Page 50 of The Interstellar Rake's Irresistible Kiss
Chapter 15
She woke when she hadn’t expected to see anything ever again except maybe the baleful eye of the black hole as she was sucked down.
A low, powerful hum through the bulkhead at her back told her she wasn’t on the shut-down space station. This had to be theGrandiloquence.
Blackworm had her.
There’d been a time when this moment of realizing her own helplessness would’ve left hercurled in a shattered, girl-shaped lump of terror. Now…this was another chance to survive.
She tried to push herself upright and almost screamed at the sharp, stinging pain coursing through her body. It felt as if every nerve and bone had fallen asleep, that strange tingling ache amplified by a thousand.
Good. It meant she was alive to fight.
She stretched each muscle cautiously, until thewaves of agony receded, leaving her weak. Well, she’d been weak before, and so what?
When she and the other abducted Earthers had been rescued by Raz and transported on theGrandy, they’d been given beautiful staterooms. This room was plain by comparison; the berth of a junior-level crewmember like Amanu, probably. Other than the bunk she was lying on, there were no other furnishings or decorations.
Not much better than a stasis pod except she got to think.
She forced herself to her still-tingling feet and tried the door. Not shockingly, it was locked. The en suite sonic facilities built into a small cubby were functional but the even smaller galley alcove wasn’t. She swallowed hard against the rasping dryness of her throat. Weren’t sacrificial victims supposed to be fattened up and fetedbefore getting all sacrificed and whatever?
She went through the room methodically. A low storage chest was locked; maybe she could bash that open with…okay, no, keep looking.
There was nothing in the room except her. But wasn’t that a cosmic truth?
She snorted quietly to herself. Of all the times to become philosophical.
She went through the pockets of Nor’s fatigues, starting with the pouchwhere she’d found the med kit she gave him. There’d been so much dark blood, darker than a human’s…
For the first time since casting off the paralysis of the stunner, her hands shook. But she stiffened against the desolation. Nor had made it through worse than a stun blast and some concussion damage. He’d even left one of his scars unhealed just to show what he could survive. He was out thereright now. And he was coming for her.
She just had to keep herself out of the black hole until then.
Her blaster was gone, of course, as was the dat-pad that had been on her forearm. Her pockets were empty. Since she’d stolen the fatigues right off Nor’s very practical body and he would’ve had at least a source of light and a utility tool on him, she had to assume one of Blackworm’s people hadrifled through her clothes while she’d been unconscious. She grimaced. Probably it was the insect one with all the hands. At least they hadn’t left her in one of those creepy white nightgowns or, worse yet, naked.
Deep in the bottom of the last pocket, almost lost in an ill-fitting wrinkle because the pants were too large for her, she felt a small bump. She pulled out the little wrapped candy.
She couldn’t remember the rules for rationing supplies, but it wasn’t like this candy was going to last. And anyway, this might beherlast moment.
She popped the niblet in her mouth and closed her eyes at the almost piercingly sugary spurt of caramel-like sweetness. She let herself imagine Nor’s lips following, the simple sweetness turning to deep passion…
When the candy melted away, she wasleft with nothing. The booster drug was gone from her system, she had nothing in her pockets, and honestly no chance of escape.
But she would remember her two nights with Nor until her very last atoms were wrenched apart.
When the door opened some hours later, she bum-rushed the two aliens standing in the way. There was some advantage in knowing they weren’t going to kill her right away butthat they did intend to kill her eventually—that certainty canceled a lot of potential guilt about biting, kicking in the general direction of ball sacs, and screaming her head off.
Not that it did her any good.
Apparently mantid aliens didn’t have balls and tasted like corroded pennies, yuck. It clacked at her—angrily, maybe—as it grabbed her with three hands which, stripped of the Christmasmittens that had protected it from the stun net, looked like grappling hooks. It lifted her off her feet, raising the fourth hand menacingly, and Trixie shrieked her defiance as she struggled in its hold.
The other alien—the humanoid-shaped one wearing the full suit of armor—grabbed the mantid’s arm and said something harsh. Why hadn’t she gotten that universal translator? Because she’d beentoo scared? The old version of her hadnoidea what scared was!
The armored alien clamped its hand over her mouth.
She choked on the heavy weight of its metalled fist, and she knew if she bit down, she’d just break her teeth.
The alien grunted something. When she didn’t respond beyond narrowing her eyes, it spoke again, the words slowly resolving into English. “…Or we’ll hurt you.”
