“Wow,” Tess murmured, staring at the puppet. “You weren’t kidding.”
“Of course not—the Kindred like women with some meat on their bones.” Di grinned. “So see—if push came to shove and you were accidentally seen, you’d blend right in.”
“Thanks a lot,” Tess muttered. “I still can’t believe you brought me to a robot brothel to lie low.”
“It’s a great hiding place,” Di protested. “And don’t think I didn’t check it out thoroughly before I brought you up here. I stayed here one night myself, just to make sure everything was okay.”
“And?” Tess raised an eyebrow.
“And it’s perfect, like I said. The perfect camouflage. Plenty to eat, a nice place to sleep—they changed the sheets after every, ah, encounter by the way, so you don’t have to worry about it not being clean. All you have to do is go hide in the kitchen if a warrior comes in looking for comfort. And if they come in the kitchen—which, by the way, doesn’t happen very often that I could see—just duck into the recharging room. It’s easy.”
“Wow…” Tess looked at her admiringly. “You’ve really got this all planned out.”
“I knew eventually you’d need a place to run to, to get away from Pierce,” Di said seriously. “Men like him are hard to throw off the scent. But this should do the trick.”
“I agree.” Tess nodded slowly. “It’s a little—well, a lot weird—but it might just work.”
“It has to.” Di looked suddenly serious. “You can’t go back to him, Tess, and you can’t let him find you. He’ll kill you this time. After what he did to poor Gus…”
“I’m not going back.” Tess lifted her chin. “And like you said, this is the perfect camouflage—he’s never going to find me.” She sighed. “I just wish I hadn’t had to lie to my job about where I was going. I hope Mrs. Henshaw will be okay without me there to find her false teeth. She gets so upset when she loses them.”
“You’re an angel, hon. I know the folks at Happy Rest are going to miss you. But Pierce knows you work there,” Di pointed out. “It would be the easiest thing in the world for him to wait out in the parking lot one night when you’re working a late shift and then—”
“Stop!” Tess put up a hand. “Please, I don’t want to think about it. I have enough nightmares as it is.”
“Sorry,” Di said sympathetically. “Are you really still having bad dreams?”
“Not all bad.” Tess frowned. “And not all about Pierce either. Lately, I…never mind.”
“Lately what?” Di probed.
“Nothing. It’s just this weird dream I keep having but I can’t remember it when I wake up.”
“Then how do you know it’s the same dream?”
Tess shrugged. “I just know.”
“It’s probably just stress.”
“Probably,” Tess agreed. “Look, don’t you think you should be going? The hour of free time you gave your tour group to wander around the parklands is almost up.”
“Oh, you’re right!” Di glanced at her watch. “It’s almost time to get them to the Sacred Grove.” She looked anxiously at Tess. “Will you be okay here? Think you can manage?”
“I’ll…be fine.” Tess wished she could swallow the uneasy lump that had risen in her throat but she tried to smile like noting was wrong. “You just…go on.”
“I’ll visit you on my next tour,” Di promised. “Just lay low for a while and take it easy. After a few weeks maybe we can figure something else out.” She nodded at the old fashioned bookshelf. “Maybe you can catch up on your reading.”
“I guess I will.” Tess nodded and tried to smile. She hugged her friend tightly. “Thanks, Di. I can see you went to a lot of trouble to find this spot for me. I…I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime, honey.” Di gave her a squeeze. “Okay, I’m going to scoot now. You just make yourself at home.”
“I will.” Tess smiled and hugged her again. “Good bye.”
“Good bye and good luck. See you on tomorrow’s tour.” Di gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. Then, after peeking through the crack in the door to make sure the coast was clear, she left.
Tess looked around the kitchen and then sank down into one of the too-large chairs with a sigh. The thought of Goldilocks came back again.
“Who’s been sitting in my chair…eating my food…sleeping in my bed?”
“Me,” murmured Tess. “I will be. I guess I’m Goldilocks.” She sighed. “I just hope like hell the three bears don’t find me out…”
Chapter Four
“Are you certain about this? We’ve had false hopes before.” Sylvan leaned anxiously over the bed where the still form of Head Council Member Terex was resting. It was weeks now since the male had been injured in the fight against the demons who had briefly taken over the Unmated Males sections and though he had stirred once or twice, he had yet to regain full consciousness. Just recently Sylvan had put his sister-in-law, Olivia, in charge of watching Terex and she had reported that he had opened his eyes briefly and said a word.
“I’m pretty sure he’s coming out of it,” Liv said confidently. “I told you, he looked right at me and spoke not fifteen minutes ago.”
“What did he say again? Sophia didn’t catch that part when she relayed your message.” Sylvan checked Councilor Terex’s reflexes and noted that they were fine, though his skin seemed a little hot.
“That’s the weird thing.” Olivia frowned. “He opened his eyes, looked at me and said, ‘Soon.’ Then he dropped off again and I couldn’t get anything else out of him. But he’s been restless ever since—like someone having a bad dream who’s trying to wake up.”
“I hope you’re right.” Sylvan shook his head. “The Council is in serious unbalance without him. We need his deciding vote to make any headway with some of the issues we’ve been dealing with lately.”
“Such as?” Liv cocked an eyebrow at him.
Sylvan frowned. “It is Council business, Olivia. You know I cannot—”
“Come on, now, Sylvan. You know I won’t tell anyone but Baird. And you already tell him everything anyway.”
“Well…” Sylvan frowned and ran a hand through his short blond hair. “There has been some question about the draft—the way we call our brides.”
“Yes, I know all about the draft—I was one of the ones who got drafted, remember?” Liv said dryly. “But what’s the problem? It seems to be working.”
“Too well,” Sylvan said. “Now that the Scourge threat is taken care of, some of the governments of Earth are saying that the draft has served its purpose and the Kindred should move on and call brides from some other planet.”
“What?” Liv demanded indignantly. “Of all the ungrateful… Who’s saying that?”
“Someone from your own country, I’m afraid, as well as some others. But the unrest started in America.” Sylvan shrugged apologetically. “It seems that a very high ranking politician has a daughter who has been called as a bride and he doesn’t want to let her go. Apparently he had already made other plans for her future and he doesn’t want her moving to the Mother Ship and joining with one of our kind.”
“Well tough titty!” Liv exclaimed.
Sylvan shook his head.
“I’m sorry but…tough what?”
“Tough titty. It means too bad. If she joined the draft then she has to go when she’s called. You think I got a choice? Hell, I was dragged away from my house wearing nothing but my nighty. I was scared to death the first time I met Baird!”
“Yes, I remember,” Sylvan said dryly. “And I further remember that my people saved the Earth from certain annihilation by the Scourge. Unfortunately, it seems that some of your elected officials have a much shorter memory.” He sighed. “It is almost exactly like what happened on Tranq Prime. Once the Kindred were not needed anymore, we were not wanted either, though we did nothing but good.”
“Ridiculous.” Olivia was still fuming. “So what is the Council going to do? They’
re not going to stop calling brides, are they?”
“No, of course not. Anyway, I don’t think so.” Sylvan sighed. “We really need Head Councilor Terex’s input to decide what to do. It’s a very tricky situation and he has always been a master negotiator. If only he was awake—”
“He is.” The deep, sonorous voice startled both Sylvan and Olivia—who gasped and dropped the syringe she’d been holding.
“Councilor Terex?” Sylvan looked at the male lying in the bed hopefully. “Was that you? Are you with us at last?”
Terex yawned and ran a tongue over his teeth, caressing the set of double fangs Blood Kindred had where human canine teeth grew. He stretched, raising his muscular arms above his head until his spine crackled. Like all Kindred, he was powerfully built and he was still in the prime of his life—in his mid forties which was analogous to the mid thirties in humans. Sylvan was sure Terex’s top physical condition was one reason he had been able to recover from his wounds and come back from an injury that would have killed a lesser male.
But he’s not back yet, he told himself. Let’s run some tests and see if he has any deficits.
“Head Councilor Terex?” he said again. “How are you feeling?”
Like most Blood Kindred, the Councilor had blond hair and blue eyes. But when his eyelids flickered open at last, Sylvan could have sworn he saw red instead of the usual ice-blue. He blinked—could it be a trick of the light? When he looked again, the Councilor’s eyes were blue and he was looking gravely at Sylvan.
“Councilor Sylvan,” he said formally. “I understand we’re having some trouble. Help me up and let’s see what we can do.”
“I appreciate you wanting to jump back into action but you’ve only just woken up,” Sylvan said gently. “Let’s run some tests and let me alert the rest of the Council. They’re going to be overjoyed to hear that you’re back.”
“Unnecessary.” Terex motioned at Liv, who had been standing there staring at him. “You, human girl—help me up.”
Olivia looked at Sylvan uncertainly.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Sir. You’ve been out for weeks and you’re bound to have some weakness and—”
“Never mind.” Terex suddenly sat straight up in bed, unassisted. Then, before Sylvan could stop him, he swung his legs over the side and stood.
“Councilor Terex!” Sylvan put out a hand to catch him but there was no need. The Head of the Council was already striding across the room, completely steady on his feet.
“There is work to be done, Sylvan,” he said, throwing Sylvan a stern glance over his shoulder. “And I must get to it.”
Chapter Five
Garron paced back and forth in front of the neat pink house with its white trim. His mind was in a whirl as he tried to make himself cross the threshold and go in. The urges inside him were growing stronger and his blood felt like it was burning in his veins and yet he still couldn’t bring himself to use one of the Pairing Puppets.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried, though. The same night he’d spoken to Truth and Far, he had come over to the Pairing House with every intention of making use of one of the puppets. He had gone inside, selected a girl at random, gone up to the room with her and then…
Then I couldn’t. Why couldn’t I?
At first he had thought it was the smell that put him off. Though the Pairing Puppets had real flesh as Truth had said, they all seemed to give off a faint, mechanical odor that reminded Garron of machinery and oil. It didn’t seem to bother the other males but his nose was very sensitive because of his half Rai’ku heritage—even more sensitive than most Kindred. It was hard to overcome his aversion to that faint, oily metallic scent even to get the release he needed so badly.
But it was more than just the artificial smell that bothered him, Garron had to admit. The second time he had tried to use a Pairing Puppet, he had also failed. And the third and the fourth.
Maybe because you know slaking your needs with a Pairing Puppet would be disrespectful to Nella’s memory, whispered a little voice in his head. You say you still grieve for her—for her terrible fate. Then how can you even consider going with another female—even an artificial one?
Garron squirmed uncomfortably. The little voice was right—it was the voice of his guilt and sorrow. The knowledge that he was being unfaithful to Nella’s memory by even having these desires and urges in the first place. Why can’t I turn them off? Why must I be tormented with need when the one female I wanted—the only one I ever loved— is gone?
But there was something else too…something besides the guilt that kept him from doing what had to be done. A dream—a strange dream he’d been having over and over.
Garron closed his eyes and tried to bring the cloudy dream images into focus. There was a girl in the dream—a girl he could never quite see. It seemed she was hiding in the shadows for some reason, trying to make herself inconspicuous…invisible. In the dream, Garron was seeking her, trying to coax her out of the darkness. But though he called and called, all he could see was a flash of dark brown eyes, a hint of pale skin, a swirl of deep red hair.
Maybe I can’t make myself use any of the puppets because none of them looks like her. But that was ridiculous—he didn’t even know what she looked like. And even if he did, he wanted no one but Nella and this girl wasn’t her.
The thought made him wonder about what Becca and her friends had told him of dream sharing. The aligning of one mind with another…But that couldn’t be happening to him. He was still mourning for his lost love. Nella was the only female he wanted—anyone else paled in comparison. He had even taken a vow to be true to her memory. So his mind couldn’t be aligning with another female’s. He refused to even consider the possibility. And yet…
Garron shook his head. It was all very confusing and the entire situation filled him with guilt. But the need inside him was growing to a fever pitch—his blood was boiling. He couldn’t ignore it much longer.
This time, he told himself, squaring his shoulders. This time I’ll pick one and take her back to my room. I need to…I have to.
He had to deal with his desires before he became dangerous…before the dr’gin within him stirred and woke, demanding sacrifice.
* * * * *
“Hi Blondie number five, how are you?” Tess patted the Pairing Puppet on the shoulder as she moved past her.
Blondie number five didn’t look up or acknowledge Tess at all—none of the Pairing Puppets ever did. The artificial girl simply went about the business of making herself a protein pack and drinking it in long, even, mechanical swallows.
“Yes it is a beautiful day,” Tess said sarcastically. “I’m glad to hear you think so too.”
She’d been at the Pairing House about a week now and out of sheer boredom, she’d begun naming the different puppets. It didn’t matter what she said to them—apparently they were programmed to ignore anyone without a penis—so Tess felt free to call them whatever she wanted.
A new girl came into the kitchen—a plus sized model with strawberry blonde hair.
“Hey, Pinky,” Tess said affectionately. “I saw that Beast Kindred you were with last night—looked like a hot date.”
She knew it was silly, but she liked the plus sized puppets better. They seemed more…relatable somehow, even though they completely ignored her just like the skinny puppets did.
“I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed some of your clothes,” Tess went on conversationally. “But I didn’t exactly bring a lot with me and you and I are about the same size.”
She looked down at the outfit she was wearing, one she’d taken out of Pinky’s “room” which was really just the bedroom unit where the Pairing Puppet serviced her clients. Pinky actually “slept” in the recharging room from midnight until seven in the morning. Her fixed schedule and the selection of surprisingly pretty plus sized clothing was why Tess had claimed this particular Pairing Puppet’s area for herself.
The outfit she was
wearing today was more of a negligee than a dress, truth be told. It had a stretchy black lace top, cut low to show some cleavage, and a sexy little black skirt that came down to her mid thighs. The flowing sleeves covered her upper arms nicely and the black lace was sexy without being slutty. At least, Tess thought so. She could just imagine what Pierce would say if he could see her in the outfit. In fact, she didn’t have to imagine—she could remember a similar situation about a year before her mother had died…
* * * * *
“What the hell are you wearing? You can’t wear that out of the house!”
“But…” Tess looked down at herself, viewing the plain little black dress she was wearing uncertainly. She had found it online and for a wonder, it actually fit perfectly. It had a high, square cut neckline and ended modestly at the knees but it hugged her hourglass curves nicely—the perfect thing, she’d thought, to wear to their anniversary dinner.
It was the first time they’d gone out in months, since Pierce preferred to stay home. He always said he liked her cooking more than any restaurant and besides, he didn’t want any horny men staring at his pretty wife.
But Tess got tired of staying in all the time—she’d been looking forward to this dinner for months.
Her husband’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you even get that? How did you afford it?”
Tess found herself suddenly tongue-tied. How could she admit that she’d saved back a little money from the part time job he allowed her to work at the nursing home? She was supposed to turn her entire paycheck over to him each week—it was the man’s job, Pierce said, to handle the money. She wasn’t supposed to worry her pretty little head about it. He would give her enough for groceries and household expenses.
But not enough to buy anything nice unless he approved of it first.
“I…my mom sent me a little cash,” she said haltingly. A lie, but the truth would have gotten her into trouble.
Pierce frowned. “I didn’t see an envelope from her in the mail.”