Jenny Plague-Bringer

Chapter Twenty-Eight



An electronically amplified voice woke Seth from his sleep: “The general is here to see you.”

“Huh?” Seth sat up, his hair sticking out in clumps. He tried to get his bearings. He was on a very small, uncomfortable bed in a concrete room like a prison cell. He faced a steel door where a young man in a black uniform looked at him through a thick pane of glass. “Where the hell am I? Is this Alabama?” Seth asked.

“You are in a classified research facility.” A hard, gruff voice took over. The young man in the window moved aside and was replaced by a man in his late forties or early fifties, with bright green eyes and close-cropped red hair, going gray. “You and Jennifer Morton have been taken into custody because of the mass death in Fallen Oak.”

Oh, shit, that again, Seth thought. “So...Alabama, then?” he asked.

“You are very far from home, Seth. My name is Lieutenant General Ward Kilpatrick, U.S. Department of Defense. We’re very concerned about the threat to national security represented by you and Jenny...especially Jenny.”

“Jenny’s not a threat to anybody,” Seth said.

“How can you say that, after witnessing the slaughter in Fallen Oak?” Ward asked. His voice crackled from the ceiling, slightly delayed from the movement of his lips.

“Those people were trying to kill her. And me. So my sympathy is kind of limited,” Seth said.

“Were they not people you knew personally? Teenagers and teachers from your school? Your church pastor? Your mayor?”

“I did know them,” Seth said. “A lot of them were a*sholes.”

“But did they deserve to die?”

Seth shrugged. “Once you say it’s okay to murder somebody, aren’t you kind of saying that it’s okay for somebody to murder you? I mean, fair’s fair.”

“You have no remorse?”

“I wish it hadn’t happened, but I’ve had plenty of time to get over it.” Seth smiled. He realized that he was something...more than he’d been before. He remembered scores of past lives, and he was now the sum of thousands of years of experience and knowledge. He was no longer just Seth Barrett from Fallen Oak, he was the healer, veteran of many human lives.

And he knew all about the man who stood before him.

“Where’s Jenny?” Seth asked. “I need to see her.”

“I’m afraid she’s in isolation at the moment,” Ward said.

“You have to take me to her.” Seth walked toward the window, looking Ward in the eye. “Right now.”

“You are not in charge here, Seth. Seeing Jenny is a privilege you’ll have to earn.”

“Earn how? By obeying you? Being your pet dog?”

“I’m giving you the chance to redeem yourself by serving your country, Seth. I’m only going to offer it once.”

“I’m not going to work for you, General Kranzler. I’m not going to kill for you.”

Ward’s eyes widened at the name. “What did you call me?”

“I called you General Kilpatrick,” Seth said. “That’s your name this time around, isn’t it, Kranzler?”

“You said it again.” Ward’s voice was a low growl. “Why? Where did you get that name?”

“Do yourself a favor, Kranzler, or Ward Kilpatrick, or whatever you think your name is,” Seth said. “Let me and Jenny go now. You’ll wish you had, I promise. And I do keep my promises, lifetime after lifetime. All of them.”

“You’re in no position to threaten me!” Ward snapped.

“Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t understand your position, Kranzler.” Seth stepped even closer, looking hard into the man’s eyes. “Because it looks to me like you’re the one who’s trapped. Like Alexander. The same life, again and again.”

“Who is Alexander?”

“He’s dead, so it doesn’t matter. I killed him. It was a long time coming...but, like I said, I keep my promises.” Seth grinned at Ward through the thick window.

“You just blew your only chance.” Ward’s face turned a dark crimson.

“My one and only chance?” Seth asked, even as Ward and the guards departed down the hall. “Not like my last one and only chance, in 1933? Or my next one and only chance, when you bring us all back to the same place again in another hundred years? How many times are you going to set up this same situation, Kranzler? Hello? Is this thing on? Where’s Jenny, Kranzler?”

Ward and his guards continued on out of sight.

“That went well, I think,” Seth said, wondering if the man could still hear him. He looked around the room, wondering whether he’d been in this exact cell before. It didn’t look like it had been cleaned since 1933.

Seth felt a giddy high from having so many of his memories restored, as if he’d been sleepwalking all his life and finally woken up. He could see how Kranzler, or Ward, was trapped in the same drama, creating the same situation again, apparently unaware that they’d all been here before. Jenny, and their unborn baby, had to be here somewhere. To understand the present, he needed to study carefully his memories of the past...


Sebastian walked into the dining room where the test subjects ate at a long table. Evelina, the dark, quiet Slavic girl, sat alone at the end, and he greeted her, as he did every time. She mumbled something back without looking up from her boiled beef and potatoes, which was actually a big response from her.

He thought the tests were going well. He’d healed animals and human subjects with a variety of afflictions, and he’d even healed Dr. Wichtmann of a persistent bladder infection, though that wasn’t an official test. The scientists seemed pleased with the work but still clueless about how his touch actually worked, except that it put out a lot of heat and electromagnetic energy.

The worst part was how rarely he saw Juliana—just meals and the occasional film night, no private time. He hoped he would be included in the girls’ activities more now that Willem had apparently returned home to Holland over the weekend. Niklaus was always on his official duties and still took his meals with the other S.S. officers, so Sebastian found himself spending hours alone on his hall at night. Not that he particularly wanted to spend more time with Niklaus—the guy had a strange, threatening way about him, but at least he always had beer or schnapps. The scientists had instructed Sebastian not to drink alcohol, but what else was he supposed to do with all his time?

Sebastian took a platter of potatoes and beef from the open dumbwaiter, then sat at his usual place near the middle of the table. He greeted Roza and Vilja, who flanked the head of the table where Alise would inevitably sit. The blond girls waved back at him and whispered to each other, giggling.

Mia, Juliana’s roommate, arrived and hurried over to sit next to Sebastian.

“Hi, Mia. Where’s Juliana?” Sebastian asked.

“She’ll come.” Mia leaned close to him and whispered. “She’s very upset today. I hope you can comfort her.”

“They didn’t make her do more animal tests, did they?”

“No, they just...” Mia frowned. “They wanted her to...kill a man. With her touch.” She placed her hand on Sebastian’s, as if to demonstrate.

“Are you serious? What kind of sick people are these Nazis? Is she in her room?” Sebastian began to stand, but Mia grabbed his arm.

“Alise is talking to her now,” Mia said quietly. “God knows what she’s saying. They should be here soon.”

Sebastian pulled his arm free and started for the door, but then Juliana and Alise entered the room. Despite what Mia had said, Juliana had a broad, glowing smile and a drifting-on-a-cloud look in her eyes.

Sebastian smiled and reached out to hug Juliana, but she looked right through him. She trotted after Alise like a loyal puppy and sat down next to Roza, on Alise’s end of the table. Roza gave Juliana a disgusted look and scooted her chair away, but Juliana didn’t seem to notice. She gazed droopy-eyed at Alise, with a drunken smile.

“Alise touched her, didn’t she?” Sebastian asked, taking his seat again. “How could Alise touch Juliana without getting the plague?”

“I don’t know, but it looks like she did.”

Sebastian shook his head. Alise had only touched him a few brief times, but her power was clearly strong. Even those brief touches had made him feel intoxicated, and a couple of times, had left him with painfully swollen erections that wouldn’t go away for hours.

“I have an announcement,” Alise said. “Now that both halls are together.”

Sebastian tried to catch Juliana’s eye, but she hadn’t even looked his way since entering the room. Either Alise had dosed her pretty heavily, or Juliana was angry at Sebastian about something.

“Orders have come down that we will no longer tolerate music, film, or literature corrupted by Jewish, homosexual, Communist, or liberal influences,” Alise continued. “No more degrading Hollywood filth, no more records of music by the lower races. We will enjoy only civilized film and music, promoting proper German virtues.”

“No!” Mia said. “Please, Alise!”

“Excuse me? Do you have a problem, Mia?” Alise stared at her, and Roza and Vilja copied her cold look. So did Juliana, as if she’d become part of their clique. The four girls seemed to be trying to intimidate Mia.

“I have to agree with Mia on this one,” Sebastian said. “We really need our entertainment around here.”

“You’re taking her side?” Juliana scowled at him.

“It’s not about sides, it’s about not losing our music and movies,” Sebastian told her.

“Juliana, I read there’s a new Mae West coming out,” Mia said. “Called I’m No Angel. Don’t you want to see that?”

“It sounds exactly like the kind of degenerate film we’re trying to avoid,” Alise said. “We’ll be collecting all unsuitable records from the common rooms. You will still have the records of many fine German composers.”

“This is ridiculous,” Sebastian said. “We should at least keep the records we have.”

“We are not debating the new rule, I am simply telling you what it is,” Alise said. Juliana, Roza, and Vilja all nodded, as if Alise had made an excellent point.

“Why are you doing this?” Sebastian asked.

“I am responsible for guiding all of you toward healthy bodies and healthy morals, too,” Alise said. “This may shock you, Sebastian, but we caught Juliana and Mia together on Saturday night, drinking wine and dancing to Negro music in a very lewd manner.”

“You did? Where was I?” Sebastian grinned at Juliana, but she was still imitating Alise’s withering glare. It was as if the Juliana he’d always known had vanished, and a new minion of Alise had taken her place.

“The behavior was unacceptable and violated several dormitory rules,” Alise said. “Gruppenführer Kranzler and I agree that the corrupting influence of foreign, racially inferior music is to blame.”

“American music isn’t foreign to us!” Sebastian said.

“Sebastian, please don’t fight with Alise,” Juliana told him, her blue eyes frosty and hard. “She has a difficult job looking out for all of us. We should support her and listen to her. If she wants to remove corrupting influences, then we should help her instead of arguing.”

“Hi, I’m not sure we’ve met,” he replied. “My name is Sebastian.”

“You can’t be serious about this,” Mia said to Alise.

“The new rule goes into effect immediately,” Alise said. “Roza, Vilja, and I will review the appropriateness of records and books in both common rooms. Juliana, would you like to help?”

“I’ll be happy to,” Juliana said. “I’m sorry Sebastian is giving you problems.”

“Don’t worry, he’s just a boy,” Alise said, and Juliana laughed, as did Alise’s other little followers. Sebastian cast a look of disbelief at Juliana, but she ignored him.

“I think I’m done.” Sebastian stood and returned his slightly-eaten meal to the dumbwaiter. The little rope-powered elevator would return their dirty dishes up to the kitchen.

“So am I.” Mia followed him out to the hallway, though she hadn’t eaten at all.

“Have fun, you two,” Alise said, and the other blond girls snickered.

“It’s like she’s under a spell,” Sebastian said quietly to Mia as they walked down the hall, away from the dining room and back toward the dormitories. “I mean, I’ve felt Alise’s power before, and I know it’s very...”

“Sexy?” Mia asked, and he couldn’t help laughing.

“Yeah. Strong. Like opium. It feels like Juliana’s completely out of touch with herself. And me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m still here.” Mia smiled. “I’ll talk to her. And she’ll come back to her senses...Alise has touched me before, and it does wear off eventually.”

“It’s good you’re here, Mia,” Sebastian said. “Without you, I’d be going crazy.”

“You might still be going crazy.” She smiled as they reached the double doors to the girls’ hall. “I’ll see you at breakfast. Don’t worry about Juliana.”

“I’ll try.” Sebastian reached out and hugged her, without thinking about it. He’d never hugged her before. She leaned her face against his neck, wrapping her arms around him tightly and holding him much longer than he’d expected, while his healing energy seeped into her body. She gave him a dazed smile as she finally pulled herself away and stepped through the door.