Her target had long dark hair, vibrant blue eyes, and an att.i.tude like her father. Ilida also sensed she was older. Angry Man felt young to her. This was confusing by far.

The incandescent light stood in front of her. Only another powerful psychic could do that. Was Angry Man's family that formidable?

Juliana?

And you are the fashion police?

Ilida forgot that when someone communicated to her telepathically they saw, depending on their mood, an idealized or negative image of her.

Your father is looking for you.

So why did he ask you to find me?

He didn't. I volunteered.

Lights twirled and boogied pa.s.sed them. Ilida floated on air. Her telepathic projection unaffected by gravity.

He's so suffocating.

She can do the diva thing well.

He cares about you. Ilida grabbed the young woman's arm. You have to leave and go to him. Ilida began floating away, but Juliana yanked her back.

No way, lady. I don't know you.

I'm...I'm helping him. I think you're in trouble.

Trouble is my middle name. So take your uninspiring sweat suited self out of the club. Tell Daddy I'm not a child anymore and stay out of my head!

Ilida clutched her head forgetting that she was out of her body. Juliana's telepathic voice was strong and high pitched. From Juliana, a bolt of focused psionic energy hit Ilida in the head-a force blast meant to keep her out.

She groaned. Ilida disliked screamers. She ran away from Juliana and her screaming inner voice. She had to find Angry Man now. Talk about dysfunctional family. His outranked hers.

Something evil and foul raced up her spine.

From the sky, the stench of fish caught me. "Drop me here."

Alec let go of my hand. I landed on a roof, then I flipped as gravity pulled me down then fell on Hermes' shoulders, crossed my ankles around his neck and squeezed. His shoulders loosened. I then flipped back forcing him to arch his spine unnaturally. A crackling sound gave me instant satisfaction. He fell, hitting his head. I released him as I flipped away.

Alec took care of the blonde.

Hermes' hips stood up; his torso twisted about. His vertebrae cracked and I imagined realigned. He stood tall and straight now. I unsheathed my sword.

Hermes kicked it out of my hand. It went flying. I lunged for it. But not before Hermes' foot collided with my head. I slumped to my knees, but kept myself from falling down. My vision blurred. I saw him take an object out of his pocket. I staggered to my feet, ran straight for him.

Ilida's attention now centered on the man who staggered to his feet. He ran but not well. He managed to run right through her telepathic projection form. The other man, who reeked of fish, entered the club. She spied something shiny out of the corner of her eye.

The injured man-somehow she got the impression of him being injured-pushed the fish-smelling man down. An object went flying into the club. Ilida ran for the object.

Juliana? resounded in her head. With startling clarity, she knew it was him.

In a blast that would've deafened her corporal ears, the club blew out and up, fell around her in flames and cinders. Bodies that danced with life just minutes ago now lay scattered on the dance floor in burned charred reminders of life.

Maniacal laughter from the fish-smelling man. Her telepathic friend lifted the smelly man up. Smelly Man rammed his head against her friend. The pain leaped from the front of her head to the back, almost blinding her with its force. He stumbled back. Then he plunged his hand in the smelly man's stomach. Dark wetness saturated his sweater.

A salty, sweet aroma burned her nose. It made the pain in her head pound more.

Smelly Man went down screaming.

Ilida floated to the ruined building.

A man with charred skin stumbled out of the club holding a body. Fur covered half his body. Fur? Like a- No. His hair, or what was left of it, she could see, was short, wavy, and black like her friend's. His eyes were dark and hollow with anger and grief.

She got a whiff of him as he ran past her. He smelled like burnt flesh, mother Earth, and animal.

"Juliana?" She turned to that familiar voice now choked with grief. It was him. Everything within her told her it was him.

His lanky, st.u.r.dy frame walked with hurried grace to the burned man holding Juliana's body. She felt his hopelessness and his racing thoughts. His body temperature plummeted as his grief rose. She felt all of him and frantically tried to disengage. But she couldn't break away, as if his pain held her captive. Muscles convulsed in his chest. He threatened to go into shock. Though brokenhearted and shaking, he held himself upright.

She watched the scene before her in slow motion. The charred man still held Juliana's body in his arms. Tears rolled down his face as he handed the body to him. Another man held his shoulders as they sank down to the blackened pavement. Her telepathic companion pulled his head back and let out a scream that reverberated through her telepathic projection form.

She had to get back-leave the scene of pain to mourn privately. As before, the City floated pa.s.sed her in shades of gray until she recognized her surroundings.

Ilida opened her eyes, seeing her apartment, grateful to be back and away from the horror. However, the images wouldn't leave her. Juliana's burned body limp and lifeless cradled in that burned man's arms. Her stomach rebelled. Clutching her skull once more she said to Ca.s.sandra, "Her name was Juliana, and I'm about to throw up." Ilida ran to the bathroom, shut the door, lifted the toilet lid...

I located my sword while Hermes writhed on the floor behind me. I gutted his stomach, side, and back-staking major organs. He'll recover fast. I know I have nothing to lose so if I die while killing him... that's life.

I feel empty s.p.a.ce were my child's spirit should reside. This is one last act of love I will do for her.

Hermes tried to slither away. In the Bushido Code of Honor, one never lets his enemies suffer. I could do no less than end his suffering as mine began. I plunged my sword into his throat feeling and hearing the cracking of bone, the wet cutting sound of tendons ripping apart.

The images of the two of them holding me down, splitting me in half, my c.o.c.k spurting c.u.m, brown blood streaming down my a.s.s and legs came quick and unbidden...

Hermes' blood spurted, coating my face, boots, and legs. He gurgled trying to speak. Fashioning my sword into a lever I moved it to the left. His vocal cords split, esophagus collapsed. I bent down holding the sword steady and stared into his eyes draining of that evil spark. "I'll see you in h.e.l.l, b.i.t.c.h!"

Chapter Five

Terra stumbled into her apartment on the eighteenth floor. Her limbs shook and felt like loose bits of wire, no longer under her control.

Her townhouse-a sky home it was called-sat on top of a high-rise building. She had her own elevator with a key, and a private entrance to get in and out of the building. She had to spend the exorbitant amount to show her father she could roll with him and his patchwork family.

"Oh, Hermes. I knew you'd bite the dust sooner or later," she said, feigning grief. With the chemicals running through her blood-Hermes drank from her quite a bit-he'll be back to his fish smelling self real soon.

Her father fought Hermes, killed him.

Then Terra had made her escape as the club blew to bits. Alec gave her a few good spankings before her retreat. Queenie poo wasn't there. She and Alec are never apart for too long. Never apart. She shouldn't be apart from her father, but she was. At least she got the interloper out of the way. Now was on to phase two, but not yet. Now she needed to rest first.

She fell to the cubed shaped couch and stroked it lovingly. She had the best of everything, just like her father.

New York City lay before me like a black blanket dotted with yellow and pink pearls. I used to love looking at the city from up high. Now I wondered if I'd ever care for the view anymore. I can't feel a f.u.c.king thing.

How will I feel tomorrow night? Lights from a plane, cloaked by the darkness and clouds, flickered as it made its quiet trek across the sky. Will I be able to feel? Will I feel relieved after it's over? I wanted to be on that plane.

"You approve of the final three for the Strategist, Communications, and Weapons position?"

"Approved," I said handing Alec the list from behind me. A droplet of ice water fell on my knuckle, nose, then ear.

"We'd better go inside." Tania hooked her arm around my elbow pulling me. "It's beginning to drizzle."

I acknowledged Tania's concern. I didn't want to feel it. I don't deserve it. I stayed her hand, slipped out of her clutch. "If it's all right with you, Tania I'd rather stay out here."

"Juliana's funeral arrangements have been settled. You don't have to worry about a thing."

Tears rimmed Tania's eyes.

"I know and thank you." I stared with mild interest at the sky again.

"Let him be, Tania," Alec said behind me.

"Come in when you're ready," Tania said.

The sliding door that led to the living room of their penthouse slid open then shut.

Up here on Alec's penthouse patio, life seemed peaceful. I'm above the wasteland. In the six centuries I've been alive I've lost four loved ones. As always, I'm left behind to mourn and pick up the pieces. My stepfather, Juliana's mother, her grandmother, and now my daughter, dead. There is nothing but endless loneliness for me, and I have only myself to blame.

I'm cursed with forever being alone. I didn't have a chance to tell her I' m sorry for being a j.e.r.k.-.o.f.f. of a father. Juliana will come to me in spirit form and tell me she forgives me and I won't buy it. I can't forgive myself. I jumped on the edge of the cement ledge. I paced looking for the perfect device to end my demise.

If I fall down from this height my head will split open, bones will shatter and my internal organs will be crushed, but it won't kill me. As I fall, I could twist my body in midair and impale myself on that flagpole exactly at dawn. My flesh would burn, crackle like Juliana's had. Gruesome, but quick and final. This eternal night isn't worth living. Why not end it that way?

Don't say that.

Warmth infected my body at the sound of her telepathic voice. I can hear her voice though it might not match her audio voice. It will match close enough. I don't intend to hear the real thing.

I can block telepathic thoughts and attacks with ease. I can invade a vampire or human's mind always without detection. How was she able to break through my defenses?

You again? My tone of voice slashed her. She was unsure of talking with me this way, but she wasn't about to back down, yet.

I keep annoying you. I have a habit of b.u.t.ting in when I'm not wanted, but sometimes you gotta b.u.t.t in.

How much did you hear?

I heard "Your eternal night isn't worth living." Are you a night owl?

I felt her smile and her teasing; she was trying to lighten my mood. Why did it work with her? From others it felt like an intrusion. You're impertinent.

Killing yourself is the coward's way out.

Are you trying to give me hope? My reactions to her soothing voice were instantaneous and telling. Flames leaped and gathered at my c.o.c.k.

You have people who care about you. I'm sure if you left them, they'd hate you for it.

Why the h.e.l.l do you care?

You helped me that night. You went out of your way when you could have left me to twist in the wind, and my head hurts. I could use your help again.

I felt her fear, her anxiety tightening her chest as if it was my own. She was afraid I'd do something. Did she know I was pacing on a four-inch wide ledge? Don't be fooled. I paced back and forth faster this time. I'm a selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I could have done it for reasons you have no clue of.

I don't believe that.

Who would have thought helping you would gain me a best friend.

Like feeding a stray dog that keeps coming back?

Listening to her voice the image of man's best friend did not come to mind. Are you a stray?

Sometimes I feel like I am. How about you?