DECKER: FUTURE TENSE By Angela Knight Decker balanced the 300 pound crate a little more securely on his

shoulder. He sure as hell didn't want to drop it; the blood synthasizer unit the crate contained had set him back a significant number of credits. "And they call ME a bloodsucker," he muttered under his breath. Sighing, he strode up the space bay's crowded length, sidestepping lengths o f fibercable and hurrying dockworkers. Like docks everywhere, the bay was un believably noisy as people labored to get ships loaded, unloaded, and repair ed. Still, Decker was used to the noise and bustle. In fact, after so long i n the icy silence of his ship, he welcomed it. The BELA sat on its berthing struts, looking lumpy and tiny next to the big ships that surrounded it. Decker regarded it with affectionate pride. It may not have been much to look at, but it was faster than a bat out of hell. It s tachyon drive engine could have powered a ship many times its size, so it had speed to burn. That speed had saved his ass more than once. Decker triggered his jaw implant and silently ordered the BELA'S computer to open its forward hatch. The hatch slide up with a hiss, and he strode throu gh it, then down the ship's tiny corridor toward the galley. There wasn't mu ch to the little kitchen -- but then, being a vampire, he didn't exactly nee d a lot of room for food preparation. All the room contained was several emp ty counters and a bunch of tall, equally empty food lockers, plus the big ga lley table he rarely used. Putting the crate down on one of the counters, Decker dug a cutting laser out of his shipsuit pocket and set to work getting it open. He almost had the lid off when his head came up. "You're good," he said. "I almost didn't know you were here." "What gave me away?" the woman asked, emerging from one of the empty f ood lockers. "Scented you," Decker replied shortly. And he still could. Salty. Seductiv e. Blood and woman. He swallowed. "That's right. You vamps have noses like houndhunters, don't you? You A

RE a vamp?" "That's what it says on my license. Look, lady, you're breaking and enterin g. What do you want?" She didn't answer for a moment, instead wandering around the galley, her han ds behind her back. Her blue-black hair was cut in an asymmetrical style, sh ort as an old style crewcut on one side, lengthening in a long curve until i t swung past her breasts on the other. And very nice breasts they were too, high and pert under her black skinsuit. He could plainly see the outline of her nipples. Synth blood might keep you alive, but it wasn't a woman. It didn't move und er you, didn't moan, didn't wrap you in long legs and white arms. Decker cl enched his jaw to keep his fangs from extending. "You're a merc, right?" the woman said at last, in her husky voice. "You wor k for hire?" "Doesn't everybody?" Decker asked shortly. "I want to hire you." "Fine. My rate is 3,000 cred per five day." She stopped and looked at him. He could see the desperation, the fear, in her fine blue eyes. "I don't have that kind of money." "Then get off my ship," he said, teeth gritted. God, he wanted her so badly he ached from fangs to nuts. He tried to remember the last time a woman ha d given herself to him. "I need you," she said. "Can't we work something out?" Decker stared into her wide eyes and wondered what had terrified her so bad ly she'd go to a vampire for protection. Aria looked into the vampire's harsh, handsome face, wondering if he could h ear her heartbeat, wondering if it boomed as loudly in his ears as it did in her own. "I don't do charity," Decker said coldly.

She swallowed. "I'm not asking for charity. I'm talking about a trade." Nerv ous, she began pacing around the tiny galley. "You don't have a crew. I'm wi lling to work off the debt for a time you specify." "I don't have a crew because I don't need one," the mercenary said, his face hard as stone. "This isn't a very big ship, and I've run it alone for 10 year s. I can keep on running it alone for another hundred." Aria clenched her fis ts, frustrated. She'd never thought he'd be so obsessed with cred, had believ ed he'd see what she was offering and take it without question. Licking her l ips, she paused beside the crate, uncomfortably close to his big, threatening body. "Don't you ever get tired..." Aria paused and took a deep breath. "Of taking it from a synther?" She looked up. Decker was watching her with hot eyes. "What's got you sca red enough to fuck a vampire?" She tensed, and couldn't force her gaze to hold his. He laughed shortly as she looked away."I should have known. An other vampire. Who?" Aria swallowed past the dry lump in her throat. "Tagliar." Decker's dark brows flew up. "My. You must have pissed the Bragg Syndicate in a big way, if they're sending their chief hit man after you." "Not really," she said, feeling queasy. "He volunteered." "I can see why," Decker murmured. Aria looked up to find his eyes fastene d hungrily on her breasts. When he realized she was watching, his face sm oothed into impassivity. "What's your connection with Bragg?" She lifted her chin. "I stole for them. I'm a net thief." Aria set her shoulde rs, wondering if he was going to throw her off his ship and into Tagliar's wai ting arms. Instead he studied her, interested. "Are you any good?" She shrugged, remembering the heady delight of breaking into a computer sys tem, of conquering it, of draining its secrets. "I'm very good." "Then why are they giving you to Tagliar?" "On my last hit, I found a data trail linking Bragg to...something they don'

t want known." The attempted murder of a Federation senator, in fact, arrang ed to benefit another Federation senator. "It was the sort of thing very few people knew, even in the Syndicate. When they realized I must have followed the trail, they decided I shouldn't be one of those people. Next thing I kn ew, Tagliar was waiting in my apartment for me." It had been the single most terrifying moment of her life. *** She'd seen Tagliar work before, at a banquet for mid-level Bragg employees two years before. They'd been in the middle of desert when the vampire ha d walked in. Everyone froze as he circled behind their chairs like a tiger at a smorgasbo rd. Aria could hear her own heart beating. Then the vampire stopped his circ ling--directly behind her chair. She thought she was going to be sick. "It seems," old man Bragg said in his cultured voice, "that we have a proble m with loyalty." Tagliar grabbed the woman sitting next to Aria, jerked her head back, and s ank his fangs into her throat. The woman screamed, high and hopeless, clawi ng at the vampire's massive shoulders, her huge black eyes fixed on Aria's. Pleading. Aria could only watch. Then the woman's screams cut off abruptly, as though Tagliar had gagged her . Her breath hitched, her face went blank. And she moaned, once, softly, he r body seeming to collapse into bonelessness. She moaned again as Tagliar f ed, and there was something horribly like pleasure in her eyes. Her hips be gan to grind upward at the air. Aria, watching in helpless horror a bare ha lf meter away, realized that Tagliar had an erection. Finally, after feeding for almost ten horrible minutes, the vampire straighten ed, pulled a knife, and drove it into the woman's heart. There was hardly any blood at all. Those ten minutes had haunted Aria's nightmares for years. The horror was that much deeper for her suspicion that the woman had climaxed before Tagl

iar killed her. This afternoon, Aria had walked into her bedroom to find Tagliar reclining o n her bed. She'd almost passed out on the spot. His hands were clasped behind his blond head, and his broad, bare chest seem ed to take up most of the bed. The skinsuit trousers he wore showcased a hug e erection. "Finally. I was getting impatient," the vampire said in his liqu id baritone. "Let's get started, shall we? I think I can make you come at le ast twice before you die." She backed away, blind with fear as he rolled off the bed. As he advanced o n her, she begged for some explanation, and he told her why. "Actually, you should be grateful," Tagliar finished as he reached for her. "They were going to send some clumsy low-level killer, but I volunteered. It 'll be so much more pleasant this way, don't you think?" "Fuck you, Tagliar." And she pulled the hand laser she'd carried since she'd seen him kill the girl. The blast caught him right in his glowing red eyes. Then she ran like hell. *** But Aria had known there was no one on the station that could save her--exc ept, just possibly, another vampire. So she'd used her implant to access th e primary computer and gotten the name of the only vampire merc on the spac e station. Jim Decker. He looked like he could take Tagliar. He had the size, the muscle. The ques tion was, would he do it? And if he did, would she be any safer with him? Decker watched the thief look toward him, then away, eyes moving in a cons tant nervous skitter. Her blood scent filled his head, a burning intoxicat ion like fine brandy. The skinsuit coated her body as though someone had p oured wet black paint over her, revealing nipples and vulva in a display t hat would have been considered lewd when he'd been human. "What, exactly, are you asking me to do?" he asked, knowing he'd do anything at all.

She lifted her chin, her black hair sliding over her shoulders with the shim mer of blue highlights. "Protect me from Tagliar and take me with you when y ou leave the station." "In exchange for what?" "My obedience for six months." "A year." The thief nodded slowly. "A year." He moved toward her, watching her fight an obvious desire to back away. "How much head start did you have on Tagliar?" She shrugged. "I don't know. I blinded him with a hand laser forty- five mi nutes ago. A human wouldn't be coming after me until he'd spent a week in r egeneration." "You probably bought an hour, but not much more. Time enough to seal the deal." He smiled slowly. "You want to have your computer draw up a contract?" She took a wary ste p backward. "Not exactly. Come here." The thief stopped, nostrils flaring. "Why?" "I'm probably going to have to fight Tagliar for you. I want a taste of what I' m fighting for." Aria watched Decker move toward her, lazy and seductive. Unlike Tagliar, th ere was nothing menacing mixed with his eroticism, but still she trembled. Once he got those big hands on her, there'd be no getting loose. If he deci ded to drain her, there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop him. The vampire stopped in mid pace, looking annoyed. She realized he'd read he r expression. "Look," Decker said impatiently, "I'm not Tagliar. In all my 300 years, no woman has ever suffered more than a little dizziness after a night with me."

She sucked in a shuddering breath. "300 years, huh? You wear it well." "Come over here and I'll show you just HOW well." Aria swallowed. Oh, hell. She really had no choice anyway. Tagliar would b e here in fifteen minutes, and she had to make damn sure Decker wouldn't g ive her to him. She took an unsteady step toward him, then another. And an other. His arms closed around her, as warm as any human's. She shivered a bit. Her eyes flew to his mouth, lowering toward her, and instinctively she pulled back. "Kiss me," he murmured. Gingerly she stretched her neck upward until her lips collided with his. Th ey were surprisingly warm, soft, undemanding. Decker's hand came up behind her head when she would have pulled away, holding her still as he deepened the kiss. His tongue tasted her mouth, probed at her teeth until they parte d. Entering her mouth, he drew her closer and began to kiss her with a pass ion that was reassuringly human. "See, nothing to be afraid of," he murmured against her mouth. "Just a man. More or less." Aria felt the tension drain away, then tighten again as he shifted his head, kissing the outside corner of her mouth, her cheekbones. Her jaw. The sensiti ve flesh under one ear. Her throat. Again she would have pulled back, but again he held her immobile in a gentl e vise. His tongue was tracing her pulse, tasting. He moaned. And bit. Aria jumped at the burning penetration of his fangs, but Decker had pulled h er up off her feet and bent her back in his arms, and she was helpless. Inst inctively, she brought her legs up, linked them behind his thighs, and held on tight. He began rocking against her, drawing deeply on her punctured vein . The burn of his teeth started to fade into a warm, radiating pleasure.

Decker's cock ground into her crotch, rubbing against her vulva through the t hin skinsuit, just as his hard body pressed into hers. She gasped once with t he first bloom of desire. He moaned again, still drinking. Aria's desire spiraled, growing with each rippling thrust of his body agains t hers. She ground her hips up against his, suddenly resenting the fabric th at separated her from his hard prick. She wanted him in her, now. She wanted to feel his clever hands on her nipples. She wanted... He caught her breast with one hand, grabbing the erect nub between thumb an d forefinger, pulling it, rolling it, each movement stoking her desire into lust. Aria strained upward against him, rubbing her vulva along the frustr ating length she couldn't reach. "God, Decker," she groaned. "Fuck me!" Jerking his head away from her throat -- causing a ripple of pain in the proc ess as his fangs left her skin -- Decker carried her to the mess table and lo wered her to its hard, cold surface. His big hands grabbed the straps of her skinsuit and pulled, yanking the fabric down to reveal her naked breasts. He jerked it further, but it hit the rise of her hips and hung there. "How do yo u get this damn thing off?" Hurriedly, she reached between her thighs and found the seal. Ripped it ope n. Decker had the seal of his own suit half-way down when a voice spoke thro ugh their computer implants. "Are you fucking my prey in there, Decker?" Decker lifted his head, snarling. The thief's sweet blood filled his mouth, and her hot little cunt waited for him, and now that asshole Tagliar wanted to play games. "Go away, cocksucker. I'm busy." "I'll just bet you are. Jesus, she didn't waste any time, did she? Who'd've th ought she'd go running to another vampire after the panic I put her in..." "Yeah, well, you underestimated me, didn't you?" the thief said through he r implant, the mental voice still communicating her rage. "And just how AR E your eyes, Tagliar?" "Better off than yours, once I dig them out of your head. Send the bitch out , Decker. We've got business."

"Sorry, Tagliar, you're gonna have to look elsewhere for lunch. She's mine, and I'm keeping her." "Somehow I'm not surprised. You always did have a quixotic streak. Okay, zip your dick and choose your weapons. I want to finish you so the little slut and I can take up where we left off." Decker sealed his ship suit with a quick, brutal slap of his fingers, then h eaded for the BELA's bridge--and her weapons' locker. He was distantly aware of the thief hurrying at his heals, pulling her skinsuit in place. Ignoring her, he stalked through the bridge door, ordering the BELA's computer to op en the locker for him. "Jesus," the thief said, peering in at the assortment of rifles, needliers, an d lasers revealed when the wall panel slid back. "You believe in being prepare d, don't you?" He handed her a pistol. "In case the bastard's better than I think he is." Re aching back in, he grabbed another weapon for himself. "A wooden knife? You're going to fight that fang-faced psycho with a wood en knife?" Decker, heading for the door, paused and looked at her. "You sound almost concerned." She looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, well, I'm a born sucker. Shouldn't you ta ke something else? Like one of these rifles? A blaster canon? A pocket the rmo nuke?" He grinned at her. "Believe it or not, the knife's more likely to kill him. Besid es, it's tradition." "TRADITION?" "Yeah. Vampires are great believers in tradition." Then he headed toward the airlock for his duel with Tagliar. *** It took Aria almost three minutes to get the BELA'S computer to show her a d isplay of the area surrounding the ship. By then, the fight had already star

ted. Stripped to the waist, the vampires circled, each armed with one of the long wooden knives and wearing identical vicious expressions. It was amazin g, Aria thought, what a pair of inch-long fangs did to enhance a snarl. Then Tagliar lunged. There was a quick flurry of motion Aria didn't even see clearly, and they started circling again. It took her a moment to realize t hat Tagliar had somehow acquired a foot-long slash along his forearm. Another blurring attack and riposte. This time, Decker was the one left blee ding. God, they were fast. Except for the speed, though, they were conducting the fight like any two hu mans who hated each other's guts. Aria, who'd heard all sorts of wild tales about vampire duels, began to relax slightly. A curse, a quick grapple, then Tagliar rolled away and bounded to his feet. Looking directly into Decker's eyes, he licked the bloody point of his knife. Decker stiffened, narrowing his eyes. Deliberately, he tongued the blood fr om his own blade. Ugh, Aria thought. What the hell was that all about? Another weird vampire t radition? She waited for the fight to go on. Instead they stood frozen, Tagliar still licking his knife in the manner of a man savoring an ice cream cone. "What IS this?" Aria grumbled. One long minute went by. Decker slowly coiled into a crouch. Tagliar stopped sucking his knife. A low growl rumbled, she couldn't tell from whom. And they were a snarling mass on the deck. Aria blinked. She hadn't even see n the leap that carried them together. The fight that followed was one of the most chilling things she had ever se en. There was nothing remotely human about it; the vampires seemed to have turned into wolves, forgetting knives in order to rip at one another with f angs and clawing hands. Blood sprayed the deck, and the air was full of an inhuman growling. Aria, watching, felt the hair creep on the back of her ne ck.

Then she saw the net camera floating in mid air over the writhing fighters. "Well, we just picked up a billion witnesses," she muttered, knowing the sta r net would probably pick up the duel to run in its evening broadcast. She blinked, realizing that Decker had gained ascendency while she'd been distracted. He was crouching over Tagliar, who was clawing weakly at him. And Decker was holding the knife raised.... "NO!" Aria howled into the computer's pickup. "Decker, the cameras! If you k ill him in front of the cameras, they'll fry you! Decker!" Aria held her breath as Decker looked up, breathing hard, a rivulet of blo od winding from his mouth and down his throat. He snarled and plunged the knife downward. Tagliar howled. "SHIT! Decker, you stupid..." Aria began, and then realized Decker hadn't dri ven the knife into his enemy's chest after all. Instead it was buried in Tagl iar's belly, which probably hurt like hell but wouldn't necessarily kill a va mpire. Decker got up without a backward glance and walked off toward BELA'S air lock, which obligingly opened. Aria buried her head in her hands and shuddered. She didn't want to see an ything like THAT again anytime soon, that was for sure. For a long moment, she sat unmoving in the BELA's pilot's chair. Decker had evidently headed for the ship's head; she could hear the shower running th rough the bulkhead. Interesting that he had an old- fashioned water bath, w hich most people considered a waste of resources. Then again, if he'd been around 300 years, he probably wouldn't like chem mists... What an inane lin e of thought, Aria decided impatiently. Before she could find another one, Decker walked, stark naked, onto the brid ge. His eyes were insanely bright, and he had a truly impressive erection. H is smile revealed fangs that hadn't looked nearly so threatening half an hou r before. Aria came up out of her chair so fast she almost fell on her face. "Uh, hi!" She winced as her voice broke. Swallowing, she tried again. "You really too k care of that bastard Tagliar. Remind me not to piss you off."

"Glad I could help." She could have sworn his eyes were actually glowing. "Now, where were we..?" He moved toward her, fluid and predatory. "Are you..uh...Are you all right? You look a little ... funny." She retreated be hind the pilots chair. He never broke his steady stride. "Oh, I'm fine. Just got a mouthful of Tagli ar's blood, that's all. We tend to go a little nuts when we taste one another . Hormones or something." "Oh, REALLY?" She backed hastily away from the chair, retreating along t he curve of the bridge wall. "Wonder why that is? Has anybody done any s tudies?" Decker stopped, a flicker of amusement breaking through the hot light in his eyes. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm horny, that's all. Nothing to w orry about." He grinned wickedly. "If it makes you feel any better, you can do the sucking this time." The little thief huddled against the back wall a moment, her eyes huge. "Uh.. .sure. Be glad to." She edged toward him. Decker held himself still with diff iculty; he badly wanted to grab her and sink his fangs into her throbbing whi te throat. But he didn't trust himself, so he held his fists clenched at his sides and waited with rapidly eroding patience. A couple of feet away, the thief dropped to her knees and crawled the last pa ce or so. He knew she did it to keep out of easy range of his fangs, but it s till struck him as a submissive gesture. In his present wild mood, he enjoyed the symbolism. He set his feet a little further apart. The thief moved betwe en them and cautiously reached for his ready cock. Decker grabbed a fistful of her hair, grinning when she looked up at him wi ldly. But he said nothing, instead guiding her head toward his prick. She o pened her soft mouth and took him in. Throwing back his head, Decker hissed through his fangs as she engulfed him in wet heat and tongue, small white teeth scraping lightly over his aching flesh. Instinctively, he grabbed the back of her head with his other hand and began to hunch against her. It was the sort of thing he'd never have do ne sober, but with Tagliar'sblood burning his mouth, he was prone toward al most anything. But thethief took every impatient inch of him, sucking sweet

ly, swirling her tongue around the head of his shaft when he pulled back, s hifting her head to accept him deeper when he thrust. Decker braced his legs and shivered at the delicious sensations, watching as the thief knelt there, driving him slowly to orgasm. Aria shivered, swirling her tongue around the vampire's velvet prick. He was thrusting against her with long strokes, an act which wouldnormally have be en uncomfortable. Yet now it felt strangely exciting. Incredibly exciting, i n fact. Aria had given her share of blow jobs over the years, with emotions that ra nged from pleasant enjoyment to outright resentment and boredom. Never had she felt such erotic heat from the act. Her nipples tingled, and she could feel her arousal streaming through her vagina. Dimly, she wondered if the vampire was doing something to her, using the p sychic abilities his kind were said to possess. But whatever he was doing, however he was doing it, she loved every minute. Delicately, Aria scraped her teeth against the head of Decker's cock, gloryi ng in his shudder. How good his hard prick felt in her mouth...but how much better it would feel in her creamy pussy. Widening her jaws, she took him in deeper, then deeper, until her nose brushed the wiry hair of his groin. Suddenly he jerked free. Aria, half hypnotized, moaned a protest and reached for him, but his big hands closed over her forearms. She felt herself being l ifted, tossed over the broad, thickly padded arm of the pilot's chair. And a massive cock rammed into her hungry cunt from behind. Aria gasped as t he vampire began to fuck her, fast and hard, grinding his hips against her a ss. She groaned and lifted her butt to deepen the luscious penetration, pull ing her legs further apart. Decker rode her hard, filling her with stroke after hot stroke as the tension of orgasm coiled tighter and tighter. She whimpered, helpless, feeling as th ough she were caught in a hurricane, sensation blasting along her nerves unti l her thighs began to spasm, her back arcing like a salmon. Just in that instant, Decker bent over her and bit deeply into her throat. The hard, rippling sensations as he drank blended with her orgasm, spurring it. She came, impaled on the vampire's cock and fangs, and knew no experie

nce had ever been sweeter. *** She awoke much later, lying in a huge bed with seductive sheets. Decker was sitting on the mattress beside her, holding a tray piled with foo d. "I thought you'd be hungry," he explained, putting the tray down on the n ight stand. She smiled, narrow-eyed. "The question is, are YOU hungry?" He looked uncomfortable. "Not right now. I'm afraid I got a little over-enth used earlier. Had to put you in regeneration to build your blood back up." Deliberately, Aria arched her back, thrusting her breasts upward. Her nipple s were hard points under the thin sheet; she saw Decker's eyes lock on them. "Well, I'm feeling perfectly healthy now." He swallowed. "Really?" She pulled the sheet down. "Really." As the vampire bent his head to taste her eager nipples, Aria smiled. THE END