Kilo-61 (Damned of the 2/19th Book 19)- Ongoing

Two Dollars

Sally Port Three - Exterior Area
Site Lima-One-Nine-Echo-Three
Bighorn National Forest
Central Wyoming
United States of America
7 April, 2002
1430 Hours

Long sharply pointed nails, almost iridescent in color, with a long curved thorn extending out from under it, tipped the long spidery fingers of the alabaster hand that cupped my chest. The other hand reached down and cupped my crotch. I could feel small breasts pressed against the middle of my back,feel a wiry body pressed against my back, one leg coming around so she could rub her calf across my thighs.

"Ant," She breathed.

Butterflies took flight in a cloud from the middle of the ring of mushrooms. A cloud of dragonflies erupted from one of the bushes that had been small and puny and was now large, lush, heavily covered in ripe berries.

"How I have missed the three of you. Why is the Texan and the kelly not here?" Her voice was low, sultry, and covered me in goosebumps.

"Years have passed since I released you," I told her.

"For you, perhaps, for me it has been nothing but a few turning seasons," She said. She let go of me, untwining her leg from around my waist, and moved around in front of me.

She was exactly the same as she had been. Vulpine, predatory face, cupid's bow mouth, sharp triangular teeth, overly long limbs, her forearms and calves wrapped in flowered and leaved vines. Haunting beautiful, if you liked your girls ancient forest predators.

"You have aged, Ant," She told me, squinting. "Gray in your hair, I can smell growing children on you, and that kelly that has born your children. You still smell of secrets and lies, and they are sweet to me." She sighed. "I can still sense that cold dark place still is touching you, deep inside."

"You are as beautiful and fearsome as ever," I told her. She smiled again and sighed in pleasure. "The secret places you dwell in agree with you."

"You did not come here for small talk, Ant, I know you better than that."

I nodded. "I know that you like to lurk in my shadow. That you were here, in this place, dwelling beyond the sight of mortal men like me," I told her. I slowly looked around, then focused my attention back on her.

...you must never run from an immortal, it attracts their attention. Do not show fear in front of an immortal either...

The line from the Last Unicorn shot through my head. Strangely good advice for a children's book.

"There is a... complication, that you deserve to know about," I told her.

This was going to be sticky, ugly.

"I can smell the darkness, the secrets, around this, how did you say, complication?" She smiled.

This was the moment of truth. Either she would become enraged, kill and devour me on the spot, or she would fill with cold fury and retreat into the secret places in these old woods. It was a coin toss either way.

I took a deep breath, "There are men, who are using science," she hissed at that, "to create a poor copy of my father..."

"Tiernan," a crow cawed.

"They are in suits, may not have any smell, and have never felt the kiss of the sun. They will be armed, and other men will be guiding them to tell them to kill me," I told her. "These copies have never been beneath the heart of a woman, never felt or heard their mother's heartbeat. They have been grown in science and secret."

Matron Tauth du Aine screamed at that. A long, primal, drawn out sound of complete and utter inhuman rage. Birds took flight, the ravens cawing, and birds hidden in the bushes screamed, their rage echoing Matron Aine's. The humming of the insects took on a malevolent tone, the rusting in the ferns and bushes felt like larger creatures moving.