WIP Wednesday – To Protect and Service: Ravenous Virtue

I’ve been working on this one for quite awhile.  Right now, I have a trilogy planned for the To Protect and Service stories, which will focus on interstellar law enforcement in an alternate universe.  Humans from our world are recruited by space-going beings who need our particular skills when it comes to thwarting the bad guys.

First up is the story of Raven Virtue, aka ‘Ravenous Virtue’, a National Park Service ranger who finds herself agreeing to be the indentured servant-protector of Vendeen, a judge on a roving space station.  She is recruited under coerced circumstances by his assistant/lover/servant Daagiis, an alien that can assume any face and body it chooses.  Their mission is to stop an evil, powerful man from sending slave traders to abduct humans from Raven’s Earth and selling them to the highest bidders.  

Here is a little peek into the story before Raven leaves Earth behind.  She is talking to ‘Douglas Bringer’, a government auditor who is actually Daagiis in one of his many guises.

Douglas grinned.  “Your name has a heroic ring to it.”

She snorted.  “If I was a comic book heroine, maybe.  A friend once did a drawing of me with a cape and mask.  It ended up in our high school yearbook.  I was so embarrassed.”

That earned a chuckle.  Then Douglas sobered and went back to their original conversation.  “The justice system shouldn’t be one size fits all.  If a man is without a doubt guilty, he shouldn’t be allowed to walk free because of an officer’s mistake.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.  Though I’ll admit we can’t go around making willful ‘mistakes’ like Wolford did.”

“Keep Wills behind bars while relieving Wolford of his duty.  Perhaps even fining him for the offense.  Punishment that fits his crime,” the auditor mused.

Raven considered.  “Holding the screw-up responsible while keeping the case alive.  I like that.  In a perfect world, maybe.”

“No world is perfect.  But some could be a little less shortsighted.”

Raven finally allowed herself to openly look over her companion.  Now she could admire his looks and his views.  “You know, you’re not so bad for an accountant-type.”

The grin that spread over his face wasn’t the most pleasant she’d ever seen.  There was something dark, almost dangerous in the expression.  Douglas turned those amazing golden eyes on her for a moment, and once again her stomach churned in a mixture of nervous excitement.

He said, “Raven, I can assure you there is much more to me than meets the eye.  Much like yourself.”

She couldn’t help but wonder ... and half-hope ... that Douglas Bringer was flirting with her.  She caught herself comparing him to her boyfriend Todd and felt an immediate wash of guilt for doing so.  Todd was a nice guy.  A steady guy.  Trustworthy and decent to the core.

Besides, Bringer was only around for the short term.  Probably just as well; Raven was attracted just a bit too much to his aura of power.  She had a feeling he wasn’t quite as nice and steady as Todd.  Still, she felt a pang of disappointment that the auditor wouldn’t be sticking around for long.  There was something about Douglas Bringer that made her want to get to know him better despite that warning aura of danger.

Release date not determined yet.