He swept the laser across the front rank of Hajim, cutting through fur, flesh, and body armor for a few crucial seconds before the power fizzled off. Then he tossed the burned-out weapon aside and led the charge of women and Denthera up the ramp and through the rest of the Hajim soldiers.
“They’re starting to close the air lock!” someone shouted.
Zoe began to run faster for the open air lock, but a shadow passed over her head low in the sky and she looked up. As she did, the Hajim ship began to fire.
Terror streaked through her.
Then she realized that the Hajim ship wasn’t firing on the prisoners, but at the shadows passing over the landing field.
Many, many shadows. They were like huge bats sweeping down over them.
It took her only a moment to recognize the sleek black shapes bearing down on the position of the enemy ship.
“Fighters!” she shouted.
The retrieval beacon hadn’t been broken after all. Poor Jazoan.
“Byzant fighters incoming! Those are ours!”
“Retreat!” Raven shouted. “Everybody back! Take cover!”
The next thing she knew, Doc picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder as he ran. And Raven ran faster than any mortal could. She could feel the heat boiling up off his skin, but he had her back to the shelter of the processing center within moments.
“Who are they?” he demanded when he set her down.
She couldn’t help but grin. “A special forces group so elite even you don’t have clearance to know about them, General.” She was gleeful, and giddy with relief. She hugged him hard. “This nonexistent bunch of commandos is unofficially known as Unit Four. Jazoan called them. He used an implant signal that worked, even though it seemed like the device was broken.”
The nonexistent weapons of this not-there rescue team were now taking out the guns on the Hajim ship.
Doc squinted out at the landing field. “Special Ops. Good.”
The prisoners were going to be okay. All that was left was for Unit Four to save their asses—even if the combined forces of Camp Five had been fairly close to doing so themselves.
But Doc wasn’t ready to simply wait for Unit Four to carry out their mission. “Everyone who isn’t a marine stay here,” he shouted. “Especially you,” he added in a whisper to Zoe. “We’ve got stunners against blast weapons,” he told the marines who gathered around him. “That’s enough to take out the Hajim guarding the ship. We still need that ship in working order. Let’s go help the Asi. Move out,” he ordered.
Zoe wished Matthias wouldn’t go back out in the sun, but he had a job to do and she didn’t try to stop him.
She wasn’t even allowed to crouch by the doorway and watch the fighting. Everard hustled her into the center of a thick crowd of guards where all she could do was wait and worry and listen to the noise of weapons fire. Which seemed to go on forever.
As the firing grew more sporadic, Zoe grew more terrified. If they’d come this far and then something terrible happened to Matthias—
She squeezed her eyes shut on the burning of unshed tears. Don’t you dare die on me now, Raven!
Don’t get your brain in a twist. His thought came to her.
We’re going to be together for a long, long time, she vowed.
She realized that suddenly everything had grown silent.
Doc spoke in her head. I’m fine. Your people are here. Come to me.
She was already moving.
51
“Porphyrgia,” the commando leader said, giving the slightest of respectful nods.
“Colonel Rook,” she replied, with a nod of her own. They were standing in the shadow of the Hajim transport ship. She and Doc had their arms around each other’s waists. They’d been kissing when Rook came up to interrupt them, and Doc gave the commando a suspicious look.
“You know this guy?” Raven asked.
Rook spared an assessing glance for the big man standing at her side. And if she wasn’t mistaken there was a hint of jealousy in the returning assessing look Matthias gave the commando.
And recognition?
What was up with these two?
“General Matthias Raven,” she said, introducing him to Rook. She gestured toward the colonel. “Matthias, this is a man you do not see and have never met.”
“Tell the invisible man I said thanks,” Raven told her. His arm tightened around her waist.
“He says to say—”
“Ma’am, no jokes right now, please,” Rook interrupted. Three of his people came up to stand behind him, two men and a woman. They all bristled with weapons, and grim expressions. “Please. We’re on a tight schedule here. We have to get you back to Byzant territory right now.”
“Of course you do,” she answered, and did her best to project serene confidence. “But I also have an agenda, Colonel.”
She saw the hard look on Rook’s face, and knew what he was thinking. She knew what the parameters of his assignment must be.
“I am not going anywhere without everyone else that has escaped from this POW camp. Everyone,” she emphasized. “Human, Asi, Denthera—even the remaining Kril guards if they wish to go.”
“Porphyrgia,” Rook began.
“Don’t argue with the lady,” General Raven said, cutting him off.
Rook noted the rank tattoo on Doc’s muscular arm. He looked back at her. He sighed. He said the sort of bad word soldiers could be forgiven for uttering when given unreasonable orders from their superiors.
“The Hajim ship hasn’t suffered too much damage,” one of Rook’s men said. “We can fly the prisoners out of here in it.”
“That was the plan,” Matthias said. “I’ll take charge of the evacuation,” he told Rook.
Rook gave a grateful nod. “Thank you, General. Please come with me, Porphyrgia.” He gestured toward an oversized fighter and began to turn away.
“No,” Zoe told him. “I’m flying the transport out of here.”
He faced her. “You know I can’t allow—”
Raven said something to Rook in a language that was not Standard. Rook answered. She didn’t ask for a translation, or try to access her database. She could pretty much guess what they’d said. And what they both were.
She left all of her questions for later. “I’m going onto the ship’s bridge now, Colonel, to familiarize myself with the controls.”
“I’ll let you know when everyone’s on board,” Matthias told her.
Rook glared at them but waited for orders.
“Prepare your ships for escort duty,” Raven told the commando.
As Zoe went up the ship’s entrance ramp, Rook reluctantly replied, “Yes, sir.”
52
“We’re a lot closer to home territory than you think,” Rook informed Zoe.
He settled into the navigation spot beside her pilot’s seat. The seats and controls designed for Hajim physiology were uncomfortable and clumsy, but Zoe and the colonel made do. He obviously had as much knowledge of alien technology as she did.
“The war’s been going better for our side, Porphyrgia,” he added.
The navigation coordinates he’d fed into the computer came up on her screen. She noted territorial markings and nodded. “So I see.”
“But we haven’t won yet, have we?” Raven asked from behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder. She leaned her head back against him for a comforting moment. “Let’s get out of here, sweetheart.”
“Amen to that, darlin’,” she answered and smiled at the sideways look Rook gave them. “We’ve shocked the Special Ops guy, Matthias.”
“He’s tough. He’ll survive it.”
She hoped the same could be said for others—the entire Empire, in fact. She engaged the ship’s antigravs. “Sit down,” she told everyone. “We’re leaving now.”
Rook had insisted on coming with her in the Hajim ship, and he’d brought his two friends with him. The three new bodyguards were crowded onto the alien craft’s small b
ridge along with Raven, Everard, Maria, Barb, Siler, and Mischa.
Zoe concentrated on flying the ship and forgot about the group until the transport and the flanking fighters were headed toward the closest foldpoint. There was a cheer when the prison planet disappeared behind them and open space showed on the viewscreens.
Zoe smiled and sat back in the uncomfortable pilot’s chair. Her elation at her own freedom was overtaken by another joy building in her. “We have ninety minutes to fold,” she announced.
“There’s a fleet waiting there,” Rook said. “Guarding it to get you back.”
“A fleet?” she said. “What a lovely thought.”
Matthias was beside her instantly, his hand on her shoulder. It felt so right there. “I know that tone of voice,” he said. “What are you up to? What are you thinking, Zoe?”
“I’m thinking that this ship’s database holds the location of every one of the prison camps where our people are being held. If we have a fleet, we can mount a rescue mission.”
Doc groaned, but she knew he was only protesting for form’s sake. “I hope it’s a very big fleet.”
“You’ll have to discuss any further rescue attempts with Admiral Patel,” Rook cut in. “Our first duty is to get you back to the Empire.”
“All right,” Zoe agreed reluctantly. Right now, there was something else she must do.
When Zoe stood, everyone else followed suit. She had a pang of melancholy at suddenly being treated as the Porphyrgia by these friends and comrades.
“Colonel, do you have a knife?” Zoe asked Rook.
When she glanced at him Rook already had a knife in his hand.
“Of course you do.”
Rook handed the blade to her without any questions.
Matthias looked at her strangely. He took a wary step back, but there wasn’t far he could go on the tiny bridge. “Woman, if you’re thinking what I think you’re—”
“General, may I have your hand, please? The left, I believe, is traditional.”
“Go for it, Zoe!” Barb called.
“You were right about everything,” Zoe told Barb, who was smiling bravely at her.
“Why do people keep talking about me?” Doc asked. He put his hands behind his back.
Maria gasped and pushed her way forward. “Zoe, if you’re going to do this you have to make it legal, with witnesses and a Matri officiating.”
Zoe nodded. “Yes. It needs to be done in a way that nobody can challenge. Right, tight, and legal. You’re not getting out of this, Raven.”
“What’s going on?” Everard asked.
“I don’t get it,” Mischa said.
“They’re getting married, you idiots,” Barb explained. There were tears in her voice.
Raven threw up his hands. “Nobody asked me to get married!”
Rook laughed and pointed at Zoe. “I don’t think she has to ask, Prime.”
“Any fool can smell and sense what’s between you,” the female commando said.
Raven glared at Zoe, but there was a light in his eyes that melted her. “Are you ordering me to marry you, Porphyrgia?”
“Hell, no,” Zoe answered. She faced him squarely, totally determined. “I’m asking for more than that, Matthias. I want my bondmate,” she told him. “I want to twine my life and soul with yours and say to the universe that we are one.”
“I want that too,” he said, “but—”
“And you’ll die without me,” she interrupted. “Do you think that I don’t know that we’ve gone too far into the bonding for you to be able to give me up? You lied about getting over me with drugs and your own females.” She stepped close and cupped his cheek in her palm. “You brave, noble—idiot!”
His hands settled on her waist and he drew her close. “There’ll be hell to pay for this,” he whispered in her ear. “Who you marry—”
“Will only be you.”
“The people of the Empire—”
“Are our people—yours as well as mine. We’re all human. All children of Earth—brothers and sisters—and lovers and friends no matter our differences. We’re the same people, with the same needs. The people of the Empire are tough,” she told him. “They’ll survive our bonding, but I won’t survive without you. I love you too much to let you go.”
“You give good speeches.”
“Good enough to convince you.”
“You had me when you took the knife. How I do adore a dangerous woman.” His arms came around her in a sudden tight embrace. I love you more than life, he told her. “I’ll never let you go,” he said.
“But you two have to make it stick with the proper rites,” Maria chimed in. “You need a female to officiate and witnesses from his Clan. We ought to change course for Solsangre or—”
“No need,” the woman commando spoke up.
“I can serve as witness for Clan Corvus,” Rook added.
Zoe looked curiously up at Matthias. “Do you know Rook?”
“We’ve never met, but he’s my cousin, Lorand Rook.”
“I am Prime, Porphyrgia,” Rook said.
“I’d already guessed that, Colonel, but I didn’t expect that you’d be related to Doc.”
“We vampires have a small gene pool,” Matthias said.
She glanced over her shoulder at the vampire commando. “He’s a lot better-looking than you are, Matthias” she commented.
“Just wait until you see me with hair.” He kept his arm around her waist as he turned to the female Special Ops officer. “What did you mean?”
“She’s a hunyara,” Rook said. “A cross between vampire and werefolk,” he explained to Zoe. “She belongs to Clan and Pack.”
“Sela Bledd,” the hunyara introduced herself. “At your service, Porphyrgia.” She looked challengingly at Raven. “Am I vampire enough to serve as Matri for the ceremony?”
Matthias grinned at her, then bowed formally. “I’m honored to be at your service, Matri.”
“Everyone gather around,” Maria ordered. “Siler, have you figured out how to work the log recorder for the bridge?”
“Yes,” the tech answered.
“Make sure to record everything. We’ll all sign as witnesses as well.” She looked around. “Right?”
The chorus of agreement made Zoe’s heart glow. She knew she and Matthias were doing the right thing no matter how complicated things became. They’d get through it. Together.
It was time the Empire learned to cope with the equality of every citizen. Judging from the attitude of the people on the bridge, the road ahead might not be as hard as she feared.
A semicircle was formed behind them, with Rook and Maria standing on either side of them.
The hunyara stood before them with Rook’s knife in her hand. She said, “I bless this bonding of Prime and mortal woman. Brought together by fate and the force of eternal love, their lives are one, their beings are one, their hearts are one. Their blood is one.” She handed Zoe the knife. “Become one.”
Zoe took a deep breath, aware that this was the most important moment of her life. And the happiest.
She said, “Your hand, General.”
Doc stared at her, brows lowered over his dark eyes, and stood stone still. “You’re really sure, Theodora?”
“If you please, Matthias,” she said, and her voice shook a little. Doubt assailed her. “If you wish.”
He smiled, showing fangs. He came closer, and held out his hand.
It took her only a moment to slash the short, extremely sharp blade across the tip of Raven’s thumb. Bright red blood beaded on his skin. The sight of it sent a shock of desire through her.
Oh, yes. This was right!
She grabbed his wrist and lifted his hand to her lips. She touched the blood with the tip of her tongue.
She hadn’t expected the surge of pure pleasure, but in the next moment she was suckling greedily at the small wound. And Doc threw his head back and howled in pleasure.
It didn’t go on for nearly long en
ough before he gently detached his hand from her mouth. But pleasure aside, Zoe knew that it had gone on long enough for official purposes.
“The politics of this are going to be interesting,” Raven told her.
“I’m good at politics,” she told him. “Right now, you need to be a general. And a doctor. We need to get our people home.”
He nodded, his eyes shining with pride and love. “So you can stop this war.”
“I will,” she promised, returning his look with equal intensity. “We’ll do it together.”
After all, her blood was in him. His blood was in her. And it was going to be that way forever.
Epilogue
“Okay, which one of you wrote it?” Flare Reynard asked when the group of vampire women gathered for the first meeting of the Vampire Book Club. The book they’d all just read was a science-fiction story featuring a Prime hero in the far future. Fiction set in their own culture was a new concept that the group was all excited about.
Every gaze turned toward Antonia Wolf. “Oh, no, not me,” she said. “I distributed it, but I didn’t write it.”
“You know who did?” Sidonie Wolf, Antonia’s daughter, asked.
“I have a suspicion, but I don’t know for sure.”
“Which one of you wrote it?” Flare asked the group again.
“Does it matter?” Sofia Crowe asked. “I’m just glad the hero was from my Clan.”
“I think a mortal wrote it,” Sid said. “Think about it,” she went on. “The heroine of the story is a mortal. Could a vampire female keep up a consistent point of view for a female mortal? We aren’t like them.”
“True,” Cassie Shagal said. “But this mortal female is different from her own kind. She’s a princess. If there’s one thing all of us know about, it’s how to be a princess.”
Sid nodded. “Good point.”
“What if it’s not fiction at all?” Charisima Coyote wondered. “What if someone with really strong future sight wrote about what she saw happening in the future?”
“I have a cousin who can pick up details of history from any object he touches,” Sid said. “So, maybe—”
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