Allie's War Season Two

by JC Andrijeski

  Now Jon heard her voice come over the line clearly.

  “You want to kill me, Revik?” she said, her voice strangely calm, if tinny through the 1950s speakers in the room.

  “I don’t like this,” Dorje said next to him.

  “Me either,” Jon said, not looking over.

  “No, love,” Revik’s voice came back.

  Jon saw the look on the seer’s eyes and his skin grew colder still.

  “...I want to make love by a fireplace and then cuddle, tell each other our secrets...”

  Dorje caught hold of Jon’s arm, his fingers tightening.

  Then Allie did what Jon had a sinking feeling she was going to do from the second she got up off that pallet. She stepped over the line drawn on the floor of the cage and walked slowly but deliberately up to Revik. Jon saw the cold anger in Revik’s eyes bleed rapidly into disbelief, then an even more predatory stillness.

  Balidor’s voice rose sharply from by the security console.

  “Alyson!” His voice came out as a harsh command, but Jon clearly heard the fear underlying his words. “Step back! Right now! Step the fuck back!”

  “No,” her voice drifted back through the loudspeaker. Quiet, almost distant.

  “Alyson! I will break the damned door down, if you do not step back this instant...!”

  Jon watched her unhook the headset from around her ear before he’d finished speaking and fling it behind her, a few yards outside of the drawn circle.

  The circle she now shared with Revik.

  “Goddamn it!” Balidor cursed, slamming his hand down on the console. He turned to Garend. “Hit the gas! Now! Knock them both out!”

  “I can’t,” Garend said, disbelief in his voice.

  “What do you mean, you can’t?”

  “It's been turned off...and the doors. She’s locked herself in. I’ll need to break the encryption code she’s got on this, first...”

  “Holy christ,” Jon muttered. “She planned this.”

  He watched Balidor and several of the other seers try to access the failsafe through their headsets...then through the Barrier...and fail.

  Jon glanced at Vash, who sat easily next to Tarsi on the floor. The two of them shared a mat not dissimilar to the one Allie had spread out in the next room. Both of the old seers appeared to be watching attentively, but neither of them seemed surprised.

  Co-conspirators, he thought, even as Dorje gripped his arm tighter once more.

  At the seer’s nudge, Jon’s eyes jerked back to where Allie now stood directly in front of Revik, her hands open at her sides. She gestured at him, a seer question. Jon couldn’t help but think how small she looked, with her thin but muscular arms and legs, brown from the sun but feminine from the harem pants and ornate, pale-green blouse. Her dark hair hung down to the middle of her back, a thick, tangled mass of soft curls framing a narrow face with high cheekbones. Her light green eyes didn’t leave Revik’s face.

  She looked so...female.

  Jon didn’t always see her that way, in her combat gear and with her hair tied back, especially when they were sparring in mulei.

  But she looked vulnerable to him now, and small next to the man on the floor.

  “You want to kill me, Revik?” she said, her voice quiet in the silence of the room.

  Every set of eyes watched her. Every seer around Jon seemed to hold their breath.

  “...So kill me.”

  He moved so quickly that even Jon, who was used to tracking take-downs with his eyes, barely had time to see it. Revik pulled her down by the ankle, tripping her with his legs in the same swift yank. Without a pause, he dragged her under him, rolling over her and catching hold of her wrist in one hand. The other, he clenched on her throat, using the same arm to pin her free arm even as he crushed her legs and body with his, sinking his weight.

  In less than a blink, he had her immobilized, lying under him.

  Her free hand grasped at his fingers on her throat, looking small beside his, seeking purchase on the metal cuff around his wrist.

  Jon saw the fear in her eyes, the dazed look on her face, probably from hitting her head as she came down, or maybe from the hand he had on her throat.

  Every seer in the place fell into dead silence.

  Then Balidor turned, and Jon saw a look on his face he’d never seen before. Fury filled it, along with a foreboding command that seemed to charge the whole room.

  “Break down the fucking door!” he said. “Now!”

  Seers around Jon moved abruptly to comply, even as Jon's eyes returned to the view he could see through the transparent, organic pane.

  “Don’t,” he heard her say. He realized in some incredulity that she was talking to them, not to Revik. She was talking to the organic wall, to the mic embedded inside, her free hand held out towards the seers on the other side. “Don’t...break in...it’s all right...”

  Revik, looking down at her, smiled.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, love...” he said softly.

  His words seemed to echo in the small security room outside the tank.

  I STOOD UP at him, fighting to breathe, to get my equilibrium back.

  My head hurt. The back of it throbbed; I knew I’d have a lump there from where I smacked it on the floor. I fought my way back through the daze that remained, trying to focus on the angular face hanging over mine, the clear eyes.

  Already, his light was crashing into mine, sliding around it, into it.

  I gasped as I felt the changes in him, in his aleimi...fighting to adjust.

  I felt him doing the same, even as his face tightened.

  His eyes winced from the collar as his light flared into mine. His aleimi coiled into me harder, pulling at me as if fighting to hold me in place along with his hands. Even under the anger and the deluge of grief and fear and frustration I felt on him, that need wound the furthest into me, stronger than I’d ever felt it, even on the boy. He pulled at me with his light, a deprived, half-starved urgency woven through the threads.

  He hated me for it, but it didn’t change anything.

  I couldn’t think past it...or even try to soothe either of our reactions with my own, un-collared light. There was nothing loving in it, or sensual. It was raw need...a need that would kill to be sated. I fought to adjust to having him back in my light, gasping against the hand that held my throat...and couldn’t. I tried opening my light more, to let him in, and felt his light surge around me even brighter, hot against my skin.

  He still held one of my wrists, his legs and body pinning me to the floor. My other hand gripped the metal cuff of the one he had around my throat.

  After another few minutes, I gave up trying to pry his hand off.

  “You really want to kill me?” I managed, fighting for breath. “Really, Revik? You’d really rather die, than live without the Dreng? Are you that afraid to be without them?”

  He laughed. “Sticks and stones, love.”

  “This isn’t necessary...” I said.

  “Necessary?” His smile hardened, his face directly over mine. “I suppose that’s all a matter of opinion, isn’t it? I guess, from a certain perspective, it wasn’t wholly necessary that you pretend to be my wife, infiltrate my military operation, drug me, kill half my crew, enslave the other half, and then stick me in a cage so you could use my marital bond to help your lover torture me...?” His smile turned cold once more. “Or was there some biological drive calling the shots on that one, wife...some condition I’m not aware of?”

  I was still trying to regain my breath when he lowered his mouth to my ear, speaking in a murmur, his lips brushing my skin.

  “Anyway, I don’t have to kill you, wife,” he said softly. “I can break every bone in your body...and then I can play with you for awhile.”

  I felt myself wince. Then anger asserted itself, hot in my light.

  “Go ahead,” I said. “I always knew it was bullshit that you’d never hurt me. Just the fact that you had to say it, over
and over again...”

  He broke into my words, laughing again.

  Before I could react, he released my neck, sliding his hand down my body. He had it under my shirt and inside the pants I wore before I knew what he meant to do. The chain and cuffs were cold on my skin, but his hand and fingers were warm. I gasped involuntarily, trying to writhe away from him.

  Then he slid his fingers inside me, and my whole body arched.

  “Gods...” I managed. “...don’t...”

  He slid his fingers deeper, deep enough that my mind briefly stuttered. The urgency in his light worsened, until I couldn’t see past it, couldn’t breathe. My eyes closed, and I gasped, clutching the front of his shirt with my free hand. When I opened them again, he was staring at my face, his glass-like eyes clinical.

  “You are hurting a bit, aren’t you, love?”

  He did it to me again, slowing deliberately to caress me until I gripped his hair, crying out. His touch grew slower still, sensual as he leaned his weight on me, sliding his fingers deeper once more, arching against me until I couldn’t move. I felt his light pulling at mine, coiling into me, invasive as it dragged me into his. When I bit my lip, fighting not to cry out again, his eyebrow rose, even as his gaze flickered to my lips.

  “You want me to fuck you, Allie?” he murmured.

  “No.”

  He laughed. “Hell, I think I could have you begging me here in a minute...”

  I shoved at his chest, and he smiled, sliding his fingers deeper again.

  “Come on, love...ask me for it...ask me...”

  “Stop...”

  He seemed somehow immune to his own light, to what he was doing to me. Whether it was because of the collar or for some other reason, I saw no indication in his face. His eyes turned clinical once more, studying mine. When he groaned softly in my ear, he wasn’t losing control...he used the sound to pull at me instead, his voice cajoling.

  “Remember, Allie?” he murmured. “That time in the room? When you let me tie you up? I think you would have done anything I wanted by the end of that night...I had blue balls so bad by the end I almost did hit you...”

  I felt my breath catch, right before his tongue grazed my throat.

  “You said you loved me,” he said, softer still. He kissed my ear, breathing words against my skin. “You said you’d never leave me, Allie...that you’d do anything for me...”

  I met his gaze, directly that time, and felt my heart clench. His eyes were empty once more, his clear irises a shining cold that looked almost dead. I saw the Dreng in that stare, and it felt like they’d killed him. Like he was dead, and this was only the shell. I fought back the pain that tried to take over my light, holding that vacant stare.

  He smiled, pressing against me. His light coiled deeper, until it felt like a part of him was already inside me, already forcing its way into my body through my light.

  I let out a low gasp, unable to hold it in.

  “Are you really going to rape me, Revik?”

  He smiled. “Is that what this is?”

  Raising his head, he shrugged, removing his hand. Sliding his fingers between his lips, he sucked on on them briefly, using his tongue. He smiled at me after he had, using the same hand to caress the hair out of my eyes.

  “You came to me, love,” he reminded me.

  “I thought you wanted to kill me.”

  The glass-like stare met mine.

  “Give me head, and I’ll play your little game,” he said. “I’ll let you mindfuck me, or torture me...whatever you want, Allie...but I want a blowjob first. A good one. A really, really good one. I want you to make me black out when I come, wife...”

  I clicked at him, shaking my head in irritation.

  Watching his face warily, I tried to decide if he really had reconsidered hurting me, or if this was just him circling around the same game.

  Then I decided it didn’t matter. Trying to second-guess him was a waste of time, too.

  His light coiled through mine, still pulling at me, sliding over my skin. I felt it winding around the light in my legs, moving through my abdomen to my chest, my throat, my hands. He gripped my wrist tighter as the pull grew more insistent, until I found myself wondering if it was affecting him, even through the collar. His weight grew heavier even as I thought it, and I found myself thinking that the coldness in his eyes had receded somewhat, shimmering more distantly in the background. His eyes shifted to my mouth.

  I saw him focus there, right before they closed, longer than a blink. When he pressed against me that time, he was hard.

  “Gods,” he said. “Give me head, wife.”

  With him so close, looking at me like that, I felt my skin flush.

  “Revik...”

  “I’ll turn my back,” he offered with a faint grin. “Away from the window. So your boyfriend doesn’t have to watch.”

  My eyes flickered back up to his. I gauged the smile on his face with some impatience.

  “You can’t possibly believe that,” I said. “Even you can’t.”

  “That he won’t watch?”

  “That he’s my boyfriend.”

  The coldness cycled back up to the forefront of his gaze. “Give me head, wife, or I’ll break your fucking mouth.”

  “Go ahead.”

  He stared down at me, his light eyes flickering from one of mine to the other. I felt surprise curl off his light, a near puzzlement.

  “You want me to kill you, don’t you?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I just want this part out of the way.”

  “This...part?”

  “Yeah. You know.” I blew out my cheeks a little, clicking. “You threaten me...tell me you want me dead, that I’m a whore, that I deserve to have my face carved up. The whole Dreng litany...‘I’ll play with your insides, kill all your friends’ bullshit. I figure you have to get it out of your system...I’d rather just get it over with.”

  He stared down at me, his face unmoving, only a few inches above mine.

  Swallowing a little at his expression, I shrugged from where he held my arm.

  “...I knew you wouldn’t ever really be satisfied with threats alone. So if you want to punch me, rape me, break a bone or two, degrade me...go for it. It’s better than having to listen to you go on about it for the next however-many weeks...”

  He surprised me, bursting out in a laugh.

  “But you won’t give me head?” he smiled.

  “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, puffing my cheeks again, seer fashion. “If it’s absolutely necessary to make you feel like you’re in control, I’ll do it, Revik...”

  He laughed again, and that time, I heard genuine enjoyment in it.

  “Gods,” he said, caressing my face. “I think I will fuck you...you can read whatever into it you like, wife.”

  I felt my heart break into a panicked hammering in my chest.

  He caught hold of my other wrist before I could twist it away, pinning it with the same hand as the other. He moved methodically, almost businesslike as he unhooked his belt, sliding it from around his waist before he used it to tie my wrists together, his eyes briefly concentrated as he wove the leather between and around them and then pulled the strap tight, locking it with the silver tongue. I fought to writhe away from him, but he caught hold of the front of my pants, using them to pull me back towards him, then yanking the thin fabric down my body.

  Through all of it, he didn’t look at my face.

  I bit my lip to keep from telling him to stop, trying to control my own reactions to what he was doing, even as I struggled against him. What I’d said had mostly been a bluff...but I couldn’t quite keep my cool when he started unhooking the front of his pants.

  “Revik, don’t...”

  “You said I could, love. You gave me permission.”

  “I know I did, but please. Don’t...”

  “You’re only making my cock harder, love.”

  “Revik. Not here. Not in front of them...”
r />   He only laughed, pushing the shirt up my body deliberately.

  “Every seer in that room has a hard-on right now, wife. I guarantee it...”

  Just then, there was a metallic clanging and the round hatch of the door opened. I turned my head as Revik did, and saw four of the Adhipan standing there, two of them holding electric rods. Whoever was behind them closed the door once they were inside, probably to keep up the Barrier shield, which only remained intact for a few seconds once the seal was broken.

  “Deghoies.”

  The voice came over the loudspeaker, echoing in the hollow walls of the tank.

  It was unmistakably Balidor.

  I flinched. Still, my trick with the gas must have held, or they would have dosed us both by now. As it was, the four guards were walking cautiously towards both of us, three with electric rods held out. Poresh held a rifle instead, loaded with some kind of tranquilizer. Even as I thought it, Poresh fired, hitting Revik in the neck with a blue-tipped dart. Revik pulled it out of his neck, crushing the vial with his fingers. He laughed then, looking up at the four guards, even as he gripped my throat in his hand again.

  "You willing to risk your precious Bridge?" he taunted them. "Come on Pori. Dart me again. How many, do you think, before I go down? Do you really think I'll pass out before I can crush her windpipe...?"

  Balidor's voice rose over the intercom once more.

  “Dehgoies...let her go.”

  Revik smiled, looking up towards the sound. He barely paused as he finished undoing the front of his pants, still holding my throat in his other hand. He barely seemed to notice my attempts to get my legs out from under his, to kick him off me.

  “You’re just in time, ‘Dori,” he said, pushing me to my back.

  "Dehgoies, don't!" Tenzi said. He held up his hand, the one holding the electric rod. "We won't hurt you...just let her go..."

  Rolling over with me under him, Revik used his weight and his knees and hand to force my legs apart. Positioning himself between my thighs, he paused long enough to yank at the top edge of my underwear, ripping it open down the front. Then he shifted his hold on my arms, using his weight to pin me before he rested a hand on my hip.