Blood Ties: The First (A Bane Pack Novel)

Merle watched Kendra lose consciousness with feelings of sadness mixed with regret. He eyed her tattoo. He hadn’t lied to her about that. It really was a beautiful piece and well suited to her. He’d known it since the day she’d brought it to him. He sighed. The work wasn’t finished yet. He needed to get it done. As he worked on it, images of his own long ago youth flashed in his mind but he shook them off. That particular distraction was disquieting. Some of his childhood hadn’t been pleasant and he knew for a fact that things weren’t going to get any easier for Kendra. He didn’t like that. He wanted to protect her from all the things that could hurt her, but the truth was, he couldn’t. He was old, and getting older by the minute it seemed. Pretty soon, he would be gone and she would be left in the open to fend for herself.

This is a mistake, he told himself. She’ll be pissed off when she finds out what you did to her.

I didn’t have a choice, he replied to himself. I had to take the opportunity. If not now, when I can do something to give her a fighting chance, then when?

When you tell her the truth, his mind shot back.

The inner dialogue stopped with that. He sighed heavily and finished the last bits of the tattoo. There was a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach. No matter how he tried to rationalize it, he couldn’t make himself believe that he’d done the right thing. When he was completely finished, he dropped the tattoo gun on the tray and just stared at the limp, unconscious woman.

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “But I had to. It’s for your own good. Maybe someday, you’ll see that.”

He left her slumped in his chair, her head held limply to one side.

| | | | |

Kendra woke up feeling like she got herself good and hammered and now she was paying for it. Her head ached nauseatingly. She could feel the blood at her temples pulsing and it gave her a sickly feeling that spread through her whole body. Her mouth was dry and felt like it had been stuffed with about a thousand cotton balls. She wiped at it absently, noticing how weak she felt as she tried to raise her arm. Her head felt like a heavy ball attached to her neck. She tried to move it but was too weak.

She had no idea what happened. She tried to remember the details and couldn’t. Her memory stopped abruptly, shortly after the tattoo got started.

The tattoo! she thought, her mind racing frantically.

She raised a hand up to her neck, feeling around the tender area. Her fingers brushed against what felt like medical tape and gauze bandages. It hurt, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be.

She looked around the little room but didn’t find any mirrors. She tried to get up, but the blood rushing into her already fuzzy head put her down again in about a second.

“Merle!” she tried to yell. The only thing that came out was a croaky-sounding whisper. She coughed harshly for a bit and then managed to get herself under control.

The door opened suddenly.

Merle came in, his gray eyes careworn. There were lines and wrinkles on his face that she didn’t remember being there when she’d first come in. He gave her a small smile, touched with sadness. She looked at him, perplexed.

Her stomach fluttered with fear.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “Did something go wrong with my tattoo?”

“No, no,” he responded quickly. “Nothing’s wrong. It came out just fine. It looks great on you if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Then don’t come in here looking like your dog just got run over. You freaked me out,” she admonished.

He wasn’t exactly sure how to react to her. He tried to force a smile, but it felt awkward.

“Sorry.” He patted her hand instead. There was so much he wanted to tell her. So many things that he needed to tell her, but his throat seemed to constrict on him every time he was close to actually spilling the truth. He smiled at her instead, his grin forced and awkward.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

She was an astute girl. That much was certain. She picked up on things a lot faster than most people.

“You look really…I don’t know…sad.”

“It’s…uh…nothing,” he stammered. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“All right. I guess,” she answered, unconvinced.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her. “Didn’t expect you to pass out on me.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what happened. I don’t remember.”

“Well, how about you go on home now. Get some rest. I’m positive you’ll feel better by the morning.”

She nodded. Her neck, at least, felt stronger. She could move her head more now.

“How much do I owe for the tattoo?” She wasn’t worried about it being expensive. A graphic designer at one of the city’s most prestigious firms paid well.

“This one’s on the house,” he said, smiling his familiar broad (and slightly goofy-looking) grin.

“Really? Are you sure?’”

“I wouldn’t take your money even if you asked me to. Let’s call it a present.”

“Thank you,” she responded with deep gratitude.

She eased her way out of the chair. Merle helped her. When she finally stood up, she gave him a big hug.

“Now,” Merle started, “go on home. Get some sleep. Leave the bandage on for at least two hours and then wash it gently with anti-bacterial soap. Give it some time to heal and you’ll be right as rain.”

She nodded, smiling back at him as she got out of the chair. She wobbled a bit but Merle was there to steady her. Her head still felt a little fuzzy.

She glanced at a mirror on the wall in front of her and saw the thin bandages covering her new tattoo. Merle secured them to her skin with medical tape. Despite it being covered, it throbbed and pulsed with a life of its own.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Merle asked her.

She could hear the unmistakable concern in his voice, which was accentuated by the sudden thickening of his accent. That only happened when he was stressed or worried about something. She reflected on how good that felt. How good it felt to know that someone was actually concerned about her. There weren’t many people in her life that cared. Her parents were non-entities, or at least they might as well have been. She didn’t know her father and her mother had gone insane. She was currently locked away in New Haven Asylum and had been there since Kendra was a little girl.

Thinking about her mother was enough to bring back that horrifying, terrible event that changed her life forever.

Water was enveloping her entire head. It rushed down her nose and throat. She choked on it and cried. Or she tried to at least. Strong, merciless hands were holding her down. They were forcing her down! She couldn’t get back up. She couldn’t fight her way out.

She could feel the water in her lungs. She could feel it working to snuff out her life.

She was only five.

The person above her, trying her best to kill her, was her own mother.

Kendra gasped suddenly as the shock of the memory jolted her like electricity. A tear rolled down her cheek. She never knew why her mom tried to kill her. After that day, she fell into a semi-catatonic state. She wouldn’t talk to anyone, especially her own daughter.

Needless to say, Merle had been more of a parent to her than any of her biological ones. And she cherished that connection.

He looked at her now, his concern deepening.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she responded with a small, reassuring smile. “Just a bad memory, that’s all. I’m all right now. By the way, I think I can walk on my own now.”

He let go of her, as per instruction, and watched her carefully, ready to jump in should she teeter one way or the other. She didn’t. She got steadier the longer she was up, and stronger. Her balance returned and the dizziness and nausea finally left her. They walked out of the room and into the main part of the shop. She went and retrieved her purse. It rattled with various keys, change, and bits of makeup. She turned and looked at Merle.

“Thanks. It’s nice to know I have you to come to.”

He smiled back at her and walked up to give her a hug. His massive arms enfolded her and nearly crushed her ribs. She didn’t mind though. It was actually sort of comforting.

“I already called a cab for you,” Merle told her. “It should be here in a few minutes. Do you want to wait in here for it?”

Kendra thought for a moment.

“No. I think I’ll wait outside. The fresh air might do me some good. Go ahead and lock up. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” he responded. “Take care of yourself.”

“I will,” she said.

He retreated down the hall to the stairs that led to the apartment above the shop.

“And get some sleep!” he yelled out.

“Will do,” she returned, smiling.

She saw him disappear up the stairs and heard loud stomps and creaking footsteps above her shortly after. She smiled to herself and absently fingered the bandages around her neck.

She walked out of the tattoo parlor and waited on the street in front. It was empty. Ordinarily, that would’ve been peculiar, but she’d grown accustomed to the fact that nobody seemed to be out after dark in that neighborhood. Merle explained once that people were too scared of getting robbed or something.

She took a deep breath. The air was cold in her nose and smelled like winter. There wasn’t any snow on the ground yet, but she could smell winter on the air none-the-less. It smelled good to her. It smelled…clean, almost. She couldn’t quite describe it.

She let her thoughts wonder some more when a different smell filtered through her nose. There was the smell of winter still but something different was lurking beneath that smell. Something that smelled vaguely like…cologne? It was a woodsy kind of scent. Not only that but it smelled familiar too. She tried to remember where she smelled it before but couldn’t. What she was sure of, however, was that it was definitely manufactured. The more she breathed in, the more she was able to actually separate and catalog the different chemicals that were mixed into the cologne. It was amazing. It was like her nose was as sharp as a bloodhound’s.

Have I always smelled things this good?

Her nostrils flared even wider.

There’s no way. This is new. This is new and very, very weird.

She breathed deeply again.

So many different smells!

Suddenly, she realized her enhanced sense of smell wasn’t the only thing that was different about her.

Her other senses were sharper too. The darkness didn’t seem so dark anymore. She could hear damn near everything, even a fly buzzing fifty feet away. She could feel the slightest tremble in the earth from people and cars that were nowhere near her or the shop.

Underneath all that, however, she caught the soft thumping of a beating heart. It was faint but the sound was unmistakable.

Her body suddenly tensed and instincts she never knew she had jumped in, taking control. Her eyes swiveled to the spot where the thumping heart was coming from and she dropped into a low crouch, poised like an animal ready to pounce. Then she narrowed her eyes and watched the darkness of an alley that was between two buildings. It was pitch black there but for some reason she could still vaguely see things. Vaguely, she could just make out shapes and objects.

She concentrated even harder.

There!

She saw somebody moving. Somebody was in there and they were watching her.

Without thinking, she ran full out toward the alley. A part of her mind screamed at her to stop. That she was crazy to go after someone hiding in near total darkness.

What the hell is going on? that part of her also screamed. Something’s wrong.

Have fun and hunt down your stalker, another part of her brain told her.

She followed the second voice’s advice. She didn’t want to let the rational part of her brain take over because all she cared about was how great she felt. How absolutely awesome she felt. Every part of her seemed energized and tingled with life. She loved the way the wind flowed through her hair as she ran. She loved the way her body moved as she hunted the figure hiding in the shadows. She loved everything. Asking why it was all happening was a buzz-killing question and so she stopped thinking about it. She stopped asking herself why and just reveled in that hunt, in the chase, in the pure joy of running someone down.

She got to the alley. There was a lingering scent of cologne still hanging in the air. She sniffed more deeply and this time she smelled an underlying ozone-like smell. It reminded her of the way the air smelled after a thunderstorm. The man that had been there, however, was gone. She sniffed again but the trail ran dead. It was like he just vanished into thin air.

She looked around, confused. After a couple of minutes spent trying to locate the person spying on her, and failing, she returned to the street. The cab was idling in front of Merle’s shop. She hurried over and got in. Ten minutes later she was at her apartment building. She gave the cabbie a big tip, feeling weirdly generous, and got out.

“Evening, Ms. Henner,” the doorman said as she walked up. He was an older, good-natured man with refined manners.

“Hi,” she replied with a bright smile as she walked past him and into her building.

She rode the elevator up to her floor and then walked down the hall to her apartment. There was a tiny knot of dread in the pit of her stomach. She hoped Jenna was asleep or not there.

“Where have you been?” she heard her ask as soon as she opened the door.

“I’m fine. No need to worry,” she replied.

“You know, I was like ten seconds away from calling the cops,” Jenna scolded. She was on the couch, the TV dark and silent. There was relief plainly visible in her eyes. “You scared me to death.”

“Like I said. I’m fine. I’m going to bed. We’ll talk about it in the morning, okay?”

Jenna looked about to protest, but Kendra didn’t give her the chance. She went straight to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. At that point, she didn’t really care whether Jenna was angry with her or not.

She sat down on her bed, but her body was starting to feel strangely hyper. Her flesh was still singing with all her pent up energy. She felt like running from one side of the country to the other like Forrest Gump. She felt like she could take on the Hulk and win. She felt like she could jump to the moon if she wanted.

She sat on her bed, thinking to herself. Her foot tapped lightly on her floor but she did it over and over again at about a hundred miles per hour. The noise of it calmed her a little bit. It gave her something to focus on.

What’s happening to me? she asked herself, wondering whether to be scared or pleased. On the one hand, it was a bit scary. All of these changes were happening to her. She was smelling better, hearing better, and seeing better. She was way faster than ever before, even back in high school when she’d been more active. She was so hyper she couldn’t sit still. She had to tap her foot incessantly on her floor. She got up and paced the room, going back and forth, back and forth.

It has to be the excitement of getting the tattoo. That must be it. It’s just got me wound up. I’m anxious to see everyone’s reactions tomorrow, that’s all. It’s making me crazy.

That seemed to work for her. The annoying (and persistently rational) part of her brain accepted it with almost no fight at all. It was, after all, the only thing that made sense.

Didn’t it?

Yes.

You sure?

Yes. Yes, all right? It’s the only thing that makes sense, so you just have to believe it.

But something isn’t right.

It doesn’t matter, just accept it!

Fine, I will.

Good. Now go to sleep.

“Sleep. Guess that’s better than nothing.” She nodded to herself and got up. She grabbed her pajamas out of one of her drawers. Then she looked at the clock next to her bed and realized it had been about two hours and fifteen minutes since she’d left Merle’s shop. She couldn’t believe she’d been sitting in her room that long, but the clock didn’t lie.

She went into her bathroom and set her pajamas on the toilet seat. Next, she went over to the mirror and started peeling off the bandages covering the tattoo. She ran the water, got some soap and rubbed it as gently as she could to clean off all the blood and gunk. It stung and the thing was still throbbing oddly. When she was sure it was as clean as it was going to get, she grabbed a towel and patted it dry.

It hurt and she winced slightly even though she was barely touching her skin. When she was finished, she stripped out of her clothes and put on her pajamas.

“What the…?” she asked herself. Her top didn’t feel right anymore. It was tighter across her chest. She looked down. “Uh…” She looked in the mirror. Her same, dull reflection stared back at her. “I’m going crazy. No. No, I’m not. I’m not insane. Just go to bed. Get some sleep.”

She shook her head back and forth, hoping to clear it of the crazy. A nervous fear caused her stomach to lurch. Her mind flashed back to the only other experience with crazy she had; when her mother had tried to drown her.

She slid into bed, her fear still bubbling underneath the surface.

“I’m not crazy,” she mumbled to herself just before sleep hit her like a runaway train.

| | | | |

She smelled coffee. It hung in the air like a cloud. More accurately, she smelled a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha espresso from Starbucks. It was her favorite. Her mouth watered. She took in a deep breath. She smelled food, too. Asiago bagels, she realized. Jenna had gone all out. She hurriedly got out of bed, the smells wonderfully alluring. She wandered into the kitchen feeling like one of those old Bugs Bunny cartoons where the character drifts on a heavenly cloud tendril that beckons them on with a tempting, ethereal finger.

Jenna was waiting for her, but her reaction wasn’t what Kendra expected. Her mouth was open in complete shock. She was staring hard at Kendra, disbelief etched on her face.

Kendra was getting really uncomfortable. Jenna looking at her like that was making her self-conscious. She felt.her face get warm as her embarrassment levels rose.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she said, but Jenna wouldn’t.

“What happened to you?” Jenna asked, her eyes wide and round.

“What?” Kendra asked. Then she remembered the tattoo and blushed. “Oh. That. I got a tattoo last night.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Then Jenna shook her head as if her brain finally processed the words Kendra just said. “Tattoo? You got a tattoo?”

“Yep. I went to Bendis last night to talk to Merle. Then I decided I needed a change, so I got a tattoo. What were you talking about?”

“Okay. Then I was talking about the rest. What happened to you?”

“What do you mean the rest?”

“I mean the way you look, Kendra,” she answered, exasperated. She talked to her friend like she was a child that couldn’t understand a simple concept. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

“Noticed what?” Kendra was getting irritated.

Jenna ignored her. She walked out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. Kendra took the time to guzzle about half her coffee and eat almost her entire bagel. She was just putting her cup back down when Jenna returned, carrying a small hand mirror. She calmly walked up and put it in front of Kendra’s face.

Kendra stared at her own reflection, bewildered. The person staring back only vaguely resembled her. The hair was probably the first thing she noticed. Her hair was usually dried out, almost straw-like. Now it was lustrous and shiny and silky to the touch. She ran her fingers through it to confirm it and found they glided through with effortless ease. Her face was different too. It had been marred by bits of acne and old acne scars. Now it was…smooth. It was sexy. Flawless. The chubbiness to her cheeks had disappeared too and her high cheekbones were accentuated beautifully. She flashed her teeth and found them to be a bright, unmarred white.

What happened to me?

She looked away from the mirror and glanced at her body.

My dumpy, blah body, she thought.

She sucked in a breath.

What the hell? she asked herself.

It wasn’t dumpy anymore. Instead it was toned. It was slim. It had shape and beauty. Her ass was bigger, but firm, and her boobs had gained at least one, maybe two, sizes.

“What the hell?” Kendra asked in a whisper, this time out loud.

“Yeah, I know,” Jenna responded. “What did you do? I could’ve sworn you had work done, except for the fact that when you went to bed last night you didn‘t look like that. This? I don’t know what this is. Did you sell your soul or something?’

Kendra didn’t answer her. Her attention suddenly drifted away from their conversation. She diverted her focused on something she was hearing. It was a slight, repeated thumping in the hall outside their apartment.

Footsteps, she realized.

She sniffed at the air. The faint aroma of cheap cologne came back to her. Her face twisted in minor disgust.

“Marco’s on his way,” Kendra said, ignoring their previous conversation altogether.

“What are you talking about? You can’t possibly know that,” Jenna scoffed.

Loud knocking followed right on the heels of her last word. Jenna jumped, almost knocking her coffee down in the process. The cup teetered on the edge of dumping its contents all over their immaculate counter. Kendra dashed forward, as quickly as a rabbit making a run from its cage. She steadied the cup before it could fall all the way. Jenna was stunned. She looked at Kendra, then at the door and back at her roommate again.

“What’s going on?’

Kendra held a finger up to her lips, telling Jenna to be quiet.

“Hello!” Marco yelled from the other side of their door. The H sound wasn’t pronounced due to the thick Italian accent to his rough voice.

Jenna was about to answer it but Kendra beat her to it. Marco was Jenna’s ex and a real asshole. He’d cheated on her at least a dozen times, was always making rude comments to her, and had even physically threatened her. On top of that, he was a male model, so despite her hatred of him and what he did to her, they had, on occasion, been forced to work together. Added on top of all of that drama was the fact that he lived in their building too. He was constantly trying to get back together with Jenna, despite her dismissals and rejections. He was a persistent annoyance but one that she never did anything about.

Kendra never understood why Jenna refused to do anything about the pig.

“Hello?” Marco called again.

Kendra threw the door open.

Marco stood there with a box of exotic chocolates in one hand and a large bouquet of flowers in the other. He was dressed in an expensive grey shirt, black pants and (of course) Italian leather shoes. The top three buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing a little of his hairless, tanned chest. The expensive clothes were a weird contradiction to the cheap, disgusting cologne he habitually wore.

Make no doubt about it though, he was definitely a great looking guy. He had black hair that was styled professionally, dark eyes, and skin tanned a deep bronze. His squared-off jaw was emphasized with a slender beard that melded perfectly with an equally thin goatee. He was well-built, with a good-looking, muscular frame.

His face, however, was marred by a look of stunned wonder as he took in the new and improved Kendra.

“She doesn’t want the stupid chocolates or the flowers, so beat it,” Kendra told him, her voice strong and confident. She felt a powerful surge of pride at that. Before, she wouldn’t have said two words to the guy. Now she was commanding him to beat it.

It felt great!

He didn’t respond. He just stood there with a bewildered, uncomprehending look on his face. She wanted to laugh, it was so absurd. The man was almost never speechless. A professional, well-known male model was struck dumb by her! Her! It was funny.

“Kendra? That is you, no?” he asked. The shock wore off and was replaced by a slimy look to his eyes, like a starving man in front of a giant feast. She almost felt it when his eyes slithered over her body.

“Maybe I could come in, no?” He leaned toward her. The smell of his horrible cologne smacked her in the face and she fought the urge to gag.

“Why the hell should I?” she asked him, her nose wrinkling from his stench.

“You don’t have to play games with me,” he whispered to her. His dark eyes flashed with a slight spark of anger. He started trying to push his way past but she didn’t budge. “I know you want me. Everyone does. It’s ok. There’s no shame. And since I am a man that can fully appreciate your…changes, maybe I can convince Jenna to let you join us in the bedroom, no?”

Then he laughed at her. It was a barking kind of sound full of scorn and cruelty. He stopped abruptly, a dangerous glint to his eyes, and then tried to push past her again.

Kendra’s arm flashed in a blur. She got a hold of Marco’s wrist and held him there.

“Una brutta!” he yelled in fury.

He whirled on her, getting ready to physically assault her, but she wasn’t the same person she was yesterday. She felt it deep inside her now. There was a primal energy welling up from her soul that made her stronger, faster and a lot more fearless. She smirked as she stopped Marco in his tracks.

“Kendra! What are you doing?” Jenna yelled, coming to see what the commotion was about. She ran up to the pair of them, trying to pry them apart.

“Get back!” Kendra snarled, her eyes locked on Marco’s. “Now!”

Jenna stepped back hesitatingly.

“He’ll hurt you, Kendra,” Jenna told her.

Kendra was holding her own, though, despite the fact that Marco was clearly bigger than her.

“Si,” Marco snarled, leaning his face in closer to hers. “Listen to her. It would be so easy to break you in half.”

Now it was Kendra’s turn to laugh. It was a hard, unpleasant-sounding thing that unnerved Marco instantly. He swallowed hard, a little knot of fear and hesitation forming a lump in his throat. She was so damn strong. This wasn’t going at all like he’d planned. She’d always been a quiet girl. What was happening here?

Kendra could smell the fear on him now.

It was so powerful that it even overrode the smell of his cheap cologne. That primal energy inside her swirled and reacted to that smell, flowing up in a flood of pure power. Marco, the closest to her, was the only one that saw her eyes and teeth. He had a great view in fact. He was watching them both when her eyes flashed a bright, terrifying amber. Then he watched as her front teeth elongated into sinister-looking fangs. A second later, he heard a bestial growl flow up her throat.

The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air. The speed of it sank into the pit of his stomach, causing him to close his eyes tightly against the gut-wrenching feeling. He smashed into the wall outside, feeling most of it crumple as his weight hit it. His head whipped back into it next with way too much speed. There was a bright, intense pain and then blackness. He slumped forward, his chin resting on his chest.

“Vaffanculo!” Kendra spat at the slumped form in front of her. Then she whirled away from him and slammed the door behind her.

Jenna was waiting inside, her face slack and unbelieving.

“How did you…” She stopped talking and resorted to glancing swiftly at the door to where Kendra left Marco.

Kendra shrugged.

“Um…would you believe me if I told you I didn’t know what’s happening to me?” she asked.

“Maybe,” Jenna relented. After a pause, she glanced at Kendra inquisitively. “Vaffanculo?”

Kendra laughed.

“I heard you say that to him once or twice. I don’t know what it means, but it sounded appropriate at the time.”

Jenna took that in and then burst out laughing.

“It means…fuck…you. Or…or…fuck…off in Italian,” she managed to say between fits of laughter.

Then they were both laughing. They did so for a long time, unable to stop. Then Kendra started getting worried about Marco. She didn’t hear him get up. She checked the peephole occasionally to see if he was still out there. She saw him three times out of four, still unconscious. After the third time, she thought she might have to call an ambulance. She waited a little bit longer and then checked a fourth time, but that time he was gone. The only thing left was a Marco-sized hole in the wall. She felt a bit of relief. Despite how much she hated the narcissistic bastard, she hadn’t been aiming to kill him.

She turned away from the door and found Jenna watching her with open curiosity. The laughter they had shared seeped out of the room and the seriousness of what transpired reasserted itself.

“I think Marco will make it,” Kendra said, shrugging and walking back into the kitchen to finish her coffee.

“Come on, Kendra,” Jenna said, her voice serious. “What happened to you?”

“I don’t know. I have no clue what’s going on,” she responded, her voice desperate and afraid. Her senses being elevated to near animalistic proportions was disquieting enough, but the display of raw power and strength, although it had felt great at the time, scared her.

“You threw Marco like five or six feet through the air. That’s not normal.”

“Please, can we just drop it? Maybe put it down to adrenaline or something,” Kendra pleaded. She looked at Jenna over the brim of her cup and saw that she wouldn’t.

“I think maybe you should see a doctor or some-”

The phone ringing abruptly cut her off.

Kendra pounced on it, taking the welcomed opportunity to distract her roommate from the conversation they were having. She didn’t care if it turned out to be a telemarketer. She’d stay on the phone until midnight if that’s what it took for Jenna to back down.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Kendra?” Merle’s familiar voice was on the other end, but he sounded like he was worried about something.

“Merle? What’s the matter?” She was concerned. She thought maybe someone had tried to rob him or something. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Everything here anyway. But I need to talk to you and not over the phone. It’s important. Can you meet me at the Burger King down the street from my shop?”

“Uh…sure. I guess. When?”

“Now.”

Kendra glanced at a clock, hesitating. 8:12 AM. She had to be at work at nine and she still needed to get ready.

“I can‘t right now. I have to go to work. How about later on, like six thirty?”

Merle considered that for a moment and then said, “I have something really important to tell you. Can you go into work later?”

Kendra could hear the urgency to his voice. Something must be really wrong. For a minute she was tempted to tell him she’d be there. Reality intruded first. If she didn’t go into work, then her boss would probably fire her. Especially after her rather emotional display yesterday. She didn’t want to risk it. She couldn’t afford to lose her job. She wasn’t confident of finding another one that paid as well.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t. There’s a good chance I’d get fired,” she responded.

Merle didn’t say anything for a long time, making Kendra feel on edge.

What’s wrong with him? She wished she could see him. She wanted to know why he was acting so bizarre.

“I understand. I guess I’ll see you at six thirty then. Don’t be late.” He hung up, leaving the conversation at a weird point. She shrugged, confused, and then replaced the phone back into its cradle.

“You’re going to work?” Jenna asked, one eyebrow raised in slight disbelief. She was sure Kendra shouldn’t be around people. She obviously wasn’t at her emotional best, judging by how quickly she lost it with Marco. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now.”

“They’ll fire me if I don’t,” Kendra responded.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll just call my dad and tell him what’s going on. He won’t fire you,” Jenna explained, but Kendra didn’t want that.

Jenna Bishop was Elijah Bishop’s sole child. Elijah Bishop also happened to be her boss. He started the company, Bishop Media Solutions, when he was in his twenties. Since then, it blossomed into one of the most desirable graphic design/marketing firms in the city. Jenna pulled some strings to get Kendra hired there as soon as her Bachelor’s degree was finished. Elijah, however, let her know early on that Jenna wouldn’t protect her if she didn’t pull her weight. After yesterday’s emotional outburst and then leaving during the workday, she wasn’t very confident in her friend’s ability to save her ass.

“Sorry, Jen, but I can‘t risk that. If I blow off work, he’ll filet me. You know that,” Kendra told her.

Jenna hesitated and then reluctantly agreed. She knew her father and she knew he would be furious with Kendra for skipping out on work.

“I feel fine. So don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” Jenna said, heavily.

With that, Kendra walked into her bedroom and started trying on clothes. Jenna followed after her. Five minutes later, about a dozen different articles of clothing lay discarded across her bed and floor.

“Nothing fits me anymore. What am I supposed to wear?” Kendra asked, frustrated

Jenna sighed, feeling sorry for her. She left the room and came back a minute later with a form-fitting white blouse and a pair of black slacks. She tossed them at Kendra.

“Try these on. You look like you’re about my size now. I think they’ll fit,” she told her.

“Thanks,” Kendra said, putting on the clothes. They did fit. In fact, they fit perfectly and flattered her new figure enticingly. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Don’t mention it,” Jenna responded. She gave an approving nod at her. “You look good in them. Almost enough to make even me jealous.” She frowned, looking at Kendra with dread and concern in her eyes. “I just wish I knew what happened to you.”

“You and me both,” Kendra responded, halfheartedly. The truth, however, was that the why didn’t really concern her anymore. All she cared about were the results. She was hot! Not just pretty or cute, but hot! Not only that, but she felt confident in a way she never had before. It was a good feeling and one she wanted to last forever. “Well, I gotta go. I’ll see you later and I promise we’ll try to figure this out.”

“All right,” Jenna returned. “Just…don’t get into trouble.” She looked, rather pointedly, at the door to their apartment and what they both knew was just outside it.

“Right,” Kendra replied, sheepishly. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“We’ll talk more then.”

Jenna left her friend’s room and Kendra finished getting ready. She ran into her bathroom and hurriedly applied some make-up. Then she arranged her shirt so that it would show off just the tiniest bit of her tattoo. People would still know it was there, which was what she wanted, but at the same time it wasn’t super noticeable. She smiled at her image and then left her bedroom. She grabbed her purse off a bar stool and left.

She tried to ignore the hole in the wall but saw part of it in the corner of her eye anyway. It was upsetting to see the results of her violent attack so she pushed the entire altercation out of her mind. She headed to the elevator, still remembering the awesome power she’d felt right before she’d thrown Marco. She was surprised to realize that she wanted to lose herself to that power, to those urges, and that scared her.

The elevator dinged, snapping her out of her dark thoughts. She shook her head. She had to be careful. If she let herself be swept up by whatever energy, or power, she had trapped inside her, she thought it might end up controlling her completely. She stepped into the elevator and rode it down to the lobby and then walked outside.

“Ms. Henner?” the doorman greeted/asked. It wasn’t the same one as last night. This one was younger, handsomer.

He had very strong, Hispanic features and a charming smile.

“Hello, Felix,” she said, smiling.

He smiled back.

“You look…rather pretty today,” he complimented, tipping his hat.

“Thank you,” she replied, turning her head away from him to hide her sudden smile. She missed the frown that appeared on his face and the slight look of fear to his eyes. “Well, I gotta get to work. I’ll see you later.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Henner,” he told her.

She was starting to walk away when she caught a vague, forgotten scent in her nose. She turned around to look at Felix, trying to remember where she’d smelled his scent before.

“Are you okay, Ms. Henner?”

She fought to remember the forgotten details buried in her brain but couldn’t. After fighting with it for several seconds, she decided to let it go. It would come back to her at some point. In all likelihood, he just wore the same cologne as one of her co-workers or something.

“Uh…no. Nothing wrong. Have a good day, Felix.”

She told the driver where to go and waited in anxious anticipation.

This should be interesting, she thought to herself as she pictured everyone’s reaction at work. She couldn’t help it when another smile stretched her lips.

| | | | |

She strode through the doors of Bishop Media Solutions with strong confidence and a slight smirk. She could tell people were watching her with avid fascination. They all had inquisitive looks on their faces that she noticed out of the corner of her eyes. She didn’t meet anyone’s gaze though. She just kept walking. Actually, it was more like strutting. She felt her hips swaying sensually, almost as if they were doing it on their own. She loved the feel of her new and improved body. She felt like it fit her. Like it suited her. She had been trapped in that joke of a shell for too long and now that she knew what it was like to be free she didn’t ever want to go back.

She got to the door of her office and opened it. She could feel eyes on her back but it didn’t make her uncomfortable. Not like it used to. Truthfully, she enjoyed this new kind of attention.

Things are definitely going to be different from now on.

She walked inside. Her office was little but functional. There was a nice, wooden desk situated in front of a good-sized window. She had a little bookcase with several graphic design books on it and an iMac on her desk, its wireless keyboard and mouse situated very neatly in front. To the left was her phone and in the middle of her desk was a clutter of papers, thumbnails, and stray pens and pencils. The mess looked odd in her neat freak little world.

She started cleaning some of it up.

She was about halfway done when she was interrupted.

The door to her office opened. She glanced up and found Tyler staring back at her. A rage so powerful it nearly caused her to lunge at him exploded inside her. It made her want to eat up the distance between them so she could grab him by his throat and watch his cocky eyes flash in sudden, hot fear.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, taking in her new look. His eyes crawled over her and rested on her breasts longer than was necessary. He reminded her so much of Marco that she almost thought they could be the same person, just in different bodies. “I have got to say, love the new look.”

He eyed her again, a slow smile creeping onto his face. She could see wheels turning in his head. She smiled as she watched him and suddenly knew how she was going to get back at him. She could almost read Easy Mark on his forehead, lit up like a neon sign in Vegas.

He wanted to try that same old trick again? Okay. I can play along, she thought to herself.

“Love it a lot,” he said again, his voice more of a whisper.

He walked a little more into her office and closed the door behind him. She let him come closer.

“You really like it, huh?” she asked, forcing her voice into the mousy version it had been before she changed.

“Definitely.” He strode forward and sat down on the edge of her desk. “It beats the hell out of old Kendra any day.”

He leaned forward and she could smell his breath. It smelled like old coffee, toothpaste, and cigarettes.

“Can I help you with anything?” she asked, forcing her voice to sound even more subdued. It was a voice that practically screamed Take advantage of me!

“Actually, I just came in here to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“You know,” he said as he leaned in closer to her, his nose almost grazing the soft skin of her earlobe. “For helping me with my presentation yesterday.”

He was trying to get to her before she ratted him out to the boss. He was trying to make her think he was interested in her so that he could keep her under his control. Although she knew he was more into the flirtation this time around.

If this were a cartoon, his eyes would either be popping out of his head or smoking, she said to herself.

The thought gave her a mental image of Tyler with his eyeballs hanging out of his skull and sending thick columns of smoke into the ceiling. She suppressed a sudden urge to laugh out loud. Instead, she kept her face timid and her voice subdued.

Just like he was used to.

Wait for the right moment, her mind whispered to her.

“You’re welcome,” she said back, turning her face to his. Their lips were so close they almost touched. “But there’s something I want to tell you, Tyler.”

He watched her with those confident, cocky eyes. A small half-smile pulled up one corner of his mouth.

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

She smiled back for a minute more. It was a shy, timid thing at first. Then it turned into something else. Something almost sinister. Tyler saw it and quickly became less confident.

Kendra abruptly moved. She was so fast, she was barely more than a blur. Tyler, abruptly thrown off-kilter by her sudden disappearance, almost crashed into her chair. Then she was behind him. He didn’t really register what was going on. Not until it was too late.

Kendra dug her right hand through his hair and gripped hard. She slammed his head forward, into her desk, and she heard him yelp in sudden pain. She lifted his head back up. His nose was twisted slightly to one side and bleeding.

“Argh…what are you doing you psychotic bitch!?” he screamed. It was high-pitched and made him sound like a girl. “What are you-”

“You ever steal my ideas again,” she started, cutting him off. Her voice was iron hard and extremely scary. He flinched at the sound of it. “I’ll slice into your favorite body part so bad you’ll never get it up again. You understand me?”

He didn’t answer her quickly enough so she slammed his head into her desk again. His nose looked crooked and was, more than likely, broken. He yelped like a girl again. The cocky, self-assured asshole just got broken by a woman he walked all over yesterday and she loved it.

“Y-yeah. I mean n-no problem. I-it won’t h-happen again. I won’t steal y-your ideas a-anymore. Or a-anyone else’s. O-okay?” he asked, hoping it was good enough for her and she wouldn’t smash his face into her desk again.

“One more thing,” she whispered. “You came onto me and got forceful. I just defended myself.”

“W-what?” he asked, confused.

She slammed his head again.

“O-okay!” he yelled, crying now. “I c-came o-onto you. I got a l-little too gr-grabby. I’m s-sorry!”

She let him go, a howl of laughter whirling inside her head as she watched Tyler sob and bleed on himself.

Revenge really is sweet, she thought to herself. She walked back to her desk and sat down.

Tyler glanced at her for a second, his face full of shock, pain, humiliation, and a number of other emotions. She waved a hand at him, dismissing him from her office. He jetted out the door, holding a white handkerchief up to his broken, bloody nose. She heard a commotion outside but she ignored it.

Let them think whatever they want to, it doesn’t matter to me. Not anymore, she told herself. She’d gotten what she wanted. She brought Tyler down to where he belonged and enjoyed every last second of it. She smiled to herself, pleased, and then focused on her work.

She was just starting on some research for a new project when her phone rang.

“Hello,” she said into it, biting back a surge of impatience at being interrupted.

“Mr. Bishop needs to see you in his office. Now,” Natalie Paxton said. She was a really cold, emotionless sort of person and Kendra always felt uncomfortable around her.

The minute Natalie said Mr. Bishop wanted to see her, a surge of icy fear swept through her stomach.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” she responded, hanging up the phone. She could already see where this meeting was headed. She might as well box up her stuff right now.

She took a deep breath.

She let it fill her, focusing on it.

Soon, she’d calmed her nervous stomach down enough to where she thought she’d be okay. She stood up and smoothed the wrinkles out of her shirt. Then she walked out of her office and over to Elijah’s. It was down a long hallway that opened up into a small room with a solid wooden door. Framed artwork hung on the walls, most of it of medieval-looking subject material. An elegant, dark-wooden desk was situated to the left, and a petite girl with dark skin and hair was behind it, her hands flying across her keyboard. There were a couple of chairs against a wall next to her and Kendra took a seat in one, waiting to be called in.

The phone on Natalie’s desk rang and she picked it up and listened to the person on the other end for a minute.

“Okay. I’ll send her in,” she responded. She looked at Kendra, her eyes flat and kind of hostile for no apparent reason “Mr. Bishop will see you now.”

Kendra got up and walked to the door. Then she remembered her tattoo and hastily buttoned her shirt up, trying to block it from view. She didn’t mind showing it off to the other co-workers in the building, but she had no intention of flaunting it in front of her boss. She had no desire for him to see her as anything but professional. When she was done with the last button, she opened the door and walked inside.

Elijah’s office looked like the private study in somebody’s house. The carpet was a dark, hunter green and the walls were covered in bookshelves. Most of the books looked really old. Their leather bindings were cracked and darkened with age.

Kendra calmly (for the most part) walked over to Elijah’s desk, which looked about a hundred years old, and stood in between two elegant chairs with thickly padded seats. Elijah didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, he was going through his mail using an ornate letter opener made of gold and silver. He simply opened up his mail, scanned what was inside for a moment or two, and then moved on to the next.

She became very uncomfortable just standing there so she decided to focus on two tapestries hanging on the wall behind him. One of them was of a knight bearing a red cross on his chest and shield and the other was a forest scene with two knight-like figures in the bottom left corner.

He sure does love the medieval period, Kendra thought to herself.

Elijah’s continued silence was making her more and more nervous. She took a couple of calming breaths, catching the scents of the room in the process. It smelled like musty old books, leather polish, different liquors, and old cigar smoke. She even caught the scent Elijah’s old fashioned cologne, the kind of smell she probably would’ve smelled on her own father if she’d known him. Or maybe her grandfather…if she remembered him.

Her grandfather was the one that saved her from her mother. He caught her in the act of drowning his only grandchild and stopped her. He was also the one that took her in after her mom was hauled off to New Haven Asylum, but he died not long after. She tried to picture his face and couldn’t. Time had worn away his image like wind and storms erode cliffs.

She didn’t even have a picture of him.

She pushed the thoughts of her past out of her mind. Right then, she needed to be focused and alert. She had to be on top of her game if she wanted to keep her job.

“Sit down, Kendra,” Elijah finally said.

His voice was commanding but at the same time, gentle. She found no comfort in that, however. Elijah was a man that knew how to conceal what he was really feeling more ably than anyone she knew.

He gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“Thank you.” She took a seat and faced him. Elijah was a bear of a man. He was broad but carried himself and his brawniness well. It was impressive for someone his age. In addition to his massive build, he also had silver hair which was neatly trimmed and cut, giving him a distinguished look. His clear, blue eyes locked onto her own and held her there.

“I understand there was some kind of misunderstanding yesterday between yourself and Tyler Dawson.” He leaned back and folded his arms across his broad chest, watching her. It stretched the fabric of his expensive beige suit.

“Yes, sir. There was a misunderstanding but we were able to work things out on our own,” she replied.

“Right. I heard about your resolution. Something to do with breaking his nose?” he asked, the barest hint of a smile on his face.

“Yes, well, he thought he could take certain…liberties with me. I protested,” she explained, her confidence gaining with every minute.

“I assume that has to do with the way you’ve recently…,” he paused, eyeing her calmly to emphasize his point, “changed?”

“I guess. He believed he could take advantage of me like he has in the past. I politely told him he was mistaken. He didn’t like that so I had to defend myself,” she continued. She could tell Elijah didn’t believe her. Not at all, but she was equally sure that Tyler wouldn’t go around admitting freely what really happened or why.

“These are serious accusations, Kendra. If there is any truth to them then I’ll have to fire Tyler. I won’t have that kind of behavior in my firm,” he said. He looked at her seriously for a moment.

“Well, it was mostly harmless and like I said, we worked it out for ourselves. If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe Tyler will be a problem for me anymore,” she told him.

She was starting to get a guilty twinge at where this conversation was headed. She did get her revenge on Tyler, but she didn’t want him to lose his job over it. She hated him, but she wasn’t completely heartless.

“I won’t sue anyone for sexual harassment, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m more worried about you,” Elijah replied. “If there is any truth to what you say, then I want him out of here.” His eyes turned hard. “You’re like a second daughter to me, Kendra, and I protect my family ruthlessly.”

“There’s no need for that. Honest. Everything’s resolved,” she replied.

“If that’s what you want. But if you have any more problems with Tyler, I want to know about them before things escalate again. Understood?”

“I understand,” she answered him. “Is that all?”

He nodded. “For now.”

She got up and left. Outside the office, Natalie was still sitting there with her hands flying over her keyboard. When Kendra gave her a slight nod, her eyes narrowed and she frowned harshly. For whatever reason, Natalie seemed to hate her, but she could care less. She didn’t really know her and had never liked her that much anyway.

She made her way back to her office and shut the door behind her. She put the whole Tyler business out of her mind and got back to work.

The rest of the work day was uneventful.