Tomori's Legacy

By Osiris Brackhaus and Beryll Brackhaus

Viscount Tomori is long dead, but his affairs just don't want to rest in peace.

Turns out there was a lot more behind the Tribunal's ruling in Ana's favour after his untimely death. Now Ana and her pack are part of the power struggle among the crime lords of the Rim, and have to return to Darkside before things get out of hand.

But the Viscount's toxic legacy comes with family ties attached – a family of embittered criminals vying for control over their late husband and father's enterprise. Ana and her bestiae have to learn on the run how to navigate this den of vipers, or they will end up being sold as novelties to the Core Elites they are trying so hard to escape.

This swashbuckling SF adventure is the third book of the 'Packmasters' series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osiris Brackhaus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463737750

Osiris Brackhaus

Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus are a couple currently living their happily ever after in the very heart of Germany, under the stern but loving surveillance of their cat. Both are voracious but picky readers, love telling stories and drinking tea, good food and the occasional violent movie. Together, they write novels of adventure and romance, hoping to share a little of their happiness with their readers.An artist by heart, Beryll was writing stories even before she knew what letters were. As easily inspired as she is frustrated, her own work is never good enough (in her eyes). A perfectionist in the best and worst sense of the word at the same time and the driving creative force of the duo.An entertainer and craftsman in his approach to writing, Osiris is the down-to-earth, practical one. Broadly interested in almost every subject and skill, with a sunny mood and caring personality, he strives to bring the human nature into focus of each of his stories.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Look how pretty they are! They sparkle like jewels! Ferret exclaimed. I’m sure they taste great!

I had been watching Ferret run around the shop for a while already, but now he had come to a stop. Ferret had his nose and hands pressed against the thick glass of the tank, trying to get as close as possible to the fish inside without diving in himself. Luckily, they remained unaware of the sharp little teeth his grin revealed.

Actually, these are just for decoration, Cassy, the owner of the shop, told him indulgently. Judging by her wide smile, it probably wasn’t often she got customers who were as cute and excited by her wares as our Ferret.

Hidden as her shop was, she probably didn’t get many customers at all. It had taken us long enough to find her shop in our quest to restock the fish in our pantry.

Getting fresh greens and meat hadn’t been too hard, there were plenty of stores who sold either the high quality, fresh variety for the tourists or the cheaper, frozen bulks that more culinarily-inclined spacers favoured. Since we weren’t short on cash, we’d decided to skip on frozen pizza and pre-packaged meals entirely.

But fish had proven surprisingly difficult to come by. You could either get bite-sized, already prepared, frozen delicacies which were ridiculously expensive or what a trader had called ’norm fish’ – large, grey cubes of fish-flavoured protein.

Considering Vandal’s commercial hub advertised itself as selling everything anyone could ever want, it had been pretty disappointing. ’Everything’ probably only referred to illegal goods, Ana had commented, which had earned her a hearty chuckle from the trader. He’d pointed us to the only restaurant with fish on the menu, but cautioned us that they probably got their supply fresh from planets reasonably close by. A high class establishment where our little trio had been looked at with haughty disdain. The feeling was mutual, but there was no point in showing it. They had outright refused to talk to me, since bestiae were apparently entirely beneath their notice. But after some bribes from Ana, they had reluctantly divulged their secret – there was in fact a fish shop on Vandal. But it only sold to very select customers.

The shop was tucked away in one of the less touristy corners of the commercial hub and from the outside, it didn’t look like much more than a hole in the wall with a cardboard sign above the door which read ’FISH’. Only once you arrived at the bottom of a narrow staircase did the actual store open up and, boy, was it huge! A veritable wonderland of water-filled tanks with sea-life in all colours and sizes.

For a little while, we had walked around gawking, until Cassy noticed us. At first she had been apprehensive, but that had only lasted until she figured out we weren’t some of her regular customers. As it turned out, she made most of her money selling the extremely potent poisons she milked from some of her fish to various assassins. The rest of the store was just her personal zoo, the surplus from which she sold to the restaurant. Luckily for us, she had plenty of surplus, so she could sell some of it to us as well. We’d agreed that she would pack two large boxes of various whole fish for us and now we were just wandering around, admiring her collection.

Ana looked a little bored, but she didn’t have the heart to pull Ferret away when he was obviously having so much fun.

But they look so yummy, Ferret looked up at Cassy with his most pleading eyes.

It didn’t fail to impress her. I admit I have never actually eaten one. They are so tiny, they’d be just one bite anyway. She smiled at him helplessly, You want to try one, don’t you?

Ferret nodded eagerly.

Oh well. Cassy fetched a small fishing net on a stick, What colour do you want?

Once more Ferret stared into the tank, A blue one. No wait, that one over there, the green with the yellow tail.

I watched as she climbed onto a footstool and nimbly caught the fish in her net. Ferret watched her with rapt attention, but when she offered him the net with the feebly flopping fish, I felt his mood shift from eager anticipation to surprised pity.

Oh, he said softly, his ears drooping, it’s dying.

Ana caught his change too and stepped up next to him, putting a comforting hand on his small shoulder. That’s what happens when you take them out of the water, she said softly, And when you eat them, of course.

I knew that. He looked down at the tiny fish unhappily, I just didn’t think it would look so sad.

Cassy had thought him cute before, but now she looked outright smitten. Do you want me to put him back? she asked gently and smiled when Ferret nodded.

Moments later the fish was back in the tank and Ferret was pressed against the glass again, watching him, his previous hunger replaced by a quiet happiness.

I let his happiness seep into me and calm me down as well. Maybe he was too soft of heart, but the rest of us were sufficiently jaded already. He brought much needed gentleness to our pack. I shared a smile with Ana as we silently agreed.

So now that we have the fish, what else is on your list? Ana asked me.

A quick check of my datapad revealed only one more item remaining on our shopping list, A replacement for that mural in Ten’s room.

Urg, yes, that’s a must, Ana shuddered in revulsion. Did she say what she would like?

Some sort of painting. ’Anything without writhing, naked flesh and, please, no nature,’ is what she said. When I had asked her, I had also suggested she should come along and pick something herself, but the thought of having to choose a replacement herself had filled her with silent dread. It had been a poignant reminder of how Wolf had explained it when I had bought those plates on Sullin. It was hard for them to pick pretty things for their comfort when they had grown so used to not having anything or, at least, not having anything of value they might lose.

Right now, she and Wolf were at Ten’s small apartment back at the Teahouse to pack her stuff and move it to the Lollipop. I would have loved to have come along as well to have a look at how she had lived before she had joined our pack, but restocking our food supply was a task I was more suited for than hauling boxes and bags. And she was more comfortable with having Wolf along, anyway.

Despite the physical distance between us, I could clearly sense both of them contentedly working together.

I was a little surprised and very delighted at how easily Ten fit into our pack bond. Her presence felt much more natural and bright than Bear’s had ever been. Of course, one reason was that we had exchanged our true names. But it also made me wonder whether it was just because Bear had always blocked us out as much as she could, or whether our approach of getting to know each other and making sure that we all got along before even attempting a bonding was equally important.

The Packmasters before the war had apparently always made sure their bestiae didn’t have much interaction and even encouraged dissent to make sure they remained firmly in control. Maybe if they had stopped feeding on the high of controlling their bestiae and instead had paid attention to strengthening their packs, things would have turned out quite differently. Maybe they would have won the war, with bestiae who would have truly served them like we worked with Ana.

Maybe some sort of wall hanging? Ana suggested. Easier to transport, and something soft might be nice in a room plastered with mirrors.

It was a good idea and maybe we’d even find some sort of cool military motif Ten might like. Yeah, I agreed, I still want to go to that gallery Ten recommended and show them the picture I took of the mural mounted on the wall. It’s horrible, but considering Tomori’s taste, it might be worth a lot.

Ana smiled at me and I got a flash of how proud she was of how I was taking care of our pack.

I turned to Ferret. Come on, let’s go. We’ll want to be home when they start to deliver our food.

Bye bye, fishy, have a good long life, he said to his new friend and beamed up at Cassy again, Thank you so much for letting us look at them.

You can come by anytime, she told him and turned to me, I’ll get your order ready and delivered to your ship. Shouldn’t be long.

It was refreshing how she treated me and Ferret no different from Ana. If only more humans were able to look beyond our fur and fangs and see that we were in fact not dumb animals. Alas, she remained the rare exception. I thanked her as well and then we left her store to head back to the more glitzy part of the commercial hub where the gallery was located. There, I’d have to leave the talking to Ana again.

Still, Vandal was one of the places most welcoming to bestiae I had been to so far. At least we were able to walk around without having to conceal what we were and no one asking where our owners were. I still didn’t feel entirely comfortable coming back here, though. We had to pick up Ten’s stuff, but after having already spent more than a week here after the ’Tomori incident’, my fur started itching. We shouldn’t stay in one place too long, and every hour we remained here increased the odds of someone tracking us down. I kept looking over my shoulder, half expecting agents of Ana’s parents to show up. The gossip had been way too widely spread and the trial too public. It had to be like a signal flare to them.

We hadn’t decided what we were going to do next. We all liked Ana’s idea of helping other bestia, but we didn’t have a plan for how to do that. However, whatever we did next, we should definitely do it elsewhere, preferably on the other side of the galaxy, where nobody knew us and we had a better chance of shaking off any pursuers.

Considering how twitchy I felt, it was a small miracle I merely pulled my dagger and didn’t immediately throw it when a female voice suddenly addressed us from behind.

Miss Ana? A word, please?

While Ana was processing the fact that someone was talking to her, I had already turned and was scanning both the woman who had stepped up behind us and the area for threats. Tall but slender, pale-skinned with large, almond-shaped eyes, she had her long black hair pulled back into a severe braid that made her look older than she probably was. Her tailored black silk dress had subtle embroidery in dark green on the hems.

In the constant crowd of the commercial hub, she had picked a more quiet connecting corridor without shops to approach us. A bad place for an ambush, since there was nowhere to hide attackers, and she seemed to be alone. She kept her hands at her sides, but in plain sight. Trying to appear harmless.

Still, her style raised alarm bells in my head. It reminded me of the late Viscount Tomori.

That alarmed feeling of mine alerted Wolf and Ten that there was some sort of threat. I clearly sensed both of them tense up and start moving. It would take them several minutes to get to us, but the mere knowledge that our real fighters were en route calmed me down. I would just have to hold up until they got here and they’d tear any danger to Ana limb from limb.

Ana completed turning around and curiously studied the other woman as well. She didn’t let herself get infected by my nervousness, but she gently pushed Ferret behind her before putting on a polite smile.

Yes?

Miss Ana, my name is Yuki Tomori. I come to speak to you on behalf of Clan Tomori. Please be assured that I mean you no harm.

So my impression had been right.

When we had taken the Lollipop from the Viscount, I hadn’t paid much attention to his organization beyond how to acquire all the necessary codes to steal the ship. I had been aware that the Tomori called themselves a ’Clan’ but I had considered that just a moniker like ’Syndicate’ or ’Cartel’, not a sign that there was an actual family of Tomoris. But judging from her choice of name and the similarities in looks to the late Viscount, it appeared I had been wrong.

Her reassurance did nothing to calm me, though. In fact, it made me scan the corridor again, trying to figure out where an attack would be coming from. Not the tourist couple with the kids, obviously. But the big man pushing the his hovercrate along wore a blaster gun on his hip, and the cloaked man who’d just passed us by could easily be hiding any number of weaponry.

We have no desire to aggravate the Syndicate any more than we already have. It would be particularly unwise to pick a fight on Vandal again, Miss Tomori continued, her eyes shifting to me nervously.

Now that was a significantly more convincing argument.

Only now did I notice her scent. Not just nervous, but outright scared. And by the way she kept eyeing me, she was scared of me. For a moment, the idea that anyone would be scared of me felt ludicrous, but on closer inspection maybe it wasn’t so wrong. I was no longer the harmless, cuddly pet I had been before running away with Ana. I had killed people. Quite a few. Without remorse. And I wasn’t even the most dangerous member of our pack. Nevertheless, being feared was elating. More so, even, as Ana wasn’t scared at all, knowing I was there to protect her, fully trusting me to keep her safe.

I smiled at Miss Tomori, showing her my sharp canines and was rewarded with her flinching back and a flash of deep satisfaction from Ana. Like me, she enjoyed this moment of power. We both knew I wasn’t a mindless animal, but that didn’t keep me from acting like a dangerous beast from time to time.

I have no quarrel with Clan Tomori, Ana replied, her voice pleasant and polite, and as long as you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you.

The subtle hint of threat in her voice was beautiful. Interestingly, it seemed to calm the other woman as she relaxed minutely. Apparently, she had expected to be murdered the moment she approached us. I made a mental note to check out what exactly our reputation was on Vandal. ’Dangerous’ would be fine, ’murderous monsters’ not so much.

May we find a place to sit down and talk?

I don’t have any business with Clan Tomori, either.

Miss Tomori winced as if Ana had slapped her. Please, Miss Ana. I fully understand how much you must be enjoying the position we have been put in, but it isn’t in your interest to ignore the Viscount’s legacy much longer, either. Already we have incurred substantial financial losses. The Viscount is dead. It must be possible for us to bury past grievances and move towards a mutually beneficial relationship.

What the fuck was she talking about? Even though I could only pick up on Ana’s emotions, I was pretty sure she was thinking the exact same thing.

Obviously the easiest way to get an answer to that question would have been to ask it, but that would have revealed our ignorance and you simply didn’t show any weakness when dealing with criminal organizations who made the bulk of their money trading in human flesh, both dead and alive.

Ana kept up her polite smile and didn’t even glance at me. She didn’t have opportunity to show it very often, but in moments like these it truly was a blessing that she had been trained in politics and the cutthroat world of Core corporation deals since she could talk. I see. It would seem you have an offer to make?

Once more, her words seemed to greatly reassure Miss Tomori. Indeed. She gestured towards the direction we had been heading in anyway, where the centre of the station’s commercial hub offered various high-quality cafés and restaurants for wealthy patrons. "Please let me treat you to refreshments and