Message-ID: <16514eli$9810150709@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: tigger@alices.com (Tigger) Subject: RP TG: A Change of Direction (16/22) (Magic, TG) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Reply-To: tigger@alices.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-ID: <3623f494.943803@news.erols.com> A Change of Direction Part 16 by Tigger Copyright 1997, all rights reserved. Archiving/publication of this author's work on any system that requires payment in any form is prohibited by the author and is in violation of my copyright to Chapters 7 and beyond. No archiving or redistribution of this work is permitted without this copyright attribution included, intact and complete, in the posting/archiving. 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 own 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 which they personify into the being 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 own 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 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 Alan, then Anna, 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 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 figure head, 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 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. ~-------------~ End Part 16; Continued in Part 17 -- +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | | | | Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | ----