The second thing she noticed were the people. There were x’aan-chows like herself of course—most of them dressed in flimsy, see-through costumes. Some were wearing dog-like tails with adorably floppy ears and others had ears and long, flowing tails like horses. One girl even had a tail like a peacock’s—although it was colored gold and bright pink and deep purple instead of green and blue. Some of them seemed to be playing together while others were displayed on slightly raised platforms arranged around the center of the round room.
Of course, to go with the sex-pets, there were also Masters. Low, elegantly carved couches with scrolled arms were arranged around the sides of the long, rectangular room. On these, the men lounged, watching their “pets” at play.
Some were dressed very richly, with silky trousers worn tight at the ankles that ballooned out around the legs in patterned fabrics and elegantly cut, tight-fitting jackets up top. Any one of their outfits looked like it would cost an arm and a leg, Annie thought. Were they princes? Tycoons? Or just ultra-wealthy men here at the Shadow Palace for a vacation?
There were also some men that dressed more like Dru—in black trousers and plain shirts. One especially stood out to Annie. He was wearing black leather trousers, high black boots, and a black leather vest which left his muscular arms bare. He had long auburn hair, much darker than her own, which was twisted into a rough knot at the nape of his thick neck. But more striking than any of these details was the glittering silver eye patch that covered his left eye. It caught Annie’s attention because it had what appeared to be lights and sensors blinking on the outside of it.
It almost looks like some kind of communications device, she thought, staring at the rough-looking stranger in fascination. Or maybe it feeds him information somehow—like a hidden screen or something.
“Well, well, Drugair—so I see you’ve made an appearance after all,” drawled the stranger with the eye patch. “And what a lovely little sex-pet you’ve brought with you. I can certainly see why you chose a feline tail and ears for her—she’s staring at me as curiously as a cat.”
Annie flushed and dropped her eyes at once. The man with the eye patch had been looking away from her as she studied him—she never would have guessed that he knew she was watching.
“Hello, Zar’ren,” Dru growled. “It’s good to see you again. As for my x’aan-chow, she is my business and mine alone. Please notice she is wearing a purple collar and I am quite prepared to enforce that.”
Annie looked up again swiftly. So this was the bad guy Dru had been sent to watch. He certainly looked like seven miles of bad road, as her grandmother would have said—the eye patch gave him a distinctly piratical air. Not wanting him to catch her watching him again, she dropped her eyes and looked away as the big man rose and came towards them.
When he got right up to them, Annie realized that Zar’ren was every bit as big and muscular as Dru was. Was he Kindred too? But if so, why would he want to attack the other Kindred of the Mother Ship? What grudge did he hold against his own kind?
“Such a pretty little thing. So plump and ripe—just the way I like them.” The big man made as if to reach down and pet her head, the way you might pet a friend’s dog or cat, but Annie shied away from him.
A low growl rose in Dru’s throat.
“Touch her and lose a hand, Zar’ren.”
“Unwilling to share as always, I see.” Zar’ren shrugged, as though it didn’t matter. “No matter—I brought my own x’aan-chow of course. Several, in fact. Now where are they…” He turned and snapped his fingers. “Maribella—come.”
A girl with silky, white blond hair and long, white and pink ears attached to the top of her head looked up at his call. She was one of the x’aan-chows crouching on one of the platforms in the middle of the room and for some reason she seemed reluctant to leave it. But at a glare from Zar’ren, she hopped down and came towards them on her hands and knees, the fluffy cotton-ball of a tail at her behind twitching erotically.
“I’m afraid since we got here Maribella has become addicted to the self-pleasure stations,” Zar’ren remarked, frowning at her reprovingly.
“Forgive me, Master.” The girl ducked her head apologetically.
“Self-pleasure stations?” Annie asked, frowning.
“There.” Dru pointed to the platform Maribella had vacated. It had a kind of spinning wheel at one end that had pink things attached at intervals to its surface. Pink things that looked like…
Tongues. They look like tongues, Annie thought, frowning. Opposite the spinning tongue wheel, on the other end of the platform, was a pair of strange-looking suction cups. At least Annie thought they were suction cups—they certainly had the right shape. But they seemed to have pink lips attacked to them.
How the hell does that thing work? she wondered. But her question was almost immediately answered when a x’aan-chow with long, dark hair climbed onto the platform and positioned herself on it directly over the strange devices. She lowered her pussy—which was bare except for some thin, wispy panties which had already been pushed to one side—to the spinning tongue wheel and moaned aloud when the long pink tongues began to lap and lash her sensitive inner folds. At the same time, she dropped her bare breasts down until her nipples were positioned inside the strange mouth-like suction cups. The cups latched on at once and began to suck hard on her nipples while the tongue-wheel continued to lick her clit.
“Oh…Oh!” The girl threw back her long, dark hair, moaning her pleasure aloud. Clearly she didn’t mind being the center of attention. There was applause from several of the males on the couches as she continued to work her way to a very noisy orgasm.
She was wearing a red collar and as they watched, one of the men got up from the couches and came over to her. The platform she was crouching on was waist height and he casually unfastened his trousers and took out a long, thick cock. Annie bit her lip as she saw him shove himself roughly to the hilt into the girl’s open pussy. But the x’aan-chow with long, dark hair seemed to enjoy the extra attention. She moaned even louder and backed to meet his thrusts as the tongue wheel continued to lash her clit and the suction cups pulled at her nipples.
Zar’ren frowned. “That’s Y’Ver’s x’aan-chow. He always has to bring the showy ones who make a scene. Unlike this fresh little beauty you brought aboard.” He looked at Annie appreciatively but then his attention switched back to his own x’aan-chow. “Where is Tatti, Mirabella? I thought I told you to keep an eye on her.”
“Oh…” The blonde girl tossed her head with a sniff. “She’s hiding in the corner as always—afraid to come out and play.”
“Well go get her!” Zar’ren commanded. “I want to introduce her to my old friend, Drugair.”
“All right.” The blonde x’aan-chow trotted off, her bunny tail twitching. As she went, Annie couldn’t help noticing her collar was blue striped with black. She knew that blue meant a sex-pet was available to play with anyone as long as her master was involved. But what did black mean?
“If you’re wondering about her collar, my dear, it means she’s into pain play,” Zar’ren remarked, clearly seeing her interested glance. Or had his eye patch somehow fed him information about where she was looking? Because Annie could have sworn he wasn’t even looking at her.
“Pain play?” she asked, looking up at Dru.
He only frowned but Zar’ren gave her a slow, lascivious smile.
“It means my little Mirabella likes it rough. Unlike sweet little Tatti—here she comes.”
A tiny, petite girl with softly pointed gray kitten ears and a fluffy tail to match came crawling towards them. She had soulful blue eyes that seemed too large for her face and improbably large, balloon-like breasts hung down from her thin body. She had a waspish waist and a round, juicy behind which also seemed too big for her frame.
She looks like an anime character with those proportions, Annie thought. What huge eyes! They must be twice the size of normal eyes.
Then she berated he
rself for the thought. After all, what was “normal” here in the Shadow Palace?
“Yes…Master Zar’ren? Mirabella…sent me…to you.” The little x’aan-chow spoke with a stilted, choppy tone that didn’t seem to go with her pretty, helpless-looking exterior. There was something familiar in that tone but Annie couldn’t quite place what it was.
“I just want to see you having fun and playing with the other sex-pets,” Zar’ren told her. “I didn’t bring you here to hide in the corner all night.”
“But, Master…I am…afraid.” The little pet hung her head and her long, light brown hair swept to one side, showing her collar for the first time.
Annie drew in a sharp breath when she saw the colors—red and white striped, like a candy-cane.
“Red and white,” she whispered. “Does that mean she’s—”
“A virgin but available for anyone to fuck? Why yes, my sweet little cat,” Zar’ren purred. “Though of course we’ll have to change her colors once someone takes advantage of her status.”
He laughed crudely and Dru glowered at him.
“You bastard, Zar’ren—this is low, even for you. How can you bring an innocent female and make her available to every male here? This little one is clearly frightened to death.”
“Well, she’ll have to get over it,” Zar’ren snapped. He turned back to Tatti. “Go get on one of the self-pleasure stations and see if anyone is willing to fill your cunt and give you your very first fuck, my sweet. Go on…”
Her big eyes got even bigger but she nodded jerkily.
“Yes, Master. I will…go.” Again she spoke in that strange stilted voice that made Annie think of someone or something but she couldn’t think what.
“Very good. Run along, sweetheart.”
Zar’ren reached down and patted her familiarly on her ass before sending her off to the self-pleasure station.
As she mounted the platform and positioned herself over the tongue wheel and suction cups, Dru gave a low growl.
“So the girl is a virgin but you’ll let anyone play with her? You really are a depraved bastard aren’t you, Zar’ren?”
“So they tell me.” Zar’ren chuckled—a low sound that held hidden menace.
“Have you no shame?” Dru demanded. Clearly, he was upset about the little virgin x’aan-chow. “I thought you had Kindred blood in you. Do not the Kindred reverence and protect all things female?”
Zar’ren’s single eye flashed blue-gold in anger.
“Don’t you talk to me about that fucking race! I want nothing to do with them just as they wanted nothing to do with me when I was young. Someday they’ll pay for—” He broke off abruptly and seemed to regain his composure. “Oh look—it appears that Tatti will get her sweet little pussy fucked after all.”
As he spoke, Annie felt a chill in the air. She looked up and saw that the little x’aan-chow was mounted on one of the self-pleasure platforms but she didn’t seem to be enjoying it at all. And floating up behind her was none other than the creepy shadow guy—the one Dru had called “Slo’vv.”
The little virgin looked behind her and her big eyes got even bigger. Her face went pale and she began to tremble.
“Dru! Do something!” Annie hissed, looking up at him, but the big Kindred was already in motion.
“Slo’vv,” he exclaimed heartily, approaching the shadow-being. “I am glad to see you again, my friend. I have many new treasures from other planets to show you.”
“Oh?” The shadow guy turned his featureless black oval of a head and suddenly two eyes appeared to grow from his blank face. “That isss mosst agreeable. Show me, Drugair.”
“Come and sit so you can give the treasures your full attention,” Dru urged him. Without a trace of hesitation, though Annie saw his square jaw clench, he reached for the shadow-being and guided him away from the trembling Tatti. The little x’aan-chow quickly scrambled down from the self-pleasure station and scuttled into an out-of-the-way corner between one of the couches and the wall.
Slo’vv didn’t even seem to notice her departure. He floated quietly to one of the scrolled couches and folded his long, midnight-black body into a sitting position, hovering about an inch above the embroidered brocade cushion.
Annie saw the man who was sitting at the other end of the couch tense and stiffen. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat above his richly embroidered collar but it was clear he didn’t dare to move for fear of offending his host.
“Now then,” Slo’vv hissed in that high, awful voice of his that made Annie feel like spiders were skittering down her spine. “Ssshow me what you have brought to me, my friend Drugair.”
“I will be pleased to.” Dru opened the satchel he’d had slung over one shoulder and drew out a cube about the size of his hand. It looked like clear glass but when he tapped one side of it, it began to light up in all kinds of colors and soft, soothing music came from it. It reminded Annie of a Baby Einstein cube someone had given her friend, Shauna, for her baby shower.
“The lights stimulate the baby’s brain and the classical music makes him smarter,” the giver of the gift had announced proudly when it was unwrapped. Shauna had loved it and it had been given a place of honor on the toy shelf in her new nursery.
Annie wondered doubtfully if the equivalent of a baby toy could possibly interest the weird, creepy shadow-guy. He seemed more like the type who would appreciate a handful of skittering bugs and writhing worms rather than a light-up cube that played music.
But the glowing yellow eyes that had grown on his face widened and the red-lipped mouth she’d seen only once before suddenly appeared too, its corners turned up into a smile. A long black, shadow-hand grew from the center of his chest and reached for the cube.
“Mosst interesting, Drugair. What isss it?” he hissed.
“This is a Z’Nth light cube,” Dru told him, passing the toy over to him. “It is meant to promote relaxation and greater mental acuity. Please enjoy it, Slo’vv.”
“I will. Oh, I will.” Slo’vv took the cube and then the hand holding it withdrew into his body, taking the cube with it.
Annie watched in fascination as the brightly lit cube, still flashing its cheerful primary colors and playing its soft, happy music, disappeared into the black torso. She wondered if she would be able to see its lights once it was inside Slo’vv and what was he doing with it anyway?
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. She couldn’t see any lights or hear any music while the cube was enveloped in the shadow-being’s black torso but after a moment, the long, black arm extended from the center of his chest again, still clutching the cube.
Annie frowned as she watched him. The cube was…changed.
After being inside the shadow-being for less than a minute, the bright, cheerful colors of the cube were muted and grayed-out and they were barely blinking at all anymore. The music was still playing but it was softer and subtly off-key. It set her teeth on edge to hear the notes falling flat, as though the cube’s batteries were running down.
If it even has batteries, she thought. Ugh, he ruined it! It used to be so bright and cheerful and now it’s all flat and gray!
Slo’vv, however, seemed unperturbed by the way the cube had changed after being inside him. He smacked his red lips and smiled at Dru.
“Mosst refreshing! What elsse have you brought me?”
Greedy thing! Annie thought indignantly. But Dru only bowed and reached into his satchel again.
With a flourish, he pulled out a glass tube as long as her arm but several times wider. Growing in the tube, in an inch-thick layer of dirt at the flat bottom, was a kind of plant. At least, that was what Annie thought it was.
The plant had a silvery-green stem and leaves but growing under the leaves in clusters were many different kinds of what might have been fruits. There were bright purple banana-shaped things with pink tops, golden-red pear-shaped fruits with green stems, tiny brilliant crimson berries with bright blue spots and so many
other strange “fruits” Annie couldn’t even keep track of them all.
“An ‘everything’ plant, from Bemix Six,” Dru explained, as he held the long tube out to Slo’vv. “Bemix is a garden world and this plant has been genetically engineered to grow miniature versions of every single fruit on their entire planet.”
Annie was enchanted by the sight.
Do they taste exactly the same as the larger version of the fruits? she wondered. She wished she could get her hands on the everything plant and examine it and try some of the enchanting miniature fruits. But the minute Slo’vv took the tall tube in his shadow-hand, she knew she was never going to get a chance.
The black shadow-hand took off the glass top of the tube, leaving the delicate, lovely little plant with its brilliant fruits exposed. Then it drew the everything plant inside Slo’vv’s shadowy black torso and enveloped it completely.
Just as before, a few minutes later, the hand emerged again, still holding the plant. But now the straight silver-green branches had withered and wilted. The brilliantly colored fruits, like clusters of jewels, had likewise shriveled and lost their color.
“Oh,” Annie murmured sadly as she saw what remained of the once-vibrant little plant. He killed it—ruined it, just like he ruined the cube!
She wondered if Slo’vv just killed everything he touched or if he was somehow sucking the life and vitality out of every one of the presents Dru gave him. The result was the same either way—sad.
“Ahhh!” The Shadow-being seemed to really have enjoyed sucking the life-force out of the everything plant. But after he discarded it beside the sadly droning, grayed-out cube, he looked back up at Dru.
“What elsse? You alwaysss bring me at least three or four presentsss, Drugair.”
“I do have another here.”
Dru reached into his satchel and pulled out a small object about the size of a large walnut. It had a wrinkled bluish-purple outer hull and he held it carefully in the palm of his hand.
Releasing the Dragon (Brides of the Kindred) Page 12