“At least put on your chest armor!” Gabrielle argued, holding out the two pieces. “Let’s not get shot in the chest, shall we?” she asked Bethany Anne, who stopped and looked at what Gabrielle was offering her.
Bethany Anne blurred, and Gabrielle found that the armor she’d held a moment earlier was now missing.
“Bethany Anne?” She looked around and stepped into the armor closet. “BA?” Her muffled voice was audible outside of the bedroom. A moment later, she came out to find John and Eric suited up and waiting for the two of them.
Gabrielle flicked her hand. “Let’s go. She’s already split.”
John smiled at Eric, who shook his head. “I know, I know,” Eric said as the three of them left the suite and started toward the ship’s bays. “You won!”
Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan
There were two distinct scenarios available to those who had chosen Yoyogi Park from which to view the arrival of the Queen.
One group watched as a smaller craft flew out of the capital ship in the middle of the formation and headed toward the park.
The other group was near the six in the clearing when a woman and a white dog suddenly appeared ten feet above the ground, then fell to the earth. She looked around for one second before spotting the man she was searching for.
She had on boots, black leather pants, and a black blouse over a skintight shirt of some alien substance, and she wore a gold necklace. She and the dog started walking toward the six. The man in the cowboy hat strode ahead of the others, his eyes for her alone.
That their bodies crashed together hinted at the speed at which they had been moving, and their subsequent torrid kiss proved these two knew each other.
Very well indeed.
The other five stopped some ten paces back.
The two separated, and her eyes flashed as her hand streaked upward to slap the man.
Who caught her wrist.
“Let go of me!” Bethany Anne snarled, then hissed, “You owe me for dying!”
“I think not.” Michael shook his head. “Let’s not discuss these last one hundred and fifty-plus years. My Honor demanded I come back, and here I am.”
“I didn’t say,” she growled, “that you should take so fucking LONG!” She ripped her arm out of his grip and poked him in the chest with a finger. “Do you know how much shit I’ve had to put up with in the last century and a half?”
Before Michael could say anything, she poked his chest once more. Neither noticed the Executive Pod arriving on the park’s lawn some fifty yards behind Bethany Anne. “They made me a Gott Verdammt EMPRESS!” she raged, her eyes blazing red. “And what were you doing, huh? Playing dead? Lying around on your ass, I bet!”
“I don’t believe healing from a nuclear explosion is the same thing as lying around on my ass,” Michael retorted. He was now being reminded of the other side of Bethany Anne, but then, one couldn’t be attracted to fire without the possibility of getting burned. “While the Etheric Realm was pleasant when I woke up—”
“The Etheric Realm?” She arched an eyebrow. “That’s where you were sitting around playing tiddlywinks?”
Michael saw John, Eric, Darryl, Gabrielle, and Scott come up behind Bethany Anne, and a couple of others had also exited the Pod. Akio let him know that he would greet the new arrivals, since it seemed Michael had his hands full.
He focused on Bethany Anne again. “The reintegration of my constituent atoms took a long time. Using the—”
She stopped him by poking his chest again. “Constituent atoms?” she exclaimed, her eyes flashing red. “Don’t you go using big scientific words on me when I’m mad at you!” She looked him up and down. “I don’t think you understand the concept of groveling!”
—
Eric whispered to John, “Did she slap him?”
“Tried,” John whispered back. “Michael grabbed her hand before she could hit him.”
Eric shook his head. “Should have just let it happen. That would have been enough.” He flinched the smallest amount when Gabrielle smacked his arm. “See?” He pointed to his wife. “Just take the hit, and they’re all better.”
“I don’t think that’s in Michael’s DNA,” John said doubtfully as Ashur chuffed in agreement.
—
“So!” Bethany Anne retorted to the last thing Michael told her. “Think this is challenging you?” She shoved Michael off his feet. His body disappeared, and she put her hands on her hips. “Why don’t you think about how to answer me politely while your ass sits in the Etheric until I come get it!”
Bethany Anne turned to her friends. “What?” she asked, jerking a thumb over her shoulder as she stomped toward them. “He needs to understand how to act around me when I’m pissed.”
Bethany Anne noted the exact moment their expressions changed to shock, and started to turn. She was halfway around when two large hands pushed her hard, throwing her toward her people.
She landed in the Etheric and rolled over to jump up, expecting an attack, but all she saw was Michael. He was ten feet away, his eyes glowing dimly. “You,” he told her, “have been spoiled.”
“I’m spoiled?” Bethany Anne screamed, her voice muted in the white mist. “You rank piece of fetid fish food!” She pointed a finger at him.
He interjected, eyebrow raised, “What, no ‘fuck?’ As in ‘fucking rank piece of fetid fish food?’”
Bethany Anne twisted her head left and popped her neck, then did the same thing on the right. She whispered, “I’ll feed you to the fucking fish, you gag-sacking dried-out cockroach-sodding bunghole-filler!”
Michael pursed his lips. “Does that mean you want it in both orifices?”
It took Bethany Anne only a microsecond to parse his question before her eyes flared red.
“I cannot believe you just said that!” She walked to her right, staring him up and down. “I see you got the coat, but I’ve no idea why you chose the hat.”
Michael turned with her, allowing his body a chance to limber up. He had heard Eric and John back on Earth talk about allowing the slap and while he could have accomplished it, that wasn’t exactly who he was.
Nor was he the type of man Bethany Anne might need. He wasn’t the type to be bowled over, which was why when she attacked, he pivoted and simply went down on one knee, lowering his head as she went past.
Surprised, she tried jumping, but her right foot just caught his leg and she stumbled. Falling forward, she stabbed the ground with one arm, kicking up into the air to pivot and turn around, landing on her feet.
Michael was standing there with his arms behind his back.
She shook her head. “You are a fucker!” she said as she walked up to him. She stabbed him in the chest again. “You owe me an apology!”
When he just looked down at her she twisted around, eyes flashing, took a step, and dropped out of the Etheric.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The entire group walked around the spot from which the pair had vanished in case they should suddenly reappear. John smiled at Akio and asked, “Did Michael upgrade?”
Akio shook hands with the men while Gabrielle hugged Yuko and Eve. The two of them introduced Gabrielle to Mark and Jacqueline, the young adults Michael had picked up in the old US.
Akio nodded slowly. “I think he is in much better control of his powers than when you last met him.” He sighed. “This might take a while.”
Just then Bethany Anne stepped out of the Etheric, her hair floating around her head. “MEN!” she shrieked. “Can’t live with them, can’t leave them on the side of the road when you’re done with them! URRRGH!”
An arm reached out of thin air and pulled her backward, and her body disappeared.
A microsecond later Michael stood where she had been. “Women!” He harrumphed. He wiped off a sleeve and reached up to set his hat on his head, but a hand snaked out of the air, grabbed his hat, and disappeared. Michael whipped around. “She did not just take my fucking hat!” He took a step and
disappeared again.
Everyone looked at the empty spot for a second and then resumed their discussions. Ashur let them know he was going to walk around for a few minutes, then go back to the shuttle.
Akio pointed toward the two people the guys didn’t know. “Here, let me introduce you to Michael’s wards.”
“’Wards?’” Eric asked.
“Is that like kids?” John asked.
“Oh, goody!” Scott exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. He rubbed his hands together. “Does Bethany Anne know Michael has kids?”
—
“Give me back my hat!” Michael stormed into the Etheric, his head whipping around.
“What happened to your hair?” she asked as Michael spotted her. He strode in her direction as she walked backward, continuing to face him.
“My hat,” he demanded, holding out his hand as he came toward her.
She put it behind her. “You didn’t answer my question,” she ground out. “What happened to your hair?”
Michael dematerialized and the hat was ripped out of her hands. Whipping around, she threw a right hook, catching Michael under his arm just as he raised it to put his hat back on his head.
He whoofed in pain as at least two ribs cracked before he disappeared out of the Etheric.
She dropped out of the Etheric too, only to catch a foot to her abdomen. She entered the Etheric again as she was in flight and crashed back to the ground. “Gott Verdammt!” She coughed as she got up, looking for him. “Where are you, you bastard? I’ll rip your balls off.”
A moment later Michael popped back into the Etheric, but before he could find her she ran right into him, head down, shoulders set. Michael’s back cracked and he disappeared again.
This time Bethany Anne didn’t follow him. She looked around, trying to see where he was.
Unfortunately she didn’t think to look above, and Michael screamed “PILEDRIVER!” right before his elbow smashed onto the top of her head, tossing her out of the Etheric once more.
“OOOF!” he gasped when he hit the ground after she disappeared. Getting up, he scanned all around, then zipped forward a hundred yards, allowing the mist to hide him.
Soon enough, Bethany Anne’s sweet voice called, “Come out, come out, wherever you arrrree.” A second later she added in a slow, dark voice, “You toad-licking huphalump!”
Michael tried to gauge where she was, but needed a different angle. He faced where he thought she was and moved to his left.
“What, scared of little ol me?” she asked, her voice breathless.
Michael’s lips compressed. She knew how to push his buttons, even after all these years. “No,” he replied, stepping quickly out of the way in case she came at him. “Just playing with the mouse I’ve found.”
Soon enough Michael saw the red glow of her eyes and tore after her. His hat flew off as he ran forward, only to be shocked when the red he was following turned out to be two small red floating balls.
He never saw the punch.
Ejected from the Etheric, he hit the ground, and rolled over twice before he pushed up and disappeared once again from the park.
This time, Bethany Anne was standing not twenty paces away, hands on hips, eyes red. “Bring it,” she hissed at him. “You bitch!”
Michael looked around for his hat, which was fifteen feet away, and he walked casually over to it and picked it up. After studying it, he wiped off a bit of grass. “Well.” He placed it on his head and looked down to see all the grass stains. “That explains the clothes comments.”
He turned to Bethany Anne and popped his neck. “Technically,” he said conversationally, “My parents weren’t married when I was conceived, so I can be called a bastard.” As he started walking toward Bethany Anne his voice grew deeper and his eyes blazed red as his teeth elongated.
Bethany Anne heard him both with her ears and in her mind. “But no one calls me a bitch!”
>>Oh shit,<< ADAM remarked.
What he said, TOM agreed.
That was when Bethany Anne found out Michael had one button she might choose not to push again.
They went at it, blocking, kicking, and punching. Occasionally one or the other would be surprised and get tossed out of the Etheric, only to find the other waiting for them with a snide comment when they came back and started into it again.
—
“Seventeen,” Mark said aloud as the ten of them glanced at the action. This time it was Michael who dropped out of the air some ten feet above the ground. His body slammed to the Earth, only to jump up a moment later and disappear once again.
“Is it only me, or is this a weird way to greet your lover after a long time?” Jacqueline asked. “I mean, Mark makes me mad, but I don’t think that after a hundred and fifty years I’d fight with him like this.”
Mark eyed his girlfriend. “That’s good to know, I guess.” Jacqueline elbowed him in the ribs, to the chuckles of the others.
“I was thrown by the kiss, actually,” Eve put in. “I get update feeds from ADAM when Bethany Anne is here, and let me tell you—the fighting that’s happening on the other side is dramatic.”
“Probably just two alphas reasserting dominance.” Gabrielle sighed. “Bethany Anne hasn’t truly had to answer to anyone, and Michael still has that ‘I’m the ArchAngel’ thing going on.” She tapped her lips. “Although I think he was probably ok until she tried to slap him.”
“Michael is working to be a good man,” Akio told her. “He’s come far in becoming human again.” He shook his head. “Allowing someone to slap him, even his love, isn’t something he has worked on though, I can assure you.”
Bethany Anne appeared twenty feet in the air and fell to the turf, rolling twice before she kicked off the ground. She was gone a half-second later.
“Eighteen,” Eve announced.
“Who wants to bet on the number of times they show up before they kiss and make up?” Darryl asked.
“Twenty-seven,” John replied immediately. “Closest wins, ties on either side of the guess go to the person who chose the smaller of the two numbers,” he qualified.
Jacqueline scrunched her nose. “How does that work?”
“If one person suggests twenty-eight, and another thirty,” John explained to the young werewolf, “and the number is twenty-nine, then twenty-eight wins.”
“I’ll take thirty-five,” Scott piped up.
“Any reason you guys are going for odd numbers?” Eve asked.
Darryl shrugged. “Aren’t they just numbers?” he answered. He was thinking about the last few times one or the other had appeared when Michael and Bethany Anne both slammed into the ground. Bethany Anne was still arguing as they rolled for a half-second before disappearing. “I’ve got twenty-three,” Darryl told the group.
“Did she just call him a crusted bunghole of a space-zombie?” Mark wondered. “And that was nineteen.”
“That’s what I heard,” Eric agreed. “What the hell, I’ll go for the long shot. Forty-three.”
Yuko asked, her voice slightly timid, “Are we betting on which one will finally give in?”
John scratched his chin as the ten of them watched Bethany Anne appear, anger etched plainly on her face and her eyes flaming red. “That conceited gigantic—” she was yelling when Michael’s arm snagged her around the waist and she vanished again.
“I believe she has a lot of anger to release,” Gabrielle mused. “And Michael isn’t allowing her to walk away and cool off.”
“No.” Akio added, “Also, he does not want to hold this discussion in public.”
“She isn’t going to like that,” Gabrielle answered. “Well, the walking-away part. The not-in-public she won’t care about.”
Jacqueline smiled. “I’d love to know what they are saying on the other side,” she admitted in a conspiratorial whisper. She turned to look to Eve. “Did you say ADAM was keeping you up to date?”
“Not exactly like that,” Eve told her. “And I’ll take twenty-f
ive.”
Akio looked at the android AI. “You have inside knowledge.”
“That’s ok with me,” Gabrielle allowed. “Twenty-one.”
“Wow, you’re thinking she’s almost done,” Mark exclaimed. “Do you know both of them?”
“Yes,” Gabrielle admitted, “although Michael was more of a boogeyman for most of my life.”
“Which has been hundreds of years,” Yuko told Mark as she pointed to Gabrielle. “Remember, this is Stephen’s daughter.”
Mark’s mouth formed a silent “O.”
Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “That reminds me…where is this Tabitha female?”
Gabrielle turned to Jacqueline, and noticed the slight surprise in Yuko’s eyes. Mark silently pleaded with his own eyes, imploring her, she felt, to minimize her answer.
She would have to get to the bottom of this, but Gabrielle had a rather solid suspicion. Jacqueline was obviously a werewolf, and Mark had the physical tells of a vampire.
Even if he was out in the sun.
Most female werewolves didn’t like to share. Gabrielle jerked her thumb upward. “On the ArchAngel. Why?”
“Just curious.” Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “Is she coming down?”
“I’m sure she is,” Eric piped up from behind her.
Gabrielle wanted to roll her eyes when she saw the blood—what little he had left, she guessed—drain from Mark’s face. “Along with her boyfriend Peter.” Gabrielle told them, trying to stave off a possible issue.
“Peter?” Mark interjected, relief in his voice.
“Yes,” John answered. “The Queen’s Guardians’ leader.”
Jacqueline’s focus locked on John. “The Peter?” she asked, her excitement palpable. “The one the Queen saved?”
“Yes,” John answered. “Did you know him?”
This time, it was Mark’s eyes that narrowed in annoyance.
She shook her head. “No, but my dad told stories of Bethany Anne’s saving him, and how he turned around. Hell,” she gushed, pointing to each of them, “he told me about you too, John.” She pointed to the others. “And Darryl and Scott and Eric.”
“Who was your father?” Eric asked.
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