ether already, there's nothing to bounce back. My power lies in spirits, not demons."
Emma bit her lip. There had to be someway for her to be sure he wasn't going to double cross them.
"Why don't you use your telepathy that much anyway?" It had come to Emma's attention during this conversation that the most she had ever seen Layla use her ability was when they first met. She thought that if she had something like that it would serve as an advantage and she would use it all of the time.
"Because, there are things that people shouldn't know about other people. There are things in the dark recesses of the mind that should never be brought to light and things are meant to be left unsaid. That is a door that shouldn't be opened. It's taken a lot of time and practice but I've learned to control it. If I let it go full blast, it would open me up to countless doorways and not just to this dimension but to the spirits who follow me around. And that's something I don't know if even I could close." Layla looked at Emma closely. She was deep in thought. Layla noticed this alot with her. Emma would stare off into space with the look of torture on her face. She tried to break through the barrier that Emma kept up, but to no avail. Layla looked at her with narrowed eyes and leaned in.
"What are you hiding behind your door?" She asked with genuine care.
Emma awoke from her silent torture. She was lost in the thought of Jimmy being taken by that monster and she wasn't there to stop it. Nica was looking for her and got Jimmy instead.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about what you said about you having sonar. With me and Jimmy it's more like feelings and instincts we share. Sometimes if we are close enough to each other and have a strong thought, then the other with share that. Almost like we have one mind for a split second." She laughed softly as she explained and hobbled over to a stool to sit down.
"In a way you're not wrong." Layla said walking over with her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there have been several studies in the scientific community regarding the special bond that twins share. And not to mention the mystical beliefs that say twins are also twins of the soul sharing that as well as their likeness. But as you well know, you two are something unique and very special. There has never ever been a Slayer with a twin. So not only would you already have the connection that normal twins share, you are a Slayer! You share that spirit with your brother!" Layla paced back and forth in front of Emma and it was clear that she was now thinking out loud. "So yes, in a sense, there could be times when you share the same mind and therefore, it really wouldn't be telepathy would it. Which would explain the proximity issue! The closer you are to each other …"
Emma tried to put on her bionic leg but the wound she had patched up earlier was getting in the way. "Ouch!" She grimaced and seethed.
As an after thought while Layla was pacing in front of her she laid her hand on Emma's wound and said: "Here let me get that for you." and then continued on with her pacing.
Emma removed the bandages to find that her wound was completely healed! "God Dammit Layla! Why didn't you just do that in the first place!"
"You didn't ask, and I got tired of listening to you whine!"
Emma rolled her eyes and then rolled the form fitting silicon liner on over her stub and then leg and then pushed on her bionic prosthetic.
"Cool!" She mused.
Jerome marched back over to the two girls obviously frustrated. "Ok, now that you have your rocket launcher fancy schmancy leg on and we have established that vampires can't have their minds read, shall we start with a plan to get our brothers back!"
"Just waiting on you fang boy!" Emma taunted.
"You know what I do to little girls like you?" Jerome asked walking menacingly towards Emma.
"I don't know, threaten a lot?" They stood with in inches of each other staring one another down. Layla jumped and stood between them.
"Ok guys look, we are here to stop Naberius and Nica and get our people back!" She turned towards Emma. "You need to focus on getting Jimmy back and killing Nica. And then you can do whatever you want to this wanker here." She then turned to face Jerome. "And you need to bloody realize that you sought out the help of a Slayer! You either need to start showing some bloody respect or we'll just kill you and you'll never get to see you're boyfriend again! So start talking!" Jerome fumed for a moment and then walked over to the work counter in the middle of the shop. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"Since I left the farm over a week ago, I have been sneaking in to find out everything I can. I paid off a couple of brethren on the inside to give me information as it comes." The folded paper was actually a couple of pages. The first was a crude pencil drawing of the farm's layout. The other two pages looked like notes. He pointed to the largest square central to the simple map. "This is the main house; the cellar is where the ritual was performed to raise the Inanna. It is also where Naberius spends most of his time. He is fond of sulking and plotting and meditating gathering strength; that's where he does it. If the effigy would be anywhere it would be in there, he would want to keep it close to him."
"Good. Now, how do I kill him?" Emma asked staring at the paper.
"I think I'm starting to warm up to you. But, I don't think you're going to be able to pull it off."
Emma looked offended and then he continued.
"It has nothing to do with your slaying talents. Naberius' power lies in and over the dead. Although the shift of balance has affected him as well, he is still pretty powerful. To kill him you would need to be able to cut off his power source." He looked at Layla and she looked up and pointed to herself in surprise. "That's why he fears you. As strong a medium and witch you are, you have the potential to be an amazing necromancer and that scares the begeezus out of him."
"Right, he's a demon king, so that means he's an old one and would be like Aslyn. He has a foot hold on this world and the next drawing off of the souls of the dead to gain strength! All I would have to do is remove that grip and he would be like any other demon! Great, now how am I supposed to depose a Demon King?" Layla looked over and tapped her teeth with her fingernail.
"Wait a minute, Nica is the Inanna, the Soul Eater, and Naberius is a glorified necromancer. If Nica is able to get the soul of a Slayer she would be unstoppable, and as Layla just said, right now Naberius is vulnerable!" Emma slapped her hand down on the counter in celebration of her clarity. "He doesn't want her to stay here! He isn't looking to control her as a foot soldier! He wants her to get a Slayer soul so he can take hers making HIM the unstoppable one!"
"Blow me, that makes perfect sense!" Layla said in agreement.
"That's right, and her plan is to lure you there to rescue your brother and then killing you both! That way she would have double the potency. And after she does that, Naberius is going to kill her and drink the remaining blood that's left in the effigy making him the most powerful being in this world and several others, And if her kills her, he'll kill Leo too." Jerome looked down at the papers and shuffled them.
"Isn't that what you vampires like though! Death and destruction? Total chaos and mayhem?" Emma said sarcastically.
"Yes, but on our terms, and this is NOT on my terms! I thought it would be cool at first. Big time blood sucker coming out to kill off all of the Slayers, and then SHE put some kind of whammy on Leo and he just completely changed! Leo never cared about anything else other that going home to Italy. That's all we wanted! We signed up for this Order because they promised to get rid of the Slayers, no offense."
"None taken." Emma said simply.
"But, when he said that he was going to stay, I knew something was wrong. So I left, but, I came back to see if maybe he had come to senses and decided to leave. When I did, I found out what had really been going on. And that's when I chose to seek you out." Jerome stopped and walked away with his hands in his pockets and sat on the stool Emma had just been on.
"Ok, here's what we need to do now. Layla, find away to take away Naberius' power source and break the effigy."
"I'm already on it." Layla ran upstairs to start her research.
"Jerome, you need to come up with a distraction to give us time to take down Naberius and the effigy so we can get to Nica and rescue Jimmy."
"I think I can come up with something." He stood from his stool and grabbed up a notepad and pen that was lying on Jimmy's desk. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to plan our attack and try a little target practice." She grabbed the bag of stake clips for her leg and headed out.
Upstairs Layla began tearing through books and notes looking for anything on The Effigy of the Inanna or depose powerful demon kings. It wasn't long before that familiar nagging began again. A tenacious spirit broke through the blue and began their plea. Layla tried to ignore it but it was becoming more and more persistent.
"Hey! I know you can hear me! Quit ignoring me! I just want to help you!" Was the message the male voice kept repeating. Layla continued to do her best to block him out. He would come around to face her and she would just turn the other direction and continue reading.
"Fine. If you want to do it the hard way go ahead! Far be it from me to ruin your fun and tell you EXACTLY HOW TO KILL NABERIUS BY USING THE ORB OF PURE LIGHT!"
Layla jerked up and looked right at him. "Oh my God! You're Brahma Siddig! You're my ancestor! The one who started our diaries!"
"Yes! And it's about time you noticed I didn't use my yearly pass to the Earthly Realm to be ignored by my direct descendant!"
"You get a yearly pass?" Layla asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Anyway, you need to get the Orb of Pure Light. It can only be touched by earth bound creatures. If a being touches the orb and they are straddling dimensions, it will burn away the part of them that isn't in this plane. If you take the orb to Naberius and force him to touch it, his god-like powers will be burned away and he will unable to derive strength from the souls of the dead and stuck in this dimension!"
Layla shook her head in astonishment. "How do I get it? Where can I find it?"
" Well, conveniently enough it's actually right down the street. Emma accidentally sold it in a yard sale five years ago."
"You mean the Hogan's had it?"
"Yes until unbeknownst to her watcher parents, Emma sold it for fifty cents to Mrs. Doane down the street. She believes it's a blue Faberge egg."
Layla blinked and threw her hands up to her face. "Well, that was easy."
"Well, you better hurry; Naberius knows of its existence and has his lackeys out looking for it."
"Thank you Brahma! By the way where do you go on your other yearly passes?"
"Disneyworld, actually. There's a really nice one over in…"
They chimed in unison…"Shrimp Hell!"
"Yes, if you can get past the smell… Anyway, good luck, try not to screw up subsequently destroying reality as we know it." Brahma waved and disappeared into the blue. Layla shook her head from the last comment. "Easy for him to say, he's already dead." And then ran to tell Emma the news.