"I'll Love My Love"

Author's note: This chapter's full title is supposed to be "Song Without Words 'I'll Love My Love'".




         Sometime later, Kirsten, Edna, and Chloe were sitting on the porch of an abandoned house. The two older ladies seemed pretty comfortable, but Chloe was clearly nervous. To her, the prospect of spending the night in an abandoned house was no treat, but then she remembered that she was not in any real danger. She sat and looked up stuff in Edna's Palm while the other two ladies chatted idly.

         "You know, I do like these stays on Earth," Kirsten said.

         "I've noticed," Edna replied. "Why is that?"

         "I get to go stargazing," Kirsten said. "For a moment, I can feel human again. Whenever I look at the stars, I can forget I'm in control of the fate of everyone on this continent and get lost in the immensity of space."

         Edna sighed. "You're so lofty," she muttered.

         "Ah, I can't help it. I've always been lofty."

         "Hey, Edna!" Chloe exclaimed. "It's last call, and Scott is still there."

         "How about Maya?" Edna asked.

         With the stylus, Chloe placed several commands to find Maya's location.

         "Maya left a few minutes ago," she replied. "Currently, she's on her way home."

         "Okay," Kirsten sighed. "I have to preside over her."

         Edna didn't like the sigh that Kirsten had let linger. "You okay?" she asked.

         "I'll discuss it later," Kirsten said, and she immediately disappeared.

         "What the..." Chloe asked.

         "Thought travel," Edna said, and she extracted another Palm. "You're gonna need this."

         Chloe shakily accepted the Palm Edna was holding. "But I thought..."

         "I didn't want to throw it at you right away," Edna said, "but from this point on, you have your own Palm. You'll need it to track Scott so you can spread the dust."

         "Right..." Chloe whispered.

         "Just put in your full name and any password you want," Edna continued. "Just remember that it must begin with a 'V'."

         "Okay," Chloe said. With that, she wrote the following into the Palm:

Name: Chloe Angelique Severson
Password: Vstigma

         After writing that in, the screen began flashing various colors and trembling in Chloe's shaky hands.

         "It's getting used to you," Edna said. "Don't be scared."

         It took a few minutes before the Palm finally stop trembling. When it did, Chloe smiled.

         "It says Welcome to the Heavenly Database," she said.

         "You're all set," Edna said. "Now go track Scott. You'll need to beat him home."

         "Okay," Chloe said.


         As the clock struck one in the morning, patrons made their way out the door of the karaoke bar. Some, such as Scott, managed to remain upright while others staggered, clutching various things and people whenever they lost their bearings. Once out on the sidewalks of Main Street, Scott smiled. For the first time in a while, his spirits seemed...buoyed. Meeting Maya was perhaps the first human connection he'd had in about three weeks. Going home didn't seem so daunting now. With that, he walked to the parking lot behind the club, unaware that there was a lithe, brunette angel standing nearby.

         "He's getting ready to head home," Chloe mumbled as she entered several commands into her new Palm.

         The angel was unaware, though, of the ants watching her from their spots in the sidewalk cracks. These fire ants had been listening intently to Chloe, but they weren't sure where "home" was.

         "Where's she going?" Polly, the largest, asked.

         "I think to Scott Foster's house," answered Frank, the only male in the group.

         "Can someone find out where Scott Foster's house is?" Polly demanded.

         "I'm on it," Ginny, the youngest, answered.

         "Step on it!"


         Meanwhile, Kirsten was at Maya's house. As she walked around Maya's room, she thought back to the moment when she saw the black plasm in the club. Her years in the ranks of Divine Leadership had taught her that such plasms were among Satan's favorite disguises.

         But what would Satan want with Chloe? Kirsten asked herself.

         She unearthed her Palm to try to set up an interview with one of the detectives, but Maya entered the room, and Kirsten had to continue to plant subliminal imagery into Maya's subconscious.

         "At least it was a good night on the town," Maya said. "I met the greatest guy, who doesn't lambast me for being me. He was so sweet and didn't try to take advantage of me."

         With that, Maya climbed into bed and turned off the small lamp on her nightstand. In complete darkness, Kirsten sat by a lying Maya, who was quickly slipping away to dreamland.

         "Beautiful dreamer," Kirsten whispered, "wake unto thee. Let yourself go. Love your love. It's what makes you...you. Go on. Love your love."


         Scott parked his beat up Chevy Cavalier into the parking lot of his apartment complex. As he turned off the car, the darkness of the area was nearly impenetrable, and he wondered if he'd even be able to find his apartment. Fatigue was creeping in, and he barely managed to exit the car.

         "Go on up to the second floor," Chloe whispered. It's right by the stairs."

         "Thank you," Scott whispered to no one in particular.

         You're welcome, Chloe thought.

         When Scott reached his apartment, he tripped over a rat.

         "What the.." Scott mumbled. "Was that a rat?"

         If that was a rat, something is wrong, Chloe thought. This apartment complex, though badly lit, had no rat problems.

         "I think we found it," Frank said.

         "Then where's Chloe?" Ginny asked.

         "Doesn't matter!" Polly squeaked."We do our work when Chloe has left. When Scott opens the door, follow him in, but keep quiet!"

         Scott opened the door, and the rats followed him into the apartment.

         Upon arrival to his bedroom, Scott took two steps before falling onto his bed. Knowing how tired he was , Chloe had already been holding the vial for a few minutes. She unscrewed the miniscule cap and turned the bottle upside down to get a dab of dust on her finger. She rubbed that first dab on the right side of his face by the far corner of his eye. Repeating this several times, she placed dabs of dust along his lips, ears, and his chest (right above his heart). All the while, she hummed a sweet string of slow eighth notes with the intent of luring him to a peaceful trip to dreamland. When she came to the grand pause of her song, she stepped away from Scott. She dumped what was left of the dust into her palm and proceeded to toss it into the air above Scott's form. As the dust began to settle on him, Chloe smiled.

         "Sweet dreams. May she be with you."

         With that, Chloe disappeared from the room.


         Edna was sitting on the porch reading from The Bible when Chloe returned.

         "How'd it go?" she asked her protegé.

         "I had to work kind of quick," Chloe said. "He was very tired."

         "You were still gone quite a while," Edna said.

         "I guess. It didn't feel that long."

         "Never does. Do you still have the vial?"

         "Yes, I do."

         Chloe hesitantly handed the vial over to Edna.

         "There. You'll need this later."

         "Why?"

         "There will be another dusting soon."

         "Ooooookay," Chloe whistled. "What now?"

         "You need to get some sleep," Edna said. "You need to be up at six. After six hours, the effects of the dust must be noted. You'll have to watch him for six hours."

         With that, Edna shooed Chloe into the house. Just as Chloe made her way into the house, Kirsten arrived on the porch.

         "Now comes the fun part," Edna said.

         "The observation?" Kirsten asked.

         "In about six hours," was Edna's reply.


         Back at Scott's apartment, Polly, Frank, and Ginny were hiding under the bed. None of them had seen Chloe, but all of them had heard her. While Frank and Ginny admired Chloe's voice, Polly listened for any sounds that the singing may have obscured. To her surprise (and dismay), she hadn't heard a dart. Then it occurred to her that not hearing a dart hit human flesh was good for them. It would be less difficult for them to implant the curse. With that, Polly began to squeak.

         "Alright," she began. "Ready?"

         "Ready," Ginny said before whispering to herself, "I guess."

         "And you, Frank?"

         "Ready," Frank said.

         "Okay. Ginny, can you imitate Chloe?"

         "I sure can," Ginny said, toning down her rat squeak to an alto coo.

         "Good. Now you get as close as you can to one of Scott's ears and sing while Frank and I plant the curse. Let's go."

         With that, the three rats climbed as best they could onto the bed. When they got there, Ginny climbed to the top of Scott's pillow near his left ear and began to coo the same eighth notes Chloe had sung, doing a fair job at mimicking the divine being. As she cooed, Polly and Frank positioned themselves near Scott's eyes. They each snapped their phalanges several times, and nearly from thin air appeared an infrared light and numerous pictures of Chloe in various states of being (sleeping, dancing, eating, in a bathing suit, and studying, for example). Frank turned on the light and held it as Polly placed the pictures in front of the light. The pictures and the light combined were transferred to Scott's subconscious by the time Ginny had finished the song. With that step finished, the three rats recongregated.

         Polly snapped her phalanges once more, and a miniature hypodermic filled with some chemical compund appeared. She took the hypodermic with her as she climbed to the top of Scott's pillow. In one move, Polly had pricked Scott near the temple and injected the chemical into his brain.

         "You'll be able to see what we showed you," Polly muttered. "You'll love her like no other."

         With that, Polly gathered up the syringe and climbed back down to the bed. When she returned to the others, the three of them vanished into thin air. Nothing from their visit was left, not even the syringe. As the sun rose, the soft light peeking through Scott's curtains revealed very little upon first glance, but if one looked carefully, there was a smidge of blue around his eyes.

Song of the Blacksmith