Goddess's Saga 1: Touch of the Goddess (9 page)

Behind him, the man who served Stephan
’s last drink screamed. Whirling around, he stared as the man’s flesh cracked open in blisters spewing green flames.

“
What the hell?”

He staggered backwards to get away from the burning nightmare, but Maria
’s eyes raged with the same green fire. She was changing in front of his eyes, turning into something else, something not human.

He
wanted to run, but his feet couldn’t move.

Oh lord, we
’re doomed.

Maria
moved her hand, and all the bottles behind the bar flew through the room, crashing into the opposite wall, spreading their contents and splintering glass all over the floor.

Paulie
yelled, “Run!” but as much as he tried, he got nowhere.

His knees buckled until he sat on the floor in a warm puddle of his own urine,
looking up at an impossibly tall and slender figure all dressed in white and shining bright as a sun.

The woman hovered
in mid-air, her eyes blazed, and her hair floated around her like silvery rays of moonlight.

When she spoke, her voice came from the very foundations of the universe
, and the room shook.

He slapped his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to keep the voice out,
but her words were already engraved in his mind.

“
How dare you interfere with the Goddess? Grovel before me and pray your end comes quickly.”

An invisible power pulled him to his feet, c
loser and closer to those green eyes that now filled his vision. They were the last thing he saw before a hand white as marble and impossibly strong closed around his throat.

*****

Maria shook Jack a couple of times, his neck broken before she even started, and tossed the body to the side.

Behind the bar
, the man who served her lover the deadly concoction still burned.

“
Get used to it. You will burn forever.”

She glanced around the room, hoping to find more victims, and saw
Paulie crawl over the floor on his hands and knees. Glass splinters tore into his skin and he left a trail of blood.

His getaway was stopped by a silvery flaming sword tipped against the floor, right in front of his face. He looked up slowly along the blade and she moved it with him, until the tip pointed right at his throat with the sharp edge drawing a drop of blood.

“Die on your feet like a man.”

No one could disobey the thundering, unearthly voice, and Maria smirked as he rose on shaking legs. Then, he attempted to lift the gun and her blade moved. His hands fell to the floor, separated from the arms.

“That is for wanting to sell me.”

The next cut severed his head from the body, and she
sent it rolling over the floor.

“
That
is for kicking poor Stephan.”

Fantasies of utter destruction, of the big station and maybe a few nearby systems perishing in fire flowed through her mind, very close to becoming reality. The walls smouldered, and green flames licked Jack
’s dead body.

Humans should pay, all of them, make them pay.

It took an immense effort to overpower the temporary insanity that possessed her, but when her sword separated the fourth slaver’s head from his body, she returned to human shape.

The last one was a young man with dark skin and eyes, not much more than a boy, and he didn
’t run like the others. She halted the killing blow just as the sword touched his neck.

“
I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this would happen, I swear. I was just in it for the money.”

He met her
gaze and offered the ultimate sacrifice.

“
I can’t make it undone. Take my life as payment for his.”

Tempting
.

A life given freely would be worth more t
han mindless slaughter.

S
he couldn’t justify killing him, and doing so would diminish her own soul. The fires around them cooled down along with her temper.

“
Run.”

He s
tared at her, clearly afraid to move.

“
Run before I change my mind. Get off this station tonight. If I ever see you again, you’d better be doing good deeds.”

The young man backed away from her sword, spun on his heel
, and took her advice.

Maria glanced down at her hands, givers and takers of life. The sword no longer sported ice blue flames; it was just a piece of high carbon steel. It looked like a strange artefact, not at all like an object that belonged to her for millennia.
A moment later, she sat on the bed in their ship, weeping softly with Stephan’s lifeless body in her arms.

Maria willed Stephan
’s body to draw one more breath, forced the heart to beat one more time, keeping her lover on telekinetic life support. He had held on to life for a long time thanks to his iron will and genetically enhanced body, but the venom was too much even for him.

She had withdrawn all toxins from his systems and healed the damages to his o
rgans, but this was just a body, an empty shell void of the soul that once resided in it. She pulled her fingers over his hair, smoothing away the bangs that always fell in his eyes, before wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

“
If you can hear me, wherever you are, please know that I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t say it when you were here.”

If his soul already reached the afterlife, he would be reunited with his...

S
he stopped herself, unwilling to think the words
wife
or
family.
If he was there he would be happy and ripping him away for her own gain would be cruel. She couldn’t justify it.

I can bring the perpetrators back, though. I can kill them again, and again, and again...

She laid him down carefully, making sure the body was comfortable

“
You can choose to come back, or choose to stay on the either side. Either way, I’ll understand.”

A chair materialized next to the bed and she sat down to wait, keeping the room veiled in darkness with only a candle for company. Her katana appeared in her hands and she started to polish it. The sword was clean and shiny, it was
always
clean and shiny, but polishing it gave her something to do.

It was a sword and it wasn
’t; it could probably kill people just fine the way it was, but she used it as a conduit, a manifestation of her powers, and holding it made her feel better.

Stephan woke hours later, wondering where he was.

The room was dark, only brightened by the soft glow of a single candle that had almost burned down.

Am I on the ship? What the hell happened?

He turned his head and
squinted at the soft light. The picture that met him wouldn’t make sense on the best of days; his Goddess held a long and shiny sword over her legs. She looked like she sat on guard duty with her back completely straight and her eyes closed.

“
Babe?”

The word sounded like a croak, but was enough to make the blade disappear.

Did I really see that?

A moment later
, she knelt by his side, took his hand in hers and kissed it. Nothing made any sense at all. He couldn’t remember a thing after meeting the stranger claiming to know him.

I wanted to go back to the ship and take her dress off. Why do I feel hung-over? I can
’t have gotten that drunk.

The dress...

Maria’s clothes were torn, filled with blood and soot.

Tears lined her dusty face.

What the hell?

He struggled to sit up and closed his eyes for a second to fight the vertigo.

“What happened?”

She buried her face against his chest, crying quietly. Comforting women was difficult, and it didn
’t become any easier when it was his strong and courageous Goddess. He hadn’t even known she
could
cry.

“
Babe...”

He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, feeling the thin body tremble with held-back sobs.
He wanted to lash out at something, wanted to get back at whatever made her like this, but he couldn’t make any sense of the situation through the pounding headache. He didn’t even know where to start.

Closing his eyes again
, he tried, “Talk to me, what’s wrong? Do I need to go kill someone?”

He
said it as an attempt to joke, and was surprised to feel her shake her head.

“
No, I’ve already done that. I thought of bringing them back to life, so I could kill them again, but they didn’t seem worth the effort.”

Confusing. Be patient.

“Who did you kill? What did they do? Help me out here, I can’t remember a thing.”

Being gentle with her had never been a problem,
but now he wanted to shake her and
make
her tell him what was going on.

She swallowed hard and he heard she
struggled to be coherent.

“
I’m sorry. It’s been a really long night.”

He patted her head, wanting to e
ncourage her, and she sniffled.

“
Remember the guy who tried to talk us into the bar?”

Nodding made his head hurt even more, and she couldn
’t see it with her face buried in his shirt. A wave of nausea flowed through him and he forced himself to breathe.

“
Yeah, he was a little off, wasn’t he?”

“
Yes, a little off... Well, he turned out to be the head of a group of slave dealers, and they were sort of upset because we freed their goods and killed their friend, so they decided to murder you and sell me instead, to cover their losses.”

This is too complicated.

The rest of her story didn’t make it any better.

“
They poisoned you and you... eh... you died. And... I... I love you very much... and I might have killed them and burned the bar down.”

The last few words came out very quickly, as if she wanted to rid herself of a mountain of guilt.
It took a few moments for the information to sift into his mind.

I died. No wonder I have a headache.
Wait a minute, she said she loves me.

“
I love you too, you know that.”

She nodded and lifted her face to meet his eyes. He wiped tears from a
soot streaked cheek. Even like this, she was by far the most beautiful woman he ever saw.

“
How do you feel?”

There
was honest concern in her words.

“
Terrible, but I’ll live. Don’t worry about it.”

He pulled her tight again and
rested his chin against the top of her head.

I was dead. Did she bring me back?
Is that even possible?

Thinking made his head pound
.

“
Let’s take a shower. Getting cleaned up will make us both feel better, and then we’ll go get a cup of tea or something. Sound good?”

*****

For four-thousand years, Maria never doubted her powers, but during this long night she feared she might have misinterpreted the situation and failed.

Going back to life alone seemed gruesome, and eternity was a long time. She did realize that even if he
was more than human he would grow old and die eventually, but she expected to have at least half a century or so to approach the subject. The poison made everything too tangible too quickly.

When they returned to the room she looked around with a grimace; they had brought the smell of fire, blood, and death with them. The sheets were stained and the place looked horrible.

There might be good reasons not to flaunt powers in everyday life, but I’ve had enough of this day. I’m not dealing with this, I’m not.

She snapped her fingers for effect and everything turned so clean it shone. The nightstands held tea and cookies.

“There, that’s better.”

If he was surprised, he didn
’t even lift an eyebrow. He just shuffled after her towards the bed.

As soon as she rested her head down on the pillow, the ship rocked from weapon
’s fire. Stephan groaned.

“
Now what?”

The computer sounded merry when it announced an incoming transmission.

Stupid thing is enjoying itself. Can computers be sadists?

The message was short.

“This is Jim Benton, Captain of the station’s guards. Maria Callaway, you are under arrest for destroying station property. You will surrender yourself, the remains of Stephan Forks, and your cargo for further investigation.”

“
Hah, dream on!”

Stephan was already out of bed, peeking through a little window.

“You’ve really got them jumping. What’d you do, blow out their supply of poker chips?”

She sighed
and looked over his shoulder.

“
Computer, send the following message back. Jim Benton, Captain yadda, yadda, my reception on this station has been under all critique. I helped you solve the problem with slave trafficking, which, if I may remind you, is illegal in this sector. In return for this assistance, I want... a statue in my honour.”

Stephan chuckled, and his mirth made her change her mind.

“No, wait, ex-nay the statue, I want a tower with the statue on top of it. As for Stephan and the cargo, if you want them, come and claim them. End transmission.”

“
Everyone really thinks I’m dead, huh?”

“
You were dead.”

He rubbed his temples.

“I don’t think my body approved.”

She rested her head against his shoulder,
wrapped one arm around his waist, and pressed her other palm against his forehead.

“
Let me see that.”

As soon as she touched him,
Stephan murmured, sounding relieved. “If we could put that into cans and sell it, we’d be richer than God.”

“
Seriously?”

“
It sounded funny in my head.”

What
’s with all the commotion? What’s so interesting about us?

A slave trader murdering quietly to win a new prize might not be interesting enough to attract attention, but her little display of power would have been, provided the bar had security cameras that someone
watched.
It didn’t seem likely.

Stephan watched her with a frown.
What could she tell him?

The words,
I transformed into an ancient species and slaughtered them all with my flaming sword
were no doubt better unsaid.

“
What is the cargo, anyway?”

“
I have no idea.”

*****

Neither of them had been to the cargo bay since the incident with Captain Melota, and she had forgotten what a mess it was. Stephan grimaced.

“
I guess it wasn’t one of my best days.”

One crate
balanced haphazardly on the corners of two others, and it was pure luck it hadn’t fallen over during their journey.

“
Hang on, I’ll get the crane.”

At the moment,
Maria was more than happy with standing to the side and letting him work.

It was a matter of minutes until he had the large crate on the floor and she tugged a little at the lid with her fingernails.

“You’re not even trying, are you?”

“
C’mon, I’ve worked all night.”

He grinned and pried it open with a crowbar. After shoving some of the stuffing to the side, he whistled softly.

“I didn’t see that coming.”

Maria
reached out to touch one of the rarities before her. Her fingers hovered above Styrofoam and old-fashioned hay, not quite touching.

“
There must be mines nearby. How many do you think there are?”

Her lover shook his head and answered in a hushed
voice, seemingly as reluctant as she to disturb the peace in the large room.

“
I don’t know. We can figure it out from the manifest, but just one would be too many, don’t you think?”

Nodding, she finally allowed her fingers to touch the del
icate shell of a big bluish egg. It wasn’t quite ready to hatch, but almost.

“
They’re B’vil-ayes, right?”

Stephan sighed.

“We should put the lid back on. These are nano-cribs, keeping the right temperature. I don’t know how vulnerable they are at this stage, but we shouldn’t risk anything.”

She nodded
in agreement, and plopped down on the floor to watch him close the box.

*****

The computer sounded like it gave a lecture.

“
B’vil-ayes are known to be a docile species who drift on the winds of Barh’lot. They have light bodies supported by exoskeletons, giving strength, durability, and speed. They mature quickly and are highly intelligent. These properties make them a perfect source of labour.”

Stephan said,
“I’ve heard of them. People use them in diamond-mines where other species would die within days.”

Oh, great, they get to suffer a miserable existence in an environment completely alien to them before succumbing to pressure and poisonous gasses.

“You know what? If people are too cheap to pay for robots, they don’t need to get it done at all.”

“
I don’t like this. I bet the station management is working together with those gentlemen you encountered.”

“
Were.”

He lifted an eyebrow and she elaborated,
“They
were
working. They’re not doing anything anymore.”

“
I guess not... You know, I think the station head will get a visit from a ghost.”

Maria
looked into his eyes and a shadow of a smile crept over her lips.

“
You’re very handsome for a ghost. I’m coming with you.”

Please, let
’s not argue about this.

S
aying something as if it was already settled worked on most humanoids, but usually not on Stephan, and he didn’t fall for it this time either. He gave her a stern look.

“
Absolutely not. I’m not dragging you further into this.”

“
What? Why? You’re the one who died, not me.”

Maybe
a bit blunt, but it gets the point across.

He wrapped his arms a
round her and pulled her close.

“
I’m really sorry I died. I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’ll try not to do it anytime soon.”

He paused to press his lips against her
forehead, and when he continued it was in a more serious voice.