Pursued (49 page)

“Absolutely. But I need somebody to help me up.” Olivia put out both arms and Sophie and Kat hauled her to her feet.

“Whew,” Kat complained. “What am I going to do when all
three
of you are preggers? There’s only
one
of me, you know.”

“You’ll manage,” Liv said sweetly. “And just think, you’ll have
all
of us waiting on you when you have your babies.”

“You’ll be waiting a while for that,” Kat said grimly. “Come on, we have to hurry, so waddle as fast as you can.”

“You!” Liv smacked her lightly on the shoulder, laughing. “You’ll pay for that later.”

“I’m sure I will.” Kat gave her a wry grin. “Let’s go.”

* * * * *

Sylvan was waiting in the viewing room when they all crowded in to stand in front of the huge silvery viewscreen that covered one entire wall. “Hello,
Talana,”
he murmured, drawing Sophie to him and kissing her gently on the cheek.

“Sylvan.” She blushed with pleasure and leaned against him, loving the feel of his warmth against her side. “Have they entered the fold yet? Are we too late?”

“Not yet.” He pointed at the view screen and made a motion. Suddenly it showed a vast expanse of black space with a huge red gash in the middle of it—the fold or rift generated by the Mother Ship which allowed the Kindred to fold space instantly from one spot in the universe to another. Hovering just outside the crimson wound in the blackness was a tiny ship. “We should have contact with them in a minute or so,” Sylvan said. “Luckily they didn’t have to spend as long flying out as they did flying in.” He frowned. “It’s a good thing, since they took longer to collect the
skrillix
than we originally planned.”

“What will happen once you dissolve their bond?” Sophie asked, looking up at her husband uncertainly. “Will it ruin any connection they have between them?”

Sylvan looked unhappy. “I’m afraid it will. And since Merrick is a hybrid, they probably won’t be able to form a new bond.”

“But that’s terrible,” Sophie burst out. “How awful to lose that connection—it’s so important.” She couldn’t imagine not having her link to Sylvan—it would be devastating if that bond with him was suddenly gone.

“I know,
Talana.
I can’t imagine it either,
”
Sylvan murmured, answering her thoughts as well as her words. “But if we leave the bond the way it is, both of them will die. It’s improperly placed—dangerous to both Merrick and Elise. Besides…” He sighed and ran a hand through his short blond hair. “I think they had decided to go their separate ways after this is over. Elise
does
have a fiancé back on Earth, you know, and apparently her joining ceremony is coming up very soon.”

“That’s
one
ceremony I won’t be attending,” said Elise’s voice from the viewscreen.

Sophie’s head jerked up and she realized that Merrick and Elise had appeared on the vast screen. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed. “We didn’t mean to be talking about you—we were just worried.”

“Don’t have to worry about us,” Merrick growled, his mismatched eyes glowing. “We’re going to stay together—bond or no bond.”

“Are you?” Olivia looked up at them, her eyes shining. “I knew it. I had a feeling about you two.”

Merrick snorted. “Coulda fooled me.”

“Now, Merrick, I know we’ve had our differences, but I was just being protective of my patient.” Olivia smiled at him. “But I couldn’t be happier to hear you two have worked it out.”

Merrick and Elise exchanged a glance and Sophie could see the silent communication going on between them. Her heart ached at the thought that they were soon to lose that intimacy.

“We’re happy too,” Elise said, smiling. “And not just because of the bond.” She looked at Sylvan. “I don’t believe all the feelings I have for Merrick are fake—they’re real. I’ve never felt anything realer.”

“I believe you,” Sylvan said gravely. “It sounds to me like the two of you have forged a connection that supersedes the improper bond you share. I think you’ll be just fine, even without it.”

Elise blinked and Sophie thought her eyes looked suspiciously bright. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said to Sylvan, her voice thick with emotion. “It…it means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“Just come back to the Mother Ship,” Sylvan told her gently. “We’ll take good care of the both of you.”

“On our way.” Merrick did something to the controls of the ship and then looked up. “About to enter the fold right now.” Then he frowned and looked at Elise. “Hey, do you smell something funny?”

She lifted her face and sniffed the air. “No, I…wait—does it smell kind of sweet?”

“Exactly—sickly sweet. But I can’t tell…” Merrick yawned hugely. “Tell where it’s coming from.”

“Me…either.” Elise yawned too, her eyelids drooping. “I’m so tired.”

“I’m tired…too.” Merrick frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s wrong!” Sylvan pushed closer to the viewscreen. “Merrick, Elise—what’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t…know.” Merrick’s deep voice was dragging now and Elise had put her head down on her arms and was breathing deeply.

“Listen to me,” Sylvan yelled at them. “Merrick, turn the ship around. You can’t go through the fold like that. Something is going on.”

“Doing…my best…” Merrick’s eyelids were drooping and his motions were sluggish. “Trying…” And then he and Elise vanished to be replaced by the shot of the small spaceship hovering just outside the red gash in space.

“Merrick, no!” Sylvan shouted. But even as they watched, the small ship accelerated into the fold…and disappeared.

“This isn’t right.” Sylvan looked upset and Sophie could feel his worry through their bond. “What happened to them?”

“It almost looked like they’d been drugged,” Olivia said, frowning.

“Exactly.” Sylvan shook his head. “Listen, Olivia, you and I had better go get things ready. They’ll be coming out our side of the fold in just a moment and we’ll need a detox kit on standby just in case.”

“Got it.” Liv was already on the move and Sophie couldn’t help thinking her twin could still be surprisingly quick when she had to be, despite her advanced state of pregnancy. But before Liv could even get out the door, Kat spoke.

“Wait,” she said flatly.

“Wait for what?” Sylvan demanded. “They may be ill or injured when they get here.”

“If they get here at all,” Kat said.

“She’s right,” Lauren put in, pointing at the viewscreen. “Look, it’s showing our part of space now. There’s the moon and the Earth.”

“But where is the ship?” Sophie looked up at Sylvan. “Shouldn’t it be here by now? Isn’t the transfer from one part of space to the other supposed to be instantaneous?”

He frowned and she felt his anxiety surge again. “Yes…yes it is,” he said in a low voice.

“So where are they?” Kat asked. “Could they be, I don’t know, lost? Lost in the fold somehow?”

“I hope not,” Sylvan said grimly. “If they are—if they have somehow gotten trapped between the space around Rageron and the space around Earth…”

“What? If they’re trapped, then
what?”
Liv demanded.

Sylvan ran a hand through his hair. “They are most likely dead.”

Elise woke up because a thousand tiny hands were tickling her. She snorted surprised laughter and sat straight up—or tried to anyway. Thick black straps were holding her down. There was one across her waist and another across her lower legs. The same kind of straps were wrapped around her wrists and her hands appeared to be tied down to her sides.

Oh my God, I’m trapped!

The thought should have engendered a wave of panic but instead, the tiny tickling hands returned and Elise found herself laughing again. She twisted helplessly from side to side, as far as her restraints would allow, trying to get away from her invisible tormentor. It was useless—whoever or whatever was tickling her stayed with her, forcing her to giggle madly when she knew she ought to be scared out of her wits instead.

It was the exact same way Elise had felt the one and only time she’d allowed the dentist to give her nitrous oxide. He had assured her it would help her endure a very painful root canal, but to Elise, it had been a terribly unsettling experience. All through the drilling and filling she kept on laughing, despite the fact that she could still feel most of the pain. And the whole time she’d been thinking,
I need to stop laughing—this isn’t funny at all. It hurts!
But she had been completely unable to stop until the dentist had turned off the gas and released her from the chemically-induced spell.

Chemicals…a drug…the sweet smell in the ship right before everything went black…
Had she and Merrick been drugged? And was she being drugged now? Laughing convulsively, she looked at her right arm, which was strapped by her side. Sure enough, some kind of IV tube was taped to the inner crook of her elbow. Through the clear tubing, Elise saw bright green liquid running into her arm. Was that what was causing her to laugh uncontrollably?

Even as she watched, the color of the liquid changed from bright green to deep blue. Suddenly, Elise was overwhelmed with sadness. Not just sadness, though—a sorrow so deep it engulfed her like a bottomless sea. Her crazy laughter turned instantly to sobbing.

Merrick,
she thought, reaching out to him through their bond.
Where are you? What’s happening to me? Who’s doing this?

For a moment she thought she felt him trying to respond…then, nothing. Was he being held somewhere, having his emotions chemically manipulated just as she was? Or was he dead, forever beyond her reach?
That must be it,
Elise thought, despair overtaking her as she sobbed helplessly.
I thought I felt him, but it must have been my imagination. Just wishful thinking. He’s dead—gone forever and I’ll never, ever see him again.

She cried bitterly, tears running down her cheeks, her entire body wracked with sobs. God, nothing could be worse than this abject despair. Nothing…

The liquid coursing through the clear tubing into her vein changed again, turning a bright, fiery red. Instantly, Elise felt like her entire body was on fire. Every nerve ending in her skin was screaming that she was burning, crisping to ashes, her flesh melting, her blood boiling.

Elise screamed hoarsely, writhing helplessly against her bonds.
God, the pain…the pain! On fire—help, I’m on fire! Put me out—PUT ME OUT!!!

The horrible pain seemed to last forever while she screamed herself hoarse. Then the liquid feeding into her arm turned a deep, soothing purple. As abruptly as the pain had started, it stopped. But it
wasn’t
as though someone had thrown a cooling bucket of water over her burning skin, easing the terrible pain—it was as though she’d never been in pain in the first place.

I’m numb now,
she thought, feeling dazed.
Can’t feel anything. Don’t
want
to feel anything. Just want to float. Don’t care…don’t care about…anything.

She realized hazily that her sudden apathy was due to the new drug, whatever it was, being pumped into her system but honestly, she couldn’t make herself care. At least she wasn’t in pain or sobbing her heart out or laughing hysterically. Being numb was better than any of those things. Being numb was good. Slowly, she let her eyelids drift closed, praying that the blessed surcease from emotion would last. Praying to stay numb.

* * * * *

“You see? I can make her feel anything I want—anything at all.” The bastard with the silver eyes, who called himself Draven, smirked at Merrick as they both stared through the transparent one-way thought/sound barrier that separated them from Elise.

“You sonofabitch!” Merrick snarled, straining at his bonds. He’d already broken through one set, and only six of the biggest, ugliest trolls he’d ever seen had kept him from ripping Draven’s head off.

They’d gotten smarter the second time around—he was chained with diamond-treated titanium—one of the strongest alloys in the universe. The tiny diamond chips impregnating the silvery gray metal cut him every time he tried to escape but Merrick didn’t care. He only knew he couldn’t stand to see the female he loved subjected to such horrors. Trickles of blood ran down his arms, pattering in droplets to the ground, but still he struggled, trying to break free and save her.

“Even if you got loose, there’s nowhere you could go—I have your ship.” Draven frowned. “Unfortunately, it’s
not
the one I was hoping for. Just a standard issue Kindred design with no special modifications whatsoever.”

Merrick frowned. “What the fuck do you care about what kind of ship I’m flying?”

“Because.” Draven gave him a charming grin. “I was told by a very reliable source that your ship—your
original
ship—has a very interesting ability. The ability to generate wormholes at will.”

Merrick went stiff in his bonds. “And why would a sick fuck like you be interested in that?”

“Why, precisely because I am, as you called me, as ‘sick fuck.’” Draven smiled and tapped Merrick on the chest. “However, since you don’t have your ship with you, I have no choice but to take out my disappointment on your lovely lady.” He pressed a button on the tiny silver remote he held in one hand and thick, dark grey liquid began pumping into Elise’s arm.

“No—no!” Merrick roared but Elise was already reacting.

She woke at once from her drug induced stupor and began to thrash and moan, her eyes going wide, searching the room around her as though she was looking for monsters. It was clear from the look on her face that she couldn’t see him through the one-way barrier. She thought she was alone—all alone with no one to protect her. The thought tore at Merrick’s heart.

“Fear,” Draven explained as Merrick cursed and threw himself against his bonds. “Terror, actually. Whatever she fears the most, the drug is plucking that image from her brain and making it a reality for her. It’s tormenting her with her own worst nightmares.”