Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (31 page)

Even now, despite the antipathy that
swelled within him, his hands itched to caress her and his cock throbbed when
he remembered the sweet, secret flavor of her pussy honey he had sucked off his
fingers. Gods!

And now, apparently not content to simply
stir physical sensations in him, she had taken it upon herself to dredge up his
past. Six ran a hand through his hair. No wonder the Collective had allowed the
female of the species to die out! Clearly they were nothing but trouble. His
life had been calm and measured—the exact same day in and day out until dreams
of Mei-Li had come to haunt him. Ever since he had started dreaming of her and
worse, had gone to claim her, his entire existence had been altered, and not
for the better.

She causes too much turmoil—too
much unrest. The sooner she is gone the better.

He pictured her leaving, going back to
Earth, and tried to ignore the empty, hollow sensation the image caused in his
midsection. She would be gone soon and his life would go on as it always had before
he dreamed of her.

It was the only way.

Chapter
Twenty-one

“So how is everything going down there?”
Becca peered anxiously through the viewscreen, as if she could see the general
state of world affairs on Earth if she looked hard enough.

“Fine.” Tess smiled at her, trying not to
let the tension she felt show. “We’re here at the Asheville HKR and Commander
Stavros has been really helpful. He’s here now—see?”

She gestured at the tall, imposing Blood
Kindred who stepped up and nodded at the screen. He had long hair, bound neatly
into a club at the nape of his neck and the requisite double fangs on either
side of his mouth where a human’s canine teeth would be located.

But aside from the fangs, he didn’t look
much like his kind. Instead of ice blue, his eyes were deep indigo—a color so
dark it was almost black. And instead of being blond like most Blood Kindred,
his hair was a rich auburn. The hair and eyes made a striking combination—an
unforgettable sight coupled with his high cheekbones and strong jaw. There were
also curving lines of ink that curled around his strong neck and ran down under
the collar of his pale blue uniform shirt. The ink—if it was ink—that marked
him, had a strange, shifting pattern that seemed to change if you stared at it
too long.

Despite his unusual eye and hair color and
elaborate tattoos, there was a calm competence about the Kindred commander that
inspired confidence—at least Tess had found that to be true the last time she
was visiting the Asheville HKR. Commander Stavros was the Kindred who had
loaned her clothing and made her comfortable when she didn’t know what to do
about Garron going rogue after his first transformation into a
dr’gin.
And
he had welcomed her and Garron back even though the world was in a state of
upheaval right now, as Earth prepared to declare war on the Kindred.

“Oh, hello Commander,” Becca said, waving
at him. “I hope you’re keeping my friends safe.”

“To the best of my ability, my lady,”
Commander Stavros said courteously. “Most of my staff has evacuated to the
Mother Ship but I’m staying here with Commander Garron and his mate.” He nodded
at Tess.

“Really, Commander Stavros, you don’t have
to stay because of us,” Tess told him for probably the fortieth time. “We have
a cabin we can hide out in—my friend is loaning it to me for as long as I need
it. It’s sort of messy right now…” She shivered, thinking of how Garron had
devoured her ex-husband on the cabin’s living room rug. “But it’ll do in a
pinch.”

“Negative,” Stavros said firmly. “You are
welcome to stay here at the HKR as long as possible. And I will stay at my
post.”

“But it might get dangerous,” Becca
protested. “Especially now that it looks like we’re really going to war.” She
made a face. “Stupid politicians! It wasn’t that long ago that the Kindred
saved
us! How can they be such hypocrites?”

“It’s not my place to speculate on human
reasoning and danger or death makes little difference to me,” Stavros said
stolidly. “My post is here and here I stay, no matter the consequences.” He
nodded at Becca. “It was nice to meet you but if you’ll excuse me, I have some
things to attend to.”

Becca nodded back. “Thank you, Commander.”
After he strolled away, she leaned closer to the screen. “What is the
deal
with him?” she hissed. “I mean, he’s kind of fatalistic, don’t you think?
‘Danger or death makes no difference’—is he serious about that?”

“I think so.” Tess nodded. “I thought he
seemed kind of reckless at first too—or at least careless of his own safety.
But according to Garron, he’s under some kind of a curse and that’s why he acts
so fatalistic.”

Becca’s green eyes went wide. “What? What
kind of curse? Do Kindred believe in things like that?”

“Apparently so. And I don’t know what kind
although I
think
it might have something to do with his tattoos. He didn’t
tell Garron much—just enough to explain why he was determined to stay with us
even if all the rest of the Kindred down here evacuate back to the Mother
Ship.”

“Well, he seems like a good guy to have at
your back,” Becca said approvingly. “I’m glad you and Garron have him.”

“Me too but I wish we were all safe up in
the Mother Ship.” Tess sighed unhappily. “The only good thing is, at least
Garron has room to change into his
dr’gin
and go flying down here. He really
loves the mountains and all the trees so there is that.”

“Always a silver lining,” Becca agreed.
“We
are
still trying to get approval to bring you back up here but that
stupid Head Chancellor Terex won’t budge. I didn’t know him before his injury but
everyone who does is saying that he’s
completely
unreasonable ever since
he woke up. There’s even been some question of his competence to be the head of
the Council anymore.”

“Shh, should you really be saying that to
me?” Tess asked in a whisper. “Is this a secure line? Could someone be
listening in?”

“Oh, I didn’t think about that.” Becca
looked suddenly worried.

“I did. You’d better be careful.” Years of
living with an abusive, paranoid man had made Tess extremely cautious. Of
course now she was with Garron but the habits she’d built of looking around
every corner and watching what she said were still in place.

“Let’s talk about something else
completely,” Becca said. “Did you know that Kat finally had her babies?”

“No, of course I didn’t know! Oh my God, I
wish I could have been there!” Tess sighed. She didn’t know the girls aboard
the Mother Ship nearly as well as Becca but she liked them very much and wished
them well. “Did they look like their fathers? One light and one dark?” she
asked eagerly.

Becca’s smile slipped a little. “Well…two
of them do.”

“Two of them? What are you talking about?
Are they all right? She had twins, right?”

“She had triplets actually,” Becca said.
“But that’s not what the Kindred call it. There’s one light twin, one dark twin…and
one shadow twin.”

“What? What does that even mean?” Tess
shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either to be honest, although
it’s got me
really
freaked out since I’m mated to Twin Kindred too.”
Becca looked troubled. “What it seems to mean is that two of the babies look
normal—one has dark hair and eyes and the other has light hair and eyes. But
the third one…”

“Is he okay? Does he have…” Tess’s voice
dropped. “Some kind of birth defect?”

“Not that you can see but he looks kind
of…unusual. He has this shock of bright silvery-white hair and his eyes are
silver too. But a darker silver—almost a platinum or a pewter. I don’t know,
it’s hard to describe.” Becca sighed. “Anyway, he’s got a beautiful little face
but when he looks at you with those eyes…well, you’d swear he was staring right
into your soul.” She shivered. “It’s kind of disconcerting.”

“How are Kat and her guys taking it?”

“Not so well. Apparently having a shadow
twin is supposed to be really unlucky. But as far as I can figure out, that’s
because he’ll be all alone with no one to bond with.”

“What—can’t he bond with his brothers like
regular Twin Kindred?” Tess asked.

Becca shook her head. “No, and it’s
obvious even now. The light and dark twins are already thick as thieves. They
cry if you take one away from the other and Kat says they’ll lie there for
hours just staring at each other being as good as gold. But the other little
guy—they don’t even seem to notice him.”

“Well, but I mean, how could they? They’re
all only a few days old, right?”

“I know it’s hard to believe but you can
seriously already
see
the light and
dark twin bonding and the shadow twin being left out. It breaks your heart,
really. Mine, anyway and especially Far’s. He remembers growing up on Twin
Moons with no twin and he really feels for the little guy. I think Truth feels
bad about it too, but he’s not quite as willing to talk about his emotions.”

“Speaking of emotionally stunted people,
have you heard anything else from Mei-Li—the girl who got claimed by Six, the Dark
Kindred?” Tess asked. “Now
that
was a guy who was never going to feel
anything
for
anyone
.”

Becca shook her head. “No, but I
understand there have been some communications between the Mother Ship and
Zeaga Four so maybe they’re trying to negotiate.”

“Maybe Six will bring her back early,”
Tess said. “I mean, after he realizes how pointless it was to take her in the
first place. It’s not like he could bond with her—not with one of those emotion
dampers implanted in his neck.”

“I wish he
would
bring her back!
Maybe we could stop this stupid war before it starts if her father could see
she’s all right,” Becca said passionately.

“Do you think she is?” Tess asked
doubtfully. “All right, I mean?”

“I don’t know,” Becca said soberly. “All
we can do is say a prayer for her and hope she’ll be okay and come home soon.”
She pointed a finger at Tess. “I’m praying for you and Garron, too. I may have
given up on being a nun but I can still light a candle and say a rosary with
the best of them. Take care of yourself, Tess.”

“I will.” Tess smiled at her friend.
“Garron is motioning to me—I think I’d better go. Give Kat my love and kiss the
new babies for me—all three of them.”

“Of course I will.” Becca smiled. “And
I’ll try to get back in touch as soon as I can.” She blew Tess a kiss and the
viewscreen went dark.

Tess stood there for a moment, staring at
it. She was thinking about Six…and about Mei-Li who she didn’t even know but
felt sorry for all the same.

She must be so
frightened right now—so unhappy. Poor thing!

Then Garron called her name again and she
came back to reality with a start. Things were about to start getting really
sticky for the Kindred or anyone associated with them down here on Earth.

It was time to prepare.

Chapter
Twenty-two

Mei-Li didn’t know the last time she’d
been so miserable. Six had spent the entire night in his recharging area—the
same, forbidding room she had always seen him in during their Dream Sharing.
She hadn’t even dared to put her head in and talk to him—it was obvious he wanted
to be alone. He’d been up early that morning and had barely spoken a word to
her while he ate the
garn
she had made for breakfast.

Mei-Li had been excited that the simulator
was now attuned to her brain waves and she was able to use it to fix food. She
had been hoping to share some of that excitement with Six. But the big Kindred
had simply stared right through her as she talked about getting the machine to
work. He had eaten his bowl of gluey paste silently and quickly, as though he
couldn’t wait to get breakfast over with and get away from her. Then he had
risen from the table, looking absolutely huge in his exoskeleton.

“I must go to work—I have much to do
today. Apologies for leaving you alone but you know all of your entertainment
and recreational options.”

“Yes, I know,” Mei-Li had said humbly.
“And please don’t worry—I won’t look at anything I’m not supposed to.”

“I have no concerns about that. Ter has
triple locked all restricted materials. Even if your irrational, emotional
nature tempts you to try and access them, you will be unable.”

In the past, Mei-Li might have gotten
angry at him for calling her irrational and emotional but she understood that
he was still hurt and upset—though no one hearing him talk would think he was
anything but an emotionless robot. Still, she felt that under his icy façade
there was something else lurking—a boiling cauldron of repressed feelings that
was ready to blow sky high if he was pushed.

“I understand,” she’d said quietly. “But
you didn’t have to lock everything away. Now that I know how you feel about it,
I will never invade your privacy again. You can trust me on that.”

“As I keep reminding you, I have no
feelings,” Six had replied coolly. “Though even if I did have them, I do not
believe that ‘trust’ is one I would extend to you.”

“Six, please…” Mei-Li felt tears welling
up in her eyes. She tried to hold them back, but they just kept coming.
“Please, I said I was sorry. Why can’t you forgive me? We had such a good day
yesterday. I almost felt like…like there was something between us. Something
good.”

“There is nothing holding us together here
but the Claiming Contract,” he’d replied shortly. “And even that will be over
soon.” He nodded at the blinking yellow numbers on her arm. “Though not soon
enough to suit me.”

With that, he had left the house and
Mei-Li had sat down and cried.

Stupid, stupid,
stupid,
she told herself, wiping away more tears.
Stop
crying over the big jerk! If he can’t forgive one stupid little mistake, he’s
not worth having.
And it wasn’t like she would have been able to “have” him
anyway. As soon as their time was up, she was going straight back home to
Earth—which was where she wished she was right now. Anywhere would have been
better than here, stuck on an alien planet light years from home with a man who
now hated her, though he wouldn’t admit it, even to himself.

She could almost hear Claudia’s voice in
her head. “Mmm-mm, girl—that man is re
pressed.
You need to get away from
him
now.”

Mei-Li sighed. Yup, that would definitely
be her best friend’s advice. Too bad she couldn’t take it.

Well, you can at
least get out of the house,
she told herself.
There’s
no point in staying cooped up in here feeling miserable—go get some fresh air!
Or what passes for fresh air on Z4, anyway.

It was good advice and Mei-Li decided to
take it. Taking a deep breath, she sat up straight and wiped her eyes. She
would go out. But where?

Looking down at her own half-eaten bowl of
gluey, bland
garn,
the answer came back at once—the spice market. It was
within easy walking distance of Six’s domicile so she wouldn’t have to go far
or risk getting lost. She still had the cred-chip and maybe she would have
better luck getting some spices to season the
garn
with if Six wasn’t
with her. The big Kindred seemed to scare everyone they met nearly to death—not
that she blamed them. He could be really terrifying when he wanted to.

The fact that he’s so
frightening is probably why no one bothered you yesterday,
whispered a little voice in her head.
Going out on
your own without him for protection is taking a risk.

Well, then I’ll just
have to go incognito. Can’t do that in these.
Mei-Li looked down at the tight, shrink wrap clothes Six
had made her with a frown. She stuck out like a sore thumb in all this white.

But now that she knew how to use the
simulator, she could make herself something new. The prospect cheered her up at
once. Since all she had to do was imagine what she wanted to wear, making
herself a new outfit should be a snap and the sky was the limit! She could make
anything she wanted.

Simming herself new clothes turned out to
be more complicated than she’d first imagined, however. Several hours later she
had used up over half the bag of white, sand-like
tresh
and the kitchen
area was littered with failed attempts.

Some of the clothes she made came out too
big when she used too much
tresh
and some were way too small when she
didn’t use enough. Some looked all right but were tight in odd places like
under the arms or across the crotch. Zippers wouldn’t zip and buttons wouldn’t
line up. Collars were crooked and hems were ragged—it was a nightmare.

It soon became apparent to Mei-Li that she
would need to have much more than a good imagination to whip herself up a new
wardrobe from thin air. In fact, it probably would have been helpful to have a
working knowledge of dress making—or at least be able to sew. Unfortunately,
she had ditched home ec to take chemistry in high school—to her adopted
mother’s horror. She had felt smart and superior at the time—now she wished she
would have taken her mom’s advice.

“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath.
“I’ll never get to the spice market at this rate. By the time I finally make
something decent to wear, the whole damn place will be closed!”

Still, she refused to give up. Finally, she
was able to make a simple wrap dress by picturing one she had at home that was
just like it. Pressing the interface pad to her temple, she closed her eyes and
saw it in exacting detail in her mind. Every fold, every line, every
stitch—that she could remember, anyway.

To her delight, when she opened the
delivery slot door on the microwave-like simulator, she found she had finally
gotten it right. Well, sort of, anyway. The dress fit just right, tying on
either side with long ribbons but it was a deep, pure shade of crimson instead
of the inconspicuous black or gray she had been going for. Still, it fit so
nicely and Mei-Li felt so pretty in it, she decided to keep it on.

Going back to the simulator, she tried one
last thing. Pouring in a generous amount of
tresh,
which was running
low—she hoped it wasn’t expensive—she pictured a long black cloak with a hood.

Either she was getting better at simming
clothes or the simulator was just getting more attuned to her. For whatever
reason, the cloak was a success too. Mei-Li put it on, drawing the hood over
her head to shield her features and pulled the flowing sides closed around
herself to hide the red dress.

There. Now unless someone looked closely
into her hood, they couldn’t tell what or who she was—or that she was a female.
She could be any of the faceless crowd strolling down the busy city streets.
Smaller than most, perhaps, but nothing to look twice at.

Feeling satisfied, Mei-Li pocketed the
cred-chip and went out the door and into the teeming city.

It took a little while and a few wrong
turns to find her way back to the Serlix market. At one point she was sure she
was lost and almost panicked. But she kept her head and retraced her steps and
soon, she was stepping back into the covered stone square once again.

All the sellers and buyers were back, some
noisily hawking their wares, some giving demonstrations and samples of
different products. This time Mei-Li wandered silently among them, keeping her
head low and observing. She was surprised to see some obvious similarities
between both buyers and sellers.

They were all male, of course and for the
most part, they seemed to be middle aged or older males. Also, almost all of
them had long hair that came down past the back of their necks. But there was
something else about them that seemed strange—almost all of them had broken or
non-functional enhancements. Mei-Li saw scopes with cracked lenses, burned out
lights, and metal parts that had rusted through. Why didn’t they get them
fixed? Wasn’t maintenance free and easy to get, on the medical barges?

Maybe they don’t want
to go up on the medical barges. Maybe it’s not safe for them there,
a little voice in her head whispered darkly. But why not?
And what was going on in the market that made Six call it an “undesirable” part
of town? All Mei-Li could see was innocent commerce.

“Oh, my lady—I thought that might be you.
I hoped that you would return.”

Mei-Li whirled around to see the same
older Kindred who had kissed her fingers the day before bowing to her in a
charming and courtly way. He had a broken scope over one eye and long, gray
hair which was brushed back from his forehead

“Oh, uh…hi.” She nodded at him nervously,
instinctively drawing her fingers into the long folds of her cloak.

“Worry not, fair lady,” he said,
straightening up. “I will endeavor to contain myself in your presence. I was
simply overcome at seeing the fulfillment of the prophesy yesterday, which was
why I was so effusive.”

“What prophesy?” Mei-Li demanded. “What
are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the end of the
Collective.” The man’s one normal eye flashed. “The end of emotional
repression—the freedom to live again—to
feel
again—which so many of us
with pure Kindred DNA long for.”

“You do?” Mei-Li looked at him with
interest. “I was under the impression that everyone on Z4
liked
ditching
their emotions.” She thought of how Six had stored away his memories and
repressed his feelings. “I mean, I thought nobody
wanted
to feel
anything.”

“That isn’t true and hasn’t been for
years,” the old Kindred told her. “I am Malak, by the way. And you are…?”

“Mei-Li,” she said. “But you have a name
instead of a number?”

He nodded his graying head. “I am nowhere
near high enough on the Collective’s rubric to rate a number—which is just the
way I like it.”

“So you and your friends…” Mei-Li looked
around the marketplace at all the other men who looked like Malak. “Don’t want
to live in an emotionless society anymore?”

“No. We want to
feel,
my lady! And
we want the freedom to feel without fearing that we may be purged for our
emotions. That has been my dream for years—and it was why I was so excited to
see you here yesterday.”

“I think you may have a mistaken idea
about me,” Mei-Li said gently. “I’m not a freedom fighter here to lead a
revolution or anything. I was just claimed by one of the Dark Kindred, that’s
all. And I’m not even staying. I’m leaving very soon.”
Not soon enough to
suit me.
Six’s words echoed in her head and she winced at the memory.

“Oh no, my lady—we do not believe that you
are here to overthrow the Collective yourself,” Malak said quickly. “But your
very presence denotes the beginning of the end. You are simply a harbinger of
their doom—the sign that freedom is near.”

“Oh, well…” Mei-Li wasn’t sure how comfortable
she was being the harbinger of anyone’s doom—even if she didn’t have anything
to do with it. “Thank you, I guess,” she said at last. “I’m, uh, glad I gave
you hope.”

“You have, my lady. For very soon, another
will come. One who will overthrow the Collective and free of us all from the
yoke of emotionless tyranny.”

Mei-Li had a thought. “But how are all of
you feeling in the first place? I thought everyone had to have an
emotion-damper implant. Isn’t it standard issue—something you get even before
you come out of the, uh, incubation tube thing they grow you in?”

Malak nodded. “Indeed it is. But those of
us with pure or nearly pure Kindred DNA have found that our implants fail over
time. And when they do, the world of emotion is opened up…and we simply never
get them fixed. See?”

He turned and lifted his long, graying
hair to show the small silver and black button implanted just where Six’s was,
at the nape of his neck. But on closer inspection, she saw that the silver had
tarnished and the black was more of a dark, rusty brown.

“That’s what they look like when they go
bad?” she asked as he turned back around.