Blue and Alluring (2 page)

“Thank you, Specialist Ambrehar. We will get him bundled up and off to you.”

As the call disconnected, she called out, “Display detail of incoming file.”

The scrolling information indicated that the man coming to her was damaged but intact. He needed to change his face and alter his physiology a little. Nothing that would take her more than two hours. After that, a request to take him to his destination was in place.

Illuma frowned at the lack of painting time, but she got ready for her incoming guest.

The shuttle was set to fuel, the autoclaves ran and everything was ready when the zip shuttle docked with her small station.

It was time to earn the ridiculous amount of pay that she got for each alteration.

Her client was covered in a long cloak and limping heavily. Illuma debated whether to go easy on him and finally just said, “Strip.”

He paused, and the deep hood turned toward her. “I beg your pardon?”

“Strip. I need to get at all your skin for this alteration, and if you are wounded, I need to make repairs. Both events mean that your clothing is coming off.” She nodded to a changing screen. “You can find a wrap over there. There is also a refresher unit, so hang up your clothing, and it will be ready to wear when you need it again.”

She prepped her scanners while he limped into the changing area. “May I have your name, specialist?”

He cleared his throat. “I thought they sent you my file.”

“It only included what I needed to treat you, but I will be working on you for a few hours and a name is helpful for getting your attention.”

“Olwick Luring.”

She could tell by the way he said it that there was normally more to the name. She shrugged and continued her prep. It wasn’t the first solo arrival she had had, but he was being a little mysterious. Ah, well. Medicine came before paranoia.

“Pleased to meet you, Olwick. I am Illuma.”

The rustling of clothing and occasional grunt told her that he was in rougher shape than he had let on to the Citadel. She was going to have words with the healer who wrote the report. It sounded like he had two fractured ribs and neither were on the report.

When he emerged from the changing area in the wrapped gown, he paused as if waiting for her to say something.

She shrugged. “Stand in the scanner and grip the bars.”

“You got a damage report from Lowel.”

“I am pretty sure that the healer lied. Now stand there and stay still.” She pointed and scowled.

He frowned as if surprised, but he did as she said.

She really wanted to slap the crap out of the healers on Lowel. This man had been nearly beaten to death, and they had marked it down as
mild contusions.

“All done, please lie on the exam bed, and we will get you up and functioning again.”

He was stunned, and he smiled slowly. “You are not enthralled by me?”

Illuma looked him over. He was tall, extremely well built, his features were beautiful and haunting, but they were just features. “You are pretty enough, but I am hoping to fix what is below the surface.”

He chuckled. “Pretty. Very well.”

He settled on the bed and lay back while she swung the repair module over him.

“This is going to add to the repair time, and I am going to have to recalculate our trajectory, but I am going to get you there in one piece.”

As she worked, she pieced together his attackers. He had been kicked, punched, clawed a few times and the marks of sexual activity combined with the scan of his pheromone glands gave her the answer she was looking for.

His personal life was his business.

“Is there any reason you are travelling to Breethin?” She looked forward to spending some time with her mother if she could arrange a visit.

“My sister is getting married, and I need to be there to act as honour guard.”

She nodded. Her people required two male guards from the bride’s family, if possible, to walk the bride on a five-kilometre hike to the wedding. If she was waylaid by anyone, her dowry was forfeit.

It had originally been a show of force toward the new husband, but it had turned into an opportunity to show off wealth and style. The chance to parade the unmarried males in front of a crowd of appreciative women wasn’t lost on her either.

It took her an hour to fix all of the bruises and cracks under his skin. When it came to the change of features, she cocked her head.

“Why do you want to look like another Breethin?”

He cleared his throat. “If you check my records, I had my features altered when I left Breethin. I just want them returned to normal.”

She looked at his exit documents and his features when he left Breethin. “Right. Give me a moment to create a pattern for you.”

Illuma went to her terminal, and she brought up the Luring family. The image of Olwick Luring matched the face on her table. The younger man next to him was Deenar Luring. He wanted a reset back to Deenar.

She nodded and walked to the table, making the adjustments and working with the hair colour. “The unit will sedate you. Try and relax.”

He nodded, and the spray hissed out, knocking him unconscious.

She went to the other side of the lab and settled behind her sound screen in her office, making a few calls. She needed to find out why he was here and what the hell was going on.

Ostensibly, she was preserving his privacy, but truthfully, she was delving into why he was on her table.

While she called Citadel Lowel, only to find that they didn’t have any record of the man in her lab, she located the files that showed his transit. He was a charmer. No wonder no one had a recollection of him. He simply replaced his presence with a sensation in their limbic system.

Fortunately, when Illuma went looking for someone like him, she didn’t look for people, she looked for charges to food systems and extra weight on shuttles. He was powerful if he had gotten into a Citadel via a Sector Guard station. Maybe he came in on one of the lecture groups from the guest station that serviced Lowel. That would make more sense.

By the time he had been reset to his genetic standards, she had an excellent idea of where he had been and why he had been beaten.

She was dealing with a charmer who had a taste for other men’s wives.

She was comfortably seated next to his bed when he woke. She sipped at her tea and watched as he pulled the mirror over to look at his face.

“Is that satisfactory?”

He touched his jaw gingerly and frowned. “Was my jaw this big before?”

“It was. You will be sore for a few days. The grafting to reset your appearance to genetic specifications is still setting up, but we have a launch window to Breethin, and I suggest you get dressed so we can be on our way.”

He reached out and gripped her arm. “I want you to forget you ever saw me.”

Illuma cocked her head and smirked. “I thought you might say that.”

She picked up the hypospray and knocked him out before he could say or do anything else. He was going home one way or another. The authorities on Breethin were waiting for him, and she wanted to visit home for a few days.

Illuma picked him up and hauled him to her shuttle, strapping him in for his trip to their home world. The clothing that he had brought with him was stored in a chest after she scanned it for technology. There wasn’t any tech, but there was a lot of counterfeit currency.

Deenar was not a good man.

Twenty-seven hours and three jumps later, she keyed in her access code and set down on Breethin.

Her passenger was shouting invectives and demanding to be let go.

She had tried to tell him that she had made a few adjustments to his body so when the doors opened he wouldn’t be able to charm the guards. He had spit in her face, so she didn’t bother making any additional conversational gambits.

Illuma wrapped him in mist and unbuckled the restraints. When he tried to lunge upward, she held him tight and force-walked him to the hatch.

He hissed and struggled, but she shoved him forward. The spaceport security was waiting for him, and they took him off her hands.

She signed him over and briefed them on the temporary damage that she had done to his pheromone glands. When his body fixed them, he would be back where he started with the ability to charm those within range of scent or touch.

Illuma handed over his clothing and the faulty currency. It was logged, and a copy of the report was sent to Illuma’s tablet.

“If that is all, base commander, I would like to visit some family.”

“Enjoy your time here, Mistress Ambrehar.” He inclined his head.

She got her bag from the shuttle, sealed it and headed to the arrival’s hall. Her father was waiting for her with his arms open wide.

The hug brought tears to her eyes. She had missed him.

Arm in arm, they walked to the vehicle he had waiting. He tucked her into her seat, put her luggage in the storage area and slid into the seat next to hers. With a deep sigh, he took her hand. “Take us to the hollow.”

They took off and she sat back; there was nothing like being home again.

The tumbling mists roiled toward her, and she ran into it, her mind wide open.

Illuma, you have grown so.

Mother, I am the same size I was when I left.

I am referring to your soul. You have seen more, felt more. You are a woman now, child. I am so proud of you.

Illuma took a deep mental breath.
Mother, if you could walk solid again, would you?

A chance to be with your father again? Of course.

Then, keep your mind open and follow the current that I give you.

I will follow your lead, child.
There was excitement in Lumina’s thoughts.

Illuma leaned back and sent a micro layer of her mist out and coalesced it into the shape of her mother. She worked while her father watched and hoped.

Illuma had mentioned the possibility to her father in the vehicle, and he had agreed with alacrity. He had never stopped loving his wife, even though the courts offered him a complete nullification of his marriage to allow him a chance at an heir.

He had refused.

Now, he waited to see what his daughter could do with her new skills.

Illuma was determined not to disappoint him.

She gave her mother the directions and held the body for her as a compression unit. Lumina had expanded so much that she wouldn’t be completely contained, but it would be a start for her to be able to touch her family again.

Illuma worked to gather her mother up, and when she was finally able to look out through her normal vision, she saw a familiar face.

Her mother patted her body and face, confirming that she was solid again. When she had confirmed that she was standing on two feet in the hollow, Lumina opened her arms to her daughter.

“Well done, pet. Very well done.”

Her father came up behind them and took Illuma’s place in her mother’s arms.

Both of her parents were crying as they clung to each other, and she smiled from the heart for the first time. Her father removed his shirt and draped it over his wife. Together, they left the hollow and the tears continued to flow. The Ambrehar family was complete once again.

Her parents disappeared in their chambers for a day, and when they emerged, they clung to each other like newlyweds.

“Illuma, I was going to ask you if you wanted to accompany me to the Loring-Bascomb wedding tomorrow.” Her father kissed her mother’s hand before he looked over at Illuma.

“Won’t you be going with mother?”

“Of course, but the invitation was for our entire family. You have come to visit, and so we should spend time together, but I would love to take you and your mother to the event.”

The subtext was that he wanted to show them off. Illuma nodded. “I am more than willing to do that.”

“Do you have a gown?”

Illuma nodded again. “I can manage something. The Citadel has been very helpful.”

Lumina smiled. “You did an excellent job. I fit into all my clothes. My wardrobe is still intact.”

“I tried my best based on old vids of you and Dad together. I went from his height, my height and extrapolated your height and the shape of your body.”

Her mother sent a tendril of mist coiling through the air and stroked her cheek. “You learned well.”

“Thank you. Your body is the combination of nineteen different techniques that I have worked on over the last few years.”

They discussed Illuma’s job and the specialists she worked with. She talked about the couple she just had to rescue using her mist form. When she left them, they were still murmuring to each other in one of the comfortable chairs in the family room.

Illuma needed to find herself a gown, so she was going to do some research into what was currently trendy on Breethin. She had never been a slave to fashion, but if she was representing family, she wanted to look her best.

When she had decided on a dress pattern, she went to bed and set her alarm for dawn. Breethin weddings started early so that the walk to the ceremonial hall could take as long as it needed to.

She had locked up one of the Loring men. She really hoped that the bride had an alternate.

Yevika Loring had a frightened expression on her face.

Illuma stood with the crowd outside the Loring house and felt her heart sink at the panic in the young lady’s expression. Her older brother looked as if he could do the job of protector on his own, but it was breaking with tradition.

Illuma took a deep breath and broke with tradition herself.

She worked her way out of the crowd and strode to the Lorings.

She bowed low to the lady and her brother. “Miss Luring, Lord Luring, I am Illuma Ambrehar. Sadly, I arrested your brother, but I am a trained combat specialist, and I am offering myself as your second.”

“In what capacity did you arrest him?” Olwick Luring asked the question.

“As a Citadel Specialist. He used his skills to gain access to my station via illegal means. The trail of disaster and fraud is metres long.”