Another month passed. They had managed to figure out who was possessed in town. Afternoon found Enid on all fours in front of Henry who was thrusting into her his hands on her hips. Sweat was pooling on the middle of Enid’s back. She was lost in the sensations. She’d once again dosed the pair with 29th Century libido enhancers. They had been at it since about eleven in the morning, it was now four. She was using Henry for sex. The drugs just made it so it was non-stop for hours on end with little to no pillow talk which she wanted to avoid because Henry would inevitably get all deep. She didn’t want deep she wanted to feel completely used. He grabbed her tightly and finished inside for the seventh time. He collapsed on his back waving her hand away and she reached for him. She had to give him credit he never once lost interest in their marathon sex sessions. She hit her pillow hard with her fist when she heard him snoring. She wasn’t done by a long shot. Apparently, he was though.
Enid sat up and blew her hair out of her face then pushed it back behind her ears. She closed her eyes and let her form shift to her vampire self. She started to get dressed now that the enhancer was purged from her system. She glanced back at the snoring Henry and whispered.
“So much for my supper plans.”
The elder Enid decided to go find her younger self. She knew where she was staying and also that she would most definitely not be asleep. About thirty minutes later she was leaning on the wall of a light proofed forge watching her smithing a silver Seer’s blade and weaving the enchantment into it as she went. The younger Enid glanced at her while she was waiting for the blade to heat once again.
“You should be doing this.”
The elder Enid smirked and shrugged.
“You need the practice, trust me.”
“Why is that?”
“Because in about five hundred years you’re going to forge a soul-drinker from Atlantean steel.”
Her younger self looked at her.
“We did that?”
“Yes. We were happy. Then Rolf and Hazel died. We were mortal for about eighty years but once we sensed the fallen one so close to the village, we gave it up. Our first act was to forge a new soul-blade. Our second act was to bind a spirit too it.”
“How did it turn out?”
Enid whispered remember. Her younger self stood up straight and looked at her.
“You were in Rome… You had both of them…”
The elder Enid nodded.
“You almost died.”
“Yes.”
“That demon had no clue what hit it. You are so good with our telekinesis.”
The elder Enid shrugged.
“I got tired of getting blood on my clothes. We get stronger once father dies. Scary strong. Make some mistakes…”
She quenched the blade. Seer swords were something Enid could make in her sleep. After it cooled, she started sharpening it glancing at her elder self every so often.
“Why are you here anyway, I thought you’d be doing whatever it is you do with Henry.”
The elder shrugged.
“He passed out. I broke him. I’m bored so I came here. I’m not even sure why. I’m kind of avoiding someone.”
Her younger self quirked her eyebrow.
“Who?”
“Oh, God, its this Angel. He is so… happy all the time. Keeps trying to fix me. Doesn’t generally bother me when others are around.”
“I guess your daughters are busy hmm?”
Enid shrugged.
“Yes, and I don’t have any friends.”
Her younger self chuckled.
“I guess things never change hmm?”
“Actually, I have lots of friends… just not here.”
Her younger self had been polishing the blade while they chatted and held up it gleamed in the firelight, and she smiled at it. The elder of the pair smiled.
“You know, we are damn good at that. We’re actually pretty good at a lot of things I never imagined I would be."
Her younger self put the sword on a rack and sat down on a bench.
“What else can we do?”
Enid bit her lower lip.
“So… in the far future, about thirteen hundred years or so, we own a starfighter.”
“A what?”
“It can fly through space, to other stars, galaxies. Not that I need him anymore. Apparently, the laws of the universe really do not apply to me. Anyway, ugg, so Mariana… Maria now. She’s not dead she built it. Designed our faster than light travel… he’s super complex. We rebuilt his sister fighter from scratch because Maria had her all messed up with parts, she could grab to make it work.”
Her younger self held up her hand and blinked at the elder.
“Mariana’s alive?”
“Oh… you know I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, tell me what happened.”
The elder Enid shrugged.
“Dad didn’t kill her. He just hid her. Unfortunately, a Pugmentia got a hold of her and someone erased her memories. She gets most of them back but she’s never been quite the same. I’m still kind of pissed at her. She dosed me with something to stop me for getting revenge when Amee… anyway. She’s alive and the whole point of this is, we can rebuild a complicated super sophisticated starfighter. We’re still shit at plotting FTL courses though.”
“So, all this time I have hated father and Lucius for nothing?”
“No Lucius is definitely an asshole and deserves everything he gets from us.”
“What exactly does he get from us?”
“You’re going to have your memories erased do you really want to put yourself through more of this?”
The younger Enid nodded.
“Fine, he is possessed by the Black Son. I killed him and destroyed him by ditching him in a pocket universe, Eyre, Maria and I made with some help from God and someone else. That is where I lost Bloodseeker. I used him to trap the Black Son in the pocket universe. Then… someone who becomes very dear to us saves me and takes my place…or our place.”
“Why can I still feel him then?”
“Well, he’s not…gone Lucius is the soul in my soul-blade. He’s guarding my children. Basically, he’s been sitting in Gaul, since just after he died so he has never been gone. He’s just bound to me instead of you.”
Her younger self seemed to go through a storm of emotions as she processed what she’d been told.
“So, Lucius is out there and you’re… doing thing with other people?”
“He’s a sword and he’s dormant. Also, he gave me permission. Look you have not been through what I’ve been through. There is love after Lucius. Rolf, Hazel, Henry, the one in Narford… Narfordshire sorry, Amee. I told you, you have a lot of love in your future. You felt it when Hazel hugged you. I saw the look in your eyes. You started to believe someone could love you. Even seeing her and I, you didn’t understand until you saw the same look in her eyes for you. You felt her hug you tightly. We deserve love. We deserve to feel good. We deserve whatever happiness we can find.”
The younger Enid was spinning something in her hand. The elder Enid looked at it and realized it was one of the beads that Hazel had painted in Ethiopia. She blinked and reached into her pack and pulled out the old worn bead that she’d forgotten about. She laughed softly and held it up to her.
“Looks like we get a lot of use out of that.”
The younger of the two looked down at the bead and would have been blushing if she was capable.
“She gave it to me this morning… said it was for good luck.”
The elder Enid frowned.
“That kid. Always screwing with the timeline in small ways.”
“You’re too hard on her.”
The elder Enid sighed.
“Its not her. I’m just… really angry all the time right now. I do not know why. I’ve come to terms with what happened with father. I was rude to my angel friend who has never been anything but good to me, if annoyingly happy. I’ve been keeping Rose more distant even before I found out about the demon. And Henry, well Henry is just sex. I use him to feel something other than anger.”
The younger Enid looked up at her older self.
“There is nothing I can tell you that you don’t already know. You should be talking to someone else.”
“I should but I don’t have anyone.”
“If you can travel through time as easily as it seems then surely there is someone, even dad, who can guide you. What about that asshole angel? Ezekiel.”
“He’s… indisposed.”
“What do you mean indisposed? He’s an angel!”
“Well Limbo… my version isn’t doing so good. It’s basically decaying. I had to sever him from it and he’s still recovering… I mean who knows we’re fourth dimensional beings. I guess my timeline I have to wait for him to recover… God I hate time travel.”
“But if you’re… how…”
The elder Enid held up her hand.
“You know what, don’t think about it, you will just give yourself a headache, even as a vampire. But you’re not wrong. Maybe… maybe neither is my friend. I can apparently get to Heaven… so maybe one of my old teachers? I guess our old… hmm. Let me think on it. Anyway.”
The elder Enid reached into her pack and pulled out one of her back up holo-phones and offered it to her younger self.
“Put this on. Tap it and then tap the button that says Wake Up. I pre-programmed it to connect to mine and vibrate it.”
Her younger self looked at it every which way. Enid frowned and grabbed her younger self’s wrist and put the band on it who tapped it like she was instructed and blinked at it in disbelief.
“Is this Atlantean?”
“No, but it works with the armor. Maria’s a genius by the way, I mean not that you don’t know that but… just tap it and hit the Wake-Up button there. It will make mine vibrate and light my contact lenses up like its Christmas… never mind. That will wake me up if I’m asleep or pretending to be asleep and then I can interrupt Rose and the overseer.”
*****
That evening…
Enid’s wrist was buzzing, and her contacts lit up and woke her. She’d been sleeping as a mortal. She snapped awake and rolled out of bed. She closed her eyes and let undeath take her. She did not want to reveal her true nature to her prey. She was scantly clad as she rushed outside. She saw Rose standing in front of an old wooden bowl. She was speaking and was completely blind sided when Enid appeared. The now very vampiric Enid reached out her hand and lifted Rose by the neck using her telekinesis. The possessed Rose’s eyes were pitch black. Enid was careful not to be too rough. Her lover was pregnant after all. She looked into the bowl and reached her other hand out. She started chanting in Atlantean and pressed her hand into water the normal seeming man on the other side screeched inhumanly as a handprint seared itself into the bare flesh of his chest. Enid glared at him.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Once I deal with this vermin, you’re next. Be seeing you!”
She swiped the bowl away breaking the connection. She released Rose and caught her before she hit the ground. Her eyes were still black. The demon tried in vain itself.
“Its me Rose what are you doing?”
Enid carried her inside without speaking. The demon possessing Rose began to scream. A group of what passed for Port Royal’s watch, which was more of a press gang heard and started approaching. They didn’t even see the younger Enid appear behind them and start taking them down in rapid succession. Her younger self joined her shortly afterwards. The demon possessed Rose was struggling to escape. The eldest Enid looked at her younger self.
“Hold her. I think I can get it out.”
The younger Enid held Rose down as elder Enid closed her eyes and let the angel out. Rose was screaming now. Her face twisted in terror as the demon suddenly realized how much trouble it was truly in when it saw the only thing in existence possibly as strong as the creator. Seraph’s eyes flared with white light as she spread her wings and her hand phases into Rose’s flesh ripping the black centipede like demon out of her. It writhed in her hand she reached out her other hand and a jar shimmered into existence in a flash of white light. She stuffed the demon inside and closed the lid. It slammed itself against the edges but found itself completely trapped. Rose came to her senses and saw a short red-haired vampire she recognized as someone she’d been told was extremely dangerous first.
“Let me go I didn’t do anything wrong! Where is Sarah?”
Enid’s younger self spoke.
“Be calm. She’s right there.”
Rose’s eyes followed Enid’s and she beheld a truly divine being. She began to weep as every sin, every wrong she’d ever done, culminating in the demonic possession felt like it was laid bare before this angel. Seraph closed her eyes, and the blonde-haired woman Rose knew to be Sarah appeared in her place. Rose started to sob immediately while babbling incoherently. The elder Enid shook her gently.
“You’re fine Rose. I got it out.”
Rose was saying something about not wanting to lose her but was still inconsolable. Enid sighed and looked into her eyes.
“Sleep when you wake up, you’ll be calmer, and we can talk about this.”
Rose’s eyes closed and she started to sleep soundly. The elder Enid reached out her hand and touched Rose and chanted in Atlantean to transfer her wounds. She silently pondered if she could just heal her as the angel but didn’t want to flash the power around more then she had. Her younger self was staring at her.
“You really are… an angel. I’ve never felt so at peace besides in the presence of Ezekiel.”
“Yes. Now let’s have a conversation with this little guy.”
The small demon smashed against the divine glass squealing and letting loose a string of curse words in the angelic tongue. Enid shook the jar.
“You have a potty mouth.”
The younger Enid laughed softly.
“Pot calling the kettle black there.”
“Well Maria…dislikes curse words so I’ve had to temper myself.”
The pair moved Rose to her bed and wandered back to the younger Enid’s haven. The elder Enid shifted back into Seraph and snapped her fingers. A ring of divine energy appeared she threw the jar into it. It shattered leaving the little centipede demon smashing against its new, larger prison. Its glowing red eyes glared at the younger Enid but seemed to refuse to look towards Seraph. This was a formality really. They’d already identified all the demons in town with a patient approach of seeing who is associating with whom. Contact tracing and just plain boring investigative work. Still, she could give it a chance. Not that it had a soul to save. By creating Hell, she had created it.
“Here is your chance to continue existing. We want a list of all the demons in Port Royal and who they are possessing. If you are truthful, you get sent back to Hell, if you lie, my friend here will use her sword on you. No going home, just obliteration. Considering you were screwing around with someone I love, I’m partial to the later.”
The demon insulted the pair again then spoke in its first non-curse words.
“She willingly let me in you fool! Mortals are weak.”
“So are you.”
Seraph motioned to the younger Enid.
“End him please.”
The cursed black sword breached the barrier and when it sliced into the demon the black centipede sizzled out of existence. Seraph waved her hand and the shimmering circle vanished.
“We already have what we needed I’m not sure why I bothered.”
Seraph closed her eyes and shrunk back down into her Sarah form.
“Because you’re nicer than I am? What are you going to do about Rose? Letting a demon possess her to spy on you?”
“Nothing. She is in love. We all do stupid things for love.”
“She’ll never forgive herself you know.”
“Let me worry about that. Just loop everyone in, I know exactly where our fallen angel is. Tomorrow night I want every single one of the demons gathered up for a mass exorcism. You and I will attack his ship. I’m going to go deal with the Rose situation.”
Enid walked to Rose’s house she wasn’t exactly happy about the turn of events. By the time she reached one of the places she’d called home in her time in Port Royal the men her younger self had knocked out were gone. She leaned against the wall of the home and watched the sunrise. She still had no idea how to handle Rose. She heard the woman stirring in her home. By this time Enid had her arms crossed she hit her head on the salt water worn word of the home before going inside. Rose looked up at her. Her hands began to shake. Enid sighed softly and put her hands around Rose’s wrists.
“I’ll take care of breakfast. We’ll talk afterwards, okay?”
Rose nodded and retreated. All joking aside about Enid’s cooking she could manage. Living as a mortal for years with Rolf had made it a necessity. Of course, that was over a fire pit and in a stone oven. Here there was a wood burning stove. The ones that would be invented in about a hundred years were far superior. She made up some eggs she’d collected and fried up some salted fish and brought to plates to the table. She took her first bite musing how much she missed Eyre’s chef quality cooking. She glanced up at Rose who was playing with her food.
“You should eat. Starving isn’t going to make things better and you’ve got little one to consider.”
Rose looked up at her.
“Is it going to be alright?”
“Yes. She’s fine.”
“She?”
“Sorry. I saw when I was looking for the… demon.”
“I am sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Enid held up her hand.
“I already forgave you. You need to forgive yourself.”
“But I… let it in.”
“You’ll have to figure out how to live with that and forgive yourself. God will forgive anything if you are genuinely sorry, but for that you need to forgive yourself first. I can make you forget but it won’t erase what you did.”
Rose nodded and glanced down at her food.
“Look Rose, I cannot stay. There is more to do. I know where my target is. I could be going after him right now, but I decided to wait until tonight. You’ve seen my true form. You know what I am now. You know what I’m doing is more important than anything else in creation.”
Rose nodded tears dripping down her cheeks.
“I doubted…”
“You and Henry need to worry about your daughter. Do you understand?”
Rose shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Enid sighed heavily. She didn’t have time for this. She tugged Rose’s wrist and pulled her into a place outside of the sunlight. She met her gaze.
“You are going to realize that I’m wrong for you and that you need to be with the father of your child. Henry. You’ll let me down easy and ask me politely to stop sleeping with him.”
Rose nodded. Enid released her.
“Look, I need to go Rose. Just think about what I said about Henry okay?”
Enid rushed out of the house and found a quiet spot to cry. She wished she could make herself forget as easily as she did to others. She took a deep breath after a giving herself time for a good sob session. She walked towards Henry’s home to do the other side. She had to be strong. This place was done once the demons were dealt with. It was time to prepare to move on. She walked into Henry’s house and straight to his office. He was looking over a ledger. She cleared her throat. He smiled when he saw her at first then his lips crept into a frown.
“What is wrong?”
When their eyes met Enid took the opportunity to weave her mental spell.
“Henry, you’re going to realize later today that you need a more stable woman in your life. You’re going to tell me its over and you’ll let me down easy. However, Rose, the mother of your child needs you and you need to be there like you weren’t for your older daughters. You’ll tell Rose how you feel about her today and that you’ve broken things off with me permanently, once I leave you’ll wake.”
Enid walked out and left the house. She needed to get drunk. She made her way to the Salty Teat where she spent the day getting completely thrashed on rum. She sobered up immediately as night fell. The benefit of vampirism was she could avoid the whole hang over phase. Helen and Hazel had joined her before dusk. Hazel didn’t actually say anything about her mother getting drunk. Something about her mother’s face told her just to let it go today. It might have been the red eyes from hours of crying as she drank. By the time her younger self joined her Enid looked like a nun on Sunday. Nothing further was said about it. The elder Enid spoke quietly.
“Hazel, Helen, you’re on demon collection duty. Once you have them gathered signal us and we’ll attack the fallen angel. I want his to all go down at the same time so none can get warned and escape. You have enough darts and stun grenades?”
Hazel nodded.
“We’re good mom. Are you?”
“I’m fine.”
Enid looked at her younger self.
“We can expect that entire ship is crewed by actual demons. It will be messy and you’re going to use a lot of blood. Give me two empty stones, I’ve got some here that will help in case you need to use blood magic.”
The pair exchanged stones under the table and put them in their respective packs. Enid offered one of the stones with her father’s blood to Helen.
“Keep that safe. If things get dangerous use it, you’ll get a boost.”
The group separated. Enid and her younger self found a quiet spot and flew into the air. The elder had to slow her altered time down so her younger self could keep up. The pair caught up to the demon-controlled ship and started stalking it. They were waiting for the go signal. Which they received about two hours before dawn. Once the signal arrived, they landed on the boat both cloaked in shadows.
They fell on the demons, and it was a slaughter. The elder Enid summoned Seraph’s staff, it was in the form of a blade of light. and she was slicing through demons each being obliterated in a flash of divine energy. She was only clearing a path to where she knew her real target was. She still wasn’t sure what the blade was doing to the demons, but she knew she wanted Bloodseeker to deal the killing blow on the fallen angel. She kicked in the door to the captain’s cabin and she had her prey cornered. He was conversing with someone she could not see.
“There are two of them!”
“Farewell Mariel you have served me loyally.”
The fallen angel sun around at the sound of the cracking door and was faced with Seraph in all her glory, encased in her shimmering armor.
“You!”
“Who were you expecting? Enid Aurelius? She’s here too, obliterating your followers.”
He lunged at her but this was an uneven competition. Mariel was one of the lowest of the low when it came to angels and he was facing a far more powerful foe. Enid had embraced her true self and did not hold back when her staff transformed back into its original form and blasted him with a beam of light. He smashed into the wall and she grabbed him by his long hair and dragged him out onto the deck. He started begging for his life, pleading for forgiveness.
“Enid, your sword please.”
Her younger self walked over and looked down at the broken form of the angel. She offered the sword to Seraph who shook her head.
“You can do the honors. You’re the one he was hunting.”
“I am sorry! Father forgive me!”
Enid paused and glanced up at Seraph.
“End him. He had eons to repent, repenting under duress is meaningless.”
Enid shrugged and stabbed the fallen angel with Bloodseeker. He screeched and vanished in a black miasma. The elder Enid took the form of Sarah again. She reached into her pack and pulled out a incendiary grenade. The younger of the two raised one of her auburn eyebrows.
“What is that?”
“It will make the powder room turn into a fireball. Will sink the ship. Hide the evidence. If you want to see the fireworks give it some distance.”
A few minutes later found the pair floating above the ship when a massive explosion ripped through it. Breaking it up midship and the parts sinking. The younger of the two looked at her blonde elder.
“Atlantean?”
“No, human. Not even future tech. Just a smaller package. Let’s go.”
When the pair of Enid’s reached the beach the elder of the two looked down at her younger self who met her gaze.
“Its time for you to go isn’t it?”
The elder Enid nodded her head.
“I’m going to give you a gift, you won’t remember it, but somewhere inside it might… soften your dead heart. And it does need to be softened. Otherwise, we end up killing Eyre for the sake of all of humanity. Hell, we end up killing several billion people… and destroying the Earth. We don’t want to go there.”
She reached out her hand and put it on her younger self’s cheek and gave her the entirety of her memories. The pain, the love, the sacrifice. The exploration of the universe. Her younger self collapsed when the transfer was complete. She looked up at her older self from her knees blood tears streaming down her cheeks.
“How are you still sane?”
“Love and the strength you gave me. Now, forget, but remember the lessons I taught you. You ran into an elder vampire, someone who is from your father’s time in Atlantis. She told you how important Eyre is and how much you need to work to earn her trust and love. You helped her kill a demon possessed vampire at the court of Port Royal after you worked with her to lure him into a trap. A few minutes after I leave you will wake up and seek shelter.”
The younger Enid fell into the sand unconscious. The elder adjusted her younger self’s hair. How like her own daughter this version of herself seemed like. Broken, in need of some love from a parent that would never betray her. She whispered.
“Good-bye, I will miss you.”
She flew to the warehouse where she found Hazel and Helen watching over a pile of unconscious humans and a priest who was also asleep. Helen looked somewhat spent. Hazel hugged Enid tightly when she saw her. No matter what else they would do to each other, she could tell her mother was in some form of pain.
“I was only gone a couple of hours kiddo.”
Hazel shrugged.
“Looked like you needed a hug.”
“Any goodbyes you need to say to anyone?”
Helen shook her head. Hazel did so as well.
“I need to get my head above the weeds. I cannot take you with me.”
Hazel looked at her mom.
“I want to see Miles.”
Helen shrugged. Enid glanced up at Hazel.
“You know how risky that is.”
“I know, but I need him.”
Enid sighed and shifted to Seraph’s form, and she reached out her hand and touched each of their wrists. Imagining a dimensional lock. A platinum bracelet set with a strange stone appears on each of her daughter’s wrists.
“Theoretically this should protect you from any changes to the timeline or reality. It means things will change around you but will not change you. It could put you in a dangerous spot but at least you won’t cease to exist.”
Hazel looked at the bracelet and back to her mother.
“How is it supposed to do that?”
Enid still in the form of Seraph shrugged.
“I have no idea, I just pictured what I wanted, and it appeared. Helen, what about you?”
“I do not know mother. My home is with you.”
“I wish I could take you with me. But I am not even sure I can get there myself.”
“Then I’ll go with Hazel I guess.”
Hazel blinked.
“No way. I want my Miles time, alone, away from everyone…”
Enid sighed and touched Helen’s arm.
“Do you want fun, or to be relaxed? Do you want to be mortal or vampire?”
“Mortal, and I’d like somewhere quiet.”
Enid took their hands and closed her eyes. They appeared in Hazel’s apartment on Earth, just after they would have left. Everything seemed the same.
“How long do you want Hazel?”
“As long as I can have.”
Enid nodded.
“If you need me, pray. I’m not sure how else you’ll reach me.”
Hazel quirked her head to the side. Enid kissed her on the cheek. Then took Helen’s hand and shifted them again. She appeared just outside the light side city of Sauroid prime. Things had developed in the intervening couple of years and there was a space port. It was sprawling and had been made by hollowing out a stone escarpment. Helen blinked at their surroundings and the strange trees, and flowers. Enid closed her eyes and shrunk down to her red-haired Enid form.
“Your translator will work here. These are a friendly alien race. They live similarly to how we lived in the Middle Ages. Their customs are different, and they do not follow Christianity, they…”
Enid rubbed her fingers on her temples.
“Worship me. Or a mythological version of me called the Dark Mother. Just go with it. I’ll introduce you. Their world is what we… what would be called tidely locked. This side always faces the sun, the other side always faces away from the sun. A meteor hit it in the past and messed up the orbit. I stopped the world from breaking apart…well Seraph did. I could probably make it spin again but it would throw their society and the ecosystem into chaos again for no real good reason.”
Helen blinked at Enid.
“The sun never sets if you say here. They are firm believers in the healing of light. You will only find two places here completely shielded from sunlight and that is cells. Do you understand?”
“So, I will never be a vampire so long as I’m here.”
“Exactly.”
Enid grabbed a bottle of Port Royal Rum from her pack and handed it to Helen.
“They’ll want a telling. Tell them whatever story you want to of yours. It is tradition to share a gift at your first telling, give the rum. Let’s go.”
“Won’t they… be mad. I’m different.”
“Nah. We trade with them. There are humans here already. Their alcohol is awesome, but strong. Be warned.”
Enid escorted her newest child to the city, her next stop was via shuttle which she took to the Temple of the Universe after getting Helen set up with some of her old friends among the Sauroids. It was time to attempt a visit to heaven. She wasn’t sure why she felt the temple was the best choice but she went with her gut.