Read The High Priestess Online
Authors: Katee Robert
Tags: #queen of swords, #sci fi, #sanctify, #queen of wands, #paranormal, #romance, #fantasy, #queen of pentacles, #katee robert, #queen of, #science fiction
The High Priestess
the high
Priestess
a Sanctify Novella
Katee Robert
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Katee Robert. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com
.
Edited by Heather Howland
Cover design by Heather Howland
ISBN 978-1-62061-140-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition March 2012
To Mom.
You never once doubted that I could do this.
Thank you so much. Love you!
An unnatural calm blanketed the streets of Keiluna, as if its residents sensed a predator in their midst, searching for the perfect kill.
They were right.
Gerard checked his laser, white robe swishing against his legs with every step. He lived for this moment of the hunt, when the world narrowed to him and the comforting wall of his men at his back. Here and now, he could forget how close he’d come to losing his position, his boy, everything—all because he couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut. Keiluna was a filthy cesspool, infested with aliens from every corner of the universe. Taking out a single cell of them wouldn’t do shit for the greater good.
Too bad when he voiced his opinion to the High Priest, he’d been punished.
Gerard rolled his shoulders, his skin still feeling the sting of a phantom lash. It wasn’t that he hated pain—it was one of the few constants of his life—but he wasn’t a fan of being humiliated in front of the entire regiment. Those men looked up to him as a leader. Or they used to. Since the demonstration when he’d been whipped for publically questioning the wisdom of Sanctify’s rapid expansion, many of the men he considered friends had fallen away, their greetings replaced by sideways looks and downcast eyes. Not Fisk, though. That idiot would stand by Gerard no matter what they were up against. Even the High Priest himself.
But this wasn’t the place for distractions. His rage at the High Priest was far more useful at the moment. Despite his anger—or maybe because of it—Gerard found himself muttering Ba’al’s Benediction under his breath.
“Purity will protect you.
Through the darkness of space
Only Ba’al’s light will shine;
Cleansing the filth,
Purifying the unclean,
Spreading peace through his vengeance.
In his light, forgiveness
In his hands, life
In the High Priest, truth
In servitude, eternity.”
As the words from his childhood rolled off his lips, calm settled over Gerard. Just like it always did. Even when things were at their darkest, his faith never failed to bring comfort. He might not have had a mother or a father while growing up, but he’d had Sanctify.
It was time. He nodded to Adam when they reached the coordinates he’d received, getting a toothy grin in response. The man loved killing more than anyone Gerard knew—except the High Priest—and there was bound to be blood spilled tonight.
Behind that sea-green door was a group of Bolkerian mercenaries driven enough to sign on with anyone working against Sanctify. If one of them hadn’t had the support of a very generous backer, they never would have risen far enough to gain notice. A fatal mistake.
“Finish it quickly.” At his signal, Adam and Fisk kicked in the door, pouring through to the room beyond. Gerard took in the room in a single blink—two Bolkerians against the far wall, two at a table near the other exit. All male. Thank Ba’al. The females were notoriously harder to kill.
Adam and Fisk moved to the right, taking out the first before it could respond. Attacking quickly was their only hope. Once these things got moving, there was no stopping them. Gerard sidestepped through the door, careful to keep his back to the wall, and followed Davis and Blaine left. Since both were only three months out of training, they needed more help than the other two. While the newbies shot wildly at the sitting Bolkerian, Gerard took aim at the standing one. The male spun toward him, meter-long back-spikes scraping along the wall in its attempt to move quickly. Its squinty black eyes peered over a furred muzzle a moment before Gerard pulled the trigger.
The body hit the ground, a crater where its head had been. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and sighed. After all this time, his emotions were bracketed by a wall of calm even killing couldn’t touch. Just another pest put down to ensure the safety of Sanctify.
The newbies managed to finish off their Bolkerian, though the body was marked up with far too many laser burns. The only place laser fire could successfully penetrate a Bolkerian’s thick, leathery shell was around its neck and head. To hit anywhere else was wasteful. He’d have to talk to them later about accuracy and weak points.
On the other side of the room, Adam and Fisk stood over the struggling body of the final creature. Adam pushed the shorter man. “Get out of my way.”
Fisk shoved him back. “No. This isn’t right.”
Adam jumped forward, arm raised to deliver a blow, but he was forced to dance back at the last minute to avoid the back-spikes of the dying Bolkerian. With a growl, he turned to Gerard, blue eyes demanding. “Tell him.”
Tension had been rising between Fisk and their blond squad mate for some time now. Gerard had hoped it would keep until they reached Sanctus again, but apparently that was too much to ask for. He pointed at the newbies. “Secure the perimeter and make sure there’s no one else around.” As they scrambled over each other to obey, he wondered if he’d ever been so young.
Turning back, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain. Now.”
“What’s there to explain?” Adam shrugged, his broad shoulders nearly taking up the entire width of the doorway. “Fisk’s in my way. Hells, he’s practically a sympathizer.”
“Take that back.” Fisk took a step in his direction, but stopped when Gerard held up a hand. “You can’t honestly expect me to stand by and let him throw around those kinds of insults. I should cut out his Ba’al-damned tongue.”
Obviously things were worse than he thought if Fisk was threatening personal injury on anyone—even Adam. Gerard wanted to tell them to stop acting like kids and stow their issues until they reached home, but a good leader didn’t let something like this slide. “Enough. Both of you. Fisk, spit it out before I lose my patience.”
The Bolkerian gave a low moan, its thrashing slowing. Fisk looked down, his too-long dark hair falling into his face. Damnit, Gerard had told him to cut it before it got him killed by obscuring his vision. “He was going to torture it.”
Gerard blinked. “Elaborate.”
“You’re not stupid.” Fisk motioned at the dying creature. “He wanted to play with it.”
Adam gave a heavy sigh. “He’s being dramatic. I merely wanted a chance to try out my new laser on its shell.”
It seemed plausible enough—if they were talking about anyone else—but Adam had developed a taste for pain. Anyone’s but his own. These days, even being in the same room as him made the small hairs on the back of Gerard’s neck rise.
“We’re on a mission, which means you don’t have time for such luxuries. Fisk, put that thing out of its misery.” Fisk obeyed instantly, shooting the Bolkerian point-blank in the face. It went limp, dark brown spikes hitting the floor with a heavy
thump
.
Another
thump
echoed through the ceiling above them.
Gerard had half a second to shout a warning before a ball of spikes came rolling down the stairs. Adam dove farther into the room, barely getting out of the way in time. The thing unfurled to a height of well over Gerard’s two meters, its muzzle bared in a snarl, dull red eyes focused on him and him alone.
“A fucking female.” Of course. How could his day get any worse?
Gerard regretted the thought as soon as the damn thing charged him. Claws, each nearly the size of his hand, swiped past his head. He ducked, trying to get an angle for a shot, but it closed the distance too fast. All he could see was chest fur and spikes and claws. Scrambling back, he hit the wall just as the thing kicked him, tearing into his side.
With a war cry, Davis came flying into the room, skidding to a halt in front of the creature. Then Adam and Fisk were there as well, taking turns firing, luring it away from where Gerard slid to the ground, his vision graying. He raised his laser, aiming carefully. When the Bolkerian turned toward Fisk, arm upraised in a move that would gut the man, Gerard pulled the trigger, taking it in the neck. The thing mewled and listed to the side.
“Out of the way.” Fisk pulled Adam back just as the creature toppled.
Davis wasn’t so lucky. One of the spikes pinned his leg. The female rolled, cutting off his screams as it covered him. Gerard stared at the thin river of blood curving its way from beneath the Bolkerian’s body. It merged with the other pool next to the nearest male, the two reds exactly the same color.
What in Ba’al’s name was wrong with him? It shouldn’t matter if some aliens bled red. Why was he even thinking about this?
Shaking his head did nothing but make his dizziness worse. Each breath tore through him as if someone were sticking a poker into his wound. Bolkerians weren’t poisonous, but the female had gotten him good. The bleeding wouldn’t stop without formal treatment. He looked up at Fisk and Adam, their concerned expressions doing nothing to reassure him. Gerard opened his mouth to give the command to retreat to the ship when raised voices reached his ears. At first, he thought they were a hallucination, but both Adam and Fisk went still in front of him. Even straining, he couldn’t make out the words, but the tone said enough.
They were in trouble.
Pushing to his feet nearly made him pass out, but his men wouldn’t follow orders if they thought he was about to keel over. It was an effort to keep the pain from his voice, but he’d had years of practice. “Get to the ship and send a report to the High Priest.”
Adam nodded and disappeared out the back door. Fisk was another story. He eyed Gerard, focusing on the hand he held against his side. The fabric was already soaked through, blood darkening the perfect white of the robe. “You’re injured.”
“Which is why you need to leave me behind. I can’t keep up right now.” As shit as that was.
For a moment, it looked as if Fisk would argue, but he finally nodded. “Let me at least help you out of the robe.”
Smart. Gerard should have thought of it himself. That he didn’t spoke volumes of his injury, but he just nodded and let Fisk help him out of the white cloth that marked him as a member of Sanctify. The shouts loomed closer, nearly to the front door. Gerard jerked his chin at the stairway. “Take the rooftops. I’ll go out the back.”
“There’s a brother in arms who runs a bar about half a kilometer away. Follow the street and take your second left. It’s called The Hammer. He’ll patch you up while we wait for things to calm down.”
The front door groaned as someone on the other side threw himself against it. “Go. Now.”
Fisk nodded, but he waited until Gerard pushed off the wall and stumbled through the back door. The night, so calm before, was now filled with angry shouts. How disgustingly typical that these people would come out in arms to defend the monsters in their midst. Didn’t they realize how dangerous aliens were? Any species other than humans wasn’t to be trusted.