Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series (40 page)

“Lauren, to me!” Xairn shouted.

She sprang forward, obeying his command at
once. The huge hands that had been resting on her shoulders snapped
shut—an instant too late.

“Quickly!” Xairn grabbed her hand. “Before
they awaken.”

“Too late for that, my ssson.” The shape
within the bloody black and red bubble moved as the AllFather came
to life. “Alpha! The girl—get the girl!” he commanded, the
dravik
expanding with the force of his anger.

The huge guard stumbled forward blindly,
clumsy after his doze. He reached out but the female his thick
fingers closed on was Kat, who was trying desperately to get out of
the way as the other guards came to life.

“Let go of me, you idiot!” She thrashed and
kicked, aiming for his shins. But though plenty of her kicks
connected, the merciless grip on her shoulders only tightened
more.

“Kat!” Lock and Deep both ran forward but at
the same time the AllFather was descending the stairs of the
viewing area. Worse, Xairn could see the
dravik
expanding
and contracting regularly now—beating like a heartbeat. It was a
sure sign that it was about to burst and release the AllFather. His
father had gorged himself on the pain of the Kindreds’ cutting and
now he would be more powerful than ever. They
had
to get
away before that happened.

I could go,
he thought.
I could
take Lauren and run while the guards are distracted by the Kindred
and their female. We could be safe in space before they even
realized we were gone.

But he couldn’t do it. He had pledged his
help to the enemy warriors as they had pledged theirs to him. He
had no right to leave them now—even if it meant his life. But that
didn’t mean that Lauren had to die with him.

“Run,” he told her, pushing her toward the
far end of the lab. “Go straight down the corridor and out the
double doors at the end. Keep going and you’ll come to a place with
many abandoned ships. They should be touch activated so—”

“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I’m
not leaving you.”

“You have to go!” Xairn was torn between
exasperation and admiration. “I cannot leave until the Kindred and
their female are free.”

“I’m not leaving either.” She crossed her
arms over her chest. “Give me a weapon—let me help.”

The thought that she might want to join the
fight had never entered Xairn’s head. But from the look of things,
they could use every hand they could get.

“Here.” He fumbled in his boot for a moment
and came up with a slim, finger-sized weapon. “This is a stunner.
Point and press the trigger button at the end. Aim for the chest if
you can—it’s a bigger target. Just don’t hit any of us—it’s
calibrated for the guards.”

“Got it.” She took the weapon in remarkably
steady hands.

“And don’t burst the AllFather’s
dravik,”
Xairn added, as he primed his own weapon and took
aim. “It will rupture soon enough on its own.”

“All right.” Holding the stunner in one
hand, she steadied her wrist with the other and took aim. Xairn was
impressed to see one of the guards who had been reaching for Deep
knocked backwards from the force of the blast. Convinced that she
knew what she was doing, he joined the fight.

Kat was doing her best not to freak out but
it was pretty hard not to. One minute she’d been reaching for
Lauren and the next she was being dragged backward by the massive,
dead-eyed guard toward the raving AllFather.

“No, no, you imbecile!” he was hissing
angrily at the oblivious Alpha guard. “The other girl—thisss female
isss uselesss to me. Get the other!” The weird blood bubble
enclosing him was moving in waves, sucking in and out almost as
though it was breathing. The strange motion somehow made it even
more disgusting than it had been previously—and that was saying
something as far as Kat was concerned.

“Get off her, you son-of-a-bitch!” Behind
her, Lock was aiming his weapon at the guard but clearly he was
afraid to shoot—probably because at this range he might hit her
instead of the guard. The guard wasn’t paying any attention
anyway—he just continued dragging Kat toward the AllFather no
matter what anyone said or did.

“Can’t risk the blazer,” she heard Deep
shout. “She’s too close.”

“I know.” Lock sounded desperate. “Watch out
behind you!”

Deep turned but just then a blast of energy
knocked down the guard who had been reaching for him. Kat looked
around to see Lauren pointing some kind of tiny weapon and Xairn
running toward them.
Oh good, the cavalry is here.
But she
really didn’t see what good anyone could do. If no one could make
the massive hands let her go, she was on a one way trip straight to
the AllFather in his slimy bubble.

Then Deep jumped on the Alpha guard’s back.
Wrapping one arm around the thick throat, he began to squeeze. At
first the guard didn’t even seem to notice—then he choked and
shifted, as though trying to shake Deep off. But it was obvious the
dark twin didn’t intend to be so easily dislodged. He tightened his
grip on the corded neck and squeezed until the flat, black-on-black
eyes bulged in their sockets.

Kat felt one paw-like hand leave her
shoulder and the Alpha guard began groping at its belt.
A
weapon,
she thought dismally.
It’s looking for some kind of
weapon.
She squirmed in the guard’s grasp, trying to get loose.
But though she twisted until it felt like her entire arm was about
to break off, she still couldn’t free herself.

Deep wrapped both muscular arms around the
guard’s neck and squeezed harder. At the same time, another one of
the guards went down, its limbs jerking and thick boots drumming
the floor as though it was having a seizure. From the corner of her
eye, Kat saw Xairn taking aim again. She didn’t know what his
weapon did exactly but the results were impressive—the guard wasn’t
getting up.

Above the shouting and shooting, she could
hear the high, evil screech of the enraged AllFather. She couldn’t
tell what he was saying but he was coming closer, the floating
blood bubble throbbing like a vein in an angry man’s temple.
Have to get out of here before that thing pops!
she thought,
her skin crawling with fear and revulsion.
If we’re still here
when he gets free of it, there’s going to be hell to pay! And
we—

“Deep, be careful! The knife—it’s got a
knife!”

Lock’s desperate cry dragged her attention
back to the dark twin and what she saw nearly froze her heart. In
the split second she’d been watching the AllFather, the Alpha guard
had somehow managed to draw a knife from its belt. To Kat, a
confirmed Lord of the Rings fan, it looked like something an orc
might carry. The blade was long and curved like a scimitar and the
metal it was made of was gleaming, polished black with rust-red
streaks running through it.

The kusax!
she thought numbly.
Oh
my God! Lock said even a scratch would poison him.
And it
looked like the guard was intending to do a lot more than scratch.
Though it was obviously getting woozy from lack of air, its grip on
her shoulder remained firm—as well as its grip on the knife.

As she watched, the Alpha guard raised its
arm, obviously aiming to take a stab at the warrior still clinging
to its back. Looking up, Kat could tell that Deep saw it too. But
though she and Lock both shouted at him, he refused to let go.

“
No,”
Kat screamed as the knife made
its slashing descent. It seemed to happen in slow motion—she saw
every inch of the black blade as it entered Deep’s side, heard the
guard’s grunt of effort as it thrust the knife home. Then, at the
same time, the soulless eyes finally closed and it slumped to its
knees, releasing her.

Lock pulled her out of the way just in time.
The huge, heavy body of the Alpha guard came crashing down right
where she’d been standing, with Deep still clinging to its
back.

Kat didn’t care. She shook loose of Lock’s
restraining hand and ran to Deep. “No…oh no,” she whispered as she
saw the extent of the damage. Only the handle protruded from his
side—the entire wicked, black blade was buried in his body.

Then, to her utter surprise, his eyes
fluttered open and he sat up.

“Don’t try to move, Brother.” Lock was
suddenly there too, putting a hand on Deep’s arm. “You’re badly
wounded.”

“I’m fine.” Deep hauled himself up, swayed,
and then steadied himself to Kat’s amazement.

“You’re not,” she blurted. “Lock is
right—you’re hurt. Look at your side!”

Deep looked down, saw the knife handle
sticking out of his body, and shrugged. “Looks worse than it feels.
I’ll leave it in until we get back to the ship though—keep it from
bleeding.”

How he could stand and talk, let alone move
around and get back to the ship with a foot long blade buried in
his guts, was more than Kat could understand. But it didn’t seem to
surprise Lock as much as it did her. “We have to go.” He nodded at
the other guards, all of whom were on the floor. “They may be
wounded but they’ll get back up soon enough.”

Indeed, the huge Alpha guard was stirring at
their feet already. And the AllFather…
wait a minute—where
is
the AllFather?
Kat wondered uneasily.
Her shoulder ached fiercely and she was still horribly afraid for
Deep but the fact that she could no longer see the slimy blood
bubble and its foul occupant scared her to death.

Then she heard Xairn’s deep voice behind
her. “Ware!” he bellowed. “Ware the
dravik—
it’s going to
burst!”

Turning her head, Kat saw that the ball of
black-red blood containing the AllFather had moved out into the
middle of the cutting lab floor, directly opposite the
psychic-knife. The
dravik
was pulsating rhythmically
now—faster and faster. Within it the AllFather had his arms raised
and his crimson eyes were blazing with fury.

Deep swore loudly. “Go now! Run—everyone. We
have to get out of here!”

Kat didn’t see how he could take his own
advice with a knife sticking out of his side but he grabbed one of
her hands and Lock grabbed the other. From the corner of her eye
she saw Xairn take Lauren’s hand as well. And then they were
running as fast as they could. She knew Deep must be in pain with
every step he took, but she felt nothing from him, nothing but
Lock’s fear for her and sorrow for his twin.

We’re going to make it,
she thought
wildly as they neared the double doors at the far end of the lab.
We’re really going to—

A horrible, wet, popping noise, like a
rotten carcass exploding, interrupted her train of thought. At the
same time, a gush of putrid air, worse than anything Kat had ever
smelled, suddenly rushed over them. That was followed by a wet,
splattering sound and she was hit in the back by a wave of
something slimy and cold.

“Oh my
God!”
Kat gagged in revulsion.
The cold, jellied, foul-smelling slime was coating her back and
dripping from her hair. Her first instinct was to stop and try to
get it
off
her at once. It was the same way she would have
felt if she’d found a spider crawling on her skin.
Unclean!
Disgusting! Get it off, get it off, get it off!
screamed the
primitive part of her mind. But there was no time—Deep and Lock
were dragging her along faster than ever now, even though both of
them were coated in the disgusting substance too.

The three of them hit the doors at a dead
run, shoving them open and barreling through. At the last instant,
Kat turned her head and saw that Lauren and Xairn were right behind
them, both of them absolutely
covered
in the ghastly,
black-red slime. Behind
them,
the AllFather stood, skeletal
arms raised, crimson eyes blazing. His shadowy cloak billowed
around him and despite the glistening remains of the
dravik,
which covered the entire room, he himself was somehow dry. He shook
back his hood and opened his lipless mouth to speak—

And then the doors banged shut behind them
and they were running down the corridor, heading for safety and
home.

But will we all make it there alive?
Kat thought, casting a frantic glance at Deep who was holding her
hand in one of his, while he grasped the protruding handle of the
kusax
with the other.

She didn’t know.

“
Stop!”
the AllFather screeched. His
power flowed outward like a tidal wave, engulfing Xairn and Lauren
just as they were about to reach the doors the Kindred and their
female had just gone through.

Xairn couldn’t help it—he slowed his pace
and then skidded to a stop. He felt the drag of the words, the
power of his father’s command as he never had before—not even on
the day that Sanja had died. His knees wanted to lock, his body
wanted to turn so his legs could carry him back to kneel at the
AllFather’s feet.

Lauren felt the power too. Xairn felt her
freeze beside him. Her hand, already slimy from the noxious remains
of the exploded
dravik,
began to slide from his grip as she
turned toward his father.

“
Yesss…Come to me, my bride…come…”
The AllFather was calling her back, forcing her will to bend to
his, luring her back to a living death, an existence of pain and
madness and never ending suffering and agony.

“No!” At the thought of the female beside
him—
his
female, being used in such a way, Xairn felt
something growing inside him. A rage so fierce it was like a red
curtain dropped over his vision, tinting everything a bloody
crimson.
“No!”
he bellowed again, turning to face his
father, his hands clenched into fists. “You shall not have her.
Lauren is
mine!”