Enid looked at Hazel as they rode in the skycar. The false sun was setting in New Amazon and the cities holo-displays and neon lights flared to life. The view from here was much better than from the sidewalk. Enid’s wrist started to vibrate. She glanced at the holo-phone and swept her fingers over it bringing a halo-call to life. Hazel glanced up from her holo-tablet. She’d been staring at videos on it since they got back to the car. She looked back down at the holo-phone and tapped to answer it with video. Eyre appeared before her.

“Mom where are you? I told you to wait at Aurelius Corp.”

“We needed clothes.”

“We, as in the teenage sister I have that you still need to explain?”

Enid shrugged.

“She needed, clothes a haircut and a translator.”

“Well, you need to head to the WTO Military HQ, so we can talk.”

“Fine.”

Enid lowered the privacy screen.

“Bee, could you get us to the WTO Military HQ?”

“Uh, I can but that’s secure airspace.”

Enid looked down to Eyre.

“She says that is secure airspace.”

“Just tell her to request clearance for Enid Aurelius, it’s already been arranged.”

Enid glanced at Bee.

“Tell them you need clearance and that you have Enid Aurelius on board.”

Bee looked back at Enid and blinked.

“As in Aurelius Corp?”

Enid nodded.

“My…mother is the CEO.”

“Holy shit. Ma’am, I’m so sorry I did not know…”

Eyre sighed.

“Tell her she’s not fired please. Mom sixteen hundred years and you’re still a pain in my ass.”

Enid leaned towards Bee and spoke.

“She says you’re not fired and that you’re supposed to be our driver from now on.”

Bee blinked.

“Sure thing Ms. Aurelius. I’ll give you some privacy.”

The privacy screen went back up.

“Did I just hear you say I told you she was going to be your personal driver?”

Enid nodded.

“Look at it this way, now you have someone who can keep an eye on your delinquent mother and sister.”

“Mom…I swear if I didn’t miss you so much I’d… throw you in a cell!”

“Aww. See you soon Eyre. I hope the wrinkles around your eyes are just from the holo-display.”

Enid hung up. Hazel looked at Enid.

“I didn’t see any wrinkles mom.”

“You know that, and I know that, but its going to drive her nuts.”

Enid started to get changed into her more professional wardrobe. A black pencil skirt a grey blouse, leggings and a pair of heels. Hazel sighed and did the same she was wearing a black suit jacket and pants. Sunglasses on the top of her head. As soon as she finished changing she went back to the holo-tablet. Enid rolled her eyes. She was speaking as the privacy screen lowered.

“Hazel, you’ve had that for an hour and you haven’t put it down.”

“Its awesome mom.”

“I know, just like my tablet that I showed you already when you were ten.”

“No, that was…primitive.”

Enid rolled her eyes and glanced at Bee who spoke.

“Won’t put it down huh? My daughter’s exactly like that.”

“You have a daughter?”

“Yes, she’s about her age.”

“I’m so sorry we used up so much of your time.”

“Its okay, she’s with her dad this week.”

Enid nodded. Bee motioned in front of the skycar that was starting to descend.

“We’re about to land.”

Enid nodded and started looking out the window. The WTO Military HQ complex was something to see. Hover-tanks, fighter jets, APC’s. They also had direct access to the outside with armored doors. There were missile launchers. They did not look to be taking security for granted. The main building was a forty-story building with docking pays long one of its sides. The skycar pulled into one of them. Once it had landed Bee looked back.

“I’ll be right here to take you home.”

“Oh…umm, no idea how long we’ll be and uh, we have no home here.”

“I know a few places you can stay. The Excelsior is probably the best.”

“You should probably go home and get some sleep?”

“I’ll catch a nap in the car. Part of the job.”

Enid blinked at her.

“What exactly is your job?”

“I am private security for Aurelius Corp.”

“Wait they sent a bodyguard with us?”

“Well, the branch manager thought it prudent to ensure you were protected, I wasn’t sure why but I mean, you’re Eyre Aurelius’s daughter, makes it pretty obvious now.”

Enid shook her head.

“She’s such a brat. Thanks. So, our things are okay back here?”

“As safe as a vault at Aurelius.”

Enid nodded. She stepped out the car and motioned for Hazel to follow. Hazel followed her almost tripping. She was still staring at her holo-tablet intently. Enid tapped the off switch.

“Put that away for now.”

Hazel glared at her mother and walked after her making a face.

“You’re about to meet your eldest sister and possibly your Aunt, you want to make a good impression don’t you?”

Hazel shrugged.

“Whatever.”

“Whatever, indeed.”

Enid frowned at Hazel. A woman flanked by two armored and armed guards met them at the exit from the landing bay. She looked at her holotablet then back up at the two women. She looked to the two guards and nodded. The guards left and she motioned for Hazel and Enid to follow her. They walked through the exit. The building was quite silent except for the click of the high heels of both Enid and the woman in the red dress. Hazel had gone with a combat style boot so her foot steps were almost silent. The woman approached a pad and waved her holotablet’s bracelet over it. Doors opened in the wall. She motioned for Enid and Hazel to enter. She followed then waved her bracelet over another pad. The elevator started moving upwards quickly. Enid sensed it was going fast enough they likely should be pulling G’s but she felt nothing. The doors opened and the woman stepped aside and motioned for the pair to exit. She then motioned for them to follow her. She approached a set of opaque glass doors and waved her bracelet over another pad and they opened. She stepped aside and motioned for the pair to enter. Enid glanced at Hazel and walked inside. The woman in the red dress sat down behind what looked like an assistant’s desk but it lacked a computer monitor. She motioned to some seats.

“Please have a seat, the Chairman is in a meeting at the moment but she is looking forward to meeting the both of you.”

Enid sat down and crossed her legs. Hazel moved to activate her holotablet again but lowed her hand when her mother gave her a scathing glance. Hazel made a face and sighed. It took several minutes before the assistant looked at the pair.

“The chairman is ready to see you now.”

Enid stood up and straightened her already perfect looking skirt. Apparently, fabric in the future was less prone to bunching. Hazel stood up and walked behind Enid. They entered a well appointed office. Enid barely had a chance to register that Eyre was there before she was drowning her eldest daughter’s hug.

“I can’t believe it’s you mom.”

“Yes…its me.”

Enid returned Eyre’s embrace. She was a bit weirded out by her daughter’s reaction it wasn’t the first time they’d been apart. It dawned on her suddenly that for her it had been barely a hundred years, but for Eyre it had been almost a millennia. Enid hugged her more tightly.

“How did you get here?”

“I can’t say.”

Enid noticed another woman now. She stood up from behind the desk. She recognized the magenta eyes almost immediately, the near humanness of her but the wrongness of her fluid movements. Her mind screamed there was no food to be found there.

“Ms. Aurelius. You are a hard woman to track down.”

“Amee?”

The twenty-something woman smiled at Enid. She had grown into a beautiful young woman. She could see Amee breathing. Smell the human on her.

“How are you still alive?”

Amee waved her hand over something on her desk and the doors to her office closed.

“I’m immortal due to my cybernetics. They keep me alive and preserved. Much like your blood does for you.”

Amee looked the pair up and down her eyes going wide suddenly.

“You’re time travelers!”

“You are mistaken.”

“No, you are infused with temporal radiation, both of you.”

“How do you know that?”

Eyre looked between her mother and the Chairwoman in confusion.

“How is that possible if they did not come through gate?”

Amee motioned to Enid. Enid frowned.

“Because we were just in 14th century Japan before we arrived here.”

Eyre blinked at her mother.

“How did you get there?”

Enid sighed and glanced at Hazel who was staring at Eyre.

“Can we take care of introductions before interrogations?”

Amee nodded.

“I’m the chairwoman of the WTO. Your daughter is on the board. You are Enid Aurelius, aka the Dark Mother, aka Seraph. Aka the daughter of god. Aka Slays Demons. Aka Mother of Spirits. And this is?”

Enid nudged Hazel forward.

“This is Eyre’s sister, and my daughter Hazel. She was born in 2nd century BC. Hazel, this is your sister, Eyre, my eldest living child. And this is Amee, who I met briefly when she was a teenage girl about…nine hundred years ago?”

Amee nodded. Hazel offered her hand to Amee, who shook it, she did the same for Eyre who pulled her in for a tight hug. She pushed Hazel back and looked her up and down.

“Another sister. She hasn’t told you I’m a brat has she?”

Hazel shook her head. She was silently looking down at her much older looking sister.

“She told me she missed you every day she was gone and all she could think about was getting back to you, our sister and her own time.”

Enid scoffed and shook her head.

“She’s exaggerating.”

Eyre looked at her mother, a smile creeping across her lips once again.

“Sure she is mom.”

Enid punched Hazel’s arm.

“Okay you met your sister. Amee, is there anywhere she can go? She’s been dying to look at her holotablet again, we’re boring her.”

“Of course.”

Amee motioned over her desk and an opaque glass pane slide out of place and led to a comfortable looking living area with a couch and a bed.

“Hazel, make yourself comfortable. Do you want anything to eat?”

Hazel looked between the other three women.

“I’m older than I look, I can stay.”

Enid crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

“Do you want too?”

“No this looks boring.”

“Do you want anything to eat hon?”

“Pepperoni pizza?”

Eyre and Amee both chuckled. Amee smiled to Hazel.

“I’ll order you the best pizza in New Amazon.”

Hazel smiled and bounded towards the offered couch. Amee waved her hand over her desk and the door closed again. She looked between Eyre and Enid.

“The family resemblance is uncanny.”

Enid shrugged.

“She’s my daughter, I clearly remember giving birth to her, not that she’s ever thanked me for it.”

Eyre laughed. Amee shook her head.

“But you’re a vampire, so dead, how can you conceive and carry a child? I thought It was biologically impossible.”

“I only wish it was. Hazel is also my biological daughter, and so where here twenty brothers and sisters. And Miko…who I need to track down now.”

Eyre blinked at her mother. Enid shrugged.

“It was first century BC, its not like there was birth control and I was married.”

Eyre had the ‘I can’t hear this look on her face.’ Amee blinked.

“Intriguing, I sensed no disruption of the timeline. I have sensed other disturbances some of which are still propagating, but nothing on the scale on a whole new vampire family line.”

Amee frowned.

“I did my best to avoid altering the timeline and as far as I could tell everywhere I ended up was already fucked.”

“Can you explain?”

Enid sighed.

“When we killed the Black Son we caused a rupture in Hell scattering demons across time. So far I’ve been appearing where there was one or more fallen angels who were disrupting history. I killed them. I guess there are more. I’ve no idea why I ended up here. I’ve been trying to get back to 2027 but lets just say our travel method is…inconsistent. My tablet doesn’t have the processing power or understanding of temporal mechanics to do a better job of it. That’s why I asked Eyre for access to a supercomputer. So I could figure out where I went wrong.”

Amee shook her head.

“You…can’t go back there. You vanished and didn’t reappear until now. You’ll rip apart everything we’ve built.”

She motioned to Eyre.

“So I’m just supposed let myself miss nine hundred years?”

“Unless you can figure out a way to live them without anyone you care about realizing…Yes.”

Enid growled. Eyre was spent most of the conversation looking towards the door that Hazel had walked through.

“Mom, she’s a wolf-born.”

“Yes. So?”

“You were married to a werewolf?”

“No, I was married to a tribal chieftain and a spirit-kin woman.”

Eyre was about to same something else but then closed her mother again. Amee glanced at her old friend.

“I’m sure your mother can fill you in as well, go ahead go talk to your sister.”

Eyre nodded and entered the room by waving her wrist band over a spot on the glass. This left Amee and Enid alone. Enid glanced after Eyre then back to Amee.

“Were you trying to get rid of her?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s not going to like what we have to talk about next.”

“And what is that?”

“That you need to go finish killing those demons that are trampling through the timeline. Its making noise that I’m detecting, so it’s making noise that our enemies can detect too. Your arrival here…it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed, nor will the activity of the demons.”

“I couldn’t find one of them on my own if you drew me a map, put me on rails and pushed me towards it.”

“Well maybe we can use your data to figure out what’s going wrong? Maria has been researching time travel, dimensional travel and wormholes for centuries. Maybe we can use her gate for more precision. But you need to leave Hazel here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The time travel is having a detrimental effect on her physiology being here seems to be stabilizing it. I’ve noticed an improvement even in the time between when you walked in my office and she moved to that room.”

Enid closed her eyes and swore under her breath.

“Fuck, so…fuck fuck fuck. I told her to stay with her brothers and sisters!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Taichai…a I’m not sure what he is, told me that the only way for Hazel to resume her natural aging was to get to the time she was meant to be, or something about the latest she traveled too. It seems like when we are trying to get into Limbo we were hitting a barrier that exists in the 29th century. I need her. I need her to help me with the demons.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if it wasn’t for her, I would have been the sex slave of a Chinese emperor. I cannot do this alone. I’d never tell her this, but I need her.”

“How is that possible?”

“Fallen angels…they aren’t…they aren’t easy things to hunt. They are more then a match for me in most cases. I was arrogant at first but…and with my vampire…I can never be sure one moment to the next if I’m going to be a mortal that never ages…or an ancient vampire goddess. My powers have been flakey at best.”

“Surely between you Eyre and Maria you can figure it out.”

“No. You can’t tell them. No way they let me go back again if they find out.”

“Well, you’re appearing dead to me at the moment.”

“Until I’m not. I was stuck as a living breathing unageing mortal for the better part of a century in Hazel’s village. Then another two years in 14th century Japan.”

“Is it the amulet?”

“You know about those?”

“Yes, I can see it around your heart.”

Enid paused then shook her head.

“No, Taichai seemed to indicate I was doing it to myself somehow.”

“Is he a trustworthy source?”

“I used to think he wasn’t, but…now I’m not so sure. I think he’s a fallen angel that was spared Hell.”

“Could he still be around?”

“Yes. He can alter reality to suit his needs…at least I think he can. He has my youngest daughter…frozen in amber. I couldn’t risk traveling with her. I’m glad I didn’t, she would have died on the glacier.”

Amee nodded.

“By the way, do you have the ID’s the men that rescued you? It looks like the records are lacking…”

“Don’t worry about them. They think I’m a full conversion cyborg and an agent of the WTO/Aurelius corp. And Hazel is some sort of genetically engineered super soldier. I can confirm, I have…a uh date with one hopefully?”

Amee blinked at Enid. Enid shrugged.

“I’m an adult.”

“And then some. Its none of my business.”

Amee waved her hand over her desk again and a wall-sized holo-display flared to life behind her.

“We have more important matters to discuss. What I’m about to show you is not to leave this room.”

Enid nodded and crossed her arms. Here comes the pitch. Amee tapped a spot on her holographic keyboard and an image of a strange looking spaceship appeared. It was obviously not of human design. Enid had seen them all over the place on recruitment posters for the System Alliance Space Force. Beside was a reptilian looking humanoid with draconic looking wings. Enid blinked and read the scrolling text beside. Amee pointed to the display.

“These are the Silwrath. They are a race of dragonic aliens. They have mastered time travel. For thousands of years they have been wiping advanced civilizations out of existence to maintain their mastery of the milky way galaxy and beyond. Your unscheduled and unshielded temporal incursion into our time has likely alerted them in the same way it alerted Maria. It has…forced me to reassess our preparedness for their inevitable attack.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that they are going to go back in time and attack earth before we developed the ability to defend ourselves. When our ancestors were the first clumps of cells in primordial soup.”

“But God…”

“Yes, God made the us, but he used the genetic material in the pools…. Look its not important. What is important is that they are going to fail to wipe Humanity out because every single one of our habitats is temporally shielded. We’ll all remember what history was before they attacked, and we will be untouched. They’ll be forced to meet us in this time in battle, but our forces aren’t prepared for the kind of fleet and firepower they have. I need…help.”

“What can I do?”

“The vampires and werewolves have been…difficult.”

Enid shook her head.

“No way, no way. We do not interfere with human affairs.”

“If they don’t they’ll all die along with the human race. I have a fleet of ships hiding in the outer solar system but we lack ships and manpower. One vampire, or one werewolf can shred an entire ship’s crew if they get on board. The Silwrath have nothing that can stop you.”

“One silver weapon will do wonders for Pugmentia and werewolves.”

“They don’t think that way. They have no understanding of supernatural threats.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because my body was infested with nanites from an enemy of the Silwrath. The being that made my…parts watched them wipe out his race while he was temporally shielded. Watched his family die. Everything he knew about the Silwrath and their tactics and technology is up here.”

Amee touched her temple.

“There was some… corruption due to an incomplete merging with a clone…and a time jump that started the whole mess. Its not important, what is important now is that you get the werewolves and vampires to fight with me.”

Enid waved her hand dismissively.

“Won’t happen. Vampires are selfish, and paranoid. No way they back you, or me in a war.”

“They’ll die if they don’t.”

“They’ll assume your like every other mortal before you who is claiming a doomsday is upon us.”

“Eyre was hopeful…she said you could sway them. That is why we poured a hundred billion credits into trying to retrieve you.”

“Eyre is an optimist who wants to the see the best in people.”

“Will you at least try?”

“Look, I would love too, but you might not like the cost.”

“I already killed almost seven billion people to protect the human race, there isn’t much I won’t pay.”

Enid frowned.

“The only way you are going to get the backing you want is to give the vampires something more frightening then the Silwrath or death. I’ll have to…make promises.”

“I will back your play no matter what it is, we’re desperate.”

Enid crossed her arms.

“How..do people know about them still?”

“Yes, its hard to hide walking corpses and werewolves with everyone living in habitation domes. The vampires are dead to all bio monitors which people can buy for their eyes for a not huge sum of money. Besides none of you can get embedded identity chips.”

Enid sighed.

“I’ll do it.”

“I’ll make arrangements. Have a seat.”

Amee motioned to a chair. Enid sat down and crossed her legs.