“She smells like me,” he whispered in a rough voice. It was true—it was as though he’d scent marked her in the way of the Kindred. But how…? Suddenly he understood. The DNA exchange. Lauren had wondered what she had gotten from him—this was it. It wasn’t much—nothing she would ever notice herself. But it would keep any other male of the Kindred or Scourge race away from her forever. Her new scent branded her as belonging to another male—to him—as surely as if he’d laid all the marks of possession on her.
Forgive me, Lauren, he thought, breathing in her altered but still lovely scent once more. Forgive me for branding you as mine when I am not fit to claim you.
Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. He would have to go on with his plan. They had to see Slk once more to be certain the DNA alteration was stable and then he would take her back through the wormhole to her own solar system and Earth.
And after he dropped her off? Xairn didn’t know. He only knew that he had to leave her and never see her again. The knowledge was like a stone tied in his chest but there was nothing he could do about it. If he truly loved Lauren—if his twisted heart was capable of such emotion—he would leave her and never look back.
No matter how much it hurt.
* * * * *
“Ah, hmmm. Yes, satisfactory. Most satisfactory.” Slk paced—or slithered might be a better word since he had tentacles for legs—around the two of them, nodding in obvious approval. “The alteration was a complete success.”
Lauren thought he sounded awfully pleased with himself. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I mean, it’s clear that it worked on him.” She gestured to her left where the new and improved eye-candy-Xairn stood. “I mean, he looks completely different. But what about me? I can’t find a single thing that’s changed.” Well, except for her pinky finger but she was certain that was nothing—just that stupid nightmare she’d had still lingering in the back of her subconscious.
“Never fear, my dear Lauren—you are changed. Subtly but substantially. You should now be able to travel safely back to your own world with no one the wiser.” He squinted at them with all three eyes. “But neither of your faces reveal the standard signs of joy. In fact you seem somewhat depressed. Are you not pleased at the successful alteration and the prospect of returning home?”
“We’re pleased,” Xairn said gruffly. “We thank you, Slk, for a job well done. And now we’ll take our leave.”
“Ah, hmmm, not so hasty, my friend.” Slk slithered over to peer into Xairn’s face. “Before I let you go, I must warn you of something.”
“Make it fast,” Xairn growled. “We need to go.”
“It is only this—any time you alter DNA there is always the possibility of it returning to its original state. This should not be a problem for Lauren—the change in her was extremely subtle and slight. But for you, Xairn, your Scourge DNA is very strong and persistent. It resists being altered in any way. You should beware of any sudden, dramatic emotional upheaval. It could undo the work I have done on you and allow your Scourge DNA to dominate once again.”
Xairn frowned. “I’ll keep it in mind but I don’t believe it will be a problem. Not after—” He stopped abruptly but Lauren knew what he had been about to say. Not after he gets rid of me. Because I’m the one who causes him to have too many emotions, who makes him feel things he’d rather burry and remember things he’d rather forget. She tried not to be bitter about it but it still stung, the idea that he would leave her rather than even give what might have grown between them a try.
“I feel I have to give you warning because any reversal of the process would be permanent.” Slk gestured with all eight hands. “I would not be able to alter your DNA again. So have a care, my friend.”
“I will.” Xairn nodded shortly and then they all stood there, not saying anything.
“Well, I see you need to be going,” Slk said at last, filling the awkward silence. “I wish you safe journey to your destination’s end.”
“Thank you, Slk,” Lauren said politely. “And, uh, I’m sorry if I left the bathroom in kind of a mess. I’m afraid the bathtub is filled with some weird pink oatmeal stuff.”
Slk waved all eight of his hands dismissively. “Not to worry, my dear. I’ll have one of my servants clean it up. And now, I have work to do.”
“Good bye.” Xairn nodded at the alien geneticist and jerked his head at Lauren. “Come.” Then he was off, striding down the long hallway they’d come in by the night before, his boot heels clicking on the purple-brown stone floor. Lauren had to almost run to keep up with him.
Come. Just as if I was his dog, she thought, fuming. “I’m coming,” she said in her coldest voice as she caught up to him. “I know you can’t wait to get rid of me.”
“You know that isn’t how I feel.” They reached the blank stone wall and he pressed his hand to it, muttering something in an alien language under his breath. The crack opened and they stepped through into the parking area filled with large stalls.
“How do you feel then?” Lauren demanded.
“I have told you how I feel. There is no need to repeat it.” He was staring straight ahead as he walked purposefully down the broad corridor between stalls. Lauren wanted to make him stop and look at her, make him answer her question truthfully.
“If you really feel for me then stop running from me,” she said.
“I am not running,” he said, walking faster than ever.
“Bullshit!” she exclaimed, loosing her patience. They were passing a stall with no ship in it and her voice echoed in the empty space. “At least look at me! At least—”
Someone slapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her backward into the dark, empty stall.
Lauren began struggling at once but arms like iron bands were wrapped around her and the hand over her mouth was gripping her jaw so tightly she couldn’t even open her lips to scream or bite. She was concealed in the shadows, just around the corner, and she could see Xairn walking away from her, getting further and further down the row of parking stalls, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to see her.
“At least what?” he asked, still walking. When there was no answer, he turned, frowning to look where she had been. “Lauren?” His eyes widened. “Where are you?”
Here, she thought frantically, struggling against her unseen assailant to make some kind of noise. Even a moan or a gasp would do but there was another hand now, locked around her throat. It was all she could do to breath in a trickle of air, let alone make any sounds.
“Lauren?” Xairn was looking around, obviously beginning to panic. “Where are you?”
He’ll find me in a minute. He won’t leave without me—I know he won’t. No matter how much he dislikes having feelings for me, he would never leave without—
“Here I am, Master Xairn.”
To Lauren’s horror, a girl who looked just like her suddenly emerged from the stall directly in front of them and walked toward Xairn. She was even wearing the exact same silvery-blue, too-big muumuu Lauren had on.
Xairn frowned at her. “Since when am I your ‘master?’”
“As you wish, Master Xairn.” The Lauren clone nodded and smiled at him. “Shall we go?”
His eyes narrowed. “And where exactly are we going?”
“Where ever you wish, of course, Master Xairn.” She nodded and smiled vacantly. “Shall we go?”
“I’m not going anywhere until I find Lauren.”
“I am Lauren.” The Lauren clone tried to put her arms around his neck but he pushed her away.
“No, you’re not. Where is she?”
Thank God! Lauren felt weak with relief but it was short-lived.
“Well, well, your lover is sharp for a Scourge, I’ll give him that,” a familiar voice hissed in her ear.
Blix? Is that Blix?
There was a low, nasty laugh in her ear and she remembered he could read her mind. “Of course it’s Blix, my dear. You didn’t think I’d give up on such a rare exotic as you
rself so easily, did you? But your paramour doesn’t seem content to give up either. Let’s see how he deals with more than one decoy.”
From another empty stall, a second Lauren look-alike appeared. And then another and another. All of them were dressed alike in silvery blue muumuus. And all of them looked exactly like her. Lauren counted at least twenty. Were these the seed clones Slk had been talking about the night before?
“Xairn? Master Xairn?” They all spoke at once, all of them reaching for Xairn, converging on him like a flock of flightless birds.
“Stop it!” Xairn roared. “Get away from me, all of you.” He turned in a circle, his blue-green eyes scanning the empty stalls filled with shadows. “Show yourself Spider! I know you have to be the one behind this. Give Lauren back right now and I might let you live.”
“Ah, here we go. Showtime!” Blix murmured in her ear.
There was a strange twitching sensation behind her and a very faint popping noise. Suddenly another Blix was standing to her right while the original continued to hold her tight and keep a hand clamped over her mouth. Lauren watched, wide-eyed, as this second Blix strolled casually out to meet Xairn with a smile on his face.
“Spider!” Xairn reached for him but he ducked lightly out of the way.
“Ah-ah-ah my dear Scourge,” he tisked. “Hands off, if you please. It’s true that I have your lady-love but I have a perfect right to her.”
“You have nothing.” Xairn glared at him, his big hands curling into fists. “We gave back the clothing you bartered and let you keep the grieza food cubes.”
“Alas, the cubes were defective and wouldn’t rehydrate properly.” Blix made a sorrowful face. “And unfortunately, your sweet Lauren neglected to return the lovely slippers I gave her. Worth a fortune, I assure you—much more than the cubes even if they were in top condition—which, as I said, they were not.”
“You’re a fucking liar!” Xairn grabbed for him again and this time the second Blix wasn’t fast enough to evade the enraged Scourge. He struggled as Xairn gripped him by the throat and squeezed. “Bring me Lauren now!” It was a deafening, full throated roar that echoed through the stone walled parking area. Watching, Lauren saw his eyes flash briefly from blue-green to the familiar red-on-black she knew so well. God, was his Scourge DNA reasserting itself already? Slk had warned that an extreme emotional reaction might trigger the change. Was he—?
Suddenly Blix shivered in Xairn’s big hand and then divided neatly in two. The second—or actually the third Blix, Lauren supposed—stepped to one side and shook his head. “Now, now, Xairn—there’s no need to resort to violence. We should settle this sensibly.”
“I believe you should settle it legally.” There was a sudden commotion among the milling clones and then Slk came into view, his tentacles whispering over the stone floor. “I thought you might be up to something unsavory when you contacted me so quickly to buy Lauren’s blood.”
Xairn turned on the alien geneticist. “You bastard! You knew about this?”
All three of Slk’s vertical eyes blinked slowly. “I suspected. Which is why I brought an arbitrator to judge.” He nodded behind him and Lauren watched in amazement as the huge, purple tree-like being which she had seen in the O’ah marketplace came gliding up.
“I am the Judge of the Market where this transaction first took place.” Its voice was like the creaking of an old oak in the wind and its eyes and mouth looked like the knots in the bark of an ancient tree. “Present the facts to me.”
At last Blix began to look worried. “Oh, great Judge of the Market,” he began, licking his lips nervously. “We are so honored by your presence among us today. If you will be pleased to listen—”
“I will be pleased to listen to nothing but the truth!” The Judge’s voice crackled with anger and above its head, the bare purple branches suddenly burst into pale blue flames.
Lauren would have gasped if she could have gotten enough breath to do so. The flickering pale blue light illuminated the dark parking area and cast an eerie glow over everything. She tried to remember what Xairn had told her about the purple tree being. He is a Quinlow—they carry the power of life and death in their hands. As she thought it, the tree-being raised its stumpy, branch-like arms which ended in two long-fingered hands. The fingers looked like twigs that had been set on fire—they two glowed with the deadly, pale blue flames.
Blix gasped and jumped back. “Your Eminence! I—”
“Your pardon, Judge of the Market,” Xairn interrupted him, bowing briefly. “The facts of the matter are this: While I was away bargaining with Slk for a DNA alteration, this thought thief tricked his way aboard my ship and deceived my female into dealing with him. His intention was to take her for a splice whore. He gave her expensive clothing which he claimed was a gift in return for what he believed to be worthless food cubes.”
“But they were worthless!” the Blix whose throat he wasn’t squeezing protested. “They were defective!”
Xairn glared at him. “Prove it.”
Blix shrugged uneasily. “I cannot. I threw them away, of course—I don’t keep useless things around. What would be the point?”
“The point is that food cubes containing grieza worms are more than equal to the cost of the clothes you gave Lauren. Which we gave back,” Xairn said.
“But she did not return the slippers I traded to her,” Blix remarked triumphantly. “And those were worth a fortune—more than your ship at least.”
“But not more than Lauren’s life,” Xairn growled. “She is priceless—nothing you can do or say or offer will convince me to give her up.” He looked at the tree-being. “I appeal to you to rectify this injustice, oh Judge. The Spider has captured my female and is holding her somewhere near. He thought to confuse me with seed clones but none of these are the real Lauren.” He gestured to the milling clones who were standing around in groups of two and three watching the proceedings vacantly.
“An injustice has indeed been done.” The Judge’s branches and twig-like fingers burned even brighter. “Grieza worms are a delicacy prized the universe over and are worth more than whatever garments were given. Unless Blix the Spider can produce the cubes and prove that they are defective, the Scourge’s female shall be returned to him. At Once.”
“Very well. Very well.” The third Blix backed away, rubbing his hands together nervously. “Send her out,” he called. “Send out the true female—no more clones.”
Again Lauren felt a huge rush of relief. At last she was going to be free to go back to Xairn! But the hands holding her in a vise-like grip didn’t relax. Instead, Blix number one tightened his grip and laughed nastily in her ear.
“Come now, my dear. You didn’t think I’d give up as easily as all that, did you?”
And then someone was shouting, “Here I am! I’m coming, Xairn.”
Lauren nearly fainted when she saw yet another look-alike come running up. She pushed her way past the seed clones and threw herself into his arms, sobbing much as Lauren wanted to sob herself.
“Lauren?” He looked down at her uncertainly and released the second Blix, which promptly merged with the third one.
“Oh God, it was awful!” the new pseudo Lauren gasped. “He grabbed me and held me and I was so afraid I’d never get back to you. Oh Xairn!” She stood on tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck, clutching him tightly.
“She’s quite good, isn’t she?” Blix muttered into Lauren’s ear. “I know you’re wondering why she’s so different from the others—it’s because she’s a true clone, not a seed clone. I hate to tell you, my dear, what it cost me to bribe Slk’s stupid servant to get me one of your fingers so I would have enough raw material to grow her, but it was well worth it, as you can tell. Besides…” He squeezed her tighter. “You can pay me back during your first year of work.”
Lauren had gone rigid with shock at seeing the new clone but now her knees felt like rubber. She was sure if Blix hadn’t been holding her so ruthlessly she w
ould have collapsed. My God, she looks and acts just like me! He’ll never know the difference. He’ll leave me here and won’t find out until too late that she isn’t real. But if she’s such an exact copy, why do they need me at all?
“Because the original is always better than a copy, especially for making other copies, my dear,” Blix said, answering her thought. “And because I’m able to charge so much more for a night with an original splice whore. Their reactions are so much more… satisfying and unique.”
Tears sprang to Lauren’s eyes. Was this how her life was going to end? A hundred thousand light years from home, trapped into prostitution on a planet no one on Earth had even heard of?
“Indeed, this is to be your fate, my dear,” Blix purred in her ear. “But don’t worry, I won’t give you over to the customers before I put you through your paces myself. I always like to make sure my girls are well trained.” The hand holding her throat slipped down to cup her left breast and squeezed it roughly. Lauren gave a muffled gasp and tried to kick him but it was like kicking a brick wall. “Don’t struggle so, my darling Lauren,” Blix murmured. “You should be enjoying your last sight of your Scourge paramour. He’s about to leave with that pretty little clone and no one will ever be the wiser. Even your own mother won’t be able to tell the difference between her and the original when he gets her back to your home planet.”
Despair washed over her like a cold wave and Lauren knew he was right. Even now Xairn was holding the clone close, his face buried in her hair as he comforted her. Me, that should be me that he’s holding! she thought desperately. But there was nothing she could do but watch. Nothing she could do but—
“Get away!” Suddenly Xairn pushed the clone to one side. “You’re not her either. Where is she? Where is Lauren?”
Behind her, Lauren felt Blix stiffen. “How in the seven hells—?”
“I know she’s near.” Xairn was moving in a circle, his head high in the air as if searching for some scent only he could smell. After a moment he seemed to catch it. He pushed the clones out of the way and headed toward to the empty stall where Blix was holding her.
Brides of the Kindred Volume One Page 140