Razar

by Starr Huntress

  “Crilarian.” There was that nasty feeling in the air, and now I was all but certain Varon was playing some kind of game with me.

  “Dr. Crilarian! That’s right.” He smacked himself on the forehead in an oddly theatrical way as he settled himself down on my bed. As if his mere proximity wasn’t enough to unsettle me, he put an arm across my legs and leaned in closer. “Speaking of Dr. Crilarian, I have good news!”

  “Do you?”

  “I do!” That sickly, phony joy poured off him. “He came to see me after examining you, and he told me that you are perfectly well!”

  My heart stopped. “He did?”

  “No trace of fever, no viruses, nothing. So, whatever has been keeping you laid up in here, it’s all behind you now. So,” he threw back my covers with one sweeping tug, “I’ve arranged a little excursion for us on one of my yachts. Hop up.”

  “An excursion? For how long?” I had to cover the panic rising in my throat. “I’m still feeling a little weak.”

  “Nonsense, you’ll be fine. It’s nothing lying in the sunshine can’t cure. And a little time to get your heart rate up here and there…” A sickening leer spread across his face, after his insinuation. “I’ve got a very important meeting we’ll be heading to that requires privacy, so it’ll just be the two of us overnight.”

  My heart exploded into a dead run, and I did my best not to flinch. Just the two of us? Even if I did manage to steer him into getting blind drunk, it was too much to handle on my own if he became insistent.

  “What about Razar?” One of Varon’s eyebrows raised in what felt like a challenge. “After all,” I fumbled, “as important as you are, can you risk spending a night out in the open without some security?”

  The devil’s own smile crept across his face. He patted my leg, and offered a cryptic, “Come with me” as he tossed me a tunic long enough to be a dress on me. Not even looking to see if I was following, he strode out the door. Hustling after him, we stopped in front of the door to his suite and he held up a finger for me to wait for him.

  Left alone in the hallway, I suddenly felt very exposed. It occurred to me that it was the first time I had been out of the infirmary during daytime hours in over a week. All of my journeys from there had been after dark, and of a decidedly clandestine nature. Despite being dressed, I had an odd impulse to cover myself.

  “Here’s something you’ll like,” Varon said as he came back through the doorway. Stuffing an infopad roughly into my hands, he reached across it and hit play. I ran numb all over.

  It was me. A video feed captured me running down the hallway, and the time stamp in the corner registered the late hour. There was a splice, and I saw myself wrapped in Razar’s arms on my first night out. My palms began to sweat and I could feel myself starting to shake.

  Splice after splice found me creeping through the resort at all hours, and my mind reeled as I saw images of myself with Razar in rapid succession. Even in the pool the night before, splashing at each other and laughing. At last, there was a shot of Razar heading toward the infirmary with a handful of freshly picked flowers.

  “Entertaining, isn’t it?” All the jocularity had bled out of Varon’s voice, and when I looked up to meet his gaze, his eyes were black and cold. I opened my mouth as if to try and explain, but nothing came out. I didn’t have a single thing to say that could fix this.

  “So now you know,” I said. What was the point of hiding my loathing anymore? He’d already threatened my parents, and now he knew about Razar and me. I let all my hatred shine through my eyes.

  It seemed to incense him. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out, you little whore?” Snatching my wrist, he held it tight and the infopad clattered at our feet. “I’ve had enough of this. It’s one thing to deny me, but to run around behind my back and spend every night fucking with that nobody?” He wrenched my wrist and I let out a cry.

  I twisted, about to unleash a volley of New York bartender whoop-ass on him when he hissed, “Remember your parents.” Sick pleasure entwined with rage twisted his face, very close to mine. “This bullshit stops now. And Razar? He’s going to pay. Big time. If I were you, I wouldn’t make his punishment worse by your behavior.”

  I froze, the words a dash of icy water. I couldn’t fight back, couldn't make him any angrier. My parents’ and Razar’s lives could very well depend on how happy I made this man.

  Turning with a savage yank, he pulled me down the hallway, spitting threats with every step. “You’re going to learn your place, my pet. And that place is under me, on top of me, and bent over in front of me. Every night you’ve spent away from my bed is going to be repaid in full. Count on that.”

  We came to the shuttle docks and Varon shoved me through a portal and into a two-seater. “Buckle up, darling,” he said as the door clamped shut behind him. “I wouldn’t want you getting hurt before I’m good and ready.”

  Already fastened in, he began working over the controls and the shuttle rumbled to life. I barely had time to scramble into my seat and work at my straps before we lurched away from the dock and out into the air. Varon was breathing hard, but kept his eyes fixed ahead. Even as sober as he was, I could tell this was going to be an erratic, jerky journey.

  Looking back through the window, I could already see the casino getting smaller behind us. It almost looked like a model or a child’s toy, and it occurred to me that I had never really seen it from the outside. All that gaudy, garish opulence was the perfect reflection of its seedy owner.

  “Oh, don’t worry, my pet. You won’t see him back there.” I looked at the side of Varon’s face as he stared ahead. A terrible smile was spread across his face. “He probably won’t even know you’re gone until I’ve had you a few times.”

  A jagged lump rose up in my throat, and Varon turned those hateful eyes on me at last.

  “I didn’t even show you the last video, I’m afraid. Thank you for breaking his heart for me.”

  Razar

  I should have known it.

  I didn’t exactly know what the hell was going on with Varon’s nonsensical talk about the Rippers, but it didn’t matter. Now I knew for a certainty that he was a twisted bastard. It went beyond the Rippers, and it affected Alicia directly. What he had done...fuck, I didn’t even want to think of it. Now I knew for certain: Varon had got to her, sensing that I was closing in on the truth, and he must have twisted her arm.

  Well, that ended now.

  I stepped inside the first elevator I found and made my way toward the medical floor. Once I was in front of the ICU access doors, I used my security code to gain access, but a red message immediately flashed on the screen: access denied.

  “What the fuck?”

  Did Varon know I was onto him? Had he already taken measures to lock me out of the tower’s system? If that was the case, then that meant Alicia was in even more immediate danger than I’d thought. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed my comms unit and called the guys in the tower’s command center. They were as baffled as I was that I had been locked out, but they didn’t hesitate before granting me access again.

  Varon might have known how to operate the tower’s system to fuck me over, but I still had the trust and loyalty of most of his employees. It would take more than this bullshit to stop me.

  Once the door slid open to allow me in, I rushed straight toward Alicia’s suite. My heart dropped the moment I stepped inside the room: the bed was empty, and there was no sign of Alicia anywhere.

  She was gone.

  “And what do we have here?” I heard a voice say behind me, and I spun on my heels to see three Jorkan standing at the door. None of them wore the standard uniforms all of the tower’s employees were required to wear, but their rugged demeanor was what really gave them away: these guys were mercenaries. It seemed like Varon wasn’t as stupid as I’d thought. I’d made a classic rookie mistake, underestimating my enemy, trying to play the game low-key when I’d needed to make a sudden, aggressive move. Varon had beat me to the
punch.

  “Are you Razar?” one of the Jorkan, a silver-skinned bastard with a sawn-off horn, asked. He narrowed his eyes, then used his infopad to bring up a photo of me. “Yeah, that’s you, alright. Head of security for this whole building, huh? That’s pretty impressive.” As he spoke, the other two walked in, flanking me.

  “I’m heading out right now,” I said. “If I were you, I wouldn’t stand in the way.”

  The three of them laughed.

  “You think you’re important around here?” the silver one asked, waving one hand at the four walls surrounding us. “Mr. Head of Security, used to giving orders and having everyone obey you, right? Well, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems like your boss has just fired you. Hell, the entire security team is going to be fired, last I heard. Your boss wants some fresh blood around here.”

  “Fresh blood, huh?” I repeated, and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips. These fools had just provided me with the outlet I’d needed to let off steam and get my head screwed on straight before going after Alicia. I’d have to thank Varon for the present; it sucked to be them. “That can be arranged.”

  I vaulted over the bed and overturned it; a second later the mattress and bed frame were being riddled with bullets, the steady pop of gunfire filling the room.

  Using the bed as a shield, I charged forward and pinned one of the bastards against the wall. With my free hand, I unholstered my gun and, lowering the frame, pushed the barrel against the mercenary’s head. One quick squeeze of the trigger and he slumped down, a single hole between his eyes.

  Dropping the bed, I rolled to the side and ducked as one of the survivors tried to pistol-whip me. Using my legs as if they were coiled springs, I pushed myself up and rammed my head into his chin. As he lost his balance, I grabbed him by the collar and rammed him out onto the balcony. He stumbled outside, his arms flailing around like a windmill, and tipped over the railing.

  “Care to join your buddies in the afterlife?” I asked the silver-skinned Jorkan. He looked stunned for a moment, but then tried to level his gun at me. Before he could do it, I shot mine from the hip and hit him right between the eyes. “There you go, then. A one-way ticket into hell.”

  Once I was sure there were no more mercenaries on the way, I knelt beside the one I had just shot and started rummaging through his pockets. When I found his infopad, I did a quick search of its files and after checking the communications log, opened the last received message from Varon. The sender’s coordinates put him somewhere near the docks, which made it clear where the asshole was taking Alicia: the yacht.

  I had no idea why he had decided to go there, but I didn’t have the time to think it through. I made one more call to the security room, hoping they’d be able to see the dock’s logs remotely, but no dice—wherever Varon was taking the yacht, he hadn’t bothered to log the trip. That meant the fucker really wanted to remain hidden.

  “Unfortunately for you,” I muttered, “I’m about to shine a light on your fucking ass.” I grabbed my own infopad, unlocking the encrypted security program I had installed.

  Kidnappings and situations involving terrorists had always been a concern of mine and, as such, I had installed a secondary security system to which only I had access. Even if some terrorist managed to remotely control Varon’s security system, I would still have a way in. Yeah, I was a pretty paranoid head of security, but that paranoia was now paying some dividends.

  “Here you are,” I said, the coordinates of Varon’s yacht appearing on my pad. The tracker I had installed on the yacht indicated that it was on the high seas already, in a sector that wasn’t patrolled by the maritime authorities. Whatever was happening there, it had to be shady as fuck.

  Moving fast, I left the medical floor and headed toward the armory on one of the underground floors. Five minutes later, and I was hauling a shitload of ammo and weapons into the elevator. I had enough on me to lay waste to a small town, and I was more than ready to use it all.

  When the elevator stopped in the hangar, I hesitated. I didn’t know what I was going to find in Varon’s yacht, and I needed to ensure Alicia would be safe in case things went sideways. Nodding to myself, I grabbed my comms unit and hit up Yilap’s frequency.

  “Razar? How is Alicia? Have you managed to tell her the truth of what—?”

  “Just listen to me, Yilap,” I cut him short. “Alicia has been taken by Varon. He’s planning something, and I’m more than willing to bet that it involves the Rippers. I’m sending you the coordinates of his location.”

  “Oh, dear me,” he yelped, “what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to save the woman I love.”

  Alicia

  I knew what they were the moment I saw them.

  When Varon’s small shuttle finally touched on the yacht’s landing pad, a welcoming party of tall gray aliens was already there to greet us. They had gills on the sides of their necks, and their skulls were slightly elongated. Their eyes were dark, the color of pitch, but what truly made my insides clench had more to do with their smiles than anything—they didn’t have lips, but, when their mouths twisted into a grin, multiple rows of serrated teeth jumped into sight.

  These were the Rippers, the ones the Jorkan were locked in war with. These were the monsters that the Jorkan had been protecting Earth from, the monsters the entire galaxy saw as a common enemy.

  The yacht’s staff, small aliens with tentacles for hands, seemed completely terrified. They gave the Rippers a wide berth, and they looked more than ready to abandon ship. As it was, they were all pressed against the yacht’s railing, a futile attempt at putting as much distance between them and the gray aliens as possible.

  “What are you doing, Varon?” I asked him, feeling as if someone had glued me to my seat. “Those are Rippers.”

  “Are you going to fucking judge me now?” he said, and there was a threat hiding underneath his words. Leaving his seat, he yanked my seatbelt off and forced me to my feet. “Come on, it’s time we meet these guys and get this shit done.”

  Speechless, I let Varon drag me out of the shuttle, and the sea breeze whipped at my hair as I stepped onto the deck. There were at least seven Rippers, and all of them wore tactical gear over their broad shoulders, not to mention the heavy rifles they carried. They looked as imposing as the Jorkan except, while the Jorkan looked warrior-like and noble, these guys looked completely psychopathic and murderous. No wonder everyone hated them.

  Only one of the Rippers, the tallest of them, didn’t carry a gun. Instead of tactical gear, he wore a simple black tunic, and a gold chain hung from his neck. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and offered Varon a shark-like smile.

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Varon,” the Ripper said, his voice guttural and harsh. “I was afraid you weren’t going to show up.”

  “How could I miss a meeting with my new investors?” Varon said, chuckling softly. He was trying to hide it, but I could tell that he was a nervous mess. On the flight here, he’d popped a few pills to calm his nerves, but they didn’t seem to be working. I wasn’t surprised—these Rippers looked dangerous. “I wasn’t expecting you to get here before me, but that’s for the best. Right now, all I want is to make sure that we’ve reached an understanding.”

  “But we have, haven’t we?” the Ripper with the gold chain continued. “We become silent partners in your companies, and we’ll save you from the financial hole you’re in. Also, you’ll be safe from having some very compromising information finding the light of day. Aren’t you happy with this little arrangement of ours, Varon? Or should we go back to the negotiating table?”

  The Ripper’s speech was polite, but there were veiled threats in there. For a change, Varon didn’t act like his idiotic self, and he seemed to get the subtext. Clearing his throat, he gave the Rippers a nod.

  “No need to negotiate,” he said. “I know what the deal is, and I like it.” Still nervous, he tried to put a smile on hi
s face. I could tell he was scared shitless but, at the same time, he seemed ecstatic with this deal he had made. Even though it seemed the Rippers were about to turn Varon into their little bitch, the bright side for Varon was that he wouldn’t be ruined. “Well, I think a celebration is in order, right?”

  “A celebration?” the Rippers’ leader repeated.

  “Evidently.” Smiling, Varon clapped his hands together, and a few members of his staff immediately disappeared below deck. Just a couple of seconds later and they reappeared, leading a group of Aurvelian women. They were all bikini-clad, and there was no mistaking their role aboard the ship. Their pink skin glimmered under the bright sun, their breathy giggles carried to us by the breeze. They didn’t seem particularly concerned with the fact that the yacht’s deck was full of Rippers. As for the Rippers, they didn’t hide how pleased they were with Varon’s offering. “Enjoy yourselves, my friends.”

  With that, Varon grabbed me by the wrist and started dragging me across the deck.

  “What are you doing?” I said, trying to pull my arm free.

  “I think it’s time we have a celebration of our own,” he whispered, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “This should’ve happened the first night you spent here, but there’s still time for me to remedy it. I’m going to make you mine, Alicia.”

  “Varon, listen, you don’t want to—”

  “You better shut up now, bitch,” he growled. “It’s time you learn your place.”

  “You’re betraying your own people,” I continued. “More than just that, you’re acting like a—”

  “Oh, by the moons of Trakaria.” Gritting his teeth, he pushed me inside one of the suites below deck, and closed the door behind him. “Do you think I give a fuck about any of that? I know how the entire Jorkan government looks down on me. They have never respected me. Maybe it’s time they learn their places, as well.”