‘But we don’t know anything about each other.’ He let her hands go.
‘We just established that both our hands are tied in that regard!’ Aysel had a chuckle, as if he were being immature. ‘You humans take copulation too seriously. What does a man need to know, beyond that I am a woman in good working order?’ She caressed his chest playfully. ‘Don’t you find me attractive?’ She moved in to kiss him again.
‘I do.’ He backed up to hinder her seduction. ‘At least, I did, until just now.’
‘What?’ Aysel was very confused and then realised her error. ‘Oh, that’s right, human males like to be the dominating force in sexual relations, my mistake.’
‘No,’ Wu Geng emphasised, ‘that’s not it at all.’
‘Then what? Where I am from there are very few females and many males,’ she attempted to explain her forwardness. ‘So I’m used to getting sex from whatever man I choose.’
‘How did your mate feel about that?’ Wu Geng frowned.
‘My mate has been absent a long time,’ she emphasised, ‘and I need a lot of sex.’
‘Please don’t explain any more.’ Wu Geng was losing the mood rapidly and that was probably for the best.
‘You said you wanted to know about me?’ She was bemused. ‘I need this. It’s been days since I —’
‘You are really not making me feel any more inclined,’ he interrupted.
‘That’s because you won’t allow me to pleasure you,’ she appealed, ‘and believe me, I know how to give pleasure.’
Wu Geng was mesmerised as she unbuckled her dragon belt and slowly unzipped the front of her catsuit all the way down past her navel, then ripped it open to expose her ample breasts to the moonlight. ‘Are you quite sure I can’t tempt you?’
In light of En Noah’s recent regression session, Dan had decided to attempt the same before contacting his Grigorian counterpart — he would find out all he could on his own — then if he found himself with more questions than answers afterwards, he would consult Azazèl.
‘How did you do it?’ The captain consulted with Noah in his office before entering the meditation chamber; Hudan was the only other person present.
‘It should be easier for you than anyone,’ Noah assured him. ‘You’ve seen Azazèl numerous times, so you just need to allow your consciousness to hark back to a time when your soul-mind and his were joined in one body, and not separated into a causal and male–female split soul.’
‘Um, correct me if I am wrong,’ Dan had recalled many of his past life incarnations during his later life in Zhou, ‘but won’t that just land me back at the instance that we,’ he included Hudan in his equation as she was the female half of Azazèl, ‘passed from this universal scheme to the next?’
‘No, no,’ Noah assured him, ‘you were still as separate then as you are now, for your male and female split apart were already incarnating into the next universe. This has been the case since the Nefilim aided us to take human forms and enter humanity’s evolutionary cycle.’
‘We did that voluntarily?’ Hudan had always assumed it was punishment.
‘After a time exposed to the Nefilim’s love of physical pleasure, it didn’t take much to convince sexless, immortal beings who knew nothing of the delights of the material realm, that they wanted in on the sexual reproduction process. And we are still attracted to it,’ Noah added with a cheeky smile, in reference to Hudan’s current condition.
‘Well, our female halves are so very fine.’ Dan grinned in his own defence.
‘You’ll get no argument from me,’ Noah assured them that they were not being judged. ‘We volunteered to serve in your universe, just as we volunteered to do so in this one, and will no doubt do in any after. On a higher spiritual level, our time incarnate was penance for the Grigori. We had no real idea what we were letting ourselves in for, just as we had no idea what we were in for when we were cast out of the paradise of our creator and into the Old Universe of utter darkness and chaos. Where love, compassion, wisdom had no meaning … until we turned on our leader.’
‘Good heavens, Noah, how far back did you go?’ Dan was stunned by how sure the man was of the truth of his words. ‘You were only gone a few hours by Jahan’s reckoning.’
‘I zipped about,’ he said, sounding not entirely thrilled by his perceptions. ‘It was not a happy time. Not that we knew that, as there was no such concept as happiness or joy … only hatred. Hatred of the one true creator, and a singular bloodymindedness to destroy the consciousness evolution project, particularly the human strain as it was the creator’s pride and joy. Which is why those who support evil seek to destroy humans, even other humans, and have an inbred hate for humanity … just like we did.’
Dan realised his mouth was gaping and closed it a moment to digest what had just been said. ‘This is not going to be an average regression session, is it?’
‘No,’ Noah confirmed. ‘I wanted to prepare you accordingly and give you this.’ The advisor dropped a metallic ball into Dan’s hand. It had a couple of light indicators on the surface so that one could tell when it was active or not; the Chosen used these devices for recording past-life experiences, which were then stored in the historian’s Institute of Immortal History.
‘You want me to chronicle this?’ Dan wasn’t sure it was really going to be the kind of educational experience they should be passing on.
‘Just in case you forget something vital; quite often these devices will pick up on subconscious thoughts and experiences that you won’t remember later on,’ Noah advised.
‘Like being brainwashed by the emperor, or the Nefilim.’ Dan saw the darker side of the wise man’s reasoning.
‘Exactly.’ Noah was glad to have dusted some of the candy coating off this experiment. ‘Thus, anything anyone attempted to hide from you, or anything you attempted to hide from yourself, will be known.’
Dan looked to Hudan and she appeared to be as trepidatious as he felt, but she plucked up a smile of courage and support. ‘Knowledge is power.’
‘You seem to have come through it okay?’ Dan noted of Noah.
‘I was not the one having my mind manipulated,’ he pointed out. ‘I only had to deal with the fallout of your descent into madness.’
‘And you are still dealing with it.’ Dan made light of his imminent return to hell.
Noah finally cracked a sincerely amused smile. ‘Our karmic entanglement does seem never-ending, but then I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m not ashamed to admit I have missed your company and counsel many times since your departure from this universe.’ He gave half a laugh. ‘Even though the governor tells me you’ve both popped in for a visit a few times since then, but alas I remember naught of it.’
‘That is for the best,’ Dan advised. ‘Those were not happy times either.’
Hudan, lost in the memories, gave a rueful smile to agree.
Noah shrugged, not so bothered. ‘As we are only ever brought together in times of peril, I guess we just have to make the most of it.’
In the upstairs lounge, the governor was excusing himself from the timekeepers still residing there. ‘If I don’t check in with my wife soon, she’ll skin me alive,’ he explained, but then cocked his head in further thought. ‘Although she probably already knows everything that is transpiring she may have news for me, as I do not have her talent for future sight and I do have a planet to run.’
‘Might she know what lies in store for us then?’ Huxin was curious.
‘That is what I intend to find out,’ Rhun advised. ‘Jahan,’ he looked to the man seated snugly at Huxin’s side, ‘you should head back to your post also, before my sister starts asking questions.’
The governor’s sister, Rhiannon, was the head of the Kila Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA), and Jahan was one of her subordinates.
‘But what if Dragonface goes after him?’ Huxin clearly didn’t want Jahan to leave.
‘I doubt Dragonface even knows of Jahan’s existence,’
Rhun countered.
‘But I’ve already called in with food poisoning,’ Jahan grinned, happy not to have taken on an immortal state of being yet, so he was still able to use such excuses.
This was a concern for the governor, because sooner or later Huxin would have to return to her own universal scheme, and Jahan would be back to being on his own. ‘Look, maybe it’s not my place to caution you two about becoming too attached —’
‘Then don’t,’ Huxin suggested and then smiled. ‘You have enough to worry about already.’
Rhun was aware of not putting his foot down, but could well appreciate them wanting to spend time with the one they loved most. ‘Do not let my sister get wind of this, you hear?’
‘Roger that, Governor,’ Jahan assured. ‘Many thanks for the concession.’
‘You’re welcome,’ he stated, albeit grudgingly. ‘Do not let me regret it.’
‘No, Sir,’ Jahan asserted.
‘I shall be back presently.’ Rhun nodded farewell to Song and Telmo as well, and vanished from the lake house.
Huxin clapped her hands and sprang from the lounge. ‘That worked out well.’ She headed off towards upstairs. ‘Dan and Hudan are going to be a while with Noah, so I might take a shower. And …’ she turned back to Jahan, ‘… as the governor said we shouldn’t go anywhere alone you’d best come watch out for me.’ She flashed a winning grin before disappearing up the stairs.
‘Being subtle was never her strong suit,’ Jahan commented to Song and Telmo who were looking at him with envious daggers in their eyes.
‘Were I a lesser man I might say something very nasty at this moment,’ Song threatened as they watched Jahan departing.
‘I’d best make myself absent swiftly then,’ and he sped up his exit.
‘That’s extremely advisable,’ Song was yelling after him, when he and Telmo were startled by Wu Geng appearing before them with his arms full of Aysel.
‘Oh my lord,’ he strained under the weight of her unconscious form, ‘she’s heavier than she looks.’
Song was quick to give Wu Geng a hand to get her into the lounge and lay her down. ‘Hell’s bells, she is heavy!’
‘Tell me about it!’ Wu Geng, with Song’s aid, finally off-loaded her on the lounge. ‘Shit!’ He gasped for breath in the wake of the strain, and as he breathed deeply the flush faded from his face.
Telmo joined their huddle. ‘What happened?’
‘She passed out.’ Wu Geng felt that was obvious.
Song couldn’t help but notice how low the zip on her suit was sitting, and that her Dragon belt that was hanging open. ‘Looks like it was a little hot outdoors this evening?’ He looked to Wu Geng for an explanation.
‘Well yes, it did get a little warm there for a bit,’ Wu Geng obviously wished to avoid the issue. ‘But you know no one can touch that belt besides her,’ he added in his own defence.
Song looked to Telmo whose sly grin seemed to indicate that they both suspected they weren’t being told the full story. ‘Holy crap, Wu Geng, do you ever fall for a female who isn’t an alien species?’
‘I didn’t encourage her,’ Wu Geng defended, ‘and nothing came of it, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out!’
‘Unfortunate,’ Song teased Wu Geng who was obviously flustered by it all.
‘I didn’t encourage her,’ he stressed again.
‘Sure you did,’ Song chanted, ‘like a bee to a honey pot.’
Wu Geng’s face began to burn bright red with anger, before he conceded Song’s point. ‘Well, maybe a little. But beyond a kiss, I assure you, nothing happened.’
‘First Fen and his tigress, now you and a lizard,’ Song emphasised how weird things were getting. ‘Maybe I should go find that Falcon chick I was so hot for the last time I was here.’
Wu Geng’s expression turned from shame to amusement. ‘You never mentioned her before.’
Song shrugged. ‘I guess I never felt free to share information with you before.’ He returned Wu Geng’s grin. ‘Believe me, you’re not the only black sheep on this crew, we’ve all been the black sheep at one time or another.’ Song considered this especially true in light of what their captain was going through right now.
‘Aww,’ Telmo placed his hand to his heart, ‘are you girls going to kiss now? Or are you going to help me with our lady friend here?’
Both of them looked to Telmo to serve him an identical glare of indignation.
‘Song, go fetch Hudan,’ Telmo instructed. ‘You,’ he referred to Wu Geng as he moved in to look over the patient, ‘tell me exactly what happened prior to her passing out.’
Interested to hear, Song glanced back to see Wu Geng stunned by the question.
‘Did she say anything?’ Telmo prompted in the hope of getting some idea as to the cause of her ailment.
‘She said,’ Wu Geng cleared his throat to quote her, ‘“quickly”.’
‘“Quickly”? As in, “Quickly catch me, I am going to pass out”?’ Telmo queried.
‘Sure.’ Wu Geng decided that sounded like a fair assumption.
Song chuckled, obviously not convinced that was the case, at which point both Wu Geng and Telmo ordered him ‘Out!’
Rhun was not expecting his wife to still be in the governor’s office at this late hour, but he popped in there first and found Sybil behind his desk, with the soft screen of his work station still activated. She was completely absorbed, as she dictated answers to governmental correspondence via the telepathic control plate on the desk before her, upon which her right hand rested.
‘I’m sorry I haven’t been about much.’ He decided to apologise in advance of being yelled at for leaving her to handle everything.
Sybil stopped what she was doing and looked to him with a welcoming smile. ‘From the little you’ve told me, I gather it’s been a very long few days.’
Rhun nodded to confirm that that was no understatement. ‘Anything that urgently needs my attention? I may be AWOL for some time yet.’
‘Nothing I can’t handle.’ Sybil rose to approach him. ‘Rhun, what is going on? Why are you hiding people from ancient Zhou and goddess knows where else, outside the city?’
‘They are assisting me to deal with the backlash from my last time trek,’ he explained.
‘The one you embarked on to save Kila from ruin?’ Sybil clarified, and Rhun gave a grimace of agreement.
‘That’s right.’
‘How serious is it?’ Sybil was surprisingly pensive in her query.
‘Have you foreseen something?’ he wondered from her tone, and also he thought he’d get his reason for seeking his wife out of the way before he got distracted.
‘No,’ she insisted. ‘I would not pry into your business without your requesting it. And I would be sent into trance if there was anything the cosmos felt I should know. But I have sensed all is not right with our world, and that makes me worry.’
‘A few lives have been lost … but thousands have been saved,’ Rhun added to put their woes in perspective.
‘Is your life in danger?’ Her large amber eyes implored him to answer.
‘Constantly,’ he joked with a grin, and moved in to claim a kiss he’d been awaiting all day.
‘Be serious.’ She stepped away.
‘Okay.’ He grabbed her close once more and dipping her backwards he laid claim to the lip lock he felt he so rightly deserved.
‘You are not going to escape my interrogation that easily,’ she assured as soon as their lips parted and Rhun stood her back on her feet. ‘Are you in danger?’
‘My love, I am immortal —’ He reached for the buttons on the front of her dress, but she stepped away again.
‘If, as you say, these creatures managed to take out the entire city, then taking out one immortal ought to be a walk in the park,’ Sybil impressed on him. ‘Should you really be working alone on this?’
‘Circumstances were different in that previous timeline.’ Rhun addressed her concerns one a
t a time. ‘And I am not working alone, I have the timekeepers, Noah, Jahan and Avery in on this. Rebecca too.’
‘How can I help?’ she appealed.
‘Just covering for me here is more than I could ask for.’ He ventured closer to his wife once more.
‘Well, your people are starting to wonder why you’ve taken a sudden leave of absence.’ Sybil submitted to his advances, and pressing close to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
‘Call it a spiritual retreat,’ he suggested. He was partaking of her kisses once again when suddenly his wife became a dead weight in his arms. ‘Sybil?’ He lay her down on a couch to take a closer look, and the way her eyes rolled back in her head and twitched madly beneath her closed eyelids, seemed to indicate that she had gone into trance. ‘I guess the powers-that-be want you informed after all.’
To be certain of his diagnosis, Rhun made a move to his work station to summon Cadfan from the healing temple to check on Sybil. This episode was rather ill-timed, he thought, as these trance states could last for days and were draining to the oracle. It looked like he was going to have to get the vice-governor to run the office for a while. Rhun’s vice was also his brother-in-law, Cadwallon, husband to Rhiannon, head of KEPA. Rhun would have entrusted Cadwallon with the whole truth, but Rhiannon? It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, it just seemed that the more of his siblings who got involved in any mission, the more power struggles there were and the more difficult solving the original problem became. So it was that his vice-governor and his sister would be given the spiritual retreat excuse — for both his and Sybil’s leave of absence.
‘It won’t make the session end any sooner by sitting here watching the door,’ Noah commented, as Hudan couldn’t seem to drag her dazed gaze from the sealed entrance to the meditation chamber that Dan was occupying. ‘Why don’t we have some tea?’ With that suggestion a full tea tray, set for two, appeared on the desk beside Noah. ‘White and one sugar, if I remember rightly?’
Hudan frowned, slightly conflicted for a moment, as that was not the way she had taken her tea in ancient Zhou, yet it was indeed the way both Taren Lennox and Tory Alexander had taken their tea, and thus she nodded to confirm. ‘Thank you, that would be lovely.’ She watched him pour and then accepted his offering, and sipped, the flavour as warm and comforting as an old friend. ‘Mmmmm …’ She sighed out loud as she savoured the memories.