“Call me Cassie, please.” Cassie put out her hand and Commander Sylvan took it. Then he offered his forearm to Stone in a warrior’s clasp.
“We’re very glad to have you both aboard,” he said, looking serious as the two of them gripped arms. “This is a bad situation, made worse by the fact that the murderer you two are chasing is passing himself off as one of us.”
“He is no true Kindred,” Stone said, frowning. “We have proof of that.”
“So do we,” Commander Sylvan said.
“Our lab results say he’s not human and not Kindred but that was as far as we could get,” Cassie said. “Can you tell us what The Beast actually is?”
“I can.” Sylvan nodded. “But not here—please accompany me to my office. We have much to discuss.”
Nineteen
“We have reason to believe that the male calling himself ‘The Beast’ is, in fact, an Imposter from Seculare Four.”
“An Imposter? What’s that?” Cassie asked, frowning.
They were all settled comfortably in Commander Sylvan’s office—a spacious room with a carved wooden desk displaying holo-pictures of the Kindred Commander’s family. His wife had long, dark brown hair, green eyes, and a pretty, kind face and his twins—a boy and a girl—were absolutely adorable, Cassie thought.
“A race that can assume the likeness of any other being in the galaxy,” Stone said grimly. “They are humanoid in their normal appearance—enough so that a group of Kindred even made a genetic trade with them.”
“Really? Are they affiliated with the Kindred, then?” Cassie asked.
Sylvan and Stone both shook their heads emphatically.
“No, absolutely not,” Stone said, frowning. “In fact, because the resulting children of the Imposter/Kindred trade inherited some of the Imposters’ ability to take on the appearance of another, they have been banned from the Mother Ship.”
“Other branches of the Kindred don’t trust them,” Sylvan explained. “Since they are able to make themselves look like anyone else. It can cause a great deal of mischief.”
“So is The Beast an Imposter Kindred?” Cassie asked.
“No.” Sylvan shook his head again. “According to the DNA analysis we ran, he is a pure-bred Imposter with no Kindred genes in his genetic code at all.”
“I could have told you that,” Stone said grimly. “No true Kindred would treat females the way he has been treating them. It isn’t just the murder, either. The abuse, both sexual and physical that my partner and I witnessed when we viewed his ‘work’…” He shook his head, a look of disgust on his face. “It is enough to make a male go into Rage or be sick.”
“I understand how difficult this must be for you,” Sylvan said gravely. “No Kindred wants to see a female mistreated in any way. But I’m afraid our tests of the samples you sent revealed something even more disturbing.”
“What?” Cassie leaned forward. “What did you find?”
“There was an unknown substance in the victim’s blood—I believe he injected her with something before he killed her?” Commander Sylvan looked at Stone who nodded in confirmation.
“Yes,” Stone rumbled. “Our witness said that it seemed to make the victim—who was reluctant to participate before—suddenly eager for pain—especially sexual pain.”
“Well, that’s unsurprising, I’m afraid.” Sylvan sighed. “The substance we found has been extracted from a genetic mutation of Bonding Fruit. A rare variation known as ‘Pain Fruit.’”
“Pain Fruit?” Stone frowned. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“Not many have,” Sylvan admitted. “That’s because it’s such a rare mutation and whenever the farmers who grow Bonding Fruit on Twin Moons see it, they root it out and burn it at once. It’s a scourge—a deviation because it makes whoever takes it long for pain instead of pleasure—which can result in injury or even death. As such, no one had ever tried to cultivate it.”
“Until now, I guess,” Cassie said dryly.
“Until now,” Sylvan echoed, nodding.
“So this Imposter—The Beast—is using this, uh, Pain Fruit extract to make women want to be hurt?” Cassie asked. “Like a pain aphrodisiac.”
“Actually, he only used it once,” Stone corrected her. “During the murder he filmed. None of our other witnesses mentioned him injecting them with anything.”
“He filmed the killing he did?” Commander Sylvan looked disgusted.
“I thought you knew, Commander. Technically, all of the pornographic scenes he did with the human women were filmed,” Stone told him. “But with the murder, it was different. He didn’t use human equipment—he used a holographic recorder—a camera drone.”
“Oh, and don’t forget what Amelia told us,” Cassie put in. She looked at Sylvan. “Our witness said that after The Beast finished, he called the holo-recorder back to him and said, ‘That should make Gozer happy.’”
“Gozer?” Sylvan steepled his fingers and nodded. “All right, now the pieces are falling into place.”
“They are? How?” Cassie asked, leaning forward eagerly. Stone leaned forward as well.
“Xempi Gozeriam, more commonly known as ‘Gozer,’ is the ruler of Bachanalius. Which is exactly where the ion trail we traced leaving Earth yesterday led,” Sylvan told them. “We didn’t know who might have left the trail since none of our own shuttles had business there, but now I’m thinking your murderer must have been the one.”
Cassie frowned. “Wait…are you saying that The Beast has left Earth and gone to this…this Bach…bach…”
“Bachanalius.” Stone’s deep voice sounded so grim that she turned to look at her partner.
“It’s a small planet—even smaller than your moon,” Sylvan informed her. “But it’s entirely devoted to the production of pornography.”
“Really?” Cassie asked, surprised. “What kind of pornography?”
“All kinds of pornography,” Stone growled.
“They supply most of the galaxy with various types of pornographic materials,” Sylvan told her. “From Andorian ear-stuffing porn to Zoltor toenail painting porn—you name the species and the fetish and Xempi Gozeriam—Gozer—produces some kind of salacious material associated with it.”
“Ear-stuffing? Toenail painting?” Cassie shook her head. “That sounds so weird.”
“Only until you consider that different species had different body types and physiology,” Sylvan pointed out.
“The Andorians have extremely large, sensitive ears, which they consider an erogenous zone,” Stone told her. “And Zoltorians have seventeen feet apiece. The first sixteen are just for walking but the seventeenth is, well…”
“They call it their ‘sex foot’,” Sylvan supplied. “Painting all fourteen toenails of the seventeenth foot, each in a different color, is considered a highly erotic activity. At least the Zoltarians think so.” He shrugged.
“A sex foot? But…then how do they actually have sex?” Cassie asked, fascinated.
“I believe they, er, stomp on each other. Or rather, the male stomps on the female’s sex foot with his own until his genetic material is released all over her toes.” Sylvan cleared his throat. “Of course, if the toenails are painted, the genetic material—the sperm—cannot seep in and find the female’s eggs.”
“Oh, I get it—so painting the toenails is like birth control!” Cassie exclaimed. “So they can, uh, stomp all they want without getting pregnant!”
“Essentially, yes.” Sylvan nodded. “A female Zoltorian with painted toenails is considered to be, er, offering herself to whichever male wants to stomp with her.”
“So painted toenails means she’s up for casual sex. Casual stomping.” Cassie nodded.
It all sounded ridiculously weird but it made sense that different people with different anatomy would find different things sexy. Hell, there were people on Earth who got off on foot porn—and probably some who had an ear fetish as well—so who was she to judge?
“So how d
oes this all tie together?” Stone asked. “Are you saying that The Beast is working for this Gozer? Making pornography for him on Earth that includes murder?”
“It’s called a ‘snuff film.’” Cassie said flatly. “A film that starts with sex and ends in a murder, I mean,” she added, seeing Stone’s confused expression. She looked at Sylvan. “But why would this, uh, Gozer, want to send someone to impersonate a Kindred and make a snuff film for him?”
“Possibly for revenge.” Sylvan frowned. “He approached me some time ago with a proposition. He wanted some of our Bonding Fruit to make aphrodisiacs with and, in return, he was going to give us some ‘special Kindred porn’ as he called it, produced just for us.”
“You refused, of course,” Stone said. It wasn’t a question.
“Of course I did.” Sylvan frowned. “I explained that our Bonding Fruit is sacred—used only to ease the way for matings sanctioned by the Goddess herself. We do not sell it or trade it or give it away for the purpose of mere titillation. I also let Gozeriam know that we had no interest in his pornography. What little we Kindred have, we prefer to produce ourselves.”
“I’m sure he loved being turned down like that,” Cassie said flatly. Xempi Gozeriam sounded like an alien version of Frank Yarrow to her—a slimy predator who made profit from the pain of others.
“It went about as well as you’d expect,” Sylvan said dryly. “With Gozeriam vowing revenge for the ‘insult’ I had offered him.” He shook his head. “But I had no idea he would send an agent to Earth to make a, what did you call it, Detective Steel?” He looked at Cassie.
“A snuff film,” Cassie supplied. She frowned. “I wonder what he’s going to do with it?”
“Possibly use it to discredit the Kindred.” Sylvan frowned unhappily. “We are known throughout the galaxy to all other sentient species as a race of males who revere and treasure females. Having this reputation enables us to make genetic trades with other humanoid species much more easily. But if other peoples thought we were capable of murdering females…” He shook his head.
“We need to get that holo of the murder that The Beast filmed and destroy it before he can release it!” Stone exclaimed.
“I’m also concerned about the Pain Fruit,” Sylvan said seriously. “Bonding Fruit, or any derivative of it, is a powerful aphrodisiac—it should not be in the hands of someone like Xempi Gozeriam.”
“Well, it sounds like you need to send someone to go undercover on this, uh, Bachanalius planet,” Cassie remarked. “To get back the film and destroy the mutated Bonding Fruit.”
“You’re absolutely right.” Sylvan nodded. “How about the two of you?”
“Us?” Cassie was caught completely off guard. “You want Stone and me to go undercover at a porn planet?”
“Not as performers, of course,” Sylvan said hastily. “But I do have a contact on Bachanalius who can get you into Gozeriam’s orbit in other capacities. I know that he has a laboratory where he grows and develops aphrodisiacs. It’s my guess that the Pain Fruit would be located there.”
“You want us to pose as lab techs or something?” Cassie said blankly. “Look, Commander Sylvan, I’m really sorry, but I barely passed chemistry in college and I don’t think Stone is much of a scientist either.”
“Actually, you’d be wrong in that assumption,” Commander Sylvan said mildly. “Before he took the assignment to work on Earth, your partner worked here aboard the Mother Ship in one of our Xeno-microbiology Labs.”
“You did?” Cassie looked at Stone, who shrugged modestly. “So why did you decide to come to Earth and be a cop?” she demanded.
“I…dreamed of a different life. That’s all.”
But for some reason, Stone didn’t quite meet her eyes as he said it. It made sense though, Cassie thought. Her partner’s methodical, analytical way of solving crimes and his cool, logical demeanor should have given her a clue as to his scientific background.
“Well, you’re all right to work in a lab, I guess,” she said grudgingly. “But what about me? As I said, I’m no scientist.”
“My contact on Bachanalius informs me that there is also a position open as a personal guard for Gozeriam,” Commander Sylvan told her. He raised an eyebrow at her. “I assume you’d be more comfortable in that position?”
“Yeah, I can do guard duty.” Cassie nodded. “But what is Captain Perkins going to say?” she asked, turning towards Stone. “She expects us to come back to Earth and keep looking for The Beast.”
“Whom we now know has left Earth and is most probably on Bachanalius,” Stone growled. “So technically, we would simply be continuing our mission—to track down the killer we’ve been chasing.” He frowned. “The problem is, as an Imposter, he can look like anyone.”
“He does have that tattoo, though—that Live Ink,” Cassie pointed out.
She couldn’t help remembering how it had looked, flowing just under their perp’s skin on all of the vids they’d watched on Yarrow’s laptop. Sometimes it looked like a dragon, sometimes a bat, sometimes strange alien creatures she couldn’t identify at all, but it was always there, shifting colors and changing constantly as it moved from one part of The Beast’s big body to another.
“There is that,” Stone admitted. He looked at Commander Sylvan. “But I am still not sure what our human commander—Captain Perkins—will say about the two of us going off planet for an assignment.”
“I’ll speak to your Captain,” Sylvan promised. “I’m sure once she knows that you’re still looking for The Beast—as well as the ‘snuff film’ he made and the illegal drug he injected his victim with—she’ll be amenable to sharing your talents with us here on the Mother Ship.”
“Well…what do you think, Stone?” Cassie could feel the nervous knot of tension that had formed in her stomach. It was part excitement/part apprehension. Was she really going to do this? Go undercover on a whole different world? Part of her was scared to death but part of her couldn’t wait!
But Stone was frowning.
“The only part of this assignment I don’t like is the fact that Cassandra and I will be separated. I would prefer it if we were together so that we could ‘get each others’ backs’ as the humans put it.”
Cassie frowned back at him.
“Well, it can’t be helped, Stone. The only way we could be together is if we posed as porn stars instead, and I’m not about to go there.” She shook her head decisively. “No, I think a scientist and a bodyguard will be much better covers.”
“Well…” Stone seemed to be wavering.
“Please, Commander Stonev.” Sylvan’s voice was low and serious. “Your people need you. We cannot allow Xempi Gozeriam to tarnish our good name. And having Pain Fruit loose in the galaxy is extremely dangerous. Think of all the vulnerable females who might be injured or killed if they are injected with it or ingest it some way.”
“And don’t forget that we still want to nail that bastard, The Beast,” Cassie reminded her partner. “Remember what he did to Leela—and how he killed Brittany Harkins.”
Stone looked at her with apparent surprise.
“Do you really want to do this, Cassandra? You sound eager to go undercover.”
“I want to catch The Beast before he hurts anyone else,” Cassie said honestly. “And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sound exciting. Going undercover off-planet? I never thought I’d have a chance to do something like that!”
“It’s going to be extremely dangerous, Detective Steel,” Sylvan said seriously. “I can’t lie to you about that. Xempi Gozeriam runs Bachanalius with an iron fist. If he finds out you’re not who you claim to be, you could be killed.”
Cassie lifted her chin.
“That’s not going to happen. Just get us in there and Stone and I will take care of the rest.”
“Are you sure about this?” Stone looked at her worriedly. “I don’t like the idea of not being able to protect you if things go wrong.”
“Stone, after all this tim
e together, don’t you know I can take care of myself?” Cassie gave him a frown and her partner shrugged sheepishly.
“I know you’re a capable officer, it’s just that you’re so small…so delicate.”
“Small and delicate?” Cassie barked a laugh. “Those would be the last words I’d think of to describe myself! You’re just a big lug, Stone—like all Kindred.” She looked at Commander Sylvan. “No offense intended.”
“None taken,” the Kindred commander said mildly. “The size difference between our two peoples is well-known. But just because humans are smaller than us, doesn’t mean they’re less intelligent or capable.” He looked at Stone as he spoke.
“Of course not.” Stone sighed and ran a hand through his dark blond hair. “All right,” he said at last. “If Captain Perkins approves it, we’ll go.” He pointed at Cassie. “But we’ll need to find a way to check in with each other. I want to be sure you’re safe.”
“You should both be working in the same place— Xempi Gozeriam likes to keep everything important to him close. His laboratory and filming studio are both located inside his palace,” Sylvan told them. “I saw both when he gave me a tour of his facilities, hoping to make a deal.”
“Is that also how you got a contact on Bachanalius?” Stone asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sylvan nodded.
“I cultivated him after Gozeriam swore vengeance on me. He’s one of the outer palace guards—which is possibly why he didn’t know what Gozeriam had planned with the Imposter and the Pain Fruit. I would have liked to get a contact closer to Gozeriam himself, but he vets his inner circle very carefully.”
“Well, as long as your contact can get us in, it shouldn’t matter,” Cassie said. She looked at Stone. “What do you say, partner? You up for this?”
Stone frowned but nodded slowly.
“I am, but only if you promise to be safe.”
“Of course.” Cassie nodded. She reached out and squeezed his hand comfortingly. “We’ll both take all the necessary precautions. Come on, Stone—we can do this. Don’t you want to catch that bastard?”
Playing Their Parts: A Kindred Tales Novel Page 10
