Soulwalker (23 page)

“We?”

“It’s not really my area of expertise, but I know a few people who will help.” Asher moved back up to Tarris’s lips and kissed her. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go through this all alone, do you?”

“I… I don’t know. I thought—”

“I know what you thought, Tarris Waite. You thought as soon as this is all over I’m leaving you. Haven’t you got it through your thick head yet? You’re stuck with me from now on.”

“I am?” A jolt ran through Tarris at the news. The excitement she felt would soon make her dizzy, but she was already dizzy enough from Asher’s statement. She wanted to stay.

Tarris grabbed Asher by the hair and dragged her down to kiss her roughly. She was on a high, physically and emotionally, and she wanted more. She put her fear aside and allowed Asher to show her the wonders of making love.

As they kissed, Asher’s hand slid down Tarris’s torso and through her hair. With gentle insistence, her fingers stimulated Tarris while her mouth latched onto Tarris’s throat.

Tarris wasn’t quite sure what to make of the feeling. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant by any means, but the whole thing was so out of her range of experience that she was afraid she’d make a fool of herself.

Asher’s lips found the pulse point at the base of Tarris’s throat and laved it constantly until her breathing became labored. Without conscious thought, Tarris moved her legs slightly apart to give Asher more room.

Rya shifted within her restlessly, and Tarris understood that feeling. She wanted to move, to cry, and to beg for the ache within her to go somewhere or do something. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she wanted it all.

Asher moved and Tarris nearly cried out when the hand that had been giving her so much pleasure—and frustration—was removed. But it was only for a moment. Asher insinuated her leg between Tarris’s, and the hand that had so tormented her returned with increasing pressure.

Tarris placed her hands on either side of Asher’s head and pulled her down for another kiss. This time she nipped, she tasted, and she explored. She allowed her instincts to drive her body to find that moment she had experienced earlier through Asher. She wanted her own explosion, and to see the stars behind her own eyelids. She wanted to be so totally consumed that she didn’t care if she died a second after it.

The sensation swelled within her, doubled and tripled by Asher’s own emotions transmitted to her by Rya. It was different this time, and yet it was the same, made even more tumultuous with her own skin, bone, and muscle finally able to feel what had only been in her head and in her heart. With Rya’s help, Tarris felt their two heartbeats go wildly out of control, to mirror the wild abandonment she felt. “Ash,” she whispered, “oh, Ash.”

Tarris’s head spun. Adrenaline flowed through her like a heady synth wine. It was intoxicating in the extreme and stirred feelings that had been long dormant. She had always considered her libido to be her nemesis, a beast to be harnessed and beaten back into the dark recesses of her mind. The beast had no place in her life, and she was better off without it. But Asher had awakened it, breaking the chains that had kept it prisoner all these years, and Tarris didn’t want to stop it.

She was unable to deny herself. Her hands were already in motion, skimming over the fevered body lying on top of her. Had she asked for more than Asher was prepared to give?

A warm sigh escaped Asher’s lips, and she smiled. Tarris’s hands moved with greater purpose to knead the muscle underneath Asher’s soft skin. Her passion flared to life demanding more. Tarris raised her head and captured Asher’s lips, nipping the skin roughly. Asher responded enthusiastically and stirred the flames of her desire.

Images appeared in her mind, but Tarris wasn’t sure of the source. Was it Asher making known her wishes, or was it the dreams from so long ago showing her the way? In either case, she would use the pictures as her map for pleasing Asher. She had been the recipient of Asher’s love, and now she wished to give it back.

Tarris paused. Was this what love was? Was it the giving and receiving of this ultimate gift with someone who made that gift so special? She had never associated her secret desires with love before because they came in the night when she was at her most vulnerable. But why were the images the same? Was this all part of her libido’s plan to show Asher what her lover was really like? That she harbored thoughts that weren’t for the likes of her?

While her mind had one idea, her emotions had another and had already manipulated Tarris’s hands to roll Asher over to the ground. She rested her weight on her left forearm while her right hand snaked down Asher’s sweaty body. When Asher’s breathing hitched, she said, “This is what you want, huh?”

Asher nodded her head.

“Do you want more?” Tarris was unable to stop the words.

When Asher reached to touch her cheek, Tarris drove her fingers into Asher’s warmth to seek that inner sweetness. Asher moaned. When Tarris’s thigh replaced her fingers, Asher moaned again. “No,” she breathed.

“No?” Tarris laughed and pushed her fingers in once more, this time using her thigh to add force to the intrusion. “No more?”

“No. I mean yes. Yes. More!” Asher pleaded.

This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. But Tarris couldn’t stop it. She had lost control of her passion. It had filled her mind with scenarios, dreams from long forgotten times when she still screamed at the world about the injustice of her accident. She had wanted to know what she would be missing in the years to come and tortured herself with images of sex in all its forms. Now she was being tormented with the secret fantasies that had stayed with her all these years.

“Do you feel me inside you?” Another image came to mind where her fingers had been substituted for something more appropriate. Tarris couldn’t help the surge of passion that flooded her, unaware of her own physical response to the sordid images that flashed across her mind’s eye. A deep chuckle escaped her lips as her hand stilled.

Asher shifted underneath her. “God, Tarris! Not now!” Her fingers dug into Tarris’s arm.

“I want to feel that,” Tarris whispered as her fingers returned to the warm haven of Asher’s body, “to feel you inside sliding against my skin.” Asher whimpered again.

Tarris’s words invoked a mental image. The sensation was unbelievable, and coupled with the visual image, her libido rose with Asher’s anguished gasps. Tarris felt Asher’s response down to her very soul.

Tarris could no longer ignore her feelings any more than she could stop breathing. Her thumb circled Asher’s small bundle of nerves begging for attention. The scene played out in her head and came to such a tumultuous conclusion that Tarris didn’t hear either of them cry out. It took several moments for her to realize where her fingers were or that her hand was wet.

“How… how did you do that?” Asher’s voice was filled with wonder. “You’ve got to remember that move.” Asher breathed heavily. She smiled up at Tarris. “You
do realize that your legs moved.”

“They did?” Tarris looked down at the limbs in question. “But how?”

“Maybe you had some help.”

“Maybe.”

Asher meant Rya, but Tarris knew better. Her inner urges had flexed their muscle and showed her how much of a slave she really was to her own passion. “Let’s get some rest.” Tarris shifted her weight to one side and nestled her body next to Asher. She grabbed the blanket and pulled it over their satiated bodies.

“What about Jerad?” Asher mumbled as she relaxed.

“We’ll go and find him when the rain stops.” Tarris hoped that the search would be enough of a diversion to stop Asher asking questions that she wasn’t ready to answer.

Chapter 10

Rya had been restless while her sister’s body twisted and turned. She could feel the heat without the need to expand her consciousness. It had a familiar flavor to it, one that she had briefly touched in Asher. After her initial reticence, Rya wanted that experience again. It called to her and demanded her presence, and she couldn’t stop herself from answering that call. Her fears were somewhat allayed by the fact that it was Tarris’s body that stimulated her need to find the light. Tarris had always been a comfort, a source of joy, and her home. Not that she had been able to articulate those emotions before her exposure to Asher, but now there was eloquence to the pictures and emotions attached to each and every word she thought.

Her sister was lost in the moment, and Rya took the chance to find the need she so desperately wanted to assuage. It gnawed at her, driving her newly awakened senses to distraction until it became an obsession. Once she found what she was looking for, she latched onto it and suckled like a baby, in an effort to slake her thirst with the life-giving power Tarris offered her.

But to Rya it was incomplete. Something was missing in the mixture, something that had to be added to feed the hunger she so desperately wanted to satiate, and she knew where to find it. Without completely leaving Tarris, Rya bled through her sister’s skin and muscle and sought out the feverish body above her. This time she entered Asher without fear and quickly found the wellspring that was her nirvana before it burnt out.

She understood that the blazing inferno that existed in these two bodies was fleeting, and she had little time to indulge herself in the heat and passion before its fury died down. She drank it, bathed in it, reveled in the blistering combustion of the two souls, and rose from those ashes like a phoenix. This was meant to be. Or at least that was Rya’s opinion. Not that she had ever had an opinion before, but suddenly she felt she needed one.

Wistfully, she withdrew from Asher to settle back within Tarris to find that part of her sister she considered her home. The two women lay wrapped in each other’s arms after it was all over.

Rya hadn’t hesitated to leave Tarris without her consent, and she had finally made a decision on her own. She would grab their destiny in her own invisible hands.

Gently she extricated herself from the dozing Tarris and hovered momentarily over her before she moved toward the overhead grate and access to street level. She balked at the fading light, but it was more instinctual than any actual blinding on her part. The realization of her new power was still a matter of acceptance, and it took some prodding for her to proceed out into the light of day.

Drifting along the streets was a heady experience. Rya no longer needed to find the darker places of the lanes and byways she knew so well. Citizens were still going about their daily business, oblivious to her presence, and it pleased her. She was now truly free.

She turned her attention to her mission. She had walked this path before, in a different light to be sure, but a path she had touched previously. When her senses detected the familiar trail, she covered the remainder of her journey quickly and with purpose.

This time she entered the house without fear and took up position in a far corner of the room as Derille stood in front of his large communication screen to talk to the Prime. This was something that Tarris needed to know about, so Rya made sure that their connection was active.

“…such incompetence!” Prime Sholter yelled from the vid screen. “How did she escape?”

Derille held up a tiny box. “She found the tracker.”

“That’s impossible.”

“And yet here it is, sir. It was covered in blood.”

“If that were the case, she’d be lying next to it.” The Prime’s gaze flicked from side to side, as if he were silently having a conversation with someone off screen. “Did she go down?”

“The only path down led to a dead end and a drop of fifty feet,” Derille said. “We lost two men to find that out.”

“No matter,” the Prime said and dismissed the loss. “So where did she go?”

“The second path led to an outlet two blocks away.”

“Then why are you standing there? Get moving.” Prime was about to terminate the connection when Derille spoke.

“Sir, we had that exit covered. She just… disappeared.”

“Then find her…” Prime left the sentence unfinished.

“Or?”

“You know what I’m capable of.”

Derille’s face hardened. “Yes, Prime, I’m well aware of what you’re capable of.”

“I want her back alive… or dead,” the Prime said with finality.

“And the mediprac?”

“No witnesses, Derille.”

“But—”

“No witnesses.” Prime stared straight ahead. “If she stumbles across the facility, the guards are ordered to shoot to kill. Is that understood?” The Prime leaned forward, and the screen went blank.

“Perfectly,” Derille mumbled. He touched the remote, and another person came onto the screen. “Tell the perimeter guards to be on the lookout for two women. They are to be shot on sight.”

Rya waited a moment longer to watch the Administrator’s reaction after he terminated the call. He inhaled deeply and let the air bleed out between his pursed lips. He was not a happy man.

You are safe for the moment, sister
. It pleased Rya that Tarris had some peace, even if it was only for a few hours.

This was foolish, Rya.

This time Rya understood the nuance in Tarris’s voice. It was not a remonstration but a show of concern.
But now we know what they know.

Hmmm. What is this facility the Prime talks of?
Rya felt Tarris’s confusion and concern.
Never mind. Please come home.

Please. Rya rejoiced at hearing the word, although she wasn’t sure why she should feel the simple satisfaction from a single word.
As you wish, sister.

With one final glance, Rya left Derille’s house to seek her own safe haven within Tarris.

“What?”

Asher’s voice brought Tarris’s attention back to the train station. “It seems we’re safe, at least for now.”

“You seem so sure of that.”

“Rya visited one of them, a member of the Council, and caught the end of a conversation about us,” Tarris said. “They think we’re above ground somewhere.” Tarris debated whether to tell Asher everything. It was probably wise not to hide anything at this point. “We have to be extra careful from now on. The guards have orders to shoot to kill.”