Authors: Saje Williams
He wasn’t thrilled with this answer, but ended up shrugging. “Fine.”
He half turned and motioned to his companions, brushing away the black fog with which he’d cloaked the corner. “You can come out now.”
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Chapter Seventeen
The one-eyed immortal scratched at his beard and scowled fiercely.
“It ain’t my business,” he grunted.
Val saw Raven’s jaw twitch slightly and suppressed a smile. When he loosened up, he almost allowed himself to appear human.
If you discount
the freakishly pale skin and strange violet irises, at least.
She aimed a frosty glare at the woman, who’d gotten a little friendlier with Raven than she felt entirely comfortable with.
He
may have forgotten that she’d led a pirate crew against them, but Val sure as hell hadn’t.
It was nice that this meeting hadn’t instantly devolved into a bloodbath, but she didn’t really have the stomach to watch her cozying up to him.
Jealous, Val?
She gritted her teeth and turned her attention to inspecting the rest of the room.
It was a lounge filled with various pieces of slightly alien furniture—
not all that different from what one might find in any household sitting room. The shapes were slightly odd, but serviceable enough.
Goban and Bryon were having a great time just poking around, closely inspecting things she and Raven would find perfectly mundane. A table lamp in particular seemed to attract a lot of interest, enough that, after the fifth or sixth time Bryon turned it on and off, the vampire turned and told him, in no uncertain terms, to ‘stop doing that.’
When it became apparent that Odin and the woman had no more pertinent information to share, Raven inquired as to someplace they could rest and the immortal pointed them toward a set of cabins down a hallway adjoining the lounge.
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Raven tucked Bryon and Goban in the first, which held two bunks separated by some five or so feet of floor space, a sink, and an adjoining restroom. “Make yourselves comfortable,” he told them. “We’re going to get at least eight hours downtime before we decide what to do next.”
Bryon looked puzzled, but the ex-mercenary merely nodded. “You trust these people?” he asked Raven, as he settled his bulk down on one of the bunks.
The vampire shook his head. “Not even as far as I can throw this ship. But what it boils down to is that we need to rest, and they don’t have anything to gain by killing us right now. I don’t think the woman wants to anyway. “ He shrugged. “And as for Odin? Well. he might want to get revenge on me for killing Tyr, but he’s not going to do it right now.”
Val wished she could be so certain. She’d caught the flames burning in Odin’s single orb as they’d turned to walk down this corridor. He was afraid of Raven, but he wasn’t the type to be dissuaded from trying by a little fear. Self interest, on the other hand, might prompt him to stay his hand. At least for a while.
But what could Raven have offered him? The few minutes he’d spoken to the immortal in hushed tones too soft for her to hear seemed to have had some sort of impact. She wished she knew what Raven had said.
And the woman. She still made Val’s skin crawl, though the fact that she and Odin had seemed to know each other might have had something to do with it. The way it looked to her, the one-eyed immortal had been here on this world for centuries, if not longer, which meant that the woman was most likely another immortal. No wonder Raven hadn’t been able to keep her restrained once they’d left the ship.
Of course, this was all conjecture. And at this point, that was all she really had. She wondered if other mortal agents were left feeling as much of a disconnect when dealing with the immortal crowd as she did right now. Even Raven, who she thought had some feelings for her, seemed to keeping her at a distance.
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“This is your room,” he told her, pushing one of the doors open to reveal another small chamber with two more bunks. “I’ll take the next one.”
“No,” she said, grabbing his arm as he turned to leave. “I don’t trust these two. I’d feel better if you took the other bunk in here.”
His face was impassive as he turned back toward her. After a moment of his corpse-like stare, she curled her lip and gave him a hard shove. “Don’t be an asshole! What is with you, Raven? You’ve been acting even weirder than normal since we got here.”
He blinked at her, then, with a sigh, nudged her all the way inside, followed her in, and shut the door behind them. He then spent about ten minutes inspecting every square centimeter of the room. Once he’d seemingly satisfied himself that there were no surveillance devices to find, he lowered himself into a lotus position on one of the beds. “Sit down.”
She considered arguing about it, but decided against it. It probably wasn’t what it sounded like. He had to know that ordering her around wasn’t a good idea, especially now. He might have outranked her, but that sort of thing was pretty damn flexible considering they worked for two very different agencies.
Not that she had the impression he was pulling rank. Just that he was distracted and not particularly interested in social niceties. She found herself wondering if this was something he’d developed since becoming undead, or if he’d been a bit on the rude side even back when he was alive.
Well, she could always ask. The thought made her chuckle just a little.
Yeah, that would go over well.
He raised an eyebrow. “Something funny?”
She shook her head. “Nothing in particular. And everything, I guess.”
“Good answer.” He surprised her by smiling. “I know I’ve been a pain in the ass lately.”
“That’s an understatement,” she snorted, more grateful than she should have been when he laughed aloud at that.
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He seemed to think on it a minute, then shrugged. “I’ve been off-balance since we got here. I don’t know what I expected to find, but immortals were
most definitely
not on the list. I would have preferred not to have killed Tyr, but I’m not sure I had any choice. Had I done anything but what I did, Odin would’ve started throwing magic at me and that would’ve been that. Tyr would’ve used the distraction to take my head.
“Then this ship in general. Can you imagine? What the hell is this thing doing here? Old One-Eye isn’t being very forthcoming about that, but I’m sure he knows more than he lets on. And the goddamn monsters…” He sighed, and hung his head, staring at the floor for a long moment before he spoke again. “Then this…change…he inflicted on me.
Pretty nasty thing—I’d hate for you or any of the crew to be zapped by it.
I have a feeling that unless you’re a vampire or an immortal yourself, it would kill you. I don’t feel like myself anymore.”
“If it’s any consolation, you look more or less like yourself. A little taller, a little more muscular, and…well…strikingly handsome.”
He smiled at that. “And I was what, before?”
“Unfinished,” she admitted. “Not bad, just not all you could be.”
He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Just please don’t tell me I’m irresistible now,” he said with a smirk.
“You could be if you believed it,” she answered. “But I’d much prefer it if you weren’t. I find that sort of thing obnoxious, and, besides, I wouldn’t want to compete with that bitch out there.”
“Believe me, she’s not competition. You may not know who she is, but I’ve figured it out. She’s an immortal—Morrigan to be exact—and, until recently, she’s been the most successful and prolific contract killer in human history. She’s killed more people than I ever will, I’d bet.”
Val considered this. “She’s beautiful.”
“So? A lot of women are. If you ask me, she’s a fucking sociopath. I don’t
do
sociopaths.”
“Nice to know,” she told him. “So, who exactly
do
you
do?”
Had he the ability, she was almost certain he would have blushed. It was a very good thing that he’d never had to use seduction as an intelligence gathering tool. He wasn’t capable of it.
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He could seduce
her
any time he wanted to, if he’d only open his eyes and realize it.
What are you, Raven, a 200-year-old virgin?
At first, the thought was amusing, then it wasn’t. He wasn’t a virgin, but he’d only had one partner in his whole existence, and that hadn’t gone well. She wasn’t even sure how she got that impression. Something he’d said, probably. She certainly wasn’t reading it from his mind.
She walked over to him, stepping between his knees and threading slender fingers through his hair. He tilted his face up toward her and she thought she saw a glimmer of something that looked a lot like fear shine in his eyes for just a second.
She leaned down and brushed her lips against his, then leaned back slightly. His lips parted as he smiled up at her. Then, in a motion so fast she didn’t even see it, he stood and swept her into his arms. She felt her stomach drop as he tangled his hands in her hair and lurched across the tiny room to the other bunk. He laid her down on her back and smiled down at her. “You are so beautiful.” Leaning over, Raven gently stroked her cheek.
“So are you,” she answered, shifting over just far enough for him to sit down next to her. She patted the cot and he took a seat. “You know, I’ve been waiting for this moment since I met you.”
“
This
moment? Why is that?”
She stared up at him, not quite sure if he was kidding or not. His face was characteristically impassive, as if he were a robot that had been shut off. He didn’t even blink.
She slapped him on the arm. “Stop that. It’s creepy.”
Then, like the switch had been turned back on, he blinked and broke into a wide grin. “Sorry.”
“No you’re not. You enjoy being creepy.”
“A little. But I don’t mean to be that way with you.”
“You’d better not,” she said. “Now get down here and kiss me.”
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Raven found himself on his feet before the echo of the knock faded away. Then came a loud pounding, far too loud for this tiny room. He strode to the door and threw it open.
Morrigan stood there, looking both amused and irritated at the same time. “Having a good time?”
“None of your business. What do you want?”
“Odin’s gone. I don’t know how, either.”
“You fell asleep,” Raven said with a grimace.
Or let him go.
She shook her head. “Immortals don’t sleep, nitwit.”
“That explains a lot,” he muttered. “So he got away from you somehow. I thought we had an arrangement.”
“So did I. He was supposed to show me the ship’s armory. In case you didn’t notice, this place is like a maze, and I can’t understand the chicken-scratch they use for writing any better than you can.”
“The armory?” It made sense, actually. But what was she planning on doing with whatever she found? That was the real question.
“What’s this about an armory?” Val rubbed at her eyes and padded to the door, pulling on Raven’s shirt which, at this point, fit her much better than it did him. Noticing that, Raven resolved to try to find some other clothing stashed around the place. Maybe Odin had left something that would fit him, or maybe he could track down wherever Tyr had denned.
Morrigan scraped her gaze over the blonde and slowly smiled. If another guy had looked at her that way, he might’ve punched him.
Maybe. It wasn’t exactly his job to protect her honor, was it? She could do quite well on her own, he was sure.
“No telling where he’s gone,” he said finally. “Okay. Here’s the plan.
We’re going to find me something to wear, since nothing I brought with me fits right anymore, and then we’re going to track down the armory.”
Val nudged him from behind. “What’s this armory business?”
“I’m going to claim whatever weapons we find in here for the Resistance,” Morrigan told her. “You got a problem with that?”
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“Actually, I do. This is an alien vessel of some sort, and even if you consider salvage rights, it doesn’t mean that you get to take any weapons you find on-board and train the natives how to use them.”
“Oh? And who’s going to stop me?”
“We will.”
Morrigan glanced at Raven, who uttered a low groan. “Sorry, Val, but this is between the two of you. I can see both sides of it and I
really
don’t think it’s something I need to be involved in.”
She wasn’t happy to hear this. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. We’ve talked about this before. She’s not doing anything I wasn’t planning on doing myself, to be honest.”
“Well, thanks for your support.” She shoved him hard, ejecting him into the corridor, and slammed the door behind him.
“Shit.”
Morrigan smirked back at him. “Trouble in paradise already? Looks like the honeymoon’s over.”
“One more cliché out of you and we’re going to brawl here and now.”
If anything, this just made her grin wider. “You might scare Odin, but not me.”
“Shows how much sense you have,” he replied, leaning back against the door and sticking his hands in his pockets. “You ever going to tell me what the hell you’re actually doing here?”
“I would’ve thought you’d’ve figured that out by now.”
He shrugged. He had some idea, but would have liked some confirmation from her.
“I’m working with someone who
really
disagrees with Athena and TAU,” she said, referring to the immortal who’d started the agency in the first place, and, as far as Raven knew, still ran it. “I know you folks at Sash don’t really buy into their agenda either,” she added. “Your babe’s going to have to figure that out sooner or later.”
“She’s not my
babe,
” he objected reflexively, though it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it. She might not be his
anything
by now, he thought irritably.
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