Page 23 of Black Star
Chapter Three
“I understand you have personal issues with this, Ranier, but I need you to be objective.” Captain Damon Singh stared at Ranier with hard eyes, completely the captain looking out for the welfare of his ship, not the man who considered Viktor his friend as well as second in command. Ranier admired him for his ability to separate the friend from the monster.
“I can’t give you an objective opinion, Captain.” Ranier scrubbed a hand over his face. “Everything military in me is screaming for someone to kill him, but I can’t ask my men to do something I’m not willing to do myself. I think Diamond knows his condition better than anyone, and if she’s willing to bet her life that he’s more stable now, I have to take her word for it. I have to believe there is still hope of saving him.”
Damon paused a moment before asking in a tired voice, “Is Diamond all right? Phoebe is very worried.” Ranier hadn’t been on the Black Star very long, but he’d been there long enough to have learned to read between the lines. Phoebe might very well be worried, but Damon was equally so.
“She’s in Medical, and came through better than I thought she would when I first found her, but it’s going to take several days at best for her to recover.”
Damon sighed. “We need to get Viktor back to Draggoon, but we’ve got another problem.”
“Why does there always seem to be a problem? Why can’t things work out without incident just once? What’s the crisis now?” Ranier sounded a tad bit snitty, but he really wanted to be done with this. The emotional strain was more than he could bear at the moment.
Damon raised an eyebrow, but ignored Ranier’s outburst. “We have bigger problems than one vampire run amok. We’re being followed. The Hand of God, as well as several Vok’nair war ships.”
“What do you think they’re after?” Ranier puzzled.
“Most likely, the Hand exchanged information on the location of Black Star for help in regaining the women. No matter what, I’m afraid we’re in for a rough time. We’ll have no problem outrunning them, but if they pick up a fleet of Vok’nair ships, they may very well have a good chance of succeeding in taking back the Black Star .”
“Unless the vampires help us. Is that likely?”
Damon snorted and stood from his desk. Stalking to the large viewscreen that served as a window to the immediate area outside his office, he grunted. “You see how much trouble we have with Viktor. Can you imagine a whole planet of vampires on the rampage? No. They won’t help unless they’re threatened. To be honest --” Damon turned back to face Ranier. “-- given the potential for disaster, it’s probably best they don’t.” He smiled. “We’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
Ranier turned to go.
“I’d feel better with you back at the helm, Ranier. But I don’t want her to be alone with him again until the worst has passed.”
Ranier threw his hands up in the air. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you have any idea what the fuck you’re asking?”
“Yes, but I won’t sacrifice Diamond for Viktor, no matter how much I need him on this ship. I’m counting on you to save them both. Go back to Medical and see how she’s doing. If she’s stable, report back to Command until she’s released.”
Ranier left the captain’s office and Command, heading to Medical. He fully expected to find Diamond still sleeping as the doctor continued to mend her wounds, but he was wrong. She was still on the med table, but fully awake and receiving her blood transfusion.
When he entered the suite, she turned her head and smiled at him. She definitely looked much better.
“This is a surprise.” Ranier took the hand she offered when he approached her. “I didn’t expect you to be awake so soon.”
“Me, either.” Dr. Zabin entered, making notations on a palm computer. “Yet here she is.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is there something you need to tell me, my dear?”
Diamond tried to snatch her hand away, but Ranier held her fast. He was not letting her pull away from him. Not now.
“It’s OK,” he said softly. “If it will help the doctor, you need to tell him.”
She scowled. “Look, I’m grateful for your help, Ranier.” She glanced at the doctor before returning her attention back to Ranier. “Both of you. But I’m not a freak show. I know I’m different. Until now, I wasn’t exactly sure how different, but there’s nothing either of you can do about it, so just drop it. I want to get out of here and find a decent meal.”
“Do I look like I care how different you are? If anything I’m grateful for your differences. They saved your life.” Ranier tightened his grip on her hand. “Those differences aided your recovery. They can only be good things. If it helps the medical staff better care for you, then they need to know. Spill it! ”
“I already know,” Dr. Zabin sniffed arrogantly. He tapped a few buttons on his hand-held computer. “I just wanted to know if she was aware of it.” He addressed Diamond. “Did you volunteer for this transformation?”
She balled her fist in the sheet covering the lower half of her body, but looked at Rainer squarely. “Somewhat. I was injured -- badly -- and given a choice. Live or die.” She looked at the doctor. “Naturally, I chose the former. In return, swore to help out any of my ‘savior’s’ kind in need if the occasion ever arose.”
“Well, I don’t know what this person intended, but you’re the perfect sustenance for a vampire. You have a perfect balance of vampire and human properties in your blood to be able to keep a vampire alive for many months -- years, even, with the proper care -- if he or she is unable to make an actual kill. Your body will heal any damage five or six thousand times faster than that of a non-altered human.” He smiled then. “Viktor was lucky you happened along.”
“I didn’t come here to save Viktor.” She pulled her hand free of Ranier’s and sat up on the table, disconnecting the blood tubing and stalking across the room to where a fresh uniform hung. Dressed only in her underwear, she seemed as comfortable as if she were fully clothed. Ranier, however, was acutely aware of her state of undress. “I came here to save myself. Do you have any idea what the Hand would have done to me if they’d discovered my dirty little secret?”
“Nothing good, I bet.” Ranier held up a hand, blocking Zabin’s way when the doctor tried to advance on her. He shook his head, and Dr. Zabin shrugged. Without a word of protest, the doctor left the room, and Ranier approached Diamond. He raised his wrist to his mouth and commed the captain. “Captain.”
“ Report .”
“Diamond’s up and about. I’ll explain later. Out.”
He fumbled with his comm unit as he watched her step into the uniform. Ranier heard the faint noise as she zipped it up the front. When she turned around, he was only two paces away from her.
It was a moment unlike any he’d spent with a woman before. Ranier could see her need of… something… in her eyes. Yet she refused to reach out to him. When Ranier thought she might, she balled her hands into fists and raised her chin a notch, too proud to ask for whatever it was she needed.
Then it hit him. She’d asked him to come back. Reached for him when he’d returned. He didn’t know her relationship with Viktor, but she needed tenderness Ranier wasn’t sure Viktor was capable of giving. Especially now. The brutality she’d endured couldn’t have been anything but traumatizing.
Moving very slowly, Ranier closed the distance between them and pulled Diamond into his arms. At first, she stiffened. Then she melded into Ranier as if she knew she belonged there. Her arms snaked around his waist, and she rested her cheek on his chest. He thought he felt her body tremble, but the vibration was so slight, he couldn’t be sure.
He could have stood there all day, but the door slid open, and Viktor entered the room looking almost as wild and out of control as Ranier imagined he might have when he’d taken Diamond the first time.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my woman, human?” His normally husky, quiet voice was loud in his rage.
Ranier turned, keeping a grip on Diamond’s arm so he could keep her behind his back and stay between her and Viktor. “I thought I locked you in. Get back to your cabin. Now. Don’t make me shoot you.” He pulled out his gun.
“No!” Diamond twisted her arm free and bolted to Viktor. “I can help him.” Viktor grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Diamond didn’t resist, but winced. The flesh of her arm where Viktor’s fingers dented it was white. It only took a few seconds for her arm below his grip to begin to mottle. She’d definitely bruise.
“Who’s going to help you? If the captain hadn’t sent me to check on Viktor, you’d probably be dead.”
“You heard what the doctor said. I wouldn’t have died. This is what I’m made to do.” She looked pleadingly at him. Ranier ground his teeth. Why did women always want to think they could save the world? “I don’t expect you to understand, but I gave my word to a man who saved my life. That’s not a promise I can break.”
Viktor only grunted, his eyes hungrily devouring her as he half walked, half dragged her to the door. “Mine,” he growled.
“Oh, no. Maybe you will be fine, but I’m not taking any chances. You’re not taking her anywhere without me, Viktor.”
“You wish to participate in our little game, human?”
“Oh, hell no!” Ranier cringed at the thought. While exploring Diamond together had its up sides, with Viktor in this awful, violent mood, it wasn’t something he was willing to even contemplate. “I’m going to make sure you don’t cross the line this time.”
The vampire only scowled, but didn’t say anything. Diamond blinked in surprise, then smiled faintly before Viktor yanked her out the door and down the hallway. Knowing he wouldn’t like what he was about to witness, Ranier trotted after them. If nothing else good came out of this, he’d keep Diamond safe until she felt she’d done her bit to save Viktor from total madness. After that, maybe she’d let him hang around for a while longer.
Still, as he followed the couple to Viktor’s cabin, a part of him he hadn’t realized existed peeped out from behind his mask of civility. He knew enough about vampires to realize he was about to witness something few people ever got to see. Viktor was in a madness of sex and blood that threatened to take him over. If he chose, he could simply take what he needed with multiple partners of any sex he chose. By choosing Diamond over everyone else aboard the Black Star , he was giving her more power over him than he had over her.
The act of lust and violence Ranier knew he was about to witness was the most primitive form of mating alive in the galaxy. If Diamond chose, after this was over and Viktor regained his senses, she could remain as Viktor’s Mated One for as long as she wished. It would give her almost absolute power over the big vampire in exchange for her body and blood during times such as these when he was in dire need.
Though it could become violent at times -- like the first time Diamond had submitted herself -- it was actually an act no vampire took lightly. Even in the grip of madness, they made the choice to hold to one person, or seek out others to aid them in climbing out of the Blood Burning. Though something few humans -- or any other species -- understood, choosing a partner for a Blood Burning time was the ultimate act of love on the parts of both participants.
The scary part was, Ranier wasn’t entirely sure he’d spoken truthfully when he’d said he didn’t want to join them. Also, Ranier knew he’d wonder what it meant that Viktor had asked if he wanted to participate in their little game. From what he knew about vampires, they always chose carefully to meet their needs during this time. It was very unlikely he’d choose Diamond as someone he was willing to join his life to and choose a second person to use, then toss away. If Viktor wanted to choose a second person to be involved in this, it would be as an equal to Diamond.
Stars help him! This was becoming a situation he wasn’t sure he wanted to resist.