The Hunt for Red Fluffy Read online

  "Something in his royal demon blood makes it an obligation to be annoyed at certain things."

  Now Ness did laugh, a silver cascade of notes, and Julian wasn't certain he'd ever heard a real laugh from him before. He relayed Julian's instructions to Nic before adding in a softer tone just for Julian's ears, "That's true. Sometimes Shax gets annoyed for the look of it."

  Nic had reached the ship, the metal strut looming like a giant skyscraper from his perspective. The image tilted as Nic began his climb, which forced Julian to swallow hard a few times. Watching rat climbing while already nauseated wasn't a good idea.

  "As soon as he reaches the top, ask him to look for the top joint of the strut. However, he might recognize it."

  "All right." Wings rustling, Ness leaned over Julian's shoulder to speak closer to the comm. "Nic, look up. Do you see the round thing sticking out? Go there." To Julian, he said, "Now what?"

  "Please ask him to place his first disk there, on the round thingy."

  Ness relayed the instructions again, and the process of Nic peeling the backing off the disk and placing it on the joint was more entertaining than it probably should have been. Those little suctioned paws were so clever, though.

  With scenes of tall vegetation alternating with scenes of giant metal structures, Nic ran back and forth between Fluffy to retrieve another disk and the ship to place the new disk on the next landing strut. He only erred once when he ran up a strut and found a disk already there, but the whole operation couldn't have taken more than half an hour. It only felt longer because of the pounding in Julian's head. Disks placed, Nic returned to perch between Fluffy's ears.

  "Back to the ship?" Even Ness's soft voice stabbed into his brain.

  "Yes. No." Julian gripped Ness's arm, struggling to put words in order. "Send Fluffy back with Nic. Then you…could you take me up? Where we can see the cutter?"

  Ness hesitated on a long, indrawn breath. "All right. Fluffy, back to Brimstone. Hurry. Back to Shax."

  A feline chuff came back through the comm link, then Nic's camera showed the forest flying past again. Fluffy had taken to heart the admonishment to hurry. After enough time to allow Fluffy to make it past the idiots still stumbling around looking for her poop, Ness gathered Julian up in his arms and launched into the air. The force of takeoff stole Julian's sight, but the minor blackout only lasted a few moments. They were clear, above the canopy, the brilliant sunlight glinting off the nearby cutter where it sat largely hidden in the trees.

  Carefully, since he didn't want to drop anything into the dense understories, Julian drew off his right glove with his teeth and reached into his topmost inside pocket.

  "Detonator?"

  "Got it in one." Julian's heart skipped when his sausage fingers fumbled the tiny oval, but Ness snatched it out of the air and handed it back. "Thank you. Now let's see how we did."

  He flicked the tiny switch on the detonator's side, waited for the green lights to flash, then pressed the center button. There was a click. A flash. A flump came from below the ship, followed by coils of smoke.

  "That was a bit…anticlimactic," Ness murmured.

  "Give it a minute."

  A creak came from below followed by a wrenching metallic shriek. There it goes. Slowly, as if the ship were simply tired of standing upright, it heeled over to land with a resounding boom, its starboard bottom edge well buried in the dirt.

  "I see. Much bet—" Ness surged skyward as a white-hot explosion rocked the clearing, his heart hammering against Julian's ear as black smoke poured up from the landing site. "Goodness. Was that supposed to happen?"

  "Not as such. One of the charges must have been too close to ordinance." Julian sighed and rested his head on Ness's wonderfully solid shoulder. "Tsk. Messy, but I'll take it. I'm done here."

  Understatement of the century. He was past done to overdone and should've been removed from the oven an hour ago. Some consolation that he'd bought the Brimstone a little breathing room, of course, but he wasn't sure he would even make it back. Could've been worse. Ness's wings thumped a steady, soothing beat through the gathering evening, and Julian let himself slide down into the dark.

  After all, how many assassins got to die in an angel's arms?

  Chapter Seven

  "It's been too long. I'm going after them." Shax checked the charges on his weapons and holstered them at thigh and hip.

  Mac put a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from reaching the hold ramp. "We just finished repairs, Cap. Ms. Ivana said two days. Julian's giving you two days."

  "Or they could all be dead! Let go!" Shax took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "That's an order, Mr. McDougall. Let g—"

  We're coming in.

  "Ness?" Shax clawed his way free to hit comm. "Ness!"

  But Ness had apparently risked getting on the ship's channel for just those three words. Only white noise answered him. Calm, calm, the crew's watching. Shax pulled in a slow breath before he turned.

  "Get that ramp down, Mac, and stay on the switch. They may be coming in hot, with pursuit. Heck! I want you on the right side of the doors, Corny on the left. Ver, with me. Weapons ready, gentlemen. Make certain of your targets before you fire."

  He strode down the ramp as it was lowering and took up position at the bottom, determined to cover his lover's retreat his own damn self if he had to. Rustling approached through the undergrowth, something large heading toward them at speed, big enough to be a hover cycle driven by a maniac.

  "Stand ready," Shax ordered, just loud enough for his crew. A small eep from behind told him that Heckle was doing his best to be brave. "Steady. Steady…"

  A red blur broke through the underbrush, not motorized, not human. Shax just had time to point his laser pistol skyward and bellow, Hold your fire! before slam-thud, he was down, pinned under the paws of a full-grown hellcat. She sniffed him once and licked his face with her raspy, forked tongue.

  "Gah!"

  Trying to fend her off wasn't helped at all by a spacer rat jumping onto his nose and trampling over his head to get up the ramp to Leopold. Naturally, at this precise moment, and not when Shax was heroically positioned to guard his lover's retreat, Ness soared out of the sky and onto the ramp, Julian in his arms.

  "Off! Fluffy, off!" Shax struggled out from under his cat, who still insisted on licking him as if he were a dust-covered kitten. He holstered his weapons and managed to recover some dignity before he turned to Ness. "Pursuit?"

  Ness shook his head, his expression twisting with sorrow. "They're busy. Julian…"

  The anguish in that one word drew Shax's gaze to Julian, still held in Ness's arms—Julian, lying inert in Ness's arms. "What's happened? Ver, go fire up the auto doc. Was he shot? Where was he hit? Go, go, go. Inside. Talk to me on the way to sickbay."

  "Poisoned buttercopters," Ness managed in a strangled voice. "Their ship's seriously damaged. Julian took an antidote. I don't think it worked."

  Shax jogged to keep up with his angel's long legs. "We need to talk about giving a coherent report, I think."

  "They don't have a ship! Fluffy's poop confused them! Julian needed sickbay hours ago!" Ness broke into a run, and Shax had to settle for sprinting through the corridors until he caught up at sickbay.

  "Cupcake, you're not making sense," he panted out. "Is he still breathing?"

  Ness nodded miserably as he started working on the collection of buckles and fastenings on Julian's jacket. "Barely."

  "All right. It's all right. You got him here." Shax hurried over to relieve Ness of rifles and Julian's helmet strapped to Ness's belt. "Poison, you said? Let's get a blood sample first, get the autodoc started on analysis."

  Still nodding mutely, Ness pressed Julian's hand into the sample tray and waited for the click and beep that signaled a successful blood draw. Gently, calmly, Shax helped with Julian's jacket and boots before taking both Ness's hands in his.

  "That's fine, sweetheart. That's good. Leave Julian his privacy. Tell me what happe
ned out there."

  Shivering, Ness came into his arms and clung there, telling a tale of strange wildlife and of the oddest games of cat and mouse Shax had ever heard. A few questions had him convinced that the Brimstone was safe to take off, though, whenever Mac and Ms. Ivana said equipment was secure. The cutter was surely and neatly scuttled. During the telling, the autodoc lowered the screens around Julian, probably due to Ms. Ivana's prompting. She was quite protective of her Julian. The creaks and clicks behind the barrier illustrated the autodoc's many arms and instruments going to work. Julian, Julian, I asked you not to go. The urge to shake him warred with the urge to gather Julian up in his arms and sob, but Shax didn't have the luxury of either choice. Ness was already so distraught.

  "The buttercopters didn't go after you at all? Or Fluff? Or Nic?"

  Ness bit his lip, forehead creased in a puzzled way. "No. Just Julian. I hadn't really thought about that."

  "Something in human blood components or human scent, I expect." Shax patted Ness's chest. "I also expect that the planet's going to take care of the remaining Duomo goons wandering around the forest."

  "That's a horrible thought."

  Shax shrugged and took the opportunity to snuggle closer. "It's a practical thought. The forest that eats my enemies is my friend. Or something like that. I missed you."

  "I missed you, too." Though Ness's arms remained firmly around Shax, distraction colored his words, and his attention was definitely on the privacy screens.

  Understandable. I can't help being worried, too. Don't you pick now to die, Julian. Don't you dare.

  Eventually, the screens scrolled back into the ceiling. Julian lay stripped to his skin, his belongings neatly stacked in the cubby behind the bed, blankets piled on top of him. Shax stifled a snort when Ness immediately disentangled himself and headed straight for the medical bed.

  "Julian?"

  Lines ran from under the blankets, probably hydration and whatever meds the autodoc had prescribed. Shax's heart climbed into his throat to see Julian like that—with a stillness he didn't even exhibit in sleep, his glossy hair a dark cloud on the sterile white of the sickbay linens.

  Though he'd seemed deeply asleep, Julian's eyes snapped open and searched the room until he focused on Ness. He struggled against the blankets, and Ness helped him free an arm, their hands clasping without hesitation. Shax tried his best not to react to this newest shift in assassin-angel interpersonal relations, but his eyebrows crept up regardless. Holding hands was good, though. Wasn't it?

  "Hey," Julian whispered.

  "How are you?"

  "You got us here." Julian drew their joined hands to his chest. "Ness. No regrets. None. I've already outlived them all."

  His eyes slid shut, and Ness let out a strangled cry, but if Julian had wanted a dramatic death scene, his slow but steady vitals gave him the lie. Thank all the levels of hell for that.

  "He's all right." Shax came to wrap an arm around Ness's waist. "My angel, my own, he'll be all right."

  Ness swiped impatiently at his eyes before carefully placing Julian's arm back under the blanket.

  What happened out there, Julian? What in all hell's pits happened? What strange, shared experience, what odd conversations? My Ness was starting to tolerate you, yes. Even like you. I think he was. But this…this heartbreak over your health crisis? Maybe he was a terrible lover and friend to have a little hope glow building in his chest even as it hurt to see Ness so upset and Julian laid low. But there it was—a recalcitrant little gleam. Shax drew the line at fantasizing about the three of them, though. Too soon. Not yet.

  "He wouldn't let me bring him back," Ness choked out. "He wanted to give you time. Was it enough? Time?"

  Shax took Ness's head between his hands. "Plenty of time, cupcake. Beautifully done. Come away now. You need rest. Julian needs rest."

  Perhaps there were more surreal things in the universe than a demon tucking his former angel lover into their bed and kissing him on the forehead before tiptoeing out, but Shax couldn't think of any offhand.

  So many questions for them both, preferably together. I want this sorted sooner rather than later, because they're both so dear to me and they're making me a bit nuts. Still, he couldn't interrogate either one, since they were both unconscious. Shax decided not to keep picking at it for now. At least not as much.

  He meandered. There was no other word for it. The ship was shut tight and shielded against discovery, and even with Fluffy back aboard, there were so many apparent Fluffy's out there in the trees now that Shax had no fear of discovery. No need to ask Ms. Ivana to hurry. He checked the time. Well, not for a few hours, at any rate.

  No, he was the captain and he was inspecting. Yes. That sounded better. Checking in with Heckle, who was down in storage counting and organizing bins of Ms. Ivana's synthesized food stuff. Looking in on Mac, or really Mac's boots since the rest of the giant nephilim was under the Copernicus housing in his never-ending quest for perfect calibration. Catching up with Ver, who was on scans in the pilot pod. Stopping in the cargo hold where Leopold was sketching again, ready to show…

  Where is Three Arms Circling?

  The tank's water stared at him, if water could have stared, completely motionless and empty except for the abandoned many-armed suit. Shax checked every side of the tank just to be sure, but no octopus spacer. "Leopold, where has Thr—"

  Shax stopped at a tug on his trousers. Startled, he glanced down to find his gaze met by golden, cross-pupiled eyes. A damp, suction-cupped arm rested on his knee.

  "Oh. Hello. So you can manage outside the tank?"

  "For short periods," Leopold said. "Three Arms has something to ask. I'm not certain what."

  While Three Arms might have been happy communicating with Leopold in pictures, they seemed determined to talk to Shax in tugs. This was neither dignified nor practical, so Shax offered them a hand. The end of the tugging arm wrapped around his fingers in a rather endearing way, the feel of Three Arms' skin smooth and rubbery like a dolphin. Three Arms' many appendages allowed them to flow across the floor beside Shax, leading him toward one side of the cargo bay.

  One of the arms not directly acting as support and not holding onto Shax pointed.

  "You want something in the toolbox?"

  Three Arms rose up, giving the impression of standing on tiptoe, and ran the pointing arm over the box from one end to the other.

  "You want me to take down the whole box? It's a bit heavy."

  Corny snorted from where he was cleaning Rosa's stall. "Big, strong demon should be able to handle a little toolbox."

  "You have been spending altogether too much time with Verin." Shax allowed himself an offended sniff before he set both hands to the box and heaved it out of its clamps. "All right. Here we are, then. Where do you want it?"

  In answer, Three Arms flowed back across the floor to the tank. Shax obliged by lugging the toolbox in their wake, making certain not to make any sounds of effort that Corny might hear. Impertinent crew. Every one of them. Expecting Three Arms to request the box to be opened so they could select a tool or two, Shax set it down beside the tank.

  Apparently ignoring everyone now, Three Arms climbed into the water. This might have been a rude gesture from anyone else, but Shax reasoned that Three Arms had been out of the water far longer than most people could hold their breath underwater. The octopus spacer had probably been getting a little desperate.

  Three Arms turned in the water to face Shax and lifted one arm over the edge of the tank to point down at the toolbox.

  "Now, now, I can't put the whole toolbox in the water. That is, I suppose I could, but I don't think it would do the metal bits any favors."

  A second gesturing arm joined the first, the tips meeting, then pulling apart. After a few repetitions, Shax thought he had it and opened the box, moving it closer to the tank and unfolding the drawers to display its contents. Suckers pressed to the glass, Three Arms peered at the offerings in a way that Shax could
only read as perplexed.

  "Leopold, could you—" Shax startled to find his son right beside him. "Ah. Very good. Could you perhaps lend Three Arms your drawing pad so we might be able to determine what sort of tool they're searching for?"

  He needn't have bothered, since Leopold was already handing pad and stylus up to the arms reaching over the tank. Three Arms clutched both close, going quite still in a thinking pose, before they began to draw in rapid strokes. When they had returned the pad, Shax turned it this way and that, trying to make sense of the wand-like object with…something coming out of it.

  Corny leaned over his shoulder to have a look. "Looks like one a' them blowtorches, Cap."

  "I see." Shax didn't at all see how Corny had reached that conclusion, but at least it was a conclusion. "I don't know if ours are any good underwater, though."

  "Welp, Mac uses 'em out in vacuum. Cain't see underwater causin' more trouble than that."

  After some rummaging, Shax came up with one of the handheld torches. He flicked on the gas and pressed the ignition, showing the little flame to Three Arms, six of whose arms shot above the water, waving wildly.

  "That was either a very excited yes or an extraordinarily frightened no," Shax ventured.

  Carefully, Shax turned off the torch and held it over the tank, where Three Arms snatched it and dragged it under. They nearly took Shax with it but realized their error when Shax's head broke the surface. Three Arms carefully released the suction cups holding Shax's wrist and patted him on the shoulder as he wrenched his head back out of the water, gasping.

  Shax sputtered and wiped the water from his eyes before muttering, "You're welcome, I'm sure."

  Admonishments regarding etiquette were lost on Three Arms, of course, who had scuttled to the corner of the tank where they kept their damaged suit. After fumbling a bit with the controls, they switched the torch on and held the flame over a spot on one of the forward arms. Shax had thought the intent was to burn through the material, but instead, the heat caused a piece to pop open. Behind it lay a neatly arranged storage compartment.