Lovers of the Galaxy: Book Three: Raiders of the Lost Heart (8 page)

She jumped as Volund pulled her onto his lap, his
hands warm, gentle. “I am suddenly very glad Miln and Oshki are
gone now, but I’m worried about Badden and Acwel,” he said. “We
will warn them tonight.”

“We need other safe houses.” He continued, indicating
their surroundings. “This building is not going to hold everyone,
and I find I am uneasy with having Venus around so many males. They
can use the third level three below our quarters and that of the
children’s for now. It is yet to be used and big enough for the two
teams.”

“Why do I get the feeling this is not a good thing?
Are these men dangerous? They can clear out the building across the
way. It’s big enough for a few men.” She placed her hand over her
stomach feeling suddenly very protective of their children.

Immediately, both Jaxxon and Volund caressed and
kissed her. “These men will die for you, Venus. If anything, they
will be more protective than Miln was. But I am worried about why
they have been sent here. These two men, the captains, are reported
to be Tapio’s…” He stared at her with a quizzical expression on his
face. “What is your English slang for someone who is
controlled?”

Realization hit her. “Oh, you mean they’re Tapio’s
puppets.”

“Yes,” he nodded, “that is the expression.”

Jaxxon took hold of her hand and led her back into
the lab. “These warriors, the Kallias, are different in appearance,
little warrior. If they travel back in time they will have to wear
their body shields to cloak them. They come from Planet
StarGrouser. Their skin is dark red, but it has the texture of a
snake’s. Their eyes are black, sort of diamond-shaped and without
pupils. The Kallias are the fiercest and deadliest of warriors. One
tear or scratch on your skin from their teeth or claws will cause a
swift death. When in battle, they produce an oily substance that,
if it gets into a wound, kills the opponent.” He sat her on the
chair near Gram and moved over to a medical cabinet he’d
transported there from their ship.

Unhooking the strap around Gram’s neck, Volund
offered her a reassuring smile. “I must ask you not to touch Venus
until we make sure you are perfectly safe. We do not want to risk
your great grandchildren.”

Gram sighed but nodded as she moved her neck back and
forth, flexing it. She cleared her throat. “Men won’t hurt
Venus?”

Jaxxon grinned and shook his head. “No, I am
injecting her with a serum we were given before we came here. It
will prevent any of the Kallias from hurting her or the babies.
When you are fully changed, I will also inject you with it, too.
However, until you are completely healed I do not want to chance
the interactions of our medicine with the Bone Eater antidote.”

“Jaxxon, you know I hate needles,” Venus pushed her
chair back, “and that stupid little—whatever you call it—doesn’t
have one needle but a whole bunch! Can’t you put it in a pill form
or something?” She backed away from him.

Volund snaked his arms around her from behind. Taken
by surprise, Venus screamed.

“You fight Bone Eaters, have survived alone for
years, yet you are going to run away from a little
inoculation?”

“Let me go, Volund! You both know I don’t like shots,
not even your high-tech kind.” She stomped his foot, but he didn’t
budge. Instead, he pushed her up against a table and bared her ass
for Jaxxon.

She turned her head and glared at her grandmother,
who actually giggled. “This is not funny! Don’t you dare think I
forgot about you and mom holding me down for vaccines when I was
little.”

A slap came down on her ass. “Don’t snap at your
Gram,” Volund reprimanded her. “This has to be done, so stop acting
like a child.”

“This must be administered into your buttock muscle.
The inoculation is strong and it is going to sting, so I am sorry,”
Jaxxon warned her as the needles and goop entered her skin.

She could have sworn her butt had been set fire from
the environite strip Jaxxon used for innoculations.

Finally, Jaxxon peeled the band off, making her
flinch. When they released her, Venus turned and slugged Volund’s
jaw.

He rubbed the offended area but smiled. “As you say,
nice right hook, little warrior. Did you wound your hand?”

“That freaking hurt! My ass cheek is still burning!”
she shouted, ignoring him. She grabbed an empty test tube and threw
it at Jaxxon’s head. “And you better start changing your shots into
pills or I’m going to cut your balls off!”

Jaxxon ducked just in time. The glass shattered
behind him, and he laughed. “I do not think so. Besides, you know I
do not have the equipment here to convert our environite strips.
Maybe in time we will have more medical provisions since the
council now knows of your pregnancy. I am sure they will send more
supplies to ensure you carry to term.”

Perimeter alarms wailed outside. Whirling, Volund
said, “Jaxxon, stay here with Venus. I know I will be glad when we
have the extra protection for this place.” He stormed out of the
room with the pets on his heels.

Venus heard Badden and Acwel in the next room and
knew Volund wouldn’t be alone.

She moved to the monitors in the adjoining room,
flicked them on, and gasped. “The Bone Eaters have never attacked
the fence before—and it’s still daylight.” Trembling, she sat on a
chair before her knees gave out. “If they’re attacking like this,
there’s no way we can live in the house by ourselves. Our children
will be at risk.”

Behind her Jaxxon pointed to the monitor. “We’ll get
that wall built and when we do we’ll be fine. But you are right,
they are getting smarter and I don’t like that they are out during
the day now. Their bodies must be changing, still adjusting to the
environment.”

He bent down and looked closely at one of the Bone
Eaters. “Venus have you seen this one before? Look at how stands
back, watching. He seems to know we have cameras, look at the way
he focuses on them.”

She leaned forward and studied the creature. “I think
I’ve seen him before, but not this close. When we get the new lab
together we need to capture a few males. If they really are
changing we need to know what’s going on.” Venus watched as Badden
and Acwel started firing on the Bone Eaters. Immediately, the one
that had been watching took off, leaving the others. Something was
familiar about him, but not.

“I’m going to have Acwel bring me in one of the dead
males. I can study him over there in the corner while you work with
the females. The more data we have on them the better.” Jaxxon spun
around and left her sitting at monitors.

Something was going on and she didn’t like not
knowing. The more she thought about it, since her men had come here
the Bone Eaters had been changing. They were acting different, and
they had become more aggressive.

Venus looked at the clock and sighed. She still had
over an hour before the newest ship was due to land. Volund and
Badden were out hunting. For some reason he wanted to provide a
feast for the new men.

Jaxxon and Acwel scouted around the city marking
where the first wall should go up. If they could secure the area,
and could get everyone to help, over time they might be able to get
rid of the trash, bury the dead, and actually clean up the city.
For now they could just wall in the inner city and slowly work
their way out.

She tapped the stylus on the table and studied the
map as her Gram slept in her new bed. Before the men had left,
she’d insisted Gram be moved up to their quarters where she could
keep an eye on her.

Plus, her men told her they expected her to stay
upstairs while they were gone, especially after the Bone Eaters had
tried to break through their defenses. The Bone Eater’s were
changing and it wasn’t for the better. Becoming more aggressive and
acting smarter. She was almost glad she didn’t have to deal with
them alone anymore. She rubbed her arms as she remembered her
nightmares. Could they be signs of what was yet to come?

Running her hand through her hair, she sighed. “No it
was just a nightmare.” She studied the map again.

“There are four main roads into the city. Elyria is
twenty six miles long and forty miles wide. Downtown is three miles
wide and five miles long. If we can wall off our enclave, gate or
fortify a wall or fence around the downtown land, clean out the
BoneEaters in that area we can start working backwards cleaning
spots out at a little at a time…”

“Venus?”

Gram’s quiet voice broke through her train of
thought. Venus turned and smiled at her grandmother. Her face
heated. Once more she’d been caught talking to herself. She laughed
and smiled at her Gram, who also wore a large smile. “Sorry, Gram,
I didn’t mean to wake you. Since I’ve been alone for so long I have
a habit of talking to myself.”

“What’s wrong? You were frowning and mumbling.” Gram
tried to sit up, but fell back onto the couch with a grunt. She
tried to reach her back, as if she were in pain.

Venus hurried over to the bed as she scanned her
grandmother’s spine hoping she hadn’t torn any of the new, slowly
forming skin replacing the spikes that had been growing from her
back. There was no further damage and only one small spike still
protruded, the rest had fallen off during the night. The fresh skin
had been pink and tender. Jaxxon had applied some of their Azutuan
medicine to help speed the healing process.

“It’s going to take time, Gram. The healing won’t
happen overnight. Your body has been through some major changes.
However, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just trying to figure
out a couple of things. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, but tired. Have you forgotten about the
passageways below us? Those might help you move around the city
more easily.”

Venus handed her Gram a bottle of water and shook her
head. “Drink this—and what? Tunnels? Neither Dad or Mom ever
mentioned anything about city underground passages.”

Her Gram nodded at the table. “Bring me your map.
I’ll show you the entrance to one of them. They were dug when
everything began to go crazy. The mayor wanted a way for people to
get out of the city in a hurry if the weather got any worse, or
other weird creatures attacked. After that first incident…” Grams
laughed. “You should have seen it. There was a big meeting in the
square. All of the sudden, behind the mayor three deformed skunks
showed up. I never laughed so hard. Not only did the skunks spray
the mayor, but they shoot out this nasty green crap. Little did we
know it paralyzed its victims. The mayor found out the hard way, he
was paralyzed for three hours. He should have listened to the
townspeople when we told him there was a population explosion of
skunks. Anyway, the mayor wasn’t taking any chances. I don’t know
how many corridors he finished, but I know the downtown area was
completed. Your mother told me about them, before…” She glanced
down at the bottle of water.

Venus patted her hand. “Don’t worry about it, Gram.
It happened to most everyone. I’m just glad I have you back.” She
rose and checked the security relay box on the table, all green
lights across the board. She grabbed the atlas before she sat down
again. The Bone Eaters were quiet now after their earlier surprise.
Six of the male B.E.s had been killed when they’d attacked the
fence. One was brought in to study, but Venus felt that the smart
one had gotten away. She shivered again. Her nightmares were so
real.

“It was too early for them.” Her Gram took another
drink of water. “They don’t start to move until it’s cooler or the
sun is low.” She placed the bottle on the floor. “Come, let me
see.”

She spread the large chart out on her Gram’s lap.
“We’re here in the Fifth Fourth Bank.”

Gram scanned the paper. “If I remember correctly, the
mayor had his office in the top of this building, didn’t he?” She
glanced up at Venus, who nodded.

“Yep, we’re in it now. It was equipped with all the
latest appliances and things, so I made it my home.”

“Good. Go down to the next floor below us by the back
stairs. If what your mother told me was true, there should be an
entrance here in the back of the walk-in safe. It should be behind
one of the big metal shelves.” Gram smiled.

“The little weasel, the mayor, bragged to your mom
all the time about the hidden tunnels and government secrets. He
had his ‘own personal elevator’ to them. Do you know, before your
dad married your mother, the mayor actually proposed to her once?
Anyway…” She waved her hand and looked once more at the drawing.
“You’ll have to look for the switch to move the wall. Knowing how
he liked all the new toys and such, it has to be something stupid.
All the downtown tunnels come to the middle of the commons, here.”
She pointed to the town fountain’s location.

“Why there?”

“It was supposed to serve as an extra layer of
protection, but the Mayor didn’t inform any of the people of it and
kept if for himself. Under it there should be another storage room.
There were supposed to be supplies for over a thousand people, and
a larger tunnel leading out from there, past the edge of the city.
I don’t know if that one was finished before… Gram glanced up at
her. “Anyway, I don’t think Bone Eaters are smart enough to get
down there. Each tunnel had a special access code.”

“I’ll be right back, Gram. I need to check
something.” Venus ran out of the room and down the back stairs to
where the mayor’s safe was located. She hadn’t been this excited in
a long time. The area was filled with stale air, and she sneezed
when turning on the light. Dust flew around her. She knew the lift
would take a lot of juice, but using it once might not hurt the
solar batteries too much. With Volund’s and Jaxxon’s help, they
were figuring out a way to feed more power into the building’s
equipment.