“I can assure that for myself,” he reminded her, smiling thinly at the back of her head.

“I did everything you said!”

“You sure did,” Kane said agreeably. “And I enjoyed the conversation, but that’s all done now and so are you.”

“But…But you were going to let me live!”

Kane cocked his head to one side and allowed himself to look mildly puzzled. “I don’t recall making that arrangement. Raven?”

She shook her head, leaning against the wall and cupping her sex.

“But I did everything you wanted,” the female wailed.

“Yes.” He studied her seriously. “Thank you. Now I want you to help me make Vahst.” He pushed her head down as she began shrieking, but paused and looked over his shoulder at his Raven. “I don’t suppose it comes as much comfort to you,” he added. “But you have done magnificent work.”

“Please!” she screamed.

Kane ripped off the back of her head and took the pink gland while her body spasmed, once, twice, and slowly eased towards death.

“Plzzz…”

“Magnificent work,” Kane murmured, watching the level of liquid inside the ampule fill with a few more precious drops. He popped out the spent bit of brain tissue onto the painted woman’s back and sealed up his pack again before shouldering it. “Raven,” he said cheerfully. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

*

She cried all the way back to the hotel. Kane let her. The light from oncoming traffic splashing over the rings above her eyebrows was enough to keep him in a good mood, despite her bawling. And she probably couldn’t help herself. It had to hurt like hell.

She made one stop, at a small building crowded with shelves of supplies in tight rows. She was quiet inside, although tears continued to spill steadily from her eyes. Kane walked with his arm around her shoulders. He doubted she was capable of running, but if ever she was in the mood to raise an alarm, it was now. But she pressed herself against his side as she moved, blindly seeking his comfort, and he gave it to her in gentle pats.

She picked out two items—a large pump bottle and a small tube—and paid for them without speaking. The human who took her money barely even glanced at them.

As soon as they were back outside, she started sobbing freely again, and when she had to sit in the car, she screamed. She hunched over the steering wheel, cupping her breasts and wailing as water flowed from her eyes.

Kane watched her, smiling. Eventually, she drove them back to the hotel.

Once the door was shut behind him, Kane set his pack on the bed and pulled Raven’s shirt off her. She let out a cry and slapped at him, her little hand striking at his chest with all the force of a child’s. Kane didn’t mind the attack, but some things should never be overlooked. He caught her by the neck and lifted her onto her toes. “Raven,” he said.

She was kicking, clawing, choking—a frenzy of living fear. Kane waited, watching her face darken.

“Raven,” he said again, once her struggles had waned.

She gripped his wrist, her feet stretching for the floor, and gasped for breath.

“Don’t ever hit me,” he told her calmly. “Unless you want to know what it feels like to have all ten fingers pulled right the fuck off your hand.”

He set her down and she just kept falling, landing in a heap on the floor. She sucked in a croaking breath, retched air and flecks of spit, and then started crying again.

Kane hunkered down and cupped her jaw, tilting her into the light so he could examine the rings above her brow. They were red and swollen. He touched her breast carefully around the steel settings and she cried out. He flipped her skirt up, touched the rings glittering in her sex, and brought his fingers away dappled with her blood.

Kane clasped his hands between his knees and smiled at her. “I’m going to take care of you,” he said. “If you ask me nicely.”

She looked at him with wet, welling eyes, a thing of misery in a never-waking nightmare.

“I know you must hurt,” he said, playing regret. “Hurts to walk, hurts to sit. Hurts just to breathe, I’ll bet.”

She shivered.

“Would you like me—” Kane leaned in and butted his head playfully against hers. “—to make you something for the pain, Raven?”

Her eyes widened with shining gratitude and then crashed in on themselves in despair. “Yes,” she whispered, clearly believing he would never do it.

“Do you?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’m going to take a lot of convincing after you hit me,” he remarked.

Her face crumpled. “I can’t!” she said, fresh tears dripping down her cheeks. “I can’t, everything hurts!”

He hushed her, patting her purple hair, and she rocked and cried with her face in her shaking hands. “Raven, Raven,” he sighed, rubbing her shoulder. “Did I tell you to fuck me?”

“No,” she sniffled.

“I told you to ask me nicely.” He stood up, hooking his thumb claws through the waistband of his pants. “And I meant just that. So ask me.”

“Please,” she said. She gripped her own arms, her little claws digging crescents into her trembling flesh. “Please, Kane.”

Kane closed his eyes, savoring the sound of her begging.

“Please, it hurts. Wasn’t…wasn’t I good to you? Please, Kane, I’ve been good.” She began to cry harder, helpless and quiet little tears as opposed to her hoarse braying. “Please. Please.” She bent forward and pressed her lips to his foot, sending pleasure through him that was damned near sexual. “Please help me. It hurts. Please, Kane.”

He raised his foot, shook her off, and took his pack over to the table. While he worked, he was aware of Raven uncurling herself and opening the bag with her purchases inside. A viscous white fluid came from the pump bottle and she dabbed it onto her tattoo. The thick paste from the tube went onto each piercing. Kane watched with narrow eyes, but didn’t interrupt. He didn’t trust Earth’s medicines.

“All right,” he announced. “Come here.”

She crawled to him on her knees, her hands pressed to her sex and her shoulders shaking. She leaned her brow against his thigh and didn’t flinch at all when the dermisprayer hissed.

He rested his hand on her head, toying with her hair as he felt her relax. “Feel better?” he asked.

“Uh huh.”

“All right, let’s have a look.” Kane reached down and took a smear of paste from her breast onto his fingertip. He fed it into his analyzer and plugged it into the computer. The results came quickly, and he was looking at a basic topical antibiotic. The white fluid was nothing more than a water-based moisturizer. She was going to need better than that.

Kane got up, letting Raven fold onto her side next to his chair. He went into the bathroom for a bottle of hair soap. He dumped the contents into the sink, rinsed it clean, and brought it out to the table.

He prepared the antibodies first, a powerful compound, and put them into the empty bottle with some of the moisturizer for a base, shaking the bottle until he had achieved a uniform consistency. It was probably all she’d need but he believed in caution when it came to protective medicines.

Kane mixed up a panacea blend of immuno-boosters and nanozymes and injected it into her sleeping body. Come daylight, the swelling would be gone and the holes well on their way to healed. The rest, he’d leave to nature. It would mean staying at the hotel until she was fit to travel again, but he could live with that.

“Thank you,” she mumbled now, and he patted her back absently. “I’ll be good.”

“I know you will.”

“I’m sorry I hit you.”

“I forgive you,” he said generously.

She stretched out and kissed his foot. She fell asleep that way, her cheek atop his talons, and Kane leaned his head on his fist and smiled down at her from above.

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