“But do we have to start tonight?” Kaylee pleaded. “Honestly, Lyra, I’m worn out from that long trip to the slave market already. Can’t we just…I don’t know, lock him up and start tomorrow?”
“No, it has to be tonight.” Lyra’s bossiness was in full force. “Come on, Kaylee—I’ll show you exactly what to do. Just follow my lead.”
Kaylee had no wish to do any such thing but there was no saying "no" to her new friend. With a sigh, she got out of the ship and walked around to the back. She was just about to pop open the hatch to the cargo hold when Lyra put a hand on her arm.
“No—you can’t just let him out! Not until you’re prepared!” She reached into her elaborately styled gold-cloth Shirazz handbag and pulled out the small, black, evil looking remote to the pain collar the slave still wore. “Now we’re ready,” she announced. “Pop the hatch and then jump back quickly—he’s bound to have a long reach.”
Kaylee wondered nervously why all this precaution was necessary. Hadn’t the slaver promised this slave was well trained and perfectly docile? So why was Lyra handling him like he was a wild animal in a menagerie that might get loose and maul his new owners at any minute?
She opened her mouth to ask the question but Lyra was nodding at her to open the hatch.
“Go on—do it,” she said in a low, tense voice, the remote pointed steadily at the hatch.
Heart in her throat, Kaylee stepped forward and yanked quickly on the hatch release level. Then she sprang backwards, nearly tripping over the new Doli-laRon heels Lyra had insisted she buy to go with the too-short skirt.
From the way Lyra had been acting, she half expected the huge Havoc slave to spring out, snarling and try to attack them both though his hands were still bound behind his back. So it was rather anticlimactic when the hatch swung upward, revealing him lying passively on his side, simply staring at them with a look of irritation in those jewel-like eyes.
“Oh…” Kaylee put a hand to her chest, trying to still her pounding heart. “He seems quiet enough.”
“Yes, he does.” For some reason Lyra didn’t seem pleased about this at all. She frowned and made a threatening gesture at the slave with the remote. “Well, come on, what are you waiting for? Get out here, slave.”
The slave just glared at them for a moment but then he began to extricate himself from the cramped space. Apparently he wasn’t going fast enough for Lyra because when he was only halfway out, she pushed a button on the remote that made his back arch and his teeth clench in apparent agony.
“Lyra!” Kaylee protested. “What are you doing?”
“He’s not moving fast enough to suit me,” Lyra had an ugly look on her snub-nosed face. “This’ll put a little spring in his step. There’s nothing worse than an insolent male.”
“He’s been cramped up in there for ages—he probably can’t move any faster.” Kaylee tried to grab the remote from her but Lyra pulled away, keeping a firm grip on it.
“Relax—this is only the medium setting. He won’t have any permanent damage.”
“Turn it off,” Kaylee insisted. “He’s my slave and I say stop hurting him!”
“Oh, all right,” Lyra muttered sulkily. “But only because he’s too heavy to drag to the dungeon ourselves if he passes out.” She clicked another button on the remote and the huge slave abruptly went limp. Kaylee bit her lip as she watched him slump against the side of the ship, head hanging down, panting heavily.
“Is…is he all right?” she ventured uncertainly.
As if to answer her, the slave looked up. Kaylee recoiled from the look in his green and gold eyes. Before, when they’d first opened the hatch, he’d had am expression of bored irritation on his face. Now he was glaring at them with unmitigated hatred.
For some reason, this seemed to please Lyra immensely.
“Now he’s ready to train,” she announced. “Come on, slave—on your feet.”
Slowly, the slave righted himself until he was standing tall. And tall was really the word—even in her designer spike-heeled footwear, Kaylee could feel him looming over her like a mountain of muscle. A mountain of angry, malevolent muscle, she thought. Oh dear…
But Lyra didn’t seem to notice the murderous glare in the slave’s jewel-like eyes. She had a look of smirking satisfaction on her face as she motioned for the prisoner to precede them from the parking area.
“C’mon, big boy, let’s get you trained,” she told him. “Walk straight ahead and no funny business unless you want another taste of the collar.”
She stalked behind the bound and collared slave like a sadistic prison guard and Kaylee trailed reluctantly after them. Somewhere in the pit of her stomach a bad feeling was beginning to grow. A very bad feeling indeed…
Brides of the Kindred Glossary
AllFather—the evil head of the Scourge, a race that are the byproduct of a failed genetic trade. The AllFather is one of the Old Ones and has the power to reach into a person’s mind to harvest emotional pain and trauma. He lives for the fulfillment of the Scourge Prophesy.
Ancient Ones—beings which live in the Deep Blue—the darkest and most inaccessible part of the Rageron jungles. They are sentient but not related in any way to the Kindred. Each Ancient One has two forms—a bipedal form which resembles a human or Kindred and a beast form which can be deadly and they can change between forms at will. The Ancient Ones predate even the First Kindred and revere the skrillix plant, which they guard jealously.
Bespeak—to contact someone mentally using a Think-me device. It is considered rude to bespeak someone you don’t know intimately.
Beast/Rager Kindred—come from Rageron—a jungle planet full of beautiful but deadly flora and fauna. They have dark hair, golden eyes, and hot tempers but their most defining characteristic is the mating fist. The mating fist is an area at the base of the Beast Kindred’s shaft which engages fully only during bonding sex with his chosen mate. When engorged it swells to keep the Beast Kindred and his bride locked together until she is completely bonded to him. This ensures sex that is both extremely long lasting and multiorgasmic for both partners.
Blackness between the Stars—another name for the Hoard or Grimlax, an ancient enemy of the Kindred. These beings have no souls and so are considered demonic by the Kindred.
Blood Fever—a condition suffered by unmated females on Tranq Prime, the home world of the Blood Kindred. Blood Fever or Burning Blood as it is often called, is caused by a parasite living on the icy world that affects only women. The parasite—found in the fleeta or blood beetle—reacts with a compound in the Tranq Prime water supply to cause the fever. Symptoms include chills, increased sexual need and the feeling of the blood heating in the veins as well as increased coloration of the nipples and sex. If the fever is not treated in forty-eight hours, it will result in death.
Once a Kindred male has had a female’s blood, he forms a natural antidote to Blood Fever which he can pass on by sharing body fluids with her. The most effective way to get the antidote into the female’s system is for a Blood Kindred to bite her, thereby injecting it along with his essence. However, it is also possible to pass along the healing fluid through sex.
Blood Fever used to be very common on Tranq Prime which is what prompted the cold, proud natives to initiate a genetic exchange with the Kindred in the first place. A recent vaccine has nearly eradicated the disease, however, and the original inhabitants of the ice bound planet have little reason to continue the trade. A faction calling themselves Purists are against any further trade with the Kindred.
Blood/Tranq Kindred—are blond with pale blue eyes and come from Tranq Prime where ice, snow, and arctic-like temperatures are the norm. To combat the severe weather conditions, the Blood Kindred have higher than normal body heat with double the human amount of red blood cells. They have developed specific biting rituals to share their supercharged blood and take the blood of their mates during their own version of bonding sex. They have a set of double fangs located where a human’s canine teeth would be. These fangs do not develop fully or become sharp enough to pierce flesh until a Blood Kindred is with a woman he wishes to mate and bond with.