Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (30 page)

Oh God, the pain…
The rusty iron spike
was back, digging into her brain just behind her eyes. Kat knew she
ought to call for help but the only two people who could help her
were Deep and Lock.

And after the scene the three of them had
been through on Twin Moons, she knew she would rather die than ask.
We’re getting our divorce tomorrow,
she told herself,
gritting her teeth.
Surely I can make it until then…
She
hoped.

Detective Adam Rast was a big, imposing man
with dark green eyes and golden brown hair, cut short and neat.
From his image on the viewscreen, he looked to be in his early to
mid thirties. If Liv hadn’t spent so much time around the Kindred,
he might have intimidated her. But though he was nearly as tall as
Baird and built like a linebacker, she was used to big males now.
And besides, he was back on Earth—there was nothing he could
actually do to them.

Though it certainly looked like he wanted to
try.

“I’m sick of these evasions and half
answers.” His deep voice was a menacing growl. “Your aunt hired me
to find your cousin and I
know
you know more about her
disappearance than you’re telling me.”

“What makes you think that?” Liv asked
coolly. “My husband tells me the Kindred have cooperated with you
fully.”

“He’s also not telling me everything he
knows.” The detective gave them a frustrated look. “Look, I know
you girls have never met your cousin but she may be in real danger
so—”

“She
is
in danger,” Sophie said
quietly, looking up at the viewscreen.

“What?” He frowned at her. “What do you
mean?”

Liv sighed.
Here we go.
But if Sophie
had decided to let the truth come out, she had to support her. “We
believe Lauren was taken by the Scourge,” she said clearly.

Detective Rast glowered at them. “Why wasn’t
I told this immediately?”

“Because there’s nothing you can do about
it,” Liv said. “Hell, there’s nothing
we
can do about it.”
She pointed a finger at the viewscreen. “And don’t think for a
minute
that we don’t care just because we’ve never met
Lauren. Both Sophie and I have been held by the Scourge and we’re
well aware of what a horrible experience it is.”

“Which is why we didn’t want to tell you—or
Aunt Abby,” Sophie added. “We thought it would be better for her to
go on thinking that Lauren was just missing rather than actually
knowing
that she’s a prisoner of that…that…” She shook her
head, her eyes filling with tears. “Poor Lauren.”

The anger in Rast’s face faded to be
replaced by concern. “And you’re sure they took her?”

“Not positive, no,” Liv said. “But the way
she was taken—with all her clothes left behind—is consistent with
the way the Scourge kidnapped Sophie here. They have this device
called a molecular transfer beam that can only transport living
tissue—that’s why the clothes get left behind.”

“And she has a mark between her breasts,”
Sophie added, sniffing. “We saw it on the pictures Aunt Abby showed
us.”

Rast frowned. “What does that have to do
with it?”

“We’re not completely sure,” Liv said. “But
the Scourge have a prophesy that seems to have something to do with
an Earth girl who has a special mark between her breasts. They
checked both me and my sister for the mark when they kidnapped us.
Lauren is related to us and she has it—we’re pretty sure there’s a
connection.”

“What can we do? How can we get her back?”
Rast asked.

“We can’t,” Liv said bluntly. “I’m sorry,
but we’re not even sure where they’ve taken her. Although we
do
have some Kindred warriors who are going to go to the
Scourge home planet tomorrow,” she said, wanting to give him hope.
“They’re going to be looking for any traces of Lauren and also,
they want to find out exactly what the Scourge prophesy says.”

“What good is that?” Rast demanded. “Isn’t
it more likely that they have her in their ship?”

“The Fathership? Possibly,” Liv said. “But
it’s practically impregnable and the Kindred High Council has
determined that they can’t make an attack on it and risk the safety
of the entire Earth just for one girl.” She sighed. “I’m sorry,
Detective Rast.”

“Please don’t think we don’t care about
Lauren,” Sophie pleaded. “She’s all I’ve been thinking about
lately. I feel so
bad
for her because I know what she’s
going through.”

“And that’s all you can tell me? You’re not
holding anything else back?” Rast looked back and forth between
them.

Liv nodded. “I’m afraid that’s it. I hope
you can see why we’ve been hiding it. We thought not knowing was a
better option for Aunt Abby than telling her that her daughter had
been abducted by the Scourge.”

“It’s a tough call, all right.” Rast blew
out a breath and ran a hand through his short golden brown hair.
“But I need to let her know. I can’t keep taking her money when
there’s nothing I can do.”

“Hold off on telling her just a little while
longer,” Sophie pleaded. “Maybe Deep and Lock—the warriors that are
going tomorrow—will find out something about where she’s being kept
or…or what they want her for.”

“We might even be able to arrange for you to
come up here to the Mother ship and talk to them after they get
back in person,” Liv said, having an inspiration. “I could ask my
husband to ask the Council for a special dispensation.”

“I fail to see how taking a tour of your
ship will help me locate Lauren,” Rast growled. “But I
would
like to conduct interviews in person rather than over this damn
viewscreen.”

“Let me see what I can do,” Liv said
smoothly.

“And in the mean time, can you hold off on
telling Aunt Abby?” Sophie pleaded.

Rast sighed. “I’ll think about it. As I
said, I don’t like taking her money without doing my job.”

“But you
are
doing your job,” Liv
pointed out quietly. “You didn’t quit until you got answers about
where Lauren is.”

Rast got a stubborn look on his chiseled
features. “Your aunt hired me to find Lauren and bring her home
safely. Until that’s accomplished, my job isn’t done.” He nodded
briefly. “I’ll let you go now, but I’ll be in touch. If you find
out anything, the communications officer I spoke to has my contact
information. Call me any time of the day or night and I’ll come
straight down to the Human/Kindred Relations building to talk on
the viewscreen.”

Sophie nodded. “All right, thank you,
Detective.”

His face softened slightly. “Thank
you
for telling me the truth. Now we just have to hope to
God that the warriors you’re sending find something.”

“I’m sure they will,” Liv said, making a
mental note to talk to Lock about it. Just because he and Kat and
Deep were mainly visiting the Scourge home planet to get their
“soul-divorce” as Kat called it, didn’t mean they couldn’t also dig
for clues. She knew the light twin would take the assignment very
seriously if she asked him to.

Rast nodded once more and then the
viewscreen flickered and went blank.

“Wow, he’s really dedicated,” Sophie
murmured.

Liv nodded. “I can see why Baird respects
him so much.” She sighed. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag, now. I
wonder how long he’ll wait to tell Aunt Abby.”

Sophie looked troubled. “Maybe…maybe
we
should tell her. It doesn’t seem fair to put that
decision on him. And we
are
family.”

“You were the one begging him to wait,” Liv
pointed out. “And besides, I think you were right. Kat and the guys
might
find something worth knowing. If they could even get
the exact wording of the prophesy, we might have a clue about
exactly what they want Lauren for and where they might be taking
her.”

Sophie nodded reluctantly. “All right. I
just feel so bad that we’re keeping it from Aunt Abby. But it still
seems worse to just come out and tell her that the AllFather has
Lauren without being able to offer her some kind of hope.” She
looked at Liv. “Do you think if we can somehow prove she
is
aboard the Fathership the Council will approve an attack or some
kind of rescue attempt?”

“I don’t know.” Liv sighed. “That would mean
full scale war which would probably have some serious fallout
effects on the Earth. It’s one of those “the lives of the many are
worth more than the lives of the one or few” kind of things.”

“But Lauren is blood! She’s our cousin.”
Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, poor girl. I wish I knew
where she was right now.”

“Me too.” Liv gave her sister a comforting
hug. “Me too, Sophie.”

“The girl will have to be moved. Ssshe will
come with usss to the home world.”

“The home world?” Xairn frowned at his
father, who was seated on the black metal throne etched in glowing
green runes. He was surrounded, as always, by four enormous vat
grown soldiers he’d had specially made for his own private
guard.

“Yesss.” The AllFather nodded, his shadowy
hood billowing with the movement to reveal burning red eyes. They
did not glow quite so brightly as they had in the past—since he had
lost his primary source of sustenance, Xairn’s father seemed to
move more slowly and speak with a little less vehemence.

He is weakening before my eyes.
Xairn
supposed he ought to feel pity for the male who was his father but
since he, Xairn, had been the AllFather’s main source of
nourishment, he couldn’t find it in him to care. In fact, he cared
about nothing lately—which was the reason the AllFather could no
longer feed on his negative emotions. He had none.

“We mussst go back,” the AllFather hissed.
“There are facilities there to augment my power.”

“You need more power?” Xairn kept his voice
neutral.

“Imbecile! You know that I do!” the
AllFather raged in a weak voice. “Now that your pain no longer
nourishesss me, I have only the vat grown to feed on. And their
emotionsss are vague ssshadows—not nearly enough to sssustain
me.”

“What of the humans you took just yesterday
with the beam?”

The Allfather made an irritated gesture.
“Too weak. They are already sssucked dry.”

“I’m sorry you can no longer harvest my
pain, Father,” Xairn said blandly. “Perhaps you should have taken
more care not to destroy your primary source of sustenance.” When
he had been forced by his father to kill his beloved pet, Sanja,
Xairn’s emotions had died with her. He was empty inside thanks to
the AllFather’s cruelty. Not that he cared.

“Never mind. Sssoon I ssshall have no need
of your pain.” The sunken eyes glowed a dull red. “My peak
approachesss—the time when my ssseed will be most potent. I ssshall
have more than enough pain to sssustain me when I breed the
girl.”

Xairn felt a flicker of uneasiness which he
quickly extinguished. The human female was nothing to him—was she?
Of course she’s not,
he told himself firmly. “When will you
reach your peak?” he asked.

“Tomorrow—I feel it building.” The AllFather
rubbed his skeletal hands together in anticipation. “Which isss why
we must prepare to fold ssspace at once.”

“The Kindred instruments will pick up our
movements,” Xairn objected.

“They would—if we were fool enough to fold
in this sssector,” The AllFather said. “We will be taking the
adjunct ssship sssome distance away and using a thinner fold. If
they detect usss at all, they will think it a sssimple
anomaly.”

“Very well.” Xairn bowed. “When do you wish
to leave, Father?”

“At once, asss I sssaid. Have the girl moved
and the adjunct ssship primed for take-off within the hour.”

Xairn felt a dark impulse stir within his
soul but he quickly repressed it. “And are we to be the only
passengers? You and the girl and myself?”

The red-on-black eyes flashed bright crimson
for a moment. “Do you think me a fool? My guardsss will come asss
well.” Reaching out, the AllFather patted the massive forearm of
the nearest vat-grown solider. Though Xairn well knew how repulsive
his father’s touch was, the huge male didn’t even flinch.

“But the home world is deserted,” Xairn
pointed out. “What need will you have of them?”

“I may find a use for them.” Grasping the
soldier’s arm more firmly, the AllFather pulled himself to his
feet. “They will ssserve me well, won’t you, Alpha?” he crooned in
his high, evil voice.

“Yes, AllFather.” The vat grown male looked
straight ahead, never blinking.

“You sssee?” The AllFather nodded.

Xairn shrugged. “As you wish. I will get the
girl.”

“Sssee that you do. And let her know what
isss in ssstore for her. Tell her how I ssshall ssspread her legs
and breed her.” The red eyes gleamed hungrily. “Her terror when I
take her will be all the sssweeter for the anticipation.”

For some reason Xairn’s large hands curled
into fists.
She’s mine! I’ll never let you—
He frowned and
pushed the thought away. Where had such a foolish, possessive
impulse come from? What the AllFather wanted, he got—it had always
been so. And if he wanted to breed Lauren to fulfill the prophesy,
then he would have her. It was as simple as that.

Yet, for some reason Xairn’s chest felt
tight when he imagined the Earth female’s delicate form pinned
beneath the AllFather’s shadowy black robes as he ravaged her.
Stop being so stupid,
he told himself.
You feel
nothing.
But still…

“Xairn?”

He looked up to see the AllFather eyeing him
hungrily. “Yes?” He kept his voice carefully neutral.

For a long moment those hateful red-on-black
eyes, so like his own, seemed to pierce right through him. Then the
AllFather shook his head. “Nothing. For a moment I thought I
felt…but I sssuppose I was wrong.”