At this point, both women looked over at me and both were smiling.
"I am impressed boss. I figured you would have tried to seduce Ms Sessa by now. I strongly suggest you drink a bottle of the liquid. The effects as I understand them will only get stronger if you don't”
By this time I was staring at this strange woman and my mind was beginning to get very cloudy with my desire for her. My manhood at this point would have been able to break a diamond if needed. The woman, looking at me decided it would be safer to hand the liquid to Yolanda to give to me. Yolanda had to jolt me a couple of times to get my attention, and practically had to force me to drink the liquid. I gained enough of my sanity back to drink the liquid and immediately felt the effects of my strong desire begin to recede. After a few seconds I was again able to think clearly and move functionally.
"Someone had better tell me what the hell just happened to me”
"What you just felt is what my people call Eurola. It is the strong sexual desire humans have to members of my race”
"Your race? What do you mean, to members of your race"? Are you telling me your people aren't human?"
"To be blunt yes I am"
I stood there staring at this woman trying to decide if she was demented, crazy or something worse. Yet the effect she just had on me couldn't be dismissed. I had never felt such a reaction before, ever for any women. My complete helplessness to the emotion was not only surprising, but also very frightening.
"Yolanda, what can you tell me about this woman and her people”
"Unfortunately boss I am still bound by law from discussing the particulars of Ms. Sessa and her people. Only she or other members of her race can reveal details of who or what they are”
Looking at Yolanda I suddenly realized that there were parts of her past history with the government that she had kept hidden, and though she appeared to be calm in this mysterious woman's presence I could sense a great deal of stress underneath that calm.
"Mr. Hutchins, I know right now you have a great many questions you want answers to, but I implore you to hold off on them and let me explain the reason we are here. If after that, you decide to take the case, all of your questions will be answered for you later back in our village”
I looked at her and the sheriff for a few minutes while they waited for my answer.
"Okay, I assume you are here to hire me to fulfill a manhunter contract. What are the particulars?
"Well this contract is a little unusual" stated the sheriff.
"You see about seven weeks ago young women in our village started being raped and killed. Now when I say raped I am speaking in a general term. You see the rapist actually kills the women during the rape. Kills them in a violent fashion no one has seen before"
"What do you mean?"
"It appears the rapist sexual member is of such size that when he inserts himself inside the woman he literally tears them apart"
Yolanda and I both stared at the sheriff after his statement. Looking at the woman, she replied,
"The force of the rape has been determined to be beyond the power of a normal human male. The women lower extremities were savagely torn apart. Then after the rape was over the body was literally torn apart into pieces"
"My deputies and I have tracked this killer into the woods, numerous times but there we would lose him. After the second death I called in the USPF to help. Since then six more women have been raped and killed as well as fourteen USPF officers and three of my deputies who died while trying to catch this creature in the woods. This creature, and we call it a creature because the forensics tell us these murders were done by hand and the rapist would have to possess the power of a dozen men to do the damage it does by hand. Also the size of the hands print we have been able to find show it to be four times the size of a normal hand. To be honest we are all out of our depth here. It was due to this that the commander of the USPF troops, a Major Hennings suggested we contract you to track this creature down. He states that your skills in tracking are the best and would be excellent for this job.
"I taught a course a couple of years ago to the USPF on special tracking techniques, and a then Lt. Hennings was the troops commander. They were forming a special deep cover unit for extended stay in the forest to track down dangerous criminals the government badly wanted brought to justice. They are very good”
"Which only goes to show you how bad this situation is if Major Hennings feels he and his men cannot get the job done without your help" stated the sheriff.
“This last attack was so vicious in that we thought we had the creature surrounded in the woods about a quarter mile north of the village. It was a trap. The creature killed four of Major Hennings men and three others including myself was injured when it attacked and released a avalanche of logs and boulders on us. The most horrid fact is we still don’t know what it looks like. No one alive has ever seen the creature. My injury by the way is why my control of my Eurola is so weak. We can pay you double your standard rate, which I understand is $50,000 MU's. Major Hennings says the USPF will also match your double rates on this matter. They want this killer captured as badly as we do”
The whole time we were talking, I closely watched our guests to see if they were hiding something. The whole nature of their story was to put it mildly, incredible, and I felt something was being kept from Yolanda and I. Then I spotted it. They were both terrified, even though they did an exceptional job of hiding it. That kind of fear cannot be easily faked.
"This creature may be some new type of mutant, which would explain the government's need to find it. I will take the contract, but at my regular rates, both from you and the USPF”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Yolanda’s look of incredibility on my turning down the double rates.
“I can be in your village by the day after tomorrow if that is agreeable to you, but please be warned I expect full disclosure from everyone on what happening out there, as well as what happened to me here today. Agreed?”
"Yes Mr. Hutchins, we agree to all of your terms", this from Sessa.
"Fine, I will see both of you then and please both of you, just call me Conrad”
"Only if you will call me Sessa”
With that Yolanda finished inputting the data for the contract into the Data-Comp and handed it over them to review before signing. Without reading it, Sessa signed the Data-Comp. Sheriff Connelly handed over a small Data-Comm to me.
"This is a complete report of the attacks, and all investigations and testing that was conducted for you to review prior to your arrival”
"I do have a question right now if you please. Sessa what is your official capacity in your village? I noticed you signed the contract and not the sheriff, and that you were in on the hunt for the creature in the woods”.
They both looked at each other before she answered.
"That will also be explained to you upon your arrival tomorrow. Please understand we are not trying to hide anything from you, but it is best if you hear everything from our Matriarch in person”
I mulled that over for a few seconds.
“Okay, until then”
With that they both stood and I shook each of their hands. As they turned to leave, Sessa turned back to me and said "thank you", turned and left.
After they had left, I turned and looked at Yolanda.
"I followed your lead on this. Personally their story is a little bit incredible. Is there anything you can tell me about Sessa and her people?
"Only this boss. They are the good guys”
Chapter Three: Arrival At Woodspirit
I took a small Stream-Jet to Greater Cascade, the Mega City in the Northwest Sector, rented a Heavy Terrain Vehicle, an HTV, for the drive to Woodspirit, which took eight hours to reach. I had donned my gear and weapons for the drive through the countryside but the drive through the forest was surprisingly event free. I passed two USPF checkpoints along the way. I also passed three patrols on the highway. This area was ve
ry well guarded. The last two hours or so of travel felt kind of weird to me as the whole aspect of the forest took on a particularly beautiful look to it. It was almost as if I was driving in a dream world forest. The impression was so strong, that I expected at any minute to see a unicorn sprint from between the trees. So it was no wonder that as I came around the last bend in the road and Woodspirit was revealed to me that I slammed on the brakes and sat there with my mouth hanging open. I had timed my trip so that I would arrive in the early morning. Woodspirit to be blunt was beautiful. Really. It was beautiful, almost beyond belief. The houses were of a design I had not seen before, except maybe in fantasy story vids. There were small cottages and large ones. The amazing thing though was the colors. There was a full rainbow of colors to the assorted cottages, and they were the most beautiful colors I have ever seen. Some of them I could not even identify. I do not know how long I sat there staring, but I eventually noticed people who were going about their early morning business, starting to stop and stare at me. Snapping out of it I continued to drive into the village following the instructions I was given to where I was to meet Sessa and the sheriff at Matriarch Hall. As I slowly continued to drive into the village towards my destination I was continually amazed at what I saw. There were cobblestone tree lined streets that was amazingly smooth. There was lamp posts of a very alien but beautiful design that appeared to be lit by some type of glowing object inside, but which gave off a dreamy mystical light. There were flowers I had never seen before in beautiful gardens around all of the cottages. The overall effect was like looking at a fantasy world. Now the overall fantasy effect of the woods as I drove here started to make sense. After a few minutes of driving I turned a corner to see one of the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It looked like a fairy tale castle, but it only had two stories to it. The building encompassed a quarter of a city block in area. Across a large plaza from this building was an even larger one taking up half a city block also two stories tall. Standing on the huge front porch of the first castle like building was both Sessa, the sheriff and another man in military garb, which I recognized as Major Hennings. As I drove up looking for where to park I noticed there were no designated parking spaces of any type, so I stopped in front of the waiting party and got out. All three came down to greet me and as I shook hands Major Hennings addressed me.
"It's good to see you again Tracker, although I would have preferred a better set of circumstances”
"It's good to see you too and I hear it's Major now”
"Yeah, some general got the funny idea I could do a better job with oak leaves on my shoulder”
I had somewhat expected to feel the same strong sexual attraction to Sessa again, and I wasn't disappointed, although the effects was lessened to manageable levels. Yolanda had explained to me that the elixir I drunk would work for about a week after which I would need another dose. I asked her if Sessa had also affected her as I had detected a great deal of stress in her voice when she first called me. She explained to me that the enhanced sexual attraction also affected her, but since she was a female to a much lesser degree. If the Muraiin representative had been a male the effect on her would have been much the same as I had first felt towards Sessa. Although I had tried to get a lot more info from Yolanda on the Muraii, she implored me to wait and talk to the Matriarch. She would reveal what I wanted to know without Yolanda breaking her oath, and possibly putting her government contacts out of reach, not to mention putting her in jail. Yolanda didn't come out and say it, but I got the impression that if she had revealed any confidential info on the Muraii, somehow the government would know. How, I could only guess, but this was Yolanda who I sincerely trusted so I relented and decided to wait until I talked to the Matriarch.
"Sessa, Sheriff Connelly. You both have one hell of a beautiful village here. I have never seen anything like it”
"It is built to merge and be a part of nature, not to take over it" stated Sessa
"Yes but the architecture, the plants and lights, give it all a magical quality I wouldn't have believed possible if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes”
"It took me and my troops pretty much in the same way when we first got here. To be honest we still haven't gotten used to it and we have been here for almost four weeks. It is truly spectacular”
It was at that point that three other women came out of the building. This was getting to be an embarrassing habit of mine, but again I stood there with my mouth hanging open. The three women all exhibited that same alien beauty as Sessa with that truly golden complexion, although they all looked different and had different color hair. The front one was as tall as Sessa, but was a pure platinum blonde, the second woman, also tall was a blazing redhead and I do mean redhead. Her hair was an intense blood red color. The last woman although she was a full head shorter than the other Ladies, was more beautiful if it can be believed than all of the others. She also had hair that to my amazement was a dark blue. Again rescuing me from my mentally challenged state, Sessa introduced the women.
"Mr. Hutchins let me introduce my companion Ladies, Yessal, Doeeal, and Fee. Ladies this is Mr. Hutchins”
All three Ladies slowly descended the steps of the porch and as they approached me I could feel the effects of their attraction as they came towards me. Inside I was starting to panic, because it would not make a good first impression if I started showing signs of man's primal animal nature to breed with a female, but my body was seriously ignoring what I wanted, and was giving in to it's animal desires. It was thru sheer force of will that I didn't embarrass myself further. At least I hope I didn't. Looking towards Major Hennings I saw he was looking at me and smiling as if he know what I was feeling.
"He is a fine specimen of a human male sister. Can I have him” This was from the blonde haired sister Yessal who was showing no restraint towards giving in to her primal urges towards me.
"No sister, you can't. He isn't here to be your love toy”
Being confused I turned to Major Hennings with raised eyebrows.
"Don't worry, you will get used to the Ladies. They have a very unique sense of humor”
"Yes we do, but I do want you", Yessal said smiling as she walked up to me.
"But my sister is right. Your purpose here is for another more important matter.
Later perhaps once your job is done. Matron Serona has left instructions for you to come in as soon as you arrived” Smiling she and her Ladies stood aside so I could pass. Walking towards the porch with what I hoped was a dignified manner, I followed Sessa up the steps to the large house. I couldn't help but notice that while the other Ladies was smiling at me, the smaller one, Fee was not. In fact she had a frown on her face as she stared at me that for some primal reason alarmed me. Setting that concern aside for now I concentrated on the house. The door was a set of double doors with very ornate designs on them. On both sides of the doors were huge bay style windows composed of a single piece of glass molded to the shape and the design of the window. Sessa opened the right side door and we entered. As we came into the house I saw a tall elegantly built woman standing by a wide window against the far left wall. The room was huge, fully a hundred feet by eighty and clearly was a room of comfort. The ceiling was a full eighteen feet high. To the far right there was a beautifully built circular staircase, which might lead to sleeping or other quarters above. The first floor was furnished as a part den/sitting room, separated by a beautiful grain low wooden wall behind which was the kitchen and dining area. The sitting area furnishings was an assortment of armchairs, lounges and one massive couch, all simple but beautifully made, and all looked to be very comfortable. Clearly Matron Serona liked her comfort. As I entered the tall woman turned and I was again struck by the unworldly beauty I had seen in the other Ladies. Although the beauty was similar it was easy to see this woman was much older. She also had black hair although hers was streaked with silver. The effect was truly spectacular. So entranced was I staring at her, that she started laughing as she spo
ke.
"Hello Mr. Hutchins. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Although I had hoped that this day would occur under different circumstance, I must confess that I knew otherwise. Please have a seat”
As I took a seat in an armchair which looked as if it was made for a man twice my size, Serona and Sessa exchanged looks and Sessa excused herself and left.
"First I want to thank you for coming to our aid. This creature has severely damaged this community and it's families, and we need to put a stop to it right now”
"I was briefed on the situation by the sheriff and Sessa and the difficulty everyone including the USPF have had in locating and hunting down this creature. I was told though that you would give me more detailed information on it"
Seating herself on a lounge type couch across from me, she said,
"The creature that is committing these rapes and murder is not a natural creature. Somehow it was created or formed through some type of mutation we are not aware of. After one attack it was partially spotted running into the woods. Major Hennings and his men was strategically located to respond to a sighting of the creature on a moment's notice. When the alarm was given, his men responded within minutes, surrounding the area of the attack, but to everyone's surprise, the creature got away without anyone seeing it at all. This should have been impossible as the major and his men had the latest in tracking gear around the whole perimeter. This creature is able to enter our village, commit its atrocities and get away without being detected. Major Hennings has assured me that such should be impossible to do, yet it has been done repeatedly.
"What other information do you have that convinces you the creature is first a creature at all and not a man, and second, that it is unnatural in nature?
"My younger Ladies and I possess certain abilities that allow us to see and feel things other people do not. I know that isn't a lot to go on in the life you live, but I must ask that for now you trust me and take our abilities on faith. Take that and the fact that Major Hennings have the latest in tracking and surveillance gear in use and you will start to see our reasoning.
Manhunter Revelations Page 8