Somewhere in the distance, water, or liquid of some kind, dripped in a steady stream.
“What do you think?” Vin said when she reached the bottom. “This place is enormous. Where do we start? We should split up, right?”
“In a potentially hostile environment, that would be unwise.”
Vin got the impression he was taking in every single detail. Probably best to take his advice. “Straight back, then?”
“Agreed.”
It was intimidating as hell to approach the crystals. Some were at acute angles, and she didn’t like the thought of walking underneath them. More than one previously fallen soldier littered the floor. They rather looked like a rag tag army, guarding this place. “Can you tell how far back this goes? I can’t see where the end is.”
“It’s the optics. I am unable to get an instrumental reading on it either.”
Ahead, something changed. A shift in the acoustics. She couldn’t figure it out at first, but it resolved quickly. Something was coming. And it was big.
Vin grabbed Armond’s arm to stop him, and a blinding flash of a million emotions tore through her. She whipped up her empathic blocks and yanked her hand away, stunned by the sheer force of it. She blinked repeatedly, but her vision was blocked by the sensory overload. “We need to get under cover. And I can’t see.” This wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it was the most severe. The man’s cold, emotionless, exterior was cracked.
“Are you injured?” Armond asked.
“Not really. Just guide me.” Whatever it was, it was coming fast. “What is it?”
“Unable to determine yet.” The warmth of his touch seeped into her upper arm and her lower back as he hurried them off to the side. His emotions once again completely absent. He took her hand and placed it on a crystal. The thing leaned over them at a disturbing angle. “Kneel down,” he said in a low voice.
She did as he said, pressing her back to the surface and sitting as close to the base as possible. The heat of his body pressed against her side and they waited.
“What happened to you?” His breath was hot on her neck as he whispered the question.
“I’ll explain it later.” Her sight was returning, but it was blurry as hell. She turned towards him. “What’s happening?” His spicy scent enveloped her, and the image of kissing those lips flashed into her mind.
He tilted his face and pressed his lips against her ear. “Avian creatures of some kind.”
The heat of his breath sent a shiver through her as her vision returned.
Armond reached up and activated her helmet before doing the same with his own.
The sound was a roar in the helmet’s speakers and the entire cavern was filled.
“What are they?” Vin spoke low.
Armond’s voice came across clear. “Small, black winged. I can’t get a good look at their faces.”
The creatures were streaming out the narrow ledge they’d crawled through, and many other openings along the periphery.
Too bad they weren’t facing the other way, they might be able to determine the size of the place, or at least the source of the critters. On the upside, being under the crystal shielded them from the stuff falling from overhead. Mostly liquid, it pooled on the floor and sizzled before evaporating.
The flock was gone within minutes, and the final vestiges of the droppings dissipated as they watched. “Is that what I think it is?”
“If you think it’s acidic, my guess is yes.”
“Acid poop. Okay then.”
They deactivated the helmets.
“Has your sight returned?” Beneath the spice of his breath was musk and wood. Masculine. Alluring.
“Yes.”
“Are you certain you are well?”
His pale eyes held hers as another barely perceptible tinge of something emanated from him.
“I’m fine.”
The crystal loomed overhead. Probably ready to snap and crush them like bugs. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be here when they return. Return! When they return things could get scary. Don’t have to warn me. That shit’s deadly.” She laughed. “Literally.”
“My assumption is they’re feeding. It should be awhile.”
“Yeah, well, I want to get out of here.” She rolled to her right and stepped sideways out from under the crystal. “We kind of had to squeeze our way in here, so maybe we’re almost done.” The crystals sparkled as though just washed, which in a way, they had been.
As they continued deeper into the cavern, the ceiling became lower.
They walked until they entered another tunnel. Increasingly, bits of broken crystal and other rock-like formations littered the floor, forcing them to weave.
Armond scanned the area with his com in one hand, keeping his laser in the other.
“Are you getting anything useful?” Vin asked, stepping over a knee-high pillar.
“There is an anomaly ahead. Something that doesn’t match the composition of the surroundings.”
“Underground and out of place… Let’s check it out.”
As the ceiling continued to get lower, a resonance emanating from Armond became stronger. Totally devoid of recognizable emotion, but also clearly emotive of some kind. Was that what albino meant? Were all his people like this?
At the end of the tunnel, they found only one small opening. Vin knelt down and peered inside. The hole was probably twenty feet long, terminating in a room at the other end. And there, sitting in plain sight, lay a silver box bearing the GSR logo. It was surrounded by stunning pink crystals. “We got it.” Almost. She surveyed the opening. “I’m not going to fit in there. You’ll have to go and get it.”
Armond knelt down next to her, and the resonance amped up a notch. When he extended his hand and closed his eyes, the resonance took on a different tone, one she found oddly enticing.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Trying to retrieve the box.”
“With what?” Maybe her gorgeous albino had a screw loose.
“Psi, but it appears the crystals surrounding the box are either blocking or disrupting the energy.”
“We’re wasting time. Crawl in there and get it before it disappears. That’s likely to happen if we delay. And you’d know that if you watched the previous seasons like I told you to.”
The resonance coming off him was so high pitched it hurt. She shut down her receptors and eyed the large man. His body was motionless and tense as steel. “Are you claustrophobic?”
“Perhaps.”
That would be a yes. “Sorry, but between my tits and my hips, I’m not going to fit. It’s got to be you. I can help, though. I just make a psychic connection, and—”
“No.” The response was immediate and absolute.
If that blinding breach earlier was any indication, he had reason to keep his emotions in check. “I’m an empath. I can dampen your fear. Nothing else. Just your fear.”
“You will attempt no such thing. Not now, not ever. Do you understand?”
“Fine, just get moving.” Stubborn male.
He hit the ground and shot forward headlong in small, fast increments. It was tighter than she’d thought, but he kept going.
He was nearly midway when his body tensed and a barrage of fear blasted her. Short, staccato pulses, and he froze.
“Armond, you can do this. You have to relax.” She spoke low and calm. He may not want her accessing his emotions, but she’d trained on Myranth and could modulate her voice to create a trance-like state. Then she could encompass his fear.
It wasn’t ethical to do it without permission, and he had to listen for it to work, but she figured this was an emergency. She settled her energies and spoke a steady stream of encouragement. Within thirty-seconds, she shifted to a state of theta wavelengths and she had him. His fear was paralyzing, but he sensed her.
“Vin, stop.”
“It’s ok. You’re all right. I have you. Do you feel that?”
A sense of wo
nder and astonishment pulsed over her before it was abruptly blocked. The last nanosecond had revealed a different kind of fear. Something vastly more complicated than that of a phobia.
Armond’s body relaxed, providing a good inch of clearance, and he moved forward faster than before.
He reached the end and for a moment all she saw were his boots. He was back on the ground an instant later and moving at his freakish speed, clutching the box in one hand as he went.
Vin continued the semi-trance-like state until he was back with her and they were both standing.
He slowly handed her the box, his breathing elevated, but even. “What was that language?” he asked. “I’ve not heard it before.”
“Not surprising. Very few people speak Myranthian.” He didn’t need to know it was a tool of advanced empaths who worshiped the divine light of creation. They were an interesting people, and it was a power that could be seriously abused in the wrong hands.
He studied her face with such intensity it had her fidgeting. “You are well?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?”
He shook his head. “Let’s go.”
They made their way back through the cavern and up to the ledge they’d entered. Vin was about to hoist herself up, but hesitated. “You think that acid poop is clear?”
Armond reached out and swiped his finger tip across the surface. “It would appear so.”
Good enough. They went side by side this time, with Armond on the left. That meant he’d have to go first, as the only way down was the rocky bit in the corner.
“Give me the box while you go down. I’ll toss it to you.”
“I have a better idea.” Whatever the hell that resonance thing he did was, it pinged full force. He handed her the box, swung his legs around, and stood on the nearest foothold. Without a word he reached in, took her by the arms, and pulled her out. They went over backward, and she instinctively flung herself around him as they fell. Only they didn’t fall. A full-on body buzz erupted as they more or less floated to the ground. Gods, the man was rock solid.
He set her down, took the box, and started walking back to the cave entrance.
“What was that?” She rushed to catch up with him.
“That was psi. You have it as well. I can sense it.”
“I don’t know what psi is, and I assure you I can’t fly.”
“That wasn’t flying. More like levitation, and that was close to my weight limit.”
Was that an insult? It was hard to be angry, however, as her body still buzzed from the contact.
They exited the cave and headed for the ship. The smell had abated, and the blue sun was high in the sky.
High above the mountains, a dark cloud swarmed in a fluid dance. “Look.” She pointed.
“They’re feeding,” Armond said.
“That means we made it!” She let out a whoop and twirled in celebratory circle.
Nearly there, Vin spied a brightly colored bed of flowers that extended from the base of a tall thin tree with delicate looking leaves. She pulled out her pocket laser and gathered a small handful, carefully slicing the stems in a clean sweep. The colorful stems jerked and tiny orbs opened in their faces. A hail of little blobs speckled her neck, hands, and lower arms.
She screamed and threw the flowers as her skin boiled where the substance had made contact. “Shit, they’re alive.”
Armond grabbed her hand and surveyed the damage. The skin bubbled and spat.
Pain shot from her neck and the left side of her face. The warmth of blood trickled down her collar. This was bad. Really bad.
Armond shook his head. Beware the things upon the ground.
The white of her bone became visible on her hand. Her head spun with the surreal sight. “We have to neutralize this. Marty, are you there?”
“I am present. Vin has been exposed to an acidic compound that will penetrate the carotid artery in her neck in approximately twenty-eight seconds.”
“How do we stop it?” Vin asked.
“There is a compound on the ship that will work. I will have it waiting for you in the galley.”
Armond scooped her up and ran. The stairs descended as they approached, and her body buzzed with that psi thing of his as they sailed through the air and into the entryway.
“Where is it?” Armond called out as they entered the galley.
“In the food replicator.”
He laid her on the counter and retrieved the substance.
“We can’t trust that,” Vin said. The pain was intense, and yet she was somehow distanced from it. Probably in shock.
“You have no choice,” Armond said. “You’ll be dead shortly either way.”
“Pour a small amount into each wound,” Marty said.
He leaned over her and started to pour, when a spurt of blood shot out and into his face. A moment later, another stream jetted out.
This was it. Her artery had been penetrated. She was going to die over some stupid flowers.
Chapter 4
Armond felt the moment Vin lost consciousness. He hadn’t realized it, but her very presence had an essence. An energy that had been with him since they’d met. Standing over her now, the absence was unmistakable.
He ignored the copious amounts of blood and continued working. Using his psi, he staunched the flow from her artery long enough to apply the liquid. He waited a full fifteen seconds before allowing the flow to resume while simultaneously stitching the arterial wall together with psi. It was slow, and with multiple injuries he was burning a tremendous amount of energy. He applied the liquid to the other impact spots, and wiped away blood until he was sure he had them all.
He placed one hand near her neck and the other on her wrist, and closed his eyes. Reaching out, he evaluated the extent of damage to each site and went after them in order of necessity, all the while keeping the cellular stitching going on her artery. There weren’t many in existence that could do this. The incident should have killed her.
Twenty-three minutes in, and his psi was approaching depletion. He was in dangerous territory with his shields faltering, but he nearly had her stabilized. She would not die today.
The psi of an unconscious person was an untethered thing of beauty.
When he'd depleted his energy reserves to a nearly life-threatening amount, he pulled back. She was stable, for now.
And they were both covered in blood.
A small section of her shirt began to bubble and spit.
He whirled around and applied the neutralizer. Once done, he located a knife and removed her clothes as quickly as possible.
Her left boot also exhibited signs of the acid. Working rapidly, he dumped everything she’d been wearing into the incinerator.
Using a large sponge, he began cleaning her. Wipe, rinse, repeat. He had to ensure there were no spots left untreated. After completing an initial pass, he started over.
A sapphire body with curves unlike anything he’d experienced. Her skin was supple and soft where his fingers brushed against it. He gently lifted each breast and wiped underneath. Her beauty was undeniable.
Something had happened back in the cave. There had been a momentary flicker of his shields the moment she’d touched his arm.
When she’d said she couldn’t see, he’d nearly panicked, but she was fine, and her sight had returned. Was it possible this woman could withstand the forces within him? Was she the one Marco Dar had mentioned?
His touch turned into a caress as he trailed his fingers across her arm.
A forbidden pleasure.
Stopping his movement, he openly stared at her. He hadn’t touched a woman since Dareena. Beautiful, young Dareena, only seventeen at the time…
Goosebumps rippled over her body. Armond gently picked her up and carried her to his room, placing her on the only bed in the ship. She would need sleep to heal, and he needed both sleep and food to restore his energy.
After eating enough to make Vin proud, Armond showered before pul
ling up a chair beside her. Within moments, he’d fallen into an exhausted sleep.
Vin floated in a sea of stars. It was lovely. Which heaven was this? Was her mother here? She wanted to see her again.
She focused on her…being. Tried to determine any sensory input. It felt as though she were lying down, which didn’t seem right, but she felt good. Really, really good. A familiar kind of good. One she should recognize, but she couldn’t put her finger on.
Heavy breathing echoed through the space. Near and far at the same time.
The pleasure was increasing. Tension furled in her center, building, before exploding into an orgasm that burst from her core. That kind of good. Of all the things she’d thought to experience when she died, that wasn’t one of them. But then, why not?
The sensation rippled everywhere. She was the pleasure. She lost track of time, drifting in and out of awareness.
She existed as a point of light, zigging and zagging, creating ephemeral images. She danced with the universe.
Something tugged at her mind. Pulling her in. She was embodied, perched over a young girl. A beautiful girl with pale skin and wavy brown hair that splayed out across the pillow her head rested upon. Such joy and love written on her face. It changed in the space between heartbeats. Her eyes widened with fear and pain. Blood oozed from her nose, pooling beneath her ears. She shed tears of crimson.
A horrific sense of loss and power surged through her, defining her existence.
Someone cried out. Labored, irregular breathing echoed around her.
Vin.
She was with a group of robed men in a cave lit only by torches attached to the walls. They stood in a circle surrounding a stone obelisk that glowed red from within. The men appeared to be in some kind of trance.
Vin!
Two of the men cried out, blood pouring from their noses and ears before squirting out their eyes.
Vin! LET GO!
She cried out, and cold air filled her lungs. She was enmeshed with another conscience. Tangled. She’d gone too far. She knew better. She’d been trained. This type of connection could be permanent. Maybe deadly.
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