Beverly Hills 8:15 PM
Wes, Sarah and Michelle appeared with a pop of air on the side of the road. A large burned area stretched before them, leading down toward the grounds of a big mansion a few hundred yards below. Nearby, police tape marked where the car that had exploded the previous night had been removed.
Wes and the two women were in black pants and shirts, and wearing their lenses. “Is that the place?” Michelle whispered.
Wes nodded. “I am going to move us a bit closer. Step through when I open a dimension door.”
Visualizing a hill just in view that would place them in front of the house, Wes motioned his arms and created a doorway out of the air. Moments later all three stepped through.
Andrea sat in the parlor, talking to the mannequins. They naturally were stiff and silent, but she didn’t mind. She just needed someone to hear how wrong she had been treated. HE had a collection of dolls after all, and it was only fair that she have one too. In fact, she deserved more, since she had thought of the idea of collecting before he did. In fact, he should be here with them, in her collection. He would look just so dashing posed on the couch she decided. Now, how was she going to arrange that? The mannequins offered no suggestions.
The three intruders now stood on a little hill just in front of the drive leading to Andrea’s mansion. It was dark, and only a few lights showed in the windows of houses that were nearby. It was perfect. The nearest neighbor was at least three hundred yards away, and if they were careful, this might work without further attention being drawn.
Quickly and quietly, they moved toward the house, slipping from shadow to shadow.
Andrea focused all of her energy on a new spell. She had been researching it for years, and it was risky. But if it worked, she would have him. All she had to do was wait. He would be here very soon. She knew it.
The three crept through the unlocked front door into the darkened house. Only one room was lit, and they could see the light through the open door to what was probably the parlor from what Paula had told them.
Wes nodded, and Sarah and Michelle crept around toward the back door. He waited as they crept out the back door from the living room, out the patio, and then around to the back window where Paula and Grim had made their entry the previous night.
Andrea sat quietly now. She felt him. He was here at last. Any moment he would walk through the door into the parlor.
Sarah and Michelle crept through the darkened hallway leading from the empty bedroom. It was quiet, and the tension was becoming unbearable. Sarah could feel the sweat running down her back and every muscle in her body was tight with anxiety. She could see Michelle was equally tense. She gave Michelle a quick reassuring smile, and Michelle winked.
After waiting for long enough, nearly 15 minutes, Wes decided it was time. Abandoning stealth, he stood up from his crouching position, and walked boldly into the parlor room.
“Hello, Andrea.”
In spite of the fact she had felt him, she was startled and she stood quickly to her feet. Wes looked at her, and felt a rush of conflicting emotions run through him.
She was a beauteous vision, even now. Her long white hair, carefully brushed, hung loosely down to her waist. Her dark blue eyes, cute little nose, and warm sensous lips, along with her high cheekbones and the perfect oval of her face were just as he remembered. Her lithe, dancers body, with firm breasts, a narrow waist and perfect hips were shown to perfection in the tight black of the spider silk body suit. Her long legs, encased in the tight silk of the body suit led to the high soft boots that ran up to her calves.
He felt love, adoration, lust, pain, sorrow, guilt, and finally, anger. For what she had become, and what had been done to her to make her this way.
Andrea looked at him. “Hello husband. You had forgotten about me, hadn’t you?”
She watched him, noting the play of emotions on his face. He looked just like he always did. Strong, brave, smart; she wanted him. But she saw his face finally give way to anger, and she felt her own emotions rise.
“How dare you judge me," She said softly. "You with that harem, the little human dolls that you play with. How dare you.”
She shouted. “Well, I have my own dolls, do you see them? They are as pretty as yours, and I didn’t have to make them love me to get them to serve me.”
In her madness, Andrea
had forgotten that she had collected people in Shiron, in Kithera and as soon
as she arrived here. She forgot that she started taking lives even before
finding him and learning about his girls. The little voice in her head tried
to remind her, but she shouted it down.
”Shut up, you don’t know what your talking about. It’s his fault. He didn’t
rescue me.”
Wes watched her arguing with herself and he knew finally that the wife he had known and loved was gone.
At that moment, Sarah and Michelle stepped out from behind the door. Andrea instantly heard them and turned.
“Well, so you are here. Both of you. You can’t have him. He is mine!” She shouted.
Sarah looked at the woman in front of her. “She is a goddess! A pissed off crazy goddess, but definitely amazing,” She thought to herself. She was awed. This woman looked like something out of an erotic myth, almost unbearably beautiful.
Michelle stared in wonder as well. “I always wondered what she was like. I can see some of Kristi in her, and me, and you, and I hear Jennifer’s voice. We mirror her. But look at her eyes, Sarah,” She whispered to her friend. Sarah looked and saw what Michelle was seeing. She saw the crazed desperation and anger; the hurt and the pain; and most importantly, the menace.
Looking at the thirteen mannequins arranged around the room, she knew what their fate would be, and hers too if they lost this fight.
“It is time for us to heal you, Andrea. The Auditors will be coming soon, so you have to come with us,” Wes finally said to break the moment. “You must come, before Kithera you never would have done this. Don’t you know the harm you have caused? Both here and at home? Come with me Andrea, where Cheryl and the others can heal you. They can return you to the woman I once knew,” It was a last plea to the woman who had been his wife. If her spirit was still inside this vengeful woman in front of him.
Andrea turned to look at him. The little voice clamored for her to listen, reminded her that he had thought her lost forever, and he had found peace at last in spite of that. Another voice reminded her of Sarah and Michelle, both so beautiful and so obviously in love with him, and here with him now. She remembered seeing them both make love to him at different times, and more importantly, he was making love to them, not just using them. He loved them, and she couldn’t stand it.
Andrea finally snapped. She screamed and released the spell she had been building, directly at Wes.
Wes was waiting, and had all of his defenses up when the staggeringly bright orange light hit him. It enveloped him and was trying to get through his defenses. Part of his mind was analyzing the spell as the rest of him fought it. It was a nasty one, designed to transform him into metal, program his mind and convert him into a male version of what she had done to Cindy. Struggling to counteract the spell while still maintaining his weakening defenses, he managed to alter part of it and dispose of the easiest element first. Negating the threads that would convert him into a golem was relatively easy. Transforming the spell threads that would take away control of his mind were harder and he was forced to weaken his defense to counteract it. As his defenses began to crumble, he succeeded in altering the spell so that it would kill him instead of reprogram him. It was a hell of risk, but he had better protection from death spells than mind control, and he was gambling that he could stop that portion from working in time.
Michelle counterattacked, casting spell after spell to try to distract Andrea, knowing that her own spells would never get through Andrea’s defenses. Sarah concentrated on protecting herself and Michelle from the backlash of energies as the magic rebounded off Andrea’s defenses.
As she watched Wes struggle with dealing with Andrea’s attack, Sarah realized in a sudden flash of insight that Wes was doomed unless she did something radical. “Keep her busy, I have an idea,” She told her friend quickly.
“Good thing, since keeping her busy isn’t working too well so far,” Michelle said through gritted teeth. She was becoming weary as the constant spell casting was eating away at her strength and endurance.
Andrea tried to ignore them. She had to concentrate on Wes. If the spell worked, it would transform him into what she wanted. But she had to concentrate. She knew the puny power of these two girls, well trained as they were, would not breach her defenses before she was finished with Wes. She would deal with them next.
Eventually, one of Michelle’s spells, a spiralling energy bolt, managed to punch through and Andrea cursed as a sudden pain hit her in the chest. Letting her concentration wander for just a moment, she cast a quick counter-spell of her own, dropping her defenses so that she could handle two offensive spells at once. She knew exactly how to overpower these novices who were annoying her.
A spell enveloped Michelle, who realized she couldn’t move and she knew what was about to happen. Her skin began to pale, and then her eyes and hair followed. Within seconds, Michelle was petrified, a glistening statue of white marble, her eyes sightless orbs of plain white stone, her mouth open in surprise and her arms thrown in front of her face to ward off the attack. Her mind slid into oblivion, a familiar feeling and she realized before slipping off into a blissful dream that her shieldin amulet had saved her mind.
Sarah ignored what happened to Michelle long enough for her to focus all of her power on the deflection spell she had learned from Cheryl. The one that had saved Wes when Jones had nearly killed him. She had refined it. The spell went off, and the angry orange glow surrounding Wes suddenly softened, fading to yellow.
Andrea was caught by surprise and completely shocked. A yellow glowing line suddenly linked her to Wes and she watched in horror as her own spell reversed course, and in a heartbeat, enveloped her.
Wes fell to the floor , overcome with weariness. Sarah concentrated, focusing everything, using Andrea’s own power and madness to fuel not only her spell, but also the spell Andrea had cast.
Andrea couldn’t stop it, her defenses had been critically weakened when she took out Michelle and it was now too late. With sigh of acceptance, she realized she had lost as the spell overwhelmed her.
She froze in place, her hands in front of her, as if reaching for something. Her mouth was set purposefully, and her eyes were wide open. Within seconds, the spell disintegrated the rings and jewelry on her body, then bit by bit, the spider skin unraveled and fell to the floor before becoming dust. Sarah watched, still focusing on her spell. Gradually, Andrea’s beautiful golden skin began to become shinier, and then began to take on a metallic luster. Her hair followed, strand by strand becoming white gold, while her blue eyes fixed, then began to reflect the light in the room as they became blue emeralds.
Andrea could only stare rigidly in front of her and realized that it was over. With no other options left, she accepted what was happening. And with that acceptance, the old Andrea, the loving free spirit of goodness that all had loved, returned. To weep inside at what she had done and what had been done to her.
Then the final blackness took her and Andrea was no more.