EVERYBODY LOVES
THESE DARK AND PASSIONATE STORIES FROM
NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY
BESTSELLING AUTHOR
SUSAN SIZEMORE
DARK STRANGER
“Aliens, vampires, adventures, and passion all wrapped up in a can’t-put-down thrill ride. I loved it!”
—Gena Showalter, New York Times bestselling
author of Seduce the Darkness
“An underground prison world and a man and a woman with dangerous secrets—and even more dangerous desires—launch readers into Sizemore’s futuristic. This story is sure to enthrall and entertain Sizemore’s fans once again.”
—Linnea Sinclair, RITA Award–winning
author of Shades of Dark
PRIMAL NEEDS
“Sizemore pours on the passion and danger!”
—Romantic Times
“Susan Sizemore’s vampire series just keeps getting better and better….”
—Fallen Angels Reviews
PRIMAL DESIRES
“Sizemore’s expanding alternate world adds layers of complexity and sizzling passion to an already rich blend…. Outstanding reading!”
—Romantic Times
“An intriguing alternate reality with absorbing characters and touches of humor makes this series one of the best and most consistently appealing around.”
—Romantic Times
“Passion, danger, and mystery fill the pages of Primal Heat … an intense and satisfying read.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“This world grows more fascinating as each new chapter unfolds. Politics, power, mystery, and romance make for a heady combination….”
—Huntress Reviews
MASTER OF DARKNESS
“What a bad boy charmer! Definitely Sizemore’s most fun and original hero to date…. Once again, Sizemore serves up a terrific blend of edgy humor, passionate romance, and thrilling danger.”
—Romantic Times
“… great action, snappy dialogue and powerful prose…. Susan Sizemore’s Master of Darkness is engaging from beginning to incredible end.”
—A Romance Review
I HUNGER FOR YOU
“Sizemore’s sizzling series gets more intriguing…. Hot romance and intense passions fuel this book and make it a memorable read.”
—Romantic Times
“An alluring plot, page-turning excitement, and scrumptious romance.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“Sizemore’s vampire world is among the best … out there…. This is one book that belongs on your list of keepers.”
—Huntress Reviews
“Plenty of vampires, sexual tension, and action to go around.”
—A Romance Review
I THIRST FOR YOU
“Passion, betrayal, and fast-paced action abound in this sizzling tale….”
—Library Journal
“Edge-of-your-seat thrills combine with hot romance and great vampire lore!”
—Romantic Times
“An action-packed, suspenseful roller-coaster ride that never slows!”
—Romance Reviews Today
I BURN FOR YOU
“With her new twist on ancient vampire lore, Sizemore creates an excellent and utterly engaging new world. I Burn for You is sexy, exciting, and just plain thrilling. It’s the perfect start for a hot, new series.”
—Romantic Times
“I adored I Burn for You and really hope it’s the beginning of another wonderful vampire series from Ms. Sizemore.”
—Old Book Barn gazette
“[A] sexy read laced with laughter, the first in a burning new series.”
—Booklist
“Sizemore’s hunky vamps can visit me anytime! I was so sorry to see this book end. This one is a must-buy.”
—All About Romance
Primal Needs
Primal Desires
Primal Heat
Master of Darkness
Crave the Night
I Hunger for You
I Thirst for You
I Burn for You
ANTHOLOGIES
The Shadows of Christmas Past
(with Christine Feehan)
Moon fever (with Maggie Shayne, Lori Handeland, and Caridad Piñiero)
SUSAN
SIZEMORE
Dark Stranger
The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Susan Sizemore
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Pocket Star Books paperback edition November 2009
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Designed by Jill Putorti
Cover: illustration by Craig White, design by Lisa Litwack
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978-1-4165-6213-9
ISBN 978-1-4391-6580-5 (ebook)
For: Jacqueline lichtenberg—who once
asked me to write a story about a good guy vampire.
I’ve been living with the Primes for some years now, and there are times when they drive me crazy, almost literally in the case of this book. Although this paranormal romance series is my creation, sometimes I just do what the characters tell me—or maybe I write down what they tell me they’d actually do instead of the way I think the story ought to go. We’ve had some pretty serious arguments along the way, and a few compromises have had to be made. Like in any relationship—though you can’t exactly go into couples counseling with imaginary friends.
You see, Zoe and Doc wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote down their story, even though it doesn’t come in the linear order that I’ve set up for the Primes series. Dark Stranger is what I call an attack book. Zoe and Doc jumped into my head and would not quiet down until their romance was written. They were not going to wait their turn. Telling this story wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity—one that my disconcerted agent and editor have dealt with with grace and understanding. I truly thank them for their support.
Once this futuristic tale of the Primes vampires was written, I had to figure out just what it meant in the larger scope of the Primes universe. Which is how the Vampire Book Club came into being as a new way of sharing the Primes world.
It’s hard to describe, but writing is an interactive process between me and the universe that I theoretically create. With every character, setting, and situation I’ve introduced to the mix, the Primes universe has evolved. One thing leads to another. Questions arise and demand answers. A culture has formed—actually, it’s three interlocked vampire cultures, a bunch of were-folk cultures, a culture of mortal vampire hunters, and subcultures within all of these interactive groups. And all of these folk interact as a sort of ethnic minority within the larger melting pot of modern culture.
The Primes share a common history, customs, cuisine, religion, legends, myths, ceremonies, literature, language, and, it turns out, their own popular culture. The Primes have their own distinctive fashions—they prefer black, of course. They have Coyote, their own vampire rock band. There’s a vampire movie star. It turns out that they have a novelist writing stories for and about the Primes universe. Up until now this writer’s stories have been shared privately among the females of the Prime Clans and Families. But since the musicians and the actor share their talents with the mortal world, it seems only fair that this vampire-created fiction be shared with mortal readers. Dark Stranger is the first selection of the Vampire Book Club to be disclosed to the mortal world.
They made me do it.
I hope you enjoy it.
1
“Not again,” Zoe muttered as the ship shook from another direct hit.
This had been going on far longer than usual, and it was getting worse. Though her quarters were deep within the center of the command ship’s many hulls, she could still feel the energy blows against their heavy shielding, and how that shielding was fading. The communications stem in her ear let her know that the whole task force was in trouble and on the run. And not only their ships, but Asi ships were also scattering under the Hajim attack.
“Damn!”
She knew her exasperation was inappropriate, as good people were fighting and dying on the ships around her. She honored their sacrifice, but she wasn’t supposed to be in battles, and this was the third time in five years.
She’d ended up piloting a fighter during the first battle, and a freighter full of refugees the second time. She was a good pilot, but she functioned best as a diplomat. At least she tried. She left her quarters to make her way to the bridge.
The corridors were almost empty; the well-trained crew were all at their battle stations in response to the general quarters alarm. She was probably the only person not where she was supposed to be, but the need to be useful drove her. She might not be assigned to this ship, but she knew she was the best pilot in the whole Byzant Empire. It had little to do with natural talent and much to do with the enhancement modules that took up almost microscopic space in her brain. She was simply wired better than anyone else on board.
Why did this have to happen just as the talks were beginning to make progress? She smiled grimly at the naïveté of her own question, knowing full well that the attack was likely happening because the negotiations were proceeding. No matter how tight security seemed to be, leaks were always possible.
That the war had gone on for five years told her that she and all the other diplomats were failing at their jobs.
They failed not only the human worlds of Byzant, but the aliens of Kril, Denthera, and Asi. Only the Hajim did not know failure, for they refused to negotiate. They simply fought. Sometimes they forced others to fight for them, if not with them, but they made no true alliances. This war went on and on, the battle lines swinging back and forth across system after system.
Now the Hajim fleet had appeared to break up yet another attempt at negotiation.
The deck shook beneath her with another hit, knocking Zoe to her knees.
As she got to her feet, a side door cycled open. Jazoan, Zoe’s bodyguard and the head of security detail, stepped to Zoe’s side and steadied her as the strongest shock so far rumbled through the ship, then stepped back quickly.
She could tell by his grim expression that things were not going well at all. “Status?”
“That last explosion was a direct hit to the shuttle bay. The Denthera ambassador was boarding her shuttle at the time.”
Zoe shook her head sadly at the loss of the enigmatic alien woman she’d sat across the table from a few hours before. “So now we’ll never know if the Denthera betrayed the conference to the Hajim. What about the Asi ambassador?”
“The Asi have vowed not to be taken alive.”
Zoe knew all too well what that meant, and she had to fight down nausea.
Jazoan took her by the wrist as the ship shook again. “It’s time for you to go.”
She wanted to say that she would not abandon the ship as long as her people fought on, but by a new law passed since those other battles the decision at such a time of crisis was not for her to make. Jazoan was head of the security detail.
“Our shuttle was parked next to the Dentherans.”
“It’s time,” was all he said.
Silence stretched tautly between them while he waited. While the decision was his, he wasn’t going to force her. Not yet. Zoe longed to do something, but she knew it was too late when the “abandon ship” alarm began to sound.
Jazoan hustled her back to her quarters, where she changed into the blue uniform of a navy lieutenant and made other necessary preparations as quickly as possible. The decks rattled and shook constantly while she was occupied; he stood with his arms crossed, his back braced against the door. Alarms blared, and by the time she was ready, the “abandon ship” warning had changed to a siren that sounded a harsh, doomed-sounding tone in her ears. Finally, she inserted a fresh ID chip into her right wrist.
While the pain of the insertion still stung, Jazoan took her by the elbow and led her into the controlled chaos in the corridor. There were people everywhere now, in navy, marine, and civil service uniforms. The pair of them blended into the crowd heading for the escape pods, and Jazoan guided her quickly to the front of the line. By now, the shaking from enemy fire had turned into the constant fatal shuddering of a ship about to disintegrate. The ship would self-destruct into its component atoms once everyone was off, leaving no evidence of the secret conference for the Hajim. She and Jazoan would be the only ones left with any information at all.
Zoe noted the fear on every face, but people calmly responded to the safety routines that had been drilled into them. It was well known that the Hajim took prisoners, but no one knew where the captives were sent. The important thing right now was to reach an escape pod and get off the dying ship.
To stay alive.
Escape would be better, but Zoe knew that she’d have to wait and watch and be patient until an opportunity presented itself.
Jazoan, with years of experience at dealing with crowds, got them to the pod deck quickly. Then the unexpected happened at the entrance of the vast hangar.
The young officer directing the loading looked at her in surprise, and stammered, “Porphyrgia! What are you doing—”
“Lieutenant Alynn Ryan,” she said, accessing information on the young man from the vast database implant in her brain. He was one of hundreds of service people she’d spoken to on a hospital visit a year before. She managed a smile for the brave young man now. “I see your wound has healed well.”
His eyes shone. “You remember me? What are you doing here?”
He was flattered and flustered, but there was no time for it. Besides, she could see that Jazoan was not at all pleased at this unexpected turn. He considered anonymity crucial for her security. She didn’t like the way he looked at the young officer. She gave a faint shake of her head, hoping this was enough to keep her protector on his leash.
“We have our duties, Alynn,” she reminded the lieutenant, and touched him on the hand reassuringly.
“Of course,” he answered. “This way.”
He led her forward into the hangar bay, with many others crowding behind and then surrounding her. The ship gave the most violent shake yet, and the emergency lights went from yellow to red. Sirens howled, barely audible above a scream of crunching metal.
Zoe made it into an overloaded pod, one of the last on board before the hatch cycled shut. But by the time she was in the escape vehicle, Jazoan was no longer at her side. She hoped that he hadn’t turned back to deal with the hapless young man, for her guard could be dauntingly ruthless in the name of the empire.
There was nothing Zoe could do but struggle to a free seat, strap herself in, and hope for rescue as the lifepod was ejected from the dying ship.
“Bad news, Doc,” Corporal Arco said as he came up to Matthias in the middle of the wide dirt floor at the bottom of the central shaft. Arco pointed upward, where faint, filtered light flowed down through a haze of dust motes. “They’ve got another eighty in the processing camp up top.”
Dr. Matthias Raven took the news with a fatalistic shrug. He was the highest-ranking Byzant officer in Camp Five, a brigadier general in the Space Marines, which put him in charge of the human POWs. He was also the only medical officer for humans in the prison camp. He had to deal with the prisoners, the Kril who ran the camp, and occasionally, the Hajim who forced the Kril to do their dirty work for them.
This wasn’t what he’d signed on for when he joined the marines, but duty took many forms. He’d been in the vast underground dungeon of Camp Five for sixteen months now. At least he wasn’t afraid of the dark, like so many others. There was a part of him that just wanted to take his chances and walk out. But—duty …
“I assume you mean eighty humans, Corporal?” he questioned.
Arco nodded. “Word is that the Hajim came across a CC alone out on the Fringe and took most of the crew alive.”
Doc eyed Arco suspiciously. “What would a Conquest Class ship be doing that far out? Alone?”
“The crew’s reporting it as a simple FUBAR navigational malfunction to their debriefers.”
“Bad luck. For all of us,” Doc added.
“The Asi and Denthera aren’t going to like this,” Arco agreed. “We’ll outnumber the alien prisoners now. Remember the snorting and snapping from the Asi when they brought in those two new humans a couple of days ago?”
“The rise in population isn’t good for any body,” Matthias repeated. “You don’t think the rations are going to increase just because we have more people, do you?”
Arco clearly hadn’t considered this. Until now, he’d seemed rather pleased that there were more human prisoners being processed into the camp.
“Are you homesick, Corporal Arco? Or just forgetting why we’re here?”
Arco gave a bitter laugh. “Come on, Doc—sir. You know I was put into Five with the very first batch of human prisoners. And yeah,” he added, “I’m damned homesick.”
“Me, too. You did say eighty newbies?” Matthias asked.
“Yes, sir.”
Matthias shook his head. “I wonder what sort of fight the CC crew put up before they became prisoners.” Some were bound to need medical attention. “I’d better get the infirmary set up for them.”
His medical staff consisted of himself, one nurse, a couple of volunteers, and a very old biobot. They didn’t have much to work with to keep the human inmates healthy; now they had more people to call on their already-stretched-thin resources.
“Prison commandant will want to see you first, Doc. They’ll want you to give your speech, too.”
Bureaucracy before compassion. It wasn’t necessarily the Kril way, but the Hajim had forced the Kril to work for them, running all of their prison camps. Doc sighed. Before Arco’s news, he’d been planning on finding a quiet spot to enjoy a smoke of recently smuggled in arja tobacco, but he’d have to forgo that pleasure until later.
“Go get word to the medical team about the new prisoners. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
2
The processing center was bleak—just a few low, ramshackle buildings huddled on a windy plain around a badly maintained landing field. A small translucent dome rose from the center of the flat roof of the largest building, looking like a pearl embedded in a dull metallic setting. It was a long, dusty walk from the transport to the domed building.
Zoe’s heart sank further with every step. There was nothing here. Nothing. How was she supposed to find a way to escape when there were no habitations? After the transport lifted, there also would be no other ships resting on the buckled blastcrete. A feeling of hopelessness tried to well inside her, and what she heard next didn’t help.
“Take a look at the sky,” one of the Kril guards told her group when they formed a ragged, tired line outside the transport ship. “It will be the last time you see daylight for a long time.”
Zoe exchanged puzzled looks with the people around her, then glanced up at the alien sky. It was orange, streaked with thin gray clouds. It might be nothing like the pale blue sky of her own world, but she was delighted to have its wide expanse above her. There was a stink like boiled cabbage in the air, but at least it was natural atmosphere and not recycled ship air. She wondered if the aroma was a by-product of nearby agriculture, but any inquiry to the guards would bring attention to herself, not to mention bring suspicion of her plans for escape.
Plans? What plans? She’d spent all the long days en route here trying to think of a way out, probing her fellow POWs for any strategy or support she could get. She didn’t get much help or any bright ideas, as the circumstances of their imprisonment had been very demoralizing.
Zoe laughed silently at herself for her understated definitions.
Being in the black vacuum of space was her least favorite part of traveling. Not knowing what fate awaited made it even worse, so much so that she’d been using the neutral language of diplomacy to shield herself from how scared she really was.
She admitted that she was overjoyed to be standing on solid ground of the prison world after days surrounded by uncompromising dark. Even if she hadn’t been able to see outside the escape pods and the prison ship, space had weighed on her.
While inside the Hajim prison ship she’d been scanned and questioned and made to feel threatened at all times. But her treatment had been no different than any other prisoner’s. The alien enemy had required instant obedience and had not provided enough food. Their very appearance had been menacing, but they had not been cruel. Now, being handed over to the Krils who operated this facility, she was certain she was merely an anonymous body and bit of data in the POW system. There was safety in being one of the human herd.
After she took her look at the sky, she shuffled along in the long line of captives into one of the buildings. It was only after being crowded into a huge open elevator, which proceeded to go down and down into a hole in the earth, that she realized the place where she was to be a prisoner was deep underground. All natural light soon faded, replaced by growing dimness. Every sense screamed with fear, telling her she was being swallowed whole.
It wasn’t that she was afraid of the dark, but …
She was.
She was being buried alive.
A shove from the sailor behind her brought Zoe to her senses when the doors opened at the bottom of the shaft. As she stumbled out of the car, she noted that there were no controls; the elevator could only be operated by the guards up top. When everyone was out, the doors closed with a heavy clang, letting her know that any explosive charge that could break into the shaft would also bring down tons of rock from overhead.
“The elevator is not a way out,” she muttered.
A nod from a grim-faced engineer in the crowd confirmed her words.
A human waited for them in the corridor outside the elevator. Scruffy and skinny, there was very little of the disciplined military man in his bearing—until he barked, “’Tenhun!”
Everyone in the dispirited group reacted instantly to that tone. Spines straightened, shoulders squared, chins lifted, and eyes looked straight ahead. Zoe was almost relieved to have someone tell her what to do.
“This way,” the man ordered, and he marched them off in quick time down a hallway until it widened into a huge circular cavern.
When she looked up, Zoe realized that the white dome arched several stories overhead. It let in diffuse light while it blocked out any sight of the sky.
Bastards!
She couldn’t stop her anger, even though a reasonable part of her knew that the opaque covering was a filter to shield all the species in the prison from any harmful radiation. But the cringing, terrified part of her wanted to see daylight and didn’t give a damn about possible consequences to multiple types of life-forms.
She took a deep breath and firmly turned her attention to the situation as they were given an order to form a double line. She put herself in the rear and worked on keeping her gaze straight ahead, but her military discipline was instantly abandoned when she got a look at the person standing in the center of a shaft of filtered light.
Very dramatic. Very effective.
A hot shiver ran through her.
I’ve never seen anyone like him before.
Though the big, heavily muscled man wasn’t wearing much of a uniform, he was obviously in charge. The air around him almost crackled with his commanding presence. The expression on his rough-hewn face seemed an odd combination of exasperation and compassion, and there was no way she would have called him handsome. Yet there was a compelling sensuality to his lips, and he certainly had the body of a bulked-up god. Even at a distance, the intelligence in his eyes drew her.
The only way to tell his rank was because it was tattooed on his bare right bicep. The insignia of a marine brigadier general didn’t surprise Zoe, but the caduceus emblem on his left arm did. A man of fascinating contradictions stood before them, and he was in charge of all the humans in this depressing, dreadful place.
“Welcome to purgatory,” he said.
The deep bass tone of his voice complemented everything else about him.
Quite a few of the long-term prisoners had gathered to watch the newbies’ arrival, and most of them laughed in response to the general’s words. Like him, many of these prisoners had shaved heads and had stripped their clothing choices down to bare minimum. It was understandable, considering the sweltering, humid atmosphere. Many had the large eyes and sunken cheeks that told her food wasn’t plentiful. But there was also a lean wiry strength about them that reminded her more of a pack of predators than a contingent of soldiers and sailors.
The darkness, the heat, the odors of sweat and dirt lent an organic claustrophobia to the place that was far more intimidating to her than the prison ship had been. Everything here was in shadow. The only person fully illuminated was the marine general, and that was because he deliberately stood in the center of the shaft of diffuse light falling the long distance through the milky dome shield so far above.
Maybe he wasn’t really all that interesting, maybe she was simply reacting to the intended effect as everyone was supposed to. Good. She was thinking like the group—did the group find him captivating? Not exactly, but …
Under the circumstances, captivating wasn’t a good way to describe anyone.
She deliberately took her attention off the bald general and ran a hand through her own thick hair. It was shorter than she normally wore it. Instead of her dark brown curls, she’d let her stylist talk her into a gene-fixed straight style with dark navy blue coloring before leaving on her diplomatic misson. It had been done more as a fashion statement than as a disguise, but she was grateful now for any concealing change in her appearance.
It hadn’t prevented Alynn from recognizing her, had it? She wondered what had happened to that young man. She hoped that Jazoan hadn’t chosen to do anything drastic to him, but she wouldn’t put murder to cover her tracks past her security chief. She also wondered and worried about Jazoan’s fate, but—
“Listen up,” announced the deep, rumbling voice of the general.
Zoe immediately turned her attention back to the big man in the center of the circular plaza.
“I’m General Raven,” he told them. “Call me Doc.” He folded burly arms over his wide chest and passed a sneering glare over the ragged line of newcomers. “There are two things you need to know. One, you are now prisoners of the Hajim. Two, and far more important, your asses are mine. You’ve all been taught that a prisoner of war’s duty is to try to escape. Forget that rule. Until such time as a superior officer replaces me, you live by Raven’s Rules. Raven’s first rule is: nobody tries to escape. Is this understood?”
Zoe wasn’t the only one of the new prisoners who reacted with surprise and outrage, but she wasn’t among those who muttered and complained. She watched the ones who did.
Then she looked back at Raven and saw that he was doing the same thing: observing, marking out potential troublemakers. She didn’t like the implications and protectively brought the general’s attention elsewhere.
“Why?” she spoke up, and took a few steps forward from the anonymous center of the group. “You’re asking us to abandon the fight, and our duty to the Empire. Why not try to escape?”
General Raven’s sharp gaze met hers, his eyes so brown they seemed black. They looked at each other for a long moment of mutual assessment. His regard was the most intense she’d ever encountered, which said a lot for the man’s forceful personality. Zoe recognized in him a leader who did what must be done, who used who he had to.
And oddly, she got the strong impression that he marked her down as a useful commodity as well as a troublemaker.
3
Doc knew immediately that the slender blue-haired woman who’d stepped to the front of the group wasn’t strongly psychic, but her mind was strongly shielded. Artificial, he thought, and wondered why her Hajim interrogators hadn’t noticed. He doubted there was anything guarding her mind that could hold out against a natural telepath as strong as him, but he didn’t interfere with personal privacy unless he needed to.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to, but he got the strong sense that she was playing at more than simple righteous protest and stupid insubordination.
“Why no escape, Lieutenant?” he replied to the question new prisoners always asked.
He took in the stubborn set of her chin and the stance that showed she feared no man, nor the rank inked on his arm. He could have pointed out that an order was an order, but chose to explain his reasons to her instead. He bet that happened around her a lot.
“Because, gentlemen, ladies, and the pretty blue-haired one up front …” He paused as the warmth of her physical and psychic blush reached him. The girl gave him a sudden toothache. “We’re stuck in a situation that is far too politically and ethically complicated for poor little soldiers like us to grasp,” Doc said, his deep voice pitched so that newbies and old-timers alike could all hear. The reminder never hurt. “This camp is run by noncombatants at the behest of the Hajim. We are housed with prisoners from other sides in this war. Alliances change so swiftly on the outside that none of us knows who’s fighting who at the moment. Don’t you agree, Lieutenant?”
Zoe didn’t like his sarcastic tone, but when a superior officer asked a direct question, an answer was called for.
“Yes, sir.”
“I see from your expression that you don’t agree at all.”
Did she answer this or meekly put up with the dressing-down? She settled on, “Permission to crawl away and whimper, sir?”
“Do you want to spoil my fun, Lieutenant?”
“I would never want to do that, sir.”
Laughter erupted around them, and Zoe realized she’d been so focused on Raven that for a few seconds she’d forgotten where she was.
General Raven put his hands behind his back. “Is there anything else you’d like to add, Lieutenant?”
Zoe supposed she could fill him in on the current political and military alignments, but this wasn’t the time or place to challenge the camp’s senior officer’s authority any further. She’d already made the stupid mistake of not keeping her head down and her mouth shut. She had to respect the chain of command. Plus, he was right. What she knew now would be irrelevant within a short time. She kept silent and at attention with her eyes facing front.
Doc was aware of the lieutenant’s mental withdrawal. She was itching to talk, had plenty to say, but kept it to herself. Good decision. At least she hadn’t taken offense to his singling her out, or calling her pretty. Despite what she’d said about crawling and whimpering, she hadn’t really been embarrassed. She was an exotic blue bird all right.
He probed deeper through her shielding, and caught the surface thought: I can best help him and our people by keeping my mouth shut.
She thought he was going to be mean to them? Doc smiled. So she’d put herself in his way to shield the others—which he found cute, if kind of bossy. She obviously hadn’t been in the service for very long.
Zoe saw him smile, and realized to her astonishment that the general was smiling at her. She’d never been smiled at by a brigadier general before.
His expression quickly grew serious again and he addressed everyone. “We’re stuck here. In a hole in the ground on a desert planet, where the only ships in and out are transports from orbiting Hajim ships. Understood?” This last was bellowed with the expertise of a marine drill sergeant.
“Yes, sir!” most of the prisoners, new and old, answered, Zoe among them.
General Raven nodded and turned his attention to the newbies. “Time for your checkups. Then you’ll be assigned quarters.” He pointed. “Infirmary’s that way. Since I’m the only doctor on the premises, we’ll no doubt be seeing each other again very soon.”
“Are you cold?”
“What?” Zoe looked up. “Sorry, sir.”
She’d been staring at the smooth stone floor and hadn’t heard the big man enter the tiny examining room. She’d been dreading facing him again and must have been too deep in her own thoughts, because no one as big as the general could move silently.
He moved closer, filling the space before her. “You’re shivering and rubbing your arms. Those are signs of being cold. But you’re not cold, are you?”
Though his tone was gentle, his compelling voice had a deep effect on her. This was a man you answered, and it had nothing to do with his rank, or his size. He dominated the little room with more than the bulk of his muscled body.
“It’s the darkness,” she told him.
It was dim even here in the medical section, but not as much as out in the corridors. She dreaded going out there.
Along the way across the plaza to the medical section she’d caught glimpses of the corridors that wound like giant snakes into the bowels of the place. There were lights strung in those hallways, but not very bright ones, and at far too distant intervals.
“I’m not afraid of the dark—but I am intimidated.”
“It’s understandable to be intimidated, and pretty common,” he reassured her. “But don’t lie to yourself about the fear.”
“I’m not lying to myself,” she answered. At his coaxing smile, she added, “I don’t suppose I should try to lie to you, either.”
“That’s right.”
She forced herself to put her hands down flat on the table on either side of her. The goose bumps didn’t go away, even though she willed them to. “How can anyone stand this place? How can you?” she asked. He had a reassuring bedside manner and he caught her attention like no one she’d ever met before.
He shrugged. “I’ve got better night vision than most, so I don’t find the dark all that oppressive. But I know it’s not good for humans to spend too much time in the dark. Or underground.”
“How long is not good?”
“Depends on the individual.” He put fingers beneath her chin to tilt it up while he looked into her eyes. “You aren’t going to have a panic attack, are you?”
“I doubt it.”
He let her go. “You’re not going to run up the ramp trying to escape while a dozen guards stick stunners in you?”
“Of course not!”
“Good. I hate treating stunner burns.”
“I would hate to make your life more difficult than it already is, Raven.”
“Call me Doc. Now, say ‘Ah,’ ” he added, holding up a scanner.
Zoe suddenly remembered their respective positions and jumped to her feet. “Sorry, General. I meant no disres—”
“Doc.”
“I meant no respect, Doc?”
He chuckled, a deep seismic rumble she felt from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. They were definitely standing too close.
She considered her odd physical reaction to the man while he ran the med sensor over her. It read her ID chip as well.
“Lieutenant Zoe Pappas,” he read off his sensor screen. “Born on Terra, I see. In New Constanz itself.”
All this information was true, if not at all accurate. Pappas was a common name and had been used by her family far in the past, before humans spread out from the Terran solar system. The Pappas family was once a merchant family that lived on the asteroids out beyond Mars. Her ancestors went back to Terra at the height of the Restoration Movement to fight for democracy—even if it hadn’t quite turned out that way.
And, of course, she had been born in the capital of the Byzant Empire, along with hundreds of other babies born on the same day. From what her mother told her, Zoe’s birth had been completely normal and routine.
“You’re perfectly healthy,” he went on. He lowered the medical sensor while keeping his shrewd dark gaze on her. “But you have more data enhancement implants than I’ve ever seen. Why is that? And how is it that our hosts didn’t notice?”
She wanted to ask him how he had noticed, but it wasn’t a lieutenant’s place to question a general. She chanced a glance at the sensor in his hand, wondering if it was some sort of advanced model she didn’t know about. It seemed perfectly normal, even a bit battered.
He chuckled again. “I have my ways, Lieutenant.”
For a moment she thought he was going to touch her face again. Instead, he pocketed the sensor and stepped back as far as the doorway.
“What’s up with you, girl? What do you do that needs all that juice?”
“I’m a diplomat, sir.” Again the truth, if not the whole truth. “I was assigned to attend secret talks with the Asi.” She gave a bleak laugh. “Things were going well until the Hajim attacked.”
“They found out about these negotiations?”
He was openly eager for news, and she wished she could tell him everything. Being trapped here without knowing anything—horrible!
“I suspect so,” she answered. “The anti-Byzant faction of the Asi might have leaked the information. Or—” She shrugged.
“Or there might be a human traitor?”
She hated that thought, but how could she deny it? “There are several ways it could have gone, but it could also have been a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. How did you get captured?”
A lieutenant had no right to ask a general questions, but she hoped he’d answer.
“Do you know about the task force that evacuated the Roge System?”
She was glad that he didn’t rebuff her, especially when he mentioned a mystery. “I know it disappeared.”
“I was in command of the hospital ships that went in to take out survivors after the distress call. But I wasn’t in command of the fleet.”
“That was Admiral Asalle,” she said.
“Admiral Asshole, as we like to call him around here.”
“Why?”
“He surrendered the whole fucking fleet when the Hajim surrounded us. I would have put up a fight, but it wasn’t my call.”
“Admiral Asalle surrendered?” Zoe couldn’t hide her outrage. “His orders were to—” She caught herself, and finished, “Sorry, sir, but the disappearance of the task force has been all over the media for months. You won’t like hearing this, but there’s been speculation that the admiral went over to the Hajim and took his—”
“He didn’t put up a fight, that’s all I know,” Doc told her.
“It’s a relief to know where the missing task force ended up.”
“At least we weren’t blown to hell,” he agreed. “We’re alive and spread around several prison worlds. Except for the seriously wounded that the Hajim left to die when they scuttled the ships. I’ll never forgive Asalle for that.”
“Neither will I.”
The promise of retribution in the lieutenant’s tone was very interesting. “I wouldn’t want to be the admiral when you get hold of him,” he teased.
The fiery look in her eyes was anything but amused. “Neither will Asalle.” She cleared her throat. “I mean—once the media gets hold of the information about the surrender, they will eat him alive.”
“I’d do that myself if he was in Camp Five.” literally. They exchanged an understanding look that made Doc chuckle. “We’re a pair of patriots, aren’t we?”
She laughed as well, but added, “If you’re going to serve the Empire, you should believe in what you’re doing.”
He’d talked more openly to her than he had to anyone else in the last sixteen months. Even more interesting was their shared opinions. Was the woman some sort of natural empath? That might explain the use of enhanced mental shields.
He got back to business. “As soon as we get you settled, Lieutenant, I’m going to put your diplomatic training to use. We need to improve relations with our fellow prisoners.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do anything I can to help.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Anything?”
The heat of her blush warmed him. “Sir! Was that a—”
“Come-on? Not really, but you’ll be getting plenty of them.” He pulled a patch out of his medical kit. “Pull up your sleeve and put this on. Birth control.”
Outrage flared in her dark eyes. “I think not.”
This woman was definitely not used to taking orders.
So instead of making it an order, he explained. “Men outnumber women about six to one here. You’re likely to hook up with someone, for your own protection if nothing else.”
A flash of fear replaced her outrage, but was quickly hidden. “Protection?”
“We try to stay civilized, but things happen in the dark.”
“Oh …I see.”
“People get lonely, afraid, they get bored. It doesn’t help that the dimness keeps our pupils dilated, which causes our hormones to react with heightening attraction. You’re going to be prey to all those human needs, and you’re going to hook up with someone. I’m not going to forbid people to act on their natural needs, but this isn’t a fleet ship or base. There’s no nursery here. And I’m not allowing any children to be born into this hellhole.”
“That’s literally what this is—a hellhole.” She nodded, took the patch, and held it in her palm while she thought about it. When she spoke, he thought it was more to herself than to him. “Ever since the Bottleneck, the human race has made reproduction our top priority. We can never allow the species to come so close to extinction ever again. That’s the purpose of all our colonization. That’s why every ship has a nursery. Having babies is important.”
“Not here,” Doc said. “Not now.”
She looked at him and gave a grim nod as she slapped the patch onto her forearm, where it faded quickly into her skin. “I won’t need this—”
“Trouble, Doc,” Arco said, pulling aside the exam room curtain.
4
“This man never has good news for me.” Doc turned from Zoe. “What kind of trouble?”
“Commandant just brought down a visitor,” Arco answered. “A visitor with big, nasty teeth.”
“Sounds like most of my family.”
Doc followed Arco out of the room, aware of Lieutenant Zoe Pappas trailing silently behind him without his leave.
Nope, the girl wasn’t used to taking orders.
General Raven was a big man, but Zoe reckoned that the Hajim officer he faced in the center of the plaza towered over him by at least a foot. The Hajim were a bipedal species, more felinoid than humanoid, with a muzzle full of long, intimidating fangs. Not that the general looked particularly intimidated by the alien’s size or incisors.
This Hajim had light fur of gold and cream stripes over his massively muscled frame. His chest was covered with an intricately woven red leather rank harness. She interpreted the symbolism of the harness to mean that this Hajim soldier was about the equivalent in rank to a Byzant army major. The Hajim called the rank Red.
A group of Kril guards stood well back from the Hajim they’d escorted into the prison, their attention nervously focused on their alien master. They were a slender race with smooth greenish white features, not exactly insectoid, but they did remind Zoe of crickets. Timid crickets. She felt sorry for this species under the domination of the Hajim.
What small psychic gifting Zoe had was empathic, not telepathic, so she couldn’t hear the conversation so far away. But both officers’ body language was telling. The alien was threatening; the general showed a proper amount of defiance mixed with respect for the enemy. He was polite but emphatic.
The Hajim blustered at the general, but he listened to him.
Zoe inferred that the Hajim was looking for something; General Raven was telling him that it wasn’t here. And making the Hajim believe him.
Zoe was quite impressed with the camp commander’s powers of persuasion. She was also suspicious of his methods. But since she was probably what the enemy was looking for, she was happy for any help in going undetected.
While the conversation was short, its intensity radiated nervous energy throughout the area. Prisoners lined the carved stone walkways circling up from the central plaza. Everything here was gray or black—shadowed, mysterious, threatening.
People stared silently out of the dense shadows as their leader dealt with the enemy. There was seething anger among these men and women, and hatred of those responsible for them being here. But there was also fear and worry. She felt her fellow POWs’ presence smothering her, as heavy as the darkness itself as they lurked like animals.
Zoe shook her head hard, aware that it was fear of darkness, fear for her own future that colored her images of the prisoners. The tension abruptly broke as the Hajim major turned and marched away, trailed by the Kril. Zoe gave a shuddering sigh as the crisis was resolved.
But what about the next time? Would there be reprisals? Would there even be a next time?
The truth was, she was a danger to the POWs, much more than they were to her. They had every right to their dread.
But what would they do if they knew?
Doc was very aware of Zoe Pappas, almost more than he was of the Hajim Red. The intensity of her concentration almost broke his. The inadvertent interference made it take longer than it should have to convince the Red to go away, and he didn’t like all the attention that brought from the other prisoners. He preferred his sleight of hand to be less public.
Sleight of head, really; thoughts he projected in silence. Though he knew there was no one else on the planet telepathic enough to notice, he suspected the observant Lieutenant Pappas might be able to guess.
And he didn’t like it when tension escalated among the ranks of his people at the sight of the Hajim. It was hard enough to live down here without such overt reminders of the enemy, and the war going on overhead. Being out of the war didn’t make anyone feel safe; quite the opposite. The human prisoners had gone from being warriors to pawns at best, and could easily turn into victims. Or into a mindless, raging mob.
It wasn’t just the humans he worried about, though they were his responsibility.
He made a slow turn as the Hajim left, his gaze taking in those gathered on each level of the ramps that circled overhead. Prisoners from the other species were watching, and they must be wondering what sort of trouble the humans were in, and wondering how to take advantage of it.
He could tell by the Krils’ raised body temperatures that the guards were frightened of bringing the wrath of the Hajim upon them for not properly doing their duty. There was only one Denthera observing the show, for they kept to their own caverns, only sending out scouts for intelligence gathering. But many of the Asi prisoners were in the crowd, antennae and upraised claws quivering like storm-driven wheat in the shadows. The Asi were increasingly restless lately, aggressive toward his people but even more belligerent among themselves. Sometimes the scent of Asi blood spilled out of their caverns, though he thought he was the only human who sensed it. He was going to have to find out what their internal struggle was about.
With that and a few other questions in mind, he approached the shadows near the wall where Zoe Pappas lurked. “You speak Asi?” he asked her.
“What did the red want?” she asked in turn.
She kept forgetting who the junior and senior officers were here. And he kept forgetting it, too, by answering: “He claimed to be looking for a war criminal; someone so vile and evil that we humans would willingly turn this monster over to them.”
“And you said?” She was smiling at him, in a way that was particularly perceptive.
“That there was no one like that here. I encouraged him to look somewhere else.”
“And he believed you.” It was not a question. “I thought so.”
“I have some small telepathic talent.”
“More than a little, I think.”
“Any confirmation or denial of that would be on a need-to-know basis. How about you?”
“Not a speck of telepathic talent, sir.”
Doc rubbed his jaw. “A direct answer. I thought I was going to get more evasion from you.”
She frowned, but didn’t respond.
“Do you speak Asi?” he repeated. She gave a brisk nod. “Come with me.”
5
A war criminal. The nerve of that Red, calling me a war criminal! I’d have more respect about what I called them if I was trying to hunt down and destroy one of them, Zoe thought indignantly as she followed behind Raven’s very wide back. His sheer presence shifted people out of his way. A war criminal! How dare they?
Then again, the Hajim would believe that claim, wouldn’t they? They would treat her that way if she fell into their hands. There would be a show trial and an execution—if she was lucky.
She shivered with fear. Not so much for herself, but at the consequences to the Byzant Empire. How much longer would this war go on if she were captured? How much more brutal would it become?
She simply couldn’t be captured, even if it meant living out her life in this wretched place.
She didn’t have long to ponder her choices, as they entered a tunnel and she suddenly found herself in the midst of a large group of agitated Asi.
She put aside her worries to concentrate on General Raven’s needs.
He took a step back and put a massive arm around her shoulders, making them a human island rising out of a waist-high sea of rounded black bodies and sharp claws. Shining red multifaceted eyes looked up at them.
Zoe put aside her fear of being caught in those claws, and focused her attention on the Asi that had shoved its way through the mass to stand in front of the general. This male’s carapace was smeared with yellowish dried blood, the pattern indicating high status.
She was going to bow and make the usual polite greeting to the alien leader, but she had no chance before one of the other Asi began to shout in the aliens’ high-pitched language. The leader shouted back, claws snapped for emphasis, and soon everyone was shouting and clacking. She and Raven stood very still in the middle of this near riot. Zoe closed her eyes, trying to listen without distraction.
Except that putting herself completely in the dark only heightened her awareness of the general’s large, muscled body. She even had to fight the temptation to relax into his protective embrace.
“I don’t know about you,” Raven said, his lips close to her ear. “But I’m feeling mighty soft at the moment.”
“So am I,” Zoe responded. Then she realized that he referred to the difference between humans and the hard-shelled Asi. Zoe opened her eyes and concentrated as much on what she could see as what she’d felt and heard.
“Can you make any sense of what they’re saying?” he asked.
“They don’t like us very much,” she answered.
“Tell me something I don’t already know.”
Zoe was embarrassed at the facetiousness of her comment. “Excuse me, sir. The basics of the argument are that the leadership of these prisoners is being challenged. The challenger wants to go to war with us here and now. He is glaring at you at the moment, sir.”
“How can you tell? Which one is he?”
She pointed at a nearby alien. “He’s the one who is slightly bigger than their leader.”
“Hey, they all look the same in butter sauce, kid.”
“Sir!”
“They think the same about us, only they prefer their food raw.”
Zoe agreed with the general deep down on some primitive level, where one couldn’t be embarrassed by such things, down where the old fears of fangs and claws and tentacles still lurked in the human unconscious. But she had been trained to deal with all sentient beings as equals. Even the ones that wanted to eat her.
The challenger took a scuttling step closer to them. Doc’s grip on her tightened, and he moved her so that she was slightly behind him. Zoe appreciated his concern, butshe couldn’t do what he needed her to do from this position. She ducked out of his grasp to stand slightly to one side. He frowned, then gave her an understanding nod.
“What do you want me to tell them, Doc?”
He thought for a moment. “Is the head Asi for us or against us?”
“I get the impression that he doesn’t think it’s in their best interest to attack humans at this moment.”
“That’s as much as we can ask for. Tell him we don’t want a fight, at this moment.” Then he rubbed his heavy jaw and added, “Let the boss know that we’ve got his back.”
“For now? You have to be very specific when speaking to the Asi.”
“For now it is. Tell him.”
Zoe tried not to consider the implications of what the general meant by this attempt at an alliance, as he was the one in command. She took a deep breath, made a small bow to the alien leader, and spoke Doc’s message in the Asi’s buzzing, clicking language.
A wave of shock went through the alien crowd, and the Asi momentarily stood still as stones. While the aliens were flummoxed, Doc grabbed her hand.
“Let’s go.”
He set a slow, unconcerned pace until they were out of sight of the Asi. Zoe matched him step by stately step. Once they were certain no one saw them, they sprinted back to the human section of the prison, still holding hands.
When Zoe noticed, she stepped away and concentrated on business.
“Was it wise to offer an alliance to an embattled leader?” she ventured to ask. They were in the central plaza once more.
Raven shrugged. “Can you think of a better time to do it?”
“That would depend on what you want from the Asi,” she pointed out.
“I’m not sure I know yet. What I do know is that their current leadership hasn’t given us any trouble. We can’t afford trouble.”
Yep, Zoe thought, we need a quiet life down here.
She took another step away from the general to keep him from knowing that she was shivering with dread. She hated being down here.
“You will adapt,” her commander promised.
She doubted he’d had to use any telepathy. “Thank you.”
They stood looking at each other, until Zoe finally remembered there were other people in the plaza.
Disconcerted, she began, “Sir, I—”
“Let’s find you somewhere to stay, shall we?”
The next thing she knew, his arm was around her shoulders again. It seemed to belong there. She liked the feeling of being tucked against his side. His hard muscles and earthy scent were a reassuring anchor in the darkness.
They walked together up one of the long ramps that circled above the plaza floor, and Doc turned them into the entrance of a corridor several levels up.
They passed plenty of people along the way. Some lurked in shadows; most congregated beneath the dim and widely spaced lights. Zoe couldn’t help but notice the hard looks she received from several of the women, even though they were always surrounded by a group of men.
Her first reaction was an appalling jolt of jealousy, a possessive fear of losing Raven’s attention. She knew it was just the darkness playing on her nerves. He made her feel safe, and she needed to feel safe on a totally primal level.
In the most basic way, Doc was the most alpha male in the place. It was easy for the female prisoners to gather their own harems when they were so outnumbered by males, but maybe it was Doc’s harem they jockeyed to be part of.
Zoe didn’t deny an attraction to the general, but would she be interested in him in another time or place? She doubted she would ever get the chance to find out.
“Here we are,” Doc said.
Zoe came out of her reverie to see that they’d reached a small carved-out hole in the charcoal gray wall at the farthest end of a meagerly lit corridor. Blackness gaped beyond the small opening.
She gave him a panicked look. “That’s a cave.”
“So it is.” He stepped away from her and gestured at the low opening. “You’ll appreciate the amenities.”
She peered briefly inside. “There are no amenities.”
“Use your imagination. That’s what we all do.”
She laughed, and knew that she would like him no matter where they were.
She cleared her throat. “Are there, uh, sanitary—”
He pointed to the very end of the corridor, not far away. “The plumbing is about the only decent thing our landlords have provided. At least they don’t stink. The Kril keep us on a water ration so we limit showers to once a week. Laundry’s done a lot less often. There is a hall officer—the first doorway on the right off the ramp. Report to Lieutenant Athenou for further instructions and let her know that you’ll be working with me. Actually, you can report to her right now,” he added as someone walked toward them through the gloom.
The woman who approached them was as bald as General Raven, but her shaved head didn’t lessen her attractiveness. In fact, it heightened the effect of her high cheekbones and large eyes. She was underweight for her tall frame, but that was the norm around here. She wore cut-off camo shorts and a stained halter top. Zoe could detect no rank markings on the newcomer’s skimpy clothing.
“I hear you have a new one for the concierge level, Doc,” she said as she stopped in front of them.
Athenou gave Zoe a sharp once-over that caused Zoe to move farther away from the general.
Zoe wondered if she should salute—then finally recalled that naval officers didn’t salute when meeting indoors, no matter what the service or rank differences were. What was the use of having all those data implants if she forgot to use them?
Then again, the Kril might monitor all energy usage in the underground prison. Detecting use of the implants might be difficult, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Better to simply work with the brain and sense nature gave her than to run any risks.
“Lieutenant JG Maria Athenou, meet First Lieutenant Zoe Pappas, also navy, also of Terra.”
So now I know that I outrank her, should the subject come up.
Athenou’s sharp expression dissolved into a friendly grin, and she spoke in rapid Greek.
Zoe laughed in response, but answered in Standard to the flow of information. “You left Santorini to move here?” she teased. “What were you thinking, sister?” She gestured toward her recently assigned hole in the wall. “With the housing costs in New Constanz this place is certainly more affordable. But Santorini …”
She and Athenou laughed while Doc looked puzzled. “You two are sharing Terran humor and a bonding moment, right?” Both women turned their attention to him. “I can see you want to share girl talk,” he told them. “Come see me when you get Lieutenant Pappas squared away, Maria.”
“That I will, Doc.”
From the purr in Athenou’s voice and the look the two exchanged Zoe could tell that the pair shared more than just a professional relationship.
Good, Zoe thought, though for an intense moment she hated Athenou. But she had every intention of being this woman’s friend. She didn’t have the option of being anyone’s rival for a man anyway.
“Are you really from New Constanz?” Athenou asked when they were alone.
“That I am,” Zoe answered. They both spoke Greek now.
“That’s where I went to university.”
“I used to have an apartment in the university district.”
Athenou shook her head. “How often do you meet someone not only from the same world but the same area?”
“Not often,” Zoe conceded. This rarity was a sweet coincidence, one that could help ease the strangeness and loneliness of this place for both of them.
She went into the little cave when Maria gestured, and the two of them settled down on the floor for a long talk. After a while, Zoe even began to get used to the darkness.
♥ Uploaded by Coral ♥
6
“Here comes another one, Zoe.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Yeah, but this one’s cute.”
Zoe continued to squint at the datapad in the diffuse light of the plaza. She was determined to make the device do what she wanted, even if she had more willpower than mechanical skill to work with.
“You said that the last time,” Zoe reminded Maria. “He was more desperate than cute.”
“They’re all desperate—even the cute ones.“
Zoe sighed. “To think I used to have trouble getting dates. I miss that.”
Maria laughed softly, as theirs was a whispered conversation as they sat with their backs propped against the stone wall. Zoe had gotten used to the slight dampness permeating the rock behind them.
The plaza was crowded today. One group of people were exercising, another was involved in some sort of football game Zoe didn’t recognize. A choir was practicing on the ramp. People were mingling, some just chatting, others conducting mating rituals. They all had too much time on their hands no matter how they tried to fill it.
Maria Athenou was spending most of her time studying the hubbub. Zoe sat beside her and worked as they chatted. Every now and then the two women were approached by males. Maria accepted the attention as her due. Though she’d been in Camp Five nearly a week, Zoe hadn’t yet gotten into the social rhythm. She found the constant sexual tension irritating and distracting. The general had given her work to do and her sense of duty helped keep everything else at bay; Maria’s friendship also steadied her. Zoe was certain she and Maria would hit it off no matter where they met.
Because she knew she needed to blend in, she’d finally let Maria cajole her into spending some downtime in the communal gathering place of the plaza after days—if they could be called days in the constant dimness—of trying to put together a report about the Asi culture on the barely functioning datapad Raven had given her.
“This time I really mean it about his being cute,” Maria whispered.
“You take him, then.”
“I’ve got plenty.”
Zoe finally looked up when Maria nudged her sharply in the ribs.
The young man who approached had let his hair grow into shoulder-length black dreadlocks. His skin was a light cocoa shade, and he had a dusting of freckles across a turned-up nose. When he squatted in front of them she noticed that his eyes were a light coppery brown. His smile was eager and altogether charming.
Maria was correct about his being cute.
He also seemed so young, even if he was probably no more than a couple of years her junior. “How long have you been here?” she asked him before he had the chance to speak.
“Fourteen months!” came his snapped reply.
Zoe thought he was about to stand up and salute. “I didn’t mean to sound so firm,” she told him. When his smile made a tentative reappearance, she smiled back. This was a mistake, as it only encouraged him.
“Sergeant Cary Siler,” he said, introducing himself. They responded with names and ranks. He glanced at Maria. “I know you’re officers, but we don’t stand on formality here, do we?”
“No, we don’t,” she answered.
This gave him the permission he needed to concentrate on Zoe. “What have you got there?” he asked. “It looks like a piece of junk.”
Since Siler sounded more interested in the object than in her, Zoe held up the datapad for his inspection. “I’m trying to input a report and a basic Asi dictionary on a pad that was designed for medical use. It isn’t cooperating.”
“Why Asi language?” Maria asked.
“Because no one has come up with that universal translator linguists keep trying for, and the general could use some basic Asi.”
“Why? He’s got you.”
“Yes, but—”
“In a way, there is a universal translator,” Siler put in. “There are data implants that download languages right into people’s brains.”
“Yeah, but only a few people in the whole Empire are allowed to have those,” Maria said.
Zoe couldn’t help but respond to the hint of bitterness in her friend’s tone. “That’s because the implant surgery is delicate and dangerous, and the devices and the training to use them are ruinously expensive.” She held up the datapad. “Meanwhile, what we have to work with is this piece o’ crap.”
“Can I have a look? I’m a ’puter tech,” Siler offered.
“I’m delighted for any assistance,” she said and passed the datapad to him.
The grateful look he gave her was so fervent she wondered how long it was since anyone made him feel needed.
He poked around the insides of the little device for a few minutes before he said, “My partner and I have some scrounged components that we can use to upgrade this.” There was a hopeful gleam in his eye when he gestured toward the other side of the plaza. “Maybe you and I can go talk to Mischa about what you need, Zoe.”
Even if the offer was a come-on, maybe the tech boys could help her. At least Cary Siler was into sharing. “Sure,” she said. Zoe reached out a hand and let Siler help her to her feet. Maria snickered softly behind her.
“You’ll like Mischa,” he told her as they began to cross the plaza. “He’s a genius. We’ve been together since I showed up here. We’re both into stability.”
“Why are you telling me this when we’ve just met?” she asked.
He flashed her his boyish smile again. It went very well with the freckles and bright eyes. “Mischa and I saw you when you first came in. We liked the way you talked to the general. We think you’ll like us, and we want to invite you to make our partnership a triad. Mischa says we should court you, but what chance does a pair of geeks have against every male in the camp if we don’t strike first?”
Zoe nodded. “I see your reasoning, and I like your initiative.”
“And my honesty?” he asked hopefully. “Is my honesty endearing?”
It was, actually. She noticed that other than a momentary clasp of her hand when he’d helped her to her feet he was not touching her. They were walking at least two feet apart. He wasn’t the sort to make overt physical overtures.
“I appreciate honesty,” she answered carefully. “I’ll be honest in turn.” As honest as was possible, at least. “I’m new here. I’m still disoriented and I’m still learning the rules. It has never occurred to me to be involved in a multiple-partner arrangement. I see the value of it here, but I need to wrap my head around the idea. Until I’m more comfortable with the realities of camp life, I intend to observe rather than participate in the—um—communal activities.”
He did not seem discouraged. “At least you haven’t flat-out said no.” He held up the datapad. “And Mischa and I really can help you with this. We need to do something useful.”
“So do I.”
He smiled again. “See? We’re perfect for each other.”
“Don’t push it, sergeant.”
His answering laugh was cut off as one of the footballers crashed into his shoulder and sent him sprawling. He kept a tight hold on the datapad as he fell. Zoe and the player hastened to help him up.
Zoe looked around to discover that this commotion had drawn a great deal of attention. Just what she didn’t need. Worse, the group gathered around them was all male. Males with hungry eyes, radiating the hunting instincts of a wolf pack.
She faced the ones in front of her calmly. She was half tempted to grab Siler’s arm and look lovingly into his eyes, but that would be using him, and she just couldn’t do it. And she doubted any show of prior interest would do any good. It might even get Siler injured.
The ball player stepped protectively—or possessively—in front of her. “What’s up, Everard?” He addressed the alpha male of the group.
“Excuse us,” Siler said, also to Everard. “Let us through, please.” He sounded scared.
No one budged to let them by. After a tense moment, the ball player was roughly pushed aside. While he scuffled with a couple of the pack, their leader stepped up to Zoe. Everard was big and good-looking and far too aware of it.
He looked her over with a critical eye, and a sneer. “You’ll have to do.”
She returned the sneer. “Is this the point where I ask, ‘Do for what’? And you reply with something sexually crude? If so, let’s skip along to the part where I ask you to let us pass, you refuse, and I rip your liver out.”
She spoke in a calm, professional manner, and received the jeers and hoots of laughter she expected. Was confronting Everard going to make her friends or enemies among the general population?
Why couldn’t people just leave her alone?
Siler and the ballplayer had been hustled away from her, and she was now completely surrounded by Everard’s gang. Someone grabbed her from behind. Everard’s hand reached for her breasts. She prepared to fight.
“What have I said about you boys playing nice?” General Raven asked.
7
Raven had been expecting this. Too many hormones and not enough to do with them caused an incident every couple of months. Things went on that he didn’t catch, but his occasional reminders about discipline seemed to help.
He wasn’t surprised that Lieutenant Pappas was at the center of the harassment. “You’re just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you?” he asked Zoe as he pushed a pair of men aside to reach her.
“’Ten hun !” someone finally thought to shout.
“All I want is a quiet life,” she responded as the group around her moved away. Then she came to attention.
The men formed themselves into a ragged, resentful line. Those not involved in the incident melted out of the plaza.
Raven stood beside Zoe and looked them over in stern silence until more than half of them looked ashamed of themselves. Once he was certain he had their contrition, he said, “The laws and customs of the Byzant Empire will be observed by the citizens of the Empire no matter what the circumstances. The military codes of conduct are also in force. Remember who you are, remember what you are: soldiers and sailors of the Empire. Forget about where you are and be who you are. We will remain civilized.
“As a reminder, the rules governing sexual encounters are as follows: No always means no. Ask nicely. No coercion will be tolerated. Unless”—he swept his gaze over the cringing men one by one—“you want me to personally rip your balls off. Corporal Arco?”
“Here, sir!”
“Arrange for more strenuous physical training for these men. Except for you, Chief Everard,” he said to the gang’s leader. “You’re confined to your quarters for a hundred twenty hours. Come see me afterward. Lieutenant Pappas, come with me.”
My fault for letting this kind of thing happen at all, he chastised himself. Discipline’s too lax. I think too much like a doctor and not enough like a base commander. Better do something about it.
Even as he made a mental list, he was acutely aware of the young woman as she followed him across the plaza.
“Could you have taken him?” he asked her.
“I’m more fit than I look, sir.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “It’s not easy for a diplomat to simply say yes or no, is it?”
“No, sir.”
“It is or it isn’t easy?”
“I was being diplomatic, sir.” She tried not to smile, and failed.
Her smile made his day. “How’s that report on the Asi coming along, Zoe?”
She also returned to being professional. “I’ve been trying to organize everything I know about their culture as it might pertain to the current situation. I’ve got it all boiled down in my head, but I’m having trouble getting data storage for the report.”
“Then you can report verbally when I call a staff meeting. In the meantime, let’s get some one-on-one experience.”
Zoe quelled the urge to ask, “You have staff meetings?” Because this sort of thing was to be encouraged rather than met with sarcasm. After a moment she realized that this unkind thought was a product of the connection between her empathy and the general’s telepathy that met and mingled whenever they were together.
“You’re not very happy with yourself at the moment,” she said.
He didn’t answer or even bother to look her way, but his emotions blanked as he tightened his mental shields. A fair enough response, she thought. She trailed along in silence as they made their way through growing darkness into the Asi tunnels.
The silence was shattered by a human scream as they entered the main corridor of the aliens’ quarters, and Doc broke into a run. Zoe followed, but it was impossible to keep up with the big man’s speed and she was soon left behind.
Doc didn’t try to push the crowd of aliens aside but leapt over them to get to the bleeding man on the ground. As he landed, he was thinking loudly, Arco, get me a medical team and some security to the Asi main chamber. And make sure the Kril don’t know anything.
Since Arco was no telepath he couldn’t respond, but Doc was certain of the corporal’s ability to receive and to carry out orders.
As he knelt, he gave only a cursory glance at the pair of Asi fighting over the human’s severed arm.
Arterial blood poured in spurts onto the already soaked floor. Doc pulled off his shirt and turned it into a tourniquet, but the smell of blood made him dizzy and he had to fight to concentrate.
“What the hell happened?” he asked as he applied pressure.
A pale face turned to him, but the victim’s screams just became whimpers. He heard the Asi leader clicking and snarling away, but the sounds made no sense to him.
“The human wandered onto forbidden ground,” Zoe translated, her voice shaking slightly. She took a deep breath and went on steadily. “He was defeated when he was challenged. His lost meat is acceptable apology for his ignorant behavior.”
“Lost meat—” Doc shook his head. He understood this part of the alien culture too well, and didn’t like the similarities he could see in himself.
He had the bleeding under control enough to look up at Zoe. The fear in her eyes affected him too strongly—empathy to telepathy mixed with his own shaky control. They both had to stay calm, to deal with the situation.
“What really happened?” He asked the translator’s opinion.
“I think a lost newbie wandered down the wrong corridor and was jumped by the challenger’s faction.”
Doc recognized the big, rebellious Asi standing in the crowd. “He wants an incident? With us or his boss?” Doc asked.
“Probably both.”
Doc stood with the man cradled in his arms. Some aliens moved a few menacing steps toward him. “Well, he’s not getting one with us right now.”
Doc stepped forward and the Asi leader put himself between the humans and his kind. The leader gestured for them to be let through the crowd.
We’re coming out, Arco, Doc thought to his subordinate. Everybody wait for me at the tunnel mouth.
Focused on getting the man to the medical section, it wasn’t until he laid his patient down in the infirmary that he noticed Zoe Pappas hadn’t returned with him.
8
“Can you grow it back?” The young man’s voice was raspy from screaming, but the rough tone didn’t disguise his hope and fear.
“Your arm can be regrown, Ensign Morgan,” Doc answered. “But I don’t have the equipment to do it here.”
Most of the hope in the youngster’s eyes faded. “But—it can be fixed?”
Doc nodded, and patted his patient on the shoulder. He didn’t try to explain to Morgan that there was a time limit on how long it would be before the severed nerves could be regenerated. Maybe they’d be out of here before that window closed. He’d have to explain the prognosis to the amputee eventually, but right now he was going to let Morgan rest and recuperate.
“Sleep,” he said, and made it a telepathic order.
Once he was sure Morgan was out, Raven went to his office, where Arco was waiting. “Morgan’s going to be fine,” he told him.
“There’s an angry crowd outside,” Arco reported. “They want to know what happened.”
“The incident was pretty much as our alien liaison officer—Lieutenant Pappas—guessed,” he clarified at Arco’s puzzled look.
He went out to the plaza, where dozens of human prisoners were gathered. The tension in the air was so heavy it nearly knocked him over. A woman with her back to him was stirring up feelings as Doc arrived.
“We’re at war with them!” Ensign Langly shouted. “They’ve proven they won’t honor a truce. We can’t let the Asi get away with attacking one of our own.”
Doc liked Barb Langly, but she was a bit hot-blooded. “You’re a good weapons officer, Barb,” he said, coming up behind her. “But you make a lousy strategist.”
She whirled to face him, putting herself at the head of the group that moved closer to him. She looked hopefully at him, her expression a little too close to hysterical. “The Asi are the enemy. Tell us how to wipe them out and we’ll do it for you, Doc. Give us some strategy and let us loose.”
Doc waited for the shouts of approval to subside. “I appreciate your enthusiasm,” he told them. “But no one here breaks Raven’s Rules.”
“What about what the Asi did?” Barb demanded. “They wounded one of your people.”
“And they did it on purpose.” Doc held up a hand for silence before the angry buzz could get started. “Morgan wandered into their territory and got himself attacked by an Asi faction that’s trying to start a war with us.”
“Fine with me!” somebody yelled.
“We are at war with them.” Barb Langly turned back to the crowd and raised a fist into the air. “If they want a fight, let’s fight!”
“With what?” a woman asked. “They’re born armored.”
“We outnumber them,” one of the navy people said.
Doc noticed that his marines were keeping out of the argument. In fact, they were lined up in a loose circle outside of the crowd, containing the hotheads, ready to stop them if need be.
He crossed his arms. He showed no concern at the continuing hostility. “I know you people are bored, so I’ll let these rumblings of mutiny continue for a couple more minutes before I start knocking heads.”
“An eye for an eye!” Langly shouted.
“How about an arm for an arm?” came a calm voice from the distant shadows.
Doc didn’t know where Pappas had gotten her voice training, but he admired the way her words were pitched to carry. He smiled, and gestured for her to be let through. She received a marine escort through the gasping crowd. He’d gotten a whiff of blood a few seconds before she spoke, so he wasn’t surprised by what she carried, only about how she had gotten her hands on it.
“May I explain, sir?” she asked when she reached him.
He put his hands behind his back to keep himself from shaking her and demanding what she meant by putting herself at risk. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Gunny Kathiu, kindly relieve the lieutenant of her burden.”
The marine sergeant took the grisly piece of Asi carcass and held it up so everyone could see. Zoe wiped her bloody hands on her uniform as she faced the crowd, but a yellow stain remained on her palms.
“Go on,” Doc urged.
“The Asi truly do live by the precept of equal justice for offenses—‘an eye for an eye’ has a completely literal meaning for them. Attacking and possibly killing any Asi for what happened to our man would begin a cycle of reprisals that the Hajim, through the Kril, would make us all pay for. At best, interspecies conflict would result in harsher treatment for all prisoners. At worst, we could be signing the death warrants for every being in this camp.” She gestured toward the severed limb. “The Asi offer this as equal payment for the human arm that was taken. Their leader wishes to keep the status quo among our populations in place.” She looked at Doc. “If you agree, sir.”
Doc wondered how this silver-tongued woman had worked out this agreement. He also wondered if the Asi missing his claw had volunteered to make this peace offering.
“Fine with me.” He addressed his people. “This incident is now settled between humans and the Asi. No one lets our Kril keepers know that it even happened.” He gave a stern look to the people before him. Many of them came to attention; even more slipped away. “That’s fine with all of us,” he told the stubborn ones that were left. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir!” the marines barked out. Everyone else followed their lead.
“Dismissed,” Doc said. “Except you,” he said to Zoe.
Barb lingered for a moment, but gave Zoe a dirty look and left when Doc didn’t acknowledge her.
After everyone had gone, Doc turned to Lieutenant Pappas. “What am I supposed to do with a severed Asi arm?”
“Do we have any butter sauce?” she deadpanned.
9
“Okay, Pappas, your turn. Where would you go?” Siler asked.
Zoe sat among a group in a corridor entrance just off the plaza. It was a good gathering place, as the air recirc system simulated a breeze here much of the time. They could at least pretend they were getting fresh air. The pretending was even more elaborate at the moment; they were playing a game of Perfect Shore Leave. It was a way of passing the time and remembering the worlds they’d left behind.
“That’s easy,” she answered as she leaned back against the cool, damp wall. She glanced at Maria on her right. “I’d visit Santorini.”
Maria shook a finger at her. “No fair. You’re a Terran native. You can’t go home in this game.”
Zoe rubbed her chin. “Okay, let me think.”
She very rarely got home to Terra, and that was her first choice of anywhere in the Empire to visit—she’d had enough of exotic worlds. But the players’ goal here was to provide stimulus to escape the boredom and ugliness, not to remind each other of their homesickness.
“Got it,” she finally said and looked at the eager faces turned her way. “When I was going to university, a history professor told me about a dark star world that’s off-limits to all but a few archaeologists. There are ruins on this uninhabited planet of a dead civilization.”
“Boring,” Everard said.
She’d discovered that Everard wasn’t really so bad, he was just the sort who needed the occasional ass-kicking to put him in his place. He’d apologized to her quite nicely after he got out of stir and received a firm reprimand from the general. Everard still carried a few bruises from that encounter, but didn’t seem to resent them at all. Men were funny that way.
“Not boring,” Zoe countered. “You see, this civilization looks like a human one, though it was already dead while we were still living in trees.”
“Humans didn’t get out of the Sol System before the Bottleneck,” Maria said.
“That we know of,” Zoe added. “But this was definitely a humanoid species. Their artwork shows some anatomical differences, but they essentially look like us. Or we look like them—maybe some of them emigrated to Terra. After all, the suprahuman races that evolved along with us do have slightly different DNA than Homo sapiens sapiens.”
Everard rolled his eyes. “Boring,” he repeated. “Who’d want to see ruins on a shore leave? Even if this artwork was all porno.”
“Well, I’d like to go there,” she answered.
“Is there alcohol? Can you have sex there?” Mischa asked.
“We can have sex here,” Maria pointed out. “And get drunk.”
The still Siler and Mischa had built didn’t officially exist, but everyone knew about it. The group had been passing around a bottle of truly wretched vodka as they shared their fantasies.
“But sex and liquor is no fun here,” Katie Alzar complained. “I’m a country girl from Doga Four, and most of the planet is just farm after farm. It’s a great place for growing wheat, but no place to party. I joined up to get a taste of decadence somewhere, so my perfect shore leave would be Sensar. I know it’s got three suns and is mostly desert, but the luxury spas on the Salt Sea are supposed to be the best in the Empire.”
Zoe wasn’t going to spoil the young woman’s fantasy with the truth that the spas were overpriced, or worry her with the news that her homeworld was now in Hajim territory.
Aliens valued naturally arable land as much as the humans did, and there wasn’t a natural abundance of habitable worlds. Most conflict between spacing species was over territory and trade routes, and there was conflict over territory even within the Empire. The Imperial Military Service existed as much to police humans as it did to protect the Empire from outsiders.
“I’d like to visit a world with three suns,” Everard spoke up. “Especially after living in the dark all this time. But where I’d really like to visit is the underwater cities of Sebasta.”
“That story about dolphin hookers isn’t true, you know,” Katie said.
“Don’t spoil a boy’s dreams.” Everard nudged the man sitting beside him. “Siler?”
Siler shared a grin with Mischa. “We’ve talked about this. When we get out of here we plan to head for the space stations around Baoka Two.”
“They’re the most impressive examples of structural engineering in the Empire,” Mischa said. “They hang in space like a string of delicate beads …”
“…huge delicate beads,” Siler added.
“Geeks are so predictable,” Maria said.
“Where would you go?” Zoe asked her friend.
“There’s so many places I’d like. Maybe I’d visit Solsangre.”
“The hell you will!” Barb Langly jumped to her feet. She was unsteady and bellicose from too much vodka. “You stay away!”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Barb!” Maria moved across the circle to stand in front of Langly. “You have got to stop acting like this.”
“You leave him alone!” Barb shouted. She glared around. “All of you leave him alone.”
Zoe was the only one who seemed surprised by Barb’s behavior.
“Stop it right now.” Maria put a hand on Barb’s shoulder. The other woman failed to shake her off. “You’ve been down here too long, Barb; that’s all that’s wrong with you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“You’ve started taking your connection with Doc seriously. You can’t do that. No one who goes with him can. He’s not a one-woman man. You have to accept that when you go into it.”
“You want him for yourself.”
“Hell, no.” Maria grinned. “I just want him every now and then. We can’t afford to be selfish.”
Zoe cringed and desperately wished the conversation away. What was it that drew female attention to that magnificent specimen of a man? Hers included, damn it!
“Hell, no, is right.” Everard also rose to his feet, stepped to the center of the group, and turned in a slow circle. “Doc’s not the only man down here, ladies.” He cast a hopeful look at Zoe, but it was Katie who jumped up and put her arms around him.
As they began to kiss and fondle each other, Zoe turned away. She’d had enough playing games for one day. As she left, Barb was still yelling and Maria was still being reasonable. Siler and Mischa were locked in an embrace. Zoe didn’t want to hear or see any of it. She didn’t want to participate no matter how much she craved someone’s touch.
She took the vodka with her to her cave.
What the hell was so special about General Raven, anyway? What made her keep thinking about him, even as she fell into lonely sleep?
10
“Happy to see you could join me at last, Lieutenant.”
Zoe refused to look at him.
She hadn’t been in the general’s office for several days, and was embarrassed to arrive in the room at the back of the infirmary late. It didn’t help that her head still swam with vodka-fueled erotic dreams. After Arco had woken her to tell her what time to report, she’d gone back to sleep, and didn’t know how long it had been before she dragged herself out of her cave.
“You look terrible,” Doc added.
She looked glumly at the floor. “Sorry, sir.”
“There’s no need to be sorry. I’m a doctor, so it’s good for business when people look terrible—at least when they come into the infirmary.”
She couldn’t help but laugh, which made her wince. She eyed the big man behind the desk. “You did that on purpose.” He responded with a shrug. “I’m sorry for being late, General,” she clarified.
He stood. “It’s not as if we don’t have plenty of time around here.”
She watched him through slitted eyelids as he crossed to a cabinet. What was it about Raven that made women willing to fight over him—other than his having a body to kill for, that is? He had a certain amount of charm, beautiful eyes, and a nice mouth, but his face wasn’t really anything to write home to the empress about.
She blushed when he turned around and caught her staring.
His only comment was “That’s some hangover you’ve got there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I ought to put Siler and his partner to work on coming up with something useful—maybe a poison that’ll take out the Kril instead of my own people.”
Zoe pulled out her datapad. “Actually, sir, they reprogrammed this for me. It’s now quite useful for recording the alien cultural reports you asked for.” She spoke slowly and carefully, lucidity having to fight hard to get through the headache.
He grunted, and held out his hand. “Take this.”
She accepted the pill he offered, but only pretended to swallow it, slipping it into a pocket when she put the datapad away. She never, ever took drugs if she had a choice. She’d let fear, the darkness and nameless frustration get the better of her. All right, the frustration wasn’t nameless and he was standing right in front of her, but proximity didn’t matter. Or excuse the weakening of her self-control. What was wrong with her she had done to herself, and she would live with the consequences. Besides, her own med implants would kick in to numb the pain eventually even though she wasn’t going to consciously activate them.
“Better?” said Raven after he watched her for a couple of minutes. He’d been staring at her as intensely as she’d been looking at him, but at least he was open and unashamed about it.
She ignored several forms of discomfort, forced a bright smile and nodded.
“Then have a seat and get on with telling me everything I need to know about the Asi. And don’t look around like that, sarcasm does not become you. I know I said I was going to do this in a staff meeting but after the Morgan incident I’ve decided to keep any attempts at peace negotiations with the enemy between you and me.”
She didn’t understand his reasoning, but decided not to question it. At least not until her headache was really better.
Doc listened to what Zoe had to say about the aliens, but he also concentrated on her with his other senses. He knew the exact moment her pain disappeared, despite her impressive acting ability.
So, she had some embedded emergency medical ware to go along with the data implants. The Naval Diplomatic Corps had certainly spent an impressive amount on this one young officer. Or somebody had.
Matthias Raven had mixed feelings about his new aide. He worried that he trusted her too much, too quickly. And her secrets intrigued him. He was very tempted to get deeper inside her head.
He was pretty tempted to get into her pants as well.
In the cycles she’d been down in the hole, he’d kept a close, surreptitious watch on her. She’d made friends, but at no time had she shown the faintest sexual interest in any of the other prisoners despite the many overtures.
She was sexually interested in him.
Matthias Raven was aware not just as a telepath, but as a male, of the pull he had on her. The same sexual pull she had on him. Maybe that was why she’d rebuffed all offers from other POWs. And maybe his glares at other interested parties were why most advances toward Lieutenant Pappas had dried up.
He corrected his egotistical thought. Zoe Pappas was good at manipulating situations, and she was the one keeping people at bay, not he. She could do things with a look, a tone, a bit of body language that spoke volumes about her diplomatic talents.
She seemed to be using her power only for good, and her involvement with the others in the camp had increased morale. There were people now socializing with each other who had formed hostile cliques before. And he didn’t know how she’d managed to pry Everard away from his gang, but that horny bastard now followed her around like a neutered puppy.
He leaned forward in his chair. “How do you do it, Pappas?”
She leaned forward as well, and he had an absurd image of magnetism drawing them together. Her puzzled look was adorable.
“Do what, sir?”
Arco’s distinctive triple-tap knock sounded on the doorframe before he could answer.
“What?” Doc shouted irritably.
11
Arco came in and gave Zoe a friendly nod before he addressed his commanding officer.
Don’t think I didn’t notice that, Doc thought.
Zoe covered her mouth to smother a giggle. She’d heard his thought, and wasn’t bothered by his telepathy.
There really was too much communication between them—bad for business, whether they liked it or not.
He focused on Arco. “Yes?”
“It’s busy up top, Doc. A Hajim supply ship arrived and brought a few prisoners along with the cargo—human, Asi, and Denthera this time.” He grinned. “They also escorted in a Benso relief ship.”
Doc stood. “I assume that news is already spreading?”
Arco’s grin grew wider. “I do my best, sir.”
“Thank you, Corporal. Continue spreading the good cheer. Call a meeting of the hall officers after the Benso are finished. And inform me when our prisoners have completed processing. Lieutenant, let’s go join the happy throng.” He gestured for Zoe to accompany him. “You don’t look happy,” he said as they left his office.
Zoe knew that she did not look unhappy. She knew that her expression was perfectly bland and neutral. “My parents didn’t spend all that money on acting lessons just so a telepath could come along and read me like a datasheet,” she complained as they walked through the infirmary.
“I’ll apologize to your parents if I ever meet them. What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Are you one of those people who don’t like the Benso?”
Actually, her first reaction to hearing about the Benso had been a surge of hope that she could get a message out through the neutral aid workers whose species goal was to spread love and peace and understanding through the galaxy. But …
“I don’t trust them,” she told Raven. “It’s probably prejudice, because they’ve never done anything hostile in the century we’ve been in contact with them. But on Terra we have an insect called a praying mantis. The Benso resemble this bug, and deep down I’m scared they’re going to bite my head off and eat me.”
He gave his deep, rumbling chuckle. “You deal just fine with the Asi, and they will eat you if they get the chance.”
She nodded. “But the Asi don’t pretend to be the Dalai Lama, either. Sorry, that’s a Terran religious leader.”
“I know who the Dalai Lama is. I also know what you mean about the Benso. They’re so kind and helpful and compassionate, I can’t help but wonder what they’re really up to.”
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. I can’t deny that they come in handy as intermediaries for delivering aid to all sides in this stupid war—but they give me the creeps.”
“Creepy, yes.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “But they also bring chocolate. Not that your friendship could be bought for a chocolate bar, of course.”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t count on that, sir.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Zoe hesitated when they reached the hall door. The thought of the small luxuries provided by a Benso aid package was indeed very tempting. She’d heard that their Hajim captors rarely let the aid workers into the camps, so this could be a once-a-year treat. But it could also be a trap. The Hajim might be allowing a Benso relief run with the purpose of ferreting her out. Chocolate and shampoo weren’t worth the risk.
“I think I’ll stay and get some work done.” At his questioning look she said, “You haven’t asked about the Denthera yet. I want to have my thoughts in order when you do.”
“All right,” he agreed. “You can tell us all about the Denthera when the hall officers get here for the meeting. Right now, I’m going to go look fierce to make sure the aid packages get distributed fairly.”
He gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze before he left.
“Oh, dear,” Zoe murmured as she stroked her tingling skin. She liked being touched by Doc Raven far too much.
12
“You are the last person I thought would be afraid of the BenBugs,” Maria chided her. She took a seat beside Zoe on the floor in Doc’s office, holding a small plastic box on her lap. “You should be ashamed.” She shook the box. “And look what you missed out on.”
“I am ashamed,” Zoe told her. “But we all have our psychological barriers when it comes to dealing with aliens.” Maybe she shouldn’t have used fear of the Benso as an excuse when her friend came in and asked why she wasn’t outside getting her share of goodies, but it was the first excuse she could think of.
“I thought you had to pass all kinds of xeno-tolerance assessments to get into the diplomatic branch.”
“I passed all the tests,” Zoe hastened to explain. The last thing she wanted was to be called on her credentials. She hoped Raven hadn’t noticed the flimsiness of her excuse. “I can deal with any species I have to …there are just some I’d rather not have to.”
Maria shrugged. “Your loss.” She flipped open her box. “Maybe not that much of a loss,” she added after a quick examination of the items inside. “There’s a vitamin packet, caf tablets, fruit sticks, toiletries. Damn—the one-size-fits-all shirt is white. Why do they send white to a place where nothing stays clean?”
The fabric in the uniforms issued to Imperial forces was supposed to be impossible to soil—but even the tough enzymes embedded in the cloth gave up the fight after a few weeks of continuous wear. Zoe suspected she was going to hate her uniform before very much longer.
“At least it’s a change of clothes.” Zoe hoped she didn’t sound wistful.
Maria lovingly stroked the two candy bars in the box. “I don’t like chocolate, but these make excellent trade goods.” She sighed. “This stuff isn’t my grandma’s baklava, but it seems like treasure.”
Zoe’s stomach growled at the mention of the honey pastry from back home. “What can I trade you for one of the candy bars?”
Mischa, Barb, and Dyal Andiki came in as Zoe spoke. “Oh, no,” Mischa announced when he overheard her, “the rule is that all trading has to be done in the public marketplace—which will start in the plaza as soon as we’re done here.”
Maria flipped her box closed. “So let’s hope this is a quick meeting.”
“I won’t take much of your time,” Doc said, coming in.
Arco and a skinny young man Zoe didn’t recognize followed right behind him. The office was small, but everyone managed to sit on the floor or perch on the desk and two chairs that made up the furniture.
Before he took a seat, Doc came over to Zoe. When she looked up at the tall man towering above her, he held out one of the aid boxes. “For you, Lieutenant.”
There was a moment of silence while everyone, including Zoe, stared. Someone laughed.
Then Mischa hooted. “Zoe’s got a boyfriend.”
“Take that from him and you’ll be engaged. That’s the local custom,” Maria chimed in.
“That’s not funny!” Barb protested.
Zoe watched in fascination as General Raven’s tan skin darkened with a blush. She finally reached up and took the box, noticing the warmth of his skin as their fingers brushed. “Thank you, General,” Zoe whispered.
He nodded. “Anytime, Lieutenant.”
As Doc turned and walked to his desk chair, Zoe and the hall officers looked attentively at their commander.
“I won’t keep you long,” he said. “First, I want you to keep an eye out to make sure that any trading from the aid packages goes fairly. Nobody sells themselves for a caf tablet—and nobody asks them to. I want the names of anyone who tries either. Speaking of caf tablets—”
There was a chorus of groans.
“—Corporal Arco will now accept donations of caf from willing volunteers.”
“Hand ’em over.” Arco moved around the room while people grudgingly opened their aid packages.
“Are you that badly addicted?” Zoe asked when he came to her. She placed her supply in his open palms.
“Not me,” he told her. “But the Kril love them; they get a real buzz from caf. Supplying the guards with caf is one of the ways I keep on their good side. Keeping them happy helps me get information out of ’em.”
“Everybody stop complaining,” Doc told the reluctant volunteers. “This is for the good of us all, right?” After a chorus of affirmatives, he went on. “Did anyone notice anything odd about the Benso today?”
The question put Zoe’s stomach into a nervous knot.
“Yes, sir,” Mischa replied. “They kept asking people if we had any news to send home.”
“The Hajim have never allowed them to do that before,” Doc said. “I don’t like their allowing it now. The Hajim are up to something.” He swept his gaze questioningly around the room.
“I didn’t hear anyone say anything,” Barb said.
“I don’t think anyone broke the security protocols,” Maria said.
“Name, rank, and service number was all I heard out of anybody,” Mischa reported.
The knot in Zoe’s stomach relaxed a little. Her impulse to avoid the Benso had been the right thing to do. She also hated that the Empire’s standing order for prisoner conduct was to reveal no information no matter what the temptation or duress. It shamed her that she’d had even a moment’s thought of breaking the security protocol.
“Another quick item,” Raven went on. “With the influx of prisoners, I think it’s time to ask the Kril to open up a new housing corridor. Any suggestions for a hall officer?”
“What about Everard?” Zoe answered immediately. She realized her mistake when several hostile looks were turned her way. “Sorry. I’m not a hall officer, I don’t have a vote here.”
“No one has a vote.” The young man she didn’t know spoke up. “This is an empire, remember?”
“Don’t start,” Mischa warned him.
Maria leaned close and whispered in Zoe’s ear, “Adams is from one of the secessionist colonies.”
“I know the type,” Zoe whispered back. Too well. They all took names like Adams or Payne or Robespierre or Mao or Che—Creative Anachronistic Revolutionaries.
“No one gets a vote, because this is the military,” Raven pointed out. “No one in any military organization in human history has ever gotten a vote. Any other suggestions about a new hall officer?”
Several names were offered, including Zoe’s. “I’ll consider all of them.” Then he looked at Zoe. “Our alien liaison officer will now briefly tell us about the Denthera, so we can get to the party in the plaza.”
He held up a hand for her to wait before she could get started and looked around. “Our Denthera neighbors are sneaky bastards, and I suspect they’re spying on us. I don’t know what they’re up to, but I want more patrols in our corridors to discourage any spying.”
“What do you want us to do if we catch them?” Barb asked.
“I don’t want them caught. For now, I only want confirmation that they’re watching us.” He nodded to Zoe. “Go ahead, Lieutenant.”
Zoe was aware of the growing impatience to be gone permeating the room. “Briefly, the Denthera are sneaky, although they don’t have any cultural equivalent of bastard.” She hurried on after the brief laughter. “They are genetically related to the Kril, but they consider the Kril a cowardly, inferior race. One of the reasons they fight the Hajim is because the Kril collaborate with them. They fight us and the Asi over territorial issues, but they can also be hired by us as spies and mercenaries. They might be telepathic, but not in any way that shows up on human sensors. Maybe they just have great hearing and are good at interpreting alien body language. They do things for their own reasons and don’t bother explaining them to us.”
“Sneaky bastards,” Raven concluded.
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s it, then.” General Raven waved toward the office door. “Dismissed.”
13
“Does it seem darker than usual to you?” Barb Langly asked Zoe as they met on the main ramp a couple of stories above the plaza. Zoe had been looking down on the open expanse, trying to follow the action of soccer match in and out of the shadows.
“Hello,” Zoe responded, giving up on watching the game. She hadn’t seen the other woman since the meeting in Doc’s office two cycles ago.
Zoe looked at the skylight above—it was probably night out in the world as the shield seemed darker. The lights spaced too far apart around the walls gave their usual dim illumination.
“No,” she told Barb as they fell into step on their way down. “It doesn’t seem any worse than usual. Or better,” she added. “I hate this place.”
Barb gave her a bleak look. “Just wait until you’ve been here as long as I have.”
Zoe didn’t want to think about that. She tried to change the subject. “Where are you heading?”
The look in Barb’s eyes became more dreamy, less hopeless. “Doc’s office,” she answered.
Zoe was heading that way herself but thought it best not to mention this to Barb when the woman was in such a down mood. Better not to arouse Barb’s possessive insecurity over Doc.
And what about my possessive insecurity? She pouted, and answered her own petulance with a stern reminder that the only relationship she had with Raven was a working one.
“I want to tell Doc about the guy that’s been creeping around the corridors the last couple of cycles,” Barb added.
“A Denthera?”
Barb shook her head. “The people who’ve seen him don’t think so. He’s quiet and fast but more human shaped than alien. Opinion is that it’s one of the newbies running around scared of the dark.”
“That’s understandable.”
“Yeah. None of us is immune to odd behavior,” Barb added, with a heavy touch of irony. “The hall officers figure Doc will want to deal with our nightwalker. He’s got a nice touch when it comes to talking people down off ledges, if you know what I mean.”
Zoe nodded as they reached the bottom of the ramp. She waited as the hall officer had Raven to herself first. She watched Barb walk across the plaza toward the infirmary, then looked around for something to do while she waited to see Raven.
Along the wall to the left she saw that Anders Cauley had a bunch of geeks literally sitting at his feet as he gave a lecture. Cauley was one of the most brilliant scientists in the Empire, a civilian captured along with the crew of a navy ship sent to evacuate his research team from a space station attack. He was Camp Five’s celebrity prisoner; a good-looking, charming man who used his celebrity to attract women. No harm in that, as one used what one had. He’d also set up an educational curriculum that helped prisoners pass the endless time in this dungeon.
In another area of the plaza a marine sergeant was leading a group in strenuous exercise. The soccer players kept running into them, but the marines didn’t pay any attention. The smell of sweat permeated the air. Zoe had attended a tai chi class before first chow and considered that enough physical activity for this cycle.
She gravitated toward another group. This one occupied a part of the plaza close enough to the infirmary that she could see when Barb left. She knew most of the half-dozen people, but wasn’t sure if she was happy to see them when she realized that they were engaged in a lively political debate featuring Adams and Dyal Andiki. Nevertheless she took a seat angled toward the infirmary door and prepared to keep her mouth shut no matter what.
“I for one don’t feel oppressed,” Dyal said. He looked intently at Adams. “Even though we’re using the same language, I really don’t understand what you mean by Imperial oppression. The Hajim are oppressing me, but the Empire has never done anything but take care of me.”
“How?” Adams demanded.
“They paid for my education,” Dyal answered. “The Imperial armed forces keep the space lanes open for trade. They’re fighting the alien incursions.”
“They? Don’t you mean that you’re fighting the aliens?”
“I’m a citizen of the Empire,” Dyal said.
“Citizens should have rights.”
“Oh, please—”
“Tax revenue paid for your education. In gratitude you signed up for the military, and look where that’s gotten you—a Hajim POW camp.”
“I notice you’re sitting right here beside me. How come you joined up?”
“My homeworld was attacked by the Hajim. The Imperial military is the only force organized enough, rich enough to fight the aliens. I’m fighting for my home in the only way open to me.”
“Just which is your home planet?” Dyal asked suspiciously.
“New Barton,” Adams answered with a defiant look around.
Dyal gave a satisfied smirk. “Thought so.”
“New Barton’s the reason we’re in this war!” Denis Orick shouted. “If you people hadn’t founded an illegal colony in Hajim-claimed territory then—”
“That illegal colony has been paying protection money to the Imperial tyranny for fifty years!” Adams shouted back. “Paying tribute the whole time the Empire has been trying to force us to abandon our homes.”
“You may have noticed that the Empire hasn’t forcibly evicted your people. They’ve allowed the situation to go through a long legal battle that’s been wasting plenty of time and money. And the correct term is taxes, not tribute,” Dyal said. “There’s nothing wrong with paying a reasonable amount of taxes.”
“Most of the outer worlds’ tribute to the Empire is used to fund the indolence and decadence of Terra itself,” Adams proclaimed. “Everyone knows that no native-born Terran works for a living or pays taxes.”
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Maria jumped to her feet. “I was born and raised on Terra and I worked in my family’s hotel until I entered university. They didn’t pay me, but we sure as hell paid taxes.” She looked around and pointed a finger at Zoe. “You’re from Terra, too. What kind of work does your family do?”
With everyone now staring at her, Zoe got to her feet. “Well, actually, my family is supported by the Empire.”
“Ha!” Adams proclaimed.
“By that I mean that I come from a long line of bureaucrats. That’s how I ended up a diplomat—I went into the family business.” Before anyone could ask any more specific questions, she said, “I’ve got an appointment with Doc.”
She headed quickly across to the infirmary. Cauley caught her eyes before she reached the door and gave her a winning smile. Several of the geeks looked around and did the same. Zoe smiled back and waved her fingers and increased her pace. Still, she noticed that her gait suddenly had a bit more swing in the hips. Male attention did have a heady effect, didn’t it?
“Hi, Alwyn.” She greeted the nurse on duty in the tiny infirmary reception area.
“He’s still with Langly,” the young man responded, with a distinct smirk.
Zoe doubted there was anything untoward going on in the general’s office but she couldn’t stop the jealous twinge any more than Alwyn could help the innuendo. This place kept a person thinking about sex. Maybe it was just the lighting. The close quarters. The loneliness. The boredom.
The fact that General Raven was the hottest male she’d ever met.
Zoe made an effort to get her mind on something useful.
“How’s Morgan doing?” she asked.
“Still in intensive care.” Alwyn gestured toward the smaller of the two wards, the one that held two beds. “Have a look for yourself.”
She pulled the curtain aside and stepped into intensive care, glad to see that Morgan was the only patient. People in Camp Five were pretty healthy. At least so far—what if this war went on for years and their sentence in this place went on and on?
She shook off this unanswerable concern and smiled warmly at the young man propped up in the bed. “Hi! You don’t remember me—”
“I know who you are,” he said, cutting her off.
A rush of fear shot through Zoe before he continued.
“You were here yesterday. You’re Zoe.”
She relaxed and sat down on the bed next to his. The tubes and monitors that surrounded the amputee were nowhere near state-of-the-art medical equipment, but they seemed to be doing an adequate job.
“I thought you were asleep when I visited before. How are you feeling?”
“I was mostly awake,” he answered. “But—I was embarrassed to talk to anyone then.”
“Why would you be embarrassed?” She touched the stump of his arm above the bandaging. “This is a war wound, received in hostile territory. You’ve earned a CRW Medal for this.”
“That’s what Doc Raven said. He’s already given me this lecture, Zoe.”
“I hope you’re not afraid of being ragged on about how you lost your arm when you get out of here? If you are, the best way to handle it is to be the one to make the first joke about having poisoned the Asi.”
“Doc suggested I do that, too.”
“I hope I did poison them.” Morgan turned his head away and closed his eyes. His words were choked with emotion. “I hate all aliens. I want them all dead, the ones that attack from outside the Empire and the ones hiding inside, too. Maybe them more than the obvious enemies.”
Obvious enemies. She’d heard that term before. She was also far too aware of the vocal human movement that lobbied for the exclusion of all genetically different humans from Imperial rights and citizenship. The Exclusionists had never been a large movement, but the longer this war went on, the more strident they became about protecting humans from all alien influences.
“You’re an Exclusionist, then?” she asked Morgan.
He turned a glare on her. “You’re not one of those fools who thinks we’re safe from the mutants? Mutant my ass.” He laughed bitterly. “They’ve hypnotized most people into believing that lie. Vampires, werewolves, and their kind aren’t humans. They are demons from hell and always have been. Demons trying to suck out our souls.”
Ancient fears were revealed by his words—terror of monsters in the dark just outside the light of the campfire, fear of people not of the tribe, fear that needed to be fought because it bubbled beneath the civilized veneer of every normal human being.
“You see demons in the dark, where others accept superhumans as they claim to be.”
“I see the truth. Don’t you?”
“I’m not going to try to talk you out of what you believe,” she answered. “Besides, I never underestimate the danger inherent in being human no matter what’s in our DNA—the regular kind and the kinds with added twists. We natives of Earth have done more damage to each other than any aliens have ever inflicted.”
Her tone was soothing. He gave a faint laugh and the tenseness relaxed from his body. “Yeah. I guess that’s true.”
“Maybe you should take a nap now,” she suggested in the same soothing tone. She finished on a yawn. “Sorry.”
“’S aright,” Morgan mumbled. His eyes closed and soon his breathing settled into the rhythm of deep sleep.
Zoe waited until she was sure he was out before patting his cheek. When she stood to leave the room she saw Raven standing in the doorway, arms crossed, steadily watching her.
14
“I suspect you’ve been there for a while.” Zoe spoke quietly, so as not to disturb the patient.
Doc gestured with his head and she followed him out of the room, carefully closing the curtain as she left.
“I suspect you’ve done that before,” he said when they were alone in his office.
“Exerted a bit of mental influence, sir?”
“That’s an easy trick for an empath,” he told her. “I meant visiting the sick and wounded.”
“I have a great many relatives and friends in the services, so yes, I am used to visiting the wounded.” She sighed. “The ones that make it to hospitals are lucky. Far too many get blown into vacuum.”
“You sound like you have personal experience there, too.”
She nodded, and swallowed hard before she answered. “My older sister was lost in an explosion in space. Not a battle, but an accident at an orbital shipyard.” She shook off the urge to fall into the old grief.
After a moment’s sympathetic silence, he asked, “What business with the Asi have you got for me?”
Zoe was glad to concentrate on duty. She sat back in her chair. “First off, the Asi commander wants to offer some advice. He says that if we ate more of our young, we wouldn’t have the population pressures that make us covet too much territory.”
“I see.” Raven let out a booming laugh. “I’ll be sure to pass his wisdom along to the emperor.”
She smiled. “I want to be there when you make that report.”
“I’ll have Arco put it on my appointment calendar. Other than giving advice, what else are the Asi up to? And have I mentioned I’m a smidgen uneasy about your going into their territory alone?”
“Because the camp’s so short of girls?” Zoe asked suspiciously.
He snorted. “We may be short on female companionship—why is it more women join planetary defense forces than space services?—but I’m not putting the girls in purdah for that. Frankly …”
He gave her a looking-over that set her blood racing.
“… you look delicious to me, Lieutenant. Don’t the Asi think so as well?”
She had to clear her throat before she could answer. “I’m not particularly meaty, sir. Actually, the reason I’m relatively safe among the Asi is that they refer to me as the Strong One’s Mouth. Being your representative gives me immunity. And I read somewhere that the reason there are more women in planetary and systems defenses is because we’re still suffering the psychological effects of the Bottleneck. That the urge to defend and save our homes has a strong grip on female psyches.”
“Do you believe that bullshit?”
Zoe shrugged. “Maybe it’s because the IMS uniforms are really ugly and could use redesigning that the services don’t attract as many women as men. Maybe you should ask the emperor to look into it when you give that report, sir.”
“Duly noted, Lieutenant. Tell me, Mouth, what other message does the Asi honcho have for me?”
“The Asi are worried about the rising number of humans inhabiting the camp.”
“They have new prisoners coming in.”
“I mentioned that to him. The Asi’s main complaint is that we’ve been allowed to move into a new corridor. They fear the way we’re spreading out.”
“You did explain that our psychological need for space is different from theirs?”
“Yes, sir. I emphasized that our behavior can be unpredictable and more prone to violence if we’re concentrated into overcrowded space. I think I convinced him that human riots are not in the best interest of the Asi. I think he’s mollified—for now.”
“What about the other Asi? What’s your assessment of the power struggle over there?”
“Very tense. I think it’s going to come to a head soon.”
Zoe carefully didn’t offer any recommendations on how the humans should respond to the Asi internal conflict. In Camp Five, she was the Mouth, Raven was the Brains. Of course, if he should ask for her opinion—
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said. “Dismissed.”
Doc was amused at the faint outrage that flashed in Zoe’s eyes when he told her to leave. She’s a bossy child, he thought, no matter how hard she tries to be meek and agreeable. He watched her leave the office with great appreciation for the way she moved. Trim waist, great ass.
“The uniform looks good on you,” he called after her.
She’s got enough meat for me, he added to himself.
When she was gone he considered the hall officers’ concerns Barb had reported to him. He took out his handheld and called up data on the newest internees. After a quick perusal of the files, his attention was caught by only one prisoner profile. This man was a transfer in from another POW camp. This was a rare occurrence and a red flag that the newbie might be trouble. This newcomer might not be the wanderer Barb worried about, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a private talk with this Jazoan to make sure he didn’t cause any problems in Doc’s camp.
Instead of sending for the prisoner, Raven got up to go look for him. He stopped as he came into the reception area and asked, “Pappas, what are you doing here? Where’s Alwyn?”
Zoe looked up from her datapad in surprise. “Sorry, sir. Alwyn? Oh.” She looked toward the infirmary door as if she might see the nurse entering at any moment. “He was very interested when I mentioned that Professor Cauley’s giving a lecture. He asked me if I’d hold down the fort for a few minutes while he—”
“While he followed Barb Langly out for a bit of snogging,” Doc said, cutting her off.
Her puzzled look was priceless. “But I thought Barb was only interested in you.”
“Barb and Alwyn have an arrangement. Exclusive relationships are not encouraged here, Lieutenant.”
“I know, but—” She shook her head. “Sorry, sir. I’ve already said too much.”
He rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, me, too—I think I was just gossiping with a subordinate.” He shook a finger at her. “You bring out a tendency in people to be far too confiding in you.”
She gave a faint smile. “I use it in my work, sir.”
Intrigued, he pulled up a chair and sat across the desk from her. “Let’s talk, Zoe.”
“If you’d like, sir.”
He crossed his legs and watched her as she warily looked back. Eventually, a smile reluctantly lit her lovely face. The current of attraction tingled pleasantly between them. The atmosphere in the room warmed.
Along with curiosity and the stirring of lust, he simply enjoyed being with her. He hadn’t seen her for a couple of cycles. He’d missed the conversation, the shared, knowing glances, the almost unintentional brush of skin against skin, and the simply being together that made the time worthwhile. There was something between them far more dangerous than lust.
He liked Zoe Pappas.
He had the bone-deep certainty that she liked him and felt it was dangerous to do so. Too late for that. But why the wariness at all?
While nothing could make being trapped in Camp Five fun, she did bring joy into his existence. And he tried to do the same for her. He’d forgotten what caring for someone was like.
They had an emotional connection here that was far more interesting than the casual physical relationships he shared with other women in the camp. It was a pity, really, that he’d put Zoe in his direct chain of command. He also respected her attempts not to become sexually involved with anyone in the camp.
But things happened in the dark….
Of course, she was still hiding something from him. He couldn’t hold that against her—he had his own secrets. But as camp commander he was concerned that her secrets could put all of his people in danger.
He assumed that she’d lie to him if he merely asked, or even ordered her, to give information about herself. He didn’t want to put her in that position, since neither of them would like it if she had to lie.
“What’s it like out there?” he asked.
She tilted her head to one side. A strand of blue hair fell across her cheek. “Out where, sir?”
He resisted the urge to brush the hair aside no matter how pleasant the silky feel of it would be. “Out in the free universe,” he clarified. “Remember that I’ve been in here a long time.”
“Haven’t you read the data from all the new prisoners’ debrief—”
“How come you’re in the navy and not the civilian diplomatic corps?”
She didn’t miss a beat at the change of subject. “It’s actually one and the same now, sir. Since the navy makes most of the contact with alien species about six months ago the emperor decided to consolidate diplomatic efforts and put Admiral Fujira in overall charge of negotiations.”
“I think I went to the academy with Fujira.”
She shook her head. “Perhaps with one of his children—the admiral’s in his late sixties. He transferred out of the marines a long time ago.”
“Right.” He decided to get down to business before Zoe asked him about his own academy days. “What’s your world like?”
“You know I’m from Terra, sir.” She gave him a look that said she knew where this was going, and countered, “Where are you from, General?”
He started he tell her that it was none of her concern, but decided to play the game her way. He waved vaguely toward the world above. “You wouldn’t have heard of the place.”
A devilish twinkle came to her eyes. Nice eyes. Dark-as-night eyes, but still bright with amusement and curiosity. “Try me.”
“It’s one of the Dark Star colonies,” he answered.
“Really? Which one?”
Her enthusiasm didn’t surprise him, though most people in the Empire had little knowledge of the Dark Star worlds.
“You are the one with all the data stored in your head, Lieutenant. Take a guess.”
She studied him, looking him up and down with an intensity that very nearly made him blush. She tapped her datastylus against her chin a few times. “Let’s see … You’re from a plus-one gravity world, I’d say.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, you’re built like a bull, aren’t you?”
He flexed a heavy arm muscle. “Maybe I just like to work out.”
She lifted an eyebrow in response. Next she tried, “Mining world?”
“Medical hydroponics?”
“What makes you think that? Because I’m a doctor? Guess again.”
“You tell me.”
He crossed his arms and smugly said, “Pleasure planet.”
She clearly didn’t believe him, though she looked him over once again with a certain amount of suspicion.
Before she could ask any more questions Corporal Arco walked into the room.
Doc swiveled to turn a frown on Arco. “Why do you keep bothering me, Corporal?” Doc joked.
“Commandant’s sent word down, Doc,” he announced, totally ignoring Doc’s feigned displeasure. “He wants to see all of the camp leaders up top.”
Somehow Doc didn’t think there was about to be an announcement that the war was over and that they could all go home.
“Any clues to what’s up?” He appreciated Arco’s gift of gab even if his timing sucked, and one of his most important duties was gathering intel.
“The Kril are all pretty nervous. They suspect the radical Asi might try a break. And what’s worse, the Hajim are putting a lot of pressure on the POW commandants all over the sector to find some high-ranking human. Our keepers don’t want any trouble. They’re worried their masters will come back and tear the place apart and they’ll get blamed if anything’s wrong.”
Doc was aware of Zoe becoming more tense with every word. The tension was to be expected at any bad news, but he had the impression that her reaction was more personal. Maybe the time for his being discreet was over. When he got back from this meeting they were going to have a real talk. Even if he had to order her into a telepathic link to do it.
15
Zoe was going to ask to go with him, but the stern look she got from Doc kept her quiet. That didn’t stop her from following him out of the infirmary.
Out in the plaza, Adams and Dyal were still at it, the debate having descended into angry shouting about the Empire controlling energy grids and terraforming rights. The crowd egging them on had grown since she entered the infirmary.
“Not only are all settlement applications granted at the whim of the Terran overlords,” Adams shouted. “But even the old-line colonies have no say in their own affairs!”
“Don’t tell me we don’t have representation! My mother’s on the planetary council back home,” Dyal yelled. “She meets with the sector governor all the time!”
“Sector governors are Imperial stooges!”
“Break it up,” Doc snapped in passing, and silence reigned instantly. “Stay here,” he added to Zoe as she continued to follow him toward the ramp.
She forced herself to come to a halt in the deep shadows at the entrance of the plaza. From there she and every human present watched Raven move across the open space. He moved silently as a cat.
The weak light that filtered down from above outlined his huge muscular body with an almost pearles-cent glow. He moved with far more grace than such a big man ought to, she thought. Or maybe it was just in her imagination that she saw him as graceful. She hated that she questioned her own objectivity, but put her self-doubts aside when she noticed a Denthera in a ragged hooded cape slip like a ghost through the light on his way to the ramp.
A moment later she lost sight of the thin alien when a group of Asi scuttled into the plaza and humans scattered to get out of their way. The aliens were shouting, claws snapping against hard shiny shells. They surrounded Raven in a black wave, but they were intent on fighting each other. She wasn’t sure they even noticed Doc. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t threatened.
Zoe stepped forward. At the same time a pair of Kril guards came down the ramp, but they hesitated at the edge of the light, weapons half raised.
“General!”
She wasn’t the only one who shouted, or moved forward.
Doc gestured for his people to stay back.
Zoe reluctantly obeyed, but called, “It’s an assassination attempt on their leader.”
“Not when we’re just learning how to talk to the guy,” Doc called back.
Then he lunged at the Asi leader’s large rival. There was a flurry of movement. Claws snapped. Odd screams filled the air. Bodies flew.
The Kril did nothing to stop the fight.
Zoe wanted to add her own scream to that of the aliens. She did start forward to help. So did Arco and several other human prisoners. But it was all over before they reached their commander. The stench of pale pink and dark purple blood filled the air.
Most of the Asi backed away. So did the Kril, and all of the humans but Zoe. This left Raven and the Asi leader standing over the remains of the rival.
“I said I’d watch your back,” Raven said to the Asi.
Zoe translated his words, and the Asi’s answer. “Your word is proven.”
“We still have a meeting to get to,” Raven said.
He stepped over the body, and he and the Asi leader walked together to the ramp. The guards kept their weapons trained on the pair until they were well up the ramp, then followed cautiously behind them.
The humans stared at the alien gore on the plaza floor.
Arco whistled. “Son of a bitch,” he murmured.
“That’s our Doc,” Gunny Kathiu announced proudly.
As Doc walked into the Kril commandant’s office he wondered if he’d still be in charge of the human prisoners when he left. He’d taken a big risk by killing the Asi, one that might even lead to an order to execute him. The truth was he was more worried about Lieutenant Pappas’s disapproval of his own brand of diplomacy than he was about the Kril. They might want to kill him, but she could give him a withering look—
He firmly took his mind off Zoe and assessed what he saw in the office. The Kril commandant was not seated in his usual spot behind a horseshoe-shaped computer console, but a Benso stood there. The commandant stood at what would have been the Benso’s left shoulder, if the insectoid aliens had shoulders. The commandant spoke Denthera and Imperial Standard—after a fashion—but he had a guard fluent in Asi with him to translate that language.
Doc came to attention. The Asi and Denthera leaders performed their own species equivalent of the action. Doc didn’t know whether his attention should be on the Kril or the Benso, but he looked to the commandant for the moment.
The commandant focused his large eyes on Raven. “Why did you kill? You who are supposed to keep peace. Punish—”
The Asi leader began to clack and shout, drowning out the commandant. The translator rapidly whispered the leader’s meaning into the commandant’s aural socket. The Benso calmly waited through all the noise. Doc exchanged a look with his Denthera opposite and they wordlessly took a step back and kept out of the Kril and Asi conversation. The Denthera pulled his hood even farther down over his face to indicate even further neutrality. Doc considered rocking on his heels and whistling tunelessly to try to emphasize his—
Human, can you hear me?
Not by a flicker of an eyelash did Doc show he was aware of the telepathic communication. I didn’t know the Benso were telepathic, he thought. He strengthened his own mental shielding to keep any but the most basic information from passing between himself and the Benso.
I did not expect you would be able to respond as well as hear me, human. Only a small minority of humans have the Gift. I am glad to see that you are one of them, Healer-Leader.
You honor me by choosing to speak mind to mind with me.
Your flattery pleases me, though I note that all but your mental barriers except those for words are closed tight. But since I detect no effort on your part to test my own thought barriers I take no offense.
What is it you wish to communicate so privately to me?
My official purpose in traveling camp to camp is to apologize to all human, Asi, and Denthera prisoners for a Hajim decision to indefinitely suspend allowing my people to deliver aid. But my private reason is to warn the humans in all of the prison camps that a great anger grows among the Hajim against your kind. There is talk of torturing or even killing all humans in their custody.
Why?
This I do not know. We are only aware of great tension and dissension among the Hajim. They signed the Covenant of Dalasai the Benso sponsored.
I do not know about this Covenant.
Humans obey similar rules without our need to sponsor them. It is the Hajim’s obligation to treat prisoners of war with the compassionate rules set down in the Covenant. All my kind can do is warn your species to be on your guard that the Hajim may abandon the Covenant. You have been warned.
The mindlink with the Benso closed abruptly. Doc didn’t try to reestablish it. He gave the faintest nod of thanks and understanding as all the clacking, yelling, and whispering stopped. Once the Asi and Kril were silent, the Benso delivered his official message four times, once in the language of each species. Then the huge insect left the commandant’s office. Everyone else instinctively backed up against the wall to keep out of the insect’s way.
Doc hoped they would then be dismissed without any repercussions for the killing, but the Kril commandant wasn’t letting it go.
“Asi claim they do not regret killing of one troublemaker by human. Asi claim no revenge be sought. Good. I mind killing. All will be punished for one death. Go back to your warrens. All power will be cut for five time units once all prisoners below.” He pointed toward the door. “Go quickly.”
Doc was out of the office before the others could even turn around. Five minutes in total darkness might not sound like much of a punishment, but five minutes of sensory deprivation could be an eternity to fragile human minds. Nobody was going to like it. Some were going to panic. If they weren’t warned there were some that might go mad. Even then it was going to be touch and go with a few of his people.
He was shouting even as he hit the top ramp, his deep voice carrying down to the plaza. At the same time he sent out a telepathic warning and a command for those who could receive his thoughts to pass the alert to everyone they could—not all humans were receptive to telepathic communication.
Once he passed the warning his thoughts turned to Zoe. She hated the dark. He wanted more than anything to find her and comfort her. He needed with all of his being to be there to protect her and see her through the coming total eclipse.
But who needed him the most?
The doctor in him demanded an answer he hated to give. He stopped and made himself think before he could give in to impulse so strong it could well be instinct. He was responsible for every human in the POW camp even though Zoe’s image was uppermost in his mind. Never mind what he needed.
Who needed him the most?
Zoe’s tough, he reminded himself. She won’t enjoy the darkness, but it won’t break her. But Barb … Yeah, Barb Langly’s been down here too long. She’s already wound way too tight.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured. His thoughts were on Zoe Pappas, but he went in search of another woman.
16
After the incident in the plaza, Zoe returned to the infirmary. Alwyn hadn’t returned yet, so she sat down at the reception desk. She tried to go back to the linguistics notes she’d been making about the Asi, but her heart wasn’t in it.
She worried about how the Kril would react to what had happened, and hoped the guards would be more relieved at the loss of a troublemaker than anything else. Mostly she kept thinking about Dr. Matthias Raven, Imperial marine general and camp commander. The scene of his killing the big Asi played over in her mind again and again. Raven had moved so fast, he was so strong.
What was he?
She was very tempted to access her data implants, but she wouldn’t risk it for the sake of private curiosity.
Use your unaugmented brain, girl, she thought. You can’t stop thinking about him anyway. You might as well be efficient about the process and analyze what you know.
So, what did she know?
He was from one of the Dark Star colonies. They were rather romantically called “Dark Star worlds” after the Dark Star, an exploration ship that had found the first habitable planet-sized moon orbiting a giant gas planet that in turn orbited a giant red star. Red giants were dying stars bloated to gigantic size, but with millions if not billions of years of light left in them. Enough light to sustain life on a few rare places, although it wasn’t the same sort of light most humans thrived in. But for some groups of humans the time left to the red giant was considered more than adequate to settle on such worlds for many generations.
As far as she knew—and she knew just about everything about the Empire—there were only six of those worlds, all scattered on distant edges of the Empire. Should she believe his claim of being from a pleasure planet? Because there was only one …
Zoe shook her head. “I do not want to take this any further.”
The general as a person, as opposed to his function, was taking up far too much of her attention, she decided abruptly.
In another time or place, perhaps …
She sighed, the sound as wistful and romantic as any school girl’s crush on a holcin star. Truthfully, her feelings were as lustful as they were romantic, and she knew the combination did not bode well. She couldn’t get involved—it would be too dangerous for her to care for anyone in this time and place. And not so much for her as for whoever she cared for.
“This time and place … ” Zoe sighed.
An image of how she and Raven might have met flashed through her mind: a military medal ceremony. Everyone in their dress uniforms and she in all her regalia. Even better, she would be in that low-cut slinky blue gown her grandmother had claimed was too revealing, the one she’d gotten her hair dyed the same shade of blue for. She would pin a medal on the brave doctor and their gazes would meet and they’d both smile, maybe blush a little as heat sparked between them. Then they’d dance at the ball afterward, and things would develop from there.
After all, a personal life wasn’t completely beyond the realm of possibility. How else could her parents have had her?
There is nothing wrong with having an imagination, she told herself, though she worried that it might be dangerous to have too much of an imagination in a place like this. It could be too tempting to live in her head.
Or in his bed.
Stop that! she chastised herself.
But wasn’t doing anything but hiding out alone in her cave dangerous here?
She was glad Doc had given her something to do, helping to administer the camp. She needed a purpose beyond feeling sorry for herself. She’d seen how hard this place was on people. How the lethargy set in, the boredom, the hopelessness despite all efforts made to keep up morale. This place was dangerous to the soul, and she swore, once they were out of here she was treating everybody to a party.
As well as all the counseling they needed.
But helping the prisoners recover was for some indeterminate time in the future. Right now she had to do what she could inside the camp.
And, oh, yes, try not to get caught. Be killed. Tortured. Used against her own people….
“Enough, Zoe.” She took deep breaths and made herself think of other things. As usual, it was Doc Raven who came immediately to mind.
A part of her desperately wished she’d been able to go to the meeting up top, to find out things for herself, to help him, but she knew it was better to keep her head down. Okay, she didn’t think the man needed any help. Doc would take care of them.
Maybe she could stand beside him and lend him moral support.
As irrational as the thoughts were, she couldn’t help but smile. Oh, well, at least she’d considered his competency in the plural instead of just thinking about herself—and Doc Raven, as her personal champion.
Zoe finally forced herself to concentrate as long as she could on the linguistic data.
At least, until Alwyn came back into the infirmary and shooed her away from his desk. She reluctantly gave up the privacy and the stronger light and relinquished the reception room to the tardy duty nurse.
Restlessness clawed at her as she went out to the plaza. She looked at the ramp and then up and up the wide circular opening that led to the outside world. When was the last time she’d thought about escape?
Where was Doc? Was he all right?
Why had the camp commandant sent for him? Were all the prisoners in danger? Was it because of her?
The sense of impending doom strung her nerves to the breaking point. She began to walk up the main ramp, not knowing where she was going. She just needed to move.
She hated the dimness of the corridors, the hot, faintly damp texture of the dull gray walls, the scent of human sweat and alien secretions mingling in the endlessly recycled air. The shadows and the outlines of bodies moving through them were all still creepy to her. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, but her mind hadn’t. She still frequently got lost away from the main level of the prison.
She’d reached the second tier above the plaza when Doc’s bellowed shout bounced off the walls from high above.
“Dark coming! Five-minute blackout!”
She stared upward, straining to see him. What did he mean?
At the same instant his warning thought burst into her mind with such force it drove Zoe to her knees. For a moment she teetered precariously on the edge of the open walkway. She saw the plaza floor below where she swayed as she tried to pull back.
Then the universe went darker than dark—
The scream that burst from her throat joined hundreds of others in the sudden night. She’d had the warning but that didn’t stop the panic.
But the warning helped the terror subside quickly. Even all the screaming had a calming effect—it helped her know she wasn’t alone. She managed to fall sideways onto the wide walkway. She lay there shaking for a time, then scooted back until her shoulders touched the wall. Her hands bunched into tight fists. The sound of her own quick breathing was harsh in her ears.
The darkness weighed tons.
The walls were closing in.
There was nothing but black, nothing but black, nothing—
It won’t last. Everything’s fine. Five minutes. It won’t last.
Zoe curled into a ball as she repeated Doc’s warning over and over in her head. His thoughts kept her sane. The thought of him kept her sane.
Where was he? She needed him.
She began to crawl. She knew it was futile and stupid but she did it anyway.
She had no idea how long it was or how far she went before the heavy body that landed on top of her brought her back to her senses.
“Ouch!” she yelled as a sharp elbow jabbed her in the stomach.
“Sorry!” a male voice shouted in her ear.
The next thing she knew she and the stranger were holding on to each other in a tight, hard embrace, clinging to life in the blackness. Hers was not the only heartbeat, the only breath; warmth radiated from skin other than her own. She breathed in masculine scent, felt hard muscle beneath her hands, pressed against her body. Her body pressed against his. Their mouths found each other and clung desperately.
The kiss did not sear her, it did not arouse her, but it still meant everything—sharing and comfort passing from human to human.
She still wanted Doc. Needed Doc.
But this was—nice….
When she broke the kiss the stranger did not protest. They still held each other tight.
“I’m Zoe,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Joaquin,” he answered. He ran a hand up and down her back. “Thanks, Zoe.”
“You, too.”
She kissed his cheek, no more than a chaste, friendly gesture as she put a little distance between them. His answering sigh told her he understood.
They had nothing else to say, but they stayed together, holding hands, until the lights came back on. Then they looked at each other while their eyes adjusted. The dimness was bright as daylight after only a few minutes of complete darkness.
“Just how old are you?” Zoe asked the blushing marine.
This got a grin from him. “Old enough, ma’am.”
She remembered the heat of his mouth on hers and it was her turn to blush. This boy was more experienced than she was. “Yes, well …”
Now that everything was back to normal he helped her to her feet and they went their separate ways.
The only problem was, when Zoe was alone she didn’t know where she was.
17
Zoe shook her head as she pressed her back against the cool stone wall. How stupid of her not to have learned every inch of the prison! Never mind that the texture and color of the walls was the same everywhere, that the low lighting hardly varied, that the corridors and ramps were the same width, the ceilings the same height except over the plaza. Never mind that the endless, dull sameness weighed on the spirit and encouraged lethargy. She should never allow others to dictate her actions, even on a subconscious level.
Hadn’t she been drilled in the philosophy that knowledge was power? You never knew when some seemingly irrelevant tidbit could turn into the most important information in the universe. She’d been lazy, only learning her way around the plaza level, plus knowing how to get to her quarters and the Asi corridors.
All she could do now was wander until she found herself in familiar territory. Instead of seeing it as a waste of time, she used the exercise to memorize more of her surroundings.
Besides, how could she waste time when time was something she had far too much of?
For the first minute or so she moved on wobbly legs, still half afraid that total darkness would unexpectedly return.
“Don’t be a coward,” she grumbled when she found herself pressed against the wall once more with her eyes closed and an image of Doc Raven dominating her thoughts. I will not put my weakness on him, even in my own mind. He deserves any aid I can give him, not the other way around.
She took a deep breath and walked up three levels of the ramp that curved around the edges of the main shaft. Zoe greeted the people she encountered but didn’t ask for directions as this was an exercise in self-reliance. She didn’t ask where Doc was, although she was asked the question twice. The overall mood of the prisoners in the hallways was on edge, shaken. She wasn’t the only one with the marks of tears staining her face. Nor was she the only one who’d found solace in the joining of flesh to flesh.
Many people were acting on the same instincts that had driven her and Joaquin together. The groans and pounding rhythms and sharp scent of arousal issued out of many of the dark sleeping hollows she passed. Bodies writhed in shadowed depths of the halls as well.
Today Zoe was not amazed at how much sex went on within the confines of the POW camp. Sex was evidence they were still alive, a panacea for uncertainty and loneliness; it was simple human nature. She understood the temptation now far better than she had when Doc told her she’d probably hook up with someone.
People making love in the semiprivate shadows of the hallways were always tacitly ignored by passersby, but she was an empath, and today her emotional senses were almost overwhelmed. She could almost tactilely feel every touch and response. She ached inside; her breasts grew heavy and hot need coiled deep in her body.
Zoe began to run down another unfamiliar corridor.
Lust followed her. Lust beckoned her. She became more and more a part of the grunts and sighs coming out of the dark; the slap of skin against skin and the musky aroma of sex battered down every mental barrier.
There was a faint tang of hot copper in the air as well. It filled her mind and burned her throat. A fierce ache in her mouth made her swipe her tongue across her teeth and brought a shock of surprise when she didn’t feel the fangs that—
Zoe sank to her knees and pressed her fists to her temples. Who the hell am I? What am I doing?
Where is he?
Urgency drew her to her feet, but it was Zoe who moved forward—not whatever it was that tried to claim her.
The blood scent drew her on when she knew she should turn and run.
She knew what she would find at the end of the blood trail.
Who.
What.
Knowledge didn’t stop the devastating shock when she came across the couple pressed against the wall at the very end of the corridor.
Even in the near darkness she could not mistake Doc’s hard, heavily muscled body. His head was cradled against the woman’s shoulder, the woman’s hands were pressed hard against his bare back, clinching him tightly to her while she moaned in ecstasy.
Damn you, Zoe thought, though she had no right to.
Rightly or not, the twin agonies of loneliness and jealousy shot through her.
Damn you!
She almost struck the broad back before her, but she didn’t lose the control she’d fought so hard for.
It was not for her to cry and rage. She had no right to take anything personally. But she came close.
She managed to keep her balled fists at her sides. She managed not to shout or scream or make a complete and utter fool of herself even though humiliated anger burned through her.
Shaking, she began to back away. She must’ve made some sort of noise, or even spoken aloud, because she’d gone no more than a couple of steps when Doc lifted his head and turned to look directly at her.
She had the briefest impression of animal eyes flashing out of the dark before she turned and ran.
Doc knew there was a physical world at his back but his universe focused on the female his hard body pressed against the wall. He was in the hot, red, carnal place, caught in the takegivedevoursustain loop where Barb’s orgasms registered as explosions of fire inside his mind, under his skin, on his tongue. Her lust-spiced blood burned his throat. Her passionate response was as sustaining as the blood that fed his body.
When the pain lanced through him it almost drove him to his knees. His head came up in a howl of pain before he turned to find—
The hot blood on his tongue froze.
The sharp agony thrusting into his being was a braided spear of pure emotions—jealousy, betrayal, wanting, loneliness—all aimed at him. Her emotions.
All for him.
“Zoe!” The word came out a rough whisper.
Barb dug sharp nails into his bare shoulders when he started toward Zoe. He barely felt them. She put herself between them.
“What do you mean, Zoe?” she shouted in his face. She tried to hold him. “Where are you going?”
“Zoe.”
He knew that as night gave him life he had to get to his Zoe.
“What’s so important about Zoe?” Barb shouted after him.
“Everything.”
“You bastard!” Barb screamed the words at his back. They echoed off the walls around them.
He heard the heartbreak he caused in the mortal woman’s voice. He hated hurting her, but another woman’s heart was more important to him.
“I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t sure which woman he was talking to, which one he had betrayed. His words were a confused whisper, though they set off an emotional landslide inside of him.
18
“You’re not one of those fools who thinks we’re safe from the mutants!—
—demons from hell—”
She’d seen a demon in the dark, and the sight frightened her primitive soul.
But it wasn’t the first time she’d heard the Exclusion-ists’ rants. The arguments. The accusations.
The truths?
She knew all about them, didn’t she? The suprahu-mans. The mutants. Demons.
They called themselves the elves. The werefolk. The—
Vampires.
I am a fool, she thought, and stumbled on, blinded by tears.
“You can’t think of them as humans!” she remembered the Exclusionist leader shouting at the board of justices at the last civil liberties hearing she’d attended. “They are nothing but parasites that crawl out of the dark to live off real humans. They have no more right to citizenship than the Hajim or the Kril no matter how much they look like us. Use the War Powers Charter to strip them of their influence, their wealth, everything they have. Lock them up. Better yet, destroy the bloodsuckers!”
Parasite. Bloodsucker.
She’d seen what Raven was doing. She saw how he made Barb enjoy it.
She’d felt it.
Wanted it.
Until that moment she’d thought the Exclusionists’ ravings were just ancient prejudice, a horrible sick habit of fearing and hating all that was different that bubbled up out of the most primitive part of the human mind.
But what if they were right?
When a monster could make you want what they did to you—
Stop it! she told herself. How dare you of all people judge—but if not me, then who … ?
What’s really getting to you?
This time the voice in her head asking the question was Raven’s.
She refused to listen to his voice though she couldn’t get away from her own as she felt her way along the damp walls toward the hole where she could hide.
Leave me alone, Raven! Please, she prayed. Just let me hide.
Zoe’s head ached so much she could barely see by the time she stumbled the last few meters to her own little cave. The echo of the strong voice her shielding tried to keep at bay hammered against her temples.
Stupidly, unreasonably, she was still crying.
The last time she’d cried had been at the death of her older sister. That had been important. That had been worth crying over. Three hundred people dead in an accidental shipyard explosion, her sister among them, had been a tragedy. Catching a man getting a little nookie was hardly just cause for such emotional upset. Never mind what the man was or how he got off.
It’s the darkness, that’s all. Just the darkness wearing me down and changing me somehow. I’ve always hated the dark. I thought I’d gotten used to it, but the five-minute blackout messed with my mind—and my hormones. It has nothing to do with Raven.
Do you hear that, Raven? This has nothing to do with you!
She knew it was a lie, and hoped the thought was trapped by her guard shields, because it would be far too easy for Matthias Raven to refute if he chose to call her on it.
As Zoe reached the entrance to her hole she realized why her head was hurting—it wasn’t just her using the mental shields. General Raven, the telepathic vampire, was trying to get past her shielding for a deliberate bit of sabotage. He was trying to make her forget what she’d seen.
“No chance of that,” she growled.
He couldn’t influence her like he did the others. She wasn’t a normal person. Neither was he. This knowledge left her with a knot in the pit of her stomach, and ache in her heart, and—
She had to think clearly about this. She had to figure out what to do.
She dashed tears from her eyes before ducking into her quarters. Only to hesitate when she thought she heard movement inside.
The jolt of fear added to her already stressed emotions.
What would she find in there? An Asi? A Denthera? A horny male looking for sex?
More than likely it was someone who’d been as scared and lost in the dark as she’d been and had crawled inside by mistake. She couldn’t just stand out here waiting to see what would come out.
She hesitated for another moment, then called, “Who’s there?”
There was no answer, but a familiar figure appeared in the doorway and beckoned her inside.
Zoe almost laughed with relief, but knew the laughter would’ve turned into hysteria if she’d let it out.
“Jazoan,” she said as he faded back into the shadows.
She was smiling when she followed her security officer inside. A burden lifted from her at the sight of him. She’d missed this grim shadow that was always at her back.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to find you,” Jazoan whispered when they were out of sight.
He was thinner, but then they both were. She was used to his having a carefully guarded expression, but the gaze he turned on her now was haunted.
“It’s all right,” she told him. She curbed the impulse to reassuringly touch the reticent security officer.
“I was sent to a different camp, initially,” he told her.
“On this world?” she asked eagerly, hungry for any information. “There’s more than one camp here?”
General Raven had told her of other prison camps. But there were other vital details he hadn’t bothered mentioning.
Lots of other vital details.
Damn it! Stop thinking about the man—thing—person—and concentrate on business!
“You look horrible,” she said to Jazoan. “Are you feeling all right?”
As usual he ignored any personal comments. “There are no other camps on this world,” Jazoan answered. “I was on the transport ship that arrived three cycles ago.”
She nodded, aware of the uproar the latest shipment of human prisoners had caused. “I spent the better part of the cycle when your lot arrived trying to calm down the Asi leader. He acted like it was our fault more humans had been dumped in here.”
Jazoan frowned. “Lady, have you been disobeying the protocol for this situation?”
How like Jazoan to think only of the rules of the mission. “Circumstances change.”
“Protocols do not.”
“I’ve been doing what I can to help our people in this prison camp.”
“Your safety is more important than the welfare of a few people. If you have revealed—”
“Lieutenant Zoe Pappas has been using her diplomatic training in the service of the Empire,” she cut him off. “That’s hardly breaking cover.”
He was not in the least mollified, or intimidated by her haughty tone. “The Hajim are looking for you. It’s perilous to draw attention to yourself in any way.”
“I know that.”
“A few people are as important as billions,” she told Jazoan. Whether those people had claws or tails or flesh or—all right, fangs. All people deserved the best you could do for them or you had no right to put yourself in authority over them.
Studying Jazoan’s stern expression, she suddenly had a horrible suspicion. “You managed to find your way here, but why did you get separated from me on the ship? You followed that young man, Lieutenant Ryan, didn’t you? The one who recognized me.”
Zoe’s blood curdled. “You killed him.”
“I do what is necessary to protect the Empire.” There was not a bit of expression in Jazoan’s voice. The usual blankness was back in his eyes. His emotions were colder than she’d ever felt them before.
Why shouldn’t he take it calmly? The responsibility for Ryan’s death was all on her, wasn’t it? The guilt was hers.
“What’s wrong with simply trusting our own people?”
It was a stupid question and Zoe knew it. What if the Hajim interrogated the prisoners? What if Ryan only let a word about her slip inadvertently? Trust couldn’t be part of the equation when the stakes were this high.
But now she had the loss of an innocent young man to mourn.
“I hate this job,” she muttered.
“There are other concerns,” Jazoan told her.
He held out his hand, showing her a tiny device on his palm. She noticed a dark smear of blood on his thin wrist, and knew that it was from where he’d taken a hidden implant from under his skin.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I thought it was our last hope. I activated it as soon as I discovered Zoe Pappas was among the prisoners here a cycle ago.” The brief bitterness in Jazoan’s calm tone was frightening. “It’s a distress beacon,” he went on. “It’s supposed to call in help.”
“Unit—”
“No,” he cut her off. “No one’s coming.” He shook his head. “The retrieval beacon is not working. It’s broken. Or maybe it’s too deep down here for a signal to get out. Or it can’t penetrate planetary shielding. I don’t know. I only know that there’s no chance of getting you out.”
The momentary flare of hope for rescue turned to a cold knot in Zoe’s stomach. Now she feared she’d never see daylight again.
The bodyguard tossed the implant aside. It bounced against the wall with a metallic tinkle that was as sad and insignificant as the breaking of a toy.
Then Jazoan put his hands on her shoulders, which shocked her to her core. Jazoan was the most restrained person she had ever met. For him to do more than touch her elbow was a sign of how desperate he believed the situation was.
“You cannot be captured,” he said. “It cannot be allowed.”
The words were almost toneless. They sounded like a mantra he’d repeated to himself over and over. And this frightened Zoe.
She backed away from him, though they were still only inches apart in the cramped space.
“I’ve already been captured,” she reminded him. “The point is to not get caught.”
“The Porphyrgia cannot be captured. I am so sorry.”
He lunged forward for a classic neck-snapping hold.
Without time to scream, she bent and turned to pivot free. He countered with a clumsy grab, and trapped her with his forearm around her throat.
19
Doc knew Zoe didn’t want to see him right now, but he couldn’t stop moving down the corridor after her. He ignored questions that were called to him. He ignored the curious looks. He ignored his people for the sake of the woman. He kept going.
Zoe! Listen to me!
Nothing.
How did she manage to block his thoughts when all he could think about was her?
Pappas shouldn’t be more important to him than Barb Langly. Why had he left a lovely and perfectly willing partner to hunt down someone to whom he didn’t owe any explanations?
He was afraid he knew the answer to that, and it wasn’t good.
If you won’t listen, then forget. Forget what you saw, Zoe.
There was a response this time.
Don’t you Zoe me.
Let me take away the pain.
Don’t you dare try. Who do you think you’re dealing with?
The resistance from her made him feel like he was trying to push a planet out of orbit. He dropped to his knees for a few seconds and shook his head to clear it.
How could she do that? What was the matter with him?
Killing the Asi had left him on the edge, the psychic energy that was mostly fear during the blackout had stimulated the hell out of the primitive part of him. He’d gotten too horny. Comforting Barb had turned into feeding, but it hadn’t felt right.
Then Zoe showed up.
“Doc? General, sir?”
He looked up into the eyes of the worried woman standing in front of him. You don’t see me.
His telepathy worked this time.
She walked away. He got up and hurried on.
He shouted thoughts at Zoe as he went. I’ve got the right to seek release where I can. The way I see it, you owe me an apology for interrupting. That was a very private moment you walked in on. We don’t show our fangs in public. I don’t need to explain my culture to you!
This time she didn’t respond. He didn’t think she heard him. Her attention was on someone else.
He snarled with jealousy, but pushed the reaction down.
Why care? Why was he trying to explain? Why was he rapidly approaching Zoe’s quarters when he was still hungry and horny as well as confused and embarrassed about why he was looking for her.
Could it be because he wanted her but settled for someone else?
Yeah, that was probably it. He was using her interruption as an excuse to be with Zoe.
He was near the end of her hallway when the spike of terror hit his senses.
“Zoe!”
He had only a few seconds to get to her if he was going to save her life.
He moved swiftly and silently up to the low entrance of her cave. His keen hearing picked up the almost silent combat. But it was his other senses that gave him the most information.
He was aware of the frantic race of Zoe’s heartbeat, her fight for air. And worst of all, the terror mixed with the pain of betrayal.
And he also caught a grief-filled thought from her attacker.
Forgive me, Porphyrgia.
Doc couldn’t just dive into the small space. He had to kneel at the doorway and reach inside. It took him precious moments to get a decent grip on Zoe’s attacker. When Doc finally grasped the other man’s arm, he wrenched him away from Zoe and out into the hallway.
The man was a skilled fighter who instantly turned the attack on Raven.
Doc pinned the man against the wall and showed his fangs in a wild, feral threat. “You touched my woman.” Furious, Doc attacked.
Zoe clutched at her throat with one hand as she crawled out of her quarters. Panting, and dizzy with pain, she tried to shout.
“Do—Ja—!”
She wanted to shout, but all that came out was the raw whisper.
She tried to get to them, but all she could do was crouch on her knees and watch the short struggle at the end of the barely lit hallway.
She wanted to beg Raven to stop, to let her explain, but Jazoan had robbed her of her voice. He’d tried to rob her of her life. Within moments Raven robbed her bodyguard not only of his life, but possibly his soul as well.
She couldn’t blame Raven’s actions. In fact, a small glow of pleasure at his protectiveness saved her from plunging into dark anguish at Jazoan’s betrayal.
She stared helplessly while dragging much-needed air into her lungs. Shadow blocked much of her sight, as did Raven’s big body as he pressed Jazoan up against the wall.
It was over in a few agonizing seconds.
Then Raven left Jazoan’s body to fall to the floor and he was on his knees beside her. There was no question that Jazoan was dead.
Raven’s hands touched her shoulders, just as Jazoan’s had minutes before. She finally managed a panicked gasp.
Raven’s touch was warm, comforting. She tried to curse her reaction to him, to pull herself together, to—
But all she really wanted was to be within the protection of Raven’s strong arms.
20
He pulled her back inside her quarters and held her closely against his wide chest. She couldn’t even struggle against being enfolded in the huge man’s embrace, and after a few seconds she didn’t want to struggle.
She took comfort, whether she willed it or not.
“You can’t control everything, sweetheart. Go ahead and cry.”
Blast him for reading her mind—her emotions!
“No magic involved. I’ve had plenty of experience in dealing with combat trauma.”
He kept talking, but after a while the comforting deep rumble of his voice was all she heard while she cried and cried out every pain and fear she had.
Gradually, the deep voice stopped and the crying stopped, and Zoe became acutely aware of Raven’s sheer size and presence. Her cheek absorbed the outline of chest muscles beneath the thin fabric of his shirt. His very slow, steady heartbeat was a lullaby against her ear. Her body rested against steel-hard thighs and his arms were metal bands protecting her back. She breathed in his distinctive scent and it was perfume, life-giving—
Never mind that the scent of the blood of a man she’d thought of as a friend was on him. She now knew what Raven was, had witnessed his monstrous seductiveness and his voracious, killing hunger—
But he had saved her.
He was still saving her.
Zoe couldn’t allow that.
“I can tell you’re feeling more yourself,” he said. His hold loosened before she could start to pull away. He was suddenly all business. “Let me look at your throat.”
The change in him shocked and stung her, and annoyed her when she realized this was the reaction Dr. Raven wanted to bring her fully back to herself. She stayed very still and glared at him, letting him know she was willing to suffer his touch—but just.
He reached out, but instead of touching her neck, his fingertips settled beneath her chin and he tilted her head up. His face was a mask as he studied her.
“Porphyrgia,” he finally murmured.
Damn.
She wanted to run away and hide instead of having to deal with his knowledge.
Never mind how badly her throat hurt, she forced out words. “How could you have heard?”
“He thought, Forgive me, Porphyrgia. That was his last thought.”
Knowing Jazoan’s last thought made her want to cry again, to mourn—but now was not the time.
“What did he mean?” Raven demanded. “Who was he?” he added.
“He was the man you murdered,” she said.
He wasn’t going to let her divert him with accusations. “Who was he? What did he mean?”
She knew that Raven could attempt to take the answers from her mind. And she wasn’t sure if her shielding could hold up indefinitely to the strength of his kind’s telepathic powers. She was already pushing the limits of what she could artificially block. She didn’t have Raven’s natural telepathic powers.
No one was supposed to know she’d been on that captured ship. The mission had been secret. The Hajim couldn’t find her. She was sworn to protect the Empire in any way she could. She’d thought her silence was for the best.
But the man sworn to protect her had just tried to kill her. The man she now feared was not a man at all.
But he had saved her.
“What you want to know is classified information,” she told him.
Raven laughed. “I’m still this base’s commander, Lieutenant,” he reminded her.
She was still close enough to hysteria to let out a weak hiccup of laughter.
Which he interpreted correctly.
“I take it you think you outrank me.” He pressed his thumb against her chin. “How is that?”
He closed his eyes for a moment.
Zoe watched and waited, and read his changing expressions. He was not happy when his gaze met hers. She couldn’t help but give him a weak smile.
He looked at her closely, running his thumbs over her brows and cheekbones and down the line of her jaw. “Please tell me you aren’t who I think you are.” He sighed. “Porphyrgia. The literal translation is ‘born to the Purple.’ ”
“Born in the Purple,” she corrected. “It’s actually a ceremonial birthing room covered in purple porphyry in the—”
“Wherever it is, the word still means ‘heir to the Byzant throne.’ Are you really the Porphyrgia?”
She couldn’t manage a silent nod with him holding her face, but she whispered, “Yes.”
His eyes closed again. “Holy shit.”
She wasn’t used to her title evoking that sort of reaction, but she didn’t blame him a bit. She knew exactly how he felt. She’d been more than stunned when her sister died and left her stuck with inheriting a job nobody in their right mind should want.
His hand dropped away from her face, and she immediately missed the warmth of it.
But who touched the Porphyrgia, after all?
“Don’t expect me to bow,” he growled.
She rubbed her throat. “I don’t.”
Raven gave her a long, intense stare. Perhaps he was trying to reconcile her current appearance with images he’d seen in the media.
“Shorter and skinnier,” he said at last.
She nodded.
He tilted his chin toward the hall. “Who was that man?”
“Head of my—” She coughed. “—security.”
“Then why was he trying to kill you?”
She didn’t like thinking about it, but it was necessary to face the truth, even though it sent a cold shiver through her. “For the good of the Empire.”
Perhaps Jazoan had been right in what he’d done. To him it hadn’t been an assassination attempt but an act of patriotism. The safety of the people of Byzant was more important than her life.
“He was trying to kill you to help you?”
She couldn’t help but be pleased with Raven’s outrage.
“Wasn’t it his job to protect you at any cost?”
“He saw killing me as protection—I can’t say I agree with his solution. Not yet, at least.”
He turned his outrage on her and gave her shoulders a slight shake. “Not yet?”
“If the Hajim discover me—here …” She shook her head.
“… they’d use you,” he agreed. He touched her forehead. “They’d break you to find out what’s in there. The Empire would fight even harder to get you back.”
“And more people would die.”
His hand moved to her throat to caress the bruising. His touch was warm—and comforting. She couldn’t want it not to be comforting.
She reminded herself of his glowing eyes, of the sharp glitter of fangs, and told herself that he wasn’t exactly human. Any emotional response to him might not be real. Might be something this telepathic being imposed on her.
“I’ve got to get you to the infirmary to have a look at that.”
This reminder that he was a doctor sworn to help humans completely blew apart the shield she tried to build against him. She knew that depending on anyone, completely trusting anyone—caring—for anyone was a danger. To him more than her in this situation.
I’ve got to get you out of my senses, Raven.
“I’m fine,” she told him. It didn’t help that her voice was still hoarse.
You’re not the only one with that sensory problem, Pappas.
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Of my senses?”
“Of your health.”
“You’re a vampire.”
Her own bluntness surprised her. She was supposed to be subtle, discreet, a diplomat. She hadn’t meant to bring this up. It didn’t help her chagrin that he grinned at her.
“I am a vampire,” he said. “Like all my ancestors before me back to Lady Lilith, beloved of the moon goddess.” He shrugged. “At least that’s what my parents told me.”
21
She wondered how he could sound so casual about such a frightening subject. Then she recalled that he’d had his whole life to get used to the idea of being a blood-drinking, night-dwelling parasitic creature. Which was certainly not his view of himself, and shouldn’t be hers, either. But the image of fangs and eyes shining from the dark—
“You’re scared of me, aren’t you?” he asked. “Do you think I’m a monster?”
She hated that her reaction was so obvious. It was also very confused, very complicated, irrational in several ways she didn’t want to explore. She fell back on diplomatic language when she replied.
“I have not been trained to think about the suprahuman citizens of the Empire as monsters.” She rubbed her aching throat and continued in a slow whisper. “It’s just that when I saw you with Barb—”
She hadn’t meant to say that, either!
“You got jealous.”
“I—”
“It was the sex,” he said. “You got a whiff of my pheromones swirling around the place when you caught me with Barb. I can have a certain … effect on women. When I want to,” he added. “When they want it. You responded because you wanted to.”
“You think so?”
“It’s a fact.”
“Vanity is not becoming, General.”
“Can’t help it, I’m a Prime.”
Zoe found his grin infuriatingly charming, so she took refuge in continuing with her rational explanation. “When I recognized that you were a vampire my subconscious called up data from assisting my mother—”
“Your mother. That would be the empress?”
“I prefer to call her Mom. But in this context my mother was presiding at a trial in her capacity as chief justice.”
“When you subconsciously helped her?”
“Stop playing with words, Raven. That’s what I do.”
He laughed. “You’re cute when you’re flummoxed.”
She glared.
He went on. “Just what was this trial about that turned you chicken when you saw my fangs?”
“It was a sentient rights case that proposed revoking the citizenship status of several suprahuman groups.”
All humor left him. “The Purists were at it again, eh? I don’t remember hearing about this.”
“It was one of the highly classified Star Chamber proceedings she presides over. A test case, like the colonists’ suits over settling restricted worlds. In this case the Exclusionists—”
“Were doing what they’ve been doing for thousands of years. When anyone’s different from the norm, killing the outsiders is their philosophy. Especially if the ones that are different look like you—somehow that makes them even more dangerous.”
“There’s also the traditional argument that suprahu-mans are predators.”
He shrugged. “We’re a little higher on the food chain than mortals, but that doesn’t make us evil.”
Having watched him both give pleasure and kill in the way of his kind, she now understood the visceral fear and fascination that fueled prejudice against the suprahumans. At least she was ashamed of her primitive response.
“How did the court case turn out?” Raven asked.
“You won.”
“I’m happy to hear I’m still a citizen of the Empire.”
Zoe recalled that there had been nasty but well-argued claims of the Exclusionist representatives that people such as vampires were not only parasites, but should be classified as enemy aliens. Her mom had not agreed.
“Symbiotic,” he said. “Not parasitic.”
“And telepathic.”
“I wasn’t reading your mind just then. It was more the look on your face that told me what you were thinking.”
“You did bring out a lot of primitive responses I didn’t know I had.”
“I noticed the revulsion you felt when you saw me with Barb.”
“That wasn’t all revulsion.”
Zoe put her hand over her mouth, appalled at the admission she’d just made. Especially since it drew a smug grin from Raven. He’d gotten exactly the reaction he expected from her.
“Told you you were jealous.”
Then again, better jealousy than prejudice.
“Tell me more about how you feel about vampires.” He preened. “Me in particular.”
“You’re the first vampire I’ve ever met.”
“I know there’s a vampire representative at the Imperial court.”
“But I’ve never met her.”
“You said you researched—”
“I compiled datafiles, I didn’t interview real people. Suprahumans aren’t the most vocal or forthcoming minority in the Empire.”
“My granny always says that it’s better to keep a low profile if you want to keep your head.”
“Your secretiveness makes you even more vulnerable to the prejudice. You can’t make people forget you exist anymore.”
“I don’t have to tell people I’m a vampire to take care of them.”
“Ah, but isn’t part of the problem the way vampires treat humans as if they need to be taken care of? It gives the impression that you’re up to something.”
“I see. I give you the same creepy feeling you get from the Benso. Not all vampires are good guys. We’re just … people.”
“Intellectually I know that.” Zoe swallowed hard. “But—”
“We’re scary.”
Vampires were faster than mortals, longer lived, stronger, blood-drinking, secretive, psychically gifted people who were citizens of the Byzant Empire, just like everyone else.
“I’m not denying a visceral reaction to you. I can control my gut feelings. Besides, the Benso don’t creep me out—I was using that as an excuse not to go near them. I’m trying not to be recognized.”
“What do I call you now?” he asked at the same time.
“Lieutenant Pappas.”
“I thought your name was Theodora.”
Zoe grimaced. “I’ve never liked that official name.” Never mind that her full name was Princess Theodora Zoe Anastasia Maria Ora, or the numerous other official and ceremonial titles, or that her throne name, should she live long enough to assume the Byzant throne, would be Basilia Theodora the Eighth.
“Only my great aunt Constanza has ever called me Theodora.”
But then, Constanza was the cardinal of the Byzant Orthodox Church who had presided at her baptism. That formidable ecclesiastic official took the naming rite with proper seriousness.
“My friends call me Zoe.”
“All right, Zoe. What am I going to do with you?”
22
She guessed that meant he considered himself her friend, whether she felt the same way about him or not. And what she felt about Matthias Raven was far too complicated to sort out right now.
The tragic reality of the moment reclaimed her attention. She glanced toward the hallway. “We have a dead body to deal with and—”
“I’m well aware of that, Lieutenant, and it can wait.” He cut her off, in a tone that firmly reminded her that he was General Raven. “How do I protect you and my people?”
“How do we protect every prisoner in this facility?” she countered.
“We? Every prisoner? Wait a minute—”
“I realize that your duty is to the human prisoners, but my duty is to every being the Hajim strive to oppress.”
He gave a low rumble of laughter. “Nice speech. Are you thinking that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or do you really believe that?”
“Yes,” she said. “To both. I can be pragmatic and idealistic at the same time. The Empire’s policy has always been to prefer diplomacy over war. Our religion teaches that all aliens are to be respected, and protected when necessary.”
“To be loved as we love ourselves,” he quoted scripture back to her.
“Vampires do believe that, right?”
“We aren’t orthodox, but yes we believe in protecting sentient beings.” His answer came reluctantly.
Zoe nodded. This was no time to debate the old argument between intelligent aliens and all life.
“The Hajim have tested our beliefs,” she said. “They’ve forced us into a conflict that makes us seem like the aggressor at times to other sentient races, but that is not the way it should be, or the way that we want it to be. We need to make strong, peaceful alliances to solve the Hajim problem.
“Talking hurts,” she added.
“Then stop making speeches for a while.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and got his deep, rumbling laugh in response. The sound sent a hot shiver through her. Their gazes locked, sending fire rushing between them with such intensity that they both gasped.
Oh, please! Now was hardly the time for the attraction to kick in so strongly.
They looked away at the same time. Zoe got herself under control by staring at the rough dark surface of the cave wall for a few moments before turning back to Raven. He was taking deep, calming breaths. She smiled.
“Stop staring at my chest,” he growled.
“Yes, sir.”
She rubbed her throat, annoyed at their lengthy conversation when it was physically hard to get the words out.
He said, “We may have to destroy the Hajim to solve the Hajim problem.”
She nodded. “That may be true. Unfortunately. Let’s not talk about it anymore right now.”
Of course, neither of them wanted to consider the possibility that the Hajim might get humans first. If the enemy captured her, that would bring the Hajim that much closer to winning.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe Jazoan had the right id—”
“Negative, Lieutenant.”
His intensity was frightening, though it sparked a deep pleasure in her. She still explained, “No matter what happens to me, the Imperial line will not be allowed to die out. There are embryos frozen for both me and my sister, and surrogate volunteers.” She revealed a state secret to him. “There will be an heir in the event of my pass—”
He grabbed her shoulders. “Your passing matters to me!”
His strong reaction brought tears to her eyes.
“How the hell did the Porphyrgia get caught by the bad guys in the first place? How could your minders be so careless? How could you be that stupid?”
Her touched pleasure was throttled by the sudden vehemence he turned on her. “I—”
“The government has an obligation to keep the Imperial family safe. Regular people fight wars—it’s your people’s job to run them.”
“It’s my job to stop wars. I insisted on attending the negotiations so that—”
“You could get yourself captured?”
“I was surrounded by an entire fleet.”
“Didn’t help, did it?”
She winced. “I’m a diplomat.” She defended her choice. “I spent my entire life training for that sort of meeting.”
“You were a diplomat. Now you’re the heir. You are not expendable and you should have thought of that before insisting on getting into a dangerous situation.”
“Don’t you just hate always being right?” she snarled at him.
He rubbed her head. “You’re so cute.”
“Hey!”
“Shhh!” He turned toward the doorway.
He was very still for a moment, head tilted toward the cave opening as he listened very closely. Then he moved silently out into the hallway.
Zoe pocketed the remains of the broken retrieval beacon and followed. The faint lighting seemed brighter, the air fresher after the time they’d spent in the confines of the tiny cave.
She watched Doc and tried very hard not to look at the remains of the man she still thought of as a friend. She tried not to think about how Jazoan had been part of a quad and how there would be a husband and two wives and several children to mourn him.
As far as she could tell, the dim corridor was empty, but she trusted Raven’s suprahuman senses. “What is it?” she asked him.
“Mental trace of someone,” Raven said. “Something. I think. Gone now.” He shook his head.
“Alien?”
“Well, certainly not human. Probably my imagination; I’m not easy to spy on.”
“For which I am grateful.” She moved to stand over Jazoan, her fists clenched at her side. “What am I going to tell his family?”
Raven’s hand touched her shoulder, gentle despite his size. “I can’t apologize for this.”
She turned her head to meet his gaze. It took her a few seconds before she could work through her conflicting emotions. “You took the correct action, under the circumstances. Thank you,” she added fervently.
Zoe barely restrained herself from hugging the big man, though she really, really wanted to put her arms around him. She missed having his arms encircling her.
“What now?” she asked instead.
“I could report him dying in the riot—if we’d had a riot.”
“Maybe he fell off a ramp in the total darkness?”
Doc rubbed his jaw. “I like that one. I wouldn’t mind making the camp commandant take some of the blame. It might make him hesitate before pulling a blackout again.”
After a few more moments of thought, Zoe said, “It would be safer if the death wasn’t reported at all. What if Jazoan was somehow traced back to my security detail?”
“Is that likely?”
“No. But—”
“I can see how we can’t take any chances. But a hidden body’s not likely to go undetected forever. Unless …” He scooped up the body. “Stay here,” he told her.
Hide, you mean, she thought as he walked away.
23
That girl’s skittish and frustrated and too damned scared to be left alone, Doc thought. I think she was born sensible, and trained to be even more sensible, but everybody has a breaking point, and she’s strained enough that she’s going to bolt.
Any trouble she gets into will be my fault. What the hell am I doing leaving the bloody Porphyrgia alone? Should have taken her to the infirmary and left her with somebody there. My bloodlust is sated, but not the other kind, and I want Zoe bad. I’m running from her right now, as much as anything. Got to put some distance between us before instinct …
Imagine that, hungering after the bluest blood of them all.
He gave a low, ironic laugh, but knew he wasn’t thinking straight, and that was not good. Not just for the safety of the Porphyrgia. He had to figure out what to do about her while still protecting everyone else as well.
The Hajim had already come looking once, and used the Benso in the hunt. These inquiries were making the Kril guards increasingly suspicious of the humans. The Asi were smart enough to know the Hajim were up to something. It was impossible even for him to tell what the enigmatic Denthera prisoners thought of anything.
Doc wondered if it would be easier or more difficult for him to blur the mind of the next Hajim hunter that showed up now that he knew what the enemy was looking for. Maybe they’d get lucky and the Hajim would conclude that their quarry was dead.
But the Hajim never gave up, did they?
How long would the Porphyrgia’s solution of simply assuming the identity of a naval officer hold up?
Would the Hajim manage to insert spies into the camp? Would another of her security people show up and attempt to kill her?
He snarled possessively at the thought, knowing that he’d do exactly what he’d done to Jazoan to anyone who tried. And not because she was the heir to the throne.
Mine! he thought.
Porphyrgia.
Remember that. She belongs to all of us. We belong to her? I only know I have to save her.
But what was he to do? Post a guard on Zoe fulltime? That would be a first step.
It would have to be done very subtly, if at all, to keep even the human prisoners from knowing. He hated putting the ones he trusted with this duty in jeopardy, asking them to keep Zoe’s dangerous secret. No, that wouldn’t work. He couldn’t tell them why he wanted her guarded, just order them to do it without a need to know.
Then again, there was a war on. Orders were orders, and there were plenty of prisoners in Camp Five that would welcome the chance to act like military people once more.
But could he risk taking any action that the Kril might notice? They weren’t particularly enthusiastic about the guard duties the Hajim had forced on them, but they feared retribution from the Hajim more than they minded causing trouble for their charges.
While he tried to work out the Zoe situation with one part of his mind, much of his attention was on the people he passed as he hurried down the murky corridors of the prison. He moved fast and silently, using the shadows to his advantage, but there was no way a man his size carrying a limp body over his shoulder could be completely ignored.
So, with every person he encountered he had to telepathically tell them that they didn’t see him. This worked on most people. For everyone else he tried to plant the thought that all they saw was Doc taking a patient to the infirmary.
Instead, he went into Asi territory.
Their sentries let him pass, and the squat aliens surrounded him quickly as he advanced. In fact, they pushed him deeper into their tunnel system than he wanted to go, clacking their large pincers and chattering in a language he didn’t know. Because he was trying to keep this a peaceful visit, he went along with them.
He hoped that the followers of the one he’d killed earlier weren’t getting ready to take revenge. How did one tell if they were angry or curious or partying? He wished Zoe’d been able to teach him some of the language—she’d tried and he’d ignored her efforts while enjoying her company. He wished she was with him—but he always wished that.
He’d put the Porphyrgia in danger by letting her go alone among enemy aliens. He would not do that anymore.
He could not do that anymore.
Blast it, Zoe, you let me put you in danger on purpose! he thought angrily.
You let me do my job.
He didn’t know if the unapologetic thought was hers or if he was letting his imagination make excuses for him.
He hoped it was imagination, because his being able to share thoughts with this nontelepath was one of the signs of a condition that would have been difficult to deal with before and was now impossible since finding out her true identity.
His Asi escort finally halted when they reached a circular chamber where several corridors came together. The place was crowded, yet eerily silent, the Asi as still as shiny black statues. He slowly lowered the body to the floor. Then he gestured to it and turned slowly, hoping to find a way to communicate what he was offering.
“What are you doing here?” he asked when he found Zoe standing not far from him.
She wasn’t a tall woman, and it terrified him to see her standing waist-high in a sea of serrated alien claws.
He pointed for her to leave. “When I give an—”
“I figured out what you had to do with Jazoan’s body and followed you,” she said. “The way you were using telepathy as crowd control I almost lost you more than once,” she admitted. “I kept wanting to forget what you were doing. Fortunately, I am fairly strong-minded.”
“I ordered you to stay in your quarters.”
“We both know you need a translator.”
He wanted to repeat in a very loud, firm in-your-face Marine way that he’d ordered her to stay in her quarters—but how did one reprimand the Porphyrgia?
Politely, he supposed.
“You’re right,” he had to agree. He pointed at the body. “Tell them I brought them a present.”
“A wise diplomatic gesture on your part, sir.”
“This is no time to suck up, Pappas.”
“Yes, General. It is a convenient way of disposing of a corpse.”
“That it is. Tell them.”
She spoke for a while in the clicking, buzzing language of the Asi. They all continued to stand deathly still while she talked, not an antenna or eyestalk or claw moved.
After she was done the crowd parted for an alien that was smaller and more delicate-looking than the others. It came forward and bent over the body. After a few moments it swiveled its eyes toward Zoe and clicked and clacked and snarled at her.
Even Doc recognized the tone of contempt in the alien voice.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“She says that the meat is dry. That it is an insult to offer flesh without any juice.” Zoe spoke to the female in Asi again. Then she said to him, “I explained that we mean no disrespect to them. I told her that since we do not consume our own dead we are offering one of our own to them to help alleviate the food shortages that plague all of us. That we do this in the spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit.”
“And are they buying it?”
A low rumbling and hissing went through the crowd of Asi. None of them looked toward the human remains.
“I don’t think so, sir.”
“I figured that out.”
Several of the larger aliens moved closer to him through the crowd. Their claws were raised high and open in an unmistakably hostile way.
“I think we should try to leave,” Zoe suggested.
He didn’t tell her about the Asi sidling around behind her, and he didn’t show his fear for her.
“Too late to leave.” Doc sighed, knowing what he had to do to get Zoe out of here. “Tell them that I understand their appetite for blood. That it is my honor to provide it.”
He ran his tongue over his teeth, stimulating his canines to extend. Once his fangs were out, he raised his left arm to his mouth.
“Raven?”
He ignored the almost hysterical worry in the Porphyrgia’s tone as he bit deeply into his left wrist and allowed the hot iron-sweet blood to pour out onto Jazoan’s corpse. He ignored the sound of Zoe’s concerned voice in the distance. Or maybe the voice was in his head.
The Asi waited until he was dizzy from blood loss and had dropped to his knees before they gathered around and began to feast on the blood-soaked body of Jazoan.
When the dizziness hit Doc knew he’d carried this gesture a bit too far. As the world started to fade to black around him, the last thing he managed was to meet the concerned gaze of the woman who’d followed him into danger.
“Go,” he barely managed to whisper. “Get out of here.”
“Not without you,” was her stubborn answer.
He was too weak to finish, and didn’t know if she obeyed. He lost sight of her as he fell slowly forward onto his face on the cold stone floor.
She’s worried about me. I’m worried about her. Aren’t we a pair? was his thought before the world went completely away.
24
“Raven!”
Zoe let out one panicked shout as he fell. It seemed like forever before she was able to grasp hard onto the self-control that had been so carefully trained into her. Never mind that she wanted to fight her way through hard shells and razor claws of milling Asi to get to Matthias Raven’s side. Never mind that her impulse was to throw herself over him and protect him with her body.
“Melodrama,” she muttered. She took two deep, calming breaths. Melodrama never did anybody any good.
Instead of responding on impulse, she ignored her racing heart and the tears that threatened. She didn’t whine over problems, she solved them. She kept her gaze on the big man lying among the feeding Asi and folded her arms at her waist.
“Now what am I supposed to do?”
She clutched her sides to keep from shaking. Her sarcasm masked the fear that he’d killed himself when he cut his wrist.
Had he done that trying to save her? The dear idiot.
She masked the worry that the Asi would attack Raven when they’d finished with Jazoan. She refused to pay any attention to the horror of knowing a human was being eaten by aliens or the nausea from the sight and scent of blood.
She stopped staring at Doc and scanned the crowd until she found the Asi leader. Once she had him in sight, she abandoned caution and wove her way toward him, shouting and pointing as she approached. He soon got the idea and an Asi guard detail formed around Raven. Once she was sure Doc was safe from attack, she began to explain to the leader what was needed. The leader ordered several Asi to pick up and carry the large man away from their territory. Zoe followed close behind and gave them directions on where to go.
Once she had them set Doc down safely inside a shallow cave at the edge of human territory, Zoe wasn’t sure what to do next. She settled beside him and wondered if she should go get Alwyn or Arco.
She touched Doc’s forehead and felt at his throat for a pulse. She found a very slow heartbeat but didn’t know if that was normal or not. How did you tell if a vampire was sick? Did Raven need medical attention?
Could she risk the interest and rumors that would be generated if Doc Raven needed medical help? People trusted in his being there, always protective and in control. He was the camp commander, the one everyone trusted to care for them. His being incapacitated would sow fear in the already stress-filled prison.
“No,” she said aloud. She’d take care of him herself. Somehow.
She settled down on the cave floor with Doc’s head in her lap and considered the situation further. Could they afford to let anyone else know about Jazoan? Or to let rumors of another incident with the Asi get out?
“No,” she said again.
How many people knew Raven was a vampire? How many did he want to know? Suprahumans kept low profiles when they lived among humans. The information was in his service record, of course. She could access that record anytime she wanted to through the data implants in her head.
No, she reminded herself. She could access it anytime she needed to, but curiosity gave her no excuse to invade privacy.
“Damn it. Being ethical is such a bitch sometimes.”
Mind your language, Doc’s voice sounded faintly in her head.
I can’t help it, she replied to the imagined voice. I’ve been hanging out with marines.
All the while her fingers stroked Doc’s skin from the smoothness of his temples and forehead to the rough hint of fuzz covering his shaved scalp. She wondered what color his hair was, and what texture. Touching Matthias Raven brought her far more pleasure and comfort than she could have imagined an hour before.
An hour before, she’d been terrified of him. She’d watched him feeding. She’d watched him kill.
She’d watched him bleed as well as kill, and knew he’d done both for her.
Had Doc done it for Zoe? Or had General Raven done it for the Porphyrgia?
Why did it matter? Why did it make a difference?
And why had she really been afraid of him?
She shook her head. Oh, no, I don’t want to analyze that!
“My leg’s fallen asleep,” she informed the unconscious man. She thought his eyelids fluttered a bit when she spoke to him, but the shadows could be playing tricks on her.
How did one treat an ailing vampire? She’d ask the doctor, but he was out. Besides, she knew the answer to that already.
It took her a few moments to realize that her lips were drawn back in a jealous snarl.
She suddenly understood how Barb Langly acted.
Maybe she should get Barb for him.
“The hell I will.”
Every fiber of her being rebelled at the notion of finding one of his numerous female donors to sate his need. Despite the darkness her vision went red and then deep green as visions of Doc’s fangs sinking into the silky throats of Barb and Maria and Celestine and however many others he kept in his harem sailed across her imagination.
Wanting him set her on fire. The shock of sudden wild need was merciless and maddening.
The hunger racing through her blocked out all of her training, all of her logic, all of her caution.
Zoe grasped tightly onto Raven’s bare shoulders. “I know what you need,” she told him fiercely. “And this time you’re getting it from me.”
“Here. Drink this.”
The voice was calm, but the emotions behind it were not. Excitement rippled all around him. His cheek touched soft female skin. The tangs of arousal and blood scented the air; mingled; became one and the same.
He wanted to open his eyes, but all the other sensations overwhelmed him.
His head ached.
Who was he?
Doc Raven, he remembered. Matthias Raven of House Domini, Clan Corvus, Solsangre System.
He asked. “Where am I?”
Why did his voice sound so hollow and weak?
“I’ve heard that people who faint are frequently disoriented when they wake up.”
He recognized the voice as Zoe’s. The sound was sweet, the humor dry, if a bit forced. The warm softness supporting his head was her lap. The delicious scent of arousal-spiced blood was hers. Her wrist was pressed against his mouth, her pulse beating sensuously against his teeth. Warm, tender flesh against sharp hardness. His tongue automatically slipped between his lips. It took only the taste of one sweet drop of blood from a small cut to make him let out a long, shuddering moan.
He tasted her excitement when another drop slid across his lips. The spice of her desire gave the blood a flavor that was uniquely Zoe’s. Addicting.
His mind did not want to focus. He simply wanted to feed. She was delicious. All of her would be delicious—her body, her mind, the living essence of her blood. Need burned and built in him.
Focus, he told himself. Focus.
He turned his head, a weak effort at denial, and his cheek grazed Zoe’s arm.
Skin so soft. She smelled so good!
“What happened?” He wasn’t sure if he spoke out loud or sent the thought to her.
“You made a brave, if somewhat dramatic and thoroughly icky, gesture toward our Asi comrades.”
Her voice was calm, but he was aware of the strain under the surface. She shook ever so slightly, a mixture of fear and desire. Her temperature was up, and, oh, the ripe-and-ready scent of her!
“Here.” She pressed her wrist harder against his mouth.
He wished she wouldn’t do that. Any of it. Even the reactions she couldn’t help. He wanted her too badly.
Then it all came back to him, though he still didn’t know where he was or how he’d gotten here.
And he was hungry. Famished.
As only one of his kind could be.
She was the only one who could sate every need that burned through him. Blood. Body. Soul.
“Leave.” The word came out of him in an aching rasp. “Now.”
He didn’t want her to go. He didn’t know if he could keep from stopping her if she tried.
“Nonsense,” was all she said.
Her trembling fingers stroked his forehead, and her wrist pressed harder, stimulating his canines. The blood flowed hot beneath her skin. He needed. Wanted. He was starving.
And she was there.
For him.
Because she wanted to be.
“Because I need to be,” she whispered.
Some chivalrous part of him wanted to tell her that she didn’t know what she was doing. He didn’t know if he respected her too much to pretend that was true, or if she didn’t really know what she offered and he was too selfish to care.
He hadn’t quite come completely to his senses before he lost them.
25
Raven was on her like lightning out of the darkness. Huge hands closed around her body. Hard muscles bore her down. A heavy body pressed against her. His insatiable mouth covered hers in a demanding kiss.
For an instant Zoe’s reaction was one of overwhelming terror. This wasn’t a man, this was a storm.
Not human!
Suprahuman. More than human. Vampire.
He was hers and nobody bloody else’s!
Holding her. Caressing her. His skilled lips and tongue ravaging her mouth, setting her on fire.
Stoking the fire he’d lit in her weeks ago even higher.
She was being kissed by Doc, who she had wanted more than anything else in the world from the moment they met.
I always knew it. Always wanted—didn’t know it could be so—
Desire overwhelmed terror, though a tendril of fear remained. Awareness of what he was permeated her growing passion and added to its sharp, urgent edge.
She kept her eyes closed and let all of her other senses take the lead. His palm covered her breasts, sending sensation pouring through her. Her fingertips traced across his broad shoulders, learned the sculpted contours of his back, and down his buttocks.
Her hands cupped his ass, something she’d been wanting to do since she’d gotten her first view of the brawny general’s backside.
She arched against him when his lips moved to her throat and trembled with the awareness of the hardness pressed against her thigh. The tips of a double-pointed knife slid sensuously across her throat and she forgot everything else for what seemed like forever.
Then—
Pain, bright and sharp and searing, rushed through her. Zoe opened her mouth to scream, but the sound turned to a moan of absolute pleasure. Her back arched and her head fell back, and all the darkness around her burst into light.
The light dazzled her. White and blue and red incandescence surrounded and flowed through her in building waves of ecstasy.
After a long time the waves changed into a slow, steady thrumming, and light faded into sound, though the sensation was no less pleasurable. The thrum turned into a drumbeat, and she eventually became aware that the sound was the strong, steady rhythm of two hearts beating in exact synchronization. The sound was beautiful, precious, and she clung to it as it began to fade.
“No,” she whispered, aware that she was becoming herself again, and lonely.
She found that her face was pressed against a hard-muscled shoulder. She breathed in the masculine tang of sweat, and tasted the salt of tears. Hers? His?
“Damn,” she muttered and lifted her head. She wasn’t even sure what she was swearing about.
“I know,” Doc said.
When she looked questioningly up at him, he kissed her. Gently this time, his lips soft on hers.
This human desire felt just as good as being bitten by him. Maybe better, because she could kiss him back, the give-and-take was as wonderful as being taken.
She lifted her head from his. “That was—amazing.”
He grinned, bright teeth but no fangs showed in the faint light. “You’re amazing. Is it because your blood is blue?”
She pushed against his chest. It was like pushing against a mountain. “Oh, stop that.”
He chuckled, and licked the spot where he’d bitten her. “This will make it all better.”
“Are you sure you’re a doctor?” she asked.
His lips moved to nuzzle her ear. Want me to show you my degree?
I want you to show me more than that.
His laughter rippled through her, sexy as hell, full of sweet promise.
Gladly.
She vaguely remembered that they were in a shallow cave where a couple of Asi had helped her drag Raven after he passed out. He’d been drained and weak, and she’d been trying to help him so they could get back to the human sector. They had work to do and—
She didn’t care.
Even after all the pleasure he’d already given her, all Zoe wanted was to make love.
She wasn’t sure when he’d pulled up her uniform shirt but her nipples were delightfully hard between his massaging fingers. Flames licked through her, adding to the growing fire deep inside.
She had a moment of awkward fear where she wondered if their physiologies were compatible enough for physical intimacy.
Then she felt his erection pressing between them once more, and she threw back her head and gave a lusty laugh.
She stroked the bulge in his trousers, reassuring herself that Doc Raven was very much a living, potent male. The way he sprang hard and heavy into her hand when he undid his trousers showed her a hunger that had nothing to do with being out of legend and myth.
She found the man even more exciting than she had the vampire.
They shed their clothes and explored each other’s bodies. She marveled at the texture of his skin, at the sculpted shape of his muscular body, the dark fuzz on his broad chest—she loved the feel of it against her cheek. She kissed every inch of him. She closed her eyes and memorized him with her fingertips and mouth. She learned the taste of him and breathed in his scent.
“There’s so much of you!”
“You’re such a little thing!”
His mouth and hands learned her body just as eagerly. His touch was more arousing than anything she’d ever known. Her body memorized the feel of him and already knew that nothing else, no one else, could bring her such aching pleasure.
At some unbearable moment, when Zoe was already on the razor’s edge of bliss, Doc whispered, “Now?”
She somehow managed a panting, “You better!”
On a shared laugh they moved together into a very human act. The ultimate human act—full of passion, desire, sweating, straining flesh, breathless whispers, and laughter.
She hadn’t known how much she missed sharing laughter.
It was some silly whispered joke that triggered her first orgasm. From that point on she lost count.
26
When they were completely sated and totally exhausted, he collapsed on top of her with a muffled “Oomph.”
Even the heavy weight of him covering her was wonderful; warm and reassuring.
She held him close and ran a hand over his shaved head and down his back, thinking, Making love to this man is the only mistake I haven’t made lately.
“Oh, it’s a mistake, all right,” he answered her thought. “Not that I regret it,” he added before her heart could sink. And then he yawned loudly. And fell asleep instantly.
“Men,” Zoe complained. And smiled into the darkness.
Her man.
Her vampire?
She was embarrassed now about her initial visceral reaction to discovering his ethnicity. It had been a primal response fed by all the old myths and misconceptions bubbling up from her subconscious along with the fear that drove those myths.
Fear and fascination. She was still powerfully drawn by the fascination—
But fear?
She stroked her hand down his back, the gesture completely comfortable, completely possessive.
He’d told her he was from a Dark Star world, a pleasure planet. Now she was certain he’d meant Solsangre.
Solsangre. It was a beautiful word; it meant “Blood Star.”
Long ago the vampires, who claimed they were a human mutation, born rather than made, with supra-human powers and problems, had left the homeworld to found a colony where their own culture could thrive.
They weren’t the only ones. Many ethnic and religious groups founded separate colonies in the early days of human expansion after the Bottleneck and Second Genesis aroused the hunger to spread the species as widely as possible so that they’d never come so close to extinction again. Cultures and histories had been reclaimed and explored. The resulting diversity of human settlements made the Empire stronger in the long run, though there had certainly been bloody conflicts early on. There were good reasons for the existence of the Imperial navy and marines and a long tradition of government intervention to keep human groups from killing each other.
And with this interspecies war dragging on, Imperial forces were spread thin fighting aliens instead of peacekeeping; the stress of the outside threat was causing some of the old conflicts to bubble up again when it should have been a completely uniting force.
In the early days of the expansion the vampires had settled on a world under a very different type of star than the one Terra orbited. One where daylight cast by a giant red star did them no harm. They still needed blood, but they’d brought domesticated animals with them as a blood source. There were also plenty of normal humans who left Earth with the vampires and settled Solsangre with them.
Along with the human settlers there were also humans who traveled to Solsangre expressly to experience the erotic pleasure that vampires gave in exchange when they fed on blood.
Over the centuries, Solsangre had become not only the vampires’ feeding ground, but a world known for providing every form of entertainment and delight anyone could wish for. Because the vampires downplayed their involvement in the amusement industry, most of the people who vacationed on Solsangre weren’t particularly aware that the world had been colonized by people once considered parasitic monsters.
Some still considered vampires monsters or literally devils. There were stories spread by those who feared them, and lobbied the government to rescind the rights extended to all sentient beings. Zoe was privy to the whole debate, but it was the horror stories that jumped to the front of her mind when she discovered what Matthias Raven was.
It was the darkness, she told herself now, chastising herself. I couldn’t help but see a demon in the dark—but I ought to have known better.
Her curiosity got the better of her contentment and she shook his shoulder until she got a grunt out of him. “Wake up, Matthias.”
“I don’t—Zoe?”
She was amused by his groggy response. “I see we’ve dropped all formality.”
Raven rolled to his side and looked at her. “Your thoughts are seething with questions.” He stroked her breasts until she arched and gave a needy moan. “Want to continue seething in other ways?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled. The deep timbre of his voice sent desire through her. It took a strong act of will for her to grasp his wrist and move his hand away. She kept her fingers twined with his.
“Seething later,” she told him. “Talk now.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Information gathering is lots of fun.”
He sighed. “I’m happy to please you in any way. What do you want to know?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
His heavy brows lowered in confusion. “I came looking for you.”
“No. I mean—how did one of you—become—a POW?”
“I joined the Marines.” His look turned hard. “Do you have something against one of my kind serving the Empire?”
“Of course not!” She was so outraged the words would have come out as a shout if her throat hadn’t still been aching.
“Suprahumans like the military—see the worlds, meet interesting people—and eat them is how our recruitment slogan goes.”
She laughed.
Of course, vampires did more with their long lives than just hang out on their pleasure world having sex. The shells of spaceships protected them from solar radiation as much as it protected other humans. And there was protective clothing and shielding personal force fields they could wear on worlds where the light wasn’t as friendly as Solsangre’s. Some also took drugs that helped them function under yellow sunlight like the Earth’s sun.
He sat up and helped her do the same. When she propped her back against the cave wall he tilted her chin up. She thought he might be checking out the bite marks he’d left, but after a few seconds he said, “Your throat looks good. Roll your head.”
She’d forgotten for a while that she’d almost been strangled a few hours ago and that was why she had a sore throat. Life just got more and more complicated, didn’t it?
He gave a satisfied grunt when she did as he directed. “You’ll be fine.” He looked down, then gave her a sheepish glance from under his long eyelashes. “I should have looked you over properly before we did anything else.”
“I’m naked,” she said. “If you still want to look me over properly, now might be a good time.”
He snorted. “I think we both better get dressed before anything else happens.”
“Weren’t you caressing me a few seconds ago?”
“I’m an impulsive sort, but my will is as strong as yours.”
She pouted. “Darn.”
“I want it to sexually satisfy you, of course, but …” He gave a slight shrug and began to pull his clothes back on.
She wished the little cave was better lit so she could get a more thorough look at him while he was naked. She’d felt every inch of him, and tasted almost as much, but she wished she could memorize every marble-hard inch of his beautiful body. She’d always remember how he felt and tasted and smelled. The heat of his skin was burned into hers. She didn’t have much experience with physical intimacy, and she wanted to appreciate every sensory aspect of being with the gloriously put together Matthias Raven.
Zoe sighed.
He suddenly looked worried. “We haven’t just broken any laws or anything, have we?”
She stood up as much as possible in the low space, and rubbed the small of her back. The stone floor had been hard on her muscles. “Nothing illegal that I’m aware of.”
Not technically.
It was always strongly recommended that members of the Imperial Family have background checks run on their potential lovers. There was no law saying they absolutely had to.
She had spent a good part of her adult life since attending university avoiding romantic entanglements. And it had been relatively easy not to have a personal life, considering all the important work that had to be done. She was certainly in a tangle now.
Zoe sighed again and looked away from Raven.
He cupped her face in his big warm hands. They looked into each other’s eyes. “I think I know what you’re thinking.”
She was sure he did. You didn’t have to be a mind reader for some things. She said, “This can’t happen again.”
The glint in his dark eyes was worrying. “Too bad,” he said, “because I’ve got an idea.”
“One that involves sex?”
“Of course; I’m a Prime—a vampire male, in case you don’t know the term.”
“I know. What’s your idea?”
His expression went very serious. “I want you to move in with me.”
“What?” She hated that her heart soared at the suggestion. “I can’t—”
“It’s for your own good. Share my quarters in the infirmary. The bed’s almost big enough for two.”
She was incredulous. “You have a real bed?”
“I’m a general—and a doctor. With anybody else that would make me a real catch,” he added.
Zoe moved away from him because his touch was too tempting. She shook her head.
“Move in with me,” he persisted.
She finished getting dressed while she considered the ramifications of this not-at-all-romantic-sounding offer. “This would be for my own protection, I suppose. This is a security issue.”
She did not let herself sigh again. Survival, not romance, was the point here.
He grinned. “Well, that’s one of the reasons.”
This made her feel better. She turned back to him. “Wouldn’t your numerous girlfriends mind?”
He considered this for a moment, then answered, “It’s not so much that I have girlfriends. It’s more like I have volunteer blood donors.”
“Just friends helping you survive?” she questioned sharply, and hated the jealousy. “Tell that to Barb.”
“Barb knows. She does tend to forget.”
His expression turned stern and serious. Had she been anyone else, Zoe might have snapped to attention under that look.
But his annoyance wasn’t directed outward. She thought he was talking to himself as much as to her when he went on. “We’re all in a bad place to develop serious relationships.”
“I agree,” she told him. A wave of melancholy swept over her. “But the way this war’s been going, when and where is a good place to develop a serious relationship?”
“I for damn sure don’t know,” he said. He ran his fingers gently through her hair and down her throat. It made her sadness go away. She didn’t want him to stop.
“Don’t do that.”
“Because you like it.”
Not a question, and she didn’t need to answer. She put her hand over his, meaning to push it away.
“Come on, let’s go reorganize our lives,” he coaxed.
“Can’t do it, Doc.”
“I’ll let you rearrange the furniture.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“We can get a puppy. You’ve always wanted a puppy.”
“Stop reading my mind.”
“It was a guess—but it shows how compatible we are.”
She held his hand for a moment longer before she stepped away. “I’m not going to move in with you, Doc.”
He leaned against the cave doorway, massive arms crossed. His grin was supremely confident. “You know you want to.”
She crossed her arms. She couldn’t deny the temptation. “That’s not the point.”
“You’ll be safer with me.”
“I’m already with you—I’m not going to wander out of Camp Five and get lost, am I?”
“Why not move in with me?” he tried again. “I could make it an order.”
“Do you want me to quote your speech about ‘No means no’ back to you? I will not share quarters with you for several reasons, but the only one I’m going to explain is that any change in my routine might draw the Kril’s notice. Do you want the Kril reporting any news at all to the Hajim? Their leaving us alone down here is the only thing that’s going to keep the lid on this situation. I want to keep everyone safe, not just myself.”
“I realize that, but—”
“No means no, Doc.”
She ducked past him and he followed her out into the slightly better lit corridor where they could at least stand up straight. He seemed prepared to continue the discussion but Zoe marched away from him, spine straight, shoulders squared—at least she looked sure of herself no matter how rattled her longing for him made her.
She hurried ahead of Raven into the human sector. He followed in silence, his growing frustration a shadow over her. She refused to look back. After they passed the first group of people lounging outside a cave entrance Doc grasped her arm and turned her to face him.
Being around people won’t keep me quiet, you know.
Raven’s voice was just as deep and rumbling inside her head as it was when he spoke aloud. And somehow there was something more real, more intimate about them when he sent his words inside her.
Stop liking it! she told herself. You can’t do intimate here and now. “I can’t.”
You can.
Aren’t there rules about how you use telepathy? Zoe thought back angrily. Don’t you have to stay out of someone’s head if they tell you to?
Yes. And mucking around in your head probably makes me a candidate for court-martial.
Why do I get the feeling you’re about to tell me that you don’t care about ethics and treason where I’m concerned?
Because we share—
The voice in her head cut off abruptly. Doc took a step back. He stared at her, eyes burning. He looked like he’d just been hit over the head. Zoe couldn’t read his emotions, but something was deeply disturbing him.
She impulsively touched his cheek. The contact sent a shock wave through her. And a shudder through him. Electricity sparked between them. Speechless, Zoe stared back at Raven. His eyes flashed ruby red, and his fangs showed for a moment. She was far too fascinated to be afraid.
“Are you two okay?” Alwyn said from behind her.
Zoe gasped. As air rushed into her lungs she wondered how long it had been since she’d taken a breath.
“What are you doing here?” Doc barked at the nurse.
Zoe turned to see that Alwyn had gone pale at the danger in Doc’s tone.
The young man came quickly to attention. “I was looking for you, sir,” he snapped out. “Three people have reported to the infirmary with a skin rash and low-grade fever.”
Raven stepped around her, the doctor in him taking control. He was instantly focused on the situation. Zoe couldn’t help but smile fondly at this show of responsibility.
“We don’t need anything contagious running through our population. Give me details as we go,” Doc said to Alwyn. “Pappas, inform all the hall officers that this place is on lockdown until further notice. Have them report to me when everyone’s snug in their quarters.
“That includes you, Pappas,” he added as he walked away.
Zoe watched Doc Raven until he was out of sight, the nurse hurrying to keep up with the big man’s strides. She continued to smile after him, a warm glow spreading through her. He was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.
How she did love a competent man!
27
“Here’s what I’ve got for you, people. It looks like the illness started out as a form of food poisoning but became a contact contagion as soon as it found a host,” Doc told the gathering of hall officers.
The group had settled in his office, most of them sitting close enough to touch someone else. The days of isolation had plainly gotten to all of them. Camp Five was now in the third cycle of lockdown and he finally had some answers to share. He looked forward to cheering this worried group up.
“We have eighteen cases reported and responding to treatment, with no new ones in the last cycle.”
“So isolating everybody is working?” Barb asked.
Doc nodded.
“Nobody’s going to die, are they?” Adams asked.
“I wouldn’t let any of you out of your caves if I thought I’d have to fill out fatality forms.”
There was laughter, and relieved glances were exchanged.
“We can do hugs and kisses when the meeting breaks up, people,” he told them.
“You think it was in the relief packages brought in by the Benso?” Maria Athenou asked over several snickers.
He nodded. “That’s why I had you gather all of them and destroy them. Some alien bug got mixed in with the shipment for us humans. It’s not universally contagious and the effect only seems to last a few days, but it’s better to confiscate spoiled food than have more people get sick.”
“We nearly had a riot on our hands when we took everybody’s treats,” Adams said. “If we’d been able to ask people to voluntarily give—”
“Stop being a troublemaker,” Barb Langly complained. “Just because you had trouble getting stuff away from people on your corridor doesn’t mean there was any kind of rebellion.”
“Better almost a riot than an epidemic,” Doc told them. “Isn’t it?” He waited for each of the hall officers to nod before he went on. “I’m lifting the lockdown as of now. Let my people go and all that. Dismissed. And, Langly,” he added when they rose to leave, “tell Everard I’d like to see him when you uncork your hall.”
When everyone else left, Maria lingered.
“Don’t you have an order to carry out?” he asked when they were alone.
He stood as she came around his desk, but neither his rank nor his size intimidated her. “I’ll let Zoe out in a minute,” she said. “But I think we need to talk about her first.”
This comment was totally unexpected. “What? Get out of here.”
He glared at her, but having a general give her a fierce look wasn’t enough to keep the lieutenant quiet. “What is it with you Greek women?” he asked. “Neither you nor Zoe has—”
Maria put a finger over his lips. “Maybe Zoe shouldn’t come first on the agenda.”
He jerked away from her touch.
Maria nodded as if she’d just made a point. “How many cycles has it been since you’ve fed, Doc? Barb and Celestine and I would all like an answer to that. You haven’t visited any of us since the blackout.”
“You’ve had a meeting about me?” He was outraged.
“We care about you.”
Doc was tempted to firmly pull rank, to tell her and the others to mind their own business. He wanted to order Maria to get out—and use telepathy if he had to to keep her out of his and Zoe’s business. But he’d tasted her blood many times. They had a relationship and he had obligations to Maria. And the other women.
“I’m not hungry,” he told her. The truth was, he was starving. But—
“I know you’ve been with Zoe.”
It was very hard to keep anything secret in Camp Five. He watched Maria without commenting. She paid no attention to his threatening silence.
“Zoe’s not a multiple-partner sort of person,” Maria said. “I’ve heard her crying, and it’s not hard to guess why,” she added defiantly as he continued to stare. “I know she doesn’t think you’re a one-woman vampire. You’ve done your best to make all of your donors aware of that. But I know for a fact that all vampires are looking for one permanent mate—that bonding can’t be stopped once your soul mate is found.”
He didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to think about it.
Maria wasn’t finished. “I am fine if you and Zoe decide to go exclusive. I think Celestine won’t mind, either—she’s hopelessly romantic and already thinks the way you and Zoe have been circling each other is cute. But Barb isn’t going to take it well. Zoe’s a gentle little thing. I wouldn’t want anything to happen if Barb goes after her.” She pointed at him. “So you have to take care of Zoe.”
He certainly did, but he wasn’t going to discuss the situation. “Your concerns are noted,” he told Maria.
She wasn’t buying into his attempt at neutrality. She pushed up her sleeve and held her wrist toward his mouth. He was struck by the scent and warmth of the blood running beneath her skin. But it didn’t overwhelm him—or even tempt him.
“This abstinence is not good for you, my friend, but I didn’t think you’d be interested,” she said after a long time. She shook her head and pushed her sleeve back down. “Be careful, Doc. With her, yourself, and all of us,” she added before she finally turned around and walked out of the office.
His strength deserted him as soon as he was alone. Doc sat down hard and dropped his head into his hands. He’d been trying so hard not to think about how much he wanted Zoe—then Maria had to pull this on him!
Now his fangs throbbed and his body ached and the need made him hard even as he fought off the urge to do something about it.
It didn’t matter how Zoe’s blood called to him; life-giving and precious as it was, it wasn’t for him. Never mind that his soul screamed that Zoe was his, she’d been right when she said they couldn’t be together again. No matter what it cost him.
I’ll get over it, he told himself. I have to. She hasn’t tasted me. She’ll be fine. He let out a deep groan. She has to be fine.
A knock brought his attention back to everyday matters. He sat up straight and hid all his hunger. “Come.”
Everard came in and stood at attention before Doc’s desk. “Reporting as ordered, sir.”
Doc looked the man over carefully. Everard was even scruffier than most of the prisoners, but there was a strain of military discipline beneath the attitude. He judged Everard as tough, cunning, and ruthless.
Everard was also enamored of Zoe Pappas.
Doc fought off Primal jealousy. This mortal was the one who would do what Doc needed.
Doc stood. “I have an assignment for you, Chief Everard.”
The man stood even straighter as he was reminded of his rank, and eagerness replaced the boredom that weighed him down. “Sir?”
“I want you to organize a guard detail. At least two people per shift. They report to you, and you report only to me.”
“Yes, sir. What are we guarding?”
“I want an unobtrusive, surreptitious watch on Lieutenant Pappas at all times.”
Everard opened his mouth, then closed it. Curiosity radiated from him but he didn’t question his orders.
Doc nodded in satisfaction. “I’m not forbidding Pappas to continue associating with the Asi, but I want that contact limited. Keep her in the human sector as much as possible. If she must deal with any aliens, make sure your people are with her.”
“I’m going to protect Lieutenant Pappas from aliens twenty-four/seven. Yes, sir.”
“Aliens. Humans. Spiders. Shadows. Her own clumsiness. Not a pretty blue hair on her head is to be ruffled by a passing breeze. Complete cycle watch, without her knowing anything about it. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. And—no, sir.”
“Info is ‘need to know’ on this one, Chief, and you don’t need to know.”
Everard gave a sharp nod. “I’ll guard her like she’s the Purple Princess herself, sir.”
“That’s exactly how I want Pappas protected.” This drew an assessing look from Everard. “Dismissed. Assemble a list for your team, then check back with me for approval.”
“Yes, sir. Uh—one question, sir?”
“Yes?”
“Is it all right if I keep hitting on the lieutenant while I’m guarding her?”
Jealous anger shot through Raven. He just barely managed not to jump over the desk and throttle Everard. He did snarl.
Everard took his meaning. “The lieutenant’s off-limits. Understood, General Raven, sir!” Everard said. He left the office as hastily as humanly possible.
28
Zoe entered the plaza and her gaze immediately went to the infirmary entrance. She could think of no valid reason to go there, but that was where she wanted to be. Lieutenant Pappas couldn’t just barge in and ask, “How’s the plague coming along? Got anything you want me to do? Can we be together for a while ’cause I really, really miss you?”
No approaching Raven unless ordered to. She’d promised herself she’d stay away for his own good, never mind how missing him tore at her. “Be strong for the empire”—wasn’t that how the stupid family saying went?
She had no news on the Asi to report. Wanting to be with Raven wasn’t enough of an excuse.
Lots of people want to be with Raven, she reminded herself, and hated the bitter jealousy that gnawed in her gut. lots of people are with Raven. I’m not going to be one of them. One fling. That’s it.
That’s what I get for giving in to impulse.
She almost wished she was still confined to her quarters. Alone in the dark she’d had too much time to think. Even worse, she’d had too much time to feel. She’d come face-to-face with how lonely and empty she’d been before she met Raven. Once free to roam the camp after lockdown was lifted the day before, she had to fight the constant longing to be with him. Which was worse?
“I’ll just have to keep busy, I guess.”
“You’re talking to yourself,” Everard said, coming up to her from out of the shadows under the ramp wall. She almost jumped at the sight of him. One of the marines, Usef Rumi, was with Everard. Rumi’s skin was almost blue-black, so dark it was impossible to see him in the deeper shadows. She’d heard jokes and complaints from people about running into Rumi the Ghost.
“Hello, Everard,” she said, “Hi, Ghost.”
“Hi, Zoe. You have to be careful about talking to yourself; it’s one of the bad habits we’re supposed to watch out for,” Rumi said. “You’re not going stir-crazy are you, Lieutenant?”
“That’s an excellent question,” Zoe answered. “I better watch my tongue from now on.” She was surprised when no crude comment followed from Everard.
The pair of men flanked her as she began to cross the plaza. She resented the usual overabundance of male attention but it was useless to protest. If not them, it would be some other male company hoping for attention. This place made people needy. She kept her attention on what was going on around them.
As usual the plaza was full of activity and noise. People lounged and cuddled against the walls, the choir was rehearsing near the center of the space, marines were drilling, and a group was gathering under the pale light of the central shaft for one of Professor Cauley’s lectures. She and her escorts headed that way.
“Did you get the Alien Itch?” Everard asked as they walked along.
“No, I was spared the rash, but I wish Maria hadn’t taken my chocolate away,” Zoe answered. “I’m pretty impervious to most bugs.”
“That’s because you deal with alien species all the time, right?” Everard asked. “You’ve had all sorts of special inoculations and med treatments?”
This was absolutely true, but not the sort of curiosity she expected from Everard. She nodded. “How about you two?”
“I had a mild case,” Rumi said. “We were lucky the Itch wasn’t anything serious. What if the next alien bug that gets in here is fatal to humans? Do you think the Hajim would send in help or let us die?”
A chill ran through her. “Good question.” As they reached the group around Cauley she spotted her quarry. “Excuse me,” she said to her escorts and eased out from between the men.
Rumi followed her as she approached Mischa and Siler, but she noticed Everard pushing his way through the group to talk to the scientist.
“Hey, oh, great geeks,” she greeted the techs. They turned to her with eager grins. “Can I ask a favor from you?”
“Do we get a date out of it?” Siler answered. Mischa laughed. They both looked hopeful.
“I’m offering you a technical challenge and you want sex?” she teased.
“If we can get it,” Siler said.
“What sort of technical challenge?” Mischa asked.
Zoe took the tiny implant Jazoan had carried from her pocket and held it toward them on her palm. Both young men bent close to peer at it. Rumi looked over her shoulder.
“What is it?” Rumi asked.
“Where’d you get this?” Mischa asked.
“What do you want us to do with it?” Siler asked.
“I’d like it fixed,” Zoe answered.
“But—” Mischa began.
“Okay.” Siler scooped the implant out of her hand and grabbed his partner’s arm. “Let’s see what we can do with this baby,” he said as he dragged Mischa away.
Zoe smiled hopefully after them. Maybe it was risky to hand over such classified equipment to unauthorized personnel but sometimes you had to take chances. Siler’s eagerness worried her a little. She hoped it was just a reaction at an opportunity to be useful. Maybe they could even get the beacon working.
“One errand done,” she said. “Now I can visit the Asi section.”
“You talking to yourself again, Lieutenant?” Rumi questioned.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Maybe you should go see Doc Raven about it.”
She’d like that. “It’d be better for me to work than take a happy pill.”
When she turned to go Rumi said, “Don’t you want to listen to Professor Cauley?” He looked around. “Hey, Everard, weren’t you, me, and Zoe all going to listen to the prof?”
Everard came over to them. “We can’t listen to the professor.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “The prof lost a bet with me; now he has to stay silent for a whole cycle.”
Zoe looked at the people waiting for Cauley to begin his lecture. Cauley smiled at her, pointed to his mouth, and shook his head. She was confused when he gestured for her to join him.
“Couldn’t he start this vow of silence next cycle?” Zoe asked. “I’d hate to see these folks disappointed.”
Everard grinned broadly at her. “That’s why the prof and I came up with a plan. We can’t remember you taking a turn on the lecture circuit yet, so you can take Cauley’s place entertaining the troops today.”
“Good idea,” Adams called out from the group seated nearby. “Everybody ought to take a turn.”
“But—what about the Asi?” Zoe asked.
“Let ’em entertain themselves,” Everard said. He nudged her toward the front of the crowd. “You can entertain us humans right now.”
“Humans first!” Ensign Morgan chimed in.
She gave him a reproving look but he smiled back irrepressibly. Bigoted or not, it was nice to see that he was feeling better.
All right, fine, I’ll give a talk, she thought.
The way opened for her, about thirty people scooting and stepping aside as she went to the front. Cauley bowed elegantly to her and sat down with everyone else.
“What do you want to hear about?” she asked the watching crowd.
“I know you like history,” Everard said. “Teach us some history.”
“You’ll be bored, Everard.”
“Yeah, but anybody that shows up for one of Cauley’s talks is bound to like any old boring stuff. I’ll nap while you’re lecturing.”
“History is interesting,” Morgan said. “Wars and stuff, anyway.”
“I for one would like to hear a Terran native’s version of Imperial history,” Adams said.
“So you can argue with me about it?” she asked.
“I promise not to argue,” he said. “I’ll just treat your misguided version of the acts of reivers, marauders, and pirates like a stand-up comedy routine.”
She put her hands on her hips. “The history of our ancient heroes is not comedy. You have to promise not to heckle.”
“Aww—”
“He promises,” Rumi said, coming to loom at Adams’s side.
“He certainly does,” Everard said, taking a seat at Adams’s other side. He put an arm around Adams’s shoulders. “Right, friend?”
Adams ducked away from Everard, but he nodded to her.
“All right. One history lecture coming up,” Zoe said.
She motioned and the remainder of the crowd took seats on the plaza floor in front of her. Cauley sat directly in front of her, watching her closely with his arms folded. His scrutiny might have bothered Zoe if she hadn’t spent her life being watched. She still got the uneasy feeling that the scientist was looking for something from her.
Zoe ignored him and thought for a moment, then began, “This is a history of the beginning of the Byzant Empire.”
She spared a slight smile for Adams. His intent expression told her he really was interested in her Earth-centric version.
“Once upon a time the human inhabitants of the planet Terra, also known as Earth, settled colonies within their home star system, Sol. There were human settlements on Terra’s moon, on the planet Mars, in the asteroid belt between Mars and the gas giant world Jupiter. There were colonies on the moons of several other gas giant planets.
“It was fortunate for the human species that a large population pool was spread throughout the home star system because, sometime in the first century before the founding of the Empire, a wave of radiation from an energy pulse, caused by a collapsed neutron star, shot through the solar system. Terra’s protective atmosphere was nearly destroyed by the pulse. All of the surface settlements on Terra’s moon were fried, though there were some survivors in the underground settlements. The Martian, Jovian, and asteroid colonies were damaged but they fared better than Terra, where the atmosphere was contaminated by the pulse radiation. We call the death and horror that followed the pulse the Bottleneck because the entire human genome was cut down to only a few thousand individuals. Our species nearly went extinct but at least there were survivors spread out across the solar system—pockets of hope that eventually found each other again and started rebuilding. And reproducing.
“At first the survivors on the outer worlds had their own problems to deal with. Nobody could even think about getting back to Terra to check on the home planet for several years. It took a lot of work and a certain amount of conflict, but the outer worlds managed to get organized into a single government headed by the owners of one of the asteroid mining companies.”
A Greek family named Pappas, but she didn’t mention that. And only academic specialists paid attention to the minutiae of such historic detail.
Adams squirmed between his two new friends, but he kept his promise about keeping his mouth shut. For now.
Zoe rewarded him by saying, “Mr. Adams would like you to believe that these space miners were a bunch of power-crazed, evil, cutthroat despots. They called themselves the Lords of New Byzantium. He may well be correct in that they weren’t the paragons of altruistic virtue portrayed in the history holos. They certainly had large egos and big balls. They had to be ruthless to pull the remnants of humanity together and keep the species alive. I would also say that being ruled by the Byzant Lords was preferable to being left to the mercy of the pirates that emerged from the remains of the moon colony.”
“The Pirate Wars really happened like in the holos?” Morgan spoke up. “I love Pirate Wars games and holos.”
Zoe nodded. “The Pirate Wars are real history. Even the battles for the Ark took place.”
“What battles?” someone asked.
“What ark?” Rumi asked.
“The Ark was a legend in the Sol System during the days of the Bottleneck. The hunt for the Ark was a quest that gave survivors something to live and fight for.”
“But what was this Ark?” Everard asked.
Zoe sighed. “On Terra we learn about this in grade school, but for those of you who are not raised on Imperial history, among the survivors of our mother system it was said that Terran scientists had stored samples of every scrap of Earth’s genetic material in a vault under the planet’s south pole at least a hundred years before the energy pulse hit. Ancient religions were built around belief in the Ark.”
Sergeant Corwin put up his hand. “The folks who settled my world were Arkists.”
“Mine were Children of the Second Genesis,” Maddie March spoke up. “My grandparents still thought it was a big deal.”
“But what happened with this Ark back on Earth?” Everard wanted to know.
“Well, back on Earth the Selene Pirates League and the Byzant Lords got into a war in the search for this legendary Ark,” Zoe answered. “This war lasted for at least a generation. Eventually, Michael I, the first official emperor of Byzant, and his suprahuman general, Gabriel Foxe, defeated the last pirate fleet—”
“The fleet of the evil Phoenix Lord!” Morgan exclaimed. “He was a vampire.”
“So was Foxe,” Barb said.
“That’s right, both hero and villain were vampires,” Zoe said. “Suprahuman technology and people were critical to all human survival back then, and there were suprahumans on all sides of that conflict. After the war the Byzant winners went down to Terra to see if they could find the Ark.”
“And Michael found it,” Morgan said, his face glowing. “Along with the Great Library that gave context to all our ethnic types. So began the Second Genesis.”
Zoe nodded. She felt as reverent about the rebirth of life and culture as Morgan. “Yes. It turned out that this treasure was real and worth all the turmoil to find it.
“By this time it had been many decades since the energy burst swept over Terra. The planet was still a wreck, but the atmosphere was starting to return to normal. There were human survivors living on the planet in Stone Age conditions—so it turns out that all humans living today can trace their DNA to the solar system colonists—the Byzants, to Terran survivors—the Remnant, or to the Second Genesis Children, although most of us are a mix of all those bloodlines.”
“All humans are created equal!” Adams finally burst out after keeping quiet as long as he could. “Ancestry is irrelevant!”
“I can’t argue with that,” Zoe said.
“I can!” Morgan said.
“I don’t care about bloodlines,” Everard said. “More about the Byzants, Zoe. What happened after they found the Ark?”
She smiled at Everard. “I’m glad this isn’t boring you. After he found the Ark on Terra the first emperor made the homeworld the center of his empire. Michael decided to build a fortress and scientific facility on a part of the planet that hadn’t been as affected by the Long Winter as other places. This just happened to be in an area where the capital of the first Byzant empire had been located two thousand years before. So Michael named the place New Constanz, founding the capital city of the Byzant Empire. He had the planet restored using the recovered genetic material from the Ark and established the legal code from the wisdom of the Library.”
“But he didn’t establish a democracy!”
“Nope,” she answered Adams. “And nobody asked him to.” She ignored Adams’s derisive snort. “Within a generation the human species once more had a world where they could stand unshielded and free, despite Mr. Adams’s opinion, with fresh open air to breathe.”
“And taxes to pay!” Adams called.
Zoe continued. “Along with fixing Earth, humans were able to return to terraforming Mars and the Jovian moons. Those were exciting times.”
“But what about the aliens?” Adams burst out. “What about the dead race humans stole technology from? Ow!”
Rumi had slapped him on the back of the head.
“I was getting there,” Zoe replied. “And technology wasn’t stolen from a dead race.”
“That’s not what I heard. Ow!”
“Shush. You should keep your promises,” Rumi said.
Zoe laughed. The man simply couldn’t help himself. She looked around at the rest of the audience, and saw that Raven was now standing next to Professor Cauley, who had moved to stretch his long legs at the rear of the group.
Her heart raced at the sight of Raven, and she couldn’t help but stare at him for a moment, everybody else forgotten.
How could he have gotten so much better looking in only a few cycles? He actually looked tired and worried. She wanted to hug him and ask to help. Had he lost some weight? He was no prince charming, but he was still the best thing she’d ever seen.
“Oh, Zoe …” Maria called.
She forced her attention back on her now laughing and grinning audience. She looked at them with Imperial aplomb and waited for quiet before she spoke.
“After reclaiming the Sol System, humans began exploring beyond it. The Byzant Empire expanded by building a long string of space stations as they went. We didn’t have jump technology yet, and we’d only begun experimenting with spacefold engines. Still, our ancestors kept moving outside the Sol System, they kept the species’ territory expanding.
“We’d gotten about two light-years outside the home system when the exploration ship Condor came across the Dead Fleet.”
“Are you sure the aliens in the fleet were actually dead when humans found them? Ow!”
Adams and Rumi again. The crowd laughed.
“That’s the way I learned history,” she said. “The Dead Fleet was humanity’s first contact with aliens, but there weren’t any living aliens on board any of the found ships. It was determined that the fleet had been caught by the same energy pulse that hit Terra. Everything organic on those ships was destroyed, but the technology was self-repairing and self-replicating. Most of the ship’s systems repaired themselves but their organically powered engines were destroyed. Humans learned how to use some of the alien technology and we used it to find and colonize nearby star systems, and the Empire grew. Eventually, Empress Eugenia sent the ships of the Dead Fleet back to their homeworld. She also sent along a diplomatic mission with the fleet. This was to the home system of the Wolasere. The Wolasere became the humans’ first alien allies and trading partners. The Byzant Empire was built on settlement and trade,” she reminded them sternly, “not conquest.”
She crossed her arms and looked at Adams. “I will now take questions from the floor.”
29
Doc left the infirmary because Zoe was nearby. He’d been avoiding the way she always called to him, but this time she was amused and he couldn’t help but follow her feelings to where she was. Her delightful mood rippled through him like bubbles in champagne and he simply had to find out what was going on.
He saw her standing in the full light from the top shield as soon as he reached the plaza. The sight took his breath away. He hadn’t seen her for several cycles and she’d grown more alluring to him in that small span of time. Everything about her was thrown into sharp focus, as though she was standing in the glare of a blazing spotlight instead of the heavily filtered illumination from high overhead. While this light was as bright as daylight on a double-star world to Doc’s Primal vision, he didn’t need to use that sense to appreciate the glow she showed him—he saw Zoe in so many other ways.
Sensuality strongly burned in her, clear to him, for him. Her intelligence was bright, her practicality was a steady glow. Her compassion was a steady flame, while her humor was dancing fire.
But one way he didn’t want to see her was as who she really was. That woman in the center of the plaza wasn’t really Zoe Pappas having a fine time entertaining a group of friends, but a practiced actress playing to a crowd—fooling herself as much as them. Zoe didn’t exist, although he was certain she didn’t always remember this.
He moved closer to watch her. As he stopped next to Professor Cauley he couldn’t help but overhear a sudden intense thought from the mortal.
Where have I seen Zoe before?
“Oh, shit!”
Cauley gave him a curious glance before he looked at Zoe again. For the Porphyrgia’s protection, Doc shamelessly eavesdropped on the man’s thoughts.
Maybe we met in New Constanz. At the university? A party? Diplomatic reception? Her family has something to do with politics, don’t they?
Doc clamped a hand on Cauley’s shoulder. A wince of pain interrupted the man’s train of thought.
“Sorry,” Doc said. “I forgot you’re still recovering from the Itch.”
There was a round of applause when Zoe finished speaking. Most of the audience got up and wandered away as Adams jumped up to continue debating with her. Doc noted that Everard and Rumi stayed in the plaza, fading into the shadows while unobtrusively carrying out their guard duty. Cauley gave Zoe one last look and walked away, looking thoughtful.
Doc wondered what to do about Cauley but decided to leave the man alone for now. Even if he telepathically made the scientist forget any suspicions about Zoe, that might only be a temporary measure. There was nothing to keep Cauley from thinking she looked familiar the next time he saw Zoe—then Doc would just have to make him forget about her all over again.
As long as the man didn’t blurt out “Your Highness!” and kneel before the Porphyrgia there was no harm done.
Doc knew he should walk away but he kept watching Zoe as Adams hogged her attention. He couldn’t move away while another man stood beside her. He cursed the possessive resentment of the young man that grew by the second. Instinct had nothing to do with his awareness of who Adams was talking to.
Not because she was a princess, at least.
The Primal part of Matthias Raven had a claim on Zoe Pappas. He was hungry for her in a way he’d never been for another female. She was his mate and no other male had any business being near her.
He fought off the red rage. He had to.
Doc shook his head and forced himself to turn away. His body was tied in knots and his mind was on fire, but he would walk away.
“Sir! Wait!” Zoe called after him.
The sound of her voice nearly drove him to his knees, but he stopped dead still instead. He supposed there were other people in the plaza, but he was aware only of the woman rushing toward him.
Rushing toward their dark fate? His mouth twisted in a grimace. Goddess, but Primes could be dramatic!
Zoe caught up with him a second later. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright.
It made him too aware of her heat, and the blood beneath her fine skin. He wanted to kiss her. And so much more.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” he asked. He heard the hunger in his voice but hoped it sounded like annoyance to her.
Fat chance. The girl was an empath.
“And not stupid,” she mouthed.
She looked around before she took a step closer.
He wished she wouldn’t do that.
“Can’t we talk in private?” she whispered.
He took a deep breath of her warm scent but managed to cock an eyebrow and say coolly, “I’m busy right now. Dismissed.”
He found the strength to step around her.
When Doc walked away Zoe let him take a few steps before she followed him toward the infirmary. She didn’t understand why the general had chosen to pull rank on the lieutenant, but she certainly wasn’t going to challenge the camp commander in public.
She pretended not to notice when Everard and Rumi followed her. Even though they tried to use the intermittent light and scattered groups of people to shield themselves from her awareness, she was used to the ways of bodyguards.
“Thanks, Doc,“she grumbled in annoyance at this show of concern.
She supposed it was inevitable that she be assigned guards now that he knew the truth about her, even if she didn’t think it was a good idea. She could deal with it.
And him.
“Didn’t I dismiss you?” Doc asked when she followed him past Alwyn in the reception area and into his office in the rear of the infirmary.
“You did dismiss me. But where else did you expect me to go but with you?” She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. “I’ll go visit the Asi now.”
He grabbed her arm before she could turn. “Stay!” Doc ran a hand over his shaved scalp and groaned. “Woman, don’t you know how tempted I am to bite you again?”
A flutter of surprised pleasure went through her. Heat simmered deep inside. “Really?”
“You shouldn’t want to hear that.”
“What girl can resist such a romantic declaration?”
“Don’t tease. And don’t be naïve,” he grumbled.
She took offense. “I’ve never been called naïve before. I don’t mean to tease … I don’t know what I mean, really.”
They looked into each other’s eyes. The moment filled her with pleasure.
But she couldn’t afford to be pleased, or surprised at how being near him eased her loneliness. She certainly couldn’t afford desire, so she ignored all these things and concentrated on what worried her.
“You don’t look well,” she told him. “And you’re grumpy. Did you get the Itch? Can you get sick?”
“I’m grumpy,” he answered, putting the desk between them, “because I’ve got the heir to the throne to worry about.”
“I was the heir to the throne last week and you weren’t grumpy with me then. I haven’t changed overnight into somebody else.”
He laughed. “You’re being naïve again, only this time it’s deliberate. Stop it.”
She held up her hands. “Fine. If you won’t let me worry about you, I won’t.”
He gave her an assessing look. “Are you trying to make a bargain—you won’t bother me if I don’t bother you?”
She smiled. “Oh, no. Such a deal would be naïve.” She sighed and made herself remember duty, honor, and all the things her role forced her to be. “I had a reason for coming in here besides just wanting to be near you. I didn’t come to talk about us—since there isn’t any ‘us’ to talk about—”
She shook her head while his expression got even harder. This only emphasized the pain in his eyes and the new hollowness in his cheeks.
“God, my babbling is just making this worse, isn’t it?” she blurted.
“What do you want?”
She might as well just come out and say what she was certain of.
“The Itch wasn’t an accidental alien infection. It was sent in on purpose to smoke me out.”
This didn’t take him by surprise. “I know. The Hajim are looking for a high-ranking Imperial official. They figure that we weak, soft humans aren’t going to allow someone important to be exposed to a dangerous illness.”
She hated that she’d been the cause of this. “I’m sure the Hajim tried the same thing at every human POW camp. Who knows how many people have been ill because of me?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” he said coldly. “The Itch wasn’t serious.”
“But the next pathogen they infect humans with might be fatal. What if people die because of me?”
Worry gnawed at her but Matthias Raven showed no more emotion. It made her want to hit him. She hated that tears were threatening, and blurring her vision. But was it fear for her people or reaction to Raven? An hour ago she’d been giddy with joy while storytelling, and now she was sick with fear and confusion.
Why were her emotions so close to the surface lately, so connected to this man?
“It is an honor to die for the sake of the Empire.” His tone was as cold as ice.
His words ripped every defense from her. There was no stopping the tears or the shout. “Not for me! I don’t want anyone dying for me!”
30
Zoe spun away from the sight of him. She couldn’t let him see her like this. She couldn’t show this pain, or share it.
But his huge hands were on her shoulders within a second and he turned her so that her sobs were buried in his shoulder.
“Don’t cry,” he said. “Please don’t cry anymore, Zoe, sweet. Don’t hurt so. I can’t take seeing you like this.”
“I don’t like being like this,” she muttered. He was a big, solid wall, and she didn’t know how long she’d been leaning against his strength.
She rested her forehead against his broad chest a while longer, breathed in his scent a while longer. She took deep comfort from being within his embrace—but she had no right to take comfort from anyone. It wasn’t that he made her weak—but just what was it he did make her?
“Needy. Dependent,” she grumbled.
“On me? No, you’re not. You’re just tired, and afraid of the dark.”
“I hate it, and I’m sorry.”
Doc didn’t know what she had to feel sorry about. He only knew that protecting her was the most important thing in the universe. And not because of who and what she was to the Empire. It was because of who and what she was to him.
He couldn’t keep up any pretense with her. His feigned annoyance and indifference had lasted what? Five minutes?
All he could do was love her. Losing her would kill him, but he’d just have to live with that.
So he held on tight and said, “Don’t worry, princess, everything’s going to be all right.”
“Liar.”
“No,” he said. He ran a hand down her back and pulled her even closer. She was such a delightfully soft little thing. No one had ever felt so good against him. “I’m a bad actor but I’m not a liar.”
And a starving, horny bad actor at that. Growing desire was driving him crazy. Desire was such a tame word for this hunger. The woman had no idea how badly he needed her in every way, blood and body and—
“You have an erection,” she said. She looked up at him, tears sprinkled like diamonds on her dark lashes. “I want you, too, Matthias.”
There was nothing he could do but kiss her, first one eyelid, then the other, tasting her salty tears. This tang on his tongue only whetted his appetite. He kissed her cheeks and the tip of her nose, drawing amusement from her.
His lips touched Zoe’s as she smiled. Her mouth opened beneath his—as desperate as his.
She still tasted of tears and desperation but desire was rising in her. He was gentle when he longed to let the wildness loose.
I want wild.
Her thought burned through him at the same instant her kiss turned hungry and demanding. Her hands clutched at his back and moved down to cup his ass. Her hips ground against him.
Desire took him so quickly his fangs popped out, sharply throbbing.
“Ow!” he shouted.
“What’s wrong?” Zoe asked when his head jerked up.
“I bit myself.” He touched the wound, smearing a drop of blood across his lower lip.
“Poor baby,” she cooed, coming closer.
She touched her tongue to the blood before he could stop her.
* * *
“Holy Mother and all the saints!” Zoe yelled as ecstasy tore her apart.
Doc caught her before she hit the floor from the volcanic orgasm that buckled her knees.
“Good God.” She wasn’t sure if she was blaspheming or praying as he cradled her in his arms. She only knew—“I need more of that.” Aftershocks of pleasure shot through her, along with the craving.
She craved blood—his blood—and didn’t care.
She put her arms around his neck. He turned his head when she tried to lick his lips again.
“No.”
She grabbed his ears and tried to pull his head down. “I need—”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re delicious! Gimme.”
“Not another drop.”
Desire morphed into the edge of anger. “Don’t tease me, Doc!”
He forced her hands away from him and looked very serious. “This is bad,” he said. “Very bad.”
She didn’t understand him, maybe because she was giddy with lust. “No, it’s really good.”
She finally understood why so many mortals craved the thrill of tasting vampire blood. If one taste could cause such an addicting reaction …
Addicting.
Of course, that was what he was worried about. The general worried about the Porphyrgia’s mental state.
“Oh, don’t be silly.”
He turned her around and set her down in his office chair, then stood over her with his arms crossed over his chest. This stern attitude might have had more effect if there hadn’t been a large bulge straining against his pants. Zoe couldn’t keep from giggling.
She held out her arms to him. “Come here.”
“We need to talk.”
“We need to fuck.”
“Princesses shouldn’t talk like that.”
“Oh, please!” She got up and pressed her body against his. His hands moved to her waist, but he didn’t try to push her away. “How should I put it, then? Make love to me?” she whispered in his ear. She ran her tongue around it, then nipped at his earlobe. “Why can’t I be earthy? Why can’t I say, ‘Fuck me, Matthias’? And ‘I’ll fuck you back.’ ”
He groaned and his hands tightened on her. Possessive. Almost painful. She adored it. He pulled her closer and their pelvises ground together.
“We’ll make love,” he promised. “But you may not taste any more of my blood.”
Every emotion she picked up from him, every nuance of body language and his voice told her that this was something there was no arguing over. She wanted that taste again, but his hands moved on her, bringing her feverish arousal.
Blood could wait. Right now she’d have his body.
She stroked his face and neck, kissed her way across his muscled chest. “I want you. Any way I can get you.”
“I thought you said this wasn’t going to happen again.”
Zoe nuzzled his throat. “I’ve been wrong before,” she answered.
“Normally, you’re not the person I want to hear that from. But this time I’m glad you are.”
He picked her up and spun them around while they shared a hungry kiss. When they stopped spinning, he was the one seated in the chair and Zoe was sitting on top of him. His hands came up under her uniform tunic and caressed her breasts. She worked open the fastening of his slacks to free his erection.
After a few more moments of rearranging clothing Zoe settled her thighs on either side of Doc’s hips and guided him deep inside her waiting heat. As he filled her Doc nuzzled the side of her breast, piercing her doubly as his fangs sank into tender skin.
She bucked wildly, lost in the orgasms that exploded, then built again. She rode the waves of pleasure. She rode him. He tasted her life, taking and giving pleasure that spiraled through them and joined them.
After a while they tumbled onto the floor. He moved on top of her, still inside her. Her thighs wrapped around Doc’s waist, holding on for dear life as his hips pistoned into her.
Her eyes were closed, her body lost to the pleasure, but not so lost that she didn’t hear his thought loud and clear.
You wanted wild.
You call this wild?
They joined in silent laughter. And things grew wilder from there.
31
“Now I see why every woman in the camp wants you,” Zoe said to the vampire on top of her.
She lay flat on her back and felt as flat as a pancake, a sweaty, bruised one, but in a good way. The smooth stone floor beneath her naked back was a pleasantly cool contrast to the heat of the body on top of her.
“Not every woman succumbs to my considerable charms,” Doc answered. His head rested on Zoe’s shoulder. “Sua Rhodes and Commander Townsend have both said no.”
She stroked the back of his head, and noticed a faint stubble of hair. It wasn’t like him to ignore his daily grooming routine—not that she wouldn’t prefer him with hair.
“Townsend’s sixty years old,” she pointed out.
“I’m seventy-three, and I find her as young and lovely as any woman in this camp. You’re the loveliest of all,” he added when she slapped the back of his head.
“Let’s not talk about other women,” she told him. “It makes me jealous.”
“You started it.”
“Not that I have any right to be jealous of you with anyone else. ‘Exclusive relationships are frowned upon in Camp Five.’ ” She mouthed his own words and hated the bitter taste of them.
“And I have no right to be jealous of you,” Doc added. He lifted his head to gaze into her eyes. “Do you believe any of that bull?”
“No.”
“Me either.” He kissed her gently on the mouth, then his tongue did wonderful things to her nipples. After he had her squirming, he lifted his gaze to hers again. “Move in with me, Zoe.”
She wanted his mouth on her, but got herself under control. After the fire shooting through her veins faded, Zoe replied, “Not a chance, Matthias.”
“Shall we fight about it, or shall I seduce you into it?”
“Let’s start with fighting about it,” she said.
He chuckled. But before they could start arguing, Arco’s knock sounded on the doorframe.
While Doc stood up to deal with Arco, Zoe spent several seconds hidden behind the desk looking at the stone ceiling above and wondering if she should continue lying on her back in mostly naked abandon or quickly scramble into her clothes. She decided to get dressed after a cool draft of air dried the sweat on her bare body and cooled her down, leaving her nipples puckered and aching for the return of Doc’s magic touch.
It was worrying that even after only a few seconds she really missed Doc’s warmth. His touch. His conversation. Him.
I’m relying on him too much, she thought.
Arco was giving a report on the latest Kril gossip when she got to her feet. His eyes went wide at the sight of her, but he looked quickly away. His ears and cheeks went bright red as his gaze quickly shifted to a point high on the far wall. But he didn’t stop speaking, and his tone remained completely neutral. He had the makings of a fine palace chamberlain.
Maybe he’s used to Doc having sex romps in his office, she thought sourly.
He most certainly is not! Doc’s outraged voice sounded in her mind.
Zoe managed not to smile at Raven’s outrage. She ignored the men and ducked into Doc’s bathroom. It was a tiny area but she reveled in having a private spot to get cleaned up and properly dressed.
The men were still talking when she emerged. She decided that she should go, since Doc had work to do. And she had a great deal to think about. She skirted the wall to slip through the office doorway behind where Arco stood.
Doc’s voice followed her. “Come back here!”
Since he didn’t add “lieutenant,” Zoe decided that she wasn’t disobeying a direct order, even though she would have ignored him anyway.
We’ll talk later, she thought at him as she left the infirmary.
You bet we will!
She could feel him straining at the leash to come after her, but she knew he was too busy with camp business to follow her immediately.
“It is an honor to die for the sake of the Empire.”
Zoe remembered Raven’s words and added, “Yeah. Except for that dying part.”
She sat on the floor of her own little cave with her head resting on her pulled-up knees. Darkness covered her like a blanket, but she wasn’t warm. She recalled the look on his face when he spoke those words, and was chilled to the bone.
She couldn’t allow him or anyone else to die for her! Especially him. There was only one person here who could die for the sake of the Empire.
While she was thinking frantically, a part of her was listening carefully. She wasn’t sure which of Everard’s team was keeping guard in the hall outside, but she heard the occasional movement and the pattern of his breathing. She might not have the natural sharp senses of a vampire, but the sensory enhancements she did have probably worked just as well.
Zoe knew she was thinking too much when the thing simply needed to be done. But she needed this one last time for herself. She sorted through memories, of family and friends, all the people she couldn’t say good-bye to. She remembered good times and bad, mistakes she couldn’t correct and deeds she was proud of.
She had to stop thinking and act. She hated that the circumstances forced her to be so passive, but she couldn’t break out of the circling pattern of images and impressions quite yet. Mostly she thought about—
Doc.
General Matthias Raven.
A good man she’d put in a terrible position. But the politics and the trouble weren’t uppermost in her mind. Vivid memories of sensations burned through her. She remembered the taste of his mouth, the feel of his hands, the perfection when their bodies came together. She already missed his voice and his laugh—all the tactile, sensual moments ran through her with painful force.
She wasn’t sure about Doc, but she knew that General Raven would understand.
“It is an honor to die for the sake of the Empire,” she repeated.
And about time to get on with it.
Her guard was moving toward the end of the hall. She was sure he was heading for the toilets, giving her time to take advantage of his brief absence. Once she was certain she was alone, Zoe scrambled out of her hole. She ducked into the deepest shadows and ran for the heights, driven by the bleak certainty of what she must do.
It was a long way up to the highest level where prisoners were allowed. After her initial, almost panicked rush, she made the rest of the journey cautiously, sticking to the shadows and frequently looking back to make sure her guard hadn’t found out she wasn’t peacefully sleeping. She listened carefully, ready to run again at the slightest sound of an alarm.
She arrived at the top without being seen, or hearing anything. She found herself alone at the top of this small, bleak world. She was alone as she’d ever been.
A long walk up and a long look down, Zoe thought now that she reached her goal.
She edged closer to the rim of the ramp. She didn’t want to look, but she needed to. She had to make certain that her fall to the floor of the plaza far below would smash her skull. She wanted to do enough damage to destroy the delicate data implants inside her head. Many of her enhancements were organic technology, so the Asi could eat those, and the rest of her, with her blessing. But there were a few tiny devices inside her that the Asi might not be able to digest, things that she couldn’t let the Hajim have.
She hated the need to check the angle of the fall, because she didn’t want to have time to think about landing.
“A woman has to do what a woman has to … damn.”
She looked around to make sure no one was watching, and took another step closer to the brink.
It was time to go.
32
“You don’t want to do that.”
Her heart hammered in surprise. Doc’s voice was salvation itself. She hadn’t wanted to die alone—but she still threw herself toward the edge of the chasm.
Raven grabbed her, pulling her backward to the wall with bruising force.
“Ouch!”
“Ouch?” he shouted back, thoroughly indignant. His grip was tight around her. He loomed in front of her. “Woman, you’re trying to kill yourself!”
She pounded a fist against his chest. “I have to!”
“For the sake of the Empire?”
“Don’t mock me. This isn’t easy. I don’t want to die.”
“And I’m not going to let you.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Zoe complained. She glared at him suspiciously, though it was through a film of tears. “Were you waiting for me?”
He nodded. “I figured you’d pull something stupid like this.”
“How could you figure that out?”
He touched her cheek gently, and she realized he was wiping away a tear. A tear of relief and pleasure, she hated to admit.
“I deduced your stupid plan from the desperate way you made love a few hours ago. What makes you want to kill yourself now, Zoe? I know it isn’t because I’m a bad lover.”
“You’re preening, Prime. And you have an ego the size of a planet.”
“And a cock to back it up.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “I don’t want to die,” Zoe said. You give me something to live for, she thought. “But since it needs doing, my death is my responsibility.”
“I won’t let you kill yourself.”
“I’ve made the choice.”
“Doesn’t your religion forbid suicide?”
“You know as well as I do, General, that Jazoan was right to try to eliminate me. My being here endangers everybody.”
“We’ll live with the danger.”
“I won’t let you endanger my people for me. Darling, the Porphyrgia has to—”
“No!” He shook her. Searing anger blazed from him. “I won’t lose you, Zoe.”
He pulled her close, and kissed her hard. His fear transmitted to her, and her arms came around him. If he hadn’t been a vampire her grip on him might have kept him from breathing. They clung fiercely to each other. The fear she’d fought down with determination bubbled to the surface. She trembled in his embrace and devoured him with her kiss. Her hunger for life was the same as her hunger for him.
When they stopped kissing, she said, “I don’t want to be lost. But—”
He put a finger on her lips. “Hush.”
He turned her around, and led her down the winding ramp. He kept an arm tightly around her waist, and made sure he was the one on the outside. She didn’t blame him for not trusting her. His protectiveness disturbed her deeply—because she appreciated it with all her heart.
And if anything threatened him—
She grasped him just as tightly as he did her, filled with sudden fierce determination. Zoe would fight anyone and anything to protect this man.
She and Doc came to a halt when they’d wound down several levels, arms still around each other. They were now well into human territory but no one was around. Wanting to ensure complete privacy, she drew him into a corridor and they soon ducked into an empty cave.
He shocked her when he instantly grabbed her shoulders and gave her a hard shake. There was a red feral glow in his eyes, his fury flaring back to life. “Do you know how much you scared me?” he demanded.
Her heart pounded. “Do you know how much you’re scaring me now?”
His smile showed a great deal of fang. “Good.” His hard grasp turned into a gentle massage of her shoulders. “How’d you get away from the guards I had on you?”
She snickered as she leaned against him. “Oh, please. By the time I was seven years old I knew how to tie a bow, tell time, and elude a bodyguard. In my family if you want privacy you learn how to be sneaky when you have to be. Your boys didn’t have a chance against a pro like me.” She gave him a wry look. “As you figured out or you wouldn’t have been waiting for me.”
He began to massage her tense shoulders. “I had hopes that you would behave as a reasonable adult. But I didn’t take any chances.”
Zoe knew she’d be shaking uncontrollably with reaction now if not for his reassuring touch. “How did you know exactly where to find me?”
“Your blood’s in me, and—” He shook his head. “There are things I can sense about you.”
She sensed there was a great deal he wasn’t telling her, but she could guess. “You’re a telepath and—”
“—an officer and a gentleman.”
“Stop cutting off my wanting to know about all of your secret powers with jokes.”
“Let’s not talk about it.” His tone was harsh. It was even harsher when he went on. “Don’t you ever pull anything like that on me again.” He ran a hand through her hair. “What set you off, girl? No one has died because you’re here. The Hajim haven’t come close to catching you yet.”
“Yet. And two people have died—Jazoan and a young man Jazoan eliminated because he recognized me. I’m responsible for them.”
“Jazoan’s responsible for both those deaths. The Itch didn’t hurt anybody.”
“But there will be more threats, and they’ll grow more serious. The Hajim don’t give up.”
“Your death won’t stop the attacks,” he pointed out.
“I agree. But if I’m dead I won’t have to witness every attack and be more tempted each time to turn myself in to stop them.”
He looked stunned. “I never saw you as the ruthless type before.”
“For myself, no. But I’ll do what I have to for my people—even let some of them die.
“There’s no way out.” She added, “Unless we can think of a way to escape.”
“Not possible,” he growled.
She hated the finality in his voice, the quickness of his negative response, even as she accepted the truth of his answer. “So all is lost.”
He snorted. “I’ve never seen you as the melodramatic type—except for your trying to throw yourself off a cliff a few minutes ago.”
That hadn’t been melodrama, but she didn’t argue about it. She also didn’t whine or complain, or make him any promises about not taking her own life.
She did come into his embrace and kiss him with desperate intensity. His response was equally intent, taking her breath away, taking her fear away. Filling her with heat.
Passion roared between them after all the fear and anger, and the fear and anger fed the passion.
His caresses were possessive and demanding.
Hers matched his. “I could eat you alive,” she told him.
“I’m the Prime here,” he answered, and fangs pierced her flesh to show her so.
Glory rushed through her. She was alive! Every sensation, every touch confirmed her existence.
And Doc was so very alive. So very real, so solid. Every moment of growing desire confirmed her need for this man. Every time they made love the desire only grew stronger, the passion more intense. She wanted him and no other.
But a growing sense of what was missing added to her desperation. She needed more!
She was a part of him. She needed him to be a part of her. One drop of his essence could never be enough for the completion her soul demanded of him, with him.
His essence called to her, blood to blood, filled her with irresistible craving.
She bit his shoulder, as hard as she possibly could.
33
Doc howled.
In pleasure at first—then in utter panic.
He pushed Zoe away.
“No!”
They shouted the word at the same time. Her desperation echoed his. But he knew this addiction could not be allowed. He would protect his princess no matter the cost.
He grasped her wrists as she reached for him again.
“Don’t!” he grated.
He closed his eyes, fighting the need for the bonding. He wanted it. His soul demanded it. Needed his soul twined with hers. Feeding from her was not enough. Her taste was the sating taste, the food and wine of life. Giving, sharing, becoming one with this mortal woman was—
“Please, don’t, Zoe.”
The vampire wanted the completion.
The marine held this Primal part at bay. General Raven had to walk away. While the dark creature inside silently screamed.
He stumbled out of the cave, blind with pain and need. Out in the corridor he fell to his hands and knees, panting, gasping from the hard knot in his stomach, and in his heart, and the intensity of physical and soul arousal.
Eventually, he became aware of the throbbing ache in his shoulder. He sat back on his heels and touched it. The skin wasn’t broken; no blood had been shed. No blood had been shared.
He sighed—relief warring with disappointment.
Zoe crawled out of the low entrance. She didn’t look at him, but he could feel her tears as if they were his own. When she started to edge past him, he took her arm.
“Don’t,” she rasped as they knelt together on the corridor floor. “If you don’t want to—” She struggled to elude his grasp.
Her humiliation burned him, but he wouldn’t let her pull away.
“I love you,” he said, though he knew he shouldn’t.
Her gaze met his. “But not enough to—”
“Porphyrgia,” he dared to whisper.
She continued to glare, and he realized that the reminder wasn’t enough. She deserved truth from him. “To give our blood to one we feed from is a—completion. It’s more than sharing, it’s—marriage is the closest word in Standard. It’s so much more than that. It’s a forever thing. To do this with a mortal …” He shook his head at the thought of it. At the temptation. “Zoe, for us to do it right, vampire with human, there’s a ceremony first. You’d have to cut me and feed in front of witnesses, openly declare that you did this of your own free will. None of the others here have tasted me,” he promised her. “None of them ever will.”
He didn’t let her know that none of the other donors had even considered tasting him. That she wanted his blood was another sure indication of what they were meant to be to each other. If only this was another time, another place—and she was another person.
Her expression softened as he explained. But what had been hurt turned to sadness.
He stroked the back of his hand across her cheek. “You see why it can’t happen.”
She bit her lip like a stubborn child, then nodded reluctantly. “Not here. But—”
“Think straight, Zoe. No—Theodora.”
She grimaced at the name.
“Remember who you are,” he urged.
Her head came up proudly and there was an angry spark in her eyes. “I’m me. Zoe isn’t a mask I take on and off, Matthias. Theodora’s the mask. That’s the role I have to sometimes play.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He ran his fingers through her soft hair. “Whoever you are, for reasons of state, you cannot bond with a Prime.”
“The suprahumans are—”
“I hate that word. We call ourselves Primes, and werefolk and all the other things we are,” he added. “We hate all that politically correct suprahuman terminology.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “At least, I do. I believe in keeping a low profile but I’m proud of who I am. But while our being together might be wonderful for you and me on a personal basis, think about it on a wider scale.”
“The political ramifications could be interesting.”
He wouldn’t allow her such diplomatic understatement. “Devastating, you mean.”
His particular minority wasn’t exactly beloved in some segments of the Empire. Her loving him could only cause her trouble. He was insanely flattered that she’d even consider lifemating with him. And it hurt like hell.
“Not necessari—”
“Sweetheart, you can do better than me.”
“I don’t want to.”
“It’s just the darkness making you think that. Once we get out of here—”
“We won’t get out. I won’t.” She swallowed a sob, then put her fingers to her temples. “Forget I said that. I hate to feel sorry for myself. And living in the dark has been making me do that.”
“Everyone has the right to a little hopeless hysteria occasionally.”
He stood, and helped her to her feet. They leaned against each other, both shaky. He ran a hand up her back. She rubbed her forehead on his chest.
“Let’s go back to the infirmary—where we can make love on a real bed.”
She looked up to meet his gaze. “At least we can agree on that.”
34
“I can’t seem to stop wanting you,” Zoe said as Doc set her down on his bed. “I don’t even mind people staring and knowing what we’re up to—even after I made such a fuss about not getting involved with anyone.”
“You do know there were bets taken on how long that would last, don’t you?”
The fact that he’d carried her across the plaza in full view of at least a dozen people didn’t bother her at all. The simmering need for him was all that mattered. She’d been more interested in the feel of his hard-muscled chest against her cheek than the buzz of gossip stirring up around them. It was the most natural thing in the world for him to take her through the infirmary and into the privacy of his bedroom.
“Bets, huh?” she asked, and shrugged. “It’s a good thing I didn’t have any money riding on my continuing celibacy.”
“We mostly use caf tablets as currency around here. And no, I didn’t have any caf riding on getting you into my bed.”
“I like being in your bed.”
It was the most natural place in the world for her to be. Maybe it wasn’t the best place in the Empire for her to be, but it was certainly the best place in their own private universe. She wasn’t going to think about the Empire. There was only him and her and now and the need between them.
“Yeah, I am kind of habit-forming,” he said.
They shed their clothes, then Zoe rubbed her hand across his slightly fuzzy scalp. “Full of yourself, aren’t you?” she teased, even though the touch of her skin against his sent shivers through her.
“Full of you,” he answered, and kissed her hungrily.
She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and held on for dear life, getting lost in the wild ride of sensation.
After a while she became aware of his hands on her—big hands, but, oh, so gentle and skilled. The frantic lust of earlier had morphed into something deeper, more meaningful. He caressed her breasts, her belly, between her thighs, touched and stroked inside her soft folds. Each separate touch brought her to a new height of pleasure.
His lips brushed against her ear. “Am I driving you crazy?”
Heat coiled through her, built to an explosive orgasm.
“Yes,” was all she could breathlessly answer as the explosion faded, but desire still burned.
“Drive me crazy,” he invited.
“Fair’s fair.”
They shifted positions on the narrow bed. When he lay on his back she kissed her way down his body, reveling in the hard muscles and male taste and scent. She ran her tongue along the length of his cock, then took the thick tip into her mouth. He moaned and bucked his hips. Zoe reveled in the power of pleasing him.
She teased him with her lips and tongue for a while before lifting her head. Their eyes met. His glittered like dark jewels.
“Am I driving you crazy?”
“More, woman!” he growled.
Zoe laughed triumphantly, then took all of him inside her mouth.
Holy Goddess and all the Matri, the Purple Princess is sucking on my dick!
Purple Princess?
Don’t stop to laugh now, Zoe!
Her mouth continued to suckle, her tongue to tease. Her thoughts questioned, Purple Princess?
It took him a long time of being lost in glorious sensation before he could answer. You’ve never heard that before?
This was his last coherent thought for some time. If she answered he couldn’t process it. Everything became sensation focused on the building tension formed by the rhythm of his throbbing cock encompassed by her hot, sucking mouth. When the explosion came he disappeared into it, falling into a light as bright and searing as a star going nova.
35
When Doc came back to himself the first thing he saw was Zoe looking up at him from the foot of the bed, her chin tilted up proudly, her smile smug.
“What?” he asked.
“That was the first time I gave a blow job,” she answered. She folded her hands over her bare stomach. “You gave the impression that I did it correctly.”
He let out a booming laugh. Then Doc sat up and grabbed her around the waist, bringing her to lie on top of him. The length of her naked body on top of his was a warm delight. He kissed her cheeks and temples, then brushed his lips across hers. “If being the empress doesn’t work out for you, you could always get work on Solsangre.”
“In a pleasure house, you mean?” She sounded eager, taking this as the compliment he meant it to be.
Or you could come home and live with me forever.
The thought came unbidden and was totally opposite of what he’d already told her about their being together. It was just a—wish.
Doc hoped this totally inappropriate thought didn’t make the jump into Zoe’s head. He wasn’t sure how strongly he could shield himself from communicating with her. He was going to have to concentrate very hard on keeping his shields up. Though how he was going to do that if they continued the way they were going he didn’t know.
He relaxed when she didn’t react. He guessed he was safe for now.
She lifted her head and looked him in the eye, tucking her chin against his sternum. “Why would a vampire—”
“A Prime,” he corrected her. He touched the tip of her nose. “Not suprahuman, not vampire, at least not for our males. Our females use the ancient term we translate as ‘bloodgiver.’ Mortals translate that word as ‘vampire.’ ”
“I’ve studied your interactions with mortals more than I have your culture,” she admitted. “Bloodgiver.” She said the word with great thoughtfulness, then tilted her head to one side. “Not bloodtaker?”
Doc reveled in the swift play of emotions that crossed her face. He appreciated the depth of her curiosity.
He touched her forehead. “You should have all the correct terminology for every group in the Empire stored in there.”
She sighed, and he felt it all along his body. “I do,” she said. “But using it could be dangerous. I’ve decided not to access any more data than I have to. What if the Kril have a way to pick up energy fluctuations?”
He snorted. “They barely have any security in place. They have the monitor cameras in the plaza, the energy shield up top, and the guard staff. And don’t give me that bright-eyed ‘Then why don’t we try to escape?’ look. Maybe we could get to the surface, but where do we go from there? Now, what was it you were about to ask me?” he inquired.
“You’re distracting me.”
He caressed her back and she arched like a cat. “It’s for your own good. What was the question?”
“You don’t have to stop petting me while we’re talking, you know.”
“If we want to have a conversation, I do.” He grinned lecherously. “Of course, if you’d rather not talk—”
“How did a Prime become a medical doctor? Primes and vampires don’t need doctors, do they?”
“We have special needs and our own medical researchers and practitioners, but I’m not a vampire doctor. Humans live on Solsangre, too,” he reminded her. “Humans need doctors. My people have been involved in medical research far longer than mortals have. It took us many generations before we discovered ways to counteract our allergies to sun and silver and all those other things. And we weren’t looking for a cure for vampirism,” he added. “We accept our strengths, but not our limitations. Once we found the Dark Star worlds we didn’t need the drugs we’d discovered. I’ve never taken the daylight drugs, but those of us who live on bright sun worlds still use them.” He patted the lovely round curve of her bottom. “What was your question again?”
“Why are you a doctor for humans?”
“A Prime can’t make a lifetime career of being a sex toy, even on Solsangre,” he answered. He grinned again. “Not that working my way through medical school wasn’t fun.”
“A straight answer if you please, Matthias.”
“Yes’m,” he said, responding to her crisp tone. “People don’t come to Solsangre only for entertainment. Some come for rest, some for healing. Some come to die in comfort. We began to establish hospitals, rehab centers, sanitariums, and hospices for mortals quite a while ago. I had a girlfriend who was in medical research and—”
“A vampire girlfriend?”
“Yes. And she got me interested in studying mortal diseases. I ended up a physician. After a while I decided to have a look around the rest of the Empire, so I joined the Marines. Then the war came along and I ended up here. Do I detect a thread of jealousy over the fact that I’ve had many girlfriends?”
“Are you going home to this vampire girlfriend when the war is over?” she asked.
“No. Are you going home to a mortal male?” he asked with equal jealousy.
“No. Maybe we should avoid this subject,” she added.
“Good idea.”
He could certainly think of a better way to spend their time.
He lifted her like she was a feather and shifted their positions. When Zoe was lying on her back under him he began kissing her at the top of her head and proceeded with great thoroughness down the length of her body. Occasionally, he gave her soft skin a sharp nip of fang, letting himself have the merest taste. Her responses grew steadily more urgent and wild. Doc gloried in her reaction to him, gloried in pleasing her.
When he finally reached the swollen bud between her widely spread thighs, he began to show her just how truly skilled his tongue really was.
He wanted to go on pleasing her forever. But he settled for now and tried to make it perfect.
36
“You know, it’s been three cycles since you disappeared into the infirmary with Doc,” Maria said. “We were beginning to get worried.”
“We?” Zoe asked, and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. She hadn’t been drinking Mischa and Siler’s hooch, had she? She supposed she’d been drunk, all right—at least all that sex was a major narcotic.
She was so exhausted—in a good way—that she barely understood what Maria had said. She tried not to resent her friend’s barging into Doc’s room and waking her up. Especially since the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was the steaming cup of caf Maria held out toward her.
“Does Arco know you have the caf he saves for the Kril?” she asked. She didn’t hesitate to cradle the cup, breathe in the marvelous scent, then take a greedy gulp. Let the Kril find their own stimulants.
“Arco agreed this once giving up his bribe stash was in a good cause.”
The caf helped to clear Zoe’s head. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and got shakily to her feet. She was naked and covered in bite marks but unembarrassed by Maria’s frank stare as her friend looked her over.
“He’s really been keeping you busy,” Maria commented.
“Uh—yeah.” She finished the caf and thrust the cup back at Maria. She ran her fingers through tangled hair and yawned. “Three cycles?”
To herself she admitted that she sometimes got the difference between the measurement of planetary days and military timekeeping confused. Out in the Empire she had aides and her data enhancements to keep these sorts of things straight for her. What she knew for a fact now was that she and Doc had been going at it for days no matter how one chose to measure it.
“Time flies when you’re having orgasms,” Maria added.
It finally occurred to Zoe that by ‘we’ Maria meant every human in Camp Five. “Oh my God,” she groaned.
She quickly snatched up and pulled on a large shirt lying on the floor. It was Doc’s. His scent lingered on it and made her dizzy with lust.
She fought off her primitive urges and faced her friend. “He’s been doing this to me on purpose to distract me. I should have realized it sooner—but he’s so great in bed I couldn’t think of anything else. Which was just what he wanted. The rat.” She smiled and took another heady sniff of his shirt. “The dear rat.”
“Why would he want to distract you?”
Zoe caught herself before explaining that Matthias Raven had stopped her from trying to commit suicide and how things had gone on erotically—and continued from there with a few breaks for sleep for quite some time. It was evident to her that his plan had been a heroic effort to keep her distracted in the best way he knew how. She chuckled at how well it had worked.
“Where’s Doc?” she asked.
“He was called up top by the commandant,” Maria answered. “So Arco let me know that it was safe to sneak in and check on you. Doc’s been like a bear guarding his cave since this orgy started. Not even Arco or Alwyn have been allowed into the infirmary. Good thing there haven’t been any medical emergencies.”
“Yeah,” Zoe said. She stretched, and rubbed a bruise on her left hip. “I appreciate your concern but—”
“I know you don’t want to escape Doc’s Den of Iniquity, darling,” Maria interrupted. “But there are rumors flying and tension in the air and even though all the buzz is about you, you’re the diplomat and you need to talk to people.”
Zoe considered this while Maria paused for breath. Her gut twisted with the fear she’d forgotten while in Doc’s bed.
“Rumors?” she asked. The jolt of fear finally jerked her attention completely away from memories of Raven’s sexual prowess. “About me? What about me?”
“There’re stories going around that you’re somebody important. Cauley keeps saying he knows you from somewhere and how you look familiar, and other people are starting to say that, yeah, you look like—well, like someone famous. And since you’re from New Byzant and your family works for the government and—”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Zoe said, knowing exactly what Maria meant. “Or what Cauley’s talking about.”
“That’s what I figured. I’ve told everyone that you look like just another pretty Greek girl to me.”
Zoe smiled. “Because all we Greek girls are pretty.”
Maria nodded. “Damn straight.”
“I’ll talk to Cauley,” Zoe said. She stretched and rubbed the back of her neck. There was a bruise there, too. Where hadn’t her vampire nipped her recently? “But I can’t talk to anybody until I get cleaned up first.”
“You do look excessively well used. Can you walk?”
Zoe blushed. “I’ll meet you in the plaza in a few minutes,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster.
Zoe was certainly used to having people look at her. So she pretended not to notice how swiftly activity in the plaza came to a halt as soon as she stepped out of the infirmary. She was used to stares and excited silence, but this time her shell of confidence was assaulted by unfamiliar, soul-grinding embarrassment because these stares were not from strangers. These were people she counted as her friends. They were her family sharing this underground hell.
“Oh, dear, this is going to be hard,” she whispered as she prepared to move forward.
Everard was at her side before she could take a step. He put his hand on her elbow, full of concern. “Feeling better?”
Better than what? she wondered. Then she realized that her chief bodyguard was giving her the option of pretending that her three cycles of marathon sex had actually been a spot of bed rest for some ailment in the infirmary.
She smiled gratefully at him. “Much better, thanks.”
The tough and terrible Everard blushed like a teenager. She let him put his arm through hers as they strolled into the plaza.
She faced down the blatant staring until the crowd broke on her calm regard. The soccer game resumed, the choir returned to singing, which drowned out Adams as he began a harangue, and the marines dropped down and began doing push-ups. Zoe took in all this familiar activity with benign pleasure. Maybe they were prisoners in a dark, dank hole in the ground, but the people in it made her feel at home. These survivors and friends were a blessing to her, and to each other.
“It’s good to be back,” she said, even though the craving for Matthias Raven still burned in her skin, her bones, and her soul. Life was not all sex, no matter how magnificent the sex was.
“Good to have you back,” Everard answered. “Especially since we need your help.”
Concern shot through her. “On what?”
“You’re heading the Olympic Committee. We took a vote and it was a unanimous decision that you should organize the upcoming games.”
“Games. Olympic games. Here?”
He nodded.
“Let me get this straight—it’s been decided by a unanimous vote, at a meeting I didn’t attend, that I am supposed to organize some sort of POW variation of the Olympics?”
Everard couldn’t possibly know, or guess, that she’d been involved in the opening ceremony for the Games performed at the ruins of ancient Olympia. She’d dressed up like an ancient priestess and taken part in the lighting of the Olympic Flame every four years since she was a kid.
There were always media holos shown of that ceremony. Everard couldn’t possibly remember her as one of the anonymous white-draped officiants. Could he?
Everard nodded at her question. “Right. We gave you the job of organizing the games because you’re Greek.”
“Maria’s Greek.”
“Yeah, but she’s busier than you are, being a hall officer.”
“But the Asi are being quiet, and Doc says we ought to leave them alone.”
She didn’t agree, but she’d take that up with Doc. She decided to ignore any Olympics discussion for the moment as well.
“Where’s Cauley?” she asked as Mischa and Siler approached.
Before he could answer Mischa hurried forward and took her other arm. “Can we talk?” He pulled her away from Everard. “Alone.”
37
She gave Everard a puzzled look and shrugged. “Sure,” she said to the techs.
They hustled her away before Everard could object. The three of them ended up standing close to the choir, in order to cover the conversation, she supposed.
Mischa leaned close and whispered, “Where’d you get it?”
Siler held out the chip she’d given the techs. “This is reengineered Wolasere technology, isn’t it?”
She stared at the tiny device in his palm. “Is it?”
“I suspected it was when you asked us to fix it,” Siler went on. “Now I’m pretty sure. What’s a diplomatic aide doing with something as high on the classified list as this? You are a diplomat, right?”
She couldn’t very well answer that. And it was all her own fault if her secret identity as Zoe Pappas was unraveling, wasn’t it?
“Are you a spy?” Mischa asked.
“No.”
“Not that you’d tell us if you were.”
“Did you fix it?” she asked them.
They shook their heads.
“We couldn’t even figure out where to start,” Mischa said.
“We even tried hitting it with a rock,” Siler said. “Which is how we found out that the mechanism is self-repairing.”
“But it still doesn’t work,” Mischa added.
Zoe’s heart sank and her last hope of rescue faded.
But before she could say anything else, she was grabbed harshly by the shoulder and spun around. Anger assaulted her empathic senses.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing with Doc!” Barb Langly shouted. Barb shook with fury, her eyes were wild. “He’s mine!”
“The hell he is!” Zoe shouted back without thinking. Possessive fury shot through her, overwhelming her awareness of Barb’s emotions. The double effect left her dizzy.
Barb slapped her.
“Girl fight!” someone shouted.
A crowd gathered around them even as Zoe got herself under control. She resisted the urge to find out who’d yelled the archaic term that brought everyone running and concentrated on the other woman. She made an even greater effort to stay still and not strike back at the other woman.
“He isn’t mine, Barb,” she said calmly, although her soul shouted that was a lie. “He isn’t yours, either. Calm down. Be reasonable.”
Barb wasn’t having any of Zoe’s soothing words. There was madness in her stare that was frightening. She stepped back and balled her fists, breathing hard. “You’ve wanted him since the moment you got down here. I’ve watched you. I know what you’ve been doing, always there beside him, making him depend on you. You want him all to yourself.”
Zoe wasn’t going to deny it. “What I want doesn’t make any difference. Doc doesn’t believe in exclusive relationships.”
She managed to say it, even though the words came out through gritted teeth. She hated it—but she had to accept this truth. And get the other woman to accept it as well. Damn, but there were times when she hated being a diplomat, and a pragmatist, and the goddamned heir to the throne! If she wasn’t all those things, she’d fight to make Matthias Raven completely and totally her own.
Her soothing words didn’t do any good. Barb’s scream of rage echoed around the plaza as she lunged toward Zoe.
Zoe put the other woman on the ground without thinking. While she could ignore a slap, she was too well trained not to react to such an obviously dangerous attack. Jazoan had been able to take her by surprise but Barb Langly didn’t have a chance against her.
Zoe didn’t hurt her. She just knocked Barb down and stepped away as a buzz of surprise went through the watching crowd.
“Nice moves,” a marine sergeant commented.
Zoe didn’t look at anyone. She hated violence, she hated hurting anyone in any way. She turned away from Barb as the woman sat up and the crowd parted to let her by. She was desperate to get back to the privacy of the infirmary, but she wouldn’t let herself run.
Zoe didn’t expect Barb to come after her. But she heard her and spun around as Barb rushed wildly forward. Zoe’s first kick took Barb in the stomach. The second landed in the same spot a second later when Barb remained on her feet. This time when she went down, Barb Langly didn’t get back up.
Zoe dropped to her knees beside Barb to make sure she was okay.
“Maybe you really could have ripped out my liver,” Everard said thoughtfully as he bent down beside her.
Alwyn pushed through the crowd, and Zoe and Everard got out of his way so he could run a medpad over the unconscious woman.
He let out a great sigh of relief. “She’ll be fi—”
“What the holy hell is going on here?”
The roar of Matthias Raven’s deep voice filled the plaza. Everyone automatically snapped to attention, including Zoe. She found herself staring into the withering glare of a furious Marine general. She wanted to slink away and hide, but she was the one who had to answer his question.
“I was fighting, sir,” she answered tonelessly.
The spark of contemptuous fury in his dark eyes nearly ignited her. The shame of what she’d done poured through Zoe. She wanted to explain, but she had no right to. This sort of behavior was not to be tolerated within the Imperial services. There was no excuse.
“You are aware of the regulations, aren’t you, Lieutenant?” he asked.
She was all too aware of the depth of meaning in his cold tone.
Zoe bit her tongue on the longing to claim that Barb had started it. So what? She had no business finishing it. Provocation didn’t change the rules.
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
Raven’s gaze flicked to Barb. Alwyn had picked her up and was holding her in his arms.
“She’s unconscious and bruised,” the nurse reported. “Nothing serious, sir.”
“Langly started it—” Everard began.
Doc easily stared him down.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Take Langly to the infirmary.” Raven’s attention returned to Zoe. “You’re confined to quarters until further notice, Pappas.”
He turned around to follow Alwyn out of the plaza. Zoe looked after him for a moment, bitterly wondering whether her “quarters” meant the hole in the wall she’d been assigned or Doc Raven’s bedroom.
38
“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
Zoe jumped when Raven came up silently behind her in the dark corridor, but she didn’t turn around. “Of course I’m not angry with you.”
“Then why have you been avoiding me?”
“You confined me to quarters.”
“For three cycles. It’s been a whole cycle since you got out. You should have at least reported to me after your release.”
His pouting almost charmed her, but her attitude remained stiff. “I reported to my hall officer, as regulations required. You did not send for me, General. Being healthy, I had no reason to visit the infirmary.”
She stiffened when he put his hands on her shoulders. Her head went up. “You do not have permission to touch us.”
She didn’t use the Imperial “we” very often and it did no good this time. Matthias ignored her commanding tone and began to massage her tense shoulders. His deep chuckle rumbled through her senses. She told herself she hadn’t been cold before he touched her, that his warmth wasn’t permeating her now.
His breath brushed across her ear. “I’d be angry if my boyfriend locked me up.”
“I was not aware that you had a boyfriend.”
She jumped when his tongue touched her earlobe. “Gotcha, Zoe.”
She smiled.
Damn it! He’d gotten her to make a personal comment. She was still smiling when he turned her to face him.
“I’ve missed you,” he said. They gazed into each other’s eyes. “What are you doing in this corridor?” he asked when she didn’t speak.
“I am avoiding you.”
“Not possible and you know it. What are you really doing here?”
She gave in. “I’m setting up a course for the marathon for the camp Olympics,” she told him.
“You’re going through with organizing games? Everard is just trying to keep you occupied with that.”
“I know, but the competition will be good for everybody. People need to keep busy. But there’s more than human organization that needs to be done. The Asi and Denthera really have to understand what we’re up to, maybe even be invited to participate,” she added. “And the Kril have to be convinced there’s no danger in what we’re doing, of course. We don’t want aliens being suspicious of what they don’t understand.”
“You think you’re the person to do this?”
“Who else?”
“You are not going near any aliens.” He sighed. “I’ll do that explaining for you, Zoe.”
“You can help,” she agreed. “You are the authority figure, but I’m the diplomat. I work for a living, sir,” she pointed out before he could argue. “The Empire didn’t spend a fortune educating and equipping me to serve it so that I could spend my time launching ships and cutting ribbons.”
“I understand that, but this isn’t the time or place for you to do your job. And certainly not over something as inconsequential as athletic games.”
“Building bridges—” she began, then sighed.
She was arguing with him just to win and that was stupid and petty and pointless. Or maybe the point was that it felt good to be bitchy with him, but it wouldn’t feel good for long. She was angry at his locking her up, even if she did deserve it.
“I don’t always deal well with the emotions you bring out in me.”
He tilted his head to one side and carefully studied her. “What emotions are those?”
Why did she want to run her hands over his smooth skull and trace the full lines of his lips? She knew exactly why.
“Volcanic emotions,” she answered.
Lust. Jealousy. Possessiveness. He could really piss her off, too.
“Blowing your top occasionally isn’t bad. At least in bed.”
Zoe wasn’t going to talk about that no matter what his slightest touch was doing to her.
She put her hands behind her back and glanced past the general’s wide shoulders. “I don’t see Rumi back there. He’s been hiding in the darkness behind me all day. If you’re going to assign me bodyguards, it isn’t wise to relieve them of duty.”
“I’m all the bodyguard you need. Besides, after Everard failed to stop Barb when she went after you, I’m not so sure I trust him and his crew to really look after you.”
She frowned up at him. “They’re getting better at it. The best person to train an Imperial security detail would be me, and that wouldn’t be a good idea, would it?”
“It would be amusing,” he said. “But it might raise some questions.”
“Indeed. And might I point out, General, that as the commandant of this camp, and the only medical officer, you have quite enough duties to occupy your attention. Sir.”
“Don’t try to—” He stopped and took a deep breath. “You’re trying to get me angry. If you won’t let yourself get angry, don’t try to push me into it. You want me to leave you alone, don’t you?”
His hands never left her. She didn’t try to step away.
“It isn’t a matter of what I want. You have your responsibilities, I have mine. We should leave it at that.”
“You’re right. We’ve discussed this before. I had to see you.”
“I wanted to see you, too.”
“Do you think we can keep away from each other?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. She had to leave him alone. A craving for his blood didn’t come into it; it was him she longed for. Her need for Matthias Raven was a dangerous addiction. “My head’s spinning with all the complications, Matthias.”
“You did too much thinking while you were alone. I had to lock you up, and I’m not going to apologize for it.”
“Of course you did!” she responded. “I’m not angry at General Raven, who responded properly when I screwed up. I’d be furious if you hadn’t. I don’t like it but I do respect your actions. Besides, Cauley doesn’t think you would have dared discipline someone important, so he’s stopped spreading rumors about me.”
He shook his head. “Civilians are so clueless to think politics are more important than military discipline. At least one good thing came of the incident if he’s leaving you alone. But you’re still mad at me.”
He looked appealingly like a little boy waiting to be forgiven for some naughty action. She fought against being charmed. “How’s Barb?”
“I haven’t laid a fang on her, if that’s what you’re asking. She started the fight, so she’s still confined to quarters.”
Zoe fought through the jealousy that clouded her thoughts at the mention of his fangs on anyone but her. It had been a joke, and the other woman deserved sympathy. “Barb’s mental stability—”
“I said she was confined, I didn’t say she was in stir. Alwyn’s spending a lot of time with her.”
“Good.”
“Why are you mad at me?”
She’d been perturbed with him before the incident with Barb. She’d already decided to confront him about his behavior. Then three cycles of being alone in the dim loneliness of her cave had given her plenty of time to stew over it.
“You had sex with me,” she said. “Over and over and over. And you only did it to keep me occupied.”
He looked surprised. “I thought you enjoyed it.”
“Of course I enjoyed it! What’s that got to do with the fact that you used me?”
39
“Used? Listen, I—Never mind, I’ll admit I used sex to protect you if that’s what you want to hear.”
This woman didn’t know what she did to him, did she? He’d barely tasted her, a drop here, a drop there, but, oh, how the intimacy had drawn him deeper into need for her! She had no idea what their sexual orgy had cost him.
She wasn’t going to know, either.
He stepped back and said nonchalantly, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Her head went up proudly. Despite her genuine anger, there was a great deal of calculated assessment in the way she looked at him. She said coldly, “I see.”
He knew damn well that she accepted the callousness of his responses because it was easier for them both to pretend that the sex had been no more than sex than for her to challenge his veneer.
She’d try to hate him for the good of the Empire, he thought. That was what she had to do.
She was the Empire as far as he was concerned, and he’d do anything she needed of him. Even if it broke his heart. Even if it drove him crazy. And worse.
Zoe let Matthias’s deliberate stings sink in, but she was too much of an empath not to know he was covering up some deep emotions. She fought down the almost overwhelming urge to hold him tight and comfort him. She’d bite her tongue off before asking him what was wrong. Or telling him to stop being brave for her sake. They’d reached the point where they couldn’t work anything out.
For the good of the Empire.
She supposed they’d just have to carve that on her sarcophagus, if she got the chance to make it into that long line of tombs in the Imperial crypt: Here lies Empress Theodora the Eighth, Spinster—she was too cowardly to tell a vampire she loved him.
What was domestic unrest and possible civil war on top of fighting aliens compared to true love, after all?
Unthinkable and unacceptable, that’s what it was. Damn it all and her to hell.
“You better not be reading my mind right now,” she said to the vampire. She didn’t want to show him her cowardice.
* * *
“Wouldn’t dream of it—Zoe? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Telepath,” she said. “You’re a telepath.”
“We’ve already established that.” A light had gone on in her eyes. Her bright, sudden hope was a warming beacon, and he wanted to kiss her. “What’s up?” he asked instead.
She explained to him about Jazoan’s malfunctioning communications device, then she tapped him on the forehead. “Telepathy. Telepathy is a form of communication. You can use telepathy to reach the outside.”
He shook his head. “Darlin’, you know better than that.” He hated dashing her hopes. “If thoughts could jump through foldspace we Primes would be running communications empires instead of pleasure planets.”
She wasn’t convinced. “I know that suprahuman thought can reach—”
“Through space and time?” he finished. “That’s romantic nonsense. Actually, it’s not exactly nonsense, but it is romantic. If my bondmate was outside Camp Five my thoughts might be able to reach her. But we can’t try that experiment because there’s nobody out there for me to try to reach.”
She was right here and he was communicating with her right now, not that he was going to bring that up.
Zoe’s enthusiasm dimmed, but not completely. “You’re still a supra—A Prime. You have powers.” She waved her hands and her voice took on a mystical tone. “Powers beyond mortal man.”
Zoe became serious when she went on. “Vampire powers are unknown to any enemy aliens because suprahuman status isn’t listed on military ID chips.”
“Yeah. All humans are biologically the same as far as aliens know.”
She grinned. “Exactly. You’re our secret weapon.”
He gave a slight bow. “We suprahumans are honored to serve the Em—”
“Not all suprahumans. You, Prime Matthias, are Camp Five’s personal hero.”
“I’m the commander. I’m a doctor. I’m a love machine. But hero?”
She nodded. Her enthusiasm was scary.
“I don’t see your point,” Doc said.
“Prisoners have a duty to escape, right?”
“That’s official policy. But—”
“Our duty is to serve and protect the Empire. We must return to our duty. Your suprahuman talents are exactly what we need if we’re going to get out of here.”
He wanted to laugh, but out of sheer frustration. There was no humor in this situation. She was relentless and he was helpless in the face of it. Her need to be of use was so strong; bred and trained into her, he guessed. Maybe that was why the Imperial Family was so popular.
He wanted to hold her close and patiently explain how everything in life wasn’t about duty until she believed it. But then she wouldn’t be Zoe if a good part of her wasn’t always concentrating on doing what she could do to help—everybody. He loved her for that.
Loving Zoe was a fool’s game, he’d known it all along. He’d fallen hard and he’d lost, and there was nothing he could do now.
He shouldn’t have come to her now, but after four cycles of not seeing her, the need had finally driven him out of his office and straight to where they were standing. He had to be near her, he had to touch her. He didn’t dare taste her, although the warmth and salty sweetness of her blood called so strongly that his heart beat with hers and his blood pounded painfully through him. The throbbing ache in his fangs was driving him mad! But at least that pain was a distraction from the call of his soul to claim and keep and hold.
She passed her hand in front of his eyes. “You in there?”
“Shit,” he muttered.
“Matthias?” Her hand touched his. “Matthias, are you all right? You don’t look—”
“I’m fine.” He pulled away from her. He owed it to her to focus, to protect her. He owed that to everyone in his charge.
“You’re not fine,” she answered.
“Let it go, my darling empath. We have more important things to discuss.” He waited until the princess nodded after giving him a long, sharp look.
“More important things to argue about, you mean,” she said. “I want to discuss escape plans and you’re about to tell me one more time why escape isn’t possible.”
“If you already know what we’re going to say let’s not get into it,” he countered. He’d managed to keep her safe for a couple more days by confining her to quarters, but he had to come up with a better plan than that somehow. “Escape is not on the agenda. It cannot be done.”
She wasn’t having any of it. “I hadn’t been bitten by a vampire until recently, either.”
“Which means?”
“That we all must be open to new experiences, such as achieving the impossible. I’ve decided to escape. We need the Asi if we’re going to get out of here,” she said.
He wanted to let this go, but the words came out before he could stop them. “Get out of here? There is no getting out of here.”
“It’s a prisoner of war’s duty to try to escape.”
“According to human rules of war. The Hajim haven’t heard of the Prisoner Conventions. We don’t know why they keep prisoners. Come to think of it, I don’t believe any of the other aliens we’re fighting with have signed the Conventions, either.”
“The Asi have a strict code of conduct.”
“They eat people, and each other.”
“Only under certain circumstances. I was on a mission to convince them that we keep to an honorable code of conduct as well when I ended up here. We’ve established communication links with the Asi here. We can’t let that slide. Not if we want to get out of here,” she added.
“You keep saying ‘here’ as if reaching the ‘there’ of the outside is possible.”
“You know it’s possible, if you want to do it.”
He definitely did not like Zoe’s tone. She was playing him, and he knew it, but he still walked right into her trap. “What do you mean, if?”
“You’re comfortable in the dark,” she pointed out. “It’s your natural element. The dark is the place where you feel safe. In the dark is where you think you can keep others safe. Maybe you’re letting your subconscious color your attitude about the feasibility of escape.”
“And all that thinly veiled diplomatic way of insulting me means … ?”
“You could leave here anytime you want to, couldn’t you?”
Anger simmered in him, and a gnawing sense of betrayal at her accusation. “I’m the ranking officer in this camp. I can’t just walk out.”
“You could go for help.”
“How?”
“Just go.”
He pointed upward. “There’s sunlight beyond the force shield that keeps us locked in. I don’t take the daylight drugs. I don’t have a light shield with me.”
“There’s nighttime as well as daylight on this planet. You could hide by day, travel by night. Vampires lived that way originally, didn’t they?”
“However we used to live, there’s nothing I can do here. We’re all stuck in this hole and my duty is to protect the people I’m responsible for.”
“The best way for you to protect us is for you to escape.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Won’t.”
Her attitude was stubborn and childish, and made him feel the same way. “Why are you arguing about the impossible?”
“Why won’t you try to think outside your comfort zone?”
Her attitude drove him crazy. Maybe he should walk away from this impossible argument, since he couldn’t walk away from Camp Five. But how could Zoe of all people not understand his necessary choices?
“I didn’t end up here on purpose. I am dealing with the situation to the best of my ability.”
“I’m not saying your inaction is a deliberate decision.”
Doc stiffened, cold suspicion turning his anger into ice. “What do you mean by that?”
She hesitated for a moment before adding bluntly, “You have power here, you are in a natural environment for your kind, you have a willing source of psychic and physical nourishment. Unconsciously, you may not want to escape.”
“Are you calling me a coward and a bloodsucking parasite?” he demanded.
Zoe stood her ground as he took a threatening step forward. He wanted to shake her. He was shaking himself. He could barely keep his hands off her. He would never touch her in anger—but, oh, the temptation!
“Do you think I enjoy hiding in this hole? That I’m a demon who’s relishing being the master of my own little harem and kingdom in this dark corner of hell? Is that what you really think of me?”
When she looked at him steadily instead of answering Doc had to fight even harder to keep the rising fury bordering on bloodlust at bay. Hurt burned through him, fueling his already roiling emotions. He had to ball his hands into fists to keep from striking out.
It wasn’t the fact that she was the heiress to the Byzant Empire he was sworn to protect and serve that kept him from tearing her apart. It wasn’t even because she was an unarmed mortal woman, and therefore a frail, unfair target for a vampire’s strength. It was because she was his woman, and on the most basic biological and psychic level she had become too much a part of himself for him to ever be able to hurt her.
That didn’t stop her from being able to hurt him. More than he’d ever known it was possible to hurt.
All he could manage to do was turn around and, literally seeing bloodred with rage, storm away from her.
40
That did not go well. Zoe sighed, and swallowed hard to keep the tears that threatened inside.
Or, possibly, it had gone too well.
Of course, she’d known what she’d had to say to Raven wouldn’t go down easily with Raven but she had hoped to start a dialogue. Instead, he’d nearly scared her to death with the way he looked at her before he walked away. The pain in his eyes affected her worse than her own fear.
She stood shivering in the hallway for a long time after he left. She couldn’t go after him to explain or comfort no matter how much she wanted to. Guilt weighed on her, making the oppressive darkness even worse. She’d never felt more alone and she didn’t like herself at all.
“Sometimes I hate my job,” she whispered.
There was no one to answer her and nothing more that could be said. She’d dropped the pebble into the well and now she had to find out what would come out of it. If it was a monster—well, she’d brought any danger onto herself.
In the meantime she fled the loneliness of the corridor to seek the shelter of her own quarters.
As if any place without Matthias Raven wasn’t one and the same.
The jasmine plant grew up the side of the rust-colored stucco wall in a tangled mass of branches, green leaves, and waxy white flowers bathed in brilliant light. She floated across the smooth tiles of the terrace, barefoot, with layers of pastel diaphanous skirts flowing around her. The breeze plucked at her curling hair. Sun warmed her skin, the sky was brilliant blue, the sea far below bluer still, with sunlight flashing off it in diamond sparks.
How she loved the sunlight!
But the scent, the seductive scent, of the white flowers drew her like nothing else in this paradise. Here was delight. Here was perfection. Nothing had ever been so white. She couldn’t stop from plucking one fragile blossom….
“My flowers! What have you done? Thief! Robber!”
The beast roared behind her, his voice as deep as the stormy sea. The horrid sound filled her ears and drove her to her knees.
Fear filled her. Beauty vanished. Light vanished.
Huge paws grabbed her, claws pierced her skin.
“Stay with me. That’s your punishment.”
“No!”
She screamed and begged but the beast dragged her from the light. His castle was dark yet full of shocking beauty. Everywhere was luxury. Everything awoke her senses.
He brought her to his bed and there the beast was gentle. She came to crave his huge hands on her. The rumbling sound of his voice became her music. She grew to trust. His ugliness became beautiful to her. For an endless time she became lost in his dark, protective world.
“I have to go,” she said one day. “I have no choice.”
He held a flower out to her. She cupped the precious gift in her hands.
“Come back,” he said. “Be with me or I will die.”
She stepped back into the light. It held no warmth for her, no love. She moved among her own kind, but if they were beautiful she couldn’t recognize it. She did what had to be done, all the while wounded inside. The pain and loneliness grew into an unbearable ache.
Then the flower began to fade.
“I must go to him,” she said.
No one understood what she meant.
“I must go home.”
No one would help her.
“He needs me.”
Being with him wasn’t a punishment—it was everything wonderful.
She searched frantically. Fear grew and grew until only the fear and horrible knowledge remained. She scratched against a locked door until her fingers bled.
She couldn’t find the path. Where was the sea? Where was the courtyard? The castle of night and endless passion?
Where was he?
“He’ll die. I know he’ll die. He needs me! He—”
“Zoe! Zoe, wake up, honey. You’re having one hell of a bad dream.”
Zoe opened her eyes to find the world just as dark and bleak as her—
“Dream? What do you mean, dream?” she asked Maria, who knelt beside the sleeping pallet in her own little cave. The pain of loss was still there, hammering in her heart. The fear was still there. The aching need that called—
“What the—” Zoe’s words were slurred, her tongue tasting tears.
Maria looked at her steadily, her calmness bringing Zoe fully back to reality.
“Welcome to your first stress-induced nightmare. The dark messes with our heads,” Maria said. Her matter-of-fact tone was reassuring.
Zoe sat up. She brushed hair out of her face, smearing tears across her cheeks. “It does?”
Maria nodded. “It’s one of the reasons Doc asks hall officers to check in on people. The dark gets to all of us.”
“Even Doc?” Zoe whispered. Guilt racked her, and she was again half caught in the nightmare.
“Not the night, but being cooped up has to rattle even Raven,” Maria said. “Primes are used to doing whatever they damn well please and here he is a trapped prisoner. Doc’s more mellow than other vampires I’ve known, though.”
This riveted Zoe’s attention. “You’ve known others?”
A look of pain briefly crossed Maria’s face. “I was friendly with a Prime in college. He was killed early in the war.”
There was much more to it than those few words. Maria’s grief was still powerful, though she tried to hide it. “You loved him,” Zoe said.
“We—we were growing very close. Not yet bonded, but I think that would have come. I’m not psychic, so the bonding link would have taken longer to form. Simply being in love with him made it hard enough to lose him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’re all casualties of this war. You go on or you give up.” Maria shrugged. “I have to tell myself that it was a good thing we weren’t bonding or his death might have driven me crazy, or killed me even though I’m human. But I guess you don’t want to live without a bondmate anyway. I still miss him every day, but I remember the good times.” Maria shook off her gloom and smiled. “I’m not sure I would have welcomed his family as in-laws anyway. When he took me home to meet them all his male relatives tried to seduce me, and his mom, sisters, and aunts grilled me like I was suspected of treason. They’re very picky about who they let their darling little boys settle down with. Some of them dislike humans as much as some humans dislike the suprahumans.”
Sadness welled up in Zoe. “I know, even after all this time. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to accept each other?”
“Why not?” Maria responded. “It’s about time we all banded together, if only for the sake of beating the shit out of anyone who doesn’t leave the children of Earth in peace.”
“Amen,” Zoe answered.
“Though with vampires like Doc in the mix, what’s not to admire about his kind? He doesn’t advertise his ethnicity, but those of us who know don’t care. And he does his best to take care of all of us.”
“Yes. Yes, he does.” Zoe started to cry and there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop it.
Maria patted her on the head. “Your nightmare was about Doc, was it?”
Zoe looked up through her tears. “No, it was—it was just a bad dream.”
“You going to be okay? You want me to stay with you?”
“Thanks. No.” Zoe gestured toward the low cave entrance. She so wanted to be alone. “I’ll be fine.” She managed to fake a yawn. “Really.”
Once the hall officer was gone, Zoe drew her knees up to her chin and rested her head on them. She longed to go back to sleep but her mind raced instead. Everything hurt, her head, her heart, her soul. Oblivion would have been nice, her thoughts inevitably circled around back into the dream.
After a long time of rehashing the details that were still as vivid as memories, the awful truth finally caused her to catch her breath in a strangled sob.
She lifted her head and stared into the darkness. Her voice came out in a whisper. “Dear God, no!”
41
“If there’s one thing I cannot accuse my subconscious of being, it is subtle. Now, since I have supposedly imbibed guile and cunning with my mother’s milk, I find the obvious symbolism that informed me of our situation somewhat embarrassing.”
Doc was lying on his back gazing at the ceiling, with his hands propped behind his head when Zoe loomed above him and made this speech.
“You’ve been practicing that.”
“All the way here,” she replied.
“What symbolism is that?”
“Beauty and the Beast.”
“Which one of us was which?”
“The usual.”
“That is obvious symbolism.”
He didn’t move, though he couldn’t help but look at her since she’d bent so that her face was very close to his, all big eyes and lush mouth surrounded by a fall of dark blue hair. “How’d you get into my room?”
She laughed. “Oh, please, everyone knows we’re a couple. Everyone but you and me, that is.”
“I know what we are.”
She laid a hand flat over his heart. The heat of her touch penetrated all through him. His heart pounded in response and he caught his breath.
“But you haven’t bothered to tell me what we are to each other,” she said. “So the back of my brain finally decided to do your work for you.”
He finally looked her in the eye. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not a beast,” he added. “And you’re no great beauty,” he lied.
She stepped back and crossed her arms, taking a defiant stance. He stood up and took his turn looming over her, but she didn’t look in the least impressed. “You really look like shit,” she informed him.
“I left my dress uniform on the ship.”
“I did the same with my tiara.” She took a step closer to him and flicked her gaze from his feet up to the top of his shaved head. “You’ve lost weight, your skin’s pale, your eyes are dull, your cheeks are hollow, and I bet you have a really wretched headache.”
“I have a toothache,” he answered.
“I bet.”
She pushed up her left sleeve and held her bared wrist toward him. It was as arousing as watching any other woman strip naked. He licked his lips.
He was across the room with his hands covering his bared fangs before he realized he’d moved or shouted. His vision had gone red, with Zoe the glowing flame at the center of everything.
“You need me,” she said. “Not just any woman. Me. You’ll die without me. My beautiful beast told me so, and dreams don’t lie.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Yes, but this time it’s true.”
He shook his head. It took too much energy but he managed to get himself under control. He waved a hand dismissively. “Your blood’s not that rich,” he lied.
He’d get over her. He had to or he’d die, and at least death would end the pain.
The thought brought the agony to the surface. The burning in his blood soared. His throat burned with thirst. The hunger!
He couldn’t speak, but he could send his thoughts to her. Stop tempting me. No means no. Get out.
“Are you accusing me of sexual harassment? How dare you?” She stepped closer. Her scent and warmth nearly killed him, he wanted her so badly. “I’m not the one who got us into this mess—well, all right, I did offer you the first taste, and I certainly don’t regret doing it. But you’re the one who kept me so loopy with lust that I couldn’t think—and I’ve never been happier or more satisfied—but you’re the one who got yourself addicted to me. I’m not complaining. But don’t you dare throw harassment at me when I’m here to help you! Now what’s the matter?” she demanded.
Doc took his hands away from his ears. You’re yelling at me.
“Damn right, I’m yelling. I do not suffer fools, Matthias Raven. We need you, General. I need you! Chivalry is terribly romantic but this isn’t the time for it. I will not have you die on me. Understood?”
Her emotions blazed. She glowed as bright as a sun.
You’re burning me.
“You’re hallucinating. You’re starving, of course you’re seeing things. Honestly, Matthias, you’re a physician. You know better than to let yourself get into this state.”
You don’t understand … bonding….
She came closer. He wanted her to. He wished she wouldn’t. Bare skin brushed against his.
He howled.
Yellow light poured fire over him from above as the scent of jasmine faded … faded …
He fell to his knees. The hard tiles bruised his knees. The courtyard was empty. As empty as it had been before she came. Emptier even, now that she was gone.
The light was too much. The loneliness was worse.
Why had she left him to die alone in the light?
From his knees he crumpled onto his side, then slowly onto his back. He looked at the sun, waiting for the hated light to drive him blind.
I need you!
“I’m here. Get out of my dream and come back to me, Matthias Raven!”
She appeared out of the sun, her head crowned with light. Her shadow fell across him, cool, protective. He let out a breath that held both a sigh and a prayer. She’d returned to him.
She slapped him. Hard.
“Raven!”
He roared and lurched forward. His fangs sank into her throat.
42
Zoe screamed in terror as fangs sank into her throat—even though Raven did exactly what she’d goaded him into. Sharp pain shot through her veins. Then all fear and images of fangs disappeared as rolling waves of ecstasy crashed through her.
I’ve missed you, she managed to think through the mind-reeling pleasure.
After a long, lovely time a thought from him reached her. Me? Or this?
Everything that is you.
He was holding her in a tight embrace. There was nothing more comforting or welcoming than being surrounded by his big, muscular body. She breathed in the scent of his skin, and the feel of it sent passion through her. This was where she was meant to be.
She knew he had to be aware of her feelings, but even now she couldn’t articulate the thoughts. Now. For now was all she could give either of them.
His mouth finally moved away from her throat, but his lips and hands still covered her, caressing, kissing, continuing the pleasure, building the need between them. She touched him just as eagerly, just as frantically.
She left scratch marks and bruises on him as they made love, or would have if he wasn’t a Prime. He wasn’t gentle either. She wanted the marks he left on her, badges of possession. She was his and he was hers.
“Tell me you didn’t bite me,” he said sometime after he collapsed in a heavy heap on top of her.
“I don’t think so,” she answered, her voice muffled by his bare shoulder.
“Good.”
Zoe didn’t agree, but she didn’t say so. She’d never been tempted to bite anyone before meeting Matthias Raven, but every time she got near him her teeth practically ached to sink into his flesh. Maybe this impulse was only the result of his having declared his blood to be forbidden fruit. If he could taste hers, why couldn’t she taste his?
And why did she want to taste blood when she wasn’t a vampire? It wasn’t as if drinking his could turn her into a vampire. She knew very well that the ancient legends about mortals changing into creatures of the night were complete bullshit. Or at least mostly bullshit. She couldn’t quite remember the details—she suspected that a certain telepathic gentleman currently lying on her chest was responsible for that—but was still wary of accessing her data implants.
“What’s the matter with me?” she asked the bloodsucking source of her craving instead.
He ran a hand over her from her waist down to the juncture of her thighs. His thumb covered her clitoris, which throbbed in response. “Nothing’s the matter as far as I can tell.”
“Thank you, Dr. Raven.” She pushed on his shoulder. “You know very well what I mean.”
His fingers began to stroke and tease her. Desire curled through her, cutting off all thought, while she basked in mounting pleasure.
When the orgasm passed, she said, “I’m not that easily distracted, you know.”
Raven rolled onto his side and propped himself up on an elbow. “You’re relentless is what you are.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Your blood cravings will pass.” He finally answered her question. “Once we’re separated for a while.”
Her heart sank at the thought of being separated from him, but she didn’t protest that this was the last thing she wanted. “What about you?” she asked. “You need my blood exclusively, don’t you? Will you be all right when we’re separated?”
He sighed. “There are drugs that’ll alter the changes in my body chemistry.” He didn’t look at her when he said it.
“Don’t lie to an empath, Raven.”
“That’s not a lie. I just don’t think this is the time to tell you the rest of the treatment.”
She didn’t understand him at first, not until a sharp pang of jealousy shot through her. She forced the hateful words out. “Sharing blood with one of your females will help?”
He nodded, still not looking at her.
“Good,” she managed. “That’s good.” She hated it. Zoe sat up and put her hands on his shoulders. “You still need me, though. Right? Until we get out?”
His gaze lifted to meet hers, bright with sudden fury. “You don’t think I want us to get out, remember?”
His pain and bitterness hit her like a blow. His aching, angry emotion was so strong it gave her a headache. Matthias got up and walked from the room before she could respond. It was a few minutes before Zoe could fight off tears of regretful guilt and pull herself together enough to follow him.
43
She’d readjusted her clothing by the time she went into his office, and saw that he’d done the same. Clothing was armor, a barrier; clothing made one less vulnerable. At least, it was supposed to. Zoe felt terribly vulnerable as she approached the furious Prime standing at the desk.
She came to stand behind him. “Can we talk, Matthias?”
“We talk too damn much,” he growled.
Zoe sighed. “You mean that I talk too much. I know I do. I know what I said to you earlier, but I—”
“You called me a coward.”
His back remained to her, his thick muscles tense as stone. His already deep voice was pitched so low it could be read by a seismograph. And the pain in his tone ripped deeply into her. She flinched when his fist came down on the metal desk, bending a corner of it.
She’d spent quite a bit of time getting cleaned up and dressed to give him space before she joined him. The truth was she wanted to throw her arms around him and apologize. She hung back now, with her fists clenched at her sides, still fighting the need to comfort.
“You know what I meant,” she said. “Think, Matthias.”
“Why would a cowardly parasite need to think?”
“Oh, for—” Zoe stomped her foot, she was so annoyed. She’d never done anything so childish in her life. That he could drive her to it annoyed her as well. “Why do I have to do all the work here? I mentioned your being comfortable in the dark because I wanted to give you the chance to think about our situation in a different direction.”
He spun around to face her, his movement too quick for her to see. “You wanted me to stop thinking like a lazy, parasitic vampire safe in the dark and getting fat off of human blood—is that what you think I’ve been doing?”
He took a slow step closer to her, and Zoe fought not to flinch or back away.
“Do I scare you?” he demanded.
She nodded. She’d started to shake inside, but she still lifted her head and said reasonably, “Not that I’m going to let that affect my behavior.”
He lifted his hands, showing long, razor-sharp claws. His eyes took on a red, sinister glow. “I can scare anyone I want. I can walk out of here anytime I want.” His claws disappeared and his eyes returned to their normal deep brown. “But that isn’t how it works. I can’t be a Prime here, except in ways that help my people. I’m the highest-ranking officer in Camp Five. My duty is to take care of the people under my command.”
“Yes, I appreciate that. Calling you a coward was a terrible thing to do to a Prime.”
He gave a harsh laugh. “A Prime? It was a hell of thing to call a marine!”
“Then you should think like a marine officer. We need to get your people out of this prison camp without getting them killed. The fact that you can escape but choose to stay makes you the bravest man here.”
She respected him for that. And she loved him even more than she respected him.
“Then why call me a coward?”
“Because I’m the parasite, Matthias! Don’t you understand that?”
He looked outraged on her behalf. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Zoe put her hand over her heart. Because it ached at this truth about herself. “I use people when I must. My duty is to decide what needs to be done and then to make people do it. Ruling is about being a puppet master. I coax, I manipulate, I command. I try to do it for the good of my people, but I still do it. Sometimes I have to hurt people. I hurt you to get you to think. You can hate me, but I won’t apologize.”
“I don’t hate you! How the hell could I ever hate you? You’re my—” He took a deep breath and gave his head a hard shake. “You are the Porphyrgia.” He came to attention and gave a brisk salute. “You have but to command.”
Zoe knew this was a lame response—he was trying to cover up what he really meant, but she had to let it go and take the opening the Porphyrgia needed.
“You need to help me find other possibilities to get out of this situation besides my own death. We need to find a way out of here and—”
“We?” He gave a low rumble of laughter. “Lady, you’re the one who—”
“Doc?” Corporal Arco’s voice came from the other side of the office doorway.
Zoe glared at the doorway. “For crying out loud!”
Doc gave a deep, understanding chuckle. “His timing always sucks. Coming!” he called out to Arco. Stay here, he thought to Zoe.
44
Zoe followed Raven out of the office. She had a very bad feeling as she saw how deeply disturbed Arco looked.
“We’ve got big trouble, Doc,” Arco announced.
Zoe’s heart began to pound, but she took a seat on one of the room’s low cots, and kept quiet.
“Tell me,” Raven said.
Arco had to clear his throat before he went on. “I got some information out of one of the Kril guards that he definitely wasn’t supposed to spill.” Arco fell heavily into a chair. He was shaking. He looked at the floor for a moment before he said, “The Hajim are sending a big atmospheric transport ship. It’s going from one camp to the next….” He rubbed a hand across his face. His expression was bleak. “Boss, they’re taking away our women. They’ve decided to put female humans in their own separate camp.”
No need to ask why, Raven thought at her.
They’ve finally figured out the gender of who they’re looking for, she thought back.
“How long before this transport shows up?” Raven asked Arco.
“Two cycles. Maybe three.”
“Oh, shit,” Zoe murmured.
Arco noticed her for the first time. “You didn’t need to hear this from me. I’m sorry, Lieutenant.”
Fear rushed over her, a response so strong her knees went weak, and she had to take a seat in the desk chair. She kept her gaze on Raven. “I won’t go,” she said. “You know I won’t.”
He shook his head. “We’re not going back to Jazoan’s plan, sweetheart,” he answered.
“I will if I have to.”
“No.”
“Then you think of a way to keep it from being necessary.”
“You’re asking a hell of a lot of me.”
“Demanding it, General.” She smiled at him. “You’re up to it, Prime.”
He ran a hand over his shaved head. “I’m thinking!”
“Make it fast.”
“Yeah.”
So the Hajim had discovered that the important human they were looking for was a female of the species. It made sense for the aliens to gather all the female prisoners they held in one place and interrogate them at their leisure. She would have thought of this simple solution sooner, but alien Hajim biology and culture wouldn’t have let them think of this plan quickly. She really wished she could learn more about the Hajim, but not while being their captive. She didn’t dare let them find out about her.
“I really wish you hadn’t heard this,” Arco told her.
“Our women have a right to know,” Doc said. He turned back to Zoe. Their gazes locked.
She stood. “Shall I break the news to each woman individually, sir?”
He nodded. “I’d appreciate that, Lieutenant. Do it diplomatically—”
She forced a laugh. “Don’t I always?”
“—and keep them calm.”
“And what will you be doing while I prevent the impending riot?”
Arco gasped at her insubordination, but Raven answered, “I’ll be thinking of a way to protect our people.”
“Yes,” she answered. “It’s our duty to protect them.
” He nodded. “We have to get you out of here before the Hajim show up.”
“The term ‘you’ is being used in the plural sense, isn’t it? You mean all of the females have to get away from the Hajim?”
He sighed. “All of the women. Somehow.”
“Not good enough, Matthias.”
“Zoe.”
She ignored the warning in his voice. “We humans don’t have a monopoly on freedom, Matthias. Male, female, claws, fingers, whatever, deserve a shot at escape.”
“Right now we’re only taking a chance on freedom for the ones that are in immediate danger.”
“Everyone in the camp goes or no one, not just a gender, not just a species,” she insisted. “By Imperial decree,” she added, and smiled.
She couldn’t actually issue Imperial decrees as she was still only the heir to the Empire, but her father wasn’t here to correct her, and it sounded good.
“You’re asking a hell of a lot from me.”
She smiled. “Because I know you can do it.”
He smiled back, and she realized they were looking at each other predator to predator.
It was the most exciting moment of her life.
Quickly broken as Arco spoke up. “You two want to be alone?”
Doc laughed. “Wish we had time,” he said, then turned to Arco. “Arrange a meeting of all the hall officers. Zoe, belay spreading the bad news until we come up with a plan. Damn. There’s not a lot of time to organize this thing. Get the hall officers here in an hour, Corporal.”
Arco snapped off a brisk salute before rushing out.
Doc barely acknowledged the military gesture. “Zoe,” he said as he started toward the door. “You’re with me.”
“Always,” she answered.
He barely acknowledged this as well. “Let’s go talk to the Asi. I’m beginning to get an idea.”
45
“That was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Doc said as they exited the Asi area and moved into the central plaza. They were walking hand in hand.
Zoe wasn’t as pleased with the agreement they’d made with the aliens as he was. But she patted him on one huge bicep and said, “I doubt any alliance would have been possible until you started interacting with them. Since you defended and fed them, they practically have a Doc Raven fan club going in Asi territory.”
He chuckled, and squeezed her hand. If he was still angry with her it wasn’t showing, and she couldn’t feel anything but the charge of excitement flowing between them.
He said, “You’re giving me a mental image of some Asi teenager asking me to autograph her shell.”
Zoe relished this moment of closeness, but her mind was soon back to business. “I wish we could have gotten the Asi to agree not to kill any of the guards.”
“Sweetheart, I can’t agree to that.”
She sighed. “Of course you can’t. There are bound to be casualties on all sides.”
“But I will agree that the Asi relishing the idea of ‘eviscerating their Kril prey’ is a bit worrisome. We don’t want them getting into a killing frenzy and turning on us. Still, our chances of getting out are better if they rush the Kril ahead of us ‘soft-shelled mammal aliens.’ ”
As they approached the entrance to the infirmary, Zoe slowed, and stepped away from him.
“I take it you’re not coming to the strategy meeting,” he said.
“Lieutenant Pappas really has no place at a hall officer briefing, General,” she answered.
“What are you up to, woman?” His fingers closed around her wrist. This time his grasp was a cage rather than a comfort. He told her, “You’re not getting out of my sight.”
“I have something to do.”
His lips brushed her ear. She thought she was going to melt, until he whispered, “I’ve got you on suicide watch.”
“Oh, for …” She tried to pull away, as useless as she knew it would be. “I don’t have time for self-immolation at the moment. There’s one more job this diplomat needs to do.”
He didn’t look happy, but he did look thoughtful. “You mean to talk to the Denthera.”
“Yes. We haven’t got much time to get everyone on board with the escape plan.”
He still didn’t release her. “I’m not sure the Denthera should be let in on this plan. They keep to themselves. Even when all the prisoner reps are called in to talk to the commandant, the Denthera commander keeps away from the rest of us and never says a word. I’ve never been able to pick up a single thought, or even expression, from them. They’re humanoid, but have the most alien minds I’ve ever run into.”
Zoe nodded. “Tell me about it. I’ve sat across conference tables from them and never picked up any emotion—no matter how enhanced my natural empathy is. I know that the Denthera broke off an alliance with the Hajim and are now fighting them, and that they have nothing but contempt for the Kril. But our efforts to form an alliance with the Denthera have all been turned down. They’ll listen to us, but they haven’t agreed to anything we’ve proposed. I suspect they have contempt for any species but their own.”
“Then why bring them in on this? And don’t say it’s because we all go or no one goes. It’s too late for that.”
“Yes, it is,” she reluctantly agreed. “I don’t know why I have to try with the Denthera.” She shrugged. “I just have to.”
“Why not wait to try to bring them to the peace table after we get out of here?”
His question gave her her answer. She pointed upward, to the universe beyond the deep hole of Camp Five. “Because if we can’t cooperate here—if we can’t have peace here—it’s likely we’ll never have it out there, either.”
Raven took her by the shoulders and looked at her for a long time. She wanted the moment of their gazing into each other’s eyes to go on forever. No matter what happened their time together would be over in too few hours.
Finally, he said, “Woman, you are such an idealist.”
His hands were warm, huge and protective. She managed a smile. “It comes with my job,” she told him. “In my family all cynics are put up for adoption at birth.”
“They’ve got a test for that, do they? In that purple marble delivery room where royal babies are born?”
Being reminded of her status made her sad. For a fraction of a second she wanted to chuck the whole idea of an escape attempt and stay down here in the dark with Matthias Raven. She was happy being with him no matter how awful this place was.
“You have a meeting,” she said. “So do I.”
“No.” He tugged her all the way through the infirmary into his office, where every hall officer was waiting. Even Barb had been released from her quarters.
Raven let Zoe go when she was standing in the middle of the room, all gazes fixed on her. He stepped away from her and crossed his arms across his massive chest. She knew what was coming, and gave the slightest shake of her head.
“Tell them,” he said.
“Oh, dear,” she said. Zoe folded her hands in front of her, her stance an unconscious mirror of his. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” She looked pleadingly at Raven. “It shouldn’t come to this. Need to know, remember?”
He gestured around at everyone in the room. Curious gazes burned into her. “It’s time they need to know. They are in the service of the Empire.”
“Know what?” Adams demanded.
It would be Adams.
Zoe looked around until she met Maria’s dark gaze. “Do you remember Professor Cauley’s suspicion about my identity?” She spoke in Greek to her friend, the Terran language the two of them shared.
After a long moment of staring at Zoe, Maria’s eyes went wide, and there was recognition in them. “Can I borrow the Star Angel?” she asked, also in Greek.
This was a huge diamond that had been in Zoe’s family for hundreds of years. It was part of the Imperial regalia.
“You can wear it on your wedding day,” Zoe answered.
“You look taller in your holos,” Maria said.
“And not as skinny. I know.”
“What are you two talking about?” Adams demanded.
“No keeping secrets,” Raven said.
Zoe glanced at him and switched back to Standard. “I’ve been hiding so long that it takes time to work into telling the truth.” She finally addressed everyone. “The Hajim are searching for me, which has put us all in danger. I am the heir to the Byzant throne: the Porphyrgia.”
She made sure she was looking at Adams when she made the confession. She wanted to see what the secessionist’s reaction would be. If she was in danger of anyone turning her in to the Hajim, it was Adams.
His mouth opened and closed several times. His cheeks went bright pink. “But—” He pointed at her. “You’re our Zoe!”
“Yes,” she said.
Raven came up and put his arm around her shoulders. “My Zoe,” he corrected. “Our Porphyrgia. Our job is to get her safely away from the Hajim.”
She expected more questions, exclamations, and consternation. She was prepared for their shock; she hoped there wouldn’t be much anger. What she didn’t expect was for the hall officers to rise to their feet, one by one, and stand facing her at rigid attention.
Even Adams.
Even Barb Langly.
Whatever each of them was thinking and feeling, they reacted as members of the military.
Tears welled in her eyes. For once in her life, Zoe was completely at a loss for words.
“As you were,” Doc said after a few moments.
He went to sit behind his desk. As everyone settled back down, Zoe sat down next to Maria. Maria mouthed, We’ll talk later, and there were curious glances from others, but everyone turned their attention to General Raven when he rapped his knuckles on the top of the metal desk.
“I’ve always told you that there was no way to escape off this rock,” he said. “My main reason for refusing to sanction any escape attempts was that the Hajim never allowed anything but shuttles from orbiting ships to land. Even if we could attain possession of a shuttle, there was nowhere to fly it but up to a waiting warship. The Hajim have decided to solve this logistics problem for us. We have information that they’ll be landing a transport up top within the next two cycles. We are going to take that ship away from them.”
“The Hajim are coming for Zoe?” Mischa asked.
A rumble of anger went through the room. Then Raven explained about the Hajim plan to remove all the female prisoners.
“I’m sorry to bring this trouble,” Zoe told them.
“Why?” Mischa asked. “You didn’t start the war.”
“No, Adams did that.” Barb spoke up. After everyone laughed she added, “As much as I want out of here, I’m not going anywhere with the Hajim.”
“Me, either,” Maria said.
“None of you are,” Raven promised. “I won’t allow anything to happen to any of you.”
Everyone’s attention returned to Raven. Zoe noticed that she wasn’t the only woman who reacted with a thrill of pleasure at his determined expression.
“What’s the plan, Doc?” Mischa asked.
Zoe blinked. It was like a spell had been broken. She and Maria exchanged an amused glance.
Then everyone listened carefully while Doc outlined the basics of his plan.
46
Zoe waited until the hall officers had left to carry out their assignments before she voiced her concerns to Raven.
“It all depends on so many elements. Everything could go wrong. Everybody could get killed.”
She began to pace the small room, all of her pride and eagerness turned to worry for her people. He leaned on his desk, arms crossed, watching her. She was grateful when he didn’t remind her that she was the one who insisted on this escape attempt; that she was the one they were willing to die for.
He said, “They’re doing it because it’s a prisoner of war’s duty to try to escape. They’re doing it for the Empire. But mostly they’re doing it for themselves. They’re willing to fight for their freedom.”
She turned to face him. She realized that she was tightly hugging her waist and made her arms drop to her sides. She rolled her head to work tension out of her shoulders. “Yeah, I know all that in theory. But—I’m so scared of everything that could go wrong.”
“Things will go wrong,” the Imperial Marine general answered calmly. “FUBAR’s the first thing you have to expect and accept in any military operation.”
Zoe recognized the ancient military acronym: Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. Ancient or modern, she supposed the marines’ attitude remained the same, since they were the ones who took the brunt of any disaster when battle plans went wrong.
“You roll with it, and improvise, no matter what happens,” he went on. “My boys and girls will handle themselves just fine.”
She couldn’t help but articulate some of their challenges. “We’ll do all right if the Asi do as they promise. If word of who I am doesn’t spread, even though you told them that the information didn’t leave the meeting. If the engineers can assure a rockfall to block the elevator so the Kril will have to use the ramps. If there’s enough homemade hooch for torches if the lights go out. If Arco’s got enough caf tablets to get the Kril disoriented.” She touched her head. “If I have the right data downloaded to be able to fly the Hajim ship. If—”
“If you worry about everything all at once, it will paralyze you.”
“I know. But I’m scared.”
“Me, too. You want a hug?”
“Yes. Do you?”
He didn’t move toward her. And she knew why.
“I truly am sorry for hurting you with all those awful things I said,” she told him. “I never thought you were a coward, or using anyone. I thought I had to say those things.”
“For the good of the Empire.”
“For your good, too, but I totally misjudged you. I was wrong. I hate that I hurt you. I am so sorry.”
“You said you weren’t going to apologize.”
“I can change my mind if I want to.”
She was in his arms before she knew he’d moved. “Flighty mortal,” he said, and kissed her.
She clung to him as tightly as she could, desperate for the contact. Desperate for everything to be right between them. Desperate for him.
I need to make love to you. His thoughts came to her as his hands and mouth gave her pleasure.
You’re all I want, Zoe answered. forgive me.
Not a problem.
Make love to me.
Also not a problem.
They laughed as they kissed. He picked her up and carried her to his bed. They shed their clothes along the way. They came together frantically and for a while Zoe was lost in a whirlwind as their bodies twined and strained in perfect completion.
When the whirlwind passed they made love again, gently this time. Zoe wanted it to last forever, and once they’d both climaxed she teased and coaxed his cock back to hardness. This time Doc lay on his back while she crouched over him and took him inside her in a slow, deep, infinitely satisfying rhythm.
When she finally collapsed across his broad chest Zoe fell into a light doze. She wanted to fall into deep sleep with their limbs wrapped around each other, but she wouldn’t let herself do that. She stayed where she was for a while, her ear pressed against his chest, enjoying his deep breathing and the slow beat of his heart.
When she was absolutely sure that Matthias was asleep, she eased off the bed, hating to leave him but knowing she had to go. She dressed and left as quickly and quietly as possible. After all, she still had a meeting with the Denthera to get to.
47
“Hello?” Zoe called again.
Still nothing. Frustration seethed through her no matter how calm she forced her movements and expression to remain.
You know, I could be happily snuggled up next to the person I love, she thought.
Zoe walked down the shadowy corridor, and all she could hear was the sound of her own footsteps, and her carefully polite voice echoing off the cavern walls.
This was the Denthera section, right? She hadn’t somehow gotten lost in some unused portion of the prison?
She knew she was in the right place, but she couldn’t help but worry. She’d been wandering around for nearly an hour, with nary a Denthera in sight. Oh, there’d been the occasional sensation of being watched, a ripple of displaced air on the back of her neck, but no actual sight or sound of the elusive aliens. Even when she ducked into cramped living quarters along the corridors several times nobody had been home. Even the shadows proved to be empty.
She had never felt so frustrated in her life.
Finally, she stood under a wall light, put her hands on her hips, and declared loudly, “How am I going to help you escape if you won’t even show up at the party?”
She waited, and waited some more. There was one moment when she thought she sensed a presence. But the moment passed, and she finally decided that there wasn’t going to be any contact.
“Fine. Be that way,” she said. “I’m going home now.” Maybe she’d wasted her time trying to reach the elusive aliens, but at least she’d tried.
Raven was standing in the center of the plaza when she reached it. He was surrounded by people demanding his attention, but his gaze went instantly to her.
He frowned thunderously.
She gave him a faint smile and a brief wave. He jerked his head for her to join him. He was alone by the time she reached him.
“You look rested,” she said. “Did you have a nice nap, dear?”
“You fucked my brains out on purpose,” he said.
His outrage amused her. He hadn’t whispered, but no one nearby acted as if they’d heard.
“Yes,” Zoe answered. “I got the idea from you.”
He failed to fight off a faint smile. “Turnabout is fair play?” he asked.
“Yes.” She ran her hand up his muscular arm, totally addicted to the feel of him. “Plus, I really needed to fuck your brains out.” Because they had no way of knowing if they’d ever make love again. “I’d throw you on the floor and do it all again right now if I could.”
“Me, too.” He put his arm around her waist. “Did you have a good meeting? Do we have the Denthera’s help?”
She shook her head. “I think they may already have left.”
She looked around nervously. Nothing seemed any different than before. There were people in the plaza and on the ramps, just as there always were. But there was a tautness in the way they moved, tension was thick in the air. The plan was obviously in motion.
“What happens next?” she whispered.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he said. And did.
If there was one thing telepaths were good at, it was speaking when their lips and tongues were otherwise occupied. He went over last-minute timing and tactics while they held on to each other for dear life.
With Doc too occupied to warn them off, a small crowd gathered around them, and Zoe faintly heard cheers and applause, but she ignored everything but Matthias Raven.
48
Zoe leaned against the wall just outside the infirmary and tried not to look toward the ramp on the other side of the plaza. Arco wasn’t going to appear just because she wished him to. She tried not to look at Matthias as he moved around from one busy group of sailors and marines to the next. She tried not to feel claustrophobic because every human in the POW camp was gathered in the plaza or looking down onto the plaza from the first level up. Everyone was trying to look inconspicuous, just as she was. Someone was even nonchalantly whistling. She pretended that Everard and Rumi weren’t standing nearby, protectively flanking her. The wait was maddening for all of them and the buzz of tension she picked up from the crowd made her even more nervous, even more aware of all her people.
Like all of them she had her assigned job, but she couldn’t do it yet.
She was trying to look casual but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. Every time she dropped them to her side and made a conscious effort to relax she’d notice a few minutes later that she’d assumed the same defensive position again. At least she had her breathing under control and she wasn’t shaking. Others were.
Where was Arco? When could they get this started?
Waiting was the worst part.
Zoe considered following Doc’s example of checking on each person, even though she knew she had to remain in her assigned spot. She was almost grateful when Barb stepped in front of her, but she grew even more tense at the appearance of the larger woman despite the distraction. She didn’t like that Barb blocked her view. She hated having Doc out of her sight for a moment when she feared every sight of him would be her last.
Zoe forced herself to concentrate on Barb. She waited to find out what Barb wanted, but the other woman didn’t speak, she didn’t look at her. Barb looked even more nervous than Zoe felt.
“Hi,” Zoe finally said, adding, “I’m sorry about knocking you out.”
Barb’s head came up. Her expression was full of chagrin. “No, no! I’m the one who needs to apologize. I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyway, Zoe.” She looked furtively around. “And it’s not just because of—you know—you being who …”
“It’s something of an open secret now,” Zoe said.
“I was sorry the minute I woke up, but I was embarrassed to talk to you. I’m sorry I went off on you like that. In fact, I barely remember doing it. It’s just that …” Her gaze went to Matthias, and Zoe’s followed. “He’s what’s kept me sane in here.”
“Me, too,” Zoe agreed.
“It’s not just how he can make your body feel. He’s a good friend. He can be trusted, and relied on. He’s such a good person.”
“Yes, he is,” Zoe agreed. She couldn’t keep her gaze off of Matthias, either. He was more than a lover. Or a commander. Or a vampire. He was the best friend she’d ever had. “He makes me laugh,” she said, not really talking to Barb.
“He makes you whole,” Barb said.
“Doesn’t he?”
All Zoe could do was nod.
“Even though I knew the two of you were meant for each other early on I still resented it. I wanted to stop what I saw happening. I was selfish, but I had to try. You have to fight for the love you need even more than the love you want. The chance of having a life with Doc is worth fighting for.”
Barb’s words hit Zoe in the gut. She was so completely stunned that she forgot to breath. All she could do was stare at Matthias as he turned and approached her.
He was a treasure found in a dark place.
Barb gave him a nod and left before he reached Zoe. He glanced after her for a second, then put his arm around Zoe’s hunched shoulders. Marines are in place, he thought. I’ve got word that most of the Kril are having a caf party up top. That ought to keep them from noticing the crowd.
All Zoe could do was nod. She had no words. She was too full of emotions for thought.
“There he is,” Matthias said as Arco appeared at the top of the ramp and gave a thumbs-up.
This was the signal that the Hajim transport was now in the system. They had to take over the camp before the ship landed.
Raven gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “Go, Zoe.”
Now he must wait while Zoe went for the Asi. He would not worry about her. They both had jobs to do and emotions had to be put aside to carry out the op.
To keep the guards who were not indulging themselves with caf from becoming quickly suspicious of the large gathering of humans, the prison’s choir was now giving a performance.
“So far, so good,” Doc murmured.
He was actually appreciating the rich harmonies of the choir, the twenty-member-strong Llanddnoc Wizards, from his spot at the base of the main ramp. It gave him something to outwardly concentrate on. Telepathically, he was working to remind everyone of their military training and discipline. He wasn’t trying to ease fears or do any other kind of manipulation—he didn’t do that with friends.
He waited and watched and listened with all of his finely honed senses. He didn’t let himself worry about Zoe, but he did have concerns about whether or not the Asi would not only show up, but do as they promised. The plan called for a riot; his hope was that it wouldn’t be a real one.
It seemed to take forever, yet when he finally heard them coming he realized that what had seemed like hours had only been a few minutes.
“Spread the word,” he said to the people standing by him.
The hall officers dispersed into the crowd. Doc moved farther up the ramp. There were no guards down here at the bottom of the prison, but the blank black eyes of monitoring cameras circled the wall above the plaza.
Doc had been issued one low-powered laser scalpel for the infirmary. Siler and Mischa had modified the power of the scalpel with scrounged parts. As far as Doc knew, his amped-up surgical tool, along with a few homemade shivs, were the only weapons the humans possessed other than hand-to-hand skills.
He hoped he didn’t have to use the scalpel for getting out of the hole. Not because he shared Zoe’s pacifistic tendencies, but because the jerry-rigged weapon was likely only good for one use and he wanted it for taking over the Hajim ship.
A piercing scream sounded above the singing of the choir. That would be Zoe; that was the signal. Black bodies boiled into the plaza, and hastily orchestrated chaos broke loose.
The humans and Asi formed a riot in the plaza. The humans screamed and shouted for help a lot. The Asi chanted what Zoe had told him would translate as something like “Prey! Consume! Eat!” Taken together, it all sounded scary as hell.
And it wasn’t long before the lights went out. Perhaps the Kril thought total darkness would stop the riot. Or maybe they thought they wouldn’t have to deal with the carnage if they couldn’t see it. Or maybe they planned to send in a contingent equipped with infrared sensors.
Doc ignored the noise and jostling. He watched the ramp, which he had no trouble seeing in the dark. It was several minutes before any Krils showed up to check out what was going on.
A far larger contingent of Krils than he’d been expecting. The rocks piled up to fall into the elevator when it opened must have worked and they were sending their whole force down the ramp. At least the prisoners didn’t have to worry about a flanking assault—just more Kril coming from the front.
“Shit,” Doc muttered as a horde of guards came rushing down the ramp.
He was in among them before they noticed he was there. Some of the alien guards were buzzed out on caf and he disarmed and took out several of these Kril.
Doc yelled, “Light!” and jumped back down among his own people. He handed out weapons to waiting marines as torches were lit. He ran back toward the Kril.
As flickering intermittent light returned, the Asi’s shouts turned into bloodthirsty war cries behind him.
For a moment Doc was caught between the Kril barreling down the ramp and the Asi rushing up. He tucked away the laser scalpel and raised a hand weapon, not even sure which group of aliens to take out as he was caught in the middle of their clash.
Then suddenly the Denthera appeared behind the Kril and the guards had to worry about attack from the rear as well as in front.
“What are you waiting for?” Doc shouted at his own people, and turned to join battle himself. Human war cries joined those of the Asi.
49
From that point the battle went quickly.
The fighting soon spread out of the hole and into the administrative section at the top level of the prison. A few died from every species, but soon most of the buzzed-out Kril guards surrendered. They were put under restraints and locked into the deepest caves at the bottom of the prison.
When Doc finally made his way to where the Denthera had regrouped outside the command center, Zoe was already there. He hadn’t seen her during the fight, and hadn’t realized how worried he’d been about her despite his consciously blocking out the emotion.
Until he grabbed her around the waist and growled, “You could have gotten killed!”
“We all could have,” she reminded him. “You’re covered in blood.”
“None of it mine.”
The Kril had iron-based red blood. The flavor was a little odd, but that hadn’t stopped him from going a little vampire on some of their asses.
Zoe didn’t ask who the blood belonged to. Instead, she turned him toward the Denthera he recognized as the representative he’d seen at meetings. The Denthera were tall, thin humanoids, genetically related to the Kril. Wispy, he’d always thought them. But they moved fast and silently, and had done most of the damage to their Kril cousins.
“Thanks for the help,” he said to the representative, who he knew spoke Standard.
“I was just going to ask why they helped when you showed up,” Zoe told him. “Where were you when I looked for you?” she asked the Denthera. “How did you know about—”
The rep held up a three-fingered hand to stop her. Then he closed his eyes and said, “Your words in your quarters were, How do we protect every prisoner in this facility? Wait a minute—I realize that your duty is to the human prisoners, but my duty is to every being the Hajim strive to oppress. Nice speech. Are you thinking that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or do you really believe that? Yes. To both. I can be pragmatic and idealistic at the same time. The Empire’s policy has always been to prefer diplomacy over war. The Hajim have forced us into a conflict that makes us seem like the aggressor at times to other sentient races, but that is not the way it should be or that we want it to be. We need to make strong, peaceful alliances to solve the Hajim problem. We may have to destroy the Hajim to solve the Hajim problem.”
It took Doc a few moments to realize that the Denthera had just repeated a conversation he’d had with Zoe. He scratched his jaw. “I thought I sensed someone outside her quarters.”
“Damn,” Zoe said admiringly. “You people make the best spies I’ve ever encountered.”
“Thank you, Porphyrgia,” the Denthera said. He looked at Raven. “We agree with the Heir’s words, and with your tactics. But it is doubtful we would have joined you if a nearly empty transport was not arriving that we can appropriate as a means of escape.”
If it bothered Zoe that the Denthera knew full well who she was, she didn’t show it. In fact, she exuded an air of smiling confidence at these newfound, if likely temporary, allies.
“Thank you,” she said. “We appreciate it.”
“Right,” Doc said briskly. “Ship. Escape. We’re only halfway there. Come on, people,” he called to everyone within earshot of his deep, gravelly voice. “Let’s set phase two in motion!”
The squad of Denthera that was surrounding him and the women looked pretty convincing wearing Kril uniforms. It wasn’t nighttime, and Doc didn’t like where he was standing—just inside the main entrance of the prisoner processing center. There was a wide expanse of sun-baked landing field stretching between the building and the ship that had just landed. There was a clear, cloudless bright sky overhead.
“Nice day,” he said to Zoe, who was standing beside him. He didn’t tell her how much the sunlight hurt his eyes. He did take pleasure from watching her turn her face up to the same sunlight. She had insisted on coming along with all the other human women.
He was wearing a hooded tunic and gloves, but he didn’t think they were going to do much good. He didn’t look much like a girl, either, but he had to trust to his telepathic skills and the Hajim’s alien point of view about what humans looked like to get him through the next crucial minutes.
They’d had just enough time to get their people in place in the outbuildings surrounding the field. They had to storm that ship. They had to take it. And the best way to do that would be through an open air lock. So—he must go all the way into the light—
“Pardon me while I smoke,” he said.
He pulled the hood as far down as he could to protect his eyes. He gave Zoe’s hand a quick squeeze and stepped out into the sunlight in the center of the group of disguised Denthera.
Zoe knew he was in pain and hated that Doc was suffering from the light, but his presence was necessary if this was going to work. He might be correct that her presence wasn’t absolutely necessary, but she had argued that it was her right as one of the women prisoners to take part in this escape plan. Some of the women were battle-hardened marines, armed with weapons scrounged from the Kril. Zoe was unarmed. Instead, she preferred to allow someone with more weapons combat skill to have one of the limited supply of stun guns.
She had the training as well as the data implants to fly just about any kind of craft from all sides in this war. Her duty once they were inside the ship was to help take the bridge and pilot the escapees toward Byzant territory. At least, that was where she intended to go whether the Asi and Denthera argued about it or not.
But that was all for later. Achieve one goal at a time. They’d taken over the camp. Now they had to take over the ship. She took a deep breath and put her attention firmly back in the now, moving forward with the rest.
And by now they were very nearly at the ship’s air lock. The group paused in front of it. The communications stem Doc had taken from the commandant and handed to her buzzed. The vampire Prime had used a few mental tricks to find out the proper code sequences as well. They were in luck that the Kril used numeric code rather than voice, visual, or DNA recognition.
Zoe punched in numbers, then listened to the order issued by the Hajim ship captain. “They’re cycling the lock,” she said after acknowledging the commands.
“Showtime,” one of the women behind her said.
Doc laughed, and Zoe wondered if she was the only one who heard the pain in the sound.
Then her stomach clenched with fear as a ramp descended in front of them, and a hatch on the side of the ship began to slowly iris open. She prayed, and as the daughter of the symbolic head of the Byzant Orthodox Church, she hoped her status would give the prayers a little more oomph.
Then Hajim troops came pouring out of the entrance and she stopped praying, or even thinking.
50
Doc’s goal was to make the Hajim see what they expected to see, which was a group of dispirited, helpless prisoners under heavy Kril guard. Since no one fired on them instantly, he knew they were getting through to them. The Hajim soldiers kept coming down the ramp, getting closer and closer. But there were a lot of them, making him spread his energy thin. It just had to work long enough.
“Now!” he shouted as he lifted the modified scalpel.
He swept the laser across the front rank of Hajim, cutting through fur, flesh, and body armor for a few crucial seconds before the power fizzled off. Then he tossed the burned-out weapon aside and led the charge of women and Denthera up the ramp and through the rest of the Hajim soldiers.
“They’re starting to close the air lock!” someone shouted.
Zoe began to run faster for the open air lock, but a shadow passed over her head low in the sky and she looked up. As she did, the Hajim ship began to fire.
Terror streaked through her.
Then she realized that the Hajim ship wasn’t firing on the prisoners, but at the shadows passing over the landing field.
Many, many shadows. They were like huge bats sweeping down over them.
It took her only a moment to recognize the sleek black shapes bearing down on the position of the enemy ship.
“Fighters!” she shouted.
The retrieval beacon hadn’t been broken after all. Poor Jazoan.
“Byzant fighters incoming! Those are ours!”
“Retreat!” Raven shouted. “Everybody back! Take cover!”
The next thing she knew, Doc picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder as he ran. And Raven ran faster than any mortal could. She could feel the heat boiling up off his skin, but he had her back to the shelter of the processing center within moments.
“Who are they?” he demanded when he set her down.
She couldn’t help but grin. “A special forces group so elite even you don’t have clearance to know about them, General.” She was gleeful, and giddy with relief. She hugged him hard. “This nonexistent bunch of commandos is unofficially known as Unit Four. Jazoan called them. He used an implant signal that worked, even though it seemed like the device was broken.”
The nonexistent weapons of this not-there rescue team were now taking out the guns on the Hajim ship.
Doc squinted out at the landing field. “Special Ops. Good.”
The prisoners were going to be okay. All that was left was for Unit Four to save their asses—even if the combined forces of Camp Five had been fairly close to doing so themselves.
But Doc wasn’t ready to simply wait for Unit Four to carry out their mission. “Everyone who isn’t a marine stay here,” he shouted. “Especially you,” he added in a whisper to Zoe. “We’ve got stunners against blast weapons,” he told the marines who gathered around him. “That’s enough to take out the Hajim guarding the ship. We still need that ship in working order. Let’s go help the Asi. Move out,” he ordered.
Zoe wished Matthias wouldn’t go back out in the sun, but he had a job to do and she didn’t try to stop him.
She wasn’t even allowed to crouch by the doorway and watch the fighting. Everard hustled her into the center of a thick crowd of guards where all she could do was wait and worry and listen to the noise of weapons fire. Which seemed to go on forever.
As the firing grew more sporadic, Zoe grew more terrified. If they’d come this far and then something terrible happened to Matthias—
She squeezed her eyes shut on the burning of unshed tears. Don’t you dare die on me now, Raven!
Don’t get your brain in a twist. His thought came to her.
We’re going to be together for a long, long time, she vowed.
She realized that suddenly everything had grown silent.
Doc spoke in her head. I’m fine. Your people are here. Come to me.
She was already moving.
51
“Porphyrgia,” the commando leader said, giving the slightest of respectful nods.
“Colonel Rook,” she replied, with a nod of her own. They were standing in the shadow of the Hajim transport ship. She and Doc had their arms around each other’s waists. They’d been kissing when Rook came up to interrupt them, and Doc gave the commando a suspicious look.
“You know this guy?” Raven asked.
Rook spared an assessing glance for the big man standing at her side. And if she wasn’t mistaken there was a hint of jealousy in the returning assessing look Matthias gave the commando.
And recognition?
What was up with these two?
“General Matthias Raven,” she said, introducing him to Rook. She gestured toward the colonel. “Matthias, this is a man you do not see and have never met.”
“Tell the invisible man I said thanks,” Raven told her. His arm tightened around her waist.
“He says to say—”
“Ma’am, no jokes right now, please,” Rook interrupted. Three of his people came up to stand behind him, two men and a woman. They all bristled with weapons, and grim expressions. “Please. We’re on a tight schedule here. We have to get you back to Byzant territory right now.”
“Of course you do,” she answered, and did her best to project serene confidence. “But I also have an agenda, Colonel.”
She saw the hard look on Rook’s face, and knew what he was thinking. She knew what the parameters of his assignment must be.
“I am not going anywhere without everyone else that has escaped from this POW camp. Everyone,” she emphasized. “Human, Asi, Denthera—even the remaining Kril guards if they wish to go.”
“Porphyrgia,” Rook began.
“Don’t argue with the lady,” General Raven said, cutting him off.
Rook noted the rank tattoo on Doc’s muscular arm. He looked back at her. He sighed. He said the sort of bad word soldiers could be forgiven for uttering when given unreasonable orders from their superiors.
“The Hajim ship hasn’t suffered too much damage,” one of Rook’s men said. “We can fly the prisoners out of here in it.”
“That was the plan,” Matthias said. “I’ll take charge of the evacuation,” he told Rook.
Rook gave a grateful nod. “Thank you, General. Please come with me, Porphyrgia.” He gestured toward an oversized fighter and began to turn away.
“No,” Zoe told him. “I’m flying the transport out of here.”
He faced her. “You know I can’t allow—”
Raven said something to Rook in a language that was not Standard. Rook answered. She didn’t ask for a translation, or try to access her database. She could pretty much guess what they’d said. And what they both were.
She left all of her questions for later. “I’m going onto the ship’s bridge now, Colonel, to familiarize myself with the controls.”
“I’ll let you know when everyone’s on board,” Matthias told her.
Rook glared at them but waited for orders.
“Prepare your ships for escort duty,” Raven told the commando.
As Zoe went up the ship’s entrance ramp, Rook reluctantly replied, “Yes, sir.”
52
“We’re a lot closer to home territory than you think,” Rook informed Zoe.
He settled into the navigation spot beside her pilot’s seat. The seats and controls designed for Hajim physiology were uncomfortable and clumsy, but Zoe and the colonel made do. He obviously had as much knowledge of alien technology as she did.
“The war’s been going better for our side, Porphyrgia,” he added.
The navigation coordinates he’d fed into the computer came up on her screen. She noted territorial markings and nodded. “So I see.”
“But we haven’t won yet, have we?” Raven asked from behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder. She leaned her head back against him for a comforting moment. “Let’s get out of here, sweetheart.”
“Amen to that, darlin’,” she answered and smiled at the sideways look Rook gave them. “We’ve shocked the Special Ops guy, Matthias.”
“He’s tough. He’ll survive it.”
She hoped the same could be said for others—the entire Empire, in fact. She engaged the ship’s antigravs. “Sit down,” she told everyone. “We’re leaving now.”
Rook had insisted on coming with her in the Hajim ship, and he’d brought his two friends with him. The three new bodyguards were crowded onto the alien craft’s small bridge along with Raven, Everard, Maria, Barb, Siler, and Mischa.
Zoe concentrated on flying the ship and forgot about the group until the transport and the flanking fighters were headed toward the closest foldpoint. There was a cheer when the prison planet disappeared behind them and open space showed on the viewscreens.
Zoe smiled and sat back in the uncomfortable pilot’s chair. Her elation at her own freedom was overtaken by another joy building in her. “We have ninety minutes to fold,” she announced.
“There’s a fleet waiting there,” Rook said. “Guarding it to get you back.”
“A fleet?” she said. “What a lovely thought.”
Matthias was beside her instantly, his hand on her shoulder. It felt so right there. “I know that tone of voice,” he said. “What are you up to? What are you thinking, Zoe?”
“I’m thinking that this ship’s database holds the location of every one of the prison camps where our people are being held. If we have a fleet, we can mount a rescue mission.”
Doc groaned, but she knew he was only protesting for form’s sake. “I hope it’s a very big fleet.”
“You’ll have to discuss any further rescue attempts with Admiral Patel,” Rook cut in. “Our first duty is to get you back to the Empire.”
“All right,” Zoe agreed reluctantly. Right now, there was something else she must do.
When Zoe stood, everyone else followed suit. She had a pang of melancholy at suddenly being treated as the Porphyrgia by these friends and comrades.
“Colonel, do you have a knife?” Zoe asked Rook.
When she glanced at him Rook already had a knife in his hand.
“Of course you do.”
Rook handed the blade to her without any questions.
Matthias looked at her strangely. He took a wary step back, but there wasn’t far he could go on the tiny bridge. “Woman, if you’re thinking what I think you’re—”
“General, may I have your hand, please? The left, I believe, is traditional.”
“Go for it, Zoe!” Barb called.
“You were right about everything,” Zoe told Barb, who was smiling bravely at her.
“Why do people keep talking about me?” Doc asked. He put his hands behind his back.
Maria gasped and pushed her way forward. “Zoe, if you’re going to do this you have to make it legal, with witnesses and a Matri officiating.”
Zoe nodded. “Yes. It needs to be done in a way that nobody can challenge. Right, tight, and legal. You’re not getting out of this, Raven.”
“What’s going on?” Everard asked.
“I don’t get it,” Mischa said.
“They’re getting married, you idiots,” Barb explained. There were tears in her voice.
Raven threw up his hands. “Nobody asked me to get married!”
Rook laughed and pointed at Zoe. “I don’t think she has to ask, Prime.”
“Any fool can smell and sense what’s between you,” the female commando said.
Raven glared at Zoe, but there was a light in his eyes that melted her. “Are you ordering me to marry you, Porphyrgia?”
“Hell, no,” Zoe answered. She faced him squarely, totally determined. “I’m asking for more than that, Matthias. I want my bondmate,” she told him. “I want to twine my life and soul with yours and say to the universe that we are one.”
“I want that too,” he said, “but—”
“And you’ll die without me,” she interrupted. “Do you think that I don’t know that we’ve gone too far into the bonding for you to be able to give me up? You lied about getting over me with drugs and your own females.” She stepped close and cupped his cheek in her palm. “You brave, noble—idiot!”
His hands settled on her waist and he drew her close. “There’ll be hell to pay for this,” he whispered in her ear. “Who you marry—”
“Will only be you.”
“The people of the Empire—”
“Are our people—yours as well as mine. We’re all human. All children of Earth—brothers and sisters—and lovers and friends no matter our differences. We’re the same people, with the same needs. The people of the Empire are tough,” she told him. “They’ll survive our bonding, but I won’t survive without you. I love you too much to let you go.”
“You give good speeches.”
“Good enough to convince you.”
“You had me when you took the knife. How I do adore a dangerous woman.” His arms came around her in a sudden tight embrace. I love you more than life, he told her. “I’ll never let you go,” he said.
“But you two have to make it stick with the proper rites,” Maria chimed in. “You need a female to officiate and witnesses from his Clan. We ought to change course for Solsangre or—”
“No need,” the woman commando spoke up.
“I can serve as witness for Clan Corvus,” Rook added.
Zoe looked curiously up at Matthias. “Do you know Rook?”
“We’ve never met, but he’s my cousin, Lorand Rook.”
“I am Prime, Porphyrgia,” Rook said.
“I’d already guessed that, Colonel, but I didn’t expect that you’d be related to Doc.”
“We vampires have a small gene pool,” Matthias said.
She glanced over her shoulder at the vampire commando. “He’s a lot better-looking than you are, Matthias” she commented.
“Just wait until you see me with hair.” He kept his arm around her waist as he turned to the female Special Ops officer. “What did you mean?”
“She’s a hunyara,” Rook said. “A cross between vampire and werefolk,” he explained to Zoe. “She belongs to Clan and Pack.”
“Sela Bledd,” the hunyara introduced herself. “At your service, Porphyrgia.” She looked challengingly at Raven. “Am I vampire enough to serve as Matri for the ceremony?”
Matthias grinned at her, then bowed formally. “I’m honored to be at your service, Matri.”
“Everyone gather around,” Maria ordered. “Siler, have you figured out how to work the log recorder for the bridge?”
“Yes,” the tech answered.
“Make sure to record everything. We’ll all sign as witnesses as well.” She looked around. “Right?”
The chorus of agreement made Zoe’s heart glow. She knew she and Matthias were doing the right thing no matter how complicated things became. They’d get through it. Together.
It was time the Empire learned to cope with the equality of every citizen. Judging from the attitude of the people on the bridge, the road ahead might not be as hard as she feared.
A semicircle was formed behind them, with Rook and Maria standing on either side of them.
The hunyara stood before them with Rook’s knife in her hand. She said, “I bless this bonding of Prime and mortal woman. Brought together by fate and the force of eternal love, their lives are one, their beings are one, their hearts are one. Their blood is one.” She handed Zoe the knife. “Become one.”
Zoe took a deep breath, aware that this was the most important moment of her life. And the happiest.
She said, “Your hand, General.”
Doc stared at her, brows lowered over his dark eyes, and stood stone still. “You’re really sure, Theodora?”
“If you please, Matthias,” she said, and her voice shook a little. Doubt assailed her. “If you wish.”
He smiled, showing fangs. He came closer, and held out his hand.
It took her only a moment to slash the short, extremely sharp blade across the tip of Raven’s thumb. Bright red blood beaded on his skin. The sight of it sent a shock of desire through her.
Oh, yes. This was right!
She grabbed his wrist and lifted his hand to her lips. She touched the blood with the tip of her tongue.
She hadn’t expected the surge of pure pleasure, but in the next moment she was suckling greedily at the small wound. And Doc threw his head back and howled in pleasure.
It didn’t go on for nearly long enough before he gently detached his hand from her mouth. But pleasure aside, Zoe knew that it had gone on long enough for official purposes.
“The politics of this are going to be interesting,” Raven told her.
“I’m good at politics,” she told him. “Right now, you need to be a general. And a doctor. We need to get our people home.”
He nodded, his eyes shining with pride and love. “So you can stop this war.”
“I will,” she promised, returning his look with equal intensity. “We’ll do it together.”
After all, her blood was in him. His blood was in her. And it was going to be that way forever.
Epilogue
“Okay, which one of you wrote it?” Flare Reynard asked when the group of vampire women gathered for the first meeting of the Vampire Book Club. The book they’d all just read was a science-fiction story featuring a Prime hero in the far future. Fiction set in their own culture was a new concept that the group was all excited about.
Every gaze turned toward Antonia Wolf. “Oh, no, not me,” she said. “I distributed it, but I didn’t write it.”
“You know who did?” Sidonie Wolf, Antonia’s daughter, asked.
“I have a suspicion, but I don’t know for sure.”
“Which one of you wrote it?” Flare asked the group again.
“Does it matter?” Sofia Crowe asked. “I’m just glad the hero was from my Clan.”
“I think a mortal wrote it,” Sid said. “Think about it,” she went on. “The heroine of the story is a mortal. Could a vampire female keep up a consistent point of view for a female mortal? We aren’t like them.”
“True,” Cassie Shagal said. “But this mortal female is different from her own kind. She’s a princess. If there’s one thing all of us know about, it’s how to be a princess.”
Sid nodded. “Good point.”
“What if it’s not fiction at all?” Charisima Coyote wondered. “What if someone with really strong future sight wrote about what she saw happening in the future?”
“I have a cousin who can pick up details of history from any object he touches,” Sid said. “So, maybe—”
“It’s only a story,” Flare said. “I like it and want the sequel, but it’s just a story.”
“You think there’ll be a sequel?” Cassie asked.
They all looked at Antonia again. She shrugged.
“If it’s not future sight how did the writer know about the hunyara?” Cassie went on. “The Matri just found out about the connection between us and werefolk.”
“I think the staff at the vampire clinic have known about the hunyara for a while,” Sid said. “They just kept quiet about it. I’m guessing the author works at the clinic.”
“Or has done their research,” Antonia said. “Or made it up because it sounded good.”
“Are you sure you didn’t write the story, Mom?” Sid asked.
Antonia clasped her hands in her lap. “I think book clubs are supposed to discuss what happened in a book and what it all means. Let’s try doing that.”
“Sure. I have plenty of opinions,” Flare said.
“You always do,” the other females said.
“Then I’ll start,” Flare told them. “Frankly, I think that Matthias Raven is …”
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1
“You do realize that the purpose of terrorism is theater,” Tobias Strahan told all the Clan leaders. “It’s not so much what our enemies have done to hurt us that they care about, but how we react to it.”
Francesca Reynard couldn’t help but smile at the Prime’s superior tone. Would the Matri Council let him get away with lecturing them, or was the commander of the Dark Angels about to get his ears boxed? She waited in the shadows at the back of the council room to see what happened next. She wasn’t supposed to be here and this wasn’t a conversation she was supposed to hear. But she’d take any advantage she could get to achieve her goals.
Self-centered, aren’t you?
The telepathic voice in her head was Strahan’s, and he was even more arrogant speaking to her than to the respected clan leaders.
Primes were supposed to be arrogant, and she normally found them easy to ignore.
But not this one.
It’s a gift, she thought back at him.
Along with petulance and pride—but then, everyone knows Flare Reynard’s “gifts.”
It’s interesting how some people feel threatened by determination and strong self-esteem, she answered, then raised the mental shields that kept polite vampires out of each other’s heads.
Strahan gave a shrug in return, and since she was female, she couldn’t help but run her gaze appreciatively over him, fine figure of an overgrown Prime that he was. He certainly was a big boy. Big hands, big feet, very tall. Muscular, with a tight ass and narrow waist perfectly proportioned to his extra-wide shoulders. He was considered the best looking Prime of his generation, but she liked that his perfection was marred by ears that stuck out slightly.
Her attention was drawn back to the Matris when Lady Juanita Wolf laughed. “We’ve been involved in deadly games with the hunters for generations,” she reminded Strahan. “We can handle this, too.”
“But they’ve never publicly attacked us before,” Lady Angelica Reynard said. “They’ve never set us up to be found out by the media.”
Strahan nodded. “We can’t afford to react in the classic manner. They’re counting on that. They want to be able to post videos of your people on You-Tube, to get news crews camped outside your homes. They’ve decided that outing us is the best way to destroy us.”
“I can almost understand mortal vampire hunters attacking like this,” Lady Cassandra Crowe said, “but you haven’t convinced me that one of our own could be a traitor, that information is being passed from inside our community. There is absolutely no reason.”
“I think I know the reason,” Strahan said.
“I think we’ve heard enough on the subject already,” Lady Serisa Shagal said firmly.
Los Angeles was Shagal territory, this was her Citadel, and defending against the threat to her Clan should be hers to handle. But she had agreed to Strahan’s demand to cede emergency powers to the Dark Angels since the attacks were on all supernatural groups, not just Clan vampires. There had been fires and bombings against vampires and werefolk all over Southern California, including trouble at the medical clinic here in Los Angeles. The Angels were a multi-species special forces group who answered only to Tobias Strahan, who had formed his unit in anticipation of the sort of attack they were under now.
Francesca admired his confidence in the face of so many Clan Matris. He’d walked into their meeting, taken over, and convinced everyone to do things his way.
But Francesca resented the way he’d interrupted her own effort to save her friend Sidonie Wolf, who’d faced execution for bonding with a werewolf member of the Dark Angels. Francesca and other vampire females had been starting their own revolution to save Sid, but Strahan’s power play had forced that effort to the sidelines. He’d interrupted her bid for freedom, even if he had achieved her objective of saving Sid.
He turned his head slightly, giving Francesca a view of his sharp profile and hard expression. A woman couldn’t help but think of a male like that as tasty, even a woman who hated the vanity and total jerkhood of the males of her species. It was a good thing she’d had years of practice at ignoring the instincts that reared up in her as she watched this Prime.
It also helped that a squad of Primes now came pouring in through the door behind her; there wasn’t an ugly one in the bunch of bodyguards. She stepped aside to allow them to go to their various Matri.
“The arrangements are all made,” Barak Shagal told his Matri and bondmate. “Everyone’s cars are waiting. Guards are placed, and the pilots of your private planes have been alerted.”
“It’s time to go,” a Reynard Clan Prime addressed Francesca’s mother.
The plan was for all vampire females in California to be whisked away to safety elsewhere, but Francesca had no intention of going to the Clan Citadel in Idaho with her mother. She’d come to California with a purpose and wasn’t leaving until she’d accomplished it.
From the shadows, she slipped out the door before anyone noticed her.
2
Where do you think you’re going? Tobias wondered as Flare Reynard sneaked away. Watching the sway of her hips as she walked was a joy. But the stiffness of her spine and proud lift of her head told him she wasn’t docilely heading for her mother’s limo. She obviously had plans of her own—but he was in charge here. The thought of letting her know that brought a brief smile to his hard mouth.
“Brat,” he muttered under his breath.
He knew he should mention Flare’s leaving to Lady Anjelica and let them take care of it, but he couldn’t resist the impulse to track her down himself. If anyone needed a public lesson in discipline, it was the Clan’s most adored and spoiled female.
Finding Flare wouldn’t be difficult for a Prime of his skills. Even with her shields tightly drawn around her, he could pick up her unique perfume, which had permeated his senses from the moment he’d walked into the tense meeting. At the very least, he could track her by the stunned looks she left on the faces of any Primes she encountered.
As he followed Flare through the mansion’s entrance hallway, Tobias’s cellphone rang. Though he preferred telepathy to telephony, not every member of his Crew had the ability to communicate mind to mind—let alone the mortals. He stepped outside to the wide front staircase as he put the phone to his ear.
“How’s Joe?” Dee McCoy asked.
“You could have called him and asked,” Tobias told the mortal witch.
She snorted. “I can just picture him, standing in front of a firing squad as his phone rings and him saying, ‘Wait a moment while I take—’ BANG!”
“Vampires don’t use firing squads. The Joe problem is settled, and his lady Sid will be joining the Crew. Set up orientation for her.”
“You got us a girl vampire?” It took a lot to impress Dee McCoy, and Tobias smiled at the awe in her voice.
“I’m good,” he said. “Also, the L.A. op has been authorized. The locals will be staying out of our way, and all is right in my world.”
“Except Saffie …”
As he waited for Dee to continue, Tobias looked around. Joe and Sid were standing near the bottom of the stairs, and he headed down toward the Dark Angels.
Dee told him, “I’ve gotten a couple of sips from her that give me the impression she’s having some trouble at school.”
This wasn’t the time or place to ask for details, but he was grateful for the witch’s reminder that he had more important things to deal with than saving the world. “I’ll call Saffie as soon as I get the chance.”
“Tonight,” Dee answered.
Tobias grunted and ended the call, just in time to hear Sidonie Wolf tell Joe, “And there’s the Prime responsible for setting this whole mess in motion.”
He gave her an acknowledging nod and walked past the couple, shamelessly listening as the female vampire explained to the werewolf the deeper game Tobias had played by reuniting the two of them.
He had put their lives at risk to help the cause of female vampire liberation. The supernatural world had to change or it would be destroyed, and he’d do whatever he had to to save everybody—vampire, werefolk, faefolk, and the creatures even immortals had trouble accepting. Every sentient being deserved freedom and equality—except maybe ghosts, but they were ex-humans and not his concern.
While his thoughts circled around the problems of his peoples, he circled alertly around the mansion, aware of all movement. The Matris and other vampire females were being evacuated by their concerned Primes, and he noted who occupied each limo and the direction each car took as it left the gate.
Neither Reynard female was among the exiting groups, but Lady Angelica was perfectly capable of taking her difficult daughter in hand and dragging Flare home with her. An argument between them was probably the cause of the holdup. It wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with.
He stalked back up the front staircase anyway. Someone needs to shake some sense into that spoiled princess.
Flare Reynard was a dangerously beautiful female, and more than the scent of her perfume called to him. She does that to any Prime with hot blood in his veins. Sure, I want that glorious body beneath me in a bed and the taste of her blood on my tongue. But I won’t let lust make me stupid, like it has every other Prime that’s ever gone after her.
And unlike them, if I want her, I’ll have her.
Awareness made him turn, and he caught a furtive movement out of the corner of his eye. When Flare reached the side door of the mansion’s multi-car garage, he was standing in front of it with his arms crossed, his intention to keep her out clear.
“Flare, my dear,” he said with a blatantly false smile. “What are you doing here?”
She crossed her arms. His gaze lingered on the swell of her breasts. Primes were far too easy to seduce. Even though they were taught self-control, and the lessons from creche were reinforced by the Angels’ discipline and training, Tobias couldn’t help but think, Damn! Flare was fine.
Francesca was pleased her feminine wiles worked on Strahan. She knew it wouldn’t last long, but she enjoyed the heat of his attraction.
“The Bat Signal is flashing behind you. You need to go save Gotham now.” Her eyes locked on his.
“I appreciate the comparison to my favorite vigilante, but it can’t won’t work on me. The only thing I’m going to do is send your smart ass back to Idaho.”
She grinned at this challenge. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“The Matri would disagree. I am in charge of this territory.”
“I have an appointment at a secure facility.”
“You’re using this young Prime to sharpen your tongue, I see,” a voice chimed in.
Her mother stood suddenly behind her. Francesca sighed. She’d tried to leave the Citadel stealthily, and somehow ended up the center of attention.
“Lady Francesca and I were merely exchanging pleasantries, Matri,” Strahan said to her mother.
“Yes. I know how pleasant she can be.”
“She’s sharply direct, ma’am, as is proper for a vampire female.”
“Don’t you have somewhere you’re supposed to be?” Lady Angelica went on.
Francesca wasn’t sure who her mother was talking to, but Strahan took the bait. “We all do. Let me escort you ladies to your car.”
“Good idea.” Angelica looped an arm through both of theirs and led them toward her car.
“I’m not going to the airport,” Francesca said when they reached the vehicle. She threw an annoyed look at Strahan. He stepped back to let the Reynard Matri handle her daughter.
Go ahead, wash your hands of me, she thought. Of course he was going to leave her to deal with her mother. He wanted her out of town. She couldn’t blame him for that—shouldn’t, at least. She shook her head and made herself stop looking at the tall, muscular, gorgeous, over-confident man in front of her. Something about him brought out the most petulant part of her. And she didn’t want to just ignore him the way she normally did Primes. She wanted to—
Provoke the hell out of me until I kiss you senseless?
Francesca pretended not to have heard his thoughts as she fought the urge to laugh. laugh. Not turn on him in scathing fury? Now, there was a new reaction to Primal arrogance.
I only deal in facts, ma’am. Arrogance is for the unsure.
Oh, shut up, Strahan. I’ve got more pressing business than dealing with you.
But you would like to be kissed.
Who wouldn’t? I’m not dead, but I am picky.
The driver, oblivious to the telepathic conversation, opened the car door for her mother. “You most certainly are not going to the airport with me,” her mother announced.
Francesca hadn’t been expecting an argument, just a stern command to return to the Citadel. So her mother’s response left Francesca with her mouth hanging open.
She wasn’t the only one taken aback.
“Lady Angelica?” Strahan asked. “Are you—?”
“You heard me correctly,” Angelica said. “My heir has accepted her duty to give the Clan children, and I am not getting in the way of her giving me grandchildren. Flare, I’ll drop you off at the clinic.”
Francesca shot Strahan a triumphant look, grinned at her mother, and hopped into the spacious back seat. “Turkey baster here I come,” she mumbled, a sudden wistful undertone coloring her mood.
She knew what was required of her. She knew the path she’d chosen. But being so close to Strahan reminded her of another way for a female to become pregnant. She bit her lower lip wearily. The sooner she got away from him the better.