They landed roughly, tossed like ragdolls by the force of the methane explosion. Michael’s first thought was to check that the others were okay. He had already healed from most of the injuries he’d taken in the landing. The burns to his skin had healed instantly, and all that remained as evidence of his injuries was the ache of his newly-knitted bones.
OH, DAMN! He put a hand to his head to check his hair. Still there.
Michael scanned the meaty landscape and saw Peter about a hundred feet away. He was back in human form, clutching his ribs with an arm as he struggled to his feet. Akio had landed against a tree a similar distance down the slope and was leaning against the snapped trunk tending to a broken leg.
Both he and Peter made their way carefully to Akio, avoiding the bubbling pools of stomach acid mixed with blood, shit, and rainwater that had formed wherever the land dipped enough to hold it.
Michael held out his hands to receive Akio’s foot, and Akio gritted his teeth while Michael pulled his broken bone into place to speed the healing process.
Akio grimaced at the momentary pain. “Thank you.”
Michael shrugged, then winced a twinge of pain from the healed collarbone he’d snapped on impact. “Don’t mention it.”
Peter grinned at Michael and snickered as he indicated the huge slabs of smoking meat dotting the slope. The bottom half of the beast’s body was burning merrily up on the rim of the plateau despite the heavy rain, and the top half lay in goopy chunks all around them. “I don’t think any of this is salvageable.”
Michael raised an eyebrow at the gory landscape. “We will skip the video on this. It might put some off eating.”
Akio made a face. “It’s making me consider vegetarianism.” The six-hundred-year-old vampire looked at them with a straight face for a moment, then the corner of his mouth quirked. He pointed at Michael’s and Peter’s twin expressions of disbelief and broke into a deep chuckle. “Help me up. We should call for a ride home.”
Michael and Peter held out a hand each and hauled him to his feet.
Peter looked down at himself. “I’ll go get some pants on before the transport arrives.”
Michael smirked. “That might be a good idea.” He eyed Peter. “Not that anyone will be able to tell you’re naked under all that gore.”
Akio wrinkled his nose as he pinched the leg of his trousers between a thumb and forefinger before letting the sodden fabric drop. “Or that we are wearing any under all of this. A hot shower would be welcome.”
Michael nodded. “Very true.”
Colonnara, Warehouse District
“Can you go any faster?” Addix asked the taxi driver. Her mandibles worked overtime in her anxiety for Alexis and Gabriel’s safety. Given the speed at which the trackers were moving, Addix hadn’t been too worried about the gap while they were on the highway.
However, the trackers had stopped moving, and the intensity of her need to get to the children increased with every passing second.
The human driver glanced back at her with wide eyes and shook his head. “Regulations, ma’am. My taxi is restricted, I’m already at the limit.”
Addix hissed in frustration. “This won’t do!”
Phyrro spoke up from the holo. “I can circumvent the restrictions on the taxi’s engines.”
Addix tilted her head at the driver, who nodded his agreement.
She’d lucked out finding this human, who was a staunch supporter of Bethany Anne whether she was in power or not. People like that could almost always be relied upon in exigent circumstances.
A quick explanation of Addix’s situation had allayed the man’s initial fear of the enraged and disrobed Ixtali in his cab and they had sped after the children’s trackers without much more discussion.
The driver let out a surprised grunt when the controls began to act without his input.
“Do not worry,” Phyrro told him from the taxi’s speaker. “I am in complete control now.”
Addix banged an impatient hand on the seat beside her. “Phyrro, what are you waiting for? Get me to the children!”
Alexis and Gabriel huddled together in the back of the office the Yollin had shoved them into and plotted while they waited for Addix to arrive to rescue them.
Despite their earlier bravado in the back of the transport, they were a little scared. Still, they hadn’t allowed their captors to see that. They had held their heads high and glared at the Yollin and her henchmen as they were roughly marched inside the warehouse on their arrival.
Alexis focused on her hand, willing the magic to spark so she could blast them an exit right through the kidnappers.
Gabriel watched intently. Is it working? Can you feel anything?
Alexis let her shoulders drop as she released her concentration. No, she conceded with more than a little vexation. It’s not like the game, Gabriel. I can’t just make the magic happen here. We need Aunt Addix.
Gabriel nodded soberly. This is real life. Things are harder. We do need Aunt Addix.
The taxi pulled to a stop two buildings from the warehouse where Phyrro had located the children’s tracker beacons.
“Good luck,” the driver whispered as Addix exited the taxi. “I’ll wait nearby for you.”
Addix nodded her thanks to the man and all but ran up the side of the building. Once on the roof, she made all haste to get across to the building where Alexis and Gabriel were being held. The gaps between the warehouses were narrow, and she had no trouble jumping across.
The warehouse roof she landed on was in poor repair. She soon found the roof access, which was secured with a thumb scanner. A quick glance around revealed a dirt-covered skylight.
Addix walked over to the skylight and wiped a smear of the encrusted grime away to peer down into the main area of the warehouse. There was a fifty-foot drop between her and the warehouse floor, where a two-legged Yollin paced while two brutish-looking humans muttered sullenly to one another over by a piece of dead machinery.
She lifted the holo to speak to Phyrro. “Where are the children?”
Phyrro tilted his head. “They are in an office at the back of the building.”
Addix’s mandibles twitched furiously. “Are their vitals okay?”
“They are within acceptable tolerances,” Phyrro replied. “But they are distressed. What are you doing?” he asked as Addix began to walk to the edge of the roof. “The door is in the opposite direction.”
Addix narrowed her eyes. She palmed her Jean Dukes Special, turned it sideways and checked to see she had the right cartridge loaded. Then she checked the harness she was wearing across her chest to ensure she still had her throwing knives. Satisfied she was ready, she turned and took a running start at the skylight.
“This is the fastest route to Alexis and Gabriel. As my Queen would say, fuck the stairs.”
She leapt and landed on all four feet perfectly, smashing the old
glass. The kidnappers jerked their heads toward the commotion, startled by Addix’s unexpected incursion.
She fired her Jean Dukes at the ceiling as she descended into the warehouse in a shower of broken glass and dirt and grabbed the near end of the sticky rope the cartridge produced. The other end attached itself to the ceiling, slowing her fall.
Addix flipped and took the rope in her back feet to free up her hands. She needed them to tear these walking dead to shreds. The kidnappers did what cowardly people always do.
They screamed and ran.
Addix flicked a pair of knives at their retreating backs, and they soon stopped their noise. Easy deaths, but then they were just the muscle. She tilted her head and stared ice at the ringleader as her front feet touched down silently on the warehouse floor.
Addix released the rope and walked toward the Yollin with murder in her eyes. “You made a mistake today. No one who dares to harm the children under my care survives.”
The Yollin stared down the barrel of Addix’s Jean Dukes Special in complete shock. She opened and closed her mandi
bles, but all that came out was gibberish.
Addix had no time for any of it. She fired once as she swept past on her way to the office where the children were being held, and the Yollin crumpled to the floor minus the top half of her head.
The office door was easily broken open when she got there, and the children rushed over to cling to her legs in their relief. “Are you hurt?” she asked them.
“No,” Alexis replied.
“Just glad you came for us,” Gabriel added.
Addix scooped the twins up in her arms. “I will always come for you,” she told them fiercely. “I am only sorry you were taken in the first place. We are leaving this planet at once.” She carried them out of the warehouse, not bothering to skirt the corpses of the kidnappers or hide them from the children.
“Aunt Addix?” Alexis asked once they had left the warehouse and headed to the waiting taxi.
“Yes?” Addix was almost pained by the tear-filled expression on the little girl’s face.
“We didn’t get Mommy’s gift.”
Addix fastened her seatbelt and leaned over to do Gabriel’s. “Do not worry, children. I know of another planet we can visit to shop.”
Gabriel frowned. “What if we get kidnapped again?”
Addix chuckled. “I don’t think they have kidnappers walking the streets there.”
“Why not?” Alexis asked.
“Because,” Addix’s mandibles conveyed her amusement as she spoke, “they have strict penalties for anyone who so much as drops a piece of litter on the ground.”
Gabriel turned to look out of the back window. “Can’t be worse than your penalty, Aunt Addix.”
Addix shrugged. “Oh, but it can be, children.” She nodded sagely at their disbelieving faces. “I was merciful. I did not prolong their pain.”
High Tortuga, Southern Continent
Peter made sure to breathe through his mouth while he jogged back to the guys. The air was hot, heavy and foul-smelling. The lack of wind after the storm ended left the compressed stench of the exploded creature firmly on the uplands. Peter was just glad he was back in human form, although his still-heightened senses made it no easier to stomach.
“Wonder what the local version of the news will think about this?”
He fastened his belt and pulled his shirt on quickly before returning to where Michael and Akio waited on the edge of the plateau for him.
The two vampires turned from the bloody vista below at the sound of his feet squelching in the muck.
Peter walked to the edge and grimaced at the steaming mess below. “What are you going to tell Bethany Anne when we get back without a single shred of meat to show for our efforts?”
Michael looked down the slope with a sigh. “I don't think my wife will be too bothered by that.” He indicated the carnage below. “This could actually be her ideal outcome.”
“Especially since this was not what she agreed to you hunting.” Peter nodded slowly, still struck by the scale of the monster they had defeated.
Akio turned away from the mess. “She did not want even the T-rex meat in the base. You would die a thousand deaths before she forgave you for bringing that much meat into her home.”
Michael was silent.
Peter looked from one to the other. “I guess we won’t need a bigger transport if we have nothing to take back with us. I’ve called for a Pod.”
They boarded the Pod when it arrived a few minutes later. As soon as the door shut, they were once again able to smell themselves, and now that they weren’t the cleanest things in the immediate environment it became unbearable to carry the weight of the gore they were encrusted with.
Every movement Michael and Akio made sent a sprinkle of muck to the floor. They all squelched as they walked gingerly to their seats. Peter was the oddest of them all. The whites of his eyes and his teeth were all that showed through the grimy mask above his reasonably clean shirt.
Michael sat carefully and turned to grimace at the slurry they’d tracked into the immaculate Pod. “This is beyond messy.”
Peter looked back at the trail. “Messy doesn’t even begin to cover it. We look like a meat tornado hit us. I’ve been holding my breath since the explosion.”
Akio pointed out a river on the lowlands. “It would be good to clean up before we go home.” He shifted uncomfortably in his rapidly-crusting clothing. “I doubt we would be well received in our current state.”
“You’ve got that right.” Peter altered the Pod’s course to head for the river. “I’d fight that fucking thing all over again for a swim.”
Michael raised an eyebrow. “You could just land the Pod.” He huffed at the fine shower of crud that came loose from his forehead and got up. “Do we have anything we can fish with aboard?”
Peter pointed at the door to the storage compartment in the back of the Pod. “Yeah, in the storage compartment. You said bring everything, so I brought everything.”
Akio left with Michael to search out some fishing equipment.
Peter brought them in a short distance from the river and set a couple of cleaner bots to take care of the interior before following Michael and Akio down to the water’s edge.
He dropped his gear and started to strip. “Nice of you guys to wait for me.”
Michael splashed water at him, adding a little touch of Etheric energy to his swipe to ensure Peter got a thorough soaking.
“Hey!”
“Just get in the damn water,” Michael ordered. He grinned as he splashed at Peter again.
“Cannonbaaaaaalllll!” Peter landed with a huge splash. The water enveloped him, drowning out Michael and Akio’s protests.
Coming up, he spun a lazy circle to counteract the current while he rubbed his head vigorously to dislodge the clingy muck from his hair, then stood and shook himself like a dog, soaking Michael and Akio again in the process.
Akio wiped the excess water from his face with a hand. His mouth twitched and his eyebrow went up as he pointed at Peter. “You will live to regret that.”
Peter cocked his head gave the two vampires a rakish grin. “Aw, c’mon!” He drew back both arms and splashed them both again. “I’m just helping you guys get cleaned up.”
Michael shared a look with Akio. “Will he live?”
Akio grinned as the two of them advanced on Peter. “Probably not.”
6
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Queen’s Suite
Tabitha left her fork standing up in her bowl and looked from Bethany Anne to Cheryl Lynn with dawning comprehension. “The Dread Pirate Roberts isn’t a ship of the fleet?”
Bethany Anne paused the movie to look at her friend. “Are you serious?”
Tabitha made a face and shrugged. “Well, yeah. I’ve heard that name, but I hadn’t seen the movie. Whenever anyone said it, I thought they were talking about a ship. One of the superdreadnoughts, maybe?”
Bethany Anne looked at Tabitha with a bemused expression. “No. What?”
Tabitha shrugged and looked at Cheryl Lynn for backup. “It sounds like a ship’s name.”
Cheryl Lynn shook her head. “It’s a pretty famous movie. There’s a lot of references.”
Tabitha crossed her arms and pouted. “If you like rom-coms.”
Bethany Anne lifted a finger in an attempt to speak through her tears of laughter, but ADAM cut in before she got enough control of herself to comment.
“Sorry to interrupt again, ladies. Bethany Anne, Kael-ven wants to speak to you. He says it’s important.”
Bethany Anne wiped her eyes. “It’s not an interruption if it’s important, ADAM. Link him into the room.” Bethany Anne gave the others an apologetic shrug. “Looks like movie night is over.”
Cheryl Lynn waved off the apology. “Go ahead, it’s fine. Duty calls, and we’re here to take care of this mess.” She got up to gather the snacks up from the table. “We had a good night, didn’t we, Tabitha?”
Tabitha pouted. “It’s not fine! I want to know what ha
ppens at the end of the movie.” She sighed and got up to help Cheryl Lynn clean up. “I’ll just watch it later with Achronyx.”
Kael-ven’s face replaced the movie and his translated Yollin speech came through the front speaker. “Greetings, my Queen. It’s about your missing scout ship. It’s not good news.” He stopped talking for a moment. “I’m not sure how much I should say over this connection.”
“It’s secure,” Bethany Anne told him. She waved her finger in a circle for Kael-ven to continue. “Are you going to tell me what the news is?”
Kael-ven shuffled uncomfortably. “We recovered the ship, what was left of it. But the EI, she… She had some disturbing information.”
Bethany Anne frowned. “What kind of disturbing information?”
Kael-ven’s mandibles clicked rapidly, and Bethany Anne listened while he gave his report on what the technicians had recovered from the EI Loralei. “We extracted her anyway, taking all precautions, and we found a smear of an unidentifiable substance inside the inner core.”
Bethany Anne leaned forward on the couch. “Inside the core? How?”
Kael-ven shrugged. “We’re not certain how it got there, but the techs say it had to have been placed there by someone. Mellor and Robinson have been testing it to ascertain its purpose, and they seem sure that it is active in some way.”
“Active? In what way?” Bethany Anne frowned. “Nothing and no one except the SSE team or me should have been able to get into the inner casing without setting off the self-destruct.”
“I don’t know what else I can tell you except what the team told me. We found the substance inside the casing. There was electrical activity from it.” Kael-ven shuffled again, his frown of concern matching hers. “Just a minute amount, but it was enough to worry me. This could be technology, but it is not technology as we would recognize it.”
Bethany Anne rested her elbows on her knees and tapped her lips with a finger while she considered the implications of the information. “That is concerning. And there was no trace of any other outsider technology at the site to compare it to?”
Through The Fire and Flame (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 3) Page 6
