Crimson Rain Read online

  Other Books by Jaye Roycraft

  Dance with Me My Lovely

  Rain Series

  Rainscape

  Crimson Rain

  Image Series

  Double Image

  Afterimage

  Shadow Image

  Immortal Image

  Hell Series

  Half Past Hell

  Hell’s Warrior

  Crimson Rain

  Rain Series Book 2

  by

  Jaye Roycraft

  ImaJinn Books

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

  ImaJinn Books

  PO BOX 300921

  Memphis, TN 38130

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61026-107-4

  Print ISBN: 978-1-61026-106-7

  ImaJinn Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc.

  Copyright © 2013 by Jeanette Roycraft writing as Jaye Roycraft

  Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  ImaJinn Books was founded by Linda Kichline.

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  #10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

  Cover design: Patricia Lazarus

  Interior design: Hank Smith

  Photo/Art credits:

  Photo (man) © konradbak | Dreamstime.com

  :Ercv:01:

  Dedication

  To my friend Ellie, with love.

  Prologue

  Palladia

  Date 3.137.2

  Dearest Father,

  This will be my last transmission before I’m put into hypersleep. I hate the sleep, but Captain Bhrenth has assured me there’s nothing to worry about and that we’ll be on B’harata before I know it. Traveling on a cargo ship is a strange feeling, but the Captain is very nice and seems to know his business well.

  It’s a little daunting going all the way to B’harata. I’ve never been so far from home, and I’ll miss you and all my old friends from the Bureau terribly, even though I know they all think I should have my head examined for quitting my job and following a deported “dark outworlder” (Gods, how I hate that term!) across the galaxy.

  But I don’t regret my decision. Rayn and I share a bond I don’t think I could ever have with anyone else, and I can’t imagine life without him. He’s all I think about. I won’t forget you, though, never fear that. Your support has meant more to me than you’ll ever know. I’ll send a transmission from B’harata upon my arrival.

  All my love,

  Dina

  Chapter One

  The Phoenix

  THE WOLF WHISTLE that echoed behind Kylariz was an unnecessary forewarning that the routine take-down of the Palladia was going to be anything but.

  “Enough, Sandy,” said Kylariz, knowing he was just as guilty as his shipmate of staring at the woman encased in the hibernation pod. The woman was a rare beauty. It wasn’t the fine features and pale yellow hair that caught Kyl’s eye, though, but the haunting image that the death-mask of hypersleep triggered in his mind’s eye. He saw a woman in the moment of death, a snapshot in time forever framed in his memory. He looked away, and the vision dissipated like mist in the sun.

  “Wake her, Captain,” he said.

  Sandy leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Alec . . .”

  He raised a hand and sighed, not so much annoyed with Sandy as with himself. “Don’t be telling me what I already know, Sandy. Captain, smartly now.”

  The captain of the small freighter hesitated, and his gaze darted to Sandy as if in appeal. “This lady is a civilian. She has no valuables. I demand you leave her unharmed,” he proclaimed in a voice that sounded like his collar was too tight.

  Kylariz cocked a brow. The captain’s pretense of duty didn’t impress him. Kyl doubted the man cared anything for his passenger beyond the lawsuit her loss would entail. “No valuables? Else you’re blind, Captain, or you think I am. It’d be a shame now for anyone to come to harm, but I’ll do what I must. What’s it to be?”

  The captain keyed the sequence for the procedure to awaken the woman. Kyl had learned long ago that nothing toppled principles like the threat of a little bodily injury. Except, of course, greed. A series of lights flashed on the pod panel, and the numbers representing the woman’s life signs changed as her body was brought out of hypersleep. While he waited, Kyl heard in his mind the words Sandy would have voiced. Cold cargo only. No men, women, or children. He was violating the Code, and he knew it. But he had a purpose, and the woman would serve it. She was a rare catch, and he knew a beauty like her would have someone waiting. Someone missing her. She would make grand bait for the hounds.

  “Check the payload manifest, Sandy. Let’s see what manner of payday we’ll be having today.” Out of the corner of his eye Kyl could see his mate’s wide grin as Sandy punched up the information on the ship’s computer. Kyl wondered if the amusement was due more to the anticipation of the prize hidden in the ship’s hold or the thought of Kyl trying to handle a female captive. In any case, he doubted Sandy was busying too many brain cells worrying about violating the Roven’s Code. It was always that way with Sandy, but Kyl didn’t hold it against him.

  “The usual,” announced Sandy, sounding mildly disappointed. “Exodite, tap, spice, and artwork.”

  It was nothing more or less than Kyl had expected—not an exciting haul, but profitable. “Take all the exodite and as much of the tap as you can manage. Leave the condiments and figurines.”

  The cover of the hibernation pod slid back, and Sandy paused before heading toward the cargo hold. Playing God again, Alec?

  Sandy’s voice sounded in his mind. Though seldom serious himself, Sandy seemed to relish playing the role of Kyl’s conscience.

  Go!

  Kyl watched the girl as her body exerted itself to slough off the sleep. Sweat appeared on her forehead, she blinked, and a tear slid sideways into her hair. He nodded. “She’s ready. Get her up.”

  The captain’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his eyes flickered toward his cargo hold. No doubt the ramifications of this less-than-profitable run were starting to sink in. Deep space marine insurance excluded loss due to hostile boarding.

  Kyl lowered his voice. “Now, Captain. I won’t tell you again.”

  The captain cleared his throat. “Miss Marlijn. Mondina, can you hear me? This is Captain Bhrenth.”

  “Yes, I hear you, but I can’t see,” she replied. Her voice wasn’t sweet and musical, but matter-of-fact—like that of a teacher or doctor.

  Captain Bhrenth took a step backward, and Kyl couldn’t resist curling a corner of his mouth in disdain. Most spacers were used to the stink of hypersleep, but the captain—his cargo and passenger already lost—seemed little inclined to suffer further distress.

  “Your body’s still adjusting. Your vision should clear momentarily, Miss Marlijn. Please get up if you can.” Captain Bhrenth voiced the words as if he had a piece of sour fruit stuck in his teeth.

  “Are your manners gone the way of
your luck, Captain? Help the lady,” said Kyl, suppressing a smile.

  Captain Bhrenth shot him a look as cold as space.

  DINA STARTED TO sweat.

  She could feel cold pearls of moisture gather on her brow, and she shivered as one burgeoned and slipped sideways to roll into her hair. A tiny tingling sensation in her hands and feet promised life, and instinctively she wanted to move, to stretch out her limbs, but hard as she tried, she couldn’t. The uncomfortable prickling sensation spread to her arms and legs. Her head simply throbbed.

  She struggled to catch a thought and hang on to it and happily realized at last that she was waking up from the induced sleep. That meant only one thing—she had reached her destination. Rayn. Rayn’s waiting for me. We’ll finally be together again. She struggled even harder to cast off the remaining shreds of sleep.

  She heard a voice urging her to wake. What was the hurry? This didn’t feel at all like the other time she’d been awakened from hypersleep. That had been an orderly process—not rushed—but taken in slow, careful steps. Then again, that had been a large passenger transport, not a small cargo ship. Still, something felt wrong.

  She felt strong arms assist her, and her vision cleared as the voice promised. But her limbs felt numb, and she didn’t think she could stand. From her seated position, she saw two men stationed before her, and something was indeed very wrong. She recognized Captain Bhrenth, but the other was a stranger. A very undeniable stranger, for she couldn’t look away.

  She wasn’t sure at first what held her attention more, his height or his coloring. She’d seen many a tall, powerfully built man in her life, so decided quickly that it was his strange coloring. He looked like a ghost.

  He appeared to be a Glacian. He had the pallid skin of a spacer, evident in his face and well-muscled bare arms, and thick, shaggy, shoulder-length hair that looked as if it had never seen sunlight. It was a dark blond, but a blond drained of all golden highlights, like brass tarnished by years of neglect. His face was as pale as the rest of him, and she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes. All she could spy beneath his brows were pockets of gray shadow. Whether makeup applied for effect or a natural consequence of his facial bone structure, she couldn’t tell. What she could observe showed strong features framed by a long white scar that traversed the right side of his face from his temple to his cheekbone like a bolt of lightning.

  He wore a breastplate comprised of hundreds of overlapping linked metal pieces, each piece in the shape of a bird feather. A utility belt hung from his narrow hips, and snug gray trousers were tucked into high, brown leather boots. The left jackboot housed a long leather scabbard along its length, and Dina could see the decorative haft of a dagger in the form of a bird’s head, its beak open and upraised. Glints of red, like fresh blood, flashed from the eyes of the bird and provided the only color to the man’s drab appearance.

  “Captain, who is this man?” Dina asked, her eyes never leaving the intruder.

  “Address me, girl. I’m in charge,” the spacer said softly.

  A shiver went down her spine at the sound of his voice. He might appear to be a Glacian, but his voice had an accent she couldn’t identify. She sent out a light mind probe, but it was repelled, and she had a hard time locking on to even surface thoughts or emotions.

  “Who are you?” she repeated.

  “The Phoenix, Captain Kylariz of the Tisiphone. Your owner.”

  She blinked, though it was her ears she questioned. “No one ‘owns’ me.”

  “You and your fate are in my hands. Call it by any name you fancy—the result’s the same.”

  She shook her head, as if this were a nightmare she could awaken from. No. This can’t be happening. I have to get to B’harata. And Rayn. “My destination is the Deorcan Grid. I must get there.”

  A second intruder appeared. He threw his head back and flashed enough white teeth to distract from the chill in his unearthly blue eyes. But Dina wasn’t distracted for long. Her gaze shifted back to Kylariz, who merely cocked one side of his mouth like a weapon at the ready.

  “Alas, miss, there are stones along even the smoothest of paths, and this time you’ve tripped over a big one,” announced the younger man. She shifted her gaze to him as a peal of laughter attended the toss of his long hair.

  “The Dark Star. What’s a Glacian girl like you want on B’harata?” asked Kylariz, his sardonic grin and soft derision silent accompaniments to his associate’s exuberance.

  She was going to B’harata to be reunited with Rayn, but Kylariz didn’t need to know that. Dina bristled at his tone, but managed to keep her voice as smooth and cold as ice. “My business on B’harata is none of yours.”

  The stern visage of the intruder lingered on her. “Sandy, take her aboard and keep a sharp eye on her. And give her something for the aftereffects of the sleep.”

  “No!” Dina pulled away from Captain Bhrenth and stood ready to fight, too angered to be embarrassed by his reference to the pungent odor of her body’s struggle to cleanse itself of the hypersleep drugs. She looked to Captain Bhrenth, but he stood with his shoulders slumped and his mouth clamped shut.

  Kylariz ran his gaze up and down the length of her body. “I’ll deal with you later, with or without force. Savvy, girl?”

  Dina’s instinct was to fight this man any way she could, but her training had also taught her that disengaging from a dangerous situation was not only acceptable, but a wise decision in many situations. As if I were still on the Job, she thought ruefully.

  “I understand. You needn’t treat me like some animal,” she answered.

  “Then pray act like a lady, and I won’t have to,” came the reply. The strange eyes, caped in their dark shadows, remained locked on hers until, with a defiant flip of her hair, Dina spun away from him. Escorted by the younger spacer, she made her way slowly to the airlock. It was hard to walk rebellious and proud with her legs as wobbly as those of a newborn creature, but she did her best, holding her chin high and trying to affect the saunter of the unvanquished rather than the hobble of the infirm.

  Dina saw the young spacer raise his eyebrows and tilt his head at Kylariz as he reached the airlock, but Kylariz gave no answer except a long breath drawn out over the stubborn set of his mouth.

  THE RAIDERS’ VESSEL was larger than the Palladia, with a functionality that reminded her of a hospital—clean and state-of-the-art, but cold and impersonal. The young spacer put Dina into a cabin no larger than a cell and promised he’d be right back. A narrow bunk atop a bank of stowage lockers afforded the only seat, and Dina crawled onto the bed gratefully. She was cold, her head still throbbed with the mother of all headaches, and her stomach felt as if it had just taken a short step off a long plank—without her. She wanted to think, but it was all she could do to sit upright. She closed her eyes, leaned back against the bulkhead, and held her hands to her temples. With her knees pulled up to her chest, she tried to calm her mind. She wondered where Rayn was and what he was doing. Was he already on B’harata, waiting for her? She had no idea how close they were to the Deorcan Grid.

  Rayn . . . They’d known each other for such a short time on Exodus, but she’d fallen in love hard. He was an outlaw, a “dark outworlder” banned from her home world of Glacia and all Synergy worlds, and he was a dens, a member of a race she’d hated from childhood. They’d stood on opposite sides of the law, and yet Rayn had proven himself to be all she could want in a man. He’d been deported back to his home world as soon as she’d wrapped up, with Rayn’s help, her assignment on Exodus. She’d gone back to Glacia to spend some time with her father. Now she wished she’d left for B’harata sooner. And she wished she’d taken a passenger transport.

  The hatch opened, interrupting her private thoughts, and she slitted her eyes. The young man entered, carrying a drinking container. “Not feeling right, are we? Well, if it’s the sleep,
I can help.” He leaned down and gave her a conspiratorial wink. “If it’s Kylariz, I’m afraid there’s no remedy.”

  She glared at him.

  “Here. This’ll help. The main thing is to get fluids into you, so drink up.”

  Dina took the container, but hesitated before putting it to her lips. Her gaze met his uncanny blue eyes, and she shivered. How much harm did they wish her?

  He seemed to know her thoughts. “If you want your strength for Kylariz, you’d better do as I say.”

  But it was his captivating eyes more than his words that convinced her. There was a pull to them, a power beyond mere beauty that swayed her. It was as if his eyes had the same ability as her mind did to probe the secrets of another. She sipped the drink, then gulped the sweet liquid.

  “Slowly, now. You want to hydrate your body, not shock it.” He reached out and lightly held her arm to slow her, using his other hand to retrieve a sealed packet from his belt. “Here. When you’re finished, use this to clean yourself up with. It’ll neutralize the odor.” He tossed the packet to the bunk.

  After a few seconds, he released her and gently took the container from her. “Enough for now. I’ll bring more later. Is this your first time in the sleep?”

  Dina shook her head. “Second.” Feeling better, she looked at the young man and studied him closely for the first time. He was about her age, with long straight brown hair and cobalt eyes as deep and bright as thick ice. Like Kylariz, his face was pale and scarred, but rather than giving him a fierce appearance, the two small scars merely gave the boyish good looks a needed dash of ruggedness. A finely wrought silver neck torque gleamed at his throat above an unembellished metal breastplate, and silver arm bands encircled each arm, drawing attention to biceps that bulged with youthful strength. Dina reminded herself that charm and looks aside, he was nothing more than a raider and abductor of women.

  “Will you answer my questions? Or are you merely a watch dog until the master arrives?”