Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Next stop, Priima Belle, where he was fairly certain he could buy the other half of the T’lix-Kruthe, rather than having to steal it—which made things marginally easier. Then he could bring it back to his buyer and collect a healthy payday which ought to set him up in style for quite a long time.
But what about Victoria? whispered a little voice in his head. Is it safe to leave her all alone here? What if the Varians should find her after all?
He didn’t think it was even remotely likely, but he didn’t like to leave anything to chance. Still, it wasn’t like he could take her with him—could he?
Chain frowned his he considered the possibilities…
“Chain?” he heard a faint call coming from her bedroom. “Chain, are you all right?”
Poor little female—she was helpless and unable to move until the Varian’s paralytic ray wore off. And yet she was worried about him. That was nice, Chain decided. It was also nice that she hadn’t flinched when he’d told her he was an M-Switch Kindred.
“Just a minute, sweetheart,” he called back. “I’ll be right there.”
He did a once over of the rest of the domicile and found it empty. As he’d suspected, the two Varians that had followed him from the bar were the only ones here. Satisfied, he came back to the bedroom to see that she was sitting up with his scatterlight cloak clutched to her breasts. Since the scatterlight was still activated, this made it look as though half of a sexy, naked Elite was hovering in mid-air above the bed.
Chain pushed a button on his belt to deactivate the cloak and suddenly it was the same deep scarlet it always was when visible. This had the added benefit of letting him see the little Elite’s curves, clearly outlined by the red fabric.
“Oh!” Victoria jumped and looked down at herself, clearly surprised by the sudden reappearance of the cloak and her body under it. “Are you okay?” she asked Chain, looking up and clutching the cloak even tighter to her body. “I was getting so worried about you!”
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “Though I’m afraid the carpeting in your living area isn’t. I had to neutralize the other Varian by the bookcase and it left a stain.”
“Neutralize?” She looked up at him with wide eyes which were quite a bewitching shade of green, Chain noticed.
“Disintegrate,” he clarified. “I’m afraid it left a big black mark where he was standing.”
Oh, right…” She looked faintly ill but then lifted her chin and took a deep breath, as though trying to compose herself. “That’s all right. I’m sure it’s nothing a good stream cleaning can’t get out. Well…” She shrugged. “I guess you’ll be wanting the golden Twix thing you asked me to hold for you and then you’ll be on your way.”
“The T’lix-Kruthe,” Chain corrected her. “Yes, where did you put it?”
“Initially, down my bra,” she remarked, smiling dryly. “But right now it ought to be under the fuzzy pink towel beside the tub which still has the other half of an alien corpse in it.” She shivered and made a face.
“I’ll take care of it,” Chain promised.
Striding into the bathing area, he first took care of the dead alien in the tub with another silent but deadly blaster shot. This turned the water a dirty gray color but since it also disintegrated the plug which had been holding the water in the tub in the first place, it began to drain out almost at once.
As it did, Chain caught sight of the shards of glass in the tub and reminded himself to see to the little Earth female’s cuts as well. She’d been harmed because of him—there was no way he could leave while she was still wounded.
You just want an excuse to heal her, whispered a little voice in the back of his head. Which, he had to admit was true. Since he’d taken the healing serum which allowed any Kindred to heal his female like a Blood Kindred would, healing Victoria ought to be especially interesting.
Reaching under the pink towel, he found the T’lix-Kruthe which was still strobing its vivid display of rainbow colors. He frowned as he examined it. How had she turned it on, anyway? And why had it lit up for her when the other half of it was still missing? Chain shrugged. Well, who could tell? The artifact had several legends attached to it, which was why his buyer was so interested in it.
With a little manipulation, he managed to turn it off and put it safely into one of his inner pockets.
“You found it?” she asked when he came back out into the bedroom. She seemed to be moving better now and had wrapped the cloak completely around herself, rather than just huddling under it.