Sudden Storm [Tales of the Cidatel 21] (7 page)

She entered the burn room and created a pool of flammable chemicals and oils. Vexa stood in the centre of the pool and flicked a spark from one finger into her collection.

She pulled the heat from the blaze and fed her hunger. Her arms ached to hold Burn and feel the strength of his body wreathed in flame and heat. Since she couldn’t have him, she would have to feed her urges in other ways.

Chapter Eleven

Vexa sat at the dinner that Dr. Heshla insisted she join them for.

Dr. Argee was sullen at being pulled away from the machines currently whirring away at a cure.

Finally, Vexa broke the silence. “Burn asked me to pass along a message to you both.”

Dr. Argee looked up with narrowed eyes. “What?”

“Leera, don’t jump on her like that. What was the message, Vexaniali?” Dr. Heshla was tired, but his gaze was kind.

“He told me to tell both of you not to worry. And Dr. Heshla, he said that you were to distract Dr. Argee.”

Dr. Argee gasped and dropped her fork.

Heshla’s polite smile turned into a full grin. “You and he…”

Vexa’s blush gave her away, she was sure of it. “I am very worried about him.”

Dr. Argee got up from her chair and hauled Vexa to her feet, hugging her tight.

Vexa throttled down her panic at the sudden contact as Heshla got to his feet and enveloped her from the back, his wings creating a feathered cocoon.

She waited, and the tears in Dr. Argee’s eyes were genuine when she was finally released from the group hug. “We never thought he would find someone he could be with.”

“Well, he is sort of warm, but I enjoy it. He feeds me, and I energize him. It is a fair trade. The words were a code, weren’t they?” She finally clued in.

Heshla held her chair out for her again, tucking her back to the dinner table. “They were. He said he would only tell one woman how to handle us and that was the one that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.”

“Oh.” Vexa was suddenly the focus of direct attention. She squirmed a little in her chair.

Dr. Argee smiled, “So, how old are you?”

Dr. Heshla laughed. “Indelicate but to the point. That is my Leera.”

Vexa realized that they expected her to answer. “I can remember seventeen hundred years.”

If there was anything that could shock a Dhemon, that was it. “Really? That old?”

Vexa sipped at her tea and returned her attention to eating. She got the feeling she would need the distraction. “Really. That is what I can remember, but I have no idea how long I was in the canister before I was decanted.”

“Can you have children?” Heshla cocked his head as he returned to his meal as well.

At least grilling her had served to reawaken their appetites.

“I don’t know. I do doubt that I can carry a child, though I would not be averse to having a child carried via tank or surrogate.” She worked through her meal as her companions looked at each other, silently formulating their next question.

“Why couldn’t you carry your own child?” Argee was scientifically curious.

“My body is designed to be a conduit for power just as my sisters were. While we look female, have the structure of females, we were built to channel energy, like a power plant. Reproduction was never a concern. They could just make a copy.”

Heshla finished his meal and leaned back. “Did they?”

“I do not believe so. We were an experiment that was fascinating at the time, but they could not replicate our powers precisely in the following generation. So, I was sent to Ki after a problem in a lab, and I stayed there until your son came knocking.”

Dr. Argee was shocked. “You did not speak to another person in all that time?”

“At one point, I made companions out of stone sculpted with air and sand, but they ended up being turned into furniture.” She shrugged and finished her own meal. “I played games with the elements of Ki. Moved the water under the surface and filtered it through carbon layers. I generally enjoyed myself in any manner I could think of. Time passed fairly quickly, but I can put myself into a coma for decades if I need to.”

One of the machines running a propagation sequence chimed, and Dr. Argee launched out of her chair and into the lab on the other side of the glass doors.

Dr. Heshla followed suit, and Vexa trailed after them.

Dr. Argee’s hands were shaking as she removed the vial from the incubator.

Dr. Heshla took the sample from her and put the sample of their experimental cure onto the sample of Burn’s infected blood.

They held their breath for a moment and then sighed. Heshla blinked, “It works. It is good that the Citadel called us on this. We have gotten used to altering vaccines for Burn over the years. It requires a specific combination of enzymes and chemistry that is simple now but was hard to figure out when he was ill as a child.”

“Why doesn’t his body’s temperature fight the infection with heat?”

“It does, but this plague is not temperature sensitive. Burn is usually fairly healthy, but every now and then, something that is attracted to or stimulated by heat gets through, and then, his mother and I have to get to work. It does keep us sharp, I will give it that much.”

He had his arm around his wife, and she was leaning against him while she prepped the cure for transport. When she handed the box to Vexa with shaking hands, there were tears in her eyes. “Tell him we want a visit to prove our cure was effective.”

“I will. I will take good care of him. Trust me on this.” Vexa reached out and touched Dr. Argee’s hand. She was hugged again in a surge of dark red skin, and the Dhemon’s grip was surprisingly tight.

“Leera, let her go to him.” Dr. Heshla pulled his wife from Vexa but put a small kiss on her cheek. “Tell him to call. She worries and it is distracting as hell.”

Chuckling, Vexa returned to the shuttle where her Udell Base pilot was waiting, and they were on their way back to Burn in moments.

Vexa was at Burn’s side when he woke from his fevered state. “Your parents want you to call.”

He laughed weakly and sat up. They were in an isolation room, and the base physician was watching from the other side of the plexi.

“That is Dr. Helsin. He has been observing your progress. Congratulations. You revived a plague that was thought extinct.” She smiled brightly and tucked pillows behind his head.

“You were worried.”

She paused and went through the despair and panic she had felt when she saw him again on her return. His chalky pallor and the blistering around his mouth and nose had shocked her. Apparently, Flame had been called away on an emergency, and since Burn had been fine at the time, Flame was free to leave.

Burn had gone downhill quickly in the three days she had been gone, and his recovery had taken five more agonizing days.

“Yes, I was worried.” It was a gross understatement for her emotions over the last week.

He reached out and pulled her to him. She sighed as the familiar feel of his body relaxed her. She pushed up abruptly. “You need a bath. I can help you into the solar shower if you like.”

“If it won’t offend you, please, help me.” He got up and his nude body surprised him. “Where did my suit go?”

“It was taken from you the first day. Sorry. I had to dissolve it so we could coat you in cooling gel. The cure was working but not fast enough.” She helped him into the shower and ran the solar cycle for him.

When he was less aromatic, she walked him out through the airlock and into the medical bay proper. Dr. Helsin helped her get him onto an exam bed, and he took over running scans and checking his immune system.

Vexa tried to pay attention, but she sat in the corner and fatigue washed over her. He was safe, he was in good hands and she could rest.

* * * *

Burn was exhausted, and he was shocked when he heard the slight snore from the corner of the medical bay. Vexa was curled up in a chair, and she was snoring as she slept.

“She didn’t sleep. I asked the pilot, and my staff tells me that she didn’t sleep for eight days while she was on her mission to save you.” Dr. Helsin made notes and grinned.

“She is a good friend, a great partner and…”

“And your mate. Even your body is showing more activity in the immune system. The funny thing is that those aren’t your cells. They are her cells.”

Burn smiled, “And my mate. I wasn’t expecting to fall for an older woman.”

Dr. Helsin’s shoulders shook as he continued to scan Burn. “Well, then, you got lucky. You picked the one older woman who is going to outlive you by centuries and look younger than you the whole time.”

Burn relaxed as blood samples were drawn. “I am lucky. Very lucky. It’s weird. I have never seen her sleep before. Did she eat while I was here?”

“We delivered food, but more often than not, she didn’t touch it. Why?”

“She needs to eat. She gets hungry and consumes the elements that she controls.”

“Oh, that. Apparently, she lit herself on fire on your parents’ station, as if she knew she would need to top up. She hasn’t exhibited any signs since she got to Udell. Should we wake her and make her go out to eat?”

Burn grinned. “No. Let her sleep. I had no idea that she snored.”

The noise she was making made her vulnerable, made her mortal and swelled his love for her beyond any level he had anticipated. There was something about having a destructive force snoring gently after watching over him that caused a strange tripping in his heart.

The combination of volatility and protective impulses made Vexa his perfect woman. She may be older, but he had far more experience in the actual world and he looked forward to seeing which experiences they could combine in the future.

Vexa droned on in her sleep, and he stifled a laugh. If they were together long enough, he might be able to see a day where she slept in his arms and snored like that.

He could dream.

Author’s note

In
Guardian Enjel,
I went to Jela and explored their dating and mating rituals. In
Deal with a Dhemon
, we learned that the Dhemons are the ones with Victorian sensibilities and the mating habits of large cats.

A child of the two species is bound to be a little messed up when it comes to finding the right girl for him, so what would fit better than an ancient woman with less exposure to the worlds than a teenager.

Rain of Tears
will see the last recorded clone out and walking her world as the weather witch. She has been bringing the rains for a very long time, and the chance to do something new is definitely tempting. What else could the Citadel possibly offer?

Thanks for reading,

Viola Grace

[email protected]

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http://www.violagrace.com

About the Author

Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.

Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.

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