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  “Well, then, should we see your quarters?”

  Vexa got to her feet. “Please. It will be interesting to be where I can see light.”

  He extended his hand, and she placed her fingers in his. “I have been admiring the lines of your markings. They are heat sinks, aren’t then?”

  He chuckled. “You are very bright. Yes they are. They keep my heat on the surface and reduce the stress to my system.”

  They chatted softly as they walked through the Citadel, up a path on a hill and to a small cottage parked on the hilltop. Burn smiled at her and waved for her to precede him.

  She opened the door, and he said, “Welcome home.”

  Chapter Five

  The clothing that had been provided was nice for casual wear, but it was the armoured bodysuits that attracted Vexa. She wore a new suit out of her collection every day for four days until Turan called her and asked her to go on assignment.

  Vexa was seated in his office and reading the specs of the world he was sending her to. “Why do you need me?”

  “The people have moved to avoid flooding, and they simply have nowhere else to go. They need a dam that will not break. Can you leave immediately? There are two jumps and six hours involved.” Turan blinked and smiled. “Can you leave now?”

  She nodded. “Of course. Who is my pilot?”

  “Novice Storic. Burn and Recon are busy elsewhere.” He nodded in dismissal.

  Vexa paused. “Burn won’t be with me?”

  “No. He is teaching today.”

  She was unsure. She really needed him as a safety measure. “Can I wait until he is finished?”

  Turan scowled, his pale features and dark brown eyes were confused. “No. You are needed immediately, he is not. Go.”

  Vexa bristled at his attitude, but she turned and left his office, muttering quietly to herself about upstart Terrans and their addiction to power. Arthur Turan had been in charge of Arcani for three years, and the power seemed to have gone to his telepathic head.

  The novice was waiting for her in the launch yard, and after cursory introductions, they lifted off to their first jump point.

  Storic was a competent pilot, and seven hours later, Vexa was standing on the edge of the peninsula and assessing the obvious paths of the incoming water. There was nothing else to do.

  With the villagers watching from their high-ground shelters, she set about saving their homes as water came rushing toward her. It was a twofold effort. She lifted and held the water back while pulling a column of rock and dirt into a high levy.

  Holding back the water was hard, but easing her control over it so that it didn’t crush her new levy was harder. She breathed in and out, using wind to push the water back, gradually letting it climb up the wall of her floodway.

  To her distraction, a shuttle dipped out of the cloud cover and skimmed near her work zone. She was about to bat it with wind, but it took off and disappeared. Vexa didn’t have any more attention to give it. She needed to surround the village with a secondary wall.

  Humming idly as she pulled the earth into an embankment, she had to admit that having an appreciative audience did add to the satisfaction of a job well done. The cheers and cries when she completed the initial dam were gratifying, so she created a semi-circle arc around the village that led up to the higher end of it where it backed against the hill. They would have to hike up and over to get into and out of their village during flood season, but they would have homes to return to when they did.

  The village headman came to her and bowed. “Thank you, Specialist. We are in your debt, but…how do we get into the village now?”

  She chuckled, crouched down and used her finger to burn a map in the grass. “You get in through this pathway here. It is the only way to get in and out for now. After the rainy season, you can make up to three openings in the levy, here, here and here.”

  She jabbed at three points in the grass, the smoulder of the burned greenery made her cough lightly for effect. “Next rainy season, sandbag these levies closed again. Fill them with dirt and hunker down for the dangerous time.”

  He cleared his throat. “With the primary dam, why do we need the secondary?”

  She stood up and pointed. “Do you see what is coming?”

  He nodded. “Water.”

  “In that water are uprooted trees, volcanic rocks and a thick slurry of debris. The levy will need maintenance by your people. The sludge and debris will build up on the far side and push the water up and over in a few years. That will flood your homes. Use the time I have bought you to build up your own protections and move your homes to higher ground. Tradition may be important but so are the lives of your people. No house is worth dying for.”

  He frowned, and she stepped a few feet away before she thought to ask. “May I eat here?”

  The village head scowled. “We were not told to provide for you.”

  She sighed, “Never mind. Novice Storic, time to go.”

  On the shuttle with hunger starting to ripple through her system, she asked, “Storic, did you notice the shuttle that appeared when I was creating the larger dam?”

  She shook her head. “No, I was watching you work. Was there one?”

  She tilted her head. “I do believe so. It was strange. It came down, examined my work and took off. It is hard to imagine that you didn’t see it.”

  A distress call came through the com, and Novice Storic answered. They were being redirected to pick up a candidate for Citadel Arcani.

  Vexa closed her eyes as hunger swirled. “How long will the reroute take?”

  “Sixteen hours.”

  “I am heading to the medical bed. I am putting myself into a trance, but if you wake me, do it from a distance.”

  Storic blinked in surprise. “Why?”

  “I am getting hungry after my exertions, and you are made of heat, water, earth and air.” At Storic’s appalled expression, she said, “Let’s just pretend I didn’t just say that. Let’s pretend I said I am tired.”

  Smiling, Vexa headed to the medical bed and breathed herself into the trance state that she used instead of sleep. She could maintain it for years if necessary, so a few hours shouldn’t be a problem.

  Hands gripped her arms and fought to remove her bodysuit. Vexa opened her eyes, took in the two strange men, the strange shuttle and the hypo in one man’s hand, and she blasted him back, away from her body.

  “What are you doing? Where am I?” Vexa tried to be firm, but she couldn’t see Storic around anywhere.

  The man holding her, trying to unfasten her armoured suit, pressed on her with his mind. What he did manage to convey was that he was not doing this for her benefit.

  She did what came naturally. She cooled his body and stopped oxygen from flowing into his lungs. She treated his friend on the floor to the same experience. When they were both out cold and not moving, she burned through the straps they had tied her with.

  If they were trying this with her, she had to find Storic. The Novice was a Seeker in training and was no match for whatever had taken them.

  Vexa looked around again, and it wasn’t a shuttle after all, it was a tiny medical cell. She opened the door and took a few steps out before she was faced by another couple of males who had threatening postures. She knocked them out by the expedience of removing air from their systems, dropping them to the ground.

  It was the beginning of a trail of attackers who lunged for her, fired at her and a few who tried to use psychic manipulation. She followed the trail to a command centre and used their own computers to find Novice Storic.

  The image of the Novice shackled to the wall filled her with triumph. She had never done anything like this before, but it appeared she was good at it. She double checked the location in relation to the control room and went to retrieve her pilot.

  Her hunger was growing. Using the talent without putting anything back was causing her flickers of distress. As she moved through the station, absently knocking out those who
tried to stop her, she admitted that she was not cut out for being in space. It took too much effort to do anything.

  The area where Storic was being held was a torture chamber. A man had been approaching her pilot with a glowing rod and it caused Vexa to lash out. He burned to ash in seconds.

  Storic looked up with one eye swollen shut. “Specialist, you came?”

  “I did. I can’t touch you now, so this won’t be too comfortable.” Vexa went to the control unit and released the ankle cuffs and then the wrist cuffs that held Storic to the wall. “Can you walk?”

  “No. They burned my legs.” Storic’s voice was calm, but the pain came through in her posture.

  “Right. Well, I can’t help you, so stay here, I will be right back.”

  Storic stared at her in shock. “What?”

  “I can’t touch you. It goes back to that hungry thing. I will be right back.”

  Vexa left the torture chamber and walked to the cells that had been on the monitors. She opened the cells and held up her hand. “I need two people to carry my pilot. Can I get some help?”

  Fourteen battered, bruised and listless people suddenly came to life. Four put their hands up.

  “She is in the torture chamber. Do you know where that is?”

  They winced and headed through to the room where Storic was on the ground.

  The nearest woman came to her and reached out to hug her.

  Vexa held her back with a blast of air. “I apologise. It isn’t safe to touch me. Come along. Let’s get out of here.”

  Half a dozen armed men charged the freed prisoners, so Vexa knocked them out. A hissing started almost immediately.

  Gas coiled toward the group as they drew even with Storic and her assistants. Vexa took the lead and created a column of breathable air that kept them all upright and conscious.

  Vexa picked up one of the weapons and used it as food, absorbing the metal into her skin. It wasn’t as wholesome as rock, but it kept her from eating the prisoners walking behind her.

  Storic whispered, “To the left. Down the hall, and the shuttle bay is on the left. They grabbed us at the jump site. You were right, there was a shuttle scoping you out.”

  Vexa muttered, “It doesn’t matter if I was right. You were hurt because you were with me, and I can’t even help carry you to the shuttle.”

  Storic laughed. “You could use air.”

  “And then I would get so hungry, I would simply take your entire body down to its component parts. That is not something I am going to risk. Can you fly like that?”

  Storic was slung between two battered males who were listening to their exchange with amusement. “I can. I only need to get to a broadcast point. Ours will come running.”

  Vexa opened the door to the shuttle bay. “Then, let’s get moving, people. I am overdue for a snack.”

  Sixteen folk crammed into a shuttle meant for four. Vexa took up the medical bed and put herself into a waking trance. The worst off of the other prisoners took the bunks and the others crouched in the aisles and the tiny kitchen. Every surface was covered with living and breathing creatures, and Vexa was terrified that if it took too long, she was going to turn to one of them as a meal.

  The lives of everyone aboard were in Storic’s hands.

  Chapter Six

  She felt the cessation of movement and listened to the voices of the Citadel staff taking the prisoners out of the shuttle. Everyone was very careful to keep away from her, and Vexa was very pleased by that.

  When she was prodded awake, she sat up to watch the pole being used dissolve into mist after contact with her shoulder. “I am going to head for the quarry. Please make sure that there is nothing in my way.”

  Instructor Althoth nodded. “It has been cleared. Is there anything else you can consume?”

  Vexa got to her feet. “Fire is best, but stone will do. It just takes more of it.”

  Althoth blinked. “Oh. Very well. The path is clear.”

  Controlling herself, she stepped off the medical bed and left the shuttle without dissolving it into its component atoms.

  She was shaking with hunger as she walked and grimly remembering that the side effect of her power was the first thing that they designed into the Destroyer. Of course, the Destroyer didn’t eat what she took apart. That was Vexa’s problem.

  The path to the quarry where the stone of the Citadel had been extracted was mercifully short. Vexa walked through the rock to the furthest edge and stood, letting her body return the energy that she had expended on the station.

  She pulled power into her, turning the stone to dust and then even less. Light dimmed, and still, her body demanded more.

  With darkness swirling around her, she let her consumption rage until a flicker of brightness distracted her.

  Burn walked up to her and beckoned her. “Come, Vexa, take what you need.”

  She blinked. “I don’t want to take too much.”

  “You won’t. I trust you. Come on. Stop chewing rock and take some fire.” His expression bordered on sensual as flames flickered and flared all over his skin. The marks on his body glowed bright.

  Her hands shook as a craving swirled through her. She stepped down from the stone and closed her eyes at the feel of the blaze against her skin.

  She touched his hands, he pulled her sharply against him, covering her mouth with his and pouring the fire into her.

  The hunger flared and then was sated. She smiled and pulled away. Embarrassment flickered through her. “I am sorry you felt it necessary to come down here.”

  He brushed hair off her face. “I am sorry the director did not send me out with you. He knows better now.”

  She smiled, and when his eye contact became too much, she pressed her forehead to his chest. “How did he figure that out?”

  He chuckled, and she could hear it as well as feel it. “Storic is in the healing wing, and she said that you mentioned her as a possible meal twice, before you put yourself into a coma. If you hadn’t had to do that, you would have been able to manage the attack before they made inroads into the shuttle. I am going to be assigned to all of your assignments as a travelling snack.”

  She groaned. “That is embarrassing.”

  “On the contrary, I find it flattering that you want as much heat as I can give you. It is a rare thing in a woman to not fear my touch.”

  She chuckled, “I am happy to oblige.”

  He tilted her head back and kissed her again, providing her with more heat until she was completely sated and glowing happily.

  When he lifted his head, she whispered, “You don’t have to keep kissing me.”

  “But I can, right? I find it to be an excellent occupation.” He kissed her again.

  Vexa opened her eyes wide as the kiss didn’t carry any power from him to her. He was truly kissing her without energy transfer being the motive.

  She threaded her hands in his hair and arched toward him, enjoying the purely biological heat between them.

  He shifted his grip and pulled her in tightly, sliding one thigh between her legs as she kissed him in return.

  The embrace got heated as Vexa let her body do her talking for her. She felt alive for the first time in centuries.

  They were both breathing heavily when Burn backed away from her. “I think we should take it slow and get you back for a proper meal, maybe a good night’s sleep.”

  She took the arm he offered her, and they walked back through the quarry and into the Citadel.

  “The prisoners that you freed were all from an Alliance research base. The reward you are getting will mean that you can tell Turan to go stuff himself for the next five hundred years.”

  “Are they all recovering? How is Novice Storic?”

  He chuckled. “She’s doing well, recovering nicely and has even volunteered to pilot you again as long as I am present. She feels your threatening to eat her was a sign that perhaps a single person is not the ideal dynamic for you to travel with. You would do better
with a regular team at your side.”

  She snorted. “I had to explain to her why I would need to relax in the back while she was piloting. What I really need is a planet with a nice big volcano.” She chuckled.

  “Arcani has a volcano. Did you want to move your living quarters there?” Burn asked it with a light smile on his lips.

  “Um, not really. Not if it puts me too far away from the Citadel.” Or you. She didn’t say that last part.

  “Did you realize that when we first kissed, you took my heat and gave me energy?”

  She bit her lip. “I didn’t want to drain you again, so I gave you what I could.”

  “So, you are capable of not killing your element donor. It is good to know.” He chuckled.

  She looked to the bright lights of the Citadel. “Is that how you see yourself? A donor?”

  He chuckled. “No, but it is how I would like you to think of me when you have need. You don’t need to look anywhere else, I am happy to provide what you require.”

  There was a wealth of suggestion in that comment, but she didn’t know what to think. Life on Ki had been easy. Move the air, entertain herself with what knowledge she had been able to maintain in hard copy and sleep in her peculiar way. It had been a boring and predictable life.

  Now, she was surrounded by other beings, using her talents until she was drained and then holding her breath to see what sort of food she would be able to find to power her talent. Life had certainly become different. In fact, it was turning into an actual life.

  Three days later, she was having lunch with Burn and Novice Storic. Storic had recovered from her ordeal and was looking almost perky, her pale blue skin shining with health. “So, why did they move you to Ki? I have done my research, and there is no mention of it.”

  Vexa put down her spoon. “I ate a research team. Four scientists who were studying the work I did and restricting my access to more than one element at a time. They thought I could wait to eat and went off to have their own break, expecting me to simply wait for them to finish and offer me one of the elements the experiment was lacking. That is how I do it, by the way. I use one element to form or offset another. With nothing to transform into the change demanded, the power came from my body. That makes me hungry. So, they ate their meal down the hall from the lab where I was confined, and I summoned their base elements out of reflex.”