by C. M. Kane
Tae leant into Jason who had put his arm around her. Glancing across to her right she saw that Brohan was in the bed next to her own. At least, she thought it was Brohan. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at her warrior trainer, because apart from the thick head of long grey hair, he now looked a hell of a lot younger than when she had last seen him.
‘Jalek.’ Her mind finally started to focus on where she now was. ‘The Hindishah?’ she asked.
‘Destroyed utterly,’ Zeus said, his voice betraying his simmering anger.
‘But they have agents onboard.’
‘Dead,’ Brohan said from his bed. ‘Commander Vesh and his men captured most of them alive. He had them thoroughly searched, but it seems they had been implanted with some kind of device that when given a specific code caused a massive coronary; the bastards were all dead before he could ask a question. It seems we’re back to square one.’
Tae turned her head and stared at him open mouthed again, she just couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around the change in him.
‘Yes, it’s me,’ Brohan said, watching her gaping at him. ‘They injected me with the de-ageing nanites you advised Lord Loki to use on me when they bought you in, and from the look on your face I’d say they’ve worked a treat. It was the only way I was allowed to stay in the room while they worked on you. Med techs can be exceedingly stubborn, even under threats or duress.’ He smiled. ‘Apparently I have another hour or so to go then hopefully, I can get up again; fussy bastards won’t let me move until they’re happy. I never realized how like my old drill Sergeant Med techs can be when they’re pushed.’
Valaria, Tae noticed, was smiling at him with obvious delight. Brohan was a very goodlooking man, much along the lines of Valaria’s new favorite singer, Jon Bon Jovi. Tae thought she’d buy him some of those tight pants the singer was wearing in the vid she had played, for Valaria’s birthday. She giggled softly to herself at the thought.
Loki was still watching her intently. ‘The techs have had you unconscious and healing for around twentyone hours. We need to know what went on over there. We have seen the vid of what occurred on their bridge of course.’ He smiled. ‘Thank you for that by the way, not only impressive, but highly amusing, you sure as hell gave Jalek a nasty little send-off. Still, we need to know if you found out anything else.’
Tae grimaced. ‘Jalek was the brother of Jaden, apparently there’s a strong current of insanity in that family. The bastard broke my arm as soon as they got me off the jumper. I figured out pretty quickly that he was intent on torturing me so I let him see how much it hurt to keep him happy. Once he seemed satisfied that I was in agony he dragged me straight to the bridge. I asked why he was doing it though. He said there was more going on than I could comprehend, and that they had agents onboard your ships, ready to act.’
Zeus sighed. ‘You noticed a lot, we are thankful.’
Tae continued. ‘He murmured to himself after I told him you would punish him. He said something like she would protect him.’
Zeus frowned looking at Loki. ‘So it’s not Ares.’
‘No,’ Tae said, remembering more. ‘I asked Jalek if it was him, and he said Ares was trapped somewhere, and they’d kill him as soon as he came out.’
Loki leant toward her again. ‘Came out of where?’
She stared at him. ‘A swamp.’
Loki looked stumped. ‘A swamp?’
‘No,’ Tae said, remembering more clearly. ‘He said as soon as he comes out of her swamp.’
Zeus stood deep in thought, and then turned to Loki. ‘We meet the other gods in a couple of hours’ time. Bring Tae along with anyone else who was involved, she can tell them what she just told us, then we’ll hear from the people the others have brought along with them.’
Loki nodded and Zeus swept from the room. He turned to Tae. ‘I’ll return in a couple of hours and get you both.’ He looked from Brohan to Tae. ‘I’ll have new clothes sent to you.’ He nodded at her and went to leave.
Tae spoke up quickly. ‘Pants if you can, please.’ Loki stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. She shrugged. ‘Last time Tannan got me some clothes it was a hideous little green thing that showed far more than it covered.’
Loki smiled wickedly at her. ‘Yes, I noticed that when they brought you in,’ he said. He turned and left as Tae blushed scarlet.
‘So how are you all?’ She asked as she tried to gather her errant thoughts from some rather naughty images that had flashed across her mind at Loki’s teasing words. She turned back to her family and looked from one to the other. She classed Brohan as family and, she realized with a start, had done for quite a while.
Jason laughed. ‘Well, apart from the heart attack you almost gave us, we’re all pretty fine. Mum and I are being shipped back to Jaxburg soon but I took your advice, I just put in an application to Elite Commander Tannan to see if I could apply for the House of Aphrodite.’ He grinned and took a deep breath. ‘Or, more specifically, service onboard the Olympus’ house, starting from tomorrow. They have enough workers to give me onboard training, if he’ll allow it.’
Kresley gasped. ‘You didn’t tell me Jase, are you sure?’
Jason smiled. ‘Have you seen some of the people working here? Yes, I’m sure. I figured that while everyone is in such a great mood with Tae and all, I might as well take advantage of it.’
Tae burst out laughing. ‘I couldn’t think of anyone better.’
She wiped tears of happiness from her eyes. It felt so good just to laugh again, to have her family surrounding her. She looked to her mother. ‘And you?’ she asked.
Kresley sighed. ‘I’m going back to Steven for a short time before I move back to Thortown.’ Seeing the look on Tae’s face she smiled gently. ‘After our first talk I realized something. I have never moved on from Tamuer, I’ve never truly let him go. I think that’s why Steven and I stayed together for so long, despite our obvious differences. It was a way of keeping a small piece of him close, we saw that small piece in each other. I need to speak to him, Tae, I need to make peace with him after all that has happened. I’ve come to realize that it’s time I shouldered some of the blame for how our lives ended up, this isn’t all Steven’s fault. I need to be able let go of that part of my life with a free conscious, and I think Steven needs to, too, probably even more than I do. I owe him that much.’
Valaria walked over. ‘Well, I’ve handed in my resignation at the House of Aphrodite.’ She grinned. ‘After Loki found out I cleared the communications area of the thalien, both he and your yummy Commander Vesh offered me jobs in security. Seeing as I have full intentions of staying with my man here.’ She plopped herself down on Brohan’s bed before continuing. ‘I accepted Loki’s offer; under the condition I will be under Brohan’s direct command.’ She grinned widely. ‘He was a little putout at my request of course, but I pointed out that you would be telling him the exact same thing anyway. I also mentioned how happy it would make you to have us both working together, so he relented.’
Brohan sighed. ‘You’re incorrigible, I can see I’m going to have my hands full already.’
Valaria winked at him. ‘You have no idea, you lucky man.’
‘How old do I look now, anyway? They won’t give me a mirror, or let me move. At the last check they said the nanites are beginning to slow and die off.’
Kresley stared at him closely. ‘I’d say low to mid-forties at the moment, it’s a little hard to tell because you have some dust or something over you.’
Valaria nodded. ‘I agree. I think you’ll make mid-thirties by the time they’re finished, but you’ll have to wait until your hair grows out before it changes from grey back to whatever it was in your thirties.’ She grinned and dropped her fangs, licking them suggestively. ‘I can hardly wait.’
Tae, Kresley and Jason sniggered as Brohan went beet red. He shifted uncomfortably in his bed and raised his knee in an attempt to disguise the effect Valaria’s words and actions had on him.
A
med tech re-entered the room smiling at her. ‘Well, young lady, it seems you’re all set to go as soon as Lord Loki returns for you.’ She turned to Kresley. ‘There is a jumper on standby ready to return you to the planet’s surface, someone will come to get you shortly.’
She turned and looked over to Jason. ‘There will also be a representative of the Olympus’ House of Aphrodite here to collect you by order of Elite Commander Tannan. So it seems that goodbyes are in order very soon for all of you.’
She turned back to Tae. ‘In the meantime I have taken the liberty of ordering you something to eat. Ah, here they are,’ she said. Another tech bought in a large platter filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, placing it on the little cupboard beside her bed, there were three creamy dipping sauces at the side.
‘Your mother said you like vegetables and dipping sauces, so the mess hall sent along a small variety for you, along with a little fruit.’
Tae smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she said, ‘and you’re right, I do love them, and I’m absolutely starved.’ Kresley settled the plate on Tae’s legs and she started to devour it with Jason’s help.
Not long after they had eaten, a pleasure worker, Thomas, came for Jason. He was an attractive man in his late twenties, with short brown hair and a surprisingly muscular build. He was delighted when he was introduced to Jason and hugged him warmly. After Jason said his goodbyes to everyone Thomas smiled encouragingly and led him away.
Kresley turned to Tae just as an elven warrior entered to advise her that her jumper was ready. ‘I’ll see you soon, yes?’ she asked.
Tae nodded. ‘As soon as I can get some time off I’ll come and see you. I was supposed to have a couple of weeks before all of this kerfuffle, but that seems to have gone by the wayside. I’ll go back to Jaxburg, if you’re not there leave your forwarding address with the temple’s head priest.’ At Kresley’s surprised look Tae grinned. ‘We’re old friends.’ She placed the now empty platter on the table beside her bed and got up to hug her mother.
‘Please be careful, Tae,’ Kresley whispered.
Tae pulled back a little. ‘Hey, you know me. Safety’s my middle name, I always err on the side of caution.’ Everyone laughed as she kissed her mother goodbye.
Kresley smiled at Valaria and Brohan. ‘Take care of her and good luck, I hope you have many happy years together.’
Valaria smiled. ‘We’ll do our best, Kresley, on all accounts.’
Kresley gave them all one last watery smile and left.
A female wolven arrived a short time later with a pair of black pants, leather by the look of them, and a black, slim fitted shirt along with some fresh underwear. The boots and socks that she had worn on the Island had been cleaned and were beside her bed. Tae looked happily at the pants and shirt. Now this is more like it.
She smiled and thanked the woman who nodded and left. As she jumped up to get dressed she noticed the underwear for the first time. She held up the tiny lace panties and the low cut bra. ‘What the hell are these?’ She raised them for Valaria’s inspection with a grimace of distaste. ‘Why do they keep bringing me minuscule undies?’
Valaria grinned. ‘Did you ever stop to think that perhaps whoever’s supplying the underwear wants to imagine you in them? This to my mind, could only be either, Elite Commander Tannan, Lord Loki or Lord Zeus, a trio of hotness if ever I saw one.’
Tae looked at her with skepticism. ‘Yeah, sure. Anyway I’m going for a shower, back in a tick.’ Valaria’s voice sung out as she walked to the bathroom. ‘Hey, I’ve seen those hideous granny panties you usually wear and trust me, these are a definite improvement.’
Clean and refreshed again Tae re-dressed, blushing a little she donned the new underwear. No matter what anyone said, she liked her old underwear, they were comfortable, and they didn’t feel like they were creeping up her butt. When she came out of the bathroom she found a med tech hovering over Brohan.
‘Yes,’ he was saying, running his scanner over him. ‘They’re almost done. You can get up now, you won’t be damaging anything. I must say they have worked splendidly, much better than I expected. We were quite excited to hear we would be getting to use them, you know. They’re very rare, we’ve never tried them on anyone before.’
Brohan sat up, a fine powder dropping off him as he rose. ‘Where are my clothes?’
The tech pointed to the small cupboard beside the bed. ‘In there. Your weapon is also in there, along with your other belongings. We’ve had them cleaned for you while you were stationary of course. Oh, and it looks like you might need a shower he said, as he noticed the fine powder drifting over the bed and floor. The nanites did leave a lot of your excess skin cells on both you and your bedding by the looks of things, but of course that’s to be expected, given your age, all that excess skin from your wrinkles and sagging had to be discarded somewhere, he said jovially.’
Brohan looked back at the bedding, noticing a fine beige film covering the sheets and pillow for the first time; he blanched a little and nodded his appreciation just as Loki entered the room.
‘Good, you’re ready. As soon as you’re dressed we’ll head to the meeting; everyone’s arrived now so we’ll be the last.’
Tae headed out the door, motioning for Loki to follow her. ‘Why aren’t we waiting for Brohan?’ he asked in confusion.
Tae looked at him in confusion. ‘He’s like my dad. You don’t like watching your dad get changed, do you?’
Loki shrugged. ‘Why would it bother me?’
Tae shook her head in exasperation. ‘Men.’
Chapter 13
Tae was only now getting to have a look at the Olympus, Zeus’ flagship. It seemed vast, long corridors with turbo lifts that moved horizontally and vertically were dotted along the corridors. Numerous people were hurrying back and forth on unknown errands; all of them slowed and respectfully lowered their heads as Loki passed. Two people actually stopped and bowed. After two vertical lifts and one horizontal lift, they entered a short passage which led to the Garden where Zeus liked to have meetings with the other gods. As they entered Tae was greeted by the most amazing sight yet.
A huge marble table sat in an alcove surrounded by beds of flowers and small fragrant bushes. She smiled in delight, running her hands over some of the larger blooms as she looked around her, for a brief moment she completely forgot that the gods were waiting for her.
She looked around, smiling radiantly. ‘It’s stunning,’ she breathed. The Garden even had a small stream wandering through it, a pebbled path and benches were positioned along its borders to take advantage of the tranquility it provided. It was a small drop of colorful, natural beauty, in a vast ocean of grays and whites. She turned to the gods who were now staring at her.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said as she hurried forward, embarrassed. ‘I guess I got caught up a bit.’
Zeus nodded his head. ‘Tell us what happened to you, from the time you went to your room until we found you on the jumper.’
Tae nodded and began her story, when she got to the part of how livid Jalek had been over missing out on killing Poseidon and Hades, she felt a tension she hadn’t known was there leave the room. Persephone looked at her and smiled with gratitude before gazing back at her husband. Tae wondered if perhaps some of the gods had been suspicious at their convenient absence. If so, her testimony had just helped clear them. She finished her story, telling them about her uploading the music vid, then she stood and waited for any questions they might have, the first one surprised her.
Baste tipped her head to the side. ‘What’s a Bon Jovi? I’d like to see it.’
Tae stepped forward. ‘May I?’ she asked Tannan. He held out his ever-present com-pad to her. She touched the small stick and a square, three-dimensional screen was immediately projected above it. She touched the screen and soon located what she wanted. She loaded it onto the main com-screen in the garden.
‘Oh my …’ Baste clapped her hands involuntarily in delight as the familiar sounds of a
guitar started to play. Isis’ eyes changed from black to an even darker shade onyx as both goddesses attention became riveted on the singer.
‘He was a singer from before the Gods’ War,’ Tae said. Both goddesses gave small frowns of disappointment when they realized he was long dead. ‘I like all the music from back then and listen to it all the time, so I figured Tannan might be able to figure it out. Then I passed out, the rest you know.’
Tannan blushed as Zeus looked to him. ‘I’m afraid I had no idea, it was Miss Valaria who knew straight away that it was Tae.’
Zeus motioned for Tae to stand behind Loki’s chair, right near a formidable looking vampire with bright red eyes who was looking at her with undeniable interest. The trouble was, Tae didn’t know if he were thinking of her as an ally, or as his next snack. As she moved behind Loki she did notice a male she had never seen before at the end of the table, it was hard not to, he was huge! He was also totally bald which, if anything, only seemed to make him look bigger.
Tae had never thought she’d be a lover of the bald look but it suited this man perfectly. A jagged scar cut its way down the side of his face, from the top of his delicately pointed ear to the side of his bottom lip. Another sliced across the light brown skin of his chin. His arms were muscle packed upon muscle, they were also heavily scarred, as if from battle. Tae stared at him in awe, his partially bare chest looked as if it had been carved from stone, it seemed to be as equally scarred as the rest of him from what she could see – and she was looking very, very intently. Though not classically handsome like Zeus or Apollo, this massive bald god was still incredibly attractive in his own right. She couldn’t help but gape, the man exuded power and raw sexuality, even just sitting calmly. What must he be like in battle? She thought bemusedly.
With a start Tae realized what was happening to her. She clamped down on her pheromones and looked straight at the ground, but not before the redeyed vampire swung his questioning gaze around to her. She felt herself blushing in embarrassment at his stare.