Death Defying (Dark Desires) (12 page)

Rico sounded impatient and she frowned. “You’re awfully keen to finish him off. Why?”

“You forget I spent three months in that place as well. I would have died there if you hadn’t gotten me out.”

That was true. Tannis paced the room as she tried to think through the rage that clouded her mind. She realized she still wanted the Meridian treatment, though it was becoming increasingly clear to her that she wanted nothing to do with the Collective afterward. And to get the treatment she needed to go to Trakis Seven, and she needed Callum alive. She would worry about the rest later.

So for now, she had to curb her impatience and not set her resident assassin on him and his blond friend. There would be plenty of time for that, and she’d enjoy it all the more for the wait.

What to do?

While she might be willing to put off her revenge, she needed some sort of immediate retribution or she might explode. She ran her tongue over the sharp points of her incisors.

“Don’t do anything,” she said.

“What are you planning?”

“Nothing permanent. I want my Meridian treatment, so they live—for now.”

…

When she entered the conference room, the two were sitting close together, reading something from a palm screen Venna had opened. They were so engrossed, they didn’t notice her, and she stood just inside the doorway and watched them for a minute. They made a beautiful couple, Venna’s blond beauty the perfect foil for Callum’s dark good looks. Hatred coiled inside her, but Tannis kept her face expressionless as she coughed to make her presence known.

They both jumped and glanced up guiltily. A flash of annoyance crossed the blonde’s pretty features, and she snapped the screen closed as though to hide it.

Callum looked pleased and then a puzzled frown settled on his face. “Are you okay?”

She pushed herself away from the wall and sauntered over. “Sorry, I had to run out there,” she said, pasting a sugary smile on her face.

“Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine.”

She’d never done this before, but there was a first time for everything. She lowered her lashes and peeped at him through half-closed eyes. Her tongue flicked out, and she moistened her lower lip. His gaze followed the movement, and his eyes darkened.

Good.

She moved a little closer and put her hands in the pockets of her pants pushing her small breasts forward. His gaze dropped.

Even better.

“Callum!” Venna’s tone was impatient, but he waved her away with a careless gesture of his hand, his gaze never leaving Tannis.

“Could I talk to you a minute?” Tannis murmured.

“Of course.”

Her gaze flicked to Venna. “Alone.”

He almost jumped to his feet. “Definitely.”

She pivoted and walked from the room, trying to make her hips sway the way Janey’s always seemed to do. She sensed Callum coming up behind her. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw Venna still seated, her mouth open. Then she dismissed the woman from her mind. Her time would come. Once out of the room, she turned to Callum and placed a hand on his chest. His heart rate was fast beneath her palm.

She leaned in close. “Let’s go to your room,” she whispered the words against his throat, then stepped back and looked up into his face.

“Why not yours?” he asked.

“Because yours is nearer.” She stroked her fingertips down his chest and over his belly, to hook in the waistband of his pants. “And I really don’t want to wait.”

His breath caught in his throat with an audible groan. He grabbed hold of her hand and almost dragged her along the corridor. They were at his door in seconds, and he slammed his palm to the panel and hustled her in as the door slid open.

Once inside, he crowded her against the wall so she could feel the cool metal through her shirt at the back, and his hot body pressed the length of her front. She gasped as she felt the hard length of his erection prodding her belly.

“Were you jealous?” he asked, his tone smug.

She had to bite back a bitter laugh at the question. Of course, that’s what the egotistical bastard would think.

“I didn’t like seeing you with her.” Well that was the goddamn truth.

“She’s an employee, that’s all. No need for you to be jealous. It’s you I want.”

“And I want you.” Yeah, she wanted him all right. Wanted him rolling about on the floor in agony.

She reached up and stroked her fingers over the rough skin of his cheek, then curled her hand around his neck and pulled him toward her. Her mouth opened for his kiss, and his tongue thrust inside. His lips hardened on hers, deepening the kiss. For a few seconds, she allowed herself to relax against him. Then she took his lower lip between her teeth and bit down hard. The warm, metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth. Callum made to pull away, but she held him tight with the hand at the back of his neck, while she pumped him full of the venom from the glands at the base of her incisors.

He went still, and then the first spasm racked his body. Tannis released her hold and shoved him away. He stumbled as she leaned against the wall to observe. She’d never seen the full effects of her venom before, and she watched with interest.

“What have you—” He broke off as another spasm ran through his body. Swaying, he put out a hand, then stumbled again and gripped onto the back of a nearby chair. His face leached of color, his legs buckled, and he crashed to the floor, dragging the chair with him. He landed on his wings and rolled so he came up on all fours.

His head hung down and he retched, vomiting up a mixture of blood and his stomach contents, and she grimaced.

“Nasty,” she said. “You see,
that’s
why I didn’t want to go to my room.”

He continued to vomit until nothing further came out, then he collapsed to the floor on his belly and lay still.

Tannis waited a couple of minutes, but when he didn’t move, she stepped closer and nudged him in the ribs with the tip of her boot.

His head rolled to the side, and he peered up at her out of half-closed eyes. “Why?”

“Maybe I was
very
jealous. Don’t worry—I’ll send your friend in—she can mop your fevered brow.”

A faint sheen of sweat glossed his skin. Shivers ran through his body and his huge wings fluttered feebly. Finally, he closed his eyes, and the tension went out of him. Presumably, he’d lost consciousness. Pity—she would have preferred the pain to go on a little longer.

For long moments, she stood looking down at him, and then she drew the scrap of material from her pocket and tossed it to the floor by his nose. She whirled around and stalked from the room. Rico was waiting outside; he peered in through the door as she exited.

“What did you do to him?”

“I bit him.”

“Really? He doesn’t look too good.”

“He’ll live. More’s the pity.” One more thing she wanted to do. She pressed the comm unit on her wrist. “Daisy, there’s a woman in the central conference room. Can you pick her up and show her to Callum’s cabin?”

She leaned against the wall, her hands clenched at her side, and tried to ignore Rico while she waited.

Daisy appeared with Venna in tow a couple of minutes later. The blonde had a pleasant—if entirely insincere—smile plastered on her angel face. That would soon go.

Tannis waited until Venna was level with her, then she straightened, drew back her fist and punched her right in that smile.

“That’s for the fucking chocolate,” she snarled and stalked away.

Chapter Nine

For the first time in his life, Callum wished he wasn’t immortal, and he could just die quietly and the pain would stop. He lay very still, because if he moved, he hurt. His wings hurt, his arms and legs ached, his stomach felt like he’d been disemboweled and the hollow filled with molten metal. His head thumped, his mouth tasted disgusting, and a thick, sour stench filled his nostrils.

He would have liked to whimper but that would involve moving, and he really didn’t want to do that yet. Maybe not ever.

“Callum?”

He opened one eye at the urgently spoken word. Then closed it again.

“Callum?” The tone was sharper this time.

“What?” He pushed the word out through his torn lips. He must have bitten through them, because they hurt as well.

“Are you all right?”

Stupid fucking woman.

The words sounded loud in his head, but he decided to keep them to himself. He suspected he was going to need her help any minute now, when he finally got the nerve to try and get up. No point in alienating her completely. He settled for a, “No.”

“Oh. Because we have to get out of here. That woman is crazy.”

What woman? And what was Venna doing here anyway? In fact, where was here? And what the hell had happened? He opened his eye again—the one that wasn’t glued to the floor—and peered around the room. His room.

It came back to him slowly. He’d come here with Tannis. She’d kissed him, then she’d…

Bloody hell—she’d bitten him. On the mouth. That’s what was wrong with his lip; the sadistic bitch had bitten him, then injected him with some sort of poison.

But why?

A pair of legs came into his vision, high heels, and slender ankles. Then Venna crouched so her face appeared in his line of vision. Her nose wrinkled in an expression of disgust. “Ugh.”

Very useful.

There was something wrong with Venna’s lip as well. It looked like somebody had punched her.

Obviously, she must have realized she was being less than sympathetic, and she reached out a hand and gingerly stroked his forehead. “Oh, you poor thing. What happened to you?”

He preferred the earlier approach—at least it had been sincere. When he failed to answer, she continued.

“They told me you had some sort of fit. They said I needed to look after you. And then I got here and that woman hit me. And nobody did anything to stop her. And really, Callum, you’d be better off with someone else looking after you. I’m not good at this touchy-feely stuff.” She gestured to him and to the room in general. “And I think I’d better go to my shuttle.” She gave the door a nervous glance. “
She
might come back.”

He presumed “
she
” was Tannis. But why had she hit Venna? And why had she bitten him?

Time to get out of this pool of vomit and find out. Taking a deep breath, he placed his palms flat on the floor and pushed. Nothing happened. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and tried again. This time he managed to lever himself onto all fours. He rested for a minute, his breathing ragged. Heat flushed his skin one moment. Shivers raced through his body the next. He wanted to throw up again, but knew there was nothing left in his stomach.

“You don’t look well.”

“Really? What a surprise,” he said. “Look, why don’t you do something useful and get me a glass of water.”

He waited until she’d disappeared before pushing himself up onto his knees. Something lay on the floor in front of him. He picked it up, studied it, a frown forming on his face. It was a scrap of material and looked like it had been torn from a shirt.

He didn’t recognize the insignia, but it said CM Research, so he presumed it must have something to do with Venna and the work she’d been doing for him. He’d pretty much given her a free hand and a lot of money. And gotten not much for it. She reported regularly but had yet to tell him anything of interest or use.

He needed a shower, but the thought of actually standing up didn’t seem much of a possibility right now. Instead, he dragged himself onto the bed and collapsed facedown, his head buried in the soft pillow.

Someone prodded him between the shoulder blades, and he groaned.

“Callum. Your water.”

He wanted to tell her to go away, but he also wanted to ask her about this company. Was it somehow connected to Tannis and
El Cazador
? But how? Could they have done work for Venna? A job that had gone wrong? Something had seriously pissed Tannis off.

If he hadn’t been immortal, he would be dead.

He rolled over and pulled himself up so he was half sitting. Venna handed him a glass, and he sipped the water, wincing when it hit his stomach.

“So this fit you had,” Venna said. “You think it’s another change? Something to do with Meridian?”

“No.” He touched a fingertip to his lip, felt the jagged puncture marks.

“So…?” She sounded impatient, and he shrugged.

“Tannis bit me.”

“What?”

“She must produce some sort of venom. She kissed me—”

“What?”

Christ, she was getting repetitive. “She kissed me, then she bit me, and then she injected me with some sort of poison.”

Her brows drew together. “Why? I mean she didn’t seem very friendly, but I just thought she was unstable and jealous.” Her finger touched her swollen lip. “But that seems a little excessive. Is it some sort of assassination plot?” She glanced at the open door. “We need to get off this ship.”

“Not an assassination attempt—she knew it wouldn’t kill me.”

“So why?”

“I think she’s unhappy about something.” That was the understatement of the century. “I just don’t know what.” He held out the piece of material. “What do you know about this?”

Venna took it from him, but then dropped it on the bed with a grimace of disgust. For a minute, she stared at it, her lips pursed. “It’s the badge from the uniform of one of your companies.”

“One of
my
companies?”

“CM Research. I set it up about thirty years ago, to do some experimentation into Meridian. The research came to nothing, and I closed the company down about fifteen years ago.”

Callum ran a trembling hand through his hair, but he could feel his body fighting the poison and slowly throwing off the effects. He took a sip of the water and considered what she had told him, trying to work out how it could fit in with Tannis.

“What sort of experiments?”

“Genetic mostly, mixing some of our altered DNA with human and other…things, seeing if we could get it to take. But as I said—it came to nothing. Most of the subjects died, a few lived, but they never assimilated the altered DNA.”

“Subjects?”

“The subjects of the experiments.”

“People?”

“I suppose.” She frowned. “What are you getting at? You’ve never questioned the way I do my research before.”

No, he hadn’t, had he? Hadn’t been interested enough—all he’d wanted was results. Now, he had an uncomfortable feeling that he was about to come face-to-face with some unpleasant truths. He wasn’t sure he wanted to continue with this, but he forced himself to go on with the questions.

“Who were these people? Where did they come from?”

“How do I know?”

“Then find out. And now. You must have access to the records.”

Her face took on a mutinous expression, and for a moment, it looked like she might refuse. But obeying him was too inbred, and she opened the palm screen on her left hand and started flicking through the files. “What is it you want to know?”

“The subjects, where did they come from and what happened to them?” The ones who survived at least. He waited, impatient for her to give him the answers he knew he wasn’t going to want to hear.

“Well?” he prompted.

She shrugged. “They came from different places. Some were prisoners heading for the Meridian mines—we just borrowed them for a while.”

“Some? What about the others?”

“We bought some from the Church.”

He shook his head, then wished he hadn’t as pain shot through him, piercing his skull. “How can you buy people from the Church?”

“They weren’t people. They were GMs.” She sounded defensive now.

“Since when have GMs not been people?”

“Since we condoned the Church’s purge for political reasons,” she retorted.

They hadn’t condoned it, just done nothing about it. They’d needed the Church’s support. He’d not been involved in the negotiations, and he presumed his Council hadn’t been aware of the consequences when they’d agreed to downgrade GMs to nonhuman status. The Purge that had followed had torn the universe apart. He’d eventually managed to put a stop to the overt slaughter of GMs, though the nonhuman status had never been reversed. But that was politics.

He swallowed and drove himself to go on. “Where did they come from—these GMs.”

“The Church still kills them if they believe they can get away with it. It goes on all the time on the outer planets. When they knew we’d pay, they would often keep the children alive and sell them to the research center.” She must have seen something in his expression. Her lips thinned. “They would have died anyway.”

“Yeah, no doubt you were doing them a favor.”

“Don’t you mean
we
? You paid for this, so don’t go all sanctimonious on me now, Callum. You never asked for the details. You never wanted to know how I got results.”

Christ, children. He felt sick again, and this time it was nothing to do with the poison. “What happened to them?”

“Some died during the experiments.”

“And the rest?”

“Any survivors were sent to the mines. It was part of the agreement with the Church.”

So Tannis couldn’t have been there. “Everyone? There were no survivors?”

“What are you trying to get at?”

“You asked why Tannis poisoned me.” He gestured at the piece of material, with its incriminating mark lying on the bed between them. “This was on the floor when I woke up. She left it there for me to find.”

Enlightenment washed across her face. “She’s a GM.” Sinking onto the mattress beside him, she closed her eyes for a minute. “Jesus, we’re fucked.”

“What is it? What have you remembered?”

She examined the palm screen for a few moments, nibbling on her lower lip, her eyes narrowing as she read the information. Callum bit back his impatience as he waited for her to continue.

“Just before we closed down the facility, there was an escape. One of the subjects killed a guard and managed to escape. They freed another prisoner.”

“Another GM?”

“No—this was someone our forces had captured and delivered—they thought he might be an interesting study. Would you believe a suspected vampire?”

“Yeah, I’d believe it.”

“Anyway they both escaped on this guy’s ship. They were never recaptured, but then we didn’t try very hard. They had no real value. The GM was scheduled to be shipped to the mines the next day.

“Who was the subject?”

“Wait a second. A GM—shit—designated reptile/human DNA. Double shit. You think Captain Tannis is…”

He nodded. “Tell me about her.”

“She was bought from the Church—estimated age four. Two siblings, she was the older.”

“What happened to the sister?”

She tapped into the pad. “Terminated after an adverse reaction to one of the experiments.”

Callum rested his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. She must hate his guts. Along with the rest of him. “How long was she in that place?”

“Fourteen years.”

“Jesus.”

Venna was right. It was his fault as much as hers. More his, really. But all the same, he couldn’t bear to look at her right now.

“Go to your shuttle. I suggest you lock the door and don’t come out again. I doubt you’re any more popular than I am around here right now.”

“Shouldn’t I stay and look after you?”

“Thanks for the offer—but no.”

She looked at him. “They weren’t badly treated. They had food and shelter.”

“And they died from the experiments.”

“This is science. We need to make sacrifices.”

“Just go, Venna.”

He watched until the door shut behind her. He wanted to weep, but that wouldn’t change things.

Venna had said they weren’t badly treated, but they must have known what was in store for them. To live with the threat of death hanging over you constantly. No wonder Tannis was obsessed with getting the Meridian treatment. Well, at least he could give her that.

He remembered Rico’s comment that she was scared of sex. Was that a hang-up from her time at the center? What had happened to her there? He could guess and nausea rose up sharp and bitter in his throat.

Callum?

He felt the word like a tap on the door to his mind. The colonel. About time.

You okay? You feel off.

I’ll live.

You want me to send a ship to pick you up?

No. Everything is fine. I saw Rosalie.

The colonel was silent for a moment.
How was she?

Good. Old…but happy.

Thank you.

And I’ve got Venna—

I know. She contacted the Council about five minutes ago. She seems to think you’re in danger.

I’m fine. If they were going to kill me, I’d be dead by now. The captain will keep me alive—she wants something from me.

And that would be…?

I’ve promised her the Meridian treatment if she takes me to Trakis Seven

Ah.

What does “ah” mean?

There might be a problem with that.

Callum’s head ached viciously. His body was still racked with tremors and his mind weighted down by something he could only guess was guilt. He hardly recognized the emotion, but what else could it be? He had so much to feel guilty for.

All the same, couldn’t one thing just go right for him today?

Are you going to tell me what the problem is? I heard the Church is heading there to destroy the Meridian stocks, but I’m hoping we’ll beat them to it.