Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) (29 page)

“The Cazeth are of Wern, the fifth moon of Dark World. The Wern are friends of no one. In fact, they are guarded rather vigilantly by my people and the devels of Dark World. Wern is a portal for unrest and disorder. Oh, we on Lysst may be torturous and dark, but we are decidedly orderly. We have a chain of command, a hierarchy of demons and devels that demands obedience.

“Wern, however, would have all of that go away. The Cazeth are a product of the Wern environment. You have seen them, what do you make of them?”

Jace studied Demise, knowing he was being tested. Clever bastard, he thought and shook his head. “They look like warriors, large men with pale skin and black hair. They have black voids for eyes and dark red wings, wings not unlike your own. And yet, they carry with them a stench of decay.” He mused on his memories. “And the voices they use sound like echoes of noise, as if each Cazeth speaks for hundreds more.”

Demise nodded. “You have captured the basic essence of the Cazeth. But more than just deceitful, they encourage madness and anarchy wherever they go. Many years past, Devel Keep Krital rounded up those Cazeth that had somehow escaped from Wern, a thing thought impossible.” Demise frowned.

“He had them imprisoned successfully on Lysst, in our special sector of which you were not privy,” Demise said to Jace. “But then Orsan came.” Demise scowled. “And that Cazeth was different than the others. He seemed to care, to have a sense of order about him that enabled him to rally the others and escape. They killed the Demon Lord then in charge of the prison.

“For years we have searched through space to find them, but to no avail. They are ripping apart the fabric of the System,” Demise said earnestly, leaning forward in his chair. “You do no seem to understand this, but against the Cazeth enemies unite to become one. For the Cazeth befriend no one.

“What I don’t understand is how you came upon them when we have not been able to find them all this time.”

Jace paused and looked to Naria. If what Demise said were true, then the sooner he got rid of the Cazeth the better for the sake of the System. And yet, how would he feel betraying his people not with the Cazeth, but by hosting an invasion of a darker sort?

“The Cazeth found and claimed Mystique for their own,” Jace said quietly, his gaze fixed on Demise.

The demon’s eyes narrowed as he studied Jace for lies. Then his eyes widened as he continued to stare. “So, you are Psi,” Demise said shaking his head. “I should have seen this before. Your abilities to deny me, to fight me on
that
level. The Cazeth are ingenious,” he muttered. “To hide out on a highly energetic and yet reclusive planet was extremely clever. No matter that I absolutely hate Orsan, his mind is brilliant,” Demise added.

“Look, now that you’re done congratulating Orsan for his technique, you mind telling me why I’d want your help? What is to prevent you from doing as the Cazeth did?” Jace asked.

“Has Naria not told you this?” Demise asked. Naria frowned at Jace and Demise laughed. “So you do not believe her? What she told you was truth, Jace. Dark Worlders find it painful to leave our world. Our planet and our moons dislike us to leave, even for a short time. That Carinna and Naria have left and feel no pressure, no pain at that departure leads me to believe that perhaps they are not meant to be here after all,” he ended quietly.

Jace watched a sadness fall on Demise’s face before it vanished under a bland expression. Naria’s eyes shone as she stared at her father. Apparently her father had finally seen the truth in his daughter’s displeasure with Dark World.

“In any event, we cannot stay away from our world for long. That the Cazeth have left and stay gone torments even Wern. The moon cries out for them to return. I can only think that Mystique is quieting the cries of Wern.” He smiled. “What, Psi? Did you think Dark World totally ignorant of your mystical planet? Though we cannot see it or even find it on a map, Mystique carries its own myths and tales of life.

“Would it surprise you, even, to find our cultures related?” Demise asked with a smile. At Jace’s horrified look he laughed. “Deny it all you like, but Dark Worlders and Psi are very similar. We have large capacities for mind development and a keen interest in life. We both keep to ourselves, not liking the outside world overmuch. Yet whereas Dark Worlders took to the darkness, the Psi remain in the light.”

Jace refused to encourage that kind of talk and instead focused on the Cazeth. He prided himself on being open-minded, but considering his people’s possible ties to Dark World made his head ache.

“Naria insists that I cannot defeat the Cazeth without your help. What could you do that I and my crew cannot?”

“Surely you aren’t all psychic,” Demise said in astonishment. “No.” He shook his head. “I easily read your crewmembers when they were imprisoned here. Jace, even a Psi against one Cazeth is difficult. The Cazeth control both the elements and the psychic world in which we live. Only with a contingent of devels and demons can you hope to contain them. And they have been loose for a decade.” Demise sighed. “There is no telling what they have done in that time.”

“I have to get them off my planet. They are killing her,” Jace said quietly, causing Demise to stare at him in horror.

“No! We cannot let that happen!” His absolute certainty gave Jace pause. “Do you not understand what the death of Mystique would mean? It would leave an emptiness in the System, a vacuum through which Wern and its in habitants would grow and soon overtake this System and many others.”

Jace stared at Demise with wide eyes. He could feel the truth shimmering in the air between them. Even Naria looked astonished and worried at her father’s words.

“Okay,” Jace said slowly. “Just how many of your kind are we talking about using? And in doing so, I’m not going to be indebted to you, am I?”

“No, no,” Demise said quickly. “The Cazeth are a System problem and one that originated here in Dark World. Master will assuredly not hold you to us in any way for this.”

“Master?” Jace asked.

“Everyone has a boss, Jace,” Naria said quietly. “And trust me, you don’t want to meet Master. He’s a combination of Father and Keep Krital, only ten times worse.”

“Why thank you, Naria,” Demise smiled. “That’s a lovely thing to say.”

Jace rolled his eyes and Naria smiled. “Right, well. I figure it’s going to take some planning, reconnaissance of the planet, and practice before we can successfully defeat the Cazeth. Where should we begin?” Jace asked with a sigh.

He trusted his instincts and they told him that Demise did not lie, not about this. It seemed, oddly enough, that Jace would have to bring a host of darkness back to his light world of Mystique, to fight the darkness already there.

He glanced at Naria and saw her eyes glowing as she stared at her father. Though unlike her father in every way, Naria clearly loved him. Jace wondered what it would be like to have such a dark creature as family. Strange and slightly interesting, he admitted to himself. Demise was both intelligent and charismatic, for all that he had a dark soul. And yet, he possessed an oddly distorted perspective on things that gave him keen insights into life.

“Well, young Psi? I think it is time we planned. And of course, you will want to gather your friends to see that I haven’t secretly given them to my other daughters,” Demise smiled in amusement.

Jace shrugged off the comment intended to irritate and nodded. “Yes, I do need to see the crew. And we have plans to make. No time like the present.”

Nesham and the others stared around them in horrified fascination. They had just witnessed things that no Offworlder had ever before seen and lived to tell about. The Mrunde moon had exposed them to acts of deprivation and an odd sense of rudimentary discipline evident in the devel warriors they’d encountered in the Searcher party.

Fer had been surprisingly normal, and Nesham could easily see Naria spending most of her time there. If not for the heinous creatures working and guarding the library, the learning center could have belonged to any planet.

And then they visited Arnth, the pleasure moon. Knowing that Mikhel had been a victim of the Succubi, Nesham had watched over him worriedly. But other than a slight frown as Mikhel witnessed a few Succubi in action, he seemed remarkably unaffected by the whole place.

Castor and Koneru, however, looked slightly sick.

“The one in the first cell was my half-sister,” Carinna said softly into Nesham’s ear. He tightened his hold around her tiny hand and squeezed.

“You’re much, much prettier than her,” Nesham said in a low voice. “And a ton sexier,” he growled playfully. Mikhel merely shook his head at Nesham’s antics.

“What in blazes is that?” Castor said, gasping a pointing at another scene in what appeared to be a classroom-like environment. Several male demons sat watching the show with attention. They looked just like normal young males at their studies.

“That is an Incubus training session.” Carinna shrugged. “It’s common practice here.”

“Do you see what he’s doing to that woman?” Castor asked, wide eyed, pointing to the instructor in front of the room. Even Mikhel looked oddly disturbed at the acts portrayed.

“It is nothing,” Devel Keep Krital said with a dismissing wave of his hand. “The Succubus and Incubus of Arnth are merely entertainment around here. Now if you really want to see something exciting,” Krital added, “you should investigate the poison center on Mrunde. Unfortunately we don’t have enough time to view it. Perhaps another time when you visit?”

Nesham and the others remained silent, but Nesham knew what they all thought. One visit to Dark World had been plenty, two was too many as it was.

Just then a half naked woman of voluptuous proportions and sporting a rounded belly approached.

“Well, well, Krital, come to visit again, have you?” she murmured and froze upon seeing Carinna amidst the group. “What are you doing here?”

“Actually this party is a guest of your husband’s,” Krital said quickly to ward off any hostility.

“Guests?” the woman smiled. Nesham noted that though she was obviously demon, she had a surprisingly erotic beauty that had shaken the others as well as himself. Her two small horns on either side of her forehead looked small and almost, sensual… He puzzled over his thoughts until Carinna tugged on his hand.

“So we don’t get to keep any of them?” the woman asked with a sad frown. Then she grinned. “Oh well. Though I must say this one,” she pointed to Mikhel, “is rumored to be the best we’ve ever had.”

Krital looked to Mikhel with surprise. “I suppose we had best get back to Lysst, Lordess Xeche,” he said and bowed. The Lordess smiled and moved closer to Carinna.

Nesham tensed, as did the others in his party. But the Lordess merely whispered something in Carinna’s ear. Carinna blinked in surprise and gave the woman a shy smile.

“Congratulations, Xeche,” Carinna said quietly. “I think it will be a wonderful addition.”

“Yes, well.” The Lordess had red tears in her eyes. “I must be going now.”

She left them. and Krital continued to describe the views around them as they moved back to the Trans sector to return to Lysst.

“What did she say to you?” Nesham asked Carinna, holding her back to make sure she looked okay.

She smiled. “She just told me that she and my father are expecting a shade, a male child.”

Nesham blinked. “That was your father’s wife?”

“Yes.”

“You know,” Nesham said suggestively. “It’s too bad you didn’t decide to become a Succubus. I could definitely get used to an outfit like that.”

Carinna blushed.

“But maybe you could wear something like that when we’re alone?” He laughed when she told him what he could do with that idea.

The crew of the
SpaceStalker
sat quietly in Carinna’s home as Krital and Demise went to speak with their master.

“You know, for Dark World, this place isn’t bad,” Nesham said as he returned from a tour of Carinna’s home. “It’s got a nice sized bed.”

Carinna rolled her eyes and the others laughed. Naria thought it a positive sign that Jace and his men had relaxed enough to smile and joke.

“And you should have seen Lord Demise’s wife, Jace,” Nesham added. He raised his brows suggestively, to which Mikhel grinned. Seeing Mikhel’s reaction relieved Naria. She had been worried after imagining Mikhel’s reaction to such a scene.

“You know, they seemed somehow familiar to me,” Mikhel said with a shake of his head. “But the things they were doing to that man,” he paused. “I don’t think that’s something I ever want to endure.”

At his words everyone went silent.

“What did I say?”

“Nothing,” Jace said firmly. “So Castor, tell me your impressions of Dark World.”

As the men spoke, Carinna and Naria foraged for food in the kitchen.

“So was it that bad?” Naria asked.

“Actually no,” Carinna said with surprise. “The men were fascinated, in a disgusted kind of way I guess.” Naria grinned. “I think the Incubus really turned Castor’s stomach. And after seeing Nesham’s reaction, I don’t think I’ll be telling him about my experiences there either.”

“What?” Nesham poked his head into the kitchen. “Did I hear my name mentioned?” When both women stopped talking and stared at him, he grumbled and left.

“So how did everything go with Father?” Carinna asked.

Naria repeated the conversations they’d had. “You know, Carinna, I think Father really understands that we can’t stay here.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. He seemed sad but accepting. I think he knows how I feel about Jace. And I just happened to mention that you and Nesham are already mated.”

“Naria!”

“Well, you almost are. He only has to ask you,” Naria said and shrugged. “Besides, it’s obvious to anyone how the big Fenturi feels about you.”

“You think?” Carinna asked excitedly.

“Definitely. I only wish Jace were so open,” Naria said and sighed. “I know how I feel about him, but have no idea what he thinks. I know he’s attracted to me and sure he desires me,” she added in a blush. “But does he love me?”