His words sent a cold chill down Penny’s spine.
“You wouldn’t,” she whispered.
“Oh, watch me, my dear. Now, march,” he barked and shoved Penny in the back so hard she fell to her knees.
She gasped and the velvet bag which was still tied to her wrist clunked on the metal floor as the Eye of Ten’gu bounced inside it.
“What’s this?” the Glorious Leader demanded, dragging her to her feet and snatching the bag off her wrist. He opened it one handed, while keeping the other hand firmly locked around her other wrist.
“Don’t!” Penny gasped as the gold and lapis painted Eye on its long gold chain spilled out into the Glorious Leader’s palm.
“Well, well…” He frowned at it with interest. “And what might this be?”
“Just a necklace—that’s all,” Penny said quickly.
“Or maybe it’s the ancient artifact you were sent to find?” The Glorious Leader raised his white, busy eyebrows at her as Penny gaped at him. “I told you I’ve been monitoring you, my dear! Well, if the Kindred don’t want you badly enough to make a bargain with me, maybe they’ll want this.”
And he put the gold chain over his own neck and adjusted the Eye over his chest.
“It’s mine now,” he said to Penny. He drew in a deep breath and straightened his shoulders as his grip on her wrist grew even tighter. “Ahhh! I can see why the Kindred Commander wants this so badly,” he remarked. “It gives me fresh strength! Why, I feel twenty cycles younger!”
Penny was confused at first—both she and V’rex had felt an evil presence that repulsed them when they touched the Eye. But it seemed to invigorate the Glorious Leader and give him fresh strength—how could that be?
“Because Evil calls to Evil, daughter,” whispered a warm, feminine voice in her head.
Goddess? Penny sent back, looking around wildly. Where are you? Can you help me?
“Help is coming, daughter! Do not despair,” the Goddess told her. “I have brought you here so this Evil one will get exactly what he deserves.”
And then she was gone and the Glorious Leader—resplendent with the Eye of Ten’gu resting on the breast of his snow-white suit—was marching her down the hallway again.
Chapter 114
V was so overwhelmed at meeting his kin for the first time, that at first he didn’t notice that Penelope was missing. But after a while, he missed her presence. They were rarely separated since they had been bonded and though he had spent almost his whole life on his own with no one to look out for or love, he found he couldn’t stand to be without his curvy little female for long.
“Did you happen to see where Penelope went?” he asked Commander Sylvan during a break in the conversation, when his new kin were describing the Beast Kindred home world of Rageron to him.
“I believe she went to the fresher.” Commander Sylvan nodded at a plain gray door at the end of the lounge. He frowned. “But that was some time ago.”
V started to reach out to his mate…and then stopped himself. He had learned early on that Penelope was what she called a “private bathroom person” and she disliked being bothered—even mentally—when she was “doing her business.”
I’ll give her a minute, he thought to himself She’ll be out soon.
But as the minutes ticked by and she still didn’t come out, he began to feel a tickling of unease in the back of his mind. Where was she? What was taking so long?
At last he sent a tentative call through their link, “Penelope?”
But he got no reply in return—not even an irritated demand to let her “finish.”
In fact, V realized, he felt nothing when he reached mentally for his new mate—nothing at all.
“Something is wrong!” he exclaimed. Ignoring the startled looks from his new kin, he ran for the fresher. “Penelope!” he roared at the top of his lungs, banging through the door. “Penelope, where are you?”
But though he could smell the sweet scent of her skin and hair, letting him know she had been there recently, the fresher was empty.
Penelope was gone.
Chapter 115
Drace walked quietly as he made his way down the old service tunnels that ran around the outside of the VIP area of Hell’s Gate Station. He had docked by a service entrance and let himself in using some codes he’d bought a long time ago off a mech droid who worked here. He liked the perks in the VIP Lounge—he just didn’t like paying for them.
This wasn’t something he did all the time—just once in a while when he wanted to treat himself. As a smuggler, he often lived in a gray area, just outside the law which was fine with him. He felt comfortable in that gray area. He—
Just then he heard a shuffling sound up ahead. He was coming to a T shaped intersection where he needed to take a right and go down the hall in order to slip into the VIP lounge via the service entrance of the fresher, but now he paused, frowning.
Usually, at this time in the morning, there was nobody in the service corridor. The service droids and mechs had already cleaned the lounge and the freshers and they wouldn’t be coming back for another sweep until almost time for Midday Meal. So it was generally safe to come and go this early in the morning.
Except this time someone was out there and there was nowhere for Drace to hide.
He started to turn and go back the way he’d come. If anyone asked what he was doing, he could always say he’d gotten lost looking for the fresher. After all, he wasn’t actually in the VIP lounge yet so nobody could rightfully accuse him—
“Go back.”
The
