Her Dark Inheritance: An Alien Invasion Series - The Second Generation, #5

By Patricia Renard Scholes

A bullet has nearly killed her. The wrong power controls the City. She is too ill to defend herself, let alone an entire city-state.

 

The one best equipped to help her has discovered her true identity. He hates her with such ferocity, she would rather be on the streets fighting Blades than face her former lover.

 

Survive, K'arrala. The voice comes from her adopted father, her mentor. He tells her what she must do to conquer her enemies.

 

If she lives long enough.

 

Award-winning author, Patricia Renard Scholes, provides this raw and stunning novel filled with action from the very beginning. Don't miss out on Her Dark Inheritance, the next installment in the Alien Invasion Series – The Second Generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lorekeeper Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781492126461

Patricia Renard Scholes

Born into an abusive home, Patricia determined to make a better home when she married. She realized as soon as her first child was born that she needed to relearn how to parent. After much reading, trial and error, and advice, she accomplished her goal so well she began to parent other children in her home. That is the background Patricia brings into her stories. Her "children" are heroes, survivors who lived through tough childhoods and went on to become successful adults. Although her work is mainly science fiction, her characters are based on composites of real people who also must live with their decisions. Patricia and her husband, live outside of Durango, Colorado, surrounded by national forest, a great environment for a writer.  

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Snake and his daughter developed a rhythm. The conditions of their employment, and their residence in the basement of the building depended on them cleaning every office in the building by dawn. While he straightened, dusted and swept the offices, his daughter came behind with the mop bucket. Together they made each floor spotless. Not once since their employment had the owner of the building made a complaint.

The stability in their living conditions felt good. The only way life could be better was if his wife were able to live with them.

Some things were impossible.

Her brother’s plan, to capture their daughter to force Karra into a compliant tool, failed after Snake stole the girl away. Still, Jem managed to force his sister to live with the High Commissioner as his kept woman.

Snake and their daughter now lived in hiding. However, he kept a cautious watch on his wife whenever free moments permitted. Early each morning, after he and Tadessa finished for the night, he spent some time trying to reach her, to let her know of his presence. It saddened him that each time he touched her mind, she never felt it. She, trained by the Discipline, never noticed his much lighter caress.

They had almost finished all the offices, when suddenly Tadessa dropped the mop handle and gasped. Snake stiffened in the same instant as a bullet slammed into his wife’s body. He felt the fire of the slug in her back, felt her collapse, watched with his mind’s eye as she lay gasping on a dance hall floor.

Mama’s hurt! Tadessa whispered as she crumpled to the floor. She’s hurt bad! His daughter stifled a sob. Stay with me, Mama, he heard his daughter plead.

Yes. We’ll help soon. Tadessa, we cannot lose this job. As soon as we are finished, we must support your mother. I will show you how, then we must take turns.

But she’ll die! We gotta help now!

She was right. But the conditions of their employment were strict.

Now, Daddy Snake, she said, straightening, almost glaring at him.

She hadn’t called him Daddy Snake in years. Why use it now? But she the name gained his attention. He nodded and sat cross legged in the center of the office. Once they got Karra past this crisis, then they could finish cleaning. 

With his daughter nestled in his lap, he drew her into his mind, and showed her what to do to keep her mother alive. He led her into the maze of her mother’s blood stream, building antibodies to fight an infection that had already gained a foothold. The bullet, he realized, was minor compared to the sickness that already raged inside her.

I can do this part, Daddy, his daughter told him. I can do this much while you finish.

As they went through the last few offices, Tadessa helped her mother’s immune system while Snake worked at their job that kept them sheltered in their basement apartment.

She’s so sick! When did that happen? Why didn’t I know?

Snake had missed the signs too. Karra kept her shield so tight against her mind, few threads got through. He guessed that the strength of her shield had kept both of them out.

Daddy, we need to stay awake and take turns ...

We can’t do any more, Snake told her as he led her downstairs to their room in the basement. Not without some of Berita’s medicines, and not without physically touching your mother.  It’s up to her now.

Will she die?

Snake shook his head. He didn’t know. We have given her a fighting chance, he told her. 

As she snuggled next to her father, she murmured, Let’s get Aunt Berita’s medicines. But she fell to sleep before she finished the thought.

CHAPTER 2

She killed the High Commissioner . The voices around her screamed the impossible as she regained consciousness. The High Commissioner is dead , the voices insisted. The thought devastated her with a lance to her heart, a pain more intense than the hot sea of agony she experienced from the bullet in her back.

Mirra, please remain still, someone said. You’ll do additional damage to your back.

Motz? Motz had been assigned as her personal bodyguard.

His large, strong hands kept her writhing contained.  Until then, she had not been aware she moved at all.

Someone also groaned.  Was that her voice?  She shut her mouth and the groaning stopped. 

All right. She’s the last one. Strap her to the backboard.  Ready? 

Blood seeped her eyes from a deep gash in her forehead, keeping her blind. For a moment she wondered about that, until she remembered. Yes, Del, the High Commissioner, had thrust her away from him in a powerful, Talent-filled shove that slammed her head into a carved mirror. As her head hit the sharp-edged frame, her body also rammed into a Security guard.

All the while her brother, Carlon, laughed with glee. I finally got you, Sis, he crowed.

He had called her by her real name, in front of Del. In an instant of recognition, he realized who Laren Demmita, her alias, really was.

Carlon’s laughter rang in her ears. Her one thought was to silence him. Underneath her lay the stunned Security guard. Armed, she remembered. Blinded by the blood in her eyes, she groped for his gun in its holster, pulled it, and fired, silencing Carlon’s mockery forever.

The next moment she felt the bullet, probably from another guard, and passed out momentarily, like a blink. Unconscious. Conscious. And heard the cries of horror around her. She killed the High Commissioner.

No. I shot at Carlon and silenced him. I...

The High Commissioner is dead.

No!

She felt people move her into position, too carefully. Their voices were urgent, busy ones, dedicated to saving life. She heard reminders to watch her back, bullet lodged there, possible spinal cord damage, possible paralysis. Each word stabbed her like a knife.

Motz, she tried to whisper.

Yes, Mirra. He wiped at the blood on her face.

I loved him, she said. I didn’t mean to kill him, she was unable to add.

I know, Mirra.

They moved her onto a stretcher. In the ambulance they jabbed a needle in her arm, but the pain soared above the anesthetic. The pain in her heart soared even higher.

At last they arrived at the hospital where they administered something else. She finally reached the desired beach of oblivion.

CHAPTER 3

Sleep evaded Snake.   He called out to Zilla, his Sanasinni, the Priestess of the Village.

What now, boy? she replied. I have duties... Then she paused, listening to his thoughts.

She is that sick, is she? You told our Tadessa the truth.  Without proper medicines, and not those Neevee imitations, she has no more than a fighting chance.

I know. What I did not tell you is that Tadessa did the healing work tonight. I showed her how to strengthen her mother, and she did the rest. 

Zilla’s pleased amazement preceded her response.  You are doing well, Tadellin. Staying sober?

Yes.

I will come and get her if you do not.

Zilla never threatened. She stated facts. Snake knew she would seek him out and remove his daughter, just like she promised, if he failed Tadessa one more time. The last time he had gotten drunk, Tadessa had followed him inside his thoughts, thinking she could purge the poisonous memories that infected him. Then she had become lost, and she had nearly died before he was able to coax her out of the maze of his memories. Her instincts had been right, but one did not explore the thoughts of another without exceptional skill.

Her abilities come easily, Snake said.

I know...  But there was a worry behind her words.  You should bring her here.

No!  The same protest roared in his head. Snake wanted to be with his daughter for as long as he could before turning her over to Zilla. Eventually he would need to, regardless, because Tadessa would never get through puberty without the woman’s skills.

I need to connect with her, Zilla told him. She knows how to reach me, but not why she must do so. If you keep her too long, I may not be able to reach her in time.

What she meant, Snake knew, was that Tadessa would not know she needed to seek out the only one who could help her. Even though Zilla had spoken into her thoughts numerous times over the last year and a half, Tadessa had not made the necessary physical connection.

For some reason Tadessa resisted the Krindarwee priestess. While she paid close attention to each word Zilla said, the strength of her mind kept the Krindarwee matron away when she no longer wanted to listen. No one had ever been able to keep Zilla out. Ever. 

When Tadessa approached puberty, her mind would soar with a giddy kind of freedom. But without an internal structure to guide her, she would have no control of her abilities. She could do untold damage before she was stopped. 

She would be stopped.

The Nevians killed those with exceptional abilities if they failed to come under the structure of their Discipline. 

Later, Snake said, pushing Zilla out. He wasn’t ready to turn his daughter over to the Krindarwee leader. Not yet, anyway.

CHAPTER 4

As soon as word leaked out that the infamous Karra Willo had been captured, reporters from newspapers, magazines, and the screen began assembling in the hospital lobby, demanding more than the official report handed them. They begged for exclusive interviews with city prison officials, on-duty Security, the acting High Commissioner, hospital administrators, Karra's doctors and nurses. Some permissions were granted, some postponed. Interviews with any of Commissioner A'nden's personal staff were flatly denied.   For the immediate present, public authority proclaimed, all reporters must satisfy themselves with their printed information sheets.

By early morning, all news publications, written and viewed, announced the canned material.

Suzin's Inner City workplace provided interesting benefits.  There was even a screen in the break room.  During lunch hour or while on breaks, most of the employees watched it.  But she knew it distorted the truth.  Sometimes she wished she were as ignorant as her coworkers.

The screen never caused this much of a stir, though.  As Suzin looked up from the book she was reading, she noticed several people glance at her, then turn quickly away, embarrassed.  Their whispers stopped.  Suddenly her sister's name caught her attention.

...responsible for shooting our beloved Commissioner has been  identified as Karra Willo. Authorities also believe Mistress Willo was the one who brutally knifed Hannok Se Walliz, the Chief Administrator of Education, four years ago.  A couple of years ago she managed to keep the city in constant turmoil with the weekly publication of subversive literature.  At the time she was also a Homelander Front plant under the alias of Laren Demmita, operating as our High Commissioner's contracted lady.  The recent murder of her own brother Jon Carlon Willo will be her last offense against Sector Five...

The announcer's voice droned on, but Suzin could not hear the rest of his words.  Carlon?  Dead?

Mistress Willo, a voice behind her said.

She turned in her chair to face the speaker. Yes, Master Gudlin. 

Would you like to take the rest of the day off?  With pay, of course.  It was cruel of the authorities not to inform you before it came on the screen.

Of course. She should be at home. Her younger siblings, Dugaan, Kata and Benej would be crushed when they heard about Carlon, and that their sister was responsible. Carlon had been the only father figure they remembered.

Thank you, Master Gudlin, she managed to say.

Suzin could not stop repeats of the broadcast from tromping through her head. Karra had killed her own brother?  Surely there must have been reasons...

Reasons? Since her niece's disappearance, Su concluded that Karra needed little or no reason for the things she did. She wished her sister had remained in hiding, never reappearing to cause so much damage. Why drag her little girl into her corrupt life? Why surface at all? Why not remain in her perverted little hole with her felonious friends? They might even solve two problems at once, keep out of public sight and kill each other off.

Why kill Carlon? Unwanted tears slipped past her resolve not to cry. 

All the people in her crew stared at her, watching her cry.  She rose to leave, embarrassed.  She had been so proud of Carlon who managed to secure an excellent job, even marrying an Inner City Nevian. Why, Karra?  In the Maker's name, why?

IN HER SECOND LEVEL apartment, Vontl Ambreen Ve Ka had just finished dusting in the back bedroom when the newsbreak came on. She missed the first part of it, but once she heard the name Laren Demmita, she stopped cleaning and entered the front room to watch the remainder. She arrived just as the announcer began with a background on the Commissioner’s girl.

Most of what he said Von already knew. She sat, thinking about Commissioner A’nden, General A’nden when she had first come under his service.  He was not the same strong character she had come to admire. The man's fascination with that commoner angered Von.  He could have done better than an Outer Area paygirl.

But as always, she kept her opinions to herself. He hired her out of retirement to befriend the young Homelander and find out what the girl was hiding, Vontl Ambreen did her best. A’nden, frustrated by how little Von actually uncovered, suggested a light drug followed by some friendly chatter.

But the girl noticed that Von had slipped her something. She completely avoided the woman after that. Von should have told A’nden she doubted it would work, but one didn’t argue with the Commissioner once he’d made up his mind.

She didn’t care for the girl, and almost turned the screen off when the newsbreak drew her back with a single word: shot.

A’nden shot? Unable to move from the spot, she watched until the newscaster finished. Laren Demmita had been Karra Willo all this time? The next minute she reached for the vid.

I wish to speak to the acting High Commissioner, she told the new receptionist as soon as the screen cleared.

May I ask who is calling?

Tell him Vontl Ambreen Kees Sol.  Her marriage to Manwu Ve Ka had been to convince A’nden’s Laren that a normal Nevian couple accepted her. Now that the pretense was over, Von decided it was time she used her real name.

The receptionist raised her eyebrows slightly before she put Von on hold, one of the local dance groups performing this time.  Von fidgeted as she watched the dance troupe.  But presently the pinched face of the acting Commissioner appeared.  How unlike Del you are.

Mistress Kees Sol!  How good to see you!

Other circumstances would have been better.  Have you read her file yet?

Yes.  It was right on top, in fact.  Maybe he knew who she was.

Maybe. She doubted it.  He was too blind regarding his lovely Laren. He must have learned something and confronted her.  I doubt she would have shot him otherwise.

Was not the young man standing behind the Commissioner the husband of your niece? V'anel's daughter?

Not the investigator. Although I believe that somehow she was also responsible for the death of V’anel’s right-hand man, Barnis Ves. No, Chi’ara is Vrill's daughter. Vrill is in sales. That young man was promoted to Vice President of Sales.  Chi’ara has told me often enough what a promising future he offered her, even though she knows what I think of mixed marriages.  A kept playmate is one thing, but we need not join with them.  Chi’ara, though, has always been one to do the unconventional thing.

A tragic way to learn a lesson, the acting Commissioner said.

But I can’t, for the life of me, understand why they were at that party, Von wondered aloud.  She remembered her latest conversation with her niece.  The girl had been ecstatic that she had been invited, even though her position was far from the social status of the rest of the attendees.

I think it was a request of Mistress Mar Bens herself, the acting Commissioner said.  Maybe she planned to take the girl under her wing, so to speak.

That would have been a boon. Still, it made little sense to her. The Sector Five elite were very protective of their positions. What Security precautions have you made for the Willo woman? she asked, changing the subject.

Guarded and monitored.  No one can get in or out of her hospital room without acceptable identification.  As an added precaution, everyone is also recorded.

Good.  She has powerful enemies.  We must see that she is not silenced prematurely.

Do you think we will get a full confession?

Von drummed her fingers on the console. That is the question, of course. She may admit to the ones we can prove. The other murders, in that list in her file under all those aliases, will have to wait until we can break her.

If she breaks. He glanced out a window, in thought.

With your permission, I suggest you assign Dr. Manomantu to ensure our success.

An amused expression crossed his face.  Manomantu?

"Dr. Manomantu always succeeds. But he will need time to prepare.  I suggest, Commissioner, that he be ready to give her daily ‘counseling’ on that invention of his. The Willo woman has every right to expect the death penalty, which she will receive eventually. Until then, a daily confrontation with our soft-spoken friend will reveal any secrets she’s hiding."

Daily? He failed to suppress a grin. Will that not destroy her as surely as receiving the death penalty?

Of course. At the same time, we will get the information we need to break the Homelander Front and solve those murders.

His is not a gentle process. You would not be showing a trace of vengeance, would you, Mistress Vontl Ambreen?  He shook his finger at her.  Your brother came very close to breaking into the Homelander Front’s structure, but the assassin that killed Barnis Ves, the one you called his right-hand man, destroyed all his files. From what I understand, V’anel has lost several other assistants, just as they came close, four of them recently. I’ve also read your reports. How can you attribute so many deaths to a single person? Most of the murders on your list left no evidence whatsoever.

The assassin’s unique ability to fit within any Level in this city, just like that Willo woman, makes me believe it could be no one else.  All I lack is proof.  Or a confession.

He inclined his head.  I will notify Dr. Manomantu myself.

MISTRESS KEES SOL'S plan will fit my scheme nicely, Parsim Ta Kenler thought after she disconnected.  He was sure he could convince Dr. Manomantu to phrase his questions in certain ways.  If