Chapter Two #2
He grinned. “Pretty good. I would have thought she would have been thicker to hold all that weight.”
“Nope. She’s all graceful lines.” Hemma sipped at her tea. “I have to confess, I was losing my composure.”
“Why were you able to summon her?”
“She was there when the walls came down. She hugged me, and at her request, she made the pendant that would signal her if it was broken.”
“Why did she want you to have it?”
“I don’t know, she just said I needed it.” Hemma grinned. “Today was that day.”
Salat sighed. “Thank goodness Baola told me to take the coast. Is it easier for her to transport in water?”
“Less of her is naked out in the open. People stare.”
Salat grinned. “Well, with good reason. She’s lovely.”
“She is. And she is nervous as hell.”
“Why?”
“Trisk is focused on her.”
“The band?”
“The guy and the band are the same thing.”
Salat started chuckling. “Okay, I can see how that would be unsettling.”
Hemma nodded and worked on her tea. “This is so strange. I had forgotten all about her, and now, memories are rushing back.”
Salat got a ping and looked up. “Incoming agents.”
Hemma took a deep breath and blinked. “Why is this an international team?”
Salat said, “Because the highway and lake are shared territory off a main tributary.”
Hemma watched the team members slowly lower themselves to the ground, and she thought of Keska’s bug zapper. She turned to Salat. “If you want to narrow down who can land on your yard, ask Keska once she and Sorooth have recovered. She calls it a bug zapper, and it sticks them to a magnetic dome.”
Salat grinned. “That sounds like something I would be interested in. Does it stop matter-walking?”
“Nope. But it really pisses Torun off.” Hemma smiled.
“Then it is worthy.” Salat snickered. “Come on. Have you met any of them yet?”
“One or two were with their escorts in Uradda. We saw them then.”
“Right. Well, from the right to the left it’s Orsko, Lemor, Avekad, Shiras, and Hykor.”
“Great. Is there going to be a test?” She looked at him as they walked toward the people landing. She sipped at her tea with her pinky up.
Salat snorted. “Uraddans are funny.”
“Yes, well, some of us have seen our own entrails as children. It sets a new bar for humour when you get taken to the edge of death before you get your permanent teeth.”
Salat suddenly looked furious. Hemma leaned away. “Yikes. I pushed the button that makes the teeth come out.”
He paused and snorted. “Usually that’s lower, but yeah. Hey, all the littles are in motion.”
Hemma blinked as five children crawled to her. “Dang. Too much talking.”
Salat asked, “What?”
“My family has some siren in the mix. From the days when the leaders of Uradda weren’t paranoid dicks.”
Khytten heard it and grinned. “Salat, grab two. Hemma, if you can grab the one chewing on your ankle, the nannies are taking their break.”
Khytten got one larger and one smaller toddler, Salat grabbed one of each, and that left Hemma with one of the triplets. The bitey one.
The agents were looking at her, and there was something unsettling in their eyes. “Seriously? Okay, I get why Zera opened up that company.”
There was a snort from one of the nannies. Khytten grinned. “Yeah, now that the guys know they can be matched with women, they won’t tear down the centre, they are very interested in experimenting. The ladies as well.”
The agents chuckled. One of the men with scales said, “Miss, we have some questions about why the Uraddans would risk so much to get you into custody.”
Baola came by, took the bitey baby, and walked back to where she was playing with Kessie.
“Uh, sure. What do you want to know?”
One of the males said, “What was your role in the administration?”
“Uh, it wasn’t quite like that. I was a tool that served a purpose. Genetic acquisition.”
The female said, “Please extrapolate.”
Hemma covered her eyes. “I was given a list of targets and gave them blowjobs, putting their contribution into a canister they built into the side of my cheek. I was brought along with the ambassador, assigned to kitchen duties so I could walk around and find my targets, and then I made the acquisition. When I got back, the containers were removed and catalogued, and I was put in a cell until the next assignment.”
The men all stared, and the female chuckled but said, “Why did you cooperate?”
“I have a brother with strong Hyreno traits. That is an easy gateway for torture, so if I wanted him to be alive in between assignments, I let them bring me to embassy after embassy without a fight.”
She waited.
“Do you know the names of your targets?”
“I do. So do they. The Aksallan government found some of the lab documents that listed all my targets. They are aware of what the purpose of my compliance was. I have run into five of them already, and one of their buddies found out what happens if a minder pokes around in my head.”
Salat grimaced. “None of you try it. She seizes, and it took an immediate healer to keep from watching her brain dribble out her ears.”
Hemma snorted. “You should have been a poet.”
The agents looked wary.
One of them said, “That can be repaired if it was installed.”
Hemma said, “It isn’t natural.”
“Why haven’t you applied to have it examined?” One of the males with fine green scales looked at her.
“Because I would then be identified as the acquisitions specialist, and a few nations would demand reparation. I have been fairly successfully at being unremarkable. Until this weekend. It rather got blown out of the water.”
“I have a question for you, miss.”
“Go ahead. This is already near the height of humiliation.”
The man said, “Did you enjoy it? The collection process?”
“No. It was terrifying. I could have had my skull crushed if things got too enthusiastic, and if I didn’t manage to get a sample, they would torture my sibling. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable situation, though two of the men made sure I wasn’t kneeling on stone.”
Amusement gleamed in the eyes of four agents.
“Right. Now, miss, what do you know about the active from this morning?”
“Could you be more specific?”
“According to the Uraddans, there was a giant woman who came out of the lake and swept all of their vehicles in, leaving you to escape.”
“Oh, she’s a friend. We met in the specialty lab.”
“Do you know her maximum height?”
“No. She gets as big as she needs to be, and that’s it. She avoids it because she doesn’t have a suit, and she doesn’t believe in giving parents something they have to explain.”
“There is no registration of such an activation.”
“She isn’t in Aksalla. She has been elsewhere.”
“Where?”
“Renovik.”
The agents looked at each other, and the male, with all the questions, said, “Seriously?”
“Seriously. She’s a transporter as well. Salmet is currently speaking to their prefect to find out about the seriously damaged actives that were moved out one by one, with the memory of them fading instantly.”
The agents got excited.
“If you are thinking of finding her and running her through recruitment, think again. We just want to be left in peace. Our lives have been threats and pain and shame, and now we have a chance just to live free, and we are learning how to do it. How not to wake up with our fists in our mouths so our screams can’t be heard.
How to breathe deep and not worry about getting gassed or a suffocation strike.
We are choosing our own clothing for the first time ever.
While some of our people want to defend our new land in a flashy way, others just want to live quietly, ready to defend their peace in a country that lets them do so. ”
They looked at her and nodded. The Hyreno male said, “I believe I am starting to understand. Your brother is applying to the underwater city?”
“He is. He’s nearly eighteen and has his university degrees in botany and agriculture. His gills are still sealed, but he’s waiting until he meets the ocean for that moment.”
The Hyreno asked, “Do you have Hyreno characteristics?”
“Yup, by my gill lines were stitched shut and melted closed. It would require a lot more effort and funds to open them, and I have no interest in either. My employer is excellent, but I wouldn’t want to leave her service for what would await me under the water.”
“You fear retaliation?”
“Given that the five subjects that I met a few days ago had no qualms about having a companion rip his way into my mind, I don’t consider my odds to be good without the protection of my employer.”
“Where is your employer?”
Kessie walked over and said, “She’s with my dad, trying to get me a brother or sister. She’s an omega, and he is her choice.”
Hemma looked at her and smiled. “Sweetie, you don’t need to be here.”
“They are being mean, and you are upset and sad and scared.” Kessie hugged her.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, and Ekbert didn’t do anything wrong, but he has to hide, too.
And Zephyr didn’t do anything wrong, and she made sure that those men didn’t die, but she has to hide, too, and it is too much hiding. ”
The agents shifted.
Kessie looked up. “Hemma, can we go home now?”
“Yes, sweetie. We can.” She stroked Kessie’s hair again.
Khytten smiled. “The nannies’ break is over, so I will fly you in. Where are you staying?”
Kessie rattled off the address and went to say goodbye to Baola. Hemma asked the agents, “Anything else?”
“Are you considering entering the Blind Date Corp?”
“Men interested in sex are not well-behaved around me.”
The green-scaled male said, “Perhaps the restraint that the corporation enforces would be a boon to you. The patrons must keep their minds on getting you out of the date in one piece. Consider it.”
“Why does that sound like a threat?”
“It might become a sort of community service to soothe the egos of the males you harvested from.”
“Fine, if someone holds their loved one hostage regarding their performance, I will consider it.”
He blinked, opened his mouth, and closed it. “That is an interesting perspective.”
“Sure. If I don’t cum, someone dies. That was the deal when Uradda had me by the neck.”
He leaned back. “I will share your sentiments with the council that is forming.”
She held back a shriek. “What?”
Salat said, “Don’t worry about it. Anytime alphas get together, it’s called a council. It was embarrassing to call it a knot.”
Khytten snorted. “I voted for bully. That or wedge.”
The agents laughed.
Salat covered his eyes and shook his head. He wrapped his arms around Khytten and whispered in her ear. She looked at Hemma and blushed a bit.
Hemma waved that off. “Don’t worry, I know what is being referred to.”
Khytten straightened. “Well, we are going to leave. This has been fun and all, but the ladies need to get home.”
Hemma nodded and said softly, “Kessie?”
Kessie hugged Baola and ran over, taking Hemma’s hand. “Can we go?”
“We can go. Khytten?”
“Come with me, ladies.”
With a sigh of relief, Hemma left the focused gazes of the international agents. She would have preferred defenders.
Khytten muttered, “Sorry about them. They are fixated. The BDC made some things better and some worse. Now they know there are ladies out there who can deal with them, and it’s a huge turn-on. We have yet to find the off switch.”
They were escorted to the flyer, put into the harnesses, and then Khytten stepped into the pilot’s area. She put in the address for flight control, and then they were up and away.
Kessie said in excitement, “They are flying with us.”
“Of course they are.” Hemma sighed, and through the headset, Khytten laughed.
The house and yard came into view, and Hemma gave Khytten instructions. She nodded and let them down outside the gates.
“Why did I do that?”
Kessie giggled. “Bug zapper.”
Khytten looked at the dome above the house that was spotted with flyers who were struggling against it.
They got out of the flyer, and Khytten took off. The gates opened for Hemma, and as they walked in, she deactivated the bug zapper, releasing the stuck agents.
Kessie said, “I am tired.”
“Right. Did you want to hop on my back?”
Kessie was on her in seconds, and they walked the long drive to the house. During their walk, the agents came over, and one of them said, “I can carry her.”
“I am good. I am a heavy-hitter. I am just not very fast. Go inside, Kessie.”
Kessie nodded. “Can I have lemonade?”
“If Ekbert didn’t drink it all. If he did, I will be in in a moment.”
She smiled at the girl and then turned and scowled at the agents looking at her. “What?”
One looked sheepish. “We wanted to make sure you got home safe.”
“And I am, so why are you here? You are the international team. Go fight somewhere else.”
They cocked their heads, and the one with scales said, “How do you know that?”
“I have met all of your people at one time or another.”
“May we come inside?”
“Nope. There is a mating couple in there, and I don’t want you guys getting set off by anything. Or you, ma’am.”
They blinked, and the one with scales said, “Your boss?”
“And her mate, probably her alpha, and definitely her fiancé. He hasn’t proposed yet, but I have seen the ring, and it’s a doozy.”
Ekbert walked to the door and said, “Everything okay, Hemma?”
“Yeah. Is our guest here?”
“Yup. Comfortable and fed.”
“Excellent.”
“Why are they staring?”
“They are looking at your scars and realizing I might not be a liar.”
The sheepish expressions showed she was right.
Ekbert shrugged and peeled his shirt off, turning to show them the marks of cuts and stitches.
“I can drop my pants if you need more proof. They hurt me before she went out, and they remained ready to act until she came home. Then we both had a few days of rest before they sent her out again and proved their point every time.”
Hemma could see them recording. Ekbert’s gills were scarred up, but they looked like they would work.
The Hyreno said, “Have you seen a specialist for your gills?”
Ekbert put his shirt on. “No. I am good to wait until I can pay for the treatment. That should be in a few weeks.”
“Why wait?”
“Because I am not in danger. They are just disfigured. That is cosmetic. Not like Hemma’s. Hers were sealed and mangled.”
Hemma snorted. “Yes, yes, yes, I need to attend to Kessie. So, agents, you have three minutes to get out of here before the bug zapper is on, and you will have to climb over the fence.”
Ekbert grinned. “She means it.”
Hemma walked inside and took Ekbert with her, locking the door and activating household security.
She could actually feel when they left the area around the house and exhaled slowly, activating the zapper.
She leaned over and braced her hands on her knees.
Ekbert rubbed her shoulders. “Fun visit to Daycross?”
She looked at him blankly. “I never got my cotton candy.”