....and now, back to PENGUIN$

**************************************

"Bastards!" Anita screamed and fought with all her might against the
creatures holding her. "I'll kill you all, every last one of you!"

"Take her!" Lance yelled.

Arms snaked even tighter around her and held her with the strength of steel.
Teeth sunk into her shoulder and neck and she felt the horrible rubbery
wetness of the lips that sealed over the wounds. The vampires fed swiftly.
There were no wolves to come to her rescue; no sociopathic assassins, no
sidekicks, no vampires other than the ones that were stealing her life.
Desperately she reached out with invisible hands, searching for anything,
living or dead, that would spark the wild storm of power that always seemed
to come to her aid at her most desperate moments in the past.

Nothing happened. She was still dying; still powerless. The realization of
that rocked her to the very core of her being.

Soon Anita grew too weak to continue struggling and as her body stilled, her
eyes closed. The sounds around her become tinny and distant. Against her
will, she began to retreat into her mind, feeling as if she was leaving her
body behind in the underground cavern. Darkness surrounded her and she felt
herself first falling swiftly and then slowly floating downwards. A warm
breeze caressed her skin, her muscles relaxed, her mind settled. There was
no pain here, no danger. Just peace, safety and...

....something jostling her awake.

She opened her eyes and found herself lying on soft white sand, and staring
up at a night sky littered with glittering stars. Slowly, carefully, she
forced herself to sit up and look about her, feeling confused and
disoriented. There was a wide expanse of ocean in front of her and the edge
of a forest some distance behind her.

"What is this?" She asked softly at first, her voice tense. Then she started
shouting. "I AM NOT DEAD! NOT ME! NOT YET! NOT EVER!"

But even as she angrily pushed herself to her feet, she realized that she'd
been here before, back during the ordeal in the penthouse. There was
something very important about this place and somehow she knew that time was
short. If she hesitated, this place would become her prison. An eerie sense
of calm settled on her and her anger disappeared as swiftly as it had come
on. Following her instincts, she began to investigate.

At the waters edge a dark, hooded figure stood waiting for her. Anita
slogged through the sand towards it. When she reached it, she opened her
mouth to demand answers but stopped as the figure drew back it's hood
revealing billowing black curly hair and a pale lovely face.

"Mother?" Anita whispered. She gasped back a sob, nearly stumbling onto the
sand below.

The figure smiled sadly. It reached a hand towards her face, one finger
outstretched towards the tear that Anita could feel running down her cheek.
But before her mother could touch her, she paused and pulled her hand away.
A ripple of frustration crossed the older woman's serene expression, and her
dark, glittering eyes met Anita's.

"We haven't got much time, Niña. The Empress must die," she said, her voice
soft and melodious. "If she succeeds, mankind will face a greater threat
than anything it has ever known. You have the chance to stop her. This place
you see around you is the vortex of your power. There is no time to explain.
You will know what to do when the time comes. The Empress is very powerful,
Niña, but in this place you can meet her on equal standing. Let your mind be
the battle ground. To begin, you must tell the vampires your name. They will
pay for their crimes later. Right now consider them yours to command."

"Mine to command? How?" Anita breathed. "Mother, they're killing me. I'm
dying."

The figure smiled. "Your time has not yet come, Niña. Never forget that I am
always with you."

"Mother!" Anita said. "You haven't told me how to do any of this! You
haven't told me..."

"Remember," said the figure, and she melted into the darkness and
disappeared.

"Don't leave me again!" Anita screamed now, but there was no response other
than the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. A deep, heavy sob
racked her body. "It's so unfair," she said helplessly into the wind.

Something nudged her foot. Sniffing back tears, Anita looked down and found
a bottle with a message inside. She sighed and stooped forward to pick it
up.

As she uncorked the bottle, the familiar scent of her mother's perfume
floated out. She held the bottle to her nose and inhaled deeply before
fishing the sheet of rolled up parchment out and unrolling it. Letters in an
ancient script glowed on the page, bathing her face in blue-white light.

Anita read the words silently at first and then shut her eyes and shivered,
smiling as she did.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I think I understand."

Still smiling, Anita looked up at the ocean and spoke the words out loud,
and immediately....

...her eyes snapped open and she returned to consciousness, the sound of the
strange words still ringing in her ears. The lips and teeth of the vampires
had pulled away from her. They stood silently, their bodies not moving, but
their eyes darted wildly in their sockets as if trapped inside their skulls.

Anita took a deep breath. She felt the power invoked by the words send tiny,
shocks across her skin, lending temporary strength to her damaged, weakened
body. Bringing a hand to her neck she felt the wounds there healing rapidly.

She made a small movement with her hands and in response the vampires parted
allowing her to step free of the circle of death.

Seeing Byron's body she moved to where he lay and bent over him to close his
sightless eyes. She spied her jacket on the ground nearby, and pulled it on
before turning to face Lance, who stood watching her with apprehension.

"I should kill you all for what has happened here," she said. "But I won't
because I have a use for you. I am Anita Blake."

"What have you done?" Lance replied in a near whisper.

Callidus gazed at the immobilized vampires with wide eyes and nodded as his
eyes shifted to her face. "I had no idea, but after seeing what you've done
here, there is no doubt in my mind. I have heard many, many tales of your
power. Now I see that they were not tales, but truths. No one else could
have done this with just the simple speaking of words." He fell on his knees
before Anita. "Mistress, I am yours to command. How can we make amends for
our hideous indiscretion?"

"Please don't kill us, Mistress!" Lucifer begged as he joined his brother on
the stone floor. "We had no idea. You didn't tell us who you were. We saw
the penguin and thought that you were..."

"What is this?" Lance interrupted loudly, his voice heavy with amazement and
disgust. He walked slowly around his vampires, waving a hand before their
bloodstained faces. "Is this a surprise inspection or something? Maybe you
want to see if we're all that we say we are? I was talking to Jean-Claude
just last night on the phone. He didn't mention that he was sending his
human servant up to visit. He's not thinking of backing out is he?"

Anita narrowed her eyes, trying not to let the sudden jolt of shock that had
just run through her show. The last thing she had expected was to hear the
name of her dead lover coming from Lance's lips. "You spoke with him on the
phone? Last night?" The question came out as a whisper.

Somehow, she wasn't as surprised as she should have been. In fact, she'd
suspected the truth since the moment she'd heard Jean-Claude's voice in her
mind in the tunnels. It all made sense. He and Richard had not been killed.
They were alive, but for some reason keeping it a secret. A mixed wave of
happiness and guilt swept over her so hard that she was forced to steady
herself. She pushed the emotions aside.

Lance looked puzzled and suspicious. "Maybe he doesn't want you to worry
your extremely powerful little head about business. I've been thinking of
selling the control of these lands to him. He's got the money and the power
to really push on the legal citizen thing. It's a cool idea. We'd be under
his protection, but run our own affairs."

"Of course I was aware of this," Anita snapped, "but not about the homeless
people in the larder. Explain, Lance." She mentally crossed her fingers
against the lie that had spilled from her lips.

Lance cringed. "You wouldn't have had to see the larder if you'd told us who
you were in the first place. It's been hard for us. Your master has been
telling us to cooperate with the government authorities. Between the mayor
and the penguins it's been real slim pickings."

"It has been difficult, Mistress," Callidus agreed tersely. "We must feed to
exist. The mayor has assigned a special police force to keep us apart from
the human community. She has even made it illegal for those humans who do
seek us out to allow themselves to be fed upon. It is considered a crime
akin to prostitution. She has agreed to let us exist in this city only so
long as we do her bidding. Reducing the number of homeless on the streets
was an election promise that we've been ordered to help her keep in return
for her future support of the new laws."

Shaken by the revelation that the men she loved were still alive, Anita made
her way to Lance's recliner-throne. She stared hard at Victoria who sat in
the chair, frozen by the mixture of fear and rage that was evident on her
face. The blonde woman held Norman out to her and then quickly ran from the
room.

The petite necromancer cuddled Norman against her before settling herself in
the vacated chair, carefully deciding her next move. "What would Jean-Claude
want with these filthy, cramped underground caverns?" She asked.

"The upper caverns are not like this, Mistress," Lucifer said. "When the
penguins came we lost everything, including most of our human servants."

"I had hoped that Jean-Claude would not find out," Lance grumbled. "We
planned to kill the Empress and take back our lands without his knowledge.
He's our last hope."

"No, boys," Anita said grimly. "I'm your last hope. You see, I want the
Empress dead as much as you do."

"You do?" Lucifer, said. "You mean you'll help us?"

"Lucifer hush," Callidus said.

"No, he's right," Anita said. "I'll help you get your lands back. You've
obviously failed in your attempts and Jean-Claude's future investment must
be protected. So far, Lance, all I've seen from you is posturing and
bickering. This isn't going to look good on my report. In fact, I may just
recommend that he recognize Callidus as the Master of this city."

Lance's face became a twisted mask of hatred. "Now you're stepping over the
line, girl," he growled.

"That's not what I wanna hear from you!" Anita yelled. "If Jean-Claude knew
how you feed he'd drop you all like a hot rock. No money, no backing, no
protection from the council."

"But...but....," the master vampire stuttered.

Anita held her ground, examining her nails casually. "If you want to remain
leader I suggest you do exactly as I say." She looked up to meet his eyes.
"Is that understood?"

"What do you want of me?" Lance asked miserably.

"First of all, from now on you're only gonna feed on people who give you
permission to do so of their own free will!" She snapped, trying not to
think too much about what she had just said. "I want those people out of the
larder now!"

"But we've explained the Mayor's order to you!" Lance whined. "We can only
feed on one class of human, and they're homeless, not stupid!"

"You're old, Lance," Anita said, her voice deceptively calm. "I can feel it.
I'm guessing you're smarter than you act too. Put a little effort into it."

Lance grunted and turned away, rage emanating off him in waves.

Callidus looked cautiously amused. He was staring at Anita, a smile playing
on his lips. "We must move fast if we are going to do this at all," he said.
"Our remaining humans tell us that above ground the Cat Army has been
battling the Penguins after they were forced out of hiding. The Empress has
dispatched all of her troops. She is as unguarded as she will ever be. The
time to strike is now."

"A battle? Cat Army?" Anita tried to make sense of his words. "Which side is
winning?" A sick feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. People had
been dying while she played political games with the undead.

"No one, yet," Lance tossed over his shoulder, his voice bitter. "but
there's always hope, and killing the Empress will throw the little tuxedoed
terrors into confusion. The war would be over, and we'd finally be rid of
them once and for all."

"Then let's stop procrastinating and do it!" Anita said. "Get an attack
party together and let's pay the Empress a visit."

Lance stood and stared at her, then he nodded. "You're right, Mayor or no
Mayor this is still our home and no human blackmail or false promises are
going to stop us from protecting it. We may not have rights, but we have
pride. I just wish this had happened at dusk instead of dawn. I'm not at my
full strength now and most of my people are in their coffins."

"We can't wait," Anita said. "It has to be now."

Lance nodded. "But, Mistress?" He asked.

Anita raised her eyebrows in silent question.

"I can't put an attack party together because you've foo-ed my vampires.
Perhaps you could...."

Anita rose regally from the recliner and crooked a finger in Lance 's
direction. Pursing his lips, the Master of Toronto walked to stand at the
base of his own throne.

The petite necromancer leaned forward until her lips were close to his ear.

"Listen up and listen good, Lance," she said. "I'm making a deal with you
here, but I don't like it. If I find out that the humans weren't released
from the larder when this is over, I'm not only going to remove you from
power but I'll turn you into a zombie; trap you inside your own body like I
did your vampires. Then I'm gonna kill you, slowly; painfully. After what I
saw in that larder I know I'm going to like hurting you, Lance. It's going
to feel really, really good."

"Yes Mistress," he swallowed, beads of blood sweat appearing on his
forehead.

"Good boy," Anita smiled and patted his face hard. "Because what I've done
to those vampires isn't totally reversible. They will always be mine, and
they'll be my eyes and ears whether they want to or not. If you ever disobey
me or Jean-Claude or any of our representatives again, there'll be no money,
no backing, no protection from the council. Just because we aren't around,
doesn't mean we won't be watching you. Don't screw up, Lance."

With that said, and no reply from Lance necessary, she straightened and
spoke the remaining words she'd read on the scroll, letting her voice ring
out through the cavern.

********************************

Valeria stepped off the last rung of the metal ladder she was climbing down
and dropped the remaining few feet to the floor of the subway tunnel,
landing in a puddle of muddy water.

"Yeeuck," she muttered.

"Hey! I warned you!" Christi chided.

"You ladies okay down there?" Fred's voice carried down to them from street
level above.

Valeria craned her neck to look up, squinting into the glare of daylight at
the top of the ladder. Fred stood on the outside, wind buffeting the loose
folds of his protection suit. He held the edge of the sidewalk grate in one
hand and a gun in the other.

"We're fine," Valeria yelled up. "Shut the grate and get the hell out of
here, Fred."

"I'm getting reports over the radio from Will!" Fred yelled, "More birds
just came out of the entrance to Union Station. Lots of them. If there are
any more we're dead."

"We hear you Fred, now get going." Valeria replied.

"Good luck, ladies." Fred said. The subway grate clanged as he dropped it,
cutting off the stream of daylight, leaving only the pale illumination of
their flashlights.

"Okay, let's get busy," Chris said. She unhooked a set of laminated map
cards on a ring from her utility belt and flipped to one in particular.
Christi and Valeria gathered around her. "This is how we're gonna play it,"
she said, "according to Jim's data, the emissions are coming from a source
roughly about six stories below and to the east of us. The room's not
technically part of the subway tunnel, or the Cathedral Tower parking
garage. "

"So how do we get to it?" Valeria asked.

"There's an access door somewhere..." Chris paused and pointed on the map,
"...around here. We may have to search around for it, but it'll take us into
the old system of tunnels."

"Did you know that those old tunnels were down there?" Christi asked
Valeria.

"Yep," Valeria nodded. "Goes back to my days as a consultant for the Metro
Police. That's Tempest territory."

"Tempest? Some kind of gang?" Christi asked.

"Um, yeah," Valeria nodded. "But not really a gang. A Kiss."

"Vampires," Christi said, pursing her lips into a fine line.

"You got it," Valeria nodded looking at the map in Chris' hand. "We'll be
walking right into their lands to get to the Empress. They call the area
Sanctuary just like the club the master owns. If I recall correctly, that
room that the head Bird is in is a throne room for the Master. I'm sure
that's not making them happy. It looks like the birds have thrown the fanged
ones off their turf. We'll know the area by the winged skeleton graffiti all
over the place."

Christi shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine, we know where she is.
What I want to know, is what we're gonna do when we get there."

"That's where this comes in." Chris slid a long object, wrapped in oilcloth
from a leather sheath on her back.  She put it on the floor and began to
unwrap it.

Lying on the filthy cloth was a staff, roughly five feet in length made of
an iridescent, metallic material on which colors swirled and changed
constantly. It was covered in strange lines and symbols that were etched
directly onto the object.

"What the heck is that?" Valeria asked.

"Those are penguin pictograms," Christi murmured, bending down to examine it
more closely. She looked up at Chris, amazement in her eyes. "Where did you
get this?"

"Sigmund's lair, in St.Louis." Chris smiled. "After his death, it was
deserted. If our sources are correct, he'd had a falling out with the
Empress some years ago. I think he was saving this staff for just the right
moment."

"Just the right moment for what?" Valeria asked.

"Revenge," Chris said. "Christi, can you read any of the inscriptions?"

"Yeah," Christi hunkered down beside the object. "I'm doing that right now.
This is amazing! See this part here? Loosely translated, it describes the
Empress as a single, immortal consciousness that is reborn once every
thousand years."

"Reborn?" Valeria echoed.

"Hang on, I'm reading," Christi said. After a moment, she looked up at the
two women beside her.  "The word 'reborn' isn't exactly the best
translation, but I can't come up with a better word in english. Plainly put,
this says that the Empress lays a special egg every thousand years. Inside
the egg is her new body. When the egg hatches, she transfers her
consciousness into the new body and her old body dies as soon as she's free
of it."

"Then what?" Valeria asked.

"Well, if there's nothing better around she eats her old body." Christi
said, grinning.

"Ew, gross." Valeria's face twisted in disgust. "But that doesn't explain
what the staff is for."

Christi picked up the staff and turned it in her hands, making the colors
swirl faster. "Sometimes," she said, continuing to read, "when the egg
hatches, it's just a regular penguin, not Empress material. In that case, a
priest or trusted attendant would have to perform the equivalent of the
grunt reproduction ceremony on the newly hatched body." She examined the
staff again and found a raised spot on it. "Here it is. This is the trigger.
It releases a shot of.... something that I don't understand and can't
translate. The body becomes a gazillion little bodies and the Empress
searches on instinct to point out which one is her new body so she can
transfer her consciousness. Once the transferral is made, the other little
bodies die. They were nothing but shells to begin with."

"Great!" Valeria slapped her forehead. "What are we, penguin hunters or
midwives?! What the hell has all this got to do with killing the Empress to
end this war?"

"I don't get it either," Christi said. "This is a valuable artifact.
Someday, when this war is over we can use it as proof of the existence of
alien life on Earth, but in the mean time...."

Chris ripped open the Velcro flap on one of the myriad of pockets that
covered her utility vest. She pulled out a crisply folded piece of paper and
handed it to Christi. "Here," she said. "This is a photocopy of something we
found when we raided Sigmund's lair. If you're wondering, that's written in
his own handwriting. It seems he was quite the scholar."

Christi pulled the paper close to her face, her lips moving as she read the
complicated script. When she finished, she looked up and blinked blindly,
then patted the pockets of her own utility vest, eventually finding an old
leather-bound notebook from which hung a small, chewed up pencil on a
string. She flipped through the pages, reading intently and then checked the
photocopy again."

"It's the 25th of May today, right?" She asked.

Valeria narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. Why?"

"Just a sec," Christi said. She checked her watch. Then she rested the
notebook on her knee, picked up the pencil and started performing some odd
calculations as Valeria watched. Finally, the penguin expert gave the staff
one last long look and then glanced up at Chris, her eyes widening.

"We have to go now," she said. "Right now, dammit."

"I thought so," Chris said smugly.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Valeria begged.

Christi had already put the book away and was stooping over the equipment
they'd dropped into the tunnel ahead of them. She spoke as she pulled on her
gear. "According to this, that new body should be hatching any time now.
Sigmund was planning to kill the Empress. It looks like he had a detailed
knowledge of penguin physiology. Apparently, immediately after the new body
is born, shooting it with the staff will cause it to divide into a bunch of
tiny bodies regardless if it is an Empress body or not. The only difference
is, if it is an Empress body to start with, we end up with a whole herd of
little Empresses."

"We don't want a herd of little Empresses. Do We?" Valeria said."You do
realize how powerful she is."

"Remember the birth of Anita's purple penguins back at the factory?" Christi
replied. "Right after Winston shot the parent body and it divided, they were
weak. It took them a while to form and then orient themselves. They needed
to get to somewhere cool. The same thing will happen once the shot is fired
from this staff. This time since we know what's going to happen, we'll be
ready."

Valeria glanced down at the equipment. "That's why you insisted on bringing
the flame throwers, Chris," she laughed. "This is gonna be great!"

"Looks like we're fixin' ta have ourselves a barbecue," Chris said grinning
wickedly.

***************************************
...Continued in  Issue 22  of PENGUIN$

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