+1+

"Goddmanit, Isobel. You can’t just say shit like that.”

“Is it a lie ?” Isobel asked

Silence

“No.”

“Look”, Isobel said,  “I don’t care why you two did it, I know we all did some bad things to build this country. But we never ever betrayed each other. We don’t betray our king. Is this because she wanted a divorce ?"

"No. How do you even know about that ?"

"How do you ?" Isobel shot back.

“Sera told me, we were in the fucking desert together."

 "I was called up to Washington. A  DOJ agent called me. I guess they are investigating the assassination.  This agent was asking me questions. I think she knows something. If she finds out what Seraphina did she might find out about the bribes and about Senator Donovan planting those AudioBugs for you. I’m trying to stay out of it.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“I. . . don’t care, but if anything gets out the people will revolt. We’ll get thrown out. . . exiled. God. . . maybe a fucking civil war.”

“Isobe—“

“I don’t care what the situation was, Leon. The point is she did it. She pulled the fucking trigger and you right there with her.”

“Who was the DOJ agent ?  We need to get in front of this, right ?”

 “I have her card somewhere around here.”

She snatched her keys and headed for the door.

“Iz,I can explain everything.”

“Yeah, whatever. Look Leon I have a car waiting”

“Iz, come on. Let’s talk.”

Isobel looked around and leaned forward. Shit. . . was her place bugged ? Could she be wearing a wire ? Shit shit shit.

“Not here, Leon. Are you going to the Vassey thing.” She pointed to the New Aeterna International Court schedule.

I watched her. How much did she know ?

“Yeah. We can talk there”

“It’s a date. I gotta go Leon.'

“Yeah”, I said as she followed me out the door.

 

+++

Someone was asking questions. Someone was after us and I had to take them down.

I had to get to Paris Prince, figure out what he wanted me to do.

I’m loyal to my boss, whoever the fuck that is. Doesn’t fucking matter if I have a captain’s medallion. I did whatever I had to for who I was working for. For now that man was Paris Prince.

-2-

Last year during the last leg of his campaign to get Prop1776 passed Seraphina and I had been in between deployments. I'd spent a lot of late nights at Paris’ new age modern house in New Aeterna. I’d sat back and watched Paris charm his way up the political food chain.

He'd known when to play dirty, how to get the good ol' boys on his side. Paris sometimes had these wild parties that only male U.S senators could love, all while his wife was knocked out on sleeping pills in the bedroom wishing she was somewhere else.

One night after a particularly wild party Paris invited Senator Mark Donovan from Florida to stay after everyone else had left. Paris hadn't ask me to stay, but I kept my ass in my chair just in case. Senator Donovan was a self-satisfied fuck who was enjoying the special attention too much. Senator Donovan was also the lead on the congressional review committee that would decide New Aeterna’s fate.  We'd needed him to like us. We'd needed him to fucking love us.

Donovan had barley glanced at me as he sat at the small kitchen table with Paris. Muscle like me wanted that.

“So, Donovan”, Paris had said idly fussing with a beer, “Is New Aeterna in my future ? Are votes in my favor”

“That’s confidential, Mr. Prince”

“I won’t tell.”

“We still got shit to get through. Reports, research and all”, Senator Donovan had said, “People are afraid. I mean look at what that… Helios did.  Supernaturals and all. . . it’s a lot for God-fearing folk to handle. It’d just be. . . easier if we unified.”

I laughed a little to myself. Humans were terrified of Helios' name. They never said it without hesitating.

A long silence followed.

It was getting a little awkward now. Paris had done that on purpose. He'd wanted the senator to squirm; cause if there were three things Paris had learned from his wife it was resilience, dirty sex and the power of unnerving silence.

“So”, Paris had started and he gave me a signal to grab some more cold beers from the ice bucket. I had already obliged before I realized I’d followed orders, ”I heard the committee is investigating Seraphina’s time in Cuba. That she could be the reason we lose this.”

“Little lady got herself in some trouble in the past. Just want to make sure she. . . has no resentment. Women scorned and all. Hate to start a little war. . . you know.”

“She understands her detainment was for the greater good. She harbors no ill will. It’s . . . it’s a pity how she was treated though.”

“The country was scared, I mean it was like aliens had taken over Manhattan", Donovan had said, "They just did what they had to for information. You would have done the same.”

Paris had opened his beer but didn’t drink it. After two corrective brain surgeries it had been highly advised he not drink again.

“I heard you took a special interest in my wife’s detainment.  I heard you have a hard copy of her sealed testimony describing her treatment and that you interviewed guards from the camp, asked for surveillance and any transcripts. I heard you wanted all the gory details of the abuse.”

He’d said the one word no one in the military complex was willing to admit to. The military didn't 'abuse'. . . they interrogated. Senator Donovan started to sweat. Paris spoke slow and nonchalant. He'd tried to sound very uninterested.

“Uh. . . just being thorough”, Senator Donovan said.    

Paris leaned forward

“. . . none of the other committee members are that invested or care.  Do you spend a lot of time reading and re-reading all the things that happened to her ? Maybe visualize it late at night when you just can’t sleep  ? Men like you and I ? We don’t understand strong women but for some reason it’s fascinating seeing them at the mercy of a . . . disciplined personality. ”

The man started to shift uncomfortably, his mind running . .. somewhere.

“It’s not a bad thing”, Paris said casually, “I think Guantanamo humbled her. It was actually what helped make her who she is. . . It turns out being helpless and under the protection of a . . . few strong personalities actually made her feel safer. She needed that discipline. She still does.

Of course look at me ? I’m barley 150 pounds I can hardly be that dominant force she needs to be a good girl. I think she needs someone like you, Senator Donovan. “

The senator was quiet, he was pretending to look at his phone. It was almost 2am. I should have been home but I wanted to see what Paris was playing at.

I started opening myself another beer when I hear Seraphina’s footsteps. I’d thought she’d be in a drug induced sleep by now. I noticed her shoes first, she was wearing little high heel slippers that were  mostly covered by a clingy silk ankle length black nightgown and matching robe.

 “Sorry, baby. Did we wake you ?”, Paris asked her.

She nodded her head slightly. Which was bullshit because there was no way she had been asleep in fake eyelashes, lipstick and extensions. 

 “You know, baby”, Paris said slowly talking to her like she was a child, “The senator here is on the congressional committee. He has concerns about your experience at Guantanamo. I thought maybe you could tell him in your own words how hard it was, what it was like, what they did to you and how you’ve come to terms with it.  Tell him that you are a good girl with no ill will for or American allies.” He kissed her hand when he finally stopped blowing hot air.

Sera finally looked at the senator. She saw the beer going warm in Donovan's hands and she graciously  took it from him and opened with the side of her dinged up wedding ring. He seemed unsure where to look             

Paris continued to act non-plussed

“Actually, Senator. My wife’s not much of a talker and little shy. Sera maybe you should just show the Senator what a good girl you are.”

He just left it at that and I kept pretending I wasn’t there. For a moment no one moved then Seraphina carefully took the Senator’s hand. He stood up clumsily and followed her to the bedroom. I shook my head when I heard the door closed.

 “You are a real sick son of a bitch.” I'd told Paris.

“Don’t worry, Leon I’m not going to leave her alone with him.”

I could see the security camera from his bedroom streaming on his phone. He casually pressed a record button that might as well have said ‘blackmail’

“Sometimes I not sure if you are better or worse than  Helios”

 “Me”, he says turning his phone face down, “Senator Donovan is the one who spends half his workday on federally funded computers streaming inaccurately gawdy S&M websites-- but to afraid to reach out. I give him an outlet for his curiosity he gives me New Aeterna.”

“So... is this how you plan to get your kingdom? Letting senators fantasize about raping your wife?”

“Oh, Leon”, he says rubbing an imaginary spot on the table, “If any man even thinks about raping my wife they’ll find themselves liquefied in a mason jar under my desk.”

“. . . Mason jar ?”

“The key to a good threat is details.”

He laughs. It’s light and airy and twist his scars in an ugly straight up disturbing way.

“Leon. This is a last ditch effort. I need Donovan to give me insider information. I help him, he helps me.”

“By letting him tie your wife up?”

He laughs again. I wished I could laugh like that. It was effortless and smooth

“Besides, Donovan is more of the write on the body, light spanking and fucking on the floor kind of masochist. If that man get anywhere near my bed. . . I’m burning it. If he’s not done in 8 minutes you can break up the party“

“Nice”, I'd said with zero emotion.

“Hey”, he'd said causally, “I can’t fuck her, someone should. Just thinking about getting hard makes my migraines flair up so bad I can't even see. Half of Seraphina's appeal is how fucking gorgeous she is.”

"Watch it", I'd said. It just slipped out.

"Seriously, I think she was dropped on her head or didn't get enough oxygen as a child. Anything short of 'go kill that person over there, honey' requires a lot more minutiae."

"You sound like Helios, boss."

He kept his dark eyes on he table.

"I hate it when you say that."

Seraphina was clever . . . she was street smart. Guys like Helios and Paris were intelligent. . . educated.They saw the angles in everything, they could cross reference shit and work numbers. Point is, guys like Helios and Paris aren't like everyone else.

“ You know, boss", I'd said changing the subject, " I heard some new bio companies are doing like bioengineering shit. We could have like computers in our heads pretty soon. Sure they could put one in your pants. Upgrade or something.” 

“Eh, No thanks.” He said, "I'm done with surgeries. I have more urgent matters to attend to and she can get herself off any way she wants."

“ A pacifist who can’t drink or fuck ? I don’t know if I trust a man without vice to be my future king.”

“I’ve got my vices”, he said. He turned up the music on the kitchen speakers-- some big band jazz song.

“You want to be made King of New Aeterna this bad.” I shouted over the music.  

 “If we don’t take this to the top Leon we fall. What happens to us if we give up New Aeterna ? The U.S takes a good look at our revolution. The illegal guns, identity theft,  fucking tax fraud. They’ll bury us and send us to prison. History will say the U.S took on Helios. If I’m king they’ll have to recognize us, legitimize us. You with me ?”

“Yeah, boss. Just so you know I’ve decided I don’t much like you.”

“I’m hurt.” he'd feigned sorrow.  He smiled again and I'd study it this time.

Senator Donovan had stumbled out at the seven minute mark, awkwardly clutching a condom wrapper.The Prince had smiled non-chalantly at him while I just kept cool. The guy went for his coat. His hair was matted and he was. . . I don’t know. . . rumpled 

 “So”, Paris had said not looking up from his phone, “So  . . . the congressional review? Should I be worried ?”

“Oh, uh. . . it should go fine. There might be one or two who—“

“You know, Donovan. . . how about you just let me know anything that goes on in the meetings. If it helps you can try these out. Just. . . leave them in the conference rooms and the other members’ offices. “

Paris  had slipped a case of  AudioBugs in to the senator’s coat pocket.

The senator had  looked up nervously at me. If I needed to look like I had issues with this guy it wasn’t that hard. I knew my job. I was the muscle. The enforcer.  I'd cracked my knuckles for effect.

 “Don’t worry”, Paris had said waiving his phone, “I called a car for you."

The Senator ambled out and the door locked it behind him.

I'd finished my beer by the time Sera reappeared. She’d showered, scraped off the face paint and thrown on a wrinkled faded shirt and  shorts. Her usually cropped hair was in a defiant buzz cut.  Her impenetrable lipstick had left a stain outlining the words “Fuck Whore” and “Slut” on the back of her thighs.

She'd straddled Paris’ lap  sat facing him. The chair groaned under her weight, Paris had struggled to adjust to it.  He'd tried to kiss her but she pulled away. She grabbed his chin with one hand and held it in place. He tried to turn away as she took a tube of lipstick out of her waistband and pulled the top off with her teeth , and put it on his mouth.

“Guess what”, she'd whispered to him.

Paris’ eyes had shifted over to me then to Sera who’d applied more of her weight to him when he looked away from her.

“Look at me”, she ordered, “From now on you’re going to be my pretty little bitch. You’re going to clean this place up and you’re going to make me a drink so strong I won’t wake up for a week. And Leon, please go the fuck home.” 

She'd gotten up slowly and grabbed a cold sparkling water from the fridge, then spared me a glance as she left the room.

I made a quick exit and decided not to question that night, like I didn’t question a lot of things. Senator Donovan had been a good get. He planted the AudioBugs that gave us full access to the meetings. We cheated, but just a little.

That didn’t bother me. It just made me wonder if he still would have won if he’d played by the rules.

---

I was out of breath when I reached the New Aeterna City Center. Each building was designed in a comforting neo-classical  design. It kind of reminded me of villages from the old country. Or at least what I can remember.

I skipped the long security line and scanned myself in through the employee gate. I jogged past the legislature buildings and council buildings. I turned at the military police headquarters and kept walking to the southernmost side of the former park.

This portion of the park was a gated residential community for.  . . Supernaturals. Whatever the hell that meant. The guard recognized me instantly and buzzed me into the reinforced white gold gated community.

This was the place where the final bloody battle against Helios’s regime had played out. Almost four years later it had been sowed over and a commemorative plaque was installed. Helios’ mansion had been reserved for future generations to remember the terror he spread.  The underground prisons were still intact. The horrors that had happened here put a permanent melancholy over the place.

I took the path that lead behind Helios’ mansion and deeper into the park until I came across the new residential apartment buildings. Angels with multiple children and a few  acquitted Helions took up residence in the newly constructed post-modern euro-trash apartments built out of the only material New Aeterna had… shipping containers.

When Helios closed down all the NYC ports, thousands of shipping containers just sat there unused for nearly a decade. In his humanitarian phase Paris had talked a group of hippy architects into construct the apartments and houses from the material.

I started jogging past the apartments and into a slightly denser more green part of the park where the Paris' simple home was. His modest one story square shaped  house was made almost entirely of glass . It was enclosed in an ornamental gate, a guardsmen assigned to Seraphina was keeping watch over the gate because she never let him anywhere near her.

The guardsman was so used to me he barley gave me a glance as I pushed open the gate. I walked slowly up the winding path to the glass house, From outside I could see the entire front room, kitchen and dining room.

The back half of the house was made up of a large master suite, a tiny home office and a bathroom with walk in closet. . No guest rooms, little privacy and only one bathroom. This wasn’t a home for guest . . . or a family. I slowed my pace realizing the last time I saw Paris he’d still been in recovery from the assassination.

The Prince was sitting on the couch watching the view from the glass wall, he was in dark red pinstripe pajamas and a matching robe at 2pm. The door was open so I let myself in.  I saw a TV image was  projected on the glass wall. It was a solid picture with deep blacks and bright whites. It was one of those new projecting PanelTvs .  The INNA360 News Network  was on but he had it turned down. There was a story about Paris' deadline to nominate a Prime Minister. It had been extended following the assassination attempt.

Paris had always been a bit off, but surviving the assassination had made him lose a few more screws. They hadn’t had time to give him enough anesthesia before the surgery, he swore he remembered dying and coming back. Dying and coming back. .. dying and coming back.

He stood up and hugged me. I wasn’t expecting that so I just. . . stood still. His dark black hair was longer than when I last saw him. His skin was pale from all the time he’d spent indoors healing. The cuffs of his robe were damp and left a spot when he hugged me

“What’s up boss?” I asked

“Nothing I was just. . . thinking about how far I’ve come. We’ve come. The PR office is getting off on itself about this court. It’s going to be a long month of handshaking and smiling. ”

“Yeah”, I said

“Well”, he stood up, “Good night.”

I checked my watch

“Its 2pm ”

“I know, I was on a couple of international calls all day and last night. Helios made a lot of illegal deals with the Chinese. It’s a mess. . . I had no fucking idea Helios was conning Russia and North Korea out of millions of dollars. The man had balls. I bet the U.S is glad this isn’t their  —“

 “Uh. . .Is Seraphina here yet ?”

He pointed to the back of the house and went back to staring out the window lost in thought. When I walked past him I caught the mutilated side of his ear where the bullet had torn through it.  I had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bedroom, which seemed like poor design to me.

There was a tiny hallway behind the kitchen. One side lead to a tiny office and the other to the large master suite. I followed the trail of Sera’s shoes, socks, and clothes into the bedroom then into the bathroom where I heard the sounds of splashing water. She was in the inset marble tub in a plethora of bubbles. It was so humid I was starting to sweat. What I assumed was a waterproof screen was infront of her, she was scrolling through reality show gossip magazines.

I sat in a chair by the vanity. Makeup was stacked up all over it. All sorts of liquids, colorful powder and  tubes. I knocked over the little machine she used to but her makeup on. The device clattered on the floor and she looked up.

 “What ?”

“Did you at least hug him ?”

“What is it Leon ?”

I was going right in then

“She knows. Isobel knows the assassination was us.”

Seraphina was still for a moment,  I could see a million thoughts running through her head. She reached over the tub for a robe on the floor. I kicked it over to her

“How did she find ou—“

“I didn’t ask for details. She must have seen us. Isobel said someone from the DOJ has been asking questions. Could be someone who doesn’t know what they stumbled into.”

“Why would the DOJ care ?”

I tried to parse it out for her.

“They could be trying to help. . . we are allies.. You should know this, you’re the fucking queen”

“Don’t start with that. I don’t do politics.”

She stepped out the tub dripping wet and cinched the robe tight.

 “We have to tell Paris. . . don’t we.”

“It might help if you lose the robe. He could have an aneurysm and die.”

She laughed and locked the bathroom door.   

“He can’t handle that right now, he's fragile. Let’s find out who has been asking questions first. We should be fine. We covered our tracks.”

“I don’t think Isobel will be a problem.  She’ll be at the Vassey thing next week. ”

“She should have come to us sooner. I don’t know what her problem is. “

“You know . . . we all used to trust one another.”, I said

 “I don’t know”, I watched her run a towel through her hair., “Maybe we shouldn’t.”

+++

Solstice

Arriving in New Aeterna had been like joining the ranks of King Henry’s courts.

The government had sent a sporty little SUV for our envoy.  Senator Morgan (Republican from South Carolina) said they sent the car over to impress him. He went on and on about his encounters with New Aeterna officials and how he brokered the deal to have New Aeterna’s Defense Force attend bootcamp in his state. I knew Morgan was flirting with me . . . so I just played along. It never hurt to have allies

Morgan also hinted that he was going to be under consideration for becoming the Prime Minister, but judging by his hard to understand accent and try-hard attitude. . . I doubted it.

I wasn’t surprised to find I was just one of a few women the American government sent in its envoy. The other woman was a Barbie in a power suit. She had big blonde hair, small blue eyes and constantly smiling mouth. She was wearing very New Aeterna colors. Dark red and cream. I took the seat next to her and plopped my big ass purse down in the other seat before Morgan took it.

“Hi. I’m Venice Scott”, said the blonde, “Jr. State Senator. California”

She held out her hand, she was very young and looked more in place than I did in my zip up boots and tight little power suit. The only words I really caught were 'jr', "state' and "California'. None of them interested me.

“Solstice LeCroix”, I introduced myself, “Special Agent. Department of Justice. Former New Orleans P.D”

Her mouth dropped open for a second. Just a second.

“Oh, I didn’t realize the feds would be going on a diplomatic trip.”

“Hardly diplomatic. This “country” is like 10 miles away from us for goodness sake. I’m auditing the investigation of Paris Prince’s assassination, see if I can get some new leads.”

“They sent one person to do all of that.”

“I’m very good at my job. Why did they send you ?”

“Oh, um. Well we want to propose FTC and tax cuts for film and TV produced in New Aetera.“

I kept waiting for the punchline.

“So , you’re here for soap operas ?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Uh, late night TV, reality, dramas and variety shows. . . .They used to shoot in NYC. Um, some of the sound stages are still standing A lot of studios want to use their sets again.”

“Well. . . it takes all kinds.”

She turned back to her window, clearly embarrassed.

I didn’t know much about New York City. I’d only been once, it had been the epitome of American hopes and dreams. Now it was this close to becoming another fucking Dubai.

We drove through the city at a slow pace, some in the van pointed out where you could still see the Prince’s Resistance red symbol still spray painted on sidewalks. Markings left over from the night of the revolution. A few wanted to get out of the car to take pictures.

International and New Aeterna flags were hung everywhere. A lot of people on the street wore the signature dark red and white, while the king was never iconizied his symbol was everywhere. It was fucking weird.

I had to peer out the window when we reached the New Aeterna City Center. I could see the Helion Castle, a name and building that struck fear into everybody. Images of bodies being carried out of the prisons still didn’t sit well with me.

Smack in the middle of the city center was the Capitol building. The steps on which (by some idiotic miracle) a man who wasn’t even human had been given the title as king.

“You know”, I said, “This used to be a park. Who builds a city center in a park ?”

“There are still some greenspaces”, she said pointing to an open air courtyard surrounded by dressed up fast-food joints.

The SUV pulls up to the two modern high rise hotels in a quiet area of the city center.The Prospect and the Park West. They were nice hotels, but not a nice as the names implied. But. . . the U.S Government was footing the bill for my trip so who was I to care.

We were given welcome packets with a list of l events to attend . Opportunities to meet with the police, military, former revolutionaries, citizens and heads from the duller departments like tourism, tax, utilities and transportation.  Everything was written in at least 10 languages.

“So much to do”, Venice said decided I was going to be her “convention buddy”.  Good I needed that. No really  . . . I did.

“That’s the point. They want to keep you looking over there so you can’t see what else is going on.”

Venice had heard me but made the choice to ignore my comment.

I looked around at the people working in the hotel and the government workers racing form building to building.  I watched tourist snapping pictures and event volunteers herding international guest. Someone in this country had to know something about the bullshit this country was running on.

Venice turned and  looked at Helion Castle in the distance. I hoped she didn’t know anyone who’d been in those prisons.

“It’s abandoned you know”, she said

“Is it ? What a waste. I’d love to get inside.”

“Why would you want to anyway. The most evil man of the decade lived there.”

“Something you’ll learn about me Venice”, I took a moment to put my DOJ badge on, “Is that I like a thrill,”

+++

Author's Note !

• Donovan's name was originally Mason. So when I saw Mason in Liberation I decided to change it. I just ctrl + F and replaced it and know I know how S. Meyer felt when she wrote that new Twilight book.

• Yes, the DOJ does have badges. . . something they just switched to which is convenient for me. .  .

• And if you are confused by the dynamics of Paris and Sera's relationship. . . well you should be. Everyone in this serial is.

• . . . please don't hate Paris. He's not a jerk, I kind of swear.