The Date

"I'm so glad you could make it," said Rabin, pouring himself and her a glass of what appeared to be vibrant red wine (though Dwana's senses kicked in, and she detected faint traces of Sulfoleen, the very poison he had once administered to the P.O.W.'s of the Collectors). He pushed the glass towards her, and she immediately slapped it away, sending it flying across the terrace. It vanished over the edge of the railing and fell towards the ocean, sixty feet below. Rabin looked pleased, his eyes twinkling. 

"Very good, Dwana," he said softly. "Your old senses remain. You're still my soldier after all this time."

"Niz you," Dwana breathed, shaking so hard that she knew she could hide her fear of the man. It did not matter, of course. Even if she could hold her composure, he knew she feared him, as he feared her. Oh, yes, as they feared each other. "Where is Gron!?"

"Oh, him? You'll see him soon enough. He and the others are merely eating dinner in their cell," Rabin replied, sipping deeply from his own poisoned wine. Dwana winced on instinct. She knew, of course, of Rabin Lavender's powerful immunities. The poison, unfortunately, would do nothing to him. He had served her own glass to her to test her. She had passed, as he had expected she would. "I thought the two of us could sit here on the terrace, with only the ocean as company. Catch up on old times, you and me. I appreciate you wearing the dress I requested, too. Things would have been bad, had you refused."

"I will kill you," Dwana whispered, tears falling down her face. "I swear, I will kill you."

"Good to know, but let us have intelligent conversation," Rabin said, smiling. "Waitress!" he called out, clapping his hands energetically. The door from behind him swung open at once, and in walked Luna Lavender, dressed in her own fine, shimmering dress of lavender. She walked carefully toward their table, carrying a silver platter in one hand, and a pistol in the other. Kissing Rabin on the top of his head, Luna laid the platter onto the table before them. "Thank you, Lulu. You may go." As Luna nodded and turned away, she shot a very dark look in Dwana's direction. Her lavender eyes pierced Dwana so intently, and Dwana read the message at once: Please try something, it said. Please, God, try something. I want an excuse to shoot you. She was away at once after the brief moment of silent speech, vanishing behind the door as quickly as she had come. Rabin, meanwhile, lifted the lid of the platter. 

Tonight's dinner was a syringe, approximately six inches in length, filled with a neon-green substance. Beside it, a small, silvery device, metallic in form, centered with a bright red gem. Rabin lightly picked up the syringe, and squirted a few drips of green out of it, smiling kindly at her. 

"Now, Dwana...let's discuss this impending attack on my dam, and the consequences of your five-year treason against me and your Collector comrades."

The tears that fell down her face had turned to fiery wrath, boiling on her very cheeks. She was angry. So very angry. Rabin would only get his satisfaction for so long...before that wrath exploded out of her with a force great enough to level this entire terrace into the deep, dark depths of the Ocean Vangrove below.