“Well, Desiree is still young, but she’s betrothed to the Sapien Mariarch’s grandson, so yeah, I’m guessing she still listens to her. She doesn’t seem very interested in politics though, and given her Regent is the former Matriarch’s family, things will stay stable here for a while, we think. Stability is really important. Saves lives.” Tessa said coolly.
Ophelia nodded, snapping her gum. “What you really need to remember is that the Matriarch – or Regent, in this case – owns everything in the clan. Every document has her name on it. Everything you own, she owns as well. Technically, all money and territory belong to her, so if you fuck up, she can shut you down and make your life miserable, so you never fuck with your clan’s matriarch. She says to do something, you better do it.”
“But she’s very lenient with sapiens, like super lenient,” Tessa said, “As long as you don’t get flagged, you’re fine.”
“But YOU are a very special case, so her very special attention is on you. But it’s good attention because she wants to make sure you are taken care of- oh!” Ophelia suddenly turned and I heard clicking and snapping, like something being closed, before she turned back and handed me a thin blue case. “This is for you.”
I took it and thanked her quietly, opening it to see a thick piece of paper with my name and identifying details fixed to one side, a few hard cards in the pocket of the other flap. When I pulled one out, I saw my name printed on the card.
“So that’s your temporary ID, and those are your cash cards. She told us to tell you that you can buy whatever you want and she’ll cover your expenses. Clothes, food, transport...books, electronics. Whatever you need, just charge it. It’s basically a golden ticket to get anything you want.”
“Yeah – because you don’t have any family here, she said to tell you that she considers you to be her personal responsibility.”
I looked at her. “The regent said that?”
“Yeah. And she said that…” Ophelia thought on that for a beat, “That she’s going to do everything within her power to ensure that you get your niece, but that she falls under the jurisdiction of another clan, so so can’t get her immediately.”
I nodded. “I see, thank you,” I mumbled.
“So you have a niece that’s a Novus?”
“I do – Joy.”
They both nodded, frowning. “Well, we are on really good terms with East Campora, so I’m sure she’ll find a way to make it happen. Our Regent is pretty awesome.”
I nodded with a smile, “So the Matriarch is like a queen, then.”
“Oh, no, no, no-” Tess said with a laugh and a startled smile, my own dampening. “Queens are in Europe, here is Matriarch, and they detest being called Queens.”
“Yeah, totally different thing,” Ophelia said firmly.
“Totally. The first Matriarch of North America way back at the dawn of Novus always said the second someone called her a Queen, it was time for her to step down...so. Totally not a Queen.”
“Totally.”
I resisted the urge to laugh a little, but nodded, turning to look out the window at the night as I listened to the two young women talk, Carla joining in after a little while.
When we arrived in Liliport, I saw it was a much bigger city than Claymoore, where the buildings could be as tall as twenty stories high. It was startling to see and wonderful – how many people had to live here for there to be buildings so large?
Tessa and Ophelia pointed out the different buildings as we drove by them and I was amazed at all the choices available.
But even more than that, I felt reassured. Listening to Tessa and Ophelia talk, I thought that female Novus might not be nearly as frightening as the males, and that taking care of Joy might not be as scary as it seemed. These young women were intelligent, calm, and seemed very normal. If not for the eyes and the teeth, I would have never guessed they weren’t sapiens.
The little smile Ophelia had as she explained where the best shopping was suddenly fell off her face and I watched her lean forward, her eyes narrowing as she pointed at the front window. “Is that fucking Whip?”
Tessa perked up, looking suddenly very alert. “What?! Where?”
Ophelia snapped her fingers and waved her finger at what I thought was a figure standing on the sidewalk, reading a newspaper while he waited for the crossing light. “There on the fucking corner-”
“Oh my God, it is!” Tessa gasped, “What is he doing back here? I thought he was exiled until the end of the month.” Her eyes narrowed. “I bet that little bitch called his moooommy,” She mocked, “I can’t believe he’s allowed to sniff around our territory after what he pulled. The fucking nerve!”
“Fucking outsider,” Ophelia said, snapping her gum. Suddenly she jolted and clapped her hands and grabbed her sister’s arm, “You should totally hit him!” She gasped. “Just a little tap!”
“Oh my God, I’m going to,” The driver said, snapping her own gum as she adjusted her rearview mirror to look at me. “Sit back, we’re going to accelerate!” she said with a maniacal smile before she looked forward and I felt the car speed up. Suddenly she turned the wheel and the passenger side mirror hit the man straight on and he fell to the ground, the sisters laughing as the driver righted them back onto the road.
“Don’t do that when you get your license, Carla,” Ophelia laughed, “That was so bad!”
“We’re awful!” The driver laughed.
“BITCH!” I heard the male roar, and the two sisters froze, both looking over their shoulders before I did as well. I saw the male Novus they hit jump to his feet and come running toward us fast – as fast as a racing horse, and I felt the car begin to pick up speed to stay out of reach of the male. The females in the front cackled loudly as they flew down the street, high-fiving each other while Carla smiled and bobbed her head, watching the older girls.
I slowly looked forward to see Ophelia pushing the red button between her and her sister – “This is Patrol 5A,” she said in a smooth drawl, “Returning from Station 12 with River Colony reject – we have a highly hostile male chasing our vehicle.” She covered her mouth as her shoulder shook with what I thought was a snicker, the driver’s face turning red as she shook with her own laughter.
“Approximate age?” A female voice asked out of the speaker at the front of the car.
“You know, I think it’s that Horatio Richards fellow. Whip?”
“It absolutely is.” Tessa said in a flat tone, her eyes watering as her face reddened further, “I’m going to go ahead and give a positive identification. It’s Horatio Richards and he’s still chasing the vehicle.” I twisted and saw that, sure enough, the male was sprinting like crazy down the road with a furious look on his face.
There was a pause and then “Oh, that bitch – is he right behind you?” The voice over the speaker demanded.
“Yup, keeping pace,” Ophelia said lightly.
“Just hit the breaks.” The voice said over the radio.
“He’s a jumper, though?” Tessa frowned. “He could clear the car easy.”
The woman on the radio growled. “Alright. I’ll send in a male patrol. I think Wilkerson is in the area, and you know he can fuck him up.”
“Copy that.” Tessa said before she gave a high-pitched ‘Thank yooouuu~” and then hit the red button again. She hit the green button then and the speaker on top of the car chirped before the young woman leaned toward the dashboard. “We’re calling in the males you stupid bitch, better run home to MOMMY!” She and her sister cackled over the speaker, Carla smiling as well as the driver loud started going ‘wee-woo-wee-woo’ before they killed the speaker and continued to laugh, turning a sharp corner that caused me to nearly smack my head on the door.
Maybe I had been wrong -
Is this how all Novus females were?
Is this how Joy would be when she was older as well!?
“We don’t usually hit people with our car Carla,” Ophelia stressed around her smile, “But Whip likes to come around and try and poach the girls at Hardings Finishing School, which means our males would usually break both his legs, but his grandma is the Matriarch of Claymoore, so we can’t permanently maim him.”
“But we still make sure he remembers that this is Liliport, and he needs to keep his head down and hands away from our sapiens-”
Something slammed into the top of the car and all the girls screamed while I desperately grabbed onto my seat belts, the car suddenly coming to a violent stop. I flew forward, kept from hitting the back of Tessa’s seat by the two belts across my chest and around my waist. I hit the back of the seat after straining against the belt and the air was knocked right out of me. I coughed and hurried to unlatch my belt to gasp, coughing violently.
“CUNT!” Tessa screamed as she pushed her hair out of her face, Ophelia’s face turning bright red with anger.
“DID HE THROW A FUCKING MAILBOX AT US!?”
“WITH HIS SHITTY ASS AIM?!” Tessa demanded.
The window by Carla’s face shattered and an arm reached in, grabbing her by her hair as she shrieked, the hand violently slamming her face against the back of Ophelia’s seat. Without thinking I moved forward toward her to try and grab onto the wrist, by Tessa grabbed me and moved me back while Ophelia let out a feral scream and reached forward with both hands to dig her claws into the hand gripping Carla’s hair, ripping her fingers down and tearing into the skin.
Hot, sticky blood hit my face and neck and I closed my eyes, turning my face away to look out the window and see another car that looked like the one we were in coming to a screeching halt nearby. A Novus male with short hair climbed out of it and pulled off the muzzle on his face, his mouth opening wide.
Whatever was on the car climbed off and I looked over to see Ophelia holding onto the arm, playing tug of war with it as the male tried to yank it free.
“GET HIM!” Tessa screeched, jerking me around a little as Ophelia’s face twisted in anger, the other female barking at Carla to get down. The younger girl did so, curling up on the bottom of the car as I saw the newcomer male start smacking the one they called Whip, the pair snarling at each other like dogs.
The pair wrestled to the ground and Tessa released me to have the car move back quickly before we drove away from the fighting pair. We didn’t get far before the back window shattered and Whip fell between Carla and myself, Tessa screaming as Ophelia started to hit the male. The car came to a screeching halt and I fully hit the back of the driver's seat before I bounced off it and landed heavily back into my seat.
Whip hurriedly scrambled to show Ophelia off him and climb back out the window, jumping on the other male to start wrestling with him again.
“MY CRUISER!” Tessa screamed, punching the wheel and breaking it before she took off her seat belt and climbed out of the car, letting out a furious scream.
Ophelia huffed and looked to me, then to Carla, and then gritted her teeth and climbed out of the car to go around and pull me out. She stood me up and looked me over before she turned and pulled Carla out, doing the same. I watched the two males fight before the Peacekeeper picked Whip up and fully threw him at the car, Whip hitting the roof and leaving a dent while Tess leaped around screaming and cursing.
After Whip rolled off the car and charged at the other male, a second peacekeeper showed up and tackled them both, the trio crashing into a shop window. The people walking down the street spared them a glance before they moved on, unaffected.
“Anyway, welcome to Liliport,” Ophelia said then as Tessa came over to stand with us on the sidewalk.
Tessa nodded, “Yeah, welcome to Liliport.”
I nodded slowly and Ophelia patted my back. “We can actually walk to your place from here, so…” she pointed to the sidewalk and I nodded slowly again, walking with them to the sidewalk.
I seemed hyper-aware all of the sudden of all the female Novus around us as we walked.
I wondered what Joy might be like one day, and whether I had much control over the type of person she would become.
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