Deadly Pursuit (A Blood Hunter Novel, #2) (5 page)

Should
she
sneak
away
now?
But
she
needed
to
know,
and
besides,
she
was
on
a
space
cruiser
heading
through
deep
space;
where
was
she
supposed
to
hide?

“
Dios
,”
Rico
muttered,
“it’s
the
goddamn
Church.
Have
I
mentioned
how
much
I
hate
the
Church?”

“Frequently,”
Skylar
said
drily.

Five
hundred
years
ago,
the
old
religions
had
almost
died
out,
but
that
had
all
changed
with
the
discovery
of
Meridian.
While
not
everyone
could
afford
that
route
to
immortality,
everyone
wanted
to
live
forever,
and
the
old
beliefs
had
gained
a
new
popularity.
The
Church
of
Everlasting
Life
offered
the
masses
a
cheaper,
if
less
reliable,
alternative
with
its
promise
of
an
afterlife
in
paradise.
They
had
quickly
grown
until
they
were
now
the
second
most
powerful
faction
in
the
civilized
universe.

Tannis
opened
her
comm
link.
“So,
you’re
a
High
Priest.
Big
deal.
Whatever
it
is
you’re
selling,
we
don’t
want
any.”

Hezrai
ignored
the
comment.
He’d
always
been
excellent
at
ignoring
what
he
didn’t
want
to
hear.
Which
included
most
of
what
Alex
had
ever
said.
She
and
Hezrai
had
existed
in
a
state
of
mutual
animosity
for
as
long
as
Alex
remembered.
Longer
than
that
even,
according
to
Sister
Martha.
Apparently,
Alex
had
thrown
up
all
over
him
at
their
first
meeting
and
things
had
only
gone
downhill
from
there.

“We
believe
you
have
something
that
belongs
to
us,”
Hezrai
said.
“We
want
it
back.”

It?

Wasn’t
it
just
like
him
to
refer
to
her
as
an
it
?
He’d
never
seen
her
as
a
person.

Rico
glanced
around
the
room.
“Anyone
got
a
clue
what
he’s
talking
about?”

“No
idea,”
Tannis
said.

Alex
shrank
into
her
chair
and
tried
to
make
herself
very,
very
small.

All
her
life,
except
for
the
last
three
months,
she
had
done
her
duty,
and
it
had
been
hard—every
single
day
a
struggle
against
the
stultifying
boredom
of
ritual
and
routine.
Even
so,
this
time
away
was
only
ever
meant
to
be
temporary.
She’d
always
known
she
had
to
go
back
sometime.
There
were
people
who
believed
in
her,
had
given
up
their
lives
for
her.
But
was
it
so
wrong
to
want
to
see
a
tiny
bit
of
the
world
before
she
returned?
To
live
a
little?

Yes,
she’d
go
back.
But
just
not
yet.
There
were
things
she
had
to
do.
An
image
of
Jon’s
nearly
naked
body
flashed
across
her
mind—important
things.

Tannis
ran
a
hand
through
her
short,
dark
hair.
“They’ve
obviously
fucked
up
and
confused
us
with
someone
else.
We
have
shit
that
belongs
to
them.”
She
was
silent
for
a
moment
as
she
considered
their
options.
“As
far
as
I’m
aware,
at
the
present
time
we’re
not
holding
any
illegal
contraband
on
the
ship.
Why
not
let
them
board,
check
things
out,
and
maybe
they’ll
piss
off
and
leave
us
alone.”

Alex
sneaked
another
peek
around
the
room
and
found
Skylar
watching
her,
her
inhuman
violet
eyes
speculative
as
she
studied
her.
Skylar
raised
one
eyebrow,
and
Alex
sank
lower
into
her
chair
and
tried
to
keep
her
expression
blank.

Skylar
swung
around
to
face
Tannis.
“You
really
think
that’s
a
good
idea?”

“You
have
a
better
one?”

“Well,
it
would
be
hard
to
come
up
with
a
worse
one.
You’ve
a
couple
of
GMs
on
board—including
yourself
by
the
way—as
well
as
someone
the
Church
believes
is
a
close
relation
to
the
antichrist.”

Rico
grinned.
“Hey,
sweetheart,
you
referring
to
me?
Because
I’ve
got
to
tell
you—me
and
the
antichrist—we’re
not
actually
related.”

“Tell
that
to
the
Church,”
Skylar
suggested
sweetly.

GMs
stood
for
genetically
modifieds.
Captain
Tannis
and
Daisy
were
both
GMs—or
abominations
as
the
Church
referred
to
anyone
with
less
than
a
hundred
percent
human
DNA.
The
Church
had
exterminated
most
of
them
in
the
Purge—one
of
the
Church’s
policies
Alex
had
never
believed
in.
Unlike
Hezrai,
who
pursued
it
with
maniacal
zeal.

Daisy
was
a
plant
hybrid—she
was
green
and
could
photosynthesize,
which
Alex
thought
was
amazingly
cool.
El
Cazador
had
picked
up
her
damaged
escape
pod
in
deep
space
after
the
experimental
station
where
she’d
lived
had
been
attacked
and
her
family
exterminated
by
the
Church.