Nina Croft

by Blood Hunter 03 Death Defying

  Tannis smiled sweetly, with her mouth at least, her yellow eyes remained cold. “Yes, but you’re our lazy, stupid asshole employer, after all.”

  He shrugged—he’d asked for that. “I say we go for it. Unless you want to say goodbye to that Meridian treatment—it’s our only hope.”

  “Yeah, but don’t try and convince me you’re doing this for me, because I won’t buy it. I think you’ve blown your chance at the Mr. Caring award. You want to go to Trakis Seven as much as I do.”

  For a minute, they stared at each other. Callum had an almost overwhelming urge to defend himself, to say it wasn’t his fault.

  But that would be a lie. Or maybe that he would try and do better in the future. But perhaps that was a lie as well. The truth was he’d always been a selfish bastard and done exactly what he wanted.

  Back on Earth, they’d called him a hero, but really, he’d only been doing something he loved. But he wanted to do better, and the thought surprised him. He just wasn’t sure he was capable of it, so he kept his mouth shut. Anyway, he reckoned words would be meaningless. He’d have to show her somehow.

  “Okay, captain,” Janey said. “I’ve got five coordinates where we could meet and still have time to intercept the ship before it reaches Trakis Seven. You want me to send them.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Tannis sat down opposite him, while they waited.

  Five minutes later, Janey glanced up and grinned. “Okay, looks like we’re on. Second option. Hmm, they must be quite close.”

  “So where and when is option two?”

  “Twenty-four hours from now, on our most direct course to Trakis Seven.”

  “So we meet in space.”

  “Yes. Is that okay?”

  “It’s fine. Better really, we can see what we’re up against—less chance for them to take us by surprise.”

  “Dev won’t do anything underhand,” the Trog said.

  “Maybe, but you haven’t seen him in ten years, so I’m not taking any chances.” She rubbed her hands together. “Looks like we’re back in business.”

  Callum tried to feel enthusiastic, but all he really wanted to do was lie down.

  Chapter 11

  Tannis paced the floor of the large meeting room while they waited for Devlin Starke to appear. He’d been dealing with something when they’d boarded and would be with them as soon as he could. Tannis tried to curb her impatience, but she’d never been any good at that.

  So far, she was impressed with what she had seen. The ship was immaculate and appeared to be well run. She was a Mark 3 cruiser, like El Cazador, though her design and décor were much more functional, less luxurious, but that was Rico’s influence.

  They’d decided to keep the boarding group small, plenty of time for the rebels to meet the rest of the crew if they agreed to help. And she was by no means convinced they would. She wasn’t going to lie about what she wanted or why she wanted it; she could only hope that they would see enough benefit in destroying the ship and hindering the Church’s plans for ultimate power.

  So it was just her, Rico and the Trog. Callum had wanted to come, but she had pointed out, quite reasonably—well reasonably for her anyway—that he might not be one of Devlin Starke’s favorite people, and their chances were better if he stayed in the background. He’d agreed—albeit reluctantly. She didn’t think Callum was a background sort of person.

  Callum had been acting a little weird. If she hadn’t known him better, she would have presumed he was feeling guilty. He mostly remained in his cabin, but did join them for meals, where he stayed quiet, just watching them all, usually with a slight frown on his face as though he didn’t know what to make of them.

  His girlfriend hadn’t shown herself, whether through choice or because Callum had ordered her to stay out of the way, Tannis didn’t know. But she was glad. Venna and her “angel” face might have been a little too much to stomach.

  The door slid open, and she turned to look at the man who stood in the entrance. He hesitated a moment, spoke a brief aside to somebody behind him, then entered the room alone. He bore very little resemblance to the Trog. His hair, mainly black with streaks of blond, was pulled back into a ponytail showing off his sharp cheekbones and slanted blue-green eyes. Cat’s eyes— they were the only thing he shared with his brother. He was a handsome man, but with a hard ruthless stamp to his features, further enhanced by the scar that ran from his right eyebrow, down his cheek to the corner of his mouth giving him a perpetual sneer. She wondered why he had never had it corrected; maybe he knew it gave him an amazingly sexy and dangerous look. The thought surprised her. Since when had she noticed that men were sexy?

  He strolled toward them. Where the Trog was lanky, he appeared perfectly proportioned, with long legs and broad shoulders. He moved like a cat, on the balls of his feet, graceful for such a big man. The rebels didn’t wear a uniform, but he was dressed in Khaki pants tucked into combat boots, and a short sleeved T-shirt. A weapons belt was strapped to his waist, and his hand rested lightly on the grip of his laser pistol.

  “You’re staring,” Rico murmured from beside her.

  Luckily, it didn’t matter. Devlin Starke’s attention was all on the Trog. He came to a halt in front of his brother, and suddenly his deadpan expression melted and he grinned. “Welcome back, Tris.”

  Tannis turned to Rico. “Tris?” she mouthed the question.

  “Tristan Starke,” he murmured. “You didn’t think his name was really the Trog did you?”

  She hadn’t actually thought about it at all, but now she did, it did seem unlikely.

  “I’m not actually back as such…” the Trog replied.

  “It’s good enough for me. I missed you, bro.” He reached out and wrapped his arms around his brother, hugging him tight. After a moment, the Trog’s arms came out and he hugged him back.

  “I missed you too. I just thought it was easier this way. If you knew where I was you might have come after me.”

  “I always knew where you were.”

  “You did?”

  Devlin nodded and stepped back, turning his gaze to her and Rico. Tannis did her best to keep her features expressionless.

  “So, Tris, are you going to introduce me?”

  “Sure, this is Tannis, captain of El Cazador.”

  Devlin held her gaze. His green-blue eyes had little flecks of gold in them and a dark green circle around the iris. His lips curled into a slow smile, banishing the sneer.

  “Snake lady…nice.” His voice was a rough purr, and a shiver ran through her. When he held out his hand, Tannis slid her palm into his warm hard one. He clasped it for longer than necessary, and Tannis didn’t pull away.

  Rico coughed loudly. Devlin released her hand, but slowly, his fingers sliding against hers before focusing on the vampire. His eyes narrowed as though he couldn’t quite place who or what he was. Which was unsurprising, not many people had come across a vampire before, and even less knew what they were facing. A few sensed the difference, that there was something not quite right, but most assumed he must be some form of GM.

  “This is Ricardo Sanchez,” the Trog said. “Owner and pilot of El Cazador.”

  “Rico is fine,” Rico said and thrust out his hand.

  Devlin took it but the contact was brief, and Rico raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to tell me I’m nice?” he asked.

  Shit, Rico was going to be an asshole. Tannis sighed and waited, not even considering trying to deter him. When Rico wanted to be a dick, nothing was going to stop him.

  But Devlin just smiled. “I suspect ‘nice’ isn’t a word used to describe you often.” He studied Rico, his head tilted to one side.

  “What are you?”

  Rico grinned, flashing the tips of his sharp white fangs.

  “Guess?”

  “Jesus,” Devlin muttered. “Nice friends you’ve got, Tris.”

  “They’ve been good to me,” the Trog said.

  Devlin pursed his lips
, but then nodded abruptly. “Why don’t we sit down and you can tell me just what you think we can do for you, and why the hell we should do it.”

  He sank into a chair and rested one booted foot across his thigh, leaned back, and gestured to the empty seats around him.

  Tannis shrugged and took the seat opposite, Rico sat beside her, and the Trog took the chair next to his brother. Tannis thought for a second, trying to get her ideas together. Having met the man, she had to decide what was the best approach.

  Direct she decided as his fingers started tapping on the arm of his chair.

  “We want you to help us intercept a ship.”

  “And why should I do that?”

  “Because it belongs to the Church, and you hate the Church.”

  “Indeed I do. Tell me the rest.”

  “There’s actually more than one ship. There’s the one we want destroyed and then five more guarding the main target. They’re all Mark One cruisers, and heavily armed.”

  “Where are they heading?”

  “To Trakis Seven. Their aim is to destroy the planet, and the Collective’s source of Meridian.”

  “And so destroy their power base and no doubt wrest control from the Collective. I heard they’re in chaos. Callum Meridian is missing and…” He broke off and frowned then pressed the switch on his wrist and a small screen appeared. He read for a minute and then turned back to them. “I thought I recognized the name, El Cazador. It’s the ship that supposedly kidnapped Callum Meridian from Trakis Four.”

  “We did not kidnap Callum Meridian.”

  “Pity. I would have liked a chance to get at the bastard.”

  Great, just great.

  She decided to move past the subject of Callum for now. Time enough for that later. “So will you help us?”

  “I might.” He got up and paced the room, moving with a feline grace that Tannis found very easy to watch. “I’ll need to get my inner circle to sign off on this, but I think they’ll go for it.” He glanced at his brother. “But I’m getting the distinct feeling that you haven’t told me everything yet. Tris? Anything else you want to add?”

  The Trog glanced toward her, a question in his eyes, and she nodded. There was no point in trying to keep secrets if they wanted this man’s cooperation.

  “There are two members of the Collective on board El Cazador,” Tris said.

  Actually, there were technically three, if you included Venna, though if she stayed on her own shuttle… she supposed two was accurate enough.

  “One is an ex-intelligence officer with the Corp—”

  “Ex?” Devlin interrupted. “I thought once in, they never left.”

  “Skylar’s different. But I trust her, she’s good people.”

  Devlin ran a finger down the scar on his cheek. “You do know how I got this don’t you?”

  Tris shook his head. But Tannis had a good idea.

  “The fucking Corps. Set an ambush and nearly finished me off. They’re not my favorite people.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled down at them. “And the other?”

  The Trog grinned. “The other is Callum Meridian.”

  “What? I thought you said you didn’t kidnap him.”

  “We didn’t kidnap him. We’re working for him.”

  His eyes narrowed, the greeny-gold icing over, and for the first time she saw the man who was the Collective’s “most wanted dead” terrorist. A little shiver ran through her.

  “Let me get this straight,” he said, his tone equally icy. “You want me to help you do some sort of job for Callum Meridian?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “So explain.”

  Tannis shrugged one shoulder. “Callum Meridian has employed us to take him to Trakis Seven. We’re not going to be able to do that if the Church blow the planet up before we get there. So we’re not asking you to help us take him there. We’re asking you to stop the Church blowing up Trakis Seven. And you get to kill a few Church people in the meantime. What’s the big deal? Who do you hate the most, the Church or Callum Meridian?

  “It’s a toss-up.”

  “No it’s not,” the Trog said. “And you know it. The Church came after you because of what you are. The Collective are after you because of what you’ve done. I always remember you telling me you have to be willing to take the consequences for your actions. You broke their laws.”

  “The same stinking laws that said we were animals and the Church could do what they liked to us.”

  “Maybe. That doesn’t change things.”

  Devlin stared beyond them for long moments, then he nodded abruptly. “I’ll take it to my people.”

  “We’re on a timetable here.”

  He gave her a long measured look. “I’ll take it to my people…

  quickly.”

  Tannis realized the meeting was over. Beside her, Rico pushed himself to his feet. As she got up to follow, Rico touched her lightly on the arm.

  She glanced up into his face. “What?”

  “You might want to hold off on the hand-holding if there’s a next meeting with this guy.”

  “Why?” she snapped. “It was a perfectly normal greeting.”

  “He was practically drooling over you, and you did nothing to discourage him.”

  “Your point is?”

  “Well, I’m guessing neither our new friend over there, or Callum for that matter, are the types to cope with jealousy very well. So don’t stir up trouble. You’re pissed off at Callum right now, but this is a complication we do not need.”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying this to me.”

  He grinned. “I can’t believe it myself. But seems I’m turning into something of a relationship counselor, these days.”

  “I do not have a relationship, and I do not need counseling.”

  He shrugged. “Just giving to the benefit of my experience.”

  “Thanks,” she said sourly.

  “I thought you were on a timetable?” Devlin stood in the doorway, clearly waiting for them.

  Tannis shrugged off Rico’s hand and headed toward him, pushing past and out of the door. Then she came to a halt.

  A woman stood on either side of the entrance. As Devlin emerged, they moved to stand on either side of him. Dressed similar to Devlin, in khaki pants and tight T-shirts, weapons at their waists, they looked like amazons, beautiful but fierce.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Tannis asked.

  Devlin grinned. “My bodyguards. Shawna and Mara. They go everywhere with me.”

  “Everywhere?” She fell into step beside him as they headed down the corridor toward the docking bay.

  “Yup. They sleep at the bottom of my bed. And they think you might be a threat to my person.”

  “Well, I’m not.”

  “No?” He cast her an amused glance. “Pity.”

  They arrived back at the shuttle, and he held out his hand again. She took it and allowed him to hold it longer than necessary just to piss Rico off. Who the hell was he to give relationship advice? Before he’d met Skylar, Tannis had never known him to have a relationship that lasted more than a couple of hours. And most of those “relationships” had been paid for. He’d always said he preferred whores; he knew what he was getting and so did they.

  Well, maybe they hadn’t known exactly what they were getting.

  “I’ll contact you as soon as I have an answer.” Devlin dropped her hand and turned to the Trog. “Will you stay and talk a while, Tris? I’ll see you get back to your ship whatever our decision.”

  The Trog nodded. “That okay, captain?”

  She nodded. “Of course. We’ll see you later.”

  Rico was already on the shuttle readying for take-off and she hurried after him.

  Devlin contacted them less than an hour after they got back to El Cazador. Tannis had been pacing the floor of the bridge. She knew she was driving everybody crazy with her nerves, but she couldn’t help it.

  “So what’s this
guy, Devlin, like?” Skylar asked Rico. “Is he as bad as his reputation?”

  “Ask Tannis,” Rico said. “She was holding hands with him.”

  Skylar’s glance shot to her, and she raised her brows. Tannis ignored the look and Rico’s comment, and the stare she received from Callum who was slumped in a chair watching her pace. She could feel his eyes on her, hot, intense.

  She hadn’t forgiven him. She doubted she ever would, but her rage had drained away. He hadn’t made any more attempts to justify himself, and she liked that, mainly because there was no justification.

  “It’s the rebels calling,” Janey said. “You want to talk to them.

  Or you want to pace a bit more.”

  “I want to pace a bit more,” she snapped.

  “Okay, I’ll ignore them.”

  Tannis stopped her pacing and growled.

  Janey grinned. “I’m putting them on speaker.”

  “We’re on,” Devlin said. “I’m bringing Tris back and a few of my people for a meeting. We’ll be there in thirty.”

  And he was gone.

  “Sounds like an asshole,” Callum said.

  “He sounds hot,” Janey countered. “Is he anything like the Trog?”

  “Nothing,” Tannis said. The tension drained from her. They were back in with a chance. She looked up to find Callum still watching her, his eyes narrowed. “He’s definitely hot,” she added, though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to piss off with that comment. Rico or Callum. “I’m going for a shower. We’ll all meet in the central conference room as soon as they arrive.”

  Her step felt light as she hurried from the room, despite the weight of the stares that followed her.

  …

  Callum studied the other man as he entered the conference room at the head of his people. He reckoned he was predisposed to hating Devlin Starke, nothing was going to change that, however fucking “hot” he was.

  Tall and lean, the man moved with the controlled grace of a highly trained fighter. In his time as Leader, Callum had learned to sum up people quickly, and he was rarely wrong. Dangerous, was the first word that sprang to mind. Starke gave the impression of leashed in power that could explode at any moment.