Chapter 395: Advancement
It was quiet at first as no one said anything. They looked at the picture as though wanting to memorize it, imprint it into their minds. Even though he looked different than the last time they had seen him, older, stronger, it was still him. As for the emotions they felt, it was somewhat mixed.
The last two to spend any time with him was Malene and Ruby and even that was several years ago now. He had disappeared off the grid after the battle in New Orleans and although they knew he was alive, besides the feelings they had, it was hard to prove it. They felt hope when they had seen the pictures that had circulated on social media from the band Cherry Bomb, but they hadn’t heard back from the sisters since that point, leaving then lost and confused, at least as far as Laz was concerned.
As for the emotions they felt right now, seeing him again, it was mixed. Part of them wanted to find him, grab him tight and never let him go. Another part of them wanted to beat the shit out of him for being such a ’wonderful boyfriend’ who is always gone and never visits. Truth be told, they had dated others, trying to get over him. But no matter what man they found, he was lacking in many ways.
More than that, even just trying to get close to another man made their bodies feel rejection towards them, much less trying to get intimate with them. If they tried something like that, the thought was that their bodies would react in the most violent way possible, something they didn’t want to experience.
They all knew the cause was of the strange mark that had been left on them... all because of him. They were strong, stronger than any others they had met. They had killed chosen, they had killed infected. They had fought demon beasts and even survived in situations where anyone else would have died. Leona was one of the worst with this, diving in head first like she was immortal, but Ruby wasn’t far off with Malene a close third.
Kennedy was the only outlier as whenever she personally acted, she came back without a scratch on her, but leaving a bloodbath in her wake. She also declined to date other men but didn’t have a problem with taking a few women to please herself.
As her sister’s, they knew the reason. Kennedy hated all men with Laz being the only exception. In fact, her love of him bordered on obsession, one she only barely kept in check by unleashing the occasional bloodbath against her enemies.
As for the reason for their strength being stronger than anyone else, they knew the reason. That blood red, crescent moon on their bodies, the one that caused them to be disgusted by others also marked them as his woman and to be his woman, they needed to be stronger than anyone else. Perhaps some would say they had exceptional bloodlines, but even that didn’t explain why this was true for all of them.
As they looked on, Kennedy finally spoke up.
"We need an organizational alert to go out. I need the training rooms freed up, get all of the supplements we have in stock and we need volunteers... including at least one or two of us..." Kennedy said, going into business mode.
"What do you mean boss?" Leona asked, confused about the need for a massive movement.
"I’m forwarding you all a set of documents, check them out and read them for yourselves..." Kennedy responded, typing quickly.
"Wait sis. You said he is showing us the way forward?" Malene asked again as Ruby and Leona also realized just what she had mentioned first before the photo distracted them.
Kennedy didn’t respond, instead she just pointed down to their terminals for them to read what she had sent. After that, she reached down into a heavy drawer by her feet, pulled out a thick glass bottle full of a glowing blue liquid and four glasses. Taking her time, she pour a good amount into each glass before waving her hand, sending three glasses towards the girls who sat there with their mouths open as looks of shock, confusion and realization appeared, one after the other.
The glasses set themselves gently down in front of the three women who without thinking, reached forward to drink of the beautiful blue substance while their minds were immersed in reading.
"This..."
"This is it. This is what we needed."
"It’s sooo... straightforward. But... I feel like the names are... too simple? Like getting a brown dog and just calling it brown. Or a stripped cat and calling it.. stripes. I mean... The names aren’t horrible but why does it seem like he..." Malene started
"Named them himself? Well, he did come up with them..." Ruby inserted.
"I doubt that. I don’t know where he got this info, but think about it. Without having experience these realms for yourself, could you describe them so accurately?" Leona responded with a chuckle.
"I’m surprised you ladies are focusing on this part of it. Either way, this is what we needed to move forward. Too many of those old bastards with the money had been complaining about us falling behind other organizations that have popped up, our solders loosing fights to other infected and chosen. At least now we can shut them up again for a while while we grow our strength..." Kennedy said with a somewhat evil smile.
"I don’t know why you don’t just eliminate them sis. Those guys think they run the place just because they have money. They have no idea just how strong we have gotten however. I would be more than honored to put a few of them into the ground to demonstrate to the rest," Ruby said with a dangerous glint in her eye.
"I know. I know. But not yet. They are supplying us the man power and resources to run the business which leaves us free to not have to manage that portion yet. And let’s be honest here, none of you are particularly business oriented. As long as they stay in their lane and keep the money flowing, I’ll keep letting them think they matter. Once we have no further use for them... well... that’s an easy enough thing to remedy. Don’t worry, I know each of you has at least one or two members of the board you’d like to dispatch personally and I promise you’ll get your chance. For now though, well... maybe you should look at what I gave you and begin making preparations," Kennedy said with a wink and a laugh.
It was only after hearing what big sis Kennedy said that the three girls looked down at the drinks in their hands and gasped.
"The Liquid Essence? That bottle we found behind the gate with the space pirates?"
"Are you crazy sister?"
"Wow. This stuff tasted great."
Each girl had a different reaction once they understood. This was a bottle of liquid refined energy they had found behind one of the gates that the company had procured. It wasn’t announced and was kept hidden by Ruby who had gifted it to Kennedy since she had chosen her to lead the gate team. After they had figured out what it was, they decided to save it for a grand occasion when they would need a profound amount of energy all at once.
It just so happened that Kennedy felt this was the time.
"You’re really cruel and I love you for that," Leona said, finishing her drink and running out the door. She had to make preparations before the energy hit and had no time to spare. Malene and Ruby were the same, running out while laughing at Kennedy’s ploy to complete their assignments before going into seclusion to break through.
When Kennedy was left alone in the room, she activated a special switch, causing blast door like curtains to fall down in front of the windows and locking the entire room down tight. While she had been sitting at the desk, she had already taken care of her business for the next few days even while waiting for the girls to finish reading the documents. While she had a lot to do, she had trusted assistants who could take care of things in her place, the sign of a true professional.
While she didn’t know how long it would take for her to break through to the Void Lord realm, she knew that things would operate smoothly for a couple weeks at least, not that she thought it was going to take that long.
When she finished with everything else, the desk, chairs, tables and even bookcases all disappeared into the floor, sinking down like having been swallowed by quicksand.
In the end, the only thing left visible in the room was the large screen, hidden behind a thick layer of poly carbonate glass. Laz picture was still displayed with his eyes looking forward as though he was staring at Kennedy through the display.
Kennedy removed her clothing and set them aside carefully before sitting down on a mat that she rolled out in the middle of the room. The mat looked old, but was in excellent shape, clean and clearly precious beyond belief to the right people. While it kind of looked like a rug, it was quite a bit thicker than a normal rug and was also something found beyond a gate. At least, that’s what the chosen she had killed had said before she removed his head from his body.
Taking a deep breath, Kennedy sat down, crossed her legs and looked up at the picture of Laz on the display. The only light in the room was a gentle green and blue hue from some recessed lights in the walls and ceiling which gave the wooden floor and white walls a feeling of peace and serenity. Seeing the face she longed for, Kennedy had the strong desire to touch herself and pleasure herself, but she resisted. She knew she had to focus and there would be time for that later. Luckily, she had a lot of experience in calming her mind, helped a great deal by the mat beneath her. Feeling the energy welling up and struggling inside of her as the liquid dissolved into it’s purest form of energy, Kennedy couldn’t help but smile. Remembering what Laz said about the Lord realm, she knew exactly what she had to do and how to do it.
"I told you before but you just wouldn’t believe me," a voice next to Kennedy’s head said, not causing her to even flinch.
A large image appeared of a fox with nine long, bushy tails. It’s fur was as white as fresh fallen snow while it’s green eyes stared at the naked woman before it.
"His words are different from yours. While the result might be the same, the path isn’t. That is the difference for those of us with the blood of humans in us as well. There is no telling what kind of effect it would have had on me if I had done things your way. Now if you please, I need to focus," Kennedy responded to the creature who simply smiled and vanished as though it had never been there.
Kennedy smiled as well, her mind now focused on the task.
After this breakthrough, she was going to go see him herself no matter who she had to kill to do it.
