On her way to her final confrontation with the Cat Goddess, Becca gets "all fired up" defending Tommy, gives some enemies a little space, gets a front row seat for Heather's awakening, and learns things about magical predators she could never see on The Discovery Channel. Spells at twenty paces, anyone?

by Randalynn

---

 
 

"It's always better to sacrifice your opponent's men." -- Savielly Tartakower
 
"A man surprised is half beaten." -- Thomas Fuller
 
"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost
always end up where I need to be." -- Douglas Adams
 
 

"I am The Advocate," I replied in a voice that boomed and echoed through the stairwell and down the halls beyond. "Chosen by the Omnipresence to stand between humanity and those who prey on them with magic. That's you, in case you missed tonight's program." I narrowed my eyes and let the magic flare briefly. "You've tortured a lot of people, changed them against their will -- even driven one of them to the brink of insanity. That's what brought me here, to stop you all. I was going to try and keep this civil. I wanted to bring you all down as gently as I could, since you might be victims, too. But then ... oh, then you tried to hurt the boy I love. Do you know what that means?" The three girls, still holding hands, looked up at me in shock and shook their heads in unison. I raised both arms over my head, letting a massive ball of energy boil into existence and grow until it filled the stairway above me, and shouted. "You all get to DIE!" As I hurled the nasty-looking fireball towards the shocked trio, I tried to suppress a grin, and failed. But I did my best to make it look like an evil grin, to keep the girls scared. The truth was, I was just . . . happy. I mean, I had figured out how to stop the Cat Goddess's "children," but that was only part of it. The waiting was finally over. Battle had finally been joined. And Tommy had finally made it to second base! I almost giggled as the fireball flew towards its targets. It was good to know I had my priorities straight.

The expressions on their faces were priceless -- raw fear mixed with surprise and desperation. They still held each other's hands tightly as the orb grew closer, lighting them with its unearthly glow. Just before it reached them, they screamed, let go of each other, and threw themselves out of its path. The fireball flew over them with a terrible roar, a white-hot unstoppable meteor of destruction . . .

. . . that disappeared without a sound when it hit the far wall, leaving only a harmless mist that drifted down to the floor and vanished.

You didn't think I was REALLY going to kill them, did you? What kind of girl do you think I am? I just wanted them frightened and confused -- and as far away from each other as possible.

So I could do . . . this.

I pointed at the first girl and focused my will. "Bibbity . . ." I said with a smile, and she vanished with a pop.

The second opened her mouth to say something, but I held up a palm, then snapped my fingers at her and said "Bobbety . . ." And she was gone, too.

The third started scuttling back on her bottom, trying to get out of range of my power. Her eyes were wide and her lips were trembling, but I kept projecting anger and hate as I swooped down at her and stopped, only inches from her face. I reached out with one finger and touched the tip of her nose with a smile, and shouted . . .

"Boo!" And she was somewhere else.

The hallway was empty.

God, I love the classics.

"Where did they go?"

The voice came from behind me. I turned, shocked.

Tommy was standing on the stairs, breathing hard.

For some reason, I found it hard to speak. After a while, the words finally spilled forth. "But I sent --"

"-- me back to my homeroom, yeah." His lip quirked. "But that didn't mean I had to stay there. Did you think I was going to miss this?"

I smiled and shook my head. "I had hoped."

"Damn, Becca! That was wild! Why did you send me away?"

"Because it was too dangerous for you to stay. They kept trying to spell you, and I didn't want to wind up having to go bra shopping with my boyfriend because he needed to wear one too." I bit my lip. "I also didn't want to lose my edge because I was worried about keeping you safe instead of getting them out of the way."

Tommy nodded, and took a few steps down to stand beside me. "So you're the Advocate, huh? 'Protector of humanity.' Was that on the level?"

My turn to nod. "Pretty much."

"Magic?" I nodded again. "Any superpowers?"

I shrugged. "Stronger, faster, harder to hurt, quicker to heal. Sort of like Wolverine, only prettier and without the claws ... or the sideburns."

He laughed and put his arms around me, and we kissed for a very long time. When we broke from the kiss, I looked up into his eyes to see him smiling back. "What?"

"Nice to see some things haven't changed."

I gave him a sideways look. "You're taking this pretty well."

"I'm a little mad that you kept something this big from me, but I'm not really that surprised." Tommy gave me a squeeze. "I always knew you were special. I just didn't know HOW special."

He kissed me again, and I shook my head and bit his chin softly. "Silly Tommy, running back here after I sent you to safety. BAD Tomcat."

Tommy placed his finger gently on my lips. "Witchy woman or not, you're still my girl," he said in a tone that allowed no argument. "And with me gone, it was three against one. Besides, it cuts down on the 411, right?" I nodded. "I still have a lot more questions, though . . . Advocate."

"I'll answer them, I promise."

There was a long silence, then Tommy spoke again. "What did you do with them?"

"Hmmm?"

"The girls. What did you do with them? You didn't hurt 'em -- I know you. You wouldn't do that. All that 'you all get to die' stuff?" He shook his head and laughed. "Not my girlfriend. So . . . you sent them somewhere." I nodded. "Where?"

"Away," I replied. "Into their own individual pocket universes."

He raised an eyebrow. "In English, Becs?"

I shook my head and smiled. "Something like personal prisons for each girl. There's nobody there except for them, and time flows so slowly that they haven't even realized they're caught yet."

I could see the confusion in his eyes. "I got to give you points for creativity, babe, but why go to all that trouble?"

"Because I saw how their magic worked," I said with a grin, "and how to stop it from working. In the past, no one ever had the power to fight back, so none of them had ever learned how to shield. All they had was offensive magic, with nothing for defense. And every time they tried to spell you, I noticed they had to join hands to power up. That meant none of them were strong enough magically to do anything alone. So . . ."

"So you made them alone." Tommy smiled slowly. "VERY alone. Smart, babe. I am officially impressed."

I smiled back. "I have my moments." We stole another kiss. The bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom. We both began walking back to the classroom area, holding hands.

"Soooo ... game over?" Tommy asked, giving my hand a squeeze. I gave him a look, and he shrugged. "I mean, all the other players have left the field, so I thought --"

I stopped in the hall. There were five "children" (not including the demon I had transformed earlier). I had only isolated three. Gwen and another girl were still out there, doing who knew what.

"There are two more, Tommy," I said. "I need to find them and get them contained, too, before they realize their 'sisters' are missing."

"But there's only two of them -- how much damage can they do?"

"Three of them would have had you in a 36GGG bra without breaking a sweat," I replied. "Two of them could cause a lot of pain if I don't stop 'em first." I started running back toward the locker rooms.

"Becca! Wait!" Tommy shouted. I skidded to a stop and gave him a look. "Why are you running? Can’t you just find them with magic?"

I gave myself a mental kick, and sighed. "Yes, I can. Easily, too. Why didn't I think of that?"

Tommy walked up to me and kissed me on the forehead. "Maybe you had something else on your mind?"

I grabbed him and kissed him hard. "Tommy Santino, you are a dangerous man."

"Absolutely. Especially to you, Becca. You were right. You got work to do, so I need to go." He grinned, kissed me again, and looked into my eyes. "Be careful. Be safe. And be . . . incredible."

"I'll do my best." I spun him around and swatted him across the back of his jeans. "Now get to homeroom, danger boy, and let me do my job."

"Yes, ma'am." He started running. "Good luck, Becs! Go take 'em down."

I watched his butt as he ran down the hall, until he turned the corner and was gone. 'Mmmmmmm,' I thought with a smile. 'The sooner I get to work, I sooner I get my hands on that again.'

A girl's got to have goals, after all.

###

I closed my eyes and reached out across the school, searching for Gwen. She wasn't hard to find. Her base magic level was so strong, it made her and the last of the Cat's human "children" burn like magnesium flares against the mundane backdrop of the rest of the student body. I overlaid a mental map of the building and figured out where they were, but hit a snag when I caught a glimpse of another magic user a short distance from them both.

Heather.

My initial reaction was to get between them before Gwen could do something nasty. I was halfway through the teleport process when I stopped myself. I'd met Gwen once, and although she probably didn't even remember me, one of the girls might have sent out a cry for help before I transported her. 'This could be a trap,' I thought, 'and I'd be pretty damned stupid to just "pop" in unprepared.'

Instead, I concentrated and sent my vision and hearing to the hallway where the three of them stood.

"-- a girly girl you are, Heather," Gwen gushed sweetly. She and her companion had blocked Heather's way, making it impossible for her to get by and make it to homeroom. "That's a beautiful outfit you're wearing. And your make-up is perfect!"

Heather just stood there, books clasped to her chest, waiting for Gwen to finish and let her move past. "You've done so well as a girl! I bet you absolutely love it, don't you?" Gwen waited for an answer, but Heather said nothing. Her tone grew sharp. "Don't you just love being a girl, Hunter? All pretty and soft and sweet?"

At first, I thought Heather would just shrug it off, as she had before. She was silent for a moment, and I saw Gwen's smile grow. Then Heather came back with the biggest smile I'd ever seen her wear. Gwen's grin faltered, and Heather laughed.

"As a matter of fact," she said, "I do. I love every minute of it." Gwen's mouth dropped open in shock. "What you did was the best thing that ever happened to me. You wanted me to suffer, but you gave me everything I ever wanted instead. Now I have a family, a life . . . and someone to love." She laughed again. "You screwed up big time, bitch. I'm happier than I've ever been. EVER. So if this is your best shot at humiliating me . . . well, maybe you'd better step aside and give a new wicked witch of the west a turn, 'cause you REALLY suck at it!"

I laughed in my empty hallway as Gwen was struck totally speechless. Heather walked right up to her, then right past her and down the hallway. At the end, she stopped and turned.

"Oh, and as for YOUR outfit," she said sarcastically, "PUH-LEEZE! I may have only been a girl for a couple of weeks, but I have more style now than you'll ever have. You look like you think coordinating your clothes means making sure they all come off of the same clearance rack at Wal-Mart." Heather's eyes narrowed. "You really could use a fashion consultant, dear. Maybe you could ask the lunch lady for help."

'Wow,' I thought, 'Heather really DOES have this girl thing down pat.'

Gwen's eyes bulged, and she grabbed the hand of the girl standing beside her. I watched the magic flare, and Heather seemed to see it, too, although she didn't seem frightened by it.

"Maybe I was too nice to you," Gwen growled, and her partner yelped as Gwen's hand tightened. "Maybe you'd be better off as a girl who can't say no, on your knees for every pimple-faced boy in the class! See how it feels to be the hottest slut in the eighth grade!" The magic began to build, a reddish glow that filled the hallway.

"Bring it on, Raggedy Ann," Heather crowed, dropping her books and taking on a ready stance. "Bring it on!"

With a muffled roar, Gwen threw a wave of magical energy ten foot high and twice as deep down the hall towards Heather. I reached out and sampled the spell, weighing its elements and composition while I got ready to snatch Heather out of harm's way if her own powers didn't kick in. As the spell surged forward, Heather didn't flinch. She stood like a statue, grim determination etched into her face. It looked oddly at home framed by the gentle beauty she had become in her two weeks as a girl. It made me proud to see how much she'd grown in so short a time.

Just before the wave reached her, Heather raised a hand. In response, the energy seemed to fold in upon itself, and Gwen watched in horror as the entire wall of energy collapsed into a shrinking sphere. It grew smaller and smaller until it reached the size of a softball, bounced twice, and landed softly in Heather's palm. She caught it easily, with a smile that told me her abilities had manifested and she was pleased with how she'd done.

Gwen and her friend were stunned, and Heather tossed the ball of energy up in the air a few times for effect. Then her eyes sparkled, and her smile grew.

"Hey, Gwen-doh-lynnn," she said, teasing. "Wanna see if I throw like a girl now?" Gwen's eyes grew wide an instant before Heather casually pitched the contained magic back at her with an underhand toss. "Catch!"

I felt the magic flare as Gwen panicked and sent out a hard beam of magical force to try and destroy the ball before it could reach her. 'A shield would be better,' I thought, 'but she never learned to shield either. She'll only wind up destroying the containment bubble Heather set up to trap the magic -- and set her own spell free.'

I grinned. This was going to be fun.

The beam hit the ball head on, dissolving the bubble and setting free the wall of energy Gwen had thrown at Heather earlier. It hit both girls before they could do more than open their mouths to scream. Gwen had sent way too much magic at Heather, so the amount in the wave Heather returned was more than sufficient to change both of the Cat Goddess's "children" . . . into exactly the kind of girl Gwen wanted Heather to become.

When the glow faded, Gwen and her friend looked . . . well, easy. And cheap. Think tight minis with lacy trim, tighter tube tops and bare bellies, wild hair and cheap earrings and just a bit too much make-up. Both tottered on high-heeled low-rise boots, and had virtual talons at the end of each finger painted bright red. The expressions on their faces were priceless, and Heather burst into a fit of giggles watching them check themselves out and scream when they saw what the other one looked like.

Gwen freaked when she realized she wasn't wearing any panties.

"Oh my GOD!" Her whole body went rigid. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" Heather could barely speak through her laughter. "It was your spell! Now you're both girls who can't say no. Of course panties would just get in the way!"

Gwen growled and grabbed for her sibling's hand, and I saw the magic flare again. 'Maybe they're both sluts now,' I realized, 'but still powerful. Time for me to make an entrance.'

I popped in behind Heather and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to me and smiled, and I could see Gwen's jaw drop at my sudden appearance.

"Nice work, sis," I said, giving her a hug, "especially without any attack magic."

"Use your opponent's strengths against her," she replied happily. "You taught me that when you told me how you handled Leander's first confrontation."

I smiled. "Nice to see you were listening. Hang on a sec." I stepped around her and faced the two newest additions to the school's lowest rung. "Excuse me, Gwen?"

She heard me call her by name, and her confusion made the magical energies she had begun to summon subside slightly. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"Not really. We met in the hospital, while you were tormenting your older brother Mike. Remember? He was the one in diapers." Gwen's eyes narrowed. "I'm the Advocate, designated protector of those transformed and tortured by people like you. I'm here to kick your scantily-clad butt into next year. But frankly, right now I'm the least of your problems."

"What do you mean?" The other girl spoke, and Gwen turned to her with a scowl.

"Quiet, Libby!" she growled. Libby took a step back but didn't break the hand link.

I smiled. "In a little over a minute, two geeks from the AV/tech squad are going to come around that corner with hall passes and very active fantasy lives. About a minute after that, you're all going to be in the empty computer lab at the end of the hall, and you'll be showing them exactly what it feels like to do all the nasty things they find on the 'Net when they disable the school's filter software." I grinned. "And thanks to your own spell, you'll be loving every minute of it -- enough to want to do it over and over again."

The two girls recoiled in horror, and I nearly laughed, turning the knife. "Heck, I bet those boys will cut classes for the first time in their lives just to spend the rest of the day with you. Maybe the weekend, too?"

I reached out with all of my senses as I spoke the next words. "You have two choices. You could decide to embrace your inner slut and welcome them when they get here, or you could go back to being the 'bitch kitties' you were before your little . . . accident. It's your spell, right? Otherwise, with those two to keep you busy, you won't have a chance to go back, not for hours . . . or even days. And thanks to the spell, you wouldn't want to, even if you could. After all, if I were either of those boys and you fell into my lap, I wouldn't let you out of my sight -- ever. Would you?"

Gwen and Libby looked at each other, joined both hands, and concentrated. As the magic flared, I recorded everything, analyzed the energies and the spells involved, and watched them revert to how they were moments before, just as the boys rounded the corner. They walked past the two girls without a second look and went into the lab.

The girls stepped away from each other, looking down to see if they were completely back to normal.

'That's my cue,' I thought happily. I focused, snapped my fingers, and watched Libby disappear. Gwen looked up and saw her vanish, then turned to me just in time for me to send her away as well.

I looked at the empty hallway, then looked back at Heather, and grinned.

"Damn, I'm good!" I said, and held up my hand. Heather grinned back and slapped it hard, and then I just lost it and squealed like a little girl.

My first real battle as the Advocate, and I smoked 'em all! I had captured every Goddess kitten ... well, the human ones, at least ... and emerged completely unscathed.

"Becca?" Heather was looking at me a little oddly. "Are you ... bigger up top?"

'Well, almost unscathed,' I amended in my head. 'Good thing I like me this way.'

'I'm betting Tommy will, too.'

###

I brought Heather up to speed on the morning, and her eyes lit up at the capture of all of her tormentors.

We sat under a tree near the cafeteria. I had spelled all of our teachers so they would mark us as present and not call upon either of us until we were actually in class. It was a variant of the Arbiter's avoidance spell, so I knew it would work well. I had also cast the avoidance spell on Heather and I, so we would not be noticed sitting out here when we should be in class.

"And the best part of it all," I said, "is that your little trick with the spell 'ball' and Gwen's response to it gave me the key to restoring the boys."

"OhmyGod!" she squealed, bouncing up and down. "How?"

I laughed out loud and put my hands on her shoulders. "Calm down, girl, and I'll tell you." She immediately tried to sit perfectly still, hands folded in her lap, but her eyes were wide and I could see her whole body trembling with excitement. I shook my head and smiled.

"When Gwen threw that spell at you, I analyzed it 'on the fly.' One of the things I can do as the Advocate is take a spell apart and figure out how it works, so I can counter it."

"So now you know how to change reality?"

"Sort of," I admitted, "in a limited way. I can change a person into someone else and make his or her new existence part of the new reality. It's not something I plan to make a habit of, but still good to know if I ever need it."

"Why not use it?"

I shook my head. "The Omnipresence has a plan, and it doesn't need help from me messing around with reality. So, emergency use only." Heather nodded.

"Anyway," I continued, "it was when Gwen and Libby changed themselves back that I was able to untangle the reversal spell."

"All right! Becca, you ROCK!" Heather shouted, and started scrambling to her feet. "Let's go rescue Mike and his friends!"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. "We can't do it now, hon." She looked at me, confused. I sighed. "It's the middle of the day. The 'girls' are surrounded by people who think the only magic in the world happens on stage or at a kid's birthday party. I'm not sure the reversal will work if it's witnessed by the non-magical -- they believe too strongly in the reality that is, and that belief has power of its own. Tonight, we'll 'port into each of their rooms and change them back while the rest of the world is sleeping."

"As for the rest of the day --"

My comment was cut short by a low rumbling that seemed to come from everywhere. The ground shook, and the sunlight was washed out by a brighter white glow that flared all around us. There were screams from inside the school, and then we heard a voice so loud it seemed to bounce and echo from every flat surface for miles around.

"Where ... ARE ... MY ... CHILDREN??"

"Ah," I said, as Heather's mouth dropped open. "That would be the rest of the day's agenda." I dropped the avoidance spell. People would have other things to worry about now.

"The Cat Goddess? She's HERE?" Heather jumped to her feet and started looking around. I rose slowly, and dusted off the back of my skirt. "Where?"

A familiar voice spoke from behind us. "I would not worry about finding her, Heather. She will find us soon enough."

I turned to find Leander standing ready, her eyes trained on the school. She was wearing what appeared to be some sort of battle suit. Her curves were wrapped in soft black glove leather from neck to ankle and she wore calf-high black leather boots with two-inch heels. There was a group of small throwing daggers on a belt at her hips, and a long sword strapped to the center of her back with the hilt protruding over her left shoulder. Her hair was held in a thick braid that fell down across her right breast.

I smiled. "Hi, Leander. Nice of you to join us." She bowed her head briefly, her eyes never leaving the school. "Bold fashion choice. Dominatrix meets World of Warcraft."

Her lip twitched. "Thank you, milady. It is enchanted armor. It adds to my shielding -- makes it harder for enemies to use aggressive magic." The twitch turned into a smile. "But I've also heard it said a girl can never go wrong with basic black."

"Oh? Try wearing it to a wedding and see how many people complain." I grinned. "What brings you out here?"

"You mean other than a major magical event?" Leander snorted and shook her head. Her blonde hair gleamed in the unearthly glow that still radiated around us. "Every sensitive within a thousand miles of here must have felt the earth shake and turned their heads to face the light. Since I knew this was your school, I thought you might need my help."

The voice thundered again. "Where ... ARE ... MY ... CHILDREN??"

"Ah." Leander smiled in understanding. "That would be araNyamArjAra?"

"Yes, but her friends all call her 'kitty.'" Heather stifled a giggle, and Leander sighed.

"I take it you have her children?"

I sighed. "Guilty as charged." I went on to explain about how I disarmed them all, and how I managed to figure out how to cure the harm they caused. Leander nodded.

"Which only leaves the one task left undone," she said.

"Bring them to me, or DIE!" The Cat Goddess shrieked, her tone a mixture of anger and fear.

"I guess I'd best be about it, then," I replied with a wink. I turned to Heather. "When I bring her to me, I'm going to need you to shield the entire school building. There are innocents in there. They must be protected."

Heather nodded. "I'll take care of it."

I smiled. "I know you will." Heather hugged me hard, then turned and ran back towards the school. I turned to Leander.

"I'm not sure exactly how this will go," I said, holding her eyes with mine. "But I know this isn't going to be as simple as her 'children' were, and all those pain demons she has on the payroll could make things . . . interesting. I'll be counting on you to keep them busy."

Still staring into my eyes, Leander nodded and drew her sword. It hummed as the magic in it met the ambient magic in the air. She held it aloft and smiled.

"I have been absent from the battlefield for a long time, Becca. But I will keep you safe, now and always."

She lowered the sword, put her hand on my shoulder, and took her place beside me.

"So, milady" said Leander, "if it pleases, let us end this. Now."

I teleported us both to the athletic fields, to put some distance between the potential battleground and the school. Heather's powers had only just awakened, and to expect her to protect the school and everyone in it from a full-scale assault so soon wouldn't be fair, or prudent. The best I could hope for was to keep the students and the building safe from stray shots, to avoid what the military calls "collateral damage."

We materialized on the side of the field usually reserved for the Home team. I didn't have a lot of school spirit, but I figured a lot of students had cheered on a lot of players to their share of victories here. If so much of magic came from sheer force of will, I reasoned, perhaps the "home field" advantage might give us a bit of a psychic edge. I raised the volume on my voice to match the Cat Goddess and echoed my words psychically, to reach out both physically and magically.

"araNyamArjAra!" I called, a challenge in my tone. "I have the ones you seek! They are my prisoners. No harm has come to them. Come, join me. We need to talk."

In less than a second, the other side of the field was full of a giant angry Cat Woman and a dozen happy pain eaters. The demons floated above the Cat Goddess, in a variety of forms. Some were unbearably beautiful, while others were hideous beyond description. But now that I knew them for what they were, I could see past the physical form to feel the core of every one of them, radiating a predator's self-satisfied knowledge that everything else was prey.

The Cat stood with every muscle tensed, her eyes bright with repressed anger, teeth bared and hackles up. Even with her teats swollen with milk, she looked fierce. 'Which is no surprise,' I reflected, 'seeing as how I've gone and stolen her children.'

"Where are my young!" she thundered. "How dare you take them from me!"

I raised one hand, palm out. "Hold, goddess," I said calmly, my volume still matching hers. "I took your children because they attacked several people under my protection, and have hurt other humans with the magic you have given them."

"What of it?" Her tail jerked back and forth, driven by anger and frustration. "Humans are everyone's prey, and my children need to learn to distance themselves from their heritage and become strong if they are to become as I am."

I let my magic flare and rose several feet from the ground. Leander remained below, sword at the ready. Her eyes never left the pain eaters, which pleased me, since that meant she trusted me to deal with the Cat alone. I wished I trusted me that much.

"Times have changed, araNyamArjAra." I smiled slowly. "Humans are no longer simply prey."

"Oh?" She grinned scornfully. "And why is that?"

"Because we stand between the predators and my people," I replied, "and we will not be moved."

The Cat looked down at my companion. "The one below I remember. Leander, is it not?" Leander nodded without taking her eyes off of the pain demons. The Cat sniffed. "A wizard and warlord, if I recall. I stripped him of his magic and turned him into a farmer's wife." She grinned. "Not much of a champion, girl. Not quite the hero, even when he was still a man."

"You did have to take me while I slept, Cat," Leander growled. "Remember that when you remember the rest." Her eyes flashed, and a bolt of lightning flew down and struck the metal goalpost. It vibrated like a tuning fork, and the tone made the pain demons reach up and cover their ears. The Cat looked at me in surprise.

"She has more of the hero in her than you might think." I grinned. "People change, and often for the better. Especially after 500 years."

"Well, she may have her magic back, but she's five centuries out of practice." The Goddess dismissed Leander with a shake of her head and turned her eyes to me. "And who are you, girl, that you think yourself so powerful you can steal my young and dictate terms?"

I looked back at her. "I am the Advocate, chosen by the Omnipresence to be humanity's protector. I am here to restore the balance and fight those who would harm my people through magic."

She stared at me for a moment, then laughed. The pain eaters joined in, and I had the sense I'd become the punch line of a joke only magical predators "get." I continued to float there as they laughed, and waited for it to end before continuing.

"Laugh if you wish," I said, my voice a model of calm indifference, "but I did take the girls from you, and with an ease that even the most powerful demigod should find disturbing."

"They are still growing, girl, with much to learn," the Cat purred, her eyes little more than emerald slits. "And they still need to leave their humanity behind. It makes them weak -- although they are learning."

"Whether being human makes them weak or not, they are still gone -- and taken by my hand. And for all your power, you cannot find them. So what does that make you?" I smiled.

"Angry," she hissed, her hackles rising.

"And frightened," I added in a helpful tone. She looked away, clearly upset at being read so easily. "Both emotions you share with humans." She said nothing. After a short time, I tried again. "By your own experience, you know not all humans are weak. Gilgamesh once fought you to a standstill."

She glared at me, and her tail jerked back and forth. "You know more about me than I would like."

I grinned. "I read a lot."

She waved a paw, and shrugged. "No matter. Gilgamesh was different. He had the blood of a god in his veins, and enough strength to earn my respect. You are merely --"

The Cat paused, and her expression changed. "You are not what you seem, girl. More than human, somehow." She seemed to sniff the air, and tasted it with her tongue. "And familiar ..."

"She is my daughter, goddess." Akomachi appeared in the air beside me, and I felt a wave of love flow through my soul. She smiled a predator's smile as she turned her attention to the Cat. "Not long ago, we two became one ... for a time. In the sharing, she became as much kitsune as she is human. Afterwards, she honored me with acceptance as her mother, so at least part of my dream is realized. I am no longer alone."

"I give you joy of your new kit," the Cat Goddess said with a smile, "although I would wish you had kept her on a tighter leash, so to speak. She has taken my children, and if she is now truly kitsune, it is an attack from one pantheon upon another. Justice must be served."

"She is also human," the fox spirit replied, "and it is in her role as the human's Advocate that she has taken your young. As a newborn changeling, her actions are not binding on the servants of Inari. And as a human mage, she is answerable to no one but herself. Her mission is her own, and I will not interfere in any way."

The Cat's ears went up, and she cocked her head. "You would let her die?"

"I cannot fight alongside her without causing a war, and I will not stop her because it would be wrong." Akomachi sighed. "She swore an oath as a human to fight for her people. Would I have her forswear herself? My own daughter? I would not see her come to harm for anything, but I will not hurt her myself by making her break her word. As if I could."

"If you won't help her, and you won't stop her, then why are you here?" The Cat's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Because she is my child," Akomachi said softly. "And because I promised Becca-chan I would stand beside her. Kitsune keep their promises, too."

The Cat seemed to slump, and shook her head. "Then I am sorry, my friend, that you must stand here and watch her die." I felt the Cat reach out and gently touch the fox spirit's soul, but the vixen's pride and joy pushed away the regret the Cat offered.

"No need for sorrow, goddess." She smiled her predator's grin once again. "The battle has not even begun. And you have not yet seen my daughter fight."

"She may not have to, Casa," I said with a smile. "I only wish to talk. This does not have to become violent."

"You have taken my children," the Cat turned to me with a snarl. "How could this not become violent?"

"No harm has come to them." I looked into her eyes and let her see the truth of it. "Unlike you, I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want you to leave my people alone."

"I have done nothing to humans," the Cat protested.

"You encouraged your young to torture them, to lessen humanity's hold upon them. Do you deny it?"

"Of course not. It was an excellent way to make my children stronger, and feed the pain demons with fresh suffering." The goddess looked sad. "They did not want to, at first. They pushed back so hard, I had to spell them to make them do it. They all had strong connections to their former families, and too much love for others. I really wanted them to learn for themselves, but sometimes little ones need a little push on the road to being gods."

"Then they are victims, too," I said, my own anger coming to the surface. "You made them hurt people they cared for." A thought popped into my head. "Did you even ask them if they wanted to be your children?"

She snorted and shook her head. "Hardly. Why would they possibly say no? I raised them from mere prey to virtual godhood."

"Without their knowledge or consent." My voice was very quiet. As long as I could keep her talking, maybe I could keep this from descending into violence -- even though I was mad enough to want a fight.

"If a lion had the power and the will, would it ask a gazelle for permission to turn it into a lion?" She stretched herself, claws digging into the green grass and ripping small furrows in the well-tended ground. "Besides, they came to me. They worshipped me. If I choose to make them my children instead of my supplicants, it is my right -- and an honor for them all."

'So that's how she found them,' I thought as my anger grew. 'They found her somehow.'

"They are humans!" I snapped. "They have the right to make choices for themselves."

"They gave up that right when they chose to worship me!" The Cat smiled, and her eyes became very bright. "They are mine to do with what I will!"

"No! They are individuals!" My magic flared around me, reflecting my rage. "They have the right to choose their own course. If people choose to worship you, you're supposed to accept their worship, protect them, and sometimes provide for their needs if their faith is strong enough. Every pantheon accepts that basic premise. But you decided to take choice away from your worshippers, by stealing them from their human families and turning them into miniature versions of yourself."

She sniffed and turned her head. "I am a goddess, girl. You don't have the power to stop me. I can do what I wish!"

"No. You. Can't." I flew closer to her, until I was only a few feet from her face. "Humans are protected now. That's my job. And the job description includes protecting your 'daughters' . . . from you."

She bared her teeth in a snarl, and her back arched slightly. "You would keep my children from me?"

I stared into her eyes and spoke in a calm deliberate tone. "Yes. They are only yours because you stole them from their own families. You didn't even ask if they wanted to be changed. What kind of love is that?"

"Do you think I care about your opinion of me, human? Of anything?" Anger and disgust radiated from her, and she shook her head slowly. "The only reason you are still alive is that you hold my children where I cannot find them. You demand my respect while you hide behind hostages. All that will get you is my contempt."

My mind spun as I contemplated my position. Thousands of possible actions and outcomes were weighed and discarded, and all at once I knew that reasoning with her would never work. Power was all she understood, and she thought I had none.

'Would I have to kill her?' I thought, not wanting to acknowledge the possibility that I might. 'I could, but she doesn't know what I'm capable of. And if she truly is the last of her kind, do I want to be responsible for their extinction? She's not evil, just . . . wrong.'

Suddenly, in my head, I heard Leander's voice. I could see her looking at me out of the corner of her eye, with most of her attention still focused on the pain demons.

'Advocate, attend,' she said silently, and I gave her an imperceptible nod. 'The Cat is a powerful predator. So was I, once long, long ago. To a predator, respect is something that can never be given. It has to be earned, or it means nothing.'

'Like Gilgamesh,' I responded.

Leander nodded back. 'Yes. He earned her respect. Now it is your turn. Fight her. Show her what she truly faces from humanity's protector.' I saw her frown as she thought the next words. 'Earn her respect, my Lady. Make her fear you -- or you will have to kill her.'

I looked into the Cat's face, my own deceptively calm. In order for this to work, I had to push it carefully to the next level. "I do not hide behind anyone," I said softly. "Your children are my prisoners because of what they did, and what they tried to do. Still, I will bring them here, so you can see that they are safe." I flew backwards, giving myself some distance from the goddess, and closed my eyes long enough to pull them all back.

Within seconds, the five girls were floating in the air behind me, still trapped in bubbles of slow-time. The Cat flew from figure to figure, whispering softly in a language I did not understand. I could feel her anger rising again as the figures remained silent. Her power rose around her and flowed out to encompass the girls, but when it ebbed away, they remained frozen.

"They may be here, but still beyond my reach!" She spun in mid-air and growled at me. "What have you done?"

"Nothing," I replied. "They remain suspended in time, as they were. You don't know how I did it, so it is not your spell to undo. They are still mine until our issues are resolved." I swooped around behind them before coming back to float before her. "I told you I had done nothing to harm them, and I haven't. They live. I could have incinerated them where they stood instead of just capturing them, but I didn't."

"Give them back to me!" I could feel the Cat's frustration. Her children were so close, and yet still beyond her reach. I felt her pain, but I had to push her, just a little more. I forced my voice to become cold.

"Take them . . . if you can." She turned back to the girls, then back to me, and roared at the sky in frustration as her whole body shook. When the sound died away, I met her eyes and nodded.

"You think humans are nothing but prey," I said softly. "You believe we are powerless. But I hold the girls beyond your reach, and you cannot free them. What does that say about how powerful I am?" I moved in closer. This was the moment of truth. "If you want them free, prove to me that I am as weak as you say. Just you and I, one on one, in a test of power. Show me how small and insignificant I really am."

The Cat thought for a moment, and her eyes became bright again.

"Unacceptable," she snarled with a shake of her head. "I do want to kill you, girl. Make no mistake. But if you die, you cannot release them, and they will never be free."

"So don't kill me." I spread my arms wide, palms open. "This doesn't have to be a fight to the death. I don’t want to hurt anyone, even you." My anger at the thought of those poor boys trapped in daycare fought to rise to the surface, but I pushed it aside for now. 'Think about the boys later,' I rationalized. 'If there is a later.'

"If I win, you treat me and all humans as equals and respect my wishes," I continued. "Defeat me, and I release the girls." The goddess looked doubtful. "I swear to you I will release them all if you should win. Akomachi knows my word is good."

araNyamArjAra looked at the fox spirit, and the vixen nodded. "Both as a kitsune and as the human Advocate, she can be trusted."

The goddess paused, clearly torn by something. Her gaze shifted from me to the girls, and I found myself wondering why she hesitated.

'Because dueling with you would grant you a legitimacy she does not believe you deserve,' Leander's voice echoed in my head. 'To her, humans have always been prey or worshippers, not equals. Even considering you as anything else gives you a status humans have never had in her thoughts before.'

'That makes sense,' I replied, surprised I hadn't picked up on it myself. 'How do you know all this?'

'Because I recently had to look at everything I ever believed with fresh eyes,' she replied, 'and you'd be amazed how difficult it is to admit to yourself that you may have been wrong for a very long time.'

I suddenly felt so close to her that my eyes blurred with tears, and I sent a burst of love her way. It took her totally by surprise, and I felt her own tears rise in return. She reached out and gave my soul a tentative touch before returning all of her attention to the pain demons.

I gave the Cat all the time she needed, and eventually, she sighed and shook her head.

"A duel it is, then." She looked as unhappy with her choice as she did with me. Her eyes caught mine, and in their depths I could see a confidence that was both absolute and totally alien. "Do you require time to prepare?"

I was about to say no when I heard a siren blare from the school's parking lot. I turned and saw three black vans roll in, accompanied by way too many blue and white police cars and a single gray sedan that couldn't be anything else but an unmarked unit. The doors on the back of each van flew open, and officers in battle armor carrying wicked looking rifles started jumping to the ground. They began to fan out, establishing some kind of perimeter.

'Terrific,' I grumbled telepathically. 'The circus is in town, and they think they're the cavalry.'

'And since they cannot fight a magical attack,' Leander replied, 'they are more useless to us than clowns.'

'More useless?' I asked, giving her a look. She looked back, her face deadly serious.

'At least clowns could make us laugh.' Then she grinned.

'Just my luck,' I groaned, 'everybody's a comic.'

"Girl?" araNyamArjAra sounded slightly peeved. "I asked you a question. Do you require time to prepare?"

I scanned the parking lot again, and finally saw a familiar face emerging from the unmarked unit.

"Yes, I do," I said, and teleported to a spot directly above the windshield of Detective Stabenow's car. When I materialized, I instantly created a selective veil, so only she could see me.

"Dom!" She looked up at the sound of my voice, and was stunned to find me hovering in mid-air a few feet above her. "We need to talk."

"Becca? What are you doing here?" The detective stared for a moment. "You look well . . . except for the flying part." Then she realized what she was saying and shivered, as if fighting off a chill. "You're . . . you're flying."

"Floating, actually," I replied with a sigh. "That's part of what we need to talk about. Please get back in the car?"

She shook her head slowly and dropped back into the driver's seat. I 'ported into the passenger seat next to her.

"Shit!" She was so startled, she honked the horn when she jumped.

"I'm sorry, Dom, really," I paused to throw a quick spell around the car, then reached out and touched her arm. She jumped again, and I sighed. "I know this is real 'Twilight Zone' stuff, but I needed to show you that things are not how they appear. Something seriously weird is happening here, and your officers are not equipped to deal with it."

"That's why . . . the floating?" I could see her coming back to herself a little.

"If I just popped in beside you, you could have looked for a rational explanation -- maybe insist that I just snuck in somehow." She nodded. I went on. "You'd never believe what I'm about to tell you unless you saw me doing something clearly impossible first."

Dom grinned at me. "You got that right, rookie. In fact, this would all make a lot more sense if I was the one who had the head injury instead of you." I grinned back and watched her put both hands on the wheel and grip it tightly. "Okay, Becca. Lay it on me. And don't pull any punches. I'm a big girl, I can take it."

I turned and looked her straight in the eye. "On the other side of the school, out on the football field, I am about to engage in a duel by magic with an ancient cat goddess, in order to prove to her that humans are more than lunch and deserve some respect. At the same time, a woman dressed in enchanted black leather armor with a HUGE sword is going to be keeping about a dozen demons from making trouble during the fight, and another girl is going to be magically shielding the entire school building to prevent collateral damage."

Dom thought about this for a minute, and then shook her head and turned to stare out the windshield. "This is crazy."

"Absolutely."

"But true."

"Yes." I created a small ball of green fire, tossed it up a few times, then blew it out. "See?"

She gave me a sideways look. "Magical duel?"

"Yes."

"Cat goddess?"

"Mmhmm."

"And . . . demons?"

"More than a few."

I could almost feel the wheels turning in her head, and she turned to face me once more.

"Why?" Her tone was surprisingly sharp, to match the frown on her face.

I sighed. "Because it's my job. There are lives in the balance -- a bunch of virtual hostages, taken or twisted by magic. In order to free them, I have to prove I'm as powerful as the goddess -- that humans are worthy of respect."

"No, I mean why you?" Her volume went up a notch. "This is your job how, exactly? Even granted I believe into any of this . . . for God's sake, Becca, you're only thirteen years old! How did giving a goddess a spanking get on your 'To Do' list?"

"It's a long story," I replied, keeping my own voice level. "Remember our conversation in the hospital? When I said, 'maybe you don't "become" a cop. Maybe it's who you already are inside, and you just ... grow into it?'" The detective nodded, still frowning. "Well, someone decided I'd grown enough, offered me a badge and the power to back it up, and sent me out to clean up Dodge."

Detective Stabenow frowned deeper, shook her head, and flipped down the passenger side shade. She snapped open the vanity mirror.

"You don't look much like Marshall Dillon, missy," she growled, and I found myself staring back at my way-too-young face, a look of surprise making me look even younger. "You're just a kid, and gunfights at high noon are restricted to folks with permits these days."

'My God,' I thought, 'is that me? I've spent so much time acting as the Advocate I've forgotten how much of a child I am now -- or at least how they see me.'

I closed the mirror with a snap, and pushed the shade back up.

"It doesn't matter what I look like," I said, my voice coming out in a teenager's petulant whine. I shook my head and continued in a more reasonable tone. "Or how old I am. I can DO this. I HAVE to."

"You're way too young for this kind of responsibility!" I could tell Dom was seriously angry, and it was starting to make me angry in return.

My voice shook as I replied. "I may look young, but somebody I trust said I was the right person for this job. They offered me the chance to do some good. And I can't just say 'I'm sorry, but I can't fight you, oh mighty cat goddess. I'm only thirteen!' Damn it, Dom, I have to face her down and save those kids. It's my job!"

"Says WHO?" I folded my arms and faced front. Dom grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. "It's not right, Becca. Who put you on the front lines like this? Who took the rest of your childhood away? Who told you it was your job to step up and save the day? Who, Becca? Who?"

"GOD!" I shouted at her, my face red. She let go of my arm, and her jaw dropped. I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands. "Everyone I meet on this job calls him or her the Omnipresence, but it was God, okay? The Creator of All Things told them to offer the position to me. They said God told them I could handle the power -- that I was the right person to protect and serve, to make a difference. It was my choice. I could have said no." I turned and looked at her again. "But you tell me, Dom. How am I supposed to live with myself, knowing I could have made a difference . . . and passed? How am I supposed to say no to God?"

For a minute or two, not a word was said. Neither of us looked at the other. Finally, she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Becca. I'm just . . . worried, that's all. You're so young, and . . . first the head injury . . . then the magic, and now this . . . " She shook her head. "I like you, hon. I guess my need to 'protect and serve' made me want to protect you, too." The detective shrugged, still avoiding my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"You said that already." I touched her arm, and Dom turned to face me. "It's okay to be scared for me. Heck, I'M scared for me. I'm really new at this whole thing, but it's not the kind of job you quit. There are people depending on me, lives are at stake, blah blah blah." I grinned. "You know the drill."

She nodded. There was another silence, less awkward than the last. "So . . . why the visit?"

"To warn you." I motioned at the window. "You've got a small army here, itching to fight terrorists. But there are no terrorists. Just demons and an angry goddess. These creatures are so powerful, they could turn every officer in this parking lot into a Vegas showgirl. Or a stalk of celery. With just a thought. You can't stop them. You can't even slow them down."

"But you can?"

My turn to shrug. "It's what I do. And I'm pretty good at it."

Dom took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So, what can we do to help?"

"Set up a perimeter here, and keep everybody out of the line of fire."

The detective nodded. "Okay. How long will this take?"

I shrugged. "No way to tell, really. Could be an instant, could be an hour. Time is odd when you're hip deep in magic."

"I'm a little surprised your goddess is willing to wait this long. We must have been here for at least ten minutes."

"Oh, hardly any time has passed at all," I said with a smile. "We've been in a bubble of accelerated time since we got into the car. Barely a second has passed out there."

Dom turned to watch a SWAT trooper seemingly stopped in mid-air on his way from the van to the ground.

"Huh," she said softly, "how about that."

I opened the door and stepped out of the car, then released the spell bubble with a wave. The trooper hit the ground running, and the next one jumped out behind him. The detective got out on her side and slammed the door.

"This has possibilities," she said softly, and smiled. I half-smiled back.

"Yeah, maybe I could be a junior crimestopper, have a little plastic badge or something." I walked around the front of the car. "I don't mind helping you out with the local criminal types now and then. But first, the duel thing, 'kay?"

Dom nodded, and came around to meet me. Before I could stop, she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, and I found myself hugging her back.

"I'm sorry for how I reacted, rookie," she whispered in my ear. "I'm still afraid for you, but I know now I'm out of my league. I have no right to stop you."

"Good," I whispered back, "because I don't think you could. Magic and all, remember? I could stop time and kick your butt all the way into next week." I felt her laugh, and then she drew back and gave me a questioning look.

"Hey! Does this job of yours have a title? Do I have to salute you or something?"

"I'm called the Advocate," I replied with a grin, "and I don't think we're in the same chain of command."

Dom gave me one last look and kissed me on the forehead. "Then go fight the big kitty, girl. Show her who’s boss, and come home safe. We’ll keep the bystanders innocent until you’re done."

"Thanks, Dom. You're the best." I gave her one last squeeze, threw an attention avoidance spell around us to make sure no one was watching, and 'ported back to the athletic field.

I had a duel to win.

© 2005-2007 as a work in progress, all rights reserved. Posted with permission of the author.

Notes:

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To Be Continued...