<div>Title: Brothers Of The Blood: Mark Of Cain 10<br>Author: PEJA<br>Email: <a href="mailto:makebelievearchive@gmail.com">makebelievearchive@gmail.com</a><br>Author's websites: <a href="http://peja1956.livejournal.com/">http://peja1956.livejournal.com</a> and <a href="http://www.squidge.org/~peja/cgi-bin/search.php?action=recent">http://www.squidge.org/~peja/cgi-bin/search.php?action=recent</a><br>
Fandom: n/a<br>Pairing: n/a<br>Portrayed by: n/a<br>Category: General<br>Rating: FRC<br>Status: chapter complete<br>Spoilers: n/a<br>Series/Sequel: Brothers Of Blood<br>Brief Summary: Adric watches<br>Warnings: violence<br>
Notes/acknowledgments: This s a completed story, undergoing a final polish<br>General thanks to all of you folks who are requesting short fics and improvs in the various fandoms. You're keeping the words flowing.<br>Disclaimers: mine...all mine<br>
Archive: Yes, but ask first, include the complete story and provide a URL to the archive<br>Forwarding to other lists: Okay, but keep my name and headers attached. A heads up would be nice as well.</div>
<div>Previous chapters: <a href="http://www.squidge.org/peja/cgi-bin/viewstory.php?sid=37198&warning=FRM">http://www.squidge.org/peja/cgi-bin/viewstory.php?sid=37198&warning=FRM</a><br><br><a name="cutid1"></a><br>
<br>Watching with distracted interest, Adric crossed his arms over his chest as Nykita poked a tiny, nudging hand at the whirling ball of fur in a metal cage, herding it toward several other, similar creatures. The contrary beast displayed its outrage with a piercing screech. Resisting her determined guidance, it rolled in the opposite direction.<br>
<br>"Well damn," she muttered, frowning. "I thought I had the correct dosage that time."<br><br>"Your experiment isn't going the way you want?"<br><br>"No, dammit. My experiment isn't going the way I want," she snapped, "But alien pheromones don't always conform to the rules of the humansex drive. I should have taken that into account." <br>
<br>"Maybe next time." He chuckled sympathetically. "Now it's time to put away your fuzzy little pets, Nicki. Our main test subject should be along soon."<br><br>Frowning, she slammed the cage shut and moved away from the table. "Are you sure you want to go through with this test, Adric? These people aren't the type we've had dealings with in the past. I can smell the danger on them, and the death."<br>
<br>Adric grimaced. "Don't romanticize them."<br><br>"They are dangerous, Adric," she protested, stamping her foot. "Too dangerous." <br><br>"Yeah? Well, that just makes the tests all the more important," Adric said, speaking slowly, as if to a child. "I've got to know which way they'll jump when the chips are down. I need to know if they are independents or team players in a crunch."<br>
<br>He straightened, suddenly alert, as the shadowy figure of a man slinked into range of the hall monitors. "There he is."<br><br>"There's still time to cancel this experiment, Adric."<br><br>Adric waved an dismissive hand in her direction. "All right, kid. Just a little closer. Come to papa."<br>
<br>He straightened suddenly and pointed to Nykita, mouthing a silent, "Now."<br><br>She sighed, tucking her feet under her on a comfortable, wicker sofa. "How do you want to handle the situation, Adric? I have the two of them sedated, but we can't keep them drugged forever. His people are already beginning to suspect that St Moritz' sleep isn't altogether normal."<br>
<br>"I don't intend this to take forever," Adric sighed, pacing like some great caged animal around the tracking room. "It will end. It has to end, and it has to end soon. I've got too damn much to do. I can't stay hidden for long."<br>
<br>"So inform the patrols that we have them, Adric. Collect the bounty on this rebel group and be done with them."<br><br>"I'm not sure that's how I want to handle this one."<br><br>"And why ever not? God knows we could use the credits they carry. With that single bounty we could finish our work here. And you're going to have to hand them over in the end anyway. Why put it off?"<br>
<br>He whirled on her. "I have my reasons. Reasons I don't intend to go into with you."<br><br>"Adric, there can't be any reason important enough to withhold these particular fugitives. Even the grafts you're paying out won't protect us if we're found hiding them."<br>
<br>"I know that, dammit. But it's complicated. I just can't decide the best course of action."<br><br>"Then uncomplicate it. Call in the patrols and finish it. They can be here by late morning. We can get back to normal once these fugitives have been taken. And besides, in the end, what choice do you have?"<br>
<br>"What choice, indeed?" Adric sighed, pressing a red button on the tracking console, signalling the guard in the hall. "All right. See it's done quietly. I don't want them knowing what we're about until it's too late to stop it."<br>
<br>Over the seaker system, the guard's voice came back to them. "You there. Hold it where you stand."<br><br>The trap had been sprung. Their subject had the information he needed to pass or fail the test. Or he would, after a bit of reinforcement.<br>
<br>Arranging his features into a harsh expression, Adric strode to the door and threw it open.<br><br>Ian stood in the doorway with his hands held over his head, wearing a smile that was charmingly innocent. "I be thinking you have a rule against indulging in a wee little stroll," he said in that mincing, feminine voice. "Sure and you should have told me, friend. I be excessively fond of me walkabouts in the dead of night." He grinned, tapping his temple. "Clears out the cobwebs."<br>
<br>Adric stared at the simpering man, amazed. The young scamp had nerve, no question. And he lied with a brazen ease that would have shocked the devil. Both of which were valuable commodities in the life and death game the played.<br>
<br>Gathering his wits, Adric twisted his hands in Ian's crisp, new shirt and slammed him roughly against the stone-block wall. "What did you hear?"<br><br>"Hey. Watch it. That hurts already."<br><br>
"How much did you hear?" Adric repeated. "Tell me, damn you." He slammed Ian into the wall again. "Tell me what you heard."<br><br>Drawing a ragged, groaning breath, Ian shook his head. "Nothing. I be hearing nothing." His brilliant, jade gaze rose to meet Adric's eyes, and rubbing the back of his neck, he grinned. "There be something you have to hide, I be thinking."<br>
<br>Adric blinked.<br><br>The pilot had a stubborn tenacity that held him through adversity. If Adric read the man correctly, and he had a secret dread he had, Ian could charm the wind to blow. <br><br>No doubt about it. This man made for a damn interesting test subject. Interesting and valuable.<br>
<br>Adric shook the man violently. "Cut the games." He cuffed Ian across the face, splitting his lip. "Give yourself a chance to survive."<br><br>Blood flooded Ian's tongue, staining his mouth and dribbling down his chin. He shook his head, as if to quiet the discordant ringing in his ears, and then smiled. "I tell a lie. I heard, once upon a time, you be an attractive man to the ladies, Adric."<br>
<br>"What did you say?"<br><br>Ian spat a bloodied stream from between his teeth. "What happened? Get marred in the war."<br><br>"That's none of your damn business, is it?"<br><br>"Ah, but it do indeed be my business." He spit again, clearing the blood from his mouth, then ran his forefinger down the other man's scarred cheek. "Your pretty face scares my own sweet lassie."<br>
<br>Nykita's light, seductive laughter washed over both men. "Well now, that sounds like he heard more than enough, my love." She tilted her head slightly. "And it doesn't sound like he likes you very much. I told you, Adric. He's dangerous."<br>
<br>"Shut up, Nicki."<br><br>"Do you want me to arrange a little accident? I can think of something suitable."<br><br>"I said shut up, Nykita."<br><br>"We can't let him go back to the others. He knows who you really are. More than it is safe to know."<br>
<br>"Enough," Adric shouted, his anger reaching its apex. "I'll take care of the kid. You report to the control room."<br><br>"I don't want to go...."<br><br>"But you will."<br>
<br>"Adric, you may need...."<br><br>"Drop it, woman. If his people are running around loose, things are going to get hot out here. I don't want you caught in the middle of a battlezone."<br><br>Nykita straightened, bracing her hands on her hips. "I can help."<br>
<br>"Not this time." Adric shook Ian viciously, venting his frustrations on the hapless pilot. "When are you going to realize this is not a game, woman. People's lives are at stake."<br><br>"I am not stupid, Adric."<br>
<br>"Nykita. The control room. Now."<br><br>She held her hands in front of her, warding off his anger. "I'm halfway there," she assured him, then spinning on her heel, she vanished down the corridor.<br>
<br>Adric's cold, harsh gaze slithered toward Ian, crawling in a contemptuous glare over his defenseless prisoner. "Why didn't you stay put? It would have all been so easy if you had only trusted me."<br>
<br>"'Tis trust ye be wanting from us?" Ian jeered, his lips curling back in a dark growl. "Aye. We might have been willing to trust you. But na' now. Now I be thinking you betrayed us. I be thinking you sold us out. Hell and damnation, I be knowing you sold your own honor. And I be absolutely certain you be Adric Falcone."<br>
<br>"You think so?"<br><br>"Ah, Judes, man. Dal believed in you. He thought you our guiding light. Our best bet for a new chance." He snorted crudely. "Aye, ye be some guiding light, for sure. I can na' believe Dalton was taken in by your blarney enough to believe you were a man of honor."<br>
<br>"Men of honor are dead men, my friend," Adric said coldly. "Dalton taught me that in the first month we were together. You would do well to remember that same lesson."<br><br>He grabbed Ian by the collar and shoved him into the tracking room, causing the battered man to stumble. "Do you honestly think there is any honor in what we are doing?" Adric demanded, watching him slowly straighten up. "In me? Or Dalton?" His laughter was harsh. "Or even in you, for that matter? Don't be a fool, kid."<br>
<br>Ian smiled broadly, staring past Adric toward the open doorway. "Doesna' matter what I be thinking." He back- peddled away from his captor, flicking another quick glance over Adric and then back to the door. "No and to be sure, my opinion has no bearing on the facts." His fingers fidgeted in a manner reminiscent of Dalton did when he was agitated. <br>
<br>"Keep still," Adric snarled, annoyed by the continuous, fluttering hand movements.<br><br>"Your service." Ian's smile went arctic as he crossed the first two fingers of both hands, sweeping them in front of his body. "You'll be telling me what game you be playing at, Falcone?" His frozen smile died on his lips. "That do be the question you want answered, boss? Be it na'"<br>
<br>"Close enough," Dalton said in the soft dragon's purr that raised hackles along even a stupid man's spine.<br><br>Adric turned slowly, facing his past. "It has been a long time, Dal."<br><br>
"But has it been long enough, I wonder?" Dalton sauntered into the room, motioning the small group of rebels who followed hot on his heels into a position that effectively cut Adric and the guard off from any escape.<br>
<br>Adric, sizing up the situation through narrowed eyes, was fully aware of the guns that each of the fighters carried loosely in their grasps. And the unsuppressed anger radiating like radioactive heat off them.<br><br>
These people were ready, were hungry, in fact, to kill. And his blood looked a likely tidbit.<br><br>Without warning, the young guard broke and dashed toward the alarm.<br><br>Sabre swung her gun around, firing a silenced warning shot high. It was enough to freeze the man to the floor instantly. She smiled, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "We don't want to be bothering anyone, now do we?"<br>
<br>The man gave a quick shake of his head.<br><br>Her black eyes glided dispassionately over him. "Good. I would hate the necessity of your blood on my hands. It's so damn untidy, don't you think?"<br><br>
He sent her a nod this time.<br><br>Her warning glance touched on the guard's gun for a second, then returned to hold his wide, apprehensive gaze. "Lose the weapon, friend. It's making me nervous."<br><br>
The guard flicked a questioning glance at Adric.<br><br>"Do as she says, Jojo," Adric ordered. "Let's keep this easy. No one has to get hurt here today, do they, Dal? We're all friends, right?"<br>
<br>Dalton smiled, but there was no humor in his crystalline gaze. His blue eyes remained frozen and dangerous. "Well now, I don't exactly know how to answer that question. See, my people are a breed onto themselves. An interesting breed, mind you, but one with a certain unpredictability. A certain danger bred into them. I find it most often revealed in an almost psychopathic tendency toward destroying anything even remotely deceitful.<br>
<br>"And this young woman has a distinctively passionate dislike of men."<br><br>"Not all men, Dal," she corrected with a wickedly seductive smile. "Just most of them."<br><br>"Quite." Dalton chuckled dryly. "She developed this unique quality under the tedious tutorage from her male slaver. So, I expect she may very well kill your man."<br>
<br>Sabre nodded once. "It only takes the smallest movement."<br><br>"I'm a pussycat," Jojo said and bent slowly to lay his gun at his feet. He stepped back with his arms held well away from his sides.<br>
<br>Sabre frowned, her black eyes glittering dangerously. "I don't like cats any more than I do men."<br><br>"Call her off, Dal," Adric said, licking his dry lips. "As a show of good faith."<br>
<br>"And why should he be doing that?" Ian demanded. "You be the one that opened this up for bloodshed. You made the mistakes."<br><br>"I did at that," Adric agreed. That much was terrifyingly obvious. And if he were to salvage anything, he would have to move with caution. One more mistake would bring this shaky confrontation to a violent and bloody end.<br>
<br>"Answer the man, Adric," Dalton said, his rasping voice just above a whisper. "Why should I call her off?"<br><br>"I'm not looking for trouble. Not the way you play." He met Dalton's frozen eyes. "We need some time to talk. Now. Before this gets any worse."<br>
<br>"'Tis he Falcone, then?" Ian interrupted. "'Tis he the man we be here tae find?"<br><br>Paris nodded, a black scowl pinching his brows. "Yeah. That's him all right."<br><br>Ian wiped blood from his lips. "That being the case, he sold us, boss. All of us. Even you."<br>
<br>Dalton's eyes flashed fire. "You'd better be sure of your facts, Ian."<br><br>"Aye, that I am. Sure as I be bleeding. I overheard them discussing it afore I was nabbed. Falcone 'twas planning ta give us over ta the patrols."<br>
<br>"Is it true?" Dalton ground out, taking a step forward, then he drew back, unable to hide his bewildered indecision. "Adric, is it true?"<br><br>"Hear me out, Dalton."<br><br>Dalton's head tilted back and his heavy lids drooped over smoldering eyes. "Would I be hearing the truth. Or lies?" He shook his head. "No. There's only one thing I want to hear from you. Did you betray us?"<br>
<br>"Dal, you've gotta listen...."<br><br>"Don't stall me, Adric. Just tell me if it is true? Yes or no? Did you...betray...me?"<br><br>Desperation embraced Adric, squeezing his explanations right out of his head, and at the worst of all possible times, too. Now, when he had to make Dalton listen to reason. Had to find a bridge past the distrust blazing in those crystalline, pale eyes before it was too damn late.<br>
<br>He spread his arms, opening himself to the fury pouring over him. "Your man doesn't understand."<br><br>"Neither do I."<br><br>"Dalton, you're not hearing me. It's not how it looks. I swear it," Adric said quickly, moving forward.<br>
<br>"Stand still." Dalton's gun came up and Adric froze in his tracks.<br><br>"Dal..."<br><br>"God's mercy, Adric," Dalton's voice was strained. "Don't move. Don't make me kill you." He pointed a trembling hand at Adric. "Just answer the question. Have you betrayed me? Have you, Adric?"<br>
<br>"I did set this all up. That's all true." Adric rushed his words, trying to cool the man's rising temper before it was too late. "But I did it for you. I was waiting for you, Haurride. Surely you see that. I was waiting for you."<br>
<br>He took a step toward Dalton. A fatal step.<br><br>"Yes," Dalton groaned, choking on the word. "Yes."<br><br>"No," Adric rasped, seeing his death in the chill eyes of his friend. "Don't." <br>
<br>The gun spat blue fire.<br><br>Adric stumbled, taking the shot full in the chest. Shell-shocked, he clutched at the seeping wound, felt the sticky ooze of his own blood. "My sweet God...." He lifted his bloody hands, shielding himself from the second shot he knew from experience was coming. "God, no. Don't...." <br>
<br>The gun blazed again.<br><br>Fresh blood flowed, mingling with that already staining the front of his shirt, turning it bright crimson.<br><br>"I didn't betray you, Haurride," Adric whispered, gasping for breath. "I didn't...."<br>
<br>"Adric...."<br><br>His strength drained away with his blood and he stumbled, falling into Dalton's open arms. Blood filled his throat, choking him, dribbling scarlet down his chin.<br><br>"I...forgive you....Hauri...."<br>
<br>* * * * * * * <br><br>Dalton wrapped his arms tightly around Adric's lifeless body. His dark clothes quickly absorbed the sticky blood. The accusing stain saturated through the cloth, branding his very skin. <br><br>
"Ah Judes, Adric," the growl of pure anguish erupted low in Dalton's throat. He gently eased the limp body to the floor and dropped heavily to his knees. "Why? Adric, why?"<br><br>Behind him, Sabre touched his shoulder, offering comfort, and for once, Dalton did not flinch away.<br>
<br>"It's over, haurride," Dalton whispered, swallowing past his tightening throat. "The blasted battle is finally over for you. You can rest now."<br><br>"Sweet Jesus," Jojo cried, making a rolling grab for his gun.<br>
<br>Paris spun. His weapon spat fire. The threat of the guard was cancelled forever, and so was the rest of his life.<br><br>Paris sighed, shaking his head. "Adric warned you not to move against us, friend. You really should have taken his advice."<br>
<br>Lost in his own personal grief, Dalton barely registered the second death. Scarcely noticed the discordant screech that suddenly filled the air. Hardly heard the woman's voice warning, "Attention. All personnel. We are under attack. Report to stations. Repeat. Go to battlestations. This is not a drill. We are under attack."<br>
<br>"Dalton," Paris shook his arm. "They're onto us. We've got to get the hell out of here. Now."<br><br>"No, actually," A man entered the tracking room, his gun pointed rigidly at them. "They are onto us." He swept a deadly glare over them. "Drop your guns. You are prisoners of..."<br>
<br>"Move," Ian shouted, diving for cover.<br><br>A blast cut him out of the air before he could reach protection. Ruby red blood spurted from the killing wound, saturating his shoulder. He went down hard, crying a useless protest against the death that was reaching out to claim him.<br>
<br>"Ian," Yessenia screamed, her green eyes burning with the fires of hell. Angry primordial instinct flared in her gaze and she fired.<br><br>Once.<br><br>The man who had killed Ian dropped soundlessly to the floor, a third eye in the center of his forehead weeping bright red tears.<br>
<br>A second soldier appeared in the room behind her. Another shot rang out.<br><br>Yessenia crumpled, her outstretched arms reaching out for Ian. And then she was gone, with only a finger's breath separating them.<br>
<br>Domani stumbled under the next volley of shots and fell, motionless.<br><br>"Dalton. Snap out of it, man," Paris shouted. "Their annihilating us."<br><br>His plea came too late. A searing blast hit him in the back, hard, sending him reeling into oblivion.<br>
<br>Again the shots sounded.<br><br>Sabre collapsed to her knees. Her black gaze sought out and found Dalton. She whispered his name in a sighing breath before joining her companions in nirvana.<br><br>Her slow collapse brought reality rushing back for Dalton. <br>
<br>Reality, and a second grief too harsh to bear.<br><br>He tipped his head toward the heavens, roaring like a wounded animal.<br><br>His wild bellow sent a shiver of terror through the ranks of his enemy, stilling their hands.<br>
</div>
<div><br>end part 10</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Anyone interested in chapter 11???<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>PEJA<br>The wwomb archive <a href="http://www.squidge.org/~peja/cgi-bin/index.php">http://www.squidge.org/~peja/cgi-bin/index.php</a> accepts all fandoms, all genres. Come create your personal page with us<br>
Need a plot bunny? <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/adoptaplotbunny/">http://community.livejournal.com/adoptaplotbunny/</a> </div>