by Viola Grace
“It’s fine. You are exhausted and full of endorphins. Go home. Go to bed, and take some anti-inflammatory and a lot of water. Treat the dates like a drinking binge.”
Zera came over and hugged her, kissing her lightly. “Go. Home.”
Arcady nodded, grabbed her work ID, and headed out. Time to go home.
She was glad that she was in a transport. The air was warmer when the sun was up, and she was not dressed for eleven-thirty at night. It was a note for the future. Wear a shawl.
The vehicle pulled up outside her apartment building, and she got out. It remained until she got into her apartment, and then, it drove off. Arcady dropped onto her bed without changing. That much sex at the same time was exhausting. She wondered when her next date was going to come.
She made sure her alarm was set, and she fell asleep.
The next morning, her body was screaming, and when she got to work, there were two bottles of water and a bottle of anti-inflammatory waiting for her.
Krizt came by her desk. “Interesting breakfast.”
She grimaced and took two of the tablets, draining the water in one long gulp. “I had an eventful evening.”
He looked at her, and his nostrils flared. His eyes widened, and he left.
She had the sneaking suspicion that he could smell sex or the patron rubbed along the skin. Either way, she covered her face in her hands. He was the one she had imagined when she had been under and over her patron.
It took half an hour for the meds to kick in, and by that point, she was into her usual routine. She checked the schedule, and when the inventory was set to occur, she got up and headed to the storeroom with her clipboard to start checking equipment levels. She had done it to herself, so she had to continue on with it.
When she bent to get the lower shelves, she groaned, and Researcher Krizt murmured, “So, it has been a while?”
She breathed deep and glanced at him. “For what?”
“Whatever you got up to strained a lot of large muscle groups. I have a treatment for that if you care to come by after your inventory is complete or when you break for lunch.”
She nodded. “Thank you, but I did this to myself, so I am going to have to deal with it.”
“You are punishing yourself?”
“No, getting used to a new activity. I can’t run to you every time I do something stupid.” She sighed and recounted the extra centrifuges. Three.
She got to her feet and stifled her gasp as she used her glutes. She turned, and he was gone. She would have to listen to Zera when she gave directions, and she was going to lay in painkillers and water and start yoga. It couldn’t hurt, and it might disguise the rest of her aches and pains.
The next two months were eye-opening, and she got some regulars for her girlfriend experience.
Researcher Krizt had begun to smile when she walked in like he was planning something.
The day after Eighteen and her boyfriend left, Arcady had a date and was just stepping out of the transport when something hit her. She didn’t see them coming; she didn’t see anything. One moment she was standing straight; the next, the world exploded.
* * * *
Zera sat up and called peacekeepers, asking them to check on Arcady. Torun went up on his elbow. “What happened?”
“Arcady had a pain spike, but she left the base half an hour ago. She’s home. She should be home.”
“What kind of a spike?” He got out of bed and contacted his team. It was relatively easy; they were on the other side of the bed.
“Short, sharp shock. Someone hit her.”
He sighed. “There is a group out there grabbing women off the street, and when the women are found, they are catatonic.”
She flailed out of bed and got her suit on. “Are the women actives?”
“No, but they are generally hookers. I am guessing that your lady has created a pattern of late arrivals.”
“Shit.” She sealed her suit and brought up the tracker that she had implanted in Arcady. “Of course, it’s a park.” She sent the information on to the peacekeepers and watched the signal as it travelled.
Torun, Tycho, and Ryma were with her, and they left the hotel room at a run. She made one more call before they got into the team vehicle and hoped that he checked his messages when they came in. She had a bad feeling about the shape they were going to find Arcady in. Head wounds were nasty, and her vital signs were thready.
She got confirmation from Krizt that he was on his way. Zera was almost hoping that he got there first. She hadn’t seen her head researcher cut loose, but this was the situation to do it. He had been pining for Arcady since she was hired, and he was only a few days away from being an authorized patron.
The team was ready for a fight, and she certainly hoped that she got it.
They were at the park in six minutes, two minutes after Arcady’s captors. One minute after Krizt’s arrival, too bad for the men who were trying to hold her down.
Zera looked at Krizt, and she had to admit that he was impressive. Savage but impressive. His blue skin was streaked with scarlet, and someone must have tried to jump him from behind because his horns were coated with gore. His fangs were fully extended, and he was clearing ten feet around Arcady’s body.
Zera looked at Arcady, and her head was a mess. Blood was leaking from her ear, nose, and a gash was on her temple. Her clothing was covered in blood, torn, and there were nail marks running down her legs and arms. Hron and his team arrived, but Zera waved them back.
Zera murmured, “Hron, get ready to grab Arcady and take her to Arcross Hospital. I just have to get Krizt out of the way.”
Torun blinked and stared. “That is Krizt? Holy hells.”
Zera moved toward him and said, “Researcher Krizt, you did well. We need to get her to hospital, and as soon as she can be moved, we will transfer Arcady to your care. But, she has cranial bleeding, and we need to treat her. It looks like they cracked her skull. She needs immediate medical attention, and Hron can get here there in under a minute. They are waiting to help her with a trauma team, but you have to let us take her.”
He snarled and gnashed his teeth, stopping her slow approach. Help came from behind when Arcady started crying. Krizt was at her side in an instant, stroking her hair carefully and patting her hand. Zera was about to speak when Krizt picked Arcady up and walked to Hron, carefully transferring her over.
Hron said, “I will take good care of her.”
Krizt touched her cheek and backed away. The speedster carefully held his burden, and they were gone.
Zera looked around and spoke to Krizt. “Take a swim in the lake and come back. It was really obvious that you were enjoying yourself.”
Tycho went to stop the peacekeepers and warn them of the brutality of the scene. Zera looked at the pieces of human predators strewn over the grass and the stone that had been used as a makeshift altar. This was going to be messy, and it would be public, but Arcady was going to be exposed to the judicial system. It was fine as she was already a registered active, and her skillset hadn’t altered. She would be able to appear as a witness, and if a team was sent to her home, they would find traces of her abduction.
Torun put his arm around her. “You really like her.”
“I do, and if one of those bastards crosses my path, I am going to show them their own stomach.” She looked at the approaching peacekeepers. “In a dark alley, of course.”
“Of course. You are very careful, my love.”
The peacekeepers were appalled at the bloody mess of at least four—no five—men. Zera explained the situation and that she was eager to check on her employee. They had her contact information and allowed her to leave with Torun and Ryma. They found Krizt, wet but only dripping a bit of pink water behind some trees. They casually settled him into the vehicle and drove him back to the lab. He could get the tank ready for when Arcady was released from the hospital. It would give him something to do.
Zera watched him go into the bui
lding with a sigh of relief. He could change, shower, and get something to eat.
* * * *
Arcady was swathed in darkness and pain. Her head throbbed, her legs hurt, and there were tubes in a lot of places. There should be no tubes. She snuffled and looked around the dim room. She moved, and a light alarm sounded. Movement occurred behind her, and she stared as Krizt came around and took her hand. “Don’t talk; they have a breathing tube in you.”
He held her hand, and he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. A nurse came in and smiled at her. “Miss Arcady, you are a lucky woman. That blow should have crushed your skull instead of cracking it.”
She wanted to speak, but there wasn’t anything she could say. She had gotten a direct collision with luck that same day.
The nurse and a respiratory specialist came in and warned her, “This is going to suck.”
She coughed out the tube and lay back gasping. Krizt was supporting her with an arm around her back.
She slowly got her mouth moving. “What day?”
“Sunday.”
“But. Was Tuesday.”
“That was a week ago. You have been in a barbiturate coma for eleven days.” He adjusted the bed, and she slowly elevated to a sitting position.
“What happened?”
He explained that she had been targeted by a group that grabbed prostitutes and gang-raping them in the park as a twisted fertility ritual. The humans were grabbing at any reason to assault one of their own, so prostitution was the target, just as it had been throughout history.
“So, they timed your returns to your apartment and figured out that you were always coming back in an expensive automated transport.”
She sucked on an ice chip and frowned. “How did they even get my name or address?”
“One of the people at the homeless shelter gave them the name and address.”
“Not one of the clients.”
He shook his head. “No, one of the staff. He didn’t know you were an active. He just knew that your brother was upset about your new side business, so he had another name to sell to the jackals that were doing this.”
She looked down. “What happened to me?”
“You were struck on the head when exiting the transport. The transport was short-circuited at your home, and you were carried to a new vehicle. When you were struck, the tracker in you spiked, and Zera was notified. She got a team together, called another, notified peacekeepers, and she called me, telling me where they were headed. When I caught your scent, I was there before they could do more than lay you out.”
“So, you rescued me.”
He winced. “I kept them from hurting you or anyone else. I have been through a few depositions and am clear as far as the peacekeepers and prosecutors go.”
She sighed. “Thank you. I am really sorry that you are involved in this. I actually just thought that it would satisfy my need to be touched. The money was donated to charity.”
He chuckled. “I know. I also know that you have only been at it for a few months. Since that day, you did inventory and almost couldn’t move.”
She blushed, and her head throbbed. “I did wonder if you could notice somehow.”
“His scent was still on you.”
“Oh. Geez. Sorry. You don’t talk about your activation. I didn’t know scent was part of it.”
“Scent, touch, taste, they are all enhanced.” He smiled. “Ah, our boss has offered you a singular option, by the way.”
“What?”
“Alterations. First, a healing, and then, the same kind of lamination that Tirra had. Next time someone sneaks up on you, they won’t crack anything.” He smiled. “Then, we can work on weaponry.”
“I don’t want weapons.”
He cocked his head. “A tail? I have one; it doesn’t get in the way.”
Her eyes widened. “You have a tail? How did I not see that? I have spent enough time staring at your ass.”
“I wrap it around my waist.”
She blinked. “Wow. The things I almost have to die to find out. Oh. Wait. I missed Dr. Wendel’s birthday.”
He sighed. “I brought in the cupcakes. Everyone is waiting eagerly for your return, though. I didn’t buy enough.”
She sighed and leaned back. “Sorry to have caused so much fuss.”
Zera came in carrying an armload of pink roses. “Geez. I leave for five minutes, and you wake up.”
Arcady looked at the flowers and then looked around the room, and she realized that she was in a floral jungle. “What the actual hell?”
Zera shrugged as she put the flowers down. “Well, I had to explain to your patrons why you weren’t available. Some of them wanted the names of the survivors, and I told them there weren’t many and that Krizt had gotten there first. They found that acceptable.”
Arcady looked at Researcher Krizt. “What don’t I know?” He was his normal button-down-shirted and vested self.
Zera grinned, and Krizt shrugged. He said, “I am sure that closer association will provide you with more insight. Now, we are waiting for a doctor to discharge you, and then, we can begin the first phase of your transformation.”
Zera snickered. “He told you about his grand design?”
“Uh, no. He said he would give me a similar skeletal plating to the one we did on Tirra. Then, he tried to go for a few weapons, but I don’t need weapons.” She put another ice chip in her mouth. “These flowers aren’t going to fit into my apartment.”
Zera winced. “Your place was broken into, and WHORE was spray-painted on the walls. It was also done at a few other apartments from the dead prostitutes. The guy who stayed to do the vandalism was lucky.”
Krizt growled low. “He was caught as he destroyed your belongings.”
Arcady sighed. “At least tell me he spelled it correctly. I hate bad graffiti.”
Zera nodded. “Mostly. He left the R and E off the last one when he got caught by the peacekeepers. So, it says WHO.”
Arcady smiled, and she wheezed.
The doctor came in, checked on her scalp, and nodded. “Right. I wouldn’t normally clear this, but she has her own physician, so I will discharge her to your care, Dr. Krizt.”
Arcady sighed in relief. Two nurses came in, tubes were removed, needles pulled from her skin, and a chair was brought for her. Krizt transferred her from bed to chair, and Zera promised to bring the flowers to the lab for her. Krizt would take care of her until she was better, and after seeing images of her house, she wasn’t in a hurry to get back to it.
Zera would have a service salvage what they could, and the surviving items would end up in storage until she had a place to put them. Maybe Thomas could hang onto it for her.
Chapter Four
The drive from the hospital to Z-Tech was silent. She was exhausted from the bits of conversation, and when he spoke, she was surprised.
“When do you feel you will resume your work with the BDC?”
“Uh, I think it says in my contract that I will have to have another physical after a catastrophic injury. So, once you are done with me and I find an apartment closer to work.”
He chuckled. “You are looking for a place downtown?”
“Probably. I mean, the thought is just an hour old, but it seems sensible. Something with an active doorman.”
He nodded. “Not a bad idea. I can help you look.”
She chuckled as they entered the parkade of Z-Tech. She paled. “I don’t think I can walk to the elevator.”
“Don’t worry. I can carry you.”
He parked and got out, coming around the vehicle for her. She unsnapped the safety belt, and he slid his arms under her legs and behind her back. He lifted her so easily that she was rethinking all the times he had offered to help her move items around the lab.
They entered the elevator, and he held her closer than he needed to as he keyed in the override.
“I should have brought my lanyard.” She leaned her head against him. “Why did you want to
know about my resuming my work with BDC? I would have thought you wouldn’t approve.”
“I do, and I don’t. Given the current political climate, I understand that it fits a need, but I didn’t think I had that need until you arrived here and started working with me.”
She was stunned. “Oh. I am sorry to have disrupted your routine.”
He snickered and stepped into the hallway when the elevator stopped.
“Wait. Why did we go down to the lab? The medical area is on seven.”
Krizt shrugged and carried her through a series of security doors, one by one. “For what I am about to do to you, we don’t want too many witnesses. Those with clearance will come to visit, and that handful will be enough.”
“What are you planning, aside from the lamination?”
“Thicken your skin, give you some horns, make it very obvious to anyone that you are not human.” He smiled. “I made a design projection.”
She yawned. “I don’t know about the horns.”
“Just little ones. Tiny little spikes in your widow’s peak.”
“Maybe one long one from the edge of my hairline sweeping backward.”
“Venom?”
“Mild hypnotic.” She muttered it as she leaned against him. She was exhausted. “Small fangs.”
“I hadn’t even gotten to the fangs yet.”
“When you drink, I have fang envy.”
“Ah. Are you sure that is what that is? Every time I bite Molly, you get aroused.”
“Do I? Yeah, that makes sense. Every patron I have had, at least at some point, I have imagined it was you.”
He shuddered. “That is heartening. Perhaps we will skip the horns for now, but I am still going to make you sturdier.”
She smiled. “Sturdy would be good. Right now, I feel like a pounded steak.”
They entered one of the biolabs, and he fitted her with more injection ports, got the primer into her, fitted her with the mask, and carried her up and into the tank, slipping her in so that she floated in an upright position. Her hair floated around her, and she wished that it had been tied back. Krizt pressed his palm to the outside of the tube, and she did the same. The oxygen came and went, and she was warm, safe, and behind a half-dozen bio-secure doors.
