“I’ve spent most of my life in space,” Kane replied, taking absentminded note of the growing bravado in the female’s voice. “I’ve been to Earth more than I’ve been home. But yes, I’ve seen…affection. I suppose they felt love.”
“You suppose. That’s blows my mind. They don’t get married? They don’t have kids?”
“I don’t know those words. No, just shut up,” he said as she began to explain. “I think you’re done.”
Kane took the strap out of Raven’s mouth, worked an arm beneath her, and pulled her gently into a sitting position as the female undid the rest of her straps. “You did very well,” he told her, speaking Jotan so that she wouldn’t get too accustomed to sounds of praise, and she turned her face into his chest and wept a little, both hands pressed to her own sex, cradling herself and her pain.
“I need to take you through the care instructions,” the female was saying. “It’s important,” she added, as Kane turned an irritated eye on her. “You need some hypo-allergenic lotion and you need to rub it over the tattoos about every four hours to keep it from drying out for the first few days until the swelling goes down. Don’t rub, don’t scratch, don’t use soap and water or the ink might run. If it starts oozing or anything, use a dye-free antibiotic cream. As for the piercings, rotate the metal to keep it from crusting up and use a good hydrogen peroxide wash twice a day at least. This much metal, if you let an infection get started, you can be looking at some real damage, so be careful. Oh, and don’t take the piercings out for at least six weeks or they’ll heal up almost immediately. Got that?”
Kane gave Raven’s untouched arm a squeeze. “Did you understand that?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Kane nodded, although he suspected much of the rambling information the female had listed had to do with keeping Raven’s new body clean and free of infection, and when it came to that, he was reasonably sure he could do that better than anyone or anything on Earth. “All right,” he said, and lifted Raven off the table. He set her carefully down and kept his hand on her until she had hobbled a few steps and looked steady.
“Good?” the female asked.
“Good,” Kane said, and seized her by the hair, hauling her halfway over the little table and plucking the harvester from his pack.
“Wait!” she screamed, scrabbling at his hand, her kicking feet shattering rows of ink bottles behind her. “Wait! I won’t tell anyone about you! I promise! I swear I won’t!”
“I can assure that for myself,” he reminded her, smiling thinly at the back of her head.
“I did everything you said!”
“You sure did,” Kane said agreeably. “And I enjoyed the conversation, but that’s all done now and so are you.”
“But…But you were going to let me live!”
Kane cocked his head to one side and allowed himself to look mildly puzzled. “I don’t recall making that arrangement. Raven?”
She shook her head, leaning against the wall and cupping her sex.
“But I did everything you wanted,” the female wailed.
“Yes.” He studied her seriously. “Thank you. Now I want you to help me make Vahst.” He pushed her head down as she began shrieking, but paused and looked over his shoulder at his Raven. “I don’t suppose it comes as much comfort to you,” he added. “But you have done magnificent work.”
“Please!” she screamed.
Kane ripped off the back of her head and took the pink gland while her body spasmed, once, twice, and slowly eased towards death.
“Plzzz…”
“Magnificent work,” Kane murmured, watching the level of liquid inside the ampule fill with a few more precious drops. He popped out the spent bit of brain tissue onto the painted woman’s back and sealed up his pack again before shouldering it. “Raven,” he said cheerfully. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”
*
She cried all the way back to the hotel. Kane let her. The light from oncoming traffic splashing over the rings above her eyebrows was enough to keep him in a good mood, despite her bawling. And she probably couldn’t help herself. It had to hurt like hell.
She made one stop, at a small building crowded with shelves of supplies in tight rows. She was quiet inside, although tears continued to spill steadily from her eyes. Kane walked with his arm around her shoulders. He doubted she was capable of running, but if ever she was in the mood to raise an alarm, it was now. But she pressed herself against his side as she moved, blindly seeking his comfort, and he gave it to her in gentle pats.
She picked out two items—a large pump bottle and a small tube—and paid for them without speaking. The human who took her money barely even glanced at them.
As soon as they were back outside, she started sobbing freely again, and when she had to sit in the car, she screamed. She hunched over the steering wheel, cupping her breasts and wailing as water flowed from her eyes.
Kane watched her, smiling. Eventually, she drove them back to the hotel.
Once the door was shut behind him, Kane set his pack on the bed and pulled Raven’s shirt off her. She let out a cry and slapped at him, her little hand striking at his chest with all the force of a child’s. Kane didn’t mind the attack, but some things should never be overlooked. He caught her by the neck and lifted her onto her toes. “Raven,” he said.
She was kicking, clawing, choking—a frenzy of living fear. Kane waited, watching her face darken.
“Raven,” he said again, once her struggles had waned.
She gripped his wrist, her feet stretching for the floor, and gasped for breath.
“Don’t ever hit me,” he told her calmly. “Unless you want to know what it feels like to have all ten fingers pulled right the fuck off your hand.”
He set her down and she just kept falling, landing in a heap on the floor. She sucked in a croaking breath, retched air and flecks of spit, and then started crying again.
Kane hunkered down and cupped her jaw, tilting her into the light so he could examine the rings above her brow. They were red and swollen. He touched her breast carefully around the steel settings and she cried out. He flipped her skirt up, touched the rings glittering in her sex, and brought his fingers away dappled with her blood.
Kane clasped his hands between his knees and smiled at her. “I’m going to take care of you,” he said. “If you ask me nicely.”
She looked at him with wet, welling eyes, a thing of misery in a never-waking nightmare.
“I know you must hurt,” he said, playing regret. “Hurts to walk, hurts to sit. Hurts just to breathe, I’ll bet.”
She shivered.
“Would you like me—” Kane leaned in and butted his head playfully against hers. “—to make you something for the pain, Raven?”
Her eyes widened with shining gratitude and then crashed in on themselves in despair. “Yes,” she whispered, clearly believing he would never do it.
“Do you?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’m going to take a lot of convincing after you hit me,” he remarked.
Her face crumpled. “I can’t!” she said, fresh tears dripping down her cheeks. “I can’t, everything hurts!”
He hushed her, patting her purple hair, and she rocked and cried with her face in her shaking hands. “Raven, Raven,” he sighed, rubbing her shoulder. “Did I tell you to fuck me?”
“No,” she sniffled.
“I told you to ask me nicely.” He stood up, hooking his thumb claws through the waistband of his pants. “And I meant just that. So ask me.”
“Please,” she said. She gripped her own arms, her little claws digging crescents into her trembling flesh. “Please, Kane.”