Page 43 of On A Rift's Edge
Teo rose to his feet, but instead of attacking, he threw a spherical tangle of plant branches on the floor.
“Parlay.” Teo raised both of his hands above his head as he said the word. He had altered himself into human form and now wore casual athletic wear and a pair of new-appearing sneakers.
Lyall paused, two more knives in his hands. He could refuse the offer of negotiation and fight the hopper, but this particular Riftworld custom between enemies wasn’t invoked lightly.
“You first,” Lyall said.
Teo bobbed his head yes, then crouched down and held his hand over the clump of plant matter. A thorn shot up and hit Teo’s palm, drawing blood. Several glowing lights lit up inside the plant as the reddened branch retracted into the mass of thorned sticks.
The plant tightened into a perfect sphere and rolled forward, doing an excellent imitation of an Earth tumbleweed.
Except the Earth variety wasn’t used to start peace negotiations and didn’t feed on blood. Humans called this Riftworld species seymours, for some damn reason. Lyall had never cared enough to look up why.
Lyall crouched down as well, keeping a close eye on Teo, and held out a finger to the plant. Another thorny branch shot out, stabbing into the tip of Lyall’s finger and then sliding back into the main body of the seymour. Lyall winced and sucked at his stuck finger. He hated the damn bloodsucking plants, but they established inviolable rules for negotiation. If either he or Teo attacked each other, the poison in the thorns would incapacitate the aggressor at best and kill him at worst.
The seymour vibrated, making a rattling noise, then rolled backward to rest at a point equidistant from Lyall and Teo.
“I don’t know what the fuck you want, but you’d better explain it fast.” Lyall hated to take his eyes off the hopper, but he couldn’t help a quick glance toward the bedroom door. Kat could hear their voices and wake up, and he didn’t want the damn hopper to be the first thing Kat saw when he got out of bed.
“I’m here to help you.” Teo smiled at him, flashing dazzling white teeth. Either Arimanius had given him pointers on maintaining a human alterform, or Teo had abducted a human to help his transformation, as he had threatened to do with Kat. The hopper tilted his head in the direction of the bedroom. “Did you tire your little gatito out last night? I take it he’s still sleeping.”
“Last night is none of your fucking business.” Lyall couldn’t understand why Teo had taken the risk of breaking through the sigil wards and setting up this parlay. He didn’t like unpredictable enemies. “Why the hell would you want to help me?”
“Because I don’t need you as competition.” Teo gestured around at the room. “You’re good at acting human, and you know what my new capitán wants from his officers. That’s why he wants you back. Far better for me if you run off with the pretty human the Matchmaker chose for you.”
The words hit Lyall like a blow. This wasn’t possible. How had Teo found out? If Zale had somehow figured it out and passed along the information to the Colony, he would rip every tentacle off of him, one by one.
Teo laughed, obviously pleased he had shocked Lyall into silence. “Yes, the capitán knows about Kat. He’s planning to use him to force you into another indenture contract.”
“I’ll kill Arimanius if he goes anywhere near him.” Lyall put a deadly emphasis on each word, but the hopper only smiled.
“He’s already quite close to him.” Teo ruffled his black hair and looked thoughtful. “What does he call his Earth shape? Ah, yes. Paul. Paul Cicero. Has your gatito told you about him?”
Lyall wanted to believe Teo was lying or this was all a plot by Arimanius, but the pieces fit together too well. The don of the Colony had tech that allowed him to display a human form, although it had limitations. Anything more intimate than a brief touch with a human would disrupt the effect, and during a rift storm he would settle into his Riftworld shape of a massive humanoid rodent.
That was why “Paul” had told Kat he wasn’t ready for physical intimacy or whatever the fuck he had said. Arimanius must have also set up the kidnapping by asking for Kat to give him a tour of the petting zoo. After that had failed, he had pretended to hide out in the ranch’s sauna. Teo and the twins had likely been driven away in the “venture capitalist’s” private limo as everyone had been searching for them around the ranch. If it hadn’t been for Kat figuring out how to trick Teo into changing Lyall into his hellhound form, the whole operation would have worked perfectly.
“He has another love conference set up with your gatito tonight.” Teo scrunched up his face in concentration. “Is that the right way to say it? Anyway, I’ve told you everything I know. Take your human back to your clan. Even the capitán isn’t going take on an entire clan of hellhounds.”
17
Kat woke up happier and more relaxed than he had been in years. Last night’s sex had been awesome, and whatever happened between him and Lyall, he would never wonder again if the hellhound found him desirable. Kat wanted more, of course; he always did. But if casual hook-ups were all that Lyall was capable of, he could at least enjoy them.
His good mood didn’t last long.
First off, the electricity hadn’t turned back on, which was unusual. He glanced at his back-up analog alarm clock, which he hadn’t set last night, and grimaced. It was close to noon, and he had promised his parents he would pick up their new foster cat from a nearby shelter this morning. Hopefully he could call them and collect the new kitty a little later.
Lyall wasn’t in bed next to him, which was also disappointing, but he had probably woken up early.
Kat rolled out of bed naked and decided he wasn’t going to cover up. Maybe if Lyall had been waiting for him to get out of bed, he might appreciate the view. Kat’s previous Sunday plans for cat delivery, grocery shopping, and laundry didn’t seem nearly as interesting as early afternoon sex, if Lyall was up for it.
A quick check of the apartment turned up no sign of the hellhound. He couldn’t have gone far, since he was Kat’s bodyguard. Trying not to feel abandoned, he cleaned up and got dressed.
A round of electronic chirping from various appliances told him the oddly delayed rift storm effects had stopped, so he checked his watch phone.
That was a mistake.
He had a long string of text messages from his family, which grew angrier and more hysterical as he skimmed them. He was about to send off a snippy retort to Jenny that he couldn’t be expected to answer phone messages during a rift storm when the banging on the door started.
