Chapter 13
LYK
He let out a groan as he picked himself up off the ground. If I weren’t a Vartik, that last burst would have killed me.
Lyk spoke into the comm pin fastened to his shoulder. “Celdrake, do you read?”
It was a few moments before he got an answer. “I’m here, Captain. What’s up?”
“I want all the men on alert. One of Rigellus’s crewman just tried to kill me.”
Celdrake let out a surprised whistle. “Orders to capture?”
“Take him down. He went after the females once he incapacitated me.”
“He incapacitated you? You?” The disbelief in Celdrake’s tone was a testament to Lyk’s strength.
“He used an electro-stick on its highest setting.”
“Fuuuuck.”
“I want the women protected. Now.”
“I’ll put everyone on it. We’ll find them.”
Lyk scanned the market, looking for any sign of the women. There was none. The outpost wasn’t large by space station standards, but it did consist of several levels and perhaps a mile of surface area, measured together. His brain screamed at him for action.
She’s in danger! If he hits her with that electro-stick, she doesn’t have legendary Vartik strength and resilience. She’ll die!
Lyk closed his eyes, trying to calm the torrent of emotion inside him. As the noise of the market faded away, he could sense powerful emotion, a loss so profound, somewhere inside the station.
It’s her. Although he was nowhere near the empath his sister was, he could sense that Ally was in the throes of extreme grief.
Opening his eyes, he set about letting the emotion guide him.
Making his way briskly through the crowds, he finally managed to find a stairway.
He rushed down them, coming out in the entertainment area.
His blood turned cold. She was close. He could sense her.
Lyk climbed over the velvet rope and entered the dimness. He hurried past the lumps covered in canvas, back to an area that was too dark to see through, even for him. “Ally,” he called out, then heard a wordless moan in reply.
Following the sound of her sniffles, he managed to locate his female lying in a heap on the floor. As gently as he could, he lifted her up into his arms. “Where’s Evie?”
“Gone,” she finally managed to say between sobs. Cradling her gently, he carried her out of the darkness, setting her down gently on a canvas-covered counter.
“What happened?” Lyk asked, cupping her face and gently wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Where is your sister?”
“Took her.”
“Where?” Lyk’s adrenaline had been kicking him in the organs ever since he pulled himself off the floor earlier. He assumed she was talking about Rigellus’s crewman. “Where did he take her?”
His comm suddenly crackled to life. “We found him, the one who hit you.” Celdrake’s voice thrummed with energy. “He was boarding a transport to Territh. Our guys pulled him out of line and are holding him on the ship.”
“Find out what he did with Evie,” Lyk said. “He may blame her and Ally for what happened to Rigellus.”
Ally started shaking her head. “Not him,” she said, sucking in short panicked breaths.
“He’s saying he didn’t find the girls,” Celdrake said over the comm.
“Rigellus’s man doesn’t have Evie?” Lyk asked Ally.
“No, it was strangers.” She swallowed, her voice evening out. “Three of them. One female and two males.” Her eyes met his and they were filled with confusion. “They teleported.”
Lyk’s eyes narrowed. Celdrake’s voice rang over the comm again. “What do you want us to do with him, Captain?”
“Let him go.”
Celdrake coughed. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard you. Please repeat, Captain.”
“Let him go. He’s not who we’re looking for.”
“But he—”
“Now, Celdrake. And send the crew out looking for Evie and the people who took her. One female and two males.”
Ally described what they looked like as Lyk relayed the description to Celdrake. His second-in-command didn’t sound happy, but he promised to spread the description around. “We’ve almost completed our fueling. Will we still be making our scheduled departure?”
“I’ll let you know.”
Lyk lifted Ally off the counter, gently setting her on her feet. “These strangers, how did they come across you?”
Ally gave him a play by play of what happened after Epaulets had laid him out. “We ran from him, clearing the market and making it downstairs. Evie and I managed to hide in the dark, and he finally gave up, leaving us alone. It was then that those three showed up.”
Lyk frowned, confused. “But how did you know what they looked like? It was pitch black back there. Did they come with a light source?”
Ally shook her head. “No. We had one. The necklace.”
Lyk let out a breath. The famous heirloom, the one Evie had been hiding. She must have revealed her deception to Ally at last. “What did the strangers do? Did they say anything that might give you a clue as to who they are and what they wanted?”
“Evie asked me where we were going to go now and they just appeared suddenly in front of us. The tall blond male said he knew where we were going. When I asked where they’d come from, they refused to answer, but when I tried to leave, the big male stopped me.
Then, I don’t know exactly what happened. ”
Putting her hands on her forehead, Ally struggled to describe the chain of events.
“Suddenly, I saw Evie go limp. She wasn’t breathing.
She wasn’t responding. It was my biggest fear come to life.
” Her hands were shaking as she continued.
“I thought they’d done something to her, but it turned out to be some kind of illusion. ”
Lyk’s breath caught inside him. This was starting to sound familiar.
“We were fighting back. Evie slapped the other female when she tried to grab her, and I managed to kick the big one in the balls so that he dropped me. But the tall male knocked me for a loop. He was so strong, he flung me halfway across the room.”
Her voice caught, and the tears started to stream down her pale cheeks once more. “The female said they only needed one of us, the one with the necklace. Then they vanished, taking Evie with them.”
Lyk pulled her close to him, burying her face in his chest and stroking her hair to soothe her. “There’s something familiar about this, something that worries me.”
Ally leaned back. “You know who took her? Who? You have to tell me!”
“I need to confirm it first. Let’s get back to the ship. I want to make sure you’re safe while we figure this out.”
He was expecting her to argue, but for once, she did as he asked, coming along quietly. When they reached the ship, Celdrake was hovering near the hatch. “Most of the crew is already on board, although I have two teams out looking for the figures you described.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find them here,” Lyk said as they entered the cruiser. “Call the teams back and seal the hatch after them. It’s time to get underway.”
“What?!” Ally shouted. “We can’t leave! We’ve got to look for my sister!”
“She’s not here. You said it yourself.”
Eyes narrowed, Ally fumed at him. “You’re a liar. You’re not going to help me find her.” Shoving past him, she headed for the hatch. “That’s fine. I knew never to depend on anyone. I’ll find her myself!”
Lyk motioned to Celdrake to cut her off, and the cyborg stepped in front of the hatch.
“Move out of my way,” she growled.
Lyk put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to help you, and that’s a promise. But sticking around here isn’t going to make a bit of difference. They’re gone.”
“How can you be sure?” she cried, spinning around to face him again. “What if the transporter is station specific? They could be in another area of the outpost.”
“They could be, but they’re not.”
“How do you know?!”
Lyk could tell she was close to breaking. “Come to my quarters and let’s talk about this. Like I said, I need to check something, and you can be there with me then.”
Ally cursed the entire trek to his quarters, grumbling about lies and betrayal. Once he’d shut the door behind him, he told her to take a seat on the sofa. “I’m going to call my sister. She’s the one who warned me about the people you described.”
“Wait.” Her eyes widened. “You knew about these people, and you didn’t warn us? They’re after you?” Then she stood up, her face turning bright red. “They’re after the necklace! And they knew you had it! This is all your fault.”
“Sit down, Ally!” His tone was firm. “I never had the damn necklace and you know it. Evie told you as much.”
“How did you know about that? Were you spying on us? You motherfucker!”
Lyk threw up his hands, exasperated. “Fine, you want to do this the hard way?” Summoning up his Vartik powers, he used his persuasion on her, as much as he hated to. “Sit down, Ally. And shut up.”
She dropped like a stone onto the sofa and her mouth shut. Lyk saw her eyes widen as she fought to say something but her mouth refused to cooperate.
Lyk sat down on the sofa across from her and closed his eyes, opening the connection between himself and his sister. “Kara, we need to talk. Now.”
The connection hummed to life between them. “What’s up, bro? And what the hell time is it?”
Lyk realized it was the wee hours of the morning on Vartik. “Sorry to wake you up like this, but I need to call you. Can you get a secure channel up and running?”
“A secure channel? I’m not Nojan. Why can’t we talk here?”
“Because I need someone else to hear what we’re going to say. Go to your console. I’ll guide you.”
He waited as his sister hauled herself out of bed and headed to the console in her quarters. “What do I do?”
As quickly as he could, he instructed her on how to set up a secure communications channel.
He knew that if Nojan went digging, his brother would be able to trace the call, but a routine search wouldn’t put up any flags.
And if his brother didn’t know about the call, then there was no reason to dig.
“Ready?” he asked her.
“Yes.”
“Hit the button.”
The console embedded in the low round table in front of him illuminated. He hit a button, and a holographic image of his sister’s sleepy face appeared above the table, floating between him and Ally.
“Hey, bro,” Kara said with a genuine smile on her face. “It’s great to see you again.”
“You too, sis. I need your help. I have a companion with me, and her sister was taken today by three familiar-sounding beings. Tell me if this rings any bells: one was a tall blond male who can apparently teleport, and he was accompanied by a blonde female and a very large male.”
Kara’s eyes widened. “The Seekers! I told you they’d be after you! Mayra is always right!”
“It turns out they weren’t after me, sis. They grabbed a Territhian named Evie, likely because she had a necklace they were after.”
“A necklace…” Kara’s eyes widened. “The thing that shines!”
Lyk was confused for a moment, then recalled the poem she’d told him a few days ago. “Do you know where these Seekers might go?”
“They’re demons, remember? They probably took her back to Hell.”
Lyk’s gaze shot to Ally in time to see twin tears flowing down her face. It was so pale, the red mark on her cheek stood out in high contrast. His chest ached. His female’s sister had been dragged to Hell by demons, the same demons who’d been attacking his family.
Did I bring this evil on her?
This is my fault.
What have I done?