by Nina Croft
“I have journeyed the path,” Saffira said in the same monotone voice.
“And can the Chosen One guide the way?”
A smile spread across her face. “I can.”
Beside him, Thorne made a small sound. Devlin turned to look and caught the shock on the man’s face before he hid the expression.
“I take it that was not expected?” he said.
Thorne glanced at him. “Hoped for, maybe even expected. But never before heard.”
“So what does it mean?”
“It means she has seen the way to the Promised Land. We can go home.”
“Great. Well, as long as it doesn’t delay us. I have things to do.”
Thorne gave him an almost pitying glance. “You need to put aside your hatred.”
“Never going to happen.”
Thorne took a deep breath. “You promised to listen.”
“Well, let’s get on with whatever we have to listen to, and we can get the fuck out of here.”
“I second that,” Tannis said, coming to stand beside them. “Have I mentioned this place gives me the creeps?”
Thorne sighed and rose to his feet. “Follow me.”
They did that a lot and Devlin was getting a little fed up with it—he wasn’t a natural-born follower. This time Thorne led them into a smaller room, leading directly off the chamber. Saffira was already there along with the second woman who had helped her, who Devlin now realized was heavily pregnant.
Saffira paced the room. Blinking rapidly, she appeared animated, excited, probably still hyped up on whatever drug they had given her. She turned as they entered, and her gaze locked on him.
“Right,” Tannis said. “You wanted us to listen. Now here we are and we’re listening.”
Saffira plonked herself on the couch and sat on her hands as though to keep them still. She took a deep breath, then another, and he could see the calmness smoothing out the agitation.
“We have a prophecy, that one would come who—”
“Yeah, yeah, we already got that bit,” Tannis said. “Who’ll take you to the Promised Land…”
“That was only part of the prophecy,” Saffira replied, her voice unruffled at the interruption. “They would take our people to the Promised Land, but first they would ensure the survival of the whole human race.”
“Talk about delusions of grandeur,” Tannis muttered. “So you’re going to save the whole human race? And I suppose you’re going to tell us how?”
Saffira nodded. This was going to be interesting. “I’m going to travel back in time, to before the Earth was destroyed, and tell the people they have to leave.”
Devlin had been leaning against the wall, now he straightened. This was way beyond what he’d expected.
“Right, of course you are,” Tannis said, disbelief clear in her voice.
“I have seen,” Saffira said.
“And if you don’t travel back…”
“When the Earth is destroyed, mankind will also be destroyed and humanity will be no more. And you, me, the whole Trakis system, the present as we know it, will cease to exist.”
“We all just vanish in a puff of smoke. Well, excuse me if I find that a little hard to believe. So we’ve listened to what you have to say—as we promised—and now we really have to be on our way.”
“Wait a second,” Rico said.
Tannis sighed, but a look of resignation settled on her face. “Go on then, indulge your curiosity or we’ll never hear the end of it.”
Rico grinned. “What did you see?”
“I saw the wormhole. And I saw me talking to a man—the president—”
“What did he look like?” Rico interrupted.
Devlin watched her closely. This would no doubt catch her out. Was she aware that both Callum and Rico had known the last president of the Federation of Nations?
She closed her eyes as if reliving a memory. “Tall, with almost white blond hair and pale blue eyes. And he was thin—very thin.”
“That’s him.”
“You don’t actually believe this crap, do you?” Tannis asked. She turned to Callum. “What about you? You believe it?”
“I’m not sure. Before the whole Meridian thing, I wouldn’t have believed in telepathy or immortality. And I never believed in vampires or werewolves. Who knows what else is out there. Time travel? Let’s just say I’m not as skeptical as I used to be.”
“Devlin?”
Devlin glanced at Saffira before he answered and caught an almost hopeful look on her face. For a second he had the urge to say “I believe you” just to see the hope turn to something better. And the truth was, Callum was right. There were things in the universe they could never understand. But so what?
“I don’t think it matters,” he said. “It’s nothing to do with us. Our business is back in the Trakis system with the people who killed Tris.” He looked from Tannis to Callum. “And Janey. You swore on Trakis Four, when we had Hatcher in our sights, that we would be back to get him. I stopped because Tannis’s life was at risk. But these people”—He waved a hand around the room avoiding looking directly at Saffira—“aren’t our responsibility. I say good luck to them, but we need to be on our way.”
Saffira marched toward him, halted only inches away, and rested her hands on her hips. For the first time she looked pissed.
“You could still come with us,” he said before she could speak. “There’s probably enough room for your…sisters as well. And your protector”—he nodded toward Thorne, who lounged against the back wall, arms folded across his chest, but still giving the impression he was ready to jump in and protect his charge—“and his friends. The Blood Hunter is a big ship. We can drop you off somewhere on the other side. You can still find your planet.”
“Haven’t you listened to a word I’ve said?” Saffira asked, her tone reasonable but with an undercurrent of frustration.
“I heard the bit about us being lovers and, believe me, darling, I’ll fuck you, I’ll even help you get away from here, but stand in my way and I’ll walk right over you.”
“Don’t you get it?” she snapped. “If I don’t do this, there won’t be a ‘me’ to walk over and there won’t be a ‘you’ to do the walking.”
“And you’re 100 percent sure of that?”
Doubt flickered across her face. “Of course I’m not. But I know what I’ve seen is truth.”
“Great. Then good luck. I hope you have a successful visit back to the old home planet. And thanks for saving us all.”
She gritted her teeth, took a big gulp of breath, and seemed to get herself under control. Reaching out, she rested a hand on his arm, and his muscles tensed. “Please, Devlin. We need your help. I need your help.”
“And it’s all yours, sweetheart, as long as it doesn’t take more than the next five minutes. Because after that, we’re off.”
“Hey,” Tannis said. “Who made you captain?”
Devlin looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Okay. I agree. Five minutes and we’re off.” She turned to Rico. “Sorry. But I don’t like this place and I don’t trust these people. And while I’m open-minded about the whole time travel thing, I really don’t believe that we’ll disappear in a puff of smoke if she doesn’t go back to Earth.”
“You don’t understand. I have gone back. I’ve been. It has been seen and not just by me.”
“Then what’s the problem? You’ll get back and save the world. It’s got bugger all to do with us.”
Saffira released her grip on his arm and turned away. She paced the room a couple of times and cast a glance at Thorne. Devlin saw a brief nod of agreement pass between the two of them. But agreement about what? Before he had the chance to mull the thought over, she turned back to face them.
“I need the Blood Hunter.”
Everyone remained silent.
“In my vision, I’m on the bridge of the Blood Hunter when we enter the wormhole.”
Devlin had been waiting
for something of the sort. “Well, I guess you’re going to have to find yourself another ride, sweetheart.”
“Stop calling me sweetheart.”
He grinned. “I thought you liked it…sweetheart.”
She threw him a dirty glance and turned to Tannis. “Please, Captain. You’re our only hope.”
“Sorry, but as Devlin said—we have our own agenda.” She thought for a moment. “I suppose we could leave you one of the long-range shuttles. That might get you where you need to go. After all—you have saved our lives and our ship and we’re grateful. Just not that grateful.”
“It’s not enough.”
“Now don’t be greedy.”
“You don’t understand. It’s not just the ship I need.”
“It’s not?” Tannis asked. “You need Devlin to keep you company? I’ve got to warn you, he can be a miserable bastard.”
“Thanks,” he muttered. Did everyone think he was miserable? It must be true.
“No.” She glanced at Thorne again as if trying to decide something and shrugged. “I need either Rico or Callum.”
Somehow, he didn’t like the sound of that. What did they have that he didn’t?
“And what do you need me for?” Rico asked. “Devlin not putting out? Well I’m sorry, darling, but I’m already taken.” He pulled Skylar to his side with a lazy smile.
Saffira pursed her lips. “Can’t you take this seriously? This could mean the end of humanity, and you treat it as a joke.”
Rico shuddered. “Well, if we’re going to get serious, it’s definitely time to go.”
“I still have two more minutes.”
“Go ahead then, why do you need me? And it better be good.”
She spoke fast. “We’ve spent years studying the whole theory of time travel, using what we see in the visions and what Thorne has been able to pull from the minds of the Old Ones. And we believe the wormholes can be controlled in part. They can take you to a specific time and place, but only if you have something from that time and place.”
“Ahh,” Rico murmured. “You want to go back to Earth just before the exodus.”
“Actually about twenty years before. So they can prepare, build the ships—”
“And you think either me or Callum could take you there as we were both present at the time?”
“Yes,” Saffira said. “So you see, you have to help us.”
“No we don’t,” Tannis muttered. “Oh my God, that would mean two Ricos in one place. That’s reason enough not to attempt it.”
Saffira’s face tightened at the comment. “So you won’t help?”
Tannis shrugged. “The offer of the shuttle still stands, but otherwise…no.”
Saffira blinked a couple of times. She was thinking hard. He could almost see the emotions crossing her face. He waited for her to reach resignation—after all—what could she do? Instead, her expression settled into hard lines and a shiver of foreboding ran through him. She turned to Thorne. This time her nod wasn’t hidden. “Then I’m sorry.”
He didn’t have to wait long to see what she was sorry about. Without a word, Callum, Tannis, and Skylar crumpled to the floor.
No one moved. Devlin’s gaze shot from the people sprawled lifeless to Saffira. For a second, she looked tragic, then the expression faded, and she stared back at him.
“I do what I must.”
In some ways, he could understand her. She was driven, as he was. Unfortunately, he didn’t think Rico was going to be quite so understanding. The vampire crouched down on the floor beside Skylar, felt for the pulse in her throat, and glanced up at Saffira as the humanity bled from his face. He snarled, revealing his fangs. “Release her.”
“I can’t.”
Rico straightened and took a menacing step toward her. Instinctively, Devlin stepped between them.
“Get out of my way.”
“Touch her and the woman dies.” The voice came from behind them and Devlin whirled. Thorne’s gaze was focused on Skylar and she moved, her body arching off the ground. “Touch Saffira and I’ll break this one’s mind. Snap it like a twig before you can reach me.”
“Are you doing this?” Devlin asked, waving a hand at the bodies.
Thorne nodded once. “They won’t be harmed. Just do as we ask and they’ll be returned to you.”
Rico growled again. Devlin wasn’t sure whether he was processing the words, whether he even heard them.
“Rico!” he said sharply. For a moment he didn’t think he would get through, then the vampire’s gaze slid from Saffira to Devlin, and a shudder ran through him.
“Skylar’s all right.” Devlin kept his tone soothing. “She’ll be fine.”
A flicker of humanity returned to the vampire’s eyes and they narrowed. “Dios, don’t fucking try and sooth me. I don’t want to be fucking soothed.” He whirled around to face Thorne. “Wake her up.”
But it was Saffira who answered. “No.”
Devlin had to give her one thing—she had balls.
Rico’s gaze slid to the girl. “Are you sure about that? Are you sure you want me as your enemy?” His voice was almost a croon.
Saffira swallowed, but she straightened, her backbone stiffening. “I don’t want to be your enemy. I asked for your help in friendship.”
“And we declined.”
“This is more important than you or her—” Rico growled and she hesitated, but just for a second. “Or me. Do as we ask and they won’t be harmed and, once we come back, you’ll all be free to leave.”
Devlin glanced at Rico. He still hovered on the edge, and there wasn’t much chance of getting any sense out of him right now. His gut tightened in anticipation. His fighting these days tended to be from a distance, and his hands rarely got dirty. He missed the intense thrill of face-to-face confrontation. Not that he was going to allow this to come to a fight, because he was sure they would lose. Rico might be able to take Thorne, but his friends weren’t far away and no way could they take on all of them. Besides, he didn’t doubt for a moment that Thorne could kill Skylar and the others with a thought and, while he’d once considered the Universe would be a better place with Callum gone, he’d become quite fond of Tannis.
“And what if we don’t cooperate?” Devlin asked. “You kill them?”
“We won’t have to, but they may as well be dead.”
Didn’t sound good and Rico growled again. Perhaps he should warn them about not pissing off the vampire too much or he would snap. Personally, he didn’t want to be around if that happened.
They had two options: either try to escape on the Blood Hunter—Daisy was on board readying the ship for takeoff right now. Though that might be a little difficult while carrying three unconscious bodies. So escape probably wasn’t going to happen.
The other option was to cooperate. That pissed him off. He had things to do, and he’d warned her not to stand in his way. But, at the same time, he couldn’t help but be impressed. A little thing of a girl and she’d taken them on. Mind you, she couldn’t have done it without a ten-thousand-year-old immortal to back her up.
She’d lost some of her certainty now and was chewing on her lower lip while she waited for one of them to speak. Let her stew for a while. He hardened his expression and shot her a cold look. She flinched but stood her ground.
Devlin crossed to Tannis and crouched beside her. Her pulse was steady. He moved on to Callum and found him the same. “They’re fine,” he said to Rico. He straightened and turned back to Saffira. “What happens now?”
“Now, we take the Blood Hunter and we go back to Earth.”
Chapter Nine
He hated her.
The emotion was clear in his eyes, and how could she blame him?
But what choice did she have? She hadn’t had a choice from the moment she was born.
In her whole life, she’d never questioned her destiny. Now, for the first time, she considered not doing this. What would happen? Would time find a way? Or would they all just
cease to exist?
She couldn’t take the risk.
She clamped her teeth on her lower lip to stop the tremble. Life wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t she just leave on the Blood Hunter? Go and have fabulous adventures. Be with Devlin. Not that he wanted her. She’d probably have to tie him down now in order to make that particular vision come true.
She glanced up from her thoughts and found him staring at her, his lip curled in disdain. It was obvious he didn’t believe.
“If Thorne had the power to do this all along, why didn’t you just get him to zap them in the first place?” he asked. “Why all the pretending-to-be-nice stuff?”
“Because I am nice,” she snapped. Did he really think she had wanted to go down this road? They’d forced her into it. In fact, she blamed mainly Devlin—he’d been the most vocal to speak against helping her. “And I wanted—we wanted your cooperation.” She rubbed at her forehead. “We didn’t want it to come to this. But you wouldn’t help and…” She shrugged.
“So what now?” he asked again.
At that moment, three figures appeared in the doorway. “They will take your friends to where they’ll be safe,” Thorne said.
One of the men made to pick up Skylar, and Rico growled low in his throat. “Don’t touch her.”
The man looked to Thorne, who shrugged. “Take her yourself, then.”
The other two picked up Tannis and Callum and left the room. Rico gathered Skylar in his arms and followed them out, leaving Devlin. He watched them go, his hands shoved in his pockets. His face was still expressionless, his body tense. She tried to ignore him and turned her back so she could speak to Thorne quietly.
“Maybe we’d be better off taking Callum and leaving the vampire behind,” she said. She’d seen neither in the vision, though she was pretty sure it was Rico who’d spoken from behind her.
Thorne thought about it for all of two seconds. “No. Callum is dangerous.”
She cast him a look of amazement. “And the vampire isn’t?” She remembered that look in his eyes as he’d come toward her and she shivered.
“Yes, but Callum has power. Power he doesn’t know he has right now, or what he can do with it. I sense an almost immeasurable strength.”
