The Telepathic Clans Omnibus

by B R Kingsolver

  “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.” What followed was a perfunctory repeat of their earlier interview. At the end, he made sure to find out where she was staying while in New York.

  The hotel name she gave was a setup. That night, when Irina returned to the sham hotel, over a hundred Protectors were waiting, inside and out.

  Irina rode the elevator to the third floor. When she emerged, room keycard in hand, a man was waiting. Irina nodded at him and turned to go down the hall. A hand closed around her upper arm.

  “Hey,” she said as he tried to pull her to him, “what the hell?”

  Another man stepped out of the alcove where the ice machine was located. As he approached, she saw a syringe in his hand. She kicked the man holding her in the shin and wrenched her arm away. Backing down the hall away from them, she started draining their energy.

  Doors opened on both sides of the hallway on both sides of the elevator. O’Donnell Protectors poured out of the rooms and captured the men inside an air shield.

  Hauled into Irina’s hotel room, Brenna smashed their shields and turned their minds over to Collin and his Protectors. Rebecca collapsed Irina’s construct.

  “We did it,” Irina squealed, bouncing up and down and laughing in exultation. “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.”

  She hugged Rebecca. “You were right. It was like watching a performance. I was so nervous, but the Irina in the construct was cool as a cucumber. I never would have been able to pull it off.” She beamed as various people congratulated her on playing her part so well.

  Protectors appropriated the hunters’ clothing, and Caroline, almost a hundred years older than Irina but short and blonde, took Irina’s place.

  Taking their captives’ car, Jeremy and Kallen drove to the rendezvous site at a brownstone on the upper west side and hauled Caroline to the front door. Kallen knocked. When a man answered the door, Kallen hit him in the face and bulled his way inside.

  All three were extremely powerful telepaths with the Gifts for Air Shielding and Neural Disruption. Covered in air shields, they charged into the house, Jeremy taking the stairs two at a time while Kallen and Caroline split up and fought their way through the ground floor. Five more Protectors followed them in.

  Caroline confronted two men and a woman in the living room. One discharged a bolt of electrical energy at her, but her air shield deflected it. She returned a stream of disruptive neural energy. Her assailant jerked, convulsed, and fell to the floor twitching as his nerves discharged randomly and commands from his brain ceased to make proper connections.

  “Give it up or I’ll do the same to you,” she said to the other two people. The man pulled a gun, but was too slow. A silenced pistol spat over Caroline’s shoulder as the Protector following her was faster.

  One man tried to flee out the back door, but the team waiting there captured him and thanked him for opening the door.

  On the third floor, a woman fired a gun at the Protectors coming up the stairs. The bullet bounced off Jeremy’s air shield, and when he charged into her, she slipped and tumbled over the railing, hitting the bannister below, and bouncing down to the first floor.

  Within five minutes, they subdued and captured the men and women in the house.

  They rounded up seventeen telepaths. The woman who fell from the third floor was dead of a broken back, and the man Caroline burned out was euthanized. Four others, including one with a bullet in his shoulder, were hurt and taken to the healers at the New York compound.

  Interrogations ensued immediately. Some of them had knowledge of CBW personnel at the UN and other operations in New York. Protectors were dispatched to apprehend three more operatives associated with the succubi hunters. The captives were transported to the Clan’s compound to have their minds thoroughly ransacked. Once the O’Donnell Clan was through with them, their Gifts would be burned out and their minds would be stripped of their memories.

  ~~~

  The next day, the most important operation commenced.

  The Center for a Better World, CBW, was the most powerful European rival to the O’Donnell Clan. Based in Berlin, it presented itself as a philanthropic organization. In reality, it served as a front for a consortium of German, Austrian, Italian and Eastern European Clans.

  Philosophically, the consortium was the polar opposite of O’Donnell. Their basic unifying belief was that telepaths were a superior race whose rightful place in the world was to rule, and normal humans should serve them. During World War II, those Clans backed the Nazis and Fascists. During the Silent War of the late 1940s and 1950s, they fought to control Europe. O’Donnell and its allies were victorious, forestalling those plans.

  CBW had a small U.S. headquarters in Washington, DC, that Seamus tolerated, and a larger contingent in New York operating out of the UN. Most of the foreign Clans had some presence in DC and at the UN. The UN actually served the same function for the Clans as it did for national governments, giving them a neutral ground to meet and communicate.

  The operations against succubi in New York were not within the boundaries Seamus was willing to tolerate. Reports of succubi and other young telepathic women disappearing had become more numerous, and at least two succubi had been killed.

  Several teams entered UN headquarters using various guises. Some entered wearing UN security uniforms, some as tourists, others as credentialed national representatives or UN employees. Collin and a team of four computer experts took control of the security center, disabling cameras throughout the building and crashing the servers.

  Brenna, Rebecca and three Protectors, all dressed in conservative business suits, went to Rosenberg’s office, blurring their presence in the minds of everyone they passed.

  When they entered his office, his secretary jumped to her feet, lashing out with a bolt of mental energy. The attack was deflected as Brenna had her team covered by her O’Neill mental shields. Rebecca walked up to the secretary and punched her in the nose. The secretary fell back in her chair, blood gushing over her blouse. Battering through her shields, Rebecca captured her mind.

  “Did that feel good?” Brenna grinned.

  “That was for Irina. She told me his secretary was creepy,” Rebecca said, rubbing her knuckles.

  Opening the door to the inner office, Brenna said, “Good morning, Herr Rosenberg.” She smashed his shields and took control of his mind. The Protectors plundered his thoughts, discovering the entire structure of CBW operations and personnel at the UN and throughout New York City.

  Rosenberg reported to three different people. A member of Siegfried von Ebersberg’s Clan, his superior in that regard was another important official of the UN. Rosenberg also reported to CBW intelligence in Berlin and to Lord John Gordon in London. It was Gordon who was running the succubi hunters, though most of the personnel were supplied by von Ebersberg. Young succubi such as Irina and Brenna were delivered to von Ebersberg. Older ones such as Cindy had been delivered to Manfred Gless before his death.

  He knew that those delivered to Gless, the monster Brenna had run into near DC, were destined for murder. The fates of those sent to von Ebersberg weren’t as clear to him, though he did know his Clan dealt in prostitution.

  One piece of information that came as a surprise was that they were also hunting women who only carried the succubus genes. The Kashani Gift, usually called the Succubus Gift, was the result of a sex-linked gene complex. Brenna inherited it from both parents, while Rebecca had inherited it from only one of her parents. Brenna was a succubus and Rebecca wasn’t. Von Ebersberg was collecting both, the younger the better.

  When they finished, eyes blazing with rage, Rebecca placed her finger against Rosenberg’s head and sent a stream of Neural Disruption energy into his brain. His body stiffened then slumped.

  Shocked, Brenna asked, “Did you kill him?”

  “No, I burned out his Gifts. He’s head blind.”

  Leaving Rosenberg’s office, they went searching for his superior in v
on Ebersberg’s Clan.

  How’s our time? Rebecca sent to Collin. We know who the kingpin is. Do we want to take him out of here?

  No, too risky. We can give you another fifteen minutes, but that’s it.

  We won’t have time to do a thorough interrogation.

  Collin was silent and Rebecca waited for instructions. In the meantime, Collin opened a secure elevator for them. They rode it to another floor.

  I wish we could capture his mind, the way Brenna did Gless, Collin finally answered Rebecca.

  We’re not letting the bastard into Brenna’s mind, Rebecca responded.

  No, I’m not suggesting that, just wishing. The tone of his mental thread carried the same revulsion Rebecca felt, remembering how dangerously close Brenna had come to being killed.

  Arriving at Johan Karlson’s office, Rebecca took the lead. All of the strike team members, including Brenna, wore bulletproof vests under their clothes, but she wasn’t taking any risks with Brenna’s safety. CBW operatives had proven quite willing to use conventional weapons.

  “We have an appointment with Mr. Karlson,” Rebecca said, battering through his secretary’s shields. Brenna shattered the shields of the other three telepaths in the office and the Protectors blurred everything from the minds of the two norms present.

  Pushing through the door to Karlson’s private office, they were met with bolts of electrical energy and spears of neural disruption. Karlson was a powerful telepath and he didn’t intend to let them capture him. Brenna’s shields blocked the neural disruption while Rebecca’s air shield deflected the electrical energy. The lights went out. Karlson’s office had windows across one wall and they could see in his office, but the outer office was plunged into darkness. One of the Protectors kindled a small ball of fire on his palm to provide light.

  Brenna smashed Karlson’s shields and took control of his mind. He screamed, sinking into his chair, holding his head in his hands.

  I have notification of a power failure in your area, Collin sent.

  Karlson used electrokinesis, Rebecca told him.

  The women rifled through his mind.

  There’s an intelligence gold mine here, Rebecca told Brenna. Isn’t there some way to take his mind with us?

  I don’t know. Brenna enfolded his soul with her mind and attempted to pull it out of him. It didn’t budge.

  Rebecca reached into him, grabbed his soul and pulled it into her mind. Karlson shuddered and his body slumped.

  “Shit,” Brenna said, turning frantically to Rebecca, “he’s dead. Put it back.”

  Rebecca pushed Karlson’s soul back into him. Brenna stimulated his heart and he took a shuddering breath.

  The women looked at each other, relief in both their faces.

  Karlson had a heart attack. Can we get him out of here in an ambulance? Brenna sent a spear to Collin.

  Hell yeah, that works. I’ll have people there in a few minutes.

  A doctor and two EMTs soon appeared. Within half an hour, Karlson was loaded into an ambulance driven by an O’Donnell Protector. With Karlson safely sedated in the O’Donnell infirmary, a team went to work mining his knowledge. The succubi hunting in New York and Washington was over.

  Twelve more CBW operatives were rounded up and the rival Clans’ communication network was compromised. Not only had they disrupted the succubus hunting operations, but CBW’s U.S. operations as a whole.

  ~~~

  Alice had told Brenna and her friends that she could have some clothes ready for them the end of the week. The rest would be shipped to West Virginia where her sister Elise could make any final adjustments that might be necessary. Wanting to see the best first, Brenna asked her to make the Solstice dresses so they could try them on before their trip ended. On Thursday morning, they went to a fitting, discovering Alice also had a second dress ready for each of them. They would have new dresses for Thanksgiving.

  Callie felt as proud and happy as a new mother watching the wonder on the girls’ faces as they looked at themselves in the mirror. She remembered how she felt the first time she put on one of Alice’s creations, seeing the tall, awkward girl she had always thought of herself turned into a beautiful swan. It changed her self-perception and her life. For the first time, she had seen the beauty her father had always praised.

  Before they left the shop, Brenna and Alice went off alone, and when she came back Callie asked, “So, did you keep your promise?”

  “Of course, before taxes.”

  After the fitting, Brenna insisted they go to Tiffany’s. All of the female protectors were with them that day, and as everyone wandered around the store, Callie began to wonder if that was an accident. Brenna wandered about, talking to everyone, looking at the pieces people showed her, and in the end bought a rather plain jade choker necklace that fanned across her upper chest, pointing to her ample bosom, a nice watch, and a ring for Collin.

  Callie watched her speaking at some length to a manager when she went to pay.

  “Forgive me for being suspicious, but is there a reason we came here?” she asked Brenna. “And how much was that receipt you just signed?”

  “Why, Callie, how could you possibly suspect me of manipulating something for my own selfish purposes?” Brenna asked, her eyes artificially wide.

  “Perhaps because I know you.”

  Brenna smiled and looked around at her party gazing into the cases, some purchasing things. “I’m just doing a little Christmas shopping.”

  Callie remembered Brenna standing with each of the women, looking at jewelry they pointed out, most then reluctantly turning away because they couldn’t afford it. She remembered her own longing look at an exquisite choker of yellow diamonds, and talking herself out of the hundred fifty thousand dollar price tag.

  “You didn’t.”

  “Of course not,” Brenna scoffed, “you’re a hundred-millionaire yourself. If you really wanted that necklace, you’d have bought it. I only really went overboard for one person and a little overboard for another.”

  Callie didn’t bother to ask whom. “She’ll yell at you.”

  “No she won’t,” Brenna told her with a chuckle. “She’ll be speechless.”

  “So what are you giving me?”

  Brenna chuckled, “Nice try. You’ll know when you pull the end of the bow.”

  “You didn’t see anything you really wanted?”

  “Get real. I’ve got over a hundred pieces in that box, and I haven’t worn a fraction of it yet. I need more jewelry like I need another hole in the head.”

  The group was getting ready to go, gathering near the entrance, when Callie made a mad decision. She crossed to the showcase where the yellow diamonds were displayed, and motioned the saleswoman over. “I’ll take that,” she said, pointing. Turning, she met Brenna’s smiling eyes.

  That evening, Siobhan took them to her favorite club. There was a live band, and the crowd was a little older than in some of the places she’d taken them earlier in the week. With a small bribe to the door screener, she arranged for the Protectors to be able to rotate in and out of the club freely. Since telepaths were able to clear their systems of alcohol at will, Kallen had acquiesced with allowing them to party freely.

  Everyone was having a good time, dancing and flirting. Callie danced with the same man several times and then disappeared. Worried after a while, Rebecca checked the restrooms. Brenna, have you seen Callie? I can’t find her.

  She was dancing with that blonde guy, but I don’t see him either.

  I’m going to check outside.

  Okay, I’ll come with you.

  They went outside, the late fall evening rather chilly, but didn’t see Callie or the man. Increasingly worried, they walked around the building. In the alley, they saw a man standing in front of a woman who was backed against the wall. She had her arms around his neck and one leg around his waist, high heel and panties hanging from the end of her foot. What they were doing wasn’t in question.

  “My God,
that’s Callie!” Rebecca was scandalized.

  A voice behind them made them jump, “And I’m sure she’d appreciate some privacy. I know my men would appreciate you going back inside so they can go with you and get warm,” Kallen said in a droll voice.

  “You love her, doesn’t that bother you?” Rebecca asked.

  “Yes, I love her enough to want her to be happy. I don’t make her happy, not that way. Aren’t you the wrong one to be talking about someone having sex in an alley?”

  Rebecca’s face flamed so bright Brenna could see it in the dark.

  “Go back inside, she’s safe, and she’s doing what she enjoys doing,” Kallen said.

  Chastised, they went.

  When they sat down at their table, Siobhan asked, “You do know what the primary purpose of panties is, don’t you?”

  “Uh, what?” Brenna asked.

  “To keep your ankles warm, silly. Don’t worry about Callie. Kallen takes care of her.”

  Sunday morning, after a riotous evening out on the town ending in a bacchanalia in their hotel, they loaded up the buses. Dropping by Alice’s shop, they picked up the clothes that were ready, and headed for West Virginia.

  “Ok,” Brenna turned to Irina, “what’s the final score?”

  Pulling out her smartphone, Irina punched a few buttons, “Rebecca fifteen, Brenna twelve, Irina nine.”

  “Whoo hoo! I won!” Rebecca raised her arms in the air and did a little dance in her seat.

  “What are you talking about?” Callie had a very perplexed look on her face.

  “Modeling offers,” Irina explained.

  “How many runway offers?” Brenna asked.

  “Rebecca twelve, Brenna and I, none.”

  “It’s the legs,” Brenna pronounced.

  “Yep, the legs,” Irina agreed.

  “How many lingerie or nude?” Rebecca asked.

  “Brenna nine, Irina six, Rebecca none.”

  “The boobs,” Rebecca said. “And who knows if those were really legitimate offers or if they just wanted to see them.”

  Brenna stuck her tongue out at Rebecca.

  “What were the others?” Callie asked.