Page 39 of Black Star

Diamond stood on wobbly legs, but one step and she collapsed, too weak to even make it to the door. He was right. She definitely shouldn’t be here when he woke up. Crawling took so much effort, she had to stop and rest before she could even unlock the door for it to slide open. When she did, she was met by an alarmed-looking Ranier with a hand raised to hit the door chime.

“What the bluefuckis going on? Are you OK?”

She wanted to nod her head, but nothing seemed to work. “Med Unit,” was all she managed to croak out before the room started spinning wildly. Everything became blurry around the edges, her ears rang, and she felt herself falling. Then blackness.

Chapter Two

The amount of blood and destruction in Viktor’s cabin was unthinkable. When Rainer saw the vampire lying stretched out on the bed as if dead, blood smeared from his mouth down his neck and chest, he truly thought the tiny woman had managed to kill him. Then he saw the blood on Diamond’s neck and chest. And her thighs. The woman looked like she had been tortured.

Bloody hell! If Viktor was dead, he probably deserved it.

Ranier scooped her up and rushed to Medical. Her head lolled against his shoulder, lifeless. Her skin was a sickly pale, her lips almost disappeared into her face with lack of color, and she was cold. Deathly cold.

“Doctor!” Ranier was beginning to panic. It looked like this woman was dying in his arms. “Help her!”

The ship’s doctor, Mahat Zabin, took one look at Diamond and snatched her from Ranier’s arms. He ducked into a surgical suite where four medical personnel swarmed around her, closing a med unit around her to give them a summary of her injuries.

“Her hemoglobin and hematocrit are critically low, Doctor,” one nurse read from a display. “She needs blood badly, but she doesn’t match anything we have on board. I’m not even sure we can synthesize it.”

The doctor looked at the readout, and his brows knitted together. “I can do it manually.”

“Manually?” The nurse gave him a look that saidyou’ve got to be kidding.

“Yes.” He turned from the display and went to a computer terminal. “Seal her wounds and stabilize her other injuries. Take special care with the tears and slight burn to her vaginal wall and external genitalia or she’ll form scar tissue, making it difficult for her to have pleasure during sex.”

“Doctor --” The same nurse put a hand on her hip and looked at him like she couldn’t believe what he was saying. “-- at this point, that’s the least of her worries.”

Doctor Zabin looked up from his work and gave the nurse a scathing look. “As a doctor -- or nurse -- our job is to not only save a life, but to ensure quality of life.” He clenched his fists. “If it is at all possible to put her back together the way she was before this happened, I intend to do it. Can’t you see how badly she’s been used? Assuming she decides at some point she wants sexual pleasure, make damned sure she can. If you can’t accept that challenge, I suggest you relieve yourself of duty.” The nurse simply shrugged before turning back to the patient.

“You.” Dr. Zabin turned to Ranier. “Find whoever did this and kill him.”

Ranier nodded, but there was nothing he could do. TheBlack Starhad told Captain Singh to bring the girl to Viktor in the first place. Once she had been told the gravity of the situation, she’d seemed to know exactly what to do. Unfortunately, it looked like she’d been wrong.

Ranier turned to go, but a muffled moan from Diamond made him whip around and rush to her side. She opened her eyes slowly and found his. “Don’t approach him until he wakes. He’ll kill you if you do.”

“Looks like he just about killedyou.” Ranier found her hand under the med unit and grasped it tenderly. “We’re too far from his home world and any relief he might find. I have to tell the captain how far gone he is. We may have no choice but to kill him before he kills someone or injures anyone else.” Ranier felt a sharp pain in his heart. Viktor was a sadistic asshole, but he was a fine warrior, and an even better friend… in his own sadistic asshole kind of way. The thought of ending his life was unthinkable, yet he managed to actually say the words without choking.

Not only that, but Diamond tugged at his heart as well. She was a strong woman. A brave woman. Yet vulnerable beyond belief. She needed something. Ranier wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Viktor. It made him angry as hell. Viktor didn’t deserve a woman like this after his treatment of her.

He winced. Diamond was so lovely. He’d had thoughts of trying to win her for himself, but how could he possibly hope to have her after her experience with the vampire? Even if they had to kill Viktor, he’d likely haunt Diamond for the rest of her life after something like this. Ranier would only serve as a reminder.

“He won’t, Ranier.” She squeezed his hand slightly, and he was sure it was meant to be reassuring. “He’s in theKomanyar. The Sleep of Death. It’s a state all vampires enter after a Blood Frenzy. He shouldn’t wake for several hours.”

“Will he be back to normal?” Whatever that was. Ranier had the feeling he was about half crazy most of the time.

“No, but he won’t be as deeply in the Blood Burning as he was before. I’ll have to go to him several more times before it passes, and he’ll have to have his needs met regularly for a long time or he’ll slip back into it more easily and with less warning.” Her words were starting to slur now. “Just trust me. I can handle this.” She looked at Ranier with large, luminous green-flecked violet eyes, and he couldn’t deny her anything.

He sighed. “I’ll tell the captain. The decision is ultimately up to him, but I’ll put in a good word.”

Diamond nodded and smiled. “Thank you.” Ranier turned to leave, but her grip on his hand tightened. “You’ll come back for a while, won’t you?” There. That was the lost girl he’d suspected was inside the toughened, battle-hardened woman. “I mean, your presence is comforting. I like talking to you.”

“Of course.” He smiled, his heart breaking. “I won’t be long.” When her lip trembled, Ranier had to comfort her. Not caring that everyone in the suite was watching, he dipped his head to hers and kissed her lips tenderly, stroking her hair as gently as he could. “I promise.”

He noticed how her eyes widened slightly, but finally she smiled and nodded her head. Closing her eyes, she took one final deep breath before she slept. Ranier lowered his head once more and placed a kiss on her forehead. Sweet gods above! He wanted this woman. And, stars help him, he wanted to kill Viktor for what he’d done to her.

* * *

Viktorburned. Sweat dripped off his eyelashes and ran down his face in rivulets. He shouldn’t have watched the captain and his little stowaway fucking in her holding cell, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed sex like they’d had, only…

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