"A god?" Liam repeated with a trace of disbelief. His former upbringing as the daughter of Jack Merlin, world traveller and archaeologist, had given Liam/Linda a broader view of religion than many, which meant that all religions seemed a little ridiculous. The idea that a child could be an actual, literal god was somewhat hard to swallow.
"He - - he had the stone," Nora panted for breath in between contractions, "DeMorrell could have wished for anything. Jonni's child could have powers like my old body. He could have wished people would bow down to the baby, even worship it."
"Insanity," Liam muttered. He knew it was possible. He just couldn't believe anyone would be twisted enough to wish for something like that.
"Insane," the stranger with his father's face echoed, "But brilliant too."
"Owwwwhhhungh!" Nora grunted, eyes wide with fear, teeth gritted against the pain.
"Tend to your father," Jack waved toward the agonized young woman, "I have to think about all this. Plan my - - our - - next move."
Liam approached the bed, but spared a glance for the man still held up against the wall by Jack's telekinetic powers. Gary was still Liam's husband, in his heart anyway, no matter how wildly both he and the reality around him had been altered, "Will you let him go? Please? Gary thought he was punishing Jack for letting this happen to us. He's misguided, yes, but not evil, not really."
Jack stood silent for a moment, debating his response. He no longer had the stone, but he had power now such as few mortals had ever known. With a thought he could have killed Gary, perhaps crushing his rib cage or twisting his limbs from their sockets, but the bastard's wish had also returned him to life. For that at least he supposed he should be, if not grateful, then merciful. Briefly concentrating, Jack slackened the psychic field around the man up against the wall and let him fall to the ground.
Gary's eyes blazed with hatred, yet he made no sudden move. This creature in his father-in-law's body still had the advantage. For now.
"It's okay - - , Nora," Liam stumbled over the impulse to call her "Dad" and took the young woman's hand in his own, trying to sound encouraging, "It won't be long now. Jack's here so that part of the wish is fulfilled. I bet the doctors will take you to the delivery room soon."
Jack looked on in fascination even as his super-intelligent mind ran scenarios and developed strategies. It was so strange to think that it might have been him confined to that bed, belly swollen, wracked with contractions, giving birth to DeMorrell's child. Instead, his former mentor turned nemesis was consigned to that role, while he had to freedom and the power to do as he pleased. He could leave the new Nora to her new life secure in the knowledge that she could never use the stone against him. She didn't have the stone and could not touch it even if it were here. Indeed, it was likely that the transformed grandson - - Jonni? - - was on her way here to deliver her own child. While she was thus preoccupied it would be a simple matter to take the stone.
Gary slowly rose to his feet, moving quietly. He didn't want to attact the Jack-creature's attention and reignite his wrath. The telekinetic attack had taken him by surprise and he wasn't sure there was any means to resist it at his disposal.
Jack detected the movements of the lesser man, but ignored him. He had weightier issues to ponder. The question was, what would he do with the stone once he had it? There was no doubt in Jack's mind that he would steal the powerful artifact once more. The small taste of power he had sampled by possessing this powerful male body was nowhere near enough to fulfill the lust for control stoked inside him when he had still been Nora. All his talk of wishes and their transferring from person to person was just so much bullshit.
The powers Jack had inherited upon occupying this body were inborn, instilled into it by the power of a wish. His DNA had been modified, magically accelerated through thousands of years of evolution, granting him powers mankind might one day possess if the race did not destroy itself first. It only made sense that such powers stayed with the flesh and not the mind. But evil was a matter of world-view, perhaps even a quality of the soul he had spoken of. Yes, his soul had a new home, but it carried the evil of its older wish with it. Of course, Jack did not personally view himself as truly evil, no villain really did.
He was maligned, misunderstood, patronized, underestimated. His old life as Nora was one of constant stuggle, to prove she was as good as any man, that she had what it took to be taken seriously in the halls of academia. The old Jack Merlin could deal with all that. I am the real Jack Merlin now and with his power the stone is once more within my reach. Jack would not go back to his old life even if he could. He had no wish to nurture and raise children, especially not the illegitimate spawn of a corrupt pervert like Lucius DeMorrell. Best to let the new "Nora" handle it. She had come this far. It was only a little further to go from the look of things.
The irony of Nora's fate was not lost on her. When Jack had been DeMorrell's plaything, it was consensual and she had retained her independence, childless and free to pursue her own agendas. The new Nora had been taken against her will and quickly conceived, DeMorrell kept her in a cell. No cage for Jack now, no children, though the child itself might be useful. If the stone did not come to Jack immediately, it might be wise to initiate more mundane, legal manuevers against old DeMorrell, just to keep him busy. Nora's baby would be an important bargaining chip, though not the greatest, not if this Jonni girl's child were to become a - -
Jack's machiavellian thoughts were interrupted when suddenly...
