Protected

by Evangeline Anderson

  “What? What is it?” Grav looked at me, genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong, darlin’—you look like you’re gonna be sick. Is it the smell?”

  “No.” I shook my head, my hand falling from my nose. The smell of the rotting meat was as awful as ever but I barely noticed it. “I just realized something,” I told Grav. “Something I forgot—something I should have done.”

  “Well, we’ll have to deal with it once we get back to the ship. In the mean time—”

  “Grav?” The soft voice was so weak I could barely hear it. But Grav’s ears pricked up at once and he turned to the place the voice had come from—the dark doorway behind the meat freezer.

  “Teeny?” He pulled his shirt down and peered inside, his deep voice hopeful. “Teeny, is that you?”

  “Grav?” It was a soft, kittenish voice that twisted my heart in my chest—the voice of a little lost girl who’d been hurt and betrayed so many times she was almost afraid to hope anymore.

  Grav stooped to look further into the dark space.

  “Come out, sweetheart. It’s just me,” he rumbled. “Been looking all over for you.”

  “I don’t want to come out.” There was an edge of terror to her voice now but I thought I could see something moving in the darkness. Despite her words, a pair of big violet eyes appeared, gorgeously framed by long black lashes.

  “You don’t have to be afraid, Teeny,” Grav murmured coaxingly. “It’s okay—the pirates are dead. Everybody who hurt you is gone. It’s just me and Leah here and she’s all right—she helped me find you.”

  “I’m not afraid of Arn and his crew—I know they’re dead.” The big eyes blinked but as yet, I couldn’t see any more of her. “I heard the Imperial soldiers shoot them.”

  “Why didn’t you come out and tell them who you were?” Grav asked. “The Gold Skins can be bastards but they won’t hurt an innocent female. You know that.”

  “I was afraid to come out,” Teeny whispered. “I was afraid…afraid they would shoot me too.”

  “Why would they do that?” I asked, speaking up for the first time. “You’re not a pirate—you’re a little girl. Captain Verrai wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “He would if he saw.” Finally, Teeny sidled into the light. Stooping, she came out from the dark hole hidden behind the meat freezer.

  Her long black hair was matted and her clothes were filthy with dirt and cobwebs. There were dark circles under her big eyes and her pale green skin had a grayish cast that spoke of weeks of malnourishment and neglect.

  Poor little thing! I could only imagine how horrible it must have been for her, hearing the shots fired and the sounds of dying men and later waiting in the darkness, smelling the stink of decay…

  “You thought he’d shoot you if he saw what?” Grav asked. His deep voice was a mixture of impatience and tenderness.

  “If he saw this.”

  Teeny held out one slender arm. On it was an oval ring of bite marks. Black lines like lines of blood poisoning radiated out from it, running up the length of her arm in both directions.

  “He bit me—one of the Biters bit me,” Teeny whispered. “And now…now I’m going to be a Biter too.” Her big eyes filled with tears which ran down over her pale, trembling cheeks. “Oh, Grav,” she whispered, looking up at him. “I’m so glad you found me again but this time you’re too late. You’re too late.”

  And then she began to sob in earnest.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Leah

  I hadn’t seen Grav cry before—and he didn’t exactly cry now. But his white-on-black eyes were suspiciously bright as he took Teeny in his arms.

  “Hush. Just hush, now sweetheart,” he murmured, stroking her matted black hair as he held her tight. “Everything’s going to be all right. I swear it is.”

  But I could tell that he was lying.

  Teeny clung to him and cried as if her heart would break and I could see that Grav’s was breaking too. He held her tight, his broad shoulders hunched with misery.

  At last she pulled away, her long lashes matted with tears.

  “Grav,” she whispered. “I don’t…don’t want to be like the Biters.”

  “You won’t be, sweetheart,” he said hoarsely. “I won’t let that happen to you.”

  “You won’t be able to help it. Grav…I saw what happens when someone gets bitten. I watched it when one of the Biters got his collar off and bit one of Arn’s crew.” Teeny swiped at her eyes. “Within a week he was a Biter himself—the Hunger took him and he didn’t know anybody anymore. They…they had to put a collar on him but that only controls them—it doesn’t bring their mind back. Once the Hunger takes you, you’re gone.”

  “Teeny, sweetheart—” Grav began but Teeny kept talking.

  “Grav, I was bitten four days ago,” she said. “And I can already feel it growing inside me. I…I won’t last much longer. Not as me.”

  When I’d seen Teeny on the recording her grandfather had showed us, I had pegged her for around ten years old. Now I saw she must be closer to thirteen. There was an unusual maturity in her violet eyes—a determination and understanding that wouldn’t have been possible in a younger child.

  “Sweetheart,” Grav began again, but before he could get any further, Teeny was in motion.

  Quick as a flash, she grabbed the ugly snub-nosed blaster he had tucked in the belt at his waist and pointed it at her own delicate temple.

  “Teeny, no!” Grav roared, reaching for her.

  She leaped nimbly away, backing out of the kitchen, the blaster still aimed at her head.

  “I have to do it—please, Grav, try to understand.” Her voice was high and desperate. “You know how grandpapa is—he’ll make me wear a collar. He’ll keep me alive even after I’m not me anymore. I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want to eat raw meat and have the Hunger burning me up from the inside out all the time!”

  “Teeny, don’t do this—please,” he begged, following her out of the kitchen. “Listen to me—just listen.”

  “No, you listen!” She took another step back, into the living area with its broken, overturned furniture and blood-smeared walls. “Just tell grandpapa you found me like this. And tell him…tell him I…I love him.”

  There were tears running down her pale cheeks again but she was keeping her chin up and I could see the determination in her eyes.

  “Give me the blaster, Teeny.” Grav held out a big hand. “Give it to me, now. Don’t do this.”

  “You know what I’m saying is true,” she whispered. “You know there’s no cure!”

  “Maybe there is,” I said, speaking up for the first time.

  Grav and Teeny both looked at me incredulously.

  “What…what do you mean?” she asked, hope and uncertainty warring in her big violet eyes.

  “I mean I’m a La-ti-zal,” I said, looking her in the eye. “And I’m a Healer.”

  Which was probably stretching the truth a little—okay, a lot—seeing as how I had only healed Grav twice and both times were after we’d been intimate. I didn’t know if I could heal anyone else besides him but I had to try. It was that or watch poor Teeny blast her head off!

  “Is that right?” Teeny was looking at Grav, not me. “Is she telling the truth?”

  “Actually, yes—she is.” There was uncertain hope in his eyes too when he looked at me. “Leah healed me twice. Once from acid and electric burns and once from a knife wound. See?” He held out one muscular forearm. “Didn’t even have a scar when she was done.”

  “Well…” Teeny took a step back from us but the blaster she held at her temple was sagging. “I…I don’t know.”

  “Just let me try to help you,” I said coaxingly.

  She looked at Grav again and he nodded.

  “Let her try, Teeny. And if…if she can’t heal you, I…” He swallowed hard. “I swear I’ll take you out myself. If that’s what you really want.”

 
“I don’t want to live as a Biter.” Teeny let the blaster sag more. “You swear it, Grav? By the oath you gave me? Swear you won’t put a collar on me and take me back to my grandpapa if this doesn’t work. Just…” Her throat worked hard to get the words out. “Just let me die.”

  “I swear it.” He dropped to one knee as he had when he swore the oath to me. “I swear it, sweetheart.”

  “All right.” At last Teeny handed over the evil-looking weapon. “I trust you, Grav. She can try.”

  Grav

  I tucked the blaster back in my belt, relieved more than I could say to have it back. I couldn’t believe that my little Teeny had actually wanted to die but honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I’d rather be dead than live as a Biter too. Still, the fact that Teeny had gotten old enough and sophisticated enough to figure that out for herself and to make such a life-and-death decision shook me—shook me to the fuckin’ core.

  I just hoped that Leah really could heal her. If not, I had just committed myself to a course of action that was…well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

  “Come here.” Leah beckoned to Teeny, holding out a hand to the smaller female.

  Hesitantly, Teeny sidled a little closer to her. She had the look of a hunted animal. It hurt my heart to think of the things she must have seen to put that look in her eyes.

  “Let me see your arm, honey. It’s all right—I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Leah’s voice was soft…coaxing. I was reminded of the way I’d seen her working with younglings when I watched her on the light screen of the AMI. She had a kind, comforting aura about her that seemed to stretch out and envelope Teeny, bringing her even closer though she hardly seemed to know what she was doing. Almost in a daze, she came right up to Leah and held out her arm.

  “That’s good.” Leah smiled at her and cradled the wounded arm in both of her own hands. “Okay, now I’m not going to touch it. I’m just going to hold my hand over it like this—see?” She cupped one palm carefully over the ugly, festering bite mark that marred Teeny’s skinny little forearm.

  “Now what?” Teeny asked in a small voice once they were in position.

  “Now…” Leah took a deep breath. “Now everybody be really quiet and let me concentrate.”

  There was a look on Leah’s face that was half worry and half determination. I saw that she had no idea if what she was trying would work or not but she was damn well going to try it anyway. She closed her eyes and Teeny closed hers as well. And then Leah bit her lip in concentration.

  Please, Goddess of Mercy, I prayed silently. Please—you know I love both these females and both were given to me to protect. Please don’t let me lose either one. You have already taken one who was precious to me so long ago and I never really healed of that wound—please don’t take another.

  I don’t know if the Goddess heard me or not but after a moment I saw something I hadn’t seen when Leah healed me earlier—a warm light was seeping out from under her cupped fingers. It was almost like she had trapped a small sun under her hand and I was seeing its faint glow.

  Leah’s brow furrowed and I saw sweat standing out on her forehead. Her eyes were squeezed shut and I heard her murmuring something over and over under her breath.

  “Heal—be healed. Hurts go away. Sickness leave. Heal this little girl—heal.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was a prayer or an invocation but suddenly Teeny gasped and yanked her arm away.

  “Teeny?” I took a step towards them, worried. “Teeny, what is it?”

  “My…my arm!” She was staring at her forearm in wonder. “It’s not cold anymore. It’s been ice-cold since the Biter first got his teeth in it. And look—the lines are fading!”

  She held it out to me and I saw that she was telling the truth. The ugly black lines radiating out from the ragged oval bite mark were fading even as we watched. They went on fading too, until there was nothing left but the bite itself—and even that was almost gone. It was just a faint ring of indentations on Teeny’s pale green skin when Leah’s healing powers apparently reached their limit.

  It bothered me a little that there was still a trace of the bite. Both times when Leah had healed me, it had been a complete healing with no sign of the injury left at all. I wished the mark would completely fade from Teeny’s arm as well. But I guessed I would have to take what I could get—and this was a hell of a lot better than I had expected or hoped for.

  For all intents and purposes, Teeny appeared to be healed.

  “This is amazing!” she whispered, still staring at her arm. “It’s a miracle—you healed me.” She looked at Leah. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re…welcome.” Leah’s voice was faint and whispery and for the first time I noticed she wasn’t looking too good. In fact, she looked awful—like she’d just run an endurance race and was at the limit of her strength.

  “Darlin’?” I crossed swiftly to her and just as I got there she collapsed. I caught her, cradling her in my arms. “Leah!” I patted her cheeks lightly. “Darlin’, wake up! Wake up and tell me you’re all right!”

  “’M all…right.” Her eyelids fluttered open for a moment and I saw bone-deep weariness in the depths of her big brown eyes. “It just…took a lot out of me. Hard to…to heal without a…a power source.”

  She gave me a small, tired smile and I understood what she meant. The last time, when she’d healed me, she’d had the power of our sexual energy—the want and longing and pleasure we generated between us whenever we let ourselves get too close. But this time she’d just been drawing on her own reserves and she had nearly depleted them. It must have taken incredible power and strength to heal the Biter’s Curse, of which there was no known cure. She really was a La-ti-zal with powers that rivaled her friend’s.

  “You gonna be okay?” I asked her, still looking at her anxiously.

  Leah nodded, her head moving tiredly against my chest.

  “I’m just all done in—feel like I ran a marathon,” she whispered. “But I think I’ll be okay if I can just sleep about a hundred years.”

  “I don’t know about a hundred cycles but you’ve certainly earned a nap, darlin’.”

  I kissed her affectionately on the forehead and she gave me the ghost of a tired smile. Then I looked at Teeny, who smiled at me.

  “You ready, sweetheart?” I asked her and her smile grew into a grin.

  “More than ready, Grav.”

  “Good.” I cuddled Leah closer to my chest and headed for the door. “Come on,” I said, nodding at Teeny. “We’re going home.”

  Leah

  I had a very blurred impression of Grav getting me buckled into the shuttle and Teeny strapped in as well, in the back. Then he got behind the controls and I saw the desert moon of Chndra slide away from us as we thrust upward, into space.

  “Clearing planetary atmosphere,” Grav said as we broke free and entered to blackness of space. “Leaving orbit around Chndra and headed back for the hopper. Thank the Goddess.”

  I watched in the viewscreen through half-closed eyes as he maneuvered the shuttle to face his ship. The hopper was shaped like several large metal bubbles welded together and I could see it clearly through the rows and rows of dark red spheres that formed the Spider’s Web bobbing in the blackness of space.

  Good thing the Web is turned off, I thought drowsily as we flew towards it, prepared to slip between two of the spheres. It certainly made getting in and out a heck of a lot easier.

  In fact, it was amazing how well our mission had gone, when I thought about it. We had found Teeny and I had healed her. We hadn’t had to deal with the Widow or fight the pirates because Captain Verrai had already done it for us. We—

  Captain Verrai.

  Suddenly the realization I’d had just before we found Teeny came rushing back to me. Captain Verrai! I had to speak to Captain Verrai! Surely he was the male Magda had been talking about—the one I was supposed to talk to even thoug
h I felt I shouldn’t.

  “Grav,” I said, struggling to sit up straighter in my seat. “Grav, I have to tell you something—something important.”

  “Hang on a minute, darlin’.” He sounded distracted and his eyes were trained on the viewscreen in front of us as he maneuvered the small ship. “Just let me clear the Web and you can tell me.”

  “But I need to tell you before we get to the ship. We need to go back to the Safe Haven bar,” I said.

  “What?” He shot me a glance. “Why?”

  I took a deep breath. “It’s about the Gold Skins—the Imperial Guards,” I said. “I have to talk to Captain Verrai.”

  “What?” His quizzical expression turned hard. “Why in the Frozen Hells of Anor would you want to talk to that gold-skinned bastard?”

  “Because,” I said. “He—”

  Just then several things happened at once.

  The darkened red spheres all around us suddenly blazed to life. Lines of red sprouted from them, weaving together, interconnecting, for all the world like a real spider’s web. Grav’s little shuttle was right between two of the spheres when it happened. Before I knew it we were stuck fast—caught like…well, like a fly in a web.

  At the same time, I saw pits in the two spheres closest to us open up and millions of tiny silver insect-looking things like metal spiders suddenly flew out. All of them were aimed straight at the shuttle and soon enough I heard the dry little, chink…chink…chink sound of their slender, needle-like legs making contact with the metal hull of the ship.

  “Grav,” Teeny whispered from the back. “Grav, what’s happening?”

  “Don’t know, sweetheart. Just sit tight.” Grav’s voice was low and I saw that he had a knife in one hand—a long, curving, wicked looking blade that glinted in the glow of the instrument panel.

  Then I heard a soft whirring noise right over my head. I looked up, my heart pounding. What was going on? Why had the Web come back on just at the right moment to trap us? And was there any way out?

  A whooping alarm suddenly sounded inside the cabin and I heard a metallic voice saying,