Break Out (A Blood Hunter Novel, book 1)
Page 13
“So what was the plan now? Call in your space cruiser, arrest us all, and ship us off to the Meridian mines with Jonny?”
“Something like that.”
Tannis took a step toward her. “I’m letting you go because, as Rico said, you saved our asses back there. But if I ever see you again—I’ll kill you.”
Skylar narrowed her eyes. “You might try. I doubt you’d succeed.”
She whirled around, strode off the bridge, and headed for the docking bay, aware of Rico keeping step behind her. She slammed her palm onto the lock and the door to her shuttle slid open. She stepped inside and turned to face him.
He grinned. “Thanks for the sex, and the blood. That Meridian sure tastes good.”
“I enjoyed it.”
“I noticed.”
She reached up to shut the door, and he leaned forward, kissed her lightly on the mouth. “Remember, querida,” he murmured against her ear, “there’s always a choice.”
Her gaze flashed to his face. “Really? You heard what Tannis said. Somehow, I don’t think staying is an option now you all know what I am.”
He ran a finger down her cheek. “I’ve always known what you are, querida. The question is, does it matter?” He gave her one last, fleeting kiss, and then he was gone.
Skylar moved automatically, strapping herself in, setting the engines. She expected any moment for them to change their minds and come after her. And all the while, in the back of her mind, something niggled.
She’d been flying for ten minutes when she crashed her hand on the emergency stop button. The shuttle spun to an immediate halt. She sat for a moment, staring out into the vastness of space.
Rico had always known what she was.
He already knew she was Collective when he’d asked her to stay. Her pulse roared in ears with the realization.
There’s always a choice.
But what were her choices?
No one had ever parted company with the Collective before. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. Skylar thought of going back, of taking the fallout from her impetuous decision, and of the tedious years that stretched ahead. Did boredom have to be the price of immortality?
She thought of Rico and had an instant flashback to the feel of him on her, in her, filling her completely. That low, husky voice whispering querida in her ear. A wave of heat rolled through her body. She didn’t understand her feelings for the vampire fully, but she did know that things would never be boring on his ship.
And there was another thing to consider. Her husband, Daniel, had died. Despite being offered the Meridian treatment, he had chosen a normal life and a normal death. But unlike Daniel, Rico would never grow old, and he would never die. Well, not of natural causes.
Skylar wasn’t sure what they had, or what they could have together, but whatever it was, she knew they’d have plenty of time to explore it.
All the time in the universe.
She leaned forward to switch on the engines and something glittered in the corner of her eye. For a moment, she was sure her heart stopped beating. A ring lay on the console; a purple jewel on a slender band of white metal. She picked it up and held it to the light, turning it so fires danced in the heart of the stone.
For a brief moment, she thought the ring might be a farewell gift, but the idea didn’t linger. This was an offer of a new life. A symbol of eternal love, Rico had said.
Skylar wasn’t sure anything could last forever.
But did that really matter?
The important thing was, right now, she wanted it to. For the first time in years, the thought of eternity filled her with anticipation rather than dread.
She slipped the ring on her finger and grinned as she remembered Tannis’ farewell comment. Hopefully, it had at least been in part rhetorical.
And if she survived Tannis, there was ‘Jonny.’ She had an idea Jonny wasn’t going to turn out to be a big fan of the Collective either.
At the thought of Jonny, something stirred deep in her mind. Something that had been bothering her since Trakis One. Closing her eyes, she visualized the scene, and a light clicked on in her brain.
Shit.
She’d been so stupid. She had to get back, warn them.
Switching on the engine, she swung the shuttle around, and headed back to El Cazador.
. . .
The door slid open.
Rico stood exactly where she had left him, as though he’d been waiting for her. They stared at each other, neither moving.
After a minute, Skylar raised her left hand with the ring sparkling on her finger. “Eternity, huh? Sounds like a long time.”
“You scared?”
She considered the question. “Yes.”
“Me, too.”
“But I kind of like it.”
He slanted her a smile. “Me, too. But don’t worry; we’ll take it one day at a time.”
Eternity, one day at a time. It sounded good to her. She closed the space between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. His mouth opened over hers, his tongue filling her, starting the slow burn in her belly, and the docking bay vanished, the Collective and Jonny driven from her mind.
Behind them, someone cleared her throat, and Skylar went still. She peeked over Rico’s shoulder. Tannis stood in the open doorway.
“Shit,” Skylar murmured, “here comes trouble.”
She wriggled out of Rico’s arms, though he kept a tight grip on one hand. Leaning in close, he whispered in her ear. “You want me to protect you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Sweet of you to offer, but do I look like I need protecting?”
He stepped back, his gaze wandering slowly over her body. Her insides melted.
“Hell, no.”
For a moment, she forgot Tannis and swayed toward him. The soft scrape of a laser pistol being drawn stopped her. Skylar sighed. “Just one thing,” she said, “If she really looks like she’s going to shoot me, you might ask her not to. Nicely, of course.”
“I can do nice.”
“Good.” Skylar turned and watched as Tannis strolled across the docking bay toward them, the pistol held loosely at her side. She came to a halt a foot from Skylar.
“What are you doing back here?” she growled. “I thought I’d made my position clear—I see you, and I kill you.”
“And as I said, you can try.”
Skylar searched her face, but had no clue what Tannis was thinking, or whether she would shoot. She must know the blast wouldn’t kill Skylar. The Meridian treatment made her almost impervious to normal weapons, and she could repair any amount of damage.
But Skylar didn’t want it to come to a fight. She wanted to stay on El Cazador, and to do that she had to reach some sort of understanding with the captain. Also, the Collective would waste no time coming after Jonny; they could be out there right now, ready to pounce. She needed to find a way to defuse Tannis and quickly.
Curving her lips into the semblance of a sweet smile, she waggled her ring finger in Tannis’ face. “I had to come back—you see, Rico made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
The yellow eyes widened, the pupils narrowing to slits. “No freaking way.”
Raising her hand, Skylar held the ring close to her own face, and batted her lashes. “Look—it even matches my eyes.”
Tannis glanced from the ring, to Skylar, to Rico, back to the ring. “Excuse me, while I lose my lunch.”
Skylar bit back a laugh at the response. She nodded at the laser pistol. “So, are you going to use that thing?”
“Actually, after that bit of news, I might just use it to shoot myself.”
But she jammed the pistol back in the holster and turned away, running a hand through her short hair, and muttering under her breath. Skylar reckoned Tannis deserved a minute to come to terms with the news, but she was impatient to talk about Jonny and work out what they could do. Maybe she could contact the colonel and offer to send his prisoner back, but she suspected they had mo
ved beyond that being a viable option.
For the first time, she noticed the rest of the crew had edged into the room and were watching avidly. Daisy caught her eye and grinned.
Skylar inched closer to Rico and nodded toward Tannis. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Probably.”
“Do you think she could be okay sooner rather than later? There’s something you need to know.”
He obviously saw something in her face. “Tannis! Get over it, and get over here. We might have a problem.”
Tannis stopped pacing. “A bigger problem than my pilot losing his mind?”
“Much bigger,” Skylar said. “Where’s the prisoner? Has he talked yet?”
“Your baby brother? No, he’s sleeping off the cryo. Why?”
“I think the Collective are going to come after him.”
“Well, obviously. They’ll want him back.”
“No. I think they want him dead.”
Rico looked at her sharply. “Why? If it was nothing but a training exercise, why kill him?”
“I don’t know. I just know something’s not right.”
“Explain,” Tannis snapped.
“I couldn’t work it out until just now, but then it struck me. The soldiers I shot on Trakis One—the Corps—they weren’t carrying laser pistols. They were carrying blasters.”
“So?” Tannis didn’t attempt to hide her impatience.
“So, they were an assassination squad. All along, they meant to kill him.”
“That makes no sense. They’ve had him in prison for weeks. If they wanted him dead, why not kill him there?”
“If he’d died in prison, there would be all sorts of questions. I think they wanted it to look like a failed escape attempt. For some reason they didn’t want him to come round from the cryo. I’m guessing he has information they don’t want to come out.”
“And what would that be?”
She shrugged. “How should I know? I’m a soldier. I’m on a need-to-know basis.”
“Hmm. So they would have just blasted us all to pieces?”
Skylar nodded.
“And they’re going to come after us.”
“With everything they’ve got.”
“Great, just great. And I bet there’s no chance of me getting the rest of my money either.” She gave Skylar a black look. “You do know this is your fault?” She turned her cold gaze on Rico. “And yours.”
“Why the hell is it my fault?”
Tannis snorted. “She probably only picked this ship because she’d heard what a pushover you were. Forget that ‘I heard you’re the best’ crap. I bet it was more a case of she’d heard all she needed was to flash a big pair of tits in your face and your brain would fly out the airlock.”
Someone sniggered. Tannis glared at the crew, and the sound was cutoff abruptly. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she turned and stalked away.
“Well, that went well,” Rico murmured.
“It did, didn’t it?” Skylar waited until Tannis reached the door. “Captain?”
Tannis paused, but didn’t turn around. “What?”
“You still planning to kill me?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
Epilogue
Tannis slapped a bottle down on the table.
“What’s that?” Skylar asked.
“Iron supplement,” Tannis said. “I think you’re going to need it.”
“Oh.” She only narrowly resisted lifting her hand to her throat, where she knew the marks of Rico’s fangs still showed. “Thank you.”
It was later that evening, and they’d all gathered at the table in the galley for the final meal of the day. El Cazador was heading away from the Trakis system as fast as she could go. Tomorrow, they had a planning meeting, but tonight, by unspoken agreement, they’d been keeping the conversation light. Rico sat next to her, his hand resting on her thigh.
“Tannis looks after her crew,” he said.
Skylar stared up into Tannis’ cold, yellow eyes. “So, am I crew?”
Tannis nodded curtly, and something tight unraveled in Skylar.
“We just haven’t decided what position yet,” Rico murmured, stroking his hand along her thigh. “We can discuss it later—try a few out.”
“Yes, we have. She’s our security officer,” Tannis said, kicking out a chair and sinking down opposite her. “So does this mean you’ve left the Collective?” she asked.
Skylar shook her head. It always amazed her how little outsiders understood about the Collective. “I can’t leave the Collective,” she said. “I am the Collective. We all are. I could no more leave than you could chop off your arm and expect it to have a life without you.”
Tannis frowned, and Skylar struggled to explain. “The Meridian joins us together until we’re part of a single being. If we open ourselves, we can think as one, expand our minds.”
“A gestalt,” Rico said. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“So, they’ll be able to find you?” Tannis asked.
“I really don’t know. No one’s ever tried to leave before, but I’m sure we’ll find out.”
She didn’t mention that although she had clamped down her internal links, she could already feel them nudging at her, trying to get in.
They were all silent for a minute, and then Al spoke up from the end of the table. “The Church believes the Collective is evil.”
Skylar frowned. “Why do you say that? It’s certainly not an official stance.”
Al shrugged one skinny shoulder. “They say it takes a hundred men a hundred years to mine enough Meridian for one treatment. But they also believe Meridian ties your soul to your body. That’s why you can’t die, and why you’ll never go to heaven.”
He rose from the table, picked up a plate, and started piling it with food.
“Who’s that for?” Tannis asked.
“Jon.”
“He’s not a prisoner—he can come and join us.”
Al shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Skylar. “He says he won’t sit in the same room as a piece of Collective…” He bit his lip on the last word.
“Hmm,” Tannis said. “Well, we’ll let it go for tonight, but if he stays on this ship, he eats with my crew.”
“I’ll tell him,” Al said.
They watched as he took the plate and left the galley. Soon after, the rest of the crew drifted away, leaving Skylar alone with Rico. As soon as they were gone, he pulled her onto his lap. “Security officer,” he whispered into her ear. “Does that mean you get to tie me up, maybe even handcuff me, if I misbehave?”
She giggled, but pulled back slightly.
“Do you think it’s safe?” she asked.
“What? Tying me up?”
“No. Al with that criminal?”
“Why shouldn’t it be?”
“Well, Al’s …” she trailed off, unsure if she should giveaway Al’s secret.
“A girl?” Rico said.
She stared at him in surprise. “You knew?”
“Only just guessed—the kid got me interested. It was easy to see once you looked.”
“Don’t you want to know why?”
He shrugged. “There’re a whole load of reasons people want to hide—I reckon Al’s reasons are her own.”
“Yes, but—”
He dragged her closer and kissed her. For a moment, she relaxed against him. But something was tugging at her mind. Something to do with the Church. She pictured Al, that shock of dark red hair, the huge grey eyes, and suddenly it came to her.
She sat up straight, eyes wide. “Holy Meridian!”
Rico sighed. “What?”
“I just realized who Al is.”
“Really? Well, Al can wait until tomorrow.” He kissed her throat, his tongue stroking along the length of the vein, and Al vanished from her mind.
Picking up her left hand, he twisted the ring on her finger. “Did you really pick
this ship because you heard I was the best?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“And what do you think now?”
She looked down into his hard, handsome face and thought about forever. “Why don’t you ask me again in a few hundred years, and I’ll let you know.”
Acknowledgements
To the fabulous ladies at Passionate Critters for reading my stories and letting me know what they really think. And to my editor at Entangled, Liz Pelletier, for her help, her suggestions, and most of all, for her wonderful enthusiasm.
About the Author
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of 9-5 work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain. Nina’s writing mixes romance with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
You can find Nina at www.ninacroft.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author