Enid was leaning forward her chin on her interlaced fingers her elbows on her knees much like she had been sitting in a cell a about fifteen hours earlier. This was more secure. It had force fields that might actually stand a chance of containing her if she were limited to conventional vampire powers. What could actually contain a vampire that could tear battleships in have with mind was anyone’s guess. Maria hadn’t said two words to her since she returned. Her recent behavior had caused a lot of rifts. She was in a patchless flight suit. Her Atlantean armor and her pack were in Maria’s care.
She heard boot steps approaching down the metal corridor long before the brig’s outer door opened. She looked up and had expected to see her sister finally come to talk to her, but she was disappointed. It was a woman in System Alliance armor wearing a cloak with a sword strapped to her back. She recognized the hilt as her craft. One of her seers, without seeing the blade or the face she could not tell which one. The seer pulled her hood back. Enid scanned the face of her eldest seer. Calis, she had platinum blonde hair and dark brown, almost black eyes. Calis looked…displeased to be here.
“Daughter.”
“Mother.”
“I have a feeling this is not a duty you volunteered for.”
Calis stepped closer so she would have been in easy touching distance for Enid had there been no force field in place.
“None of us wanted this duty Mother. We disagree with the System Alliance stance. However your changes to our laws give us no choice.”
Enid stood up. She felt a pang of guilt remembering a time that was not so long ago to her where she’d left Calis with half her face missing in a destroyed village with two near dead seers to care for. Enid reached her arms out. Calis waved her wrist over the security panel and the force field vanished with a zapping sound. Calis raised an eyebrow at Enid’s extended wrists.
“Mother, you and I both know that you are here because you want to be, and you are going through with this because you want to. Nothing these mortals can manage can stop you. Not even all of the seers together could hope to slow you down. So what is the point of binders?”
“It will make the mortals feel better?”
“You are our Empress, I will not have you be bound like some common criminal.”
Enid shrugged.
“I’m sorry Calis.”
“You are right you should have asked one of us to do this for you so that you would not be facing these charges.”
“No Calis, for England.”
Calis was confused, of course she was Enid made her forget what she’d done.
“I put you in harms way, and you nearly killed a wolf-born by accident.”
“It is the nature of the task we were given mother.”
The pair walked down the hallway, more like friends then prisoner and security officer. Enid pushed some of her red curls out of her face.
“Sometimes my perspective is skewed when my children are involved.”
“Which is why any of the Seers would have done this task for you, we know you would do it for us without question.”
“I needed to watch the life drain from their eyes. Like I watched it drain from Mikos.”
“Did it make you feel better, mother?”
Enid shook her head.
“Vengeance rarely does, the mortals still do not understand prison does not frighten vampires. Second death and having their soul devoured does. Which is why your new laws will never work. The mortals are so concerned about their numbers they have no death penalty any longer. You were merely setting an example for others of the cost of harming you and your family.”
“Could you perhaps tell my sister that?”
“I would gladly if she would speak to me, however I had to deal with her underlings.”
Calis entered one of the landing bays and a System Alliance prisoner transport was waiting she motioned for Enid to go up the ramp first. She was greeted by four mortal Alliance Security Officers who stumbled backwards when they saw no binders on her.
“Join me in the cockpit please mother.”
The youngest of the security guards, a private according to the rank pip on his armor.
“Umm, Seer, ma’am, that is against protocol, the prisoner is to be held with bindings and in the force field at all times.”
Calis looked at eighteen-year-old.
“My mother tore a kilometer long battle cruiser in half with a thought, can move so quickly everyone on this station would be dead, save myself and her sister before you had a chance to call for help. So strong with just her hands she can smash through a blast door, tell me, what good are binders and a force shield going to do besides annoy her?”
The young Security Officer tugged at his collar.
“But protocol.”
“Can be disregard in this instant, she turned herself in and is providing no resistance.”
“It is alright Calis.”
Calis glanced Enid and nodded. She motioned to the private.
“Lock her up, but I will not forget your disrespect for my mother and Empress.”
Enid gave no resistance to the binders or being seated and locked into force field. She was slightly amused by the ribbing the other older Security Officers were giving the Private. By the time they reached New Amazon they had him convinced he was going to be cleaning prisoner toilets at the Jupiter Supermax. When he came to get her out of the cell he was looking down at Enid who by all appearances was an unremarkable teenage girl of barely eighteen.
“I am really sorry ma’am, but its protocol.”
“I understand completely Private. Regardless of what Calis was saying you should follow it. It exists for a reason. It exists to keep you safe.”
“You do not seem like someone who murdered sixteen people ma’am.”
“It was not murder it was punishment. They were already dead the moment my daughter died. It was just a matter of who would ensure they were aware of that fact.”
The security officers surrounded Enid, and the entire group was led by Calis. They escorted her across the courtyard of the System Alliance Headquarters. Enid saw floating drones recording it all. They were making a big show of this. Enid figured her being in binders being arrest was projecting that the Alliance was in control. She had known they tried to suppress her actions on the day of Miko’s death but had failed. An orbital array had captured it all and the video went viral. It was quite the embarrassment for the System Alliance. She was placed in one of their interview rooms and handcuffed to the table. She wasn’t sure who she was expecting to show up next. She was surprised to see it was Amee. Probably the person she’d hurt the worst with her recent exploits and behavior. Their last conversation had gone poorly. Amee tried to kiss her and Enid leaned her head away to avoid it. Things had been said on both sides and Enid wasn’t quite ready to accept the olive branch being offered. Amee sat down. Enid looked at her estranged wife.
“I thought you had people for this.”
“This isn’t official, this is a wife checking on her wife.”
“I’m fine. Like I told you when I was finished I would turn myself in.”
“Enid, I could have done all of this with a phone call and no one would have been the wiser, why?”
“I needed to do it. Blood for Blood. The old laws, you don’t understand, and you never will. It wasn’t about you.”
“So the council has made it clear. You realize you’ve jeopardized our agreement with the both the vampire and werewolves? We have mass protests by the Church of the Dark Mother. The Sauroids are refusing access to the planet. Rubina has stopped cooperating with us. You have ruined everything you built.”
“No. Your government did that by trying to prosecute me for seeking justice for my daughter in a way that made you and my other children safe.”
“Enid! You are not a lone wolf anymore. You have a wife, family.”
“Your way would have been too quiet, it needed to be noisy, brutal.”
“Enid, why are you being like this? I love you.”
“Oh, you do? Because that’s not how it sounded the last time we talked. I believe you said you wished you’d never met me, that I was the worst thing that had ever happened to you and oh, if I was more like you my daughter would still be alive.”
Amee’s cheeks went red.
“So, what is it? Do you love me? Or am your living nightmare?”
Amee had a few tears on her cheeks.
“I…we both said things we regret, we were both grieving for Miko.”
“You will never understand, I carried her for nine months, she drank from my breasts, I was her mommy first. You…just came in after the fact.”
“Is it so hard to believe that I loved her as much as you did?”
Enid shook her head.
“You love your job, the power it brings, I am just arm candy and she was just your means to appeal to the family first demographic. I was just your little space explorer.”
Amee was looking more and more hurt as the conversation wore on.
“I just want this to work out.”
“Going to be kind of hard with me in prison for a few centuries, isn’t it? Too bad reality will implode by the time I get out isn’t it?”
Amee straightened up and wiped away her tears.
“You aren’t going to prison. You actions on the glacier were considered self-defense. And a vampire named Agatha has come forward claiming responsibility for the murders. She said you were covering for her because she is your daughter.”
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Enid blinked.
“She is one of my Seers, I did turn her, but she’s dead. I called a blood hunt.”
“She is quite alive and has provided very detailed evidence on how she tracked, plotted and carried out her assassinations.”
Enid’s head sank and her forehead almost touched her bound hands.
“Foolish child.”
“She’s lying. I did it all alone.”
“She even provided holographic evidence of her guilt.”
“Its fake. She’s just trying to make amends for betraying me to Lucius…the Black Son.”
“This just makes all your problems go away doesn’t it? If you had her, why bring me in at all, the big showy escort? You…will do anything to keep power won’t you? Everyone’s a pawn. You could teach vampires a thing or three.”
Amee flinched as if Enid had slapped her.
“You brought me here to show that the mighty System Alliance can bring even a Goddess to heel. Then you make Agatha the scapegoat, and all your problems with the Sauroids, Rubina and her rebels, the Church of the Dark Mother, the vampires and the werewolves just evaporate. Oops our bad, Enid Aurelius isn’t guilty she was just covering for one of her overzealous seers. What a good Empress, what a good mother. Suffering so much grief and still looking out for her other children. Fuck you Amee and fuck your fake apologies. Enjoy using my surname for your gain.”
Amee’s tears started to flow freely.
“Did you even love me?”
Amee stood up and rushed out. Enid had a thin line of blood forming at the bottom of her eyes. She screamed and the whole room vibrated with a telekinetic pulse. Why did she have to be such a heinous bitch? She knew Amee loved her, her gift screamed it every time they were together. Amee would do anything to protect her. Why did she have to deliberately attack her? She buried her face in her still bound arms. Thinking it would have been better if she’d just been splattered across the glacier instead of surviving. The door opened and it was Calis. She was undoing Enid’s bindings.
“You’re free to go, mother.”
Enid nodded.
“Can I speak to Agatha? Privately? No recordings?
“Of course, mother.”
“Did you know?”
“No, I had no idea she was alive, let alone that she was going to do this.”
Calis escorted Enid to one of the holding cells. Enid looked in at Agatha. The terrible scar that Enid had inflicted on her so long ago marred her once perfectly face. When Enid had first found her as a child she had been beaten so badly due to her gift she barely looked human. Enid looked to Calis a fresh line of red blood long the bottom of her eyes.
“Open it.”
Calis waved her wrist over the security pad and Agatha who had so far refused to look up at Enid stared at the floor. Enid approached her and reached out her slender hand and lifted Agatha’s chin.
“Why are you doing this child?”
Blood tears were already dripping down Agatha’s cheeks.
“I…betrayed the family.”
Enid kneeled in front of her scarred daughter.
“No daughter, your family betrayed you.”
Enid slid her hand along the scared flesh mending the damage she’d done so long ago with the tricks Chomaggus taught her.
“Agatha, You have no idea the…depths of remorse I felt later that night. You do not have to do this, recant your confession. It was my intent to call off the hunt and track you down and make amends. I deserve the punishment that you are trying to save me from.”
Agatha’s now flawless face looked down at Enid she touched her face where the blackened scar from Bloodseeker’s venomous blade once marked her betrayal for all to see.
“I betrayed you, I betrayed the family, and I almost destroyed everything in creation with my actions. I should have died that night, but you spared me. I should have died many times after, but Isis rescued me, kept me safe when the ice came. I do this to repay my debt to you and her. I would have gladly avenged your daughter’s death for you. She was sister to all who you have turned.”
“You have never owed me a debt, but I cannot speak for Isis, your agreement with her is between the two of you. I thank you for your sacrifice. You are doing more good then you realize.”
Enid touched Agatha’s cheek and showed her the fallen angels she had encountered so far. Agatha blinked and looked up at Enid with her blue eyes.
“Thank you for showing me that, mother. I will find comfort in the good my sacrifice is doing.”
Enid kissed Agatha’s forehead.
“I am so sorry I betrayed you that night. I should have offered you my hand and asked you to join me in the fight instead of…how I behaved.”
Agatha took Enid’s hand and squeezed it. Calis tapped Enid on the shoulder.
“We need to go, patrol is coming.”
Calis looked at Agatha and for the first time in a thousand years spoke to her directly.
“Be strong sister. We will do what we can for you.”
Agatha looked up at Calis, new drops of blood dripped down her cheeks.
“Thank you, sister.”
Calis pulled Enid out of the cell and sealed the force field once again. She escorted Enid towards the exit.
“I’ve called your protector, have you considered turning her? She would make a fine vampire.”
“She has children.”
“And so do you.”
“She has cybernetic implants.”
“That is a shame. She has a keen mind and is unfailingly loyal to you. She withstood many interrogations of people trying to determine your whereabouts.”
Enid nodded.
“Calis, I need to…tell you something.”
Enid leaned close to Calis and whispered into her ear. Remember. Calis grabbed onto Enid’s forearm to steady herself as the battle in the English town came back to her. Her eyes went wide when she realized the girl she’d almost killed was truly Enid’s biological daughter.
“How…why did you send us to hunt you? Was it some form of test? How is the…child still a child?”
“I wasn’t lost in some other dimension. When I defeated the black son…I ended up in the distant past. I was raiding with the Vikings for components to create a portal… home. The you fought was me. You just almost killed my daughter so my reaction was violent.”
“Had I truly ended Hazel’s life I would have ended my own life. I did not understand.”
“Nor could you have, daughter.”
“Why do you not travel into the past again if you can do so and save young Miko?”
“Its not that precise. If I could I would. But I need to go back again Shortly before our encounter I fought a fallen angel. It seems to be…my purpose. Miko’s death, Agatha’s imprisonment, its all a result of me ignoring my duty. I am tell you this because I do not know if I can even return from this mess if I leave again. I need you to look out for your sister Seers, and I really need you to look out for Hazel. Also Rubina. You were my first Seer, and always loyal.”
“Surely one of the Seers can go back for you?”
Enid shook her head.
“No, God has made it quite clear this is my duty and my duty alone.”
“We just got you back Empress.”
“I refuse to watch another one of my children suffer because I ignore my…responsibilities.”
Calis frowned, but nodded.
“As you wish Mother.”
An Aurelius skycar was waiting for them. Enid hugged Calis who seemed confused by the show of affection and patted Enid’s back gently. Enid got into the front seat of the flying limo. She waved to Calis, then closed the door and looked over to Bee.
“Hey Bee.”
“Where are we going, Enid?”
“Home.”
“So…your personal place, the one you share with your wife or my place?”
Enid leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes. She had to deal with the Amee situation. She’d definitely gone to far, but was it too soon? She tapped the passenger side window with her knuckles.
“Home, home.”
“Are you sure? I haven’t had a chance too…we haven’t… Her things are still there.”
Enid looked at her friend and confidant.
“It’s been a month, I’ll be okay.”
“Enid, you will never be ‘okay’ with this.”
“You’re right, but she’s gone. I’ll need to clean it up eventually.”
“Yes but…Eyre said Amee was…upset.”
“I know, I know. I said some things…we said some things… we need to talk.”
Bee nodded and lifted off, the pair rode in silence, mostly because Enid was pondering what she was going to say to her wife. She had a lot to apologize for, and truly she hadn’t processed her daughter’s death. She did what she always did, she lost herself in her anger to avoid her grief. One day soon she would break down. She wondered when it would be, what it would be. The skycar came to rest on a pad at Amee and Enid’s shared home.
“Thanks Bee.”
“Good luck.”
Enid nodded and pushed the door open. She walked to door of her home and looked at the panel beside it. She had faced angels and demons. Yet swiping her wrist over the door panel to let herself into the home she shared with the woman she loved was terrifying after the multiple vicious verbal attacks she’d unleashed on Amee. Enid turned to leave when the doors slid open. Amee was wearing a nightgown and robe.
“I didn’t think I’d see you. Did you need to pick something up? Is your new Ident Chit not working?”
Enid’s shoulders slumped she didn’t turn to face her wife. She didn’t want to see the look of resentment in those magenta eyes.
“I’ll go. Sorry I bothered you.”
Enid felt a firm hand on her arm.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me?”
Enid closed her eyes blood pooling at the edges of them.
“I know you loved me.”
“Love you.”
Enid still refused to turn to see the hurt in her wife’s eyes. She had said so many terrible things. Everything she could think to say would sound like some form of excuse. There was no excuse. Just the awful immaturity she exhibited in her anger and grief. She didn’t pull her arm away from Amee’s. There was still the tingle of the energy between the pair.
“I…”
“I wonder, have you ever managed to apologize to someone genuinely in your lifetime?”
Enid heard resentment in her wife’s voice. She reluctantly pulled herself out of her wife’s grasp, she wanted to turn and hug her tightly.
“This was a mistake.”
“Yes, it was. I should have known you were too immature to handle a real relationship.”
Enid closed her eyes tightly, blood slipping from the corners.
“Amee, I’m sorry. I…was… I am… I love you but I think I need some time to deal with… deal with what happened, and you deserve better. I will come back…I will come back when I’m worthy of you.”
Enid felt the tingle again as her wife pulled her arm and spun her hugging her tightly.
“Enid we’re both grieving. You are not alone anymore. I am here to get through it with you.”
Enid leaned her head against the taller woman’s chest just soaking in the body heat of her wife.
“You don’t understand. This is my fault, I… let myself believe I was home, that, you and I could raise Miko and just live happily ever after. I got content, and this… this was my punishment.”
Amee was shaking her head.
“No this was the act of a selfish, power-hungry man.”
“I spared his life in Edmonton. This is God’s way of punishing me for not doing what he wants. I’ve been warned over and over again there were consequences for… for ignoring my duty.”
“If there is a God, I doubt he would punish you by killing an innocent two-year-old girl.”
“No, you don’t understand, he killed my husband in Japan because I did the same thing, dragged my baby girl to China to force a conflict with a fallen angel. He does not take no for an answer. I was so happy here and I was resistant to leaving again because I didn’t want to lose you and Miko. Now she is dead? Who will be next?”
“Have you been purposely pushing everyone away to protect us?”
Enid nodded into Amee’s chest.
“Enid sometimes you can be so brilliant, and sometimes you are so dumb.”
“I need to go Amee. If I… when I get back I will be ready… I am sorry I hurt you. I love you.”
Enid pushed away from Amee and lept into the air when she landed at her own penthouse she saw a metallic purple fighter on one of the landing pads on the roof. She landed and rushed towards it her hands sliding along its surface.
“Aunt Enid. I heard you…were released and thought you may require my services.”
“I do”
Enid looked at her apartment’s door. She knew what was inside, an empty fridge, furniture covered in white sheets. There was nothing. Hazel was with Eyre in NAFTA Dome for her break. Enid hopped into the cockpit and opened a communications channel to Eyre. Her daughter answered quickly and looked unsurprised to see her face. Also more then slightly annoyed.
“Finally, what took you so long to return my call.”
Enid blinked at her daughter.
“What call?”
“The six calls I made in the hour?”
“I…my holo-phone is on Pluto Station.”
“Hazel went missing about the time it was announced you were innocent.”
“What? Where was she?”
“She was supposed to be with Miles, but apparently he hasn’t heard from her. I believe him, Aurelius Security Forces are fairly good at expressing that the truth will set someone free.”
“What did she take with her?”
“Well, her sword is missing, her holo-phone and her holo-tablet, both of which are switched off, oh and the black credit chits you gave her, I can’t trace them.”
Enid rubbed her face with her hands.
“That kid… Wait what about her Ident chit?”
“Found it on the vanity in the bathroom. Turns out wolf-born can easily cut them out and heal right back up. Much like vampires.”
“She’s pretty distinct…”
“Mom, twenty million people live and work in NAFTA Dome, also, there was something else…what was it? Oh yea, she can hide herself from people and sensors.”
“Did she say anything? Do anything?”
“If I had any hint of what she might have done. I would already be investigating it Mother. I am not an amateur at this. I was hoping she hopped on a transport and came to New Amazon but Amee hasn’t seen her either. Mitena hasn’t seen her.”
“She’s not at my old penthouse.”
“Any other idea’s mother?”
“Besides Pluto Station…but she’d need to get onto a military ship then.”
“Is she somehow incapable of that?”
“No, she could just walk on with shadow ritual, or hell she could just get on it through the spirit realm, or she could just go to Pluto through it too. Especially if she had guide…and she’s been talking to the packs in NAFTA and New Amazon.”
Enid punched Apollo’s console.
“That kid. She probably assumes I’m going to leave…the last conversation we had didn’t go well, I told her I was leaving her with you.”
“Mother, let me ask you this: If Sextus told you he was going somewhere dangerous that he might not return from but you had to stay behind when you were younger, what are the chances you would not go.”
“Nil, unless he somehow forced me not too.”
“Yea. She’s probably on her way to Pluto. I’ll get a ship.”
Enid shook her head.
“I’m calling you from Apollo, I can get there faster and I was heading there anyway.”
“Oh, that’s it then, not so much as an apology for being the galaxies biggest bitch?”
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“No, because I’m libel to chew her face off lately.”
“Eyre I’m sorry. I… will send Hazel back to you.”
“You had better, that girl deserves better then to be dragged all over history you already stopped her body and her mind from aging properly. Being stuck as a hormonal teenage girl, I’d hate to think you would wish that on anyone considering how long you’ve been suffering from a similar affliction.”
“Point taken, Eyre. Are you done dressing me down?”
“Not by a long shot. Get her home to me or Amee, mother, then I’ll finish expressing my displeasure with you.”
Eyre cut the call at that point. Enid started tapping icons on the 360 degree holo-HUD preparing for launch and the eventual FTL jump.