Goddess's Saga 1: Touch of the Goddess (11 page)

There was a nice
plush chair standing close to the wall, and he pulled it out to face David’s desk. He didn’t care where he put it; anywhere that wasn’t the original position would be fine. He had been around long enough to expect traps everywhere, and it would be a shame to have the floor open under him, or an electrified net falling down over his head.

“
That’s better. Now, let’s talk about my cargo, shall we.”

His host replied immediately,
“Where did you find that girl?”

Maria
groaned inside when Stephan watched the recording.

Dammit, I didn
’t want him to see that. He’s not supposed to see me lose control. Oh well, done is done and we’ll deal with it later. Probably at great length...

She itched for doing something, and when Stephan looked comfortable in the chair she allowed herself to become semi-opaque behind David.

C’mon lover, see me.

Waving caught his
attention, and she spun a finger against her temple and rolled her eyes before starting to imitate the old man as he spoke. She kept it up until Stephan couldn’t suppress a smile.

D
avid stopped in mid-sentence.

“
What’s so funny?”

Stephan ignored the question and asked
in a pleasant voice, “You want to meet her, don’t you?”

The old man
leaned back in the chair, pretending to think about it.

“
To be honest, not really. But it would be in the best interest of my business, and thus in both mine and yours too.”

“
I can arrange that.”

“
Good, good. I hoped you’d see things my way. I understand giving her up must be hard, but it’s in your best interest.”

Stephan
made a little rotating gesture with his finger in the air to make David turn around, and Maria couldn’t resist the temptation.

S
he leaned forward and shouted, “Boo!”

David bounced out of his chair and landed on the floor, crawling backwards away from her until he hit the wall. His throat worked, but no sound came over his thin lips.

“I think I broke your human.”

“
He’ll be fine, babe.”

“
He’s so peculiar. What is he doing down there?”

“
Hiding from you. I think he expects you to set him on fire.”

“
I don’t normally do that.”

“
I know.”

Maria watched the old man a moment longer, shrugged, and sauntered over to kiss her lover.

*****

Stephan hadn
’t forgotten the recording, but as soon as Maria came close, her warm, soft lips against his combined with her fragrance chased all the worries away.

She smells like lilacs. I bet I
’ll forget all about the other her within days. If she stays close, it’ll all seem like a dream in a couple of hours.

This
was the first time he suspected the attraction he felt for her might be more than just infatuation, but he was beyond both caring and speculating.

H
e wanted her,
needed
her, more than anything or anyone he’d ever encountered.

“
You take the chair babe, it’s comfortable. I’ll only be a minute.”

He
rose to his feet to make room for her and walked over to David, pulling the old man up from the floor, placing him back in position behind the desk, and patting his shoulders a couple of times.

David
’s hand searched for the panic button, and his wrinkly face lit up when he found it. Stephan
saw
him press it and expected alarms and guards, but nothing happened.

From the other side of the room,
Maria asked in an innocent voice, “Is there a problem?”

“
You did this. Somehow, this is all your fault.”

Stephan
leaned against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

“
Now, what way is that to talk to a lady? David, you wanted to meet my woman, and this is Maria Callaway. Babe, this is David Red, owner and manager of this fine station.”

He didn
’t expect them to answer. Maria seemed fascinated with her nails all of a sudden, and David looked around fervently.

I
’d rather look at her nails too. They’re pretty amazing, especially compared with this human vermin.

“
What are you doing, David? Searching for a weapon? You have to realize it won’t help you.”

Chrys
’s abused face burned in his mind, as did the recording of his own death and his beloved’s reaction to it.

Crap, there comes the conscience again. Guess I
’m stuck with it.

“
What am I going to do with you? It doesn’t look good.”

The words were almost friendly, but
his tone of voice promised death.

David
’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. He slammed his hand against the useless panic button, but no help came. Stephan’s hands landing on his shoulders assisted him in re-finding his voice, but the scream became a soft, croaking sound.

This doesn
’t feel right. She’s watching. I can’t do this if she’s watching.

“
Eh, babe, would you mind looking the other way for a minute?”

“
Of course.”

She
flashed a smile and turned the chair around.

David said,
“Don’t be a fool. I can give you power, money, fame. Women, I know you like women, and drinks... How ‘bout gold?”

*****

Maria waited and pretended she didn’t hear, see, or know anything.

Whatever happens in the world, I
’m sitting in a golden bubble of peace. When he comes over, he’ll see nothing but peace.

Stephan entered her view a couple of seconds later and she gazed into his eyes, wanting to ask if he was okay. He dried his hands on a bunch of Kleenex and she lifted an eyebrow. He shrugged.

“
He was sweaty.”

I bet
, we must have scared him half to death.

She rose up, careful not to look behind her even though she knew what must be there. David
’s body was an empty shell that lost its inhabitant, but it represented more than that to humans. To be honest, Stephan’s body had been much more than an empty shell to her only hours earlier, and she understood the phenomenon better now. Her lover was reluctant to take life in front of her, and she didn’t want to embarrass him by ogling the product of his labour.

“
Time to go home?”

Hopefully, both his curiosity and urge for revenge would be satisfied.

He looked deeply into her eyes and nodded.

“
Yes, beautiful, it’s time to go home. I think there are guards in the corridor, though. Would you?”

“
Of course.”

She pressed a palm against his cheek and teleported them to the bridge of their ship. Stephan made a grimace.

“That is so strange.”

“
You’ll get used to it.”

He took a seat and watched the large overhead monitors.

“I don’t think coming here was our best idea ever. You know they’ll try to keep us here, right?”

“
They’re welcome to try.”

She too looked at the screen.

Magnetic clamps, blah, blah, blah. Seriously? You’ve seen me turn into an ancient and you think magnetic clamps will hold me here?

It didn
’t take long until the station and any potential pursuers were far behind them. Stephan engaged the autopilot and rubbed his face.

“
Damn I’m tired. C’mon, let’s go check on the eggs.”

She rested a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve done so good and the eggs are fine. Go rest.”

“
No, I want to see them. And we need to talk.”

That can
’t be good.

The cargo hold was just as they left it.

Just as predicted, the eggs were still peaceful, resting in their snug compartments, happily unaware of the gruesome fate they so narrowly escaped. They weren’t quite ready to hatch yet, but it wouldn’t be long.

“
Would you have handed them over?”

He glanced over at her.

“Before I met you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Probably. Odds are I would have been too drunk to notice I transported sentient beings.”

“
I think everything down here is as good as it can be.”

“
I agree. Come, I’ll make you some coffee.”

Oh no, here comes the talk. I don
’t want to have the talk. I morphed into a being of light and wrath, my bad.

When they stood in the lift heading back to the upper floors
, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against hers. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad after all.

The kitchen was neutral ground filled with pleasant memories. She curled up in a chair with her feet under her, watching him handle the industrial-sized coffee machine.

“I’ve really become a sap, you know.”

“
What do you mean?”

He laughed.

“I should be wanting to tear your clothes off, not making coffee wanting to chat.”

It made her laugh too.

“I think you do enough clothes tearing to still qualify for macho.”

“
Good. I mean, I’d hate for you to think anything else.”

She smiled and shook her head.
Silly man.

After
a few minutes’ silence he said, “So, that’s really you, huh?”

She fingered her mug and kept her eyes fixed on it
.

“
Yeah. That’s really me. It’s a little difficult to fit in looking like that, you know. The flaming sword draws a lot of attention. I wanted to tell you, but not like this.”

Given the choice, he probably wouldn
’t have died either.

He reached over the table, put his hand on top of hers and gave it a little squeeze. When she lifted her eyes from the mug to meet his, he smiled
.

“
She’s gorgeous, but I think I like you better like this. Either way, I love you.”

*****

A day later, Stephan stood in the cargo hold, staring at the wooden crates. Leaving the station hadn’t been a problem, but finding a place to go was.

Great. I have a floor filled with
unhatched bird men and nowhere to put them.

“
All I need to make this day perfect is you guys hatching on me.”

The thought of a few hundred or even thousands of enormous winged creatures flopping around his ship made him want a drink. Or twelve.

Maria’s hands on his hands made him jump. She smirked

“
Jittery, lover?”

Not normally,
no.

“
I didn’t hear you come in. I don’t know what to do with them.”

“
Keep them? I hear they make good company.”

He didn
’t laugh and she fell serious too.

“
We still have a couple of days.”

“
It won’t be enough.”

“
I’ll
make
it enough. You are so tense. Relax.”

He lifted an eyebrow.

“Make me.”

“
You know, I’m up for a challenge. How ‘bout this... We take them to the new planet, place the eggs at a suitable distance from the ship, and have sex in the grass while waiting for them to hatch.”

She looked happy with herself, and as much as he tried to maintain a grumpy attitude, he had to laugh.

“Alright, it’s better than anything I can come up with...”

“
What do you mean
better
? It’s brilliant.”

He glanced into her eyes and forgot why he
’d been so stressed just two minutes earlier. Those big, green eyes held all answers, and he had no reason to worry about anything.

“
I like the sex in the grass part.”

She fluffed her hair.

“I thought you would. I have more good ideas.”

I bet you do…

He was so hypnotized by her he hardly noticed the week-long journey to the new world, and it surprised him when the computer declared they’d arrived to their destination.