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Chapter -20- Rainy Day Reunion

Wednesday, July 26, 2049 - 10:00 am, Local Paris, France ...

Karla slid off her large empty bed. She walked down the stairs, and then crossed the foyer. She stopped in front of a set of doors, opened them, and walked down a hallway to a door at the end. She placed her ear against the door to the first-floor guest bedroom and listened.

Inside, she could hear soft crying. Karla gently wrapped her knuckle against the door. "Sinopa, you okay? You want me to make some tea?"

"No," came the muffled reply. "Everyone is gone, Karla. Conner is missing, Tamamo is missing, my children and granddaughter are missing. My husbands ... both are dead, but I was unable to bury either of them! Just ... just go away, please. I beg of you. I need to mourn the loss of my entire family."

Karla swallowed. She cleared her throat then said, "I'll run a bath for you. You don't have to get in if you don't want to. But I know how you hate to waste water. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't get to bury Chance or Eric. My children are both gone. I cried for days. I know what you're going through. And eventually, after all the tears are gone ... all that's left is revenge. And, sweetheart, I promise we'll go down there and crush that city like a tin can. Falcon's days are numbered, and so are all his little hoodlums. Just ... take the bath. It'll be ready in ten minutes."

Karla walked away from the door and opened an adjacent one. She turned on the lights and a small fan hummed to life, built into the fixture. The succubus pressed her fingers into a panel above the tub and operated the computer to fill the tub, then put in the command for a volume differential of an adult body, so that the tub would only fill to a certain amount.

She offered a grim smile. "Thank God for technology." She opened the linin closet and pulled out a set of bath towels and laid them on the sink. The tub filled rapidly then stopped all at once, a little more than halfway full. The water level was just enough that it would fill nearly to the rim once Sinopa settled in it.

Karla left the bathroom and shut the door behind herself. She made her way back out to the foyer then teleported down to the sub-level. She turned around and walked towards the slumbering Reno.

With a sigh, the succubus dropped into a chair next to his bed and turned on the suction prods wired across his body. They sent quick little jolts to his muscles while he slept.

Karla picked up a novel and leaned back in the adjacent chair then thumbed to a dog-eared page of a Sherlock Holmes Novel. "Okay, Inspector. Where'd we leave off on the Valley of Fear, hmm? Let's see here ... we're in the Epilogue. It's two months later; we just got to Mrs. Douglas' telegram from South Africa. Her husband was lost at least, knocked overboard in the gale. Okay, here we go, babe." She ran her thumb down the page until finding the part that looked the most familiar.

She licked her lips then began reading to the silent Inspector at her side. "'No, no, my good sir,' said Holmes." She read the part of Sherlock in a slightly deeper tone. "'There is a master hand here. It is no case of sawed?off shotguns and clumsy six?shooters. You can tell an old master by the sweep of his brush. I can tell a Moriarty when I see one. This crime is from London, not from America.'" Karla paused from the reading.

She lowered the book slightly and tilted her head, listening. There was a faint scratching sound somewhere but she couldn't place it. She shook her head then continued reading again. Her voice was slightly different than the tone she used for Holmes. "'But for what motive?' That was the messenger, Reno. You probably forgot because I haven't read to you for a while. His name is Cecil Barker. Then Sherlock replies, 'Because it is done by a man who cannot afford to fail, one whose whole unique position depends upon the fact that all he does MUST succeed.'" Karla said, emphasizing the word 'must'. She paused again and tilted her head.

After a moment of listening, she asked, "You hear that scratching, Reno?"

Silence.

"Damn, I thought I heard scratching, but now I don't hear it." She sighed and shook her head. Karla set the book down for a moment and reached for a jar of baby food. She removed the cap and slid an eyedropper into the brown mush. She squeezed the end, drawing the brown goo up into the tube.

"Okay, I know the hospice people hate when I fill your belly with food because it's more work to change the bedpan but ... you should have real food in your stomach. One day you're going to wake up and, yeah. So tonight we're having potatoes with gravy ... flavored ... stuff."

She set the jar on his torso and used her left index finger to feel along the bottom of his ribcage until she found his stomach. Karla teleported the baby food out of the eyedropper and into his stomach, directly. "There we go. You say potato ... I say po_tah_to. In case you're wondering, our favorite four-tail is upstairs right now. With any luck, Calgon is taking her away at this very moment. Lord knows she needs it. She's had a hard couple of days."

Karla dipped the dropper back into the baby food and filled the small tube once more. "Okay, here comes the choo-choo train..." She brought the dropper to his lips but, once again, teleported its contents into Reno's stomach. "Sorry, I know you'd rather taste it ... but let's face it, babe, I don't need you accidentally choking. And I hate when they use a feeding tube."

She leaned close then said, "How's my face look? Better than yesterday huh? Told'ja I'm a fast healer." She thrust the dropper back into the baby food then paused. "Wait, there it is again. The scratching sound."

Karla put the bottle onto a small table next to Reno's bed and stood up. She slowly turned towards the direction of the sound and began creeping towards it. "'Tis some visitor ... scratching at my chamber door. Only this and nothing more.'" She followed the sound to its source and stopped in front of the special entrance door used only by the hospice crew three days a week.

The succubus turned the deadbolt then the handle, slowly, ready for anything. She suddenly swung the door open wide, only to be greeted by a hard rain and firm wind. Heavy thunder rumbled in the distance. Lightning flashed in the sky followed by more thunder. She looked down.

At her feet, sopping wet from rain, sat Kuda. The little ferret-sized fox beat his waterlogged tail on the concrete and rubbed his moist little muzzle against her shins.

Karla's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. She reached down and picked him up into her arms, soaking the front of her blouse. "Oh my God! Kuda! Oh my GOD, wait until I tell Sinopa! Oh, baby boy, I've missed you so much!"

Kuda scrambled out of her arms, ran up her sleeve, across her shoulders, down her other arm, and back into her embrace. He was so excited that he couldn't even keep his posture straight. His tail and head curled inward to the right and his body trembled with delight, happiness, and adrenaline from fear of the thunder. He whined softly, both wanting to be protected and excited with delight to see her.

She hugged him close to her chest, drenching the front of her blouse to the point where a section became slightly transparent.

Again, lightning flashed in the sky and thunder followed it almost immediately after. The lights flickered and the thunder shook the house slightly. "Geeze, what a mess. I can't believe you were out there in that mess! How come you didn't come through the mirror, baby? What's wrong that you and Sinopa can't go through the mirrors, huh? Oh, sweetie pie," she said, using a gentle tone to relax him.

Karla kept her arms around him while he wiggled about as if attempting to somehow get closer to her. She wiggled her nose with practiced bravado then used her telekinesis to shut the door. The deadbolt rotated. "Samantha Stephens ain't got nothing on me but two Dicks' and a bitchy mom." She grinned and carried the soaking wet animal back towards the center of the basement area. "See that, Kuda? Reno Nevada. Safe and sound. He's the one that used to call you a weasel."

The animal chirred in delight, glad to hear her voice. She glared at a set of fresh folded cloth towels beneath Reno's bed and one of them levitated out from beneath. It opened up wide. Karla pulled it close and wrapped Kuda in the short towel. "How long were you out there, baby? I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. And how in the world did you know I was down here, hmm? You are such a clever little fox, baby. God I've missed you."

She moved the towel vigorously over his body, drying his fur. "You poor boy ... out there in the rain. In the scary thunder." Her tone devolved into baby talk. "You're home now, yes you is. All safe and sound. Who's a good boy, hmm? You are, uh-huh!" She began pacing while gently bouncing him the way she used to do with her children when they were infants.

"Good God, it's so good to see you." She put him down on a table across the room, against the far wall, and continued to towel him down firmly. "Let's take you upstairs and show Sinopa who came home - the wayward weasel," she said with a grin. "Just kidding baby boy. I know you're a clever fox, yes you are."

She picked him back up, leaving the towel on the table and teleported up to the first floor of the small mansion. "And welcome to Casa-de-Loupe, otherwise known as Karla Manor." She saw his nose twitching wildly, sniffing at all the new smells in the area. "Yup. That's Sinopa."

Karla carried him to the doors leading to the guest wing. She reached for the door handle then froze, hearing her doorbell at the front entrance. She turned around and stalked back across the foyer. "Who in the hell could that be in a storm like this?"

Kuda hopped down from her hands and dashed up to the bathroom door, scratching at it. Karla paused, briefly, then teleported herself up the hallway, opened the bathroom door and let Kuda into the room.

She heard Sinopa exclaim in delight and surprise. It brought a smile to Karla's face.

The succubus teleported herself back out to the foyer and opened the front doors. Conner 'Nevada,' James Parker and a lady with an engagement ring on her left hand - they stood in the door, huddled together, soaked to the point where she could see their skin beneath their shirts. At first she wanted to say something snarky but the trio looked so pathetic she couldn't bring herself to be rude.

With a sigh and wry grin, Karla stepped back and gestured for them to come in. "Conner, didn't I ask you to watch over Reno? You do realize he's practically family, right? He was engaged to marry into the Parker family." For a split second she remembered the fight with Nichole. She looked away so as not to direct her cold glare in their direction. "C'mon, you three. Sinopa needs some time to decompress. She's absolutely sick with worry." Karla cut her eyes back to Conner. "Especially with you and your lady, wherever the hell she is. If you see her, you tell her she's got Sinopa scared half-to-death with worry."

James grimaced and offered his hand to Karla. "Conner tells me you're older than you look? I'm James Parker." He took her hand and shook it then gestured to the lady at his side. "This is Dawn, my fiancée. But today, she isn't. Today she's Conner's girlfriend. I hate to sound dramatic. But the lady you said was worrying your friend is somehow ... I don't know how to explain this. It's difficult, to, uhm," he trailed off.

Karla gave James' hand a gentle squeeze then turned to Dawn and took her hand firmly. "You possess people like in the story books?"

Dawn narrowed her gaze then smirked, giving Karla's hand a firm squeeze in return. "Nosey little demon, aren't you? Mm, well, that makes two of us. Only I actually can body jump. Would you like me to show you?"

"Sister, if you jump in me, you'll level this whole house and bring the roof down. It takes a while to learn how to handle what I've got."

"Is that so? Mm, you know I've watched you for a long time."

"You say potato; I say po_tah_to. You say Tamamo, I say Tamamo-no-Mae."

"Did you think of that all by yourself, demon? That's very," Dawn started, speaking in a slightly Asian dialect.

Karla, with her hand still connected to Dawn's hand, teleported the both of them out of the lobby.

They appeared in the hallway in front of the guest bathroom. Dawn added, "...cute."

"Uh-huh." Karla opened the bathroom door and put her hand on Dawn's back then shoved her inside. "Lucy," said Karla in faux Cuban accent, "Joo gotta lotta 'splainin' to do." The succubus pulled the bathroom door shut behind Dawn then vanished again.

Seconds later, Karla appeared in the foyer, behind the boys. James pulled the door shut then turned around, coming nearly face-to-face with Karla. He tensed up, startled, but quickly composed himself.

Conner turned around as though expecting Karla, and offered her a nod. "Sorry. I needed to train my uncle. I took him to the island and we've been getting him ready. Tamamo said she'd need the two of us to find an Egyptian headpiece. A crown of sorts. We're adding some sort of over-amped warrior goddess to the gang. Oh," Conner grinned at Karla and shrugged. "Remember when I didn't believe in any of this nonsense? Well, it was sink or swim, and I swam. Uncle Jaye got the same rude awakening. We need to find an Asian woman for Tamamo to possess. She can't stay in Dawn. Has Reno opened his eyes yet?"

"God no. Why would you think that? He's slept for months. He's no better now than he was when you last saw him."

"Tamamo thinks he'll wake up soon. She said he'd probably be up by now."

"Yeah right. We're not that lucky."

There was a brilliant flash that illuminated every window in the house. The lightning caused Karla to jump and as the brightness faded from the windows, the lights went out, leaving them in the dark. An intense thunderclap shook the house to the point that both boys stumbled.

Karla put her hands outwards to steady herself. "Sorry, did I knock you guys back? I'm trying to get better about being startled. Damn, that was a loud one. I think it struck the rod I have on the roof."

James withdrew his cellphone and used it to illuminate the dark lobby. "Check on the others, miss. We'll wait here."

Karla offered a wan smile. "Good man." She disappeared and re-materialized in the hallway outside of the bathroom in the guestroom hall. She knocked on the door and said, "You gals okay? I think lightning struck the house."

The door opened and Dawn's voice came from the darkness, but she spoke in the Asian tone and dialect. "Hai, Karla-san. It was Jupiter. Please, check on Mr. Nevada. I'll explain later."

"Yeah. Alright, I'll check on him."

X

X

Ten minutes AGO New Atlantis City, below the Atlantic Ocean ...

Fox Parker, groggy and squinting under the lab lighting, looked up Aris Falcon. A weary smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "So, Doctor, we really need to stop meeting like this." He tugged weakly against simple Velcro straps over his wrists. "This is good stuff. Ketamine?"

"You know your tranquilizers," said Falcon. "Ready to be a father, Fox?"

Parker's speech slurred. "There's a difference between a father and a glorified sperm donor, Doc."

"This will be the first time you won't be the same age as your sister. She'll stay asleep. I've just finished surgery with her. Congratulations, it will grow into a boy. For you, though, it's time to become ageless. My apologies if there's a chill. It can't be helped in cryogenics, you see." Falcon waved a handheld scanner over Fox's body.

Fox tucked in thumb in and pulled his left hand from the wrist strap and brought his hand up. He closed his fingers over the scanner firmly. "I'm going to hack in and take over your system with my mind, Doc. Conner can do that. I bet if I try real hard I could do it, too." Fox's grip loosened slightly.

Falcon, amused, said, "You know your nephew's abilities well. But it's only half of what he's supposed to have, because I've learned he's Vincent's son. What a shame."

"You don't know shit," Fox said and released the scanner with a drunken smile. "The world spins beneath your nose and you missed the important details." His hand dropped back to his side.

Falcon looked down at the scanner, seeing the screen fritz. He shook it firmly and the display cleared. "Fox, I know it took only a few months to reprogram Nichole. And you see how loyal she is, now. I know more than you think. Vincent and Nichole are loyal to me."

"Vincent is a good father," Fox said. "You didn't know how much Ketamine to give me."

"I misjudged your metabolic rate. Impressive, but it won't matter soon. And yes, Vincent is an excellent father. When he finds out his wife and brother-in-law were captured, he's going to be upset. So I'm going to wake up his daughter, and let him live with her, provided she behaves. And you? You are going to sleep."

"Reno is going to kill you."

"Reno won't wake up. Ever."

Fox struggled to speak over his tongue, fighting the effects of the sedative. He was starting to wake up but was still groggy. "The Oracle told me Reno is going to kill you."

"I'd_love_ to see him try it, Fox. Goodbye." Falcon reached for a handle on the stasis pod and rolled it upwards over Fox's body. "Topaz will be joining you in nine months; I wouldn't want you to worry after all." The doctor pressed a button on his hand scanner again. "Hm, it seems the medically induced coma method is malfunctioning on you. No worries. You won't feel anything soon."

The tube grew frosty - Fox couldn't see Falcon anymore, but he knew his virus had worked, now. He didn't go into a coma, after all. The cold surrounded him. It was distant from the Ketamine, and felt like holding snow through a moist mitten.

And then, for Fox, everything grew silent and still.

X

X

???

Electricity. Power. The most intense sensation filled his body. Reno Nevada sat up with a gasp - eyes wide, mouth wide open. "Bullshit!" he breathed, as though in disbelief.

He looked around a dimly lit room only to realize that all the lights were out. However, he could vaguely see around the room. His eyes were fully dilated. Was he in Aris Falcon's laboratory? "Nichole?" The hoarseness of his voice sounded foreign to him. "Nichole, where are you?"

No reply.

He grimaced from the ache in his chest. The betrayal. He tried to call her bluff, hoping she would stop the attack but it never happened. She fought him and he let her win. He couldn't lift a hand to her. He remembered hoping that she'd somehow realize what she was doing - maybe somehow come to her senses. He remembered those last seconds where the cryostasis chamber fogged up and his body experienced the sting of cold. He remembered her leering grin.

His heart ached from her betrayal. He'd never experienced heartbreak before. It was a great deal more devastating than his kid brother, Vincent, made it sound. Reno looked around then glanced down.

Reno's eyes stopped on his hands. They glowed with a soft illumination. He was actually glowing ... not terribly unlike Karla when she used her powers. Nevada picked up a Sherlock Holmes novel at his side and tilted his head. The cover showed a logo in the corner, which read, "Timeless Masterpiece Series reprint."

He set the book back down and picked up a bottle of baby food with French lettering on it. He couldn't read the words, but the date stamped on the lid read, '30 Sept 49' in small grey print. All at once, his mouth felt dry and he felt numb in his gut.

The only distraction was a horrible smell of charred plastic, which came from tubes connected to his body. Reno reached down and touched them then pulled the prods from overtop his muscles and threw them aside. He eased an IV from his right arm with a wince then felt beneath a blanket and grimaced.

Carefully, Reno eased a plastic tube from the tip of his...

He flinched then tossed the urethra tube aside. "Where the hell...?" Nevada looked around the dark area but there was no sign of Nichole or Aris Falcon. He ran his fingers up over his head then froze. Hair. Reno blinked and swallowed but his throat was dry.

He felt somewhat ... hungry.

Reno pivoted on the bed and put his feet on the cool concrete floor, he slid off the mattress but immediately stumbled. With a grumble, Nevada reached up and held onto the bed frame but it shifted. He slumped into a chair adjacent to the bed and sighed.

"Where the hell am I?" His body ached. He used his other hand, and ran his fingers through the somewhat short hair, something he never thought he'd feel again. Reno forced himself up from the chair. His legs warbled and he sank to the cold concrete with a grunt.

"Bullshit," he hissed, pulling himself back up. The cold room caused goosebumps to form on his skin. Nevada jerked the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around himself.

Again, Reno looked around in the dim light that emanated from his skin. He picked up the Sherlock Holmes novel, which was in English, and then put it down besides the bottle of baby food, which had an adjacent eyedropper.

He slumped back onto the bed, panting softly. He felt weak and exhausted. Reno looked back down at his luminescent palms then muttered again.

With another grunt, he reached for the bottle of baby food and picked it up. His eyes zeroed in on the date a second time. What was the shelf life of baby food? There was no damn way a quarter of a century had passed.

A feminine voice came from behind. "Oh my God, they were right - you really _are_awake."

Reno canted his head and squinted his gaze. He recognized the voice more so than his own. "Karla...?"

"Christ, you sound like hell."

"I feel like hell. Where are we?"

"My house in Paris. Remember? Topaz bought it for me for Christmas..."

"I ... yeah, I remember. Okay," he said, his voice froggish, "I saw a date stamp on the baby food. Were you seriously feeding me that crap? So, what's the shelf life on that stuff? Fifteen years or something?"

"Yeah, so, uh ... no."

"What year is it?"

"Babe, it's been two-and-a-half decades. Before you ask, I should probably tell you that your brother is alive and well. He married Topaz. They have kids."

"Kids?"

"Yeah, your niece is old enough to buy beer. Has been for a while. Don't expect to see any of them, though. They're all beneath Falcon's thumb, in that stupid dome."

Reno swallowed. His mouth was still dry. He licked his lips and felt hair around his mouth. Nevada brought his hand to his face and felt a full beard, scraggly and unkempt.

His investigative mind raced, putting clues together - he had at least several months worth of hair on his head and face. His body hurt - it felt like he'd been lying in a bed for months on end. His voice sounded harsh and throaty. None of it sank in just yet. His stomach still felt numb.

"Are you listening to me, Reno? It's been twenty-five years. Today is Wednesday, the twenty-sixth of July 2049. You've been in a coma since we found you on February twenty-eighth."

Reno looked down at his hands, which were beginning to dim somewhat. He looked back up at Karla and, in his rough, raspy voice, asked, "Do we have flying cars yet?"

Karla scoffed. "Tch. Hell no."

Nevada grimaced. His fiancée was working for the bad guys. His brother was married with kids, but he'd never see them. Everyone he loved was long gone. Everyone at the precinct was old or dead by now. Falcon had apparently won. Reno's life was shattered, and his heart was broken. He was exhausted and didn't have enough body muscle to walk around, let alone stand for more than a moment. And to top it all off, he was in a future with no flying cars. "That's bullshit."

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THANK YOU FOR READING

Book 8 coming soon!

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Book 8 begins here: https://www.sofurry.com/view/720207