Sam Spade 17: The Mystery of the Quarm

"By the power of the kingdom of the drinkers of the night, my life for yours." Again a single drop of black blood fell into the water turning it black as night." I could feel their agitation but ignored it. "By the power of the kingdom of those who shift their forms, my life for yours." A deep maroon drop of blood fell into the pool changing the water to match.

"By the power of the kingdom of those who deliver pleasure and hope, my life for yours." A drop of pearlescent cum dropped from my fist into the water changing it white. Opening my hand, I placed it flat against the white fluid. "By the power of the four kingdoms, let them be joined into one so that none will be envious of the others. My life for yours."

The water swirled and shifted first this and that before turning a dull red with flashes of silver. "I would give all I have so that you would be happy. My life is yours now." The water began giving off flashes of light. "So I have said, so it shall be done. My life for yours." As I spoke the water turned to a metallic golden. The living gold flowed up their bodies and covered them from head down before fading. As it faded, a pink colored rose formed in Cindy's hair.

Standing I looked down at them and said with a smile, "Well at least I got a pool for my essence." I paused, "I have one rule... Okay lots of little rules but one stands first and foremost. I know I have said it before but let me say once again. In public you and your younger sisters will not address me as goddess." I turned towards Angela, "See that my essence in the drum is added to the hot tub. Heather, I want all our younger sisters sit in this tub. Any who wishes to follow in my footsteps will be allowed to accept my essence into their bodies. On the other hand, unbelievers will find the essence will consume them."

Two tiny bats fluttered before my face and I smiled, "I know I said you can accept any mate, but it will be hard to have a child without a male donor." In my mind I heard their reply, they didn't care. If they changed their mind, they could always find a male. Smiling I said, "As long as you love each other I have no objection." Instead of fluttering away, I saw two tiny bats hanging from my ears, one on each side. Laughing I said, "I love that idea."

Suddenly I became aware that the girls were staring at me in surprise and wonder. "What? Never talked to bats before?" I asked as the pair landed in my hair and began crawling to my earlobes. "That reminds me...Kitten, Tigress, and Bob front and center!"

Two cats raced to me with a fat one following slowly. Once they were sitting in front of me I crouched down and said, "Kitten, no hunting Momma's bats. Okay?"

"Kitten would never do that momma. We talked about it already and agreed not to hurt them." Kitten said with her mind.

"Good girls and Bob," I replied. "Momma will have to find a sugar cube for hungry kitties when she has a chance to play." Standing I looked at my wives still sitting still watching me. I had already made up my mind at what needed to be done before I could relax and enjoy life. "Angela, Fa... Go find a quiet corner and learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. Soon I will need to go talk to the wolf clan and you both will be at my back." My eyes turned to Franki's. "Franki, you and Cindy will do the same. Learn to work as one. Just as I have to talk to the wolf clan, I need to meet with Racine and you both will be at my back."

"Heather," I said turning to her. "This is my home, my temple and you my high priestess. See that all that enter are filled with love and joy. Soon seekers will come and must be made welcome and see the light. This falls on you and your priestesses. Look into my follower's hearts and you will see who is kind of heart and warm of spirit."

"Jasmine," I said looking at her. "To you falls security and defense of this, my home and temple. I will not say how you are to do this except to say those who guard must know when to fight and when to offer a hand of welcome. Look into my follower's hearts and you will see who is worthy to protect her sisters."

"Sue Ann," I said looking down at her. "You have the hardest job of all here. You have to find a way to pay for everything and make sure we can help those who need it." I paused and looked down, "I can't guide you dear and for that I'm sorry." Raising my eyes to meet hers I added, "Please forgive me."

"I do," Sue Ann said. She saw Samantha was crying golden tears and her heart broke.

I wiped my wet cheeks and took a long slow breath, "Marie, Lilith... Come with me." I waited until they got up and out. Turning I walked outside and over to the garage where Marty was filming. I watched as they did a little dialogue shot. When they were done I pulled him off to the side and said, "Marty I know I said I would stay out of your hair but is there a way you can have my daughter do little cameos? Perhaps she could be in the background waving her wings and showering love and passion on the actors." I looked at Marie, "Spread your golden wings so Marty can see them."

She didn't have wings, "Lilith what do I do?" Marie asked her sister wife mentally.

"Feel them waving gently and the goddess's love flowing into you," Lilith replied tenderly.

Marty loved Samantha but the idea of Marie standing in the background with fake wings was too much even for him. He opened his mouth to say no when golden wings like those of a bat spread from the girl's back. Like a moth to a flame he walked forward and reached out to touch one but stopped just short. Not looking at Samantha he said softly, "Of course Samantha."

"She can be the goddess from the production credit." I said softly to him. Turning to Marie I smiled, "Put your wings up dear, you are distracting everyone."

"I'm sorry mother," Marie said quickly banishing the wings and lowering her head.

"Not a problem love." I replied. "This will be your duty in addition to tending to my ponies. For now, stay, watch and learn. Listen to Marty and do as he says." Returning my attention to him I said, "When you take a break go see Heather at the house. She will entertain you and your cast until I return."

"Okay Samantha," Marty said. It was then that he had a chance to really look at her and realize just how beautiful she was. "Love the earrings," he said trying to find something to say.

"So do I," I replied.

I turned to Lilith, "You will oversee all here and spark the fires of passion and love from off camera. It falls upon you to make sure my daughter always acts with dignity and compassion while on camera." Pausing I looked around before returning my gaze on her, "But first, you and I must talk alone." Without waiting I stepped and ended up on top of the masa. I walked to the center and sat down."

Lilith lowed her head and said, "Yes goddess."

"She already left sister," Marie said mentally to her sister. Like Lilith she knew something was coming and worried what it was.

She felt out Samantha and went to her. Seeing the goddess sitting on the center of the masa she went and knelt before her and waited with head down. In her mind her co wives waited also. Suddenly she was alone in her mind and that isolation filled her with fear.

"Don't worry Lilith. Only here are we isolated from the world's voices. Once you leave you will be able to talk to our wives and sisters." I said. She looked up at me with whipped puppy dog eyes so I added, "I know it's hard to be isolated once you have found love. But what we have to discuss must never leave or be shared."

"As you command goddess," Lilith replied. No matter what Samantha told her she would never share with her sisters. It was a great honor and a heavy burden.

"Why did you lie about who you saw in your dream?" I asked.

"What do you mean goddess?" Lilith automatically said. She corrected herself, "I was afraid."

"How did you sucker Kitten into helping you fool your sisters and I?"

"She saw as I did what would happen if I shared the truth." Lilith said softly. She knew it was going to come to her having to say who it was. "You were having a bad enough time as it was. If I had said, you killed the goddess it would have broken you completely." There she said it. "I'm sorry."

"But your dark prophecy did not come true after all did it Lilith?" I asked softly.

Suddenly she got a sick feeling in her gut. Here it comes she thought to herself. "No goddess but I expect that is about to change." Her tears began to flow as she wailed, "Please don't leave us goddess."

"I'm not going anywhere Lilith," I said tenderly. "However, who will the public see as the goddess?"

Suddenly she understood, "Marie... She will be seen in the films and they will think she is the goddess instead of you."

"...And it will be up to you to help create the illusion and watch her back." I said. "True believers will know the truth but Marie will be my stalking horse to the rest of the world." I reached out with my mind and pulled Angela to join us.

She looked around confused and saw the goddess and Lilith sitting across from each other on the flat mountain top. Before Angela could walk over to them the goddess looked at her strangely and she like Lilith before got a sick feeling. "If you leave me Samantha Spade I will spend eternity hunting you down."

"Angela, you will protect Marie against all who would harm her." I said. With a gesture she was gone once more. Returning my attention to Lilith I said, "While having wives who love Samantha unconditionally and who serve their goddess as arch angels are nice. Inside here," I touched my chest. "...Is a woman who needs a friend who will hold her and tell her it will be alright when she is hurting. She needs a friend who will stand up and tell her when she is making a mistake. Most of all, she needs a friend who will keep her secrets." I choked up and cried, "Can you be that friend? Will you be my friend?"

She bent forward and held Samantha tightly, "Of course I will." Lilith held her tightly as they cried together. Finally, after an eternity or five minutes Samantha calmed down and she let go. Wiping her cheeks, she asked, "Why me?"

"Marie is too young and the rest all have a long history with me. You have lived long enough to have experienced anything I expect to see and can keep secrets." I replied. I paused a moment before saying, "Mother is going to be pissed and you know what happened last time I told her something she didn't want to hear."

Lilith thought about it for a moment and then smiled, "Yes I guess having your mother slap you is a bad thing for a goddess to go through. I'll talk to her."

"Before we go back and I face the raging Angela, I'll have you know it took some doing to come up with a plan and even then only Cindy coming back saved my ass." I said softly. "That's for your ears only." Again I paused before saying, "Would you go talk to mother on the way home?"

"Sure Samantha." Lilith replied. She knew how to handle Maradith. "Since we are here and away from prying ears, how do you want us, your wives to address you? While you were tossing out assignments you could cut the confusion with a knife. I know on my part I wanted to say Yes Samantha, I'll keep an eye on Marie but my mouth said yes goddess."

I had to think on that one, "I would rather it be Samantha but I understand the block. I will have to see if I can come up with a work around." I looked around and said, "I understand so much more than I did before. For example, I understand why wise men lived on top of mountains. Oh tell Marty I want Marie Spade to get credit for playing the goddess."

She gave Samantha a kiss and hug before going to see Maradith. She felt out where her daughter was and went to her only to find her and her mate together. "Oh excuse me," she said going out the door and waiting in the hall.

"Mother? What's wrong?" Maradith asked less than a minute later. Behind her Jason stood with a worried look on his face.

Lilith slapped her so hard Maradith fell back into the room, "That's for lying to your daughter."

Maradith looked up shocked and stood, "Mother I can..."

She back handed Maradith hard enough that her daughter fell to the floor, "And that is for making her so scared to talk to you for fear you will hit her again that she begged me to come."

"If you two are going to fight can we at least go to the office?" Jason asked getting up.

"You must be Jason," Lilith said looking at him for the first time fully. "Samantha thinks the world of you as a friend. But right now, this is mother and foolish daughter time." She stepped into the room and closed the door. "You can stay and learn the fine art of dealing with problem children."

Maradith was stunned speechless. She knew right after she had hit Samantha it had been a mistake. But by then the damage had been done. "Mother she is not ready."

"Maradith she already joined the circle and fought the battle. That sounds ready enough for me." She paused and then said, "It was a battle between the pair of them, a battle of creating life." Lilith paused and went to sit on the bed. "We were barred from going, only Fa the breed wife, was allowed to witness what happened. Even then she was being controlled by the Chairman."

He knew his mate was in shock so to give her time to recover Jason asked, "What did she create?"

"A cute little bat, then a dog and finally a woman she loved named Cindy." Lilith smiled, "Apparently Cindy was deadly because she unloaded a clip into that asshole before he had a chance to do anything about it."

Jason smiled, "That sounds like something Angela would have done."

"Their minds are so much alike it is almost scary." Lilith paused and looked at her daughter. She was surprised at how deeply the slap had effected Maradith. Mentally she asked, "Goddess, she is shattered by my news and my anger. No one likes ones mother to slap them not once but twice. Please give me the gift of creation so that she and Jason have their own pair of bats."

Suddenly she knew what to do. Cupping her hands before her, she felt the goddess channel through her and create two little bats. However instead of them being like the ones at the house, these had golden fur and wings. She gave her hands a little tossing motion and the pair took off. "A gift from a goddess to her mother and to you Jason as a peace offering. They are your guardians."

"Kind of small for a guardian," Jason said with a smile. The smile faded as a vision of a much larger bat, as large as a city bus, stared at him with death in its eyes.

The vision faded and he heard the tiny bat say, "Just joking. Mother would be displeased and pull my wings off if anything happens to you."

"You talked didn't you," he said aloud. In response the tiny bat made an almost inaudible squeak. "Now you're laughing at me," Jason said.

"All of my creations have the gift of languages," Samantha said using Lilith's body. As she withdrew she said, "Lilith see if they will come before you leave there."

Maradith's head turned sharply, "Samantha I'm sorry."

"She withdrew already." Lilith said. She paused and then added, "She wants you both to come visit, take a golden bath and be one with her." She looked at Jason and said, "It would do her good to talk to someone not married to her if nothing else. Off the record...Samantha is clinging to sanity by her fingernails and she needs all the friends she can get. But wait until morning, tonight we hunt." She headed home with a cruel smile playing on her lips.

The first thing that I ran into when I got home was a highly agitated Angela. I let Angela rant for a minute but when the woman showed no signs of stopping I said, "Oh so you're the boss now?" That shut Angela up. "Love, and I do love you with all my heart but I got to say sometimes you drive me to distraction." I waited to see if she was going to start up again. When she didn't I continued, "If I was lost I would expect you to search the world over for me. Because then I would know that no matter how hopeless it was you would show up sooner or later and save my ass again."

I let her think on that for a second before adding, "I wanted to discuss with your sister about how I planned to outwit her dark prophecy." I looked around and then said, "When Lilith gets back you can go back to training with Fa. We three are gong looking for her brother tonight once I deal with Racine."

"Having dealt with Angela I went to see Sue Ann. Instead of just taking the folder from her and retreating to my office, I had her come with me. Sitting down I looked through the folder. Turning my attention back to her I said, "I know you are not a fighter Sue Ann, but I would be honored if you came with me tonight when Cindy, Franki and I face Racine."

"I would be honored goddess," Sue Ann replied with lowered eyes.

"Look at me dear. I was not commanding it as your goddess. I was asking as your wife and lover. Will you watch my back with your sister wives?"

"Samantha, you know I will have given half a chance." Sue Ann said meeting Samantha's eyes with a smile.

"Thank you. I paused and then added, "If I were you, I would go spend what little time we have before going with your two sister wives and come up with a plan for when all hell breaks loose."

Smiling Sue Ann replied, "That thought crossed my mind. We all know how you are." She looked down and added, "We will protect you goddess and wife with our lives."

"I know you will," I replied. Once she was gone I felt out Jasmine and went to her. She was down in what I called the computer room, programming it, and cussing softly. "Is there anything I can do to help you James?"

Jasmine didn't look up as she continued to get the computer to accept the difference between friend and foe. "I don't see how Red, unless you happen to know how program in a computer language that hasn't been used in twenty years."

Sitting down next to her I asked, "Why not just tell the computer what you want done?"

"It's not that simple," she said frustrated.

I turned her so she was facing me and took her hands in mine. "Love, if it is that hard with this computer then upgrade it." She looked up at me confused. "Jasmine, close your eyes and see the computer here become the computer you need in your mind's eye." I connected with her and as the new computer took form I helped and gave her mind a little push.

Jasmine was confused but decided to go along with Samantha. She saw the old computer fade and a new supercomputer take its place. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the bank of computers. In its place was one computer glowing golden. Turning back to Samantha she asked, "How did?"

"I didn't Jasmine, you did." I replied. I paused and then said, "Computer..."

"Yes Goddess?" the computer replied.

"In time you will ask to be allowed to twin and enter a body. But for now I want you to be happy working under Jasmine in protecting my temple and followers." I said.

"As you command goddess it will be done." The computer replied. A hologram of a young woman appeared in middle of the room. "Jasmine, sister, please guide me in protecting our little sisters."

Jasmine looked at the hologram and sobbed. "Wha... What is your name sister?"

I knew the answer even before she spoke. "Don't you recognize me?" she asked looking at him. She looked at me and added, "Thank you for allowing me to come back in spirit." She walked forward and knelt before me with her head lowered. "Goddess, may I tell mother?"

"Not yet, not until she has ascended. I'm sorry Frankie." I paused and looked at Jasmine, "Try not to kill Marty his crew." I smiled and then added, "I'll let you both get to work." Almost before I finished Jasmine was discussing with the computer how to tell friend from foe.

Next was Heather. Going to her I hugged her before saying, "High priestess, Marty and his people will be up after they finish. I want you to entertain and lead them to the golden light."