"Venus Spy"

CHAPTER ONE: The First Meeting

Lord Malachite rubbed his temple with one finger. He could feel a nasty headache starting behind his eyes. The investigation quite simply was not going well at all.

The problems had begun several weeks ago. They started with a few petty thefts of common, worthless objects. Then, about half of the castle staff had become sick. The symptoms weren't serious, just a baffling lack of energy and motivation. The sick people quickly recovered, but so many people were afflicted that nothing around the castle was being accomplished. Everything was in chaos, and things only got worse. About three weeks ago, people started disappearing on top of everything else. They vanished almost without a trace, leaving only piles of ash in their living quarters. So far, Malachite didn't have any idea where the ash was coming from, but he had to assume that it was the remains of the missing people. Then again, what could destroy a person so completely but not leave any other traces of a fight?  The king and queen assigned the investigation to their top general, Lord Malachite. He did not appreciate that at all, especially since he had nothing to report. He felt like he was failing his monarch, a feeling that he did not know how to handle.

A knock sounded at the door. "Come," he called. The door opened and a servant entered with a tray of food. Without speaking, the servant set the tray on his desk. Malachite finally looked up when she didn't immediately leave. "Yes?" he asked impatiently of the pale young woman in front of him. He noticed that she had huge eyes and short black hair and was rather pretty for a servant.

Her hand went to her hip as he watched her, and she looked incredibly annoyed.  "Aren't you even going to thank me or at least acknowledge my presence? You're extremely rude."

Malachite gawked at her. For the first time in many years, he was absolutely speechless by someone else's audacity.  Didn't this woman realize who she was talking to?

Her expression of annoyance deepened. "You know," she muttered, "you're supposed to be some sort of gentleman. I hate to tell you this, pal, but I've seen better manners on gutter sweepers. Real gentlemen do not treat their servants this poorly."

Malachite closed his mouth and schooled his expression back into its normal remote mask. He was a lord, after all, and knew better than to gawk at some dirty servant girl. "And how exactly do gentlemen treat their servants?"

"You ought to treat everyone like they're your peers. You shouldn't let your preoccupation with whatever you're doing affect your manners. One would think you'd been raised to know better."

In spite of his anger with her, he knew that she had a point. "You're quite right. I humbly apologize." He indicated the chair in front of his desk. "Why don't you join me?" he asked coldly, hoping she would get the hint and leave. "There's enough food here for three people. Unless, of course, you have other, more pressing, duties?" Please let her take the hint, he silently begged the universe.  I'm not in the mood for this!

The girl ignored his sarcastic tone and sat.  He found himself deciding that she was perfectly aware of the dismissal in his voice but had just chosen to ignore it.  "I would be delighted," she said sincerely. She startled Malachite when she began to serve him with the same gracious manner that a true lady possessed. She must have spent some time serving a noblewoman, he mused. She handed him a plate laden with food, and then prepared a smaller one for herself. Sighing, realizing she wasn't going to let him get rid of her, he began to eat.

Malachite watched the girl as she ate.  She was a puzzle, he mused suddely. She ate and carried herself like a lady but was extremely dirty. She was so filthy that he actually feared for the upholstery on her chair. How in the world was she allowed to handle my food? he wondered.  She's not exactly sanitary. Someone in the kitchen obviously doesn't like me.

This wasn't news to him. A lot of people didn't like him, and it was becoming increasingly apparent the more information he tried to get out of his fellow human beings. They seemed to go out of their way to keep him from learning anything at all, no matter how silly or useless the information might be.  Most were afraid of him, too, but from the way this girl had yelled at him, she apparently wasn't one of them. Still, he hadn't the faintest idea of what to say to her. The silence stretched out uncomfortably. She must have sensed his mood, because she quickly stood. "I really should go now. Thank you for the meal and good luck with your investigation."

She turned to go, but his hand shot out like lightening and latched onto her wrist. "How do you know about the case? I've told no one," he barked through clenched teeth.

Her eyes widened, but she still didn't show any fear of him. "I just heard some gossip around the castle. The servants have been complaining of thieves and a lot of people are sick. I even heard that some of the higher administrators and minor nobles are missing. I just put two and two together and came up with five. I figured you'd be in charge of the case because you're the king's most trusted general. Everyone knows that."

His eyes narrowed and his grip tightened so much that even the other generals would have at least winced. Her expression didn't change at all, and she didn't even react. Finally he released her arm. She pulled away and quickly slipped out the door like a wraith.

He knew she was lying, and he knew beyond a doubt that she knew something that she wasn't telling him. Still, he didn't have any proof. All he could do was watch her for now. Just watch.

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Had Malachite been able to see her that night as she snuck into the depths of the dark library, he would have arrested her then and there. She slipped around to a secluded area in the back of the library, silently waving a greeting to the young blond man waiting for her. She came as close to him as she could, then said in a low voice, "I think Malachite is onto me. I slipped up in his office today and wished him luck on his case."

The young man looked surprised. "That's really odd. You haven't 'slipped up' in all the time that I've known you. What happened?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't know. I was trying to see the papers on his desk without being obvious, when I suddenly lost my temper. I was perfectly calm when I went to give him his lunch, but as soon as I entered the room I got…angry. I can only guess that the man's a low-level telepath. He was probably just projecting his anger over the case without realizing it, and I picked up and reacted to it."  She sighed.  "Raye would understand it better. The point is that he's getting suspicious. We should avoid him as much as we can for a while."

They suddenly heard footsteps out in the hallway. "Go on, get out of here," the girl whispered fiercely.  "We can't be seen together yet."

The man disappeared around the corner and left through the back entrance to the library. The girl was about to follow him, but a voice called out, "Who's there? I know I heard something."

She immediately recognized Lord Malachite's voice and knew that he would not leave until she made herself known.  She stepped out into the aisle between the bookshelves and tried her best to look sheepish. "It's just me, my lord. I couldn't sleep, so I came to get a book to tire me out."

Malachite glared at her for a moment, but only said, "You do know that this library is off limits to servants."  It was more a statement than a question.

"Yes, of course, my lord. But the servants don't really have a library, and I couldn't think of any other activity that would put me to sleep quickly enough."

Malachite nearly laughed. "I wasn't aware that reading was so boring. I rather like it, myself." The girl smiled slightly but didn't comment. Malachite sighed, aware that he would not get any more information out of her tonight. "I'd like to chat more, but I am somewhat tired myself. Why don't you join me for lunch again tomorrow? I'd like to hear some more of what the servants are saying about the disappearances. For some reason they won't talk to me."

The girl smiled again. "That's because they're all scared of you."

Malachite took a step closer to her. "And you aren't?"

"No, my lord. I've faced much worse than you."

Malachite realized that he'd taken another step forward. He hastily stepped back, and the mask slipped back into place. "I'm sure I've kept you long enough. Good night," he said as coolly as he could. The girl seemed slightly taken aback, but she quickly left anyway. Malachite was almost sorry. I could almost find myself liking her, he thought to himself.

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For the next several days, the girl shared Malachite's lunch with him. He told himself that he only wanted to question her, but he found himself rapidly coming up with excuses to call her into his office. Truth be told, he liked having someone around that he could talk to without being ridiculed for his ideas. He found her to be extremely intelligent, quick witted, and eloquent as a speaker. She never teased him for his ideas like the other generals and even the prince would have. Instead, she either agreed or disagreed with him, and a discussion would result. Their debates made his days seem a lot shorter, and he couldn't wait to see what each day's conversation would be about.

He still followed her around from time to time, but he often felt that he'd been mistaken about the expression in her eyes when he'd first cornered her. He still didn't quite trust her, but then he didn't really trust anyone. Often he followed her into the library at night, where he would watch her avidly reading whatever she could get her hands on. In spite of her interest in the books, though, she often fell asleep in one of the library chairs. He knew she'd get caught reading by the nobles at some point, and to prevent her from being punished he would take a stack of books that he thought she'd like straight to her rooms. She always thanked him politely but would never let him into her room. After a few days, she came to him in his office and told him that she was afraid the other servants would find the books. From that point on, he kept the books in his own office. She would come in at all hours to read. He even found her there a few times in the middle of the night, asleep in his chair.  She still wouldn't give him her name, and he never tried to get it from the other servants. She thought of his questions as a game, and he didn't have the heart to tell her that he was very, very serious.

One day, though, something happened that threatened their blossoming friendship. He was sitting in his office, reviewing military reports, when a servant boy rushed in. The boy was nearly incoherent in his hysterics, but Malachite was able to glean enough information to send him running. When he arrived at the administrator's wing, he found a sight that made his blood run cold. The door to the chief clerk's room was completely torn from its hinges, and scraps of his furniture littered the hallway. The chief clerk was nowhere to be seen, but Malachite's dark-haired little friend was seated on the bed with her hands tied behind her back. Two huge guards stood on either side of her with their weapons aimed at her heart. "What happened here?" he demanded.

The chief disciplinary officer, a nervous little man with sparse, greasy white hair, appeared in the doorway. "One of the officers heard screaming in this room. When he arrived, he found this girl poised over the chief clerk with a knife at his throat. I'm afraid she killed him before she could be stopped. Now, if you'll excuse me, general, I have an investigation to conduct."

The oily little man walked over to the bed. He stretched out a corpse-pale hand and grabbed her hair. Malachite felt like someone had kicked him in the chest when her dark hair pulled free from her head. A sea of silky, golden hair cascaded down her back in its place. The little man gave her a malicious grin. "I'd bet that's not even your real eye color, is it, wench?" He clipped her viciously on the side of her head with his fist, and when she blinked Malachite could see the tiny green lenses that fell into her lap. Her eyes were now a brilliant blue, and they glittered like large jewels in her pale face. "Hah! I've caught you now, spy!"

Malachite looked at his little friend once more before abruptly fleeing the room. The look of guilt and regret on her face told him everything he needed to know. She'd betrayed him. Little incidences that he'd dismissed long ago came to his mind. He couldn't help remembering all the times he'd found her in his office, seemingly rummaging through his desk. She'd always had some logical excuse for her behavior, telling him that she was merely looking for a place marker for her book or a pen and paper to write him a note.

The little corner of his heart that she'd opened slammed shut again. She'd once told him that the servants called him the 'Ice Man'. He'd show them just how icy he could become.

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True to his word, Malachite became colder than ever. Even the generals, who were like brothers to him, wouldn't come near him. They questioned him at first about the girl but quickly learned to avoid that topic at all costs. All they knew was that the girl was the source of the problems around the castle, and that she had been taken away for questioning. They all knew that what that questioning was likely to consist of, but they didn't dare bring it up. If she'd done something so awful that Malachite would withdraw from them like this, then she probably deserved the torture she was sure to get.

Malachite himself kept pushing the thought of her 'punishment' to the back of his mind. He didn't want to think about her at all. He even avoided his office like the plague. Every time he went there, he would find one of the books that she'd been reading or a note that she'd left him some random night. Every chair plagued him with memories of times that she'd sat there for their debates or the times he'd found her asleep in each of them.

He refused to acknowledge that he'd cared about her, or that he missed her sunny presence in his life. He missed their conversations. He missed the way she'd always understood him, even on days when he was frustrated and lashed out at her without reason. She'd never blamed him; she'd just let his spiteful comments wash over her like a wave on the sand.

He wouldn't let her get to him. She'd betrayed him, and he should rightfully forget that he'd ever even met her. That is, if forgetting someone like her is even possible, he mused more than once.

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Malachite stewed for hours, then decided that the best and only way to forget her was to confront her. He immediately went to the area where she was being held until the king himself could question her.  As he approached the holding cell, he noticed an alarming lack of guards. That's odd, he thought. Even when there aren't any prisoners here there are still guards around. Something's not right. He inched his way towards the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever had attacked the guards. He peered into the half open door of the holding cell and was not really surprised at what he saw.

The guards were lying unconscious on the floor with their hands and feet bound. Malachite was relieved to see that they were all breathing. He glanced around for their attacker and saw a young man in a guard's uniform hastily untying the ropes around the girl's arms. "However did you get caught?" the man asked as the ropes slipped free from her ankles.

"Believe me, I was as surprised as you were. I tracked one of the nastier youma to the chief clerk's rooms. I thought that the chief clerk himself was the youma, at least until that oily little guy attacked me instead. As it turned out, the clerk was innocent, but he was being used as bait. When the youma attacked, I tried to save him, but he was too stupid to do as I said. He fainted when the youma revealed his true form and got caught by a ball of negative energy. I'm afraid the youma slit his throat with a claw before I could get there. Just as I was ready to transform myself, some little servant boy came in and started screaming. I got knocked out while I was trying to save the boy. When I came to, I was hogtied. That's about it."

The soldier finished untying her wrists. "We'd better get out of here. I notified Lord Artemis, and he's waiting with the teleport aligner. We're supposed to meet him in the courtyard."

The girl stood and stretched out her legs. "Let's do it. I've spent enough time here already. Artemis can send someone else next time. I quit."

Malachite quickly hid behind a statue. He couldn't just let her leave, could he? She was a spy, after all. Still, he gathered from their conversation that she hadn't been the one doing the killing.

His dilemma was solved for him when another guard patrolling down the corridor noticed the lack of other people outside the holding cell. He immediately called for another guard patrolling nearby. Klaxons rang throughout the building, and Malachite realized that neither the girl nor her companion had a chance of escaping.  Making up his mind, he ran into the room just as the duo noticed the alarms. The girl gaped at him as he entered, but he ignored the question in her eyes, saying only, "The guards realized that you've escaped. The only way you'll ever get to the courtyard is through this corridor. I'm going to help you because you were my friend, but the next time that you come here I'll have to arrest you myself, understood?" The girl nodded quickly. "Then we go this way," said Malachite, gesturing in the appropriate direction.

The young man in the soldier's uniform glared at the girl as they exited. "I thought you said you were going to avoid him." She shrugged, not meeting Malachite's eyes. It's just as well, he thought. I won't ever be able to see her again.

They ran swiftly down the hallway, but they weren't quick enough to avoid the armed guards waiting for them at the end of the hallway. As soon as she noticed all of the guards, who were waiting for them alongside the little white haired man, she grabbed Malachite's dagger from his belt and held it to his throat. "If you come any closer, I'll kill him." Malachite knew she was bluffing. The knife wasn't anywhere close to his jugular. "Go find Artemis," she whispered to the soldier. "If I'm not there in the next two minutes, leave without me. Go on!" she insisted as the soldier hesitated. "Whatever you do, do not let anyone come back for me. If I'm captured, I'll be dead before they can rescue me. That includes the other senshi, got it?" The soldier nodded, then took off running back in the direction from which they'd come. "I hope he makes it," he heard her whisper to herself.

The little man apparently saw her body tense for flight, because he said, "I wouldn't think of running if I were you. If you do, I'll kill the boy." He reached behind his back and pulled out the cowering servant boy who'd first reported that his friend had been caught.

He felt her sag, and she released him. "The same goes for you, Lord Malachite. Don't interfere. You'll only suffer if you do," she said as she surrendered her weapon. The guards swarmed around her, burying her in a pile of striking fists and bruising kicks. Shockingly, she shook her attackers off. She ran, dodging guards as she went. Malachite thought that she would surely escape, until the little man revealed a two-pronged weapon that he'd hidden behind his back. Black lightening flickered between the prongs. The man pointed the weapon at the girl as she ran past, and the lightening leaped out at her like it had a life of its own. The lightening hit the girl's back, then lashed out across her entire body. She dropped, screaming in silent agony, with the lightening still covering her body.

As Malachite ran to help her, the guards attacked him as well. Malachite didn't get the chance to look closely at any of them, but he instinctively knew that they were not part of the official guard. They struck at him, landing blow after blow to his body. One particularly strong punch caught him in the back of the head, and he buckled to his knees. The same guard punched him again, and he finally gave into the encroaching darkness.

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He woke, several hours later, in his own bed. Pinned to the pillow under his head was a note, written in scrawled black letters, telling him not to say anything or he'd be as good as dead. As soon as he finished reading the note, the letters on it wavered and disappeared as if they'd never been there at all.

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When she finally came to, she found herself chained to a wall in some sort of tiny dungeon room. The door of her cell was actually made up of iron bars and a rusty old padlock. How primitive…

Her entire body ached from the backlash of the negative energy that had brought her down. At least one of her ribs was cracked, if not broken, and she was covered in ugly purple and black bruises. Obviously, someone tried to kick me while I was down, she thought. Still, she'd been trained to resist pain, and resist it she did.

She didn't have to endure her pain alone for very long, though. Within moments, the greasy little man entered with another guard. "I'm so glad to see that you're finally awake, my dear," he said with a leer. "I've been waiting for so long to meet you. Shall we get started?" She didn't say anything, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen. "Let's begin with your name and rank, my dear. I know you're not human. You couldn't be and still be alive. That energy should have killed you immediately. Who are you?"

She still didn't answer. She'd also been trained to resist torture, and she would not give in to this disgusting little man. He seemed to realize this, as well, because an ugly scowl marred his features even further. "Start the torture," he told the guard next to him. The guard stepped forward eagerly. She ignored the fear that nestled in her belly, and waited for the pain to start. At least they got away…