Lone Huntress

As the mouth finally reached my mouth for a final, passionate kiss, my legs wrapped around one of my lover's. I slowly humped myself against a muscular thigh, until...

***********************************

This time I gave a soft cry as I awoke. I actually climaxed as I woke up. As the throbbing sensations began to fade, my hands snaked between my thighs, jammed them inside in a frantic attempt to prolong the sensation. As my body curled up into the familiar fetal position, and my eyes began to stream tears of frustrated loneliness, my fingers clawed my vaginal walls, pinched my clitoris HARD, forced me into another orgasm, even harder, intensified by the feelings of despair. For the first time, I masturbated even as I cried, in an anguished experience that was certainly not pleasurable. Only... release.

Finally, I stopped my violent self stimulation. I leapt for the bathroom, and the medicine cabinet. I withdrew several bottles. I kept it fully stocked, for every possible emergency. The painkillers that came in so handy after a particularly grueling workout or difficult job went down easily, burying the awful black depression beneath a euphoric haze. Not the same as true peace of mind, but it'd do for a start. I settled onto the floor in Lotus pose.

My abdomen slowly expanded, then forcefully contracted, as I began breathing exercises. By the time the painkillers had worn off, my despair had settled into a dull ache. I chased them down with a couple of sleeping pills, and climbed into bed. I rested my head on one pillow, clutched another to my chest, and settled into a troubled sleep.

*************************************

"Hail, Lisa Huntress."

Francine's rich, aristocratic tones modulated pleasantly through the speakers of my comconsole. Despite her supreme status within her society, her voice held no trace of snobbery, only the respect granted an equal. A wise thing, given my value to her as a contracted employee. And my status as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.

Call me a girl with a reputation.

"Hail, Madame desDesmonde," I replied, with equal courtesy. The paying customer always gets respect. Especially for what she was paying me. "My ETA is forty nine hours, approximately."

Her lips tightened. "How is... Romeo?" Her neck muscled tightened as she clenched her jaw.

"Alive and unharmed." I let her try to read my expression through the view screen, and my helmet. "Oh! You mean, what's his state of mind. Your reunion is foremost on his mind."

"I bet." She twisted her lips in a feral expression. I suppressed a shudder. The last thing to give me that expression came very close to killing me moments later. Gave me a scar to remember the incident by, too.

"It won't be much longer, Madame," I replied carefully, making an effort not to upset her. "I'll have him there as soon as possible."

"Good." Her face grimaced in an expression approaching triumph, then twisted into an expression of longing that I knew all too well. I'd seen it in the mirror too many times.

"How... how have you managed to guard against his powers?" she suddenly asked, thoughtfully.

I rapped my helmet with my good hand. "Shielded against any telepathic attack you can think of."

"You even wear it while you sleep?" she wondered, amazed.

"What?!" I half rose from my seat, then settled down.

"What... didn't you know? His powers... they... they can reach your sleeping mind as well..." she closed her eyes and shivered, as her expression became one of remembering some dear experience.

"You mean he can affect a sleeping person's mind?"

"Oh, yes. Didn't you know? He can even make your dreams pleasant..."

I sat there a moment, as my brain threatened to soil my helmet by exploding out the top of my skull. I could hear my heartbeat pounding, a drumbeat pounding in my skull. Finally, I managed to utter, "You’ve no need to worry, Madame. He'll be in your arms soon enough." I swallowed against the bile rising in my throat. "Huntress out." I cut the transmission.

The path to the holding pen was a blur. A red blur. As I entered the cage, I greeted Romeo with a blast from my charge beam. Not enough to do any real damage, but more than sufficient to scare the piss out of him.

"You... JERK!" I roared, as my left hand reached out in a clawing motion. "You scum! You've been manipulating me in my sleep!"

Romeo gibbered with terror, as he cowered in the cage. "I... I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Don't you DARE LIE TO ME!" I screamed, as I reached through the bars of the cage, grabbed the scruff of his neck, and yanked him close. He screamed from pain, as his chains snapped short, and from terror.

"I talked to Francine. You can touch my mind, even when I'm sleeping. YOU'RE the reason why I've been having those dreams."

"Please..." he sobbed. I heard the gush of fluid, as his sphincter voided itself from terror.

"Louder!" I roared, as I jammed the gun into his face.

"PLEE-EASE!" He sobbed. I dropped him in disgust, and he curled up into a fetal position, whimpering brokenly.

"Stay out of my head, scum." I turned and stalked off.

***************************************

Strong arms clasped me from behind. A firm torso welded to my back, stuck with our sweat. We lay there in the quiet afterglow of lovemaking, and I sighed happily. That wonderful mouth that had given me so much pleasure whispered into my ear, telling my how much I was loved. I was loved. And we'd be together forever. I'd never be alone again...

I jerked out of bed and on my feet before I was fully awake. My vision was clouded beneath a haze of red. For a moment, all I could do was force myself to breathe normally. When I could finally see straight, I grabbed for the things I needed.

"You... you... you..." I muttered, as I stalked into the holding pen, gun aimed on target. Romeo shook himself awake, caught sight of me, and leapt back with a startled yelp. Then he just stared, jaws agape.

"I warned you," I snarled.

"I didn't! I swear! I- I'd have been awake right now, if I'd been scanning your mind. I can't do it while I'm sleeping!"

"Oh?" I snarled. My gun lowered... to aim at his groin. "Care to give me more proof than that?"

"I..." he swallowed. And a zap of light entered my mind. I staggered a moment, then shook my head and snarled. "See? I can control it. But only if I'm awake."

"YOU..." I suddenly realized that he'd touched my mind. I wasn't wearing my helmet.

I wasn't wearing anything else, either.

THAT'S why his eyes were bugging out.

I clenched my jaw. "Yeah. I know. Repulsive."

His fear was overridden by surprise. He stared at me in wonder.

"You actually believe that," he wondered quietly. He shook his head, then stared me straight in the eye. "You're beautiful."

I stared at him a moment. Then I aimed and fired.

And missed.

Missed!

He jerked anyway, as though I'd intended to fire a mere warning shot. "I'm telling you the truth! You're gorgeous!"

"Shut up!" I snarled. "I know what I look like. Kelvin Rheine wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole."

"Kelvin... Rheine?" He stared at me a moment. Then he actually began to snicker. "I've met the man. He fucks young girls. REALLY young girls." He smirked at me. "He's a pedophile, Lisa. His current mistress is only seventeen. She's been with him for nine years. She takes powerful recreational narcotics to stunt her growth, so she'll keep looking like a child."

"Wha...what?" I stammered. "Petite... thin..."

"Try prepubescent, and half starved. Among those in the know, Kelvin's just something to gossip about, when there's no one else to mock." His eyes gleamed. "Check my records. I never touched a woman-or a man-who looked like the Rheine ideal."

I studied him suspiciously. "And I suppose I am your ideal?"

"Um..." he swallowed. "I see on your outside what I saw on Francine's inside. You're both strong women. All my lovers were strong."

"You loved their strength?" I felt my muscles flexing, posing for him, and forced myself to stop.

"And I left them because they became weak." He shook his head. "They let their need for me become stronger than themselves."

"Isn't that what love's supposed to be about?" I retorted. "Mutual surrender?"

He glanced at me sharply. Then his gaze shifted inward. "I... perhaps..." he looked down at his feet. "Maybe it wasn't weakness I was running from. Maybe... it was fear. I don't know if I'm as strong as they were."

"Shouldn't that have been for them to decide?" I asked quietly.

He looked up, and his eyes met mine. His chains rustled as he raised one hand, slowly. He reached out, tentatively, imploringly.

"Maybe this time I won't be the one to choose." His voice was husky with need. Not just physical desire. He wanted my strength. My heart. My soul.

All I had to do was take his hand, and I'd have my unknown lover. Known, at last...

I jerked back with a snarl of pure rage, switched over to needle missiles, and took CAREFUL aim. And fired.

He stared, aghast, at the miniature projectile embedded in his torso. I wasn't about to try for a trick shot, so I'd just aimed for the center of mass. It still hit near his shoulder. He shivered in terror, thinking it was about to explode. A reasonable expectation, since my needle missiles are notorious for their lethal effects. In fact, my hand gun was the most famous weapon in the galaxy. And my helmet one of the most legendary visages.

My own face was another story.

"Don't worry," I half smirked, half snarled, "I made it especially for you. You're spending the rest of the voyage under sedation." As he slumped to the floor under the influence of the powerful drug, I added, "Good night. Scum."

***************************************

I lay back in my bed, my head clutching a pillow. I made a mental note to get myself a stuffed animal. A large one. Something I could snuggle with. While I waited.

My unknown lover was out there, somewhere. I knew it. Him, her, it, I neither knew nor cared. All I cared about was an end to the aching loneliness.

"Where are you?" I whispered.

I need you.

Find me.