“What's certain is the OO Negative species require fresh blood to replenish their necrotized bodies.”

 

(Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

The pair worked solidly away in a comfortable silence over the next several hours. As Grigorri searched the InterPol database for 'wild animal attacks' or sword-related deaths, Julia combed the Forensics reports for anymore OO Positive and OO Negative blood samples taken from crime scenes.  They each worked at separate computers with cartons of half-eaten Chinese food and half-drunk caffeinated sodas around their work areas.  Yet, they worked in unison with a common goal in mind.

            At 10.59 PM she rubbed her stinging eyes before yawning loudly.  He could relate, the glare off the touch-screen computers was hurting his eyes too.  He sat back on his stool and did a big stretch when he saw what she was doing.  She'd picked up her chopsticks to finish off her cold leftovers.

            “Griggori," she began, in between mouthfuls.

            “Da, Babushka?”

            “Don’t call me that, not at work," she flashed him a warning look which was negated by the smirk after it.

            Griggori looked around the empty room before returning her smile with a goofy grin.

            "Look around Babushka, we're the only ones in the lab," he pointed out.  "No-one is here to hear your nickname."

            “Griggori," she returned to her original train of thought.

            “Da?”

            “I've noticed something about the DNA samples of the OO Positive and OO Negative subjects from the different crime scenes you found in the InterPol database.”

            “Da?”

            “The samples, they differ slightly.”

            “Do you mean they're by several different perpetrators instead of the one?”

            “Da and Nyet," she sighed tiredly.  “Mostly, it’s by the same perpetrator but I have found differences as well as similarities.”

            “Tell me, Babushka," he said affectionately.

            He pulled her seat closer so she could sit down beside him which she did.

            “I believe there are several different species of OO Negative and OO Positive that we're dealing with.  The various species appear to have different physical characteristics, by the different bite marks, clawing and the saliva taken.  For example, some of the OO Negative saliva samples contained an unusual, poisonous compound, like venom.  The saliva can either kill a human or incapacitate them."

            This made him sit up straighter as if she'd just thrown cold water over him.

            She continued as she ate, “What's certain is the OO Negative species require fresh blood to replenish their necrotized bodies.  This theory can be supported by the differing puncture wounds primarily on a human victim’s major arteries, such as the jugular.  The OO Negative species appear to paralyze or incapacitate their victims, to drink from them.”

            "Then after they've drained the body by feeding off them, they use laser rifles to burn the evidence."  He concluded.  "Julia, forgetting about our OO Negative victims for a moment, what if the rise in charred bodies found throughout Europe and the UK are human victims, who were prey for the OO Negatives?"

            "It would make sense, to burn the body and remove any evidence of teeth marks or traces of the perpetrator's DNA including saliva," she nodded along.

            "Is there any evidence that the OO Positives are killing humans?" he asked. "Maybe the OO Positives are helping humans by killing the OO Negatives."

            "But you're forgetting the OO Positive Jane Doe and John Doe whose necks were ravaged by another OO Positive; the OO Positive who's also the culprit of our latest OO Negative murders."

            "So he killed his own kind, then?"

            "Da," she verified.  "And it had help, by the swordsman or woman, who killed the older OO Positive male."

            "Do you think that perhaps our OO Positive attacker who's murdering our latest OO Negative victims, is fighting back in self-defence?"  He postured.  "Do you think there could be a war on between the two species?"

            "Good question," she thought aloud.  "If I were a OO Negative who was missing red and white blood cells, proteins, antibodies and blood sugars, I'd target a species that has an abundance of them, like our OO Positives."

            "Now tell me why you think there are several different species of OO Positives and OO Negatives," he requested.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The tissue samples taken from their skin showed extreme photosensitivity and several of their major organs weren't functioning. Their bodies appeared to be in a form of biological stasis.”

  (Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

Next, he asked, "If the OO Positive victims were strong with amazing immune systems, what were the OO Negative victims like?"

            "Quite the opposite," she announced.  "The tissue samples taken from their skin showed extreme photosensitivity and several of their major organs weren't functioning.  Their bodies appeared to be in a form of biological stasis.”

            “What?” he blinked in disbelief.

            "What Forensics discovered in their autopsy 236 years ago match what I've discovered today," she began. “The tissue samples that were taken from the organs such as the liver, those cells were necrotized.”

            Griggori frowned, “You mean my victim had liver disease?”

            “Nyet," her voice dropped and she looked uncomfortable saying this. “Her liver was dead and from the preserved state it was in, I'd say it as well as several other organs hadn’t worked in some time, perhaps even years.”

            “But that's impossible!” he stood up from the stool in shock.  “When I ran a background check on her, I didn't find any medical records showing visits to hospitals for organ failure.  If this woman was dying, she would have been in a hospital, not in a nightclub!  A nightclub, that's in the middle of the city yet eyewitnesses claim they saw a large animal mauling her.  A large animal which suddenly appeared in the middle of Moscow and nobody knows how it got there.  Yet when we checked the security cameras to see the attack, there was unusual electrical interference which created static..."  

            As he vented his frustration at this nonsensical case, his voice trailed off as if he heard how ridiculous all of this sounded.  She watched him rub his forehead with his hand, giving away his stress.  Sympathetically, she put her hand on his arm and gave it a supportive squeeze.

            “You can see why the first case 236 years ago was simply dismissed as a wild animal attack, da?” she said ruefully.  “Who can seriously investigate a case such as this when abnormal seems to apply.”

            “Or paranormal," he muttered, while looking away.

            “Hmm?”

            “Julia," he turned back to his amore.  “Can you do something for me?”

            “Of course, Griggori.”

            “Are the Forensics records from 236 years ago accurate enough that you can use the original blood sample taken from our OO Positive friend and compare it to the OO Positive sample you found on our latest OO Negative victim?”

            “I believe so," she frowned thoughtfully.  “Why? What are you thinking?”

            “I’m betting that aside from our latest victim from two days ago, we’ll find many more cases that have been 'swept under the rug'.”

            "You want me to comb through Forensics reports for the last 236 years?” she blanched at the idea.

            “Please Julia, I’ll help!" he pleaded.  "I will look through the InterPol Database for wild animal attacks, or murders where the instrument of death was a sword.  Can you go through the Forensic Reports, looking for OO Positive and OO Negative samples?  You said so yourself, that with the OO Positive blood samples, their DNA had canine aspects.  What if we're looking for humans can turn into canine-like creatures?”

            She faltered at the idea, it was nearing her shift and she was looking forward to getting out of the lab and besides, his idea did seem farfetched.

            “I’ll have dinner delivered and consider this a date," he took out his mobile phone.  "Does Chinese sound appealing?"

            He knew it would as it was her favourite food.

            “Grigorri…” she smilingly shook her head, “…you'll owe me for this later on in the bedroom.”

            “Fair is fair," he gave her a grin.

            “We're talking candles, Griggori!" she waved her finger in his face.  "Scented candles and massages!"

            “Of course, Babushka.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Their DNA scans as primarily human, but see here, every second or third sequence is canine. Da, I know how crazy it sounds Griggori. It's probably why the investigation faltered back in 2145.”

 

(Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

            Griggori forced himself to look at the gory pictures on the screen again.

            "So both OO Negative and OO Positive are allergic to silver?"

            "Da," she confirmed.

            “With the bite marks on the other three OO Negative victims, if a teeth casting was done I'd bet it would match the two OO Positive victims.”

            “I'm sure you're right." She said.  “236 years ago Forensics tried to do an autopsy on the twelve OO Negative victims.  However, they were only successful with six of them because after seven days, the bodies abruptly decomposed.  All that was left was a type of biological ash."

            She hit another button on the screen so they were looking at an autopsy bench with a human-shaped pile of a reddish ash lying on top of it.

            “The rapid decomposition is astounding, da?” she remarked.

            Griggori blinked then he blinked again, “Is that ash from their flesh and bones?”

            “Da, both flesh and bones turned to ash," she verified.  “But look at the autopsy results of the three OO Positive victims.”

            After Julia hit another command on the touch-screen computer, Griggori was looking at the two men and one woman again.

            “They look completely normal," he shrugged.

            “Da, they LOOK normal, but do you see their amorphous cellular structure and their DNA make up?”  She changed the picture to show diagrams and medical results which left him lost.  “Their DNA scans as primarily human, but see here, every second or third sequence is canine.  Da, I know how crazy it sounds Griggori.  It's probably why the investigation faltered back in 2145.”

            He did a double-take at the data on the screen as she continued. 

            “Look at their bone density and the compact tissue that make up their muscles, let alone the abundant red and white blood cells.  These three OO Positive subjects would have been very strong with immune systems that could repel almost anything.  I wouldn't be surprised if they had accelerated healing, too.”

            “What are you saying, that they're super humans?” Griggori tried to joke.

            "But it doesn't explain why part of their DNA was canine," she said seriously.

            He leaned forward against the bench top that the computer was sitting on, as he stared thoughtfully at the touch-screen.  She recognized this look, he was piecing together the puzzle.  She smiled to herself knowing that he was about to have a revelation.

"So our victims were allergic to silver which caused the chemical burns when they were decapitated?"

 

(Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

Wearily, she rubbed her eyes which were sore from looking at computer screens all day.  She envied Griggori since he was a Detective, he could leave the building and get some fresh air once in a while.  Her work was scanning samples on glass slides then analyzing the results.

            "There are more murders that occurred in Russia which are related to our OO Positive suspect," she sighed tiredly.

            "More?" he echoed in surprise. 

            Julia hit a new command on the computer and pictures of twelve bodies appeared on screen.  Nine bodies had been decapitated and three victims were missing most of their heads, which looked eaten away.  Even Griggori had to flinch at the gore, with blood spatter, bits of skull and some brain matter surrounding what was left of their heads.  Then he caught the date on this case file, it was the year 2145 again.

            “These bodies were all found at a crime scene in St Petersburg.  Nine were beheaded by a sharp, metallic weapon, like a sword.  The weapons were most likely in the style of the Japanese Katana, as they are light-weight but strong and extremely sharp.  Do you see the cuts?”

            “They’re clean," he nodded along with her.

            “But look here at how the flesh is singed slightly.  Forensics first thought the swords had been heated to burn the flesh so.  But when they ran further tests, it showed that the flesh was not singed by heat, but they were chemical burns.  There were also traces of silver in the wounds, meaning the Katanas were coated in silver."

            "So our victims were allergic to silver which caused the chemical burns when they were decapitated?" he summed up.

            “Correct, now don’t interrupt me," she playfully whacked him on the arm.  “Or I will pack up my test tubes and Petri dishes and go home.”

            “No, don’t do that, Babushka," he pretended to be alarmed.

            “The twelve victims all had OO Negative blood type," she announced. 

            "Really?" he sat back on his stool, to take it all in.

            "The OO Positive middle-aged man that died by a sword to the heart, he too showed chemical burns around his wound."  She continued.  "I believe the same person or persons, with silver-coated Katanas, murdered that man as well as the nine OO Negative victims." 

We're dealing with a creature from the canidae family that's over two hundred years old.

 (Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

“Look at the results and at what happened to the blood samples that were added to the OO Negative.  The samples were drained of all their nutrients and healthy cellular functions before it too turned OO Negative.  However, with the blood samples added to the OO Positive, they weren't drained.  They were immediately converted to OO Positive and instead of being depleted of red and white cells; they increased in numbers.”

            “So OO Negative takes away and OO Positive adds to the blood it comes into contact with?” he summed up.

            “Da.”

            “And the blood sample taken from the latest corpse I brought in, is OO Negative?” he checked.

            “Da.”

            “Then how does OO Positive come into this investigation?”

            "The blood under the nails of the latest victim is the perpetrator's blood," she said.  "And guess what kind of blood type the murderer has?"

            "OO Positive?"

            "Da."

            "So the latest victim has OO Negative blood and the murderer has OO Positive blood?" he clarified.

            "Da, but Griggori, all your victims in this murder spree are OO Negative.  Yet, they all tried to fight off their attacker, which explains the blood under their long nails.  The blood that I've taken from each of the victims nails are OO Positive."

            "So it's the same perpetrator?"

            "Da, but look, this OO Positive suspect has the same DNA which was taken from three other corpses which were autopsied 236 years ago.”

            He watched as she hit a new command into the touch-screen.  Three faces appeared on the screen, a man and woman whose heads were barely attached to what was left of a ravaged neck.  The third victim which was a middle-aged male had a singed hole in his chest where his heart used to be.

            “Who are these people?” he wondered.

            “They couldn't be identified so they were simply called Jane Doe and John Doe.  Their deaths were written off as a wild animal attack from the nature of the bite marks on the youngest male and female's necks.   The older man’s death was by being impaled with a long, sharp, metallic object such as a sword.  But the Police declared him dead possibly by the same perpetrator because of the claw marks on the rest of his body.  The clawing and teeth marks were concluded to be from a species in the canidae family."

            "They thought wolves did this?" he arched an eyebrow, sceptical.  

            She nodded, "But see here, the DNA retrieved from the bite marks?”

            “It’s the same as our OO Positive blood type," he squinted at the screen.

            “These three victims and the ‘animal’ that supposedly attacked them, all had OO Positive blood," she sighed.  “But look at the year that the victims died, 2145 AD.  The DNA of the murderer who killed them has the same DNA taken from our latest victims.  We're dealing with a creature from the canidae family that's over two hundred years old."

“It doesn’t exist, there is no such blood type in the natural world as OO Negative," she sat upright in a huff. "It's a category they made up to classify an unclassifiable blood sample that shouldn't exist.”

 

(Excerpt Alma Introduction)

 

9th June 2381

 

            It was raining heavily from a rumbling sky when he made a run for it from his hover-car to the entrance of the Moscow Police Station.  He grimaced when he felt the icy water seep inside his suit collar which only made him run faster.  The angry sky flashed once more before a deafening clap of thunder chased him inside of the building.

            He shook himself off once he was inside the front door.  The water droplets easily fell off his new suit with the water fortunately not soaking into the fibres.  The artificial clothing was light weight and water resistant however, his dark hair was a different story, it was soaked. 

            “A lovely summers’ day outside?” a co-worker joked upon passing.

            “Da,” he said sarcastically, “with tropical sun showers.”

            The female officer laughed before putting up a clear plastic umbrella then venturing outside.

            Once he'd shaken off most of the water he walked down the busy hallway.  The Police Station was always abuzz with activity and this wet day was no different.  In fact, he noted that the uniformed and non-uniformed officers moved around with a louder hum of work today.

            Recently with the spree of murders including the one which had brought him here, there was public pressure on the Police to catch the killer or killers.  The public couldn’t understand how the use of 24th Century scanning equipment hadn't identified the murderer/s yet.  But as he told several different World Wide Media reporters, “Identifying the DNA left at the scene of the crimes is easy.  Finding the culprit who the DNA comes from is the hard part.”

            After turning down several corridors he entered the Forensics Lab via a set of frosted over, automatic glass doors.

            Then he saw her as she was leaning over her touch-screen computer going over the latest scans from the recent crime scene.  Her blonde hair complimented her white lab clothes.  Although the lab smelled sterile, the fruity fragrance of her shampoo tickled his nose.  The very sight and smell of her gave him pause.

            “Griggori," she acknowledged his arrival while not looking up.

            “Babushka," he returned teasingly.

            “Julia," she gave him a quick glare.  “In the office, you call me by my proper name.”

            “As you wish.”

            When he came over to sit on the available stool beside hers, he noted that they were alone in the lab since the other technicians had left for the day.   Julia returned to her work and he sat quietly to allow her to concentrate.  Besides, this way he could admire her beautiful profile that was lit up by the light coming off the computer screen.

            “Look, there it is again!”  

            Her shrill voice was accentuated by her Russian accent.  The Forensic Scientist hit the computer touch-screen bad temperedly.  The screen blinked in protest before re-displaying the same information as before.

            “Woah there, Babushka," the Detective gently restrained her.

            Whilst holding his lover in his arms, his face was considerably closer to the screen than before and that was when he saw it.

            “OO Negative?” he uttered in disbelief.

            “It doesn’t exist, there is no such blood type in the natural world as OO Negative," she sat upright in a huff.  "It's a category they made up to classify an unclassifiable blood sample that shouldn't exist.”

            “But this classification that was created 300 years ago has the same blood type as my corpse which is two days old," he argued.

            “It was 236 years ago that Forensics then invented this classification," she corrected.

            Griggori used this chance to move closer to her computer and press the touch-screen to bring up records of this phenomenon.  As he went over the data, she thought she should narrate what he was seeing, since he wasn’t educated in Biology.  His knowledge with Forensics extended to using a scanning device to check a suspects' DNA but that was it.

            “The OO Negative sample is neither human nor animal, but it has characteristics of both.  It is parasitic in nature and completely void of red and white cells.  It appears to feed off other sources of blood from either human or animal, to replenish its missing cells, proteins and sugar levels.” 

            “Then what’s this?” he noticed a link to another file in the bottom corner of the screen. “OO Positive?”

            Julia leaned forward to use her index finger to press the link for him as she continued:

            “OO Positive is the exact opposite of OO Negative, it’s rich in red and white cells, antibodies, blood sugars and proteins.  But there's something else."

            "Da?" he waited for it.

            “Both OO Negative and OO Positive are communicable by infection of the blood.  If either OO Negative or OO Positive blood infected the blood of a human, they would become either OO Negative or OO Positive.  But the patient infected with OO Negative blood would soon need to consume more blood to replenish itself."

            "Why?" he asked, confused.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alma

 

By K.R. Smith

Cover Graphics by Isabel de Sequera

Cover Photo by Nina Ackerman

 

Mali Roanne is a shy 16 year old girl who has just moved from Africa to an Alaskan town called Alma.  As Mali tentatively begins a romantic relationship with Kevin Wisetail, she wonders why he, Lucia Sabre and Xenthe Creillaic, don’t come to school when it’s a full moon?  Although her Lokoti friends welcome Mali and her mother into their lives, she suspects they’re hiding a secret.  It is after an attack made by a coven of North American Vampires; that Mali discovers the truth about her new boyfriend and friends.

 

With her Extrasensory Perception, Mali is able to fit into her friends’ world of different breeds of Werewolves, separate species of Vampires and Circulators. Although the planet has entered the ‘Second Renaissance’ with advances in technology; Mali finds there still are man-eaters lurking in the dark corners. 

 

Available December 2022 at

Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords

Pssst! You want to know a secret?

 

I'm working on Alma again...it will be published at the end of this year...that deserves a toast!

Cheers darlings!

Author's Note from Nobody Part One

 

To Circulate Series readers - thank you for waiting this long until I published again.  ‘Nobody part one’ is the first ebook I’ve released since 2014, so that’s eight years of battling medical problems and writer’s block.  But I discovered the infamous ‘block’ was caused because I desperately needed a change from writing paranormal romance.  Writing about werewolves is all well and good, but I’ve been doing it for over a decade.  My brain just went “nuh uh” whenever I opened the chapters of ‘Alma’ and I wasn’t happy with what I was forcing out.  The book is 70% complete and I know how the story will end, but I need to let it rest a while and work on something else.

 

To everyone - I’ve had a lifelong fascination with artificial intelligence.  I own many movies and series about A.I. and a book I wrote a major essay on in my final year of high school was Isaac Asimov’s “I Robot”.  When I watch the “Terminator” films, I’m cheering on the humans AND ‘Skynet’; wishing the two would find a peaceful resolution.  I’m also a Trekkie and one of my favourite characters in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is Data, an android who often saves the day.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Swedish series “Real Humans” and their depiction of ‘Hubots’ in day-to-day life. There’s numerous sci-fi movies and series about A.I. (and even a movie by this name) but I won’t bring up all of them.

 

Also, I love to travel.  When I was little I travelled to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand thanks to my father being in the R.A.A.F.  Then in my twenties I did a Contiki tour of Europe.  For my fortieth birthday I did a P&O cruise to Fiji.  Lack of finances and then Covid prevented any further expeditions however I am now saving up to do a tour of the U.K. for my fiftieth birthday.  I live in Sydney and my family reside in Queensland, so I get to fly to the Sunshine State once a year, which is nice.  Oh how I love to fly…!

 

With my fascination for A.I. and my love of travelling, I thought why not incorporate both into a new story?  Back in 2018 I started writing this novel then I left it for a while when it headed in a direction I didn’t like. A year later I returned to it, putting the chapters I didn’t like into a ‘drafts’ folder and rewriting from chapter two onwards.  In the meantime a Hollywood movie called “Nobody” came out, which irked me.  I saw the preview and although our titles are the same, it in no way resembled my story, so I continued on.  Then another Hollywood movie “Superintelligence” was released and I watched it on Netflix.  It has similar ideas, but it doesn’t involve time travel and the main character doesn’t travel around the world in luxury.  

 

Researching the travelling involved in my story was a lot of fun!  Comparing different airlines which offered Business Class and First Class and deciding on which one to use has been my escapism.  When the lockdowns started in 2020, my travel plans were put on hold.  I lost money I couldn’t afford on flights that were cancelled.  This happened at Christmas and I ended up home alone and separated from my family.  So what did I do?  I watched travel vlogs of people sipping champagne and devouring delicious dinners on planes. 

 

I’d like to apologise now if I’ve gotten something wrong.  I combed websites, watched vlogs and read reviews, but I may have screwed up here and there.  I didn’t experience these flights and hotels and tours first hand, which is essentially what it comes down to.  However, I hope I have created a believable story you can escape to. I’ve made a list of websites and YouTube videos I found helpful in the References section.  Feel free to watch the travel vlogs, they’re the most entertaining!

(I have another blog that will be on Nobody which you can find here) 

https://deliriouslyhappybutslightlyinsane.blogspot.com/ 

Nobody Part One

 

Nobody Part One

 

Clarissa Downing considers herself to be a 'nobody', commuting to work on a daily basis to a call centre job she dreads until one fateful Monday afternoon her life abruptly changes. 

 

Starting with a mysterious text message from an unknown sender, she finds out her life is in danger and her political opinions have made her a target.  The mysterious text messages continue as the source known only as ‘Central’ promises to keep her safe. 

 

At first Clarissa finds Central’s methods exciting; paid a million dollars a month to travel the world as one of the jet-set and see amazing destinations and sample culinary delights.  But it eventually dawns on her that she must pick a side, humanity or A.I.

 

Drones are the downtrodden members of society with humans prepared to kill in order to keep it this way.  Clarissa has published her beliefs that drones should have equal rights.  But what lengths will Central go to achieve this?

Published March 2022

For more information visit https://deliriouslyhappybutslightlyinsane.blogspot.com/

KR Smith © 2022

“A baby Werewolf will probably move around a lot more than a human baby.”

  (Small Fry Chapter 2)

My mate looked on unimpressed, “Mr. Baker?”

“It’s my latest name in the academic circuit.”  I shrugged it off.

He asked grumpily, “And how old are you for this latest trip around fantasyland?”

“In my early forties.” I answered.  “So getting 'knocked up' won’t look too unusual.”

He reopened my laptop to look on my schedule again, when I snapped it shut once more.

“Quit it!”  He said in annoyance.  “I need to see how busy you’re gonna be in the next couple of months.”

“Why?”

“This isn’t a normal pregnancy B, this baby is going to drain you!  Can you imagine what it's going to be like when you venture off tribal lands?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” I fired up.

“A baby Werewolf will probably move around a lot more than a human baby.  You could be standing there on a podium, doing one of your lectures when all of a sudden your stomach goes all wibbly-wobbly.  Your audience is gonna think you’re giving birth to an alien!”

I growled in frustration at his continued negativity, before I rolled onto my back to stare up at the ceiling. 

Declan continued studying my schedule, as if he were making mental notes.  His newly youthful face was a mask of consternation, as his bright blue eyes were wide.  I could almost see the cogs turning in his brain, as he was planning for the future.

“I don’t think you should speak at the University in Cairo.”  He spoke again.

“Oh yeah and why is that?”

“Because it’s in January and it’s gonna be 40°C in Egypt that time of year.  I’m a European Werewolf, which means I’m hot blooded and you've seen how excessive heat makes me go nuts.  With the half breed inside you, it’s gonna create problems.”

“Ever heard of air conditioning, Declan?  They’ve had this nifty invention since the 20^th Century.”  I said sarcastically.  “Besides, I’ve never had problems with heat and I doubt I’m gonna start now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“A human doctor isn’t going to know jack about how Werewolves do blood transfusions,”

  (Small Fry Chapter 2)

Declan continued, “From January onwards, I don’t want her doing more than one lecture a month.  Then from June, she’s not going to do any for at least six months.”

“Excuse me?!”  I exhorted in surprise. 

“Maternity leave, B.”  He glared my way.

Oh, maternity leave…now why didn’t I think of that?  I had just been planning my schedule for months in advance and it had never crossed my mind!  It made it worse when Declan was the one who was anti-pregnancy.

“Yeah, you’d better take note of that, Aneet.”  I glared back.

“Would you like me to book you into seeing an obstetrician at the Hodge Endeavor Hospital in Anchorage?” She offered.

Aneet didn't know I was a Circulator or what that meant.  However from her confidentiality training, she knew that her boss was 'different' and my medical requirements had to be kept from the public eye.  But since I was also a Werewolf, I was hardly ever ill and if I were injured; the blood of my Werewolf kin could revive me.  I also had the tribe's Medicine Man whom was another Werewolf to treat me, or even the Medical Lab at Circulate HQ, which was run by the Circulate Mainframe.  The computer also oversaw Hodge Endeavor's Hospitals and the Legal Department, providing my mate and I with falsified birth or death certificates, to hide our real ages.

Abruptly, Declan darted forwards to cover the speaker with his hand, so she couldn’t hear.

“No, we do this with Ki.”  He frowned.   “A human doctor isn’t going to know jack about how Werewolves do blood transfusions, which is going to be a guarantee when you have this.”

I snatched my phone out from underneath his hand to say, “Thanks Aneet, but it won’t be necessary.  We have our own medical staff.”

Declan wasn't put off by my rudeness or glares.  Instead, he sat on the side of the bed to look on my schedule.  To stop him, I slammed shut my laptop.

“However, I will notify the Board of this news.”  She organized.  “Would you like me to contact your English relatives, the Worthall’s?”

“Um,” I thought on this, “I don’t think it’s necessary.  When Jarrod Worthall - the Engineer in ISF I told you about - calls next, I’ll let him know myself.”

“Very well.”  She acquiesced.  “Is there anything else I can help you with, Dr. Baker?”

“No thanks Aneet, I think that’s it.”  I signed off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My face flushed when two of my past identities were read out.

  (Small Fry Chapter 2)

“You’ve been invited to a lunch at Cambridge University on 1st February next year."  Aneet continued.  "In attendance, will be several speakers on Ancient History in the Mediterranean.” 

“Ancient History in the Mediterranean?” I echoed.  “I don’t teach that topic.”

“It’s not a topic, it’s a field."  She said.  "With all your papers on Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Babylon, you do fall into that category.”

“Oh, I see your point.”  I conceded.  “But who else is going to be at this shindig?”

“Dr. Fielding, Dr. Golding, Dr. Jordan, Dr. Thewak and Dr. Humphries are just some of the many…” she prattled off, “…I think this is going to be some kind of symposium to honour past historians.”

This made me pause, "Which past historians?”

“I think they’re going to be honouring archaeologists and professors such as Dr. Jasmine Aviv, Dr. Jason Garret, Dr. Bianca Sabre, Dr. Bianca Wisetail and Dr. Ash Marzuq.”  She read out.  “That’s what it says on the invitation, anyways.”

My face flushed when two of my past identities were read out.

“Um, can we please put the 1^st February on the back burner?”

“Instead of clicking ‘accept’ or ‘decline’, would you like me to hit ‘tentative’?” She asked.

“Yep.” I agreed.  “Now, what’s next?”

“Aside from your papers, there’s not much else.  It's quite a few lunches in the next six months, but not many symposiums.”  She speculated.

“I’m not really interested in lunches.” I sighed reluctantly.  “All it is, is a bunch of academics who are normally bitchy to each other; hide their knives to stab you in the back with, to be friendly face to face.”

“Would you like to decline the academic lunches and charity dinners and just stick to the lectures, Dr. Baker?”  She offered, using my latest pseudonym.

“Yeah that'd be a good idea, Aneet.”  I decided.  “So how are we looking so far, one lecture per month?”

“Yes except for March, when you have two lectures."  She reported.  "You have the one at the University of Technology Sydney and the other at Columbia.” 

Suddenly Declan’s voice interrupted, which gave me a fright.

“March?”

My head turned sharply, to find my husband standing in the doorway, listening in.  Then he came into the room to talk directly to my mobile phone. 

“Sorry Aneet, in March Dr. Baker will be five months pregnant, which means she’ll tire easily.  I don’t want her travelling around to do two lectures a month.”  He ordered.

She sounded surprised to hear his voice. “Oh er, Mr. Baker?” 

“No, it’s Mr. Sabre.”  He corrected sharply.

“Yes Mr. Sabre.”  She fumbled out.  But he made her so nervous, she mispronounced his surname.  Instead of saying Sar-bra it sounded like she said, Say-ber.  “Er, did you just say that Dr. Baker would be pregnant? I mean um, is pregnant?”

I could hear the shock in my secretary’s voice, as clear as a bell.  She had been my Personal Assistant for the past thirty years, and through two pseudonyms.  Although Aneet worked for me, she would also act as my liaison with the multinational company Hodge Endeavor, which was under Circulate control.  This meant they would also hear of this.  On my first day of being pregnant, the news of my 'happy condition' was being broadcasted.

The Circulate Mainframe, all the way at Circulate Headquarters on Taurus Six, monitored mine and humanities' timeline.  It sent instructions via email and text messages, to myself or the Board of Hodge Endeavour.  All I had to do, was turn up at the odd Board Meeting when an important decision was required. It ensured the company invested wisely and that I retained control for financial security.  The powerful company's political connections, were also ideal in protecting the Circulate's and the Lokoti's anonymity.

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Your father never trusted me with you.

  (Small Fry Ch 1)

            Declan cracked several eggs in a glass bowl and proceeded to beat them so hard, the whisk made a squealing sound against the sides.  I watched him add the other ingredients for pancakes, as he prepared them by memory.  He was such an old hand at this, he continued to cook as he talked.

            “When it was just me and Finn working at the Garage; we would be leaning over a vehicle and he'd say as casual as can be, ‘So Declan, do you like soccer?’ I wouldn’t look up as I'd be in the middle of something and I'd reply, ‘Yeah I like it fine.’  Then Finn would say, ‘I was wondering why you kept watching the other kids play.  Here I was thinking it could be over a girl instead, who just happened to be running around the field with your little brother.’  In surprise, I dropped the wrench into the motor and hit my head on the hood!”

            I cracked up laughing, as I could very well imagine the late Finn with his cheeky sense of humor, bringing it up like that.

            My husband chuckled, “He'd only talk about it when we were alone.  Sometimes in summer, during the long daylight hours when the bloodlust was making me restless, we would stay up until midnight repairing engines.  It was when we talked the most.  He'd sneakily bring you up by suddenly asking, ‘So how’s your spectator sport going?’ We'd talk about you in the third person without actually saying your name.  We always referred to you as ‘that girl who liked playing soccer’.”

            I felt myself blush, as I hopped back up onto the bench to sit and listen.  He finished off the pancake mix and left it on the bench.  Then I watched him pull out another frying pan from one of the cupboards, to cook it in.

            He went on, “When the truth came out about us and we first moved in together?  Finn gave me an early mark every day for two months, so I could come home to you sooner.  When I felt embarrassed at the favouritism he was showing, he said in front of the whole crew, ‘You’ve done the hard work, Declan.  Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labours’.”

            “Finn said that?”  I asked, touched.

            “Finn, my Mom and your Mom then your grandparents, seemed like the only people who didn’t have a problem with our coupling.” He said in irritation.  “I felt your Dad and Ian’s uneasiness for years.  Your father never trusted me with you.  If you had become pregnant by me at that time, your father would have had the same reservations that I spoke of; what carrying a European Werewolf could do to you.”

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