Unique Ink (Shadow Assassins Book 5) (5 page)

“If you say so.” She took another bite and closed her eyes as she chewed. Ground beef had never tasted so amazing.

“Do you have any water left? I forgot to grab you a beverage.”

She opened her eyes and wiped her mouth with the paper napkin that had been tucked inside the takeout container. “I’d kill for a cup of coffee.”

“That won’t be necessary.” He stood and smiled down at her. “All ya have ta do is keep talkin’ ta me.” The Texas twang was back and it was a lethal combination with that sexy smile.

The jerk could actually be charming when he wasn’t trying to be such a hard-ass. She’d finished the hamburger by the time he returned, but she was happily munching on the fries. He set down a large mug of steaming coffee and a pile of cream and sugar packets. He’d even remembered to grab a stir stick.

For half a second she pictured throwing the coffee in his face. It was as close to a weapon as she was likely to come. She shook away the notion. He’d be pissed off and she’d still be locked inside this room.

He chuckled. “Contemplating mischief?”

“Malicious mischief is more like it, but I talked myself out of it.”

“Glad to hear it. We were getting along so well.”

If he was willing to indulge her, she had all sorts of questions. “Who are these guys and why are they on Earth?”

“They’re called Shadow Assassins. They consider themselves political refugees. We consider them fugitives.”

“I had them pegged as foreign mercenaries. I just didn’t realize
how
foreign.” She added cream and sugar to the coffee then picked up the mug. “Are they wanted for specific crimes, or just being assassins in general?”

He hesitated, his gaze narrowed and bright. “Everything I’m about to tell you is classified. You can’t tell Jett or anyone else. If you don’t agree to this stipulation, we’ll go back to our earlier dynamic.”

“One-sided interrogation?”

“Yes.”

“Obviously, I’ll keep my mouth shut.” As with Jett, no one would believe her if she started spreading tales about aliens and the secret government organization trying to apprehend them. She wasn’t sure she believed it herself. Well, they were obviously aliens; no human could do what they did. But the rest was still an undefined conflict into which she’d stumbled.

“The Shadow Assassins operated on a planet called Ontariese until six or seven months ago. They were a closed society populated entirely of men. They enslaved their members with a combination of intimidation, logistics, and ritual beliefs.”

“Like a cult?”

“More like a private army that had been brainwashed into obedience. The generation who was liberated from the Shadow Maze had all been born there. They knew no other way of life, had nothing with which to compare their Sacred Customs.” He emphasized the last phrase with finger quotes.

“They literally lived underground?”

He nodded. “Those who couldn’t teleport were prisoners of their own society.”

“And those who could teleport? Like Nazerel. Were they allowed to leave whenever they wanted?” She couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like to live without sunshine and rain-washed breezes.

“It’s complicated and few of the specifics affect the current situation. Let’s stay focused on the present.”

“Fine by me.” She hadn’t meant the phrase to sound as snotty as it had sounded. His meandering explanation was just feeding her anxiety.

“Their way of life was no longer tolerated on Ontariese, so a small group of the Shadow Assassins came to Earth. We don’t know when they connected with Sevrin or who contacted whom, but they’re obviously working together now.”

“Tell me about Sevrin.” She pushed aside what remained of the fries, more than ready for this topic. Learning that the men were part of some bizarre secret society didn’t seem real or particularly relevant. Her interaction with each of them had been superficial. Sevrin, on the other hand, had been terrifying. It would be a relief to know anything about her. “Is she from Ontariese like her men?”

“She’s from Rodymia. There are three inhabited planets in their star system, Ontariese, Bilarri and Rodymia. The inhabitants of Rodymia are known as Rodytes and the current planetary ruler is Sevrin’s uncle.”

The revelation didn’t surprise Roxie. Sevrin emanated power like no one Roxie had ever met, except for maybe Nazerel. “Oh my God, does that mean she has diplomatic immunity?”

He shook his head. “That only works when diplomats are in our country with our permission. She’s an illegal alien in the truest sense of the word. However, no one is in a hurry to piss off a race of people more technologically advanced than our own. With one transmission to Uncle Quentin, she could summon a Rodyte army. We really don’t want it to come to that.”

Hungry for overall understanding, she didn’t allow herself to pause over the details. She’d analyze the implications once she saw how all the pieces fit together. “You said Sevrin and the Shadow Assassins are working together. What are they trying to accomplish?”

“Shadow Assassins have abilities similar to Lor or Odintar. Sevrin is working on a way of transferring those powers to people who were born without them.”

“Seriously?” He inclined his head, obviously expecting her disbelief. “You said she’s ‘working on a way’ to do it. Does that mean she hasn’t done it yet?”

“To our knowledge, none of her attempts have been successful—yet.”

“Well, that’s good at least.” Her mind went blank, objecting to the rapid saturation of unbelievable facts. Aliens from two different planets were on Earth trying to create more beings like Lor and Odintar. She shivered. And what would they do when and if they achieved their goal? How would they use those superhuman abilities? “You said the Shadow Assassins already have magic powers. What do they gain by helping Sevrin?”

“They want mates with powers equal to their own, which in turn will increase the chances that their offspring will also be able to manipulate magic. As it is now, only a small percentage of their children end up with abilities.”

He spoke of magic powers as if they were nothing special, nothing she should have a problem accepting. She couldn’t deny what she’d experienced firsthand, but it was still hard as hell to digest. “The women on Ontariese can’t manipulate magic?”

“Some can, but it would have been many years before the Shadow Assassins were allowed to claim a mate.”

Claim a mate? She shivered again, yet this time the reaction felt warm and tingly instead of cold and unpleasant. Claiming her was what her imaginary lover did every time she summoned him to her dreams. “Why weren’t they allowed to find mates?” She softened the phrase for her comfort, but Nazerel and the others definitely seemed more like the
claiming
type.

“Instead of going to prison, they were given mandatory years of service with the Ontarian military.”

“Then Nazerel and his men are deserters? That’s a serious crime on Earth.”

“It is on Ontariese as well, but leaving the military without permission is a minor infraction compared to their other crimes. Shadow Assassins used to hunt their mates. They’d kidnap a female and take her to the Shadow Maze where she would be held until she had a child. If it was a boy, she was released while the child was kept with his father. If she had—”

“Wait a minute. They would keep women prisoner for a year or more?” She pushed to her feet and moved to the other side of the room. It wasn’t much of a separation, but she suddenly felt threatened by the entire situation. “If these women were kidnapped, they didn’t willingly participate in the breeding program. Were they raped over and over until…” Her voice broke and she furiously blinked back tears. It was too horrible to even imagine. She’d never been forced to have sex, but she knew what it was like to be helpless, powerless, utterly at the mercy of others. Her entire childhood had been one intolerable situation after another, and her teenage years had been even worse.

“They claim rape is abhorrent to them, that each woman was gradually seduced.” She started to object, but he stopped her. “I’m not trying to justify any of this. I’m just passing on information. Personally, I’m right there with you. Even if it was seduction rather than rape, the distinction doesn’t justify the rest.”

“And after months of imprisonment and abuse, their reward was having their baby stolen from them?” She felt physically ill as if someone had just kicked her in the stomach.

He swiveled his chair to face her but didn’t rise. She was glad he didn’t try to touch her. She was holding on to her composure by a thread. Any physical contact at this point would have made it impossible to hold back the flood of emotions.

“It was a barbaric practice and it has been stopped on Ontariese.” He spoke carefully and an emotionless mask took over his features.

Had they relocated their disgusting operation to Earth? That was the logical conclusion. Still, she was stuck on the specifics. “What happened if she had a girl?”

“Either both would be released or she would remain a prisoner and her captor would try again.”

And if she couldn’t conceive or she produced girl after girl? How long would they keep her—it didn’t matter. It was no longer happening on Ontariese. But what about Earth? “Is this why they’re here? Are they kidnapping human females?”

“They’ve taken it a step further. They’re hunting mates and attempting to transfer their powers into the females. We’ve found six of their failed attempts, but there have probably been more.”

Dread knotted her stomach so tightly her legs shook so she returned to the table and sank onto her chair. “What does all of this have to do with me?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. If you’d been targeted as a mate, they most likely would have made their move already. But I don’t believe in coincidence. Sevrin didn’t just happen upon your shop. She doesn’t do anything without a specific reason.” He crossed his arms over his chest, prominently displaying his impressive biceps. “Now is there anything else you can tell me, anything that might help us understand Sevrin’s motivation?”

She hadn’t felt safe for months and Elias’ story compounded her foreboding. Sevrin’s interest in her had always felt personal, personal and
creepy
. She might be making the biggest mistake of her life, but she needed to trust someone, someone with a whole lot more power than she possessed. Elias had offered her information. It could all be bullshit, but she didn’t think it was. Too much of what he’d said confirmed what she already knew.

“They get off on pain.”

His gaze narrowed and he unfolded his arms. “I thought all you did was tattoo them.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Why did he persist in putting her in bed with one or more of those muscle-bound lunatics? “Lots of people get a rush while they’re under the needle, but it was like a drug to Nazerel and the others. They craved it,
needed
it. I think Sevrin was using it to keep them calm and under control.”

“They were ruthlessly trained from birth to be impervious to pain. Maybe one of their strategies is learning how to process pain as pleasure.”

That was a trivial fact, interesting yet unlikely to be helpful. He was obviously waiting for something more, something strategic. After a tense pause, she said, “Sevrin didn’t trust Nazerel.”

“We’re aware of the friction, but what led you to that conclusion?” He twisted to the side and stood, anxious energy setting him in motion.

“She wanted me to spy on him for her, see if he was saying anything to his buddies that he wasn’t supposed to share.” They’d basically switch places. She sat at the table, chair turned sideways so she could watch him prowl about the tiny room.

“And did you?”

“There was a small problem with her wish.” His arched eyebrow prompted her to explain. “I didn’t speak their language.”

His gaze bore into hers, sharp with sudden interest. “Did she have a solution for that complication?”

“Yeah, she took me to a hotel room and hooked me up to this machine. I’d never seen anything like it. The thing made me feel like crap for days afterwards, but it worked. I could suddenly understand all the obnoxious things they’d been saying behind my back.”

He shook his head, clearly upset by something she’d just told him. “Language infusers have to be carefully calibrated for each user. She never should have used one in a hotel room.”

Language infuser was the exact term Sevrin had used for the brain-scrambling device. Apparently, Roxie had been in more danger than she realized. “I feel fine now. Though unpleasant, the side effects were temporary.”

“I’ll ask one of the Mystics to scan you, make sure you’re really okay.” He pushed his hand through his dark hair, making the natural waves more pronounced. “Did you learn anything from Nazerel?”

“I learned that this
planet
was making him paranoid and he was sick and tired of
irrational humans
. The bizarre phrases, as well as the fact that I’d just learned a new language in less than a day, were what convinced me I was in way over my head.”

“You’re right about that. You stumbled over an interdimensional hornets’ nest.”

“Lucky me.” She swiveled her chair back around so she didn’t have to put up with his penetrating stare. “That’s honestly all I know. Can I go home now?”