Seas Of Passion

The guards obeyed her and fell under her control in short order. She had them break down the door to Lieberman’s room and as soon as it fell he began firing, hitting one of the guards in the head and two more in the arm before the gun ran out of bullets. The remaining guards filed into the room and stood against the wall as Lara entered.

“Well done, you managed to kill one! You’re good under pressure, if I had a spot for you in my clan I’d give it to you, but since you decided to be condescending to me before you’ll have to die I’m afraid, and it will be by the hand of Gordon Manfree.”

Lieberman’s eyes went wide and his face became a deep red as rage overwhelmed him; he threw caution to the wind and lunged at Lara, but one of the guards swung at him and hit him square in the stomach, making him collapse. Manfree chuckled and kicked at his former superior, then walked over to his desk and hefted the very old, very heavy 29-inch CRT monitor from his desk and held it above his head while grinning down at Lieberman.

“Any last wordsLieberman, or should I say sir? If you beg, then I might spare you.”

“All right Manfree, you win… I be-”

Manfree threw the monitor onto Lieberman’s head so hard that the front glass shattered and engulfed the ruined mess that his face had become. Blood splattered high enough to reach the ceiling and several jets of it hit the far wall of the office. Manfree kicked at Lieberman’s twitching foot and then put his own foot onto the monitor and pressed down on it, then began stomping on it. Once he was finished, Lara had one of the guards take the monitor out and dispose of it and she smiled at the unrecognizable mass of pink flesh, flecks of bone, hair, and teeth that were pressed deep into the carpeting like a grotesque sculpture. She knelt, dipped her finger into the gore, and tasted Lieberman’s blood.

“So many of you humans are iron deficient, it makes you taste bad. Good job Manfree, perhaps I was wrong about you and you’re not a coward, just someone who needs to be kept in control and made to know your place.”

“Yes Lara, whatever you say. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Yes, do you have any of those tracking devices like the one you put on the taxi, but smaller? I want to track Jacob.”

“I will go get one for you right this second Miss Lara.”

As he rushed off, Lara thought back to the days when she hadn’t even been able to shift, the days she roamed the oceans. She recalled the remoras that would frequently cling to her and realized that Gordon Manfree was exactly like them. He came back in panting and handed her a small circular disk with a single button on it.

“That will last months, all you have to do is get it on him somehow.”’

“Good, I want you to round up any other guards and staff that are here and tell them I’m in charge now.”

Lara walked out to the car and Jacob grimaced at her as she got closer.

“Are you here to insult me again Lara? Or do you want to finish me off for not thinking the same way as you?”

“You’re in pain and clearly don’t know how to deal with it anymore, so I’ll overlook that comment this once. I’ve taken this facility over, come inside with me and I’ll find the antidote to that poison and have Manfree give it to you.”

“Then I’ll be in debt to you though; you’d surely exploit that for your own gain.”

Lara smiled.

“Well, I hadn’t thought of doing that, but now that you say it, I like the idea. I will not do anything too bad to you though, I just want you to keep this with you at all times so I can track you. It will last for several months and once I’ve finished preparing for the next phase of my plan I’ll contact you and see what your decision is regarding joining me.”

“I guess. This isn’t fair at all though.”

What does that word mean? I’ve heard people say it but they never explained it well enough to me when I asked.

“It means right or equal…for instance, if we had a seal in front of us right now, how would we divide it?”

“We wouldn’t, I’d eat until I was satisfied and you could have the leftovers. What a stupid question.”

Lara went back into the facility and got the antidote from Manfree, then took it to Jacob.

“Here, you’ll be fine with this. You can leave now since you don’t’ want to see the beginnings of my clan I suppose…although…why don’t you mate with me? I’ve still got that feeling of needing to but haven’t had time.”

“I don’t want any children I might sire to be turned into your soldiers.”

“You’re absolutely right, they would become soldiers indeed. No matter, there are plenty of men in the facility I can turn into shifters and mate with. I will contact you within several months, don’t try to escape me.”

Jacob walked away as Lara headed into her new base of operations and found Manfree waiting for her on one knee with his head bowed.

“I await your orders Miss Lara.”

“Manfree, you’re making me glad I didn’t kill you, although miss isn’t what I want to be called. Call me Mistress.”

Manfree nodded and corrected himself immediately.

“As you wish, Mistress Lara.”

“If you keep behaving for me then I might just make you a shifter someday. For now though, I want a full tour of this place and for every person here to meet in this room in an hour.”