"I am not what you think I am, I am the light of the Amazon, and that means I am..."
Jessie hated to think the worst of Jack but his eyes were saying things that she really didn't want to hear. She'd known since that morning he wasn't normal. Human, probably, normal, living, breathing, leave your underwear on the bedroom floor, and your nasty socks on the kitchen counter, and drink your juice with vodka in it, maybe. Live in society with a nine to five job, and a house with a mortgage and two point five kids? No. Not in this lifetime, or any other for that matter. A deep breath and she was ready to take in what ever he had to say. Well, kinda ready. Okay not ready at all and trying really hard not to be selfish.
Jack watched her face, unsure whether he was really ready to tell her the truth about himself. She looked like she was having trouble with something and his instincts told him she knew something already. Something he didn't want her to know yet.
"Jack, I'm sorry." Her hands started shaking and she wanted to explain herself to him before he told her whatever secret he needed to reveal. "What happened to your heart?"
A wave of relief and apprehension washed over him like a tsunami. She knew he wasn't what he appeared to be, and that made thing easier to explain, but she couldn't know just how much they differed. Although with her special "talents" she was probably the only person to take this in without freaking, like Kathy, the woman who should have loved him despite his secret. A breath and he plunged into his speech, knowing there would be no returning if she decided she couldn't deal with his "differences."
"I'm the guardian of this rainforest. I made a pact with the original guardian that I would watch over this place till the day I die. That means I don't live the way other people do. I'm human and my body has had to live for far longer than it should have." Her eyes stayed with his, their expression interested and pensive, her teeth chewing her lower lip where he'd kissed her so many times. So far she hadn't shown any signs of panic so he kept going, hoping for the best.
"My heart stops every now and then to rest, and my systems go dead. I still breath but that's just when I have to, and when my heart isn't working I store oxygen to get it running again when I need to wake up." He looked at his hands where his thumb kept picking at his nails. "I'm sorry that you found out this way, but this is who I am." Taking a deep breath he said the words he'd been holding back, fearing she'd take them and flee, leaving him wounded in ways he didn't think could be mended. "If you cant deal with this I understand, I'll take you to the mission and get you back to where ever you want to go.
Jessie said nothing for a long time, the sounds of Death and Fear chattering away in Latin almost deafening, even though they barely whispered.
Finally she managed a soft, "Okay." She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed his hand, calling the Other to where they stood, the other women standing shoulder to shoulder in a line before them. Her soft hand grew warm and then scalding hot as yet another woman stumbled from her, pulling more with her. Four more Jessie look alikes stood in front of him, all of them dressed in different outfits and their hair styled in its own way. He picked out Ginger the instant she materialized, her bright pink jeans and tiny fangs a dead give away. Animals gathered at their feet as well, all of them rushing Jessie with the affection of a much loved owner. He felt his lips turn up in a small smile as several big cats pawed her thighs and yowled while a black and tan Aphgan hound barked and grinned, his long ratty tail swinging in an arc that whipped any one near enough for him to do so. Slipping off into the shadow of the Other in a lab coat, Jack could swear he'd seen a couple of snow white cobras. He'd keep an eye on those two for a while. Wrath at least didn't have venom; he was more than sure that these new reptiles could put him in the ground.
Clearing her throat Jessie sat on the floor and settled a large cat in her lap, its long chiseled head cradled in her left palm while her other hand swept long strokes over it's silver and white mottled sides. A motor-esque purr thundered and she giggled at the sound. Jack merely wondered at the way it vibrated the air around them. Voices chattered as the women caught each other up on the events that had already commenced, while Jessie stroked each pet as if they were long lost friends. Jack got the eerie feeling that they were more intelligent than the animals he killed and ate, and maybe just as smart as the women who owned them.
Laughter rang out, and Bessie slapped a girl in a Kiss T-shirt on the back with the flat of her hand and bent over sputtering and giggling like a girl. Latin flew back and forth between the twins and a chorus of female voices yelled, "ENGLISH." Then they all fell into fits of giggles when Demon belted out a very English, "Fuck you!" It was crazy and loud and totally mind boggling, and Jack chuckled out loud with them the feeling of being overwhelmed infectious.
Still Jessie hadn't said whether she would stay with him or not and it tainted his mood, putting a crease in his brow and a frown on his mouth. Quietly he turned to the cave entrance and watched the macaws preening, adoring the sound of the wind rustling the trees mingled with the sound of ten very happy women at his back. He knew he could never give Jessie the life she was used to. She was a businesswoman, feminine and used to things like running water and a home with a door. All he had to give her came down to a cave and his broken heart. Rubbing his palms on his dirty camo pants he knew without a doubt that she should leave him, but inside his soul, where it counted, he wanted her to stay with him so bad it hurt.
A hand brushed his shoulder and the Jessie clone in the kiss T-shirt and ripped jeans smiled up at him, her face lovely in its own right. She looked like Jessie, but even naked and far away he could tell them apart. This one had little horns jutting from her smooth forehead, the red thorns tipped in a venomous black. Her irises were also rimmed in a soft pinkish red that brightened the blue to a clear sapphire that both mesmerized and frightened him.
"Their kinda scary, huh? Jess's mom says I have the Devil in me, and these are his eyes." Her voice held a rough hint to it, the pitch low and sexy as hell, and Jack liked her instantly. When she extended her hand he took it in a warm shake that made him feel like he'd just gotten the sister he'd always wanted.
"I'm Jack."
"Lauren, or Laurie." She took her hand back and set about telling him about her sisters, as she called them. The one in the lab coat, she called Brain, also known as Annie. The snotty clone in the flare legged jeans and halter-top was named Theodora, or Teddie, apparently no one wanted to spend a lot of time in her company.
"The one who looks like a Martha Stewart wanna be is Matilda, or if you wanna piss her off call her Mattie like Jessie does. I do." The little red head grinned like an imp and began pointing out to whom the animals belonged to and what their names were.
"The ice cat is Fears, but she lets him stay behind, and come out on his own some times. His name is Terror, but he comes to Terry. The snow leopard in my Angel, also named by Jessie's mom. She knew he was mine so she called him a devil cat. To piss her off I called him Angel. He's got my horns."
Jack interrupter her to say, "Jessie's mom didn't really care much for you guys did she?" Of course he had no idea how much he understated that fact.
"No she didn't. But she really hated Kharu and Kaja the most. They belong to Brain, and she loves them more than she loves chemistry, and when you get to know her, you understand just how much that really is." Snapping her fingers she whistled as if she were calling a dog and a pure white cobra glided to her feet and curled its way up her leg to peer and him over her shoulder like a parrot. The black eyes gazed
through
