THE VROL TRILOGY (176 page)

"Not at all. We have observed them, of
course, but the same rules apply all over the universe."

"Okay boys - enough about little green men.
Let's go eat."

###

Liliana sat next to her grandfather and
quietly ate her lunch. She seemed to be on her best behavior, which
was unusual, and caused her uncle Gabriel to wonder what she was up
to. Aside from Jessica, the little girl was probably his favorite
human in the galaxy, so his concern for her knew no
bounds.

"Liliana, I hear my father visited with you.
Can you tell me what that was like?" he asked.

"Oh yes,
Tío
. I did not actually see him, but
he spoke to me. He told me that things were going to change, and
then he touched my forehead and changed me too."

"Really? How did he change you, exactly?"

"He gave me incredible power, of course.
Abuelito," she continued, looking at Michael, "I see you have
repaired the damage done by my cantus. I do hope it was not too
taxing."

"Oh no, Liliana. It was quite easy. In fact,
I fixed a number of things."

"Oh… did you?"

Michael felt Jennie kick his leg under the
table, and looking over he saw her flinching an eye. Not knowing
what to do, he awkwardly winked his eye back at her, which nearly
caused Max to laugh out loud.

"Yes. Oh yes. I also repaired the toilet. It
has been acting up a bit lately, you know."

"Hmm, yes. I assumed that was the case. You
are so smart, Abuelito. Well, I must return to classes. We are to
take a field trip today, and I am leading the group."

"That's great, sweetie. Where are you all
going?" asked Jennie.

"To see my sharks, of course. The children
are all terrified of my pets, but I have assured them that they are
quite intelligent, and shan't eat any children… today."

"Have fun, Lili," said Max, as the little
girl jumped up and gave her family members each a kiss on the cheek
before running out the door, her signature tornado trailing behind
her.

"We're going to have to get her to stop with
the elemental cantuses before we move to Azul," said Jennie.

"We can do that, hun, but no matter what, St.
Mary's will never be the same," laughed Max, referring to his
primary and secondary school, where they planned on having Liliana
attend.

"She was a good woman," said Gabriel.

"Who's that?" asked Jennie.

"Mary."

"Was there really a virgin birth?" Max
inquired.

"Of course. Jah is without equal," said
Michael.

"Well, I'm sure he
is
without equal, but it
doesn't sound like fun, ya know?" giggled Jennie, as she leaned up
against Max.

###

That evening, Bagatelle and Alicia met with
Max, Jennie, Gabriel, Jessica, Michael, Clarisa and Pandy for
dinner in the castle's commissary. They both looked incredibly
relieved that the Vrol and Grigori were defeated, but at the same
time were devastated over the catastrophe of Oz' main city.

"Most of New Sydney looks worse than where
we're from," said Jessica.

"Comparatively speaking, yes, I would agree,"
added Pandy.

"I wonder what the original Sydney looked
like?" said Jennie.

"The Founders didn't use the original city as
a model for the new one, Jennie. The only thing similar between the
two was the name," said Alicia.

"So G, what's the state of the Union? Did the
politicians make it out alive?" asked Max.

"They were already in hiding. Inactive lycans
or not, politicians tend to go into self-preservation mode when
danger is present. Of course they say they must keep the government
going as an excuse to save their own hides. The only one who
actually went out and fought was President Bierle."

"Well, where are they then?" asked
Clarisa.

"Most are in Buenos Aires, but some are in
Bern, Schweiz," said Alicia.

"We have our hands filled with hunting down
loose Vrol and uncovering activated vamp nests," said Bagatelle.
"No time to worry about chickenshit politicians."

"So, where is Johnson right now?" asked
Max.

"Buenos Aires Federal Penitentiary. And he's
staying there until his trial."

"And after the trial?" asked Jennie.

"Right back to the same hole we originally
put him in."

"Man, I hope he doesn't get off," said
Max.

"Oh, he won't, baby," said Jennie.

"How can you be sure, little sister?"

"Because I'm going to kill him."

"Jennie, you can't go doing that," said
Bagatelle. "We have a Constitution, and we must follow the rule of
law."

"
Max, dammit! We should have left him to die on the bug
ship
!"

"
Have faith, Jen. It'll all work out. I promise."

Everyone stared at Jennie with disbelief.
They knew she was gung-ho, but she had just openly admitted having
a desire to murder someone, even though he was a murderer
himself.

"Okay, so I won't actually kill him. Maybe
I'll pay someone on the inside to do it for me." Jennie waited a
few seconds, and giggled, "Kidding!"

"Well it does happen frequently, you know,"
said Alicia, trying to diffuse the mood in the air.

Before the discussion continued, Liliana
showed up for dinner, causing the conversation to take a different
tone.

"Hello, everyone!" she chimed.

"Evening, sweetie. Are you done with your
homework?" asked Jennie.

"Yes, Mami. However, I would like for Papi to
look at my math."

"Sure, Lili. I'll check it out once we're
finished."

"How was your field trip today, Liliana? Did
your friends like your pets?" asked Michael.

"Yes, Abuelito. They even dared to pet Hermes
on the nose. It was quite exciting."

"Liliana, have you decided
who will care for the sharks when we move to Azul?" asked Clarisa,
causing the little girl to gain a mildly sad expression. She was
relatively excited about her upcoming move, but knew she would miss
her
pets
tremendously.

"No, I have not yet, Abuelita. I believe a
lottery shall be required."

"A lottery? Why so?"

"I have already received requests from eight
children in my class. They desire to be my apprentices."

"More like minions, I'd say," coughed
Max.

"Oh, how was your training? Did you learn any
new valuable skills with which to kill the bad angels?"

"Yeah, sweetie. Your mother and I will be an
awesome team," said Max.

Liliana smiled and dug into her meal, content
with the knowledge that her parents were progressing, just as she
was. However, she chose to not say anything about her noticeably
reduced power levels with offensive cantuses. She was a smart girl,
and knew if she mentioned anything it was possible they would also
put a cap on her non-offensive abilities.

Everyone was preparing to depart the dining
room, when newly crowned King Donus entered. Everyone dropped down
to a knee, with the lycan saying, "Please, my friends. There is no
need to bow."

The entire team stood back up, except for
Liliana, who still feared the man a bit.

"Liliana, would you stay and speak with your
king for a moment?"

"Yes, my liege. It would be my honor."

Donus winked at Max and Jennie, bringing a
smile to the couple as they left.

"Don't be late, Liliana. I'm going to check
your math now," said Max.

Once everyone else had departed, Donus took a
seat and called the young girl over.

"Liliana, I must trust that you will do
something very important."

"But of course, King Donus. How may I be of
assistance?"

"You can tell no one that your grandfather,
the mage Draagh, has disappeared. We cannot have rumors flying
throughout the castle, and then possibly out to the lands of the
vampires. They may be emboldened by his absence."

Liliana nodded her small head and smiled.
"The secret shall remain with us, my king."

"Very well. Now go to your parents."

Liliana got up and went for the doorway, but
Donus called to her before she was gone.

"And Liliana?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I shall miss you, once you have departed
these lands for the world of your parents. Still, I am extremely
happy for you."

"Oh thank you, King Donus."

"And I am very, very proud to have been your
friend."

The little girl shot over to the new king
like a blur, and he found himself being hugged by her before she
disappeared with a light pop.

###

Max, Jennie and Gabriel stood in Draagh's
office, waching as Michael analyzed his infoscreen, looking for any
other abnormalities in Azul space.

"Well, we've won, it appears. The Vrol as
well as the entire Grigori contingency have been eliminated.

"The why don't we visit President Bierle?"
asked Max.

"Good idea, hun!" Jennie had never visited
Schweiz before, and looked forward to getting into the new
president's head.

###

Max, Jennie and Gabriel stood in front of the
Schweiz National Capitol, in Bern, which resembled a typical Swiss
building from pre-Exodus Earth. Moments later President Bierle
walked down the steps to greet three of the saviors of Azul. He
nearly slipped on the snow-covered walk as he approached, but
regained his footing.

"Welcome, Captain, Commander and Commodore.
It is truly a pleasure to see you again."

Max stepped forward and extended his hand,
thinking it was hilarious that Gabriel was maintaining an extinct
rank.

"Hello, Mr. President. We just wanted to
check up on you, and make sure things were holding together," said
Max.

"Thank you, Captain. Please, come inside. We
have much to discuss."

Having entered into Bierles' office, the
three took seats, with the President wasting no time in getting to
the point.

"We have a problem," he said.

"What's that?" asked Jennie.

"The Azulian Civil Liberties Union is already
hassling Congress over the removal of the senators on Johnson's
Exodus listing. They are saying they did nothing wrong, and were
merely included on a list without their knowledge."

"Oh frikin' great! Can't they wait until
we've started reconstruction?" asked Max, feeling sick to his
stomach. He knew the ACLU. They sometimes got it right, but mostly
defended the indefensible, such as murderers and sex criminals. He
was certain they would come to Len Johnson's defense too.

"The last thing we need is a bunch of vamps
running around the hallowed halls of Congress again," said
Jennie.

"There's another issue."

"What’s that, Mr. President?" she asked.

"It seems our inactive vampire friends have
been busy at work while in hiding. They are trying to get some
normal legislators to introduce a bill in Congress. I fear it shall
pass within days."

"What kind of bill?" Max inquired.

Bierle slid his personal
console across his desk. The screen showed a document, called
the
Enhanced Subspecies
Act
.

"What the…" gasped Jennie.

"No way. How about the condensed version,"
said Max.

"Captain, it basically will require any and
all activated lycans to register with the government."

"Only lycans?" asked Gabriel.

"Correct, Commodore. You see, they say that
because lycans turn on the full moon they need to be a known
quantity. The politicians have conveniently left out activated
vampires, of course. They have the normals terrified that lycans
will murder them on the next full moons. It is a purely emotional
response."

"Oh, of course," growled Jennie.

"I'm sure they haven't considered the
automated lycan cages on Vera," said Max. "Mr. President, you
didn't reveal your activated status to anyone, did you?"

"No. Well, only to Sarah Corning, but she is
an ally."

"Okay. Well, don't tell anyone else. Do they
have a list of activated lycans?"

"They have accumulated one. It lists roughly
2,000 citizens."

"Are we on that list?" asked Jennie.'

"Yes, I'm afraid you are."

"But we aren’t even completely lycan!" she
yelled. "We're more! Oh my god! Is our daughter on the list?"

"No. We can be sure of that, as she was not
born here." Jorgen Bierle then looked at Jennie and finally noticed
her green eyes. "Mrs. Gunnarsson, did you get a gen-mod?"

"No, why?"

"Your eyes. They are different now."

"Yeah, that’s something that happened
recently. She's… changed," said Max, wearing a toothy grin.

"Well, it is a
complimentary change, but aside from that, I can say that I tried
to remove your names from the list. There were simply too many
congressional witnesses and there
are
data backups, so it was
impossible."

"And my brother? Admiral Bagatelle?"

"On the list also, I'm afraid."

"Hell, I hope it doesn't affect his
command."

"Or mine!" cried Max.

"I'll make sure it does not, Mrs. Gunnarsson.
It should not be a crime to be a certain race or subspecies. This
bill goes against everything the Constitution stands for. Oh, and
even though the nepotism statutes were rescinded, there is no
record of you being the younger sister of Admiral Bagatelle,
although there wasn't a whole lot I could about the fact that you
are married to Captain Gunnarsson."

"Sounds about right," mused Jennie, not
really caring either way.

"Mr. President, could you send me a copy of
that bill? I'd like to show it to Admiral Bagatelle," said Max.