Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost

Ali Vali

 

 

Part 2

The sounds of the birds singing in the branches of the oak outside the master suite made Indigo turn her head toward the French doors that led out to the veranda. Standing in the dim dawn light, a naked Kendal looked out toward the front lawns. The Elder had never visited Kendal at Oakgrove during her life as Jacques St. Louis. She had tried to gift that time to her loyal fighter to pursue and romance someone who could have made her happy for a short while. Kendal’s life would never be normal, so the few windows of happiness she could snatch along the way were something Indigo couldn’t deny her.

"What do you see?"

"The beginning of another day," replied Kendal. Her body felt both sated and restless and she was anxious to begin the work the blonde Elder had called her to New Orleans to complete.

Indigo got up from the bed and pressed her own naked body to Kendal’s back. The tall woman’s abdominal muscles twitched slightly under her hands. "Don’t tell me you’re getting bored with the prospect."

"In the beginning I thought I would. To wander aimlessly forever, with no chance at a family, watching everyone you love die, didn’t seem too appealing once I gave it serious thought." Kendal turned in Indigo’s embrace and led her back to the large bed. The blonde snuggled up to her side as they continued their talk. "To know my life would revolve around killing brought an incredible sadness to my heart."

"Asra, your life was one of a soldier when I found you. Did you forget you were the leader of the pharaoh’s elite squad? Your duty was to kill on command. What was the difference?"

"With Ramses my life would’ve ended. The killing would’ve stopped with time and another soldier would’ve been waiting to take my place. Funny thing is, war is something some people are eager to face in any lifetime if history is any indication. Just look at the world today. How different are men and women today than those who lived under Ramses’ rule?" asked Kendal as she wrapped a strand of pale blonde hair around her fingers. Indigo always smelled of roses, even when they first met and Kendal had never seen the flower.

"The difference I think is that the wise ruler you served had more patience for talk. I would think that after all this time you would grow bored with politics and the ups and downs it puts people through." Indigo poked her in the ribs getting Kendal to laugh. "Are you really tired?"

"Try some of that patience you’re fond of," teased Kendal earning another poke. "The sadness was replaced by awe. It was the simple things at first. The forging of stronger steel, the printing press, the sound of an orchestra when I heard it for the first time and to see man fly were all worth facing each new day. I’ve come to love life and those who cherish it like I do."

Indigo lifted her head and looked into Kendal’s eyes. "And the fighting?"

"I fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. It’s not only my obligation but also my honor. The killing doesn’t bother me now because those I destroy really aren’t human anymore. I heard Jacques speaking to me the other night and I couldn’t bring myself to turn and look at him." The long exhale from Kendal was a sign to Indigo that another two thousand years wouldn’t bring understanding as to why Jacques had chosen as he had.

"Why?" asked the blonde wanting confirmation.

"Because he may look like my brother, he many sound like him, but he isn’t. From that very first night he came to kill me, I couldn’t stand to look at what he’s turned into. I’m going to destroy him and hunt down the witch who made him." The passion Indigo wanted to hear was back. Her warrior had awoken.

"He’s grown powerful you know."

Kendal may have been out of the game for one lifetime, but the years were only a blip in time for her. "Yes, but then so have I."

Indigo laughed a little and pinched the nipple close to her cheek. "You sound incredibly sexy when you talk like that."

"Are you kidding? I sound incredibly sexy all the time," teased Kendal. She rolled over and pinned Indigo under her, holding her hands above her head. The message had been delivered from the Order, so it was only a matter of time before Indigo left to attend to other responsibilities. Kendal planned to make the most of the time they had left. Her life would become dark soon enough until the job was done, so now was the time to rejoice in the pleasures life could bring.

"Ah, I see the cocky captain I first encountered is back. And here I thought time would tame you."

Indigo arched up when Kendal sucked in a nipple and bit down with a bit of pressure. Just as quickly she let go. "Do you really want to tame me?"

With almost equal strength Indigo broke Kendal’s hold on her wrists. "Never. Enough talk." A strong thigh pressed between her legs as a sign Kendal agreed with her.

They went slowly, Kendal rocking against her as she kissed Indigo’s neck. The night before had been explosive. Each of them trying to subdue the other, but this was about familiarity. They both cared for the other and knew how to please, that had never been at issue. They both knew, though, not to grow too attached. Their place within the Order would never allow them more than a few stolen moments.

"Please, warrior, take me."

Kendal moved her hand between them and claimed the prize Indigo was offering. Before either of them both wanted, the moment was over and they lay together wrapped up under the blankets.

************************************************************************

Indigo bent and kissed Kendal before taking her seat at the breakfast table the house staff she’d brought with her had set up on the porch. The unpredictable weather had again slipped into a more summer like pattern so Indigo had chosen a sleeveless white shirt to go with her faded jeans. To the causal observer the Elder looked like an All-American coed home for the weekend.

"I’ll leave the guys with you until you’re done. The regular staff Charlie keeps around might not understand some of the things that could happen if Jacques decides to come for a visit," said Indigo. A crisp white linen napkin was placed on her lap by the young man serving breakfast and got a nod of thanks from his mistress. He nodded back before going quietly about his duties being as invisible as possible.

"You’re leaving already?"

Indigo broke a croissant in half and put a pat of butter on it before adding the homemade strawberry preserves that had been put out. "Trying to get rid of me?"

"No, I just want you to say goodbye this time."

She put the bread down and reached for Kendal’s hand. "That was a couple of hundred years ago, warrior. Let it go."

"What can I say? I know how to hold a grudge." The broad shoulders shrugged as Kendal’s way of acknowledging her imperfections.

"And how," said Indigo with a laugh.

"Speaking of grudges," started Kendal.

"He can’t work with you, so don’t even ask."

Kendal looked at the full plate of eggs and bacon the server had put down before responding. "I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Abez took the name Jacques in this life as a taunt for my failings when it was mine. One of my greatest failures was Lionel’s family. I won’t deny him now."

"He isn’t ready. The Elders are still pissed that Charlie exists in the first place to be able to avenge anyone now. Or have you forgotten that little infraction?" Indigo sounded very much like she was scolding a small child and her arms crossed over her chest challenged Kendal to deny the truth.

"One," she said holding up a single digit. "One in all the years you gave me, I’d have to say that’s not a bad record. And I hate to disagree with you, but he is ready. If you try to stop him from helping me, then find someone else to go against Jacques, because I won’t do it." Kendal leaned back and mirrored the smaller woman’s pose.

"You would defy the Order?"

"Just because you and they are in a position of authority doesn’t make you always right. In this case you’re wrong so my answer is yes, I’d defy the Order."

"He’ll be your responsibility," said Indigo, pointing her finger at Kendal.

"He always has been," retorted Kendal. "You’ll see, Charlie will be an asset to us. If I hadn’t thought so he’d be a memory by now. That’s why I gave him the gift. He’s a rare man with a caring heart."

The corner of Indigo’s mouth quivered slightly and then she just gave in to the smile. "It’s the only reason the Elders didn’t bury you under a rock somewhere. Take care of him because Jacques will show him no mercy. And you’re right about why Abez chose the name. I want you to take this business seriously, warrior mine. Age has made the enemy not only strong but extremely cunning."

For some reason Piper Dupont popped into Kendal’s thoughts. The little demon was history now that Kendal had turned her interest elsewhere, but she had left quite an impression with the immortal. "I should introduce him to Piper Dupont. After ten minutes Jacques should be ready to drive a stake through his own heart."

Indigo laughed around her fork. "Don’t tell me there’s a woman alive who can resist you? What is the world coming to?"

"Hard to believe isn’t it?" Kendal looked through the window of the house to the painting over the fireplace. "The closest I’ve come to dying is being on the receiving end of some of her killer looks."

Indigo clapped her hands and came close to spitting the bite of eggs she had just taken on her breakfast companion. "Ooh, you have to tell me more about this girl. What does she look like?"

"Darken the eyes and sharpen her features a little and she looks like that," answered Kendal, pointing to the portrait.

"No way." Indigo’s head swung back quickly to look at Kendal to see if she was teasing.

"Way. I came close to passing out when I saw her. It was like fate was playing a cruel joke on me for my short comings."

The blonde stood and walked to the other side of the table. All of Indigo’s servants disappeared discretely into the house when their boss took a seat on Kendal’s lap. "It was Henri’s deeds back then, and the fault for what happened lies squarely on him. Stop blaming yourself for things you had no control over."

"Don’t you get it? He did what he did because of me."

"But it was still Henri who did them. Kendal, you can’t control his actions and you can’t be everywhere at once no matter how hard you try. Jacques, or Henri or whatever name he goes by is a vampire. He is a creature without conscience and without a soul." Indigo caressed Kendal’s face wiping away the tears that had fallen.

"You sound so religious."

"And you sound like a smart ass. Christians may think they invented the concept of the soul but you and I know it’s been there all along. Catholics find God in cathedrals, some think He’s hanging around at tent revivals, and the lost tribes of the Amazon find him in every living thing. Who’s right?"

Kendal stood cradling Indigo in her arms. She kissed her before putting her down, enjoying the speck of jam the linen napkin had missed. "You will not drag me into this conversation again, so forget it. How about you gather your best swordsmen for later? I could use the practice before tonight."

"You’re no fun," pouted Indigo. They had argued about different topics over the years, the fights sometimes lasting for decades. "Where are you off to?"

With a quick slap to the blonde’s backside Kendal moved toward her bike. "To a Catholic cathedral to find salvation. If I can’t find that, I’ll settle for Charlie."

************************************************************************

"Well?"

"Well what?" returned Hill with another question. Finding Piper standing in her office doorway had shocked the hell out of her. In all the time she had worked for the head of Dupont, the blonde always made her come downtown.

"Did you find anything?" asked Piper in exasperation. "Come one, get with the program it’s what I’m paying you for."

"I found the same thing I found the last time I looked. Didn’t you read the report? She’s like a machine this woman. Have you looked at her college transcripts? Even Einstein didn’t get that many A’s." The computer behind her was finishing its search for any mention of Kendal Mackey ever in print. Hill pulled her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Did her pet snake slither back to New York?"

Hill handed a one-paged report to her client detailing Bruce’s itinerary from the time he got the call from Kendal the night he left. "He checked out and hopped a limo to the airport. But the thing is, he flew to Los Angeles not New York."

"What’s in LA?"

"Aside from the obvious you mean?" The joke was met by Piper putting her fist on her hips in impatience. "Webster International," continued Hill handing over another short report. "Old manufacturing firm on the ropes after the down turn in the economy a couple of years ago. Mr. Babagge is flying this one solo, well as solo as you can get with a team of terminators on their way from the main office."

"And?"

One more sheet came off the top of the messy desk. "She hasn’t left the property as far as we can tell from five miles away. Considering the estate owns all the land in every direction makes surveillance a little tough." The ringing phone stopped any further commentary since Hill was alone in the office. "Jarvis here," she paused to listen to the caller. "Keep way back and keep me posted if you head into town. I’ll take over once you get here, and be careful, it’s like this woman has eyes in the back of her head."

"What’s going on?" asked Piper.

"The big bike just rolled past our look out and it would seem Ms. Mackey is headed back to town," informed Hill. The blonde watched as Hill opened her top desk drawer and got her gun out. "I’ll call you later and give you an update."

"You do that. I want to know her every move while she’s here. I’m not buying this ‘I’m not interested’ act of hers."

Twenty minutes later Hill paused at the back of the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter surprised that it was Kendal’s first stop for the day. There was a small parking lot under a row of oaks and along side a small graveyard where all the church’s Monsignors were buried. Having to keep an eye on traffic made Hill miss the big smile and shaking of Kendal’s head when she pulled off her sunglasses.

"I’m must not as scary as I thought if she’s still on the trail," Kendal mumbled to herself. She wasn’t irritated though, now it would become more of a game — one Hill Jarvis couldn’t win.

A kindly old priest was waiting at the door having heard the rumble of the bike. He believed it was a blessing from the good Lord Himself that these generous benefactors through the years always produced heirs who looked so much like their ancestor Jacques St. Louis.

From the few paintings and photographs in the church’s archives, the resemblance among all of them was uncanny. Since Jacques’ original donation all others were made either by wire transfer or by the priests going to one of the family members homes outside the city. To have one of the family finally visit the church during his tenure was exciting.

"Father Gibran, how good to see you again. I trust you’re doing well." Kendal took his hands in hers before accepting his embrace.

"I’m so glad you’ve finally come. Your family has been absent from this house too long." He accepted her arm and walked to the small courtyard where the Order of nuns who served the parish had erected a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary.

"After my business in town I hope to return more often, Father." They talked for an hour about the repairs Kendal was financing and the day care they were building a few blocks away.

"When you come back please block out a day so we can bring you around to see the fruits of your generosity. I would also enjoy showing you off to the parish."

Kendal patted his hand liking the fact he still exuded so much energy despite his age. "That’s a deal, but now I’m just here to pick up Charlie if he’s ready to go."

"Oh he’s been sitting by the telephone waiting for you to call. He’ll be happy to see you’ve come. Thank you for sending him though, he did a bit of rewiring for us while he was waiting. He’s really quite handy."

"Amazing what having time on your hands will do for a man, Father. Come on and I’ll walk you inside." She helped him off the bench and kept her pace slow to not aggravate the man’s limp. When Kendal met people like Father Gibran it made her feel bad not to be able to do anything for their pain. From the first sip of the elixir her body had forgotten what it was like to ache and while she had the ability to get hurt, she also had amazing recuperative powers.

"You came," said Charlie when they walked back into the rectory.

"I gave you my word, Charlie. Of course I came back. But now’s your chance to stay here where you’ll be safe." She put her hand on his shoulder and spoke low so only he would hear her. He listened but his expression was one of disbelief and hurt.

"I can help you. There’s no way I’ll let you down, Kendal."

"I’m not asking because I doubt your loyalty or believe that you’ll disappoint me. It’s just that you’ve never done this before. Could you kill one of those coeds you love to spend time with practicing your French with if Jacques’ just turned them into something that’ll haunt your waking dreams? They look so vulnerable and sweet in the beginning but they’re still just as deadly."

Charlie laughed at the thought. "But I can’t die, you’ve seen to that."

"No, but they can bury you so deep you’ll be as good as dead. Jacques is as aware of that as I am and if he can’t beat me directly he’ll do it through you."

Charlie pulled away from her, noticing that Father Gibran was watching the exchange so he switched to French. "Then you don’t want me to come with you?"

"What I need to know is if you still want to come with me, my friend. Do you remember your boys and woman enough to avenge what happened to them?"

"Do I remember? Are you insane?" Charlie tried to keep his voice down but he was losing the battle. Anger poured out of him and he clenched his fits to try and control it. "I was taken from my home and my family in chains like an animal and there was nothing I could do, I had to accept my fate. Then I was given Celia and four strong sons only to be left alone again. Do I remember them? I’ve thought of little else for decades."

Kendal held her hand out to him and smiled. "Then come with me. I want you at my side in this battle."

They both bid farewell to the Monsignor and walked out to the parking lot. There sitting next to hers was another bike. When Charlie looked at her, Kendal just shrugged her shoulders and threw him a set of keys.

"How?"

"I have many skills," said Kendal as she slipped her sunglasses back on.

"Didn’t that other woman warrior used to say…" started Charlie.

"She had to learn it from someone right?"

With two quick kicks the bikes came to life forcing the watcher to slink down in the nearby car seat. Hill peaked over the steering wheel when the rumble of the engines sounded distant and had blended in with the rest of the surrounding traffic. She put the car in drive and merged behind a delivery truck confident her back up had Kendal in sight.

"This is such a waste of time," said Hill to an empty car. This person wasn’t acting like someone interested in taking over someone’s business. The phone rang next to her and her partner confirmed the two riders were headed in the direction of Oakgrove. Making a quick decision, Hill headed back to the rectory. Experience told her Piper’s first question would be who the guy with Kendal was and what her connection to him was in detail.

"Can we help you, child?" asked the nun who answered the door. The full habit brought back an avalanche of memories from parochial school for Hill making her shiver. Women with wimples armed with rulers were, in her opinion, brides of the devil.

"I was wondering if I could speak to the older priest who was sitting outside with the woman who came to visit just now?"

"Monsignor Gibran is in a meeting. Is there a problem, or perhaps something I could help you with?"

Hill was about to ask when he would be available when something caught her eye. It was a painting depicting a group of men standing around what looked like a cornerstone. Standing next to a priest in brown robes was Kendal Mackey dressed as a man and on the other side of her was a woman who very much looked like Piper Dupont. "What an interesting painting." The private detective moved past the nun for a closer look.

"It was from the building of the first church in the territory." The explanation was lost on the woman mesmerized in the likeness of two people from the past come back to life in the present. "The building was made possible by Jacques St. Louis," the nun went on. She laughed when Hill didn’t ask the usual question. "Of course that’s not why we chose St. Louis as our patron saint."

"Wasn’t Mr. St. Louis the owner of Oakgrove?"

"Of the original plantation, yes. The house that sits there now has been repaired enough through the years that I’d think it would be brand-new by now. Charlie does such a wonderful job for the family keeping it up."

"Charlie?" asked Hill still not looking away from the image on the wall.

"The young man who was here that you were asking about. He’s the caretaker of the house."

"Do you know his last name, Sister?"

"Perhaps Monsignor Gibran could answer that for you. I’ve always known him as Charlie." She waved toward the closed door at the end of the hall. "I’ve been with him to the estate a few times but I was more interested in looking around than in what Charlie’s full name is."

"You’ve been to Oakgrove?" The opportunity was too good to pass up for Hill and she forgot all about the man who’d left with Kendal. Now that the sword-toting woman thought she was off the case maybe this nun could point out any chinks in the security.

"Yes, it’s a lovely place. You should see the small lake toward the back. It’s the only place that the fence separating the grounds from the property next door ends. The open space makes you imagine what the place must have looked like way back when." The woman leaned forward and put her hand on Hill’s arm like she was telling her a secret.

Bingo. "I’ll bet it must be lovely." Hill patted the nun’s hand and noticed how soft it was. Taking a better look at her face she wondered why such a beautiful woman had chosen a life of service. "Thank you for your time, Sister. I’ll come back and make an appointment to see the Monsignor at a later date."

The nun watched from the window as Hill almost ran to her car, her phone pressed to her ear as she went. "I would consider this my good deed for the day, Asra," she said pulling off the wimple. She fluffed up her blonde hair and decided to have it cut before returning to the house. Indigo figured it would be only a matter of time before they had visitors via the lake. "Let’s hope they decide to make their covert operation during day light hours because I’m thinking Jacques will send his own welcoming party soon enough."

She stripped off the habit and dropped it on one of the visitor’s chairs. The thought of masquerading as a nun any longer made her almost laugh out loud considering how she had spent her evening. Kendal could make you find religion but she doubted it was what the church had in mind.

"Can I help you, miss?" asked an elderly woman dressed in the black robes of a nun.

"No thank you, sister, I was just doing a favor for a friend."

"Well then, God bless you. It’s the Christian way to do for others, it’s a habit young people don’t develop enough these days."

Indigo looked at the outfit she’d just stripped off and then to the kind looking woman. "Well I know better, Sister, and like they say ‘Old habits are hard to break.’"

************************************************************************

"Yesterday you were deathly afraid of this woman and now you want to sneak into her house. Am I understanding you correctly?" Piper was sitting at her desk looking out the window enjoying the beautiful fall day, Hill’s voice emanating from the speakerphone behind her. It had been fairly quiet since she came in after visiting Hill, but then their prospective buyer was out riding around town on a motorcycle and not skulking around trying to find ways to steal the company from beneath them.

As Hill weaved through traffic on the way back to the office, her mind stayed focused on the painting in the rectory and the resemblance to Kendal and Piper. Even if Piper didn’t pay her another dollar to work the case, she wanted to find out more about the woman staying at Oakgrove. The coincidence of the person in the painting being the original owner and Kendal’s doppelganger was too great. Genetics, no matter how prefect, do not produced two people who looked so much alike after so much time. Why they had added Piper to the scene was too bizarre to even contemplate.

"You don’t have to go with me, Piper. I’m just saying I’m going no matter what. After last night she thinks I’m off her tail so what’s to lose here?"

"Oh no, if you’re going then I’m going. Give me twenty minutes and then pick me up at my place. If we’re going sneaking I have to change into something more comfortable."

The thought of making this call after she got back from the plantation occurred to Hill now that she pictured herself and the tempestuous blond sneaking anywhere. It would have been much easier alone. "If you want I’ll just take pictures and write up a report by tonight. Besides, you don’t know what’s crawling out there in those woods."

"Twenty minutes, Hill. Don’t be late."

The dial tone in her ear precluded Hill from making any other excuses. Now her only hope was that the most dangerous weapon Kendal had in the house was a sword. It wasn’t legal to shoot someone on their own property, but she’d make up some reason if it came down to that.

"Next time just go first and talk later, bozo, because at the end of the day if you’re not careful that little blonde’s going to get you killed." Hill tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel as she talked to herself. She was still going though, even if it meant having to carry Piper on her back to get there and gagging her once they arrived.

When Hill got to Piper’s condo she found that they were both wearing similar outfits. Jeans, boots and long sleeves would help if the place they landed was infested with bugs. Piper also had a pair of binoculars hanging around her neck and a bag with snacks. Hill wondered if she had misunderstood where they were headed. The woman looked ready to attend a sporting event not go trespassing in someone’s yard.

"There’s nothing in there that crunches, right?"

"I didn’t get lunch ok, take it easy. It’s not like we’re sneaking into the house. Who’s going to hear us eating potato chips while we’re hiding under a bush?"

The same woman who snuck up on me on a really big horse and threatened to slice me into little pieces, that’s who, thought Hill as she studied the tops of her boots when her head dropped to her chest. "Let’s go before it gets much later. We still have to find a way across the lake."

"No problem there. Granddad keeps an old rowboat out there. I asked him before I left the office since he owns the property next door the nun told you about. Don’t you find it odd that Kendal is so friendly with these religious types?" asked Piper as they made their way to the car. "She doesn’t look like the type you know. If you’d told me she’d attended a cult meeting it would have made more sense."

Hill opened the door for Piper before heading around to the driver’s side. "There are lots of things we don’t know about Kendal. You were right about that. If we’re lucky there’ll be more people there with her that we’ll be able to see and photograph. That’ll give us some new outlets to follow to find out more about our subject."

They had known each other too long for Piper not to notice when Hill was hiding something. She had left out some detail from her morning surveillance. The question was, why? "Maybe so, let’s hope so anyway. There was nothing else your little penguin friend told you right? Something that would help us out?"

"No," answered Hill shaking her head for emphasis. Problem was they were sitting at a red light and she didn’t look Piper in the eye when she answered. Telling her boss she saw Kendal in a really old painting done before her great grandmother was even born was something she wasn’t ready to do. Piper would have her committed in a heartbeat if she followed that up with telling her she had seen her likeness in the painting as well.

"There’s nothing more you want to tell me?"

The light turned green and Hill floored it, crossing over two lanes of traffic to make it on the interstate ramp. "There’s nothing more to say. She told me about the lake, that she visited the place a couple of times and she explained a painting hanging in the hallway." Please don’t ask me about the painting and I won’t have to lie.

"What, are you becoming an art connoisseur?" Piper wrote off the omission as Hill trying to protect her tough guy image.

"They just seem eager for the public to take an interest in what their history is, it’s not big deal."

Piper kept quiet the rest of the trip, content to just watch the scenery go by, thinking about the summers she’d spent at her grandfather’s place as a child. It was on the tire swing he’d strung up for her from one of the large oaks in the back that he told her of her father’s death. To a six-year-old, car accident didn’t sound so permanent. She figured her father just went away to be happy after her mother had died. The executive had no memory of her mother, but had vivid memories of the good looking blond man who read to her and hardly ever smiled.

Granddad Mac was different though. He laughed and danced with her and her grandmother every night when he got home from work. When she was old enough to understand what the Dupont name stood for, there was no keeping her out of the office. Piper had carried them further than they should have gotten before someone like Kendal came along. Only thing was, the bleeding of red ink had been too severe for too long for Piper to make a lasting difference. But she wasn’t giving up. To lose now would be tantamount to disappointing the two people who she admired most in the world. Mac and her grandmother Molly were everything to her, and she would not let the end of their life come without Dupont Enterprises still being in business.

"If you turn here it’ll take you all the way back to the dock. Granddad said the boat should be tied up and ready to go if someone didn’t borrow it," said Piper pointing out a dirt road where the Oakgrove fence line ended. The same excitement she used to feel as a child whenever she made a break for the property line to go explore was back. Back then, whenever she tried Mac was always too quick for her stopping her before she got into trouble.

Hill went slowly so the car wouldn’t kick up too much dust alerting anyone watching the fence that they were coming. She was praying that Kendal would be outside riding again so she could take some pictures. If she could get a clear shot her first stop after developing it was the rectory to compare it to the painting. After her search for printed articles about Kendal, Hill was amazed at how little first hand information was available. Kendal had never given anyone an interview and there really weren’t any photographs when she was mentioned in an article. Unlike Donald Trump, this was one mogul who kept a low profile.

"You want to do the rowing?" Hill asked Piper when they reached the end of the pier.

"And deprive you of the pleasure? I wouldn’t dream of it, Hill. Come on, chop chop. When we get to the other side I’ll give you a chip."

It was a little before noon when they shoved off. Hill plowing the water with powerful strokes. "Man, that nun said this was a small lake," complained Hill after thirty minutes of rowing.

"Call a nun a liar and you may get struck by lighting," teased Piper. They were both whispering as the shore got closer. When they landed the only thing they didn’t know was how far back from the house they were.

They found a stand of willow trees that would keep the boat out of sight so they tied off and waited to make sure they were alone by the water. The one lucky thing they had going for them was fall in Louisiana meant most of the foliage was still on the trees to give them good coverage.

After a short walk to the east, the two women came to a clearing free of any bushes or shrubs signaling they were in for a long walk around it if they wanted to keep from being seen. The house was still nowhere in sight and Hill hoped they could find their way out if sunset came before they were done. With a quick pull, Hill yanked Piper further into the trees. Any complaint from the blonde died in the echo of an approaching horse. Both their chests were heaving as they pressed themselves up to tree trunks big enough to hide them. I am one with the tree, I am one with the tree, Piper repeated the mantra in her head as the clip clop of hooves stopped close to where they’d been standing.

Kendal stopped Ruda at the first sign of the clearing she was headed for. Again she hadn’t saddled him wanting to let him roam on his own without too many hindrances while she worked out. Her skills had never lost their edge but with the numbers her brother had amassed, a little practice wouldn’t hurt. The last thing she needed was to let them capture her and lock her way from the sun. Sleep was never unwelcome, but to lose this fight might mean a shift in power. Mankind could not afford any carelessness on her part.

The grass felt cool when she dropped to the ground. She slapped Ruda on the rump after taking the bit out of his mouth watching as he headed for a small patch of clover the morning frost hadn’t killed off. Kendal headed for the center of the clearing at a slow pace enjoying the midday sun on her shoulders and the soft grass under her bare feet. This was sacred ground to her, the one place where only the grass grew; no crops had ever touched the soil here.

It was where those who had been under her care had put their dead to rest. Not in crude pine boxes like on other plantations but in the ceremonies of their homeland. Litters had been carried in here and placed on funeral pyres in solemn ceremonies. The prayers had been offered in native tongues as their spirits were welcomed by the flames. Warriors who had died farmers and slaves were welcomed home to whatever afterlife they believed in on this plot of land. Their ashes had long since become one with the soil, blessing the area for those who remembered them. Kendal was their keeper. She remembered every name they’d been given at birth and what place they held within their tribe.

When she reached the center, Kendal dropped to her knees and lifted her hands to the sky. In the language those noble fighters had taught her she gave thanks to their gods that they had lived and that she had known them. She asked for their strength to guide her hands and her heart in the upcoming fight. She finished by asking forgiveness for disturbing their peace by drawing weapons here. Charlie had told her it did them honor to come here and practice, but Kendal believed in covering your bets.

Finished, she opened her eyes and smiled at Charlie who was kneeling next to her in the same position. The sweat on his bare chest probably meant he had run from the house forgoing the ride. Charlie waited as Kendal pulled a strip of cloth from the long pair of gi pants she was wearing. She’d picked a tight black sleeveless t-shirt instead of the traditional wraparound top.

"What’s she doing?" whispered Piper right into Hill’s ear.

"What’s it look like? She’s tying on a blindfold."

"What’s with the big karate pants?"

"Piper, the secret of surveillance is to sit and observe. When you watch someone it tends to answer the questions that might come up." Hill pressed her finger to her lips to coax the blonde to be quiet.

Kendal finished off the knot of her blindfold facing in the direction of the river. With her back to them Piper and Hill saw the sword strapped to her back and a special belt holding two small axes. The hatchet looking weapons certainly weren’t something you’d find at the hardware store. The blades were longer and thinner, almost like they were quarter moons with handles. Through her binoculars Hill could see the whole thing was made of metal with what looked to be leather strips woven together at the grips.

Ready, the two friends bowed to each other and drew their swords. It was a drill of some sort, the two blades moved slowly in unison as if following some choreographed dance. Piper watched thinking how beautiful it looked and how strange it was that she would feel that way. Weapons of any kind scared her, but Kendal made it look like art.

As they continued their movements became a little different because of Kendal’s experience. The twirling sword looked almost invisible as she moved it from hand to hand through the different maneuvers she’d use in combat. She widened her stance suddenly and sheathed the sword, drawing the axes just as fast. Now Charlie joined the two women in the woods and just watched. The leather on the unique weapons was new, he had put it on himself when Kendal said she was coming and why, but the blades were old.

They had been a gift from one of the legion commanders who had fought against Genghis Kahn. The tanned warrior with the black hair and blue eyes had been like a hoard all by himself. It was a time of upheaval, but not a time of women warriors. It had been another lifetime lived as a man to help rid the world of a more human evil. None of those she fought with had thought to ask why the talented fighter had asked that pieces of wood be added to the metal when they were forged. It was the one common element in all her weapons except for the sword that had been her fathers.

Wooden stakes through the heart and death by sunlight had been the two things the movies had gotten right about vampires. While the thirst for blood was a given, Kendal was always amused at some of the movies and television shows on the topic. The essence of wood was all that was necessary so that’s why her swords worked to destroy the little bastards she came across. Garlic and holy water though were Hollywood hype.

"What in the hell?" Piper said a little too loud for Hill’s comfort level. She was just as surprised though to see five heavily armed men arrive in the clearing and head toward Kendal.

Kendal moved into a combative stance with the katana twirling slowly in her hand after she returned one of the small battle-axes to her belt. Two of the men ran forward together and Piper almost screamed at Kendal to take the stupid blindfold off, but it didn’t matter. The tall woman met them stroke for stroke not letting them get even close to getting the upper hand. For Hill it was amazing to watch having taken some marshal arts classes for her job. She understood the purpose of the blindfold. In any fight a good fighter relies on much more than their eyes, but she had never seen it carried out to this level. From the grip Piper had on her hand, neither had she.

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the trees as Kendal added a few new moves. One guy that got too close was taken out with a wicked kick to the jaw. Another two met a similar fate when she made an impossible looking leap then kicked both feet out. In a business suit it was impossible to tell Kendal was that limber. When the fight ended, less than twenty minutes had passed and all five were unarmed and on their knees panting.

For a moment longer Kendal stood with her head cocked listening for any other threat. The blindfold came off when all she could hear was their heavy breathing. "Take as long as you want then run it through again with Charlie, guys. And, Charlie, try not to add too many more bruises or they might not want to play with us again."

From the trees Piper started to get a bad feeling about being there. This woman exuded an aura of danger that would not bode well for them if she somehow figured out they were there. With an insistent tug she pulled on Hill’s sleeve to get her moving. Hill though was too fascinated to think about leaving. Instead of finding answers to what made Kendal tick, the afternoon had only served to make a thousand new questions pop into her head.

"Just sit here and stay calm. It’ll be better if we wait until they’re done before we go." She spoke directly into Piper’s ear before looking her in the eye to assure her everything would be fine.

Piper nodded her head in understanding as she tried to even out her breathing. When they both looked back to the field to watch Charlie go through the same dance, they both just as quickly turned to look at each other in shock. Kendal was gone. She had disappeared like vapor in a strong wind.

"Where’d she go?" asked Piper.

Hill shrugged her shoulders as she scanned the area through her field glasses. She thought maybe Kendal had gone to find her horse and was somewhere in the trees. Doing a good imitation of an oscillating fan, Hill’s head turned from side to side looking in the general direction of where they had last seen Kendal standing.

"Don’t tell me, let me guess. You missed me so much you couldn’t stay away?" Kendal asked the facetious question before pressing her lips to the side of Piper’s head. She laughed when the blonde gasped then backed up so fast she knocked Hill over. The camera on the ground caught her attention next.

"I can explain," said Hill as she wondered what it would be like to go through life without eyelids.

"Do you recall the last little talk we had, Ms. Jarvis?" Hill nodded her head, her mind in a whirlwind trying to find a way out for both of them. "Did you think I was talking for the simple pleasure of hearing my voice?" Hill shook her head this time still at a loss for a way out.

Kendal straightened out and sighed before offering her hand to Piper. The blonde shrunk back in fear not knowing what to expect. "You kill us and people will know," Piper threatened. "You won’t get away with it."

The deadly armed immortal bent at the waist to get her face as close to Piper’s as she could to deliver her response. "Want to make a bet?" When she clicked her teeth close to Piper’s nose, Hill went down again when the compact body slammed into her. "You two are like a comedy act. Give me you hand, Miss Dupont, I just want to help you up not skewer you." As soon as Piper was on her feet Hill held her hand up, and just as quickly dropped it when Kendal arched a brow in her direction.

"Well it was nice seeing you and all, but we’ve got to be going," said Piper motioning Hill to get on her feet.

"Not so fast. I’m sure you were just out here bird watching, but just in case you weren’t, could I have the camera? I promise to give it back," said Kendal sweetly. With slumped shoulders Hill watched as her subject removed the film, ruining any shots she’d gotten. "The next time, Miss Dupont, if you want to come and see something, or me for that matter, you’ll find the front gate much more convenient. Is there something you want to talk about now that you’ve slogged out here?"

Piper had turned to go but the question and its tone stopped her. Kendal sounded almost sincere, but then so had Kenny when he made his promises. "Why don’t you ever stop to think about what you’re doing to people’s lives when you come in and take everything they’ve ever worked for?"

"Because people like me don’t have feelings, or at least that’s what you think." The answer ignited the fire of anger in Piper’s eyes and Kendal almost made the mistake of smiling. "I do think about every step I make, believe it or not. Employees of failing companies I acquire get a fair deal since it’s not their fault their bosses couldn’t keep things running."

"You sanctimonious bitch." It felt good to say it out loud finally. Piper’s outburst made Hill wonder if she’d lost touch with reality and the fact Kendal had a big sword and had proven she knew how to use it. "It’s easy to tear things down instead of working to build something meaningful."

"You’re a little sanctimonious yourself, lady, since you’ve done nothing but tear me down from the first moment you laid eyes on me." Kendal let a little anger seep into her voice but she kept the distance between them. "I don’t know what else you want from me. I told you I wasn’t interested in Dupont."

"Then what are you still doing here?"

"I could say none of your business and be done with it, but if I do I assume I can only look forward to more of Ms. Jarvis’ company while I’m here. The reason I’m still here is to attend to a family matter. What that matter concerns though really isn’t any of your business."

Piper crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to one foot. The pose made her look like a bratty girl not getting her way. "Yeah right."

"I tell you what, have your attorney draft up a sort of promissory note. If I go after Dupont or get involved in your business in anyway I’ll owe you whatever it’ll take to get you out of debt."

"I’ll do it," threatened Piper.

"And I’ll sign it. I figure it’s the only way I have of getting rid of you." Kendal looked a the hand Piper was holding out, noticing if she wanted to shake it she’d have to close the gap between them. She moved forward half way and held out her own hand. When Piper took it, Kendal squeezed slightly and added one more thing. "Just remember, Miss Dupont, if you want my involvement you’ll have to come begging."

"When hell freezes over."

"I’ve been to hell. There are no cold days," said Kendal in a glib voice.

"Then there’s your answer."

Kendal let out a low whistle that made Ruda appear at her side. The stallion bent his head to accept the bit, pawing at the ground as if anxious to go. With the same acrobatic agility Piper and Hill had just seen, Kendal leapt onto his back and kicked his sides to get him moving.

"How rude, she didn’t even say goodbye."

The P.I. picked up the ruined film and jammed it into her pocket. She snorted at Piper thinking she would’ve turned out better with a few spankings under her belt. "The nerve of her not to invite us up to the house for tea after you called her a bitch. What is the civilized world coming to?"

"She asked for it. Kendal Mackey walks around like she owns the world and everyone in it. I bet she doesn’t know what to do with herself when somebody stands up and tells her something." Piper followed Hill back to the boat making as much noise as possible now that the tenant knew they were there. "It’s easy when you just have everything handed to you. She probably doesn’t know what putting in a day at the office is like."

Hill stopped so abruptly that Piper ran into her. "Not to defend her, but do you ever read the reports I write up for you?"

"I’m busy, Hill. It’s not like I’ve got time to read line by line."

"Her father was a dock worker, not the original CEO of Mackey, Inc. She made her fortune one day at the office at a time. All the stuff I’ve read about her and her business ethic says she’s a straight shooter."

"Are you saying I’m not," challenged Piper, fists on her hips.

"I’m saying that you might’ve been better off with Kendal Mackey in your corner than as your enemy. You’re so angry with her because she one upped you about Kenny Delaney that you can’t see straight."

"Straight is the last thing Kendal is, and watch yourself, Hillary."

Hill put her hands out and looked into Piper’s eyes. "I’m not telling you all this to point out your mistakes. I’m telling you because I’m your friend and it’s the truth."

"Thank you, but it’s all moot anyway. Now that I don’t have to worry about this looter, I can concentrate on saving Dupont." Piper stepped into the boat and pulled out her chips leaving Hill to shake her head and grab the oars.

"Good luck to you on that one, sweetheart, you’re going to need it," said Kendal from the branch above their head. They were so busy snapping twigs and talking they paid no attention to how far she had ridden or if she’d ridden off at all. "Today was one of those days you should have spent in the office instead of running after dead ends. The real looters are at the gate and about to storm the castle."

She watched as Hill pushed off before sitting in the center section to start the job of rowing back. Kendal closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the oars hitting the water in an attempt to relax. With it being fall, she had three more hours before the sun went down. Three hours closer to finding Abez and ending his miserable existence.

The docks were lined with ships waiting to be loaded with the different crops just brought in from harvest. There were throngs of people walking around bundles of dried tobacco leaves, which sat next to bales of cotton waiting to be shipped to northern ports and their mills. For those who owned large spreads like Jacques, it was a time of negotiation followed by the lull of winter. For those who worked the land it was a time of respite before the cycle began again.

"You finished unloading?" asked the merchant Jacques dealt with.

"Twenty more bales of cotton and we’re done." Jacques took his hat off and wiped his brow on his sleeve. Despite the cool air it was easy to work up a sweat unloading the wagons.

"You sure don’t act like a land owner, Jacques. Don’t take this wrong, but you’re an odd man, or at least like no man from around here."

"That’s because I’m not like any man from around here, or from anywhere when you get down to it. I like to work, Michael. That’s why I harvest more than any other place outside the city. Sitting on my porch drinking lemonade isn’t my style." They shared a laugh before Jacques went back to helping his men unload the rest of the cotton bales.

"Lionel, take the men over to the general store and start on the lists we put together." Twice a year all the people living at Oakgrove loved with Jacques went into town to pick up supplies for everyone who worked the land and their children. A trip to the general store meant a new pair of shoes, work boots, dresses, shirts and all the candy Michael had in stock. No one living on the plantation was left out, not even those who hadn’t arrived yet. The bolts of cloth the men brought back were turned into baby clothes in the winter months by the loving hands of expecting mothers.

"You got it, boss." In public the slave always used a proper term of respect, but at home Lionel now called him Jacques. The trip they had taken together, and all that came after, had made them friends.

"You weren’t leaving without coming to see me, were you?"

Lionel leaned forward and gently hit Jacques in the stomach after the miffed sounding woman asked the question. "You’re a man in trouble now, boss."

Jacques turned around and smiled for Angelina. Months had taught him she had a hard time resisting it. "And miss the pleasure of your company? I would rather be drug behind my horse, dear lady."

"I’d rather you didn’t. I’m rather fond of that handsome face." She moved closer but he moved faster. If anyone was watching he wanted to be seen as the pursuer not Angelina. It was something not becoming a lady of her standing.

"I’d give up my land for a bath at this moment." He leaned in and whispered to her. "I’m so filthy I can’t even kiss your hand."

"We may read about it in the Gazette tomorrow but I’m willing to chance it." Without hesitation she put up her hand for him to take, sorry that she had put on gloves before leaving the house. Her hand and her cheek were the only places she had felt his lips and she was ready to move forward and have Jacques be not quite so gentlemanly. But at the same time she was grateful he was so gentle with her. Angelina didn’t know how she would respond if Jacques had been as forward as the few young men she had accepted invitations from to different events.

"Please tell me you’re finished cutting and gathering everything you had growing out there? I love Uncle Tomas, but I’d much rather spend my evenings looking at you."

Jacques laughed and kissed her hand again. "I won’t tell him you said so, and that sounds suspiciously like something I would tell you." He squeezed her fingers gently before letting her hand go and stepping back a step. "I may be prejudiced, but my nights looking into your green eyes are a slice of paradise." Getting the blush he was after, Jacques turned his attention to Dee. "And how is the second most beautiful girl in New Orleans?"

"Master St. Louis, you’d best behave or Miss Angelina may lock me out of the house when we get home." The girl didn’t protest though when he bowed over her hand and treated her to the same greeting as her mistress.

"It’s this rogue who I may lock out," teased Angelina getting them both to laugh.

"Then should I cancel my visit for this afternoon?"

"Not if you know what’s best for you. I haven’t seen you in weeks." Angelina pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders as she thought of all the empty evenings she’s endured in his absence.

"I wouldn’t do that to you. Just let me get cleaned up and get on a fresh suit." Jacques looked past Angelina and whispered loudly to Dee. "Do you think you could persuade this lovely creature to don her prettiest dress and get the old coot to wear something appropriate for an evening out?"

"I’ll do my best, sir."

"Good, I have a surprise for her but you have to promise to keep it a secret."

"I’m sure she won’t guess a thing, Master St. Louis."

Jacques arrived two hours later in a hired carriage looking like someone had scrubbed him from head to foot. The planter’s hat he was fond of was left behind in the hotel room and replaced with a top hat more in line with fashion.

The young man who answered the door relieved him of his cloak, hat and the flowers he’d brought for Angelina. He promised to put them in water and have them brought up to her room. Jacques thanked him and followed Tomas’s voice into the study.

"Ah good, I see my niece’s moping has come to an end and here stands the reason why. How goes it, Jacques?"

"I’m finished and we were able to surpass last year’s totals so I’m good. Better now that I’ll have time to spend with the two of you."

"Then perhaps you’ll have time to show Uncle Tomas and I Oakgrove," said Angelina from the doorway.

The dress she had picked was the same shade of dark blue as Jacques’ eyes and the seamstress had even made a matching bow for her hair. Any doubt in her selection disappeared when Jacques stood from the couch and took hold of both her hands.

"Do you like it?" she asked. There was a little uncertainty in her voice when Jacques just stood as if mute.

"No, my dear, I don’t like it, I love it. You look better than any dream I’ve had of you over these past weeks."

Tomas cleared his throat feeling like an intruder in his own home. "Playing hard to get is doing wonders for you, sweetheart," he kidded Angelina.

"Don’t worry, Tomas, Angelina is perfectly safe in my company."

The older man accepted Jacques’ hand to help him to his feet. "If I were afraid of that you wouldn’t be here, young man. Angelina is precious to me."

"As she is to me, Monsieur," said Jacques just as seriously.

To break up the moment Angelina came and looped her arm through her uncle’s. "Where are you taking us this evening?" she asked Jacques.

"First to dinner then I have a surprise for you two." He put his hand up before she could ask where. "It’s not a surprise if I tell you."

The carriage took them to the city’s finest restaurant where the du’Pons brought Jacques up to date on what was going on in town while he had been stuck at Oakgrove. As they talked over coffee at the end of their meal, one of the young men who had tried unsuccessfully to court Angelina in the past walked to their table and interrupted Jacques mid sentence.

"Angelina, Monsieur du’Pon, how are you both this evening?" asked the well-dressed young man as he bowed slightly.

"Rather well until just now, Winston. What brings you into our company?" asked Tomas. He didn’t’ want to be rude as well, but then it would be interesting to see how Jacques reacted to a little competition.

"There’s a production tonight at the new theater that’s touted to be quite good. Since your niece looks so lovely this evening I thought she might would do me the honor of joining me as soon as you were done here." Winston pulled two tickets from his jacket pocket. "I have some of the last tickets available."

The blonde looked to Jacques in disbelief as he hadn’t jumped in to say anything. "I’m sure, Mademoiselle du’Pon is free to attend with whomever she chooses, but I was rather hoping she would join me in the box I bought for the opening performance." Jacques pulled three tickets of his own. With a smile he told Angelina, "Surprise."

It was then that Angelina knew that she would follow wherever Jacques St. Louis chose to lead her, because wherever it might be, she would always be safe in his care. Later she was not able to tell anyone what the comedy was about, or if it was any good. But she could write sonnets about how his hand felt holding hers for the whole performance.

At the end of the evening Jacques escorted them both home and helped Tomas up the stairs to his room. Sitting for such a long time through dinner and then the play had left his hip almost numb. Angelina was waiting for him in the parlor when he came down.

"Thank you for tonight."

"You’re very welcome, and may it be the first of many evenings we spend together." Dee looked up from her needlepoint for only a moment to offer the sweet man a smile. "It’s late, I’ll leave you to get some rest."

"Dee, would you please get me a glass of warm milk?" Angelina just wanted a moment alone with him before Jacques left.

"Don’t do anything I’ll get in trouble for later," she told Jacques before heading out to the kitchen.

"Something like this perhaps?" asked Jacques when the young woman left the room. Slowly he moved toward Angelina and gathered her in his arms. The lips he had first seen splattered with mud were too enticing to ignore any longer.

At first Angelina didn’t know what to do with her hands. It was as if her brain had melted when he pressed his lips to hers. She was about to protest when he pulled away until she saw it was only to guide her hands to rest on his shoulders.

"Shall we try that again?"

"Yes please," Angelina answered in a soft dreamy voice. She fought an overwhelming urge to pull loose the ribbon holding his hair back so she could run her fingers through it.

"Go get some sleep because I have one more surprise for you," said Jacques as he pulled away reluctantly when Dee’s footsteps could be heard down the hall.

The night was the longest of her life wondering what Jacques had planned. By late morning Angelina and Tomas were riding up the entrance to Oakgrove for a visit. All of the families living in the slave quarters were there to greet them and to thank Jacques for his generosity. Along with the personal supplies Lionel had brought home were supplies to improve the cabins where they lived. After thanking Jacques they all introduced themselves to Angelina and her uncle. Each set of parents showed off their children and told them how some of them were related.

"This is a little different than I expected," Angelina remarked as she walked the grounds with the master of the house.

"How so?"

"They don’t look miserable," she said referring to the slaves. "I believe you to be a fair-minded man, but even you have your limits.

"I can’t do for the world, Angelina, but I can do for them. Within these thousand acres we live by my rules, and that is a life of tolerance and respect. The outside world has no say here on how my people are treated."

She pulled him to a stop wanting his full attention. "What makes you so wise?"

"A long time ago I learned a valuable lesson from a ruler who was perhaps born before her time. She believed that a person is born a slave by circumstance not by choice or design. Sometimes though, when someone like that is given the opportunity they can rule the known world." As Jacques told her his beliefs he thought of a young Hebrew slave who became queen of Egypt because the pharaoh believed in her.

"How lucky for them to find their way here to you. Because trust me, it could be so much worse."

"If they had luck on their side, they’d still be in their homeland. Given time that’s exactly where I’d like to see them. Can you imagine never seeing your child again and not knowing what happened to him or her?" He started them walking again until they got to the small lake at the center of the property. Under one of the trees shading the bank he cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. "As important as the state of the world and our place in it may be, the reason I wanted to bring you here is to tell you something even more so."

She hoped they were thinking along the same lines so she blurted her feelings out into the open. "I love you."

Jacques looked flummoxed when the words left her lips making Angelina doubt his feelings were the same. "I…I love you as well. So much so that I will lose a part of myself if I lose you."

"You’ll never lose me, silly. I’m glad you brought me here because I can see now it’s where I belong. You are who I belong to, Jacques, and only you can give my heart away." She pulled on his lapels and laughed. "Now I demand you seal your profession with a kiss."

Kendal thought about how different things might have turned out by this lake had she said what she had planned. She had loved Angelina as much as she had professed that day but it wasn’t fair to the beautiful young woman not to know the full truth about the "man" she had fallen in love with.

Had Angelina known sooner might she have run back to someone like Winston? Would she have chosen someone who could give her a life and children to care for in her later years? Those questions were pure speculation now. After that one blissful moment on this spot their lives had changed and the nightmare had begun.

"I owe it to you now, love, to make things as right as I can," Kendal said to the water. What had happened in that lifetime and what resulted from that still haunted her, and it had made her lose a bit of her humanity.

************************************************************************

His eyes opened as soon as the sun went down. She was coming and this time nothing he did would stop her. Abez thought of all their meetings through the years and how his sister’s hate for him had grown to rival his for her. He’d had an ideal life until their parents decided to have another child. The perfect child is exactly what they’d gotten the second time around. Asra had grown taller, stronger and smarter than he ever wanted to be, and he had tried to make her pay from the beginning.

The last time they had faced each other she had left him wounded and he’d had to run for his life. It was only through good planning that the opportunity to run at all had been possible. "That was then, Asra, and as these subhumans like to say, ‘it’s a new day.’"

He opened the lid of his resting place and opened the two doors that would let him out into the night. Jacques, as he was calling himself in this lifetime, had a house nearby but not even his most trusted fledglings knew where he slept during the daylight hours. The reason he had lived so long and grown so powerful was that he trusted no one.

When he entered the house at the cusp of the French Quarter there was a large gathering of people who bowed their heads as he passed. All of them were his children, all his creations made for the specific purpose of destroying the warrior of the Order. In the world there was only one left who was stronger than Abez and it was she he didn’t want to disappoint.

"The hunter is coming tonight." Jacques sat in the chair set up at the head of the dining room. His words caused some of those gathered to look at each other in concern. They had been given free reign in the city for years, none of them worried about anyone being able to kill them.

"We are here to serve you, master," one of the young men who had been with Jacques the longest said. Troy had been a river rat who lived off whatever he could steal until he ran into Jacques one night. In one moment his life had been transformed and he had gone from being one of the forgotten to one of the feared.

"Yes you are, and remember one thing. Fail me and your place in hell will be haunted by my vengeance for the rest of eternity. My sister is very good so don’t take her for granted. I made you and gave you dominion over man, let me down and I’ll put you out for the sun myself."

One of the young women close to Jacques looked up at him in total disbelief. "Master, the warrior is your sister?"

"The one and only Asra, Captain of the Pharaoh Ramses’ elite fighting legion. In life she was awe inspiring as a fighter, or at least those were the stories bards spun in taverns. As an immortal though, I consider her god like. The Order chose well, but so have I in choosing all of you." Jacques leaned forward and ran his fingers through the young woman’s hair. She looked up again with a look of ecstasy liking the feel of the cold on her scalp. "I want you all to go out and seek until you find her." When the girl went to get up, Jacques moved from a caress to pulling her hair to keep her in place. "Not you."

"I live to please you, master."

Jacques smiled at her showing the tips of his canines before looking back at the others. "Go," the order was followed by bodies moving rapidly out the door.

"How can I please you, master?" asked the girl when they were alone.

"What’s your name?"

"Veronica, master."

"Veronica, this is what you can do to please me." Jacques whispered to her getting her to nod at almost his every word. When he was done he licked along her ear loving the shiver of pleasure it produced. "Such loyalty deserves a reward, precious." He snapped his fingers and Troy dragged in a scared young girl who looked to be around thirteen. "Enjoy."

Veronica pounced in a very cat like fashion holding the child close to the front of her body. The tender flesh tore open easily and the gush of warm salty blood almost caused her to swoon. She could feel it coursing through her body in orgasmic fashion since she could taste the fear along with her feast. Slowly the body grew limp and Veronica cut their connection before the final life spirit left the young body.

With the same feline grace Veronica walked toward Jacques, leaned over him and pressed her mouth to his. He accepted the kiss that filled his mouth with blood and his manhood with passion. His minion was more than happy to take care of that need as well. When she straddled Jacques, Troy left the room to start prowling the streets for Kendal or prey. He didn’t care which.

"I’ll gift you her heart, master," said Veronica before the final shiver ran through her body.

************************************************************************

Kendal got off the bike and stood for almost ten minutes just listening to the world around her with her eyes closed. Whatever guilt, anger or any other destructive emotion she was feeling was left at Oakgrove the minute she armed herself and headed into town. Next to her, Charlie was doing the same or trying to with the same accuracy as his teacher. He was able to filter out all the traffic and bar noises coming from the general vicinity trying to find the abnormality if there was one.

"Kendal, can I ask you something?"

She opened her eyes in almost lazy fashion. "Sure."

"Aren’t people going to freak when they see two people walking down the street with swords and enough sharp implements to start a small war?"

"Probably, if we decided to walk down the street that is, but we’re not taking that route."

"We’re not?"

Kendal pointed up, "No, we’re not. There are two things about this place that makes it desirable to my brother and us." She bounced a little on the balls of her feet ready to get going. "It’s heavily populated by people society won’t miss or care little about when they show up drained. Which is good hunting grounds if blood is part of your diet." The warrior help up two fingers before moving to her next point, smiling at the shiver Charlie was doing thinking about the blood diet she’d referred to. "And two, because space is precious here most of the buildings are connected."

"And that’s benefits us how?"

"If you want to take a stroll with enough sharp implements to start a small war, which we are, you have the rooftops to stroll along. "Ready?" He nodded and watched as she took off at a run. With ease she grabbed hold of a flagpole hanging over someone’s door, flipped around a couple of times and propelled herself onto the rooftop. "Care to take a walk with me?" she asked from the edge.

Charlie followed quickly, not wanting to miss out on any of the action. She’d been right. Aside from a few short leaps and differences in the height of some buildings, most of them were connected. They walked until they reached Bourbon Street.

Bourbon was a popular strip because it was a smorgasbord of sin from one end to the other. In the whole country there was no place like it. The one spot local and tourists flocked to in equal numbers. There were bars, strip joints, live sex shows and a smattering of restaurants to round out the mix. When the sun went down the barricades went up to close the strip to car traffic and like a lazy river of humanity people walked from place to place doing a different kind of window-shopping.

There were the old joints like Big Daddy’s with its row of poles on the stage and lethargic looking dancers, and the classier places like Rick’s Cabaret with their perfect surgically enhanced beauties. If it was tits and ass you were looking for this was the place to find it, but for those who liked to study people the real entertainment was found, not with the naked souls trying to make a living, but on the street.

Here you found shocked looking visitors taking pictures of the drag queens and leather crowd who gladly posed with people with sensible shoes who felt slightly naughty just for venturing out among the decadent. Sprinkled in to add more flavor were the religious zealots holding signs promising a fiery afterlife for participating in the moral decay the area was famous for. No one ever took the leaflets they were handing out, and if their did, they littered the street several feet away.

Kendal stood at the edge looking down at the street over one of the newer bars. Gothic dress and hard rock were the theme and only those appropriately decked out in black ventured inside. "Have a seat, this won’t take long," Kendal told Charlie. Since Jacques knew why she was there, she knew they would be traveling in packs. If they couldn’t defeat her by skill they would try by sheer numbers.

"Kendal, look," Charlie pointed his chin down the street.

"I see them, now we just need to get them to see us." Kendal stood and opened the long coat she was wearing enough so she could put her hands on her hips.

They were all laughing and walking shoulder-to-shoulder harassing people as they went. To those walking close to them it was a signal to stay clear of them lest they find trouble they couldn’t handle. To the others used to seeing these groups of young punks, they wrote them off as sewer rats. It was a term the locals used to describe the young runaways who came to the Quarter to escape abuse and other misery at home only to find prostitution and drugs on the streets. Kendal knew better though. These little punks might’ve started out that way, but from the pallor of their skin and their mannerisms, they had evolved into something much more dangerous.

It was the youngest of the bunch in physical appearance who looked up first and stopped walking. The guy who’d been walking next to her stopped to see why she’d stopped. Kendal waggled her fingers at them and smiled wide enough to show white perfect teeth. The move sent them into action, moving like a pack of wolves after a wounded deer.

"Tell me where Jacques is and I let you walk away," said Kendal facing all twenty of them once they had clamored up to the roof.

"We will never betray the master. Are you the warrior he spoke of?" asked the young woman who had first spotted her.

"Please let’s not be so formal. Call me Kendal, and you, I’ll call you Hoover bait."

"Hoover bait?" the girl asked.

"Dust, darlin’." Kendal’s hand moved so fast the joke didn’t’ register. The knife split the young woman’s heart and instantly the wind blew away any proof of her existence when the female vampire turned to dust.

The katana appeared next along with one of the small battle-axes she’d worked with that afternoon. "Shall we dance?"

Charlie was momentarily shocked into stillness when the rest of them charged forward. When their faces had transformed to their more hideous features elongating their foreheads with ridges, flattened noses and snarling jaw lines, a memory from when he had first seen the phenomenon paralyzed him. Had he been alone he would’ve been an easy target.

But he wasn’t. The quick sword and slashing axe made quick work of the young vampires. Their lack of real strength and fighting ability was a clue as to how recently they had joined Jacques. She put her weapons away and put her hand on Charlie’s’ shoulder to bring him back from his trip down memory lane.

"I’m so sorry." He looked around and they were all gone.

"Nothing to be sorry about. You ok?"

"It made me think back to when I first saw him."

Kendal squeezed his shoulder. "You don’t owe me an explanation and you didn’t do anything wrong. Come on, let’s go find more trouble."

They found four more packs before Kendal called it a night. As far as her brother’s numbers it was a small percentage, but they had to start somewhere. Charlie had come around to what their purpose was and had performed perfectly. Another couple of weeks of this and Jacques would have no choice but to send out his better and older fighters. Once that happened it would be a matter of time before she flushed him out.

Sunrise was an hour away when they got back to the house. Charlie waved over his shoulder as he headed to his cabin. No amount of requests from Kendal for him to move into the main house had gotten him to leave the only home he’d ever known since being brought to the states. She was about to turn the knob of the front door when it hit her conscious brain. The birds in the oak by the master suite were gone. There was no cooing or predawn chirping like the other mornings.

Kendal unclipped her whip from her belt and let the coil drop to the floor of the porch. She didn’t use it often but for what she had in mind it was perfect. There was no time for her adversary to react when Kendal moved. One second she was standing by the door and the next she ran up the side of the large tree trunk and balanced on a limb. With a very accurate aim her arm flew forward and the leather wrapped around the woman’s throat like an extension of her hand. One strong pull and the trespasser was knocked off her perch.

The woman’s legs kicked in midair as she pawed at her neck to release the hold of the whip. After a minute the struggle gave way to blackness and Kendal dropped her bundle to the ground. To make sure there would be no unpleasant surprises she delivered a blow to the back of the woman’s head before lifting the limp body and flinging it over her shoulder.

She laughed as she thought of Piper’s threat, ‘You kill us and people will know.’ "Want to make a bet, was right on the money. See people should take me more seriously about shit like this," said Kendal to the night air as she moved deeper into the woods headed for the lake.

The trees gave way to a long pier and Kendal dumped her load at the very end. She used the whip to tie her captive to the last piling. "Wakey, wakey," sang Kendal as she slapped the woman’s face with not so soft taps.

The blonde head snapped up and panic flooded the green eyes when she found she couldn’t move. "Please let me go."

"We’ll get to that, but first I want to know what you’re doing here?" Kendal leaned back on the bench Charlie had obviously added to fish from. She crossed her booted feet and waited.

"You don’t understand, you’ve got to let me go now."

A large inhale of air from Kendal was not the answer she was looking for. "Smell that? Don’t you find the air changes just a tad before the beginning of a new day? It’s sweeter somehow."

"Please I’ll do whatever you want, just let me go."

"Oh, I’m thinking you’re in no position to be making promises and since time is of the essence," Kendal stopped a looked at her in question wanting to know her name.

"Veronica, master."

"I’m not your master, but I’m dying to see him so how about you tell me where I can find him and I’ll consider your request."

The innocent looking face dropped and she begged again. "Anything but that. I’ll do anything but that."

"Ok," Kendal wasn’t falling for the innocent act. This beautiful woman was just like the rest of them. No matter how they looked they all had the same monster living inside. The instinct to kill was all they knew. She got up and started back toward the house.

"Wait," screamed Veronica.

"Tell me or pray for a large vat of sunscreen to drop from the sky."

"I can’t tell you what I don’t know," the blonde sounded desperate.

Kendal walked back and grabbed the bowed head. "Why do you think he sent you here, little idiot?"

"He loves me and trusts me," she answered with conviction.

"He scarified you like a dog is what he did." Kendal got close to her showing no fear. "Jacques is a simple thinker and there’s nothing wrong with that. What is wrong, or stupid, depends on how you want to look at it, is thinking everyone else has the same mindset."

The long fingers holding her head up felt so different from Jacques’. Kendal’s hand felt almost hot where it touched her, like she radiated heat. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Look at you." Kendal’s hand moved to below Veronica’s chin. "Young, beautiful, blonde hair, green eyes — the list of physical attributes is complete to what he thinks will tempt me. What was supposed to happen tonight?" Fingertips ran up Veronica’s chin to her brow. "You seduce me into lowering my guard, and then what? What did you promise him?"

For an instant Veronica morphed and let the beast out to scare Kendal back but it didn’t work. She needed to do something quickly though because her skin was starting to prickle. "Your heart," she decided to answer honestly.

Satisfied with the response, Kendal moved back and sat on the bench. Her skin was starting to tingle as well but for a completely different reason. "How long ago did he change you?"

"Twelve years since I’ve been give the gift." Her hands fought with the knots Kendal had tied. "Why do you thrive in the sun when we don’t?"

"Because I was given life by someone who believes in the living. You were given time by someone who believes only in death." Kendal sat in silence after her answer looking like she was thinking hard about something. She took another deep breath before standing and towering over her captive. "Today I’ll give you something precious to make up for what’s happened to you."

"What?" hissed Veronica as she struggled with her bindings. She was starting to sweat blood. The reality of what was coming sinking in with an overwhelming fear.

Kendal wiped her finger along Veronica’s brow smearing the blood like war paint before running her finger along the woman’s lips for one last taste of what had up to then had given her life as well as pleasure. "Release."

When Kendal started towards the house, Veronica saw something she didn’t realize until just then she missed. The first pink fingers of dawn crept across the sky. In her last attempt to please Jacques, she didn’t give Kendal the satisfaction of screaming when the light seared through her like a laser. The pain was severe but thankfully it was short lived. With a quiet thump the whip fell to the pier no longer having a body to hold in place.

************************************************************************

Indigo was waiting on the porch with a cup of coffee in her hand when Kendal walked up. "How’d it go?" She stopped Kendal on the bottom step wanting to be eye level with her.

The contents of the mug smelled so good Kendal took a sip before answering. "What’s that old Queen song you like so much?"

"Another one bites the dust? I always thought that should be your theme song."

"Multiply that by a lot and it sums up last night. It was good. I’ve been a corporate pirate so long I forgot how good it feels to protect and defend."

"You look like a caped crusader in this outfit." The blond leaned in and kissed her, pulling on the lapels of the long coat.

"Yeah? You want to come upstairs and see my special powers?"

The joke made Indigo turn away from her, but not to laugh. They had been through this many times before, but it only got harder the more they had to do it. Realizing what was upsetting the blonde, Kendal took the cup out of her hand and set it on the table. "When do you have to go?"

"I’ve got time to have breakfast with you then I’ll be going." She leaned back into Kendal and laid her hands over the ones on her abdomen. "They said I’m too emotionally involved to be of any use to you here."

"That’s bull."

"Maybe they’re right. We need time apart so we can both remember our place and our purpose. I care for you, Asra, but I’m not your destiny."

Kendal laughed and kissed Indigo’s neck. "My destiny is to be alone. I’ve never had a problem figuring that one out."

"No, don’t ever believe that. You’ve been so good for so long, I believe life will reward you so you don’t continue this journey alone."

"I hope for my sake you’re right." Kendal turned her around and kissed her until they both forgot why they were sad. "Are you hungry right this minute?"

"Let’s go, superhero, show me your stuff." The staff smiled as they went about their tasks when they heard Indigo’s giggles as Kendal carried her up the stairs. If she was on a timeline to leave, Kendal was on the way to messing it up.

They left a trail of clothes from the door to the foot of the bed, neither wanting the encounter to end too soon. No words had to be exchanged for them to know it would be some time before they saw each other again. Once Jacques was destroyed Kendal could go back to finding new ways to reinvent herself until the next challenge came along, and it was only then that Indigo would come back into her life. They both were smart enough to know that whatever the outcome, the Order would keep them apart to assure that no further feelings grew between them upsetting the balance of the teacher/student relationship they were supposed to share.

Indigo slumped bonelessly to Kendal’s chest when the intense orgasm was over; amazed once again at the way the warrior’s touch made her feel. "That was incredible."

"Thank you and the feeling is mutual. I’m thinking those were your hands somewhere in there making me lose control. Unless that is you snuck someone else in here when I wasn’t looking."

"Are you kidding. I know how you feel about group sex." Indigo lifted her head and smiled down at the surprisingly old fashioned woman.

"Sex is not a group activity. I don’t care what other people may think."

The blonde laughed thinking about the history of man and what was acceptable in different eras when it came to pleasures of the flesh. The Romans and their orgies had been a different time from the time of the Inquisition. Whatever the time and whatever the practice though, Kendal had been fairly predictable in her tastes. Always women, always one at a time, and always fantastic.

"Lucky for me you’re so focused," said the Elder as she went to roll off to the vacant side of the bed.

Kendal held her in place and kissed her. "Stay for just a minute." A small soft finger brushed her brows first then moved to trace her lips. "I’d like a long stretch of time with you like we had in the beginning. When we arrived at that oasis, I seriously thought I’d go insane in a matter of days, but when it was time to go I thought I would lose a part of myself when we had to go our separate ways."

"Thank you. Of all those I’ve had to teach you were the only one I wanted to share myself with. You have such a good heart, Asra. Before I go, can I ask you something?"

"You have the right to ask me anything."

"Why are you taking the time to mess with this girl. With all you have going on, you don’t need the distraction."

Kendal ran her hands down Indigo’s back until she reached her bottom. She felt the slight undulation inward when she caressed the smooth skin. They wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. "Are you talking about Piper Dupont and her trusty sidekick Hill Jarvis? Thank you by the way on your excellent imitation of a nun."

"You know who I’m talking about. What I don’t understand is why? Is it because she can’t stand you?"

"I’d be doing pretty good if she just couldn’t stand me. I’m thinking more along the lines of she hates me, and I don’t have an answer as to why I’m wasting my time. Maybe it’s because I tend to take my entertainment wherever I can find it. Piper has the potential to set the world on fire but she’s too angry with the world to see her potential."

"It sounds like you like her." Indigo’s eyes dropped to Kendal’s chest.

Gentle fingers moved to Indigo’s chin and moved the green orbs back into view. "Don’t be jealous, my precious flower. It’s just, well do you know how much it takes to make me angry? I don’t think I’ve felt a good case of outrage in decades, but it took her all of about ten seconds to get my blood boiling. And her grandfather reminds me so much…" started Kendal.

"Of Tomas du’Pon," finished Indigo.

"Sounds crazy huh?"

"No, but you do realize these people aren’t Tomas and Angelina right?"

Kendal rolled them over so she was now covering the smaller woman. "Trust me, the day I lose my grip on sanity, I’ll throw myself down whatever pit you find suitable. I know who they are and who they aren’t. I probably won’t get the chance to sit and talk with Mac like I did with Tomas, or develop the same relationship we had, but before I’m done here there might be some way I can find to help them."

"Enough talk," said Indigo as her body started to heat under Kendal’s knowing hands. The staff served a late lunch by the time they left the room.

"Remember to be careful. And send word if you need me. This time I don’t care what the Order says, if you’re in trouble I’m coming back."

"I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I would like them to not keep you away from me so long. They’ve got to know by now that we know what the rules are and that we’re willing to somewhat abide by them."

"It’s the somewhat that forces them to keep us apart, warrior mine," laughed Indigo. She pressed her palm to Kendal’s cheek one last time and her eyes got glassy. "I’ll miss you."

"Take care," said Kendal before she leaned down and whispered the rest into a delicate ear. "I love you."

Indigo nodded as some of the tears fell. "And I you." Her men moved to the car as their mistress kissed her charge one last time. "Remember to follow your heart in all things." With that said, she was gone.

************************************************************************

There was a note from Charlie that he was heading in to town early to start looking for where Jacques was spending his days, so Kendal decided to go in early as well and have a drink and think. Time alone would have sounded strange to some, but Kendal needed it as a way to heal the parts of her mind that still dwelled on the past.

She chose the same bar where she had enjoyed the cigars and scotch before they were ruined by Piper’s appearance. The long coat she wore over the weapons that would be needed later was left in the back seat and Kendal walked into the hotel with just a sweater and a pair of brown suede pants. The feel of the slightly rough material against her legs reminded her of the time she spent as a trapper and hunter in what was once known as northern Britannia.

Looking around, Kendal saw that the same table she occupied on her last visit was available and the bartender arrived promptly with a drink before she had leaned back in the leather seat. "Welcome back, Ms. Mackey."

"Thank you," she held up her glass, "And thank you."

He put a small wooden humidor on the table and opened it to an excellent selection of cigars. "Ms. Indigo called and said you might enjoy a relaxing smoke before you have to go to work."

"Never argue with an intelligent woman." He nodded and put down another glass so he wouldn’t have to bother her again for awhile.

Set, Kendal let her mind wander wherever it chose, remembering things from different lifetimes that had no set pattern. In her time, and she was still convinced it wouldn’t be forever, she had tried to experience as many things as she could. There wasn’t a trade she hadn’t tried to learn and master and there was nothing she wasn’t willing to try. The money she’d made had been set up in banks that only dealt in numbers and by now she could live another two thousand years and not have to work at all, the fortune she’d amassed was so vast. That wasn’t as important though as the knowledge she’d gathered. If she chose to sit and write a book, it would change some of the history books.

She laughed at the notions the world had about different things like the importance of women and their place in the world of the past. It had been man who had written most of the history so it was more slanted to their accomplishments and conquests. The same could be said of the bible and other books men now used to keep their faithful flocks in check. The teachings of most philosophers and holy men lost much in translation and the passage of time. It was the heated voices across the bar that pulled her from her musings. When she saw who it was, Kendal couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh.

"The bank will be calling in your loans by the end of the week. Either you have the money to pay them off or we move in and take over, it’s that simple, Piper."

"You are nothing but a bottom feeding scum sucker."

Kenny Delaney laughed and lifted his empty glass in the direction of the bar. He loved these kinds of meetings where the opponent had no options and couldn’t scream too loudly without looking like a nut. Under those circumstance he could jab them with as many verbal zingers as he wanted just to watch them squirm.

"That’s a mouthful, darlin’, but do you think that’s how you should be addressing your new boss?"

"I’d never work for you and there’s no way you’re taking the company from us." Piper wanted nothing more than to smash the heavy crystal cocktail glass over his head.

"You’re so good in bed I might just give you a corner office. We’d never lose another contract if I put you in charge of entertaining the clients." He closed his eyes in time as the contents of Piper’s glass hit him in the face. Before she could get up and leave, Kenny grabbed her by the arm and slammed her back in her seat. "You’re going to pay for that one."

"Let me go, you’re hurting me."

"I haven’t begun to hurt you, bitch. Now you’re going to find out what it’s like to get fucked in every conceivable way. Bedding you, that was charity, this is business and we’re not finished."

"Call me crazy, but I believe the lady asked you to let her go." The voice was low and right next to his ear.

Kenny turned to see who it was as he tightened his hold on Piper. There were two blue eyes waiting for him when he focused. "This is a private matter between me and the lady. Get lost."

"I’m sorry, did you think that was a request on my part?" asked Kendal. She pulled the cigar lighter out of her pocket and turned the small torch on. "Care to see if that alcohol aftershave you’re wearing courtesy of the lady is flammable?"

He pulled back so fast he toppled himself over in the chair. "Crazy bitch." He pointed to Piper before he got up and left. "Friday at ten, don’t be late, and don’t forget to bring the old man with you."

"Are you all right?" asked Kendal.

"Just peachy."

If Kendal was expecting gratitude, she wasn’t going to get it from her blonde antagonist. With a brief nod she turned around and headed back to her table. Maybe Indigo had been right, she couldn’t afford the distraction of Piper any longer, especially if the woman couldn’t be civil under any circumstance.

"I’m sorry."

"For what exactly?" asked Kendal. A fine mist started to fall outside and it painted the window she was staring at. The thought of spending the night chasing after bloodsuckers in the cold damp wasn’t making Kendal feel too social.

"I’m sorry for being rude to you just now," Piper’s confession got Kendal to turn around and look at her. "My fight is with Kenny, and considering how I’ve treated you, I’m surprised you would come to my aid at all."

"Mental illness runs in my family," Kendal joked waving to the empty chair across from her.

"I could though sue you for breach of verbal agreement to not get involved in any aspect of my business."

"Saving you from the wrath of Kenny is interfering in your business?"

"We were negotiating."

A dark brow raised so high that Piper wondered if it would come down. "Asking you to sleep with his potential clients is negotiating?" Kendal asked incredulously.

"I was about to make my counter offer."

"I can’t wait to hear this one."

"It wasn’t so much verbal as the glass to go with the drink I threw at him. I didn’t get the chance or the satisfaction when you got there and threatened to set his face on fire with that lethal weapon in your pocket." Piper smiled up at the bartender when he put a fresh drink on the table along with one for Kendal.

"I think that’s the first time you’ve strung that many words together in my presence that didn’t have to do with wishing me bodily harm." The lethal weapon Piper mentioned made an appearance again and Kendal relit her cigar.

"You have to understand the kind of pressure I’ve been under lately. I can promise you I’m not usually such a bitch."

The tip of the cigar turned a bright orange as Kendal sucked hard on the other end. "I don’t think you’re a bitch, Miss Dupont. You’re more of what I would call feisty. If I had gone with the bitch notion of you, I’d have bought the company just to teach you a valuable lesson on manners."

"Why didn’t you? Buy Dupont I mean."

"Because I know how much it means to your family. I wasn’t going to be the one to take it away from you."

Piper nodded and held her drink with both hands. The admonishments of her grandfather came back to her like a brick over the head. Maybe if she’d given Kendal a chance her outlook on the future might be different. "Instead you left us hanging so someone like Kenny could come along and take it."

"I offered to help you, if you remember, and you told me in no uncertain terms to go to hell. Life isn’t always about people trying to screw you over, Miss Dupont. Your company is and has been in trouble for a while, my job is to take over firms like that and make them over into something profitable. History teaches us that for everything there is a time and a place. Business is no different. Dupont was a giant in the shipbuilding industry at one time. You’re now in the wrong location to compete for the really big contracts because you have no place to expand, and you aren’t competitive enough to go after the small contracts that could save you. That isn’t your fault, it’s just business."

The fire Kendal was used to seeing in the pretty green eyes was starting to burn. This time she gave into the smile and let it spread across her face much to Piper’s aggravation. "What’s so funny?"

"You don’t like it when someone tells you the truth, do you?"

One hand came off the glass and Kendal put the cigar down just in case. "The truth as you see it, doesn’t make it the truth."

"Ok, let’s try this. Miss Dupont, do you want my help?"

"I can’t afford your help. You want what’s mine and I’m not willing to pay that price."

Kendal exhaled in a long sigh. This girl was the most annoying person she had ever come in contact with and when she considered she had thousand upon thousands of days under her belt, that was quite an accomplishment. "Why not ask what the price tag is before you turn me down? Haven’t you ever heard that life is full of surprises? I might have the ability to surprise you if you give me the chance." Kendal downed the rest of her drink and stood. She picked up her cigar from the ashtray and leaned over the table. "Think about what I said."

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" Piper surprised herself with the invitation. This woman who looked like a mythic figure had talent when it came to pushing all her buttons. Why in the world would she want to spend the evening eating dinner with her?

"I’d love nothing better, but I have work to do, so maybe some other time."

"You’re going to work now?"

"Yes, ma’am, I’m not just telling you that to brush you off."

Piper laughed thinking of how polite Kendal always was when it came to addressing her no matter how immature she had been in return. "Dressed like that?"

Blue eyes scanned down the long body and arched a brow at the blonde in question. "What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?"

"Nothing, it’s just not your usual business suit. Makes me wonder what type of business you have to attend to."

The deep rumbly laugh sent shivers down Piper’s spine. "I could give you a lifetime of guesses and you would never come up with the answer. Have a pleasant evening, Miss Dupont, and don’t forget about my offer."

Piper let out a laugh of her own. "What makes me think accepting any offer from you would land me in the same position Kenny got me in, namely in his bed."

Kendal leaned further in and for once Piper didn’t back away. "I meant what I said about my bed the first time we met. If you end up there it’ll be because you want to not out of force or obligation. Now I’m thinking it will only be so if you beg me."

"Trust me, you’re not my type."

The tall woman moved in again until there was only inches separating them. "Run along the straight and narrow do you? And I’m putting emphasis on the straight part of that statement."

"I’m not gay."

"I’m not either."

The blonde brows knitted together in confusion. "But I thought," Piper started with uncertainty.

"I’m a woman who enjoys the company of other women, what I don’t enjoy is labels. The world is made up of different people and beliefs. What is normal to one person might be an abomination to another but as long as they find a person who accepts them for what they are, no labels or definitions are needed to justify it." Kendal stood straight and looked out the window again. The rain was now falling in a steady stream. "I am who I am, Miss Dupont, and I’ve never had to find an excuse for it nor have I had trouble finding someone who wants to share time with me. You’re in no danger of being taken advantage of."

What a shame that would be. The thought ran through Piper’s mind as she watched Kendal leave again. No matter how hard she tried to be civil to the woman it never worked out and she ended up saying things she would rather take back. Could Kendal give her the chance to make things right? She might not ever know now unless she made the first move. Piper had a feeling that as far as Kendal was concerned any further contact between them wasn’t something she was going to seek out.

************************************************************************

Jacques entered the house and looked around to see who was missing. All the young ones he had sent out the night before were gone. The most evident of them was Veronica. Not that he had thought they would have any chance against Kendal’s skill, but he thought she would be somewhat intimidated by the numbers of his followers. Failure though was not an option. The time had come to fight the Order on one major point. It was time for the world to know of their existence and claim their rightful place of power. He had always known he was made to rule, and the time had come to rise to his fate.

"Send out the more talented fighters tonight," he said to Troy. "You don’t have to defeat her, you just need to capture her or that little pet of hers. Asra is as predictable as the rising sun. Touch or threaten those close to her and she is willing to lay her sword down."

"Yes, master. I’ll send them out in force."

"Not all, just enough to get the job done. I don’t want to be left vulnerable if she is luckier than we give her credit for. Remember all we need is just one of them."

As Troy organized their attack, Jacques left the house and headed into the city. As he slept everyday he usually had no memory or dreams to cloud his sleep. There was only one who could call to him no matter the time and he would hear. He was going to meet with the one person who would make things right for him and make their dreams of power come to reality.

He moved so fast that most of the people he passed on the street never saw or felt his presence. At the end of his walk Jacques was now in the second oldest part of New Orleans. Uptown had been where the English and northerners who had settled after the French and Spanish had built their big houses and estates. It was still on the river, but unlike the French Quarter that had held on to its historic treasures, very few of the original homes from that era remained here. They were old but lacked the still existing physical reminders of the past like the area a little to the south.

The house he stopped before was from that time. It looked almost foreboding with its dark colors and high brick walls hiding the yard and grounds. The only part visible from the street was the house front itself. He stood on the cracked sidewalk, the cement no opponent for the roots of the large oak close to the fence, and felt the hair on his arms stand on end from excitement. It had been too long since they had seen each other last.

Their own Elders, who guarded the house, bowed to him as he moved to the door. Two other old ones were sitting at her feet when Jacques entered the glass solarium. With no hesitation he dropped to his knees.

"My queen, welcome to New Orleans. I’m here to do your bidding."

 

 

Continued in Part 3

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