A Change of Direction             by: Tigger                   © 1997

An Alternative Ending to Mike Allegretto's and CaitlinB's "A Change of Pace"

 

A Change of Direction Chapter 22

"Hello?" Laurie's voice echoed in the earpiece of her phone.

"Mother? It's Jacqui. I've just learned some things that I need to talk about with you. Now."

The emotion in her daughter's voice alarmed Laurie. "Jacqui, what is it? What is wrong?"

"*NOT* over the phone, Mother. You might want Bronwyn there, too. I have questions and I *want* answers. I will see you in about half an hour. Bye," The phone clicked off preemptively in Laurie's ear. Frightened now, she quickly dialed Bronwyn's line. Whatever this was, she did not want to face it alone.

Bronwyn and Jacqui arrived at Laurie's house almost simultaneously. Bronwyn was already out of her car and decided to wait for Jacqui to get out of her own before going up to the door. She watched as Jacqui, dressed in her jeans for a change, pulled a large manilla envelope stuffed with paper out of her book bag before closing her car door behind her.

"Hello, Jacqui," she said pleasantly, "What is so important that you had to frighten your Mother and pull me away from my writing?"

Jacqui did not acknowledge the greeting, other than to say "Not out here, Bronwyn. Inside, please," before she stomped past to the door.

Inside, Laurie had laid a light lunch on the kitchen table where she led the two women after greeting them with hugs and kisses at the door. Once seated, a highly agitated Jacqui tossed the envelope she'd carried in with her across the table in the general direction of Bronwyn and her Mother.

Curious, Bronwyn opened the envelope and was surprised to see papers discussing various aspects of Wicca on top. Quickly, she riffled through the rest of the thick stack and found that all of the papers were on that topic. "I have been using the Internet to research modern day witches. As you can see, the bulk of what I found is on Wicca. I started reading it and saw that it had much in common with what you two have been teaching me," Jacqui paused to take a calming breath. "With two small exceptions that I currently know about. Several of the documents specifically state that there is no concept of an entity of absolute evil in the Wiccan belief systems. In other words, they don't accept the existence of a devil. The other thing is that *they* include *male* witches in their groups. I don't think you do, Bronwyn. I don't know why I believe that, but I am absolutely convinced that the only men in your group are now women."

Bronwyn set the papers down and looked at Laurie before returning her attention to the very upset young woman across from them. "So?" She was not sure what had the girl so upset, but she knew she needed to get it out before they could help her.

"You two *do* believe in the existence of such an evil power. I have caught hints of that belief in your teaching of the magic, and in your conversations. That means that whatever you two and your Sisterhood are, you are very different from what I have read about in there. I want to know what is going on. There is something about all this that you have not told me. Somehow, I *know* that it involves whatever this evil power is and that it is at the core of the reason you Transformed me."

"Oh," Bronwyn sighed as Laurie looked down at her hands, avoiding making further eye contact with her daughter.

"That is all you have to say? "OH"???" Jacqui roared, pounding her fists against the table top in an altogether male response.

"No, Jacqui. That is not all we have to say," She shook her head. Too soon, she thought. She has not even had a full year of formal training, yet. Laurel and Bronwyn had previously agreed they would never tell the girl the whole story since they accepted that Jacqui would choose to become Jack. There simply was no reason for a powerless man to be concerned with the issues that confronted the Sisterhood.

That had just changed, radically, because of a tool that had not existed at the time of their Transformations - the World Wide Web. Computers and magic were a powerful combination, and one that the Sisterhood had never really had to deal with before. The resulting synergy of such easily accessed and organized raw data coupled with Jacqui's own rapidly developing intuition was potent, if premature. Now, she had no choice but to explain most of the truth, and hope that Jacqui could deal with it. "All right, I will explain about the Sisterhood and why we continue to exist. I would ask that you listen, Jacqui, without comment until I am through. I give you my solemn word that everything I am about to say is the truth as we know it. You are correct in your surmise that we are not truly of Wicca. They are followers of peace. We also seek peace, but our order was created to fight for that peace. Perhaps a weak analogy is that the followers of Wicca are like the monastery monks of the Middle Ages. The Sisterhood is more akin to the fighting priesthood that was known as the Knights of the Temple, or more simply, the Knights Templer."

Bronwyn's Story.

There are two ways to power. One is the way of Light and one is via the absence of light, or the way of Darkness. The Sisterhood considers the way of Light to be the way of the Goddess whose dictates we follow. The converse of the Sisterhood is a group known as the Brotherhood. They follow the Dark Power that they personify into the being that they call the Dark One. Whether such an entity really exists or not is a moot point. The Brotherhood believes that he exists and the power they attribute to deriving from him *is* real. We must deal with that power and with those who wield it.

In some ancient time before recorded history, the powers of Light and Dark existed together in harmony until something went very wrong. The followers of the Dark One attacked those who followed the Light and all but wiped them out. The group that undertook that ambush eventually became the Brotherhood. With the seeming destruction of the only beings who were capable of stopping them, the Brotherhood turned their power to conquest and brought the local tribes of men under their yoke.

However, unknown to the Brothers, a few of the men who were attacked survived the ambush. They hid from the Brotherhood and sought ways to oppose them without taking the same Dark Path. Ultimately, their search brought them to the Goddess. Upon hearing their appeal, and seeing the suffering of those under the Dominion of the Brotherhood, She offered them a bargain. She would grant them the power they needed to oppose the Brotherhood successfully, but only at a price. The survivors are said to have initially quailed at Her price, but finally, unable to bear the suffering of their fellow humans any longer, they agreed to the Goddess' offer. Thus, the Sisterhood was born, for the price of Her aid was the surrender of their masculinity. Gradually, the new Sisterhood grew in their power and slowly began to confront the Brotherhood. After a long struggle, they managed to bring about the downfall of the evil members who had led the rest of the group astray.

Following that initial conflict, the two groups continued to exist as cohesive groups, while training new members to ensure the continuation of their orders.

It was at this juncture that the Sisterhood discovered that they could only breed sons; and sons could not wield the power bequeathed to them by the Goddess. Evidently something about their Goddess-Transformed eggs somehow rejected any sperm cell that carried a female-creating "X" chromosome. Again with the intervention of the Goddess, they developed their own version of the Transformation Spell as their only means of perpetuating the Sisterhood. This was absolutely vital because they knew that a viable instrument had to exist in order to combat the Brotherhood if they again decided to use the Dark Power to dominate other people.

Thus were two opposing factions born; the Brotherhood of Men wielding the Dark Power, and the Sisterhood of Transformed Men wielding the Power of Light. Time and again, evil men have gained power in the Brotherhood and have been opposed by the Sisterhood. Each time, the Sisterhood deterred the Brotherhood, but only at great personal cost to the members of the Sisterhood.

Understand, please, that the Dark Power is not inherently evil. Throughout our recorded history, there have been many good men in the Brotherhood; men who have used their power in the service of and to the betterment of humankind. However, implicit in the Dark Power is the potential to bring forth evil in the men who wield it. When a particularly powerful Brother turns away from humanity, terrible things happen on the earth and many die before they can be stopped.

The most recent major confrontation between the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood occurred during this century. After nearly a hundred years of uneasy peace between the factions, a young acolyte of the Brotherhood came onto the scene. Rapidly, his command of the Dark Power grew. He used his power to captivate, to enthrall and to inspire huge crowds of fearful and desperate people. Eventually, he came to the attention of other members of the Brotherhood who shared his views on the world.

In a remarkable series of coups, the young man and his circle of supporters first took control of the Brotherhood, installing him as the High Leader, and then gained absolute power over their country with him as the nation's absolute dictator. Before this reign of terror ended, these men had nearly conquered the entire world while laying a great deal of it to waste. The young acolyte was Adolf Hitler, High Leader of the Brotherhood, and Fuhrer (Leader) of Nazi Germany. The men who supported his dual rise to power in the Brotherhood and in Post-World War I Germany were Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Ernst Roehm, Martin Borman and Rudolf Hess. The confrontation is recorded in the human history as World War II.

Like the great nations of the world, the Sisterhood was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a new High Leader with aspirations of world domination and conquest. Although they perceived the danger sooner than the world's leaders, by the time they fully recognized the threat Hitler posed, he had become too powerful. It was only a matter of time before he took over Germany and the Sisterhood had already lost any hope of stopping him by direct action. Grimly, they were forced to accept that only with subtlety and blood - a great deal of blood - could they hope to stop him.

The essential contributions of the two great heroes of that conflict remain unknown to the world at large. Oddly enough, both were in the centers of national and world power throughout the conflict, but their true roles in shaping the final Allied victory remain the closely guarded secrets of the Sisterhood to this day.

One of these heroes was named Elias and the other was named Evan. At least, that was how they were known before they were initiated into the Sisterhood and all record of their male identities disappeared forever.

In 1930, the danger represented by Adolf Hitler finally became clear to the Sisterhood. Shortly thereafter, Eleanor (Elias) Roosevelt ascended to the office of High Priestess of the Sisterhood. Rarely do Sisters take such public roles, and never before had a High Priestess been so well known, but those were desperate times. As a result of her family's public persona, only one of her sons, the oldest was Transformed. Unfortunately, once it became obvious that FDR was going to be a very public figure, Eleanor was forced to attempt the Transformation when Anna, then Alan, was very young. She had to "adjust" FDR's memories to do this, but she was there to protect him against outside magical influences. In the final analysis, Anna was too young at the time of Transformation for she never was able to learn to wield the power. That sometimes happens when a subject is very young at the time of Transformation. In any case, none of the other sons could be Transformed under that such world wide public scrutiny so their entry into the Sisterhood was also sacrificed to win the War.

Eleanor's primary task was to prepare an unwilling, isolationist United States for the unavoidable war to come. Under her direction, the power of the Sisterhood was used as never before, influencing the outcomes of certain critical events in the United States. How else, but with the help of the Goddess, could a man confined to a wheelchair win the Presidency of a country still tied to its rough and tumble past? With her husband installed in the White House, she used the power of his office to revive the Depression-crippled economy, ensuring that it would be ready to be "The Arsenal of Democracy" when the dark days came.

However, the most important action undertaken by the Sisterhood under her leadership was also the most painful one - the complete disruption of certain critical U.S. intelligence and military operations in the early hours of December 7, 1941. Eleanor's efforts deprived the United States of information that should have given at least six hours of advanced warning of the imminent attack on Pearl Harbor by elements of the Japanese Navy. Eleanor knew that only a fully committed and war-hungry United States could defeat the Brotherhood supported Nazi War Machine. Therefore, she and other members of the Sisterhood interfered with the collection, analysis and consolidation of the various clues that otherwise would have accurately predicted the Pearl Harbor attack. This gave the Japanese their clear, unopposed path to Pearl Harbor, and put the power of the United States irrevocably and completely on the side of the Allies.

Eleanor's final crucial decision was made in 1944. It was another very painful duty for a woman sworn to protect and nurture life. By the end of 1943, it had become obvious that not even the strongest healers in the Sisterhood could keep the increasingly frail FDR alive much longer. However, the country still needed a strong leader to finish the job that Eleanor, through FDR, had begun. The best, most merciful option would have been to have someone else win the Presidency that year and let Roosevelt go home and die in peace. Unfortunately, none of the likely winners of a post-FDR election possessed the strength of character that would be necessary in the final days of the conflict. Finally, and with much remorse, Eleanor agreed to make FDR run for President one last time, knowing that he could not possibly survive another year in that office.

The High Priestess of the Sisterhood personally handpicked the best man for the onerous tasks ahead to be FDR's final running mate. Thus, the little known Senator for Missouri, Harry S. Truman, was elected Vice President of the United States in the 1944 elections. Less than a year after assuming that office, Mr. Truman ascended to Presidency of the United States.

The other great unknown hero of the War was Eva (Evan) Braun. In 1932, she became the Sisterhood's woman inside the Nazi- Brotherhood cabal. As Adolf Hitler's Mistress for almost fourteen years, she suffered terribly. Eva Braun tolerated and encouraged the attentions of a sadistic madman so that she could collect and pass on vital intelligence about German operations and planning to the Allies via the Sisterhood. She also subtly reenforced Hitler's growing megalomania by pandering to his already monumental ego. One result of her efforts was Hitler's precipitous and ultimately disastrous invasion of the Soviet Union that forced Germany to fight a hopeless two front war. Eva even managed to influence Hitler to see the infamous Dr. Mengala whose crippling drug "therapies" further undermined the self-control of the insane High Leader.

By volunteering to become the Sisterhood's conduit to and from Hitler's lair, Eva had willingly accepted a life that was hell on earth. Toward the end of the war, the Fuhrer's madness grew geometrically with each defeat, and so did the torments he inflicted on Eva. Her final act of heroism was in the manner and method of her own death. Fearing that Hitler or one of his henchmen might at last have seen through her disguise, she elected to induce him to commit suicide. She died beside him that fateful day in the Berlin Bunker, literally shaming him into finally taking his own life with her own courageous example. Goebells' last hope of smuggling the High Leader out of Germany and reconstituting their Power through Hitler as a figurehead, died with Eva and the Fuhrer. Goebells took his own life shortly thereafter.

Now, we appear to be facing a new, and evidently, very powerful High Leader who shares those dreams of conquest. We don't know who or where he is, but we have seen signs that point in that direction. We needed to prepare for a conflict, and we needed more power on our side of the ledger. As I said earlier, only women can wield the white magic. Similarly, only men can wield the dark. As Jack, you could not wield the Dark Power because of certain rites that were performed by your Mother at your birth. Still, you had a spark of power in you that could become great if you accepted the Gift of the Goddess. That was why the Sisterhood Transformed you - so you could become a woman who could grow in the power the Sisterhood needs to face a rearmed Brotherhood.

End of Bronwyn's story.

Jacqui was very quiet after Bronwyn finished her tale. Whatever she had expected, what she had been told was not it. Was she supposed to become some type of female mystic warrior, fighting to the death against the evil minions of the Dark Brotherhood? Lord, it sounded like something from a comic book or a B-Movie, Texas Chainsaw Bimbo Witches. "I don't think I can deal with this, Mom, Bronwyn. You did this to me, took away everything I thought was mine, to go to war? What am I? Some sort of witch-assassin in training? Buffy the Brother-Slayer?"

The other two women spoke simultaneously. "No!" "Goddess, no!" then looked at each other apologetically. Laurie continued. "Jacqui, the Sisterhood does not, cannot kill. We fight the Brotherhood, yes, but our purpose is to deprive them of power, not life. Remember what I told you would happen if you aborted a child. A Sister who kills another human being forfeits forever the Gift of the Goddess."

"But how? I mean, what do you. . . Lord, I assume that the Brotherhood has no such limitations on the use of their power?"

Bronwyn smiled sadly. "You assume correctly. The Dark Power is very capable of destruction and death. It is one of the reasons that Hitler was so effective at removing his opponents just before they became a real problem. The Brotherhood can and does kill, Jacqui, with great ease and effect."

"They can try to kill you, but you can't kill in return," Jacqui just shook her head in disbelief. "Amazing. I am surprised there is a Sisterhood left if these little turf wars have been going on throughout history."

"There have been times when it has been a near thing, but we are not so defenseless as that. The Dark Power exists in the absence of light. Our power derives from the Light, and we have ways to attack individual Brothers, provided they are not too powerful, by sort of "filling in" the dark places with light. That is not quite what we do, but the analogy is close. In any case, the end result of that attack is a Brother who has been permanently divorced from his source of power, and who no longer has any feelings of aggression. Some of us are very powerful, and we can do this to most of the Brotherhood."

"We also," Bronwyn continued, "Work as we did during World War II, removing their power base in the non-magic world, and de- stabilizing their command structure. As we said, not all Brothers are evil and usually, the ones who are not take advantage of our activities to bring down the evil ones."

"Sounds like a shaky way to fight a war, Bronwyn. I suspect there are casualties?"

"Sadly, yes. On both sides."

"And you," Jacqui looked at Bronwyn before turning her eyes to Laurie, "and you, want me to join your fight?"

Bronwyn took Laurie's trembling hand. The accusation in Jacqui's voice pained her, and had to devastate Laurie. "We felt that, once again, the world would need us to be ready to face the Brotherhood and to answer that call, we felt that we needed you and your talents on our side," she answered with grim dignity.

"Greetings from the High Priestess, you have been drafted," She returned with disgusted irony in her tones. "I don't want any part of that, Bronwyn. Now, I suppose this is where you tell me that my failure to cooperate will force you to end the lessons I need to be able to reverse the Transformation Spell?"

"No!" the shout from Laurie rocked Jacqui back. "I told you, I promised you that I would do everything in my power to help you undo what I have done. That promise stands unchanged and unconditionally. Whether we wanted you to help us or not is a moot point, since we have accepted that your foremost desire is to change back. As Jack, you cannot wield the power. There is nothing Jack could do to help us."

Bronwyn added. "I add my own assurances to your Mother's, Jacqui. Nothing changes. Yes, we want and need the power you could add to our ranks. However, you have to want to be there with us, the same as any other Sister. Some of us are going to die in the coming fight, Jacqui. Those who go to this fight must know in their hearts that such a sacrifice is justified. If you don't feel that way, there is no way we could permit you to join us."

Nothing more was said for several minutes as all three women tried to cope with the emotions of the previous half hour. Finally, Bronwyn held out a hand to Jacqui. She eyed it, and then slowly reached out her own to take it in hers. Tentatively, Laurie held out her free hand to her daughter and felt joy when Jacqui all but snatched at it, gripping it tightly in her own.

"I don't know about you two," Bronwyn said haltingly, "But I would really like to be held,"

Simultaneous "Me, too"-s answered her and she used her own power to shift them into Laurie's large bed. Disoriented by the teleportation, it took Jacqui a moment or two to realize where she was and that she was in the middle between the two older women. It only took an instant longer than that to realize that all of them were completely naked. Unprepared for the sudden change, Jacqui spun toward her Mother and made to get out of the bed. Bronwyn caught her about the waist and pulled her back down and into her, spoon fashion and her Mother enfolded her in a full body embrace, her breasts flattening against Jacqui's own. Jacqui's protest were swallowed by Laurie's mouth covering her own and Laurie's tongue impudently exploring her mouth. The clever hands of two experienced women made short work of any lingering, halfhearted resistance.

************

The man entered into the spacious office, pleased for once to make his reports. He had what he thought was good news for a change. The High Leader was seated at his desk, pouring over some report, which he continued until he deemed he had made his minion wait long enough. Even so petty an expression of power fed the hunger inside him. "Well?" he asked preemptively.

"The girl has been doing a very exhaustive search of online and other reference resources for information on witches and magic for some time now. We have been monitoring her accounts and know exactly what she has seen and what she has downloaded to her private machine," He looked up from his notes at the High Leader.

"So?" he challenged. "The boy-slut is highly computer literate. That she is using those skills to try and learn about the ones who did this to him should be expected. Too bad your ineffectual organization did not discover him until after the bitches Transformed him. I could have used someone with that potential for power coupled with modern technical skills,"

Fearing the direction the High Leader was taking this discussion, the Chief rushed on to get back to his own purpose in being here. "Yes, we did expect the data search, High Leader, which is why we have tapped her accounts. In any case, after the last download, she spent some time apparently organizing and analyzing the data, then phoned her Mother. She refused to tell her what she wanted, but rather insisted on meeting her immediately, along with the other subject, Bronwyn Llewellyn. All three subjects met at the Mother's house about thirty minutes later. No one left until the next morning."

The High Leader considered this. "I think we can assume that the Llewellyn woman is a high adept of the Sisterhood, perhaps even the High Priestess. We know she protected the girl throughout her last year of high school and has continued to take a deep interest in her activities since. As far as we know, this is a singular deviation from their normal procedure of leaving the Transformed sluts to their Mothers. So, the girl must be important to them. Why?" He looked up at his minion with angry eyes. "Tell me why!" he bellowed. "And don't come back here until you can. Don't make me wait too long for your return, either."

The man scurried from the room, his heart racing. That had been a near thing. The High Leader was becoming more dangerously unpredictable with each passing day.

~-------------~

A Change of Direction Chapter 23

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jackie Donovan 1 year, 3 months, 14 days A. T.

Damn, but I am really blown away by all this. I think, at last, I really have the full story and the real reasons for my Transformation.

As to what I am going to do about the coming fight with the Brotherhood, that is a problem for me. On one hand, my *MOM* is going to be involved. Worse, she has told me she *needs* me. On the other hand, the *me* she *needs* is Jacqui, not Jack. Jack is of no use to them at all, and although they did not say it outright, I suspect that he may actually be a liability to them. That means I have to stay Jacqui in order to help her, and yes, in order to protect her.

And on top of everything else, there is this guy in my parapsychology course. (Mom and Bronwyn didn't know I was taking this course, but it fit in my schedule. Someone said know thy enemy and know thyself. I just can't figure out yet if I have met the enemy and he *is* me.) Anyway, this guy has been giving me the eye for a couple of weeks now, and today, I found myself *daydreaming* about him. Lord help me, I actually told myself he was cute! Jack is *not* happy!

All of which pointedly reminds me how much I really, really miss Marcus.

And that is another thing. Hey, Bronwyn, I am getting tired of dropping hints. I need some of the insight I used to get from Bonnie. You remember her? Smart mouth, cute as a button, big boobs, sneaky witch type. Listen, girlfriend, *You* got me into this mess. "A little hand job is just the thing to keep a boy happy, Jacqui," Well, a little hand job is damned well not going to keep *me* happy much longer and it is scaring the hell out of both me and Jack.

Now, Bronwyn, will you please quit pretending you aren't reading this and come talk to me? It is hard enough writing this stuff. I don't know if I can say out loud in the open on my own. In other words, Bronwyn-dear. . . .

HEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!

Is *that* subtle enough for you? As if life was not already complicated enough.

End Journal Entry.

***********************

Bronwyn entered Laurie's sanctum with a delighted grin on her lovely features. "She is going crazy, Laurel. I think this could be a big turnaround for her and for us."

Laurie, who had been working on her latest book, a historical compilation of herbal remedies, looked up at her friend with confusion written across her face. "I assume you are talking about Jacqui, but I haven't the faintest idea what you mean," She offered a glass of iced tea which Bronwyn accepted as she sat down in the overstuffed chair near the bookcases.

"Yes, I mean Jacqui. She is coming to the realization that she wants Marcus sexually. She has also divined that I am peeking into her journal. Goddess, but her intuition is still getting stronger. She's been leaving me little hints in that "this-is-not-a-diary" of hers for the past couple of months or so. Her last entry all but orders me to get off my fanny and help her figure out what to do about her feelings for him. Quite forcefully, too," The grin got wider. "She wants to blame Bonnie for that, too, since she encouraged her to go out with the boy in the first place."

"Encouraged? Sure you did, woman. Like a baseball bat encourages a ball to change direction. WHAP!" Laurie smirked at her friend as she smacked her hands together hard.

Bronwyn had the grace to blush slightly. "So she needed a little push," Laurie's eyebrow went up in challenge. "Okay, so it was a big push, but she has not really regretted it. And she sucked him off the first time completely on her own," Another wicked little grin. "One thing I will say for you, Laurel, you did a great job adjusting her sex drive."

A little uncomfortable with that reminder of what she had done to her son, Laurie tried to joke past it. "Natural family talent, my dear, and the enthusiasm of youth."

Recognizing the misdirection for what it was, Bronwyn did not argue the point. "Well, she wants him badly enough to admit it to herself and to me - in her writing, anyway. So, Mother of the would-be Bride, what do we do?"

"I am not sure I know what you mean."

"Of course you do, Laurel. You just don't want to accept any more responsibility for the necessary manipulation of your child's developing femininity, but she needs our help, luv. You are still the one person who knows her best. Now, as I see it, we can do one of three things. Ignore the writing and not admit I know what she wrote. That has the advantage of simplicity and would force the girl to make her own decisions."

"It also has a couple of big disadvantages. She won't believe your claims that you don't know what she is writing. You are right - her 'Knowing' power is formidable and she has come to trust it without realizing it. The other problem evolves from that first one. If she thinks you have ignored her, and whatever she does goes wrong, we could lose her trust."

Bronwyn frowned for the first time. "Point taken. And whether we help her undo the Transformation or ease her into a position of prominence within the Sisterhood, we will need that hard won trust. Okay, we have to do something. Possibility two is that we encourage her to take the big step. Go all the way and make beautiful love with Marcus. A little magical influence and he is the greatest lover since Don Juan. Sensitive yet forceful, open to any sexy games that you daughter wants to play - in other words, a guy straight out of the latest romance novel. With her inherent sensuality, she will love every sweaty minute of it."

"Is she ready to learn the Transformation Spell? I mean, really ready? Because if she isn't ready, that option is very risky. She is on birth control, but you know that means nothing with a Transformee. If she becomes really enthusiastic, heck, *when* she becomes enthusiastic, she will want him frequently. She *will* get pregnant in very short order."

Bronwyn's shoulders slumped. "She is close, Laurel. I have never seen a student grow so quickly in her power. She will have the shape shifting down in another week or two, but it might be as much as six months to a year before she is truly ready for that step."

"I agree with that. So, what other option is there that will let her play without having to pay too much of a price?"

The wicked grin was back. "Laurel," she chided, "You know as well as I do that there is more than one way to make love to a man, and more than one place a woman can be put to the cock."

Laurel frowned momentarily before understanding made her eyes go wide. "You don't mean. . ."

"Sure I do," was the immediate response. "And she will have to *really* want it, so it will be a good test of her readiness to start the next and most critical phase of her training. And besides," the smile grew even wider, "She might want a little practice before she tries it with Marcus. I would love to try that with her and it would give us a chance to teach that passive loving lesson again."

Laurie's own expression went soft with sexual longing. "Oh, Goddess. Me, too," she said fervently. "Me, too."

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 3 months 18 days A. T.

So, Bronwyn has finally admitted to reading this. And she offered me some advice on how to handle this . . . thing with Marcus. Laid out three options for me and gave me the upside and the downside of each one. Actually two options, because her first solution, which is to do nothing at all, is not going to make it. I don't know much about this female need that is starting to simmer inside me, but I do know this. Trying to pretend it away is a good way to make the pot boil over. Can you spell "Motherhood"?

And no, if that does happen, I will not abort the baby. And not because of that threat Mom laid on me right after the Transformation, either. Since I told Bronnie to keep peaking (sometimes it is easier to admit I need help here - this female thing is still kind of scary to talk about out loud) I won't say what the threat was. Bronwyn might not know about it and I don't want Mom to be embarrassed by it. However, I know her and her beliefs well enough by now to realize she was bluffing to keep me from doing something stupid.

No, the baby would stay because I would not do that to Marcus.

So, I have only two options, and only one that assures I don't have to spell that M word. Bronwyn gave me this kinky "how- to" book, some stuff in a tube and recommended that I practice before I try it with Marcus.

Practice?

End Journal Entry

 

 

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 3 months 18 days A. T.

OMIGOD! I just browsed through that book. NOW I understand "practice". There were pictures of women using rubber dicks on themselves. . . umm. . back there. From behind.

Now that I have seen it in the book, I keep swiveling my head over to the strap on harness and dildo Mom and Bronwyn bought me last summer. It really would fit??? There?!?!

Near as I can recall, it is about the same size as Marcus.

Maybe this is something you work up to. . . there were pictures of women using their fingers, too. I mean, heck, the doctor did that to Jack once, during a physical.

Now, Jack, maybe it is different if you are turned on when it happens, or if you are doing it for fun. Doctors probably don't like sticking their fingers up guys' butts either, so they probably don't do it the way Bronwyn's book describes.

Hey. It is my butt and you are just along for the ride. You keep your snide comments to yourself, mister. This is hard enough as it is.

Is this where I stamp my foot and say "Men!" in an utterly disgusted tone of voice? Consider it stamped and said.

End Journal Entry

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 3 months 27 days A. T.

On the humorous side, Mom's publisher decided to update her computer system so it is compatible with what they use at the main office. Really nice lash-up - almost as good as mine overall, but with a much better CPU. Mom is petrified. First of all, she has to learn a new word processor program. Secondly, they also put in an ISDN high speed data line into the house so she can send her stuff to them by modem now, and worse, so they can send markups back to her.

She took one look at the sample "red-lined" galleys they sent her, with the strike-out fonts and everything, and screamed. Scared the heck out of me.

I spent most of the weekend teaching her to use the new software and configuring everything so she has to do as little as possible to get done what she needs to do. The set up is almost bulletproof, now. Whether it is Mom-proof or not is another question. I kinda doubt anything could be, though. We will see.

Wonder where I got my technical genes? My dad, probably. Certainly not from Mom. It also makes me wonder how she pulled off fixing all Jack's records to be Jacqueline. Must have been purely magic. She sure doesn't have the cyber- skills to do it any other way.

Poor Mom. Her first electronically transmitted manuscript is due next week. Guess I better plan to be home that day. Heh heh.

End Journal Entry.

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 4 months 2 days A. T.

Two major things happened yesterday. First of all, Bonnie was back for a visit today. Only, Bonnie was me. Or is that, I was Bonnie? Who cares! I pulled off the shape-shifting spell all the way today. Hair color and length, skin tone, height, figure, face - the whole thing. Well, almost the whole thing. I forgot to change the hair between my legs. Guess I wasn't a "natural blond". But I could have changed it! Bronwyn was really proud of me. So was Mom.

I think I surprised them, too, because of what I did with my first all-the-way solo spell. They were expecting me to try Jack back on for size, but really, what's the point? What am I going to do - go find a pre-operative transsexual to play with because the plumbing would still be the internal stuff.

The second really big thing is that the big thing finally FIT!!! I got the darn lump of rubber all the way in. AT LAST! It only hurt a little this time, and only at the very beginning. Playing with myself before and after I started to insert the dildo made it a little easier. It doesn't feel as good as making love with Mom and Bronwyn, but it is not a barefoot walk through the Valley of Death, either.

I wonder if there is something I am not doing right. I bet Bronwyn would know. Maybe it is time to ask for help again. Hmmmmm. She is coming over tonight again. Maybe . . .

I have a great idea! End Journal Entry

*****************

Her body warm and still glistening from her shower, Bronwyn walked into Laurie's bedroom. Laurie was also nude, and was laying on her tummy, reading. The lovely half moons of her ass beckoned to Bronwyn who fell upon her lover like a starving she-wolf.

A few minutes later, the two women were too deeply involved to notice when Jacqui slipped in the door. That suited Jacqui just fine. It would ruin her surprise if they looked up too soon. Silently, she crept to the bed where the two women lay locked in an exuberant sixty-nine, her Mother on top of Bronwyn with her back to Jacqui. It was perfect, she thought.

Only when the thick rubber organ gently bounced off her forehead did Bronwyn realize that Jacqui had arrived and how she was attired. She made a quick survey of the girl. So what if the adjustment of the harness was not quite perfect - that only meant that the teaser on the base of the dildo would not give Jacqui quite as much of a jolt as it might have. It was the thought and the courage to face her little fears that really counted. Grinning encouragement, Bronwyn slipped down a bit, and used her fingers to gently spread the lips of Laurie's puss.

Jacqui swallowed hard, and then slowly nudged the artificial penis into the mouth of her Mother's sex. Thoroughly aroused, and teased to near madness by Bronwyn's talented tongue, Laurie surged backwards to capture more of whatever Bronwyn was using to fill her.

The cheeks of her bottom made firm contact with flesh as she engulfed the full length. Surprised, she twisted and saw her daughter arching into her and felt her surprisingly strong hands grasp her hips. Gently at first, then gradually picking up in confidence, speed and force, Jacqui began stroking the strap on in and out of her Mother.

The combination of being filled while Bronwyn's tongue danced fire across her loins, shattered Laurie's control and she went momentarily mad. She buried her face in the humid warmth of Bronwyn's sex and alternately feasted on and screamed into her friend. Laurie's triumphant scream of completion tripped Bronwyn over the edge, too. Jacqui tried to ride with her Mother, tried to stay inside her as long as she could, but one particularly vigorous spasm unseated her. Pleased with her part in this, she just stepped back and watched her two favorite people enjoy their pleasures.

When all was again quiet, Jacqui crawled in beside the two women and was immediately enfolded in twin hugs. Bronwyn and Laurie took special care to thank her and to tell her how wonderful it had been for them.

After they'd recovered, Bronwyn asked, "So, Jacqui, it's your turn now. What would you like best?"

Shyly, Jacqui whispered. "Would you do me? With this?" her hand trailed down to the erect toy dangling between her legs. "Like in the book you gave me?" She handed Bronwyn the now half empty tube of lubricant. "I have been practicing," she hastened to add.

"I'd love to, darling," and then, because she saw the touch of fear still hiding in the girl's eyes, she said. "I think we will make it a tie up game, too. That way, you won't wiggle to much."

That brought Jacqui upright! "No.... No, I don't think so, Bronwyn. I don't think I want to do this that way..."

A gentle finger on the lips stilled the flood of refusals. "Same rules as last time, love. You say "red light" and we will stop immediately. I just want to be fully in control for your first time. Remember, just relax and let me do the work," Bronwyn's voice became softly intense. "Just trust me, please?"

"Oh, you know I do," was the immediate reply. "I trust both of you. Okay. Just go slow. I have gotten it all the way in, but I have not had any sexy feelings from it. Other than a very odd "full-feeling"."

Moving their hands to the buckles, the two women began undoing the harness all the while grinning at each other like loons. It was going to be a very auspicious night.

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 4 months 3 days A. T.

If I am walking a little funny today, it is completely justified. I was right - I was missing something when I was using the dildo to work on my ass. Another person, or rather other persons, interested in making it wonderful for me. And I can handle being passive.

Once in a while. Maybe once a month. Kind of overwhelming, and just a little frustrating. Nicely frustrating, though.

Jacqui, you are not making a whole lot of sense. The facts, please.

Once Bronwyn had me tied to the bed with the pillows under my hips to make my bottom "a good target", she and Mom forgot about the dildo all together and proceeded to drive me insane.

Once I got a *little* demanding, so Mom gagged me with Bronwyn's panties. My *Mom* did that! She said I wasn't going to get my way, anyway, so I might as well be quiet. But she gave me a little ball to drop if I wanted to red light.

I also got more than a few swats across my tush for "not doing what I was told like a good little girl," Passive, hell. Just wait till I get my next turn. The sneaky darlings used every trick in the book keep me on the ragged edge without letting me tip over for more than an hour. At some point during all that teasing, they started playing with my bottom. I was so far gone, it all just kept feeling good!

When Bronwyn started slipping the dildo into me, all I could think of was why was she going so SLOW. Meanwhile, Mom slipped under me and was driving me crazy with that tongue of hers.

I am surprised that the straps they tied me down with did not snap with they finally let me cum. I was a wild woman.

And they weren't through with me. Seems Mom wanted a turn. Guess what? It was even easier the second time and I came just as hard.

Bronwyn needs a new pair of panties. Seems the pair she had are a little. . . . . chewed.

I can't WAIT for Marcus to come home for Christmas. Maybe I should keep practicing with Mom and Bronwyn, though. Just so I won't forget how to do it.

Marcus. Hmmmmmmmm. You don't think he'd go for it, Jack? Really? I mean, gee, you did not have any complaints once Bronnie got us all heated up and slipped it into our bottom. I mean, boys have bottoms, too, same as girls, right? Well, maybe later on, then. Besides, I don't think Marcus is quite the scaredicat you are, Jack.

Well, I have to get to work. Finals are coming up and I have a big programming project due in each of the computer science courses and a term paper for the para-psych course. I am using the stuff I pulled off the 'Net to write my paper on the Concept of Good and Evil among Wiccans. Waste not, want not.

End Journal Entry.

A Change of Direction Chapter 24

Christmas Break at last, thought Jacqui, as she happily moved toward the bus stop. Marcus was home and she was ready for him. Now, if he'd just pass her teensie little test, she was going to make him a very lucky and very happy young man.

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 4 Months 21 days A. T.

I am really ashamed of myself. My little test of Marcus went just as I had dreamed it would and now I feel bad that I ever doubted him in the slightest.

Jealousy is not a productive emotion. I do not like the way it feels.

So, what did I do? I tempted him and I teased him - quite outrageously. In disguise. I used my shape shifting ability to become a red haired sex bomb. Think of a cross between Geena Davis and Pamela Anderson Lee. I thought about doing Scully for sentimental reasons, but in the end, I discarded that idea for all the obvious reasons.

Marcus was waiting for me at the student union at my college here in town. At the last moment, I called and told him I had gotten tied up with my advisor and would be late. Then I showed up in my little disguise and tried to entice him into a little indiscretion.

He was wonderful. Polite, but not encouraging. Friendly, but just a bit distant. I know I was hot - I had almost every guy in the room trying to figure out how to hit on me, but my Marcus just smiled and excused himself to leave.

I felt like a rat. I was *very* nice to him when I did see him as myself to make it up to him. Even if he did not know who the redhead was.

At first, he was hesitant to make love to my ass. He worried that I was only offering to give him my ass because I felt "guilty" about wanting to keep my virginity. I never appreciated before this how very hard it is for a woman to rape a man, and it is particularly to rape a man using your butt. But I tried. It was pretty funny, actually, and that is what finally did him in. He figured if I could laugh, I was really enjoying it. It took a little doing (and a LOT of grease), but we finally did it.

I showed him the book Bronwyn gave me (no, I did not tell him where I got it. I did not tell him that I'd been practicing, either.) and we spent the afternoon trying out a few positions. I particularly like the one where we are face to face with me on the bottom and my hips are riding up on his thighs a bit. In that position, his pubic bone glides up and down the length of my clit whenever he strokes in and out. Yeeeee haaaaaa!

I also like the book's recommended cleansing ritual after each time we make love that way. The one where I see to it that his penis is properly and *thoroughly* cleaned? As I think I have said in this journal before, I *love* teasing him. Amazing what you can do to even a very tired cock with nice soapy hands and a gentle touch.

For all that, I think we will be working on his oral skills for next couple of days. We seem to have overdone, today. Sitting is a constant reminder of today's adventures. And I don't even want to *think* about having to go to the bathroom.

End Journal Entry

*****************

In late January, the two young people bid each other a sad farewell and returned to their respective colleges for the start of their Spring Term studies. Jacqui, however, also had another course of study that was also going to demand her attention, as well.

Bronwyn had left San Bernardino on some type of business trip right after the New Year, but not before she had made the girl a promise. Sensitive to Jacqui's new sexual experience and her heightened self-awareness, Bronwyn and Laurie had decided that it was finally time to begin teaching Jacqui the fundamentals of the Transformation Spell. Unfortunately, before they could begin the training, the trip to Texas had come up.

Jacqui was in class that afternoon in early February when Bronwyn had returned to California. Laurie met her at the airport and then drove them both straight back to her house. "How did it go with Bobbie?" Laurie asked the obviously exhausted Bronwyn once they were on the Freeway.

Her head resting against the seat and her eyes closed, Bronwyn responded. "Fine. Roberta and her unborn son are doing well, and are on track for a mid-March birth. I visited her doctor while I was in Austin, and he is pleased with the progress of the pregnancy. As to our other concern, I completed the training her Mother left undone when she died last fall. She is now fully ready to be the parent of a future member of the Sisterhood."

"So she knows the Birth Rites now, and understands their importance?"

"Yes. And she is knows all she needs to know about the Transformation Spell, too. I think she may have figured out the importance of nursing the child, but I did not tell her that. I just made sure she understood how important it is for children of the Sisterhood to be nursed immediately."

"Jacqui will be disappointed you are so tired. I think she has a surprise planned for you."

Bronwyn snorted. "I think it will have to wait until I have slept about five days," The car pulled into the drive and Bronwyn opened her eyes, surprised to be home so soon. "Hey, this is your house."

"Yep. You are bushed, and in need of some serious pampering. Jacqui will see that you get it. If I took you home, you would be up too soon working on your latest suspense novel."

"Its overdue," was Bronwyn's weak protest.

"And a few more days won't make a difference. Now it is your choice. Go to bed on your own, or with a healer's push."

Grumbling, Bronwyn got out of the car. "Since I do want to wake up in a few days, I will do it on my own. You would probably keep me asleep for a week."

"I wouldn't, but Jacqui would. She is much more sensitive to you than I am. She's the one who told me you would need rest. I think she is attuned to you, High Priestess."

"Great. Just what I need. An overly-powerful, under- controlled novice with her psychic nose in my business."

"She is pretty great, isn't she?" Laurie gushed maternally.

Bronwyn nodded as she let herself be led up to bed. "Yeah, she is that. Now, if we can just keep her."

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 6 months 2 days A. T.

I let Bronwyn wake up yesterday. Afterwards, she spent the rest of the morning sulking. (You did, too, Bronwyn. Just ask Mom). Still, the rest did wonders for her and she is back in fine form.

Today, she and Mom started teaching me the Transformation Spell. Actually, if I understand what they said, they also *finished* teaching me the Transformation Spell. Which is really strange, considering it took me almost four months to get any knack at all with the shape shifting magic.

I am going to write this all down, and then talk to Bronwyn and Mom from this entry afterwards. That should help me decide if I have gotten this all down.

Essentially, the Transformation Spell is very simple. I can actually cast it right now - on someone else. What I cannot do with it is use it on myself. The reason for that is not a matter of lack of power, but rather, a lack of self-understanding and a lack of control. Rather lowering to realize I don't have either yet, but Bronwyn says that I still need some very specific experiences first. Only then will I be able to turn the magic on myself and not destroy myself in the process.

To start the day's learning, Mom gave me the family records to read. These are the real ones, the ones that document our family's place in the Sisterhood, the birthing of boy children and their subsequent Transformation into women. I found the entries of the two men who died trying to undo what their Mother's had done to them. The one who forced his Mother to attempt the counter spell cost her more than her child. She lost the Gift of the Goddess when he died under her spell. She had been High Priestess of the Sisterhood at the time.

So, what are these "experiences" I need to go through? I don't know that, either - at least, I don't know the specifics of them. There are some things I do know. First of all, there are three of them. And I know a bit about what they are supposed to be. Bronwyn listed them for me. They are, and I think this is the order I will face them in, too,

A special awakening.

A special ordeal.

A special re-birth.

Mom and Bronwyn promised me that I will know, instinctively, when I have met all three requirements. It is just that they cannot tell me what any of the tests are before hand or the magic will not work for me. I have given my word not to turn the Transformation Spell upon myself without that mental "go- ahead".

I guess the time for these experiences must be close at hand, though. They would not be teaching me this now, otherwise. One thing about Bronwyn, she does nothing without a reason. As much as I love that sexy lady, she can be one cold, calculating woman when she thinks something is important.

End Journal Entry.

*****************

"She wrote out just about the entire lesson word for word in her journal, Laurel. I cannot get over the powers of recall and intuition she has developed."

"I know what you mean. Has she given any indication that she knows what the three experiences really entail?"

"No, but I am not sure if that is because she has not speculated on what they are, or if she has an idea and does not want to face the thought of what they entail. Conception of a child is the awakening, the trauma of giving birth is the ordeal, and giving suckle to a child of her own body is the re-birth," She smiled at her friend. "We never figured it out until afterwards, did we?" her tone was meant to encourage.

"*We* never did a lot of the things she has done since Transformation. Goddess, Bronwyn, if she had gotten pregnant last summer, she'd be coming into her full power now. In only eighteen months! That is incredibly fast. I can't find any record of anyone being faster."

"You think she might figure the riddle out?" Bronwyn was concerned.

"I don't know, Bronwyn. She may be trying not to think about it because we told her it might interfere with the magic, but you have seen how strong her intuition has gotten. I think it is very possible she may unwittingly solve it without even realizing it."

"Yes, she is that bright, isn't she? Damn! Well, there is only one thing we can do now if we are going to keep our word to her. I will remove all of my inhibition spells from Marcus. In fact, I am going to give him a bit of nudge so that he thoroughly ravishes her next month when he is home on break."

Thoughtfully, Laurie nodded. She no longer believed her daughter would harm a child of her own body as she had threatened to do all those many months ago. Hadn't she said as much in her journal a few months back? "Make sure he is wonderful for her, Bronwyn. It should be wonderful for a girl her first time. Please?"

A feline smile lit Bronwyn's face. "Oh, he will be superb, darling. I guarantee it. He will drive her make her crazy and make her love every second of it. My word on it, darling. You have my word on it. So Be It," she said in the oath of her order.

"So Be It," repeated Laurie, her voice choking with emotion at what they had just ordained for Jacqui.

***********************

Lancaster read the copy of the doctor's report on the status of the Lawler-bitch's pregnancy. It pleased him. All was normal and she would deliver in the next week to two weeks. His Investigations Chief had been particularly thorough with this one. Members of the Brotherhood now worked at the hospital she would be taken to for the birth. They would alert the action team and help them stage themselves for the abduction. Soon, he thought. Very soon and I will understand something that is key to the survival of the Sisterhood. When I understand that, I can take action against it, hopefully crippling that weak gaggle of weakling men-made-women. All he had to do was wait patiently a while longer and he would learn what he needed to know to destroy the Sisterhood once and for all time. Anticipation had a lovely taste. he thought, especially the anticipation of blood.

~----------~

A Change of Direction Chapter 25

The phone in Laurie's bedroom rang. Fumbling in the dark, she reached over to answer it. An excited voice stumbled over the words, and had to repeat them twice. Whoever it was, wanted to speak to Bronwyn - *immediately*. She shook her lover awake and handed over the receiver before padding off to the bathroom.

When she returned, the bedroom was ablaze with light, and a tear-stricken Bronwyn was furiously pulling on her clothes. "Bronwyn, what is the matter?" Laurie asked moving to her friend's side.

"It's Bobbie," she sobbed, dashing away a tear. "She had the child tonight, but no sooner had they taken the child from the birth canal, then armed men stormed the birthing room. The nurse midwife and the attending doctor were killed. The baby and Bobbie have disappeared. I am leaving on the next flight to Austin to help the Sisters search."

"Do...do we know if the rites were performed?" Laurie asked.

"No, but it would seem that they weren't. An intern watching on closed circuit television told the first Sister on the scene that the men took the child from the midwife's hands before she had even straightened up from catching him."

A cold chill ran down Laurie's spine. "That sounds terribly like whoever did this was trying to prevent the Birth Rites. That means it is probably the Brotherhood behind this."

Grimly, Bronwyn nodded. "I agree. That is why I want you to alert the Sisterhood. I want a search team in Austin as soon as we can possibly get them there. And I want you to be standing by to come if we need . . . if we need a healer," Laurie nodded and helped Bronwyn into her jacket. "I will call as soon as I know anything. Take care of Jacqui, luv."

And with that, she was out the door. Alone and afraid, Laurie stood there in the center of the room, at a loss about what to do next. Then she knew. Getting her robe, she went out of her room and down the hall to Jacqui's room where she crawled into bed beside her child. Someone she knew may well have lost a child this night. May the Goddess have mercy on anyone who tried to take or to harm *her* child. Laurel Donovan, gentle healer and high adept of the peace loving Sisterhood, would have none.

************

Lancaster was well pleased with this evening's work. The woman and the child had been kept separate since their capture. Gloating, he examined the small woman more closely. She had some Asian blood in her with those small bones and that long, straight, black hair. Contemptuously, he asked himself how anyone could think that this puny female, this un- manned creature, could possibly be someone that he, the High Leader of the Brotherhood, First in the Power of the Dark One, should have to fear? It was laughable.

The child chose that moment to awaken and to announce that fact loudly in the way of all newborns. Not accustomed to children, the noise angered Lancaster who reacted as he always did when upset. He struck out at the nearest being to him. His backhand brought Roberta out of the half conscious state she had been in since the birth of her child.

Dazed, she looked up at Lancaster's furious face. "Shut that child up, woman. Now!" He was bellowing.

"He's hungry," She said in a thready whisper. "He won't stop until he's been fed."

The noise was more than the Lancaster could stand. Without thinking, he snatched the bawling child up and nearly threw him at the woman. "Then FEED him."

Roberta did not expect to survive this, but she feared her child might. Quickly, she bared her breast and put the child to her nipple, all the while mumbling the words of the Birth Rites that been taught to her by the High Priestess. She had just completed the silently spoken spell when her child found and clamped onto her puckered nipple. As he began to suck furiously at her, she felt something start to build inside her. It grew and became stronger, until it was like her nipple was connected to an electrical circuit.

And then, she knew it all. The full power of the Transformation Spell was now hers to command. Holding her child tightly against her breast, she sang the song of power, felt the power come to her, felt it enfold her, and finally, felt it change her.

The men in the room saw it, too. Suddenly, the tiny woman was over seven feet tall and still growing. Huge muscles bulged on her limbs, and hard shell-like armor seemed to appear about her body. The first of the Brothers to recover hurled himself at her and was flung aside like a doll, crumpling against the wall. A melee ensued, with the Brothers trying to subdue the huge monster-woman, but their weapons, bodies and powers were unequal to the task. Grimly, Roberta started moving toward the door and freedom, determined to escape this place and to warn her Sisters.

Lancaster had stood apart during the free-for-all, partly because he was furious with himself for having been the one to give the child to the woman, and partly to ascertain the full extent of the woman's power. His inaction ended when he saw her make a break for the door. With great deliberation, he raised both of his hands above his head. His lips moved, making soundless words in a language known only to the followers of the Dark One. The raised hands turned black and began to shimmer and pulse with a strange glow that heralded the total absence of light rather than its presence. The glow coalesced into a writhing mass that was contained between his two hands for just a moment, and then it reached out to the fleeing Transformed Sister and her child.

The instant the lightlessness touched her, Roberta screamed in hellish agony. The dark hole enveloped her, surrounded her and blotted her from the view of those Brothers still awake to see it. Suddenly, the screams stopped, and Lancaster lowered his hands. Without his will to hold it contained, the lightlessness gave way to light and revealed the bodies of a dead woman and a dead child. Interestingly to Lancaster, the spell that had changed the woman into that amazon monster had not died with her.

It was too bad she had died before he could have learned everything he wanted to know, and even worse that the child had died. Still, he had learned something tonight. Whatever had happened to the woman, it had happened to her after she had begun feeding the brat. Was that some type of rite of passage for these women who had once been men? Did they only come into their full power after suckling their infant? That had to be it, thought Lancaster triumphantly. Now he had them. Now he could turn their very rites against them. He, Lancaster, had the means to finally destroy the Sisterhood. He looked at the injured men he'd brought with him. All alive, he thought. She could not even kill to protect her whelp. How hopelessly weak they are. "Dispose of the bodies in the acid tank. I want nothing left of them," he ordered his Investigations Chief as he strode to the door. This called for a drink.

~-------~

"She's gone, Laurie. I felt her die. She's dead and her child with her," came the sobbing voice on the other end of the phone line.

"You are sure? There is no doubt?"

She heard Bronwyn blow her nose and take a deep cleansing breath. "We don't have the bodies, if that's what you mean, but I felt her use the Transformation Spell, Laurie," Another deep breath. "And I felt the Dark Power take her. She died at the hands of a member of the Brotherhood, Laurie. An incredibly powerful member, perhaps even the High Leader, himself."

"Then we are at war, High Priestess. What are your immediate plans?"

"I am coming home, luv. I need to rest and to think. We don't even know who he is, yet, so we don't know how to attack him. He is way ahead of us, now, and moving too quickly will hurt us more than help us. I will see you in a few hours. May I stay with you tonight?"

"Just you try to stay any place else, lover, and all hell will break loose. Now get off the phone and get on home to people who love you."

Laurie hung up the phone, and wished that her daughter was home where she could protect her and keep her someplace safe. If anyplace could be considered safe, anymore.

*******************

Lancaster relaxed, sipping the aged scotch and reviewing the night's revelations one more time. The woman had come into her power after she'd given birth and after she'd nursed the child. The key, then, was to prevent the child from suckling his mother, but that was not a problem. Lancaster smiled. A dead woman cannot nurse a child. As if he, the High Leader, would let one of those bitches feed *his* son. What a coup, he mused. The next High Leader of the Brotherhood, the son of the current High Leader and one of the damnable Sisters. A child born of the power of their Goddess and of his Dark One; a child in whom the ages-old schism between the power of light and the power of darkness would be breached.

A child that would be his son and who would serve the Brotherhood by finally destroying the Sisterhood.

All he needed was a Sister to plant his seed in; a Sister who had not yet given birth and thus, had not yet come into the fullness of her powers. A powerless Sister who would not be a threat to him. How he'd make her suffer. He would give her the full benefit of her new female state by forcing her to experience, completely unaided by any modern medical convenience, natural childbirth before he killed her. After all, he could always take the child if he needed to since she was not going to survive more than a few moments after the child's birth, anyway. It would be so . . . .sublime.

Fortunately, he knew exactly where to find such a member of the cursed Sisterhood. Her college advisor still reported weekly to his Chief of Investigations about her activities and whereabouts. He'd increase the surveillance on her again, all the same. She was too important a piece of the puzzle to be careless with. All he needed was a little more time to finish his final preparations. He was almost ready. Soon, very soon, he would strike and take what was rightfully his.

~----------~

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 8 Months 21 days A. T.

The death of Mom's and Bronwyn's friend, Bobbie in childbirth has cast quite a pall about the house. The baby died, too, so it is just a bad thing all around. I did not know her, but Mum and Bronwyn liked her, so she must have been good people. I suspect she was a member of their Sisterhood, but I have not asked and they had not volunteered the information.

It has reminded me, quite forcefully, however, of my own mortality and my newfound femininity. Women still die in childbirth. I am a woman. Those two facts, taken in combination, are rather daunting.

I am a woman. I can get pregnant.

I look at those two sentences I just wrote, and I get chills. They actually have the power to frighten me. They also are beginning to intrigue me.

On a not unrelated topic, Marcus arrives home today from his college up north to begin his mid-semester break. We won't have much time together since his folks are expecting him at their mountain cabin in the Sierras. It is some kind of family shindig that everyone goes to every year. He is going to drive up there tomorrow, but first, he is going to spend the day *and* the night with me.

Mom and Bronwyn are going to be out of town until tomorrow about noon. Which, oh by the way, is when Marcus has to leave. So I went and started planning our little get together for here. I cannot *wait* to get him into Mom's *HUGE* bathtub all filled with bubbles and hot water.

Now for the strange part. This morning, Mom calls me in and tells me that she knows what I am planning, and that she approves of Marcus. Not only that, but that she wants us to feel "safe" when we do "whatever it is that you are going to do". She gave me a box of *condoms*. Condoms for goodness sake. This is my *MOTHER* and she is giving me *condoms*?? I was afraid to say the word in her presence when I was still Jack.

Guess I have her blessing to go all the way. Amazing. And I have been *so* very careful these past weeks with my birth control pills. Well, better doubly safe than sorry, I guess. I did promise to use the condoms.

I wonder if it as wonderful as those romance novels say it is? Guess I am going to find out. That's all for now. I have to go pick up Marcus at the airport.

End Journal Entry

****************

In a hotel room overlooking the ocean, Bronwyn took a sip of her wine and then turned to look at her preoccupied friend. Shaking her head in exasperation, she snorted. "It was going to happen anyway, Laurel. All we did was make it more comfortable for them, and make sure they had the time to do it properly," And cast a few spells on young Marcus to make sure he would do it well, often and potently.

Smiling wanly at herself, Laurie sighed. "I know. We all do it for the first time once in our lives. And we had to get the first step of the final experience learning done, too."

That reminded Bronwyn. "So, why did you give her those condoms? I thought the whole idea was to get her preggers, not increase the difficulty for those little wigglers of Mark's."

That did make Laurie smile - a very self satisfied, conspiratorial smile. "I did it to make sure she or Marcus are completely uninhibited. You know as well as I do that no birth control will protect a Sister who, at the critical moment, wants the baby of the man making love to her. The power of her desire will cause the condom to leak or break. Just like the birth control pills will also fail," Laurel grinned mischievously. "Ever stop to wonder how many of those mothers who fall into that 10% failure rate attributed to modern birth control tools are Sisters? No, I think we surmise that our Jacqui is now primed - prospective motherhood on the hoof. Especially since I am sure," and here her voice became saccharine sweet, "that you have probably ensured that Marcus is a human sperm factory for the next day or so?"

Bronwyn blushed a bit, then grinned a bit. "Well, I might have given production a little help. Guess she's gonna be a Mom, eh?"

"Yes, she is. Goddess, but I am too young to be a grandmother," Laurie wailed.

"Ah, love," soothed Bronwyn as she came over to cuddle her friend on the bed, "but you will be so good at it," And then proceeded to distract her friend, lovingly.

****************

The feelings that Jacqui was dealing with as she stood in the airline terminal awaiting Marcus were just as mixed as her Mother's were. On one hand, she missed him terribly and wanted to be with him all the time. On the other hand, his attentions reminded her of what she had lost when she had been Transformed. Jack had never gotten to as close to a girl as she was permitting Marcus to get to her.

He was going to get very close, today, too. All the way, and where nature expected him to be when he made love to a woman. Even with the double-barreled birth control she was planning to use, it still felt like playing Russian Roulette, except that instead of putting a loaded gun to her head, she was aiming a loaded penis at her uterus and ovaries.

She'd reminded herself of all the potential dangers of this decision over and over again - especially since the girl in Austin had died - but in the end, it made no difference. She was going to make love with Marcus because she *needed* to make love with him. She still had not quite figured out why that was such an imperative, but she had finally accepted that it was. She simply had no other choice in the matter.

A moving mass of humanity approached the main terminal from the arrival gate. A shout that sounded like her name got her attention and Jacqui turned toward the voice. It was Marcus. Suddenly, she was running toward him and ended up jumping into his arms. The moment his arms closed around her and his lips met hers were a revelation. Everything became clear.

Jacqui Donovan loved Marcus Arnold. Jacqui Donovan was *in love* with Marcus Arnold.

The truth of it all scared the hell out of her, and she did what frightened women have done since cave days. She held on tighter to the man she loved. "Oh shit" she thought amid the wild whirl of emotions swirling through her, "What am I going to do, now???" Marcus ended even that limited thinking by kissing her again.

Somehow, they made it to the house without having an accident or being stopped for speeding. They were barely through the door before they were tearing at each other's clothes, trying to get skin to skin. Marcus was ready to consummate their passion right there on the floor when the memory of Bobbie gave Jacqui a moment of rational thought. Scrambling to her discarded purse, she found the box her Mother had given her and returned with the plastic packet. She tore it open, and then reverently and lovingly smoothed the condom over her lover's erection, making him groan in painful, delighted anticipation. Then, she went back into his arms, and they made love on the living room rug.

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 8 Months 22 days A. T.

The words to an old rock and roll song that Mom loves keeps playing in my mind.

"This girl is a woman, now. She's found out what its all about and she's learnin'... learnin' to live....."

Who sang that thing...Plunket? No, he was a quarterback. Oh yeah...the name was Puckett - Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. What a weird name for a rock group. Only in my case, maybe the song should go "This boy is a woman, now..".

Hey, Bronwyn. I just made a joke about it. How about that?

It is strange, though, while he was inside me? All I could think of was that *if* I was going to have a baby, I would want it to be his. When he nuzzled my breast and suckled my nipple, an image of his child sucking there was flashed across my mind's eye.

Cripes, what is with me? These female hormones are really getting out of hand, here. Still . . . A baby. Hmmmmmmm.

And I even managed to be submissively passive for him.

Once.

Sort of.

But it was _damned hard_!!!

Anyway, Marcus just left in a cab. He is going to his house to pick up a few things and to get his car. I wanted to drive him, but he said he wanted the last thing he remembers of this wonderful day and night is me, lying naked and tousled on Mum's rumpled bed. What woman could resist a request like that? How could any man resist the appeal I made to him when he walked out that door???

Maybe he could resist my somewhat blatant offer because of all the times we did it in the past eighteen hours. Good thing Mom gave me a full dozen of those things. We almost needed most of them. And it *is* wonderful like those romance novels Mom made me read said it could be. Marcus is very, very good at it, and he listens to me while we are making love, so he is always doing *something* that feels good.

I miss him already.

Well, he is going to come back before returning to school. I will need more condoms. I'll get some more today. It will make me feel like a loose woman. Then I am going to take a nap. I have not had much sleep in the past few hours.

End Journal Entry.

**********************

The Chief of Investigations demanded to see the High Leader. He was so frightened, he did not bother to worry about hurting the feelings of the toad who guarded the High Leader's office. After being shown in, he moved quickly to the large desk and began without waiting to be given leave to speak. "High Leader, you ordered that you be informed immediately if something came to light with regard to the woman you have selected as the Mother of your Son," He handed the Leader a packet of surveillance photographs.

"The young male is Marcus Arnold. He is the young man that she dated towards the end of her high school senior year. He attends college up in Oregon or Washington. We have not had him under surveillance since he has not had prior contact with the girl since you ordered her watched again."

"Until now," growled the High Leader as he shuffled through the packet of photos.

"Until now," agreed the Chief. "Yesterday, she met him at the airport where they kissed quite passionately before returning to the girl's house. There was no sign of either of them until noon today when the male left by taxi. I ordered a surveillance team on him and they are now following him. The girl left the house shortly after that and went to a nearby drug store where she purchased two large boxes of condoms."

All color drained from Lancaster's face. "What did you say?" he growled in whispered tones.

"Condoms, High Leader. She purchased condoms," The Chief was fighting to maintain his dignity and professionalism, but it was damned hard when he knew his next word could be his last. Lancaster was killing furious, now. "She made the purchase and returned to her home. She has not left since, although her Mother and Llewellyn have returned from the hotel they stayed at last night."

"She is going to fuck that boy???" Lancaster roared. "She is the Chosen One. The Mother of my Son, and she is going to give herself to a boy???" Lancaster's fist smashed into the desktop. His eyes burned with anger tinged with madness. The Chief silently steeled himself for the killing blow he felt sure was coming. The only reason he had delivered the report himself was in the hope that the High Leader would kill him out of hand, in a fit of fury. The alternative was to die as his predecessor had, slowly and in great pain. However, Lancaster seemed to regain his control. Slowly, with great deliberation, he reseated himself at his desk and brought his hands together to clasp them on the desktop. "I won't have it, Chief," he said soberly. "Where is the boy, now?"

"Our followers reported in just before I came in here, sir. He is heading into the mountains. Evidently his family has a large vacation home up in the high country."

"He does not arrive at his destination, Chief. Have the followers arrange an accident - a fatal accident. I want him dead within the hour or you and the followers will die sometime next month. Do you understand me?" The eyes were cold now, but it was a mad cold.

The Chief lost control of his bladder and wet his pants. "Ye. . ye . .yessir. I understand. It will be as you say, sir," and he ran from the room without being given leave to depart.

~-----------~

Jacqui stretched in her bed. She felt marvelous. Even the twinges in her belly, where muscles she never knew she had and Jack never did have, ached from the unusual exercise of the day before.

Idly, she replayed the lovemaking in her mind. It had been so great. Whether it could have been so good for her as Jack, she did not know, but it no longer seemed to matter. She loved Marcus. Marcus loved Jacqui. She would be a fool to give that up for a penis in a poke.

Jacqui Donovan was not any kind of a fool.

The key question in her mind now was how to break the news that she was a witch to her chosen male. She had a really neat idea, too. Bronwyn had said she could use the shape-shifting spell on others as well as on herself. As long as they were close by, anyway. Well, Marcus would be very close when she played her prank.

She wondered how he'd react when he woke up after one of their love making sessions and found himself looking like Jacqui and lying next to a body that looked like Marcus? He'd freak, she thought happily. But, then he'd see the male genitals on "Jacqui" and the female genitals on "Marcus". It would be awkward, but Jacqui figured they'd make it work, somehow.

"Jacqui?" Her mother was calling from downstairs. "You have a phone call. It is Mrs. Arnold."

Getting up, she padded to her door. "I'll take it in your room, Mum," she called down.

Laurie went back to her library to work on the logistics plan she was developing for the Sisterhood. With the Brotherhood was becoming so open in their attacks, they would need supplies and safe houses in the coming months. She had just begun to analyze the next set of requirements when Jacqui's scream of anguish tore through her.

She was up the stairs and at Jacqui's side in seconds. Jacqui flew to her Mother and nearly strangled her with her embrace. "He's dead, Mum. Oh sweet lord, Marcus is dead."

Stunned, Laurie simply held her daughter for long moments before she could even ask. "Marcus is dead? How, child?"

Jacqui fought for control and eased her death grip on her Mother. "His... his brakes failed. Up in the mountains near his parents' cottage. He could not control the car on one of the bends in the road. He crashed into a rail guard which broke and the car dropped into a canyon."

"Goddess," Laurie whispered. The man who had taken her daughter's virginity, and who, according to Laurie's healer senses, was the father of her grandson. Jacqui had gotten pregnant. She would not know it herself for a few weeks, but Laurie knew, and she would have to make sure her daughter did not lose that child in her grief.

Maternally bullying the girl into bed, Laurie made her a special tea that would calm her without harming the tiny fetus. It worked quickly, and Jacqui started to doze. "You know what hurts so much, Mum? I was thinking of marriage when the call came. I was dreaming of how I would tell him about......about the magic. I was going to shift our shapes into images of each other while he slept, and then make fantastic love to him before he could freak out on me. Now, he's gone," She was quiet for a moment. "Now, he's gone," was the last thing she said before drifting into sleep.

Laurie went into her room to get her cordless phone. She made a quick call to Bronwyn, and then took the phone into Jacqui's room and settled in a chair to watch over her daughter.

**********

"It is done, High Leader, as you ordered," the Chief was back in Lancaster's office. He had not even taken the time to change is urine stained trousers. "They used the Dark Power to sever his brake line and to accelerate the draining of the hydraulic fluid. The brakes failed on a particularly steep part of the road and he could not slow enough to control the car."

The High Leader said nothing, but stared pointedly at the large circular stain near the Chief's fly, a smile playing on his lips. Then he spoke. "Very well. Now, I want the preparations for taking the girl accelerated. I don't want her meeting another boy and using him to assuage her female lusts. When will the sanctuary be ready?"

"We can have everything ready to hold her indefinitely in a few weeks. The only reason we can't have it in two weeks time is the security system. You ordered the best one available, and the supplier cannot install for another three weeks. We are already paying premiums to have them that early."

Lancaster nodded. He wanted the girl, but more importantly, he wanted to *keep* the girl once he had her. He would wait for the sanctuary to be fully ready. "Keep an eye on her. Don't let her get close to any other males. Now get out here and change those pants. You foul my air."

The humiliation in the man's face was a delight to Lancaster. Grinning, he admitted that fear was not the only emotion he enjoyed invoking in others.

~--------------~

A Change of Direction Chapter 26

Jacqui awoke slowly. Her eyes did not want to open. Something sticky was pulling at her lashes. Then she remembered why there was the residue of dried tears gluing her eyes closed.

Marcus. Her Marcus was dead.

The tears started afresh as she lay in her bed where less than forty eight hours before, she had joyfully given up her virginity. And now, the man she had wanted, loved and needed badly enough to make him the recipient of that gift was dead.

A miasma of seemingly unrelated and totally illogical emotions swirled about inside her. Love, despair, hope, loss, a sense of things being right and a sense of things being wrong. And a sense of something else. Something dark. Something very dangerous.

It was all so confusing. How could she feel hope just now, or that underpinning of hope? Marcus was dead. And yet, that is what she felt. One thing she had come to accept over the 21 months of being a woman was that what she felt or sensed did not necessarily make rational sense when analyzed critically. Still, Jacqui had learned *not* to discount such intangible insights anymore. The changes in her chess play and her divination of her Mother's intent to commit suicide were proof that those feelings were important and that they meant . . . something. No, there was something going on. Several things, in fact, if each of those impressions meant something different. The strongest feeling was that the danger was not over, but even then, the hope would not go away.

Jacqui needed help. She was still new enough to this intuition sense of hers that she did not know how to interpret so much contradictory input. She needed her Mother. Rising, she quickly dressed and then slipped out of her room. Moving quietly down the stairs, her attention was drawn to the sound of voices in her Mother's library. Bronwyn was here talking to her Mother. So much the better, she thought grimly.

She stopped just outside the door, attempting to gather herself before facing them. She did not want to break down again before she had gotten out what it was she wanted to say. Laurie was seated at her desk, but with chair spun away from the state of the art computer so she could face Bronwyn. Jacqui had to smile. Her mother might own the best computer money could buy, she might have high speed data lines installed in the house, but she hated the things with a passion. The computer served as a word processor for her Mother's writing and as a means to communicate with her editors.

At least, Jacqui thought that was all she did with it. Although, with all that capability, it was also an ideal tool to deal with fixing records and things like that. At least, that is how Jacqui would do it. Still, that would require very sophisticated computer skills. Had her Mother been pretending to be so computer illiterate when that new machine had arrived? If not, then the Sisterhood must have someone inside the group who saw to the record keeping and record changing.

Unless they did it by magic.

"It is just too much too soon to be coincidence, Laurel. First Roberta and now Jacqui through Marcus," Bronwyn's voice broke into Jacqui's musings. "Two novice members of the Sisterhood attacked mere weeks apart. The report from our Sister on the investigating team said that she sensed the remnants of power in the failed brake line. Nothing that ordinary police methods would uncover or even recognize, but this woman is a sensitive. She says it was the Dark Power that did it, not routine wear and tear."

*THAT* got Jacqui's attention. Roberta's death and Marc's death had not been natural or accidental? Quietly, she crept back from the door and listened. She concentrated on opening her mind as Bronwyn had been trying to teach her to do, tried to focus that strange intuitive sense she still did not fully understand, but now fully accepted.

"Which marches with what Mrs. Arnold said to Jacqui. The car had only recently been in for maintenance and inspection. No problems noted with the brakes."

"The only problem is how would anyone know to attack either of them. There are no records which point to them being Sisters. Very few even know that we exist. How could anyone know to attack them?" Bronwyn was frustrated. "What could possibly point them out as members of the Sisterhood?"

A mental image of Laurie by the computer flared momentarily in Jacqui's mind again. That *was* it. Somehow, Jacqui was absolutely sure of it. Her Mother was every bit as inept as she seemed. Laurie did everything by rote on a computer. She even resisted getting upgrades to software because she hated having to learn new things on the machine.

The idea crystalized and became firm in her mind. Jacqui moved out of the shadows and into the library. "How good are your record changing methods?" came a soft voice behind them. They turned to see a wan and tired Jacqui standing in the Laurie's library door. Slowly, she moved into the room and took a chair.

"Hello, darling," Laurie said gently. "What do you mean, how good are our methods?"

"How complete are the record changes you make when you Transform someone? How far reaching are the changes? What kind of checks do you make to ensure there are not any remaining records of the male identity?"

Bronwyn shrugged. "Where ever we are living at the time, we make sure that no official agency has any records that show the male identity. Schools, credit cards, banks, licenses, social security and the like. It is not all that hard to do," she said complacently.

"That's all?" was Jacqui's disbelieving rejoinder. "That is really *all* you do? Just local stuff and basic government records?" There was no longer even a hint of doubt in Jacqui's mind. This was the problem. If she had been a cat, her fur would have been standing on end.

Confused by the tinge of contempt in Jacqui's tones, Bronwyn answered "Well, yes. It is all we have ever needed to do. Why, Jacqui? What is wrong?"

Shaking her head, Jacqui looked up. "Everything, Bronwyn. This is the Information Age. Everybody knows everything about everybody. Or at least, they can. Information is contained around the country in multiply redundant systems so that the failure of one does not cause the loss of some vital information. Some of those systems update automatically, some have to be ordered to update. You with me so far?" Still uncertain where this was leading, Bronwyn nodded. "Okay, what I am proposing would take a huge amount of computing power, but it is not impossible. Suppose you were looking for a male to female Transformee. If you could keep your records intact, all you would have to do is constantly compare your records with someone else's records - like the old Draft Board or Social Security. So, if some number's gender changes, you have a possible Sister," Jacqui turned to his Mother. "My driver's license and my Social Security Number did not change when you gave me my new ID's, Mum. If all you did was change it in the main computer, and did not do some type of all out Internet-wide search, then it is a good bet that somewhere out there is still records of John Donovan."

The two older women looked stunned. Then another thought hit Jacqui. "And that only assumes no one is looking. If some one is looking, he would mirror key databases, and then lock his own system down so he could search off line, too."

Laurie was the first to speak. "You are serious about this, Jacqui? This is possible?"

"Mum, how do you think I got the data on Wicca? If you have not changed every computer in the country, the information is probably still out there and available," Jacqui stood and went over to her Mother's computer, and logged on to her Mother's account. She did not use her own since her Mother's had the login script already set. Once online, she set up a quick web search looking for clues to "John David Donovan."

Grim-faced, Bronwyn watched as the screen scrolled. As she had been those months ago when Bonnie had watched Jacqui worked, she was awed and frightened at this power she did not completely understand. The computer chimed several times, locating information on other "John David Donovan"s before a fateful "ding" heralded the discovery of their John David Donovan. Almost amused, Jacqui said. "I'd all but forgotten about that one. My interest in them disappeared along with the collection of classic comic books Mom sent away the day of my Transformation," The record was in the computer of a comic book locator group, whose mission was to find and sell collector comic books. "Anyway, you can see what I mean. And that did not take all that long."

Bronwyn turned to Laurie. "That means that practically every Sister is at risk," She said, her voice quavering.

"I'd say the newest of us are at the most risk," Jacqui said distractedly. "Those who were Transformed before the early 1980's and the wide spread proliferation of small computers are probably fairly safe."

Both women noted the use of the word "us" with surprise, but said nothing about that. "Then I will start by warning those members to take special precautions, before I alert the rest of the Sisterhood. After that, we have to find out who is doing this and how."

"Easier said than done, Bronwyn. As I said, the whole thing can be done offline. You are going to have to hope they've made a mistake if I am going to find them."

"You?" her eyebrow cocked in surprise. "If *you* are going to find them?"

For the first time she'd been told of her lover's death, a real smile flitted across Jacqui's face. "It's not like either of you have any hope of finding anything. Now, the two of you, get out of here and let me work."

"But it is my office and my computer," wailed a protesting Laurie.

"My modem is broken. I will use your account for the search until I can get another one hooked up."

"Oh, go ahead. It is not like I use the thing all that much anyway. I just wish my publisher would still let me send in typed sheets instead of demanding I transmit my stuff to them by modem," Laurie fumed.

"Me, too," Bronwyn added with a chuckle. "Wouldn't even have one of the things, otherwise. Come on, Laurel. We have some friends to call, and we need to do it from a secure place," And with that, the two women left.

When they returned, they found Laurie's usually neat and pristine library littered with paper. Before she could start her scold, Jacqui started on them. "Roberta Lawler's cover was completely transparent. I have found innumerable references to Robert Lawler, complete with social security number, scattered all across the 'Net. Whoever set up her new identity did a lousy job. I am convinced this is how she got blown."

Laurie spoke first. "And what does that say about you and Marcus?"

"I don't know, Mum. I tried, but I can't find the same preponderance of evidence on me. They may have just gotten lucky, or they may have started working off line between the time they caught on to Bobbie and when I was Transformed."

"So, we have a leak," said Bronwyn.

"More like a gaping hole, Bronwyn. If you are going to keep up the Sisterhood by Transforming men in this society, you better start working on computer security and counter security. You simply are not protecting the Transformee's against the threat posed by the Internet."

"But we don't know anything about that stuff," wailed Laurie.

Jacqui's voice was deathly cold. "I do. And I am going to know a lot more. Who ever is behind this killed the man I loved. I am going to do whatever I can to bring him down, and to prevent him from killing any more people that I, or those I love, care about."

Stunned by her turnabout, both women looked at each other before turning back to Jacqui. "Does. . ," Laurie's voice broke. "Does this mean you have changed your mind about changing back to Jack?"

Jacqui shrugged. "I had, before Marcus was killed. I wasn't going to give up what we could have had together. Love is too important. I've learned that much in the last 21 months. Now, I don't know, Mum. Maybe if I were Jack again, his dying like that would not hurt so much. I just don't know what I am going to do, except that I am going to help you find the ones who did it to him. After that, I just don't know."

Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan

1 Year 9 Months 17 days A. T.

I am now officially overdue for the first time in my admittedly short female life. I also have morning sickness, except that I have it at midnight. My healer talents, which don't normally work on me, can sense other life. And inside me, there is another life.

Oh Goddess. I am pregnant. Through birth control pills that I took religiously, and condoms that I personally put on him and tested, I am somehow pregnant. The man I loved left me a gift when he left me to die. His son.

Oh Goddess, I barely know how to be a woman. How in the name of all that is holy am I going to be a Mother?

Think of *something* else, Jacqui. Emotions like that are not good for the baby.

Bronwyn has been teaching me to "think" to her with my mind. It has been handy to be able to "talk" to her as I've been searching the Net for signs of Sisters who are vulnerable. So far, about six in the hundred or so I have researched have needed fixes. A couple needed complete changes of identity. But I am still no closer to finding the animal behind this. I don't know whether Bronwyn or Mom are. When I ask, I am politely told that what they are doing is "Sisterhood business" and not for the ears of "novices".

Makes me so mad I just want to spit.

Don't really need one, but I guess I will pick up one of those home pregnancy test kits after school today. Professor Stevens dropped me an email. Seems he wants to talk to me this afternoon about my schedule for next fall. Good thing I was ahead on all my work before this all happened. I still got everything in on time and good grades.

I will need good grades, too. I am going to help the Sisterhood protect themselves in the 21st Century. Their collective computer smarts are nearly non-existent - limited to word processing if they have any at all. And that is something I can do as Jack or Jacqui.

Jack could raise Marcus' child, couldn't he? Why doesn't Jack talk to me anymore? I can't remember the last time he needled me. When did he stop?

I have to go or I will be late for school.

End Journal Entry.

*********************

"Is everything ready?" Lancaster asked with deliberate insult in his voice.

"Yes, High Leader," came the response from the Chief. "The sanctuary is fully operational and the professor has arranged for her to be in his office later today. We will take her at the parking lot she uses after she sees the professor."

"Contingency plans?"

"Three action teams involved to provide covering fire for the getaway, and three different vehicle changes available if needed en route to the sanctuary."

"I don't need to tell you not to fail." It was not a question.

"No, High Leader, because we will not fail," was the expected, rote answer.

"Very well, Chief. Go get the Mother of my Son for me, then."

As the Chief left his office, Lancaster looked down at the dossier the Chief had given him. The slut was attractive, he thought. It would not be hard, filling her belly with his seed. It might even be pleasurable. And even if was not, he spent the past months stockpiling his semen for this very purpose. He would enjoy watching the slut grow fat with his son. Sadly, she would not live long enough afterwards for him to fully relish his victory. He could not chance her coming into her full power after getting to know him as well as she would have to know him.

~-------------~

Jacqui was furious as she stormed across campus toward her parking lot. The paper Professor Stevens wanted her to sign was one he'd already had her sign weeks ago. She had waited on campus three hours after her last class for that meeting, which the Professor himself was forty-five minutes late for, and it had been for nothing. She could have been continuing her search for blown covers on the Internet for the past three hours.

Grimfaced, she stomped up to her car and was inserting the key in the lock with something grabbed her shoulder. Before she could react, a sharp sting bit into her left buttock. The world went black before she could even straighten up to turn around.

*****************

"Any casualties?" barked Lancaster.

"None, High Leader. The capture was unobserved. We escaped without detection."

"Are you sure of that, or is that merely an assumption on your part."

The Chief answered. "It is a fact, Sir, but we took precautions, none the less. We made three vehicle changes and had two different counter surveillance cars on each leg of the trip here. We were not followed."

"Excellent work, Chief. How long will she be out?"

"Another three to five hours, Sir. The drug is relatively harmless, but it is quick acting and takes a while to wear off."

"Excellent. I will remain with her until she awakens. Now, you may go. Ensure that our Brothers are properly alert. The Sisterhood may try to rescue her."

~-----------~

"Bronwyn, where can she be? It is after seven. She is usually home by two o'clock on Tuesdays, particularly since she has been doing the computer security checks. And she always calls if she is going to be late."

"I don't know, Laurel. I am going to alert the other Sisters in the area and then I will meet you at your home. We will try and locate her once we have our Sisters with Finder crafts with us. Keep faith, lover. I won't let anything happen to your child," Bronwyn was trying to sound more positive than she felt. She still did not even know the identity of the one behind all this."

****************

"Don't try to pretend to still be asleep, slut. I know you are awake," The voice talking to her was slightly familiar. "Open your eyes, bitch!"

The slap that followed opened her eyes quite effectively. Jacqui could not move her legs or her arms. Looking down she saw some type of glowing bands encircling her upper torso and arms, and her thighs and ankles. Then she looked up and saw the hard, dark features of someone she recognized. "You... I... I know you. You work with Professor Stevens..... at school."

"Yes. A useful puppet, that one. Easily susceptible to the Power of the Dark One. Unlike you. I cannot influence you, and I tried while you were unconscious. All of you men- turned-women are resistant. I was unable to turn any of you. It is too bad. For you, that is," His face showed pleasure that thought. Jacqui cringed.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Jacqui tried to control her fear, tried to sound powerful instead of pitiful, but to her own ears, she failed.

Lancaster laughed. "I? Who am I? I am Erich Lancaster, president of Lancaster Electronics and High Leader of the Brotherhood of the Dark One. And you, little witch, are here to be the instrument of my total victory over your sorry Sisterhood," He smiled at the horror in her eyes. "Yes, your son will be my son, and he will be High Leader after me. He will have the Power of the Dark One and will be immune to your puny magicks because he will be of the Sisterhood, as well. My son will span the millennia old schism between our two factions, and will lead the Brotherhood to their rightful victory."

Pleased to have an audience for his greatness, Lancaster decided to tell his captive the whole of his plan. "And then, the Brotherhood will be free to dominate the world again. Not through force of arms. No, Brother Hitler taught us the futility of that path. We have been fifty years regaining our strength after that debacle. We cannot fight the entire world on the physical level. Our power is great, but still limited. Eventually the shear weight of numbers that would ally against us would again defeat us."

"No, this time, we will win by using the power of the computer married to the Power of the Dark One. That is how we found your Sisters that we captured, and how we discovered you. Your cult's ways of hiding identities that have changed with their sex were adequate twenty-five years ago, even perhaps ten years ago. No longer. Even if you tried to somehow find and change every record on the Internet, my records are sealed magically."

"Now, I will use it to attack, as well. A magically created computer virus is ready to be loosed on the world. Once it infects a computer, it lays dormant until I order it to act. The computer does not even need to be connected to the Web any longer so there is no defense against it. Whole systems can be lost, or corrupted or externally operated by me.

Controlling computers can be made to malfunction. The modern world will either accede to our demands or society will end. No electricity. No air travel. Communications disrupted and lost. It will be a return to the Stone Age because even those tools that do not require computers to work, require something that is controlled by a computer to work. I call my little virus the Second Black Plague for its effects will be as far reaching in this time as the original Plague was in the Europe of the Middle Ages."

"It is like cyber-biological warfare." Jacqui whispered.

"Indeed it is. I knew you would appreciate the genius of this. I knew it from the way you used computers at your school and at your home. Ahh. You did not know I was eavesdropping on your accounts? Easily. You are very talented. It is one of the reasons I chose you as the Mother of my Son. You and I have a rare combination of computer talent and the potential to wield magic. Very few have both, but you and I both do. Talents we will bequeath to our son."

"But why? Why alert the Sisterhood with your attacks? It makes no sense if you already had this weapon," Jacqui's mind was clearing now. Lancaster did not know that she was already pregnant. What would he do if he found out? Kill her? Or simply kill her child and then get his child on her afterwards. She had to protect Marc's child. She had to play for time.

"Why attack your so-sacred Sisterhood of emasculated crones? Because the power they use to perpetuate themselves is an abomination in the eyes of the Dark One. Because they have opposed us time and again in the past. Because they have brought us shame in the eyes of the Dark One. They take from men the Power of the Dark One. I do not want them and their un-maled whelps upon the earth when we achieve our victory. I want them to die knowing that they could not stop that final victory."

Jacqui's intuition flared, and she heard the unwitting emphasis on the words "emasculated" and "power they used to perpetuate" and "un-maled". With all her will, she forced her face muscles into something approximating a smile. "You fear the Transformation," she said with absolute confidence and assurance. "It's not that the Sisterhood deterred your group in time-forgotten ages. You are afraid. You're terrified that you will wake up some morning with tits and a cunt."

A vicious backhand slap rocked Jacqui back onto the cot she'd been laid on. "Stupid Bitch!" he roared. "I fear nothing about your puling Sisterhood, least of all the weak magicks of their impotent Goddess," He raised his fist to strike her again, but suddenly stopped with his hand still above his head. He seemed to shudder and then slowly lowered the hand as he composed his furious features. "No. You won't get off that easily, little witch. I know you don't have the power to oppose me because you have not yet given birth or suckled a child. You cannot make me kill you now. Oh, no, not until we pull my son from your bleeding and dying body," He turned and strode to the room's only door. "You will be fed and cared for to keep you healthy. After you finish your next menses, we will monitor you for ovulation. As the time approaches, we will inseminate you daily. I might even do it, myself, naturally, once or twice. You will give me my son, witch, and he will destroy the last remnants of your cursed sect," And with that, he disappeared through the door, slamming it behind him.

He's mad, Jacqui thought, but he can do what he said. At least the impregnation part. As for his Black Plague, she just did not know enough about magic to know if he could magically activate it, but the infection was possible.

She felt so alone. She started to think that she wanted her Mother, but that brought on another grim thought. That man had already killed at least one, probably more Sisters. If her gentle Mother came to rescue her, there was every reason to believe he'd kill Mum, too.

Jacqui could not stand that thought. She was probably already as good as dead, but her capture would probably alert Bronwyn and her friends. Maybe they could find clues that would lead them to Lancaster. If they found her, they would come running and would run straight into him, in the kind of direct confrontation that favored the killing power of the Dark Power over the subtle power of the Goddess.

Grimly, Jacqui tried to shield her mind. She had to "hide" herself away from Bronwyn and her Mother. They had to find a different way to Lancaster - one that would give them time to plan, instead of reacting to her capture. With all the power at her command, Jacqui closed her eyes, and tried to close her mind as well.

A Change of Direction Chapter 27

Bronwyn and the other members of the Sisterhood gathered around the distraught Laurie. Funneling their combined power through one or two Sisters with "finder" talents, the Sisters had spent the better part of the evening and night searching for the mental touch of Laurie's daughter, but to no avail. "I can't sense her, Bronwyn. I know she is still alive because I would know if her life-strength died, but I cannot sense her well enough to help the Sisters of the Finder craft locate her. Somehow, she is using her own powers and she is blocking me. Dammit, why did she have to be so powerful?"

"It is why we Transformed her, Laurel, because she could be so powerful. Now, we must assume she is being noble, and trying to protect us so that we will be strong when the time to confront the Brotherhood arises."

"We cannot let her do that, Bronwyn," Laurie whispered desperately. "She is my baby. We have to get her back."

Bronwyn nodded solemnly. "Indeed we must, Laurel, but not for that reason alone. Remember, she carries an un-Transformed daughter of the Sisterhood in her womb, and we cannot let the Brotherhood have that child. Especially since we have not taught Jacqui the Birth Rites that would protect the still- male child from the Dark Power."

Laurie's eyes lit up. "The child! I have touched her child already. I know his aura!" She sent her senses outward once again and almost immediately touched and found, "The child! Bronwyn! I know where he is. She forgot to shield him from me. I have found her!"

A short cheer went up from the assembly of witches, only to be cut short by the realization they would now be facing the Brotherhood directly. For the first time since the ancient times, the forces of the Goddess and the Dark One would openly confront one another. The days of the Sisterhood manipulating men of power from behind the scene were over. By kidnapping Laurie's unborn grandchild, still in his Mother's womb, this new High Leader of the Brotherhood had gone too far.

Lancaster had returned to Jacqui's cell, and was seated across the room from her, watching Jacqui with eyes heated by madness. His followers were outside, standing guard around the perimeter of the factory complex. She felt so bloody helpless. What was the point of having magic powers if you could not *do* anything with them?? Nothing Jacqui had been taught to date by Laurel or by Bronwyn was adequate to the task of protecting herself or her child, not against a madman with the destructive power Lancaster seemed to possess.

She hoped that her spell of concealment had prevented her Mother from finding her. She did not want her impulsive Mother getting herself killed running to her rescue. What could she do, anyway? Hell, What could Jacqui do? The only positive thing in this mess was that Lancaster wanted to make her conceive a child. Since she was already pregnant, that gave her at least a month to come up with some way of escaping, while Lancaster awaited a menses that was not going to happen. Or at least, coming up with some way of preventing Lancaster from hurting her child.

"Your child will be great, woman, because he will be my son, and because I, Lancaster, High Leader of the Brotherhood, will make him so. I will teach him the power of the Dark One. He will take my place at the head of the Brotherhood, and he will destroy your precious Sisterhood once and for all. It is too bad we did not know of you. You have great reserves of power in you, but now, it is a pale, weak and useless thing. It can no longer destroy. They took that from you when they Transformed you, and more. They took from you your will to be great, your will to conquer, your will to dominate," His words began to run together, to slur, as his tirade grew. "Through your son, I will rule the world."

At the very instant of that arrogant claim, the heavy door exploded inward and first Bronwyn, then Laurie rushed in followed by four other members of the Sisterhood. Bronwyn gestured at Jacqui, and the glowing bands that had been holding her immobile disappeared. Recovering quickly, Lancaster struck out, sending globules of black light flying at the six women. Bronwyn, Laurie and two of the women managed to shield themselves in bubbles of incandescently bright white light. The globules hissed and sputtered and then disappeared against the shining globes. The other two women did not shield in time and the globules struck them full in their chests. They screamed, hideously, and then simply dissolved into foul smelling puddles on the floor.

Jacqui tried to move to the four remaining women, but Lancaster cut her off, grabbing her with a choke hold about her throat. "We seem to have a standoff, High Priestess. And I sense that you are the High Priestess. My men have been dealt with, I assume?"

"Neutralized, High Leader. Unharmed, but the stench of the Dark One has been forever washed out of their souls."

"Leaving them without power or the will to use it properly if they still had it. And your Goddess," the word was hissing curse, "Considers that to be nondestructive, to brutally rip from a man the very characteristics that first gave him dominion over this planet. You cannot do that to me - my power is too great. And you cannot destroy me - your Goddess forbids it. Sadly, it appears I cannot destroy you either while you hide behind your cowardly shields. It seems my best course of action, then, is to take my leave and face you again some other day," He started to drag Jacqui toward the back door.

"We will not let you leave here with her, Lancaster. We can stop you."

He stopped and regarded Bronwyn. The red haze of madness had receded from his dark eyes, replaced by animal cunning. "I suppose you can at that. I don't know how, but your words have the ring of truth," He shook his head sadly and turned his head to Jacqui. "This one held the key to our ancient struggle. Obviously, I will not be the one to use her to unlock that final victory," The madness burned brightly again and his right hand rose high above Jacqui. "But NEITHER will YOU, High BITCH!"

The raised hand turned black and began to shimmer and pulse with a strange glow that heralded the total absence of light instead of its presence. The glow coalesced into a writhing mass above the pair and then it began to beam down onto Jacqui, who was still struggling to free herself. The instant the light grazed her, she screamed in utter agony.

"NOOOOOO!!!!" Laurie's scream answered her daughter's and she reacted without thinking, forging a healing link with her child and the child in her womb. Her power, backed by Bronwyn's own, flowed into Jacqui, deflecting the soul- consuming black light and healing the damage already done. Lancaster tried to increase the power of his spell, but the combined power of the Sisterhood and Laurie first deflected his thrust and then reflected it back into him. The force of his destructive burst backfired on him, and blew him bodily away from the reeling Jacqui.

Jacqui regained her senses to see Bronwyn and the Sisterhood and her Mother. She took a tentative step toward them when her Mother collapsed to the floor. Instantly, Jacqui tried to forge her own link with her Mother, but failed. Her Mother resisted her, and what Jacqui saw in the instant she was in touch with her chilled her soul. Laurie had not guarded herself in the link with her daughter. Jacqui should have died and Laurie had taken the damage done to her child into herself. Now, her Mother was dying.

Lancaster struggled to his feet. Jacqui saw him gathering himself, felt the power growing in him again, and wanted to strike out at him, to turn him into puddles of sewage as he had just done to her Mother's friends. Her Mother's hand gripped hers and she knew she could not.

She had to do something. He had to be stopped. What had he said? "You take from men the power of the Dark One?" The followers of the Goddess were weak because they lacked that power? Her soul in torment, Jacqui tapped the full resources of power she had been told time and again were hers. The most powerful magic she knew was the one enchantment she still could not control well enough to use safely on herself, but she could still use it . . . other ways.

Bronwyn was the first to sense the change in Jacqui, and fearing Jacqui was retaliating in kind, called out to her to stop. Jacqui heard nothing save her Mother's scream, and saw nothing save the man whose lust for power had fatally injured the woman who had twice given birth to her.

The air about Jacqui literally began to seethe with visible power and she quietly intoned the words she had been taught . . .

The world exploded in a cold flash of pure blinding white light, with her at its fiery center. In the core of the swirling maelstrom of power, Jacqui sang the song her Mother and Bronwyn had taught her and bent the fabric of life to her will. When the storm faded, the power of the Dark One had been banished from that room.

Moments later, she was kneeling beside her Mother, crying. "Mother," she begged. "Let me in. Please, let me try to help you. I love you. Don't leave me."

"No, my love. You cannot help me. There is not enough life- power in you to heal me without the cost of your own life."

"Bronwyn, help me," Jacqui cried. "Make her let me in. Help me help her."

"I don't think we can, my love," Bronwyn said sadly. "Certainly not if she resists us."

"And I will resist, Bronwyn, for even with the combined power of the Sisterhood, it may not be enough. Bronwyn, remember my Death Wish?" Shocked, Bronwyn paled, then nodded. Laurie turned back to Jacqui. "You can be Jack again. The High Leader's attack has all but stripped me of my life-power. The enchantment that I put upon you, the magic that forces you to do the Transformation yourself will die with me. The power is in you, daughter, and the Sisterhood can help you. You may never be this powerful again. Don't let me destroy your dreams."

Bronwyn sighed. "It may not work, Laurel. She has killed with the power of the Goddess. She won't have the power to complete the spell with us."

"I did not kill him," Jacqui snarled. "I Transformed him. See for yourself."

One of the Sisters, a woman Jacqui recognized as her high school vice principal, ran over to where Lancaster had fallen under Jacqui's onslaught. She made a cry of wonder and returned, carrying a newborn baby in her arms.

"The child is female, High Priestess," Thea said in hushed awe.

"She can't wield the Dark One's power, and she can be raised again, this time without the Dark Power's taint. I don't have the control Mother had. I could not focus the spell on just him. So, I attacked any "Y" chromosome I touched with my spell. I don't know what the range of the enchantment was, but whatever it is, there is not a male creature inside of that perimeter," Jacqui whispered, still trying to focus her power to pierce her Mother's defenses.

Bronwyn nodded and knelt down beside Mother and daughter. She rested a hand on each of them. "Then what your Mother said is true, Jacqui. Her spell dies with her. Given what I have just witnessed, your power is now so great, that with all of us acting together, we could reverse your mother's spell together," she paused, her voice catching, "once your Mother crosses over, but you will leave here as Jack once more."

That was what she wanted, wasn't it? "But what about Mum? What about..," She choked back a sob. "What about my baby?" Tears flowed down Jacqui's cheeks, cutting tracks in the sooty aftermath of Lancaster's magical attack.

"Your mother wants you to have your dream," Bronwyn said gently. "She will resist healing if it costs you your dream. We can do nothing for her without her help. We do not have the power to overcome the greatest healer of our age. As for your child, he is the product of your lover's sperm and your Transformed egg. Two sperm cannot make a child, Jacqui, and that is precisely what they will become once you Transform back. Your baby will simply revert into two separate sperm cells; one that came from the father, and one that used to be your egg. Now come, for our time is short. The optimal time for the spell is just as your Mother's spell is broken."

Jacqui knew that was a euphemism for "just as your Mother dies."

Jacqui bent over her mother, crying on her shoulder. "Do it, Jack," Laurie's voice was only a weak, thready whisper as she called him by a name he had not heard on her lips in over a year and a half. The end had to be near. "Take this chance to be your dream again. Let the last sight I see in this life be the power of the Goddess encircling you. Let me pass over knowing that the wrong I committed against you will be corrected in that next instant."

Bronwyn took Jacqui's hand. "One more thing you must know. A man cannot wield the power of the Goddess, Jacqueline. When you do this, you do so understanding that you will lose your powers forever. The Gift of the Goddess is given only once. I will still love you and watch over you, but you will be as you were before - a normal human man."

Jacqui did not really have time to consider what to do. It was all happening so fast, and everyone was doing their part to help her return to "normal". She watched as the combined power of the Sisterhood began to light the room above each of the surviving sisters. Their individual lights then merged, and continued to grow until their power became a visible, living thing enfolding the group circled about Laurie's body on the floor. Finally, the light seemed to move from the group, to coalesce into a shimmering halo above and about the High Priestess and Jacqueline.

Jacqui reeled momentarily as she fought to contain and control the power given her by the other Sisters. "You must say the incantation, Jacqueline. You must complete the rite to change yourself back. I give you the power of your Sisters. I give you my power. Make it one with yours and Make your dreams come true."

Once again, Jacqui murmured words of power, and sang a song of love. The power seemed to implode into her, filling her soul, where it resided for long eternities encompassing infinitesimal fractions of a second. The incredible totality of the merged power threatened to explode from her, flying out uncontrolled, in all directions, but Jacqui fought against that explosion, fought to bend the seething light to her will.

Fought, and won.

With the last vestige of her mental strength, she completed the incantation and focused the combined power of the Sisterhood.

And the world went black.

A Change of Direction Epilogue

"... wake up. Come on now, darling, you must wake up."

Mum was yelling again, Jacqui thought muzzily. Must have overslept again. Sleep started to unravel and. . . MUM!??!

Eyes shot open. "MUM, you're alive!" She blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to make them clear. Her Mother was still standing there above her. "Aren't you? This isn't a dream or heaven, is it?"

"I am alive, darling, and you are still my daughter. You took the gift of the Goddess, the power that could have given you back your dreams, and you used it to shatter my resistance to the healing magic, and then, to give me life," Her Mother gave a huffy sniff of mock disapproval. "In spite of my decision to keep you from wasting the power on me."

"Dreams change, mum, and my dreams have changed. Besides, there was no choice. You matter much more to me than a penis. The comparison is laughable."

Jacqui tried to get up so she could enfold her Mother in a hug, but weakness dragged her back down. "None of that, Miss. You need rest to regain your strength. Bronwyn is incredulous over what you did tonight," She grinned that wonderful, impish grin of hers. So beloved, Jacqui thought. "Do you know that when you attacked Lancaster, you also Transformed every known member of the Brotherhood at the same time?" Jacqui shook her head, surprised at that. "Yes indeed. Now almost every Sister has a newborn daughter to raise. Quite a change for all of us, let me tell you. We have centuries of experience with boy babies, but absolutely none with girl babies. Bronwyn took Lancaster, and has named her Lani. She thinks he, or rather, she thinks Lani has the potential to be a Priestess, with a lot of love and the right training and upbringing."

"What happens if they learn the Transformation Spell?" Jacqui asked.

"If you are worried about a resurgence of that faction of the Brotherhood, don't be. You did your job very well. They were all newborns. We just did the Birth Rites on them. None of them will ever wield the Dark Power again."

"You know what is really strange, Mum? Lancaster wanted to breach the rift between the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood, to remarry the Power of Darkness with the Power of the Light, and now he will. Only instead of his son doing it as a member of the Brotherhood, *she* will do it as a member of the Sisterhood," She stopped and gathered her courage. "I wanted to kill him, Momma, but at the last instant, you stopped me. What I did was all I could think of doing to prevent him from using that awful power again."

Laurie soothed with a gentle physical and magical touch. "Hush. You did just fine. What is really amazing is that in all the centuries of strife between our two factions, we of the Sisterhood never considered using the Transformation Spell that way. We always saw it as a gift. I guess it took someone who did not see it quite that way to find its potential as a weapon," Laurie checked her daughter's forehead and found it cool. "Now, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Mum. A little tired, but otherwise really fine," A hand went protectively to her stomach and her healer's touch sought the baby sleeping there. Her child was all right, but different than before, she was surprised to note. A grin lit her face. "My baby is fine, too. And *she* won't have to be Transformed. There will be one more girl baby for the Sisterhood to raise."

"You think you are having a daughter? Darling, I told you - our family doesn't have daughters," Jacqui's brows lifted in mute challenge and Laurie blushed. "Well, our children don't start out as daughters. Our eggs reject sperm that carry the X chromosome."

"This one started out as a male, too, Mom. But as I told Bronwyn, every male creature within the range of my spell was Transformed. Including Junior," she laughed patting her still flat tummy. "In the end, I did exactly what I told you I would not do. I Transformed my son."

Both women shared a chuckle at that irony, then Laurie became serious again. "You know, dear. You will still be able to go back to being a male. You are still on track to learn the Control of the Transformation Spell. You can use it on yourself as those other men in the records did. The part of my original spell that imposed the prohibition against you using the Transformation on yourself still stands since you saved me. However, I would say you will have ample power for the job once you have satisfied all the experience requirements."

"And let someone else raise my kid?" Jacqui's look was mutinous and her tones were indignant. "Not bloody likely. We are talking the first female point guard in the NBA here. She is going to need the proper example. Besides. Marcus is her father. Since she is going to be a girl all her life, we can share her with her paternal grandparents. It might make his passing easier on them."

Laurie raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Are those your only reasons, Missy?"

Jacqui simply grinned. "And I would not give up the love and loving of the Sisterhood for anything, Mom," Jacqui pulled her Mother down into the bed beside her for a quick kiss and hug.

 

The End

 

 

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