Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“You fucker!” he growled thickly and drew his hand-cannon, forgetting everything else.
“You think you can kill me?” the killer taunted. “Go ahead—pull the trigger. Even if you blow me into a thousand pieces, I can reform! You can try again and again and again. And when you’re out of ammunition, I’ll kill you like I did the other pathetic guards who tried to save their Mistresses! Then, when your sweet little lover, Agent Sky’lar comes out because she needs air to breathe, I’ll kill her too. But I’ll fuck her first! I’ll fuck her the way you never got to! I’ll—”
Torin pulled the trigger.
The sound of the hand-cannon going off was deafening in the closed stone tunnel. The disruptor round hit the killer directly in his midsection, which seemed to have the same effect as throwing a big rock into a mud puddle, as far as Torin could see.
The tall, thin body exploded and black, tarry ooze went everywhere. Luckily, Torin had been standing well back from the killer, or it might have splashed on him as well. There was black ooze all over the place, sliding like slime down the round vault door…coating the stone walls… puddling on the floor.
But even as Torin watched, the black goo started running together like some new version of liquid Mercury. The tiny dots began bigger ones as they joined up and the thin trickles became rivers as they flowed into each other.
“Quickly, Warrior! You know what to do!”
The Goddess’s voice in his ear seemed to release Torin from a spell. The Rage dissipated and he re-holstered his hand-cannon—he didn’t need it for this next part.
He pulled out the little space-vacuum and turned it on. Then he bent over, pointed it at the nearest pool of black goo, and began to suck it up.
FIFTY-THREE
SKY
There was shouting outside the door and then a huge, thundering crash that made them all jump and put their hands over their ears.
Sky winced, feeling partially deafened, even though they’d had the door between them and the weapon that had been discharged.
“Great Mother of Serpents, what was that?” the High Priestess exclaimed.
Sky could think of only one thing it could be. That crashing roar was familiar—she’d heard it in the back alleys of Yonnie Six when Torin had fought the Trollox.
“That’s a hand-cannon,” she said, hoping she was right. “Loaded with disruptor rounds.”
“A what loaded with what?” Neen’ya asked, her eyes wide.
“Never mind.” Sky waved her off. “The point is, I think help is here. I hope so anyway.”
“I hope you’re right.” The High Priestess gave a hissing wheeze. “I never noticed quite how close it is in here!”
Sky didn’t think they were going to run out of breathable air just yet, but she would rather not wait around and find out. Her ears were still ringing when she heard another sound outside. A sound that was like…like someone running a vacuum? No, that couldn’t be right—could it? But that was what it sounded like.
After a couple of long, breathless moments, the sound stopped and someone pounded on the door.
“Oh!” the High Priestess gasped, putting a hand to her chest. “Oh, Mother of All Serpents!”
She and Neen’ya and Soon’ya were huddled together as far from the round door as they could get, but Sky rose and approached it.
“Who is it?” she called, trying to make her voice strong and confident, though her heart was pounding triple time.
“It’s me, Darlin’—it’s Torin,” came the reply.
Sky wanted desperately to throw the switch and open the door at once, but she couldn’t help remembering the way the killer had imitated the big Kindred, changing his face and voice to look like him.
“How do I know it’s really you?” she demanded. “Tell me something—something only Torin would know.”
“Okay—the first day we met, you put a knife to my throat to keep me in line,” Torin’s voice came back.
“And?” Sky prompted, wanting more. For all she knew, the killer could have been watching them from the shadows—as he clearly had been earlier while they paid their sexual sacrifice.
“And you told me to keep my eyes to myself,” the deep voice said. “Later, we fought a Trollox together on Yonnie Six and met Mistress Mirabella. She hid in Beelie, her automaton, which saved her from the fucker I just blew to pieces and vacuumed up.”
Sky was almost sure it was him now—her hand was on the latch.
“Tell me…tell me just one more thing,” she begged.
There was a pause and then Torin’s voice said,
“I’ve been a fool, Darlin’. I left you when I should have stayed. I love you—will you trust me and come out?”
“Yes!” Sky nearly sobbed. She threw the switch which opened the vault door and breathed deeply as fresh air gusted in.
Standing just outside was Torin. The big Kindred had his hand-cannon on his hip but in his hand was a silver space vacuum—the kind you keep for emergency spills in Zero G.