THE VROL TRILOGY (87 page)

"Live music. We have a house band, and of
course the nekos - they provide services to the men, and some women
if that trips their trigger."

"Nekos, what are they?" asked Jennie.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Max told us he had
never seen one before; they are-"

"A very old experiment of ours, from back
when we were working with enhanced bloodlines," Draagh interrupted.
"You see, when we made lycans, and mages in response to the natural
appearance of vampires, we also made what you call nekos. Their
real designation was Homo Sapiens Felidae. As lycans have canid
genes, these nekos have feline genes, but without the ability to
change phases or forms - they were simply always…furry. One thing
we did was to make the females physically dominant - that resulted
in them killing off the males, but then something amazing happened,
as anything created in Jah's universe has amazing potential - the
females started to simply self-impregnate. Parthenogenesis it is
called - well, a form of it. Nature is wonderful, yes, quite
wonderful indeed. Anyway, they ended up not accomplishing a whole
lot, and really only spent their days chasing butterflies and
sleeping, so out of kindness and compassion we let those who
existed survive," he further explained.

"They are cats? These are the cats we smelled
when we arrived? I do so love playing with cats," Liliana blurted
out, while carrying a near-ominous tone in her little voice.

"Come on, people, we need to keep moving,"
said Jennie.

Gabriel stated he was going to do some recon,
and blasted off into the sky as Jessica watched him leave in a
total sate of awe.

"Jessica, why were you out here all by
yourself? It seems dangerous and desolate," asked Bagatelle.

"Oh, I didn't tell you. They are throwing a
big party right now - for Max. He is leaving, like I told you, but
I was kinda bummed out. He has been such a great help, and I know
it was all for the best. At least he won't have to keep looking for
his family anymore," she said with a weak smile.

Jennie looked at Jessica, not knowing whether
to be sympathetic for the lycan local, or to become insanely
jealous over her care for Max.

The team moved westward, avoiding open areas,
and trying to stay under the cover of partially collapsed
buildings. However, this wasn't enough. Jessica, who was in the
lead, immediately back up and whispered, "Demons are here - Vrol.
Ground bugs, very dangerous, so form a circle with the little girl
in the middle."

Before they could even do that, Liliana had
jumped out and over some rubble, intent on chasing down and killing
one of the alien invaders. Her small sword out, she looked like a
school child playing ninja warrior as she leaped to the top of
rather large boulder. Jennie darted in Liliana's direction, but
could not reach her before the girl's feet were taken out from
underneath by a large, insectoid-looking claw. The little girl
scrambled up, but was in a grouping of boulders and broken concrete
that wasn't conducive to her attempted escape.

The ground bug, as Jessica called it, had
large, compound eyes, was bipedal, and also sported clawed upper
appendages that had what appeared to be prehensile hairs, the
largest of these on the right claw holding a weapon of some sort.
The grotesque creature pointed the weapon at Liliana who, instead
of letting out a scream, snarled and raised her sword out in
defiance.

Three other similar creatures had surrounded
the group, while Jennie, Bagatelle and Michael all drew their
swords. Draagh lifted his staff and caused a large boulder to come
crashing down onto one of the creatures, as Bagatelle savagely
attacked another. Jennie attempted to get to Liliana, but a bug
blocked her way, prohibiting further advancement. However, no one
noticed Michael, as he deftly scooted around the perimeter, getting
to Liliana's side.

"Dieeeee. Foooood!" cackled the bug
that was hovering over Liliana. It was about to fire its weapon at
the small child when Michael dropped down in front of her, taking
the charge blast into his back. Liliana partially crawled out from
beneath her grandfather and, looking at the alien she screamed
"
Electrincantatio quassatio
!"
blasting the creature back into a sharp rock, which pierced its
neck, effectively decapitating it. With a great leap, Jessica flew
through the air and dropped down next to it. Surveying the damage,
she looked at Liliana appraisingly.

"Good job, little one! You fight like your
dad!"

Jennie and Bagatelle were fighting their own
bugs as Draagh quickly moved over to Michael and Liliana's
position. Pulling his son off his adopted great-granddaughter, he
first checked the archangel - he was simply knocked unconscious.
Then, placing his hands on his son's chest he performed a complex
healing cantus.

"My son, you have redeemed yourself. I
restore you now," said Draagh, as Michael's body jerked with
spasms. Liliana looked on in awe as Draagh maintained
concentration. Michael's chest shot up and his head leaned back,
suddenly opening his eyes and mouth, emitting not a scream, but
brilliant, blue beams of light from his eyes, nose, mouth and
ears.

"Everyone, the base of their skull is where
they are weakest!" yelled Jessica, as she had watched them fight a
fruitless battle, their swords being stopped by the aliens' strong
armor. It wasn't but a second later that the siblings had
decapitated their opponents, resulting in both being covered in
green ochre that served as the aliens' blood.

Having finished the remaining two Vrol, the
brother and sister high-fived each other and ran over to where
Draagh, Liliana and Michael were crouched. The first thing Jennie
did was envelope Liliana in her arms.

"Lili, I told you to listen to me! When are
you going to learn, child? I could have lost you. We have been
together such a short time. Please, just listen to me," Jennie
whispered to her daughter.

"A short time? What do you mean?" asked
Jessica, who had plopped down next to them.

"I'm her adoptive mother. We met in the
castle where we live, and she risked her life to save us. Everyone
in the kingdom wanted to take her, but we were blessed with her
decision to be part of our family," responded Jennie.

"Max never, ever said anything about
his
adopted
daughter. He only
said that he had a daughter that he loved very much and missed, and
that without his family his life was nothing."

Liliana got a look of confusion on her
face; not knowing how to take the revelation that Max apparently
didn't consider her to be his
adopted
child, rather, his daughter, plain and
simple. Then, she smiled and looked at her mother.

"Jennie, I have come to a decision," said the
little girl.

"And what would that be, sweetie?" asked
Jennie.

"I shall inform everyone when we find
Max."

Michael sat up, albeit with a bit of help
from Draagh, and let out a small cough. Then, looking down at his
hands he began to grin. Looking over at Liliana, he reached over
and touched her cheek while asking, "Are you ok, Lili?"

"Yes, Abuelito. I am - thanks to you. Are you
ok?"

"I am fine. In fact, I have never been
better."

Standing up, he regained his footing on the
uneven rocks and rubble and then shot his arms out to the side.
With a loud sound that resembled a sail unfurling in a strong wind,
4 meters of obsidian-black, feathered wingspan shot out. Flapping
them a couple of times, as if he were working the kinks out, he
extended his hand out to Liliana.

"Shall we trust each other now? We are
family, after all," he said with a kind tone to his voice.

The little lycan girl took his hand as he
helped her to stand up.

"Wow, Abuelito, you look so
cool.
La cagada
! You
really
are
an
angel!"

"Lili! No
lisuras
!" yelped Jennie, knowing that her
daughter had a propensity for swearing in many languages, even
though
la cagada
was a mildly
profane way of saying
awesome
.

Draagh snickered and watched the two as
Bagatelle kept an eye out for further Vrol.

Jessica watched Michael, stunned that she was
not only around a being of immense power, but proud to be called a
friend of the one they were seeking.

"Guys, come on," she said, "let's get you to
Max. We're almost there."

Chapter 21 - Going Away

Gabriel walked into Seven Sins after having
landed a few hundred meters away and ensconcing his wings out of
view. Seeing a number of people at the bar, he had to tune his
hearing down a bit due to the band playing loudly. He surveyed the
crowd and found it comically odd that vampires, lycans and normals
were all frequenting the same location. Focusing in on the drummer,
he noted that there was a mild mutation in his genetic structure
(which he could easily see in a readout in his peripheral vision -
something that all archangels possessed; similar in effect to the
levels readouts that lycans possessed, only much more advanced, the
archangel's readout was nearly like a computer display in its own
right). The local vampires were not nearly the predatory parasites
that existed on other planes.

Hmm, this world is unusual - a great deal
could be done here.

Walking up to the bar, he asked for a draft
beer, which was almost immediately placed before him.

"Two teeth, mate," yelled the barkeep,
surprising Gabriel, as he had no idea what currency was being used
in his current location. Quickly looking around, he noticed that
there were jars full of insectoid-looking teeth, so he silently
performed a slip cantus and made a few appear in the palm of his
hand, and then handed three to the club employee. Taking his beer,
he turned around and scanned the crowd, noting a grouping in what
appeared to be an exclusive area. He could also detect a mage
nearby. Figuring it was Max, he walked up to the group, but was
stopped by none other than Marko, who had become Feral's
self-designated bodyguard.

"Hey ass-hat, what's your business here?"
growled the overbearing lycan as he used his barely adequate bulk
to block Gabriel's path.

"Forgive me, friend. I seek the one known as
Max Gunnarsson," responded the archangel.

"Push off, mate! Maxie's had quite enough
fighting today - this is his going away party," yelled Dons, who
was seated in his usual spot on his couch.

"Oh please, I am not here for a fight. I have
simply heard he was an amazing individual and wanted to meet him.
In fact, I may even be able to help him find his way… home."

"Wait! Who are you? How do you know I want to
get home?" demanded Max, who popped up from his seat further back
in the dark.

"Greetings. My name is Gabe, and I am a mage,
among other things," said Gabriel.

"Yeah, right - a real mage. Good luck with
that one, dude," responded Adam from a chair next to the couch.

"No, wait. He smells different. Like
something I've never smelled… before, yet oddly similar to
something I have," Max said, his voice trailing off. "Have a seat,
Gabe. Tell us about yourself."

Gabriel sat down on the couch, while Max sat
on the coffee table in front of him. Surveying each other
carefully, Max asked the first question.

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

"Like I said, I'm Gabe, I'm a mage and I
heard you need to find a way home. Where are you from,
initially?"

"Well, initially I'm not even from this
planet, but I tried to 4D slip from
43
^rd
century Europe to
29
^th
century Peru and ended up
here. If you understand that much then we can continue our little
discussion, but first I'd like to know who you are and how you
heard of me. That's fair, isn't it?"

Gabriel looked at Max and then the rest
of the group. Adam was eyeing him curiously, actually hoping
that
Gabe
wasn't a real
mage.

"Well, to start off, I first heard about you
in the Hub. You are familiar with the Hub, are you not, Max?"

This immediately got the young man's
attention, with him jumping up from his seat on the coffee
table.

"The Hub? You're not just a minor-mage, are
you?"

"No, I am the real deal. In fact, I am much
more. You see, I recently joined up with a group of people who have
been searching for you for over six months, and I wanted to make
sure that they weren't disappointed when they arrived, which should
be any minute."

"
Ok team, it
is Max
.
I have found
him
," Gabriel called out via his comm
device.

"Group of… people? What do you
mean
six months
? I've only
been here a few days. Where were you looking for me from?" replied
Max with a look of confusion on his face.

"Father was right - you do have a lot to
learn, but as I see you have fared well here, I am sure there is
hope for you."

"Ok, Gabe, enough is enough. Can you just
come clear? Who are you?"

"Your uncle,"

"My uncle? Right. From where?"

"Well, Heaven, for the lack of a better
term,"

"Heaven… Gabe… Gabriel? You're Gabriel? The
archangel Gabriel?"

Hearing that, Gabriel stood up and shot his
arms out in a dramatic fashion, extending his wings at the same
time. This caused the band to stop playing, and consequently for
the entire bar to go silent.