Chapter 6
Talon’s half-pretend anger that he had nursed so carefully the whole way back, had disappeared the minute he closed the door behind him and headed down the steps. Cat’s face had told him that she had spoken with the Sethari behind his back, or whatever you wanted to call it when they communicated with each other in their thoughts, but she hadn’t had a clue about the energy vampire’s devious actions. Her eyes had widened as his last arrow had hit the mark. He had seen that very well. Her pulse had started racing, and the anger he had felt in her, almost as intensely as his own, had turned to complete confusion.
Now she was on her own. Not really, of course, because the Sethari would be there at any minute to pick her up, or he would at least give her mental instructions about where to find him. His plan really was cunning and clever, especially for a Sethari, Talon had to admit. Still, the whole thing didn’t sit right with him, and he wanted nothing more than to turn around so that he could stay near Cat. He bared his teeth and was happy that Cat couldn’t see his hesitation. One word from her would have been enough to change his mind. She was his companion, and if she couldn’t understand what that meant, then there was nothing he could do about it. Even so, he was almost happy that she wasn’t alone, even if it was a damned Sethari watching out for her.
Leaving her by herself had been the hardest thing he had ever done. Even his anger, which he had thrown himself into on purpose, didn’t last long enough to make saying goodbye easy. He would never forget the look on her face when he turned away from her. She had looked so vulnerable, despite the stubborn features around her mouth and the flashes of anger in her eyes. No wonder these humans slid from one catastrophe to the next, since they felt so many emotions all at once.
When he had seen the Sethari sitting next to Sharita, his first impulse had been to turn around, or to rip the energy vampire to shreds. It had only taken him a split second to realize that he had walked right into a trap, and when the Sethari had slipped into his head so easily, as easy as it was for him to breathe or kiss his Cat, he had had no choice but to listen. Or, in other words, to see, since Shazuul wasn’t that good with words. Talon assumed that he had showed him the same things he had showed Cat. Images of Cat’s mother, who looked so much like Cat, even though the color of her skin was different, that it took his breath away. No wonder Cat trusted the Sethari, because the things he offered in his memories were really convincing. Nobody who saw Shazuul holding the tiny babies in his arms would ever think him capable of doing something evil. Even Talon could feel himself go soft against his will and start to wonder if his suspicions about Cat’s new friend hadn’t been unfounded.
He tried in vain to shake Shazuul free, but he was holding on tight inside his head like a parasite. Calm Talon, Shazuul said in his head, and that was almost worse than seeing strange memories, in which you had the starring role, play like a movie. Just when he thought he was going to lose it any second now, the Sethari loosened his grip on his thoughts, and he was finally alone in his own body again. His breathing slowed, but he felt the lion inside him stretching his head and making himself ready.
“What do you want from me?” Talon asked with a deceptively calm voice.
It was Sharita who answered him. This didn’t surprise him, since Shazuul had such a limited command of the human language. He should probably even be thankful to the little guy for leaving the communication to Sharita. Talon recognized that he had underestimated Shazuul and his skills. That would never happen to him again.
“Our mutual friend here has convinced me to help you and your little human wife,” she said with a voice that sounded like liquid honey. Talon didn’t care for the sweet and sticky stuff but could see how men from Earth might react to it. He looked at his information source and took in every detail about her appearance. Now that he was seeing her for the first time, instead of just hearing her, he completed his picture of a hard and calculating business woman with a further, and not exactly flattering description. Sharita was tiny, almost dwarflike, and without her waves of curls, she could have passed for a boy. Her light blue eyes had a hard shine to them, telling anyone who had eyes in their head, and hadn’t been fooled by her girl-like appearance, not to engage in games with her.
“We don’t have any mutual friends,” Talon replied, even though he suspected that it was unwise to anger her. “If you are talking about the Sethari, then why don’t you ask him why he has secretly taken up residence in my head, instead of telling Cat and me openly what he had planned.”
Sharita smiled tight-lipped and gave a sigh of exaggerated patience. “Because it is important for your kitty cat to believe that she is alone and abandoned. You didn’t actually think that someone like Ferthoris III would just walk into your department store, without any bodyguards, and let you hand him over to the Krak, did you?” She raised her plucked eyebrows as Talon gave Shazuul an angry look. Was there nothing the little bastard didn’t know about?
In response, Shazuul wagged his snout, which made him look irritatingly embarrassed and then he smiled sheepishly. Sorry, he said in Talon’s thoughts, Shazuul need know everything. Or no can help Cat.
“Out of my head,” Talon growled. He realized that his lion was becoming increasingly restless, and he was having a hard time keeping him in check. “Either tell me right now what you two have planned, or I am going to go right back to Cat. You can keep making plans, for all I care. We don’t need your help.”
Sharita grinned, baring her pearly white teeth. They were so perfect that they couldn’t possibly be real. “Calm down, my boy,” she said patronizingly. “This is for your own good.” She paused for effect. Talon passed the time by imagining himself putting his hands around her neck and shaking the truth out of her.
“To cut a long story short, your kitty cat will move in here with me. I will offer her to your king. He will come to The Red Feather, and Shazuul will take him out of commission. Then you and Cat can take him to the Krak.” Her smug smile made his blood boil.
Talon laughed condescendingly. He just couldn’t help it, because what they were suggesting was comical, even if he was the only one who could see that. “That plan has so many weak spots, that I don’t even know where to begin.” It felt good to limit himself to facts, and it gave him an unexpected amount of pleasure to rip their ridiculous plan to shreds. “First,” he raised one finger, “why do you think Ferthoris will respond to your invitation at all? Until now, you have only dealt with me in exchanging information. He doesn’t even know you.”
What was that gurgling sound coming from the Sethari’s throat? Was it a laugh? Sharita’s smile widened into a malicious grin. “Oh Talon,” she sighed, and tilted her head to the side dramatically. “Are you really that naïve? You have seen for yourself what I have to offer here. I don’t just deal in information.” Talon stared at her. His cheeks reddened as a thousand thoughts raced through his head at once. How in the world could he have overlooked something so obvious? A man like Ferthoris surely knew about every serious bordello in the whole universe. Did Sharita and Shazuul really expect him to drop Cat off here like a sack of potatoes? Surely not.
“Second,” he continued, “he won’t show up here without his bodyguards, either.” He already suspected that his argument would come to nothing, because the operator of the establishment was looking at him, shaking her head. “The king – forgive me, your former king – prefers to take care of private matters without witnesses. Unless, of course, the observers are female and willing to take part in his games.” She looked at him, this time without a trace of amusement in her blue eyes. “As a special treat, I will offer to personally lend a hand. Then we can be sure that I am present and can intervene, should that become necessary. Shazuul will be in the room too, when Ferthoris thinks he will be able to try your kitty cat. He won’t have the slightest suspicion.”
“Please, do tell me how that will work?” Talon grumbled. Gradually, he was starting to suspect that he was being confronted with an intrigue that had been in the works for a long time. He looked at both of them and realized that he was ready to hear more, against his own will. Wordlessly, he motioned to Sharita to continue. The woman and Shazuul exchanged a barely noticeable nod, but it didn’t escape Talon.
Sharita looked at Shazuul and rubbed her nose. It was the first sign of any insecurity that Talon had seen today. “What I am going to tell you now, must stay between us.” It was not a question, but a very clear demand. Talon would have loved to ask what would happen if it didn’t, but he pulled himself together. After all, this was about Cat and him, and their future together. He was starting to think that Sharita and Shazuul’s plan was at least better than his own, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t even have to though, because the damned energy vampire could just read his thoughts directly.
“Do you remember when this whole story began? Your kitty cat offered herself to the poker company. That company,” she looked up at the ceiling, as if there might be a clue up there that could help her solve this tricky problem, “just so happens to belong to me.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Talon said. “I am not an idiot.”
“I didn’t say you were,” the woman explained, somewhat irritated. Sure, Talon had just made it clear to her that she wasn’t the only one with a functioning brain. Now Talon could be generous.
“And how does Talon fit in?”
“I told Ferthoris that my partner was willing, and able, to store memories, and then play them in someone else’s head. That convinced him very quickly that he wanted to secure this partner’s services for himself temporarily. Memories, including noises, smells and sensory perceptions can only be replayed if they were experienced before. Therefore, Shazuul needs to be in the room, too.”
Talon’s stomach churned at the thought of Ferthoris touching Cat’s naked skin, and the two business partners working hard to help. Speaking of business partner… “What’s in it for you?” He turned to face Sharita directly. “Even if I am willing to assume that Shazuul here just wants to protect the daughter of his beloved friend, I still know that you aren’t that selfless.” His tone left no doubt that he still hadn’t completely overcome his mistrust of the Sethari, and had no intention of doing so, either. Talon stared at Sharita. “Just give it to me straight, please.”
“I still have some unfinished business with your king. Is that sufficient?”
“Could you be more precise?” Talon demanded and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Maybe, just maybe, he was starting to enjoy this conversation.
“Fine. Ferthoris got a distant cousin of mine pregnant and then deserted her.”
Talon squinted his eyes. “But that isn’t everything, my dear.”
The woman’s baby-blue eyes turned into small, hard marbles. “Let’s just put it this way: She didn’t survive his attention, and I would like to put an end to it.”
Was there another woman, in addition to the Krak woman, who had died? Talon thought about it, but he had never concerned himself much with the king’s affairs. “You have gained his trust, under false pretenses, by dangling women under his nose. I understand.” He was silent for a moment. “Please tell me one thing. Why should I, of all people, agree to my Cat being your bait?” He was leaving Shazuul out of it on purpose. It was difficult to see through the Sethari. His motives were hidden in the shadows, and Talon still hadn’t forgiven the energy vampire for manipulating him. Being Shazuul’s pawn in a chess game and being pushed back on forth on the board – those times were over. Forever.
He thought of something else. Sharita had called Shazuul her “business partner.” That was something else he had to keep in mind. It could just be an unimportant detail (at least, it explained how the Sethari had managed to survive on Earth without being noticed), but it could also be a really important one.
“Why is it so important for Cat to be in the dark about what is really going on?” he asked in his last question. “You want her to be clueless, right? If you want me to play along, I need to know why.”
“Your little girlfriend is a human. She cannot act well enough to play her role convincingly. That’s why it is necessary for her to think that you have really left her and that Shazuul is her only friend.”
Talon frowned. “Fine. I will give her good reason to flee to Shazuul, but only on one condition: you will put me up in this house, as well. If you think that I am just going to leave her to you two, and just wait to see what happens, you would be wrong.
“No problem,” Sharita replied. “Will you be able to stay away from her until the whole thing has played out?”
Talon did not dignify her question with an answer.
And so, the whole thing was decided. It was a risky plan, but he had to admit that their chances of success were better than before. It might be dangerous, but Cat had Shazuul at her side, no matter what game he was playing. Until Sharita had what she wanted, meaning revenge on the king, she would take good care of Cat. At the very least, he himself would be close, even if she didn’t know it.
He would see this through, even if it was difficult.