The Network Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The sound of the door latch opening echoed off of the smooth walls of Sheila's cell. The door swung into the room quietly and no one entered.

Sheila sat up, lifting Samar's arm off of her, trying not to wake him.

He didn't move; He was pale. She realized with dismay he was dead. Not depleted,just dead.

Poor little lamb.

She pulled the heavy blanket over his head. His fate had not been in her hands it seemed. He was born to serve as nourishment and nothing more.

She dressed in the clothes he would no longer need and walked near the door to investigate. It stood wide open and there was no one nearby in the hallway. It was as quiet as a tomb.

A voice in her head said,

You have friends, consort.

The voice was gone as quickly as it came.

She peeked through the door down the hall and could see a hooded figure motioning to her near the end of the hallway. He stood near an open door. It appeared she did have friends she hadn't been aware of. She hurried toward the robed figure.

"Quickly," Joshua's disguised voice said.

Sheila froze, stunned. Joshua had stood in the council disavowing any part of Ishtar and Sheila's treachery then had walked away as if he could care less, yet here he was helping her.

"I'll explain when we are safe," he said, gripping her arm.

After hurriedly pushing her through the door, he rushed past her at a worried pace. They turned through such a maze of corridors Sheila had no idea where they were. They traveled quietly through the dark passages for many minutes.

"Why are you helping me?" Sheila whispered. "They'll kill you, Joshua," she said while following him.

"Ishtar has friends on the crested seven. They are doing all they can without exposing themselves. I am Loreli' s protector. I protect and assist one of those who is a friend of Ishtar."

He considered his words and corrected himself while wearing a sad expression. "Was Ishtar's friend."

"What have they done with Ishtar's body?" Sheila asked sadly.

"It's gone from here. Don't concern yourself with Hunic business. It is at great risk we free you. It was a promise made to Ishtar that secured your release. Your freedom comes with great price, Priestess."

"It cost Ishtar her life," she said quietly. Ishtar had saved her even knowing that she herself would die. The love of her goddess was never more apparent than it was now.

"Who will be blamed for my escape?"

Joshua didn't answer her. He kept guiding her along.

"Stop talking," he said finally, angrily.

Sheila concentrated on getting away. She wanted as far as she could get from these demented assholes. They were treating the human race as cattle, and the worst part of it was no one knew. What kind of people manipulated a race just to feed on them? It was cruel. If she got away from here, she would make them pay for Ishtar. Someday, they would even pay for the Samars. They would pay for everything. No wonder Ishtar wanted to go back to the old ways. At least then you knew where you stood, you benefitted from it.

The passage they walked in began to climb at an angle upward. Were they underground? They must be, she thought. She could smell fresh air; she craved the fresh air.

Joshua placed his hand on the wall and uttered one of the words Ishtar had used in her temple to do the same, and a thick panel released and slid to the side with the sound of a seal releasing pressure.

Fresh air rushed into the open hole in a heavy gust, Spots of rain spattered the walls here and there. Thunder clapped loudly over head, and lighting flashed in bright aerial displays. It was storming outside.

Joshua stepped back to allow her to walk past him. She couldn't help but feel compassion for Joshua. He had ripped her from a life of walking death she had tried to end, and now he saved her life once more. Always her hero.

"Thank you, Joshua," she said as she exited the stone prison. She breathed deep the air, recharging her soul, and stepped from the passageway. The rain felt good on her skin.

"Stop," he said.

Joshua stood facing her inside the open wall of a large section of scattered ruins.

Sheila turned to face him.

He pushed a small item into her hand and stood motionless.

He backed away from her a few steps and removed the mask from his face and asked, "May I have a kiss?"

Sheila closed the gap between them, anxious to finally meet Joshua. As the lightning illuminated his face, he stared back at her through eyes she had long ago believed didn't care for her. She couldn't speak. She simply stared into his eyes, the eyes of her two-time savior.

Her husband, James.

"How about that kiss, James said smiling.

Sheila embraced James. She hugged him passionately and asked, "How long?" She could hardly breathe.

"I've been in the service of Loreli for over four years," he explained. "As a member of her personal guard I have no sex organs, but I will Live forever. It seemed a fair trade when I accepted it." James shrugged and offered her that boyish smile she had fallen in love with.

"How could I have explained, Sheila? Could you explain any of this to an outsider?"

"I understand," Sheila said hugging him tightly.

They shared a kiss. A long, soft, and passionate kiss, not knowing if it was their last, but accepting the present world as it was.

"I'm sorry," he whispered

"Don't be." Her expression became troubled. "Will they blame you?" She looked into his eyes.

"You let me sweat the small stuff." James smiled. "My benefactor is very powerful, and has many friends, as did yours. I'll be fine, my angel."

He hadn't called her that for years. She now realized he had attempted to save her by keeping her separated from the den of monsters until he could position her with a powerful benefactor herself. She loved him for all he had done, especially the things she hadn't even been aware of.

She touched his face lovingly. "Will I ever see you again?"

"I've no doubt, someday, we will meet again," he said, backing into the opening. The wall slid back to form a seamless structure in the ruins, and he was gone.

"I hope so," she whispered.

She looked down into her hand, Lying in her palm was the golden crescent moon Ishtar had given her. She held it tightly, feeling sad upon realizing there was no Ishtar to travel to. Her goddess was gone. Her world was truly in shambles. The only thing driving her was her desire to make these monsters pay. She would get even. that is what she lived for; it was what she would die for if necessary.

Sheila closed her eyes, tightly gripping her tiny gift, and shimmered out of existence.

* * *

Joshua picked up one of the prods, the tip glowed golden yellow. He moved toward a man strapped to an X-shaped cross.

Joshua had a determined expression.

"You can save yourself a great deal of pain Marius, if you simply admit you helped the half-breed escape," Joshua said to him calmly. "You are the only one who could have done it."

Loreli looked on with distaste, but the other Hunics watched with great interest. Joshua placed the searing hot iron against Marius' skin. The stench of burned flesh filled the air and mingled with Marius's cries of anguish. A sickening sizzling sound hissed off the tip of the prod.

Marius's energies glowed as they were absorbed by the stone cross. Small amounts of his energies bleeding from him in golden tendrils, slowly, painfully.

With each touch of the strange looking staff-like prod, Marius looked older, more drained, yet determined.

Joshua had refused when first approached by Marius with this plan, but in the end, realized it was the Only way that the small number of Hunics they served could break away from what had now become a nest of vipers.

An expression of defiance was fixed proudly on Marius's face, he pulled a ragged breath and smiled. "In the vernacular of this day, Joshua, go fuck yourself," he managed past weary lips.

Good for you, Marius, Joshua thought, smiling inside. Stay strong to the end, my friend. His thoughts were safe, his goddess protected him and he would protect her with his life if necessary.

Joshua's heart ached with each instance of pain he caused his friend Marius.

"Just tell us where you sent the cast-down half-breed, Marius, and I will stop."

But, Joshua knew that wasn't going to happen. There would be no stopping.

Marius looked back into Joshua's face. There was no fear in his eyes. There was no hatred there, only sheer determination.

He would play his part. He would give his final service. Ishtar had given him many hundreds of glorious years. He could now pay that debt; would gladly pay that debt.

"What point is there in lengthening your pain," Joshua reasoned with his friend. "Simply tell us what we need to know and this will end."

Another arcing glow of energy was stripped from Marius body as Joshua touched the glowing yellow tip to his stomach.

Marius shrieked in pain, eyes wide. After the energy was stolen from him, he slouched on the cross unable to now muster the energy to stand.

Loreli, Marius's new goddess, stood. She walked slowly over to Marius, lifted his slumped head and looked into his eyes.

"We will learn where they have gone, Marius," she said cruelly. "One way or another." But in her thoughts she comforted his spirit, thanking him for his service to the few who would live due to his sacrifice, and promised his life would not end in vain.

Please, goddess,

Marius asked her mentally,

watch over them.

I vow to you this will be done.

She soothed his mind.

She gripped his head between her hands and said, "Let's see what is in your pretty head, traitor."

Glowing gold light began to radiate from every orifice in his head. His eyes were wide, mouth open, but there was no scream; there was no Marius. Wisps of yellow smoke climbed into the air above Marius's head. His broken dead body hung limp on the stone cross holding him. The last traces of energy bled from him into the cross he was lashed to.

"He knew nothing that would help us find her, but he was guilty of aiding the escape," Loreli said as she turned to the small group of Hunics watching intently. "He was too weak to learn anything more."

They were confused, but didn't question Loreli. She held strength in the council, and while that was true no one would dare question her. They looked on as Loreli walked to Joshua placed a gentle hand to his face lightly and whispered into his ear quietly. "It's time we had a talk, my protector." She backed away smiling.

Joshua looked at his friend hanging dead. It churned his Stomach, but he was thankful to Loreli for doing what he could not. She had ended Marius's suffering. Joshua could not have done so without someone suspecting him. There was nothing more Joshua could do for his friend, but wish him a good journey into his next life.

"Come Joshua," Loreli said, walking away from the Hunics looking on.

He dropped the prod onto the table of horrid tools, swallowed the pain in his heart, and turned to walk with his goddess. He yearned for the day that they would leave this nest of demons and vipers. He lived now for the day Loreli had promised him from the beginning. The world he knew was possible. The world of the empires of caring and loving goddesses.

*. *. *.

Sheila materialized in a small stand of woods across from her house. She could see two men in a black hummer sitting across the street watching everything.

"Shit," she said under her breath.

She wondered how many were in the house. At least one or two had to be watching for her to appear there. There was no way she would allow them to capture her again. But using the transportation device Ishtar had given her had diminished her energies greatly.

She felt totally drained. How far had she been from here, she wondered. It must have been an extreme distance to tap her energies this way.

She needed money. She needed clothes. Hell, she needed everything.

My car.

She closed her eyes and created the image of her car. She wanted to go to her car now. She wished she was standing next to her car.

She vanished from the small patch of woods in shimmering particles of light. Her surroundings were instantly replaced by a dark parking lot and her car was now sitting directly in front of her.

Where the hell am I?

Sheila Turned, she looked around herself. This was not the parking lot of the department store where she had left her car. She was surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire along the top.

"Damn it," she growled under her breath. "A stupid impound lot, now what?"

She pulled the handles on her car doors. The doors were locked. Her spare key was inside. Smiling, she imagined sitting in the drivers seat of the vehicle, and in a flash of sparkling light she sat looking out of the car's windows onto the lot.

Sweet.

She felt far less exposed.

It was a good thing she kept some emergency cash in a makeup case in the glovebox. In all the time it had been there she had never needed it more than she did today. She unzipped the case and poured the contents onto the seat beside her. Her target, a lipstick case. She twisted it up, instead of lipstick a tight roll of $100 bills came out of it.

She pulled the money from the lipstick tube and pushed it into one of her many pockets. The mirror light lit up as she pulled the visor down in front of her face. Her breathing stopped suddenly as she looked at her face. She looked tired, ragged and old.

Transporting from wherever she had been had taken a toll on her. Where in the hell had she been?

A Sudden loud tapping on the window caused Sheila to jump dropping a few of the items from the makeup bag onto the floor. She looked out the window to be blinded by a mag flashlight.

Someone held it directly in her eyes.

"What are you doing in there?" a voice behind the light asked irritably.

"It's OK, it's my car," Sheila offered trying to block the bright light in her eyes with her hand.

"Sure it is lady. My Mercedes is parked right over there," he said sarcastically.

He swung the light beam to the other side of the parking illuminating a sleek, black coupe.

"I just park it here for safe keeping."

When he moved the light she got a quick look at the man holding it. He was a bit overweight with black hair and tired eyes. She couldn't see the color. He wore a Security Guards uniform and had no gun, only a stick and pepper spray, which his hand rested on. This could be bad, she thought.

She hadn't come all this way to be stopped now by a rent-a-cop with pepper spray. Her clothes looked the part, so she said, "I'm sorry. I was looking for a place to sleep."

She lied as cutely as possible. If she read this guy right he probably hadn't been laid in years. His eyes gave everything away.

He stared down Into the car at her erect nipples, never feeling the need to divert his eyes. No doubt, believing he occupied the high ground because he found her here trespassing. He was Right. She knew that.

He motioned for her to roll the window down.

Sheila retrieved her spare key from a sunglasses holder near the visor, stuck it in the ignition, and powered the window down.

"I just didn't want to sleep outside." She intentionally caused her firm breasts to sway as she spun the lie to save herself.

Sheila was in full survival mode and let Rosa call the shots. "I can pay you."

"If you had any money you wouldn't be sleeping in a car," he said licking his lips. "Give me the key, sweetheart."

Yep, she had him. She would take what she needed from him and find a safe place eventually. Right now, at least, no one knew where she was.

"I don't mind paying for what I get." Rosa looked at his crotch so he could see she had other ways of paying. She handed him the key, and smiled, knowing she would be warm and clean very soon.

"I get off in a couple of hours," he said, glancing at his watch. " I can scare ya up something to eat at my apartment." He looked around the lot. "If somebody finds you here before then, I didn't know you were here, OK?"

"No problem." She held her bottom lip between her teeth briefly, released it and asked, "What's your name, mine is Rosa."

She reached a hand out the window.

"Dale," he said, taking her hand.

When their hands touched, Sheila's breath caught in her throat. His energies were so strong she could feel an immediate residual transfer.

Oh. Yes, I can help him and he can help me.

She needed time to think and recharge, and he had everything she needed.

Your life just got more interesting, Dale.

I

*. *. *.

Later, as they entered Dale's apartment, Sheila glanced down the hallway while Dale unlocked the door. A ten speed bicycle hung from the ceiling near the far end, and several recycle bins sat against the wall. Dale's third floor apartment was closest to the top of the stairs and was marked "1C."

Dale pushed the door open and said, "after you." He placed his hand on the small of her back.

Rosa flashed her sexiest eyes at him and asked, "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

I can do better than that," he said smiling, "I'll be right back." He walked into an adjoining room off of the living area.

Sheila looked around the apartment. It was your typical single bedroom efficiency. A small kitchen separated from the living room area by a bar, a bathroom and bedroom off of the opposite wall. It was extremely tidy for a single man, and had a few pictures on the wall.

Several minutes later, Dale returned carrying some clothes, and a towel. "These were my girlfriend's. I know they're not much, but they're better than something you stole From GI Joe."

Dale's eyes were kind now that Sheila could see them. They were also very vibrant blue.

She looked into his eyes and said, "Be back in a flash." Just before she walked through the bathroom door she turned. He was watching her as she knew he would be. She tossed him a sexy smile.

"Here's a sample because you're so sweet," she said, winking at him. She then peeled the thin military shirt off of her body and allowed him to fully appreciate her perky breasts. She casually tossed the shirt onto the floor and backed into the bathroom closing the door.

*. *. *

Sheila could smell the aroma of something cooking when she stepped cut of the bathroom wearing a towel. Her stomach reminded her that she had eaten very little here lately. Whatever was cooking smelled delicious. She moved through the living room toward the small alcove kitchenette.

"There you are," Dale said happily. He seared some chicken strips in a small skillet.

In small dishes arranged on the countertop next to the stove were sautéed peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Larger bowls sat on ice with cheese and lettuce inside them.

Sheila's stomach grumbled its approval.

"I hope you like fajitas," Dale said, unable to help staring at her half exposed breasts.

"I guess I better get dressed for a minute," Sheila chuckled.

"I Don't mind if you don't," Dale said, dropping his eyes to take in her form. His appreciation was clear in his expression.

Sheila tugged at the bottom of the large towel ensuring that any parts that may surprise him were well covered. She didn't want to be kicked out of here before she was ready. Sheila tossed Dale a kiss in the air and turned to get dressed. "I'll be right back."

"Be quick, this is nearly ready," he called behind her. He reached below his apron and adjusted his swelling member.

She could see that she really turned him on. At least until he saw her extra parts.

Sheila stepped into the bathroom and pulled the pair of blue denim shorts on he had given her. They fit her loosely, but were close

enough, as well as being very comfortable. She picked the thin white cotton T-shirt up, holding it in front of her. "Hooters," was printed across the front. She chuckled as she read it and folded it up neatly.