Ghost in Her Heart (3 page)

A hot flush made her duck her head as she sat
on the bed. The man was blunt. And disciplined. There weren’t many
guys she knew who’d turn down easy sex in this day and age. She
eyed him discretely as she kicked off her shoes. A discriminating
stranger who turned down a warm bed to sleep outside her door.
There was something gallant about that, and very sexy, in an old
fashioned kind of way. How many guys would do something like
that?

She tossed her jacket over the foot of the
bed and crawled under the covers. It was chilly in there. At least
she wasn’t the one on the floor. Guilt made her wince. But what
could she do? She wasn’t about to invite him into the bed.

She just hoped he wasn’t going to hold it
against her when she had to take his class.

Vana woke up from a dream involving a pair of
ice blue eyes and knowing male hands. It faded as her eyes opened,
leaving her unsure of the details but uncomfortably curious about
their cause.

“The cause” leaned against the doorframe,
watching her wake.

“Do you always sleep this hard?” he asked. He
didn’t seem to mind. Those sensual blue eyes of his moved over her
with warm appraisal.

Finger combing her hair out of the way,
knowing she must look a mess, she grumbled, “Usually. I hate
mornings.”

White teeth flashed in a bright smile. “You
need a reason to get up, then. If I buy you breakfast, will it
cheer you?”

“Only if it’s a loan. I owe you too much
already.”

There went that smile again. The man really
was enjoying himself, though how he managed at this early hour was
beyond her.

As she passed through the doorway, she was
reminded where he’d spent the night. Now that she had some sleep
behind her, the reason why was obvious, and she was impressed by
his integrity. Not that she would have given him a chance to do
otherwise, of course. He was married. Probably had several kids.
She glanced at him and unconsciously sighed. “Your wife would be
thrilled to know what a nice guy you are.”

His brows drew together in puzzlement. “I’m
not married.”

He wasn’t? Suddenly she felt perkier. “Oh. I
just thought…” Embarrassed, she let the words trail off. She didn’t
want him to feel as if his chivalry was in question.

As if he could read her mind, he snorted in
amusement. “You’re too used to Earth men. Earthy-men, that is,” he
hastily corrected himself, glancing at her. “Grown-up boys with no
discipline, no morals. You’ll appreciate the difference at the
academy.”

She hoped she would. Already she was nervous.
Still, if Dagon were a sample of the kind of men she would
meet…maybe sending in that application was one of the best ideas of
her life.

***

As the tow truck pulled up at the academy,
Vana grabbed her bag. Halfway out the truck’s door, she froze.
Dagon’s motorcycle had hardly rolled to a stop when a man dressed
in a black uniform came running out. Dagon pulled off his helmet,
listening intently to the man’s words. Although she couldn’t
understand the language the man spoke, his body language told her
that whatever he had to say was urgent. Dagon confirmed it when he
swung one long leg over his bike and moved swiftly to her side.

“Hurry,” he said, taking her bag. He caught
her hand and helped her leap down from the jacked up truck,
slamming the door behind her. Without explanation, he towed her off
at a lope.

“What’s wrong?” she huffed, barely able to
keep up.

“We have a problem,” was all he would say as
he ran toward the academy. The building itself was a handsome brick
structure with two wings off each side. At another time she would
have enjoyed studying the lawn and gardens surrounding it. Just
then it was all she could do to keep from tripping as they joined
the stream of people rushing up the stairs.

Another car careened around the corner and
screeched to a stop, spraying gravel. A man leapt out, running
around the other side of the car to hurry the female passenger.

“Hurry up, Ser! You’re going to be a
permanent resident!” someone yelled.

One quick peek at that scene was all Vana got
before she stumbled on the stairs.

“Careful!” Dagon growled, grabbing her to
prevent a fall.

“Sorry.”

They dashed into the hall, past a series of
rooms made hard to see by the press of bodies working toward a set
of double doors. The crowd was so close she couldn’t see what lay
beyond them, but she felt the chill as they approached, an odd
contrast to the body heat around her. And then she was through. A
white light blinded her, and she knew no more.

Dagon swore as he caught the woman and
lowered her to the frozen ground. They were supposed to have
transported directly to the compound. This light forest with the
frosted ground and naked trees was definitely not their
destination. Tension gripped him, even after he recognized the
familiar landmarks of the Banderols Highway, a mere two miles shy
of their destination. It was the perfect spot for an ambush.

“Shields up! Battle positions.” Dagon
commanded. “We got a message of sabotage, so we rushed everyone
out. A group of enemy soldiers broke into the lab and made it to
the controls of the Istalgilese Tunnel before they were stopped.
They wouldn’t have dared alter our arrival point by much, not if it
was the women they were after.” With a touch of a button, the men
shed the electronic illusion of human soldiers and transformed into
the fearsome vision of fully armed, combat ready Beast warriors.
The glowing eyes of their fantastical beast-headed helmets made
them look alien and dangerous. Scarier still were the sleek black
rifles and deadly handguns.

They would need them, for their enemy was
every bit as dangerous as they were.

He hadn’t been surprised when he’d pulled up
to the ‘academy’ and found the place in a state of controlled
chaos. The emergency evacuation drills had prepared the men for
trouble, and they’d been hustling the women along at a fast clip.
Whatever had gone wrong at home would be dealt with immediately.
They couldn’t afford to have screw-ups like this happen, not with
their precious breeders in hand. “Any sign of the Dark Ones?” he
called to his scouts, who were busy scanning the area with their
portable biosensors.

Vana heard the last, though the meaning was
dulled in her mind. Everything was fuzzy, and far too bright, like
sun off snow. Her body felt leaden, like a mattress left out in the
rain and reluctantly dragged back in. Had she hit her head? Where
was Dagon?

“What about the women?” someone said.

“The displacement will wear off soon. They’re
better off tranquilized—at least they’ll remain calm.”

Calm? Why did she need to remain calm? Was
there a gas leak or something? Panic cleared her head. Suddenly the
visual haze burned off. Vana sucked in a breath as the armored
warriors around her came into view. A clear blue dome surrounded
their group. And outside it—

The ground shook as a massive, clawed
creature like a saber tooth, but far too big, leapt in front of the
shield. It snarled, every muscle poised to jump. A helmet of worked
metal protected its head, and a steel breastplate guarded its
massive chest. A warrior with a deadly looking weapon rode on its
back.

Vana made it into a crouch, but that was all
her shaky body would do. She was trying to figure out which way to
run when a black dragon—a dragon!—landed in front of the shield. It
flamed and screamed, shaking its wings in fury. It, too, was
armored, but what shocked her more was the figure who dismounted
and strode to the shield.

“Give up the women or die,” he demanded, as
more riders arrived to back up his threat. His armor was black, and
the close-fitting helmet hid his face, making him even more
frightening.

“When the sun freezes over, Nikon! Find your
own women,” the man who was apparently the leader called back. His
animal headed helmet gleamed cold silver in the murky light. Close
fitting body armor protected his chest, arms and legs. Even Mr.
Rodgers would look imposing in that get up.

Vana heartily agreed with his sentiments,
until it dawned on her that she didn’t know anything more about
these men than she did the other. She glanced at the dragon and her
mouth went dry. On the other hand, at least the men on her side of
the bubble didn’t have overgrown pets.

Nikon raised his hand. Every man there cocked
his guns at the group within the bubble. The dragon drooled flame.
“Is that your final word, Dagon?”

Dagon? Shocked, Vana glanced at the
beast-headed leader. It couldn’t be! Oh, man. She’d known that she
had terrible taste in men, but this! How could she have misjudged
him so badly? Chivalry, indeed, she thought with disgust. The jerk
had been planning this all along!

Dagon cocked his own gun. “You never did know
when to run, boy.”

Vana hadn’t survived twenty-five years alone
in the big bad world for nothing. With lightning deduction—thank
God her brain was working faster than her body—she grabbed a
sidearm out of the nearest man’s holster, then swiftly wrapped her
arm around the neck of a petite blond and hauled her to her feet.
Before anyone could react, she had the gun pressed to the girl’s
temple.

“Play along,” Vana hissed in her ear. “I’m
going to try to get us out of here.” Louder, she called, “Freeze!
Nobody move or I’ll blow her brains out, I swear!” It was a risky
move. Had she stopped to think about it she would have chickened
out. She was used to thinking exhaustively about what flavor of ice
cream to buy at the store, for pity’s sake! For someone who viewed
trying Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey as a wild night out, this
was crazy indeed. But for once in her life, action had taken the
place of careful reasoning. Now she had to pray that her acting
skills had peaked along with her bravado.

Warriors on both side of the shield stared at
her in horror. “Don’t do it, woman,” Dagon warned.

She blew the girl’s hair out of her face,
trying to watch all sides at once as she spun in a circle, dragging
the poor girl with her. “Back off! I will blow her head off, man, I
swear!” she cried in her best imitation of a jacked up bank
robber.

A circle cleared around them, with warriors
forming a wall between the remaining women and Vana to protect them
from wild shots.

Vana thought fast. “You,” she nodded at the
man whose gun she held. “Come here. That’s far enough,” she warned,
holding the muzzle firmly to her captive’s head. In a low voice,
she told him, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m smart enough
to figure out that we do not want is to get shot in a war between
you guys.” She jerked her head at the men outside the shield.
Adrenaline made her shake.

The girl held very still.

Vana said, “Pretend that whatever knocked us
out when you brought us here made us crazy, or brain damaged, or
whatever. Make those guys not want us, because none of these women
deserve to get hurt.” And hurt they would be if these guys started
shooting. The fear in her gut told her so.

The warrior stared at her for a moment, his
metallic head gleaming. Then he backed off and started an argument
with Dagon. Their words grew louder and more heated, until finally
he shouted at Dagon, “We were warned that this would happen. I told
you that nobody was desperate enough to bed a bunch of crazy women!
Give them to Nikon. What good are they? They’ll pass on their
madness to their children.”

Nikon glanced sharply at Vana. Grumbling
started among his men.

To egg him on, she raved, “What are you
talking about? I’m not crazy!” she fired a shot into the air to
prove her point.” Instantly the warriors leveled their guns at
her.

The blond screamed and grabbed her head,
apparently sure she was dead.

Vana gulped. Hoo, boy! She was toast. Maybe
she was too good an actor…either that or she’d watched too much
garbage on TV.

Vana grabbed the back of her captive’s hair,
trying not to be too rough. “Relax! Play along,” she whispered.
Though the girl probably thought she was nuts, she didn’t fight.
That was good, because the sight of all those rifles pointed at
Vana made her light-headed. She’d never pulled a stunt like this in
her life! What had possessed her to act like a Wild West
gunslinger?

“You see?” the warrior shouted. He waved his
gauntleted hand at the other women, most of whom still looked
drugged and befuddled. “She’s crazy and the minds have gone on the
rest of them. Give them to Nikon. He deserves a crazy mate,” he
sneered.

Without another word, Nikon turned and
mounted his dragon. With a roar, it leapt into the air and winged
away. As one, his warriors rode off. Whatever appeal the women
might have had seemed to have disappeared.

The instant they were out of sight, the girl
pulled away from Vana and slapped away the hand with the gun. “What
did you think you were doing? You could have killed me!”

“They left, didn’t they?” The words were pure
reflex. Shock was setting in. She was half-surprised the blond had
the energy left to fight.

“You pulled my hair!” the blond shouted,
outraged, and by the look in her eyes, terrified of what was
happening.

The warrior broke into their conversation by
snatching his gun.

“You know each other?” he growled, seemingly
uncertain of whether he ought to tackle Vana or not. He grasped her
arm just in case.

“No,” the girl said, eyeing him with wide,
wild eyes.

“Bind that one,” Dagon snapped, pointing at
Vana. “I want no more trouble from her until we reach the
citadel.”

Before she could protest, the warrior who
held her arm produced a pair of cuffs and secured her hands in
front of her. Without a word, he took her arm and started marching
with the rest of warriors, herding the women along with them.