by Nina Croft
“I suggest we get out of here,” Rico growled. “Now.”
Shoving the pistol back into its holster, Saffira turned and ran back the way they had come. Daisy was at her side and Rico behind her.
“Faster would be good,” he shouted. And she sped up, concentrating on taking the same route back and keeping her footing on the uneven ground.
A loud clatter from behind made her stumble. Daisy dragged her to her feet and she turned as a huge animal bore down on them, the man on its back wielding a long sword. Rico whirled, kicked out at the animal’s chest so it rose up on its hind legs and crashed backward to the ground. The man fell beneath it. Rico whirled the huge sword over his head and cut him through the throat, the sword sparking on the stony ground.
He looked up at them, and his eyes glowed crimson. “Get the hell out of here.”
“We can’t go without you,” Daisy said. She’d drawn the knife from her boot and looked ready to fight.
“I can look after myself, sweetheart, but it’s easier without you two, so run. I’ll hold them back and meet you at the speeder.” He glanced at Saffira. “And don’t fucking leave without me or I’ll fucking kill you even if I have to wait a thousand fucking years to do it.”
She nodded, grabbed Daisy’s hand, and dragged her away.
“He’ll be fine,” she said. She wasn’t so sure about everyone else, though. The muffled sound of feet—a lot of feet—sounded from behind them.
She raced on the uneven ground, pulling Daisy along with her. It hadn’t seemed this far on the way there. Screams rang out in the night. Ignoring the sound, she hurried on, gasping for breath. Finally, they reached the wooden door. She pushed Daisy into the room and glanced back. More screams filled the air, but she could see nothing, the streets too twisted. She followed Daisy into the room where the man still lay on the floor. He twitched and started to push himself up. So Rico hadn’t killed him, after all. She didn’t think the men following them would have fared as well. As they passed, Daisy lashed out with her boot, and the man crumpled to the ground.
Then they were through the other door, beyond the walls, and into the night.
She took a moment to catch her breath, leaning against the stone and inhaling deeply. Beside her Daisy did the same, the knife still clutched in her hand.
“Will he be all right?” Saffira said.
Daisy gave a weak grin. “Yeah. He’s probably enjoying himself. And at least we won’t have to worry about him being hungry anymore.”
“Ugh. Let’s go.”
They made their way along the edge of the ditch and around the outer wall. She stared, trying to work out exactly where they had come from. But the night was dark, and she could see nothing but blackness.
Pausing, she turned to Daisy. “Can you remember where we reached the wall?”
Daisy chewed on her lip. “Maybe a little farther?”
She didn’t sound sure, but Saffira led the way another fifty feet or so. “Are those trees out there?”
“Maybe.”
“Come on.”
She headed out across the open ground. As they half walked, half ran, the moon rose behind them, lighting the way. She glanced back. She wasn’t sure it was an improvement; if anyone was about or had gotten past Rico, they would be spotted easily. Ahead were trees, but she didn’t recognize anything. All the bloody trees looked exactly the same.
“Is that where we left the speeder?” Daisy asked, pointing at an opening in the forest.
“I think so, come on, let’s go look. I don’t like being out in the open.”
She heaved a sigh of relief as they took cover in the shadows at the edge of the forest. But the speeder was nowhere in sight. Had they come too far around? Panic clawed at her insides.
“This way, I think.”
She kept to the edge of the trees. They had to hit the speeder sooner or later. Providing they were going in the right direction. At least Daisy had a comm unit. If all else failed, she could call and they could track her on that.
But before she could make the suggestion, a figure stepped out of the shadows ahead, and her breath caught. “Thorne?” But she realized as soon as the word left her mouth that it wasn’t Thorne. Not bulky enough.
“Rico!” Daisy had come to a halt beside her. “Thank God.”
“How the hell did he get there before us?” Saffira muttered. He couldn’t have passed without them seeing.
A shaft of moonlight spilled down between the trees, illuminating the tall figure. Something was wrong. It was Rico…but not Rico. The clothes weren’t right, tight cream stockings and a brown tunic—he couldn’t have changed his clothes that fast and gotten here. His hair was a wild tangle around his shoulders, and his eyes held more than a hint of madness.
“Rico?” Daisy’s voice echoed her confusion. She took a step toward him, but Saffira stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“Wait…”
Too late. Rico focused on them and a growl left his throat. Leaping forward, he covered the distance in seconds, hurtling into them and tearing her from Daisy. Saffira crashed to the forest floor, her head striking a tree trunk, and for a second everything went black.
She scrambled onto her knees and tried to make sense of the scene. Rico’s face was buried in the curve of Daisy’s neck. Blood was everywhere, black in the silver moonlight. Daisy’s eyes were closed, but she was struggling, kicking out feebly as though her strength was leaving her. Saffira backed away, fumbling for the pistol at her waist. Her hands were trembling and she forced them to steady, aiming the laser. But she couldn’t get a clear shot, not without endangering Daisy. She aimed just behind them, hoping to shock the vampire into releasing her. The shot scorched the air, hitting a tree behind them, which burst into flames, lighting the clearing. The fire leaped from tree to tree.
The vampire glanced up, his lower face daubed in blood, his eyes glowing crimson. He snarled but returned to feeding. Daisy had stopped struggling now.
“What the fuck?”
She whirled around as Rico’s voice came from behind her. Their Rico.
He took in the scene in front of him and she could see the tension in his figure as he readied himself to leap.
“No,” she screamed. “You can’t. I don’t know what will happen if you touch yourself. Maybe we’ll all implode.”
He gritted his teeth. “Give me the fucking gun.” Grabbing the weapon from her, he pointed it at the feeding vampire. “Hey, asshole.”
The other Rico glanced up, and the laser blasted him in the face. He crashed to the floor, releasing Daisy, who sprawled, unconscious, on top of him. Saffira ran forward. Daisy’s neck was an open bloody wound from which a sluggish pulse of blood oozed.
“Is she alive?” Rico asked.
“Just.”
“We have to get out of here. The whole place is going to go up in flames. Drag her away from…me. And I’ll carry her back to the speeder.”
“I’ll do it,” Thorne said, stepping out from beyond the trees. He glanced from Rico to the figure on the ground, still out cold. Then a groan came from him. Rico raised the pistol and shot him again.
“Let’s go.”
Thorne picked up the unconscious Daisy. Her head flopped back, and her green hair trailed nearly to the ground.
“I heard the shot,” Thorne said as he ran back the way he’d come. “Saw the flames. I thought something must be up.”
It took only minutes to reach the speeder. Thorne climbed in the back, still holding Daisy. Rico leaped into the front, Saffira got in beside him, and the speeder was moving before she sat down. Behind them, she heard the crackle of flames as the fire took hold. This time, Rico didn’t stay close to the ground. Instead, he rose up above the level of the trees, and they shot forward.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She’s dying,” Thorne said from the back seat. Saffira knelt and twisted around so she could see. Beneath the green, Daisy’s face was pale. Thorne had wrapped something around h
er throat to stop the bleeding, but the cloth was already soaked through. It was too little, too late.
“She’s not dying,” Rico ground out. “I won’t fucking let her die. I am not going to go back to Tannis and tell her I’ve lost another member of her crew. It’s not fucking happening.”
“There’s not enough time,” Thorne said, his voice full of compassion. “You can’t stop death.”
“You want to take a bet on that?”
…
Devlin shut down the diagnostic test and stepped back. He’d patched her up as well as he could in the limited time, but he reckoned she was good for the return journey. After that, he’d have to do something more permanent.
He crossed the docking bay and stood at the top of the ramp gazing up into the night sky. He could make out the wormhole if he stared hard enough, like a ribbon rippling across the sky, blocking out the stars. It almost seemed alive, restless, and he couldn’t help but think they should get up there and fast. He hoped Saffira had managed to do what she needed to do and they hadn’t fucked up the time too badly.
A faint glow in the sky drew his gaze downward. Orange and red against the night.
Fire?
Then the speeder hurtled into view, high above the trees. He stepped back as it shot toward him, through the open doors, screeching to a halt in the center of the docking bay. Devlin’s gaze shot to Saffira, sitting in the front seat. She gave him an almost helpless shrug.
Rico jumped out and hurried around to the back of the vehicle. “Give her to me.”
Thorne handed an unconscious Daisy into Rico’s arms. He carried her a few feet and laid her gently on the floor. She appeared lifeless. A makeshift bandage wrapped around her throat, but the air was heavy with the acrid scent of fresh blood.
“What happened?” Devlin asked.
Saffira shrugged. “Later.”
“Is she dead?”
“No, she’s not fucking dead. And she’s not going to be.” Rico knelt on the floor beside Daisy and unwrapped the bandage from her throat.
“Shit,” Devlin muttered.
Daisy’s throat was raw and bloody as if she’d been ripped open by a wild animal. Rico raised his wrist to his mouth and bit down. Blood welled from the wound, spilling down his chin.
“What are you doing?” Saffira took a step forward.
“I’m saving her,” Rico said. “She always wanted to be just like me. Well, now she gets the chance.”
Devlin glanced from the vampire to the unconscious green girl. Daisy had always been so full of life. Would she want to be saved at this price? She hadn’t wanted the immortality of Meridian. “Would she want this?”
Rico glanced at him and snarled, showing his fangs, white against the crimson blood. “I don’t give a fuck. She’s not dying.”
He pressed his wrist to Daisy’s mouth and muttered some words under his breath. At first, it looked like it was having no effect, then Daisy arched off the floor, her spine bowing. Rico held her down with one hand and pushed his wrist into her mouth. Devlin watched the convulsive movement of her throat as she swallowed.
Finally, Rico pulled free, sat back on his heels, and gathered her into his arms. He lowered his head, licked the wound at her throat, and it knitted together.
“Is that it?” Devlin asked. “Is she now…?”
“A vampire? Not yet. She needs to feed twice more. After the third time, she will die and be reborn…sort of.” He rose to his feet, Daisy clasped in his arms. “I’m going to take her to her cabin, and then we are leaving.”
Saffira stepped forward. “Tell me.”
Rico’s eyes narrowed. “Tell you what?”
“When are we?”
“July the fifth, 1499.”
The color drained from her face. “How do you know?”
“Because it was the night I died.”
So it had all come to nothing? There was no way Saffira could give any meaningful warning this long in advance. And if Devlin’s memory of Earth history served him right, they would not have the understanding or the technology to do anything about it anyway.
“I don’t remember tonight,” Rico murmured. “How the fuck could I not remember this? But the first years of my new life were a hunger-crazed blur.”
“Something for Daisy to look forward to.”
“I’ll take care of her.” Rico headed for the doorway but turned to look back at Saffira. “Look at it this way, darling. You’ve failed, and yet we’re all still here.”
…
Saffira stared after him as his words sank in. Fourteen ninety-nine was more than five hundred years earlier than she needed to be. But as Rico had pointed out—they were still here—she couldn’t have failed.
Her mind grappled with the problem. Five hundred years.
Could she redirect the wormhole a second time? But she knew that wasn’t an option. The hole was unstable, and a second attempt would probably cause it to unravel. They would never get home, and while that wouldn’t have stopped her, they would also never get to where and when she needed to be.
No, she knew what she had to do, she just wasn’t sure she had the strength to go through with it. The knowledge was like a heavy weight dragging her down.
A hand came to rest on her shoulder. Devlin.
Turning, she laid her head against his broad chest, breathed in the masculine scent of him. The future is not set. She’d always known that. Maybe her visions of Devlin had been merely that. Something to give her hope.
He stroked her hair. “I’m sorry.”
She’d so wanted his love. Now it appeared impossible. She raised her head from his chest and cupped his face with her hand, smoothing the pad of her thumb over the scar on his cheek as though she could wipe it away. She’d wanted to ask where he had gotten it, who had given it to him. So many things she’d wanted to know. Now she would never get the chance.
He lowered his head and his mouth took hers. She sank into the kiss, as though it might be the last one ever. Finally, she drew back. There were things she needed to collect, and Rico would be taking off soon, taking the Blood Hunter home.
She drew back, but Devlin kept a hand on her arm.
“We’ll be all right,” he said. “Maybe you were wrong, and mankind survived somehow without your intervention. After all, we are still here.”
“Yes, we are.” She pulled free. “I just need to go wash the blood off my hands. I’ll see you on the bridge.”
His eyes bored into her back as she hurried out of the docking bay and headed to her own cabin. Thorne followed her, catching up as she stopped in front of her door. She glanced behind him. No Devlin. But why would he have come?
She’d been nothing but a diversion for him. Just sex. If they’d had more time, she might have been more. But time had run out.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Don’t be stupid, Thorne. My survival will depend on me staying out of sight, and you’d hardly be inconspicuous.”
She pressed her palm to the door and hurried into the room, Thorne close behind her.
“There must be another way,” he said.
Turning, she searched his face. “Can you think of one?”
His hands fisted at his sides, but he had no words to say. No choices.
“All my life you’ve told me this is who I am,” Saffira said. “What I was born for. You expect me to turn my back on it now?”
“I could still come. Keep out of sight.”
“You know it won’t work. Besides, you have things to do. Important things. You have to go back and take our people to the Promised Land.”
He gave a curt nod. He wasn’t happy, but he wouldn’t try to stop her. She crossed the room and grabbed the bag from the table. It contained copies of all the information she had planned to hand over. Information she would need one day.
With a little luck. Actually, a whole shitload of luck.
She still wore the cloak over the yellow jumpsuit. As Rico had pointed out—hardly inco
nspicuous. She rummaged through the drawers holding her pilfered clothing and came up with a pair of black pants and a matching shirt. After stripping off the cloak and jumpsuit, she pulled on the new things before wrapping the cloak around her again. Should she take the weapons belt? But she decided against it. If she was going to try and blend in, a laser pistol wouldn’t help.
Finally, she was ready. She slung the bag over her shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
Devlin’s voice came from the doorway and she went still. She licked her lips and turned to face him. “What I must do.”
“And that is?”
“I’m going to stay. Wait until the time is right and do what I was born to do.”
“It’s five hundred years. You’ll never survive that long.”
“My lifespan is over a thousand standard Earth years. I’ll survive.”
He turned to Thorne. “Tell her it’s impossible. She’ll listen to you.”
Thorne shrugged. “She must do what she has to.”
Devlin ran a hand through his hair, loosening it so it fell to his shoulders, then pressed his fingers to his scalp. “I can’t believe you’re really considering this.” He stalked into the room and paced a couple of times.
“I need to go, Devlin.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he came to a halt in front of her. “And what about us falling in love? What happened to that?”
She gave a helpless shrug. He was killing her. Didn’t he realize how hard it was for her to walk away from him? From all they could be together? “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”
She could see the internal battle going on in his mind. “I’ll come with you.”
For a second, hope filled her. Maybe there was still a chance. But she knew those words of love had been spoken in the future and not in the past. He had no place here. He needed to go back. He had things to do. And who knew what the future held for any of them? Perhaps one day…
“You’ll die a long time before me and you’ll never get back home. And you’ll never get your revenge on the people who killed your family. You’ll come to hate me and I’ll be alone anyway.”
