ForevaXena's FanFic . . .

Splinters Of The Soul by Diamonddog

Disclaimer: This is an original work of fanfiction copyright 2000 by me.

Subtext: These stories are intended for mature audiences over the age of 21. These stories do include romance and conspicuous love between pairs of consenting female adults. If this stuff offends you, run away screaming now! If this is illegal in your town, vote.

Convolution Alert: This story is an Uber-Xena story (sort of), but it winds its way through several simultaneous stories.  To make it easier on the reader (sort of) I've identified each section with the name of the incarnation of Xena native to that place.

Dedications: I want to thank the two people who made this story possible. 

To my soulmate Dianne, I just want to say thank you.  Putting up with an obsessive, compulsive writer is no easy task.  Thanks for helping me brainstorm and thanks for putting the kids to bed alone and still smiling when I finally managed to join you.  You make me understand what love really is every day of the week.

Send all feedback to: daemonddog@prodigy.net

Part 19 of 27

Vixie’s eyes widened as she watched her beloved people falling to one another.  The smell of blood and death and war permeated the chamber.  Leaving Jezz’s side, the werewolf raced among the Amazons.  She used her inhuman strength to bludgeon them into unconsciousness, desperately trying to halt the surging wave of senseless destruction.  Vixie was sickened as she waded through bodies and blood, stung repeatedly as wildly aimed crossbow bolts found purchase in her flesh.  No mortal weapon could stop her.  She understood that, but the pain was distracting. 

Leaving Tygre to bolster the magickal seal on the room, Xena, Gabrielle, Raven, Jasmine, and Cris joined the fray, emulating Vixie in her attempt to incapacitate as many of the Amazons as possible without killing them.

There were so many Amazons.  They could not move fast enough.

Vixie howled her frustration.

"Amazons, disarm!" Vixie yelled suddenly, hoping to minimize the death toll with unarmed combat, knowing that whoever retained their weapon would be the possessed one and give her soldiers a target on which to focus.

Some of the Amazons hesitated, but most threw down their weapons without question.

"Disarm yourselves, Amazons!" Rye reinforced her queen’s order, shouting above the din.

The remaining Amazons threw down their weapons.

The fighting faltered for a moment.  Heads and eyes whipped from side to side in all directions as they sought the enemy among them.

A gargoyle lunged at Vixie, and the fighting broke out again, only this time the Amazons turned on the hulking stone figures.  Afraid that picking up their weapons would renew the fight among their own kind, the Amazons fought with bare hands and superior numbers.  The sounds of bones being crushed crackled through the air as their bodies were hurled into walls and floors.  Rock hard claws ripped into flesh and stone-like hide with equal abandon as gargoyles fought one another in an effort to defend them all.

The fragile human bodies of the Amazons were no matches for the monolithic creatures, and the gargoyles tried to impose their frames between their possessed brethren and the warrior women wherever possible, but the gargoyles were not as quick as the Lord of War hopping among them.

Jezz felt her heart squeezing at the carnage her dearest friends among the Shadowfolk were wreaking.  She was so worn though that she was not sure that she could do what needed to be done.  Summoning up her last magickal reserves, Jezz closed her eye and held out her ringed hands.  "Sleep, my friends… sleep!"

The mystical command drained Jezz to the bone, and without Vixie’s strong frame to support her, the wounded warrior-writer slipped to the ground.

Every gargoyles froze in mid-motion, still as a statue once again.  Even Fen stood immobile, clawed hands wrapped around the wrists of another gargoyle, teeth bared angrily, caught by the spell just as it was wrestling one of its tribe to the ground.  The Amazons, those that remained standing, backed away cautiously, some tending to their wounded sisters while others edged closer to Vixie and Rye.

"What happened to Aries?"  Jasmine cried out, twisting this way and that, her staff moving with her nervously.

Stubborn and worried, Jezz raised her head and tried to see the Lord of War with her mystic sight but to no avail.  She had already overextended herself.  The weariness and pain were too strong.  Jezz knew that if she attempted any more magick, she would collapse completely.  Finding Aries would have to fall to someone else.

Convinced that the chamber was impervious to both natural and supernatural egression, Tygre turned and scanned the room intently.  As powerful as she was though, the finer points of spellcasting eluded her.  Her power was intuitive.  It worked perfectly on her own world, responding to her whims and desires with casual efficacy. 

The sorcery on this world was more like science.  While the ability to utilize mystic forces seemed to be innate, the magick itself appeared to be learned, practiced, and channeled with rituals and sympathetic foci, like Jezz’s rings.  Tygre could wield the primal forces underlying the magick in a gross fashion, but precise manipulations were beyond her.  She could hurl a blast of energy, but she could not recalibrate her vision to see in the metaphysical spectrum that would betray Aries’ presence.  

She could feel his presence, hovering near them like a dark cloud, but she could not see him.  She could not pinpoint which body, if any, the Lord of War and Shadows had borrowed to further agitate the havoc and confusion.  She shook her head and shrugged at Cris’ questioning glance from across the room.

Vixie tried to activate her second sight.  She was surprised when it obliged.  Her joy was short-lived, however, as a barrage of mystical auras and overwhelming presences turned the chamber into a blinding kaleidoscope of sensory input.  She squeezed her eyes shut, a soft whine escaping her when she realized the sight was not connected to her physical visual perception.  The chaos continued to beat directly into her mind, complete with stench, wild cacophony, and unnaturally vivid colors that savagely supplanted her physical senses.  She even felt as though things were touching her, brushing against her fur while she was blind to everything actually occurring in the chamber.  Vixie whirled, trying to glimpse the unseen tormenters whose gossamer passing ruffled her fur and electrified her nerves. 

Maddened and trembling, Vixie felt very alone, cocooned by her own senses.  And worse, she could not seem to turn them off.  Their onslaught persisted in abject defiance of her will.

"Jezz!" Vixie wailed, but she could not hear her own voice.  She was not even sure whether she had spoken aloud.  She shuddered as a wave of vertigo hit her, and she realized that she could not even tell if she was still standing any more.  "Jezz!  Help me!"

Jezz heard Vixie crying her name.  The howl was so young and frightened.  It broke Jezz’s heart and spurred her to renew her battle with exhaustion.  Squeezing her eyes tight with effort, she tried to crawl to her feet.  Her weary and battered body strained to obey, grunting as she pushed herself upright.  Swaying dizzily, she calmed her labored breathing and steadied her balance.  She tried top open her good eye, but the thick drying blood had sealed the lid shut.  Growling her frustration, the warrior-writer scraped her good eye with the back of her hand, once to clear the grime and blood muddying her vision and a second time to rid herself of the cleansing tears that followed.

Jezz spotted Vixie and stumbled towards the werewolf, watching as the young silver-furred queen flailed in blind circles.  One hand covered her emerald eyes.  The other batted at things the writer did not see.  The Amazons had withdrawn slightly, out of reach of the queen’s slashing claws as she ripped and tore at the empty air around her.

Jezz’s mind whirled.  What was wrong with her?  What had that bastard Aries done to her?  Surely he had not tried to possess the magickal creature?  Even Aries would know better than to try and taint a being whose innate purity burned from every pore like a supernova.  No, Aries was not foolish enough to attempt possession, but that did not mean that he had not found other ways to harm Jezz’s beloved Amazon queen.

Frightened and angry, Jezz pushed her body harder, ignoring the black spots at the edge of her own vision as she staggered towards Vixie.  The writer managed the distance and pushed past an Amazon blocking her path, too tired to step around, missing a step just as she reached the werewolf’s side.  Jezz fell against the sinuously muscled werewolf and prayed that the panicked werewolf did not rend her to shreds in terror. 

Vixie felt the impact of something she could not see and yelped in surprise, whipping her head in a vain effort to identify it.  The claws of the hand not shielding her eyes came up defensively.  She vaguely felt something sinuous slipping around her throat and squeezing.

"Vixie, it’s me, Jezz.  I’m here, baby, I’m here," she murmured as close to Vixie’s ear as she could manage as she tightened her hold around the werewolf’s neck and shoulders.  Jezz hoped that Vixie could hear her.  The werewolf’s ears were pinned back against her head as she thrashed fearfully, the silver crescent-moons that highlighted them completely hidden in the ghostly white fur.  The glint of wickedly curved claws rose dangerously at the edge of Jezz’s periphery, hovering near her exposed back as she clung weakly to the werewolf.  "Vixie!  It’s me, Jezz!  It’s okay!  You’re okay!  I won’t hurt you!"  Jezz spoke louder and more firmly, trying to penetrate whatever visions clouded the Amazon queen’s senses without giving way to the slow burning rage beginning to build in her chest as she watched wave after wave of shuddering terror wrack Vixie’s frame.

Vixie heard the voice, but the aural overload of her second sight made distinguishing who was speaking or what was being said an impossible task.  She opened her eyes, still panicked by what she had already seen yet hoping that something would help her to determine whether friend or foe or merely another tormenting aspect of her second sight was enfolding her in its grasp.

She gasped at what she beheld, reacting instinctively before her mind engaged.  Vixie struck at the fiery draconian serpent coiling around her body with both clawed hands.

Even though she saw the flash as the claws descended and braced herself for the impact, Jezz could not stifle the scream when Vixie’s claws bit deeply into her back and raked downward.

It was too much, just too much for even her powerful body to endure.  Triumphantly repelling Jezz’s effort to impose her singular will over the frailties of her flesh, ancient biological defenses shut down the unmanageable pain being transmitted by every nerve ending in her body in the only way that it knew how.  The warrior-writer crumpled, dead weight sliding down the werewolf’s body. 

Vixie saw the serpent scream, and the ice blue eyes widen.  She saw the entire vision turn crimson with agony then fade and vanish just as her mind took possession of her instincts, remembered where she had seen that serpent, and realized who she had struck.  The second sight evaporated, but it was too late.

The wild howl of anguish that erupted from the jaws of the Amazon werewolf reverberated through the vast chamber.

Close to the steps leading to the dragon throne, Gabrielle looked up from the Amazon that she had been trying to bandage with strips of cloth torn from the steadily shrinking trench coat she was wearing.  The bard’s heart sank as her emerald eyes tracked across the chamber, seeking the werewolf among the wide obscuring statues of sleeping gargoyles and the frenetic activity of Amazons tending their injured, moving their dead, and comforting those who had been left behind. 

The despair in that howl quivered in Gabrielle’s stomach.  She knew of only one loss that could provoke such a desolate cry.  She had felt that loss twice in her life, and both had been times when she had thought Xena dead.  Gabrielle hoped she was wrong.

The bard finally spotted her lupine counterpart.  Vixie knelt on the stone floor, cradling Jezz’s motionless body in her arms and nuzzling the writer’s face with her muzzle.  Her white-furred limbs and torso bore slick red stains that seemed to be spreading.

"Xena!"  Gabrielle called, indicating Vixie and Jezz and hoping that Xena’s remarkable talent for healing was up to the task, praying silently that it was not too late.  If anyone could help, she reasoned, it would be Xena.  After all, her warrior had many skills.

Xena patted the Amazon whose shoulder she had been binding and darted to the werewolf’s side, nodding reassuringly into Gabrielle’s worried frown as she passed her bard.  Not liking Aries’ silence and expecting a new attack with every step, her cerulean eyes flickered in every direction as she zigzagged down one side of the long chamber.

Raven and Jasmine felt the howl vibrating in the marble floor as they helped with the dead and wounded Amazons in the corner of the room that the fighting had drawn them.  Aries had been dancing among several nearby gargoyles just before Jezz had frozen them, and the damage toll had been high among the Amazons.  Even Raven had a long shallow tear in her side from a gargoyle horn that had penetrated her armor.  Veterans of many such battles on their own world, they had slipped into healing mode immediately after the skirmish had quieted, Raven deferring to Jasmine when it came to healing.  The student had outstripped the teacher long ago, and they both knew it.

The towering statues obstructed their view of the room.  They could not see Vixie or Jezz, but the warrior and the bard feared for their counterparts.  Exchanging significant glances that conveying volumes, they sighed and returned to the task of saving Amazon lives.

Tygre saw Xena headed for Vixie and Jezz.  Everyone was busy in the aftermath of Aries’ body hopping stunt, which, as far as Tygre was concerned, made it the perfect time for the Lord of War to switch tactics and attack again.  Tygre held her position.  The warrior princess could assess the damage to Jezz.  Tygre could feel Jezz’s life force stubbornly clinging to its battered flesh; she knew that Vixie’s lover was not dead, and she could sense Aries presence… somewhere close.

Ignoring the wounded and dying, Tygre watched the room with narrowed eyes.

The snow-maned warrior offered Cris a tiny crooked smile as the blonde crossed her field of vision, moving towards Xena and Vixie with a purposeful stride.

Cris did not smile back.

Tygre raised an eyebrow and then her blue eyes widened in horror as she saw the dark taint swirling in her lover’s gaze.

Cris did smile then, an oily grin that did not belong on Cris’ face, and blew a mocking kiss at Tygre.  Aries felt the shadow of his wicked malice rise in the blonde’s eyes and blaze outward.  The look on Tygre’s face was priceless, and not only did she hesitate as he had anticipated, Tygre paled and staggered.  The dark burst of power that rode the heels of the gentle kiss he had blown blasted the white-maned demigod off of her feet.  Though, he noted with no little amusement, Tygre had been reeling long before she was struck.

"Never underestimate the Lord of War, warrior."  Cris’ thin voice, Aries’ inflections.

Xena drew her chakram and stepped squarely between the approaching blonde and the unconscious writer.  Jezz was strong.  The wounds would scar badly, but her counterpart would live.  She was already healing more quickly than even Xena herself was known to do, but she was in no shape to go toe-to-toe with a wargod.

Aries grinned like a jackal.  "Got a present for you, Xena.  Dead bard, anyone?"

Gabrielle looked up from the Amazon she was helping in time to see Cris raise her hand and release a sizzling lightning bolt directly at her.

Xena responded instantly, launching her chakram.  The spinning metal ring crossed paths with Aries’ lightning and deflected it upwards, blasting another chunk of stone from the ceiling.

Aries did not wait to witness the results of Xena’s countermove.  He knew she would save the bard, but that was not the point.  As soon as the chakram left Xena’s fingers, Aries immediately targeted a second lightning bolt directly at the warrior princess.

Gabrielle stood, panicking as she realized what Xena already knew.  If Xena moved to avoid Aries’ attack, the blast would strike Vixie.  Aries had left Xena no choice and no time, not even to draw her sword.

Xena did what Gabrielle knew she would.  She took the blast, though she turned at the last second to deflect as much of it as she could from her breastplate, but the remaining impact was enough to send her hurtling backwards.  Her body lay still where it fell.

But Xena was still here.  Gabrielle released the breath she had been holding.  The blast had not killed her.  She had not been sent back to the dream world, and as long as Xena was here, Gabrielle knew that they would survive.

The chakram was still spinning, however, ricocheting perfectly from stone wall to stone wall before finally arcing back towards its mistress.  Except that Xena was not there.  The razor-edged disc whizzing through the air with an audible whine was aimed directly at Vixie now.

Cris’ narrow mouth curved into a delighted grin.  Four down, four to go.  And the fifth was about to suffer a splitting headache.  Aries’ chuckled.

Vixie’s ears twitched at the whine.  Without looking, she threw herself flat over Jezz’s body just in time to duck the chakram, her angular head whipping to follow the chakram’s path as it flew on.  "Rye!" Vixie shouted, trying to warn her second who had been trying to clear the injured Amazons to the extreme sides of the chamber and out of harm’s way.  Rye’s back was to the chakram, and it was headed straight for the Amazon second.

Rye turned, but there was no time for evasion.

And no reason either.  Preceded by her ululating battle cry, Raven somersaulted into the path of the oncoming chakram and plucked the disk neatly from the air, landing gracefully, blue eyes flashing as she tried to take in the scene.

Vixie sighed with relief, nodding her thanks to the warrior.  Her smile faded suddenly when Raven’s answering grin turned to wide-eyed horror.  Vixie never saw a thing, but she felt it.  Another of Aries’ lightning blasts hit her from behind.  Hard.  Knocking her away from Jezz, immobile as her nerve endings were scrambled and fried by neural surges, conscious and aware but unable to do anything but endure the agonizing convulsions ripping through her entire body.

Oh goddess, Vixie thought as she writhed helplessly in the grip of the spasms.  Jezz!

All Aries wanted was Jezz.

Aries smiled as the irritating white werewolf’s body twitched and jerked uncontrollably.  The Lord of War wished that he could stop and savor the smell of singed fur burning in the air and the floundering pain in those disgustingly pure, green eyes, but only five of his primary opponents had been neutralized.  Raven, Jasmine, and Gabrielle remained, and Tygre and Xena would not be down long.  He had only a tiny window of opportunity, and he refused to cede the victory merely to gloat.  He would have all the time in the world to indulge his ego once Jezz was his and these interlopers banished permanently back to their own worlds.

Aries knelt beside Jezz’s limp body, surprised when her eyelids fluttered weakly.  Jezz’s pale blue eyes regarded Cris without comprehension, her brows wrinkled in confusion as she levered herself into a sitting position. 

"What happened?" Jezz asked, staring at the blonde bending over her through eyes that seemed unwilling to focus.

"That’s not Cris, Jezz.  It’s Aries!" Raven warned, holding the chakram tightly between her fingers but undecided what to do with it.  Cris looked like Morgan and, in the grip of Aries possession, was acting like the pseudo-psychotic.  But Raven knew that the blonde woman was as important to Tygre as Jasmine was to her.  The chakram remained poised but still.

Jezz frowned and growled, "Aries…"

Cris smiled, but the hunger in her eyes consumed her face.

Jezz stared into Aries’ dark eyes swirling from Cris’ pale features and held her hand out to the Lord of War.  "Help me up."

Aries crooked one of Cris’ slender brows but extended one of her finely boned hands, pulling the larger woman to her feet.  Aries was surprised again when Jezz held on to those slender fingers a brief moment too long.

Jezz swayed, bracing herself on Cris’ shoulder, leaning into the blonde warrior.

Cris’ head cocked, watching the warrior warily.  Jezz scanned the chamber.  Gabrielle had slid to Xena’s side and returned Jezz’s stare quizzically.  Raven and Jasmine stood side-by-side, Jasmine brandishing her smooth black staff and watching Jezz’s strangely serene behavior with narrowed eyes.

Jezz’s attention swiveled to Vixie.  The writer’s expression was unreadable.  Rye cradled the young Amazon queen in her lap, smoothing the ghostly white fur as the werewolf’s muscles twitched and jerked uncontrollably.  The Amazon second felt Jezz’s stare and met it, noting the writer’s icy remoteness with a deep shiver in her belly.  She had no idea what Jezz was up to now, but she did not like that distant look or the easy way Jezz was leaning into the blonde warrior.  She wondered what Aries’ blast had done to Vixie’s Chosen.  She had a bad feeling about this.

"Jezz?  What are you doing?" Gabrielle asked softly.  She had propped Xena’s body against one of the gargoyle statues.  Legs braced squarely, she held one of the Amazon crossbows in her hand, standing between her unconscious warrior and Aries.  Grim determination had etched deep lines in the young bard’s face.  She looked older, more like Jasmine.

The writer-warrior stretched her shoulders.  "I’m doing what I should have done a long, long time ago," she purred.

"This isn’t what Vixie would want," Gabrielle argued, trying to stir the return of the desperate passion in the writer.

Jezz shrugged.  "What about what I want?"  Jezz pointed at the dragon throne.  "That is my throne, and this is my world.  Vixie will never leave me any more than you could leave Xena.  She might not agree with me, but she will never leave me."

"Don’t be so sure of that, Jezz," Jasmine offered, a hint of memory and raw pain trembling in her words.

Jezz smiled arrogantly.  "Vixie belongs to me.  One way or another, she will always be mine."

"Bitch." Rye glared at the writer murderously.

Jezz stretched again and stood up straight.  Aries was amazed and pleased at how quickly his Destroyer was recovering.  She was even stronger than he had imagined, but Aries wondered what was going on.  Either Jezz was so desperate that she had cut herself off from her emotions to do what had to be done to save her friends, or she was trying to pull something sneaky.

Maybe she was just stalling for time, but to what end?  Was she counting on Tygre?  Even if Tygre regained consciousness, he possessed the white-maned warrior’s lover.  As long as Cris’ body was his, Tygre was no real threat.

Jezz took a tentative step.  She stumbled slightly then regained her balance.  With the smooth familiar gait of a predator, she moved towards Tygre’s body.  Aries kept pace with her.  Jezz stopped a few feet away and then turned to Aries, eyes narrowed.

"Did you have to kill her?"  Jezz’s question sounded more curious than concerned.

Cris’ brows vaulted.  Aries looked at the still body of the demigod, forcing his power through Cris to peer at the white-maned body, shocked to find that Jezz was correct.  This was no trick.  Tygre was dead.  A cloud passed through Aries’ eyes.  He had not meant to do that.  He had just wanted to immobilize Jezz’s powerful counterpart.  A surge of regret and worry pulsed through the Lord of War.  He had no idea what the repercussions of this action would be, and he was not sure he wanted to find out. 

Aries had hit Tygre with all of his power, poured everything into that blast.  She was a demigod, a powerful demigod from another world.  He had not wanted to take a chance that she might find a way to thwart him.

You, bastard!

Aries felt Cris’ awareness shoving back at him like a berserk psychotic demon.

You killed Tygre!  She loved me, and you killed her!  Just to get Jezz back, you killed my lover, you goddamn son of a bitch!

Aries’ fingers went to his head, massaging his temples, trying to block the screaming of the blonde banshee from ringing in his thoughts, but it was impossible.  Unhinged and maniacal, she was wailing furious curses and howling with no words.  It was hard to think.

Jezz smiled at the Lord of War, dark amusement gleaming in her cold blue eyes.  "Cris giving you trouble, Aries?  She has such a wicked temper, and you killed the woman she loved… I’m not sure I’d want to be in your shoes right now.  You better get it under control if you want to be with me when I take that throne."

Cris’ blue eyes darkened.  Aries did not trust Jezz.  It was part of what made her so desirable, but it also made her dangerous, even to him.  Especially when she was like this.

I’ll kill you both, you bastard!  You and your precious Jezzebel.  You like war?  I’ll give you a goddamn war you’ll never forget!

Aries winced.  "Are you trying to force me to abandon this body?" Aries’ snapped irritably at Jezz’s crooked grin.

Jezz chuckled softly.  "You’re going to abandon Cris’ body anyway.  That’s part of my deal.  You’re going to let Cris go and swear to me that you’ll never touch any of these people ever again."  She grinned darkly, her teeth bared slightly.  "I just like watching you squirm."

Aries glared at the dark-haired writer.

Jezz pouted mockingly at him with her lips pursed, then her pale blue eyes turned cold and murderous.  "You wanted the Destroyer, Aries.  Well, you got her.  I’ll take that throne and when I do, you better hang on, because I am going to give you the ride of your life.  I’ll take this world, and I’ll rule it.  But when I’m through, you better hope I like you better than I do right now.  Because if I don’t, you’re next!"

"Oh, you are so delightful."  A thrill rushed through the Lord of War.  Desire, excitement.  She was such a magnificent creature, and worth every second of grief that she had caused him.  This was the woman he had waited centuries to perfect, and now she was his.

Distracted by his appreciation, Aries recoiled when another vitriolic scream from Cris deafened his control.

Cris slapped Jezz as hard as she could, looking for a weapon, any weapon, to strike at Aries’ favorite.

Jezz grabbed Cris’ wrists and stared coolly into her blue eyes.  "You’ve got to quit doing that.  I’m saving your life here."

Cris shrieked and tried to free herself from the iron grip of the dark-haired warrior.  "My life?  Aries destroyed my life!  And you’re just going to calmly give him everything he ever wanted when you should be…" Cris’ trailed off into grief, but then her eyes brightened and turned lethal again. "Bitch!  How can you do this?"

Jezz smiled, unaffected by the outburst, utterly composed.  She winked at Cris with unrepentant amusement, sparking a renewed surge of thrashing struggles.  "I’m doing what I do best."  She leaned closer to the blonde’s face.  "Hey, Aries, are you still in there?"

Cris’ face twisted in rage.  She shrieked mindlessly in Jezz’s face.  Jezz leaned further away, shaking her head as if trying to clear the ringing in her ears.  "Guess not," she observed dryly.

Cris’ expression suddenly smoothed.  Her stare absorbed the surrounding shadows.  Aries rolled his eyes.  "What did you ever see in her, Jezz?"

Jezz released Cris’ wrists with a smirk.  "I’d tell you, but it might distract you again, and my ears haven’t quite recovered from your last little vacation."

Aries’ eyes narrowed, but he grinned inwardly.  She was so fearless, so arrogant, and possessed the power and skills to justify every ounce of both.  "You mentioned a deal?"

Jezz raised an eyebrow.  "More like an ultimatum.  As I said before… my way or no way.  You’re just lucky that we see eye-to-eye on what that "way" entails."

"And precisely what "way" is that, Destroyer?" Aries stepped carefully, knowing Jezz’s talent for subterfuge.

Jezz turned to face the dragon throne and smiled.  "Whatever it takes to rule the world.  War, intimidation, fear, blackmail, seduction, body counts, you know the tools.  And you know that I’ve mastered them all."

"And what about the Amazons and your little werewolf?"

Jezz glanced backwards.  Raven was kneeling beside Vixie.  The warrior was jabbing at the werewolf’s body with quick hard strikes, attempting to relieve the debilitating effects of Aries’ attack through the use of strategically applied pressure.  Jasmine was staring at Jezz with an expression of infinite sadness radiating from her emerald eyes.

"You will swear to never harm them again.  I conquer the world and rule it.  You stay the hell away from all of them.  I’ll deal with them.  They are my responsibility and mine alone."

"And how do I know that you won’t agree to all this and then let one of them kill you to break our deal?"

Jezz snorted.  "Not likely.  But I’d want some kind of guarantee if I were you.  Backsliding inappropriately would be most inconvenient.  So what do you want, Aries?  What kind of promise will it take to satisfy you that I intend to honor our deal?"

Aries smiled.  "Your word.  Swear it to me."

Jezz raised an eyebrow.  "Trust me, do you?"

"No," Aries smiled.  "But I trust whatever it is you feel for your little pet over there."  He nodded at Vixie.

Jezz looked amused.  "Fine.  How about if I swear on my desire for her?  Just in case, you’re worried about the Destroyer’s capacity to love."

Aries hesitated, mulling over her words carefully.  "Swear to me that you’ll never see her again if you betray me.  Swear to me that you’ll never allow Vixie to be in your presence again for as long as your immortal souls endure if you deviate from the path of world domination at any cost."

Jezz raised an eyebrow.  "You really don’t trust me, Aries."

"Swear it!"

"Jezz, don’t!" Gabrielle pleaded, taking a step away from Xena.

Jezz eyed the bard, but the warrior’s gaze held no remorse, no regret, and no mercy.  Gabrielle realized that she did not know this woman at all.  Whatever had happened to Jezz had destroyed the writer hopelessly haunted by her past.  In her place stood a warlord.  Xena had been right… again.

Jasmine must have seen it as well.  Gabrielle glanced at the other bard and saw only despair on Jasmine’s face.  Tygre was dead.  Cris was unhinged.  Vixie was still twitching and jerking, less than before but hardly herself, and Gabrielle doubted that even if the werewolf had been able to move that she could have swayed the dark-haired woman standing before her.

Jezz’s blue eyes narrowed at Gabrielle and then cast the same warning look at the rest of the room.  "I will tolerate no interference.  Keep out of this and your lives will be spared.  You will be free to return to your own worlds.  Try and stop me…" Jezz’s words trailed into a blanket threat, but Gabrielle understood the message perfectly.

She would kill them all.  The bard’s heart ached unbearably.  How could this have happened?  Xena would never do this.  Never.  Gabrielle clung to her belief in her warrior tenaciously.

"She’ll be fine in a few minutes," Raven whispered softly to Rye, nodding at Vixie.  "But her coordination is gonna be off for quite awhile."

Rye nodded, raising her brow at Jezz.  "What do we do about her?"

Raven met her counterpart’s gaze with a steely expression.  "There’s nothing we can do."

Jezz smiled.  "Smart warrior."

"Our deal?" Aries reminded the warrior.

"Our deal.  Let’s talk about your end of it, Aries.  It’s simple.  You release Cris and stay the hell out of all these people.  You swear never to touch any of them again or interfere with their lives.  In return, I swear to conquer the world, rule as the Destroyer, and to defend my own life to the death.  Does that cover it?"

Cris’ lips curled into a thin grin and he motioned her to the throne.  "After you."

The pair made their way up the steps, and once more Jezz prepared to sit in the throne.

"No, Jezz!  Wait!" Vixie had managed to raise her head, crystal tears flowing from the werewolf’s bright green eyes.  "Please, don’t do this.  We’ll find another way.  You don’t have to do this!"

Jezz hesitated at the edge of the dragon-headed throne then looked up at Vixie.  "I don’t have to do anything, my dearest, but this is what I want.  Believe me, you’ll learn to appreciate me again.  The Destroyer is an exquisite lover."

Vixie closed her eyes, remembering Jezz’s words yet again.  Had the writer known that this would happen?  Was it the Destroyer in her own soul that Jezz had feared to face?  Vixie swallowed hard, then opened her eyes and leveled them at Jezz.  "I love you.  And you were right.  Even if you do this, I won’t leave you.  I swore to you that we would be together forever, and we will be.  No matter what you do, I’ll be at your side."

Jezz’s head snapped up.  The surprise in her blue eyes was the first unshielded emotion the Destroyer had evinced, but it dissipated quickly, replaced by a grudging respect.  She nodded at Vixie.  "You are an incredible woman, Vixie.  I accept your love and your loyalty.  You shall be the eternal consort of the Destroyer.  Together forever."

Vixie wept.

Jezz took her seat on the throne.  The eyes of the dragon’s head that curved over the intricately detailed seat of power glowed, a weak ruby light glimmering from the shadows.  One of the clawed arms of the chair twisted, locking around Jezz’s wrist and pinning her to the seat.

Jezz watched expressionlessly, allowing her arm to be held, as she relaxed into the throne’s embrace.

The other clawed arm of the throne animated.  Between two of its metallic claws it held a black ring studded with tiny rubies that mirrored the pale glow in the eyes of the dragon.

"Swear it to me now, Jezz, and the Dragon’s Ring is yours.  The power to rule is yours."  Aries grinned victoriously.

"We both make our vows, Aries.  Then we seal the deal with a kiss," Jezz smiled seductively.  "Not that I don’t trust you, but both vows go into effect together… or not at all."

"Agreed, Destroyer."  Aries smiled.  He drew himself up and spoke loudly into the chamber.  "I, Aries, Lord of War and Shadows, swear never to touch any soul or body present in this room, so long as you, my Destroyer, never betray me."

Jezz inhaled deeply, an amused smile playing on her lips.  "I, Jezzebel, vow to conquer the world in Aries’ name, rule the world as the Destroyer, and defend my own life to the death.  If I break this vow, I shall never stand in the presence of my soulmate and consort, Vixen, Queen of the Amazons, in this life or any other.  Satisfied, Aries?"

"Almost."  His eyes burned darkly over Cris’ pale blue irises.  "About that kiss?"

"Remember the terms, Aries.  We kiss, and you abandon the body you’ve hijacked."  Jezz’s eyes narrowed.  "Or the deals over before it’s even begun."

"I have not forgotten, Destroyer."

Jezz’s eyes darkened to sensuous pools glowing suddenly with naked hunger.  "What are you waiting for then?" she purred, and the promise in her husky voice made even Aries shiver.

Aries knew better than to believe this change of demeanor was about him.  It was about the power.  With the Destroyer, it had always been about power.  "Don’t you want the ring first?"

The ring glittered in the dragon’s claws.

Jezz smiled.  "Of course, Aries.  I want it all."  The dark-haired warrior stretched on the throne like a pampered panther, crossing her legs as she waited patiently.

The scaled arm of the dragon rippled as it reanimated.  Sinuously, the hand with the ring moved to its mate whose fingers held Jezz’s wrist in its grasp.  With amazing delicacy, the dragon’s massive claws slipped the ruby-studded circlet of polished black metal onto one of Jezz’s unadorned fingers.  Both arms retracted to their original position and settled into still reverie.

Jezz lifted her hand and studied the ring for a moment.  "Very nice," she murmured.  "Very powerful."

Aries smiled.  "And how it becomes you, Destroyer.  Now, about that kiss…"

Jezz’s hand shot out like a striking serpent and curled into Cris’ shirt.  With a low passionate growl, she dragged the blonde headed body that Aries had usurped into her lap.  Aries’ eyes widened.  He was used to having more bulk than Cris possessed.

Jezz’s hand slid from Cris shirt to her shoulder and upward, tangling in her hair possessively.  Smiling darkly, she whispered, "My way… my way and we’ll get along just fine."  Jezz did not wait for a response.  The hand in Cris’ fine blonde hair pulled backwards, tipping Cris’ lips upward.  Jezz smiled, seeming to admire the view, before crushing the blonde warrior’s mouth beneath her own.  The kiss was deep and aggressive and breathless.  Aries hated to leave it, but a deal was a deal.

Aries abandoned the body in mid-kiss and animated the only form not covered by his pact with the Destroyer.  The corpse felt cold and stiff compared to Cris’ supple frame, but a few more minutes of inhabiting the dead body and he would have everything he had ever wanted.

Part 20