THE VROL TRILOGY

by SK Benton

  "So G, yes, I killed Johnson. It was only after he had kidnapped me, had me beaten and locked in a dungeon, and then later used Liliana here as a hostage. He was a coward and deserved everything that he got."

  "I was there," Liliana blurted out, "when Jennie was done his head looked like it had been put through a blender. Oh, might you have a blender? I do not know what one looks like, but that is what Max said the bad vampire's head looked like."

  Bagatelle struggled to keep himself from laughing, finding the little girl to be infectiously cute.

  "So, as I was saying before my little walking bigmouth interrupted - no, let me go back. We were housed in a castle where we learned to use our skills as lycans and even some magic. Max is quite a mage, and he easily defeated Vladros, enabling us to win what Krynos, the lycan king, calls the Battle of the Blood. There were a lot of things that happened in-between, like when I was kidnapped and Max and Draagh saved me, or when we changed during the full moon on the eve of the Battle of the Blood, but I think we came here to take you back with us - to the Rhönen Dominion."

  Bagatelle sat and looked at Jennie for a minute, thinking about what he was about to tell her, but first asked a couple of questions.

  "So Jennie, you are married to Max, and you both have this lovely little daughter - but where is he? Why didn't he come with you?"

  Bagatelle instantly regretted having asked that question, as both girls appeared to be close to tears.

  "He's missing in action. He tried to go back to Machu Picchu without permission, without help, using Draagh's staff, but it sent him somewhere - wrong. We haven't been able to find him after searching for six months already. But we know he's alive - Draagh can tell that much."

  "I am truly sorry to hear that, Jennie. You know, once I met the boy I knew that somehow he wasn't as bad as the Council had made him out to be. He had a certain goodness to him that couldn't be overlooked. His background was just too stable to have created a narcissistic sociopath, as the Council described him. It was mainly for that reason I reported him as most likely having perished."

  "He's the best, G. And we have to continue searching for him so we can come back here and kick Johnson's ass, and then kill the Vrol before they arrive."

  Bagatelle reflected for a moment, and had decided that Jennie obviously turned out well. Sighing almost silently, he looked over to the three individuals sitting on his couch and then decided to speak.

  "Ok, I'll go with you wherever you want me to go. Plus, I'd like to get to know this nice young lady who has been so polite. And yes, Liliana, I have a blender and I will show it to you."

  He smiled at the girl and continued, "But it isn't often that I put myself in a position of being at a disadvantage, and I am assuming that I will basically be a novice once we arrive wherever you are taking me. So I only ask that you give blood a chance to adjust to the new surroundings, agreed?"

  The beautiful dega started to nod her head, but then suddenly said, "Blood? What do you mean by blood?"

  Draagh grew a warm smile and nodded knowingly to Bagatelle, who then continued with a most unexpected revelation.

  "Jennie, just a bit ago, when I said I had found you in the academy, I was being perfectly honest. I had been looking for you for years. You see, you were put up for adoption when I was in the academy; and being about twenty-one years old at the time. I was young and didn't have access to resources, and this was all done without my knowledge. Also, as your adoptive parents were not relatives, and due to legal restrictions, I was unable to locate you to take you with me."

  Jennie looked at her former commanding officer, stunned and her jaw practically dropped open.

  "You see Jennie, I'm your -"

  "Father? Oh my god… you're my father?"

  Bagatelle smiled but shook his head, as Jennie stared at him with wide but confused eyes.

  "No my dear, I'm your brother. Our parents died in a horrific accident when I was in the academy, out on a deep space patrol. You were a miracle baby. Nobody expected our mother to get pregnant at her age, and I was just finishing university when you were born."

  Jennie shot off the couch, landing on her knees at Bagatelle's feet. As tears streamed out of her eyes she looked up to his kindly visage, now completely different than his usual authoritarian glare.

  "But… why didn't you tell me? You have had me under your command for years. And… you said nothing. Why?"

  Bagatelle looked at his little sister with a face so full of compassion that no one could have denied that he understood her pain and confusion. Taking her hands that were set on his knees, he gave her the most rational explanation he could; the only one that was true.

  "Jennie, we have strict rules, and the anti-nepotism statutes are well-defined. One in a position of power must not use their influence to the benefit of a relative under any circumstances. In fact, if the military had known we were related you would have been removed from under my command. I was going to tell you one day - when you had transferred to a command of your own… but I couldn't tell you until then. I'm so sorry."

  Jennie calmed down considerably as she controlled her breathing, but remained at Bagatelle's feet. She understood the anti-nepotism laws well, and realized they were important to keep dynasties of incompetent fools from gaining embedded and permanent positions of power, much like what happened on Old-Earth.

  "But, did anyone else know at all? Anyone?"

  "Yes, only one. Lt. Commander Vasquez."

  "Ah, ok… saaaaay, did you and the lt. commander have a thing going on? I always thought she was too nice to me."

  Bagatelle grew an immediate look of defiance, and merely said, "That, hermanita, is none of your concern," his face turning to a guilty grin. "But," he continued, "she is one of the agents assisting me here - and is taking an incredible risk in doing so."

  Jennie fell back on her rear, having the new revelation completely change her view of her commanding officer. She also felt a sensation flowing through her stomach - a good feeling, as she knew that she had a blood relative, something she had never known she had before.

  "So, what was my birth name?"

  "Jennifer Marie Bagatelle," the deposed rear admiral stated quite plainly.

  "Oh wow, my adoptive parents kept my name pretty much the same. That's nice. At least I wasn't named Hortencia or something horrific like that."

  Looking back to her daughter she said, "Liliana - come here sweetie. Come here and say hi to Uncle G."

  "Tío! Tío!" yelled the little girl, as she jumped up onto his lap and peppered his face with kisses.

  Bagatelle moved his face around, trying to avoid his newly revealed niece's smooch attack, and said, "You're teaching her Castilian? Who would have thought… but I assume Max had a hand in that, right?"

  "Why wouldn't he? I mean, he's from…"

  "Córdoba, yes. He was born in the same town as us."

  "Whaaaa? We were born in Córdoba? I thought I was born in Buenos Aires!" Jennie exclaimed, totally surprised.

  "No, Jennie. Your adoptive parents lived in BA and probably told you that you were born there. I studied for my degree in biomechanical engineering at the University of Córdoba. In fact, Max's father was one of my instructors. He was quite young for a professor, being about fifteen years older than me."

  Jennie gave him a sad look and said, "He wasn't Max's dad, remember? Max's dad is some angel guy named Michael."

  Bagatelle gave his sister a warm, but serious gaze and said, "No Jennie. Charles Gunnarsson was Max's father. He was a good man, and a brilliant professor, with a wisdom way beyond his years. You see, being a father comprises of many things, and impregnating a woman is only a small part - and the easiest, I might add. A true father loves, cares for and raises his children, and takes them to school, teaches them, sits up with them at night when they don't feel well."

  Suddenly, Liliana interrupted while still sitting on Bagatelle's lap. Forming her thumb and forefinger into a circle, she started making up and
down motions.

  "Does a father teach this to his son when he comes of age?"

  Bagatelle looked at Liliana with a horrified face, and then down to a blushing Jennie, who was still seated on the ground.

  "Jennie! What the hell are you teaching this child?" causing the woman to get a completely awkward look and stammer out a lame response. The last thing she wanted to do was implicate Max, who had accidentally exposed Liliana to that particular bit of nonsense back when they had first met.

  "Um… it wasn't me. You see, living with lycan warriors and all - well, there's a lot of guy stuff and joking and… and… um, well. Lili! Don't do that! It's embarrassing!"

  Liliana giggled and winked at her mother. Then she jumped off her uncle's lap and ran to the kitchen.

  "Blender! Tío! Show me the blender, please!"

  Sighing, Bagatelle got up from his chair, and reaching a hand down to his sister helped to pull her up. Then he did something he had never done before - he gave her a warm hug and kissed her on the forehead. Lifting his head up he then noticed Draagh, who was sitting on the couch and had a curious smoke-filled bubble around his head.

  "Um, Draagh, what's that?"

  Draagh responded, his voice sounding like it was indeed coming out of a bubble, and looking like a fish that was staring out of its fishbowl, his eyes slightly misshapen by the convex curvature on the semitransparent covering.

  "Ah, it is my new invention," he said with a guilty grin, "so I believe I shall use it whenever I desire the pipe while in mixed company."

  Jennie rolled her eyes, having become accustomed to Draagh's toking ways. Bagatelle turned to go to the kitchen, where an excited Liliana was waiting next to the toaster, but had a disappointed look on her little face.

  "Tio, how does this do what Jennie did to the bad vampire's head?"

  Bagatelle snickered and opened up a cabinet, pulling a blender out and setting it upon the counter.

  "My dear, please open the door there. It is called a refrigerator. Bring me some apples if you would."

  Liliana gave him a disdained look, and matter-of-factly saying, "Tio, I know what a refrigerator is. We are not cannibals, you know."

  Liliana handed the apples to the amused military officer and then stood next to him with an impish grin, waiting for something amazing to happen. As soon as he dropped two apples in the container he pushed a button and created an instant puree.

  "Ryder Johnson's head! Ryder Johnson's head!" she squealed in delight, while jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

  Shaking his head while chuckling, he turned around to see Draagh and Jennie standing in the doorway to the kitchen with smiles on their faces. He knew that somehow things were going to be ok. Then turning back, he saw Liliana crouch down, bending one knee and shooting a fist to the ground while she yelled out loud.

  "Liquified! Yeah!"

  Finishing with the blender, much to his niece's disappointment, Bagatelle turned and approached the other two adults in the room and asked, "So, I should probably get dressed then, right?"

  Draagh blinked, which caused his head bubble to disappear with a pop, allowing a bit of the pungent smoke to waft into the kitchen, and followed up by saying,

  "My dear son, as soon as you have gathered that which you would like to take we shall be off to meet with Krynos."

  "The king?"

  "Mmm, yes, of course," Draagh answered.

  "And… he's a lycan?"

  "Yes, that much is true, Luigi."

  "In a castle."

  "He does have a most impressive domicile."

  "In… the future?"

  Jennie slugged her brother in the arm and yelped, "Yeah! He's a lycan king who lives in a castle in the future. Yes! Now go get your stuff. I'm hungry and it's almost dinnertime."

  "Ok, sounds good to me. Be back in a minute," Bagatelle called out as he dashed off to prepare for the unexpected - and some fresh air.

  Chapter 4 - Feral Kids

  Max woke up in the morning - not on the cot that had been provided for him, but on the hard floor, with his back against a wall. He sometimes did that. He would climb out of bed while sleeping just to rest on a firm surface, and until he discovered his lycan heritage never really understood why. It was an inherited genetic reflex that lycans had when they were in an area that wasn't safe, and as he was in a strange, new world his subconscious took over while he dozed. As he had slept in his leathers, also a precaution, he sat up and analyzed his surroundings.

  During the night he had dreamt quite vividly. He struggled to maintain the clarity of the dream before it faded into the furthest reaches of his mind. He remembered being in bed with Jennie, his wife lying with her head on his chest as she customarily would do. But suddenly the bed split in half and the room parted, with them being pulled away from each other - unable to get back to each other's arms. He was the surrounded by a massive forest of fir trees. It was a typical dream where one lost something and could not get it back, always resulting in waking up right before something of great consequence was about to happen.

  Not being able to remember anything further of his dream, which was more akin to a nightmare, he stood up and stretched just to work out the kinks. After picking up his sword and strapping it and his Stinger into their appropriate bindings, he set off out the door, walking down the stairs to find an empty, but quite clean, nightclub. Sniffing the air, he detected scents of various hominids, most of whom were outside in the street and up above on exposed roofs of burnt-out buildings near his locale. He decided he would stay inside for the time being. So he walked over to a couch and was about to sit down, but remembered that numerous normals and nekos had been engaging in some heavy petting on those same couches the night before.

  Eww... no way, he thought to himself. Not wanting to sit in what was potentially an infectious cesspool of human male and female neko bodily fluids, he went over and grabbed a barstool and scanned the countertop to see if there was anything nutritious he could consume. While he looked from his chair he heard a bit of shuffling upstairs, but figured that whoever was up would eventually come down, so he remained where he was seated at the bar and continued to look towards the bar entrance. One thing was for sure - he wanted a cup of coffee. He always liked coffee in the mornings and yerba mate in the afternoons. In fact, he enjoyed preparing yerba mate for Jennie, knowing exactly how she liked it. He really missed her, even though he had only been gone less than a day.

  It wasn't long after Max had gone downstairs that Jessica was up and ready to start her day. Bouncing down the stairs in a light-footed fashion, she entered into the bar area where her new friend was seated.

  "Morning Max! Did you sleep well? I can make you some breakfast if you like."

  Jessica was unusually high-spirited for someone so early in the morning - similar to Liliana, who near- bounced off the walls as soon as she would wake up.

  "Good morning, Jessica. Um… yeah, I slept quite well, thanks. Do you have any coffee?"

  Max had a hopeful look on his face - a look that turned to pleasant surprise when she informed him that Seven Sins was the only place in Los Angeles that had any real coffee, and Dons kept the whole beans frozen so they wouldn't go stale.

  Jessica prepared some coffee by putting the beans in a canvas bag and beating the crap out of it with a hammer on the bar top, most probably waking up every living being in the building, and perhaps some out in the street whom Max had earlier detected by smelling their scents and hearing their snoring.

  "Wow, Jessica. You really know how to make an espresso blend, eh?"

  Max watched as she slammed the hammer down one final time, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead from the effort. She then took the canvas bag and emptied the contents out into a small filter-like device, which she then placed into a coffee maker.

  "Dons has a water filtration system on the roof. We had to raid a couple of enemy clans to get enough teeth to purchase it. Got it from some guy who takes a boat back and forth betwee
n here and Alaska."

  "You know where Alaska is?" asked Max.

  "Of course, silly!" chimed Jessica. "I love geography and history and stuff. I used to hide in the ruins of libraries when I was younger. I've probably read a thousand books."

  Jessica smirked and then sniffed the air, the scent of freshly made coffee filling the room and awakening the senses. Max's mouth started to water as he waited impatiently for a cup of the hot, dark liquid, remembering his morning breakfasts with his wife, daughter and Draagh. He wondered if they were looking for him, but as there was no Socrates where he was he had no reassurances that he would be locatable by his powerful grandfather.

  Getting a mug in his hand, he took a long, slow sip of the delicious java and sniffed the aroma, finally waking up to start his day.

  "Hey Jessica, where's the rest of your clan," he asked as he cradled the hot mug in his hands, enjoying the sensation of the hot liquid as it coursed down into his stomach.

  "Umm… they'll be up soon. Dons is the first one up after me, and then Cassandra will come down from her nest."

  Cassandra was the neko he had met the night before. The last he saw of her, she was doing an odd cat-like dance and waving her paw-like hands in the air while alone on the dance floor. Max wondered if she was a prostitute, and even if any of the nekos in the club were charging men for their company.

  "Hey Jessica - where I'm from there's no such thing as a neko. I mean, we have cats in the place where I live, but we tolerate them because they kill the rats. But humanoid nekos - you said that they just started coming around?"

  "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I've always known about them. It's what people say."

  Jessica was a bit odd, but didn't seem like one to lie about anything. If she was right, then Max was really stuck in the wrong world. He paused for a moment, and then held his cup out for a refill when it dawned on him that he hadn't really asked any pertinent questions yet.

  "Hey! I have a question."

  "Umm… sure! What is it?"

  "Do you know what year it is? Do you have years and dates and stuff like that? Do you use a lunar calendar or something different?"