Chrono Inquisitor (Gods Be Damned)

by Rien Reigns

  A boom sounded. But not before I yelled in agony, clutched my chest, and fell backwards.

  I had forgotten about the sniper.

  As I fell, time slowed.

  I watched Angel voice man go limp and fall as well, rendered unconscious, possibly even dead, by the collar and Kali.

  Overcome with pain, I cursed as I lost consciousness for the second gods damned time within an hour.

  9: The Peach Pit

  I found myself floating on my back high above a forest of white trees topped with a sprinkling of red snow, riding the cold currents of air, circling further and further away from the landscape below.

  Something, someone, some-it, had flipped the switch on gravity. That magnetic force was now reversed, taking me down into the sky, a swirling mass composed of shades of dark purple mixed with clouds of silver intermingling within. Blue lightning danced over and around a black sun, a dark abyss of oblivion, into which I was falling.

  A blast of warmth pushed me upwards, back towards the forest of blood and purity. Movement caught my eye. I was now on the hunt. The specter of death riding on my wings, pulling my strings, navigating me to do its bidding.

  I was the reaper, the raptor, the bird of prey. Peering up on the world. Observing. Reflecting. Casting judgment on the land of the half alive.

  I screeched. I cawed. The song of the apocalypse spewing forth from my maw the green flames of destruction and rebirth. The fire fell upon the forest.

  I jerked awake, my muscles spasming as my nervous system rebooted. My senses were temporarily cross-wired and overlapping.

  It felt like I was swimming in sand. I could taste/hear the tangy electrolyte solution of Jimmy Hendrix and his electric guitar playing Rock Me Baby.

  My lungs rapidly expanded and contracted sucking in the precise gaseous mixture of life and respiration.

  “Travis, can you hear me?” a soothing female voice said.

  I tasted the words and gagged on my own name.

  My eyes were sealed shut. I couldn’t get them to open.

  “Easy there. Nice and slow,” said that ethereal voice.

  “Sam?” I asked, confused.

  “Sorry, darling.”

  “Damn it, Kali, I told you to quit with the voice alterations.”

  “It’s not Kali either. My name is Hannah. I’m a Lifeguard. You’re at the Peach Pit Methuselah Center in Pueblo, Colorado.”

  My mind began to sort itself out.

  Now it felt like I was bathing and relaxing in a warm salty sea. The taste of the solution however gave me the sensation of licking a battery.

  I finally managed to open my eyes and found a delicate hand brushing aside my, longer than it had been, black hair from in front of my eyes. The hand tucked the strand of hair behind my ear and then proceeded down my cheek in a sweet caress, coming to rest on my chin. The woman stared into my eyes and I stared back into her green orbs of tranquility, losing myself there for a few seconds.

  She smiled, and I smiled back.

  I tried to remember how I’d gotten there, but couldn’t. My memories hadn’t caught up to me.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “You were shot. Your jacket stopped the bullet, but the force shattered your badge, which then pierced your chest, collapsing a lung. If it hadn’t been for your friend and his quick thinking, you could have died.”

  Thrass. I remembered him then.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “I believe he’s been released and is waiting for you in the lobby.”

  “Released?”

  “He suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and other injuries.”

  Thrass had saved me. No, not Thrass, Paxton. He deserved first name status after what he’d done.

  “Do me a favor, will you Hannah?” I said, and then added, “Lovely name by the way. Put my friend’s charges on my bill.”

  “I can do that,” she said, and then reached into her medical lab coat and extracted a myte-scanner. “Can you stand up for me please?” she asked.

  I pushed myself up. The rejuvenation juice slid down my naked flesh leaving no trace behind. Another part of myself stood at attention as well.

  She waved the scanner slowly over my entire body, starting at my head. When she got to my erect member, she said, “Well, you look to be fully functional.”

  “Looks can be deceiving, dear. We won’t really know until we give it a test run, now will we?”

  The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying.

  Could I have come at her with a lamer line?

  Probably.

  She looked me up and down.

  Even though I’d just undergone a baptism, and was looking as good as I ever had, for some reason I felt inadequate. I was just waiting for her to see through my façade and laugh at me.

  But she didn’t.

  Instead, she gave me a mischievous grin and said, “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

  She reached out with a single finger and stroked it across my chest. My pectoral muscles twitched. The newly invigorated and repaired nerves being stimulated for the first time.

  She giggled and gave me the look of a tigress about to pounce. Leaning forward she licked my nipple. The sensation sent a shockwave through me. My nipples hadn’t ever been sensitive before, but now they were overloading my brain with pleasure.

  Is this what it feels like for a woman? I wondered. Because, Damn!

  My dick pulsed and throbbed, and was so engorged and ready to burst, it actually hurt a little.

  As if sensing what I felt, and wanting to relieve my pain, Hannah got on her knees and took my cock in her mouth.

  It felt like I’d stuck my dick in a wall socket, turning me into a pinball machine, and she was that little ball knocking around in the pleasure center of my brain. It took every ounce of will I could wrangle to not release myself too damn soon.

  I felt her hands grasp the back of my thighs and then move to my ass. She gave it a squeeze and pulled me towards her, taking all of me into her mouth.

  I arched backwards and grabbed the back of her head for support. I ran my hands through her silky hazel hair, and massaged her scalp with every piston motion she made.

  Leaving one hand on my ass, she took the other and cupped my balls, gently massaging them. Within seconds I felt the pressure build beyond critical mass. Unable to contain myself any longer, I exploded in her mouth.

  She moaned along with me as my body convulsed and rocked.

  When my orgasm subsided she released me.

  “Wow!” I said.

  Even though I’d just exhausted my load, I was far from spent.

  I lifted Hannah to her feet, and pulled her tightly against me. I pressed my lips to hers and pried them open with my tongue. She’d already swallowed. Not that I would have minded. Surprisingly, she tasted delicious. Like a peach.

  I spent longer exploring her mouth with my tongue than I had with my dick. During our tongue kata, while her hands explored my skin, I helped release her from the restrictive nature of her clothing in order to freely explore every centimeter of her flesh.

  Don’t be hasty. Take your time. Make her mine, was my mantra.

  Reluctantly, but wanting to taste every inch of her, we unlocked lips.

  I entwined my fingers in her hair and gently pulled her head back, revealing her neck. I pressed my lips to that sweet spot where the neck and shoulder meet. Kissing my way up her neck, finding my way to her earlobe, which I kissed, nibbled, and suckled, all the while, she moaned and writhed in my arms. I then kissed my way around to the other ear where I repeated the procedure.

  I wanted to taste her wellspring, to gorge myself on her juices, to drown in her. I hadn’t felt this way in years. Something primal, yet more so, something spiritual, whipped me into a state of…there wasn’t a word for it. I hadn’t wanted to know a woman this bad since I’d been a real-aged teenager, before I’d actually known a woman.

  But there was something m
ore. A desire. A need. I didn’t just want to let myself go, only to feel those fleeting moments of ecstasy come and vanish like it was all an apparition. No, I wanted to capture those moments and prolong them, stretch them out, slow them down.

  I firmly grabbed her ass and pulled her up. She wrapped her legs around me and I slid into her. She moaned and started rocking back and forth. I took one of my hands supporting her ass and cupped a breast, it fit perfectly in my palm, and was at the right level for my mouth. I brought her erect nipple to my lips, and flicked it with my tongue. She shuddered in my arms. Grabbing the back of my neck she pulled me into a kiss of ecstasy.

  We stayed like that for a while until my legs began to protest. Then we moved to a chair where she straddled me in many different ways. After that we moved to the floor. At some point we went into the Methuselah pool. I don’t know if it was the rejuvenation juice, or simply the fiery passion that possessed us, but it took a long time before our body’s capacity for pleasure overloaded.

  One hour, forty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds after we’d started, Hannah and I were dressing after the best sex I’d ever had, and probably ever would. I couldn’t say the same for her though. She hadn’t said it, and I definitely wasn’t going to ask and have my perfect memory tainted.

  “So,” Hannah said hesitantly, while buttoning her blouse, as if she were embarrassed, which was weird considering all the things we’d just done. “Are you really an Inquisitor?”

  “Are you really just a mere mortal and not the incarnation of Aphrodite?” I asked in response.

  She blushed slightly at that. “You’ve already had me, no need to keep up with the seduction.” She smiled at me like there was nothing that could make her happier. It reminded me of Sam’s smile, and for half a second, the last time I’d made love to her. I felt guilty for some reason, comparing Hannah to Sam.

  “Though it is nice,” Hannah said, bringing my attention back to the amazing woman in front of me.

  I put my hand to my chest. “Are you saying this was only a one-shot deal?

  “Why, you planning to get yourself shot again anytime soon?”

  Hopefully not shot. But it is always a possibility, I thought.

  “To see and be with you again, it’d be worth it,” I said.

  I wasn’t lying.

  She finished putting on her lab coat and came to me. She put her hand on my cheek. Her skin was so soft against my…beard? I’d forgotten that the baptismal process stimulated hair growth. I’d been so caught up in Hannah, it hadn’t donned on me that my hair was over twice as long as it had been earlier that day. Almost long enough to tuck behind my ears.

  “I don’t recommend getting yourself nearly killed again just to see me, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if I found you in one of my pools again. Sometime in the future, that is.”

  She gave me a look that she was serious.

  I smiled. She was damn sexy when serious. I was half hoping she’d send me to her room.

  “You know,” she continued. “Most men aren’t able to recover as quickly as you seemed to have.”

  “I guess I’m not most men,” I said.

  Should’ve known I wasn’t something special. All her clients probably got the full package. Oh, well. Why dwell on something that would only ruin the experience. Jealousy was stupid. There was enough love to go around. I’d learned that since my divorce.

  “But, that doesn’t mean you’re fully recovered,” she said. “A baptism can be rough on the system, especially the mind.”

  She pulled out her myte-scanner again and gave me another once over, but this time there wasn’t any playful, sexual undertones. She was in lifeguard mode. “You seem completely fine, but I recommend you take it easy for a couple of days. All right?” She gave me one of those motherly/wife looks that meant if I didn’t do what she said, she’d make my life miserable.

  With one large step I was in front of her. I grabbed and kissed her, deep and passionately. For a moment she weakened against me and returned the kiss. Then I released her.

  “I was actually on my way to the Regency Resort. Maybe you could take some time off and join me?” I asked.

  I looked into her eyes. For a nanosecond she looked like she might take me up on the idea, but then said, “Sorry, it sounds lovely and all, I mean, the Regency?” She looked at me like she was trying to gauge if I’d been serious.

  I had.

  I put all my will into my eyes, trying to convey how much I wanted her to come.

  Say you’ll do it. You know you want to. Come with me, I said with my will.

  She bit her lower lip.

  Say yes.

  But then she shook her head. “I can’t. It’s really tempting. God, it’s like a dream come true. Some random, handsome, wealthy, all around great guy, offering to whisk me away to a fancy resort. I’ll probably regret it, but-”

  “Then do it. Come away with me.”

  I got down on my knees.

  “I’m begging you, and let me just say, I don’t beg. I want you to come with me, Hannah, I don’t even know you’re full name.”

  I could have probed her Chrono and found out, but it didn’t seem right.

  I didn’t need to though, because she gave it to me freely. “Prickett. Hannah Teresia Prickett.”

  “Well then, Hannah Teresia Prickett, come away with me.”

  Once again she looked like she was going to say yes, but then hesitated.

  “How about this,” I said. “I have some business to wrap up in town which will probably take a few hours. You have until I leave to make a decision. Here’s my C-link.”

  I raised my hand; thumb, index, and middle fingers up, the others down. She mirrored me and we touched fingers, swapping C-links.

  “I’ll give you a tickle as I’m leaving town,” I said. “Or, if you decide sooner, give me one.”

  She nodded and smiled.

  Damn, that’s a smile I could get used to, I thought.

  I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay there until she said yes, but I knew I needed to give her some alone time to think about my offer.

  “Is there a stylist on the premises?” I asked. “I could use a shave and a cut.”

  “Of course.”

  She led me to the barber, and then with a slightly awkward farewell, we parted ways. Hopefully not for good.

  I decided to keep the beard, so I only had it shaped and trimmed. I actually liked the new hair length as well, so I kept it, but had it stylized.

  Feeling like a new man, which in some ways I was, I decided I needed some new clothes. The ones I’d had on had been ruined with blood. The Peach Pit had provided me with replacements, but they weren’t up to my everyday standards. My vault had been cleaned, as much as it could be anyway. It had withstood the fight, but after years of use, it was showing signs of wear.

  Being a full-service rejuvenation facility, the Peach Pit also had a tailor. Since Paxton had saved my life, I figured I’d buy the man some, better clothes as well. Besides, he needed some if he was still going to help me out in Texas.

  I went to the lobby. As soon as Paxton saw me he jumped to his feet and ran towards me like a kid who’d been waiting for his father to return from war.

  “Fucking A,” Paxton said. “I was beginning to think you’d died. It’s been almost three hours since that lifeguard said you’d be done.” Pausing for a once over, he said with a hint of surprise, “Damn man, you look good.”

  “You don’t look so bad yourself, but how about we make you look even better?”

  I could tell he’d already had a shave and a cut. He looked almost as he had last time I’d seen him, except his hair was nicer. Stylized by a professional.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “A new wardrobe. It’s the least I can do since you saved my life.”

  “Well, I did feel sort of obligated,” he said. “In a way it was my fault what happened. Those guys were there for me.”

  “So who were th
ey?”

  While we got fitted for some new threads Paxton filled me in on what he knew.

  As it turned out, Paxton had made a deal with the devil. Not the devil, of course. That was ridiculous. But the devil of Pueblo, Derrik Van Horne - the crime lord, business magnate, basically the uncrowned king of the city. By most accounts, Paxton’s among them, this devil incarnate was an all-around likable and charitable guy. So long as you saw things his way, and did what you were told.

  While Paxton hadn’t turned to Corruption, he had turned to Van Horne for a loan to pay his premiums. In return, in order to pay off his debts, Paxton had somewhat reluctantly become part of the man’s gang – AKA the Demon Legion.

  The one I’d nicknamed Gravel voice, AKA the Easter Bunny, was Varun ‘Give’m Hell’ Naraka. Angel voice, AKA the Tooth Fairy, had been Torrance ‘Old Man’ Olham. The Maelstrom Moron, was Simon ‘the Dagger’ Dabney. Paxton had never thought that man too bright and he’d been right. Paxton hadn’t seen the man I’d shot, so he wasn’t sure exactly who he was. As for the sniper, it was most likely Walter ‘Longshot’ Lachlan, but he’d apparently disappeared after Paxton got ahold of Give’m Hell’s sniper rifle.

  Longshot had left the pod they’d rode in on, so once Paxton felt it was safe, he’d dragged me to it, and took us to the nearest Lifeguard facility.

  “Where can I find this, Van Horne?” I asked.

  “Why the hell would you want to do that?

  “To show him that you don’t fuck with a reaper. I figure since he paid me a visit, I’ll drop in and say hi.”

  “I don’t think you really wanna do that,” Paxton said. “Not after we killed a couple of his men.”

  “That’s even more of a reason to do so. We’ve already wounded him, now we need to go for the kill.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. He has a lot more men than those bumbling idiots, and now he’s going to be ready for us.”

  “Look, I’ll take you with me, but if this Van Horne is as powerful as you say, what makes you think he won’t find you. And if not you, what about your ex and your son? You think he won’t go after them to get to you, because I would.”