Queen of Hearts Read online

  A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

  Michael-Scott Earle

  Chapter 1

  “No…” It was the only word that could escape my mouth after my sister shifted in front of me.

  “Yessss,” she growled as she stepped toward me. In her human form, she’d been a lot shorter than me, but her tiger-woman shape was five or so centimeters taller than my human height. “Calvin saved me. He saved you as well. What have you done with him?”

  “He’s on my ship,” I replied as my back pressed against the door of her room. I hadn’t realized I stepped away from her, but my mind was spinning, and my stomach felt like it was still dropping.

  “Let him go,” she said. “He’s done nothing to me--”

  “He’s done plenty to me,” I said as I regained my senses. “He has you confused. You are human. He just--”

  “Remember how sick I was?” she interrupted me. “It was my different types of DNA rejecting each other.”

  “Then how come I wasn’t sick? What about Mom?”

  “Calvin thinks I have more human in me than you do,” she answered.

  “Hanekawa, this is insane. The man is a liar. He shoved his needles into you and injected the monster into you. Then he told you it was already there. I’ll--”

  “No!” she shouted as her fist slammed into the door next to me. She had moved fast, but I saw the punch coming and wasn’t surprised. The door opened and my sister’s eyes moved beyond me so that she could see Madalena and Eve.

  “Did you two know about this?” I asked them without turning.

  “Yes, Adam,” Eve said. “She asked us not to speak of it with you until she could talk to you.”

  “I like your wives, Brother,” Hanekawa said. “But we are not done talking.”

  “We will be out in the hallway,” Madalena said, but I raised my hand.

  “I want you both to be here,” I said. “As well as Zea. Get her now.”

  “This is between us,” Hanekawa hissed. “And your misunderstanding of your situation.”

  “No,” I said as I heard Madalena call for Zea over our transponders. “We are going around in--”

  “I could change ever since I could remember!” she snarled. “I never told you, or Mom. I just tried to fight it. It was killing me. I was too scared to tell you. I didn’t want you to think I was a freak. When you quit the Marines and started working for the yakuza to pay for my doctors, I thought about just killing myself. I didn’t want you to join them, but I was too much of a coward.” She turned around and stepped toward the corner of her room where her bed was.

  “Fuck,” I hissed as I wiped my fingers over my face. This didn’t make any sense. “When did it start?”

  “When you joined the Jupiter Marines,” she answered. “I was fourteen Earth years. Around puberty.”

  “But you got better when you went to the doctors,” I said.

  “They couldn’t figure it out. They just thought I had a genetic disorder. They pumped me full of steroids and I did seem to feel better. The treatments were expensive though, and you were in jail.”

  “The yakuza were supposed to take care of you,” I said. “That was why I took all the heat.”

  “They did for a while,” she said. “But after a few months or so, their payments quartered. They said you had been transferred out of prison, and they said it was no longer their honor debt.”

  “Fuck,” I growled as I fought against my shift. Those assholes swore they would take care of my family for the rest of their lives. They knew my sister needed the treatments, and I’d agreed to take the fall for the robbery with the understanding that they would keep up their end.

  “It’s not your fault,” she said as she turned around. I still couldn’t get over her tiger-face and furry body, so I had to look away for a half second.

  “It is,” I said. “I trusted them. I shouldn’t have.”

  “You did the best you could,” she said. “Just like Calvin is. He’s trying to save the galaxy. You need to talk to him about--”

  “Wait,” I said. “I don’t want to talk to him yet. Tell me what happened after the yakuza stopped bringing the money.”

  “They brought some,” Hanekawa said. “It was just a quarter of the payments we expected every month. It was enough to cover rent but little else. Mom was working though so we could afford food. But the drugs were too expensive, so I had to stop taking them.”

  “Then what happened?” I asked as I saw Zea step into the hallway

  “I started getting sick again,” my sister said as she blinked her cat eyes. “Then Calvin came and said that he could fix me. Then he did.”

  “Wait. You said the yakuza stopped with the payments a year after I was sent to prison? When did Calvin Yu show up to help fix you?” I tried to keep the sarcasm from my words when I said “help fix you,” since I didn’t want to anger her with my question.

  “A few weeks,” she said. “I’d thought about committing suicide. Maybe I should have done that from the start, but then Mom would have been alone.”

  “Damn it,” I growled as the math fell into place in my mind. Yu hadn’t come back for my sister. He didn’t experiment on me and learn it worked before looking for her.

  He’d grabbed her around the same time he bought me from the prison. She might have even been on the same ship that took me from Ganymede.

  “Then what?” I asked. “How did he help you?”

  “Therapy,” she said with a shrug. “The stuff he said he did with you. I asked to see you, but he said you were busy saving the world. You should hear the way he speaks of you, brother. Calvin respects you tremendously.”

  “What about Mom?” I changed the subject so I wouldn’t have to yell at her again.

  “Yu told me he gave her a bunch of money, but he couldn’t bring her along. He has a mission. He told me it is dangerous, but he needs both of our help to save the galaxy.”

  The tone of her words made the anger twist in my stomach. I wanted to ask her a thousand other questions, but the most obvious came to my mind first. I already guessed the answer, but I said it anyway.

  “It sounds like you love him.”

  “I do, Brother,” she said. “He is an amazing man. He treats me like a queen and loves me--”

  “Stop,” I hissed. “He’s a piece of shit that needs to be ripped into p--”

  Adam, you will just anger her. Leave the subject alone for now. She has no idea what you have been through.

  “You don’t know him!” Hanekawa’s lips came up and I could see the twin rows of tiger teeth. “He saved me while you were in prison, and he’s cared for me when you weren’t around.”

  “Fine.” I forced the word out even though I wanted to put my fist through the wall of her room. “How long can you stay in this form?” I gestured to her body.

  “As long as I want,” she said. “But the longest has been four hours. I still feel more comfortable in my human shape, but Calvin said that might change one day.”

  “Four hours?” I gasped. “Do you feel angry? Does your strength--”

  “Anger? Why would I be angry? This is my natural form. This is who I was meant to be. I just need to learn how to stay there longer. Not understanding what I was made me sick. I was so angry all the time and I felt like I wasn’t in control. Well, that was how I used to feel, now I can be human, and my mind is at ease. I understand who I am now. Do you? You don’t even use your name anymore.”

  “Adam is my name,” I said. “Your boyfriend gave it to me, and it fits my life now.”

  “Calvin helped you,” she said as her fur started to shift. “You know he did, that’s why you’ve kept the name.”

  For half a moment, it looked like a breeze had blown across
her body, but then the hair sunk into her skin and her body began to shrink. She was shifting back into a human, and the transformation seemed quick and painless. I almost couldn’t track all the individual parts of her body that changed, since it happened so fast, but it seemed only a handful of seconds had passed. Then she was standing before me as I always remembered her.

  Except that her brown eyes were now the same yellow-gold color as mine.

  We stared at each other for a few moments while I searched for something to say. I had thought both my mother and sister were safe on Ganymede, but now I knew that wasn’t quite the case. Both my sister and I were here, and the yakuza had gone back on their word.

  “Did you ask Calvin to get Mom?” I asked.

  “He said she was safer on Ganymede,” she said with a shrug. “He gave her money. He--”

  “She’s alone,” I sighed. I didn’t want to get mad at my sister since it seemed like she’d been brainwashed by Yu, so I would need to step around the subject carefully.

  I will help you, my love.

  “Do you have a ship?” Hanekawa asked. “How far are we from Jupiter? We should go get her. I’m sure Mom will want to meet your… friends.” Hanekawa looked behind me at Madalena, Eve, and Zea.

  “I am his wife,” Madalena said.

  “Yeah you told me, and the other two are his friends?” Hanekawa glanced toward me with her eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah, uhhh. I’m Zea. We haven’t met yet.” The slender blonde woman stepped into the room and extended her hand.

  “Nice to meet you.” Hanekawa smiled and took Zea’s hand. “I’m glad my brother has so many beautiful women around him.”

  “Yeah…” Zea said. “It’s uhhh great…”

  “Hanekawa,” I said. “Tell me why you hired the Black Hearts?”

  “We needed to find you,” she said with a shrug.

  “Why?”

  “You should ask Calvin,” she answered. “He needs your help. There are dangerous life-forms that have invaded our galaxy. He’s been working to fight them. He has a military and--”

  “I’ll talk to him,” I interrupted her so I wouldn’t have to hear her praise him anymore. “I need you to stay in this room for a bit.”

  “I will,” she said, and I gestured for Eve, Zea, and Madalena to follow me out of her room.

  “Does this lock from the outside?” I asked Eve, and the vampire nodded as she pressed the control pad button. There were actually two green armored guards standing at the far side of the hallway, and Madalena gestured for them to come closer.

  “Do not let her leave,” the Prime Valkyrie said, and the two men saluted her before they posted near the door.

  “Your sister seems nice,” Zea said after we had walked a few paces away from Hanekawa’s door and through Kuroda’s palace.

  “She’s been brainwashed by Yu,” I said. “It’s another problem I have to deal with.”

  “Adam, you do not need to do everything alone. We love you, and will help.” Eve’s fingers wrapped around mine as I walked, and her touch released some of the tension in my shoulders.

  “Thanks,” I said as I stopped walking and turned to the three gorgeous women. “I came here looking for my sister, Yu, and a cure for the beast. I have the first two, and I’m guessing that Yu will eventually help me out with the third. It looks like my sister has figured out how to shift without losing her mind.”

  “Perhaps it is the way she thinks of it,” Madalena said. “She seems to think of herself as not human.”

  “Thinking of myself as human is the only thing keeping me sane,” I said. “The beast wants to take over, and my grasp on humanity is keeping me grounded. I don’t want to lose that.”

  “We will overcome,” Madalena said. “You are the strongest man in the galaxy, my husband, and the avatar of Odin. Nothing will stand in the way of your victory.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said with a dry chuckle. “I’m not really sure what to do next. I feel like going to get my mom, and then punishing the yakuza, but that seems like a waste of time. Well, getting my mom isn’t a waste of time, but I don’t want to think about vengeance when I’ve got to unite the Nordar clans within the next eight months.”

  “You should punish those who dare to defy you,” a voice said from behind me, and I turned to see Sivaha, the former Queen of the Skyad, leaning against the corner of the hallway. The woman was wearing a black sleeveless dress that hugged tightly to her torso before billowing out into a flowing skirt. The skirt was hemmed with silver color to match her hair and fell just above her knees.

  “You weren’t invited to the conversation,” I said.

  “I’m sorry, Husband,” she quickly replied with a low bow. “Your other women are attending to you. Can I not have a place in their midst? I will promise to be good.”

  “You say ‘be good,’ but I’m more interested in you following my orders,” I said.

  “I will do as you say, Adam. I was wrong to disobey you before. I do not wish to spend any more time alone in my room. The Prime Valkyrie said your punishment is over. Was she incorrect?” Sivaha gestured to Madalena, but the brunette woman’s eyes narrowed.

  “You may join us,” I said. “But do not speak unless I address you. Understand?”

  “Yes, Husband.” Sivaha bowed her head submissively and then moved to walk beside Madalena as we traveled down the hallway.

  “We should go get your mom,” Zea continued the conversation. “And fuck those yakuza assholes. You took the heat for them so that they would take care of your family.”

  “I would normally agree with vengeance, but journeying to Jupiter will take time,” Madalena said. “You still need to complete your rite. Then we need to unite the Nordar.”

  “It won’t take that much time,” Zea groaned. “This is Adam’s mom we are talking about.”

  “I understand, but you may recall the reasons why neither of my parents are here,” Madalena answered.

  “Uhhh. Yeah, I get it. Look, Madalena, it sucks that your dad was a dickbag and your mom was submitted to him. I know you want to stop the SAVO, but a side trip to Jupiter is only going to take us a few days. If you could have saved your mom, wouldn’t you have spent a few days?”

  “Of course I would have,” the Prime Valkyrie said. “Perhaps my words were not clear. We should get Adam’s mother, but not worry about the yakuza. That is not a battle worth fighting.”

  “Will the warpdrive not be resting?” Sivaha asked, and I shot her a glare. “Forgive me, Husband, but I could not help but wonder. If we journey to Jupiter, we will need to wait for the warpdrive to rest before leaving again. It will make only a slight difference in time if you stay and lay waste to the fools who betrayed you. You should not leave an enemy at your back.”

  “These yakuza are hardly an enemy,” Zea argued. “They are just some dick-bag criminals who thought Adam was dead.”

  “That is my-- oh, apologies. Husband, might I address your woman in this debate?” Sivaha asked me as her perfect eyebrows raised with concern.

  “Just fucking talk!” Zea hissed.

  “But my husband hasn’t agreed,” Sivaha said with a shrug. “I wish only to serve him.”

  I was about to tell Sivaha that I was done with her shit, and she needed to return to Persephone, but she kept talking.

  “They are criminals; who have betrayed Adam. Both reasons are good enough for him to crush them beneath his boot. If he does not exact vengeance, they will do it to others. If the strong tolerate such behavior, what of the meek? I have spoken to both you and Eve about your time with my husband. Before he was king, he fought for justice and protected those that could not take care of themselves. Leaving the yakuza to bully others, especially after he has a strong reason to destroy them, will only encourage their behavior.”

  “The SAVO are a much bigger deal than some criminal organization who only occupy a single moon of Jupiter,” Zea replied. “It isn’t worth the risk. If we don’t st
op these vampires, all life in the universe will be destroyed. I’m with Madalena. We need to focus on getting the rest of the Nordar on board so we’ve got a big ass fucking navy when we finally clash with these fuckers.”

  “Eve?” I asked as I turned to the dark-haired beauty.

  “I agree with Sivaha,” she said with a shrug. “The SAVO is a priority, but Persephone’s warpdrive is exponentially faster than the hyperdrive. We can wait the forty hours on Ganymede, put a dent in the people who have betrayed you, and only lose a few hours in the grand scheme.”

  “Ahhh!” Sivaha gasped. “This is a surprising turn of events. I have found an ally that cares for your reputation and honor as much as I do.”

  “I do not believe our reasons are quite the same, Sivaha,” Eve said as she frowned at the silver-haired woman.

  “They are close enough,” the Nordar queen said before she turned to me. “What will you do, Husband?”

  “I don’t have to decide now,” I said as we walked out of a hallway and into a grand foyer. I’d gotten a bit lost in the corridors, but I recognized this room as one we passed through before I met with Emperor Kuroda in his throne room.

  “Tiger!” I heard a voice shout, and I turned a bit to the side. The emperor walked toward me with his hand up in a gesture of greeting. Behind him walked his four dark-haired wives, and his two attendants: Baccor and Reeyal.

  “Greetings, Emperor,” I said when his entourage came to stand before us.

  “I am no longer emperor,” he said with a slow nod. “I see you have recovered from our battle. We must discuss our next course of action.”

  “Our next course?” I asked.

  “Yes, Tiger,” he said with a slight grin on his handsome face. “You held my life in your clawed grasp. You should have ended me there since that is the Tiger’s way, but you did not. I have been considering your command since then.”

  “I do not recall what I commanded you to do,” I said. “I wasn’t quite myself when we fought, and--”

  “No,” he interrupted me as he raised his hand. “You were yourself. That was who you are. You are Tiger. I am Dragon. But I believe you might be more than Tiger since I am still alive. Your order was to serve you. My meditations have been calm ocean since our battle. I am reborn now. My purpose is clear. I have given you my life, and you took it in a way that speaks of infinite wisdom. So I serve you as Dragon.”