Wind Demon Triology: Book II: Evil Wind (27 page)

"What do you think?"

Kate threw out a dismissive hand. “She's dreaming. Were you able to use your abilities on Terra?"

Cree winced. “No, but to be honest I didn't try."

"She'll wind up in somebody's laboratory on Terra is most likely what will happen,” Kate spat. She jerked on the cage's bar. “Help me right this wrong, Reaper!"

"I sent Danielle to Dr. Kym,” he said. “She will handle what needs doing."

There was mistrust in the wild eyes that stared at him. Cree could sense she was very close to Transitioning. She would need to be confined in a containment cell and soon.

"Are there cells on the Amazeen ship?” she asked him, intercepting his stray thought.

"There are,” he replied, “but only two. There will be thirteen Reapers and only those two cells. There are also nine extended sleep units so we might have to juggle who sleeps when."

"Might get a bit crowded, eh, Reaper?” she asked with a snort.

"Just a mite,” he agreed. “You're close. You need to..."

"I know what I need to do,” she snapped.

"Do you know where Sorn is now?” he asked as he got up and walked toward her. He was not surprised when she did not back away from his approach.

"With the Prophetess-Mother,” she replied. “That one is dying and Kym will soon take over from her. They are all at the Deathwatch and well guarded else I would go in and abduct Sorn."

"Go to Kym and tell her to provide protection for you so you can go with us tomorrow,” he said. “Tell her to do whatever she needs to do to get a necklace on Sorn."

The female Reaper cocked her head to one side. “So she can be brought up to the ship with us?"

He nodded. “What you do to her is your own affair. I'll not gainsay you."

The woman wrapped her hands more firmly around the bars. “Though she hurt you far worse than she hurt me? You would allow me the honor of destroying her?"

"The pain she caused me passed, little one,” he said softly. He reached out to place his hands over hers. “Yours will be with you forever."

She closed her eyes at his touch, seeming to take strength from the contact then slowly slid her hands from under his. “I do not hate you, Kamerone Cree,” she said.

With that, she jerked around and was gone through the pouring rain. He lost sight of her in the glooming, realizing she had not asked to go with him when he left Rysalia Prime. Allowing her to stay was out of the question, though.

With a heavy sigh, Cree walked back to where his blanket lay and lifted it over his head once more. It was saturated with water and he let it fall around his shoulders. His arms were tired anyway and he was exhausted from the onslaught of the rain. The droplets hit his head with force, but he almost welcomed the distraction for now he had not just one but two more women foisted upon him by the harsh hands of fate. Though Kahmal had told him the two silly Ionarians would not be leaving with them, he still had ten women to try to protect and preserve.

It was a punishment he thought that well exceeded his crimes.

On Terra

Bridget Cree was watching her son as he tossed a football with his best friend, Roy. She smiled at the two boys.

"The older he gets, the more like his father he looks,” Beryla Dean said.

The two women were sipping lemonade as they sat on a plaid blanket spread out on the grass of the park.

"And even without Kam here to show him how to act like a Reaper, Jae is developing characteristics so like his father it is unnerving,” Bridie said of the six year old. She saw him rake a hand through his dark curls and the gesture was so like that of his sire it nearly broke her heart.

"It is in his genetic makeup, Bridie,” Beryla reminded her. “We will have to take precautions the closer he gets to puberty and his first Transition."

"I am so grateful all of you are here now,” Bridie said.

Beryla nodded. She and the other women who had accompanied Bridie to Terra—Tina Portas, Amala Dayle, Ivonne O'Malley, and Dr. Aurora Burds—had now relocated to Albany, the large southwest Georgia town where Beryla and Aurora had set up a new medical facility. All the Hunters—Rysalian military men formerly assigned to find and round up women for retrieval to FSK-14—had also gathered in the town to be near their own kind.

"He has missed so much,” Bridie said, tears gathering in her green eyes.

Beryla knew her friend was speaking of the boy's father. “Aye, but you've enough vid-shots of Jae's growing up to last him years when Tylan brings Kamerone home."

"If they bring him home,” Bridie said and her lips trembled.

"They will,” Beryla said.

Bridget had a flashback to the day when her beloved Reaper had been taken from her and she shivered.

"Still having the nightmares?” Beryla asked gently.

Bridie nodded. “I relive our last conversation, hearing me tell him to get out.” Moisture entered her eyes. “I hear him asking me where he was supposed to go, what was he supposed to do, and I tell him I didn't care, that I don't want anything more to do with him."

"You were angry and you were hurt, Bridie,” Beryla said.

"I hurt him so badly that day,” she said, swiping at the moisture. “I broke his heart."

"Black as it is,” Beryla replied.

"Then everything changes and we're in the cafeteria at Dougherty General and he's sitting there with Dorrie.” She smiled ruefully. “And I got all medieval on his ass and start accusing him and then Dorrie and I go after one another, he gets between us and the next thing I know, that damned Amazeen bitch is there.” She clenched her fists. “I see that woman's face still and I see Kamerone on his knees as his wrists are being shackled and then I see Hael Sejm...."

"Bridie,” Beryla said, placing a hand over her friend's tightly clamped fist. “You can't dwell on that part of it. Try to think positively. Try to remember that there are eight strong, powerful men going after your husband and just know they will bring Kamerone back safely to you."

"He's in her hands,” Bridie said. “He's in Sejm's evil hands and God only knows what that bitch is doing to him!"

"Bridie..."

"I want my husband!” Bridie cried, burying her face in her hands. “I want my Reaper!"

Beryla reached out to take Bridie in her arms and to soothe her with long, gentle strokes of her hand down the younger woman's back. “You'll get him back, Bridget. I know you will,” she said softly. “He'll be back with you and sprawled on the sofa with bags of chips and bottles of salsa and six-packs of Pepsi and boxes of chocolate covered cherries and Sweet-Tarts and the gods only know what else he will want to pack into his cast iron stomach and you guys will be watching those vid-tapes of Jaelin growing up and laughing about his little antics."

"Jaelin might well be grown by then,” Bridie said as she pushed away from Beryla and swiped at the treacherous tears.

"True, but...” She stopped realizing what was buried beneath Bridie's words. “You worry he won't love you when he returns?"

"Look at me,” Bridie said. “I was young and fairly attractive when he left. By the time he gets home, I'll be middle aged with sagging boobs and crow's feet and cellulite and..."

"You'll be no such thing,” Beryla snapped. “Don't forget the laser instruments that can lift and smooth and erase..."

"I'll be
old
, Beryla!” Bridie cried. “All the instruments Ro-Ro has developed as a by-product of her cancer work and all the collagen injections and laser applications in the world can't stop that!"

Beryla reached over to take Bridie's hand. “What year is this, Bridie?” she asked.

"2068,” Bridie answered without thinking. She frowned. “What difference does...?"

"That might have been true when you left Terra the first time in 1994 but it isn't true now. The Terrans here have developed plastic surgery techniques almost as advanced as ours and the clinics are filled to overflowing with women and men—hell, even teenagers!—lining up to have work done on their bodies. People live to be well over one hundred as a matter of course. Why should you be any different and why should you have to
look
like you're that old?” She grinned. “Think about it. You are actually eighty-four years old in Terran years."

Bridie groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Don't remind me!"

"Well, girl, think about me!” Beryla said. “I left Terra in 1973. I'm now at the ripe old age of one hundred and six and I don't feel a day over sixty!"

"And don't look a day over forty,” Bridie complimented her.

Beryla grinned. “With the advanced procedures Ro-Ro and I have discovered, we can turn the clock back so you won't look a day older than you did when Kam left Terra. What was that? Thirty-two? Thirty-three?"

Bridie tucked her lower lip between her teeth. “I'll still be old,” she complained. “My body is eventually going to catch up to my years."

Beryla sighed. “Aye, well you're only as old as you want to be and as old as you feel,” she snapped. “I fully intend to have my face done as soon as I learn Lares is on his way back."

"We talked about him giving me a parasite,” Bridie said and looked up to gauge Beryla's reaction. “We had bad arguments about it. He never wanted to live without me. I was terrified of receiving one of his fledglings. I didn't want it then, but now I wish I'd...” She shrugged. “I've been without him for six years and it might be another six or even longer before I see him again. I don't want to be on my deathbed when he comes home."

Beryla surprised Bridie by smiling and wagging her eyebrows. “You want a fledgling?"

Bridie felt a shiver run down her spine. “Do you have one of his revenants?"

Beryla nodded. “He had me harvest one from him when you were in labor just in case. Kam was so afraid he'd lose you and although I was totally against it, I did as he asked. The thought sickened me at the time, but I've had a few years to think about it and I can see now where it might be of benefit. I've been feeding that little squiggly ever since and I'd be relieved to be rid of the babysitting.” She held up her hand before Bridie could speak. “But ... I think we should turn the hands of time back prior to making such a decision and I'll tell you why."

Bridie was searching Beryla's eyes as the older woman made herself more comfortable on the blanket.

"Okay,” Beryla said. “First of all, you know the recuperative power of a Reaper. A cut heals quickly and the flesh returns to normal."

"I remember."

"Well, if we are to do any cosmetic surgery on you, it must be done before you have a fledgling introduced else the creature will simply undo what we try to do afterward.” She arched a brow. “Do you understand?"

Bridie's heartbeat had sped up. “Yes, I do."

"So if you want to look as you did when Kam left here, we can do that, and then we can do the Transference. That way, you will always look as you did on the day the fledgling is given to you. There will be no aging for you, Bridget Cree."

Bridie looked away from her friend. “I don't want him coming home to an old hag."

"I understand that, and he doesn't have to,” Beryla said. “You have the means at hand to give him back the woman he fell in love with. The decision is yours."

Jae and his friend were scuffling around on the grass and laughing as they tried to pin each other down. Even at six years of age, Jaelin had more physical endurance and strength than his eight year old friend and easily got the better of Roy. He perched atop his friend and crowed, beating his little fists on his chest like a warrior of old.

"I miss his father so much. I have to believe we'll be together again or I'll lose what little mind I have left,” Bridie said and sighed deeply. She turned to give her old friend a tremulous smile.

Jaelin came running over and dropped down to his knees on the blanket. He looked first at his mother then to the woman he called his aunt. “What's up, dudettes?” he inquired. He slumped against his mother and looked up at her with his dark green eyes.

Bridie encircled her son in her arms and bent over to place a kiss on his mop of dark curly brown hair. “We were just talking about your father,” Bridie said.

Kamerone's son rolled the football around and around in his hands as he looked at Beryla. “What were you saying about him?"

Beryla and Bridie exchanged a look. Bridie had been very circumspect in what she'd told Jaelin about his father. He was too young to hear what his father was and from where the man had come. He would not understand and such knowledge would be dangerous for a child to possess.

"About how brave he is and how much we miss him,” Beryla answered.

Jaelin craned his head and looked up at his mother. “But his men are going to bring him home from prison, right?"

The young boy had been told his father worked for a secret government agency and that he was a prisoner of war, taken captive when Jaelin was a baby. There was only so much truth he could be given and so many lies Bridie had been willing to tell.

"They are working to bring him home, sweetie,” Bridie said.

Jaelin tossed the football into the air, watching its spiral spin. “I wish I could go see him,” he said.

Her throat clogging with tears, Bridie ruffled her son's thick curls. “I wish I could, too,” Bridie said.

"Hey, Jae!” Roy called out. “Come on, man! Let's play!"

Jaelin sighed then eased out of his mother's loose grip. He turned, gave her a peck on the cheek, and then scrambled to his feet, running after his best friend.

"It's scary how much he looks like Kam,” Beryla said. She stretched out until she was lying on her side, leaning on one elbow. “He is going to break a lot of hearts when he's older."

"I'm so proud of him,” Bridie said. “He is so smart and he picks things up so quickly."

"That's his Reaper genes at work,” Beryla said.

"I know but there are other things that really amaze me,” she said. “Did I tell you he's learning to play the guitar?"

Beryla nodded. “He'll have it mastered in no time if I know that little rapscallion. Like he did the piano."

Bridie laughed. “You know that high school letter jacket he found at Goodwill? The one with AHS on it?"