So I've been editing ALL day! My novel, The Girls Next Door, and I'm not even close to done. This is what happens when someone writes a 100K word novel (380+pgs). I'm calling it quitting time and thought, oh, why not, let's post another chapter. Right? Rock on dot com! Don't forget to vote!
J*A*D*E*S
Hustling everyone out of the room, Amy Astin holds the door open; Jo and Emma have already exited the building through the gaping hole that she’s made. One angry blast is all it had taken, of course, having Jo rolling her eyes at her had only fueled her anger.
“Let’s go people!” yells Amy.
“Where is Alysse?” asks Rosita as she looks around.
“She was right behind me,” says Camilla looks around frantically.
“Mother fucker,” says Jo, darting over the debris before Bev or Emma can stop her. A fresh fire has started up in the kitchen, sparked by fuel from the plane more than likely. Jo coughs, forgetting for a moment that she is completely human and isn’t protected by virtual immortality. “Alysse!” yells Jo as she pushes the doors of the kitchen open, seeing Alysse instantly. A section of the wall has fallen, and Alysse’s leg is caught under a beam.
“Get out of here, look,” says Alysse, pointing to the flame that is getting closer to the pool of fuel. Scared beyond reason, Alysse is dirty and shaking, thinking of all the things that she’d yet to do in life, like settle down, be in love, leave the drama behind. Instead she is going to die here.
“Not without you, I’ll get my ass kicked,” says Jo with a grunt. “What you are about to see, you never saw, you repeat it, and I’ll have to kill you, do you understand me?” asks Jo severely.
“Yeah… sure…,” mutters Alysse wondering why Jo is being all melodramatic with her at a time like this.
Jo kneels next to her, grabbing Alysse’s shoulders, “I’ll leave you hear to die, you say anything and you endanger my daughter’s life, now swear to me!”
“I-I-I-I swear…,” swallows Alysse her ankle on fire and Jo seems to be accessing something in her mind, or listening, Alysse isn’t sure.
“I swear…,” mutters Jo. Digging deep, feeling the power inside of her click on, reaching out and using Amy’s powers to move the section of the wall without touching it, Alysse’s mouth drops, and Jo pulls her to her feet. “Not a word.”
“Who’d believe me?” blares Alysse. Jo and Alysse begin to move quickly towards the doors as the flames finally makes their way to the fuel, exploding, sending Alysse and Jo careening through the doors.
s*t*a*r*s
“Humph,” groans Sydney falling over onto her side and panting.
Rylee plops down next to Sydney. She can’t breathe her lungs are on fire and Natalie seems intent on making them sweat, a lot to day.
Jayden jogs passed them. “Get up, come on, two more laps around the field. Some of the demons you might fight won’t be affected by your powers, come on, you have to learn to run. You have to be in great physical shape, get up!”
“How does she keep going? Mmm? Little miss I have Halloween masks for a power is out running us,” says Sydney. She aches back to her feet and helps Rylee along.
Tegan, who is in worse shape than they are rambles by them. “I hate her.” She pants and stops, hands on her knees, trying with a hot desperation to calm her heavy metal beating heart.
Abby comes around the corner of the field and stops next to them. “Can Spencer energize us and not just our powers?” asks Abby. “If she can, I would need a great old boost right about now.”
Spencer isn’t in the field, she is, instead, with her mother on a ‘mission’, or so said Jo Wheaton that morning when she came to collect her daughter. Spencer just said she needed some Jo time. Natalie had muttered but had let Spencer leave.
“What does it matter, she’s off shopping or something,” grumbles Tegan. “I want to be shopping, or doing something that isn’t this. I miss my boyfriend, I miss not being able to eat cheese doodles whenever I want.”
“Hey!” yells Jayden coming back towards them.
“She’s a drill sergeant in another life, isn’t she?” asks Abby. “Left, left, left, right, left.”
Sydney laughs and says, “Jay, can we take a break?”
“You’ve didn’t two miles,” says Jayden. “I’m not doing this for my health, I’m doing it for yours. We were all caught by surprise in that cave, let’s get in shape, mentally and physically.”
“You can’t expect us to run the New York Marathon in one day, Jayden,” says Tegan. “I want a drink, I want some food and I want Spencer’s ass back here. It’s not fair that…”
“I can run for hours, I don’t need to rest, to breath, to eat,” says Spencer walking towards them. “I am in excellent physical condition. You, Tegan need a bit of toning.”
“Bitch,” says Tegan reaching out and hitting Spencer when she’s close enough. “Where did you go?”
“To my mom’s club, we had some papers to sign and stuff. And after the whole plane in the café bit, I thought it would be nice to see her, ya know? And I am officially Spencer Wheaton. She also had some stuff she wanted to talk to me about.”
“Nice,” says Sydney.
Rylee grins and slips her hands into her shorts. “Jayden we should celebrate, right?”
Jayden looks at Spencer and then at the rest of the girls. “Sure, I’ll tell Nat you had enough for a while. We can hit the gym tonight.”
Tegan dramatically drops her head, chin slapping her chest. “GOD!”
Abby shoves her playfully. They all start to walk towards the large school building. Spencer lags behind with Rylee. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just seems like you’re taking to this new you pretty well,” says Rylee. Her fears that Spencer isn’t the same person plays in her mind over and over again. No matter what her powers tell her she still feels apart from Spencer.
“I guess so, I don’t know the difference. Why don’t you tell me?” asks Spencer. Their elbows brush lightly as they walk. There has been a lot of storytelling during their down time at night, but it seems as though Rylee isn’t going to tell her anything about their relationship. Spencer can only guess or glimpse their inner workings from the other girls. Yet, Spencer knows she loves Rylee. The looks, the fingers brushing against her skin, the tone of voice all tell Spencer that Rylee loves her back. But Rylee keeps her distance.
“I can’t just tell you, that’s not fair, is it? What if me telling you taints how you feel?” asks Rylee. Her voice louder than she intends and Abby turns to see what Rylee is yelling about.
“I distinctly remember coming back here for you,” says Spencer. “Does that mean I have to prove myself to you? I gave myself up to bring you back to life. I don’t need a thank you for that but I do think it warrants you telling me how we felt about each other. I already know how I feel.”
“I cheated on you. I don’t even know her name, Spencer. I did it to get it over with to – to feel something because I thought you were going to live forever,” whispers Rylee. “I can’t get passed that and until I do, I can’t move on with you.”
Spencer stops walking. Rylee continues leaving Spencer behind.
s*t*a*r*s
“Is Jo going to be okay?” asks Spencer.
“She’s fine. I promise. She said she’ll see you on the weekend and that she’s enjoying have a broken bone.”
“She’s weird. Almost gets blown to bits by a terrorist attack and she thinks it’s cool. So, can I talk to you about something?”
“Of course,” says Natalie.
“Rylee won’t give me a chance,” says Spencer to Natalie as Nat does laps in the pool. Spencer had retreated to the gym after Rylee’s announcement, working out, pushing until her muscles screamed for some respite. So Spencer had found Natalie, to talk. She couldn’t talk to the other girls, it wasn’t fair to taint their friendship with Rylee that way. “I came back here for her and she just won’t let me in.”
“Well, Spencer everything happened very quickly here, you had months in the other reality to deal with things,” says Natalie. “I think.”
Spencer chuckles. “I am getting along fine with Tegan. With Abby, with Sydney. Hell, we have a mini recording studio going on in the basement and I’m pretty sure that Sydney set up a gig for next weekend.”
Natalie stops swimming and looks at Spencer. “Really now?”
Spencer pales. “Forgot to tell you about that, huh?”
Natalie cuts through the water towards Spencer. Her legs are in the water and Natalie settles next to her looking up at the girl who she has always thought of as her daughter in a way.
“That’s okay. Spencer, I want to try something with your memories. Your mom’s shared a connection with a spirit, a demon of sorts called DarkHeart and you were all born with it. You weren’t. You’re body is not from that Jo. While you have all the genetics, you even have the same odd hodge podge that Susan infused Jo with because that is what kept that Jo alive, you aren’t connect to them with that curse.”
Spencer’s face screws into a frown. “Will it hurt? Or kill me? I mean, what is it?”
Natalie pulls herself out of the water and takes a towel. She wipes her face and settles next to Spencer. “He was an evil entity and if my math and readings are right, he might have been a left over from the time of Judas and his brother…”
“Jesus Christ,” groans Spencer.
This sends Natalie into a fit of laughter. “Yes, him. DarkHeart might have been a vestige of what made Quinn, or rather, Susan what she is. Of course that could be dangerous yet, it made Amy and the rest of them much more powerful.”
Spencer contemplates that. “That could be dangerous.”
Natalie wipes her face again and rubs her arms quickly. “It could. It could also unlock your memories.”
“I’m not ready for that, they are coming back, I remember stuff. I remember not trusting you but I’m sitting here, aren’t I?” teases Spencer.
“What else?”
“I’m remembering the languages first, and then parts of my life that I’ve connected with them. I speak twenty-three different languages, did you know that?” asks Spencer in awe.
“No,” says Natalie. “That’s remarkable.”
“I play any instrument you give me, I ripped into a Rob Zombie song earlier without thinking about it. Then sat at the piano and put Mozart to shame,” says Spencer. “I don’t like that I’m such a good mimic.”
“Mimic?” asks Natalie. Then she remembers that Jo can do that too, the strand they always thought was a part of the vampire was really part of her genetic code. “I understand.”
“That’s how I learn, isn’t it?” says Spencer. “What if that’s why I fall for Rylee, because I’m mimicking what I saw my mom do?”
Natalie feels the pain in Spencer’s voice and it taps a new song in her own heart. “No.”
“Really?” asks Spencer. “Fate fights to right itself and what if fate just wants a couple of the circle to be together, no matter which one? And it just happens to be me and Rylee?”
“If that were true, it would be fighting to put you and Tegan together,” snaps Natalie.
Spencer makes a face. The evening she’d come back the girls had filled her in on who her father really was, Andrew Astin, Amy Astin’s alter in the other timeline. So, she and Tegan were sisters. “Nope, no attraction there.”
“See,” says Natalie. “Spencer, your love for Rylee was organic the first time, so let it unfold.”
Spencer grunts as she stands. “Sure, you let me know how that’s working for you.”
Natalie grimaces and lets her walk away without question.
J*A*D*E*S
“If you can drop that in my office, I’d be grateful,” says Emma to a younger agent. She shuffles papers around on the gleaming table. Her phone buzzes and she slips it from its place in her pocket. Your new partner is heading to your office. Don’t mess this one up.
It’s from her boss, her boss’s boss, Connor. This isn’t a partner she can scuttle back to Wisconsin. This is it. No more solo act. Emma angrily gets her papers in order and barges out of the office. Partners mean she has to explain every hunch and every move, working solo means she can go off on a tangent and not explain a thing. Damn it, this is going to suck.
She inadvertently slams into someone and they help her pick up the papers. It’s a bad day. Rylee had called earlier, sobbing, unable to deal with still loving Spencer but not being able to forgive herself. Emma wants to tell her to let it go and love the girl but Emma remembers so many events in her life to know that this is a pivotal one for Rylee to live through. Mario was going to fly to LA tomorrow and see what sort of dent he can make in her sadness.
Emma pushes into her office to find Jo sitting there, feet up on the small coffee table. Her hair shorter, and Emma can see the pepper of grey there. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” says Jo. She lets her lips curl into a lopsided grin.
Emma doesn’t realize that Jo is in one of her sexy power suits. But wearing black sneakers, that had been a trademark of Jo’s, black Sketcher sneakers. Suits and black Sketchers, it had been cute fifteen years ago. Today it was still cute.
“Well I have to meet my new partner,” grumbles Emma. She looks out the door and sees no one new. “She or he isn’t here yet, so what’s up?”
“The sky,” says Jo in a flip tone.
“Hardy-har-har!”
“So who is this new partner?” asks Jo, getting up and buttoning her jacket. The dark green shirt underneath shows off some of Jo’s cleavage and the waist is pulled tight. Jo has always worn her gun against the small of her back so there was never a bulge like there was when Emma buttoned her jacket.
“I don’t know, I’ve been able to get rid of them for almost sixteen years, guess my luck ran out,” says Emma. She organizes her files. “And I’ve got three open cases that are pissing me off.”
“Guess you’ll have to catch me up, oui?”
“Yeah, I gue….” Emma stops in mid sentence. “What?”
“Special Agent Jo Wheaton reporting for duty,” says Jo. “All re-qualified, I had to use that damn demon killing knife to get rid of my off the wall blood so I’m human for a few days and I’ve stock piled enough samples to last me a few years before I have to do it again. That’s why I was all human like.”
Emma eases around the desk. “B-b-but…”
“You didn’t see this coming?” asks Jo with a grin. “I figured as much.” She sits on the edge of the desk.
“You’re really back? No more PI Jo? No more going off hunting Susan or whoever? No more washing up on shores hurt and hiding things?” asks Emma her delight plays on her face.
“No, I still have the agency but I’m an FBI agent now. Julie ran the agency for years and she did a great job. I’ll still check in, stuff like that but we have killers to find,” says Jo. Her tone is serious. It had taken a lot of thinking and discussion with Bev about what her future held. Bev had told her to follow her heart and that had led her right back to Emma and playing with violent crimes.
“I could kiss you right now,” says Emma. Her hazel eyes dance with a sweetness that Jo hasn’t seen in a long time
Jo smiles lopsidedly. “Close the door first.”
Emma laughs and hugs Jo. No new visions barrage her, nothing, it’s a void as she hugs Jo harder with each passing moment. “Breath, I’m not immortal.”
Emma lets her go. “What did you mean you used the knife? Not the one I stabbed you with.”
“No, I need that back by the way. The Blade of Artemis. It kills anything demon based and from what I can tell was forged to kill things like Susan, so I used it to go back to human. The nice thing is my telepathy is back in full swing.”
I can hear every single thing now, finishes Jo in Emma’s head.
“So, no vampire?” asks Emma. “I cannot get used to call it anything other than that, Jo, sorry.”
Jo shrugs. “Me either, I still think of it as a strand of vampire and not a strand of soullessness. Which, well, sounds more evil, doesn’t it?”
Emma nods.
“No more vampire, for a while, it doesn’t eradicate it fully but it does a pretty good job. Enough so that I could pass the blood tests,” says Jo.
“How did you pass it the 1st time?” asks Emma oddly. She sits on the couch and Jo sits next to her. “You had that blade?”
“Yup, I had it. I’ve had all the artifacts since the beginning. Jon had them, but we never told anyone. I didn’t know Nat was looking for them too. I was in that cave in Greece looking for where his body might be.”
“Whose?” asks Emma.
“Ram, since Susan used his DNA I think, but I know she found some of his parts, her journals told me that. We have missing bodies, Emma. We got rid of Chris, but a few years ago Dad found out that DJ’s body had been dug up.”
“Christ, what?”
Jo nods seriously. “DJ could be out there, right now, we don’t know. He doesn’t have a thread of soulless in him but that doesn’t explain what happened to him, what if he was injected with what I was? What if? I don’t know and I will find him, and I might need the FBI to do that.”
“You want cold cases that are related to things that DJ might have done as he got older?” asks Emma.
“Not right now, I have time. I have lots of time, but, come on, let’s go eat and you can catch me up on what is going on.”
Emma smiles. “My pleasure.”