El Cazador had picked up her escape pod floating in deep space after her family had been slaughtered in the Church’s purge of GMs. That had been three years ago. Daisy was now co-pilot and loved flying, taking the controls whenever Rico would let her. She was a natural according to Rico, though he never said it where Daisy could hear.
Today, as usual, she was dressed as some sort of mini Rico— whom she had a huge crush on—black shirt, and black pants tucked into knee high black boots. Her green hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her pale green skin glowing—her chlorophyll levels were high—she must have been on her sun bed.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“Who?” Tannis replied, although she knew exactly which who she meant.
“Callum Meridian.” Daisy was almost bouncing with excitement. With her boundless enthusiasm, she made Tannis feel old. “Those wings were just amazing. Did you know,” she continued, “he was a fighter pilot back on Earth? And he was the best.”
“Christos,” Rico muttered.
Tannis almost grinned. It looked like Rico was in for some competition in the hero-worship department, and he didn’t like the idea. It wasn’t really funny, though. This trip was already fraught with potential catastrophes; and they could do without any testosterone fueled pissing contests.
What they did need was a meeting. Their new client hadn’t yet informed them of what they were employed to do, and they needed to find out. At the moment, they were heading toward Trakis Two, but presumably, he must have some sort of plan, something he needed to do.
“Get everybody together in the conference room in half an hour, including his Leadership—we need to find out just what it is he’s paying us to do.”
…
Callum was hungry. It wasn’t something he was used to—he had servants to make sure he had everything he desired, the second he desired it. He only had to think he wanted something and it would be there.
Obviously, not any more.
He’d go in search of this galley as soon as his other hunger was under control.
He stared at the open doorway where Tannis had exited ten minutes ago. Her reaction to his kiss had been unexpected. So had his. At least it had confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his libido—his dick was rock hard. It must have merely been boredom. There were too many women all too eager to bed him for reasons he’d not bothered to question for a long time, but in the end the charm of having anyone he wanted had faded.
Now, it felt as though his body was coming awake after years of hibernation. He shifted as heat pooled in his groin. He could still taste her, hot spicy woman tinged with the exotic, and he wanted to finish what they’d started. Except, they hadn’t started it. He had. And from her expression afterward, he’d been the only one to enjoy their kiss. For a moment, he’d seen shock and even fear on her face, before she’d wiped it clean.
She was such a mystery, and that intrigued him.
Callum.
The colonel’s voice sounded in his head, and a ripple of unease ran down his spine. They’d agreed no contact except in emergencies. What is it?”
Trouble. The Council have refused to recognize me as a member.
I left specific instructions— Which they’re ignoring. But there’s more—all hell broke loose after you did your flying stunt. They are not happy. They’re putting out a comm that you’ve been kidnapped, and they’re sending out everything they’ve got after you. They’ve also already posted a reward. A big reward.
Shit. You can at least stop the Council coming after me. Hell, you’re in charge of the Corps, they can’t move without your order.
Not anymore. They’re suggesting I’m complicit in your “kidnapping”. I think they’re planning on arresting me any moment, so if you don’t hear from me again—good luck. He was silent for a moment. They’re at the door. I’ll— Callum swore loudly as the colonel was cut-off. He must have been knocked unconscious.
Tyson?
The man’s mind was closed, but Callum forced his way in—he was the only one of them who could do it and it came in useful if people were ignoring you.
Callum, you’re not very popular around here right now.
Like I give a shit. I’m finished with hiding—I told you that.
Now reinstate the colonel, call back the Corps, and get rid of that reward.
Come back, and we’ll call everyone off. We can do some damage control, say it was a stunt.
Piss-off.
He broke the contact. It looked like the council had some balls after all. Pity they had to wait until now to show them. At least his hard-on was gone. He supposed he’d better go and tell the captain that they might be expecting company, so they could start thinking about how to avoid it.
The crew of El Cazador had spent two weeks being pursued by the Collective and managed to successfully evade them. He hoped they could do it again—it was one of the reasons he’d employed them. He’d wanted someone with no connections to the Council, who could keep him out of sight while he worked out what he was, and what he wanted to do with the rest of eternity.
The comm unit beside the bed buzzed. He pressed it to open.
“Meeting in the conference room in half an hour.” A brusque voice barked. “Be there.”
“Where—” But the comm was cut off abruptly.
Why did he get the impression that nobody on this ship liked him?
Obviously, they were the type to hold grudges. That hardly mattered as long as they did what he was paying them to do. He didn’t give a toss whether they liked him or not. But he realized that wasn’t entirely true. There was one member of the crew he wanted to like him.
An image of the Captain flashed up in his mind. She’d told him she didn’t mix business with pleasure. He was going to have to persuade her otherwise, and from her reaction to his kiss, he had some work to do there. For once, he was going to have to exert himself for what he wanted—the idea had a certain novelty value.
“You’re late.” Tannis snapped.
He’d been wandering around the goddamn ship for what seemed like an age. He hadn’t found the galley, and he was still hungry. He had only found this place because he’d pushed his way into Skylar’s mind and asked for directions. He’d guessed she hadn’t been pleased by the intrusion. Hard Luck. They should have sent somebody to escort him. And given him some goddamn food.
The room was big and airy. The décor, like the rest of the ship, black and silver. He quickly counted the people. Seven.
He reckoned this must be the whole crew, all except the ship’s engineer who from the reports he had read, appeared to be some sort of recluse.
Most of them he’d met briefly on that day on Trakis Five when the assassin had given himself up, and they’d all come down to rescue him or die in a blaze of glory. Of course, it hadn’t turned out like that.
His gaze was drawn first to Tannis leaning against the far wall, arms folded across her chest, one booted foot tapping on the floor.
She briefly caught his eye and looked away.
He moved on to the vampire, Ricardo Sanchez, owner and pilot of the ship, with Skylar next to him, one hand resting on his thigh as if to restrain him.
Finally, two women. One he didn’t recognize. She was beautiful, well-dressed, with dark red hair. The other was the green girl, Daisy; she was the only one who appeared pleased to see him. She had a wide grin on her face and waggled her fingers in his direction.
The vampire shook off Skylar’s hand and stood up in one fluid move. He stalked toward Callum, moving with the lithe grace of a predator, and suddenly Callum was afraid. His mouth went dry, and every brain cell screamed at him to run. Rico was dressed all in black, with a pistol at his thigh and an honest-to-god sword at his back. But it wasn’t the weapons that caused Callum’s heart rate to speed up, it was the fact that the vampire was snarling, one corner of his upper lip curling up to reveal a razor sharp fang.
He came to a halt in front of Callum, drew back his fist,
and punched him in the face.
Chapter 3
Callum heard the crunch of bone as his nose broke. Pain flooded his face, and his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood.
He swallowed and looked around to see if anyone was going to help him. Only the green girl appeared alarmed—well the grin was gone at least. Skylar looked resigned; she shrugged when she caught his gaze. The redhead was studying her nails. Tannis hadn’t moved—she certainly wasn’t rushing to his rescue. He was on his own. Something told him that he couldn’t back down now. If he showed just a little of the fear he was feeling, then his credibility would be lost forever. But no way could he win this fight. He would be lucky to survive it.
He forced his gaze back to the vampire and decided he wanted a gun, a big fucking gun.
“That’s for messing with Skylar’s head,” Rico growled. “And this is for kissing, Tannis.”
The fist flew again. This time it landed on his chest, and he went down under the force of the blow. He lay unmoving for a minute. God, that hurt, as though his chest had caved in. Bloody vampire—he had an urge to sack the whole lot of them right now.
Except if he did that, they might just dump him out of the airlock without a spacesuit. He pushed himself on one elbow and stared the vampire in the eyes.
“Finished?” he snarled and called up the power from deep inside him, allowed it to glow from his eyes.
A flash of surprise crossed Rico’s face.
Tannis moved at last to stand in front of the vampire, hands on her hips. She looked pissed; maybe she did like him, after all.
“Great, just great, Rico,” she snapped. “Why don’t you tell the whole freaking ship that he kissed me?”
And maybe she didn’t. She was just annoyed that the vampire had told everyone he’d kissed her. But why had she told the vampire?
Rico didn’t answer. He looked down at where Callum lay.
“Yeah, I’ve finished. For now.”
Callum staggered to his feet, and shook his head, spraying blood from his broken nose around the room.
Rico’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “Will somebody stop him bleeding all over my ship? He’s making a mess. And he’s making me hungry.”
“I’ll go get something.” Daisy jumped to her feet and hurried from the room. Nobody said a word. Rico strolled back to his chair, and threw himself down. Callum’s legs were trembling, but he waited until the vampire was seated, before he sank down into the nearest chair, perching at the front to accommodate his wings.
Daisy came back a minute later, her expression sympathetic as she handed him a damp towel. He pressed it to his face and realized his hand was trembling as well.
Callum couldn’t remember the last time someone had hit him.
He reckoned it must have been back on Earth over a thousand years ago. Shit, his nose hurt.
But one thing was for sure—he wasn’t bored. He felt the corners of his mouth twitch in the beginnings of a smile. Tannis glanced at him sharply, and he blanked his expression.
“Right,” she said, “if everyone has finished playing, perhaps we could we get on with the meeting now?”
Rico grinned. “Aye, aye captain.”
She ignored him and turned her attention to Callum. “So you’re paying us a lot of money—what do you want in return?”
The blunt question surprised him, and he glanced around the room; he’d prefer to keep his plans to as few people as possible.
“Can we discuss this in private?”
“No.” She waved a hand around the room. “They’re going to be there, they have a right to know. Besides, I don’t keep secrets from my crew. So talk.”
He sat back and prodded his nose, wincing at the pain. It was definitely broken, and he’d got blood all over his shirt. And he had no more clothes. Why hadn’t he thought to bring luggage? The problem was— he’d had people to do everything for him, until he’d just about lost the ability to think for himself. He was almost embarrassed.
What to tell them? The truth was he hadn’t expected to have to explain anything. He’d planned to have his bodyguards with him to deal with any awkward questions and keep the crew in line.
“I need to stay low for a while.”
“Why?”
Annoyance flicked at his nerve endings. He was also unused to having to justify himself. Why couldn’t she accept what he said and just do what she was told? When he remained silent, she raised one arched brow, and he pushed down his irritation and organized his thoughts. “The Council was against us revealing the changes.” He gestured at the wings on his back. “They wanted to keep it hidden, pretend it wasn’t happening.”
“A little hard to hide,” Rico murmured.
Callum ignored the interruption. “I decided my people had a right to the truth. They should know what was going on with their leaders—”
“My people?” Rico scoffed. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a pompous git? And are you really expecting us to believe you’re doing this out of pure altruism. I mean—do we look like idiots?”
Someone tittered.
Callum gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. “Okay, I want to know the truth. I want to find out what we’re becoming, and I’m fed up of hiding.”
“That sounds more like it.”
“So I needed somewhere to lay low until they cool down and are willing to listen.”
“Is anyone buying this crap?” Rico said. “You know this is a load of bollocks. I say we take a vote and shove him out the airlock. Get rid of the problem.”
They really didn’t like him. But he wasn’t too worried; he’d only handed over half of the fee so far—the rest they would get when the job was over. If they were still alive.
Tannis must have realized that her money was at risk, and she shrugged almost apologetically. “Rico has a little problem with the fact that you messed with Skylar’s head. And you did spend a lot of effort recently trying to kill us.”
“You assassinated one of us first,” Callum countered.
Rico shrugged. “Yeah, but Aiden Ross was an asshole. We were doing you a favor.”
“Jesus, it’s like kindergarten in here.” Tannis pressed her fingers into her short hair.
It was damp, slicked back from her face; she must have showered since he’d come on board. Had she needed cooling down after he’d kissed her? Though remembering her reaction he doubted that had been the reason—more likely she wanted to scrub herself clean—the idea intrigued him.
“So, you want to lie low,” she said. “What else?”
“I’ve arranged to meet with my head of research. In two days’
time on Trakis Two. Then we’ll make a plan. I might or might not need you after that. But if I do, I’ll pay you more. So the fee I’ve offered so far is for keeping me out of the way for two days and then getting me to Trakis Two. Easy money.”
“Sounds too easy.”
“Well, there is something else you need to know.”
She gave an exaggerated sigh. “And that is?”
“I just got a report that the Council has sent the Corps after me.”
“What? And that didn’t occur to you before you arranged this stunt?”
“No, I didn’t think it would be an issue—the colonel is a good friend, but it appears they’ve arrested him and put their own person in charge.”
“They’ve arrested the colonel?” Skylar said. “The Corps won’t be happy about that.” Skylar was herself an officer in the intelligence section of the Corps, or she had been until she’d taken an unofficial leave of absence.
“Maybe not, but in my absence, and the absence of the colonel, they’ll take their orders from the Council. There’s more.”
“Really?” Tannis muttered. “Why aren’t I surprised?”
“They’ve reported me as kidnapped. By you. They’re offering a huge reward for my return.” He had a thought. “You didn’t actually send a ransom demand, did you?”
“No, but I
’m thinking about it. Jesus, we’ll have every bounty hunter in the known universe on our tail.” She paced the room.
“Great, just great. Janey, can you start a scan for anything that might be heading in our direction?”
“I’m already on it.”
She turned back to him, studying him as though he was something rather unpleasant. “Anything else?”
“Yes, I’ll need some clothes and some food and…”
She waved a hand. “Anything else important.” She gave him no chance to answer. “No—good. Right, if this meeting is over, I have things to do.”
She was leaving, and he didn’t want her to go. Not without him. He stood up, stepped toward her, and lowered his voice.
“About the kiss…”
“Forget it. I have.” With a final shrug, she whirled around and strode from the room.
Callum watched her go; she had a great ass. And he was pretty certain she hadn’t forgotten the kiss, and he had no intention of doing so.
As she disappeared from sight, he glanced across to find Rico watching him. His hand went to his nose without conscious thought. It felt sore and swollen, and he winced, but at least the bleeding had stopped. The vampire’s gaze was speculative.
He strolled over, and Callum made himself stand his ground.
Just for good measure, he spread his wings until the tips touched the walls on either side of him. The idea occurred to him, that perhaps he wouldn’t survive his sojourn aboard El Cazador, that he’d been a fool to trust these people. He’d started to believe himself indestructible, and that wasn’t the truth. He could be destroyed. And considering the only person to ever kill one of their kind was a member of this crew—if not actually on board right now— didn’t bode well.
But Rico just smiled, though the expression didn’t reach his dark eyes. Callum tried a quick mind probe. The vampire’s eyes narrowed, and Callum hit a wall. Another one he couldn’t read— it was bloody inconvenient.
Rico reached out a finger and poked him in the chest. “Keep out of everybody’s minds and keep your dick in your pants, and we’ll all be fine.”
Callum was hungry, his nose hurt, his chest hurt, his only clean shirt was covered in blood—in fact he was pissed-off—and these bloody peasants seemed not to appreciate just how important he actually was. He twitched his wings and opened his mouth to tell Rico to mind his own sodding business—he’d do what he liked with his goddamn dick, when the whole ship lurched to the side and he was thrown to the floor. Something hit him in the chest and everything went black.
Nina Croft Page 5