Ghost With Cats ~ Book of Eloh #1.Draft
Chapter 20 INK

“Vorn!” Sharon cried out in a panic, trying to push the door open, but Annie’s unconscious body wouldn’t move... He was by her side instantly. He pulled on his jeans and ran around the house quickly to the back door. Lifting Annie and he carried her in, then he laid her on the couch. She was feverish and muttering. Her shoulder was inked, but there was a problem, the ink wasn’t spreading as it should. It was swollen into ugly red knots. Her heartbeat was irregular, her breathing shallow.

“We have to get her back to the Dunes house. There is medicine there I need for her,” he said, grateful he had followed his intuition to prepare the antidote to ink poisoning when he realized how Tal felt about her and the uncertainty if it would act like a venom in humans. Her eyes were dilated, as he lifted her eyelids. “She is having a reaction to the ink.” He was so grateful Sharon had accepted his ink in every way.

“My Mercedes is in the garage. I’ll get dressed,” Sharon said and ran into the bedroom.

Vorn put his hand on Annie’s temple and summoned her back consciousness, “Annie...Annie...” he whispered, “Come talk to me.”

Annie’s eyes fluttered open, “Vorn?”

“I’m here, what happened?”

“Tal attacked me, he bit me. He said Kahli was after the king and his fleet and he ...he...” She cried, repeating, “He attacked me Vorn, he hit me then he bit me, like you bit Sharon. Am I going to die too?”

“You will not die, but you must stop fighting the ink. He could not ink you if he did not love you. Sharon did not die, I gave her my ink because I love her.”

Sharon had just returned, she knelt down, holding Annie’s hand as she smiled at him. Vorn continued in a soft calm voice, “I do not know why he struck you unless he panicked. Lady Kahli is very dangerous. She tried to get the Master to ink her in his last lottery because she desires to command one of the fleets. She has killed two of the master’s allies, other Admants. Tell me exactly what the master said to you,” Vorn insisted.

“Lady Kahli was in the harbor... they were after him... before the drugs wore off... she wanted his fleet to kill the king... to divide the kingdom, you are to bring the fliers after dark... Kahli would want to play games with him before she killed him... if he can’t ink her, it will buy a day... he needs me to come save him... I feel like I am dying... my heart won’t beat...” Her head was spinning and her heart felt like it hadn’t beat in forever.

“Annie, do you love Tal?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe he loves you?” Vorn’s voice was a soft plea.

“He attacked me, he bit me, he promised he wouldn’t until I was ready,” Annie murmured, hurt and confused. Her mind going back and forth like a carousel, every man she loved tried to kill her. Why did it feel so wonderful and then hurt so much to love?

“I know, but he bit you because he didn’t want anyone else to have what he wanted for only you.” Vorn lifted her hand to the now painfully swollen welts on her shoulder, “If you accept his love and his ink, half of all he commands is yours and equal rank. Lady Kahli drugged him, to try to take what isn’t hers. She is one of the females that is the reason the higher tiers began developing defenses against the Lottery and its required drug. Tal needs you to accept his gift, so you can share what is his and be strong enough to save him.”

Annie blinked up at him and then at Sharon who said, “Honey, look.” And she slid her cardigan off her shoulder, it revealed a strange fractal, henna-styled pattern. “I know you love him, but I also know you’re scared. Tal gave you a gift, then left you in a safe place and led them away. He loves you. You know it is true. Please Annie, you can’t live in fear anymore. You need to learn to live without your rules. You can’t hide from love forever. It is your turn to be given love. Accept his love.”

Tears ran down Annie’s face and she closed her eyes. Sharon looked up at Vorn and shrugged sadly. They wrapped Annie in a blanket and put her in the back of Sharon’s car with the tiny kitten.

As Sharon drove, she reached over to squeeze Vorn’s hand, “Vorn, what will happen if she can’t accept Tal’s ink?”

A scowl clouded his beautiful features, “They may both die. That is why I asked you, why I wanted you to be sure.” He turned his beautiful dark sapphire eyes toward her, “As I told you last night, we are now only for each other. You... you don’t regret it, do you?”

She blushed as she smiled at him, “Not a moment of it and not ever. I will never want or love anyone else.”

^..^ ^..^

At the Dunes house, Uri and Bries were back, but only Bries was awake. He was hung over. Sharon made him breakfast. The sword pet was distressed to know Annie was ill and Tal was captured. With nothing to do, he sat in the Adirondack chair on the porch and held the giant tuxedo cat that has moved in with them. Its purr was his only comfort, he prayed like Lady Annie taught him. He prayed he would be strong for his master and his lady, and for the light of the One who Made All to help them. The tiny brown kitten climbed up Bries’ leg, walked across his lap and the bigger cat then crawled up onto his shoulder. It purred and purred in its tiny kitten way, rubbing its face on Bries’ cheek for a long time before curling up and going to sleep.

There was nothing they could do until evening when their ships arrive. Vorn gave Annie a shot in her lower abdomen with a very long needle and she slept. She dreamed first of Hadif and Tal both, her fear wanted to make them the same, but her heart won’t let it. She was in the hole trying to reach the case to disarm the bomb, Hadif kept cutting the rope and Tal always lowered her a new one. When Tal pulled her up, it was into the meadow at New Moon Springs, she was a little girl again and he, a young boy. She and Tal were picking flowers for her mother with Mr Tuxedo. Hadif tried to chase them but Truh saved them. In each dream, her fear faded a little more. Finally, her heart won. The pain in her shoulder turned into warmth.

When Annie dreamed again, it was about Tal alone. She could see him bound to a bed, a tall woman was beating and clawing him. She had very dark auburn hair and black emerald eyes that held nothing but insane cruelty. It could only be Kahli. She sneered at Tal and mocked him because he refused to comply. Annie could feel how much his body hurt in the dream and she longed to comfort him.

Annie whispered Tal’s name, his eyes turned white, the stars within them shined like beacons, and he looked up at her in relief.

'You lived?'

She took his face in her hands, ‘I love you. Go to sleep, I am coming for you.’ He closed his eyes and passed out. The woman screamed in rage as the dream faded.

When Annie woke, it was late afternoon. The angry, swollen lumps were gone, replaced by an elaborate swirling fractal-patterned tattoo that covered an area larger than her hand on her left shoulder. She shakily got out of bed and stared in the bathroom mirror... Tal’s ink had covered her shoulder, it was beautiful. As she looked at it she realizes something, she was not afraid anymore.

^..^^..^

When Annie went downstairs, she was dressed for combat. Uri and Boaz didn’t looked surprised. Vorn was standing next to a shorter, overweight version of Cypher. He is wearing the same uniform Vorn was wearing the first time they met, and had same side-shaved head and back braid. There were also two more sword pets, and a tall, lean Eloh,with hawk-like features, buzz cut hair with facial implants. Bries was happy to see her. He bowed as expected, but grinned at her, trying to maintain his place. There was a tiny brown kitten on his shoulder.

“We need to hurry. Kahli is torturing him, I made him sleep, I think,” Annie told Vorn.

Vorn bowed, “Did you see him, Lady Annie?”

She reached up and rubbed her shoulder, “I dreamed she was beating and clawing him because he refused to comply, he was suffering. When I spoke his name, his eyes glowed white and he looked at me. I told him I loved him and to go to sleep, I was coming for him, and he did. Kahli got very angry.”

The other Cypher’s jaw fell open, but he didn’t speak to her, he just kept looking between Vorn and her feet.

“You may speak to me, Cypher,” Annie said tiredly.

“I am Cypher Vanif Malor, Tier 19, Lady Annie. It is my honor to speak you,” he introduced himself, “How is it that you dream-speak to the Master? You are not Eloh.” His tone was dismissive.

“Regent Vanth Truh discovered my ancestry included Eloh, who visited our world many generations ago. It is he who introduced your master and I when we were still little children. And, with just about everything else involving our two peoples, it’s been a learning curve as we call it here.” Annie watched his reactions closely, his snide expression made her eyes narrow as she continued, “There is much Truh found out but never bothered to tell anybody, there is much we are discovering we can do together.”

Vanif Malor’s dismissive snort was not missed by her. “Anything else ya want to know, Cypher Vanif?” She drawled contritely. All she wanted to do was rescue Tal, not deal with some clueless idiot with a superiority complex.

Vorn tried not to make a face, he could sense that Annie was getting angry, and Vanif’s arrogant attitude was making it worse. He opened his mouth to say something but Sharon gives a slight shake of her head, she had seen Annie get like this and did not want Vorn on the receiving end of that rage.

'Let Mr. Vanity hang himself,' Sharon thought angrily and was surprised when Vorn raised an eye brow at her.

Vanif seemed flustered for a moment, “Forgive me, my Lady but this all seems too fanciful.”

“More fanciful than Lady Kahli allying herself with one of the evilest men on my world to lure the Admant here, so she can murder him and steal his fleet in order to overthrow your king? Or is your elitist, divided society supported by mass-made slavery too good for a civil war?” Annie suggested boldly.

Vanif gaped at her, saying nothing for several minutes.

Then Annie smiled at him in a cold way and drawled, “What’s the matter, darlin’? Cat got your tongue?”

“Lady Annie, it has been a trying period for all of us,” Vorn said calmly. He worried that her anger was going to set Bries off, who had risen from his bar stool and placed the tiny kitten he called Bear on the counter surface.

“For some more than others, Vorn.” Annie snapped, then took a deep breath and held up her hands apologetically.

“Lady Annie, this is obviously an Eloh matter and doesn’t concern your, um, people. We will investigate the events and take the appropriate action,” Vanif announced almost sarcastically, picking a piece of cat hair off his sleeve. He looked back toward her in a dismissive manner.

Her eyes narrowed again dangerously. Vorn decided his first instinct to dislike this Cypher when they met almost 4 months ago was not being judgmental, due to the man’s poor physical condition and elitist mentality. Vorn really did dislike him.

“You do that, Cypher Vanif, and meanwhile I will go save Tal, even if I only have Bries and my people to do it with. Oh and one more thing, Mr Snarky Pants, why don’t you strip naked and go play crab bait in the bay! It’s that way.” She declared viciously, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the bay, before she stormed out. Bries, glaring at the Cypher, followed Lady Annie, as did the other two pets. They go where the ink goes.

“I would be careful, Malor,” Vorn warned in their language, “You do not know whom you insult.”

“She is a subspecies female from an un-treatied planet.” Malor scoffed.

“You are wrong. Our treaties with certain tribes of these people, go back over 5,000 years. Our people have even intermarried with them secretly for generations. She is a princess among one of those tribes, and was promised to our master since they were children. Even now, she carries his ink.” Vorn resisted smiling as Malor’s jaw dropped while Vorn continued, “A renegade group of their people have helped our master’s enemy to abduct him and will attempt to murder him now, which has happened almost daily since we have arrived here. She and her ‘primitive people’ have kept us alive against all odds. If this is too much to deal with, you may return to the Dagger while we wait the time to rescue the master.”

“This is highly irregular. It is not part of Cypher training or duties,” Malor complained.

“Perhaps not for your tier, but a Cypher must be able to adapt to whatever is required of him to serve his master. Our Master is a warrior and we must be too.” Vorn reminded coolly, adding in English, “Flier Heith, please return Cypher Vanif to the Dagger. Field duty is not part of his training to serve the Admant.”

Vanif Malor looked horrified at his reprimand and dismissal, but he couldn’t refuse the higher tiered Cypher’s command. He stomped out.

Sharon slid a bag of cookies across the counter to the pilot and smiled, Heith bowed to her and took them shyly. The pilot hopped off the bar stool and bowed to Vorn before following the Cypher back out to the flier hidden among the dunes.

Sharon came around the kitchen counter and hugged Vorn. “That man is lucky Annie didn’t kill him.”

“He is lucky, I did not kill him.” Vorn confessed, giving her a light lick on the temple. “He is everything that is wrong with the kingdom right now. I shall have to request our sect reassign him. He is not a suitable candidate for the Master’s house.”

“Why do you even have to work with that wretched man?”

“Cypher Meche Lori did not survive the last Lottery as the Master's older brother did,” He answered coldly.

Sharon shuttered, hugging him tighter. “What will happen the next time they call you?” she whispered timidly. She couldn't bear the thought of him being forced to cheat on her but if it meant he would live...

Vorn tipped her chin up and looked in her eyes, “Nothing. Now that I have you, there is no amount of drug or abuse that will ever make me comply. It is like that story from your scriptures about the man who found a pearl of great price, he sold all he had to possess it. You are my pearl, all I am is for you alone.” Vorn pressed his lips against hers and she melted against him.

“Oh my word! Get a room!” Annie said, walking in with Bries and the other two pets. “Vorn tell them, they have to talk to me and look at me, Bries did, but they don’t believe him.”

Vorn ordered the two sword pets in their language, and both looked fearful and surprised. Annie stood in front of them. Bries was almost laughing.

“I’m Lady Annie, hello Burq.” She held out her hand but he didn’t move. So she took the first one’s hand and put it in hers, making him shake it. “Now you say hello.” Burq murmured a sound, but still wouldn’t make eye contact.

“I’m Lady Annie, hello Bede.” She held out her hand, Bede reached out timidly and took her hand, peeking at her, but didn’t speak.

“Well, it’s a start. Are you hungry?” She asked them.

Bries spoke to them in a deep rumbling tone, and they answered him. Burq nodded once, bowing, but Bede bowed and whispered timidly, “Bede is hungry, Lady Annie.”

“What did you say to them, Bries?” Annie asked.

“Bries said they had to answer or Lady Annie would not give them dessert. And that they would want dessert.” Bries answered. Sharon and Annie started laughing, Vorn just rolled his eyes.

Annie grinned and repeated to Vorn, “I know he’s so spoiled, I guess you’ll just have to leave him here with us.”

“I do not believe the Master will agree,” Vorn retorted blandly, but he smiled.

After giant helpings of pot roast and potatoes, the sword pets each ate an entire fruit and cream pie. Annie asked if they want more dinner or pie. They were satisfied so she gave them the remaining chocolate bars to take home with them. They agreed with Bries, Lady Annie was the nicest sister they could have. They hoped the Master kept her. They were sad when Bries told them she must stay here where she would be safe.

As they talked in the dialect of 'made ones', Bries revealed them that Lady Annie had taught him to turn sadness into strength to honor those lost or left behind. Bede thought it was a good lesson, Burq wondered who will protect her if they and the master leave. Bries laughed and explained that Lady Annie could protect herself, and had many warrior friends. He revealed to them how she rescued him and Vorn and the Master the first day they met, how she has helped them, and even healed him when he was shot and had fought the bear. Both stared at him amazed, no one cared enough for pets to rescue or heal them. Pets were made to die. Bries explained to them that Lady Annie taught him Pets are meant to live with honor before they die, that their death was a gift not to be wasted because their life was precious too.

It was different from the way anyone has ever treated their kind on Eloh...