Burning Bright Read online

  We really didn’t have a lot of options.

  “We arrrrrre leaving,” I said, and the four women nodded.

  “We’ll bring back Kay and Arthur,” Paula said before she pulled the control headset back over her eyes. Kasta mirrored her movement, and I heard the massive machines lumber from behind me.

  “I think this is the right decision, Captain,” Zea said. “I’ve got the file for Parnarta. I think we can--”

  “Parnarta?” Eve asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah. It was what the creepy Dance to the Dirge crew was looking for,” Zea said as she looked at the vampire. “Do you know anything about it?”

  “Yes. I do. It is a--”

  “Are you all leaving?” Juliette called out, and we turned toward the redhead.

  “We took a risssskkkk by staying hereeee with Elaka Nota,” I said.

  “The situation is under control now. We’ll push them back to their ships and then take out the vessels.”

  Juliette crossed her arms and frowned as she spoke. Her body language convinced me that she didn’t want us to leave quite yet.

  “It will still take awhile to buy food and supplies.” Zea made her argument again.

  “Fuck,” Juliette grunted. “I want this place to be a safe haven for you all. This shit is my fault. Let me make it right. Okay?”

  “How can you make it right?” Paula asked.

  “As I said, we’ll--”

  “Lieutenant Colonel Larns!” Smith’s voice came over the police woman’s transponder.

  “What?” she snarled.

  “There is another group of soldiers leaving the Elaka Nota ships. There are at least forty of them,” he said.

  “Shit! When is the quick reaction force supposed to get there?”

  “Few minutes, ma’am.”

  “I’ll be there in a moment,” Juliette replied and then she turned back to us. “I’ll take care of this. I have thousands of guards I can mobilize, Elaka Nota only made it this far because we weren’t ready.”

  “I havvvvvee to sleeeep,” I said. “We’ll comeeeee back.”

  “Alright. I’m sorry. I--”

  “You can help us out with a few things,” Zea interrupted. “You’ve got experience piloting a starship. You said earlier you knew of some trading spots, and I’m guessing Queen’s Hat has collected a bunch of locations of other civilizations through docking manifests. Can you send us what you have so we have a backup location?”

  “That’s not a problem, Blondie. I can get it to you when I get back. I can also help with the shipment you want to send to Uraniel.”

  “You can?” Zea, Paula, and Kasta asked in unison.

  “Yeah. I can organize a shipment to them. I’ll take care of it as soon as I’ve scraped Elaka Nota off my boot. You all have to promise me one thing, though.”

  “Whatttt?” I asked.

  “Come back,” Juliette gave me a slight smile. “I kind of like you all. Even Blondie.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Zea snickered.

  “Not as much as everyone else, though.” Juliette shrugged.

  “Of course, you fu--”

  “We appreciate the help,” I interrupted Zea. “We’ll give you the rhodium that we had set aside for it.” I gave Paula a nod, and the engineer pulled out a case of the fine silver-gray powder.

  “Thanks. I’ll spend it wisely and try to find a fast ship.” Juliette took the case from Paula and slipped it into one of the ammo pouches on her belt. “I’ll transmit you the info as soon as I get back to my office. I’m telling you though, just because I have the coordinates on a map, it doesn’t mean there is anything there. Queen’s Hat has no way of checking any of the information visitors put on their manifest, and it’s been over ten years since I’ve visited any of the locations I can recommend. If you don’t find what you are looking for on Epsilon Tauri - b, you should come right back. I’ll have taken care of Elaka Nota by then.”

  “We’ll keep thaaat in miiiind,” I said.

  “Good, and I’ll see you later.” She nodded at me, and then to each of my friends before she turned and walked briskly in the direction of the police station.

  “Ugh, she’s such a bitch,” Zea seethed.

  “She really does like you,” Eve said with a shrug.

  “She has a weird way of showing it.”

  “I need to change backkkk,” I said. “I’m running out of time.”

  “The warpdrives still aren’t off their reset. How do you want to handle our escape?” Kasta asked.

  “We can hyperdrive to one of the points Juliette gives us that is in between Queen’s Hat and Epsilon Tauri - b. We might be able to set it up so we can come out as soon as the warpdrive is ready,” Paula said.

  “Good idea. Then we can buy supplies there. If there are supplies available.” Kasta smiled at her twin.

  “I also have that video I need to figure out,” Zea said.

  “Video?” the twins asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it when we are in warpdrive.”

  “Soundsss like a plan. I’ll sleeeeep,” I said, and then we followed the lumbering knight-drones into the tube that connected the port to Persephone.

  Chapter 5

  I swam through darkness and then surfaced from the sheets of my bed with a thankful breath. My sleep was deep and undisturbed by dreams. I was grateful for the respite, but I couldn’t actually remember going to sleep. The last moments I recalled were walking up the ramp to Persephone and then stepping into the elevator with Eve. Had she come with me to my room? I didn’t see her in my bed, so she must have left after I fell asleep.

  My pile of guns, ammo, clothes, and body armor on the floor did remind me of the battle in the dark buildings of Queen’s Hat. I couldn’t smell my body odor, but I guessed I needed a long shower, so I stepped around my bed and walked toward the bathroom. Then I stopped my walk mid-step. My brain told me something was wrong, but I was still a bit fuzzy from my deep sleep, and it took me a few seconds to figure out what was off about my room.

  The bathroom door was missing.

  I looked to my left and saw another doorway. A few steps took me to it, and I peered inside. It looked exactly like my bathroom, and I wondered if I was having some weird jamais vu moment. To confirm I wasn’t going crazy, I stepped to my mirrored cabinet and opened the door. My razor, toothbrush, floss, and med packs should have been in there, but the cabinet was empty.

  Did I fall asleep in another room on Persephone?

  I turned from the bathroom and stepped into the closet. Flightsuits were hanging on the racks, and they looked like the black and gray ones I was familiar with. I sighed with a bit of relief and reached for a fresh one to wear.

  My arm was fuzzy and stripped. I was still a tiger-man.

  “Fuck,” I hissed as I looked down at my naked body. I was covered with orange fur and black stripes. I had only been naked a few times while in this form, and the coat was thicker than I remembered. I could still see the shape of my muscles on my chest, abdomen, and legs. I looked mostly human except for the fur.

  I walked back to the bathroom and stared into the mirror. The sight made me gasp. I was still a human there with a human face, skin, and the normal amount of chest hair I was used to. My yellow eyes stared back at me with a wild intensity I didn’t recognize.

  I looked down and saw that I was still covered with fur on my body.

  I glanced back between the mirror and my body and tried to make sense of the different images. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I felt fear creep down my spine like a nest of newly hatched spiders.

  Was there something wrong with the mirror? Maybe Zea was pranking me and had replaced it with a video screen, but then how could the image be moving in sync with me?

  I raised my furry hand up in the air and saw the “human” me in the mirror repeat the movement. Then I lowered the hand, and it did the same. It was obviously a mirror so there must have been something else going on.

 
; Then the human image opened his mouth and screamed.

  I couldn’t hear him scream, but it was evident from the way his body and face tensed that he was screaming. My stomach dropped at the sight, and I took a step back from the mirror. He raised his fist and then swung it like a hammer. It connected with the mirror, but nothing happened besides a slight vibration to the image. Then he punched the glass again, and again. He already looked frantic, but he seemed to get more desperate with each attack that didn’t break the mirror separating us.

  Then a massive black paw draped over my mirror image’s shoulder, and a panther’s jaws clamped down on his neck. Blood sprayed across the bathroom tile in the mirror world, and human me slammed up against the mirror. The panther twisted his bulky neck and ripped off a chunk of my mirror image’s arm, and more blood sprayed through the room. I took another step away from the mirror, and then another, and then my back was pressed against the glass of the shower door.

  I felt as if my eyes were glued to the scene of the horrific black cat killing my mirror image. I couldn’t turn away or walk away. All I could do was watch the thing tear into the image that wasn’t quite me. There still wasn’t any sound from the image, but I really didn’t need any. Even though part of the counter concealed the actual acts. It was obvious the panther was tearing the man apart by the spray of blood. The man who was and wasn’t me raised his blood soaked arms to try and push the beast’s head away, but then the arms flopped down, and I guessed he was dead.

  The black monster turned his face toward me and opened its jaws. It only had two fangs for teeth, but its tongue was long and serpentine.

  It jumped toward me, but then it too bounced off the mirror.

  I ran out of the bathroom and looked for the weapons I’d left on the floor. I’d seen them only moments before, but now I couldn’t find them at the side of my bed. I looked where I recalled them lying, then I looked on the other side. Then I glanced frantically around my bedroom, but the weapons seemed to have disappeared.

  I heard glass break in the bathroom, and it pierced the quiet atmosphere like a gunshot.

  I ran out into the hallway naked, made a left, but then encountered a wall. The direction should have taken me to the bridge, so I skidded to a halt and looked back over my shoulder. The path to the bridge was behind me now, and my brain threatened to overheat with both confusion and fear.

  I ran out to the bridge, but I didn’t see anyone sitting in the ten gunner’s chairs. The holomap was displayed behind the gunner seats, and it showed three planets with two red suns circling it. The image looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember exactly where I had seen it before. I’d ask my friends after I got a gun and killed the panther living in my mirror.

  “Anyone on the bridge?” I called out.

  I did see a flash of movement at the far end by the three pilot seats, and so I ran past the map. It only took me a few long steps to make it there, but I didn’t see anyone sitting in the three pilot seats.

  “Ohh gaahh,” a voice whispered behind me, and I spun around to my chair.

  Eve sat there.

  But half a moment later I knew that it wasn’t Eve. This woman was beautiful and looked similar to the woman I loved, but her face was a bit sharper and her mouth less full. The hair, skin, and eyes were all an almost identical shade, but she sat in the chair with a rigid back, and her red eyes stared at me with contempt.

  The other four officer chairs were occupied by massive tiger-men wearing thick black armor. The pieces glowed a sickly red at the seams, but the tiger-men were not carrying any sort of weapons.

  “Ohhh gaaaaah,” the woman who was not Eve repeated. She wore a tight black flight suit with red trim on the edges. She wasn’t attacking though. She was just staring at me and repeating the words.

  “Gaaaah?” She tilted her head a bit, and one of her eyebrows raised.

  “I have no idea what you are saying. Where are my friends? How did you get on my ship?” My words came out in a half growl, and the woman didn’t look as if she understood them.

  “Gaa. Gaazzz,” she hissed at one of the tiger-men sitting on her left, and he got up from his seat.

  “Where the fuck are my friends!” I shouted, but this didn’t even come out as words, it was only a roar of anger.

  The other tiger-man looked surprised for half a moment, but then he roared in return before he jumped at me.

  I pivoted to my right and ducked below the swipe he aimed for my face. As soon as I heard his arm pass above me, I came up made a quick jab into the side of his neck with my fingers. It wouldn’t have done a lot of damage with my human hands, but my claws were out, and they dug into my opponents furry flesh as if they were four power drills. He howled, twisted, to the side, and then slammed his elbow into my chest. The fucker was all sorts of strong, and his blow knocked me off my feet and onto one of the pilot stations.

  “Gazzzz,” he hissed at me as he reached up to his neck with his left paw. The wound there was pouring blood, but I doubt it would stop him from attacking me.

  I rolled off the pilot station terminal a moment before his claws slashed across the surface. The tiger-man wasn’t larger than me, but the armor he wore meant I couldn’t really damage him anywhere but his face and neck. Meanwhile, I was completely naked.

  There were also three more fuckers after this one and the evil bitch.

  It didn’t matter though, these assholes had taken my women. So now they would have to die.

  I kicked out with my right foot and hit the armored tiger-man in the knee. His leg twisted to the side, but I didn’t hear the bone snap. My attack carried me forward, and I swung my elbow up to hit him in the face. He continued his twist though, and my elbow just scraped by his cheek without doing any real damage.

  He drove his fist into my ribs, and I heard them crack. I didn’t feel any pain though, so I spun to my left and drove my fingers into his face. He hadn’t expected the attack, so he didn’t get his guard up in time.

  My nails cut through his face and pierced his skull as if his bones were made out of soft clay.

  He didn’t even scream, so I guessed he died instantly. His body didn’t even twitch as I yanked my fingers from his ruined skull. Blood and brains spattered all over the floor of the bridge, and I turned back to face the woman sitting in the captain’s chair.

  “Give me my women, get the fuck out of my chair, and get off my ship.” My voice came out clearer this time and the red-eyed women seemed a bit surprised.

  “Oaaa gaaa,” she whispered, and the other three tiger-men stood from their chairs.

  I dove toward the solo tiger-man on the left and slammed my fist into his groin. He wore armor there, but I figured it might stun him for half a moment if I could put enough power into my punch. He screeched and buckled over after my fist connected with the cup over his testicles, and I quickly pushed my arms up to heave him into the other two assholes.

  The three of them went down in a heap, and I figured that I had a good five seconds to kill the red-eyed woman in the chair without their interference.

  I dashed up toward her as she held her hand out toward me. Her motion caused my body to feel as if it weighed twice as much, but I pushed my legs against the force as I wrapped my right hand around her neck.

  Then I tore the bitch’s head off.

  Her blood seemed to explode across the bridge and fountain up from her headless corpse. It splashed all over me, and the shock of the crimson eruption distracted me from the other three tiger-men. Then I heard them roar with obvious outrage, and I turned just in time to get tackled by the three of them.

  I punched one of them in the face when he tried to bite me, but another one got his teeth into my shoulder and tore a chunk of my flesh out. It should have hurt, but it was almost as if my body was numb to pain. I ripped the claws of my right hand across his throat, and his head rolled off his armored shoulders.

  The third tiger-man was trying to straddle me, but I bucked him off, twisted on my side, f
reed one of my legs, and kicked him away from me. These fuckers were big men, at least the size of me, and wearing heavy plated armor, so I was a bit surprised by how easily I was able to manhandle them.

  The one I’d punched grabbed onto my arm. I felt his claws sink into my flesh past my fur, but it didn’t hurt at all, I brought my other arm around and punched him in the face again. His tiger-head snapped back on his neck, and he let go of my arm. I sprung to my feet and tried to twist to my side so the one I’d just kicked off couldn’t tackle me again. I was only mildly successful. He got his arms around my hips and dug his claws into my back, but he didn’t take me to the ground.

  I wrapped my arms under his throat, and then lifted while I thrust forward with my hips. The man’s massive neck snapped under my hold, and I slammed him down on the ground.

  Then I stomped my bare foot down on his skull, and it exploded like I’d just jumped off a five-meter ledge and landed on a rotten tomato.

  The final tiger-man lunged at me, but I raised one of my arms, twisted to my side, and threw him past me. It almost felt as if I was fighting with children. They didn’t seem to weigh anything. They moved slowly, and I felt ten times stronger than them. It didn’t make any sense, but maybe the monster in my soul was giving me extra strength.

  “Where. The. Fuck. Are. My. Women?” I screamed into his face as I held his arms down against the blood covered floor of the bridge.

  He roared back in my face, and his eyes showed no hint of fear. My claws tore into his face and yanked out half of his brain from the front of his skull. Then I tossed the bloody mass onto the floor and stood up from his twitching corpse.

  Zea, Eve, Kasta, and Paula were somewhere on this ship, and I was going to find them.

  “Eye yah,” a voice said from behind me, and I turned to see a beautiful woman standing behind me. Her hair was the color of platinum, or maybe it was gold, or maybe it was rhodium. It fell down her shoulders like waves of precious metal, and the dim lights from the bridge reflected off every strand as if they had their own light source.