Chapter 13

Mel gave a triumphant laugh as Reta hit the mat. "Yes!"

Reta jumped to his feet and fired a bolt of energy in her direction. Aware that she would not be able to dodge it in time, Mel opened Hyperspeed and stepped easily out of the way. Shaking her head, she maintained Hyperspeed long enough to move behind Reta before slipping back into real time.

About time someone showed the arrogant prick a thing or two about how 'superior' he really was, Mel decided, unleashing the most powerful burst of energy she could muster. It took him in the small of the back, sending him flying across the exercise floor. Mel pressed her advantage and was across the room almost before he was, ready to strike again should he try to rise.


"Well done, Melanie!" Zin called, entering the room and applauding. "Very well done, my dear."

"Thank you, Julius." Mel grinned at him, then offered her hand to Reta.

She immediately found herself pinned to the mat for her troubles.

"Never let your guard down!" Reta hissed. "Not ever."

"Get off!" Mel snapped, releasing an energy burst into his chest and sending him flying. "I was trying to help you, you son of a--"

"Children!" Zin bellowed.

Mel and Reta both turned to face him.

"Reta, that was most impolite of you," Zin pointed out, clucking his tongue. "Melanie… never let your guard down…"

Mel sighed deeply, shaking her head.

"Both of you take five," Zin added, glaring at Reta as the Cirronian stalked from the room. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to Mel. "Well done, my dear. You have surpassed all my hopes. And you didn't think you'd be able to learn this."

She smiled and bowed her head. "I was wrong. It's almost intuitive once you start…"

"It is." He nodded his approval. "Your body tells you what it wants of you. All you have to do is listen. Sheer instinct."

"So, I passed?"

"Almost," Zin assured her. "I'm going to put you up against Lana next. That will be your real test." Going up against Lana would hone Mel's combat-sense and mold her into a ruthless warrior. Cirronian combat skills, a Vardian approach to fighting. It was the perfect combination.

"You want me to fight Lana? Julius, she's a kid!"

"Don't let her appearance deceive you," Zin suggested mildly. "She's more formidable than myself and Reta combined. You'd do well to remember that."

"I don't think I've ever seen you fight."

"Well, I assure you, I'm more than capable. But Lana would skin me alive if she caught me doing it on any kind of a regular basis." He chuckled and shook his head. "Except here, now. You'll be up against me next."

"You want me to fight you?"

"Consider it practice for Lana. You should be prepared. You ever fought a telekinetic before?"

"Oh, yeah, all the time."

"Funny, Melanie. I'm serious, though." Zin shook his head and dropped on to one of the benches along the far wall. "You don't seem to realize exactly how serious all of this is, though. It's no game. I could break your neck at twenty paces. Lana at thirty. Either of us without expending much more energy than I did that day in my office pouring myself a drink."

Mel's eyes widened and the warning from her dream came back to her. He's a dangerous man. He won't let you go easily.

"Those bolts of energy you've been so casually flinging around this past week? Nothing compared to what Reta or Daggon are capable of. Reta could have you unconscious for hours with one, not even breaking a sweat… And you? You stun him for a few seconds and you think the battle is won." Zin shook his head in frustration. "It isn't. It's not even begun, Melanie."

She shifted uncomfortably, staring at her feet. She was beginning to feel like a little girl, getting lectured for crossing the street without permission.

He sighed shortly and rose. "I worry about you, my dear," he informed her, wrapping his hands around her arms.

"Not exactly the… typical concerned boyfriend speech I'm used to getting," she whispered shakily, looking up at him.

Zin bit his lower lip, nodding sharply. "Welcome to my world," he murmured, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry, but this is the way it is. For all of us. Someone else falls to Daggon every week. I won't have you be one of them," he said firmly. "You will learn to fight him, you will learn to win."

"He's really that big of a threat?" Mel asked, swallowing. Someone else falls to Daggon every week. Oh, yeah. This Daggon guy was obviously more dangerous than she had credited.

"For us, he is the most dangerous man alive."

***

"Daggon!"

The Cirronian smiled widely. "Karen, hello!" he greeted the girl, cheerfully accepting her hug and returning it with one that left her feet dangling off the floor. "How are you?"

"Good, I'm good." She smiled widely at him, pausing for a moment before adding, "Thank you for the books. I loved them."


"Well, I have a friend who suggested that they were just right for a smart girl your age," he told her, making a mental note to tell Aeko that she had been right. "So, how have you been?"

"I'm good, I told you." She smiled and shook her head. "We painted today in art-therapy. I tried to paint a cat but it didn't turn out very good at all." She giggled and confided, "Doctor Johnson thought it was a horse…"

Daggon smiled. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"It was pretty awful," she admitted, shrugging. "Doesn't matter, though. It was fun to paint it, and that's what's important." Her smile widened.

Daggon's expression turned serious. "You have such a beautiful smile, Karen," he told the girl quietly, touching her forehead. "It makes me very happy to see it. I can… tell that you are happier as well, and that makes my heart glad."

Karen bowed her head, then grinned up at him. "You and Doctor Jenny were right. Talking about things helps. I don't feel angry like I used to and… it helps me know I'm not alone."


"Never alone," he promised, smiling down at her. "Never. Now let's see that painting."

"No!" she groaned, shaking her head.

"Pretty please?"

Karen sighed and made a face, rising. "Come on. It's in the AT room."

He smiled and followed, not unmindful of the fact that Jenny was already lingering in the art-therapy classroom when they arrived. She seemed to make a point of observing him when he was visiting Karen, but he had long since gotten used to it. He could understand her reasons for wanting to keep tabs on what she supposed to be his tenuous mental health, so he did not let it bother him. It was actually a bit amusing in his mind. One of these days he was going to have to tell her the truth about himself. Of course, she would probably have him locked up again if he did…

"Hello, Doctor Jenny," he greeted her.

"Hi, Doctor Jenny," Karen added, smiling. "I was just showing Mister Daggon my painting."

"Right, your dog." Jenny smiled and nodded.

"Cat, it was a cat," she laughed, catching Daggon's hand and tugging him over to the easel. "Tada," she announced blandly, making the sarcastic kind of face that only a thirteen year old could and gesturing to what was supposed to be a cat in a field of flowers.

Daggon blinked at the painting and tilted his head, examining it from a slightly different angle. "Looks like a late Van Gogh," he decided finally. That art-museum party to catch Zarreth had definitely come in handy, he decided.

Karen sniggered and shook her head. "You mean after he went nuts?"

"I really wish you wouldn't use that word," Jenny contributed quietly.

Karen rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Whatever."

Jenny could not help but smile at how typically adolescent Karen was becoming. Even biting sarcasm was a welcomed change from five years of silence, though, and she really was very sweet most of the time.

"So in the future I stick to drawing," Karen concluded with a shrug.

"You draw, Karen?" he asked, tilting his head. "I don't think I've ever seen any of your drawings…"

"You haven't?" Jenny asked, frowning. "Karen, why not? Oh, John, she is wonderful. Karen, show him some of your work."

Karen blushed and shook her head. "Come on, Doctor Jenny…"

"Why don't you show him that landscape you did," Jenny suggested gently. "It was so good that we had it matted and hung in the dayroom, John."

"Really?" he asked, looking down at Karen.

"Hey, five years… Had to express myself somehow, didn't I?"

Daggon smiled and nodded. "May I please see it, Karen?"

"Okay." Still blushing faintly, Karen nodded and started towards the dayroom.

"She's really shy about her work," Jenny explained to Daggon in a whisper as they walked. "But she really is excellent. A lot of her drawings look just like black and white photographs. It's amazing."

"She has the soul of an artist," Daggon told her simply, shrugging.

Jenny smiled faintly. He was really quite eloquent when he cared to be. "And how have you been getting on?"

He smiled faintly. She always asked this, and had given up trying to be even a little subtle about it. "I'm doing very well, Doctor Jenny. I have made some friends and… there is a woman," he added absently. And immediately wished he had not, knowing that he was going to have to step very carefully now.

"Really?" Jenny smiled and nodded. "Wonderful. What's she like?"

"Very beautiful and sweet." He fought the urge to give a relieved sigh as they reached the dayroom.

There were a several drawings and paintings matted and hung around the room, but most were brightly colored and many obviously just prints. Karen's landscape was the only pencil-drawing and it was beautiful. With the snow and ice-sickles it reminded him of Enix. He could almost feel the cold emanating from the picture.

"This is amazing, Karen," he told her, staring. "It's beautiful. You did this by yourself? With just a pencil?"

"Told you it was good, Karen," Jenny told the bright-red girl with a faint smile. Oh, yes, Daggon was definitely good for her.

***

"Reta is not a happy man, Zin," Lana announced as he entered his bedroom.

Zin ignored her words but accepted the glass of scotch she offered. "What are you doing here?" he sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed and rubbing the back of his neck.

She shrugged. "Well, I figured that since Miss Porter wouldn't be joining you tonight that it would be as good a time as any to discuss her training. Neck hurting you?"

"Just a little. Hit the mat funny while I was working with Mel."

"Sorry. I'll have a pain pill sent up," she said, kneeling behind him on the bed and rubbing his sore muscles.

"I appreciate it, my dear," he told her as she pulled out her ever-present cell-phone and quickly conveyed an order to that effect.

"No problem at all," she assured him, pausing in her massage long enough to give the nape of his neck a short kiss.

Zin frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing your boo-boo to make it all better?" she suggested in a mocking tone, resuming the interrupted neck rub. She looked up as an attendant arrived with a pill bottle. "Leave it on the dresser and go," she directed.

Zin sighed deeply, closing his eyes and enjoying her attentions. "Thank you, Lana. This really does feel wonderful." He gestured idly towards the bottle on the dresser and it flew into his hand. "How many do I take?"

"Just one if you plan on finishing that drink," she told him. "This helping?"

"Definitely," he assured her, helping himself to a pill.

"Does your Cirronian pet make you feel this good?"

Zin's eyes opened slowly. "Why do you have such a problem with her lately?"

"I don't. My problem arises from the nature of your relationship with her."

"Speak clearly, woman. I'm not in the mood for games."

"No, you aren't. You've been distracted lately, edgy, short-tempered." Lana sighed, her hands stilling. "And you refuse to talk to me about it." She made an annoyed sound and shook her head, delivering another kiss to his neck.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he demanded, glaring at her over his shoulder.

"Maybe I'm testing a theory," she suggested, reaching up and tracing his cheek with one finger. "That is what scientists do, after all…"

With a growl, he spun and grabbed her hands, pinning her to the bed. "I just finished telling you that I'm in no mood for games!" he hissed, scowling down at her.

"That's right, you did, didn't you?" Lana smiled sweetly up at him. "I'm sorry, sir. I was trying to seduce you, actually," she explained matter-of-factly. Freeing one of her hands, she reached up and squeezed his throat. "You must be tired if you failed to notice that."

Zin closed his eyes under the pressure, growling with pleasure. "Don't do that," he ordered after a moment.

"Shit." Lana shook her head and shoved him off of her, sitting up and staring at him with wide eyes. "You love her?" she whispered, shaking her head.

He winced at the obvious disgust in her expression. Like any Vardian, she would not bat an eyelash at him sleeping with a non-Vardian. But actually falling in love with one was a different matter. Hell, he suspected that Lana would have been disgusted with him if he had fallen in love with a Vardian woman. Love, after all, was a messy thing with an awful lot of strings. It had a habit of fouling things up irreparably. And, idiot that he was, he had actually gone and fallen into it…

"Lana, I swear, I didn't mean to…" he began. He respected the girl, loved her, could not abide to think that he might have disappointed her. Except that he so obviously had. "It was supposed to be… fun. Nothing was meant to come of our relationship, damn it! It was a way of unwinding in my spare time…"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "You, of all people. I can't believe it, sir… When we get back… You'll be able to have your pick of females. You know that…"

"I know, I know. Just like I can down here with my money and ties. But…" He sighed deeply. "Damn it, Lana, I have screwed this up beyond all hope of repair."

"Yes, you most certainly have," she sighed. She shook her head again, thinking. "I can kill her," she offered after a moment. "Something painless, obviously, and quick… I don't want you to suffer."


"Lana," he began.

"It would be for the best."

"Lana…"

She shook her head firmly. "No, Zin, just think… No one would have said a thing about it if it were just for the sex, but do you think that the Vardian people are going to accept that you are in love with an alien? They would cut your throat while you slept your first night back and we both know it."

"I know, but… killing her?"

"Look, she and I are scheduled to spar tomorrow… there could be an… unfortunate accident on the mat."

"She used to date a homicide cop," he reminded her in a low voice. "It would have to be a damned convincing accident…" He quickly silenced the part of his mind protesting, reminding himself firmly that he could not afford to let love get in the way of his plans. Not now, not after all their hard work. "Might be best not to have us directly implicated."

"You could be right. A car-accident, maybe. A robbery at the bar, something. Should I get on it?"

Zin swallowed hard, shaking. "Let me think."

"Zin…"

"Tomorrow, I'll tell you tomorrow, Lana," he promised, draining his glass. "Now get me another drink. Bring the bottle back in!" he called as she walked into his office to pour him another glass. He was going to have to do a lot of thinking tonight, regain some perspective. Shaking his head, he pulled off his shirt and added, "Then get yourself undressed and in this bed."