Chapter Twenty-three

 

 

 

“You’re quiet.” Quinn was making lunch with help from Mekhi while they waited for Akron to come back.

“I was thinking about Piper. This isn’t like her. She wouldn’t just disappear and send me nothing but a strange text. I’m worried.”

“I can go fetch her.”

“She’s not a dog, Thrice.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he looked at her. “Brandi, I can get her. She should be here with you.”

“Thank you.” She got up and hugged him. “You can hug me back I don’t bite.” His hands came around her carefully.

Family. She closed her eyes to keep the hunger deep inside. This was what she dreamed about as a child. People who cared about whether she lived or died. No, it wasn’t the family she envisioned it was much better.

“I love all of you.” She told them after she sat back down.

“They call themselves the collectors.” Akron came up the stairs from the basement. “There is no record of their planet. No one has ever been to their home world.”

“What do they collect?” Brandi asked them.

“Oddities. Let’s say a patron with more money than brains wants a pet, even if it’s humanoid. The collectors will get him one. They deal in rare, hard to find beings.”

“Then they don’t want me.”

“No.”

She looked into Jabari’s eyes. His ice blue gaze was so chilling that for a minute she was afraid to touch him.

“My kind are rare. Finding their home planet is almost unheard of.”

“They want you because you’re an Ancentrass?”

“They don’t die or if they do you will never know about it,” Slade told her.

“I’d say I was surprised, but I am well aware of beings thinking they have the right to own another. How do we stop him?”

“The next time he comes after me; I will kill him.”

She pushed at his hand. “That’s not good enough, where there is one there are hundreds.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“We need a plan.”

Thrice and Slade pulled their chairs closer to her.

“This is going to be good,” Thrice said with a laugh.

“I’ve seen that look before, right before we underestimated her on the battlefield.”

She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Here’s what I think we should do.”

 

*~*~*~*

 

The small white lights were trained on the fountain. It shot up in the air with a symmetry that reminded him of Brandi. That wasn’t quite true. Everything reminded him of her. The sound of female laughter became hers. The click of heels on the ground brought back the memory of her carrying her shoes. He saw a female walking down the street with her hair high in a ponytail. For a moment, he was sure it was Brandi with her braids on top of her head. All he could see was her. The pain that one day she would be gone shattered him.

He knew what gone was. He understood Slade so much better. The rage that simmers deep inside of you because the only person who really knew you or loved you isn’t there. It hurt, this thought that brought him closer to his brother. The image of Brie in her casket was haunting him. He woke this morning with a start because it wasn’t Brie anymore it was Brandi.

When the time came, he would ask Slade to place the cuffs on him to keep him in his humanoid form. After the funeral, he would have them lock him away until it was safe to be around him. He stared out of unseeing eyes. That time might never come.

“Don’t move.”

He heard the male approaching him, but he didn’t care. They sat the hover down a hundred yards away and tried to creep up on him. He could have told him he was created; you'd have to do better than that. But why bother?

“What do you want?” The male brought back up with him this time.

“To get paid. You’re worth a lot.”

“You don’t want to do this.” It wasn’t like him to give his enemy a way out. Sometimes you did what you wished others would do for you.

The man laughed, it was hard and harsh. It was something he was learning to fit in with the humans it didn’t come naturally.

He did try to warn them.

“Get up. If you try anything, I’ll kill you or your human pet.”

He stood. They surrounded him.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. I checked, and she is dying. No need to kill her.”

“Why?”

“Your new master doesn’t want you to share your life force with anyone except maybe him. Hope you’re into males.”

“You wanted to kill my mate before I mated with her?”

“It was either that or bring her along and find a way to kill her while you watched. The first was easier.”

“You wanted to take from me the only mate I’ll ever have?” He could not understand a species that didn’t understand the sanctity of two people coming together. Even the Scientists understood it. They kept it from the created, used it like a weapon against them, but they understood it.

“A bit over dramatic don’t you think? Females are plentiful. Please your new master, and he’ll give you one or two.”

“Take a seat.” One of the males behind him growled. They strapped him in before closing the doors and taking off.

“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have just transferred him.”

“He’s wearing something that won’t allow transfer. I didn’t know that until my first encounter with him.”

“How do you know it’s not a trap? He didn’t even try to fight.”

The first male pushed a button. “Brandi, where are you?” Jabari’s voice could be heard in the hover.

“I’m sorry love we’re running late. Sit tight we’ll be there.”

“I will.”

“Brandi?”

“Yes?”

“Be safe.”

“I will, promise.”

“We’ll be on the ship and away from the planet before they ever realize he's gone.”

“Taking me to my new master.”

“This is going to be easier than I thought.”

“Where am I going?”

“You’ll have to ask the collectors for that information. I don’t ask; I hunt.”

They sat in tense silence until they reached the ship. The hangar doors opened. He brought the hover in for a soft landing. They waited until the doors closed, and the room was pressurized before opening the door to the hover. The hangar was large with crates lined on one side and separate spaces for six hovers, only two were filled.

Loud alarms were blaring. “Intruder alert!”

“Cut the noise.”

“The ship says there are intruders with us in the hangar. It’s detecting several heartbeats.”

“Look around do you see anyone here with us?”

“The ship…”

“Ship, show me the heart beats.”

A display came up, but it was empty.

“Cut the noise. We’ll have to get it fixed on the first decent spaceport we reach.”

“Where is my merchandise?” A nasal voice spoke over the noise of the computer.

“Don’t press me the only reason you're alive is because you pay well. Meet me in the conference room.”

“Move.”

“I demand to see the captain.”

“You’re in luck your looking at him. No, before you ask I won’t let you go. Anything else.”

“No.”

“Then move. I’m really disappointed you know. I thought you would want to know my name. Try to appeal to my more reasonable side.”

They walked down a corridor that was white with metal rods at each entrance.

“I never ask the names of the males I’m going to kill.”

“Did you hear that?” he asked his crew. “You have me afraid now.” He laughed. “Go get the ship ready to take off.”

They went left while the crew went right. There was a large double door in front of them that opened.

Sitting at a table were the creatures that Brandi drew.

“Lar you captured him.”

“I told you I would”

“Why isn’t he chained?”

“I’m taking him to a holding cell after this.”

“What the hell! Bridge!” The ship shuddered sending them falling before the artificial gravity was cut.

The collectors were spinning out of control trying to grab onto the table. Lar was going for the gun he dropped. Jabari switched forms grounding himself on the floor.

He kicked the gun out of reach before he wrapped his hand around Lar’s throat, his claws digging into his skin.

“You know my name you can’t kill me.”

The gravity was back. The collectors fell to the floor. Slade came in.

“Move, and you're dead.”

“We’re related can you tell?” Jabari asked Lar.

Slade picked up the collectors one for each hand.

“Is the crew subdued?”

“Yes. Phoenix is teaching Brandi how to navigate.”

One more memory to keep him warm on the cold nights without her, and he was wasting his time on Lar. He left the room dragging the male behind him. If he was still alive when they reached the bridge, then he would decide what to do with him.

The lift took years to come and even longer to reach the bridge. Brandi turned and gave him a smile. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. He tossed Lar to Thrice as she ran to him. He caught her when she threw herself at him.

“I’m driving, flying, steering… No navigating. Phoenix is teaching me everything.” She wiggled, and he put her down following her back to her chair.

“Thrice bring up the buyer.”

A non-humanoid picture was put on the screen.

“He’s afraid of dying. He’s also afraid of females.”

“What?”

“I know, right? From what we could learn, his species doesn’t leave the planet. They believe that females are unnatural and will one day cause the destruction of the galaxy.”

“Incoming call,” Thrice told her.

“That’s him. Put it on the screen.”

“Collector do you have my Ancentrass?”

“Your collector is all tied up.” She pointed to the corner where Slade placed them along with Lar.

“I’m Brandi, Jabari’s female mate.”

“I will not talk to you.”

“If you hang up, I will bring a ship full of females to your planet.”

“What do you want?”

“For you to stop hunting my mate and his people. I have already sent word to your ruling body that if one Ancentrass ends up on your planet that the Defenders of Rios IV will invade and conquer you.”

“You can’t do that. I know you’re not from that planet.”

“Actually, I can. I called them up and spoke with the female in command. It turns out that though I am not from that planet, we must be related, or I wouldn’t look like this. She agreed to mount a full-scale attack on your planet. Fortunately for me your close to a class M planet that they are interested in.”

There was a chime behind the male.

“That must be someone in the ruling body calling. You better answer it. Remember, don’t make me come down there.” She broke the transmission, and Fie jumped into her arms.

“Did I hear you hissing at the nasty blob like creature? I was hissing too. Now, what do we do with them?”

“They won’t stop coming after you,” Quinn told him.

“I know.”

He walked across the room his eyes on Lar.

“Are you going to kill him?” Her voice was soft when she asked touching him in his heart. “I won’t stop you, but I have a better idea.”

“Strange isn’t it? She’s the only reason you’re still breathing, and you wanted to kill her.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I called Ancentrass. It’s a capital offense to come after their people. Especially the ones who are gifted. That would be you. They requested we bring them there for sentencing.”

“You can’t do that. You don’t know what they do to convicted felons.”

“They castrate you, then you serve in one of the houses until you die. Which is nicer than what you tried to do to me and my planet.”

“I love the way you think. Lar I guess telling me your name saved your life.”

Brandi turned around and followed Phoenix’s directions on how to input the new coordinates.