Blood Legacy Origin of Species (25 page)

Ryan opened her eyes, staring up at the light filtering through the tree-tops. She shifted slightly and then groaned. Her arms hurt like hell and she had no idea where she was. She looked down, trying to figure out what was causing her pain, and was shocked at the burns on her skin. Granted they were already healing, but the damage was extreme.

She sat up, gently rubbing the arms. Something caught her eye and in the fraction of a second that it took her to recognize what it was she had scuttled crab-like on all fours halfway across the clearing.

“Oh,” Petrus said, rolling his eyes, “now you’re afraid of it.”

Ryan stared at the torso in disbelief. It lacked a head, but the muscular form, the blue-tinged skin, the strange clothing that had no origin on this planet, all were terrifyingly familiar. She glanced about, looking for the head, and spotted it beneath a tree, facing her with a startled expression.

“He shouldn’t be here,” Ryan said, shaking her head vehemently, “he should not be here.”

“Well,” Petrus said, eying the corpse, “he’s not really ‘here’ any longer.”

Ryan’s ground her teeth, then she repeated her mantra. “There’s no way he should be here, she put this planet off-limits.”

Finally, she calmed herself enough to crawl back to the headless torso. “What happened to him?”

“Oh,” Petrus said casually, “some nut job, about your height, your weight, maroon eyes, killed him with that rubber band over there.”

“What?” Ryan said in disbelief. She had no memory of that at all. She had managed to kill some of Madelyn’s men, in fact, had garroted one in a very similar fashion. But surprise had been the key in that attack.

“Did I sneak up on him?” Ryan asked.

“No,” Petrus said thoughtfully, “you pretty much planted yourself in front of him and dared him to move.”

“Oh Christ,” Ryan muttered. She examined the torso once more, her thoughts racing furiously. Thank god she had come across the creature in her savage form. If she had encountered him in her amnesiac form, or worse, in a period of weakness, there was no doubt the outcome would have been very different. As much as she wanted to continue searching for Ala, she was now afraid she knew what had happened to her.

“I have to get back to Victor and my son. I have to warn them.”

CHAPTER 17

RYAN WAS ONCE AGAIN TEN STORIES underground, but now the rock walls felt less like a prison and more like a comfortable fortress. Madelyn had found her before in the council chambers, but Ryan had been on the upper levels at that time. Still, she wouldn’t stay here long.

“Are you sure it was one of Madelyn’s men?” Victor asked.

“No,” Ryan said, then wished to clarify. “It’s definitely one of that species but I have no idea if he was associated with her.” She searched her memory for a better explanation of what she intuitively understood. She also sought to interpret the nuances of a language that was utterly foreign to them both.

“This one,” she said, wracking her memory, “and the ones that came with Madelyn are like low-level ground troops.”

“And the ones that came the second time?” Victor asked.

Ryan was certain Victor knew of the second soldiers from Abigail, because Abigail had taken those Memories when she had taken her blood. Victor was speaking of the ones that had come with Ravlen.

“They were different, elite troops, more like a royal guard. But the one that I saw in the jungle belongs to a caste of infantry.” Ryan again struggled to interpret the title. “There is no direct translation in our language, but the name is pejorative and carries a connotation of extreme expendability. The closest thing I can come up with is ‘cannon fodder.’”

“Did you sense more than one?”

“No,” Ryan said, “but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more. And I don’t understand why they’re here at all.” She struggled to explain. “Having met the Empress, even so briefly, I can’t imagine that anyone would disobey her. Her vengeance would be absolute, not only meting out death to those directly opposing her, but to anyone who was even tangentially related to those who would oppose her. She would not only kill you, but remove every trace of your existence from memory.”

“That type of brutality can generate powerful hatred,” Victor mused. “What better way to strike at her than to destroy what is most dear to her?”

“Then they are on a suicide mission,” Ryan replied, “and you are a target, I am a target, and Drake is a target.”

Victor was quite certain that Ryan was the real target, but that did not mean they would not strike at him or his grandson to get to her.

“So the disappearance of Marilyn and Ala is not a coincidence.”

“No,” Ryan replied, “and now I fear for their safety and their lives.”

A muffled noise attracted Ryan’s attention. Both Edward and Susan had sat quietly throughout this conversation, but this pronouncement distressed Susan greatly. Edward placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Ryan stiffened her resolve and turned back to her father.

“You and I must part ways.”

It grieved him, but he knew she was right. “Do you wish to go east or west?”

Edward found this conversation curious as they both had clear destinations in mind, yet he could think of nowhere they might go.

“I will go east,” Ryan said, “and you will go west with Drake.”

Victor eyed her. The fact that she wanted him to take Drake told him that she, too, realized she was the real target. He nodded. “Do you wish to take Aeron?”

Ryan thought about it. Aeron’s presence would comfort her, a heretical idea that even a few years ago would have been met with derision. But now his company had appeal.

“No,” she said at last, “I want him with Drake as well.”

“So you are allowed to protect your child but I am not allowed to protect mine?” Victor said quietly.

“Your child is very dangerous right now,” Ryan said, “and my child needs more protection than yours.”

This comment broke the flow of the conversation, and Edward took that opportunity to ask his question.

“Where are you planning to go?”

“Sometimes our paranoia is beneficial,” Ryan said, waving her hand about the room. “There are two more facilities exactly like this one, their locations known only to the Grand Council and leader of the hierarchy. They have been kept and maintained as ‘safe-houses’ in the unlikely event they would ever be needed.” She turned back to Victor.

“I’m guessing they are needed now.”

“I will go with you, my lord,” Edward said firmly.

“I will, too,” Susan said.

Edward’s pronouncement did not surprise Ryan, but Susan’s did.

“No,” Ryan said, “you and Jason will go with Victor. You’ll be safer with him.”

“If I had wanted safe, Ryan Alexander, I would have left you in the morgue all those years ago.”

The vehement response startled all three, most of all Ryan. She was certain with her recent crass behavior that Susan would welcome to part ways with her.

Susan did not wait for a response but addressed Victor. “If you would be so kind as to watch my son, I think both Jason and Drake will be better off if they’re together.”

“Of course,” Victor replied.

“And you,” Susan said, turning back to Ryan, “are not even close to being well. And there’s no way I would abandon a patient.”

Ryan had no words to express her gratitude, and Susan’s expression told her she did not need any.

“Abigail and Kusunoki have been fully apprised?” she asked Victor.

“Yes, and they will chart their own courses.”

“Good,” Ryan said, “then we should leave immediately.

CHAPTER 18

MARILYN STARED AT THE ROCK WALL in front of her. This was all quite hideously boring. After the initial excitement of the furious battle, the subsequent kidnapping and transport, then the gauntlet of leering soldiers she passed on the long march to her prison cell, this was quite a let-down. She sighed and shifted on her slab of rock, aware she was being watched.

This fortress was very similar to the one they had stormed when rescuing Ryan, and these creatures were undoubtedly the same. The soldiers all had the same cruel features, the hard muscularity, the bluish skin that looked as if they were all slightly under-oxygenated. Marilyn toyed with that idea for a moment. Perhaps that was the problem. After all, they were from another solar system; perhaps they weren’t getting enough oxygen to the brain.

The rock wall slid open, its mechanism unseen but so precise the massive door moved silently. A silver-haired man walked in and Marilyn sat up with interest. This one was distinctly different from the soldiers. Older, handsome, his features were less brutish and his expression less brutal, possessing a far more refined cruelty than the foot soldiers outside. He examined her with similar interest, and both looked at the other as if they had discovered some new variation of bug that intrigued them. Her bold scrutiny amused him and he thought perhaps when this was over he would take her as his slave.

“Oh really,” Marilyn said skeptically.

The man was startled. Although this species was generally deemed insignificant, this particular form of mutation was known to possess telepathy, sometimes extraordinary in its extent. Having been responsible for much of the early, failed experimentation on this planet, he had been greatly surprised at the reported gifts they had begun to manifest. There had been various rumors and explanations for such developments, the most outrageous being that some member of the royal family, possibly even a distant relative of the Empress herself, had seeded this planet.

Marilyn examined the man. He felt very similar to her Kind, and extraordinarily powerful, but Ryan was right. Neither he nor anyone else here had the ability to read her thoughts. Odd how they lacked something she and the Others took for granted.

A commotion at the door attracted both their attention as Ala was flung through the opening, still fighting despite the restraints that hung from her. Her two captors were obviously frustrated over the fact that such a trivial prisoner had given them so much difficulty. Ala collapsed onto the shelf next to Marilyn, shrugging the remaining ropes from her body.

“Well, that looked like fun,” Marilyn commented.

“Trust me,” Ala said, glowering at the silver-haired man, “it was.”

The man examined this wonderful specimen as well. He was still getting used to the fact that females were so prevalent on this planet. He motioned for one of the captors to remove the fallen restraints. No sense in providing them an opportunistic weapon. Ala was disappointed. She was already fantasizing about strangling someone with that silver rope.

The man exited and the massive door whispered closed behind him. Ala wasted no time but assessed the solid rock room. She, too, knew that they were being watched.

“This looks like the other fortress, the one where Madelyn kept Ryan,” Ala said.

“Yes,” Marilyn agreed, “and these are definitely the same type of creatures. Odd that I have not seen any females.”

“I don’t remember any with Madelyn, either,” Ala said.

“Under most circumstances,” Marilyn said, “I would find that a most wonderful ratio. At the moment, I find it less than appealing.”

Can they sense our thoughts?

Ala asked the question without speaking and without turning toward her. Marilyn responded in kind.

I don’t believe so.

Ala glanced at her fingernails. We should use the gift sparingly, just in case.

Agreed, Marilyn responded.

The door opened, and almost in contradiction to their earlier conversation, a woman strolled in. She was tall with blonde hair that flowed down her back, elaborately intertwined with a decorative material similar to the rope, only finer. She wore armor-like clothing that although completely alien, gave the impression of military purpose, wealth and status. She had piercing eyes that were a dark blue, almost purple and she assessed her two captors with a penetrating gaze. She was quite physically stunning, but possessed the same unnatural and reptilian coldness of Madelyn, the same slight feral movements that betrayed her as something very different and non-human. And both Marilyn and Ala had the same impression at the same time.

This woman was far more powerful than Madelyn. And more deadly.

Try to control yourself, Ala warned without looking over. And Marilyn, who would flirt with anything and everything, responded the same way.

Not this one.

“You are correct that I cannot sense the content of your thoughts,” the woman said smoothly in surprising unaccented English, “but I can sense when you are communicating in that manner.” Her tone grew very cold. “And you will not do so.”

The silver-haired man re-entered the room.

“The phalanx is in position,” he said, “they are preparing for an assault on the compound.”

“Very well,” the woman said, “you may proceed.”

The man drew a rectangular shape in the air. To Ala’s and Marilyn’s surprise, a vivid three dimensional picture appeared out of nothingness. It was contained entirely within the imaginary shape the man had drawn, and appeared to be some sort of audio/visual communication device.