Great interview with Jen Blood! -- http://www.wattpad.com/6530957-round-robin-q%26a-with-jen-blood-and-jan-grivois
s*t*a*r*s 8 - pt 144
s*t*a*r*s/J*A*D*E*S
Natalie and Jayden walk, hand in hand, down to the resort on Venus Island.There is no cell reception anywhere on the island so they decided to walk the two miles to the resort to call and check in on everyone.
“We’re leaving in the morning, I don’t see why we have to check in, really,” snorts Jayden.
Natalie snorts back and then laughs.“Because I worry.Do you have any idea what sort of trouble they can get into in two hours?”
“I know what sort of trouble I can get into in two hours,” teases Jayden. She places a kiss along Natalie's jaw line.“I guess I can call the old man too.”
“Sean is not that old.”
“Oh, yes he is!”
Giggling, they walk into the resort.Everyone knows who Natalie is and they each wave or nod in greeting.They find a public phone and Jayden calls her father first, since someone comes over to talk to Natalie.
“Old man, what are you doing?” asks Jayden.
“I was drinking a steaming cup of coffee,” says Sean.“The fish are jumping in the pond this morning so I was going to go do some fly fishing.”
“Is that what’s for supper?If it is, I might come home early.”
They continue their easy banter, exchanging pleasantries and finally Jayden hangs up.“The old man is alive and off fly fishing for the day.”
“Is he cooking later?” teases Natalie.
They both laugh.Natalie dials Dathan, but gets no answer.She then calls Darci, Abby and Rylee and still no answer.Her face holds the look of worry.She dials Spencer’s number.
“Wheaton,” says Spencer.
“Hi, it’s – it’s Nat.”
Silence.
“I was calling to check in, Jayden and I are – um – away and a few of the other’s didn’t pick up, so you were the next to call and I dialed before I even….”
“Quit blubbering,” snaps Spencer.“You might want to come back from your pre-honeymoon.”
“What happened?”
Jayden’s head snaps up and her look is fixed on Natalie.
“Quinn is here.”
“We’ll be there soon.Where?”
Spencer sighs.“Beach house.”
Natalie hangs up.“We are never leaving again.”She grabs Jayden’s hand and begins to tug her towards the door.
“What is going on?Can’t we take five minutes to ourselves?”
“Nope, apparently not, Quinn is here.”
Jayden pulls Natalie to a full stop and spins her around to face her.“Quinn?Alternate reality Quinn?”
“The one and only.”
“Never taking a vacation again.”
s*t*a*r*s/J*A*D*E*S
Abby arrives with Dathan and Darci around noon.She grimaces at the gaping hole in the side of the building.“Hey!” calls out Abby to Spencer, who is sitting on a lounge chair outside.Darci and Dathan both say their greetings but rush in to see Quinn.
“Hey,” says Spencer.
“I think I should fix that,” says Abby, pointing up to the hole.“You gonna jump start me?”
“Sure,” says Spencer.“Come inside first.Rylee and Mario are flying in later; Tegan should be over in a while too. Sydney decided to go see her mom and dad for a while.”
Abby narrows her eyes.Even though she loves them all equally, she doesn’t feel that tug of attraction that they all do to each other.She truly is her mother’s daughter, since Darci has told her repeatedly that she never was attracted to anyone of her circle of women like they were attracted to each other.
“Decided or she didn’t want to watch you and Rylee…”
“Not now, Abs,” says Spencer.Her voice is weary.
Abby sees the fatigue in Spencer’s face and thinks better of her next sentence.“Can we do it from inside?”
“Sure,” says Spencer.She inclines her head to the door and they step out of the blazing sun.
“You’re well healed,” Darci is saying.
“I am, this I know.I am not accustomed to the energy here, it’s different than my strife and pain,” says Quinn.Her face holds the look of worry.She’s unsure how this different energy will affect her.
“How so?” asks Dathan.He sits close to Quinn.
“It’s much darker,” says Quinn.“Even before the plague, the energy, the pain in the world, wasn’t this dark.You’re world is much more out of tune than my own ever was.”
Amy and Jo exchange glances.“Is that going to be a problem?” asks Jo.
Quinn muses for a few minutes, rubbing her fingers along her lips.“I don’t think so.But we’ll see.If I go around killing people you can simply kill me.”
Amy rolls her eyes.“Sure, stake to the heart, right?”
“Speaking of stakes,” says Quinn, leaning forward.“Is there still an elder oak here?”
“Yes, on Haven Island,” says Dathan.“This is how we stopped Iesous from coming into being.”
“The prison?” asks Quinn, and then she remembers she is in a different reality.“I am sorry, what is Haven Island here?”
“A school,” says Natalie from the door, her hair loose and her eyes on alert.“My school.”
Quinn springs from her spot, and with a speed that surprises them all, she tackles Natalie.Her hands find Natalie’s neck instantly and she begins to squeeze.
Jayden shape shifts added bulk to her frame and grabs Quinn, hauling her off Natalie.The room erupts into chaos; finally Amy telekinetically tears a raging Quinn from Natalie.
“What is going on?” yells Jo.She moves to stand between Natalie and Quinn, her hand reaching back and finds Natalie’s hand there, grasping it.
“Her,” growls Quinn.“She’s pure evil.”
“Yeah, we know that there was a Natalie alter in your world, but Nat’s good,” says Darci.She moves next to Natalie and begins to heal the mild cuts and bruises that Quinn inflicted.
Quinn struggles against the hold on her but finally gives up.
“I guess there is a reason I never liked her,” grumbles Spencer under her breath.Abby rears back and slaps the back of Spencer’s head.“OUCH!”
“Nat’s not bad, she’s just sleeping with your aunt.”
“Mumble grumble,” says Spencer with a wink.
“No fighting,” says Dathan.“Quinn, sister, Natalie is harmless.A powerful witch, a powerful spell caster, and a powerful friend.”
Quinn’s teeth are bared, the tips of her fangs glint in the light of the room.She wiggles loose as Amy starts to lessen her hold on her.“I shall watch you.And I swear if I think you’ll do harm I will take you out just like I took out your alter.”
Natalie is sitting up, rubbing her lip.“I’m evil in your reality?”
Quinn nods.“Yes.You are also dead.I killed you to get here.”
“Wonderful,” says Natalie.She stands from her spot.Taking Jayden’s hand.“I’m not evil here.”
Jo watches with interest.What Natalie doesn’t know is that if her fate had been different, she would have been a power hungry woman.Her parents dead, an orphan, and she’d have wrecked havoc on the world.But that fate never transpired because Jon changed her fate.This is something that Laura, Nat’s mother, and Natalie has no idea about.
“I think,” begins Jo, “that we’ll bring Darci and Dathan up to speed, along with Natalie and Jayden.We’ll have to contract Eden at some point.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t want to be pried away from Gaius at this point, he’s a few weeks old,” says Darci.
“Gaius?” asks Quinn.“Who is Gaius?”
Silence drapes the room.Finally, Spencer in a cool voice that is eerily like her mother’s.“Eden and Logan Fillion’s son.”
Quinn feel the rip of emotions rifle through her, new thread, something she had not seen through the sphere, which is now destroyed.Eden has a child.A new immortal, as Spencer was a new immortal.Talent and longevity.The color bleeds from her face and she eases into one of the chairs.“How?”
“Logan Fillion is Jon Wheaton’s son, Shelby’s twin,” says Dathan.He kneels next to her.
“No….,” says Quinn.“Then Keziah has another venue for the blood that began this plague that he and Tirzah manufactured.A new line of immortal.”
“Quinn,” begins Dathan, “did Father want this plague?I know that from all accounts Tirzah began the plague, but did Father push him towards that goal.Towards….”
Quinn smiles ruefully.“Ah, so you’ve guessed, have you?”
“Guessed?” asks Abby.She sits on the floor and Spencer along with her, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.
Quinn takes a breath.“Tirzah experimented with eternal blood; he was the doctor so to speak.But, Iesous, my father, is the one who ordered the plague, the culling, that eradicated almost every human from the face of my realm.While Natasha began it, he wanted it.I think he may have manipulated Natasha.While he brought our world to a new level, he did it by leveling away much of the human population.”
“A modern day Hitler,” whispers Jo.
“Who is Hitler?” asks Quinn.
Amy grins.“You need some history books, a man who wiped out a large portion of the Jewish population in one of our World Wars.”
Quinn’s brow furrows.“Can we start looking today, Jo?I don’t want to stay here longer than I have too; I have no idea if I’ll even be able to go back.”
“Things will be in place by Monday.Today let’s get you acclimated to this timeline.”
Quinn shrugs.“Okay, that sounds fine to me.As long as we do start the hunt sooner rather than later.”
Abby and Spencer whisper to one another for a few moments.“Could you guys get out of here?We want to finish the – um, renovations, yeah, that’s it,” says Abby.
“I don’t want to pull energy from the wrong source, Nat, maybe you can show them Haven Island?” offers Spencer sweetly.
Natalie, rubbing her neck absently.“Yeah, let’s do that.I’m not driving in the same car as her though.” She points to Quinn.Who smiles, giving her another flash of her teeth.“Yeah, see, there!”
“Mom,” growls Jo threateningly.
“I’m teasing,” says Quinn.But her eyes narrow, telling Natalie that it’s certainly not a teasing gesture.
“Let the girls do their thing, Darci and Dathan are you coming with us?” asks Amy.
Dathan nods and Darci takes his hand.
“I can get home on my own,” says Abby.“I think I’ll stay with Spencer for a while, keep her company.She’ll drive me to the island later.”
“She can pass in her homework while she is at it,” reminds Natalie.
“Party pooper,” says Spencer.Jo glares at her.“I did my homework!”
“Oh, I was wondering what mother you took after, me or her,” says Amy.“Obviously her because I never did my homework.”
“No, you coasted by,” says Jo walking out of the beach house.
Amy slaps her ass.“You never minded when I coasted on by.”
“Oh good god,” says Spencer.“Get a room already!”
“We did get a room,” says Jo, turning and waving good-bye to Spencer, “it’s in there.”
Spencer groans dramatically and finally she and Abby are alone.Spencer smiles at Abby.“Thank god they are gone.”
Abby grins brightly.“Oh they aren’t that bad, are they?”
“You’ve met both of my moms, what do you think?” asks Spencer, throwing herself on the couch.Abby plops down next to Spencer.
“You’re not okay, are you?” asks Abby in a gentle tone.
Spencer smiles ruefully.She leans back into the cushions.
“It’s the whole dual soul mates things, isn’t it?”
“You like stating the obvious, don’tcha?” asks Spencer.“Yeah, it’s making me crazy.How’s Liam?”
Abby cocks an eyebrow.“You can’t avoid….”
“I’m not,” says Spencer softly.“But it’s always about me and Rylee and Sydney, how about you?How is Liam?”
“He’s good.Very sweet, very old fashioned, opens doors for me, always says please and thank you.His mom was pretty uber religious and that’s rubbed off on him, so we’ll see where it goes,” says Abby.
“You like him, though, don’t you?”
Abby blushes.“I do, he respects me and likes to hear what I think.I just worry about the whole bible thumping thing,” says Abby.“But I’m not proposing marriage, so…”
Spencer smiles brightly.She stands up and offers her hand to Abby.“Well, come on, let’s get this thing repaired, come on Picasso.”
Abby bounces up from her place.Spencer goes around the room opening the windows; the light breeze rustles the curtains.Spencer zeros in on the ocean and starts to gather up some power, her eyes begin to glow.
Abby feels the power coming into her from her hand where Spencer grips her fingers lightly.Abby reaches out and touches the wall, where her fingers touch a brilliant orange glow emanates there, pulsing.She directs it upwards towards where Amy has repaired the gaping hole somewhat.The glowing arch travels forward to repair the damage, knitting sheetrock and wood and glass as it washes over and fans out, as Spencer’s power increases so does the speed.It takes twenty minutes and the repairs are made.
“Nothing I can do about the paint.”
“I never understood that,” says Spencer.“The finer details are harder for you to do.”
“I haven’t set my mind to it yet, I guess.”Abby grins.“You going to drive me to the island?”
“You want me too?”
“How else am I going to get there?”
“Call Syd and she can port you?”
Abby snickers.“You just don’t want to be anywhere near Natalie, do you?Man, Spencer you gotta get over it!She’s shagging your aunt; it’s not a big deal.”
“It’s not about that it’s about the lying,” says Spencer, her eyes widening.
“Ah, just about that lying, right?Nothing else?”
Spencer rolls her eyes.“Come on, let me get my homework so I don’t have to email it all.”
“Yeah, that would be bad, having to sit around here in this wondrous beach house doing homework.I should clock a teacher,” says Abby.
“Then you’d be stuck on campus with your mom.”
“Scratching that punching a teacher thing.”
They go into Spencer’s room so she can print off what she needs.
s*t*a*r*s/J*A*D*E*S
“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what Quinn is doing here?” asks Mike as he gets into the car with Sydney and Shelby.
“Nope,” says the mother and daughter in perfect unison.
“That was even pitch perfect,” grumbles Mike, starting the SUV.It’s a company car, dark tinted windows, bullet proof glass, puncture resistant tires.“Neither of you want to know?”
He’s greeted with silence.
“I have the two least curious women in my life ever.”
“We are going out for a meal and if they need us, they can call,” says Shelby.She reaches over and runs her fingers over Mike’s neatly trimmed beard.“I do not need to know right now.I have the weekend with my daughter and my husband.Now, I’m starved.”
Mike grimaces but heads to the restaurant, vowing to enjoy the time with his family and not become stuck in the vicious cycle of the Kindred again.
s*t*a*r*s/J*A*D*E*S
Gaius coos in Logan’s arms while Eden gets dressed.“Quinn, a good Quinn!” she rambles as she fishes in her dresser for socks.
“Why is that hard to believe?” asks Logan.“Jo is her daughter, right, she turned out pretty good.The Quinn in this reality was bad but she is good?And from what Dathan said she’s pretty great.I cannot wait to meet her and pick her brain.”
Eden presses her forehead to his shoulder and she laughs.“Oh you are so sweet, more research for your book?”
Logan smiles, shifting his son from one arm to the other, Gaius’ arms wave and the baby giggles.“Yes,” says Logan, bouncing him up and down, “Rylee Scott gave me a bunch of stuff to read, she’s been keeping her own digital journals, so she let me read them.”
“That’s rather intimate,” says Eden.
Logan shrugs.“I don’t think she thinks so.”
Eden sighs.“Sydney Doyle will be here when?”
“In a little bit.I think we should all go,” says Logan.He stands, Gaius on his hip.Logan has taken to fatherhood better than Eden has taken to motherhood.When he’d been a full time writer he’d kept odd hours, just like a newborn.Now, he simply followed Gaius’ unruly schedule, writing during that downtime.
Eden reaches over and brushes the dark golden locks of hair from her son’s eyes.His blue eyes, sky blue eyes, liquid blue, all of those blues seem to swirl in his eyes.Her son presses into her touch.“Okay, we’ll all go.”
Logan brightens.He hands Gaius over and packs a bag, if what he does can be called packing, throwing things into a bag and then doing the same for their son.Eden watches him with smile.“Don’t forget diapers.”
Logan snaps his fingers.“Yes, diapers!And formula, and….”
“We can buy things in California.”
Logan blinks, straightening and says, “Wait, we are going to California?”
“Where else would we be going?” asks Eden.At times Logan can be interesting to live with.
“I figured that it was Seattle, from all accounts Rylee said that Quinn was from there, I just.Never mind, I’m going to stop assuming stuff and go with the flow, right baby boy?”
Gaius seems to rolls his blue eyes as Logan takes him from Eden, kissing Eden’s lips.They are interrupted by a knock at the door.“That would be Sydney,” says Logan.“My niece, how weird is that, I have a niece.”
He skips to the door to find both Shelby and Sydney there.“I had to haul the Mom along with me,” sighs Sydney dramatically. “Hi Uncle Logan and hello young Gaius.”Sydney reaches out and takes Gaius, who giggles and wraps his arms around Sydney’s neck.They walk into the loft and Eden pulls the small bags behind her.“You are getting heavy, G.”
“He is getting heavier, we have a tendency to carry him everywhere,” says Eden.She hugs Shelby and stands next to her.
“I carried her everywhere for almost two years, she could walk but I hated putting her down,” says Shelby.
“Really?” asks Sydney, putting her hands on her hips.“Is that true?”
Shelby nods.
“So, Uncle Logan, wait, I can call you that, right?”
Logan brightens.“Oh I’m all for that.”
“We should let you in on something before we leave,” says Shelby.She crosses her arms over her chest.“Eden, Keziah is going after hybrid blood.Spencer, Sydney, Jayden, and Gaius might well be his targets.But, Gaius is the only true child of an immortal.”
“He may want my child,” says Eden.“Then we do need to protect him.”
“The Island would be a better place to protect him than here, I’m betting,” says Sydney.She rubs the baby’s cheek.“And he’s pretty cute too.”
“We can put her on diaper changing duty,” says Logan in a stage whisper.
“Sure,” says Sydney.“When I’m not in classes or doing homework.”
Shelby pats Sydney’s shoulder.“Time to take us to Haven.”
“As you wish,” says Sydney, bowing and as she does, the brilliant yellow overtakes the room and they are gone.