15 comments/ 68798 views/ 69 favorites Flying Blind Ch. 01 By: Evil Alpaca This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" -------------- -------------------------------- "Hatred is blind, as well as love." ~ Oscar Wilde -------------- -------------------------------- A chill permeated the midnight air as crickets and other bugs filled up the nighttime air with a cacophony of noises. This unto itself was not unusual for the mountain situated university of FCU, but it was the middle of summer. Those few hardy souls out and about probably wouldn't have complained even if they had noticed. It wasn't a regular kind of chill. It crept up from below and then moved sideways, staying just off the skin as it drifted too and fro. The Cold was looking for someone . . . something. The lucky ones huddled in the warmth of their own very beings. The unlucky ones . . . for them, nor fire on Earth or in Hell would quench that creeping, terrible Cold. Cold had killed the world before, but this time it wasn't so ambitious. It only wanted a small part of it this time. It would start with . . . it looks one more time at one of those things sitting on the bench in front of the library. It will do. It will do quite nicely. ---------- ---------------------- Student orientation . . . ---------- ---------------------- "Adler . . . Adler . . . Adler . . . Heda Adler?" "Yeah, that's me. You scared the hell out of me!" "Sorry," the elderly woman with horn-rimmed glasses and electric-socket hair said. "Someone had you filed under 'Atler' instead of 'Adler.' Big crop of first year students, so it was bound to happen at some point." Heda grinned. She was just so happy that she could actually get registered for classes. She'd heard the best classes, also known as the easy ones, filled up first. She was going to ease herself into the structured world that was college. Okay, maybe it was still a little bit more open than high school had been, but Heda had spent her first year out of high school backpacking across Europe. There wasn't anywhere that she HAD to be for a long time, so this was going to take some getting used to. "All righty, now you'll go outside and find the sign that your last names fits with, then wait for a bit. They'll be taking all the freshmen off to smaller orientation sessions, then there's a banquet this evening. So keep that certificate in your orientation materials, because that's what gets you free food." "Free food! Woo-hoo!" Heda said, throwing her arms up in the air, getting into the spirit of being a college student. "Just like being at home, but without the curfew or the parents." The woman smiled, then noticed something on Heda's documentations. "Parents . . . Your mother is Jessica Adler?" Her eyes opened with that all too familiar sensation of awe. Heda nodded, her spiky black hair unwavering because of the action. The joys of hair gel. "Yeah, that's me." The woman smiled. Poor girl probably got that all the time. "Your mother was a bit of a legend," she said nicely, not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable. "Hope you'll do her proud. Planning to follow in her footsteps?" Heda raised one eyebrow. "Mom's a chef now. I burn water. Let's hope I don't try following too closely." She wondered how much this woman really knew about her mother. She appeared pure human, but that didn't mean she was unaware of the shadow world she lived in. Many humans knew about the changelings . . . creatures like Heda herself. Many people had heard of changelings, or at least their most popular subset: werewolves. There is, however, a large difference between hearing of something, believing in it, and knowing it to be true. Changelings had been on Earth as long as people had, shifting between the human and "lower" animal worlds with ease. The technical term for it was "lycanthropy," but they mostly just called themselves changelings or shapeshifters. The lycanthropy virus spread through blood, and could be manifested in one of two ways. The Noah Strain was a dormant strain that manifested itself sometime during the carrier's lifetime when his or her soul recognized its appropriate animal totem. The other way was the Progenitor Strain, where the person takes on the the totem animal of his or her parent. If both parents were changelings, then it was a crap shoot as to which one the child would adopt. No one knew why the virus chose one parent's animal over the other in such cases, or even why one strain attached itself to the DNA versus the other. Heda had been saddled with the Progenitor Strain and had become an eagle. Her oldest brother Edgar was a raven shifter, but her other older brothers (who happened to be twins) had both gotten the Noah Strain. Rob and Richard didn't let it bother them though. Heda's father was pure human and happy about it. Heda was an eagle shifter, as her mother had been before her. Jessica Adler had been a warrior for the bird shifters and a powerful one at that. Some had said that she could have challenged to be the Bird Queen, but she simply wasn't interested. Besides, the current Queen was a friend of hers, and even though Queen Samantha Brown's totem animal was a hummingbird, no one took her lightly. As the human saying went, "It isn't the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog." True, larger totem animals tended to lend themselves to greater physical strength, but that wasn't the only contributer. Character, will, and sometimes something extra and intangible made the changeling stronger. Queen Brown was as tough and belligerent as they came, and no one had considered challenging her for her crown in twenty years. "Well," the nice lady said, "next time you talk to her, ask her if she remembers Rhonda Turner." "I will," Heda said, positive that she'd forget all about it by the time she finally found her dorm room. So many people knew of her mother and her role in quelling the Insect Revolt, amongst other adventures, that Heda simply couldn't keep track of them all. She grabbed her bag of introductory goodies and her course catalog and headed outside to find where she was supposed to be next. It wasn't hard, as there was there was a table with a sign saying, "If your last name starts with the letters A -- C" right there. She waited nearby as more students gathered around, spending her free time plotting out the next four months of her life. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the English section of the catalog. She'd tested high enough in advanced placement English courses that she got to skip the "are you smart enough to write a sentence and chew gum at the same time" classes and go straight into what she really wanted. Her schedule was going to start with Creative Writing I, Introduction to Poetry, and Great American Writers. She'd probably try to get a science class and a math class out of the way, but those were just because the university required them. She hated math . . . hated it with a passion. She'd had a recurring nightmare in high-school that she was stuck in a classroom while all her friends were out having fun and she couldn't join them until she figured out some complex equation that took up the entire whiteboard. Just thinking about it gave her the creeps. "Hey everyone," came an overly cheerful voice next to the table. Heda's eyes shot up to see a stunningly gorgeous blond woman with green eyes glancing over the crowd. That blond hair was full of curls and framed her impish face to perfection. The girl also had an overly generous bosom and set of killer curves. She was adorned with a pair of jeans that had to have been painted on and a blue tee-shirt that read "Volunteer." Heda bit her bottom lip and thought that she had a few things that the girl could volunteer to do. There was one other thing of interest about the girl . . . she had a green aura. All changelings had auras, and these could be seen by other changelings but not by pure humans. The color of the aura gave a clue as to the family of animals the changeling belonged too. Heda's aura was white, which told others that she was a bird shifter. Green, like this girl, meant a reptile shifter. Humans that practiced magic had weird smudged auras that were more like the chameleon effect from the Predator movies. Heda had noticed a fair number of changelings in the crowd, but that wasn't too surprising. Four Corners University had been built a century earlier with changelings in mind. Many in the national community realized that there was a need for an institution where changelings could go and occasionally indulge their wild natures without risking danger or exposure to the human population. While they made up a relatively small portion of the population, FCU was the largest concentration of changelings in North America. Every shifter in the country as well as in Canada and parts of Mexico donated a small percentage of their salaries to keep the "special programs" at FCU up and going. A large number of the faculty, staff, and campus police department knew about the world of the changelings, making this a safe haven for their kind. The girl was still talking. "My name is Joanna Whitsworth, and I'll be guiding you through the rest of the orientation process. If you have any questions at all, just let me know. There are no stupid questions . . . well, almost no stupid questions, and if you're wondering about it, then there's a pretty good chance that someone else is too." Someone from the back of the crowd shouted, "Are your breasts real?" The crowd got a chuckle, thought there were some irritated grumbles and a few of indignation. Joanna, without missing a beat. "Yes, they're real. All 36-D of them, and this is as close as you're ever going to get to them," she added with a beaming smile. The crowd laughed at that. Heda liked this girl, and in more than the regular carnal way. She didn't take shit. Their guide explained how things were going to work, then gave them a tour of the campus. Heda found herself more and more excited about being here with every step. The FCU campus was gorgeous, with lots of open spaces and parks to kick back in. It was also butted up against a major national park where the shifters could go to stretch their legs, wings, or even fins if they wanted. And southwest of them was desert and mountains while an hour east of them could put you in the plains. Something for every animal. No wonder it was perfect. Hell, the entire town of Crystal Pass existed just to support this mammoth campus. "All right!" Joanna said at the end of the tour, "it's time to fill out your course registration cards and then we'll go to the registrar's office. From now on, you'll be able to do all this on-line, and there should be instructions in your little bags about how to do that. Then you'll be off to the last free meal most of you will get for a while!" The crowd turned and headed back down the walkway in the direction Joanna had been pointing. Heda really wanted to make sure she got the classes she was after, so she started to make her way towards the front of the pack. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Joanna. "Heda Adler, right?" "Yeah. How'd you know?" Joanna grinned. "They gave me a picture and told me to keep a look out for you. Hang back for a sec, okay?" Heda glanced at the crowd. "But registration --" "Don't worry. You're guaranteed your classes." She waited until the crowd was a little further away. "The Changeling Student Council just wanted me to introduce myself and let you know that we're having a special intro for all new shifters after the dinner at the student union. Most students are going home for a month after this week before classes start, so it's the best time for it." "Should we tell the others?" She asked, wondering if she'd been singled out because of who her mother was. "We will. We'll be getting a hold of everyone at some point before or during dinner. Since you're sticking around and since we're going to be roommates, I just wanted to give you the invite personally." "Roommates?" Heda said, grinning a little in spite of herself. There could be worse things that might have happened. "Yep! Just found out this morning myself. I'll show you the dorm before the dinner, thought I have to warn you that I've already claimed my side and I will defend my territory with my life." Heda couldn't be annoyed. The girl was too bubbly and far too sexy. That brought something to mind that Heda decided she should bring up now. "Hey listen, before you sign on to be my roomie, there's something I need to tell you. It's probably fortuitous that I meet you now before I start moving my stuff in --" "Cool!" Joanna said. "I've never heard someone use 'fortuitous' in a sentence before. So, spit it out." "I'm gay. And I'm not going to pretend that I'm not, and I thought you should know." Joanna just stared for a second, making Heda think that she was going to freak. Then the girl was smiling again. "Awesome! So we can go out dancing, you can help me work the guys up into a sweat and then you won't even be competing for them! You're going to be the best roommate ever!" She gave Heda an unexpected hug. "And you're hot too, so that'll bring the boys running! I'm going to have so many to pick from if you include the ones who are devastated and vulnerable after you reject them." "You're scary, you know that right?" But Heda was still smiling, caught up in her new friend's energy. "So, you think I"m hot?" She asked, a twinkle in her eye. She knew that she was, and she had dressed to impress on her first day. She was tall for a girl, standing at a full six feet which had helped her find a passion in the sport of volleyball. She had a firm athlete's body, small perky breasts, and an ass to die for. She had on pink stretchy warm-up pants and a black tank-top that clung to her form, and she had caught many a stare as they wandered around campus. "If I were gay, I'd have jumped you already." Heda laughed out loud. "I think we're going to get along just fine." "And break some hearts along the way," Joanna said, grabbing her new roommate by the arm and dragging her down to catch up with the rest of the group. ---------- ------------------------------ At the changeling meeting . . . ---------- ------------------------------ Joanna hadn't left Heda's side for hours, and the eagle had basically found out everything there was to know about her new friend. Joanna was a theater and performing arts major (big surprise), was a cobra shifter, and was in her second year of school. She worked at the hospitality department part-time for spending money, but her school was paid for by a theater scholarship. Heda didn't even know there was such a thing. Heda looked around, a little surprised how many changelings or magical practitioners there were. Joanna had told her that there were more than a thousand shifters attending, making up five percent of the student body. It helped that FCU was one of the largest universities in the country, as it made it easy to hide changeling activity. They hadn't been sitting long when the two young women began attracting attention. "Oh boy," Joanna said sarcastically. "Here comes God's gift to women." Heda followed her gaze and noticed a young man who was zooming in on them like a shark following chum. Any heterosexual tendencies she might have once felt had fallen by the wayside over the last year, but if there was a male who might have made her want to rethink things (as if she really had a choice), then it would be this guy. He looked like the quintessential California hard-bodied surfer type, complete with blond hair, blue eyes and a single earring that wasn't too "gay." He was that European-gay-porn combination of handsome and pretty that shouldn't exist in nature. He also had a light brown aura, indicated that he was a mammal shifter of some kind. "Player?" Heda asked. "Not just 'a' player," Joanna said, her voice actually tinged with a bit of fondness, "rather THE player." "He play you?" Joanna grinned. "I like to think of it as we played together." She sighed. "I will slightly enjoy watching his ego collapse when he finds out that you're --" "Don't tell him," Heda said softly as the man approached. "Yet." "Anthony!" Joanna said with scarcely disguised glee. She didn't know what her new roommate was going to do, but she figured it would be fun. "What are you doing here this far before the semester begins? San Diego run out of women?" "San Diego NEVER runs out of women," the newcomer said with a knee-melting smile. "One of the professors in the language department got a grant to study a couple of Native American languages that everyone thought were dead. We need to get some stuff ready before the semester gets rolling since we're going to be using undergrads to help." His gaze, which had lingered a few seconds longer than appropriate on Joanna's breasts, shifted to Heda. "Hello," he said, his voice smooth as silk. "I don't believe we've met." "I guess you're right," Heda said, batting her eyelashes, but not forwarding any additional information. She saw his eyes light up a bit. She wasn't going to make anything easy on him, and he was taking that as a challenge. "Anthony, this is Heda. Heda, this is Anthony Valentine," Joanna volunteered. "Valentine?" That smile never wavered. "I was even born on Valentines Day," he added. "I guess I'm just a romantic at heart. Heda's a interesting name. Know what it means?" Heda tried not rolling her eyes. Her mother had picked the name for a reason. "Female warrior." "Why does that not surprise me?" Joanna said. "I mean, your mother was only the biggest ass-kicker in the bird shifter community. "Your mother?" Anthony asked. "Her mother is Jessica Adler." The boy's eyes opened a bit. "I am humbled," he said, bowing at the hips, "to be in the presence of royalty." Heda shook her head and resisted the urge to smack Joanna in the arm. A little hero worship was one thing, but she didn't want to spend her entire college career as nothing but Jessica Adler's daughter. "Where's your posse anyway?" Joanna continued. "Peter won't be here until the week before classes. He's up in Denver practicing for the one-hundred." He looked at Heda. "Peter's a peregrine falcon shifter and he's also on the track team. He's kind of been the big bird in the nest, so seeing what he thinks of you should be fun." "I can hardly wait." "And Kevin's down in New Mexico 'researching' the effects of peyote, so he'll probably miss the first week of classes. Again." Joanna laughed. "Kevin's a chemistry major on the surface and an alchemist in our world. If you ever want to get truly baked, he's the guy who will hook you up." Heda chuckled. "Nuh unh. I've gotten high before, and it makes me want to go flying. Slowed reflexes aren't good when you've got a fifteen pound bird trying to find a place to land and eat a mouse." Anthony's laugh was warm and real. "So even stoned eagles get the munchies?" "You have no idea. I burned through it pretty quickly, but that was an experience I don't intend to repeat." Flying Blind Ch. 01 Anthony invited himself to sit at their table and despite her desire not to, Heda found herself liking the guy. It turned out that he made no secret about being a player, which actually made him fairly respectable in the eagle shifter's book. The guy was getting his masters in Linguistics and spoke eight languages besides English. He was also a skunk shifter, which left him open for a ton of jokes, all of which he had heard before. 'Hmm,' she thought, 'day one of college and I seem to be collecting friends already. My mother told me this would happen.' Something, or rather someone, caught her eye shortly before the meeting was supposed to actually start. A girl slunk in, if slunk was really a word, and she looked mildly upset. It made Heda uncomfortable seeing the girl upset. She was beautiful, though not the most beautiful girl Heda had ever seen. But there was something about her that was . . . soft. She had amazing skin and the most inviting looking lips that Heda could remember looking at, and milk-chocolate brown hair that flowed perfectly to a firm little behind. She was svelte without being skinny, and was dressing in form-fitting black tights underneath a plain brown sheath dress. There was a brown halo to her, indicating another mammal-shifter, and she was wearing a pair of those silver Gargoyle sunglasses that they didn't even make anymore. She was holding some kind of long white stick -- "Madison's here," Joanna said softly, her voice holding something awkward. Pity? "Our resident DM," Anthony replied, and that earned him a scowl from Heda that would have peeled paint. "Sorry," he muttered. "You should be," Heda replied shortly. Her opinion of him had dropped a few notches. "DM" was a derogatory term in the shifter community that had been floating around for over a century. It meant "Darwin's Mistake," and was used in regards to shifters with conditions that would reduce their chances for personal survival. Changelings were closer to their wild animal counterparts than humans. Humans were a little more discreet than most shifters in their discomfort or outright contempt for those with handicaps. The girl was blind, a condition which would have led to her being abandoned or even killed in the animal kingdom. That made her weak according to the unspoken laws of the changelings. It made her prey. Heda's parents had always taught her tolerance, and her travels in Europe had given her a good perspective as to what was really important. Another couple of changelings spotted her and stood up, intentionally standing in front of her. Heda couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was making the girl more upset. She tried to move around them, but one of them (another mammal shifter) got in her way. "What are those ass-clowns doing?" Joanna said. Heda concentrated and enacted her Gift. Her eyes flashed blue for a second, and she was able to see with the clarity of her predator counterpart. A Gift was a blessing for shifters. It occurred rarely, but it was a variation on the shifter virus that allowed that person to use certain aspects of their animal totem in their human form. For Heda, that meant outstanding eyesight as well as increased strength and speed, as well as a battle-cry that temporarily froze her enemies in place. "Crap," Joanna said, "you're Gifted too? Sweet!" But when Heda stood up to go and intervene, Joanna grabbed her arm. "It's okay," she said. "Billy is here." Another player entered the area, and he was impossible to miss. First, he was six-and-a-half feet tall and had a chest like a barrel. He was just so damn massive that it was actually scary. He was ruggedly handsome in a way, but nothing out of the ordinary. But his massive arms flexed slightly under his flannel shirt as he stepped forward, and the girl's . . . Madison's . . . persecutors backed up quickly. He turned to Madison and they started to chat. She looked noticeably more relaxed now. "I think he's apologizing for being late, but that's all I can make out. Not good at reading lips." "Want to practice?" Anthony said, leaning in. "Even if I wasn't still pissed at you, the answer would be 'no.' Or 'hell no.' Depends on my mood." She glanced at Joanna. "Who were the creeps?" "That would be Alvin Hannity, resident vampire bat shifter and complete a-hole. Madison's a bat shifter too, so Alvin's taken it upon himself to be offended on behalf of the whole bat community that Madison is one of them. And don't ever say 'blind as a bat' around her, because Billy might break you in half, no matter who your mother is." "I wouldn't say something like that," she replied. Of course she'd been thinking it, but she had some control over her mouth. "You know them?" "Not personally no, but they've apparently been harassing her for a couple of years. Billy keeps it from getting too bad, seeing as most people with sense don't screw with him." "He's a reptile shifter. What kind?" Joanna looked at Anthony, who said, "Alligator snapping turtle, or so I hear. Except that somehow he managed to score a miracle and get Sasha Baker as a girlfriend, I don't know much about him." "Who's Sasha Baker?" Joanna fielded that one. "She's the student council . . . the human student council president. She's also a sorceress, and she may very well be every man's naughty-librarian fantasy. And yes, she actually works at the library. You'll probably meet her at some point." Then the cobra shifter let out a pleasant little purr. "Now speaking of 'meat,' there's a big hunk of yummy meat I wouldn't mind chowing down on." The crowd actually hushed and eyes went to the podium at the front of the room where Neil Reichert, King of the Reptiles, was preparing to speak. It was the business of every changeling to know the monarchs of the other animal families, and everyone knew about this one. Fifteen years early, he had been working as an paleontologist in Africa when they uncovered the remains of an ancient crocodile known as a Sarcosuchus Imperator, or the Flesh Emperor Crocodile. His Noah Strain had kicked in, and he had become the first changeling in history to have an extinct species as his totem animal. He was one of the most powerful kings of any of the families that anyone had ever known. And, in Joanna's words, he was yummy. A studly cross between Harrison Ford as "Indiana Jones" and Viggo Mortensen in just about anything, Neil Reichert tended to make girls swoon and made the guys wonder why they couldn't be more like him. He was one of those eternal-five-o'clock-shadow kind of men who looked good in a tux or in a lumberjack outfit, and not the Monty Python kind of lumberjack. He was as alpha male as anyone could get. He had apparently decided to start teaching archeology, anthropology, and paleontology courses a few years ago, and they were always filled to capacity. Even humans, having no cerebral concept of what he was, were drawn to him. All the monarchs were like that to some degree, but Reichert was different. "Let me be one of the first but not last members of the faculty here at Four Corners University to welcome the new shifters to our community and to say welcome back to our returning brethren." His voice were low and rumbling, but was still clearly heard across the room. Heda was paying attention more than ever before. She might not be physically attracted to him, but she was a sucker for a sexy voice. She could listen to James Earl Jones or Barry White for days. "Adjusting to life away from home can be difficult, and you all have issues above and beyond those of normal young people. Four Corners is a haven for those like us . . . a place of learning as well as peace of mind. There are some rules, but they're simple. There are many places to go and shift and unleash your animals, but be careful to avoid exposure to pure humans. If you feel your secrets have been compromised, do NOT take action yourself. Let me or one of the acceptable faculty know and we will look into it. And your parents have probably grilled this into your heads, but let me make it clear . . . shifters do NOT hunt other shifters. I shouldn't need to tell you what violating that rule means." Indeed he didn't. Shifters could identify each other, so there were no "But I didn't know" excuses. Hunt another shifter and it meant your death if you were caught. "You can participate in extra-circular activities such as sports, but cheating by using any powers or Gifts if you're lucky enough to have one will be grounds for immediate expulsion from this university and potential action by the Changeling Council. Protect each other and enjoy each others company. These should be some of the best years of your lives, so feel free to indulge your wild natures when you can. Thank you, and have a great night." "You have any extra-curricular activities that you're interested in?" Anthony asked of Heda, innuendo permeating his voice. She grinned a little. He certainly was persistent. "Oh yeah," she said, stroking his hand and biting seductively on her lower lip. "I like to put on these tight little shorts, a skintight top and --" She leaned in and whispered into Anthony's ear. "-- play volleyball." She sat back and continued, "I'm on an athletic scholarship. Outside hitter. Practice starts tomorrow." He leaned back, a goofy smile on his face. "You, m'lady, are an incredible tease." Joanna was trying not to smirk. The poor boy probably still thought he had a chance. Then she saw someone approaching the table and her eyes started to sparkle. "Mr. Reichert," she said. Everyone at the table stood up when the monarch approached. He smiled at all of them, then turned his attention to Heda. "I've actually got to get home, but I wanted to stop by and say hello. I've heard a lot about you Miss Adler. Mostly through the extensive letter your mother wrote to encourage your admittance. As if there was any doubt." Heda blushed. "She didn't really . . . please tell me she didn't!" "Oh yes, but don't worry. It was all very professional and polite. She didn't include any baby pictures or anything." She covered her face with both hands. "I love my mother, but I may actually have to kill her." She peeked between her fingers to see that he was still smiling. "Good luck with the team this year. I hear you'll probably be starting, which is unusual for a freshmen. I make it habit to attend all the sports games that I can, so I'm looking forward to seeing you play." He nodded again at everyone else at the table and then left. "You lucky bitch," Joanna said. "Let me see the hand that he shook. I want to see if I can smell his cologne." "Oh good grief," Anthony said, annoyed that he was temporarily not the center of feminine attention. Not that he had anything against Dr. Reichert, but he had his pride. As much fun as it might be to let Joanna feel her up, she saw that Madison girl standing up to leave. Her friend was shaking his head and giving her a sorrowful glare. "Be right back," she said, moving towards the entrance of the room. She got there just before the girl did. "Hey . . . Madison is it?" she asked as the girl slowly navigated the crowd, most of whom were more than happy to avoid being near her. "Yes?" the girl asked, "staring" straight forward. Her mouth parted slightly and she waited for a response. "My name is Heda," she said quickly, then realized she wasn't sure what to say. 'Hey, I'd like to hang out with you because I feel sorry for the way you've been treated,' she thought. Yeah, that'd go over well. People really dig being pitied. "And?" the girl asked her mouth pursing a bit. She looked irritated. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime or --" Madison growled. "Oh, so they're starting already. You're the Trojan Horse hunh? Well go tell Alvin . . . never mind," she said, her anger quickly deflated. She looked tired. "It's not like anything I say is going to matter." She swatted at where she knew the other girl's legs would be with her cane. "Hey!" Heda said, jumping out of the way as Madison cautiously stormed past. "Bitch!" she called after the bat girl. Madison kept going, and Heda headed back to her table. 'What the hell was that about?' "What did you want to talk to Madison about?" Joanna asked. "I just wanted to say hi and she was a total bitch to me!" "Probably just a defense mechanism or something. She gets ragged on a lot. Now, let's talk about what we're going to do this weekend. It must involve dancing, might involve alcohol," she added giving Anthony a sexy look, "if we can find someone to buy, and it will definitely involve going up into the mountains to let our wild sides out!" Heda smiled, caught up in her roommates enthusiasm and forgetting all about bitchy Madison. Outside, Madison Sloan made her way back to her dorm room. She pretty much lived on campus year round due to her summer classes. She wanted out of this "shifter paradise" as quickly as possible. In many ways, it was worse than the changeling foster care system that she had grown up in. There, she at least had adults looking after her. Here, all she had were Billy and Sasha, and they couldn't be around all the time. Once she was sure she was alone, she called her Gift again. Waves of sound well outside of the hearing range of humans or even other changelings emanated out, bouncing off objects for hundreds of yards in any direction. Her totem animal was a California Myotis bat, which was a small and nimble insect eater, but it's echolocation abilities were finely tuned. Madison's were a hyped up version of that. Even in human form, she could make out shapes, speeds, densities, and even directions of movement. In many ways, she could "see" better than most people, but she couldn't tell if someone was a shifter or not. Since the ability also required her throat muscles, she couldn't echolocate and talk at the same time. Only she and her two friends knew that she even had the ability. It was her secret weapon, and one of the only things that kept her from being more victimized than she already was. She took off at a jog, still angry at Alvin and this Heda character, who had to be just another of Alvin's new stooges. 'Okay,' she thought, 'I get it. You don't like me, consider me a genetic failure, and think I should've been put to death. My existence isn't interfering with yours, so just leave me the hell alone.' At least being alone was something she knew how to do. Until she'd met Billy and through him Sasha, she hadn't had a real friend in . . . ever. In the changeling foster-care system, they had to protect her. They didn't have to like her. Jogging felt good to her. Not as good as flying, but it was a start. She knew the campus like the back of her hand, and she could navigate it easily even without her echolocation. Assuming it wasn't filled with people. She was making good time, dodging around some objects and jumping over benches. She loved to move with this kind of freedom, and her sour mood quickly melted away. Then, she sensed something off. She stopped in her tracks. Up ahead, there was a large box hanging from some kind of metal frame right outside Barber Hall, the main social sciences building. It hadn't been their earlier, and was oddly located. 'No,' she thought, 'it's not a box. Too circular. And there are openings and . . . and there's something inside.' There was something in there, and it was human shaped. Then Madison heard something sniffle. "Hello?" More sniffling, and then the person whimpered. Madison could tell it was a girl, and she was naked and curled up in a fetal position inside the cage. There was something odd about her mouth. Madison's echolocation could actually pick up find detail at this close of range, and she thought it looked like tape over her mouth. Her hands were behind her where Madison couldn't detect them, but there were manacles of some kind on her feet. "Oh my God!" Madison shouted. She reached out with her sonar but didn't find anyone else near by. "I'll get you out of there," she said, almost terrified out of her mind. The cage was suspended too high for her to reach in easily, but she was able to get a foot up on part of the frame and get a hand inside. She just barely reached the tape over the girls mouth. "I'm going to take this off quickly and it's probably going to hurt, okay?" She felt like an idiot for asking a question. The girl couldn't answer. But the girl did answer, nodding feverishly. Madison pulled the tape away, raking her arm across the flat bars of the cage and cutting it open. "Please," the girl whispered, her voice filled with a dread that Madison could barely comprehend. "Please get me out of here before it comes back. Please?!" "I'm going to call the cops, but don't worry," Madison said. "I won't leave you." She wouldn't be much good to the girl, kickboxing and self-defense lessons aside. But the girl was scared, so Madison would do whatever she could. She pulled out her phone and felt the numbers, quickly dialing 911. She let out a stream of panicked babble to the dispatcher who, bless her soul, helped calm Madison down. It took a minute, but soon there were campus cops converging on her location. The Four Corners Police Department actually had more rigorous standards than other police agencies because of the university's unique needs, so these cops were the epitome of professionalism. "What the hell?!" a cop said, the first to arrive on the scene. Madison had her hand in the cage, providing some comforting physical contact with the girl to let her know someone was still with her. She'd kept talking too as she waited for help to arrive. "She was here," Madison practically sobbed, "and I couldn't get her out and --" She started babbling, but had enough presence of mind to not blow her secret. She said she'd bumped into the cage where it was supposed to be, heard the girl's muffled cries and then worked on feel after calling the cops. Everyone was so freaked out that the notion that a blind girl could have done what she had done didn't seem far fetched. She was genuinely scared and babbling, so their protective instincts took over. "Shh," the man said, helping her down. He noticed her bloodied arm and sent her over to the arriving ambulance while he and the other officers tried to figure out how to get the girl down. They took a bunch of pictures while waiting to get some cutting tools and a crane to lower the cage. When they finally got her out, they found that her hands were manacled behind her back. The poor girl was traumatized, but she asked if the girl who had found her would go with her in the ambulance. She was afraid, and didn't want to be alone again. "Please," the girl said as they put her on a gurney, "don't let it find me. So cold," she whispered. "It was so cold." Then, finally safe, she allowed herself to pass out. Madison didn't know what to do except hold her hand and wonder what the hell this all meant. -------------- ----------- That weekend . . . -------------- ----------- Heda really wasn't sure how she felt about making a trip into the woods after the weeks events. Word of what had happened . . . a girl being found in a hanging cage . . . had spread like wildfire the next day, and it was making play in the local media. The shifters generally liked to keep weird things under wraps, but there was no helping it this time. The girl, a horse shifter, was still traumatized and hadn't been able to tell the cops anything yet, or at least nothing that had not been officially released. The only thing that people knew was that she had been apparently held for several days before getting left in that hanging cage. It was the kind of thing that they had stuck thieves and other criminals in way back in the day. No one was sure why the perp had let the girl live, or how he or she had managed to put the cage there without anyone noticing. Flying Blind Ch. 01 It had finally been decided that it would probably be just as safe for the shifters go out in large groups as it would be to hole up in their rooms in smaller groups or alone, so Joanna had finally convinced a bunch of students to actually have a shifting party. Volleyball practice had been canceled that week due to the incident, meaning that Heda really needed a physical outlet. She wasn't the kind of girl who liked just sitting around like a couch potato, unless she was into a really good book. Even then, she'd rather hike somewhere in the mountains for an hour and then sit on a log next to some running water and read until she was almost out of light. So she had allowed Joanna to talk her into this outing, even though Anthony was going to be there. She should probably just admit to him that she was gay and put him out of his misery, though she suspected he might try the "But maybe you just haven't met the right guy yet" crap. Still, it was fun to play with him, and being focused on her gave the other freshmen girls a bit of a breather. Most of them didn't want a break from the gorgeousness that was Anthony Valentine, but they were getting it anyway. They had taken about four cars to get everyone out there, with Joanna and Anthony calling in every friend they had as well as some people who just wanted to be friends. Everyone was a little creeped out, but tensions were eased as the changelings got deeper into the woods. They reached a clearing that was off limits to most people, but every shifter on campus had a special sticker on their student ID that acted as a get-out-of-jail-free card if one of the rangers came by. Heda climbed out of her jeep and looked around, shivering in delight as a cool evening breeze stroked the mountainside like a familiar lover, sliding past the people into every crevasse. She could almost hear the mountain sigh beneath that touch. The sun was still up in the low in the sky, bathing everything in a pleasant glow. 'I'd like to get touched like that,' she thought briefly. She hadn't gotten laid since that hot blond in Amsterdam. She grinned at the weirdness of it. In high school, she'd never thought that she would be as amorous as she had become, starting shortly before her year in Europe. Hell, she'd been shy bordering on comatose until her body filled out in some places and trimmed down in others, making all the boys sit up and take notice. Now, she thought about sex more often than the guys did, and that was saying something. Joanna jumped out of the passenger side, as did two guys in the backseat whose names Heda couldn't remember. "I am SO needing this!" she said. She smiled sweetly at the driver. "So, would you like to come over here and kiss my royal feet now while I still have feet? You'll be needing the practice." "Laugh it up," Heda replied with a laugh. "Ain't no WAY you're going to out-hunt me." On the drive up, the four shifters had gotten into a spirited discussion about hunting prowess, and Joanna had made the bold claim that snakes were the best mousers on the planet. Heda had laughed in her pretty face. She could spot a rodent a mile away and get there before any snake could finish telling itself how pretty it looked and even started to hunt. The guys in the back seat had egged them on, seeing as both of their animals (a giant panda and a bullfrog) weren't exactly the type to chase mice or rats to ground. Finally, a wager had been made. First one to catch a rodent and bring it back to the car was the winner, and the loser was their slave for a day. Joanna had made jokes about having someone rub her feet and do her laundry. Heda had dropped many sexual innuendos that she knew she would never enforce. Joanna was a flirt and not above a little teasing play, but she was straight. Still, teasing her was part of the fun. Joanna looked around at the people who'd come with them. "Okay all, if you're a shifter that needs or wants the water, there's a lake just a hundred yards down Bear Paw trail. It should be warm enough for everyone, but make sure to remind me to tell everyone where the heated pools are so you'll have a place to go once winter rolls around. Stay in groups," she told them. "We'll meet up here come high midnight, so get naked and show everyone what mother nature gave ya!" People were laughing and clothes were flying off everywhere. While seeing naked people was still enticing for them, shifters were a lot more casual about nudity than their human counterparts. There were jokes, teases, and several looks of longing, but the changelings took it all in stride. Heda noticed that Anthony was watching her, openly grinning as her lacy bra and boy-short panties came into view. "Daddy likes," he said. Anthony was already naked, and even the gay chick had to admire the packaging. "I ain't gonna call you daddy, no matter how much you beg," Heda replied, tossing her remaining clothes into the driver's side of her car. "Damn! How can I get abs like that?!" Joanna said, running a hand over Heda's washboard stomach. "Lots of crunches," she replied. "And I burn a lot of calories when I fly." She was staring right at Joanna's gorgeous tits, wondering how far she could push "playfulness" once she won the bet. "Well, let's get this started," Joanna said. "That ass of yours isn't going to kick itself, so I'll have to do it. No half-forms. Full animal form only, and first one back with a prize wins." With that, the blond girl shifted, bones and skin melting and reforming in a way that Heda almost saw as sensuous. Joanna, still with a green aura, had turned into a beautiful twelve-foot king cobra. She flared her hood and hissed at Heda. "Yes, you're very pretty . . . for a belt waiting to happen," Heda responded. She lifted her eyes to the sky and spread her arms, letting the change run through her. It hurt to shift, but changelings were pretty used to it by the time they were teenagers. It was like ripping off a band aid in that the faster you did it, the easier it was to move on. She could feel her arms becoming wings and the hairs on those arms morphing into feathers. Her beak sprouted from her face and her eyes could see from horizon to horizon. Sharp talons clutched the ground and she let out a great cry that made everyone still in the clearing take notice. She was a warrior of the bird family, and a proud one at that. Her wings had a span of eighty-eight inches and she weighed fourteen pounds, making her one of the largest eagles anyone was likely to see. "Told you she was a hot chick," Anthony said to one of the passengers from Heda's car. "Ready . . . set --" the passenger said. Heda spread her wings while Joanna got a coil underneath her. "Go!" Joanna certainly got going faster, disappearing into the woods as Heda slowly climbed high into the sky. Eagles were meant to soar, but they weren't exactly what you would call nimble. But she didn't need to get too high. She had maybe an hour of daylight left, and she needed to make the most of it. Eagles had great vision most of the time. Their night vision . . . not so hot. For a moment, she forgot all about the bet. It felt good to be in the air, mocking gravity with gentle grace. Up here, the eagles ruled. Falcons might be faster and the condors might be larger, but eagles were the power. At least in Heda's ever-so-humble opinion. She focused those eyes on the ground for any sign of movement. 'Hell with a mouse,' she thought. 'Let's find me a rabbit.' ------------ ------------------ Elsewhere . . . ------------ ------------------ "Are you sure you're up for this?" Bill asked, "You're normally a night flier anyway." The enormous man held the door open so that Madison could get out. He knew that she wasn't so helpless as she made out to be, but he couldn't help himself. Besides, her hands were trembling just a little bit. She was totally freaked out about finding the girl in the cage. They had just left the hospital where Madison had been visiting with the young woman. The girl was actually doing better, but Madison had been asked not to talk to anyone about their conversations until the police were ready for a formal statement. Apparently stumbling across the girl's cage first had made Madison her savior, so she was willing to talk to her. Madison was more than a little bitter that the girl probably never would have given her the time of day under normal circumstances. She knew what people called her. But that was a petty and selfish thought and she pushed it away. The girl needed an outlet and if Madison could give it to her, then so be it. Madison had heard the whole story. The girl, Carla Cowan, had been out in front of the library reading a book and waiting for a friend to show up. She got a call saying they weren't going to be able to meet so she headed home. She hadn't heard anything . . . just suddenly there were arms around her and a cloth over her mouth. She hadn't been able to shift or scream, and she blacked out. When she had come around, Carla was in a cage and her ankles and wrists had been locked. The cage was surrounded in a bright light and the rest of the room was pitch black. It had been cold . . . Carla remembered the cold. She screamed, but all she heard were the echoes, making her think the room couldn't have been that large. Then the voice started. "It sounded . . . mechanical," the girl had whimpered. Carla couldn't even verify if the voice were male or female. It kept repeating one phrase over and over again: "Tell him I'm coming." That was it. No explanation as to who "him" was. She had said she couldn't deliver a message if she didn't know to who, but the voice didn't care. Then the shocks had begun. She was in a metal cage, and whoever it was, was sending shots of electricity through it. It hurt a lot, but never enough to kill her or even let her slip gratefully into unconsciousness. It would stop for periods of time, but she didn't think the person had left. Then the shocks would start up again at random intervals. She'd only been given one glass of water a day and no food at all. When she soiled herself, she was sprayed down with a hose, then shocked again. Finally, the day that Madison had found the cage, the voice had said, "It's time to let him know." She'd felt something sink into her arm, then she had woken up in the cage on campus. She didn't know how she'd gotten there. When she'd seen Madison, she'd actually thought that she was an angel and that Carla had finally died. "She thought I was an angel," Madison muttered. "What was that?" "Nothing," she replied. Her face pointed towards the sun. It was true that bats were mostly nocturnal, but it wasn't like echolocation didn't work during the day. "I haven't had a chance to fly in a while." "Okay, if you insist." Billy had parked next to a creek just deep enough for him to submerge. He and Madison often came up here separate from everyone else. He was the only one she was comfortable enough with. "I'll just be lounging down here catching fish. Say an hour?" "An hour is good," Madison replied, waiting until he was on the other side of car. Billy shook his head. He had no carnal feelings towards his friend, though he certainly thought she was sexy. It was just that Madison was the only shifter he knew that was uncomfortable being naked in front of people. It bothered her that she couldn't see their expressions unless she cheated . . . couldn't see if they were judging her body the way that they judged everything else about her. He'd tried to tell her that everyone would say the same thing he did . . . that she was beautiful and shouldn't be worried. Madison wasn't the type to take anyone's word easily. She'd been burned way too many times. After a moment, he saw her place her tights and dress in the car, then she quickly shifted into her bat form. She was a tiny creature, no more than seven inches in wingspan and three inches long. But when she took off, he remembered how agile a flier she was, vanishing into the woods looking for a tasty bug. In her human form, she sometimes felt guilty about that, seeing as she was a vegetarian. But her animal form was an insectivore, so bugs it was. Billy was convinced that she enjoyed chasing them a little more than she would admit. Billy would have been right. Madison had nailed a couple of crickets within a few minutes of leaving the clearing and she was anxiously looking for more. She was tearing through the trees with amazing skill, caught up in her three dimensional rendering of the world. Seeing as she wasn't fooled by shadows or the like, she was able to navigate better than creatures who relied on sight. She was having a great time . . . she should have known better. She started picking up other signals that made her nervous . . . other bats. But most bats shouldn't be up this early. And there was a weird hodgepodge of high frequency signals . . .'Shit,' she thought. 'Multiple species of bats which probably means that it's Alvin and his crew.' Alvin, who had persecuted her endlessly since the moment she stepped foot on the campus of FCU. He hated her for being a freak, and he hated her more for the fact that she had outscored him in all three classes they had together. He hated the fact that she wasn't going to run away to another university just because he told her to. He was the son of one of the most important and influential bat shifters on the planet, so other bats usually just did what he wanted. Most of the other bats on campus were his toadies, and he had a couple of the smaller bird shifters in his circle as well. All of them gave her a hard time, and now they were out in the middle of nowhere. There was no way to warn Billy, but she had to try to get back to him. No one fucked with her when Billy or Sasha were around. Billy was just big and bad. Sasha, Billy's girlfriend, was just mean. The human sorceress was also Madison's kick-boxing instructor and self-defense coach. Madison banked and headed back to the car, but she could hear the other bats homing in. They were after her all right. She made like a proverbial bat out of hell for the layer just below the canopy. If she stuck close, it would make it harder for the other bats to track her. Then something came barreling through the trees, and she could easily tell that it was some kind of hawk. 'Alvin's got a Harris Hawk in his crew,' she thought frantically, turning quickly and going back up into more dense foliage. It would slow her progress, but she could easily outmaneuver the clumsier bird in the branches. There were four bats on her trail and at least one coming in from her left. She had no idea how they had found her, but guessed they'd followed Billy's truck out, knowing she'd be with him. The bat to her left came up on her quickly, and she could tell at this range by the shape of his head and his size that this was a vampire bat. This was Alvin. He felt a claw nip her wing and it burned like hell. Madison's little heart went cold. He was escalating his harassment. He could be punished severely for what he had just done, regardless of who his father was. Important didn't make you a monarch, and all the monarchs didn't tolerate hunting other shifters, and the Reptile King was just miles away. But she would never be able to prove it, since she couldn't say for sure that she had been attacked by a changeling. For the billionth time in her life, she cursed her blindness. There were bats behind her and a hawk below her, so she was out of options. Madison climbed upward. Up above the trees, Heda was soaring happily when she noticed a commotion in the forest below. If she could have smiled, she would. Ruckus like that generally meant prey animals were around, so she circled for a better look. She saw a bat come barreling out of the green, skimming the treetops frantically and dodging too and fro. That was when Heda saw a raven shifter swooping in out of the sun. 'Idiot,' she thought, 'the sun doesn't mean shit to something not using its eyes.' Sure enough, the bat dodged easily and the would-be attacker almost collided with an enormous evergreen. 'Hold on.' Heda felt surprise and then rage. The bat was a shifter too! She saw a bunch of other bats come up out of the trees, as did a hawk, and they were chasing the poor creature higher. Soon, another crow and an osprey joined the hunt. There was no mistaking that hunting is just what was happening. A bunch of creatures persecuting one lone bat? It didn't take a genius to figure out who the scared would-be prey was. With a scream that echoed across the mountains, Heda came down like a lightning bolt to intercept the pursuing mob. The bird shifters scattered to the winds, none of them even vaguely capable or willing to take on the eagle. The bat shifters disappeared as well, diving back into the trees. Feeling proud of herself, Heda looked around, but the bat she assumed was that Madison chick was still hightailing it. 'Some gratitude!' she thought. 'I can't protect her if she's avoiding me.' Madison's little heart was almost exploding in her chest. From out of nowhere, an eagle had shown up and she could only assume that it was another of Alvin's people. She thought the other birds were flanking her, because she couldn't pick them up anymore, and the bats were keeping her from going back into the trees. That damn enormous bird . . . all she could do was keep fleeing. Just then, she reached the clearing where Billy was parked and she dived. As soon as she was on the ground, she shifted back. She looked to the sky, wondering if her pursuers would continue their persecution even into human form. She was crying her eyes out in frustration and running to the stream, jumping naked into the cold water and looking around for Billy. Billy quickly emerged and shifted. He had just been enjoying a leisurely soak when Madison had almost stepped on top of him. She was lucky he didn't take a chunk out of her leg just out of instinct. Snapping turtles had powerful jaws, and could've done a lot of damage. "What the hell --" he started to say, then was interrupted as she wrapped herself around him, suddenly unconcerned with nudity, and cried onto his shoulder. The face he made could have curdled milk. Someone had scared her. She had a cut on her arm that had mostly healed when she changed, but it was still obvious . . . tender-looking and red. "Who did this?" he asked. Then he saw an eagle circle down into the clearing and land on his truck, looking over in his direction. "Buh . . . buh . . bats and a hawk and . . . a fucking eagle! Alvin's got an eagle? I thought they were supposed to be honorable and . . . and --" She broke down crying again. If she would let go for just a second, he planned on making a feather duster out the nation's symbol. Something occurred to him . . . the bird was sticking around. Alvin's guys never did that. Then the eagle started to shimmer and there was a sexy young woman standing there, and she looked concerned. "Hey, are you --" Madison shrieked and moved around to the other side of Billy's massive frame. "Who's that?" "My name's Heda --" "Crap!" the girl shouted. "That's Alvin's new girl! She's his new Trojan Horse!" Now the girl was more mad than afraid, and a quick scan with her echolocation told Madison that the girl was alone. She could take the girl one on one. "Madison!" Billy said, a little frantic himself now. Didn't she know what she was doing? But Madison was incensed and she strode forward, putting her hands out in front like Sasha had taught her. She was going to kick this bitch upside her head. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Heda said, watching the girl angrily approaching. "And what the hell is a Trojan Horse?" "According to the mythology of the Trojan War," Billy started, "the Trojan Horse was a giant hollow wooden horse created by Epeius that --" Flying Blind Ch. 01 "I mean what is she talking about?!" Heda was exasperated. This girl obviously had violence on her mind. Madison strode up to her and her foot shot out, a spinning roundhouse kick aimed right at Heda's head. Heda's mother was a warrior, and she had started her daughter in martial arts when she was six. Heda rolled her eyes, invoking her gift. With her eyes glowing blue, she caught Madison's angle and picked the girl up off the ground, holding her there like a pinata. "Why are you trying to kick me? I just saved your cute little ass!" An ass that Heda was getting a good look at as the struggling girl dangled helplessly. Heda was twice as strong as a man Billy's size, so holding a hundred-and-twenty pound girl aloft wasn't exactly difficult. 'She's in pretty good shape,' Heda thought absently. "Put me down you bitch!" Madison was tempted to shift and try again, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to slip that tenacious grip. "How are you doing that?" Heda looked at Billy, perplexed and annoyed beyond all reason. "What is she babbling about?" Billy just covered his face for a moment, unsure whether or not it would be appropriate to laugh at his friend considering all she'd been through. "That young lady you're holding is Madison Sloan." "Okay, I knew that." "You know Alvin Hannity?" "Not personally. A friend told me that he's the vampire bat fuck-tard that keeps hassling her," Heda said, spitting out the word "her" like it was acid. "I tried to introduce myself to her 'cause I hate shitheads like that and she goes apeshit on me. So now I've been called a Trojan Horse twice now and she's tried to kick me and my patience is just about out and . . . fuck! The bet!" Heda dumped Madison unceremoniously on the ground, hoping like hell that Joanna hadn't caught anything yet. She'd tried to be nice here, and she'd gotten yelled at and assaulted . . . kind of. She shifted into eagle form and flapped her wings, gradually gaining altitude. 'And the girl's eyes were fucking glowing,' she thought. 'Nobody told me she was Gifted. A Gifted blind girl? I've never heard of anything like that before.' Then she thought back to the sunglasses the girl had worn before. 'Does anyone even know? Why wouldn't she tell them? Gifts are beautiful things, so people might actually cut her a break.' But she decided she was done thinking about that ungrateful bitch. She had a bet to win. On the ground, Madison lay quietly, breathing hard and stretching out with her echolocation, trying to find her escaped quarry. Then she noticed that Billy was looking at her and shaking his head. "What? I could've taken her . . . except for that whole super-fast and super-strong thing. You could've helped you know!" Billy grabbed her clothes out of the car and then dropped them on Madison's body. "She was able to manhandle you because she's Gifted." "Gifted?" Madison's face blanked, then looked annoyed again. "Cheating slut!" she screamed at the night sky. Billy knelt next to her. "I think I know who that was." "Heda-I'm-too-chickenshit-to-fight-without-my-Gift," Madison muttered. "One, you're being childish. Two, you were using your Gift too." "Hey, my Gift --" "Three, you probably exposed your Gift to someone else." Madison's eyes were open wide now. She put her hands to her faces, remembering for the first time that she hadn't had anything covering her glowing eyes. Just white-film lenses with a brown glow. "Shit!" "Four, I think that was Heda Adler. As in Jessica Adler's daughter." Madison's mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. "Unless there's another new female eagle shifter with lightning-fast reflexes on campus." Madison's mouth kept moving silently. He sighed. "Madison, it wouldn't hurt you to at least TRY to let people get to know you. Without cussing at them or attempting to kick them in the head." Madison's face fell. "That's what you said the first time." The first time Alvin played his sick little games. "Listen, let's just get back to campus. We've got to be at the station in a couple of hours anyway." Billy got dressed and watched his friend climb quietly back into the truck. Sometime, he knew when it was time not to argue with her anymore. --------- --------------- Elsewhere . . . --------- --------------- Heda had given up the hunt when she realized that the sun was almost down and that she was too hopping mad to hunt anyway. She actually landed and most people hadn't returned yet. Then she saw a black-and-white furred critter sniffing around an overturned log looking for bugs. It saw her staring at it so the skunk wandered over. It reached her, turned around, lifted its tail and then -- "Do it and I'll punt you into the middle of next week," she said. "I'll smell bad, but your balls will pop out of your mouth when you cough." The skunk looked back at her, then morphed back into Anthony. "You say the sweetest things," he said, he voice low and seductive. He leaned against her jeep, his generous manhood dangling off to one side. Heda's retort was cut off when she saw Joanna slithering out of the woods with a lump halfway down her midsection. She morphed back into a beautiful naked blond who looked mightily vexed. "You got back already? Damn, you are good!" It would have been so easy to say she'd already devoured her kill. 'Damn Mom and her damn honor,' Heda's mind grumbled. "You won. I didn't catch anything." She looked confused but pleased. "So . . . why'd you stop?" Heda growled and then told them everything that had happened. "Who do I report this to? What's the chain of command for this?" Anthony looked at her. "Think they'll actually do anything? I mean, if they've been harassing her all this time --" Heda shot him another one of those looks. "We do something because it's what we're supposed to do. Even if Madison Sloan is a complete bitch." "It'll be your word against theirs. Yours and Madison's." Joanna actually felt surprisingly good when Heda shrugged her shoulders, indicating that it didn't matter. "I'd go straight to Reichert if I were you. You might be able to get his attention more easily than the rest of us could." "I should changed my last name to 'Smith' or something." Heda sighed. Unfortunately, this was a time where she actually needed to use that last name. Joanna smiled and placed a hand on her new friend's shoulder. "You're one of the good guys, aren't you? Well, that isn't EVEN going to keep you from paying up on our bet." She hugged Heda. "I hate you," Heda replied. "I know you do." "Don't I get a hug?" Anthony asked. 'Okay,' Heda thought. She put a little sway in her hips as she walked over, pressing her body against his. It didn't take much to feel him rising to the occasion as their heat merged. She traced one finger along his stiffening member, leaned in and whispered into his ear. "I'm a lesbian." She raised her face to the sky as she laughed and walked away, leaving him pointing in the wind like a flagpole. Anthony just stared while Joanna laughed at him, then started to get dressed. "That's not funny!" Anthony said. "You're not serious? Are you? C'mon!" --------------- ------------- Two weeks later . . . --------------- ------------- Heda had been pissed for all of practice. Professor Reichert had actually gone out of town for the weeks before school started, so she hadn't been able to tell him what had happened, and her complaints to the local Changeling Council had been met with red tape and "Well, we'll see what the Reptile King says when he gets back." She had almost broken down and called her mother for help, but then she'd kicked herself. Literally. She wanted to break out of her mother's shadow, so she'd see this through on her own. The people she had talked to didn't seem surprised, so she guessed they'd already heard from Madison. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of the blind bitch of the west since the incident. So Heda had taken out her aggression on the other side of the practice squad. She'd pancaked two girls, spiked one ball so hard it bounced off the lumber and cracked a window, and people were so scared of the shots she was throwing that no one would set to her . . . even in setting drills. The coach decided that she "needed a nap" and sent her home. Napping was the furthest thing from her mind. Her coach had told her to call the campus dorm escort service so someone could walk her home. That suggestion lasted as far as the locker room before being summarily dismissed. She WANTED the perp who had taken the horse shifter to show up. She was itching for a fight. 'I can be way too much like Mom,' she thought. It amused her to think of that same woman puttering around a kitchen at her five-star restaurant holding a knife that she wasn't supposed to stab anyone with. There was a wild and primal world just below the horizon on normal humans' reality, and sometimes wars were made there. The last one had been a huge uprising of insect shifters in South America, led by a maniacal Queen who thought the human race had blown its shot at running the planet. Shutting them down had been costly, but a coalition of the warriors of the different animal families had gotten the job done. Jessica Adler had taken time off from being a wife, mother, and restaurant entrepreneur to general the effort. "I guess I should get back into weapons classes at some point," she told herself as she started a jog across campus. Her father had actually convinced her to take some time off before getting to involved in the warrior culture and had finally made her mother relent. Her father, a well-off architect in his own right, was less enthusiastic about Heda getting caught up in changeling politics. She didn't blame him. He was pure human with a Noah Strain that never manifested itself, and he had almost lost his wife to that world. He was the calm to her mother's storm. Maybe she should call him? He was the thinker in the family. He had encouraged her ridiculous reading habit and desire to become a writer herself. There was only another week until class started and she was already getting nervous. The English classes were going to be cake, but Physics and Intro to Calculus were daunting. The campus still had a quiet hush to it, and no progress had been made in finding the perp who had kidnapped the horse shifter, or how they had gotten her and her cage onto campus without anyone seeing. Heda made it a point to go visit the girl, as she had refused to withdraw from her classes. No way was she letting whoever it was stop her from her life. Heda admired that. She got back to her dorm without incident and crashed onto her bed. The dorm rooms at FCU were actually pretty large, with the semi-secret reason being that shifters needed their space. So there was a good amount of room between her and Joanna, who was sitting in front of her trendy little MacBook making sure that her MySpace page was up to spec. "You're back early." "My coach thinks I have anger management issues and sent me home." Joanna turned around. "You ran home? Alone? Are you nuts?" "Duh." "Well . . . go shower. You smell like my Aunt Paula." "Was she hot?" "She's my Aunt." "So?" Heda grinned and got up, peeling off her clothes and hook-shotting them into the laundry hamper. It was empty, since Joanna had called in her "servant for a day" winnings and made Heda clean everything in the apartment before giving her a foot rub and watching the most god-awful chick flick while feeding her popcorn. Someday, Heda would have her revenge. Heda clambered into the shower after tossing aside the frilly unmentionables that Joanna had hung up to dry. 'She does have good taste in underwear,' she thought, holding out a silky piece that was too small to be used as an eye patch. 'If only she were bi.' But Heda didn't play "seduce the straight chick," so she finished making room and turned on the water. Something about a hot shower was so therapeutic that she'd almost forgot about the kidnapping and the fight with Alvin and his goons and that ungrateful -- "Hey, hurry up and get out of the shower!" Joanna shouted. "Anthony is coming over, and he's got Kevin and Peter with him. They both got back early and Anthony's convinced that if you don't throw yourself on Peter then there's no hope for you." Heda toweled off and trotted naked out into the main room. "He isn't just going to take my word that I'm gay?" "Nope. He's hoping that Peter will be able to break down your defenses and when that happens, you'll publicly give up the whole lesbian charade. Then he sweeps in and steals you away before you and Paul consummate your re-discovered heterosexuality and he . . . okay, even I can't guess what he wants after that. Besides sex, I mean." "You've put way too much thought into this. Or he has, and you know him way too well. Either way scares me." She stopped looking for clean clothes to glance at her roommate. "Was he like this with you?" Joanna shook her head. "I didn't make things nearly this hard on him. He came over, said 'hi,' started the whole smooth operator shit . . . I just thought he looked yummy, so I told him to shut up and then blew him behind the bowling alley." "How romantic." The blond girl grinned. "He bought me a beer and nachos afterward. It was one of the nicer dates I've been on." Heda squeezed into a pair of unnaturally tight terrycloth shorts and a baby-doll tee-shirt with "I'm Pooh's Honey" on the front with a picture of Winnie in gangsta clothing. Heda dug Winnie the Pooh. That was when the door knocked and the "boys" arrived. Anthony looked good as always, and his friends weren't exactly hard on the eyes. Kevin was easy to recognize, as Heda had been told all about him. He was a red-haired, green-eyed elfish looking human whose eyes were a little too clouded to be in his right mind. He was known for having some of the best pharmaceutical recreation available, some of which he grew/brewed himself. And to his credit, there had been no serious injuries or any real illness associated with his drugs. The guy was good at what he did. Peter was also pretty easy to pick out, and Heda couldn't deny a very sudden and very prominent draw to the man. While the Adler family was good friends with the Bird Queen, Peter was the Bird King's nephew. No, the King and Queen weren't actually married or even involved. The most powerful male member of an animal family became its King and the most power woman its Queen. If looks could tell the story, the Peter Smith might be king some day. He was six-feet three-inches tall of lean, defined muscle. He wasn't actually as good looking in the face as Anthony was or as physically imposing as Billy had been, but the combination of his looks and build made him drool-worthy. But what attracted Heda was that he was an alpha in the bird realm, and that almost forced other bird shifters to react. Peter was staring at Heda with an oddly confused smile on his face, so she stared back. Anthony was looking between them like he was watching a tennis match. Heda widened her eyes and stepped closer to the peregrine shifter, touching her fingers to his chest. She parted her lips and -- "Sorry," she said, stepping away and flopping down on her bed, "but I just am not driven to throw myself on him and ravish him silly. Still a lesbian. Tough break there Anthony." "Damn it!" the skunk shifter said while attempted to growl. "You can't be gay! Not with that body!" Peter glared at his friend. "THAT'S why you dragged my ass over here when I haven't even unpacked yet? You were trying to get me to seduce a lesbian? Dude, just because she's a bird doesn't mean she'll fall over me." He turned to Heda. "Sorry. He just grabbed me and told me there was someone I needed to meet. You're Heda Adler?" "Yep. Yes, THAT Heda Adler." He smiled. "Heard your going to take our volleyball team to the NCAA tournament this year."
 Heda smiled back. "I will if they let me play. I was a bit on edge this evening, so they sent me home." "Why on edge?" He sat down in the spare chair. Heda noticed that Joanna was staring at Peter intently. She was hunting, but in a good way. "You hear about the kidnapped girl?" He nodded. "Well, that's one thing. Then I got caught up with Madison and Alvin and that whole pile of batshit --" She told them what had happened the other night. "Dude, that's shit," Kevin said. "I don't really know her, but that shit shouldn't be going down." "Yeah, well I'm getting stonewalled by powers that be and Reichert is out of town. Hell, I don't think that the blind bitch even wants my help." Peter slumped. He even looked good slumping. "It's going to be your word against theirs. I don't know this girl either but I know Alvin Hannity. He's a prick, and his family is disgustingly rich. They've donated a ton of money to FCU, so knocking him off his pedestal won't be easy. And be careful, because his half-form is nasty if he fights you in it." Vampire bat half-forms were one of the causes of all the vampire legends and while they couldn't actually turn into mist or dogs, they were damn fast and damn strong. Vampire bats were the air warriors of the mammal family, and that made them valuable. "So's mine," Heda promised. "I think I'd like to see that fight," Peter said softly. Heda realized why Anthony might think she'd fall for him. There was something special about him. "Oh, you two are total buzz killers," Joanna said brightly. "Kev, got anything to lighten the mood?" "Always!" "NOT in the dorm!" Heda said. "You can go outside for that shit." "You ain't smoking?" the redhead asked. "No way." "Peter?" "You know I get tested for that a lot, right?" "I'm in," Anthony said. He, Kevin, and Joanna disappeared out the door and over to the park. "So --" Peter said. "I really am gay," Heda replied with a grin. "Damn. Well, . . . Hey, speaking of Madison --" he started, then reached for the radio. Heda was confused again, watching him fumble with the dial on the radio until it settled where he wanted it. They were playing "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison, and Heda found herself grooving along before she even got around to asking, "What does this have to do with Madison?" About thirty seconds later, she got her answer. The song ended and a voice came on. "That was Van Morrison and one of the all time great songs. Something kinda sexy about a brown-eyed girl, don't you think? Of course, I'm not to sure what 'brown' looks like, but I'm thinking its warm and full and melts on your tongue. Someone once told me that chocolate is brown, and it kinda makes sense don't it? A girl like that should be sweet. Maybe that's why Van Morrison wrote a song about her." "That voice," Heda said, "It's familiar." But more than familiar, that voice was sexy! It had a sultry tang to it, a Southern richness and a hint of Cajun spice. It rolled around each word like sweet strawberry wine, but the tingle it left was on your ears rather than your tongue. It made Heda tingle just a little somewhere else too. She was a sucker for a sexy voice. "Next up," the Voice continued, "we've got a block from one of my all-time favorites, the incomparable Jim Croce. Here's 'Car Wash Blues,' and this is your hostess Madison asking you all to stick with us through the midnight hour." Heda's mouth fell open. "That's Madison? No way it's the same --" "Yep," Peter said. "It's her. Her show's actually pretty popular, especially amongst the pure human population. Hell, there's a lot of shifters that listen to it, though they won't admit it." "It just can't be. I've had her yelling at me, and her voice doesn't sound like that." But it did in a way. Heda realized that the faint Louisiana drawl had definitely been there, though only faintly. All the components had been there. "Where's the radio station?" she asked. Flying Blind Ch. 01 He told her about where it was situated. "Why?" "Seeing is believing." "You really wanna do that?" Actually, she did. She wanted a damn explanation from that girl, and she was going to get it. He stood up. "I should go with you. You shouldn't be out alone --" She grabbed her fanny pack and tossed in her wallet. "Can't. Joanna didn't take her keys, so you've got to let them back in. I can take care of myself. Bye!" And she took off from the room like she was being chased by a bullet. She heard her roommate calling out after her, but she didn't pay any mind. Peter could explain it. It only took her a few minutes to get to the somewhat unimpressive looking building on the edge of campus. She tested the front door to find it locked. "Well," she said, "there seems to be a flaw in my plan." She wandered around the building, looking for another way in, but everything was locked up. Well, if there was a woman alone on a college campus in times like these, she guessed that she couldn't blame them. It turned out that Madison wasn't alone. Heda got back around to the front and found Billy Forester standing on the front steps, looking a trifle amused. "You're a glutton for punishment aren't you?" "Hey, I just found out she worked here and is on the air and the very least I think I've earned is an explanation." "For what?" "Why she tried to kick me in the head! And why she keeps calling me a big wooden equine!" Billy cocked his head like he was trying to figure something out. "I guess you've got a point." "Of course I do!" She paused. "Why are you here?" "I produce her show. We're both Communications and Journalism majors. I started working here a few years ago and she showed up last year looking for a job. Department head is pure human and was actually scared about turning her down due to her handicap. Then he heard her first show and there was no way he was giving her up." He held the door open for Heda. "After you." "Polite and enormous," she said, stalking inside. "Freak." He was shaking his head. This was going to be interesting. He caught up with her and directed her into the studio where there was another woman waiting. "Damn. Naughty librarian looks good on you," she said. The girl raised her hands up in the air. "Why do people keep saying that?" she asked exasperatedly. She was a curvy blond, though not as stacked as Joanna. Her hair was done up in a cute dutch-boy style, and a pair of dark glasses were propped up by an elegant nose. "I dunno," Billy said, sticking his hands into his pockets and shrugging those massive shoulders. He'd encouraged her to get those glasses, in no small part because he liked the librarian look. "Anyway. Sasha, this is Heda Adler. Heda, this is Sasha Baker." "President of the human student council?" "We just call it the student council," she said properly. "Something about using the word 'human' tends to confuse the pure humans. So you're the daughter of the great --" "Yeah yeah yeah," Heda said. She was staring through a glass window, watching Madison Sloan. She looked . . . different. For one thing, she looked completely at peace. She was dancing to "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," and she looked like she was having fun. Her body swayed with uncanny grace and a very definite sexuality, but it was her smile that was most surprising. How could a mouth that snarled the way it had weeks earlier look so happy and full now? "I'll let her know you're here," Billy said. "But before I do, I just wanna ask that you give her a break. She's got a reason to be suspicious."
 "Does it have something to do with this Trojan Horse thing she keeps yelling about?" "Is that what she thought you were?" Sasha said, her beautiful face making an unladylike sneer. "One of the problems with not having working eyes is that she can't tell if someone's a shifter, a magical human, or a pure human. Her bat species is a communal creature, and her human side still needs some of that. Something she's never had. Alvin Hannity found that out, so he kept sending people to try to be her friend. She could not tell what they were or anything about them, but she was so damn starved for some kind of friendship. They would get close and then tell her they'd never really hang out with a DM. Then he'd get people to stay close to her a little longer and invite her to actually go out places, then he'd make sure that everyone stood her up. Of course, sometimes he'd show up with some of his buddies to laugh at the poor girl standing next to the theater or restaurant all alone. Those were his favorites . . . the ones where he made her cry in public." "I am so going to hurt this guy," Heda said. "Be careful," Sasha said. "I know, I know. He's got powerful family and friends. So do I." She glanced at the dancing girl, who was punching up some new songs into her console. "She can see though, can't she? I mean, she looked right at me and tried to kick me in the head. Can't do that based on a guess." Sasha looked alarmed, but Billy looked resigned. "Not exactly. I . . . I think it would be better if she explained it." He checked on Madison. "Once she gets the next block started, I'll let her know you're here and I'll run the show for a bit." He walked through a door that hissed a bit when he shut it. She glanced at him when he walked in but didn't say anything. "It took him months of working with her before she would trust him," Sasha said. "The only reason she trusted me was because I was dating him." She absently reached out picked up a pencil. She stared at it then withdrew her hand, leaving the pencil floating in space. "Cool," Heda said. "I'd heard you were a sorceress. Can you float people?" Sasha blushed and looked towards the studio. "I'm not allowed to try levitating people for a while. And no, I don't want to explain it." Heda grinned. "How long have you and he been together?" she asked. "Almost two years," she said, a deep fondness creeping into her voice. "I met him at a chess tournament."
 "You play?" "We both do. He's much better than I am," she said wistfully. "He's been a master since he was twelve." "Really?" Heda looked at the big man again through the glass. He was saying something to Madison, who first looked suspicious, then agitated, then outright furious. "Yeah. He's a genuine card-carrying member of Mensa. He probably could have graduated by now, but he's sticking around until we're both ready. I think he wants to make sure we go to grad school near each other." "He's THAT smart?" Heda asked, wondering how he was going to keep Madison from trying to kick her again. "He's getting a second major in Experimental Statistics for kicks. I read trashy romance novels in my spare time, and he reads science magazines. He's got an IQ of 165 for crying out loud." "Sorry, but I'm not up on the scale," Heda replied, watching Madison poke a finger into Billy's massive chest like she wanted to poke out his lungs. "That's high I take it?" "Einstein was a 160." Heda's gaze shifted to her. "So . . . he can help me with my math homework this semester?" Sasha smiled. "He would probably love to." "So why is he in radio rather than the sciences or something?" "People see him and think that he's just a big, dumb guy. He likes radio because no one can see him and judge him on his appearance. Madison likes it because she's everyone's equal in there. She can't see them, they can't see her." Heda almost laughed. Billy was standing behind his friend and was physically pushing her out the door. She didn't look happy about it. As soon as she cleared the door, her face fixed directly on Heda's location. Those eyes were white with just a trace of pink, and it was more than a little disconcerting. Billy looked at Sasha and then nodded his head in the direction Madison had been pushed out of. The girl stood up and went with her boyfriend into the back. The tension was so thick you could almost walk on it. Heda stared at Madison, who seemed to be staring right back. Heda saw that glowing brown light encompass those eyes. "I --" Madison started. "I . . . I'm sorry," she said at last, looked completely humiliated. 'Give her a break,' Billy had asked. Heda sucked in a breath. "It's okay. Sasha explained the whole Trojan Horse thing. I'm --" She stopped. The girl probably didn't want pity. "I'm not like that. It pisses me off that anyone could even think that was cool." Madison's heart was thundering in her chest. She really didn't want to have this conversation, but Billy was right. She need to own up to the way she had behaved. "It was just . . . just that Alvin harassed me, and suddenly you were there to introduce yourself. Alvin and his friends came after me in the woods, and you happened to be there." Heda sighed. "Wrong place, wrong time." "But it wasn't. That's the most physical they've ever gotten, and I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been there. One on one, I'll fight any of them as best I can," she said, her voice determined now. "But I can't face them all." "How's your arm?" Heda asked. "Okay. I shifted a couple of times and that helped. Not that it's going to help my case against him at all. I'm sure they'll have the 'It doesn't look so bad. I'm sure he wasn't trying to hurt you,' excuse lined up." "Hey, people appear to have heard of me, so we'll make my name mean something." Heda cocked her head. "Mind explaining how you can see me?" Madison blushed. "I can't believe I was that careless. Yeah, I guess I've got a Gift. You know what echolocation is?" "Bad radar?" "Sonar is closer, but yeah. A lot of bat species have it, and I can use a souped-up version of it in human form. It's better than sight in some ways and worse in others. I can see three-hundred and sixty degrees with it, and it's pretty damn clear up to a hundred yards or so for me. But I can't see if someone's a shifter with it, and I can't even look through glass. I can tell you that something IS glass, but that's about it." "Why not tell people?" "How could I explain it to pure humans? And besides, I learned a long time ago to keep some weapons hidden so your enemies can't plan for them." "Kind of a harsh view of life, isn't it?" Madison's face grew dark. "You didn't grow up in changeling foster care. The system had to protect me, but they didn't have to like it. Or do a very good job for that matter. Other kids can be cruel, especially to a DM like me." "Don't say that." "It's true." "No, it isn't," Heda said, planting a food firmly in the proverbial sand. "Crap, you're Gifted! People should be groveling at the feet of the people who grovel at your feet!" Madison smiled. "That's a lot of groveling. But it IS true. I am blind. I can't spot other shifters. In the old days, I would've been left out in the wilderness to die. All I can do now is do my time. Once I get out into the human world, I'll be better." She didn't feel that way at all. She wanted to be around other shifters . . . other entities who felt the call of the wild and answered it. "Besides, do people really grovel at YOUR feet?" "Yeah, sometimes." Madison grinned. "Lucky bitch." "Madison, you need to load up your last block," Billy said from the doorway. He and Sasha were both staring at the two women with great interest. "Shit!" Madison squealed, rushing past them and running her fingers over a mound of CDs. "She got them memorized?" Heda asked. Billy smiled. "Nah. She actually carved the names in the side. She can go by touch or she can pick it up with . . . she explained the echolocation thing?" "Yeah, she explained it. She really digs her music, doesn't she?" Heda observed that the girl was truly at peace in that little room. She was bouncing around the room with agility and grace. "Okay all of you out there in radio land," Madison's sexy voice came through the speakers, "I want to give you all a little something to remember me by before I sign off for the night. Here's a little bit of the Rolling Stones, and a little --" Madison stopped and made a kissing noise into her microphone. "-- from yours truly." Heda was biting her bottom lip. Madison had gone from "annoying and bitchy" to "cool and kinda sexy" in short order. Billy noticed the way that Heda was looking at his friend. 'No way!' he thought. 'This might work out,' he thought. He grabbed Sasha by the arm. "Hey Heda, there's somewhere that we have to be and it would really help if you could walk Madison back to her dorm. Thanks, we really appreciate it." He hauled Sasha out the door while she was confusedly trying to object. Heda stared at the door left swinging in their wake. "Huh?" Madison popped out, her eyes glowing again. "Okay, I'm ready --" She stopped. "Where's Billy? Sasha?" "They just kinda . . . left. Asked me to walk you back to your dorm." 'Billy, you sonofabitch!' Madison thought, feeling a little flushed. 'I don't know what the hell you're trying to do, but stop it!' She relaxed her face. "Hey, it's okay. You really don't need to." She put her glasses on, hiding the glow. Then she grabbed her cane, pretty much for the sake of appearances. "I can take care of myself." "I dunno. They still haven't found the kidnapper yet." Madison blanched a little. "But hey, I can still --" "Crap, I forgot you're the one that found her! I am such a tool!" Heda said. "Listen, I'll walk you back. We got off on a bad foot anyway." "You mean the foot that's still in my mouth?" Heda chuckled. "Yeah, that one." She extended her hand. "Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Heda Adler. Please don't try to kick me in the head." Madison covered her face with both hands. "Hi. I'm Madison Sloan, and I'm horribly embarrassed." Then she shook Heda's hand. Her echolocation drifted over the girl's body. 'Damn,' she thought. 'She's chiseled from marble! And you've been gawking at her abs for an uncomfortable amount of time.' "You okay?" "Can we go now?" "Hey, have the police told you anything about the case?" Strangely, Madison enjoyed unloading what she knew. She stopped a couple of times and explained that she'd been asked not to divulge something by the cops, and Heda was really cool about not pressuring her. A brief silence followed, then Madison asked what her companion was going to study. Then she found out that Heda was a mad reader and wanted to be a writer. "What kind of writing?" "Promise you won't laugh?" "No." Heda grinned. Hey, it was an honest answer. "Dark romance. I mean, I love reading just about anything, and I'd like to try fantasy and sci-fi someday, but . . . I dunno. It's like, I have this crystal ball into this world that turns people on. I want to give people a taste of it, ya know? Though vampires and 'werewolves'," she said, using air-quotes around the word "werewolves," "have been done to death." Shifters often joked amongst themselves at how weird the werewolf legend had gotten over the years. Except for silver being a dangerous weapon, almost everything else humans had gotten wrong. "I was thinking ghosts might be a good place to start." "I think that'd be cool," Madison replied. "I'm not much of a reader, obviously. I'm kind of limited to what's available on audio book, and I'm usually listening to music if I've got my ears free." "Do you do movies at all? Sorry, but it just occurred to me that I have no idea what's doable for you." "Movies, not so much. Billy or Sasha have to be with me, it has to be a movie they've seen already, and it had to be mostly deserted so they can explain what's going on. I like the theater though. Plays and stuff. I can hear and see things there." "Hey," Heda said, thinking of the girl bouncing around the studio, "do you like dancing?" Madison's face lit up. "I LOVE dancing. Billy won't go out on the floor, but he'll take me sometimes. But Sasha will light up the floor with me." She actually twirled around. "No one sees anything in that kind of crowd. It's about sound and movement and feel --" She wondered if she was just sounding weird now. "You like getting felt up on the dance floor?" Heda joked. Well, sort of joked. Hell, she LOVED the press of bodies on her when she danced, especially hot young women. Like Madison. 'Stop it,' she thought. 'The last thing the girl needs is you hitting on her. But she's just so . . . hot.' It was more than the body or even the smile that had gotten Heda's attention. It had been that voice. "I just like being like everyone else." Heda thought back to what she knew Billy said about Madison's animal totem. They were a communal creature, and Heda had seen enough Animal Planet to realize that bats often gathered together in large groups that, to Madison, might seem like a bunch of warm-blooded creatures pressed against each other on a dance floor. "Well, this is it," Madison said. "I guess you've got to get going." "Well, my roommate's probably pretty baked by now, and --" How would she explain Anthony? "I'm in no hurry." "Would you like to . . . come in? I guess." "Sure." "I've got the room to myself. I guess they didn't want to make anyone else uncomfortable by sticking them with the blind chick. It works out though." She opened the door, treating Heda to an impressive view. The eagle shifter would have thought that Madison would like open spaces or the like so she could move around. The room was filled with tons and tons of . . . music. CD's, cassette tapes, vinyl albums -- "You have an 8-track tape player?" she said, looked at the antiquated piece of equipment tucked under what would have been the other bed. "I've got a reel-to-reel player around here somewhere," Madison said. "And a phonograph." "You must have thousands of albums!" Heda said. Everything looked well cared for. "Four-thousand three-hundred and seventy two at last count." "Where the hell do you get them all? You win the lottery?"
 Madison shook her head. "If you're open minded, you can find some incredible stuff in the cheap bins at record stores. I get lots of demo albums working at the station. I also do club DJ'ing sometimes too, and I get more freebies there."
 "You're a club DJ? You are the most awesome person ever!" Madison blushed, but she was smiling. "It's great. I don't get to do it often, but getting to be queen of the world is cool, even if it's just for a few hours." Heda noticed a framed vinyl album on the wall over Madison's computer. "What's the one on the wall?" Madison beamed with pride. "It's an autographed copy of 'My Blue Heaven' by Fats Domino. I grew up in New Orleans and got that one at a garage sale. Then he did a concert there and he signed it and it was so cool!" She was feeling silly-giddy, something she didn't feel often. "I've got everything here ripped into MP3 format anyway, so I wanted to preserve that one." She leaned into the microphone and said, "Window Media Player . . . Favorites . . . Fats Domino . . . I'm Walking." The computer speakers started to play that familiar and catchy tune, making Madison start moving her feet. "I'm walkin', yes indeed, I'm walkin', by you and me --" "You've got a really sexy voice," Heda said, maybe a bit too quickly. "How come you don't sound like that all the time?" Madison blushed again. "I dunno. I just . . . I guess I need to be in the mood. Comfortable." "Hey, Joanna . . . that's my roommate . . . she's been saying we need to go do something this weekend. I'm thinking dancing might be in order, and you HAVE to come with us." Madison stopped. "Listen, you don't need to --" Heda put one finger to Madison's lips, effectively hushing her. "Listen, I think you're pretty cool. And I think the way other people treat you is shit. I'd like to hang --" "Me too," Madison replied. Having another friend would SO not suck, especially one like Heda. Flying Blind Ch. 02 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" ---------- "The blind cannot see. The proud will not." ~ Russian proverb ---------- "How long has she been like this?" Sasha asked. Her friend Madison was bouncing around her sound-proof booth like a woman possessed. She was smiling and dancing and looking far more energized than either she or her boyfriend had ever seen. "Ever since I got here," Billy said, his voice betraying both his amazement and his amusement. "She was already gearing up a ton of playlists. Sasha . . . she's going to play some stuff that's actually kind of cheerful." Sasha collapsed back in her chair, but she was grinning from ear to ear. "She got laid, didn't she?" "I guess," Billy replied. "I've never, ever seen her like this. Maybe she was kidnapped by aliens?" Madison turned on the external microphone. "Hey Billy, would you mind going and grabbing me a soda from the fridge? I'm thirsty, thirsty, thirsty --" she chanted cheerfully, letting the mike cut out as she continued her little dance. "Aliens?" Sasha muttered, thinking the idea might not be so far fetched. Madison was on Cloud Nine for the first time . . . well, ever. Last night, she had gone on a date with the most beautiful, amazing, athletic, sexy woman on the planet. She had shifted into her bat form while her date Heda had shifted into the form of an eagle, then they had flown across the night sky as a pair. Madison, an outcast in the world of lycanthropes, except for her friend Billy and his human sorceress girlfriend Sasha. Then Heda had come along and, despite all of Madison's unknowing attempts to screw things up, they had become friends. Last night, they had been lovers. Madison had lost her virginity to a member of the "In" crowd, and it had been amazing! For once, she did not care that the rest of the shifter community looked at her like a freak just for being blind. She heard the door open. She did not have her echolocation on, since she did not need it in such a confined and familiar environment, so she assumed it was Billy with her drink. "What took you --" She was cut off when she was pulled up against a hard body with firm breasts and was kissed with definite vigor. "Unless Sasha has changed teams," Madison said at last when her lips left those of the intruder, "or Billy shaved and changed genders --" Heda was smiling as she watched the girl's face blush. "Still wondering who I am?" she whispered. She took Madison's hands and put them on Heda's ass. "Feel familiar." Madison buried her face in the crook of Heda's neck. "Hmm, pleasantly firm . . . perfectly rounded --" Outside, Billy and Sasha were both watching on with pure joy as their friend felt up Heda Adler in the sound room at the campus radio station. Heda had shown up to say hi just as Billy was returning with the soda, so she had taken it in instead. Admittedly, Diet Pepsi seemed to be the last thing on Madison's mind at this point. 'Yeah, they definitely had sex." For a moment, Sasha was vexed. She was Madison's best female friend. Female friends talked about this sort of stuff. Madison blushed harder. "They . . . uhm . . . they're watching aren't they?" Heda glance over her shoulder and saw that Billy and Sasha were giving two wild thumbs up. "Nope," she said. "Liar." Heda kissed the girl's nose. "Maybe. Hey, you available tomorrow night?" Madison made an unflattering face. "No. I've got an early evening DJ gig for a private party, then I've got to be back here. Somewhere in there, I need to get started on my homework." "Damn. I was going to see if you wanted to grab dinner or something." That "something" conveyed a certain promise that made Madison's face light up a bit. "How about Tuesday?" "Can't," Heda replied. "I've got practice, and my stick fighting class starts after that. Stupid combat classes," she growled. Four Corners University, which was built by and secretly catered to shifters, had a number of courses on the curriculum that normal humans did not know existed, including a number of weapons classes, magic manipulation courses (for those with the gift), and paranormal history classes. "I promised my mom I'd stick with some kind of training." "It sounds cool. I was . . . discouraged . . . from taking stuff like that," Madison said, her voice becoming bitter and a bit fragile. Heda did not like her voice like that. She liked Madison's voice when it was low and sultry and sexy-as-hell, which is the way it usually was when Madison was in this booth. It had been the voice Madison had been encouraged to use when they had made love the night before. "I'm sorry. That sucks. Hey, I think we might be able to voice your complaint against Alvin this Friday." Madison looked cautiously optimistic. "Really? I didn't think the Council convened until the third week of school." "Yeah, but Reichert is back for classes, so I called his office and --" "I'll wait," Madison said, her optimism dissipating. Heda was confused. "But Reichert seems to like me, or at least he respects my mom. The Reptile King's word would carry a lot of weight." "Yeah, but . . . just never mind, okay?" "Just tell me what's wrong." Madison actually pulled away and started pulled out more CDs. She looked agitated. "Reichert doesn't like me, okay? He's this great and powerful macho alpha, and I'm --" She stopped and tapped her temple, drawing attention to her non-functioning eyes. "I'm a DM, remember?" Heda hated that phrase. DM stood for "Darwin's Mistake," and it was about as nasty of a thing you could say about a shifter. Back in the day, shifters with the kind of disability that Madison suffered would have been left to die in the wild, similar to the behavior exhibited by their wild brethren. The human side of shifters had eventually caused them to ban such practices but even hundreds of years after the fact, not all shifters agreed with what they considered "charity." To many, it should still be survival of the fittest. Never mind that shifters like Madison could still live perfectly normal lives as part of the human community. Shifter purists thought that leaving them in the gene pool was dangerous. What was really stupid, particularly in Madison's case by Heda's way of thinking, was that she was Gifted. A Gift was a special ability or abilities that manifested itself in only a small percentage of the shape-changing community, and these Gifts were generally looked on with great pride and awe. Heda was Gifted, and her Gift allowed her to become stronger, faster, and see farther than normal. Madison also had a Gift, though only the four people in the radio station at that moment actually knew about it. Madison actually was able to use her souped-up bat ability of echolocation in her human form. She used sound waves to "see" the world around her, in many ways more accurately than someone would with normal sight. When it was on, it was impossible to sneak up on the young woman. But Madison still could not see things like "color" as far as most people understood the concept, and she could not see the auras given off by other shifters. She had hid her special ability from everyone by hiding her eyes behind her "blind girl" sunglasses. A shifter's eyes glowed the color of his or her aura when a gift was being used. "Hey, he seemed like a pretty stand up guy to me," Heda said. The Kings and Queens of the animal families held a special reverence in the minds of the rest of the community, so having someone be so openly distrustful of one struck a nerve with Heda. Madison sighed. "He . . . let's just say I took his anthropology course a year ago as an elective, and he made his disdain pretty obvious." That stung Heda a bit. She, like many others, tended to put the monarchies up on pedestals, though each shifter had different reasons for doing so. She liked to think that Kings and Queens were wiser than your average person, though part of her realized that was an irrational assumption. "What did he do?" "He . . . listen, let's just forget it. You still have a future in the community. No need to screw with that by getting you in trouble with the All Mighty Reichert." "Please, just tell me." Madison was looking very uncomfortable. "He told me the class would probably be too hard for 'someone like me,' and kept encouraging me to drop out until the due date was passed. I aced all the homework and the first test, but he kept after me until he realized I wasn't leaving. Then it seemed I had to work twice as hard as anyone else. I decided I was going to get the best grade in the class, just to show him up, but I almost lost out due to a bullshit point deduction on the final." "What did he deduct for?" Heda asked. "Penmanship. I took it before the department head, who was pure human, and challenged it. I managed to get the point back, though I wound up tying for the high score. With, of all people, Alvin Hannity." Heda was feeling a bit uncomfortable herself. The pedestal she had already put Reichert on was showing some cracks, if what Madison had said was true. Madison seemed to sense that discomfort. "Sorry," she said, backing away as she felt the wind in her sails die down. "I keep forgetting that no one is supposed to question the monarchy." "No, you should. Just . . . carefully," Heda said. "Listen, we can go after class on Friday and talk to him. He talked about not preying on other shifters as part of his welcome-to-the-neighborhood speech. He'd lose face if he didn't back that up." Madison really did not want to go, but she nodded anyway. Heda would just have to see for herself. "Okay." She was saved by Billy poking his head in and telling her it was almost time to go on. "Gotta work." "And I'm doing a late practice tonight," Heda replied. The environment had changed a lot from when she had walked in, with Madison going from hot to cool over the span of one conversation. She placed one hand on the girl's shoulder and the other on the back of her head, pulling Madison closer and upward and planting a slow, gentle kiss on those wonderful lips. Madison felt that the kiss was just an attempt to buy off her affections after getting her upset. After about half a second, she did not care, melting into Heda's body like a human-sized tube of goo. Her skin was warm with desire and her brain was short-circuiting. "Ten seconds," Sasha said, poking her head in the door and grinning. "I'll talk to you later," Heda said, giving Madison's firm butt a quick squeeze before walking out of the booth. Upon the door closing, Billy turned up the speakers so that they could all hear the beginning of the show. "Hello," Madison started, drawing out the "l" sound with that voice that made Heda's heart go pitter-patt. "This is Madison, your hostess for an evening of the sounds you love We'll be getting to the music straight away, since everyone knows that there's a time for talk, and then a time for using your mouth for other things," she purred. The eyes of everyone outside the booth were wide open. Heda because she was impressed, while Sasha and Billy had never heard the girl be so openly naughty before. "We've got blocks coming from Joan Jett, Ozzy Osbourne, and Alice Cooper, but I thought we might start with a little AC/DC. After all, that means the boys and the girls can get a little thrill out of it." She looked towards the door that Heda had left through and said, "We'll be starting things off with 'You Shook Me All Night Long,' and here's to life imitating art." It took most of Heda's self control to not walk back into that booth and ravish Madison out of her mind right their on the spot, so she figured she might want to put some distance between them. For a little while. So she headed off to practice with dirty thoughts of what she wanted to do with her little were-bat running through her brain. ------------- --------------- The next day . . . ------------- --------------- Madison was humming a merry tune as she left her Understanding Mass Media class. She needed to get her dorm and get dressed for the party she was DJ'ing for. It was going to be a tedious company event where she was going to have to work her ass off to get people actually moving on the dance floor, but it was a paying gig. Books were weighing down on her this semester, so the extra cash would help. She used her cane, keeping up the illusion of total blindness though she had kicked in her Gift the moment she was at the bottom of the steps. Sometimes she liked navigating campus just by listening, but she was in a hurry. She was almost to her building when she noticed that she had company waiting, and not the welcome kind. It was Alvin and a couple of his goons, and they had already spotted her. If she were to change course now, they would know that something was up. Three on one were not good odds, particularly since Alvin was a pretty good fighter by himself, or so she had heard. 'He can't really be planning on fucking with me with a complaint already against him. Of course he could,' she thought. Madison grabbed her phone as she walked, just another young woman making a phone call. Nothing unusual about that. She just hoped someone was on the other end. She tried Billy's number, as it was still the first one on speed dial. Four rings and nothing but voice-mail. "Hey Billy," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "I'm almost back at the room. Just reminding you that you're supposed to be picking me up in a few minutes," she said, saying that last part loudly. Maybe they'd leave her alone if they though Billy was going to be by soon. Then some little part of her twinged. 'Why do I have to keep calling Billy? I can handle this one --' Her thought was cut off as Alvin approached quickly and knocked the phone of her hand. "Hey! Watch it asshole!" she said. Alvin got up in her face. "You're the one who'd better watch out," he growled, pressing up against the front of her body. She tried to back up but one of Alvin's buddies had moved in behind her. She thought it was another were-bat named Bill, and he was big and dumber than a fucking box of fucking rocks. The third guy was playing lookout. "Alvin, cut the --" "Shut up you little bitch," he said, grabbing for her sunglasses so quickly that she was barely able to turn off her echolocation before her eyes were exposed. "Those fucking things are false advertising. They hide that you're a fucking freak." This was the part where Madison got into trouble. She was outnumbered, blinded, and overpowered. So the worst thing she could do would be say something like,"Is that the same as using your hair to hide your mental retardation?" "What'd you say to me bitch?" 'JUST STOP!' Madison's mind screamed at her. But her mouth had other ideas. "You didn't hear me? Great. You're deaf and dumb and I'm blind. Triple play." Instantly, she felt hard slap against her face. It was almost as shocking as it was painful. "You'd better learn some fucking respect you little defect." "Screw you! I'm going to nail your ass to the wall you --" Madison was shoved roughly to the ground, her knee coming down hard on the edge of the sidewalk. She wanted to scream out or cry, but she would not give him the satisfaction. In fact, she kicked out behind her with her uninjured leg, catching someone (she hoped it was Alvin) in the kneecap. "Bitch!" Alvin shouted, just before he kicked her in the ribs. "Drop you charges against me to the Council, or things are going to get a hell of a lot worse." He put a foot on her ass and shoved her to the ground. "Things like you should be put down, not coddled. You're a disgrace." Madison turned her face back toward him. "Says the guy who needs his buddies so he can go pick on a blind girl." "Dude," one of said buddies muttered, "I hear someone coming. Let's get." Alvin shoved her back to the ground with his foot one more time before he took off, and Madison heard a "crunch" as he left. Covering her eyes, she looked out with her echolocation and saw that he had stepped on her sunglasses before running off. She got back to her feet, ginger with her injured knee and holding her ribs. She let out a pained gasp as she touched her side, wondering if anything was broken. A few tears finally forced themselves out of her eyes as her mind replayed how things should have gone, with her kicking all their asses and them crawling away instead of her. She'd been training hard, and she had not been able to get off anything except a couple of one-liners. She found her cell phone and picked up her backpack, which was a struggle to walk with due to the pain in her knee. She had to get back to her room on memory, because she was afraid of using her Gift and getting caught. She was fumbling with the keys, trying to get into her room when she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around and tried to put herself in an en guard position . "Leave me the fuck --" "Madison?" came a familiar feminine voice. It was Sasha, probably coming to help her get ready. "Madison, what's wrong?" "Nothing," was the reply, and Madison turned away and tried to get the key in the lock with shaking hands. "Don't tell me nothing!" her friend said, trying to turn Madison back around to face her. She saw the girl wince when she touched her side, and her concern began to grow. "What happened?" "I . . . What's the fucking point," Madison whimpered. "I've been training and I thought I was getting good but I still can't fucking defend myself." "Was it Alvin again? God damn it, was it?!" Sasha pulled out her cell phone and started punching numbers. "No more. If the Council is going to drag their damn feet and do nothing, then the police --" "We can't bypass the Council and got straight to human law," Madison said, activating her Gift so that she could see and grab her friend's cell phone. "You know the rules." "Madison, this was an assault! And if the Council isn't going to do anything --" "You think the campus cops are any more likely to help? The Council will make sure that the complaint gets routed back to them. Maybe I should just --" "Don't you dare say quit! The Madison I know would never give in to someone like Alvin Hannity." "Well YOU'RE not the one who has to go to work with fucked up ribs and a bad knee," Madison whispered, tears flowing freely now. "I tried being the tough chick and I've tried standing up for myself, and for what? I can't defend myself and I shouldn't have to keep calling you --" "We're supposed to help you. That's what friends do. Hell, once Heda hears about this --" "You can't tell her," Madison hissed. "I don't want her getting in trouble because of me. Promise me you won't tell her or Billy." "I will promise no such thing. Billy would never forgive me, and you know he'll figure out what happened. He's smarter than both of us put together. And you think Heda won't notice you cringing in pain the next time you make out?" "I probably won't see her until Friday --" "She wanted to drive you to the job tonight," Sasha interrupted. "I was going to help you pack and then she was going to pick you up." Flying Blind Ch. 02 "No," Madison responded, "you have to give me a lift." Sasha squared her shoulder, doing everything in her power to resist Madison's plaintive stare. "I won't let you do nothing and I won't let you hide this from your friends." "Why are you being such a bitch?" Sasha glowered. "Because I have to be. Turns out you're pretty cool most of the time and I like you. So tell me what happened and I'll decide if you're going to the medical center first." "I can't," Madison said, putting her bag down and going to drag out the heavy case of gear she used for smaller parties. "I need the money Sasha. I really need it." Sasha sighed. When Madison started reminding her how poor she was, she had to accept she'd never win the argument completely. Madison had struggled to make ends meet on more than once occasion, and her stubborn pride would not let the were-bat ask for help. "Your health is worth more than your job," she reminded the girl. "But not my rep. I start showing up late for gigs, then I might as well kiss the extra money goodbye." "Madison, you were mugged." "What?!" came a voice from the door. 'Damn,' Madison thought as she realized that Heda had shown up to give her a lift. She should have been happy to see her new friend, but all she could feel was a deep-rooted shame. "Mugged?" Heda reiterated. "When? Did you get a good look --" "It was Alvin again," Sasha interrupted. "I'm trying to get Madison to go get herself checked out." "And to call the authorities, right?" Heda strode in to get a better look at the red mark on the girl's face. "You have called the cops?" "There's a special line at the campus police for shifter-related issues," Sasha said. Madison felt herself breaking down. "I can't! I've got to get to work, and it's not like the cops or the Council are going to do shit anyway!" Sasha mouthed the words "Do something" to Heda, who racked her brain for an idea. "Madison, either call the cops and let them do their job or I promise you I'll take care of matters myself." "No! I don't want you getting in trouble!" 
Heda picked Madison's phone up off the bed and handed it to her. "Then make the call." Madison was fighting back more tears as she reluctantly accepted the phone and called the emergency number. Then she called her contact for the party and explained that she was running late but would be willing to do gig for free if they still wanted her. When they heard why she was late (at Heda's insistence), they completely forgave her and told her that they would not hold it against her at all if she was not able to make it in. While waiting for the Shifter Security Forces to show up, she was "strongly encouraged" to tell her friends what happened. Halfway through the explanation, Billy showed up in response to Madison's odd message, and he soon looked ready to kill someone. The only thing keeping him and Heda from going looking for blood was Madison threatening to tell the cops nothing if they did. The were-bat recited the whole story to the Security Forces. Yes, she had encountered problems with Alvin Hannity before. Yes, she could recognize his voice well enough to identify him. No, she did not know for sure who was with him. Yes, she was pretty sure he was the one who had slapped her and then kicked her. When they finally took Madison over to the Medical Center for a check-up, everyone went with her but had to wait outside during the examination. Heda got a phone call from her roommate Joanna, who had seen some campus cops approach and talk to Alvin at the food court. "Did they arrest his ass?" Heda asked angrily as she paced around the front doors of the clinic. "No, they just questioned him for a while. Why? Why would they arrest him?" "The son of a bitch pretty much mugged Madison. Hurt her knee, ribs, and smacked her in the face something good." "Seriously?" Heda was growling by this point, a noise not normally suited for eagles. "Do I sound like I'm joking? How could they just let that rat-fucker walk?" "I . . . I don't know what they asked him, but they also talked to some of his posse. And Alvin looked pretty damn smug afterward."
 Heda stopped pacing and glared at the sky. The sky was unimpressed. "I can't believe it. You'd think they would at least keep him overnight." "His family has friends in high places," Joanna reminded her. "My bet is they're playing the his-word-versus-hers game." "Fuck! We're talking with Reichert on Friday. Hopefully he'll at least get Alvin to back down until the Council starts convening." Her conversation with Madison the night before came back to her thoughts. "Hey, what do you know about Reichert?" She figured a reptile shifter might have more intel on the King of Reptiles. "Besides the fact that he's dreamy and that I'd like to --" "Joanna, focus." "Uhm, he's probably the single most powerful shifter on the planet, his classes are insanely popular, his ass is hard as a rock --" "I mean is he an on-the-level kind of guy? Madison's worried that he might just blow her off because of her condition." "Madison may have a bit of a persecution complex," Joanna snipped. Heda rubbed her eyes. The monarchs were held in some reverence by the rest of the shifters, and the monarchy of your own species was even more revered. Trying to get the were-cobra to doubt her own king would take some doing. "Joanna, that's not fair. Just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get them." "Not Reichert," Joanna reaffirmed. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by what I said. If Madison needs someone to walk her home or to classes or anything, count me in. And count the guys in." "Volunteering other people now?" "Babe, with these tits, I can convince any straight guy of just about anything." That actually got a laugh out of Heda. Joanna really had no shame, which was fairly refreshing. "You could probably convince ME of a thing or two." "I promise, the second I think of batting for your team, you'll be the first person I sleep with. Just don't hold your breath." "Wasn't planning on it. Hey, I'm not sure when or if I'll be in tonight. If Madison wants company, I'll probably stay with her." "That's cool. Are you still going to be up for the movies on Friday, or do you want to skip?" "Let me see how this meeting turns out," Heda finished, then said her goodbyes. When she went back inside, Madison was on her way out. A tall, lanky handsome blond clerk at the front was checking her out, the ever-so-patient smile plastered on his face derived from the practice of dealing with sick and whiny people all day. This was just a few days after school had started. She wondered if he would still be smiling in a month. "So the doctor left instructions to call if your ribs don't feel better or if breathing becomes a problem. You shouldn't need the pain killers, but you've got the sample packet just in case." "Thanks," Madison said, looking really, really sad and pathetic. She seemed to be walking a little better, which was encouraging. "No problem. My name's Detrius, by the way. And I already know that you are the infamous Madison Sloan. No, I'm not psychic." Madison almost smiled. "I just gave you my student ID. Then I told you my name. Then you --" "Yeah yeah, my great secrets revealed. And I love your show by the way." That perked Madison up a bit more. "Thanks. I'll give you a shout out tonight." "Are you still planning on working? Most people would take a night off after this." "Those people must not have bills to pay," was the reply. She walked outside with her friends, and Heda gave her the rundown on Alvin's encounter with the cops. Another source of irritation to Heda was that none of the others even seemed that surprised. "Probably best not say anything about Reichert either," Sasha said. "Not that I don't believe Madison, but he can do no wrong in the eyes of most." Heda looked nervously towards Billy. "I'm not trying to --" "It's okay," Billy interrupted, "I basically think the whole King-by-might thing is archaic anyway. It's just a holdover from lycanthrope tribal tradition when physical strength was everything." "Or speed," Heda put in. The Bird Queen was not the strongest of the bird shifters by far, having a hummingbird for a totem animal, but she was faster than hell, trained like a ninja, and was incredibly aggressive when provoked. Heda felt fortunate to have Samantha Brown as an old family friend. "Madison, I've got a suspicion that this is where you'll get defensive and independent on me, but I don't think you should be walking alone until this gets sorted out. You know if you just came clean about your Gift, you could deal with him a lot more easily." "It wouldn't stop him. It would just make him find other ways to screw with me." "I'm beginning to think that Heda's right," Billy interjected, "but the decision is up to you. Let's get you to the radio station, okay?" "Babe, I've got a student council meeting to go to. We're talking elections for the year," Sasha said, standing on her tippy-toes and kissing her boyfriend. "I'm going to take off." "Heda, could you walk her to the student center? I don't like the idea of you walking alone," he added, turning back to Sasha. "Sure thing. Madison, you want company tonight? I can swing by after dropping Sasha off and picking up some stuff." Madison's heart rate picking up to a level dangerous enough that she almost went back inside the medical center. She very much wanted Heda to spend the night, but she did not want to appear weak. "You don't have to," she muttered. "Yeah, but I want to. I've slept on less comfortable things than the floor." Madison got nervous. "You could sleep in the bed. You know, if you wanted --" Heda cut her off with a kiss. It was not as passionate as they had been the other night, nor did it seem like an invitation. It was friendly, and it was a reminder that Madison could feel safe with her. "I want. I'll talk to you later." She and Sasha headed towards the student union. Without using her echolocation, Madison knew that Billy was grinning, and it caused her to blush. "Shut up." "I didn't --" "You were thinking something nasty. I know you." "Whatever you say, oh Pied Piper of women's hearts." "Remember the who 'shutting up' thing?" ---------- ---------------- Later that night . . . ---------- ---------------- The Cold crept around the One kept in its Spanish Mantle, a reinforced barrel that had only a hole for the One's head to stick through. This One was trapped, blindfolded, drugged and effectively trapped in the filth which had begun to accumulate over the course of the day. Its hands and ankles were cuffed together with wire, and the barrel was reinforced with magical steel. The One was going nowhere until the Cold had made the message clear. "Why are yuh . . . you doing this?" the One asked, spittle flying over parched lips. It would need water soon, as there was no reason to let It die before It understood. The Cold did not respond It would communicate in Its own way and time. But the Message was only just beginning to be written. The Cold grabbed its tongue-tearer, a wicked device that looked like a pair of metal shears with a screw running through the handle. The One would be made to understand, and then the Enemy would remember what fear was like. ----------- ----------------- The next morning . . . ----------- ----------------- Madison was afraid to move. She was spooning. Or was the correct dynamic "being" spooned? Her back was to Heda, and the other girl's arm was draped over her midsection. Her ribs felt better. She had shifted last night, which helped with the healing process, so she knew she could make it through her day without a problem. Her immediate problem was that she needed to pee, but she did not want to pull away from the comfort of Heda's body. They had not had sex, but Madison had allowed herself to be held and coddled, and she had gotten a small thrill from an intimacy she had never expected from a woman she would have once thought was beyond her reach. She did not want to leave that yet. She did not want to wake Heda up. But she REALLY needed to pee. "You awake?" Heda whispered softly from behind her. "Yep!" Madison replied, leaping from the bed and rushing to the bathroom. A few moments later, she let out a tremendous sigh of relief and said, "Oh yeah. I needed that." She instantly heard Heda start laughing her ass off. "How long were you waiting?" the eagle shifter asked from the comfort of Madison's bed. She was dressing in her bra and boy-shorts, which was odd for her since she preferred sleeping nude. She just had not wanted to make Madison feel like she was expecting sex, so she had curtailed things a bit. "Thirty minutes," Madison said, thankful Heda could not see her blush. "It's okay just to get up and go you know." "I've never done this before. I didn't want to wake you up." "I can go back to sleep easy. It looks like you're feeling better." "Yeah, I'm gonna be okay." Madison cleaned herself up and opened up the door. "You don't have to babysit --" she trailed off. She had paused to use her echolocation and found that Heda was sitting up, her body and her "bed clothes" there for Madison's viewing pleasure and making her forget all about her planned objection. "It's not babysitting. If you weren't so intent on being willful, you'd probably admit that having a friend or two around these days wouldn't exactly suck." Heda heard the were-bat mumble something, which was probably as close to an agreement as she would get. "I'd stay tonight, but weapons practice is going to run late." "I understand. You know, I really should just move off of campus. I could take out a little more by way of student loans." "I don't know if that would stop Alvin, unless you got some ass-kicking roommates." Heda stood up. "I'd volunteer, but I think we're a little early in the relationship to be moving in together." Madison's ears perked up. "Relationship. Are we dating? I mean, we had sex and I know you've done the one-night stand thing before and I'm not mad or anything because you're been really honest with me --" Heda put a finger on the girl's lips. "Yeah, we have a relationship. I might even say we're in the early stages of dating, which is weird territory for me." "Weird?" "Yeah, I haven't 'dated' anyone since high school, and I'm year removed from that. So don't be nervous, because this is all kind of new to me too. I really like you, I think you're sexy, and . . . no, I'm not kidding," Heda said, cutting off a question from Madison that had been preceded by an incredulous look. "You're damn sexy and I'd like to keep you that way. Now write up your class schedule and work schedule. I don't want Alvin getting another shot at you." ------- ---------------------- Friday afternoon . . . ------- ---------------------- Madison seemed even more depressed now than she did after being attacked. She was wearing her nicest clothes, sitting outside of Professor Reichert's office. He was finishing up with another student to close out his regular office hours, but he had promised Heda to schedule her in some time. Madison could not help but notice that he had made an exception for the daughter of Jessica Adler, an honor he did not extend to everyone. Finally Neil Reichert appeared at the door, escorting a blushing young lady out. Heda saw the red aura of an arachnid shifter, but did not see any of the tell-tale signs of a sexual interlude. It seemed that the Reptile King simply had that effect on young women. Probably older women too. "Come in Miss Adler," he said warmly. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting. Miss Sloan." "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice Mr. Reichert. We just felt that this needed attention faster than it would take to convene the Council. My understanding is that even once they convene, personal grievances can take weeks." "Indeed. So tell me what has our newest star athlete so worked up?" Heda was puzzled. She thought she had been pretty clear that this was about Madison, but Reichert had not so much as glanced her way. "It's about Madison. In the last week and a half, she's been harassed pretty seriously by Alvin Hannity." "Ah yes, the Hatfields and the McCoys at it again." Reichert's sigh was a tad melodramatic. "Who started it this time?" "Uhm, Alvin," Madison said haughtily. "Same as the last six times." "Mind your manners in my office," Reichert said coldly. This was not how Heda had seen this going. "Sir, she was being harassed on the first shifter night out in the woods. I saw several bats and a couple of birds chasing her through the trees and one of them nicked her wing." "And you are sure it was Alvin Hannity. Miss Sloan, you make a great number of accusations against him and yet none of them seem to bear fruit." "An investigation only actually goes somewhere if, oh say, someone actually looks into it. Wacky how that works." "Madison, please," Heda said. "Sir, I saw the incident in the woods, and that was before I even really knew Madison. Then she was mugged outside her dorm." She looked over at Madison and gave her a "go on" nod of the head. Madison straightened up and told the story as precisely as she could. "I recognized Alvin's voice for sure. The other guy could have been Bill, but I don't his last name and wouldn't swear by it." "I received a report from our sources inside the police department on the day you lodged the complaint. Alvin Hannity claims that he was with friends all afternoon and they will vouch for him. Do you have anyone to corroborate your side of things?" "She's got a breakdown from the doctor," Heda said. "C'mon, there's obviously a history of harassment. I saw it the night of the meet-and-greet, and I'm sure Billy Forester and Sasha Baker will back me up on that. Then a bat shifter happens to take a swipe at Madison's wing while in the company of a bunch of other shifters, the same variety that hangs out with Hannity, and then she gets attacked just after she lodges a complaint that actually has a witness. And you don't even think it's worth investigating?" "Of course it is worth investigating. Both of the involved parties have been questioned, but right now it's her word against theirs." "Did you even send a werewolf or something else with a good nose to see if Alvin was there? His scent would be fresh --" "Alvin Hannity could have been in that area any number of times recently. At the time of the attack, he has corroborating witnesses." "I told you," Madison said angrily. "He's just like the rest of them." "Sir, is this really your whole stance on this? Until she gets beat up in front of more people, you're just going to sit back and watch? That's bullshit!" At that moment, Neil Reichert, professor of anthropology, took a back seat to the King of Reptiles. "Miss Adler, I would expect better of you. I have already asked your companion to show some respect. I didn't think the same would be required of you." Heda felt her skin crawling as the animal part of her wanted to flee the predator before her. But the human part of her . . . the warrior part of her . . . was too proud. "Respect is earned, not assumed," she said as calmly as her voice could manage, "and right now I'm not seeing much worth respecting." She stood up, as did Reichert, and the two of them stared each other down. Heda knew she had to break the gaze, because she was not even close to being alpha enough to challenge a monarch, regardless of the species. "You're whole opening speech was just talk, wasn't it? We don't prey on each other and all that? But that's the culture you're creating. Is all the shit you said just window-dressing?" Flying Blind Ch. 02 "Miss Adler, you had best get out of my office. You want my help, then you come back when you're prepared to behave yourself." Heda turned to follow Madison, who was already on her way out. But before she closed the door behind her, she looked back one more time. "I've met some good leaders and at least one monarch in my day. You're just a bully with a crown." Then she left, but even the door behind her could not completely hide the waves of anger flowing from the Reptile King. "Well, at least he's not pissed at me this time," Madison muttered, amazed at how quickly and badly things had escalated. Heda did not say anything, but took Madison's hand as they walked. If Reichert was not going to do anything, then damn it Heda would. ----------- -------------- Saturday night . . . ----------- -------------- "Yes Mom, I already agreed that pissing off the King of Reptiles was not a wise idea. Yes, I realize that I've only been here for a few weeks and . . . yes, I'll hold." Heda rolled her eyes and looked over at her friends, all of who were waiting patiently for the phone call to end. The group was going out to shoot pool as soon as Heda's mother got done chewing her out. Apparently Neil Reichert had called Mommy. "She's got to get something out of the oven and scare one of her cooks half to death for under-cooking one of the chicken dishes." "I can't believe he called your mother," Joanna said, who was suffering from having her Reichert-bubble burst. "That's so . . . childish." Peter Smith looked disappointed as well, and his gaze went to Madison, who had finally perked up a bit from her glum listening to Heda's call. "So it's really always been like this?" "Not the physical stuff," she said, sagging a bit under the weight of her life. "That's new. But the rest, yeah pretty much. For a while, I tried making some noise about it, but Billy was the only one listening." Her face was swept by realization, and she said, "Not that I'm blaming you or anyone else here." "You should be," the falcon shifter replied. "This is just ridiculous." Heda looked like she was going to agree, but apparently her mother returned. "Mom, this is important to me. I am too capable of tact! Oh look who's talking, the lady who tried to ground me for beating her at Scrabble. Yes, it IS your fault that you interpreted that word as the plural of the slang term for 'posterior' instead of the correct definition of 'to estimate the value of something.' Yes mom, the extra letter 's' matters. Mom, I have not jeopardized my entire academic career. I'm just going to avoid dealing with that ass-clown directly. Okay, that might have been . . . okay, it WAS harsh and unladylike. Mom, you showed up at my birthday party coated in insectoid goo after putting down that rebellion, so it's not like you're always the poster-child for feminine virtues. Yes I get to hold that against you forever. I was nine, so you traumatized me in my formative years. Mom, everyone is waiting for me and . . . no, I don't need to talk to . . . Hi Dad. Yeah, she's being difficult. Thanks Dad, I so owe you for this. Talk to you soon. Love ya. Bye." "Your dad seems much calmer than your mother," Carla said, trying not to snicker. "Yeah, he needs to be. I love my mother to death, but she's a bit on-edge. Right now, he's carrying on a conversation with absolutely no one just so that my mother thinks that he's still discussing my behavior, allowing us to make our escape." "Won't she just figure out the ruse and call you cell phone?" Anthony asked, his eyes roaming over Heda's body. "Good point," Heda replied, tossing her cell into the drawer of her nightstand. "And quit undressing me with your eyes." "No." "Undress one of the other girls, besides Madison, or I'll gouge your eyes out." "I accept your terms." He turned and looked at Carla, who was crammed up against him due to the large number of people in the fairly small dorm room. "How you doin'?" Carla rolled her eyes, but she had to smile. Anthony could do that to you, namely make you want to hug him and kill him at the same time. Heda was glad to see Carla smiling at all. She had been captured and tortured by some psychopath who wanted to deliver a message to someone, but Carla had not been told what that message was or who was supposed to receive it. She had been trying to claim her life back one day at a time, and she was going better than most could have expected. The phone rang again, but Heda just stared at it. "It's not possible. Dad can distract her for at least thirty minutes." Joanna picked up the phone. "Could actually be for me," she grumbled. After a moment, she looked dead serious. She put the phone down and, "Emergency shifter student meeting," she said, sounding worried. "Everyone required to attend unless they've got a damn good reason." "Every shifter?" Heda asked. "Aren't there like --" "Thousands of us?" the blond replied. "Yeah. So whatever this is has to be big." The group put their plans on hold and headed up to the volleyball stadium where the meeting was to be held. They had all been told at sign-up that if there was any breaking emergencies that affected all shifters, that was where they were supposed to go. By the time they arrived, there was already a sizable gathering. "Okay everyone," the now-loathed Neil Reichert said loudly as he stood up on a makeshift platform, "a situation has arisen that requires our immediate attention. As most of you know or should know, a shifter named Carla Cowan was abducted and imprisoned by some unknown person or persons. It would appear that this vile creature is not done yet. Another shifter has been kidnapped." Heda's small group of friends quickly gathered around Carla as if to protect her from the memory of what had happened. It would not work, but Carla admired the intent. Carla was not going to stay in the background though. She looked enraged. "So the second victim was returned?" she asked loudly, immediately getting everyone's attention. She, if anyone, deserved to speak. "No," Reichert replied grimly. "We were sent . . . a trophy. No, I will not discuss what it was, but there was a note, and the authorities are convinced that this is the same offender. We believe that shifters are being targeted specifically. Mundanes and even magical humans do not seem to be his or her targets." "So do we know anything about this guy?" someone shouted from the audience. "No, not as of yet. Except whoever it is has an intimate knowledge of shifters and our culture, including the ability to identify them somehow. We cannot rule out that he or she IS a shifter, because to be able and capture one of us is not easy for a normal human. Now we do not want to cause a panic, but the Council members have, in advance of their emergency meeting, contacted me to tell me that any shifter who feels it unsafe to remain here at this time will receive assistance in transferring to another institution." He made a pushing-down motion as grumbling began to emerge from the throng. "Please, keep calm. We have a number of universities that have a wide variety of curriculum, and the World Council would continue to support funding --" "But they aren't shifter schools, are they?" someone else shouted. Peter looked a bit flustered himself. "This is one of only two schools in the country and one of only a few in the entire world that support our kind, and this is the ONLY one that is able to support such a wide variety of us. How do we go somewhere else? How do we know that whoever this is won't follow us?" Reichert shook his head. "There is a reason this individual has chosen Four Corners University. If the goal was to just pick off shifters one-by-one, then walking into the lion's den as-it-were would be very dangerous." "No," Carla said, softly at first and then with much more force, "Whoever it is wants something here . . . wants someone. Every 'message' has a recipient. We need to find out who that recipient is." "And the authorities are looking into it." Reichert met the audiences entire gaze all at once. "Regardless, the safety of the shifters on this campus is our top concern. The council and I will not allow our kind to be preyed upon." Heda glowered at him from the anonymity of the masses. 'You'd let Madison get preyed upon,' she thought. The Reptile King was oblivious to Heda's distaste at the moment. "If you want to change universities, there will be a special representative at the Registrar's Office starting tomorrow to help with the process. If you want to stay, there are a guidelines that must be obeyed. First, no shifter should be out alone after dark, and ideally we would like for you all to at least go in pairs during the daylight as well. If you leave campus to hunt or just stretch your muscles, take others with you who can keep up in your environment. I would actually advise going in groups of three or more, just to be safe. For those remaining, we are going to be starting a 'neighborhood watch' program. A number of you will be asked to head up teams, so be listening for your names in just a moment. If I do not call your name, then find a group and head home. Further instructions will be sent along shortly." Reichert started rattling off names as Heda and her friends started talking class schedules and so forth. None of them could quite wrap their brains around a serial killer that was targeting shifters, so they simply did the best that they could to deal. It did not help matters that Heda heard her name called out over the crowd. All of her friends looked on with curiosity as she made her way to the podium and the King of Reptiles. She was one of perhaps twenty students, and she was joined by her fellow bird shifter Peter Smith. Her gaze met Reichert's for a moment, and it was not friendly on either of their parts. "After talking with the Council, your names were put forward as some of the better combat-trained shifters on campus, and you are also leaders. Even those of you who are new here," he continued, his eyes glancing towards Heda, "have shown an aptitude towards leadership. We will need that. Each one of you will be given overlapping zones on campus to keep an eye on and be responsible for. All of you will be given phones with walkie-talkie features for you and your back-up, who you will choose to act as a point-of-contact when you are drawn away to other responsibilities. All of you who choose to remain and accept these responsibilities will be able to get a free completion for one class not directly required for your major. This will allow you to free up more time for keeping track of things. This offer goes for your back-up as well. If you see or hear anything suspicious, contact the Council office. The phone there will be manned twenty-four-seven until this creature is caught." He looked at each one in turn. "Do NOT play hero. If you think you've found something, alert myself or the council. We have no idea how dangerous this man or woman is." Heda was a little conflicted. This type of leadership was more what she had expected of him. Time to push her luck a bit. She raised her hand. "Yes Miss Adler?" "Maybe we can use the radio," she said. "Madison --" "That DM?" one of the others scoffed, and Reichert was forced to intervene before Heda could threaten anyone. "I don't see how your friend could help us," Reichert said. "Please --" "Yeah, how on earth could someone with a popular radio show that could distribute information quickly to the entire student shifter population POSSIBLY be of any use," she said, sarcasm pouring from her mouth. "It's a much better idea to try to get a hold of thousands of people one at a time." "Insolent bitch," a reptile shifter growled. For a moment, it looked like there was going to be a full-fledged species brawl as Peter moved up to support his fellow avian. "Stop," Reichert said, his voice so stern and hard that even Heda felt little choice but to back down. "We cannot allow ourselves to be divided right now." "And we also need to use whatever resources we have available," Heda replied, taking a step back. "Sir." "I will take it under advisement," Reichert replied. Heda nodded, a slight gesture of animalistic submission, then backed away towards her friends. "What happened?" Madison asked. "I . . . kinda volunteered you to be a communications hub for the Shifter Emergency Network." "No really, what happened?" By the time they all got back to Heda's and Joanna's dorm room, Madison had finally accepted that she was getting dragged into this whole mess whether she wanted to be or not. "Hey guys," Heda said after everyone had gotten settled, "I was kind of joking with Madison about moving in together, but maybe it's not such a bad idea. We could probably get out of our housing contracts at this point and find an apartment or a place off campus." "Some big kind of communal orgy type thing?" Anthony asked, his face riddled with signs of glee. "No." "Let's not discount the idea --" Joanna started to say, then got shot down by a glare that Heda had learned from her mother. "Never mind." "I can't say that the idea doesn't have appeal," Peter said. "Living together I mean. I don't do the group orgy thing." Madison was attempting to quietly blend into the furniture, which just seemed to draw more attention. "What about you, Madison?" Carla asked. "I can't," the bat-shifter replied. "I don't have that kind of money. I have financial aid and stuff, but my scholarship only helps with on campus housing." The idea of living as part of a close-knit group, in one confined area, might intimidate some people. For Madison and the communal totem animal that shared her soul, the idea tugged at her heart-strings. "I could pull some strings with my uncle," Peter muttered, doing the logistics in his head. Peter's uncle was the Bird King and was not exactly light in the wallet. "He's a real estate guru. Maybe he could help find us a house to rent. What are there, six of us? Seven if Madison wants in?" "I really couldn't --," Madison tried to interject. "Hey, it's just a pipe dream right now anyway," Heda said. "We don't know if any of US can or really want this. But if you're interested and it does happen, maybe we can work something out. Just don't discount the idea before its hatched. Okay?" Madison just nodded. Heda sounded indecisive, but Madison was looking with her echolocation, quietly evaluating the members of the group. They looked enthusiastic . . . the kind of enthusiastic that lent itself to action. The idea was so tempting, which made the reality that much harder to swallow. She was barely scraping by as it was, especially after having lost out on her last gig thanks to Alvin Hannity. Eventually they were joined by Billy and Sasha, who did not help matters by expressing an interest in this little commune idea. Hope was a two-edged sword, at least in Madison's opinion. "You were thinking about applying for more loans anyway, weren't you? I mean, your tuition and all is covered," Sasha was saying. "Yeah, but --" Sasha understood her friend's concerns, but she also knew how much this would mean to the girl. Carla stood up. "I want to go shoot pool," she said, her voice wavering a little bit. There was a moment of awkward silence, broken by Peter. "Carla, is this really a good time?" "Whoever this fucker is, he already stole part of my life," she replied, her voice still shaking. "I'm not going to be his prisoner here too." 'She's got more guts than I do,' Madison said, then forced her feet to move. "I'll go. Not much for pool though." "You can be my lucky charm," Heda said, grabbing her wallet. She refused to carry a purse, despite their obvious advantages in many regards. And just like that, everyone was going. Heda gave both Carla and Madison hugs around the shoulders. "Brave girls," she whispered. When everyone else was distracted for a moment, Madison turned to the horse shifter next to her and whispered, "Does being brave feel like someone's squeezing your heart so hard that it's going to pop like a zit?" "I think so." "Good. Otherwise, I think I'd need to go see a doctor." ---------- ------------------ Later that night . . . ---------- ------------------ "Oh God you suck!" Heda laughed as Joanna flubbed an easy corner shot in their five-person game of cut-throat. Of course, Joanna's goal in playing pool was not to win, but rather to show off her rockin' body and substantial cleavage as much as possible. She was really good at that part. The group of them had gotten a single table at Dizzy's, a restaurant and pool hall close to campus. Joanna was certainly getting most of the boys attention. The few times Madison switched on her echolocation, she had managed to form a topographical map of Joanna's chest without much difficulty. Then she saw Heda scoping the girl out too, and admiration turned to an irrational jealousy. 'Hypocritical much?' she thought to herself. She felt immensely silly about the whole thing, a situation compounded when Heda leaned over and whispered -- "She's sweet, but a bit too bubbly for my taste." Madison's skin shivered delightfully when those words and that warm breath tickled her ear. "You know, you could play too," Heda continued, a bit more seriously. "If you want to tell them about . . . you know." Madison's heart, which had been in her throat, plummeted to her stomach. "I can't --" "You can," Heda said. "Here, I'll show you what you're missing. My turn," she said, loud enough for the rest to hear. "Madison's going to help." "I'm what?" "C'mon." The eagle shifter dragged her friend towards the table, and Madison was pulled somewhat reluctantly towards the table. But objections melted when Heda wrapped her arms around Madison's body and put her in "the position." The bat-shifter found herself the butt of a number of "handling a stick" and "thrusting with the right amount of pressure" jokes, which were both embarrassing and endearing. But mostly, she was very, very aware of the hard body pressed against her back and the strong arms directing her movements. She did not care if she hit the damn ball or not. She just liked "practicing." "Ready?" Heda whispered. "Uhm, on behalf of all the guys present, we think you should continue to dry hump . . . I mean 'teach' Madison how to play pool," Anthony said. "You are such a pig," Sasha said, rolling her eyes. "Skunk my dear. I'm a skunk. Please get your mammals right." He grinned when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Can I turn him into a slug?" she asked her boyfriend. Bill pondered the concept. "Not until you professors sign off on your training." "Your support as a male is overwhelming," Anthony grumbled. "I like her more than I like you." "Understandable. She's got that whole naughty librarian thing going." "I do not!" Sasha half-shouted, half-squeaked. "Why do people keep saying that?" She looked for affirmation of her irritation from her boyfriend, but Billy was staring intently at one of the HD-televisions hanging on the wall. He had apparently never seen anything quite so fascinating as sport fishing. "She really does," Madison whispered, then groaned slightly as Heda kissed her neck. "I love the way you sound when you do that," Heda murmured. "Are you two going to do it?" Anthony asked, "because I left my video camera at --" Anthony stopped talking as Madison pulled back and came close to sinking the ball. "Not bad. I think she should get another shot." "You want to keep playing this game?" Heda asked. Madison knew this was not about pool. She reached out with sonar pulses and saw that Billy and Sasha were both looking at her expectantly. She had allowed herself to get beaten up just to maintain this charade. Would they treat her like an equal? Would they be upset that she had lied to them? Wouldn't it be nice just to be herself? Flying Blind Ch. 02 "I'll take this one," she said, her world going blank again as she spoke. She felt Heda move away, then kicked her echolocation back into gear. Everyone watched as she lined up another shot, this time sinking it. "What the --" "Lucky shot!" "How did she --" Madison just stood there, making sure there were not any mundanes around, then slowly removed her sunglasses. She watched . . . openly watched . . . people watching her. Heda looked proud, Sasha and Billy looked relieved, and everyone else looked shocked as hell. "Yeah," she said, the glow of her eyes fading as she switched her Gift off so that she could talk, "I guess I have some explaining to do." --------- ----------- Hours later . . . --------- ----------- "Thanks for walking me back guys," Madison said shyly, walking with her sunglasses on but without the use of her cane. She had been peppered with questions ever since her big unveiling, and she had enjoyed the relative quiet of her walk home with Heda, Sasha, and Billy. "So, how you feelin'?" Sasha asked. "How ARE you feeling?" Billy corrected, withstanding a withering do-not-correct-my-grammar glare from his girlfriend. "I'm feeling . . . light," Madison tried to explain. "I just never realized how hard it was trying to hide it all the time, and now that I don't . . . I dunno." "It's called the 'weight of the world,' and it's not on your shoulders. It never should have been," Heda said, kissing one of said shoulders. "Well, it looks like you're in capable hands," Sasha smirked, "so I think we should be going." "Yeah," Madison muttered as she turned and got caught up in a big embrace and soft, luxurious kiss. "I won't even bother saying goodbye," Billy chuckled. She was not paying the slightest bit of attention to him anyway. Madison waved at him behind Heda's back as she was pushed up against the door. She was trying to get her door open before she did something YouTube worthy in public. They almost stumbled back into the room when the door finally gave way, then Madison was deposited quickly on the bed. "So you think your friends . . . (gasp) . . . are okay with me (moan) lying to them?" "OUR friends are okay with it. I think you'll have to pry Kevin off you with a crowbar," Heda replied, lowering herself onto the bed to hurry the making-out portion of the evening along. Kevin, the recreational pharmaceutical expert, had been borderline obsessed with his questions about how a blind person with no concept of color interpreted three-dimensional imaging and, more importantly, what effect hallucinogens might have on her. Basically, he wanted to get Madison stoned and have her tell him what she "saw." "Besides, you know that Joanna absolutely adores you now." Madison grinned and blushed. She had pointed out that Joanna had the most perfectly rounded and shaped breasts she had ever seen, and the quickest way to the bubbly blond's heart was through that perky chest. "I can't believe I said that." "It's okay. She does have a nice rack." "Have you ever thought about . . . you know? With her?" "I don't do the straight girl thing. Too much hassle. It's fun to tease her though, except she teases me right back. And she is gooooooooooooood at it." "Heda," Madison started, then stopped for a moment. "Thanks. Thanks for pushing me." "Sasha and Billy were pushing too." "Yeah, but neither of them are as hot as you," she said. "Well, maybe Sasha." "Hey!" Heda thought it over. "Okay, maybe she is. That whole librarian thing really works for her." "And she's completely clueless about it, which is weird 'cause she's insanely smart. As soon as she figures it out and realizes that Billy has been 'encouraging' that look, she is gonna kick his ass. Probably." "Speaking of asses," Heda muttered, rolling over onto her back and pulling Madison with her, then grabbing Madison's butt. The bat-shifter let out a little yip of surprise, but then melted into the embrace. Her body temperature had sky-rocketed to what she was sure was an unhealthy level, and she briefly switched on her sonar to see what Heda's face was doing. Apparently, it was moving forward in a kissing approach pattern, so Madison braced herself for . . . "Mmmh," she hummed as lips met lips and her brain started playing the Star-Spangled Banner, complete with fireworks. "You know," Heda said throatily, "you're getting much better at that." "I'm . . . not sure . . . hunh?" Madison blathered. She wanted more kissing. Yummy happy kissing. "And tonight's keynote speech will be delivered by one Madison Sloan," Heda replied with a chuckle. "No makin' fun of me," Madison pouted, her lips parting and seeking out Heda's mouth. "Then give me something else to do." Heda kissed the girl again, pulling her close. She liked this part and always had. Making out was vastly underrated in her book, and people who rushed to the main event did not know what they were missing. She decided to escalate the foreplay by caressing Madison's firm runner's ass, frustrated by the separation caused by the girl's tights. Madison could not figure out what to do with her hands to save her life. They moved from Heda's shoulders to her neck and then back again. Finally, she just had to ask. "Okay, what should I be doing?" Heda let out a full-bellied laugh. Madison was just too cute when she was nervous. "Stop . . . ooh, no laughing!" the bat-shifter said. Heda rolled them both over again so that she was on top. She quickly straddled the girl's stomach and pulled her own shirt off. "What do you want to do?" she asked, placing the girl's hands on Heda's now-exposed breasts. Madison swallowed a breath. She was touching boobies. And it was good. But she also wanted to feel that amazing abdomen, so she did, then her hands moved back up to those breasts. Heda leaned forward and offered her nipples to Madison's lips, and the less-experience girl eagerly took them into her mouth. 'Nipples are fun,' Madison thought. The were fun to suck on, nibble on, to twist and turn . . . but what was even more fun was having your own nipples played with. Heda pulled Madison's top down past her shoulders and then did a reach-around to unhook the bra. And while Madison's nipple pleasuring skills were in their infancy, Heda was a nipple-foo master. She pushed Madison's hands away and then lowered her mouth to the bat-shifter's chest. Magic ensued. Madison held onto Heda's head like it was a personal flotation device, unwilling to let go or else be totally lost. Finally Heda decided it was time for things to progress. She stood up and pulled Madison into a sitting position. Then she put her lover-to-be's hands on Heda's hips. "Want to help me get these jeans off?" Madison nodded. Her hands trembled a bit until she reminded herself to play it cool, at which point she simply slowed her hands down as she unbuttoned and unzipped those jeans. She also took the time to kiss the girl's hard abdomen and tease her bellybutton. When she got the jeans down to Heda's knees, she turned on her echolocation while her friend kick the garment away. Heda was wearing a tiny little g-string that made Madison's mouth water. She reached for it, but Heda slapped her hands away. "You don't get the rest until you show me some more skin." Then Heda plopped back down on the bed. "Now strip." Madison blushed all the way to her toes, but she stood up . Her top was already pushed down, so she just finished the job, removing all clothing except her own panties. 'Oh crap,' she thought. 'I'm not wearing the --' "Hello Kitty underwear?" Heda asked. "How risque!" "Shoot me now," she thought, covering her face with her hands and turning away. She heard the bed creak behind her as Heda stood and then wrapped her arms around Madison's body. "I think they're adorable," the eagle-shifter whispered, "but I'm really interested in what's underneath them." Even though Madison had her thighs pressed tightly together, Heda ran her hand town the girl's stomach and pushed it beneath those cotton panties and forced the girl's legs open enough so that she could insert two fingers into the girl's sex. "You shaved," Heda murmured as she started to penetrate the girl's fold with a slow rhythm. "You really want me to go down on you don't you?" she asked over Madison's happy whimpering. "Mmh . . . mmh . . .yesssssss," Madison hissed. "I want to go down on you too. I want you to teach me how." Heda grinned. "Then tell me what you want again, but use the Voice. And say it dirty, or I won't do it." Madison was attempting to roll her eyes back in her head as Heda's fingers lit her body on fire. "I want to eat your pussy," she said in that low, spicy voice that she knew Heda loved. It was her radio Voice . . . her dream Voice. It spoke with the words and the tone that Madison wished she could use in the rest of her life. It was confident and sexy and strong, and only her broadcast booth and Heda's arms seem make her feel safe enough and confident enough to let it out. "Well when I'm done making you cum, maybe we can try it," Heda replied, her brain tingling under the power of that Voice. Her fingers pressed in and up while her palm rubbed small circles over Madison's clit. She kissed her lover's neck as she brought the girl closer to the edge. She could tell by the way Madison was trying to squeeze her thighs together that she was close, and her ragged breathing helped tell exactly how close. "Gonna . . . gonna . . . " Madison whispered, then her body shook as pleasure raced through it, staring in her nethers and expanding outward. "I believe that 'cum' was the word you were looking for," he said, her voice filled with warmth and amusement. "Although 'climax' or 'orgasm' would have also been acceptable." "Now (gasp), you promised," Madison said, then summoning the Voice, "you promised I could taste your pussy if I came." "And I'm a woman of my word." Heda ran her cum-covered hand up Madison's body and slid them into Madison's mouth. The girl obviously did not have her echolocation on, because she shrank back a bit when her mouth was invaded. "This is what you're asking to taste," Heda whispered, then felt a slight suction on her fingers. "Like that don't ya?" She spun Madison around and started kissing her again as they both sank onto the bed. "Want to taste it fresh from the source?" Madison blushed . . . again. 'Why does she make me feel so naughty?' she thought, then out loud, "More than anything." "More than breathing?" Heda said, spinning around until she was in a position to give the girl her first sixty-nine experience. "Oxygen is overrated." "More than food?" "I eat bugs, so yeah." "More than your Fats Domino album on the wall?" "Get out. I can find another hottie," Madison shot back. Heda burst out laughing. She knew that Madison would guard that thin piece of vinyl with her life if necessary. Then without warning, her mouth descended on Madison's newly shaved sex with considerable vigor. Madison was not sure what to do as her sex was suddenly stimulated in ways she had never imagined before. It felt sooooooooooooooooo good. But Madison being who she was began to suffer an anxiety attack in the midst of this mind-boggling pleasure. What should she do? "Calm down," Heda told her when she sensed her friend's indecisiveness. "We've got all night, and getting oral sex is kind of like pizza." "Huh?" "Even when it's bad, it's still pretty damn good." Madison smiled even though Heda could not see it. She slowly pushed her tongue forward and up into the cleft, drinking in the scent and flavor of a live-and-in-living-color lover in the most intimate way. She was slightly wet, slightly rich, and very sexy. Madison was fascinated by the fleshy outer labia, so she spent some time playing with them, licking them and sucking them into her mouth. Heda was pleased with her lover's progress, in attitude if not (yet) in skill. She was in no hurry, so she just started to string together all the techniques she had learned in Europe, applied light pressure and hoping Madison could pick up a few things. Madison was in her own little world at first, but she started to mimic some of Heda's moves. Once Madison seemed have a handle on the basics, Heda moved to the intermediate steps, using her fingers to penetrate and separate so that her tongue could get further in. Clitoris stimulus also became the order of the evening, partially because she knew that it had to feel good and partially because every time she touched it with her tongue, Madison let out a little squeaking noise. When Heda started laughing at her, Madison growled, "Oh yeah? Let's see how you like it." Then she began a full-out assault on Heda's pleasure nub, throwing the other girl off guard. Apparently, Heda liked it a lot, though she felt a need to teach the girl a lesson. Never mess with master. Heda's tonguing brought her companion to the height of pleasure quickly and mightily. Madison's poor body shook and arched, leaving her drained of energy though not of desire. Slowly her mouth encircled Heda's sex once more and sucked gently on her mons. Heda was content to just lay gentle kisses on Madison's inner thighs while she was brought to orgasm by a naive but determined lover. She let out a groan when the moment hit her, an oral reward for Madison's oral attention. Madison drank in what she could, savoring not only the essence that Heda imparted but also the moment. "So, THAT is oral sex," Heda chuckled. "Any questions?" She managed to turn herself around again for some post-coital kissing. "That was . . . wow," Madison said, her eyes still glazed over. "Very, very nice. Must do it again sometime."
 "Count on it. Now, lessons in spooning." "But I already know --" "Meaning that I want to get some sleep." "So you're just going to go to roll over and --" "Madison, you know I love your voice, right?" "Yeah." Heda kissed her. "Now is not the time to use it." "But --" "Shut up." "Hey!" "Don't make me come over there." This continued for several minutes before additional kisses and caresses were able to persuade Madison to just lie in the wake of sexual bliss and sleep. -------- -------------------- A few days later . . . -------- -------------------- "Are we sure that this is the right place?" Madison asked, her echolocation showing her every nook and cranny of the enormous house in front of them. Somehow, she had gotten talked into going on a house-viewing expedition with some of the gang, headed up by Peter. Heda had to bow out at the last second after getting called up on the shifter emergency phone to go investigate a suspicious looking individual, but she had promised to catch up quickly. She had insisted that Madison go along, and Madison suspected it was so that she could develop ties with people that were not always through Heda. "This is the right address. My uncle's secretary said that it used to be a residence, got turned into a set of law offices, then got foreclosed on when the owners were indicted for something or another. He said he'd be willing to buy it and rent it out to us for really cheap if we'd be willing to do some upkeep so that he could resell it down the road." "It's fucking huge," she replied. "It's sweet!" Carla said. "It's the Munster House." "Madison," Anthony said, "you're being a real downer." Madison did not want to admit the truth . . . that the house was incredible and that she would giver her right arm to live there with a bunch of other people who understood who and what she was and did not care. She would not mind living with Heda at all, thought that thought gave her some willies as well. What if things between them did not work out? Would Madison get kicked out? It would be better never to feel that sense of community than have it and then let it be yanked away. "Let's at least go inside," Peter said. "Look around. Seriously Madison, I think you could afford a stake in this." The house was actually two full stories consisted of about ten offices or meeting rooms which could be used as bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, a parking lot big enough to handle everyones' cars, plus a large attic and finished basement. Peter had been given a key and code to get into the building, so they wandered inside. "Dude, this could SO be the entertainment room," Anthony said of the main conference area. "Fliers could go second floor and up, non-fliers could take the bottom floor and down," Peter muttered, thinking over the logistics. "Hey, there's only three fliers! You, Heda, and Madison," Anthony shot back. "Guys, I haven't agreed to --" Madison started to say, but Carla pulled her back. "Let 'em argue. Girls always get final say on living arrangements anyway." Madison grinned in spite of herself. "And you want this?" "Yeah, I do. I'm a herd animal by nature remember? Besides, there are certain advantages --" the horse-shifter added, her voice trailing off. Madison switched on the sonar and saw that Carla was scoping out the well constructed ass of one Anthony Valentine. "You dog!" she hissed. "Horse," Carla muttered back. "I'm a horse, and I need to get taken for a ride every now and then or I get cranky." Madison blushed, though she doubted Carla felt any need to. "I'm sure any of the guys here wouldn't mind taking you to the rodeo." Carla snorted. "If they can't hold on for more than eight seconds, then they're not worth my time." Anthony and Peter looked over at the girls, who had just burst out in a giggling fit. "What's with them?" "I dunno. They're chicks," Anthony said. "There's no figuring 'em." "Did you say, 'chicks'? And you wonder why you're single?" "No, I really don't." "Okay everyone, let's explore." Carla was a big fan of baking, so she checked out the kitchen while Anthony scoured the bottom floor for the ultimate bachelor pad. Peter went to the second floor, but Madison decided to check out the basement. It was cool and solid and quite cave-like, and a quick scan of the walls showed that they probably could hold in sound pretty well. "Oh who are you kidding?" Madison asked herself. "They'd never let you have the whole room to yourself." "Why not?" Peter asked from the bottom of the stairs. Madison jumped three feet up in the air and came down in her kick-boxing defensive position. She hated not being able to see and talk at the same time. "Don't sneak up on me!" "Stop being blind," Peter said jokingly. "Well, mostly blind." "Jerk." Madison looked around, her eyes glowing in more ways than one. "I mean, this room is huge and I wouldn't be able to pay as much and . . . and--" "And you really want it, don't you?" "That's not what I . . . I didn't mean that I would . . . yeah?" "Madison, if we do this, we will try to come up with a solution that works for everyone. It's okay." "Would your uncle really want ME living here?" Madison asked bitterly. "We've already seen what the Reptile King thinks of me, so why would the Bird King be any different?" "He's not like that," Peter snapped, then visibly calmed down. "Sorry. Didn't mean to bite your head off. It's just that Uncle Jason never seemed like the type to me." "I wish I had family like you," Madison said earnestly. "No one ever sticks up for me like that." "Heda does," Peter said, his smile returning. "She's doing what I should've been willing to do." "You didn't know me from Eve," Madison said, trying to wave off the whole subject. "No, but everyone should be treated with more respect. We shouldn't have been waiting for someone like Heda to point it out. Alvin should never have been allowed to get away with what he did." Madison nodded. "What's weird was that it wasn't so bad when we both got here. Yeah he was rude, but then after that first Christmas break, he just started to get nasty." Flying Blind Ch. 02 "Not everyone has the Christmas spirit I guess." "He's the Grinch who fucked Christmas up the --" "Hello?" came a new voice from upstairs. "Heda!" Madison shouted. "We're downstairs!" The eagle-shifter came traipsing down the stairs in her volleyball uniform, making both Peter and Madison drool just a little bit. When Joanna joined them a moment later, the feeling was repeated. "Hey guys," Heda said. "Gotta be at practice in a while, but I wanted to come by and see the place. Fuck, this is huge!" She looked around. "Oh Madison, this is SO your room!" She walked over to a spot on the wall. "Your bed here with your Fats Domino album hanging right over it." Joanna nodded. "Maybe put her --" "Hey, I'm still here. Blind not deaf. And I can put my damn stuff anywhere I damn want." "So you're moving in?" "I didn't say that! If I WERE to move in which I didn't say I would do, then hypothetically --" "But you didn't say you WOULDN'T move in either," Heda said, giving her a kiss and a pat on the ass. She looked at Peter. "So let's talk economics. After I've seen that attic you were talking about." The attic was a marvel, with two westward facing windows and a skylight. It was not very tall, but spanned the top of the whole house. From the windows, Heda looked out over the local shrublands and up at the mountains. "Oh, that's beautiful," she whispered. She did not see Madison slink back down the stairs. Her echolocation, however powerful, would never reach the mountains, so she would never see what Heda saw . . . would never appreciate the world on that scale. She lived in her own little bubble and always would. Heda caught up with her lover in the kitchen, where Carla was drooling over the stainless steel appliances. "Can we have it mommy?" she asked, looking at Heda. "Can we can we can we --" "That's up to everyone," Heda grinned. "I ain't supporting you clowns. "I need to find a job for spending cash as it is. My folks will only put up with so much." She put an arm around Madison and kissed her cheek. "So, interested?" Then she looked at Peter, who walked back in with a cell phone to his ear. "What's the damage?" "His Majesty would only charge us fifteen hundred a month for the house, but we'd pay all our own utilities. Still, that's . . . let's see, me, you, Kevin, Anthony, Joanna, Carla, Madison, Sasha, and Billy. That's ten." "One hundred and fifty apiece?" Madison said, her eyes opening wide. "Sounds like something you could do," Heda whispered into the girl's ear. She and Peter made eye contact. "As extra incentive, you could have the whole basement as yours." "Ooh man," Anthony said as he walked in. "If we could wire the whole house for sound, we could set Madison up as the house DJ! The house would be rockin' twenty-four/seven!" Madison tried to appear stoic when she asked, "So how do we get out of our housing contracts?" ------------- --------------- The next day . . . ------------- --------------- Heda paced the hallway outside of Reichert's office several times before knocking. She hated doing this. Absolutely hated it. The door opened just as her fist touched it. "Come in Miss Adler," the Reptile King said. "Your pacing is giving me a headache." She walked in and sat in the offered guest chair while he sat behind his desk, giving her an even glare. "Thank you for seeing me," Heda said between clenched teeth. "Some of us were looking to rent a house together just off campus . . . you know, the whole safety in numbers thing. It's close enough that I could still perform my neighborhood watch duties, or maybe even assume a new area for shifters who live off campus." "Sounds reasonable," Reichert said flatly. "Why are you talking to me?" "Because we would need to get out of our housing contracts. You have enough sway to make that happen without us having to pay a lot of penalties." Heda actually began to grow uncomfortable under his stare. "What?" "Very well," Reichert said finally. "It is a reasonable request considering the circumstances. Am I to assume that Miss Sloan will be joining this venture?" Heda was suspicious. This was going a little too easily. "Ideally yes, once we find out the cost of utilities. King Jason Burchill is helping his nephew out a lot, so that's making this financially feasible for all of us." "Burchill is a good man," Reichert replied, almost absently. "This is a good situation." Heda did not get it. This man was so hot and cold that it made her wonder. "Thank you," she said, standing up to leave. "Please, stay for a moment," Reichert replied. "Miss Adler, I am going to need your help in the coming months while this madman is located, and I would like for us to be on the same side for you entire time here at FCU." Heda closed her eyes and tried to remain calm when she said, "Then why aren't you doing anything to help Madison? Please, I want to respect you and your crown, but how --" "This situation is much more complicated that you think," Reichert said. "If Alvin Hannity is kicked out of this institution, it will not only threaten a significant source of income for this university, but do you think that will help your friend? Do you really think that the Hannity clan is incapable of making Madison's life miserable from afar?" "That's no excuse for letting him hunt her the way he is!" "No, it is not. Teasing or insulting is one thing, but damaging her is another. Please see this from my position. I do not personally doubt that he assaulted her the other day, but the fact remains that he has witnesses that say otherwise and she has no one to corroborate her story. You can confirm that she was injured in the woods several weeks ago, but not that it was him. The circumstantial evidence is strong, but that's all it is . . . circumstantial." He sighed, then looked away. "I am not . . . easily moved . . . by shifters such as Miss Sloan with genetic abnormalities. I know that you may hate me for that, but it is true. It is not true, however, that I will allow your friend to come to harm because of my biases. I have spoken with young Mister Hannity and assured him that if the harassment of Miss Sloan continues that I shall be forced to initiate a very thorough investigation that might yield irrefutable evidence that would render any defense, no matter how well funded, to be sadly insufficient." Heda's mind was reeling. Her mother had always warned her that shifter politics was insanely tricky, and now she was beginning to understand. "Are the Hannitys really that dangerous?" "Yes, they can be. I always found Alvin's father to be quite amiable personally, though his wife is . . . difficult. And Alvin Hannity is, well, a momma's boy." Heda actually snickered. She could totally see that. "Have you ever told Madison any of this?" "Madison has never shown much interest in anything I have to say. Ever since she was in my class --" "Yeah, she told me about the whole grade thing. Deduction for penmanship." "And grammar," he replied. "She was given an opportunity to use the editors at the English Department's writing center and she didn't. She said that she could do it on her own. So I graded her on what she turned in. She didn't like it so she took it to the department head who was so afraid of appearing to be biased against the handicapped that he gave her what she wanted." Heda felt a little awkward. She completely understood why Madison had reacted the way she did, but what if she had been wrong, or at least a little bit premature in jumping down Reichert's throat. But Reichert, if he was telling the truth, had not done anything wrong either. Reichert looked her hard in the eyes. "I am not trying to drive a wedge between the two of you. I am not so insensitive as to think her life has not been exceedingly difficult or that she has not had to work twice as hard or more than others just to get by, but part of her isolation from the shifter community is her own doing." "That's changing," Heda said defensively. "I know. But sometimes being normal also means being accountable." Heda got up, shook Reichert's hand, and then headed outside. Joanna was waiting in the lobby so that they could walk back together, keeping with the "always go in twos" mentality. "So how'd it go?" Joanna asked. "Good. Looks like we'll be able to get out of our housing contracts, but we should do it soon." "Peter is SO on top of it," Joanna said. "Still, you look kinda glum for someone who had to deal with her arch enemy." "He's not . . . he's not my enemy, arch or otherwise. And I'm sorry for dissing your king." "Heda?" Joanna said, prying one of the eagle-shifter's eyes wide open. "Are you in there?! Hold on and we'll send help!" Heda batted her friend's hand away with a fake snarl. "I can completely kick your ass, you know that." "Puh-lease. Like you thought you could out hunt me?" "I had to go and save Madison's cute little butt, otherwise I would've won that!" 
"Oh suuuuuuuuuure you would have." "Hey, I'll throw down right now." Joanna grinned, but was trying to figure any graceful way she could out of this little challenge, since she was pretty sure Heda would indeed kick her behind eight ways from Sunday in a straight up fight. "Hey, you know that kicking my ass is the last thing you want to do to it." "Hmm, your problem is that you waited too long. Madison's ass is pretty dynamite, so yours is now expendable." Joanna kept finding ways to back out of another contest all the way back to the dorm room, only to have Heda counter each one. "So you see, I think that a good old fashion wrestling match is a perfect reasonable way for you to back up your tough talk," Heda said with a grin as they rounded the last corner. All their friends were hanging out on the benches in front of the dorms, except for Madison and Billy who were probably on their way to the station. And there was a newcomer in the group that made Joanna's mouth drop open. "Helloooooooooooo hunkalicious!" she purred as the new guy stood up. He was six feet four inches tall and built like a competitive swimmer, with shoulder-length hair that was so black that the light reflected blue off of it. He had full lips, warm green eyes and the most perfect skin she had ever seen. He looked a bit older than most of the rest of the crowd, but was still obviously in his physical prime. Heda scrunched up her eyes as if annoyed, though her mouth was quirked in amusement . . . or maybe it was glee. "What the fuck are you doing here?" "Wait, you know this stud muffin?" Joanna pouted. "And you didn't tell me about him?" "Yeah, we just found this cat hanging out saying he needed to talk to our girl Heda," Anthony said, "and you KNOW that we weren't gonna let him near her if he wasn't legit." "When did you become a gangsta?" Peter asked his friend. Anthony shrugged. "Don't be hatin'." "Heda," Joanna almost whimpered, "introduce your friend!" "Friend?" Heda shook her head. "He ain't no friend of mine. So Ed, you going to tell me what you're doing here?" "What? Can't a caring, loving brother check in on his semi-helpless little sister?" "Helpless my ass," she replied, smiling openly and giving "Ed" a big hug. "That's your brother?!" Joanna squealed. "You told me you had brothers, but not that they were hot!" "I really like her," Ed said with a lopsided grin. "Could help a man's ego being around a woman like her." "Name's Joanna, and I'm your sister's bestest friend and confidante," she said, sliding up to him. "Hmm, bird shifter. Man, bird-shifting and hotness both run all the way in your family?" Anthony grinned. "I've seen pictures of their mom, and she's a total M-I-L--" His voice trailed off as Heda and Ed fixed glares on him. "I'm sure she's a lovely woman with impeccable character." "Good save," Heda replied. Then her face got that suspicious look. "Mom wouldn't have anything to do with why you're here, does she?" Ed shrugged. "She MAY have dropped my name to the Council as someone to call to help with your disappearances her on campus, and PERHAPS suggested that I check in with you to make sure you haven't gotten into any more trouble --" "Ooh, I am going to give that woman a piece of my mind!" Heda growled, reaching for her cell phone. "Sending my brother to spy on me?!" She started to dial while Joanna moved in for the kill. "So, is there a Missus Ed Adler?" "I suspect so, though she and I haven't met yet," he replied, grinning and trying really hard to concentrate on her eyes. "Hey, my boobs are down here," she said, pushing up on them to display cleavage. "Conversations with you aren't normal, are they?" "Hi Mom!" Heda said loudly, glaring at her brother. "Oh nothing much. Just thought you might want to know that me and some of my new friends are moving off campus. Yeah, the Bird King is buying a house and renting it to his nephew for cheap. There will be ten of us, so it will be really safe and secure and WHY THE HELL DID YOU SEND EDGAR TO SPY ON ME?" she ended with a shout. "Here we go," Edgar said, sitting on the bench and staring at his sister. He glanced over at Joanna and continued, "Heda's conversations with Mom are like spectator sports. Honestly, I --" "I am NOT overreacting," Heda growled at her phone. "I can take care of myself and . . . Yes, I know that he's a privative investigator, but I'm sure the university is quite capable . . . Mother, I will not let you . . . don't you dare put Dad on the phone! I do not want to . . . Hi Dad. Yeah, could you put her back on? Seriously. Dad, don't . . . do NOT put the phone down to go look for her. Dad? Dad!" Edgar grinned, then whispered to anyone listening, "Our father is a master of not letting fights between Heda and Mom escalate. This is his 'let me put the phone down and then I'll go talk to her' ploy. He's probably going to go read in his recliner for a while hoping that Heda will give up. But it won't work. See? She's going to her back up plan." Heda had disconnected the phone and is calling Dad's office phone. He'll always answer that and never thinks about it until its too late. Oops, here we go." "Dad, don't you dare put this phone down! I know it's your work phone, but . . . oh no, I know that trick. Don't even think about it. I know that trick. Hell, I taught you that trick. Put her on now or I'll do it. You know I will." "And cue the waterworks," Edgar said, acting entranced. "Daddy," Heda sniffed, her voice suddenly tearful and broken up, "I really need to talk to Mom. She's crossed a line --" "SHE should be a thespian," Joanna muttered admiringly. "I've seen seniors who can't do that kind of drama." "Thank you," Heda said, her voice almost a whimper. Then just as suddenly, "Do NOT pawn me off on Dad again! Yes, I know I do it, but that's a daughter's prerogative. I don't care. No, having sex with him does not give you the same rights, and ewh! No talking about that in front of your children. What kind of mother are you?" "You wanna go inside?" Ed asked, "and you guys can give me the scoop on what's been going on around here. I got a dossier from the University and another from King Reichert. Besides, this looks like it's going to take a while." "So you're a PI, huh?" Anthony asked. "Sounds sweet." "Yeah, there's not a lot of paranormal private investigators, or at least not many credible ones." He followed the crew inside and then started asking about what everyone knew and what they had heard and what was being done. He showed great compassion and tact when talking with Carla about her experience. Joanna knew he must be good at his job. She wondered what else he might be good at. "You should talk to Madison too," Carla said at last, having relived her ordeal for what felt like the hundredth time. "She's the one who found me." "Madison Sloan?" Ed checked his notes. "But she's blind." When his eyes came up, he noticed that everyone was looking shifty-eyed at each other. "What? Says here that she's legally blind. Is that not correct?" "No, she's legally blind all right," Joanna said. "Yessiree." He raised one eyebrow. 'Something is really odd here.' "She can't see then?" The redhead raised his hand. "Yes . . . Kevin, is it?" "Yeah. Uhm, what do you mean by 'see'?" Kevin's utterance was met by a punch in the arm by Peter. "What?!" Ed was really confused. "Can she or can she not make use of her eyes to intake light and so on and so forth to . . . well, see?" "Nope!" the whole crowd said at once. "Okay, what the fuck is going on?" "Nothing," came the synchronized response. Edgar rubbed his temples, trying to gather his wits. Normally, he was the problem child in the family, but he seemed woefully outmatched here. "Here, let me do that for you," Joanna said soothingly. "Really, that's not . . . okay," he said as she put her hands on his temples and her tee-shirt clad breasts on the back of his neck. The door opened and Heda came in, growling in a most unladylike manner. "The nerve --" "What happened?" "My battery died," she said, plugging her cell into the charger. "And they were going to head out to a party before I could get inside and use the land-line." "So all of that and no resolution?" Peter asked. "Technically, that conversation has been going on for three years," Ed informed him. "It'll pick up where they left off next time. Mark my words." Heda rolled her eyes, then managed to look cheerful for a moment. "Hey, Reichert's gonna help us get out of our housing contracts, so operation big-house-full-of-shifters is all go. Seriously," she added, looking at her brother, "you have GOT to see this place. Peter's uncle is amazingly cool for doing this for us." "Well, I'll probably have plenty of chances, since I'm here until this case is solved. North American Shifter Council is footing the bill. You guys getting a house together? That's cool. I missed that part of the college experience." "You missed the 'college' part of the college experience, you dumbass." "That too. Hey, these guys won't give me a straight answer, so what is the deal with Madison Sloan?" Heda countered his eyebrow raise with one of her own. "What about her?" "She's listed as a material witness, but she's also listed as blind." "That's true." "So she really can't tell me anything." "That's false." "She what? Smelled the cage? Heard it?" "She could tell you exactly what it looks like and probably give you a good guess as to what it was made of. But you've probably got all that in your report." "But she's blind." "Right." "How can she --" Ed stopped and gripped the edge of the chair so hard he heard plastic snap. Heda grimaced. "I guess you'll have to meet her for yourself. C'mon, she's usually got some time between sets. I'll take you over there." "I'm going with you," Joanna said. "You know . . . strength in numbers and whatnot." "But my brother --" "I . . . am coming . . . with you," Joanna said with a knowing look, then glanced at the back of Ed's head. Heda grinned. Joanna was pretty much an unstoppable hussy. "Okay, what do you mean by sets? Is she a stripper or something?" Everyone got a snicker out of that, but Heda shushed them. "Hey, she could! She's got the bod for it." "And you would know," Kevin shot back with a grin.
 Ed looked at his sister. "Let's go. You can explain all of this on the way." The three of them got up and left their companions to start the mass migration to the new house. Heda refused to talk about Madison's "sight," deciding to leave it up to her. But her brother was tenacious on another front. "So you've seen this girl naked?" he asked. "Uhm . . .yeah. Couple of times now." "A couple of times? So are you dating the girl?" Flying Blind Ch. 03 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" ---------- "An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." ~ Mahatma Gandhi ---------- Heda was not exactly proud of herself for throwing up, but some things simply could not be helped. She had followed her brother to the scene where a mysterious kidnapper had "released" his second victim. By the time she had arrived, the young man was in an ambulance, but there were plenty of pictures. Edgar had been handed a digital camera and had gone through the whole card. Heda, looking over his shoulder, had gotten about twelve slides before she vacated the contents of her stomach into a trash can. It made her fell slightly better when she realized she was not the first one to do so. The former captive, an arachnid shifter who's name was not yet being released, had been found naked with his arms handcuffed behind him around a lamppost. He had been on his knees, and his legs had looked impossibly cramped. His legs were coated with feces and he had smelled so bad that it still lingered. He was gaunt, looking as if he had been barely fed since his captivity began and he had only been given enough water to survive. From the neck down, he was otherwise unharmed, but it were the pictures above the neck . . . those were what made Heda ill. The man's tongue had been cut in half from the tip all the way to the base, giving it a savagely serpentine look. All his teeth had been torn out and the skin flayed from his cheeks. And he had been found with a strange contraption attached to his neck area. It was a long metal rod with two-pointed prongs on each end and was about a foot long. One end had been shove up into the bottom of his chin while the other end pressed into his upper chest, and the entire device had been secured by a long leather strap that had wound around his neck, preventing anyone from opening his mouth to survey the damage until it was finally cut away. "You okay?" Ed asked when his sister returned after composing herself. "No, I don't think I am," she whispered. "What he did to Carla was bad enough, but this . . . this guy isn't just going to go away is he?" "No, I don't think he is. They're going to start bringing in a lot bigger guns than me, considering the way this guy is escalating." "Can I see them again?" "I don't think . . oh hell, we're drawing a crowd. There's no way we're going to keep this from freaking out the human population now." "Let me help. Please?" Ed sighed. He knew that his sister did not like feeling helpless or weak, and she had displayed a little of both in recent moments. "You've got your role to play, and I've got mine." He looked around. "I'll talk to you about it later." She looked angry about it, but was not going to argue. "Whoever it is, letting him go in front of the medical center? You think it means something?" "That he's a sick son of a bitch? Listen, I gotta go talk to the guy who found him. I'll swing by the dorm later, okay?" Heda watched as her big brother went to a young man sitting forlornly on the steps of the medical center. She recognized him as the same guy who was working the front when Madison was getting patched up. His job was not getting any easier. The ring of cops closed in and Heda was on the outside looking in. There were human police involved this time, so Heda was effectively just another student to them. She walked away from the gathering crowd, her heart thumping angrily in her chest. She needed to vent and let off some steam, but she apparently was not going to get a chance. Her Neighborhood Watch phone was going off. It was time for a meeting. She got to the volleyball stadium quickly to find that this was not an all-hands meeting, but rather just the leadership. Reichert was there and looking tired, along with a few others. "Miss Adler, you were at the crime scene?" the Reptile King asked quickly and sharply. "Yes. Human cops got involved, but Edgar is still there. He'll fill us in when he can get away. It's bad your Majesty. Really bad." "I heard you lost your lunch," came an incredibly annoying voice. Alvin Hannity stood in the doorway with a cocky grin. "Apparently the big bird bitch's daughter ain't as tough as she claims." Heda could tolerate a lot of things, but she was still feeling angry at herself for her reaction at the scene, and this ass-hat had just insulted her mother. "This is not the . . . oh hell," Reichert growled shortly after Heda launched herself across the room. Alvin got into a fighting stance and the air around him began to shift. Heda noticed and began her own transformation. "Stop!" Reichert said, forgetting for a moment that neither of them could hear him while shifting. It was a time of crisis, and he was about to have a shifter brawl on his hands. Alvin was able to transform first. Wings erupted from his back, while his humanoid head grew bat-like ears and his mouth filled with teeth. Claws erupted from his hands and toes, in the latter case puncturing through his shoes. A layer of brown hair covered his body, and he let out a dreadful shriek. Heda had remembered to kick her own shoes off first, but her shirt was still ruined when her great feathery wings erupted from her back. Her entire head was replaced by that of a great eagle, and her legs from the knee down tapered into the familiar legs and taloned feet of a bird of prey. Feathers covered every inch of skin, and she met the shriek of the bat with her own battle cry. "Crap!" Peter said, having chosen that moment to arrive. "This is gonna get ugly." Alvin leaped on his adversary, but Heda blocked his hands to the outside before laying a punch into his midsection. He growled a response, then lashed out at her leg with his own taloned foot, raking her across the thigh. Heda was to angry to even invoke her Gift, but was not so wounded as to go down easily. She leaped upward, kneeing Alvin in the face as she went, then aimed her deadly foot towards his head. The fight ended almost as quickly as it started. While the two combatants were distracted, the Reptile King had also shifted forms, but had gone into full beast mode rather than the half-forms of the other two. Suddenly, there was a fifty-foot long extinct crocodile between Alvin and Heda. His might tail pinned the were-bat to the ground while that massive mouth turned and bellowed a warning at Heda. Otherwise, the gym had gone completely quiet. Heda was so pissed that she was seeing red, but one did NOT challenge a monarch unless you were damn sure you could win or were no longer all that interested in breathing. Gifted or not, the head of the flesh emperor crocodile was as big as she was. Heda landed, but kept her angry glare focused on Alvin. A couple of Alvin's supporters had shown up and were trying to coax him into returning to human form. Peter stood between Reichert's jaws and Heda. "He's not worth it," Peter replied. "Alvin is not worth getting kicked out of school, much less dying for. C'mon, shift back." He smiled. "This may be my one and only chance to see you naked. You wouldn't deny a man that, would you?" Heda gave him as dirty a look as her eagle features could muster, then glanced back at Alvin. Slowly, the feathers and wings were absorbed back into her skin, and the rest of her body eased back into its human shape. Her sweatpants were still good, though her shirt and bra were pretty much ruined. Luckily she had her gym bag with her, so she could at least put on her uniform top. "What the hell happened?" Madison asked meekly. She saw Alvin still pinned by giant crocodile tail and could not help but smile. She had been surprised to get the call to join the proceeding, but was more surprised by the proceedings themselves. Billy, Madison's escort for the evening, looked around. "Shit happened." Madison looked up at him, then rolled her eyes. "Is that your official, highly intellectualized deduction?" He shrugged. "It's the best I could do on such short notice." Confident that things were back under control, Reichert shifted back. His entire wardrobe was a lost cause, so he was quite nude when back in human form. Many of the students did not seem to mind, though he was offered a pair of sweats from the locker-room. "Everyone but Miss Adler and Mister Hannity, go stand on the other side of the room," he said, his voice as forgiving as steel. "You two," he added, pointing at the floor in front of him. "Now. And if either of you even looks at the other, so help me I will make you both wish you had never been born." That ensured that there were four eyeballs were trained directly on him. "I have never seen such poor behavior from those with so much to offer." He started to pace. "Miss Adler, I am sure your mother raised you better than this. You are behaving like a seven-year old on a playground. Your mother waged war, not spoiled little fights, and I doubt she would throw honor to the proverbial wolves just because of the insults of a spoiled brat." "Wait a sec --" Alvin started to say, then was actually lifted off the ground with one of Reichert's hands around his neck. "You . . . don't speak. Out of respect for your father and what your family has meant to this institution, I have tolerated so very, very much from you. I have given every quarter in terms of both human and shifter law in downplaying your deplorable behavior. You have been given every opportunity to simply go your own way without punishment or repercussion. No more. You still have a Council appointment to discuss the matter of your alleged assault on Madison Sloan. Neither of you are to approach the other or the other's party between now and then. You are not to call, approach, touch, or even look for too long in one another's direction. Mister Hannity, that goes especially for Miss Sloan. Only the fact that I need both of you to help keep certain factions pointed in the right direction in this time of emergency prevents me from taking one or both of you across my knee. Got it?" Heda nodded, flushing a little bit with shame and anger. Alvin just looked angry and defensive. "I want to hear it from both of you," Reichert replied. "Yes sir," Heda said with what voice she had left. "Sir --" Alvin started, then stopped when Reichert's hand squeezed. "Yes sir." Reichert put Alvin down. "No more. There are much bigger things at stake than your egos. Now go to opposite sides of the gym and listen up." Heda walked over to one set of bleachers and sat down, with Peter on one side and Madison on the other. "Hey, what happened?" Madison asked. "Which asshole started it?" Heda snarled, "Lay off Reichert, okay? He was actually doing his job." Madison was obviously startled. "I'm sorry. I just thought --" "Don't think," Heda said. "Just . . . just leave me alone." Madison's eyes teared up. 'What did I do?' she thought. Heda was trembling with anger, so Madison just scooted away and said nothing. "As you are probably all aware by now," Reichert started, reclaiming the room and everyone's attention, "the second victim of our mysterious kidnapper has been found, and the perpetrator has escalated the violence. So additional precautions must be taken. The humans have become involved, and I have already been informed that the FBI will be on scene if they are not already. This means that our shifter activities must be further curtailed. There are eyes everywhere, so be very careful what you say or do in public." He suffered through the first grumblings of discontent, knowing that these animals did not want to be caged. "The humans will be providing increased patrols and security, which makes some of our job easier. Unfortunately, we will also have to stifle their investigation somewhat to prevent our true natures from being revealed." He looked around, his eyes settling on one Madison Sloan. "Miss Sloan, you and Mister Forester are the only shifters at the radio station, correct?" She nodded. "Yes, though someone told me that one of the new day shift guys is a necromancer." "Excellent. Do you know his name?" "No. I haven't met him yet." "Well I will fill him in later." Reichert grabbed some notes. "I have developed some code phrases for you to use that will also be distributed to the shifter student body. Basic instructions on where to go for future meetings and status updates, sort of like Homeland Security Notifications, but hopefully they'll actually make sense. Miss Sloan," he continued formally, "I am afraid the favor that I am going to ask of you is serious." Madison turned paler than normal. "Yes?" "I would like for you to increase your hours at the station. You will of course be compensated for your trouble, but we need someone who can transmit to everyone," he added, glancing at Heda. "Miss Adler was right. Your broadcasts would be much more efficient than trying to make thousands of phone calls. All shifters will be required to stay tuned to the station when in the dorms or other domiciles." "Wait, you mean I'm on every night?" "For the time being," Reichert replied, "at least until I can get others more aware of the situation to assist you. The spell caster will help during the day, but two of you cannot be on twenty-four seven. If it affects your class schedule, let me know and we shall make arrangements." Madison just let out an "eep" noise while she nodded. This was a lot more responsibility than she had expected. "Excellent. Because you are going to be a bit more public of a target, I want you to make sure that you always have a friend or two around." Madison actively avoided looking over at Heda. When she was there, Billy was there. Hopefully that would be enough. It seems that she had outlived her welcome with Heda, and she had no idea what she had done wrong. At the moment, Edgar Adler walked into the gymnasium and was quickly summoned up to the podium. "Hello everyone. I can't stay long, but you should all be informed of what is going on. My name is Edgar Adler, and I'm a Paranormal Private Investigator who has been brought in by the FCU Shifter Council and the North American Shifter Council to investigate these crimes. I have been given full investigative authority by both councils. Let me get to the big questions. Yes, the second victim has been found, and is in bad shape. All we know so far is that he was freezing to the touch when he was found, he had been tortured even beyond what the first victim endured, and had a device wrapped around his neck. It was identified as a Heretic's Fork." Reichert nodded. "A device used in the Inquisition to encourage confessions of heresy. Was there an engraving?" Ed looked surprised. "Yes." "The word 'Abiuro'?" "Yeah. How did you --" "It means 'I recant.' It was etched in the side of the device, and was the only thing its wearers were allowed to speak. Someone is trying to send a message." 
"This isn't random," Edgar agreed. "This is someone's they-done-me-wrong song. Now we have to find out who is supposed to recant what." "And why," Reichert finished. "Everyone, find your way home and remember to be safe. He has released this victim, which may mean his hunt for the next one is beginning." "And it is likely the next one will not make it out alive," Edgar added. They needed to be scared into being careful. "If anyone wants to take a semester off, this might be a good time to think about it." He knew most would not run. Shifters had fewer and fewer places in this world to call their own, and they would not abandon one. He looked over and saw Heda sitting a bit apart from Madison, and neither of them looked happy. He had to find out what that was about. "You can all go," Reichert said. Heda stood up, torn between turning to Madison and just storming out. In the end, she stormed out, leaving Madison crying behind her sunglasses. Billy sighed and helped Madison to her feet while Ed took off after his sister. "What's wrong?" he said when he caught up with her. She was standing by a tree fumbling with her cell phone. She didn't respond, but just scrolled down to a number and then . . . stopped. Ed looked over her shoulder. "Why are you calling the parents?" Heda bit her bottom lip, then, "I screwed up, Ed. I completely lost my cool and got into a half-form brawl with Alvin Hannity." Ed raised his eyebrows. "I met him. Not that the asshole doesn't have a good ass-whooping coming his way, but --" "He'd heard about me throwing up," she muttered. "I felt like such a pussy and then for him to bring it up . . . and he insulted Mom. I just needed to hit something and I wanted to hit him anyway. Then Reichert came down on us. Mom would be so fucking ashamed of me." "And again, you're calling her . . . why?" "Because she should hear about it from me. So she can just go ahead and tell me what a fuck-up I am." At that, Ed rolled his eyes. "Horseshit. Heda, Mom thinks that the sun shines out of your ass. It's been a pain for the rest of us to compete with that. She's been expecting you to follow in her footsteps as a warrior for the avian shifters. I can't complain. I mean, it's not like she didn't love the rest of us to, but you're her baby girl." "I'm just so bad at this whole . . . diplomacy . . . thing." "And she was too, once upon a time. You've just never practiced because it isn't your thing. But I have it on good authority that you're faster, stronger, and a better fighter than Mom when she was your age." "What authority?" "Her." That stopped Heda for a minute. "She said that?" "Yes she did. And Dad figures that since you're just as pig-headed and headstrong as she is that you'll probably wind up either starting or finishing a war at some point." Her mouth quirked at that. "He would say that, wouldn't he?" "Yeah. Now, you going to tell me why your girl is crying her eyes out?" "Crap," Heda said. "I . . . a lot has happened in the last couple of days, and she just wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time." "Well, there might not be another place or time for the two of you if you don't explain whatever is going on to her." Heda looked at her phone, then back at the gym. She put the phone back in her pocket and then ran back inside, but Madison and Peter were both gone. "Fuck!" She headed towards Madison's dorm, noticing that her brother was following along patiently. "You know that whole part about never going out alone at dark? That means you too." "I am such a basket case," she replied. "I mean, how is Madison supposed to know what is going on in my head if I can't even get it sorted out?" Ed smiled. "You really dig her don't you?" "Dude, she's cute, sexy, smart, has a sassy mouth, and she tried to kick me in the head." 
"Sounds like love at first sight to me." "She's blind." "Love is --" "Don't go there." They found themselves outside of Madison's door, hearing the murmur of voices inside. Heda raised her hand to knock, then lowered it . . . then raised it . . . then lowered it. Ed finally got tired and just knocked, putting his hand on his sister's shoulder when she attempted to flee. Flying Blind Ch. 03 "Yes?" "This is Edgar and guest. Can we come in." There was debate on the other side of the door. It got more and more heated until Heda could almost make out Madison's grumbling. She smiled. That grumbling had a special cadence which just made her smile for some reason. Then she sighed. "Madison, please? I'm sorry for being a bitch." More grumbling, then the deadbolt slid clear. Billy opened the door, sighed, then thrust Heda inside while he stepped outside with Edgar. Heda felt the door groan under their weight as they leaned against it. She wondered if she should warn them that the door opened inward. Instead, she turned to Madison, who was sitting nervously on her bed. The braille sheets with her instructions from Reichert were scattered on the bed and one of them looked like it had been used to blow her nose. "I hope that wasn't important," Heda said, trying to lighten the mood. Madison picked it up and let her echolocation scan all the bumps. "Instructions about making sure to read all the other pages," she said at last. "It was expendable." She didn't turn the sonar on again, but felt the bed creak as Heda sat down. "What did I do?" she asked plaintively. "I thought that I was doing everything right." "You didn't do anything wrong. I . . . The last couple of days have gone from weird to worse. I wanted to talk to you about something yesterday and didn't, and then today . . . I freaked out. I went and saw the images of the second victim when he was found, and I hurled. It was humiliating, you know? I'm supposed to be the big new bird in town and I'm trying to follow in my mother's warrior footsteps, and I threw up in public. Then for Alvin to rub it in . . . it was almost as if I used the cheap shot at my mother as an excuse. I wanted to hit him and I lost my cool, and now I get to explain to this warrior hero why her daughter is starting fights at school." Madison chewed on her bottom lip. "What was it you wanted to tell me yesterday? I mean, I can't help you deal with your mother. Hell if I would know what to say. But what did you want to say to me?" Heda took a deep breath, and then recounted her conversation with Reichert, which painted a slightly different picture of his conflict with Madison and his reasoning. "I mean, he still should have done more to physically protect you, but I just started to wonder. Then that made me feel like a bitch because I'm supposed to be on your side, but --" "But you listened to another point of view and then things weren't so simple." Madison sighed. "I never went to the writing center because I knew that one of the girls in Alvin's posse worked there. I knew no one would care if I complained, but I should have at least tried. But I really did think that he was being unfair. At least at the time I did." "Maybe Reichert isn't the enemy we thought he was. Can you handle that maybe I don't want to really hate him but still like you better?" "I have no right to tell you who you can and can't like. Unless you decide you like Alvin, then you can just get the hell out." "Not much chance of that. I've got a scar on my leg that's going to take a while to heal," she said, feeling the tender spot. She was thankful that shifting between forms helped close up wounds. "And I did some damage to his face and ribs." "Maybe he won't be able to open his mouth," Madison muttered. "That would be a nice change. Do you want to go to the medical center? Seriously, you should get that checked out." "Too many questions and too many cops over there right now. That's where they found the second victim. Remember that guy who checked you out? Detrius I think? He's the one who found the guy." "Was it bad?" Madison asked, almost fearing the answer. "Yeah. A lot worse than Carla." "What --" "I don't want to tell you," Heda said. "I want at least one of us to be able to get some sleep tonight." She took Madison's hand. "I am so very, very sorry about earlier. I guess I'm not as grown up as I thought." "Yeah, and you're nineteen. You should be totally mature and have everything figured out by now," Madison replied. Then she smiled. "You're nineteen. I'm older than you." "Really?" "Yep. I'm twenty. Never thought I'd go for younger women, but hey." Heda let out a small laugh. It was not much, but it felt so good. "Have you decided if you're moving in with us? Considering what a psycho I am?" "I DID try to kick you in the head the first time we met, so you don't have the psycho market cornered." "Actually, the first time we met, you accused my of being a spy. The second time we met, you accused me of being a spy and THEN tried to kick me in the head." "I stand corrected." Madison liked the warmth of Heda's hand. It was another kind of intimacy that she wanted to experience more of. "I'm just so afraid that if I move in that . . . that it will turn out like before. I know that you and Joanna and the others aren't Trojan Horses, but I still keep waiting for that shoe to drop. You know, where everyone says, 'Ha, joke's on you'?" "I swear that I will never do that to you," Heda replied, meaning it. "I like being around you. I think it would be great if we both had our own spaces, but if those spaces were just a thirty feet away from each other --" "It would be kind of . . . Wait, I don't even own a bed!" Madison's brain just took a mental leap. "We'll find you something. Maybe a futon. Or you could just sleep upside down in your closet." Madison shook her head. "Sure, go with the bat jokes. Those never get old." Heda stroked the back of Madison's hand. Despite having a "productive" year of sexual exploration in Europe, having a relationship with a girl was a little new to her. What was she supposed to say or do? "Are we okay?" she asked at last. "Yeah. I'm sorry about how your day went." Heda grimaced. "It's not over yet. I still need to call Mom." "Go ahead, before it gets too late." Madison got up and opened the door, letting Edgar and Billy both stumble in after they had been listening at the door. "She needs to make more noise when she walks," Edgar said, picking himself up off the ground. "Okay boys, Heda needs to make a phone call." Madison looked at her friend. "You can stay in here, and we'll wait outside. You need privacy, but we can't just let you go wandering around outside alone now can we? Sweet, delicate flower such as yourself --" "Now you're just being snotty," Heda replied. Madison handed her the "instruction" sheet. "No, this is snotty." "You are so very very gross." Heda waited until the snot paper had been tossed and her friends went outside before making the call that she dreaded. -------- --------------------- The next weekend . . . -------- --------------------- "Sweet!" Joanna shrieked as she raced into the house that she would now be sharing with her friends. Peter's uncle had moved quickly on the property, including having a top-notch security system installed. The bodacious blond was now in direct competition with her fellow shifters for finding the best bedrooms, the whole notion of "fliers upstairs and ground shifters downstairs" completely abandoned. Basically, Madison had been given the basement and that was the only thing settled. Well, that and Kevin and Peter were already trying to figure out how to wire the entire house so that Madison could pump the tunes anywhere within its walls. Bill and Sasha were actually going to cohabitate in a first-floor room, so they picked a large one. No one minded, since they were collectively taking up less space than if they each had a bedroom. Madison opened what might easily be construed as a closet door between the kitchen and the lobby and descended the stairs into her cave. Heda had basically wanted to claim the attic, meaning she would be on the opposite side of the building, but it was still very close. Heda could not be there that day because she had a practice game against the University of New Mexico, but she would be back that evening. "You're excited about this aren't you?" Edgar asked from behind her. With Heda gone, he had become her de facto protector and escort. Billy still filled the role sometimes, but Edgar seemed to have developed an interest in this woman who had gotten under his sister's skin a bit. "Yeah, I guess. Kinda. Sure. Can you tell?" she said, turning around to face where his voice was coming from. "You're undressing the room with your eyes. So just go ahead and let it out. What do you want to do with your room?" Madison just stood there, calm and casual. Then her face got really excited and she started pointing out exactly where everything she had would go. Her music systems, including an eight-track player, a reel-to-reel player, a turntable, a phonograph, and of course her laptop and DJ equipment. The closet in the basement was not very big, but she also did not have many clothes. "So you need a bed and what . . . a dresser maybe?" "I really can't afford anything though." "So you were planning on making a nest of dirty clothes and sleeping there." "Nests are for the birds." Edgar slapped his face. "I walked into that didn't I." "Just a bit." Madison smiled. "Is everyone in your family so easy to talk to?" she blurted, then wished she had not. She was sounding like a goober. "Our family likes to talk," Ed replied. "It's kind of a blessing, kind of a curse. Our folks were really big on education. Pissed 'em off when I didn't go to college. But family dinners were kind of like meetings of the debating society for as long as I could remember. You had to learn to think and talk at roughly the same speed, which didn't always work well for me. Heda's a lot better at it than me. Dad's the master of nonverbal communication . . . grunting, dirty looks, and that sort of thing. You'll understand soon enough." Madison paused. "Huh?" "Parent day? Next week?" "Heda didn't mention that your parents are coming." Ed grinned. "I may have forgotten to mention it to her. And Mom was probably way too pissed to think of it the last time they talked." "Crap," Madison yelped, her eyes shooting open. "Next week is when the Council hears my case. Is Heda going to be able to make it?" "Heda has no intention of missing it, and Mom wouldn't let her anyway. Civic responsibility is another big thing for Mom." He looked around. "Hey, back to the furniture thing, it sounded like the guys were going to an Aarons Rent-A-Center or something like that. I guess they're getting a washer and drier for the house. Why don't you go that route? Some of those places have a no payments and no interest for a year deal. You have any credit?" Madison nodded. "One card. I put my DJ expenses and stuff on it, but that's it." "Excellent. Just means that you've got a credit history. C'mon," he added, moving out of the way so that the girl could ascend the stairs. "I was going to look for something for Heda anyway. She likes nice, comfortable beds," he added knowingly. "That's not the . . . seriously, if you really think that I'm going to buy a bed just because . . . okay, let's go." --------- ---------------- That evening . . . --------- ---------------- Sometimes Heda adored her older brother. She had gotten back from Albuquerque after a horrible trip where they had lost in five games. She was sore, disappointed in her performance, and had not been looking forward to packing and moving to the new place in the middle of the night. Her brother and roommates had done it all. Of course, they hadn't unpacked anything, but that was cool. She had arrived at the new place to find that a party had already been thrown, albeit just for the new residents. Joanna was dancing to the tunes from a boom-box and was threatening to show off her chest, much to the delight of all. Carla and Anthony were making out on the stairwell, much to Heda's surprise. Paul and Edgar, who would be their guest for a while, were arm wrestling while Kevin could be located by a cloud of smoke outside the kitchen door. Sasha and Bill were curled up on a sofa that someone had managed to procure, watching the festivities and simply enjoying each other's presence. Heda waved to everyone and then ran upstairs to her room. Her brother had somehow gotten her a queen sized mattress but had left getting the base and headboards to her. Smart man. The bed did have clean sheets on it and, on top of the mattress, her own set of keys. She propped open one of the windows and looked out into the dark Southwestern sky. "Nothing like it," she whispered to herself and the sky she loved to fly. Then she realized she had not seen Madison, so she headed back downstairs. 'Where the hell is the door to basement?' she wondered, embarrassed that she had forgotten. Then she grinned. Someone had put the Batman symbol on a door next to the kitchen. She knocked on the door, but could not hear any response over the noise. She opened the door. "Madison?" "Down here!" came a reply, followed by, "as if that weren't blatantly obvious since that's where my voice is coming from." Heda chuckled as she trundled down the stairs and plunged into darkness once the door at the top closed. "Hey, is there a light switch?" "You know, I didn't bother to look. Not exactly necessary for me." There was a moment of silence while Madison scanned the room. "The switch is actually at the top of the stairs I think, 'cause I don't see one down here." Heda opened her mouth, then stopped, then said, "You know, I was about to ask if you have a reading lamp, but that would be dumb too." Madison laughed. "Just a bit." Heda put her hand on the stairs and walked back up, flicking the light switch and then coming back down. "Nice!" "Is it? Joanna picked out the colors, since I have no idea what a 'color' is anyway." Joanna had gone with blacks and grays, which actually seemed to fit the whole "bat cave" motif. Her music players and gear were laid out along one wall on cheap but practical black track shelving. Near the closet was a small dresser, sans a mirror, and next to that was a mini-fridge. "Sweet!" "I splurged," Madison said. "I don't have any payments for a year, but I want to put in a little every month and then I'll pay them off completely with student loans in January. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." "Nice bed," Heda said approvingly. It was a full size bed with a wrought-iron frame and a gauzy canopy hanging from a single spot on the ceiling. "Is it? I've pretty much slept on dorm mattress or something like them pretty much forever. I took a nap on it earlier, so I guess it's okay." Actually, it had been the most wonderful thing ever, but she was not going to sound like a spaz. "I'll bet. Hey, why aren't you up partying with the rest? Damn, I just noticed how quiet it was down here." "Yeah, hence how I was able to nap. They've been at it since we got the keys. I don't think anyone unpacked yet." "You could've waited." "I'll go up in a bit, but --" "But what?" "It sounds stupid." "What?" Madison sighed. "I figured once I was set, it would be real. You know? It's my space now. I'm actually here." Heda smiled, drawing Madison close and kissing her. "You certainly are. I'm surprised you managed to get everything over so fast."
 "I packed everything in advance. A lot of the vinyl is kinda hard to replace, so I needed to make sure it was done right." "Have they gotten the sound system up yet?" "No, but they think they'll have it by next weekend. They got the priorities first. There's like eight televisions in this house, three of which are HD. Yippy skip," she muttered. "They have two Xbox 360s linked together in one room, and a Playstation 3, a Wii, and a Nintendo 64 in another." "An N64?" "It's Sasha's. She's addicted to Mario Cart." Heda laughed, then kissed Madison again. "C'mon, let's go party. You don't have to get back to the station do you?" "No, I finished up early today. I think I might be able to tie in from here if I can get the station's permission. I could actually do a show from here." "You are the single coolest chick ever," Heda replied, hauling the girl up the stairs. Madison could barely decide what to do with herself. She went from dancing with Joanna, Heda, Peter, and Sasha to talking music with Kevin while getting a friendly shoulder rub from Anthony. Carla was crashed on the couch with her head in Madison's lap, and Edgar and Billy were playing full contact Super Mario Kart. Apparently smacking your opponent on the back of the head to make them turn their animated little go-cart off the edge of a cliff was perfectly acceptable game etiquette. Shifters were often a touchy-feely lot. Animals often used touch as a form of communication, and shifters kept that part of their animal selves. Madison had never had this. Sasha was human and Billy . . . well, Billy was a turtle. His totem animal tended to sit in a river and mind its own damn business. Madison was glad that the lights were dim, because she was so happy that she was on the verge of tears. "Hey Madison," Kevin said, "wanna participate in an experiment?" Madison scanned the room and saw that Kevin was holding up a rolled object about the size of a cigarette. "Kevin!" Heda said, "you do NOT need to get her involved in that shit." Madison scrunched her face. "Hey, YOU did it. Why can't I try?" Heda was about to object, but the girl was right. "Are you sure?" Kevin raised his right hand as if making a pledge. "I specially engineered this stuff to be mild and non-addictive. I would never give a newbie anything more serious." Heda looked at Madison and shrugged. "It's up to you." Madison gingerly took the "special" joint. Experimentation WAS part of the college experience. An hour later, even Heda had to admit that a stoned Madison was pretty damn funny. The bat shifter coughed a lot at first, then was absolutely convinced that there was nothing going on. Then she got giggly. "Watching" Billy and Peter play their video game was the absolute funniest thing that she'd ever seen. She commented several times that Joanna had the nicest boobs she'd ever scanned, then apparently needed to confess to Sasha that she thought the whole naughty librarian thing was the best idea that Billy had ever had. This had lead to Sasha chasing Billy all over the house in faux rage while everyone EXCEPT Madison laughed. Madison was confused why Sasha was annoyed. Then the bat shifter got hungry, and wound up being driven by Heda to one of the twenty-four hour grocery stores so that she could load up on Gummi-Worms. When they got back to the house, she wanted to shift into a bat and hunt the ferocious edible annelids, but Heda managed to talk her out of it. Kevin was simply amazed that her ability to create high-definition three-dimensional sonar images was apparently unaffected, though her interpretation of those images was more . . . colorful. "Okay, time for Madison to go to bed," Heda said at last. "It's WAY past your bedtime."
 "I'm a creature of the night," Madison said haughtily, pushing at Heda's shoulders, "so you can't tell me . . . you have nice shoulders," she continued, her train of thought derailing as she ran her hands over those very shoulders. She turned to where Joanna had been. "Doesn't she have great shoulders?" "Magnificent." "Her shoulders are like your boobs. Magnificent," Madison said with a determined nod of the head. "Hey!" Heda had picked Madison up, slung her over her shoulder, and the proceeded to haul her cute butt back down to her bedroom. "C'mon." "Don't wanna --" Madison grabbed the door frame in an attempt not to be carried down the stairs, but Heda was just a tad stronger than she was. "Okay, I'll go," she said at last. Flying Blind Ch. 03 "Glad you're being so agreeable." "Heda," Madison said as she was placed on the bed. "Yeah?" "This has been the best night of my life..." Heda smiled. "You really are stoned, aren't you?" "Nah, I mean it. The only thing that would make it better is if we could go flying. And sex. Okay, the two things that would make it better are flying and sex. Just not together. That would be kind awkward." "Well no flying OR sex while you're baked. At least not with me." Heda smiled. "And since we're going together, not with anyone else either." "Going where?" Madison asked, momentarily perplexed. She scanned and saw that Heda was looking serious. "Oh!" she said, sitting up. "You mean it? I mean . . . dating?" The hope in Madison's voice was heartbreaking. "Of course," Heda replied. "Then stay!" 
"I said --" "No sex. Just . . . stay." "Promise you won't try to take advantage of me?" "I don't think I could," Madison replied. "I'm actually feelin' a little woozy." Heda kissed her now-official girlfriend and then helped her get undressed. Underwear stayed on, though Heda's g-string did not really count as "coverage." "Next time," Heda said, "we're staying at my place." -------- -------------- The next day . . . -------- -------------- It was difficult not laugh at Madison's discomfort, but her companions managed. She held her stomach gingerly, which rebelled against her candy-related consumption from the night before. Madison was pretty sure that she should be apologizing for something but was not quite sure for what. "Oh admit it," Heda said at last, "you loved it." Madison tried vainly to suppress a grin. "Stomach ache . . . bad," she replied, using her best cave-woman voice. "You know, if there had been some responsible authority figure around last night, she SHOULD have tried harder to stop me --" "Oh no, no blaming me. You said that you wanted to try it. Now what did we learn about smoking anything that Kevin gives you?" Madison sighed. "Stomach ache . . . bad." Edgar ruffled Madison's hair. "You two gonna be okay for a bit? All the paranormal investigators are getting called together for a brainstorming session and figure out what we're doing next." "Yes brother dear," Heda replied with a sarcastic taint to her voice, "somehow we poor defenseless girls will just have to struggle on through --" "Oh put it in your pipe and smoke it," Edgar replied. "I just don't want to have to answer to Mom when you get kidnapped." His face fell. "Seriously, keep your eyes open. This guy is just getting started." He hugged his sister and then his sister's girlfriend before making his way to the Council chambers. "Hey, can we stop by the medical center for a sec?" "Sure," Heda said. "Want to get something for your gummi-worm hangover?" Madison stuck out her tongue. "No. Well maybe. Think they might have any Tums?" They stepped in the front door and Madison looked around, spying her target at the front desk. "Hey Detrius." The tall, bald, handsome young man manning the counter looked at her with puzzled eyes and then recognition dawned on him. "Madison, right? How are the ribs?" "Straining around a tummy that ate too much candy." He gave her a slight smile. "I think that suicide by sugar intake might be better handled by the therapists." "It was more of an accidental OD than a premeditated act." Madison looked around. "Hey, about the other day when you found . . . you know." His face grew dark. "I don't want to talk about it." Madison backed up and put her hands in the air. "I understand. I won't push you. But if you do want to talk about it, I'm available. Finding someone like that is kind of hard to wrap your head around." "That's right. You found that first girl, didn't you?" Madison nodded. "Yeah. I went through the shock thing too. So again, if you decide that you WANT to talk, I'll be around. Call the radio station, since they'll usually know how to get a hold of me." He went back to his shy smile. "Thanks. If I need to, I'll call." When they got back outside, Heda kissed her girlfriend. "You really are something." "I know, I know." Madison blushed a little. She was in public, getting kissed by the most amazing girl on campus. She hated that this was all taking place in the shadow of tragedy, because it was the only thing keeping her from dancing in the streets. She stopped. "You know I just realized something." "What?" "Alvin hasn't bugged me at all since your brother told him off. I think this is the longest break that I've had from him in like a year and a half." "Maybe he finally got the point." She sighed. "But it's more likely that he's up to something, or trying to find a way around Reichert's threat. Hey, I know. I'll have Ed follow him. I'm sure I can guilt him into it." "You think that's a good idea?" "Best defense is a good offense." "I really don't get sports analogies." "Speaking of sports, first home game is Thursday. You going to come?" "I've got to be in the studio," Madison grumbled. "I just want them to catch this son of a bitch. He's got us all hostage." "They'll get him," Heda whispered, taking a nervous look around. "They've got to. Hey, why don't we go out tonight after your shift? Late night restaurant, just the two of us?" "It's a date," Madison replied, biting her bottom lip and waiting for the kiss she figure would be coming. She felt warm lips against her own, and relished that moment of comfort. ----------- ----------- That night . . . ----------- ----------- Madison stumbled back into the house later than she had anticipated. The stupid station manager decided that, in light of the recent tragedy, that students be allowed to call into the show and express their feelings. Madison just wanted to play music, not be a therapist, political pundit and/or bartender. Maybe she should ask Heda to talk to Reichert about -- "Or you can grow a spine and go talk to him yourself," Madison muttered, standing on the front porch and willing herself to go in. She doubted Heda would want to try to start a date at -- "Talk to who?" Billy asked. "Besides yourself." Billy sounded as tired as Madison felt, as he was also not used to that much interaction with the public. Sure they took requests sometimes, but the recent kidnappings had everyone on edge, making their opinions louder, more passionate, and often dumber. "I may need to go talk to Reichert about calming our ass-hat boss down about letting people call in. And I don't want to. Because I hate him." "And great is the wrath of the bat girl," Billy said, opening the door and shoving her through. "Damn straight." "Hey guys," Edgar said from his position on the couch. "Madison, got a minute? Don't worry, I won't keep you and Heda from your thing."
 "She still wants to go?" "It's Heda. If she says she'll do it, she'll do it. Then she'll get two hours of sleep and still ace everything." "Damn her," Madison said, her mouth curling up at the edges. "That's what I always say, but people call me jealous." "Who's to say I'm not?" She waited for Billy to trundle off toward the sound of Sasha's snoring. "So what's up?" Edgar leaned forward, and a quick scan told Madison that he looked perplexed. "This afternoon, a lot of the investigators and security folk were talking, trying to see if we could figure out something about this guy we're all hunting. One thing we do is check to see if there's been anyone known to be skulking on campus, old stalking cases, or anything else weird." "Makes sense." "Yeah, but the part that doesn't make sense is why someone would hire a two-bit snooper out of Albuquerque to look into you." "What?!" Madison yelped, her heart in her throat. "Me? Why?" "I'm not sure. Campus cops picked him up apparently. Decided he didn't have a good enough reason to be on campus . . . I forget what bullshit excuse he gave. But a sorcerer on the campus force was able to delve into his head without being noticed and apparently got your name. He didn't sense any hostility or threat from the guy and really couldn't explain to anyone how he got your name, so he didn't press it. Guy never showed up again. Any reason that you can think of why someone would be looking after you?" "No. I mean, I've tried flying under everybody's radar. When was this?" "A year or so ago. Maybe a bit longer. Ring any bells?" "No. Nothing." "I want you to be careful. I don't know if it has anything to do with the current case --" "You think he was scoping out his victims well in advance? You think I'm targeted? Who was this guy following me and --" "Shh," Edgar said, hugging the frantic young woman. "It may wind up being nothing. We're looking for the guy down in Albuquerque as a person of interest. Just be really watchful the next time you --" "I'm never leaving the house," she said, then stopped to scan her surroundings. "Ed!" came a voice from the stairs, "You just out and told her didn't you?" Heda moved forward to glare at her brother. "She deserves to know." "Couldn't you at least have waited until they found that guy and got him to talk --" "And how long would you propose that we wait before --" "Hey, I'm still here!" Madison snipped. "And I'm pretty sure that no one seems to be asking my opinions on any of this." Now she was freaked and angry, a bad combination. "I just want to go to school and graduate and now maybe date along the way, but now the two of YOU are making decisions about MY life?" She threw her hands up and then stormed toward the basement door. She felt silly about the whole thing, seeing as no one had really done anything more than casually annoying, but she needed to make a scene. It gave her some feel of control to be the one throwing a fit. Unfortunately she did not get very far. Heda rushed up and picked her up off the ground and carried her kicking (but thankfully not screaming) out onto the porch. "What are you . . . doing?!" Madison hissed and grunted. She sneered. "Can't you see that I was trying to make an exit?" "Yeah, but our date is that way and your scene was going in the wrong ass direction." "But, stalkers . . . me!" Heda laughed. "This is why I'm the English major and you're not. Better with words." Madison stopped her babbling long enough to look annoyed. "Hey, I'm on the radio. I talk for a living. I just happen to be a bit jumpy after finding out that I may have been targeted for death by --" "There is no evidence that this private investigator and the kidnapper are even vaguely related. Ed said that a bunch of investigations have taken place on campus involving lots of people for lots of reasons. You can't lose your cool or too much sleep over this when it could be nothing." "Don't say that. Sasha is always saying that one of the quickest ways to die in a horror movie is to say, 'it could be nothing.' And that's the kind of vibe I'm feeling here." "Madison, you're going to be fine." "No! That's one of the other things you say in horror movies that gets you killed." Madison pondered the notion. "Also, don't say, 'It was just the wind,' 'you crazy kids,' or 'I don't seem to get cell phone coverage out here.' All those are bad too." "Sasha needs to stop watching so many horror films." "She finds them cathartic. Which kind of scares me." Madison scanned as far as she could. "Are you sure you still want to go out?" "Yeah, I really do. How about IHOP?" "Mmh, pancakes," Madison practically drooled. "I guess we can risk a little drive." An hour and a half later, the two of them hauled themselves back into the house after way too much breakfasty goodness at an ungodly hour. "You are a bad influence," Madison said, her stomach feeling a tad too full. "Yeah, blame me. We so need to go flying to work this off." "I'm too full to shift," Madison replied. "My bat self would explode. I'd be dropping guano all over the damn place." "Okay, that is WAY too much information," Heda said. Then she grinned and kissed Madison's neck. "There are other ways of working off some excess calories." Madison was breathing a little faster with each touch of lips to skin, and Heda was apparently not going to stop until she had covered the bat-shifter's entire neck. "Your place?" Of course the only difference between Madison's place and Heda's place was three flights of stairs, but who was to quibble? "My place." The two girls quickly and quietly hurried up to the second floor and then on to the attic. Somehow Heda had gotten her room into a semblance of order, though she was still waiting on her foot and headboards. "Now you'll see what a real mattress feels like," Heda whispered. "Honestly not thinking about the mattress," Madison replied. Heda set her friend on the mattress and then opened up some of the windows. "Just letting some air and moonlight in." Madison didn't quite get the point behind mood lighting, but if it made Heda happy, she would go for it. Then the eagle shifter went quiet, causing Madison to scan outward to find that her girlfriend was indeed undressing. The cool thing about her sonar was that she could stare without looking like she was staring. Then Heda settled onto the bed, sitting behind her partner and brushing that long hair aside so she could kiss that flawless neck again. After her skin shivered with promised delight, Madison asked, "Was it like this for you? The first couple of times?" "Like what?" "Like the most amazing thing ever?" "It was good," Heda replied, running her hands around Madison's body and stroking her breasts through her shirt, "but not this good." She started undressing Madison, slowly taking in each bit of skin as it came into view. She loved peeling off the tights that the girl always wore, but that damn bra and pantie set . . . those had to go. Cotton underwear with pictures of cartoon characters really just did not do it for her, and she said as much. "It's comfortable," Madison grumbled. She was certain that someone had told her it was all the rage. Of course, that could have been in sixth grade. She was not good at keeping up with that sort of thing. "It's in my way." Heda quickly removed the offending garments, bra first and then putting Madison on her back so that the panties could go. "Much better." She crawled back onto the bed, laying on top of her woman, her fingers intimately entwined with those of her partners, arms outstretched in a crucifix position. The flesh of a fighter and poet was pressed hard against the softer skin of the runner and mistress of music. And then Madison said something to Heda that, along with the Voice that had so captured her attention, made Heda's blood fly through her body like a warm wind. "Make love to me." Heda smiled. By all the skies above, she loved that Voice, and heaven forbid she deny its request in this case. She tightened her muscles, letting them slid under her skin and stimulate Madison's body. She pressed her mouth to her lover's and let her tongue slide across the plain of the mouths. She coaxed Madison's tongue into action, performing that nimble little dance that they were both becoming accustomed to. It was tantalizing, fun, and just the beginning. Madison gasped, both due to lack of oxygen and pure pleasure. Heda's breasts were rubbing against her own, a hard caress that was much more stimulating that she might have thought. Her sex was inches from Heda's but she could sense her lover's heat. Then a cool breeze blew through the open window and nipples hardened just a little bit more. She managed to roll so that it was Heda on her back this time. Hands still entwined, she kissed Heda's lips, then the slope of her neck, then her shoulders, and finally onto Heda's breasts. She licked making that soft skin wet with her tongue, teasing those nipples to their utmost attention, and taking them into the warmth of her mouth. And Heda seemed please, pushing her tits against Madison's mouth. "You know, this is your first real time on top," Heda said with pride. Madison smiled. "I just really wanted to --" "It's okay," Heda assured her. "It just means that you get to run the show this time." Madison nodded, wondering what she was supposed to do. She settled on something that she had been planning on doing anyway. Her mouth left the breast area and moved south, causing her to finally release Heda's hands as she approached the Promised Land. Before, this had been a shared activity and a teaching experience. Madison wanted to show what she had learned. Madison let her tongue do the exploring at first, circling its intended target before slipping into the cleft. She put her thumbs on the outer labia and massaged them and licked Heda all the way into her candy center. Heda was proud of her friend's progress. Oh so deliciously, orgasmically proud. She could not see what was going on at all, as Madison's long hair had fallen in the way, but she could sure as hell feel it. She gyrated her hips a bit, pushing against her lover's face, but Madison settled Heda's hips with both hands. Heda grinned. The other girl wanted to get Heda off all by herself. Back in control, Madison got to the business at hand, namely making Heda climax. She did not have a lot of tricks yet, but she would improvise. What had she heard once? Something about tracing out the alphabet with her tongue? Why not? Heda was not sure what her lover was doing, but it certainly seemed to be working. Of course, Madison doing anything down there with her tongue was going to give her a serious case of the happy-feelings. She played lightly with her own breasts as Madison's tongue gave her a good thrashing. By the time it was unleashed on Heda's clit, the girl was more than ready to let go. She grabbed Madison's head and held it in place, her muscles twitching a bit as she exorcised her climax from her body directly onto Madison's face. "Couldn't . . . breathe," Madison said huskily. Heda's heart skipped a beat. The Voice had returned. "Say something else," she whispered. "You are so sexy when you cum," Madison murmured, her voice finding levels of sultry that most people did not know existed. She licked Heda again, but let her hands drift down the girls legs and caress the soft skin on the back of Heda's knees. Heda moaned and her whole body writhed under the pleasure, making Madison smile. After their first time, she knew exactly how sensitive that area was on her lover during acts of passion. Normally they were just ticklish, but in moments like these, they could be used to rock Heda's world. Heda wanted to object, seeing as Madison should have a chance to get off, but she really did not have much control over her body at the moment. Besides, Madison seemed so enthusiastic about trying new things, so who was Heda to discourage her. Heda's whole body was alight with sensation. Her sex was still incredibly sensitive, and she had to push Madison's head away a couple of times just because that tongue against Heda's clit was turning out to be too much. Madison took the hint and scaled back her efforts, spending more time caressing Heda's legs and letting her tongue sweep across the less sensitive (but still delicious) mound of Heda's sex. Her lover had worked up a good sweat already, and her muscled abdomen glistened as her muscles strained under her skin. Then Madison pulled back, lifting one of Heda's legs so that she could kiss that area behind the knee and let her fingers explore her lover's sex instead. Heda groaned and whimpered with a deep-seated pleasure as she approached climax again. "Pleasepleasepleaseplease, right there," Heda gasped. Her rock-hard clit got one last moment of attention, pushing her well over the edge into a pool of bliss. She clung tenaciously to the bedspread with her fingers as the pleasure again swept through her, and she rode it for as long as she could. Her body would be quite content to just lay there for a while, but it became clear that Madison was going to start up again. So Heda forced her body into action, pulling herself out from under her girlfriend. Flying Blind Ch. 03 "What --" Heda flipped Madison onto her back and straddled her stomach. "The student," she muttered, "is not ready to show up the teacher. Don't move. And no peeking." Madison felt Heda get off the bed, and it was hard to resist scanning the room to see what was going on. She heard the noise of boxes being rearranged. "Really, is this the time for unpacking?" she asked throatily. She wanted to play. "Ah ha!" Heda exclaimed. She grabbed her target, then headed back to the bed. "Put your hands under your butt," she said. "Hunh?" "Put your hands . . . under your butt," Heda reiterated, "or we can call it a night." She watched Madison's hands move with speed of a cheetah to the requested location. She got back on the bed and straddled her girlfriend's hips, pinning the girl's arms under her body. Madison felt something pressed against her mound, then heard a click. The initial vibrations kicked in instantly, but were low and not at all unpleasant. It was enough of a surprise that she let out a squeak. "Cheating!" she said, trying to cover her less than macho outburst. "Instructing," Heda corrected her. She rubbed the tip of her curved vibrating dildo up and down the entrance to Madison's sex. "I've used a vibrator before," Madison groaned, attempted to push her hips against the toy. But Heda had assumed complete control of the situation. She pulled the toy away for a moment until Madison settled down, then returned to her vibrating caress. "I know. You almost announced it on the radio, remember?" Heda grinned as Madison blushed bright red. Technically, she had just admitted to having a "healthy libido," but Sasha had later filled her in on the rest of the conversation later. Apparently Madison had worn out the batteries on her own vibrator. "Never speak of that again." "Oh no, I have every intention of bring that up at random intervals, and possibly at parties." "You wouldn't SQUEAK!" Madison had been caught off guard when the vibrator got kicked up a notch. Now her clit was getting a little attention too, and it was driving her out of her mind. Heda's free hand found its way to Madison soft breasts, it got really unfair. "I didn't know bats squeaked," Heda teased. She pushed the vibrator into the cleft and then tugged gently on the nub. She wanted another squeak, but Madison was biting her bottom lip to prevent it from coming out. "I've heard of screamers and squealers, but never a squeaker. It's adorable." Madison tried to glare, but it was hard when she were getting hornier by the second. She would not squeak again! Dammit! But it felt so good! She had vastly underutilized her breasts during her self-service sexual adventures. Heda was not apparently going to make any such mistake. Heda started to penetrate Madison with long, leisurely strokes, looking for the tell-tale signs of having one's g-spot run to appear on Madison's face. That's what this toy had been built to find, and it was why Heda had shelled out extra money for it. "You know what I want," Heda said. It was not a question, but rather a statement of desire. "Tell me what you want me to do." Madison nodded. "Don't stop," she moaned, her voice a heady mix of sugar and spice. "Make me cum like I made you." "Oh, I'm gonna do a lot more than that," Heda promised. "Can't have you showing me up now can we?" Madison really could not wrap her head around giving more to this woman that had been given. Just a kiss on the neck was semi-orgasmic, but this was WAY beyond that. She had never seen herself as that much of a toy girl, but -- "Squeak! Dammit dammit dammit dammit Oh!" Oh orgasm, sweet orgasm! Heda was trying so hard not to laugh, but listening to Madison during sex was far more fun than anything should be. Like in her radio booth, it was a place where she could let her hair down and let go of some of her inhibitions. She was very young and naive in so many ways, but her body was all grown up. In certain ways, she was too grown up. Being discriminated against and harassed . . . that made your soul grow up a little too fast. She rode her captive for twenty minutes, bringing her close to climax but then pulling back. She elicited every squeak, moan, and "ah ah" noise that she could. Madison had made so many noises that by the time she came, she had run out of things to say. She opened her mouth in an "O" shape, and gave silent tribute to pleasure in its purest form. "That," Heda said in a voice filled was promise, "was number one." "One?" Madison gasped. "One." For Two, Heda put the device against her own mound and then slid between Madison's legs. The bat shifter found this to be awkward at first, especially since her hands were still trapped under her ass. But she did not think that she would enjoy being taken in such a male way, but the fact that the tool was vibrating, along with some of Heda's kisses, reminded Madison that her lover was still very much a woman. Because of her initial nervousness, it took longer for her to achieve release, but the experience itself was every bit as genuine. Then Heda let Madison retrieve her hands before laying down beside her. The two pressed tightly against one another, passing the toy back and forth, mingling their juices. This time their was no rush, but rather just a desire to be so close that they were almost sharing skin. Hands went where they wanted, lips often followed, and time passed much more slowly. Number Three for Madison was in no hurry to arrive, but when it did, it made a statement. "Squeak!" Before Heda could say anything, Madison put a finger on the girl's lips. "Not a word." Heda was fine with that. She was not much up for talking anyway. Outside, Kevin and Peter were sitting with their backs to the wall surrounding their parking area. Kevin was smoking one of his own creations while Peter was throwing back a long, cold local brew. Both were grinning. "Think we should tell them that Madison's voice kinda carries?" Kevin asked, looking up at the open window. Peter's only response was a grin. ---------- ------------------- Elsewhere . . . ---------- ------------------- They had finally heard the message. That pleased the Cold, but not enough to thaw Its heart. They were afraid now. But would they listen. Not just hear the message, but truly listen. They had begun their attempts to insulate themselves against It, but the Cold could seep through any crack and chill any blood. It already knew how to find its way to any number of Them . . . the rest of Its Messengers. No one could keep It out. It would be feared. It would be felt. It would be heard. For now, the Cold would wait and see if the One had heard. ------------ ------------------ The next week . . . ------------ ------------------ Madison was sitting between Ed and Heda, acting as a referee. She had come up with them to pick up their parents at the airport in Denver. Heda had not been informed until that morning that her parents would be attending Parent Day at Four Corners University. Actually, it was more than a day, being an opportunity for the FCU hierarchy to wine and dine the parents and alumni into donating more money to the university. To most of the staff, Jessica Adler was just another potential donor, though not quite as wealthy as her architect husband. To the FCU Shifter Council and related staff, she was a legend. "There are no words to describe how I'm going to get back at you for this," Heda growled, a variation on the vague threats she had been leveling against her brother for the last several hours. "I really meant to --" "No . . . words," Heda repeated. "There they are," Ed said, pointing across the field of luggage carousels. He had legitimately meant to tell Heda a few days in advance, but he had gotten caught up in his own research. He could probably make a living on nothing but investigating the goings-on of FCU. "Well, isn't this nice," Madison said. She was nervous as hell, though neither of her compatriots had noticed. Heda was her first girlfriend ever, and she was about to meet the woman's parents, including a war hero. "Mom! Dad!" Ed said at the exact same time Heda was saying "Dad! Mom!" "Hey kids," Thomas Adler said warmly, shaking his son's hand and then giving his daughter a big hug. He may have been human, but the fifty-year-old man was still an imposing figure at six-foot-two and the body of a man who took care of himself. His wife was . . . well, Jessica Adler was simply stunning. She stood eye-to-eye with her six-foot tall daughter, and looked every bit as athletic. The resemblance was kind of scary, but boded well for Heda. If the elder Adler woman looked this good in her late forties, then Heda had nothing to worry about. Once Thomas Adler had gotten his hugs in, Jessica stepped forward to hug her son. "I'm assuming you've been up to no good," she said. "Nice to see you too. And you ASKED me to come here, remember?" "True." She turned to her daughter. "Heda," she said, her voice almost growly but still affectionate. "What?" "Have you been staying out of trouble?" Heda looked thoughtful. "Let's see, I beat up a couple of homeless people out front, then danced around the airport singing 'bomb bomb bomb.' I think that's it. C'mon Mom, I can occasionally do something as mundane as help pick my parents up at the airport without getting starting a fight." "For the sake of all passengers and TSA security, I am grateful," Jessica said, finally cracking a smile and hugging her daughter. "Mom, this is Madison." Madison's echolocation was not on, so she tentatively extended her hand in the direction of the voices. "It's a pleasure to meet you." "So you're the one who's got Heda all in a tizzy," Jessica replied. "Mom!" Heda interjected. "Never mind them," Thomas said, stepping up to give Madison a handshake and a friendly hug. "My name is Thomas." "I hope so, because otherwise I'm being accosted by a strange man in an airport." "Actually, both would be correct," Jessica added dryly. She shook Madison's hand firmly but not uncomfortably. "Pleasure to meet you. What's with the glasses? I thought --" Madison turned and slapped Heda in the arm. "Is there anyone you haven't told?!" "What? They were going to find out when they met you anyway." "It's all right," Jessica said. "Your secret is between you and the world, and it is not mine to share. I understand the value of keeping some things for yourself. Okay Heda," she said, "let's go see this little commune that you started up." "Why are you assuming it was all my idea?" "Precedent." "Hey!" Heda looked at her brother. It was someone else's turn to be criticized. "Ed didn't even tell me you guys were coming until this morning." "Traitor," he growled. "Edgar Elias Adler, you were supposed to tell her a week ago and --" Thomas took Madison by the arm like a gentleman would and led her away from the fray. "They're just getting started, so why don't we go get the bags." "So their face-to-face conversations are like their phone conversations?" "With three-way calling." They stopped. "You can tell what's going on without turning around, right?" Madison grinned a little. She scanned outward and then, "Ed keeps trying to walk over here it seems, but either Heda or your wife keep dragging him back." "Ed could have escaped all this if he had just told Heda earlier. He knows the rules of the ongoing Adler Women's Debate. Fuel the fire, tend the flame." "Do you fuel the fire?" "I'm married to one and am father to the other. The best I can hope for is to keep the whole thing from burning the neighborhood down." "I thought they liked each other." "Oh they do. It's just they're both stubborn, opinionated, and love to argue. Jessica's only problem is she raised Heda to be better with words than she is, and my wife is no slouch." "I heard about the dictionary. And the 'assess' debate." "To be fair, Jessica had been on her feet for almost twenty hours when she made that last snafu." By the time Heda, her brother, and her mother had gotten their feet moving again, the bags had already arrived. Madison had found the patriarch of the Adler family to be a very mellow, quietly funny man. She wondered what it would have been like having someone like him in her own life all those years. "I would like to apologize for keeping you waiting," Jessica said, obviously still vexed about something. "We aren't usually like this." She glared at her husband when a snicker turned into an unexpected coughing fit. "It's okay. Your husband was a complete gentleman." "Maybe he IS ill," she muttered, then kissed the man on the cheek. "Get the bags dear. We mustn't dawdle." Jessica Adler picked up a suitcase that looked bigger than Madison's old dorm room and walked off, leaving her husband temporarily speechless. --------- --------------------- Three hours later . . . --------- --------------------- Jessica Adler had an iced tea in hand as she regaled all of Heda's housemates with the story of how she and some highly talented cat-shifters tried to deal with a renegade druid. "Honestly, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution can be such an annoyance. The entire time, the bird in me was screaming that there were felines behind me and that I should turn and peck their eyes out. Anyway, this poor sod has decided that the best way to evade being chased by a bird-shifter and three cat-shifters was to climb a tree." She waited for the laughs to die down. "Anyway, it turned out that Mister 'I'm a big-shot druid' didn't realize he was in a dryad tree, and she had just woken up thanks to all the noise. She doesn't know who the bad guy is, so she just starts threatening to pound the heck out of everyone . . . keep in mind that this dryad is living in a fifty foot redwood. Anyway, when the dryad isn't looking, one of the cats looks up and says, 'Hey, should he be smoking up there?' Dryad screams, then her tree grabs the druid and just starts pummeling him against the ground. It looked like a cartoon, I swear." Heda just rolled her eyes while her friends laughed. For all of her mother's claims that she did not like to grandstand, she certainly loved to spin a good yarn. Of course, these same stories had delighted her and her brothers their entire lives. Then her mother sniffed the air. "Something smells good," she muttered, then wandered towards the kitchen. Both of her children moved to intercede, and this time her husband joined them. "Dear," Thomas said, "this is not your home." "Or your restaurant," Ed added. "Or that nice Italian place where you always want to go back into the kitchen to make a few suggestions. You know, the one with your picture next to the door that won't let you in unless Dad promises that you'll behave?" Heda put her hand up in a stopping motion. "This is a college kitchen, and it's as much Carla's as anyone else's. She's been through a lot, and doesn't need you taking her space away." "It's okay," came Carla's voice from the kitchen. "I'm just baking cookies." "Sure, it starts with just cookies, and then it's 'Let's make a bizarre Lithuanian pastry' and then before you know it --" Heda started. Ed finished. "-- BOOM! You're back there making sauteed pork loin with a wild mushroom, sage, and white whine sauce on a bed of tender asparagus." The other housemates looked at him. "You just made that up," Anthony said. "No, she actually did that one," Thomas said. Carla stomped out into the living area. "Okay, everyone of you wants to talk to Jessica Adler the war hero, but I want to talk to Jessica Adler, five-star chef and favorite guest of Iron Chef America. So back off!" Jessica looked at each of her family members smugly. "She asked for it," Heda muttered. Edgar got a phone call and took into the other room while everyone else wandered in and out of the kitchen to retrieve baked goods and other snacks. When Ed returned, he looked somewhat perplexed. "Gotta go," he said. "We found that guy down in Albuquerque, but he's on a job so he can't come up here to talk. He found out we were looking for him and called up." "That doesn't really sound like a suspect," Madison said, holding her arms and shivering a little. "No, no it doesn't. As a matter of fact, he sounded really reasonable. I did ask him about the case, but he didn't want to talk long over the phone. He actually sounded pretty on the ball. Anyway, I need to get down there, but I shouldn't be gone more than a night. I'll be back in town for the hearing." "What hearing?" Thomas Adler asked. "Madison's complaint against Alvin Hannity," Heda replied somberly. "The Council is meeting tomorrow at four." Madison snorted. "Fat lot of good it'll do. Alvin already has his alibi bought and paid for." "I want to go," Jessica shouted from the kitchen over the sound of a mixer. 'When did we get a mixer?' Heda thought. "Why?" Jessica appeared in the door. "Because I believe you when you say that you saw what you saw in the woods," she said seriously. "You may not exactly be a delicate flower in the way you handle people," she added dryly, "but I know you. My daughter is no liar, and I want them to know I'm there if they're going to make any accusations to that affect." Heda tried hard to suppress the warm flush of pride she felt when her mother was done speaking. "Mom, they're not going to accuse me of lying. They're just going to say that it could have been another bat-shifter who just so happens to have a group of friends made up of exactly those animals." "I'm the one they're going to accuse of lying," Madison grumbled. ---------- ---------------------- The next afternoon . . . ---------- ---------------------- "She's a liar!" Alvin shouted, standing despite being told by the presiding Head of the Council to "sit the hell down and shut the hell up." "Mr. Hannity, please!" Councilman Derek Zine said for the tenth time. "You were given your chance to speak, now give Miss Sloan the same courtesy." He looked at the other chair. "Now Miss Sloan, what proof do you have to your accusations." Madison was trying not to shake when she stood up. "Heda Adler saw the attack in the woods. She can confirm the types of shifters that were chasing me and the kind that actually made contact, though that's the extent of it." "Miss Adler?" Zine said, a respective glance towards Jessica Adler as well. Heda stood up. "Yes sir. I saw several bats, about four or so, a Harris Hawk, an American Kestrel . . . actually those were just the ones I could positively identify and knew were shifters. I saw a couple more things flapping around, but never got a good look at them. I broke up the pursuit and then followed Madison back to her landing spot. Until then, I wasn't even sure it was her." "And can you identify those shifters in their animal states?" Heda sighed angrily. "No sir. I only saw them the one time, so I wouldn't be sure. Species yes, but not individual identification." "Thank you for your honesty," the Councilman replied. "And what of this accused attack outside her dorm?" She gritted her teeth. "No sir. I only saw the aftereffects, not the attack itself." She sat down, and her mother patted her on the leg. "You did the right thing," Jessica said. "You told the truth." Heda had so badly wanted to lie and put Alvin in the worst light, but that just was not how her mother raised her. "Sir?" came a voice from the gallery. "I'm sorry, but this is --" "I have information that might be relevant." Madison scanned, thankful for the protection of her glasses. But the voice sounded familiar. "Detrius?" "Yes ma'am. I was working at the medical center the night that Miss Sloan came in, and I could testify to the nature of her injuries. You could decide for yourself if it is consistent with her side of the story." Flying Blind Ch. 03 "I'll . . . oh now what?" the Councilman said as some doors outside of the Council chambers slammed and the interior doors opened. A man and a woman strode into the room with a definite air of authority. Everything from the custom Italian business suits to the embroidered handkerchiefs to the loafers that cost a semester's tuition just to have shined, these two screamed Power Couple with capital letters. He was build like the quintessential college football quarterback, with a few streaks of silver in his otherwise dark hair, but it just added to his allure. The woman was beautiful to be sure, though she had this look that would have sent Cruella DeVil scurrying for cover. She was lean as a snake, and her rich brown hair flowed halfway down her back. Her adornment was subtle but screamed of wealth and class at the same time. But what Heda noticed first, oddly enough, was the woman's mouth. She had full lips that might normally be kissable, but that mouth was stuck in a borderline sneer, and that looked to be its normal state. "Mr. Hannity?" the Councilman said. "Dad?" Alvin let out with a yelp. "Shit!" was Heda's contribution. ---------- ------------------- To be continued . . . Flying Blind Ch. 04 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" ---------- "Because you're not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who, in truth, you are." ~ Madeleine L'Engle ---------- Madison Sloan had never wanted any of this. She had wanted to go to college, make a few friends, maybe (with a big emphasis on maybe) go on a few dates, and then be out with her Communications and Journalism degree in four years before taking off to the great wide world of grad school, complete with funding from the North American Shifter Council. Being persecuted for a year and a half by another changeling had not been part of her plan. Being supported by her hot girlfriend and her hot girlfriend's hot-and-famous mother had been unexpected. But getting caught in a complaint hearing between the Hatfields and the McCoys? That was way out of her things-to-do-this-year list. Alvin Hannity had already refuted the charges, then Madison and Heda had pled Madison's case. A young man who had been working at the medical center the evening that Alvin had mugged her outside of her dorm room had been prepared to talk about the injuries that she had suffered when Alvin Hannity's parents had made their entrance. William and Meghan Hannity were the very definition of "power couple" in the shifter community, and actually in the human community beyond. Mr. Hannity was the president of Global First Bank, an international financial institution and preferred bank of shifters, magic-users, and other magical beings worldwide. He also apparently had made a number of very wise investments over the years, and was rich to the point that he had Bill Gates on speed-dial. His wife Meghan was from old money. She had inherited her family's entire tobacco legacy, though had sold it off to purchase a pharmaceutical company. And looking at them now, they were not happy. After bursting in, the Councilman overseeing the proceedings had done everything but offer both Hannitys oral sex and his first born to keep them calm. Mrs. Hannity demanded that the entire hearing be called off, while Mr. Hannity just kept asking what was going on. Madison was confused. The worst that was going to happen to Alvin, assuming anyone believed the DM (short for "Darwin's Mistake," and a grave insult against shifters that had been cast at her many times) over the son of the university's biggest donors, was that Alvin would be slapped with a restraining order. In the shifter community, that kind of restraining order was taken seriously, to the point that Alvin could not take a class that Madison was in, or even enter the food court if she was already there. And shifter's punished violators severely. Changelings were not supposed to treat each other as prey, which is exactly what Alvin had been doing all this time. Mrs. Hannity had started throwing disparaging remarks at the defendant and then, probably without realizing it, at Heda Adler. That was when Jessica Adler, war hero and eagle shifter, had taken offense. Then, the yelling had really started. Strangely, Mr. Hannity was not doing much yelling and quite quickly moved to prevent his wife's head from exploding. Thomas Adler, Heda's father, knew better than to try to physically restrain his wife (who would kick his non-shifting ass all the way into next week), but did stand between her and the other woman, exuding a sense of calm that his wife did not possess. "Everyone, QUIET!" shouted a voice from the corner. The Reptile King and tenured professor, Neil Reichert, had decided that enough was enough. He may not have been presiding over the dispute, but he was damn well not going to let it get derailed any further. And when someone who could turn into a fifty-foot now-extinct crocodile told you to shut up, you shut up. Jessica Adler still had her chin up and looking somewhat defiant when she said, "I'm sorry, your Majesty." Reichert looked noticeably more relaxed after that. He was a badass, but you did not mess with Jessica Adler unless you were planning on having one hell of a fight. She had a reputation for a reason. William Hannity gave his own wife a stern stare. She gritted her teeth, then let out a low, "I apologize your Majesty." Reichert nodded tot he Councilman. "Mr. Zine, I think we may need a few minutes before continuing. Let everyone settle down." "Dad," Alvin said, moving toward his parents, "what are you doing here?" "Did you really think that a son of mine would be caught up in such a proceeding at this institution and that I wouldn't hear about it? Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?" "I can handle this," he said. 
 "William, maybe we should step outside," his wife said. "My son is being accused of some fairly serious acts. I am here to lend my support." "You are welcome --" the Councilman started to say before being interrupted by Alvin. "Seriously Dad, it's no big deal." Madison heard that and snapped. "No big deal?! You hound me for years, making my life miserable when it would be just as easy to ignore me, then you rake my wing in the woods and beat me up on campus, and you call it no big deal?" "I never laid a hand on you, you defective --" "Sit down!" Reichert bellowed, then turned to glare at Heda before she came over the rail to pummel Alvin into a paste. One day, those two would have a reckoning, but not on Reichert's watch. Strangely, William Hannity seemed the most composed of anyone. He nodded towards an empty spot on the bench, indicating a desire for his wife to sit. She looked like she was going to protest, then obviously thought better of it. "Young man," Councilman Zine said to Detrius, "you were going to provide testimony?" Detrius rose and reported Madison's condition on the night she had been attacked. Her knee and ribs had been injured, and the doctor's notes indicated that he had felt that Madison had been in a fight of some kind. "Who's to say that she didn't just get one of her friends to do it for her?" Alvin growled. "Oh good God!" Heda shouted, standing up despite her father trying to get her to stay seated. "Even before I met her, everyone was telling me that you were harassing her and that she went out of her way to avoid you. Why would she drag herself through all this when NOT having anything to do with you has been her plan all along?" "How do you know what her fucking plan is?" Alvin growled. A new voice spoke up from the doors. "If anyone knew Madison's plan, it would be you," Edgar Adler said as he tiredly made his way to sit beside Madison. "Sir, he's another on of them," Alvin sneered pointing at the Adler family. "How many people are you going to allow to soil my son's good name?" Meghan Hannity said, rising to her feet as well. "Your son had ample opportunity earlier to provide his own witnesses and make his own statements. It is simply Miss Sloan's --" "I demand that this farce be ended at once and --" "Alvin Hannity," Edgar interrupted, "would you please explain why you hired a private investigator to tail Miss Sloan from January to February of last year?" That got everyone's attention. Alvin had gone noticeably pale. "I didn't --" "I just got done talking with a man who we had uncovered over the course of our investigation into the recent kidnappings. After a follow-up interview, he was very forthcoming. Amazing what the words 'serial kidnapper' and 'tortured teenagers' do to make a closed mouth open up." Ed looked at the Councilman. "It seems that a private investigator was hired by young Mister Hannity here to follow and report on the activities of Miss Sloan. The man said that it was the strangest job he had ever had, because all he had been told was to follow her and see 'what she was up to.' For a PI, that's pretty much free money. Who knows how long it would have gone on if the guy hadn't gotten sloppy and gotten picked up." "Bullshit!" Alvin said, though his voice wavered. "My son does not have access to that kind of money," Mr. Hannity said. "And to what end?" "As I said, the PI didn't know. And the investigator provided printouts of the cashed checks. Amazing thing, on-line banking. All checks were from Alvin Hannity, signed by Alvin Hannity. I'm perfectly willing to get a hand-writing analysis done, but the PI also identified him from several options I showed him while scanning through different MySpace pages." "Do you have the scans of the checks?" William Hannity asked. "Of course." "William! I cannot believe that you are willing to even entertain this lunacy!" his wife screamed. "I am quite familiar with my sons bank numbers and signature. I can quickly disprove this evidence if warranted," Mr. Adler replied, taking the copies from Edgar. After a few moments, his face grew grim. "Son, would you care to explain this." "Dad --" "I said explain!" "William --" Meghan Hannity started, then was cut off by a look from her husband. "You . . . you gave him the money for this. I thought that you were just coddling him as usual, but this is what those 'gifts' were for, wasn't it? Oh yes, I know all about them. Why would you help our son participate in stalking?" "After 22 years of marriage, I do not feel any need to respond to these --" "Oh, you will respond. I have tolerated a great deal from Alvin, and perhaps I have always been lenient towards him because he's your favorite. But this is intolerable." He looked back to his son. "Alvin, are this young woman's accusations true?" Heda knew that tone. Her mother had used a similar one on the few rare occasions where one of her children crossed a line, but this one was much more chilling. Alvin looked like he wanted to deny everything, but he was also practically radiating fear. More than one shifter in the crowd was beginning to lick their lips, as his fear was bring out their predator natures. "Yeah," he whispered. "Yeah it's true." Something crossed over his face, flying past like a winged creature. He had an idea. "I'll accept the punishment. I won't come anywhere near her. Let's just get out of here --" "No," his father said. William Hannity turned to look directly at Madison for the first time. "Young lady, I would like to apologize on behalf of my son and my family for whatever injustice has been done to you." He turned back to his son. "But before we go anywhere, YOU are going to explain to everyone exactly why you have seen fit to behave like such a savage." "Savage? Dad, she's a DM! You're the one always going off about survival of the fittest and --" "Do not hand me that excuse," his father growled. "I am always referring to the business world." He looked back to Madison. "Miss Sloan, when did this start?" "I dunno. Our first semester, he was just kind of a dick but never really anything like recently. Then I was celebrating my birthday with Billy, but Alvin was at the restaurant. Billy had gotten up to go to the bathroom, so Alvin came over to make a few snide jokes before leaving. He looked at my cake and then --" "How did you know what I was doing?" Alvin said. "She's blind. She's making this . . . up," his voice trailed off. Madison had stood up, ripped off her sunglasses and exposed her glowing, Gifted eyes to the world. Then they stopped, but not until she looked Alvin dead in the face. "I 'see' a lot more than you think, you fucking worm." She looked at the silenced crowd. "I grew up in changeling foster care, and it wasn't pretty," she said, blurting it all out before she lost the nerve. "I learned quickly never to trust anyone with too much, so I kept my gift to myself. I can't detect shifters, but my echolocation works pretty damn well for everything else. So yeah Alvin, I saw exactly what you did. You looked at my damn cake, looked at me, then shoved my face into it." Jessica had to restrain her daughter from charging over and punching Alvin Hannity straight in the face. "No, it's not possible," Meghan Hannity was muttering. "I didn't know --" She stopped when she realized that she could be heard, then she turned white as a sheet. "Why would you know?" William said, obviously confused. "You've never met her before." Heda realized something was up. Something about Madison's birthday had set Alvin off. "Madison, when was your birthday?" "What does --" "Just please, answer the question?" Madison looked really perplexed. "December 14th." "William, I --" Meghan started again, but if her husband's earlier words had been cold, his gaze was now shooting hellfire. "What . . . year?" he asked, his voice controlled and pressurized like a volcano. "1987." Without any warning, William Hannity whipped his head around and put his face just inches away from his wife. "Not this," he hissed. "Don't tell me you did this." "There is no proof --" "Where were you born?" William said, returning to his attention to Madison. "I don't know the name of the hospital," she said, taking a step back. "Somewhere in Dallas I think. Then I guess they shipped me off to New Orleans." "Why would they ship a newborn to another state for foster care?" Heda asked. Edgar was cluing in. "They wouldn't. Not unless a lot of strings were pulled. And not unless they really didn't want that baby to be around." "I should have known," Mr. Hannity muttered. "How could you . . . this is beyond anything else you could have ever done," he told his wife. He withdrew from her. The room had gone dead quiet as he turned to Madison, looking at her with sorrowful eyes. "I was out of the country that day," he whispered. "She went into labor but . . . but she called me after and told me the baby had died." Everyone's eyes were opening wide, and Heda looked over at Madison, whose brain was not quite processing this. "I wanted to see the body . . . just so I could say goodbye to her, but Meghan said it would be too hard. She said that the child had come out deformed and --" His eyes opened wider. "You even look like her," he whispered to Madison. "I should have seen, but how could I have known?" Madison's brain clicked, but all she could do was shake her head. "You knew, didn't you?" he continued, looking back to his wife. "You knew where she was all this time? And you let me think she was dead?! My child?! My daughter?!" "Holy fuck!" Billy said. "No," Madison whimpered. "No." "You gave away our first born and lied to me? Part of me died that day!" he shouted, then looked back at Madison. Mr. Hannity was torn like no one Heda or most of them had ever seen. "I . . . am not . . . your child," Madison whispered. "How could I let a Mistake ruin our line?!" Meghan pleaded with her husband. "Generations of shifters of the most perfect bloodlines --" This time, Heda had to restrain her mother from starting a fight. "Madison?!" Billy shouted as his friend passed out on the floor in the middle of pure chaos. -------- ------------------ Some time later . . . -------- ------------------ "Hey? You okay? I think she's waking up," came a warm, familiar voice. Madison had thought waking up after her last trip on experimental marijuana had been bad, but this . . . this was MUCH worse. "What . . . I smoked again didn't I? Hangover?" But even as the jest came out, she knew it was not true. "No babe,"Heda said, helping the girl into a sitting position. "No, this is no hangover. How are you feeling?" "Ever feel like your insides have been ripped out and used as a noose to strangle you with? Kinda like that. And my head hurts." "We'll give you something for the headache," an unfamiliar voice said. "I'm Doctor Callous, and feel free to make fun of my name. I just want to make sure you don't have a concussion. Are you dizzy? Nauseous?" He continued to question her while her mind started replaying the events of that afternoon over and over." "Heda, where's Billy? I . . . I should probably get to the station. I'm probably late!" she said, trying to stand up. "Billy is at the station. It's six in the evening, and your shift --" "I'm late! I've got to --" "Billy is covering for you. Madison, you SO need to take a break and --" Madison's mind was like a broken engine trying to turn over, with lots of "whirring" and "clanking" but no real output. "I've got to go. Billy has appalling taste in music," she muttered, again trying to push past Heda and the doctor to stand up. "Seriously, he has Barry Manilow on tape. Barry . . . Manilow!" "Madison --" "I've got to --" "Madison!" Heda shouted, kicking in her Gift and putting her hands on Madison's shoulders. The bat shifter was now officially grounded. "You NEED to process this. William Hannity --" "Don't say it!" Madison shouted, her eyes tearing up. "Don't say his name, don't talk about what he said --" "Madison, he's waiting in the lobby. He really wants to talk to you." "I don't want to talk to him!" she screamed. "Tell him to take his damn son and his damn wife and his damn money and get out of my damn life!" "Don't you at least want to find out --" "NO!" "Miss Adler," the doctor said, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you continue to --"
 "No, don't make her go," Madison whimpered, burying her head against the girl's chest. "I just . . . I just don't know what to do." "Madison, what happened at the hearing . . . shifters all over campus have heard about it by now, and so have their friends and parents and just about anyone they could get a hold of. You aren't going to be able to hide from this." "Do you --" Madison started, then sniffed and blew her nose into Heda's shirt. "Sorry." "It's okay," Heda said, taking some of the tissue offered by the doctor and handing it to her girlfriend. "Do you have any idea what it was like?" Madison began again. "Of course you don't. You have the perfect parents and the perfect family and the perfect life. I don't blame you, but that's not what my life was. Every orphan I knew dreamed that a family like yours would come along and take them home. Some nice rich family where everyone is smart and pretty and everything. Then a few years goes by, and you're willing to do without the rich or the pretty or the smart. Then you just want someone who will give you a room and a birthday present. Know the only present I ever got in foster care? A beat-up suitcase to put my stuff in so that I could, and this is a quote, 'Get the hell out' the day I turned 18. Any dreams I ever had of having a family died a long time ago, and I'm not going to let the damn Hannitys rip my heart out again." Heda held Madison's head and comforted her as best she could. "You know I'm behind you no matter what you decide," she said, "but Mr. Hannity doesn't seem like Alvin at all. He was so mad at them and . . . he's been pacing a trench in the floor out there. He wants to know for sure, like as in a paternity test, but he's willing --" "You know this is bullshit," Madison interrupted. "This is just the biggest Trojan Horse of them all, and they're waiting to laugh. It's just coincidence." Heda steeled herself for another potential fit. "It would be one hell of a coincidence then. Two blind shifters, a one in ten-thousand condition for us, being born in the same city on the same day, with one of them mysteriously dying while the other shipped to another state against all reason to be put up for adoption? Madison, his wife is a complete sociopath. I've barely met her, but I can tell this is the kind of thing that she would do." Flying Blind Ch. 04 "So what should I do?" "I can't tell you that. Well, I think you should talk to him. This isn't going to go away. Look at this from his perspective for a sec. No, just hear me out. He just found out that a daughter he had never met and was told was dead may be sitting right here in this room. He wants . . . no, he NEEDS to know. And honestly, he has a right to know." Madison sniffed again, but this time managed to wipe her nose on tissue instead. "How can I? What do I say? What about his wife?" "His wife and Alvin are pretty much under . . . how to say this? Hotel arrest? He told them to go there and to under no circumstances leave. My mother is circling the building, and has his permission to keep her from leaving. I think Mom is hoping she tries something. She really wants to kick that woman's ass." Madison actually snickered, though mirth was somewhat absent from the sound. "I like your Mom." "Yeah, she's all right. She's a bit overbearing, but I love her anyway." "Overbearing? Coming from you?" 
"Hey! Okay, maybe I deserved that." Then Heda leaned over and kissed Madison's quivering lips. Madison smiled shyly. "You shouldn't be kissing me. I'm gross and snotty right now." "How romantic," Heda laughed. "Now clean up and go talk to him." Madison washed her face, thanked the doctor for his help, got a few words of advice and made a follow-up for the next week. She was actually at the hospital, seeing as she had a head injury from falling and the student medical center was really hesitant to handle head-cases. So to speak. Heda followed her all the way to the lobby, and every step got louder and heavier for her, and every part of her brain was screaming at her to turn around and run. Well, almost every part. The part that held her last unbroken dreams was cautiously telling her to move forward. Mr. William Hannity was sitting in a horribly uncomfortable looking naugahyde chair just past the reception desk. As soon as Madison appeared in the hallway he stood up, gripping his hands together so tightly that she could hear his knuckles cracking from thirty feet away. She was in public, so Madison was using her cane to navigate, though she had her echolocation on every excruciating step down the hall. She suppressed a small smile when she noticed Heda make the "I'm watching you" sign of pointing to her own eyes and then towards Mr. Hannity's. He nodded, but his attention was pretty much on Madison. "Well, I'm here," she said a bit coldly. "You want to talk? Talk." "Could we step outside? Please?" Mr. Hannity said properly. He sounded a hell of a lot more nervous than even Madison did. "Some things are not meant to be discussed quite so publicly, and I think we have both had enough of that for the day." Madison nodded, then waved towards Heda to let her know that this was okay. She figured her girlfriend would follow and try to listen anyway. She walked side by side with this man until they reached the outer door, then passed Mr. Hannity's limousine and strolled to the small park across the street, finally coming to rest on a park bench. "If you have something to say, you had better say it," Madison said, her voice low and unpleasant, "because I have had as much from your family as I think I can stand." William started to talk, then stopped. Finally, "I'm not even sure how to do this. How do you talk to a ghost?" "What do you want from me?" Madison asked. "You and Alvin just want one last yuck at my expense? Do you have any idea what he's put me through? Do you care, or were you in on it?"
 "Never!" Hannity said, standing up quickly and beginning to pace. "My son's actions are unforgivable, and I promise you that he will pay for them. His mother can only protect him so much. Even if you were . . . even if there was no chance that you were my daughter, I would never condone such cruelty!" Madison pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them. "Then why? Why did he do it?" "My son is . . . well, he's spoiled. All his life, he's known that he could get anything he wanted, and I did little to dissuade him. His mother encouraged him. I think he saw you as a threat to his position. He knew of course. He knew who you were. He knew the story, and he knew that your birthday was special." "Why? Like a zillion people probably have my birthday." "Miss Sloan . . . Madison, I wanted to be there for the birth of my first child. Your birth. But Meghan went into labor two weeks prematurely, and I was in Europe on business. I missed what was going to be one of the greatest moments of my life. But when I got back the next day, I was told you had died." "Your child," Madison said softly. "There's no proof it was me." William sat down. "It was you," he replied. "I know that now. Everything makes too much sense because of it. I blamed myself for not being there, as if my simple presence could have saved my child. Every year since, I have begged forgiveness from whatever gods or goddesses may be listening for not being with my family when I was needed. My wife is . . . she is proud of our bloodlines. Too damn proud. But even I could not imagine that she would have done something like this. Give up our child . . . my daughter, because of this?" he said, motioned towards her glasses. "But Alvin --" "Alvin saw you as a threat because of the conditions of the trust fund. He and his mother probably hired the private investigator to see if you knew who you really were and were aiming to interfere with Alvin's acquisition of --" "What trust fund? What the hell are you talking about?" "My wife and I agreed to set aside a large sum of money to be divided amongst our children. The oldest would get the lion's share and would help invest for the younger. There was always a chance something could happen to us, so I wanted my children to be able to look after each other." "That's what this is about?!" Madison barked. "I don't care about money! Tell your son . . . tell him to go to hell first of all. Secondly, I'm over eighteen. You wouldn't have any responsibility for me anyway, but even so I'll sign any damn thing you want promising I won't sue or ask for one red cent. I just want to live in fucking peace! I'll survive just damn fine on my own." "You're right, this is not about money. This is about family. This is about missing out on twenty years of your life and about thinking you were dead. I can't survive losing my daughter a second time. Please, I would like to do the paternity test." 
"No," Madison replied. She stood up. "Why not? What do you have to lose?" "Your son and your family have caused me more heartache than I can even describe. I will not let you do this to me. I will not be left crying and alone one more damn time because of the Hannity family." William Hannity knew that he had to think quickly. He had one more card to play. It was sneaky and underhanded, but he played it anyhow. "You have other siblings, you know." Madison stopped. 'Family,' she thought. 'Like Heda has. No, it's not --' "A brother and a sister. Timothy is thirteen and his sister Morgan is sixteen." "Shut up," Madison said, trying to get her feet to move again. "They're both good kids, who still have a lot of potential --" "Shut up!" "-- whose only role models are a self-centered older brother, an arrogant mother, and father who has been to blind to see what has been going on." He walked up behind her. "They need their big sister. I need my daughter. You need a family." "I have my friends," she said, tears coming down her face. "I have Heda. I don't need --" But she could not bring herself to say it. She DID need a family. Not one where she was on the outside looking in like some pathetic window shopper. She needed a family more than she needed to breathe at that moment. "Please, take the test. We'll know the truth in a few days. If I'm wrong, which I'm not, I walk away and you never have to see my or anyone in my family ever again. That's a promise. But if I'm right, then I want to spend time with you. I want you to meet your family --" "And your wife?" she said bitterly. "If you're right, then your wife threw me out like trash. And your son as attacked, insulted, and humiliated me so many times that I've lost count." "Alvin and his mother will pay the piper for what they've done, but you should not deny the rest of us a chance to feel complete. Please." Madison wiped her eyes free of tears and then stood up straight and tall. "Do the damn test." ----------------------- ------ Elsewhere . . . ----------------------- ------ Could Cold rage? Oh yes, It could. The Cold crept through its lair, smashing wood and punching machinery. No one was listening now. The Message seemed to be lost on the wind, and that was not acceptable. They must be brought back to task. They must listen. But the Cold could wait until all the visitors were gone . . . wait until They all felt safe again. Then the next One would be chosen and the next Message sent. This time, the Enemy must be made to understand. The Enemy must fear. ------------ ------------- The next day . . . ------------ ------------- Madison woke up, still feeling like hell. She had not been able to get to sleep until . . . actually, she could not remember when it had been. She remembered giving a blood sample for the paternity test, then she and Mr. Hannity had somewhat awkwardly parted ways. He had wanted to hug her, but Madison was obviously not comfortable with the idea, so he had backed off. Heda had driven her home, and everyone in the house had apparently stayed awake to see how she was doing. Heda had even crashed in Madison's room, though the eagle-shifter had fallen asleep long before her bat counterpart. Madison had smiled a little when she heard her girlfriend muttering in her sleep. Apparently she was dreaming about chasing rabbits. Now, Madison was alone. She scanned her clock, reading from the hands that it was almost noon. What a weekend she had already had. Her head was already beginning to spin just thinking about it. "I need juice," she muttered, throwing on some sweats and then heading upstairs. When she got to first floor, she heard . . . nothing. "Okay, this is creepy. Where is everyone?" She got a glass of OJ and then left the kitchen. She found everyone, and by that she meant everyone, in the game room. They were watching Scrabble. "Hey guys, what's --" she started to say, then Sasha appeared out of nowhere and covered her mouth. "Shh," Madison's friend whispered, then looked at the table. Heda, her mother, her brother, and Billy Forester were sitting on opposites sides of a card table, staring at a board covered with small tiles with eerie intensity. They looked more like they were playing poker, studying each other's faces before caressing their letters with their eyeballs. Sasha pulled Madison back into the kitchen. "Sorry about that," Sasha said, "but it's the rubber match. They started up at like nine in the morning, and it's so intense!" 
"Uhm, it's Scrabble." "No, it's more than that!" Sasha replied earnestly, her eyes wide open. "I mean I've never imagined watching Scrabble before, but they're like kung fu masters of words. I didn't know there were so many words that had the letter 'Q' in them, and I work at a friggin' library. And they're playing each other too! They try and figure out what letters everyone else is likely to have and then play to make sure they don't leave openings. It's incredible." "Wait, you mean everyone in their has their panties all up in a wad because of . . . Scrabble?" "Yes! And after the first game, Mrs. Adler said that Billy was one of the first players she had encountered that was up to the challenge." Sasha was actually fluttering. "My Billy! Now c'mon, we're missing the action. Ed has been eyeballing a triple-word score for a whole round." "And the world has gone completely insane," Madison muttered. Admittedly, there was an air of tension surrounding the game that she had never imagined being associated with a board game before, but much of it was lost on Madison. She saw tiles being placed, but they were just small blocks of wood to her. Her echolocation could not make out colors of paint or ink, only more physical changes. It was frustrating. Heda loved to read and write and play this silly game, and Madison was unable to share it. Heda wound up winning the game by five points with a last second placing of the word "plodder" to finish off her tiles. A sense of pressure seemed to be released from the room as the "noble warriors" smiled at one another, clapping each other on the backs or shaking hands. It was like someone had just won the Superbowl. "Hey babe!" Heda said, grinning proudly as she stood up from the field of battle. "Didn't see you come in." "Obviously," Madison said dryly, though also a little softly. Heda moved over and embraced her and give her a light kiss, usually reserved for when the parents were in the room. "You okay?" "There are no good ways for me to answer that question," she replied, feeling a little better. Getting kissed by a beautiful woman could do that. "Then try honest ones," Heda replied. "I'm freaked. I just realized that we've spent basically our whole relationship worrying about me and my problems, and I see you playing a game I never could. I've never read any of your writing, and --" She paused when she was kissed again, but only temporarily, "-- I've been a horrible girlfriend --" (kiss) "--and an emotional trainwreck --" (kiss) "--and . . . and . . . What the hell was I saying?" "Nothing you need to be worrying about." "Listen, we've taken up enough of your time --" Mr. Adler started to say, but Madison waved him off. "No, you all are only in town for a little while. And thanks to my drama, you didn't even get to do the parent day stuff." Jessica raised both eyebrows. "Missy, I've had two children come through this institution already." She glared at her oldest son. "It could have been three already, but someone had to go and 'find himself' or some such --" "Dear, remember what we said when you started turning into an academic snob?" her husband said soothingly. "I've got your --" "Jessica," her husband said, his voice a little sterner this time. Jessica Adler closed her eyes, then opened them again and proceeded. "Anyway, my husband and I have seen this campus from one side to the other, we donate heavily, and I'm reasonably certain that the speeches haven't changed since Rob and Richard went through. I just came to see my daughter and try to figure out what she's gotten herself mixed up in." "Mom!" "Not that it's a bad thing, but you do tend to wind up in situations like this." "Like this? Mother, what possibly compares to having a girlfriend who might be the long lost daughter of one of the richest men in the country and maybe the world, as well as having a serial kidnapper and/or killer running around is even remotely comparable to anything I've ever done?" "Remember your Junior Prom when --" "Mother, that is not even in the same conversation as this!" Madison was smiling now. "What happened --" "-- will never be spoken of again," Heda said, almost sulking. "Suffice to say, it involved the team mascot and a lot of therapy for a couple members of the pep squad. And Principle Smithers." "I know," Jessica said, "why don't my husband and I treat all of you to a trip to the water park? Or are you all too old for that sort of thing now?" "Hell no!" Joanna said. "I have got a KILLER new swimsuit that will just make the boys drool." "Then I'm in," Anthony said. "I like drooling." "Of course you do," Mrs. Adler said. "You're a boy." "All man, baby!" he replied with a grin. Jessica Adler refused to smile. She absolutely refused. "Heda darling, I'm certain you have something I could wear." Heda nodded. Her mother was still in phenomenal shape, so it would work. She felt someone tugging on her arm. Madison was looking nervous. "Let me guess," she said with a smile. "No swimsuit?" "Can't swim." "Really?" Madison started counting off fingers. "No one cared enough to teach me. Low self esteem. Blind." "I offered," Billy grumbled. "No, wading in cold water while you eat fish does not count as instruction." "You weren't even trying." "It was cold and full of fish and smelled like ass." "Now you're just being mean. That's one of my favorite soaking spots." Madison sat back in a chair. "That's what I get for having a best friend who's a turtle." "Hey, we'll get you a suit, and water slides aren't exactly deep. Even the pools at the end are shallow enough you can stand up in. We'll teach you how to swim. C'mon, it'll be fun. Just as long as everyone realizes that we need to stick together. Got it?" -------------- ---------------- Many hours later . . . -------------- ---------------- After much pleading, begging, and innuendo on Heda's part, Madison found herself in a one-piece that she was told was cute but conservative, she felt her ass was hanging out of. Heda secretly assured her that she had a fabulous ass and that she shouldn't worry. Then, she had fun. A lot of fun. Heda had been right about the depth of the water. There was a large pool for just swimming, but the pools at the ends of the ride were easily navigable. And in a stroke of brilliance, Anthony had suggested getting some tinted swimming goggles, she wouldn't even need the cane. If on some weird chance they ran into someone she knew, she could just hang on Heda's arm. So Madison got her first experience hurtling down plastic tubes on Styrofoam pads towards a soaked landing. She screamed and screamed, and then ran all the way back up the stairs to do it again. There were things that she was afraid to do, such as the zip line over the pool, but everything else was fair game. Everyone was having a good time, especially Joanna. Both Madison and Heda noticed that Ed was paying quite a fair amount of attention to the busty blond in bikini that only barely passed the park's decency standards. But that was okay, since that's just who Joanna was. Part of the reason that she was so hot was that she knew she was hot and was playful about it. And while she would never admit it, Madison realized that the almost 50-year-old Mrs. Jessica Adler was pretty damn hot too. 'Probably not something you need to mention to your girlfriend," Madison thought. When Heda suggested they just float around the park on an inner tube, she was almost reluctant because she wanted to go on more slides, but the concept of being cuddled up with that body in a confined area for a length of time proved too much to resist. "Having fun?" Heda asked as they approached a long tunnel that provided a little bit of shade for the relaxing patrons. "Amazing," Madison said. "Amazing fun I mean. Do I ever make sense when I talk?" Heda laughed. "Somehow, I understand everything you say. Still anxious about tomorrow?" Madison sighed, tracing Heda's jawbone with one finger. "A bit. Nothing to do about it now." "And I had to go and ruin the moment." "No, you didn't. Well, you didn't do anything that another ride on the Raging Rapids won't cure. But really, I'll live. I just can't make up my mind how I want the test to turn out. If it's positive, then at least I know for sure what really happened and where I came from, you know? But is this the 'reality' that I want? Do I want to be related to the guy that I hate more than anyone and his mother, a woman who may have thrown me away when I was born and then went shopping for a better model?" "Well, you've got friends that'll stand behind you through this. You've got me for sure, and hell, even my parents like you." Flying Blind Ch. 04 Madison grinned. "How do I rack up against the other g-friends?" "I dunno. I don't think they've ever really met them. In high school, I didn't date much, and they certainly didn't meet any of the girls I met in Europe." For some reason, that made Madison happy. Okay, so maybe Heda was only nineteen and not exactly a middle-aged spinster who needed to settle down, but it was still nice to be the first girl to meet the parents. "Of course, they only met me because they came out to see what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into. Am I really considered 'trouble' now?" "You have NO idea," Heda replied, kissing Madison's nose, then lips, then lips again. "Big, big trouble." "Are you calling me fat?" "Shut up and kiss me." "Got it." Their lips met and -- "Ahem!" came a voice from behind them. "Dad!" Heda shouted, then slunk down into the tube as far as she could without pushing Madison out. She had just, for the first time, been caught making out by her parents. "Don't make me come over there," Mr. Adler said, his attempt at a stern voice almost brimming over with amusement. Heda extended her arm. "Start paddling," she whispered. ------------- ------------------- That night . . . ------------- ------------------- Madison was tired but surprisingly chipper. Her show had gone well, with Billy and Sasha both hanging out. She had managed to get caught up on her homework too, something which had fallen not-so-surprisingly by the wayside due to other recent events. She had gotten a brief call from Mr. Hannity arranging a time for Sunday to meet with the doctor who would have the test results. That had been a slightly awkward conversation, but she was not going to let it get her down. Even at two o'clock in the morning, the house was still somewhat active. There was some drinking going on, Peter was still up playing "Call of Duty 4," Carla and Anthony were making out in the kitchen (yuck), and Edgar was going over case files. Madison greeted everyone she saw, dropped her stuff off in her room, then headed upstairs (and upstairs again) to see if Heda was still awake. "Hello?" she said, softly enough that she would not wake the girl if she had drifted off. "Hey," came a groggy but warm welcome. Heda was hunkered over her laptop typing furiously away at something. "What'cha workin' on?" Madison asked, allowing herself to be pulled into Heda's lap and kissed. "Hmm, finally got an idea for my great American novel," the eagle-shifter replied. "I was thinking of a story where little people with hairy feet find a mysterious ring that an evil overlord wants to find to take over a placed called 'Middle Earth' and . . . What, not a good idea?" Madison had started to laugh. "Brilliant. Maybe if the evil guy has a bunch of minions called wraiths or orcs --" "Hey, did you read this already?" Heda said with a sigh. "Really, I've written the first paragraph like a zillion times. Everything has been done though. Ghosts, vampires, wraiths, werewolves, --" "Were-eagles?" "Surprisingly under represented in American literature, especially since we are the national symbol. But that would be a little bit like patting myself on the back."
 "Can't have that. Seriously, you ever gonna read me some of your stuff?" Heda covered her face. "My short stories from high school were so lame, and don't get me started on the poetry." 
"Poetry? Oh you HAVE to read me some of that! Don't make me go over your head and ask your mother." "You wouldn't dare?!" Heda picked Madison up and tossed her onto the bed and proceeded to tickle the hell out of her. Madison was completely defenseless after just a few seconds, but she was laughing so hard it didn't matter. Then Heda covered her mouth with her hand. "Shh! You'll wake the others." "You started it," Madison muttered in reply, realizing that Heda was sitting astride the bat-shifter's midsection. A quick scan showed that Heda now had other things on her mind besides tickling. "Say something," she asked suddenly. "Poetry." Heda actually blushed. She was used to asking Madison to speak and to use that sexy voice, but now the tides were turned. Poetry? That was a bit romantic, and romance wasn't usually her thing. But what? She remembered a poem by Robert Browning that she had always liked, and she began to recite it. "The grey sea and the long black land;
 And the yellow half-moon large and low;
 And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep, 
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
 And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

 Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
 Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
 A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
 And blue spurt of a lighted match,
 And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
 Than the two hearts beating each to each! " Over the course of the poem she undressed Madison, who in turn provided no resistance. Madison's eyes were closed and her sunglasses gone, and a look of peace had found its way to her face. Of course, that did not mean that she was not looking. When Heda's hands touched Madison's breasts, the bat shifter moaned softly and held those hands in place. Heda loved that Madison was becoming bolder in their love-making. Once assured that Heda's hands weren't going anywhere, the bat-shifter started to unbutton her lover's jeans, pushing her hand into the gap and rubbing Heda's clit through her silk panties. Heda moved herself against that hand. "I need to get naked," she said huskily. "Don't let me stop you," Madison agreed. "But don't rush." Heda grinned as she got off her bed. She took her time pulling off her shirt, leaving her bra on for the moment. She turned away when she slowly pushed her jeans down to her ankles, giving her girlfriend a front-row showing of her perfect volleyball-player's ass. She heard a whimper and glanced over her shoulder to see that Madison was pleasuring herself to the view. 'Fuck, she's sexy,' Heda thought. She took off her bra and panties, then sat on the bed. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Tell me what you're feeling. What you're thinking."
 Madison flushed, but was more than game. She was so aroused she though it might actually kill her if she didn't get release soon. "I just can't imagine anyone sexier than you," she said, using the Voice that seemed to fill her girlfriend with such ardor. "I just want this to be your hand," she moaned as she penetrated her own folds with familiar fingers, "doing this to me." "Doing what?" "Playing with . . . with my pussy," Madison said. "Making me cum." Heda was smiling as she began to finger herself, mimicking the movements of her lover. She lay down next to Madison, fucking herself with her fingers while caressing her lover's breasts with her tongue. She passed her lips over the nub and breathed warm air onto the areola as she went. Then her tongue circled the nipple like a snake squeezing its prey. Maybe that was not too far off. Madison was masturbating like she had never masturbated before. Literally. She pushed up against her hand, arching her hips off of the mattress and got her fingers in a little deeper. Her breasts were so alive that her skin ached, and all she could think was that she wanted to be devoured whole. "I want you so bad." "I want you to cum first," Heda whispered, then sucked on Madison's tits for another few seconds. "Then I've got a surprise for you." "I like surprises from you," Madison said, then blushed again. She sounded so corny. "Then hurry up and cum already." She watched Madison's fingers in a flurry of movement help her drift towards climax, and she smiled as she saw her lover fighting to avoid making the -- "Squeak!" Madison came, the dull throbbing pleasure echoing through every part of her frame. "Gods, I love that sound," Heda whispered, putting her mouth against her lover's and drawing the breath from her until Madison sunk back to the bedspread. She started to get up to retrieve her surprise, but Madison held her fast. "Your turn. I want to watch you." Heda felt so warm inside whenever that Voice was heard, but this was even more stimulating than usual. Those milky eyes, once disconcerting, were pointed in Heda's direction and that face was so enthused. So Heda knelt on the bed, one hand penetrating her folds while the other rubbed circles around her clitoral hood, then touching that hard nub ever so gently. Madison was memorizing every inch of that fantastic body. Heda's abs were rippling under the skin, and her firm breasts bouncing slightly as her body bounced and her chest heaved. Her eyes were closed and mouth parted with that goofy smile of someone who was really enjoying what she was doing. Madison could almost sense the vibrations in Heda's body when the girl orgasmed, and she could certainly see the satisfaction on her lover's face. Madison wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but she was cut off with a kiss. "Now no peeking," Heda muttered. "Is the echolocation off?" Madison nodded, curious but still willing to play. The world went flat again, just her, the darkness, and the sweaty bed coverings beneath her back. She heard the door to the mini-fridge being opened. "Is this really the time for a snack?" she whined plaintively. "Most definitely," Heda said, settling back onto the bed. Madison briefly heard a "shhh"ing noise before something light and cool coated one of her nipples. Then Heda's mouth found its way there, gobbling up the substance while also smearing it over the rest of the breast flesh. "What is . . . oh my!" Madison murmured happily as Heda voraciously devoured both nipples in a similar fashion, moving from one to the other and back again. "Whipped cream," Heda replied at last, "is every girl's friend." With echolocation back on, Madison grabbed the can. "My turn." She rolled Heda onto her back and, in a moment of pure genius, created a giant "Y" with the two upper branches covering Heda's nipples and then letting the trunk trail all the way down to the woman's wet sex. "Oh you're good," Heda said as Madison returned the oral breast play, licking and sucking every last bit of the treat from Heda's tits. "I have an excellent teacher," Madison replied, working her mouth down Heda's chest to those amazing abs. She stopped to spread the cream all over that six-pack, then set her tongue back to work. She traced every line, every muscle, and spent some time toying with the girl's bellybutton. "Next time, I'm bringing chocolate syrup," Heda chuckled, then groaned as Madison worked her way south of the border. "Good thing that sex burns calories," Madison replied just before parting Heda's sex and sending her tongue straight to her lover's core. She loved this part of coupling. There was an intimacy to it, but also a sense of power. For a moment, she existed to pleasure her partner, and Heda existed to be pleasured. Soon, they would probably switch roles, but for now Madison had the power to provide pleasure. She took breaks every now and then to spread a little more sweet topping on Heda's pussy before consuming everything in front of her. She pushed two fingers in, curling them upward while her mouth feasted on clitoral goodness. Within a few minutes, Heda began bucking against Madison's face, letting out a few quick gasps to let Madison know that a climax was on its way. The bat-shifter was expecting it, drinking Heda in and licking her clean of cum, whipped, cream, and anything else she could find. "Told you that you'd like the surprise," Heda chuckled, then moaned as her sensitive clit got one final tongue lash before Madison left it alone. For a while. "Gimme the damn can." Madison did, then scanned on as Heda coated her stomach and chest with the stuff, then quickly pulled Madison on top of her, receiving a surprised but delighted squeak in the process. "I love that noise," Heda said as their slick bodies pressed against one another. "You know, I'm sure this isn't exactly sanitary," Madison said. But the sensation of their two bodies rubbing against each other while so incredibly slick was . . . hot! Heda put some cream in one hand, then thrust that hand between their bodies and went after Madison's pussy with a vengeance. The bat-shifter began to groan, but Heda's mouth quickly overcame hers, once again trapping all of Madison's sounds of pleasure. This was how things went for . . . well, neither of them were really keeping track of time at that point. Slick bodies ground against each other and hands pleasured their partner's sex. They rolled over time and again, not really caring who was on top but certainly enjoying making a mess of the bed. By the time Madison came, the whipped cream had gotten into pretty much everything, but neither girl was complaining. Actually, all Madison could do was let out little squeaks of pleasure, each sound rippling through Heda's body and pooling around her heart. Madison smiled. "I think I'm full." Heda laughed. "I think we need to shower. Then sleep." She looked around at her sheets. "And maybe we should go to your room." ----------- ------------------ The next day . . . ----------- ------------------ Heda had a Sunday game, Billy was covering at the station, and Edgar was taking his parents back to the airport. So somehow, Madison found herself being driven to the hospital to meet with Mr. Hannity by Joanna. Joanna's driving skills were a bit lax. Madison actually had to turn of her echolocation because she was getting motion sickness for the first time in her life. "Oh, you're just being a baby," Joanna said as she pulled into a visitor's parking spot. The passenger fumbled with the door handles and manually ejected herself from the vehicle. "That's what flying in a hurricane must feel like," she said as she steadied herself on wonderful, solid pavement. "See if I ever give you a ride again?" "Is that a promise?" Madison was still trembling a bit, but it was not about the driving anymore. "Hey, I'll be right here if you need me." "You really shouldn't stay here alone, especially not with a kidnapper on the loose. Go home. I'll catch a cab afterward." "Hell no. You driving home with a cabbie isn't any safer than me just waiting. I'll sit inside next to a nice security guard." "I'm not sure that your driving is any safer than a kidnapper." Joanna stuck her tongue out at the back of Madison's head. "I saw that." "Cheating bat girl." The curvaceous blond escorted Madison into the building. She sat down in the lobby in plain sight of the front desk and watched as Madison made her way to the elevator. And then into the elevator. And then back out again. Then she had to hit the button and wait for the next elevator, which she watched come and go. Joanna sighed, stood up, walked over, and shoved Madison into the next available car. "You bi--" Madison yelped as the doors closed behind her. She tried hard to compose herself, quite aware that she was being stared at by the other passengers. 'You can do this. It's going to come back negative and then I can go back to my life. Just a few more minutes.' "Miss Sloan." Mr. Hannity stepped out of the door leading to the doctor's office. "Did you have any difficulty . . . uhm, finding the place?" "No, I've been here before," Madison said. "Unless that was a really cheap blind joke, in which case you can kiss my --" "No, absolutely not. Honestly, I just didn't know what else to say." "Let's let the doctor do the talking." She walked into the office, waited for Mr. Hannity to close the door behind her, then sat down. "Thank you both for coming," Doctor Callous said. "First, let me explain how the process works --" "Sir, I really, really don't care how the process works," Madison said plaintively. "I just want to get this over with." "Just a moment," William said, then turned to his young companion. "I want you to know that no matter what, I intend to see that Alvin is punished for what he has done. And I do not need the test to know this is no farce nor game. You are my --" "You don't know that!" Madison said, getting to her feet. "Actually, yes we do," Doctor Callous said as calmly and gently as possible. "Everything lines up, and the markers don't lie." Madison did not want to cry, but she knew she was close. "No, check again." "Madison, is this really so bad?" Mr. Hannity asked. "Miss Sloan, we checked three times, using both blood and hair. One false positive would have been possible, but three? No. I can say with absolute certainty that Mr. William Hannity is your father." "You can't know that! Know something else," she said, her tears creeping into her voice as well as her eyes. "Madison, please?" She turned and looked at the man whose name held only dread for her. He sounded genuinely distressed. What did he have to be upset about? It was not Madison Sloan who had made his son's life a living hell. It was not Madison Sloan who showed up twenty years too late. Or maybe it was? "You've been nice to muh . . . me," Madison stuttered, "but I don't know what you're expecting of me. I'm serious. I'll sign anything you want that says I don't want your money or --" "But I WANT you to have it!" Mr. Hannity said, getting down on his knees in front of her. "Because I don't know what else to give you. Almost 21 years I've thought you were dead. And no matter what they say, you don't get over losing your child." "You didn't lose me. Your wife gave . . . she gave me away. She didn't care if I found a good home or a home at all, as long as I was gone. I made my own life and, as pathetic as its been at times, its mine." "Let me be part of it," William begged. "Let Morgan and Timothy have their sister back." "They don't even know I exist," Madison replied, wanting badly to curl up in a ball and disappear. "They don't ever have to know. Just promise to keep Alvin away from me, and we can all just --" "No, we can't just pretend this never happened," Mr. Hannity said, standing up and beginning to pace. "Not now. You are my blood and my firstborn, and you never should have been taken away. And --" He paused when a ruckus erupted outside in the hallway shortly before Alvin Hannity came barging in, followed in short order by his mother Meghan. "Dad, you can't --" he started to say, then saw Madison sitting there. They look he gave her . . . oh, that look. Madison began to realize that she had actually underestimated his hatred for her. "William, please listen to reason. You can't possibly be thinking --" All other conversation fell by the wayside when Alvin reared his fist back to punch Madison's lights out. Suddenly, Joanna charged into the room as well, her hair mussed, her eye blackened, and her face contorted into an ugly anger that simply did not belong there. She started to pummel the back of Alvin's head, but was sent flying into the wall by a backhand. William Hannity moved with alarming speed, grabbing his son by the neck and hurling him all the way across the room and into the far wall. Meghan Hannity was glaring at Madison now with an expression so vile that Madison had no name for it. "Look at what you've done, you little . . . thing! I should have drowned you instead of --" This was not the day apparently for completing sentences, as Meghan Hannity was cut off by a swift and powerful kick to the chest by Madison. The young woman then brought a knee up into Mrs. Hannity's stomach, just like Sasha and Heda has shown her, she swung left and right hooks to opposite sides of the woman's head. "Dad, you can't do this," Alvin groaned from his position on top of Doctor Callous's filing cabinet. William Hannity spun around, looked at the boy and said quite clearly, "You are no son of mine. And you," he continued, looking at his recently pummeled wife, "might want to go stay with your mother. My attorneys will be in touch soon enough." He managed to restrain Madison from beating up on his wife and further before security arrived. He helped Joanna to her feet, and then they all got their turns talking to the police. Flying Blind Ch. 04 -------------- ------- That night . . . -------------- ------- "What the hell happened?" Heda barked when she got a good look at Joanna's face. The blonde grimaced. "I viciously attacked Alvin's fist with my face. Seriously, I need to take some karate lessons or something. I didn't even slow him down." "Alvin?!" Heda said, getting louder by the sentence. "I'm going to kill him!" "You'll have to break into county lock-up to do it," Edgar told her as he applied a cold compress to Joanna's face. Joanna held his hand, keeping the compress in place. She was aching for Edgar in the worst way, and was annoyed that she was not looking her best. "He lost it. I mean, even I was surprised. Madison was up meeting with Mr. Hannity and then Alvin and his mother come barging in. I don't know how they found out where the deal was going down. I tried to prevent him from going up, but he just punched me. They were already calling security, but I didn't want him screwing things up, so I followed him. I got pretty much thrown into a wall for my effort, but then Mr. Hannity just laid some serious smack down on him. Then Madison bitch slapped the wicked witch of the west." Heda was checking out Joanna's face when the startled look came over her. "Madison beat up Mrs. Hannity?" "Yeah, but it was total self-defense as far as the cops are concerned." "Well, what was the verdict?" "You might want to ask her," Billy said, looking towards the door to the basement. "It sounds like a 'yes,' but she isn't really talking. She grabbed a bottle of wine and locked herself down there the second she got home." Heda went over and tried the door. Yep, locked. She knocked, but got no response. "Madison? Babe, let me in?" She didn't hear anything. Time for plan B. "Babe, let me in or I'll break the doorknob and come down anyway." After a moment, she heard footsteps on stairs and the door came open. Madison's eyes were red and she was attempting to glare, but there was also a lifting of her shoulders and a slight breath of relief. "Screw you." Heda just caught her up in a hug and held her a couple of inches off the ground. "So I take it things got interesting?" "Put me down," Madison said, somewhat listlessly. Her feet were slowly lowered back to the carpeted stairs, then she turned on her heel and trundled back down. Heda followed after turning on the light and closing the door behind her. She got to the bottom and noticed the opened bottle of wine. "Madison, is this really --" She paused after picking up the bottle to find it still quite heavy. "You barely drank any of it." Madison sulked on her bed. "I realized that I didn't have anything to drink from, so I figured that I'd do the traditional wino thing and drink stuff straight from the bottle. But wine tastes like ass. Now I owe someone a bottle." "That would be Anthony." "I wonder if Kevin has any more of that special pot of his." Heda sat on the bed next to her girlfriend. "Madison, don't make me ask." The bat-shifter was sitting on her hands and biting her lip. "Yeah. The test was positive. He's . . . Mr. Hannity is --" "Your father?" "The sperm donor," Madison said, pushing herself back into the mountain of pillows next to her headboard. "I heard about what happened. Have you talked to him since you ko'd his wife?" Heda intentionally avoided saying "your mother." "I haven't spoken to him." Heda thought that was a weird response, then looked around and spotted Madison's cell phone over on the nightstand. She grabbed in and turned it on. Sure enough, there were several messages from the same number. "You can't avoid him forever." "I avoided him for twenty years. What's another seventy or so?" "Madison --" "What?" Madison shouted, jumping back up to her feet. "How am I supposed to respond to this?! Is there a 'Finding Out Your Brother is Satan for Dummies' that I could read? Damn it, how can you possibly understand?" "I'm just trying to help!" Heda replied. "Well stop!" "And let you sit around the basement and wallow in self-pity?" Heda was on her feet too, and she was agitated as all hell. "You want to get stoned or get drunk, or do anything but just fucking dealing with it. That's bullshit escapism and you know it." "Ooh, big word! What the hell is the worst thing you've ever had to deal with, huh? Your mother being too popular or your dad being too great or your brothers being too supportive? Or maybe being forced to have all that hot sex with European girls on your parents' dime?" "Oh, so now you're pissed off at me because my life hasn't sucked? Screw you! I'm not going to apologize for having a good life. You could have a good life too if you'd stop whining about your old one." "Get out!" Madison screamed. "Fine. Come talk to me when you're ready to stop being such a bitch." Heda stormed up the stairs, hearing the sound of feet scattering. She wondered how many of her friends had been listening in. "What the --" Sasha said as soon as Heda was up and the door was closed again. "Is she --" "Are you --" "Maybe someone should --" "People should just stay the hell out of there until she comes to her senses," Heda growled. "She's got a lot of nerve," she added, tromping into the dining room with a can of Pepsi and a bag of potato chips. "She just isn't happy if she doesn't have something to complain about." Heda found that Billy was in her path. She tried to brush by him, but it was like trying to move a semi-tractor by blowing on it. "What's your --" "I know you're mad, and you have every right to be. But Madison is my best friend, and I am not going to let you walk away from her. She needs you, and if that means you have to put up with her psychosis, then so be it." "And you were going to make me . . . how?" she whispered dangerously. But to his credit, Billy did not back down a step. "Do you know that people who win the lottery have an above-average rate of suicide?" Heda stared at him blankly. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" "Change is hard, even if its for the better. For her whole life, it has been Madison against the world. Then she got me and Sasha and eventually you guys, but she still had the Hannity Clan to rage against. Right now, she's confused, scared, and she needs an enemy to take it out on or to blame. Don't let her make YOU that enemy." Heda sighed. "We can't just let her do what she's doing though." "I know. And unfortunately, I'm all out of sage-like wisdom," Billy said, finally giving way so that Heda could sit down. "She has friends, a girlfriend, and possibly even a father who wants to love her. Most of that has happened in the course of a month. That's an awful lot of change, but she'll adjust. If I know one thing about Madison, it's that she's a survivor. But for her sake, and maybe for mine too since I hate seeing her like this, I'd like everyone to bend a little. Yeah, you can't let her push you around because of guilt or anything, but let her get her head above water again." Heda munched discontentedly on a potato chip while the room went silent. "So what do we do?" Joanna asked at last. "I guess we --" "She's gone," Sasha said, poking her head in the room. "What?" Heda said, getting quickly to her feet. "I was just going to see if she wanted a drink or anything. The door was open and she's not down there." "Fuck!" Billy and Heda said together. Outside, Madison was running. As soon as the conversation had moved away from the door, she had thrown on her jogging clothes and snuck out the front door. She had not had an opportunity to go running for a while, and she badly needed to burn off steam. There was a public park with a running trail a few blocks from the house, so she made a bee-line for that and started to push herself to the limit. Her echolocation was on full-blast, so she could see everything for hundreds of yards in every direction with perfect clarity. She realized after a few laps that she was not even really mad at Heda. She was not sure where that rage had come from, but she knew that she did not want to screw things up with that woman. She felt guilt for sure, but mostly over Mr. Hannity. When she had left the hospital, he had seemed genuinely distressed. His life was probably pretty shook up too, and he was under a much bigger microscope in the shifter community than she was. 'Billionaire banker discovers blind daughter abandoned at birth,' she thought. 'Film at eleven.' She just wanted to bang her head into a tree until it all made sense. Or until she lost consciousness. Whichever came first. Madison picked up the pace again, rounding the area next to the plastic spiral children's slide before applying the brakes hard. Scanning forward, she discovered that she was most definitely not alone. ---------- ------------------------- To be continued . . . Flying Blind Ch. 05 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" ---------- "I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." ~ John Newton, "Amazing Grace" ---------- "Fuck, I don't see her!" Heda had been using her Gift that improved her vision to that of her eagle counterpart, but Madison was nowhere in sight. "She can't have gone far," Billy said. "She can run and she can fly," Sasha reminded him. "I could try tracking her," Joanna said, still sporting a black eye from her encounter with Madison's arch enemy (and apparently, Madison's brother). Strangely, the cobra shifter was one of the only two changelings in the house that was a good tracker, the other being Anthony in his skunk form. "I'll help," the skunk-shifter chimed in. "Hold on," Billy replied, looking at his girlfriend. "Sasha is right. Not only can she run, she likes to run. When I first met her, that was pretty much her favorite form of therapy." "Think she went to the park?" Peter asked, looking down the street. "The park? At night? Jogging?!" Heda's voice was getting louder. "With a psychopath on the loose kidnapping and torturing shifters?" "Yes, because getting angry right now is so helpful," Billy muttered, glad that eagles were not known for their spectacular hearing. "What was that?" "We might want to go check out the park before we panic," he replied and strode down the street. "Hold up, I'm going with you," Heda said, then looked over her shoulder. "Joanna, if she isn't there, I'll call and then you can start tracking." "Got it boss." Billy almost cracked a smile. Everyone HAD accepted that Heda was the boss, even though she had only been around for a month and a half. She just had a way about her. At the park, Madison had stopped her midnight run when she encountered a stranger standing boldly in her path. Well, maybe not so much a stranger any more. "What do you want?" she asked. Mr. William Hannity shrugged almost helplessly. "To talk. I followed you from your house. And don't give me that look, Madison. You aren't giving me any other options. You didn't want to talk after the incident at the hospital, and you aren't returning my phone calls." "Maybe that should say something to you," she shot back. "I am not my son," he replied sadly. "And I'm sorry if I am not the villain you wish me to be. I cannot simply take back the last twenty years and do them over the way we both would like. I just want a chance to get to know you," he said, his voice a whisper. "I want you to get to know me. Just name your terms and . . . we have company." "What?" Madison turned her sonar back on and saw her best friend and girlfriend (if she still was) hauling ass towards the park. "Good grief," she muttered, her world plunging back into darkness. "I just wanted to go for a run." "What the hell are you thinking?!" Heda said as she got closer. She eyeballed Mr. Hannity for a second, but he was secondary at the moment. "You do realize that there's a freak-job out there kidnapping shifters, and you decide to go for a moonlit stroll? At night? By yourself?!" "That was rather foolish," Mr. Hannity agreed. "SCREW . . . YOU!" she said in two discrete and very clear vocalizations. "Both of you! You too!" Billy scrunched his eyes. "What did I do?" "I'm sure you did something," she mumbled. "I'm sorry for interrupting," Heda told Mr. Hannity. "It's just . . . well we had --" She turned back to Madison. "Are you completely out of your mind?" "And we're back to that," Madison said. "Hey, I want to run. Hey, here's an idea! Mr. Hannity, why don't you stalk Heda? Billy, you can dazzle them both with your wit. I'm going to keep running and --" She heard a long, slow creak, so she scanned the area. All three of them had sat down on the bench and were just staring at her. "You are not seriously planning on --" "Yep," Heda said. She got on the phone to tell her housemates that the wayward soul had been found. "This is stalking! I mean it!" "I'm sure you do," Billy replied. Before she could even open her mouth, William Hannity crossed his leg over his knee. "I'm not leaving until we can come to some kind of terms." Madison threw up her hands and took off running. Unfortunately, she severely underestimated the amount of energy required to run several miles in a circle versus watching someone run several miles in a circle, especially since she had been running for a bit before Mr. Hannity showed up. Finally, she stopped in front of their bench, putting her hands on her knees and gasping for breath. "Fine," she wheezed. "We'll talk." An hour later, they were sitting in around a table at Holy Grounds, a coffee shop that catered to students. Madison had gone home and gotten cleaned up, and then taken her first ride ever in a limousine. Billy was unimpressed, while Heda had called the driver several times from the phone in the back to ask if they were almost there. Mr. Hannity had finally taken the phone away from her. Madison's mouth had started to open at several points, but she could not think of how to proceed. Finally, "You shouldn't divorce her," drifted across the table, quiet as a mouse. "Not because of me." Mr. Hannity's face hardened. "Your mother --" "Don't call her that," Madison interrupted. He nodded. On this, he agreed with Madison. "Meghan chose her own path a long time ago." "But you have to love her, right? You've been with her all this time." He sighed. "There was affection, yes. It was not the most passionate marriage. In many ways, it was more like a pleasant merger, as was expected by both parties. A strong house, a good family . . . these were the things we agreed to during courtship. But there was friendship and even love, to a certain degree. But none of that makes up for this. Some affronts cannot be overlooked." "But --" "Madison," Billy said softly, "what would you do if you were in his position? Since it is obvious that you cannot forgive her for what she did either." The bat-shifter's mouth opened, then snapped shut. He was right. Biological mother or not, she could never forgive the woman for what she did, or for the look of venom in her eyes earlier that day. How could anyone hate her own child like that? "Point taken." "I do feel a need to defend myself somewhat," William added. "I did not give you up, nor would I have. I would not have allowed you to be treated the way you have been." "Babe, even Ed said that he was a stand up guy." "Babe?" Mr. Hannity said. "Yeah, I'm gay too," Madison blurted. "Blind and gay." Mr. Hannity's mouth curled slightly at the corners. "I take it then that your relationship with Miss Adler is more than 'good friends'?" "Yeah. Is that really the sort of daughter you want hanging around?" "I'll manage." She squinted in his direction. "I'm borderline psychotic." "Borderline?" Heda coughed under her breath, then grinned when she knew she was being scanned. "You haven't met your sister. Again, I think I can handle it." Madison's heart jumped in her throat at the word "sister." "I'm not exactly polished." "Not necessary." "I'm going to make this difficult for you." "Looking forward to it." "I'm a registered Democrat." As she scanned him, Mr. Hannity blinked slowly three times. "We'll talk." Now, Madison gave a little smile, but just a little one. "Okay. So how do we do this?" And just like that, the air around them seemed to become depressurized and everyone, Madison included, took a deep breath. "Maybe we can just start by getting to know each other. Maybe get together for one meal a day for a while --" "Don't you have a job or something?" she asked. "I'm the president of the bank, and we're making money hand over fist. Who's going to fire me?" She had to admit that he had a point. "Okay, but I AM kinda busy. With classes and homework and the show and all." "And I would never ask that you neglect any of them, or spending time with your friends." He appeared to be thinking about something. "And maybe you could come out to Dallas for a weekend? I really would like for you to meet Morgan and Timothy. You could bring Heda if you like and if she's available, or any of your friends." Heda squeezed her girlfriend's hand under the table. "I don't have any games the weekend after next. I'm sure with Reichert's help, we can get you time away from the station." "I don't mind covering for you," Billy said. "But you play the most awful lounge music!" Madison whined. "Music snob." "Duh!" Mr. Hannity smiled a little more broadly. "I play blues guitar." "Shut up! Seriously?" Madison said, spinning to face him. Once the conversation turned to music, the mood elevated substantially. Billy and Heda contributed some, but mostly just jumped in whenever Madison realized that she was having fun and began to panic. She was an odd creature that way. But by the time Holy Grounds closed, the bat-shifter had agreed to show Mr. Hannity her music collection, including her signed Fats Domino "My Blue Heaven" album, which her father-in-waiting was anxious to see. The went back to the house and Madison showed off her room, though she was suddenly nervous about the "coolness" factor of everything she owned. After a while, it was more like she was entertaining a teacher than the father of her arch enemy. It got late enough that Mr. Hannity had to leave, though he made sure they had a dinner session the next day. He insisted that Joanna be asked along so that he could thank her for her attempts to ward off Alvin. Madison had no idea what to think anymore, but she honestly felt lighter than she had in ages. When she and Heda curled up in Heda's bed for the night after some making-up making-out, she slept as deeply as she had in her life. ------------ ------------------------ Almost two weeks later . . . ------------ ------------------------ Five steps further, then a pause. It was an oxymoron . . . the Cold was filled with white-hot rage. It was a coal-burning anger, intense heat that simmered under the surface, not seen but definitely felt if you were unfortunate enough to come too close. The Message had become a footnote, important to the Enemy but lost from the title. So it was time to start the next chapter, and the protagonist was on the move. There was a world underneath Theirs that was, quite literally, beneath them. The Cold crept through the tunnel, up the stairs and through an access door. It had stolen the keys some time ago in preparation for a moment like this. Up one more flight of stairs, then It peeked through the wire-enforced glass at an inauspicious dorm-room number numbered "203." The next Message was in there, or would be soon. Then the Cold would have something to say. --------- ----------------- The next night . . . --------- ----------------- Heda was sitting on the couch next to Joanna, typing rapidly on her creative writing homework. Joanna was reading some text on business financing, a class that she was taking with Carla. The horse-shifter was in the kitchen, using some of the plethora of new gadgets that Heda's mom had bought before leaving, acting for all the world like a kid in a candy store. Peter and Kevin were out, Sasha and Anthony were on a grocery run, and Billy and Madison were doing their show. And when Madison was on the radio, the radio was on in the house. Madison came back on really quickly after a block, and Heda could hear something in her voice. "Hey all of you night owls out there," she started, her voice lacking some of that spice that made Heda's heart race. "There's something in the air tonight . . . something I can't explain. It's like the big dogs are ready to howl, and the rest of us should come inside, lock the doors, and listen to a little CCR. Here's 'Bad Moon Rising' for you all, and this is your hostess Madison Sloan." Peter and Heda exchanged a look, then got up and headed to the car. The combination of "big dogs" and that song meant that it was time for an emergency meeting of the primary participants in the shifter neighborhood watch. "When Carla and Anthony get back --" Heda started to say. "We'll let 'em know, and everyone stays in doors," Joanna replied. "Check the windows and the doors," Peter added as he and his fellow bird-shifter got out to his car. The two of them hauled ass, but the house was only a few minutes away from the gym meant for meetings. Reichert was already on the podium. After a few more minutes, he spoke up. "Everyone here?" He did a head count. "Close enough. Okay, we've had another disappearance, and this guy is getting bolder. Somehow, he was able to kidnap a shifter right out of her dorm room. We're not sure how he got in, but he knocked out the roommate somehow and made off with a 19 year old girl. He waved down as the crowd began to rumble. "This changes everything. He's coming in closer, and simply being near another person does not ensure safety." "How was the roommate knocked out?" Heda asked. "We're not sure, but the initial belief is that she was drugged." More rumbling, then Heda spoke again. "Drugging a shifter is hard as hell." Reichert nodded. "Which means there may be a magical component to it. All we know is that there were no other apparent injuries, no residue of spell-casting, and no sign of a struggle. The roommate was discovered in her room late this evening after missing several appointments and not responding to calls. As mentioned earlier, this changes everything," he said, sweeping the room with his gaze. "We can't hold this from the human authorities, so when the story breaks, we are encouraging all shifters to leave for the semester. We cannot risk . . . I said WE CANNOT RISK YOUR LIVES!" he finished loudly. "We can't --" " -- panic and --" " -- about tuition?" "QUIET!" Reichert bellowed, and silence ensued. "We cannot force you to go, but we cannot guarantee your safety if you stay." "What can you tell us about the shifter who was taken?" Peter asked. "Her name is Twila Morgan, and she's an alligator shifter. That's all that I can say at this time. Please, consider withdrawing. You will not be penalized in any way by the university. Until you are safely off campus, or if you decide to stay, stick in larger groups. We are bringing in warrior shifters from all the communities to help, and they'll be posing as campus security." 'Crap,' Heda thought. She did not want her mother being brought into this. Of course, her mother was retired from active service, but that did not mean she might not try to volunteer anyway. "Security will also be sent on all out-of-area sporting events, just to be sure. If you are a watch leader and plan on leaving, let me know so that your duties can be reassigned. I will not ask you to make your decision here, and I will look very harshly at anyone who tries to guilt one of their comrades into staying. Do I make myself clear?" The meeting went on for a little while longer, but then they finally dispersed. Peter and Heda were on full alert back to the car, but they were also mostly quiet. "Wanna go to the station?" Heda just nodded. They drove over and found all the doors quite locked. Billy finally came to let them in, and hie looked grim. "When did the call come in?" "About two minutes before she went on air. She's a little freaked, so --" "Tread carefully as if she were . . . say, Madison?" Billy smiled a bit. "You've got the hang of this." "I don't think she's something you understand so much as just try to survive the ride." "There's all sorts of things wrong with that statement." "Shut up." "Okie dokie." Madison was sitting in her booth, but the casual confidence that she showed in her little domain was absent. Her hands trembled when they drifted over the CDs and controls. "Go on in," Billy said. He buzzed the door, so Madison was "looking" straight at Heda when she walked in. "Hey," Madison said. "You didn't have to come over," she said, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. "I wanted to. Looks like Reichert's pushing for shifters to get out of Dodge while the getting is good." "Kinda figured from when his secretary called me. Things don't sound good." "You know, you could go. I'm sure Mr. Hannity would love for you to extend the weekend visit to a few months." "I think that's a little more than I can handle right now. Maybe you should stay though. They're going to need you here." "Do you WANT to go visit the vast Hannity estate for the first time by yourself?" Madison almost whispered, "No." "Then hush your mouth." Madison looked to the still open door. "How long?" "Five and a half minutes." Suddenly, Madison was clinging to Heda like a second skin. It was more for security than any romantic reason. "I didn't want to say it," the bat-shifter said sadly. "As if me saying anything caused it. Made it true." "You're being a bit irrational." "And this surprises you why?" They both got a chuckle out of that, then Madison kissed Heda lightly. "This one isn't coming back alive, is she?" "We don't know that." Madison sighed. "He's escalating too fast. Death is the next step." "We can't give up hope that we'll find whoever this is in time. Now you and I are doing all we can. This weekend, we're going to go visit the man who is your biological father and wants to be your father in EVERY way that matters. You're going to try to have fun and give him a chance." Madison gave a half-assed salute. "Yes ma'am." "As you were, soldier," Heda replied with a slight smile, initiating the kiss this time. Madison almost missed her "On-Air" cue. ------------ ------------------- That weekend . . . ------------ ------------------- Heda realized far too late that Madison did not really like airplanes, which was not surprising since this was the first one she'd ever been in one. This would have been good information to have before the bat-shifter dug her fingernails into Heda's arm for two hours. The phrase, "I promise you we aren't going to crash, now would you like a Ginger Ale?" was uttered more times than it ever should be. Luckily, their seats were first class and the flight attendants were helpful (and quietly amused). "And why is it you neglected to tell me you hadn't flown before?" Heda asked as she held Madison's hand to keep her from hauling ass up the ramp to the concourse. "I don't know. I didn't think it would be a big deal." Heda looked at the nail imprints in her arm. "Yeah, well I guess it kind of was." "So how does this work?" Madison said nervously. "Where do we go?" "He'll be waiting on the other side of the security checkpoint. I've only been through DFW once, and that was when I was a kid. I know it's huge though. It's like a transport center and a mall all rolled up into one. A very expensive mall." The two of them made their way through the herd of passengers towards the baggage claim. As soon as they passed the security checkpoint, -- Flying Blind Ch. 05 "I see your . . . Mr. Hannity. He's not alone. Damn, she looks just like --" Madison had switched on her echolocation just in time to be the recipient of a full-forced colliding hug. "Ack!" she said, somewhat indignantly. A young woman had just hurled herself into Madison's personal space with the delicate sensibilities of a bull in a china shop. "Morgan, I really don't think that's --" "Screw you Dad," the young woman in question shot back, her voice cracking like thin ice under weight it was never meant to bear. "You do not get to tell me that I have a long lost sister and then tell me I can't do this." "Ack!" Madison inserted again. It seemed to be becoming her favorite utterance. The girl had a friggin' grip! Then it hit her . . . she was being hugged by her sister. Her flesh-and-blood biological sister. She started to get a little bit teary, then Morgan started to get teary as well. Heda stood next to Mr. Hannity. "She always like this?" "Morgan? Well, she's a sweetheart, but this is a little bit unprecedented for her." To his (younger) daughter, "Morgan, please let Madison go. There will be plenty of time for that later." "God, they look a lot alike," Heda whispered. Mr. Hannity nodded. "I can't believe I didn't see it instantly. I guess that just the notion that she was real and alive was too much to process." Heda glanced over at the teenage boy on the other side of Mr. Hannity. He looked somewhat suspicious and very confused, but not hostile. "Madison, you've met my daughter Morgan," William said as the two girls finally achieved some separation. "This young man is Timothy." Timothy was sizing the new arrival up, and Madison scanned around to get a feel for him as well. "Hey," he said at last. "Hey," Madison replied. William whispered to Heda out of the corner of his mouth, "With Timothy, that constitutes a speech. He's a bit shy." Morgan, on the other hand, had no problem with shy. She absolutely needed to know absolutely everything about Madison for as long as the older girl could remember. Timothy, while still obviously uncomfortable, offered to help with the luggage without being asked, though neither Heda nor Madison had really packed that much for just a weekend trip. Then it was off to the limo and the trip to Highland Park, an area of Dallas known to be a bit on the posh side. "Good grief!" Heda muttered as she stared out the window. "What?" Madison asked. Heda rolled down the window so that her girlfriend could scan the outside. The bat-shifter wound up having to stick her head out the window. "These houses are huge! You could fit a small country into one of these!" William Hannity snorted. "One of the neighbors tried to declare himself his own country." "Mr. Smithson was kinda weird," Morgan replied with a nod. Madison felt weird about the whole thing. This whole world was beyond her comprehension. Most of her life had taken place in small rooms that had seen better days. "You are SO going to love our house," Morgan said with the exuberance of youth. She looked at her father. "So which room is hers?" "I think that we need to let her make that decision," he replied. "None of them are mine," Madison said. "I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone." "You're not," Mr. Hannity said. "You can't take away what is already yours." "Why is it hers?" Timothy blurted, his face forming a grimace. "She hasn't earned any of it. She hasn't lived here and she isn't part of --" 
"Timothy, be quiet!" William shouted. "You are such a tool!" Morgan added, glaring at her brother. "Why?" Madison said, about as uncomfortable at that moment as she had ever been in his life. "He's right." "No, he's not," Mr. Hannity said with a stern correction. "You did not abandon us in a time of need, and you did not choose to be absent." He looked at his son. "Your mother made a reprehensible choice a long time ago, and I will not let you blame Madison for the results of it. I thought we understood each other." "But Dad --" "This was a mistake," Madison said. "Maybe we should just go back to the airport --" "Madison, you promised me at least the weekend," William Hannity said, his voice pained. "Please don't take that away from me." Morgan kicked her brother in the shin. "Yeah. Don't listen to the pipsqueak." Madison looked from brother to sister and back. "I'm not trying to take anything from you guys," she said. "I never wanted to cause problems with your mother or your brother." "I can't even imagine Mom doing what she did," Morgan said honestly. "And Alvin's an ass." "Morgan," her father said disapprovingly. "He IS!" she replied angrily. "He was always a bully, but to pick on her and then beat her up and hate her for being blind? Is it because she's a girl or because she's our SISTER that pisses me off more about that? Hmm, let me think on that one. And for what? Because he wanted our trust fund split three ways instead of four? Poor baby!" Heda decided she liked Morgan. "Seriously Timmy, what if it was you, and Mom gave you away because you were born without a personality?" "Don't answer that," her father said. "Though she has a point. About putting yourself in Madison's shoes I mean." Timothy had no response, but he was given a reprieve. "Here we are," Morgan said. "Holy shit!" Heda said. Madison looked out the window and scanned. The yard was so big that she actually could not detect the house at first. When the limo got closer, Madison's mouth gaped open. It was not a house, it was a palace. There was a fountain out front, huge doors, a garage off to one side that looked like it could hold a Nascar event, and then there was the house itself. "It's really mostly for show," Mr. Hannity said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "You have a live in maid, don't you?" "Well . . . two actually. Benjamin lives there to," he said, looking towards the chauffeur's window. "He's also the butler. And we have a cook. Speaking of which, do you have any dietary restrictions?" Madison was still just staring at the house, so Heda answered. "She's a vegetarian, for the most part. She does sometimes . . . eat bugs." "In human form?" Morgan asked, her eyes wide. "Ewh!" "Not often. And hey, they can be very tasty and nutritious," Madison replied defensively, though she could not take her mind off the house. Mr. Hannity looked at his son. "So you're not the only insectivore anymore." Tim looked slightly interested. "What kind of bat are you?" he asked. "California Myotis," she replied. "You?" "Western Pipistrelle. Dad, Mom, and Alvin are all vampire bats." 
"I'm a flying fox!" Morgan said, her eyes wide. "Okay, I don't get the groovy radar --" "Echolocation," the other bats muttered. "-- but I can see really well in the dark. Good sense of smell too, which is why I have to avoid Tim's room when I go flying." "Hey!" Tim said when he realized he had been dissed. They got out of the limo and ushered into the house, with the promise that their luggage would be taken to their rooms. The tour began almost immediately. The house had ten bedrooms in the main house, while the "help" stayed in a smaller house nearby. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. There were two dining rooms, one for entertaining and one for more intimate dinners. They had a -- "Pool!" Heda said, looking out into the backyard. "It's got a waterslide! Not as big as Raging Rapids, but still pretty cool." "Feel free to go for a swim," Mr. Hannity said. "I didn't bring a suit," Madison said. "And I can't swim." "We'll teach you," Heda said. "Suits?" Morgan asked, looking confused. "Everyone here's a shifter. Well, not the help, but they know. Mrs. Sanchez is a voodoo priestess, by the way, so don't muck with her. She's the cook." Morgan gave a knowing look. "Swim . . . naked?" Madison replied. She knew she was blushing. "Madison isn't quite used to the whole 'communal nudity' thing," Heda explained. "But why?" Madison closed her eyes. "Not a lot of shifters ever wanted to hang out with me," she said softly. "Actually, none of them did. Well, not until I met Billy." "Is Billy your boyfriend?" Timothy asked. Madison looked shocked. "God no! He's a boy!" Timothy and Morgan were both looking confused. Then they came to the same realization at the same time. "Oh." "That's not a problem is it?" "That you're a lesbo?" Morgan asked, back to being nonplussed. "Nah. Just . . . wait," she paused, then looked at Heda. "So you're --" "Her girlfriend?" Heda met the question with a grin. "Yep." "Woah! Nice job sis!" she said. Madison blushed again. "Thanks. I think." "So you treating my sister right?" "As rain." Morgan looked confused. "What does that mean? 'Right as rain?' I never got that." Madison was glad for the reprieve as Heda promptly explained the entire history of the phrase. But the reprieve was slight, and a swim was ordered. Morgan had suits for when there was human company, so they planned on a quick dip to fight off the Texas heat, but first they were shown their rooms. The rooms were, of course, ridiculously opulent. Heda, for the sake of propriety would not be sharing a bedroom, but was right next door. "The bed is bigger than my old dorm room," Madison muttered. "Oh God, you have to tell me everything about college!" Morgan said, tossing a suit onto the bed. "I'm working on graduating a semester early so I can go to FCU in a year and a half instead of two years." "Honestly, you guys are kind of coming in on the most interesting semester I've ever had," Madison said. "And quite frankly, it's not exactly been a picnic." "Oh yeah!" Morgan said, putting her hands over her mouth. "That freak-o kidnapper. What's going on with that?" Morgan apparently was a conversational machine. If she wasn't telling a story, she was digging one out of whoever happened to be around. By the time they got to the pool, Morgan knew everything about the investigation that Madison had been able to recall as well as everything about Alvin's bizarre behavior leading up to the hearing. "She doesn't stop!" Madison muttered to Heda when they were alone for a second. "She's something all right," Heda responded, taking a moment to appreciate Morgan's taste in swimwear. The suit she had given Madison was smokin', taking full advantage of the girl's slim, runner's body. "Stop staring at my ass," Madison whispered, blushing a bit. "No. Now get in the water." Teaching Madison to swim was oddly comical. The moment that the bat-shifter's toes couldn't the floor of the pool anymore, she started to panic, and it took a lot of coaxing from Heda to calm her down. Even Timothy got into the act. He was on his school's swim team, and watching Madison flounder seemed to strike a nerve with him. Mr. Hannity just sat in a pool chair and watched, his eyes twinkling with delight. Lemonade magically appeared several times at poolside to the joy of all, and then it was back to drowning . . . uhm, swimming lessons. The only thing that kept Madison going was the knowledge that no one was going to allow her on the water-slide until she learned how to stay afloat. Once that had sunk in, she dedicated herself to the art of dog paddling. Finally, when the others were no longer afraid that she would sink like a rock, the water to the slide was turned on and away they went. All in all, it was a joyful afternoon for them all. You would never have known that Morgan and Madison had not been "sisters" for their entire lives. Timothy, it turned out, was actually more fascinated by Heda when he found out who her mother was, leading to the repetition of "What's it like being Jessica Adler's daughter?" conversation. Tim had apparently done a paper on the insect-shifter uprising. Swimming was great, dinner was excellent, and the tour of the house was impressive. But nothing compared to one simple question. Mr. Hannity looked over at Heda. "I don't mean to exclude you, but I was wondering if we might spend some time alone with Madison. Maybe go for a nice night flight?" Heda's heart swelled with an overload of joy at the look on Madison's face. Flying with other bats . . . flying with family. There was nothing that she had wanted more when she was growing up. "Fly?" she whispered. "Yes. There's some wonderful wooded areas to the East that are great for stretching your wings. Interested?" Madison just nodded. "Can we go now?" -------- ---------------------- Several hours later . . . -------- ---------------------- Madison was positively giddy. She and the Hannity clan had raced through any number of parks before getting to a small patch of wilderness, then she and Timothy had hunted bugs, Morgan had hung around in a peach tree, and Mr. Hannity . . . well, he watched. He seemed to be pretty good at just watching. Madison had not wanted the night to end. The window to her bedroom had been left open so that she could fly in and change. By the time she was done, there was already a knock on her door. She opened up to find Morgan in a robe on the other side. "Hey!" Madison said, her heart still fluttering. "Hey," Morgan said, giving the newcomer a big hug. "What's that for?" Madison replied. "For being here." "I still can't believe how well you're taking this. I mean, your parents may be getting divorced, and your brother . . . He's an asshole, but he's still your family." Morgan sighed. "Can I come in for a sec?" When Madison waved her in, she went and sat in the chair next to the bed. "I'm mad at Alvin and Mom. Alvin was a jerk, but I've never known him to attack a girl. I thought he had some standards. And I can't believe they'd do this to the rest of us, especially Dad. Maybe I just haven't processed it all, ya know? But --" Morgan paused, and it was the first time that Madison had ever seen the girl at a loss for words. Of course, their relationship only went back about twelve hours. "What is it?" "I'm glad you're here because now I can stop feeling so bad." "About what? You didn't know what they --" "No, not that. And not even how hard you must have had it . . . well, maybe a little. I felt bad because I hated you all those years and now I don't have to." Madison was stunned. "Hated me? But I was dead, at least as far as you knew?" "I know. Pathetic, huh?" Morgan knew that Madison wasn't looking right now because she was talking, so she reached out and gently took her sister's hand. "Every year, Dad kinda beat himself up over not being there when you were born. I know that once he found out you were alive . . . he's been kicking himself all week. Like if he'd been there, Mom never would've been able to do what she did. Before, he thought his being there might have 'saved your life' or somethin'." "But why did you hate me?"
 "Because I was selfish. Because I couldn't give my Dad that one day every year to mourn you. Because I wanted him to think as much about the kids he had as the one he'd lost." Madison felt chilled. "I fucked up your family, and I wasn't even here." "It's YOUR family too," Morgan said. "And I didn't mean it like that. I was just jealous, and it was petty. It wasn't like he really neglected us. He just got kinda spacey. I hated that. Dad is a good guy, Madison. He's always tried his best, even when Alvin was a complete prick and didn't deserve help. And yeah, I hope that Alvin comes around and I don't like that Mom and Dad are splitting, but I really wish Mom hadn't given away my sister. That's like . . . that's like adultery, but ten bazillion times worse. If she wants to make it right, she's got a long way to go." "Considering she wanted to strangle me at the test results and then I punched her a couple of times, I wouldn't hold my breath." "Yeah, but still," Morgan said, standing up and kissing Madison's forehead, "a kinda fucked-up family is still family, right?" Once Morgan left, Madison just sat on the bed. Then she started to cry. After a minute, she heard the door open again, then felt strong arms around her. She did not even need to check who it was, because Heda's arms were familiar to her now. She did not even know why she was crying this time. She did not know if she was happy or sad, but she did know that she wanted to be held. ------------- -------------------- Back in Crystal Pass . . . ------------- -------------------- It was disappointed in this one. The Messenger had not had the stamina of the others, expiring after just a few days. It sat perched on top of the pyramid, weights pulling down from Its ankles and waist. Its wrists were still tied behind Its back, and its neck had a chained collar that was attached to the ceiling. It had screamed a great deal at first, then cried. It had tried to Change, but the Cold had prevented that. It had chilled the blood, making It keep Its human face. When It had stopped crying and stopped begging, the Cold knew that It had passed on. This time, the Message would not be voiced. This time, the Message would be conveyed in a medium. Underneath Its skin, this thing was a reptile. This time, the Message would be written in the skin. ------------- -------------------- Several days later . . . ------------- -------------------- Madison was kicking back in the booth after putting on a long block. Her weekend had gone better than she had expected, and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it. Mr. Hannity had been ever so patient, Timothy had started to warm to her, and she to both of them. Morgan had, by her own decree, become Madison's little sister. There was simply no debating it. When Madison had landed back at the airport in Denver, the first thing that happened was Morgan calling to make sure that her sister had landed okay. And to talk about shoes. She had called the next day as well, and had called earlier that evening before Madison had gone on the air. She had requested a Britney Spears song. Madison had replied with, "I'll think about it." The bat-shifter was lost in thought as the Eagles took it easy on the radio, and her heart was light. The second day she had spent with the Hannitys, William had dusted off his guitar and had played a few blues numbers before Heda had convinced Madison to sing along. Smores had been made, sodas had been drunk, and a situation that Madison had gone into with trepidation turned into one that she left with fondness and a little regret. "You're daydreaming again," Billy said from the door. Madison let her head roll back in an exaggerated movement, then jerked if forward. "Five more minutes, Mommy!" Then she stuck her tongue out at her best friend. "You really had a good time, didn't you?" She flashed a brilliant smile. "I flew with other bats!" Billy grinned a bit himself. "So you said. I'm proud of you, you know that?" "Huh? Why?" "Because you're really trying. I know how hard it is for you to trust people, and the Hannity name doesn't exactly provide you with Hallmark moments." "But they're trying so hard," she replied, spinning in her chair. "William is really everything that Alvin isn't. Timothy's a good kid, and Morgan --" "Is a force of nature," Billy chuckled. "And if she can make you smile like you have been since you got back, then she's got my vote. Only other person who can make you smile like that is --" "Hmm, Heda," Madison murmured happily. "She's the best girlfriend on the planet." "Hey, I AM out here," Sasha bellowed. "Besides her of course," Billy replied, trying not to roll his eyes. "Ooh, now THAT was an enthusiastic defense." "Perceptive as ever, my dear." "Thanks. Hey, wait a minute --" The phone rang, and all joviality left the room. This phone had been installed for one purpose, and that was to take calls from the shifter network. Sasha even got up and came to the door to find out what was happening. Flying Blind Ch. 05 Within moments, Madison looked ill. She killed the current play list and started the "emergency warning" broadcast. "Is it --" Sasha started to say, then stopped when Madison put her hand up. "This is an emergency broadcast to any and all students at FCU," she started, her voice breaking. "FCU campus has requested that all students, faculty, and staff please go indoors. Make sure that your are with a minimum of at least one other person. This is a mandatory curfew for the FCU campus. Do not open your door for anyone you do not know except for FCU Police. Police officers will always go in pairs, so do not open up if there is only a single officer present. Please keep your radios on and await further instructions. This is NOT a drill." Madison droned on almost blankly for several more minutes, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation before signing off. "They found her," Madison whispered. "And it doesn't sound like they found her alive." ----------- ------------------- Back at the house . . . ----------- ------------------- Edgar got back to the house far too late. They had finally sent him and the other investigators home while the morning crew showed up. The evidence had been collected, the scene blocked off, and the victim . . . well, there was nothing left that could done for her. "What happened?" came a voice from the dark before Ed could even close the door. He figured his sister would have waited up. It was an official investigation, so he knew that he should not be sharing information with anyone. But he also knew that his sister often saw things that he missed, and he needed a fresh pair of eyes anyway. His hurt from the strain of what he had seen. "Are you sure you want to know?" "Have you ever known me to ask and not want to know?" "I . . . I think I need a drink first." Heda picked a bottle of wine from the floor and a glass. She and Joanna had picked it up on the way home, because Heda knew that her brother would need it. "How bad?" He sat down next to her. "He skinned her," he whispered, putting the files down on the coffee table. "Dammit Heda, he took the skin off from over her heart after he killed her and put it in her mouth. He put her on something called a Judas Cradle where he put her --" Ed was breaking down. Heda did a quick search on her laptop and saw what he was talking about. A victim was forced to sit on top of a small pyramid while weights were tied to her waist, or they were lowered and raised via a pulley system. It was painful and demeaning and crippling. "He put her on that, he whipped her, and he killed her and then he took her skin. And he wrote something on her back in her own blood." "What?" "It said, 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.' Some of the guys are saying that this guy sees himself as the king and he's daring us to come after him." Heda leaned back. "Or maybe he's going after the king," she whispered. Ed nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I think this guy is going after Reichert." "But why? Is this some bizarre challenge to his crown? Did you tell Reichert?" "I've got an appointment with him tomorrow. Meanwhile, each of us is going through the files on all the students." "Found anything?" Heda picked up a manila folder. "Well, they all took one of Reichert's classes, but that is apparently not surprising." "No," Joanna said from the bottom of the stairs, "every shifter takes one of his classes in their first year." "What are you doing up?" She tried to smile, but there was not much behind it. "I doubt anyone is asleep right now," she added, moving behind Ed and massaging his shoulders. "She's got that right," Kevin chipped in, coming out of the kitchen with Carla, Anthony, and Peter. "We've been downing coffee and . . . other things . . . for about six hours." "I'm going to check on Madison," Heda said. "Here," the bat-shifter said as she came out of the back with Billy and Sasha. "We were just talking," she said, letting herself get pulled into her girlfriend's lap. She scanned and found Ed. "We want to help. Whatever we can do. And we're not leaving." "Babe, Mr. Hannity can help you relocate --" 
"Would you ask any of the others to leave?" Heda nodded. "Damn straight. And I don't think they'd listen to me either, but YOU I have to try with." Her girlfriend smiled, then sighed. "I can't really do much with researching unless they have police reports in braille." She stood up. "But I can get you guys coffee." "Listen," Ed said, "you guys really shouldn't --" "Be any more involved than you were going to let Heda be?" Billy observed, grabbing another file. Ed slapped his hand on a folder that Joanna was trying to grab. "You don't want to do that sweets." "But --"
 "No, that one has pictures." Joanna pulled her hand away, though she let it trace across Ed's. "Okay," he said, then handed the bottle of wine to Madison. "Coffee with two sugars." ------------ ------------------ The next day . . . ------------ ------------------ "That is an interesting theory," King Reichert said, looking quite tired on the other side of the desk. Edgar, Heda, and Carla had dropped by. Edgar was an official representative, Carla was involved and thought she might jog Reichert's memory about something, and Heda . . . Heda just needed to feel like she was doing something. "The other option is that he wants to be king or is claiming to be a king, but this feels right to me," Edgar replied. "Which begs the question, is there anyone you know who might want you dead?" "I am a shifter monarch," Reichert replied. "So the answer is a lot of people." "Any feuds that come to mind? Something connected with the University?" Reichert looked thoughtful. "Nothing comes to mind." "Okay, you've been working here for how many years?" "Four. I did some seminars here before that, but four years as full time faculty." Ed looked at the professor. "Sir, do you remember Carla Cowan?" "Of course. She took my intro class a year ago. I am so sorry, my dear, for everything that you went through. It this winds up being because of me --" "I'm still alive," Carla said. "That last girl isn't. And this is about some psycho. Not about you, not about me." "You are a wise girl," he said. "You deserved that grade." Reichert noticed Ed's raised eyebrow. "Carla was my number one student that . . . class." Reichert had stopped. "Sir, what is it?" "Carla was my number one student. It may just be coincidence, but the girl that was killed . . . this latest victim, Twila Morgan? She was the highest score in my History of Prehistory class last semester." Edgar was on edge now. "John Stein, the second victim." Reichert rolled his chair over to a filing cabinet. He unlocked it and started rifling through his filed. "Mr. Stein took one of my seminars when I was just a visiting professor," he muttered. "Here it is." Reichert's eyes widened, then he handed the sheet to Edgar. "Highest score in the class." "Someone's targeting your best students?" Edgar said. "That makes no --" "Oh shit!" Heda said, jumping to her feet, then reaching for her cell phone. "What?" "Madison," she muttered as she started punching numbers. "Madison got the best score in one of your classes, didn't she?" Reichert nodded. "She tied with . . . she tied with Alvin Hannity." A short while later, Edgar was talking with the other investigators who were in turn trying to get in touch with the list of students provided by Reichert, containing every top student he had for every class he had ever taught. While overall security would not be lessened, it was a solid lead and the students on that list would be notified. The ones still on campus were given top billing, while the ones who had moved on would be placed under the protection of their local law enforcement branches. "Some student that felt jilted perhaps? I've heard of stranger motives." "I can't remember any student with anything close to an extreme enough reaction. There were always those who thought that simply being a changeling meant that they should pass the class, so they got upset when they saw their 'F.' And there were always the point miners --" "Which are?" Edgar asked. "People who are so obsessed with their GDTAs that they came and screamed at me about every little point. Calm down, Miss Adler," Reichert said when he saw her glower at him, "I actually was not referring to Madison, however similar the behavior. She is an exceedingly bright young woman, so any chip on her shoulder had nothing to do with academics. That was the only time she challenged me on a grade. It was not a trend." Heda felt a bit embarrassed. She did not need to go jumping down someone's throat every time that someone might be insinuating something about her girlfriend. Madison could take care of herself. "I know this is awkward, but would you mind giving us access to your teacher reviews?" Ed asked. "Maybe someone took issue with you, but quietly." "I don't have those. They're kept in the records room at the Anthropology Department office. I could --" "Office," interrupted Edgar. "I can't believe that I didn't see it." "See what?" Carla asked. "At the beginning of the semester, there was a reported break in at the Registrar's Office. Nothing was actually stolen as far as anyone could tell and none of the financial aid records were accessed, but --" "The Registrar's Office has copies of grades," Reichert said. "And it wouldn't be too much trouble to find out housing assignments from any of those computers," Edgar said. "But how did he get them in and out without anyone seeing? And with those torture devices?" Ed shrugged helplessly. "That we're still working on." "I have to get to a Council meeting," Reichert said as he stood up. "Thank you for your time. Would you be available to speak later, or even early tomorrow? I want to give the guys a chance to chew on this, and we need to make sure all potential primary targets are under guard." "Tomorrow morning would work better for me, but please call me on my cell if you have any imperative questions. Whoever this is, he isn't done. He has my attention now." "And that's what he's been wanting," Ed replied. He looked to his sister. "I think I need to go with his Majesty. Do you two want me to call you a ride or --" "We'll be fine," Heda said. "Yeah," Carla added. "Heda's never taken one of the King's classes and --" She stopped. How could she say, "and he already made use of me," without breaking down and crying. Heda took Carla for a quick drive around town before heading home, including a stop for gratuitous cooking supplies. When Carla stressed about her ordeal, she turned to baking. Recently, she had also turned to using Anthony as her sex toy, but now she was in the mood for baking. Cookies. And maybe a cake. When they got back to the house, they found that it was under siege. The whole crowd was home and standing on the porch, watching with some amusement as Madison screamed bloody murder. Sometimes she was yelling at her phone, and other times at several large SUVs with tinted windows on the streets next to the house. "What the hell?" Heda asked as she Peter as she ascended the stairs. Madison looked incensed. "Wait for it," Peter replied as Madison hauled off and readied herself for another outburst. "God damn son of a bitch!" the blind girl bellowed. "You can all just collectively kiss my perfect round ass!" Then back to yelling at her phone. "Get them out of here, you invasive kumquat! You have no right to . . . no, I do not want to talk to . . . Morgan, put HIM back on the phone! I do not believe for a second that he just went to the bathroom. Tell him I can --" "Her father . . . what?" Heda was completely confused. "Hired personal security to follow her wherever she goes until she agrees to go to Dallas or until this blows over." "How did Hannity find out so fast?" "Once you started alerting the potential targets, word traveled fast. These guys rolled up, explained why they were here, then went to sit in their cars." "Why their cars?" "Because Madison was scaring the crap out of them." To emphasize Peter's point, Madison grabbed a pine cone off their minuscule front lawn and hurled at one of the SUVs while still yelling at her sister to put "that lousy overbearing, goose-stepping, patriarchal, miscreant, asshole, dick-cheese" back on the phone. "She gets creative when she curses," Billy noticed. "I would say it's more like 'extensive,' but I get your point." Heda walked over. "Madison, it's me." "Good, then you can tell this overbearing --" "Sweetheart, I'll bet he's just wanting to make sure you're safe. Now please stop assailing the nice men who are just here to --" "Don't patronize me when I'm venting!" Madison growled. Heda sighed and walked over to one of the cars, where a clean-cut and surprised looking man rolled down the window. "You're Ms. Heda Adler, correct?" "Yes. You work for William Hannity, correct?" He smiled. "Of course. Please tell your friend that we mean her no harm. It's simply a precaution that our employer deems necessary." "I agree. But she HATES being told what to do, and she's having difficulties coming to grips with her relationship with Mr. Hannity. She's going to be locked in a house for a while with a number of people quite capable of protecting her. It might help her calm down if you found a Starbucks or something to hang out at." "I'm sorry, but we were given specific instructions not to let any point of access to that house out of our sights as long as she is in it. Our employer is quite adamant that no harm befall . . . watch out," he said, rolling up the window just a second before Madison hurled a rock at it. He rolled the window down again. "I'm sorry that I can't be of more help." "Well, can you watch from a little further away? Use binoculars or something?" The man rolled the window up as he pulled out his push-to-talk phone. When he appeared again, he nodded. "We think that we can manage. We won't be far." "As long as she feels like she's getting a victory over the man, she'll probably calm down." "She's quite . . . insane." Heda might have gotten mad, but the man had said it with some humor. "You have no idea." "I have four daughters," the man disagreed as his companion revved the engine, "I actually have a pretty good idea." "And good riddance, you civil-rights trampling fucks!" Madison shouted as the last vehicle pulled away from her immediate scanning range. Billy had confiscated her phone and was talking with someone from the Hannity household. "Yes sir, I'll make sure to suggest that. No sir, I'm sure she doesn't actually expect you to do that. It's anatomically impossible sir. Yes sir, I'm sure." Billy put his hand on Madison's forehead as she tried to get her phone back. "I agree completely. Thank you very much, and I'll make sure she gets the message." He closed the phone. "Madison, you are being quite unreasonable. Even for you." "Come down here and say that!" Madison fumed, futilely trying to remove her friend's hand. "Madison, you are pretty much A-number-one on the hit list right now," Heda said, trying to be soothing without placating. "This isn't about pride. This is just common sense. Falling a semester behind," she said holding up one hand, "or being kidnapped and probably murdered," she continued, raising the other. "I'm pretty sure that the possibility of choice number two should be holding a lot more weight than choice number one." "You're not planning on running," Madison said. Heda snapped. "I'm not the one he's after! Good grief, get it through your damn head that we're trying to help you! Why do you have to be so mental?" Heda was frustrated, but she still realized that the words she had just uttered were a mistake. But rather than rail against Heda like she had done before, Madison's bottom lip was just quivering. She turned around started to storm back into the house. After Billy raised his eyebrows in a "hey, she's your girlfriend" kind of look, so Heda pursued and tried to wrap her arms around her girlfriend. "Please don't storm off again." "And please stop treating me like a baby," Madison shot back, pushing Heda away. "Stop acting like one!" Now Madison was livid. She actually shoved Heda, or at least she tried. Heda was easily able to overpower the attempt. So Madison tried again, but this time Heda moved and the girl stumbled. 'Okay, making her look foolish is not going to help me,' Heda thought to herself. Sure enough, Madison seemed to be falling back into her fighting stance. "Fine," Heda said. "You keep wanting to play tough chick, we'll play. Out back." She turned on her heel and walked out to the small stretch of grass between the parking area and the house. Madison was not going to be intimidated, and followed close on her heels. She really had no idea why she wanted to fight someone . . . well, that was not true. She knew. But she was not going to tell Heda. Bitch. "Heda," Billy said, attempting to play the role of mediator, "you do realize that she is being watched by some very expensive and well-trained private security." "Go find them and tell 'em we're sparring," the eagle shifter muttered, turning to face her opponent. Madison was behaving like a brat, and she needed a good spanking. 'Maybe that's not the best way of thinking about it,' she reminded herself, as it gave her an entirely separate set of ideas that had nothing to do with fighting. "Okay, I'll even let you take the first JESUS CHRIST!" she bellowed as Madison sent a right kick that was swinging for the fences. She leaned back in a Matrix-style maneuver that saw her girlfriend's foot an inch from her face. "You dodged," Madison complained as she dropped back, then started scanning again. "I was going to say you could take the first shot, but I wasn't going to say that I'd let it hit." Heda went on the offensive, pulling her shots just a bit. She did not want to hurt the girl. Madison was actually defending herself fairly well, but her few counter-attacks were slow and unsure. She really needed some more practice. Madison was sweating. She could not help but realize that Heda was playing with her. Madison had been studying kick-boxing for just over a year. Heda had been trained in several forms of martial arts, starting when she was in diapers. She may have been a runner for most of her life and was in pretty good shape, but the bat shifter was outclassed in this kind of contest. So she needed to cheat. In all her years of tournament fighting and weapons training, Heda had never had anyone do what Madison tried to do. The girl actually let herself get pulled into a headlock, then dug her teeth into Heda's arm. She was refusing to let go. "Ouch ouch ouch!" Heda shouted. The only way she was going to get this girl to let go would be to knock her out. "Madison, stop that right now or . . . ouch ouch ouch!" Madison had gotten a handful of Heda's somewhat short hair and was pulling hard. Madison, as it turned out, knew how to fight like a girl, which was considerably nastier than most people gave it credit for. "This is rather undignified," Billy said, astounded by Madison's tactics. She was only still conscious because Heda obviously did not want to hurt her, but the eagle shifter's patience was obviously nearing its end. "Madison, please stop," he told her. "She's going to . . . never mind." Heda slipped her free arm under Madison's chin and started choking her out, tightening her grip as Madison's teeth finally let go. "Fuck that hurt," Heda said. Once she had Madison's arms secured, she released the choke. Madison let out a little gasp, then her breathing slowly began to return to normal. Flying Blind Ch. 05 "Still . . . gonna . . . kick your ass," Madison muttered as the blood flowed to her brain. "Madison," Heda said, her blood starting to boil again, "you can't win every fight just by being stubborn." She let Madison go, and the blind girl turned around. She was exhausted, flustered, and more than a little humiliated. Madison lowered her face, her sweat-soaked hair cutting off any view of those lovely features. She wanted to say something, but could not. They wouldn't get it. She turned and went back to the house, but stopped just short of the door. "You win," she said, her voice cracking. "I'll leave." Heda was completely befuddled. She looked at Billy and then at Sasha, but neither of them seemed to have any answers. "Hey guys, why don't we . . . uhm --" Sasha started, but then just trailed off. Joanna put a hand on Heda's shoulder. "Maybe you should try talking to her again. Or better yet, maybe just listen." Heda nodded, then followed Madison's footsteps, through the door to the basement, and then downstairs. On the bed was a tattered old suitcase, which was the only piece of luggage that Madison actually owned. It had been given to her by her last set of guardians in the changeling foster care system, right before being told to get out and not come back. That was when something hit Heda like a ton of bricks. She looked over at Madison who was standing in front of her closet, reaching randomly for clothes to pack away. "Madison, we're not getting rid of you," Heda said softly. "Believe me, I wish we could just catch this guy and then you could stay right here." Madison's hands fell, one of her several identical simple brown dresses clutched in a trembling hand. "You know, Billy was the only person I really felt safe around before you. Sasha's great, but she couldn't keep Alvin or his guys away. Then you show up and you're perfect and strong and I think . . . I really think that things are okay. And now you and Billy just keep telling me that the best thing for me is to not be around the only people who ever made me feel that I was worth a damn. You want me to go live with someone who I barely know and don't really trust. All because there is yet another whack-job out there that's decided to hate me. It wasn't enough that fate made me a laughing stock of the shifter world. Oh no, it had to make sure that I was loathed, harassed and . . . and now someone wants to kill me? Because I studied hard and complained to a department head about Reichert's grading?" She sunk down and pushed herself back into her closet. Heda knelt in front of her, not wanting to intrude into her lover's space quite yet. "This is the first time that my life has ever been in a place that I wanted it to be, ya know? Friends, community, girlfriend . . . Now everyone wants me to give it up for something else that isn't my fault. And you --" "Me what?" "You'd still be here, surrounded by all these college girls and . . . don't you dare laugh!" Heda couldn't help it. "You . . . (gasp) . . . you really ARE afraid that I'd break up with you, aren't you? Just because I didn't see you for a few weeks. You neurotic, psychotic, off-kilter, bizarre little bat!" Madison tried to push Heda away with her feet, but Heda grabbed them and pulled the girl out of the closet and into Heda's lap. "I have never met anyone quite like you," Heda said, "and that's a good thing. You think I'm going to dump you after a little absence? You have tried twice now to kick me in the head, and I'm still here. Right?" Madison sniffed. "I guess." "And what is it with you wanting to fight me? Is the sex THAT disappointing?" Heda was smiling a little now. "NO! I mean . . . okay, I do mean 'no.' The sex is great and you damn well know it." "So?" "So maybe if you don't see me as helpless, you won't keep trying to send me away for my own good and crap like that." "Madison, every likely target is being treated the same. The authorities just want to make sure you're safe. You think any of the other potential victims are trying to kick their girlfriends in the heads over this?" "I don't know. I've never met --" "Madison," Heda interrupted sternly. "No," she whispered. "And what is with the biting and hair pulling? That was brilliant!" Madison looked confused. "You're not mad about that?" "Are you kidding? In a fight, you do whatever you have to in order to win." "You didn't," Madison pointed out. "If I had actually knocked you out, I wasn't really winning anything. You know, you're kind of like a carnival game." "Excuse me?" "Yeah, I really want to win you, but there's always a trick to it." Madison smiled a little. "I'm not sure how to take that." "It's a compliment." Heda stroked her girlfriend's face. "Madison, you know that there's a chance that 'you and me' isn't going to be forever, but I'm having fun trying. I'm not going to stray if I don't see you every day, just like I wouldn't expect you to." Madison felt very silly. She knew that she herself would never cheat, so why have so little faith in Heda? "I'm sorry. I just react badly to being scared, and I haven't been able to get my feet under me that much recently." "I know. But the next time you try to kick me in the head, you had better connect." "I think I'll try and avoid that for a while." Madison's smile grew a little wider. "You know, just until you get some more training under your belt." "Yeah, I'm a wuss," Heda said. "So --" Madison sighed. "So I'll call Mr. Hannity and see if he can put me up for a bit." "It might help if you call him 'Dad' too." "I'm not ready to take our relationship to that level." "You're not dating him, you're trying to build a family rapport with him." She ruffled Madison's hair. "Call him. You don't have to start packing right away." She sighed. "Wait, Billy has my phone." Heda handed hers over, kissed Madison, then headed upstairs. Billy was waiting near the door, trying vainly to look like he just happened to be there. "She's calling her dad," she said. "Thank goodness. What was --" "She'll tell you when she's ready. I'm not going to try to interpret the mind of Madison Sloan." "You are wise beyond your years." ---------- ---------------- Later that night . . . ---------- ---------------- Heda was lying on her bed in her boy-shorts and a half-shirt, reading the latest book in her favorite vampire series when she heard a knock on the bedroom door. "Come in." Madison came in, slightly more composed than she had been earlier. "Okay, I'll be taking off in a few days," she said reluctantly. "I need to get some stuff squared away with school and the radio station. God, I've got no idea who they're going to put on in my place." Madison's face grew worried again. "What if I can't get my job back?" "Good grief, you will worry about anything, won't you?" Heda pulled her to the bed. "Reichert will make sure your job is safe. You may not even be gone that long. Besides, no one, and I mean no one, has a voice like you." "You're just saying that," Madison said shyly. "Oh, it's true. And I'm going to miss you. Keep in mind, there have been great advancements in the field of phone sex recently." "Heda!" Madison let out with a laugh, blushing to her toes. 'She doesn't even know how cute she is,' Heda thought. She lowered her lips to Madison's neck, kissing her softly and letting the tip of her tongue touch that warm, amazing skin. "Huh . . . hey," Madison gulped. "You're supposed to be mad . . . oh God . . . mad at me?" "I got over it," Heda replied, working her mouth up to Madison's. "And since you're going to Dallas for a while, I think we need to do something to tide us both over for a while. Except for the phone sex of course." "Of course." Heda sat up, running her fingers over Madison's responsive body. Down the bat shifter's ribs to her hips, then down those long legs and back up again. "Let's get a better look at you," she whispered. Madison bit her bottom lip again, getting herself to a standing position. Both girls began disrobing, sneaking glances at one another's body. Heda was the first to be fully nude, and she pulled back the covers and laid down. When Madison pulled her panties off, she was quickly dragged onto the bed and then the covers were pulled up. Heda pulled their bodies so close together that they might as well have been sharing skin. Her breasts rubbed Madison's, much to the delight of nipples everywhere. But for Madison, it always came back to the kissing. Whether on the lips, the neck, the earlobe, or the . . . well, other places, Madison loved kissing. And Heda was giving her a banquet of kissing. Her legs spread enough so that Heda could settle between them while being on top, their bodies pressed tightly together. The eagle-shifter humped against her bat-shifter counterpart, getting the blood flowing even more vigorously. Madison grabbed Heda's ass and clung to it like a personal flotation device. "Oh man," Heda said, her breath hot and ragged, "Is it warm in here or is it just me?" Madison sucked her girlfriend's bottom lip into her mouth. "It's not just you." Heda couldn't wait another minute, and her fingers found their way into Madison's sex, sliding neatly between the folds. She press her own mound against the back of her hand, using her fingers as a miniature cock and she began thrusting. Breathing was a problem for Madison. She was forgetting to do it as often as she should, which, combined with a redirection of blood flow in her body, was causing her to be a little light headed. When she did breathe, it sounded strangely like panting. "No . . . no way that phone sex can live up to this." "I dunno," Heda said, "you do have a sexy voice." Madison knew that meant it was time to bring in her on-air persona. "Fuck me like you mean it," she said throatily, her normal speaking voice taken over by a distinct Cajun drawl. Heda's mind started up its own little fireworks display. She wished that she had some kind of sex toy so that she could take this girl to heaven and back, but that was not going to happen tonight. As she plunged her fingers in, she curled them gently, making sure to stimulate every part of her lover's pussy. "Say it again," she asked. "Fuck me," Madison growled, hooking her legs around Heda's hips and bringing her hands up to Heda's neck. So Heda did just that. She did slowly slide off to the side and just use her fingers, but it also allowed her to lower her mouth to tease and suck on Madison's breasts. Hot breath and excitement had the nipples at full attention, and suction and light biting kept them that way. She pressed her palm against Madison's clit, rubbed a few times and then -- "Squeak!" Madison tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. The hiccup-like expression of pleasure was swallowed by the cavern formed by the covers, a secret shared only by the two lovers. Heda was a bit surprised when Madison pulled away from the kissing, but she enjoyed watching the world's largest groundhog burrowing around under the covers until it was between Heda's legs. That talented oral cavity pressed against Heda's sexual one and began licking like ice-cream was going out of style. Her technique improved with each sexual adventure, because Madison wanted nothing more than to please. Madison decided to push Heda a little, inserting three fingers between those tight inner labia and thrusting while she tantalized the rest of the smooth, wet, available skin with her tongue. Heda decided to rethink her earlier desire. Not only did she need to get a sex toy to use ON Madison, she needed one FOR her. She did not mind at all when a partner got a little more aggressive, and this partner was showing signs of accommodating that wish. 'My little girl's growing up,' she thought. "Is that okay?" Madison asked huskily as she pushed her own makeshift organ into her lover's body. "I'll let you know when it's too hard," Heda replied. Damn, she wanted to grab Madison's wrist and push even harder. "You're kinda freaky, aren't you?" Heda laughed. "I've tried a lot of stuff, and . . . well, a lot of it was fun." "How do I rank?" Madison asked, then wished she hadn't. She knew she was an inexperienced lover. "The rest don't even compare," Heda said, and there was more than a little truth to that. While many of her prior lovers could still be considered friends or at least they had parted on good terms, but Madison was different. Being with someone special to you really did change things. Since she still had a free hand, Madison stroked Heda's legs, demonstrating that she had in fact learned things about Heda's body than not many who had come before her knew about. That spot on the back of her knees, or even just the sensitivity on the insides of her thighs; these were things that Madison knew. She exploited everything, caressing the back of the knees and kissing the inner thighs. She did not rely on clitoral stimulation to make Heda cum, though it did make it more fun and more explosive. So that's what Madison did, launching a tongue-offensive on Heda's clitoral hood, snaking her way underneath and teasing the hard little nub while penetrating deeper with her fingers, spreading them as much as she could until Heda made an uncomfortable noise. She pulled just a little bit back, and she had her girlfriend right where she wanted her. Namely, cumming like a river beneath Madison's attentions. Heda was gasping happily as Madison kissed her way back up that chiseled abdomen, delaying for a moment at the breasts, then peeking her head back out from under the covers to engage in a tongue-swapping kiss. "When you get back," Heda said, "I'm gonna have all sorts of surprises waiting for you." While still excited and pleased, that grin and that promise made Madison more than a little bit nervous. ----------- ---------------- The next day . . . ----------- ---------------- Edgar and Kevin were sitting on the couch when Heda made her sleepy way downstairs to grab some orange juice the next morning. "Hey," Heda said, scratching her ass through the shorts she had thrown on. "Morning, oh delicate princess," Edgar replied, smiling at his sister. Heda was not at her best in the morning. "How's Madison?" "She's okay," Heda replied from the kitchen. She came out and flopped down in a chair, juice in hand. "She was really freaked, but she's calmed down." "I bet. You spent most of the night 'calming her down.'" "Jealous?" Heda shot back with a grin. Her brothers all loved giving her shit about her sexual promiscuity. He sighed. "Actually, sort of. You had more fun that I did last night. But at least Kevin has an idea about how our perp is capturing his victims." "Really? How?" The red-headed alchemist picked up one of the files. "Blood magic." Heda's eyebrows shot up. "And you arrived at that conclusion how?" While blood magic was not exactly illegal in the magical world, it was highly scrutinized. "Couple things," Kevin said. "First, none of the shifters could change. They didn't find any drugs in the system, and there was no magical signature on the skin or on the restraints. But I was looking at the blood results, and there were certain abnormalities that don't set right with me. Every cell in a shifter's body should be . . . well, softer than a humans. They need to be able to change and then change back. This last victim's cells had hardened. It's kind of like the difference between adult stem cells and embryonic cells. All the cells in her body had lost malleability." "I thought that happened naturally," Billy said, sitting down in a bathrobe with a cup of coffee in hand. "Yeah, but not that quickly. The girl had only been dead for a day or two, and normally changeling rigor doesn't set in for a week. Blood magic has a number of spells that basically make shifter blood sluggish and limit elasticity. It's like living rigor for changelings, and it doesn't show up on surface traces." "That's horrible!" Heda said. "Who would do something like that?" "To be fair, the blood witches first developed the spell to help during changeling trials and captivity. If I'm right, then whoever is doing this knows shifter physiology and is a pretty adept blood witch. And I'm willing to bet that they combined the spell with some kind of tranquilizer to make sure that it took effect quickly." "This guy is getting scarier by the second," Heda said. "Any further word on a connection to Reichert?" "Not yet." Edgar rubbed his eyes. "Whoever this is, this is beyond personal." -------------- ------------ Elsewhere . . . -------------- ------------ Fear was a heady elixir, as was pride. They knew now, and the Enemy was afraid. The changeling rats were abandoning the ship, but there was no escaping the Cold. Oh no, It would not let them go until He had been brought down low. He would suffer for what he did. The Cold would take revenge for the One that came before. The Enemy still had not guessed. In Its arrogance, It had forgotten the One that came before. The Enemy must remember it all. A final reminder must be sent. --------------- ------------------------ To be continued . . . Flying Blind Ch. 06 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. Proofread by "hkf999" ---------- ----------------------------------------------------- Men in the game are blind to what men looking on see clearly. ~ Chinese proverb ---------- ----------------------------------------------------- Packing to leave was a lot harder than Madison had previously imagined it might be. It was not that she was worried about something happening to her stuff while she was gone. It was the profound unfamiliarity that awaited her that seemed to be dragging on her thoughts. To cheer her up, Heda had burned Madison's old suitcase last night as a symbol. It had been given to the bat-shifter by her last set of foster parents as a "leave and don't come back" sentiment. Then the whole house had chipped in to buy her a nice . . . well, nice considering it was bought at Target . . . luggage set with "Come back soon" written on the front. Madison had hugged everyone. Carla had decided to go and hang. Her own parents had wanted her gone after the first incident, and now they were frantic. They had balked at the idea of her going somewhere else, but she had reminded them that the Hannity estate was going to be a lot more secure than a ranch home in suburban Chicago. To the best of everyone's knowledge, all of the number-one students of Neil Reichert were on their way out in the immediate future, leaving one thought left on everyone's mind. What would the psychopath do next? She picked up her phone on the first ring, the world going black as she prepared for conversation. It was Mr. Hannity calling again, making sure that she had her tickets and that she had transportation to the airport and -- "Yes, you've got the whole Men In Black brigade sitting outside my house," she said dryly. "Mr. Vern is driving me to the airport. I'm almost packed and --" "Madison, I also wanted to talk to you about this semester. I know that you're upset about missing school and your job, but I think I have a solution you might like." "You're going to deliver me the killer's head on a platter?" "You know that I would if I could. No, I have you an interview at one of the Dallas radio stations, and King Reichert assured me that it could count as an internship. You would get credit for it and everything. Mind you I only got you the interview, so it will be up to you to win the position. Madison? Madison, are you still there?" Madison was just standing there with her mouth open. Her . . . Mr. Hannity must have been paying attention. He was giving her an opportunity, not charity, and it was for something she would normally kill for. "What . . . what station?" "KLEZ. I understand that it's quite --" "KLEZ?! The KLEZ? That's the station that discovered Lost In Texas! They get first dibs on playing their new albums! And they've got one of the best rotations in the business, and advertisers pay to just walk in the door! Do you have any . . . any idea what my resume would look like if I got that?" She was beginning to pant. "Madison honey, please breathe. You just have an interview. But the station manager listened to your show, at my request, and he was quite impressed." "He's heard me? No! I've been horrible lately. The stress and everything has been hurting my voice --" "He did not think there was any problem with your voice. He was so fond of it that frankly, I thought I might have to defend your honor." Madison perked up. "Really?" "Really. Just be prepared for the interview. I'm going to hang up now because I hear your sister and she's been wanting to talk winter formal dresses with someone. For hours." "Gotta go," Madison said excitedly. Not that she was not secretly looking forward to discussing menial teenage girl stuff with her sister, but she needed to go tell Billy and Sasha and Heda what had just happened. She just practically pounced up stairs, finding her best friend and girlfriend in the living room. Heda was dressed for her game, which was a fine sight to see. Tight shorts and a snug shirt over that body . . . it was drool-worthy. "Hey babe," Heda said. "Sorry that I can't take you to the airport, but you know . . . Madison?" Madison had gone silent again as she admired the body she would not be getting to see nearly as often as she wanted. "She has a really nice butt." "Madison," Billy said. "Yeah?" "You know that you said that out loud, right?" "I what?" Madison's eyes opened. "No I didn't." Heda chuckled and kissed Madison on the nose and then the lips. "Yeah you did." "Kill me now." "Then who would I have to say such nice things about my ass? Shut up Anthony," Heda continued as the skunk shifter walked into and then out of the room. "Billy, Mr. Hannity got be an interview for an internship at KLEZ!" Billy's eyebrows raised, which for him was the equivalent of a gasp of surprise. "Seriously?" "Seriously! I wish you could come with me. How am I going to deal with a new producer? Shit, what am I thinking? I can't do this. I won't know where anything is and --" "Heda, she's ranting again," Billy muttered out of the side of his mouth. "Moving in," Heda said. She picked Madison up and laid on a lip-lock that made the bat-shifter's head spin. "Madison silenced," she said at last. "Mission completed." "You know, that's not always going to work." "You want me to stop?" "No, but it's gonna take more to shut me up." Heda kissed her again. "So I'll find something else to keep you occupied." Then she gave her girlfriend a more serious hug. "I'm gonna miss you. You're kinda cool for a weird chick." "Don't make me whoop your ass again." "I'm shaking in my overpriced athletic shoes. And congrats on the interview. You'll do great." "Yeah. If I get it," she said slowly, "then I may stay the whole semester anyway. This one is kinda a bust for me academically." She was nervous. Something had just occurred to her, and she did not know how to bring it up. "I'll come visit you," Heda assured her, "whenever I can. Besides, Mr. Hannity is rolling in money. I'm sure he'll spot for a few plane tickets." "He's not an ATM machine." "No, but he owns most of them." Heda hugged her girlfriend again. "Listen, I gotta go. The game starts soon, but I'll call you as soon as you land. Take care of yourself, okay?" "Okay. Tell Edgar that I'm sorry I missed him this morning. Hope he's having some luck --" ------------ -------------- That afternoon . . . ------------ -------------- Edgar Adler was having no luck at all. Things were chaotic around the makeshift command center as newly arrived shifter security was coming and going, researchers and investigators poured over student records, and person after person tried digging facts out of Neil Reichert's brain. Finally, the Reptile King came over and sat down next to him. "This is insane," Reichert said. "How am I supposed to remember every student that I have ever had over four years of teaching and more years than that as a guest lecturer?" "It's just as frustrating for us sir," Edgar said. "For the first time, I almost wish that I could have a vision that might actually give us a clue." Reichert nodded, acknowledge the admission of desperation. Edgar was a raven-shifter, the mystics of the birds. The ravens sometimes developed the ability to see into the future or the past, but these gifts signaled the beginning of a descent into madness. But this young man was the sort who would sacrifice his mind to stop this monster. "This is all my fault," Reichert muttered. "Somehow, somewhere, I did something so heinous that it drove someone to this." "It could just be that he's a deranged psychopath who took offense at something most people would not have thought twice about." Edgar dropped a pile of files on the table. "Maybe it's not a former student. You've not been involved in any other scandals?"
 "Absolutely not. The university has suffered through enough of that." Edgar raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "Any institution has problems," Reichert explained. "The man that I replaced was in serious trouble due to allegations of fraternization with students, and he was not too particular about the gender of the student." Edgar's eyes narrowed. "And you did not think to mention this?" "Professor Hill's issues started before I came to visit the first time. I have no idea how long he held onto his job as it was, but when a female shifter comes to me directly and complains that she felt that she was magically coerced into sexual situations, I had to bring it to the department's attention. Hill held on for another semester while hearings took place, but eventually his tenure was revoked and he was dismissed." "Now THAT sounds like motive," Edgar said. "How could you possibly --" "Hill is dead," Reichert interrupted. "He couldn't handle the disgrace. His wife had long before left him and he had no children. No one else on staff even seemed to like him very much." "There could still be something to it," Edgar said. He pulled out his laptop and started to browse. Finding the basic articles were not difficult. After losing a fierce battle against the university's board of directors and the department and anyone else he could think of, Gerald Hill had lost his post as history professor at Four Corners University. With lawsuits looming on the horizon and his professional reputation crushed, he had walked out into the woods behind his house, put a gun in his mouth, and ended his own life. Edgar kept reading, finding a few articles describing the event. There were a lot of "It's a shame" kind of comments, but they all tended to be the sorts of platitudes one disposed of in situations where there was nothing nice one could say. But in the depths of the school paper, there was one dissenting opinion. An anonymous student was quoted as saying: This is a damn tragedy. They all put him down, but he was better than them. He should not have died like a dog, alone in the woods. They're the dogs. They're worse than dogs. How would they like it if they were the ones who were left out in the cold? I doubt they'd like it very much. The article went on to excuse the student as simply being distressed, but that was not how it sounded to Edgar. "The cold," Edgar said. "What?" Reichert asked. Ed held up the laptop and pointed out the passage of interest. "What if it isn't one of your students, but one of his?" Reichert read the article, and a flush of anger played over his face. He had missed something, and it did not set well with him. "That is possible." "The whole 'cold' reference . . . both of the survivors talked about being kept somewhere very cold. What if someone sees you as responsible for what happened to his mentor? Did this guy have any fanatically devoted students?" "I don't know. I did not know him personally." Reichert waved a couple of people over who had been around campus longer than he had, while Edgar kept looking through files. He was on to something and he knew it. "Not just any student," Edgar muttered to himself, "A favorite student. Someone who saw himself as having a relationship with Hill. Maybe he did. Reichert said that Hill had not had a gender preference." Edgar needed to understand Hill better. The problem was that Hill had been teaching for twelve years before getting run out on a rail. He had been a reasonably powerful shaman, which surprised Edgar. Shamans powers tended to exist in a balance. For everything asked, something had to be given. 'What did you give to force students into your bed?' he thought. 'Did you give something special to our boy?' He needed to narrow the search down. Then something hit him. He looked over to Reichert who was talking with an administrator. "Hey, can I get a list of every class Hill taught as well as the class list and grades?" Reichert looked interested. "That can be arranged. What are you thinking?" "Someone's taking out your number-one students. If this guy has a relationship to Hill, maybe HE was a number-one student." A few minutes later, he had print-outs of over a decade's worth of courses and every student the guy ever had. Hill had a wide variety of classes, some of which had more than a hundred students in the lecture portion. Trying to find one student . . . "Hold on a sec," he said, Edgar's voice becoming excited. "This is kind of an interesting name for a class. 'Sins of the Father: The Church and the Spanish Inquisition'?" "Hill did a number of courses like that. He was very suspicious of any body that held too much power, and he loved debating that." This was from the administrator that had been consulting with Reichert. "More of a debate format than a traditional lecture." Edgar scanned the grades. "Hard curve too. Hell, it's a bell curve." "Yeah, Dr. Hill was adamant that everyone in those courses understand that they were competing for the top spot." Edgar's eyes sought out the "A" grades. "Got four top-students. Tell me if any of these names ring a bell. Missy Cartman? Kurt Everman? Monica Frederick? Daryl Mosley?" "Wait," one teacher said. "I remember that one. Hill mentioned him a time or two." "Looks like he took every class for the last three years that Hill taught," another researcher said. "He was the top score, or at least tied for it, every time." Another investigator was typing hurriedly at a computer console. "Let's see, he was double majoring in history and pre-med." Edgar leaned back. "Pre-med? Any history of magic use?" "Uhm . . . yeah. Sorcerer." "Magic and knowledge of drugs. Sounds like a very good candidate. Where is he now?" "His file doesn't say. He never graduated, never unenrolled . . . nothing. The semester after Hill was fired, he just vanished." "Let's see a picture of this guy," Edgar said. Someone hooked the projector up to a computer and sent a school photo up to the screen. Edgar's eyes narrowed. "Wait, I know that guy from somewhere." --------------- -------- Elsewhere . . . --------------- -------- Madison's cell phone was getting more of a workout than it had ever received before. First her father, then her sister had finally gotten a hold of her, then she had needed to talk with the station manager. "Hello? Hey! No, I'm actually leaving in a few hours . . . no, it's okay, I can talk. Uhm, sure. Can't we just talk over the phone or . . . no, no, that's okay. I'm freaked out too. Sure, I'll meet you. Yeah, I know where that is. Thirty minutes? Okay. Bye!" She turned off her phone. "Hey Carla, I need to go run an errand before we go to the airport. Is it okay if Anthony takes you?" "What do you think he's doing now?" came a shout from a back bedroom. "Too much information!" Madison shouted back, grinning from ear to ear. "See ya!" She went and grabbed her bags and hauled them up to the front door. Sasha was at a student council meeting and Billy was at the station. Most everyone else had gone to watch Heda play. She wished they'd been here to see her off, but life went on. She made sure that everything was in order in her room, then headed outside. "Ms. Sloan," said Mr. Vern as he got out his large black SUV. Mr. Vern had been the primary recipient of Madison's verbal tirade when she had found out that her father had hired private security for her without her knowledge or consent. It turned out that he was a very nice man, and he treated Madison with respect. And a little fear. After all, she had thrown things at his SUV and come up with some creative insults. "Hey Vern, I need to meet up with someone for a bit. I promised him that I'd be available to talk, so is it okay if we leave a bit early?" "Your wish, as always, is my command." "You know, I'm not seeing you right now, but I'm pretty sure that you just bowed and are silently laughing at me." "Me? Never." "Get my bags, Vern." "Yes ma'am. And where are we going?" She gave him an address on campus. It would be mostly deserted today, so parking would not be a problem. Mr. Vern was calling in their activity when the car pulled up next to the medical center. Madison saw Detrius sitting on a wall out front. He looked up and seemed temporarily alarmed. Madison rolled down her window as he approached. "Hey, hope you haven't been waiting long," she said. Detrius just stared at her for a second. "Long enough. You . . . you brought someone. I didn't think you'd bring someone." Madison felt bad for the guy. Madison had found the first victim of the kidnapper, and Detrius had found the second. She had promised him that she would be available to talk if he was feeling freaked out, and he appeared to be freaked out. "I know. He can wait here if you want to have a little more privacy. I can't stay long, but --" "I'm sorry," Detrius interrupted, looking from her to Vern and then back. "No, it's okay. I promised I'd come, and here I am." "No, I'm sorry that you're going to have to stay," he whispered. Suddenly he whipped a strange looking gun out from the back of his pants and fired twice at Mr. Vern. Two darts came out, one embedding itself in Vern's neck and the other in his arm. Vern literally froze in place, his face a mask of anger and surprise. "Detrius?!" Madison yelped, trying to push the dart gun away while rolling the window back up. Detrius's other hand shot through and punched Madison hard in the jaw. She released the gun, and she felt blood dribbling down her chin from her busted lip. She pushed her way across the seat towards Vern's unmoving body, kicking the door with both feet. Detrius had started to open the door, so it wound up flying into his face when Madison kicked it. He stumbled backward while she reached for Vern's phone. She had dialed 911 when she felt something impact the side of her leg. She tried to turn and look, but nothing happened. She could not move her body . . . not even her eyes. A chill had erupted in her blood, and she felt like she was dying. She tried to shift, but her body ignored her. The world started to move in front of her as she was dragged from the vehicle. "I'm really, really sorry," came Detrius's voice again. But not Detrius's voice. Something much colder was talking down to her. Finally, she felt a second sting as he stuck something in her arm. Then, she did not see anything anymore. ------------ -------------- A little while later . . . ------------ -------------- "I don't know!" Carla screamed, tears running down her face. Cops had shown up, asking about where Madison had gone. They'd triangulated the position of Mr. Vern's SUV after a 911 call had come in with no one responding. They'd found him in the vehicle, drugged and unconscious with Madison's bags still in the back, but no sign of her. "She just said that she was going to go run an errand." "Did she mention the name Daryl Mosley? No? How about Detrius Pratchett." "She didn't mention any names. Just 'an errand.' I didn't mean --" "It's not your fault," Anthony said, wrapping his arms around her and glaring at the cops. "Why would you think anything was up?" Flying Blind Ch. 06 "He's right," Edgar said. "We just need to know everything. Turns out that Detrius Pratchett's real name is Daryl Mosley, and we're pretty sure he's the kidnapper. He had some kind of relationship with the professor that Reichert replaced." "He's got her, doesn't he?" Carla whimpered. "It's my fault. If I'd gone with her --" "He disabled a trained security guy and took Madison. You being there would have just put you in danger as well. The guy's a trained sorcerer, and he knows everything about shifter physiology. That's how he managed to keep shifters hostage." "We need to find him! He's going to kill Madison, and . . . and --" Carla just broke down again. "Mr. Adler," one of the new security guys said, "Mr. Hannity has been told. He's on his way here. But we have another problem." "What?" "There's another shifter missing." ---------------- ---------------- In a cold, cold place . . . ---------------- ---------------- Madison's eyes opened, and she did not feel good. Her whole body seemed to be cold, inside and out. Her limbs struggled to obey the commands of her brain as she slowly stretched out from the fetal position she found herself in. She was leaning up against a smooth surface, and her feet encountered something solid just a few feet away. She started to use her echolocation, but stopped herself. 'Does he know that I'm Gifted?' she thought murkily. She had gone pretty public with it. She decided to hold off, instead just feeling her way around. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she felt her way around. She seemed to be in a tube of glass or smooth plastic or something, which would look pretty much the same for her echolocation anyway. From above, she felt a slight waft of cold air, so the tube was probably open on top. 'Detrius?' she thought, her mind swimming. Everything came roaring back to her as she tried to grasp her situation. 'How could he do this? It doesn't make sense.' "You awake?" came a voice, but it wasn't Detrius's. "I thought he'd killed you." The sound drifted in from on high, muted but recognizable. "Alvin?" Madison could not believe it. Even at the end, she could not escape the man who had made her life hell. "In the flesh. How'd he get you?" "I knew him," she said, struggling to her feet. "At least I thought that I did. He wanted to talk," she said, trying to fight the fear in her voice. "If I had just gone to the damn airport . . . How did he get you?" Silence. Then slowly, "He told me that he had something that would put me in Dad's good graces. Something to do with you." Suddenly, Madison was angry again. "You just can't let it go, can you? You fucking clown, if you had just minded your own business, I would've been gone in a few years and never even would have known. But you just had to --" Freezing cold air was blasted into the tube, and a yelp of surprise from Alvin indicated he was receiving similar treatment. "Both of you will be quiet," came an emotionless voice, piped in over speakers that crackled and sputtered. "Detrius, why --" Madison started to object, then was hit with another blast of cold. She let out a cry, then sank down to the bottom, waiting for the arctic gale to cease. "Both of you will be quiet," the voice said again. "Or what?" Madison spit back, "You'll kill us? Like you weren't planning on --" She shrieked as the cold came again, lasting longer this time and making her feel like her finger skin was freezing. "Quiet." Madison was stubborn and defiant to a fault, but she was not stupid. She was gaining nothing at that point, so she simply waited. "You are vermin," the voice said again, even and mechanical and holding only the most rudimentary traces of the man Madison new as Detrius. "All of you. You wear your human skins like a mask, but I see what you are. And here, in this place, you think you're better than everyone else. Shifters getting coddled and given special treatment, while good men are discarded. Good men who dedicated their lives to this ungrateful place are tossed aside and left to die in the cold." That statement was accompanied by another short blast of freezing cold air, and Madison shivered on the floor, wrapping her arms around her body in a vain attempt to stay warm. "Your precious Neil Reichert destroyed the life of a good man. Your false king and his stolen throne sit on the bones of my mentor. My friend!" The voice shouted, losing some of its cool as another blast of air assaulted both captives. "I was his favorite," the voice said. "His beloved. While the others came and went, I stood beside him at his right hand. The Reptile King took that away without a second thought. He must be made to pay for his crime," the voice said. "A Message must be sent." "You," Alvin said, breaking his own silence, "are fucking insane." This time, Madison heard the blast rather than felt it. "You," the voice said after the cold air stopped, "are amongst the worst of the worst. Spoiled, arrogant, and unworthy. You put yourself above everyone, and you scavenge on the weak of your own kind. Yet you have accolades and rewards heaped on you. You were one of His favorites, which makes you one of my enemies." "Why?" Madison said. "Reichert hates me," she said, then instantly regretted it. Not because she was afraid of the cold, but because she felt like a coward. "And no one likes Alvin. We aren't anyone's favorites." She was hit with a quick blast of air. "You struggled for His affection," the voice continued. "You wanted to be glorious in His sight." Madison tried to keep her mouth shut, but she would be damned if she was going to live the last moments of her life being bullied. Not by Alvin, not by Detrius . . . not by anyone. "I wanted what was mine!" This time, there was no blast. "Yes, that's true. Now you may be a princess ascending to her throne, but that is not truly who you are. You are a cast-off. You are one of the downtrodden. It is for that reason that you will be given a rare choice, not normally afforded one of the tainted." "Choice?" she asked. "Yes. You get to decide who will suffer and who will die." A gas was released into her container, and she began to black out. All she could think about in that moment was, 'What did he mean?' ------- ----------------- At the house . . . ------- ----------------- Heda had run out of things around the house to break. She'd gotten home after her game to find out from Carla and Anthony what had happened, then had hauled ass over to the command center. She had made such a scene that Edgar had finally forced a couple of security guys to escort her home. Mr. Hannity had shown up about twenty minutes earlier, after having been escorted out much like Heda had. Heda wished she could comfort him, seeing as he had two children taken. He was simply sitting on the front porch, surrounded by his own security detail, a phone constantly to his ear as he monitored everything that was going on. To top things off, Meghan Hannity was there as well, and for once Heda did not object to her presence. She was a horrible, evil bitch, but her son was in trouble. That bought her leeway for the night. Part of the wall surrounding the parking area crumbled, causing Heda to look over her shoulder. Billy had just kicked a hole through cinder block. His best friend was gone. A girl who had once looked to him as her sole friend and source of protection was beyond his ability to protect her, and all his mighty IQ could not help. Sasha was nearby, just watching him. She had gone through a good cry or two herself. Heda sat down on the hood of her jeep and stared at the sky and realized that she wished her mother was there. Jessica Adler would go charging into the rescue, kill the bad guy, and rescue everyone. That's what she had done in the Insect Wars, it was what she had done with that wolf cult up in Oregon, and it was what she had done in every other circumstance she had encountered. "What can't I be more like Mom?" she asked of the half-moon floating lazily overhead. She heard footsteps nearby, so she glanced over. "Hey Mr. Hannity. Did they figure out how he managed to grab Alvin?"
 He leaned up against the jeep. "No. They know that he received a phone call from an unlisted number, but not what was said." The man's voice was hard and crisp, and Heda would almost feel sorry for the killer if Mr. Hannity got his hands on him at that moment. Almost. "Son of a bitch was right in front of me. I was close enough that I could have broken his neck," she said, softly but with venom. "And he had the gall to 'find' one of his own victims." "It was brilliant really," Hannity replied. "No one would have suspected it." He put his face in his hands. "He will not survive this. He has to know that. There is no force on earth, in heaven, or in hell that will keep him alive. He's got my children, and who knows what . . . what he's done to them." "I'm sorry," Heda said. "For both of them. I may hate Alvin's guts, but he didn't deserve this." When William Hannity's face came up, his eyes were ringed with tears. "I still have hope for him. Get him away from his mother's poisonous influence, maybe effect a reconciliation. And Madison . . . in so many ways, she's all I could have asked for in a daughter, and that son of a bitch took her away from me. He's got her who knows where and --" Heda's eyes opened. "Where DID he take her? I know that they're looking for warehouses and so one, but would he really have had time?" "What do you mean?" "He managed to kidnap two shifters, neither of which is exactly helpless, in the course of a couple of hours. We know that Madison at least was taken on campus. He was working right under our noses the whole time, but what if he was keeping them there as well? I mean, it would make it a heck of a lot easier to transport those contraptions of his around." "But they've searched every building on campus. There's nowhere there for him to hide." "They've searched ON campus," she said, then looked over to Billy. "Billy, how old is FCU?" "Is this really the time for trivia?" the wereturtle growled. "Please, just tell me." Billy's face was suddenly thoughtful. If Heda was on to something, it might be best to go along for the ride. "FCU was founded back in 1924 through a series of donations from rich shifters and the federal government. Why?" "Don't a lot of older campuses have tunnels and shit underneath? Like in case of war?" "It wasn't uncommon, but the tunnels under FCU were locked up and then walled up in heavy concrete at the end of the Cold War." "How extensive would they be? Keep in mind, we've got a guy who waited many years to enact his revenge. Maybe he found a way or MADE a way down into those tunnels." 
"They did have lifts that would have been able to bring him and his victims up to the surface," Billy surmised. Heda saw that other members of the gang were gathering around. The notion of doing something, even if it was just talk about it, seemed awfully appealing to all of them. "I don't think he's taking them anywhere. I think that he found a way into those tunnels." Peter looked thoughtful too. "If he could get down there, it would be pretty easy to tap into the university's power grid. But for the kind of machines he would need, or to power the kind of refrigeration that Carla has told us about . . . that kind of shit is a serious draw." "What if he's getting it from more than one place? If he's down there and he's close enough to the Crystal Springs grid, he might be able to draw power from both." "I need a map of campus," Heda said. She waited until Carla ran inside, grabbed a school catalog, then came out. There was a two-page color map of campus. Heda started circling the areas where victims had been found, then circled the medical center where Detrius worked, and finally the areas where the victims were believed to have been taken. "Billy, where would the tunnels go?" "Each building that existed at the time would have an access point, and there were probably a couple of fall-out shelters. Those would be the best bets, assuming that any of this holds water." "We should tell the authorities regardless," Mr. Hannity said, getting out his phone. "Just in case." "He might want to hide the draw by holding up near something that already uses a lot of juice." "There would have to be a building that he had access to," Heda muttered. "Back when he first started planning this." Billy quickly looked down at the map. "There it is," he said, his voice low and angry. "Right next to the radio station, across the street from a Crystal Pass relay station, and just a few streets down from the fucking medical center," he finished, putting his finger on the map. "Garrett Hall? That's --" Sasha started, then her eyes opened. "That's the History Department." "And the guy that Detrius was all hung up on being taught what?" Heda asked. "History." "Willing to bet that he was given a key way back when by his favorite professor?" Heda said, jumping off the jeep's hood and climbing into the driver's seat. 
"Heda, where the hell do you think you're going?" Joanna asked. "Mr. Hannity!" The afore mentioned bat-shifter climbed into the passenger seat. "I'm going with you. Just in case you're right. I've told your brother the theory, and he's circulating the idea." "He told you to stay put until he had some direction, didn't he?" Heda asked. "Yes he did." Heda smiled and gunned the engine. The car creaked a bit as Billy climbed into the backseat. "Welcome aboard." Carla started to climb in, but Anthony grabbed her. "I'm going with," she told him angrily. "I figured. But let's take my car, since not everyone can fit in the jeep." That was when Heda noticed that Peter was climbing into his own vehicle, along with Kevin and Joanna. Anthony and Carla climbed into a third vehicle. Sasha climbed in next to her boyfriend, giving him a "don't you dare tell me to stay behind" look. Billy displayed his enormous intellect by keeping his mouth shut. ----------- -------------- Elsewhere . . . ----------- -------------- Madison's mouth felt like it was filled with cotton when she came around. It did not take long to realize that she was still in the tube and that she still could not shift. She got to her feet and felt around, including upward, but could find no cracks to the surface and no lip. It was apparently taller than she was. She started to move to the other side of the tube, but she ran into something that felt . . . off. There was a chain hanging down in the center of the tube. She reached out to touch it, but quickly pulled her hand back as it started to grow warm at her touch. "Silver?" she whispered. While silver did not kill shifters instantly as some werewolf stories might claim, it was a dangerous metal. All shifters were highly allergic to it. Exposure to it caused blistering which led to bleeding, and prolonged exposure caused silver poisoning which could in fact kill them. "I told you that you would be given a choice," came the voice on the loudspeakers again. "You have twenty seconds to grab the chain and hold on." "Or what?" "Or your brother, who is hanging from the other end, will be slowly lowered toward the floor of his own enclosure. Should that happen, it will trip the pressure plate, and his tube will be filled with liquid nitrogen." Madison grabbed the chain, feeling the burn. She pulled the sleeves of her body stocking down over her hands, then tried again. The thin cloth provided some measure of protection, but not much. "Why are you doing this?!" she screamed. The only response she got was blast of frigid air. Soon, she felt the tension on the chain increase. Detrius had jury-rigged some kind of pulley system, that actually gave Madison some extra leverage, but how long she could keep this up was anyone's guess. She pulled tight on the chain, then pressed her feet on the other side of the tube, jamming herself inside as best she could. Despite knowing that she would get blasted again, she asked, "Alvin, are you all right?" The blast came, but Alvin did not respond. Detrius did. "Your brother is gagged. I will not allow him to try to sway this judgment. You, and only you, will decide his fate. Why fight it? Did he not torment you for years? I have heard about what has transpired. He denied you your birthright. He denied you what you were owed by birth and blood. Why save him?" Madison gritted her teeth and held on to the chain, even as she felt her skin growing warm under her makeshift gloves. She had no answer to give her captor that would satisfy him or herself. But still, she held on. ---------- ---------------------------- The History Department . . . ---------- ---------------------------- "Are you sure you want to do this?" Joanna asked. Heda gave the front door one swift kick, sending it flying inward. "I'm pretty damn sure." "Campus security will be here soon," Billy said. "Start looking for stairs that go down, particularly anything with a maintenance sign on the door. Those are our best bets." "What about elevators?" Sasha asked. "Check them, but elevators would probably not be used in case of nuclear emergencies, which is what these shelters were designed for. Nukes screw with electronics, so stairs would be safer." The crew split up into three small groups and started scouring everywhere. Joanna and Anthony both shifted into their animal forms and started to sniff. It was the skunk-shifter who quickly shifted back and said, "Found something! I'm pretty sure this scent is Madison's." "And she wasn't taking any classes in this building," Heda said, her voice betraying her excitement. "Lead the way." Anthony went half-form, giving everyone a view of a bipedal human with soft black fur, a skunk's head, and a bushy white-striped tail. He led them to an unmarked door next to the elevator. He couldn't speak in this form, so he just pointed. Heda tried the door, but found it locked, and this was much thicker than the previous door. Billy started undressing, then it was his turn to take on a half-form. "He's a fucking tank," Heda muttered appreciatively. As an alligator snapping turtle, Billy was probably about 30 inches long and weighed in at 230 pounds. His half-form was six and a half feet tall, had a snapping turtle's head complete with a nasty beak, and hardened shell over his back and chest, as well as on the major muscles of his arms and legs. He grabbed the door and quickly ripped it off its hinges. "Sasha, call my brother and tell him that we're following Madison's trail, then wait for him to show up and tell him where we've gone," Heda said. "I know you want to go with us, but this is what I need from you. Joanna, stay with her. No arguments, please?" Both of the other women nodded, so Heda took off down a winding set of stairs with the rest of the crew in hot pursuit. At the bottom, they found another couple of doors, one of which led into the basement while the other had no sign. Heda did not even ask, she just pointed to the door, and then Billy plowed through it. Beyond was a set of stone stairs that descended into darkness. ---------------- ------------ In Detrius's lair . . . ---------------- ------------ "Why do you hold on?" Detrius asked. "He would have let you die a long time ago." Madison had nothing left to tell him. Everything she said was met with a blast of cold air. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore, so she had wrapped the chain around her arms. The silver had seeped through her thin clothing, and her arms were blistered and bleeding. The pain was excruciating, but it was not the pain that was sucking all hope away, at least not by itself. Madison was tired. So very, very tired. Flying Blind Ch. 06 "We should not protect them!" he screamed at her. "They are the arrogant elite, and they use whatever power that they possess to hurt us! They take everything away until only the bones are left, and Alvin Hannity is just as deserving of death as Reichert. 'Is that what you want? You want me to empathize with whatever problems you have with the Reptile King?' she thought, even as her teeth chattered and her skin burned. The chain slipped a bit, and she tried grabbing it with fingers that were likely to break off. "You said I had a choice?!" she shouted as tears froze on her face. "I choose me! Kill me instead, because I'm not fucking like you and won't be." "You ARE like me --" "No, I'm not! You hate us because we're part animals? I'm more human than you, you son of a bitch, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself doing what you've done. Alvin's an ass, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die. I won't let you pin this on me, and I won't let you make me be like --" She screamed as cold air was again blasted down on her. "I choose me!" she shouted again, allowing the frigid air to permeate her throat and creep down towards her lungs. A loud noise started buzzing, and the air was cut off. She tried reaching out with her echolocation, but whatever concoction of chemicals Detrius had given her was suppressing her Gift as well as her ability to shift. She heard scuffling somewhere, then the faint echo of "no no no," as if the microphone was still on but Detrius was not near it. "Alvin," she shouted, thankful for the distraction, "are you alright?" The chain yanked a bit against her arms and she heard a thump nearby. 'If he's hanging from the chain, he's probably swinging on it right now.' Her feet slipped on the other side of the tube, and she scooted up. If she just let him drop, it would probably pull her right out of the -- 'What are you thinking?' she asked herself. 'Could you really just let him die to save your own ass?' Not that the choice might not be taken away from her, as the chain slipped again. The pain in her arms was almost unbearable. She heard a crashing noise, then a lot of shouting. 'Someone's here," she thought. Then, the explosions started. She felt a wave of heat erupt somewhere nearby, and something slammed into her tube. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'if this thing breaks, then I can't brace --' Another crash, and she could hear the tube cracking. "No! Please, someone help me! If I drop this --" Suddenly the cold air came back on, full blast. The tube continued to crack, its structural integrity further weakened by the conflicting temperatures. The chain slipped a little more. "Oh God I'm sorry," she said. She couldn't feel her limbs anymore, and the pain caused by the silver chain was just too much. Whatever strength she had left simply abandoned her, and the chain started to slide. She heard another crash, and bits of glass came raining down on her. As she felt back to the ground, she began to feel . . . nothing. The burns, the cold . . . all of it began fading, as did her grip on the waking world. She heard someone shouting at her, but the words were just mindless noise, like the teacher from the Charlie Brown specials. Finally, there was nothing but blissful oblivion. ------------ --------------- Some time later . . . ------------ --------------- Madison noticed the numbness before everything else. Next she felt the pressure on top of her, by way of some kind of heavy blanket. Then she felt a pain lacing her arms, and she started to groan. "Doctor --" someone started in a familiar voice, albeit panicked. Her mind was murky, so it took her a moment to place it. "Huh . . . huh --" she gasped, trying to say "Heda" but unable to make her throat work properly. "Shh, baby," Heda whispered from close by, "Don't say anything. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay," the eagle-shifter continued, then touched her lips softly to Madison's. "You're going to be okay." She turned towards the door of the hospital room, "Mr. Hannity! She's awake!" Madison heard someone else come in. She tried to scan, but found that her Gift still failed her. Her throat felt numb as she tried to form words. "Don't try to talk," Mr. Hannity said gently from the other side from where Heda was standing. "You're safe now. You're in the hospital. You had hypothermia, frostbite, and burns on your arms, so they sedated you so that you could rest while they got your temperature back up." He wanted badly to hold his daughter's hand, but they were badly burned due to the silver, and that would be a long time healing. Madison started to cry. She could not move, she could not "see," and she could not speak. She did not understand any of what had just happened. "It's okay baby," Heda as soothingly as she could. "Whatever drugs that asshole gave you are still in your system, so it's probably fucking with your abilities. You WILL get them back, I promise. Right doctor?" "I expect so, but I say so with caution," spoke a new voice. "Ms. Sloan's toxicology report is showing things I've never even heard of before, though the levels of the novel substances do seem to be dropping." "You've got the best doctor around," Mr. Hannity assured her, "and this is a shifter friendly hospital. I'm flying a healer in from Dallas who will help get you back on your feet." Madison tried mouthing one word, over and over again. Finally -- "Alvin?" Mr. Hannity asked. "Alvin is fine. His mother is in with him now. He has burns around his ankles, but he'll be all right. He told us what you did," Mr. Hannity said, his voice choking up. "You're amazing," Heda said. "Wuh . . . hap . . . un?" "That's 'lazy bat-shifter' for 'What happened?" That voice was Billy's, and the humor was only a thinly veiled guise for the relief he felt. "She should really get some rest," the doctor started to say, then saw Madison start to get agitated. "All right, just please try to relax." Heda and Billy tripped over their own tongues informing Madison what they had learned about the killer and of how they had found Detrius's, or Daryl Mosley's, hideout before crashing in, literally in the nick of time. Daryl had apparently rigged his entire lair with traps and defensive spells, so stuff had started blowing up almost immediately. Heda, in Billy's words, had gone "ape shit crazy" and went barreling through walls of sparks and fire to try to get her hands on Daryl Mosley's throat. Billy had realized that Madison would not be holding on to that chain without a reason, so he had punched into the already cracking glass cell and grabbed the chain just as his friend was letting go of it. He had burns on his hands, but he had not held the line as long as Madison did. Mr. Hannity had gotten Alvin down, then he and Billy had taken the hostages outside. Daryl had too many defenses and he knew the terrain of his lab, which was a set of rooms designed in typical cold-war chaos. He had escaped down a back tunnel after setting everything off, and it had taken most of her friends to keep Heda from chasing the psychopathic sorcerer into a collapsing corridor. Madison open her mouth and gasped a little. Then, "Ih . . . ih . . . idiot." Heda grinned, and she cried just a little bit. "I need you to keep me in line. You being the rational, even-tempered half of the couple." "Billy?" Madison said. "Yes?" "Fuh . . . Flip huh . . . flip her off." Billy looked at Heda. "Can't deny an injured woman a request like that," he said, giving Heda the bird. Madison gasped, and this time it was from pain rather than an attempt to speak. The doctor fed something into one of the tubes connected to Madison's body, and she started to quiet down. "I think she needs to sleep. Let me know when your healer arrives," he told Mr. Hannity. "I'll make sure you have privacy, though I will need to be in attendance. If you could step outside for a moment, we can discuss her treatment and transfer to Dallas and your daughter can rest." "Of course," Mr. Hannity said, then looked at the girl in the bed. "Madison, Heda will stay with you for now, but you heard the doctor about resting. One of us will always be here, so don't you worry." He started to turn away. "Dad," Madison whispered. William Hannity stopped in his tracks, slowly turning back to Madison. "Madison --" He had no more words. The first time she called him "Dad" had come many, many years too late, but he cherished the sound anyway. "Juh . . . just wanted to say that," Madison finished drowsily. And as she let the pain-killers do their work, she felt him kiss her forehead, just like a father was supposed to do. ------------ ---------------- Three weeks later . . . ------------ ---------------- Heda had just flopped down on her bed when the call came in, having just gotten out of a well-deserved and wholly necessary shower. One look at the caller ID brought a smile to her face. "Hey good looking," she said warmly. "How are you feeling?" I'm BORED," came the instant complaint. Madison had been transferred to the Hannity estate a week after being hospitalized, and Mr. Hannity was sparing no expense in Madison's treatment. But due to the ongoing potential threat of Daryl Mosely being on the loose, as well as her nagging injuries, she was kept consigned to the house, though that was admittedly less of a problem because the house was huge and had at least one of everything. Normally, shifting helped the healing process but burns, especially those caused by silver, actually prevented healing, so Madison was spending time with a healer every day so that she could regain some freedom. "Bored is good for you right now," Heda said. "Bored means not being captured, tortured, or otherwise put in a situation of distress." "Boredom is distressing," Madison replied. "I mean, Dad keeps working from home, but he DOES have to work. Carla left to visit her family, Timothy and Morgan are in school all day, so the only person I have to hang it with is the healer, the nurse, the cook, and the gardener and, to be frank, none of them are great conversationalists. And none of them know the first thing about good music." "Neither did I, if you'll recall." True. You're lucky you're hot." Heda laughed. "I'm sure that having an expert cook is a horrible injustice." "Well, this peanut butter fudge isn't exactly prison food. And Dad hired a personal trainer, which was really just a sneaky way of getting me a masseuse without me making an objection. I've never had a massage before." "And?" "Those don't suck. We totally need to keep with the massage thing when I get back." "You know, you're getting pretty good at calling Mr. Hannity 'Dad.' So he's met the Madison seal of approval?" "He's stuck beside me through a lot, and . . . and he wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have done what his wife did, and it took me a long time to accept that. And he's trying so hard --" "It's okay babe," Heda said, hearing her girlfriend tear up a little. Having actual family was such an overwhelming experience for her. "I'm damn proud of you. And I'm sure that once Morgan gets home, your boredom will be a thing of the past." Madison and Morgan had basically been thick as thieves since Madison arrived to recuperate. Morgan was attempting to give Madison a crash-course in what being the teenage daughter of an affluent banker was supposed to be like. It apparently involved a lot of eye rolling and asking for more than you really want on your father's expense account. It also involved shoes, clothes, and talking endlessly about boys. Or in Madison's case, girls. Specifically, one girl. "So," Heda asked, "have you heard from . . . you know?" "Alvin?" Madison asked. "Yeah. He called last night and . . . and that was the most uncomfortable conversation of my life. I think he wants some kind of excuse or forgiveness or something, but he didn't actually ask for it." She sighed. "I wound up telling him that any reckoning he comes to, he's gonna have to do it on his own. That bridge is just too burned. I hate that I have to do this --" "He made his bed, so it's time to lie in it. I get where you're coming from. Did I mention how amazing you are? Saving his ass after all he did?" You may have mentioned it a time or two," Madison chuckled. "I really miss you. I miss Billy and Sasha and the gang and my room." "And I miss you. But hopefully we'll catch this asshole soon and you can come back." "So still no sign of him?" "Not a thing. Fucker just vanished. They've got pictures of him all over the place now, since we couldn't keep the human authorities in the dark on this." Heda stood up and starting pacing angrily. "I should've had him. If Peter hadn't grabbed me --" "You would have been crushed to death by falling debris or you would have been trapped in a small space with a bug-nuts sorcerer who hates shifters, had the home court advantage, and doesn't play by any fair rules of combat. I know you're a bad ass, Heda, but I might have lost you, and that would've been more than I could handle." "I know, I know. I just keep wondering what my mom would have done --" "You're not your mother. You can't get out of her shadow if you cast it for her." Heda stopped pacing and grinned. "I knew there was a reason I liked you." "Besides my rockin' bod and mad kickboxing skills?" "Those didn't exactly hurt." Heda heard something happening on the other end, mainly the introduction of a chattering voice into the background mix. "Let me guess, Morgan just got back?" "Yes, and she brought like a billion new bits of clothing. No, I am not exaggerating!" Madison said, her attention obviously drawn to her sister. "You haven't even worn the stuff you bought Saturday. No you haven't! No, I don't need new clothes. How did you get my size? Oh, oh yeah. No, I don't want to try it . . . ooh, that's soft. Silk? I'll take your word for it --" "Babe, I'm gonna hang up and let you spend time with the sis, okay?" Heda said loudly into the phone. "I'm sorry, I'm being a bad girlfriend." "No, you're being a good sister. Go, and I'll talk at you tomorrow." Heda hung up, turned around and found Edgar standing there. "How's she doing?" "Good. Bored, but good. Hopefully the healer will be able to finish up on her hands so she can shift. Hey, speaking of shifting, let's go fly." "Now?" 
"We haven't flown together in forever. Not since you and me and Mom went rabbit hunting for Thanksgiving that one year." Edgar smiled and ran his hand through his dark black hair. "I remember it more as me refereeing between the two of you when you started fighting over that carcass." Ravens did not hunt like eagles did, so he had just been along for the ride. Heda and their mother had gotten awfully competitive, as they were both wont to do, and he had felt a little like a mouse trying to break up a squabble between two big cats. Edgar's raven form was big for his breed, having a 50 inch wingspan and weighing 3.5 pounds, but Heda, being the smaller of the two eagles, outweighed him by almost ten pounds and had a wingspan of 85 inches. And eagles had talons. Big, nasty talons. "I still say I could've taken her," Heda said, beginning to undress. Family nudity was pretty commonplace in the shifter community. "The day you want to call the old woman out, just make sure to call me first because I would PAY to see that." The two of them finished getting undressed, then shifted and took off through the open windows. Heda realized again how hard things must have been for Madison, not having her own kind around for so long to do the things that her animalistic side demanded . . . to fly with others like her. Heda loved the feel of the wind streaming under and over her feathers, her eyes taking in the world like a child at the cinema, amazed at the wonder of everything. And what made it better was that her brother was there, looking down at the same, heart-breakingly beautiful landscape. They flew out to the woods, with Edgar flying underneath his sister's watchful eye. They landed in a clearing that Heda had flown to without even thinking about it. "Nice place," Edgar said, plopping his body down on a soft patch of grass. "This is the first place Madison and I went flying to. She likes the bug selection." "That never ceases to be gross." Heda grinned. "Just remember, we eat rodents. And don't you sometimes eat bugs when you're flying too?" "I'm not criticizing our basic natures. I'm just saying that it's kind of gross when you stop and think about it." He cocked his head and looked at his sister as she sat down beside him. "Gotta question for you." "Shoot." "How serious is this thing between you and Madison?" That was not a question Heda had been expecting. "I dunno. Serious, I guess." "Not a trap question. I was just curious. For what it's worth, I like her." "It's a little early for me to be thinking of settling down. I'm nineteen for Christ's sake." She sighed. "But thanks. I like her too." She started to grin. "And now you're thinking about her. You always get that grin when you're thinking about her." "I was just thinking about when I tried rescuing her from Alvin and his goons, and my reward was for her to try to kick me in the head for the first time." "First time?" "Yeah. She has anger management issues." "She's a violent little vixen, isn't she?" Heda shrugged. "I think she has this need to overcompensate sometimes. But honestly? It's so cute when she does it that I can't bring myself to complain." "Well, if there is anyone out there who can change your wild ways and settle you down, it had better be someone who's challenging." "Hey, don't get all nest-building on me. YOU could stand to plow a few less fields too," Heda replied with an arched, knowing eyebrow. "We both know that it isn't in the cards for me," Edgar said wistfully. Heda's skin tightened up, and she sighed as she put an arm around her brother's shoulders. "It could be. There's no guarantee that the visions will come. You could live a long, happy life." "I think the visions are coming," he replied. Instantly, Heda's humor died. "Why? What happened?" "It's . . . it's just that I had a feeling. Back right before this case started, I just had this feeling that there was going to be trouble down here. Something about you." "Did you see something?" "No, but --" "Ed, I'm ALWAYS in trouble. That's not a vision, that's just historical fact." Heda tried to keep her heart from beating quite so fast by taking a deep breaths. "Don't scare me like that." "I'm serious --" "So am I," Heda said. "Millions of people around the world have feelings like that every now and again, and a small percentage turn out to be true. Pure chance. You know the literature on the visions of the ravens better than anyone. They're very distinctive. You're not going to wonder if you're having one." "Yeah, but --" "But nothing. Don't let the fear of it make you crazy. There's no point to losing your mind without at least getting the benefits." She paused. "This really has you freaked, doesn't it?" Edgar nodded. "This is normally the kind of high-stress situation where the dreams start to manifest." 
"So stop stressing. Hell, Joanna has been helping you de-stress since she first laid eyes on you." "You think sex with her isn't stressful? The woman gives me performance anxiety." "I'll ask her to take it easy on you," Heda said with a smirk. "Well, I wouldn't go that far." Edgar hugged his sister. "Thanks." "Hey, just glad I could actually help someone," Heda replied despondently. "If I hadn't been so slow, I would have had Detrius and -- Flying Blind Ch. 06 "You've helped a lot of people," Ed said. "Without you, we never would have found Madison and Alvin. We've taken Detrius's food supply away." 
"It just makes him more dangerous," Heda muttered. "I want him gone. I want to get him for what he did to those students, and I want to rip his throat out for what he did to Madison." "Now you're the one who needs to calm down, little sis. She's as safe as she can be now, and your girl is going to be just fine. You won't catch him if you lose your cool." Heda leaned back. "Cool." She was pondering something. "This guy we're after has some kind of hard-on for the cold." "Huh?" "I mean, he used cold as a way of torturing his victims. The ones that survived talked about how cold it was." "Use of cold as a torture device is not uncommon." Heda shook her head. "Everything with this guy means something." Edgar closed his eyes. "The torture devices were things that he picked up from Professor Hill's class. Detrius blames the shifters for what happened, specifically Reichert. The murderer was one of Hill's best students, so he took away Reichert's in some bizarre form of balance." "We'll add it to the criteria being used to profile this psycho, but he's smart. He's not going to just be hanging out in a fridge somewhere waiting for us." "I know. Just let me pretend I'm brilliant for a little bit," Heda chuckled punching her brother in the shoulder. "Heda, the one thing you can count on your family to do for you is to squash your ego whenever we can. It's kind of annoying that most of the time, you are as good as you claim to be. Though I doubt Madison complains about your mad skills." Heda actually had the good graces to blush a bit. "Well, she hasn't complained to me. Hey, we better be getting back. Despite the galactic unfairness of it, I still have class tomorrow." "Hey, about what we were talking about earlier . . . don't tell Mom. You're right. I shouldn't go worrying anyone unless I'm sure." The two shifted in silence, then took flight in the last light of the sun towards home. ------ -------------- That night . . . ------ -------------- The Cold screamed and wailed against the surrounding walls like the wind and waves at a Scottish coastline. Over the weeks since It had met with disaster. It's lair violated, It's Messages lost, It's visage known to the enemy . . . unacceptable! But the Enemy had sent His little puppets away, out of even the Cold's long reach. "All my plans," It hissed, "all my dreams. Gone!" But they could not be gone. How could the Cold truly be denied. It came for all things. The Cold could lay mountains flat, and leave the greatest predators humble in their graves. And the Cold demanded It's due. It would draw the Enemy out. It would use the Enemy's arrogance and pride as weapons against It. "The story is not over," the Cold whispered. "Not until I have had the final word." ----------- ----------------- A few days later . . . ----------- ----------------- Madison was actually doing pretty well. The last of the bandages had come off that afternoon, and she had immediately shifted and flown around the house. She had even clung to the bottom of Mr. Hannity's arm, chattering away happily before flitting off. Then in the evening, Morgan and some of her friends from high school, all of whom thought that Madison was the coolest chick ever, had descended on the convalescing bat-shifter. They had given her a home facial, then painted her nails, despite her protestations that she was blind and that the concept of "Sasha red" coloring was pretty much lost on her. Morgan had told her that some things transcended sight. Madison told her little sister that she was, in point of fact, off her rocker. Madison found herself relaxed and kicking back in her king-sized bed, sipping the most amazing raspberry lemonade and listening to T-Bone Walker wafting out from her I-Pod's docking station. She felt safe here. The only other place she had felt safe was in the arms of -- *Buzz* Madison picked up her phone. "Hello?" "Hey baby!" came a friendly voice. How's my girl doing?" "Horrible," Madison replied with an insincere pout in her voice. "This lemonade isn't quite chilled enough, these pillows haven't been fluffed since this morning --" She stopped when she heard Heda laughing at her. "You are so full of shit. You're loving being a pampered princess now, aren't you?" Madison closed her eyes. "Is that horrible of me? I mean, with everything that's happened, should I really be . . . happy? It kinda feels inappropriate." "Madison, you've paid more than your pound of flesh in this," Heda said vehemently. "You've put up with more than anyone I know in your life, and you suffered at that asshole's hands. No one deserves to feel good more than you." "One girl died, and the rest . . . Damn, I mean even Carla --" "Would have been taken even if you never existed. And Carla's safer now than anyone except maybe you, thanks to your father. She's getting back tonight, right?" "Yeah, late. We're taking an armored limo to the airport to pick her up, and her security guy is going to call once she gets on the plane. It'll be nice having her here. She'll help distract Morgan, and I think Timothy has a crush on her. Little goober," Madison added with a chuckle. "He's gonna be as much of a heartbreaker as his sister," Heda snickered. "You've gotta be talking about Morgan," Madison sighed, lying back on her pile of unfluffed pillows. "She's had two boyfriends. Two! And she's sixteen! I'm twenty, and I'm on girlfriend number one." "Well, at least you started with the best. I will absolutely ruin you for other women." Madison was grinning like an idiot. "Well, you better step up your game. I've been assured by at least half-dozen semi-pubescent teenaged girls that they know at least one lesbian who they could hook me up with." Heda was laughing at the other end of the line. "That's it! No hanging out with your sister's friends. They're a bad influence on you. I can't even defend my territory." Madison's face scrunched up. "Territory? I'm new at the whole dating thing, but comparing a girl to something you might purchase from France for cheap is hardly flattering." "Cheap? I'll have you know that I would not accept anything less than an acre of land and a mule for you." "You want a mule? Why, so you can have two asses?" Madison stuck her tongue out, then remembered that Heda could not actually see her. "Touche. You're sticking your tongue out at me, aren't you?" "Uhm . . . no?" Laughter. "Liar. Too bad, though. I can think of a lot of fun things to do with your tongue." Madison's whole body underwent muster in the course of a second. Heart beat up, check. Skin hot, check. Face flushed, check. Libido doing a mambo inspired by a full jazz band . . . definitely. "I . . . uhm, what --" "Are you alone?" Heda asked, her voice as pure and innocent as the Marquis de Sade on a bender. Madison almost forgot how to use her echolocation, but she was able to scan the room. Door was closed. Blinds were down on all her windows, at Madison's request. She was not a big fan of glass anyway. People could look at her, but she could not sense them through it. "Yeah. Why?" she asked, trying to sound casual. "Don't play coy with me," Heda purred. "I told you that there had been great advances in the world of phone sex. I could get off just listening to you talk." Madison's brain was tempted to give out, because it was not the recipient of most of the blood and oxygen in her body at the moment. But she rallied her few working brain cells and switched on her on-air voice. "Are you just talk, or can you dance too?" Heda had told her once that her voice was like hot chocolate stirred with a cinnamon stick, and Madison was laying it all out there for this conversation. "Oh, I'm ready to dance. My hand's been in my shorts since you picked up the phone." Madison's mind was awash with images. "Your volleyball shorts?" she whispered, putting as much heat in her words as she could. "Those tight little ones you wear when you play? I hope they're your game shorts, because practice is over." Madison stifled a giggle. She could not believe that she had just said that. She heard a moan. "I play for keeps," Heda replied, then sighed. "Guess what I'm doing right now?" "You're playing with yourself," the blind girl replied, forcing her breathing to stay deep and steady. She knew what Heda wanted to hear. "Playing with your pussy?" she added, drawing out the "s" sound like a serpent in the garden. "Oh yeah. I've got two fingers up inside, and I just keep wishing they were yours," Heda said. "Where are your hands?" Madison ran one hand up her body to where her nipples were trying to poke their way through her body stocking. "I'm playing with my tits," she whispered, gently twisting one nub. She managed to get her hand through her neckline and under her bra so she could feel her skin, and it felt good. "My nipples are acting like you're mouth is on them." "I wish it was. You are so sexy," Heda replied, and her voice conveyed her sincerity. "Do something for me, please? Take your clothes off, and talk to me while you're doing it." Madison crawled off the bed, then hurriedly double-checked every lock and every window-shade, all the while trying to find her wireless headset. She almost stubbed her toe on the bed frame, then managed to trip on the rug. "Madison? Baby?" "Still here," Madison said, her voice breaking out of its sexier tones, but only for a moment. "Just getting the bluetooth ready. You know, in case I need both hands?" There was some chuckling on the other end. "Oh, you'll be need them both, I think. You know, I haven't heard about what you're wearing or, more specifically, what you're not supposed to be wearing." The bat shifter was struggling to get back onto the bed. She thought she might have hurt her knee, but she would not be needing her knees for what was on the schedule. Under the safety of the covers, she peeled off her dress and body stocking until all she had on was her -- "Are your panties still on?" Madison nodded, then remembered that Heda could not see her over the phone. "I was just getting to them." "Leave 'em on." "Are you sure? They're the cotton --" "Madison, play along." "Fine, fine," Madison whispered huskily, her hand tracing circles on the soft fabric of her underwear. "You know I'll play," she added with her throaty voice. "I'm just aching to play." "I'll bet you are. I'll bet you just couldn't wait to touch yourself." "I'm being so good," Madison whispered. "I haven't really touched myself. Not the way I want to." She grinned when she heard Heda take a harsh breath. "You don't have clothes on do you?" "No. I've been naked since you picked up the phone." Madison smiled. "You're in your room then. Lying on that big bed, all alone. I'll bet the windows are open, aren't they?" "How'd you know?" Heda asked with a horny chuckle. "Because you like the night air on your skin. Because you like being nude when you're near nature. I don't know what the moonlight looks like, but I know you must be beautiful in it. The moon is probably caressing you, and the wind is licking your body like I want to be. I'll bet they think you're sugar-sweet." She heard an ever-so-gentle moan on the other end. "Do you know what you do to me when you talk like that?" Heda asked. "I promise you, my thoughts are anything but sweet right now." "It depends," Madison countered, rubbing one finger down her slot, dampening the panties that separated the two, "on whether or not it agrees with my sweet tooth." She gasped as her thumb rubbed her clitoral hood through her underwear, and she made sure Heda heard it. "I'm hungry, Heda, and the only thing I want in my mouth is you." "Well we'll have to find you a substitute. Stick your finger in that wet pussy of yours, then put it in your mouth." Madison bit her bottom lip, partially due to nervousness but also due to excitement. She stuck her hand under the waistband of her panties and plunged one digit into her hot sex. "Do you know what you do to me?" she asked, playing with herself for a moment and savoring the moments. "You're eight hundred miles away, and you've got me so fucking wet," she hissed, plunging her finger in a few more times, then withdrawing it and putting it in her mouth. "I'm playing with my nipples," Heda told her. "I know how much you like them." "Can you lick them? I wish I could," Madison said, returning her fingers to the private paradise between her thighs. Do I look like Joanna?" Heda teased. "I can't quite get a nipple to my lips." "Twist it, just a little," Madison requested. Heda's breasts were firm, but Madison's slightly larger and softer tits made her own nipples accessible, though only barely. She pushed one to her mouth while continued to finger herself. "You're like a good jazz band," she told her girlfriend. "Smooth, amazing, and you can keep me up all night when you get rolling." "Then tune up the band, because I'm just getting started." On Heda's end of the line, there was some heavy breathing. "I can't keep my fingers off of myself." "I can't keep fingers out of myself," came the retort. Heda's next word send a most pleasurable shiver up Madison's spine. "While seeing you, I could forget The image so sad and fair, But, look, you sing -- and it is set Again before my eyes in air." Madison let out a little breath and increased the tempo of her fingers. Heda loved poetry, had a tremendous amount of it in her memory and at her disposal, and she knew one important thing. It got Madison going. Not just physically, but Madison loved the very notion of someone caring about her enough to read her poetry. "I don't know what that means," Madison said, her voice taking on a richer, warmer tone, "but it tickles my ears like a feather. It tickles everything." ""You know what I want?" "What?" "Sing something." While normally Heda tended to give Madison performance anxiety, the eagle-shifter had just made a request that the bat-shifter could handle. She knew she did not have the kind of voice professional singers had, but it was certainly good enough for this. She put every bit of sultry voodoo that she knew how to do into her voice, then: "You hold me so close that my knees grow weak, but my soul is flying high above the ground I'm trying to speak but no matter what I do I just can't seem to make any sound. And then you took the words right out of my mouth. Oh-it must have been while you were kissing me." Maybe not the most romantic song on the world, but it seemed to be working. On the other end of the line, there was breathing. Not your ordinary drawing in of air, but a much more expedited process. Madison could picture those firm breasts pounding at the air above them, straining themselves towards the dark Southwestern sky as Heda's ever-so-talented hand maneuvered a little south of the border. "Madison, I'm gonna . . . fuck yeah," Heda moaned into the phone. While she listened to her girlfriend hit the plateau, Madison pulled out all the tricks, sending herself hurling towards orgasm like a bat out of hell. She had to bite her lip to keep from squeaking as her climax hit her. "Heda, me too. Me fucking too, baby!" she hissed. Madison was happy. She cuddled down in her blanket and let the pleasant afterglow wash over her. She listened to the chuckling on the other end, and it made her smile even wider. "So, still have reservations about phone sex? And feel free to make a joke about 'reaching out and touching someone'." "As if," Madison scoffed. Actually, that exact joke had been sitting on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn't going to do it if Heda just gave it to her. "Ready for round two?" Madison pondered it for a moment. "I dunno. Do we have enough anytime minutes in our phone plans?" She grinned. "Okay, this time --" KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Madison squeaked and almost jumped through her headboard. "It's Morgan!" she whispered into her headset. "What is it?" she asked out loud, her voice breaking. "Madison, some of my friends are coming over and we were going to watch a movie and I was wondering if you wanted to come join us?" her little sister asked. "One, didn't we hang out with your friends all day?" "Yeah, but they think you're so totally cool, and any excuse to hang out at Casa de Hannity is usually good enough --" "Two, it's a movie," Madison said. "What physical impairment that I suffer from might infringe on me watching a movie?" "It's okay," Morgan replied. "It's a 3-D movie." Madison blinked several times. She could almost hear her sister's brain turning over as she began to realize everything wrong with that last statement. And the bat-shifter could definitely hear Heda on the other end of the line. Her girlfriend was currently laughing her ass off. ------- ----------------------------- Somewhere near FCU . . . ------- ----------------------------- Neil Reichert was sitting at his dining room table, looking over the stack of bills before him that seemed strangely unsympathetic to the clusterfuck that his life had turned into. A sociopathic disciple of a disgraced former professor had tortured and killed students on his campus, all because of some deranged belief that Reichert himself was responsible. He stood up and walked over to the fridge, scanning the contents before deciding nothing in it really appealed to him. For some reason, he was craving something warm. He glanced outside at the leaves on the trees in his yard, not yet even hinting at the fall to come. For some reason, it felt cold. He looked at his programmable thermostat, which was reading a balmy seventy-eight degrees, perfect for a reptile shifter. 'Then why am I feeling so damn . . . cold,' he thought, his eyes widening. He gripped his chest as he felt a blast of cold in his chest, like he had tried drinking a frozen beverage far too quickly. 'That Daryl Mosely kid is up to something,' he realized, hopefully not too late. He scrambled for the phone as that painful feeling spread, and he managed to call the changeling hotline before letting out a gasp of agony. And in front of him, his breath rose up like a fog on a cold Colorado morning. He knew, to some degree, what was going on. If someone did not show up soon, he was going to die. ------- ----------------------------- To be continued . . . Flying Blind Ch. 07 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author. This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University. The following story contains lesbian sexual activity. ---------- "We feared the heartlessness of human beings, all of whom are born blind, few of whom ever learn to see." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe ---------- "How's he doing?" Heda asked, sitting up on the sofa the moment her brother and Kevin walked into the house. It had been two days since Neil Reichert, King of the reptile shifters, had collapsed in his own home, the target of a nasty spell undoubtedly instigated by Daryl Mosley, resident serial kidnapper, murderer, and all around psychopath. It was Kevin who spoke this time, though he sounded tired. Kevin was an alchemist of some repute, though his normal concoctions consisted of various recreational hallucinogenics. But whatever was afflicting King Reichert was magical, and it required magical medication. "Honestly? Not what a monarch is supposed to look like. We've got stuff in his veins that is keeping his blood warm, but his organs are trying to freeze all by themselves." "We need to find him. This isn't even blood magic, or at least nothing that I've ever heard of," Ed added, flopping down on one of the couches with a profound lack of dignity. Joanna, Heda's buxom best friend, quickly moved into sympathetic shoulder-rub position. "And we don't have the slightest idea where to look," Heda said. Edgar looked a bit red in the face. "Yeah, about that," Ed said, "the council has decided that they don't want student participation in the investigation anymore. Except for Kevin's particular expertise, everyone is supposed to back off." "What?!" came Heda's voice overriding the sudden clamor from her friends. "Why? We found Detrius or Daryl, or whatever the hell he is calling himself, the first time. We can find him again." "Heda, don't bust my ball about this. The World Council has sent in the best investigators and sorcerers in the world here. If there's a way of tracing this guy, they'll do it. I'll be lucky if I'm allowed to stay on, seeing as I kept you all in the loop, thereby putting you in danger." Heda let out an undignified snort. "Like you could've stopped me." "I'm serious," Ed replied, as sternly as he could, "Putting you guys in danger is not going to win me any points with the powers that be. Heda, I might be able to bring you in on any actual hunts, just because of Mom's rep, but --" 
"To hell with that," Heda said angrily. "That son of a bitch kidnapped and tortured Carla and Madison. You saw what she looked like when we pulled her out of that damn lair." "Yeah, I remember. And I don't want anyone else here to get found like that." He sighed, then looked a little sheepish. "And since I know you're not normally inclined to let things go --" "Ed, what did you do?" she asked, her voice dripping with suspicion. "I kind of called Mr. Hannity and had him suggest to Madison that they should have ALL of you guys out there for a weekend." "Why the hell would you --" "Because once Madison calls and starts with the girlfriend pleading, you won't be able to resist." Heda's eyes were slowly growing wider. "You complete asshole!" "And then you'll be out of my hair for a few days --" Ed had to scramble to get out of the way as his sister lunged across the coffee table and attempted to throttle him. Billy, Anthony, and Peter had to grab her, put her on the couch, and sit on her to prevent her from causing serious mayhem. "She's stronger than she looks," Billy said. This time, Edgar's eyes shot open. "Oh crap. I forgot about her --" He did not even get a chance to finish the sentence before Heda's Gift kicked in. The eagle-shifter's eyes were glowing and she promptly bucked, causing all three men on top of her to go flying off of the couch. Heda's Gift made her insanely strong and fast. "I told Mom too," Ed said, running for the door. "She's going to meeting with you guys out there." "You told Mom? You candy-ass, chicken-shit, piece of --" "Gotta go!" he said, slamming the door in his sister's face. The rest of the gang managed to cause enough interference to keep her from getting to him before he got to the rental car. She was getting ready to give chase when her phone started to ring. A quick peek made her sigh. "Hi Madison," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, aware that she was being watched by the rest of the crew from the doorway. "Yeah, about that trip . . . no, of course I want to see you," she said through gritted teeth as she plotted her brother's death. "No, I don't have a game this weekend. I don't know if he can. You'll have to ask him." She stormed back to the house and handed the phone to Billy. It was the wereturtle's turn to sigh, then put the phone to his ear. "Hey psycho. Yeah, I just heard. Well, I'm in charge of the station --" He rubbed his hand over his face. "No, of course we want to see you --" ------------- --------------- That weekend . . . ------------- --------------- As she kicked back next to the pool in a hot little two-piece swimsuit drinking a flavorful fruity drink, Heda accepted that maybe taking the weekend off was not such a bad idea. Most of the gang had been able to make it out, all on Mr. Hannity's dime, though Kevin and Peter were still back at the university. Joanna was in a suit that might better be described as green dental floss, and she was quite the center of attention. Once Morgan had realized that her sister's cool college friends were coming to visit, she had invited all of her "super cool" high school friends over, and things had turned into a party pretty damn quickly. Both Joanna and Anthony had been strictly warned against "hunting underaged game" by everyone who knew them, though they both certainly relished the attention. Heda's parents had indeed shown up. Her dad was talking with Mr. Hannity about investment properties, the famous Jessica Adler was in the kitchen (of course) with Carla and Mrs. Sanchez, the voodoo priestess cook. Heda doubted she'd see her mother until dinner. Mostly, she just let herself unwind. Sure, a few of the high-schoolers hit on her, but most of them were either staring at Joanna's chest or grilling Madison and Carla about their times in captivity. For Carla, it had become a kind of therapy. For Madison . . . well, she was still getting there. For Madison, the real reward was being the center of non-hostile attention. It was another thing that was going to take some getting used to. But Heda noticed how much she glowed when people talked to her in friendship rather than about her in malice. "Would you stop doing the googly eyes thing at her?" Joanna said with faux sternness. "It's kinda sad." "Hey, I am not making googly eyes. I'm just happy to see her enjoying herself." Heda sipped her drink. "Besides, you're just jealous because my brother isn't here for you to drool over." "That's beside the point. Hmm, I bet your brother looks hot in swim trunks, especially when he's doing that slow motion walk out of the water . . . yummy. Don't ya think?" "I hadn't thought about it," Heda replied dryly. "Being related by blood and all." Joanna dismissed the excuse with a wave of her hand. "Mind putting some lotion on my back?" "Get one of the boys to do it. If I did it, we'd probably put some of these youngsters through puberty. "I'd say a few of them already made it," the werecobra replied, staring over her sunglasses at the captain of the football team. "Joanna --" "I know, I know. Stay away from the veal." Heda laughed. "Slut." "You say it like it's a bad thing." Joanna looked around. "Oh Anthony," she called adoringly. Heda got out of her chair before the hardcore flirting started. True, Joanna was bonking Edgar those days, and Anthony was more often than not in Carla's company, but the two just enjoyed playing with each other far too much. Instead, she headed to the waterslide, grabbing Madison by the hand as she walked by. "I guess that means we're leaving," Madison said, hurrying to catch up. "You know, if you're just gonna interrupt me, the least you could do is --" Heda turned around and planted a kiss that had Madison up on her tippy-toes in no time. From somewhere across the property, two fatherly voices shouted, "A little decorum!" Madison looked confused, her eyes scrunched behind her sunglasses. Because many of Morgan's friends were human, Madison was having to keep up the "blind" act. "How do they know?" "It's like radar for fathers," Heda explained. "Don't ask me how it works. I just ignore it." Then she gave Madison another kiss, just to drive the point home. When she broke, "Damn, you look good. No problems?" "Nah. Last of the burns cleared up the day before you called. Now, I'm just under house orders to drink lots of fluids. Really, a fish would be on a twelve-step recovery program from all the water I drink." "I'm glad your internship interview went well." Madison lit up like a bulb, her grin shining for all the world to see. "I'm mostly just co-hosting, but still . . . I'm gonna be on a big-time station!" She started to bounce up and down and spin in circles. "You're making me dizzy. Stop." "Sorry," Madison said, more out of breath than actually apologetic. She threw her arms around Heda again just hugged her girlfriend for a moment. Her smoking hot, hard-bodied girlfriend. Her – "Let go, or at least buy me dinner first." Madison blushed. "Your Mom's helping make dinner. Making you a cheap date." "I like to think of myself as easy rather than cheap." "Easy? You call yourself easy? I had to repeatedly kick your ass before you would take me seriously." Heda raised an eyebrow. "Repeatedly?" "Okay, mostly in my head --" "Mostly?" "Fine. But in my head, it was always a complete butt-whooping by me." Heda kissed her girlfriend again. "You're crazy." "Duh." Madison placed her head on Heda's chest and sighed. "I miss this." "Me too. But it's just for the semester, then you can come back." Madison let out a growl. "I hate him." 
"I know," Heda replied, stroking Madison's long, soft hair. "But you can't let him control your life. Enjoy being with your family and your kickin' new gig, and you'll be back with us before you know it." "Bah. No logic. Entertain my bitchiness." Heda grinned. "I'm in too good a mood. Wanna try to do some flying?" Madison made a face. "I promised I wouldn't fly off the property until this guy gets caught." "Even if everyone else went with you?" "Dad's thinking is that we would all be too vulnerable in our animal forms, and we couldn't switch to half-form out of fear of exposure." "Your father is too smart for his own good." Heda's grin got broader. "So, have you gotten used to calling him 'Dad' then?" "I practiced saying it for twelve years before I figured that I'd never get to say it for real to anyone. I like the sound of it." Heda's lips sought out Madison's again. It was a warm, lingering kiss, and it left both girls tingly in all sorts of places. To help cool off, they both took any number of rides down the slide, followed by . . . well, more sliding. Then they headed over to the kitchen to find some snackage. Heda's mother was having a lively discussion with the cook, Mrs. Sanchez, when the two girl's arrived. Something about sauces and temperatures and other things that neither younger woman really had any grasp on. "Staying out of trouble?" Jessica Adler asked, her eyes not even searching out the object of her question. "Mom, what possible trouble could I get into sitting at poolside drinking fruity drinks?" That was when the elder Adler woman's gaze shifted. "Need I remind you of the incident at the resort on our Disney vacation of 2001?" She looked at Madison. "There's a reason why it is no longer the 'happiest place on earth'." "YOU were the one who got us kicked out Orlando studios," Heda countered. "The name of the restaurant was 'Margaritaville'! Of COURSE they were going to play that song over and over again." And just like that, the conversation was off. The two Adler women could not be in each other's presence for more than ten minutes or so without the Debate, capitalization and all, starting up again. Apparently, it was all part of some weird ongoing conversation/argument that the two had been having since Heda was six years old. They both enjoyed it far more than they would admit. "Can I have a popsicle?" Madison asked of the cook. "This could be a while." "You need to eat more," Mrs. Sanchez replied gruffly. "You're too skinny." Madison knew better than to talk back on this. Mrs. Sanchez believed that all woman should have "more meat on them," unable to grasp that there were reasons you never found a fat changeling. "Two popsicles then?" "I'll fix you some profiteroles." Madison had no idea what those were, but she was sure they would be incredibly delicious. Mrs. Sanchez believed in taste over health. The bat-shifter glanced over to where the Debate had turned to which of the two women were in fact more stubborn. Madison almost smirked, enjoying the irony of it. About then, Mr. Hannity and Mr. Adler walked into the kitchen, holding bottles of expensive imported beer and talking about sports. Not the athletics of them, mind you, but about the architectural garishness of the new Cowboy stadium. Mr. Adler gave his wife a peck on the cheek, careful not to say anything that would get him sucked into the Debate. He was a referee in that tradition, not a participant. "Should we say something?" Mr. Hannity whispered to his daughter, he eyes on the heated exchange. "Not if you value your life. Interfere and, from what I understand, they'll both turn on you." Mr. Adler leaned up against the encounter nearby and nodded. "She learns quickly." "She's a smart girl." It was a small compliment that most people would barely notice. Madison's entire being glowed. Apparently, paternal affection mattered to her, whether she would ever admit it or not. A few hours later, after the humans had gone home and an amazing dinner had been sampled, the Adlers, the Hannitys, and assorted company were lounging around the family room, which Morgan continuously claimed had its own area code. Billy, Jessica, Mr. Adler, and Heda had found a Scrabble game and an audience. Madison's father had made sure that there was a braille version around, so this time she could actually follow along. Sort of. She had no understanding of more than half the words that got played, and she could not pronounce about a fourth of them. "Okay, what the hell does 'yanquis' mean?" she asked when the game finished up, with Jessica Adler winning by a mere two points. Heda was glowering at the pieces, attempting to see if something might have been miscounted. "It's a translation of 'Yankee,' from a perspective of someone from Latin America about those not from Latin America." "And that counts?" "It's in the Scrabble dictionary," her girlfriend sighed, sinking into her chair and accepting defeat. "I should have seen that coming," she muttered. "I knew that the 'q' and the 'y' were still out there --" "No one's perfect," Jessica replied smugly. "Oh crap," Mr. Adler said, as the Debate began again. "She just had to rub it in --" Madison retreated to the kitchen, carrying dishes with her despite being told repeatedly by her father that he had a staff for that. But she had always taken care of her own things, and it was a hard habit to break. Mrs. Sanchez let out a huff when Madison came in. "You, you crazy girl. Let me wash up." "I got it. My girlfriend is gonna be arguing with her mother for a while, so I might as well make myself useful." Mrs. Sanchez moved over to help rinse. "That woman of yours should've been Mexican. Too full of fire to be a white chick." Madison laughed. "I think she'd take that as a compliment." "She should. We hot." Madison had often stopped to talk to Mrs. Sanchez, but this was the first time she had spoken to her like they were both normal people instead of boss's daughter and boss's employee. Madison snickered. "Could I be Mexican?" "Nah, you too cranky to be Mexican. Cuban, maybe, but not Mexican." The two of them chatted for a while, doing dishes and discussing the finer points of raising a large family. Mrs. Sanchez had seven kids and ten grandchildren, and she was the undisputed matriarch of the whole damn thing. "You . . . you should think about having children. They be beautiful, just like you." Madison blushed. "I do believe that lesbians have a relatively low rate of reproduction." "Bah. Between the magics and the science, it can happen. Maybe use part of that bird girl. Those would be some gorgeous youngin's." "Can voodoo do that?" "Maybe. Never tried. Offerings to Erzulie Freda Dahomey might do it." Madison cocked her head. "Hey, I thought voodoo was from Haiti, not Mexico. How'd you get into it?" "What you gringos call voodoo is actually a whole bunch of different ways of believin' from a bunch of different places. Personally, my momma spent a bunch of time in northern Louisiana, then moved back to Mexico. She learned it there, and taught me." "How does it work? It's the one discipline they don't teach in any of the schools." "That's 'cause it ain't a discipline. Ain't you listening?" Mrs. Sanchez flicked her ear playfully. "It's a set of traditions and beliefs. Some folk say they're ain't no one way to do it. It's a matter of will, directed through the right focus, with the aid of the loa . . . hell, you can do just about anything." "What about voodoo dolls? Are those real?" "Can be. Most people don't know how to do it right, but it can work. Nasty dangerous though. The most dangerous kind of sympathetic magic. To attach someone's soul to a doll so you can affect one through the other? Serious emotion there. If it's bad vibes, you can kill someone, and no one could even trace it." Madison slowly put a dish in the sink. "Why not?" "Sympathetic magic like that only exists in two places. Where the doll is and where the target is. Ain't nothing to trace." "Mrs. Sanchez, is it just sticking pins in someone or --" Madison's hands were trembling. "Could you . . . freeze someone? Like sticking an ice cube in the doll?" "Sweetie, that's just plain sick," the older woman said. "I'm not saying it's a good thing. I was just thinking about what's being done to King Reichert . . . Oh who am I kidding? If that was it, someone smarter than me would've thought of it." She did a quick scan of the room, and saw that Mrs. Sanchez was looking at her with strangely somber eyes. "Madison," the woman said, her voice reflected her age, "don't ever sell yourself short. I'll tell you a couple things. One, you're a sore sight better to have around here than Alvin or his mother. You make your father happier than either of them ever did and, quite frankly, I've got half a mind to put a hex on that woman for giving up a child like you. Second, you yourself said it . . . voodoo ain't exactly run of the mill magic. 'Cause what you're saying isn't crazy. Hell, it even kinda makes sense." Flying Blind Ch. 07 Madison turned and made her way back out to the main room. "Heda?" she asked, doing a quick scan. She did not see her girlfriend immediately, but her father came over, his expression worried. ""What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." "I just . . . I think I may know what's happening to King Reichert." "Honey, he's got the best researchers in the world looking into it and --" Mr. Hannity stopped when he saw his daughter's face fall. He did not want to be just another person who did not listen to her. "What's your idea?" "It doesn't matter. Who's going to believe me?" she asked. "I might," Heda said, appearing beside her. "Madison, go on," her father told her. "You made it this far in life by being smart. So who am I to say that you're wrong before you've said anything." Madison took a deep breath, then unleashed everything in one fell swoop. At a certain point, Mr. Hannity asked Mrs. Sanchez in to confirm a few aspects of Madison's hypothesis, but otherwise waited for Madison to finish. "It's not a bad idea," Mrs. Adler said, "though one that would be very hard to follow up on." She glanced sideways at her daughter. "Not that I'm encouraging anyone to follow up on it except the proper authorities." "But --" "Heda Kimberly Adler, YOU are not an official investigator. The moment you pass the exams that allow you to enter active service, you can participate in these kinds of investigations, but --" She stopped when she saw Madison snickering. "What?" The bat-shifter turned to her girlfriend. "Your middle name is Kimberly?" Heda flushed a bit. "Yeah? What of it?" "I just thought it would be something . . . macho." "Kimberly is a perfectly good middle name," Heda grumbled. "It comes from her great grandmother, who was a dear woman with impeccable manners. I was HOPING it might carry over, but apparently those particular genes are recessive in this generation." "When it comes to behaving myself, I learned everything I know from the maternal side of the family," Heda shot back. "Sweethearts," Mr. Adler said, "no more Debate for the evening. We've entertained our hosts quite enough for one evening." "But Dad --" Heda started to say. "But Thomas --" Jessica added. Mother and daughter looked at each other, then Jessica sighed. "Okay, point to you." An hour or so later, everyone had retired to his or her own room. Madison was still a little wound up from her first foray into the world of magical investigation, so she was grooving to some music wafting over from her Ipod docking station when she heard a light knocking on her door. "Yes?" "Hey, it's me." Madison raised an eyebrow. "Me who?" "Meluv U. Longtime." She opened the door and peeked out. Heda was just standing there, smirking. "Really," Madison started, "that's the best you can do?" "Nope. Just the best that I can do through a doorway." Madison smiled. "I seem to recall you could do pretty well two states away." Heda took her girlfriend's face with both hands and kissed her. "How was that?" "S'all right." Madison's response got her another kiss that made her toes curl, her heart-rate go up, and wound up with her pressed up against the wall of her bedroom. "Better." "That was a good idea today. Don't know if it'll pan out, but it was good." Madison sat back on the bed. "You're not going to let it go, are you?" "What makes you say that?" "I can actually see you planning how you're going to investigate everything. It's as plain as the nose on your face." Heda sat down next to Madison. "I can't. I think now I know why Mom kept running off to fight the war or doing whatever the Council asked of her. I just can't stand the idea of that guy running around free after everything he's done." "You'll get in trouble." "Like that'll be anything new." "But this time, you won't be able to out-argue your mother to get out of it." Heda looked her girlfriend over. "You're seriously trying to talk me out of it?" Madison kissed Heda on the shoulder. "I've gotta try. If you get hurt, you think I won't feel bad about it? That I won't think that I should've tried harder? Mind you, I know it won't work. If I'd only known you for a few minutes, I'd know I couldn't really change your mind." "I listen, really I do." "But you're stubborn as --" "Don't you dare say --" "-- your mother," Madison finished. Heda promptly jumped on her girlfriend and started to tickle her. "Stop! Someone will hear!" she gasped. Heda did stop, then lay down on top of Madison. "Shut me up." Madison's mouth opened, then shut, then opened, then shut. Finally, "I promised . . . Dad . . . the clothes would stay on." ""Well, you can do a whole lot with your clothes still on," Heda whispered nibbling on Madison's ear. "But if you'd rather I leave --" "If you leave me high and dry right now, I will hurt you," Madison gasped, pushing her body against Heda's. Heda worked her hips until Madison spread her legs, then settled in between them for some serious petting. Madison realized that for being dressing, there was a lot of skin touching skin. Madison had on her underwear and an oversized sleeping shirt, while Heda only had a tight pair of shorts and a sports bra. Heda took Madison's hands and put them on her ass. "I love your butt," Madison murmured, digging her fingers in while hooking Heda's knees with her ankles. "Can I keep it?" Heda stopped sucking on Madison's neck for just a moment. "I don't think I could pry it away from you if I wanted to. I'm just glad that it's in capable hands." She yipped lightly when Madison pinched her butt. "Just checking to make sure I'm not dreaming." "You're supposed to pinch yourself!" "What fun would that be?" Heda grinned, sliding her hand between their bodies and fondling Madison's nipples through the cotton shirt. She would have given her wing feathers to get her hands on the actual breasts, but she would not make Madison break her promises. This was kind of fun anyway. "You teased me about my breasts last time," she whispered huskily, "but I seem to recall that yours are pretty spectacular." Madison ground her body against Heda, strongly resisting the urge to thrust her hands under those tight shorts. Heda just had a body that begged to be touched. The "clothes stay on" rule was going to drive her nuts. She needed to discuss this with her father. Later. Right now, she wanted some nookie, or as close as she could get. Since Heda had caused some separation, Madison used it to place her hand over the damp sample of cloth covering her girlfriend's sex, then began rubbing small, rapid circles around her swollen mound. "You should have left your swimsuit on," Madison breathed, "because I really want to get you wet." Heda bit her bottom lip and pushed her crotch against Madison's hand. A few months ago, she doubted Madison could even have imagined talking like this, but now each little innuendo rolled off of that silver tongue like nobody's business. Another good thing about that tongue was how if fit in Heda's mouth, amongst other places. But right now, kissing was the only thing on the menu, so she sampled the local flavor. Heda pushed up with her arms and began moving her hips as if she were fucking Madison, locking her eyes on those of her lover. She fucked Madison's hand until she just couldn't take it anymore. She leaned over and locked mouths with Madison, moaning into her mouth as she came. Madison cold feel the pulses of sweet wetness dripping onto her hand, and she instinctively brought her fingers to her mouth for a taste. "Do you have any idea how much I missed you?" Heda said. Madison held up her fingers. "This much?" "That's a start." Heda crawled down and placed her face between Madison's eager thighs, pushing them apart until her underwear came into view. She grinned when she saw a glimpse of the "Hello Kitty" underwear. Apparently Sasha had bought them for her on a lark. Madison could not see the designs of course, but claimed they were very comfortable. Heda rubbed her nose over where she knew a sensitive little nub was anxious for some attention. Madison grabbed one of her pillows and bit down hard on it as Heda began an above-the-covers lick-and-nuzzle fest that was making her want to scream like a banshee. She gripped Heda's head with her spare hand, feet planted on the comforter and back gently arched. Heda was in no hurry whatsoever, feeling all of Madison's sensual bits through the teasing garments that protected them. She ran her fingers up and down the bat-shifter's legs as she pushed her tongue into her girlfriend's panties, causing gentle shudders and adorable growling noises. One of the best things about being with Madison, in Heda's ever so humble opinion, was seeing and hearing these reactions. She adored the way those long legs seemed desperate to find solid footing, or the way her flat tummy bounced when she gasped. And the growling, moaning, and occasional squeak were a symphony of delightful sounds, almost as enticing in their own right as the sexy voice that Heda had fallen for. "When you come back to college," Heda whispered, blowing hot breath across the slight section of belly skin that had become exposed during Madison's gyrations, "I think I'll just lock you in my room with me and not let you wear clothes for days." Madison stopped gnawing on her pillow and said, "Well, aren't we getting a little pushy. Who says . . . ah, don't stop!" "Don't stop what?" Heda asked not-so-innocently. "Touching that . . . that . . . ahhhhhh," Madison let out in a long gasp, shaking as she orgasmed. "You mean that?" Heda said, kissing the clitoral area and licking up some of the moisture seeping through "Hello Kitty's" whiskers. Madison lay flat, almost as if she were contemplating making a snow angel. "Phone sex ain't bad, but that's soooo much better." Heda flopped down next to her girlfriend, kissing her while tracing the line of her jaw with one finger. Then she sighed. "I suppose I'll need to head back to my room." Madison made a grimace. "I'd rather you stay, but I don't think I want to face your parents and Dad if you did." "So, I guess I'll be going --" "I guess you should --" It wound up being a little while before anyone went anywhere or anyone got any sleep. ---------- ---------------- A few days later . . . ---------- ---------------- "Heda, remember the whole 'non-interference' clause laid out when you told your brother about Madison's plan?" Heda growled as she walked out of the third "black magic" shop of the afternoon, then climbed into Peter's car. "Not really. I was thinking about how I was going to help." She grabbed her Mountain Dew from the cupholder. "Why? What did they say?" Peter rolled his eyes and started up the car. "To NOT interfere." "Good thing I didn't hear that then, isn't it?" "Okay, why are we hitting these dives anyway? Not a one of these is a reputable dealer." Heda tapped her head. "If he had gone to a real magic dealer or teacher, we would have heard about it. His picture has been passed around to the whole community." "But he could've gone anywhere." "Nah. This guy hasn't strayed far from home since his mentor croaked. He can't have. You saw how much work he had put into that lair of his, and scoping out the campus yada yada yada --" "Got it." Peter scrunched his eyebrows. "What? Heda asked. "What is it?" "Oh, just thinking. Strangely, your logic doesn't completely suck." "Screw you too." "We've already eliminated that possibility." Heda laughed. "I should tell Anthony that I let you feel me up. It would drive him bug-nuts." "You could let me feel you up. Then it wouldn't be lying." That comment earned Peter a punch in the arm. "No one touches this bod but me and Madison. And a really good masseuse." Heda punched an address into the GPS, then leaned back. Peter punched in some tunes, then started to whistle along. Heda rolled the window down and let the cooling air flow past her face. It was times like this that she realized why dogs did it. Pity eagles did not have that sense of smell. Heda was bound and determined to keep herself busy. She had tried to abide by the wishes of the investigating officers. Really she had. That had lasted for about two watered-down movies on Comedy Central and a bowl of popcorn, then she had decided to do this instead. And Peter had the afternoon off. "So," Peter said after ten minutes of quiet, both of them enjoying the drive through the country through a podunk town in northern New Mexico, "Have you seriously thought about trying to be Queen someday?" Heda was able to aim towards the open window when Mountain Dew went flying out her nose. "Gods, that burns! Where the hell did that question come from?" "Just curious. A lot of people are already expecting you to try at some point. Maybe when Queen Brown steps down --" "I haven't even graduated college! And anyone with sense wouldn't challenge Samantha. I've seen her spar with my Mom, and she's scares the crap out of me." "I noticed you haven't answered the question," Peter pointed out. "Fine. No, I haven't thought about being Queen. I don't want to think about it." She rubbed her eyes, which had teared up due to the stinging caused by snorted a heavily caffeinated beverage. "Who the hell's been saying that?" "I dunno. Everyone. Ever since you came on campus and started stirring things up --" 
"I did NOT!" "Let's see, you took on the resident bully, you've given the most powerful monarch on the planet a migraine, taken a social pariah and turned her into a folk hero, you've pursued a psychopathic serial killer into his lair . . . yeah, you've made some waves." Heda snorted. "I'm sure they've got people who have done weirder stuff at the other shifter colleges." "Nope," Peter replied. "I looked it up. There's a boar-shifter in Munich who threw a kegger that wound up burning down the library, but apparently that's not such a big thing in Germany." "Wait, there's websites to see what shifters are doing?" "Yeah. You didn't know? There are pools on likely candidates for each crown." "Bullshit," Heda said, grinning and looking out the window. Then she looked back. Peter looked serious. "Really?" "You've made the top hundred faster than anyone. No one else under the age of twenty has broken in before." Heda looked out the window again. Part of her still thought that Peter was screwing with her, but part of her . . . 'Nah,' she thought. "We almost there?" "Almost there. You're actually freaked out, aren't you? I just figured you knew." "The only thing I use my computer for is my writing and porn. And sometimes music." She glanced at him. "So where are you?" "I'm not even in the running." He pulled into the dusty parking lot of outside of a single-wide trailer that no self-respecting witch would ever let land on them, even in the land of Oz. "Okay, this is . . . quaint," Heda said. "Rustic even." "It's a toilet," Peter responded. "In the middle of a giant litter box. In hell." "Now you're just being a drama queen." Heda walked up and opened the front door, which even provided an antiquated creaking noise as it moved to expose the cigarette and incense laden air beyond. Even without the heightened sense of smell that she had desired earlier, Heda was able to deduce that menthol and cherry scents did not mix pleasurably. "Welcome to Madame Katrina's House of Magic!" came a voice, cloaked in a wretched combination of over-excitement and a fake Transylvanian accent. The woman who emerged, complete with tacky gypsy ensemble, looked like she had seen better days, thought probably not that much better. She looked like the kind of person who lived in the middle of nowhere because she always had and always would. She could have been anywhere from her late thirties to early sixties, and Heda would not have been able to guess where in that range she fell. "Hi," Heda said, starting into her script. "Hey, I hate to be a bother, but I was wondering if you could help me out with something." "Madame Katrina can help you with whatever ails you. Spells, charms, fortunes . . . for fifty dollars, I can do a tarot reading --" "Ma'am, I actually just need you to look at this picture," Heda interrupted, pulling a copy of the police picture of Daryl Mosely out of her pocket, "and tell me if you've seen him in here before." Madame Katrina instantly looked suspicious. "You two cops?" she asked, her contrived accent falling by the wayside. Both the bird-shifters raised their eyebrows. "Do we look like cops?" "I'm a legitimate business woman," the woman said. "If you're not here to --" "Madame Katrina, we're not looking to cause you any trouble. We just want to know if you've ever seen this guy in your store or not." "People come here all the time," the woman replied. Heda doubted that this woman got more than one customer a day, including Black Friday. She suppressed a sigh and dug into her wallet and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Just to look. We think this guy may do something bad, and he thinks 'magic' is the way to go," Heda explained, using air quotation marks for "magic." "Please, it would be great if you could help." The woman looked at Heda, then the twenty, then back to Heda, she reached out and grabbed the cash as if it were some kind of trick. Finally, she moved her eyes towards the picture. "Okay, but I can't --" Madame Katrina's eyes met those in the image, and she shuddered. "You know him, don't you?" Peter asked quickly. Madame Katrina suddenly seemed much older, more towards the "sixty" end of the scale that Heda had created earlier. "I wish I didn't. You say this guy might do something bad? I believe that. I truly do." "When did you see him?" "A couple of times. First time was a year or so ago, and then . . . then he just gave me the creeps. Stared at me as if I were a mutant or something. Looked at everything, asked about the voodoo stuff," she added, pointing towards a set of rickety old shelves. "Never bought nothing. Then he came in a few weeks ago, and --" "He was here?!" Heda yelped, glancing at Peter. She needed to tell Edgar, so they could get a tracker out here. If they found someone good and the scent had not grown cold, then maybe, just maybe, they stood a chance. "Yeah. He looked through the books again. I'd gotten a bunch of stuff at an estate sale from when I was visiting my sister out in Baton Rouge, and he found some stuff . . . he couldn't take his eyes off of it. I remember he was so . . . cold. That's the only word I can think of to describe it. He never threatened me or anything, but I've never been so scared in my life." "The books, do you remember what they were about? Titles?" "Books like that don't have titles or nothing. That's what made 'em look so authentic. I looked at the pictures once. Sick shit in there." Heda and Peter talked with the woman for a little while, but she was not able to provide any additional information. Heda wound up buying a dream-catcher for her room, then the two of them headed out. "Fuck," Peter muttered. "Think those books might have been real?" "There's real voodoo where they came from, so yeah. If a real practitioner kept a journal? Yeah, I think they were real." Heda started biting her nails. "Now, I just have to tell Edgar." She grabbed her phone, found her brother's number, then punched "send." "Hey Ed!" she said when the phone picked up. "Uhm, I've got something to tell you. Well, you'll kind of like it and kind of not." She told her brother everything that she'd been up to since she had decided to ignore the non-interference edict, including the entirety of the conversation with a fake psychic in northern New Mexico. Flying Blind Ch. 07 "Hey, you guys don't own the whole world," Heda said after Ed have given her a few choice words about ignoring him and the Council. "I am too behaving! Yeah, and how is that investigation going? No, that's not it. You just don't want to admit that I was right and . . . okay, so Madison was right. The blind girl saw something no one else did and . . . Okay, that was uncalled for. You've never been disrespectful to Madison and . . . Hey! You don't need to be disrespectful to me either. Ungrateful prick! Sorry Ed, but we're getting ready to go through a tunnel. You're breaking up --" she said, then hung up the call and turned off her phone. "Uhm, Heda?" "Yeah?" "You already told him we were in New Mexico." "So?" "There's only one tunnel in this entire state, and its nowhere near here." Heda shrugged. "Not like he was going to believe me anyway. But at least now he'll go talk to the Council. The only question is --" She paused, then growled. "What?" "How long until I get a call from my mother." Just then, her phone rang. She stared at it. It kept ringing. Right before it went to voicemail, she sighed and flipped it back open. "Hi Mom. No, there's no tunnel. No, that's not . . .How can I be interfering with an investigation? I'm no place near where they're investigating!" Peter smiled as the Debate began. At least he didn't need to worry about entertainment on the drive home. ------ -------------- That night . . . ------ -------------- "This is Captain Jack, signing off, but want to once again welcome Ms. Madison Sloan to the KLEZ crew. She's our new intern and if tonight is any indication, I think she'll fit right in." "Thanks Jack. I just want to thank everyone here at the station for making my first evening so enjoyable. I'll be haunting the Texas skies, hopefully your Texas Hearts, but definitely your Texas ears for the next few months. So keep the first one cleared for take-off, the second one open, and the third one tuned to KLEZ." "Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we got a winner on our hands. Good night all." Billy reached over and closed the application. Everyone in the house had gathered together to listen to Madison's first program as an intern via the station's website. "Goddess, she sounds so sexy. Even when it's digital," Heda moaned happily, leaning back in the chair she'd occupied for thirty minutes straight. For her, sitting still that long without a book in her hand was almost a record. "I concur," Billy said, then glanced at Sasha. Sasha looked for a moment like she was going to object to her boyfriend referring to someone else as sexy, but then she just shrugged. "She really does," she admitted. "Heda?" Came a voice from the front door. Heda's skin flushed, and she stood up slowly. "Time to face the music." She walked out to the entryway to find Ed hanging up his coat. "You really just couldn't let it go, could you?" He stopped her before she could begin to rant. "Which is good. The lead investigator pulled in a voodoo priest from New Orleans and a priestess from Haiti, and they've stabilized the King with sympathetic magics of their own. And I reminded everyone that it was Madison's idea in the first place and that, you confirmed. You're an annoying, bratty sister, but only because you're right so damn much." "You are the master of the backhanded compliment, you know that?" Ed bowed. "I have to do something to stand out in this family." "You're amazing in bed, if that helps," Joanna shouted from the other room. "She is not a normal girl," Ed muttered. Heda nodded, looked back, then grabbed Ed by the arm and led him out onto the porch. "Okay," she started, "since you're not mad at me --" "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he interrupted. "I said you're not in trouble, not that I'm not --" "Have you heard of these monarch runner up rankings?" Ed looked at her. "Of course. I've got money riding on you, by the way, so don't let me down, but wait until you're twenty-five to try." "Why didn't you tell me? I don't want to be monarch. I haven't written my first book or play or screenplay or anything!" "Don't panic," Ed said, getting a chuckle out of his sister hyperventilating. "It's just odds. It's not like if you get to the number one spot that you HAVE to challenge." He cocked his head. "You do realize that Mom pretty much always thought you'd try, don't you?" "Since when?" "I'm not sure. I think she started talking to Samantha about it when you were ten." "SHE TALKED TO THE QUEEN?!" Heda yelped. She dropped and put her head between her knees and started to breathe hard. Edgar had never seen his sister like this. He had seen her quick-witted, snarky, funny, and he had seen her in a rage. She had scared him a bit when she had gone after a serial killer in his own lair like the fires of hell were on her side. "Heda, it's just a list. Like 'Maxim's 100 Hottest Women' or the short list to be vice president. It really doesn't matter all that much. It's a bunch of people who have nothing else to do but listen to rumors and sit in front of their computers." Heda looked up at her brother. "I never realized I was under that kind of microscope. I . . . don't know why it's freaking me out, but it is." "Sucks when you're actually expected to be perfect after achieving it by accident for so long." Heda kicked her brother in the knee, albeit lightly. "I'm not perfect. I don't know how they do it. You know what Queen Brown is like, and Reichert walks a lot narrower of a tight-rope than I thought. I'm an English major, dammit! I'm not used to needing definitive answers or being held accountable!" Ed grinned. "You could always drop out and go into hiding as a hermit." "Nuh unh. I saw Mom's expression when you told her you weren't going to college. I'm not going to have her come looking for me." "Then get used to being in the public eye. You're the prodigal daughter, and you wreak havoc. People notice." Heda smiled. "Just keep throwing all that back in my face." Ed wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders. "Honestly, I kind of hope you don't go for Queen. Ever. You know that there are some shifters, especially in the reptile community, that think this would be a good time to challenge Reichert? They don't think the Council should be protecting him." "What? Why?" "Because of Reichert's own philosophy. The strong survive. Some are saying he brought this on himself and, for better or for worse, he should either be strong enough to deal with it on his own. If not, then he should be fair game." "Bullshit! This thing of Detrius's or Daryl's or whatever the hell his name is, it isn't a legitimate challenge. It would be like hiring someone to shoot a monarch, then challenging them. It's against the law." "But it isn't, because no one asked Mosely to do this. No one asks a guy to get cancer that might weaken him, but he would still be available to be challenged. The reptiles around Reichert right now are all loyalists, but if someone comes forward with a real dominance challenge, then no one is sure what the Council would say." "We need to stop him, Ed. Damn, I just want to go out and find that son of a bitch right now, but --" "But you're still not an official investigator," Ed reminded her. "I hate to keep going back to that, but --" Heda stood up, stuck her tongue out at her brother, then headed back inside. She hung out with her friends for a while, then headed up to her own room when Joanna pulled Edgar off into a dark area to do some things that no sister should ever watch her brother doing. Heda opened up her windows and then lay down on the bed, her nose in one of her favorite books, a breeze caressing her face and shoulders. 'It's getting colder out there,' she thought, absently considering closing the windows again. 'Cold.' She stood up and went to the window. 'This guy is all about cold.' She sat in the window and stared out into the wilderness. "He was the number one student, so he hunts number one students. He thinks that Reichert should die because Professor Hill died," she said out loud. Still staring out into the woods, something hit her consciousness. She hurried downstairs and, making sure that Ed was still not around, she started leafing through the files that he had left in his briefcase. She wanted the obituary. She read over the black-and-white text several times, including the synopsis of the anonymous student. 'He died alone and in the cold,' she thought. 'He went out into the woods behind his house and . . . shot . . . himself.' "What'cha doing?" Heda spun around to find Billy looking over her shoulder. "How do you move that quietly?! It's fucking creepy." "Sasha is a light sleeper," he said. "So it's a skill acquired out of survival instinct." "You wake her up, she kills you?" "Amongst other things." He looked at the obituary. "Think you're going to find something the official investigators missed?" "It's probably nothing. My brain's all hyped up right now, so I figure that going through all this might help me feel like I'm doing something. You know, going back to the beginning --" Billy did NOT like the look that played across Heda's face. "Heda? What are you thinking?" "Where was Professor Hill's house?" The wereturtle glanced at the article. "Locust Drive? That's just --" He stopped. "Heda, go tell your brother whatever your idea is. Now." Heda rolled her eyes. "I don't want to bother him with something that's probably nothing," she said, heading upstairs. Billy followed. "With you, something tends to wind up being something big and, if recent memory serves me correctly, explosive. Just go tell your brother . . . Heda, what are you doing?" Heda had pulled up a mapping program and was locating the address that Billy had noticed on the newspaper clipping. "Just checking on something." 
"You don't need Google Earth to tell you where your brother is. He is downstairs," Billy added, speaking as if to a child. "I will go get him for you --" 
"Nah, no need to bother him," Heda said with an unnatural, totally forced calm. "Hey, I think I'm going to --" "Go downstairs and talk to your brother?" "-- go for a flight. You know, clear my --" "Schedule, giving you plenty of time to go talk to your brother?" "-- head." Billy moved between Heda and the window. The eagle-shifter was already undressing in preparation of shifting. "You're a day flier. You cannot honestly expect me to believe that this is for your health, mental or otherwise." "Billy, please move." "No." "Billy, move." "Not until you talk to your brother --" He stopped when Heda's eyes began to glow. Her Gift was on. She picked him up as easily as if he were a dining room chair, spun around, and put him down on the other side. "-- about what you're doing," he muttered as Heda climbed onto the windowsill, shifted, and took off into the night sky. He turned and headed back downstairs, muttering unflattering things about bird-shifters in general. Heda was able to see the neighborhood from a ways off, her sharp eyes able to pierce the darkness with the aid of moon and star light. She flew low, looking at the house numbers. Professor Hill's old house was set back a bit from the others, and did not look to be in the best condition. There was a "For Sale" sign out front, and Heda wondered if it had been like that since Hill lived here. The front yard consisted of several acres of wooded area that was going for the overgrown natural look. She did a pass over the back, seeing that the property butted directly up to the woods and mountains. She perched on the chimney and began to look around. The place was incredibly quiet. That was when Heda realized that she did not hear any birds. No insects. Nothing. There were no animal sounds anywhere on the property. 'That's not right,' she thought. She was getting ready to launch again when a large raven landed on the chimney next to her. Birds were not normally known for their facial expressions, but the black bird was shooting the eagle a look that could kill. If birds could blush, Heda would have. She shifted back to her human form, which was sitting buck-assed naked on a chimney. The raven shifted as well, and Edgar stared over the brick structure at her. "And you would be doing what?" he asked slowly and acidly. "Exactly?" "Looking at potential investment real estate? At eleven o'clock at night?" "Heda, go back to the house. After you explain why the hell you're here. No, on second thought, go back home, then you can explain --" Heda shifted but rather than flying home, she floated to the ground and then shifted back. Ed joined her, after a moment of quick shifting on his own part, and he looked vexed. "Heda --" "Listen, this guy is obsessed with his dead professor. This is where his idol lived, and this is where he died. That gives this place some serious meaning for our boy. I just thought that he might come here." "So you're master plan was to come here, by yourself, naked, and challenge an insane sorcerer with delusions of being a voodoo priest to . . . what? A game of scrabble, winner take all?" "It'd be nice. I would totally kick his ass. Ed, do you sense any other animal life around here? Besides us?" Ed looked like he was going to say something snarky, but then he looked confused, followed shortly thereafter by alarmed. "No. I don't." Heda hurried over and looked in the window of the house. She saw no signs of life in there, and would have been willing to bet that no one had been there in years. Edgar noticed an exterior cellar door, and when over to check on it. It was locked from the outside, meaning that no one who might be inside probably was not using it. "There is something weird about this place, but whatever it is --" "-- isn't happening inside," Heda said. "But Professor Hill didn't kill himself inside. He killed himself --" "-- out back," Ed finished. Both members of the Adler clan looked towards the dark woods that stretched out behind them. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Why are you headed towards the bad feeling?" he asked as his sister found a small, mostly overgrown trail and headed down it. "Heda?" "I just want to check it out." "Heda, let's go back and call in the troops." She glanced back at him. "You think that they aren't on their way already? I took off, you took off to follow me --" "-- and Billy knew exactly where we were heading. Still, we should . . . oh why do I bother?" he grumbled as Heda crept into the woods. Her eyes were still glowing, granting her the superior eyesight of her eagle form, as well as pumping up her strength and speed. Heda kept low, keeping her eyes and ears open as she moved slowly forward. She wondered what it was like for the disgraced professor to make this walk, dead to the world in every way but one, and looking to correct that one. It had been a night in the middle of January which, around here, would have been damn cold. She remembered reading that there had been snow on the ground. For a moment that could have been measured in the blink of an eye, she felt sorry for him. But then she got over it. He had made his bed. He had lain in it. And then he had left this mess behind for others to clean up. Heda was not one to condemn suicide as a method to end real pain. She felt contempt for those who used it to avoid guilt, particularly when said avoidance prevented them from doing what was right. After ten minutes of creeping around, she was beginning to get frustrated. She had been so sure that – "Heda, careful," Ed said beside her. "Why?" Then she followed her gaze down to where a tripwire was laid across Ed's leg. Then she followed the wire to a shotgun that was rigged to a tree. "Oh fuck." Then, everything came crashing home. "I almost got you killed." "No, I almost got me killed," Ed said. "Ed, go back and find the others. Lead them back --" "You have got to be shitting me?!" he hissed. "We are BOTH going back!" "If he's here, I can't let him escape, but I'm not letting you get hurt." He stared at her for a moment. "One," he started slowly, "of us is supposed to be here doing this. That 'one' is not you. YOU are supposed to be sitting at home, thinking of your girlfriend and volleyball and classes, and maybe only in a cursory fashion wonder what you're courageous older brother is doing in his search for a serial killer." "But --" Heda started to say as she helped Ed ease his leg back from the tripwire. "I am not leaving my baby sister alone in the woods with someone who wants to kill her." "I love you too, bro, but I'm a better fighter than you, and --" 
"And in the end," a new voice came creeping out of the black, "none of it will matter. You are not welcome here," Daryl Mosely whispered. "And now, you will die here. Just like He did. Just like the false king will." For a moment, Heda considered trying to reason with him. Whoever this guy really was, he was deeply disturbed and unhinged. But then she remembered Madison, lying in a hospital bed with burns on her arms, suffering from hypothermia, terrified. She remembered Carla explaining what it was like to be hung in a cage after being tortured. She remembered the young woman who did not survive. "You know it's over now," Heda said. "All your games and scheming and cruelty . . . it's all over." "You're right. It must end tonight. The King will die in the grips of the unbearable ice, and you . . . you will be blessed in a way denied Him. I will grant you the privilege of not being alone when you die." "Good to hear, especially since unlike your mentor, we're not complete failures as human beings," Heda said. Then, she kind of wished she hadn't. Because the look she got when she insulted the late Professor Hill was terrifying. It was not hateful or angry or . . . anything. In Daryl Mosley's eyes, she saw a nothingness so profound that it seemed to absorb what little light was falling amongst the trees, bathing the killer's face with a clinging blackness. Then that emotionless voice whispered something, and the air around them grew colder. He gestured – "Duck!" Ed shouted, shoving his sister aside as a shower of icicles shot out from their enemy's fingertips, impaling themselves in the tree behind her. "Dammit!" Heda shouted. She had been in the process of dodging anyway when her brother's action threw her off balance, and she went tumbling into the bushes. She struggled to regain a fighting stance, but Daryl had stepped back into the shadows. Around them, a cold mist was forming, obscuring even Heda's sight. "Ed, get the hell out of here!" This time, she was able to keep her feet when she dodged, hearing the chanting and sensing the frozen spikes headed her way. "I told you no!" he shouted, then grunted some obscenities as he was forced to dodge. Heda realized how stupid she had been. She had been so obsessed with chasing this particular car that she had never developed a plan on what to do when she caught it, and now her brother was in danger. And once again, Daryl knew the terrain better than she. "He was better than you," came Daryl's voice, drifting through air that was becoming increasingly colder. "He was warmth and light." 'So fucking cold,' Heda thought. 'He's using some serious juice right now.' Then, she heard a blast from off on her left, and her brother screamed. The booby traps. 'Oh Goddess,' thought Heda, as her very core turned far colder than anything Daryl might cast. "Ed!" "Heda," came something more like a gasp than a real voice. "Go." Heda began to shift. Daryl might control the ground and the mist, but Heda would control the skies. She went all the way into her eagle form and flew upward, trying to spot her brother, but the dank fog had become too thick to see the ground. She should go for help. But if she did, Ed would probably not live until she got back. She saw an area that seemed devoid of the infernal mist, so she flew there quickly and shifted into her half-form. She wished she hadn't. She wished she had not had to see what lay at the center of Daryl Mosley's forest retreat. He had surrounded a small clearing with camouflage netting and inside, it looked like a slaughterhouse. Flying Blind Ch. 07 There was a small, crude wooden altar decorated by candles and a human skull. The skull still had hair and skin on it. Around the table, a crude circle littered the ground. Littered was a more appropriate word than "drawn," because the circle was made up of the remains of the dead. All manner of animals, from cats and dogs to snakes and birds, had been ripped apart and left in bloody heaps in the form of a circle. And mixed in amongst the animal parts were things that were . . . once . . . human. Fingers, eyeballs – 'Where did he . . . he –' Heda thought, then was forced to fight the urge to vomit. 'He's fucking insane. How could anyone –' Heda heard the slightest of noises behind her, and she jumped straight up, but not in time to completely avoid the blow that had been aimed at her head. Instead, some heavy object slammed into Heda's leg, which sent her tumbling directly into the circle of carnage. "You insolent bitch!" Daryl screamed, raising a monkey wrench over his head. "Elitist, unworthy --" If you had asked Heda to list all of the things that she would probably never do in life, "bludgeoning an insane spell caster with a human skull" would probably have been on it. Before that night. But she found another skull under her hands when she fell, and she used it as an instrument of destruction on her enemy's face. "Shut up!" she squawked, her eagle mouth not normally suited for human words, but managing to spit those out. The sound of skulls cracking was cringe-worthy, but to his credit, Daryl did not go down. He went backwards, colliding with a tree. His human form was no match for Heda's half-form in a straight up fight. Daryl, bleeding heavily from the nose, spat blood and words in Heda's direction, and a chill wind blasted the eagle-shifter in the chest with the force of a hurricane. Her body bounced across the ground like a tumbleweed at a rave, coming to an uncomfortable rest in a thorny bush. "You would be like Him, wouldn't you?!" Daryl screamed. "A pathetic monster with a crown and a throne?! I will not stop until you have all heard my Message, and until you have all been judged!" Heda had to end this quickly. Edgar was out there in the mist, possibly dead or dying. His blood was on her hands as it was. She could not handle being responsible for his death. She fixed her eagle eyes on Daryl's face, and things started to move in slow motion. She waited until she saw anything . . . a face twitch, a sneer . . . anything that would signal his intent. She saw the corner of his eye crinkle, as if he were preparing to stare really intensely. She clambered quickly towards him, finding her talons underneath her and she spread her wings, making herself as big a target as possible. She had to make it irresistible to her opponent. Whatever Daryl had been thinking, he changed his mind and began pulling in magic, pooling it, and began to create the vessel through which that power would flow. That was when the charging eagle-shifter screamed. Heda had never used her battle-cry against a living creature before, and there was a reason for that. An eagle only gave the cry when he or she was going to kill someone, and Heda had never been in a position where it was appropriate before. But she had no doubt that she or Daryl were about to die. Her cry did what it was supposed to do, namely it froze up her enemy. It did not last long, but it lasted long enough. As Daryl removed his hands from his bleeding ears, his eyes widened, and he tried to regain control of the magic he had summoned. Loose, wild magic was a dangerous thing. As he tried to bring it to bear, Heda closed the gap. As long as she lived, Heda would not forget that moment. She flapped her wings and launched herself into the air. With the tree cover, she would not be able to gain much height, but she really did not need to. One taloned foot rose up and tore Daryl Mosely's throat out. The second foot swung sideways and ripped the man's jaw off. Both blows sent sprays of blood cascading across the clearing like demented waterfalls. The mist began to clear as soon as Daryl's body crashed into the ground with a grotesque, liquid thump. For a moment that seemed like a lifetime. She could see the blood seeping into the soil, mixing with the veritable graveyard that Daryl had built. Death begat death. She shifted back to her human form and finally threw up. Heda heard shouting off in the distance. Her friends. They had come looking for her and – "Edgar!" she shouted, feeling a shame that felt as endless and deep as an ocean. She had forgotten about her brother. "Here!" came a shout from off to her right. Tears were streaming down her face as she moved through the brush, careful to avoid the traps, but still too careless to be smart. She had to get to him. She found him sitting against a tree, his leg peppered by buckshot. Heda sobbed, partially from guilt and partially from relief. A leg wound . . . Ed would be fine. A few shifts after getting the buckshot out, and he'd be all right. She hugged her brother like there was no tomorrow. "Heda, while I'm happy to see you, I'm bleeding. And this is feeling a tad incestuous, so --" "Oh shut up," she sniffled. "Edgar, I'm SO sorry. I shouldn't have . . . I mean, this is all my fault." Ed just looked baffled. "Uhm, this is all Daryl's fault. Remember him? Psychopath? Speaking of which," he added, looking over her shoulder, "I'm assuming that since you're here, he's --" 
"Dead. I killed him. You almost died because of me, and then I killed him and now I don't know what to do." Edgar could almost feel his sister falling apart, and he could certainly see it. "What's wrong? You got the bad guy, we both made it out alive. This is good, right?" "How can you be so blasé about this? You almost died because I couldn't follow protocol!" "If you followed protocol, we never would have found him. Heda, I was just as stupid as you were. I came here without backup, and I should have made you wait. I fell into the same stupid trap I pointed out earlier, and all I could do was think that I let you down. You had to fight a madman, and I should've been there." "If we had waited like you wanted, none of this would have happened." "He might have gotten away, or someone else would have gotten hurt." He looked through the woods to where their companions were streaming from, a mixture of animal forms that would normally never be found together much less work together. "It's about time," he shouted. "Lazy assholes." Their friends surrounded them, with Edgar warning them about the traps, while Heda . . . she just sat there. Billy waved a hand in front of her face, but she did not blink. She heard their voices, saw the lights of their flashlights, but they were all indistinct . . . vague. She was not sure when she passed out, or if she ever actually did. She was not aware of anything. -------- ----------------- Some time later . . . -------- ----------------- Heda came to with a start. She was in her own bed, the windows still open, the air still cool. 'A dream?' she thought. But when she heard a slight cough, she turned and saw her mother sitting in a chair next to the bed. "No," Jessica Adler whispered, "It wasn't a dream." Heda's mouth opened, but she paused, making no sound. Then, she hung her head. "You're going to have to talk to me," Heda's mother said. Her voice was firm and even, hiding well the contempt that Heda knew had to be there. "How's Edgar?" "Your brother is fine. He's downstairs being 'consoled' by Joanna. He made his report to the Council, so I guess he feels he's entitled to be pampered now." "When did you get here? Why --" "Why did I come? My son was shot, my daughter slipped into a state of shock . . . did you really think I wouldn't come? Your girlfriend and her father will be landing in Albuquerque in Mr. Hannity's private plane, so we need to get this conversation out of the way so that you can let Madison dote on you." "Dote? Mom, this is serious." "I know," Jessica said softly. "I know." Heda could not stand the suspense. "Aren't you going to say it?" "Say what?" "How much I screwed up?" Heda replied, almost angrily. "How I let you down? How I almost got Edgar killed because I couldn't just mind my own business?" Jessica leaned forward. "Would that help? Fine, you screwed up. You went into a situation without any tactical appraisal. Edgar could have died. He could do that on any investigation he participates in. And there is always the chance that people who follow leaders may come to a bad end. It would have broken my heart if Edgar had died tonight, just like it would have killed me if any of my children got hurt. But I will not say that you let me down. I will not say that I'm ashamed of you." "Why not?" The mother took the daughter's hand. "Because that's not what this is about. This was your first trial by fire. Ed told me how freaked out you were about people thinking you might be Queen someday. This," she said, looking out the windows into the night sky, "was what being a Queen someday might mean. It means taking chances to protect the community. It means maybe losing those you care about because they followed you. And sometimes, it means killing." Heda tried not to weep. Not in front of her mother, who had seen more than her fair share of conflict. "I didn't think it would be like that." Jessica Adler moved to her daughter's side. "No matter what you thought it was supposed to be like, it never is. It wasn't for me, it wasn't for Queen Brown, it wasn't for any of those I've served with in the line of duty. Taking a life is sometimes necessary, but it is never easy. You thought it would be easy because the guy was evil? Because of what he did to Madison and the others? Heda, what makes the good guys different from the bad guys is that for us, it shouldn't be easy. We put ourselves in the line of fire because that's who we are, not because we asked for it. No one asked Daryl Mosely to do what he did. This is ALL his fault." Jessica pulled her daughter to her, wrapped her arms around the younger woman, then continued. "I'm sorry that you had to do what you did. Did you ever notice that in all my stories, I talk about the battles, but never the killings? Never the parts where I looked someone in their eyes and then took the light from those eyes? That's because it was never easy. Because I never wanted to think about it. Now, I wish I had. I wish I had prepared you better for this part." "This part?" "Dealing. I taught you the mechanics of the fight, and the art of war. The physical part of killing is no different from any other part of the conflict. Killing . . . it's a decision. It's the final punctuation mark on the story of someone's life." She stroked her daughter's hair. "It's one of the things that concerns me about you becoming a writer." Heda scrunched up her eyebrows. "Why?" "Because you don't like it when the story ends. Even the scary ones. A good writer needs to know when to place that last period and then move on. Now, I know that you can. You may not like it. It may disturb the hell out of you, but you understand that sometimes, a story simply needs to end." In Jessica's embrace, Heda finally just let her body relax, and let herself cry a little bit. Her mother let Heda detoxify her spirit. Heda Adler had grown up a little that night, and her mother understood the true meaning of "growing pains." But after a little while, Jessica spoke again, this time with some amusement. "I believe Madison is here." Heda, who had been lost in her own little world, sniffed and asked, "How can you tell?" On the stairs came the frantic pounding of feet. The door flew open and Madison came charging in. Her mouth was slightly parted as her echolocation sought out Heda's form. Then the lithe young bat-shifter ran across the room and dived onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. She had moved with such speed and determination that Jessica had been forced to actively dodge the ballistic young woman. Heda almost smiled as Madison gave her a complete once over, scanning every part of Heda's body with her sonar. Finally, the slim bat-shifter punched her girlfriend lightly in the shoulder. "What was that for?" Heda asked, actually chuckling a bit. "You're not even wounded," Madison said, her voice quivering with relief. The she threw her arms around Heda's neck and kissed her. Hard. "Sweetheart --" "No talking. More kissing." 
"My mother is in the room." Madison stopped and turned bright red. She had forgotten about the presence of the other Adler female. "Hi Mrs. Adler." Jessica was smirking. "Hello Madison. I must say, I've never seen 'therapy' quite like yours before. I just tried talking to her." Madison buried her head in the pillows next to Heda. She muttered something, but it came out as a muffled mess of sound. "What was that dear?" Jessica asked. Heda grinned. "I'll translate. That was embarrassed-Madison-speak for, 'Please kill me now.' I've learned to speak her language over the last few months." Madison mumbled again, this time blindly punching Heda in the stomach. "That was her telling me to shut up." "I'll let you two talk for a bit," Jessica said, standing and moving towards the door. "And I do mean 'talk'." "What is it about parents? Do they really think that sex is the only thing on our minds?" Heda muttered. Madison brought her head up. "Well, I WAS thinking about it. Mood's kinda ruined now." She ran her hands over Heda's face. "They told me that you faced him down and that you were messed up. I was terrified." "I think I've got some things to think about," Heda replied softly, bringing Madison in closer and kissing her forehead. "Hey, would it be okay if we didn't talk for a little while?" Madison looked a little confused, but she was so grateful for Heda to be alive and well that she did not question the request. So for an hour, they just enjoyed one another's company, basking in the warmth of contact. Then, slowly, Heda began to talk to Madison about the things that she had told her mother. Madison just listened, letting her lover get all her insecurities out. "So that's it. You flew all the way out here to help counsel me through my mental breakdown," Heda finished. "Your Mom was right you know. But I won't repeat what she already told you. The spirits know that I'm not the type to think things through either." Heda sighed. "I'm scared. I've been angry before, or nervous. Now, I'm just scared. What happens next time? What if Ed or someone else gets shot somewhere other than the leg? What if --" Madison's mouth moved in and stopped Heda's voice for a moment. She liked kissing Heda. A lot. "You know," Madison began, "I used to think about tomorrow a lot. At first, it was because I was sure that my real family would come and take me away, but it never happened. Well, not for twenty years anyway. After 'tomorrow' stopped being the time the good things would happen, it became the time that bad things would. I'd get harassed again tomorrow. I'd be beat up again tomorrow. I'd be alone again tomorrow." "I'm sorry," Heda said. "I keep forgetting --" "No, I'm not fishing for sympathy. Because THOSE tomorrows turned out to be wrong too. I found a friend in Billy, then in Sasha. Days came and went where nothing bad happened. Then, you showed up, and I wasn't alone. When it comes to figuring out tomorrow, you're just as blind as I am. So stop worrying about it. Right now, today, you're here. You're alive. Your brother is downstairs, your friends and family are all waiting on you to come down and get the party started. For crying out loud, King Reichert owes you his life." "Crap! I forgot all about him!" "Then let's go downstairs and find out what happened." It turned out, according to Edgar, that Daryl had obtained liquid nitrogen and had been planning on dipping the voodoo doll in it at midnight. Luckily for the investigators, Mosely had kept a journal of his ramblings. The investigators had decided that Daryl needed to be "found" because his crimes had affected the world of normals, they would need closure as well. So Daryl Mosely would be found in the woods, his face blown off by one of his own booby traps. Ed was sure the story would stick. Madison gripped Heda's hand as Ed talked about the damage to Daryl Mosely, the man Heda had killed. Reichert had come out of his pseudo-coma almost immediately. His doctors were observing him, but he seemed to be back to his old self. He had been told what happened, and wanted to thank Heda for saving his ass. Then, the conversation had turned to Heda and Edgar, and what had happened in the woods. Ed took over the storytelling, playing up his own bravery to such an outrageous degree that he had almost everyone laughing. Heda just concentrated on her breathing, her mother watching her closely, and her girlfriend holding her hand. ------- ------------------- Months later . . . ------- ------------------- Heda was biting her bottom lip and gripping the bed sheets, her whole body glistening with a thin layer of sweat. She groaned, climaxing so hard that she was seeing stars by the end of it. "So," Madison asked, nibbling on the inside of Heda's thigh, "I haven't completely lost my touch?" "I think," Heda started, "that your reputation is intact." Heda pulled Madison up for a long, post-coital kiss. This was Madison's first day back in the house since her internship and the events of the fall semester, and the two young women had been making up . . . and making out . . . for lost time. Actually, they had dropped off Madison's stuff in her room, said goodbye to her father, then had begun a marathon sexual session that had lasted for four hours. "Good, 'cause I was all out of ideas," Madison murmured, tracing a fingernail around Heda's nipple. "You're a hard woman to satisfy, Heda Adler." "That's why I admire you're 'old college try' mentality." Madison chuckled. "We should probably get cleaned up and get to the meet-and-greet. Reichert asked for you specifically." Heda sighed. "I hate public stuff. Why couldn't he do this when everyone had left?" "Then it wouldn't be a 'public ceremony,' now would it?" Madison reluctantly rolled out of bed. "I had pants when I came in here." "But you look so good without them," Heda replied earnestly, watching her girlfriend's long legs and cute little ass moved across the room. Not that she minded Madison's new wardrobe, courtesy of her sister Morgan. Gone were the body stockings and plain dresses. Madison was currently rolling on some tight hip-hugger jeans and a "Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell" original concert shirt, which had been scored on Ebay with some help from Mr. Hannity's credit card. "You really should be getting dressed," Madison said. "Are you? Heda?" She turned around and did a quick scan, only to find that Heda was still very naked and only standing a few feet away. "You're going to kiss me, aren't you?" Heda grinned. "And grope you. And make you think twice about making be go to this stupid thing." "It's not stupid, and you –," Madison was cut off with a kiss, "-- did promise and it's not like we (kiss) won't have plenty of time later for more (kiss) (kiss) (ass grab) DAMN you're hot!" Madison shook her head. "You promised your mother." Heda sighed and reluctantly put Madison down. Just had to throw cold water on me, didn't you?" "Hey, this is me, remember? Think that I want to go listen to Reichert again?" "You're looking forward to the after-party, aren't you?" Heda laughed when Madison blushed. Just four months earlier, she would not have been able to get invited to a party to save her life. She had been the quintessential social pariah. Now, she was DJ'ing the biggest of the shifter shindigs, and all the tickets were already sold. Flying Blind Ch. 07 Madison looked like a cat who had gotten into the cream. She had never really dreamt that she would be a member of the in-crowd. Now, thanks to Heda and her family ties, Madison was practically the president of the cool kids. A lot of it was brainless sucking up, but it was better than the alternative. "Okay, maybe a little. Billy says that the setup they've got is totally bitching!" Heda grinned and grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a tee-shirt that read "Straight Outta 100 Acre Wood," with a picture of Winnie the Pooh in his gangster outfit on the front. She had even gotten the shirt so that the lettering and image were embroidered so that Madison could appreciate the Pooh. "You're scanning my ass, aren't you?" she asked after bending over to grab her Birkenstocks. "Hmm?" Madison mumbled, not paying any attention to Heda's question while studying her ass in great detail. "Never mind." "Hmm!" Heda sucked up her courage and turned around. "Hey, before we get going --" "Oh no, no more delaying tactics. The sooner this speech is over --" "I just wanted to tell you --" "-- because I wanna dance and pump up the music and --" "-- that I love you." "-- so let's get going!" Madison finished, then took two steps out the door, then stopped with such dedication that she almost toppled down the stairs. Heda waited in complete silence for a moment. Then she heard the stairs creak a bit as Madison's weight redistributed. "Uhm, Heda?" "Yes?" "Sorry, I know things got a little hectic there, but I thought that . . . well, it sounded like --" "I said that I loved you? Yeah, I heard that too. Mostly because I said it." "But . . . no, I don't think you get it. I thought I heard you say --" Heda grabbed Madison by the arms and lifted her about six inches off of the ground. "Madison Sloan, I love you." Madison squeaked, but it was a happy sound. "You didn't say 'Madison Sloan' last time --" Heda smiled. "You just like hearing me say it, don't you?" If a rainbow could truly be captured by a mortal being, then Madison's smile accomplished just that. She was so happy that she positively glowed. Then her mouth started to move, but she could not make a sound to save her life. She grabbed Heda by the hand and dragged her down stairs, past all of their highly confused friends, and then down into the basement. Madison frantically scanned her keyboard, then typed something in. Soon, a familiar tune slid into the air like a pleasant aroma. Well, I know it's kind of late I hope I didn't wake you But what I got to say can't wait I know you'd understand cause every time I tried to tell you The words just came out wrong So I'll have to say I love you in a song. Heda's heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself not to smile. "It'd sound nice with the voice." Madison smiled shyly. "Love you," she said, mustering a bit of spice. Heda picked Madison up and pressed their lips together. "Better." "Best." An hour later, the pre-semester shifter and magic-user dinner was well underway. The members of Animal House, as Heda's social group was now called, were sitting all together, laughing and feasting and having a good time. But then Reichert stepped up to the podium, and the room went quiet. "Thank you all for coming. No, you aren't getting course credit for this, but you can't leave because I had the doors locked." He smiled, waiting for the chuckles to die down. "But seriously, I'm glad to see so many people chose to return this semester after the tragedies and horrors experienced this past Fall. I wondered if I should suggest that we all just act as if it never happened, but that would be unrealistic. It would also fail to be productive." He stopped, looked around, and his eyes came to rest on Heda. "As many of you know, Heda Adler and her companions showed great resolve and determination in their pursuit of an evil man. Of course, they, and specifically she, were doing so in direct defiance of just about every rule that had been laid out. I can only imagine how her mother must have felt trying to raise such a foolhardy, stubborn, and too-smart-for-her-own-good daughter. I imagine that between all the headaches and gnashing of teeth, she was a source of great pride for her family, as she has become for her entire community. "Yet I would be remiss in my thanks if I did not focus some attention on a very unlikely hero. Miss Madison Sloan," he said, waiting until the spotlight floated over to a very surprised young woman, "I owe you more than my life, and that is a hard thing for a King . . . especially THIS King . . . to say. It is hard because of a certain degree of shame." Madison looked confused, and she gripped Heda's hand under the table. "Madison, I once thought, as others did and sometimes still do, that those who could not have survived in our wild world in centuries past were weak. I did not realize until recently how foolish that notion was. My totem animal was as physically powerful and dominant as any creature on earth. All that strength did not save it. It was not versatile enough to survive." Reichert looked out over the crowd. "We take great pride in our animal heritage, as well we should, but we are half human as well. And our human brethren have survived when some of the greatest, most powerful beings to walk our earth, fly our skies, and swim in our oceans have drifted into history. Why? Because of their minds. Because they used their brains to adapt to an environment that no other physical manifestation could endure. They could not fly on their own, so they built machines. They reached the moon, where not even the greatest of the bird-shifters could plant their feet." He sighed, this admission obviously taking a great toll on him. "Madison Sloan survived for twenty years with a sharp, finely tuned mind that more than made up for her lack of sight. When surrounded by the right people, she proved time and time again to have both the brain and the fortitude to do the right thing. It was she who uncovered the truth about the evil that she survived, and that truth led to my own rescue and, hopefully, redemption. Madison, you cannot see because of a genetic quirk at birth. I have no such excuse. I believe that I may need you, the blind, to lead the rest of us whenever we seem to have lost our way." Heda looked over and saw tears creeping out from those white eyes. Madison had stopped wearing the sunglasses when around shifters, because she no longer felt she needed or wanted to hide. Heda was happy for her friend because, as Reichert had put it, this was redemption. "Ready to go dancing?" Heda whispered. Madison just smiled and said, "Ready for anything." -------- ----------------------- The End . . .