Bane Read online

  Kondr asked, “Where was it, Gran?”

  “The valley hollow where you lost your third tooth. Forty paces from the wide oak.” She smiled, and her face was taking on the dark, smooth skin of their species.

  Ava’s hands started shaking, and Eeli pressed her hands over hers. “You can stop now, dear. I will last a few more days, and you can use that to take my grandson back to our home before he succumbs to his act of affection.”

  Kondr was confused. “What?”

  Ava relaxed her hands and removed them from Eeli’s skin. “I have bought you a few more days, Eeli. How long does it take to get there?”

  Eeli laughed. “You are in the North Prefecture. The site is three hours away.”

  Ava put her gloves back on. “Then, I suppose that I have a trip to make. Kondr, can you escort me before you turn every colour in the rainbow?”

  He pressed a kiss to Eeli’s forehead. “I can and I will.”

  Chapter Three

  The skimmer that Kondr was flying was far beyond Avaneer’s piloting skill. They did, indeed, only have to go three hours north to get to the designated coordinates, and they did not speak the entire time. Ava napped intermittently, and he kept staring at his hand.

  Ava jerked awake when he touched her shoulder. “We are here. I am not surprised that they could not find it. This is a hollow known only to the locals. This way.” He kept contact with her, cupping her elbow and supporting her when she wobbled.

  They walked through thick, silvery trees, past a pond and into a wild meadow with a sunken stream in it. Once they passed the stream, there was a huge crystalline oak over ten feet wide.

  “That is the wide oak. The crater should be this way.”

  They passed the oak, and once the crater was visible, Ava touched his arm. “Hold back. I am about to do something very stupid or very brave. It will mean I can’t flush anyone’s system for a few days, but if this works, the cure can start being synthesized in two days.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Kondr sounded concerned.

  “If it doesn’t work, then it means my body can’t keep up with the infection, and it will kill me much faster than it will kill your kind. Either way, we know for sure.”

  “Know what?”

  “Know whether I can do anything to stall this pathogen. It seems precisely designed to attack your systems. I may not be the best healer for the task, but I am the only one you have.” She strode over to the crater and opened the sample cases she had obtained from Rathos before setting out.

  The device was remarkably simple. In the bottom of the crater, tiny shards of metal were visible. Someone had dropped the ball of metal from orbit, the pathogen inside. When it landed, it burst open, and the liquid inside turned to vapour that spread the infection to the first of the Admorik.

  Ava had never done this to herself in this manner before, but she removed her glove and sliced her palm on one of the metal shards before quickly slipping the sample into the container and putting her glove back on.

  Her palm burned from the cut, but she could feel it healing. She just needed her body to succumb to the infection, and when it was over, her blood would be able to be used as a cure.

  “Okay, I have the samples, I have the initial infection. Let’s get back to the city before I pass out.” She tried to smile brightly at him, but the stained skin on his neck faded the smile before it bloomed. “Your infection has started.”

  He smiled, caressing her neck. She jumped at the contact. “So has yours.”

  She sighed, “So, let’s get back to the city and see what my talent will bring.”

  Without another word, they hiked back to the skimmer, and he flew them back to the gleaming jewel in the darkness.

  “It’s a shame that so much beauty has to hold so much death. What is the death count up to?”

  “Fifty. Most from the original exposure site that we just visited.”

  “Of course. I believe I need some rest now. If I can rest and eat normally, then I can work on creating a cure.” She smiled, but her body was aching and her limbs were shaking. When they got out of the skimmer, she moved slowly up the stairs, step by step, until she reached the third level.

  Her feet felt like lead as she marched down the hall to her room and even the gilt splendour of the room couldn’t make her feel better. Ava didn’t care if Kondr was nearby, she was having a shower.

  In the bathroom, she peeled her gloves off, followed by her outer robes, belt, inner robes, boots and bodysuit. Her skin was covered with blotches in a rainbow of colours. Grimacing, she unravelled her tight braid and loosened her hair. She wasn’t going to let her skin ruin the chance for a nice shower.

  The heat of the water was bracing, but when she had scrubbed and scrubbed and done nothing but pinked what was left of her normal skin, she let out a yawn that turned into a gargle.

  “Okay, that’s enough.” A hand reached into the shower and pulled her out, swathing her in towels and gently patting her skin.

  “Kondr, this is unseemly.” She tried to bat at his hands, but he was having none of it.

  “Call me, Kon. You and I will be sharing the bed. I can barely stand on my two feet, and there is no room available in the city. They are all occupied with the ill.”

  She chuckled as her blush kept her face a bright pink. “My bed will be a hub of viral activity.”

  “I don’t care. I need some restful sleep, and I swear not to harass you. Since my cock changed colour, I am not even sure it would stay on during sex.”

  She got the image in her head and burst out laughing.

  He wrapped her tightly in another round of towels and lifted her in his arms. “There you are, all covered, and I will tuck you into bed.”

  Ava smiled and relaxed in his embrace while he carried her into the bedroom. He was as good as his word, and he kept her tidily wrapped while he tucked her into her side of the bed.

  Once she was in bed, he went back into the lav and closed the door. She heard the sounds of the shower, but since she was warm, clean and snug, she let the noise carry her off to sleep.

  Kondr watched the even rise and fall of Avaneer’s chest under the blanket. There was the occasional hitch in her breathing, but the most disturbing thing was the wild colouration that was spreading over her body. His people were quick to show the signs of the disease from what Rathos had told him, but it spread slowly. The gemstone colouration was moving across Avaneer in a matter of hours.

  The soft texture of her skin was giving way to hardened panels. He pressed his hand to her forearm, and there was no yielding in her skin, her body was cool to the touch, and he knew from earlier that her skin was normally quite warm. How she came to be in that pod on that black-market station was a mystery to him, but he was hoping to find out why she was willing to help strangers on a world not her own. He held her hand as the skin turned emerald and sapphire mixed and keeping the small contact with her while she fought the plague that was killing her and the rest of his people.

  Kondr sat next to her on the bed, her small hand in his, wondering what their chances of survival were, until he succumbed to sleep as well.

  Chapter Four

  Ava knew before she opened her eyes that her body had done what it always did. It had cured her of the pathogen. She shifted and a tug on her hand got her attention.

  She looked down to see Kondr’s hand holding hers. A smile crossed her lips as she enjoyed the feeling of contact with another living creature without pain between them. His breathing was easy and deep. She turned and noted that the only thing that stood between her and a complete view of his body was a strategic fold of sheet. Slight bags under his eyes were a testament to his fatigue, and Ava gave in to impulse.

  She leaned forward and brushed her lips across Kondr’s. The texture of his lips was firm and the slide of his skin made her smile. She leaned back, and his breathing had not changed, so she repeated her kiss, this time letting her tongue dart out to taste him.

  H
er tongue tingled as she absorbed his taste. It had been ages since she had let herself be this close to a man, let alone one as fascinating as Kondr Lytan.

  Since she had left the Earth, she had met hundreds of people, dozens of species, but few fascinated her like this. The human attraction to elves was ingrained in her brain. Ever since she had heard of the Admaryn, she had been fascinated, but a pass near the planet proved that she wasn’t destined to join them.

  Her mind lived in hope that one day she would have a family of her own somewhere out here among the stars, but since her selection as contact healer, she had throttled back on that dream.

  Facing Kondr, she relaxed back onto the pillow and tried to forget how she had arrived here.

  “She’s unholy, and she needs to be with the demons. Get her out of here.”

  Her father had been sure that possession and not a blessing had enabled her to survive the multiple snakebites across her lifetime without any effect, and only the devil would have brought his mother back from death.

  Avaneer kept her mouth shut as her father shoved her through the doors to the Volunteer Centre. The attendants were a little surprised when her father held the doors closed.

  One man came forward and extended his hand. “Welcome to the Volunteer Centre. You are welcome to fill out a form.”

  She extended her hand carefully, her mind taking inventory of his physical health and transferring all ills for her body to heal. Fortunately, he was in good shape aside from a cut on his back and a bruise on one thigh.

  His eyes widened, and he gestured to another attendant. “Come with me, healer. We have much to discuss.”

  She had never seen her family again, but they weren’t interested in the demon in their midst, so she went from the bane of their existence to a haunted memory.

  “What are you thinking about?” Kondr’s voice was low with sleep.

  “How I got here, where I will go next, that sort of thing.”

  She opened her lids a bit and watched him lick his lips, a frown between his brows. She felt her cheeks heat up as his gaze locked with hers.

  “Why can I taste you?”

  She blinked and tried to move away, but he had her by the hand. “Um…I kissed you.”

  “You kissed me? While I was sleeping?” He blinked in surprise.

  “Yes. I am sorry if I intruded on your privacy. It has just been a very long time since I have been this close to another living being without layers of robes between us.” She tried to tug her hand away, but he held on.

  “I see. Perhaps we should take advantage of this moment. Do you know you are healed?” he whispered an inch from her lips.

  “Yes, I knew. I could feel it. How are you feeling?”

  He smiled and pressed his lips to hers, rolling her to her back and pinning her beneath him.

  I suppose this means he is feeling better. A dozen rationalizations rippled through her mind, but the feel of him against her sent them out of her head. She should push him away, should stop enjoying the feel of his skin against hers, and she really should stop arching into the hand that was slowly caressing her hip.

  When a pounding on the door sounded, her body let out a silent scream of frustration.

  Kondr leaned back and sighed. “I suppose I should wait until you have completed your work.”

  She smiled and caressed his cheek. Sadness welled up. “When I have completed my work, you will send me back to those who stole me to start with.”

  His tension was sudden, and he jerked back. “I forgot all about that.”

  Ava felt cold and abandoned when he rolled to one side and picked up his clothing. A soft despair took a place in her soul. She sat up and quickly went in search of her own clothes, pulling the bodysuit up and over her newly healed skin, hiding it from view. Ava pulled on her boots, shrugged into her inner robe and fastened it before slipping on her outer robe and tugging on her gloves.

  “Is there a hairbrush around here?”

  Kondr’s voice was muffled as he pulled on his shirt. “In the lav.”

  Ava walked into the lav, found the brush in the fourth drawer she opened and brushed out her hair before braiding it into a tight coil around her scalp. The sandy brown mass became a skullcap that she saw every time she looked in the mirror.

  Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen and there was a dreamy glaze to the pale green of her eyes. “Stupid. You can’t stay here. You are a freak to him, just like you are to everyone around you.”

  She shut her lips and entered the bedroom, her robes swirling around her once again.

  Kondr was wearing a dark shirt with a fitted vest over it. His trousers were snug and his boots had lost their polish. She took it all in in a second and then strode to the door, not waiting for him to catch up.

  A medical attendant was waiting for her, and he escorted her down to the lab area where the scene was the same as the day before.

  Dr. Rathos looked exhausted, but he smiled when she entered, “So, how did it go?”

  Ava smiled weakly. “Fine. I am now carrying an antidote for this pathogen specific to Terrans. If you can find me a sample of compatible Admorik tissue, I can work on creating the antidote for your folk as well.”

  “Can I draw a sample?”

  “Of course. Is there somewhere I can eat?” Ava took a seat to let the assistant draw her blood. It was better than having Rathos do it. His hands were shaking with fatigue.

  Dr. Rathos smiled as he watched the blood drawn. He mimicked her, “Of course. Kondr should have fed you before you came down here.”

  Kondr’s voice came from behind her. “It was my mistake. I let her leave the room before I was ready.”

  Rathos scowled. “We are depending on her, Kondr. You have to take care of her needs.”

  Despite the blood being removed from her arm, she blushed scarlet at the image of Kondr taking care of her needs. That thought was going to keep her up nights.

  “I can take care of my own needs, Rathos. Thanks for the thought. For now, I just need to know where to get food.”

  Kondr chuckled, “You taking care of yourself is something I would love to see.”

  The attendant finished with the draw, and Ava pressed down to seal the injury. In seconds, it was healed with no traces that the needle had ever pierced her. She lowered her bodysuit and robe sleeve then tugged her glove back into place.

  “Come, Avaneer, you need something inside you.”

  Ava was getting up when he spoke, and the low, husky tone in his voice made her knees buckle. She gathered herself and got to her feet, ignoring the low throb in her belly. Ava told herself she was simply hungry.

  As she put her gloved hand on his arm, she muttered, “You had better mean breakfast.”

  He chortled as they walked down the hall of the second floor to a room that had a steady flow of medical staff coming and going. “The staff is fed here. The patients are either fed by tray or on the main floor. Now, what would you like?”

  “Can I pick my own?”

  “Fine, you point, I will carry it.” His lips twisted in amusement. “I will also tell you what you are about to eat. I am not sure that our food matches what you are expecting.”

  She grimaced. “Normally, I would have Alliance rations with me, prepared for my biology.”

  “This is an unusual situation. Now, what would you like?”

  She didn’t say that she would like to be back in her pod, hiding from reality. Instead, she pointed to items that looked like cured meat, fruit, bread and a cooked grain. Kondr put two cups on the tray, and she trailed after him while he made his own selections.

  He steered her to a table, and as they sat down, a food server with only a small plague mark brought a pot of steaming liquid that had a definite caffeinated scent.

  “So, are we going to discuss what happened this morning?” Kondr poured some of the hot liquid into the cups.

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  “Well, I will, so let me run through even
ts as I saw them. I fell asleep holding your hand, your body healed you of the plague in the night and the slight contact with you reset my health back to merely having exposure once again.”

  She blew on the liquid before sipping carefully. It was too hot to drink, so she tried some of the fruit. It wasn’t horrible, just really sweet and very tangy, like hyper-acidic citrus. “Fine, that sounds about right.”

  He grinned, “And then, you found me so irresistible, you kissed me while I was sleeping, tasting my lips.”

  Ava grimaced and took a bite out of the surprisingly mild cured meat. “Sure.”

  “Bewitched by my masculine glory, you found yourself unable to hold back and you pressed your lips to mine.” His grin was blindingly white against the glossy jet of his skin.

  “Bewitched?”

  “Enthralled, entranced, your soul entwined with mine. However you want to say it. You want me.” He sipped at his cup.

  Ava let out an exasperated sigh and pressed her hand to her forehead while eating her toast. “It doesn’t matter. I am not allowed to have you.”

  He blinked and leaned back, “Why not? Among my people, you follow your heart or any other part of your body that is leading the way.”

  “Well, in contact-healer training, we learn that getting too close to folk that we work with can cause us to lose focus and that can mean disaster for our patients. With so many lives at stake, I don’t want to risk anything by following any part of my body. The kiss was a flight of fancy. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

  He scowled and finished his breakfast while she consumed hers. When they were done, he seemed to have recovered some of his determination. “Well, I make no such promise.”

  As they walked back to the medical gathering, Avaneer had to admit that hearing his words made her feel a little better.

  Chapter Five

  Dr. Rathos was beaming when they returned. “It works!”

  Ava raised her brows. “In the petri dish?” “Indeed. This is excellent. You can be on your way in a matter of weeks if this continues to work.”