Infinite Kates?

Chapter Three

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer. I do not own any of this. Rating: K Time: After Interrogation of a Vampire.

Previously on Infinite Kates?...

I keep ending these chapters with some hottie being told to strip. Could UCSBdad be writing some porn here? No, not at all. Am I imagining some porn? No comment.

Collette laughed flatly. "Everyone seems to think I'm a lesbian. I want to check you out and see if you're really the same as us. Have you had any work done?"

"None."

"She's a natural blonde." Rita pointed out. Aside from that, and except for some bruises and scrapes she'd picked up in the fight, she was identical to Rita and Collette.

"Put your undies back on." Collette went to one of the shopping bags and pulled out a summer dress. "You can wear this. We're pretty obviously the same size. Then you can tell us all about yourself. Start with your name."

"I'm Raina Mavias."

"Russian?" Collette asked.

"Yes. And you're German. And you're …friend? American?"

"Tell us why some guy was trying to kill you." Collette snapped.

Raina sat and organized her thoughts. "I was the mistress of a gangster in LA named Virgil Vadalos. I really loved him and although he was married, he loved me as well." She heard Rita snort in derision, but kept talking. "Virgil arranged for my little sister, Staysa, to come to the US from Russia. But the men sent to pick her up at the airport and take her to the safe house said she never got off the plane. Virgil told me he had looked everywhere. Then I talked to Alex, Virgil's cousin. He told me that the men had gotten high and looked at poor Staysa as just another Russian whore. They raped her and when she fought back, they bashed her head in with a bottle. Alex said Virgil found out about it and had Staysa put in the garbage. A garbage man found her and took her to a hospital. I found her there, a vegetable, from the beating. Alex said Virgil wouldn't start a war over one Russian girl, so he lied about it and covered up what had really happened. Alex told me who the men were and I started to kill them. I failed when I tried to kill Virgil. So I started on some bikers. I decided to kill Virgil last. When I got to Virgil, a dirty cop that Virgil owned told me that Virgil was under surveillance by the FBI and was nowhere near that safe house. Alex had used me to kill Virgil so he could take over. I had shot Virgil in the legs, so I had to flee. I heard later that the dirty cop figured that the way to get out from under Virgil's control was to kill Virgil and blame me."

"So if this Virgil is dead, who's trying to kill you?" Collette asked.

"Virgil's wife, Sylvia. She already hated me for being Virgil's mistress, so she accepted what the dirty cop said without any question. She didn't have the knowledge or the connections to keep up Virgil's drug dealings, prostitution and everything else. His competitors grabbed that. But she has all of his legitimate businesses and his investments and money. And she still knows how to hire killers. So, that's who's trying to kill me and why." Raina looked carefully at the two women. "And what's your story?"

Rita and Collette exchanged glances, then first Rita and then Collette told their stories.

"So the police are after you two and killers are after me. We're not doing well, are we?"

"Do you have a car?" Collette asked suddenly.

"Yes. Why?"

"What kind and where did you get it?"

"A Chevy four door sedan, but with an eight cylinder engine. Hard on gas, but if I have to outrun someone, it's better."

"Where did you get it?"

"I bought it from some redneck in Oklahoma. Paid in cash and used a made up name. He didn't care. He just signed it over to me."

Collette nodded and began to think.

"What is it?" Rita asked.

"By now the cops have figured out who the killer in the hospital was. They're bound to run his phones and financials and find out about his car. We need a new car and she needs help getting away." Collette turned to Raina. "I think the three of us will be safer, at least in the short term, together. Rita and I are headed for New York. I have some money there, I hope. Once we're there, we can figure out what to do next. What do you say?"

Raina shrugged. "Okay. I'd still like to know how three women who look more or less alike ended up together."

"That makes three of us." Rita said.

The next day they drove both cars to the nearest airport and parked Rita and Collette's car in long term parking. It would be weeks before anyone wondered about it, they hoped. Then they headed for New York.

Kate Castle leaped off of the couch as soon as she heard the knock on the door. She threw the door open and hugged her friend. Then she saw the stroller. "Oh! This is little Flynn! Simone, he's so cute. Come in, come in."

She had brought her newborn, Lilly, downstairs and put her in a playpen. She put little Flynn beside Lilly. Both babies were fast asleep. "How is he?" She asked.

Simone smiled hugely. "I have no idea where Judson gets his specialists at The Library, but little Flynn is one hundred percent human. He won't be what his mother is."

"Sure he will. He'll be a wonderful human being that everyone loves."

Simone blushed. "Thank you. You have no idea how wonderful it is to have friends after all these centuries. You, Rick, the Ryans, Esposito and Lanie, Alexis and your dad…" Simone began to cry. "And my wonderful Flynn, of course. I've never been so happy, Kate. "

Kate put her arms around her friend and hugged her. "As Rick once said to me, you deserve to be happy."

"There's something else I can be happy about. See how big my boobs have gotten? I'm producing milk for little Flynn, just like a human mother."

Kate hugged Simone again. "Simone, we've all told you a thousand times. You're a human and you always have been."

She nodded. "It's just hard to think of myself as not being…different. And there's more. I'm eating a lot more now and not drinking so much blood. I sleep a lot at night and I'm awake most of the day. And listen to this." She took Kate's hand and put it on her neck. "There! Did you feel it?"

"Was that your heart beating?"

Simone laughed. "It's only once every fifteen or twenty minutes, but I think I'm becoming more human. Judson has let us take the Judas Chalice back to our house and I keep it by me when we sleep. I don't know how, but I think it's changing me from a vampire to a human. Not entirely. I still have fangs and I can still move from place to place, but I know I'm getting better."

Kate was curious. "Odd. The killer vampire, Grace or Gnaeus Pompieus Strabo, had the Chalice for centuries after Judas turned him and he became less human. Any ideas?"

Simone shrugged. "The best that Flynn can come up with is that I want to be human and the Chalice somehow senses that. I don't really know." Simone looked around. "Hey. Where's Rick?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Out buying all the coolest and latest baby stuff there is. He was supposed to be back an hour ago, but you know Rick."

Simone nodded. "Flynn is the same. But, in addition to all the baby gear he's bought, he's been ransacking The Library. If we're ever attacked by an ancient Egyptian demon, we have the right amulet to ward him off."

Kate laughed. "Rick has baby monitor cameras all over the loft, tied into our phones. Kate pulled out her phone and showed Simone little Lily and Flynn sleeping in the playpen. "I've told Rick that one day we'll see videos of us making love on the internet, but….He's Rick."

"Once we found out I was pregnant, Flynn acted like I was make out of glass or something. Afraid to let me do anything, constantly asking if I was okay, and hovering over me."

"That's was Rick, too. I liked being spoiled for a while, but after a while it got to me. What is it with men and their pregnant wives?"

Simone smiled sweetly. "They love us."

Kate nodded. "Yes, they do."

Simone and Kate continued to talk about their lives until there was a knock on the door. "Rick would have his keys. Why would he knock?" Simone was surprised when Kate got her Glock from Rick's office.

"Something wrong?" She asked, preparing to help her friend if something was wrong. But, it was Rick at the door, his arms so full of packages, he couldn't reach his pockets for his keys.

"Something wrong?" He asked, seeing the Glock.

"It's nothing." She said, heading back to his office.

When she came back out, she found Rick looking at her. "Don't tell me nothing is wrong, Kate. Not when you greet me at the door with a gun."

"I got a death threat yesterday. Drug dealers, making meth. They said they knew where I lived, and all about my husband and child. Cops get death threats all of the time."

"You don't come to the door with a gun all the time, though."

She nodded. "It's just left over hormones."

Castle looked at her for a moment. Then he smiled. "Let me show you two what I got today."

The three women had spent the night in New Jersey so they could get to New York City nice and early. Collette drove since she knew where she was going.

"You're sure this hotel will be safe?" Raina asked. "I'd prefer someplace less fancy where no one will notice us."

Collette laughed. "No one will notice us at the Belvedere. That's what they're famous for, their discretion. Lots of wealthy men meet their "daughters" and "nieces" there. No one ever notices a thing."

"I didn't take you for that kind of a girl." Raina said.

"I'm not, but I do appreciate a place that ignores their guests as much as the Belvedere does."

Collette was right. They paid in cash and were given room keys. No one asked to see a driver's license or any other form of ID.

Collette had paid for two adjoining suites. She and Rita would be in one and Raina in the other. Raina looked around both suites. "Very nice. Everything is high quality and we even have a computer. Do you mind if I do an online search to see if anyone is after me?"

Collette nodded. "Good idea. Once you're done, we'll check for Rita and me."

Raina first tried her own name and found some old articles about the death of Virgil Vadalos in which she was named as a suspect. Expanding her search, she found a small article about Sylvia Vadalos opening a new restaurant, but nothing further. "She's like Virgil. Smart enough to keep a low profile. But the bitch still wants me dead, I'm sure."

Collette went online with both Rita and Raina looking over her shoulder. There was a short article in the Miami Ledger about murders in a local hospital. A man dressed as a doctor had murdered two prison guards and then been killed with his own gun. Two female prisoners had escaped and were on the loose. There were pictures of the two dead guards, but no photos of Rita and Collette.

"That's damned odd." Collette said. "Our pictures ought to be all over the papers. Even if we didn't look alike, we're still escaped prisoners. How can they not put our pictures in the paper?"

"You said a crooked guard brought you there so you could be killed?" Raina asked.

"Yes. Me, but not Rita."

"So maybe there are more crooked cops out there. If they make too big a deal out of your escape, they'll get looked at and found out. Someone may want you to escape rather than be exposed as corrupt."

"Makes sense." Rita said.

"It does make sense, but I'd just as soon never find out why they, whoever they are, isn't making a big deal about this. I want us to get away as well."

None of the three much liked it, but they decided to stay in and have room service. They were all too worried about being caught, either by the police or by a hitman.