“She does not respect my greatness.” He climbed off Jia and as she shot to her feet, he nipped her butt.
“Touch me again you old, pervert and I’ll…” Jia yelped as Uncle Jesse’s massive jaws closed around her head.
“Apologize or he’ll eat you.”
“Sorry,” Jia mumbled.
I cocked my head. “What? I didn’t quite hear you.”
“I said, I’m sorry. Okay? Can we please go rescue Adam now?”
Uncle Jesse opened his mouth and Jia fell to the floor. There was a noticeable tremor in her hand as she wiped the slobber off her face.
I frowned. Jia wasn’t acting like a cold-blooded assassin. If Uncle Jesse was freaking her out this much, how was she going to handle a horny, seven-foot-tall Askole with tentacles?
That mournful howl sounded again.
“We’re freeing whatever that is too,” Jia announced and marched down the corridor.
Uncle Jesse lumbered after her. “She doesn’t have the soul of a killer.”
Jia was either an accomplished actress with awesome shields or Central Command’s records were wrong. If she couldn’t control lightning, Trayon would go hunting on his own. No one wanted that to happen. Keeping Sariel and Zarek happy was a necessity too.
“Adam!” Jia shouted and took off at a dead run.
Dammit! She was going to get herself killed. I followed Jia into a large burial chamber with colorful mosaics tiles covering the walls and mounds of ancient bones littering the floor. The stench of death hit me. I skidded to a stop and stared at the large pile of rotting corpses. By the monstrous deformities I knew these poor souls had been Giovanni’s test subjects.
Jia frantically checked the bodies. “Please. Please don’t be dead. Please.”
“Stop! Your brother’s not there.” I pulled Jia away from the awful remains. “They’ve been dead for weeks.”
“I can’t sense Adam anymore. Our link has been severed.” Tears rolled down Jia’s cheeks.
“You’re not an assassin or master thief, are you?”
Jia sighed wearily. “I’m not an assassin, but my cousin Bianca is.”
“Let me guess. She looks a lot like you and decided to borrow your identity.”
Jia’s mouth tightened. “I’m still trying to clear my name.”
“What psychic abilities do you have?”
“I can cloud minds, disrupt power sources and if I get close enough, I can zap you with enough electricity to put you down.”
“Like a taser?”
“Exactly.”
Trayon wanted an Earth female who could control lightning and while Jia’s powers were electrical in nature, they didn’t quite fit his requirements. “Anything else?”
“Animals of all kinds are drawn to me,” Jia answered.
I rubbed the stiff muscles in my neck. With my luck, Trayon would consider them snacks. “You’re an animal lover?”
“I am. I do rescues in my spare time.”
Did Askole warriors even have pets? My internal radar screamed a warning as multiple glittering blue lights formed in the chamber. I shoved Jia out of the way. A crackling red energy beam missed her shoulder by an inch. I grunted as a barrage of laser fire struck my armored chest. Since my armor controls were kaput, it was a good thing the Rodan hadn’t gone for a head shot.
Uncle Jesse pounced on the Rodan soldier firing at me and literally ripped him to pieces.
Adrenaline burning through my veins, I incinerated two Rodan soldiers and watched Uncle Jesse pounce on the last one.
“Behind you,” Jia yelled.
I spun around and got smacked across the face by a skinny monstrosity’s long scaly tail. I literally saw stars. My knees buckled and down I went.
Jake psychically pushed energy into me until the room stopped spinning around me. “Where’s your uncle?”
“Fighting a Rodan.” I struggled up, trying to get my feet under me.
Jia stabbed at the half-naked freak with her sword. “Shoo. Shoo.”
“Shoo? Shoo? What kind of assassin is she?” Jake wanted to know.
“From what she’s told me, she’s not a hired killer.”
“Fuck! Your father and I will be there shortly.” I caught a fleeting glimpse of Father electrocuting a Rodan soldier before our link broke.
“Shoo. Shoo.” Jia swung her sword wildly.
The monster gave Jia a grotesque parody of a smile. “First, I’ll eat your pussy, then your heart, little girl.”
“You won’t be eating anything but metal. Die, alligator man!” Jia swung her sword and missed the monster by a good foot.
Giving a hissing laugh, the monstrosity whacked Jia with his tail and sent her flying across the chamber. She landed in a graceless sprawl.
I hurled a lightning bolt at the misshapen monster.
With a startling quick movement, the creature leaped high into the air. The bolt passed under him and cremated the pile of rotting bodies.
“Well, hell. There went the evidence.”
A ferocious roar echoed around the chamber and a small black beastie exploded out of the shadows. It was an odd mixture of chihuahua and wolverine. My jaw dropped as the little guy did a great job of mauling the monster’s legs.
“Mean little shit.” Uncle Jesse helped me up. His fur was covered with mustard colored blood.
“Isn’t he.”
Jia climbed to her feet and shook her head as if to clear it.
The beastie let out a yelp as the monster’s claws raked across its back.
“Enough!” Her face a mask of rage, Jia scooped up her sword and with a full-throated banshee scream, beheaded the monster.
“I’ll be damned,” Uncle Jesse rumbled.
“Yeah, I didn’t think she had it in her.” A stroke of luck, or was Jia more than she appeared?
Jia picked up the beastie. “My little hero.”
I walked over to her. “You okay?”
“I’ll live. You said your uncle is a healer. Can he help him?”
The little beastie whimpered.
A golden light spun around Uncle Jesse. When it cleared, he was human again.
“You’re naked,” Jia exclaimed and squeezed her eyes shut.
I rolled mine.
“Yes, I am.” Uncle Jesse held his hands over the beastie. “Hozhq sitsiji shivaagi.” The gashes on the beastie’s back vanished. The little guy gratefully licked Uncle Jesse’s fingers. “Dii hastoi, small one.”
I rubbed the beastie’s ears and announced, “Your critter is as good as new.”
Jia opened one eye and gave a yip of relief. “Oh! Wow! He doesn’t have a mark on him.”
“It’s what
