Kinsmen 01 - Silver Shark

ogled him quietly, looking through her eyelashes while pretending to drink from her cup.
    Ven dropped a stack of pseudo paper next to her and landed on the couch. "I found you."
    She almost panicked, but her shell was firmly in place and thick enough to withstand a probe. "I wasn't hiding."
    "Yes, you were. Lights are off, your desk is organized, as if you've left. If it wasn't for your bag, I wouldn't know you were in the building."
    "My desk is always organized."
    He looked exhausted. The laugh lines around his eyes seemed more pronounced. His cheeks were withdrawn. And yet he radiated a kind of magnetic sexual energy that made her watch him. Being in his presence was like having sex without ever approaching orgasm - she could watch and imagine, but he would never be hers and he would never want her the way she wanted him.
    He sprawled on the couch, resting his head on the padded arm rest, straightened his legs, and winced. Cramped. Clocking nearly eighty hours in the bionet in one week will do it to you. She'd done it before and it was unpleasant.
    Ven nodded at the pseudopaper. "I found these."
    Claire glanced at the sheets. The Quattrone Family quote.
    "I know Lienne didn't approve this. Nor did she compile the data for the quote."
    She didn't feel like lying. "How?"
    "Lienne has a best friend, Fotina Heleni. When they were both sixteen, Deo Quattrone stood her up. They were at a party together, and he saw his ex-girlfriend in the crowd with another kid and made a giant scene. It got ugly. Lienne despises him and the whole family. If her hate were a plasma converter, she could launch a thousand spaceships into orbit."
    Claire laughed. "Are you trying to hint that your aunt holds grudges?"
    "I'm not hinting. I am saying it. So who helped you with these?"
    She sighed. "Would it be so terrible if I had done them myself?"
    "The quote shows a detailed knowledge of the bionet," he said. "Who is the co-conspirator, Claire? I promise I won't punish anyone. In fact, I may give this person a raise and unload the rest of the quotes on them. Although that would be a punishment in itself, I suppose."
    Frustration boiled up in her. "You're right, Ven. A drone like me couldn't possibly understand the expense involved in structuring the spiral cell protection."
    He focused on her. "You are not a drone. We've discussed that."
    "And you never like to repeat yourself." She had to stop talking.
    Ven sat up, propping himself on the armrest. "Why are you upset with me?"
    Say nothing. Say nothing. Claire forced her voice to sound even. "I am not upset. I'm just tired."
    "I get it," he said. "Unloading all of my work on your shoulders wasn't fair. But I have no choice. You can keep your helper a secret, if you wish. I'll find out eventually anyway."
    No, you won't. You can't find someone who doesn't exist.
    "You're still looking for your mystery woman?" she asked.
    He nodded.
    I'm sitting right here. "What's so important about her?"
    He sat up. "Have you ever seen a silver shark?"
    "No."
    Ven reached for her tablet and pulled up the console. His fingers flew over the keys. A large digital screen ignited in the opposite wall. It was intense, deep blue, suffused with rays of pale green light, and she realized she was looking at the depths of the ocean.
    Something stirred far in the distance. A hint of movement shifted the water.
    A pale silver star winked in the distance.
    Another ignited close by it.
    Claire leaned forward.
    More stars ignited and shimmered with nacre fire, shifting through the entire rainbow spectrum. A serpentine shape swam to her, graceful, beautiful, sheathed with silver scales and rippling with color. The sleek creature paused in front of the camera and coiled, displaying a multitude of wide fins bristling with spikes. There was something hypnotic in the way its body moved, sliding its coils through the water.
    "This is what she was...?" Claire asked.
    "Yes. It's a silver shark serpent off the Coral Coast. Except she was more like this." Venturo tapped the tablet.
    The sea serpent grew, swelling, filling the screen. Her head sprouted ivory horns, tinted with intense electric azure. A mane of silver and blue sheathed her spine, flaring around her head. Some of her fins widened, turning into razor-sharp blades, others grew into wide wheels, rippling with iridescent rainbows. A line of pale blue lights ignited along the serpent's body. She gathered herself.
    The lights pulsed.
    Sharp blades of ice exploded from the