Sylvie

“Lovely.”  Casey quipped. “This sounds similar to the attack on the Flying Cannibals that Vivienne and I did to rescue Faye, except I am a little less prepared.”

“What do you mean?”  Sylvie watched the lines of red still circling where Code was still thinking. “I don’t know much about how they met or what you all did before we came to the manor.”  Sylvie blinked her half-moon eyes, “I think I broke Code, this is a bad thing.”

“Give it time, all computers are a bit weird at times.”  Casey offered.  “What I meant was, I was armed to the teeth back then…”  Casey suddenly had a flashback of Vivienne breaking her flesh with her long fangs and drinking from her with such care that she barely felt the blood loss. “...I-um…yes, ar-armed to… oh my Sylvie…this memory needs to stop.”

When her HUD showed five hundred feet, Sylvie found a little nook and pulled to the side, and killed the engine.  Flipping down the kickstand, She took off her helmet and helped Casey with hers. “What memory are you referring to?”  Sylvie asked politely.

Once freed from the constraints of the helmet, Casey jumped off the motorcycle and hugged Sylvie tight. “I feel like my mind just cheated on you.”  She mumbled and wished the memory hadn’t surfaced. “I was recalling the night we saved Faye, and I remembered a…closeness with Vivienne, that made me react.”

Blinking with a look of confusion in her full moon and reflective white eyes, Sylvie placed the helmets on the bike and took Casey’s hand into hers. “How do you feel about Vivienne, right now..this moment?”  Sylvie squeezed her partner’s hand, “I don’t mean how the memory made you feel, I mean right now.”

Stumbling behind as Sylvie pulled her along, Casey nearly tripped on a loose rock but managed to save herself somewhat gracefully. “I honestly don’t feel anything for her right now.  Respect?  She took care of me for nearly a year and I made the decision to leave.”  Casey righted herself and kept up with Sylvie. “I might have loved her at one time, but it’s not the same now.”  Casey felt her blood rise and color her cheeks to a deep red rose. “Sorry.  I will try not to do that again.”

Without a shred of warning, Sylvie stomped her foot and came to a complete stop.  She turned to face a guilty-looking Casey and warmly spoke. “Love.  My love.  You are your memories.  They are what shaped you into the lovely woman that I adore completely.  You can’t cheat on me with your memory.”  Sylvie took a moment and knelt to pick up a rock. “This is real, in the moment and solid.”  Lifting her thin claw to Casey’s temple, Sylvie continued. “That memory is just a shadow, it isn’t real any longer.  It’s time is past.”  Crushing the rock in her hand, Sylvie blew the dust into the air where it disappeared. “Just like that, the rock is history.  Our memory.”  Smiling widely, she added a final statement. “We are creating memories together, we are together…”  Sylvie pressed a light kiss on Casey’s heart-shaped lips. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Casey.”

Suddenly recalling the four scars on her neck where she’d asked Vivienne to leave them, Casey reached over to the small holes and rubbed them. “I will do my best to get these removed, Sylvie.”

Peering over to see the fang marks that she’d seen a few times before, Sylvie laughed. “Why now?  I have seen them for a while.  Before you left and most recently in our lovely bedroom.  Don’t get weird about them at this point.”  She winked and resumed walking to Haley’s home. “Enough, we can delve into your guilt later.”  Cackling lightly to herself as they made a decent pace, Sylvie added, “Depending on how guilty you feel when we get home…I might just have one hell of a great time.  Folks tend to work harder when they think they’ve been bad. My creamy-pop.”

Suddenly seeing herself drenched in whipped cream, Casey felt her temperature again rise through her body, making her nipples visibly hard. “You are a devil, Sylvie.”  She laughed and tugged gently on one of her partner’s cornrows. “I really want to get this over with now.”  Casey purred and skipped beside Sylvie still enjoying the exciting thought. “Are we close enough for Code to interrupt whatever is going on around here?”  She held her hands up and spun in place playfully. “What about that satellite internet company thing? Comet-link or some nonsense?”

“Code just came back online with all green lights.”  Sylvie followed suit and spun once with her progeny. “You wait until you have your own interesting AI.”  Sylvie got serious and spoke to Code. “Okay we are within three hundred feet of the house.  What are you detecting?  Can you reroute any data things until we are done?  Or even eliminate them completely?”

Blinking with green lights around the edges of Sylvie’s vision, Code finally responded. “Anomaly, detected.  Rerouting memory addresses, secondary CPU online.  Primary…primary…primary…c-c-cpu error.”  Code started spilling out random numbers and letters for a couple of seconds then answered Sylvie. “780 Madison Drive has three reporting access points to the internet.  Cable connection, Satellite service on the rooftop and two different mobile units.  Shutdown imminent.” 

“Fuck.”  Sylvie exclaimed and sat down somewhat defeated.

Casey squatted beside Sylvie and gently pushed on her girlfriend, “My line, darling-dove.  I am sure Code will be back online in a few seconds, don’t give up.  Maybe use some blood?”

Holding out her hand for Casey, Sylvie stood up and hugged her partner. “Great idea.”  Sylvie summoned her blood to flow throughout her eyes, staining the full moons to make them appear like a pair of harvest blood moons. Roughly ten seconds later the HUD reappeared and the lights once more began lighting green one at a time. “It seemed to have worked, Casey.  I see it coming online now.”  She hopped excitedly for a second, “See, I keep telling you that this life was made for you.  Blood IS everything, you’ve learned it better than me and I have been around over two-hundred and seventy years.”

“What a lovely compliment.”  Casey squeezed Sylvie’s hand. “When we brag about this later, I will say I saved the mission.”  She stuck her tongue out at Sylvie for a second. “Someone should take care of the dish on the roof, that would solve one thing for Code.”  Furling her eyebrows, Casey posed a question. “Does that count as us splitting up, since we are in the same place?”

Still waiting for Code to come completely online, Sylvie tilted her head and nibbled on her lower lip briefly. “I wouldn’t say that counts.  We are doing stuff together with the same mission.”  She nodded, “Yeah, the dish would make it easier for Code, and it appears I shouldn’t push the computer too hard at this point.”  Sylvie tapped her chest. “I will go take care of the dish, that way I can program Code directly after.  I will come in the back door after.  Maybe we will catch Haley in the middle.”

“So you want me to go barreling through the front door?”  Casey laughed and raised her eyebrow. “Seems really risky.  There could be a trap at the door.”

“Ha ha, a trap door.”  Sylvie shook her head, “You can spider-woman inside.  You have my permission.” She giggled.

Suddenly aware that the command was embedded in her mind and body, Casey smiled and shook her head. “You didn’t need to officially do it…”  She pulled Sylvie into her arms, “So domineering.”

Code bleeped and sent up its normal question. “Querry?”

Casey spoke first, “Thank fuck.”  She kissed her partner. “I can’t have you habitually using my words.”

“Code, what do you remember about the jamming or stop data request?”  Sylvie carefully asked the glitchy AI.  She gave a sly wink to her partner, “Your words are so fun though.”

“Memory addresses confirmed, recalling last recorded message.”  Code started spinning the lights once more and after a few seconds stopped and replied to Sylvie. “Three potential locations for internet access.  Querry?”

Sylvie motioned for Casey to follow.  Quietly Sylvie gave Code its instructions. “I will handle the satellite dish, and take it offline.  That should make it easier on you to jam outgoing messages.  I would like you to find the data.  I am sure it is stored somewhere, with that failsafe.”

Code blipped a few times and a few blue lights appeared in Sylvie’s display. “Secondary CPU performing all coded functions, Primary CPU performing jamming using 256-bit encryption enhanced beyond 1028 due to blood addition.  Scanning for files…scanning…”  Code went silent.