M. Lee - Dark Read online

  He regarded the device with satisfaction. Too manyused what was sent to thembyR&D without ever understanding the mechanisms that made everything work. Julius had helped him see the folly of that early on. Julius had made himsee a lot ofthings.

  Wryly, he glanced down. His cock, proportional to the rest of him, was noticeable when it took an interest. Adrenaline hard-wired certain responses, at least in human bodies, and Dark was no exception. Thoughthinkingabout Julius didn’t help.

  Perhaps it was the recent romp with Jaime, but Dark decided there was no point in forcing his attention elsewhere. He had done everything that needed doing; a little self-indulgence would be good for him. He hummed softly under his breath, stripping his shirt off over his head and shucking his pants. He took his weapons to the bathroomwithhim. He laid a gunonthe edge of the sink, in easy reach should someone come bursting through the door. The knife came into the shower, placed on the shelf meant for soap. He kept the door partially open, balanced between catching any odd sounds over the shower spray and obstructing a clear shot at him.

  Dark liked his showers hot. He waited until steam rose fromthe water before he stepped over the lip and under the spray. He sucked in a happy breath, his cock rising further. He tilted his head back, letting the water pound over his face and chest. He parted his lips, licking at the wet heat. It was nothing compared to the taste of a lover, but still better than nothing. He breathed deeply, the humiditymakinghimfeelluxurious. He braced his hands against the shower wall, tilting his hips a bit. The pulse of the shower against his sensitive cock was a slow tease. Settlinginto take his time, Dark bent his head forward, sending water sluicing down his back and over his ass. He shivered in reaction, almost more sensitive there than up front. He kept his eyes closed, holding himself still. His tongue darted out in a quick lick over his lips. He remembered how good it had felt, takingJaime inhis mouth. Suckingcock always felt good.

  Swallowing convulsively, Dark spread his legs a little and gasped. Now the water was trailingright down the centerline of his ass, dripping over his hole before falling to the shower floor and swirling away. He leaned forward, trying for more, and quickly snapped back when he inadvertently cut off the spray to his cock. His breathing was heavy in his ears. Would Jaime do this? Dark pictured him, his sweet, wicked mouthcurved ina smile, ghosting a finger down his spine, pausing just short of where Dark wanted. Would he be flirtatious? Lighthearted? Or would he be more like Julius? Julius, Dark’s constant temptation, dancing against Dark’s edges until he thought he would snap. Julius, Dark knew, would certainly do this for him. To him. Julius would use so light a touch that Dark would think he hallucinated it, would archhis bodyto begfor more, but Julius would just smirk. And then he would stop touching completely, only to bite at Dark’s neck, hard enough that Dark was glad his skin made bruising difficult to see. Julius would grab at his hips and mutter filthinhis ear.

  Jaime had done that too. Maybe not as explicitly as Julius would, but that could be care with a first-time partner. What if Dark went back? Invented some excuse to barge into his room again, let flirtation take them where it would? Would Jaime be different then? Would he tell Dark to bend over and show me that hole of yours? Maybe he’d use that glorious mouth of his, maybe he’d kiss downDark’s spine and—

  And now Dark had to touch, just barely making his hand land on his chest. With hitching gasps, he spread his palm flat and wide. At an achingly slow pace, he allowed his hand to move lower, creeping down his chest and over his belly. Stopping an inch short of where the tip of his cock would be painting his belly with precome if the water weren’t washing everything away, he brushed his fingers in an unhurried pattern. Only when his skin was shivering and he could feel his thighs beginning to tighten with need did he move again. Not to grasp his cock—that would be too easy—but to slide his hand between his cock and his stomach. He trembled as his knuckles brushed against the sensitive skin. Smiling blindly, he licked the water fromhis lips again. He tugged briefly at the pubic hair at the base of his cock. Floating on the wave of pleasure, Dark rubbed his thumb in deliberate circles over first one ball and then the other. They tightened satisfyingly, bringing him closer. Done, he skimmed a single finger along his cock, moaning at the feel. It made him a little dizzy. He reached his other hand behind himself, tracing the path he had pictured his lover taking. He stopped scintillatingly close to his hole and felt his body arch in unconscious response.

  Finally, he closed his hand around his cock. He stroked lightly at first, forcing a stuttered cry from his throat. His body jerked against the demands he was making of it, pleading for him to tighten his fist. For a moment, his hips and his arm were working at odds. Dark leaned awkwardly to the side, slumping against the wall. His knees were shaking. He waited long minutes, dragging out the tantalizing edge as long as he could before surrendering. He closed his hand more firmly, rubbing a thumb down the vein on the underside, choking down the strangled noise that wanted to emerge. It escaped a moment later when he sent that same thumb caressing across the slit on the head of his cock.

  Not long now. Soon. He tossed his head, restless. His mouthwas openina constant gasp for air. His mind was ricocheting with images, some of which had happened, others drawn from his rich imagination. Jaime’s mouth. Someone’s tongue against his ass. Fuck. He slid his other finger lower, pressing a millimeter into himself. His head jerked back. He twisted his wrist on his next stroke, forced his finger deeper, and came. He stroked himself through it, clenching down on the little bit of finger he had inside, groaning out a nonsense syllable. When he had wrung out the last of his orgasm and was in danger of becoming oversensitized, he let up. Shakily, he raised his hand to his lips and licked the mess off his hand. He eased his finger out with a sigh and got on with cleaning himselfup.

  Mmm. That had beennice. HE MIGHThave left it there, but it was habit to check in once he began surveillance. Training had him logging into the hotel’s cameras again the following morning. It was a good thinghe did; he might not have knownthere was a problemotherwise.

  The weapons had been hidden carefully. No one expected a long wooden instrument to contain a sword, nor a flute to transform into brass knuckles. The blowgun that emerged from the small hand drum was almost genius. Like most of their kind, orcs stuck with the weapons traditional to their world. The rarity and high value placed on those few orcs with a musical bent made their camouflage even better. Many ofthemmight have seemed at home inthe Earthworld ofthe past, but Dark knew better. The sword, for example, was likely to cut through just about anything. The blowgun would bear poisoned darts that would leave no trace upon the victim. And the knuckles—Dark tapped away until his screen zoomed in. Yes, there. The insides were marked and sharp. They would pump steroids into the wearer, giving a rush of strength. Orcs, like elves, were immune to the side effects ofmost humandrugs.

  Dark watched in grim silence as the orcs went through what looked like a morning practice session, moving through a series of coordinated moves that would render most opponents disabled or dead. When they finished, a half hour had passed. The weapons were once more replaced, slippinginto invisibility.

  They might be after someone else. They might even travel armed for all occasions. It wasn’t as though the hotel had a policy against weapons, only violence. The assumption was that a person was capable of keeping peace, regardless of training or opportunity. Dark regularly carried an array of weapons and other specialtygear, a habit he was now deeplythankfulfor.

  With a sigh, Dark took close-up pictures of each of the three orcs. He wrote a brief letter explaining the situation and sent it to an encrypted service, which would automatically send the message on to his employer if he didn’t key in every sixteen hours. He set the shots to scan through known criminals and went to work reviewingthe case file for the uraniumscam.

  Tracing the file through the heavily guarded EPS was hard work, and checking the invisible fingerprints left by anyone who had examined those files made it more difficult
. Dark was good at his work, though. Words and names flashed and disappeared in a stream, coded layers falling under his skilled hands. His fingers blurred across the keyboard, narrowing the parameters of his search, seeking out connections. After several hours, he straightened, cracking his back. The list of names of those who had examined the case file was long, but cross-referencing it to potential ties to the weapons underground, and again with agents free and skilled enoughto act, shortened it considerably.

  Dark was not happy with the remaining names. Five agents, two Heads, and the Commander of EPS. Two agents had legitimate reasons for looking at the files, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The others were without an alibi. Dark found it deeply worrisome that the Commander still had ties to the weapons underground. Out of active duty, she should be isolated from that sort of thing. Her skill in arms wasn’t unexpected. Agents tended to keep in top shape, regardless ofage and current duties. Once you’d experienced the sharp edge of danger, it was not easily let go.

  Nuclear armaments and bombs had been banned for nearly a century, with each world committing a portion of specialists to keeping them gone. EPS had counterparts, both here and abroad. He was starting to wonder ifhe ought to contact one ofthem. The problem with that, of course, was that if the orcs had compromised someone in a higher position of the EPS, there was no way to know they hadn’t done something similar in another world’s hierarchy. Anyone he could contact could potentiallylaya trailto him.

  Well. Almost anyone. That thought in mind, Dark pulled a protected-line touchphone froma hidden compartment in his baggage. It was set to dialonlyone number. He keyed it in.

  “Knight.”

  Dark smiled. “Day’s end, that’s what we are.” The man on the other end laughed, a low, pleasant

  rumble. “Hello, old friend. Introuble again, are we?” “Why would you think that, Julius? Aren’t I good

  to you?”

  Julius Knight snorted loudlyinto the phone. “Good

  to me, or good for me? Never mind; I know you don’t

  calluntilyouneed help.”

  “I meanto,”Dark protested. “Just, work.” “Mmm,”Julius agreed, “work. So?”

  Reluctantly, Dark unfolded the story as he had it

  thus far. Julius listened intently, the silence growing

  thicker the more Dark spoke.

  “Youreallythink the Commander’s involved?” Dark made a face at the phone. “No way of

  telling. I can’t rule it out yet.”

  Julius sighed. “All right. That’s a fair bit of trouble,

  evenfor you.”

  Dark rubbed a hand throughhis hair. “I know.” “Now, now,” Julius teased, “don’t go getting all

  guilt-complex on me. You know I’ll help. Besides, I

  love a good challenge. Send me what you have, and we

  candivvyup the work.”

  Dark felt his shoulders relaxing. A few quick taps

  later, Julius confirmed he’d received the shots of the

  orcs and their weapons, alongwitheverythingelse Dark

  had dug up. “I’ll track their movements here and trace

  back,”Dark offered.

  Julius grunted. “I’ll dig deeper into those names

  you’ve got, see ifI can’t turnanythingup civvie-side.” Dark frowned. “Be careful. If it is one of them,

  they’re dangerous. Hell, if it isn’t one of them, they’re

  still dangerous. They won’t know you from some

  hyped-up hacker boy.”

  Julius laughed. “Dark, my dear, I amsome hypedup hacker boy.”

  Dark grinned, glancingup longenoughto catchthe

  white flash of his teeth in the mirror. “Last time I

  checked, youwere a man, not a boy.”

  He could all but hear Julius’s smirk as he replied.

  “Maybe youbetter check again. It’s beenawhile.” Memory filled his mind’s eye of Julius’s flamebright hair framing pointed ears, the legacy of his elfish

  mother. His fox-like reflexes and impressive flexibility

  had nothing to do with heritage and everything to do

  with the life he led: always on the brink of danger,

  slipping through EPS and other officials like smoke and

  turningup somewhere everyone would swear he’d been

  for hours. Or days, or weeks—however long an alibi Julius needed to prove he hadn’t beenpokingwhere the law didn’t want him, he had friends and allies who

  would swear to it. The bastard was slippery.

  Dark didn’t mind. He thought being hard to pin

  down was an excellent quality. He hadn’t expected the

  sex when he first set out to befriend Julius, but it was an

  exceptional bonus. Julius worked independently of any

  agencies, preferringnot to be tied down. He was almost

  as good a fighter as Dark, and better at information

  retrieval. He’d teased Dark more than once that the

  abilityto socialize withothers was a highlyvaluable skill,

  one Dark should learn.

  Dark wasn’t any good at playing well with others.

  He took his work seriously. It left little time for play,

  something his superiors approved of and his friends—

  just Julius, really—did not. Sex was the closest Dark

  came to playing, something Julius had sussed out

  quickly enough. He remembered vividly the night Julius

  had caught him staring, the way his eyes had gone

  calculating first. Invitation came later, in the slow press

  of his body when they danced and the curl of his lips

  next to Dark’s ear.

  “It has,” he agreed. His voice was husky. “Too

  long.”It reallyhad beenawhile. Sixmonths? More? “I could make it be not so long,” Julius said. “Find

  some quiet corner and do a little firsthand checking….” “I….” His voice sounded as unsteady as he felt.

  As good as he felt around Julius, the man also left him

  disoriented. He licked his lips, lust and something else

  swirlinginhis gut. “I’minthe middle ofa job.” The protest sounded weak to his ears. Julius

  hummed downthe line. “So I’llbe quick.”

  Dark gulped. “I need youwhere youare.” Julius sighed. “Whenthis is over?”

  “Yes.” The promise was more eager than he

  meant it to be. He hated the resignationinJulius’s voice. There was an interesting pause. “Stubborn

  bastard,”Julius said.

  Dark felt his mouth curving up in response to

  Julius’s fond tone. “We have work to do,” he said

  cheerfully. And hung up to the sound of Julius’s

  laughter.

  SURVEILLANCE, it turned out, was more complex than he’d originally thought. While the hotel hadn’t focused any energy on windows, there was plenty on the other entrances, and more on the halls and rooms. Their virtual protections were formidable as well. Apparently they took their guests’ privacy seriously. It would take hours to crack into the hotel’s system further than he had. Moment-to-moment visuals were one thing, but he

  needed history. Dark didn’t intend to wait.

  There was a security station downstairs from his

  suite. It took a little work and some careful timing to

  avoid visual monitoring, but Dark managed. No one

  saw him enter the station. It was, as he’d discovered,

  empty. Cameras wouldn’t work here, obviously, but

  Dark had scoped out the area, and body heat levels

  coming from this room weren’t high enough to indicate

  a person. Instead, it was filled with a massive desk with

  a dozen drawers. On it rested three monitors, all

  attached to what Dark recognized as a recentlyupdated

  touch-sensitive computer. Dark
hissed. He hoped the damn thing didn’t have fingerprinting technology; those were a bitch to hack. And his time was somewhat

  limited.

  Dark sat at the desk and examined the monitors.

  The first showed onlya series ofred lines withpoints on

  them, flowing continually across a black screen. It

  looked rather like a heart monitor, actually. A quick

  count identified thirty-two lines: one line for each floor.

  Any disruption likely caused a visual spike that would

  be impossible to miss. The second monitor was filled

  with endless lines of code. Dark identified it quickly as

  the hotel’s check-in/check-out system, keeping track of

  what guests were present and expected at any given

  moment. He tagged it as a possibility, but it was the

  third monitor that caught his attention. It flashed rapidly

  through images ofhalls, doors, and the interiors ofguest

  suites.

  Dark was twenty-three minutes into making

  screens two and three spit up their pasts when he heard

  the door click open. There was a clear line of sight, so

  diving to the floor would hardly help. He locked down what he was doing and turned, prepared to incapacitate

  whoever had entered.

  “My,” Jaime said, an eyebrow rising, “ending up

  places you aren’t allowed is something of a habit of

  yours, isn’t it?”

  Dark bit his tongue. Damn. “Just having a look

  around.”

  Jaime’s eyes darted behind him. “Our security

  system? Right.”

  Flashing his badge might gain him temporary

  safety, but it might also get himchecked out. And if his

  suspicions were correct, that could be a very big

  problem indeed. “Security’s my business,” he said,