Who lost their heads? This was more like the Voldon I expected. Ruthless. Evil. Self-serving.
And something sparkled here and there around the base of the spears. The crystal skulls. How many? Quickly, I counted, peering around Goro's fur.
Twelve. Screw Voldon. We win no matter what. He'd never have the last skull to create his super weapon.
Goro shoved my body behind his massive form.
I must have annoyed him in my summation of skulls. How could I monitor with Voldon's actions given I could see nothing of significance now? Grant it, I'm standing here in liquid silk wearing nothing but black mercenary boots beneath it…
Nobody made a sound.
Not even a breeze had the courage to raise a voice.
Right. Everything was being discussed in mindspeak. So, I'm insignificant again? "What in the Hell is going on?" I leaned around Goro's hairy elbow and shouted at Voldon's leather-clad smug persona.
Voldon eyed me with a sinister grin.
Something evil mocked in his calm features. "It's time for you to die."
Goro let loose the most ungodly roar.
A sound of rage that set the pikes shaking their bones. Even my soul quivered.
Voldon didn't let the noise sway him. He carelessly hopped off the boulder and dropped into a combat crouch producing some long metallic rod like a weapon.
Spare me. Goro could bend that into the shape of a clown's dachshund balloon with both paws tied behind his back. "Don't you have a weapon that can do a little damage?"
Voldon's grin soured. His pole sprouted fin-shaped blades on both ends.
Goro roared again.
Christ almighty. Someone was going to die today. Why do I feel like I'm running with the bulls? At least my gown wasn't flaming red. Although it could be after a few moments of blood shedding.
Goro sprang toward Voldon, flipping through the air, and got a grip on the weapon near Voldon's handhold, landing on his hind legs, pulling Voldon overhead. But Voldon jumped away into his combat crouch, weaponless.
Not one sound erupted from the audience.
Goro held the weapon overhead in a twisted pretzel shape.
I knew it.
In a smear of movement, Voldon sent a knife thumping into Goro's shoulder.
That meant my mate would fight injured. Not alone. Never alone. We'd go to our graves knowing that much. Now I'll create a diversion. I focused deep inside myself to conjure up the telekinetic force hidden but a thought away...
The sounds of the awestruck wind began to riddle grains of sand into a spray of dust around the arena.
Voldon shot me a hideous grin.
That bastard just needed a knee in his big-ass balls. Now, to find a projectable knee.
* * * *
Goro watched as the skulls ringing the coliseum began to glow. Oh, to yank up the pikes and jab them through Voldon's eye sockets, he mused. Or rip off his arms. But somebody needed to stand between Darla and Voldon.
Sand whipped around the arena, against my ankles, biting my skin.
Voldon inched toward my mate.
Protect her.
Rage welled up inside me until it burst forth in the loudest torrent of anger my body could release.
Each skull shot a beam at Darla, locking onto her body.
Voldon paused.
What was that light? And what was she doing, staring at the ground before her feet? "Wake up, Darla," I thought I said but couldn't hear the words. Just another roar.
Was that energy some death ray? Since the skulls vacillated between being friend and foe with everyone, we had to get the Hell out of this arena.
Voldon produced another glinting knife and hurled it at her.
I leapt toward the glinting blade.
But the knife hit the light, bounced high into the air, and arched back to land at her boot. Small objects began whizzing across the arena at Voldon. He snarled at me and turned back to my mate.
A steel rod zipped past my head and stabbed into Voldon's thigh. Voldon grabbed at the harpoon, yanking, in the rising cloud of flying arena litter. To no avail. He'd need some help ripping that metal from his body. I'd happily assist. With something. I stepped toward him.
Voldon jerked out another blade from a boot and threw it at me.
Futilely. His pain had to be a distraction. I dodged the knife and trotted toward him.
He dragged his impaled leg away, from me and Darla.
The skulls' lights suddenly clicked off.
Darla's head tilted skyward and she collapsed into a pile of silk and limbs.
Voldon halted, mesmerized.
Too mesmerized. With one shove of bent legs, I pounced on him, ramming his face into the sand while wrapping my fingers around his neck, and squeezed.
Something hit my back.
Pain. Shooting pain shafted from my shoulder down to my lower back, wrapping around my body. I had to get up. I had to squeeze that scrawny neck. I couldn't do anything but breathe.
Objects fell onto the arena's sandy floor like hail, pounding my head and back. But lacking momentum to make a deadly blow. Obviously too late to spare me injury. I had to get the damned thing stuck in my shoulder out. I released Voldon, fell away from him, and reached for the object.
But Darla needed me.
What did Destiny hold for my mate who lay in a heap at the arena's center? She needed my help. Protect her. I grabbed the slick small metal object in my shoulder and yanked, to produce a knife. The first knife Voldon had hurled at Darla. She must have sent it flying with psychokinesis and lost control over the weapon when she passed out.
Now for Voldon. I climbed to my feet and turned.
Voldon faced me, feet squared, blood pouring down his leg, glaring. He'd managed to pull the rod out of his body. He snarled, knees bent as if he meant to box.
Injured and pissed, the man was still deadly. Or a fool would think otherwise. But could he wrestle a were-wolf and win? Well, I could walk without pain. He couldn't. Who had the upper hand? But with the crystal skulls waiting, watching, anything could happen. Especially after their energy took out Darla.
Protect her.
Time to kill Voldon. I circled him.
Voldon chuckled, menacingly.
He couldn't have any way to defend himself. Unless he'd hidden something somewhere in the arena. The bastard. But everyone watched. Everyone would see if he fought honorably. Time to kill him before he fought like the bastard he truly was. I leapt at him.
He threw up his arms and tried to shove me back.
Futilely. My weight rocked him. Knocked him onto his back.
He threw sand in my face.
Not a major distraction. I blinked and shook my head, then rolled him onto his gut, bending his arm backward, pinning him down.
He squirmed delightfully.
He smelled of salty metallic ambrosia. Blood.
Just to lock my jaws around the back of his neck. Bite. Snap his head off. But why not take him back to The Cause so the rest of the universe watched him die? Why not extend his suffering?
Darla groaned and rustled in the sand.
No. I wouldn't risk her life again. I grabbed Voldon's round head, twisted, and ripped off the odd sphere with uncanny ease. The skull reminded me of the crystal skulls. But then it was hideous lacking the beauty of the crystalline jewels to entrance those who laid eyes upon it. Voldon was simply hideous. Dethroned he was. I hurled the dripping head into the audience and turned to Darla's limp form.
The universe would be at peace now. And my mate.
Was she alive? She could have been worse off. Fried by the skulls' energy.
Movement around the arena danced in my periphery. I scanned the audience. They quickly departed. As it should be. The imprisoned nobles are free to return to their home worlds.
And the salty metallic smell of the blood coursing beneath Darla's skin called to me.
She's alive. He leaned close to savor the scent pulsing just beneath her creamy white skin
. So close to her pulsing blood that I trailed my tongue out to lick her salty skin. She was so helpless. So, mine. I grated me teeth not to bite her. But I needed to transmute into human form. To heal my wounds in the process. To save her. I scratched a cut in her arm just enough to draw a few beads of blood and took my libation. If nobody decided to kill me while I recovered from the exhaustion caused by shifting, we would depart soon.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Darla woke with a start, feeling sluggish like she had a major hangover. Voldon was trying to kill us, she recalled. Shit! I shoved up from the sinking sand and found my barbarian lying next to me in all his nude humanoid glory. He'd been in were-form before I passed out. Not anymore. Now he was all man.
My head swooned.
Ugh. I steadied it with a palm.
Just where was everyone? The stadium seating looked like a ghost town. Beyond Goro's body laid a decapitated body. Dressed in black. Voldon's choice of attire hadn't helped his mojo. But what about my mate? Was Goro dead too? That would be truly unbelievable given Destiny promised us a future. Should I touch him? Check him to see if he's warm and breathing? Did I want to know if he's ice cold?
Or is it better I just wait? Life was so much easier working with flowers.
Goro moaned.
Thank the universe for small favors. I ran a hand across his chest. "Goro?"
His eyelids flicked open.
Knowing the shifting drew from a person's energy reserves, it would be cruel to ask him a lot of questions. He'd need time to get over the shape shifting. But I missed everything. At least the important parts of the battle. "What happened here?"
"Voldon was distracted by the skulls' light and your telekinesis. I killed him," Goro managed to force some words from his lips.
Better you than me. I shot him a smile. "You can be my hero any day."
A sharp pain shot through my temple.
He chuckled softly. "Good because you're stuck with me." He managed to sit up and gazed around the quiet arena. "They didn't take the crystal skulls."
"Who?"
"The audience." He met my gaze. "Do you remember what happened?"
"No."
"The skulls got the better of Voldon. They distracted him so much that I could kill him."
Would things have happened differently without the intervening skulls?
Another pain shafted through my skull.
I rubbed the spot.
Goro labored to slide a palm across my arm. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was hit by an eighteen wheeler. Awful. Hung over. If only we brought a healer." I shot him a wink.
"I don't know what the skulls did to you. But each one lined a beam of light onto you. And I have no idea what will come of it."
Well, I'm sitting up. "Do you think we can just leave?"
"We'll have to." He arched one black eyebrow. "Xquine warriors cause quite a fluster. But nude Xquine warriors are even more fascinating." He winked back.
Maybe it was the mysterious Xquine penis? "Should we just walk out of here?"
"Now." He rose and extended a helpful palm.
We managed to cross the empty castle grounds, locate some masks, tie a piece of cloth around Goro's waist, and climb aboard the Crellon ship without being stopped by anyone.
"Buckle up," Goro told me where I stood beside a pilot seat.
"Like I want to sit in that germ-coated chair."
"We'll be back among The Cause's starships before you know it. Just grit your teeth and settle in."
Fine. If that's what it takes to love an alien. I buckled in for takeoff.
* * * *
Days passed before we managed to find a free-thinking starship. But no time was wasted in Darla's mind. With the ship completely to ourselves, we found the germs didn't really bother me too much to keep me from alleviating my blood lust with some good old-fashioned sex. Nor was anything boring about my barbarian pinning me down and taking what he wanted. Especially when every tatter of communication they came across noted Goro and I had defeated Voldon. That a Jennian priest died the day Voldon died. That it all happened on winter solstice 2012, according to Earth's calendar. Talk about one bizarre cause for celebration after another. Maybe the new year's first lengthening day was actually a sign of the universe's new age of growth? Who knows? I'm just a flower girl. But the news had spread.
Apparently with every escaping alien on that planet, one more humanoid returned home to pass on the word that Goro and I had saved the universe's oppressed peoples. And now we were about to report to the Free World Council. "What do you think they'll say now that you've shifted the power structure of the universe?" I asked Goro where he sat punching buttons on the Crellon ship's control panel.
Dressed in his new black leather vest, long jacket, pants, and boots, he almost looked like the Goro everyone remembered. But he still had that long ponytail. I'll just call it a badge of honor.
He shot me a serious glance. "We can never know."
Oh, spare me the evasive philosophy. "You can't convince me you don't want some kind of acknowledgement that you came through even after they stripped you of your command."
He shrugged. "I did as Destiny demanded."
The man was too humble. Destiny doesn't seem to know squat about the future. I don't have tender breasts, cravings, or morning sickness. The computer knows more about my earthling body than Destiny. But I wasn't going to tell him I wasn't pregnant. If I had been, I wasn't anymore. Who knows what the skulls' light did to me.
The spacecraft suddenly sat still and quiet.
"Shall we go?" he asked.
Why not? I rose.
He turned to me, carefully, and tilted my chin up so my gaze met his. "And if you don't mind, please let me do the talking."
Oh! I'd managed to lose all his faith in me back on Titan. "I won't embarrass you. Promise."
"You're just as important here as I am, heart of my heart." He planted a soft warm kiss on my lips. "But I want to hear what they want to say and find someplace to plow fertile fields."
Anything to get back to satiating the blood lust. "Fine."
* * * *
Goro led his mate before the Free World Council to learn what the future held for were-assassins. The Council had grown considerably in size, he noted. Many cultures were represented now that they were liberated from enslavement. I'd probably hear about allowing Voldon's son to escape. But for the most part, the Council shouldn't have any significant complaints. Everyone was free to return to their home worlds and pick up where they left off. That's if they even had a home world to return to and their home worlds hadn't changed significantly. How the Council planned to handle planetary issues that would certainly develop would be interesting. Between political, economic, or ideological issues, the universe was anything but out of the proverbial deep waters of mayhem yet.
Arken stood among the circular rings of seats among the Council members and nodded at Goro.
A good omen to see. Down on the bottom row, Arken's position among the heads of worlds only indicated his high status among the members. Goro halted where those called before a session waited to hear about their futures.
The councilors settled down.
All but Arken who stood before them all. "Welcome our hero, Goro, and his mate, Darla," Arken spoke in English. "You two have accomplished the impossible. You ended Voldon's tyranny. And we thank you."
A series of bright lights rose as the Council waved their lighted wands in agreement with Arken.
"Thank you, commander." Goro offered the obligatory nod.
"We shall see if time proves our plan for you is founded in great wisdom," Arken added.
Wise plans often proved as faulty as Voldon's. What plan did Arken note?
"We worry the next few decades will see many planets in turmoil as they haven't had control of their worlds for hundreds or thousands of years. We'll refer to these times of immense stress as transitional and hope all peoples come to what they believe is a happy co
-existence. Until then, we have decided to use the were-assassins to aid those populations who might require off-world intervention. So, Goro, we ask you and your wife to lead this great free-thinking endeavor we wish to call The Order of the Marshals. Through your blessed vision, the universe's children will be able to see their souls live happy fruitful existences."
The circular room lit up with light wands again.
Maybe I should argue against such ridiculous praise. But there's a chance to mold the universe into a living breathing heartbeat of heart and soul melded by thought and freedoms. And they asked Darla and I to set up this program to supervise worlds in transition? Although, it sounded simpler in Arken's terms. Would Darla agree? I turned to her.
She smiled a quirky half smile.
That was probably just a sign she couldn't believe they'd given up on her crazy nickname.
"Since I don't see how I could ever go back to my monotonous life on earth, I say let's do it," she blurted.
Well I still couldn't read her mind. So, I'd better stop guessing what she was thinking. With Rellerk out there, keeping the were-assassins alive might be the only way to ensure Voldon doesn't reincarnate and try to conquer the universe.
"We recommend you set up a base at Titan now that Shandul has passed. So, we send you to Titan with the hope that your endeavor to guide reconstruction throughout the universe will flourish in the light of Jennian peace."
* * * *
On Titan inside her personal quarters, Darla held her tiny daughter in the white silk wrap that Goro insisted on using to swaddle the newborn. After her first child miscarried, she didn't think she'd ever be happy again. That was after he thought I was pregnant before they killed Voldon. It had killed me how I couldn't provide him with that simple solution to all his problems with just a pregnancy. But the second, or even if it was the third, pregnancy went well. So well that now he had his Lianna.
But Goro had said nothing as his dreams died with each failing ghost of a pregnancy. I tucked my fingertip into the tiniest fist I'd ever seen. "And don't worry. Your father will ensure you have a brother or sister before long." Truth be known, I loved having babies. Childbirth was a different can of worms.
Giving birth hadn't been easy. Allowing a healer to ease my pain was just too intimate with all that touching and chanting. Women just didn't have babies that way back home in my neck of the woods. So, surviving the experience with no more than my husband for support, pain and all, to stare into my daughter's orange eyes proved a wonder in itself. Lianna's tiny eyes didn't sparkle like Goro's though. But he swore the fire would ignite in them by her first birthday.
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