Ravenous Virtue

by Tracy St. John

  In the middle of the room stood two great pillars, seemingly made of the same marble that the throne had been carved from. All around them were scattered objects that Raven recognized as the butt plug, cock cage and straps that had adorned Vendeen. Suspended between the pillars in midair, with no discernable tethers keeping him there, was the motionless and bloody figure of Vendeen himself.

  With no sign of those who had hurt him, Raven rushed to the trapped Gilothean. Mikroe already stood before Vendeen, his face knotted in anger.

  Raven paid the spy no mind. “Vendeen! Can you hear me?”

  His face had been pounded until it had swollen almost beyond recognition. Somehow he managed to peel his puffy eyelids back to allow him to peer blindly through slits. Raven realized belatedly she wore her camosuit and Vendeen wouldn’t be able to see her.

  Fighting the lump in her throat, Raven choked out, “I’m here, Vendeen. Just hang on for me. I’m getting you the fuck out of here.”

  Amazingly, her master managed to smile with split and bloodied lips. “Raven? I thought I might never hear your voice again.”

  Mikroe moved to one of the pillars, tapping on a control panel Raven only now noticed embedded on its surface. He said, “I’ll disengage the force field holding him. Get ready to catch.”

  As Raven circled her arms around Vendeen’s waist, his busted mouth twisted in a snarl. “Who’s with you? That’s not Daagiis. Voice is familiar…”

  Impressed that he could still manage to show defiance with bruises and still-bleeding cuts all over his body, Raven said, “It’s Mikroe. Daagiis is causing a diversion so we can get you out with Saazeer’s security’s help.”

  Mikroe said, “Field failure in three … two … one.”

  Vendeen sagged heavily in Raven’s grip, staggering her a little with his weight. He easily topped over 200 muscular pounds, and she supported him mostly with her robotic arm. He groaned as she lowered him to his bare feet. When he swayed unsteadily, she gripped him tighter still.

  “Can you walk?” she asked.

  Vendeen squared his shoulders with effort. “I think so.”

  She let him go. He staggered a few steps on his own before his knees wobbled violently and he pitched forward. Raven caught him, and Mikroe grabbed Vendeen under one arm.

  The spy shook his head as he slung Vendeen’s arm over his shoulders. Raven did the same on her side, sliding her arm around her stricken master’s waist.

  Mikroe said, “It will have to do. Vendeen, walk as best you can as fast as you can. We need to move before someone figures out the Paatiin aren’t trying to actually take the place down.”

  Staggering like drunks under Vendeen’s weight, they hurried to the doorway. They made it into the corridor, and Mikroe peered into the darkness. He said, “I think the servants’ wing is the best way to go.”

  Raven checked the suggestion against Laaruu’s intel. She decided Mikroe’s determination was correct; cutting through the servants’ wing would be faster and maybe they’d find fewer soldiers to stop them. The only concern she had was that it would take them near the back entrance where Daagiis and others were causing their distraction. Still, they needed to get out quickly before Hanos discovered Vendeen had been rescued.

  She nodded her agreement. “I’m good with that.”

  They hurried. To Raven’s relieved surprise, Vendeen actually moved along at a good clip despite the cuts and bruising all over his body. It seemed he only needed their help in keeping him steady on his feet. She marveled at the man’s will and strength.

  “Way to go, Vendeen. Not bad for a guy who had the beat shit out of him.”

  He managed a weak chuckle at her joke. “Actually, it was that plug I shit out. Getting rid of that thing was such a relief I barely noticed the whip.”

  Before Raven could respond, her night vision goggles flared bright. Cursing, she whipped them off to discover the lights had come back on in the mansion. Someone had gotten the power back on line.

  She grouched, “So much for that cover.”

  Mikroe nodded at where the corridor split into a t-junction ahead. “We turn to the left up here.”

  They were nearly trotting as they rounded it. Raven and Mikroe skidded to a halt, jerking the nearly blind Vendeen when his legs continued to try to go. He peered desperately, trying to see through the mere slits his swollen lids allowed.

  Apparently, he saw enough. “Fuck,” he snapped

  Hanos, Taambaa, and a soldier stood in front of them. Only the soldier appeared to have a weapon of any sort, a long, slender-barreled pistol.

  Hanos’ broad face grimaced a hateful smile. “My beloved son, you were only just returned to me. Are you leaving already? You’re determined to break your poor father’s heart.”

  Vendeen fought to stand tall on shaking legs. “You are not my father, you murdering fuck.”

  Hanos’ eyes narrowed as he looked at Mikroe, who was easing out from under Vendeen’s arm. The crime lord snarled, “Stealing off with one who has taken advantage of my hospitality. You played your part well, sir. I never for a moment suspected you were a spy.”

  His hectic black-eyed gaze turned to Raven’s direction. “I see you flickering there. Who is hiding behind the camo-suit?”

  The game was up, so Raven disengaged the outfit’s camo-field and yanked the hood back, letting her black ocean of curls spring free. It was Taambaa she watched as she revealed herself, her lips pulled back over her teeth with hatred. She felt no small delight in seeing his mouth drop open in shock.

  “You want to know who I am, Hanos? Ask your best buddy Taambaa there.”

  The face-changer shouted, “You! But how?”

  Vendeen gave him a bloody grin. “You should never have fucked with Raven Virtue, Taambaa. She is one nasty protector, which I think you’re about to find out about.”

  Vendeen pulled one of Raven’s knives from her bandoleer to protect himself, taking a step back and getting out of her way. The instant she knew he was clear, she launched herself at Taambaa.

  She could have shot, but again it went against good sense to alert others to a fight going on within the mansion. It also went against the need to tear Taambaa apart in bloody chunks.

  As Raven sprang at the kidnapper, Mikroe went after the soldier who had had the bad luck to draw duty with two men marked for death. The man got one shot off before his laser weapon spun away, leaving him fighting Mikroe hand-to-hand. The laser pistol had made almost no sound when it discharged, allowing Raven hope they might not be overwhelmed by Hanos’ men.

  Raven lost all track of the others as her body collided with Taambaa, the bastard who had ruined the lives of too many women. The Paatiin was schooled in fighting, and he managed to throw her off. However, Raven’s natural abilities and the programming Daagiis and Vendeen had gifted her with were the perfect blend. She landed on her feet and without even taking a breath, she jumped on him once more.

  Raven had always thought of herself as a civilized being, one in whom fair justice resided. Yet all that was swept away as she remembered the families of those Taambaa had abducted, those poor people crying and left behind to wonder forever where their loved ones had disappeared to. The chances of finding the women who had been stolen and returning them home were slim to none. There would be no happy reunions. Nor would there even be funerals to give the grieving closure. Knowing that removed all conscience and all civilization. Raven’s hand found another of her daggers.

  Like the mere animal that hid within the psyche of all of her species, she only knew the flurry of struggle, the need to kill or be killed. The warm blood that sprayed from her long-stalked quarry only incited her to spill more. It wasn’t until the body beneath her stopped moving and the threat to those she’d sworn to protect and serve had vanished that she remembered her veneer of humanity. It settled over her, an uncomfortable skin that no longer truly fit.

  Taambaa was dead at her feet. His menace to the weak was over. Raven had finally achieved reveng
e for those lives he’d interrupted … but not justice. There could never be enough justice for what he had done. Sheer vengeance would have to do, and as far as Raven was concerned, vengeance felt damned fine.

  However, there was no time to celebrate. Raven looked up to see Hanos with a knife at Vendeen’s throat.

  The already beaten Vendeen had at least half a dozen fresh cuts oozing blood from his chest and arms as he lay flat on his back on the ground. Hanos knelt over him, his knees and shins pinning Vendeen’s arms to the floor. He pressed the blade Vendeen had taken from Raven to her master’s throat, ready to finish off his former protégé once and for all.

  Raven was aware that Mikroe still fought against the soldier who had shown up with Taambaa and Hanos’. Her quick glance told her that the spy wasn’t doing so well against the trained guard. However, Mikroe wasn’t her responsibility; Vendeen was. All other considerations were secondary to keeping her master alive.

  Less than a second after she saw the bloodied knife at Vendeen’s throat, Raven launched herself at Hanos with a scream, brandishing her own daggers. The murdering bastard’s head came up, his black eyes growing large to see her coming at him. He jumped up and back just in the nick of time as one of her weapons narrowly missed plunging into his heart.

  Hanos didn’t wait to go on the attack. He slashed at her, opening a rent in her camosuit over one hip. Raven’s automatic reactions kept him from doing more than giving her skin a light scratch, however. She darted to one side, parrying with her own blades.

  For the next few minutes they closed and retreated, doing a complicated and deadly dance as they attempted to kill each other. They feinted, attacked, averted, and parried. Hanos had the greater reach, but Raven had better speed and agility. They did damage, cutting and slicing, but neither could score the final blow or even one that would incapacitate the other.

  Meanwhile, Raven was tiring. Exertion along with blood loss began to tell on her. With her and Hanos so evenly matched, it had become a battle of endurance. Both gasped as they performed their brutal ballet, neither getting the upper hand.

  For every attempt Raven made to stab into a vital organ, Hanos had the perfect counter. It was the same on the opposite side. Her enemy had the same fighting knowledge that Daagiis and Vendeen had implanted into her matrix. The style was nearly identical to what Raven had been gifted with.

  As soon as she realized this, Raven switched tactics. She knew she would never defeat Hanos as long as she fought his fight. It was time to move into a ranger-style offensive.

  For a moment, she heard the hard-ass practical tactics instructor from her law enforcement training days bellowing in her ear. “You’re not a linebacker, Virtue! You’re a little bitty woman fighting a guy twice your weight and size! Use what you got and use it right!”

  Hanos swung the knife at her, leaning forward on his toes to increase his reach as he tried for her neck. Rather than dropping below the arcing blade and making her own attempt to stab him in the gut as her programming tried to make her do, Raven instead dodged backward just a touch. She felt the knife graze her collar bone and the searing pain that came with the cut, but she didn’t acknowledge it.

  Instead, she pivoted backwards on her left foot, twisting around in a circle to end up at Hanos’ right. Still executing the swing, his side was unprotected. Raven stabbed just under his ribcage and yanked hard to open him wide. A massive gout of blood spewed from the deep slash, and Hanos went down. The knife he’d wielded sprang from his hand, flying far out of reach as he crashed heavily to the floor. He stared up at Raven for a moment, his eyes wide and mouth gaping in shock. Then Hanos’ eyes slid closed and he moved no more.

  Before she could check to confirm the bastard was dead, Daagiis’ voice transmitted from the hood lying on the back of her neck. “Raven, whether you’ve got Vendeen or not, get out of there now! Saazeer had Laaruu plant explosives all over the place! They didn’t tell me! Get your ass out of there!”

  From the panic in his voice, Raven knew she needed to move. Turning her back on the motionless Hanos, she twisted around to face Vendeen. He had managed to get to his knees, where he swayed as if he would pitch flat on his face at any moment. Her gaze also found Mikroe, who struggled to his feet, leaving his seemingly dead opponent a bloody mess on the floor.

  She shouted to the spy, “We have to go! The Paatiin are going to blow the place up!”

  Her warning seemed to give Mikroe a surge of adrenaline. He dashed to Vendeen, picking up and draping the battered man across his shoulder. With Raven at his side, they raced down the corridor.

  As they raced for the nearest entrance, Raven shouted into the communicating device, “Daagiis, meet me at servants’ entrance! We’re coming out now!”

  The face-changer’s voice was pure panic. “Hurry! Laaruu says you’ve got thirty seconds!”

  Raven screamed the information to Mikroe. They ran with all they had. The door leading out of Hanos’ mansion was in sight when the first blast shook the building, with Hanos’ men blocking the way.

  The ground beneath Raven’s flying feet rumbled then bucked as if a subterranean beast fought to escape the earth below. She steadied Mikroe as he stumbled and drew her gun. Vendeen flopped across his shoulder as if boneless as they kept running. Thudding booms roared through the building as it twisted and groaned from devastating force.

  Raven opened fire, dropping Hanos’ men in their path, most of whom were trying to flee the building. She didn’t care; they were in the way and she had to get Vendeen out before the mansion fell on him. She and Mikroe dodged the bodies that fell before them.

  They burst out of the building, racing right into the midst of fighting soldiers and Paatiin. Raven twisted in a circle, ready to keep shooting as she made sure no one targeted Vendeen. Most of Hanos’ men were more intent on getting away from the explosions that were devastating the mansion.

  She nearly shouted in relief when Daagiis separated from the rest of the Paatiin. He raced up and snatched the nearly unconscious Vendeen from Mikroe, cradling the naked and injured man in his arms.

  Looking at Mikroe, Daagiis shouted to be heard over the din of firing weapons and collapsing building. “I guess we fucked up all your plans.”

  Mikroe gloated. “Not so much. Hanos looked pretty dead when we left, though I wish I could be sure. Maybe the building collapsing on him will finish him off.”

  “Excellent work.”

  “Congratulate your girl here. She’s the one who took the sorry bastard out.”

  Daagiis turned to Raven. “I will reward you later, love.” He shouted at the bloody but incredibly happy-looking head of Saazeer’s security, who was shooting fleeing soldiers with deadly accuracy.

  “Laaruu, I’ve got an insider who needs a ride.”

  Laaruu paused in his murderous stampede to join them. “He can come with me as far as the docks.” The man looked Mikroe over, and a lascivious grin lit his face. “Unless you wish to see Paatuun, my handsome Gilothean?”

  Mikroe took a step back, his attitude turning cautious at the evaluating stare. “I’ll skip that tour, thanks. I have no wish to live my life on my knees being referred to as ‘darling’.”

  “A pity. I would have enjoyed putting you into service.”

  Laaruu spoke into a communication device, and within seconds the small black transports referred to as skimmers arrived. Raven hadn’t quite figured out what powered the long, slender vehicles that hovered over the ground. One rode them much as they would a motorcycle, but other than the handlebars used to steer and accelerate, they bore no resemblance to that machine.

  Almost all of Hanos’ soldiers had disappeared, and the Paatiin wasted no time joining their pilots on the skimmers. Daagiis commandeered one to pilot himself, seating the dully blinking Vendeen behind him.

  He told his injured lover, “I need you to hold onto me, my darling. Raven, sit behind him and keep him from falling off.”

  Raven scrambled onto the skimmer, barely a
ble to squeeze onto the crowded seat. Thank heavens she was so small, she thought. For once, her short stature was a boon, or she’d have to catch a ride with someone else. She wasn’t about to leave Vendeen. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he leaned heavily against Daagiis’ back.

  Even if there was one more person than the skimmer was designed to carry, it zipped away from the burning, crashing pile Hanos’ stronghold had become. Vendeen’s bronze skin shimmered in the dimly lit night, remarkably visible against the black of the skimmer and Daagiis’ deactivated camosuit. Raven only then realized that at some point, something had gone wrong with her own camosuit. She could be seen again.

  Interrupting her worries about that, Daagiis shouted back, “Did you get your personal target along with Hanos, Raven?”

  She couldn’t help the vicious smile that spread across her face. “Yes, I did. There is no doubt Taambaa is very, very dead.”

  Raven wondered about the intense sense of satisfaction that came with remembering she had killed a man. It made her worry about her psychological state. Even killing an enemy shouldn’t feel so good. Where was her conscience in regards to taking a life, even a life as admittedly destructive as Taambaa’s had been?

  A blast of light to her right cancelled all her concerns for the moment. Raven looked around to see men wearing the uniforms of Hanos’ soldiers also on skimmers, closing in and firing on the escaping Paatiin with what she guessed were laser pistols.

  “Incoming!” she shouted, pulling her gun from its holster once more.

  Daagiis yelled back, “You shoot and I’ll drive.”

  The soldiers bobbed among the Paatiin now, with half a dozen of them pursuing Raven’s skimmer in particular. They were within firing range, and she shot at them as Daagiis bobbed up and down, side to side in an effort to present a hard-to-hit target.

  “What the fuck. Your boss is dead, you stupid shits!” she swore when a shot passed only inches from her nose.

  Maybe Hanos’ men didn’t realize he was possibly dead. Then again, perhaps they did but still didn’t want to take the chance he’d survived. If he had somehow escaped, he would not take them failing to recover Vendeen very well.