Page 25 of Healer Hunted

The sound of footsteps forced me to duck away, into what turned out was the very broom closet I’d woken up in only a couple hours ago. I didn’t dare pull the door shut behind me in its entirety, looking through the crack to see who it was trotting down this corridor. Was it Luka? Had he shaken off the Dumb duo and tried to come after me? My heart started racing, did I want him to? Was I going to believe him? Us?

It didn’t matter, it was the Kertinal, jogging down the corridor with purpose. He ran past me without stopping and I took a chance, following him from a distance, hoping he’d lead me to an exit I could use. If not, I could fall back to my original plan and try to seduce him until I could knock him out. I still had the knife tucked into my apron pocket, it was quite possibly even more violent than the glue gun but a girl couldn’t be picky at times like this.

He went up a winding flight of metal stairs, and then I smelled the outside air. Fresh grass, a slightly ozone-like smell as if it had just rained, I drew in a breath greedily. The stairs didn’t make any noise as I followed him up, but the scent never disappeared, as if he’d left the door propped open.

I paused on the landing, looking left and right to make sure I was alone in this small room. There were three doors leading off it, and the stairs continued to spiral up as well. Only one door was open, a metal panel that lead to the outside. I tiptoed across, searching for the Kertinal in the slice of land I could see.

This wasn’t the mansion we’d just exited, we’d traveled underground for some distance and come up in one of the towers that ringed the property. This one was right next to a stretch of tarmac where half a dozen ships had been landed. Space-worthy ships. Most were smaller vessels, probably meant to take a person up to a ship in orbit around the planet. Two of them were much bigger, including a ship I spotted in the distance that I’d seen parked on the landing strip next to the Jihari Resort the entire time I’d been there; the Dragon’s ship.

“Got you,” a male voice declared, right as I was yanked out of the open doorway by my arm. The momentum swung me around and I hit the side of the tower with a bang, my elbow hitting it hard enough that my arm went numb. A hard body pressed against my back, pinning me to the wall so I couldn’t go in any direction. “Why are you following me, slave!?” the voice growled at my ear.

I recognized it now, that voice, the arm next to my head with the glowing yellow lines. It was the Kertinal I’d been following, damn it! I fought the urge to fight, to reach for the knife and stab him in the belly, I wasn’t sure how fatal or disabling that would be for his species. I made my body go lax in his grip instead, “I thought you wanted to hook up?”

He went still against my back, his breathing going ragged as he contemplated what I’d said. I didn’t need Luka’s empathic gift to know what he was feeling, the evidence of it was starting to poke me right in the back, making my skin crawl. I had to make myself stay relaxed and force myself not to react to it in any way. If he caught on to how disgusted I was by this act, he wouldn’t hesitate to drag me back into that mansion, and he’d flick the switch on my pain collar while he was at it.

“Hmm,” was all he said, pulling back from me so that I could finally turn around. I wasn’t sure if looking the sadistic bastard in the eye was any kind of improvement but I was sure going to enjoy sticking that knife into his back when I had the chance. I just needed him to take me aboard one of these ships. Come to think of it, why was he even out here?

He didn’t say anything, and I could tell from his distrustful look that he hadn’t really bought what I’d said. At the same time, he felt confident that I wasn’t any kind of threat to him so why not play along. Worked for me, he was going to find out soon enough that I was made of sterner stuff.

We headed down a slight incline away from the tower, weaving in and out between a few of the smaller parked shuttles that had brought guests to the party. Reaching the biggest ship landed here, a silvery gray one with a darkened nose, and streaks in an undulating pattern down the sides. I had never seen this ship before, so it was a surprise to notice that a palm print from my escort opened the hatch.

“Why do you have access to this ship? This isn’t Madam Nerizana’s ship, is it?” I asked as I followed the male inside the softly lit interior. He cast a dark look over his shoulder, whipping out the gun from the holster on his hip as he walked. Oh, I see, this was a secret mission. He wasn’t supposed to be on this ship, he was infiltrating it. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure if it was smart to be near him while he was doing this. I could care less if he got hurt, but what if I got caught in the crossfire?

Except the ship appeared empty as we traversed the richly appointed corridors, thick, black carpet cushioning our steps the entire way. The place was all done up in gold and black, it was rather tacky in my opinion, kind of like I was walking into some old lady’s boudoir but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. I had no clue who this ship belonged to but it had to be someone important if he’d been allowed to land it on the planet.

So far there was no sign of anyone, had they all left, were they attending the party along with the owner of this ship? I couldn’t imagine a rich asshole wanted to rub elbows with his staff, they had to be somewhere.

“Stay put, make a sound and I shoot you too,” my Kertinal escort growled out. He pressed me by the shoulder against the nearest wall, then pressed his back against the wall across from me. We were at a closed door and I was willing to bet my escort expected people on the other side of it. I did as he told me, freezing in place, my hand sliding into the big pocket in my apron so I could hold onto my knife.

The Kertinal was silent as a wraith as he slammed his hand on the door panel and leaped inside. All I heard was the discharge of the laser pistol, once, twice, three times. Then there was a solid thud and a scream that rent the air, it ended on a gurgle that did not sound good. I flinched, not wanting to look inside but forcing myself to lean in and check the outcome of that little fight. Maybe I was lucky and they’d all shot each other.

The Dragon’s top goon stood at the piloting console on the small bridge of the ship, his back to me as his hands rapidly scrolled through the ship’s system. He was searching for some kind of data, his focus entirely on the screen. At his feet were two bodies, both clearly dead. I thought they were Krektar, an ugly, wart-covered species with tusks and a blunt snout. They were the slavers and mercenaries of this system but I thankfully hadn’t had any interactions with them myself. The other girls at the Resort had described them to me.

“Woah, what did you just do?” I asked as I stepped inside. My feet made soft noises as the carpet gave way to metal flooring on the bridge; nice and practical in a place where the owner never came I suspected. “Did you just kill those guys?” I added a high-pitched whine to my voice. Possibly playing a clueless idiot might actually make him spill his plan, I was intrigued now, was t his part of Madam Nerizana’s rise to power? Or was he making his own play?

He spun around, his yellow eyes glowing as he narrowed them at me in a glare. “Would you shut up! Want me to punch you in the mouth again? Remind you who’s the boss here?” He threateningly waved his fist my way, but I found it reassuring, he didn’t have the control to my pain collar or he’d threaten me with that.

I sat down in the captain's chair, draping a leg over the side, shrugging a shoulder. “If it gets you off, you can do that, as long as you get me out of here big boy,” I drawled. When he continued to glare, but his attention remained riveted on me I added, “You can do that right? I’ll be your plaything, and you make sure I never have to mop another floor again?”

Now he threw back his head and started laughing, one hand clasping at his belly as if he was trying to hold it all in. “I can’t tell if you’re an idiot or really, really clever, I think I’ll enjoy finding out.” He settled down, propping his ass against the console behind him and crossing his arms over his chest while he looked me over again. “Nah, I guess I won’t mess up that pretty face. I have other means of silencing that sassy mouth. Come here.”

A shiver of apprehension shot up my spine at the command, was this the moment of truth? He had avoided answering all my questions, I still knew nothing. I got up slowly, straightened out my skirt, and pulled down the top of my blouse so more cleavage was visible. I was stalling, but those were also the actions of a woman preening for her guy. I made sure to make my walk as seductive as I knew how when I approached him, gratified at seeing the avid look of interest on his face.

“I’m soon going to be a very, very powerful male. So yes, if I wanted to, I could make sure you never have to clean another day in your life,” he said. His eyes glowing as I reached him, he swirled a finger to the ground and though this meant I had to kneel right next to the corpse of one of those two dead guys, I went down anyway. Kneeling at his feet, I tilted my chin and looked up, trying to give him the impression that he had my full attention.

“Is that so?” I purred at him, maybe he’d like to continue bragging about what he was up to in here. Maybe that would keep him distracted enough for me to pull out my knife and stab this guy, I was already imagining a dozen different places I’d like to sink that blade.

“Yeah, this is Drameil’s ship in case you dumb female didn’t realize. While Nerizana staged her coup of Tiam in there, I’m taking out the head of the council himself. Soon, everyone will know the name Jo’qaul.” He bragged just like I hoped he would, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he laid out his plan, or dream rather. I couldn’t see how boarding Drameil’s ship and taking out his guards meant he was now head of the Crimelord council.

Thankfully, he didn’t expect me to respond, and he gestured at the ship console behind him. “I’m taking all his data, soon I’ll everything on his operations, the locations of all his bases. I’ll have his entire organization laid bare.” He tapped a small device he had dangling from the console by a small string, “It’s almost done.”

Then he moved his hands to his belt and I knew where this was going, no thanks. But I waited until he’d opened up those pants, until he’d pulled out his cock, and reached to fist a hand into my hair and pull me close. Nobody ever mounted a proper defense with their damn pants around their ankles. I had the knife in my hand, and as I gave him a cheeky grin, I sliced the blade straight across the inner surface of his thigh. I made sure that the cut went deep and was rewarded by the thick wet gush of blood spurting all over me.

He didn’t make a single sound as he slid off the console and collapsed. His eyes went from shocked to dull as they rolled into the back of his head. I wasn’t sure if that meant he was dead, or just going to be dead very soon but I didn’t spare him another thought. I rushed for the console, he’d just been leaning against and scanned the unfamiliar symbols and buttons with some despair.

The tiny device he’d hooked up bleeped and blinked green, I took that to mean it had done whatever it was meant to do. Pulling free the cable, I tucked the small metal rectangle into my cleavage and searched for anything that resembled a com on this damn bridge. I had to call for help, signal the Aderian authorities,s or something. Or if I could manage to fly this ship a little, I could fly away, blow this joint.

The words reminded me of Luka, he’d said that as we’d escaped the Resort. Damn it, I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, wasn’t I? I loved that guy. How had that happened? I couldn’t leave without him. Eyeing the ship controls a little more calmly I concluded that I really didn’t know anything about how to fly something like this.