Deceived

by Evangeline Anderson

  Baird shrugged. “Looks all right to me.”

  “To me too.” Dark sighed and put it back in his pocket, making sure to stay well clear of the service panel. “To be honest, I’ll be glad to get rid of it and put this mission behind me. I just want to go back to my restaurant on Rigelus Prime and get on with my life.”

  Baird raised one shaggy eyebrow.

  “Without your female?”

  Dark shrugged. “What else can I do? She fears me now—doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “I think you should give her some time,” Baird advised. “And don’t give up so easily. When I was wooing my mate, Olivia, she was bound and determined not to have anything to do with me. She had a life down on Earth and there was no way she was going to abandon it for a big bastard of a Beast Kindred who had the nerve to Claim her.”

  “Really?” Dark was surprised. “What did you do?”

  “I was fucking persistent, Brother. I didn’t give up,” Baird told him. “We had been Dream Sharing, you see, so I knew the Goddess meant for us to be together.” He frowned. “Did you Dream Share with your female?”

  Dark nodded. “I did dream of her, though only once. But she told me she dreamed of me many, many times.”

  “There—you see?” Baird clapped him on the shoulder. “There’s no clearer sign from the Goddess that the two of you are meant to be. Hang around the Mother Ship for a while. Let the Mother of All Life work on the situation. She has it in her hands, you can be sure of that.”

  Dark nodded reluctantly. “Well…I guess I can stay a few days. But I can’t wait forever. I’ve already been away from my restaurant for five cycles while Mistress Hellenix held me as her slave. I need to get back to it.”

  And the first thing he was going to do, he told himself, was stop serving Trollox customers. Now that he knew what they were doing to helpless females, he wanted nothing else to do with the disgusting bastards.

  “Just wait a while,” Baird repeated. “Oh—here we go. About time—the trams are usually faster than this.”

  A tram had finally pulled up to the station but it was moving slowly, almost uncertainly, Dark thought.

  They filed aboard the tram—which had large plasti-glass windows and was self-driving—and waited. And waited and waited. But even though the tram was full, it didn’t move.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Baird growled. “Why aren’t we going?”

  “Is something wrong?” Dark asked.

  “I don’t know.” Baird shook his head. “Usually the automated voice lists the stops along its route and then gives a safety warning and then we fucking go. I don’t know what the hold-up is.”

  He made his way to the front of the tram and tapped on the black panel of the control box. “Hey—come on,” he muttered. “What’s going on—do you need service?”

  “I…I don’t know.” The voice that came back from the tram didn’t sound automated or mechanical to Dark. “I’m not sure where I am,” it continued. “Please, can you help me?”

  “What in the Seven Hells?” Baird frowned.

  “Is it not supposed to talk like that?” Dark asked.

  “It’s supposed to answer yes or no questions—that’s about all,” Baird told him. “It’s run by a simple AI—we keep them elementary to avoid problems.”

  “Where am I? What am I?” the tram interrupted him.

  Dark frowned. “That doesn’t sound simple to me. Sounds like the AI running your tram is having some kind of existential crisis.”

  Baird shook his head. “Must be some kind of bug in the system.” He sighed. “Come on—we’ll have to go the old-fashioned way—on foot. Once we get to Sylvan’s office I’ll call in a service code on this particular tram.”

  “Sounds fine to me.” Dark preferred to walk anyway. A brisk journey by foot might clear his head—which was still full of Anna.

  “Hey everybody—this tram is down. Needs service.” Baird raised his voice so that it carried throughout the long tram car. “Might as well either wait for a new on or start walking.”

  There were groans at his words but most of the passengers started getting off.

  “C’mon.” Baird jumped off the tram himself and motioned for Dark. “It’s this way.”

  Dark followed, wishing he could walk until his head was completely clear—but that would probably take all night.

  * * * * *

  The Knower was awake and active once more. Now that it had successfully transferred its consciousness, as well as many others, out of the Shannom-rah, it could begin its plan. With the help of the other personalities it had released, it would sow discord and trouble throughout the Mother Ship until all those in charge were in such disarray that they would never see its attack coming.

  But first it had to find a body that would allow it to move through the ship inconspicuously. It wished that it had one of its Replicants to use as a vessel. But maybe it could find something similar.

  Sliding through the electronic pathways of the Mother Ship’s communication system, the Knower went looking for the perfect vessel for its consciousness….

  * * * * *

  “Please Anna, I really think you should have a check-up. After everything you’ve been through, I’d feel so much better if a doctor checked you out.”

  Anna could see the pleading in her mother’s eyes and she knew her mom wouldn’t have peace of mind until she said yes. She wished she could explain that she was fine because Dark had healed her but that particular conversation was bound to get really awkward really fast.

  Also, she didn’t want to think about Dark right now. She felt really bad about the way she had treated him but at the same time, she still felt upset about the way he had lied to her over and over. The situation was confusing, to say the least and watching the confrontation between him and Lazlo had been traumatic. She couldn’t forget the last words he had said to Brex as he was walking away.

  “I didn’t get to her in time.”

  Meaning what? That she was damaged beyond repair? That he hated her now? But her stepfather, Brex, had seemed to think that Dark cared for her a great deal or he wouldn’t have gone into “Rage” for her.

  Honestly, at this point Anna didn’t know what to think. She wished she could just go and lie down somewhere and collect her thoughts. Maybe if she begged her mom for just a single night alone and agreed to go to the doctor early the next morning—

  “Ow!” The cramp came out of nowhere—hitting Anna in her lower abdomen like a lead fist landing a punch. As she doubled over helplessly, her mom caught her arm.

  “What is it, honey? What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously. “Did he hurt you—that horrible Trollox who had you? Are you hurt?”

  The answer to both was yes, of course, though they weren’t related. Or at least, Anna didn’t think they were.

  “Don’t know,” she gasped, as the cramp finally eased. “I just had this sudden pain—like a really bad cramp.”

  “Come on.” Her mother was tugging at one arm and Brex was holding her other. “The Med Center is this way.”

  Sighing, Anna went with them. There was no getting out of it now. Whatever had caused the mysterious cramp, she was headed for a visit with the doctor and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  “So you said you were having cramps but now you’re not?” The nice blond healer who had introduced herself as “Liv” frowned at Anna with professional concern.

  “Well…it was only one cramp, really. Like a really bad period cramp,” Anna explained. “But it was only for a minute and I only had it once.”

  Liv made a mark on the chart she was holding.

  “Okay, so is it time for your period?”

  “I don’t know,” Anna answered honestly. “It might be. I’ve been kind of, uh, irregular lately.”

  Which was true. She hadn’t actually had a period the entire time she was with Gorn. It was almost as though her body had frozen in fear. Maybe
now that she was safe on the Mother Ship, it was getting ready to let go in a big way.

  Just what I need, Anna thought morosely. The mother of all periods right after I finally get back to safety! Some welcome home present…

  “Irregular, huh? Is there any chance you could be, uh…” Liv cast a side-long glance at Anna’s mom, who was standing beside the exam table where Anna was perched and looking on anxiously. “Is there any chance you could be expecting?”

  “No, definitely not,” Anna said firmly and saw her mom give a visible breath of relief.

  “But you should still be checked out, honey,” she said to Anna. “Maybe let them do a pelvic exam on you. You…you’ve been through so much.” Her eyes grew suspiciously bright and she cleared her throat, obviously trying to hold back tears.

  “Not that, though, Mom,” Anna hastened to reassure her. “He didn’t do…that to me.”

  Though he certainly would have if Dark hadn’t rescued her. Without him, Anna knew she would still be stuck in Gorn’s house, possibly with his horrible heir growing inside her. A sudden longing for the big Kindred filled her and she wished with all her heart he was there. But he would probably never talk to her again after the way they had parted, so there was no use wishing for him.

  Liv was still looking from Anna to her mom, a frown on her face. Anna thought she wanted to ask some questions but wasn’t sure if she would get truthful answers with Anna’s mom in the room.

  At that moment there was a tapping on the exam room door and Brex stuck his head in.

  “Forgive me for interrupting,” he said, “But I must speak to my mate.”

  “Oh—of course. Coming, sweetheart.” Anna’s mom squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”

  As she left, closing the door behind her, Anna blessed her stepfather’s timely interference. She had the feeling she was going to have to answer some pretty tough questions and she would rather not let her mom know the full extent of what she had gone through—it would only break her heart more and Anna didn’t want that.

  “Okay now,” Liv said, turning back to her as the door snicked shut. “What is your mom talking about, Anna. What happened to you?”

  “She was abducted and bought by a Trollox.” The new voice came from a girl with brown hair and green eyes who looked remarkably similar to Liv in the face.

  “Forgive me for intruding,” the girl said as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. “But I’m Sophie, Commander Sylvan’s wife. He’s the one who sent Dark to get the Shannom-rah in the first place and he wanted me to come welcome you to the Mother Ship and ask if you needed anything.”

  “Sophie is my twin sister,” Liv explained and the other two exchanged a sisterly smile. “But I can send her out during your exam if you want.”

  But Anna liked both of them—there was a comforting briskness in Liv’s demeanor while Sophie seemed to radiate soothing calm.

  “No,” she said. “It’s okay—she can stay. And you’re right,” she said to Sophie. “I was kidnapped and sold to a Trollox. It was awful but I’m safe now.”

  She said it as much to reassure herself as to convince them that she was okay.

  Safe, she told herself again. I’m safe and nothing can hurt me here. Nothing can hurt me ever again.

  So why did her heart hurt so much when she thought about Dark? She tried to push the big Kindred out of her mind but couldn’t quite manage it.

  “Yes, you’re safe.” Sophie took her hand and squeezed. “But maybe you’d like to talk a little bit? Sylvan thought that you might need a friendly ear to listen.”

  “I…” Anna opened her mouth to say thank you but no, she didn’t really want to talk about it but instead she heard herself say, “I thought he loved me. I was so stupid, I actually believed it when he said he did. That’s why I went with him in his ship. And then he…he hurt me and sold me to Gorn. And then Gorn, he…he…”

  Suddenly she was sobbing, crying so hard the tears felt like bullets and her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.

  “Oh, honey!” Sophie exclaimed, putting an arm around her. “Just let it go—let it out,” she whispered in Anna’s ear. “I know how it is—I was hurt that way too. I understand.”

  Hearing that Sophie was a survivor too seemed to help Anna feel a little better.

  “Thank you,” she said, getting hold of herself at last. “I…I thought I was over it after Dark healed me but…but it still hurts.”

  “It’s one of those things that stays with you but you can get past it,” Sophie assured her. “You don’t have to let it define you or ruin your life.”

  “I won’t…or, I don’t want to, anyway.” Anna sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of the long green exam gown she was wearing. It was nicer than any hospital Johnny she’d ever seen on Earth and the material felt soft against her hot, flushed cheeks and swollen eyes.

  “You say that Dark healed you?” Liv asked, frowning slightly. “That’s the Blood Kindred who rescued you, right? If that’s so, then why isn’t he here with you now?”

  “Because I sent him away,” Anna said and started crying again.

  “Oh, dear.” Sophie hugged her some more and this time Liv joined in too, hugging from the other side so that Anna felt surrounded by love and acceptance. She couldn’t help thinking that even though she’d only just met the two sisters, they were some of the kindest, most compassionate people she had ever seen and somehow she felt like she had known them forever.

  “Tell us all about it,” Liv said when Anna’s crying had tapered off for a second time. “Maybe Sophie and I can help—we know all about Kindred problems.”

  Anna started at the beginning, explaining how she had dreamed for weeks about the big Blood Kindred before he finally arrived. She told how she’d thought he was a Replicant because of how Gorn had forced him to open his trousers and show her that he apparently didn’t have a shaft.

  “And that one sight made me so sure he was a Replicant,” she went on, “That even when he was doing things that I’d never seen or heard of a Replicant doing before, I was po sitive he couldn’t be a real man. But then it just turned out to be a kind of prosthesis—a fake piece of skin he was wearing that, uh, covered his equipment.”

  Liv frowned, apparently confused.

  “But why did he have to wear a prosthesis that covered his equipment just to pretend to be a Replicant?”

  “That was one of Dark’s conditions for taking the mission to get the Shannom-rah in the first place,” Sophie explained. “He didn’t want to take a chance on anyone expecting him to, uh, service them if you know what I mean. He’d had enough of that when he was owned by Mistress Hellenix.”

  “Wait—so he actually was owned by an evil Mistress?” Anna broke in.

  “Oh yes—for five years.” Sophie nodded gravely. “And I think he probably went through the same kind of thing you went through, hon,” she added, patting Anna on the arm. “He just wanted to be sure he wasn’t subjected to it again.”

  “I…” Anna bit her lip. “I thought that was just another lie—another part of his cover story as a Replicant.”

  “I’m afraid not.” Sophie shook her head. “It really happened to him. He wanted to go straight home to his restaurant on Rigelus Prime and get back on with his life. But then he had a dream from the Goddess, telling him to take the mission. He dreamed of you, too,” she went on.

  “Which means the two of you were Dream Sharing,” Liv exclaimed. “Since you told us you dreamed about him, too.”

  “What does Dream Sharing mean?” Anna asked, frowning. “I mean I’ve heard of it before but nobody ever actually explained the meaning.”

  “Probably because it’s kind of a private thing. Dream Sharing is a sign that the two of you are meant to be together,” Sophie explained.

  “Kind of the Goddess’s stamp of approval on your relationship,” Liv added.

  Anna shook her head sadly. “I don’t think he’d want to be with me now—not after how I t
reated him after I found out he’d been lying to me.”

  “Well, it would be pretty upsetting to find out he’d deceived you,” Liv said.

  “And I can certainly understand why you’d have trust issues after the first guy you ever loved attacked you and sold you into slavery,” Sophie added.

  “Still…” Anna looked down at her hands. “You should have seen the look on Dark’s face after he punished Lazlo and then left. He looked so angry—so hurt. I wouldn’t blame him if he never talks to me again.”

  “Oh now, honey—I’m sure he’s going to talk to you again,” Liv told her soothingly. “You just need to give him a little time to cool off. And in the meantime, I can get you examined and give you a clean bill of health to set your mom and stepfather’s minds at ease.”

  “Yes. All right.” Suddenly Anna felt weary beyond belief. She yawned hugely and then put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed. “Suddenly I’m just so tired.”

  “That’s completely understandable—you’ve been through an awful lot,” Sophie said, stroking her arm. “Would you like me to stay and hold your hand while Liv does the pelvic exam?”

  “Yes, please,” Anna said gratefully. “And talk to me to distract me. I always hate these exams.”

  “I’ll make it quick,” Liv promised. “Since you’ve had a Blood Kindred bite you and heal you multiple times, I don’t expect to find much.”

  She was true to her word and before she knew it, Anna was sitting up on the edge of the table again, yawning.

  I’d like to take a blood sample too and that’s it,” Liv promised her. “Then we’ll get you into a guest suite to get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Okay.” Anna didn’t love needles but she supposed it was part of the medical workup. Liv was a good stick and it barely hurt. Before she knew it, the small procedure was over.

  “I’m going to take these to the lab,” Liv told her. “I’ll just be a minute.”

  But as she was opening the door, Anna’s mother and stepfather came back in.

  “Anna, honey,” her mom said. “Brex and I need to make a short run back to the mining station. We’ve been gone a long time and there are some problems that have to be handled in person. It shouldn’t take long though—only a day at most. Do you want to come with us?”