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your end? Help me here, Maia. This asteroid is going to blow in& twenty minutes!
Is there a com link on the board?
She scanned the board. Yes! Yes there is! Hope burst through her chest and she
described the unit to Maia. The tram came to another shuddering stop.
That is an audio microphone only, Maia said. That would be received by a
human operator in the control center who would then direct the tram manually.
Fuck! Are you saying what I think you are saying?
Mikala Ash Chains of Passion: Slave to Lust - 86 -
There is no one in control except the central computer. I cannot help you. It was
a low probability option anyway. You are riding technology a thousand years old. It is
unlikely that the central computer and I speak the same language.
Fuck me dead!
Defeated, Katsumi slid down the wall. The tram started off again. She crawled
across the floor and sat by Adon s unconscious body. They weren t going to get out of
this. They were going to die here.
Their future could ve held so much promise. To end now before it had begun
was just so unfair!
She fingered the wound at her neck. Her mind was flooded with images from
Lord Draco s perspective. He and Mi-Kun were in desperate hand to hand combat with
a horde of mutants. Draco punched into the chest of one attacker who had pounced on
him and wrenched out the still beating heart.
Draco and Mi-Kun were fighting with a ferocity Katsumi could not comprehend.
They were drenched in the sick, black blood of the incensed mutants. She couldn t
figure what had drawn them back into the path of their enemies. They had a means of
escape and had set in motion the destruction of the asteroid. Why risk sharing that
destruction?
Katsumi s curiosity got the better of her. She reached out to Draco s mind. She
felt like a burglar breaking into a heavily protected vault. She d no idea of what the
treasure she was searching for was, but she d know when she found it.
The answer was guarded and fleeting in Draco s mind and she gently teased it
open. Had he not been fighting for his existence Draco would ve detected her invasion
and she could only guess at the violence of his response.
Carefully she laid aside the folds of his thoughts and sensed Draco and Mi-Kun
were searching for something& no, not something& someone.
She had fleeting images of a beautiful child morphing into a grotesque mutant.
A son! They were searching for their son!
Mikala Ash Chains of Passion: Slave to Lust - 87 -
The tram shuddered to a halt. She ignored the stop, too engrossed in studying
the face of the vampire child. Suddenly her mind was filled with Draco s cry of
exultation.
Katsumi was sickened by the savagery of it. Lord Draco was single-minded in
his determination to& capture& no, to rescue his son! No matter the cost. He would
gladly give away eternal life for his son.
The battle slowed. The last of the mutant warriors fell and there before them was
their leader. A giant grotesque figure, its dirty, gray skin covered in open rotting sores.
It stood alone amongst the bloody ruin of its army.
It couldn t be. Katsumi was repelled at the thought that this abomination was
Draco s son.
Come! Lord Draco commanded.
The monster snarled.
Come with us, Mi-Kun purred.
Come, Draco pleaded. For the first time in a thousand years his voice
quavered.
The mutant tilted its head, considering the bloody wreckage lying at its feet. It
glared at its parents with its dead, yellow eyes and snarled in petulant rage.
It is no use, son. Mi-Kun stepped toward him, her bloody hands outstretched.
Come with us.
Slowly, the mutant s hands went out to meet his mother s.
Come, Lord Draco said, once more in command, though his mind was awash
with parental love. We have little time.
Katsumi fled the mind of her master lest he detect her. The tram moved off. She
didn t bother to look at her chronometer. She had no interest in counting down the few
remaining minutes of her life.
She laid her hand on Adon s shoulder. What a team they could ve made. What
wonders would they now never see? What could their sons and daughters have
achieved?
Mikala Ash Chains of Passion: Slave to Lust - 88 -
Anger welled up inside her chest and burst. Her fists balled until the knuckles
turned white. This wasn t fair! She couldn t -- wouldn t die! She d live to have children!
If Draco could have his son, then so should she!
Her unrestrained anger drew Draco s attention. She felt the stab of pain piercing
her mind when he saw through her eyes where she was. She closed herself off, but too
late, he was there, inside her head. She screwed her eyes shut and fought him with the
only defense she had.
Her dreams.
She imagined Adon standing over her child s bed, their son wrapped in a
blanket, a toothless, loving smile on the baby s lips. He had curly blond hair, and
dimpled cheeks.
She risked a glance at the map. They were close to the Nymph. Just a few more
stops and she could apply the brake. Then she d have to run, carrying Adon up the
steep sides of the trench and across the surface of the asteroid. She looked at her watch.
Ten minutes. There wasn t enough time!
Panic made her drop her defenses and she knew that Lord Draco had seen the
map. He knew where they were.
Katsumi looked through Draco s eyes. The vampire family was running,
scuttling with amazing speed, along the corridors up the stairs to the north pole. They
were closer to the ships than she was!
God dammit! She pictured the Nymph sitting defenseless on the surface, Lord
Draco and his horrible family pounding on the hatch. What a total unmitigated fubar.
Maia. We won t make it. Save yourself.
I cannot leave Adon, Maia replied.
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