Worth Your While

by Connie Suttle

  "Well, we better put the doctor on notice, then," he reached for the call button.

  "Wait until Cassie gets back, first," I warned.

  "Probably a good idea," he conceded.

  Cassie

  "I love your hair," the girl at the department store in Gulf Tides told me as I set socks, sweatpants, a package of T-shirts and a pair of slippers on the counter. "Did you get it done in Gulf Tides?"

  "No," I touched the hair that to her looked blonde. "I had it done in Atlanta."

  "Figures. I can't find a good stylist anywhere close."

  "That's too bad," I told her. She rang me up and bagged the merchandise. "Keep looking—there's bound to be somebody here who can do your hair," I said. "Thanks," I held up the bag before heading for the door.

  "No problem," she waved.

  I made sure I was blocks away before ducking into a dark corner and pulling my disappearing trick. I didn't need people noticing me. Especially now.

  "This is nice," Doctor Chalmers said as Cliff and I showed him to his bedroom at the estate an hour later.

  "We can have food brought up if you're hungry," Cliff offered.

  "I just came from the hospital. Of course I'm hungry. Got anything decent?" He sat on the side of the bed and bounced a time or two. "Good mattress," he said.

  "I think we can do better than decent," Cliff said.

  "I'll get it," I told Cliff. "Get him settled in while I round up food."

  Rather than run downstairs and through a warren of rooms and hallways, I took the easy route and teleported to the kitchen. I found Gina and Kent sitting at the island having a drink.

  "Want a margarita?" Gina asked.

  "Nah. I need to grab some food for Doc Chalmers. He's complaining about hospital grub."

  "Sounds just like a werewolf," Kent grinned.

  "It does, doesn't it?" I opened the fridge and pulled out roast beef, mashed potatoes and brown gravy. "I hope he likes hot roast-beef sandwiches," I said, grabbing a plate and placing bread in the toaster.

  "No self-respecting werewolf would turn down Beverly's roast beef," Kent said.

  "Does he need anything—medical-wise?" Gina asked.

  "I doubt it—I think his doctors just wanted him to stay so they could gawk at him a little longer," I replied. "He's walking on his own, didn't sound winded and his color's good."

  "I'll still check on him tomorrow," Gina said. "Unless he needs something tonight."

  "Sounds good." I set slices of roast beef on a plate, covered them with wrap and heated them in the microwave.

  The gravy and potatoes went in after that. By that time, I had the toast cut into points and arranged on the plate, set the roast beef over them and added gravy and potatoes when they came out of the microwave.

  I took the quick way back to the doctor's room, too. He smelled the roast beef the second I appeared and moved to a chair beside a window to eat.

  Cliff pushed a side table around so I could set the plate in front of Doctor Chalmers. "Excellent," he said after taking his first bite.

  "Oh, I forgot a drink. What do you want?" I asked.

  "Sweet tea?" He looked hopeful.

  "I think there's some in the fridge," I said.

  "This is the south," Cliff teased. "You get your southern card revoked if there's no sweet tea in the house."

  I teleported back to the kitchen to get the good doctor sweet tea.

  Parke

  "The Council's message is recorded," Trey informed me. "Now it's your turn, and Cliff after that."

  "The sprites have something ready, too," Rob walked into my office. "The decision was made this morning, and a joint message was finished less than an hour ago. I have it here," he held up a flash drive. "If you want to see it before creating your own."

  "I do," I said.

  "Good. We can watch it together."

  The message was clear, and each sprite monarch was dressed in royal regalia as they recorded their joint message. "Many of you may have difficulty believing we are real, and not some electronic wizardry," Averill spoke last. "For now, it doesn't matter whether you think we are real or not. In the coming days, however, please keep your minds open, as we combat Black Myth with the others you will be introduced to this evening. Nothing less than the survival of all life on Earth hangs in the balance."

  "Damn, he's good," Trey breathed.

  Rob didn't say anything, but pride showed in his eyes.

  "Now it's my turn. I can't guarantee eloquence," I said, pushing my desk chair back to stand and stretch.

  "Just show them the rock demon. I think they'll get the idea," Rob grinned.

  "Not at first," Trey said, making me snort a laugh.

  "Their first idea will be to run," I said. "So a brief warning, perhaps?"

  "That's better than having to stand behind a waist-high barrier before changing to wolf," Cliff said. "My top half has to remain visible, so there won't be accusations of a switch."

  "There will still be accusations and doubt," I said. "If we can convince enough people that we're looking out for their best interests, maybe they won't gather the townspeople with pitchforks and torches to kill us."

  "We're outing ourselves to the entire world," Cliff agreed. "That means we'll be subject to species-ism, at the very least. I hope it doesn't cost us, work-wise."

  "I've already considered that," I agreed. "I hope you've got plenty of diverse investments to carry you through."

  "I do. Don't worry about me, Chancellor. Besides, I can always lose myself in the Canadian wilderness and live off the land."

  Trey's cell phone rang the same moment that Cassie, Yosuke and Will appeared simultaneously in my office.

  "There's trouble in D.C." Trey barely got the words out before we were all transported to the Capitol steps leading to the National Mall, which was now being overrun by Shakkor Agdah.

  I barely had time to consider where they'd all come from before Cassie's fire demon blazed to life and went to work.

  Yosuke and Will had disappeared, only to reappear with reinforcements—Rob and the sprite guards, Kent, Benjamin and our other wolves, Jerry, Pete and the other rock demons, and all the vamps.

  They'd emptied the estate except for the humans, Mom, Destiny and Doctor Chalmers.

  We need help, I sent to any other sprites in the area, before changing to rock demon and charging down the steps to follow in Cassie's wake.

  Cassie

  Black cloaks fled before us; they imagined we wouldn't arrive so quickly, I think, and they'd have at least half of the House of Representatives held hostage.

  I wasn't about to let that happen.

  They'd already killed too many of the Capitol Police; bodies were strewn around the perimeter of the Capitol. They'd attempted a coup, and they had more black cloak warriors than I could have imagined.

  They truly had been building their army for centuries, and we were seeing the results of their efforts now. Pulling my anger and fear together, I released it in a massive wave of fire before me, while black cloaks screamed and burned.

  In my peripheral vision, I saw rock demons rushing down the tree-lined sides of the mall, crushing trees in their path as they hastened to destroy the black cloaks seeking refuge there. Cliff and the other wolves followed them, sniffing and hunting for those the rock demons missed.

  The vampires moved so swiftly between wolves and rock demons I could only sense the wind recording their passing. With extended claws, they'd behead anything that survived rock demons and the wolves.

  Another wave of fire flew before me as black cloaks raced toward the Lincoln Memorial at the opposite end. They'd almost reached the major thoroughfare of 14th Street, where vehicles were hitting the running army. Forcing myself to run faster, I knew I needed to avert more disaster, if those drivers got out of their cars.

  Yosuke

  Will and I prevented car doors from opening—although it panicked drivers who'd hit fleeing Shakkor Agdah. Some attempted to roll down windows
; we disabled the mechanisms. If they came in contact with only the slightest trace of the poison covering black-cloaked bodies, they'd die in three days.

  Traffic was therefore backed up on both sides of the street, while Shakkor Agdah, in numbers I hadn't imagined before, fled before the approaching fire demon.

  Cassie was so large by that time she leapt across the road with little effort and continued burning the fleeing enemy.

  Our combined effort to shield the White House kept Shakkor Agdah from running in that direction, at least, but they were nearing the reflecting pool. Would they save themselves by diving into it to avoid Cassie's fire?

  I transported myself to the pool, knowing that there wasn't enough time to lay a shield over it that would hold the enemy back. As expected, Shakkor Agdah dived into the water by the scores, and began swimming their way toward the Lincoln Memorial.

  Cassie reached the edge of the water and paused for only a moment.

  Then I saw what I never expected to see; she set the water on fire and destroyed the last of the attackers. More than five hundred died in the water, after she'd killed at least a thousand on the ground.

  And then suddenly, like a snuffed candle, the fire disappeared.

  Cassie? I sent.

  I'm at the estate, she said. If you need me, let me know.

  Parke

  Director Logan and half his department had arrived to sort things out. The National Mall looked like a wildfire had run over it, which was a pretty good description of what had actually happened.

  Trees had been knocked down and destroyed by rock demons searching for escaping Shakkor Agdah, and the reflecting pool was dry as a bone and filled with the burned bodies of Black Myth warriors.

  Jerry, Pete, Landon, Liam and a handful of vamps were guarding the bodies in the reflecting pool; they could still be contagious enough to infect humans. Frankly, I was thankful Cassie evaporated the water; it could also be used to spread the disease.

  "What should we do with the bodies in the reflecting pool?" Director Logan asked as he cautiously approached my rock demon.

  "I think we can move them wherever you want them to go," I said. "If you'd like your forensic scientists to examine what's left of them, this is an ideal situation for that."

  "Hold on, I'll see if we can find a suitable building," he said, jerking his cell phone from a pocket.

  All around us, firetruck and emergency vehicle lights flashed. Their personnel, dressed in HAZMAT suits, were gathering human remains carefully after being instructed not to touch anything wearing a black cloak.

  "We're doing our best to keep the media away from the scene," Director Logan spoke into his cell phone.

  "Don't," I interrupted his conversation. "Let a few in. This will go a long way in explaining what we are and how we're trying to help. In fact, I'll volunteer like this to do an interview."

  "Trey, Grim," Director Logan shouted. Both vampires arrived in a swirl of ash.

  "Let three journalist in, with their camera crew only. The Chancellor has agreed to an interview regarding the events tonight."

  "We'll be right back," Grim said.

  Cassie

  "These are bodies of the aliens known as Black Myth," Stephanie Emmings, the journalist I was watching on television pointed toward the reflecting pool, where bodies of toasted Shakkor Agdah lay. Lights had been brought in to illuminate as much as possible for the camera crew.

  "We're not allowed to get closer, as these bodies are still capable of transmitting their disease to humans," Stephanie continued. "You've already seen video images taken by a few who were here when these black-cloaked invaders arrived. They were racing toward the Capitol, which was initially placed on lockdown. At this time, all have been evacuated and everyone inside the building accounted for.

  "Six officers died attempting to protect the building, and more could have been killed had the Chancellor of all things paranormal—that's what he calls himself—had he not shown up with a small army at his back to combat these invaders."

  I was watching a split screen, now, between the anchor at the reporter's news station and the reporter herself. The chyron at the bottom kept repeating that an attack had been made against the government earlier.

  "Jennifer, I am still trying to come to grips with the reality of these—supernaturals, as Chancellor Worth calls them. He spoke to us in an alternate form. It is quite difficult to associate that image with the photograph we're showing now."

  A photo of Parke from his law school yearbook was flashed onscreen.

  "I'm still attempting to get information on those warriors who were seen wielding swords—we only have a few images of them, and the Chancellor refused to tell us anything. He says that they are in charge of their own media releases, and whether that will happen is anyone's guess."

  "He said that the fire we saw was a fire demon?" The anchor sounded doubtful.

  "Chancellor Worth did say that," Stephanie agreed. "Although that is difficult to imagine at this time."

  "Shakkor Agdah didn't imagine it—they died from it," Destiny grumped beside me. "Parke did a good job, didn't he?"

  "He sure did. All that legal training was put to good use tonight."

  Not only had Destiny chosen to watch the news with me, Chet had curled up on my lap, his ears twitching now and then at the voices coming from the television.

  We're on our way home, Parke informed me.

  Good. Want anything to eat or drink?

  Both would be nice.

  "Want to help make sandwiches for Parke and the others? They'll be here any minute," I patted Destiny's shoulder.

  "Sure."

  I even teleported Chet to the kitchen. He seemed fine with that.

  Lilith

  Something had happened, and it wasn't good for the ones who surrounded my cage in the middle of the night. Earlier, other cages had been brought in that held a woman, a young girl and a teen boy.

  They looked familiar, but I couldn't recall the name and the woman refused to talk. Right now, too many black-cloaked individuals crowded into the room, and the young girl began to cry.

  The woman attempted to hush her, although I understood the fear in her voice. Was this where we were killed or exposed to the disease these bastards carried?

  As for asking them questions—that would be stupid and draw their attention solely to me rather than the crying child.

  Once the girl stopped crying, one by one, our cages were lifted by as many as it took to carry them. We were hauled out of the room and down a long hallway, until we reached a door and rough, stone steps reminding me of a cellar. The smell was the same, too. The bricked space around the steps was barely large enough to accommodate our cages; much grunting and hefting occurred before we were carried upward and set on the ground. Outside it was night, and not far away an owl hooted.

  We were in a field, or what I imagined was a field, but in the distance I saw what looked like a pile of rubble. The weak light of the moon cast little illumination on the pile, destroying my hope of identifying a landmark of some kind.

  Whispers around us began, as if our captors were discussing where to go from here. That made no sense, so I discarded that idea. Soon enough, they lifted our cages again and began to move a second time, while the earth-covered door to the steps and the warren below was closed behind us.

  Cassie

  Chet sat on the counter near the coffee pot, watching as Destiny and I put sandwiches together for the ones Will and Yosuke brought back from D.C. I sneaked him a bite of roast beef—he meowed his thanks before eating it.

  "I guess we'll see if everything goes to hell tomorrow, after people wake up to all this," Parke said as I set his sandwich in front of him. "The recorded interviews will be aired as agreed, but at an earlier time. What a mess," he shook his head and bit into the sandwich.

  "We stopped 'em, though," Destiny pointed out. "You sounded great in the interview. I think you all did a good job," Destiny stated, handing Cliff two san
dwiches on a plate.

  Jerry, Pete, Liam and Landon got their plates next, followed by the werewolves, who were all starving. We ran out of roast beef, so we switched to ham and turkey. "Mom in bed?" Parke asked after finishing his sandwich.

  "Yeah. She said you could handle things just fine," Destiny informed him. "I stayed up with Cassie and Chet to watch the news."

  "Who found clothes for you?" I asked Parke, who was dressed in an unfamiliar T-shirt and jeans.

  "Director Logan. He came prepared," Cliff said. "If he hadn't, all of us would be naked right now."

  "Did he have the ladder the guy stood on to talk to you?" Destiny asked Parke.

  "One of the news crews had that in their truck. Good thing, too, or I'd have had to sit on the ground to look him in the eye."

  "What happened to all the bodies in the reflecting pool?" I asked the question in an off-handed manner, but I was worried they hadn't taken proper precautions.

  "They're in an old airplane hangar on a nearby military base," Will explained as he reached over Cliff's shoulder to give me his empty plate. "I told Director Logan it would be best to burn the place to the ground after they finished their forensics work."

  "What if they extract that poison and recreate it?" I asked. Parke's eyes locked with mine as that thought hadn't occurred to him until then.

  Don't worry about it, a voice I'd never heard before sent. It's been neutralized, the male voice added. We hope they'll believe its efficacy died with its carrier.

  We? We who? I demanded.

  Nobody you should concern yourself about. Please believe me when I say we only have your best interests at heart. Ask yourself—and the wizards this; did Shakkor Agdah employ disease warfare before they reached Earth Four, or is this the first world where it was employed?

  I almost said huh out loud, but I caught myself. "Uh, Will, Yosuke," I began, "before Shakkor Agdah reached this world, had they ever used germ or disease warfare before?"