“No, we’re Wiccan,” Julie replied. “We were originally handfasted but we did the whole official marriage thing with a justice of the peace when we were buying a house. I’m a priestess. We’re both computer consultants in our ‘mundane’ life, which gives us time for the work of the Foundation.”
“I see,” Barb said, shaking her head. “I thought Sharice was a bit of a shock,” she continued, nodding in the direction of the woman.
“Sharice is a doll,” Julie replied, grinning. “She used to be a fifth level adept, a very high high priestess, one of the few that made it out alive, I guess you would say. And sane. Enormous power, you can feel it when you’re near her, and very wise in its use, wiser than I am. When the time came she just… walked away. Now she’s more or less permanently resident here. She’s… offended a lot of the major powers that we battle, so being in a stronghold is a good idea.”
Sharice had gotten up from where she was sitting and now strode through the crowd to the trio.
“I see you’ve found some friends,” Sharice said, hugging Barbara. Barb wasn’t a huggy person, too many people, even females, that wanted to hug her just gave off the wrong “vibes.” But she gratefully accepted one from Sharice, feeling the power that she emitted in this, to her, comfortable setting and basking in it for a moment. “That’s good. Julie and James are good people.”
“So I’ve noticed,” Barbara said. “I guess I really am a mundane, though. This is all a bit…”
“Weird,” Sharice finished for her, smiling broadly.
“I was going to say strange,” Barb admitted.
“Come meet some of my friends,” Sharice insisted, pulling her towards the table she had been occupying. “Of course, most of the people in the room are my friends, but we have to start somewhere.”
Sharice introduced her to a bewildering array of people with names like “Klandar” and “Persemon” and “Vashto” and she came to realize that all of these people cloaked themselves in alter egos. The names were almost like code names for spies and she suspected they had the same reason; a cloak to hide behind. Persemon, a woman in her forties with graying blonde hair, turned out to be a consultant in business administration. Barbara just knew that when she was working she was as “mundane” as it got, probably a bit of a ball-buster in a businesslike skirt-suit. But here she could be… her other face. The face that she assuredly didn’t show to CFOs and CEOs. Which was more true might be the real question.
She was dragged over to meet the Asatru delegation. They ranged from factory workers to more computer consultants. The girl in mail turned out to be, yes, a model and “exotic” dancer named Janea. That threw Barbara for a moment, although she hoped that she hadn’t revealed her shock. She was beginning to be able to accept that her fellow… warriors of the Light, she supposed, were not all, or even at all, Christian. But one that was an exotic dancer was a bit hard to take. She had always pegged such women as, being frank, dumb, low-class sluts. But Janea turned out to be not only friendly and funny but wise and intelligent. She’d have liked to talk to her more, but she was dragged away to meet another group.
The buffet was opened without ceremony, the men and women who had been putting out the covered dishes joining into the crowd imperceptibly. Nobody rushed it; groups just got up from their talking to wander over and serve themselves. There was a keg set up in the corner, close to the Asatru delegation and probably why they’d chosen their seats there. In addition there were bottles of wine and at one point someone thrust a glass into her hand. It was a nice, light white, probably a pinot grigio, and she sipped it as she followed Sharice around, being introduced.
The reception at each group was interesting. Some were apparently friendly, but she could feel a strong defensive reaction from them. However, after a few words, when she didn’t immediately start telling them they were going to hell for being pagans, the defensiveness seemed to melt. Some were overtly hostile and that was harder to overcome. She could tell that Sharice had been right, these people were, by and large, outcasts from “normal” society and they didn’t like the intrusion she represented. But most got over it quickly and by the time she’d made the rounds of most of the room the word seemed to have gotten around that she was “okay, for a mundane.”
She also faced something that she had never dealt with before: hero worship. She was used to being automatically accepted and even admired for her looks. But this group mainly was interested in her battle with Almadu and the reactions to her brief synopsis ranged from awe to understanding but respectful nods. The Asatru delegation was especially enthusiastic, roaring in joy when she explained how she’d shot her way into the corrupted church and killed the high priest and his acolytes then blown it up, destroying the avatar. The Hindus touched their heads in honor while the monks, one of whom turned out to be among the top prelates of Buddhism, bowed to her.
She could feel it going to her head and brutally suppressed it. Pride, even in a difficult job well done, was a sin. She knew that her main strength in this group was her constant struggle with sin. And in that struggle, pride could come in on sneaky cat feet.
Julie and James had wandered off at one point but she and Sharice linked back up with them when they went to the buffet. Sharice led the way, talking as she ladled her plate.
“You are a very interesting person, Barb,” Sharice said, taking a spoonful of what looked, and smelled like, Szechwan vegetables. “Very wise for your years and very open at the same time. I can see why your White God has gifted you and called you to the field of battle.”
“It was an accident,” Barbara said, looking over the offerings. Most of the dishes were vegetarian and she had to admit that she still was a carnivore. And many of them were heavily spiced and she’d gotten a strong aversion to spice overseas. “Yes, The Lord worked through me, but my being there was accidental. I thank Him every day, though, for His blessings upon me. Not only the power to do His work, but the life He has given me.”
“You truly believe it was an accident?” Sharice said, chuckling. “Why didn’t you go to Gulfport, which was what you’d been planning for so long? How did you end up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, as far from what you’d been looking for as it was possible to be? How did you, a warrior of the Light, come to be in the one place you needed to be for the battle against darkness? And you believe it was an accident?”
Barb opened her mouth to reply and stopped. Put that way, it didn’t look like an accident.
“Some of us are recruited to this work,” Sharice continued. “I saw Janea at a Renn Faire and could feel the untrained, untapped power in her. I recruited her on the spot. It took a bit for her to realize that the situation was real. And if you think you have problems, imagine hers. She thought she’d gotten dragged into a very bizarre cult. That was, until her first mission. Then there are those among the fringe who have wrapped themselves so into the supernatural that they believed without proof. But those are, by and large, useless to our work. Anyone who really believes in vampires without having met someone who fought them is… essentially broken in a way that is useless. But the ones who are prepared to accept it, are powerful, are balanced — those are precious to us.”
“I wasn’t prepared to accept it,” Barbara said. “I was forced to accept it. It was that or ignore what all my senses were telling me.”
“And then there are those,” Sharice said, nodding. “Most, however, don’t survive. And a sixth order avatar! Good Mother of All! In my prime I would have hesitated at that. Understand, I know you are having a hard time accepting the adulation you are getting. But I am the only person in this room who would stand a chance against such a being. And your weapons skill, much as it pains me to admit it, was crucial. There is no way to have shielded a tac-team against the glamour. Only a high order adept who was also capable of fighting the acolytes and believers could have done what you did.”