Pride x Familiar (69 page)

He regarded me for a few moments. “History has
forgotten Kallum Kampfer, but I see you haven’t.”

I nodded. “I’m a Primatriarch. I’m privy to a
great many things—a great many truths.” I hesitated with my next
words. “Thank you for everything you did for us.” I hesitated
again. “I’m sorry…for your loss.”

His eyes searched my face. I watched his
expression darken as he did, but I also saw the pain of loss run
across it. “Like I said, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

I pressed on. “You spoke of two things. What is
the second?”

He held up two fingers once more. “If my
bloodline and Fatina’s survived, then I want to know if others
endured.”

“You mean the other Original Twelve?”

“Correct. Pretty and smart. I’ll give you a
score of eight point five out of ten.”

“Uh—eh?”

He leaned forward and pressed three fingers
against the transparent steel.

“Ravana, Avienda, and Merkala. Together we
formed a team.” He closed his fingers into a fist. “I want to know
about the third pilot’s bloodline. I want to know if they’ve
survived to this day.”

I tipped my head slightly. “Why?”

The smile he gave me made him appear inhuman.
“Because I want to kill them. Each and every last surviving
descendant.”

Horror spread through my body.

His smile grew even more twisted. “I want to
bring her lineage to an end.”

I almost stepped away. “Why?”

His face relaxed, yet he looked regretful.
“Because it’s the only thing I can do for him. To fulfill his
revenge on the woman who betrayed him, and appease his soul.”

He stood up.

“If you help me, then you’ll have my
co-operation. Do we have an agreement?”

“Your co-operation. What does that entail?”

“I’ll do what you ask of me, provided it’s
within reason and doesn’t go against my nature or my way of
thinking.”

“That’s narrow minded. Then you’re saying you’re
not open to suggestion.”

He smiled at me. “No, if you can convince me to
do something, then I’ll do it.”

“Very well. What if I ask you to swear
allegiance to the Raynar Pride?”

“No. Not going to happen.”

“What if it’s allegiance to another Pride?”

“No way, not going to happen either.”

I snorted. “I had to at least try.”

“You didn’t try convincing me.”

I glanced down for a moment, and considered the
terms of his conditions. “You’re asking me to help you commit
murder—to kill innocent people.”

“Are you telling me you don’t have blood on your
hands?”

“And if I refuse? What if I say the price is too
high?” I looked at him with a steady gaze. “Is killing off an
entire bloodline what you truly want?”

“If it’ll ease the pain, then yes.”

“But that’s not what you told Fallon
Acacia.”

He hesitated for a heartbeat. “She told
you?”

I nodded.

Desanto snorted. “That was before I had time to
deal with his memories.”

I shook my head slowly. “I cannot agree to this.
I cannot help you kill those people if they’re still alive.”

Desanto was quiet for a long while. Then he
walked back to the bed and sat on its edge.

I watched him lower his head into his hands.

Silence filled the air, except for the gentle
thrum of the life support systems.

When he broke the silence, I heard the strain in
his voice.

“You don’t know what it’s like…to feel the pain
of his loss. It just doesn’t go away.”

I understood what he meant.

The death of Lisanna Ekaterine Alleyne – the
girl that Kallum Kampfer, Meister of the Rho-Khan Ravana, and
supreme commander of the Second Fleet, came to adore.

Her death broke him.

He committed suicide on the final day of the
invasion, on the day the War of Supremacy came to an end.

And now that man’s memories were inside the body
of a young, almost seventeen year old boy.

I swallowed and came to a decision, then walked
around to the cell’s entrance. Then I placed my palm on the clear
scanning plate, and spoke my pass-phrase. When the door opened, I
hesitated only a moment before climbing the steps into the cell
block.

And then I approached the young man seated on
the edge of the narrow bunk.

I knelt before him on bended knee.

He looked at me, and I saw tears on his
face.

Desanto shook his head slowly. “I don’t want
this. I don’t want this pain. It’s…it’s so hard…so hard to keep
down. I feel…I feel like slitting my wrists…and just ending
it.”

Yes, I knew that too.

The reports stated he cried often, almost always
in his sleep.

Cried until he ran out of tears was how the
psycho analyst phrased it, when she briefed me on his state of
mind.

I’d viewed the recordings in private; they were
painful to watch.

Looking at him carefully, I could see he’d
rested little in the two weeks since he’d been brought here. He
looked worn out, and he’d lost a little weight too.

I bit my lower lip and decided to trust my
instincts.

I reached out my arms, and embraced him.

For now, it was all I could do for him.

But I made him a vow.

“If you help me…I promise to do everything I can
to help you.”

I felt his arms slip around me.

I heard him sob into my chest.

And I heard his whispered words.

“Thank you.”

(Simone)

The car took me to a dock somewhere in Island
Three.

It was a rundown affair, with much of the
machinery surrounding it in disrepair.

But the starship that floated in the alcove was
anything but junk.

It was beautiful and looked brand new.

Trident shaped, with sleek lines, and massive
outboard engines. It sported a black hull with a gun-metal grey
underbody, and stabilizer fins like those on an aircraft. It
reminded me of a holovid image I’d seen once, of an ancient Terran
aircraft called the Black Bird. There was a definite resemblance to
it, but only a resemblance.

I pulled my travel suitcase along behind me.

I walked up to where the boarding ramp touched
the dock.

Two crew members awaited me, a young man and
woman dressed in black shipboard uniforms. The man was a clear foot
taller than the woman. They had a military air about them, which
made me wonder just what kind of ship I was about to board.

Their eyes took in my appearance. There was no
animosity or challenge in their eyes. I felt like I was being
scanned by Sentinel bots with a human appearance.

They both walked up to me. The man offered to
take my travel case for me and I thanked him for it.

The woman asked in a perfunctory manner, “Simone
Alucard Raynar?”

I blinked quickly. “Yes, ma’am.”

The woman nodded in acknowledgement. “You have
everything you require?”

I hesitated. “I was told me to pack for a
month.”

Again, another acknowledging nod. “Very good.
The Seeress rarely comes into port at Pharos, so we keep a full
inventory aboard. That’s not to say we don’t enter port elsewhere
within the Hurakan Nebula. Nonetheless, I doubt there’s anything
you won’t find aboard ship.”

In my peripheral vision I saw cargo containers
being loaded onto the vessel. Despite appearances at least some of
the surrounding dock machinery was functional.

Looking at the starship, I asked, “What’s her
name?”

“
Ishtar
.” I sensed a hint of pride in the
woman’s reply. “Her name is
Ishtar
. She’s a deep space
Pathfinder.”

I rolled the name on my tongue.
“
Ishtar
….”

The woman half turned toward the ship. “Let’s
get you settled aboard. The Seeress will want to see you before we
depart.”

A sudden bout of nerves held me back. I
swallowed and asked, “How long—how long before we return to
Pharos?”

The woman’s matter-of-fact tone did not help my
state of mind. “A month, maybe longer. It all depends on the
Seeress. We go where she wants us to go.”

“Longer than a month?”

The woman neither shrugged nor smiled. “Like I
said, we go wherever the Seeress fancies.”

She turned toward the ship and began walking up
the boarding ramp.

The man stayed beside me as I struggled to get
going.

My mother’s words haunted me.

Go find your answers, then hurry back. If
Serenity gets her claws into him too deep, you may never free him
from her. And I can’t do anything about the Avenirs’ plans.

I started walking up the boarding ramp.

You’re the only one that can truly free him
from his past.

I straightened my back and my posture.

You’re the only one that can give him
peace.

As I walked into the starship, I gave the dock
behind me one more look.

Perhaps, you’re the only one that can change
the outcome.

Then I turned and stepped into the vessel.

If only they’d let me see him one more time
before I had to leave.

No matter how determined I wanted to be, I was
unable to quell the turmoil in my heart.

# End Volume 1 #

# To be continued in
Pride x
Meister
#

Albert Ruckholdt is a software engineer
specializing in accounting and customer relations management
systems, with an Honors Degree in Computer Science from Macquarie
University, Sydney, Australia.

He lives in Sydney, Australia with his family
and two dogs, Lila and Saya.

Pride x Familiar is his first eBook release.