KISS and the Battle of GOOD vs EVIL
Part 35-E by Demoness

Gene walked out of the bathroom to find Gena staring 
in the mirror above the dresser.  "What's wrong, 
sweetheart?"  She was still wearing only a large 
hotel bath towel.  Gene ended up leaving his room 
with the others, taking his belongings with him, and 
went to Gena's room, where he would keep his stuff 
until his room was fixed.  A call was already made 
about the situation.  He was not going to get 
another room.  The others went on their way while 
Gene settled in Gena's room.

Gene was to meet with Paul, Peter and Ace shortly, 
while Gena was hoping to start meeting some of the 
other girls.  A shower with a little fun seemed to 
be a good idea, Gena commenting she had been looking 
forward to a shower since Las Vegas anyway.

"Who am I?" she asked, still staring at her 
reflection.

Gene came up behind her to give her a hug.  "It does 
take time to get used to," he admitted.  "I was 
lucky.  I not only had time, but was provided 
training.  My suggestion to you is to keep in mind 
your knowledge of the Craft.  The main difference is 
there are things which will manifest immediately 
into being.  So I suggest you exercise caution with 
some of your other spells and rituals for a while."  
He pulled back her loose dark hair with one hand and 
rested his chin on her shoulder.  "And the immediate 
manifestations seem to deal mainly with fire.  I 
suspect there might be some things that will have 
instant results that doesn't deal with fire.  That 
will come in time."

Gena turned around to hug him and rest her head on 
his shoulder. 

"You seem to have a good command of what we know you 
can do.  Considering circumstances, this is a good 
thing."

Gena took a deep breath, allowing herself to feel 
safe in Gene's arms, and one more time enjoy the 
feel of his body against hers.  "It feels great and 
yet scary.  Gene, I'm frightened."

"I understand," Gene stated softly, brushing her 
nose with his lips.  "But you'll do fine.  You 
always do.  You won't accept less for this.  And I 
won't allow you to," he assured her.

"There you go again," she smiled.  "Now I know it'll 
be all right.  You've never been wrong before.  
You're the one person in this world who has never 
let me down."

Gene pulled her head up for a kiss.  Breaking off 
the kiss, he let out a sigh.  "Company," he 
announced to her.  As he released her to walk across 
the room, he felt his clothes on again.  He looked 
back to find Gena dressed in a tank top and jeans.  
He opened the door to allow Shandi in.  "I'm glad 
you could make it," Gene said, then glanced back at 
Gena, who stood a few feet away.  When he saw her 
nod, he stepped away from the door.  "Come in and 
say hello to Gena," he said to Shandi.  "Sweetheart, 
this is Shandi.  Now I'm going to talk to the other 
guys.  Why don't you two sit down and get to know 
each other a little more in the meantime."  He 
pulled Gena to him for a kiss.  "I'll be back when I 
have to get ready for the meet and greet."

"Sure," Gena said.

"Hey, Gene.  How about making sure I can see Ace 
before we have to go to the meet and greet," Shandi 
requested.

"I'll do my best.  You two have fun," Gene said.  
"And Gena, don't go walking around by yourself.  I 
don't want you getting startled and flaming one of 
our side."

Gena frowned as Gene walked out of the room.  "I 
hate when he gets that way," she said to Shandi.  
"He's a pain in the ass, but I let him get away with 
it most of the time because I know he cares."

"Ace told me you're a special guest of Gene's.  How 
long have you known each other," Shandi asked, 
making herself comfortable in a chair at the table.  
Gena settled down across from Shandi.

"Nineteen years since we first met, but I really 
started to get to know Gene in '84."

"And Ace has known you for almost as long," Shandi 
added.

Gena nodded.  "Yeah.  In between KISS tours, I ran 
around the country after Ace."

Shandi studied Gena.  "You look tense.  Are you 
okay?  I can call Gene back, if you need him."

Gena shook her head.  "I think I need a break from 
Gene.  Suddenly we can't keep our hands off each 
other.  I'm just a little sore from the workout I 
had with him.  Then when we got into this room, 
showers were needed and Gene decided on water 
conservation."  She closed her eyes for a second.  
"I guess I'm also still a bit in shock over 
everything that happened since I got yanked away 
from JFK unexpentantly.  Talk about weird things 
going on around KISS shows.  This takes the prize."

"As much as I would love to sit and talk with you, I 
think maybe it would be best if I left and you try 
to get some rest, maybe take a nap, for a while."

"You know, I hate to agree with you, but you're 
right," Gena replied.

Shandi stood up.  "If you need anything, you can 
contact me now.  No matter how little or stupid it 
may seem.  It's those things that can be the biggest 
trouble, you know."

Gena nodded.  "Yeah.  Thanks.  I'll see you later."  
She stayed in her chair and watched Shandi leave the 
room.  She dropped her head on the table and let out 
a whimper.

--------------------------------------------------

Gena lay on the bed, lost in dreams.  The images 
playing in her mind resembled closer to nightmares, 
but in a dark, twisted mind, all seemed normal.  She 
twisted and turned in her sleep until she woke up 
with a gasp.

Sitting up, she looked around the room.  She was 
still alone.  For a moment she could have sworn 
there was someone else in the room.  Cautiously she 
got out of the bed, eyes searching the room for 
anything out of place.  When she found nothing, she 
chastised herself for letting her imagination get 
the best of her.  

She went into the bathroom to rinse her face with 
water, then looked in the mirror.  She realized that 
the tattoo of Gene's make-up was gone.  She'd have 
to ask about that when she had a chance.  She 
glanced one more time in the mirror and found 
herself jumping back as her eyes turned red.

"What the hell?" she asked, walking carefully out of 
the bathroom.  She held her hand out and produced a 
reddish fireball at the ready just in case.  Gene 
mentioned to her about her eyes turning red when she 
attacked the imposter.  But she was not in a fight 
at the moment.  She glanced in the dresser mirror as 
she passed it and noticed her eyes were back to 
their normal blue.  She knew her eyes changed 
colors, but to gray or a greenish gold, but this was 
something else.  

"It's just part of your new powers," she told 
herself, reaching into the room fridge to pull out a 
cranberry juice.   Then why did she feel so edgy? As 
she drink the juice, without paying much attention, 
she held out her free hand and was bouncing a 
fireball up and down in the palm of her hand.

Gena dropped the bottle when everything started to 
get hazy and red.  She feel to her knees and let out 
a gasp.  It felt wrong.  Everything felt wrong to 
her.  She had to get out of there.  Screw what Gene 
said.  He did not own her.  How dare he tell her 
what to do?

She got up and grabbed her black travel shirt that 
was hanging on a chair.  Her hands stopped for a 
moment as her fingers caressed the material of the 
blue denim shirt that hung on the same chair.  
Gene's favorite shirt.  For that time, she almost 
decided to stay in the room.

With a snarl, she pulled her hand back from the 
shirt as if it burned her.  Putting her shirt on, 
she grabbed her room key and left the room, slamming 
the door behind her.

She found herself wandering along the mess of the 
lobby, ignoring the crews trying to further clean up 
the lobby.  Other guests stared at her.  A man 
caught her attention.  She didn't like the way he 
stared at her. 

"Is there a problem?" she snarled at all who stared 
at her.

Everyone turned away, going back to their business.  
"Damn New Yorkers should know to mind their own 
business," she muttered.  "And tourists are always 
the worse."

She noticed that the man had left the lobby and went 
out into the street.  She followed him out the door 
and saw him walking down the street.  Gena went in 
his direction.  He glanced back, giving her another 
annoying stare as he continued his way on Park 
Avenue, before turning on 49th Street.  Gena walked 
faster to turn the corner before she lost him.  A 
part of her was telling her to leave him alone and 
go back to the hotel to wait for Gene, or anyone on 
their side.  Yet she was compelled to follow him and 
teach him a lesson for being rude.  Watching him 
turn on Madison, she realized she had no time for 
games.

She glanced around.  No one was paying attention to 
her.  Ducking into the shadows of a doorway, she 
turned into a bat and flew to catch up with her 
target.  When she was a few feet away from him, she 
turned back to herself.  Flames surrounding her, she 
grabbed the man and they both disappeared.

They found themselves in what Gena knew to be 
another dimension.  Not just any dimension, but 
where some of her new powers were born of.  She 
dragged the struggling man along the rocky surface 
of the hazy red place until slamming him into a 
boulder.  

She stared down at the man, now cowering and begging 
her to release him.  "You need to learn better 
manners," Gena snarled at the man.

"I meant no harm."

"You sneered.  You aren't very nice.  I can feel 
that.  So why should I spare you?" she asked.  A 
fireball appeared in her hand, as she stared down at 
the man, her eyes glowing red.

"Because ..."  The man looked up at her.  "I learned 
my lesson.  Please, release me.  Let me go."

Gena shook her head.  "Nah.  I don't think so.  So 
you can go back and tell others about me?  Not 
likely.  Looking at me as you had back in the hotel 
will be your last mistake."  

She shot the fireball at him.  He let out an 
anguished scream.  His fine tailored clothes were no 
more as the fireball burned through.  She hit him 
with another.  The man tried to scamper away but 
realized he was trapped.  She held her out her hand, 
palms out and shoot flames at him, watching in 
satisfaction as the man's clothes started to catch 
fire.

Gena stopped with the flame throwing, this time 
producing a bluish ball.  She stared down at the man 
with a grin.  He was hardly moving, mumbling in 
agony.  His eyes lifted to hers.  "No," he 
whispered.  "Please."

"You annoy me, you bastard!" she cried and flung the 
blue ball of intense fire at the man.  He let out a 
scream.  He continued to scream as Gena watched 
until he disappeared with the flames.  "Bastard!" 
she stated again.

Flames surrounded her and she found herself back in 
her room.  It took a few minutes before the awful 
thoughts of what she had just done hit her.  She ran 
to the mirror again, staring at her reflection.

"My Goddess," she said.  "What am I becoming?"  

----------------------------------------------------

Stephanie came by her room shortly after to see how 
Gena was settling in.  Gena seemed upset about 
something, but Stephanie could not get anything out 
of her, other than, "I'm fine.  Just getting used to 
everything," from Gena.

At last Stephanie looked over at Gena.  "Is there 
any problems with Gene?"

Gena shook her head, smiling.  "No.  Not at all.  In 
fact, things couldn't get better between us.  I'm 
just tired and a bit in shock, I guess."

Gena wished she could tell Stephanie what was 
troubling her.  She wanted to, but could not find it 
in her to do so.  Steph and Raven were the first 
ones on Girltalk to open up to Gena, and she found 
them quickly forming a bond.  She trusted Stephanie, 
but there just were some things better left unsaid.  

Dragging someone into a hellish dimension to kill 
them just because you didn't like how they looked at 
you was definitely best left unsaid.  She was not 
sure she could even share this with Jae, her best 
friend of 29 years.  Speaking of Jae, Gena had to 
wonder if she would make it to the show.  She lived 
in Queens, but her life was in a bit of a turmoil at 
the moment.  But Jae said she would try to make it 
there, and give them a chance to spend some time 
together, now that they were living on opposite ends 
of the country, rather than 3 houses apart.

"If you need anything, want to talk, or whatever," 
Stephanie said, "I'm here."

"I know.  Thanks.  But I'll be all right."

The door opened and both girls turned to see Gene 
enter the room.  Stephanie stood up.  "Looks like 
Paul is free.  So let me get going."

"Don't leave because of me," Gene said to Stephanie.

"No.  I'm leaving because of Paul," she smiled at 
Gene.

"Oh.  He's going to his room."

"And that's where I'm going.  See you two later," 
Stephanie said and left the room.

--------------------------------------------------

(By Raven)

Peter entered his room, returning from the meeting 
he had with the other three original members of 
KISS.  Eric Carr had dropped in briefly, as did 
Bruce, but mainly it was between the four.

He smiled when his eyes rested on Raven, who was 
waiting for him.  She was walking across the room 
when he entered.  She diverted her path to welcome 
him with a kiss, then went back to what she was 
doing.

"Not like I have a lot to choose from but what do 
you think I should wear to the Meet and Greet?"  
Raven asked, headed for the closet.  "I don't want 
to look too shabby."

Peter felt his gut knot up.  He hated to do this.  
"Uh, Raven.  You're..."
 
Raven turned.  She smiled, feeling nervous and yet 
elated at what was going to happen in a few hours.  
"I know.  I'm usually the last person to worry about 
what I wear.  Give me jeans and my boots and I'm 
happy.  But maybe I should actually break out a 
skirt.  I packed a nice broomstick.  They travel 
well."

"You're staying in the room," Peter said quietly.  
"It's not safe for you to go to the Meet and Greet."

She stood looking at him for several seconds.  She 
had to have heard wrong.  "What?"

He crossed the room and placed his hands on her 
shoulders.  "You're one of the main targets.  The 
Imposter is still around somewhere.  He may be the 
Drow or we may have two agents of E.V.I.L. to worry 
about there.  And there's that crazy doctor Shannon 
warned us about and..."

"Part of why I came was to meet everyone," Raven 
said softly, still finding it hard to believe.  
"Yes, I wanted to see your last performance, but 
this was also my chance to meet all of you and to 
meet everyone from Girltalk."

"And you will," he promised.  "But not tonight.  
Tonight you need to stay here while we check out 
everyone.  Lorie will verify that they're not agents 
of E.V.I.L. and Stephanie and the rest of us will be 
there in case any show up.  If we get everyone 
cleared in time Shandi will give you a call and you 
can come join us.  It just might take a while since 
we don't want to be too obvious with..."  He 
stopped.  She had a look he hated to see.  Living 
with someone for two years let you learn their body 
language.  Peter wished he were uneducated in 
Raven's.

"Wait a minute."  Suspicion burned in her eyes as 
she slowly said, "Lorie will be there.  Steph.  
Shandi.  Am I the only one being told to stay in my 
room?"

"Uh."  Brown eyes had to drop before blue eyes.  
"Yeah," he said quietly.

"And is this your idea?" she demanded. Peter looked 
around, wishing he had an easy way out.  "Well, I 
think it's a good idea..."

"But it's not yours," she said with certainty.  Two 
years of living together taught you a lot about your 
partner.  And there was a certain someone else she 
had years of experience being around.  "Gene, 
right?  And Paul too?  Both of them?"

"They do own KISS and they have the responsibility 
to..."  He saw her eyes narrow and he tensed.

"And am I also staying in my room during the 
performance?" she asked in a disquieting tone of 
voice as her temper steadily rose.  How dare they?!

"We can't be sure who's in the crowd," he pointed 
out.  "Buttercup could..."

"AND DO I LIVE THE REST OF MY LIFE COWERING IN SOME 
CORNER?!" she demanded, temper at full blaze.

Peter ducked, expecting any moment for the ceiling 
to fall or the lights to go out.

"I am NOT going to stop living because some 
egotistical pain wants to get his hands on me!"  
Raven stated, determined to stick to her resolve.  
"You can't order me around anymore so if I choose to 
show up for the Meet and Greet it is MY decision."

"Raven," he started.

"And I am NOT going to miss the last performance of 
KISS!" she stated firmly.  "If I have to level the 
whole city I will!  So you can just tell Paul and 
Gene to expect me there.  I bought my ticket.  And 
if they want to see who has the better lawyers, 
fine!  I haven't had a good legal fight in years."

"No one is trying to deny you the chance to see us," 
Peter assured her.  "But we have to take 
precautions."

"For me?  And how about the others?  Does all of 
Girltalk get to sit in the hotel and watch it on 
TV?"

"I told them it'd never work," Peter muttered.  He 
raised his voice to its normal level, meeting her 
eyes squarely as he stood, hands on her shoulders, 
hoping he could prevent another disastrous 
probability storm.  "What we discussed about the 
performance was having you backstage."  Which was 
one of the possibilities.

"What?" she asked, shocked into calm.

"Backstage, we can check everyone out, keep an eye 
on you and the other prime targets, and keep 
E.V.I.L. from getting its hands on you," he 
explained carefully.  "You won't see the performance 
as well as front row like I wanted.  But maybe you 
can act as a second drum tech, okay?"

She blinked rapidly.  Backstage.  She could be 
backstage with KISS.  She swallowed the catch in her 
throat.  "I can be there with you the last 
performance?"

"Sure," he promised, vowing he'd fight Gene, Paul, 
and E.V.I.L. itself to let her be there.

"Oh Peter!"  Raven threw her arms around his neck, 
her whole world suddenly RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT.

He patted her back.  With his nose buried in her 
hair, he could not help but notice how she smelled.  
He closed his eyes and his hands began a smooth 
stroking motion down her back.

She pulled back just enough to kiss him.  She could 
not believe it.  On stage with Peter!  That would be 
paradise.

His tongue licked at her lips and she opened them to 
let his tongue play along hers.  She felt his hands 
moving in the familiar pattern of exploration. 
 Thoughts of the next night's performance 
disappeared as she realized Peter was contemplating 
a different performance right now, here, in this 
room. 

He growled softly and suddenly picked her up.

"Peter!"  she cried as he playfully draped her over 
his shoulder.  "You shouldn't..."

"Don't you start about my age," he warned, patting 
her bottom.  He tossed her on the bed and leaped, 
pinning her beneath him before she would roll away.  
"I've got a bunch of young acolytes.  Know what that 
does for me?" 

"I know what it does for me," she murmured, looking 
up into his smoldering eyes.

"If you're going to assist me," he purred.  "I need 
to see how well you take orders."  His hands worked 
between them, unfastening her jeans.  "You'll have 
to be quiet while we perform.  Can you stay quiet?" 
he asked as they undressed each other.

He found some very ingenious, and pleasurable, ways 
to test her limits of staying quiet.

"You never were the quiet type," he observed as they 
lay, basking in the memories of what had just been.

She kissed his cheek.  "I love you."

He smiled.  "Now that you can say anytime you 
like."  He stroked her skin.  "And I love you.  
You're the luckiest thing that ever happened to me."

She chuckled and ran her hand through his hair, 
gazing into his half-drowsy eyes.  "But am I good or 
bad?"

He shifted positions, pulling her close.  Nuzzling 
her neck, he whispered, "When you're good you're 
very good, when you're bad, you're excellent."

She sighed.  "I meant, oh, never mind."  She cuddled 
against him, content to share passion and a few 
moments of peace.

----------------------------------------------

Gena smiled at Gene, but turned and walked away 
before he was able to grab her for a hug.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked her.

Gena turned around and looked at Gene in question.  
"Huh?  What do you mean?"

Gene studied the frown on her face.  "Why are you 
getting defensive?  I just thought you'd stay still 
for a hug and kiss.  That's all."

"Oh."  Relief flooded through Gena.  She smiled 
again at Gene and came over to him.  "I didn't think 
we were into that."  She slipped into his arms and 
they kissed.  "But I'm not complaining," she said 
softly as they broke the kiss.

Gene walked over to where his luggage was and 
started to go through them.

"I thought there's still some time before the meet 
and greet?" she asked.

"There is, but with the way everything is going on 
around here, I decided I had better figure out what 
I want to wear and have it ready."

"Or I can see what you want to wear and have you 
dressed in a second," Gena offered.

"Well, that is handy," Gene mused.  He turned to 
watch her go to the coffee maker.  "Gena," he said, 
uncertainly.

"What?" she asked in a pleasant tone while making 
coffee.

"Sweetheart, I have to ask you a huge favor that you 
are not going to like," he stated.

Gena stopped what she was doing and turned to face 
Gene.  "I'm afraid to ask."

"Raven's not going to the meet and greet," Gene 
started, folding his arms.  "It's too dangerous, 
with her being one of the prime targets for E.V.I.L.  
Only it's not her decision.  Peter is going to tell 
her that she can't go."

Gena shook her head.  "She's not going to take that 
very well.  Just like I wouldn't if it was me ..."  
She stared at Gene, blue eyes changing to gray 
steel.  "You wouldn't dare," she said to him.

"What's the big deal?  You've spent quality time 
with me, you're holding my belongings for a while in 
your room.  You've talked to Paul, Peter and Ace.  
So what's the matter with missing it?"

"Because there are going to be some of the other 
girls from Girltalk there," Gena said in a growl.  
"Because believe it or not, I'm a little shy when I 
first show up on a list, and need to get to know 
everyone before I can feel comfortable.  It's a 
great group of people there, and I want to feel 
comfortable with them.  This meet and greet would be 
a wonderful way to break the ice."

"You'll get to meet them all without going," Gene 
tried to assure her.  "in fact, after everything is 
said and done, I think you'll all have a bond unlike 
any forged through an internet group before."  He 
walked over to her and placed his hands on her 
shoulders.  "Please.  As a favor for me.  So far, 
Raven is the only one not going.  Some of the others 
have to be there."

"So I'm expendable too?  To baby-sit someone who 
most probably does not want a babysitter," Gena 
retorted.  "No way, Gene.  I like Raven.  And I 
don't want her to end up hating me for playing the 
pity part for her."

"She'd understand."

"You think so?  You probably know her better than I 
do.  Can you look me in the eye and honestly say 
that's true?"

Gene looked away instead.

"I thought so."

Gene lifted his head.  "Do you remember the first 
time to you got to see KISS from the backstage?" he 
asked her.  "Standing there with family and friends, 
watching the show from the side?"

Gena nodded.  "And this is going where?"

"Sometimes people who are closest to us aren't out 
in the audience.  Not at meet and greets.  Because 
they don't need to be.  Not when they have ..."  
Gene wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close 
so their bodies were touching.  He bent his head and 
kissed her passionately, his kiss telling her this 
wasn't a one night stand, that she wasn't a fly by 
night groupie.  He broke the kiss, satisfied that 
she was trembling in his arms.  "You have that with 
me.  So what's a meet and greet anyway?  I promise 
you, you'll get to know the other girls.  Have I 
ever broke a promise to you?"

"No.  More than you know," Gena replied.  

"I'll make it up to you if you can stay with Raven," 
he promised.  "I'll even let you pick something 
special other than what I decide as payback."  He 
grinned at her, his eyes shining.  

Gena was lost in his look.  She could never resist 
him when he looked like that.  With a heavy sigh, 
she said, "Okay.  But if Raven gives me a hard time, 
you owe me big time."

Gene nodded.  "Sure.  Now that's my girl.  Now you 
were saying we have some time until then?"  He 
kissed her again.

Gena returned the kiss with a hungry passion, 
feeling as if she could never get enough of Gene, 
and would take any chance she had at what he had to 
offer.

Especially while she still had him with her.  Once 
he left for the meet and greet, she had no idea when 
he would finally find his way back to the room for 
something he would need.  Even then, he might leave 
immediately.

Besides, what he was doing to her, and how he made 
her feel, it was so easy to forget what she had done 
earlier.  If only his loving could make her forget 
the whole awful ordeal.

---------------------------------------