Soul of a Predator

by Angela Verdenius

  He inclined his head almost regally, but his gaze was still sharp as he looked up at her from beneath lowered eyelids. He stayed still, and she swung on her heel and continued to her ship.

  More than aware of his crew standing so still and silent near their own ship, she was struck by the fact that none of them moved. None seemed surprised by her actions. Even Fredrico wasn't surprised.

  They all looked at her without expression.

  And behind them, overshadowing them, was a darkness, barely discernable, but one she had no problem knowing was there now.

  The space pirates didn't fly alone.

  Once the ramp slid shut behind her, she walked swiftly to the control cabin and tossed the package on the empty co-pilot chair. Setting the coordinates for the Lawful Sector, she steadfastly kept her concentration on steering the ship through the heavy traffic flying low over the settlement.

  And she wiped away the spot of blood that trickled from her nose.

  * * * *

  Stretched back in the armchair with an open book in his hands, Shaque read quietly. Comll was still three days away, so he took advantage of the time to relax. Sitting at a low table nearby, Ricna, Abra and Nat were engaged in a poker game. Jarvis was dozing in another chair, and Vane was browsing through a hand-held information storer, checking up on the latest outlaw and pirate wanted posters.

  Menac stuck his head around the doorway. “Shaque, you've got a problem."

  Unperturbed, Shaque glanced up.

  "Someone is using your private frequency,” Menac added.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Oh yeah. Kind of hard to miss, considering your code is flashing on the comm.board."

  "Must be Sabra—"

  "No. Her log-in light isn't flashing."

  Slowly Shaque closed the book, laid it down on the armrest and stood up.

  The other hunters looked up sharply.

  "Impossible,” Abra said. “No one can log-in to our private frequencies except for Sabra."

  "Did you put a track on it?” Ricna frowned.

  "Tried.” Menac shook his head. “No go. Can't pinpoint the direction or get a lock on the frequency of the sender."

  Abra looked quizzically at Shaque, but Shaque simply shrugged. He had no idea who could have bypassed the intricate security of their private frequencies. It was impossible ... until now.

  "Unless Sabra is testing us out,” Ricna suggested. “Would be just like her to have a new toy and try it out on us."

  "Could be right.” Abra rubbed his chin.

  With a small nod at Abra, Shaque strode from the cabin and made his way to the control cabin. Entering the small communications cabin to the side of it, he sat down in one of the chairs and studied the flashing light above his code. The communication cabin was used for private conversations the men had with family, friends, lovers, or anyone else they wished to converse with confidentially.

  The only ones knowing their private frequencies were those they trusted implicitly. Apart from Sabra, there was no one else who knew Shaque's private frequency.

  Interesting. Leaning back in the chair, he watched the code flash continue. It could only be Sabra, trying out a new toy on him. It was something she would do.

  Reaching forward, he flicked the switch to bring the viscomm screen to life, and then sat back. Fully expecting Sabra's face, he was taken aback when Elyse appeared instead.

  Masking his surprise, he eyed her coldly. Thoughtfully. He shouldn't be surprised that the ex-pirate had managed to link onto his private frequency. Somehow, he just knew that Elyse was full of surprises and not all of them pleasant.

  "Elyse."

  "Shaque."

  They regarded each other for several long seconds, neither giving their thoughts away.

  The darkness of the cabin behind her cast shadows, but her face was clear in the light from her viscomm. It picked out an odd blue flash in her brown eyes.

  Intrigued, but not showing it, Shaque simply looked at her.

  "I have something for you,” Elyse stated quietly.

  He raised one brow. He'd had time to think about the photo image. Time to calm himself and take stock of what it could or would mean.

  She held up a package then put it down from sight.

  "What is it?” he asked.

  "Don't know."

  "Who from?"

  "A child."

  "A girl child."

  Elyse nodded.

  "From the Outlaw Sector."

  She nodded again.

  Resting one elbow on the armrest, he rubbed one knuckle across his lips as he contemplated her and thought. Another package. From a girl child. In the Outlaw Sector.

  The same as the photo image. It could mean something or not. It could simply be some outlaw who had discovered a bit of his past, and wanted to mess with his head. It was a possibility, but Elyse wasn't the kind of woman to fool with a man's head, or be fooled by a man.

  This was a conclusion he'd come to in the last two weeks while the hunters had been heading for Comll. But he hadn't put a halt on the search for Elyse. He still wanted to get information from her, and the only way he was going to do that was to talk to her. Even if he had to trap her and tie her down to do it.

  Trapping her would be downright dangerous. The predator in him wanted the exhilaration of fighting and subduing another predator. Just the thought made his blood rush a little faster, a little thicker.

  Keeping his wayward thoughts hidden, he rested his chin on his thumb, leaving his bent finger against his lips as he watched her unwaveringly. “I want answers."

  It was her turn to raise one finely arched brow.

  "I want you."

  Her gaze didn't waver, nor was she thrown by the way he'd worded the sentence, because she knew he didn't mean sexually.

  Though maybe ... The unexpected thought was dismissed almost instantly.

  "Where are you?” Shaque asked quietly.

  "I'll meet you on Comll."

  The answer surprised him. “You're going to Comll?"

  She gave a faint nod.

  Anticipation speared through him, but he kept his voice emotionless. “I want answers from you when we meet."

  For the first time a faint smile appeared, a touch of humour on her otherwise still face.

  "I mean it, Elyse. You'll give me answers."

  This time her teeth flashed whitely in full-on amusement.

  The transformation of her face struck Shaque immediately. Her pretty features became animated, eyes sparkling with amusement, full lips curving so easily. A lock of thick, brown hair slid over one shoulder as she tilted her head slightly.

  Then she reached up and the screen went blank.

  Shaque did jump up then, his fingers quickly skimming across the screen, bringing up a control panel. But he couldn't trace her frequency or pinpoint her location. Frustration welled up and he swore softly.

  She did it to him every time. Appeared, so calm and quiet, then simply disappeared as she chose.

  They'd passed each other so many times, like silent, deadly ships passing in space, acknowledging each other and their unfinished business, but knowing the time wasn't right.

  However, circumstances meant that this time there'd be no simple passing. This time, they needed to talk. This time, she would give him answers. If she didn't, if she held back...

  Then maybe the time of reckoning was almost at hand.

  Leaving the communications cabin, he strode back to his own cabin. His friends looked up as he passed the dining cabin, but they said nothing. They would wait until he was ready to tell them. If it affected them, then they knew he would have stopped and informed them.

  In his cabin, he moved across to look at the photo image once more. His finger brushed across the rusty stain in a gesture he'd repeated countless times in the last few weeks since Elyse had given it to him.

  Elyse. A mystery in one way, yet a woman to whom he felt a tie. An invisible tie of something unknown. He anticipated se
eing her—his normally cold, emotionless life lit up briefly when he stumbled across her in some unobtrusive place.

  He'd turn around, walk through a tavern door, or walk into the midst of a surprise attack on some outlaw hole, and there'd she be, sitting quietly amidst the noise and fighting, or simply sipping a mug of juice in the uneasy silence the hunters’ presence always brought.

  He'd know she was there even before his gaze found her. Something unseen but tangible would alert him, and like a predator scenting prey he'd unerringly find her. And there she'd be, watching him so calmly, that dangerous stillness about her.

  Two predators eyeing each other.

  In some strange way he'd come to welcome their brief meetings. It brought him to life in a way nothing really did. It made him feel for a brief time. Feel when feelings were something he didn't have a whole lot of anymore.

  Until Elyse appeared.

  "I'm under no illusions, Elyse,” he said softly. “I know you."

  One day she'd cross that line from law to outlaw, and when she did, he'd be waiting for her, just as he'd been waiting since their fight in that fortress.

  Shaking his head, Shaque focused on the photo image. Elyse had something else to give him. What could it be? Another clue? Well, he wouldn't know until he met her on Comll. Until then...

  Picking up the handtronic on the little table, he crossed to his bunk and sat down. Turning it on, he scrolled through the menu and clicked on Elyse's name.

  The information that scrolled past he'd read a hundred times, trying to get inside her head, trying to guess her moods, trying to figure her out. Getting to know his prey.

  It was pitifully little.

  Elyse had no family apart from her twin sister, Donika. Elyse was part-mutant, an ex-pirate, ex-prisoner, and treated cautiously in the Outlaw Sector. No known children or partner. No known home.

  Nothing unusual in that. Any information had on her was buried deep in the Outlaw Sector, and knowing what he did of Elyse, she kept her secrets well. What she didn't want known, would never be known.

  "So who are you, Elyse?” he murmured. “What are you?"

  Her screen image flashed on and he studied her face as he'd done so often he could call her face to his mind at will, and have every feature almost perfect.

  Pretty, calm, expressionless. Brown eyes so grave. The image didn't show the sharpness with which those brown eyes could look at someone. The image also didn't show the skill with which she fought with daggers.

  He could almost imagine the scar on his forearm tingle with the memory of the time they faced each other...

  * * * *

  The great hall at the Inka Empire fortress. Everyone gathered, eating, forging alliances.

  The Daamen traders talking amongst themselves on the far side. Security intermingled, which was strange, for they only appeared usually in times of problems. The bounty hunters had stopped over for a break on their journey, and to talk to the Aon peacekeepers.

  The mad mutant woman and her army of mutants dressed in the extinct Dragon Soldier's uniforms. And her two personal assassins, pirates with strong mutant blood. Experiments turned deadly.

  Two women turned into abominations. They stood on each side of Madam, their eyes glowing crimson.

  And when the room exploded into fighting, the two women fought the deadliest.

  Finding himself face to face with Elyse, Shaque knew he faced a predator who fought as well as he did. Daggers drawn, they fought, giving no quarter, each intent on killing the other.

  She fought with a skill and speed that matched his. Every thrust was met, every parry returned. Neither could get to the other, and as they looked deep into each other's eyes, he knew that they'd fight until one of them died.

  She fought with lethal rage, he with cold intent.

  They'd opened themselves up at exactly the same time, moving in for the advantage, slashing each others forearms at the same exact instance. They'd looked directly at each other and time had stood still for a split second.

  Then something had happened. Something had made her eyes dim, made her turn suddenly, and he lost her in the seething crowd.

  No coward, she wouldn't have run. Something more urgent had called to her.

  Sonja. Her half sister. Tied by the old Emperor's DNA, tied by the mutant genes that ran through them.

  * * * *

  Shaque blinked. The fight had been bloody, and yet it had been the love of a pirate for a Daamen trader that had saved the day.

  Or had it? Would Sonja have killed Red? Would she have murdered him if Elyse hadn't interfered? If Elyse hadn't felt something for Sonja, her best friend and half sister?

  Elyse, the failed experiment.

  Due to discs found with information on the experiments performed on them, and the knowledge that what they were and had done wasn't technically their fault, the women had been given a year in prison for their crimes. Their bodies had been closely monitored, and the hormones given to them to induce the rage genetically implanted into them had vanished.

  Sonja had married the Daamen trader who waited for her. And Elyse ... Elyse drifted.

  Dangerous. Unpredictable. He knew it. He'd felt it. He recognized it in her in a way no one else seemed to.

  They'd tried to kill each other when she was in her killing rage. That remained unfinished between them.

  Shaque stared down into the grave brown eyes in the screen image before clicking it off with an abrupt move.

  One day the time of reckoning would come.

  You're mine, Elyse.

  * * * *

  "Well, isn't that interesting?” Vertical pupils in pink eyes dilated. “What was in the package?"

  The ebony man standing beside him shook his head. “I don't know."

  "Very interesting.” The pupils slitted. “I was going to call her sooner, but I think I want to see what happens.” He gestured to the ebony man. “Veknor, ensure I get information on her."

  "She is not the easiest to track.” Veknor stood back as the throne rose in the air and turned.

  "The part-mutant is very slippery. I respect that.” The lipless mouth emitted a hissing laugh, but the eyes were cold. “But wherever she is spotted, and whatever she does, I want reported back to me. Anything discovered about her. Understand?"

  Veknor inclined his head. “Understood."

  "She intrigues me."

  Veknor didn't say anything. He watched as the throne disappeared through the doorway before turning back to the viscomm.

  Fredrico gazed back at him without expression.

  * * * *

  Elyse spotted the menacing black bounty hunters’ ship before she docked in the crowded docking bay. It sat to the far side. Between her smaller ship and the hunter's ship sat dozens of ships, made up of planet shuttles, private crafts, planet surface crafts, and two Daamen trading ships.

  Daamens and bounty hunters in the same settlement. That could only lead to trouble, especially when Elyse knew that some of the Reeka warriors had accompanied the traders, along with her best friend, Sonja, and a couple of the other wives of the Daamens.

  She found the wives by the simple process of following the sounds of breaking glass and swearing.

  Three tall Reeka warriors towered above a couple of smaller women and Sonja. Some of the women were sitting on a veranda rail while the rest leaned back against the rail. They were all eating apples.

  The Reekas were tall, beautiful, and enjoying themselves. The leader, Reya, was watching with icy amusement, her glacier green eyes missing nothing as she kept part of her attention on the street, and the other part on the tavern from which came the sounds of fighting. The Reeka with the blonde bob, Dana, was arguing with a smaller, fair-haired woman with a letter T branded onto her cheek. The third Reeka with the long golden braid was looking resigned, while Sonja was laughing outright.

  Elyse walked right up to the rail and leaned against the side post.

  "Elyse!” Sonja straightened up and grabbed
her in a hug.

  "Sonja.” Elyse smiled.

  "How the hell are you?” Pushing her back slightly, Sonja looked her up and down. “You haven't changed."

  Nor had Sonja, she still dressed like a pirate, more to annoy the local peacekeepers than anything else, Elyse suspected, but there was one difference. “You, however...” She arched a brow at the slight swell of stomach beneath Sonja's loose shirt.

  "Red finally got her pregnant,” Dana announced. “About bloody time. He's had enough practice runs."

  "Dana—” began Tenia, rolling her eyes beneath her golden fringe.

  "Well, come on, Tenia. Every time he's home, he and Sonja disappear and aren't seen for hours."

  "Oh, like you and Garret haven't been trying to populate the universe all by yourselves,” the woman with the brand said.

  "Oriel, until Jase stops carting you away from us every time his ship lands, I think you can keep your opinions to yourself.” Dana patted her head.

  "Up yours."

  "I wiped the floor with you last week, soldier. I can do so again."

  "That's ex-soldier, warrior. And one day I'll get you down."

  "Dream on, wench."

  Sonja looked eagerly at Elyse. “So, what're the girls up to?"

  "This and that."

  "Mmm.” A gleam entered Sonja's eyes. “Exciting this and that?"

  Elyse smiled faintly.

  "You don't want to know,” Reya stated quietly. “Right?"

  "Perish the thought,” Sonja replied, though the gleam in her eyes belied her words.

  "Once a pirate, always a pirate,” Dana announced.

  "Same could be said of outlawed warriors,” Sonja replied.

  Dana sent her a rude gesture.

  "What's going on?” Elyse looked towards the tavern as a man came flying through the window to land unconscious in the street.

  "Bounty hunters are in there.” Dana chewed thoughtfully on a bite of apple. “Oh, and Security. Des and Sabra."

  "Fighting,” Tenia added unnecessarily.

  "Fighting who?” Elyse asked, taking the apple Sonja drew from her pocket and handed her.