The Perfect Creation

Chapter Four

The giant tree they stood within had been hollowed out and floored with stone. Long counters lined the outer perimeter of the place, upon which several items lay. Animal hides, food stuffs, and ammunitions took up much of the rest of the racks and shelves lining the walls and displays in the middle of the room. Large windows allowed the natural light outside to filter through the store, and the added char stones gave the place the illumination it needed.

Several ladders showed passage to the upper, darker reaches of the tree, probably where the merchant stored his warehouse of goods. But it wasn’t the small, rotund, greedy-eyed shopkeeper that caught her attention. The three overly large peacemakers bullying the merchant as they piled more on the counter fixed and held her interest. To her dismay, she’d captured theirs as well.

“Easy, love,” Cheltam murmured just loudly enough to be heard by all. “I told you this place would be safe enough. See? There are a few of our friendly lawmen keeping the outskirts of society protected as we speak.”

Two of the peacemakers chuckled and continued to pocket whatever caught their fancy.

The other kept a wary eye between the merchant and them, and she instinctively knew he’d be the one to watch out for.

Cheltam squeezed her hand.

“Thanks, love.” She squeezed him back. “I’m fine. I’ll just see if they have anything over here that we can use on our trip.”

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded and left her for the merchant behind his counter. The two peacemakers fighting over some nonsense the merchant objected to ignored Cheltam, clearly not seasoned lawmen. Hell, the first time she’d seen Cheltam she’d been wary of his obvious threat. However, the older, more suspicious peacemaker watched Cheltam begin an itemised list of needs. But after a few moments, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the lawman left him alone and walked towards Erin.

She slowly turned towards a bin of poorly crafted scarves and looked within, as if she intended to purchase one of the nasty little garments. The chill of the forest’s cooling temperature might warrant such an item, but Erin only wanted to delay the confrontation looming steadily nearer. She did her best to still any hint of her pheromones designed to entice the enemy. While taking out this potential threat might make her feel better, it would only alert his companions of trouble. And she didn’t want anyone remembering her visit as anything other than unremarkable.

The red-black hair and long jacket she wore she could easily explain as a fashion trend.

With her eyes behind dark glasses and her senses tamped, she stood as close to normal as she could possibly be. Though her skin normally glittered with vitality, when she focused, she could suppress her natural ability to sense energy in the air around her, thus making her skin look normal, if a touch more golden than most.

“You’re not going to buy those?”

She glanced to her left and smiled at the lawman, inwardly swearing when his gaze homed in on her lips. “No. I was curious about what they’re made from. I’m not a native Mardu, and I find the different cultures on the planet fascinating.” The male stood an inch or two shorter than Cheltam, putting him at her height. He had brawn and a smattering of intelligence in his dark eyes, yet his stare held a hint of malice as well. He fisted his hands on his hips, drawing attention to his dark brown uniform and the impressive laser pistol at his side. “My name’s Ollen. I’d be happy to show you around, if you like.”

He smiled, and the cruel twist to his lips warned her that this one wouldn’t shake free easily. A glance over his shoulder showed Cheltam still engaged with the merchant, gathering supplies she hadn’t ordered. The merchant gathered coils of rope, char shards for lighting, a few packets of compressed food and a large globe of some type of liquid on the counter. Then he and Cheltam began haggling about price.

“I’m with someone.” She tried for a pleasantly remorseful tone. Unfortunately, Ollen continued to think with the wrong head—a comment she’d heard her sister make many, many times concerning the male of the species. Erin still found the comparison fascinating, that a male’s genitals and brains might have something in common.

“But you’re not with him now. Your friend looks busy.” The peacemaker took another step closer and put a hand on her arm.

Alarms fired in Erin’s body, and at a loss to control her anxiety, she felt herself naturally accommodate to incapacitate the threat. Ollen inhaled and froze, his entire body shifting to align itself with hers.

“Let’s go fuck. Now.” The brutality barely dormant within him came out in force as he jerked her closer, his strength bruising.

Cheltam, finally, glanced over his shoulder at her and frowned. But then the other two guards said something to engage him and nodded at the door. He clenched his jaw and caught her eye. “I’ll be back, love. Sit tight and try not to break anything.” Or anyone, his glance at Ollen seemed to say. Cheltam shot her another look and turned away.

Nice to know he thought she could handle herself. But as Erin watched him leave, she worried about how best to deal with the situation when the peacemaker tried to steal a kiss.

Dodging his lips, she moved back a pace and smiled, taking him off balance. “Now that he’s gone, let’s find a quiet corner and entertain ourselves. What do you say?” Ollen grinned and dragged her with him towards the merchant. “Take a break, Herm.

We need to do some official peacemaker business, you get my meaning?” Herm glared but said nothing. Instead, he turned on his heel and slammed out of the shop.

“Strip and bend over the counter,” Ollen ordered and unbuckled his belt. His fingers shook as he inhaled again, and she noted the dilation of his pupils as she filled the small space around them with her perfume. “Fuck me. You smell damned good. Now hurry the hell up. I’m not going to last long.”

You got that right. He tore at his trousers, and Erin laid him out flat in no time. She didn’t even try to be gentle, gratified by the sound of his thick skull bouncing off the unforgiving stone floor.

Shaking her head at the inherent weakness in all males—most males, she reminded herself, recalling Cheltam’s surprising control—she dragged the peacemaker behind one of the counters and tied him up with some nearby rope. After gagging him, she moved to the exit, seeing nothing through the windows of the shop. Had Cheltam escaped, somehow? Or worse, joined with the rogue peacemakers to turn her in? Though he had a reputation as loyal once he’d contracted his services, Cheltam might decide to make an exception in Erin’s case. Blue Rim and their lucrative reward for her capture made it impossible for her to trust anyone.

Stealing herself for the worst, Erin pushed out the door and walked cautiously around the trading tower. As she moved away from the entrance, she noticed Cheltam dragging one unconscious male into the invading woodline. Stunned with relief, she could only watch him work.

Seeing her, the tension in his frame eased. “I take it you put that other asshole out of commission.” She nodded, and he motioned to another body on the ground. “Grab that one.” Erin automatically grabbed the male and hid him next to the other guard. Cheltam used a bit of rope to quickly secure both men before holding up a nasty looking cloth.

Aiming a menacing grin at the peacemakers, he then turned to Erin. “Don’t ask where I found this, because you don’t want to know.” He ripped it in half and stuffed the rags into their mouths. When finished, he stood and stared at Erin, his good mood souring rapidly.

“Go wait for me inside the store. And for Flor’s sake, tone down that scent unless you want to spread those legs for a hard fuck regardless of who’s watching.” He had the gall to push her back towards the entrance of the tower and away from him, but when she saw the ‘who’

he mentioned she understood. Several tree lengths away near their rover the merchant, Herm, paced back and forth, oblivious to everything but his own disgruntled rambling.

“Fine.” She wished Cheltam’s demanding tone weren’t so arousing. Unfortunately, being with Cheltam in the rover had only increased her sexual awareness of the exasperating male. “But what do we do about Herm? He’ll have questions.”

“I’ll take care of him. Go inside and grab the stuff on the counter that I was collecting.

Put this in its place,” he said gruffly and handed her a currency voucher. “Then meet me on the far side by the path near that big black stone.” She’d seen it when they arrived. “Don’t take long.” She still didn’t trust him. But at this point, he surely wasn’t in league with these peacemakers. “And don’t make me regret trusting you this much,” she warned in a low voice.

To her annoyance, he rolled his eyes. “I’m shaking in my boots. Just get away from me before I show you what it really means to bend over a counter.” She blinked. “You heard that?”

“I heard everything that drun said. He’s lucky I was busy with these two or I’d have ripped off his head and shoved it up his ass.”

Not knowing what to say and a bit puzzled over Cheltam’s anger, which couldn’t possibly exist on her behalf, she started to walk away. “Must have ears like a threll,” she muttered, not surprised when he answered her.

“Yeah, I do. So hurry that sweet little ass. We need to move.” More than interested in what exactly Cheltam was capable of, Erin nevertheless shelved her curiosity and entered the market. She grabbed the items he’d mentioned, dumping her bag of supplies and what he’d bartered for into a larger pack, and left for the black rock by a cleared space in the tree line, the beginning of an apparent path through the Eron Forest.

Ducking into the shaded cover of several leafy ferns, she waited for Cheltam to arrive.

Three times now he’d surprised her. Cheltam had met her blow for blow in his house. He’d resisted her first attempt to seduce him, and he’d stolen that laser disc out of her hands with a speed exceeding that of mere Mardu. So what exactly was he? She’d been taught that each planet’s natives had distinct characteristics, and that mating between planetary races normally resulted in one genetic strain dominating the other. In unique instances, progeny of mixed breeding resulted in a child with both donors’ characteristics. But according to Blue Rim’s classified files—which she’d risked a week in the desensitisation chamber to read—

those instances were exceedingly rare.

So far as her Creator Canunn knew, never had people existed like Erin, Anin and Ryen—beings capable of carrying the dominant markers for several planetary races. Erin wasn’t quite sure, but she thought she might possess a hint of Mardu coding as well as the Ragga, Nebite and Zephyr streams running through her blood. Erin had an agility beyond that of most of the System’s inhabitants. Still, she hadn’t the speed that Cheltam seemed to possess, if his theft of that laser disc was any indication. She could only be glad she’d had surprise on her side when she’d downed him in his house.

Cheltam looked like a native of this planet, with a few noticeable exceptions. He had Mardu colouring, a swarthy tan set against that soft, dark brown hair. But those eyes. The light gold colour and exotic slant definitely reminded her of the felines she’d studied back on Eyra. Predators with the instincts to not simply kill, but to survive. Cheltam seemed much the same. Deadly, potent and nearly mesmerising with that sexual, raw stare that seemed to look right through her. She huffed. And he complained about her scent. At least that she could mask. His stare, on the other hand, was something difficult to avoid, and it continued to make her want to melt despite her attempts at controlling her libido.

That latent sexuality burning in her ‘partner’ had an odd effect on her ability to concentrate. And that wouldn’t do. Not only did Erin have to protect herself, but the lives of Anin, Ryen, and those helpless prisoners depended on her. Granted, most of the prison contingent were criminals, but no one deserved the treatment Blue Rim doled on their test subjects. At the memories, Erin tightened her grip on the strap of the pack. She’d do everything in her power to destroy the labs. No matter what she had to sacrifice.

Images of a cold, flat laboratory table, thick straps cutting into her wrists and ankles, prodding fingers, metallic tools and tubes invading her body all stabbed at her with surgical sharpness. Yes, she and her family had escaped Blue Rim, but for how long? And what were the prisoners undergoing as she waited here for Cheltam, a criminal with no thought of anything but lining his pockets and striking out at System law Erin tightened her jaw and amended her decision. She’d do everything in her power to destroy Blue Rim. No matter what, or who, she had to sacrifice.

Rafe glared at Herm, who took the hint and rushed back into his trading tower.

Gripping his communicator tightly, Rafe spoke to his brother, not at all happy about Gar’s answers. “What do you mean Sernal is unavailable?” Gar growled back, “What the hell do you think I mean? I can’t contact him. He’s out of touch. No one has seen him since you last talked to him, if you want to know the truth.”

“Great.” Rafe rubbed the back of his neck. “First you get cold-cocked by a female, then our great and fearless leader disappears. Two messes I have to clean up.”

“Fuck you.” Gar sounded less than pleased, and Rafe allowed himself a chuckle. “Think it’s funny? She’s dangerous, brother mine, and you’re stuck with her. She has information on Blue Rim that they’re desperate to get back. They offered a hundred thousand beks for her safe return to the planet. Hell, it’s obvious she’s one of their experiments.”

“I know.”

“She told you?”

“She told me she and the other prisoner ships getting lost in ‘deep space’ are ending up on Eyra as part of Blue Rim’s illegal test subjects. Apparently, the lab is responsible for the half dozen ships gone missing, which is probably what Sernal expected, and why he assigned you to investigate Blue Rim.

“They use the prisoners as lab rats. For a small fee, those prisoners just ‘disappear’. The prisons don’t worry about overcrowding, and Blue Rim doesn’t have to answer to System law about illegal scientific experimentation.”

Gar remained silent.

“What?” Rafe kept an eye on his surroundings, fully expecting another group of peacemakers to show when the three idiots he’d encountered didn’t report in. He felt both furious and embarrassed to see lawmen he should have been proud to call his peers acting like corrupt barbarians.

“I’m not buying it, Rafe. She’s one of Blue Rim’s experiments? She took out Drekk in two seconds, not to mention she knocked me flat on my ass. And what about you? You’re saying a female ‘experiment’ took out two Xema warriors in their prime?” Gar had a point.

But still…

“If not an experiment, then what?”

“I’ve been hearing rumours about a resurgence in the System’s push to regulate Eyran practices much more closely.” Gar paused, and Rafe had a bad feeling sinking into his bones.

“I think she might be a Creation.”

Rafe let the cursed word sink in. A Creation, an entity not born, but developed and formed by mortal men and women, not the planetary gods and goddesses as nature intended. An abomination by law and morality, and clearly justified as lethal anomalies during the Eyran War of 2845.

A long time ago, the scientists on Eyra had free reign to do whatever they wanted in the name of science. In doing so, they’d inadvertently manufactured a race of crazy, deviant psychotics with incredible strength and cunning, who had banded together and killed thousands before the peacemakers had stopped them.

As a result, the Vrail Council outlawed Creation as a rule, allowing the occasional android or clone only for specific scientific purposes and only under Council’s unanimously voted decision.

Hell, Rafe could name all the clones on Mardu, as well as the androids on Nebe6. There were maybe twenty of them in all, and the peacemakers watched them with careful eyes at all times.

“She’s not a Creation.” He couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe it, even as something inside him whispered to listen to what his brother told him. “She could have killed me twice now, yet she didn’t. She wants my help.”

“To kill everyone at Blue Rim,” Gar added caustically.

“Hell, yeah. But can you blame her? If what she says is true, then the labs are doing things to people they shouldn’t be. And brother, you saw her eyes. How much do you think it hurt to turn them purple? Her pupils are yellow.” Gold actually, a colour that flared with heat whenever she stared at him.

“… Rafe? Are you hearing me?”

Dammit. “Say that again. I think we’re losing the connection.” Rafe could only be glad this comm unit didn’t have a vidphone. He’d catch hell if Gar caught him flushing with embarrassment. Letting my dick do my thinking when I should be planning a way out of this mess.

“I said you need to play this out. I’ll take care of the peacemakers you knocked out down there. But with the amount of currency Blue Rim is offering as a reward, we can’t trust a lot of our guys with this mission. Sad but true. And Sernal can kiss my ass if he doesn’t like me mistrusting his people.

“You take care of her. Get her to confide in you what’s really going on at Blue Rim.

Details. And Drekk’s coming with you. I don’t trust her, Rafe. And you aren’t thinking straight because you’re letting your—”

“I’ll contact you in two days. Out.” Rafe disconnected and pocketed the communicator.

Gar wouldn’t like it, but Rafe didn’t need Drekk covering his ass. Rafe would take care of Erin, and he sure as hell didn’t want Drekk around when he did so.

Recalling the feel of Erin’s mouth over him as if she’d just taken him to wainu, Rafe swore at his overactive glands and took a moment to regain control before he headed towards Herm. How a woman could be so soft and willing one minute and so damned dangerous the next baffled him. Yet she’d taken both him and Gar down, and had handled him in the rover easily, when Rafe clearly outweighed her twice over.

But leaving her with Ollen… It had taken considerable control to let Erin take care of him, that disgusting excuse for a lawman. But take care of him she had. Rafe had tuned in to their conversation with his keen hearing, pleased she hadn’t let the jerk lay one more finger on her than necessary. Rafe, however, still didn’t like the fact that she’d had to defend herself, and had taken his frustration out on Ollen’s companions.

Personally, Rafe couldn’t wait to see what Sernal would do to the corrupt peacemakers, if Sernal was even around. Gar should have been able to get through to Sernal by now.

Especially through their personal channels, a Mardu hotline all of the brothers shared on a special communicator never far from reach. Rafe could only hope Sernal fared well, and that perhaps his brother had to remain incommunicado for a mission’s sake.

Sighing, Rafe tucked away his unease and focused on Erin. For the right price, Herm would forget he’d ever seen them, especially once Rafe promised to send better peacemaker protection his way. Of course, Herm wouldn’t know who had sent them, just that a reliable

‘friend’ of Cheltam’s would make good on the promise.

Now to dump Herm and move before Gar sicced Drekk on them. Because Gar wouldn’t be denied, and he wanted Drekk to watch over his ‘little’ brother. Rafe fumed. He didn’t need the help, but overprotective Gar couldn’t hear “no” past his stubborn brain. He didn’t like Erin and would no doubt destroy her the first chance he had if she turned out to be a Creation. The old Gar would have given her a chance, but this tougher, harsher Gar would kill her without a qualm if she threatened his brother’s life. And Rafe refused to let that happen.

“That little whelp hung up on me.” Gar glared at his communicator, ignoring the chuckle from Drekk.

“I told you as much. Hell, Gar. He’s you but with a sunnier attitude. Of course he won’t take your help, not when there’s a pretty female needing him. He’s too tenderhearted for the job. I told him so before.” Drekk sighed and leaned back on a plush divan, clutching the back of his neck with a grimace. “Damn, that girl put me down hard. I think I like her.”

“Took you out like a boy fresh from the fields. Tears, for Flor’s sake. She suckered you with damned tears.” Gar glared at Drekk, not seeing the humour in any of it. That female was no more an experiment than he was. He’d stake his life on it. She fought too well, and that form, those eyes… She wasn’t normal, and if Blue Rim wanted as much for her as they were asking, Erin would bring Rafe nothing but trouble and pain. With Sernal also gone missing, Gar didn’t know what to do. Rafe, at least, he had a tentative handle on. But Sernal never took time away from his new job as both commander of Lady Justice, his ship, and of the new Peacemaker Central satellite station, Libetter. Worry filled him, an instinctive call to protect his own that he would heed this time. He refused to lose anyone else he cared about ever again.

“Gar, don’t worry.” Drekk rose wearily to his feet. “I’ll take care of Rafe. You deal with Sernal. Because of the two of them, Sernal’s going to be more trouble than I can handle.” Gar couldn’t help the small smile that escaped. “Admit it, he’s a pain the in the ass.”

“Of course he is. All you peacemakers are. But Rafe, him I can tolerate. More than you,” Drekk muttered, offered Gar an obscene hand gesture, then simply vanished.

Gar stared, wide-eyed, at how Drekk had gotten his hands on a personal micro-teleporter and shook his head. “Show off.” He sighed. Now to save big brother, most likely from himself. Sucking in a breath, Gar did what he’d been dreading. He dialled another number, this time off his vidcom, and stared into Sernal’s likeness—Catam. “Well now, if it isn’t the baby of the family.” He tried for normalcy, hoping it bled through his pores like a fine sweat on a hot day.

“Gar?” The hopeful anticipation in his youngest brother’s hesitant smile cut Gar to the quick. “How are you? I’ve missed you—”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been busy.” The thought of the last time he’d called, of the sound of children giggling in the background, pierced the dull armour around his heart, and he ignored the ache in his chest, wishing more than anything he could undo the past. “Sernal’s missing. I don’t have time for chatter. Now shut up and listen.”