Chapter Thirty-four.

"Okay, Missy, I think you've had enough." The bartender attempted to wrestle the bottle of white wine away from Maggie but she held on grimly.

"No. I can still think," she argued. "I haven't had..." she hiccupped. "Haven't had nearly enough."

"I'm not so worried about your thinking as your driving," the bartender said grimly. "Hey, is this still half full?" He shook the bottle which made a sloshing sound. "You must be a real light-weight, lady."

"I'm not a big drinker, no," Maggie admitted and hiccupped again. "But I'm working on it, starting now. And you'd be drinking too if you were me and had everything that happened to you happen to me." She frowned. "Wait, that's not right..."

"All right, I'll bite." The bartender sighed and let go of the wine bottle. "What happened?"

"My fiance and I broke up today. Like an hour ago." Maggie poured herself more wine with an unsteady hand, getting some on the bar top in the process.

"Sorry to hear that." The bartender wiped up the spill with a white cloth. "You engaged long?"

"Five years." Maggie took a gulp of wine. "'Course, I couldn't blame him for leaving me after what I did."

The bartender laughed. "Uh-huh, a nice, respectable looking girl like you who gets drunk on half a bottle of white wine at two in the afternoon? What kind of trouble could you get up to?"

"I rescued a murderous felon to start with," Maggie said. "He was all chained up and covered in this awful dust that makes you really thirsty and saps your strength. So I washed him off-I touched him all over, you know," she added, taking another drink of wine. "I mean all over. And I told myself I was only doing it to set him free but really, I liked it." She raised her eyebrows at the bartender who was staring at her blankly.

"So that was just for starters?"

"Uh-huh. Then I ran away with him to this weird ultra-posh alien spa and pretended to be the lady I freed him from who we chained up in his place. Oh, did I mention that part?" Maggie hiccupped. "Anyway, she totally deserved it." She took another drink. "So at the spa, we had all kinds of adventures. I wore some really tight clothes and I touched the wrong trees and I fell in a pool that looked like it was filled with blood and made me feel really guilty because it showed me memories of my fiance." She pointed at the bartender. "Oh-and the Pillow Fruit, I can't forget that part! It was huge and it tasted just like Krispy Kreme." She sighed. "Unfortunately it turned out to be a carnivorous beast that would eat your head if given half a chance. Such a shame..."

The bartender looked into the bottle. "Hey, what's in this wine?"

"So then we had a misunderstanding and he left me at the spa and I got kidnapped," Maggie went on. "And I was implanted with an alien device by that same lady I told you about-the one we chained up?"

"Yeah?" the bartender said doubtfully.

"Yeah." Maggie nodded. "And she sold me as a slave but Kor-that was the name of the murderous felon I rescued by the way-he rescued me by buying me from the slave master. Then we had a really nice week-just one, really but it was enough." She sighed. "That's when I really started falling in love with him, you know?"

"Uh-huh..." The bartender was staring at her strangely but Maggie barely noticed.

"So then we had to go on this really huge ship full of masters and slaves and lots of the women had been modified. Some of them had like...four or five b.r.e.a.s.t.s and some of them had cat tails and ears and whiskers and one..." Maggie leaned towards him and whispered loudly. "One had a v.a.g.i.n.a for a mouth." She shivered and took another drink. "Poor thing-can you believe it?"

"Actually, no-I'm not believing any of this." But the bartender continued to watch her. "So then what happened?"

"So then we got to Hargous-I think that was the name of it-the asteroid in the Dragon's Mouth where all the implant houses are. Anyway we found the right one and there was this gnome there with blue skin and pink cotton candy for hair and he showed me all the feathers the alien implant had grown inside me and I freaked out."

"So just then you freaked out, huh?" the bartender asked. "Not before when you saw the ladies with multiple b.r.e.a.s.t.s and cat tails? Or when you ate the Krispy Kreme beast?"

"Uh-huh." Maggie nodded and poured more wine...most of which ended up on the bar top this time. She frowned at the tiny amount in her gla.s.s, shrugged and drank it. "So then Kor helped me get the implant out-but I won't tell you how because that's private." She winked solemly at the bartender. "At that point I knew I was in love with him but then the stupid bounty hunter came banging on the door demanding to show me my family on this Venetian blind looking screen thingy."

"Bounty hunter?" The bartender wiped up the spilled wine.

"I'm talking about my family now-try to keep up," Maggie scolded. "So my stupid little sister told me how my fiance, Donald, stepped in front of a bus and got a compound fracture and she showed me the bone sticking out of his leg and I felt so guilty I decided I had to come home." She hiccupped. "And I tried to nurse him back to health but being a s.e.x slave changes a person and he said..." She sniffed. "He said I got on his nerves because I put the creamed corn before the cream of celery-can you imagine? So I told him about Kor and we broke up and you know the worst part?"

"Uh, no. Out of all that, I can't pick just one worst part, sorry," the bartender said.

"The worst part is that I realized I loved Kor too late." Maggie gave a little sob. "I wasted all my time with him feeling guilty over Donald and now I'm pretty sure Donald never loved me at all-or not the way Kor did. Oh, G.o.d...I miss him so much." She put her head down on the bar, tears leaking miserably down her cheeks.

The bartender shook his head. "I'm sorry you're sad, lady but I have to say, that's the weirdest thing I've ever heard and I've been tending bar for twenty years. I mean, it sounds like the plot of some crazy, f.u.c.ked up science fiction novel, you know?"

"I know," Maggie said sadly, looking up. "Could I have..." She hiccupped. "Could I have some more wine, please?"

The bartender considered for a minute. "Honey, give me your car keys and you can have as much as you want. It sounds like you earned it."

Maggie started fishing through her purse for her keys but just then her cell went off. She was determined to ignore it, thinking it was probably Donald with more nasty but logical insults. But to her surprise, the number for the HKR-the Human/Kindred Relations building-was flashing on the screen.

Maggie slid her finger across the screen unsteadily and stared at the screen.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo? Is this Maggie Jordon?" The face on the screen was an unfamiliar Kindred warrior.

"Yes." Maggie frowned. "What do you want?"

"Miss Jordon, I have an urgent call for you on the viewscreen here. Nina Kerrick calling from Tarsia. Can you come to the HKR building and take it?"

"Well, I'm in no shape to drive right now but I guess..." Maggie hiccupped. "I guess I can take a cab."

"Do whatever you have to do but please hurry," the warrior said urgently. "I am told that lives are on the line."

Maggie frowned. "Sounds important but I don't understand why they want to talk to me. I've never even been to Tarsia. h.e.l.l, I've never even been to Gaia which was where I was supposed to go before I wound up on Yonnie Six pretending to be Lady Pope'nose instead."

The Kindred warrior frowned. "Just come. I will hold the call until you get here, Miss Jordon." And the screen went blank.

"Oh, Maggie-thank goodness!" Nina's face on the large viewscreen looked worried and scared. "Look, Lissa-she's here."

Another familiar face popped up beside her. "h.e.l.lo, Maggie," Lissa said.

"h.e.l.lo, girls." Maggie waved at both of them a little unsteadily. "You interrupted my getting drunk and it cost me like sixty bucks by cab to get over here. So I hope you wanted to do more than just say..." She hiccupped. "Say hi."

"Oh no-she's drunk!" Nina exclaimed. "Maggie, it's only three o'clock over there in Tampa, isn't it? What's going on? Are you celebrating something?"

"Celebrating being alone the rest of my natural life since Donald and I broke up and I lost Kor because I was stupid enough to pick Donald in the first place." Maggie sighed. "I'm such an idiot."

Nina frowned. "Oh dear, I'm sorry! But if Donald was anything like the way you described him, you're probably better off without him."

"That's what I told him." Maggie declared, stabbing one finger toward the viewscreen. "I told him, I said, 'I didn't get two Ph.Ds to empty your bedpan and re-alphabetize your creamed corn, Mister!"

"Huh?" Nina and Lissa both looked confused.

"Never mind." Maggie shook her head. "The point is, he wasn't right for me. I just wish...wish I would have realized that earlier, back when I was still with Kor."

Lissa frowned. "Kor is the name of the male you rescued from Lady Pope'nose, right? The slave who later bought you at the Flesh Bazaar and took you to the Dragon's Mouth to have your implant removed?"

Maggie frowned. "Hey, how did you know all that? Have you been talking to my bartender?"

"What? No-she's been talking to the bounty hunter. That Salix guy." Nina shivered. "I don't trust him."

"No, but he brought Maggie home safely," Lissa pointed out. "And he's the one who recognized Kor as the male that was with Maggie. Although now he's going by the name of Therron."

"What?" A great deal of Maggie's drunkenness seemed to magically dissipate. "What name did you say?"

"He says his name is Therron and he's terrorizing our whole planet," Nina said urgently. She put a hand to her temple. "G.o.d, I know I've heard that name before but I just can't remember where."

"He's already destroyed two villages and he's moving towards the capital city," Lissa continued for her. "There doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do to stop him-he's completely invulnerable to weapons of every kind."

"Lasers and bullets bounce off his skin," Nina said. "Fire and ice have no effect on him. Saber even authorized dropping a bomb and he walked away from the blast without a scratch."

"Oh my G.o.d." Maggie put a hand to her head. "What...what is he doing? Is he shooting things with his eyes?"

"Yes, exactly!" Nina cried. "He's got these incredibly hot red beams that seem to shoot right out of his eyes. Did he have those when he was with you?"

"He did." Maggie nodded. "But he didn't destroy anything with them. Well, I mean he blew a hole in Lady Pope'nose's dungeon floor, but other than that he only used them for good. He gave me corrective eye surgery with them." She pointed at her face. "See? No more gla.s.ses."

"If he was using this power for good when he was with you, why has he suddenly gone berserk with it now?" Lissa wondered. "And why is he going by Therron instead of-what did you call him?"

"Kor. I called him Kor." Maggie felt like crying. "This is probably all my fault. He was really upset when we parted. I mean, he always tries to act nonchalant but I know when he's hurt-I hurt him by picking Donald. Oh, why am I so stupid?"

"Honey, you have to stop beating yourself up over it," Nina soothed. "These things happen-we all make mistakes."

"Most of those mistakes don't end with someone's ex-boyfriend blowing up towns with his laser vision, though," Maggie pointed out morosely.

"Those glowing red eyes..." Lissa shook her head. "It's not natural. That kind of power isn't Kindred, yet outwardly he appears to be one of our people."

"Oh, he is Kindred-or he has Kindred blood, anyway. But he hates them," Maggie said. "Because he says his first slave master told him it was the Kindred who sold him away for being a freak."

"What?" Lissa frowned. "None of us would ever sell a baby to slavers, even if it was different."

"I don't know." Maggie shrugged. "That's just what he said."

"So he gets upset after Maggie breaks up with him and comes here to target the Kindred on Tarsia," Lissa said thoughtfully. "But why us?"

"Wait a minute." Nina snapped her fingers. "Maggie, when you rescued him, what did he look like?"

"What did he look like?" Maggie frowned. "Well, he was mostly naked..."

"No, I mean, did she have him tied up to a post? Put him in handcuffs...?"

"He was on his knees with his hands behind his back. Oh, and he was coated in this thick, gray dust and there was a little stream running right in front of him but he couldn't get any of the water on him or in him, because of the dust."

"Oh my G.o.d..." Nina's face went pale. "I just remembered where I heard the name Therron-it was the name of the Swamp Witch's son. And that's the scene she showed me in her cauldron when she was trying to break up Reddix and me."

Maggie frowned. "Oh! Now I think I remember you saying something about that back when we were all in the Mother Ship together. Didn't you?"

"Maybe." Nina put a hand to her head. "Oh, this is so weird. If this is right, this person is Reddix's half brother. At least that's what the Swamp Witch claimed."

"And if Therron is Xandra's son-it's no wonder he's targeting us! He is getting revenge on the people she thinks cast her out," Lissa said, nodding. "It all makes sense now."

"I have to come and talk to him," Maggie exclaimed. "I talked him out of blowing up Lady Pope'nose-I'm sure I can keep him from frying your capital city too."

"I don't know." Lissa frowned. "There's something...different about him. Something other. Even Salix says he doesn't act or speak like the male he met when he came to get you."

"Maybe he's crazy with grief over Maggie leaving him," Nina said reasonably. "In which case, I think we should bring her over."

Lissa frowned. "It's very dangerous but I don't know what else to do. Saber and Reddix are getting ready to face him now. If he cuts them down with his beams..."

Maggie didn't feel a bit drunk now. "I'm getting on the next Kindred shuttle. You girls call the Mother Ship and tell them to fold s.p.a.ce for Tarsia. I'll see you soon!"

"Wait, Maggie-shouldn't you tell your family first?" Nina protested. "They already lost you for more than six months and that wasn't even a whole month ago."

Maggie shook her head. "It would just worry my mom. And really, there's nothing to be worried about. Kor always said he would never hurt me-I still believe that's true."

"I hope you're right," murmured Lissa. "Come, then, Maggie. And please for the G.o.ddess's sake, hurry."

Chapter Thirty-five.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" the dark voice drove Therron on, though he scarcely knew where he was. The last thing he remembered was the proximity alert warnings of his s.p.a.ceship as he descended to the surface of the Black Planet...

"Warning!" the ship had bleated as he took it down through the burning atmosphere. "Warning! The surface below is pure superheated t.i.tanium Dioxide. Proximity alert-the shields can hold for less than fifteen solar minutes at these temperatures. Stepping outside the ship will result in immediate termination of all life forms."

Kor had ignored the warnings contemptuously. He had known by then that he was different...special. And, the dark voice had promised him unlimited powers as soon as he breathed the thick black fumes that rose from the cracked crust. As soon as he touched its surface and called it home. More importantly, it promised to end his pain, to wipe all memory of Maggie from his brain forever. Kor wanted that-wanted it more than anything.

When he stepped out upon the black, sere surface, the soles of his boots cracked and melted and a stinging wind filled with choking black dust coated his body. The heat was incredible-unbearable-and yet it didn't hurt him. In the howling wind that whipped around him, he heard thousands of deep, inhuman voices. Sensed the presence of a mighty h.o.a.rd striving to break free.

"Back!" the dark voice ordered. "The male is my flesh-my vessel to fill and none other shall have him! Breathe, " it ordered Kor. "Breathe, deep!"

Kor had taken a deep breath, inhaling pure evil, drawing utter chaos and corruption into his lungs. The Black Planet seemed to waver around him and he heard the thousands of voices howling and screeching...and then he knew no more.

When he woke again, he was back aboard the ship he had stolen from Lady Pope'nose and they were high above the planet. The dark voice, which had been speaking to him from the moment he had dived into the Pool of Remembrance to rescue Maggie at the Lo'thian spa, spoke again-but this time instead of whispering, it came out as a deep, harsh sound.