So why did I put myself on the line to save him? Lathe asked himself. He still had no answer but he knew what he had done was risky. Before he had held a neutral place in the prison—respected and feared for his fangs and his willingness to use them and his status as the prison’s only medical personnel. Now he would have both Tapper and his gang and the Grand Jiho and his Serpents after him. He would have to watch his back—and Ari’s—constantly.
What had been a difficult life was now going to become almost impossible.
“Ari, Goddess damn it,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face and hearing the rough, sandpapery sound of his whiskers. “How in the Seven Hells did you manage to make so many enemies in such a short amount of time?”
“I…I d-don’t know.” The answer, accompanied by the chattering of teeth, made Lathe look up and realize that the boy was standing in the corner, still nude and shivering. Strangely, he was covering both his shaft and his chest with his arms, though why he should bother to try and hide his skinny chest, Lathe had no idea. Still, he could see the lad was cold.
Gods, what’s wrong with you, Lathe? Did you rescue him from Tapper just to let him freeze to death?
Lathe looked around for the boy’s clothes, then remembered that they’d left Ari’s prison-issued jumpsuit in Tapper’s cell. Well, that was too bad because there was no getting another one tonight—it was too close to lights out to risk going down to the laundry. Being out after the lights went off in BleakHall was as good as suicide.
Grabbing the blanket from his bunk, Lathe stood up and went to where the boy was standing. He started to drape it around the thin, shivering shoulders but Ari shied away.
“Leave me alone!”
“Leave you alone?” Lathe growled, feeling tired and frustrated and irritated all at once. He’d saved the boy’s life—why was he still acting like Lathe was trying to eat him up like a hungry beast?
“You heard me.” The boy lifted his chin defiantly. “I know why you took me from Tapper—you’re thinking you’ll get me to depend on you so you can stick something besides your finger up my ass next time. Well, it won’t happen!”
A sharp retort rose to Lathe’s lips…then he saw the fear in those large, dark eyes. A fear so great it was eating the boy up inside. And no wonder he was afraid after what he’d just been through. His lip was split, one side of his face was swollen, and he’d nearly been raped and killed all on his first day at BleakHall. Of course he was afraid.
Have to see to those injuries tomorrow, he might have a zygomatic fracture, Lathe thought. He could tell by the boy’s eyes he wouldn’t let Lathe anywhere near him tonight.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. He dropped the blanket at the boy’s feet and retreated to his bunk. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I’m not frightened of you,” Ari said at once, but the look in his large, dark eyes spoke differently.
“No, of course you’re not.” Lathe sighed deeply, suddenly exhausted. He’d just put his life on the line for this new prisoner who wanted nothing to do with him. And he still had no idea why he had done it.
What a fucking day.
Leaning down, Ari snatched the blanket and wrapped it around himself, knotting it at the top, under his armpits so that he was covered from chest to shins. Then he looked at Lathe with big, uncertain eyes.
“Well? What now?” he asked, in a voice that came out sounding more uncertain than defiant.
“What now, what?” Lathe stretched out on the narrow bunk, feeling the weariness of the day sinking him like a stone in a pond. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily.
“What…” Ari cleared his throat. “What are you planning to do with me?”
Lathe opened one eye and looked at the boy.
“You mean do I plan to wait until you’re off your guard and come rape you?”
“I…I…” Ari swallowed convulsively and Lathe realized all over again how frightened the boy was.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Didn’t mean to scare you again. For the last time, I’m not going to hurt you. Right now I just want to get a good night’s sleep.”
“What should I do?” Ari asked. “While you sleep, I mean?”
“If you’re smart, you’ll sleep too. Long day tomorrow—you’ll be assigned your job.”
“Job?” The boy spoke like it was a foreign word.
“Sure. Everybody has to have a job. How else could they keep this place running? I’ll try to keep you with me but I can’t promise I’ll be able to.”
“What…what if you can’t?” Ari asked in a small voice.
“Then you’ll have to be on your toes,” Lathe said grimly. “At least I’ll try to keep you out of areas where Tapper and his men are. I’m hopeful the Serpents will forgive their vendetta against you when they’re faced with the threat of not being treated at the infirmary anymore.”
“Why…” Ari cleared his throat. “Why are you doing this? Protecting me?”
Lathe was too tired to dissemble. He sighed, feeling like his bones were made of lead. Sleep—he needed sleep.
“I don’t honestly know,” he growled. “It’s certainly not for the pure fucking pleasure of your company. Now come on—it’s time to get some rest.”
“Where am I supposed to sleep, though?” Ari asked. “There’s only one bunk.”
Lathe shrugged tiredly.
“True—this is supposed to be a single cell. You can share my bunk—not that you will, I can tell by your eyes,” he added, seeing the skeptical look on Ari’s face. “But it gets pretty Goddess damned cold here after lights out—they drop the temperature twenty degrees to keep the lashers happy.”
“The lashers?” Ari looked puzzled.
Lathe was too tired to explain.
“You’ll see. Just be glad the cell door is closed.”
“Is it locked?” the boy asked, examining the clear plasti-glass door. “I don’t see any locking mechanisms.”
“Don’t need any locks to keep the prisoners in at night.” Lathe yawned. “Going out is…” He yawned again. “Suicide.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Too bad. I’m too damn tired to explain.”
He closed his eyes and was about to drift off when Ari spoke again.
“Can…can I have a drink of water?”
The boy’s voice was a dry rasp and Lathe remembered he’d thrown up on Tapper when the bastard had shoved his shaft in Ari’s face. Had that been on purpose—the puking? Or was it just because Tapper smelled like a fucking latrine that hadn’t been cleaned in about ten cycles? Lathe’s sensitive Kindred nose had been assaulted by the stench when Tapper opened his jumpsuit too—he didn’t blame the boy for getting sick.
“In there.” He nodded at the tiny cubical enclosing a toilet and sink in the corner of the cell. Having a private fresher was a luxury accorded only to trustees—much coveted by the regular inmates, who only had a row of public holes to use as toilets in their communal bathing areas.
He heard the door open but his eyes had already drifted closed before he heard it latch.
“Just don’t stay in there all night,” he tried to say but he was too damn tired. With a muttered prayer of thanks to the Goddess that he’d been able to save the boy, Lathe drifted off into an exhausted sleep.
Twelve
Ari pulled the folding door of the tiny room shut behind her. Even claustrophobia couldn’t stop her from snatching a moment of privacy to pull herself together.
Looking down, she saw a dull silver toilet and mounted above it, a tiny metal sink. She looked at herself in the flat, scratched square of silver that served for a mirror. Her face was a mess—the left side of it, where Tapper had punched her—was bloody and swollen and it looked like she had the beginnings of a pretty good black eye.
Not such a pretty boy now, are you? she thought and had to look away as tears welled up in her eyes. Why, oh why hadn’t she listened to Hanna and stayed the hell away from this awful place?
But I couldn’t stay away, she reminded herself. I had to at least try to get Jak—I couldn’t let him rot in here! Oh Jak, where are you? Will I live to see you and get out of here tomorrow?
More tears came, the sobs surprising her with their forcefulness. Quickly she turned on the cold water tap to cover her tears, not that she thought the big Kindred would hear them. He was passed out cold on the only bunk, his muscular bulk taking up most of it.
Not like I would share it with him, she told herself, trying to get control of the misery that wracked her. He says he doesn’t know why he saved me from Tapper but that has to be a lie. He wants what Tapper wants, doesn’t he? What everyone wants in here!
The memory of his hands on her in the infirmary—the big, warm hand on her back and the other probing deep in her body came back all over again and with it, a rush of humiliation. She’d never been touched against her will before this—never been punched or kicked or brutalized or threatened with rape or death. These seemed to be everyday occurrences at BleakHall but they were new and horrible and shocking to Ari.
I’m not tough enough for this place, she admitted to herself, as she splashed water over her aching face and rinsed out her mouth. I don’t see how anyone could be—it’s horrible.
The stuff coming out of the tap was cloudy and tasted metallic but she was so thirsty from puking and crying that she drank until her belly was full. Then she turned off the tap and blotted her face carefully on the blanket she was wearing, since she didn’t see any towels. Then she looked in the mirror again.
“Just until after lunch tomorrow,” she told herself in a low voice. “You only have to make it until then, Ari. You can do that—you can survive long enough to save yourself and Jak. You have to. You—”
A low, menacing growl interrupted her mini pep-talk.
Ari frowned, her heart beginning to hammer. What in the galaxy was that? Was the big Kindred growling in his sleep? But the deep, rumbling growl sounded like an animal, not a humanoid. A big animal.
Opening the accordion door of the tiny bathroom unit, Ari peeked out into the darkened cell. The lights were mostly doused now, except for a single glow in the far corner which appeared to be permanently on—probably so the guards could keep an eye on the prisoners.
The first thing that hit her was a blast of frigid air. She clutched her arms around herself and shivered. Why was it suddenly freezing? Then she remembered Medic saying something about the temperatures dropping because of something…lashers? Was that what he had said? But what was a lasher?
The low, rumbling growl came again, louder this time. It was coming from just outside the clear cell door, Ari realized. Peering into the darkness she saw a pair of yellow eyes glaring hungrily back at her. Big yellow eyes.
“Goddess of Mercy!” she blurted, shrinking back towards the tiny bathroom. “What the hell is that?”
“What? What is it?” The big Kindred was suddenly alert. He sat up in the bed, his muscular body tensed and ready for action. He looked at Ari, who was still trembling by the bathroom. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Th-that thing.” Her teeth were chattering and not just from cold as she pointed to the hungry eyes glaring in from just behind the clear plasti-glass door.
“You woke me up for that?” He sounded annoyed. “It’s just a lasher. They’re probably excited because they smell fresh meat.”
“Fresh meat?” Ari wrapped her arms around herself. How could he talk so calmly when there was a hungry wild beast outside the door waiting to eat them?
“It’s fine.” He sat back down on the bunk. “It’ll leave in a minute. Go back to sleep. Or go to sleep in the first place. It’s late.”
Ari wasn’t budging.
“It’s right out there,” she protested. “And you said the cells don’t lock. How do you know it can’t get in?”
“Because the damn thing doesn’t have opposable thumbs to open the door with,” Medic growled, clearly completely out of patience. “Look, if you’re that bothered…”
Getting wearily out of the bunk, he went right up to the plasti-glass where the huge animal was prowling and pounded on the door.
“Hey, get out of here, you big son-of-a-bitch!” Ari heard him growl. “There’s nothing for you here so get the fuck out!”
Ari’s heart was in her mouth, watching this display. She was certain the shouting and pounding would only make the big creature angry. But to her surprise, the growl turned into a whine and then the yellow eyes disappeared as the animal padded off into the darkness.
“Oh…” Ari couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. “How…how did you do that? How did you make it go away?”
“Lashers don’t like me.” He came back and sank down on the side of the bunk, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “They sense I’m a predator—like they are. That makes them nervous so the mostly avoid me. That one probably smelled your scent or it wouldn’t have come around here in the first place.”
“So…you’re a predator?” Ari bit her lip.
He sighed. “I just meant they know I’m capable of killing them. Not that I have other…predatory inclinations.” His fangs flashed in the dim light from the single glow as he spoke and Ari shivered.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“Look, just go to sleep. They can’t get in, all right? We may be fighting for our lives tomorrow—we need to be sharp.”
Sharp like the points of his fangs, whispered a little voice in her head.
“I’m going back to bed. Don’t wake me again.” There was a warning note in the big Kindred’s voice as he rolled over on his side, facing the wall.
Ari didn’t answer. She just sank down in the far corner of the room and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. Her face ached and throbbed, she was frightened and miserable, and she had only the thin blanket between herself and the freezing night air, which really did feel about twenty degrees cooler than it had earlier.
She had never felt so cold or so alone in her life.
But it doesn’t matter, she told herself. It’s only for one night. Just one night and then tomorrow Jak and I are out of here. I can make it on my own just one night. Can’t I?
Repeating that to herself over and over she sank into a kind of daze that wasn’t quite sleep and wasn’t quite wakefulness. At first she was so cold she shivered and shook under the thin blanket. But then, after a while she began to feel numb and calm.
See this isn’t so bad, she told herself sleepily. I’m even beginning to feel kind of warm. Everything is going to be fine. Just fine…
Lathe didn’t know what got him out of bed—it wasn’t the blaring of the general wake call or a rough hand on his shoulder. It felt more like a whisper in his ear.
Wake warrior. Wake to save that which is precious…
The whisper and the feeling that something was wrong brought him up out of the depths of slumber and he sat up on the side of the bunk feeling groggy and confused.
Looking around, he realized it was still night. What in the Seven Hells? Why couldn’t he get a good night’s sleep when he was so damn tired? What had woken him? Was it Ari, upset about the damn lashers again?
Then he blinked. Where was Ari, anyway? Lathe wasn’t used to having someone else in his cell—it was pretty much an unwritten policy that trustees kept to themselves and didn’t allow anyone else in their precious personal space. So it was strange to be wondering where his new cellmate was.
Still, where was he? Had he gone back into the fresher to keep warm? Not that it got very warm anywhere in here at night—at least not until the lights came up. The lashers were fierce predators but they came from a glacier planet and needed cold temperatures to keep active and prowling. Too much heat put the big beasts to sleep.
He got up, rubbing a hand over his face, and checked the bathroom. Nope—no one there. His heart started to beat faster. Surely the boy wouldn’t have gone out of the cell while Lathe was asleep, would he? He’d seemed frightened to death by the lashers
so there was no way he would have done such a stupid thing. He—
Lathe stumbled over something on the floor—something slumped in the shadows of the corner.
What the hell?
Stooping down, he saw Ari lying crumpled in a heap. His hand, when Lathe touched it, was ice cold, and he appeared to be barely breathing.
Goddess damn it, he’s going into hypothermia! Many people thought that you could only die of cold if you fell into an icy lake or stream but Lathe knew that wasn’t true. All you needed for a really good case of hypothermia to set in was for your core body temperature to go below 95 degrees and Ari felt much colder than that.
Swearing to himself, Lathe gathered the boy in his arms and stumbled over to the bed. He should have known that giving Ari the one thin blanket wouldn’t keep him warm enough, but the boy had seemed so frightened of him Lathe didn’t want to force him to share his bed.
Well now he has no choice. It’s share my bed and my body heat or he won’t wake up the next morning, Lathe thought grimly as he wrapped himself around the much smaller, slighter body and pulled Ari close to his chest. The boy felt so fragile in his arms—so breakable. He felt that strange wave of protective possessiveness come over him again and thought, Mine, before he could stop himself.
Grimly, he pushed the possessive thought away and concentrated on getting Ari warm. He himself had no problems with the cold. Blood Kindred came from an extremely cold environment—Tranq Prime was much like the planet the lashers came from—so Lathe had self-regulating body temperature. Which was to say, when it got cold, his body put out heat like a furnace—lucky for the boy. Being close to Lathe would heat him up faster than if he’d piled a bunch of vranna skin blankets on himself.
But despite the heat Lathe’s body was putting out, the boy was so still at first that Lathe was worried he hadn’t gotten to him in time. Then Ari stirred and moaned softly, burrowing closer to Lathe’s chest as if he was seeking the heat of the Kindred’s much larger body by instinct.
Lathe breathed a sigh of relief. So the boy would be all right. Ari moaned again and then began to talk in his sleep.
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