Unveiled Emotions

Vicious laid down his cloth and picked up a cigarette and lit it. He picked up the cloth and began to polish his sword again. Stinger watched him for a moment, and then picked up a glass of beer. He brought it to his mouth just as the telephone rang.

"Pick it up," Vicious said and Stinger looked at him.

"Why can't you get it?" Stinger asked then drew back at the look Vicious gave him. He set his glass down on the table, stood up, and picked up the phone. "Hello? Okay, I'll tell him. That was the doctor."

"What's her status?"

"She's remembered her name and he thinks you can see her."

"Once she's back to normal, are you going to go off on your own again?"

"I don't know. Being involved with you sure makes life pretty damned interesting. I like that. I may just hang around here."

"You aren't going to stay here for free."

"This place is much nicer than the one that blew up. Also, your insurance paid off pretty well, didn't it? You need a cook, don't you?"

"I'm not paying you."

"I don't care. I've paid off my debt to you anyway."

"What the hell did you do to make me dig you out of that damned hole? You never told me. Someone in such a prestigious rank shouldn't have had the Black Wolf group after him. How the hell did you piss them off?"

"That's a long story. Basically I screwed them over. Me and one of their top men got into a fight one night where I was working and I killed him. I escaped and laid low for a bit. I went to a bar one night, met Rei, and found out from an informant that BlacBlack Wolves were following me, just waiting to skin my hide. I left the planet early the next morning and eventually wound up with the Red Dragon syndicate."

"A you you took advantage of her."

"Not true. She agreed to it. It's not taking advantage of if she agrees to it."

"So are you going to try for her again?"

"Hell no. I'm still not ready to die. I ain't touching anything you have a claim on."

"The only reason I have a claim on her is because of what she knows about me."

"That's the only reason."

"Don't mock me or my pet might feed off of your pathetic carcass. You have no loyalties to me and I have none to you. Your death, if needed, would be strictly routine."

"I understand, but you haven't run out of use for me yet. I'm not a Regal Taliban for nothing and you sure as hell know that."

"You are now quite comfortable in your natural form, aren't you?"

"I see no reason to hide my natural state any more. So when are we leaving?"

"Soon. I wish to change first."

"Suit yourself."

"Don't get sarcastic with me."
Stinger said nothing as he watched Vicious walk out of the room. He was glad that she was doing better. The past six months the snake had his fangs bared, venom dripping from them as he tried to hide his concern for her. Stinger found that the only reason he had survived the past six months was that he had avoided Vicious as much as he could.

He picked up his glass of beer and drank it, wondering why he kept fantasizing about someone that was off limits. He was glad that Vicious did not have Rei's ability to hear thoughts. If he did, then Stinger would have been quite dead by now.

"Funny," he mused. "How he's changed and yet he's become more dangerous than ever."

"Come if you are," Vicious said as he stepped into the doorway. He gazed at the leather easy chair that Stinger sat in and waited for him to take action. Stinger stood, set down his glass, and took out his gun. He pulled out a box of cartridges from his pocket, loaded the thin barrel, spun it a few times then walked out of the room and fell into step behind Vicious.

"What are you going to do when you see her?" he asked and Vicious said nothing.

"What I do is none of your concern," Vicious replied as he typed in a code on a keypad near the front door.

"Sorry. I was just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat and I think you would fall into that category because of your feline reflexes."

"Call me what you want. You're carrying the bigger weapon."

"Let's go. I've been looking forward to this day for quite awhile now."

"Do you think your enemies are at rest? It's been pretty quiet around here. Too quiet, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you and right now, I don't care. My opponents will show themselves or strike when they feel the time is right. There's no need to worry about it before that time. Get in the car and let's go. Otherwise, I'm going to leave you behind."