“Damn it!" The young woman muttered, spotting her partner. "Nothing is going according to plan!" Checking the clip in her Magnum 47, she prepared to defend her partner, and save the mission. Getting those papers were vital to keeping the secret underground.
The people that they were dealing with weren't what her partner thought they were at all. They had told Mission Control that the people they were dealing with were demons, but they were worse. Watching Mike Thompson deal with the vampires, made Jessica Tawny nervous.
All of a sudden, Jessica was overwhelmed with a sudden sense of dread. The next thing she knew, there were gunshots fired. Running into the parking lot, Jessica saw her partner was down. She fired off a round, ducking and rolling. As soon as she emptied the clip, she replaced it and fired once more. Panting, she stood up. Finding that the two vampires were down, wriggling on the ground. Grabbing the stake she carried with her, she dusted the two vampires, and then checked the briefcase before she called for backup and checked her partner.
"Good god. What happened?" Her supervisor, H, asked.
"Well, to tell you the truth, we were dealing with vampires, not demons." Jessica told her.
"What?" H asked, astounded.
"They were vampires. They wanted the edge to get us there." Jessica said. "I think they were going to try and kill us, make us vampires and infect the rest of the world by us."
H sighed. "Damn." She shuffled some papers on her desk. "I'm going to have to transfer you over to the newest department."
"Huh?" Jessica asked.
"There was a new department created just for this type of thing." H said. "The only thing is you will have to go through a lot of changes to get in. I'm going to have to call Jessa to tell her you are on you're way over to her office."
Jessica stared at her supervisor. "You're transferring me out of the Underground?" She asked, astounded.
"Yes. You are in contact with vampires. Jessa is the head of Guardians. She knows exactly how to deal with vampires."
"You mean she heads a Slayer department?" Jessica asked.
"Yes. She also heads the Council of the Zodiac, and the Council of White Witches." H answered.
"Great. I'm going to be working with a bunch of dorks." Jessica muttered underneath her breath as H dialed a number on her cell phone.
H gave her a look. "Hey Jessa? Yeah, it's Jersey. Listen, I got an agent here who's going to be transferred over to you...I know...she's come in contact with the Lachey Clan...yes...got it...thanks B."
"What?" Jessica asked as H hung up her phone.
"Here's the address of her office. I'm going to call for you're airplane ticket as soon as you leave. Unfortunately, you have to pack up all of you're things. You're moving to Orlando Florida as of now." H said.
Jessica sighed and took the piece of paper that H handed to her. Standing up, she gave her supervisor one last salute before walking out of the Underground. Hailing a cab, she headed home to pack her things. In Kennedy National Airport, Jessica's ticket was waiting for her.
Jessa Adams walked into her tiny office in Orlando Florida. "Hello Jessica. I'm Jessa." She said, sticking out her hand.
The young woman in front of her hesitantly shook her hand. "I have to admit, I'm not sure why I'm here."
"Simple. I'm guessing you've never heard of the Lachey clan, have you?" Jessa asked.
"No." Jessica said. "Who are they?"
"Mainly made up of vampires, but some are also warlocks. This is why you came here." Jessa sat down in the desk, shuffling some papers before handing Jessica a few pages. "That is Drew Lachey, head of the Lachey clan." Jessa told her.
Staring at the face of the young pop star, Jessica looked at Jessa. "How can he be the head of the clan?" She asked confusion in her voice.
"Well, that's the thing we can't figure out. My assistant Brittany is undercover right now. Drew's supposed older brother Nicholas Lachey is on our side, fortunately." Jessa said, showing her another picture.
"Why is he not with his brother?" Jessica asked. "Wait, why doesn't he know the origin of the clan either?"
"You are very bright." Jessa smiled. "Nick is not with his brother due to the nature of his abilities." She stood and grabbed a file from a cabinet. "Nick is half vampire, half human. One of the few out there today. He is also a spirit guide, who decided to take on a mortal form."
Jessica understood everything that Jessa was saying. In a way, she was almost like Jessa, except that she wasn't sure why she was here because she didn't think she would have some supernatural powers.
"You do have some abilities." Jessa said suddenly, as if she had read Jessica's mind. "You just don't know what they are. I do not even know, and I'm a psychic healer."
Jessica smiled. "Then I have heard of you." She said, realizing who was standing in front of her. One of the only priestesses in the Wiccan community who didn't convert to Wicca to save the world.
Jessa grinned. "Yes, I'm sure you have." She said, turning sharply, catching her hand on a sharp object. "Damn." She muttered, grabbing a paper towel to cover up the spot.
"You okay?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah." Jessa smiled, taking the crimson spotted paper off her hand. The only thing left was a tiny scar that looked like it had just healed. "Come on, let's go meet the rest of you're new family."
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Anna Perez swirled a tunnel of water around Caitlin 'Sugar' Michaels. "Hey!" The 21 year old cried in a light airy voice, loud enough to be heard through the wall of water.
Anna laughed. "Just try and mess with me Sugar!" Her waist long blonde hair danced back and forth as she twisted and turned the watery tunnel around Sugar.
"Anna Marie Perez!" A loud deep female voice shouted from off the field where Anna and Sugar had decided to fight.
Anna quickly dropped her hands, causing the tunnel of water to crash right on Sugar. "Oh shit." She had seen the pissed off look on Jessa's face.
Sugar sputtered as she came from next to the stream, soaking wet. "Why did you do that?" She asked, angry. "You know I can't do anything except float about that stuff yet!"
"Anna Marie, how many times do I have to make you recite the Zodiac Prayer of Conduct?" Jessa asked, as she and someone Anna, nor Sugar recognized, came up to them.
Well, in fact, they didn't walk. It was a quarter of a mile between the road and the small stream that gurgled softly in its bed. It was more like they floated.
"Too many times." Anna muttered her head down. Jessa was her best friend, but she was also much more mature than Anna would ever be, unless she found a woman who could tame her.
"I'd like you two to meet Jessica Tawny. She's our newest member." Jessa said, smiling softly at her friends.
Anna glanced shyly at the new girl. She couldn't have been more than a sprite for all that Anna cared for. Jessica definitely fit the description that Hope had suggested the night before when Jessa had asked for some help to be passed along the vast regions.
Jessica's waist long red hair was curly enough to be cute, but not messy, and her brown eyes didn't exactly fit the sight her face shown. From lightly tanned skin to her hair, she looked all about 5 foot 3 inches tall at the most and probably only 110 pounds at that.
"Jessica, I'd like for you to meet two of my more "adventurous" members, Anna Perez, and Caitlin Michaels." Jessa said, seeing that Anna had clearly checked out the woman standing in front of her.
"Actually, call me Sugar. Only B can call me Caitlin." Sugar said, her blue eyes searching within Jessica's brown ones for honesty.
"Hi Sugar. Anna." Jessica equally studied the women in front of her. Well, one woman, and a girl, probably no more than 19 or 20, Jessica surmised.
Anna's finely brushed waist long blonde hair had a golden texture to it that Jessica had never seen before in her life. She also had startling gray eyes, something she had heard about, but never seen before. Sugar was as equally beautiful as Anna was, only her shoulder length blonde hair looked more natural. Piercing blue eyes met brown eyes in an attempt to locate some unknown strength.
Jessa saw the mental exchange of words and smiled. "Well, let's go guys. We still have 3 more people to find."
Jessica tore herself away from the mental challenge of Sugar to gasp at Jessa's words. "More people to find?" She asked.
"Did you think we were complete?" Anna asked sarcasm in her voice. "No, we are not. Most of the male components of our Zodiac and of the Witches Star are still unable to be located."
"Anna." Jessa scolded the older woman. Turning to Jessica, she decided to explain. "You see, we just formed our little department a little over 2 years ago. Anna and I are the founding members, with Sugar and another woman named Jodylee following quickly behind. The tradition of the Zodiac is originally 24 pairs of each sign, but in accordance to the Witches Star, there can only be 12 original signs, with no pairs. You are the last female we needed before we went for the rest of the male side." Jessa said.
Jessica cocked her head, her red curly hair spilling over one shoulder. "But how come you haven't located any of the men yet?" She asked.
"Men actually turn out to be the least strongest in battle." Jessa said, her face softening up.
"She knows this for a fact." Anna said. "As a Unicorn, Jessa has fought a lot of battles."
"Hey!" Jessa swiped at Anna, a playful smile on her face. "Just because I'm a Unicorn, doesn't mean that I'm a fierce animal. Anyway, men tend to have more weaknesses than women when it comes to their Zodiac sign. And they tend to hide the fact they can produce some magickal abilities more than women do." Jessa explained. "So we found the 6 strongest women in the world with the Zodiac, and in turn, it was found that they were also apart of the Witches Star."
Jessica took the information in. "So, that means that I'm a part of the circle."
Jessa nodded. "Yep. Now we are going to go to the house where everyone else, minus Brittany, is at."
Anna dodged a quick swipe of wind that Sugar directed her way. Since there was no water around for her to mess with, she'd just have to resort to her magickal abilities to get back at Sugar. Unfortunately, Anna was lifted into the air, and floating in front of Jessa, who actually had a shocked look on her face. Sugar wasn't even sure what was going on.
"Mouse, why don't you come and play?" A female voice purred.
"Oh shit!" Jessa suddenly lifted into the air. "Jessica, take cover." She yelled down at the frightened young woman.
"Oh Unicorn, you're just too considerate. Just look at what I did to you're fiancée!" The woman who held Anna in an air grip laughed as a picture of what happened to the man Jessa couldn't live without was flashed onto the side of the house for everyone to see.
Jessa growled. "You killed my mate, my wolf. You will pay!" She suddenly went limp.
Jessica glanced at Sugar, who was fortunately unharmed. "What's going on?"
"This would be the woman that Jessa declined into the group because she has all the powers. No one really knows her name, but we do know she is trying to kill Jessa." Sugar replied. "The man, I'm sure you recognize. Mike was Jessa's fiancée, and was about to transfer here to assist her."
Jessa's limp body was bounced up and down in the air, as was Anna, who was frightened. She had never liked having a Zodiac power with water, and unfortunately, she was still too young in her witch studies to phase out of her body. "Sugar! Go get Jodylee!"
Sugar nodded, and grabbed Jessica's hand. "Come on! We'll take the shortcut to the house, and get the rest of the group!"
Sugar and Jessica burst into the house. "JODY!" Sugar yelled, her voice taking on a quiet cat like ability to sound loud.
Jodylee DiBartemeno bounded down the first staircase left from Sugar. "What's going on?" She asked, her brown eyes blazing.
"That woman is out there, and she's got B and Anna in the air grip!" Sugar replied breathlessly. Her blue eyes flashed a brilliant gold for a second before fading back to blue.
Jodylee gasped. "JOSH!" She cried upstairs.
Jessica was taken back by the shocking presence of JC Chasez from *N Sync. "What's going on Jody?" JC asked his voice smooth and silky.
"B and Mouse are being attacked by Scray."
JC's mouth dropped open in shock. "Great." He groaned. He raced outside just in time to see Anna try to escape the air trap she was in. Jessa, on the other hand, was still limp. "Where did B go?" He asked.
"She phased a few minutes ago. Don't know where she went." Sugar said.
JC shook his head, and prepared to fight Scray as best as he could. Being that she had all the powers of the Zodiac, he knew he'd have to use his magick to defend the two women in the air.
"Scray! Stop now!" JC shouted.
"Oh yeah? What are you going to do, rail boy?" The woman, now known as Scray cried in sarcasm. Her wild jet-black hair whipped wildly behind her.
JC muttered a spell under his breath as he prepared to fire a tiny ball of fire from his hands.
Scray laughed as she easily caught the tiny ball, in mid air, and extinguished with the water from a bowl sitting in the open window of the house. "Can't you do better than that?' She tossed the insult at JC like salt into an open wound.
JC smiled. "Yeah, I can!" He moved his hands in a hexagon, and pushed towards Scray.
"NO!" Anna saw the move JC had made. Scray disappeared suddenly. Anna floated down to the ground gracefully, while Sugar and Jody helped the limp form of Jessa down to the ground.
"Thanks guys. I almost had Dragon here." Jessa said; popping up, full life into her body.
"Sorry B." JC said sheepishly.
"It's okay. At least you banished her from the property." Jessa said, smiling.
JC's cell phone rang suddenly, startling Anna.
"Mouse, don't be scare." Jessa laughed at her best friend.
Anna stuck her tongue out at Jessa as she watched JC's face with interest. "Lance is coming from Europe tomorrow." JC announced once he got off the phone.
'Good." Jessa smiled. Only 3 more males to go and she knew one of the members of *N Sync still had to be in the picture.
"Hey guys!" Nick Lachey ran from the driveway to where his friends were standing. "I have some great news!" He said, panting a little.
"What?" Everyone was interested, including Jessica.
"I've found Capricorn." He pushed out between breaths.
"Who?" Jessa demanded.
"AJ McLean from Backstreet."
JC's jaw dropped. "Really? I always thought it was Brian."
"Him too." Nick finally caught his breath. Being off of tour for the past few years had really made him into a fat ass.
Jessa's jaw dropped. "Brian?" She gasped.
Nick nodded a quirky smile on his face. 'That means we have only Aquarius to find.' He said proudly.
Anna and Jodylee gave each other high-fives.
"Great!" Jessa grinned.
"By the way, they're in the car now. I kind of figured you'd like them to be here, so they can see what's going on." Nick smiled.
"Why?" Jessica asked.
"Most of the time, when we find new members of our group, they don't quite believe in what we tell them. I know JC had a hard time accepting it." Jessa explained.
"Yeah, but Lance didn't." JC pointed out.
Jessa's face grew soft. "I know." She said quietly.
"Well, let's go see AJ and Brian." Anna said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood of the group.
"Good idea." Jessa perked up a little, her mind going back to business.