She rose to her feet and turned to stare at the sleeping incubus. He'd moved a few times, proving he wasn't hovering on death's door like she'd feared. Val took a step and cursed as she scraped her foot on the knob or a tree root. She scowled and directed some her nanobots to form a simple pair of sandals on her feet.
Protected from the perils of the jungle floor, she moved next to the man she'd rescued and knelt down beside him. She put her hand on his side and waited while her nanobots swarmed across his body and cleaned the water off of him. They tiny machines directed the drops to the low point on his body, his heel near the pond, and expelled the dirty water there in a steady trickle. When they were finished they returned to Val's body and left him unharmed. His pale skin was grey not because of what the nymph had done to him, that was the natural color of his kind.
"Let's go, Happy Pants," she said as she straddled the incubus. Her nanobots crawled across her skin and gathered in a tight covering over her breasts that looked like a purple and pink tube top at first glance. Her hips were covered in a matching but skimpy pair of shorts.
She pulled the incubus up by the shoulders and squatted down to get a better grip. Using her shoulder as leverage she maneuvered his limp form up and onto her shoulder in a fireman's carry. She groaned as she adjusted to his weight and had to take a few steps to catch her balance. The nanobots swirled throughout her body and joined together to add their strength to hers. She took a step and found managing his weight was becoming easier by the second.
Val soon found the nymph lying on the ground in the same place she'd left her. She glared at her and stood over her. The nymph's eyes flashed with panic when she saw the incubus, then she looked away and took on the familiar look of hatred.
"I've got you on attacking a licensed security consultant and kidnapping. What will be really fun is finding out how many victims you killed. How many people have nothing but a few dissolving remains in that pond?" Val paused as though the nymph could respond. "What's that? Oh, did you move? You shouldn't be moving yet."
Val drew her pistol and fired a second ectonic round into the Nymph's chest. The energy flashed through her body briefly and left the nymph's eyes wide and filled with agony and hate. By the time the instant effects of the bullet were over what remained of her consciousness collapsed.
Val holstered her pistol and grinned. "Stupid bitch," she muttered before turning around and looking at her surroundings. The daylight cycle was nearing the end, causing the jungle to grow gloomy with approaching dusk. That meant a walk through the jungle to find a trail, then she had to carry both the bodies out of the jungle. She could always signal for help and have the local police forces join her, but that would cut into her pay day. Besides, she didn't like working with the Climintra, the official name for The Complex's police force, if she didn't have to.
Val sighed. "Guess you're not the only stupid bitch in the woods tonight," she muttered and she spread her legs and squatted down to throw the nymph over her other shoulder.
Chapter 2
Val walked into the office at the top of the Complex's dome and came to a stop. Lennox, the man she'd come to see, was widely known as The Watcher. He had monitors positioned around his office that displayed the feeds from cameras scattered throughout the massive city. This time he ignored them and stared out the window and down at the city below.
"Casual dress attire these days, Private Washburn?"
Val fought to keep her grinding teeth from showing. Lennox wasn't even looking her way but somehow he still knew. It was maddening, how he could do that. The best way she had for dealing with his uncanny knowledge was to try and make him uncomfortable. "I dropped the package off at the Climintra station and came straight away. Didn't even have time to find any clothes to put on." She was tempted to see if she could get a rise out of him by proving she really didn't have any clothes on.
Her attempt to draw a reaction failed. Instead he waited a moment and then said, "Private, need I remind you that the Climintra uses consultants such as yourself because their hands are tied. Fear of excessive force and being labeled a police state limit the Climintra to a handful of banal activities or extreme operations where numbers and force are clearly required. For everything else, we have people like you."
"My name's Valerie," she said. "Not Private."
The imposing figure turned to look at her. He was one of the few humans taller than her but it was neither his height or his stocky frame that proved daunting. With Lennox the problem was his eyes. They had an eerie quality to them. She felt like he was staring through her and into her soul whenever he looked at her.
"That was your rank. Private First Class Valerie Washburn, was it not?"
She lifted her chin. "It was. You might want to remember that the war is over. I left the army behind."
His lips twitched in a smile. "Of course you did. But you still train like you're in an elite combat unit. You still work in a para-military field. Once a soldier, always a soldier, am I right?"
"You are wrong," she said for the sake of arguing. He was right and she knew it, but she didn't want to admit it. Hell, there were days she didn't want to be the way she was. The army had been the only place she could turn to though. They tore her apart and built her back up, giving her what she needed to move on. She was damn proud of what she'd accomplished, but she also knew well enough to keep that under wraps. Boasting about fighting in the war, on either side, was quick to draw a lot of unwanted attention here.
His continued smirk told her he didn't believe her. "Believe what you wish, Valerie. Your reputation is growing. Another dangerous criminal brought in, and this time you managed to rescue her hostage as well. Do you realize just what that means?"
"That I saved his life?" she asked. "Pity I couldn't have helped the others that were rotting away in the cess pool."
"Yes, that is a pity," he agreed. "But that's not what I meant. The man is an incubus."
"I figured that part out," she snapped. "Black eyes, grey skin and blue power lines. Oh, and a dick most girls would have a hard time wrapping their—"
"So you know what saving his life means?" Lennox interrupted. "He is bound by the laws of his kind to serve you."
Val's lips parted. "He... what? No! They work under contracts. Incubus and Succubus are both bound by the contracts they make. That's why they make such excellent sex workers. A deal is struck, both sides agree to it, and then they move on. Keeps them from sucking the life out of their customers too, unless the customer wants that."
"I see you remember your training well," Lennox said. "That is all well and true, but the undocumented agreement they live by is one that weighs heavily on them. It is the only way to bind one of their kind by contract without their consent. Saving their life."
"Fuck me," Valerie groaned.
"I don't doubt he would do that readily enough, should you wish it. That would not satisfy the terms of his service though."
Val shook her head. "No! That's not what I want. I... gods and monsters! What will satisfy the contract?"
"He must save your life in turn."
She groaned and clenched her fists. "I don't need a fucking manservant running around trying to be heroic."
"Indeed," Lennox said, although a twist of smile curled his lips up. "Then keep him safe and sound, and owing you, for the rest of your life."
Valerie clenched her teeth again. She wanted to punch him. That or maybe put one of the ectonic rounds in her pistol between his eyes. She wondered what effect, other than a headache, that might have on him?
"There's another situation that could use your specific skills."
Val scowled. "I need a shower. Several showers, actually, after I went swimming in that pond. I have some other work lined up too, I think I'll pass. Maybe next week?"
"Miss Washburn, you won't be satisfied if I give this job to anyone else."
"Try me," she argued. She turned to leave and said over her shoulder, "Give Lance Henrick a call, he could use som
e work even if he is a little sloppy. Or maybe Julio. He'd probably bring his whole crew along, but if this job is such a big deal, maybe you need that."
"Lance won't handle this person with the same detail that you would. As for a crew, well, I don't think you'd want to trust this to anyone else."
Val growled and turned back around. "Why is this person so special that I'm the only person that can bring them in? What makes me so special?"
"It's not why, it's who," Lennox said. "Davina Banks."
She froze as though her life depended on impersonating a statue. She slowly turned back around. Lennox watched her with unblinking eyes. There was no twist to his lip, no hint of smile or smirk. He was looking at her. Watching her. Staring into her. Waiting for her to do what he already knew she would do.
"She's alive?" she whispered.
"Very much so."
"But the academy... she was with Tark when they..."
"Your fiancé was killed, Apprentice Banks was not."
Val blinked and shook her head. "Apprentice? She's still an apprentice?"
Lennox's mocking smile was back. "Far from it, I'm afraid. She graduated a year late, but used her extra time wisely and graduated with arch-mage honors. Since then she's come into considerable powers... as a necromancer."
Val gasped.
Lennox bowed his head. "Shall I forward the details to your account?"
Valerie hesitated and then nodded. She opened her mouth and then shut it when she realized she didn't know what to say. That only lasted a moment before something else occurred to her. "How do you know anything about...my past?"
His damn smile taunted her again "I make it a habit to know the history of the people I'm working with. In cases like this, it helps me make sure the job gets done by the best person possible."
Val hesitated and tried to figure out how he could know as much as he did. That had been years ago. The records were supposed to be sealed by the academy! Then again, Lennox's position granted him access to a lot of things. Apparently even sealed records. She knew she wouldn't get any more out of the man who was pulling her strings, so she turned and started walking away again.
"Oh, and Miss Washburn?"
Val stopped. She was done here. She didn't want to know anymore. She couldn't handle that much more. She was about tell him to fuck off when Lennox spoke again.
"Please try not to shoot anyone after they've been restrained again."
Chapter 3
A day later after she ran out of excuses to keep her busy, Valerie read through the report. It was the third time. Or was it the fourth? It didn't matter, none of it was sticking. She groaned and pressed her head back into the pillow of her bed. Why had she come back? Of all the people in the universe, why her?
Davina had been brilliant at the academy when Val knew her. Brilliant and...friendly. Too friendly, at least as far as Val was concerned. They hit it off at first and became good friends almost overnight. Then from good friends to inseparable. And from inseparable to... to nothing. Val met Tark and things took off like a campfire that had been fed a barrel of gunpowder.
She opened her eyes and tapped the datapad to bring up the associated media. There he was, among the known associations. Tark. Short brown hair that he could never keep tamed. Green eyes like hers, one of the things they felt drew them together. And a smile that—
Val gasped as a red emblem defiled his face and pronounced him, "DECEASED."
She stared until the tears in her eyes blurred her vision. She lowered the datapad and let it fall to the floor beside her bed. She moaned out a curse and rolled onto her side so she could curl up into a ball. She'd gotten rid of everything that reminded her of him. Purged his pictures from her computers. Donated his things to charities. Hell, she hadn't even thought about him in a few months now. She'd been doing so well at ignoring the hole in her heart... until this.
"Fuck you, Lennox," she snarled. "You can find her yourself. I don't fucking care!"
Her doorbell chimed. Valerie sucked in a breath and listened. What lousy timing was this? Or was Lennox stalking her after hours now. He'd never made a house call before, but he seemed determined. Had he bugged her apartment? Was he really that good?
It rang again a few seconds later, proving once and for all that her life really did suck. She scowled and rolled over so she could sit on the edge of her bed and stand up. "Go away," she muttered as she walked through the small apartment past her office and the adjoining kitchen. She turned to the door and took in a deep breath to compose herself.
The nanobots surged across her skin, whisking away the tears that wet her cheeks and swirling across her body to form a off white tank top and a black pair of shorts that fell to her mid thigh. When her makeshift clothing was ready she reached out and tapped the display on the door. A picture of a tanned man filled the framed display on the door. The neckline of his light blue shirt was open to the bottom of the frame, showing a bare chest devoid of hair but the swell of muscles. His cheekbones were high and pronounced, as was the cleft in his chin. All in all, he was damn good looking.
Good looking or not, she wasn't interested. As a matter of fact, after the payment from the nymph's capture, she just about had enough that she could take a long vacation from the Complex. Like, a permanent one. Get away from Lennox and Davina and everything. Even if there was nowhere else in the solar system that catered to her particular talents or paid as well as this place did. Sometimes running from a problem was the best solution.
She pressed a button on the door and said, "Sorry, I'm not taking any new cases right now."
The man jerked his eyes and searched the door. "Miss Washburn?" he asked. "I'm sorry, I need to speak to you. I... I don't have a case, exactly. I mean, it's not something I need you to do for me."
Val's eyes narrowed. She tapped another button on her door and waited while the hidden scanners surveyed her visitor. It came back clear, indicating he didn't have any weapons on him. That didn't mean he didn't have some power or magical ability though.
"Just a minute," she said before she hurried to the hook beside her bed and grabbed her new utility belt off of it. She slipped it around her waist and drew her pistol. She popped the magazine out to make sure it was fully loaded and then drew the slide back enough to insure there was a round chambered. Satisfied, she reloaded the magazine and returned to the door. Her visitor was still waiting.
"Step back," she warned him and waited a second for him to back up. Once he'd moved she unlocked the door and pulled it open fast enough to surprise him. Even more surprising was the pistol pointed at his face.
The man's hands went up and he took another step back. "Woah! I—"
Val shifted in the door so she could glance down the hallway to either side before she lowered the pistol to point at his chest instead of his face. "Who are you?"
"I— uh, I'm Dag'on. You—"
"Dag'on? That's a stupid name. Why are you here? Don't bullshit me, I don't have the patience or the time for it."
His eyes widened. "This had to happen to me," he muttered.
Val's head shifted. She almost lowered her gun some more. Almost.
"Look, I'm here because of what you did, okay?"
"What, you've got a message to deliver? You supposed to threaten me or rough me up? I've got gun and it's loaded full of mushroom rounds. You know what those will do to a person, I bet."
He glanced at her pistol and then back up to her face. He shook his head. "No, I don't. Sounds unpleasant though."
Val frowned. "What kind of thug doesn't know what a mushroom round is?"
"The kind who isn't a thug?" he volunteered. "Look, lady, I came by because you saved my life the other day. I'm nowhere near a hundred percent, but I'm back on my feet and I figured I should stop by and say thanks. That's all."
Valerie's gun slipped lower as she made the connection. "You! You're the incubus!"
He winced and nodded.
"Thanks?" she asked.
"Yeah. T
hanks. For saving me."
She flipped the safety back on her pistol and slid it back into her holster. "Oh. You're welcome."
He watched her for a moment and nodded. "All right then. I'll just, uh, be on my way."
Val watched him turn and start to walk away. He made it three steps before she opened her mouth. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be...I don't know... indebted to me or something?"
Dag'on stopped and stood perfectly still for a long second. His shoulders dropped and he turned back around. "Yes, I am."
Val nodded. "You weren't going to tell me?"
He shrugged. "If you didn't know, then why bother?"
"A contract's a contract, from what I understand. You're kind are bound by them."
"Yes, but the details can leave a lot of opportunities. I could go my way and you yours, as long as you don't know about it, it might never be enforced."
"Classy," she said. She stepped back out of the doorway. "Come on, there's no need for anyone else to get an earful of this."
His lips pressed together in a thin smile. "I'm sure they won't talk about an incubus entering your residence either. Your neighbors will think you got a raise."
"And thank you, now anyone listening knows," she said and looked directly at a concealed security camera in the hallway ceiling.
His smile widened. "Oops."
"Get your ass in here," Valerie growled.
He nodded and stepped into the room with her. As he passed she caught a hint of his scent. Something with a hint of musk and wood. It was manly and made her long for a day spent on a beach being pampered by a strong young masseuse who——
"Gods and monsters!" she whispered. "Stop that!"
He tilted his head. "Stop what?"
"Stop stinking up my apartment. You're not climbing between my legs and putting another notch in your headboard."
Arrested in Peace (The Complex Book Series) Page 2
