Three Square Meals Ch. 087

Between the picnic and the glorious sunshine, the three of them soon got drowsy, so John took off his jacket to use as a pillow and lay down on the blanket. The two girls cuddled up against him and he stroked their backs, quickly lulling them into sleep. John stayed awake though, thinking about Rachel and her father, hoping that they'd be able to work through their differences.

He heard Rachel's footsteps long before he saw her, greeting the brunette with a smile as she knelt down beside Dana on the blanket.

"You three look adorable sleeping out here," Rachel whispered, a tender undercurrent to her voice as she brushed her fingers through Dana's long auburn tresses. "How was the picnic?"

"We've had a lovely afternoon," John replied, shifting his left arm slightly to place his hand on Rachel's deliciously toned thigh. When she glanced down at his hand with a smile and a raised eyebrow, he couldn't help laughing. "That was meant to be supportive, not suggestive."

Rachel took his hand in hers and gently caressed him with her fingers. "You've been amazingly supportive, thank you so much."

"How did it go with your father?" John asked, a hopeful expression on his face.

"There wasn't any more screaming or shouting," she replied, a pink blush appearing in her cheeks. Her grey eyes softened as she added, "Thank you for stopping me from running away again. If I'd stormed off like that, I'm not sure I'd have ever agreed to come back here. I think Dad and I... we might be able to make things better between us."

"I'm really pleased for you, honey," John said, turning his hand so that he could stroke the soft skin of her wrist with his thumb.

She gazed at him for a long moment, then asked in a hushed voice, "You were planning to ask my father for permission to marry me, weren't you?"

"Yes, but this afternoon definitely wasn't the right time. Tempers had been running hot and we just dropped several huge bombshells on the man," John replied, remembering the look of shock on Henry Voss' face. He gave Rachel an affectionate smile as he intertwined his fingers with hers. "Nothing gets past you, does it beautiful?"

"Intelligence, the double-edged sword," she replied with a rueful smile. "It must be wonderful going through life completely oblivious to everything and being able to savour each astonishing new surprise."

"I think it's still possible to keep you on your toes," John replied, an enigmatic expression on his face.

Rachel caught the look, but misinterpreted it this time. She raised his hand to her lips, kissing it lovingly as she said, "I really appreciate that you were thinking about asking him. It's very thoughtful and just the kind of thing you'd do, but my father wasn't ready to hear about our engagement." She glanced down at Dana and added, "I talked to him briefly about my relationship with the two of you. He tried to be understanding, but appearances to the outside world are very important to my father. What we have is unconventional and he... struggled... with the idea."

"I don't want to cause you any kind of extra complications," John said earnestly. "Ultimately all that matters to me is your happiness."

"I know," she replied, kissing his fingers again and letting out a contented sigh. She glanced back at the stately home up on the hill and sounded wistful as she continued, "When you asked Calara's parents for their blessing, I know how much it meant to her. She's very close to her family though, their relationship is light years from mine with my father."

"There's no rush," Alyssa murmured, revealing that she was awake. She sat up and smiled at Rachel. "Things might change between you and your father, it's still early days yet."

Rachel was about to reply, but Dana yawned and stretched, turning around and beaming a sparkling smile at her lover. "Hey, babes... I missed you."

"You fibber, you were fast asleep," Rachel teased the redhead, leaning down to give her a loving kiss.

Dana smiled as they parted, her sky-blue eyes searching her lover's face. "You look happy. I'm sure John already asked if it went well, so I won't make you repeat yourself."

That earned her another kiss from Rachel. "It did. Thank you."

They all sat up and made room for the brunette so that she could sit with them on the blanket too. John watched Rachel as she put her arm around the redhead and spotted when her grey eyes drifted across the lake to the headstone marking her mother's final resting place. He turned to his right to see Alyssa studying him closely, listening to his every thought. She didn't say anything, but just nodded slightly.

"There is something important I wanted to talk to you about, Rachel," John said, his baritone voice calm and gentle.

Rachel pivoted on the blanket so she could face him. His compassionate tone sent her mind whirring, but for the first time in months, she had no idea what was making him look at her that way. She reasoned that by being down at the lake, it had something to do with her mother and that thought made her heart skip a beat.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"Something unexpected happened when we went to visit Sakura's home with her," he began cautiously. Glancing to his right for a moment, he continued, "Alyssa showed Sakura the psychic imprints left behind by her family."

"Like you did with my mother," Rachel murmured, her voice catching.

He nodded and reached out to hold her hand. "That's right. But I took it a step further..."

Her eyes widened as she gazed at him in wonder. "Sakura was so different when you returned! Contented, calm, at peace... That can only mean..." Her eyes welled up with tears. "Please... Can you do that for me?"

John smiled at her, then slowly rose to his feet and glanced up the hill at the Voss family home. His eyes started to glow blue as he said to Alyssa, "I need to include the mansion too; this is going to be a lot harder."

Alyssa stood beside him, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. All of a sudden, psychic memories flashed before his eyes, the blonde opening a bridge to the Astral Plane and linking it to him. Rachel's mother danced across the grass beside the lake, a beautiful smile on her face as she twirled her daughter around in time to lively music. She'd passed on her high cheekbones and delicate features to Rachel, the similarities between the two quite striking.

"We'll give you everything we've got," Alyssa murmured, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes. He felt Edraele's presence strengthening in his mind as she agreed.

Taking a deep breath, John began to gather his will, feeling his body tingling as both his Matriarchs began to channel their energy to him again. This time he was ready for the resistance that sought to oppose him from doing what needed to be done. He focused his willpower to pierce the ethereal barrier once more, feeling the towering but impotent fury of that ancient presence lurking in the Astral Plane.

Eldritch energy began to coil around his arms, the hair standing up as his body crackled with the vast surge of power that was charging within him. He closed his eyes and with a confident smile on his face he blasted that energy across the Astral plane, striking the vast wall and punching his way through.

Suddenly he felt a yawning chasm of sickness and despair, with waves of revulsion and horror washing over him. The astral presence was gloating now, the otherworldly behemoth revelling in his suffering. He felt like rancid fingernails were being scraped across the inside of his eyeballs, and he toppled forward, retching at the stomach-churning sensation.

Alyssa fell to the ground with him, stunned into insensibility as she was assailed by the same feelings of dread and nausea, sharing them in full force over their bond.

"John!" Rachel screamed, sounding absolutely terrified.

"Holy fuck!" Dana cried out in horror.

John could hear the girls scrabbling towards him across the ground, just as an eerie crackling filled the air. He managed to drag his eyes open, fighting against the urge to vomit, and saw a convulsing black portal shimmering in the air a dozen metres away. Thick grey fog poured out of that pulsating rent between the planes, sending misty clouds floating down to the lawn and across the lake.

As he looked on in stunned disbelief, a writhing tentacle slithered through, the slimy appendage covered in a revolting mix of jagged claws and insane eyes. It quivered in the air as if tasting the scent of reality and revelling in that sensation. The loathsome tentacle was quickly joined by a second repulsive limb, this one oozing with black ichor that bubbled when it dripped onto the grass, filling the air with a vile stench.

"Close the portal!" Dana begged him, shaking John in terror.

John tried to shut the channel of energy down, but whatever was opposing him had lashed onto that column of power and was forcing it open with freakish titanic strength. Corrupting his bridge to the Astral Plane, the hideous abnormality was now using it to send its unholy spawn after them, intent on defiling them in unspeakable ways.

*Shut off the power!* he yelled at his Matriarchs.

Edraele's terrified scream filled his mind, before it was abruptly cut off in a heart-stopping instant.

Alyssa was still reeling from the shock and she let out a feeble groan, clutching at her face as she spasmed on the grass next to him.

The tentacles suddenly seemed aware of their presence, coiling ominously as they undulated towards them. Despite the bright afternoon, the sun seemed to dim in their tainted presence, a brooding shroud enveloping the lakeside bank. There was a tortured wailing sound, like hundreds of voices united in their agony as something big thumped against the otherworldly gate, making it bulge obscenely.

Dana grabbed John's shirt, tearing buttons in her haste. "That portal's getting bigger!" she yelled at him frantically. "Do something!"

"John!" Rachel screamed, sounding petrified as the twisted monstrosity of eyes and claws lashed towards her.

He shook his head to try to clear it, then tore off his watch communicator and shoved it into Dana's hand. "Call for backup!" John blurted out, staggering to his feet.

Trying to ignore the pounding in his head, he attempted to will his psychic speed into effect, but his concentration was shattered by the barrage of needle-like pain assaulting his mind. The tentacles surged forward, intent on the brunette who lay paralysed with fear, barbed, hook-like claws rippling with their ghastly hunger. John leapt forward, acting by instinct alone as he formed two telekinetic barriers around his forearms. He blocked the stinging lash with a double armed parry, trying not to get flung backwards by the monstrous strength behind that blow.

The squelching ooze-covered limb attacked next, smashing downwards with a clumsy overhead blow. He blocked it easily, but the thumping impact sent a spray of black ooze outwards, the viscous ichor spattering over his shoulders. There was a tingling sensation for a second before the agonising pain started, his arms burning as the black liquid bubbled with malevolent glee.

"Fuck!" John hissed, lurching back a step.

Rachel had been shocked out of her daze by his cry of pain and she scampered backwards, while John tried to protect her from a second scything strike by the clawed tentacle. It whirled through the air, then surged forward, changing the angle of attack and catching him unprepared. The barbed hooks ripped into his right arm, spraying the black, rubbery tentacle in a fountain of blood. It seemed to shiver in delight, coiling back on itself and smearing the sticky redness over its multitude of eyes.

"There's more of it coming through!" Rachel screamed in warning.

John glanced behind the cavorting tentacles, seeing a huge blunt-toed... hoof... stomp down on the ground as the portal yawned wide. He winced at the searing agony in his arms and shoulders, trying his best to stay on his feet as he battled with the pain. Sensing his weakness, the tentacles looped towards him again, given greater length to attack as more of the creature wedged its way through the rip in reality.

Dana had her arms around Alyssa and was dragging her away from the hideous creature, when she heard the high-pitched scream of retro-thrusters on full burn. "John! Get clear!" she cried out to him in warning.

The slimy tentacle swung down in a heavy overhead blow, but John had no intention of being showered in more of that hideous ooze. He dived to one side, managing to narrowly avoid being splashed by thick black liquid as the tentacle smashed into the ground. The second one whipped across his legs, flaying him from thigh to calf as the barbs tore into his flesh. He crawled backwards, his face a mask of pain as he desperately tried to put some distance between them.

The unnatural gloom was suddenly pierced with a blazing flare of blue light and John heard the distinctive sound of Pulse Cannons opening fire. Faye had brought the Raptor in low over the lake and weapons capable of crippling a two-hundred-metre destroyer unloaded on the ethereal abomination. She strafed the hideous beast with sizzling blue laser bolts, from midway down its writhing tentacles right into the lower torso that was bulging through the groaning portal.

"Yeah, eat that you fucker!" Dana whooped, punching her fist in the air.

Outraged roaring boomed around the lake as the tentacles thrashed in that staccato hail of blue bolts. John sagged with relief, safe in the knowledge that nothing living would be able to survive that storm of laser fire. Abruptly the scream of Pulse Cannon fire cut out, followed a second later by more wrathful bellows, the spine-chilling noise sounding louder than ever. He gaped at the ethereal monster in shock. It was completely unscathed by the laser fire that had raked over its revolting hide!

"There's no fucking way that thing could live..." Dana whispered in horror, realising that the Raptor's weapons had absolutely no effect.

"It's an eldritch monster!" Rachel gasped, her astounding mind searching for answers despite the debilitating fear coursing through her body. She crouched down by John, helping to drag him as he crawled further away from the rampaging beast. "You hurt it before with psychic attacks, it must be vulnerable to them!"

John glanced at Alyssa, but she was lost to unconsciousness, lying limp in Dana's arms. His own body was burning with pain, from the savage rips in his arm and legs, to the still-hissing black ichor that was searing his flesh. He could barely stand, let alone try and fight this beast, even if he could concentrate over the agony.

*YOU WILL SUFFER AN ETERNITY OF TORMENTS FOR YOUR IMPUDENCE!*

The terrible dirge that filled John's mind seemed to echo with a chorus of agonised screams, as if drawn from an endless legion of wretched victims. That baleful cacophony jarred into his very soul and he shrank back from it, his every instinct telling him to flee in terror. With an urgent desperation borne of fear, he did the only thing he could think of, slashing through his mind to sever the source of his connection to that ungodly presence. The backlash blotted everything from his mind, all except the raging wail of frustration from the stygian monstrosity that was hell-bent on his destruction.

The barbed tentacle lunged for John, thrashing with an inhuman thirst for more of his blood. Fighting back her terror, Rachel flung herself over him, shielding his body with her own to buy him a few more precious seconds. She clenched her eyes shut, ignoring Dana's horrified scream as she waited for that moment of agony when the barbs would slice into her flesh...

And she waited...

A screeching cry of indignant fury left her quaking with fear, but it was Dana's sudden gasp of shock that coaxed Rachel into slowly open her eyes. John's face swam into view before her, his eyes rolled back and his mouth agape, her man out cold. She whirled around to look at the massive beast that had assailed them, then gaped at it in stunned amazement as its foul body was forced back through the rapidly closing portal. The tentacles convulsed in the air, dragged backwards as the rift began to seal itself. Despite the creature's concerted efforts, it couldn't keep the portal open and it yanked its tentacles back through the gap with a final blood-curdling roar.

The ethereal fog faded away, as did the revolting stench from the beast. In its place, Rachel picked up the repugnant smell of the black fluid that was still eating into John's shoulders. She acted immediately and grasped his hands, focusing intently on trying to heal his numerous wounds and counter the corrosive effects of the horrible ooze. The misty healing aura rolled down her arms to envelop John, spreading out from his hands and out over his body.

Her concentration was momentarily disrupted as a piercing hiss filled the air, the onyx liquid visibly recoiling from the gentle grey shroud. She watched in fascination as the ooze began to smoke, reacting as though it was being burned by the healing mist. Rachel ramped up the strength of her restorative aura, purifying John's body of this foul corruption. The terrible lacerations across his arm and leg began to boil, smoke pouring from the wounds as she cleansed the tainted residue left behind by those vicious claws.

"What the fuck is that shit?!" Dana asked, a look of revulsion on her face as she crouched down beside them.

When the lingering infestations had all been dealt with, Rachel finally relaxed, concentrating on regenerating John's lacerated flesh. "I've no idea... some kind of toxic residue. It looked and behaved the same way when Irillith got infected after that nightmare."

"Thank God you were here!" Dana suddenly gasped with relief, throwing her arms around her lover. "A minute ago, I was wishing you were anywhere else..."

Rachel sagged into the redhead's arms, overcome by waves of exhaustion. Between Alyssa tapping her for psychic energy and using her powers to cleanse John, she felt a deep weariness down to her bones. "I felt the same way about you," she murmured, breathing deeply. Raising her heavy eyes to her lover, Rachel gave Dana a worried frown. "I'm not going to last much longer. We need to get them back to the Invictus; I can't deal with questions from my father right now."

Dana nodded her understanding. "Let me deal with your father, you just rest." She pressed a button on the watch communicator. "Faye, bring the Raptor down! We need an immediate evac."

"Of course!" Faye replied, the slight waver in her synthetic voice reflecting her worry.

***

"What happened to her?!" Luna gasped, running into the study.

The Maliri girls looked up at her with shock and fear on their faces, four of them kneeling around Edraele who lay unconscious on the floor. Gaenna was standing over them, nibbling a nail anxiously. It was the House Baelora Matriarch that had called for Luna by hitting the panic button on Edraele's desk.

"She just said she was going to help John," Kali said, her voice filled with worry.

Leena nodded, brushing some strands of hair away from Edraele's face. "She was fine one minute, then she just toppled over! There was no warning or anything!"

***

Alyssa let out a low groan, clutching at her head to try and make the pounding stop. She felt hollow inside, as though all the psychic energy had been forcibly drained out of her, which she realised was literally true. The sensation left her trembling with fear, feeling more unsettled than she'd been in months.

"Thank God for that!" Dana blurted out, hugely relieved to see the blonde stir.

"My love, are you alright?" Calara asked, her voice throbbing with concern.