by Bevan Greer
“Nonsense,” he interrupted.
“No, Father. You know the truth. And Carinna doesn’t belong there either. You know in your heart I’m right, Father.” She could see that he stubbornly refused to acknowledge the truth of her words. “Father, neither Carinna nor I have any desire to return to Dark World. We feel no compulsion, as you do,” she pointed out.
“But you are a demon, Naria,” her father said with frustration. “It is your home.”
“Father, I am of your blood, and Mother’s as well. My Offworlder blood has always been stronger. I am sorry, but I must yield to the light in my being.”
Her father’s face tightened in anger and worry. “Have they done something to you? I swear, when I get my hands on that blonde I will kill him,” he said in a dark voice.
“No!” Naria cried. “Father, I helped his crew escape. Carinna followed me and got caught by the transport. And she now has a mate,” Naria said warily, knowing it not a good time but deciding to let it all out.
“A mate?” her father roared. “She is demon, by darkness, not a Fenturi!”
“So you know about him?” Naria asked curiously. “How did you get here so quickly, Father?”
“No, Naria, not this time,” he said and pushed her down into a seat. He loomed over her. “You will explain what has happened in your absence.”
Naria slowly explained their escape from Dark World, careful to keep Carinna’s involvement free. Then she explained their stay on Rovi and Vembi, leaving out the more intimate details about her time with Jace. Evidently she didn’t do such a good job for her father’s eyes narrowed every time she said Jace’s name.
“This Jace, he means something to you,” her father said.
“Yes,” she said softly, not knowing that her eyes softened as she thought of him.
“But Naria,” Lord Demise said. “This Jace is an Offworlder you have known only a few weeks. How can you feel for him?”
“How long did it take you to realize you loved Mother?” Naria asked quietly. At her words, her father stared at her in shock. Never before had Naria questioned her father’s feelings for her mother. A Demon Lord did not love, she knew, and yet her father did.
“I know you loved her, Father,” Naria said quietly. “It’s in your eyes every time you look at me.”
“Oh Naria,” her father sighed and sat next to her. “I don’t know what came over me when I met her. I only know I had to have her, had to see her all the time. It was awkward and wrong and yet, I couldn’t get enough of her.”
“And when she died?”
”I both hated and thanked Xeche for taking away my one weakness. But I have never again felt what I felt for your mother, and what I feel for you,” he admitted.
“It does not make you weak, Father,” Naria said and smiled.
“It does, Daughter. You were wrong in running away. You should have come to me and talked to me.”
“Would you have let me go?”
“No,” he said and grinned slightly. “But I would have tried to understand.”
“But I could not let you kill them, Father,” Naria said, referring to the SpaceStalker crew. “And it is both for them and for you that I have called you here.”
“Naria?” he asked.
Just then the SpaceStalker came into view beyond the shuttle controls. Before Naria could blink, Jace stood before her and her father, a blaster in hand pointed directly between her father’s eyes.
“Well, well, well,” Jace said without expression as he stared at her father. “Lord Demise.”
“My prisoner,” her father replied smoothly, standing to face this new threat. Naria could feel his will building as steadily as she could feel Jace’s growing. The tension in the small cabin grew and Naria knew that if she didn’t intervene, one of the men she loved would die, not to mention that the ship would be blown to pieces.
“Stop it, both of you!” Naria cried and stepped between them. She couldn’t tell who looked more startled, Jace or her father, but she refused to move.
“Naria, step away,” Jace said softly. “I won’t see you hurt.”
“Nor will I,” her father’s voice echoed loudly in the shuttle.
“I did this to help you, Jace,” Naria said, her soft gaze begging him to believe her. “You need my father’s help.”
“Help?” Lord Demise asked. “Help with what?”
“Nothing,” Jace said firmly. He fairly spat the words. “We need nothing from you.”
“It’s the Cazeth, Father. Jace knows where they are.”
At Naria’s words, her father froze and stared directly into Jace’s eyes. “Is this true?” he asked softly, his intense focus a tangible thing.
“Perhaps,” Jace answered uneasily.
“The Cazeth, after all this time,” her father remarked and began pacing around the small shuttle. He ignored Jace’s phaser causing Jace to sigh and put it away. Having done so, Jace grabbed Naria to him and kissed her thoroughly.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered harshly into her ear. Naria blushed with pleasure before she remembered that her father watched them both. He stared from her to Jace with a curiously blank expression, his eyes growing decidedly dark as he watched the two.
He stared at the two of them for a moment, his gaze focused and searching for something. Apparently he found it for he looked away and sighed.
“Naria, we have to discuss this,” her father said tiredly. “And I have not much time left. Even now Keep Krital is most likely hovering in the prison searching for my presence.”
“Devel Keep Krital?” Naria said, giving her father an apology with her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Father. I never meant for you to have to work with him.”
“Yes, well,” he said taking a deep breath. “He is the head of the Searchers. You’re just lucky I found you first,” he said.
As if he had conjured them, the shuttle filled with Searchers. “Lord Demise,” the head devel bowed, his dark gaze fixed on both Jace and Naria. “We come for the bounty.”
“I know that,” Lord Demise said coolly, once again wrapping an air of authority and darkness around him like a cloak. “I have arranged for my ship to escort the SpaceStalker back to Dark World with us. There will be no problems.”
The lead devel glanced warily at Jace. “As you say, Demon Lord Demise. We will, of course, provide you support.”
“Very well,” her father nodded and the Searchers vanished. He turned to Naria, all but ignoring Jace. “You will of course have to follow us. But have no fear, Daughter,” he smiled and Naria could feel Jace’s astonishment at the tender gesture. “This time on Dark World will be very different for your… friends.”
Naria sat waiting for Jace in his room. He had piloted the shuttle back to the ship in silence, his thoughts and expressions firmly blanked. She couldn’t tell what he thought. Yet she focused on the fact that he had come after her, even tried to defend her from her own father.
She smiled at the hot kiss he’d bestowed upon her, thinking that right now she would like nothing more than another taste of his lips.
She sighed and waited, knowing that all would not be as easy as she’d like to make it. She had been hauled on board and thrust into his room without a word to anyone. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to Carinna.
The door opened breaking into her thoughts. She watched as Jace set the security code and sighed that again the trust between them had vanished. Jace shrugged out of his battle shirt and dropped his weapon to a table. Then he marched over to Naria and loomed over her menacingly. He waited until she raised her eyes to meet his before speaking.
Before she could say anything he spoke. “How could you, Naria? You have placed the entire crew in danger.”
Naria gasped. So much for words of tenderness. “I have? Who told you to follow me, you arrogant Psi? I was trying to help you.”
“Really? How? By getting yourself recaptured to Dark World?” Jace asked angrily as he glared at her.
“I neither want nor need your father’s help,” he all but sneered.
Naria stared up at him with narrowed eyes. “I thought more of you, Jace,” she said disappointedly. “You would let your pride see you and your crew killed! You have met the Cazeth. Do you honestly think that Castor and Koneru are a match for even one Cazeth, let alone the dozen that even now are on your planet? And who knows how many more have been produced in the passing years!”
Jace growled low in his throat and started ripping off his clothing. Naria stared in astonishment. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“The only thing that feels right,” he said harshly before pinning her beneath him to the bed. Naria struggled to get free of him, needing to talk about the tense situation but he refused to let her. Instead his mouth captured hers as he intentionally released his feelings into her mind.
Naria groaned as his lust and worry and fear overwhelmed her, a heady aphrodisiac that soon had her lost under his nimble fingers.
Jace groaned into her mouth as he removed her clothing piece by piece. His lips and hands trailed over her body until he came to her woman’s core. He nudged her thighs apart and sank his mouth over her wet arousal, using his lips, teeth and tongue to stir her to fretful desire.
She writhed against him but he held her firmly in place, all but licking her resistance away. Her body screamed for release and just as she reached it he pulled away. Before she could bemoan his absence, Jace covered her body, thrusting deeply into her as his lips claimed her own.
“Naria, Naria,” he moaned as he thrust deeply into her, his body hard and pressing against her. “Don’t ever leave me like that again,” he ordered breathlessly as his body swiftly took her over the edge.
Naria cried out as her body tightened around him, her love and passion cresting, pulling him deeper into her until he shuddered and groaned her name. He continued to pump into her, his climax holding him in a tight grip until he had nothing left to give her.
Then he eased his weight down and rolled over so that she rested against his chest.
Naria could feel his heart beating, still racing from their explosive joining. And as she listened to his heart, her eyes drifted shut in contentment and she fell asleep.
Jace shuddered under Naria’s warm body, finally sated and relieved to have her in his arms again. He didn’t understand the deep fear that had taken hold of him upon learning of her absence from the ship. He didn’t question his need to make sure she didn’t suffer at the hands of that demon, her father. He had only known that he had to make sure Naria came to no harm.
Jace sighed as she snuggled closer. He closed his eyes, realizing that even though the future had no certainties of happily-ever-after, right now he was right where he wanted to be.
He sighed as worry intruded. For Naria, Jace had placed his crew in danger again. Now the entire ship was being dragged to Dark World under Lord Demise’s thumb, not to mention that party of Searchers following them.
Jace prayed that he had not made a mistake in not fighting this. But he had seen the affectionate look Lord Demise had given Naria. The demon had seemed almost human in his paternal love for his daughter. Jace sighed. Demise hadn’t seemed very happy with him, but at least the time Demise had spent alone with his daughter had not produced any bruises or lasting hurt.
Naria had appeared just find when Jace had found her on the shuttle, to his relief. He wished he could read her better. What could she be thinking trying to get her father involved with the Cazeth? That would be like asking a group or prisoners to guard themselves.
Jace hardened his resolve to protect the crew and Naria from Dark World. How he’d do it, he did not yet know. But Mystique pulled at him as much as Naria, and he could not let either die.
-17-
The crew sat together, their mood somber as they returned to the planet that had nearly killed them only a few days past. Naria shook her head, thinking that it seemed like forever since she’d been back. The things she’d seen and done had been so far beyond Dark World that she felt forever changed from the half-demon she’d been.
She sighed and felt the sad feeling float throughout the ship. The others looked no happier at being here than she felt. Even Carinna seemed grim as she sat next to Nesham, her hand captured protectively in his.
Once everyone had landed and settled, Naria took a deep breath and stood.
“Don’t worry,” she tried to reassure everyone. “It’s different this time.”
No one spoke but Jace raised his brow at her. Naria frowned at him and saw him try to contain a smile. The fact that Jace could smile at all brought her heart some joy and she decided that no matter what happened she would make sure that Jace and the others left safely.
The door to the ship opened and Lord Demise entered followed closely by Devel Keep Krital. She wondered what the others thought of the Devel Keep. Krital stood as tall as her father but had a bulkier frame. One might call him handsome, she supposed, but she had never cared for his skin that seemed surrounded by a red glow, nor for his unending arrogance. He didn’t possess wings like her father, but his feet, when bare, were cloven with two very sharp black nails.
She could see the group studying them both curiously but no one spoke.
“I think perhaps this time,” Naria’s father said loudly, “We might think of you as guests. A tour might be in order.”
“Guests?” Krital gaped. “A tour? Lord Demise,” he began in a dark voice. But a loud shimmer vibrated throughout the ship and beyond, quieting everything. Krital stared wide-eyed at Demise before nodding. “Very well. They can follow me.”
“Naria and the good captain will come with me,” Lord Demise said only to see Jace refuse, shaking his head.
“We stay together,” Jace countered, adamant.
Naria looked from her father to Krital to Jace. “Jace,” Naria said, putting a hand on his arm. “It will be alright. They won’t be harmed,” she said firmly, her eyes on Krital, warning him to behave.
“I’ll be with them every step of the way,” Carinna said quietly.
“Well Father, shall we?” Naria asked.
They moved as one towards the Trans sector circles towards the rock wall surrounding the shipyard. Jace watched as his crew left with that devel lord, or whatever he was called. He didn’t have a good feeling about this but oddly enough, he trusted Naria. After the group had left, he walked with Naria and her father towards another Trans sector.
“Be careful,” Lord Demise quickly skirted a group of orange trees. “The trees, the naian, like the taste of Offworld blood,” he explained, his lips quirked in semblance of grin.
Jace thought his humor in poor taste but followed Lord Demise’s steps exactly. Once inside the blue circle of rock on the ground, he felt a moment of dizziness and blinked when his surroundings suddenly changed.
“Easy, Jace,” Naria said as she steadied him. Her father waited for them patiently and escorted them across a large gray field towards a house made of stone. Jace had to strain his eyes to see anything and followed Naria and her father closely, pulled behind Naria with a tender hand.
“The light here is sufficient for Dark Worlders to see but Offworlders can see almost nothing,” she said quietly as they followed her father. Jace felt his blood chill as whispers and hissing sounds floated around him. He felt several bursts of wind around him, as if something fluttered in the sky above them.
“Oh, those are just demon asps, pay them no mind. They’re like Yanvi dogs, protecting my father’s domecile,” Naria said and squeezed Jace’s hand in reassurance.
Once inside the Demon Lord’s home, Jace breathed easier. It was dark and cold but surprisingly clean. The torchlight that flickered as they passed gave him a brief image of abysmal discomfort, something that no doubt suited Lord Demise.
“Very well, seat yourself here,” Demise said with a sigh to Jace. Once Jace had seated himself on a bench next to Naria, he watched with surprise as a fire lit up in the hearth near them. A welcome change from the dankness around them, the fire lit up Naria’s features, softening her face. Lord Demise, however, looked more demonic in the shadows than before.
“Lord Demise,” Jace began only to be interrupted.
“Jace,” Demise said with authority. “The reason you were dragged back has more to do with your knowledge of the Cazeth than my daughter’s kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping?” Naria asked in bewilderment. “But Father, I told you—”
“The Cazeth, Jace?” Demise said loudly, overriding his daughter’s protests. Obviously Naria had explained to her father what had happened during their escape, and just as telling was his own revisionist explanation.
“Why should I tell you anything?” Jace asked, putting his cards on the table, so to speak.
“Because they are more a threat to the System than you can know,” Demise said quietly. “They aren’t just our enemy or even yours, young captain. They represent chaos in this world and if allowed, will bring the System to its knees in mayhem if not stopped.”
“But I thought you Dark Worlders lived for that?” Jace asked in confusion. Didn’t demons and devel strive to create pain? Hel, he’d felt it here only a few days ago.
“No.” Demise sighed and turned to Naria. “Have you told him nothing of your world?”
Naria’s eyes narrowed on Jace. “I have Father. Apparently he chooses to forget it. Obstinacy is not a pretty face for you, Jace,” Naria said darkly.
Jace shrugged. “I can’t help it if I’m having a hard time trusting the demon bent on my destruction not so long ago. How do I know that if I tell him where they are, he won’t simply destroy the planet and take up where the Cazeth left off?”
Demise smiled, his sharp teeth bright points of notice. Jace studied the demon but could find no resemblance of him in Naria. Thank the Stars, he thought.