Chapter 26
Gemma was shaking under the onslaught of Cal’s kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back with all her might. She’d been in such fear of losing him, of losing herself. Losing them both.
She’d known it was a long shot, that the probability had been almost nil, but there had been a non-zero chance that Beyha would be unable to steal her powers after releasing Cal’s, so she had to take it.
Although she’d been working to manipulate the redheaded demon, at the same time, she’d been keeping an eye on the conversation in the corner. Juston loved the demon called Midnight. But the shocking thing was, the demon loved him back.
Or perhaps it wasn’t so shocking. Grimm had professed his love for Charlie, a human who was on her way to losing her humanity. Perhaps demons weren’t entirely evil. Then Gemma thought of Sanri and shivered. That bitch was a lost cause.
Midnight had turned, just as Grimm had. But that didn’t mean she would stay turned.
Hating to do it, Gemma broke the kiss. “As much as I love this, and I mean I really love this, we’ve got to focus on getting out of her before Shadow and Sanri come back.”
Cal sighed, then nodded. “What about this one?” he asked, gesturing toward the Seeker frozen before them. “She did just threaten to kill us. Are we going to walk away from her?”
Gemma looked at Beyha. Cal was right. She had just threatened to take their lives. But she hadn’t done it. There had been ample opportunity, and she hadn’t taken it. Would she have really carried out her threat?
Sure, she’d caused Cal agony but no permanent damage. And compared to the others, she’d been the least inclined to torture and toy with them. There was something different about Beyha, something she couldn’t yet pinpoint but which she thought might be important in the future.
“Leave her.”
Cal looked surprised. “Why? This is our chance to take out a Seeker with zero risk.”
Gemma shook her head. “I’m not so sure there’s no risk. We should leave her. She’s not a threat.”
She could tell Cal didn’t understand her logic, but he was willing to trust her. “Okay. Time to hunt down my brother.”
“I think we need to give him and his demon a little more time,” Gemma said gently. “You’ve got a ship, right? Maybe the best thing to do is to prep it for takeoff.”
“Right again,” Cal said, bending to plant a kiss on her nose. “You know, I suppose some men would consider having a female smarter than them a liability, but you are the greatest asset a man could ever ask for.”
Gemma felt like she was glowing from the praise. Cal draped his arm around her shoulder and they walked together into the hall. The chaos that had reigned before had departed with Sanri, but the residents and staff were still too shell-shocked to know what was going on. They slipped easily out the door, past an empty guard shack, and into the parking structure.
Gemma was impressed by the Vartik ship. Its sleek lines projected an image of speed, its shape highlighting the advanced technology it was comprised of. Cal opened the hatch and led her inside. The ship was small, the bridge compact, but nonetheless, she found it elegant.
Gemma couldn’t help goggling at everything. She’d never been in a vessel this advanced. In truth, she’d been in very few vessels, spending most of her life locked away at RPS, so getting a chance to familiarize herself with a ship like this was exciting to say the least.
Cal sat at the controls, activating what she assumed was a communications array. He hit some buttons, then scowled. “My brother’s disabled his subdermal transmitter. I won’t be able to talk to him.” He rose, heading back toward the hatch. “I’m going to have to go get him. I want you to stay here where I know you’re safe.”
Gemma grabbed his arm to stop him. “You can’t separate us. And going back in there runs the risk of attracting the wrong attention. Are you sure there’s no other way to reach out to him?” Gemma was thinking about his powers. She knew they were capable of mind-to-mind contact, so why not use them for passing a message?
It took Cal a beat to realize what she was saying, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “You might be smarter than anyone has a right to be. I know what you’re saying. But we Vartiks value our privacy and there is a strict rule against mind-to-mind contact without permission.”
Gemma gave him a look. “Don’t you think you could break the rules this one time? It’s kind of an emergency.”
Cal laughed, but she could still tell he wasn’t thrilled with the idea. “Okay, but I’m going to tell my brother it was your idea.” He closed his eyes. “I hope I’ve got enough juice for this. The demon wiped me out.”
Gemma watched the play of reactions across Cal’s face. It was as if he were having a conversation without his lips moving. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes.
“Well, I don’t think he appreciates being interrupted. Man, that kid’s got it bad.” Cal ran his hand through his hair. “He’s asked us to give him fifteen minutes to convince Midnight to leave with him.”
Gemma nodded. “Sounds fair. I just hope the Seekers give us that long.”
Cal could tell that she was torn. He tugged her gently into his arms. “We’ve made it this far. We can last another quarter hour.”
“Besides,” he said, his features full of emotion. “If that was you in there and my brother was trying to get me back on the ship, I’d never agree to leave you.”
Gemma smiled, overwhelmed by what she felt for him. Cal led her off the bridge and through a small mess. He then pushed open a door that revealed a nondescript bed chamber.
