Shards of Hope

Chapter 45

BLAKE COULD FEEL his need building again.

He was having to go slowly with the human female. Beatrice had questioned him as to why the interrogation center was an abandoned warehouse and not an Arrow facility, and he’d had to pull rank to shut her down. She’d obeyed, of course, but he couldn’t risk pushing her too far too soon. Beatrice was a long-term plan, one that required patience. If he could corrupt her, he’d have someone with whom to share his finest moments.

With that end result in mind, he’d allowed her to take the lead in the interrogation.

His prey wasn’t a scientist’s daughter and knew nothing of any codes; it was amusing to watch Beatrice attempt to get the data out of her, but so far, his apprentice hadn’t done any real damage. That would change in two days, when he took over after her “failure.” Blood would flow, sweet and wet, as his victim screamed, but right now, he had to satiate his urges elsewhere.

Having made sure his schedule was open for at least three hours today, he scanned the semilit pathway between two streets filled with restaurants. Humans and changelings were so often stupid; they believed that walking in pairs would save them. He’d never taken two bef—

His eyes locked in on a couple heading toward him.

Not human.

Not changeling.

Psy.

He could tell because they looked nervous to be holding hands, as if not yet sure of the fall of Silence. As he watched, the man floated a rose to the woman using what must be very minor Tk if he’d been allowed to remain a civilian. The woman clasped the flower to her chest.

Blake wanted to crush them for their stupidity, but he’d never previously taken Psy victims on his own. His prior Psy targets had been Ming-sanctioned. As such, Ming had created a solid shield around those minds so that their death agonies wouldn’t alert the Net and draw unwelcome attention.

If he took these two, it would be without the benefit of that shield. Either one could shout out a telepathic scream, so he’d have to do it fast, as with that boy on the beach. An interesting challenge, he thought, his decision made. He waited until they moved just past his hiding place in a shallow recess in the wall, was a heartbeat away from striking when a mind knocked on his on the PsyNet.

Nerida.

Throttling his urges, because ignoring the Arrow in charge of security assignments wasn’t an option if he wanted to remain undiscovered, he stayed where he was and the stupid Psy couple with their sickeningly weak bodies walked past and into the night.

Forty-eight hours, he promised himself as he stepped out onto the psychic plane to speak to Nerida. Forty-eight hours and not only would he be able to assuage his need, he’d own Beatrice in the doing. Because it wasn’t Blake who’d take the victim’s life. No, he’d save that pleasure for Beatrice.

Once she did that, she’d be his.