Xora 2 - Dangerous Game
by Brandy Dewinter
Chapter 8 - "Awakening"
Titania woke me from someplace I didn't want to be anyway. In the
ways dreams have, the memory of what had been playing out within my mind
vanished almost with my first conscious thought. But the emotions stayed
behind. I still felt tired in a way that had nothing to do with aches or
muscle pain - tired in a way that all the sleep in the world would not
fix.
"Someone's coming," Ti informed me as soon as she knew my mind was
functioning.
I thought about standing up, but it hardly seemed worth the effort.
So I suppose it was just was well it was Darius who burst into sight
around a bend in the trail.
"Xora," he shouted. "Are you all right?"
Without waiting for an answer, he jumped in the water and waded
quickly to where I lay. Just as well, I didn't feel like answering
anyway.
"Are you all right?" he asked again, if possible more worried than
before.
I tried to nod, but just then his arms were around me and all I could
do was turn to the wall of his chest and weep into the comforting warmth.
"Xora, please, you have to tell me what's wrong," he said gently.
"I didn't mean for him to die like that," I whispered, begging to be
believed.
"Like what?" he asked, quiet, and neutral in expression.
"It was all my fault," I said; then, "it was so horrible."
"Are you all right?" Darius asked, returning to his first question.
"Yes, certainly," I said, bitter now. "*I*'m all right. I'm just
fine. I killed Sstton, but I'm all right."
"Xora, darling, I told you already that you didn't need to show him
any mercy."
I spat out the word, "Mercy. No, I didn't show him any mercy, none
at all."
"Tell me what happened," Darius ordered, just enough command voice
in his tone to trigger my own training.
"I harassed Sstton down the mountain, throwing his own words at him
so that he would know that he was the prey now, and that I was the hunter.
When I had the chance, I took his weapon, and then used it to scare him
into the swamp where I hid the day before. Or is it two days before? I
can't remember."
"Sstton went into that swamp, at night?" Darius asked in surprise.
"I forced him to," I said.
"You mean you held his gun on him, and told him to go into the
water?" Darius asked, a tone of horror in his own voice.
"Well, no," I said. "I just repeated his own words to him, and
fired that gun to the side, or over his head. He knew what I wanted
him to do, though."
"But you never told him to get into the water," Darius said, as
though this were important.
"No."
"And did Sstton ever say, 'I give up' or any other sort of surrender?
Or did he just keep running until he was in the water?"
"No, he just kept going."
"And after he was in the water? Did he surrender then?"
"No," I said, finally beginning to get a little animation back in
my voice. "Look, what difference does it make? After he got in the
water he said something about me only catching him because I used
Federation technology. I told him that I hadn't, that the only truly
dangerous weapon is the human mind. And then . . . "
When I reached that point in my recounting, the memory of that so-
subtle ripple in the water, and then the frothy attack, and then the
monstrous roar; all came flooding back into my mind and I buried my
head once again in Darius' chest.
"And then," Darius softly picked up the tail, "a waterwhip got him,
or a grunter."
I just nodded silently as both animals were named, my head barely
moving against the muscle that was at the same time so hard and so
comforting.
A part of me just wanted to hide in that haven forever, but his huge
arms pulled my head up to look at him, gentle but irresistible. "Xora, my
love, don't blame yourself. Sstton knew the risks. He should have
surrendered rather than enter that water at night. But he didn't. The
fault is his. Listen, please. Grown men have gone into shock after
seeing the violence of a waterwhip attack, or a grunter either one, let
alone both together. Just from seeing it. From what you said, Sstton had
a chance to surrender and get out. That's all you owed him, maybe more
than you owed him. He certainly would not have made the same offer to
you, except as a prelude to assault and rape."
His deep, dark eyes had turned black when he spoke of Sstton, but
then he looked into my eyes, and that black warmed to show once again the
light of joy that made them so wonderfully beautiful.
"Oh, my sweet Xora, I am glad to see that the so-perfect Federation
agent has a heart. For my own will get lonely if it is all alone in you."
"What?" I said, trying to dry my eyes with the palm of my hand.
Ti obliged by making my palm as absorbent as a towel, while answering
my question herself, "You dolt! He just said that he loves you three
times! What more does he have to do?"
Well, to begin with, what he did was pretty awesome. As though he
had heard Ti's question, Darius leaned down and surrounded my quivering
lips with the scratchy intimacy of his bearded ones. They drank my shock
and guilt and sorrow and every other dark emotion from me like the most
potent of elixirs, leaving my heart singing with glorious light too bright
for the memories that had so consumed me.
I felt his hand moving down my side even as he pulled his dripping
body from the chilly stream. The scouting fingers found hard nubs
straining at the simulated fabric of my jumpsuit, and I felt a dampness
in a more intimate place that I knew had nothing to do with the water from
Darius' sodden clothes.
*Oh, God, Titty, what do I do?*
For once, she didn't complain when I blurted out a name she didn't
like. For once, she was silent, though her answer was more clear than
words could ever be. My jumpsuit melted into nothingness, leaving
flawless ivory to shine in the light of the moons that lit our little
glade.
*Ti, please,* I begged. *Help me!*
Her laughter held no sympathy at all. "You're doing just fine on
your own, lady. I'm just here to observe."
Did that make it even more arousing? Some sense of her watching
presence seemed to make me feel an even more desperate need. Or maybe
it was the tune that Darius was playing with his fingers on the exposed
skin that seemed so much more sensitive than I could ever remember, ever
even imagine.
And then my imagination was much too busy trying to keep up with a
reality that was even more compelling than ancient dreams. Things got
pretty intense for a while. Deliciously, ah, that is, um, magnificently
intense, and confused though crystalline pure, and then after a while
softly languid.
As I felt myself drifting into the rest that had not really come to
me before Darius arrived, I sent a lazy thought toward my symbiont partner,
"Thank you, Titty."
"Don't call me that," she said, but her tone held no anger, only
amusement, and smug satisfaction.
*************
"Wake up, company coming," Ti's voice whispered in my ear.
I tried to ignore her, snuggling deeper into the warmth that
surrounded me. The big, muscular, somewhat hairy warmth that
surrounded me.
*Oh no, what have I done?* I cried. Or tried to. The words echoed
in my mind, but no sound came out.
"Not a good thing to say when you wake up in your lover's arms," Ti
chided me.
*Lover?* I repeated.
"That's surely what I would call it. I'm going to have to get on
Bee for not sharing just how wonderful that feels."
*Bee?* I thought in surprise. *What has Bee got to do with me, um,
well . . . ?* Even in my thoughts, I couldn't form the words.
"Not much, since he was too tight-minded and selfish to give me any
real clue about it," she said with a snort. Then she chortled with her
own knowledge, "Just wait'll I tell him about our man-mountain here - big
ALLLL over."
Just then the man-mountain in question stirred, his thick arms first
stiffening, then caressing the naked curves that I still displayed. Like
a well-trained pet, my body arched into his touch. More visible signs of
interest poked into hard relief as well, and I knew other responses were
not far behind.
"Ohhh," I moaned, nerves strumming wildly.
"Ummmm," he hummed in return.
Then he heard the sound of approaching men that had alerted Ti while
we slept.
"Uh, oh," Darius said, but the grin that sparkled in his eyes showed
no real worry. None at all.
He did roll away, though, looking for his clothes.
*Titty,* I said angrily. *You have two seconds to get me dressed
again.*
"Or what?" she giggled. "Don't get huffy with me or I'll leave you
like this all the way back to Earth."
*You wouldn't dare!*
"Don't tempt me," she laughed. "Besides, you're just mad because you
were interrupted."
*I was not!* I shouted to my inner partner.
"Oh, you were definitely interrupted," Ti said with an infuriatingly-
rational tone.
*No, that's not what I meant and you know it, you, you, Titty!* I
snapped.
"Takes one to know one," she snickered. Then she replayed a caress
that I remembered all too well, with results I remembered just as clearly.
*Stop that!* I demanded.
She tweaked me again, and asked, "Will you stop calling me Titty, Miss Ample Ones?"
*Why you . . .!* Whatever name I might have called her died as
she triggered yet another thrilling chill to race through my body.
I gasped, and surrendered. *Yes, whatever you say. Just, let me
get dressed.*
She let her pressures trail gently off in a way that did absolutely
nothing to settle the shivers that were reverberating up and down my back,
but she also restored my dark blue jumpsuit. Just in time, too.
"Where did you get those clothes?" Darius asked, turning around.
"For that matter, where did they go last night?"
Then he answered his own question, saving me from an outright lie.
"More of that Federation technology, huh?"
He didn't seem to mind, the twinkle in his eye vanished for an
instant in a private wink just before he turned to greet our finally-
arriving guests.
"Over here," Darius called.
"Ah, Inspector, there you are. We didn't think it would be safe
to follow you in the dark, but we came as soon as we could."
"Quite right," Darius said. "If you don't know your way around
the mountain, there are any number of dangers."
"Miss, um, Commander Xora, are you all right?" the man asked.
"Yes, thank you," I answered. Then, from somewhere came an
irresistible impulse to add, "Very, very well in fact." This time
it was my turn to send Darius a silent, secret wink.
You could see his blush even through his beard. If you were looking,
of course.
There was another sign that was not as subtle.
"Ah, yes," the newcomer said, "Ah, well, I am Officer Helmen, of the
Ready Force. We arrived in time to take over your prisoners, but not in
time to help with Sstton, it would seem. Did he get away?"
Despite all the pleasant memories that had intervened, the thought of
what happened to him sent a shiver through my soul and I clenched my arms
around me to ward off the inner chill. Darius' arms helped a lot more,
wrapping me into a cocoon of solid armor against the dangers of the world.
"Hey, what about me?" Titania asked petulantly. "I'm better armor
than he is!"
She answered her own question before I had a chance, with a giggle,
"Well, maybe not, at that."
Darius was answering Helmen for me, "No, Sstton did not get away.
He stumbled into the swamp in the dark, and was taken by a grunter."
"Oh," said Helmen, turning pale for just a second. "Well, serves
him right, I suppose."
Becoming brusquely efficient again, Helmen continued, "Inspector,
Commander, we have a copter at the lower clearing. We can send for it
if you want. I think they'll be able to get a line down to us through
the trees."
Darius looked at me, and after a small shake of my head, declined
the offer. "That's all right. It's not that much further to walk, and
we can use the exercise."
"I would have thought you'd had a lot of exercise in the last few
days," Helmen said conversationally as we started down the trail. I
saw three or four men moving through the surrounding brush, both guard
and investigators.
"Four, all together, besides Helmen," Titania whispered.
*Thanks,* I said.
"Off and on," said Darius, replying to the officer's comment.
His arm, still around me, reached down to caress the taut globe
of my derriere as we walked along. I should have slapped him, I suppose,
for being so familiar in front of others. But I found myself leaning
into his arm and purring instead.
"Oh, yes, ah . . . " and Helmen trailed off in embarrassed silence.
As we passed the path to the swamp, I nodded to Darius who had
Helmen send some men down that way. They reported seeing a few scraps
of fabric floating on the water, and something that might have been a
belt buckle caught in some reeds, but no one was particularly interested
in physically retrieving the evidence of Sstton's demise. Just that
amount of proof was enough to keep us all silent until we reached the
clearing.
Poor Kannda Lanney's body had already been transported, along with
that of the first guard I had encountered in the camp. The other one,
whom we had followed back from the swamp, was being loaded into a custody
vehicle as we arrived. He still wasn't standing up straight, but I didn't
feel any guilt about that one at all.
During the last, quiet period of our walk, I had felt Darius becoming
gradually stiffer, his arm relaxing its comforting pressure until, as we
stopped to look over the bustling scene, it dropped away from my shoulders
altogether.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Darius just looked uncomfortable. Instead of replying to me, he
asked Helmen, "Is there some transportation back to headquarters for
us?"
"Take any of the cars over there," Helmen answered, pointing.
Darius nodded and politely gestured for me to lead him toward the
vehicles.
"Polite?" Titania asked. "What's wrong?"
*I don't know,* I said, frustrated.
We didn't get any answers until we were in the 'car' thing. Darius
started up that noisy, uneven vibration and we rumbled our way down a
slightly wider trail than we had been walking on, defined by two narrow
ruts for the wheels.
Darius didn't say anything for perhaps twenty minutes, until we
reached a more durable, smoother road. Then he turned to me with a
very sad expression on his face.
"Please forgive me," he said.
"For what?" I asked.
"For taking advantage of you, in your weakness," he said, as though
he didn't understand why I had asked the question.
"Did I seem weak to you last night?" I asked. I had thought we had
shared some pretty energetic moments.
"Me, too," Titania snickered. "If I weren't in the inside, I'd have
been left behind."
Darius shook his head sharply, then nodded, then shrugged, "Well, not
physically. I don't think you ever get tired. But you were shocked by
what you had seen, and I took advantage of you."
"Maybe it was me that took advantage of you," I said quietly.
"What?"
"Do you really think you could have forced me?" I said, just a bit of
irritation leaking into my tone.
"No! Of course not," he said.
"Then what makes you think I was unwilling, or would have been under
more, um, sedate circumstances?"
"Well, um, you're a, uh, I mean, you're a Federation field agent.
You must have, well, you can choose whoever you want. You don't have to
share yourself with some hick on a backwater planet."
"So you think I choose my partners based on their culture's level of
technology?" I asked.
"No, not at all, it's just, well, I mean we didn't hit it off very
well the first day, and, well, you were so sad, and . . . "
I decided to help him out a little, "And you comforted me. Oh, I
know it felt good for you, too. At least I hope so . . . ," his head
nodded so vigorously I was afraid for his neck muscles, "but it was just
what the doctor ordered for me."
"Doctor Titania, at your service," she chortled in my ear.
*Doctor Titty, that is,* I corrected her with a snicker of my own.
Her answer was a combination of caress and pinch that took my breath
away. I was going to be in big trouble, now that she *really* knew what,
um, buttons to push, so to speak.
"You got that right," she laughed.
*Shhh,* I said, turning my attention back to Darius.
"Uh, well, yes, um, I'm ah, glad it had a, um therapeutic effect," he
said. Then the little-boy grin broke over his face and he said, "I found
it rather, um, refreshing myself."
"Really? I'm glad. I wasn't sure," I said.
"Fishing for compliments, Shameless?" Ti asked.
"Oh, hush, I'm just trying to make sure," I said. She made an
amazingly rude sound.
Darius supplied the desired information, just the same, "Oh, no, you
were, well, terrific! But I as afraid I was a disappointment."
"Why would you ever think that?" I asked.
"Well, I mean, everyone knows that Federation headquarters is, well,
I mean Earth is, um, well, you know."
"No, I don't know," I said, getting angry again. "Tell me, just what
do you think of me?"
"Well, not of you personally, though, of course if you are, I mean,
it's none of my business," Darius stammered.
"You're right in that," I said. "But I'll have you know that I have
never been with a man before last night."
I thought we were going to run off the road. He looked at me like I
had just spouted another head or something, and his huge jaw hit that even
larger chest with an audible thump.
"Never?" he repeated. That earned him a glare that I had intended to
save for Jonesy and his "no bondage" promise.
"Oh, no, of course not," he said, cringing. "I, um, oh God, I feel
lower than, well, oh God . . . "
"What's the matter now?" I demanded.
"Well, I mean, if I, I mean, since I was your first, um, well, I'm
even more sorry that I took advantage of you."
"Well I'm not!" I said. "I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy it, but I
did and I don't regret a moment of what we shared last night."
"No, that's not what I meant at all. I loved it, and I loved you
even before I found you by that stream. I mean, you're just so wonderful
and so beautiful and you can do, just, well, anything so well, and . . . "
Now we did run off the road. Darius forced his attention back on
controlling the vehicle and wrestled it to a stop. Before he could say
another stupid word, I interrupted his senseless babbling and said, "Just
shut up and kiss me, you big idiot."
He did.
Titania asked, "Did you mean what you said about not regretting any
of it?"
*Shut up, Titty!* I snarled silently, then lost myself in Darius
again.
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