~ The Lady Of Blades ~

by

Saje Williams

The nightmares were getting worse. For the third night in a row Jaz woke up in a cold sweat, biting back a scream. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and pulled herself into the corner again, wrapping herself up into a shivering bundle.

She glanced over at the floor in front of the door, dimly lit by the omni-directional light that suffused the room, dimmed during sleeping hours. An empty tray still sat there where she’d thrown it after her last meal.

At first she’d refused to eat, realizing almost instantly that the food was drugged, but it didn’t take long for them to show her how they dealt with her reluctance. They flooded the cell with gas that left her weak and nauseated then entered the room while she was woozy to deliver a thorough beating. Her body still ached despite her parahuman healing factor.

She had eaten the next meal they brought. It also left her feeling weak, but far less sick to her stomach than the gas.

Thus passed the first three days of her captivity.

Some couple hours later the light began to gradually increase, as if the room were filling with daylight. The door opened and she tensed, not sure whether to expect another meal tray or something else. This time it was something else.

The woman, the one the gorilla guy had called Hecate, stepped over the threshold and regarded her coolly. “I see you’re learning to adapt,” she said, in her saccharin voice.

Jaz said nothing, trying with all her will to incinerate the woman with the power of her glare. Of course it didn’t happen. She couldn’t concentrate enough to even access her magesight, so even the spells in her web were out of reach, much less any mana effects. She’d been effectively crippled and she still didn’t know what this was all about.

The woman’s small mouth tightened but she said nothing. She continued to watch Jaz for a few minutes in perfect silence. “Stubborn bitch, aren’t you? Well, we’ve had stubborn bitches here before,” she murmured. “We know how to deal with your kind.”

My kind? What the fuck is your problem, lady? But Jaz didn’t say it aloud. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, part of that was fear. She was afraid of what this woman might do, or have done to her at her command.

“What is your name?”

She hesitated, then sighed. “Jasmine.”

“Good. You’re still learning. Jasmine is a beautiful name. It suits you. I am Hecate, but you are to call me ‘Mistress.’ If any other appellation passes your lips, you will suffer the same punishment you underwent when you refused to eat.

“I will not tolerate rebellion or disobedience. If I--or one of my men--gives you an order, you are expected to obey it instantly. The repercussions if you do not will be... most unpleasant. Do you understand me?”

Jaz nodded numbly. “Why am I here?”

Hecate lifted a hand and pain shot through her body like she’d grabbed a live wire. She fell back against the wall, her head slamming the white marble with enough force to send a wave of blackness crashing over her. “You will address me as ‘Mistress,’ or you will not address me at all.”

Oh, Christ. That hurt. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. Maybe you won’t be as big a problem as I anticipated. That would be a good thing. I do not like punishing my slaves. It makes for sullen creatures that do not serve me with the vigor I expect. Now, to answer your question--you are here because you are special. A ‘parahuman,’ I believe your kind is called on Earth. I have need of your genes.

You will service those of my warriors I send to you until you become pregnant. I will accelerate the gestation and you will give birth, in approximately forty five days, to anywhere between two and six infants. They will be taken from you and put through an accelerated growth process that will bring them to adolescence within the span of one year. The males will be put into a warrior training program. The females will be kept as brood mares.”

She said all this so matter-of-factly that it took a few seconds for Jaz to process the horror of it. Brood mares? My God. It seemed obvious that she saw Jaz no differently than she did her future progeny. Little more than breeding stock. It was sick. And sickening. Jaz wanted to climb off the cot, crawl over to her, and vomit on her dainty black slippers.

Instead she just stared. “What, no vain protests? No screams of rage? No threats of violence against me or the warriors I send to you? I must admit, I’m rather disappointed. I expected more from you. Ah, but I suppose I should be grateful that you won’t prove to be a problem.

“Eat well. The food is specifically tailored to your metabolism to make you as healthy as possible during your pregnancies. You can expect your first visitor within the next day or so.”

She turned around and walked out. The door slid closed, but not before another meal tray was shoved inside.

Jaz clambered slowly off the bed and staggered to the tray, dropping to her knees and shoveling the filling but tasteless glop into her mouth with her fingers. Keep thinking I’m weak, bitch. I’ll take everything you can throw at me, I’ll survive, and someday I’ll slit your fucking throat. You won’t even know it’s coming until I sink my claws into you.

Mark my words, bitch.

Had Hecate been able to see the murderous glare Jaz laid upon the image in her mind’s eye, she might’ve reconsidered her initial assessment. But the space directly in front of the door was the only portion of the cell not watched via remote camera, so the look in her eye went unnoticed.

~ * ~

“You have to do something about him,” growled Nemesis Breed, Tacoma’s Police Chief. The tall blonde woman glared down at Athena with real anger showing in her gunmetal gray eyes. “He’s gone fucking berserk.”

“What do you want me to do, Nemesis?” Athena returned her best friend’s glare in equal measure. “He’s goddam indestructible, can teleport or go ethereal at will, and is immune to just about any sort of magic we can throw at him. What the fuck to you suggest?”

“Find Jasmine Tashae!” the Police Chief snapped. “Isn’t it goddam obvious?”

“You think we haven’t tried? It’s been a week and we’ve done everything in our power. He can’t find her and Loki, Thoth, and Chaz are completely mystified. It’s obvious she’s been taken into another universe, but there are literally thousands--if not millions--of universes to choose from. We wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”

“That damn imp is tearing our city apart. He’s out of control. He’s gone crazy with super glue. He glued two of my patrol officers together yesterday. Imagine two tough macho cops walking into the ER at Tacoma General with their hands glued together, looking like a couple of lovebirds.”

Athena couldn’t help herself. A snicker escaped her lips. “That sounds pretty minor.”

“It’s actually kinda amusing, considering those two are the most homophobic cops we have on the force right now. But still... we can’t let him get away with this sort of thing. He’s running amuck.”

Athena nodded. “I’m doing everything I can to find her--but it’s a mystery. And, in checking around, she’s not the only parahuman who has disappeared recently. It’s a bit hard to track them--a lot harder than tracking metas, for example, but we’ve been able to zero in on a handful of cases where people we believe to be paras have disappeared.”

“You’re kidding me.”

Athena shook her head. “Nope. Wish I was. Someone’s systematically kidnapping paras and--apparently--taking them out of this universe. We don’t know why, or where.”

“Anything else they have in common?”

“They’re all women.”

Breed flinched. “Rachel Flynn?”

“We’ve already warned her. And now I’m warning you. Both of you could be on the target list.”

“Shit. Does Raven know?” As Rachel Flynn’s son, the vampiric Commander of the PAC’s Preternatural Action Response Division, he had a right to know his mother was might be in danger. Neither woman could have said how much contact he’d had with his mother since he’d resurfaced.

“He knows. If he’s going to do anything about it...” She let her voice trail off and shrugged. “Not that there’s much he can do, unless he plans to send an ops team down to keep an eye on her.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll love that.”

“No doubt,” Athena replied dryly. “What I’m telling you only maybe a dozen people already know. If we could afford the manpower we’d put someone on every para out there--but only a ’thrope would be any use at all. And, as you know, we’ve only got about thirty five of them in service.”

“You could always make more,” Breed suggested.

“I’m going to assume that was a poorly thought-out joke.” Athena shifted in her chair, which squeaked in protest. “We can only identify a few paras. You’re one of them. We can put someone on you--I’ll be checking with Raven to see if he is going to send someone down to watch over his mother.”

“I don’t need a nursemaid,” the city’s top cop hissed through clenched teeth.

“Never said you did. But you do need someone to watch your back--someone capable of dealing with supernormal attacks. Any supernormal attack.”