Dark and Light: A Kindred Tales DUET Novel. Contains: Saved by the Drake AND Captured by the Kru'ell One

by Evangeline Anderson

  His words both terrified and excited her—they started a fire inside her that no water could quench and it frightened Alli to death.

  “You’re not real,” she told him, her voice trembling. “You’re only a dream. Only a…”

  Her voice died away as she caught a glimpse of her left wrist in the moonlight coming through the blinds. The red ribbon was there—tied firmly in place.

  She wasn’t asleep.

  Oh my God…he’s here—he’s really here. The man from the shadows—he’s here in my bedroom!

  Terror filled her and she looked up at him again, feeling frozen to the spot.

  “You were saying, Allisandra?” The man smirked at her, one black brow lifted above his mirrored eyes.

  Suddenly her paralysis broke and Alli rolled out of bed, intending to run. Her heart was pounding, the blood rushing in her ears. She had to get out of here! Had to—

  Suddenly her legs locked in place and then her feet left the floor. After a confused minute, she realized she was floating—but how?

  Turning her head, she saw the shadow man pointing some kind of device at her. It looked a little like a penlight but the beam it was emitting was pale, silvery-blue. It was pointed directly at her legs, which were frozen in the running position.

  For a moment, she felt ridiculous—like a cartoon where the character runs off a cliff and then freezes in place for a moment, looks down to realize they are in the middle of thin air, and then falls.

  “Don’t worry, baby,” the man murmured. “You won’t fall—I’m not going to drop you.”

  Could he read her mind?

  “To a certain extent,” the man said, answering her question, though she certainly hadn’t spoken it aloud. “But what comes through most clearly are your desires.” He leaned forward and stroked her cheek gently with one long finger. “Your desires called to me, Allisandra. From across time and space and many layers of the Multiverse, you drew me to you.”

  “No,” Alli whispered. “No, you’re wrong.” Her voice got a little stronger. “Let me go! Help—Douglas!”

  Douglas twitched and turned over in his sleep before starting to snore again—he was a very heavy sleeper. Alli drew in a breath to try again but the shadow man held up a hand.

  “Don’t wake him.” He glared at her warningly. “Don’t force me to hurt him—I sense you don’t desire that, though it’s no more than he deserves after servicing you so shamefully tonight.”

  “How do you know about that?” Alli suddenly felt horribly guilty. Had she somehow been projecting her feelings of sexual frustration and unfulfillment out into the universe? Had she really drawn the shadow man to her?

  “You did,” he answered simply. “You called and I came. Now you’re coming with me, Allisandra.”

  “But…but I don’t want to.” Her voice was a tight, frightened whisper. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Nothing you don’t want me to do.” But somehow the promise wasn’t very reassuring. Especially when Alli looked in his mirrored eyes and saw herself tied up…tied down…put into all kinds of frighteningly erotic positions…

  “Come, Allisandra. We’re going now.” The shadow man released her from the blue ray that had frozen her legs and Alli felt her feet touch the carpet of the bedroom floor again.

  She started to run but the man caught her eyes and held them.

  “You can come with me quietly and leave that sorry excuse for a male sleeping peacefully,” he growled. “Or you can wake him and make me hurt him. Which will it be, Allisandra? How much do you love him?”

  Alli had no answer to that—not for him or herself. Honestly, she didn’t think she loved Douglas at all—but she didn’t want to be alone and he was mostly okay to be around. Still, just because she wasn’t passionately in love with him didn’t mean she wanted to see him hurt or killed.

  “I…I’ll come with you,” she whispered at last. “But…are you going to kill me?”

  “Kill you?” His black brows rose in surprise. “I won’t even keep you that long, Allisandra. Come with me now, and you’ll be back here in time for your Joining ceremony in a solar month’s time.”

  “A…a month?” Alli’s voice trembled. “But…what are you going to do to me?”

  “What you’ve always wanted done.” His gravelly voice was almost silky. “Now come on, baby—it’s time to go.”

  Alli snatched one last look at Douglas, sprawled in the bed with no idea that she was being kidnapped and taken God knew where. Then she allowed the man with silver eyes to take her hand in his big, warm one and lead her out of her bedroom, out of the townhouse, and out of the life she’d always known.

  She had no idea what was about to happen next but she had a feeling everything was going to change.

  Six

  Kane nodded with satisfaction as she strapped herself in to the passenger seat of his shuttle. Truly, he had made a good choice. He hadn’t taken a concubine in ages because he had been searching for just the right one. In Allisandra, he sensed he had the perfect blend of defiance, obedience, and deeply repressed, incredibly passionate desires. She would do as he said to a certain point and then balk when he reached her limits.

  It would be up to Kane to find those limits and push them—to bring her to the breaking point and fulfill the needs and dreams she’d hidden, even from herself, for so long.

  “Why are you doing this?” she whispered as he reached over and checked the buckles, making certain she was secure before they took off.

  “Why am I doing what?” Kane smiled at her, relishing her uncertainty. Already he could tell that the flavor of her feelings would be unsurpassed. His tongue ached to inject her sensitive areas with his lust-honey but he refrained—for now.

  “This.” She made a gesture with one hand, indicating their situation. “Kidnapping me and taking…taking me away.” Her voice broke a little on the last words and Kane tasted fear in her.

  He frowned. Some fear was good—the fearful anticipation before the paddle or whip fell was quite tasty because it was mixed with lust and need. But, unlike many of his kind, he didn’t like to feed on purely negative emotions.

  “Allisandra,” he murmured. “Look at me.”

  When she wouldn’t, he took her chin firmly between fingers and thumb, and tilted her head to face him.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he told her softly, watching her eyes to see if his words were sinking in. “Even in your deepest desires, you don’t want to be hurt—really hurt—now do you?”

  “I…I don’t know. I don’t think so. But you claim to know more about what I want than I do.” Her voice trembled but she kept her chin up, her eyes locked with his.

  Her defiance was delicious.

  “I do,” Kane told her. “I know what you have kept hidden for years and I will never go outside your desires. You’ll come and stay with me in my Palace of Shadows for a month—just one solar month—and then I’ll bring you home again. At the end of that time you might be changed, but you won’t be hurt. Do you understand?”

  “I…I guess so.” Her voice broke and she looked away. A silver tear slid down her cheek.

  Kane frowned. He had the sudden urge to gather her up and comfort her, but that was dangerous territory. Once a Kru’ell One allowed himself to have emotions for his concubine, he was halfway to bonding. And that was an unacceptable risk.

  Resolutely, he faced forward and started the ship. He would take her back to his palace and feed on her—feast as he had never feasted before on her need and lust. Then he would let her go and never think of her again.

  Such was the life of a Kru’ell One.

  It was the only life he knew.

  Seven

  Alli gasped in surprise as the ship rose up into the air and a blue, swirling vortex appeared in front of them. What was that?

  “A trans-dimensional wormhole,” the man with mirror eyes said, answering her unspoken question. “To take us back to my universe.”

  Alli’s eyes
grew wide as they flew directly into the center of the swirling blue hole. It was like one of those carnival rides where the platform you’re walking on is steady but the circular tube around you is rotating so you constantly feel like you’re losing your balance.

  “Close your eyes if it bothers you,” the man said but Alli chose to keep them open. She needed to see where they were going so she could get back.

  Then they were through and out into the black void of space. Floating in the viewscreen in front of them, she saw the Earth—at least it looked like the Earth. But the greenish-blue globe was covered in a thick layer of clouds. Also, it was being orbited by many, many space craft—some large and some small.

  Having flown back and forth from Earth to the Mother Ship in her own shuttle many, many times, Alli knew this wasn’t right. Where had all these ships come from?

  “What is this?” she blurted, frowning. “What are all these ships? And why is the Earth all covered in clouds?”

  “We terraformed it when we took over.” The man spoke casually, as though this was no big deal. “We also stopped the pollution and halted the climate change your species was causing. The cloud cover is easier on our eyes—and it also blocks many of the sun’s rays and cools down the planet’s surface. Carbon emissions on Earth have been reduced by seventy-five percent since we took over.”

  “By ‘we’ do you mean…the Kru’ell Ones?” Alli asked, uncertain if her question would anger him or not.

  But her abductor simply nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “So in your universe, instead of protecting the Earth from the Scourge, you just took it over completely?” Alli asked.

  He nodded.

  “Essentially. We eliminated the Scourge threat right away and then annexed the planet.”

  “Annexed the planet?” Alli looked at him with wide eyes. “You can’t just take a whole planet that way!”

  “The way I took you, do you mean?” His lips curved into a cruel smirk. “Oh yes we can, baby.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “I am not your ‘baby.’”

  Suddenly his face was so close to hers she could once again see herself reflected in his eyes.

  “I’ll call you whatever I see fit.” His voice was a deep, menacing growl. “And you’ll answer like a good girl, Allisandra. Or I swear I’ll make you pay.”

  Her heart seemed to catch in her throat but Alli refused to show the fear that was nearly overwhelming her.

  “You…you promised not to hurt me,” she reminded him in a tight voice.

  “Not any more than you want to be hurt.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you want a spanking when we get to my palace? Even before your bath?”

  “No!” Alli denied, her heart pounding. How could he think she wanted that? How could he believe that she wanted to be put over his knee and spanked?

  “I’m only acting on what I find in your mind,” he reminded her. “And yes, Allisandra, you want to be dominated. You’ve always wanted it—you just buried the need deep down, where no one can see it but me.”

  “You…you’re lying,” she whispered.

  “We’ll see about that, won’t we? We’ll see if you get wet when I discipline you.” He shrugged, his broad, muscular shoulders rolling with the movement.

  He wore all black, she noted, from the sleeveless vest that covered his muscular torso to the black leather trousers and the tall black boots that completed his monochrome look. His outfit looked especially severe next to her own silky nightshirt.

  “You can’t just…” Alli couldn’t go on. She shook her head.

  “We’ll see,” he repeated and gave her another cruel smile.

  He was maneuvering the small ship they were in towards a much larger one—a floating fortress circling the Earth like a dark asteroid.

  For a moment, the little ship looked like it was going to crash against the side of the vast structure. But just as Alli felt her heart jump up into her throat, a silver fissure opened in the side of the fortress and they flew right into it.

  The small ship came to a stop in a large, dark hangar. The man parked it beside two other similar craft and killed the engine. Then he turned to Alli.

  “Welcome,” he murmured, “To my Palace of Shadows.”

  “Palace of Shadows?” Alli looked around as he stepped out and came around to open her door. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her down from the ship lightly, as though she weighed no more than a doll—though this was most definitely not the case as Alli knew. Was this where the dreams she’d been having of him had been set?

  “This is the setting of the dreams we shared,” he acknowledged. “I had to bring you here until I found out where you were. I knew you weren’t from my Earth—the concubines there are dull and spiritless. But you, Allisandra—you have fire in you. I knew I wanted to taste that fire the moment my mind found yours.”

  There was so much there to unpack Alli hardly knew where to start.

  “Concubines?” she asked at last, repeating the strange word he had used.

  The man nodded.

  “My kind—the Kru’ell Ones—don’t take brides like other Kindred do. We only take concubines—sometimes for days or weeks at a time. We taste them until we are satiated with them, and then send them back where they came from.”

  “But…why?” Alli shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t have to understand, Allisandra—just obey.” There was steel in his gravelly voice and the menace in his tone was unmistakable. “Now come with me—I’ll show you to your rooms.”

  Alli followed him out of the vast black hangar down a long, marble corridor. He led her through an immense, echoing room she recognized as the place in the dream they had always met.

  In the dreams, the room was always empty except for the shadows. But now that she could see it in person, Alli saw that it wasn’t empty after all. It was filled with equipment—equipment with wooden frames and leather parts and silver chains.

  There was a long, padded bench with manacles attached to either end. Beside it was a whipping post. To the right of that was a vast rack filled with many, many, many instruments of corporal punishment. Alli’s eyes widened as she saw paddles and whips, floggers, and crops.

  The man must have seen her staring because he gave her an amused smirk.

  “Don’t worry, baby—remember I told you I’ll only punish you as much as you want to be punished.”

  That wasn’t precisely what he had said, but Alli couldn’t remember his exact words at the moment. She was too busy nearly hyperventilating at the scary display of bondage and punishment gear.

  “Come.” he motioned at her impatiently.

  Alli realized she had come to a halt, staring at the paraphernalia—there was much more of it than she had originally seen and some of it she had no names for. Somehow, she couldn’t get her legs to move.

  “Come,” he said again. He took her hand and led her through the vast, echoing room and down another long hallway.

  There was plush gray carpeting on the floor, so soft it felt amazingly soothing on her bare feet. Speaking of being bare, she wished she had on more than just the silky nightshirt she’d gone to bed in. She would much rather have been dressed in one of her business suits as though she was going to court—it would have made her feel more in control of the situation.

  “But you’re not in control, Allisandra,” the man rumbled, looking down at her. “You’re here to lose control. That’s what you really want—even if you can’t admit it yet.”

  “That’s not true,” Alli protested, frowning up at him as they went down the hallway. Somehow they were walking hand in hand like lovers strolling on a boulevard or a beach, she saw. How had that happened? How was she walking so naturally—so easily—with her captor—with the man who had kidnapped her?

  “I didn’t kidnap you, you came with me,” he said.

  “Only because you gave me no choice!” Alli protested.

  “All
isandra, there is always a choice. Ah—here we are.”

  They had reached the end of the hall and Alli saw there was a tall, black door embedded in the dark gray wall. Twin globes of light glowed dimly, hovering on either side of it. Her name was written in flowing golden script across the top of the black panel. Allisandra.

  “This will be your room while you stay with me and serve your term as my concubine,” the man informed her. He opened the door and ushered her inside. “Here you will find every amenity you could possibly desire. If I have neglected to provide something, you need only to ask for it and it will appear.”

  “Really?” Alli looked around the room with wide eyes. It was dimly lit, as was everyplace in his huge, gloomy fortress, but there was no denying the amenities were luxurious.

  A vast bed dominated the room—four ebony posts canopied in blood red. Soft, black carpet covered the floor—so luxurious she sank in almost to her ankles. A bookshelf held familiar looking titles and she realized all her favorite books had been collected and were displayed just for her. It was the same with movies and music and a large screen dominated the far wall. There was a long, low couch arranged in front of it.

  There were no windows in the room, but portraits hung on the walls—pictures of women of all different ages and sizes and colors. Were these his previous ‘concubines’? Would Alli’s picture be hanging here for the next girl he kidnapped to see?

  She didn’t ask the question aloud and her captor didn’t answer. Instead he turned to her and raised one eyebrow.

  “I trust it’s to your liking?”

  Alli nodded.

  “All except for the lighting. Why do you keep it so dim in here?”

  He frowned.

  “My eyes are sensitive. If you want more light, call for it.”

  “What just…ask for more light?”

  The man nodded.

  “Go ahead—try it.”

  “Lights,” Alli said, expecting the floating globes that lit the room to get at least marginally brighter. That was how things worked on the Mother Ship, anyway.