Darn! No sex in this one at all! Just a bunch of people talking!


Chapter 3

“Someone came through the wormhole in Lisa’s Grotto?” Alicia asked, her eyes wide with surprise. “Who was it? Anyone we know?”

“No,” Jake replied. “Some pregnant girl from Canada and her boyfriend. The girl claimed she met Beth once, evidently. And Beth initiated her.”

“Beth was a long time ago, Jake,” Frank said. “You mean she’s a long-lifer? Like us?”

“Yep! Both her and her boyfriend,” Jake replied.

“What’s her boyfriend like?” Tanya asked, grinning mischievously. “He must be pretty virile if he got the girl pregnant.”

“Oh, one of those ‘South’un Gentile-men, with all the fake manners that go along with it,” Jake smirked. “An awful-sir in the Cane-federate ahmy. Not too bad with a sword, though.”

“You fought him?” Alicia asked, still looking very interested. “With a sword?”

“Well,” Jake said, “He was upset that we bombed his mother and demanded satisfaction.”

“Sounds like a typical southern gentleman to me,” Frank grinned. “When do we meet him?”

“Well, he’s being brought before Elaine this afternoon for disturbing the peace,” Jake told them. “If you want, we can all go watch. I have to be there as a witness, anyway.”

“So what about the girl?” Tanya wanted to know. “You said she was pregnant?”

“Yeah,” Jake admitted. “Doc Frank checked her out this morning. She’s okay. And she’s legit. By that I mean she has vampire blood in her, and it’s not Lisa’s or her mom’s. She’s staying with me and… Annalisa – for a day or two, anyway.”

“You still have a hard time saying her name,” Tanya noticed, placing her hand on Jake’s arm.

“Yeah, well,” Jake said. “I… just…” He sighed, then sat down. “I feel like I’m really letting Lisa’s mom… Béla. There. I feel like I’m betraying her, somehow. As much as I loved her – I still love her. But Annalisa fits so much better. And it hurts me to think that… Béla wasn’t… she really wasn’t ‘The One’, you know? Not like Annalisa is.”

“Jake,” Frank said quietly. “You weren’t really happy with Béla. Face it, man. You brooded all the time – you were absolutely no fun to be around, and you were consumed with really dumb-ass ideas about how to make your relationship with her better. Now that Annalisa’s with you, you are actually a little bit more likable.”

“Really?” Tanya quipped cheerfully. “You mean you two might finally become friends after all these years?”

“Ha, ha,” Frank said to his wife. “Let’s just wait and see on that one, okay?”

~~~~~

Lisa and Annalisa escorted Jonathan up the white concrete steps into the Goddess’ temple. Jonathan kept staring at everything and everyone with pure amazement. The ‘horizon’ completely fascinated him and he almost fell several times just trying to follow the land around with his eyes.

“Come on, let’s get you inside,” Annalisa laughed. “You’ll find it’s easier to walk upright when there’s a room around you.”

“Is this some sort of pagan religious rite?” Jonathan asked, suddenly nervous. “Do you have sacrifices here? What’s the penalty for disturbing the peace?”

“Don’t be silly!” Lisa laughed. “If we were going to cook you, I’d’ve done it yesterday. And there are no set penalties except for murder.”

“You murder everyone who breaks the law?” Jonathan cried out, suddenly freezing in his footsteps.

Both girls sighed. “This isn’t the Confederacy.” Lisa informed him, starting to sound impatient. “We’re civilized and peaceful and we don’t kill each other. Now, come on. We’ll be late.”

Jonathan was still reluctant. Annalisa smiled at him and took his arm. “Your friend Danielle is already inside and waiting for you. Everything will be all right.”

Anxious to see a friendly face, even that of another captive, namely Dani, Jonathan let himself be led through the heavy, whitewashed doors and into the Justice Room.

“Jonathan!” Dani whispered loudly and happily at him. The echoes of her voice bounced off the solid white walls and made her whisper sound embarrassingly loud. The two girls escorting him let Jonathan go over to greet her.

“Are they treating you all right?” he asked anxiously as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly for an instant before remembering her baby.

“I’m fine,” Dani grinned up at him. “I saw a doctor this morning. He’s a real doctor from Earth! He showed me a sonogram and everything. This place may be a small farming community, but the medicine here is really hi-tech! And when he found out that you’re what he calls a ‘long-lifer’ like me, he wants to meet you and do some blood tests to find out what branch of the family you belong to.”

“Branch? Family?” Jonathan grinned. “What are you talking about?”

“Well,” Dani replied animatedly. “He must not have had very many patients this morning because we talked a couple of hours, at least! There is a branch that some lady named Béla initiated – a guy named Frank and his wife, Tanya. The doctor is Frank’s son. He has a sister named Alicia, and she had several kids, as well.

“Anyway, Béla had a daughter. And she initiated a bunch of people too. So that’s two branches of the family. And I, all by myself, was initiated by someone else! So I have – WE’LL have – our very own branch of the family! I have a family! A big one – can you believe it? I’m so happy!”

Jonathan wasn’t listening any more. His mind had stopped in the middle of her excited chatter when she said that name…

“My mother’s name was Alicia,” Jonathan said, his words cutting in and immediately silencing Dani. “I don’t suppose he said anything about his sister ever being in Nashville…”

“No,” Dani replied, not sure of what do say, now. “He didn’t. He only mentioned that he has a sister.”

“ ‘Has’? Not ‘had’?” Jonathan asked, then he smiled at Dani, a little sadly. “Lucky guy.”

“THE GOLDEN GODDESS AND THE GREAT BARD, GEOFFREY,” a voice announced behind them.

Everyone turned toward the front of the room. That gorgeous blond goddess from yesterday was entering the room, followed by a young man in an oversized blue robe with a hawk nose which reminded Jonathan of a drawing of Ichabod Crane from a storybook he’d had as a child.

Everyone sat down.