Etheric Adventures Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by S. R. Russell

  Anne pursed her lips as she tried to think of a way to explain what she was doing that wouldn’t violate Bethany Anne’s edict that her work be secret. “Let’s just say that I’m working on stuff that might compare to your ESD project. I need someone really creative to help me develop it.”

  William’s eyebrows rose so far they almost met his hairline. “You’re shitting…” William flushed with embarrassment and “me” came out as a whisper.

  Jinx chuffed her amusement and put her muzzle on the table. She looked at William. “‘We shit you not’ is the proper response, I think,” she told the shocked man.

  William sat back in his chair, looked up, scratched his head, and blew out a long breath. “I’ve heard rumbles from the school’s machine shop courses. A guy named Stevie, and something in Russian that sounds like Kas-ee-an-ov. Supposed to be graduating in a couple of months and is blowing all his classmates out of the water, so to speak.”

  “Sounds like a person I want to talk to,” Anne enthused, glad that it looked like she was moving in the right direction. “Please let us know if you hear of anyone else who might possibly meet our criteria.”

  With Jinx by her side, Anne exited All Guns Blazing and headed toward their apartment. After turning into a secondary tunnel that led into the interior sections of the Meredith Reynolds, they had travelled about eighty feet when two aliens stepped from an intersection in front of them to block the passageway. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Anne that a third alien now blocked their retreat.

  The one Anne assumed was the leader, because he was the one who spoke, growled, “Give us the animal, little girl, and no one gets hurt.”

  Anne looked at the camera, one of the hundreds Meredith used for monitoring interior spaces, and raised an eyebrow.

  “Dat’s not gonna do youse any gud!” the second alien told her, holding up a device that Anne guessed must be some sort of jammer.

  We’re getting held up by the Three Stooges?

  Who are they? Jinx wondered

  >>The Three Stooges were a slapstick comedy team on Earth, active from 1922 until 1970. And their device isn’t blocking Meredith. I wish there was a display screen at your location so I could show them my fangs.<<

  I didn’t expect it would be able to block Meredith, Anne commented. That’s part of the reason I called them the Three Stooges. And you’re absolutely correct, this would be a great situation to show off your fangs.

  You need to show me these Three Stooges dudes when we get home, Jinx proclaimed.

  Only if you promise you won’t go around saying “nyuk nyuk nyuk” afterward, Anne told her.

  “Quit stalling and give us the animal!” the leader shouted as he pulled a rod of some sort from behind his back. It reminded Anne of the fighting sticks she had seen the Marines use in practice.

  Taking a deep breath to center herself, Anne firmed her stance as she had been taught.

  “You guys just need to go while you can,” Anne said in a quiet voice.

  “The animal!” the alien with the jamming device yelled, pointing at Jinx.

  “Look,” Anne spat, quickly losing patience, “you’ve got so many things wrong it’s not funny.”

  “One,” she said, holding up a finger, “Jinx is a four-legged person like some of the Yollins.”

  “Two,” another finger joined the first, “your jamming device isn’t working.”

  “Three—”

  Can I have the boss guy? Jinx’ increasing anger created an underlying growl in her communication.

  Sure thing. You take the two in front of us, and I’ll take care of the guy at our backs.

  “You can’t possibly think you can kidnap a citizen of the Etheric Empire and get away with it,” Anne finished.

  “Annnnnd,” she stretched out the word as she extended the fourth finger, “someone’s definitely going to get hurt!”

  Jinx had crouched slightly as Anne ticked off the numbers. She heard Anne’s Go in her mind at the same time she heard “Get hurt” with her ears, and she shot forward. She laughed to herself as she thought of a sign Anne had shown her. It was a German Shepherd Dog and the words, “My dog can reach the fence in 2.9 seconds. Can you?”

  Three quick bounds and a coiled-spring leap later, she had the arm holding the weapon in her jaws. She shook it like a fish on a line as she bit with all the force her nano-enhanced jaws could generate. As she had planned, her attack spun the alien, which carried her away from the second one.

  Then she heard Anne shout, and a sickening scream.

  She had planned to release her first enemy and come back to engage the second alien. The first alien, however, was whipping his arm back and forth and she saw that if she timed it just right… Now! She let go of the first alien and her momentum took her right into the second Stooge. Chewy bones, Jinx used her canine version of OMG, her person was funny.

  Anne spun toward the attacker behind them as she held up a fist glowing a sickening green color. “Five!” she shouted. “No one hurts Jinx!”

  With that she flung the ball of green flames down the hallway. She had been completely serious when, after missing a ducking Gabrielle, she had remarked that she’d need to practice her attack technique. Instead of separate fireballs, this new type held together until just before it reached its target. That was when it acted like a shaped charge penetrating a barrier. A cone of incredibly hot energy particles burst from the ball, and the alien screamed as the particles hit his center of mass.

  Anne had commandeered a test dummy for her attack practice. Remembering the damage she had done to the poor dummy, she knew her target was dead—or as good as. With her target down Anne turned to support Jinx, but she wasn’t needed.

  The wounded alien leader tried to backtrack around the corner, but came to an abrupt stop with the barrel of a Jean Dukes Special in his face.

  “Going somewhere?” John Grimes asked, his nose wrinkling in disgust as the alien voided himself.

  Jinx had her second alien on the ground and was standing on his chest, teeth firmly clamped on his throat. She hadn’t bitten through his skin yet, but Anne could see indents from the pressure Jinx was applying.

  Should I rip his throat out? Jinx asked.

  Remember what Bethany Anne said about Barnabas, or herself even? I’m guessing they need live people to read minds, Anne suggested as she walked over to pick up the fighting baton that had been dropped when Jinx had attacked.

  What’s the human term? Oh, ya. “Party pooper,” Jinx groused.

  Baton in one hand and another green ball of energy forming in the other, Anne looked down at the alien. “Jinx is going to release you now. Do anything stupid and you’ll wish I had let her rip your throat out!”

  John Grimes, Queen’s Bitch, motioned with his weapon back down the hall to where Anne and Jinx were with another alien.

  “I’m injured. I demand medical assistance,” the alien whined, cradling the arm Jinx had shredded against his body.

  “Really?” John asked, then before the alien could register the movement John advanced and kicked him in what would be the knee joint on a human.

  The alien screamed and dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and trying to grab his joint with one hand while still protecting his already injured arm.

  “Did you want to demand anything else?” John asked as he stood over him.

  The alien moved his head back and forth in the gesture he had been told indicated a negative response to humans.

  John sighed, wishing he’d been able to hurt the alien a little more before he cried “Uncle.” He wasn’t normally a vindictive person, but for anyone who came into Bethany Anne’s empire, especially her backyard, and tried to jack one of Ashur’s puppies?

  He’d make an exception!

  He grabbed a harness across the being’s chest and dragged the whimpering male back to where Anne and Jinx stood.

  Bethany Anne was trying very hard to be a good Empress. When Meredith had informed her that there
appeared to be an issue of some sort between Anne, Jinx, and three aliens, she had sent John to investigate.

  When Meredith had updated her that Anne and Jinx were fighting the aliens, Bethany Anne had smiled and continued reading the report in front of her.

  When Meredith reported that Anne had disappeared and Jinx was extremely upset, she closed the document, asked for a visual of the location, and stepped into the hallway near All Guns Blazing. Enough was enough.

  Jinx was frantic. She and Anne had taken out the aliens with ease, but then someone had said, ‘This one’s dead’ and Anne had clutched her stomach and disappeared. Jinx cast about desperately for some scent of Anne, some hint of where she had gone. Someone stepped close to her, and she spun to bite the interloper. Her top jaw was caught in an unbreakable hold, and it sank through her panic that she had attacked Bethany Anne.

  “I’m willing to forgive you once for that attack. Try to bite me again and I’ll throw you tail over nose across the room. We clear?”

  Jinx was now under enough control that she noticed the red in Bethany Anne’s eyes.

  “Clear,” Jinx acknowledged.

  “What happened?” Bethany Anne looked around at everyone for answers.

  >>Anne is at home. She appeared in the common room and ran to the bathroom. While I don’t have a camera of my own in the bathroom, the view from her camera is a closeup of the toilet, and she seems to be depositing partially digested food into it.<<

  Jinx barked sharply to get Bethany Anne’s attention. “Seshat says Anne is at home, throwing up in the bathroom.”

  “We’ll be back,” Bethany Anne told John and the others who had congregated at the scene, then grabbed Jinx’ fur and stepped into the Etheric. Having previously traveled to Anne’s apartment, she knew where she was going. She just stopped to look out and confirm the area was clear before she brought them out of the Etheric.

  Seshat had been monitoring Jinx’ camera, and when it showed the outside of their apartment she activated the front door. Not even a second later Bethany Anne and Jinx rushed into the apartment and headed for the bathroom.

  Anne didn’t know how long she’d been heaving the contents of everything she’d eaten all week into the toilet. Well, not all week, she admitted to herself, but it sure felt that way. Lunch and breakfast had come back up, then an eternity of dry heaves and tears had joined that mess in the toilet.

  “You finished yet?” A quiet voice finally penetrated at a level she could understand. She felt a hand rubbing her back, and Jinx pressed so tightly against her side it was like they were glued together.

  “Bethany Anne?” Anne asked, turning her head slightly to see the Empress… No, this wasn’t the Empress, this was her friend Bethany Anne. Anne took a hand from the rim of the toilet and hugged Jinx tightly.

  “I killed him,” she whispered through a new bout of misery and tears.

  “And hopefully you’ll feel this bad the next time you have to kill someone,” Bethany Anne told the girl.

  “What?” Anne took her face from Jinx’ fur and turned shocked eyes to Bethany Anne.

  “Killing is necessary sometimes, but if it no longer bothers you, you’re not human anymore.” Bethany Anne reached for a towel on the rack next to the sink and handed it to Anne.

  Anne took the towel with a weak smile, and used it to wipe the sweat and tears from her face. “Does it still bother you?” she asked Bethany Anne.

  “Yes and no.” Bethany Anne turned and sat on the floor, her back against the tub, and gazed at the young woman in front of her. “I had to reconcile a long time ago that some people are so warped or evil that they have to be permanently removed from society. It doesn’t bother me to do that, because I know that I’m protecting a lot of innocent people in the process. What does bother me is that those people have let themselves get so sick or twisted that they force me to act to protect my people.”

  She watched Anne for an indication her message was understood. “Those aliens tonight…why did you fight?”

  “They were after Jinx!” Anne answered through her clenched teeth.

  Bethany Anne nodded. “You see? You didn’t attack them for shits and giggles. They made a decision that forced you to act. Now, you could have given Jinx to them—” Bethany Anne held up a hand to cut off what she was sure would be an angry retort from Anne. “Or you could have run away,” she continued, still holding her hand in the air, “but you decided long ago that you would do everything in your power to protect your friend, right?”

  Anne had calmed while Bethany Anne was talking. She looked at the older woman and carefully nodded her agreement.

  “Sometimes ‘everything in your power’ means someone’s going to die. You will learn to cope with it, but I pray you never get to a point where you enjoy killing someone.”

  “Do the Weres?” Anne wondered.

  Bethany Anne was quiet for several seconds while she pondered the question. “I really don’t know. You’d have to ask Peter or Jennifer. I think they take pride in the strength and skill that lets them triumph.” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know if they enjoy killing someone.”

  “It’s a strange situation, isn’t it?” Anne commented.

  “What is?” Bethany Anne encouraged her young friend to talk.

  “Being happy that you protected a friend. Being glad that your training and skills allowed you to triumph, yet feeling upset that it resulted in killing someone.”

  Bethany Anne nodded, then stood and extended a hand to Anne. “You’re right, it is strange. However, you have every right to feel satisfaction in your skills and accomplishments. You two have been extremely dedicated, and have worked hard to acquire the skills you displayed tonight. That’s not going to stop me from assigning you a security team, however.”

  “What?” Anne froze, staring at Bethany Anne.

  Bethany Anne had shrugged off stares from Michael, so this one was easy to ignore. “We’ve just found out that Jinx, and I imagine any of the dogs, are targets. Sooner or later rumors of your project are going to surface, which will make you a target in your own right. I’m not going to find myself banging my head against the wall one day, trying to figure out why I wasn’t smart enough to assign you a security detail. That’s an oversight I’m fixing now. I’ll talk to Peter and find out who he’d recommend for a Guardian Marine detail for you.” She pointed a threatening finger at Anne. “No arguments.”

  Anne grabbed her toothbrush and loaded it with toothpaste, wanting to get the nasty taste out of her mouth. Before she turned on the water she asked, “Do I at least get a say in who the team is?”

  “Do you have someone in mind?” Bethany Anne was curious now.

  Anne spat the toothpaste from her mouth. “No, I just want to know what happens if there’s someone we don’t get along with.”

  “Oh,” Bethany Anne said, and nodded. “If you find someone who rubs you the wrong way, just let us know and we’ll assign someone else. You finished?”

  Anne rinsed her mouth. “Am now.”

  “Follow me,” Bethany Anne told her, and headed for the front door. It opened on Scott and Gabrielle standing outside the apartment. “I don’t think any of us are ‘happy,’” she made air quotes, “needing security, but at least we can arrange it so you get along with your team.” Bethany Anne stepped between Scott and Gabrielle and put an arm around each of their necks, pulling them close.

  Gabrielle stuck her tongue out, while on the other side of Bethany Anne Scott displayed one of the goofiest smiles Anne had ever seen.

  Anne raised an eyebrow, pointed a thumb in Scott’s direction, and told the two women, “Wow, he’s got talent.”

  “Shush,” Gabrielle said in a stage whisper. “If his ego gets any bigger, he won’t fit through the doors.”

  Jinx listened as all four humans laughed at Gabrielle’s comment and let out a sigh of relief. Her human looked like she was going to be all right.

  Chapter Seven

  Monday mornin
g saw Anne and Jinx walking to school in silence. Anne was tired, and Jinx was worried. Anne hadn’t slept well the last two nights—it was difficult to sleep when nightmares woke you up screaming.

  Anne had ended up with three different nightmares. The first one she understood and had almost expected: a replay of her attack on the alien. The other two were worse, and she just wasn’t sure which was more disturbing. In one, she didn’t kill the alien and the Stooges got away with Jinx. Then they strapped Jinx down and cut pieces from her to try and clone her. That was the first time she woke screaming.

  The other dream was disturbing on a completely different level. She was on an alien planet, and every time she looked at an alien it was instantly engulfed in flames and turned into a charred skeleton. Dream-Anne had tried closing and covering her eyes, but it didn’t help. Somehow she could still see the aliens. Male, female, child—it didn’t matter. She had no control over who got burned. What woke her screaming from that one was that she saw a Playground Ahead sign and couldn’t stop walking.

  Seshat says that almost everyone who deals with this kind of thing needs counseling to get better. After she said it Jinx cringed mentally, afraid of being told to mind her own business but needing to try to help her friend anyway.

  Sounds about right. Anne reached down to gently rub one of Jinx’ ears, acutely aware of the love that had given Jinx the courage to say those words.

  You’re not mad?

  If you had a badly broken leg and I told you that you needed surgery to have it heal correctly, would you be mad at me? This conversation made Anne realize how little they had talked since the incident. Just the fact that they were communicating again made her feel better.

  I don’t think so, Jinx answered.