Space-Time of Death: an Al Squires of the Protectorate Novel

Ch. 18.1: An Understanding Between Immortals and Time Travelers.

"Sylvie, I doubt... you can hear me," I shouted out the open door as I continued to struggle with the creature that was the Elder's severed head a couple of (subjective) minutes ago. "But if you survive... this and I don't, I'M GOING... TO HAUNT YOU!!!" I was directing all my energy keeping hold of this newly mutated monstrosity. And to make matters worse, it was getting itself free with each movement and bite; intent on landing on my face as soon as it got free.

But before I felt my felt my fingers lose their grip on the head, I saw a shadowy blur (or, I should say, the shadowy blur) pass by in the corner of my eye with a 'woosh,' followed by a 'thud' from beside me. Immediately after that, the head suddenly stopped moving; its eyes were moving around in a confused panic while its mouth just stayed open in mid-chomp. It took me a beat to realize that it was paralyzed. Suddenly, the head was taken from my hands by our shadowy savior. I sat up to see my mysterious ally slow down enough to see a slender figure wearing a black hooded cloak. The hooded figure moved to the crematory, opened the door, and chucked that evil little bugger in the flames, its final noise a brief shriek of agony.

As the figure watched the head burn, I heard Na'Riah struggle again. I looked over to see her move the now limp body off her own. A quick examination showed that there was a wooden stake in its back, where the heart was located. A look of confusion covered Na'Riah's face as the smoke from her eyes dissipated, letting me that Norah was in control again.

"What happened?" she asked me before looking at the staked, headless body beside her. "Did you do that?" she asked me as she pointed to it. "Because I know Na'Riah didn't."

"Actually," I said softly as I gestured to the mysterious figure, "we have our new friend to thank for this rescue. Or, old friend I should think."

Norah looked over to the figure and noticed it for the first time. She looked back over to me. "You mean that's who's been helping us all this time" she asked in a whisper.

"Only one way to find out," I whispered back before looking over at the figure. "Thanks for the assistance, friend," I said to the figure as they closed the crematory door. "To whom do we owe our thanks?"

The figure turned to face us, then lifted the hood to reveal their identity. Staring in disbelief, we discovered that the mysterious shadowy blur who'd been helping us in separate decades was none other than...

"The Lady Odette Ouspenskaya," she said impassively. She opened her cloak a bit to reveal that she wore an elegant era-appropriate black dress beneath it, with intricate embroidery along the bust. Her hands were free of any rings, which was odd because I always saw her with at least one ring on one of her elegant digits. More on that shortly.

The moment I saw who it was, I suddenly went into Memory Palace mode: extrapolating what I've gathered from my encounters with the shadowy blur via my memories, and used science to determine whether Odette was the one who helped us all those times. Including Odette's own abilities and expertise: one of which included sharpshooting and sniping, which explained the shot that saved me back at Studio 54. Within under 30 (subjective) seconds, I concluded that, with an accuracy of 97.8 percent, it was Odette all along. 'Of course,' I thought as soon as I reached the conclusion. 'I wouldn't have gotten it without the proper context. Not that I'd admit out loud.'

While my mind went through all that, Odette looked down at the Elder's body and frowned. "And you two are complete amateurs who are lucky to be alive," she said with a dissatisfied 'tut.' "Don't you know you have to stake a Murk-Blood with a wooden stake first before beheading them?" she began reading us the Riot Act. "Then separate the two, then burn them. I'm astounded that you were still alive when I got here." She then moved over to the Elder's body, bent over it, and turned on its side.