“We’re eight hours out from the planet,” Rico said. “We can hole up at Bastian’s old place if Jon and Alex give us the all clear. It will keep us out of sight until your meeting.”
Callum liked the idea. He didn’t know who Bastian was, but he could visit with the colonel’s old love and do a little sightseeing. In five hundred years, he’d never been to Trakis Two—the planet that never sleeps. He’d heard it was a wild place. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
…
Tannis studied their faces. Callum appeared eager. His nose was clearly broken, his shirt stained with blood, and he obviously had trouble sitting. She almost grinned—she bet it was a long time since he’d felt like this.
She didn’t have happy memories of Trakis Two, but since most of the unhappy ones were because of Bastian, she reckoned she could overcome her misgivings. Bastian was dead, staked by Rico, after he’d nearly raped and drained Alex.
And Bastian did have a huge hideaway where El Cazador could lay up undetected. Alex and Jon were there now making sure nothing else moved in. There were rumored to be strange things living on the dark side of Trakis Two. Still, it was better than wandering aimlessly in space, and no one would be tempted to toss their client out of the airlock.
“Okay, Trakis Two it is.”
“Excellent, we can go clubbing,” Daisy said.
“You cannot go clubbing. We’re laying low.”
Daisy’s green eyes took on a mutinous expression. “We never got to go clubbing last time, either.”
Tannis pursed her lips. But maybe they all needed a bit of downtime. “I’ll check things out—if it looks safe, you can go. But only if it looks safe.”
Chapter Four
Directly below them, a great, hulking structure appeared to grow out of the darkness itself. Closer inspection revealed that it was man-made, but hewn out of the black rock that made up the surrounding landscape. Callum stared at the monitor and tried to ignore the feeling of misgiving the view gave him.
There were rumored to be all sorts of sinister things living in the murky lands surrounding Pleasure City. The place was a big tourist draw, but visitors were cautioned against traveling beyond the city limits. Those that ignored the warnings were seldom seen again.
The planet came up frequently in Council meetings. Some wanted to go in and clean up the city. Others believed that a place like Trakis Two was needed—at least all the lowlifes were concentrated in one area. So far, they had done nothing.
Rico hovered El Cazador above the structure. He was a great pilot, but Callum itched to get his hands on the controls.
“You heard from Alex or Jon?” Tannis asked.
“They’re not answering at the moment,” Janey said. “But they called in last night and said everything was clear. And the heat sensors are picking up just the two life forms.” Janey frowned. “Hey, do vampires show up on heat sensors? Aren’t they, well, sort of dead?”
Rico grinned. “Are you suggesting I’m a coldhearted bastard?”
“We’re going to see a vampire?” Callum asked. He looked to Tannis, but she was doing her best to ignore him. And had been since their kiss yesterday.
Janey answered his question. “Nah, the vampire’s dead. Rico killed him last visit. We’re just making sure the place hasn’t been taken over by something equally unfriendly.”
“Or more so,” Rico added darkly. “Let’s see if the systems are still online. Otherwise, we’re going to have to find another way in. Where the hell are Jon and Alex? They’d better not be off somewhere boinking again. Wait, there’s something happening.”
As Callum watched, a fissure formed in the black rooftop.
“Welcome to vampire city.” A voice came over the comm unit. Jon, the assassin, Callum presumed.
“We’re in,” Tannis said.
The two sides of rock parted, revealing a cavern inside with a landing pad directly below them. Rico took them down and landed light as stardust.
“Right.” Tannis rubbed her hands together. She looked pleased. “I’ll go see what the newlyweds have to say.”
Tannis headed for the door and Callum followed. She paused and a flicker of annoyance passed over her deadpan features when she caught sight of him, then it was gone.
Callum trailed behind her to the docking bay and waited as she pressed her palm to the outer doors. They glided open. The place was in darkness, but as he watched, lights flickered on and illuminated a huge black-walled cavern with black sand floors and several tunnels leading off into stygian darkness. A shiver ran through him—the place gave him the creeps, and he couldn’t work out why.