Vivienne

Denise stood at the edge of the large pond that took up the western edge of her farm, spreading birdseed for the few ducks and geese that hadn’t flown to warmer climates.  “There you are my darlings, don’t worry you all will be just fine.”  She voiced gently to the waterfowl as they softly quacked close to her booted feet. 

Upon hearing another set of boots plodding through the light snow that had fallen during the evening, Denise pulled back the hood attached to her black duffel coat, and turned to face the man as he approached.  Flipping her dusky-blonde hair to one side Denise smiled sinfully as the man turned his beaten Chicago Cubs hat around and finished his approach by handing her a package from FedEx.

“Loved one.”  The man bowed and pulled Denise into his arms lightly. “I have some news for you.”

The Darla returned the hug and pulled back, “Why do you insist on calling me that, Raollet?” She offered as she blinked her deep set light hazel eyes.

“Because the others have decided that you are more a symbol than a person, Loved one.”  Raollet replied and ran a rough finger on Denise’s cheek just below her eye. “You haven’t slept at all, have you?  I haven’t seen your eyes this sunken before.”

Denise gave a quick kiss to Raollet’s hand, and took a step back from the six-foot ex-farmer turned captain. “Don’t worry about my sleep, Captain Mattson.  I get enough.”  She winked and opened the package.

Raollet laughed and shrugged, “Right, captain.  I keep forgetting that.”  Pulling off his old baseball cap and scratching his short salt and pepper hair, Raollet asked, “What is so important that you got it from…what Romania?”  He quickly flattened his hair and placed the cap back on his head, the bill once again facing backwards.

Pouring the contents from the opening, Denise held a small loop of silver jewelry with a perfectly cut and polished black quartz in the center. “It is a ferronnière, my dear Captain.”  She shook the quartz and cackled lightly, “Come here and clasp this under my hair, if you would.”

Raollet felt an unnatural shiver go up and down his spine when the small framed woman laughed.  Taking the small metal headband, he lifted Denise’s curly hair and clipped it as asked.  Gently turning the woman to him, he centered the crystal in the center of her forehead and took a step back. “It looks lovely, Loved one.”  Getting an eerie feeling, he looked at his hands. “Why are my fingers tingling?”

“Power my dear, The earth and a promise gave me more power.”  Denise looked down at the birds and realized that they all had stopped making noise.  Spreading the rest of the birdseed, Denise walked a few steps from her small flock and pointed. “Yes, even they felt it.”  Her light red-brown lips formed a wiry smile. 

“That was something I have never felt since you awakened me, Loved one.”  The captain added and flexed his fingers.

“It is all in the quartz, my dear Raollet.”  Spinning on her heels, Denise started walking to the back of her farmhouse, “Come along, let’s get warmed up and have a little breakfast.”

“Can we discuss my plan, or is ‘The Darla’ still not convinced of its success?”  Raollet followed Denise into her kitchen and closed the door behind him. “You would never suspect that the great ‘Darla’ would live in such a simple place.” He offered as he hung up both of their coats. “What did you mean it’s in the quartz?”

Denise pursed her thin lips and scrunched her slightly flawed nose causing it to bulge more than normal. “If the information that Wendy provided is right, then this quartz is the means to ending the conflict.”  She put on a water kettle and grabbed some Earl Grey tea from her light oak cupboard and placed them into a couple of wide cobalt blue mugs. “I believe that Richards found the head of this particular serpent.”  Denise added and leaned against her aluminum sink.

Leaning back and running his hands through the straps of his faded overalls, Raollet shook his head. “I don’t know why you made that deal.  You preach that the path has us wiping them out, not making deals with them.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  Denise crossed her arms over her small chest, “I have told you many times, Captain Mattson, killing them all is impossible.”  Wiggling her finger she added, “We can take care of the population here, make it a free zone for all that have been awakened.”

“You just don’t want to leave the farm, Denise.”  Raollet chuckled and pointed to his cup, “Splenda, please, madam.”  He winked, “I have to watch my figure, right?” He saw Denise with one eyebrow raised and suddenly recalled his hat. “Oh, sorry.” He hung the cap on the back of the chair, “Well? Are you going to tell me what is in the black stone there?”

“No, Captain.  The less you know the better.”  Denise sternly warned as she pulled the whistling kettle off the stove and poured the boiling water into the cups. “Wendy is becoming a problem.  I taught her too much and she can’t handle it.”  She stepped over to a small light pine container and pulled out a couple yellow packets, emptying them in Raolett’s cup. “You know enough to do the job you are doing, my dear.”

He watched Denise’s soft movements through her violet dress as she placed the cup of tea in front of him. “I was watching when she smashed her phone, you know.”  He blew lightly across the hot water and sipped the tea. “That was akin to a temper tantrum.”

Denise raised one of her light eyebrows, forming a wicked curl. “Don’t worry about that, I sent her a new one.”  She looked at the clock, “However, she has been ignoring the call.”

“Tell me you didn’t use the rest of the kyanite Denise.” Raollet put his cup back on the table and looked down shaking his head. “My plan needs the reserve in case of an emergency.”

“Gaia gives and takes, my friend.” Denise pulled a few eggs and bacon from her old round fifties looking refrigerator. “Should I approve this thing you are planning, I have enough kyanite.”

“I can’t believe that you sent her a phone.  You should have sent the commandos to remove the problem in the first place.” Raollet stood up and slipped behind Denise, hugging the small woman. “I still think a fully formed squad with two infiltrators and a commando team would have done everything you wanted.”

Denise patted his rough hands lightly, “Hindsight is 20/20.” She put her old iron skillet on the stove and let it start to heat up. “I do not have clairvoyance, Raollet.”

Raollet kissed Denise on the neck lightly, “Everyone can see she is a little unbalanced, other than you.”

Slipping free of the farmer’s attention, Denise pulled the man’s hands from around her waist. “I have asked you not to do that before, my friend.” Denise pointed back at the chair, “Drink your tea.”  She cracked and mixed the eggs in a bowl with a little salt, pepper and cinnamon. “I can’t figure out why you insist on pressing the issue, I have told you before that I am not in love with you.”  She set the bowl aside and opened the wax paper with the bacon in it and tossed four pieces in the pan, sending a plume of steam into the air and making the meat sizzle loudly. “I love someone else, always have.”

“She abandoned you over fifty years ago, Denise.”  He tapped Denise on the shoulder, drawing her attention from the window she’d started staring through. “What are the odds that she is alive now anyway?  We all didn’t get the gift of youth that you did.”  He looked up and thought for a few seconds, “She’d be what..about ninety now?”

“About that, yes.”  Denise looked away from the light gray clouds that seemed heavy with more snow and flipped the bacon. “I don’t know why I still look like I am in my early twenties, Raollet.”  She shrugged, “I am aging though, it is just extremely slow.”  Looking back over her shoulder to her friend, Denise added, “I think it is about one year for every ten to fifteen that I am living.”

“All the more proof that you are like the others say you are, Loved one.”  Lifting the big cup to his lips, Raollet took another sip of his tea, “If you love her so much, then why do you spend intimate time with me, Miss Crow?”

Denise pushed the bacon to the side of the pan so it would finish cooking and poured the egg mixture into the skillet. “I have never said I loved you.”  Denise quipped and instantly regretted it. “I shouldn’t have said that.”  She started scrambling the eggs in the pan, “I do care about you, deeply.  It is why I am still pondering that plan of yours.”  Opening another cabinet and pulling down a couple plates, she dished out the steaming contents and placed a plate in front of Raollet. “Our numbers are thinning too much.”  She sat down and started eating slowly. “I can’t awaken people fast enough.”

Raollet reached for the hot sauce on the table, “We lost Hamilton last night.”  

Denise glared at her captain, “You could have led with that.”  She poked her fork into her eggs, “That leaves Wendy as our only infiltrator.”

Once more leaning back in the old steel chair, Raollet rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know how the blood fiends got him.  His spotter is still alive and well, it is like they somehow saw him in the darkrealm.”  He looked up at Denise, “The poor girl watched his body turn to ash beside her.  Captain Addison is trying to calm the girl down, but she’s still not really awakened.”

“She is awakened, Captain Mattson.”  Denise dropped her fork onto her plate and looked at her captain. “If you had been doing your job and trained her like we agreed, she wouldn’t be getting PTSD counseling from Heather.” Balling her hand into a fist to absorb her rising annoyance, Denise took a breath and continued. “I have been telling you all for months now that overuse of the darkrealm will enable them to adapt.  I gave specific instructions to limit all excursions to fifteen minutes or less.”  She pointed at her subordinate, “Why am I telling you, of all people, how deadly and adaptive they are? You should know by now, damn it.”

“Approve my plan then. Let’s take back what’s ours.”  Raollet begged, “I won’t even use the darkrealm.” He raised his eyebrow when Denise’s phone beeped and went active. “The prodigal daughter answers.”

Denise sat back down in her chair and resumed eating, ignoring the phone. “Your plan will use most of the reserves and if it goes badly, all that I have left of our kyanite.”  Placing the active phone on the table, she kept talking to her captain. “However, since Wendy has once more disobeyed my instructions…We have no other options.”  Denise nodded and a wicked smile crossed her visage. “Do it, Captain. Make them pay.”

“Yes, Loved one.” Raollet confirmed and spoke to Wendy first, “Miss Richards. I assume you will explain why you decided to ignore a call from The Darla? I am sitting here with her now and she is very displeased with your actions.”

“Forgive me, Loved one.”  Wendy offered tiredly over the phone. “I had good reason to not answer, I passed out once I got back to my room.”

“Richards…”  Captain Mattson grew more stern, “...You had plenty of time to answer on your way back to said room.  This insubordination will not continue, I am sending a squad out there right now to bring you in.”  Raollet looked and saw the concerned look that crossed Denise’s face and winked.

“I-I…”  Wendy sighed into the phone, “...no need for that.”  Wendy gulped audibly over the phone, “I am heading back anyway.”  Wendy paused long enough to make a point. “Per. My. Orders, Sir.”

Captain Mattson’s eyes widened and he stared questioningly at Denise, “See what I mean?”  He silently mouthed.

Denise nodded and held up her hand, “Wendy, dear.” She coaxed sweetly.

“Ye-yes, Loved one?”  Wendy’s defensive tone disappeared, replaced with a twinge of fear.

“Tell me that you found something useful.”  Denise paused to take a bite of her bacon, “You also broke protocol.”  Leaning down close to the phone and her voice hollow once more, “What were you supposed to do, Infiltrator Richards?”  Denise paused until she heard Wendy take a hesitant breath, “Wendy, I know you are pondering it, but don’t try to lie to me again.  If you think a phone is all I can send, you are sadly mistaken.”

“Loved one, I will be back at the farm in about two or three hours.  Do you want everything now or when I arrive?”  Wendy carefully dodged the question, “I also have to bring in Brian Ashburn, you know the one I told you about?”

Raollet hit the mute button on Denise’s phone, “The woman is avoiding answering you again, Loved one.  Forget her information.  She needs to be stopped now.”

“Captain, control yourself.”  Denise pointed at his plate. “You will need every ounce of food you have, to prepare your plan.”  Denise took a deep breath and pressed the mute button again, resuming the call. “I asked you a question, Infiltrator.”  Denise pressed, “You can keep your information until you arrive, I asked you what you were supposed to do.”

“You told me to use all my tools and not engage.” Wendy defeatedly answered.

“Thank you.”  Denise started clapping into her receiver. “You spent longer than fifteen minutes in the darkrealm, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t have much choice, I was trapped.” Wendy partly snarled over the phone.

“Your indiscretion and lack of planning got Hamilton killed, so you are the only infiltrator we have left.  Captain Mattson and Addison will need you with an operation, so pick up Mister Ashburn and bring him to me.”  Denise dismissed Wendy’s excuse and disconnected the call.

“What will happen if the others see her little rebellion in front of you, Denise?” Raollet cautioned and finished his breakfast. “I can’t use her for the plan, if I can’t trust her.”  He held up a finger, “Who is this Brian Ashburn she was talking about?”

“She stumbled onto him while she was looking into the girl Casey Rivers, you discovered.”  Denise finished her meal and gathered the plates, placing them in the sink. “According to her, he’s had the mark since birth and awakened him.”

“She awakened him?” The captain sounded concerned.

Turning on the water, Denise started to clean up from breakfast. “I will know more when I meet him.”  She points a soapy hand out of her small window. “You’d better get started, it looks like more snow is coming.”