Don't Call Me Kitten! (14 page)

The kitchen
was large and well stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts,
grains and something that looked like yoghurt but smelled
distinctly of coconut. Unsure of the dubious whitish looking
substance she replaced the lid and put it back in the fridge.
Someone might enlighten her later. She was grateful that they had
prepared for her arrival, even if their idea of what constituted
food left a little to be desired. About now a good borsch of
cabbage, beetroot, potatoes and meat would help to settle her jet
lagged stomach.

Wandering
briefly upstairs she found the linen on the bed smelling freshly
laundered. The bedroom window looked out onto an wild and unkempt
garden at the back. She’d have to fix that. She had a geneticist’s
fondness for sweet peas. They were not only beautiful but quick to
grow. So easy to do experiments with.

Downstairs
there was a cellar that seemed to have been used for some arcane
arts. The bare floor was marked out with a pentagram enclosed in a
circle, marked out using different coloured timbers that had been
inlaid into the floor. A multitude of candles had obviously been
used as the room’s main form of lighting. There didn’t seem to be a
bad vibe though and she knew her partially psychic sister would
never have ever let her stay here if there was.

Finally, it
was her love of books that took her back upstairs to the large
library she'd seen before, next to the main bedroom. The books
covered three walls of the large room. Their topics seemed to cover
everything from ancient languages, mythologies, esoterica, various
healing techniques, meditation practices and a small selection of
new-age books the library’s owner must have thought worthwhile
enough to include. In the middle of the room was a large sturdily
built coffee table. It looked to be of Chinese design and was
ornately carved, its dark timbers suggesting walnut or maybe even
expensive ebony had been used in its construction. The room had
that earthy relaxing smell that only old, much loved books could
bring. There was a tantalizing scent of something else as well,
maybe sandalwood. She doubted she’d read any of the library’s
contents, not much science in this lot, but she would enjoy coming
here to read her favorite modern Ukrainian and Russian sci-fi
authors as well as scouring through her tomes on genetics. There
was a power point on the one wall that wasn’t covered with books.
She’d plug her laptop in there and set up her wireless modem. The
wall needed something though, a wall hanging or a print. Maybe
after she’d worked a bit for her new boss she’d put aside a few
pennies and get an inexpensive reproduction print of one of German
expressionist painter Franz Marc’s colorful animal paintings she so
loved.

Helena stayed
in the library for a while, musing, then decided it was time for
her daily workout. On her drive into the town she had seen trails
leading into the woods. She’d go exploring. George had told her the
town had a kind of perimeter defence system. He was a bit vague on
how it worked but she guessed whatever it was would be as
unconventional as everything else in the town. The fact remained no
one was getting at her here. She put on her runners and set the
timer on the GPS sports watch Petrov had given her as a retirement
bonus. She had to laugh at that, still shaking her head in
amazement that Petrov would give her anything for free. She guessed
he was happy with the money making proposition she had
suggested.

The forest
fascinated her. It was so different to the few dark broadleaf and
conifer forests she’d been to back home. No smell of fungi and
rotting leaves here, not this end of the year anyway. Instead her
lungs were greeted with fresh clean eucalyptus scented air. Bird
calls unlike anything she’d heard before tantalized her ears. The
light was different too. The leaves on the trees seemed sparse by
comparison with those she knew. Dappled light played the ground.
There were fairies here too. She watched them dart about the
blossoms in the trees, fifty to a hundred feet above her head. They
had to be some of the world's tallest flowering plants. Duly
entranced she didn’t see the danger. The sharp sting at her ankle
drawing her attention downward. A large black shape slithering away
in the undergrowth had her catching her breath. Surely not. She
bent down to examine her ankle and found two faint marks, just
above her sports socks. Shit! He brain raced through the little she
knew of Australia’s venomous creatures. She knew there were no
Taipans this far South. More likely a Tiger snake. The length and
size of the one she’d seen moving away in the scrub lived up to
what she’d heard. They were rumoured to have inefficient fangs. If
she’d been been wearing long socks and running pants little might
have gotten through. Direct into her flesh though, some of the
deadliest snake poison in the world was already taking its hold.
She looked around frantically, wishing now that she’d brought her
phone with her. Her watch said it was about 5 kilometers back to
town and walking that distance, if she made it, would only hasten
the venom’s course through her system. She knew tourniquets were no
longer advised. Neither was excising the wound. She had nothing she
could use as a compression bandage, let alone one that would go
from ankle to groin. Keep the leg below the heart, keep still, she
could do that. Panic would only make it worse, she didn’t need
adrenalin in her system right now. Bit of a hard call though when
her own mortality was staring her in her face. She needed to calm
and slow her pulse rate. Looking around she realized the track
she’d been running followed a small creek. No doubt the water in
these parts would be cold. She shivered at the thought but if she
got herself in it maybe she could slow her metabolism and hope like
hell someone would come for her. Her sister was a little psychic.
As a scientist she’d never had much time for that stuff. Maybe
could try and focus on her sister and send a message. She had
nothing to lose.

As calmly as
possible she walked the twenty feet to the water’s edge and found a
deeper hole to submerge the bulk of her body in. She found a
sloping rock ledge to lean against. If she lost consciousness maybe
she wouldn’t drown. The water was bloody cold but hypothermia was
the least of her problems right now, a little bit of hypothermia
might actually help slow the neurotoxins. True she was no doctor
but her training in genetics meant that she’d covered many of the
same subjects at university. She knew her odds weren’t good but she
also knew there were miraculous stories. She’d pin her hopes on the
later. She just had to hope that she didn’t stop breathing, which
was on the cards.

She was
starting to feel localized tingling and numbness at the bite site
and in her neck. How the hell were those two related. She wiped the
sweat away that was beading on her brow. Breathing was getting
increasingly difficult.

Closing her
eyes to calm her thoughts and let her body slow she reached for the
wooden pendant at her throat and sent out as loud and clear mental
plea for HELP, hoping that somewhere in the world Eadaoin could
hear her. Supposedly time and space meant little in the faery
realm, at least that was what Eadaoin had said. She hoped that was
true. She let her mind drift and as best she could she made her
peace. She hadn’t had a long life but at least she’d dealt with the
beast, gotten her sister out and followed her vocation. All in all
it hadn’t been a bad life. Not that she was ready to die yet. She
focused on her breathing and commanded her lungs to keep working.
Slowly her vision blurred and darkness pulled her under.

Melissa sat on
the floor beside Adin. She had him on a bunny rug in the middle of
the lounge room floor. Playing at swinging a small pendulum,
encouraging him to reach for it. “Well done.” She lavished praise
on him as he reached a little further. He was only a few months old
but his hand-eye co-ordination was already astonishingly good. Doc
had confirmed that the little boy was progressing rapidly, well
past what was normal for a human. Adin had been the last of the
humans in the town to take the retrovirus. Jnarn had wanted to be
very sure that the baby wouldn’t suffer any ill effects. In the end
it had gone smoothly. Jnarn by then had perfected a single dose
inhaler that sent the virus straight to the lungs without the side
effects of seizures that had come from the injections most of the
townsfolk had suffered. Being a baby had been an advantage too. The
telomeres in his genes hadn't had much time to shorten. He was
healthy. There was little for the repaired DNA strand to fix,
except for replacing the tiny bit of miscoding that had doomed not
only humans but most life on the planet to unnaturally short lives.
Melissa had worried about the repercussions of having so many life
forms living longer. Wouldn't that overpopulate the planet? Simon
had reassured them that balance would be restored by beings
spiritually evolving to other dimensions at about the same rate as
new ones were born. Longevity hadn't been the only thing affected
by the genetic glitch. Apparently it had bestowed a sense of
separateness that had led to the 'us and them' competition that
caused most of the grief on the planet. If they could safely spread
the cure to the rest of the planet not only would individuals lead
happier, healthier lives ending in ascension to a higher plane but
all the planet's inhabitants would be more inclined to work
together to solve the massive problems caused by the Din's
greed.

A tickle in
her spine had her spinning her head around. They were being watched
by the most radiant androgynous winged being she could have
imagined. Simon had said she might start seeing other dimensional
beings like ghosts and spirits, since she'd survived death and come
back to tell the tale. “Um hello.”

“Hello
Melissa.” The being didn't so much as move closer as shimmered out
of existence in one place and then shimmered back into existence
next to Melissa. It held out its hand in greeting. “My name is
Eadaoin. I need your help.”

“Um, sure but
why me. Simon's the one you probably want.”

“Simon and his
mates are not in this dimension at the moment. They’ll have to
re-descend. Simon sent me to you. In the meantime I need you to
gather your town's healers and bring them to Helena. She's been
bitten. A tiger snake I think you call them.

“Shit. Anya's
sister? She only just arrived. Where is she?”

“Out along the
old cart track that runs beside a stream. She's lying in the
stream. She's unconscious and paralyzed, her lungs are failing.
I've sent for her mate as well. He will want to be by her side.” A
tear streamed down the beings cheek. “Hurry. I don't wish to lose
her. She is a good friend.”

Melissa had
little time to wonder what had happened to Simon and co. She closed
her eyes and connected with Sally, Anya and Doc. Message sent she
gathered Adin into her arms then held out her spare hand. “Let's
go.”

Anya was just
closing up the town’s Veterinary practice for the day when an image
slammed into her brain. Panicking she dropped everything and
teleported to the place Melissa had sent her.

Helena had
never felt so rested, so free of the weight of regret and anger
that usually weighed her down. She didn’t know how she’d gotten
here, wherever here was. This version of the world was even more
luminous than the one she normally saw with her fairy enhanced
vision. Shouldn’t she be dying right about now? Seeing beckoning
light, kindred souls, visions of her past life and all that? Maybe
she was dreaming but it all seemed pretty vivid. She was sitting on
a rocky embankment looking down into a wooded valley below.
Reaching out she touched the rock with her hand.
Yup, real!
Hmm!

High over head
her condor soared. She knew it was her condor. She felt its call in
her heart. They were linked somehow. As she let her vision rest on
the vastness of the brilliant topaz blue sky above she watched as
the condor drifted in slow spirals, travelling the wind eddies
downwards. It came to land not more than a few feet away from her.
Cocking its head to the side it targeted its concerned inquisitive
look right at her and sounded a heart tearing plaintive cry. It was
worried for her.

“It’s alright
my winged friend. I don’t think I’m going to die. Only the good die
young.” She laughed at her own self-derision.

She’d never
seen her condor so close before. The bird was huge. The white
fluffy feathers around its neck made it look like it was wearing
some royal cloak. Its feathers seem to flush slightly different
shades from dull to bright, reflecting its mood. At this moment it
was looking particularly perplexed.

“You still
don’t believe me do you? Look around you. There are no angels or
portals to heaven or hell opening before me. Have faith!” She
wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself or the bird.

The bird shook
its feathers for a moment then shimmered into a ball of light. Okay
that had her worried. Maybe her time was up. She wasn’t sure if she
was relieved or not when the ball of light suddenly started to take
the shape of a man. The image solidified until he stood before her,
in all his naked glory. All she could do was stare. Her lips parted
as her jaw gaped. She swallowed the saliva that gathered in her
mouth. Warmth flooded through her body.
Oh my...he is
beautiful
!

“Really? You
think so? I’ve never had a woman think that way about me
before.”

Helena rolled
her eyes. “Like you haven’t ever looked in a mirror. Or are you
just wanting me to pamper your ego?”

The man seemed
to think on that for a moment, given no outward sign of being
offended. “Well I guess any pampering sounds nice. Although I have
to tell you I don’t think I have this ego thing you mentioned.
That’s something only you humans have.”