The Most Dangerous Dame, Part I
By Autolycus, maynlinz@earthlink.net
A genetically altered woman battles a female poacher/slaver.


This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real persons is only a figment of
your imaginations. Let's face it, we all wish these babes were real! Anyway,
they're not, so go take a nice cold shower.

BABES IN SPYLAND VIII:

THE MOST DANGEROUS DAME

PART I

(c) 1998 Autolycus

Here's the deal: This is the story of a genetically altered female who is not
only a perfect physical specimen, but also has psychic abilities. She was
created by the US government to be the ultimate espionage agent, although her
creator/father, the late Dr. Smitrovich, didn't know that at the time. She was
seized by an ultra-secret anti-terrorist government agency, the Aegis Group,
and (ultimately, but against her will) trained in martial arts and other forms
of combat, although she refuses to kill anybody, which drives the head of the
AG, General Armitage Winsome, absolutely nuts. By the way, her name is Jessica
Chance and this is her encounter with a slaver named Orionna "The Huntress"
Jagenvrow.

She picked up the small, plain brown envelope that was sitting outside the
door to her apartment, noting that it was one of those bubble-lined ones, and
then went inside and closed the door behind her.

"Lupe?" she called, curious that the Spaniard wasn't seated on the couch,
wolfing down PB&J sandwiches and watching reruns of Gilligan's Island as
usual. Jessica walked over and placed her hand on the top of her HDTV and
noted that it wasn't even warm, indicating her roommate had been out of the
apartment for quite a while.

She was about to toss the envelope on the dining room table and fix dinner,
when she noticed a strange mark in one corner that she hadn't spotted in the
dim light of the hallway: A faint circle with two lines running through its
center, one horizontally and the other vertically; a cross-hair from a scope.

Jessica suddenly had a very bad feeling about Lupe's absence and the arrival
of the suddenly ominous envelope.

She ripped the envelope open and found that the only thing it contained was a
jewel case for a DVD. She opened the case and within it were a DVD with no
markings, other than the name of the manufacturer, and a slip of heavy paper
with some writing on it.

Jessica read the paper with growing alarm:

Greetings, Miss Chance,

First, I must caution you not to attempt to copy the enclosed disk or the
information contained on it will be automatically deleted and you will never
see Lupe Bacalao again.

Next, pay close attention to the contents of the disk and follow the
instructions on it to the letter, take notes if you must--Although I am given
to understand that will not be necessary--for once the disk is played, all the
information will automatically delete itself.

Finally, do not bother contacting local law officials, the FBI, or members of
your own agency with thoughts of them helping you. I will know and Miss
Bacalao will die. Period.

Now, make yourself some popcorn and enjoy the show!

The Huntress

Jessica frowned and then suddenly realized that the paper in her hand was
getting warmer by the second. She dropped it just as it burst into flames, but
it was incinerated long before it hit the floor, not even leaving so much as
ashes behind.

She removed the disk from the case and then walked over and turned her TV,
stereo, and DVD player on, dropped the disk in and pushed the "Play" button.
As she settled herself on the sofa, a test pattern flickered across the screen
but it was quickly replaced by a full-body shot of a bronze-skinned woman with
startlingly blonde hair, cut in a very short Mohawk, except for a braided tail
which hung to just below her broad shoulders, and bright, almost hypnotic,
violet eyes. Her mouth was small, with bow-shaped lips, and her face was long
and slender, ending in a pointed chin. She was wearing nothing but a bikini
made from the skin of a leopard--As opposed to a mere "leopard-print"
material--revealing her round, firm breasts and exquisite musculature. She
looked like a professional bodybuilder, with stunning delts, pecs, tris, bis,
abs, calves, and thighs. And, when she turned around and flexed, as if posing
in a competition, Jessi saw that her traps and dorsi were equally as
impressive, and that she had a gluteus maximus to die for!

Then, the woman turned again and the picture zoomed in until it was a close-up
of her face. "Greetings, Miss Chance. Allow me to introduce myself, I am
Orionna Jagenvrow, also known by my nickname: The Huntress," she said with a
faint Dutch accent, smiling cruelly and revealing a set of perfect, white
teeth. "You may have heard of me in your travels, but, I assure you that any
rumors will inevitably fail to do me justice. So, I shall tell you right up
front that I am not only the world's last great hunter, but also the most
successful poacher presently in operation, and one of the top five slavers
still practicing that ancient profession. As you may have noticed, all of my
endeavors are illegal in most of the world. Which is why I have my base of
operations on an island I purchased from the Chinese government before that
unfortunate revolution they had a few years back which resulted in their
becoming a democracy. I am, for all intents and purposes, a queen, the
undisputed ruler of my own country." She laughed and then leaned forward and
was handed something by whomever was running the digi-corder.

"Thank you, Snapshot," she said, holding up a map of the coast of China and
pointing to a tiny pinprick of color. "This is the Kingdom of Orionna.
Coordinates: 26 degrees, 12 minutes, 36 seconds North by 118 degrees, 16
minutes, 08 seconds East. The island is barely 10 km in total area, with the
entire Southeastern sector dominated by a single mountain: Mount Artemis. I
hope you're getting all of this, since it's very important, and I won't be
repeating it."

She lowered the map and then looked up and past the camera, at the person
running it. "Oh, all right, then. My assistant, confidant, friend, lover, and
exclusive videographer, Constance 'Snapshot' Thompson, has suggested that,
since the entire purpose of this video is to get you to come to my island, it
would be a good idea to repeat the previous information at the end of this
recording. And I have agreed," she added, after some off-screen prompting.
"Now then, sit back and get comfortable as you watch events which transpired
earlier this afternoon."

The scene suddenly shifted to the familiar sight of Rock Creek Park, which was
only a few miles from their apartment. She knew that lately Lupe had taken to
spending her mornings there, jogging not only to the park itself, but around
its more than 1800 acres of woodlands, enjoying the feeling of sunlight on her
flesh after having spent the majority of the last 100 years in the sewers of
Paris. As Jessi watched, she saw the unmistakable figure of her friend and
roommate jogging toward the camera.

Lupe was 6' tall with a wild mane of brown hair that used to be quite dark,
but, thanks to all the time she was spending in the sun, had recently attained
some almost blonde highlights. She had deep, velvet brown eyes, a round,
elfin, nose, and thick, sensual lips. She was in good shape, but not
particularly bulging with muscles. Which is not to say that she was without
bulges. Her breasts were large and round, and Jessi never tired of watching
them jiggle back and forth when she was running, as she was doing now. Lupe
was wearing her customary cut-off T-shirt and shorts, with ankle-length white
socks and white jogging shoes, and light blue sweatbands around her wrists and
forehead, to match the shirt and shorts, completing her outfit.

Suddenly, Jessi saw the equally recognizable form of Orionna step out onto the
path in front of Lupe, hands at her hips. She was wearing a full T-shirt and
jogging shorts, both red, white anklet socks, and black jogging shoes. Since
Jessica could only see the Huntress from behind--Which was not altogether
unpleasant--she had no idea what the woman's facial expression might have
been. Whatever it was, it was enough to cause Lupe to pull up short when she
got close enough to see it.

"You have a problem, senorita?" Lupe asked, a scowl playing about the corners
of her full lips.

"I'm just saddened by how many damn foreigners are in this country," the
blonde replied, perfectly mimicking the highbrow accent of someone from New
England, all trace of her natural Dutch one gone. "It seems like every time I
turn around I see another one of you darkies in my face, hands out, begging
for money, or a job, or food, and I'm sick of it!"

Now, while Lupe had gotten quite tan since leaving the sewers, her naturally
swarthy complexion darkening even more with repeated exposure to the sun, she
was still quite definitely not an African-American; her features were too
unmistakably Iberian.

"Excuse me? 'Darkie'?" Lupe asked, obviously shocked. "I am Spanish, senorita.
Did Lupe's accent not confirm that, even if her appearance failed to do so?"

"Spanish, Asian, African, Mexican, Indian--And I refer to both the so-called
Native Americans and those who hail from India itself. All of you are just
monkeys with clothes, playing at being human," she said, and Jessi didn't even
need to see her face to know it was sneering. "You make me want to throw up."

Lupe's face had taken on a definite frown and her dark eyes flashed with
anger. "The senorita has obviously had a bad day, so Lupe will overlook her
insulting remarks. If she will kindly step aside, I will continue on my way,"
she offered graciously.

Orionna suddenly slapped her sharply across the face. "Overlook that! You
ridiculous ape!" she cried, raising her other hand to slap the Spaniard. "I
challenge you to a fight, you pathetic gorilla. Or, are you too cowardly to
fight a real human being?" Her hand descended toward the brunette's face.

But, Lupe calmly reached up and caught the wrist. "No, senorita. If you insist
on a fight, Lupe is more than happy to oblige you," she replied, staring
directly into Orionna's eyes and releasing her hold on the woman's wrist.

"Fine! There is a secluded glen just beyond these trees," the blonde said,
revealing why she chose this spot for her ambush.

"I am familiar with it. Lead on, senorita," Lupe said, gesturing the blonde to
proceed.

As the pair walked toward the camera, the view suddenly became obscured by
leaves and Jessi guessed that Constance had backed up into the bushes
bordering the trail at that spot so as not be seen by Lupe and give away their
plot.

When the leaves vanished, Jessi saw both women walking through the
undergrowth, easily stepping over and around the logs and bushes, until the
trees thinned out and they came to a sort of natural arena. The small meadow
was less than 20 yards across and maybe 100 yards long, about the same area as
a football field, with knee-high grass and several plants sporting a variety
of wild flowers.

The two women walked a few yards out and then stopped, turning to face each
other. Jessi now saw that Orionna was quite a bit shorter than Lupe, which had
probably contributed to the Spaniard's underestimation of her foe, standing
perhaps 5'5" or 5'6" at the most. She had purposefully kept from flexing her
incredible muscles during her encounter with Lupe, Jessica realized when she
suddenly ballooned up, straining the light material of her T-shirt dangerously
to the point of tearing.

Lupe's eyes widened a bit, but, to her credit, she did not back down in the
slightest. On the contrary, she calmly reached up and removed her own cut-off
T-shirt, exposing not only her magnificent breasts but her well-formed upper
body musculature as well.

In response, Orionna pumped up even more, until her poor shirt simply
disintegrated in a cloud of red material, leaving her truly awesome upper body
unhampered by clothing. Just for the fun of it, she flexed her pecs, causing
her mountainous breasts to dance across her chest like waltzing partners in a
ballroom dance competition.

"Enough showing off, senorita," Lupe said suddenly. "Let us see if you have
the skills to use those admittedly impressive muscles in battle. Or are they
simply for show?"

"Come on, chimpanzee, and I'll show you!" she said, crouching down and holding
out her arms, motioning to Lupe with her fingers.

Jessica had to admit that this woman was not only in great physical shape, but
smart enough to know just what buttons to push to goad Lupe into a fight. The
redhead concentrated on the blonde as her friend rushed in, studying her every
movement, trying to analyze her tactics and commit her every move to memory in
preparation for her own inevitable confrontation with her.

There wasn't much opportunity for her to do so, however.

Lupe advanced, arms up and reaching for the blonde's shoulders, and Orionna
ducked and launched her left fist into the pit of Lupe's gut, folding the
Spaniard around her arm and causing Lupe to projectile vomit the cereal she
had eaten for breakfast. The Huntress' right fist then shot up and clamped
around her throat. In an awesome display of brute strength. She then stood up
and flipped Lupe over her shoulder and then back around in front of her,
finally releasing her hold on the brunette's neck and throwing her to the
ground on her back. Orionna then grabbed a handful of her hair and hauled the
gagging woman to her knees. The blonde then knelt down and forced Lupe to arch
her back painfully over an outstretched thigh and brought both fists down hard
on her taut stomach. The Huntress then elbowed her sharply in the throat
before hammering down on her straining mid-section again.

Lupe was so devastated, not only by the blinding speed, but also by the sheer
power of the attack that she was unable to produce any offense of her own, and
precious little defense.

Orionna chuckled as the Spaniard slid off her leg and into the grass, gasping
for breath and barely conscious.

"Where are your proud boasts now, little monkey?" she mocked. Then, a wicked
smile spreading over her attractive face, she bent down and hoisted Lupe onto
her shoulders, once more stretching the back painfully. The blonde looped one
arm tightly around her windpipe and the other was thrust up between her legs,
the sharp nails digging painfully into the sensitive flesh around her pussy.
Then, she pulled downward with both arms, not only showing off her impressive
bis and abs but also projecting Lupe's luscious tits high into the air.
Orionna bounced her legs up and down a couple of times, sending jolts of agony
down the length of Lupe's tortured spine and jiggling her sweaty mountains
enticingly, and then, feeling the body on her shoulders go suddenly limp,
leaned to one side and hurled Lupe onto the ground on her stomach.

The Huntress knelt down, placing the point of one knee in the small of Lupe's
back and, grabbing a handful of hair, lifted her head up so that Jessica could
see that she was indeed unconscious.

"I could have easily killed her, Miss Chance. Or permanently crippled her, had
I so chosen. Understand that her continued good health, her very life, in
fact, is in my hands," Orionna said as the camera zoomed in until the entire
frame was filled with both their faces. "You have until the next full moon,
barely two weeks from today, to present yourself at my island stronghold. If
you are not there by the time of her transformation into a wolf, I shall skin
her and hang her hide on the wall of my trophy room."

Jessica gasped when she realized that this was no accident. Orionna had
obviously been tipped off by General Winsome himself, who had no doubt
believed Melanie's wild stories about Jessica and Lupe being werewolves, even
though everyone else had dismissed them as the ravings of an obviously
unbalanced mind. The redhead's mind raced as she tried to piece together the
string of events which had caused the General to become so obvious--For him,
at any rate--in his attempts to kill her, but she was too worried about Lupe
to give Winsome and his plots the attention they demanded.

Then, her attention was drawn back to the screen, where Orionna was talking to
Constance.

"Ori, sweetheart, do you even need to ask? With those delectable tits? What?
Are you kidding me?" the videographer asked incredulously. "Flip her over and
improvise, just be sure not to block my view of those melons."

The blonde released Lupe's hair and then stood up. Slipping her foot beneath
the unconscious woman's body, she easily turned her over and then placed that
same foot in the cleft between Lupe's breasts.

"How's this?" she asked, flexing her calf.

"Oh, baby, you're killing me!" Constance replied, the camera zooming in on the
gently rising and falling breasts and the shoe, and then slowly panning up and
back until Jessica could see both women's entire bodies. "Okay, I got that
one, now do something else. But keep the breasts in sight."

With a wicked grin, Orionna straddled Lupe, sitting down on her stomach, and
then leaned over until her own impressive tits were resting against those of
the Spaniard.

"Oh, Goddess! You're the best, Ori! The absolute greatest!" Constance
exclaimed, the camera zooming in on the four sweat-drenched breasts and then
panning back again. When Orionna suddenly sat back and placed both of her feet
on Lupe's tits, pushing them forward and flexing her arms at the same time,
Jessica swore that Constance almost dropped the camera. At any rate, she
noticed that the picture got a lot less steady.

"Oh, my. Th-that's a wrap, Ori," she stammered. "I can't take any more of
this."

Orionna smiled and then stood up, bouncing her foot up and down a couple of
times on Lupe's chest.

The screen suddenly went black.

A moment later the image of Orionna appeared, the unconscious body of the
Spaniard draped easily over one shoulder, revealing Lupe's beautifully rounded
butt, which the blonde occasionally caressed as she spoke.

"Do not disappoint me, Miss Chance. It would indeed be a shame to kill this
lovely woman," she said, squeezing the ass affectionately. "Here are the
coordinates for my island again..."

Jessica, who had already memorized the island's location, watched the woman
carefully, concentrating on her eyes, and coming to the unavoidable conclusion
that she would indeed carry out her threat.

"I look forward to spending some time with you, Miss Chance. Before I kill
you," the blonde smiled.

And then the screen went black.

When Jessica attempted to replay the footage, her player informed her that the
disk was blank.

Scowling, Jessica removed the disk and then angrily snapped it in two and
tossed it onto her new coffee table.

After dinner, she sat down in front of her computer and did a search of the
government's files on Orionna Jagenvrow and Constance Thompson. She found more
than she had expected on both of them; it seems they had led very different
lives before becoming international criminals.

She discovered that Constance had once been a videographer for the online
magazine "Life-Time," and had won several awards for her work. Including one
for a series she had done on contemporary poaching and the effects it was
having on several endangered species. In fact, after accepting this award, Ms.
Thompson had dropped completely out of the public eye, and it wasn't difficult
for Jessica to figure out that she had no doubt met up with Orionna during the
course of filming the story. If she understood their relationship properly,
Constance had decided that a videography of the notorious Huntress would
ensure her a place in journalism history. Besides which, it was obvious that
Ms. Thompson also had some off-beat desires which the beautiful blonde was
only too happy to fulfill for her.

Orionna, as Jessica had suspected from the beginning, was a former Miss
Natural Universe, hailing from the predominantly white region of South Africa,
specifically, the nation-state of Afrikaans. Just as Libya, Palestine, Iran,
and Iraq had become a haven for the world's terrorists over the years, so,
too, had Afrikaans become a focal point for the bigots and racists; all white,
all supremacists who claimed to be of Aryan descent--Even though the myth of
Aryanism, i.e., the idea of a pure, white race which had given birth to all
others, had been soundly disproved decades earlier--and who all agreed that
whites were the superior race. Sadly, Jessica realized, Orionna's tirade in
the park had not merely been an act designed to goad Lupe into a fight. After
Orionna had been stripped of her title--For participating in KKK rallies and
for remarks which the MNU trustees felt were "unbecoming of a representative
of the ideals for which the Miss Natural Universe pageant sought to uphold and
reflect"--she returned to Afrikaans a hero to her people, but banned from ever
participating in another international competition.

She dropped out of sight for a few years, but made headlines again in 2003
when she purchased an island from the free-falling Communist Chinese
government, which was desperate for funds to stave off the impending
democratic revolution--Despite the millions Orionna paid them, the revolution
did take place the very next year, making China a nearly democratic ideal. The
island had cost her almost every last cent she had inherited from her
grandfather's diamond mines--Her parents had both been killed when she was
still quite young, in the war which had resulted in Afrikaans' separation from
the nation of South Africa and its creation as an independent, if not free,
country--but she had apparently retained enough wealth to build a magnificent
compound on her new island.

Ironically, she moved into it at the same time that the very government
officials who had sold the island to her were being executed by their former
subjects.

Orionna had quickly made an underworld name for herself by establishing an
elite, and very lucrative, poaching business. For a hefty fee, she would
guarantee any animal, dead or alive, and delivered within 72 hours, or double
your money back. It was only a small step from this to actual slave-trading.
But, because she dealt only with non-white "livestock," and dealt solely with
white clients, that aspect of her business dealings wasn't nearly as
profitable as her poaching.

It saddened Jessica to think that there were still a lot of people who wanted
to own animals, or, even stranger, their dead bodies, and were wealthy enough
to do so with little or no worries about law enforcement. It was even more
troubling to think that there were people who wished to "own" other people,
for what dark purposes she dared not think about.

In fact, she was a bit shocked to discover that neither the US government, nor
any of the Western powers, had much of an interest in seeing Orionna brought
to justice for her crimes; none of them having so much as a warrant out for
her arrest.

The other governments of the world, on the other hand, had standing orders
that she was to be shot on sight, especially the government of the North
African Alliance. Comprised of the former countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Ethiopia--Which had formed an
alliance in response to Libya's constant threats of war and terrorist attacks
after the death of General Qadaffi in 2003--the NAA was the region which
Orionna visited most frequently; for both poaching and slaving purposes.

Oddly enough, China and the Far East was the other region she most often
frequented for both purposes.

Jessica logged off and her mind wandered back to several conversations she and
Lupe had had. The first had happened they while driving back from depositing
Melanie with the officials at the maximum security prison after her stay with
them while in their wolf forms.

"I just don't understand why I can't come up with an antidote for you, er, us,
Lupe," Jessica sighed, her hands clenched tightly to the steering wheel of her
Plymouth Sunburst as they headed back to their Georgetown apartment from the
prison in Maryland. "The compound I developed should work, but, for some
reason I can't fathom, it doesn't."

"Rolph. Rolph Stark," Lupe said quietly.

"Who's that?" Jessica inquired, glancing over and seeing a strange look in her
friend's eyes.

"Someone I haven't thought about for nearly 100 years," the brunette replied.
"The man responsible for making me a werewolf." She went on to describe how
she had been living in a small village close to the Spanish-French border near
the turn of the last century when a rash of livestock mutilations had happened
during the fullness of the moon one summer. Being a simple shepherd at the
time, Lupe was unfortunate enough to be out with her father's flocks on the
last night of the full moon and that is when she encountered Rolph Stark for
the first time. Thinking he was simply a wolf, and she being a quite large
woman, and carrying a shotgun besides, Lupe had confronted him as he fed on
one of her ewes. Even though she shot him with both barrels at close-blank
range, he still managed to escape, but not before biting her on the leg as he
fled past her and into the hills.

"Shortly after that," she related, "a man wandered into town, a German named
Rolph Stark, who inquired about the recent slayings and asked in particular if
anyone had been hurt. When he found out my name and address from some of the
locals, he came to me one afternoon and told me of my fate. He apologized for
biting me." She laughed at the memory. "He blamed it on the fact that he was a
relatively new werewolf himself, and still learning to control the animal
nature which tried so desperately to take control during the transformation.
He stayed in town until the next full moon and then we spent the next three
days roaming the hills, making love, and hunting for food."

She paused, her eyes again taking on that strange expression, which Jessica
now recognized as one of wistfulness.

"When we became human again, he simply disappeared from my life. I tried to
find him for a few years, but had no success," she said with a shrug. "He had
warned me that werewolves should never travel together, especially those who
were the sires, or creators, of other werewolves, since the only known cure
for lycanthropy is for the creation to kill the sire and drink his, or her,
blood," Lupe added meaningfully.

Jessica looked over at her friend and shook her head. "Superstition, Lupe.
Legends and folklore. And, I am not about to kill you and drink your blood
just to cure myself of..." She suddenly grinned as her voice trailed off.
"That's it!"

"What is it, Jessica?" Lupe asked, a bit nervously.

"Blood, Lupe, your blood, in particular. That's the missing component for the
antidote," she explained. "Come on. We're going to the lab, and by morning, we
will both be free of this curse of yours." She smiled broadly and then punched
down on the gas pedal.

* * * * *

Jessica shook her head. "I don't get it, Lupe," she confessed, squinting as
the sunlight flooding into the lab reminded both of them that they had been up
all night. "The antidote cured my lycanthropy completely, not so much as a
single germ left in my body, according to the battery of tests I did on
myself. But, you're still infected."

"Cursed, Jessica," Lupe corrected, with a slight smile. "Until I drink the
blood of Rolph Stark."

Jessica frowned and then, despite how tired and hungry she was, her eyes
snapped open and she jumped up from her stool. "You might be right, Lupe," she
said suddenly, furiously punching at her computer keyboard, calling up a
comparison analysis chart between her blood and Lupe's, before her cure. "See?
Our blood is similar, but not identical. That must be the reason the cure
worked for me but not for you. Each victim of lycanthropy contains a slightly
different strain of the virus, which would explain why it is so difficult to
destroy and why there are so few werewolves: Not every person who is bitten is
likely to be affected."

"What do you mean?" Lupe asked curiously.

"I suspect that the lycanthropy virus is very particular about the hosts it
will, or can, affect," Jessica explained, calling up a series of blood test
analyses that showed the myriad variations in graph form. "It is my belief
that a person must be of a particular blood type--Probably one of the rarer
ones--and must be of a specific genetic stock in order to become infected and
undergo the complete transformation. Look how the various samples react to the
introduction of the lycanthropy virus in these computer simulations. Some
simply absorb the virus, effectively destroying it, although it is possible
that the disease is transmitted to this type of carrier's offspring--Hmmm,
I'll have to do further tests to determine if that is possible or not. Others
are ignored by the virus, leaving it to float freely throughout the host's
system, impotent and harmless--Although, again, it may be possible for the
virus to transfer itself to the next generation. Then, there are those types
which the virus not only attacks, fusing with the cells and altering them
completely, but thrives in, multiplying at a fantastic rate until the original
blood cells have been eradicated and replaced with the lycanthropy hybrids."

"Lucky us," Lupe sighed. "We are obviously of the latter group."

"True. But, if we can locate Rolph Stark and get a sample of his blood, we can
cure you, too, Lupe!" Jessica said excitedly.

"That is a mighty big 'if,' my friend," Lupe reminded her. "We werewolves are
not exactly listed in the yellow pages."

"Why not? I mean, it's only coincidence that you ended up living in the sewers
with Ophelia instead of pursuing a fairly normal life," Jessica pointed out.

"Coincidence, or fate, Jessica?" Lupe grinned.

"Whichever. The point I'm trying to make is that, at most, lycanthropy will
directly effect someone six days out of every month; and it's a rare month,
indeed, which has two full moons. So, really, we're talking about three days
out of every thirty. Not a big obstacle to having a regular life. And," she
continued, shutting off the computer and picking up her purse, fumbling for
her keys, "since Rolph has been a werewolf even longer than you have, it's
almost certain that, like you, he has learned to control the murderous
impulses which accompany the transformation, so he's probably not some kind of
mass-murderer or anything like that."

"I suspect that a werewolf in prison would not last very long," Lupe opined
thoughtfully as the pair made their way down to the garage.

Jessica nodded. "Tonight, after we've had a chance to get some sleep--"

"And some food!" added Lupe, to the accompaniment of a growl from her stomach
which did sound like a wolf.

"--I'll see if we can't track down Mr. Stark through the European branch's
files," Jessica finished, climbing into her car.

* * * * *

The redhead stared at the computer screen with a scowl on her lovely face. "I
had no idea Stark was such a common name," she sighed, scanning the list of
hundreds of names that matched her search query: R. Stark. She narrowed the
query to: Rolph Stark and the screen quickly filled with dozens of responses.
"Ugh. Not a whole lot better. I don't suppose you know his middle name, do
you, Lupe?"

The Spaniard shook her head. "He did say that he was headed for Morocco," she
said, "but that was over 100 years ago. I doubt he would still be there."

Jessica's fingers flew across her keyboard and then she smiled and pointed to
the screen triumphantly. "Well, I don't know if it's your Rolph Stark or not,
Lupe, but, there is a Rolph Stark living in the former Morocco. In Casablanca,
of all places," she smirked.

"I love that movie," Lupe sighed.

"You mentioned that you'd been to Africa before when we were in England,"
Jessica reminded her. "Ever been to the former Morocco or Casablanca itself?"

Lupe shook her head. "No, I took a ship from Spain to Egypt and then another
to India on my way to the Far East," she explained.

"Well, as soon as I've finished doing some research for the Aegis Group into a
new cult they're concerned about, you and I are going to Casablanca, kid," she
said in a pretty good Bogart imitation.

But, Jessica thought, we never did make it to Casablanca, did we, Lupe? Thanks
to the untimely appearance of the Huntress. She folded down the screen of her
laptop and then got ready for bed, trying to figure out how she was going to
ask the General for time-off, especially if he was really responsible for
putting Orionna on her trail.

To her surprise, General Winsome immediately approved her request for leave,
adding, "But, do hurry back, Ms. Chance. The Aegis Group is a bit concerned
with the upcoming election and all that there might be attempts on Vice
President Norwood's and Senator Cullpepper's lives."

Jessica thanked him and then headed for the airport, wondering why he had
mentioned the election and the possibility of assassination. Was he teasing
her, assuming that she would be killed, but wanting her to know that he did
indeed intend for the much more malleable Senator from Texas to be the next
President, one way or another? She knew that, like President Hemdale, Vice
President Norwood was not one of the Aegis Group's most ardent supporters and
was an even more outspoken critic of "outdated military organizations," as she
had referred to the group on more than one occasion, than her boss, and was
suddenly worried for her. She realized, as she parked her car in the reserved
lot of the airport, that she was being forced to choose between her friend and
her Vice President, her country, really, and it made her angry. And more
determined than ever to save both of them.

The flight to Taipei was long, but uneventful, and she quickly breezed through
customs and then went to the office of the Taiwanese Security Bureau to meet
with an old friend and to learn what Orionna's neighbors to the East knew of
her and her "kingdom."

"Jessica! How wonderful to see you again!" said a man with straight, black
hair, shining dark eyes and a wide smile. He stood up from behind his large
desk as the redhead entered his office and walked around to greet her,
extending his hand. "What brings you back to Taiwan? No more trouble with that
gun-running pig, Fat Gau, as he and his gang are still safely in our prison."

"Glad to hear that, Leung Kai," the redhead replied, shaking the hand warmly.
"I'm here to meet with Orionna Jagenvrow; she's holding a friend of mine on
her island against her will."

"So, she has finally angered a Western power enough to warrant sending one of
its agents after her, eh?" mused the Asian thoughtfully.

"Not exactly, Kai," Jessi said reluctantly. "I'm sort of here in an unofficial
capacity. My friend isn't exactly a US citizen. In fact, she's just bait to
draw me into Orionna's territory; I've been set-up by the General, I'm
afraid."

"Again?" chuckled Kai. "That man definitely needs to get himself a hobby,
Jessica. Apart from trying to kill you, I mean."

The redhead smiled and nodded. "What can you tell me about the self-styled
Queen of Orionna, Kai?" she asked, as he sat down and motioned for her to do
likewise when his assistant brought in a tray with a teapot and two cups.

"Self-styled or not, my friend, the fact of the matter is that Orionna is a
recognized country, and Orionna is its ruler," he sighed, pouring them both
some of the aromatic tea. "Call her President, Premiere, Fuhrer, or Queen, and
it still boils down to the same cold fact: She owns that island and is free to
do whatever she wishes, within the bounds of International Law, of course."

"But, she has broken numerous International Laws, Kai," Jessica protested.
"Poaching endangered species, kidnapping, slave-trading, and some arms-related
ones, as well. Maybe even murder."

The Asian sat back and took a long, deep drink of his tea, inhaling deeply at
the vapors which wafted gently from the cup. "I know she has and you know she
has, but the trouble is proving it...to the satisfaction of an International
Tribunal," he added when she saw her mouth open to complain. "Miss Jagenvrow
is clever, Jessica. She's not some dumb thug like our old friend Fat Gau. She
covers her tracks well and, while some of the Eastern powers have indeed
issued warrants for her arrest, these are only for her detainment and
questioning, and are only valid in the countries which issued them."

"In other words, no one is willing to go to Orionna itself and arrest her,"
the redhead scowled, the cup pausing before her curled lips.

"It is not so much that we are unwilling, as that we are unable, under the
very laws which protect Miss Jagenvrow herself, ironically enough," Kai said
sadly, shaking his head.

Jessica, too, shook her head in frustration at laws which were designed to
protect the innocent but, more often than not, it seemed to her, wound up
safeguarding the guilty instead. "Can you tell me anything about her island?"

Kai shrugged. "Not much to tell. It's a small island with one large peak in
the Southeastern portion and lush grasslands covering the majority of
flatland. I believe there's also a small forest, or jungle, if you prefer,
surrounding the base of the mountain," he replied.

"Population?" she inquired.

The man grinned. "As far as we know, aside from Miss Jagenvrow herself, the
only other permanent inhabitants are her staff of elite mercenaries; the men
and women who do the majority of the actual 'trapping,' of both animal and
human prey," he said, the disgust plain in his voice. "They numbered just
under 50 at last count; 28 men and 19 women. But, it's quite rare for all of
them to be present at the same time."

Jessica nodded and sipped thoughtfully at her tea. "I suppose you don't know
of any, shall we say, unauthorized personnel on the island at present, do
you?" she smiled impishly and gazed at him through her long eyelashes.

He laughed and casually stood up and closed the door and then stood with his
back to the glass window of his small office. Jessica turned around to face
him. "The North African Alliance Law Enforcement Bureau sent in an agent
nearly two weeks ago, a woman named Kanika Linnau, who hasn't been heard from
since. And, six days ago, the New Chinese Democratic Security Agency sent in
Quan Li Lin, one of its top operatives, with orders to bring in Miss
Jagenvrow, dead or alive, and to destroy her poaching and slaving operations
once and for all. I'll provide you with photos of both women before you
leave."

Jessica made sure that no one was looking at her, but still spoke in a hushed
whisper, "Thanks. If they're still alive, I'll do whatever I can to help them
escape as well. Sounds like both the NAA and the NDC are finished playing
footsies with Orionna."

"She will be shut down within the month, one way or another, I assure you,
Jessica," Kai said softly. He then returned to his chair and refilled his and
Jessica's cups. "Of course, any help you can lend, in a strictly unofficial
capacity, of course, will be greatly appreciated."

"What did it, Kai? What finally snapped the NAA and the NDC out of their
complacency?" she asked quitely, accepting the cup.

"The kidnappings and sales of the daughter of the Egyptian Premiere and the
Chinese President's niece," said the Asian, a snarl in his usually gentle
voice. "They were sold to an Afrikaans' millionaire and a French CEO,
respectively. They were dead by the time the agents of their respective
governments caught up with them. They had been raped and beaten to death in so
brutal a fashion that their would-be rescuers could not stop themselves from
meting out a similarly savage fate to their 'owners.' Both doomed men had
implicated Miss Jagenvrow before dying, but the words of dead men alone were
not enough to convince the tribunal to issue a sweeping warrant for her
arrest."

"So, the Egyptians and the Chinese took matters into their own hands," nodded
Jessica.

"Unsuccessfully, it would seem," added Kai wistfully.

"We'll see about that, once I get over to that island," replied Jessi.

* * * * *

As the small craft she had "borrowed" from the Taiwanese government cruised in
to the main dock, sitting in the bay below the hill on which the enormous
compound/headquarters/capitol was located, several men and women dressed in
outfits made from the skins of endangered species approached her. They had
rifles slung over their shoulders, and machetes and guns in their belts. They
looked mean, with weather-hardened, if attractive, faces and powerful builds,
though not as powerful as Orionna's, to be sure.

"Miss Chance?" a man with dirty blonde hair asked. Jessi nodded. "The Huntress
has been expecting you. Welcome to Orionna. If you'll please follow me to the
main hall, your vessel and luggage will be taken care of." He turned to go as
the rest stepped forward.

A tall woman with bronze skin and golden hair helped her onto the dock with a
grim smile.

"Where is Orionna?" asked Jessi suspiciously, stepping aside as the blonde
woman and the others unloaded her boat. "And Lupe?"

"The Queen is out hunting, but she should be back shortly--The game didn't
look particularly challenging today," the man in front of her replied without
turning around or slowing his pace. "Miss Bacalao is resting in her quarters.
She is healthy, if not happy, and you will be able to see her once the Queen
returns."

Jessica scowled and followed the blonde man up the hill, toward the compound.
The nearer she got to the building, the more she appreciated the massive scale
of the thing. Especially the great dome which dominated the central portion,
rivaling even that of the familiar Capitol building in Washington, D.C. She
also noted with little surprise the nest of enormous antennae rising from the
top of the dome and wondered if the entire island was blanketed with the
signal which disrupted her natural psychic abilities, or just the main
complex. From the size of the antennae, she rather suspected the former.

Suddenly, a group of people topped the rise from the opposite direction, led
by the unmistakable figure of Orionna herself. The Huntress was wearing a
traditional safari costume, khaki shirt and shorts, and even a pith helmet.
Immediately following her was a slightly built woman with spiky, multi-colored
hair, whom Jessica surmised was Constance Thompson from the video camera
hanging from her belt. Unlike her mistress, the videographer was clad in an
outfit made from the pelts of zebras. Behind her walked several pairs of men
and women, each of which bore a long pole between them. Tied to each pole by
wrists and ankles was a single human being. Although, given the wretched
condition of the poor souls, they looked more like the animals they were being
treated as. Jessica quickly counted five prisoners, three men and two women,
and was somewhat relieved to note that neither of the two missing operatives
were among them.

As she got closer to the unusual procession, however, she realized with a
sickening start that the prisoners were all dead. This was evidenced firstly
by the glazed eyes which did not blink in the dust raised by their bearers,
and secondly by the single bullet hole in the exact center of each of their
foreheads. Apart from the lethal wound, each naked body showed obvious signs
of extreme physical trauma, and Jessi guessed that the killing shots had only
come after a grueling ordeal.

Seeing her, Orionna gestured for the others to continue on and walked over to
her, smiling broadly, hand extended.

Jessica pointedly placed her hands behind her back and returned the woman's
smile with a look of utter contempt.

Orionna shrugged and lowered her hand, although the smile remained. "Welcome
to Orionna, Miss Chance--Or can I call you Jessica?" she asked.

"This is your country, Miss Jagenvrow, you can call me whatever you wish," she
replied tiredly.

"Jessica it is, then. And, you can call me 'Your Majesty,'" she said with a
slight chuckle. When Jessica merely nodded, Orionna frowned and said, "That
was a joke, Jessica. Please, call me Orionna."

"As I said: This is your country. So, if you wish to be called Your Majesty or
Orionna or Spiffy, the Magic Sky Pixie, it makes no difference to me. I simply
think of you as my enemy," she added casually.

Orionna's frown darkened. "I had hoped we could have a civil, if not friendly,
relationship during your stay. We have much in common, Jessica. We're both
unusually strong women who have been forced to deal with sexism, and worse, in
a world dominated by men. It's a pity that the circumstances which led to the
meeting necessitate that we encounter each other as enemies, rather than as
comrades," she stated.

Jessica tried to imagine a scenario when they could have met as friends, going
as far back as the other's childhood in South Africa and then her youth in
Afrikaans, but she could devise no situation which would ever have them as
more than casual acquaintances, given the streaks of racism and cruelty which
seemed to permeate the blonde's very soul. "I would like to see Lupe," she
said, seemingly ignoring the comment.

Orionna's violet eyes turned suddenly to a deep shade of purple and a sneer
twisted her round lips. "Very well, Jessica. Horst will escort you to Lupe's
quarters while I clean myself up," she said, indicating the blonde man who had
led her from the dock. "Then, after you have had an opportunity to get
settled, we will meet for dinner. One of my attendants will come for you."

Without another word, Orionna stalked off, leaving Jessica with Horst, who
merely glanced at her, the disapproval plain on the rugged features of his
handsome face, and then climbed the stairs leading to the domed complex.

Lupe looked up and smiled when she saw Jessica standing on the other side of
her "quarters." She was being kept in a large, transparent box, which
contained only a bed and a small desk. A small portion of the cage had been
curtained off, to provide some privacy while she answered nature's call, but
otherwise she was, in effect, on display; like an animal.

Jessica glanced at Horst, but he clearly had no intention of opening her
friend's cell. Frustrated, the redhead placed her right and against the glass,
palm down, and smiled when Lupe rose from her chair and did likewise.

"Are you all right?" Jessi asked, noting that there were several nozzles
attached to the ceiling of the cage. She further saw that the nozzles were
connected to pipes hanging from the roof of the room; pipes clearly marked
"DANGER! POISONOUS GAS."

Lupe, noticing the object of the redhead's gaze, nodded and replied, "I'm
fine, Jessica. Those are just there to keep you in line. If you don't play
along with whatever twisted game Orionna has planned, she will release the gas
and kill me." The Spaniard pointed to several surveillance cameras which
constantly swept the room. "And, the gas also makes a very effective deterrent
to any escape attempts I might have made. She claims that the cameras are
monitored 24/7," she added with a shrug.

"I don't care what kind of security she has, Lupe, I'm going to get you out of
here," Jessica stated, pressing her hand tightly against the glass.

"Just be careful, Jessica. She's clever and utterly without remorse," Lupe
shuddered. "I thought Ophelia was evil, until I met Orionna."

"She's only human, my friend, unlike your former mistress. She can be beaten,
and, believe me, she will be," Jessi smiled.

Horst loudly cleared his throat and Jessica reluctantly left Lupe and followed
the quiet man to her quarters.

Her room was large and elegantly furnished with beddings and furniture made
from the hides of animals, including a huge rug made from the skin of a polar
bear, whose head was still attached. The glass eyes of the bear seemed to
follow her as she went about getting herself cleaned up and ready for her
dinner with the Huntress, but she figured it was simply a trick of the light's
reflection.

By the time she had finished dressing, in a blouse and slacks, which would
afford the mobility required for a fight, should it come to that, it was
already dark outside. When she opened her door, in response to a sharp knock,
Horst was standing there, his angular face as impassive as before.

Without a word, he turned on his heels and walked away. Jessica shook her head
and followed him. The pair made their way through the enormous complex,
passing through several trophy rooms, filled with stuffed specimens of the
world's dwindling fauna, before coming at last to the dining room itself.

Seated at one end of a long table was the Huntress herself, dressed in a gown
of jaguar skin. Constance was seated to her right, the rainbow-haired
videographer clad in a shirt and shorts made from the pelts of baby harbor
seals, but her camera was nowhere to be seen. Then, as Jessi approached the
pair, a tiny object darted in front of her and hovered before her face. She
realized that it was a remote, miniature camera and summarily ignored it as
she proceeded to her place setting on Orionna's left.

When a dusky-skinned woman, who had been kneeling beside Orionna, suddenly
rose and held the chair for Jessica as she sat down, the redhead realized that
Horst had excused himself without a word upon entering the dining room.
Jessica slid onto the offered chair and took this opportunity to get her first
good look at the videographer.

Constance had large, brown eyes, making her look rather like a fawn, and a
small, button-like nose. Her build was slender, bordering on thin, with small,
but well-developed muscles. Her breasts were small and sat high on her narrow
chest, making her torso seem even longer than it was. She had comparatively
short legs, which gave her a somewhat ungainly appearance when she was
walking, as Jessi had noted on first seeing the woman earlier that afternoon.
But, despite their length, it was plain that her legs, like her arms, were
well-muscled. Finally, the woman's hair was short, two inches at the longest,
and stood straight out from her head like a hedgehog which had accidentally
wandered through a paint factory before having the misfortune of being caught
and made into a hat for her.

Jessica also glanced at the dark-skinned woman as she resumed her place at
Orionna's side. She was not the NAALEB operative, as she had at first
suspected, but simply another unfortunate victim of the Huntress. She had
downcast dark eyes, full lips, and a short, tight afro. Her breasts hung,
pendulum-like, in a bikini top made from the skin of a lioness, and her waist
and thighs were rounded more from fat than muscle.

Noticing her guest's gaze, Orionna said harshly, "Pay no attention to her,
Jessica. She is merely a kaffir I picked up during my travels. She cannot
speak a word of any civilized tongue but she is remarkable at being able to
intuit my desires with the slightest gesture. I call her Dog."

The woman, upon hearing her name, glanced up at the blonde fearfully. But,
when the Huntress ignored her and continued talking to the stranger, she let
out a sigh of relief and once more stared at the floor.

"She is an adequate servant, but hasn't the brains to be of any great use in
the kitchens or even keeping the grounds in order. Nor is she attractive
enough to bother with as a sex partner," Orionna continued, making a slight
motion with her hand. At which Dog sprang to her feet and raced from the room.
"Not that I lower myself to cavort with the lower species on a regular basis,
you understand. But, every now and again, I encounter a specimen of such
undeniable beauty that I cannot help but experience her charms before shipping
her off to her new owner."

Dog suddenly ran back into the room and knelt at Orionna's side again. A
moment later the door through which had exited and entered opened and a parade
of Africans, Asians, Mexicans, Indians, and other ethnicities approached them,
each bearing a tray laden with food. The men and women wordlessly placed their
burdens on the table and then turned, bowed to Orionna, and left the room by
the same door.

Jessica frowned. "How can you possibly endorse the concept of human beings
owning other human beings?" she asked quietly, as the blonde and her
videographer dug into the banquet before them.

"Not human beings owning other human beings, Jessica," Orionna corrected.
"Human beings owning animals. Haven't you ever had a pet?" The American shook
her head. "Oh. Well, the concept is widely accepted and no one complains that
the animals being kept are 'slaves,' provided they're being properly cared
for. These things," she continued, kicking at Dog, "are no more human than a
cocker spaniel or a tabby cat. They are an evolutionary back road that ends in
a dead-end. Or, at least it will, if I have anything to say about it."

"Surely, Miss Thompson," Jessica said, turning to the videographer, "you don't
share Orionna's inhuman views on this subject. You were a respected
video-journalist once, and traveled all over the world. You must have seen for
yourself the falsity of your mistress' ideas."

"Just the opposite, babe," Constance replied, wiping a bit of rich cream sauce
from her lips. "In all my travels, I discovered that all of the other
so-called races were constantly at war with one another and mistreating their
own people so badly when they weren't at war that it hardly mattered one way
or another to the poor souls. The white race alone tries to avoid war, Miss
Chance. The others wage it almost as a matter of course, because their savage,
animal natures cannot do otherwise. So, in that light, Orionna's theory makes
the most sense: That these other so-called races are in reality entirely
different species. Which, unfortunately, the white race, the only true Homo
Sapiens, can successfully mate with. Thus, they need to be either wiped out
completely, or the world's true humans must ALL come to understand their true
place as lesser beings on the evolutionary continuum."

Jessica suddenly found that she had entirely lost what little appetite she had
before talking to the two women and asked to be excused.

"Of course, Jessica, but I would like to remind you that you are going to need
your strength in the coming days if you hope to save your friend," Orionna
said casually as the redhead made to get up. With a resigned sigh, Jessi sat
back down and began to eat. "Wise decision, dear."

When all three had eaten their fill, Jessica once more asked to be excused,
but this time Orionna shook her head. "I find that a light workout before
going to bed helps me to sleep much better," the blonde said, leaning back in
her chair and languidly stretching her arms and legs to their full extent,
"and, I have found the most delightful workout partners for these evening
sessions. I think you should watch tonight, even though I don't usually allow
any observers, save Constance, of course, to these little contests, so that
you can further your knowledge of my fighting techniques in preparation for
our own match tomorrow. Besides," she added with an evil grin, "I think you'll
find my partners interesting."

The three women walked through the complex, heading for the great dome. When
they came to a stairway leading up to the second level, Orionna instructed
Jessica to follow Constance to the viewing gallery and then proceeded down the
hallway.

At the top of the stairs, after passing through a short, slightly rounded,
hall, they went through a set of double doors and found themselves on a large
walkway which circled the room below the great dome. Large, cozy chairs lined
the railing, allowing the observers to sit in comfort as they watched the
action taking place below. Jessica leaned over the edge of the railing and saw
a huge room in the shape of dodecagon, with eleven of the twelve sides
consisting of glass panels, similar to the glass which formed the flat roof of
the oddly shaped room. The final side was a metallic door which served as the
main entrance and exit. Jessi noted that at present only three of the eleven
rooms off the main room were occupied. Two held women--One Asian, one
African--while the third held a lioness which paced angrily back and forth.

Jessica was about to question Constance about the animal when Orionna suddenly
entered the room, naked. Having seen her in a bikini on the DVD disc, Jessica
was not overly surprised by her appearance, although, she was amused to note
that, like her cranial hair, her pubic hair had also been shaved in a Mohawk.
She paused just inside and turned to place her palm on a glowing panel next to
the metal door. A hissing sound echoed throughout the large chamber and
Jessica surmised that the room had been sealed to prevent anyone from
interfering.

"Welcome to the arena, Jessica," Orionna called out. "Let me first explain the
mechanics of the room before beginning the evening's entertainment. As you
have noticed, the main floor of the arena is in turn bordered by eleven
smaller rooms. The doors to these rooms can only be opened from a remote
location--Go ahead, Gloria." The glass panel of one of the empty anterooms
opened and closed with a "whooshing" sound. "The main door, on the other hand,
can only be opened with my palm print."

The lioness suddenly roared defiantly and Orionna turned and smiled at the big
cat.

"This is Themis," the blonde explained, walking over and slapping the glass,
making the lioness hunch down and growl deep in her throat. "I captured her
and her mate years ago and brought them back here, where I proceeded to kill
her mate with my bare hands as she helplessly watched. Every now and again,
when the mood strikes me, I will let her out and wrestle with her, just to
remind her who is in charge." She kicked at the cat and the lioness sprang at
the glass, throwing her full body weight against it in a maddened effort to
reach the mocking woman. Orionna merely laughed and walked back to the center
of the arena. Jessica suddenly noticed the tiny remote camera from the dining
room as it circled around the Huntress, projecting what it saw on a large
screen which popped into life on the far wall below the railing on the
opposite side of the viewing gallery.

"The rules of combat are simple: We fight naked, to ensure that no weapons are
used, even such that a top or a pair of panties might provide, but only to the
point where myself or my opponents can no longer continue to fight, either
because of unconsciousness or submission. We do not fight to the death. In
fact, if my opponents should somehow succeed in killing me, this room would
instantly be flooded with the same deadly gas poised to end your friend's
life. I, of course, would never lower myself to killing an inferior being in
this type of combat. But, even if I should accidentally do so, the room would
also be flooded with gas and end my life."

"Seems a bit extreme," Jessica remarked to Constance from above.

"No one has ever beaten Orionna, and she knows how to control her strength
enough to cause injury, without causing death," the other replied, carefully
positioning the remote unit with a control box, equipped with a joystick and
several adjusting knobs, until it hovered in front of Orionna's face.

"Tonight, I will be facing two who would like very much to kill me. Agents
from countries run by animals who came here for that very purpose," she
grinned, glancing at the two women behind their glass panels. "Ordinarily, I
would have stripped and hunted them to death, but they have proven so amusing
in these nightly contests that I cannot bring myself to end their lives yet.
Release them, Gloria."

Two panels slid open and both women cautiously entered the arena, giving
Jessica her first good look at them.

Both were about the same height as Orionna, but the blonde had a good twenty
pounds on the pair. Kanika had rich, chocolate skin, accentuating the lighter
color of the palms of her hands and feet in a very positive fashion. Her eyes
were small and dark, as was her somewhat flattened nose. She had highly placed
cheek bones, however, which drew her full, round lips up into a perpetual
smile and a long, slender neck. Her hair was very short and it clung to her
skull in tight curls. Her breasts were firm and round, but not overly large.
Her belly was flat and hard and her hips wide, cushioned by a generous amount
of fat on her backside. Her legs were long and she came toward the Huntress
bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet.

Li Lin, on the other hand, was pale, almost to the point of being white,
although her skin did have a golden cast to it that lent her an air of
Oriental mystique. Her eyes were large and almond-shaped, and a sort of light
green in color, like emerald smoke. Her nose was small and delicate and her
lips long and thin, but no less desirable for being so fashioned. Her hair was
long, hanging to the middle of her back, and as black as the proverbial
raven's wing at midnight. She wore it loosely for the battle, but Jessica
suspected that ordinarily it would either be in a pony tail or in a braid
similar to that of the Huntress. Her body was more obviously muscled than the
African's, but nowhere near that of Orionna, or even Jessica. Her breasts were
small and pert and she had a tattoo of a black rose on her right shoulder. Her
tummy was more rounded than her fellow agent's but her hips were also narrower
and the muscles of her thighs stood out like knotted cords as she circled
Orionna from the opposite direction as that taken by Kanika.

Orionna went into a half-crouch and Jessica saw that she was keeping a much
closer eye on the Asian than she was on the African. Then, while Li Lin made a
frontal assault, striking out with cobra-quickness at the blonde's head,
Kanika lashed out and struck the Huntress on the back of the knee with the
heel of her foot. Orionna easily blocked the rather clumsy swipe at her head
but the other blow dropped her to one knee and the Asian spun around and
kicked her in the side of her head, staggering her further, but not enough to
knock her to the padded mat which served as the floor of the arena. Meanwhile,
Kanika moved in and with a deliberate movement, like that of a boxer or
kickboxer, drove her right fist into the small of Orionna's back.

The Huntress bit back a cry and suddenly rolled head over heels backward,
surprising the African when she flipped around mid-roll and grabbed her by the
ankle. The blonde quickly jerked Kanika off her other foot and then stood up
and bent the woman's leg over her stomach. Li Lin, in the meantime, jumped up
and attempted to drive her foot into Orionna's belly. Unfortunately for her,
the Huntress side-stepped the attack and reached out with her free hand and
neatly clotheslined the Asian, and then closed her arm around Li Lin's throat,
the rock of her bicep pressing tightly against the brunette's windpipe.

Still maintaining the punishing choke-hold on the Asian, and continuing to
hold onto the African's ankle, the Huntress dropped her knee onto Kanika's
chest, flattening the breasts painfully. She then stood up and dropped her
other knee onto the woman's tightly curled thatch of black pubic hair, causing
Kanika to cry out in pain. Orionna then stood back back up and bent the
African's leg and thrust the choking Asian's neck against the inside of her
knee. Then, using the African's leg, she continued to choke the unfortunate Li
Lin.

Smiling wickedly, Orionna then forced the Asian's knee into Kanika's crotch
and pushed on the helpless Li Lin's foot, grinding the knee into her fellow
agent's pussy. When Li Lin began to cough violently and her struggles became
weaker and weaker, Orionna released her hold on the African's ankle and the
Asian greedily sucked air into her burning lungs.

But, Orionna wasn't finished using the agents as weapons against each other.

She next grabbed Li Lin's head and thrust it into Kanika's stomach. She then
grabbed the African's legs and closed them tightly around Li Lin's middle as
she herself sat on the African's face. Holding Kanika's legs beneath one arm,
she reached down and forced Li Lin's face up and into her shaved pussy.

"You girls aren't nearly as entertaining tonight as you were when we first
began," Orionna laughed, wiggling her rump and closing her own thighs around
the Asian's head, even as she closed the African's thighs around the Asian's
ribs. "If things don't improve soon, I'm afraid your entertainment value will
have decreased to the point where only a death hunt will bring out the
fighting spirit I first witnessed. Did you hear that, Kanika?" She sat forward
slightly and the African gasped and wearily nodded her head. "And you, Li Lin.
You heard that, too. Right?" She settled back down on Kanika's face and
allowed the Asian to raise her head enough to nod it. "Excellent," Orionna
smiled, arching her back as she pushed Li Lin's face back between her legs.

She continued to ride the two women until, moaning and massaging her breasts
with one hand, and fingering herself with her other hand, she climaxed all
over both of them. After the moment had passed, she stood up and then placed
one foot on the back of the Asian's neck and flexed for the mini-cam. She was
a magnificent sight, standing over the two beaten women, jizz dripping from
her still-parted lower lips, her muscles glistening with sweat.

"How's that, Connie?" she asked, staring directly into the lens of the
hovering camera.

Jessica looked over and saw that Constance was wiggling around almost
uncontrollably as her fingers made minute adjustments with the controller.
"Hold it for just a second longer, boss," she gasped. Then, as Jessica watched
with unbelieving eyes, she shuddered and moaned, a wet stain building between
her legs until the fur shorts were soaking wet. "Perfect. That's a wrap," she
called out when she could speak again.

Orionna left the two vanquished women lying on top of each other and removed
her foot and then glanced up at Jessica with a wide smile. "What did you
think, Jessica?" she asked, almost like a child seeking approval.

"Impressive," the redhead admitted. "Short, brutal, and inventive. Of course,
it in no way prepared me for our own meeting, since you will quite obviously
not have another person whom you can employ as a weapon against me. So,
really, it was a nice exhibition of your skills, but nothing more. Just as you
intended it should be," she added.

Orionna smiled that wicked, perfect smile of hers and shrugged. "These two
should come around in a couple of minutes. I assume you'll want to talk to
them. You can follow Connie down here and I'll meet you both by the entrance
door," she replied, looking down at the pair of slumbering women.

Constance had meanwhile packed up her gear and motioned for Jessica to follow
her as she made her way down a different set of stairs. These led directly
down into a large, dimly lit room, one wall of which was lined with the heads
of animals.

Or so Jessica first thought.

Upon further examination, however, she realized with absolute horror that the
heads lining the wall were those of men and women. Africans, Indians, Native
Americans, Asians, Mexicans, Arabs. And various other "non-white" individuals.

"Okay, Constance, it's quite obvious that you get off on Orionna's combat
skills, but do you really condone her murder and exhibition of human beings
for sporting purposes?" Jessica asked as the pair made their way through the
eerie room.

Constance paused. "At first, like you, I was repulsed. But, after I realized
that these aren't humans--They're not like you and I, not really--I could
accept it. I'm not crazy about it, and it doesn't do anything for me, if you
catch my drift, but it's no worse than hunting deer or bear for sport when it
comes right down to it," she replied.

Jessica sighed with disgust and the two women exited the macabre trophy room
and found themselves in a corridor. Across from them was the metal door which
led into the arena. It had one of the palm print security devices beside it,
identical to the one inside the arena itself. The door was open and Orionna,
now wearing an extra-large T-shirt, stood casually waiting for them.

"They're still pretty out of it, so I am leaving the door open for the time
being," Orionna said, gesturing to a blinking panel below the palm print
screen which said DOOR OVERRIDE "When you leave, just press this panel and the
door will close." She reached out and gently caressed Jessica's arm, her
fingertips gliding over the tensed curve of the redhead's muscles, and licked
her lips hungrily. "I can't wait to see you in action, Jessica."

"I'll do my best not to disappoint you, Orionna," she replied, deliberately
removing the hand.

"Breakfast is at seven, sharp. Don't be late," Orionna grinned, looping an arm
around Connie's shoulders and walking back toward the grisly trophy room.
"I've got something special to show you before our own little contest."

Jessica turned and walked into the arena without another word. She watched as
Li Lin wearily rolled off of Kanika, allowing the other woman to sit up and
wipe off her face with the back of her hand. The Asian, meanwhile, made no
attempt to sit up, content to lay on her stomach and try to catch her breath.
The dark eyes of the African suddenly opened wide and she snapped her head up
to look Jessi in the eyes.

"Who are you?" she demanded, guessing from her outfit that she wasn't one of
Orionna's flunkies.

"A friend," Jessica replied, stepping forward and kneeling beside the
exhausted Asian. She looked up at Kanika. "Is she all right? I noticed that
Orionna not only avoided her, but also punished her even more than she did
you. Why was that?"

Kanika grinned. "She fears her. Or, more precisely, she fears her skills in
the martial arts," the African explained. "Orionna knows the arts, too, but
she has never been able to master the discipline, the philosophy, if you will,
behind the technique. Thus, she has also never managed to harness her chi. The
first time Li Lin fought her, she stunned the Huntress with a chi-based
assault which gave Orionna a run for her money. Oh, she eventually triumphed,
but Li Lin's chi power confused, scared, and angered her."

"So, from then on she insisted that I not face her alone, so that she could
employ my so-called partner as a weapon against me, effectively preventing me
from employing my full abilities," Li Lin added, rolling over and gazing up at
Jessi with large, green eyes. "You must be Jessica Chance, Lupe's friend whom
Orionna has been expecting." The redhead nodded and the African suddenly
snapped her fingers. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Quan Li Lin and this is
Kanika Linnau. We need to talk, but not here. Will you come to our quarters,
or should we come to yours?"

"I suspect my quarters are the more luxurious of the two, so I would be
honored to have you as my guests," Jessica replied, standing and helping the
Asian to her feet. "If that is acceptable to you both."

"Anything is better than the cage Lin and I share, I'll wager," laughed
Kanika, also rising to her feet. "Lead the way, Jessica."

The two women looked about them appreciatively at the semi-luxury of the
redhead's quarters and nodded approvingly. "Definitely better than our room,"
chuckled Kanika, making her way over to the bar and fixing herself a drink.
"Anyone else want one?" she inquired. Jessica and Li Lin both asked for a
bottled water from the fridge and, shaking her head of tight, dark curls, the
African brought them over to where they were seated on the large bed. "Alcohol
is one of the few legal pleasures left in the world," she sighed, handing them
their waters and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I just don't understand
people who don't like to indulge themselves once in a while. Especially people
in our line of work." Her dark eyes glanced meaningfully at her companions.

"I prefer to stay sharp and focused, Kanika. I suspect alcohol would dull that
focus," Jessi replied.

"My body is a temple and I will not pollute it," Li Lin stated.

"Whatever," grinned the African, tossing the drink back with a shrug.

"Tomorrow you will face Orionna for the first time, is that not correct?" Li
Lin asked, frowning slightly when Kanika got up and fixed herself another
drink. Jessica nodded. "You must be sure to make a good impression on her,
short of outright beating her, of course, which would be the most desirable
outcome. Otherwise, she will conclude that you are not worth the bother of
keeping alive and arrange your demise in a death hunt; a brutal safari in
which you are the prey and she is the Huntress."

"And no one survives a death hunt, my friend," added Kanika, sitting back down
and this time sipping at her drink.

"Was she serious about no killing allowed in the arena itself?" the redhead
inquired, noting the way the African's eyes were undressing her.

"Deadly serious," nodded Li Lin. "The arena is equipped with a computerized
sensory system which notes and monitors the different individuals within it by
their heartbeats. If any of the heartbeats stop for more than a few moments,
the gas is automatically released."

"I don't understand. Why would a ruthless murderer like Orionna be so
concerned about not killing in an arena, but have no qualms about hunting
people to death?" Jessica queried, her brow crinkling in consternation.

"It's all a game to her, Jess," Kanika said, setting her glass aside and
pressing her chest against the redhead's back. "She wants to maintain control
in the arena, control of herself and her opponents. She is confident that she
can defeat anyone in the arena, so she stages elaborate contests, designed to
intimidate, or to 'domesticate,' as she calls it, those poor individuals who
are destined for a life of slavery."

"Before she ships any of her so-called stock off to their new owners, Orionna
likes to make sure they are broken, so they won't cause any trouble during
shipping, or once they arrive at their new homes," Li Lin elaborated. "She
achieves this through a series of contests in the arena which get
progressively more difficult, but which nevertheless end up in Orionna being
victorious."

"It's bad enough to lose to her in a one-on-one contest, but when you are
joined by six or seven other men and women and still lose, it's a serious blow
to your ego," the African chimed in, sliding her arms around Jessica's middle
and caressing her stomach beneath her blouse.

"I can imagine," Jessi nodded, guiding the dark hands up to her breasts and
favoring the Asian with her best "come hither" look.

Li Lin giggled and slid next to the redhead, her pale hands lightly touching
the American's face and throat as one of Jessica's hands reached out for
Kanika and the other brushed Li Lin's quivering lips.

Then, Kanika pulled the blouse off of her, even as Li Lin reached down and
removed her slacks and panties, exposing her already moistened thatch of
reddish pubic hair. Jessica was then gently forced to her back and Kanika
lowered her face to Jessica's sex while Li Lin's lips and tongue tickled the
American's erect nipples. Jessi's hands once more reached out, one tangling
itself in the African's tight curls and the other squeezing the Asian's
breasts.

Slowly, Li Lin maneuvered herself so that while she was still able to suck and
kiss Jessi's breasts, her pussy was now placed within easy reach of the
redhead's mouth. Without hesitation, Jessica snaked her tongue into the moist,
dark hair, expertly parting the lips with her tongue and gently, lovingly
coating the clitoris with her hot saliva, sending waves of passion rippling
through the Asian's body. At the same time, Kanika's tongue had worked her own
pleasure pearl into a state of blissful arousal and, unable to control
herself, she exploded in a howl of ecstasy which echoed throughout the room.

Kanika sat up, scooting herself forward until she was seated on Jessi's
stomach, and then wrapped her arms around the Asian, who was now also sitting
up, her ass resting comfortably on Jessi's face as the redhead continued to
work her cunnilingual magic on her nether region. The two women began kissing,
deep, long kisses born of the fire of desire and the respect of mutual
comrades in arms. As they continued to kiss and playfully nip at each other,
their hands moved down and began to fondle Jessi's conical breasts, teasing
and manipulating them until the redhead's body shuddered with pleasure.

When Li Lin finally climaxed, she and Kanika rolled off of Jessica and all
three of them continued to hold and caress each other until they fell into an
exhausted, but strangely contented, sleep.

* * * * *

When Jessica awoke the next morning, she was a bit alarmed to discover that
she was alone. She quickly threw on a robe and stalked to the door. She opened
it and saw a golden haired woman with a cruel sneer twisting her otherwise
lovely face standing across from her room.

"Where are Kanika and Li Lin?" she demanded.

The woman's sneer deepened. "The animals have been returned to their cage.
After being disciplined, of course," she replied.

"Disciplined? For what?"

"They knew better than to stay with you all night," she answered, the disgust
plain in her icy blue eyes. "They were just given a reminder of what happens
to those naughty animals who don't follow the rules. They've had worse and
lived through it. Besides, if the performance they gave last night in the
arena is any indication, they'll soon be going on a death hunt anyway."

"You must be Gloria," Jessica said evenly.

The woman started. "I'm Gloria. What's it to ya?" she demanded.

"Nothing. I just want to know whose ass I'm going to be kicking when the time
comes," Jessi replied. She spun on her heels and marched back into her room,
closing the door on Gloria's indignant sputters.

After an unusually quiet breakfast--Orionna attempted some polite
conversation, but Jessi merely glared at her and continued to eat in
silence--she was escorted back up to the viewing area above the arena. This
time, however, all ten of the other anterooms were filled, with the lioness
Themis still occupying the eleventh stall. Seven women and three men of
various ethnicities stood nervously in the other rooms, their hands resting
uncertainly on the glass panels of their cells. Jessica noted that Li Lin and
Kanika were not among the women.

Her attention was drawn from the currently empty arena by Constance's arrival.
This morning the videographer was wearing a bikini top made of zebra and
shorts of what appeared to be giraffe; an odd combination on anyone other than
the rainbow-haired journalist.

"What's on the bill today?" Jessica asked as Connie settled into a seat a few
down from her own.

"You'll enjoy this. One prisoner will be released into the arena every 20
seconds until all ten are in there with Ori," Constance replied, licking her
lips in anticipation. "And, she only has 5 minutes total to defeat all ten and
place her hand on the sensor, or else she automatically loses and the
prisoners are freed."

"Freed? Really? As in sent back to wherever they were taken from? That kind of
freed?" Jessi demanded.

"Well, as far as they know, yeah, that kind of freed," the journalist said,
shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"But in reality..." Jessi prompted.

"Hey, they're all already bought and paid for. They all ship out this
afternoon to their new owners regardless of the outcome of this contest,"
Constance shrugged, fiddling with the mini-cam's controls. "But, the idea of
freedom might give them a bit of extra fire, and make things a bit more
challenging for Ori, ya know?"

"Oh, I know. I see now that your mistress isn't content to merely abuse
people's bodies, she must shatter their souls, as well," Jessica said with a
snarl as Orionna entered the arena.

Without even looking up and acknowledging the redhead's presence, the Huntress
called out, "Victoria, start the timer and release the first opponent."

She planted her feet firmly in the thick padding of the arena's floor, her
head swiveling so that she could move to meet whichever prisoner was released
first. Her naked body glistened in the artificial lights, and Jessi realized
that she had oiled herself down, to make it even more difficult for her
opponents to get a firm grip on her.

Then, with a whoosh, not one, but all ten doors opened simultaneously.

The prisoners froze for a fraction of a second as they registered exactly what
had happened, and then they charged.

Meanwhile, Orionna's face widened into a ferocious grin and she threw herself
into the oncoming rush of humanity like a miniature, golden tornado. She
lashed out with kicks, punches, knees, elbows, feet, forearms, and even her
chin, and left a pile of dark-skinned bodies in her wake. As she closed in on
the three who had survived the initial, brutal attack, they in turn continued
moving, in the vain hope of attaining their freedom by avoiding her for the
duration of the contest. There were two women, both African, and an Asian man.

"Three minutes left," a computerized voice intoned.

One of the women was the first to fall when Orionna caught her by the arm and
jerked her around into the Huntress' waiting fist. Her head was snapped around
by the force of the blow and she collapsed atop the pile of other unconscious
prisoners.

"Two minutes left."

The man fell next when he valiantly turned to face her, raising his hands as
he rushed her, a grim expression on his thin lips. She casually ducked beneath
his clumsy blow and drove her elbow into his gut, doubling him over. Then, she
simultaneously thrust her knee up and into his throat while bringing both
fists down on the small of his back. He gasped horribly as he struggled to a
standing position, but Orionna simply cocked her right arm and sent him flying
onto the pile with a sharp blow to his jaw. He didn't make any move to get up.

Now, with less than a minute left--Not that it really meant anything at this
point, but the lone conscious woman didn't know that--there was only one left.
The African had apparently decided to stick with her strategy of eluding the
Huntress until the time limit had expired as she continued to run from
Orionna, her pendulous breasts slapping out a staccato rhythm against her
chest as she raced around the pile of bodies near the center of the arena.

"Forty-five seconds left," announced the same computerized voice.

Orionna was quite clearly getting extremely angry. She roared out in
frustration and then leapt completely over the pile of downed opponents,
landing bodily on top of the startled woman. Wasting no time, she landed a
powerful right on the African's jaw and then tossed her unconscious body on
top of the others before racing over and placing her palm on the sensor, with
four seconds to spare.

The perfect smile had returned to her face when she turned around and looked
up at Jessica and Constance as she made her way over to the pile of
unconscious, naked bodies and haughtily seated herself on it. The mini-cam
buzzed frantically around her, catching the amazing victory pose from every
conceivable angle, as Constance wiggled uncontrollably in her seat.

"You don't really expect me to believe that was an accident, do you?" Jessica
called, standing up and glaring down into the arena.

"Not really. I just couldn't resist a bit of theatre, I suppose," Orionna
replied, her white teeth glinting. "Are you ready for our own little contest,
Jessica?"

"Any time you are, Orionna," the redhead replied.

"Good. As soon as these animals are dealt with and the arena cleaned up, and I
have had a shower to wash away all this unnatural sweat and blood, we will
meet on the field of honor, as it were," she smiled.

"Don't flatter yourself, Orionna," Jessica said with a toss of her hair as she
turned and left the viewing gallery.

"I am going to enjoy breaking that one, Connie," she sneered. "Before I kill
her."

* * * * *

Jessica stood in the center of the arena. Her nude body had been lightly oiled
and her bronze skin seemed to glow beneath the artificial light of the room.
Her medium length red hair was tied up in a short pony tail and her green eyes
burned with determination. A calm, focused determination. One which sought to
marshal the chi power within her and employ it against the Afrikaanser. As she
brought her hands together over her chest, controlling her breathing, aware of
her every heartbeat, Orionna entered the arena and the metal door closed
behind her.

Apart from Themis the lioness and Constance and her mini-cam, the arena was
empty. Jessica very much doubted if anyone was even monitoring this contest
from the control room.

"Since this is our first meeting, let's make the stakes relatively small,"
Orionna suggested.

"Stakes? What do you mean? I am fighting the life of my friend, what other
stakes could possibly matter?" Jessi replied.

"Whoa, now. Easy, girl. I think it best if we don't make this meeting an
all-or-nothing affair, since neither of us are familiar with the other's
fighting prowess," she explained to the angry redhead.

Jessica paused and considered her opponent's words very carefully. Part of her
believed the reason for the blonde's hesitancy was fear, but another part
thought it could be in the interests of heightening the anticipation of an
all-or-nothing contest. She decided to play it safe. "What do you suggest?"
she asked cautiously.

"The loser has pussy for lunch; the winner's, naturally," she replied with a
confident grin.

"Done. And the rules?" Jessica inquired.

"Anything goes, providing no one ends up dead or crippled," Orionna stated.

"Any time limit?" the redhead asked mockingly.

"None. And the contest begins right NOW!" she added, knocking Jessi across the
arena with a roundhouse left to the jaw.

Jessica shook her head and rubbed her jaw, leaning against one of the glass
doors for support. Orionna rushed over and leveled a straight right to her
chin, but Jessi ducked beneath it and struck the Huntress in the chest with a
powerful chi-based blow which hurled her to the far side of the room.

"Damn you! I expect a White to fight like a White, not like some damn, yellow
dog!" she shouted, rising to her feet.

"First rule of combat, Orionna: Expect the unexpected," Jessica replied,
drawing on her inner strength in preparation for another attack.

"Keep using that slant-eyed magic on me and I'll make you eat those words!"
Orionna roared back. But, seeing that Jessica was preparing another chi
assault, she stayed where she was, preferring that Jessica come to her.

"You're not afraid of some animal's tricks, are you, Orionna?" Jessica laughed
as she walked over to where the Huntress stood waiting for her. "How can the
charlatanry of mere beasts pose a threat to the mighty Huntress?" Her hands
were now practically burning with chi power.

"Only a foolish hunter fails to respect the claws of the tiger or the teeth of
the bear," Orionna replied, her muscles tensing as the redhead drew closer.
"But, the fact that they are dangerous does not make them human, it merely
makes them something to be wary of, and careful with."

"Well said," Jessica nodded. "But, honestly, when is the last time a bear or
tiger marshaled mystic forces against you?" She struck out then, the glowing
fingertips of her hand lashing out with the speed of a striking cobra directly
at Orionna's ample chest.

But Orionna somehow managed to avoid the blow by sliding around the redhead's
arms. Not only that, but the blonde's fist drilled into Jessi's middle with
such force that not only the breath, but the contents of her stomach, were
expelled from her body. Meanwhile, her glowing hands struck the glass panel,
sending rivulets of energy cascading through it.

Gasping for breath, Jessica found herself practically draped over Orionna's
powerful forearm. Then, the arm was slightly withdrawn, only to be plunged
back, even deeper and harder. If Jessica had had any breath left, or anything
else in her stomach, it would have been ejected even more forcefully than the
previous blow's result. Since both her belly and her lungs were empty,
however, the only thing which poured from her gaping mouth was bloody water.

"Hope you're hungry, dear," Orionna sneered as she stepped back and allowed
Jessi to sink to her knees, one arm wrapped protectively around her middle and
the other digging into the padded floor of the arena. The redhead's breaths
came in ragged pants as she fought to get air into her empty lungs.

Helpless, she could do nothing as Orionna casually walked around in front of
her and reached down and raised her chin with a slender index finger, while
the other arm cocked, fist clenched tightly. With a vicious uppercut to the
point of Jessi's chin, the redhead was sent tumbling backwards, head over
heels, until she landed on her stomach in the middle of the arena.

Orionna walked over and easily flipped the groggy woman over with one foot.
She then plopped her rear down hard on Jessi's undulating tummy, forcing what
little air had been in her body out of it. The blonde then leaned back and
snaked her legs around Jessica's neck, the softball-hard calves pressing
tightly against her windpipe, further preventing her from getting some
much-needed oxygen.

When she saw that Jessi's weakened struggling was ceasing altogether, she
loosened her scissor hold and leaned forward, placing her red lips practically
on top of her foe's bluish ones, and whispered, "Surrender, Jessica. Surrender
and be thankful that you took my advice not to make this an all-or-nothing
contest."

When the redhead responded by attempting to push the blonde off of her
instead, Orionna giggled and scooted back until her sex was resting over that
of Jessica. "Have it your way, sweetie," she grinned, plowing her fist into
Jessica's bruised middle and causing the redhead's mouth to erupt with a flow
of bloody saliva. "Do you give?" Jessica feebly shook her head. Again a fist
was thrust into her gut so hard that Orionna swore she felt Jessica's spine.
"Look, Jessi, you've got a lot of heart, I'll grant you that. But this contest
is over and I have won. Don't make this any worse than it already is. Say: I
give."

This time Jessica's head nodded slowly, painfully, up and down and her ravaged
throat managed to gasp out, "I give."

Orionna immediately grinned like a child at Christmas and flexed for the
mini-cam buzzing around her.

"I'll give you some time to get your strength back and get cleaned up before
you come to my chambers for your lunch," she chuckled, standing up and placing
a foot on the redhead's heaving chest. She held the pose until Constance's
moans ceased and then strode toward the exit of the arena.

At the door, however, she paused and turned back toward Jessica. "Oh, and
here's something for you to chew on in the meantime: Because of your
particularly pathetic performance today, I have decided that the only true
challenge you might present me with is in the form of a death hunt. The life
of your friend is now dependent on you surviving something which no one else
ever has. See you in a bit."

The blonde turned and left the room, her sinister laughter lingering behind
her, leaving Jessica more worried than she had ever been in her entire life.
For the first time she could remember, she was genuinely afraid, not only for
her life, but for the life of Lupe and the two agents she had promised Kai she
would help.

Of course, more than anything else, at the moment she was also feeling more
pain than she had ever experienced.

To be continued...

(Soon)

Send comments/criticism to: maynlinz@earthlink.net