Part Three: Ascension

Dulcinea stared up at the sterile white ceiling of the medical bay, trying to remember who she was. She blinked slowly and tried to figure out how she had gotten there. She remembered a shuttle taking off and the carnage on the roof of Dionysus’ club.

“You’re awake,” a nurse said as she walked up. “Good.”

“Where am I?” Dulcinea asked trying to turn her achingly stiff neck.

“Trinity Hospital,” the nurse answered. “Someone has been using strong psionics on you, as a result you passed out for a while.”

“Arkady, Agent Bonneville, where is he?”

“Your partner? He’s waiting outside, I’ll get him for you.”

Dulcinea continued to look up at the ceiling as she heard footsteps approach her bed.

“How are you doing?” she heard Arkady ask.

“Ok, I guess. Why can’t I turn my head?”

“They had to put a probe into your spinal column. Livey or someone else who was there was using some pretty powerful psionics on you.”

“Any damage?”

“Nothing permanent. Some of the capillaries in your brain burst but they’ve healed well.”

“How long was I out?”

“Almost a day.”

“Did you get Livey?”

“No, he disappeared. Probably ran while we were dealing with his pet alien.”

“That’s impossible. I gave him a tube of firedragon. He should have been flat on his back for hours.” I should know, she thought to herself.

“Someone else must have grabbed him. How many did you see there?”

“There were eight others.”

“That’s what the Keyhole picked up but we only found seven bodies.”

“There was someone who sounded like they had cybernetics.”

“We didn’t find anyone with cybernetics.”

“That must have been the one then.”

“I’m sorry, she’s still healing,” the nurse said. “You can come back during normal visiting hours.”

“I’ll see you then, Dulcinea,” Arkady said.

“Sure. Oh, Arkady?”

“Yes?”

“What’s it like to have cybernetics?”

“I don’t think I can describe it. Why?”

“Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to worry about my body. Arkady?”

“Yes?”

“What happened to the woman chained to the altar?”

“She disappeared.”

Dulcinea groaned. “That thing, it was doing something to her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Most of the ceremony is just a blur.”

“That’s probably a result of the psionics,” the nurse said. “Now, sir, you really have to leave.”

“Yeah, ok. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right. Tomorrow.”
 
 

“Aldonza,” someone whispered. Dulcinea’s eyes snapped open and rolled from side to side. She tried desperately to move her head but found it as immobile as if it were carved from stone. “Aldonza,” the voice was louder now.

“Dionysus?” she asked the pitch black room. “Is that you?”

“Aldonza,” the voice said. Dulcinea moaned as she felt someone’s hands roaming over legs and slowly hiking up her hospital gown. She tried to cry out for help but her voice caught in her throat. “Do it,” the voice said into her ear. She could feel warm breath wafting over her neck and the hairs on her neck standing up.

“No,” she whispered as a warm wave of pleasure swept over her body as the hands began to gently stroke her bare skin. She struggled to sit up as the hands changed to ropy, slimy tentacles. She felt them sliding over her body, leaving warm trails of slime clinging to her skin. She moaned in unwilling pleasure as they began to lightly rub against her inner thighs and breasts. “No,” she whispered again as they pressed against her, sliding over her pussy and ass. “No.” She whimpered as they began to push against her and another slid over her lips, tasting of milk and earth. “NO!”
 
 

“Agent Curtis! Wake up!” the nurse yelled. Dulcinea opened her eyes, a scream bubbling up in her throat. She could still feel the tentacles on her body. “You’re having a nightmare,” the nurse said.

Dulcinea sagged back to the bed in relief. “God,” she moaned.

“Another side-effect from the psionics,” the nurse said soothingly, “would you like a sedative? It will help your dreams.”

“A sedative? Yes- No. No sedatives. No drugs unless I need them.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Yes I am.” Dulcinea yawned. “I’m getting sleepy already. Oh, could I have my pistol?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t get it for you. I can ask security to wait outside the door if you want.”

“Thank you, I’d like that.”

The nurse nodded and walked out of the room, waving her hand over the light switch and leaving her in a moonlit darkness. She sighed as she closed her eyes, slowly falling back to sleep accompanied by the low beeping of the heart monitor and the faint sounds of traffic twenty stories below.
 
 

The hotel room was dark and the drapes drawn as Arkady opened the door. He scanned the room and saw that it was empty.

“Evelyn?” he called out, seeing the bathroom door ajar and light spilling from it. He kicked the door shut with his heel and stepped into the room, calling out again.

He reacted instinctively when someone stepped behind him and covered his eyes with their hands. Grabbing their wrists he bent forward and flipped his assailant over his head and onto the bed. He had his pistol out instantly as the person twisted in midair to land on their back, bouncing slightly on the mattress.

“Evelyn! For Christ’s sake, I could have hurt you,” he said as he holstered his pistol.

“I really doubt that,” she said from the bed with a smile on her face. Her blond hair was damp from her shower and spread out across the covers. Arkady couldn’t help but notice that she was only wearing a towel which had started to come undone. “I could always beat you hand-to-hand.”

Arkady snorted as he knelt by the foot of the bed and looked down into her upside down face. “Maybe,” he said and then leaned down to kiss her.

Evelyn murmured in pleasure as they kissed, her hand going up to hold his head. “You know,” she said as they parted, “I think I like it better the other way.”

“What, you don’t find my chin sexy?”

Evelyn laughed. “Not really,” she said as she turned to lie on her stomach, “especially with that stubble.”

“I happen to think I have a very good chin. Rugged. Handsome. Chiseled.”

Evelyn laughed, burying her face in the covers. Her snorts of muffled laughter continued for a good minute before she subsided and raised her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry, but chiseled?” She began to giggle again. “And the way you puffed out your chest when you said it-” She broke off in a helpless fit of laughter.

“Don’t you know it’s against regs to laugh at a superior officer?”

Evelyn pushed herself up to kneel on the bed. Her towel was tantalizingly close to falling off completely. “We’re both civilians now. You can’t pull rank on me,” she said teasingly.

“Watch me,” he said and jumped at her. They rolled around on the bed, both laughing until Evelyn rolled on top of Arkady and held his wrists down above his head. “As your commanding officer, I order you to let me up.”

Evelyn smiled and leaned over him, her towel falling off her body and to the bed. She tightened her grip around his wrists, the new skin on her left arm incredibly soft against his wrist. “I don’t think so, sir,” she whispered. “I’m going to need a good reason to follow your order.”

“This is insubordination.”

“Oh? I don’t think so, you’ve been acting in a strange manner and,” she shifted her hips to rub against his crotch, “carrying concealed weapons.” She couldn’t help but giggle at the age-old cliché.

“So you’re relieving me of duty?”

“Only if you can’t give me a good reason not to.”
 
 

“So you’re finally awake,” Cassus said from behind his desk, the triangular Dracan Industries logo looming above his head. Dionysus hissed and sat up, his head pounding from the aftereffects of the firedragon. He looked around, his head spinning, at the sumptuously furnished office. Aged redwood paneling lined the walls and an antique Persian rug lay on the hardwood floor.

“That bitch! What was she thinking?” he said.

“She was likely thinking of her superiors in the CPO!” Cassus yelled as his patience with the arrogant and hedonistic priest snapped. “Did you even think for one moment that after you murdered a senator that you might be investigated?”

“Watch your tone, Cassus, I still hold the key to the immortality you need.”

“Which we will both enjoy during our lifetime prison sentence!” Cassus stood and stomped around his desk, the gleaming metal of his body and limbs humming and whining. He snarled, twisting his withered, almost skeletal, face. The yellowish skin pulled tight over his bones as he said, “I do not plan to spend eternity in a prison cell!”

Dionysus grunted as he stood from the couch he had lain on. “You doubt the strength of the Dark Mother? She will protect us through out tribulations,” he said as he straightened his ceremonial robes. “Now, where is the sacrifice?”

“She’s safe.”

“Good, bring her to me.”

“Do not think to order me around, Dionysus.”

Their gazes locked until Dionysus gave a grudging nod. “Very well, please have your men bring her to me.”

Cassus snorted and walked back to his desk. The overhead lights gleamed off the dome of his skull, only a few white hairs remaining on the liverspotted skin. He stabbed the comm link pad with his finger and spoke, “Bring the girl to me.”

A few minutes later the double door to the office opened and the young woman was escorted in by a pair of armored guards. They saluted and left her standing in the middle of the office, wearing a standard issue worker’s jumpsuit.

“We must see if the ceremony was successful,” Dionysus said, eying the woman like a fine horse.

Cassus approached, a medical multi-tool in his hand. He pressed the tool against the woman’s arm and drew a sample of her blood into a vial. Dionysus followed as Cassus walked back to his desk and placed the vial into a small chamber. “Analyze the blood,” Cassus told the computer.

They both watched as a spindly polyhedral shape appeared on the holo-display. It was bracketed by a warning sign and a prominent biohazard sign. “It worked,” Dionysus said smugly. “We have the means to cleanse the world and grant ourselves immortality!” Cassus grudgingly agreed, feeling his enthusiasm gradually growing as the virus rotated serenely in the holo-display.
 
 

Evelyn tossed her hair back and moaned loudly as she slowly impaled herself on Arkady’s cock. His hands held her waist tightly, helping her lift herself above him and then pulling her back down onto him. Arkady’s hips pushed upward in time with her, both of them groaning in time to their thrusts.

“Ahhh, yes, this is a very, good, reason!” Evelyn gasped as she bent over and rested her palms on his shoulders. She cried out in pleasure as Arkady slid his hand down her body and cupped her bottom, his finger slipping between her cheeks to stroke the sensitive skin between her pussy and anus.

Evelyn began to grind herself against Arkady, her slender thighs tightening and releasing as she raised and lowered herself. She moaned as Arkady cupped her buttocks, stroking and squeezing her firm and soft flesh. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she bent closer to him, her breasts brushing against his chest.

Arkady slid his hands back up her body, tracing over the curve of her spine to gather her hair. Her buried his hands in it, loving the feel of its soft weight. He raised his head slightly to kiss her, his hands pulling her near him. She pressed her body to his, rubbing her breasts frantically against him as she climbed nearer to climax. Arkady held her close, one arm around her waist, the other at the back of her head, keeping her locked in a kiss. She broke the kiss suddenly and turned her head to the side, gasping explosively as the motion of her hips increased to a dizzying tempo. Arkady groaned and began to suck on her neck, his tongue sliding over the soft skin of her jaw, as Evelyn’s silky blond hair fell across him.

She let out a low whine and dug her fingers into his shoulders as she came, her whole body shaking and shuddering while her thighs clenched and drew in close. Arkady
grunted and gasped as she squeezed him tightly within her as she bit hard on his neck. He moved his hands to her buttocks and dug his fingers into them as he pressed her down against him, his hips jerking up as he came.

Evelyn breathed heavily, filling her lungs in slow, shuddering breaths as she swept her hair back from her face and kissed him softly. She crossed her arms on his chest and rested her chin on them, looking idly at his flushed face. She smiled contentedly as he stroked her back and bottom, his fingers light against her skin. Sighing softly, she turned her head and let it rest on his chest, her arms going to his side. Arkady gently stroked her hair with one hand as they drifted off to sleep, sweat cooling on their bodies.
 
 

“A toast, to immortality!” Dionysus said, raising the expensive glass of vintage California wine.

“A toast,” Cassus answered. He glanced over at the monitor displaying the chimp injected with a sample of the virus. No ill effects at all. The computer simulations he had run showed no harmful effects from the virus either, strangely enough, they showed no effects whatsoever.

Dionysus held up the injector full of a concentrated sample of the virus. It seemed clear and boring, not looking the part of the fountain of youth. Smiling, he set down his glass of wine and pressed the injector to his wrist. “Life eternal,” he whispered as he pressed the injector button. He felt a tiny pinch as the virus was forced through his skin and into his bloodstream.

“Well?” Cassus said.

“Nothing,” Dionysus said in a disappointed voice. “Perhaps it takes-” He stopped and shuddered, his eyes going wide. He laughed exuberantly and whooped. “It’s working,” he yelled, “it’s working!” He could feel the virus changing him, improving his genetic code and changing it to fit with the Dark Mother’s. “Take this, Cassus, and taste immortality!”

Cassus forced himself to be calm as he took the injector from Dionysus’ hand and injected the virus into himself. He sat back in his chair and watched as Dionysus took the injector back and held it up to the light. “Now this virus must undergo a transformation as well,” he said. He pulled the vial containing the virus and placed it into a sampler. He placed the sampler at his wrist and triggered it, watching as his blood swirled into the vial and mixed with the virus. Almost instantly the virus changed from a clear red to a swirling muddy green.

“What have you done?” Cassus asked.

“The Dark Mother told me how I could cleanse the Earth and start anew. She showed me how her greatest gift could grant both life and death. The virus has changed, no longer will it grant life, now it will grant only death,” Dionysus said, an gleam in his eyes. “Test it, inject it into a test animal and watch what it does!”

They both watched in silence as a lab technician left with a small portion of the sample and took it to the testing laboratory. A new chimpanzee was selected and placed in a sealed biohazard isolation chamber. “No, don’t inject it,” Dionysus said into the comm link, “spray a tiny bit, a milligram of it into the chamber in aerosol form.” The tech looked at the comm link for Cassus’ approval and proceeded after the businessman nodded.

The two men heard a hiss as the virus was released into the chamber. For a moment, nothing, then the chimpanzee began to shiver and twitch uncontrollably. A bloody froth began to pour from its nose and mouth as it shuddered, its bones creaking as it twisted itself. Dionysus laughed as the chimp’s body began to swell and something could be seen moving just beneath its skin.

“Incredible,” Cassus said softly as a greenish-black tentacle burst from the chimp’s mouth in shower of gore and viscera. Incredibly, the chimp managed to stand as more tentacles sprouted from its body, bathing the chamber in blood. Within seconds the chimp was gone and a hideous monstrosity was in its place.

The thing was perhaps two feet high and formed of a mottled green and black mass of tentacles and spiky limbs that served as legs and arms, perversely mimicking the chimpanzee in shape. From somewhere deep in the mass, a maw lined with teeth like jagged needles opened. Where the chimpanzee’s head should have been, only a cluster of jagged limbs sprouted. “Absolutely incredible,” Cassus said. “I wonder, does the virus affect everything the same way?”

“Why don’t we find out?” Dionysus said with a grin.

Cassus smiled back, his grin stretching his face into a death’s head mask. He reached over to the holo-terminal on his desk and called up the central control system for the bio-labs. Dionysus was chuckling madly as Cassus opened the airlock to the isolation chamber and sealed the labs door, leaving the technician trapped.

They both were laughing wildly as the technician tried first to close the airlock and then to open the door. He turned to the comm link and began to shout, begging for someone to override the central controls and close the airlock before the thing could get out.

“Too late!” Cassus said gleefully into the comm link, pointing behind the technician. The technician had time for one brief scream before the once-chimpanzee jumped onto his face, limbs skewering the man’s head and neck. A splatter of blood covered the comm link’s lens, blocking the view as grisly crunching sounds could be heard.

Cassus was pounding on his desk as he switched to a surveillance camera in the corner of the room. From its vantage point, the camera could see the thing chewing its way into the technicians head. The tech’s body was still twitching, one arm caught in his labcoat, the other half raised in an attempt ward off the attack. The technician gave once last jerk, his slacks smearing a long crescent of his blood across the sterile duraplas of the floor, and fell still.

Cassus watched in amazement as the body of the technician began to jerk again, the chimpanzee-thing sliding from the man’s skull to drop to the floor as the corpse raised itself into the air. The body jerked and cracked as it bent backward to land on its hands while its feet faced in the opposite direction. What remained of the corpse’s head made a snapping noise as it fell off to reveal a dark cavity lined with teeth in the stump of its neck. The corpse began to scuttle about the room like a cockroach, ending up huddled under the control console, a long bark covered tongue lapping at the blood congealing on the floor.

“A canister of the virus released into the atmosphere would be enough to infect the entire city,” Cassus said. “The world is ours, faced with the virus, no nation could stand up to us.”

“A new order will rise, one dedicated to the Dark Mother,” Dionysus said. “But first, I believe we should deal with that treacherous CPO agent.”
 
 

Dulcinea stirred restlessly in her sleep. Visions of walking trees filled her dreams with nightmarish scenes of writhing forests that pulled down the stars. She tossed and turned on the hospital bed, her heart racing as she relived the nightmarish events in the arboretum. Once again she was there, watching as Dionysus sacrificed the cow, only this time it was she who was on the altar.

She knew she was dreaming and struggled to wake up as the, thing, walked towards her. Nothing she did seemed to help, she could feel the cold metal of the manacles on her wrists and the sting as they bit into her tugging wrists.

She watched helplessly as she felt herself drawn deeper into the dream and the thing came closer and closer to her helpless body. She closed her eyes as the thing began to run its tentacles along her body, the surface of the tentacles both rough and soft at the same time, like a cat’s tongue. Dulcinea moaned as she felt a clinging slime ooze from the tentacles to coat her skin. She tried to pull away from the tentacles smelling of earth and other things to no avail. The tentacles crept up her body and began to poke and prod at her most private of places.

“Stop,” she said, hating the weakness and fear she heard in her voice. “Please!”

The tree-thing made no response, just leaning closer over her body and opening and closing its many mouths a bit faster. Dulcinea turned her head as another tentacle slid around her face and prodded at her mouth. She clenched her teeth together as it forced its way past her lips and into her mouth. She moaned as it wormed its tip in between her teeth and began to force her jaw open, soon it had gained access to her mouth and was sliding across her tongue. It tasted of dirt and a man’s come as it slid across her tongue, almost making her gag.

She tried biting the tentacle but the fibrous material it was formed from was too tough to bite through. Her body thrashing, she looked up past the thing hovering over and out the dome covering the arboretum towards the stars.

“Enjoying yourself?” she suddenly heard a voice say. She managed to turn her head enough to see Dionysus standing by the altar, his cock out of his robes and in his hand. He was stroking it as he talked to her. “I thought you’d enjoy the attentions of the Dark Young. It seemed appropriate, really. The CPO has so many agents collecting information, its been compared to an octopus. Octopus, tentacles, I’m sure you get the joke.” He began to rub his cock faster as Dulcinea felt the tentacles begin to press at her pussy and anus, their tips beginning to insinuate themselves into her. “I’m enjoying this very much,” he grunted. “I wonder what your colleagues will think when they find you dead in you hospital bed?” For a moment the arboretum was gone and an expensively furnished office was in its place. She thought she saw a wizened old man who was more metal than flesh sitting behind a large desk and a triangular logo on the wall behind him. Before she had time to do more than get a glance at the office, the arboretum was back.

Dulcinea snarled in anger as the tentacles began to push themselves into her despite her best efforts. To her side she could see Dionysus kneeling on the altar, the tip of his cock bobbing as he furiously jerked himself off next to her face. She turned her eyes back to the stars, refusing to give him the satisfaction of coming directly on her face. One star stood out, brighter by far than all the rest. The Keyhole spy satellite, she thought as she concentrated on it. With each second it seemed to grow in brightness until it shone as bright as the Sun and then finally filled all of Dulcinea’s vision and awareness.
 
 

“She’s dead, she didn’t last as long as I thought she would,” Dionysus said as he opened his eyes and sat up on the couch where he had lain. “A shame I did not get to see her final violation. I was looking forward to that.”

“The virus has been bred,” Cassus said. “We have two canisters of it ready in the laboratory.”

“Good.”
 
 

Dulcinea looked around and saw brilliant whiteness. The tentacles and thing were gone, she could no longer taste or smell them. As she looked down at herself, she saw that she was wearing her usual skirt-suit.

“Another fucking mess you’ve gotten us into,” Aldonza said from behind her. Dulcinea turned slowly around to look at her alterego.

Aldonza was wearing what was popular among kids fifteen years ago, essentially a bikini top with sleeves, and a skin tight skirt that barely covered her along with knee high boots. Aldonza looked back at Dulcinea with a face fifteen years younger and heavily covered in makeup. “Why the fuck didn’t you join Dionysus?” Aldonza asked, walking around Dulcinea and snorting derisively at her suit. “I know you want to know what it’s like to get tentacle fucked. You were ready to hop up onto that altar and take it everywhere and anywhere.”

Suddenly the altar was there and a Dulcinea was chained to it. She writhed in pleasure as she was fucked by three tentacles, her entire body shaking and her moans easily heard over the wet sounds the tentacles made. Two more tentacles slid and rubbed over her body, squeezing and teasing her breasts. Her hips bucked upward in time to the thrusts of the tentacle in her pussy and ass, each time groaning in pleasure around the tentacle busy stuffing itself down her mouth. Greenish-black slime coated her skin and lips as she visibly sucked on the tentacle, her cheeks hollowing as she took the tentacle deep into her throat. Dulcinea stared at herself and watched as she orgasmed, hands clenching and chains jingling merrily as she shuddered on the altar.

“Maybe you would have,” Dulcinea shot back a little shakily, the image of the altar and her disappearing, “but then, you’re a damn stupid kid.” She looked Aldonza up and down. “You would have been dead by twenty, the way you were living.”

“At least I’d have lived! Look at you!” Aldonza reached out and tugged a lock of Dulcinea’s hair. “You’ve wasted your life! Look at yourself! You haven’t done anything with it.”

Dulcinea suddenly found herself looking into a full length mirror. She looked at a woman with curly chestnut hair down to her shoulders, good creamy white skin that burned easily, and brown eyes. A slender nose and lips that were full when not tightened in a worried grimace finished a face that would be called pretty but never cute. Aldonza stood behind her, looking over her shoulder and sneering. “A waste. You might as well be some ugly bitch.” Dulcinea jumped as Aldonza reached around her and cupped her breasts, kneading them just like she had done when she was a kid. “You’ve got these,” Aldonza said, “and these.” She moved her hands down Dulcinea’s body, running them over her hips and thighs then down her legs. She yanked Dulcinea’s skirt up to show off her legs. “Your goddamned skirts are down to your knees. Everything’s wasted on you. When was the last time you got laid?”

Dulcinea watched as a bed appeared in front of her and saw herself on her hands and knees on it. A vaguely man-shaped figure appeared behind her and mounted her, his cock sliding rapidly in and out of her as he held her hips. An echoing grunting sound came from him as he pulled Dulcinea’s double onto his cock, his crotch slapping against her ass.

The woman on the bed turned to look at her the two spectators and smiled lustfully, one hand going back to rub her clit as she licked her lips. She began to moan in time to the man’s thrusts, her breasts bouncing back and forth with the violence of his thrusts. She started to yell in time with the movements of his cock, falling onto her elbows and letting her head fall forward as the man rapidly impaled her, his orgasm imminent.

“You want to join in, don’t you? You want to be her again,” Aldonza said, walking around the bed to smirk at Dulcinea over her double’s sweat slick body. “Stop pretending like you care. You’re a selfish bitch and a hypocrite. Admit it.” The man gave a loud grunt and pulled out of Dulcinea’s double, his come splattering across her upraised bottom and back. “Who cares about the rest of the world? Live for yourself and let everyone else go to hell.” Aldonza smiled and ran a finger over Dulcinea’s double’s back, scooping up a large glob of come. “Mmm,” she murmured as she sucked her finger clean, “who gives a shit about anyone else?”

Dulcinea looked down at the featureless white stretching to forever on all sides of her. She felt the urge to just give up, to give in. What had she gotten out of the years she had spent in the CPO? A slow stream of promotions until she ended up behind a desk? A decent salary that she never had time to spend? Would anyone remember who she was after she was dead? Would she be anything more than a string of letters in the roll of retired agents? No family. No friends outside of work. Nothing but work. Work...

Work. Protecting people from the likes of Dionysus. Saving lives. Making a difference in people’s lives. Seeing places that most humans would never see. Seeing things that most people would never imagine. Making a difference...

“Shut up,” Dulcinea said evenly as she looked up at Aldonza. “Shut up, you ungrateful slut.”

Aldonza’s eyes widened. “Fuck you! You’re the one who wasted-”

“Shut up! I’ve done more with my life than you ever would! If it wasn’t for me we’d be dead in an alley from an overdose! Or working the street corners as some ten dollar an hour whore! You should be thanking me for getting us out of that hellhole.”

“You wasted-”

“I’ve wasted nothing! I’m doing good, I’m making a difference. Which is more than you ever did. You were a leech, a parasite on society.”

“But-”

“No buts. No more excuses. I’m not listening to you any more. I’m in charge here and what I say goes!” Dulcinea watched as Aldonza froze then shattered into the light. She smiled as she felt a sudden lurch and then she was falling, the light changing to the darkness of her hospital room. “No one controls me but myself,” she whispered to the dark.
 
 

Arkady opened one eye at the sound of someone pounding on the hotel room door. He listened for a moment and rolled out of bed, listening as Evelyn mumbled incoherently and rolled over. He stomped over to the door and turned on the monitor, staring in sleepy disbelief at Dulcinea where she stood on the other side of the door.

“What are you doing here, Dulcinea? You’re supposed to be in the hospital,” he said.

“I got better. You going to make me stand out here all night?” she said with a gleam in her eyes. Arkady stood aside and waved her in, closing the door behind her and checking the time. The display in the upper left of his vision displayed five thirty in the morning.

“’Morning, Agent Curtis,” Evelyn said from the bed. She was leaning against the headboard with the blankets drawn up over her chest.

“So what are you doing out of the hospital?” Arkady asked as he sat back down on the bed.

“I know where Dionysus is and I know who his accomplice is,” she said, almost dancing in eagerness.

“Who?”

“He’s at Dracan Industries' New York office with Cassus Dracan.”

“How do you know?” Evelyn asked.

“Dionysus tried another psi attack on me. But I got to see where he was when he was doing it. I don’t think he thought that I’d live through it.”

“Are you sure? We can’t get a search warrant on what you saw.”

“Yes I’m sure, just have Metropolitan Traffic check the flyer records for just after the raid. I’ll bet you dinner that Dracan’s flyer is registered as leaving the same area as the club and then arriving at Dracan Industries.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I already checked. I’m right and you owe me dinner.”
 
 

Twenty minutes later they were in the air with three APCs full of NYPD SWAT officers, search warrant in hand. The APCs screamed through the air above the buildings of downtown New York before swooping in towards the Dracan Industries building.

“We’ve got Keyholes keeping surveillance on the surround blocks and the HRT is on standby if we need backup,” Arkady said over the comm link. “Dracan Industries has an extensive security force but they’re armed with civilian weapons for the most part. Most of them are just security, they’re not going to get in our way. Our only worry is Cassus Dracan’s bodyguard. They’re all ex-military and armed with the best that money can buy.”

“Odds are that Dracan still won’t want to go up against a search warrant,” Dulcinea said as she adjusted her headset. “They do that, he’ll be shut down all over the CAS. If Dionysus Livey is there, security will probably just get in out way and try to run interference while he gets out the back.”

“That’s why we’ve got squad cars and flyers surrounding the building. We’re not going to lose him,” Arkady said. The captain of the SWAT team nodded as he finished listening to the briefing and turned to the other SWAT members filling the lead APC. Arkady watched as he laid out the insertion plan to the SWAT teams and told them to check their weapons. Arkady almost felt as if he were back in the Alliance War. The APC was military surplus, he could have ridden the same one into combat over a dozen planets.

The SWAT team was equipped with gear that would have been suitable for any Marine unit. They were wearing the same powered armorsuits that Arkady and his unit had worn for the early part of the war until they had been given the newer powered battlesuits. The main difference between the two was the amount of integral weaponry, the armorsuits had none except for a small plasma torch on the left arm, the battlesuits mounted rail guns, particle beams, and a mag launcher. Still, there was the debate over whether the less bulky armorsuits were better for special forces or not-

“Hey, Arkady,” Dulcinea said, shaking his arm. “You dreaming again? Officer Duchamps’ on the line for you.”

Arkady shook his head and activated his comm link. Only Evelyn’s voice came over the link, that meant that she was using her cybernetic link instead of a normal one that could use its camera to show her image. “What’s happening?” he asked.

“Just wanted to let you know that we’re fully deployed around the building. How are you doing? Getting nostalgic?” she said.

Arkady smiled. “Just like old times,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s something, seeing those old beasts flying around.”

“Well, hopefully there won’t be as much shooting as there used to be.”

Arkady heard Evelyn chuckle as she signed off. “Three minutes,” he said over the team frequency and checked his mag launcher another time. Beside him Dulcinea checked her particle beam projector, essentially the same as 21st century sub-machineguns but launching a stream of charged particles instead of bullets. They were both wearing light armorsuits, lighter versions of the SWAT team’s armor, standard issue for CPO agents going into areas of potential danger. “Are you ready?” he asked Dulcinea.

Dulcinea smiled broadly as she slipped on her helmet. The sharply angled surface of the helmet made her look like something from an old comic book. “Damn right I’m ready,” she said, a quirk to her smile that Arkady couldn’t remember seeing before.

Arkady smiled back and put on his own helmet, activating the heads-up-display and checking the helmet’s optics and sensors. They were all redundant for him, his cybernetic eyes carried every enhancement that the helmet did, but they could serve as backups just in case. He aimed his mag launcher up at the ceiling and squinted along the barrel, doublechecking that the targeting reticule displayed on his vision matched up with where the gun was actually pointed. Beside him, the SWAT team and Dulcinea were doing the same thing.

“We’re over the target,” the pilot said over the comm link. Arkady listened as the team leader gave the order to drop onto the target. The pilot swung in low over the roof of the Dracan Industries building, pausing just long enough for his passengers to jump out. Once they were clear of his exhaust he banked and cleared the roof, allowing the next APC to do the same. In under a minute all three APCs had unloaded their passengers.

“All teams move out,” Arkady ordered.
 
 

Cassus Dracan stopped laughing when the alarms started to wail. He dropped his champagne glass and ran to his desk, calling up the status display on the holo-projector.
“Intruders!” he yelled. “Of all the times for a corporate raid-” He was stopped by the sudden appearance of the CPO seal and a booming voice declaring, “Cassus Dracan, you are being served with a search warrant for your office, building, and any and all spaces contained within. Do not attempt to obstruct the agents serving this warrant. Dionysus Livey, you are ordered to stay where you are and surrender yourself to the next law enforcement officer you come in contact with by order of the New York District Attorney.” The message began to repeat itself and Cassus cut it off with a wave of his hand.

“The virus! They’ll find it and what it’s done! That’s a death sentence for us!” Cassus yelled. “We have to use it on them!”

Dionysus finished his glass of champagne. “We will do nothing of the sort,” he said calmly, bouncing the sample of virus he had created in his hand.

“What are you talking about? I won’t have immortality snatched away from me this-” he stopped in mid-sentence as Dionysus pointed at him and spoke a few guttural
syllables. “What are you doing?” Cassus managed to gasp as an incredible pain gripped him.

“I have no more use for your money or facilities. I do thank you for them, but the time is at hand when none of it will matter any more and I can’t have you disrupting my plans,” Dionysus said. He concentrated and watched as Cassus fell to his knees, his cybernetics whining as he struggled to rise. “A senator, an agent of the CPO, a world. I do not care who knows what I have done and who I have murdered, the time of cleansing is here.”

Cassus activated his comm link and sent the signal that would have his elite bodyguard at his side in less than ten seconds. The last thing he saw was the doors to his office bursting open and his bodyguards rushing in, their weapons at the ready. Worth every penny, he thought and died.

Dionysus ignored Cassus’ bodyguards and watched as Cassus’ head began to stretch and flop about on its neck. There was a sound like tearing cloth as his neck stretched and tore, the skin parting like dry paper to reveal the wet cables and tubes connecting Cassus’ brain to the rest of his body. There was a series of wet splats as Cassus’ head dragged itself along the floor with its teeth, pulling a long string of organs along behind it. The cybernetic body that Cassus had used flopped to the ground like the many pounds of scrap metal it now was. Dionysus heard the guards swearing in terror as Cassus’ head sprouted a cluster of tentacles from its eyes and began to stand. Unseen to them, Dionysus slipped the vial of the virus into an injector.

Spiky teeth were beginning to stretch from the mans inverted mouth and his ears were lengthening into leathery wings when a guard lost his nerve and fired his mag launcher at the head. The dozens of razor sharp flechettes sliced through the head and reduced its surface to a meaty green pulp, splattering the interior of Cassus’ head all over the expensive hardwood floor. Dionysus nudged the greenish-yellow paste that used to be the only human part of Cassus Dracan with his foot. It twitched and bubbled for a moment, a sickly steam rising from it as it melted.

He heard the guards yelling at each other as he turned towards them. None of them were wearing full armor, they were dressed in suits, most likely to remain unnoticed as they accompanied their employer. “Unlucky for you,” he said as he sprayed a mist of the virus from the injector.
 
 

Arkady and Dulcinea stood behind the SWAT team as they lined up outside the door to Cassus’ office. They watched as a demolitions officer slapped pads directional explosive to the hinges. The DEX would blow the doors of their hinges with a focused explosion as soon as the demolitions officer activated the detonator.
Arkady watched as the team captain used an x-ray video camera to look into the room. The image was projected onto each person’s HUD and showed a sketchy outline of the office with light opaques for denser materials and lighter darks for less dense.

“Sir, what do you think those are?” the captain asked, pointing towards man-high blotches on the image.

“Looks organic, could be plants. Dulcinea?” Arkady said.

“Or the same type of alien that Dionysus had,” she said. “No risks, I say we go in there ready to deal with the same,” Dulcinea said.

“Right. Let’s go.”

There was a deafening bang which his helmet filtered out immediately as Arkady gave the go order. Moving instantly, the SWAT team poured into the office, weapons at the ready.

“Everybody down!” he heard the captain yelling. “We are officers of the NYPD executing a search warrant, lie face down with your hands to the-” He was cut off by a burst of particle beam fire.

Arkady scanned the room as the other SWAT members opened fire on something towards the center of the office. He darted to the side and saw that what he had thought were plants were actually some sort of alien creature, sprouting tentacles in every direction. There was confused yelling as one of the things lurched towards him, only to be cut apart by a stream of fire from Dulcinea’s weapon. Within seconds it was over and the walls of the office were smoldering from beam impacts and covered with steaming pulp from the creatures.

“Anyone hurt?” Arkady said over the comm link. He listened as the SWAT team checked in, no one hurt.

“Looks like something got Cassus,” Dulcinea said as she knelt over the pile of cybernetics. “He was mostly illegal hardware, probably trying to keep himself alive longer.”

“Any sign of Livey?” Arkady asked.

“Checking now,” Dulcinea said as she activated the holo-projector and began to sort through the computer systems. “I’ve patched into the computer system. Computer division can take over from here.” There was a rapid display of information as operators stationed outside the building tapped into the computer system. “They found him! He’s ten floors below in the labs!”

“Move out!” Arkady said as the team headed towards the elevator shafts. They didn’t bother to use the elevators. Instead they forced open the doors and clipped a descender onto the cable. Checking to make sure the elevators were de-activated, they half slid, half fell down the cables, jerking to a stop outside the thirtieth floor. There was a pause as the operators opened the doors for them and then they were out.
 
 

Dionysus smiled at the creatures that had once been human. The lab staff had been unaware of the fate of their fellow researcher and had fallen easily to the virus. Not one had even come close to hitting the alarm panel.

He whistled as he stepped over their twitching and bursting bodies, heedless of the blood splattering over his slacks, a large canister of the virus tucked under each arm. He turned a corner and left the labs, heading towards the elevator banks.

“Don’t move, Livey!” he heard as he rounded a corner and looked towards the elevators. A group of heavily armed and armored men were standing outside the elevators, their weapons pointed at him. He froze for an instant then jumped back around the corner as the wall behind him exploded with particle beam fire.

Dionysus cursed as he ran towards the emergency exit, setting one of the canisters down so he could open the door with the access card taken from Cassus. He had just
opened the door when the SWAT team came around the corner. He ducked through as someone shot a stun bolt at him. He tumbled to the floor of the stairwell, a grenade tucked in his pocket digging painfully into his ribs, his right foot numb from the near miss. Dragging himself to his feet, he pulled the particle beam pistol he had taken from a bodyguard and turned to the door.
 
 

Arkady ducked into a doorway as Dionysus reached around the exit door and fired blindly at them with a particle beam pistol. The beams exploded off the walls, catching another SWAT member in the leg and sending him to the floor.

Arkady spared a glance back towards the SWAT member and saw that the beam hadn’t penetrated his armor. “Give up, Livey. The building’s surrounded!” Arkady yelled, his voice amplified into a roar. He watched as Livey threw the pistol into the hallway and showed that his hands were empty. “Get out of there now!”

He grunted as something slammed into his back and bore him to the ground. He could hear someone screaming over the comm link as he slammed his elbow back and connected with whoever had tackled him. Arkady swore when he saw what was attacking him. It was a man at one time, but now it resembled a shambling thorn bush shaped like a human.

The thing roared and jumped onto him, scratching at his armor with its many limbs, the razor sharp tips screeching over his face plate. Arkady slammed his fist into the center of the mass and managed to pull his combat knife from its sheath. He began to chop and stab at the thing, sending bits of it flying while it covered him with its blood.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dionysus creeping from the exit, a canister marked with a biohazard symbol under one arm. He seemed to be reaching for another canister that had rolled across the hallway to rest against the wall. “Somebody get him!” he yelled.

Dulcinea pulverized something like a batwinged flying cactus with a stream of energy and turned towards Arkady. The SWAT team was overrun by the things which had come pouring from the labs, firing at point blank range into things which didn’t seem to feel pain.

She heard Arkady yell and stepped towards him, ducking at the last moment as something streaked over her head and landed in front of her. The thing was about two feet high and reminded her of a monstrously deformed chimp. She was about to fire when the thing leapt at her, spoiling her aim. Reacting on pure adrenaline, she flipped her gun around and smashed the thing with the butt, sending it flying into the wall. Dulcinea swore as she pinned the thing to the ground with her boot and blasted it to bits.

“Dammit! He’s getting away!” Arkady yelled.

Dulcinea spun and saw Dionysus reaching for the canister. She brought her gun up and fired at his hand, vaporizing it just as he was about to grab the canister. He screamed and lurched back into the exit, the door slamming behind him. “Try jerking off now,” she said quietly.
 
 

Dionysus ground his teeth together as he stumbled down the emergency exit, one canister of the virus held in his left hand. He stared at the cauterized stump of his right as he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the secret tunnel built by Cassus for just such an occasion. An unmarked flyer was parked, luckily for him it was voice-activated.

“JFK Spaceport,” he grunted, feeling the flyer rise begin to shoot through the tunnel as he passed out.
 
 

“Two officers dead,” Arkady said over the comm link as he and Dulcinea went through decontamination. They both closed their eyes as a flash of heat sterilized the outside of their armorsuits. “We lost Livey.”

“Has the lab figured out anything about the virus?” Dulcinea asked as they were submerged in a tank of organic acid strong enough to eat a man in less than a second.

“It’s some sort of mutagenic retrovirus. It’s responsible for creating those things we fought.”

“Dionysus got away with a canister of that stuff.”

“The lab figures that a canister of it could infect everyone in New York if he opened it high enough overhead.” They stopped talking as another flash of heat dried their suits.

“Good thing he can’t open the canister with only one hand.”

“Yes, but all he needs is one accomplice, willing or not.”

“We almost had him.”

“We’ll get him.” Another bath, this time to cool the exterior of the suits down enough for them to remove them. They both removed the suits gratefully. They had spent an hour in decontamination unable to chase Dionysus.

“That’s a relief,” Dulcinea said as she pulled on her suit and began to fasten the tabs.

“You cheating on me?” Evelyn said as she walked into the dressing room and eyed Dulcinea’s and Arkady’s half dressed bodies.

“I’d never even think of it,” Arkady said. “Any sign of Livey?”

“Yeah, Livey just flew a flyer into JFK and landed it next to an outbound automated cargo shuttle. He got aboard and the shuttle took off before security could do anything.”

“Why didn’t the control tower stop the shuttle?”

“Too great a risk, it was already firing its engines for take off. If they stopped it, the shuttle might have crashed and cause a lot of damage.” Evelyn shrugged. “We got surveillance on the shuttle, it was Dionysus who got on board. He overrode the controls so the tower couldn’t change his course. He’ll be at the ISS in an hour or so.”

“Motherfucker!” Dulcinea suddenly swore.

“What’s the matter? We’ll just cut off whatever docking port he lands at. He can’t open the canister with one hand so we’ll just pump in some sleeping gas and haul him out.”

“He’s not going to wait, he’s going to blow up the shuttle. The blast will open the canister for him and spread the virus all over the eastern seaboard.”
 
 

Dionysus leaned back in the cockpit of the shuttle and watched as the flight control system directed it towards the ISS. He rolled a grenade in his left hand, glad that he had followed his impulse and taken it from the transforming body of one of Cassus’ bodyguards. He smiled as he checked the altimeter. In just half an hour the shuttle would be high enough to infect the eastern United States.
 
 

“Are we going to catch up to him?” Dulcinea asked as put on the breathing mask necessary for the altitudes that they were at. She and Arkady were riding in the bomb bay of a CAS Navy bomber. Their quarters were cramped to say the least, there was barely enough for the two of them and their gear with the machinery that had been hastily installed before they had taken off.

“No problem there,” Arkady said as he tested his breathing gear. He could survive without oxygen for a good half hour but he wouldn’t be able to do much else. “This bomber could fly circles around the cargo shuttle Dionysus is in.”

“So there’s just the problem of getting into the shuttle and keeping him from blowing it up.”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever done something like this before?”

“Once.”

“Did it work?”

“Yes.”

“You’re answering me in monosyllables, what happened?”

“The tube that will connect us to the shuttle tore away and we lost three soldiers.”

Dulcinea groaned and was about to say something when the bomber’s pilot spoke over the comm link. “We’re lined up with the shuttle. Ready to deploy the docking tube on your mark.”

“Don’t worry, this will be something to tell your grandchildren about,” Arkady said.

“Assuming I live to have them,” Dulcinea answered curtly as she adjusted her headset.

Arkady smiled in response as he hit the panel to activate the docking tube. There was a low hum of machinery as it extended towards the shuttle’s airlock. They watched the display-holo as the tube latched onto the airlock and sealed itself.

“No problem,” Arkady said. He punched another panel and the door to the tube slid open. Dulcinea sighed and followed him, her weapon at the ready as they ran through the tube and stopped outside the shuttle’s airlock. Arkady was almost done opening it when she arrived. “There, finished,” he said as the airlock cycled open.

They entered and waited for the inner airlock to open. When it did, they could see the main hold of the shuttle, orientated vertically for the climb to the ISS. The two agents crept into the hold and shucked their parachutes before beginning to climb the ladders to the cockpit.

They both listened as their comm links came online and Director Ngoko’s voice began to speak. “Good luck agents, there’s a flight of SIF-18’s right behind you. If you fail, they have orders to destroy the shuttle. It’s doubtful that the explosion will be hot enough to kill the virus but any chance is better than none at all.” There was a click as he signed off.

Arkady stopped outside the hatch to the cockpit and began to slowly manually open it. With any luck the hatch would open without Dionysus being aware of it, then they could slip in and kill or immobilize him before he could destroy the shuttle.

Dulcinea could feel her heart pounding as they climbed into the cockpit. Just in front of them they could see the single control chair and Dionysus’ head. Arkady began to pull his pistol from its holster. Dulcinea felt her heart leap into her throat as the pistol scraped against the material of the holster, making a noise that seemed deafening in the silence of the cockpit.

Dionysus was up in an instant, the grenade in his hand activated. “Too late!” he yelled triumphantly as he held the grenade over his head, the virus tucked under his other arm. He grunted as Arkady tackled him and slammed his wrist against the control panel. Dulcinea leapt into the fray and caught the grenade as it flew from Dionysus’ hand. She tossed it through the hatch into the hold and ducked as it exploded.

Her ears popped as the pressure suddenly dropped, the wind screaming in her ears as the atmosphere in the shuttle was sucked out into the fifty mile high sky. She grabbed the control chair with one hand as she felt herself beginning to be sucked towards the hatch. Across the chair she could see Arkady and Dionysus struggling with each other as the shuttle rocked and warning lights exploded to life across the control panels.

The wind was growing less as the atmosphere became thinner. Dulcinea began to rise as Arkady and Dionysus rolled across the floor and fell through the hatch. She threw herself to the floor in an effort to catch Arkady but her hand caught only air. She watched in horror as they fell into the hold and landed on the edge of the breach in the shuttle’s hold. She could see clouds far below them as crates and debris fell from the shuttle. In the absolute limit of her vision she could see the speck of the next automated shuttle flying the same route as the one she was on.

Arkady slammed his fist into Dionysus’ face, feeling the man’s nose break as he tried to wrench the virus free from the cultist’s grip. Arkady swore in amazement as Dionysus’ body rippled with new life, ropy coils slithering beneath his skin.

“The Dark Mother gives me her power!” Dionysus screamed as he triggered the virus in his body. He felt it begin to change him in the same way it had changed the chimpanzee and Cassus. At once he felt a horrible pain and an exhilaration beyond anything he had ever felt. He laughed madly as a tentacle burst forth from his stump and wrapped around Arkady’s neck, prying at the man’s breathing mask.

Arkady struggled with the tentacles wrapping around him, his cybernetics straining at full output to match the strength of the mutating Dionysus on top of him. Arkady slammed his knee into Livey’s crotch and felt his grip weaken enough for him to force the cultist away from him. Arkady rose to his feet as Dionysus rose to his tentacles, new limbs bursting from every part of his body but leaving his face strangely intact.

“You cannot stop the stars!” Dionysus roared as he began to twist open the canister. He almost had it open when Dulcinea dropped onto his back, knocking him to the floor and sending the canister bouncing towards the breach. They all watched as the canister bounced once, twice, and a third time before leisurely falling out of the shuttle. Dulcinea was thrown back against the shuttle bulkhead as Dionysus coiled his tentacles beneath him and sprang after the canister. She watched in amazement as Arkady sprinted after him and leapt through the breach.

She scrambled to retrieve the parachutes from where they lay by the airlock as she tried to raise Arkady on the comm link. “Arkady! What do you think you’re doing? You don’t have a parachute!” she yelled as she connected.

“Then you’ll just have to bring me one,” Arkady said much too calmly for someone fifty miles high without a parachute. Dulcinea swore as she strapped on her parachute and tied Arkady’s to it as she ran for the breach. Cursing loudly she leapt out of the shuttle and into the freezing air.

Arkady could see the shape of Dionysus falling below him and grinned. The tentacles that he had sprouted were slowing him down enough to make it possible to catch up to him. Arkady tucked his arms back and leaned forward, feeling himself falling faster and seeing Dionysus getting closer by the second.

At the last second before contact, Arkady flipped himself around vertically and fell feet first into Dionysus’ back. The impact jarred him as he bent his knees to absorb the shock of collision. Dionysus tried to twist himself around but the flailing of his limbs sent him spinning off away from the canister falling just below him.

Arkady straightened his body again and fell headfirst towards the canister, gaining on it slowly but surely. He smiled in triumph behind his breathing mask as he snagged its tumbling form from the air, thanking God that the canister was light enough to be buffeted and slowed by the winds at these heights. He began to spread his arms and legs, hoping that Dulcinea would be able to catch up to him, when something grabbed his ankle.

He twisted and saw that Dionysus had his ankle and was pulling him in. Arkady reached for his pistol but his holster was empty, the pistol had probably fallen out in the long struggle in the shuttle. Arkady bent his body and spread his arms, causing him to jerk upward as Dionysus lashed at him with a tentacle. The tentacle passed far beneath him as Arkady twisted his body pulled his knife from its sheath.

Arkady severed the tentacle with one swipe and tumbled free. Dionysus writhed in anger as he struggled to twist his changing form towards Arkady. The agent swore as a thicket of tentacles shot from Dionysus and caught his legs. He began to cut at them as a barbed and pointed tentacle emerged from Dionysus and prepared to skewer him.
Something caught Arkady’s eye as he dodge the first attempt to impale him. The next automated shuttle was rapidly becoming a discernible form in the sky below him. Grinning wildly, Arkady turned his body to drag them into the path of the shuttle. Arkady could see the panic in Dionysus’ eyes as they both fell towards the shuttle. He sheathed his knife and twisted the canister shut as Dionysus began to retract his tentacles and started to drift out of the shuttle’s path. Arkady let the canister fall away from him as he grabbed a retreating tentacle and pulled. Arkady had his feet braced against Dionysus as the cultist tried to free himself while the shuttle rose towards them. Arkady wondered if he’d have time to feel the impact when a flash of particle beams slammed into Dionysus and knocked him away from Arkady. Arkady had the brief impression of someone else slamming into him as the shuttle roared past him, its windshield shattering as Dionysus splattered against it, what little was left of him painting the far wall of the cockpit in green and black.

Arkady felt himself tumbling in the jetwash of the shuttle until someone grabbed his chest and steadied him. He looked back and up into Dulcinea’s face. She smiled back at him and lifted her hand, holding the canister. She motioned towards the parachute tied to her and slapping in the wind. Arkady climbed up her and slipped his arms through the straps of the parachute before untying it from Dulcinea. He quickly buckled it secure and made a thumbs up sign to Dulcinea as they fell towards the clouds below.

She made a thumbs up back and did a flip which corkscrewed into a pirouette. They were soon falling through the chill wetness of the clouds and emerged drenched and smiling. Spread out below them was the verdant landscape of upstate New York, shadowed and golden in the light of the setting sun. Together, they activated their parachutes and began to float leisurely down, the brilliance of the sunset gleaming off their parachutes.
 
 

Champagne glasses clinked as Arkady and Evelyn made a toast. The night skyline of New York filled the floor to ceiling windows behind them as they sat in front of a roaring fireplace. Evelyn smiled as they drank, her eyes flashing as she drained her glass and set in down on the coffee table next to them.

“Hero of New York,” she whispered teasingly, “my hero...” The crawled closer to Arkady, the silk of her nightgown sliding sensuously over her skin. “The women of
New York will be throwing themselves at you, willing to do anything for you.”

“Anything?” Arkady smiled.

“Oh yes, they’ll be willing to do anything for you.”

“Like dressing up in a sexy nightgown and drinking champagne with me?”

“And more...”

“I like the sound of that.”

“But I get to be the first to reward you,” she said as she knelt in front of Arkady, staring into his eyes, her legs spread out beneath her. Arkady looked downward and sucked in his breath at the sight of her firm and shapely thighs revealed by a long slit up both sides of her nightgown.

“What do you have in mind?”

Evelyn answered by kissing him and tugging on his lower lip with her teeth. She kissed down his chest, sliding his robe down his shoulders and tugging open the belt. Her tongue was wet and hot against his skin as she ran her tongue over his nipples and then down the muscle of his stomach.

“Oh yes, you will be rewarded,” she whispered at the sight of his cock sticking straight up out of the folds of his robe. She moved his robe to the side and then slowly slid one strap of her nightgown down her shoulder. She gave a slow shrug and the other strap fell off, her nightgown falling to her waist and revealing her splendid breasts.

Evelyn smiled and bent her head to take Arkady’s cock into her mouth. She gently ran her tongue over the shaft as she slowly inched her way down. His hands began to stroke her hair as she began to bob her head slowly.

Arkady moaned and leaned back on his hands, stretching his legs out around Evelyn as she sank her head further down his cock. She moaned and began to lick the bottom of his cock with long slow strokes, keeping her lips clamped tight around him. She sank lower onto his cock, her mouth incredibly hot and wet on him, her saliva shining in the firelight as she drew back and then let her head drop, taking his entire cock into her mouth.

She moved backwards so that she was on her hands and knees, looking up at him as she held him deep in her throat. She smiled around his cock and then slowly let it slide out of her mouth. She gave the head of his cock a kiss and began to stroke his shaft with one hand while using her other to rub her nipple over the bottom of his cock.

“My god, Evelyn, I can’t take much more,” he gasped as she rubbed his cockhead against the smooth skin between her breasts.

“Good, because neither can I,” she said huskily, taking a moment to kick off her nightgown. She gave his cock one last stroke and then raised her body over his, letting her dripping pussy rub against his stomach before placing his cock against it. They both let out a loud moan as she let herself drop onto him, her wetness making it easy for him to impale her completely in one quick thrust. They stayed like that for a long moment before Evelyn began to slowly raise her hips above him before dropping down again.

She bent down so that they could kiss while she slowly moved her hips. He kissed her face, kissing along the line of freckles on her cheeks and then back, all the while running his hands over her back.

Evelyn whimpered as she began to move her hips more rapidly, smoothly rolling them up and down, groaning as his cock slid in and out of her. Her motions became more erratic and jerky as she began to slam herself down on his cock, moaning wildly. Arkady buried one hand in her silky hair and pulled her down for a kiss while his other squeezed her bottom in time to his thrusts upward into her. They both gave a loud yell as they came, her hips blurring as she screamed into his mouth.

They were both panting as she rolled off him to snuggle against him, the sweat on their bodies sliding down their skin as they lay by the fire. Arkady reached up to pull a blanket off the couch and draped it over them, running his hand over her spine as they fell asleep, the moon and stars shining outside above the glistening lights of New York.