by evil wind
Danielle nodded slowly. “I am."
"There is no such thing!” Aegean said.
"Unfortunately, there is,” Danielle said. “He knows of me and it was he who sent me to Dr. Kym."
Shei-Ling handed a disklette to Chanz. “These are the coordinates of two rooms deep within the Fleet Command complex. You must quickly transport the contents of Room A as soon as you've brought the Reapers on board. The room is filled with Triso and Sustenance. As for Room B, it and everything within it must be destroyed. For the love of the goddess don't confuse which room is which. If you have questions, ask the Prime Reaper."
"What's in Room B?” Chanz demanded.
"Parasites,” Sern said in a shocked voice as she delved quickly into Danielle's mind to test the young woman's truthfulness. “Thousands upon thousands of them!"
"Revenant worms?” Chanz whispered.
"Aye."
"As I said, do not confuse the rooms,” Shei-Ling stressed. “You don't want a cargo hold full of revenant worms."
"By the goddess, no!” Sern breathed.
Chanz’ face turned pale and her hand shook as she took the disklette from Shei-Ling. “The Multitude has been making female Reapers?"
"Only three of us so far and one of us had to be put down. She went insane during Transition. Many more are awaiting implantation,” Danielle said. “That was to begin after the Feast when Dr. Sejm had harvested the Prime's queen."
"The crazy bitch,” Chanz snarled, pocketing the disklette. “To have done that they would have had to kill Cree."
"Well, that was what they had planned, after all,” Tyrian reminded her.
"And still plan to do,” Danielle said.
"What do you mean?” Aegean asked.
"The Prophetess Mother had ordered the Prime be assassinated at the height of the executions, when all eyes are upon the burning cadets,” Danielle answered. “The assassin was to spray him with an incendiary fluid and ignite it."
"Where the hell is this assassin?” Chanz asked. “I will see to her!"
"There is no need,” Danielle said, rubbing her belly. “She is no more."
"Dishonorable hag,” Chanz named Cyle Acet, the Prophetess Mother. She looked away from Danielle to keep from gagging.
"I have been assured she will not survive the Feast,” Danielle whispered. “There are few who will mourn her loss."
"And Dr. Kym will assume the position,” Shei-Ling said with a slight smile. “She will make a wise and benevolent Prophetess Mother."
"I am sure she will,” Chanz said, still feeling queasy.
Overhead, the lights flickered then a sharp shriek of lightning cracked. The ground beneath the Fleet Command headquarters building shook with the boom of thunder that followed.
"There will be no one out and about during one of our bad storms,” Shei-Ling said. “Now would be a good time for you to take Danielle to your ship."
Chanz looked to Cirolia Sern with an arched brow.
"She's copasetic,” Sern said, giving her stamp of approval to the Terran.
"You're sure?"
"I'm positive,” Sern stated. “And somewhere there is a second female Reaper, but Danielle doesn't know where she is or if she poses a threat to our mission."
Shei-Ling walked with them as far as the Auxiliary Prophetess’ office then bowed to them. “We'll keep looking for the other female Reaper. May the Wind be always at your backs, daughters of the Amazeen,” she blessed them.
"Give Dr. Kym our best wishes,” Chanz replied. “And you take care, Shei-Ling."
The small woman straightened to her full height of well below five feet. “Thank you, Lieutenant."
"She's a good woman,” Danielle commented as she followed behind Tyrian and Aegean.
"Seems to be,” Deon agreed.
"She will be promoted when Dr. Kym becomes the Prophetess Mother."
"Who'll be her secretary then?” Aegean inquired.
Danielle's lips tightened. “A technician who has butt kissing down to a science. McNeer's her name.
Marilyn McNeer."
"I gather you don't like her,” Deon said.
"She hates Reapers,” Danielle said. “God only knows what she'd do if she knew I was one. I don't trust her any further than I can see her."
"Well, you won't be seeing her again if everything goes as we plan,” Chanz told her.
"From your mouth to God's ear,” Danielle mumbled, making the Sign of the Cross.
"What is that you just did?” Tyrian asked.
As the women continued to the monorail station, Danielle explained about her Terran God, finding she had a rapt audience as she spoke.
* * * *
Twice, jagged bolts of lightning came perilously close to the cage in which Cree sat huddled in cold wretchedness. He'd flinched with the first zap of lightning as it struck the coping around what he had once known to be the Reflecting Pool of Alel's Force that lay in front of Fleet Command headquarters. The second hit had brought out a vicious curse that had turned the air around him blue. "I hate fucking lightning,” he said and the parasite within him shifted uneasily. It, too, feared the shrill sing of the blazing electrical discharges that could turn a man into a burning cinder. The scintillations stair stepping down from the heavens caused the revenant worm to twist and turn beneath the Reaper's flesh even though the creature could not see the displays of light.
Soaking wet beneath the dripping blanket at least the material over his head kept Cree from the brunt of the driving water. The wind had increased in volume and speed and was lashing at him with cold fingers that reached up under his makeshift canopy to chill him. Never had he been so miserable out in the elements. Even his sweltering sojourn on Hellio-12 had not been as brutal as this sodden confinement.
In the sudden flare of light pulsing overhead, he saw the lone figure of a woman standing to one side of the Multitude's Obelisk. He narrowed his gaze, trying to find her in the dark gray of the stormy afternoon but when the next flash of lightning lit the skies, she was no longer there. He closed his eyes, searching for her with his mind, and realized she was somewhere behind him now.
"Kate?” he asked softly. When there was no answer, he opened his eyes and when he did, found her standing where Danielle had been earlier.
"I felt your presence so I came down from the mountains,” the woman said. She was drenched, her long brown hair plastered to her head.
"You have one of my parasites, too,” he said.
She shrugged. “Your bloodkin are to die tomorrow,” she said.
"How does that make you feel?"
She shrugged again then ran her arm under her dripping nose. “It's nothing to me,” she answered. “I've never even seen the bastards."
He delved lightly into her mind and was taken aback by the fury than boiled within her soul. It was a killing rage he knew all too well. To sense it coming from a woman in such hard waves unsettled him.
"What is it you want, Kate?"
"Kathleen,” she corrected him, lifting her chin. “My name is Kathleen."
"What is it you want, Kathleen,” he amended.
"To kill the ones who did this to me!” she snapped.
"Sejm is dead,” he told her.
"Not good enough. I want Sorn's head on a platter! I want to pull her guts out inch by inch as she lies there screaming! I want her to know what it feels like to Transition!"
The image floated through Cree's brain and he smiled. “I must admit that would entertain me, as well."
"Then help me do it, Reaper!” she hissed, taking hold of the bars of his cage. “Help me avenge the evil done to me and Miriam!"
"What of Danielle?” he asked.
"She is no concern of mine."
"Why not?"
"That one has embraced the change,” Kate said bitterly. “She believes she can use it once she's back on Terra."
"What do you think?"
Kate threw out a dismissive hand. “She's dreaming. Were you able to use yo
ur abilities on Terra?"
Cree winced. “No, but to be honest I didn't try."
"She'll wind up in somebody's laboratory on Terra is most likely what will happen,” Kate spat. She jerked on the cage's bar. “Help me right this wrong, Reaper!"
"I sent Danielle to Dr. Kym,” he said. “She will handle what needs doing."
There was mistrust in the wild eyes that stared at him. Cree could sense she was very close to Transitioning. She would need to be confined in a containment cell and soon.
"Are there cells on the Amazeen ship?” she asked him, intercepting his stray thought.
"There are,” he replied, “but only two. There will be thirteen Reapers and only those two cells. There are also nine extended sleep units so we might have to juggle who sleeps when."
"Might get a bit crowded, eh, Reaper?” she asked with a snort.
"Just a mite,” he agreed. “You're close. You need to..."
"I know what I need to do,” she snapped.
"Do you know where Sorn is now?” he asked as he got up and walked toward her. He was not surprised when she did not back away from his approach.
"With the Prophetess-Mother,” she replied. “That one is dying and Kym will soon take over from her.
They are all at the Deathwatch and well guarded else I would go in and abduct Sorn."
"Go to Kym and tell her to provide protection for you so you can go with us tomorrow,” he said. “Tell her to do whatever she needs to do to get a necklace on Sorn."
The female Reaper cocked her head to one side. “So she can be brought up to the ship with us?"
He nodded. “What you do to her is your own affair. I'll not gainsay you."
The woman wrapped her hands more firmly around the bars. “Though she hurt you far worse than she hurt me? You would allow me the honor of destroying her?"
"The pain she caused me passed, little one,” he said softly. He reached out to place his hands over hers.
“Yours will be with you forever."
She closed her eyes at his touch, seeming to take strength from the contact then slowly slid her hands from under his. “I do not hate you, Kamerone Cree,” she said.
With that, she jerked around and was gone through the pouring rain. He lost sight of her in the glooming, realizing she had not asked to go with him when he left Rysalia Prime. Allowing her to stay was out of the question, though.
With a heavy sigh, Cree walked back to where his blanket lay and lifted it over his head once more. It was saturated with water and he let it fall around his shoulders. His arms were tired anyway and he was exhausted from the onslaught of the rain. The droplets hit his head with force, but he almost welcomed the distraction for now he had not just one but two more women foisted upon him by the harsh hands of fate. Though Kahmal had told him the two silly Ionarians would not be leaving with them, he still had ten women to try to protect and preserve.
It was a punishment he thought that well exceeded his crimes.
Chapter Seventeen
On Terra
Bridget Cree was watching her son as he tossed a football with his best friend, Roy. She smiled at the two boys.
"The older he gets, the more like his father he looks,” Beryla Dean said.
The two women were sipping lemonade as they sat on a plaid blanket spread out on the grass of the park.
"And even without Kam here to show him how to act like a Reaper, Jae is developing characteristics so like his father it is unnerving,” Bridie said of the six year old. She saw him rake a hand through his dark curls and the gesture was so like that of his sire it nearly broke her heart.
"It is in his genetic makeup, Bridie,” Beryla reminded her. “We will have to take precautions the closer he gets to puberty and his first Transition."
"I am so grateful all of you are here now,” Bridie said.
Beryla nodded. She and the other women who had accompanied Bridie to Terra—Tina Portas, Amala Dayle, Ivonne O'Malley, and Dr. Aurora Burds—had now relocated to Albany, the large southwest Georgia town where Beryla and Aurora had set up a new medical facility. All the Hunters—Rysalian military men formerly assigned to find and round up women for retrieval to FSK-14—had also gathered in the town to be near their own kind.
"He has missed so much,” Bridie said, tears gathering in her green eyes.
Beryla knew her friend was speaking of the boy's father. “Aye, but you've enough vid-shots of Jae's growing up to last him years when Tylan brings Kamerone home."
"If they bring him home,” Bridie said and her lips trembled.
"They will,” Beryla said.
Bridget had a flashback to the day when her beloved Reaper had been taken from her and she shivered.
"Still having the nightmares?” Beryla asked gently.
Bridie nodded. “I relive our last conversation, hearing me tell him to get out.” Moisture entered her eyes.
“I hear him asking me where he was supposed to go, what was he supposed to do, and I tell him I didn't care, that I don't want anything more to do with him."
"You were angry and you were hurt, Bridie,” Beryla said.
"I hurt him so badly that day,” she said, swiping at the moisture. “I broke his heart."
"Black as it is,” Beryla replied.
"Then everything changes and we're in the cafeteria at Dougherty General and he's sitting there with Dorrie.” She smiled ruefully. “And I got all medieval on his ass and start accusing him and then Dorrie and I go after one another, he gets between us and the next thing I know, that damned Amazeen bitch is there.” She clenched her fists. “I see that woman's face still and I see Kamerone on his knees as his wrists are being shackled and then I see Hael Sejm...."
"Bridie,” Beryla said, placing a hand over her friend's tightly clamped fist. “You can't dwell on that part of it. Try to think positively. Try to remember that there are eight strong, powerful men going after your husband and just know they will bring Kamerone back safely to you."
"He's in her hands,” Bridie said. “He's in Sejm's evil hands and God only knows what that bitch is doing to him!"
"Bridie..."
"I want my husband!” Bridie cried, burying her face in her hands. “I want my Reaper!"
Beryla reached out to take Bridie in her arms and to soothe her with long, gentle strokes of her hand down the younger woman's back. “You'll get him back, Bridget. I know you will,” she said softly. “He'll be back with you and sprawled on the sofa with bags of chips and bottles of salsa and six-packs of Pepsi and boxes of chocolate covered cherries and Sweet-Tarts and the gods only know what else he will want to pack into his cast iron stomach and you guys will be watching those vid-tapes of Jaelin growing up and laughing about his little antics."
"Jaelin might well be grown by then,” Bridie said as she pushed away from Beryla and swiped at the treacherous tears.
"True, but...” She stopped realizing what was buried beneath Bridie's words. “You worry he won't love you when he returns?"
"Look at me,” Bridie said. “I was young and fairly attractive when he left. By the time he gets home, I'll be middle aged with sagging boobs and crow's feet and cellulite and..."
"You'll be no such thing,” Beryla snapped. “Don't forget the laser instruments that can lift and smooth and erase..."
"I'll be old , Beryla!” Bridie cried. “All the instruments Ro-Ro has developed as a by-product of her cancer work and all the collagen injections and laser applications in the world can't stop that!"
Beryla reached over to take Bridie's hand. “What year is this, Bridie?” she asked.
"2068,” Bridie answered without thinking. She frowned. “What difference does...?"
"That might have been true when you left Terra the first time in 1994 but it isn't true now. The Terrans here have developed plastic surgery techniques almost as advanced as ours and the clinics are filled to overflowing with women and men—hell, even teenagers!—lining up to have work done on their bodies.
P
eople live to be well over one hundred as a matter of course. Why should you be any different and why should you have to look like you're that old?” She grinned. “Think about it. You are actually eighty-four years old in Terran years."
Bridie groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Don't remind me!"
"Well, girl, think about me!” Beryla said. “I left Terra in 1973. I'm now at the ripe old age of one hundred and six and I don't feel a day over sixty!"
"And don't look a day over forty,” Bridie complimented her.
Beryla grinned. “With the advanced procedures Ro-Ro and I have discovered, we can turn the clock back so you won't look a day older than you did when Kam left Terra. What was that? Thirty-two?
Thirty-three?"
Bridie tucked her lower lip between her teeth. “I'll still be old,” she complained. “My body is eventually going to catch up to my years."
Beryla sighed. “Aye, well you're only as old as you want to be and as old as you feel,” she snapped. “I fully intend to have my face done as soon as I learn Lares is on his way back."
"We talked about him giving me a parasite,” Bridie said and looked up to gauge Beryla's reaction. “We had bad arguments about it. He never wanted to live without me. I was terrified of receiving one of his fledglings. I didn't want it then, but now I wish I'd...” She shrugged. “I've been without him for six years and it might be another six or even longer before I see him again. I don't want to be on my deathbed when he comes home."
Beryla surprised Bridie by smiling and wagging her eyebrows. “You want a fledgling?"
Bridie felt a shiver run down her spine. “Do you have one of his revenants?"
Beryla nodded. “He had me harvest one from him when you were in labor just in case. Kam was so afraid he'd lose you and although I was totally against it, I did as he asked. The thought sickened me at the time, but I've had a few years to think about it and I can see now where it might be of benefit. I've been feeding that little squiggly ever since and I'd be relieved to be rid of the babysitting.” She held up her hand before Bridie could speak. “But ... I think we should turn the hands of time back prior to making such a decision and I'll tell you why."
