Vexing Voss:Coletti Warlords 03(41)

The next blow sent me reeling. My knees buckled, and I crumpled to the sand, too exhausted to rise.

Malik howled in victory. "Did you think this pitiful female could defeat me, Father?"

Voices whispered in my head, "Get up. You fail, he dies."

No! Voss couldn't die. I had lost too much. I wasn't strong enough to go  on without him. Reality blurred, and for a moment, I stood on that  bloody Phoenix street strewn with disemboweled corpses and the hot wind  carrying the children's tortured screams. From somewhere deep inside me  came a final vestige of angry strength. Never again would the innocent  be slaughtered. Vengeance would finally be mine. This was the hour of  his death. The day of retribution.

I hurled all my pain and rage at Malik.

Malik's screams of stunned agony reverberated around the energy field.

"Die. Die, you bastard." I felt his shields crumble under my furious  onslaught. The one who had sought to destroy me and mine would in turn  be destroyed. I sensed his life force slipping away, and then it was  gone.

I fell into a weird kind of limbo where I was detached from my body. There was no pain. No fear. Just peace. Voss was safe.

"Zoey?"

"Mom?" Joy erupted inside me as she appeared out of the blackness. "I did it, Mom. I killed the bastard. Just like I promised."

She pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'm so very proud of you, Zoey."

"Malik will never hurt anyone again."

"No, he won't, but your battle drained your life force to the point of death, sweetie. It's not your time. You must go back."

"I want to be with you, Mom. I've missed you so much."

Zarek's furious voice demanded, "Will you let Voss die?"

"What? No. I saved him."

"No, you did not. Get up. Now! Voss needs the antidote. You must deactivate the energy barrier."

A wave of power hit me like an electric shock. My eyes flew open. "I'm  up!" Everything was a nauseating blur. I shook my head to clear it and  spotted Voss. There was a bluish tinge to his skin, and his breath came  in ragged gasps.

Oh dear God. He was dying. I tried to rise, but my muscles howled in  protest. It was like I was made out of granite. No matter how hard I  tried, I couldn't get up. My strength was gone.                       
       
           



       

The Overlord's growl reverberated around my skull, "Will you let Voss die?"

"No, I would give my life for his." My gaze settled on Malik. He was  just a couple of feet away. I could do it. Gritting my teeth, I dragged  myself across the burning sand and fought back the waves of dizziness.

"Hurry," Zarek urged.

Fear had me scrambling like a drunken sea turtle for Malik. I grabbed  his thick wrist and started punching icons on his warrior's bracelet  until the energy barrier vanished.

Everyone rushed to Voss.

A shudder shook me. I was so very cold. The sun dissolved, and an inky blackness crashed over me in a claustrophobic wave.





Chapter Twenty-One

I floated in an endless black void. Shadows shifted, danced, and writhed  in a celebration of death. They whirled around me, beckoned to me,  pulled me away from the light.

Oh fuck! Was I dead? I didn't feel dead.

The shadows pushed me farther and farther into the void. Gruesome skeletal caricatures spun gleefully around me.

Okay, this was creeping me out. "Mom? You there? Am I dreaming? Please, God, let me be dreaming."

Faraway voices called to me.

"Hello? Who's there?"

A maniacal laugh shattered the silence.

"No! None of this is real. It can't be. I killed you."

"I cannot die."

"Sure you can."

"I attached myself to your life force. As long as you live, I live."

Gotta say I didn't see that one coming. Did I want to go through life  with a murderous parasite attached to me? Hell no. I swam deeper into  the waiting blackness. "Let's go say howdy to the devil."

Malik's stunned horror washed over me. "Stop!"

"Not a chance, asshole. You're done with killing my loved ones."

"You'll die too."

"And your point is?"

"Are you insane?"

"No. Determined. It ends now."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

"Voss will never allow you to die," Malik blustered.

"Because of you, he's in no shape to stop me."

A thrust of iridescent light shot into existence. "But I am."

Crap. Zarek. "Sorry, sir, I forgot all about the Kalafat, but he hurt Voss, and he's gotta die."

"He will die, but this is neither the time nor the place."

"Touch me and she dies," Malik snarled.

A ribbon of dazzling energy shattered the blackness and coiled around  me. A tremendous power poured into me, ripping me away from Malik's foul  grasp.

Malik's cry of stunned agony echoed in my head. "No! It's not possible."

"Awake," Zarek commanded.

My body convulsed violently, and I sucked in a lungful of air. A groan  broke from me as pain radiated throughout my body. Being back in the  land of the living hurt like a mother.

"Zoey? Please wake up," Hothar called urgently.

My eyes snapped open, and I surveyed his badly bruised face. "Whoa! I hope you kicked the asshole's butt."

A feral smile curved Hothar's mouth. "I did."

"Good." I raised my head and looked down at my body. "Why am I wearing this funky paper jumpsuit?"

"It's a life-support suit for those who need intensive care." Grabbing  me in a bear hug, Hothar whispered in my ear, "I thought we had lost  you."

"Can't breathe," I squeaked.

He eased his grip. "You take too many chances."

God, he sounded just like Voss. Shit! "Where's Voss?"

He pointed to a regen tube filled with a funky red gas. "The medics have  stabilized him, and they are purifying his body of the poison."

An Alliance medic in a rumpled green tunic bustled into the room. "Good,  you're awake." He ran a scanner over me. "Your life signs are back in  the normal range, but let me give you something for the pain."

My head did feel like it was going to explode. I winced as he triggered a  pressure injector against my neck. "Is Voss going to be okay?"

The medic nodded. "Fortunately we got to him in time." He gave me a stern look. "You, however, came very close to dying."                       
       
           



       

I shrugged. "What's a girl to do? I was the only one who could stop Malik."

His skepticism obvious, the medic replied, "Females do not engage in battle."

My temper flared, and I glared at him. "You've never been to Earth, have you?"

He gave me a condescending smile. "No matter what the species, females are genetically not suited for battle."

"Would you like a demonstration of my abilities, honey?"

Hothar's eyes widened in horror, and he yanked me out of the regen tube. "No! He does not."

"I think he needs one." Okay, I was being a cranky bitch, but I'd had it with his snotty attitude.

"Witnessing such a battle can overcome a female's fragile sensibilities." The medic picked up his pressure injector.

Fragile sensibilities? What an ass. "Get away from me before I hurt you."

He raised the injector.

Twisting in Hothar's grip, I kicked the pissy little medic in the family  jewels and smiled in satisfaction when he doubled over and made a  gagging noise. "Who's fragile now, huh?"

With a groan, Hothar dropped me to my feet.

"I did warn him."

"That you did," Zarek commented drily.

Spinning around, I met his merciless gaze and stated firmly, "I'm not apologizing to that little prick."

A dangerous smile touched Zarek's mouth. "Have I asked you to apologize?"

"No." I blinked as the room danced dizzily around me. "Whoa. I think I need to lie down."

Totally ignoring the medic's groans of pain, Zarek scooped me up and  plunked me on an examining table. "You need blood." He drew a big-ass  knife from his boot and slashed his palm. "Drink."

I stared at the blood welling up in dismay. "Uh. No offense, but couldn't I wait until Voss is feeling better?"

A low growl rumbled in his chest. "Are you defying me?"

"No! Not at all, it's just …  It's not Voss's."

"In emergency situations, you may drink from a male other than your mate," Zarek advised.

"Drink," Voss hissed in my head.

"Sir, yes, sir." I obediently lapped up Zarek's hot blood. It tasted  kinda funny, but boy did it have a kick to it. I was getting one hell of  a buzz on.

"No chocolate for the next two months," Voss stated suddenly.

"What! That is so unfair." I pushed Zarek's hand away and angrily wiped the blood off my mouth.

"You disobeyed me."