Obligation in Blood Read online

  Then he’d know exactly what didn’t happen, but that thought was best unspoken. “I see.”

  “I’ve often thought I’d enjoy punishing you and you’ve given me the perfect opportunity.”

  Chapter Four

  Ferda gulped and just about managed to swallow through a very tight throat. What could she say to that? Nothing was the best bet. It had been ages since she’d played those games with a lover. But with Drake, she wasn’t sure it would be a game and “lover” hardly described their relationship. He gave her incredible sex and satisfaction in exchange for blood but… “Want to check the cargo or the damage first?”

  He gave a little twisted smile. “Let’s check damage. I’ll be there to stop you if the urge to have Adlet becomes uncontrollable.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sakes!” Vampire or not, she’d had enough. “He doesn’t even like women and you know it!” She strode past him and headed for the bridge.

  He was right on her heels.

  Adlet stared at them, ashen faced, as they came onto the bridge. “Just checking damage,” Ferda explained. Drake obviously wasn’t going to do anything to ease the lad’s apprehension.

  “I started to run the checks,” Adlet replied.

  Smart move on his part. If Drake were concentrating on data on the screen, he might not be dwelling on that ridiculous incident. Ferda moved to stand beside him. She wanted to see how much damage they’d taken. The pirates shot enough ordnance at them to take them out.

  “One hit to the top and another to the port rudder,” Drake said, half to himself. “No significant damage. Three hits to the lower deck. One damaging on impact. We’d better go below and check the cargo. Those damn calf fetuses could have come adrift.” He looked sideways at her. “How long did you say we were under attack?”

  “Two hours.” Drake looked at her intently and raised his eyebrows. “It was the first time Adlet ever manned a gun outside practice. He needed that Restore.”

  “That was not what I questioned.”

  No, it hadn’t been, and asking a vamp to consider extenuating circumstances was like asking a lion to forget they lived off fresh meat. “We’d best check the cargo right away.”

  “Yes.”

  One of the hits had impacted the lower wall and shifted a container from its moorings.

  “Damn,” Drake muttered. “Looks as though it’s been for a walk.” As he spoke, he righted it with a push. What it must be to have vamp strength. “What about the contents?”

  What about them indeed! “Better check them. Want me to?” She took the curt inclination of his head as a request. Darn it! Vamp or not, if he kept this up she might just sock him one. If she wanted a broken hand that was. With a sigh, designed to let him know just how exasperating his attitude was, Ferda donned a pair of insulated gloves, unlatched the cover and inspected the top layer of cells. “This is the odd container,” she said. “Adlet noticed it’s only part filled. The bottom has no cells for the frozen specimens. We thought it might be an emergency refrigerant unit.”

  “Why not have one in both then?” Drake sounded almost normal. Or as normal as a vamp might sound.

  “We wondered about that.”

  “Between illicit embraces?”

  That did it! “Between getting shot at by pirates!” At least he couldn’t question that. The damage was clear to see.

  “We’d better check the entire container.”

  He came closer and lifted the top layer: seventy-two little cells, each with its own tiny, bovine occupant and individual refrigerant. There was no need for a back up. The lower layer was hermetically sealed. “We need to scan this. Thoroughly.”

  He actually sounded worried. Made a welcome change from irate. Perhaps.

  Between them they ran the scanner over, across and under the rack of cells. All well there. As Drake ran it over the sealed layer, he frowned. Unable to contain her curiosity, Ferda leaned over his shoulder and watched the readout on the scanner.

  “What does all that mean?” she asked as a string of unfamiliar code ran across the readout.

  “If it says what I think it says, we’ve been royally deceived.”

  Very helpful. “Zadde put one over on us?” Not altogether surprising, but how?

  “Very, very possibly. Open the other container.”

  Once she unsealed it, Drake lifted the entire rack and set it on top of the others. “That should keep them for a while. Seal it back if you can and get over here.”

  There was space for the extra layer. Just. By the time she crossed back to the first container, Drake had ripped up the lower seal and was staring at an array of dials and controls.

  “So Adlet was right. It’s an extra refrigerant unit.”

  “Yes, but that’s not even half of it. Had any experience with cryonics?”

  “No more than the average freighter.”

  “Unless I’m much mistaken” -- and vamps seldom were -- “we have one here. Watch.” He pulled a couple of levers. The entire panel lifted and they both stared at the lower glass container and the vast metal shape beneath -- an ice-encased metal shape.

  “Too big for calf embryos.”

  He gave a little smile. “Yes, but just the right size for a preserved human.”

  “That bastard! Zadde had to know this was here and he knew damn well I’d never in a million years agree to carry human cargo. Is she alive?” Cryonics was one science she’d never studied.

  Drake frowned at the dials in silence. “It’s alive all right. The controls are antiquated but functioning. In fact, it looks as if it has two sets of controls. Odd that.”

  As if finding a body in the hold wasn’t. “Alive but frozen?”

  “Let’s be sure to keep it that way.” Drake slid the controls down and looked carefully at the dials. They didn’t mean a thing to her but he seemed to understand them. “Interesting. We should have docked at Vansan in two days. This is set to last four. Just long enough to unload and be delivered and we’d be off and none the wiser while our frozen cargo would resuscitate.” He gave a grim smile. “I think we need to contact the agent on Vansan Station. How far off course are we?”

  “I’ll have to check the charts. Didn’t much look where I was going, evasion being my primary goal, but we’re somewhere on the rim of the Farant Station space lane. I accelerated a lot. We’ll have to go easy from here on to conserve fuel.”

  “Think we can do it in time?”

  “I’ll have a look.”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, after checking and double checking their position on the navcom, Ferda had their answer. “I don’t think so. It’ll take at least five days. We need to avoid our previous course in case our unfriendlies are still lurking out there.”

  “Touch and go with those fetuses then,” Drake said.

  “But they’re not the important cargo, are they?”

  “What’s going on with the cargo?” Adlet asked.

  They told him. Bless the lad, he did not belong on a tramp freighter, whatever he might think. “We’re carrying undeclared human cargo?”

  “We are,” Drake replied. “In total contravention of just about every galactic regulation.”

  “What are we going to do about it?” Worry about Rand’s jealousy took second place to fear of breaking galactic law.

  “We’re going to take care of things,” Drake replied. “Once Rand returns to the land of the living. Until then, we coast along our present course.”

  Fortunately for the mounting tension on the bridge, Rand awoke ten minutes later. “Something happened?” he asked, looking around. Anxiety had to be written on their faces. Being a vamp he probably smelled it in the air.

  “Just a couple of things,” Drake replied. “Ferda and Adlet caught in flagrante delicto. A pirate attack that resulted in a little hull damage, the cargo came lose and we have a cryogenically preserved human in the hold.”

  Good thing vamps weren’t subject to heart attacks or strokes. Poor Rand looked r
eady to pop his eyes and his jaw appeared permanently descended. “A human?” At least that detail rather overshadowed the first incident on the list. One should be thankful for small mercies.

  “Yes,” Drake replied. “The manifest omitted that particular detail.”

  “Did you have any idea it was there?” Rand demanded, looking right at Ferda.

  “Hell, no! I knew Zadde worked on the edge of legality, but I never dreamt he’d gone so far over the line. If he knew.”

  “How could he not?”

  “Four of us believed him. Maybe he was fooled too?” She wanted to think that. Didn’t want to believe an old associate had sunk that low. Maybe she was fooling herself.

  “Does it matter?” Adlet asked, speaking for the first time in ages. “We’ve got a dead person in the ship. What are we going to do?”

  Actually there were two dead people and one frozen in cryonic suspension, but no point in getting picky.

  “We’re going to find out what the lab on Vansan knows about this.” Drake had a point.

  “You’re going to ask them?” Rand asked.

  “Yes, but subtly.” He nodded at Adlet. “Can you comlink me to Vansan control?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Poor Adlet was on edge. “Sir” just wasn’t part of the operation of a freighter. Maybe he thought it might mitigate his earlier transgressions. It wasn’t likely Rand had missed that little snippet. Of course, being such a new vamp, his territorial instincts might not be that strong.

  Unlike Drake, who was still eyeing Ferda in a way that didn’t let her forget his threat.

  “Ship, identify yourself,” a voice called from the comlink.

  “Am I speaking to Vansan control?” Drake asked.

  “You are. Operator Willem speaking. Please identify yourself.”

  “We’re freighter X000PC49. Registered at Marvan Hub. En route for Vansan with identified and registered cargo.”

  “One minute.” It was more like three. “Yes, we’re expecting you planetside in two rotations.”

  “We’ve been delayed. We were attacked by pirates. Evasive action took us off course.”

  “Can you reach us before expiry of cargo?”

  Which cargo?

  “Negative. We are at least five planet rotations from Vansan.” Stretching it a bit, but Operator Willem got Drake’s drift.

  “Hold for instructions. Keep channel open.”

  The line went dead. Drake met everyone’s eyes, finger to his lips. Yes, they could be quiet. That wasn’t so hard. Containing her anxiety was.

  Rand went over to the javabrew dispenser. Holding a cup up, he looked around, meeting everyone’s eyes. Ferda nodded. Might help the wait to be drinking. Adlet shook his head, looking like a scared rabbit. Drake brushed the offer aside with a brusque wave. The brew Rand handed her helped her dry mouth considerably. She had plenty of reason to be on edge.

  Had to be ten minutes at least before the line crackled to life. “Ship X000PC49, can you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear,” Drake replied.

  “I have contacted the consignee. Instructions are to jettison cargo, since you cannot deliver in viable condition.”

  “Will do.”

  What?

  Drake ignored her glare. Fine! She’d have a few words to say once they broke the link. “What about our fee?” he went on.

  So, it was money above humans was it? She’d never have believed it, even from a vamp. And she’d given her blood to him.

  “Your fee?” the voice at the other end repeated.

  “Yes. We were promised a final payment of four thousand credits on delivery. We’ve had fuel expenses and incurred damage. Don’t you police your space lanes?”

  Good question actually.

  “I will have to check on that point.”

  “Do.”

  Another delay, closer to fifteen minutes this time. Seemed the lab was reluctant to pay up.

  “Still there, ship X000PC49?”

  “Yes.”

  Where else were they likely to be?

  “I have word from the consignee. They will pay two thousand, after word is received you have jettisoned cargo.”

  A fair enough deal, money wise. But he’d better not take their offer.

  “Agreed. Will reconnect after cargo is jettisoned.”

  The second he broke the link, Ferda rounded on him. “Don’t you dare! That’s a human being down there!”

  He actually looked hurt. “What the blazes do you take me for? We’re jettisoning those damn calf fetuses and the containers. The cryonic doesn’t need them. They’ve never admitted to the extra load, so how could we know about it?” He gave a lovely grim smile and she wanted to hug him.

  Later.

  “What are we doing?” Adlet asked. The boy was a bit out of his depth.

  “Just what I said, lad. We jettison everything but our extra passenger. The containers are no doubt tagged, so they can trace their fall from the ship. Then we report to Vansan, wait until the money arrives in Rand’s account and then hightail it out of here to somewhere safe. And find somewhere safe to deposit our hitchhiker.

  “Rand and Ferda, you jettison the cells and containers. Adlet, you keep us in position and I’ll check on the distance to a safe haven I have in mind.”

  Once they were on their way to the hold, Rand asked, “What exactly went on between you and Adlet?”

  She’d been wrong. Even new vamps got territorial, that much was clear from his voice. Of course it could just be vestiges of mortal jealousy. “Not a lot.” Best make that point up front. “He was stressed and shaky after two hours manning the gun against the pirates. I gave him a dose of Restore and overdid it. When I helped him back to his quarters, since he could barely walk, he decided to see what kissing a female felt like. And he took a feel of one of my boobs. That was it.”

  “That’s it?”

  It was more incredulity than question. “Yes. Not particularly enlightening for either of us.”

  “I see.”

  She hoped he did. Not that Adlet was her first concern right now. “Hadn’t we better see to our cargo and our passenger?”

  Didn’t take long. Once they removed the front of the container, the cryonic pod slid out easily and sat, like a gleaming steel coffin, in the middle of the hold. Rand anchored it to the bulkhead, connecting it to the ship’s power before distributing the damn fetuses (the adjective was beginning to grow on her) between the two containers.

  Twenty minutes later, they’d deposited both containers into the ejector bay by the escape dinghies and called up to the bridge to open the lower hatches.

  With a rumble, the floor beneath their feet vibrated. There was a quiet whoosh of large objects sliding out and another vibration as the hatch closed.

  “That’s taken care of,” Rand said, with a grim smile. “I hope the containers were tagged, not our stowaway.”

  “If it was tagged, it would have to have been listed on the manifest.”

  “You’re right. Let’s see if they keep their word about payment.”

  It took less than thirty minutes for the full sum to appear in Rand’s name. Thirty minutes later, he’d divided it among their own credit balances.

  Adlet stared at his own readout. “You’re paying me a thousand credits?” It was a nice gesture. He’d never been promised pay, just his keep and the thrill of life in space.

  “Why not? Your skill in the gun turret means we’re all still here.”

  Adlet’s grin was pure, youthful glee. Hopefully all would be well between them for the rest of the voyage.

  “Where are we headed?” Rand asked Drake. “Found us a nice, safe hidey hole?”

  Drake nodded. “Damphir VI.”

  If he was going for effect, he succeeded.

  Rand stared. “The colony?”

  “Yes. Safe as anywhere in the galaxy and it’s about time you met more of our kind. Plus they have scientists there, mortal ones. With luck someone will know a thing or t
wo about the resuscitating of cryonics.”

  “What’s Damphir VI?” Adlet asked.

  “A colony of vampires,” Ferda told him. “Mortals aren’t always welcome.”

  “You’re under our protection. You’ll be all right, and all Ferda has to do is tell them her last name and they’ll bring out the red carpet. Meanwhile,” he said, “Ferda and I have a little matter to settle.”

  Chapter Five

  No point in arguing. And it might be fun. He was decidedly Alpha after all. Ferda shrugged, doing her best to hide her enthusiasm as she followed Drake back to his quarters.

  “You know why we’re here?” he asked as he closed his cabin door.

  Now was where she found out if he was serious or playing. Or perhaps seriously playing. “You asked me here to have a conversation.”

  He actually grinned. Made a point of showing his descended fangs. He might have been put out at what he’d seen, but he was aroused. “Yes,” he replied. “We will have a much needed conversation. Get naked.” The last two words he snarled. But his eyes gleamed.

  This was going to be fun. Assuming he didn’t lay it on too hard. It had been so long since she’d had a dominant lover -- a good dominant lover, she amended -- and she’d never dreamed Drake went that way, but it seemed he did. “Yes, sir,” she said, lowering her eyes, and eased the zip down the front of her zipsuit.

  He lifted her chin with one finger, tilting her head up until her eyes met his. “Playing the sweet little submissive are we, Ferda?” He held her far too tightly to nod and his single finger kept her jaw tight shut, so she just lowered her eyelids. “I see. How delightful. I hoped for this but remember, it’s still a justly deserved chastisement. Now, my dear…” his voice went very low, “… strip. Every stitch of clothing, and if you take too long, I’ll tear them off you.”

  What a temptation. But that could wait for another time. She stepped out of her suit, picked it up and folded it, and placed it on the only chair.

  “Not there,” Drake said. “Put everything in the corner.”

  She moved them and added her briefs and bra to the pile. When she turned, Drake was watching her from across the room. A narrow strap dangled from his hand.