Ironically, the part I was worried about most on a personal level was the eleven days of travel, when it would just be her and I alone save the crew who would serve but keep their distance per their training. Would she be able to resist me? If she could, and was a nymph, could I possibly resist her. Her aura wouldn’t be compelling like mine perhaps, but a nymph would be wickedly inviting and a hell of a temptation. Could I resist the idea of seducing someone so appealing, who wasn’t chasing me?

  I just couldn’t be sure how it would all work out, and honestly, I had no idea which way I’d jump when the time came.

  The military station above Patience was just minutes away from me. The five days had gone by without a problem, and I’d been done with my research after that first day. The rest of the time I just did my daily workouts, practiced with the rope dart so I wouldn’t lose my edge, practiced my Katas, and otherwise pursued the normal things. Food, sleep, some maintenance work, and of course monitoring the ship’s course.

  The station had already assigned me docking port A22 on the bottom rung of the station, and I was already in line to dock as I cut off my burn, and I activated secondary thrusters and maneuvering jets to finish the job of slowing down. I couldn’t have the main engines running anywhere near the station that I was backing up to.

  On time, I had about thirty-two hours to kill before I needed to report to the yacht Impulsive, which was currently on the tarmac at a government spaceport not far from the main temple. Time enough to find a bar, relax, and spend a day exploring the city that hosted the main temple of the faith as well as the ruler of nineteen worlds.

  That was the plan anyway, but plans change.

  Claire said, “Two temple guards are at the airlock, and they look annoyed.”

  Like I said, plans change, especially at the capital and when the job is guarding the second most important person in the Fellowship. I’d like to say I was surprised, but maybe it’d be better to meet her on the ground first. If I was lucky, she’d take a disliking to me and cancel the whole damned thing.

  I sighed, “Alright, tell them I’m on the way. Lock up while I’m gone, don’t let anyone without an override authorization on the ship.”

  Claire said, “Acknowledged, but I make no promises if they offer me an overhaul.”

  I rolled my eyes at the humor attempt.

  I grabbed my bag on the way off the bridge which I’d packed days ago. It had my laser pistol, a spare energy pack, and a short sword in it. In addition to the clothes, of course. I was already in my leather armored jacket with the rope dart in the sleeve.

  The rear airlock transfer took about a minute, and when their airlock door opened, I was looking at two men in temple guard uniforms. One in his thirties, the other in his late twenties, both of them looked like they spit shined the boots and the red and white temple uniforms looked pristine and without wrinkle. They weren’t scowling, not obviously anyway, but they did somehow look annoyed as they looked me over.

  “Can I help you, gentlemen?”

  The older one said, “You’re to come with us.”

  “I see, am I under arrest then, brother?”

  The younger one scowled, “We’re your escort, her grace sent us to pick you up.”

  I nodded, “But my duty doesn’t start for thirty-two hours, yet. You show up without notifying me of it, what if I’d had plans to do some maintenance upon arrival? You don’t introduce yourselves, and you’re looking at me like you’d rather shoot me in the back of the head than escort me anywhere. So… I’m just wondering, is this normal procedure for temple guards here in Patience. I can assure you it is not back on Brione.”

  The younger man in the space military uniform down the corridor covered his mouth to suppress a snicker.

  The older one said, “Carmine, and Jesse. Nothing about any of this is normal, young man. Her grace is requesting your presence, are you saying no?”

  Oh, they were butt hurt that she was bringing in another agent and refusing their protection on her vacation. It also probably didn’t help that I looked about nineteen or twenty.

  “I didn’t say that. I was clearly questioning your rudeness. When her grace asks me why I’m dressed like a privateer and not fully groomed, when I’d have had eight hours to prepare from FTL exit, I’ll be sure to mention your names.”

  Jesse turned red in the face and took a belligerent step forward, “Who the hell do you think…” but trailed off when the older one touched his shoulder.

  Carmine said, “Like I said, nothing about this is normal. We are following Duchess Fiona’s orders exactly.”

  I sighed, perhaps, but not the attitudes I was sure, it’s not like this was my idea, and they were clearly taking it out on me. Fiona had probably ordered them to pick me up at the airlock, and that didn’t mean she didn’t want them to take the obvious and polite steps of informing me when I came out of FTL. Did it? Unless the duchess wanted to see me in all my casual glory, that is to say not recently shaved and in leather that had seen better days. I’d planned to shave at the hotel, after a real hot shower. That obviously wasn’t going to happen.

  Regardless, I decided not to press the point if they were being assholes by strictly following orders, or if it had truly been Fiona’s intent to catch me by surprise. Well, if she didn’t like my dress, more the better, maybe she’d come to her senses and call off the whole thing.

  I nodded, “Let’s go then.”

  Carmine turned, and Jesse moved to the side, the implications clear. Carmine led me down the corridor along the docking ring with Jesse taking up rear guard. Though I was sure he was more focused on his fantasy to sucker punch me in the back of the head than he was looking out for any threats behind us. Not that I could prove that, but I sensed his eyes on me unwaveringly the whole time, and I trusted my senses. Not everything was about magic, human senses were impressive when trained, but most didn’t bother paying attention to them at all.

  Fortunately for him, there were no dangers, and we arrived at docking port A42S safe and sound. The A ring was at the bottom of the station and took on the smallest ships. Anything like my scout or smaller. B ring was next and the ports twice as far apart, for the light cruisers. The heavy cruisers were larger yet and used C ring, and D ring only had three docking ports, for the rare but extremely capable dreadnoughts.

  All rings however, had tiny docking ports between the larger ships with the final S designation at the end, which was for shuttle traffic. All military space stations were set up like that on the Fellowship worlds. The civilian ones tended to be greatly varied, as varied as the types of civilian spaceships, from huge liners to the smallest merchant and cargo ships.

  It was my turn to feel annoyed as Carmine gestured me onto the shuttle. It was a small and richly appointed craft, to the point I was already feeling underdressed. Not that I had anything fancy, but I did have a newer set of armor that wasn’t quite as stained by my battles with vampires and demons.

  I plopped my bag next to a comfy looking recliner, and I took a seat. The shuttle interior would normally be filled with rows and rows of seats, but all of them had been ripped out to add all the comforts of home.

  The two temple guards shut the outer door, and they moved up into the cockpit without a word. It was unfortunate, I was on good terms with the temple guard back on Brione. Clearly, they were going to be obstructive here at best, but hopefully not full out sabotaging in their actions. I suspected whatever means Fiona had taken to win her permission to go on this vacation with me as a guard, had put a lot of noses out of joint at the main temple. Of course, they could never take it out on the duchess and next prelate, so they’d be taking it out on me.

  Because shit always rolled downhill, and I was just an approved independent agent. It wasn’t that they outranked me. I had no rank in the inner workings of the church, technically I was a free agent and civilian with borrowed authority. I heard the release of the docking clamps, and the shuttle moved slowly away from the station, reaching minimum distance on nothing but maneuvering jets, before burning the main engines to head to the planet.

  I suspected this was one of the shuttles used by the prelate, archbishop, or duchess, so would likely land at the temple itself. I took a deep breath and tried to relax with a light trance meditation state, what would come would come. I just had to navigate it and get back to my normal life if I could, if not… if my career was crushed between giants, I’d figure something out.

  One thing was for sure, the petty games of guardsmen were the least of my problems, unless they made my job harder in keeping the duchess safe then I planned to ignore their antics.

  I tilted my head at the wooden case in the corner on a dais. Was that a mini-bar?

  I did what anyone would do, and I investigated. Sure enough, I was back in my seat with a top-shelf bourbon older than me that would’ve cost me a thousand credits a finger in a bar. One drink wouldn’t affect me, but it just might take the edge off of my nerves and help put things in perspective. The flight to the surface would take an hour anyway.

  Plus, I might as well enjoy the perks if I had to deal with the risks and downsides of this… venture.

  The shuttle came down vertically and came to rest on a landing pad in the rear of the temple. There were two other shuttles and pads as we exited the back, and they led me into the temple. The main temple and basilica on Patience came from the same mold but was a lot bigger, a lot more of the citizens here made the effort to come see the prelate give services than they did for the archbishop running the Fellowship on Brione. Which was understandable, him being the head of the church and all.

  Carmine led the way with Jesse following again, walking even closer on my heels which was annoying but I brushed it off. They led me into a large sitting room that held twenty temple guards along the walls, half of them women ranging from twenty to mid-thirties. Also in the space was the duchess along with an older matronly looking woman that must’ve been her escort and personal servant.

  Fiona was even more attractive than her picture. Her skin had a soft glow to it that spoke of silken warmth. Her long blonde hair flowed in familiar ringlets, and in person her animate green eyes and expressively and classically beautiful face had an exuberant charm to it. Her lithe and athletic body was far more apparent as well, in a much more casual dress that likely wouldn’t be released in an approved photo. Oh, it was still conservative enough, barely showing a hint of her cleavage, and the skirts going down to just above her knees, but she was entirely breathtaking.

  The sense of her presence however, was far more enhancing to that beauty and devastating on my libido than I’d imagined. A strong and instant electrically charged chemical attraction I’d never felt quite so strongly before. I’d met women before I’d taken an instant attraction too of course, but this was as least twice as potent as the most potent that had come before.

  The slight widening of her eyes and the unconscious slight parting of her lips as she took me in told me it was mutual, but she recovered quickly as her eyes truly took in my state. The old beat-up stained leather that I took into battle, and the five o’clock shadow on my face.

  Her lips pressed tightly together, and her eyes shifted to Carmine as they burned with angry authority, “I take it from this that you followed my orders to the letter, and didn’t take any initiative at all to the spirit of the orders and for the sake of politeness.”

  Carmine replied, “We did as we were bid, Duchess. Here is your protector.”

  She nodded slowly, “I thought our temple guards were professionals, not little children pouting and trying to be clever. Both of you report to sublevel six, and I want you to inspect the temple’s reclamation center for any signs of vampire assassins. Be sure to be very thorough, I want your eyes to verify every square inch of the floor including the machines and inside the machines. Have the techs shut them down one at a time for you. Are those orders clear enough, Carmine?”

  Reclamation center? I wasn’t sure, but I think she just ordered them to crawl through shit, sludge, and piss. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, it would certainly send a message to the temple guards about screwing with her designs and plans, but at the same time it’d just make them hate me more. Like a parent intervening between their kid and a bully.

  I’ll admit, I took a little pleasure in the way they snapped their heels, said, “Yes, your grace,” in stereo, then left the room with stiff backs.

  She was smiling again as she looked at me, “Come sit. I’ll let you get settled and cleaned up soon, but I’ve arranged this little test and we should get it out of the way. I don’t normally have twenty guards in the securest section of the temple complex, after all. We shouldn’t waste too much of their time.”

  I nodded, “Yes, your grace,” and sat down in the chair across from her, with a coffee table between us. It felt safer that way for now.

  Fiona shook her head, “Fiona, please. It will prevent any mistakes when we’re on station if you call me Fiona from the start, no your graces or Duchess Fiona this or that. Even if you’re disciplined enough not to make a mistake out of habit, if you only start calling me Fiona when we’re in public together for the first time, you’ll be stiff saying it at first. My name will sound unnatural on your lips, and we can’t have that, it will make it too obvious you’re my guard, and not just a companion to a beautiful woman who isn’t the next prelate.”

  She was gorgeous, clever, and seemed exuberant, also dangerous if crossed as I saw with the guards. Too young and cheeky in a way, but I wasn’t married to that first impression. It was more than possible she was more than a little frustrated with the guards right now, and that was where her heavy handedness came from, not her natural and normal personality.

  She was also extremely alluring to me, attractive on a level I hadn’t experienced before, and a large part of that was her aura, her sense of presence. Her… magic.

  That said, it wasn’t a magic that clouded my mind, just… affected my body. It was still possible to resist, the only question was if it was the same for her.

  “I understand. You’re testing to see if your magic can counter mine. It does seem prudent to discover that in private before we’re on a station and cause an incident. We’ll be able to adjust the security plan accordingly.”

  She nodded, “Yes, you have no idea how much effort and planning I’ve put into this… vacation.”

  The way she said that made me doubt it was a vacation at all. Or at least, that was just a cover story, and would be a lot of fun, but that it was about something else entirely.

  I’d been considering it all for the last five days, including the last station stop at the nudist station where every kink and fetish would be catered to. It had occurred to me if Fiona was truly like her mother, a half nymph but a full nymphomaniac with needs, then she’d need to explore her sexuality. Every young woman did so as they became adults, to one extent or another, but for Fiona it might even be more important for her mental health. Not just her mental health and learning about her sexuality, what she enjoyed, what thrilled her, and what turned her off, but also how to control herself.

  I suspected that’s what this vacation was really about, to spread her wings and learn who she was, to control herself when she couldn’t or shouldn’t let go, but after her comment I wasn’t sure if there was even more to it that I hadn’t divined yet. Regardless, the extent of effort she must’ve put into it made a whole lot more sense to me at that point, from that angle.

  She wasn’t just a spoiled brat wanting to party, she was desperate, repressed, and needed to discover her adult self.

  Despite my earlier and current ambivalence to the idea, I was suddenly hoping she could resist me, which would make it far more likely I’d be helping her out in that discovery. She was truly… superbly beautiful, with a tight and sexy body.

  “Fiona, then. Damien or Bane works, for my friends.”

  She smiled, “Not demon bane?”

  I shrugged, “My colleagues call me that.”

  She hummed a few notes, and I swear it made my bones vibrate. That sounds unpleasant, but trust me the way she made them vibrate was anything but unpleasant. The potent chemistry between us was obvious, but her brief hum started the sexual tension between us. I was still a little nervous of course, this test would take an hour, and at the end of it we’d know the truth. It wasn’t either one or the other either, even if all the female guards started looking at me with lust, that didn’t mean Fiona would. At least, with no more lustful interest than she was already showing because of the potent chemistry.

  “Damien then, that seems more personable. It’s a pleasure to meet you. You really don’t know what you are?”

  I frowned, “No, haven’t figured it out. My powers don’t really align to any known race. As I’m sure you know, I was left as a baby at the temple, and became a ward of the church and was raised by a priestess with the help of every female acolyte that came through there in the time it took me to grow up. So my birth parents are a mystery.”

  She nodded, looking absorbed in me, “The yacht has a pool, racquet ball and tennis courts, as well as a quite extensive workout area. There’s also a media room and a spare bedroom in my suite. It is your duty to attend and protect me at all times even on ship, but it is my hope you’ll join me in the daily workouts, and that we get to know each other better. Not just for the sake of our cover, you fascinate me, and I would like it if we could be friends. Our magic seems… well, to like each other.”

  Was that what that was? Her magic touching and interacting with mine. Like each other was an understatement then, the magic was made for each other. It was also probably responsible for the potent chemical attraction between us, but neither could her beauty or body be discounted. That was surely a part of it too.

  I chuckled, “I wondered if you felt that as well, your magic made mine stand up and dance.”