Wind Demon Triology: Book II: Evil Wind (38 page)

"Aye, but Caitlin, Khiershon's lady, doesn't want us to transport you down to Terra until she removes the M-Rs in your brain. She doesn't want to take the risk so she's got an operatory set up for that.” He scratched his chin. “We'll contact Beryla as soon as we're in orbit behind the moon. We will transport her, Amala, Aurora, Tina, and Ivonne up to help Caitlin. I don't think Dorrie needs to be in on it, do you?"

Cree shook his head and wished he hadn't. The action increased his nausea. “No, I don't want her or Bridie there when the procedure is done."

"Might be hard to keep her from knowing,” Tylan said, “but I'll see what I can do."

"I don't want Bridie here, Tylan. If something goes wrong...."

"Nothing is going to go wrong,” Kahn stated emphatically. “LeJong Kym sent along your medical files which include the biomapping of the implants. She also sent the instruments that will be needed to remove those implants. Nothing—I repeat nothing—is going to go wrong."

"We have much to bless LeJong for,” Cree said.

Tylan expelled a long breath, gaining Cree's undivided attention.

"There's something else?” the Reaper asked.

"We received a transmission from Kym just as we cleared the wormhole. It was meant for your eyes only and was transferred from our main computer to a disklette. The message is encoded but she says you will know the correct password to access it. She stressed that you must view the disklette before you return to Terra. She said it was imperative that you do so."

"Then let me see it,” Cree said.

"You can do that after the implants are...."

"Let me see it now, Tylan,” Cree interrupted. “If there is something that might cause harm to Bridget or my son, I want to know about it now."

"Cree...."

"Let me see it."

The two men stared at one another for a long moment then Tylan nodded. He reached into the pocket of his trousers and took out the disk. “I knew you'd get stubborn about it so I brought it along.” He looked around at the computer console and went over to drop the disklette into the slot. “Want me to stay?"

"No,” Cree said. If there was something bad coming, he didn't want an audience to watch him come apart.

"You sure?"

"Aye.” He eased off the bed of the E.S.U. and wavered, putting a hand to the pain eating away at his brain.

Tylan quickly took his arm and helped him to the chair in front of the computer. “I want to go on record that I don't think this is a good idea right now."

"So noted, Admiral,” Cree said as he sat down, heaving a sigh.

Tylan stood there a moment then shrugged. “Holler if you need me,” he said as he headed for the door.

"I'm in no condition to holler, Kahn,” Cree replied.

Once the door to his quarters was closed, the Prime Reaper put his hand on the mouse and clicked through the programs until he found the one that would read the disklette. He typed in the word Ruesello then slumped in the chair as the computer screen switched from complete black to the unsmiling face of the new Prophetess-Mother.

"This can't be good if you look so grim, LeJong,” he said softly but almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the woman on the screen smiled gently.

"Hello, Kamerone,” she said. “If you are viewing this, it means you have reached your destination and for that I am thankful. As much as I will miss you, I am happy that you will be with your lady soon."

Cree felt those words to the very depths of his heart.

"And since you are viewing this, it also means the pathway into my part of the megaverse has been closed. The wormhole has been collapsed and there will be no way for any of your enemies to come after you ever again."

That news brought relief to the Prime Reaper.

"There was so much I wanted to say to you while you were here,” Kym said, “but we never had the time. Perhaps that was good for the longer you stayed on my world, the harder it would have been for me to let you leave."

He sensed a deep sadness in the Chrystallusian woman and did not need to hear her say the words to know she loved him deeply and perhaps always would. He felt a modicum of guilt that softened his facial expression.

"Well, that is beside the issue at hand. There are more important things to be discussed than the ill-fated feelings of a silly woman. I must tell you about the Transference,” she said, her smile disappearing. “You need to have this information before you and Bridget are together again."

Fear shivered down Cree's spine.

"You know now the Morrígú curse was a lie, a cover up for what Jarl and Sejm did to your mother and her sisters, for having infected those women with the parasite as soon as they conceived. You know that you and the bloodkin you have safely with you on that StarRaider were biogenetically engineered. That is something you can never change. You are what you are and you have been since birth."

Cree ran his hands down the pant legs of his jumpsuit, realizing he was trembling more from what might be revealed than the agony ripping at him.

"Aye, my Reaper,” Kym said. “You are what you are but such is not the case with Jaelin."

Though the pain was singeing a hole through his temples, Cree sat up straighter, instinctively knowing the Prophetess-Mother was about to say something that could totally destroy him.

"As you well know the sperm with which you impregnated Bridget was rife with Reaper spore. All Reaper sperm is so infected but none of it—not one single swimmer as the Terran's call them—contains even one fledgling.” She smiled. “You can not make a Reaper from sperm, Kamerone. You make a Reaper with a fledgling and unless you perform Transference upon your son, Jaelin, he will never be a Reaper."

Cree's eyes widened.

"He will surely have your speed and agility, your strength, and intelligence for those things are part of your genetic makeup that he will have inherited. He will look like you, but he will not
be
like you."

Putting a shaky hand to his lips, Cree felt the tears easing down his cheeks.

"Be happy, my sweet Reaper,” Kym said. “Be happy and be safe.” Her lips trembled. “May the Wind be always at your back, Kamerone Cree."

Then the computer screen went black again.

He sat there for the longest time absorbing the information Kym had given him. He couldn't move and he no longer felt the pain tearing at his temples. Unaware that small streams of black blood were trickling from his ears, dripping over the hand he had pressed over his mouth, he stared unseeingly at the blank computer screen. When the door to his quarters shushed open, he didn't even notice.

"Cree?” Tylan asked gently. Getting no answer, he went to stand behind the Prime Reaper. “Are you all right?"

"No,” Cree said and started to slump forward.

Tylan moved quickly and grabbed his friend, pulling him back. He looked down, saw the blood, and shouted for help.

Sitting behind her desk pouring over the quarterly reports Beryla whooped when the small transmitting device she wore as a charm on the gold bracelet on her right arm chimed. She rushed for her pocketbook in the drawer next to her desk and jerked it open, fumbling for the vid-com receiver that looked like an old-fashioned cell phone. She punched her personal code in and nearly melted when she saw her husband's face on the screen.

"Lares!” she cried. “You're home!"

"Indeed I am, wench,” Taborn agreed. “You are needed on our ship."

The happiness flitting through Beryla diminished a bit. “What's wrong? Who's hurt?” Her hand tightened on the vid-com receiver. “Oh, Lares! Is he with you? Is he all right? Is he...?"

"We accomplished what we set out to do, woman, and he is, indeed, with us, but he is very ill. He needs you and your team as quickly as possible.” His dark eyes narrowed. “Where is his lady?"

Beryla nearly groaned. “Oh, my god!” she said. “She is in the hills of South Dakota. She and Jaelin..."

"That is the best news I've heard lately,” Lares cut her off. “I have no idea where those hills are but Bridget is not to know her man is home yet. Do you understand?"

Another portion of Beryla's happiness slipped away. “Why? How badly is he hurt?"

He ignored her questions. “We are reading your signals as being all close together. I do not know how that can be but I am grateful for it beyond measure. Gather your team in one central location then activate the vid-com,” her husband said. “We will bring you up."

"Do I need to bring...?” Before she could ask anything else Lares was gone.

She stood there for a moment longer—too stunned to react—then sprang into action, punching in the extension numbers for Aurora, Amala, Tina, and Ivonne.

Twenty minutes later, Caitlin was standing in the transporter room of the Ailith waiting for Dr. Dean and her assistants to materialize. As soon as they did, she rushed forward—recognizing Dr. Dean from her husband's description—and put out a hand. “Beryla? I'm Caitlin. Everything is ready for us in sick bay."

Beryla shook Caitlin's hand quickly then released it. “How is he?"

"Several of the neurotransmitter implants have migrated and begun pressing on the cranial nerves. Number three in the frontal cortex is nowhere near its original position according to the biomaps. Because of that migration, his migraines have been extremely severe,” she said as she led Beryla and the other four women to the elevator. She punched the button to bring it back down to them then turned to give Beryla a steady look. “I have his original biomaps from when the M-Rs were implanted and I've taken new magnetic resonances to map where they are now. A second implant in the frontal lobe has shifted and Cree is also experiencing quadriparesis, weakness in all four limbs.

"I know what quadriparesis is, Caitlin,” Beryla said as the elevator doors opened and the six of them entered the cage.

"I'm sorry,” Caitlin said. “I know you do. It's just that when I saw the mess those bastards had made of his brain...."

"I know,” Beryla said and laid a hand on Caitlin's arm. “Much to my unpardonable shame I was one of those bastards."

"Aye, but you didn't put those fucking implants in his head,” Tina declared.

The elevator stopped and the doors slid back. Caitlin exited ahead of the other women and turned left toward the operatory where Cree was being prepped.

"There are lesions in the occipital lobe,” Caitlin said.

"Any bleeding associated with those?” Beryla asked.

Caitlin nodded. “Aye and he's had a couple of resulting seizures.” She stopped at the entrance to the operating suite and turned to give Beryla a hard look. “From what Dorrie tells me...."

"She's here, too?” Aurora asked. “Is she okay?"

"Aye,” Caitlin said with a wave of her hand. “From what she tells me, when you had him in the Be-Mod unit, you were very careful not to touch the implants."

"We certainly were careful not to dislodge them although we were assured that was highly unlikely,” Beryla said.

"Did you know what material composed those implants?"

"I know they were platinum wires inside thick glass tubes,” Beryla said. “We were told they could deactivate, but that it would be dangerous to try to remove them. Obviously that is a risk we must take. Why do you ask?"

"Khiershon, Cree's eldest son, is my mate. He questioned me as to why the parasite wasn't healing his father as it should. I explained that the parasite has no way to either destroy or disable the implants because of the material from which they were made. Apparently Dr. Jarl took that into consideration before inserting the implants."

"That man's name makes by blood boil,” Ivonne said with a hiss.

"Kam once remarked to me that Lord Tray Onar had used some kind of probe on him to manipulate the number three receptor,” Beryla remarked.

"For what purpose?” Caitlin asked.

"To torture him,” Beryla answered. “He did a number on Kam before our menfolk were able to get him out the hands of the Multitude."

"That's more than likely when the probes began to shift,” Ivonne commented. “Onar wouldn't have taken any care in how he moved the implants since Cree was to be executed."

"It's a wonder one of the implants didn't shatter,” Aurora said.

"I imagine its damned strong glass and glass is the one substance the parasite can't dissolve with its acid,” Beryla stated. “Once we remove the implants, it can set about healing the lesions and whatever it needs to do to make Cree healthy again."

"It is the parasite continually healing the lesions that are already forming that has aggravated the situation. The more the parasite moves around the area infected by the implant's migration, the more pain it inadvertently causes,” Caitlin said. “Thankfully Khiershon was able to explain that to his father so Cree could communicate with his revenant queen and ask her to allow us to do our job."

"Otherwise, she would have been attacking the instruments we will use to extract the implants,” Beryla said. “That had not occurred to me."

"Thankfully it occurred to Khiershon,” Caitlin said and opened the door for Beryla and her team to precede her into the operating suite. She quickly introduced Barb Fuller, Lisa Mahon, and four other MedTech from the
Orion
. “Go on and scrub up. I need to speak to my mate before we begin."

Beryla nodded, motioning her team to begin the sterilization process. “So we have another Reaper on board."

"Khiershon is Kam's eldest, eh?” Amala asked.

"I guess he is,” Tina answered.

"Wonder if he looks anything like his bloodsire,” Aurora put in as she put on the surgical scrubs Barb held out to her.

"They could be brothers instead of father and son,” Lisa told the women. “The Prime Reaper's youngest looks just like him, too."

Beryla blinked. “There is a third Reaper on board?” she asked.

Lisa grinned. “Ma'am, including Kamerone Cree, there are thirteen of them on board,” she replied.

"What?” Beryla gasped.

Lisa nodded. “Five are sons of Cree's and another one who was given one of the Prime Reaper's fledglings in Rysalia Prime is a female."

"A female?” Aurora exclaimed.

"And here we thought Bridie was the only Reaper female,” Ivonne said with a whistle.