Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (40 page)

“What’s
wrong
with you?” Six demanded. “What happened to make you this
way—feeding off the pain of others?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Two looked
thoughtful. “Maybe a bad DNA mix. Maybe a bad implant. Maybe a combination of
the two.” He grinned at Six. “But for whatever reason, I’m thoroughly enjoying
myself. And I’ll enjoy remembering you this way—completely distraught because
your little female is in danger.” He began to back out of the room, still
waving the vaporizer menacingly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a planet to
conquer.”

“You’ll never take Earth by surprise. I’ll
transmit a warning to them as soon as you leave.”

“I think not.” Two grinned. “I’ve taken
the liberty of jamming all outgoing transmissions from both the med barges and
Z4. And even if you
could
get a warning to Earth, they’d never believe
you—or any Kindred for that matter. As of twelve standard hours ago, they have
declared war against our kind. Good luck finding anyone who will listen to a
warning from the enemy.” He was almost at the open doorway but he turned back
for a moment. “Oh and Six, I
do
hope your little female survives.”

“Why would you care if she survives or
not?” Six snarled. He wanted nothing more than to break every bone in Two’s
body but the other male still had the vaporizer trained on Mei-Li.

“Because, my dear Six—if she dies you will
be in great pain. But if she wakes up and has absolutely no emotions for you
while you are hopelessly in love with her, why, then you’ll be in
agony.”
Two
smirked. “So as I said, I hope she makes it. Farewell and may Fortune favor
you. Though I rather doubt it will.”

With a last metallic grin he turned and
left.

“Hurry—we must hurry! Yes we must, yes we
must!” Yipper’s shrill voice broke through the wall of silence that seemed to
have somehow grown around him. Six blinked and realized that he was still
staring at the doorway where his enemy had disappeared. For a moment a red
curtain of rage had covered all his senses but the little Tolleg’s insistence
somehow drew him out of it.

“Mei-Li,” he said, pushing back the
murderous impulses with some difficulty. “Is she—?”

“She is stable for now—stable enough to
travel. We must go, Six. We must leave this place. Yes we must, yes we must!”
Yipper was busying himself, shoving various instruments and medicines into a
large expandable pouch which he strapped around his waist.

“What?” Six asked sharply. “No we
shouldn’t—we need to stay here until Mei-Li is well.”

“And leave her home planet to be
decimated? I don’t think she will thank you for that if she wakes up. No she
won’t, no she won’t,” Yipper said, finding more things to stuff into his pouch.
“We must go to the Mother Ship and warn them!”

Six shook his head. “You heard Two—the
Collective is in league with the Mother Ship. We can’t go there.”

“Yes we must, yes we must! Think about it,
Six—we cannot go to Earth, not if they have declared war on the Kindred. And
Two mentioned the plot to stir up unrest between the Earthlings and the rank
and file warriors. Clearly only one of the leadership is involved in this
conspiracy. If there is even one we may trust—perhaps this Commander Sylvan
whom Mei-Li mentioned—we might be able to warn them in time to stop a
massacre.”

Six shook his head. “I don’t know…”

“Listen,” Yipper said earnestly. “You have
not seen the memory caches of those who went through the Last Great War—the one
where the Collective finally took over Z4 completely. I
have.
The
organics did not
want
to give up their emotions—they fought the Purge
Squads until the population was decimated. There were dead bodies
everywhere—the streets ran red with blood. Yes they did, yes they did.” Yipper
shivered, his shaggy fur ruffling with the motion. “I tell you, we
have
to warn them before the same thing happens on Earth.”

“But what about Mei-Li?” Six asked
stubbornly. “I don’t want to put her at risk.”

“She’s at much greater risk here, Six.
What do you think Two’s first order of business will be once he gets back from
his conquest?” Yipper demanded. “He will kill both of you. Yes he will, yes he
will! He only left you alive today because the idea of your pain amused him.”

“You’re right.” Six shook his head. “I am not
thinking clearly. The emotions I have for Mei-Li cloud my judgment.”

“That is not uncommon when you are just
beginning to feel again,” Yipper said gently. “You will learn to deal with
strong emotions in time.”

“But will Mei-Li? If she lives…will she ever
feel again?”

A mournful look passed over Yipper’s long
face. “I do not know. I made the emotion blocker serum to be foolproof and
permanent. But then again, I believed the implants you and the other Kindred
have would be the same. Yes I did, yes I did.”

Six’s heart felt like a stone in his
chest. “You don’t think there’s any way to restore her emotions, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Yipper said. “I know that
I will do everything in my power to restore them. Yes I will, yes I will. And
they may have some medicines on the Mother Ship that would help. Yes they
might, yes they might.”

“All right.” Tenderly, Six scooped the
still figure of Mei-Li into his arms. Gods, she was so light, so beautiful…and
so broken. Would they be able to fix her? “Let’s go,” he said to Yipper. “Two
talks a good game but assembling the entire battalion will take time. If we can
beat him to the Mother Ship and Earth, we may yet prevail.”

“Yes we may, yes we may.” Yipper nodded
vigorously and fastened his very-full pouch with magno tabs that bulged at the
seams. “Let’s go, Six. Before it’s too late!”

Six didn’t say it aloud but as he looked
down at the still, pale face of the female he cared for so desperately, he was
horribly afraid that it was already too late.

Chapter
Twenty-nine

Mei-Li blinked and looked around. For a
moment everything was blurry but then things began to swim into focus. The
first thing she saw was a familiar face with gray eyes and high cheekbones
hovering anxiously over her. Then another familiar face swam into view—a long
furry snout and big brown eyes that seemed somehow sad.

Sad? Anxious?
The words seemed to fit their expressions but for some
reason they provoked no response in her.

“Six?” she asked blankly after a moment.
“Yipper?”

“She’s responding. Yes she is, yes she
is!” Yipper said to someone else. Six simply pressed her hand.

“Mei-Li,” he murmured, looking into her
eyes. “I am so glad you’re all right. I was…extremely worried about you.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you might have died!” Six looked
distinctly agitated. “Because that bastard Two almost killed you! And I…I could
not bear to lose you.” He looked at her closely, as though watching for some
reaction. “Mei-Li,” he murmured. “I care for you so deeply—please tell me you
feel the same.”

Feel? How did she feel? Mei-Li closed her
eyes for a moment and took stock. She remembered her past experiences with Six.
Remembered the nights she’d spent in his arms and the way he had finally
admitted to having emotions for her. She knew that these memories ought to have
some kind of effect on her—ought to give her feelings of one kind or another.
But even when she tried, all she felt was an emotional blank.

“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“I know I ought to have some reaction to you but I just…don’t.”

“Nothing…not even a tiny spark of feeling?
That was how it started for me when I began to feel for you. Please, Mei-Li…
Lasai…”
The look on his face was so grave that she knew she would have felt sorry
for him if she was capable of feeling. But she felt nothing—nothing at all.
I
feel like a bowl of garn tastes. Completely bland,
she thought.

Slowly, she shook her head. “I’m sorry.
There’s…nothing.”

Six sighed and sat back. “It is as we
feared.”

“Don’t give up hope yet—she just woke up.”

A third face appeared hovering above
her—one with spiky blond hair and ice blue eyes.

“Commander Sylvan?” Mei-Li frowned. “What
are you doing on the Z4 medical barge?”

“We are no longer on the barge. No we’re
not, no we’re not,” Yipper explained quickly. “It was no longer safe for us
there—any of us.”

“Oh…” Mei-Li looked around. It was true
they were no longer in Yipper’s pure white enhancement area. Instead the space
around her looked like a hospital room—a comfortable and well decorated one but
there was equipment standing against the wall and the bed she was in appeared
to be adjustable, like a hospital bed. When she looked down at herself she
realized she was wearing a dark blue gown that tied in the back instead of the
red wrap dress she’d made on Z4. “How did we get here?” she asked.

“As soon as Yipper stabilized you we took
a shuttle and went through a wormhole to make it back to the Mother Ship,” Six
explained.

“But Mr. Metal Teeth…I mean, Two…he
threatened to come after Earth…” The memories were very foggy but she knew that
much. The knowledge should have scared her to death—the idea of a battalion of
Dark Kindred war ships coming through the rift to attack and take over Earth
should have sent ice down her spine. Instead she felt…nothing.
Well, if it
happens, it happens, I suppose…

“I managed to jam the mechanism that folds
space which should delay Two and his army for a little while since the third
med barge has the most power and capacity,” Six said. “But they will be here
soon—we must alert the Earth.”

“Which is going to be a problem since
they’ve declared war on us,” Commander Sylvan said, frowning. “None of the
warriors are happy about it but they are willing to fight in order to retain
our right to call brides.”

“But don’t you see—that is what they
want,” Six said earnestly. “Two told us that I was asked to take Mei-Li for
exactly that reason—to stir up unrest on Earth and cause them to declare war.
That way when the Dark Kindred battalion comes hurtling out of the rift, they
will be welcomed with open arms by the Kindred of the Mother Ship who will be
glad of the reinforcements.”

Sylvan shook his head. “I am sorry, Six
but I don’t see how the High Council would feel that way. We know the history
of the Dark Kindred—we’ve seen what you do to the planets you conquer. Though we
are at war with Earth, we do not wish the inhabitants ill. And if your people
were allowed to eradicate all emotion on the planet, it would become next to
impossible for any of our warriors to form soul bonds with the Earth females.”

“That is exactly the problem we have here.
Yes we have, yes we have,” Yipper interrupted. “Mei-Li was injected with a new
emotion blocking serum I have been working on. We need your help to reverse its
effects.”

“I will be happy to help if I can,” Sylvan
said. “But though I am a trained physician, I have never had much experience
with such things. How does it work?”

“It bonds more or less permanently with
the emotion receptors in the brain and blocks them off. Yes it does, yes it
does.” Yipper didn’t look happy about it, not that the word “happy” really
meant much to Mei-Li anymore. “It makes the subject completely unable to
experience emotion ever again.”

“I hate to say it but if it works as well
as you say, there doesn’t seem to be much hope,” Sylvan said. “What do you want
me to do?”

“I am hoping to show Mei-Li something that
will somehow break through the blockage in her brain. Yes I am, yes I am,”
Yipper said quickly. “She was only injected a few hours before. It’s possible
the block hasn’t completely formed yet.”

“And if there’s any hope to break through
it, it has to be now,” Six finished for him.

“What kinds of things do you wish to show
her?”

“Those who are dear to her—loved ones,
cherished friends. Anyone from her past that she has strong emotional ties to,”
Yipper said.

Sylvan sighed. “Again what you’re asking
is extremely difficult because of the war. All of Mei-Li’s people are down on
Earth and there’s no way we can bring them up here.”

“What about communication over a
viewscreen?” Six asked. “I know she has a father—she spoke about him. Also a
good friend called Claudia. Can they be contacted?”

Commander Sylvan looked thoughtful.

“It’s possible. Mei-Li’s father is on the
World Council—he might be willing to speak to us if we told him his daughter is
back. And I’m sure he would have the political clout to get her friend to speak
to her as well. Let me see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Commander. And please—hurry.”
Six spoke so urgently that Sylvan raised one eyebrow.

“Forgive me for saying so, but I thought
your kind was without emotion. Yet you seem very concerned with Mei-Li’s
emotionless state. I would think that she would be the perfect match for you
now.”

“She would be if I was still in an
emotionless state myself,” Six said. “But I began to feel for her almost from the
moment I saw her in the first dream we shared. I know that now. Or at least, I
can finally admit it. The longer I was with her, the more I felt. And now she
is everything to me.
Everything.”

Sylvan nodded. “Spoken like a true
Kindred. Of course I will do everything in my power to help you.”

“Thank you Commander.” Six nodded briefly.
He took Mei-Li’s hand in his and looked into her eyes.

She looked back blankly.

“Please,” Six said again. “
Hurry
.”

* * * * *

Six supposed it was too much to hope that
seeing her friends and family from the past would bring Mei-Li back to him. And
yet he
did
hope, for it was the only hope he had—the only slim sliver of
light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

Gods, his emotions kept getting stronger
and harder to deal with! He hadn’t wanted them to stop when he was falling in
love with Mei-Li. Now he wished he could turn them off for a little while, at
least until this crisis was over. If it ever
was
over. But that was not
an option. He could either feel everything or nothing and right now, feeling
everything was overwhelming.

He watched anxiously as the huge
viewscreen they had mounted across from her bed in the med station flickered to
life. On it was an older Earth male who was almost Kindred size with distinguished
looking gray hair. This must be Mei-Li’s father. She looked nothing like him,
of course, but that was not surprising as she was not really his biological
daughter.

When he saw her lying quiet and still in
the bed, the older male’s eyes widened.

“Mei-Li? Punkin', is that you? Are you
really back safe?”

“I am back.” Mei-Li’s voice was flat and
emotionless.

“Sweetie, are you okay?”

“I am physically well,” was the cold
reply.

“Physically well? What does that mean? And
why are you talking like that?” her father demanded. “Like…like some kind of a
robot?”

Six cleared his throat. “Unfortunately,
Mei-Li has been injected with a serum that blocks emotions. We were hoping that
seeing you would help her to break through the block and recover her feelings.”

“What? You did
what
to my little
girl, you bastard?” The older male’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Six.
“You’re the one who took her, aren’t you? You’re the sonofabitch who kidnapped
my Mei-Li in the first place.”

“Well, technically Six was within his right
to claim Mei-Li and take her for a Claiming Period,” Commander Sylvan said, as
diplomatically as he could. “But—”

“But nothing, Commander Sylvan. You see,
this
kind of thing is why we declared war on you alien bastards! You steal our
daughters and then you
hurt
them!”

“Senator, please—Mei-Li has not been
physically harmed and we
are
doing everything in our power to restore
her emotions,” Sylvan said.

“I want her returned to me
now.
I
don’t trust you bastards one bit!” Mei-Li’s father roared.

“I am afraid that will be impossible. Yes
it will, yes it will.” Yipper, who had been standing out of view of the
viewscreen came forward. “Mei-Li’s condition is very delicate right now and we
have a limited window in which to reverse the effects of the serum. We need to
keep working on her here in the Mother Ship.”

“What the hell are
you?”
the
Senator snarled. “Are you the one who did this to my daughter you hairy little
freak? Answer me!”

“Senator Hastings, please…” Six rose and
approached the viewscreen. “Yipper is a Tolleg—one of the finest natural
surgeons you will find anywhere in the universe. And he is not responsible for
your daughter’s condition—
I
am. I was unable to save her from this fate.
If you must blame someone, blame me—not Yipper or the Kindred of the Mother
Ship.”

“You’d better believe I blame you,”
Senator Hastings roared. “I’ll have you skinned alive the minute I get my hands
on you, you big bastard. Hell, I’ll do it myself and the Geneva Convention be
damned!”

“Senator,
please
,” Sylvan said.
“This isn’t helping! I called you for two reasons—one of them was to have you
speak to Mei-Li and try to evoke an emotional response from her.”

“Well that obviously isn’t happening. Look
at the way she’s looking at me…” The Senator gestured and there was a catch in
his voice. “She…she’s broken inside somehow. Look what you’ve done to her…to my
sweet, beautiful little girl…”

“The second reason,” Sylvan went on
doggedly. “Is to warn you. According to Six, here, there is a large battalion
of ships coming from Zeaga 4, the Dark Kindred home world. They have Earth in
their sights and—”

“So you decided to bring in
reinforcements, did you?” Senator Hastings snarled. “Didn’t think you could
handle us on your own, did you? Well that’s all right—no matter how many you
bring the people of Earth will fight! You—”

Sylvan sighed and shook his head. “I’m
afraid this is doing no good,” he said in an undertone to Six. “Perhaps we
should try Mei-Li’s best friend—she is waiting on another channel.”

“Perhaps.” Six nodded with a heavy heart.
He had been hoping so desperately that something Mei-Li’s father said would get
through to her. But for all the older male’s shouting and emotion, she had
reacted not a bit.

“I’m sorry, Senator, but we appear to be
losing our connection,” Sylvan said. “Please believe me when I say that we are
doing everything we can to help your daughter and we will keep you updated on
her condition.” He made a motion and the angry red face of Mei-Li’s father was
suddenly replaced by a woman with creamy brown skin and high cheekbones. Six
knew she must be Mei-Li’s best friend and supervisor at work, Claudia.