Sought

  They rose higher and higher and Lauren watched in the viewscreen as the dark, polluted planet receded into the distance. When it was no larger than a dirty tennis ball hanging in space, Xairn held the ship still for a moment and sat in silence, staring at it.

  Though his face was impassive, Lauren thought she understood what he must be feeling. Reaching out, she rested her hand lightly on his knee. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “It must be hard—saying goodbye to your home planet.”

  “That place was never my home.” Xairn’s voice was cold but when he looked at her his eyes were burning. “I have no home. No people. No father. I have nothing.”

  “That’s all right.” She tried to smile. “You can come home with me—if you want.”

  “Eventually.” His voice was remote. “But I’m afraid it will be some time before you see Earth again.”

  “What do you mean?” She tried to keep the fear out of her voice but he was acting so strangely it scared her. “Why—?”

  “You will understand in time.” He looked down at her hand, still resting on his knee. “I thought I asked you before not to touch me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Lauren removed her hand hastily. “I just thought…I wanted to comfort you.”

  “I need no comfort. And I do not want your hands on me. It isn’t safe.”

  “Isn’t safe? What do you mean?”

  He turned his head to look at her and she thought again that his eyes looked like they were on fire. The savage look on his face was like nothing she had ever seen before. There was nothing but hunger in his gaze. No compassion, no pity…just the naked desire to devour. “Please, Xairn,” she said, her voice trembling. “Please, you’re scaring me.”

  He took a deep breath and the fire in his eyes died down a little. Some of the tension eased from his broad shoulders and the hunger left his face. “Forgive me, Lauren.” He shook his head. “But I wish very much that you were not with me right now. It would have been better if you had gone with the Kindred and their female. Better and far safer.”

  “I’m safe with you.” Lauren touched his arm for emphasis and then remembered he didn’t want her to and drew back. “It’s all right,” she said, holding his eyes with hers. “Everything is going to be all right because I trust you. And I know you’ll keep your promise to see me safely home.”

  “I did promise that, didn’t I?” Xairn pressed a hand to his eyes briefly and took another deep breath. “Yes, I did. And I will keep my word. Even if it kills me to do so.”

  Lauren didn’t understand what he meant by that, but as the small silver ship turned away from his home world, she did understand that it would be a while before she saw Earth again.

  She didn’t know where Xairn was taking her, but it wasn’t home—not yet.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  “Am I going to die now?” Kat tried to keep her voice even and nonchalant but she couldn’t help the little tremble that crept in as she stared at the poisoned knife in Lock’s hand. “Because I don’t feel any different.”

  “The effects of the kusax are not immediate,” Lock said in a low voice. He threw the dagger away with a quick, jerky motion, like a man getting rid of a deadly snake. “But we should not speak of that now. We need to get back to the ship.”

  “Lock’s right.” Deep spoke slowly, a stricken expression on his face. “We…we need medical attention. We must go.”

  “All right, let’s go then.” Kat got unsteadily to her feet, shaking off the helping hands of both brothers. She wanted to know that she could still get up and move around on her own—wanted to feel that she was still all right, no matter what they said about the stupid Scourge knife that had scratched her. She headed in the direction of the beach and then stopped. “Wait a minute, what about Lauren?”

  There was a suddenly muted roaring sound and a rush of wind. From further down the abandoned battlefield a small silver Kindred ship rose into the air. It hovered for a moment and then shot straight up, disappearing into the smoggy sky.

  “There’s your answer,” Deep said, pointing. “Xairn has gone and he’s taken Lauren with him.”

  “How can you be sure he took her with him?” Kat demanded. “What if she’s still here, wandering around in this horrible place?”

  “He would not have left her,” Lock said quietly. “He loves her, my lady—could you not tell?”

  “I know that Lauren seemed to be very fond of him…” Kat frowned. “But Xairn’s still a Scourge. And I don’t know if I could tell that he loved her.”

  “His heart was given,” Deep said. “It was clear—at least to another male who has given his heart.”

  “And how would you know? When did you ever give anything to anyone but pain?” Lock asked but his voice was more weary than angry.

  Kat held out her hands. “Don’t start guys, okay? Let’s just do a quick search to make sure Lauren’s not here and then we can assume she went with Xairn. All right?”

  “A very quick search.” Lock frowned. “We need to get you home, my lady. To see if there is anything…anything Sylvan can do for you.”

  Kat put a hand on her hip. “Do me a favor and stop acting like I have one foot in the grave, okay? For your information I feel perfectly fine. In fact I don’t have a bit of pain and—”

  At that moment the alpha guard sat straight up and began laughing. The black knife blade still protruded from the center of its massive chest—there was no way it could still be alive. But somehow it was—or at least it was moving. The high, eerie cackle that came from its dead, lipless mouth froze the blood in Kat’s veins.

  “Of course you do not have pain yet, sssweet little human,” the thing said. “That comesss later, after the weaknesss has ssset in. After the green linesss reach your heart and delve deep to find your very sssoul…”

  “Oh my God!” Kat gasped as the reanimated Alpha Guard began to get up. “It’s alive. How the hell—?”

  “The AllFather is directing it, just as he was before.” Quickly, Lock scooped her into his arms. “Shoot it, Deep, and let’s be on our way. We’ve overstayed our welcome here.”

  “I think you’re right.” Pulling his weapon, Deep took careful aim and released a bright red beam of energy.

  The deadly laser blast took off the monstrous Alpha guard’s head as easily as a knife slicing through cheese. It fell from the broad shoulders and rolled on the ground at their feet, the eyes still blinking and the lipless mouth still laughing. “Die,” it whispered, so faintly Kat could barely hear it. “Sssoon you ssshall die, little human…sssoon…sssoon…” Then the guard’s body fell to its knees and collapsed slowly, its dead hands still reaching out, the thick fingers grasping the air.

  “Crap!” A chill swept over her and Kat felt like she might be sick. “That’s…that’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe it just kept moving and talking like that even after…” She shook her head, unable to finish.

  “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here!” Deep led the way, his hand still pressed to his side.

  “But Lauren!” Kat protested. “You promised we’d look for her!”

  Lock turned reluctantly and then they saw three more of the massive guards lumbering toward them. “I’m sorry, my lady,” he told her. “But we must go now. You and Deep are both wounded. I cannot protect you both and fight off three more guards on my own.”

  They ran through the ships on the battlefield and crossed the polluted beach, the oily brown sand crunching under the twins’ booted feet. The guards behind them were gaining rapidly, probably because none of them was A—wounded or B—carrying a plus-sized woman, Kat thought, staring over Lock’s shoulder as he ran. Deep staggered along beside them, his face white and one hand fisted at his side. There was blood leaking down his leg in a dark rivulet. God, she hoped all this running wasn’t making his wound worse, though she didn’t see how it could possibly be helping any. She still didn’t even know how he could be functioning after receiving such a serious in
jury—did Twin Kindred have extra special healing ability? Lock had said something about self sealing organs but what did that even mean?

  Finally they reached their ship and piled inside. “I’ll pilot,” Lock said, sliding into the driver’s seat. For once, Deep said nothing. He only nodded and settled himself carefully in one of the other seats. Kat did the same and started to buckle herself in. She felt terrible about Lauren but Lock and Deep didn’t seem overly concerned. Maybe they’re right, she comforted herself. Maybe Xairn took her with him and he’s so in love with her that he’ll take care of her no matter what happens.

  She hoped so. It was going to be really hard to face Liv and Sophie and tell them that she had found their long-lost cousin…and then lost her again. Then again, it was going to be hard to tell them the other news too.

  But surely I won’t die—not of a tiny little scratch! She touched her wounded cheek gingerly with her fingertips and winced at the sting.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Kat looked up to see Deep watching her with a look of remorse in his black eyes. “What?” she asked.

  “I said I’m sorry. All this is my fault. If I hadn’t insisted we come here, none of it would have happened. You wouldn’t have been cut and—”

  “That’s true,” Kat interrupted, refusing to discuss her impending doom. “But we were looking for traces of Lauren too, so the mission wasn’t a complete wash.” She frowned. “I still don’t understand what happened in the psychic knife though.”

  “I understand,” Lock said grimly as he worked the controls. “The knife is made to cut bonds between people, but it only cuts the bonds the operator stipulates. When Deep set the controls, he didn’t program the machine to cut the soul bond between the two of us and you, my lady. Instead he—”

  “Cut the bond between the two of us and himself,” Kat finished, understanding. “So now you and I are bonded but neither one of us has any connection to Deep.”

  “That’s true.” Deep nodded. “I thought…I believed that the two of you would be better off together. Without my interference.”

  Lock turned to give his brother a fierce look. “That’s not right or natural and you know it, Deep. The Goddess formed Twin Kindred to share a female—I never wanted the lady Kat all to myself. I wanted to share her with you. And now…” His throat worked convulsively and he shook his head. “And now I don’t know what will happen to us. Any of us. Because I cannot live without the two of you and both of you are wounded.”

  “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.” Kat tried to sound a lot more positive than she felt. “Once we get back to the Mother ship, Sylvan will patch us up physically. And as for the bonding and soul stuff, we can always go back to Mother L’rin, right? I mean, I know she was pretty pissed at us last time we saw her but surely she won’t turn us away when we explain what happened.”

  “Maybe she can help.” Deep sounded hopeful. “Hasn’t she treated kusax wounds before?”

  “I don’t remember.” Lock stared straight ahead at the viewscreen. “But I think it would be best for us to contact her as soon as possible to ask.”

  “There, see—all better.” Kat tried to smile at them but neither brother returned her positive expression. She felt a steady wave of worry/fear/helplessness coming from Lock and from Deep she still felt…nothing. God, I never thought I would miss having his feelings in my head! Now I just wish I could tell what was going on behind those black eyes of his. But whatever it was, Deep wasn’t telling.

  It will be all right, Kat told herself uneasily. We’ve been through a lot but surely we can fix this, like we fixed everything else. We’re all going to be okay…aren’t we?

  She hoped so. Oh God, she certainly hoped so.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “I’m afraid you and Olivia need to prepare yourselves, Talana.” Sylvan’s face looked so grave that Sophie’s heart skipped a beat.

  “Prepare ourselves? For what?” Liv demanded.

  “I’ve examined Kat thoroughly and done everything I could for her. But…” Sylvan hesitated so long that Sophie couldn’t wait any more.

  “But what? What’s wrong with her?”

  She was afraid to hear the answer. The minute Deep and Lock’s ship had returned to the docking bay, they had requested immediate medical assistance. Deep had been badly wounded and was being examined by one of Sylvan’s colleagues. But Kat, well, she’d looked all right when they wheeled her into the med station strapped to one of the floating Kindred stretchers. She’d even smiled at them and given a big ‘thumbs up.’ She’d had some weird stuff matted in her hair and on the back of her clothes but Sophie hadn’t seen any blood or obvious wounds. Well, other than a tiny red scratch on her cheekbone, but that was nothing. So what could possibly be wrong?

  Sylvan took a deep breath. “Kat has been wounded with a kusax.”

  “A what?” Olivia gave him a blank look. “What’s that?”

  “A weapon of the Scourge—it poisons the soul.”

  “The soul?” Liv raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”

  “Just because you can’t see it on any kind of scan or medical exam doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, Olivia,” Sylvan said quietly. “And that is precisely why this kind of poisoning is so…difficult to treat.”

  “But there is a treatment—right? Right?” Sophie asked anxiously.

  “There has to be,” Liv said. “Poison is curable if you catch it in time and they just came back an hour ago. So what’s the antidote?”

  Sylvan shook his head reluctantly, his ice blue eyes sorrowful. “I’m sorry, Olivia, there is none.”

  “No antidote?” Sophie fumbled for her sister’s hand and gripped it hard for support. “Sylvan, please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me. Please don’t say that Kat is going to…to…”

  “To die,” he finished for her softly. “I’m so sorry, Talana. But there’s no cure. Nothing I can do.”

  “I don’t accept that!” Liv declared. “I can’t. The Kindred have an incredibly advanced system of medicine, Sylvan. Surely there must be something you haven’t tried.”

  He shook his head. “Unfortunately, this is not the first case of soul poisoning I’ve treated—or tried to treat. It starts in the soul but because your spirit is anchored to your body, eventually it affects everything. The symptoms are always the same—at first the victim feels nothing. Then the place where he—or in this case she—was wounded begins to show curling dark green lines, just below the surface of the skin. That’s the poison working its way from the soul into the body and ultimately to the heart. As the lines progress, the symptoms progress as well. Weakness, dizziness…”

  “And then what?” Sophie demanded.

  Sylvan sighed reluctantly. “And finally intense pain and death. But once she reaches that stage there are drugs we can give her—”

  “To ease her pain? To help her die? No!” Liv shook her head emphatically. “Kat’s our friend—our best friend, Sylvan. And she’s a young, healthy woman. Don’t start talking that hospice shit to me—don’t you dare.”

  “There has to be another way—something we can do. There has to.” Tears were rolling down Sophie’s cheeks now but she couldn’t seem to stop them. “Please, Sylvan!”

  Sylvan looked almost as upset as she felt. “Talana—”

  “There is something—at least we hope there is.” Lock came up behind them, and despite her distress, Sophie thought the light twin looked worse than she had ever seen him. His dark green uniform shirt and black pants were stained and dirty and the expression on his handsome features was one of weariness beyond endurance.

  “What? What is it?” She and Liv both spoke eagerly at the same time.

  “Deep has gone back to Twin Moons to beg help from Mother L’rin. She healed Kat the first time, we have hopes that she may be able to do it again.”

  “What?” Sylvan frowned. “Deep has already left the med station? I was told he was gravely injured.”


  Lock shrugged. “You know how quickly we Twin Kindred heal—Deep was already on the mend, even before we left the planet.” He cleared his throat. “It is his heart, not his body, that is broken now. He took a quick shower and left—against the advice of your colleague, I might add.”

  “Twin Kindred do heal well and cleanly,” Sylvan admitted grudgingly. “You’re especially lucky your internal organs are self-sealing after any kind of blunt trauma or puncture wound. But I still would have liked to have a look at him myself.”

  “We felt there wasn’t time to waste.” Lock spoke in a low voice and nodded at the entrance to the med center where Kat was resting in one of the private rooms. “If there is a cure for soul poisoning at all, it would be better to apply it early rather than to wait until the disease progressed to the…the later stages.” He coughed and looked away but not before Sophie saw the glint of tears in his brown eyes.

  “True,” Sylvan said. “Well then, please let me know what he finds out.”

  “Can we see Kat now?” Liv demanded.

  “Certainly.” He nodded gravely.

  Liv was already striding toward the med center entrance but Sophie hung back. “Does…does she know? About the poisoning? About how there’s no…no known cure?” Her throat was so tight she could barely get the words out.

  “She knows,” Sylvan said quietly. “I don’t believe in keeping such things from patients.” He pulled Sophie into a tight embrace and buried his face in her hair. Softly, he spoke through their link. “I’m sorry, Talana. So sorry there isn’t more I can do. I know how very dear Kat is to you and Olivia.”

  “She’s more than a friend—she’s like our sister.” Sophie wanted to cry again but she was afraid she would never stop if she did. “I know you’re trying,” she said aloud, kissing Sylvan on the cheek. “I won’t blame you if…if… I won’t blame you. No matter what happens.”

  He drew back, searching her eyes for a long moment. “But I’ll blame myself. I want so much to make you happy—I’d do anything I could to keep you from pain. Anything.”