Message-ID: <17268eli$9811170435@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: <URL:http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/17268.txt> From: J R D <jrdss@micronet.net> Subject: Change of Power (lots of fiction, romance) [7/14] Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: <usenet-approval@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Story-Submission: <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Original-Message-Id: <v04003a07b276b9d831cf@[206.96.52.91]> Change of Power pt 7 Now, onto the boring stuff ------------------------- DISCLAIMERS ------------------------- This story contains scenes of an erotic and/or controversial nature, and is not intended for the perusal of minors. Further if perusal of such material is considered illegal in your area or immoral by your religion or personal beliefs, you should likewise bypass this story. This story remains the property of the author. Permission is granted to download, photocopy, copy and repost so long as any such action contains these disclaimers, and no attempt is made to profit from this story. All characters in this story are the creation of the author, and any resemblance to real persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental. This story may contain aspects of fantastic science or magic. The parameters of what this science/magic can accomplish are completely at the discretion of me, the author, and, as such, I make no apologies for any rules of "real" physics, chemistry, biology, or magic that may be broken within the story. ------------------------- Now onto the fun stuff ------------------------- CHANGE OF POWER pt 7 ------------ Lancaster reviewed the reports that they had gotten from the various attacks on the Sisterhood by the mercenaries they hired. They had gotten a lot of information, but ultimately, none of the mercs had stood a chance. He told the doctor, "We're going to have to arrange some attacks with lesser members of the Brotherhood. We need to put greater stress on finding out more of their capabilities in combat. We know they're incapable of killing, but, as we have found out, that doesn't mean they are ineffective in combat." "Agreed. But we may not have to risk members of the Brotherhood." "Explain." "Unlike the members of the Sisterhood, we recognize that there are other paths of power. Other ways to gain mystic skills then by following the Goddess or the Dark One." Lancaster shook his head dismissively. "Lesser paths. Some of these people barely have more power than an average man." "Agreed. But if we inform these lesser workers that they will be facing magic users, they will be prepared where the Sisters will not. They may actually take out a few Sisters. And if they don't," the doctor shrugged, "who cares. Yes, eventually the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood will have to engage in direct confrontation, but knowledge is power, and the more knowledge we have before that confrontation, the more power we have." Lancaster considered it. "Agreed. Make it so." After Lancaster left, the doctor nearly broke out laughing. This was too easy. With the help of the Brotherhood, he would start a war amongst the lesser paths that would result in chaos to feed his dark master. And he would be able to give the leaders of the Technocracy, who were becoming suspicious of his activities with the Brotherhood, something to work with. ------------ ************ Bronwyn walked into Laurie's house. Laurie was waiting at her usual place at the table. She asked, "Are you ready to talk now?" Bronwyn, seeming to be in a stunned state, sat down without saying a word. Laurie's healer's senses told her of Bronwyn's confusion, and, although still upset at her friend's actions, her concern took over. "Bron, you okay?" Bronwyn just sat there for a few seconds before saying, "Laurie, I think you were right. I think I should just confess who I am to... Jack, and then fade out for a while. Handle some stuff going on with Sisters in other states." "Alright, now I know something is going on. What happened yesterday?" "I... I don't know what you mean." "Yeah, right. Yesterday you were convinced that I should just let you play out your hand. Now, you come in here tongue-tied and stunned and tell me you just want to fade away? What happened?" Laurie dropped her voice. "He didn't... do anything to you, did he?" "No. Yes. I don't know!" Laurie placed her hand on Bronwyn's. "What happened, love?" Bronwyn took a deep breath, clenched Laurie's hand, and started her story. "After we left here we went to that coffee shop down by the mall. We talked. We laughed. We ate muffins. Before we knew what happened it was closing time. Jack took me home, and walked me to my door, to the apartment I set up as Nita. We stood there like two kids, not quite sure what to do or say. Then I figured I'd give him a good-bye kiss. Nothing special. Just a light peck on the cheek. But somehow our lips met. "Oh, Goddess, Laurie, it was so fantastic! I just melted into his arms. He made me feel so safe... protected. But without making me feel small." "Sounds great. What's the problem?" "Laurie, I can deal with the fact that I may have fallen for him, but the fact is I have NO idea who this man really is! Have I fallen for him or have I fallen for his image of Jack? Besides I was trying to get him to fall for me. Not the other way around." "So? It seems to me you achieved your goal. If he hadn't fallen for you, I doubt the kiss would've been as intense as you describe." "But-" "No buts, Bron. You're confused by your feelings for him. The last thing you should be considering is running away. Besides, I thought about it and you were right. If Nita suddenly disappears out of his life, he may get upset, particularly if, as I suspect, he's fallen for you." "But-" "No, Bronwyn, as your friend, as your healer, and as the woman who you directly disobeyed to do this, I am prescribing a healthy dose of time as Nita." "You can't be serious." "Very. Bron, your confusion isn't going to go away if you run away. You need this." Bronwyn slumped into her chair. "Bitch." Laurie just smiled. She asked, "Do you really mean that?" already knowing the answer. Bronwyn gave a small grin. "Of course not." "Then kiss me to apologize for it." Bronwyn and Laurie leaned together and kissed. "You know, if nothing else, your kiss with Jack has brought us back together." "We haven't been together since before Jacqui left. Doesn't Jack have practice today?" "For the next few hours." "Good." Bronwyn grabbed Laurie by the hand and dragged her upstairs. Three hours of giggling and fun later, Bronwyn lay beside a satiated Laurie, gently stroking her breast. The phone rang and Laurie picked it up. "Hello? Yeah, wait a second." She handed the receiver to Bronwyn. "It's for you." "Hello?" After a few seconds, Laurie felt Bronwyn's concern and fear suddenly spike. "Yeah, okay, keep me informed." "What's wrong?" "In the last twenty-four hours four Sisters have been attacked." "More mercenaries?" "Not standard ones. Laurie, the people who attacked us this time were wielding magic." "Members of the Brotherhood?" "Three of those attacked said that the magic used didn't have the dark feel to it." "And the fourth?" Bronwyn swallowed, having problems getting it out. "Dana is missing. Whoever attacked her overpowered her and took her hostage. Both her mother and daughter are sure she's still alive, but they can't locate her. Something is blocking their attempts." "Goddess protect us." ************ Excerpt from the journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan, Vol. II Day 52 Over the last four weeks, granny and I have talked a lot. I followed her suggestion and told Marcus how I felt, then let him work things out on his own. I wasn't sure how he was doing, but the other day I'm pretty sure I caught him staring at me when he thought I wasn't looking. It's a small victory, but right now, I'll take anything I can get. Granny has suggested that I might want to join one of the groups. I think I haven't chosen one so far because I felt it might be like betraying the Sisterhood. Granny says I'm being foolish. She says the Sisterhood loves me, and they would've had to have degenerated to the point where they were no longer worthy of the Goddess's power before they'd throw me out for wanting to maximize my training potential. She also says that if I join one of the groups, I might be able to talk them into letting mom come here for my baby's birth. I guess the question now is which one. I briefly considered joining the Euthanatos to be close to Marcus, but that group really isn't for me. Besides what happens if Marcus decides we should just be friends? Or worse yet, decides No, don't even think that, Jacqui. Trust that your love for him is true. I've pretty much ruled out the Verbena and Choristers. They tell me that most of the Sisters who have Awakened have joined one of these two groups, but they're really not for me, and Granny says (and I agree) that I need to choose a group I feel comfortable with. Which likewise leaves the Dreamspeakers and Cultists out. In the two months I've been here, I've gotten to know a lot of each group, and although both groups aren't as out there as I first thought, neither do I feel I can really do their world views. Which leaves the Hermetic Guild, the Akashics, the Virtual Adepts, and the Sons of Ether. Like I said, I don't think I'll be joining the Hermetics, but for some reason, they've been courting me pretty heavily to join. At first I thought it was because everyone says I am an incredibly powerful Mage (am I destined to always be too powerful for my own good?), but recently I've gotten the nagging suspicion there's something more to it. Of course, when I ask, they won't tell me a thing, saying that if I want to find out I should join up. You know, I really like the discipline of the Akashics, but the martial aspects kind of intimidate me. Not only for the fighting skills but for the fact that the Akashics seem to have the greatest responsibility for fighting enemies of the Traditions. Besides, with my pregnancy, learning that martial art of theirs would be a real hassle. Which leaves the Sons or the Virtual Adepts. I think I'll probably be going with the Adepts, but I've really had to revise my opinions of the Sons. At first I thought they were just a bunch of wacky scientists, but they really seem to make learning fun. They have a joy of discovering new things that I've rarely seen in anyone. I suppose I still have time to decide. I still haven't been able to get to the archives and check out what they have on the Sisterhood. I'll try to find the time to get there soon. ************ Laurie had just returned from shopping for some new clothes. With Jack getting all her food her budget had expanded tremendously and she had decided to take advantage of it at the clothes' store. She did this partly to do something other than sit around the house, partly to take her mind off the problems of the Sisterhood. In the last two weeks there had been no less than a dozen attacks on Sisters across the face of the globe. And they were still no closer to finding out who was behind these attacks. And worse yet, Dana was still missing. Her daughter and mother had spent long hours trying to pierce the wall between them, but, so far, to no avail. She was thinking of calling to find out if they had made any recent gains when she heard a knock on the door. She checked the peephole and saw a delivery man. She was wondering what was being delivered when she felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to jump in surprise. She felt a hand over her mouth. Not restraining, but blocking, to keep her from crying out. She looked to the other end of the arm and saw Jack's face and relaxed. Jack removed his hand from her mouth, leaned in, and whispered, "That man is a magic worker. Apparently you have become the next target for these attacks." Laurie got a concerned look on her face, but Jack continued, "Don't worry. With me here, there's no way he can break in and hurt you. But if you invite him in, I can neutralize him and we might be able to learn the true source of these attacks. The risk in that is that he might be able to move fast enough to hurt you before I can stop him. I doubt it, but anything is possible. I'll leave it up to you." Laurie thought about it for a few seconds and said, "Let's take a chance." Jack nodded, and placed himself where he'd be behind the door when it opened. He nodded and Laurie opened the door. The man outside said, "Package, ma'am. Requires signature and ID." "Ok, come on inside." Laurie turned her back and walked towards her purse sitting on a table. In a mirror, she saw the man step inside and pull something out of his back pocket. But before he could use it, Jack kicked it out of his hand, then grasped the man in a Sleeper hold. Laurie turned, and felt him struggle with his magics, but nothing he did accomplished anything. She felt his magics squelched like a match dropped in water. It was only a few seconds before consciousness left the man. "Quite humane," she commented. "Mom, you will tend to find that those who are really the best at fighting are those who like to use it the least." Jack lowered the man to the floor. "Yeah, but that was almost anti-climactic." "Had to keep him in relatively good shape in order to scan him." Jack placed his hand on the man's forehead. "I'm not sure scanning him is going to do any good. Some of the Sisters have scanned men who have attacked them and found nothing." "Well, no offense, but your senses are not as well developed as my own." Laurie was about to say something, but Jack held his hand up while he scanned the man's mind. Finally, he looked up and said, "He was hired by one of the Brotherhood." "Are you sure?" Jack nodded. "You can't have ever felt that power without being able to identify it again. You never noticed it because the people being hired never identified the feeling of the power, so it wasn't part of their conscious remembrances." "Then it looks like we have another war on our hands." ************ Excerpt from the journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan, Vol. II Day 73 I finally got a chance to see the base's archives on the Sisterhood. All I can say is, mom, I am so sorry for all the hate I had for you after my Transformation. You were as much a victim as I was. ************ Bronwyn, Laurie, and five of the best and most powerful were sitting in her kitchen discussing the developing situation. Bronwyn asked Laurie, "Are you sure that this is a plot by the Brotherhood?" "Jack was sure. Not having the ability to go as deeply as he could, I couldn't sense the presence of the Dark One's power through second-hand contact." Julie, one of the other Sisters, a good friend of Laurie's from before she got pregnant with Jack, asked, "Can we trust this man? Being male, his power must be more closely aligned with the Dark One." Bronwyn said, "Trust me, if this man wanted to do us harm, he could do it in a lot more effective ways than feeding us false information. I think we can trust it." "Where is he? Perhaps we should interview him ourselves." "He's at practice at school. He's said that if we want to interview him, he will be available so long as we doesn't expect him to modify his schedule, or in any way interfere with his personal life." "Just like a man." Laurie said, "Julie, he didn't have to be there to protect me. I wouldn't have even known that this man was a magic user if he had not skipped class and warned me." Bronwyn said, "I think it's pretty safe to assume that we are now in the middle of another war with the Brotherhood. Each of you, when you return to your homes, needs to warn all the Sisters anywhere near you to be on the lookout for possible attacks." After that the meeting broke up with an agreement to meet tomorrow to personally interview the man. Everybody except for Julie left to get some sleep. After they had gone, Laurie asked, "Okay, Julie, what's wrong?" "Wrong? Why do you think something's wrong?" "I'd have to be a pretty poor healer not to feel the pain resounding off of you. Come on, spill the beans." "It's nothing, really." Laurie tried to form a link between them, but Julie had every shield up, making it impossible. Looking into Julie's eyes, Laurie decided to play a hunch. "So how is your daughter? Wasn't Joanie the name you planned to give her after her Transformation?" Julie started, "She's..." but then crumbled into tears. Laurie quickly got beside Julie and wrapped her arms around the sobbing woman. After Julie settled down, she said, "Okay, Julie, what's wrong?" Julie sniffled a bit and asked, "Laurie, I hear your daughter had problems adjusting, but eventually decided to stay a girl. How did you manage to convince her?" "I didn't. I let the decision remain hers up to the end. In fact, she hadn't decided to remain a woman until shortly after she got pregnant. In fact, I was so sure that she would've been happier as Jack, that I almost gave up my life to give that back to him. Does this have something to do with Joanie? Is she unhappy as a girl? Why didn't she Transform back?" "She's... She did. Only two years after her Transformation." "And you never let anyone know? Julie, her Transformation was eighteen years ago!" "Bronwyn knows she changed back, but she doesn't know..." "Know what?" "Nothing." "Julie, please don't shut me out." "After she Transformed back, she... she left me. She took her child, and left the house, saying that if I ever came after her or her child again, she'd kill me!" Laurie sat there, shocked. "I'm... I'm sure she was just angry. I'm sure that now that... he's," Laurie saw Julie cringe visibly at the mention of her child's return to masculinity, "had a chance to cool down, he'll be willing to talk. Haven't you made any attempt to contact him?" "That's just it, I have no idea where she is!" "You didn't follow her... his aura?" "Of course I did! But about a week after she left me, something happened. Her aura changed so radically in such a short period of time that I lost track of her. And nothing I have done since then has allowed me to find her!" Laurie was stunned. Nothing she understood of the way magic worked should've explained what Julie was saying. "Why didn't you tell us? We could've gotten together, worked together to find him." "My problems with my daughter are my own. I didn't want to bother anybody else." "Julie, that is NONSENSE! The Sisterhood isn't just a group of girls, Julie. We're a family. We're here for you in pain and in joy." Julie looked into Laurie's eyes, then leaned over and rested her head on the healer's chest. Laurie held her while she felt silent tears stream from Julie's eyes. After a few minutes, Julie pulled herself together and said, "Thanks, Laurie, you're still the best." "Julie, I know you're not big on asking for help, but maybe we could ask Jack for help. He's very powerful and very skilled." "No, Laurie, absolutely not. I feel bad enough involving the other Sisters in my problems. You have to promise me not to involve outsiders." "Alright, if that's what you want. But I think you should at least meet him. You sure you can't stay? He'll be back later tonight." "I wish I could. For some reason, the only flights I could get were today. The flights are so loaded for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I almost didn't make it today. Short of making a magical plague to knock dozens of people off a flight, I'm stuck." "Okay." The two ladies hugged and relaxed for a while before Julie had to go. After she was gone, Laurie had a chance to sit and think. After the attacks had begun on the Sisterhood, she hadn't spent much time working on Jack's clues, feeling that it wasn't time to work on what she thought was a personal matter, but clearly this went a lot deeper than she thought. She spent the next couple hours pouring over the records she had of the Sisters. When Jack came home, Laurie asked, "Can we talk?" "Sure." He slid into the chair beside her. "What's up?" "I have spent the last few hours going over my records in depth and, for the life of me, I can't find a single reason why Jacqui and a few others have reacted so badly." "I told you, you're looking at the wrong question." "What do you mean? Jacqui and a small percentage of others were unable to handle their Transformations and reacted badly. All the other Sisters were fine with it." "And that doesn't strike you as odd?" "What?" "Think about it for a second. There have been approximately 150,000 Sisters throughout history. Out of that number, 30,000 reacted badly to the Transformation. That leaves 120,000 individual Sisters who had exactly the same reaction to the Transformation." "So?" "Look, if more people had reacted like Jacqui, upset, or maybe even just mystified about their Transformation, but grew to accept and love their femininity, that would be understandable. But did you feel anything like that?" Laurie thought about her own Transformation. After she had Transformed, she had been mystified, but over how it had been done, but not what had been done. Thinking about it, it hadn't made sense. Her entire life had been turned upside down. Guys who had been her friends were now suitors, and girls she had wanted to be more than friends with were now interested in nothing more than friendship. But even from the beginning, it had just seemed so... right. "I... I don't get it." "And when you do, then you will have solved a major step towards your goal." Jack then went upstairs to his room, leaving Laurie to wonder what was next. ---------- All comments, suggestions, etc. may be sent to me at jrdss@micronet.net -- +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us> | <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us> | | Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | <http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/>----<http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/faq.html>