Page 52 of Vicious
“He’s not mine to give,” Captain Glenn said, his aim steady. “Nowgo.”
“I have what he craves.” Parker narrowed his starburst eyes. “He’s most definitelymine.”
Poh pushed me closer, almost within kicking distance of Parker. Almost within the captain’saim.
Another gun cocked behind me, and a voice floated over the blood thrashing between myears.
“For the last time, Parker,” Mase said. “Take your hand, shove it up your ass, and fuckyourself.”
Light jumped across Parker’s eyes, this time dark blue and with jagged spikes, and I sensed Mase’s whole world dropping out from underneath him even though I couldn’t see him. It was He, ready to meet the She already sizzling through his veins and eating himalive.
Mase gasped and choked at the sametime.
I wished I could run to him, help him. I dipped my chin to my chest as much as Poh allowed, my whole body hurting for what I’d done to the man I loved. He would never forgive me, if I ever saw himagain.
Poh shoved me into the entryway and dragged me into a sprint toward the connectingship.
“Watch out, Captain!” Maseyelled.
I whipped around in time to see one of Parker’s men clip the captain over the head with the butt of his gun. The captain lurched to the side, dropping his. Another of Parker’s men buried his fist into the captain’stemple.
Oh, Feozva,helphim.
Almost to the othership.
A gunshotfired.
All the remaining heat flew from my body. I jerked from Poh’s grip to sail back toward them, but she held tight and hauled me around the corner into Parker’sship.
Half awareness flashed details of the ship while Poh dragged me away from theVicious—warm air, gray-marbled flooring with a slight bounce to it, brown and cream walls that held the scent of fresh paint. No titanium insight.
When Poh stopped at a cross-section and peered around a corner, her grip on my mouth loosened. I bared my teeth and chomped down. She released me and I whirled, breaking an ice pick from mynecklace.
She snatched her gun from its holster and leveled it at my head. I froze and stared down the barrel, my insidessouring.
“You—you found it,” I said. “Yourgun.”
Determination set her features into hard planes. “Idid.”
Or had the doppelganger just simply given it back to her. “You’re really turning me in, aren’tyou?”
Heavy grunts and shouts echoed down the length of the ship’s entryway behind me and around the corner. My feet itched to run back tothem.
“Let’s continue, shall we?” Poh gestured with thegun.
Her betrayal punched the air from my lungs. If I ventured farther into Parker’s ship, she would steal me away to the Ringers’ space station like a Feozva-damned criminal. The time to act was now. Or at least prettysoon.
Chewing my lip, I did as she asked, slowly as if I had defeat-ridden weights dangling off my feet. Anything to make her feel like she’d won, even though she wouldn’t. She followed me around the corner into another hallway, her gun still aimed at my midsection. I kept my steps slow, deliberate until she was close enough that I could feel her breath on the back of myarm.
With my stomach tightened into a hard knot, I abruptly stopped and squatted, swinging my leg out behind me and hitting her feet hard enough to make her stumble. I leaped to my feet and arced the tip of my ice pick down toward her neck. She jerked out of my reach, but she was too slow. I caught her in the shoulder, and an unexpected metal on metal clang sounded. What had thatbeen?
She hissed. Distracted, she didn’t notice my other ice pick racing toward the twin lines of scales on her face. She wrenchedback.
The butt of her gun crashed into my cheek. The floor tilted. I wentdown.
She walked toward me until she straddled my hips with her feet, then yanked my ice pick from her shoulder and tossed it away with an annoyed twist to her mouth. “Are youdone?”
“What about keeping me alive, Poh?” I asked, my voice shaking. “How does that mesh with you being a fuckingtraitor?”
