THE VROL TRILOGY (170 page)

"Hullo, Draagh. Where are we?"

"This would be the place in-between
places. Some call it purgatory, while others call it
null space
. I merely call it a
transition point."

"Transition? To what?"

"The other side."

"Other side? Like, death? Am I dead?"

"Hmmm," he said thoughtfully, "well, yes. I
must apologize. You see, I never thought Krynos would be the one to
suffer mental control. His mind was always very strong."

"Huh? King Krynos killed me?"

"Yes, I am sorry, my dear. But he was being
manipulated, much like that poor fool who was ripping wires out of
your spacecraft earlier."

"But who did it? Who controlled him? Oh god,
no! Liliana! Max! What will they do without me? Max can't even
properly make a bed! He'll let her make up new swear words!"

Draagh appeared to snicker as he shook his
head. "No my wonderful granddaughter, Max shall never have to make
his own bed, and neither shall you. The swearing part, well, I
cannot say."

"Well, are there beds in Heaven? Will I be
able to see them? Max and Liliana?"

"But of course, Jennie. You shall see them
every day."

"So, what do I do now? Where are we
going?"

"That is immaterial. Please remember - you
must soon make a critical decision, and it cannot be made with
emotion. You must think of the greater good."

"Draagh, I don't understand. Please explain
what you are talking about. What decision?"

"You shall see. Pay careful attention."

Moments later, Jennie watched as Draagh faded
from sight, and the entire space in which she resided went
black.

###

"You killed her? Do you realize what you have
done?" screamed Gadreel.

Samyaza wore a gloating smile, standing with
his arms crossed. "The Hybrid is finished. Such is his agony, he
shall never function at complete capacity. Now we attack with full
force."

Gadreel shook his head violently, saying,
"No, no, no. This is not how it was supposed to have happened. We
are doomed, do you not see? So disconnected have you been from
Mankind that you fail to understand the depths of their abilities.
This shall only amplify Max's resolve."

Samyaza laughed out loud, his voice echoing
throughout the vast chambers of the Brood Carrier, as he slipped
his entourage to another part of the galaxy.

###

Max had moved over and again put Jennie's
head on his lap. Draagh was gone. The Primulus had disappeared
before his very eyes. Not only had Max lost his wife, he also lost
his grandfather. Now all he could do was gently sob, having had two
of the most important people in his life ripped away from him. He
bent down and kissed her forehead while he stroked her blushed
cheek, still unable to believe what had just transpired. He saw
Jessica, Bagatelle and Krynos regain consciousness, where Michael
used a cantus to freeze the lycan king in place, just as a
precaution. Then, looking up, he realized that Michael and Gabriel
were grinning. This alone made him furious.

"What the… assholes! Why are you
smiling?"

Michael nodded down toward Jennie, causing
Max to again gaze upon his wife's beautiful face. But this time it
was different - there was movement. Her lips pursed. Slowly, she
lifted an arm to his face, as if her corpse were reaching out to
touch him one final time. Then, without further delay, she gasped
for air, her lungs filling and causing her chest to expand.

Jennifer Marie Escalante de Gunnarsson opened
her now-brilliant-green eyes, and cried out, "Draagh! He's
gone!"

Chapter 38 - Resolve

Max, Jennie, Michael, Gabriel and Bagatelle
were seated at their usual table in the Rhönen Dominion, shortly
after everyone had cleaned up, all having been covered in blood
from not only themselves, but mostly from Jennie. She casually ran
her fingers over her neck, trying to feel where Krynos' sword had
cleaved her head from her body, but could detect no such
aberration. Michael had brought them to Krynos' castle as a
precaution, not wanting to expose any of them to immediate
danger.

"So, Jen, what happened? Do you remember
anything?" asked Max, obviously relieved that his wife was no
longer a beautiful corpse. He was holding her so tightly she
couldn't move a centimeter.

"Well, I was walking down a hallway toward
the flight deck, and then I noticed Jessica - she had an odd, blank
expression. Then everything started spinning and I was in this
white place. And Draagh was there. Baby, you're kinda crushing
me."

"He was there? Where was this place?" asked
Max, as he softened his grip on his wife.

"They were in-between life and death, son,"
said Michael.

"How do you know that?" asked Jennie.

"We are aware of all points in space/time,
Max. What our father did was reckless, and could very well have
handed us our defeat. We need his power and strength to defeat the
Grigori," said Gabriel.

"Grigori! That shithead Gadreel! He's
responsible for this!" Max yelled, with the force of his voice
causing a nearby servant to drop her platter.

"No, my son. It was Samyaza who was
responsible, although we have yet to ascertain Gadreel's
involvement," said Michael.

"What happened to Draagh? Is he coming back?
I'm confused," said Bagatelle.

"He shall not return any time soon, Admiral.
He is now unavailable to us," responded Michael.

Max looked into his wife's brilliant green
eyes, trying to create an explanation in his head, but continued to
fail to understand the gravity of all that had happened.

"Our father sacrificed himself to bring
Jennie back from the void. In doing so, he wantonly self-destructed
his corporeal form, which will require at least a century to
reconstitute itself," said Gabriel.

"Gadreel is gone, and we're so totally
screwed," said Max.

"Worry not about the traitor, Max. We shall
yet see the outcome of all that is to pass," said Michael.

"Jen, have you looked in the mirror?" asked
Bagatelle.

"Yeah, it's weird, I mean, it's beautiful,
but… wow." Said Max.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" asked Jennie, as Max
conjured a simple handheld mirror for her. Taking it from her
husband, she looked at her face and gasped, reaching up to her
cheeks and examining her eyes. "They're… green! They're beautiful!
But how? What the hell happened to me?"

"Father resurrected you, my dear. In doing
so, he imbued a part of himself into you," said Gabriel.

"A part of… oh, wait. Max," she said,
standing up, "come here, sweetie."

"Um, okay," he said, joining his wife.

"Where's my sword?"

"I don’t know, Jen. Why?"

"Good, 'cause I don't need it," she said,
with a mild grin.

Jennie put a hand on Max's shoulder, and he
suddenly found himself out in front of the castle, near the Haida
housing that protected most of the elderly and young from
Saxman.

"What the… hell?" Max exclaimed.

"Yeah baby. I don't need the sword for magic
anymore," she said.

Slipping them both back to the dining hall,
she gave everyone a big smile. "Um, I think I changed just a
bit."

"Just a bit," mused Michael.

"Uh, I don’t understand," said Max. "Jen just
slipped me out and back. She couldn't even do that with her
magic-enabled katana."

"You are now, my dear, for lack of a better
term, a hybrid, like Max," said Michael.

"No way!" Jennie squealed.

"Yes… way," responded Michael.

"But how? I don't understand," said the
gorgeous, now-hybrid female.

"A Primulus can self-sacrifice and bring
someone back from the brink," explained Michael. "Father did it
only once before in all his existence.

"Who did he do it for?" asked Bagatelle.

Gabriel conjured an infoscreen and
displayed a massive vid scene. It was like an ancient movie being
played back for everyone, with the camera displaying a third-person
view. In the display they saw Michael and Gabriel, both dressed
like Roman soldiers, following a robed Draagh to a hillside out in
the desert. In the background, up on a hill, were two dead men,
tied to crossed poles, and another, unoccupied cross in-between the
two. Draagh looked around, making sure there was no one in sight,
and waved his hand, causing a massive boulder to roll off to the
side, exposing the entrance to a cave. The three entered, and found
a sarcophagus containing a wrapped corpse. They then witnessed
nearly the same thing they had seen in the hallway on the
Revolution. Draagh dissipated and, after his
soul scream
and complete disappearance, the
figure in the wrapping sat up, with Gabriel and Michael both
assisting it. Pulling the cloth off its head, they revealed the
face of an attractive, bearded, Semitic man. Like Jennie, the man
had brilliant, green eyes.

Gabriel said something in a foreign language
unknown to Max, Jennie and Bagatelle, as he lent a hand to assist
the man out of his container.

Jennie gasped. "That was… was…"

"Yes, my daughter. He was the Pacifist, as we
called him. You see, he was sent nearly powerless by Jah to lead a
tribe to military victory, but instead chose a path of peace. Then
he went and got himself caught and killed. Three days had already
passed since his demise, and Father barely got to him in time,"
Michael explained.

"Oh, so then I was fine. He got to me right
away," Jennie stated.

"And a good thing, too. You were merely
human," said Michael, "while he was of the Prīmulī. His eternal
essence was much more resilient than yours. I dare say, if Father
had delayed further you would have been lost to us forever, your
soul having taken residence within the shards that wander the
universe in a collective consciousness."

"Wow, that's heavy. So, where's King Krynos.
I don't know whether to thank him or kick his ass," Jennie said
bluntly.

"Krynos resides in a cell on the Revolution,
little sister. We're keeping him there until we know how to keep
the same thing from happening again. Jessica too - she's also in a
cell," said Bagatelle.

"Does he know what he did?" she asked.

"Yes, he is aware," said Gabriel.

"Wow, he must feel like shit," said Max.

"He mourns, not knowing of Jennie's
resurrection," said Michael.

"Well, let's leave him on ice for a while.
What's next?" asked Jennie.

"We need to find the Grigori," said
Gabriel.

"Oh great. And how do we do that now that
Draagh's gone and Gadreel escaped?" asked Max.

"You shall see, child," said Michael, who
then quietly thought out to his brother.

"
Gabriel, how
is it that Jennie is at a hybrid Primulus level, like Max? As a
mere human she certainly should have been improved, but only to the
level of a mezzo."

"I do not know, Michael. It is indeed odd,
but Father has his ways."

###

The team made their way back to the
Revolution, and went right to the brig, where Krynos and Jessica
were being held. There were no bars in the holding cells, as modern
technology facilitated invisible energy shields, locking the
occupants inside. Max walked up to Krynos' cell, finding the lycan
king sitting on a small bench, his head in his hands and weeping
like a child.

"Hello, King Krynos," Max said with a
toneless expression.

"Oh, what have I done? I murdered the most
beautiful creature to have graced my world. I am worse than any
ghoul."

"Yeah, that was a shit move you pulled."

"
My son, I
have been told Krynos has never cried in his life. Not even when he
was forced to kill his own wife during her murderous rampage on the
full moon. He truly feels remorse. Given the remarkable situation
we now face, I believe it best to treat him with
kindness
," Michael said to Max over their familial
connection.

"Max, I am so, so very sorry. I do not know
what happened. I awoke in this cell, and young Jessica told me I
had murdered your wondrous wife."

"That's all I told him, Max. How are you guys
doing?" she asked with her typical peppiness.

"We're fine," said Jennie, as she walked up
to Krynos' cell. "Um, King, I'm b-a-a-a-ack."

"Demons! What manner of sorcery is this? Are
you an apparition? A ghost? Please, follow me throughout my
miserable life and wantonly torture me. I deserve no less."

"Hey! Krynos! You didn't kill her. Well, you
did, but Draagh brought her back. But now we have to figure out how
to keep it from happening again," said Max.

"I… didn't… how? I fail to comprehend, young
Max. How is the good Jennie Gunnarsson standing before me, yet I
supposedly separated her head from her body with my sword?"

"Draagh resurrected me. But there's a
catch."

"A… catch? What means that?"

"Um, Draagh is gone, and he's not coming back
anytime soon," said Max.

"Nuuuuuuu! My actions have resulted in the
demise of my best friend? My brother in arms! I am worse than a
cannibal, and deserve death at the very least!"

"King Krynos, our father is not dead - he is
merely… unavailable for a while. All shall be well," said
Michael.

"For a while? How long is this
while
of which you
speak?"

"About 100 years," said Jennie.

"A sufficient amount of time, but nothing for
him, I imagine," said Bagatelle.

"Still, we really needed his help in finding
the Grigori - and defeating them," added Max.

"We shall find them, son. Father made certain
of this. He had a plan. Even though sometimes aloof, imbibing in
his herb, he maintained an intelligence far beyond that of ordinary
mortals," said Michael.