Message-ID: <17269eli$9811170436@qz.little-neck.ny.us>
X-Archived-At: <URL:http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/17269.txt>
From: J R D <jrdss@micronet.net>
Subject: Change of Power (lots of fiction, romance) [8/14]
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: <v04003a08b276bc58c82f@[206.96.52.91]>

Change of Power pt 8

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 8

Jacqui, now a member of the Virtual Adepts, was on break in the gym,
watching one of the basics class for the Akashics.  The Euthanatos class
was waiting in the wings, but between when one class would end and the next
would begin, she had fifteen minutes to go through some prenatal exercises
for the care of her body and child.

While she was doing some low-impact aerobics, she was paying far too much
attention to Marcus who was in the class waiting for the gym, and she put
her foot down on the edge of the mat.  Her ankle twisted and she fell to
the ground with a slight cry.  With her healer's senses, she could tell
that it was a minor sprain, and something she could heal with a minor
effort, but she never got a chance.  Before she knew what was going on, she
felt Marcus's left arm go around her and support her shoulders while his
right hand touched her ankle.  The skin was a little tender, and she
flinched a bit, but she then felt the hurt and pain drain from her ankle.

Jacqui looked into Marcus's eyes and saw only concern.  But as soon as the
healing was finished, she saw the hardness return to his face.  He said,
"You'll be okay," and started to disentangle from Jacqui.

Jacqui grasped his right wrist.  Marcus tugged a little, but not too hard.
"Marcus, tell me what you're feeling.  Whether you're angry, or confused,
or even if you hate me.  But please, talk to me."

Marcus stared at her, tongue-tied for a few seconds.  The hardness slowly
drained from his expression.  Finally, he said, "Jacqui, I could never hate
you."

"But how do you feel?"

Marcus stumbled about for a few more seconds, the confusion in his heart
plainly evident on his face.  Finally, the confusion resolved.  He turned
his hand over and took her hand in his.  "Jacqui, I do love you."

"But?"

Marcus shook his head.  "No, Jacqui, no buts.  I do love you.  Period."
Marcus then leaned over and kissed Jacqui.  Their arms wrapped around each
other, and they kissed with seven months of denied passion.  They broke
only after the Euthanatos class and the remains of the Akashics started a
round of applause.

They looked at each other with stupid, embarrassed, school-kid looks on
their faces.  Marcus said, "I've got a... class."

"Meet me in the garden after classes tonight?"

Marcus nodded.  "I'll be there."

As Jacqui walked from the room, she had to use all her willpower not to
jump for joy.

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

As the Sisters came into the room, Bronwyn came over to Laurie, and asked,
"What's up, girlfriend?  You've had this sappy smile on your face since I
walked in."

"I'm not sure, but I think it's coming from Jacqui!"

"Any idea why?"

Laurie shook her head as Jack walked into the room.  He walked up to them
and said, loud enough for only them to hear, "Good news, ladies,
preliminary reports say that Jacqui and Marcus have made up.  They haven't
done anything yet, but they do have a date for later tonight.  I just
thought you should know."  Both ladies smiled.

Everybody except for Jack (and the now absent Julie) took a seat around the
table.  Jack took a stand near the sink, leaning against the counter.  When
everybody had settled in, he said, "Okay, ladies, fire away."

One of the ladies, Tara, Dana's mother, asked, "First off, how do we know
we can trust you?"

"Because you can trust them," he said nodding to Laurie and Bronwyn.  "And
whether or not they may or may not like me, they do know I have no reason
to lie to you."

Another, Elaine, asked, "How do we know you haven't manipulated them
magically to believe you?  No offense, Bron, Laurie."

Clearly Bronwyn and Laurie were a little annoyed at the implication, but
contained it.  Jack said, "Because the power of the Goddess is notoriously
fragile within a closed mind.  If I had the power to manipulate them on the
level you're talking about, while still allowing them to retain their
power, I'd have enough power to make me sound so believable, you'd all have
no choice but to believe me."

They milled about a bit discussing it before Tara asked, "How do you know
so much about us?"

"Noyb."

"Noyb?  What's that?"

"N. O. Y. B.  None of your business."  The women grew annoyed.  "Look, I'm
doing you a favor by standing here answering your questions.  But questions
about who I really am, where I come from, where my knowledge comes from, et
cetera, are off-limits.  I'm not going to answer them, and there's no way
you can make me."

Patricia, a fiery tempered redhead from Ireland, asked, "Care to test that?"

Bronwyn said, "Patty, no!"

"It's okay, Bronwyn.  Let her try.  We'll get a lot further once she's
gotten this out of her system.  I promise I won't hurt her."

Bronwyn sat back, and waved her hand.  As Patty marshaled her energies,
Jack seemed to notice something on his nails.  Patty launched into a series
of attempted intrusions and attacks into and upon his mind, but he just bit
at his nail, then spit it into the sink.  She exhausted herself against him
quickly, whereupon he turned back to her and said, "Oh, you can start
anytime you want," apparently not having noticed even one attack.

When the girls got their shocked looks, he smiled and said, "I kid."  He
looked to Patty and said, "But we both know you succeeded in accomplishing
nothing.  So now that we have once again done the 'Test the Limits' battle,
can we get on with this?  I've got a date later."

Bronwyn smiled inwardly.  Jack and Nita were planning a date tonight, and
he just revealed that he was still unaware of her dual nature.

For the next two hours, the women grilled him on various aspects of
information about the Brotherhood, what he knew of the Sisterhood
(surprisingly much), and the various groups of magic users who had attacked
them.

Tara was right in the middle of asking him a question when she suddenly
froze.  Bronwyn asked, "Tara, what is it?"

"It's Dana.  I got a flash of where she was.  She's in a building across
town.  Some kind of medical building.  She's in pain!  We have to save her!"

Tara was about to bolt from the room, but Bronwyn stopped her.  "And we
will, but we can't go rushing off half-cocked.  We need to prepare."

Jack asked, "Do you want my help?"

Bronwyn seemed stunned he was asking.  "No, this is Sisterhood business.
We'll handle it."

He just nodded and left.  He went upstairs, reached between the mattress
and the box springs and pulled out The Soul Blade.  He used his magic to
transform his clothes into a blue karate gi.  The fabric was as flexible as
cotton, but as strong as steel.  He belted the sword around his torso, so
it was on his back.  Somewhat to Bronwyn, but really to no one in
particular, he said, "You may not want my help, but you do need it," and
faded from view.

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

Jacqui sat alone in the garden, waiting for Marcus.  She was beginning to
wonder if he was going to show up when a voice from right behind her said,
"Boo," causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

She turned and saw Marcus sitting beside her.  She slapped him on his arm.
"Bum, you scared me."

Marcus said, "Sorry," with a big grin on his face revealing that he wasn't
really sincere in his apology.  The two leaned together and kissed.

When their lips separated, Jacqui asked, "What's wrong?  You're still
holding back.  Do you still harbor resentment over what my mom and friend
did to you?"

"No.  I'm over that.  I now realize they were doing only what they felt
they had to to protect you.  In their position I might've done the same
thing."

"Then what?"

Marcus was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Jacqui, when the
Brotherhood severed my brake line, running me off the road, I died.  I've
been to the other side of the Veil, and seen the Wheel of Life up close and
personal.  That... changed me.  And now that I know and have refound my
love for you, I can't help but wonder if you still love me."

"Of course I do!"

"Jacqui, I want to believe that, and I know you want to believe that, but
let's face facts, you no longer know me."

"I find it hard to believe you have changed so much that I don't love you."
Marcus shrugged.  "If you're that concerned, let's find out."

"How?"

"How are your Mind magicks?"

"I can form a telepathic link with someone with a similar level of Mind
magicks."

"Then link with me.  Open yourself entirely to me as I do the same for you.
Let's find out how well we mesh."

Marcus sat there for a few seconds, not sure if this was the right thing to
do, afraid of what he might discover.  Finally, he lifted his hand, and
Jacqui brought hers to his.  Their fingers intertwined, and they formed the
link between their minds.  Jacqui touched his mind and almost instantly
found the darkness in his soul that had not been there before.  She almost
ran from it, but resolved to face it.  She touched it, and found it to be
nowhere near as scary as she thought.  It was dark, but it was a natural
darkness, like the dark that comes when the sun goes down.

And Marcus touched her soul, finding the light that she was.  The beauty
and joy that Jacqui had brought to him was still there, and always would
be.  Her light brought a warmth to his soul that had been missing since he
had run from the road and died.

Their arms encircled each other and they embraced.  They kissed, Jacqui's
light natural embracing and balancing Marcus's darkness.  Their souls
embraced and meshed as easily as their bodies.  They looked deep into each
other's eyes and each smiled, knowing their love was true.  They got up and
helped each other to remove their clothes.

Marcus took Jacqui in his arms, and slowly explored her body, his hands
roaming her face, arms, breasts, and pregnant belly.  He smiled as he felt
the baby kick inside her.  They kissed, and went to their knees on the soft
earth.  Marcus slowly went to his back, and Jacqui took his dick in hand,
stroking it from its semi-hard state to a condition of rock-hardness.  She
then straddled his hips, and slowly lowered herself onto him.  As she rode
him, he used his hands to stroke her body with a soft, gentle touch.
Linked as they were, mentally and physically, they moved together with an
ease and precision that neither had experienced before.

They continued to move together for neither knew how long, but when they
came, they came together in a phenomenal simultaneous orgasm.  After they
came down from their orgasmic high, they could only lay there, smiling
stupidly.  Deeply in love.

A slight distance away, Granny smiled.  "Well, that worked out even better
than I'd hoped."

A disembodied male voice replied, "That was easy because they, despite
their power, are kids in love.  They just needed to be reminded of that.
The Akashic Master will not be so easy."

"Of course, my love."  Granny's form flowed and shifted into the essence of
femininity, the Goddess.  "But even if I fail in my primary goal, there's
still his budding relationship with Bronwyn.  Who'd've seen that?"

"The hazards of dealing with humans, love.  They're just so unpredictable."

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

Bronwyn, Laurie, and the girls of the Sisterhood were preparing for battle.
They had one of their own, Jane, watching the building where Dana was being
held.  They were about to launch their assault, when Jane, frantic, sent
the message, "The building just blew up!"

Afraid, all the girls turned to Tara.  She was feeling out with her senses,
but then shook her head.  "She's not in any worse shape than before, and
she's no longer being blocked, but I can't pin her down.  It's like she's
never in the same place for more than a second."

Bronwyn was about to say something when they all felt it.  A magical
twisting of space and time.  Laurie's kitchen seemed to ripple, and then,
standing there, was Jack and a naked woman, the woman was carrying a man's
body, and Jack was carrying Dana!

Before anyone could move, Jack fell to one knee.  The women rushed at him,
but he said, "No!" and generated a force field keeping them from getting
close.  They were about to protest when he said to the woman with him, "Up
in my room.  Under my bed.  A silver bell.  Bring it to me."

The woman unceremoniously dropped the man on the floor, and ran towards the
stairs.  Laurie said, "I'll show you where his room is."

The woman said, "No need," as her body shifted into the form of a large,
black wolf.  Laurie stood there stunned as the wolf bounded up the stairs.
A few seconds later, the wolf came back down, carrying a silver bell in her
mouth.  She shifted back to human form and held the bell up.

Jack rang the bell four times.  He said out loud, "Verbena, I need you."

After a few seconds, space and time warped again, and a woman, her body
covered in a simple black robe, appeared.  As soon as she saw Jack, she
went towards him, but he held up his hand.  "The woman first."

"But-"

Jack was adamant.  "The woman first!  Progenitor toxins in her system."

She stared at him, deciding whether to argue or not, but then said, "As you
wish."

She then reached her hand out and Dana hovered into the air.  She waved her
hand over Dana's body, then suddenly inverted her hand and clenched it into
a fist.  Dana tensed up, and cried out in pain.  A cry echoed by her mother
who moved forward, only to be repulsed by the field Jack was generating.
Dana shook, and a purple fluid flowed from her body, flowing upwards into a
ball in mid-air.  After the flow stopped, forming a ball about a foot
across, Dana visibly relaxed, followed by her mother, Tara.  Dana levitated
over into Tara's arms, and the Verbena Mistress said, "I need a pot or a
bucket for this."  Laurie quickly got a pot large enough to contain the
toxin and held it under the floating ball.  The Verbena Mistress lowered
the ball into the pot and then walked over to Jack.

As soon as she said, "Your turn," Jack collapsed into her arms.  She got a
concerned look, and ripped the clothes from his body.  "Damn!  It's worse
than I thought!"  Laurie and Bronwyn were shocked when they saw his body.
It was covered in bruises and open wounds of various types.  The Verbena
lay him out, then pressed her hands to his body.  His body was surrounded
by a bright glow, and when the glow faded, the wounds were gone.

The Verbena let out a sigh of relief.  "He'll be okay.  He lost a lot of
blood, but I managed to replace it.  He'll be up and around after a good
night's sleep."

Patty said, "What do we do about him?" pointing to the man.

"Leave him for now."

The shape-shifting woman said, "Leave the Wyrm spawn to die."  The Verbena
Mistress gave her a dirty look.

Laurie and Bronwyn carried Jack upstairs.  As they put him into his bed,
Bronwyn asked, "Laurie, were my senses deceiving me or was that man already
dead?"

"At first, I thought so, but the more time I looked at him, the more I
sensed a strange life feeling about him.  But there's another question.
When you saw Jack, all bloody and dying, how did you feel?"

"Laurie, I... I wanted to cry.  I felt his life force start to leave him,
and almost lost it."

Laurie wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders.  "Sounds serious.
Why don't you tell him who you really are?"

"And what if he rejects me for having manipulated him?  I don't think I
could handle that, Laurie."

"But-"

"Laurie, please, you made me stick with this when I wanted to run away, and
you were right, but please don't force the issue.  Promise?"

Laurie wrestled with the idea, then said, "Only if you promise to make an
effort to tell him."

"Okay."

As they went downstairs, Laurie said, "Y'know, I've never seen you this
flustered and tongue-tied.  It's kind of cute."

In the kitchen, the Verbena Mistress was sitting at the table staring at
the pot of toxin.  The shape-shifting woman was standing behind her, and
the body was still on the floor.  Only two of the other Sisters, Patty and
Elaine, were still there.  Patty told them, "Tara took Dana home, and the
others went with her."

Bronwyn nodded, then asked the Verbena, "What do we do with him?"

"Leave him until nightfall."

The woman said, "Feh.  Let me remove his heart and remove the trouble of
dealing with him."

The Verbena sighed.  Laurie asked, "What is your problem with him?"

The Verbena said, "The Garou and the Kindred are natural enemies."

"Garou?  Kindred?"

"Werewolves and vampires."

Laurie just stared at the Verbena for a while.  Then she just turned her
head away and said, "The world just got a whole lot stranger."  The Verbena
smiled.  "What are you doing with that stuff?"

"Trying to figure it out."

"Nasty stuff?"

"No.  That's the thing.  It's designed to be extremely painful, but it's
not really all that toxic.  A second-rate healer would be able to easily
neutralize it."  Laurie got a little annoyed until she continued with,
"This wouldn't even be a decent annoyance to one of your Sisterhood.
Hardly something I'd expect from one of the Technocracy's Progenitors.  It
doesn't make sense.  Unless...  How do you heal?"

"How do I heal?"

"Yeah, the process you undergo when you heal.  What is it?"

"We shield, form a link, absorb the injuries into us and neutralize it."

"Empathic healing."  The Verbena considered it.  "That moves this into a
whole new category of insidious."

"How so?"

"There's a hidden component in this.  It'd be absorbed into your body
through the empathic link, and you'd never notice due to the pain of the
toxic part.  Then anybody you healed would get the hidden part.  Then
anybody who healed them would get it and so on."

"Eventually it would spread throughout the Sisterhood."

"Exactly."

Bronwyn asked, "What does it do?"

"Tags you."

"Tags us?"

"Like what scientists do with wild animals when they want to track their
migratory patterns.  This stuff would let them find you no matter where you
were on the planet.  You're lucky the Akashic Master decided to intervene.
My guess is the Progenitors would've let you rescue her with only a token
resistance, so that you could heal her."  The Verbena Mistress waved her
hand and disintegrated the toxin.

"The Akashic Master?"

"The man impersonating your son.  We're one of the more active combat
realms.  As such we try not to refer to our upper ranks by name so as to
not endanger their loved ones."

Bronwyn said, "It seems we owe you both a debt.  How can we repay you?"

The Verbena said, "Tell me about yourselves."

"That's it?"

"Not just technical details, personal stuff, too."

"Why?"

"A little more than a decade back we made a mistake and betrayed him.
Since then, if we needed his personal involvement in something, we had to
pay through the nose for it.  He's become rather mercenary in his attitude.
Even when the Goddess herself asked him to retrieve your daughter-"

Laurie was shocked.  "What?  The Goddess?  Asked him personally?  For my
daughter?!"

"Didn't you know?  No big surprise there.  Both the Goddess and the Dark
One love their followers.  But anyways, he wouldn't even do Her a favor.
He demanded payment even from Her.  But your daughter makes a simple
request, and with no request for compensation, he does it.  Now, he's
nearly killing himself to keep you from risking yourselves?  To be honest,
I'd like to know why."

For the next two hours, Laurie, Bronwyn, and the other Sisters answered
questions from the Verbena.  After they were done, Laurie asked, "Did that
help any?"

"Unfortunately, no.  I can see plenty of reason why he might lash out at
you.  He hates those who manipulate others without good reason, but I can
see no reason why he would put his life on the line for you."

"Sorry we couldn't help."

"No problem.  Can I borrow your sink?"

"Yes, but why?"

The Verbena just said, "It's almost nightfall," and stood up.  She reached
into her robe, pulled out a dagger, and slashed her hand.  The Verbena
plugged up the sink, and let the blood flow until both sink basins were
filled.  Laurie assumed she was using magic, since the blood was far
greater than any human could lose without losing consciousness.  She closed
and opened her hand, and the slash was gone.

The man then bolted up.  His face was contorted in rage, his canines having
grown considerably.  The Verbena grabbed his head, and plunged him face
first into the sink.  The vampire consumed all the blood in each sink, and
when he was finished, he was much more controlled.  The Verbena gave him a
towel she conjured, and, while he wiped his face, he said, "My apologies,
ladies, but when I am that depleted I'm not always under control."

The girls just stared stunned, as the vampire turned to the Verbena and
said, "I owe you a debt."

"You owe the Akashic Master, not me."

"I owe you both."  He then turned, said, "Ladies," and walked out of the
house.  As soon as he was out the door, he just disappeared.

The Verbena said, "I need to go, too.  Ladies," and with no further word,
she and the werewolf disappeared from view.

Laurie turned to the others and said, "That was..."

All the other girls just said, "Yeah."


----------

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>