“Lucinda,” she lisped, knowing the human name emphasized her forked tongue.
The man repeated her name in a whisper.
Chuckling to herself, she padded across the room, dropping the robe to expose her flawless body. Her breasts swayed at each step, and she mentally commanded her aureoles to tighten. The sec man began to rip off his clothes, buttons scattering across the bare wood floor.
As their eyes met, his expression softened from lust to love, and she decided to pleasure the fool all the way, in every way, then more, and make him her absolute slave. Already her brethren had taken over a ville to the south. Now she would start the process again here. One day all of the villes would be owned by the Sisters, and the humans who created the skyfire would be no more. Purged from the New Earth.
It was only a matter of time.
ON THE STREET, Krysty shivered and glanced around quickly.
“Something wrong?” Ryan asked, a hand snaking inside his coat to touch the grip of the SIG-Sauer.
The woman didn’t reply, but hugged herself tight and kept walking. There had just been the oddest sensation, almost as if the companions had walked past a deadly predator and it let them go only because there was bigger prey to feed upon. Unseen danger lurked in the ville, and Krysty would warn the others to stay alert.
A group of men was in the street rolling dice made from carved bone, knives and animal pelts passed back and forth as bets were won or lost.
“Move,” Ryan growled.
“Fuck off,” a man said, glancing up from the game. Then he saw the amount of weapons on display and tried to grin, but failed miserably.
“My friend said move,” Mitchum added in a dangerous tone.
Scrambling to their feet, the gamblers left their dice and pelts to race away, never once looking back. Continuing onward, the companions walked their horses over the spot, crushing the skins and dice to bits under the pounding horse hooves.
“Sailors,” Mitchum said in explanation. “Useless bastards.”
“Local ship?” Ryan asked as casually as he could.
“Naw, I know those men. They’re off a trader from the Rougelap Islands.”
“That’s north of here, right?” J.B. asked. “Near Forbidden Island.”
“Pretty close, yeah,” Mitchum said, then grimaced. “Wherever you’re going with your own boat, be sure to stay away from that hellzone. Bitch of a place. The currents can tear the hull off a ship, and on shore, there’s nothing but rad pits and muties.”
Ryan and the others said nothing, not even daring to exchange glances. But now they had a goal. Why row through the shark-infested waters when they could buy a ride? Finally, some good luck was coming their way.
Turning a corner, the companions dropped off their horses at a stable and walked over to the inn. A big sign hanging out front was decorated with the single word Grotto and a hand-painted picture of a fork for those who couldn’t read. The front door led to a foyer with another door and a metal turnstile. Inside, the pink walls were heavily decorated with faded pictures and torn posters of nude women. A row of small booths along the back wall was full of wire racks holding garish paperback books whose outlandish covers left nothing to the sexual imagination.
“It’s a converted porn bookstore,” Mildred said in disgust. No wonder the inn was so popular with the sec men.
“What that?” Jak asked, studying a poster. Nice.
The physician scratched her head before answering. “Sort of a gaudy house,” she said slowly. “For folks who didn’t actually want to have sex.”
Jak stared at the woman as if she were insane, and Mildred shrugged. She couldn’t think of another way to explain the establishments.
Vacant redwood picnic tables filled the room, and the only customers were a couple of sailors eating a roast of some kind at the far end of the room. As the companions took the largest table, Mitchum went into the kitchen to talk with the cook, and then departed to handle some official duties. But he swore to come back around dusk to take them to the baron for drinks.