Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Varians? What—?” Vicky began but he was already dragging her off the bar stool and over to a shadowed booth at the far end of the bar.
“Better cover here,” he explained, sliding into the booth and pulling her in beside him.
“I guess so,” Vicky said doubtfully. “But—”
Just at that moment the bar’s door opened and two identical men in their late forties came in.
Vicky stared at the newcomers in surprise. It wasn’t just their faces that were identical, as though they were twins. Their clothing, (black track suits,) and shoes, (white Nikes,) were identical too. Even their short brown hair was cut and parted precisely the same. They didn’t just look like identical twins—they looked like someone had copied and pasted the two of them on a computer screen.
“That’s them—the Varians!” the Kindred whose name she still didn’t know hissed in Vicky’s ear. He draped one muscular arm over her shoulders and pulled her close—so close she was practically sitting in his lap. “Quick, laugh at something I just said. Act normal—like we’re a bonded couple,” he muttered in her ear.
There was absolutely nothing normal about this situation, as Vicky wanted to point out. But after years of coaching the Drama Club, she certainly knew how to act.
Turning her head, she gave his bristly cheek a soft kiss, noting as she did, that he smelled fantastic. Was that warm spicy scent some kind of alien pheromone cologne? If it was, it was working because being close to the Kindred’s big, muscular body was making her tingle in all the right places.
“Mmm, sweetheart,” she murmured in his ear. “You take me to the nicest places. How was your day?”
The big Kindred turned his head and looked at her in apparent surprise. Maybe he hadn’t expected her to get so thoroughly into the role he had assigned her but Vicky was having fun. Maybe it was the three daiquiris she’d had or maybe it was her sense of adventure, but in her opinion, the night was finally looking up.
“Um…I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself, baby,” he murmured back.
“I really am.” Vicky was either too tipsy or feeling too reckless not to be candid. “My date for Valentine’s Day stood me up. I was feeling miserable until you came over and grabbed me.”
The Kindred looked at her with real interest in his midnight-blue eyes.
“It seems I picked a good partner in crime.”
Vicky widened her eyes at him.
“Are we committing a crime, then? Are those two weird twin guys some kind of intergalactic police come to get you?”
He shifted uneasily beside her.
“Not exactly. They—”
Just then one of the copy/paste twins that the Kindred had called Varians turned his head and caught sight of them.
“There.” He stuck his arm straight out and pointed right at their booth.
“Yes, there,” the other twin agreed, pointing also.
Both of them turned in exact unison and marched towards the booth, much to Vicky’s dismay.
The Kindred cursed in some low, guttural language she didn’t know and then grabbed her hand under the table.
“Hide this for me, will you?” he muttered from the corner of his mouth. “And be prepared—things might get ugly.”
Things were already ugly as far as Vicky could tell. But she kept a straight face and took the object—which felt warm and heavy and metallic in her palm. It was about the size of a golf ball but her dress had no pockets to slip it into and the slim purse she was wearing draped across her shoulder had a loud zipper that was sure to draw attention. Crap, what was she going to do? Then she had a thought.
Under the cover of adjusting the V neck of her dress, Vicky surreptitiously dropped the heavy little object into her bra, right between her breasts. Hopefully nobody would think to look for it there.
The strangely identical men had reached the booth now.
“You are the one,” the man on the left said in a strangely flat voice. “You have stolen the T’lix-Kruthe, a most valuable and rare artifact. Return it now or face the consequences.”
As he spoke, Vicky thought she saw his emotionless face flicker. Was there something with greenish scales beneath? Were his bland features only a mask? She didn’t know but one thing she was sure of—these were bad guys.
Just being near them gave her a bad feeling in her gut and part of her wanted to rush out of the booth and run for cover. But she wasn’t a coward—and also, she admitted to herself, she was more than a little tipsy. So instead of making a run for it, she spoke up.
“How dare you disturb my husband and me on our anniversary?” she demanded, glaring at the copy/paste twins.
The identical faces swiveled to face her. Without changing expression or inflection, the first twin asked, “Who are you? Why are you protecting this thief?”