Misguided Meditation

Wednesday, 24 Sep 2014
Art Gallery, Downtown
Natchez MS
2335 hrs, CDT

Irina watched Cord melt into the shadows and sighed.. As she retraced her steps to Renny's Mercedes, Irina reflected that of all the vampires she's had to deal with, Cord was simultaneously the easiest and the most dangerous. While most would find his manner offensive, Irina found it a relief. He didn't hide his opinions or agenda. He didn't employ empty social noise or tact. That made dealing with him easier, as she could be pretty sure where she stood with him at all times. If she angered him, he'd let her know without lying to her face and stabbing her in the back later. Therein also lay the danger. If she angered him, he was just as likely to rip her throat out as not. Her training had given her a better chance against the Kindred, but she had no way to counteract that.

So ran her thoughts when she rounded the rear of Renny's car and was brought up short by what she saw on the other side: Renny was kissing Alona.

Had Irina not known them so well they might have seemed almost comical. Alona stood almost a foot taller and her muscular frame made Renny seem almost childlike, but here Renny had apparently dipped his ghoul like a professional dancer to bring them close enough to kiss.

That, however, was hardly the oddest thing about the scene. The oddest was that in all the time Irina had known them, they had never kissed. They were definitely affectionate with one another, and it was clear that they were in nearly constant telepathic contact, but for all that, they'd never kissed, at least not in public.

As Renny swung a shocked Alona to her feet, Irina thought she heard the woman softly say, "Он не дал мне внутри?"

Huh. Something's up. What are you up to, you cagey bastard?

Irina deliberately scraped a single footstep to let them know she was there but otherwise did not draw attention their way. She maintained a ghoul's proper distance and waited for Renny to acknowledge her.

As if on cue, Renny disengaged and swirled Alona back to her feet. "Come, my loyal droogs. Let's be off to Queen Bee's."

Without a word, Irina slid into the back seat. She didn't want to come between whatever Renny and Alona had going. She checked her piece—still with her, still loaded—and made sure she had fast access to her weapons bag. Satisfied that the situation was as secure as it could be given the circumstances, Irina settled back in the seat and kept her eyes peeled for trouble.

The Mercedes roared off.. Once free of the parking lot it became clear that Renny was not headed to Caroline Thibideaux's house so much as making sure he was not tailed. When he was satisfied that they weren't being followed, he followed River Street to one of the old warehouses and pulled in behind it.

Alona sat in the front seat obviously worried but not saying anything as Renny pulled the car to a stop, killing the lights and engine.

He looked around in the darkness for a moment and then oddly stared down like he was looking for a stain on his pants.

"Well," he said in a friendly, businesslike tone. "I want to thank both of you, my ghouls, for how things went back there."

Irina raised a brow at his uncharacteristic choice of words. Something's up. First the SDR and now this? What's his game? Taking her cue, Irina cast her eyes down, nodded, and murmured, "We live to serve."

"Spoken like a true prodigy," Renny said with a smile.

He turned to Alona, who was about to say something. He looked at her with adoring eyes. "Lonya, какие две мере заслуживающие доверия слова в английском языке?" She nodded slowly and he responded identically. "Good, now guided meditation? Let's join hands."

Reaching over the back seat, Irina held hands as ordered. She had an inkling of what he intended to do, given their covert meeting two years ago in Boston. She bet herself a twenty that she was right.

Irina closed her eyes and lost her bet. The world briefly spun, fell, flipped and folded. For a moment she might have lost consciousness.

"Ты похож на кролика!" Irina heard a voice say giddily as she swam to her senses. "Милый маленький белый кролик. Hippity hoppity."

When Irina opened her eyes she was looking at a rather large, glowing sunflower floating approximately where the front seat and Alona had been. Irina's paw was wrapped in one of its leaves.

Wait … paw? What the hell?

It was a somewhat largish paw, with sleek black fur that blended into a brown at her elbow. She looked left and indeed her other paw was in contact with a rabbit who was incongruously wearing Renny's glasses.

Oh. Shit. We've gone Astral. The anti-surveillance run made sense, then, as did his odd speech. He was trying to avoid being seen and heard, naturally. But by whom? Irina growled her irritation—literally growled, as she had taken the form of a Belgian Shepherd on the Astral Plane—and wished she'd known beforehand what Renny had planned. She would have set up a perimeter defense first. Their only defense now was the glass and metal frame of the car on the Physical Plane.

"Please tell me you rolled up the windows and locked the doors first," she rumbled, baring her teeth.

"Окно!" The sunflower proclaimed. "Там нет окон. Он есть мир. И я? Я Солнце!"

The Rabbit gazed at the Sunflower. "Sorry. Astral space tends to make Lonya a little loopy." White paw patted verdant leaf. "But I think we're ok for now. Look around us but keep your hands in contact. If you see anyone, use the holy mojo on them."

Irina noticed that they weren't surrounded by the car anymore but floating in the silvery fog of the Astral Plane.

"Right," Irina growled. She swallowed and her tongue felt strange in her mouth. All part of being a dog, she supposed. Her ears twitched, picking up sounds she'd never heard before. Were those molecules of air colliding? She sniffed and was surprised at how much her sense of smell had improved. If colors had a scent, she'd be huffing rainbows.

Hell, you might yet. This is the Astral Plane, after all. Thoughts manifest here like nowhere else. Focus, DiSanti. Sit. Stay. Guard.

Maybe Alona wasn't the only one made loopy by all this. Even so, Irina stretched her senses to the utmost and did as Renny asked.

Alona the Sunflower was laughing, her petals growing larger and glowing brighter the more she laughed. Within the glow space began to coalesce, becoming both more real and more surreal. Glowing worms appeared. And butterflies.

"She tends to lose her way when she's not rooted properly," the rabbit said. "We won't be able to stay long. She's going to attract notice. Lonya, Будет!" he said switching to Russian. "Пожалуйста, прекратите."

The sunflower stopped for a moment but seemed trapped in a fit of hysterics and began laughing again.

The rabbit looked around, concerned "We don't have a lotta time. Look, Eliza's put some demonic hitchhikers on me. Baali stuff. I've been lo-jacked and wired for sound, but not hijacked. Not yet anyway. I need to gather some details, but if I decide to absent myself from a conversation or two, can you cover for me?"

"Right. Go." Irina nodded, no longer thinking it odd that she could speak as a dog. "I'll hold the fort."

Alona continued to laugh and shine while Renny looked about askance. "I don't mean this instant. I mean in general. I want to be sure that no one says anything in front of me that might get them in trouble."

He turned his voice to a low mumble. "I don't like this. I saw the things when Eliza sent them at me, but I haven't been able to detect them since. I'd hoped to use the Astral plane to find them, but Alona's handiwork is starting to grab attention. I'm surprised Midnight hasn't shown up yet." He turned his gaze intently to Irina. "Anything you want to say before we go back?"

"No." Irina shook her head. "Just do what you're here to do. Which is what, exactly?"

"Just to let you and Little Miss Sunflower over there know what I am up to before you come to the wrong conclusions about my weird behavior and it causes someone to act out of character."

"Renny," Irina said. "The day you stop acting weird is the day I'll worry. Til then, just do what you do best."

"All right, then, close your eyes."

HOW TO SPEAK RUSSIAN

Он не дал мне внутри = He did not let me inside/ He would not let me inside Sound clip

Какие две мере заслуживающие доверия слова в английском языке? = What are the two least trustworthy words in the English language? Sound clip

Ты похож на кролика! = You look like a rabbit! Sound clip

Милый маленький белый кролик. = Cute little white rabbit. Sound clip

Окно! Там нет окон. Он есть мир. И я? Я Солнце! = Window! There are no windows. He is the world. And I? I am the Sun! Sound clip

Будет! = Stop; That's enough; That will do Sound clip

Пожалуйста, прекратите = Please, stop Sound clip

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