Jenny Plague-Bringer

Chapter Thirty-Three



“Eight of diamonds,” Mariella said.

She sat at a table in one of the big concrete laboratories, next to a divider wall. A small hole in the wall allowed her to hold hands with the person on the other side. At the moment, that was a nineteen-year-old African-American girl. Like most of the subjects ASTRIA trucked in for this kind of testing, she was an Army soldier recently out of basic training. Mariella couldn’t see her, but she knew the girl was sitting in front of a deck of cards, slowly turning them over one at a time. Mariella had to predict the next card before the girl turned it.

A few men and women in white coats watched her from across the room, while Ward watched from the window above.

“Correct,” a lab assistant said, and she couldn’t help smiling a little. Numbers and letters were difficult to see in her visions of the future, but she always saw things more clearly the nearer they were in time. Over weeks of testing, she’d shown a ninety-one percent success rate at seeing the cards, if the other subject was female, and an eighty-seven percent success rate if she was holding hands with a male soldier instead. Interestingly, and embarrassingly, her rate of accurate predictions dropped to seventy-four percent when she was physically attracted to the soldier in question, as revealed by all her intimate heart, breathing, and brainwave data, which everyone in the room could see on the monitors.

“Ten of clubs,” she said.

“Correct.”

“Jack of spades.”

“Correct.”

“Three of hearts.”

“Correct...”

When the day’s tests were finally done, Mariella was met outside the lab by a pair of guards in body armor. Instead of escorting her back to her own residential area, though, they took her up to the administrative level and right to Ward’s office. He didn’t rise, only stared at her with his feral green eyes as she walked in.

“Did you want to see me, General Kilpatrick?” she asked Ward.

“How did it go with Seth?” he asked, though he certainly knew.

“Not good. It’s going to take more time.”

“You were supposed to win him over,” Ward said.

“In one try?” she asked.

“He’s young and stupid. You assured me it would not be a problem.”

“General Kilpatrick, sir, it’s nothing to seduce a man...but taking his heart requires time. His girlfriend is pregnant. His feelings can’t be changed in a day.”

“In this line of work, we only care about results,” Ward told her. “We don’t care how you get them. Try harder.”

“I will, sir.”

Mariella left, feeling frustrated. She understood why Seth wouldn’t want to cooperate with Ward, but it was their only real choice for now. They weren’t going to get anywhere if they stayed caged up in the cellblock. Why couldn’t he see it? Why couldn’t he at least pretend to play along? Stubborn, stupid boy.

She told herself that her real frustration didn’t come from the part of her that hoped to touch him again, the part of her that wanted to put her own feelings ahead of Jenny’s. She didn’t want to acknowledge any of those feelings, but they kept troubling her anyway.


Mia couldn’t stop kissing Sebastian, and kissing wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy her. She grabbed at his shirt and tried to push it up, then grew frustrated and ripped it open instead, little buttons raining down on the carpet at her feet. Her hands went to his bare chest and down his stomach. His skin was radiant, like gold...the entire world seemed washed in a golden fog, and all she could think about was the hungry desire that threatened to consume her if she didn’t get even closer to him, feeling his healing touch all over his skin.

His warm hands slid up the backs of her thighs, raising her dress. He lifted it up to her waist, and she eagerly held up her arms so he could take it all the way off. She reached her arms behind herself and unlatched the heavy brass hook on her bra, which was stiff and starched and concealed half her torso.

“Enjoy each other,” Alise said, her voice like a distant echo that barely registered in Mia’s brain. Mia had entirely forgotten that Alise and Niklaus were still there. Mia paid them no attention as they looked at each other and laughed, and she didn’t think of them again after they left and closed the door. Her need for Sebastian filled her body and mind.

She giggled as he threw on her the bed and then lay down beside her. She lost all sense of time as they kissed, her hands exploring the taut muscles of his body while his fingers moved up her stomach, pulled her loosened bra aside, and touched her hard, swollen nipples.

Her hands found their way to the front of his trousers and pulled until they broke open. She reached inside, taking his hard length in her hand.

He made a kind of growling sound and rolled her on her back, and she hurried to take off her underwear. When he lay between her legs, she put him inside of her.

Every part of him felt good, radiating his healing power. She felt like a miniature sun had flared to life between her hips, scorching her from the inside.

She whispered again and again that she loved him, she loved him, she loved him...