Candidate (Selected Book 4) (39 page)

She had tufted ears and hair similar to that of a fox, but it was in irregular stripes of purple and green mixed with a little grey and a little white. It began just above her eyes, very fine, then grew longer as it reached the top of her head and resembled a horse's mane by the time it reached the back of her neck. She wore a vest of some sort of material, I wasn't sure what, and I would learn later it was backless. Her fur extended all the way down her back and the backs of her arms and hands, growing finer, but the undersides of her arms, her front, and the fronts of her legs were bare and smooth. The vest covered quite a bit of the furless region of her torso, ending just below her hips.

I decided she was beautiful.

She stepped up to me and spoke careful English. "You ignored me before."

"I am sorry. I didn't think anyone wanted to talk to me, so I turned off the light and sound and tried to work. I'm very sorry."

"You are a mating candidate. What work do you have except to become a mate?"

"I am helping Jasmine Brighteyes."

"Why?"

"I made certain agreements with her. In exchange, I asked for a job and demanded to be paid what I used to make in my old job."

"Demanded, did you?"

"Yes."

She cocked her head then moved around me, looking at me from different angles. "You are older than the other human women here."

"Yes. I am 34. The rest are in their 20s, as best I can tell."

"Older. More mature."

"In theory."

She cocked her head the other way.

"You are imprisoned until someone releases you."

"Yes, it appears I am. Are you to free me, or will you walk away like Periwinkle Moon did?"

Her head cocked further. "Now I understand why you darkened your visor. You were angry."

"I was frustrated and thought Jasmine Brighteyes was teasing me. I decided not to let it make me any more frustrated by distracting myself. I thought she intended to let me be teased all night long. I'm still not sure that isn't the case."

"You are easily frustrated."

"I have been locked like this for quite some time. Judging by how much my feet hurt and how stiff I'm becoming from being unable to move, I guess it's been at least an hour, maybe even two. I didn't care for the joke after what I've been doing to try to help everyone. I especially didn't appreciate having Periwinkle come over and ask me to introduce her to another woman, then walk away, leaving me here."

The head cocked back the other way. "Jasmine Brighteyes suggested you would be charming. You are not being charming."

I closed my eyes tightly, took several breaths, and then opened them again. She was still there. "You're right. I'm being honest. I need the opportunity to calm down before I can achieve charming."

"You were charming in the swimming area. You were pleasant and made jokes, although not everyone understood them."

"I didn't see you there. I can't imagine missing you. You are quite distinctive in appearance."

"I was not." She gestured. "We talk."

"Ah, of course. My name is Andromeda Hayes, but you probably know that. I am human, but you clearly know that. Will you introduce yourself?"

Her head cocked the other way. "I do not like you. We would not fit."

And without another word, she turned and stepped away. I stared after her. She left me here. She knew someone had to let me go, and she knew I was suffering, but she left me here. What a bitch!

I closed my eyes and turned the music back on.

It was three songs later before the visor pinged again. I was seriously tempted to ignore whoever it was, but I sighed and opened my eyes. Jasmine was standing there. She looked angry.

"I tried," I said. "Administrator Brighteyes, I would like to be returned to my cell. My body hurts and I find it exceedingly unlikely I'm going to be charming to anyone. So bitch at me if you want to. I don't care. But this is your fault and not mine."

Then I closed my eyes. Nothing happened. Jasmine said nothing, and the wall didn't release me. I stood there saying not another word, but then I felt furry hands on both arms, and then the wall released me. I would have collapsed, but the people on either side supported me. I opened my eyes and saw Soft Rain on one side, the other Wookie on the other. Jasmine was in front of me, and I swear, steam was exiting her ears. And her tentacles weren't still, either.

She turned and began walking away. And then the Wookies began pulling me after her.

Great. Just great.

But my visor didn't dim, and absolutely everyone got out of our way. One pissed off Catseye and two Wookies would probably scare me off, too.

We left the ballroom and traveled down the hallway for a while before Jasmine stepped into another room. The Wookies brought me to follow her, and then Jasmine pointed to a chair. "Put her there and return to the party."

They set me into the chair without a word then exited quietly. Soft Rain never said a word to me.

Jasmine paced around, her tentacles wild.

"I tried," I said. "But I hurt, Administrator, and so I turned professional and honest. But she arrived ready to hate me and it got worse from there. Apparently she felt cute and charming were important and didn't care for honesty."

She turned to me. "I'm angry, but not about that. Please be quiet." And then she changed languages and began yelling. Not at me, though. She turned away and began yelling, loudly. She paced back and forth, yelling, her tentacles wild.

"Tell me what I did," I inserted during a lull.

She spun and held up a hand, then spun back around, pacing some more and yelling. Then she shifted languages and did it some more, then another shift, and some more. Finally she slumped, but I could see her panting.

"Andromeda, I'm sorry."

"For your joke."

"No. Something else. I made a promise to you and someone else broke it." She spun around. "Someone betrayed me! You gave them a gift, and they betrayed you. I am so angry, I don't know what to say."

I stood up, wincing a little, crossed the space to her, and pulled her into my arms. She stiffened but then wrapped around me. She didn't offer a tentacle to kiss, and she failed at finding open skin, so I pulled away, stripped off the kimono, and stepped back into her.

She grabbed me, her tentacles moving nearly wildly, and then she sucked, and this time I knew she was marking me. She sucked and squeezed, sucked and squeezed.

"You're going to have to stop me," she whispered. "I can't."

"You'll calm down eventually," I said. Then I pulled her more tightly to me, leaning my head against the side of hers. I kissed the ear and stroked her back.

What she did hurt, at least some of the time, but I let her hold me. Then she finally pushed away but she spun me around. And then she began muttering in, I presume, Catseye.

"You're bleeding," she said. "I hurt you, Andromeda."

"How bad is it?"

"Just a little oozing."

I turned around, which she tried to stop, but I turned to face her, collecting a couple of her tentacles and draping them across my arms, setting my hands on her hips.

"Tell me what happened."

"There's video."

"From?"

"You in the pool."

"This afternoon?"

"This morning."

"You didn't do it."

"No. I didn't do it. I told everyone 'no video'. I was clear. I did it in every language necessary. I turned all the cameras off. No one I've talked to admits to recording, not even local storage. I wasn't recording."

"So? It's out there."

"Dark Skies is analyzing the video, but whoever did it covered her tracks. There's video of you and a few others, but not enough to eliminate more than three people I wouldn't have suspected anyway."

"All right, I'm not happy, but it's done. It's not any worse than the video you took of me."

"I lied."

"What?"

"Okay, I took video but I didn't post it. I lied."

I took a couple of breaths. "All right. Fine. So there's video. Why would someone do this?"

"To flaunt to everyone she could disobey me."

"So, she posted it to traitorous.wild.bitches.dot.e.t.?"

"Something like that. If we had other video, any at all, we could cross check against hers and figure out who it is."

"Does it matter?"

"Damned right it matters. I'm not giving one of my girls to some bitch!"

I smiled at that. "So, remember how we took care of the women this morning. We went from cell to cell."

"Right."

And then I had breakfast."

"Right."

"And then I went swimming."

"Right."

"And do you remember the part where you told me to record all my interactions with the women?"

"Andromeda?" Her tentacles began to quiver. "Close your eyes or you're about to get really sick."

I slammed them shut, but I could see light flashing across my eyes. Then she was screaming. "Dark Skies! Access Andromeda's visor. She has video. She has video! We're on our way."

She grabbed my arm. "Keep your eyes closed. Try to keep up." Then she was pulling me, and we half ran. I didn't know where, I just went where she tugged me, first by the arm, then by a lot of tentacles across my back. And there was light flashing in front of my eyes for a while, then I heard Dark Skies say, "I got it, Andromeda."

I opened my eyes just as we came to a door, opening as we approached. It was Control Room A. Dark Skies and Clover were both there, each staring into space, mumbling to themselves.

"There," Dark Skies said in English. "Her."

"What was a female Implac doing there?" Clover asked.

"Show me," I said.

"That screen," Dark Skies said, pointing. I moved to the screen, and then she put up two videos, side-by-side.  "Watch." They were in slow speed. One was of me. One was from my eyes. I was talking to Cherish, but then I turned my head. The screen froze.

"There," said Dark Skies. "Right there."

"What?"

"Look," said Dark Skies. "Cherish just put her hand on your arm. You can see the motion from your video. And look at the other video." Cherish's hand was just about to settle onto my arm. "And you're looking almost straight into the video."

"Not quite," I said.

"Which is why it's the Implac. The angle is off to be the Catseye, and Hobbles can't record like this. It's the Implac."

Jasmine moved to the screen. "Look for more."

"I've got one," said Clover. "Dark Skies, check it, 97 seconds later."

The video on my screen fast forwarded, almost making me sick, and then I was staring straight into the camera again, and this time, the woman from earlier was the only one in frame.

"Are we sure on the timing?"

"I went 97 seconds forward on both videos. We can get a sync from Cherish's hand. Andie is looking right at her."

"I remember. She never said a word, and she stood off a little bit, like she was afraid of me, but later she tried to get real close, and I actually had to swat her away. She was getting
really
personal."

"Scanning," said Dark Skies.

"Oh, just fuck me," I said, staring at the screen. "Just fuck me and let me die."

Jasmine stepped up beside me. She slipped tentacles and an arm around me. The video was a good shot right between my legs, and then my video showed me turning around and chastising the Implac.

"I'm very sorry, Andromeda. I'm very, very sorry. This is my fault. She wouldn't have dared if she didn't know the cameras were all off."

"Turn it off," I said quietly. "Administrator Brighteyes, that's an Implac?"

"The females are small, about the size of a human. But still bigger than you, Andromeda."

"Dark Skies, I need you."

She stepped over immediately. I shrugged Jasmine off then pulled Dark Skies into a hug. "Just a little," I whispered. "Enough to put me into a good mood. Enough to make me kiss everyone in the room, but let it wear off."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Then I buried my nose against her.

God, she smelled good.

It took a minute or two as we hugged each other. Then she said gently, "Kiss me, Andie."

I pulled my face away, cupped her cheek, and gave her a slow, lingering kiss. It was sweet. And then I pulled away and smiled.

"Are you sure?" she asked again. I nodded. "Andie, walk over and kiss one of Clover's tentacles."

Clover's tentacles hadn't been out before, but she was able to offer one by the time I got to her. I took it carefully, caressed it with one finger, then began kissing from the thick part up to the tip. She let me, and then she caressed my lips and slid it into my mouth. I held onto it, caressing it, sucking on it, and she teased my tongue. I stared into her eyes the entire time.