Chapter 37: Tessa
The suffocating crush of debris was swept off her body, and she sucked in air in a gasp. Grinding pain in her arm when she tried to move it. Was her arm broken? Radiating pain in her lower back. Her legs were numb; she couldn’t feel her feet. She was aware of Jak and Bolon across the room from her, still fighting. She wanted to get up. She wanted very much to get up. She would not lie here helpless!
Tessa inhaled harsh breaths that burned her throat. Get up! There! Her arm moved. It still hurt, but it moved. So, not broken, just sprained, maybe even just bruised. Feeling was coming back to her feet, a painful tingling that spread from her back down her legs. She was just stunned, that was all. Stunned. She just needed to catch her breath. A wave of heat passed through her, leaving sweat dripping down her face, pooling at the small of her back, behind her knees. Get up!
Grunting with effort, Tessa rolled over onto her hands and knees, the green tiles cool under her palms. The cape she’d tied around her waist tangled around her legs. Impatiently, she pulled it off. She saw bits of flaking gold leaf decorating the sleeve of her turquoise dress, and drops of red sparkling on the back of her hand. Jak’s blood; with total certainty, she knew it was Jak’s blood.
Opposite her, on the far side of the room, she saw Bolon on top of Jak, both hands clamped around Jak’s neck. Red faced, choking, Jak struggled with the crime lord, but he seemed to fight only by reflex. She could see that he was weakening. He’d told her that the strangeness made him stronger than most, but what if it made the Selok’s bodies stronger, too? And big as Jak was, Bolon was bigger. What could she do? She was no superwoman. But she had to do something! Desperately, she looked around for something she could use as a weapon. She couldn’t stand by and watch the man she loved die.
They’d smashed tables in their fight, turned over chairs, left the room awash in broken furniture. Next to her, she saw a big vase miraculously intact. It was a huge, heavy thing, with a narrow neck and fat body, half as tall as Tessa herself. Staggering to her feet, she reached it and wrapped her hands around the narrow neck. So heavy! But she had to move it. She’d pulled Jak out of the river and well into the reeds along the bank. She could lift this damn vase. With an effort of will, she heaved, and it came up off the floor. One step brought her closer to the men. Two steps put her behind Bolon. With a groan that was half scream, she swung the vase around and down on the back of Bolon’s head.
The vase smashed into a hundred shards. Bolon’s head was deformed, ruined melon, dripping red, the skull caved in where she’d struck him. He’d collapsed on top of Jak; Jak who was gasping for air, still breathing, still alive, and trying to push Bolon’s body off him. Frantic to help him, Tessa grabbed the back of Bolon’s tunic and helped Jak roll him over so he could get out from under the big man.
As soon as he could move, Jak grabbed her, hugging her tight, dragging her down onto his lap. "I thought you were dead!" he gasped. "I thought you were dead! I thought he’d killed you."
She felt him shaking. He ran his hands over her as if he couldn’t believe that she was still alive.
"No, no I’m just bruised," she said, "but you’re going to squash me to a pudding if you don’t ease up." She smiled, trying to lighten his desperate mood.
Tessa kept a wary eye on Bolon, who lay sprawled on his back. As she watched, he shuddered, and the broad chest rose and fell. Still breathing. Still a danger to them. Like Jak, she realized, Bolon could heal even a fatal wound. As Jak eased his grip on her, she pushed away from him and rose to her feet. The hilt of Bolon’s blaster poked out from under his sash. Tessa bent to grab it and sighted down the barrel at the man, ready to make sure he would never come after them again. There would be no recovery for him this time.
Still on his knees, Jak’s hand on her wrist stopped her.
"No, Tessa. Don’t."
"It has to be done, Jak."
Couldn’t he see that?
"But not by you. Give me the blaster. I’ll do it."
Tessa backed away a step. Jak was red faced, gasping for air, and still trying to protect her.
"Jak, I’m not some hothouse flower."
"Tessa, please."
But they’d argued too long. Tessa screamed and jumped back as Bolon lurched up, awake, aware, and reaching for her. Jak tried to grab him, but he was still weak, and Bolon shoved him aside. If Bolon got those big hands on her, she was a dead woman. White faced, at point blank range, Tessa pulled the trigger. The blaster spat a hot, blue-white beam of energy. With a hissing sound of frying flesh, the bloody face, the big, bullet shaped head, the enraged eyes, all burned to a sizzling, blackened crisp. The burnt pork odor of burned human meat filled the air. The heavy body dropped, thudding on the tiles.
"There, regrow that," Tessa spat.
Arms trembling, she lowered the blaster. He was dead. He was permanently and completely dead. He would never hurt her again. He would never hurt Jak. She looked at the blaster in her hand. She loved this weapon. With a blaster in her hand, all that mattered was will and determination, and she had both.
But Jak was on his knees beside her, clutching his head, sweat dripping from his chin. Had Bolon hurt him before she killed him?
Throwing herself down beside him, she demanded, "Jak, are you okay?"
He rocked forward, putting his head on her shoulder, and groaning. Frightened now, she tried to pull his head up to face her.
"Jak! Jak! Look at me!"
Slowly, his eyes opened, green pools, full of pain. He blinked at her, once, twice, and his gaze cleared, but he was still pale.
"Oh, crap! That hurt!" he said.
"What? What did he do to you?"
"He died. He died, damn it, and I felt it. Every second of it."
"Oh." The connection, it had to be the connection between Jak and the Selok. It must be stronger than she’d thought. "Oh, I didn’t realize. . . . I’m so sorry, love."
She kissed him, kissed his mouth and his eyes, willing away the pain and the shock.
"It’s okay. I’m okay," he assured her. "Just a headache."
Still, he ran his hands over his face, as if he could rub away the pain. Tessa’s own head ached in sympathy. She pulled him close to her, touching his cheek with a tentative hand. She hadn’t meant to hurt him.
"I’m sorry," she repeated.
"I’m okay," he said again. He wrapped his arms around her, and they sat for a minute, simply holding each other. "I just wish you’d let me do the killing. It’s not something you should have to dirty your hands with. Especially not somebody like Bolon."
"Why? He was my enemy, too. He wanted to make me his whore. When I refused, he wanted to have me murdered."
She regretted hurting Jak, but she definitely didn’t regret killing Bolon.
"I’ll take care of the dirty jobs."
"Oh, you will? I don’t think so." This had to stop right now. "Jak, I love you. Never doubt that. But I’m not going to let you wrap me in tissue and keep me in a box just to take out to look at when things are safe and quiet." Oh, yes, she did love him, but she would not be owned. No one would ever own her again, not even Jak. "Yes, there are some things you can do better than I can, but there are a lot of things that I can do better than you. But I took care of myself before I found you, and I can take care of myself now. That includes doing the ugly dirty jobs when I need to. If we’re going to be together, then we’re going to be partners, equal partners. We’re a team, and together we’re more than the sum of our parts. So help me when you can, but don’t stand in my way."
She looked into worried green eyes, his now handsome face torn with the desire to shield her from all harm. And she saw what it cost him to make his decision.
"All right. Partners, then."
Omniphage Invasion Page 37
